In the world where the largest companies are riding the AI train, the biggest of them all—Apple—seemed to stay quiet for a while. Even with many companies announcing their systems/models, Apple has stayed relatively silent about the use of LLMs in their products. However, according to Bloomberg, Apple is not pushing out an AI model of its own; rather, it will license Google's leading Gemini models for its iPhone smartphones. Gemini is Google's leading AI model with three variants: Gemini Nano 1/2, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. The Gemini Nano 1 and Nano 2 are designed to run locally on hardware like smartphones. At the same time, Gemini Pro and Ultra are inferenced from Google's servers onto a local device using API and the internet.

Apple could use a local Gemini Nano for basic tasks while also utilizing Geminin Pro or Ultra for more complex tasks, where a router sends user input to the available model. That way, users could use AI capabilities both online and offline. Since Apple is readying a suite of changes for iOS version 18, backed by Neural Engine inside A-series Bionic chips, the LLM game of Apple's iPhones might get a significant upgrade with the Google partnership. While we still don't know the size of the deal, it surely is a massive deal for Google to tap into millions of devices Apple ships every year and for Apple to give its users a more optimized experience.

Leading provider of embedded PC solutions, AAEON, is delighted to announce the official launch of two new additions to its rich line of embedded AI systems, the BOXER-8653AI and BOXER-8623AI, which are powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and Jetson Orin Nano, respectively. Measuring just 180 mm x 136 mm x 75 mm, both systems are compact and easily wall-mounted for discreet deployment, which AAEON indicate make them ideal for use in both indoor and outdoor settings such as factories and parking lots. Adding to this is the systems' environmental resilience, with the BOXER-8653AI sporting a wide -15°C to 60°C temperature tolerance and the BOXER-8623AI able to operate between -15°C and 65°C, with both supporting a 12 V ~ 24 V power input range via a 2-pin terminal block.

The BOXER-8653AI benefits from the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX module, offering up to 70 TOPS of AI inference performance for applications that require extremely fast analysis of vast quantities of data. Meanwhile, the BOXER-8623AI utilizes the more efficient, yet still powerful NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano module, capable of up to 40 TOPS. Both systems consequently make use of the 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere architecture GPU with 32 Tensor Cores.

Japanese tech giant Canon hopes to shake up the semiconductor manufacturing industry by shipping new low-cost nanoimprint lithography (NIL) machines as early as this year. The technology, which stamps chip designs onto silicon wafers rather than using more complex light-based etching like market leader ASML's systems, could allow Canon to undercut rivals and democratize leading-edge chip production. "We would like to start shipping this year or next year...while the market is hot. It is a very unique technology that will enable cutting-edge chips to be made simply and at a low cost," said Hiroaki Takeishi, head of Canon's industrial group overseeing nanoimprint lithography technological advancement. Nanoimprint machines target a semiconductor node width of 5 nanometers, aiming to reach 2 nm eventually. Takeishi said the technology has primarily resolved previous defect rate issues, but success will depend on convincing customers that integration into existing fabrication plants is worthwhile.

There is skepticism about Canon's ability to significantly disrupt the market led by ASML's expensive but sophisticated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools. However, if nanoimprint can increase yields to nearly 90% at lower costs, it could carve out a niche, especially with EUV supply struggling to meet surging demand. Canon's NIL machines are supposedly 40% the cost of ASML machinery, while operating with up to 90% lower power draw. Initially focusing on 3D NAND memory chips rather than complex processors, Canon must contend with export controls limiting sales to China. But with few options left, Takeishi said Canon will "pay careful attention" to sanctions risks. If successfully deployed commercially after 15+ years in development, Canon's nanoimprint technology could shift the competitive landscape by enabling new players to manufacture leading-edge semiconductors at dramatically lower costs. But it remains to be seen whether the new machines' defect rates, integration challenges, and geopolitical headwinds will allow Canon to disrupt the chipmaking giants it aims to compete with significantly.

Cerabyte/Ceramic Data Solutions Holding GmbH, a German storage technology startup, is hyping up its nanolayer-based storage method: "creating the most reliable data storage ever. Data is safe in a wide temperature range of -273 °C (-460 °F) to 300 °C (570 °F) and even in corrosive or acidic atmosphere. Also radiation and an EMP can't destroy information stored on (our system)." The firm's leadership is comprised of self-described "pioneers," with a goal to disrupt the storage market (worth $500 billion)—they want to reduce data center storage total cost of ownership (TCO) by 75 %, while introducing their environment friendly solution that: "requires 99 % less energy. Sustainable long-term data storage is one of the most urgent problems in our world. Cerabyte is the solution for reducing 99% of CO2 emissions generated by conventional cloud data storage."

A product preview showcases the potential of multiple CeraMemory cartridges (2025-30) in a rack formation capable of storing between 10 PB and 100 PB of data, and their CeraTape (2030-35) series offering up to 1 EB capacity per unit. Cerabyte representatives are set to discuss their technologies at the 2023 Storage Developer Conference, scheduled to take place later this month (September 18 to 21). Their "Ceramic Nano Memory - Data Storage for the Yottabyte Era" abstract is available to view in advance of the upcoming meet up in Silicon Valley.

FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO, Representative Director: Teiichi Goto) and IBM today announced the development of a 50 TB native tape storage system, featuring the world's highest native data tape cartridge capacity. Fujifilm has commenced production of a high-density tape cartridge for use with IBM's newest enterprise tape drive, the TS1170. The sixth-generation IBM 3592 JF tape cartridge incorporates a newly developed technology featuring fine hybrid magnetic particles to enable higher data storage capacity.

Innovations in achieving 50 TB Native Capacity
Fujifilm has succeeded in achieving this innovative cartridge capacity by evolving the technologies developed in previous tape generations. This involved enhancing both the areal recording density (the amount of data that can be recorded per square inch) and the overall recording area (the surface area capable of recording data).

Aetina launches its new fanless edge AI systems powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin system-on-modules (SoMs), including the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, and Orin Nano. These embedded box PCs are designed in a compact enclosure with a heat sink for efficient cooling. The heat sink reduces maintenance efforts for system owners after deployment. The new fanless systems have an operating temperature range of -25°C to +55°C, making them suitable for AI-powered application development across different verticals.

NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and Orin Nano-Based Fanless Systems
AIE-CN31/41, AIE-CO21/31, AIE-PN32/42, and AIE-PO22/32 are Aetina's latest fanless system models built with an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX or Orin Nano SoM. Featuring necessary M.2 expansion slots and I/O ports in a small-sized form factor, these systems enable easy system integration for space-limited applications. With low power consumption, the fanless system models can efficiently handle most AI inference tasks, making them ideal for AI projects that involve mass device deployment in different locations.

During the European Technology Symposium 2023, TSMC presented additional details regarding the upcoming complementary FET (CFET) technology to power the next generation of silicon-based devices. With Nanosheet replacing FinFET, the CFET technology will do the same to the Gate All Around FET (GAAFET) Nanosheet nodes. As the company notes, CFET transistors are now in the TSMC labs and are being tested for performance, efficiency, and density. Compared to GAAFET, CFET will provide greater design in all of those areas, but it will require some additional manufacturing steps to get the chip working as intended. Integrating both p-type and n-type FETs into a single device, CFET will require the use of High NA EUV scanners with high precision and high power to manufacture it.

The use of CFET, as the roadmap shows, is one of the last steps in the world of silicon. It will require the integration of new materials into the manufacturing process, resulting in a greater investment into research and development that is in charge of node creation. Kevin Zhang, senior vice president at TSMC, responsible for technology roadmap and business development, notes: "Let me make a clarification on that roadmap, everything beyond the Nanosheet is something we will put on our [roadmap] to tell you there is still future out there. We will continue to work on different options. I also have the add on to the one-dimensional material-[based transistors] […], all of those are being researched on being investigated on the future potential candidates right now, we will not tell you exactly the transistor architecture will be beyond the Nanosheet."

Aetina teams up with CVEDIA to launch advanced AI-powered video analytics solutions for enhanced public safety, smarter cities and safer traffic networks. The solutions involve Aetina's embedded computers built with the latest NVIDIA Jetson Orin system-on-modules (SoMs) and CVEDIA's synthetic AI models, enabling low-latency object and human motion detections at the edge. By adopting AI-enabled video analytics, security companies and system integrators can optimize operations and enhance security measures. During ISC West 2023, Aetina and CVEDIA will showcase the solutions to demonstrate how they leverage deep learning to accurately detect, track, and analyze objects and events from videos, enabling businesses to quickly generate insights and improve their decision-making processes.

Aetina's embedded computers that support the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, or Orin Nano SoMs are designed for the creation of different types of vertical AI. The embedded computers provide the computing power for CVEDIA's AI solutions to run real-time inference processes; they are also compatible with any kind of camera to receive high-resolution videos for the analytics tasks.

ASUS today announced the 15.6-inch Vivobook Go 15 OLED (E1504F) and 14-inch Vivobook Go 14 (E1404F), two exciting and affordable lifestyle laptops that help make users productive or keep them entertained, wherever they go. These light and compact laptops feature superior OLED (E1504F) or IPS (E1404F) displays and powerful ASUS SonicMaster sound systems with DTS Audio Processing for immersive entertainment. The design is stylish and practical, with thoughtful touches that make the user's life easier, such as a 180° lay-flat hinge. Built to survive any lifestyle, these tough laptops are US military-grade tested for durability using the world's strictest test regime.

Speedy performance for any task is assured by up to AMD Ryzen 5 7000-series processors, 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512 GB PCIe SSD. Other user-friendly features include an ASUS ErgoSense keyboard; smart conferencing via the HD webcam with ASUS 3D Noise Reduction (3DNR), AI noise cancelation, and a physical privacy shield; and a useful suite of ASUS apps including MyASUS, GlideX and ScreenXpert 3.

Fractal Design have concentrated the essence of their Meshify 2 and Define 7 series to bring you four new cases - introducing a Mini and Nano form factor to each family. All four cases feature the same recognizable exterior design expressions as their larger siblings, while offering many of the quality-of-life features associated which each series. They also offer generous compatibility, accessibility, and flexibility, in space-conscious sizes - so you can develop your ideal Mini or Nano system.

The Meshify 2 Mini offers an excellent combination of airflow and flexibility, in a form-factor optimized for mATX. The bold yet refined exterior design, with its asymmetric angular mesh front, is complemented by a flush TG panel and a fully removable top. Its accessible and intuitive interior layout makes it easy and enjoyable to build a stylish, airflow-centric system.

AAEON, an industry leader in embedded AI Edge systems, announces new software support for the BOXER-8200 series of embedded PCs featuring NVIDIA Jetson System on Modules (SOM). AAEON has officially signed an agreement with Canonical to provide customers with the NVIDIA Ubuntu operating system pre-installed on new BOXER-8200 systems. Systems with the NVIDIA Ubuntu OS will also ship with the Jetpack 4.5 drivers and toolkit package preinstalled. Additionally, AAEON announces a new customization services to provide Secureboot to clients in addition to other customization options.

AAEON is dedicated to delivering the most comprehensive platform solutions powered by NVIDIA Jetson SOMs. To meet the needs of their clients, AAEON has signed an agreement with Canonical to provide the official NVIDIA Ubuntu OS image on the entire range of BOXER-8200 series systems. Developers and customers who purchase new BOXER-8200 series systems can receive the system with the OS preinstalled, with no need to flash the image before starting the system up for the first time. The BOXER-8200 series includes the BOXER-822x platforms with Jetson Nano, BOXER-8240AI with Jetson AGX Xavier, BOXER-825x platforms with Jetson Xavier NX, and BOXER-823x platforms with Jetson TX2 NX (currently under development).

LG Electronics (LG) announces a planned partnership with Google to bring Stadia to its latest webOS smart TVs in the second half of this year. After Stadia comes to Google TV, LG will be the first TV manufacturer to natively support Stadia gameplay via webOS.

LG is demonstrating its commitment to supporting premium gaming on its state-of-the-art displays, made even more compelling with support for 4k and 5.1 surround sound for Stadia Pro users. Stadia on LG TVs will allow customers to instantly play hit Stadia games such as Cyberpunk 2077, NBA 2K21, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion with just a Stadia controller and no additional hardware or game downloads required.

Lenovo is very excited to unveil the latest addition to our premium X1 portfolio, ThinkPad X1 Nano. The lightest ThinkPad ever at just 1.99 pounds (907 g) breaks new ground for performance and functionality in an incredibly featherweight package. Lenovo's first ThinkPad based on Intel Evo platform and powered by 11th Gen Intel Core processors, the X1 Nano delivers supreme speed and intelligence while maintaining outstanding battery life. Stunning visuals are delivered through a narrow bezel 13-inch 2K display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and four speakers and four 360-degree microphones enhance the audio-visual capabilities. For a truly immersive user experience, the X1 Nano supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. State of the art connectivity is provided by WiFi 65 and optional 5G will deliver higher bandwidth capability and drive new levels of always on always connected efficiency and collaboration in a new hybrid working world.

Lenovo today is also delighted to announce that the world's first foldable PC, ThinkPad X1 Fold, is available to order and will ship in a few weeks. A pinnacle of engineering innovation, the X1 Fold offers a revolutionary mix of portability and versatility that defines a new computing category enabled by Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid Technology and made possible by Intel's Project Athena innovation program. Blending familiar functionality that we all know from smartphones, tablets and laptops into a single foldable PC device that will forever reshape the way you work, play, create and connect. With optional 5G, you can trust that your connection speed is more secure and optimized where available and that you are better protected with ThinkShield security features. Find out more how ThinkPad X1 Fold is pioneering a new category: A Game Changing Category

At its Computex presser, leading up to its 7 nm Radeon Vega series unveil, AMD touched upon the massive proliferation of the Vega graphics architecture, which is found not only in discrete GPUs, but also APUs, and semi-custom SoCs of the latest generation 4K-capable game consoles. One such slide that created quite some flutter reads that "Vega" shipments are over 10 times greater than those of the "previous generation."

Normally you'd assume the previous-generation of "Vega" to be "Polaris," since we're talking about the architecture, and not an implementation of it (eg: "Vega 10" or "Raven Ridge," etc.). AMD later, at its post event round-table, clarified that it was referring to "Fiji," or the chip that went into building the Radeon R9 Fury X, R9 Nano, etc., and comparing its sales with that of products based on the "Vega 10" silicon. Growth in shipments of "Vega" based graphics cards is triggered by the crypto-mining industry, and for all intents and purposes, AMD considers the "Vega 10" silicon to be a commercial success.

AMD today unveiled the Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano, the spiritual successor to the disruptive high-end SFF graphics card, the Radeon R9 Nano. Unlike the R9 Nano, the RX Vega 56 Nano is an AIB (add-in board) partner effort, specifically by PowerColor. The card itself is a good inch longer than the R9 Nano. Also, unlike its predecessor, it doesn't feature all stream processors physically present on the silicon. The card is cooled by a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink, ventilated by a single fan. The card is expected to be priced at USD $449.

Update: We went hands-on with this card.

Last month, the attendees at the AMD Ryzen 2000 series launch event in Munich spotted a miniature AMD graphics card. At the time, we thought it was PowerColor's rendition of the highly anticipated Radeon RX Vega Nano. However, the latest press release from the graphics card manufacturer stated otherwise. Apparently, the prototype that was on display in Munich was actually the RX Vega 56 Nano Edition. Unfortunately, PowerColor didn't reveal any technical information about the graphics card that we didn't know already. And so, we're back to the waiting game for a proper RX Vega Nano release.

A mysterious Radeon RX Vega Nano graphics card from manufacturer PowerColor made a surprise appearance at AMD's Ryzen 2000 series launch event held in Munich. Although based on AMD's reference design, this PowerColor model differs a little from the RX Vega Nano prototype that was showcased back in SIGGRAPH 2017 by Raja Koduri. In terms of design, PowerColor's prototype lacks the illuminated Radeon cube on the corner, and the axial fan sits further to the left. The heatsink is physically longer and extends slightly beyond the graphics card's PCB. The manufacturer also added an additional 6-pin PCIe connector for more power delivery. At the time of this article's publication, PowerColor hasn't confirmed if their Radeon RX Vega Nano will be available to the public.

LG today at CES announced a new introduction to its monitor lineup. The 34WK95 continues the company's foray into the 5K market, this time with a UltraWide part, which delivers a 21:9 aspect ratio that should improve productivity in some more horizontal-dependent workloads. The 34WK95 is a 34" affair with HDR600 support, and Thunderbolt 3 capabilities for daisy-chain of multiple monitors or connection of other Thunderbolt 3 devices. The 5K resolution (5120x2160) and Nano IPS display technology mean LG is confident in the color reproduction and viewing angles of this monitor for professionals. The monitor features a four-edgeless design (with ultra slim bezels on all sides), and the typical LG half-moon stand has been redesigned with metal instead of plastic, and should offer increased stability.

AMD had two press days over the weekend to cover a whole bunch of announcements- Ryzen Threadripper, RX Vega, Vega Pro and more. They provided details galore on the Vega microarchitecture, and the two RX Vega versions. Well, make that three now. AMD at Capcaicin SIGGRAPH 2017 also announced and showed off the RX Vega Nano.

Raja Koduri, Senior Vice-president of AMD's Radeon Technology Group, came up on stage minutes ago and handed over one of the very few working samples of this new card to Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games and Unreal Engine. The RX Vega Nano is an update to the R9 Nano from 2015 which was based off AMD's "Fiji" microarchitecture and was the then king of efficiency and small form factor support. We were only just talking about how RX Vega missed an opportunity with HBM2 to provide another mITX GPU and looks like AMD agreed.

AMD on Monday announced their ROCm initiative. Introduced by AMD's Gregory Stoner, Senior Director for the Radeon Open Compute Initiative, ROCm stands for Radeon Open Compute platforM. This open-standard, high-performance, Hyper Scale computing platform stands on the shoulders of AMD's technological expertise and accomplishments, with cards like the Radeon R9 Nano achieving as much as 46 GFLOPS of peak single-precision performance per Watt.

The natural evolution of AMD's Boltzmann Initiative, ROCm grants developers and coders a platform which allows the leveraging of AMD's GPU solutions through a variety of popular programming languages, such as OpenCL, CUDA, ISO C++ and Python. AMD knows that the hardware is but a single piece in an ecosystem, and that having it without any supporting software is a recipe for failure. As such, AMD's ROCm stands as AMD's push towards HPC by leveraging both its hardware, as well as the support for open-standards and the conversion of otherwise proprietary code.

AMD, which has been timing its upcoming dual-GPU "Fiji" graphics card to launch sometime this year, may have demoed a production version of the card in one of its launch partners, Falcon Northwest's, Tiki high-end gaming desktop, as a "VR developer box." AMD's Roy Taylor, in a recent tweet, captions a picture of this dev box as being "the world's best DirectX 12 VR developer box," leading the press to speculate that it's running the company's dual-GPU "Fiji" card.

A close look at AMD's VR dev box, through its windowed graphics card compartment, reveals an air-cooled AMD reference graphics card, which VideoCardz' trigonometry pins as being shorter than a Radeon R9 390X reference board. It could be a reference R9 380X, but then a reference dual-GPU "Fiji" PCB is roughly of the same length, and a R9 380X wouldn't earn the title of being the "world's best" from a senior AMD exec while there are faster AMD cards, such as the R9 Fury. The ability of the full-spec "Fiji" silicon to cope well with a rather simple air-cooler in the R9 Nano fans even more speculation that a dual-GPU "Fiji" board could make do with a powerful air-channel cooler.

This week on TechPowerUp News: Intel 6th gen. Core "Skylake" processors freeze over under certain kinds of stress; AMD's big price-cut for the super-small Radeon R9 Nano, and the fabled 5.10 GHz Intel Xeon processor.

TechPowerUp released version 0.8.6 of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information and diagnostics utility, which gives you detailed info on your installed graphics chips, and lets you monitor the various sensors of your GPUs. To begin with, the new version comes with DirectX 12 support, with the ability to tell which feature-level of Direct3D your hardware supports. Command-line usage has been added with the "/help" argument. Support was added for several GPUs, notably GTX 950, Microsoft Surface Book GPU, R9 Nano, and AMD "Carrizo" iGPU.

The app can now wake up AMD GPUs in laptops that are power-gated to conserve power (and which would hence not get properly detected). BIOS reading is improved, and incorrect fan-speed reading, and a rare BSOD in AMD R9 Fury series GPUs, are fixed. Several stability improvements for Intel iGPUs were made, with the addition of support for Intel "Braswell," "Cherry Lake," and "Skylake" iGPUs. AMD GPU clock speed detection with no AMD driver installed, has been improved. A rare case of misreading BIOS in multi-GPU setups, has been fixed. Voltage monitoring on some Sapphire graphics cards has been fixed.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.8.6 | GPU-Z 0.8.6 ASUS ROG Themed

The change-log follows.

AMD's upcoming disruptive performance-segment graphics card, the Radeon R9 Nano, could be arriving sooner than its late-Summer expected launch. One of AMD's promotional heads Anthony "Elmy" Lackey posted two pictures of the card on his Flickr page, which reiterates just how compact the thing is. AMD earlier announced that the R9 Nano will be faster than the Radeon R9 290X, with typical board power well under 190W, making it an exciting product to look forward to. The R9 Nano will be based on the same "Fiji" silicon, which powers the R9 Fury X and R9 Fury. AMD could make a major announcement related to this product very soon, given how Elmy promised to release a few details next week.

AMD's Radeon R9 Nano is shaping up to be a more important card for AMD, than even its flaghsip, the R9 Fury X. Some of the first pictures of the Fury X led us to believe that it could stay compact only because it's liquid cooled. AMD disproved that notion, unveiling the Radeon R9 Nano, an extremely compact air-cooled graphics cards, with some stunning chops.

The Radeon R9 Nano is a feat similar to the NUC by Intel - to engineer a product that's surprisingly powerful for its size. The card is 6-inches long, 2-slot thick, and doesn't lug along any external radiator. AMD CEO Lisa Su, speaking at the company's E3 conference, stated that the R9 Nano will be faster than the Radeon R9 290X. That shouldn't surprise us, since it's a bigger chip; but it's the electrical specs, that make this product exciting - a single 8-pin PCIe power input, with a typical board power rated at 175W (Radeon R9 290X was rated at 275W). The card itself is as compact as some of the "ITX-friendly" custom design boards launched in recent times. It uses a vapor-chamber based air-cooling solution, with a single fan. The Radeon R9 Nano will launch later this Summer. It could compete with the GeForce GTX 970 in both performance and price.