Moore’s Law

This article was in anticipation with the coincidence of not knowing that Gordon Moore died a few days ago.

Gordon Moore, co-founder of the microprocessor company Intel , best known for having developed “Moore’s law”, according to which the computing power of processors doubles every two years for the same size, has died at the age of 94. A rule developed in the 1960s that remained valid for decades: even if it hasn’t been followed for a few years, it still remains the best-known rule of information technology, often known even by those who are unfamiliar with computers and processors.

In 1965 Gordon Moore hypothesized that the number of transistors in microprocessors would double approximately every 12 months. In 1975 this prediction proved correct and before the end of the decade the timescale was extended to two years, a period which will remain valid throughout the 1980s. The law, which will be extended throughout the 1990s and will remain valid to this day, is reformulated at the end of the 1980s and elaborated in its definitive form, namely that the number of transistors in processors doubles every 18 months.

continues here

https://www.gabrieleromano.org/archive/moores-law.html

3519173221

USA: Nuclear Fusion Power Plants

In mid-December, all the international media covered the news of a breakthrough in the science of electricity: in
the United States they managed to produce energy through nuclear fusion, producing more energy than needed to
trigger the production process.
Nuclear fusion, unlike nuclear fission – the process with which current nuclear power plants work – would produce
energy without giving off C02 and above all without producing waste.
Someone has already dubbed it ‘the discovery of the century’, even if it will take at least 30 years for its
commercial use, due to enormous scientific and technological difficulties.
Others, on the other hand, suspect that it is only speculative news and that therefore today the technique of
nuclear fusion still cannot find a place among man’s technologies.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm
said that “This is a scientific milestone” “It’s just the beginning,” she
added at a press conference. The Department of Energy has thus confirmed what was anticipated by the American
media: for the first time in history, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have
produced a greater quantity of energy from fusion than that which is consumed during the process, a known concept
as “net energy gain”.

“This is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,” cheered Granholm, explaining that
researchers have been working on this for decades. “This strengthens our national security and the fusion allows
us to replicate conditions found only in the stars and the sun,” added the US minister. “This milestone brings us
significantly closer to the possibility of carbon-neutral fusion energy to power our society,” concluded Granholm.
The researchers achieved this very important milestone on December 5, 2022 using a nuclear fusion technology
called “inertial confinement”.
The experiment took place by generating energy thanks to 192 laser beams in a few billionths of a second, the
energy produced in the United States, in the National Ignition Facility experimental structure located in
California, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The experiment took place inside a vacuum chamber, i.e.
a container from which the air is pumped out, and the lasers were aimed at a perforated cylindrical container a
few millimeters long.

TO CONTINUE READING

https://www.gabrieleromano.org/archive/USA-Nuclear-Fusion-Power-Plants.html

The most powerful wind farm in the world is about to be born: it is located in Denmark and will have the new Vestas wind turbines

image free by pexel - wind turbines landscape — Landscape Photography Of Wind Turbines – https://www.pexels.com/it-it/foto/fotografia-di-paesaggi-di-turbine-eoliche-532192/

In fact, in Italy, above all for the landscape environment, they tend to place wind turbines only on windy hills of little interest… and the sea is a protected area although in recent years projects have been launched to place wind turbines in other places of the Italian coasts.

as it is known denmark has been one of the countries for decades trying to exploit wind energy more, especially at sea but now, with further works, the most powerful wind plant in the world will be obtained…

In fact Vindeby Park was the first wind farm built in the world

The last components, the three 115.5-metre blades, have finally been brought to their destination and ready to be attached to the rest of the turbine, i.e. the tower sections, the nacelle and the prototype hub, already installed and ready to enter function.

largest blades in the world

We are talking about the V236-15.0 MW offshore wind turbine, currently still a prototype of what, thanks to the blades, could be the most powerful wind energy generator in the world.

The mass production of the blades will be entrusted to Nakskov starting from the second half of 2023, and from the company plant in Taranto starting from the third quarter of the same year.

The V236-15.0MW, introduced to the market in February 2021, has a rotor diameter of 236 meters and a swept area of 43,743 square metres, the largest in the industry to date. Even the height is an absolute record, equal to 280 meters.

According to the company, a single Vestas V236-15.0MW is capable of producing 80 GWh annually, a portion of energy sufficient to power around 20,000 European households and save more than 38,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of around 25,000 passenger cars worldwide. less every year.

transporting a component of the giant vestas wind turbine

WhatsApp: links for calls arrive! Here’s how the new feature works

Among the various improvements in the pipeline for WhatsApp in this period, as well as for voice there are also for calls and video calls.

The latest beta of WhatsApp for Android, 2.22.5.4, contains “” under the skin “, that is hidden in the code, an addition that always concerns calls and video calls, although this time not from a visual point of view, but functional The datamining of the beta conducted by WABetainfo has in fact made it possible to discover a function that already exists in the code, even if it is still dormant, and therefore not yet accessible to users: we are talking about the possibility of creating links for calls and video calls.

The screenshot above clearly shows an unprecedented option to invite WhatsApp users to join a call, namely the creation of a link. Nothing revolutionary, but it is still an important addition, since it allows you to invite more people without them being present in your contact list: it will be enough to generate a call link and then share it.

The function can, in some ways, remember the integration with Messenger Rooms through a link, then removed: but if on the Messenger Room anyone can enter a session, even without having a Facebook account, with the new link it will still be necessary to have a WhatsApp account to take part in a call, which will then be protected by end-to-end encryption.

In short, it is a feature that aims to extend and simplify the scenarios of use of calls and video calls beyond today’s borders, but always remaining within a certain perimeter of protection. At the moment, however, we do not know when this feature will be introduced at least in beta, but the works are in progress and seem already well defined: to the eye it shouldn’t take long.

Grand Theft Auto 6: Rockstar confirmed content theft

The source codes and many preview videos of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto game have been stolen. It seems like a play on words or a mocking coincidence but it is reality.
Rockstar Games has confirmed that it has suffered a security breach on the servers on which it stored various content related to the development of the future Grand Theft Auto 6. Information and confidential content have been downloaded and made public on the network, including these images and videos, as well as a part of the source code. In a message published via its official Twitter profile, as expected Rockstar said that it was “footage from an early development version” and was quick to point out that the leak will not affect the development process of GTA. 6. Furthermore, it is added that the game will be released “when it is ready”, which highlights that there is still a long way to go until development is complete. Officially, in fact, Rockstar has not yet disclosed any media or the possible release date of GTA 6. But according to some, the game would be released approximately between 2024 and 2025.

…

for more info:

https://www.gabrieleromano.org/pages/articles/gta6-theft-hacker.html

Netflix and subscriptions with advertising: you cannot download content to watch offline

Netflix, as you know, is working to prepare a subscription plan at a reduced price but supported by advertisements. We now learn this subscription plan could be affected by an important limitation: the inability to download content for offline viewing.

Bloomberg divulges the news, having discovered that in the code of the Netflix app for iOS devices there is still, not operational, this restriction intended for plans with advertisements. This alone is not a sufficient element that this is actually the case, but it must nevertheless be considered as an important indication and a probable possibility.

It was the same co-CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, in the past months that the company is working on the introduction of a more convenient subscription plan aimed at those users who want to face a lower economic outlay and, at the same time, not have no problem putting up with some advertisements. In the current state of things, there is still no precise information on the characteristics of this piano, but the company in the past has provided some general indications, explaining for example that the ads cannot be skipped and that the user will not have the controls available. Netflix also indicated that some content may contain “restricted” statuses in the plan with advertising, which somehow dovetails with Bloomberg’s findings.

Another unknown element is the price of this piano. Currently Netflix offers – we are referring to the US market, also because it is not given whether the plan with advertising will also arrive in Italy and with what timing – a basic subscription at a price of $ 9.99 with 480p streaming and a “Standard” subscription with resolution FullHD at $ 15.49. At $ 19.99 a month there is the Premium plan which includes streaming in 4K HDR. We can choose that for the plan with Netflix advertisements it could at least initially use the cheapest subscription as a starting point and perhaps in the future experiment with other offers.

The company decided to work on an ad-supported subscription plan in response to the decline in subscribers and revenue it experienced in the first half of the year, when for the first time in 10 years it had to acknowledge a decline in number of registered users. However, this strategy also includes the repressive action towards the practice of sharing subscriptions. Netflix says some 222 million “paying households” have their subscription with another 100 million households and in the future it aims to include a more effective monetization mechanism for subscription sharing, with some testing underway in select countries.

Ad-supported subscriptions won’t see the light until early 2023, so in the next few months to learn more detailed information and details as Netflix finalizes its plans.

Metaverse: there is the first student who graduated virtually and is Italian!

In the Metaverse you can also graduate and the first to do so was Edoardo di Pietra, a young student from Colle Val D’Elsa in the province of Siena, who decided to discuss his thesis in front of the University of Turin commission for the Communication, ICT and Media course which included live presence but also in virtual version directly in the Metaverse with an avatar created ad hoc for the occasion.

“When you are the first to do something, you are the precursor of everything that will come after you. So you have responsibilities. In short: you become a standard of the future” these are the words of the young graduate of La Stampa.

You can even graduate in the Metaverse!
In Italy it was the first and it could also be on a global level. A step forward that makes us understand how important universities are also ready for this type of innovation and how, with a minimum commitment, we can keep up with the times and with the technological changes that afflict the world every day.

Edoardo Di Pietro prepared his thesis in one year of work. “As a gamer I had already heard of the Metaverse, also because I was unknowingly in precursor games, such as Minecraft”. Tomorrow will certainly be a revolution in graduation debates “but also for the future – underlines a different distance, with greater presence and greater interactivity to the classic video calls on the platforms used to give lessons during the period of restrictions. due to the Covid pandemic “.

For the 25-year-old Tuscan, “Metaverso is a kind of teleportation”. But there are not only the merits. “The biggest flaw to point out is that we don’t have to detach ourselves too much from reality,” he says. “Beautiful technology, beautiful innovation, but we always live in this world. In science fiction novels and films or in the common imagination, we see the Metaverse as that thing that will make us sit all day in an armchair with a tube attached to the back of the neck, thus feeding us. Here the Metaverse doesn’t even have to touch upon that idea. It must be something more to increase and simplify reality “.

The thesis supervisor will be Professor Michele Cornetto. “The idea was born about a half ago. A first experiment developed on Minecraft for the Christmas party at the end of the year to overcome Covid. Since then I have started thinking of promoting this topic also to students who asked for projects of That of Edoardo goes in the direction: it is a first step to understand what and how many perspectives there will be for this one, he explores the future “.

Internet Explorer is dead after 26 years in business. Microsoft: ‘Will be permanently disabled’

Internet Explorer is dead and represents a past that is not too exciting for Microsoft when it comes to web browsing. From 15 June, therefore, an important step has been added to Microsoft’s strategy to modernize a fundamental aspect of its OSes.

Internet Explorer is dead: Edge is Microsoft’s only browser in the future

Specifically Lyndersay has performed that confirms the web browser, no longer on some versions of Windows, will be “permanently disabled” through an OS update that will come in the future. Below is the comment in full, as reported by BleepingComputer:

“Users will still see the Internet Explorer icon on their devices (for example on the taskbar or Start menu), but clicking to open Internet Explorer will launch Microsoft Edge with the ability to easily access IE mode. Internet Explorer will eventually be completely disabled permanently through a future Windows Update, at which point the Internet Explorer icons on users’ devices will be removed. “

Internet Explorer is dead: Edge is Microsoft’s only browser in the future
During this time, user data (including settings, favorites and passwords) will be transferred to Microsoft Edge. Microsoft will also add a “Reload with IE mode” button to the Edge toolbar to make it easier for users to run sites and services that are not compliant with the new standards. On the other hand, from 2020 those who try to run incompatible websites with Internet Explorer (there are almost 1500 certified incompatible websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Drive) are automatically redirected to Edge.

On June 15, Internet Explorer ended its life cycle within the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). The application was not already available on Windows 11 and the most popular versions of Windows 10, but it was in the SAC channel Windows 10 and still is on Windows 7 ESU, Windows 8.1 and all versions of Windows 10 LTSC, IoT and Server. On these operating systems, even if no longer supported, IE will continue to receive critical security updates until support ends for the version of Windows it runs on.

Universal USB-C charger, the EU directive arrives.

The EU institutions sold have reached an agreement on the directive that will oblige all future smartphones in the EU, including Apple’s iPhone, to be equipped with the universal USB-C port for cable charging. Smartphones, tablets, e-readers, cameras and other electronic devices assigned as an exception to the legislation by the autumn of 2024, while it was envisaged for laptops, it is set at 40 months from adoption. EU lawmakers say this is due to the difficulty of making a standard charger that applies to laptops with different power requirements.

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament has been working on the legislation for many years, but there have been slowdowns due to a series of objections. The strongest of the complaints came, of course, from Apple, which defended the possibility of using its Lighting connector.

Universal USB-C charger

The aim of the European institutions is, however, to favor a fast charging technology as standardized as possible, which can allow users, separated from the device, to act at the same speed with any charger. In addition, we aim to avoid having a charger in every package of a new device, in order to avoid the multiplication of electronic waste.

The EU estimates that the legislation could save consumers € 250 million per year on “unnecessary battery charger purchases” and cut electronic waste by around 11,000 tonnes per year.

The legislation has yet to be approved by the Parliament and the Council of the EU, although this step is an indicator as a formality. In a press release, the European Parliament clearly stated that the law will be in “by autumn 2024”. By that date, all devices covered by law and sold in the EU to use the USB-C cable charging port.

Apple could get around this by putting in place a wireless charging system for its upcoming iPhones (as well as other devices) marketed in Europe. According to other rumors, however, Cupertino is working on the first iPhones with a USB-C port (Apple already has a catalog of some laptop and tablet devices with this port).

Diablo Immortal will be released on June 2, 2022

There are just a few days left until the official launch of Diablo Immortal, the mobile spin-off of Blizzard Entertainment’s iconic dungeon crawler. The action RPG, also released on PC, offers a brand new setting and a brand new story, as well as six different classes with which to venture into the world of Sanctuary. Ahead of the upcoming global debut, the development team has shared all the details related to the release on iOS, Android and Windows.

“Skarn, Lord of Damnation, has amassed his warmongering forces in anticipation of your imminent arrival at Sanctuary. With an ashen look and horrible frown, the demon lord murmurs … ‘We are waiting for you.'” Thus Diablo Immortal welcomes the wanderers of Sanctuarium, the heroes destined to thwart the nefarious plans of Skarn.

The launch of Diablo Immortal is set for June 2 at 19.00 (Italian time) for iOS and Android. Some players, Blizzard explains, will see the title available in the App Store and Google Play on the morning of June 1 – a discrepancy that “is partly due to how mobile games are released” and which serves “to ensure smooth delivery. complete for the mobile version of Immortal “. To find out when you can download in your region, you can consult the table shared a few hours ago by Blizzard itself.

Also from 2 June it will be possible to access the PC version of Diablo Immortal, available in open beta: it is already possible to pre-load via Battle.net. We remind you that to access Immortal on PC it is necessary to have installed the Battle.net application and to log in with an existing account. On Android and iOS, however, simply download the game from the related digital stores, click on the Install button and let the download complete.

In the post published on the Blizzard Entertainment blog, it is possible to consult a series of FAQs that clarify all the possible doubts related to the launch of the game on mobile and PC.