Orro has launched a new division, Orro Critical Infrastructure, to enhance Operational Technology services for critical infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand. Read...

The Southern Institute of Technology, which has a small campus in Hornby, refuses to provide details about proposed changes in Canterbury. Read...

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has launched the HPE ProLiant Compute XD685, enhancing large AI model training with cutting-edge AMD technology and flexible configurations. Read...

The best people, technology and innovations in the red meat sector have been recognised at the 2024 gala. Read...

AMD announced its third-generation Ryzen Pro processors for business laptops on Thursday, taking the AI power of its Ryzen AI 300 consumer processors and applying them to the business world. AMD launched three very similar members of its Ryzen AI Pro 300 family, with core counts ranging from eight to 12 cores. They’ll launch later in October. AMD launched its Ryzen AI 300 laptop processor for consumers earlier this year, and the Ryzen AI Pro is basically that chip with some additional security technologies layered on top. The AI 300 ushered AMD’s new Zen 5 architecture into the market, with more cores and more powerful RDNA 3.5 graphics. The chip also includes AMD’s XDNA 2 NPU architecture, which more than doubles the available TOPS of the previous Ryzen Pro 8040 series from 16 to 50 to 55 TOPS, depending on the model. Otherwise, the Ryzen AI 300 Pro is similar to the 8040 in that it still uses the same 4nm process technology and consumes the same amount of power or between 15 to 54 watts. The new chips include the Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 375, the Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370, and the Ryzen AI 7 HX Pro 360. Note the slight differences between the three Ryzen AI Pro chips, including the difference in TOPS inside the NPU. Note the slight differences between the three Ryzen AI Pro chips, including the difference in TOPS inside the NPU.AMD Note the slight differences between the three Ryzen AI Pro chips, including the difference in TOPS inside the NPU.AMD AMD AMD is banking fairly heavily on AI as a selling point, noting that the Ryzen AI Pro 300 series is currently the only X86 business processor available with the available TOPS to meet the 40-TOPS threshold to meet Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC standard. Intel has yet to announce a vPro business version of its Lunar Lake processor, which also meets the TOPS standard. Qualcomm, of course, was first to market with its AI-powered Windows on Arm Snapdragon X Elite chip, too. Like Intel, however, AMD will require an update from Microsoft to enable its AI capabilities. AMD’s new security features include Cloud Bare Metal Recovery, which helps recover the system via the cloud, AMD Device Identity, which guarantees authentic AMD chips for traceability across the supply chain, and a Watch Dog Timer function, which helps identify and recover processes that “hang” or stall out. AMD is still a minority player in the PC notebook space, but it has steadily increased share over the past year. A year ago, AMD held a 16.5 percent unit market share of all notebook processors, but it’s now just above 20 percent as of the second quarter, according to Mercury Research. AMD said it will ship more than 100 different notebook models with its partners this year that use the Ryzen AI Pro, including HP and Lenovo. Read...

Intel’s latest Arrow Lake processor for desktop PCs fuses its “Meteor Lake” and “Lunar Lake” architectures together, carrying over Meteor Lake’s NPU and Lunar Lake’s abandonment of hyperthreading. Yes, hyperthreading has been banned from Intel’s desktop chips, based on a similar rationale for excluding the feature from Lunar Lake. Intel launched Arrow Lake, also known as its Core Ultra 200S processor lineup, on Thursday. The chip is Intel’s first “disaggregated” desktop processor, built on tiles, meaning each part of the chip is individually fabricated on a different process. In a twist, Intel unveiled a deep dive into the architecture of Lunar Lake and the models, prices, and performance of the Core Ultra 200S processor. A key omission? Hyperthreading, which also was not part of Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile processor. The story of Arrow Lake is a simple one: More performance and yet substantially less power than the 14th-generation Core chips. And to get there, Intel executives said they applied the same thinking to both Lunar Lake and its next-gen desktop counterpart: Make its cores as efficient as possible, both for power and for space. What is hyperthreading? Hyperthreading (also known as simultaneous multi-threading) is a fairly simple concept: While each processor core is designed to execute one instruction thread, hyperthreading creates a second “virtual” processor inside the single processor core. With hyperthreading, the idea is that the individual processor core is always executing instructions on at least one of the two cores, keeping it in operation the whole time. The last thing enthusiasts want is a CPU core sitting idle when it could be performing useful work. Intel Intel Intel The problem is that the second core is a virtual core, and not a “true” second physical core. That can lead to some contention of resources and additional overhead, enough that the question of whether to leave hyperthreading on or off while gaming has been a source of debate for years. Intel, meanwhile, has gone back and forth on the feature: Some of Intel’s 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-gen Core processors have excluded hyperthreading, such as the Core i7-9700K, and Intel’s Atom chips never used it. Most of Intel’s Core chips do, however. AMD has pretty consistently used hyperthreading, however, and still does. The question has always been: Does hyperthreading deliver a performance increase that surpasses the toll it takes in terms of system latency, the controller die cost, and the power hyperthreading consumes? In Lunar Lake, the answer was “no,” and that has carried over to Intel’s latest desktop chips, too. In part, that’s because Arrow Lake cribs heavily from Lunar Lake, with the same Lion Cove performance cores and the same Skymont efficiency cores that appear in Lunar Lake. Robert Hallock, a vice president and general manager of client AI and technical marketing for Intel, said that Intel basically comes out ahead in terms of power and performance by not using hyperthreading. Arrow Lake includes both desktop and mobile processors, and Hallock was being asked about the desktop implementation of hyperthreading. But it sounds like Hallock’s response applies to both desktop and mobile chips. “It’s a combination of a couple things, actually,” Hallock told reporters. “First, we knew that we can actually save the wattage for hyperthreading by not including it on the product, and you see that we’re still coming out net ahead by roughly 15, 20 percent in [multicore performance] without it. So we’re able to bump up efficiency and still hit our goals in overall compute performance. “The other thing that I would say is, you know, these are the same designs as leveraged from Lunar Lake,” Hallock added. “We took those cores, those designs, and were able to immediately integrate them because of [Intel’s] Foveros [technology]. So that’s the kind of one-two punch that influenced our decision: speed to market and maximizing performance per watt.” Will hyperthreading ever return? It’s possible it could. But it would have to justify itself in terms of performance, power, and die space, and it appears right now that it isn’t making the cut. Read...

Microsoft just released the final security update to its Surface Duo 2 dual-screen smartphone, which comes right before support for the device officially ends October 21, reports Windows Central. The original Surface Duo was launched in September 2020 as an ambitious attempt by Microsoft to unite smartphone and tablet into one with an innovative foldable design. With its dual-screen technology and custom Android operating system, the Surface Duo was marketed as the ultimate productivity-on-the-go device. Its successor, the Surface Duo 2, was released in October 2021 to negative reception due to bugs, performance issues, limited software support, and a high price tag. (Our own review of it was hot-and-cold, some high highs and low lows.) All of that contributed to minimal adoption and trouble finding a wider audience. A year ago, Microsoft ended support for the original Surface Duo. With the end of support for the Surface Duo 2 looming ahead, the entire product line is poised to meet its end and join Microsoft’s other past mobile products, including the Windows Phone and Lumia. Read...

We love our laptops, but it’d be great if they had more ports. In the process of slimming down modern laptops, they’ve also lost a lot of their connectivity — but you can get ’em back with a good docking station. And right now, one of our favorite docks is on sale: the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core is down to just $68.90 on Amazon for Prime Day, a jaw-dropping 66% drop from its usual $200 MSRP. This particular model uses Thunderbolt 3 technology for fast and reliable connections between your laptop and all your peripherals. And it has plenty of connectivity options: a DisplayPort 1.4 port, an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB-C PD port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB-A 2.0 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a headphone/microphone jack. All of this is enough to hook up two 4K monitors and whatever accessories you have, plus you can easily charge your laptop while in use. When we reviewed the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, our expert adored it and gave it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, appreciating its compactness and its ability to support two 4K displays. It’s sleek and aesthetically pleasing, too. The small form factor makes it easy to pack with your laptop when traveling: “At a nearly square 5.2 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches and 0.47 pounds, the Thunderbolt Dock Core doesn’t take up much room or weight, and the included 7.9-inch Thunderbolt 3 cord provides ample length for flexibility.” (The built-in Thunderbolt cable is less than 8 inches long, so plan to keep it close to your laptop.) At this price, this docking station is the most cost-effective way to expand your laptop’s connectivity, so grab this super-discounted Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core for just $68.90 while you can. Amazon’s Big Deal Days end tonight! Save $131 on this 7-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 dockBuy now on Amazon Read...

I joined Twitter in 2007, just a year after it was launched, and I’ve been using it almost daily since then. And while all social media platforms evolve over time, Twitter is something different altogether — it has grown so toxic that it has driven away many longtime users. Most of that has happened under the leadership of Elon Musk, who acquired the platform in 2022: Twitter is now called X, half of its workforce was let go, previously banned users were restored in the name of free speech, and being “verified” is now a subscription-based perk rather than anything based on fame or notoriety. Related: Twitter check mark colors, explained If you’re like me, the overall X experience might be worse than it’s ever been, but you can’t quit it cold turkey for one reason or another. If you find yourself in this position, here are some ways to make X more tolerable to use even in 2024. 1. Switch to the Following feed X offers two different feeds for users: the For You feed (which offers a mix of tweets from accounts you follow and accounts you don’t) and the Following feed (which only shows tweets from accounts you follow). Switching from the default For You feed to the Following feed can have a huge impact on your overall X experience. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG To switch from the For You feed to the Following feed, simply click Following at the top of your feed. From then on, you’ll only see tweets from accounts that you’re explicitly following and you’ll no longer see other tweets that X’s algorithm wants to push on you. If you get bored, you can switch back at any time by just clicking the For You feed again. Or, my preferred option is to start following more accounts to bolster your feed with tweets you want to see so you never have to use the algorithm-driven For You feed again. 2. Regularly audit who you’re following Even if you only ever scroll through the Following feed, you may still see uninteresting or disagreeable tweets from accounts that have grown in a direction you no longer care to go in — so it’s important to conduct regular audits of the X accounts you follow and make sure you unfollow any that are no longer posting content you want to see. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG To conduct an audit, click Profile in the left-hand sidebar, then click the Following link (with a number next to it). You can then scroll down the list of who you’re following and see if they’re following you back.  Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG If you’re unsure about an account, open the profile in a new tab to see what they’ve been posting of late. If you no longer want to follow them, hover over the Following button and it will change to Unfollow. Click that and you’ll no longer be following that account. 3. Don’t hesitate to Block and Mute people X has two tools that are invaluable if you want to carry on with the platform but wait to escape all the nastiness, negativity, and divisiveness that seems so commonplace. You can Block accounts (to stop them from engaging with you) and Mute accounts (to stop seeing anything and everything they post). Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG To Block or Mute someone on X, click the three-dot menu either at the top of their profile or to the right of one of their tweets. Then, click either option to Mute @[username] or Block @[username]. Blocking someone is the better option if they’re tweeting at you or responding to your posts in an inappropriate manner. Muting someone is better if you just want to stop seeing their posts on X. 4. Populate Lists with good accounts Another invaluable tool you should be using on X is Lists, a feature that lets you create (or follow) curated collections of accounts that are usually (but don’t have to be) grouped according to theme or niche. For example, you might have Lists for technology journalists, for comedians, for entertainment news, for gaming companies, etc. Whether you create your own List or follow publicly available ones made by others, it’s a great way to narrow down your X feed experience. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG To create a List, first click the More option in the left-hand sidebar, then click on Lists. Once you create or follow Lists, you’ll see them on this page; otherwise, you can use this page to discover new Lists that X thinks will interest you, search for Lists based on your interests, or create a new List by tapping the New List icon to the right of the search field: Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Once you click New List, you just need to name it, add a description, then add accounts to it. You can also add a cover photo, make the List private or public, and share your List with other people. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Once you have followed or created Lists, they will then appear at the top of your X feed alongside the For You and Following feeds. It’s a quick way to jump into a List and narrow down the posts you’re exposed to. 5. Mute all your notifications Notifications can be extremely useful. I mean, you need to know when your boss messages you, right? Or when you have an appointment coming up that you absolutely don’t want to miss? But you never really need X notifications. The occasional one might be helpful, but they’re an overall negative influence with all of their disruptions and distractions. So, turn them off. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG To turn off notifications in X, click the Notifications option in the left-hand sidebar. Then, click the Settings cog in the top-right corner. From here, you can choose which notifications you want to see (or not), plus select preferences for each notification type. I have both push notifications and email notifications switched off, and I recommend you do the same if you want to retain your sanity. 6. Avoid doomscrolling and negativity Like many other social media platforms, X feels like it was almost made for doomscrolling. Doomscrolling is rotting our brains so, if you can, you should find better things to do with your time. Even when I occasionally venture onto the For You feed on X, I make sure not to endlessly scroll through negative post after negative post just to find those rare hidden gems. The trick is to open X, quickly see what’s going on, and then close the app right away. Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG Dave Parrack / IDG This can be tough to do at first since all social media platforms are designed to hook you in and keep you engaged for as long as possible. Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick to using X this way, but it gets easier the more you do it, and it’s also easier if you’re mindful and intentional about it. Set a timer if you absolutely can’t stop yourself. 7. Limit your time on X and take breaks And that brings us to the final way to make X more tolerable in 2024: stop using it so often, wean yourself off, and limit your engagement. You could waste hours on X, reading about all of the horrible things happening in the world, watching funny videos, getting into debates with people who argue in bad faith (or, more likely, are bots). But all of these things are ultimately rather pointless. While X can be a good source of both news and entertainment, it isn’t the be-all and end-all for either — and it’s getting worse on both fronts. So you’re really better off logging out and/or staying off, only using it when you absolutely need it, and only doing so intentionally. Ultimately, that’s the only way to make X an app you’ll enjoy using rather than an app you’re stuck using out of sheer habit or obligation. X (Twitter) will continue to (d)evolve under Musk’s leadership, and you may well reach the point where you decide that enough is enough. When that happens, there are plenty of alternatives that you’ll like better. Until then, use the above methods to keep X at least somewhat tolerable. Further reading: Practical reasons to keep using Twitter Read...

DoxAI has appointed Sarah Carney, National Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, to its board, enhancing its focus on AI innovation and ethics. Read...