Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 06/01 – Flagship GPU Headlines From Computex

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

Whole bunch of chip news from Computex. New Flagship Nvidia GPUs. New AMD graphics adapters. The thinnest gaming laptops in the realm? Twitter launches a weather news collective. Amazon is signing you up to Sidewalk whether you like or it not. And yeah, that Uber ride really has gotten more expensive. Here’s why. Sponsors: Grammarly.com/techmeme for 20% off Cybereason.com Links: Nvidia announces new RTX 3080 Ti, priced at $1,199 and launching June 3rd (The Verge) AMD Announces Radeon RX 6000M Series: RDNA2 Makes Its Laptop Debut (AnandTech) AMD and Samsung are collaborating on Exynos mobile chips capable of ray-tracing (Engadget) Alienware's New X-Series Laptops Are Its Thinnest Gaming Notebooks Yet (Gizmodo) Twitter teams with climate vet to launch local weather news service (Axios) Amazon devices will soon automatically share your Internet with neighbors (ArsTechnica) Prepare to Pay More for Uber and Lyft Rides (New York Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the TechMeme ride home for Tuesday, June 1st, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. Whole bunch of chip news from Computex, new flagship Nvidia GPUs, new AMD graphics adapters,

the thinnest gaming laptops in the realm. Twitter launches a weather news collective. Amazon is signing you up to Sidewalk, whether you like it or not. And yeah, that Uber ride really has gotten more expensive lately. Here's why. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. It's another chip news bonanza today. That's mostly because Computex is going on, so everyone has an announcement or three. So let's run through this. First up, Nvidia has announced a new flagship gaming GPU, the G-Force RTF 3080T, which promises to deliver one and a half times more performance over the RTX 280T. It will be available worldwide on June 3rd for $1,199. Quoting the verge, the RTF The RTX 3080T looks very much like the RTX 3080 with an identical design and ports.

The main difference is a power jump and V-RAM. The RTX 3080 ships with more V-RT than the RTX 3080 with 12 gigabytes of GDDR6X in total. The new GPU is essentially as close as you can get to an RTX 3090 on paper with half the V-RM. The $1,199 price matches the same pricing. Nvidia uses for the RTX 2080T Founders Edition cards, and it's $300 less than the giant RtX 3090. You're obviously losing out on an extra 12 gigabytes of V-RAM if you opt for the RTX 3080T over the 3090, and what will likely be a small improvement in performance for that $300 difference. But the RtX 3090 is giant because it has a far bigger cooler, and the RTEX 3080-TI has the

same hardware design as the RTX 3080. That may prompt concerns around how hot the RTX 3080T will run, but we'll have to wait on reviews to find out if it's really an issue. Nvidia is also including its cryptocurrency nerf on the RTX 3080T, much like the new RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 cards. InVIDIA offers a separate cryptocurrency mining processor for Ethereum miners instead. These cards include the best performance for mining and efficiency, but they're not designed to handle games. Elsewhere, the RTCRRRRRR. The RTX 3080T has the same power requirements as the RTX 3090. You'll need a 750 watt power supply, and the card can draw up to 350 watts of power.

That's the same as the RTX 3090, but the RTX 3080 draws less at up to 320 watts. Just like the RTX 3080 before it, the 3080 TI also uses Nvidia's new 12-pin connector. InVIDIA will include an adapter that's compatible with eight-pin cables. NVIDIA is also launching a second GPU next week, the RTX 3070, TI, the $599 R23070T, will be available on June 10th and is designed to offer one and a half times more performance over the previous RTX 2070 Super. It will include 8 gigabytes of GDDR6X memory. Both new RTX cards will support all of NVIDIA's ray tracing, DLSS, and Reflex Technologies. More than 50 games now support deep learning super samples.

or DLSS, offering AI-powered performance boosts to games, end quote. Meanwhile, AMD has unveiled the Radion RX-6,000 M series of graphics adapters for gaming laptops, which are based on the RDNA2 architecture that underpins AMD's desktop RX-6,000 parts, quoting a Nantec. All told, AMD is announcing three parts today, the Radion RX-6800-M, 6,700,000,000, and 6600m, with two of those parts shipping now. Leading the charge for AMD's new mobile lineup is the Radion RX 6800M. As previously noted, this is based on the Navi 22 GPU, and in many respects can be thought

of as a mobilized 6700 RTX. The 6800M features the same 40 CUs and 64 ROPs as the desktop card. The only thing AMD has scaled down is the clock speeds, two more mobile. friendly values. Even then, the 6800m still ships with a game clock rating that's well over 2 gigahertz, making it by far the highest clocked laptop GPU we've ever seen. Like its desktop counterpart, the 6800m is being paired up with 12 gigabytes of GDR6 memory, though according to AMD memory speeds for the 6800m and all other 6,000 M parts are up to speeds in the case of our 6800 M equipped ASIS ROG laptop. It uses 16GBPS GDDR6, so it's being kept fully fed with regards

to memory bandwidth. However, this means that it's possible other vendors may opt for slower or lower power 14 GbPS memory. As for AMD's Infinity Cash, that isn't being scaled back for this part at all. The full 96 megabytes of S-RAM ships enabled on the 6800M and remains one of AMD's key developments for improving power efficiency. A fully enabled Navi 22 setup does come at a cost, though, and that's power. The 6800M has a 145 watt plus TGP rating, meaning that laptop implementations will start at 145 watts, and they can go higher from there. According to AMD, we should see 6800M laptops configured for 145 watts to 165 watts or so, which would be comparable to high-end GTX-30-80 laptop configurations. With regards to performance, AMD is pitching the 6800M as the ideal solution

for 1440P gaming. And judging from what we've seen with its desktop counterpart, the 6700XT, this should be reasonably attainable as a goal, even with laptop clock speeds. Though don't be surprised if you also see 1080P displays on 6800M laptops as well as some OEMs will be catering to esports gamers who are looking for minimal frame times. slash latency, end quote. Speaking of our DNA2 architecture, Samsung and AMD are also collaborating to build XNOS mobile chips featuring our DNA2 graphics

that will support rate tracing and variable rate shading, quoting a gadget. Samsung and AMD have been working together on a GPU since 2019, and today we're getting another major update on the partnership. As part of its Computex keynote, AMD revealed that the XNOS mobile system on a chip will feature our DNA2 graphics technology that should deliver a significant upgrade to flagship mobile devices. Details are currently scarce, but we do know that the next-gen-mobile GPUs will support rate tracing

and variable rate shading. AMD is leaving it to Samsung to share more info about the chip and the products it will be used in. The next place you'll find our DNA2 will be the high-performance mobile phone market. AMD CEO Lisa Sue said onstage at Computex Taipei. AMD has partnered with industry leader Samsung for several years to accelerate graphics innovation in the mobile market, and we're happy to announce that we'll bring custom graphics IP to Samsung's next flagship mobile system on a chip with rate tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. We're really looking forward to Samsung providing more details later this year, end quote. The Korean company's latest flagship X-Nios 2100 chip is already available on its Galaxy S-21 phones.

unveiled in January, the processor features an arm-designed Mali G78, which Samsung says can deliver 40% better graphical performance than its predecessor, the X-Neos 990. Management previously hinted that the mobile GPU, its developing with AMD, could be the successor to the X-Neos 2100. That would possibly indicate a 2022 debut on its Galaxy S-21 follow-up, end quote. With all of those announces, how about some actual hardware now? Alienware is unveiling what it says is its thinnest 15-inch and 17-inch X-Series gaming laptops yet with 11th-gen-in Intel CPUs and Nvidia 30-series GPUs starting at $2,200, respectively, quoting Gizmodo. Sporting its new Legend 2.0 design language, the new X-15 and X-17 will get a range of 11th-gen-gen-intel

CPUs and Nvidia 30-series GPUs with Alienware claiming that the new X-15 will be the most powerful sub-16 millimeter 15-inch gaming notebook on the market. Now, while that might be an incredibly niche claim to fame, considering there are already systems like the MSI Stealth 15M on the market, there's a lot to like about the new X series. Practically every aspect of Alienware's laptop design has been tweaked to improve performance while still maintaining an emphasis on portability, not to mention a number of visual upgrades.

In back, Alienware's Lightstrip is now comprised of, 90 to 100 micro LEDs, depending on the system, to provide a brighter and more even lighting, while the inside of the system features aliens' new cryotech cooling, which uses a new gallium-based thermal interface material to help improve thermal resistance by up to 25%. On top of that, Alienware is also using AI to power new smart fans that can automatically regulate their speed to optimize airflow, with Alienware managing to cram a total of four fans inside. each notebook. And in keeping with the X-Series's focus on lightness and portability, Alienware even created a new slim 240-watt power adapter, so you won't need to lug around a giant

power brick while traveling, end quote. We continue to see Twitter's new product strategy taking shape in drips and drabs. For example, Twitter this morning launched tomorrow, a weather news service, which includes newsletters, ticketed audio sessions, Q&As, and is being led by climate journalist Eric Holthaus, quoting Axios. Twitter is partnering with veteran climate journalist and meteorologist Eric Holthaus to launch a local weather news service on the platform called Tomorrow that will be built using all of Twitter's new creator products. Tomorrow launches today across 16 cities in North America with the participation of 18 local meteorologists who will create free content and content for members. Holt House, who's written about climate for many years via publications

such as the Grist, the Wall Street Journal, and Slate, is the only full-time employee for now. He plans to bring on roughly 20 to 30 climate writers and four part-time editorial staffers in addition to the 18 professional local meteorologists. The team will produce newsletters and exclusive long-form content on Twitter via the company's newly acquired newsletter platform review, as well as membership-specific short-form content for users, such as ticketed live audio sessions via Twitter spaces and audience Q&A services. The Q&A services will be unique to this model. Members can ask unlimited questions during breaking news weather events to meteorologists and climate experts, essentially scaling a

function that Wholehouse says has become second nature for climate and weather experts on Twitter anyway. Memberships will start out at $10 monthly. Holt House, who is bootstrapping the operation for now, says he hopes to be revenue positive by the end of the first week. The goal is to be in most of 50 major media markets in North America by the end of this year. He says. Twitter wants to invest more in local collectives, especially at the local level. Outside of individuals sharing news and knowledge, we believe a collective approach is a super interesting model. Low overhead with an audience-funded model is a solid recipe for success, Twitter's VP of product Mike Peek says, end quote.

Speaking of collectives, if you didn't listen to that many episode we released yesterday announcing our new audio collective called Spacecast, please do listen to that. to that and check out and subscribe to Spacecasts wherever you're listening to me right now. FYI over the weekend I was on this week in Tech once again and we talked extensively about this next story. On June 8th, a bunch of Amazon devices will join its sidewalk wireless mesh network in select countries sharing a slice of bandwidth with other neighbors, neighboring devices, unless you opt out. So if you don't like this idea of sharing your bandwidth, bandwidth with, I don't know, someone walking by or your next door neighbor, you're running out of time to cut this off at the pass.

According to Ars Technica, if you use Alexa, Echo, or any other Amazon device, you have only 10 days to opt out of an experiment that leaves your personal privacy and security hanging in the balance. On June 8th, the merchant web host and entertainment behemoth Amazon will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon sidewalk. By default, Amazon devices including Alexa, Echo, Ring, security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and tile trackers will enroll in the system. And since only a tiny fraction of people take the time to change default settings, that means millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not. The Amazon webpage linked above says Sidewalk is currently only available in the U.S. Amazon has published a white paper detailing the technical underpinnings and service terms that it says will protect the privacy and security. of this bold undertaking. To be fair, the paper is fairly comprehensive, and so far no one has pointed out specific flaws that undermine the encryption or other safeguards being put in place.

But there are enough theoretical risks to give users pause. Let's not forget who's providing this new way for everyone to share and share alike. As independent privacy researcher, Ashken Sultani, put it, quote, in addition to capturing everyone's shopping habits from Amazon.com and their internet activity, as AWS is one of of the most dominant web hosting services. Now they are also effectively becoming a global ISP with a flick of a switch, all without even having to lay a single foot of fiber, end quote. Amazon's decision to make sidewalk an opt-out service rather than an opt-in one is also telling. The company knows the only chance of the service gaining critical mass is to turn it on by default, so that's what it's doing.

Fortunately, turning sidewalk off is relatively painless. It involves opening the Alexa app, opening more and selecting settings, selecting account settings, selecting Amazon Sidewalk, and turning Amazon Sidewalk off, end quote. And finally, we talked a lot about this with Leo on the show Sunday night as well. No, it's not just you. Uber and Lyft really are a lot more expensive lately. Both companies have acknowledged that prices are up and wait times are longer, and they're citing a lack of drivers. Researchers found prices rose 37. percent from March 2020 to March 2021 for ride hailing services. Quoting the New York Times, Uber and Lyft have poured money into extra incentives for drivers,

like cash bonuses for completing a certain number of rides, but the incentives do not appear to be as effective as they were before the pandemic. Some drivers said they aren't back on the road because they are still afraid of getting sick. Other financial incentives might also be dissuading drivers, although they would not normally receive unemployment insurance because they are categorized as independent contractors, Uber and lift drivers are eligible for pandemic unemployment assistance funds under the CARES Act, easing the financial pressures that might otherwise have forced them to get back behind the wheel. In an early May earnings report, Uber said it had three and a half million active

drivers and couriers during the first three months of the year, down 22 percent from the previous year. Quote, we have not seen driver supply keep up with the demand growth in the U.S., Darakos Roshahi, Uber's chief executive said last week at the JPMorgan Technology Media and Communications Conference. In the past four weeks, however, more than 100,000 drivers have returned to the platform, and Uber spokesperson said, Uber has aggressively increased its incentive spending, putting $250 million into the effort to recruit drivers and branding it as a stimulus, end quote. So I'm going to say here what I said to Leo on Twitter. I'm hearing people speculate in the following way. What if we do come out of the pandemic this year into the sort of roaring 20s that some people are anticipating

like economic activity roars back to life, we achieve something approaching full employment soon, what if in that scenario these gig economy-based companies continue to have a hard time attracting labor? Like, what if these sorts of companies, everything from Uber to Postmates, were only made possible through intensive venture capital subsidies all these years, as well as the weak job market that we saw coming out of the Great Recession. In other words, what if the fact that gig economy companies were able to attract people to do side hustles in the first place to make ends meet was sort of an accident of history, a narrow window of time where people needed these gig jobs? But what if that was a weird sort of labor market bubble that is coming to an end?

So if you didn't listen to that tiny little podcast announce episode that I released yesterday, please do listen to it. Better yet, please search your podcast app for SpaceCass. And subscribe. You're missing out on hours of new content, not just from Chris and I, but from a whole bunch of other great tech voices. Again, search your podcast app for SpaceCass. Meanwhile, two observations from this past holiday weekend.

The first is I bought my first Windows machine in a decade. Penny wanted to play Minecraft with mods, and there were a handful of business use cases that justified me purchasing a mid-range Windows laptop as a backup. So I pulled the trigger on a Dell 2-1, and Jesus. I remember now why I went all in on Macs years ago. As unfortunately expected, the trackpad on this thing is an annoying joke. The fingerprint sensor works maybe one time out of three. The whole thing is

slow and jittery, even just for web browsing. The battery life is atrocious. You get pop-ups from all sorts of bloatware every five minutes, and the power button. Get this, the power button sometimes just doesn't work. Like, sometimes I can't turn the thing on, and half the time opening the lid doesn't wake it from sleep. Like I have to do a full restart. What a friggin' joke. Maybe I should have spent more to get one of those new Samsung top-of-line thingies, but then again, given this performance, maybe not. Maybe the whole Windows ecosystem is shoddy at this point. And observation number two, I took both kids to the comic book store here in Park Slope

and bought them each their own very first comic books, a Miles Morales Superman for Max and a Wonder Woman and Zelda book for Penny. And the experience was sort of as magical as I hoped. their eyes were wide. They were like, you mean there's a whole store that just sells toys and books about all the things that we love? How can this be real?

It was great, especially after the last year. Maybe now is the time to support your local comic book stores. Talk to you tomorrow.