Power outages in Texas force Samsung to shut down semiconductor plant

Samsung has temporarily halted its chip production at its Austin, Texas facilities, due to the power outages in the state after Winter Storm Uri. The storm reportedly left some 200,000 Texans without power. Samsung was asked to pull power at its semiconductor plant by Austin Energy power utility and thanks to the notice was able to take measures so as to not damage the tens of thousands of silicone wafers that are being manufactured in the plant. An unplanned power outage can result in millions in damages. Samsung reportedly manufactures 14nm processors at its Austin fab. Austin...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/power_outages_in_texas_force_samsung_to_shut_down_semiconductor_plant-news-47796.php

Microsoft finally makes its Office app iPadOS optimized

Microsoft has finally optimized its Office app for the iPad and its tablet UI. Up until now iPads got iPhone app that ran windowed, not making use of its enhanced multitasking features, such as split screen. Interestingly Microsoft has the Office app, which encapsulates Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as independent Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for the iPad, which already were optimized for iPadOS. There's no word whether Apple will keep the apps separate or just merge them into the new Office app. Now iPad users will be able to create PDFs, sign documents, convert images...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_finally_makes_its_office_app_ipados_optimized-news-47795.php

Samsung creates RAM with integrated AI processing hardware

A processing unit (CPU, GPU or whatever) and RAM are typically separate things built on separate chips. But what if they were part of the same chip, all mixed together? That’s exactly what Samsung did to create the world’s first High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) with built-in AI processing hardware called HBM-PIM (for processing-in-memory). It took its HBM2 Aquabolt chips and added Programmable Computing Units (PCU) between the memory banks. These are relatively simple and operate on 16-bit floating point values with a limited instruction set – they can move data around and perform...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_creates_ram_with_integrated_ai_processing_hardware-news-47794.php

Epic Games files for antitrust hearing against Apple in Europe

The ongoing Epic Games – Apple saga is going international yet again as Epic has filed an antitrust complaint against Cupertino with the European Commission. Previously, the Fortnite publisher filed cases seeking damages from Apple in the US, Australia and the UK though the new complaint focuses on fair access and competition for consumers and developers. Consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace. We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/epic_games_files_for_antitrust_hearing_against_apple_in_europe-news-47793.php

Realme 7i next in line for Realme UI 2.0 early access

Realme is working hard on bringing its Realme UI 2.0 to as much devices as possible. Community members on nearly a dozen phones are working on beta versions of the interface, and now another device joins the party - the Indian variant of Realme 7i. To participate in the Early Access development process, owners of Realme 7i smartphones should go to the Software Update sub-menu in the phone’s Settings and then tap the gear icon in the top-right corner. They will be invited to participate in a Trial version, but not before providing some information about themselves. The slots are limited...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/realme_7i_next_in_line_for_realme_ui_20_early_access-news-47792.php

iOS 14.5 Beta 2 now rolling out to devs, adds new features to Music and Shortcuts apps

The second beta of iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 is now seeding to developers and 9to5Mac and the r/iOSBeta sub-Reddit have compiled a changelog. The biggest upgrades are to the Shortcuts and Music apps and there are a number of smaller tweaks as well. The Shortcuts app gained three new actions – Take Screenshot, Orientation lock (on/off) and Voice & Data mode (5G, 5G Auto, 4G, 3G). The Music app switched to pop-over menus, which don’t obscure the whole UI. A quicker way to tweak playlists was added as well – you can swipe left or right on a track. Options on the left let you move the...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/ios_145_beta_2_now_rolling_out_to_devs_adds_new_features_to_music_and_shortcuts_apps-news-47791.php