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Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law an overhaul on voting rights that introduces sweeping changes to ways Texans can cast ballots. The enactment of the Republican bill marks a bitter defeat for Democrats, who had fled the state in July in an effort to prevent it from passing. The law includes a ban on drive-through and 24-hour polling places, and adds ID requirements to vote by mail. It comes amid a wave of proposed voting overhauls in Republican-led states. At least 18 states have enacted new voting laws since the November 2020 presidential election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Republicans in Texas argue the measures are essential for election security. "Election integrity is now law in the state of Texas," Mr Abbott said in a bill signing ceremony on Tuesday. He called the law a "paradigm" for other states wishing to pass election reform bills. There were no substantial allegations of voting fraud during elections last year in Texas. Democrats and civil rights groups say the bill disproportionately burdens or discourages voters from ethnic minorities, as well as the elderly and disabled. The newly banned drive-through voting was credited with encouraging record voter turnout in the city of Houston - a region that voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 election by 13 points. The high-stakes battle over US voting rights At least 50 House Democrats boarded two private jets from Austin, Texas to Washington DC in July to prevent Republicans from holding a vote on the package. Here's what the bill does: Scraps 24-hour polling sites Adds new ID requirements to vote by mail Prevents election officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballots to voters Forbids voting on Sundays before 13:00 Makes it harder to remove partisan poll watchers and grants them "free movement" in polling places Creates monthly citizenship checks Republicans have maintained a grip on all state-wide offices there for three decades, and Texas had some of the most restrictive voting measures in the US even before this bill. Three federal lawsuits have already been filed in an effort to block the bill from taking effect. Minority rights groups and disability advocates argue that the Texas law violates the federal Voting Rights Act by intentionally discriminating against minority voters. Democratic Vice-president Kamala Harris condemned the move, tweeting that "the bill limits the options that enabled a historic number of Texans, especially citizens of colour, to vote safely in our last election". Mrs Harris, the first black and South Asian vice-president in US history, went on to call for Congress to pass a federal voting rights bill which has been blocked by Republicans at the national level. The move is the latest action from the conservative Republicans in Texas, after earlier this month they succeeded in their effort to ban most abortions.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is an upcoming real-time strategy (RTS) game set in the Marvel Universe and was showcased at Gamescom 2021. Now, Marvel Entertainment has shared its first gameplay footage that shows off the characters and some of their abilities, along with the game mechanics. Marvel's Midnight Suns will be released in March next year for consoles and PC. It will combine turn-based combat with role-playing game (RPG) elements. Marvel will reveal more about the game on September 7. As per the official website, Marvel's Midnight Suns is described as “a new tactical RPG set in the darker side of the Marvel Universe, putting you face-to-face against demonic forces of the underworld as you team up with and live among the Midnight Suns, Earth's last line of defense”. The game is based on the characters from the Midnight Sons comics. The gameplay trailer starts off with the stoyline of Marvel's Midnight Suns as a new hero named Hunter is awakened after “a few centuries” after defeating Lilith, Mother of All Demons. However, Lilith has been brought back and the reformed Midnight Sons are now tasked with defeating her. It shows some XCOM style turn-based action with Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Magik, and others. There's a card system where players can select a set of abilities for their character. There are also dialogue options and? PUBG Maker Leaves Krafton to Work on PlayerUnknown Productions Project Marvel's Midnight Suns features characters including Blade and Ghost Rider, and those who sign up for the newsletter will get an exclusive Blade Nightstalker skin when the game launches in March 2022. Marvel will likely show off more footage on September 7 at 11:30am PT (12am IST) where Hunter and Wolverine will take on Sabretooth. PlayStation Plus Free Games Announced for September The game will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/ Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, as well as Steam and Epic for PC. It has been developed by Firaxis games and published by 2K. Realme is retiring its “X” series. We discussed the new Realme GT 5G and GT Master Edition on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts. COMMENTS For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

With Apple's new iPhone 13 series release date heavily tipped to be in September, it's likely just weeks at most until the phones launch - and we've been hard at work rounding up and cutting through the key iPhone leaks. New iPhone rumors have been springing up from a variety of sources for the last few months, and we've now got a clear picture of many of the likely specs of the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 mini. We also have a good idea of the likely design of these phones, and have seen numerous leaked images. For those of you who are light on time we've cut down the rumors into a handy, bite-sized portion below, while further down you'll find tons more depth where we explain everything you have to know about the new iPhone range. LATEST IPHONE 13 NEWS (UPDATED AUGUST 13) The iPhone 13 probably won't be notch-less, despite such a phone appearing in Ted Lasso. It probably won't offer satellite connectivity either, despite an earlier leak suggesting it might. iPhone 13 release date: September 2021 is likely when we'll hear about the iPhone 13, with most sources pointing to September 14. We're not certain of that date yet, but it looks the most likely. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute iPhone 13 price: Expect a similar price to the iPhone 12 range, with one leak suggesting it'll be exactly the same. The iPhone 12 mini - the cheapest of 2020's iPhones - started at $699 / £699 / AU$1,199 while the iPhone 12 Pro Max cost $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849. That said, there is some evidence the price could increase a bit. Design: Little is expected to change from the iPhone 12, but it seems the company will be changing the design of the rear camera. It'll seemingly have a diagonal lens arrangement on the two cheaper phones, but the design seems otherwise largely set to be similar to last year's handsets, albeit with a slightly smaller notch. Colors: Apple may debut some new shades with the iPhone 13 series, and two rumored versions are pink and orange. Alongside those, we expect to see similar shades to last-gen, such as purple, black and white. Display: Screen sizes and resolutions are expected to stay the same across the range of iPhone 13 products, but both the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are heavily rumored to debut 120Hz refresh rates. That means the image on these screens will be smoother than previous iPhones. Plus we're expecting an always-on display on each handset, too. Camera: Apple is expected to be tweaking the camera on the iPhone 13 series, and the two Pro handsets may get an upgraded ultra-wide shooter. The iPhone 13 Pro may also get an upgraded telephoto camera, plus some leaks suggest LiDAR could be present on all four models so you'll have improved depth perception, though more recent leaks don't mention this, so don't count on it. Video recording software improvements are also expected, including a new Portrait mode. Specs: The A15 chipset will likely power each of these handsets, though current reports suggest this won't bring a huge power boost. It's also heavily rumored that Apple may bring out a 1TB iPhone for the first time in 2021, so that'll allow for the largest iPhone sizes ever. Battery: If the biggest iPhone 13 battery leak is correct, you can expect a larger battery inside 2021's phones. These are expected to be notably larger, with the iPhone 13 expected to offer a 3,095mAh cell compared to the iPhone 12's 2,805mAh. What will that mean? Expect a longer lasting iPhone 13 than your previous iPhones.

Chia Coin is an alternative cryptocurrency coin designed to be a greener solution to the whole cryptocurrency craze, and it started off incredibly strong, leading to crushing HDD shortages. However, the currency has now tumbled to roughly ~15% of its initial peak over the last three months, so miners are reportedly fleeing to other platforms. According to a report from VNExpress, some miners are now dumping drives and reselling 'renewed' used SSDs as brand new. The Chia coin promised to deliver green mining through a novel Proof of Space (PoS) mining technique. While the previous coins used Proof of Work (PoW) and immense computing resources, Chia offered an alternative where the SSDs and HDDs would store plots that earn cash over time. Miners initially purchased massive amounts of storage for Chia plotting, triggering shortages of SSDs and HDDs. Since then, the cryptocurrency has tumbled from a brief peak of $1,685 a few months ago to a mere $220 today, three months later. Naturally, some miners will try to exit the business and move onto something else, but they'll need fresh capital. That means selling off the existing hardware they used for Chia mining. If you recall, Chia mining reduces your SSD lifespan tremendously, as it constantly writes an incredible amount of new data. As the SSD is used over time, it wears out, thus getting closer to its failure point and reducing its value (sometimes to the point of zero). At the beginning of the Chia mining craze, the average selling price of a 6TB HDD was around $286, representing a 60% increase over MSRP. Today, that price is back to $110, and some sellers note that they "might have to bring the price down to $88," meaning they'll sell them below market value to use the money to start mining another coin. These drives aren't worth much, as Chia plotting can destroy average SSDs in less than two months. The report even says that the used drives are bought in bulk, renewed later on, and sold as brand new domestically or in China, where the demand for these drives is still very high. So it's probably only a matter of time before these renewed SSDs appear on the Chinese market, and naturally, filter out to other markets like the rest of Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

Volkswagen has revealed a prototype autonomous version of the forthcoming ID Buzz electric MPV that features technology developed by self-driving technology specialist Argo AI. The ID Buzz, which features a retro design that evokes the original T2 Transporter, is set to launch next year in both passenger and commercial vehicle forms. Unveiled at the Munich motor show, this new ID Buzz AD version features a raft of camera, lidar and radar sensors to enable the autonomous technology that has been developed by US start-up Argo. The VW Group is planning for its Moia ride sharing subsidiary to be the first firm to run the ID Buzz AZ from 2025 onwards, initially in Hamburg. Autonomous ID Buzz prototypes fitted with the Argo AI technology have begun testing in a number of urban environments including Munich, where Argo's European arm is based. By 2030, Volkswagen estimates that some 15% of its revenue will come from mobility services. "Autonomous driving will change the industry like nothing else before," said CEO Herbet Diess, adding that the technology could, in effect, double the size of the industry through the creation of new jobs, legislative considerations and products. The Argo software uses data from the cameras, radar and lidar systems – including a roof-mounted proprietary Argo Lidar sensor – to create a 360-degree maps of the vehicle's surroundings. Argo claims its software can detect objects from more than 400 metres away, and can also predict the actions of pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles, adapting the controls as required. The fully autonomous testing of the vehicle takes place at the Argo AI development centre near Munich, where the firm has a closed course that allows for testing in a variety of conditions. Argo also has a test track in the USA. The aim of the trials, said Argo CEO Brian Salesky, is "to create the world's best driver". The advantages of autonomous vehicles in urban environments are numerous, he said: "An autonomously driving vehicle has a computer that is never getting tired, it's never getting distracted, it's always paying attention 360 degrees and 100 metres out, and it's always learning and improving. We cannot say that about our human driving counterparts." The two companies are focusing primarily on congested and complicated urban scenarios at this stage of development, because that is where they envision the most customer demand will be initially. A roll-out into more extra-urban areas will come, they said, but for now, said Salesky, "it makes sense to start the business where there's a lot of vehicles on the road." The Buzz was chosen as the launch vehicle because its size allows it to be readily adapted for use as an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle, or as a cargo-carrying van. Diess referred to the passenger-carrying variant as a 'Roboshuttle' though it is not clear if this name will be taken to production. When asked by Autocar if he could envision a date that the entire Volkswagen fleet would be capable of fully autonomous driving, Diess refused to be specific. He estimated that "85% of VW products will still be cars in 2030", but added that the development of autonomous technology is accelerating and the costs are coming down, making a wider-scale roll-out of the Argo-developed technology more feasible in the coming years.

Kangana Ranaut is all set to star in Thalaivii — a biopic on the late actor and politician J Jayalalithaa — and the actor is busy promoting the film. She shared two pictures on social media and looked stunning in both. In the first instance, she stunned in an off-white Kanjeevaram sari. This was teamed with a matching blouse and the look was completed with an old-world bouffant. What was more arresting about the look was the jewellery she wore. The emerald crusted neckpiece looked stunning, but it also had a story. Sharing the picture, the actor wrote, “This weave and emerald jewellery I got specially customised for my fourth national award ceremony but that got delayed because of Covid …. I couldn’t wait any longer to wear these beauties how do I look ?” Keeping with the hairdo, she completed the look with winged eyeliner. In the second instance, she opted for a classic Raw Mango sari. The bright tangerine sari had red and golden border at the hem. She teamed this with a matching blouse and completed the look with hair tied in a bun. She further accessorised it with an encrusted choker. The look was completed with a similar shade lipstick.

The Taliban are accused of preventing people from leaving Afghanistan on charter flights (file picture) A US lawmaker has accused the Taliban of stopping Afghans and Americans from leaving Afghanistan via Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport. Republican House member Michael McCaul said on Sunday that planes had been trying to leave the airport "for the last couple of days". An NGO confirmed to the BBC that it had people waiting to board one of the flights. The Taliban has denied the claims, labelling them as propaganda. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC: "This is not true. Our Mujahideen have nothing to do with ordinary Afghans. This is propaganda and we reject it." Mr McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News there were six planes carrying American citizens and Afghan interpreters waiting at the airport. "[The State Department] has cleared these flights and the Taliban will not let them leave the airport," he said. The Texas representative added: "We know the reason why is because the Taliban want something in exchange." In an email to members of Congress seen by CBS News, the State Department acknowledged there were charter flights at Mazar-i-Sharif that the Taliban will not allow to fly until they have approved the departure. Marina LeGree, founder and CEO of the NGO Ascend Athletics which works with Afghan girls and women, told the BBC that the number of planes could be higher than six, saying she has heard there could be as many as 1,000 people waiting to get out. Her organisation has a group of 34 people who have been waiting to leave for six days, among them 19 Americans and two green card holders. They are part of a larger organised evacuation under the auspices of the US government. Ms LeGree said she believed a dispute or negotiation between the Taliban and the Afghan airline Kam Air was holding up the flights. "We're just patiently waiting like everyone else and we've got people with families, there's a three-year-old in our mix who has been hauled around for a week now," she said. She added that the Taliban had come into the place where people were being held and arrested people a couple of times. "It's just a worrying situation overall," she said. In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for the State Department said the concern felt was understood, but added: "We do not have personnel on the ground, we do not have air assets in the country, we do not control the airspace - whether over Afghanistan or elsewhere in the region." The US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan last week after 20 years in the country. More than 120,000 US citizens, allies and Afghan citizens were evacuated from Kabul airport. As a result of the withdrawal, the State Department said it did not have to the means to confirm details of the flight or those waiting to board.do However, "we will hold the Taliban to its pledge to let people freely depart Afghanistan," the spokesperson said. ANALYSIS: What rise of Taliban means for Pakistan BACKGROUND: The story of Afghanistan's 'undefeated' valley ON THE GROUND: In Kabul, Afghans adjust to a new, uncertain fate VOICES: Kabul make-up artist: 'Women like me are targets'

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE launch seems to be just around the corner as a purported quick start guide of the unannounced phone has appeared on the Web, just days after its user manual. The quick start guide shows some of the primary details about Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and gives us a glimpse of its design and interface. In addition to the Galaxy S21 FE as its new “fan-edition” model, Samsung is said to be in plans to upgrade its Galaxy A series by bringing optical image stabilisation (OIS) as a standard feature. The company also appears to be separately working on the Samsung Galaxy F42 5G that has allegedly been listed on Geekbench with some specifications. SamMobile has shared the purported quick start guide of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE that appears to be meant for US prepaid carrier Cricket Wireless. The guide doesn't provide any additional details over what we saw on the user manual surfaced earlier this week. However, it gives basic information about the phone and shows its design and interface that match with the Galaxy S21 models. The quick start guide also suggests that Samsung Galaxy S21 FE would be available through Cricket Wireless. https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-galaxy-s21-fe-specifications-tenaa-sm-g9900-amoled-120hz-2481279 Samsung is speculated to provide Exynos 2100 SoC on the Galaxy S21 FE, along with features including triple rear cameras and a flat display. The phone is also rumoured to launch later this month — maybe as early as September 8. Alongside the Galaxy S21 FE, Samsung is said to be working on enhancing user experience on its Galaxy A series by standardising OIS. South Korean news outlet TheElec reports that OIS support will be expanded to the entire Galaxy A series by 2022. OIS helps improve image results by reducing jerks and shakes when taking pictures and recording videos using a gyro sensor and tiny mechanical parts. Importantly, smartphone manufacturers use the OIS technology on top of the primary rear camera sensor on their models to deliver improvements. https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-galaxy-s21-us-fcc-certification-45w-charging-specifications-2475924 Samsung brought OIS to a few Galaxy A-series models in 2021. These include Samsung Galaxy A72, Samsung Galaxy A52, and Samsung Galaxy A22 4G. The report by The Elec suggests that Samsung is working with its local partner Jaeyoung Solutec to offer OIS support on its affordable and mid-range phones. The Galaxy A series is also said to receive new camera modules from Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the company that has so far reportedly provided modules for flagship phones. Separately, MySmartPrice reports that Samsung Galaxy F42 5G has appeared on benchmark site Geekbench. The phone surfaced with model number SM-E426S and is listed with an octa-core MT6833V SoC, which is essentially the MediaTek Dimensity 700. Further, the listing shows that the new Samsung phone has 6GB of RAM and runs on Android 11. https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-galaxy-s21-fe-launch-teaser-instagram-accidentally-posted-2506948 Samsung Galaxy F42 5G is rumoured to be a rebranded version of the Galaxy A22 5G that is also speculated to come as the Galaxy Buddy (SM-A226L) and Galaxy Wide 5 (SM-E426S). https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-a52-price-in-india-hike-increase-rs-27499-28999-specifications-galaxy-2528684 Details about the launch of the Samsung Galaxy F42 5G are yet to be revealed. re the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 still made for enthusiasts — or are they good enough for everyone? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

With Windows 11 being prepared for release on October 5, more Insider Builds are still being released to make sure that bugs are squashed while more refinements are rolled out. As we see applications such as Paint and the Snipping Tool be redesigned for the new upgrade, Microsoft is fine-tuning the release through the help of the Insider channels to make sure that it’s a substantial upgrade over Windows 10. However, users have been reporting issues with build 22000.176, bringing crashes across the operating system. While it’s normal to expect issues with insider builds, users have been reporting strange bugs with this particular build, but Microsoft is already aware, with a quick-fix already available. Snipping Tool becomes the new Snipping Tool in Windows 11 Find out where to buy Windows 10 Dark mode is coming to Paint in Windows 11 How to fix issues in 22000.176 Users are finding that when the taskbar or other parts of the Explorer interface are being used, it’s either crashing or being non-responsive. Some have reported coming across this message when trying to launch an application as well: “This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action. Please install an app or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Apps Settings page.” Microsoft has already updated the blog post explaining that it was a server-side issue responsible for these bugs. The following should fix these if you were experiencing anything similar when you updated to build 22000.176: Use CTRL-ALT-DEL and choose to open the Task Manager. Choose ‘More details’ at the bottom of Task Manager to expand Task Manager. Go to 'File' and choose 'Run new task'. Type 'cmd' in the 'Open' field. Paste the following: reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0 Hit the enter key, and then your PC should reboot. After rebooting, everything should work as before. Analysis: the time could be now to exit the Insider program There’s always the temptation to install the latest and greatest software from Apple, Microsoft and Google. It could be a new version of a web browser, or a new update to iPadOS for example. However, there are always risks associated with doing this, as it isn’t the final version. We’ve already seen the journey of the new Safari browser from Apple at WWDC 2021, with most of the design now reverted to how it’s always been, thanks to feedback from beta users. But some are still tempted to use these test versions on their main machines that are used for work and gaming. With build 22000.176 of Windows 11, it’s a great example of when something in testing can suddenly go wrong, which is why we always recommend installing these versions on a machine that you barely use, or through virtualization applications such as Parallels Desktop. Microsoft is on the home stretch with Windows 11 as October 5 nears, so if you’re on the Insider channel on your main PC, the time could be now to exit it and use Windows 10 until the free upgrade comes calling. Here are our picks of the best laptops in 2021

In a conversation with a financial analyst, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief executive, shared some interesting details about the company's expectations for the future, talks with potential Intel Foundry Services customers and their needs, Intel's capabilities to address these needs, and the company's way of taking advantage of internal and external manufacturing. Make Intel Bigger and Stronger Historically, Intel has always built its core products, including some of the best CPUs, internally using leading-edge and advanced process technologies as well as outsourced some of its low-cost and non-core products to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. But the economics of the semiconductor industry require Intel to get bigger and more flexible. To do, so it needs to adopt a different business model that it calls IDM 2.0 strategy. This approach entails Intel to produce most of its products in-house, outsource some of its products to contract manufacturers, and make chips for third-party customers. Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy is certainly designed for the company's long-term success. It is extremely capital intensive, so in the coming years Intel will cease to buy back shares, but will invest in new manufacturing capacities instead. After all, leading-edge production technologies are so expensive to develop these days that Intel can only recoup its costs when used for very high volumes, so building up capacity is one of Pat Gelsinger's key tasks as Intel CEO. Another thing that Gelsinger must do is ensure that Intel has the best engineers for its core businesses, which now include CPUs for client applications and datacenters, GPUs, networking, autonomous vehicles, and semiconductor manufacturing. For example, to strengthen the CPU unit, Intel brought back Glenn Hinton (the lead architect of Intel's Netburst and Nehalem microarchitectures) as well as Shlomit Weiss (who led development of Intel's Sandy Bridge and Skylake microarchitectures) earlier this year. While some tend to think that x86 is losing to Arm in terms of performance and flexibility, which is why Arm is the future, the reality is quite different. Most owners of client PCs would prefer to keep using x86 CPUs because of software compatibility. On-premises datacenters would also stick to x86 for the same reasons. Furthermore, Intel says that even those customers who are looking for full-custom system-on-chips prefer x86, which is what Intel is going to offer. Gelsinger: We'll Have Many 'Zen Moments' in the Future Architecture is arguably the most important ingredient of a successful product. Intel has plenty of talented CPU engineers, but it was using various versions of the Skylake microarchitecture (introduced in 2014) for so long that many of its products lost their appeal particularly in the enthusiast segment. This allowed AMD to capture a lucrative chunk of the market with Ryzen processors based on various iterations of its Zen microarchitecture. AMD's return to the game in 2017 caught Intel off guard to a large degree because the company did not expect Zen to offer such a significant performance uplift compared to previous-generation Bulldozer/Excavator microarchitecture. In the recent history of CPUs, there was only one comeback that was this surprising: Intel's introduction of its Conroe microarchitecture that not only left the company's own Netburst-based CPUs in the dust, but dethroned AMD's K9 (Athlon 64/Athlon 64 FX) overnight. Interestingly, but some industry analysts now call an unexpected comeback a 'Zen moment' even when they ask Intel about its future breakthroughs. Being a huge company with plenty of engineering resources, Intel understood Zen threat early enough and while Ice Lake/Sunny Cove as well as Tiger Lake/Willow Cove were good CPUs, Alder Lake/Golden Cove is expected to be Intel's true breakthrough. "So, the three major [Alder Lake] architectural announcements we think are pretty Zen-like in that sense where you have defined major new efforts," Pat Gelsinger said in a conversation with Pierre Ferragu, an analyst with New Street Research (via @witeken). "Trust me, we have a few [more] that are still cooking back in the labs that […] we think are pretty dramatic step forward, well beyond anything that we have talked about yet. And some of those we might not talk about for a couple of years yet, but innovation, you know, the geek is back." The fact that Intel's CEO uses 'Zen moment' term is pretty intriguing, it may emphasize that Pat Gelsinger acknowledges AMD's success with Zen. But development of Alder Lake began long ago, so its probable success will be deservedly attributed to Intel's previous management. For Pat Gelsinger, this upcoming launch is only the beginning. Yet, the CEO clearly knows where he needs to lead the company. Pat Gelsinger: 1/3 of IFS Customers Want x86 SoCs Advertisement One of the key elements of Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy is the company's newly created Intel Foundry Services (IFS) group that will manufacture chips for others. This group can operate as a classic foundry making any chips its clients want: Arm-based system-on-chips, RISC-V-based controllers, tensor processing units (TPUs), or graphics processing units (GPUs), just to name a few options. But Intel can naturally add a unique sauce to its IFS offering: highly competitive general-purpose x86 cores as well as an extremely broad portfolio of its silicon-proven IPs. Earlier this year Intel said that it was in discussion with over 100 of potential IFS customers and recently it revealed that about 1/3 of them were interested in custom x86-based SoCs. "Of the 100+ customers, I'd say about a third of them are interested in that x86ish of our ecosystem," said Gelsinger. In fact, Intel may not only provide its IFS customers x86 cores and other IP, but allow them to customize x86 cores and build full-custom solutions based on off-the-shelf technology. "We are going to monetize x86 cores in our products, but we are also going to enable them to be monetized on other people's products where they can innovate around them," said Gelsinger. "We have gotten quite a lot of interest from some of our traditional customer saying, so 'I can go create my own version of Xeon?' And the answer is yes. 'I could mix it with some of my unique requirements for networking?' Yes. 'I could deprecate some of the transistors I am not using in those configurations.' Yes. […] I'll say [we are] breathing life back into the x86 in a number of domains, because that was only possible on the Arm ecosystem before." Take Advantage of Standard Foundry Ecosystem Intel used to be ahead of the industry with leading-edge process technologies and products to a large degree because it built almost everything in house. Since Intel adopted new fab equipment earlier than other semiconductor companies and was larger than any foundry out there, it could ask makers of fab tools to tailor their products for its needs. On the one hand, Intel got exactly what it needed and, on the other hand, forced other semi companies to tune their nodes and process recipes for their tools and essentially follow standards set by Intel. But Intel lost the battle for smartphones and tablets. Its Atom SoCs were not as power efficient as Arm-based SoCs and could not provide the same set of features. Initially, Apple planned to put an x86 chip into iPhones, but Apple and Intel failed to agree on the price, which is why the former installed a Samsung-designed Arm SoC into its first smartphone. Then Steve Jobs wanted to use Atom in iPad, but Tony Fadell persuaded him that using an advanced Arm SoC made more sense. By the time the smartphone market exploded in 2011, Apple introduced its 2nd Generation A-series SoC, Qualcomm had its Snapdragon S4 SoC with custom Arm cores, and there were half of a dozen relatively high-performance Arm SoCs from other vendors. Most of these chips were made by TSMC and Samsung Foundry and just a couple of years down the road these SoCs outsold Intel's CPUs when smartphones outsold PCs. These mobile SoCs needed a new process technology every year and demand for smartphones gave foundries a great boost. To develop these chips in a timely manner, companies like Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, and MediaTek needed very sophisticated and efficient electronic design automation (EDA) tools, which companies like Cadence and Synopsys delivered. "One thing that mobile did is it created the scale to the TSMC ecosystem, which was all of the support entities and then it created what I would call intelligent, fabless players that worked with TSMC to get their capabilities to the level that, you know, it became kind of self-reinforcing," said George Davis, CFO of Intel. "We come into the market now in a situation where competitors have the benefit of all of that." TSMC executed perfectly and introduced a new process technology for its clients every year, EDA tool vendors supported these nodes with a new set of tools, mobile SoC vendors churned out new products every year. This is when the ecosystem essentially became self-reinforcing. By contrast, Intel had to delay its first mainstream and high-end 14 nm CPUs by a year to 2015 and rolled out the technology together with TSMC's N16 and Samsung's 14LPE. Back then, Intel still had a massive lead in terms of transistor density, power, and performance. But the foundry ecosystem was already a perfect machine that was bigger than Intel and executed better than Intel. Advertisement Delaying a new node by a year or even more is not a big problem for an IDM in normal situations and this has happened to Intel, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and others without causing any significant problems. The problem for Intel is that, given its size, it has to compete against multiple companies at once: AMD, Nvidia, Xilinx, Broadcom and Samsung, just to name a few. And when all these companies can take advantage of the self-reinforcing foundry ecosystem, but Intel cannot, it finds itself in an unfavorable position. To take advantage of the ecosystem and to make itself more competitive in the foundry industry, Intel needs to become a part of the foundry ecosystem. This includes deploying industry-standard EDA tools and equipment used by other contrast makers of semiconductors. In fact, that has been something that Pat Gelsinger has been working on for the past few months. "One of the things Pat has done is he accelerated our engagement with the ecosystem to make sure that we are getting the same benefit out of this amazing ecosystem that has been built over the last 13 years," said Davis. "We are much closer today than we were before with the EDA vendors, much closer today with the equipment suppliers. We used to tell them what to do, now we are making sure that we understand what the best practices are, how do you get the most productivity out of tools." Furthermore, now that Intel offers manufacturing services for fabless companies, it must enable its clients to build their products using familiar EDA tools that are compatible with their flows. To that end, it needs to make it internal flows and processes compatible with those in the foundry industry. The Best Node for Every Product Using proprietary EDA software and fab tools is good as long as your process technologies meet expectations, you are confident that there is no need to outsource manufacturing of a particular design, and you are not going to make chips for others. Intel has been using custom EDA programs, process development kits, and equipment throughout its history, but with its IDM 2.0 strategy that involves both internal and external manufacturing, it has to migrate to off-the-shelf software and tools. Pat Gelsinger wants all of Intel's products to be the best and, to get there, he wants to make them using the most suitable process technologies. But to be able to outsource something to TSMC, its design must be developed using industry-standard tools designed for TSMC's production technologies. "I am going to have the bulk of [my product line] built internally and be able to harvest those margins as well," said Gelsinger. "We are going to make selective use of foundries. […] If I need to use a foundry to have a unique product or a halo product and certain portions, absolutely. […] I really unleashed my engineering teams to say, 'you are going to deliver the best product. Period. You are unconstrained to pick the technologies to always be delivering the best products that you have in the category.'" Summary Being a big vertically integrated company, Intel has some serious challenges that are well beyond those faced by fabless chip designers, contract manufacturers, or IP developers. Intel has to become a bigger maker of chips to stay among the few companies that can develop and use leading-edge fabrication technologies, which is why the company is getting into the foundry business, abandoning non-core businesses, and ceasing to buy shares back in a bid to focus on investment in manufacturing capacities. Intel's foray into the contract manufacturing business opens some new doors to the company as it can work closer with various big customers (e.g., cloud giants) and can help them develop full-custom SoCs based on its IP, which spreads its technologies beyond traditional CPUs and platforms. If the strategy works, this will make Intel far more competitive against Arm. According to Intel, out of IFS's 100+ potential customers, about one third would want a custom x86-based SoC. But while Intel will invest considerably more in its own manufacturing, it will still outsource some of its products if it needs to. The company clearly understands that its architectures are even more valuable than its manufacturing prowess, so it intends to make products using the best technology available.

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I know. There are two cars here that, on the face of it, don’t have a huge amount in common, bar the fact they’re designed for drivers. One, a new Toyota GR Yaris, is a hot supermini; the other, a 2007 Audi R8, is a supercar. One seats four people, the other just two. One has its engine in the front, the other in its middle. Conceptually, practically and from a packaging point of view, they’re as diverse as the market gets. City-sized hatchback to supercar is as broad as they come. But there’s more that links them than just that: at 14 years apart, they now meet on price. One, for example, came from the unlikeliest of sources. It’s a four-wheel-drive rocket ship that just so happens to be one of the best-handling cars of its generation. With an extraordinary blend of dynamism, suppleness, visibility and usability, it draws on a bespoke architecture and advanced materials to shake up its class at a relatively bargain price. And the other? Well, read that back. I don’t know how likely it is that you would be considering one or the other today. Anecdotally, our inbox and the “should I get x or y…” emails it receives suggests that it’s a real possibility. Say there’s already a practical car on your drive and now, perhaps more than ever, it feels like the time to buy something analogue and old-school to sit alongside it. Something that feels special, manual and involving but is still secure, can be used all year round and comes with the sort of integrity that you expect from a big manufacturer. The list is actually quite broad and would bear no resemblance to most magazine group tests: a new Alpine A110 or an old Porsche 911, a new Porsche 718 Cayman or an old Aston Martin Vantage, or, ahem, a brand-new GR Yaris or a Mk1 R8. Anything, really, that makes popping out for milk and the papers on a Sunday morning a lengthier drive than it strictly needs to be. This story is part of a wider feature that sees new cars go up against used alternatives. And so to these two. This GR Yaris arrives in pearlescent red and with the Circuit Pack that seems to be a go-to box tick, so it’s as expensive as you can make it, at £34,400 (£34,425 if you add a warning triangle and first aid kit). I don’t imagine many people transfer the whole amount to a dealer in one lump: a long waiting list and strong residual values mean you can get one on pretty low monthly finance payments. The same mid-30s amount gets you into an early R8, a car we loved so much when it was new that it won our Best Driver’s Car shootout in 2007. Search the classifieds and you will see a handful of these manual 4.2-litre V8 models from around £33,000, typically with 60,000 miles on them. When new, the R8 was a £76,000 car. It made 415bhp, 70% of which went to its rear wheels, and weighed 1565kg. Standard kit included leather seats, xenon headlights and 19in alloys. An adaptive ‘magnetic ride’ damping system was optional and is fitted to the car we’ve borrowed. R8s are generally dependable. Their interiors don’t wear their age brilliantly (this one is getting shiny in places and the infotainment system now looks dated), but the mechanicals are strong. If you’re buying or running one, listen for bad noises from the bottom end of the engine, and check oil hoses, which can perish, while the radiators can leak at the seams. That so much of the R8 is aluminium means anything steel attached to that will corrode more quickly. Suspension fixings can rust and seize. And if the magnetic ride systems fail, you might as well replace them with decent passive coilovers instead. R8s are also sensitive to worn tyres, bushes and bad alignment. But by most supercar standards, they’re reliable and easy to run, and you can still pick up servicing and warranty packages from specialists for extra peace of mind. Back to top VIDEOS FROM AUTOCAR Will a Toyota GR Yaris drift? | 4wd hot hatchback Will It Drift? special, part 4 | Autocar They’re also still cracking to drive, if this one is anything to go by. The engine starts on the turn of the key, and if you’re used to the histrionics of new cars and their start-up blam, this has more of the McLaren F1 about it, just softly starting to a sensible idle. And that’s not the only F1-esque thing about it. It has a precise gearshift, with the added value of a clacky open gate, plus a decently supple ride. Visibility is good, the steering is light-medium weighted and quick, with plenty of self-centring, and, although the car is just over 1900mm wide, it doesn’t feel too big on narrow roads (maybe because you can see out of it so well). The V8 is lovely. It never yells at you; it just builds power linearly and smoothly until it gets to 8000rpm, when it sounds great, which equates to above 60mph in second gear. It only makes 317lb ft and that doesn’t arrive until 4500rpm, but the unit is so smooth and unshouty that you can hang on to a lower gear easily between bends or when lining up an overtake. There’s a nice amount of oomph to work with – the right amount for a car of the R8’s demeanour. It’s a very cool thing and, although it doesn’t bear the badge of one of the exotic supercar brands, it still feels like it was made with engineering integrity. It’s too early for GR Yarises to show if they have any dark sides to living with them, beyond the fact that they want servicing every 6000 miles and a fluid and brake check at half that, which for most owners will probably equate to a six-month brief look-over and an annual service. It’s a mark of how the car business has moved on in the past decade and a half that this hot hatch, even though it’s a special one, feels as quick and capable as a supercar that cost twice the price new. This is probably more capable, in truth. The GR Yaris rides well enough. This Circuit Pack car isn’t dissimilar to the R8 with its dampers in their firmer setting (a non-Circuit Pack car is more like the R8 in standard mode), and it too has a precise gearshift (albeit a less satisfying one than the Audi’s) and accurate steering. Its three-cylinder 1.6-litre engine is nowhere near as special as a V8 but is just as effective. The Audi gets more excitable as it gets up the rev range and the Toyota’s power and torque numbers are smaller. But because so too is the weight, at 1280kg, and the fact that it’s turbocharged, it gets going early and keeps going gamely. And if you’re really on it, it’s terrific. The Audi feels more special more often, certainly at low speeds, but the GR Yaris is one of those peculiarly satisfying cars that’s a pleasure to drive all the time. It’s also, rather obviously, quite a lot more practical, in case that matters to you. Leg room is very limited behind the driver, but it’s effectively a three-and-a-bit seater with a regular Yaris boot and rear seats that fold. The R8 has a small boot in the nose and that’s it, thanks to a shape that’s more glamorous but which leaves the GR Yaris more usable and probably a less conspicuous profile to arrive at a client meeting where you would think twice about arriving in a supercar, no matter how practical or affordable it is. How do we pick a winner? It depends how much you want to use your fun car. If you will use it a lot, the GR Yaris is likely to be the choice and will quickly relegate the estate on your driveway to trips to the tip, to leave at the railway station and for walking the dog. The R8, usable and approachable supercar though it may be, still feels more special. Which figures: for all that unites them (and there’s a lot), one is a hot hatch, the other is a supercar.

The more the merrier! Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shared on his social media platforms today that he and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, are officially parents — of two newborn babies! Buttigieg shared the news with a sweet announcement and the first adorable photo of the new family of four — see it below: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTZ17agHp-x/ A post shared by Pete Buttigieg (@pete.buttigieg) “Chasten and I are beyond thankful for all the kind wishes since first sharing the news that we’re becoming parents. We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family,” Pete wrote. In the photo, the dads can be seen cradling their bundles of joy while flashing sweet smiles at one another. In the past, both Pete and Chasten have spoken publicly about the arduous adoption process. Pete revealed last month on Twitter that their desire to be parents had finally come true, and that while the process wasn’t “done yet” they would be sharing more details soon. “For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family,” he wrote last month. “We’re overjoyed to share that we’ve become parents! The process isn’t done yet and we’re thankful for the love, support, and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us. We can’t wait to share more soon.” In response, many flocked to reply with their own adoption story and those in the LGBTQ+ community even shared photos of themselves with their kiddos. “Congratulations to the new dads. Welcome to the growing community of gay parents!” one tweet read. As the first openly gay presidential candidate and the first Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate, Pete and Chasten’s story is sure to touch many. We couldn’t be happier for the two — congrats dads! Before you go, click here to see all the celebrities who are the parents of twins.

Fresh fighting has been reported in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, the final pocket of territory which remains out of the hands of the Taliban. One of the resistance leaders in the valley, Amrullah Saleh, dismissed reports that the Taliban had captured it as "baseless". But he admitted conditions are difficult, with the Taliban closing phone, internet and electricity lines. The fighting comes with the Taliban set to finalise a government. Panjshir Valley, north of the capital Kabul, is one of Afghanistan's smallest provinces and the only one not to have fallen to the Taliban. The traditional anti-Taliban stronghold is home to somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 people, and is hidden behind mountain peaks. The resistance - which includes former Afghan security force members and local militias - is led by local tribal leader Ahmad Massoud. His father successfully fought the Soviets who invaded in the 1980s, and the Taliban in the 1990s. ANALYSIS: What rise of Taliban means for Pakistan BACKGROUND: The story of Afghanistan’s 'undefeated' valley ON THE GROUND: In Kabul, Afghans adjust to a new, uncertain fate VOICES: Kabul make-up artist: 'Women like me are targets' In a video message sent to the BBC, Mr Saleh, a former vice-president of Afghanistan, said there had been casualties on both sides. "There is no doubt we are in a difficult situation. We are under invasion by the Taliban," he said, adding that his forces would not surrender. But resistance leaders concede that some districts have fallen to the Taliban, while pro-Taliban social media showed clips seeming to show their fighters with captured tanks and other military gear. Rumours that the Taliban had captured Panjshir prompted celebratory gunfire to ring out in Kabul and other cities, reportedly killing a number of people. A Taliban spokesman said fighters should "avoid firing in the air and thank God instead". line A decisive moment looms By Yalda Hakim, BBC News Both sides see the next few weeks as crucial to determining the fate of the anti-Taliban resistance. The Taliban leadership want to crush Saleh and his group before announcing a new government. But if they fail to do so by late October, the harsh winter months are likely to prevent further large-scale offensives. Saleh's National Resistance Front, on the other hand, are playing for time. If the anti-Taliban fighters can hold ground for another few weeks, that will give them at least five months to remobilise and try to persuade foreign powers to aid their cause. line With the Taliban expected to announce a new government in the coming days, foreign powers are adapting to the new reality of dealing with a Taliban administration. The head of Pakistan's intelligence agency, Faiz Hameed, is in Kabul for talks. An official told Reuters earlier this week he could help the Taliban reorganise the Afghan military. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is travelling to Qatar on Sunday. The country plays a key mediating role in Afghanistan, but he is not expected to meet anyone from the Taliban. The European Union and UK on Friday joined the US in saying they will deal with the Islamist group, but won't recognise them as Afghanistan's government. The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, who is in Kabul, says that while the Taliban are seeking international acceptance, they are seeking it on their terms. If the West does not want to deal with them, there are other powers such as China, Russia and Pakistan they can turn to, our correspondent adds.

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