In February, news broke indicating that some M1-based Macs were writing far more SSD data than they should have been. We dug into the numbers and found little evidence of a trend. While some people reported eye-popping figures of as much as 347GB of data per hour being written to their drives, it was always possible that this was a measurement error — not an actual data-writing error. According to Hector Martin, one of the individuals who first reported the problem, the issue may have been resolved in macOS 11.4. Update on the macOS SSD thrashing issue: It seems the issue is fixed in 11.4.
Microsoft started off with a teaser at the Build conference, and then it made things official last week: A new version of Windows is coming. Microsoft , code-named Sun Valley, at an event on June 24, and according to , it will include a redesigned Settings app. Microsoft will probably focus on all the flashy whiz-bang new features, but a new Settings app is reason enough to be excited about Sun Valley. Microsoft introduced the current modern UI Settings app almost a decade ago in Windows 8. It didn’t have all the necessary features to replace the venerable Control Panel, so Microsoft kept both of them in the OS.
Fusion reactors like China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) could be the solution to humanity’s energy woes. By harnessing the fusion power of the sun, scientists hope we can generate clean, abundant energy on Earth, but progress over the decades has been slow. Chinese state media has reported that EAST has taken a big step toward making fusion power a reality by keeping plasma . That’s a new world record, but EAST still doesn’t produce usable power. EAST isn’t the only fusion reactor with that shortcoming. Tokamak-style reactors have been around for years, but they all consume more power than they produce.
CPUs almost never fail. Out of all the components in a given PC, the CPU has historically been one of the least likely to suffer a failure. This has not yet changed — but there’s troubling evidence suggesting that as process nodes shrink, reliability is becoming tougher for AMD and Intel to guarantee. Google researchers have a paper describing what they call “mercurial” cores. Mercurial cores are cores that are subject to what Google calls “corrupt execution errors,” or CEEs. One critical component of CEEs is that they are silent. We expect CPUs to fail in some noticeable way when they miscalculate a value, whether that results in an OS reboot, application crash, error message, or garbled output.
At CES 2019, Alienware made a surprising announcement. The company’s then-new Area-51m gaming laptop wouldn’t just be a typical boutique refresh. The new system could be upgraded in the future, in a manner and degree different than typical laptops. Then, about 16 months later, . Suddenly we were told that the Area-51m could only be upgraded with components available when the system was ordered. The Area-51m, in other words, wasn’t really upgradeable in any particular or special way at all. Now, Alienware has been sued for what the plaintiff claims is false advertising. Looking back at Alienware’s specific statements about the Area-51m, it’s hard not to feel like the plaintiff has a point.
While skill and practice may be the key things that make a tech professional succeed and become truly in-demand, there are a number of other things you can do to make yourself stand out. Industry associations and accreditations are vital to the top tier of tech professionals, and can truly make your resume shine, as well as bringing new skills, methods, and knowledge to your daily working life. Ensuring you have the correct accreditations and certifications can help accelerate your career and boost your chances of landing your dream job in technology. CompTIA and Cisco are two such additions to your resume that can make you stand out in the crowd.
Apple just refreshed its iPad Pro lineup with the new M1 chip, the same custom system-on-a-chip (SoC) that powers the company’s latest laptops. If a new report is to be believed, Apple is already working on another major design change for its high-end slates. The next iPad Pro refresh could feature wireless charging and a glass back panel, . The current version of the iPad Pro is clad entirely in aluminum. However, wireless charging doesn’t work well with metal bodies. That should come as no shock. It’s one of the primary reasons all high-end phones are glass, and cheaper phones want to look like expensive phones.
Today you can pick up an Apple Watch Series 6 smartwatch with a $70 discount. Amazon’s Prime Day is also right around the corner and now for a limited time you can get an extra $10 in Amazon store credit when you purchase an Amazon gift card worth $40 or more. Apple’s Series 6 smartwatch has built-in hardware for tracking your blood oxygen level and heart rate. These features as well as a built-in fitness tracker make the Watch Series 6 an excellent accessory for any exercise routine. This model is also up to 20 percent faster than its predecessor, the Watch Series 5.
According to Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, streaming services like GeForce Now are the best way to deliver AAA game experiences to mobile players. Ray tracing mobile chips, he claims, are a less effective way to meet that goal. “Ray tracing games are quite large, to be honest. The data set is quite large, and there’ll be a time for it,” . “When the time is right we might consider it.” Huang’s comments are in reference to AMD’s announcement earlier this week that the mobile GPU it has developed in partnership with Samsung will support features like ray tracing and variable rate shading.
