Lifeboat Foundation

Thieves are getting their hands on some quick and easy cash thanks to a new piece of equipment in town. Kiosks called EcoATM buy used phones. The company touts itself as reducing electronic waste and finding a way to reuse electronics through a simpler and safer way to sell devices. There are 5,000 machines located across the country, including several in northern Nevada. They’re located inside places like Walmart, grocery stores and malls.

“The industry will see normalization and balance by the middle of 2022, with a potential for overcapacity in 2023 as larger scale capacity expansions begin to come online towards the end of 2022,” the research firm predicts.

Indeed, major semiconductor makers—including Intel, TSMC and Samsung—have all boosted investment in expanding chip capacity amid the current shortage. At the same time, the US government wants to spur more domestic chip manufacturing with billions in potential funding.

The big question is which sectors will see the semiconductor supplies improve to the point of overcapacity. Current shortage have ensnared a wide range of products, including PCs, graphics cards, video game consoles, in addition to cars, smartphones, and smart home devices.

James McKenzie is excited about the prospects of firms that are developing technology based on seemingly esoteric fundamental quantum phenomena.

Physicists have long boasted of their success in what’s known as “quantum 1.0” technology – semiconductor junctions, transistors, lasers and so on. Thanks to their efforts over the last 75 years, we have smart phones, computers, laptops and other quantum-enabled devices that have transformed our lives. But the future will increasingly depend on “quantum 2.0” technology, which taps into phenomena like superposition and entanglement to permit everything from quantum computing and cryptography to quantum sensing, timing and imaging.

The incredible possibilities of quantum 2.0 were brought home to me when I attended the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Showcase in central London last month. The event featured more than 60 exhibitors and I was amazed how far things have progressed. In fact, it coincided with two positive developments. One was an announcement by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) of a further £50m to support quantum industrial projects. The other was the UK and US signing a joint “statement of intent” to boost collaboration on quantum science and technologies.

Microsoft wasn’t the only big console maker hoping to bring its games to phones. The Verge said it has obtained a document from Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple indicating the iPhone maker had learned Sony was planning a “mobile extension” of PlayStation Now in 2017. The service would stream over 450 PS3 games at first, and follow up with PS4 titles.

Apple mentioned the PlayStation Now expansion as it was in the early stages of developing Apple Arcade, its answer to Sony’s service as well as Xbox Game Pass. While Arcade didn’t launch until 2019 and still doesn’t include streaming, Apple saw PlayStation Now as indicative of a broader shift toward gaming subscriptions.

Provided Apple’s scoop was accurate, it’s unclear why Sony still isn’t streaming games to smartphone owners. A hybrid of PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus is reportedly due in spring 2022, but the relevant rumor didn’t make mention of mobile access. Sony has already declined to comment.

What’s New: In its relentless pursuit of Moore’s Law, Intel is unveiling key packaging, transistor and quantum physics breakthroughs fundamental to advancing and accelerating computing well into the next decade. At IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) 2021, Intel outlined its path toward more than 10x interconnect density improvement in packaging with hybrid bonding, 30% to 50% area improvement in transistor scaling, major breakthroughs in new power and memory technologies, and new concepts in physics that may one day revolutionize computing.

“At Intel, the research and innovation necessary for advancing Moore’s Law never stops. Our Components Research Group is sharing key research breakthroughs at IEDM 2021 in bringing revolutionary process and packaging technologies to meet the insatiable demand for powerful computing that our industry and society depend on. This is the result of our best scientists’ and engineers’ tireless work. They continue to be at the forefront of innovations for continuing Moore’s Law.” –Robert Chau, Intel Senior Fellow and general manager of Components Research

Why It Matters: Moore’s Law has been tracking innovations in computing that meet the demands of every technology generation from mainframes to mobile phones. This evolution is continuing today as we move into a new era of computing with unlimited data and artificial intelligence.

IBM and Samsung claim they’ve made a breakthrough in semiconductor design. On day one of the IEDM conference in San Francisco, the two companies unveiled a new design for stacking transistors vertically on a chip. With current processors and SoCs, transistors lie flat on the surface of the silicon, and then electric current flows from side-to-side. By contrast, Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors (VTFET) sit perpendicular to one another and current flows vertically.

According to IBM and Samsung, this design has two advantages. First, it will allow them to bypass many performance limitations to extend Moore’s Law beyond the 1-nanometer threshold. More importantly, the design leads to less wasted energy thanks to greater current flow. They estimate VTFET will lead to processors that are twice as fast and use 85 percent less power than chips designed with FinFET transistors. IBM and Samsung claim the process may one day allow for phones that go a full week on a single charge. They say it could also make certain energy-intensive tasks, including cryptomining, more power-efficient and therefore less impactful on the environment.

IBM and Samsung haven’t said when they plan to commercialize the design. They’re not the only companies attempting to push beyond the 1-nanometer barrier., Intel said it aims to finalize the design for angstrom-scale chips by 2024. The company plans to accomplish the feat using its new “Intel 20A” node and RibbonFET transistors.

DHS is taking action due to reports of spying and these airlines being used to capture and threaten US based individuals. It was also mentioned that personnel from these airlines are using their phones and other electronic equipment to record interviews, CBP operational procedures and questions during inspections.

Read article for more details.

Crew members of a Chinese state commercial airline are suspected of spying at U.S. airports, according to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin obtained by Yahoo News.

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Rare earth elements are essential for many of our modern day technologies. It’s used in rechargeable batteries, phones, fiber optics, wind turbines, televisions, dvd players and many others.

Some countries control majority of supply and use this as a means to pressure other countries.

Continue reading “Rare earth elements: Global battle under way for precious minerals • FRANCE 24 English” »

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You’re on the PRO Robots channel and in this issue, on the eve of the New Year and Christmas, we’ve made a selection of non-trivial gifts for you. From high-tech, to simple but useful! See Top robots and gadgets you can buy right now for fun, usefulness, or to feel like you’re in a futuristic movie of the future. Have you started picking out presents for the New Year yet?

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