The old news host is back – nope, not talking about me. Huawei launches its own homegrown chipset in answer to the US embargo on chip technology. A ray of hope for the beleaguered hardware sector and the back to school version of the X Files – The musk is out there.
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And yes, Elvis said it best – it’s good to be back bringing you these stories and a lot more top tech news on Hashtag Trending.
I’m your host Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada and Tech News Day in the US.
It’s old, it’s still exciting and it’s back – nope I wasn’t referring to me. I’m talking about NewsNet. If you are old enough, this might have been your first real “internet experience” before the browser or the web, when you went onto a unix server, not linux, unix with your newly purchased 300 baud modem and typed in news – and suddenly you were transported into a world-wide online community that was irreverent, impossibly vast and free.
More than one night I would start out at my desk and then before I knew it, the sun was rising and I’d have to run home, shower and change before work started. But I didn’t care about the lack of sleep (in those days). I’d seen something amazing.
Well, if you miss that thrill, and you want to relive it, you can. An article in the The Register USENET never totally died, and it’s back – albeit in perhaps a more disciplined form.
When you sign up for an account this time the warning is severe – break the rules and you are out.
You can sign up for a free account at Eternal September that’s eternal-september.org and there are apparently higher-powered servers around but these are paid accounts.
I’ve just signed up as therealjimlove and I’ll let you know after I’ve been playing with it for a while if BB King was wrong – maybe the thrill ISN’T gone.
Sources include: The Register
Huawei Technologies, in collaboration with China’s leading chipmaker SMIC, has unveiled an advanced 7-nanometer processor. This innovation powers Huawei’s latest offering, the Mate 60 Pro. The phone’s heart, the Kirin 9000s chip, was crafted right in China by the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).
Interestingly, while the Mate 60 Pro boasts the capability to make satellite calls, (where have we heard that before?) its specifications remained silent on the chipset’s power. This processor is a significant milestone, marking the first to harness SMIC’s cutting-edge 7nm technology. TechInsights suggests that this development indicates China’s progress in establishing a robust domestic chip ecosystem.
Now, here’s a tidbit that caught our attention: the Mate 60 Pro’s launch has been creating waves on Chinese social media. Users have been actively sharing their experiences, with some highlighting download speeds that surpass those (reportedly) of leading 5G phones.
Since 2019 the US has limited Huawei’s access to essential chipmaking tools. However, recent insights hint at Huawei’s potential comeback to the 5G smartphone arena by year-end, leveraging its semiconductor advancements and SMIC’s chipmaking prowess.
This announcement, which ironically coincided with the visit to China by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, seemed designed to send a message to the U.S. about China’s growing self-reliance in the tech domain.
Sources include: Reuters
In the wake of a month of bad news for hardware manufacturers, Dell Technologies is shining a ray of hope. Dell’s stock rose 22.2 per cent, hitting an all-time high following Dell’s optimistic full-year financial forecasts, emphasizing contributions from artificial intelligence (AI) and a rebound in computer hardware demand.
JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee highlighted the positive trends in the enterprise sector, with Dell’s results resonating with this outlook.
Dell’s Q2 had an 11 per cent rise in servers and networking revenue, driven in part by demand for AI-optimized servers. While there is evidence of a general revival in the hardware market, analysts emphasized the contribution of AI with 20 per cent of AI orders directed towards AI-based servers.
Sources include: Reuters
And here’s the back-to-school version of the X files.
X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter has posted an update to its privacy policy that says it might train its AI models based on user posts. X has stated “We may use the information we collect and publicly available information to help train our machine learning or artificial intelligence models.”
Musk has reportedly stated that private information such as Direct Messages will not form part of the training data.
In fairness to Musk, he has stated in the past that he planned to use data from the former Twitter to aid in the development of the AI offering of his latest startup xAI.
It is, however, in ironic contrast to his threat to sue Microsoft for “illegally using Twitter data.” Musk’s tweet “They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time,” reflects the principled stand that he took almost immediately, and no doubt coincidentally after Microsoft reportedly took X off its advertising platforms due to increased fees.
And there’s more…X the platform may be adding even more data.
Apparently, there’s another change coming to the privacy policy allowing the platform to collect biometric data, including facial photographs, from its users.
And that’s not all; the policy also mentions the collection of employment and educational history. That’s supposedly to allow X to propose potential job opportunities sparking speculations that X might be venturing into recruitment services. Reportedly, X Corp recently acquired a tech recruiting service named Laskie.
While some experts see this as X’s attempt to offer “more targeted and individual experiences for users”, others caution users to be wary of potential misuse.
X has also clarified that the biometric data collection is primarily for X Premium users, aiming to add a verification layer and combat impersonation attempts, enhancing platform security.
In other news, Elon Musk, X’s owner, has hinted at introducing video and audio call features on the platform, emphasizing that X is the “effective global address book”.
These new policies are supposedly coming into effect on Sept 29th.
Hmmm. A rogue billionaire. All that data. A new AI that needs data to train it. Ah…what is there to worry about?
Sources include: The Register and the BBC
That’s the top tech news stories for today. Hashtag Trending goes to air 5 days a week with a special weekend interview show we call “the Weekend Edition.”
You can get us anywhere you get audio podcasts and there is a copy of the show notes at itworldcanada.com/podcasts
It’s great to be back. Love to hear from you about your summer – or your thoughts on the show. Thanks to our fill in host James Roy and writer Ashee Pamma.
I’m your host, Jim Love. Have a Terrific Tuesday!