Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot exists in two realities. In one, it’s a terrifying harbinger of a dystopian future when robots hunt and kill humans. In the other, it’s the plaything of YouTubers who teach this robot quadruped to “piss beer” on command.
The latter example comes from the talented, imaginative, piss-focused YouTuber Michael Reeves, who managed to get his hands on a unit before using his tech expertise and dirty mind to turn Spot into the ultimate drinking buddy. With some quick code and a few feet of tubing, Spot can identify cups on the floor, position itself over them, and release a stream of piss beer into the awaiting receptacle. It’s the future Isaac Asimov could only dream of.
As Reeves notes in the video, it’s hardly a polished product. “Piss bot is working flawlessly. 35 percent of the time,” he says. But it’s still an absolutely amazing thing to make.
A little wide of the mark there, Spot, but everyone makes mistakes.Video by Michael Reeves / YouTube
Now, just to put on my “I’m a journalist, and I like to overthink things” hat for a second: what also fascinates me about this video is what it means for Boston Dynamics. This is a firm that has previously worked to tightly control footage of its machines and their public reception. Since making Spot commercially available, though, it’s had to relinquish some of this control, leading to instances where its machinery is used in ways it doesn’t approve of (like equipping Spot with a paintball gun). This includes non-jokey military uses. When we reported on the French army using Spot in simulated combat exercises last week, Boston Dynamics told us it was unaware these particular tests were being carried out (though it did know the French military had access to its machines). Is greater access to Spot going to create more problems for the company in the future?
Spot is definitely not easy to get a hold of. It costs $75,000 for one. But it’s plainly much more accessible than it was a year ago. That has the potential to not only create PR headaches for Boston Dynamics but also genuine enforcement issues. How much visibility does the company have over its robots and how they’re being used? What happens if someone uses it in the wrong way? This doesn’t have to be malicious for people to get hurt. I, for one, cringed watching Reeves grapple with Spot by putting his hands inside the machine’s joints at around the 12-minute mark. Those are called “pinch points” for a reason.
So right now, Spot exists in two realities: as a threat and as a joke. What happens if the line between them blurs?
If you don’t know what to do with your old Nerf guns or maybe just want to upgrade them, you could always turn them into working video game controllers as Alfredo Sequeida did with his latest Raspberry Pi project.
The best Raspberry Pi projects offer more than just proof of concept, they have real-world applications. Sequeida not only transformed his old Nerf gun into a controller but successfully uses it in Call of Duty.
The project required installing a few new buttons as well as integrating existing hardware like the trigger, which was soldered to open GPIO pins. An old Android phone retrieves the accelerometer data and the Pi uses this information to determine the aim of the controller.
(Image credit: Alfredo Sequeida)
A custom Python script interprets the controller input, which is then translated into output for the PC. You can read more about the code in detail on the official GitHub page. If you want to see how well it works, you can check it out in action on Sequeida’s official YouTube where you can also follow him for more updates and cool projects.
Intel took to YouTube on Thursday with a deceptively simple goal—help people understand how a CPU works. The company uploaded two videos as part of those efforts: a Key Concepts video covering the most basic aspects of CPU design and a Microarchitecture Deep Dive offering more information about those concepts. Surprisingly, the videos come without the usual bit of marketing we would expect from the company, so they’re incredibly informative without pushing Intel’s products.
Both videos were hosted by Intel CVP of Client Engineering Boyd Phelps, who “has worked on some of the most well-known chip designs in Intel’s history, from Nehalem to Haswell to Tiger Lake and more.” Here’s the first of the two videos:
Phelps offers a high-level overview of what a CPU is, how CPUs have changed over time, and how they rely on the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) in that video. That’s more than most people might think, but the video is a little under 19 minutes long, and Intel included chapter markers for each section of the video.
Here’s the second video:
That one’s a bit longer; it clocks in at about 25 minutes. But it also has a lot more to cover—Phelps offered high-level overviews of everything from pipeline depth and superscalar execution to the microprocessor front-end and the CPU back end. This is probably the easiest way to learn more about processors that we’ve seen to date.
It doesn’t seem like Intel will stop here, either. As it said in the video’s description:
“Architecture All Access is a master class technology series featuring Senior Intel Technical Leaders taking an educational approach to the historical impact and future innovations of key architectures that will continue to be at the center of ‘world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on earth.’”
The company also encouraged people “interested in CPUs, FPGAs, Quantum Computing and beyond” to “subscribe and hit the bell to get new episode notifications.” If the videos on those subjects are this high-quality, well, that might make this the first time that deciding to “hit the bell” was a good idea.
Firefox will no longer support Amazon Fire TV or Echo Show devices starting April 30th, Mozilla announced on Friday (via Android Police).
“You will no longer be able to install [Firefox] on FireTV, receive security updates, or be able to reinstall the app if you uninstall it starting on April 30, 2021,” Mozilla said in a support document. “If you have Firefox set as your default browser on Echo Show, you will be redirected to Amazon Silk for web browsing starting April 30, 2021.”
Mozilla first brought Firefox to Fire TV devices in December 2017, giving Fire TV owners a way to watch YouTube in the midst of a bitter feud between Google and Amazon. In July 2019, however, Google brought the YouTube app back to the Fire TV, giving users one less reason to use Firefox.
The Mozilla-made browser first came to Echo Show devices alongside Amazon’s Silk browser with the introduction Echo Show 10 in September 2018. There’s still no YouTube app for Echo Show, so the two browsers have offered a way to watch YouTube on the Amazon-made smart displays.
Mozilla now suggests using Silk to browse the web on Fire TV and Echo show devices.
In the latest virtuoso move to promote his hit song “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Lil Nas X posted a lo-fi remix of the track to YouTube channel Friday evening. According to his Twitter, it’s his birthday, and it seems he has given us all this gift in celebration.
The video, which has the full title “Lil Nas X – MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) but it’s lofi and something you can study to lol,” is honestly perfect. It sounds exactly like something you’d hear on Lofi Girl’s channel; if it ever gets slipped into the rotation on the channel’s iconic “lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to” video, I wouldn’t bat an eye (ear?). Lil Nas X’s video even has five anime drawings of iconic looks from the rapper, clearly taking inspiration from the famous anime girl that is the face of the Lofi Girl channel.
This genius lo-fi remix idea isn’t Lil Nas X’s first clever adaptation of the song that he’s posted to YouTube. At the end of March, he shared “MONTERO but ur in the bathroom of hell while lil nas is giving satan a lap dance in the other room,” which is just as excellent as the lo-fi remix.
There’s also “Lil Nas X – MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) [But Lil Nas X Is Silent The Entire Time],” if you’re looking for that.
Lil Nas X also released a browser-based twerking game and partnered with MSCHF to release Satan Shoes that Nike sued over. (Nike and MSCHF announced on Thursday that they had settled.)
Just give this man all the Grammys already, we don’t even need to host the awards next year.
There is plenty that scientists don’t understand about the long-term effects of COVID-19 on society. But a year in, at least one thing seems clear: the pandemic has been terrible for our collective mental health — and a surprising number of tech platforms seem to have given the issue very little thought.
First, the numbers. Nature reported that the number of adults in the United Kingdom showing symptoms of depression had nearly doubled from March to June of last year, to 19 percent. In the United States, 11 percent of adults reported feeling depressed between January and June 2019; by December 2020, that number had nearly quadrupled, to 42 percent.
Prolonged isolation created by lockdowns has been linked to disruptions in sleep, increased drug and alcohol use, and weight gain, among other symptoms. Preliminary data about suicides in 2020 is mixed, but the number of drug overdoses soared, and experts believe many were likely intentional. Even before the pandemic, Glenn Kessler reports at TheWashington Post, “suicide rates had increased in the United States every year since 1999, for a gain of 35 percent over two decades.”
Issues related to suicide and self-harm touch nearly every digital platform in some way. The internet is increasingly where people search, discuss, and seek support for mental health issues. But according to new research from the Stanford Internet Observatory, in many cases, platforms have no policies related to discussion of self-harm or suicide at all.
In “Self-Harm Policies and Internet Platforms,” the authors surveyed 39 online platforms to understand their approach to these issues. They analyzed search engines, social networks, performance-oriented platforms like TikTok, gaming platforms, dating apps, and messaging apps. Some platforms have developed robust policies to cover the nuances of these issues. Many, though, have ignored them altogether.
“There is vast unevenness in the comprehensiveness of public-facing policies,” write Shelby Perkins, Elena Cryst, and Shelby Grossman. “For example, Facebook policies address not only suicide but also euthanasia, suicide notes, and livestreaming suicide attempts. In contrast, Instagram and Reddit have no policies related to suicide in their primary policy documents.”
Among the platforms surveyed, Facebook was found to have the most comprehensive policies. But researchers faulted the company for unclear policies at its Instagram subsidiary; technically, the parent company’s policies all apply to both platforms, but Instagram maintains a separate set of policies that do not explicitly mention posting about suicide, creating some confusion.
Still, Facebook is miles ahead of some of its peers. Reddit, Parler, and Gab were found to have no public policies related to posts about self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the companies have no policies whatsoever. But if they aren’t posted publicly, we may never know for sure.
In contrast, researchers said that what they call “creator platforms” — YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch — have developed smart policies that go beyond simple promises to remove disturbing content. The platforms offer meaningful support in their policies both for people who are recovering from mental health issues and those who may be considering self-harm, the authors said.
“Both YouTube and TikTok are explicit in allowing creators to share their stories about self-harm to raise awareness and find community support,” they wrote. “We were impressed that YouTube’s community guidelines on suicide and self-injury provide resources, including hotlines and websites, for those having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, for 27 countries.”
Outside the biggest platforms, though, it’s all a toss-up. Researchers could not find public policies for suicide or self-harm for NextDoor or Clubhouse. Dating apps? Grindr and Tinder have policies about self-harm; Scruff and Hinge don’t. Messaging apps tend not to have any such public policies, either — iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp don’t. (The fact that all of them use some form of encryption likely has a lot to do with that.)
Why does all of this matter? In an interview, the researchers told me there are at least three big reasons. One is essentially a question of justice: if people are going to be punished for the ways in which they discuss self-harm online, they ought to know that in advance. Two is that policies offer platforms a chance to intervene when their users are considering hurting themselves. (Many do offer users links to resources that can help them in a time of crisis.) And three is that we can’t develop more effective policies for addressing mental health issues online if we don’t know what the policies are.
And moderating these kinds of posts can be quite tricky, researchers said. There’s often a fine line between posts that are discussing self-harm and those that appear to be encouraging it.
“The same content that could show someone recovering from an eating disorder is something that can also be triggering for other people,” Grossman told me. “That same content could just affect users in two different ways.”
But you can’t moderate if you don’t even have a policy, and I was surprised, reading this research, at just how many companies don’t.
This has turned out to be a kind of policy week here at Platformer. We talked about how Clarence Thomas wants to blow up platform policy as it exists today; how YouTube is shifting the way it measures harm on the platform (and discloses it); and how Twitch developed a policy for policing creators’ behavior on other platforms.
What strikes me about all of this is just how fresh it all feels. We’re more than a decade into the platform era, but there are still so many big questions to figure out. And even on the most serious of subjects — how to address content related to self-harm — some platforms haven’t even entered the discussion.
The Stanford researchers told me they believe they are the first people to even attempt to catalog self-harm policies among the major platforms and make them public. There are doubtless many other areas where a similar inventory would serve the public good. Private companies still hide too much, even and especially when they are directly implicated in questions of public interest.
In the future, I hope these companies collaborate more — learning from one another and adopting policies that make sense for their own platforms. And thanks to the Stanford researchers, at least on one subject, they can now find all of the existing policies in a single place.
This column was co-published with Platformer, a daily newsletter about Big Tech and democracy.
Creating a robotic arm is hard enough, but controlling one can be a beast of its own. It’s not always easy to translate servo calculations into a user-friendly interface, but Ricky Robot made a Raspberry Pi robotic arm controller anyone can use! This project uses VR controllers so users can move the arms in real-time and even initiate a grip to pick things up.
Some of the best Raspberry Pi projects we’ve seen over the last year bridge our current social gaps with telepresence. This project is no exception—Ricky even suggests a camera upgrade could be used in conjunction with a VR headset to drop in on his room remotely.
The robotic arms are built from a kit Ricky found through Amazon. They are controlled by Raspberry Pis, which are running web-based servers designed to accept input from the VR controllers. This input is translated into movements for the robotic arm.
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(Image credit: Ricky Robot)
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(Image credit: Ricky Robot)
A simple microcontroller wouldn’t do for this project. Ricky already has plans to upgrade it with more features, and the Raspberry Pi offers more flexibility than smaller boards like the Pico. To read more about how this project operates, check out the full thread on Reddit and be sure to follow Ricky Robot on YouTube for more cool projects.
In about three months, Samsung will announce the Galaxy A22. Read all about the expected budget phone here and take a look at the possible design.
Every year, Samsung releases a large number of smartphone models, a significant part of which is housed within the Galaxy A series. A considerable number of 2021 models have already been announced, varying from cheap budget models to mid-range phones with 5G support. It started with the introduction of the mid-range Galaxy A42. Not long after, the cheap Samsung A12 and A02s were announced, followed by the A32. Recently, the Galaxy A52 and A72 have been added to the sales range. We now have to wait for the Galaxy A82 and the A22.
In this publication we limit ourselves to the Galaxy A22, the cheap brother of the already introduced A32. It will likely be the cheapest 5G phone that Samsung will announce in 2021 – with an expected retail price of around €250. It is the successor to the Galaxy A21 / A21s released in June.
Samsung A-Series smartphone 2021
Meanwhile, the expected Samsung A22 has been in the news several times. It is known that both a 4G and 5G version will be released – just as is the case with the Galaxy A32 and A52. There is also information available about the colors. The budget phone is expected to arrive in 4 color variants: gray, white, light purple (violet) and light green.
Based on all available information, graphic designer Technizo Concept, in collaboration with LetsGoDigital, has created a series of product renders in which the possible design of the Samsung Galaxy A22 is central. In addition to the four expected colors, Technizo Concept has also added a fifth variant, which in our opinion would fit well into the delivery program; pale yellow.
Much is still unclear about the specifications. Presumably, the new A-series model will be equipped with a flat 6.5-inch LCD display. Although the A21 was still equipped with a punch-hole selfie camera, we expect the new model to feature a notch as all budget models within the A-series are equipped with a notch this year.
Budget phone with quad camera
There is still some uncertainty about the camera system at the rear. It is in line with expectations that Samsung will build in a quad camera – this was also the case with its predecessor. The main sensor will likely be able to capture 48 megapixel resolution photos. In addition, an ultra-wide-angle camera, a depth camera and a macro camera will most likely be implemented.
Samsung could choose to implement a square module, such as with the A12 and A42. For the product renders, however, we assumed that the camera of the A22 will have a rectangular design, as we also see with the A21 and the more recent A32.
With the latter model, Samsung chose not to place a camera frame around the lenses, the cameras are placed directly on the rear panel. We have also reflected this renewed and refreshing design in the A22, as can be seen in the following YouTube video of Technizo Concept.
Hardware & Software
The Samsung A22 is probably powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset. This is a mid-range 5G SoC. A MediaTek Helio chip may be used for the 4G model. It is still unclear whether both models will be introduced simultaneously. Recently, a Samsung roadmap appeared online (thanks to Evan Blass) listing the Galaxy A22 5G model for a July release.
With the A32, Samsung chose to introduce the 4G model at a later date. This device was equipped with less powerful hardware, but also with a nicer display and a higher resolution camera than its 5G counterpart. It is quite possible that Samsung wants to apply the same differentiation with the A22.
Samsung is expected to release at least two memory variants: 4GB RAM / 64GB ROM and 6GB RAM / 128GB ROM storage memory. A model with 3GB RAM / 32GB ROM may also be released in some markets. The memory will in any case be expandable with a microSD memory card. This is of course a great advantage. With the high-end models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S21, this option is no longer supported.
Android 11 smartphone
The smartphone will run on the Android 11 operating system, combined with the One UI 3.1 user interface from Samsung. This is a user-friendly and clear interface with many personalization options.
Since it is a budget phone of less than € 300, software- and security updates will also be performed less frequently. Based on other cheap A-series models, Samsung will likely make a security update available 4x per year (once per quarter).
Although Samsung has expanded its software update policy last year, by providing most models with Android OS updates for 3 years, this will probably not apply to the A22. The more expensive models from the A series can count on 3 years of software updates, such as the Galaxy A52, the A72 and the A82 expected later this year.
Battery & charging options
Samsung will probably provide this budget phone with a plastic back panel and a plastic frame. The fingerprint sensor is most likely processed on the side of the device, in the on / off button.
Like all Samsung Galaxy A-series models this year, the A22 will also have an old-fashioned, but still much-loved 3.5mm headphone connection. This way you can use a wired headset to fully enjoy your music.
A USB-C connection is provided for charging. As yet no information is known about the battery capacity, nevertheless it is likely that it concerns a 5,000 mAh battery. This is also the case with its cheaper and more expensive brother; the A12 and A32. Charging is probably possible with a maximum charging power of 15 Watts.
Although Samsung no longer includes a charger in the sales package for the S-series models, all A-series models are still being supplied with a charger this year. You can therefore assume that you will also find a charger in the sales box of the A22.
Samsung A22 price and model variations
It seems that Samsung is planning to launch the Galaxy A22 worldwide. The device is also expected in Europe, both as a 4G and 5G variant. The latter model is expected in July, it remains to be seen whether the 4G model will be introduced simultaneously.
No concrete information is yet known about the price. Nevertheless, a price indication can already be given on the basis of its predecessor and the other A-series models. The price will probably be somewhere between € 210 and € 275, where the 5G model will of course be slightly more expensive than the 4G model.
The 5G version will be equipped with a more powerful chipset. Perhaps Samsung will make some concessions in other areas, in order to keep the price difference between the two models small – think of a lower screen resolution and / or refresh rate and less high-resolution cameras.
Alternatives for Samsung Galaxy A22
If you don’t want to wait until July and are you looking for a new Samsung smartphone, then the 2021 range already offers sufficient diversity. For those who do not place too many demands on their mobile phone, the A12 may be a suitable candidate. If you are looking for just a little more, Samsung offers a good alternative with the A32. The one-year-old Galaxy A51 is also worth considering, this was the best-selling smartphone in Europe last year.
Obviously, there are also plenty of other brands, with interesting models within this price range. Consider, for example, the Nokia 5.4, the Motorola Moto G9 Plus, the OnePlus Nord N10, the Oppo A74 and the Xiaomi Mi 10T. The range of budget phones is wide. Although these smartphones usually offer a good price / quality ratio, the differences between them can be significant. It is therefore always advisable to compare a few models first, so you can make a good decision based on your personal preferences.
Note to editors :The product images shown in this publication are created by Technizo Concept in collaboration with LetsGoDigital. The presented 3D renders are for illustrative purposes only. This product is not for sale. The images are copyright protected. Feel free to use these renders on your own website, please be so respectful to include a source link into your publication.
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s company focused on developing brain-machine interfaces, has posted a video to YouTube that appears to show a monkey navigating an on-screen cursor using only its mind.
Pager, a 9-year-old macaque monkey, had a Neuralink implanted about six weeks before the video was shot, the video’s unnamed narrator says. He was first taught to play video games with a joystick for a banana smoothie reward, delivered through a metal straw. While he was doing this, the Neuralink device recorded information about which neurons were firing — learning, essentially, to predict hand movements by recording which regions fired. After learning the patterns, the joystick Pager used to play was disconnected from the computer. The monkey appears to go on playing the game using only his mind — playing a game of Pong with no joystick whatsoever.
First @Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021
This style of scientific release is unusual; ordinarily, videos like this are supplementary material to peer-reviewed papers published in scientific journals. Those papers contain data that can be checked by other scientists. It’s believable that a monkey might play video games using a brain implant — after all, a paralyzed man has already used a robotic arm and a non-Neuralink brain implant to drink beer. Pong is a classic of brain-machine interfaces — in 2006, Matthew Nagle did a similar feat with four days’ worth of training.
In July 2019, Musk said that a monkey had already been able to control a computer with its brain and the Neuralink implant. Since then, we’ve seen demonstrations of the Neuralink technology in pigs. Today, Musk tweeted that Neuralink might let a paralyzed person tweet faster than a person using their thumbs on a smartphone. A later goal, he said in a follow-up tweet, will be to send signals from Neuralinks in the brain to Neuralinks in major body neural clusters, “thus enabling, for example, paraplegics to walk again.”
A YouTuber recorded himself entering SpaceX’s Starship rocket facilities in south Texas last month, freely sauntering on site. No security stopped him from wandering around the underside of SN11, the 16-story-tall rocket prototype that would launch and explode just a few days later.
The video was posted to a small YouTube channel called Loco VlogS, which is run by “Caesar.” Caesar did not respond to multiple emails and DMs asking for comment.
For space enthusiasts, SpaceX’s sprawling rocket campus in Texas just a few miles north of the Rio Grande is a tantalizing museum of rocketry just laying out in the open, housing millions of dollars worth of tech — some of which SpaceX has pitched to the Air Force and NASA. It doesn’t have the towering walls or advanced security one might expect a company to have for safeguarding sensitive (and potentially dangerous) rocket hardware.
Development of Starship, the centerpiece of Elon Musk’s goal to ferry humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars, is aided in part by a $135 million NASA contract to help mature its design under the agency’s Human Lunar Landing system program.
“NASA takes safety and security very seriously,” said Monica Witt, spokeswoman for the agency. “The Human Landing System contracts include requirements for the contractors to appropriately safeguard information, software, and hardware. SpaceX notified NASA that they investigated this incident.”
Caesar entered the rocket site and seemingly moved around SpaceX hardware and equipment with ease, recording closeups of Starship SN11’s Raptor engines. The video garnered 5 likes and at least 100 dislikes, as well as a barrage of comments from pissed-off SpaceX fans, before he deleted it, according to a different YouTube account that archived the video. In a classic YouTube move, Caesar posted an apology video a few days later on April 1st.
“Yes it was wrong, yes it was illegal,” he said in the apology video. “But in my eyes, in that time of moment, I didn’t really think about that… What went through my mind was, ‘Okay, I’m never gonna get this opportunity again.’ So I went for it. And, well, this happened.”
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates launches and launch infrastructure for the sake of public safety, said it was aware of the video and brought it to SpaceX’s attention. “Maintaining the physical security of a launch facility is an important aspect of ensuring public safety,” a spokesman said. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
The site has had similar security issues before. In 2019, a SpaceX fan was arrested after posting pictures of himself near another Starship prototype to social media.
Some people spent the pandemic writing the next King Lear, others lamenting the fact that they weren’t. It doesn’t really matter. There are plenty of inspiring pandemic projects to go around, but one of the most striking (and brain-breaking) has to be this model train video created by Jason Shron of the YouTube channel Rapido Trains.
Shron is a devoted train enthusiast and talented model maker. But his model train project re-creating the Canadian VIA rail line connecting Toronto to Montreal is really a treasure only a lot of time (due to COVID-19 lockdowns) and passion (from a lifetime appreciation of the rail) can create. Just look at this video:
That’s footage shot from one of Shron’s model trains, superimposed over the window of a human-scale VIA train model. It looks, concerningly, like a rail train ride. But you might now be wondering: where did Shron get a human-sized model train? Well, he built that, too — in his basement:
You have to commend the attention to detail here. Not only do the models look great — Shron sourced real train seats and other equipment for his human-sized re-creation — but the sound design really sells it. The last time I rode a train was over a year ago now, but the gentle air-conditioned hum, soft creak as the train rides the tracks, white noise of other people talking, and sudden whoosh of another train passing is unmistakable.
It’s almost too real.
Consider the implications: if Shron can re-create a train line to almost perfect scale (and a human-sized train car for that matter), where does it stop? Why not a model home with a model train set inside? Or a model town containing the same?
I’m not talking Welcome to Marwen; I’m more thinking Synecdoche, New York. Maybe we were so focused on wringing our hands about the frankly ridiculous popularity of simulation theory that we ignored the other kind of simulation theory. That a kind man with a deep respect for one of the greatest forms of human transportation (don’t text airplanes, my phone is off), could have built a perfect, fake world around us without us ever knowing. Because then, what’s really real, you know? Am I? Are you?
The smiling face of a brilliant hobbyist OR the man who runs our small model world? You be the judge.Photo: The Toronto Star
Anyway, the video is very relaxing. You should give it a watch.
Intel’s Bleep announcement starts at the 27:24 mark in its GDC 2021 presentation.
Last month during its virtual GDC presentation Intel announced Bleep, a new AI-powered tool that it hopes will cut down on the amount of toxicity gamers have to experience in voice chat. According to Intel, the app “uses AI to detect and redact audio based on user preferences.” The filter works on incoming audio, acting as an additional user-controlled layer of moderation on top of what a platform or service already offers.
It’s a noble effort, but there’s something bleakly funny about Bleep’s interface, which lists in minute detail all of the different categories of abuse that people might encounter online, paired with sliders to control the quantity of mistreatment users want to hear. Categories range anywhere from “Aggression” to “LGBTQ+ Hate,” “Misogyny,” “Racism and Xenophobia,” and “White nationalism.” There’s even a toggle for the N-word. Bleep’s page notes that it’s yet to enter public beta, so all of this is subject to change.
With the majority of these categories, Bleep appears to give users a choice: would you like none, some, most, or all of this offensive language to be filtered out? Like choosing from a buffet of toxic internet slurry, Intel’s interface gives players the option of sprinkling in a light serving of aggression or name-calling into their online gaming.
Bleep has been in the works for a couple of years now — PCMag notes that Intel talked about this initiative way back at GDC 2019 — and it’s working with AI moderation specialists Spirit AI on the software. But moderating online spaces using artificial intelligence is no easy feat as platforms like Facebook and YouTube have shown. Although automated systems can identify straightforwardly offensive words, they often fail to consider the context and nuance of certain insults and threats. Online toxicity comes in many, constantly evolving forms that can be difficult for even the most advanced AI moderation systems to spot.
“While we recognize that solutions like Bleep don’t erase the problem, we believe it’s a step in the right direction, giving gamers a tool to control their experience,” Intel’s Roger Chandler said during its GDC demonstration. Intel says it hopes to release Bleep later this year, and adds that the technology relies on its hardware accelerated AI speech detection, suggesting that the software may rely on Intel hardware to run.
100 Thieves, a popular esports organization and lifestyle brand, announced that two of its biggest content creators, Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter and Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, will now be co-owners.
“As a streamer and former pro-player myself, I always wanted 100 Thieves to be an organization guided by and built to be a platform for content creators,” Haag said in a statement. “Rae and Jack have been with us since 2018 and 2019, respectively, and are significant contributors to 100 Thieves. They deserve recognition for what they’ve done for the company to date – and we want their strategic input on what we can all do together in the future.”
Hofstetter and Dunlop join 100 Thieves founder and CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, rapper Drake, music industry talent manager Scooter Braun, and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in the ownership group.
Hofstetter joined 100 Thieves in October 2018, and has become a fixture in 100 Thieves’ content and on YouTube, where she has 3.3 million subscribers. She left Twitch to exclusively stream on the Google-owned video platform in January 2020 (though appeared on Twitch as part of Jimmy Fallon’s debut stream on Tuesday).
Happy to announce that I am officially a co-owner of 100 Thieves!
Its been almost 3 years since I joined the team and I would have never expected this path to lead to this..
I’m proud to be one of the first women co-owners in esports and beyond excited for our future together! pic.twitter.com/hb5uxI8rea
— rae ☀️ (@Valkyrae) April 7, 2021
Dunlop became a part of 100 Thieves in May 2019, and like Hofstetter, has become one of the most recognizable faces of the organization. He also defected from Twitch to exclusively stream on YouTube, and did so even sooner than Hofstetter, making the move in November 2019. He has 3.27 million followers on the platform.
Hofstetter and Dunlop will both receive equity in 100 Thieves, reports The New York Times. In their new roles, they’ll be more involved in 100 Thieves’ business strategy, including “helping identify and bring on new talent, building new programs and other initiatives,” according to a press release. They’ll both continue to make content as well.
A week ago, German overclocker der8auer published a video showcasing his findings on delidding a Core i9-11900K, Intel’s new flagship Rocket Lake CPU. It’s not one of the best CPUs, based on our testing, but it’s still a formidable opponent in the right workloads. der8auer found that delidding Rocket Lake yielded very impressive temperature results; however, the process is so difficult that it might not be worth the effort.
The problem with the 11900K is its more complex PCB layout of components. Next to the IHS are a bunch of tiny SMD (surface mounted device) capacitors that are incredibly delicate. The capacitors are so close to the IHS that you can easily hit one of them while removing the IHS, which would likely render the CPU nonfunctional.
This is unlike the earlier 9th and 10th Gen chips that don’t have any SMDs anywhere near the IHS, allowing for a (relatively) safe delidding process if you have the right tools. But der8auer is a professional overclocker and skilled at delidding, so he took the chance on his 11900K.
Not only do the SMDs pose problems, but what’s even worse is the amount of pressure you need to apply to the 11900K during the delidding. der8auer had to upgrade his CPU delidding tool with a torque wrench to get the IHS to move at all, where past CPUs only needed an Allen wrench. You can see the strain of trying to twist the tool while keeping the delidding box stable in the above video.
Needless to say, this adds significant risk to the delidding process. Even with the torque wrench, the IHS didn’t want to come off, so der8auer had to resort to warming the CPU up in an oven first. In the end, he was able to successfully remove the IHS, though he mentions several times that he would not recommend most people attempt to do so.
(Image credit: YouTube)
The good news is that the end results are quite impressive. der8uer noted a 10C–12C reduction in temperatures, purely from scraping off the solder on the IHS and replacing it with liquid metal.
This is very impressive on a chip that already has solder. Using solder (as opposed to some form of thermal paste) between the CPU die and the IHS is already a good solution for thermal dissipation. Upgrading to liquid metal normally only results in about a 5C reduction in temperatures, not 10-12C.
It’s rather unfortunate that the delidding process is so incredibly risky on Comet Lake CPUs. We’d love to see more delidded 11900K testing to see if der8auer’s results are typical, but the likelihood of damaging the CPU is so great that it’s not worth the risk for the vast majority of users — even for an impressive 10C drop in temperatures.
The team at Gurgle Apps is always getting creative with microelectronics but their latest project has us seriously excited! This time the family developed a Pong replica just for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.
Some of the best Raspberry Pi projects are compatible with different boards, and this one proved to have notable flexibility in the RP2040 environment. This game was tested and ran successfully on both a Raspberry Pi Pico and Pimoroni Tiny RP2040. It has knobs for controls and an OLED screen housed inside a small, 3D-printed cabinet.
(Image credit: Gurgle Apps)
To recreate the project, you’ll need a Pico or a Tiny 2040, two potentiometers, a resistor, and an SSD1306 OLED display. There’s also an optional speaker component but it isn’t 100% necessary—though it does add a nice touch!
You can check out a video demo of the project on the official Gurgle Apps YouTube channel. The team provides everything you need to get started from a complete parts list to the Pico Pong app itself. Visit the Pico Pong project page on GitHub for a closer look at the code and maybe even build one of your own.
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