The ultimate successor to HDDs is coming NAND researchers at Kioxia have successfully demonstrated a working concept of a new storage architecture called Hepta-level cell NAND flash. This new type of NAND can house up to 7 bits per cell, giving it nearly twice the storage capacity of QLC NAND flash. If Kioxia can stabilize this storage architecture at room temperature, it might become the ultimate successor to spinning hard drives in consumer and enterprise applications. To create hepta-level NAND flash, Kioxia is using a new design called new silicon process technology to increase cell density, in conjunction with cryogenic cooling. New silicon process technology replaces current poly-silicon materials with a single-crystal silicon that is used in a channel inside a memory cell transistor. This apparently reduces the amount of read noise coming from the NAND flash by up to two-thirds. In other words, new silicon process technology produces clearer read signals for reading data off of the NAND flash, enough so to increase the bits cell capacity to 7. Kioxia says this new storage architecture will also be significantly cheaper to produce, and even has a proposed solution incorporating hepta-level flash with cryogenic cooling. That would be cheaper than current (air-cooled or passively cooled) SSDs on the market today. If Kioxia starts producing hepta-level NAND flash in the near future, it will likely change the SSD landscape forever. Ultra-high capacity SSDs will finally be possible, and SSDs will finally have the capacity to match most hard drives on the market today.

\ Meta plans to be able to ship a pair of third-generation smart glasses in 2025, complete with a camera and augmented reality technology. While Meta hasn't formally confirmed that it is working on the product, a new report cites a company AR/VR roadmap presentation as having outed the plans for 2025 and beyond. The Verge reports that Alex Himel, the company’s vice president for AR, told employees that there will be a number of devices that launch all the way through 2027 with the first launch coming as soon as this year with the second generation of the company's smart glasses. But then it's looking beyond that, to 2025. "In 2025, Himel said the third generation of the smart glasses will ship with a display that he called a 'viewfinder' for viewing incoming text messages, scanning QR codes, and translating text from another language in real time," the report says. "The glasses will come with a 'neural interface' band that allows the wearer to control the glasses through hand movements, such as swiping fingers on an imaginary D-pad. Eventually, he said the band will let the wearer use a virtual keyboard and type at the same words per minute as what mobile phones allow." That virtual keyboard sounds similar to the air typing that we recently heard that Apple is also working on for this year's expected AR/VR headset launch. The same report says that while Meta recently canned plans to launch a smartwatch of its own, the idea isn't completely dead. Meta has designs on launching a smartwatch alongside the 2025 glasses, it says. “We don’t want people to have to choose between an input device on their wrist and smartwatch functionality that they’ve come to love,” The Verge reports Himel as having said. “So we are building a neural interfaces watch. Number one, this device will do input: input to control your glasses, input to control the functionality on your wrist, and input to control the world around you.” Of course, it's important to remember that Meta is a long way from actually launching these things and we know that it's good at cancelling projects before they ship. With 2025 still a ways away we can expect there to be plenty more bumps and turns before anyone's wearing Ray-Ban-like Meta glasses anywhere apart from inside Mark Zuckerberg's head.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Google's dominance in mapping, reviving a thread of its long-running antitrust investigation into the search giant, according to three people familiar with the probe. Department lawyers have been seeking information and reinterviewing potential witnesses, the people said, speaking anonymously to discuss a pending investigation. The probe is focused on how Alphabet Inc.'s Google bundles its services, and could result in a new antitrust complaint, they said. The development shows the Justice Department is continuing to scrutinize some of Google's most po[CENSORED]r products, even after filing two major antitrust suits against the company. Google's terms of service require developers to use its maps and search products together. The limitations prevent companies from using Google Places data—which offer detailed information, photos and reviews of specific establishments—on rival mapping services. Forcing companies to use one product in order to gain access to a more po[CENSORED]r one, known as bundling, can violate antitrust law. Google said the restrictions ensure a good user experience, and that some third parties from which it licenses map data restrict how it is used. "Developers choose to use Google Maps Platform out of many options because they recognize it provides helpful, high-quality information," Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said. "They are also free to use other mapping services in addition to Google Maps Platform—and many do." Rivals have complained the restrictions could impair innovation in a number of emerging fields, such as drones, delivery and logistics, as well as electric and autonomous vehicles. At a February 2021 House hearing, Garmin Ltd. and closely held Mapbox Inc. raised concerns about Google's restrictions related to maps. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. The Justice Department began investigating Google in 2019 and has filed two antitrust complaints—one focused on search and another on its advertising technology business. The agency sought information from the company related to mapping as part of the search case, but ultimately opted to file a narrow antitrust complaint that focuses on Google's contracts with browsers and smartphone makers that require its search engine to be set as the default. State attorneys general conducted their own investigations and filed three separate complaints against Google related to search, advertising technology and the tech giant's control over apps downloaded on Android smartphones and devices. The state search case—led by Colorado and Nebraska—was broader than the one filed by the Justice Department and included some allegations related to mapping and Google's bundling of products to carmakers. Germany's antitrust authority opened an investigation into Google's map restrictions last year. Politico earlier reported on the revived probe.

Three years ago it was nothing more than a school project and proof of concept — the second-place winner at a university showcase contest — but it grabbed headlines as far away as the United Kingdom. For their senior project at UTSA, Ryan Saavedra and three classmates had built a robotic prosthetic hand for less than $700, a fraction of what many prosthetics like it on the market cost. Their 3D-printed model, offering artificial intelligence-enhanced bionic prosthetics at an affordable price, dangled the prospect of upheaval in a multibillion-dollar industry. Reporters asked Saavedra, what’s next? “I had absolutely no idea,” he said, recalling the experience this week. “I was an undergrad with no prior experience of building a company or commercializing a medical device.” In fact, he had no plans to do so. Today Alt-Bionics, the startup Saavedra founded, is on a steady path to carry his concept to market. It’s in talks to begin its first small-scale clinical trials, and the venture has gathered attention from local investor groups and business observers far beyond San Antonio’s tight-knit robotics scene. Manufacturers from Poland and clinicians in South Africa say they want to work with Alt-Bionics. After a successful first round of funding last year, a second round is underway, intended in part to help the startup produce its first commercially available prosthetics. The flurry of early media coverage did little to motivate Saavedra to take his concept beyond a school project, he said. But those news segments reached a friend, who asked if her cousin, an Army Ranger with multiple amputations from a tour in Afghanistan, could try out the model his team had created. Saavedra agreed, and the veteran quickly programmed the hand to make a rude gesture. Saavedra said the man was thrilled. “His family asked me, ‘What’s next’? And that question is a lot different coming from someone who these devices can help,” he said. Saavedra, 28, fields hundreds of inquiries from potential consumers from South America, Russia, India and elsewhere, asking how they can get his device. Most are responding to a TikTok video clip he posted, showing a montage of the prosthetic’s development that currently has more than 18 million views on the app. Saavedra said he films just about everything he does. A pitch for disruption Advances in high-tech prosthetics have lurched forward in recent years, and Saavedra isn’t the only one to pursue a low-cost version. But the high price tag of these devices, often not covered by insurance, aren’t the only challenge for amputees looking for a below-the-elbow prosthetic. These kind of electronic prosthetics often are cumbersome and prone to technical breakdowns, said Mona Patel, founder of the San Antonio Amputee Foundation. “Honestly, a lot of times they end up sitting in a closet.” And, she warned, any startup seeking to change this would face daunting prospects. “They would be going up against large manufacturers who have money for marketing, research and development, and have been at it for decades.” Saavedra doesn’t downplay the challenge. Part of his pitch is that the bionic hand industry is ripe for disruption, and that stagnant technology has caused inflated prices. While many devices with similar functionality typically cost tens of thousands of dollars, Alt-Bionics is pushing for a price point around $3,500. Alt-Bionic’s hand allows users to control it through sensors that detect electric activity in other muscle groups, such as the forearms or shoulders. AI helps guide the hand into various poses, and more still are available through customization on a connected phone app. Haptic feedback allows the user to have a sense of grip and pressure. And while these kind of prosthetics often require expensive repairs by professionals, Saavedra also is seeking to make his device easily repaired by users by enabling them to remove and replace each finger individually using readily available replacements. He and the two part-time engineers who work for him also have sought to make the hand durable. After hearing about an amputee who, upon receiving an expensive bionic limb, immediately broke it by punching through drywall, Saavedra said that became the benchmark for the durability of their own model. Alt-Bionics founder Ryan Saavedra points to sensors embedded into the fingertips on a bionic hand prototype designed to register touchpoints and pressure in electrical signals that can be communicated to the wearer of the hand. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report Investor interest Some investors are buying Saavedra’s pitch. Last year, before winning second place at TechFuel, a startup pitch competition funded by Bexar County, Alt-Bionics sought $200,000 in a pre-seed funding round. It ultimately collected $283,000. Among the contributors were a city-affiliated economic development entity and Alamo Angels, a local angel investor network connected to the Texas Research & Technology Foundation, whose accelerator Alt-Bionics went through last year. “They stood out as an investment opportunity,” said Juan Sebastian Garzon, the executive director of Alamo Angels, in a conversation late last year. That flood of investor interest surprised Saavedra. “When we closed our round, I took a deep breath and cried,” he said. “I’ve come a long way.” His path has been a winding one. Nearly a decade ago, Saavedra flunked out of UTSA his freshman year, doing poorly in engineering classes. “I thought of myself as a failure,” he said. He enrolled at San Antonio Community College to pursue becoming a firefighter and took an astronomy class that sparked a new interest in science and technology. He convinced UTSA to re-admit him, and he ultimately graduated in 2020 with a degree in electrical engineering — and a budding new startup. Because of his own experiences as a student, Saavedra said he relishes the opportunity to speak to electrical engineering students, as he has done at UTSA and the University of North Texas. This past weekend, he set up a booth at a youth-oriented science fair at the Witte Museum, where he gave some advice to a 16-year-old preparing for college: Don’t be afraid to fail. “Through failure, you might find out that you want to do something else,” he said. “And your inspiration may come from somewhere unexpected.”

Nick Movie: RYE LANE Time: Mar 31, 2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: Hulu Duration of the movie: 1h 22m Trailer:

Domestic fintech company Paytm offers multiple online payment services via its app. These include Paytm wallet, which can be used to make or receive payments. To use this service, users need to add money to their wallet from their bank account. Unlike the newly-launched UPI Lite service, Paytm users need to pay a convenience fee to add money in their wallet. Previously, Paytm Wallet users were only able to send money (to merchants or individuals) who had a QR code provided by the company or a number which was registered with the app. Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) has now announced that Paytm Wallet users can make payments to all UPI QR codes and online merchants. This includes the ones that aren’t signed up or registered or provided by Paytm. The company made this announcement via Twitter. What this means for users This change means that Paytm users who have completed full KYC with PPBL will be able to make payments on any UPI QR code and online merchants that accept UPI payments. How Paytm Wallet transactions will help the company After this new change, PPBL will earn 1.1% of interchange revenue on transactions made by Paytm Wallet customers. The company will earn this revenue only when users make payments to merchants acquired by other payment aggregators or banks.

It’s not all bad news, though... Windows 12’s system requirements are the latest speculation to be aired on the grapevine regarding the next version of Microsoft’s desktop OS, and the news is kind of good and bad. Let’s start with the positive aspects here, which are that most of the recommended specs should stay the same compared to Windows 11, at least if a rumor from German tech site Deskmodder(opens in new tab) is correct (as flagged by Neowin(opens in new tab)). The site’s unnamed sources – as ever, add your own seasoning, and maybe tablespoons rather than teaspoons in this case – claim that there should be no change on the security front. Specifically, the sti[CENSORED]tion for the PC’s security needs will call for TPM 2.0 as is the case with Windows 11 currently. Deskmodder clarifies that it’s too early to bring in Pluton, Microsoft’s security chip that has been included with some devices since last year, but not nearly enough to be requiring its presence. Processor support, too, should remain unchanged according to this new info, so if your CPU is good enough for Windows 11, it’ll remain able to cope with any demands placed on it by the next-gen OS. What may be different is that the RAM requirement could be upped to 8GB. We should note at this point that even the rumor couches this as a possibility, and as such it may not happen – the minimum spec could remain at 4GB, as with Windows 11. However, it’s possible Microsoft could double up that RAM spec, and the reason for 8GB would apparently be the new ‘Cloud PC’ feature we’ve been hearing quite a bit about lately. The latter may be one of the key new features that Windows 12 is built around. Other specs aren’t mentioned in the leak, but we can guess that the primary missing piece of the puzzle, namely storage, will probably be pretty much in line with Windows 11. Analysis: But RAM, it’s an easy upgrade anyway, right? Well… It’s not a big surprise that TPM 2.0 would remain in place and security demands won’t be beefed up, but it’s good to hear this nonetheless (even if it’s just rumored – all of this info should be treated with some caution, as we’ve already touched upon). Similarly, it’s no shocker that the CPU requirements would stay the same. Windows 11 already set a pretty high bar here, and to raise it further definitely wouldn’t be well received. The RAM is the fly in the spec ointment, though, with that potential ask of 8GB. The trouble with this is that there are still a lot of folks out there motoring along with Windows 11 and 4GB of RAM, the current minimum spec. Well, maybe not motoring, but certainly plodding along happily enough accomplishing basic tasks like emailing and web browsing without breaking a sweat. It's true that for multi-tasking apps and more demanding work, ideally, you want 8GB of system memory these days anyway – heck, lots of Chrome browser tabs can be pretty demanding still (although Google has taken action on that front). But plenty of users out there won’t be happy about being frozen out of Windows 12 if it does raise the minimum RAM bar to 8GB. But RAM is easily upgraded, you say? Well, yes, true enough. It’s one of the easier upgrades to carry out on a PC for sure, but it’s still something that might intimidate the less tech-savvy. And remember, it’s more complicated on some PCs, such as in cases where the CPU fan overhangs the RAM slots, thereby requiring the cooler to be removed to perform the upgrade, so the process then becomes a somewhat fiddlier affair. There’s also the small matter of laptops, too – some of them can’t have their RAM upgraded, as it’s soldered on. If Microsoft really is mulling a move to 8GB minimum, and perhaps soon – with Windows 12 rumored to be set to arrive next year – this could cause some bad feeling in terms of forced upgrades (or maybe devices locked out totally, in the case of laptops), pretty soon after the launch of Windows 11. Let’s face it, the majority of folks still haven’t made the jump to Windows 11 yet, and the next iteration of the OS is on the horizon already (maybe). In a relatively short space of time – certainly in the world of operating systems – we’ve gone from needing 2GB of RAM for Windows 10 in 2015 (indeed, 1GB for a 32-bit installation originally), doubling up to 4GB for Windows 11 in 2021, and then potentially just three years after that, doubling again to 8GB? That feels like a steep rise when all other specs are remaining the same. Is it time to upgrade your 4GB PC, then? Well, maybe – if that’s possible – but of course, let’s not get carried away quite yet. The theorized 8GB requirement may evaporate into the rumor ether, and we’re guessing there are a fair few folks that are hoping for such a vanishing act to happen. If 1 in 20 gamers still have 4GB of RAM according to the latest Steam survey – with those who game typically being highly conscious of needing plenty of this particular system resource so frame rates run smoothly – we can only imagine how many everyday users remain in this boat.

So-called reservoir computing could create more energy efficient devices by combining meat and silicon. Scientists in the US managed to put together a living computer by cultivating over 80,000 mouse stem cells(opens in new tab) (via IT Home)(opens in new tab). One day, the hope is to have a robot that uses living muscle tissue to sense and process information about its environment. Researchers at the University of Illinois have used tens of thousands of living mouse brain cells to build a computer that can recognize patterns of light and electricity. The team presented their findings at the American Institute of Physics in the form of a computer about the size of your palm. The scientists grew the computer, made of 80,000 reprogrammed mouse stem cells, and placed them between optical fibers on a grid of electrodes. The cells were kept alive in an incubator during the experiment, and the team trained the mouse brain-computer by flashing ten different patterns of electrical pulses repeatedly for an hour, then recorded and analyzed the signals sent by the neurons after it had rested for 30 minutes. Just how good was it at analyzing the data? Well, its F1 score (a metric commonly used for neural networks) didn't start off too high, in all honesty. It's measured on a scale of 0 to 1, with 1 being perfect recognition of patterns. And initially it couldn't score above 0.6 due to random spikes of electricity coming from the neurons. But Andrew Dou and his team at the University of Illinois figured out a mix of chemicals and electronic impulses that could apparently calm such randomness. The end result was a rather spectacular score of 0.98 on its best run. So, congratulations, you weird mouse brain-bot! Why are scientists experimenting with this sort of computing? So-called reservoir computing matches neurons made from living cells with conventional computer chips used to read the data they produce. The idea is that the division of labor between meat and silicon cuts down the time and energy needed to train more traditional neural networks. Eventually it's hoped that reservoir computing could be used to create more efficient devices, that could also maintain continued functionality if parts are damaged or break down. The New Scientist report states that at the moment this mouse brain-bot can't yet match conventional neural networks in terms of raw performance, but the team is aiming to make a larger living computer. Somewhat worryingly, they're also hoping this larger mouse brain-bot will start to exhibit behavior they didn't input or train the neural network for. I've read enough science fiction to know how that goes. This isn't the first time mouse cells have been used to power(opens in new tab) wild biohybrid tech. Scientists in January revealed that they made a tiny robot walk using mouse muscles and 3D printing to build a soft scaffold and got it to navigate a tiny maze. One of the more realistic applications, according to New Scientist, is a robot that could eventually sense its environment and process the data simultaneously. So we're one step closer to all-meat robots. Researchers also say that living cells for computing could make reservoir computing devices (used for supreme machine learning algorithms) more power-efficient, acting as a backup for components if they fail. And no, I'm not entirely terrified by this. Are you?

As ransomware attacks continue to plague local government entities — Bexar County Appraisal District was the latest victim — hackers’ methods and organizations have become more sophisticated. At least one hacker group identified by the FBI appears to have an HR department, performance reviews and an “employee of the month.” Professionals simulated these complex, highly targeted attacks this week at a student competition in San Antonio, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies as a way to train and recruit the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The finals of the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, held at the Hyatt Regency Hill County Resort and Spa from Thursday to Saturday, saw 10 teams from 10 schools across the country play defense against coordinated cyberattacks. More than 150 other teams had already been eliminated before this week. The competition is the largest of its kind in the country, organizers said. Students on the teams played the roles of cybersecurity professionals protecting a business under active attack from intruders. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, real cybersecurity professionals acted the part of the hackers, seeking to disrupt and shut down system after system: emails, cloud-based servers, internal data and even the help desk. Points were awarded to teams who repelled the attacks and restored their systems as quickly as possible. Inside the University of Texas at Austin’s team room, sophomore Rishabh Ahlawat worked furiously to configure a firewall that would protect the Longhorns’ cloud servers and even alert them to new intruders. The teams’ computers sprawled across the desks showed blue screens and massive walls of coding text. “It’s stressful, but it’s a fun kind of stressful,” Ahlawat said. The team lost points every minute a product server remained down. His lunch sat untouched in its paper bag. Ahlawat said when he first came to college, he didn’t envision a future in cybersecurity. But competitions like this one have convinced him to enter the field when he graduates. His story illustrates a powerful reason why Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest intelligence contractors and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue, has sponsored the annual competition, now in its 17th year. Two dozen or so professionals from the company helped run the event, acting as performance assessors, and roleplaying as hackers and customers. “This is what you don’t get in classrooms,” said Jon Check, senior director of Cyber Protection Solutions for Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon subsidiary. He said the competition provides a way for students to hone their skills and see how the concepts they study apply to the real world. Of course in real life, cybersecurity more frequently takes the form of pre-emptive defense and recovery, rather than the intensive and condensed exercises experienced by these students. But cases like it do still happen. Ransomware attacks have risen for years in Texas, as they have across the country. In Texas, there were a just under just under 300 ransomware attacks in 2021, up nearly a third from 2020, according to FBI cybercrime statistics. In 2016 the FBI recorded 37 attacks of this kind in the state. In Bexar County, hackers last year launched a ransomware attack on Judson Independent School District, for which the district paid more than $500,000 to recover sensitive data. In March, the Bexar County Appraisal District found itself the target of an attack, though IT professionals detected the infiltration before it progressed through the entire network. A spokesman for the county department said critical systems were restored within days, and as of this week the restoration of all affected systems were “99% complete.” Assistant Chief Appraiser Scott Griscom said he could not say how attackers broke into the system, given that final findings of the investigation are not complete, but initial suspicions that it came through email have been disproven. Efforts are growing to counter these attacks. The White House recently signed legislation that will require a wide range of public and private entities affiliated with critical infrastructure to publicly disclose details about cyberattacks, including whether the organization paid a ransom. “That’s a big deal,” Check said, as historically many companies have chosen to simply hide it. For instance, Equifax, a consumer credit reporting agency, waited weeks before telling its 143 affected customers that their private data may be on the loose. Check said disclosing the hack helps law enforcement identify repeat attackers, puts other organizations on alert, and helps cybersecurity professionals know what kind of attacks to look out for. Elias Bou-Harb, director of UTSA’s Cyber Center for Security and Analytics, said one reason ransomware attacks are on the rise is because the infrastructure to launch them has gotten more accessible. He said there are now illicit service providers that sell off-the-shelf tools for launching ransomware attacks, so hackers no longer need to have as much technical expertise. Some of these tools-for-hire even sweep the internet to look for vulnerable systems. “The threat landscape is crazy. We’re in a cyber war,” Bou-Harb said. While cyberattacks grow increasingly sophisticated, there are ways to lower the risk of attack, experts say, for both individuals and organizations. It’s important to back up systems, (making sure those backups actually function, Bou-harb says), avoid reusing passwords (the jury is still out about writing down passwords), and be careful what you click on in emails. And to avoid encouraging future attacks, entities and individuals shouldn’t pay ransoms. “If you pay once, you’re probably opening a door on yourself,” Bou-Harb said.

San Antonio cybersecurity services firm Jungle Disk is continuing its expansion streak with the recent acquisition of a cloud company focused on personal storage. The acquisition announced this week of ElephantDrive marks Jungle Disk’s first foray into the consumer market. ElephantDrive focuses on helping customers back up cloud storage of family photos, videos and important personal documents. Jungle Disk CEO Bret Piatt said he’s seeking to build the world’s leading backup and disaster recovery specialists. ElephantDrive plugs the consumer gap in the company’s portfolio of products, which caters to commercial clients from small businesses up to large enterprises. “Backup is getting more complicated,” he said, pointing to the rapid growth of cloud-based storage. Many businesses have come to recognize the value of backup specialists who can not only restore complex systems, but do so quickly. Jungle Disk became what is thought to be San Antonio’s second largest privately held tech company by revenue last year when it made several acquisitions of backup and recovery services described by one of the deal’s partners as being “much larger” than Jungle Disk. Those product groups acquired last year — KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync — are, like ElephantDrive, headquartered in Los Angeles. Those acquisitions were powered by local private equity money from Dry Line Partners and Porthcawl Holdings. Financial terms of ElephantDrive’s acquisition were not disclosed. Jungle Disk provides a suite of cybersecurity services like data backups and password management, among others, meant to protect data from system failures, human errors and cyberattacks. Piatt said Jungle Disk employs around 30 individuals in San Antonio and between 120 and 130 globally in offices in the Netherlands, Norway and elsewhere. The company was founded in Atlanta in 2006 but moved to San Antonio in 2010, the year after it was acquired by Rackspace. It was bought again in 2016 by Porthcawl Holdings, who today owns it along with Dry Line Partners. ElephantDrive CEO Michael Fisher said in a prepared statement that the acquisition of his venture would allow it to scale and further ensure “no family suffers the digital disaster of losing their treasured memories.” ElephantDrive will operate as a separate division, with Jungle Disk Chief Revenue Officer Nick Nelson becoming chairman and chief revenue officer. Fisher will continue to lead the group.

Blink to control the robot rodent When we think of inputs, we traditionally think of the best keyboards and mice. But what if our brain could become the input? PiEEG starts from $250 and is a Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) Raspberry Pi HAT from Ildar Rakhmatulin which uses measurable biosignals as a means of control. The measurable bio signals are the same as used in electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrocardiography (ECG). The signals are detected using electrodes that are connected to a cap worn by the user. The signals are processed on the Raspberry Pi and, using a Python script, the signals can be visualized and used to control projects such as robots and drones. We asked creator Ildar Rakhmatulin to explain why they made the project: "Many years ago I decided to try to make some experience with neuroscience, I wanted to control a robot via mind, but I didn't find any low-cost and open-source brain-computer interface (BCI), for this reason, I made BCI." This initial project was hit by the chip shortage, which saw the cost rise from $350 to $1000. This prompted Rakhmatulin to continue their research using the Raspberry Pi as the processing base. PiEEG uses the HAT standard, introduced in 2014, along with the Raspberry Pi B+. The 40-pin GPIO connection uses an SPI connection between the Raspberry Pi and an ADS1299 analog-to-digital converter and can measure up to 250 samples per second, and per channel. It is then just a case of learning to control your biosignals and use them as events to control aspects of the project. Rakhmatulin demonstrates how to control a robot by blinking using PiEEG. The robot in question is a toy rat, but it could also be an expensive robot arm or even a drone. PiEEG is currently raising support via Crowd Supply, and at the time of writing it has raised $9,100, smashing its $4,000 goal. For $250 you can a 4-channel model or, for $350, 8 channels. Remember that crowdfunding a project is not a guarantee of receiving a finished product. Backing a crowdfunded project is akin to an investment; you believe in the project and want it to succeed. You are not purchasing a retail product.

Windows 11 update brings Cloud PC features and a glimpse into the future New features hidden away in an early build of an upcoming Windows 11 update will allow users to configure their own ‘Cloud PC’ – and this could be our clearest hint yet at what Microsoft plans for the future of Windows – such as Windows 12. As Neowin reports(opens in new tab), Twitter user Albacore has been digging into Windows 11 Dev build 23419, which is rolling out to people signed up to the Windows Insider program, and is available on the Canary, Dev and Beta channels. In a series of tweets, which you can see below, Albacore noticed that in the Windows 11 ‘Settings’ app, there are now options for how to access a Cloud PC – either via a dedicated app, or straight from the desktop. A hint of Windows 12? Microsoft has been very clear about its interest in taking Windows to the cloud. Not only has it added the functionality to Windows 365 Business, explaining that “Microsoft Cloud PC is a strategic, new offering that is built on top of Windows Virtual Desktop to delivering Desktop as a Service,” but Panos Panay, who is leading the Windows team at Microsoft, has been talking up how Cloud PC will be the future of Windows – which many have taken to mean Windows 12. As we reported earlier, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, also recently commented that “the boundaries between the PC and the cloud are fading away”. We’ve seen an increase in rumors about Windows 12, including that it may launch as soon as 2024, and I’m becoming more convinced that we’ll see the next version sooner rather than later. These new cloud-based features that have been hidden away in an early version of Windows 11 may be our best look yet at what Microsoft plans for the next version of its operating system.

Voted

At GDC, CD Projekt Red is showing off the future of ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077, one bouncing neon light at a time. It's set to arrive with a new graphics preset, Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode(opens in new tab), which will come to the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 on April 11. This gives you enough time to track down an RTX 4080(opens in new tab) and its powerful frame-generating magic. You're going to need it. In what Nvidia calls a "technology preview," Overdrive Mode will feature path tracing, aka full ray tracing, announced last year(opens in new tab), that'll "accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene.". Light sources will now cast "physically correct soft shadows," and colored lighting will bounce multiple times in a scene. In a game like Cyberpunk that's drenched with neon lights, it'll create more realistic direct and indirect lighting. You can see in this video(opens in new tab) exactly what Nvidia is talking about, with various light sources bouncing off multiple surfaces like water and metal in ways that are closer to real life. Nvidia says improved physically based lighting should remove the need for other occlusion techniques, which can be taxing on a GPU. Path tracing has been around for a while and is often used by VFX artists for TV and movies. Since it's pretty GPU intensive, putting it into a game was a heavy lift. Nvidia claims that RTX 40-series GPUs are up to the challenge, but you'll likely want a little help from upscaling and frame-gen technologies like DLSS 3 to make it bearable. With DLSS 3, you should get a nice performance boost when all the bells and whistles are turned on. The tech allows games to render just a fraction of the pixels and then uses AI to make up the rest, which boosts frame rates while still looking good. We will know just how well Cyberpunk 2077 will run in Overdrive Mode once we test it out next month and run the numbers.

Hello friend I respect your idea. But it has many negatives. Also we already have 3 bots in spec Just imagine if we add more 3 or 4 bots in server .. guess what? Boom server ban on GT Also if you want a real players and its not detected by gt , you can use boosting websites. It only cost 2-5 $ We cant risk that and its not worth it my friend , CONTRA!

ألسلام عليكم جميعا صراحه الفكره حلوه انو تنشئون قسم خاص للعرب حبيت الفكره كثيرا ويارب يوفقكم ❤️

My best peak Diamond 2 Level: 372 Main Role: ADC OTP: Draven Server: EUNE