Daily Tech News 9 April 2024

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TSMC is to receive $6.6 billion in direct funding and $5 billion in loans under the CHIPS Act. (AnandTech)

In return, the company will be constructing a leading-edge 2nm fab in Arizona and increasing its total US fab investments to $65 billion.

So... Eh. Almost everything the government could do with your money, short of not taking it from you in the first place, would be worse.

Tech News

Upcoming AMD and Intel CPUs will have less cache and more cash than originally planned. (WCCFTech)

Instead of using die space on memory, it's been reallocated to provide much faster AI units. Which, again, is not the worst thing in the world; you can use that extra compute power to do whatever you want, so long as it's low-precision arithmetic.
Solidigm's new 60TB SSD... Basically just works. (Serve the Home)

Instead of having four 20TB 3.5" hard drives in RAID-5, you can use one 2.5" SSD, and get access times measured in microseconds rather than milliseconds.

At around $6000 it's not exactly cheap, though.
San Francisco is upgrading its light rail system. (The Register)

From floppy disks.

Which aren't made anymore.

So probably a good idea.
The Maiyunda M1 is a mini-PC with a difference. Two, in fact. (Liliputing)

At the front it has four quick-access drive bays - for M.2 SSDs.

At the back it has four 2.5Gb Ethernet ports.

And USB and HDMI and DisplayPort.

Apparently there's one more difficult-access M.2 slot and one memory slot.

It's available with Intel's N100 (four core) and N305 (eight core) Atom CPUs, starting at around $190.

Disclaimer: It does not support either 3.5" floppies or 2.5" SSDs though.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:26 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 G'Day everyone
Clear out.
Forward Dog 9 hitting long road

Posted by: Skip at April 09, 2024 04:28 AM (fwDg9)

2 hiya

Posted by: JT at April 09, 2024 04:29 AM (T4tVD)

3 Gday skip.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at April 09, 2024 04:29 AM (+xYe0)

4 Have a good one and stay safe Skip !

Posted by: JT at April 09, 2024 04:29 AM (T4tVD)

5 📺 💤 again

Posted by: Don Black at April 09, 2024 04:31 AM (oCjPU)

6 Good morning morons

Funny Pixy picked up on that Muni story. Not an actual floppy, I understand its on a 3.5" diskette.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 09, 2024 04:34 AM (RIvkX)

7 Hi everybody.

Lift-Off is set for April 9, 5:00 a.m. EDT, 09:00 UTC, 11:00 CEST, 19:00 Asia/Yakutsk Time Zone.

https://www.youtube.com/live/cPoGLlYpbnQ

Posted by: Ciampino - space launch at April 09, 2024 04:34 AM (qfLjt)

8 Evening and morning to Pixy and the rest of the usual suspects! 'Tis clear here, I guess -- at least I don't hear any rain, and we're not supposed to get any until tomorrow. 71 degrees F. is pretty much the best we can hope for at this time of year, though.

I actually slept enough last night! After only four hours on Sunday night, last night's melatonin, magnesium, and exhaustion did the trick. Coffee and a pleasant short pipe has helped to clear the mental fog. Shaving, showering, and food are next!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 09, 2024 04:34 AM (omVj0)

9 I bought my first M.2 drive a couple years ago. I felt like I was behind the curve.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 09, 2024 04:36 AM (lhenN)

10
Russian test rocket
so there's a chance it could go sideways
I will be watching

Posted by: Don Black at April 09, 2024 04:37 AM (oCjPU)

11 Regarding CPU/iGPU with AI units, do realize that they can be used for upscaling and denoising so there's GPU gaming benefit. It's not just for stuff like LLMs.

(Besides, the AI hype has made the green team a $3T company. You don't really think the red and blue teams would let that go unanswered? :-)

Posted by: Bitblt at April 09, 2024 04:41 AM (a6Ysq)

12 .... told ABC that the city's automatic light-rail control system is running on outdated tech and "relies on three five-inch floppy disks" to boot up. The reporter was holding a 3.5-inch disk in the broadcast, so may have just skipped the word "point".

That was funny. Actually the 8" and 5.25" were real floppies, the 3.5" were originally called stiffies but people were too childish .......

Posted by: Ciampino - space launch soon at April 09, 2024 04:43 AM (qfLjt)

13 “Floppies? We don’t need no stinkin’ floppies” - Cable Car.

Posted by: 13times at April 09, 2024 04:44 AM (P7Eve)

14 Mornin'

Think I'll take a walk. Temp is comfortable.

I'll be back...

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at April 09, 2024 04:47 AM (sAmhv)

15 T -0:10:00

Posted by: 13times at April 09, 2024 04:50 AM (P7Eve)

16 11
Red & Blue
https://youtu.be/FhhuY5glM3A

There are more

Posted by: Ciampino - space launch sooner at April 09, 2024 04:53 AM (qfLjt)

17 Launch was scrubbed ..... again!

Posted by: Ciampino - space launch no ! at April 09, 2024 05:01 AM (qfLjt)

18
That was funny. Actually the 8" and 5.25" were real floppies, the 3.5" were originally called stiffies but people were too childish .......
Posted by: Ciampino - space launch soon

The word processing devices -- I do not remember their make and model information -- used by the secretaries (yes, that was their title) in the Orlon(TM) Technical group at the May Plant in Camden, SC used 8" floppy disks for storing documents. The devices were noted for their drives' nearly constant internal clicking sounds as they worked.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 09, 2024 05:03 AM (CK+db)

19 Well there may be a launch close to Noon today.

ULA - Delta IV Heavy's Last Flight - NROL-70 -
SLC-37 - CCSFS - Space Affairs Live
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket is launching the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Lift-off is planned for April 9, 12:53 p.m. EDT, 16:53 UTC, and 18:53 CEST. A launch window is available up to 6:47 p.m. EDT.

https://www.youtube.com/live/keS_DRbdSSo

Posted by: Ciampino - space launch - better luck! at April 09, 2024 05:05 AM (qfLjt)

20
In return, the company will be constructing a leading-edge 2nm fab in Arizona and increasing its total US fab investments to $65 billion.

Surprising that they would want to build it there instead of New York State where they try to bankrupt you if you're an 'America First' type individual.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at April 09, 2024 05:05 AM (RKVpM)

21 18
The word processing devices -- I do not remember their make and model information -- used by the secretaries (yes, that was their title) in the Orlon(TM) Technical group at the May Plant in Camden, SC used 8" floppy disks for storing documents. The devices were noted for their drives' nearly constant internal clicking sounds as they worked.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at April 09, 2024 05:03 AM (CK+db)
----
The Wang dedicated word processor used 8" I think. 1972-5.

Posted by: Ciampino - I have 5" and 3.5" new disks at April 09, 2024 05:09 AM (qfLjt)

22 18
Secretary -> executive assistant
Garbage collector -> sanitary engineer
General lackey -> associate assistant --- 2 asses
Tea Boy -> assistant associate assistant --- 3 asses

(add yours)

(surveyors - not a menial job - liked to pass themselves off as civil engineers back in the 60s)

Posted by: Ciampino - credentialed at April 09, 2024 05:20 AM (qfLjt)

23 Sisters sing beautiful version of a well known Christian old time hymn, "I surrender All" :

https://tinyurl.com/38b6f6e8

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 09, 2024 05:21 AM (ppj2t)

24 The Wang dedicated word processor used 8" I think. 1972-5.

Posted by: Ciampino - I have 5" and 3.5" new disks at April 09, 2024 05:09 AM (qfLjt)

Well, naturally.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at April 09, 2024 05:22 AM (+xYe0)

25 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying to us for decades at April 09, 2024 05:29 AM (PFYt9)

26 The eclipse kill me.

Posted by: rhennigantx austere religious scholar at April 09, 2024 05:30 AM (ENQN6)

27 24 The Wang dedicated word processor used 8" I think. 1972-5.

Posted by: Ciampino - I have 5" and 3.5" new disks at April 09, 2024 05:09 AM (qfLjt)

Well, naturally.
Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at April 09, 2024 05:22 AM (+xYe0)

The punch has a little wang in it.

Posted by: rhennigantx austere religious scholar at April 09, 2024 05:30 AM (ENQN6)

28 NBA player invites old coach to live with him after wife died:

https://tinyurl.com/2jscv3dw

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 09, 2024 05:31 AM (QSfbq)

29
I was outside doing some power-washing and cooking some burgers during the eclipse. When I started it was a nice toasty and sunny 66 degrees F but it kept getting cooler as time went on. Almost as if everyone turned their SUV's off at the same time. At totality it had dropped to 60 degrees and I put another jacket on.

Battery powered cars are the way forward though.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at April 09, 2024 05:34 AM (RKVpM)

30 Putting on the armor on Christ:. A Christian devotional from “Our Daily Bread”

https://tinyurl.com/3kbj586c

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 09, 2024 05:35 AM (QSfbq)

31 Biden looking to revive interest in Texas bullet train project
fly swa
6:00AM7:05AMNonstop1h 5m

7:00AM8:15AMNonstop1h 15m

8:30AM9:45AMNonstop1h 15m

It goes on like this all day.

Posted by: rhennigantx austere religious scholar at April 09, 2024 05:37 AM (ENQN6)

32 Nood EMR. Early Morning Report.

Posted by: olddog in mo at April 09, 2024 05:37 AM (ju2Fy)

33 Slow day in Blogland.....

Posted by: JT at April 09, 2024 05:38 AM (T4tVD)

34 29
I want to see a Falcon EV take off from Cape Canaveral.
Currently it's liquid oxygen and kerosene.

Posted by: Ciampino - Space elevator? at April 09, 2024 05:39 AM (qfLjt)

35 Welp....I didn't win the Powerball.....AGAIN !

Posted by: JT at April 09, 2024 05:44 AM (T4tVD)

36 Early Morning Report is *early*. This disrupts me. I don't know if I can deal --!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 09, 2024 05:58 AM (omVj0)

37 "Almost everything the government could do with your money, short of not taking it from you in the first place, would be worse."

At least it's really china's money they'll be taking, so there's at least some irony in that...

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at April 09, 2024 06:29 AM (GSl5X)

38 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at April 09, 2024 07:19 AM (86W+h)

39 Extra roomy

Posted by: fluffy at April 09, 2024 07:19 AM (86W+h)

40 "The Wang dedicated word processor used 8" I think. 1972-5."

Yes, t did. Back in the 80s, I worked at a teaching hospital in Chicago, and had the task of converting the pathology department's archive of path reports from Wang's proprietary format (as I recall, it had its own notion of a file system) to a format usable by a word processor running on a flavor of UNIX. We hired a commercial firm to read the 8" floppies and do the file-format conversion, and they delivered the converted files on hundreds of 5.25" floppies. I then read the 5.25" floppies one by one, and ran the files through a program I wrote (in C,of all things) to convert the internal formatting. Ah, the good old days!

Posted by: Nemo at April 09, 2024 08:18 AM (S6ArX)

41 #40 - Is there no one else that appreciates that the Wang used an 8" floppy vs. 3.5" stiffy?

Posted by: KenW at April 09, 2024 09:38 AM (PuONP)

42 SO Taiwan semi is now going to have to hire how many muslim, gay, eskimo, blind, deaf, albino, accordian players for this money? My guess is that they will regret this decision.

Posted by: Fred at April 09, 2024 11:03 AM (bXvrr)

43 Fred, That is exactly right. Apparently there are DEI hiring requirements with the money and TSMC was not at all happy about it.

Posted by: Thermadin at April 09, 2024 11:11 AM (vC20e)

44 20 In return, the company will be constructing a leading-edge 2nm fab in Arizona and increasing its total US fab investments to $65 billion.

Surprising that they would want to build it there instead of New York State where they try to bankrupt you if you're an 'America First' type individual.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at April 09, 2024 05:05 AM (RKVpM)

Nice!

Posted by: m at April 09, 2024 11:16 AM (o3SCB)

45 41 #40 - Is there no one else that appreciates that the Wang used an 8" floppy vs. 3.5" stiffy?
Posted by: KenW at April 09, 2024 09:38 AM (PuONP)

↴

12 Actually the 8" and 5.25" were real floppies, the 3.5" were originally called stiffies but people were too childish .......
Posted by: Ciampino - space launch soon at April 09, 2024 04:43 AM (qfLjt)

Posted by: m at April 09, 2024 11:23 AM (o3SCB)

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