paulpan

21 ms·

211.
by paulpan 6y ago
Traditionally Intel's "nm" measurements have always deviated a bit from their competitors, ala TSMC and Samsung. In short Intel 10nm ~ TSMC 7nm and Intel 7nm ~ TSMC 5nm. But with the recent announcement that the 7nm will be d
212.
by paulpan 6y ago
> A competitor wants to hire away 100 of them and offers them an enhanced salary. They only need to offer that to 100 people, but to stop them getting any of those 5000 employees you have to offer a competitive package to all of them. I
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EA shareholders say no to proposed raises for executives(arstechnica.com)
2 points by paulpan 6y ago|0 comments
214.
by paulpan 6y ago
What a farce. How is it "chip-supplier neutral" when effectively Qualcomm is the only radio modem supplier around? Also every other country who investigated Qualcomm found them guilty but miraculously the U.S. does not. Especially
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by paulpan 6y ago
To be fair, I think both sides are at fault in this specific instance (e.g. XCloud streaming) with some seismic broader impacts. Microsoft is at fault for not realizing that the existing App Store policies did not include game streaming and
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by paulpan 6y ago
Can't agree more on Intel CPU and AMD GPU combination. Ideally it'll be cousins of what Apple has used in their actual products, e.g. 8th gen processors and RX 580 or Vega 56 GPUs. I've done it a couple of times and only take
217.
by paulpan 6y ago
It's largely (if not entirely) due to the cost-to-performance ratio. Apple's cheapest Mac configuration, the Mac Mini, starts at $799 for a measly i3 4-core processor and 8GB of RAM with no dedicated GPU. For the same price, I can
218.
by paulpan 6y ago
Only rumors so far but it would make logical sense from a supply chain perspective - there's no separate supplier for silicon/chips. https://www.techradar.com/in/news/the-next-macbook-may-be-ap...
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by paulpan 6y ago
I think so, the only time Apple seems to have highlighted the use of Intel chips was during the transition from PowerPC architecture. They focus on the value of the computer as the entire package. Interesting deviation is how they've b
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by paulpan 6y ago
This essentially confirms Apple's strategy to just refresh existing models/chassis without redesigns going forward; the new Apple chips will be used exclusively for redesigned/relaunches like the Macbook. Smart move since it
221.
by paulpan 6y ago
Agreed, this reminds of the AMD acquisition of ATI a couple decades ago. Almost killed AMD and now Nvidia is thinking about doing the same? Technically the reverse since Nvidia is the GPU company acquiring a CPU company. At the same time, N
222.
by paulpan 6y ago
There's been some vulnerabilities exposed but I think overall "sketchy" can be subjective. https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-ban-us-national-security-... A recent example is the app was caught reading t
223.
by paulpan 6y ago
It's sort to sad to see TikTok being forcibly sold off due to geopolitical factors, rather than on more business ones (e.g. competitiveness). Despite the controversy with its personal data leakage, TikTok has been massively successful
224.
by paulpan 6y ago
I don't disagree that Intel failed to make competitive modem chips but that's not their proverbial bread and butter. Instead it was making x86 chips that, while Qualcomm's Snapdragon lineup held a virtual monopoly in mobile s
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by paulpan 6y ago
Expected outcome for the delays in 10nm and now the 7nm fabrication nodes... What I find surprising is: 1. This former chief engineer was originally poached from Qualcomm back in 2016. Qualcomm was (and remains) not comparable to Intel for
226.
by paulpan 6y ago
While this was probably a necessary move due to ongoing covid19 impact on families as well as pressure from other companies (e.g. FB and Twitter having announced broader WFH policies), it's fascinating to see Google do this and how it&
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by paulpan 6y ago
Right on, the keyword here is "optional". Offices will still be open and employees are allowed to return at their choosing. I agree that this decision was probably predicated on 1) no vaccine until next year and 2) schools may be
228.
by paulpan 6y ago
The 7nm may well likely snowball into a much bigger issue and put the company in jeopardy. E.g. allow competitors to surpass and erode the brand value/perception. This year is already proving to be a watershed one for Intel, largely du
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by paulpan 6y ago
But feels like this is a short-sighted move. DIY market might statistically only account for 20% of the sales of these APUs, but that's historical data. These new Ryzen 4000 generation should be a significant improvement over the previ
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by paulpan 6y ago
I'd add to this the unmanned combat planes like the Predator. As unreliable as Wikipedia can be, the unit cost of the newest upcoming Predator (Predactor-C, or Avenger) is $12-$15M each. Which is 10X cheaper and moreover easier to scal
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by paulpan 6y ago
I'm not familiar with Mukhesh Ambani or his reputation, but sounds like he's India's version of China's Jack Ma? Jack Ma and Alibaba came to the forefront due in part to his connections to the Chinese government. On the
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by paulpan 6y ago
Agreed that x86 isn't going anywhere, at least for another decade. The point is that we're about to embark on some very interesting and untested waters for the overall silicon/semiconductor industry. The collapse of so-called
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by paulpan 6y ago
The competitive advantage of YouTube isn't really in video storage or bandwidth, but rather in its creators community and ad revenue sharing/monetization. Also copyright, regulatory compliance, content moderation are non-trivial.
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by paulpan 6y ago
Very cool for multiple reasons! The first is that it seems a lightweight and straightforward approach to launch first and thereafter iteratively improve, e.g. using Zoom to push live video to Cloudflare. Secondly the content, while all Clou
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by paulpan 6y ago
Good point on the battery life. One mitigation would be allowing quick (wireless?) charging from existing devices like smartphones, but there would still need to be a minimally viable battery life. Example is the first Apple Watch that targ
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by paulpan 6y ago
I'm wondering too...it's just earbuds in a different form factor right? I guess it's one less device to carry but would be concerned about the weight and battery life. The appeal of Hololens and rumored Apple Glass is that th
237.
by paulpan 6y ago
Agreed, plus benchmarks and measures like TFLOPS are always highly subjective. I'd be curious if Apple's non-mobile SOC roadmap emphasizes on CPU development while still allowing for eGPU setups or even some built-in integration (
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by paulpan 6y ago
Valid point as a GF-tied AMD would not be in the same position as today. That said, what are the other options if not TSMC? Besides Intel, Samsung is only other cutting-edge option. Intel's 7nm would be technically on par with TSMC&#x2
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by paulpan 6y ago
> What happens to GPU? Having their own GPU for iMac and Mac Pro as well? Dual GPU options where Apple GPU for power efficiency? This feels like additional complexity. I think GPU scaling will be much harder than CPU, so whereas Apple ca
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by paulpan 6y ago
Agreed, $99/year may seem reasonable for all the features and principles but for most users on Gmail and Outlook, it's a steep entry fee. Probably intentional for initial launch so that mostly power users try it out. I think a dif

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