Here are some ICT trends for year 2019 picked from various sources (linked to sources) and edited by me:
General: From AI to Moore’s Law, the entire industry is deep in the throes of massive changes. The future will be characterized by smart devices delivering increasingly insightful digital services everywhere. While CPUs continue to evolve, performance is no longer limited to a single processor type or process geometry.
Business: There seems to be a clear evidence from this research that businesses are adopting and looking to capitalise on the benefits of Big Data, the Internet Of Things and Sensor technology for their mobile workforces.
Open source: 2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source in software and even in hardware. We saw more activity in open source than ever before in 2018. And the momentum isn’t likely to slow down in 2019.
Web is mobile: According to the statistics of FICORA, Ofcom, the PC has lost its place as the first device and platform for web browsing. Almost half of the web browses the web with a smart phone, which places a requirement on all online services from shops to news sites.
Multiple devices: As the number of different IT devices continues to grow, there are more and more devices in use at the same time.
Situations and tasks that utilize and use multiple devices together have become commonplace. We need to think how how user interfaces could better support multi-device sharing.
Artificial intelligence: It seems that AI Market Ramps Everywhere. The AI term creates hope for some, fear for others, and confusion for all. Artificial intelligence (AI) is what the Internet of Things was two years ago – overhyped and not very well understood. The obvious shift is the infusion of AI (and its subcategories, machine learning and deep learning) into different markets. It seems that you don’t need to be artificial intelligence wizard anymore to use some AI – at best, implementation can be picked up by GitHub without really understanding anything. AI Still Has Trust Issues for many. There are also views that now hot artificial intelligence is the bubble that broke out last in the 1990s because at present, artificial intelligence and man form a bad cyborg. You need to separate AI Hype From Reality because it seems to be a miraculous thing where almost nobody knows what it is.
AI chips: While GPUs are well-positioned in machine learning, data type flexibility and power efficiency are making FPGAs increasingly attractive. Today, selling custom chips for artificial intelligence is still a small business. Intel, the largest manufacturer of computer processors, has appraised the current market at $2.5 billion, one half of one percent of the estimated value of the 2018 global semiconductor market. At a press event at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, Intel announced the Nervana Neural Network Processor (NNP-I), an AI chip for inference-based workloads that fits into a GPU-like form factor. Google and NXP advance artificial intelligence with the Edge TPU.
AI-driven development: AI-driven development looks at tools, technologies and best practices for embedding AI into applications and using AI to create AI-powered tools for the development process.
Huge data: It seems that It’s All About The Data. Data creation, management and processing always have been a winning business formula. It takes lots of data to train AI systems and IoT systems generate a lot of data.Data scientists now have increasing amounts of data to prepare, analyze and group — and from which to draw conclusions. The entire tech industry has changed in several fundamental ways over the past year due to the massive growth in data. Many data science tasks will be automated. Hardware and software are no longer the starting points for technology design. It’s now about data processing, flow and throughput.
Digital twins: A digital twin is a digital representation that mirrors a real-life object, process or system. Digital twins can also be linked to create twins of larger systems, such as a power plant or city. The idea of a digital twin is not new but is has become hot when AI and IoT were added to the mix.
Power consumption: Globally, ICT today consumes 8% of all electricity and doubles every year. I think we needs new semiconductor technologies and maybe also more optimized software that does more but consumes less power.
Memories: DRAM market growth stops in 2019. GDDR6 and HBM2 impacts system design. There is disparity between the different types of DRAM, from GDDR to HBM.
Faster storage: Apacer has CFexpress card, which supports PCIe and the new NVMe 1.3 protocol, transfers data at a rate of two gigabytes per second.
Heterogeneous architectures: Need for increased computing power requires new multi-processor architectures (hybrid processors). Heterogeneous design is changing the starting point for chip design so that integration is now more the real challenge rather than the processor core. Many ARM processors already use hybrid architecture. Intel has unveiled a new Foveros architecture that addresses the challenge of Arm processors.
Immersive technologies: Users can interact with the world with immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). AR brings new possibilities. A smart space is a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems.
Open hardware: Can RISC-V – Linux of Microprocessors – Start an Open Hardware Renaissance? RISC-V is an open source processor command set that can be used with the same principles as Linux code. RISCV is now being firmly linked to Linux as the Linux Foundation and the RISC-V Foundation have agreed to work together to promote open code development and RISC-V deployment. For the first time, Arm architecture will be a serious challenger in millions, even billions of embedded devices. Companies like Hi-Five, NVIDIA and WDplan to release product with RISC-V in them. This year RISC-V does not compete with traditional CPUs on PCs. Also MIPS hardware architecture is opening up.
Containers: Is Kubernetes the new application server? If you thought there was a lot of chatter about Kubernetes in 2018, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Software robotics: Software robotics becomes widely available. Robot Framework will be important on this.
Intel processors: Intel Announces Faster Processors Patched for Meltdown and Spectre, New Intel Architectures and Technologies Target Expanded Market Opportunities. Intel Demonstrates 10nm-based PCs, Data Center and Networking Systems, Next-Gen ‘Sunny Cove’ Architecture with AI and Crypto Acceleration, and 3D Logic Chip Packaging Technology. 5 Observations From Intel’s Event article says that mysterious locations, codenames and process delays are on the top of the list. Intel’s Foveros Lakefield technology for making smaller chips.
AMD processors: Ryzen mobile processors would begin showing up in ultrathin and gaming laptops by the end of the first quarter. AMD starts to use 7nm technology: Radeon VII GPU will be available and it is promised to be 27% to 62% faster, third-generation Ryzen desktop processor and second-generation EPYC server processor will be available starting later this year. AMD is challenging Intel in Chromebooks with A-Series CPUs and launching Ryzen Mobile 3000-Series chips with 2nd-generation Ryzen Mobile parts.
ARM processors: Taking aim at Intel, Qualcomm launches chip for business PCs. The Snapdragon 8cx series is Qualcomm’s first chip specifically designed for computers. Qualcomm’s pitch is that laptops using its chips will go days without needing to be plugged in, and will always be connected to the internet via cellular networks. The Snapdragon 8cx is also the world’s first 7-nanometer PC processor platform and promises superior performance for laptop. Intel’s position on laptops is very strong and Qualcomm has a big hill to get up if it really wants to challenge Intel’s PC side. Huawei Rolls 7nm ARM Server CPU Kunpeng 920 that is said to outperform ThunderX2, Ampere by 25%. Rumors are circulating that Apple will obsolete x86-based computers in favor of its own SoC-powered successors.
NVIDIA: RTX 2060 GPU was introduced. GeForce RTX™ graphics cards are powered by the Turing GPU architecture and the all-new RTX platform. This promises to give you up to 6X the performance of previous-generation graphics cards and brings the power of real-time ray tracing and AI to your favorite games. GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs to gaming laptops.
Microsoft hardware: Microsoft reportedly working on Xbox and Windows webcams for 2019.
Windows security: Microsoft officially announces ‘Windows Sandbox’ for running applications in isolation.Microsoft’s coming ‘Windows Sandbox’ feature is a lightweight virtual machine that allow users to run potentially suspicious software in isolation. It could debut in Windows 10 19H1,
Storage: NVMe Hits a Tipping Point. A show dedicated to NVM Express (NVMe) next month solidifies an industry-wide sentiment that the host controller interface and storage protocol hit a tipping point in the last year. It is expected that we’re going to see the majority of new products coming out with NVMe. There are already relatively young NVM Express Over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) specification and even some hard disk enclosures using NVMe.
Fibre channel: Broadcom Nudges Fibre Channel to 64G using 64G optical modules (just starting to sample) and PCIe Gen 4 connections that are not yet generally available on x86 servers.
Faster PCIe:PCIe 4.0 is ready. The PCISIG organization has completed the new 4.0 version of the PCIe bus, and now the technology is expected to be deployed on the devices. It is possible to to get the full PCIe 4.0 speed with both copper and fiber. It seems that this year PCIe 4.0 comes to wider us for x86 servers.
FPGA: FPGA Graduates To First-Tier Status because FPGAs are better for certain types of computation than CPUs or GPUs.While GPUs are well-positioned in machine learning, data type flexibility and power efficiency are making FPGAs increasingly attractive.
Enterprise software:Legacy enterprise applications and software systems have a reputation for being clunky, expensive, and almost impossible to keep up to date. Rethink your enterprise software systems and consider whether cloud-based options like SaaS may better serve your needs. Office 365 is massively successful. AWS services are running the backend of thousands of major companies now. As internet connections and speeds increase, the cloud becomes more and more viable as it is more cost effective to centralize computer hardware reducing costs for companies and employee overhead.
Windows 10: Microsoft is building a Chromium-powered web browser that will replace Edge on Windows 10. Microsoft could be preparing to ditch the EdgeHTML layout engine of its unloved Edge browser in Windows 10 in favour of Chromium. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is improved. Microsoft new Windows 10 reserves ~7GB of disk space for updates, apps, and more to ensure critical OS functions always have space.
Light Windows: Microsoft is working on Windows Lite, a super lightweight, instant on, always connected OS that runs only PWAs and UWP apps, to challenge Chrome OS. Microsoft’s ‘Centaurus’ device is yet another potential piece of its Chromebook-compete strategy.
Coding for Windows: Microsoft has released a public preview of Visual Studio 2019 for Windows and Mac. Microsoft open sources its most popular Windows UX frameworks and says the first preview of .NET Core 3.0 is now available — Microsoft is open sourcing WPF, Windows Forms and Win UI via GitHub.
Quantum computing: Quantum computing is a type of nonclassical computing that is based on the quantum state of subatomic particles that represent information as elements denoted as quantum bits or “qubits.” Quantum computers are an exponentially scalable and highly parallel computing model. They can work well on some specific tasks suitable for them, but are not suitable for most generic computing tasks we are used to.
Blockchain: Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, an expanding chronologically ordered list of cryptographically signed, irrevocable transactional records shared by all participants in a network. It can work with untrusted parties without the need for a centralized party (i.e., a bank). Businesses should begin evaluating the technology to see if it fits their business or not. You need to separate Blockchain hype from Reality because it seems to be a potentially miraculous thing where almost nobody knows exactly what it is to what it is good for. Check this related Dilbert comic.
Related predictions and trends articles:
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019
Virtual reality implementation: observations and predictions
5 IT job trends to watch in 2019 – because success starts with talent
Digital transformation reality check: 10 trends
These are the 15 best US tech companies to work for in 2019, according to Glassdoor
786 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Isambard Analysis of HPC-Optimized Arm Processors
https://semiengineering.com/isambard-analysis-of-hpc-optimized-arm-processors/
University of Bristol presents performance results from Isambard, the first production supercomputer to be based on Arm CPUs optimized specifically for HPC.
In this paper, we present performance results from Isambard, the first production supercomputer to be based on Arm CPUs that have been optimized specifically for HPC. Isambard is the first Cray XC50 “Scout” system, combining Cavium ThunderX2 Arm‐based CPUs with Cray’s Aries interconnect. The full Isambard system will be delivered in the summer of 2018, when it will contain over 10 000 Arm cores.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Daydreaming in VR: How Lenovo Developed the Mirage Solo
A behind-the-scenes look at how Lenovo created its Mirage Solo standalone VR headset.
https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/daydreaming-vr-how-lenovo-developed-mirage-solo/195441194760403?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=7806&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Valve announces an early beta of Steam Link Anywhere, a Steam Link extension that allows users to connect to their computers and play games from anywhere — Ahead of the Game Developers Conference, Valve is adding a couple of new features for its Steam digital game distribution platform.
Valve launches Steam Link Anywhere and better networking features
https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/14/valve-launches-steam-link-anywhere-and-better-networking-features/
Ahead of the Game Developers Conference next week in San Francisco, Valve is adding a couple of new features for its Steam digital game distribution platform. One of them seems quite intriguing: Steam Link Anywhere. And the second one, Steam Networking Sockets applications programming interface (API) promises that online gamers will be able to play multiplayer games faster and over more secure connections.
Steam Link Anywhere is an extension of the Steam Link functionality that allows you to connect to your computer and play games from anywhere. It is now available in early beta. The service is available free of charge to all Steam users through the Steam Link hardware or the Steam Link app, and can be used to connect to any computer running Steam, Valve said..
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emma Haruka Iwao / Google Cloud Blog:
Google breaks world record for the most accurate value of pi, first time using cloud computing, calculating 31.4T digits after a ~112-day computation
Pi in the sky: Calculating a record-breaking 31.4 trillion digits of Archimedes’ constant on Google Cloud
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/calculating-31-4-trillion-digits-of-archimedes-constant-on-google-cloud
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Buys Interconnect IP Vendor Sonics
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334429
Facebook has acquired Sonics Inc., a privately-held Silicon Valley IP provider that specializes in on-chip network (NoC) and power-management technologies. The deal is another sign that big systems companies like Apple and platform vendors such as Google and Facebook are designing in earnest their own SoCs for captive use.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chips-as-a-Service on Startup’s Menu
Accelerators need a better channel, entrepreneur says
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334433
High-end processors and accelerators need to be sold as a service, said the head of a startup who wants to do it. He also described work on a class of small data centers emerging on the edge of the Internet and specs from the Open19 Foundation.
The good news is “it’s a golden age of silicon again…we see a lot of hardware innovation happening,” said Zac Smith, founder and chief executive of Packet, a startup that provides cloud services running at its own data centers.
The bad news is “enterprises don’t want to buy hardware. They don’t even want to rack-and-stack Intel CPUs, let alone something they haven’t tried,” said Smith whose first startup, Voxel, helped pioneer the infrastructure-as-a-service business at the same time as Amazon’s AWS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet Was Built on the Free Labor of Open Source Developers. Is That Sustainable?
A look at the complicated business of funding open source software development.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43zak3/the-internet-was-built-on-the-free-labor-of-open-source-developers-is-that-sustainable
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google has told dozens of employees on its laptop and tablet division to find new jobs at the company, raising questions about its hardware plans
https://www.businessinsider.in/Google-has-told-dozens-of-employees-on-its-laptop-and-tablet-division-to-find-new-jobs-at-the-company-raising-questions-about-its-hardware-plans/articleshow/68384002.cms
Google appears to be trimming the size of its laptop and tablet hardware group, telling dozens of engineers and program managers to find other roles with the Alphabet parent company, several people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.
The restructuring involves Google’s “Create” division, which is responsible for developing and manufacturing the Pixelbook laptop and Pixel Slate tablet amongst the company’s wider swath of “Made by Google” products.
According to one source, the Create hardware team had a “bunch of stuff in the works” and that the cutting the number of hardware engineers and program managers on the team will likely “pare down the portfolio” of products.
Affected employees have been instructed to seek temporary roles within other Google or Alphabet teams, raising questions about Google’s future hardware plans.
Rumors of a Pixelbook 2 have been swirling since the company’s hardware event last October though it has yet to be released. While there is no indication that Google plans to abandon the Pixelbook, the staff reductions suggest that Google is unlikely to flesh out its in-house line of Chromebooks with a wider variety of products and prices.
Google’s tablets meanwhile have struggled to hit the right note with consumers.
The first Google manufactured tablet – known as the Pixel C – was launched in 2015 and received less than stellar reviews. The longtime tech reviewer Walt Mossberg said that the Pixel C represents “an object lesson in what Google shouldn’t do if it pursues home-grown integration of hardware and software.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese enthusiasts are serving global Thinkpad fans by making modern motherboards that fit in classic chassis from the Golden Age of the Thinkpad
https://boingboing.net/2019/03/17/demand-signals-r-us.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Datakeskuksiin lisättiin selvästi kapasiteettia
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/9233-datakeskuksiin-lisattiin-selvasti-kapasiteettia
Yritykset investoivat edelleen vahvasti datakeskuksiin. Gartnerin mukaan palvelinkoneiden myynti kasvoi dollareissa mitattuna loka-joulukuussa 17,8 prosenttia vuodentakaisesta. Kappalemäärässä mitattuna palvelimia myytiin lähes 3,5 miljoonaa, mikä on 8,5 prosenttia enemmän kuin edellisvuonna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils Stadia, a game streaming service for Chrome, Android, and TVs that lets users “instantly” play games, coming in 2019 with 4K HDR support at 60FPS — With Project Stream in October, Google’s rumored work on a game streaming service was all but confirmed.
Google Stadia announced, a game streaming service for Chrome, Android, and TVs
https://9to5google.com/2019/03/19/google-stadia-announced/
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google has partnered with AMD to power Stadia, using a custom GPU for its data centers that delivers 10.7 teraflops, far more than the Xbox One X’s 6 teraflops — Stream games to your PC, tablet, TV, or phone — Google is launching its Stadia cloud gaming service at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
Google unveils Stadia cloud gaming service, launches in 2019
Stream games to your PC, tablet, TV, or phone
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/19/18271702/google-stadia-cloud-gaming-service-announcement-gdc-2019
Tomi Engdahl says:
Richard Leadbetter / Eurogamer.net:
Google Stadia hands-on: controller response is the best from a cloud system to date, though with some latency, and the feel of the controller is Xbox-like — We’ve talked elsewhere in our Google Stadia coverage about the fact that it’s not a console, it’s what Google calls a ‘cloud native’ system …
Google Stadia hands-on: streaming analysis and controller impressions
Cloud-busting.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-hands-on-with-google-stream-gdc-2019
The big interview: Phil Harrison and Majd Bakar on Google Stadia
How a global megacorp aims to change gaming forever.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-google-stadia-phil-harrison-majd-bakar-interview
Streaming has proved to be one of the most disruptive technologies to hit the media landscape in the last decade. Instant, fuss-free access to movies, TV shows and music has fundamentally changed the way we watch and listen – and if Google gets its way, streaming will transform the way we play too. Today, the firm reveals itself as a new platform holder, announcing a bespoke cloud gaming system that possesses undoubted strengths – and weaknesses – compared to the current console model. Fully integrated with YouTube, and leveraging the unique strengths of its vast, worldwide infrastructure, the new system – named Stadia – has the potential to change everything.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Google unveils its Stadia controller, which connects directly to Google’s data centers and looks like Sony’s DualShock, says users can use their own controllers
Here is Google’s controller for its Stadia game-streaming service
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/19/18272205/google-stadia-game-controller-gamepad-features-cloud-service-gdc-2019
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Google has created its own game studio, led by former EA and Ubisoft executive Jade Raymond, to develop titles for its new Stadia game streaming service
Google created its own studio for Stadia-exclusive games
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/19/18272996/google-stadia-studio-games-entertainment-exclusives-gdc-2019
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel, Cray Win U.S. Exascale Deal
Aurora system will use new Intel accelerator
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334439
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Intel and Cray a contract for more than $500 million to build the first of three exascale-class supercomputers. Intel said that the system will be running before the end of 2021 using future Xeon processors, Optane DIMMs, and a so-called Xe product, believed to be a member of the GPU family in design under Raja Koduri.
The DoE plans to spend a total of $1.8 billion on the three systems. It is expected to soon announce that the team of IBM and Nvidia will build the two other systems using their future power processors and GPUs.
The Intel/Cray system, called Aurora, will be built at the Argonne National Lab using more than 200 Cray cabinets and likely be the first of the three in service. The IBM/Nvidia systems would be follow-ons to Summit and Sierra, currently ranked as the two most powerful supercomputers in the world at 143 and 94 petaflops, respectively.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Stadia uses a custom AMD chip to offer 10.7 teraflops of cloud gaming power
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/19/18272809/google-stadia-specs-amd-teraflops-cloud-gaming
More powerful than PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, but that’s to be expected
The beauty of a cloud gaming service is two-fold: 1) you can theoretically play any game, anywhere you’ve got a good enough internet connection to stream it over the net, and 2) even if you’re playing it on a wimpy smartphone, you can harness the power of a beefy server located in a data center.
According to Google, each Stadia server will contain a custom x86 processor running at 2.7GHz, 16GB of RAM, and most importantly a custom AMD GPU capable of 10.7 teraflops of performance. (They’re running Linux, not Windows, which may matter when Google tries to attract game developers.)
Google wasted no time in comparing that teraflop number against the Xbox and PlayStation competition — where the Xbox One X manages a mere 6.0 teraflops, and the PS4 Pro around 4.2 teraflops.
today’s top PC gaming graphics cards can easily top 10.7 teraflops
What does Google’s 10.7 teraflops mean in practice, though? Google says that at launch, you’ll be able to play games at 4K resolution, 60 frames per second with both HDR and surround sound, while simultaneously sharing a 4K, 60 fps stream of your game live to your YouTube followers. And Google says it’ll upgrade that to 8K and 120 fps gameplay in the future
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia Mum on 7-nm GPU
Annual event focuses on Turing systems, software
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334447
Nvidia’s annual graphics event attracted some 8,000 attendees here, but one expected guest couldn’t make it — a 7-nm GPU.
A nearly three-hour keynote featured new systems and software for the company’s latest processors, announced last August. Ironically, the most interesting news nuggets were Nvidia’s cheapest board to date and a research project on optical interconnects.
“The length of the event was inversely proportional to the content,” quipped one analyst.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data Centers Open-Source Silicon
Liquid cooling bubbles up at Open Compute Summit
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334435
Microsoft and partners released open-source RTL for a new data compression scheme, and Intel said that another effort may do the same for a security block. The moves mark the first steps into open-source silicon from data center giants in the Open Compute Project (OCP).
The projects were indicators of the depth and breadth of work to drive the world’s largest data centers forward. It comes at a time when Moore’s Law is slowing and workloads such as deep learning are growing, forcing engineers to pull out all the stops in their quest for performance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 Views of Nvidia’s GTC 2019
Intel’s Nervana on the radar, but not an immediate threat
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334462
The show floor at Nvidia’s annual Graphics Technology Conference didn’t need a new chip to power lots of energy. It was running at a high frequency on existing chips in robots for cities, farms and factories, expanding virtual and augmented headsets, lots of training servers and several semi-autonomous cars and trucks.
A new chip from a big rival made an appearance at a nearby Intel cocktail reception. The 400W Nervana training accelerator came dressed in the new PCIe mezzanine carrier unveiled at last week’s Open Compute Summit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
With Stadia, Is Google Promising More Than the Cloud Can Deliver?
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/stadia-google-promising-more-cloud-can-deliver/160148503760476?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=7905&elq_cid=876648
Google’s new Stadia service might just be a platform for video game streaming, but it warrants a discussion on the real power of the cloud versus edge computing.
Google’s newest service, Stadia, is a cloud-based platform for streaming high-quality games. But is it a sign of cloud computing’s bright future, or its limitations?
Google claims it can stream all your high quality video games to any device you own via the cloud. And if you take a step beyond the video game angle, what the search giant is attempting raises some very valid questions about the efficacy of cloud computing going forward.
While a growing trend has seen many companies looking to shift toward edge computing devices for a number of reasons, mainly related to latency and computing power, particularly with AI and machine learning applications, many companies with a vested interest in the cloud (Google, Amazon, and Microsoft come to mind) are continually pushing for more cloud-based services. The argument goes that what you lose in latency you gain in storage savings and access. If cloud computing could eliminate the connectivity issues all together there might be a very strong argument to take all of our processing off of physical devices and into remote data sensors.
At its core that’s really the promise behind Google’s new cloud-based gaming platform, Stadia. Speaking at the 2019 Game Developers Conference (GDC), where Stadia was announced, Google CEO Sundar Pichai asserted correctly that gaming puts a high demand on computers.
Why Not More Than Games?
What Google is promising is a cloud-based gaming experience that is as seamless as a home console or computer experience and offers the same level of graphics quality and performance.
Which begs the question: If Google can do this for high-demand video game applications, can the same thing also be done for Internet of Thing (IoT) applications such as enterprise level product design and smart factory applications? Cloud computing on the level Google is claiming could likely find similar effectiveness in predictive maintenance, data analysis, product lifecycle management, and other IoT applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Faster Computers Lead to Slower Experiences?
https://hackaday.com/2019/03/22/faster-computers-lead-to-slower-experiences/
Ever get that funny feeling that things aren’t quite what they used to be? Not in the way that a new washing machine has more plastic parts than one 40 years its senior. More like “my laptop can churn through hundreds of gigaflops, but when I scroll it doesn’t feel great.” That perception of smoothness might be based on a couple factors, including system latency. A couple years ago [danluu] had that feeling too and measured the latency of “devices I’ve run into in the past few months”
Q: Why are some older systems faster than devices built decades later? A: The older systems just didn’t do much! Instead of complex multi-tasking operating systems doing hundreds of things at once, the CPU’s entire attention was bent on whatever user process was running. There are obvious practical drawbacks here but it certainly reduces context switching!
In some sense this complexity that [danluu] describes is at the core of how we solve problems with programming. Writing code is all about abstraction.
And instead of writing every program to target exact hardware configurations there is a kernel to handle the lowest layers, then layers adding hotplug systems, power management, pluggable module and driver infrastructure, and more. When considering solutions to a programming problem the approach is always recursive: you can solve the problem, or add a layer of abstraction and reframe it. Enough layers of the latter makes the former trivial. But it’s abstractions all the way down.
Computer latency: 1977-2017
http://danluu.com/input-lag/
Conclusion
It’s a bit absurd that a modern gaming machine running at 4,000x the speed of an apple 2, with a CPU that has 500,000x as many transistors (with a GPU that has 2,000,000x as many transistors) can maybe manage the same latency as an apple 2 in very carefully coded applications if we have a monitor with nearly 3x the refresh rate. It’s perhaps even more absurd that the default configuration of the powerspec g405, which had the fastest single-threaded performance you could get until October 2017, had more latency from keyboard-to-screen (approximately 3 feet, maybe 10 feet of actual cabling) than sending a packet around the world (16187 mi from NYC to Tokyo to London back to NYC, more due to the cost of running the shortest possible length of fiber).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew E. Freedman / Tom’s Hardware:
Intel confirms it will not develop new Compute Card products — Intel will not develop new Compute Cards, the company has confirmed to Tom’s Hardware. Compute Cards were Intel’s vision of modular computing that would allow customers to continually update point of sale systems, all-in-one desktops, laptops and other devices.
Intel to Stop Developing Compute Cards
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-compute-cards-development-stops,38891.html
Intel will not develop new Compute Cards, the company has confirmed to Tom’s Hardware. Compute Cards were Intel’s vision of modular computing that would allow customers to continually update point of sale systems, all-in-one desktops, laptops and other devices. Pull out one card, replace it with another, and you have a new CPU, plus RAM and storage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Despite short-term questions, games software/hardware to top $200 billion by 2023
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/20/despite-short-term-questions-games-software-hardware-to-top-200-billion-by-2023/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What latency feels like on Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/20/what-latency-feels-like-on-googles-stadia-cloud-gaming-platform/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scaling relational databases with Apache Spark SQL and DataFrames
https://opensource.com/article/19/3/sql-scale-apache-spark-sql-and-dataframes?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Wrangle, aggregate, and filter data at scale using your friendly SQL with a twist.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/19/google-scores-a-custom-amd-gpu-to-power-its-stadia-cloud-gaming-hardware/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here’s how you’ll access Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/19/heres-how-youll-access-googles-stadia-cloud-gaming-service/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to build The Matrix
Video game evolution and the simulation hypothesis 20 years later
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/how-to-build-the-matrix/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unity adds preview support for Nvidia’s ray tracing tech to push gaming realism
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/unity-taps-nvidias-ray-tracing-tech-to-push-gaming-realism/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel and Cray are building a $500 million ‘exascale’ supercomputer for Argonne National Lab
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/intel-and-cray-are-building-a-500-million-exascale-supercomputer-for-argonne-national-lab/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia AI turns sketches into photorealistic landscapes in seconds
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/nvidia-ai-turns-sketches-into-photorealistic-landscapes-in-seconds/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook announces next-generation Open Rack frame
https://code.fb.com/data-center-engineering/open-rack/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 Now Automatically Uninstalls Updates That Cause Problems
https://thehackernews.com/2019/03/windows-buggy-updates.html?m=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Augmented and mixed reality: How best to implement mobility
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4461671/Augmented-and-mixed-reality–How-best-to-implement-mobility-?utm_source=Aspencore&utm_medium=EDN&utm_campaign=social
Tomi Engdahl says:
Run X86 Games on Arm Computers Like the Raspberry Pi with Box86
https://blog.hackster.io/run-x86-games-on-arm-computers-like-the-raspberry-pi-with-box86-7eab2ebefd51
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to save time with TiDB
https://opensource.com/article/19/3/how-save-time-tidb?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
TiDB, an open source-compatible, cloud-based database engine, simplifies many of MySQL database administrators’ common tasks.
The inspiration for TiDB came from the founders managing sharded MySQL at scale at some of China’s largest internet companies.
Meet TiDB: An open source NewSQL database
https://opensource.com/article/18/11/key-differences-between-mysql-and-tidb
5 key differences between MySQL and TiDB for scaling in the cloud
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introduction to Small Scale Scrum
https://opensource.com/downloads/small-scale-scrum?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
This agile framework is designed for small teams whose members play multiple roles.
Scrum is a leading candidate for the implementation of Small Scale Agile for many reasons, including its popularity, developers’ preferences, high success rates for scrum adoption and project deliveries, and strong principles and values including focus, courage, openness, commitment, and respect.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New features in OpenStack Neutron
https://opensource.com/article/19/3/openstack-neutron?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
OpenStack’s Stein release offers a variety of network connectivity-as-a-service enhancements to support 5G, the IIoT, and edge computing use cases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building and augmenting libraries by calling Rust from JavaScript
https://opensource.com/article/19/3/calling-rust-javascript?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Explore how to use WebAssembly (Wasm) to embed Rust inside JavaScript
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techthelead.com/you-can-now-send-files-up-to-2-5-gb-through-firefox-send/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=gb_firefox
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 pieces of contrarian DevOps advice
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/1/devops-advice-7-contrarian-pieces?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Tomi Engdahl says:
13 open source backup solutions
https://opensource.com/article/19/3/backup-solutions?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Readers suggest more than a dozen of their favorite solutions for protecting data
Tomi Engdahl says:
COMMAND LINE UTILITIES… IN THE CLOUD?
https://hackaday.com/2019/02/17/command-line-utilities-in-the-cloud/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drinking coffee with AWK
https://opensource.com/article/19/2/drinking-coffee-awk?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Keep track of what your office mates owe for the coffee they drink with a simple AWK program.
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 lessons we learned building Measure, a contributor relationship management system
https://opensource.com/article/19/2/lessons-we-learned-building-measure?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
The things you learn maintaining an open source project aren’t always what you expect.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Let your engineers choose the license: A guide
https://opensource.com/article/19/2/choose-open-source-license-engineers?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Enabling engineers to make licensing decisions is wise and efficient.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Standards and open source: Why are patents treated differently?
https://opensource.com/article/19/2/why-patents-treated-differently?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
The difference has consequences for how we structure the development process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Usability improvements in GCC 9
https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2019/03/08/usability-improvements-in-gcc-9/?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stephen O’Grady / Redmonk:
A Redmonk study, combining GitHub and Stack Overflow data, finds TypeScript, Kotlin, and Julia usage is up, while Go, R, Scala, Clojure, Groovy usage is down — This iteration of the RedMonk Programming Language Rankings is brought to you by IBM. From Java to Node.js, IBM remains at the forefront of open source innovation.
The RedMonk Programming Language Rankings: January 2019
https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2019/03/20/language-rankings-1-19/
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 Great Games You Can’t Buy Anymore, Because Lawyers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZYaK343cY
There are loads of games out there that you can’t buy anymore, or even re-download, because of various legal reasons that aren’t always explained. Here are just a few of the games that got unexpectedly unlisted from online stores.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Avoid this Windows 7 patch unless you want nagging end-of-support warnings
https://www.zdnet.com/article/avoid-this-windows-7-patch-unless-you-want-nagging-end-of-support-warnings/
Windows 7 end-of-support notifications to begin appearing on April 18, 2019.
As Microsoft announced just over week ago, soon Windows 7 devices will start displaying pop-up notifications to remind users that support ends on January 14, 2020, meaning no more security updates, bug fixes, or technical support.
The notifications are scheduled to start appearing from April 18, and the way Microsoft will get Windows 7 devices to start displaying the reminders arrived this week in the form of the patch KB4493132.