Reviews are starting to pour in of Apple’s MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini featuring the new M1 ARM-based processor — and they’re overwhelmingly positive. “As with the Air, the Pro’s performance exceeds expectations,” writes Nilay Patel via The Verge. “Apple’s next chapter offers strong performance gains, great battery and starts at $999,” says Brian Heater via TechCrunch. “When Apple…
Tag: computing
Why Apple Silicon Needs an Open Source Fortran Compiler
“Earlier this week Apple announced their new, ARM-based ‘Apple Silicon’ machines to the world in a slick marketing event that had many of us reaching for our credit cards,” writes Mike Croucher, technical evangelist at The Numerical Algorithms Group. “Simultaneously, The Numerical Algorithms Group announced that they had ported their Fortran Compiler to the new platform. At the time of writing…
Face For Sale: Leaks and Lawsuits Blight Russia Facial Recognition
The rise of cloud computing and AI have popularised face recognition technology globally, but at what cost? From a report: When Anna Kuznetsova saw an ad offering access to Moscow’s face recognition cameras, all she had to do was pay 16,000 roubles ($200) and send a photo of the person she wanted spying on. The 20-year-old — who was acting as…
The Verdict After Hackaday’s Teardown of a Raspberry Pi 400: ‘Very, Very Slick’
“You can’t send Hackaday a piece of gear without us taking it apart,” warns an article shared by Slashdot reader beggarwoman. Hackady’s verdict? The new Raspberry Pi 400 “is very, very slick.” Inside, there’s a flat-flex that connects the keyboard, and you see that big aluminum heat sink. It’s almost the full size of the keyboard, and it’s thick and heat-taped…
What is the Common Era?
If you encounter a date in the CE (Common Era) or BCE (Before Common Era) format, don’t fret. They mean exactly the same thing as AD (anno Domini) and BC (before Christ). Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/definition-common-era-bce-ce-bc-ad…
Python Overtakes Java To Become The Second-Most Popular Programming Language
For the first time in the history of TIOBE’s index, Java has slipped out of the top two, leaving Python to occupy the spot behind reigning champion, C. TechRepublic reports: October’s TIOBE index had C at No. 1 and Java at No. 2, and historically those two languages have simply traded spaces while the rest of the competition battled it out…
Applying particle physics methods to quantum computing
Borrowing a page from high-energy physics and astronomy textbooks, a team of physicists and computer scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has successfully adapted and applied a common error-reduction technique to the field of quantum computing. …
Physicists develop efficient modem for a future quantum internet
The first quantum revolution brought about semiconductor electronics, the laser and finally the internet. The coming, second quantum revolution promises spy-proof communication, extremely precise quantum sensors and quantum computers for previously unsolvable computing tasks. But this revolution is still in its infancy. A central research object is the interface between local quantum devices and light quanta that enable the remote transmission…
Silk Road Bitcoins Worth $1 Billion Change Hands After Seven Years
A billion dollars worth of bitcoins linked to the shuttered darknet market Silk Road has changed hands for the first time in seven years, prompting renewed speculation about the fate of the illicit fortune. The Guardian reports: Almost 70,000 bitcoins stored in the account which, like all bitcoin wallets, is visible to the public, had lain untouched since April 2013. The…
How covid-19 has exposed a huge computing disaster in the making
Tangled webs of “legacy” computer software underpin banks, airlines, welfare systems and more – and the coronavirus pandemic has exposed how vulnerable that makes us Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833070-800-how-covid-19-has-exposed-a-huge-computing-disaster-in-the-making/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…