A mix of fun and less fun stuff today. We have new processors from AMD, a set of wireless earbuds that has a touchscreen on the case, more Rogers outage news, more about Elon Musk and Twitter, and a couple other stories I’ve found interesting over the last several days.
AMD Announces Ryzen 7000 Series Processors
The big boys are here. The first of AMD’s new Zen 4 desktop processors have been announced. The Ryzen 7000 series are the first new high end desktop CPU’s announced by AMD in 2 years, with the previous generation Ryzen 5000 series being announced in late 2020. The four products announced this week are the 6 core Ryzen 5 7600X at $300 USD, the 8 core Ryzen 7 7700X at $400 USD, the 12 core Ryzen 9 7900X at $550 USD, and the 16 core Ryzen 9 7950X at $700 USD. It should be noted that that while the lower end 7600X is priced the same as the equivalent 5600X was at launch, the 7950X is actually $100 less than the 5950X was at launch.
The core count of the Ryzen 7000 series remains the same as the the Ryzen 5000, but AMD is boasting both faster clock speed AND more efficient instructions per clock (IPC). A better IPC means that the processor can do more at a given clock speed than an older processor at the same clock speed. The clockspeeds are up significantly, with the 7600X boasting clockspeeds up to 5.3GHz and the 7950X boasting clockspeeds as high as a mind boggling 5.7GHz. These products should be very fast.
All 4 processors will be available on September 27th, along with a slew of new socket AM5 motherboards to support them. I don’t have Canadian pricing at this time but the price ranges will likely be between $400 and $1000 for the various models.
https://pcper.com/2022/08/amd-announces-ryzen-7000-specs-and-pricing/
Canada’s Competition Tribunal Rules Rogers Outage Relevant To Shaw Takeover Talks
Rogers bid to buy Shaw might hit another roadblock, as the competition bureau has ruled that the July 8th outage that affected 13 million Rogers customers is relevant to the decision on whether or not Rogers will be allowed to buy Shaw. There is no indication either way as to exactly what that means for the various agencies that need to greenlight the deal before it is allowed to go through, but it is hard to imagine it paints the deal in a better light.
Meta Settles Cambridge Analytica Lawsuit, Avoids Zuckerberg Testifying Under Oath
Meta has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought by a group of users impacted by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is hard to believe but it has been 4 years since it was revealed that Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to collect and sell the personal data of an estimated 87 million Facebook users, mainly to political organizations. This data collection occurred even if a user had set all of their data to “private” on the Facebook platform. The class action lawsuit had proceeded far enough that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was due to testify under oath in September. One wonders if keeping Zuckerberg away from a sworn testimony was a motivating factor for Meta to settle. The two sides have submitted a plan to the judge overseeing the case to have a written settlement completed within 60 days. Only then will we learn what Meta agrees to pay in damages on top of the Billions of dollars it has already paid to the US Federal Trade Comission in fines.
Elon Musk Officially Subpoena’s Twitter Whistleblower
Elon Musk’s legal team has issued a subpoena to Peiter Zatko, the former head of cybersecurity at Twitter who says the company has misrepresented the number of bots on the platform, among other more serious allegations. The number of legitimate accounts on the platform is a key argument for Musk as he tries to back out of his deal to buy Twitter. His legal team indicates that Zatko’s information, if proven to be correct, will be the centerpiece of their legal argument.
This story is the gift that won’t stop giving.
https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-twitter-whistleblower-subpoena-170929677.html?src=rss
Samsung Releases Android 12L for Galaxy Tab 8 Series
Just a few weeks after Android 13 was officially released, Samsung is updating the Tab S8 series….. to Android 12L. Android 12L was the midcycle update to Android 12 designed for large screens, brining multitasking improvements, as well as better support for apps on larger displays. While it may be funny to see Samsung release an Android 12 version after Android 13 hits, this update was in development for some time, and is also the basis for the software on the Galaxy Z Fold4. The improvements should be meaningful on the larger tablets.
https://www.androidcentral.com/tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-s8-android-12l-update
JBL Has Released Wireless Earbuds With a Display For Some Reason
The JBL Tour Pro 2 headphones are mostly unremarkable wireless earbuds, featuring active noise cancellation, ambient sound, 6 hours of battery life, 4 charges in the battery case, and an otherwise uninspiring design.
Oh, and there’s a touchscreen on the earbud case. For some reason, JBL thinks putting a touchscreen here makes sense. Users can control headphone functions, play/pause music, and even answer calls by tapping buttons on the earbud case.
But…. Why?
https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/30/23328582/jbl-touchscreen-tour-pro-2-charging-case-one-m2-features