I do a lot of code. That means I often deal with three or four programs at the same time, and perhaps 10 loaded throughout the day and I want to see them all. So I have two monitors that are each 27" and 4k.
This means I can see a web browser sized to a full 1080 size, next to a database query, and still see the code that I'm working on, and keep an eye on any new emails or text chats. Without needing to Alt-tab to switch windows. It's like spreading your work over a dining room table, instead of those little desks you got in high school.
Most apps don't need to be larger than 1080. But some can be taller to see more code (maybe 160 lines, for example) without scrolling too much. And I hardly ever deal with just one window at a time.
Omg it's Computerphile and Dr. Mike Pound! He's a lecturer at the Uni of Nottingham where I'm studying! Met him and other Computerphile lecturers a few times (I even had some of them as my lecturers) and they're all a wonderful bunch!
Interesting video based on "No "Zero-Shot" Without Exponential Data: Pretraining Concept Frequency Determines Multimodal Model Performance" https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.04125 which basically says (my interpretation) that temporary techniques, i.e not LLM but LMM are statistical models based on large datasets which don't, and can't unless at a ridiculously (basically impractical) high cost consider the long tail, namely what is not quite popular.
This is insane. The filters for the feed should be built-in. Its annoying that we have to use a third party for this, and they have no right saying what tools I use to improve their product
Although we don't see it, all of these developments do actually eventually make their way into battery tech. The batteries of today are not the batteries of 2014.
If you remember what battery powertools were like in early 2010s, it's super obvious how far we've come. The higher end things like battery powered lawn mowers didn't exist, and if you wanted real power, you needed a cord.
I don't always need my lawn mower/blower/weed trimmer on batteries. I wish I could easily plug them in when doing light dut work close to the house. But then they couldn't tie me into their battery ecosystem as easily.
I've seen a Makita eletric brush cutter with an adapter to plug straight into a standard outlet. The person who bought the machine told me it was more expensive than a battery pack but at least it made the machine usable for longer periods of time when energy is available.
I still remember that in the 90s till the 2000s you would get maybe 60 to 90 minutes of battery life out of a new laptop. Then it jumped to 4 or more hours thanks to better batteries, more energy efficient CPUs and displays.
RISC-5 is a CPU architecture like x86 (AMD and Intel) or ARM (Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, Google).
It's main differences are that it is an open architecture. It is still early in it's life cycle but it's already showing promising advancement.
I'm not as well educated on this part of it but I remember reading that it is more efficient for a certain types of common calculations that have long since been an issue for x86. As noted though citation needed.
Electrolytic capacitors are closer to batteries than to non-polarized capacitors. Lithium-ion cells in capacitor housings also exist, presumably to evade tariffs and restrictions involved in shipping batteries.
Electrolytic capacitors use the chemistry to make a very high dielectric allowing the plates to get very close and increase the capacitance and decrease the size.
A cell in a battery is a capacitor then converts the charge on the plates into chemical energy and vice versa allowing much more energy storage and a flat operating range as the plates charge is replenished by the chemical reaction.
This article doesn't go into details but it sounds like the breakthrough is a much better dialectic then storing energy in a chemical reaction.
2.8k seems about the sweet spot on a laptop to be from your face & see no pixels or even have to think about font hinting & the like. The bigger wins are OLEDs for blacks & picking up something with 100% DCI-P3.
I wonder why I even read these articles. If these do turn out to be useful it will eventually make its way into technologies I use or buy near me. I don't have to hunt them out.
I mean the application isn't exactly arduous but they use capacitors in solar powered watches instead of batteries. They claim you can still get 80% of max voltage after 20 years use.
I moved from a 1080p monitor to a 1440p one for my main display and it's actually really worthwhile. Not only is your daily computing sharper, but multitasking becomes easier because smaller windows are still legible.
IMO it's a lot easier on the eyes when things are sharper, too.
1080p is still more than enough, but I think 1440p is worth it for a screen you're using for hours every day :)
Reading 100% feels better, seeing tiny icons/logos without it being a pixelated mess is also good, and video looks much crisper, same goes for videogames, and the performance hit from 1080 to 1440 isn't bad at all.
Technology
Hot
This magazine is not receiving updates (last activity 51 day(s) ago).