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After the release of Tears of the Kingdom, I was afraid that we would never see a new game in the style of the 2D Zelda game. Yet, I have been proven wrong when this game was announced. To be very honest, I didn’t have very high hopes for this game. Especially since this game was announced this summer and released in late September. I felt that this game going to be a game to fill a gap while the developers are working on a much larger game. Now, the game is released, and I have played through a fair chunk of it. So, what is my opinion on this game? Well, that’s what I’m going to tell you in this first impressions article, while I all invite you to leave a comment of your thoughts and/or opinions in the comment section down below.

Renewing the Echoes

After a short introduction where you play as Link, the main story of this game is introduced. There are all consuming interdimensional rifts appearing all over Hyrule, and it’s eating various people in the kingdom.

Link gets eaten by one of those rifts while freeing Zelda and when Zelda tells her father, the king, about these rifts… A new rift appears and replaces the king with an evil clone of himself. Zelda gets thrown in the dungeon and there she meets a fairy named Tri. This fairy gives Zelda a special staff where she can summon objects into the world using echoes. With those echoes, she escapes the dungeon and sets out on an adventure to save Hyrule from doom before the land is fully consumed by the rifts.

Something I always love about the Zelda games is that there is a different core mechanic at the base of the game. In this game, we get two things. We got the rifts to another dark world, but we also got the magical staff, which we can use to summon various echoes into the world. These echoes mean you can tackle this game in various different ways. But I’ll talk more about that later in this article.

In terms of story, this game is hitting all the same beats as your typical Legend of Zelda game. It might be disappointing, to some, that in this game there is no voice acting anymore apart from the grunts and various emotional noises. Personally, I think it adds to the charm of this game. That’s because the characters in this game are way more expressive. While the story isn’t going to leave you at the edge of your seat of “what’s going to happen next”, it’s still well quite enjoyable, and the more expressive characters add quite a lot to the charm and atmosphere of the game.

Something I really like is how in this game, you are free to explore the world at your own peace. This game isn’t limiting you to go in a certain order. While this game isn’t fully open world like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, it’s somewhere in between. You can tackle parts in a different order. Like the first two major dungeons can be done out of order. Each area is its self-contained puzzle, and everything you need can be found in that general area.

In my introduction of this article, I said that I was afraid that was afraid that this game would be a short one where you were able to beat it in a few hours. That it was going to be a game that’s supposed to hold players over for the “next big 3D Zelda title”. To my surprise, this game is rather lengthy for a 2,5D Zelda game. It clocks in at 25 hours of casual playtime, which is, to my knowledge, one of the longest 2,5D Zelda games.

Climbing with beds

Something I find myself doing quite a lot while playing this game was climbing the area with beds. I summoned various beds stacked on top of each other to climb a wall. Since, I wanted to know if the developers hid a secret on that cliff face.

The exploration of this version of Hyrule is a blast to do. While you visit a lot of familiar places and meet your usual suspects like the Zora and the Gerudo, it’s a treat seeing them again. The only thing I missed a bit is showing the impact of the rifts. Something that this game only tells through dialogue was how things got impacted by the rifts. I wish it was shown a bit more visually. Like different animations of the characters before and after. But maybe, Tears of the Kingdom set the bar a bit too high for those expectations where each major area had a certain curse.

In terms of gameplay, this game really leans into the echoes mechanic. It also remembers that Zelda is a princess and didn’t really have combat training. So, you have to use summoned enemies to your advantage to let them fight for you. Now, you do have a sword, but you can only use it when your power meter has charge. I always reserved that for the dungeon bosses or when the situation got pretty dicey. Since recharging that meter is either done with potions or by defeating monsters from the rift world. These enemies aren’t exactly common in the overworld, and the energy bar drains fast.

In general, this game hits the same general gameplay beats as all other Zelda games. You go from dungeon to dungeon, learning a new technique or skill, defeating the boos and moving forward to another dungeon. There are also side quests in this game, that give you a nice reward. In this game, you also have a nice system to keep track of these side quests, like in Tears of the Kingdom. Something they also brought over from that game is the cooking system to a degree.

That’s something I personally feel mixed about. Maybe it’s me, but I feel the ingredients are quite rare to come by and there is no real way to farm certain ingredients like in Breath of the Wild. I have to admit that it adds a certain charm to this game, but I feel it’s a bit under implemented here. Like when you first meet the potion creators Deku shrubs, they talk about recipes… And I had a hard time finding any.

Like in Tears of the Kingdom, you can also eat most of the ingredients without cooking them. While I personally dislike the fact you have to do two clicks to consume an item, I do understand why they did it. To avoid you consuming them too much. Yet, this is a change from the two previous games and I honestly really feel it’s a set backwards. A fine solution would be to give the player an option to switch between both systems.

Grezzo playset

This game was co-developed by Grezzo. Their previous original Zelda game was Tri Force Heroes. But, this game looks very similar in graphical style to the remake of Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Switch from late 2019.

This game looks like a plastic toy set and it looks amazing. While I was playing this game, I felt amazed at how expressive they were able to make everything without breaking the illusion that this is a toy set brought to live by our imagination. I don’t have a lot of complaints about the visuals and animations. And most of my complaints aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Just like, I don’t have any complaints about the music and sound design of this game. If you take the music and sound design in a vacuum, you would say that it sounds just like very other Zelda game. It sounds like a remix of the familiar melodies we all know and love from the Zelda games. But, this isn’t a problem, since it sells the illusion that you are a child playing with a sort of Playmobil toy set of Hyrule and trying to recreate the sound effects and music of the game.

In terms of controls, this game plays like a dream. I rarely had problems with the controls and something I really like is the fact that with one press of a stick, you can see a view from on top when you feel the camera is blocking something. Now, there is one thing that I do have some things to criticize about. And that’s about the jumping.

It’s pretty difficult sometimes to judge how high Zelda can jump. I had moments in combat where I wasn’t aware I could jump on a higher ledge until I saw an enemy jumping backwards on that ledge. I also got tripped up several times with how far Zelda can jump. Her jump is shorter than I think, and the amount of times I jumped into a pit misjudging the jump is quite a lot. Something that would have helped is something a small landing shadow when Zelda was coming down. Then again, that must have been a nightmare to implement… So, maybe I should keep her shorter jump just better in mind.

Now, something else. Something I really like is how this game has two difficulty modes. I’m playing through this game on the normal difficulty setting and I have to say, I’m happy that I did. This game can lure you into a false sense of security. I wouldn’t say that this game is hard, but it isn’t a cakewalk either. You really need to keep your wits about you and think fast sometimes.

Being aware of what’s around you is also quite important since this game loves to hide things in little side area’s and using the map system is a must. I love how you can put pins and such on the map. Yet, I have to admit that I still keep notes in my phone like: “treasure in Gerudo dungeon, need to check later”.

The more I play through this game, the more I realize that the critiques I can make about this game are more on the minor side. Like how it feels like a waste of time when you are scrolling through a long list of echoes when you just want to find one. An easy solution would be to give the player an ability to favorite certain echoes. But then again, the sort function in the quick menu has “most used”, “recently learned” … So, it’s kinda that.

Now, you have two save slots in this game. So, you can play through this game and let a friend or a sibling play through a different slot. Now, this game also autosaves for you frequently, in case you forget to save. The game also keeps like several autosaves in case you want to return to an earlier point.

Something I really like is how this game also has a quick travel system. The system works similarly like an owl statue in Majora’s Mask or a water vane in Link Between Worlds. It makes it easy when you feel stumped by a puzzle and want to return later. The fast travel locations are very fairly placed all over the land.

While I went quite critical in this game, the more I played it, the more it won me over. This game is a new 2,5D Zelda adventure game I hope we were going to see again. The last new, non remake 2,5D Zelda game was released almost 11 years ago. And, I’m so happy to see a return to this style. I’d love to see a this style also making an appearance very so often since it’s clear there are still various unique ways to explore Hyrule and tell a story about the Hyrule legend without going fully 3D.

Apart from a few small complaints you read in this article, I honestly don’t have any major complaints about this game. This is a game I’m going to finish for sure, since I’m enjoying my time with this title quite a lot. If you are into the series, I highly recommend this title to you. If you enjoy exploration and playing with unique mechanics, I also think this game is for you. This game is totally worth it’s price tag and it pleasantly surprised me.

And with that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another one, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

If you cast your minds back to October 2021, you may recall the news that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was set to make its way to the VR headset, Oculus Quest 2. While details on the project were thin on the ground at this time, it was said to have been "many years in the making".

However, not quite three years since that initial announcement, Meta has now said work on the VR port is "on hold indefinitely".

In response to a YouTube commenter inquiring as to the whereabouts of GTA: San Andreas VR, the official Meta Quest Vr account replied: "GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects."

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There are a lot of important features to consider when shopping for a new security camera, like power source (battery or hardwired) and installation location. (Good indoor security cameras generally don't need as much reinforcement as outdoor ones.) As far as great outdoor security cameras go, Philips Hue has made a contribution to the home security space.

What's cuter than a capybara? A baby capybara, of course. And what's even cuter than a baby capybara? THREE baby capybaras! 

This video of the Capybara triplets recently born at the Sydney Zoo to Capybara parents Zoey and Sanchez is unbearably cute. — Read the rest

The post These new baby capybara triplets are adorable! appeared first on Boing Boing.

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a great solution to an ever-growing sea of external drives, low-space alerts on devices, and the need to run some services within the LAN. A NAS can be handy at home and useful for work and businesses. It's not only about storing data, although that is the primary goal with NAS enclosures. These powerful servers can run services, host internal websites, and more. I frequently use them for work and highly recommend doing so if you're serious about being productive.

Sora and Roxas exist in a unique duality in the Kingdom Hearts series… two distinct beings originally connected by a single heart and seeking control of their own destiny. As the “Nobody” that was created when Sora briefly became a Heartless, Roxas simply wanted to live his own life in his own way… but his will was at odds with the destiny Sora possessed. It was only when Roxas chose to yield his body and be absorbed into Sora’s purpose that he finally found what he was looking for… a life and meaning beyond simply existing.

Much like the struggle between Sora and Roxas, we will all find a war within us each day for control of our thoughts and actions, and this duality can make us feel like competing minds in one body trying to live two different lives. Fighting a war from within may seem impossible to win, and without the power of Christ it is a battle we are doomed to lose. But when we willingly submit our minds and bodies to the will of Christ in these times of conflict, a solution can be found… only by bending our knee to His Spirit and denying our desires do we become who we were truly meant to be.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? James 4:1

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:21-25

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Well folks, Gamescom Opening Night Live has now come and gone. We had some predictions about how the night could’ve gone including an appeal to finally get a single crumb of a Sonic The Hedgehog 3 trailer for the upcoming movie and a Hideo Kojima sighting, as has become the norm around events put on by Geoff Keighley.…

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard is taking a more action-oriented approach to combat than its predecessors. Early footage shows the sequel looking like it borders on a character action game, so as someone who plays a mage in every single one of these games, I was curious how The Veilguard was going to adapt the…

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We’re in the thick of summer right now, and while many of us are already looking forward to the cooler days and changing colors of fall, we shouldn’t miss the chance to snag some great games on the cheap as various platforms run their big summer sales. We’ll clue you in on some of the biggest deals on some of the best…

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The Houston Police Department halted more than 260,000 investigations between 2016 and 2023 because of a lack of personnel. Now, department leaders say they will try to catch up on those investigations, especially the 4,017 rape cases that were put on hold. Police officials said they did not realize just how often the "S.L." tag, for "Suspended–Lack of Personnel," was applied to cases until a home invasion and sexual assault in September 2023. Physical evidence recovered from that scene matched that of a rape kit from a September 2022 assault. Detectives found that the earlier case had been marked S.L. even though the victim gave police her attacker's name, description, and vehicle description.

The post Brickbat: No Need To Hurry appeared first on Reason.com.

When I checked in the week before last about null sec, the Imperium had just successfully dropped a Keepstar in the system U-QVWD, on grid with Pandemic Horde’s Keepstar, leading to an unprecedented situation, and one with only a single possible conclusion: One of those Keepstars needed to go.  Story about that here.

There goes the neighborhood!

The led to a dramatic call from Pandemic Horde’s leader Gobbins, who declared they were going to… fight?  No.  He called for a general evacuation to the Keepstar in 1P-WGB, ceding the field to the Imperium.

The Imperium Keepstar onlined successfully with minimal Pandemic Horde or Fraternity interference and the Imperium moved into it, making it our staging station in Catch.  The story up to that point here.

But we still had to blow up the Keepstar in U-Q.  The battle over the armor timer happened during the work week, during working hours for me, so I missed out.  We won the objective while our foes patted themselves on the back for actually putting up a defense and inflicting some losses.  That set the final timer, after which their Keepstar could be destroyed.  This timer, as is their habit, was set in the Chinese time zone where PH and Frat are strongest.  That meant an early morning event.  But it was on s Saturday.  I could manage that right?  It was just going to kick off at… 5:00am?

My alarm went off at 4:45am for this fight.  My wife had been teasing me the night before about this, asking, “You’re getting up before the sun to do what tomorrow?  Explain this to me again? There is going to be a big fight?  No?”

The sacrifices one makes to live in California.  But that was 12:00 UTC and the rest of the coalition to the east of me was able to rise at a more reasonable time.  Also, the joke is on my wife, because I wake up between 5:30am and 6:00am on my own anyway, so it wasn’t much of a struggle.  She remembers me when we first met, when getting up before 10:00am on a Saturday was something of a chore for me.

It probably also says something that I know which alarm to use on the iPad to keep from waking her up.

Hillside is a gentle trill

I think I last used that alarm… set for 2:45am… when we beat PH and Frat at X47L-Q in a battle that had to straddle downtime about a year and a half back.  That event ended the same way this one was expected to, without a fight.  For the structure, the battle is always over the armor timer, because the defenders can still evac at their own pace if they need to.  The hull timer, which ends with the destruction of the station leaves you hanging in space with the might of your foes already massed against you.

I got up when the alarm went off and started up my computer and logged in.  The forming up of fleets had already begun, the first being called at 4:09am my time.  By the time I logged in the Raven Navy Issue fleet was full.  I was planning to try and get into that, because you might as well shoot the biggest weapon system you can.  There was a Rokh fleet as well, but I didn’t bring a Rokh because you can only fit so much in a fax SMA.  There were two Ferox Navy Issue fleets, one was full and the other was struggling to find any logi.  I didn’t want to fly logi.  I need to get on a kill mail every month before I swap over to logi… and I wanted to be on the Keepstar kill mail.

Then I noticed there, in the middle of the pings, a fleet on Asher Elias using our Flycatcher doctrine.  That doctrine is an experiment to find out what happens when you give everybody a chance to bubble the fleet.  But I’ll always pick Asher if I have a choice of FCs, and it turned out to be a good pick.

Most people were just going to be sitting around waiting for the timer to down to a point where they could warp over and get on the kill mail.  There is a damage cap, so anything beyond that is wasted effort unless there is a fight.  However, no opposition was expected, and none was offered.  But being a weekend people were piling in to get on the kill.  There were about 3K people in system when I logged in, and that number climbed past 3.7K over the course of the morning.

A mass of capitals waiting for their moment

I did a dscan at one point and counted 641 capital ships on grid.

While so many people were hanging around, our fleet had a job to do.  We flew on out to the gate that led into the system from the far side of Catch where our foes were staged and camped the gate… which, in a fleet full of interdictors meant deploying ALL the bubbles.

That gate isn’t going anywhere!

So we got to goof around and try to put bubbles in dead spots… and we even caught a few people coming and going.  There was an Arazu that was dead set to get into the system.

No more Arazu

There was also somebody in a Jackdaw… who showed up twice.  So it kept us busy while we waited.

When the Keepstar got down to 15% we warped back over to that and joined in with everybody trying to get on the kill.  There were ships all over.

Titans shooting the PH Keepstar

With everybody shooting the tidi ground right down to the 10% mark and then some, but the end result was preordained.

Another Keepstar explosion… with ours bearing witness

So far the kill mail hasn’t showed up on zkillboard.  I’ll link to it when it does, but sometimes when that many people get on a kill… and the server also has to process all the asset safety changes… and a staging Keepstar will have a lot of leftover stuff… it takes time and sometimes the kill mail doesn’t generate at all.  This won’t be the first Keepstar kill mail of mine that was swallowed up by the server, never to be seen again.

There was some cleanup to do after, some bads to chase down, but for the most part it was just a standard structure shoot… where 3.7K people want to get on the kill while the hostiles stayed away.

Also, I already have a lime green Flycatcher SKIN

There were some other things going on while we were focused on that.  Fanatic Legion ran around while all eyes were on the Keepstar and finished off three Astrahus, an Athanor, and a Fortizar on their own.

But we were not done for the day.  Shortly after the Keepstar shoot was done our Flycatcher fleet, now under an alternate FC and Asher had to get on and deliver a special early Fireside address, was bridged over to the EM-L4K constellation where there was a sovereignty contest kicking off for the sov hub in 1P-WGB.

I mentioned that system above because that is where the next hostile Keepstar is anchored.  We went and covered those operations as the coalition turned the system.

Sov change in three images

Out there we were less of a blocking force and more in the traditional role of interdictors, which is warping into the middle of hostiles to pin them down so some big guns can show up and finish them off.

Joining in on the shooting part

I got on a few more kills there.  But, if you’re flying an interdictor you are exposing yourself to the enemy who very often would like you to stop bubble and takes it personally that you’re doing that, so you move way up the priority list of things to shoot.  As such, I ended up getting popped after a couple engagements.  It happens.

That was the end of things for me.  By the time I was back in our staging… because I forgot to move my death clone… the sov battle was over and fleets were just covering the sov hub deployment.  Op success.

The next target is the Keepstar in 1P-WGB, which already had a timer counting down when we passed by it, stopping on the Fortizar anchored on the same grid.

Clock is ticking

That will be another armor timer, so may end up actually being a fight.  We shall see.  However, that fight, which will have kicked off before this post goes live, would require me to get up at 3am… and even I have limits.  However, if it does turn into a contested armor timer, the fight will drag out so I will be able to join a reinforcement fleet if it is still going when I do get up.

Our foes have already set their plan in motion… which was the same as the last plan… retreat.  This time they are falling back to the Utopia system in Curse.

Gobbins announces the advance to Curse

No Keepstar to kill there and no sovereignty to lose.  I guess that is a plus.

Anyway, we shall see what the next operation brings.

Update:  Pandemic Horde and Fraternity opted not to contest the Keepstar armor timer in 1P-WGB.  No fight today, so I was good to sleep in.

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology proposed a new EUV litho technology using only four reflective mirrors and a new method of illumination optics that it claims will use 1/10 the power and cost half as much as existing EUV technology from ASML.

Applied Materials may not receive expected U.S. funding to build a $4 billion research facility in Sunnyvale, CA, due to internal government disagreements over how to fund chip R&D, according to Bloomberg.

SEMI published a position paper this week cautioning the European Union against imposing additional export controls to allow companies, encouraging them to  be “as free as possible in their investment decisions to avoid losing their agility and relevance across global markets.” SEMI’s recommendations on outbound investments are in response to the European Economic Security Strategy and emphasize the need for a transparent and predictable regulatory framework.

The U.S. may restrict China’s access to HBM chips and the equipment needed to make them, reports Bloomberg. Today those chips are manufactured by two Korean-based companies, Samsung and SK hynix, but U.S.-based Micron expects to begin shipping 12-high stacks of HBM3E in 2025, and is currently working on HBM4.

Synopsys executive chair and founder Dr. Aart de Geus was named the winner of the Semiconductor Industry Association’s Robert N. Noyce Award. De Geus was selected due to his contributions to EDA technology over a career spanning more than four decades.

The top three foundries plan to implement high-NA EUV lithography as early as 2025 for the 18 angstrom generation, but the replacement of single exposure high-NA (0.55) over double patterning with standard EUV (NA = 0.33) depends on whether it provides better results at a reasonable cost per wafer.

Quick links to more news:

Global
In-Depth
Market Reports and Earnings
Education and Training
Security
Product News
Research
Events and Further Reading

Global

Belgium-based Imec released part 2 of its chiplets series, addressing testing strategies and standardization efforts, as well as guidelines and research “towards efficient ESD protection strategies for advanced 3D systems-on-chip.”

Also in Belgium, BelGan, maker of GaN chips, filed for bankruptcy according to the Brussels Times.

TSMC‘s Dresden, Germany, plant will break ground this month.

The UK will dole out more than £100 million (~US $128 million) in funding to develop five new quantum research hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford, and London.

MassPhoton is opening Hong Kong‘s first ultra-high vacuum GaN epitaxial wafer pilot line and will establish a GaN research center.

Infineon completed the sale of its manufacturing sites in the Philippines and South Korea to ASE.

Israel-based RAAAM Memory Technologies received a €5.25 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to support the development and commercialization of its innovative memory solutions. This funding will enable RAAAM to advance its research in high-performance and energy-efficient memory technologies, accelerating their integration into various applications and markets.

In-Depth

Semiconductor Engineering published its Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing newsletter this week, featuring these top stories and video:

• Chip Security Now Depends On Widening Supply Chain
• Defining Chip Threat Models To Determining Security Risks
• Post-Quantum Computing Threatens Fundamental Transport Protocols

And:

• Where Power Savings Really Count
• Making Electronics More Efficient (video)

Market Reports and Earnings

The semiconductor equipment industry is on a positive trajectory in 2024, with moderate revenue growth observed in Q2 after a subdued Q1, according to a new report from Yole Group. Wafer Fab Equipment revenue is projected to grow by 1.3% year-on-year, despite a 12% drop in Q1. Test equipment lead times are normalizing, improving order conditions. Key areas driving growth include memory and logic capital expenditures and high-bandwidth memory demand.

Worldwide silicon wafer shipments increased by 7% in Q2 2024, according to SEMI‘s latest report. This growth is attributed to robust demand from multiple semiconductor sectors, driven by advancements in AI, 5G, and automotive technologies.

The RF GaN market is projected to grow to US $2 billion by 2029, a 10% CAGR, according to Yole Group.

Counterpoint released their Q2 smartphone top 10 report.

Renesas completed their acquisition of EDA firm Altium, best known for its EDA platform and freeware CircuitMaker package.

It’s earnings season and here are recently released financials in the chip industry:

AMD  Advantest   Amkor   Ansys  Arteris   Arm   ASE   ASM   ASML
Cadence  IBM   Intel   Lam Research   Lattice   Nordson   NXP   Onsemi 
Qualcomm   Rambus  Samsung    SK Hynix   STMicro   Teradyne    TI  
Tower  TSMC    UMC  Western Digital

Industry stock price impacts are here.

Education and Training

Rochester Institute of Technology is leading a new pilot program to prepare community college students in areas such as cleanroom operations, new materials, simulation, and testing processes, with the intent of eventual transfer into RIT’s microelectronic engineering program.

Purdue University inked a deal with three research institutions — University of Piraeus, Technical University of Crete, and King’s College London —to develop joint research programs for semiconductors, AI and other critical technology fields.

The European Chips Skills Academy formed the Educational Leaders Board to help bridge the talent gap in Europe’s microelectronics sector.  The Board includes representatives from universities, vocational training providers, educators and research institutions who collaborate on strategic initiatives to strengthen university networks and build academic expertise through ECSA training programs.

Security

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is encouraging Apple users to review and apply this week’s recent security updates.

Microsoft Azure experienced a nearly 10 hour DDoS attack this week, leading to global service disruption for many customers.  “While the initial trigger event was a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which activated our DDoS protection mechanisms, initial investigations suggest that an error in the implementation of our defenses amplified the impact of the attack rather than mitigating it,” stated Microsoft in a release.

NIST published:

• “Recommendations For Increasing U.S. Participation and Leadership in Standards Development,” a report outlining cybersecurity recommendations and mitigation strategies.
• Final guidance documents and software to help improve the “safety, security and trustworthiness of AI systems.”
• Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture guide.

Delta Air Lines plans to seek damages after losing $500 million in lost revenue due to security company CrowdStrike‘s software update debacle.  And shareholders are also angry.

Recent security research:

• Physically Secure Logic Locking With Nanomagnet Logic (UT Dallas)
• WBP: Training-time Backdoor Attacks through HW-based Weight Bit Poisoning (UCF)
• S-Tune: SOT-MTJ Manufacturing Parameters Tuning for Secure Next Generation of Computing ( U. of Arizona, UCF)
• Diffie Hellman Picture Show: Key Exchange Stories from Commercial VoWiFi Deployments (CISPA, SBA Research, U. of Vienna)

Product News

Lam Research introduced a new version of its cryogenic etch technology designed to enhance the manufacturing of 3D NAND for AI applications. This technology allows for the precise etching of high aspect ratio features, crucial for creating 1,000-layer 3D NAND.

Fig.1: 3D NAND etch. Source: Lam Research

Alphawave Semi launched its Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express Die-to-Die IP. The subsystem offers 8 Tbps/mm bandwidth density and supports operation at 24 Gbps for D2D connectivity.

Infineon introduced a new MCU series for industrial and consumer motor controls, as well as power conversion system applications. The company also unveiled its new GoolGaN Drive product family of integrated single switches and half-bridges with integrated drivers.

Rambus released its DDR5 Client Clock Driver for next-gen, high-performance desktops and notebooks. The chips include Gen1 to Gen4 RCDs, power management ICs, Serial Presence Detect Hubs, and temperature sensors for leading-edge servers.

SK hynix introduced its new GDDR7 graphics DRAM. The product has an operating speed of 32Gbps, can process 1.5TB of data per second and has a 50% power efficiency improvement compared to the previous generation.

Intel launched its new Lunar Lake Ultra processors. The long awaited chips will be included in more than 80 laptop designs and has more than 40 NPU tera operations per second as well as over 60 GPU TOPS delivering more than 100 platform TOPS.

Brewer Science achieved recertification as a Certified B Corporation, reaffirming its commitment to sustainable and ethical business practices.

Panasonic adopted Siemens’ Teamcenter X cloud product lifecycle management solution, citing Teamcenter X’s Mendix low-code platform, improved operational efficiency and flexibility for its choice.

Keysight validated its 5G NR FR1 1024-QAM demodulation test cases for the first time. The 5G NR radio access technology supports eMBB and was validated on the 3GPP TS 38.521-4 test specification.

Research

In a 47-page deep-dive report, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology delved into all of the scientific breakthroughs from 1980 to present that brought EUV lithography to commercialization, including lessons learned for the next emerging technologies.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute developed a high-performance X-ray tomography technique using burst ptychography, achieving a resolution of 4nm. This method allows for non-destructive imaging of integrated circuits, providing detailed views of nanostructures in materials like silicon and metals.

MIT signed a four-year agreement with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme at University of Copenhagen, focused on accelerating quantum computing hardware research.

MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) developed a mechanically flexible wafer-scale integrated photonics fabrication platform. This enables the creation of flexible photonic circuits that maintain high performance while being bendable and stretchable. It offers significant potential for integrating photonic circuits into various flexible substrate applications in wearable technology, medical devices, and flexible electronics.

The Naval Research Lab identified a new class of semiconductor nanocrystals with bright ground-state excitons, emphasizing an important advancement in optoelectronics.

Researchers from National University of Singapore developed a novel method, known as tension-driven CHARM3D,  to fabricate 3D self-healing circuits, enabling the 3D printing of free-standing metallic structures without the need for support materials and external pressure.

Find more research in our Technical Papers library.

Events and Further Reading

Find upcoming chip industry events here, including:

Upcoming webinars are here, including topics such as quantum safe cryptography, analytics for high-volume manufacturing, and mastering EMC simulations for electronic design.

Find Semiconductor Engineering’s latest newsletters here:

Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing
Systems and Design
Low Power-High Performance
Test, Measurement and Analytics
Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials

The post Chip Industry Week in Review appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

North Carolina is one of the few states to keep detailed statistics on homeschoolers—who are famously resistant to scrutiny, and for good reason—and officials in the state recorded an interesting development this year. After dipping from a pandemic-era high when public schools were closed or generally making a poor job of remote learning, the ranks of homeschoolers have again begun to rise. With census figures showing similar growth elsewhere, we have further evidence that DIY education is here to stay.

Homeschooling Surges Again

In the Statistical Summary for Homeschools 2023–2024, compiled by the state's Department of Administration, the number of registered K–12 homeschools in North Carolina stands at 96,529. Each school can serve more than one student, and the estimated number of homeschooled K–12 students is 157,642. That's down from the peak of 112,614 registered homeschools serving an estimated 179,900 students during the chaos of 2020–2021, but up from 94,154 registered homeschools and 152,717 students last year. Before the pandemic, in 2019–2020, 94,863 homeschools served 149,173 students.

For K–12 private schools, enrollment is up from 126,678 in 2022–2023 to 131,230 in 2023–2024. In 2019–2020, before the pandemic, North Carolina private schools had 103,959 students enrolled.

By contrast, traditional public school enrollment is declining.

"Traditional public schools have 1,358,003 students in 2023-24, losing 0.4% of students from last year to this year and down 3.6% overall from before COVID-19," according to Chantal Brown of EducationNC, which covers education issues in the state. "Charter schools have 139,985 students in 209 schools in 2023-24, gaining 4.9% over last year."

North Carolina isn't alone. In May, Carly Flandro of Idaho Education News found, based on Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data, "about 6% of Idaho students were home-schooled, on average, during the past two school years. And the state data that is available shows increases since the height of the pandemic. At the same time, public school enrollment dipped this year for the first time since the 2020-21 school year."

Newsweek's Suzanne Blake added that Texas also saw a rise in homeschooling in a continuation of a trend that began "even before the pandemic."

A National Taste for DIY Education

In fact, the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, which takes a continuing series of snapshots of data over the course of each year, shows a national increase among the ranks of homeschooled students from roughly 3.6 million in 2022–2023 to about 4 million this past year (there's variation depending on the snapshot you examine, so it's best to look for averages). Meanwhile, public school enrollment declines.

Based on average of survey data from 2022–2023, Johns Hopkins University's Homeschool Hub, which compiles information about DIY education, estimates that 5.82 percent of American K-12 students were homeschooled that year. Of course, that's down from the height of the pandemic when public schools closed or just dropped the ball.

"In the first week (April 23-May 5) of Phase 1 of the Household Pulse Survey, about 5.4% of U.S. households with school-aged children reported homeschooling," the Census Bureau reported of comparing data from the spring of 2020 to the fall of that year. "By fall, 11.1% of households with school-age children reported homeschooling (Sept. 30-Oct. 12)."

But before the pandemic, the folks at the Homeschool Hub remind us, "homeschooled students between the ages of 5 and 17 made up 2.8% of the total student population in the United States in 2019." That means that, while a lot of families that took to homeschooling out of necessity returned to familiar public schools when they could, enough stuck with it to more than double the number of homeschooled kids. With COVID-19 and intrusive public health policies largely a bad memory, homeschooling continues as an increasingly popular practice as a matter of choice.

Fleeing Public Schools…

In a June article about declining public school enrollment in EducationWeek, Mark Lieberman explained that about half of the loss can be attributed to population changes as the number of kids declines, but about 20 percent fled to private alternatives and another 20 percent turned to homeschooling. (Another 10 percent are unaccounted for, though some probably skipped kindergarten and others may be in DIY arrangements such as homeschooling and microschools, but unreported.)

Lieberman delved into the school choice programs that let education funds follow students to the options of their choice rather than being assigned to brick-and-mortar public schools. But he didn't examine what might drive families to abandon the familiar for education alternatives the require greater dedication and commitment.

Disappointment with schools' pandemic responses clearly played a role in driving many families to try educating their own kids—and many liked the experience. But so do endless battles over how kids are taught and, especially, what is incorporated in the lessons presented to them by often deeply politicized schools. To please one faction of parents with spin that they like is to inherently alienate others.

…To Escape Pointless Conflicts

"Schools in many parts of the U.S. have become a battleground and parental involvement is one of the topics at the center," ABC News reported last September. "Fights in school board meetings, including in Chester County, [Pennsylvania] have erupted over how race, sexual orientation, gender and other topics are brought up, or taught, in the classroom."

Families can fight school administrators and other parents in struggles that inevitably leave those on the losing side unhappy with lesson content. It makes sense for those who lose to withdraw their children from the public schools in favor of lesson plans and approaches that meet their standards. For that matter, it's tempting for even those on the winning side to forego the curriculum wars and just pick the education they like for their kids without battling their neighbors. Why argue with your ideological opponents over what should be taught when you can ignore them and teach your kids what you please?

"When parents can choose where and how their children will be educated, they're no longer at the mercy of politicians and bureaucrats," the Cato Institute's Colleen Hroncich wrote in 2022. "That means they don't have to rely on political battles when it comes to education."

That's undoubtedly a big part of the impetusmothe for recent school choice victories that expand options for families, as well as decisions parents and students make to embrace those options. Homeschooling and other education alternatives are on the rise because they're liberating, and they work.

The post Homeschooling Grows as an Escape from Failing Schools and Curriculum Fights appeared first on Reason.com.

Theft is one of my main fears about using security cameras. Whether it's to disable the device or profit from the camera itself, it's a legitimate, costly concern. And many outdoor security cameras make removal quite easy, attaching to their mounts via a magnet, a simple clip-in mechanism, or one measly screw all methods that could be undone in the blink of an eye.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced plans to turn land that previously housed aspects of the Manhattan Project into a 1 GW solar farm. For the uninitiated, the Manhattan Project was a top-secret and successful effort to develop nuclear weapons during the 1940s.

This particular renovation is being conducted at the former home of the Hanford nuclear testing facility, otherwise known as Site W, which is in Washington state. This site housed the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor. Plutonium made at this location was used in the very first atomic bomb and the Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

The location certainly is intriguing, but so is the transformation project. This 580-square mile section of semi-arid desert could end up housing the largest solar project in the country, if built to the announced capacity. This record currently belongs to the Edwards Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage project in California, which generates 875 megawatts of solar power.

The DOE has teamed up with Hecate Energy to repurpose the 8,000-acre site. This is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative that launched last year. This program is tasked with repurposing DOE-owned land for clean energy generation. This program has already added around 90 GW of solar capacity to the grid, which is enough to power 13 million homes.

This isn’t quite a done deal yet. The DOE and Hecate Energy still have to negotiate for a realty agreement and the government could cancel these negotiations at any time.

This is good news, but we still have some catching up to do with regard to Europe. The US produces around 5.6 percent of its energy via solar, but the EU recently shot up to 9.1 percent. However, trends are moving upward in both regions.

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology proposed a new EUV litho technology using only four reflective mirrors and a new method of illumination optics that it claims will use 1/10 the power and cost half as much as existing EUV technology from ASML.

Applied Materials may not receive expected U.S. funding to build a $4 billion research facility in Sunnyvale, CA, due to internal government disagreements over how to fund chip R&D, according to Bloomberg.

SEMI published a position paper this week cautioning the European Union against imposing additional export controls to allow companies, encouraging them to  be “as free as possible in their investment decisions to avoid losing their agility and relevance across global markets.” SEMI’s recommendations on outbound investments are in response to the European Economic Security Strategy and emphasize the need for a transparent and predictable regulatory framework.

The U.S. may restrict China’s access to HBM chips and the equipment needed to make them, reports Bloomberg. Today those chips are manufactured by two Korean-based companies, Samsung and SK hynix, but U.S.-based Micron expects to begin shipping 12-high stacks of HBM3E in 2025, and is currently working on HBM4.

Synopsys executive chair and founder Dr. Aart de Geus was named the winner of the Semiconductor Industry Association’s Robert N. Noyce Award. De Geus was selected due to his contributions to EDA technology over a career spanning more than four decades.

The top three foundries plan to implement high-NA EUV lithography as early as 2025 for the 18 angstrom generation, but the replacement of single exposure high-NA (0.55) over double patterning with standard EUV (NA = 0.33) depends on whether it provides better results at a reasonable cost per wafer.

Quick links to more news:

Global
In-Depth
Market Reports and Earnings
Education and Training
Security
Product News
Research
Events and Further Reading

Global

Belgium-based Imec released part 2 of its chiplets series, addressing testing strategies and standardization efforts, as well as guidelines and research “towards efficient ESD protection strategies for advanced 3D systems-on-chip.”

Also in Belgium, BelGan, maker of GaN chips, filed for bankruptcy according to the Brussels Times.

TSMC‘s Dresden, Germany, plant will break ground this month.

The UK will dole out more than £100 million (~US $128 million) in funding to develop five new quantum research hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford, and London.

MassPhoton is opening Hong Kong‘s first ultra-high vacuum GaN epitaxial wafer pilot line and will establish a GaN research center.

Infineon completed the sale of its manufacturing sites in the Philippines and South Korea to ASE.

Israel-based RAAAM Memory Technologies received a €5.25 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to support the development and commercialization of its innovative memory solutions. This funding will enable RAAAM to advance its research in high-performance and energy-efficient memory technologies, accelerating their integration into various applications and markets.

In-Depth

Semiconductor Engineering published its Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing newsletter this week, featuring these top stories and video:

• Chip Security Now Depends On Widening Supply Chain
• Defining Chip Threat Models To Determining Security Risks
• Post-Quantum Computing Threatens Fundamental Transport Protocols

And:

• Where Power Savings Really Count
• Making Electronics More Efficient (video)

Market Reports and Earnings

The semiconductor equipment industry is on a positive trajectory in 2024, with moderate revenue growth observed in Q2 after a subdued Q1, according to a new report from Yole Group. Wafer Fab Equipment revenue is projected to grow by 1.3% year-on-year, despite a 12% drop in Q1. Test equipment lead times are normalizing, improving order conditions. Key areas driving growth include memory and logic capital expenditures and high-bandwidth memory demand.

Worldwide silicon wafer shipments increased by 7% in Q2 2024, according to SEMI‘s latest report. This growth is attributed to robust demand from multiple semiconductor sectors, driven by advancements in AI, 5G, and automotive technologies.

The RF GaN market is projected to grow to US $2 billion by 2029, a 10% CAGR, according to Yole Group.

Counterpoint released their Q2 smartphone top 10 report.

Renesas completed their acquisition of EDA firm Altium, best known for its EDA platform and freeware CircuitMaker package.

It’s earnings season and here are recently released financials in the chip industry:

AMD  Advantest   Amkor   Ansys  Arteris   Arm   ASE   ASM   ASML
Cadence  IBM   Intel   Lam Research   Lattice   Nordson   NXP   Onsemi 
Qualcomm   Rambus  Samsung    SK Hynix   STMicro   Teradyne    TI  
Tower  TSMC    UMC  Western Digital

Industry stock price impacts are here.

Education and Training

Rochester Institute of Technology is leading a new pilot program to prepare community college students in areas such as cleanroom operations, new materials, simulation, and testing processes, with the intent of eventual transfer into RIT’s microelectronic engineering program.

Purdue University inked a deal with three research institutions — University of Piraeus, Technical University of Crete, and King’s College London —to develop joint research programs for semiconductors, AI and other critical technology fields.

The European Chips Skills Academy formed the Educational Leaders Board to help bridge the talent gap in Europe’s microelectronics sector.  The Board includes representatives from universities, vocational training providers, educators and research institutions who collaborate on strategic initiatives to strengthen university networks and build academic expertise through ECSA training programs.

Security

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is encouraging Apple users to review and apply this week’s recent security updates.

Microsoft Azure experienced a nearly 10 hour DDoS attack this week, leading to global service disruption for many customers.  “While the initial trigger event was a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which activated our DDoS protection mechanisms, initial investigations suggest that an error in the implementation of our defenses amplified the impact of the attack rather than mitigating it,” stated Microsoft in a release.

NIST published:

• “Recommendations For Increasing U.S. Participation and Leadership in Standards Development,” a report outlining cybersecurity recommendations and mitigation strategies.
• Final guidance documents and software to help improve the “safety, security and trustworthiness of AI systems.”
• Cloud Computing Forensic Reference Architecture guide.

Delta Air Lines plans to seek damages after losing $500 million in lost revenue due to security company CrowdStrike‘s software update debacle.  And shareholders are also angry.

Recent security research:

• Physically Secure Logic Locking With Nanomagnet Logic (UT Dallas)
• WBP: Training-time Backdoor Attacks through HW-based Weight Bit Poisoning (UCF)
• S-Tune: SOT-MTJ Manufacturing Parameters Tuning for Secure Next Generation of Computing ( U. of Arizona, UCF)
• Diffie Hellman Picture Show: Key Exchange Stories from Commercial VoWiFi Deployments (CISPA, SBA Research, U. of Vienna)

Product News

Lam Research introduced a new version of its cryogenic etch technology designed to enhance the manufacturing of 3D NAND for AI applications. This technology allows for the precise etching of high aspect ratio features, crucial for creating 1,000-layer 3D NAND.

Fig.1: 3D NAND etch. Source: Lam Research

Alphawave Semi launched its Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express Die-toDie IP. The subsystem offers 8 Tbps/mm bandwidth density and supports operation at 24 Gbps for D2D connectivity.

Infineon introduced a new MCU series for industrial and consumer motor controls, as well as power conversion system applications. The company also unveiled its new GoolGaN Drive product family of integrated single switches and half-bridges with integrated drivers.

Rambus released its DDR5 Client Clock Driver for next-gen, high-performance desktops and notebooks. The chips include Gen1 to Gen4 RCDs, power management ICs, Serial Presence Detect Hubs, and temperature sensors for leading-edge servers.

SK hynix introduced its new GDDR7 graphics DRAM. The product has an operating speed of 32Gbps, can process 1.5TB of data per second and has a 50% power efficiency improvement compared to the previous generation.

Intel launched its new Lunar Lake Ultra processors. The long awaited chips will be included in more than 80 laptop designs and has more than 40 NPU tera operations per second as well as over 60 GPU TOPS delivering more than 100 platform TOPS.

Brewer Science achieved recertification as a Certified B Corporation, reaffirming its commitment to sustainable and ethical business practices.

Panasonic adopted Siemens’ Teamcenter X cloud product lifecycle management solution, citing Teamcenter X’s Mendix low-code platform, improved operational efficiency and flexibility for its choice.

Keysight validated its 5G NR FR1 1024-QAM demodulation test cases for the first time. The 5G NR radio access technology supports eMBB and was validated on the 3GPP TS 38.521-4 test specification.

Research

In a 47-page deep-dive report, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology delved into all of the scientific breakthroughs from 1980 to present that brought EUV lithography to commercialization, including lessons learned for the next emerging technologies.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute developed a high-performance X-ray tomography technique using burst ptychography, achieving a resolution of 4nm. This method allows for non-destructive imaging of integrated circuits, providing detailed views of nanostructures in materials like silicon and metals.

MIT signed a four-year agreement with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme at University of Copenhagen, focused on accelerating quantum computing hardware research.

MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) developed a mechanically flexible wafer-scale integrated photonics fabrication platform. This enables the creation of flexible photonic circuits that maintain high performance while being bendable and stretchable. It offers significant potential for integrating photonic circuits into various flexible substrate applications in wearable technology, medical devices, and flexible electronics.

The Naval Research Lab identified a new class of semiconductor nanocrystals with bright ground-state excitons, emphasizing an important advancement in optoelectronics.

Researchers from National University of Singapore developed a novel method, known as tension-driven CHARM3D,  to fabricate 3D self-healing circuits, enabling the 3D printing of free-standing metallic structures without the need for support materials and external pressure.

Find more research in our Technical Papers library.

Events and Further Reading

Find upcoming chip industry events here, including:

Upcoming webinars are here, including topics such as quantum safe cryptography, analytics for high-volume manufacturing, and mastering EMC simulations for electronic design.

Find Semiconductor Engineering’s latest newsletters here:

Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing
Systems and Design
Low Power-High Performance
Test, Measurement and Analytics
Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials

The post Chip Industry Week in Review appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

In the automotive industry, AI-enabled automotive devices and systems are dramatically transforming the way SoCs are designed, making high-quality and reliable die-to-die and chip-to-chip connectivity non-negotiable. This article explains how interface IP for die-to-die connectivity, display, and storage can support new developments in automotive SoCs for the most advanced innovations such as centralized zonal architecture and integrated ADAS and IVI applications.

AI-integrated ADAS SoCs

The automotive industry is adopting a new electronic/electric (EE) architecture where a centralized compute module executes multiple applications such as ADAS and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI). With the advent of EVs and more advanced features in the car, the new centralized zonal architecture will help minimize complexity, maximize scalability, and facilitate faster decision-making time. This new architecture is demanding a new set of SoCs on advanced process technologies with very high performance. More traditional monolithic SoCs for single functions like ADAS are giving way to multi-die designs where various dies are connected in a single package and placed in a system to perform a function in the car. While such multi-die designs are gaining adoption, semiconductor companies must remain cost-conscious as these ADAS SoCs will be manufactured at high volumes for a myriad of safety levels. One example is the automated driving central compute system. The system can include modules for the sensor interface, safety management, memory control and interfaces, and dies for CPU, GPU, and AI accelerator, which are then connected via a die-to-die interface such as the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe). Figure 1 illustrates how semiconductor companies can develop SoCs for such systems using multi-die designs. For a base ADAS or IVI SoC, the requirement might just be the CPU die for a level 2 functional safety. A GPU die can be added to the base CPU die for a base ADAS or premium IVI function at a level 2+ driving automation. To allow more compute power for AI workloads, an NPU die can be added to the base CPU or the base CPU and GPU dies for level 3/3+ functional safety. None of these scalable scenarios are possible without a solution for die-to-die connectivity.

Fig. 1: A simplified view of automotive systems using multi-die designs.

The adoption of UCIe for automotive SoCs

The industry has come together to define, develop, and deploy the UCIe standard, a universal interconnect at the package-level. In a recent news release, the UCIe Consortium announced “updates to the standard with additional enhancements for automotive usages – such as predictive failure analysis and health monitoring – and enabling lower-cost packaging implementations.” Figure 2 shows three use cases for UCIe. The first use case is for low-latency and coherency where two Network on a Chip (NoC) are connected via UCIe. This use case is mainly for applications requiring ADAS computing power. The second automotive use case is when memory and IO are split into two separate dies and are then connected to the compute die via CXL and UCIe streaming protocols. The third automotive use case is very similar to what is seen in HPC applications where a companion AI accelerator die is connected to the main CPU die via UCIe.

Fig. 2: Examples of common and new use cases for UCIe in automotive applications.

To enable such automotive use cases, UCIe offers several advantages, all of which are supported by the Synopsys UCIe IP:

• Latency optimized architecture: Flit-Aware Die-to-Die Interface (FDI) or Raw Die-to-Die Interface (RDI) operate with local 2GHz system clock. Transmitter and receiver FIFOs accommodate phase mismatch between clock domains. There is no clock domain crossing (CDC) between the PHY and Adapter layers for minimum latency. The reference clock has the same frequency for the two dies.
• Power-optimized architecture: The transmitter provides the CMOS driver without source termination. IT offers programmable drive strength without a Feed-Forward Equalizer (FFE). The receiver provides a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) without VGA and decision feedback equalizer (DFE), clock forwarding without Clock and Data Recovery (CDR), and optional receiver termination.
• Reliability and test: Signal integrity monitors track the performance of the interconnect through the chip’s lifecycle. This can monitor inaccessible paths in the multi-die package, test and repair the PHY, and execute real time reporting for preventative maintenance.

Synopsys UCIe IP is integrated with Synopsys 3DIC Compiler, a unified exploration-to-signoff platform. The combination eases package design and provides a complete set of IP deliverables, automated UCIe routing for better quality of results, and reference interposer design for faster integration.

Fig. 3: Synopsys 3DIC Compiler.

New automotive SoC design trends for IVI applications

OEMs are attracting consumers by providing the utmost in cockpit experience with high-resolution, 4K, pillar-to-pillar displays. Multi-Stream Transport (MTR) enables a daisy-chained display topology using a single port, which consists of a single GPU, one DP TX controller, and PHY, to display images on multiple screens in the car. This revision clarifies the components involved and maintains the original meaning. This daisy-chained set up simplifies the display wiring in the car. Figure 4 illustrates how connectivity in the SoC can enable multi-display environments in the car. Row 1: Multiple image sources from the application processor are fed into the daisy-chained display set up via the DisplayPort (DP) MTR interface. Row 2: Multiple image sources from the application processor are fed to the daisy-chained display set up but also to the left or right mirrors, all via the DP MTR interface. Row 3: The same set up in row 2 can be executed via the MIPI DSI or embedded DP MTR interfaces, depending on display size and power requirements.

An alternate use case is USB/DP. A single USB port can be used for silicon lifecycle management, sentry mode, test, debug, and firmware download. USB can be used to avoid the need for very large numbers of test pings, speed up test by exceeding GPIO test pin data rates, repeat manufacturing test in-system and in-field, access PVT monitors, and debug.

Fig. 4: Examples of display connectivity in software-defined vehicles.

ISO/SAE 21434 automotive cybersecurity

ISO/SAE 21434 Automotive Cybersecurity is being adopted by industry leaders as mandated by the UNECE R155 regulation. Starting in July 2024, automotive OEMs must comply with the UNECE R155 automotive cybersecurity regulation for all new vehicles in Europe, Japan, and Korea.

Automotive suppliers must develop processes that meet the automotive cybersecurity requirements of ISO/SAE 21434, addressing the cybersecurity perspective in the engineering of electrical and electronic (E/E) systems. Adopting this methodology involves embracing a cybersecurity culture which includes developing security plans, setting security goals, conducting engineering reviews and implementing mitigation strategies.

The industry is expected to move towards enabling cybersecurity risk-managed products to mitigate the risks associated with advancement in connectivity for software-defined vehicles. As a result, automotive IP needs to be ready to support these advancements.

Synopsys ARC HS4xFS Processor IP has achieved ISO/SAE 21434 cybersecurity certification by SGS-TṺV Saar, meeting stringent automotive regulatory requirements designed to protect connected vehicles from malicious cyberattacks. In addition, Synopsys has achieved certification of its IP development process to the ISO/SAE 21434 standard to help ensure its IP products are developed with a security-first mindset through every phase of the product development lifecycle.

Conclusion

The transformation to software-defined vehicles marks a significant shift in the automotive industry, bringing together highly integrated systems and AI to create safer and more efficient vehicles while addressing sophisticated user needs and vendor serviceability. New trends in the automotive industry are presenting opportunities for innovations in ADAS and IVI SoC designs. Centralized zonal architecture, multi-die design, daisy-chained displays, and integration of ADAS/IVI functions in a single SoC are among some of the key trends that the automotive industry is tracking. Synopsys is at the forefront of automotive SoC innovations with a portfolio of silicon-proven automotive IP for the highest levels of functional safety, security, quality, and reliability. The IP portfolio is developed and assessed specifically for ISO 26262 random hardware faults and ASIL D systematic. To minimize cybersecurity risks, Synopsys is developing IP products as per the ISO/SAE 21434 standard to provide automotive SoC developers a safe, reliable, and future proof solution.

The post Keeping Up With New ADAS And IVI SoC Trends appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

Remember last month when ExTwitter excitedly “rejoined GARM” (the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, an advertising consortium focused on brand safety)? And then, a week later, after Rep. Jim Jordan released a misleading report about GARM, Elon Musk said he was going to sue GARM and hoped criminal investigations would be opened?

Unsurprisingly, Jordan has now ratcheted things up a notch by sending investigative demands to a long list of top advertisers associated with GARM. The letter effectively accuses these advertisers of antitrust violations for choosing not to advertise on conservative media sites, based on GARM’s recommendations on how to best protect brand safety.

The link there shows all the letters, but we’ll just stick with the first one, to Adidas. The letter doesn’t make any demands specifically about ExTwitter, but does name the GOP’s favorite media sites, and demands to know whether any of these advertisers agreed not to advertise on those properties. In short, this is an elected official demanding to know why a private company chose not to give money to media sites that support that elected official:

Was Adidas Group aware of the coordinated actions taken by GARM toward news outlets and podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily Wire, Breitbart News, or Fox News, or other conservative media? Does Adidas Group support GARM’s coordinated actions toward these news outlets and podcasts?

Jordan is also demanding all sorts of documents and answers to questions. He is suggesting strongly that GARM’s actions (presenting ways that advertisers might avoid, say, having their brands show up next to neo-Nazi content) were a violation of antitrust law.

This is all nonsense. First of all, choosing not to advertise somewhere is protected by the First Amendment. And there are good fucking reasons not to advertise on media properties most closely associated with nonsense peddling, extremist culture wars, and just general stupidity.

Even more ridiculous is that the letter cites NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware, which is literally the Supreme Court case that establishes that group boycotts are protected speech. It’s the case that says not supporting a business for the purpose of protest, while economic activity, is still protected speech and can’t be regulated by the government (and it’s arguable that what does GARM does is even a boycott at all).

As the Court noted, in holding that organizing a boycott was protected by the First Amendment:

The First Amendment similarly restricts the ability of the State to impose liability on an individual solely because of his association with another.

But, of course, one person who is quite excited is Elon Musk. He quote tweeted (they’re still tweets, right?) the House Judiciary’s announcement of the demands with a popcorn emoji:

So, yeah. Mr. “Free Speech Absolutist,” who claims the Twitter files show unfair attempts by governments to influence speech, now supports the government trying to pressure brands into advertising on certain media properties. It’s funny how the “free speech absolutist” keeps throwing the basic, fundamental principles of free speech out the window the second he doesn’t like the results.

That’s not supporting free speech at all. But, then again, for Elon to support free speech, he’d first have to learn what it means, and he’s shown no inclination of ever doing that.

It’s been a helluva week for video games, with mass layoffs at Destiny 2 studio Bungie, and a few hands-ons for upcoming high-profile releases like Marvel Rivals and Star Wars Outlaws. As usual, we weighed in on the goings-on of the week, so click through to read all of our big opinions and spicy takes.

Read more...

This week, Destiny 2 maker Bungie was hit by massive layoffs, leaving the future of the company’s popular looter shooter in some doubt and spurring waves of criticism of its CEO, who remains at the studio. We also saw streamer Dr Disrespect once again posting online, just 36 days after he confessed to sending…

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In 2002, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter launched on PS2 and GameCube. The third-person action-adventure game let players hop into the bounty-hunting boots of Jango Fett aka Boba Fett’s clone dad from Attack of The Clones. It wasn’t great, but was a fun prequel to Episode II. Now, 20 years later, it’s been remastered,…

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Twister, the 1996 action movie whose sequel, Twisters, kicked off Hot Glen Powell Summer 2024, is getting the 4DX treatment. If you’re not aware of what 4DX is, it’s a movie format specific to Regal Cinemas whereby the theater chairs rock, shake, and rattle along with action, water sprays in your face, wind whips your…

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President Joe Biden's new op-ed in The Washington Post makes the bold argument that, following a constitutional amendment to reverse a recent Supreme Court decision, Congress should pass both Supreme Court term limits and an ethics code to "restore the public's faith in the judicial system." According to Biden, the Court's "extreme" decisions and ethical crisis require immediate action.

Looking at the last Supreme Court term, none of this is true. The Court's opinions were nuanced and largely unanimous, and there are no credible allegations of vote-buying. If Biden wants to restore faith in the Court, he'd do better to highlight these nuances rather than using the Court as a political talking point.

At the outset, it's worth taking a bird's eye view of the Court. This term, the Court ruled unanimously in almost half (46 percent) of cases, which was similar to the year before (48 percent) and a significant uptick from the term before that (29 percent). Among the Court's unanimous or near-unanimous opinions were hot-button cases involving former President Donald Trump's eligibility for the presidency, access to the abortion drug mifepristone, the government's ability to dissuade companies from doing business with the National Rifle Association, regulation of social media companies, and the scope of the Second Amendment. Such consensus among the justices undercuts Biden's characterization of a rogue or extremist Court.

It's true that the Court is sometimes divided along partisan lines—and in many of those cases, the justices disagree vigorously. As Biden points out, Trump v. United States (regarding presidential immunity) and Dobbs v. Jackson (regarding abortion) represent two such cases. But just because these opinions were divisive doesn't make them radical.

For example, Biden chided the Court for imposing "virtually no limits on what a president can do" in the immunity case, but the Court maintained an ample sphere of liability for presidential acts. All nine justices agreed that presidents have absolutely no immunity for unofficial acts. While the majority ruled that absolute immunity applies to core, official acts, it emphasized that noncore duties are only presumptively immune.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether the Court made it too hard to rebut that presumption. But to make that call, we'll have to see how the standard plays out in practice. Trump's case, for example, will now go back down to the district court, which will determine which acts are official or unofficial, core or noncore, and whether the special prosecutor can surmount any presumption of immunity that applies. It makes little sense to say at this premature stage, as Biden does, that the only limits left on the president are "self-imposed."

Biden also criticizes the Court for "overturn[ing] settled legal precedents" like Roe v. Wade. But this is a critique with no substance. Precedent isn't an end in and of itself; prior cases should stand when they're correct and well-reasoned and fall when they're not. Some of the most important Supreme Court decisions in history "overturned settled precedent," including Brown v. Board of Education (overturning the separate but equal doctrine) and Gideon v. Wainwright (extending the right to counsel to felony defendants in state courts). Overturning precedent is part of a Supreme Court justice's job description. Without context, saying a judge overruled an earlier case is meaningless.

Biden's ethics accusations similarly lack substance. Though many have wrung their hands over Justice Clarence Thomas' friendship with businessman Harlan Crow, not one person—including Biden—has pointed to any specific instance where the justice supposedly traded his vote for a gift from his wealthy friend (and they ignore that Thomas voted against Crow's personal convictions in the abortion case). That's not surprising. Thomas is widely regarded as one of the most consistent justices on the Court who regularly writes separate opinions to explain his idiosyncratic views. Given that his views are so consistent, transparent, and well-known, it would be especially difficult for him to abandon them in exchange for a flight on a private jet. If anything, bribes are much more likely in the context of opaque decision making—as happens behind closed doors in the legislative and executive branches.

In at least some ways, the Court is showing more restraint than in prior years. It's taking fewer cases than ever (just 59 this year, compared to 82 a decade ago), it's finding reasons to sidestep thorny issues, and it's increasingly using judge-made legal doctrines to rule that the plaintiffs have no right to sue or that the case needs more time before the Court can step in. It also continues to produce interesting alignments between justices considered to be on opposite ideological spectrums. In a case involving the January 6 defendants, for example, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson voted with "conservative" justices to throw out the convictions while Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with the "liberals" to affirm them.

In sum, the Supreme Court is not exactly a radical conservative monolith. This term, Court watchers actually observed strong disagreements among Republican-appointed justices. If Biden cares about bolstering the public's faith in the judiciary, he'd be wise to emphasize this nuance.

The post Biden's Supreme Court Reforms Are Unnecessary and Wrong appeared first on Reason.com.

Yesterday, in United States v. Abbott, the en banc US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Texas in a case where the federal government is suing the state for installing floating buoy barriers in the Rio Grande River to block migration and drug smuggling, thereby creating safety hazards and possibly impeding navigation. The Biden Administration claimed this violates the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899.

Texas argues the federal government incorrectly interpreted the statute, but also asserts that one of the "invasion" clauses of the Constitution gives it the power to install the buoys even if federal law forbids it. Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution states that "[n]o state shall, without the Consent of Congress, . . . engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay." Texas claims illegal migration and drug smuggling qualify as "invasion," and therefore the Constitution gives the state the power to take military action in defiance of federal statues, and even in the absence of congressional authorization for war.

In an 11-7 decision largely divided along ideological lines (with more conservative judges in the majority), the en banc Fifth Circuit overturned appellate panel and trial court decisions that had ruled in favor of the federal government.

The majority decision is based on statutory arguments, concluding that the relevant stretch of the Rio Grande is not covered by the Rivers and Harbors Act because it isn't "navigable." On that issue, I think both sides have some good arguments, and I will leave it to analysts with greater interest and expertise. Significantly, the majority does not address Texas's "invasion" argument, thereby not overturning the panel and trial court rulings against Texas on that issue.

Texas has also advanced the "invasion" argument in another case, one dealing with the legality of the states SB 4 law, giving law enforcement broad powers to detain and expel undocumented migrants. So far, both the district court and a Fifth Circuit panel have ruled against the state on that point.

In a recent Lawfare article and an amicus brief in this case, I have explained why illegal migration and drug smuggling do not qualify as "invasion" under the text and original meaning of the Constitution. An "invasion" is an organized armed attack. In addition, I outline the dangerous implications of Texas's argument. If accepted by courts, it would give states nearly unlimited power to start wars without congressional authorization, and give the federal government a similar blank check to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (thereby allowing it to detain people, including US citizens, without charges).

In a concurring opinion in the en banc court, prominent conservative Judge James Ho argues that the court should have addressed the invasion argument. He contends that the meaning of "invasion" is a "political question" that the judiciary is not permitted to address. Other courts that have ruled that invasion is a political question have simultaneously concluded that the matter is left up to the federal government (while, in several cases, also simultaneously concluding that illegal migration does not qualify as invasion). Judge Ho, however, argues that courts must defer to the Texas governor's assertion that there is an invasion, at least so long as the governor is acting in "good faith."

This theory has breathtakingly awful implications. It implies a state governor can declare the existence of an "invasion" virtually any time he or she wants, and then "engage in war" in response—even without authorization from Congress. Moreover, Ho argues the governor can continue military action indefinitely, even if the federal government has had time to consider the situation, and opposes the state's actions.

The "good faith" restriction is not much of a constraint. Political partisans can persuade themselves that almost any interaction with  foreigners they find threatening qualifies as an "invasion." If illegal migration and drug smuggling qualify, why not economic competition (many "national conservatives" view imports as a national security threat)? Why not supposedly harmful cross-border cultural influences (dangerous foreign ideas and art forms are "invading" our people's minds!)? And that list can easily be extended.

If this conclusion were required by the text and original meaning of the Constitution, perhaps there would be no way around it. But that isn't so. As explained in my article and amicus brief, historical and textual evidence overwhelming demonstrate that only an organized armed attack qualifies as an "invasion." As James Madison put it, invasion is "an operation of war." Nor is there any original meaning evidence indicating that courts must defer to state governments on this issue.

The "political questions" doctrine is a judicial invention, not something embedded in text and original meaning itself. I am skeptical that the doctrine makes much sense at all. Even if it should be used in some contexts, there is no reason to think the meaning of "invasion" is the kind of issue that courts cannot or should not resolve. The meaning of that term is at least as clear as that of many other words in the Constitution that courts routinely interpret.  At the very least, the political question doctrine should not be interpreted to mandate the absurd consequence that a single state can start a war virtually anytime it wants—since there is virtually always some substantial amount of illegal migration and cross-border smuggling, at least so long as we have drug prohibition and severe migration restrictions.

Judge Ho also argues that actions by nongovernmental groups can qualify as "invasion." This may be true in some situations, as in the case of attacks by insurgents or terrorist groups. It does not follow that illegal migration, drug smuggling, or other ordinary criminal activity qualify.

Moreover, most of the evidence he cites relates to a situation in the 1870s where the governor of Texas used state militia to combat large-scale cross-border banditry from Mexico. This episode—occurring almost a century of the enactment of the Invasion Clause—sheds little light on the text and original meaning. In a recent opinion, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rightly cautions against  reliance on "[h]istory (or tradition) that long postdates ratification." This is the kind of thing she had in mind.

In addition, the 1870s history doesn't really support Judge Ho's position. In an 1874 letter to the Attorney General (which Judge Ho helpfully reprints in an appendix to is opinion), Texas Governor Richard Coke argued that the Mexican bandits had gone beyond ordinary criminality, and "were making war on the people of Texas and their property." He also stressed that Texas state forces were "not authorized to cross the river for purposes of retaliation, nor to make war on the territory or any of the people of Mexico, but only to pursue marauders going out of Texas, and take from them and bring back property found in their possession belonging in Texas." This stops short of claiming a right to "engage in war." Perhaps most important, the Governor acknowledged that "the officers of the United States Government… have the power to prevent… enforcement" of his order to the Texas troops, and that he will withdraw the order if the federal government requests it. That's a far cry from the claim of virtually unlimited power to declare an "invasion" and engage in war in response claimed by Governor Abbott today.

The dissenting opinion by Judge Dana Douglas has additional criticisms of Ho's opinion on the "invasion" issue. I don't agree with all of her arguments. But she's right to point out that Texas's position "would enable Governor Abbott to engage in acts of war in perpetuity."

In a concurring opinion, Judge Andrew Oldham (another prominent conservative jurist), contends that Judge Ho is wrong to argue the majority was required to address the invasion issue. I think Judge Oldham is probably right about that question, but will leave it to commentators with greater expertise on civil procedure.

Yesterday's ruling is not a final resolution of the buoy case. Technically, it only lifts the preliminary injunction against the buoys issued by the district court. However, the majority's analysis makes clear that the trial court will have to resolve the case in favor of Texas on the issue of "navigability." If so, the invasion question need not be addressed, since the en banc majority signaled it does not have to be.

However, the invasion argument is still in play in the SB 4 case, and Texas—and perhaps other states—are likely to continue making it in the future. So long as they persist in doing so, I will keep on explaining why that argument is dangerously wrong.

UPDATE: In the original version of this post, I indicated that the vote in the en banc Fifth Circuit was 11-6, rather than the correct figure of 11-7. I apologize for the mistake, which has now been corrected.

The post En Banc Fifth Circuit Rules for Texas in Water Buoy Case, but Doesn't Resolve Issue of Whether Illegal Migration Qualifies as "Invasion" appeared first on Reason.com.

Modder ‘Wombat’ has released a new mod for Fallout: New Vegas that completely updates the first-person movement animations. This mod makes the main character’s movements much better. It’s a must-have for anyone who wants to replay this classic Fallout game. So, let’s take a closer look at it. Enhanced Locomotion updates all animations, like running, … Continue reading Fallout: New Vegas just got a complete first-person locomotion animation overhaul mod →

The post Fallout: New Vegas just got a complete first-person locomotion animation overhaul mod appeared first on DSOGaming.

Recent data states Rockstar's GTA trilogy has hit a combined total of over 30m downloads on Netflix.

Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas made their way onto the service in December, following earlier reports that Netflix had been in talks with Rockstar to licence a GTA game as part of an attempt to introduce "higher-end" titles to its mobile-focused gaming catalogue.

In January, it was subsequently reported that the arrival of these three games had given a boost to Netflix's gaming endeavours, with monthly mobile game downloads nearly tripling to 28m in the December. 18m of these downloads were a combination of San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA 3.

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Fallout has seen a renewed spike in popularity following the release of Amazon's TV adaptation. However, despite this, Bethesda doesn't feel under pressure to rush a new game out to placate fans.

Speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard acknowledged that the Fallout series is probably at its most popular, with the franchise boasting some record player numbers over recent months. Howard went on to state the studio gives "a lot of thought to franchise management" when questioned specifically about the future of Fallout as a whole.

"I spend a lot of time thinking about franchises I love... so, for us, it is sort of game planning out - number one, making sure Fallout is relevant in the world, and well, I think, clearly it is," the studio exec said.

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