News emerged last week that WD, Seagate and Toshiba are all shipping hard drives using Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR), a slower form of HDD technology that can result in reduced performance in some types of workloads, but without disclosing that critical bit of information in marketing materials or specification sheets. The backlash has been swift, and now WD is striking a…
Tag: PCs
Google’s Flutter: 2 Million Developers, Uptick In Enterprise Use, New Release Model Revealed
Liam Tung writing via ZDNet: Google says two million developers have used its Flutter user-interface (UI) framework for building apps targeting mobile, desktop, and the web since declaring it production ready at Google I/O 2018. Flutter is on the rise, according to Google’s Tim Sneath, who said Flutter use grew 10% in March compared with February — despite COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic…
Intel Launches NUC 9 Extreme Ghost Canyon Small Form Factor PC Platform
MojoKid writes: Intel unveiled its NUC 9 Ghost Canyon platform back at CES earlier this year, but the company has just announced general availability and lifted the embargo on full product reviews. An array of NUC 9 systems are launching today, with the top-end Intel NUC9i9QNX featuring a Core i9-9980HK Comet Lake-H 8-core CPU. The NUC 9 is built around Intel’s…
Ransomware Scumbags Leak Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX Documents After Contractor Refuses To Pay
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Internal confidential documents belonging to some of the largest aerospace companies in the world have been stolen from an industrial contractor and leaked online. The data was pilfered and dumped on the internet by the criminals behind the DoppelPaymer Windows ransomware, in retaliation for an unpaid extortion demand. The sensitive documents include…
Rebranded Ethernet Technology Consortium Unveils 800 Gigabit Ethernet
The Ethernet Technology Consortium, the non-IEEE, tech industry-backed consortium formerly known as the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, has announced a new 800 Gigabit Ethernet technology. AnandTech reports: As for their new 800 Gigabit Ethernet standard, at a high level 800GbE can be thought of as essentially a wider version of 400GbE. The standard is primarily based around using existing 106.25G lanes,…
Cringely Predicts 2020 Will See ‘the Death of IT’
Long-time technology pundit Robert Cringely writes:
IT — Information Technology — grew out of something we called MIS — Management Information Systems — but both meant a kid in a white shirt who brought you a new keyboard when yours broke. Well, the kid is now gone, sent home with everyone else, and that kid isn’t coming back… ever. IT is near…
How Intel is Changing the Future of Power Supplies With Its ATX12VO Spec
“We don’t often talk about power supplies, but Intel’s new ATX12VO spec — that’s an ‘O’ for ‘Oscar,’ not a zero — will start appearing soon in pre-built PCs from OEMs and system integrators, and it represents a major change in PSU design,” reports PC World. “The ATX12VO spec removes voltage rails from the power supply, all in a bid to…
Target Quietly Opens Concept Store For the Future of Gaming
Target quietly soft-launched a new concept store in downtown San Francisco a few days ago: The Game Room lets people try out Magic Leap and Oculus Quest headsets, gaming PCs and mobile gaming rigs. It’s an obvious play to make Target look hip to San Francisco’s tech-savvy clientele, but it’s also indicative of bigger industry changes. From a report: Missing from…
Intel Debuts 5G Server and Base Station Chips, Plus a PC Network Card
Intel’s sale of its consumer 5G modem unit signaled its exit from the smartphone business last year, but the company remains heavily committed to participating in the growing 5G marketplace — primarily on the carrier and enterprise sides. Today, the company announced three chips built for various types of 5G computers, plus a 5G-optimized network adapter for PCs. From a report:…
A Ransomware Attack Shut a US Natural Gas Plant and Its Pipelines
Long-time Slashdot reader Garabito writes: The Department of Homeland Security has revealed that an unnamed U.S. natural gas compression facility was forced to shut down operations for two days after becoming infected with ransomware. The plant was targeted with a phishing e-mail, that allowed the attacker to access its IT network and then pivot to its Operational Technology (OT) control network,…