Today's Hardware Pulse
Nvidia driver hints at next‑gen DLSS 5 work
Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready driver 610.47 adds three new profile options—Enable DLSS NR override, Enable DLSS NR SL override, and Override DLSS NR presets—suggesting continued development of DLSS 5 neural‑rendering technology. The earlier DLSS 5 reveal had sparked debate over AI‑driven image alteration, and the new driver hints at a quiet but ongoing effort.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cyient Semiconductors raises $30M Series A
The 9 Best Fitness Trackers That Do It All
The article reviews nine fitness trackers, highlighting the Apple Watch Series 11 as the best‑value option for iPhone users and the Google Pixel Watch 4 for Android fans. It contrasts feature‑rich smartwatches like the Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED with minimalist devices such as the Fitbit Charge 6 and Amazfit Bip 5. Specialized wearables, including the Whoop MG and Oura Ring 4, are praised for advanced health monitoring but often require subscriptions. Rugged, outdoor‑focused models like the Garmin Forerunner 165 and Fenix 8 round out the list for serious athletes.
How The C-17 Globemaster's Radar Warning System Protects Crews During Combat Zone Approaches
The Boeing C‑17 Globemaster III’s survivability in contested airspace relies on an integrated defensive suite that combines radar warning, missile approach detection, expendable countermeasures, and directed‑energy jamming. Core components include the AN/ALR‑69A radar warning receiver, AN/AAR‑47 infrared missile warning system, ALE‑47...
Your Wi-Fi Deadzone Fix Costs $5 and Takes 15 Minutes to Set Up
An inexpensive ESP32 microcontroller board, available for as little as $5, can be turned into a Wi‑Fi repeater using open‑source firmware. The flash‑and‑configure process takes about 10‑15 minutes and requires no coding, making it accessible to non‑technical users. While the...
Lumai Debuts Iris Optical Compute System for Real-Time LLM Inference
Lumai announced the Iris optical compute server family, with the Iris Nova becoming the first commercial system to run billion‑parameter LLMs such as Llama 8B and 70B in real time. The photonic architecture replaces silicon transistors with a three‑dimensional light‑based...
7‑Year‑Old Brother Printer Prints Perfectly After Storage
You know those Brother laser printers everyone tells you to buy? This one is 7 years old, has been in bubble wrap in storage for 2 years, and I've never touched the toner. Today I unwrapped it, plugged it in,...
Tranium Boosts Inference Margins, Driving OpenAI’s Focus
Given what we have been seeing/hearing on TPU/Tranium inference economics, margins are even better (inference margins are high to begin with) but OpenAI emphasizing Tranium is partially also for better margins.
Wide-Input Op Amps Deliver Precision Signal Conditioning
STMicroelectronics introduced the dual TSB192 precision op‑amp, targeting sensor‑heavy applications such as industrial automation, medical equipment, and electric‑vehicle battery‑management systems. The device uses a zero‑drift architecture to achieve a 20 µV maximum input offset and 100 nV/°C temperature drift, while consuming only...
Asia-Pacific Chip Ecosystem Will Surpass $553 Billion by 2030
The Business Research Company projects the Asia‑Pacific semiconductor ecosystem to reach $553 billion by 2030, making it the world’s largest regional market. Global chip‑related activity is expected to hit $1.16 trillion, growing at a 10.9% compound annual growth rate. While the United...
Nightshift Enables Overnight Autonomous ML Research on Apple Silicon
Nightshift - Overnight Autonomous ML Research on Apple Silicon. Think AutoResearch but for MLX https://t.co/r0TFLl944g
I Made My Phone’s Charging Port More Useful with These Three Cheap USB-C Adapters
The article highlights three inexpensive USB‑C adapters—USB‑C to USB‑A, USB‑C to Ethernet, and USB‑C to 3.5 mm—that transform a phone’s charging port into a versatile hub. The USB‑A adapter lets users connect flash drives, keyboards, mice, and gaming controllers, while the...
Enterprises Need to Think Beyond GPUs for Agentic AI, Analysts Say
Enterprises are moving beyond GPU‑centric AI as agentic AI workloads prioritize inference over training. Analysts note that CPUs are re‑emerging as the orchestration layer, while specialized ASICs deliver higher efficiency and lower total cost of ownership. Major cloud providers are...
Battery‑free 3D‑printed Metal Tags Track Actions via Ultrasound
Researchers at Georgia Tech develop battery-free 3D-printed metal tags for smart tracking that use ultrasonic sound to record everyday actions. https://t.co/nNTq62wERT
AI Power-Gear Spending in US Surging Up to $65 Billion
U.S. spending on power‑generation equipment for data centers is projected to hit $65 billion by 2030, up from $2.6 billion in 2025. The surge reflects the rapid expansion of AI‑driven workloads and cloud services, which could push total data‑center capacity to 110 gigawatts....
Low‑Power GB10 GPUs Deliver 50 T/S Quietly
While I also have a bunch of GPUs, I really enjoy the GB10s I have, which are the same as Sparks. Very low power usage, make no noise, generate very little heat, take up little space. Always on and available....
These Are the Cheap Running Watches Worn by the London Marathon Winners
Elite athletes at the London Marathon relied on inexpensive, older‑generation running watches rather than the latest premium models. Sabastian Sawe wore a $167 Garmin Forerunner 55, Yomif Kejelcha used a $199 Coros Pace 3, and Tigst Assefa ran with a $243 Garmin Forerunner 255, while...
FingerEye Bridges Touch and Vision to Improve Robot Handling Before and After Contact
Researchers at the National University of Singapore and RoboScience unveiled FingerEye, a compact vision‑tactile sensor that merges binocular RGB cameras with a compliant ring to deliver continuous perception before, during, and after contact. The sensor’s marker‑based pose estimation translates ring...
The Chip That Made Hardware Rewriteable
The IEEE honored the first field‑programmable gate array (FPGA) with a Milestone plaque at AMD’s former Xilinx campus on March 12, recognizing the 1985 XC2064 as the origin of reconfigurable silicon. That chip introduced 64 programmable logic blocks and configurable routing,...
Google TV Streamer on Sale at a New Low for the Year — Just $76.99
Google has reduced the price of its Google TV Streamer to $76.99, a 23% discount from the regular $99.99 and the lowest point it’s hit all year. The device now sits just $2 above its all‑time low of $74.99, making...
NBTC Backs Google-Linked Subsea Cable Project
Thailand’s telecom regulator, the NBTC, approved the TalayLink subsea cable project that links Google Cloud with the country’s network. The 300‑kilometre conduit will house 11 separate fiber lines and land on Thailand’s coast, extending to Australia’s Christmas Island. The approval...
IBM to Expand Poughkeepsie Campus for Next-Generation “Starling” Quantum Systems
IBM has proposed a 511,000‑square‑foot expansion at its historic Poughkeepsie campus, bringing the site’s total footprint to roughly 3.9 million sq ft and adding about 200 permanent jobs. The new facility will house manufacturing and assembly for the upcoming Starling quantum system, slated...
I Removed Samsung's Bloatware From My Galaxy and It Felt Like a New Phone
The author used Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to strip pre‑installed Samsung apps from a Galaxy device without rooting, preserving the warranty. By disabling the default uninstall option and running a single command per package, dozens of redundant apps—such as Gaming...
Compact 3-A Buck Converter Powers Smart Meters, Consumer Appliances
STMicroelectronics introduced the DCP3603, a monolithic 3‑amp buck converter, at APEC 2026. The tiny 3 × 1.6 mm device operates from 3.3‑ to 36 V input and offers fixed 500 kHz or 1 MHz switching frequencies with forced‑PWM or pulse‑skipping modes. It integrates power switches and compensation, requiring...
Tiny Chip Delivers High‑Bandwidth Wireless Brain Interface
Ultra-Compact Brain–Computer Interface Chip Enables High-Bandwidth Wireless Neural Communication by @CUSEAS #MedTech #Healthcare #HealthTech #Tech #Technology https://t.co/gaulMV302i
Fortress Power Launches eSpire Nano ESS for C&I Applications
Fortress Power unveiled the eSpire Nano, a modular energy storage system targeting small‑ to medium‑sized commercial and industrial (C&I) sites. The product ships with 30 kW or 60 kW inverters paired with 40 kWh or 60 kWh battery cabinets, supporting 208‑V to 480‑V configurations...
Seeking Multi‑Port USB‑C Charger to Replace Ten Outlets
Aight... I'm trying to consolidate 9-10 USB charging points into a cleaner solution. What are my options? USB-C preferred but I'll take USB-A if that's the only option. Anker (?) used to make a 12-port charger iirc but don't think that's...
Canaan, Tether Deepen Partnership on Immersion-Cooled Mining Systems
Canaan announced an additional order from stablecoin issuer Tether for high‑density, immersion‑cooled Bitcoin mining modules destined for a South American facility. The deal expands a prior R&D collaboration and includes an option for further purchases, giving Tether flexibility to scale...
Meta Ray‑Bans Evolve, But Can They Remain Market Leaders?
The second-generation Meta Ray-Bans are an evolution, not a revolution. Is that enough to keep the top spot in an increasingly competitive market? https://t.co/wn2YUK4jr2
Microarchitecture Tailored to 3D-Stacked Near-Memory Processing LLM Decoding (U. Of Edinburgh, Peking U., Cambridge Et Al.)
Researchers from Edinburgh, Peking, Cambridge and other institutions released a paper proposing a new micro‑architecture for 3D‑stacked near‑memory processing (NMP) that targets large‑language‑model (LLM) decoding. By swapping traditional MAC‑tree compute units for a compact, reconfigurable systolic array and leveraging an...
Custom ASICs Ensure Long-Term Flexibility on AWS
Here at @AWS event, and included in @sama commentary on the announcement of integration on AWS, emphasized bringing workloads to AWS and not having to worry about what compute infra. This is why custom ASICs are key long-term.
10 Gadgets Worth a Closer Look This Week
The weekly roundup spotlights ten diverse gadgets, from flagship statements like ASUS’s Zenbook A16 laptop and Huawei’s wide‑foldable Pura X Max to clever, affordable solutions such as Dyson’s $100 HushJet Mini Cool and Beatbot’s self‑cleaning AquaSense X robot. Highlights include a Snapdragon‑powered laptop claiming...
I Ditched My iPhone and Used the Second-Generation Ray-Ban Meta (2nd Gen) by Using It as My Travel Guide in...
TechRadar’s Josephine Watson reviewed the second‑generation Ray‑Ban Meta smart glasses, priced at $379 (about $475 in the UK and $395 in Australia) – an $80 premium over the first generation. The device keeps the 12 MP ultra‑wide camera but adds 3K...
Boardfly and Virgo Boost Google TPU V8 Performance
The Boardfly interconnect topology and Virgo datacenter network make the forthcoming Google TPU 8 AI accelerators do a lot more work that prior TPUs. $GOOG $NVDA https://t.co/4wHUW0f044
Complex PCB Signoff Challenges
Siemens’ HyperLynx DRC tool introduces rule‑based, automated electrical verification for complex printed‑circuit‑board (PCB) designs that carry high‑speed protocols such as USB, PCIe, DDR and HDMI. The solution replaces time‑consuming manual inspections with continuous, scriptable checks that flag signal‑integrity, power‑integrity, EMI/EMC...
April 27, 1981: Birth of the Computer Mouse
#ThisDayInTechHistory. April 27, 1981. The Humble Computer Mouse was born. (Digital Trends) #Technology https://t.co/a1AJSq3t1V https://t.co/nCVtWJeQwT
IBM Updates Linux Patches For Introducing ARM64 KVM Virtualization On S390
IBM has posted a second iteration of Linux kernel patches that add ARM64 KVM virtualization support to its s390 (IBM Z) mainframe platform. The new series, still flagged as a Request For Comments, refines the initial April release by using symlinks...
White iPhone 4 Delay Shaped Apple’s Launch Rhythm
The delayed white iPhone 4 might’ve prompted Apple’s current iPhone launch schedule — a tradition that’s on the cusp of major change. https://t.co/r3I05Yikcb
NVIDIA Adds 12GB GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU Option
NVIDIA announced a 12 GB version of its GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU, built on 24 Gb GDDR7 memory chips. The new configuration joins the existing 8 GB model, giving notebook makers a higher‑capacity option without redesigning the core GPU. By leveraging higher‑density memory,...
Elegoo Releases Affordable CANVAS Kit for Multicolor Upgrade on Centauri 3D Printers
Elegoo has launched the CANVAS multicolor upgrade kit for its Centauri Carbon desktop 3D printer, allowing users to print in multiple colors without buying a separate accessory. Priced at just US$55, the kit is roughly four times cheaper than comparable...
Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini I5 Tower with Intel Core 5 210H Hits Its 'Lowest Price Ever' — Save £150 on This...
Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Mini i5 Tower is now priced at £449 (≈ $575) at Argos, a £150 (≈ $192) drop from its previous £599 (≈ $767) list price, marking its lowest‑ever sale. The compact 1‑liter desktop packs an Intel Core 5 210H octa‑core processor that can...
Alumina Nanowires Improve Thermal Management in Advanced Packaging (Georgia Tech Et Al.)
Georgia Tech researchers demonstrated that epoxy composites reinforced with ultralong Al₂O₃ nanowires dramatically improve thermal interface material (TIM) performance for 2.5D/3D semiconductor packaging. At a 28 wt% filler loading, a vertically aligned nanowire architecture achieved 0.78 W/(m·K) out‑of‑plane conductivity—72 % higher than conventional...
Sabastian Sawe's Sub‑2‑hour Watch Is Outdated
The Garmin watch Sabastian Sawe used to break two hours is old by modern standards. https://t.co/QDV0Jlbb1z
You Can Save 50% on This Sony Soundbar Right Now - but the Deal Ends Tonight
Sony’s HT‑A5000 soundbar, equipped with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, 8K HDMI pass‑through, AirPlay, Google Cast and voice‑assistant integration, is on a flash sale at Best Buy for $500—a 50% discount that expires tonight. The unit features automatic room‑calibration microphones, optional wireless...
Anan Data Center to Provide 40MW AI Infrastructure for Crusoe in Israel
Crusoe has signed a long‑term agreement with Israel’s Anan Data Center to secure up to 40 MW of AI‑focused data‑center capacity at Anan’s under‑construction Afula facility. The deal, valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, positions Israel as a strategic...
Advantest Shares Slide 6.9% After AI‑Chip Tester Outlook Miss
Advantest Corp., the leading supplier of test equipment for AI accelerators, saw its shares tumble up to 6.9% after issuing a weaker‑than‑expected outlook and citing continued capacity constraints. The move comes despite a 50%+ rally this year and recent record...
INNIO and Net Zero Innovation Hub Demo World‑First 3 MW Hydrogen Backup Power for Data Centers
INNIO Group and the Net Zero Innovation Hub demonstrated a 3 MW hydrogen‑powered backup system for data centers, the first of its kind at scale. Technical experts from Microsoft, Google and Data4 witnessed the live test, confirming that hydrogen engines can...
Google Rolls Out AI‑powered Smart Glasses Aimed at Productivity
Google detailed a three‑tier AI smart‑glasses lineup, building on the two consumer models announced in December 2025. The Gemini Audio Frames and Gemini Display Edition are positioned for hands‑free work tasks, while Project Aura targets developers. The move signals a...
Northwestern Engineers Print Artificial Neurons That Talk to Real Brain Cells
Engineers at Northwestern University, led by Mark C. Hersam and Vinod K. Sangwan, printed flexible artificial neurons that generated realistic electrical signals and successfully activated living mouse brain cells. The study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrates a new level of...
AI, Connectivity Demands Make Next-Gen Wi-Fi a Priority for More Building Operators
Cisco’s 2026 State of Wireless survey of over 6,000 professionals shows AI‑driven connectivity demands are pushing building operators to replace legacy Wi‑Fi with next‑generation standards. More than three‑quarters of respondents are already deploying or planning Wi‑Fi 6E or 7, and 80%...
'This Doesn't Have RAM in It, and It's Not as Complicated to Start Getting Out the Door for Us' —...
Valve announced that the Steam Controller will launch on May 4, 2026 for $99, ahead of the delayed Steam Machine. The controller’s release is possible because it contains no RAM, allowing it to bypass the industry‑wide memory shortage. Valve’s hardware engineer...
Apple Should Retire Liquid Glass After Thumbnail Fiasco
Apple should def do this display but think it needs to retire the Liquid Glass display forever after the YouTube thumbnail snafu https://t.co/WZa0LGbAAg