Your Tri-Weekly Vibe for Fri, Mar 29

Welcome to the 2nd issue of byteVibes, your essential guide through the ever-evolving world of technology. Sent directly to your inbox every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Here is your summarized news:

Total reading time: 6 minutes

1- The U.S. government is reportedly creating a list of Chinese chipmaking facilities restricted from receiving advanced tools. This move is seen as an effort to simplify compliance for companies shipping chipmaking tools to China and to patch loopholes that make it difficult for Chinese entities to bypass U.S. export controls. The creation of this list may ease the process for American companies to abide by regulations, while reinforcing restrictions on China's chip industry. The list is expected to be ready within a few months, even as Chinese entities speed up procurement of lithography systems. - read more

Sarcasm 😜: Well, it's about time. After all, everyone knows that providing clear instructions is a truly revolutionary concept in the world of bureaucracy and red tape.

2- The article provides a detailed review of several robot mops including the iRobot Braava Jet m6, Ecovacs Deebot T10 Omni, Dreame X30 Ultra, Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, and Samsung Jetbot Mop. It discusses their specifications, features, and performance based on testing. The article concludes with a guide to help differentiate the best robot mops with consideration given to factors such as floor types, mapping, battery life, and connectivity. - read more

Joy 😊: It's exciting to see technology advancing to a point where we can have robot mops thoroughly clean our homes. It's like living in a sci-fi movie.

3- Hong Kong tech site HKEPC overclocked an Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090D graphics card to match the performance of the RTX 4090 FE. The 4090D is a cut-down version of Nvidia's top graphics card, designed to meet US sanctions that aim to limit China's access to advanced chips. Differences between the 4090D and the RTX 4090 include fewer CUDA and RT cores, slower clocks, and a lower power cap. Using GPU Tweak III, HKEPC boosted the card's power to 600W, achieving a higher-than-expected performance. - read more

Fear 😨: The implications of this are concerning. If sanctions can be bypassed in such a way, what's stopping misuse of technology for harmful purposes? This sets a dangerous precedent.

4- AMD has disclosed an unannounced AI chip, the MI388X, in its regulatory 10K filing with the SEC. It stated that it could not be shipped to China due to US sanctions on AI processors. This was alongside with other chips like the Instinct MI250, MI300X, and MI300A. It is unclear what specific functions the MI388X chip has. The filing, submitted on January 31, 2024, did not list the China-oriented MI309 chip which was leaked in early March and its unclear if it has been scrapped due to its power contravening US export rules. - read more

Anger 😠: It's frustrating that we're left in the dark about this new AI chip. It's high time companies like AMD became more transparent with their product development.

5- Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a plan to develop a gaming platform similar to Steam in the Kaliningrad region. It includes creating desktop and portable hardware, an operating system, and a cloud system for gaming. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has until June 15, 2024 to organize and assess the production. However, industry figures indicate that it may be 15 years behind platforms like Steam by the time it launches due to lack of experience and time. - read more

Sarcasm 😜: Oh, brilliant! Just what the world needs, another gaming platform. And with the Russian government behind it, what could possibly go wrong?

6- Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s new X3-6070 3D QLC NAND device, featuring 128 active layers and Xtacking 3.0 architecture, reportedly achieves program/erase (P/E) cycle endurance equal to 3D TLC ICs, despite having fewer active layers than competitors. This SSD offers a speed of 5500 MB/s. The company plans to use this technology in enterprise-grade storage devices. - read more

Sarcasm 😜: Wow, a NAND device with only 128 active layers! I'm sure their competitors with 176 layers are shaking in their boots.

Thank you for reading till the end. We hope you found this issue enlightening and engaging.

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