Yesterday, AMD and Nvidia took to the CES virtual stage to announce their respective updates. AMD headlined with a new series of CPUs, the 7nm Ryzen 5000 series, that is going to be a really compelling gaming laptop option. Nvidia headlined with new graphics for laptops, bringing some performance that was previously exclusive to desktop machines.
With all the parts from AMD, Nvidia, and Intel out, the laptops made up of those parts were free to be announced. And so we had a very, very large pile of gaming laptops to sift through from Asus, Razer, Acer, Lenovo, Gigabyte, Dell, and Origin.
They’re all linked below and taken in sum I am optimistic that it is going to be a very good year for gaming laptops. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you won’t still notice some graphical compromises — of course desktops will be better — but the ones that sting the most could be smoothed over. Getting legitimately high frame rates at 1440p with respectable graphics settings is more than I honestly expected out of 2021. (Assuming, of course, that any of these computers live up to those claims in actual use.)
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Those laptops and the components that power them were the biggest real news yesterday, but CES is just as much about concepts. Specifically concept gadgets that are almost guaranteed to never land on store shelves.
I will admit, when I first saw that Razer had a concept mask with gamer-themed color lights I was not happy. My fear for this entire CES has been that a major company would try to take advantage of the pandemic to gather attention to itself with a gadget that isn’t scientifically sound. CES is always awash in dubious health tech, but the risk of people believing in bad health tech seems even higher this year.
But then, well, it seems like Razer has thoughtfully considered a lot of the very real problems masks cause and tried to account for them. It looks like one of those actually-unsafe vented masks, but those vents have filters the company wants to make N95-grade. It’s clear, so people can read your lips. It will have some sort of audio system (with help from THX) that will solve for the muffled voices masks can cause. It should seal tightly against your nose to help with fogging glasses.
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All that sounds neat — neater than RGB lights anyway. But neat does not equal real, and this is very much like a concept car to my mind. In the press release, Razer’s language not only skirts the issue of a price and release date, it also skirts the issue of releasing a mask with this exact design at all:
The smart mask concept will continue to be optimized through rigorous testing and user feedback to ensure safety compliance and maximum comfort and usability. Design improvements will also be ongoing to support the evolving user needs and to deliver value without compromising functionality and performance. Project Hazel will be foundational to Razer’s ongoing support and commitment to public health and safety within the community.
The company told The Verge that it is “working with a team of medical experts and scientists,” but if Razer decides to actually produce and sell this mask, I expect — and you should demand — that it seek the “necessary approvals and certifications from the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”
As a rule, I am more generous than most when I see a CES concept because I know what they really are: fantasies with a purpose. Some of that purpose is absolutely marketing, but some of it is to show us ideas for products that are more imaginative or better than what’s available today.
Motives — especially when it comes to corporate beneficence— don’t need to be and rarely are pure. Just because Razer grabbed our attention with RGB lights doesn’t undo the good of converting a production line to making masks and then donating a million of them to healthcare workers.
Of course, no amount of engineering can solve the biggest mask problem in the US: too many people are refusing to wear them. Please: wear a mask.
AMD
┏ AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 5000 mobile processors promise 2021’s best gaming notebooks. AMD is building on the gains it made last year and appears to be pushing to establish itself as a CPU fixture in the laptop market instead of a somewhat rare alternative. Though as my colleague Monica Chin points out to me, that rarity was due in part to the fact that models with AMD chips seemed to be in short supply.
I think the company has a very good chance of doing just that. I will leave a full-on “AMD vs. Intel” analysis for somebody else (or at least wait for real-world results once laptops start shipping), but it doesn’t take a genius to see that AMD is not to be dismissed.
In other words: 2021 could be the year we stop thinking about Ryzen as an alternative to Intel, but instead just a straight up competitor again. Intel could be at risk of no longer being the “default” to a lot of potential customers. That’s not to dismiss Intel entirely, as Chin notes we still need to see what laptops with Tiger Lake H chips are like.
AMD has announced its new Ryzen 5000 mobile CPUs. Most (but not all) of them are based on the company’s 7nm “Zen 3” architecture. AMD CEO Lisa Su called the series “the most powerful PC processors ever built.” … The big question will be how these processors compare to Intel’s new Tiger Lake H systems — the company announced those chips yesterday at its CES 2021 keynote. All three of those chips (including two Core i7s and one Core i5) max out at 35W and have just four cores and eight threads — half the count of Ryzen’s top offerings. However, Intel says there’s an eight-core processor with speeds up to 5GHz coming “later this quarter.” That’s likely what AMD has to watch out for.
RDNA 2 is AMD’s new graphics chip architecture and the foundation of the custom chipsets in Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S / X, and now it’s coming to laptops. … The Radeon RX 6000 series of GPUs were the first to feature AMD’s new RDNA 2 architecture when they were unveiled in October of last year, but those were top-of-the-line desktop graphics cards designed to go head-to-head with Nvidia’s 3000 series line. … Today at CES, AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company is “on track to launch the first notebooks with RDNA 2 in the first half of the year with our partners,”
┏ Nvidia is bringing its RTX 3080 to laptops on January 26th. Nvidia showed a demo of a Razer Blade 15 running a full three-screen rig with Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is a very good sign that many of the planned 70+ laptops with these GPUs will have the goods.
Less than six months after introducing its RTX 3000 series GPUs for desktop PCs, Nvidia is bringing the RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 to gaming laptops. Nvidia is promising big energy efficiency gains here, thanks to its new Ampere architecture, alongside the obvious performance improvements over the previous RTX 2000 series laptops.
Until recently, 1080p and 4K were the only options for displays on gaming laptops, despite 1440p being an increasingly popular choice among PC gamers looking for a new standalone monitor. … The higher-end Blade laptops will be equipped with Nvidia’s new RTX 3000-series graphics chips, and so should have an easy time running most games on a 1440p high refresh rate display. The Blade 15 Advanced (Razer’s name for the more powerful variant) with the RTX 3070 and a QHD screen with G-Sync will cost $2,499.
Acer is ditching the garish, colorful lights and logos on the Predator Triton 300 for a more restrained — dare I say, professional — all-metal design that wouldn’t be out of place in an office or a classroom, while still offering top-notch gaming hardware on the inside.
The ThinkBook Plus debuted at last year’s CES, standing out as a laptop with an E Ink display built into the lid that allowed users to take notes, read ebooks, and display things like calendar information. … The new model improves on that, though, with a 12-inch, 2560 x 1600 E Ink panel that supports multitouch and works with the pop-out stylus, creating what should be a more enjoyable E Ink experience.
┏ Asus ROG’s 2021 lineup includes its first convertible gaming laptop (ish). This is a weird one. Gaming laptops are usually neither convertible not 13 inches. Then there’s the GPU situation, which also involves some …let’s call them choices. However, if you want a gaming laptop that can do double or triple duty for other laptop things, it may be worth understanding those choices.
The refreshed Bolt will feature a sportier look, new seats, adaptive cruise control, and a few other minor changes. GM bumped up the range in this past year’s version of the Bolt, from 238 miles to 259 miles, but no further increase is expected in the refresh. … The new Bolts can’t come quick enough, given the controversy surrounding the current versions of the EV. GM was recently slapped with a class action lawsuit alleging that the Chevy Bolt’s battery is “prone to burst into flames.” The lawsuit comes on the heels of GM announcing that it was recalling 68,000 Bolts over a malfunctioning battery.
The automaker showed off a luxury egg-shaped autonomous vehicle and a single-seater electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft during its keynote address on Tuesday. Both vehicles are part of Cadillac’s Halo Portfolio and probably won’t be going into production anytime soon — or at all. … Still, the concepts are meant to show off Cadillac’s (and, by extension, GM’s) design intentions for future products, as well as serving as an extravagant symbol of the brand’s manufacturing skills.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence‘s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.
Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.
Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?
A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.
Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?
A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.
The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.
Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.
Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?
A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.
Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?
A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.
Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?
A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.
Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.
The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.
Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?
A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.
The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-in-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.
“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”
A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.
After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.
Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
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