TSMC isn’t expected to ship 3nm silicon in volume for another year, but rumors of which partner will be “first” to the node are already flying, along with rumors that TSMC’s 3nm capacity has already been booked. It’s been a banner year for TSMC, which recently replaced Tencent as the largest technology company in Asia. Right now, the big debate is over which company will tape the new node first — Intel or Apple? Historically, the smart money has been on Apple, and rumors from DigiTimes have indicated that TSMC will Apple with 3nm next year. Other reports, however, claim Intel will ship GPUs and server cores on 3nm.
NASA faces a multitude of challenges as it moves toward a possible Artemis Program lunar landing in 2024. There’s the delay-prone Space Launch System (SLS), an incomplete SpaceX landing system, and the frequent budget shortfalls imposed by Congress. Now, there’s another obstacle in the way: spacesuits. NASA is designing a new generation of suits for Artemis, and a government report now says they . According to the Inspector General’s report (), there’s little chance the current Artemis timeline remains in place. Initially, NASA planned to create two different next-gen suits, but in 2016, it opted to consolidate around a design known as the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU).
Samsung’s third generation foldable smartphones are set to release at the end of this month and are now available for pre-order. If you order one now you can take advantage of deals to save up to $1,500 with a trade-in. You can also receive $200 back when you buy one from Amazon with an Amazon Prime credit card, which effectively makes the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G just $799. If you’ve holding off on buying a foldable smartphone while the technology matures and the prices drop, then this is likely the moment you’ve been waiting for. The new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is Samsung’s most affordable foldable phone to date with a starting price tag of just $999.99.
Anyone who has ever played a video game knows that they can be just that little bit more fun when you bend the rules a little. Arming yourself with the latest cheat codes can multiply your enjoyment of video gaming, giving you more options to enjoy during your time in the game, providing a range of different weapons, ways of interacting, or unlimited in-game cash (thank you, “rosebud”). But it can be hard to know what the latest cheat codes are for the newest games, with developers not particularly forthcoming with the codes, and many not so willing to share them once discovered.
New reports from Bloomberg and conflicting reports on whether the AMD Radeon 6600 XT is available to buy on launch day paint a complicated picture of what’s going on in the semiconductor world right now. The ongoing chip shortage is not one crisis but several, and it has different characteristics depending on the kind of chips you need to buy. For auto manufacturers and other companies that rely on large numbers of comparatively old microcontrollers, graphics drivers, and other types of silicon, things are not improving. Bloomberg that chip delivery times increased by eight days in July, up to 20.2 weeks.
Boeing was supposed to be riding high on the success of its long-delayed Starliner spacecraft right now, but the launch was . At the time, Boeing only said there was a problem with “unexpected valve position indications,” but the extent of the issue is more severe than initially reported. Even with several days of work, Boeing still doesn’t know why the valves are malfunctioning. If there is no solution soon, Starliner could miss its launch window completely, pushing the launch by at least several months. The CST-100 Starliner is Boeing’s contribution to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which currently features just one usable spacecraft: the SpaceX Dragon.
Apple recently confirmed a report that claimed it was planning to go hunting for illegal materials on iPhones. This, from a company that has long promoted its privacy protections. Condemnation was swift from civil liberties groups, but many have withheld judgment because of Apple’s intended target: images of child sexual abuse. Apple has now circled back to promise that it won’t allow governments to co-opt this tool for surveillance purposes. As , Apple’s upcoming “Expanded Protections for Children” has two features. First, iOS 15 will be able to scan the files on devices for known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).
According to AMD, the newly launched Radeon RX 6600 XT is a 1080p rasterized gaming card. To its credit, the company is very explicit about this. The company’s press releases and public statements mention rasterization in particular and make little mention of ray tracing. Our and deep dive into memory bandwidth limitations and the impact of the GPUs reduced L3 cache show that while the card does indeed deliver excellent 1080p performance, it starts to hit bottlenecks at 1440p with ray tracing enabled and definitely struggles in 4K whether ray tracing is enabled or not. Looking at the data, I can see why AMD chose to emphasize rasterized 1080p gaming.
(Photo: Chris LeBoutillier/Unsplash)If the recent string of deadly wildfires and hurricanes haven’t already made themselves clear, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has delivered a very grave message: our collective refusal to act on climate change signals a jarring “code red for humanity.” Its most recent , titled AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, includes over 1,300 pages of data and analysis on the current state of the climate, possible climate futures, and mankind’s planetary influence. At the most basic level, the IPCC’s report seeks to impart regarding the global climate: It is warming almost everywhere; it is warming rapidly; the warming has reversed a long-term cooling; and it has not been this warm for a long time.
