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chip production

Why is Samsung’s cut in chip production good news for industry?

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As a severe recession in the worldwide semiconductor business continues, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. disclosed on Friday that it would make a significant reduction in chip production after reporting a worse-than-anticipated 96 percent drop in quarterly operating income.

The biggest memory chip & Television manufacturer in the world saw its shares rise 3 percent in early trade, whereas rival SK Hynix Corp. had its shares rise 5 percent as investors embraced the idea of decreasing production to maintain pricing power.

chip production
Image Source: bloomberg.com

In a succinct initial earnings statement, Samsung calculated that its net revenue decreased to 600 billion won which is about 455.5 million USD in January-March from 14.12 trillion won a year ago. In 14 years, this quarter’s revenue was the worst of any other.

Also Read: Are Google’s AI supercomputers faster than Nvidia’s?

“Memory demand dropped sharply… due to the macroeconomic situation and slowing customer purchasing sentiment, as many customers continue to adjust their inventories for financial purposes,” the company said in a statement

“We are lowering the production of memory chips by a meaningful level, especially that of products with supply secured,” it added, in a reference to those with sufficient inventories.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

For Samsung, the hint of a decrease in output is quite important because it had said before it was only going to make modest adjustments, such as pausing production to fix production lines, contrary to a total shutdown. It failed to specify the size of the targeted cut.

The first-quarter income was less than the more conservative 873 billion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate. Early in the week, some predictions were scaled back.

According to business records, it was the minimum revenue since the first quarter of 2009, when it reached 590 billion won.

Data center operators, cellphone and computer manufacturers, as well as other semiconductor customers, are avoiding making fresh chip shopping and using up stocks as a result of the weakening customer demands for tech products caused by growing inflation.

Experts projected that the decline in memory chip costs and the subsequent decline in inventory values caused the semiconductor division to suffer a quarterly economic loss of much more than 4 trillion won which is 3.03 billion USD.

Also Read: Why is Twitter blocking Substack links?

This would mark the semiconductor industry’s first quarterly deficit since the initial quarter of 2009, which is a significant departure from what is often a cash cow that, in good years, contributes around 50 percent of Samsung’s earnings.

According to Samsung, revenue probably decreased 19 percent compared to the same time last year to 63 trillion won. In the coming weeks, the company is scheduled to announce comprehensive profits, containing divisional breakdowns.

Substack

Why is Twitter blocking Substack links?

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The Twitter vs. Substack conflict persists as the social media platform appears to keep discouraging users from boosting offsite Substack posts by classifying all website links as “unsafe.”

The Verge noted that on April 7, Twitter seemed to add a warning advising users to avoid the platform and labeling them as potentially “spammy or unsafe” to all external Substack links.

substack
Image Source: bloomberg.com

Later, Elon Musk refuted reports that the website was obstructing Substack links. Then, Musk’s assertion that Substack was getting Twitter data beyond the parameters of its API database was denied by Substack co-founder Chris Best.

Also Read: Baidu Sues Apple, app developers over fake Ernie bot apps

He stated, “We feel we are in compliance with the terms, but if they have any specific concerns, we would love to know about them! We’d be happy to address any issues.”

The creators of Substack, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Seth, expressed their disappointment with Twitter’s decision to limit writers’ ability to share their work in a statement to The Verge. They noted, “Writers should be able to freely distribute links to Substack and other websites.

This sudden shift serves as a reminder of the need for a paradigm that puts writers in control, compensates for excellent work, and safeguards free speech and the press. Their livelihoods shouldn’t be dependent on platforms where the rules can be altered at any time and where they don’t control their relationship with their audience, they continued.”

With the release of its new Notes feature earlier this week, the newsletter service appeared to throw the final switch against Twitter. This “recommendations” feed has a remarkable resemblance to the conventional, scrollable social feed that is the core of Twitter’s functionality.

Substack appeared to be offering options as users sought to abandon the Elon Musk-owned social networking platform, including a recently introduced chat feature that enables interaction between newsletter writers and subscribers. Twitter swiftly erected barriers to Substack boosters on the network, including the website’s official account.

The ability to embed tweets in stories was restricted by Twitter on Thursday. Shortly after, it appeared that tweets with links to Substack posts were no longer eligible for interaction, with users only able to quote tweet postings and no one else able to like or retweet them.

Also Read: Are Google’s AI supercomputers faster than Nvidia’s?

In December, Musk stated that he believed “relentless advertising of competitors” to be a policy violation and barred sharing links to Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook, and other sites.

These limitations, however, were later lifted. Although it is important to note that, for the time being at least, users are still able to tweet a Substack link, it is likely that he has decided to restore it now that he considers that Substack is attempting to compete with Twitter. Anyone attempting to follow it will only need to click through the warning to access the content.

supercomputers

Are Google’s AI supercomputers faster than Nvidia’s?

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As powerful models for machine learning continue to be the hottest topic in the tech business, Google released information about one of the company’s AI supercomputers on Wednesday, claiming it is quicker and more effective than rival Nvidia systems.

Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, are artificial intelligence (AI) chips that Google has been developing and utilizing since 2016. Nvidia currently holds a 90% share of the overall market for AI training models and deployment.

supercomputers
Image Source: techzine.eu

As a leading innovator in AI, Google has produced several of the most significant developments in the area during the past ten years. However, some people think the company has lagged behind in commercializing its ideas, and internally, the corporation has been rushing to develop items to show it hasn’t wasted its lead, creating a “code red” situation.

Also Read: What’s Next for Users as Google Now Launcher Shuts Down?

A large number of supercomputers and a lot of processors must work simultaneously to train models, with the computers operating nonstop for weeks or months, as is the case with AI models and products like Google’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which are powered by Nvidia’s A100 chips.

On Tuesday, Google announced that it has developed a system with more than 4,000 TPUs connected to specialized parts intended to operate and train AI models. It has been in operation since 2020 and has been used for 50 days to train Google’s PaLM model, which challenges OpenAI’s GPT model.

The Google researchers claimed that the TPU-based supercomputer, known as TPU v4, is “1.2x-1.7x faster and uses 1.3x-1.9x less power than the Nvidia A100.” The researchers said, “The performance, scalability, and availability make TPU v4 supercomputers the workhorses of large language models.”

The H100, the most recent Nvidia AI chip, was not compared to Google’s TPU results, however, because the H100 is more modern and was manufactured using more sophisticated manufacturing techniques, according to Google researchers.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that the findings for the company’s most current chip, the H100, were noticeably faster than those for the previous generation. findings and rankings from an industry-wide AI chip test called MLperf were published on Wednesday.

Given the high cost of the significant computing power required for AI, many in the sector are concentrating on creating new processors, hardware elements like optical links, or software innovations that will lower the required computing power.

Also Read: Can we use nearby share between Android and Windows?

The computational demands of AI also benefit cloud service providers like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, who may rent out computer processing on an hourly basis and give startup companies credits or computing time to foster business partnerships. For instance, Google claimed that their TPU chips were used to train the AI image generator Midjourney.

Google Now Launcher

What’s Next for Users as Google Now Launcher Shuts Down?

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A decade after its launch, the Google Now Launcher comes to an end. Google debuted the Nexus 5 in 2013 along with a brand-new launcher called the Google Now Launcher.

Prior to being made available to all Android 4.1+ devices through the Play Store in 2014, it was first known as the Google Experience Launcher.

Google Now Launcher
Image Source: technopixel.org

The main advantage was easy to access to Google Now cards, which was combined with a simple, stock-like experience that mirrored Google’s design preferences.

Also Read: Can we use nearby share between Android and Windows?

In 2017, the tech juggernaut revealed that this would no longer have access to Google Now because OEM partners already had it.

The Nexus 5X and 6P were the final mobile devices that Google launched that featured this and included the Now on Tap feature. Almost conclusively ending the Google Now experiment, Google released its final security upgrade for that hardware in 2018.

Despite receiving numerous upgrades via the Google app, the business is now concentrating on Google Assistant. It is currently displaying a message stating that Google will formally shut down the service by end of April, according to an earlier report by 9to5Google. The gadget’s launcher will then switch to the default launcher.

When most Android skins were still lacking in many areas, the Google Now Launcher was praised by Android phone users because it typically provided a smoother and more intuitive experience along with a cleaner UI.

In other words, it’s a little bit depressing news in a strangely nostalgic manner, but it’s also a loss that won’t be felt by many. The very small number of people who continue to use Google Now Launcher can only do so if they decide never to update their Google app again. However, if users continue to use the launcher, they are likely not getting updates at all.

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Despite this, it was unique at the time due to its dedicated home page for displaying Google Now info cards. Later, this idea developed into the Google Discover interface found on many modern Android smartphones. Along with these features, the launcher provided fast access to search features and app recommendations.

The old launcher isn’t really relevant anymore, though, because of the launch of the Pixel Launcher, the popularity of Google Assistant in place of Google Now, and a plethora of other launcher choices. But even so, Google Now Launcher had a successful tenure.

ChatGPT

Why is ChatGPT banned in Italy?

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Italy is the first Western nation to block the sophisticated chatbot ChatGPT.

The model, developed by US start-up OpenAI and backed by Microsoft, raised privacy concerns, according to the Italian data protection body. With “immediate effect,” the authority said it was going to ban OpenAI and launch an investigation. OpenAI assured the BBC that it adhered to privacy rules.

ChatGPT
Image Source: bbc.com

Since its debut in November 2022, ChatGPT has been used by millions of users. Utilizing the web as it existed in 2021 as its information repository, it can imitate other writing styles and respond to queries in a manner that is natural and human-like.

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ChatGPT was introduced to Bing last month after Microsoft invested billions in it. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook will all have a form of technology integrated into them, according to the company.

Concerns have been raised about the possible downsides of artificial intelligence (AI), including the threat it poses to employment and the spread of bias and false information.

Elon Musk and other prominent tech figures called for the suspension of these AI systems earlier this week amid concerns that the race to create them was spiraling out of control. In addition to blocking OpenAI’s chatbot, the Italian watchdog declared that it would look into whether it met with the General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR sets rules for the collection, use, processing, and storage of personal data.

The watchdog reported a data breach affecting user interactions and payment details in the app on March 20. It claimed that there was no legal justification for “the mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of training the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform”.

The app “exposes minors to absolutely unsuitable answers compared to their degree of development and awareness,” according to the statement, because there are no means to verify the users’ ages.

Due to the same worries, Bard, Google’s competing artificial intelligence chatbot, has since become only accessible to particular users above the age of 18. OpenAI was given 20 days by the Italian data protection authority to respond to the watchdog’s concerns or face a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of yearly revenues.

As for the ban, the Irish Data Protection Commission informed the BBC that it is coordinating with all EU data protection agencies and plans on keeping up with the Italian authority to understand the reasons behind their decision.

Also Read: Can we use nearby share between Android and Windows?

The UK’s independent data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, told the BBC that it would “support” advances in AI but was also prepared to “challenge non-compliance” with the data protection regulations.

The ban, according to Dan Morgan of cybersecurity rating service SecurityScorecard, highlights the significance of regulatory compliance for businesses doing business in Europe.

Many nations, such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, have already banned ChatGPT.

Nearby Share

Can we use nearby share between android and windows?

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When a Windows PC and Android device are within 16 feet of one another, they can share photos, documents, and other files using the Nearby Share beta software.

With the release of their new Windows beta Nearby Share app, Google has made it simpler to share files across your Android phone and PC. In 2020, Google introduced Nearby Share, which enables users to share and receive content quickly between Android smartphones, tablets, and Chromebooks.

nerby share
Image Source: blog.google

The feature, which was announced during CES 2022, is now downloadable via the Android website. Your PC must be operating Windows 10 64-bit or later in order to use it.

Also Read: E3 2023 has been canceled. But Why?

For this feature to function, you must enable Bluetooth and WiFi on your computer. The device visibility option lets you control who may send you files and see your device. Additionally, you have the option of making your PC accessible to everyone at once, just your contacts, only your own devices, or nobody at all.

Drag and drop files into the Nearby Share app or right-click them and select the Nearby Share option to transfer them from your PC to an Android phone. Transfers are processed right away even if the recipient’s screen is off if both devices share a Google account. But they both need to be within 16 feet of one another.

According to Priya Samnerkar, senior product manager for Android, “Nearby Share Beta works with your Windows PC whether the app is open on the desktop or running in the background. As we continue to fine-tune the experience and receive your feedback, we’ll expand official support to share content with other Google ecosystem devices.”

Except for a few countries, Google has made Nearby Share available in the United States and most other nations. Only Android smartphones and tablets are currently compatible with the beta application. The business does, however, intend to increase compatibility throughout its ecosystem.

In addition, this feature for Windows enables you to exchange internet access between your PC and mobile device. You can thus access the internet on your desktop or laptop using the data connection on your phone without a distinct WiFi hotspot being required.

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When working on the computer while on the go or in an area with spotty internet connectivity, the feature comes in particularly handy. Simply enable internet sharing in the Nearby Share app on the mobile device you’re using to use this function. And link the network of your phone to your PC.

Microsoft also offers its own Phone Link app. It works best with Samsung devices, so if you want seamless file transfers across a wider range of Android phones, Google’s own Nearby Share appears as a great alternative.