Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Blazing Fast Mandelbrot on a Homemade 8-bit CPU

2025-06-27

A team successfully rendered a Mandelbrot set on their custom-built 8-bit PJ5 CPU, achieving surprisingly fast results—under 3 seconds! This speed is attributed to 16 registers, single-cycle instructions, and a hardware 8x8 multiplier. They're also developing a fast ROM board to replace the current FPGA and plan to improve the display, audio, and input devices. 18 months of work culminates in this impressive feat.

(pj5cpu.wordpress.com)

Hardware 8-bit CPU Mandelbrot Set

HDMI 2.2 Officially Unveiled: 96 GB/s Bandwidth, 16K Support

2025-06-25

The HDMI Forum has finalized HDMI 2.2, boasting a 96 GB/s bandwidth thanks to new Ultra96 cables. This unlocks support for 16K at 60Hz and 12K at 120Hz (with chroma subsampling), and 4K at 240Hz with 12-bit color depth without compression. While offering a slight edge over DisplayPort 2.1b, HDMI 2.2 provides significant improvements, including backward compatibility and a new audio-video sync technology. AMD's next-gen RDNA GPUs are expected to be among the first to adopt HDMI 2.2, though the extent of bandwidth support remains to be seen.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Hardware High Resolution

Framework Laptop 12 Ships, 13 (Ryzen 300) In Stock, and Events Announced!

2025-06-25

Framework announces shipments of the highly-repairable Framework Laptop 12 have begun, alongside immediate availability of the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 300 Series). Several upcoming events are highlighted, including the Open Source Summit North America and ISTELive, where attendees can experience the full product lineup. Early access to the Laptop 12 is available through a donation program with Hack Club.

(frame.work)

Hardware Repairable

Fairphone 6: A Sustainable Smartphone Revolution

2025-06-25

The Fairphone 6 represents a significant step towards sustainable technology. Designed for longevity with modular, repairable hardware and long-term software support, it minimizes e-waste. Over 50% of its materials are fair or recycled, including aluminum, copper, steel, and various rare earths. Manufactured using renewable energy in a factory committed to fair wages and worker well-being, the Fairphone 6 also offsets its remaining carbon footprint through Gold Standard climate projects. It's a phone built to last, ethically sourced, and environmentally conscious.

(shop.fairphone.com)

Hardware sustainable phone e-waste reduction ethical sourcing

PicoEMP: Open-Source, Low-Cost Electromagnetic Fault Injection Tool

2025-06-25

PicoEMP is a low-cost, open-source Electromagnetic Fault Injection (EMFI) tool designed for self-study and hobbyist research. Utilizing a Raspberry Pi Pico as its controller and featuring a safety shield to mitigate high-voltage risks, it offers a budget-friendly alternative to commercial EMFI tools like ChipSHOUTER. While sacrificing some performance for affordability and ease of use, it remains suitable for learning and personal exploration. Users are responsible for assembly and safety. The project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(github.com)

Hardware Electromagnetic Fault Injection

Apple's Hardware History: From Capacitor Plague to Butterfly Keyboards

2025-06-24

This article recounts three major hardware failures in Apple's history: the 1999-2007 capacitor plague, caused by cheap, faulty capacitors leading to widespread motherboard and iMac failures; the 2006-2017 graphics card failures resulting from the EU ban on lead-containing solder, particularly affecting MacBook Pros; and the 2015-2019 failures of the butterfly keyboard design. Despite the significant costs associated with these issues, Apple ultimately resolved them through product improvements and repair programs, demonstrating its strong problem-solving capabilities.

(eclecticlight.co)

Hardware Apple hardware failure history repair programs

Open-Source Oasis Smart Terrarium: A 3D-Printed Paradise for Plants

2025-06-24

Oasis is a fully open-source, mostly 3D-printed smart terrarium designed for humidity-loving plants like mosses, ferns, and orchids. It features high-power LED lighting, a mister for humidity control, fans for airflow, and a temperature/humidity sensor. WiFi connectivity allows control via a phone or computer. The project includes CAD models, electronics designs (KiCad), and software (Rust). While the electronics assembly might be challenging for beginners, the project is largely accessible to DIYers with a 3D printer. Pre-assembled electronics can be ordered, though potentially expensively. The creator plans to eventually offer assembled electronics kits.

(github.com)

Hardware smart terrarium

Undocumented Power Macintosh G3 Easter Egg Discovered After 27 Years

2025-06-24

A developer accidentally stumbled upon an undocumented easter egg hidden within the ROM of the original Power Macintosh G3. The egg is a JPEG image featuring the team who worked on the Mac models. By analyzing the SCSI Manager code in the ROM, the developer discovered the trigger: formatting the RAM disk after startup and typing 'secret ROM image' into the format dialog. This creates a JPEG file named 'The Team' on the RAM disk, revealing the team photo. This find might be one of the last easter eggs on Macs before their reported banning in 1997, adding a layer of mystery to Mac history.

(www.downtowndougbrown.com)

Hardware

GPU Performance Tuning: Hitting the Roofline Limits

2025-06-24

This article delves into the performance bottlenecks of GPU architectures, focusing on how memory bandwidth and compute throughput limit application speed. Using the Roofline model, it analyzes memory-bound and compute-bound regimes, detailing strategies to increase arithmetic intensity (AI): operator fusion and tiling. Fusion reduces intermediate memory traffic, while tiling maximizes data reuse through shared memory. The article also covers nuanced topics like shared memory bank conflicts, thread divergence, and quantization for performance gains. The ultimate goal is to push kernel operation points towards the compute throughput ceiling in the Roofline model.

(damek.github.io)

Hardware Performance Tuning Roofline Model

Disruptive Electronics: Competitive Pricing, Fast Time-to-Market, and Sustainability

2025-06-24

This electronic product stands out with its unique performance-to-cost ratio, undercutting conventional solutions while offering performance on par with brand-new mid-range electronics. Leveraging standardized hardware interfaces and popular open-source software frameworks enables rapid development, deployment, and iterative assessment. Critically, it avoids reliance on Asian suppliers, mitigating risks of shortages and long lead times. Furthermore, it positions your product as a market sustainability leader, allowing you to be the 'World's First' circular smart device and significantly reduce your carbon footprint.

(citronics.eu)

Hardware cost-effective

Svalboard: A Datahand Successor Born From Necessity

2025-06-24

A 20+ year Datahand user, devastated by the company's demise and the damage to his precious unit, decided to build a replacement. Inspired by Ben Gruver's lalboard design and leveraging his expertise in high-volume consumer electronics and input technology, he created Svalboard. This keyboard aims to provide thousands of RSI sufferers with a faster, safer, more precise, and pain-free typing experience, carrying the Datahand legacy forward.

(svalboard.com)

Hardware

Microsoft Cleaning Up Legacy Drivers on Windows Update

2025-06-24

Microsoft has launched a strategic initiative to clean up legacy drivers on Windows Update to reduce security and compatibility risks. This involves periodically removing outdated drivers, ensuring the optimal driver set for various hardware and maintaining Windows security. Partners will have a 6-month window to address concerns after a driver is removed; otherwise, it will be permanently deleted. This cleanup will be a recurring process.

(techcommunity.microsoft.com)

Hardware Windows drivers hardware compatibility

40 Years of FPGAs: From 64 Logic Blocks to 8.9 Million

2025-06-23

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the FPGA. Starting with the Xilinx XC2064 in 1985, boasting a mere 64 configurable logic blocks, the technology has exploded. Today's AMD FPGAs (Xilinx's successor) contain 8.9 million system logic cells, millions of flip-flops and lookup tables, and incorporate advanced features like Arm processor cores and high-speed transceivers. This article traces the FPGA's journey, from early Boolean expression programming to modern HDL development and automated place-and-route, showcasing how FPGAs revolutionized digital logic design and are now integral to everything from submarines to space exploration.

(www.adiuvoengineering.com)

Hardware electronic engineering

ESP32-BlueJammer: A Powerful 2.4GHz Jammer (Educational Purposes Only)

2025-06-23

The ESP32-BlueJammer is a 2.4GHz jammer based on an ESP32 and nRF24 modules, capable of disrupting various devices including Bluetooth, BLE, WiFi, and RC devices. It achieves interference by sending numerous disruptive packets and boasts a significant range (over 30 meters). The project offers DIY kits and pre-soldered versions, along with comprehensive assembly and firmware flashing tutorials. Crucially, note that signal jamming is illegal; this project is strictly for educational purposes and should not be used for illegal activities.

(github.com)

Hardware Jammer

DIY Exploded View of a Mechanical Watch: A Challenging Feat of Craftsmanship

2025-06-22

Inspired by a blog post explaining how mechanical watch movements work, the author decided to create a real-life exploded view model of a mechanical watch. He experimented with layered resin casting and other methods, ultimately settling on a technique using fishing line to suspend the parts and a single resin pour. He overcame numerous challenges, including resin shrinkage, air bubbles, and part fixation, continuously refining his technique. The project culminated in the creation of models from pocket watches to a clone of the ETA 2824 movement, demonstrating impressive craftsmanship and perseverance.

(fellerts.no)

Hardware resin casting

Google TPUs: A Deep Dive into Hardware-Software Co-design for Extreme Performance and Efficiency

2025-06-22

This article delves into the architecture of Google's TPUs, from single-chip to multi-pod levels, detailing how they achieve extremely high throughput and energy efficiency through systolic arrays, ahead-of-time compilation, and a unique interconnect network. The TPU design philosophy centers on hardware-software co-optimization, where the XLA compiler pre-plans memory accesses, minimizing cache usage and thus power consumption. The article also analyzes the impact of different topologies on training performance and how Google uses OCS to enable flexible TPU slice configurations, improving resource utilization.

(henryhmko.github.io)

Hardware

Open-Source 16mm Film Projector: LaborBerlin's Journey

2025-06-21

The LaborBerlin team is developing a state-of-the-art, open-source 16mm film projector to address the challenges of aging equipment, limited flexibility, and archival projection needs. Their approach leverages readily available projector mechanisms and lenses, incorporating a modular design, open-source technologies, and commonly available parts. After disassembling and analyzing various vintage projectors, the team successfully tested an 800W high-brightness LED light source with a water-cooling system, overcoming a major hurdle in lamp upgrades. Following feedback at the ALUD festival, they resolved flickering issues. The resulting prototype boasts superior brightness and clarity compared to traditional xenon lamp projectors.

(www.filmlabs.org)

Hardware film projector LED projection

25 Years of Computing: Cheap Gadgets That Actually Work

2025-06-21

A seasoned computer user with over 25 years of experience shares their collection of inexpensive yet incredibly useful adapters and gadgets. From RJ45 angle adapters for easier laptop connectivity to SATA-to-USB adapters for disk cloning, USB-C converters, Bluetooth adapters for enhanced audio, and more, these AliExpress finds solve everyday tech frustrations. Cheap, effective, and a must-have for any tech enthusiast.

(vermaden.wordpress.com)

Hardware computer accessories useful gadgets

Deep Dive into AMD's Instinct MI350: GCN-Based AI Accelerator

2025-06-20

In an interview, Alan Smith, AMD's Chief Instinct Architect, delved into the details of the new MI350 series AI accelerators, based on the GFX9 architecture. While MI350 retains the GFX9 architecture, significant performance improvements are achieved through increased LDS capacity (160KB) and bandwidth, along with the introduction of microscaling formats supporting FP8, FP6, and FP4 data types. Notably, MI350's FP6 and FP4 boast the same throughput, reflecting AMD's confidence in FP6's potential for both training and inference. Furthermore, MI350 omits TF32 hardware acceleration in favor of optimized BF16, offering software emulation for TF32 support. Built with N3P process compute chips and N6 process I/O chips, MI350 optimizes design and reduces compute units to achieve high performance while lowering power consumption.

(chipsandcheese.com)

Hardware

Microsoft's Silent Driver Purge: Breaking Your Old Hardware?

2025-06-20

Microsoft is quietly removing outdated drivers from Windows Update, citing security and reliability. However, this could break hardware for users relying on legacy devices. Without individual warnings, drivers simply disappear from Windows Update. Only the original hardware partner can restore them, but Microsoft might require business justification, and drivers are permanently deleted after six months of inactivity. This is a nightmare for users of older hardware, potentially impacting even enterprise environments. Microsoft plans to continue this purge regularly.

(nerds.xyz)

Hardware Drivers

macOS Tahoe Beta Drops FireWire Support: RIP Old iPods?

2025-06-20

The latest macOS Tahoe developer beta has dropped support for FireWire 400 and 800, leaving older iPods and FireWire-based external drives incompatible. While this might be temporary, it's a blow for users clinging to legacy devices. Although outdated, FireWire's demise marks the end of an era.

(www.macrumors.com)

Hardware

Give Your Old PC New Life with Linux: Ditch Windows 10!

2025-06-19

Windows 10 support ends October 14, 2025, prompting Microsoft to push new hardware sales. But if your computer is post-2010, don't toss it! Installing a modern Linux distribution can breathe new life into your machine, extending its lifespan for years. While OS installation might seem daunting, local repair cafes and online communities offer ample support. Linux offers free software, enhanced privacy, reduced environmental impact, and greater user control. Revive your old PC today!

(endof10.org)

Hardware PC Upgrade

Open Source: The Smallest 3D-Printed Telescope Kit

2025-06-19

A maker has open-sourced their design for a miniature 3D-printed telescope kit, "Smallest." The kit includes complete instructions and files for users to print and assemble themselves. For a flawless experience, a pre-assembled version is also available for purchase. Crucially, never point the telescope at the sun—it's extremely dangerous. Technical details include material recommendations (avoid PLA!), part quantities, glue suggestions, and assembly tips such as balancing the telescope tube.

(www.printables.com)

Hardware

Bento: A Pocket-Sized Spatial Computer

2025-06-18

Bento is a unique computer, inspired by the Commodore 64 and cyberdeck aesthetics, designed to fit perfectly under a keyboard which serves as its lid. This provides easy access to internals and storage for peripherals. Primarily intended for use with spatial displays like the XREAL One (though compatible with any USB-C monitor), Bento uses a Steam Deck OLED mainboard, cooler, and battery for optimal power and portability. Unlike bulky XR devices which are limited to basic functions, Bento is designed for real work, offering a powerful and portable solution for spatial computing. The project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(github.com)

Hardware portable computer

Framework Laptop 12: Easy Repairs, But With Trade-offs

2025-06-18

The Framework Laptop 12 shines with its modular design and easy repairability. Users can easily swap out components like RAM and SSDs with just a screwdriver. However, to achieve a smaller form factor, the Laptop 12 makes compromises, such as omitting a backlit keyboard and fingerprint sensor, and only supporting a single stick of DDR5 RAM, limiting memory capacity. While it uses smaller M.2 2230 SSDs, these are now more readily available. Overall, the Laptop 12 balances ease of use and upgradeability but requires users to weigh some functional limitations.

(arstechnica.com)

Hardware Modular Design Repairability

Skywater 130nm SerDes Design: High-Speed Communication Achieved

2025-06-18

This project details a high-speed Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) circuit designed for high-speed communication. Implemented using Verilog HDL and synthesized with OpenLane on the Skywater OpenPDK 130nm process, the SerDes converts parallel data into a serial stream for transmission and back again at the receiver. The design includes a transmitter (using a chain of CMOS inverters as a driver), a receiver (employing a resistive feedback inverter and CMOS inverter for sensing and amplification), a D-flip-flop for data sampling, and an oversampling CDR for clock recovery. GDS, SPICE, and netlist files for all modules are provided.

(github.com)

Hardware High-Speed Communication

AMD's CDNA 4 Architecture: Balancing Matrix and Vector Operations

2025-06-17

AMD unveils its latest compute-oriented GPU architecture, CDNA 4, a modest upgrade over CDNA 3. The focus is on boosting matrix multiplication performance with lower-precision data types crucial for machine learning. Simultaneously, CDNA 4 aims to maintain AMD's lead in vector operations. Utilizing a similar multi-chiplet design as CDNA 3, and increasing clock speeds, CDNA 4 improves Local Data Share (LDS) capacity and bandwidth, introducing read-with-transpose LDS instructions to optimize matrix multiplication. While lagging behind Nvidia's Blackwell architecture in low-precision matrix operations, CDNA 4 retains a significant advantage in vector operations and higher-precision data types due to its higher core count and clock speeds.

(chipsandcheese.com)

Hardware

Windows 10 EOL: A Family's Hardware Upgrade Odyssey and a Linux Dev's Tale

2025-06-17

The author's experience upgrading multiple family computers due to Windows 10's end-of-life. The story details hardware choices, OS installations (including a Linux journey), and insights into file format design. It also covers Z80 game development for the ZX Spectrum, reflections on the Mass Effect series, and a glimpse into the author's new year's resolutions. A humorous and relatable tech upgrade saga.

(solhsa.com)

Hardware

Fujifilm X Half: A Family-Friendly Camera or a Disappointment?

2025-06-17

A decade-long Fujifilm user, transitioning from the X-T1 to the Leica M11, shares their experience with the Fujifilm X Half. While the X Half's compact size and simplified controls make it ideal for families, particularly children, its high price and limited features have drawn criticism. The author argues that for casual users, the X Half's ease of use outweighs its functional shortcomings, making it a great choice for family photography, though the $850 price tag feels steep.

(arslan.io)

Hardware Fujifilm family camera

AMD Trinity's Compromised Interconnect: A Decade of iGPU Integration

2025-06-17

This article delves into the memory interconnect architecture of AMD's Trinity APU (released in 2012). Unlike the later Infinity Fabric, Trinity uses two distinct links, "Onion" and "Garlic," to connect the CPU and iGPU. "Onion" guarantees cache coherency but is bandwidth-limited, while "Garlic" offers high bandwidth but lacks coherency. This design reflects a compromise based on the then-current Athlon 64 architecture, resulting in performance penalties when the CPU and GPU access each other's memory. While performing adequately for graphics workloads like gaming, Trinity's architecture lacks the elegance and efficiency of Intel's Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge integrated iGPUs. The author uses tests and data analysis to detail the functionality, advantages, and disadvantages of both links, demonstrating Trinity's memory bandwidth usage with various games and image processing programs.

(chipsandcheese.com)

Hardware Interconnect

Category: Hardware