AMD drops some big announcements at Computex, Bill Gates’ summer reading list, and Facebook announces its plans for its own cryptocurrency.
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AMD’s new chips signal a major shift in desktop performance, and Reddit users believe they could spell the end of Intel’s dominance at the top, despite the recent launch of Intel’s Core i9-9900KS (i-nine, ninety-nine hundred KS). AMD president and CEO Lisa Su took the stage this weekend at Taipei’s Computex technology show and revealed three 3rd Gen Ryzen Zen 2 7nm CPUs, which use AMD’s 7nm chiplet design. Starting with the Ryzen 9 3900X, which offers 24 threads, uses two CCD’s to get to 12 cores, boasts a massive 70MB cache and can boost up to 4.6GHz. The benchmarks are a clear sign that AMD has made significant gains in both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Intel has largely dominated the multi-threaded space, but now AMD claims they can match or improve on Intel’s offerings.
Bill Gates’ summer reading list is trending on LinkedIn. The former Microsoft CEO was quick to point out his picks weren’t the lightest reads out there, but the topic of “upheaval” was a common theme. One of his picks written by Jared Diamond is actually titled “Upheavel” and is about how societies react during moments of crisis. Gates’ other picks include: Nine Pints of Blood, by Rose George; A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles (A-more Towels); Presidents at War, by Michael Beschloss; and The Future of Capitalism by Paul Collier.
And lastly, also trending on LinkedIn – Facebook’s plans for cryptocurrency. BBC is reporting the company wants to start testing its cryptocurrency by the end of this year, and launch in about a dozen countries in early 2020. Facebook says it plans to set up a digital system allowing affordable and secure payments to be made with cryptocurrency, even for users without bank accounts. People chiming in on the news suggest the move could help Facebook diversify its revenue stream by moving away from advertising. Others have naturally brought up concerns related to privacy and personal data, which is unsurprising considering how Facebook has handled users’ data in recent years.
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