ASUS has announced a major leap in AI infrastructure at Computex 2025 with the launch of the NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design, featuring ASUS AI POD solutions. These cutting-edge systems, available as NVIDIA-Certified Systems, span the NVIDIA Blackwell, HGX, and MGX platforms, supporting both air-cooled and liquid-cooled data centers. Designed to accelerate agentic AI adoption, these innovations are expected to deliver unmatched scalability, performance, and efficiency, enabling enterprises to deploy AI at an unprecedented scale.

To support massive-scale computing, the ASUS AI POD, featuring NVIDIA GB200/GB300 NVL72 racks and Quantum InfiniBand or Spectrum-X Ethernet, enables a non-blocking 576-GPU cluster across eight racks with liquid cooling, or a 72-GPU air-cooled solution, thereby advancing AI reasoning capabilities and energy efficiency. ASUS’s AI infrastructure supports autonomous decision-making AI, featuring real-time learning and scalable AI agents for enterprise applications.

ASUS is enhancing AI factory deployments with scalable networking, storage, and software solutions, integrating SLURM workload scheduling and high-speed data handling systems. Additionally, ASUS offers a comprehensive software platform for AI orchestration and development, ensuring seamless integration of agentic AI across industries.

With these innovations, ASUS is reinforcing its role as a leader in AI-driven infrastructure.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Computex 2025: ASUS Unveils Advanced AI Infrastructure ‘AI POD’ Built With NVIDIA appeared first on Geek Culture.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang kicked off Computex 2025 in Taipei with a bold vision for an AI-driven future. He emphasized that AI is now fundamental infrastructure, likening it to electricity and the internet, and described how AI data centers are evolving into “AI factories” that generate valuable tokens.

“They’re not data centers of the past,” Huang explained. “These AI data centers, if you will, are improperly described. They are, in fact, AI factories. You apply energy to it, and it produces something incredibly valuable, and these things are called tokens.”

Huang showcased NVIDIA’s CUDA-X platform, highlighting its role in advancing AI, 6G, and quantum supercomputing. He outlined the growing power of AI, leading to “agentic AI,” which can think and act, and “physical AI,” which understands the world—culminating in general robotics.

To meet surging demand, Huang announced innovations such as NVIDIA Blackwell-powered systems, NVLink Fusion to optimise AI data centers, and collaborations with major global tech players. He also detailed NVIDIA’s partnership with Taiwan, including an AI supercomputer project with Foxconn and the Taiwan government.

New product announcements included DGX Spark, a personal AI supercomputer; DGX Station, capable of running trillion-parameter models; NVIDIA RTX PRO Servers for enterprise AI; and NVIDIA AI Data Platform for intelligent storage. He also introduced tools for humanoid robotics, including Isaac GR00T-Dreams and the GR00T N1.5 foundation model.

Huang shares that companies worldwide are investing $5 trillion in new factories, and optimizing their design is crucial for maximising efficiency. Leading Taiwanese manufacturers, including TSMC, Foxconn, and others, are leveraging NVIDIA Omniverse to create digital twins, driving the next phase of industrial physical AI in semiconductor and electronics production.

He also unveiled the opening of the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT), home to ABCI-Q, the world’s largest quantum research supercomputer. This breakthrough system, powered by 2,020 NVIDIA H100 GPUs and Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, aims to accelerate quantum-GPU computing to tackle complex challenges in industries like healthcare, energy, and finance. This supercomputer will enable researchers in Japan to explore core challenges in quantum computing and drive progress toward real-world use cases.

Huang ended the keynote by unveiling NVIDIA Constellation, a new Taiwan office to be built in Beitou-Shiulin, and emphasising Taiwan’s crucial role in AI development. He described the industry’s trajectory as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to build AI factories, AI agents, and robotics within a unified architecture.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Computex 2025: NVIDIA Supercharges AI With World’s Largest Quantum Supercomputer, AI Infrastructure & More appeared first on Geek Culture.

As if the “World’s Fastest Mobile CPU” tag on the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip wasn’t enough, Day 2 of Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit 2024 in Maui, Hawaii also saw the introduction of the company’s updated automotive platforms powered by the second generation Qualcomm Oryon CPU (similarly used in Snapdragon 8 Elite), but now tailored for automotive safety and reliability. These upgraded platforms are part of the Snapdragon Digital Chassis portfolio (introduced in 2022) that also encompasses Snapdragon Auto Connectivity and Snapdragon Car-to-Cloud.

Vehicle manufacturers will soon have the option to utilise the Snapdragon Cockpit Elite platform to power advanced digital experiences, and the Snapdragon Ride Elite platform to power automated driving capabilities for their latest car models. Both chips, which Qualcomm refers to as platforms, are targeting 3x faster CPU and up to 12x stronger AI performance for enhanced safety and in-vehicle experiences, compared to the previous flagship generation of CPUs by Qualcomm.

“Qualcomm Technologies remains at the forefront of innovation with platforms like Snapdragon Cockpit Elite and Snapdragon Ride Elite, as the automotive industry evolves towards centralized computing, software-defined vehicles and AI-driven architectures,” said Nakul Duggal, group manager, automotive, industrial, and cloud, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“With our strongest performing compute, graphics and AI capabilities, coupled with industry leading power efficiency and cutting-edge software enablement for digital cockpits and automated driving, these new elite Snapdragon automotive platforms address the industry’s needs for higher compute levels, empowering automakers to redefine automotive experiences for their customers.”

Here are some of the key highlights of the Snapdragon Cockpit Elite and Ride Elite:

• Accelerated AI Performance – The dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU), designed for multimodal AI, is targeting a 12x performance boost over previous cockpit platforms, enabling real-time external environment and cabin data processing. Thereby allowing for live decision-making, adaptive responses, and proactive assistance, catering for a personalised in-cabin experience.
• Greater Power Efficiency – Qualcomm utilises a combination of intelligent power management hardware and software that balances core utilisation and application runtime to deliver peak performance while keeping energy consumption as minimal as possible.
• Intuitive Experiences – The platforms are engineered to enable hands-free automated driving that anticipates needs, along with real-time driver monitoring and enhanced object detection for a smoother ride. Its improved Qualcomm Adreno GPU is targeting to deliver a 3x performance boost with advanced rendering capabilities to cater for gaming, multimedia, and dynamic driver information.
• Focus on Safety – Designed to meet the highest level of automotive safety standards for ASIL-D systems with a dedicated safety island controller and robust hardware architecture for isolation and interference-free operation, helping to ensure reliable quality-of-service for specific ADAS functions, as well as comfort and confidence from drivers and passengers.
• Autonomous Driving and AI Software – The Snapdragon Ride Elite platform will offer an end-to-end automated driving system with advanced features like vision perception, sensor fusion, path planning, localisation, and complete vehicle control, all running concurrently, independently and free from interference. Similarly, Snapdragon Cockpit Elite will support rich multimedia features, on-device AI, optimised gaming and advanced 3D graphics.

The Snapdragon Cockpit Elite and Snapdragon Ride Elite platforms will be available for consumer sampling in 2025. At the moment, both Mercedes-Benz and Li Auto are currently confirmed to be adopting the new Qualcomm platforms in their 2025 lineup of vehicles.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Qualcomm Snapdragon Cockpit Elite And Ride Elite Platforms To Arm Cars With 12x More AI appeared first on Geek Culture.

The race to the top of mobile computing continues as chip leader Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile CPU during its annual Snapdragon Summit 2024 held in Maui, Hawaii, as the successor to its industry-leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It is the first Snapdragon mobile platform featuring Qualcomm’s next-gen, custom Oryon CPU architecture, and is touted as the world’s fastest mobile system-on-a-chip ever (based on SpecINT, Speedometer, AnTutu CPU and Geekbench 6.2 ST benchmarks).

The Snapdragon 8 Elite clocks peak CPU speeds at 4.32 GHz, providing a 45% boost in CPU performance and 45% improved power efficiency. Gamers will be glad to know that it delivers up to 27% in overall power savings, thereby extending gaming time by up to 2.5 hours.

Additionally, the Snapdragon 8 Elite makes on-device multi-modal generative AI applications a reality on smartphones powered by Snapdragon. Mobile photography is further enhanced with Qualcomm’s AI ISP, enhancing everything from selfies to video chats. The first AI-powered Limitless Segmentation recognises and enhances practically anything within the frame, from faces, hair, clothing, to objects in backgrounds, such that even animals appear crisp and clear, thanks to AI-based Pet Capture. And of course, it also has the latest in AI-optimised 5G and Wi-Fi 7, with up to 40% more power savings.

“We are so excited to bring the power of Qualcomm Oryon to our Snapdragon mobile platforms for the first time. Earlier this year, we debuted it in PCs, delivering remarkable experiences and unparallel battery life to PC users, energizing the industry and getting the attention of consumers,” said Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Today, our second generation of the Qualcomm Oryon CPU debuts in our flagship Mobile Platform – it’s a major leap forward and we expect consumers to be thrilled with the new experiences enabled by our CPU technology.”

“With leading CPU, GPU and NPU capabilities, the Snapdragon 8 Elite delivers dramatic performance enhancements and power efficiency. In addition, it revolutionizes mobile experiences by offering personalized, multi-modal generative AI directly on the device enabling the understanding of speech, context, and images to enhance everything from productivity to creativity tasks while prioritizing user privacy.”

Check out the Geekbench 6 CPU & GPU tests, and 3DMark “Wild Life” Benchmark below and marvel at the results from the SNapdragon 8 Elite:

Leading OEMs and smartphone brands such as ASUS, Honor, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, RealMe, Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi, and more are already slated to launch devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the coming weeks.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Qualcomm Debuts Snapdragon 8 Elite, Dubs It “World’s Fastest Mobile CPU” appeared first on Geek Culture.

Packing plenty of power, the compact Lenovo ThinkStation P8 desktop workstation looks great on your desk, while offering plenty of room for customization, for anyone seeking a high performance juggernaut to handle intensive tasks including 3D rendering, graphics editing, and virtual simulations.

Having showcased the workstation previously, here’s a closer look at the Lenovo ThinkStation P8. Encased in a specially designed case with grey and black panels alongside red accents, the ThinkStation is unique in its outlook, providing a visual cue as to the performance capabilities within.

Powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processor pushes the performance scaling envelope a significant step further, raising the industry bar to 96 cores with the 7995WX., the P8 is a breeze to upgrade should anyone ever need more power.

The small panel by the left side of the tower makes for easy access to the components inside with a lift of a flap. With great power, comes the need for great cooling demands, the tower design is made to keep your components cool even amid intensive rendering and computational scenarios. 

Popping the panel open reveals expansion possibilities as users can pair the tower workstation with, including up to three NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada-generation GPUs, or four RTX A4000 GPUs.

With plenty of space within, the massive heatsink keeps the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processor cool as users put the workstation through its paces.

While it might be tempting to pack as much power into the workstation, the inner side of the panel gives us a peek at how much potential one could consider to maximise their workflow.

If you consider yourself an individual working on enterprise-level, intense graphical work or AI application workloads then the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 should be your first, and possibly last, PC of choice.

The crux of getting a rig this powerful boils down to how much time it can save for your workflow. Based on performance tests, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processor helps users save up to 27 minutes for every hour of productivity. Whether you are in the business of creative work, architecture or engineering, every second spent means more time focused on other parts of the business which require greater attention, or simply, getting more done in a shorter amount of time.

For a closer look at how Lenovo is making the best from what AMD has to offer, here’s a deeper overview of what the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 workstation PC can offer.

Gerald

Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!

The post Peeking Under The Hood Of The Lenovo ThinkStation P8 Workstation Powered By AMD Processor appeared first on Geek Culture.

A powerful and reliable desktop will always prove useful in the workplace, especially when it comes to tackling intensive tasks. With the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 workstation PC, the tech giant is looking to deliver more cores, more graphic cards, and more power – in more ways than one. 

The high-end offering, which targets professionals handling enterprise-grade workloads such as real-time graphical work and AI applications, runs on the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processors and includes the option for an AMD Radeon Pro W7900 graphics card, one of the best in its class. It features a processor built on AMD’s Zen 4 architecture, packing up to 86 cores and 192 threads, as well as a 5.3Ghz clock speed.

But there’s also a second configuration. Users will be able to pair the tower workstation with up to three NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada-generation GPUs or four RTX A4000 GPUs, which improves video rendering, real-time ray tracing, and computer aided design speeds. AMD enthusiasts, meanwhile, can choose between up to four Radeon Pro W7600 graphics cards or as mentioned earlier, one AMD Radeon Pro W7900, with the latter supporting an output of up to 12K resolution at 120Hz, one 8K output, two 6K outputs, or four simultaneous 4K outputs.

Beyond that, AMD-equipped models have more to offer. Security, for instance, is heightened with the company’s Memory Guard, preventing unauthorised access to the memory. Likewise, Secure Boot allows for boot process authentication, rounding out the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor’s compatibility with Microsoft Pluton Security and OEM-level (short for ‘original equipment manufacturer’) security features. 

As the ThinkStation P8 runs on AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO, users will have access to robust management capabilities, such as remote BIOS updates, device provisioning for setting up desired configurations, and support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager. A particularly useful perk here is the ability to service devices even if they are offline or turned off, made possible by out-of-band management. 

Performance is naturally the last part of the equation. Built for both functionality and power efficiency, AMD Radeon PRO graphics cards boast multiple cores, high clock speeds, and maximum clock speeds based on the latest process nodes. Alongside AMD Radeon PRO integrated graphics processors, which generate less heat and result in longer battery life, the desktop is well-armed to take on any challenge. 

Storage capacity is available in spades, too. The ThinkStation P8 can fit up to seven M.2 PCle Gen 4 SSDs with RAID support, or up to three HDDs, up to 2TB of DDR5 memory, and seven PCle slots that deliver higher speed connectivity, lower latency, and more expansion capability. To eliminate network bottlenecks, Lenovo has included 10 Gigabit of onboard Ethernet. 

Alongside two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the front, the ThinkStation P8 will also ship with the following rear ports, offering a myriad of connectivity options: 

• 2x USB-A 2.0
• 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
• 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×2
• 2x Ethernet port 
• 1x audio line in
• 1x audio line out

The machine’s versatility fits Lenovo’s mould of constant innovation, with its ThinkStation P620 predecessor crowned as the first professional workstation to use AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors.

“At Lenovo, we understand that our customers need high-quality workstations that can adapt to their changing and diverse needs. That’s why we collaborated with AMD and NVIDIA to create the ThinkStation P8, a workstation that combines power, flexibility and enterprise-grade features,” said Rob Herman, vice president and general manager, Workstation and Client AI Business Unit, Lenovo.

With high power comes high cooling demands, however, so the company has turned to an optimised thermal design to accommodate all that extra heat. Adding to the user experience is its accessible and tool-less form factor, allowing users to easily replace, add, or remove various components. 

The Lenovo ThinkStation P8 powered by AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO WX-Series and NVIDIA RTX graphics cards will be available starting Q1 2024.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Lenovo ThinkStation P8 Workstation PC Packs The Best Of AMD’s Hardware appeared first on Geek Culture.

Crunchyroll, the beloved Sony-owned anime streaming platform, is making a strategic move that mirrors Netflix by integrating mobile games into its subscription packages starting 7 November.

Known as the “Game Vault,” this fresh offering is exclusively accessible to Crunchyroll members enrolled in the Mega Fan or Ultimate Fan subscription tiers. The Mega Fan plan costs US$9.99 each month, while the Ultimate Fan tier, available only in the United States, is priced at US$14.99.

In addition to the current subscription perks, which encompass ad-free anime streaming, simulcast shows, digital manga access, and offline viewing, eligible members can now immerse themselves in a burgeoning collection of downloadable mobile games. Initially, these games are solely available on Android through the Google Play store, with iOS support arriving soon.

Much like Netflix’s analogous approach, Crunchyroll’s Game Vault will provide “premium” games devoid of ads or microtransactions. The initial lineup includes titles such as Captain Velvet: The Jump+ Dimensions, a tactical action game by developer Momo-pi; River City Girls, a beat-em-up from WayForward; Wolfstride, a single-player RPG by Ota Imon Studios; Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery, a visual novel by Silver Lining Studio; and Inbento, a food-themed puzzler created by Afterburn.

Crunchyroll has promised to introduce new mobile games on a regular basis, and additional Game Vault features will be gradually introduced to maintain stability.

Crunchyroll previously collaborated with Capcom on Street Fighter: Duel, an RPG for mobile devices based on the fighting game franchise.

Edwin Teo

Edwin has been writing about gaming and entertainment news for almost a decade, and has loved video games, comic books, and movies longer than that. He loves interesting stories, immersive world-building, and adorable monsters.

The post Sony’s Crunchyroll Levels Up With Game Vault Subscription Service For Mobile appeared first on Geek Culture.

Not long ago, Nintendo replaced iconic voice actor Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario after 27 years in favour of the fresh-faced Kevin Afghani. Now, Sanrio is making a similar move by saying goodbye to Hello Kitty‘s longtime voice actress.

Megumi Hayashibara, renowned for voicing iconic anime characters like Rei in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Faye in Cowboy Bebop, has provided Hello Kitty’s voice for over three decades. However, as of 1 November, which coincides with Hello Kitty’s official birthday, Hayashibara has announced her departure from the role.

Hayashibara’s journey with Hello Kitty began in 1990 when she auditioned for the role as Sanrio was preparing to open its Sanrio theme park in Tokyo. Despite a few exceptions, she’s been the voice behind Kitty-chan ever since. Sanrio’s decision for this change came as a surprise to Hayashibara, who was informed of their choice by letter.

However, during a subsequent meeting with Sanrio staff, they discussed their vision for the character’s future, focusing on enhancing Hello Kitty’s global appeal, reaching out to Generation Z, and exploring the potential of artificial intelligence. Sanrio felt that with Hello Kitty approaching its 50th anniversary, this juncture would be a suitable time to transition to a new voice for the character. In line with this change, Miina Tominaga and Go Takahashi will also no longer voice Kitty-chan’s twin sister, Mimi, and boyfriend, Daniel, respectively.

Despite this significant change, Hayashibara views it as a positive moment and wishes the character well with her new voice. She likens her feelings to seeing a daughter leave home to get married, with no sadness or regret. For her, the legacy of Kitty-chan will continue, albeit with a new voice behind the beloved character.

This move highlights the ways that artificial intelligence is putting actors as well as voice actors in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work. In addition, it shows that, like Mario, Hello Kitty is a character defined by her iconic status and not by her voice.

Fans will just have to wait and see to find out what Hello Kitty will sound like in the future as she enters a new era.

Edwin Teo

Edwin has been writing about gaming and entertainment news for almost a decade, and has loved video games, comic books, and movies longer than that. He loves interesting stories, immersive world-building, and adorable monsters.

The post After Mario, Sanrio Is Now Dropping Hello Kitty Voice Actress After 33 Years appeared first on Geek Culture.

It was not so long ago that getting hold of a PlayStation 5 console was one of the hardest things to get. The same can also be said about the latest graphics card, where the lack of supply was exacerbated by the cryptocurrency rush. 

Fast forward to 2023, and supplies have stabilised, as tech manufacturing has accelerated and improved production and brought things back to normal, though it was an experience that left global chip maker Intel with a fire in its belly. Having announced its integrated device manufacturing (IDM) 2.0 vision in 2021, the company, which makes the bulk of processors for PC computers, is starting to see several initiatives come together somewhere closer to Asia, in Malaysia, where Intel has had a long history in the country, as Malaysia marked its first offshore site opening back in 1972.

This has contributed to Malaysia becoming the sixth largest exporter of semiconductors globally, with Intel contributing a significant 20 per cent to the country’s electrical and electronic exports.

Both of Intel’s Malaysian facilities in Penang and Kulim are involved in two aspects of the production line – assembling various components into the final product (or, officially known as packaging) and testing (ensuring all the components produced by Intel meet the standards and specifications for their customers).

In a recent press trip to PG16 and KM1 Intel facilities in Penang and Kulim, the American chip maker showcased its expansion efforts in the west Malaysian states, where it currently employs 15,000 staff in the country, with 6,000 based at its chip design centre. 

The bigger game plan for Intel in its expansion push is to take a bite out of the foundry business which is dominated by Asian chip giants, among them Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, and GlobalFoundries. Traditionally, Intel had preferred to focus on its core competency, which is designing integrated circuits (ICs) and manufacturing its own products, but in recent years, it’s opened doors to other chip designers to manufacture ICs and achieve economies of scale by producing ICs for multiple customers.

With its sights set on becoming the second largest foundry by sales in 2029, Intel’s lofty goals are quite some distance away – its current foundry sales hit US$768 million in 2022, trailing behind Samsung Electronic’s US$20.8 billion achievement in the same year. 

In Malaysia, Intel’s manufacturing will soon be boosted by the addition of two new facilities, growing to 2 million square feet of built-up manufacturing space, that will augment its current processor assembly and test capabilities. In fact, one of the newest facilities that Intel has in place was set up in 2021 during the pandemic, with the conversion of existing office space to sort and prep chips for the next step in production. 

The facility is now fully operational, complete with automation to aid efficiency and achieve scale, and was one of the key aspects of the media tour that Intel presented.

At the heart of the newest facility, these massive cells seen above are stacked upon each other, and each has the combined length and height of a small truck, measuring in at about 7.62 meters long and 2.8 meters in height. Officially termed as a sort module, each cell can sort and test thousands of chips daily, and check for defects and measure performance. The facility runs around the clock to allow Intel to gain maximum utility. 

At the same locale, all test chips are ferried around the facility automatically with a robot that ships, loads, and unloads into the sort modules above. We’ve seen such robots of a similar nature used by Amazon in the past and they emit a constant, friendly jingle to announce their arrival down the path as opposed to an angry horn.

In fact, having to traverse around the facility requires us to be cautious and not bump into any of these robots as they go about their business. Photo editing for fake IDs often involves altering images to change personal details, such as names and birth dates, and manipulating photos to match the desired appearance. Advanced software can enhance image quality and create realistic holograms or backgrounds. Usually there is no harm in purchasing fake or novelty ids for fun purposes. However, generally it is not safe or legal for teens to drink alcohol, even with a novelty ID. Encourage them to find fun, legal alternatives! If they’re looking for a good time, suggest mocktails or a fun hangout instead!

With a presence in 10 locations globally, the Penang facility is growing its capabilities steadily as Intel spreads its bets with facilities in China, Costa Rica, and Vietnam, combined with its wafer fabrication plants in the United States, China, Israel, and Ireland.

Steve Long, corporate vice president of sales and marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan at Intel, noted that the company’s wide footprint in global production will be key in attracting customers for manufacturing and packaging services, “There is one company today that has the breath of resiliency and breadth of global presence already – That is Intel.”

We’ll check back at the end of this decade if Intel is able to achieve the lofty goals it has set for itself. Stay tuned.

Gerald

Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!

The post Intel Showcases Its Foundry Ambitions As Manufacturing Expansion Plans Roll Out In Penang, Malaysia appeared first on Geek Culture.

Taiwanese hardware maker ASUS is rolling out an eco-friendly range of Enterprise computing options for partners looking at lowering the carbon footprint of running a business, with carbon-neutral and eco-friendly desktops, laptops, and all-in-one PC devices.

The ASUS Carbon Partner Services serves to support businesses in reducing carbon emissions, led by the ExpertBook B9 OLED and B5 OLED, and BR1402 series. Dubbed the world’s first carbon footprint and carbon-neutral verified business laptop, the 14-inch ExpertBook B9 OLED (B9400) offers an FHD 16:9 display at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, powered by the Intel Core i7-1255U Processor at 1.7 GHz. The laptop is constructed with post-industrial recycled metal, as well as FSC Mix-certified paper to reduce carbon footprint.

The ExpertBook B9 OLED and ExpertBook B5 OLED ultralight laptops offer top-of-the-line hardware, including the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processor. The ExpertBook B9 OLED is the first magnesium-lithium laptop from ASUS to employ Thixomolding, a manufacturing process that reduces waste by up to 29 per cent and is capable of shortening manufacturing time by up to 75 per cent. 

Constructed with up to 70 per cent of post-industrial recycled metal and packaged in materials certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the ExpertBook B9 OLED is capable of reducing carbon emissions that exceed the Energy Star energy-efficiency standard by 44 per cent. 

The ExpertBook B5 OLED (B5602CVA) is the world’s lightest 16-inch business laptop with a 4K OLED screen display. Both devices have passed rigorous US military-grade durability standards and sport 13th Gen Intel Core processors.

The BR1402 is the world’s first 14-inch 2-in-1 rugged laptop for education and features a modular design for environmentally-friendly maintenance, while the newly-awarded ExpertBook B9 OLED was awarded the Sustainable Tech Special Award distinction in the Computex 2023 Best Choice Awards.

The intent of this range is to support businesses in achieving their own sustainability targets with nature-based carbon credits to offset emissions. 

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Computex 2023: ASUS Pushes Sustainability With Eco-Friendly Range, Led By ExpertBook B9 Laptop appeared first on Geek Culture.

Do you think references to people being “fat” and “ugly” are offensive? The Roald Dahl Story Company seems to think so.

The Netflix-owned company worked together with publisher Puffin Books (an imprint of Penguin Books) to carry out hundreds of edits across Roald Dahl‘s bibliography. These changes include the character Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being referred to as “enormous” instead of “fat”. Meanwhile, the Oompa-Loompas are gender-neutral, and go by “small people” instead of “small men”. They are also no longer described as “tiny,” “titchy,” or “no higher than my knee”.

More examples include Miss Trunchbull, the villain in Matilda, being referred to as the “most formidable woman” instead of the “most formidable female.” What’s more, the titular character now reads Jane Austen (of Pride and Prejudice fame) instead of Rudyard Kipling (who wrote The Jungle Book).

This review was spearheaded by Puffin and Roald Dahl Story Company in 2020, before Roald Dahl Story Company was acquired by Netflix in September 2021.

Many critics have responded negatively to these edits, including Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie, who tweeted, “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”

However, Roald Dahl Story Company defended its decision, saying, “When publishing new print runs of books written years ago, it’s not unusual to review the language used alongside updating other details including a book’s cover and page layout. Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered.”

They added, “As part of our process to review the language used we worked in partnership with Inclusive Minds, a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature.”

Although Roald Dahl was responsible for a number of beloved books, the writer was a controversial figure because of antisemitic comments made throughout his life. The Dahl family apologised in 2020 “for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements.”

Edwin Teo

Edwin has been writing about gaming and entertainment news for almost a decade, and has loved video games, comic books, and movies longer than that. He loves interesting stories, immersive world-building, and adorable monsters.

The post Critics Blast Move To Remove ‘Offensive’ Language In New Editions Of Roald Dahl’s Books appeared first on Geek Culture.

Twitter is committed to monetising its platform through various means. According to a report from The Information, the Elon Musk-run company intends to charge businesses US$1,000 per month to keep their gold checkmarks. There could also be an extra charge to add badges to every account affiliated with the brand.

This lines up with a screenshot posted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, which appears to show an email exchange of Twitter employees offering the price to businesses looking to sign up as a “Verified Organization.”

Gold Badges on Twitter was rolled out ahead of its Verification for Organizations program, formerly called Blue for Business. The feature allows companies to “verify and distinguish themselves on Twitter.” It also allows companies to place a small, hyperlinked version of their logo next to the gold check of other pages associated with their business, including employees and executives. For example, the account for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has the Gold Checkmark as well as a Marvel logo next to it.

In addition to mass layoffs, this costly subscription is just one of the ways that Twitter is looking to increase revenue. According to Bloomberg, the social platform is US$12.5 billion in debt, incurred when Elon Musk took the social media juggernaut private last year. What’s more, Twitter is also facing a lawsuit for skipping out on US$1.9 million in payments to an advisory firm.

Edwin Teo

Edwin has been writing about gaming and entertainment news for almost a decade, and has loved video games, comic books, and movies longer than that. He loves interesting stories, immersive world-building, and adorable monsters.

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Having led the logistics and e-Commerce sector with its industry-leading automation that has defined the warehousing space, American Internet retail giant Amazon looks set to continue its dominance in the space as it has been testing new tech innovations to drive performance and capabilities in the sector, ahead of its competition, this time with the support from Amazon’s robotic teams.

At the recent Delivering the Future event, held at Amazon’s innovation labs and robotics manufacturing facility outside Boston, Massachusetts, the company showed new robotic enhancements that will improve the experiences of the warehouse staff and better serving the customer when these are eventually rolled out across its facilities.

With Sparrow, Amazon’s latest robotic arm, repetitive product picking tasks currently performed by workers can now be alleviated, as Sparrow is able to identify and sort over a million different individual items. This is an element which still requires human intervention before an order is boxed up and sent out the door, but the aim for Sparrow is to tap onto computer vision and AI, to help employees cut down repetitive motion when picking packages.

Sparrow joins previously announced Robin and Cardinal robot arms which were better equipped to handle products after they have been packaged into predetermined packaging and boxes.

The use of robotics does not end once the parcel leaves the warehouse, as Amazon is further exploring the use of drones to fulfill last mile delivery. Having announced a flying drone in the form of the MK27-2 drone earlier in 2022, it’s now testing a new MK30 drone that is smaller and lighter than its predecessor.

Other improvements to the drone include an increased flight range, ability to fly in light rain, and being capable to land in backyards. From the information revealed at the event, the drone ferries a maximum package load of up to 2.2kg.

The real challenge for the drones to see widespread adoption boils down to how regulators view the delivery devices, as a fleet of drones filling the skies over a city with parcels to deliver might not be the most noise-free activity, which is why Amazon is endeavouring to reducing the MK30 drone’s noise generated by 25%, through the implementation of custom designed propellors.

With Amazon’s drone delivery, known as Prime Air, slated to go live later in the year in two cities – Lockeford, California and College Station, Texas, there are still things to be done before they become a norm, but if it becomes a reality, instead of Santa dropping down from the chimney, it might be a flying drone with presents.

Gerald

Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!

The post Amazon Expands Robotics Capabilities For Warehouse Picking And Drone Delivery In US appeared first on Geek Culture.

When it comes to e-commerce, speed is key. While it might be easy to keep an online inventory readily stocked, getting a product into a customer’s hands with haste is an endeavour Amazon has been relentlessly seeking to achieve.

Not satisfied with same-day deliveries, Amazon has evolved its delivery backend to offer sub same-day delivery for select products on their site for certain regions in the US. This means that from the moment of checkout, a customer could receive their order within five hours or less.

Having visited a facility in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the combination of robots and an efficient workforce makes achieving such speeds possible. Unlike full-fledged fulfilment centres, a sub same-day facility does not carry a full range of items, but leans towards products that are high in demand and can be shipped out quickly, such as mobile phone chargers.

Organising the facility into specific areas where orders are sorted, picked, and packed, robots are key in helping Amazon achieve its delivery promise, and staff on the ground need not walk long distances to acquire items for shipment. Pretty much everything is handled within a small individual area, minimising wasteful motion.

Starting off with a sorting station, products are placed into cubby holes, each with labels to track individual items found within. The beauty here is that Amazon staff do not use a manual scanner to register each item as cameras are deployed to keep tabs on products being sorted away in a sub same-day facility. The system even illuminates cubby holes which are filled to capacity to encourage staff to file products away to a different section of the yellow rack.

Once filled, the entire yellow rack is moved around through the use of robots called drivers, which sit at the base of each stack. These drivers move autonomously and continually rotate racks with empty spaces to the sorting station.

These same drivers will also deliver products to another section of the Amazon sub same-day facility where products will be taken off the yellow racks and picked for packaging.

Once again, the area of operation is small and efficient. The staff has their hands freed up to handle only packages as a mounted scanner handles the rest.

Once picked, the products are packed and a shipping label is slapped on as an order makes its final journey out of the facility.

As the packages traverse the conveyor belt, there’s another sorting phase where each order is assigned to specific delivery routes to complete the journey in the Amazon sub same-day facility.

The 155,000-square-foot facility typically processes around 40,000 packages daily and is staffed by 85 individuals per shift. During peak periods like Black Friday, a network of sub-same day facilities can scale up to 1,000,000 packages daily to meet the demand of Amazon customers.

Globally, such facilities differ from market to market. However, it serves as a blueprint to give Amazon a good understanding and possibilities if such sub same-day speed is appreciated by the customer. In Singapore, Amazon Fresh offers a two-hour delivery window, which is critical when it comes to perishables, but we do have to consider how Singapore is geographically more compact compared to the US.

Regardless, with such speeds, we’re pretty certain that it’s this edge that will keep customers coming back for more.

Gerald

Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!

The post A Peek Into Amazon Sub Same-Day Facility Where Orders Are Delivered Within Five Hours appeared first on Geek Culture.

Jabra recently showcased its extensive range of video conferencing solutions for hybrid work at InfoComm Southeast Asia 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand.

In recent years, no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for hybrid work is here to stay, and Jabra is at the forefront of it, reinventing video collaboration with its series of PANACAST, SPEAK and EVOLVE products. Be it working from home, from outside while on the go, or in the office, there is a solution for teams to work better and more efficiently.

Jabra’s recent research has shown that 63% of employees globally now say that hybrid work – where they split their time between the home, office, or any other location – is their ideal way of working. In fact, 80% of all meetings worldwide are now either fully virtual or hybrid, with only 20% happening fully in person.

The full range of hybrid work solutions can be found on Jabra’s website but here are four of our top picks showcased at the event.

Jabra PANACAST 50 video bar

Jabra’s PANACAST 50 video bar is able to deliver a seamless 180° panoramic 4K capture of the meeting room, so gone are the days of everyone huddling together to get into the camera’s field of view. This is thanks to its three 13-megapixel cameras. The built-in software can dynamically composite a close-up view of up to 4 active speakers in the meeting room. Audio-wise, the bar has 8 microphones with intelligent algorithms to reduce disruptive noise and 4 speakers to fill the room with high-definition audio.

To top it all off, it is even able to stream the whiteboard in real-time, even when it is angled sharply at the side wall of the meeting room. The intelligent software automatically corrects the perspective and even overlaps the writing over whoever walks in front of the whiteboard to write. So the contents are not obstructed at any point.

Jabra PANACAST camera

Also fitted with three 13-megapixel cameras, the PANACAST is the world’s first intelligent 180° panoramic 4K video solution. Think of it as a miniature version of the PANACAST 50 mentioned above, but for placing atop a computer monitor or laptop instead of below a meeting room TV. It also has the same intelligent zoom and real-time whiteboard streaming capabilities. It pairs up perfectly with the Jabra SPEAK 750 (as below) for an optimal combination of video and audio.

Jabra SPEAK 750 speakerphone

Jabra’s SPEAK 750 is a full duplex speakerphone that even holds up to 11 hours of battery life. Full duplex audio simply means everyone can speak and be heard simultaneously. It can be connected instantly to any laptop or smartphone via USB or Bluetooth. It even sports an omni-directional microphone that picks up sound from virtually any direction. It is ideal for a room of up to 6 people but you can pair up two SPEAK 750 devices to easily double the coverage. Pair it up with the PANACAST above and you have the perfect on-the-go audio and video solution.

Jabra EVOLVE2 85 headset

Jabra’s EVOLVE2 85 wireless headset is equipped with digital hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and can last up to 37 hours of usage. It has 10 microphones and powerful leak‐tolerant 40mm speakers, along with soft memory foam pads, need we say more?

Regardless of tools on hand, the one thing Jabra is catering for is a continuation of a hybrid work arrangement that existing tools might not be equipped for, and with this range of tools, specific needs can now be addressed, said Mr Aurangzeb Khan, Senior Vice President, Intelligent Vision Systems, Jabra, especially in the face of new requirements that don’t necessarily apply to everyone.

“We think part of the magic of hybrid work is temporal offset by spatial offset – you can work at home or in a coffee shop or wherever. I can pretty much work anywhere there’s an Internet. But the other part is temporal offset. People with children or with elderly parents and caring for others, or even exercising. They want to take a piece of the day, and go do something and come back at night and finish the work. We fully believe in that, we support that in our own work culture. We think it’s really important to give people flexibility, as well as machines.”

For the full range of hybrid work solutions, do check out Jabra’s website.

Yonk

Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.

The post Reinvent Your Hybrid Work Setup With These Jabra Video Conferencing Solutions appeared first on Geek Culture.