Ten septillion years is a timescale that is longer than the universe is old, and the findings demonstrate for the first time that quantum computers are able to complete tasks beyond classical computers.

Developed in Santa Barbara, California, Willow represents a significant leap forward in quantum technology, addressing a critical hurdle: error rates.

Its enhanced stability not only marks a milestone for quantum computing but also promises transformative applications, particularly in advancing fields like artificial intelligence.

Since 2021, quantum computing has been inching closer to mainstream applications, with some experts suggesting it could revolutionise industries such as drug development and battery design within the next five years.

Charina Chou, chief operating officer at Google Quantum AI, said, “These have been really excellent breakthroughs from the team, but they are steps along our journey to a quantum computer for otherwise unsolvable problems, and I want to emphasise this,”

“While this is an amazing project – it’s very fun, it’s a lot of cool science and engineering – the ultimate goal of our computer is to help to get to these otherwise unsolvable problems.”

The post Google’s New Quantum Chip (Willow) Completes 10-Septillion-Year Tasks In Five Minutes appeared first on Tech Business News.

Showcased at Supercomputing 2024 (SC24), the new powerful, energy-efficient platforms will help scientists, engineers, and researchers push the boundaries of scientific discovery while making it possible for today’s enterprises to unlock AI’s potential.  

“As data centre infrastructure takes centre stage as the heart of producing AI and the digital economy, increasing energy demands must be met responsibly,” said Kumar Mitra, MD & GM – Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group, ASEAN, Hong Kong, Taiwan and ANZ. 

“It’s promising to see the interest of C-level executives from across finance, healthcare, manufacturing and beyond, in aggressively pursuing the responsible deployment of AI solutions across their organisations,”

For today’s enterprises, HPC is part of the core engine that makes it possible to maximise AI’s potential

Unlocking AI Factories with Cooler Supercomputing for All

Backed by more than a decade of expertise and 40+ patents for scalable supercomputing, the recently launched Lenovo 6th Generation Neptune® Liquid Cooling helps tackle this problem by using liquid to remove heat, which is much more efficient than traditional air cooling.

The revolutionary new chassis flips servers to a vertical orientation to fit today’s most powerful accelerated computing technologies in a compact system that is 100% liquid cooled, eliminating the need for power-consuming fans and dramatically improving energy efficiency.

The post Lenovo Unveils Next-Gen Supercomputing For AI At Any Scale appeared first on Tech Business News.

The launch is part of a broader set of updates announced at the company’s Microsoft Ignite 2024 event, where it also introduced several new technologies, including its Azure Integrated Hardware Security Module (HSM) and the Azure Boost Data Processing Unit (DPU) chips.

The Azure Integrated HSM provides protection globally across Azure’s data center hardware.

The Azure Integrated HSM is a cloud security chip that provides customers full administrative control and cryptographic management, ensuring that Microsoft itself cannot access or view the keys stored within.

Customers can manage access to the HSM devices within their organisation, defining roles and permissions based on need. Each HSM device is validated to high security standards, including FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and eIDAS Common Criteria EAL4+.

The HSM solution offers global protection across Azure’s data center hardware, complementing Microsoft’s existing Azure Dedicated HSM service, which hosts Thales Luna 7 HSM network appliances in Azure data centers.

On the hardware front, Microsoft introduced its Azure Boost DPU, its first in-house designed Data Processing Unit (DPU).

The post Microsoft Launches Hybrid Infrastructure Platform And New DPU And HSM Chips appeared first on Tech Business News.

Last November, the company widely released the corporate version of its AI assistant – called M365 Copilot — to large customers, then began offering it to small businesses two months later.

While the AI upgrade has been praised for its usefulness in enhancing productivity and streamlining tasks, many users have expressed concerns about its high price point and perceived limitations in functionality.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 integrates with Microsoft software like Word, Outlook and Teams, using the same technology as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to the report. It can summarise emails, generate text and create documents based on natural language prompts.

Initial enthusiasm was reported by companies involved in testing, with employees eager to try the tool, the report said. However, some testers have expressed doubts about its cost and occasional mistakes made by Copilot.

Some testers stated that they are not willing to spend $30 per user for every employee in the company, per the report. Microsoft has not disclosed specific sign-up details, but it said that early demand has been unprecedented.

While some AI upgrades from Microsoft, like GitHub Copilot, have seen success, others, like the AI-powered chatbot in Bing search, have struggled to make an impact

The post Artificial Intelligence (AI) Assistant Copilot For Microsoft 365 Receives Mixed Reviews From Business Users appeared first on Tech Business News.

The new flagship processor, the Core Ultra 9 285K, is accompanied by the Core Ultra 7 265K and Core Ultra 5 245K, which are aligned with the previous Core i9, i7, and i5 models in terms of core counts.

Key Specifications and Features

One of the most notable changes in the Core Ultra 200 series is the removal of Hyper-Threading which means that each CPU will now have the same number of threads as cores, a departure from the previous architecture where Hyper-Threading allowed for enhanced multi-threaded performance.

Despite this shift, Intel asserts that the new processors outperform their predecessors in multi-threaded tasks, thanks to various architectural improvements.

While core counts remain unchanged, the emphasis on efficient cores (E-cores) has grown significantly. The new Skymont E-cores deliver a remarkable 32% increase in Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) compared to those in the 14th generation.

This improvement is attributed, in part, to a doubling of the L2 cache bandwidth, which enhances data handling capabilities.

On the performance core side, the Lian Cove P-cores also see a nine percent IPC boost. However, due to slightly lower operating frequencies, the overall performance gain might not be as substantial as expected.

The post Bad News For AMD: Intel Reveals Core Ultra 200 Desktop Processors appeared first on Tech Business News.

Major players such as Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Microsoft have all made significant workforce reductions in the early months of this year.

This ongoing trend is not limited to large corporations; numerous smaller startups have also been affected, with some ceasing operations entirely.

The layoffs reflect a broader shift in the industry as companies adapt to economic pressures and increasingly embrace AI and automation technologies, leading to concerns about the future of jobs that were once considered secure.

In August alone, approximately 26,024 employees were laid off, following 34,107 in January and 22,423 in April, among other significant cuts throughout the year. Here’s a breakdown of the layoffs by month in 2024:

• January: 34,107 employees
• February: 15,639 employees
• March: 7,403 employees
• April: 22,423 employees
• May: 11,011 employees
• June: 10,083 employees
• July: 9,051 employees
• August: 26,024 employees

The persistent layoffs raise critical questions about the future of innovation within the tech sector. While businesses may look to streamline operations and reduce costs, the human impact of these layoffs is profound.

Thousands of workers are left navigating an uncertain job market, with many seeking new opportunities in an industry that is rapidly changing.

The post Wave of Tech Layoffs Continues Into 2024, Impacting 60,000 Workers appeared first on Tech Business News.

The NSW Telco Authority has announced the deployment of several initiatives designed to provide essential internet access during emergencies.

Cells on Wheels (COWs)

Four Cells on Wheels units are being introduced, equipped to connect to the internet via satellite and provide free public Wi-Fi access. Each unit can cover an area up to 500 meters, with the capability to link multiple units for extended coverage.

The self-powered units, mounted on trailers, can be dispatched within hours to offer temporary connectivity when traditional telecommunications infrastructure is compromised. This service is crucial for individuals needing to contact family, apply for support, or lodge insurance claims during network outages.

The COWs are expected to arrive this summer, fulfilling a commitment made by the Minns Labor Government as part of the Western Sydney Floods Resilience Plan, following a contract awarded to regional communication specialist Pivotel.

Portable Connection Units

In addition, Service NSW has introduced eight Portable Connection Units to facilitate Wi-Fi access at disaster recovery centers. These units can easily switch between local mobile networks and support connectivity for up to 100 devices.

Satellite-Enabled Service NSW Vehicle

A new satellite-equipped vehicle from Service NSW is now operational, utilizing Starlink satellite technology to create mobile service centers anywhere, complete with an independent broadband connection. It will allow locals to access public Wi-Fi hotspots and receive support at temporary offices established in affected areas.

The post NSW Government Rolls Out $5 Million Fleet Of New Technologies To Provide Backup Connectivity appeared first on Tech Business News.

Many site owners are reporting that these bots are generating overwhelming spikes in traffic, leading to performance issues that could jeopardise site reliability.

One webmaster described their experience, stating, “Our website gets hammered every 45 to 60 minutes with spikes of approximately 400 requests per second from 20 to 30 different IP addresses within Facebook’s netblocks.

Between these spikes, the traffic is manageable, but the sudden load is risky.” This webmaster, like many others, expressed a desire for Facebook’s bots to distribute their requests more evenly over time, akin to the behavior of Googlebot and other search engine crawlers.

The excessive requests from Facebook’s bots have not only disrupted the user experience but have also caused costly resource consumption for many site owners.

With smaller websites particularly affected, some have resorted to implementing stricter rules in their robots.txt files in a bid to protect their servers from the relentless onslaught. However, because Facebooks BOT is a scraper and not a crawler, it simply ignores the instructions.

The problem has sparked discussions within the web development community, with many experts urging Facebook to reconsider its crawling strategies.

The post Webmasters Raise Concerns Over Facebook’s Aggressive Crawling And Scraping Practices appeared first on Tech Business News.

Morgan Stanley recently weighed in on the ongoing debate about the environmental impact of data centers, offering new insights from its own model of the ecosystem.

Their analysis reveals a significant market opportunity for decarbonization solutions. As data center operators aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, there’s not only a pressing need for effective strategies but also substantial financial potential for those who can deliver them.

The heightened demand for generative AI is expected to raise emissions from 200 million tons this year to 600 million tons by 2030. The increase is largely driven by the expansion of data centers needed to support the growing demand for cloud services.

Morgan Stanley’s report notes that 60% of these emissions will come from the operation of the data centers, which require substantial energy.

The remaining 40% is anticipated to result from the carbon emissions associated with the production of construction materials and infrastructure for the centers.

As Google reports a staggering 48% increase in its emissions over the past five years, the tech industry’s ambitious net-zero targets face serious scrutiny.

The post Datacenter Industry On Track To Emit 2.5 Billion Tons Of GreenHouse Gas Emissions By 2030 appeared first on Tech Business News.

Recent reports indicate that Windows users with older generation internal Wi-Fi adapters, which don’t seem to be fully compatible with the newer Wi-Fi 6 technology, are experiencing significant speed degradation when connected wirelessly to the eero 6 routers.

In contrast, iOS devices connected to these routers continue to perform optimally.

For Windows users relying on non-Wi-Fi 6 compatible adapters, wireless speeds can drop as low as 23 Mbps, a stark contrast to the much higher speeds achieved through a wired connection using a standard RJ45 network cable.

The discrepancy highlights a broader issue: while iOS devices adapt well to the eero 6’s advanced technology, Windows devices without Wi-Fi 6 support are facing noticeable slowdowns.

The root of the problem lies in the necessity of Wi-Fi 6 technology to fully leverage the speeds available through Superloop’s eero routers.

With millions of computers still in use that do not support Wi-Fi 6, a significant portion of Superloop’s customer base is encountering limitations in achieving the full potential of their NBN connection.

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