Birches NEWS No. 24. World mayhem

About a thrifty red squirrel, demons, the dreams of Scottish scientists and the burning of the whole world with a blue flame.

Goodbye, brave new hazel, hello, dear hollow! Or how Broadcom Qualcomm didn't buy

Over the past few months, we have witnessed aggressive attempts by the Singaporean Broadcom to take over the American chipmaker. And the point is not even a desire to get a pocket-sized production of mobile chipsets, but control over the production of equipment for 5G communications. Despite the fact that Singapore is an independent city-state and an analogue of Taiwan in the field of high-tech production, most analysts consider its location in the same region with China as a geographical sentence. In other words, the decisions of the Singaporean Broadcom cannot be completely independent of the opinion of Big Brother (the majority of Singaporeans are ethnic Chinese), and the American technologies they receive will sooner or later become Chinese. Even if Broadcom kept its promise and moved its US headquarters (which it never did). If you hit the lyrics a little, then the story of the merger of Broadcom and Qualcomm is very reminiscent of the plot of the story of Arkady Averchenko 'Golden Watch', which you can read and laugh at by clicking on this link.

The deal was ruined by the indecision of both parties, which gave the US state apparatus time to unwind and put an end to this comedy.

That was probably what Mr Trump thought when he signed a separate decree on Monday to prohibit Qualcomm from being sold by Broadcom “in the interests of national security.” As in the case of Russia, the rhetoric of the American authorities contains blatant aggression, once again the slogans of “containment” are heard, this time against China's “aggressive economy”.

The Trump administration is considering limiting Chinese investment in the U.S. and imposing additional taxes on Chinese imports. Arguments about alleged theft of intellectual property are cited as grounds for such unfriendly actions. Even Chinese cultural centers located in the United States, where China appears to be a peace-loving country with a great history, have come under the hand, which, according to politicians, also threatens US security. The security of the United States is also threatened by Chinese students who are happy to study at American universities and then continue to work for their homeland. Apparently, according to the ideologues of the big capital of the United States, children should have forgotten about their parents, who work for 12 hours at some factory in central China and live in a trailer.

Since 1990, several large deals involving Chinese investments have been blocked by US presidents, the last two were blocked by Barack Obama during his two terms in office. The new broom with red stubble not only took revenge in a new way, but was also equipped with a pruner. Just look at this list, all these deals were blocked by Donald:

Some of these companies were planned to be acquired for the sake of patents, others for the sake of entering the American market, and still others for the creation of an independent payment channel (MoneyGram). You need to understand that these are civilian companies that have nothing to do with the military industry. The United States once again gave a damn about the “principles of free trade” and placed itself in a privileged position, and the whole world swallowed it for granted.

Donald Trump:

“There is compelling evidence that leads me to believe that Broadcom, by acquiring Qualcomm, can take actions that threaten to harm the national security of the United States.”

Despite the fact that from a formal point of view, such a decree cannot have legal force, no one will argue with the American Pacific Fleet, especially if you imagine how it enters the Singapore Strait. And Broadcom's disagreement with the ban does not affect the course of events in any way.

What was the likelihood of the completion of the Broadcom + Qualcomm deal? In case of relocation of all Broadcom business to the USA – 100%, in all other cases – 0%. You already understood, Donald Trump, like a cute red squirrel, brings all the nuts he finds only to his own hollow. The authorities in Singapore are trying to do the same.

The first reaction of the most democratic organization, the exchange, was negative – Qualcomm shares fell 4.83%. Broadcom, on the other hand, has shown solid growth and posted revenues of $ 5.32 billion in the last quarter (28% revenue growth from all businesses). But these are only passing results, in the Asian region, dissatisfaction with the isolationist economic policy of the United States is growing, and these are not the same guys in silk robes and hats made of bamboo shoots, and the confrontation is on an equal footing.

Do you think China should be contained? Or is it better to contain the US? Or restrain nobody?

Scottish scientists bend silicon

Flexible electronics such as OLED – displays have already entered our lives. There is not a single device on the market with such a screen, but we talk over and over again about its usefulness or uselessness. Very well written about this in the material of Konstantin Ivanov.

But who would have thought that the human mind is capable of bending not only the screen, but the chipset itself? All modern chipsets are based on a plate made of silicon – an extremely fragile material that looks with horror at any physical exercise. But at the Scottish University of Glasgow, they think differently and offer to bend the unbending.

Glasgow University

Fully flexible electronics (flexible as a piece of rubber) have many potential uses, including implantable electronics, flexible displays, flexible smartphones, various sensors for placement on a person. The BEST research team has already made significant advances in wearable electronics by developing a flexible sensor and smartphone app that monitors the pH level in a user's sweat (acidity) to aid in diagnosis.

Ravinder Dahia with a prototype solar-powered hand prosthesis.

The Scottish author of the project, Professor Ravinder Dahia, talks about the essence of the technology:

'Silicon is a brittle material that easily breaks under stress, making it very difficult to use in flexible systems of any size other than the nanoscale. We were able to adapt existing processes to transfer wafer-based ultra-thin silicon chips to flexible substrates. The process has been demonstrated using 4-inch inserts, but it can be done with larger inserts. In any case, this technology makes it possible to produce ultra-thin silicon wafers capable of providing satisfactory computing power. '

Flexible chips (substrates) are 15 microns thick, in comparison, a human blood cell is only 5 microns thick.

The technology is still too far from commercialization, but the trend towards bending everything and everyone continues, and the company is flexible OLED – the screens are already made up of flexible chipsets. It remains to develop a flexible battery, and you can safely put your smartphone in the back pocket of your jeans.

Press the rocket launch button and watch an entire continent sink under water?

It seems that it is this simple human desire that Tokyoflash decided to implement in its new Radar watch. It is difficult to judge the motives behind the creation of such gadgets, they are unique and non-unique at the same time, but they certainly will not leave anyone indifferent. Before us is just a clock equipped with a complex system of LEDs to give the process of acquaintance with the exact time of a role-playing atmosphere.

With a sharp wave of the hand upward or pressing a button on the dial, which repeats the oscilloscope screen of a secret bunker for launching very nuclear missiles, a three-stage simulation of the operation of the radar occurs. The first revolution of the scanning beam leaves a slowly fading trail indicating the clock. In the second pass, the trail indicates an integer number of minutes (in tens), and the third pass indicates a specific minute.

To figure this all out, you need a habit or a 'gentle' blinking mode, in which all data is displayed at once. Inevitably, you start to think about the state of mind of those people who put such products on the market. And even more amazement is caused by the materials from which this watch is made (good steel) and the price of $ 189.

The watch will not be officially sold in our country, but that has never stopped the enthusiastic people.

Who do you think would fit such a watch? A retired rear admiral or an old cynical rocketman?

Two Google developers went over to camp iOS! Was it smeared with oil there?

Throughout the history of confrontation between Google and Apple, both companies have positioned themselves as innovative, declaring fast career growth to their employees and promoting new ideas. It was all the more surprising to learn that former Google employees Ross Ingram and Cristina Poindexter developed their own AI and chose the site iOS for its commercial implementation.

Ross and Christina, 'refugees' from Google

Was it smeared with oil there? It turns out that yes, and the name for the new companion was appropriately chosen – Maslo. По специализации ИИ представляет собой секретаря-референта (Voice Journal&Companion) и компаньона. The duties of Oil include periodically distracting its owner from the routine of life and helping him to focus on the really important things. To do this, as conceived by the creators, it is enough to talk to Oil several times a day. AI is unique in its personality, promising to interact with 'empathy' and 'playfulness', whatever that means. With each new conversation, Oil becomes smarter and understands its owner better …

Most of all, it resembles an imaginary friend that always appears in children with attention deficit. We also cannot exclude the fact that various kinds of perverts, Satanists and other narcissists will want to 'chat with AI about themselves'. But it also cannot be denied that Oil will provide an excellent opportunity for lonely elderly people to quench their thirst for communication. Why didn't Butter hit Google? The discord occurred on ideological grounds.

Before Google, Ross Ingram worked at Sphero, took part in the development of BB-8 (a round robot from Star Wars) and has long thought about the aspect of robopsychology, or rather, 'what a human wants from a robot':

“We started building robots in 2010. In 2012-2013, we wondered what would happen if we add personality traits to robots, establishing a closer relationship between them and humans. Whenever we released these robots into the world … people had a desire to connect with them on a deeper level … people wanted to share their concerns with the robots, convey emotions to them and get the same response. '

Ross's partner, the blonde in the photo above, Christine Poindexter (a sociologist with a Yale degree) met him while working on Google Home and Pixel Phone in 2016. Both noticed that many of the user requests were personal in nature and had nothing to do with usefulness or a particular result. They were brought together by a common point of view, expressed by a simple thought: 'if people want this, then you need to give it to them.' But Google's management thought differently, and the boilers had to go into their own project.

Artificial Intelligence Oil is a black circle with which its owner will have to communicate

At the moment, the project has already been launched, and any medium iPhone, an iCloud account and an English language can try Butter for strength. The service can be obtained completely free of charge through its own website or iTunes. I want to ask you, friends, are there any certified psychiatrists among our readers? What will happen to a person if from year to year he will talk to a machine like a person? How will the person himself change, and in the event of a critical situation (in a car accident, the boat overturned on a fishing trip, etc.) whom will he rush to save in the first place? An unloved wife / husband or a family-owned electronic demon making sweet speeches from a small box?

(Based on Techcrunch.com)