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Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 517

Nov 26, 2019

AMD confirms 64-core Threadripper 3990X for 2020

Posted by in category: computing

AMD’s first Threadripper CPU with 64 computing cores and 128 threads is coming in 2020. That’s double the 32 cores and 64 threads found in the second-generation flagship 2990WX. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

Nov 25, 2019

Tiny Devices made of DNA detect Cancer with fewer false alarms

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

DNA circuits could help ensure that cancer screens and therapies zero in on the right culprits. A new cancer-detecting tool uses tiny circuits made of DNA to identify cancer cells by the molecular signatures on their surface.

Duke University researchers fashioned the simple circuits from interacting strands of synthetic DNA that are tens of thousands of times finer than a human hair.

Unlike the circuits in a computer, these circuits work by attaching to the outside of a cell and analyzing it for proteins found in greater numbers on some cell types than others. If a circuit finds its targets, it labels the cell with a tiny light-up tag.

Nov 25, 2019

Rocket Lab readies Electron for the first launch with rocket recovery systems on board

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, satellites

Rocket Lab is getting ready to fly its tenth mission, which the first official launch window during which it could happen set for this week on November 29. Aside from being a milestone 10th mission (dubbed ‘Running Out of Fingers,’ ha), this will be the first time that Rocket Lab includes technology designed to help it eventually recover and reuse elements of its launch vehicle.

After first designing its Electron launch platform as a fully expendable spacecraft, meaning it could only do one way trips to bring cargo to orbit, Rocket Lab announced that it would be moving towards rocket reusability at an event hosted by CEO and founder Peter Beck in August. To make this happen, the company will be developing and testing the tech necessary to recover Electron’s first-stage rocket booster over the course of multiple missions.

Toe be clear, this mission has the primary goal of delivering a number of small satellites on behalf of paying customers, including microsatellites from Alba Orbital and a Tokyo –based company called ALE that is using microsatellites to simulate particles from meteors. But Rocket Lab will also be testing recovery instrumentation loaddd on board the Electron vehicle, including guidance and navigation systems, as well as telemetry and flight computer hardware. This will be used to gather real-time data about the process of re-entry for Electron’s first stage, and Rocket Lab will also attempt to make use of a reaction control system to control the orientation of the booster as it re-enters.

Nov 22, 2019

Google’s Android bug bounty program will now pay out $1.5 million

Posted by in categories: computing, cybercrime/malcode, mobile phones

Hacking the Pixel’s Titan M chip and finding exploits in the developer preview versions of Android will earn you the big bucks.

Nov 22, 2019

Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain-computer communication startup to reveal progress in livestreamed event

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

A livestreamed event at 8 p.m. PT will offer a look at the startup’s progress developing a “brain-machine interface.”

Nov 22, 2019

Intel Gets New Partners for Brain Computing Push

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience

The answer, Markham says, may lie in a new breed of computing chips called neuromorphic processors that are designed to operate more like the human brain. Such chips may be able to function on just 1/100 or 1/1,000 of the electricity needed by today’s processors and be less reliant on sending data to cloud servers for analysis. Everyone from tech giants like Intel, IBM, and Qualcomm to startups like aiCTX and Brainchip are racing to develop this new kind of chip.


First major corporate partners come on board effort to create neuromorphic chips based on design of the human brain.

Nov 21, 2019

Smart contacts: The future of the wearable you won’t even see

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, wearables

The notion of wearing lenses over our eyes to correct our vision dates back hundreds of years, with some even crediting Leonardo da Vinci as one of the first proponents of the idea (though that remains somewhat controversial). Material science and our understanding of the human eye have come a long way since, while their purpose has remained largely the same. In the age of wearable computers, however, scientists in the laboratories of DARPA, Google, and universities around the world see contact lenses not just as tools to improve our vision, but as opportunities to augment the human experience. But how? And why?

As a soft, transparent disc of plastic and silicone that you wear on your eyeball, a contact lens may seem like a very bad place to put electronics. But if you look beneath the surface, the idea of a smart contact lens has real merit, and that begins with its potential to improve our well-being.

Nov 20, 2019

Single $10bln Pentagon Contract Must Be Broken Up Between Multiple Recipients

Posted by in categories: computing, military

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday ruled out allegations of unfair competition in the awarding of a US$10-billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft.

“I am confident it was conducted freely and fairly, without any type of outside influence,” Esper told a news conference in Seoul, South Korea.

Formally called the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure, or JEDI, the contract was awarded to Microsoft on 25 October, and the lucrative deal could span 10 years.

Nov 20, 2019

The Architect of Modern Algorithms

Posted by in categories: computing, information science

Barbara Liskov pioneered the modern approach to writing code. She warns that the challenges facing computer science today can’t be overcome with good design alone.

Nov 20, 2019

The Ethical Implications of Mind-Machine Meld | Future You | NPR

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

The fast-moving development of brain-machine interfaces got a boost when Elon Musk announced the work for Neuralink, his new company devoted to implantable devices to enhance cognition and better marry our brains with super-computing. His competitor, fellow tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson of Kernel, weighs in on why he thinks advancing cognition can solve all the other problems in the world. But tech ethicist Tristan Harris says not so fast — we haven’t properly accounted for what existing tech has already done to us. Think things through with this brainy episode of Future You with Elise Hu.

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