IBM has been working with DARPA’s Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics ( SyNAPSE ) program since 2008 to develop computing systems that work less like conventional computers and more like the neurons inside your brain. After years of development, IBM has finally unveiled the system to the public as part of a three-week “boot camp” training session for academic and government researchers. The TrueNorth system, as it’s been dubbed, employs modular chips that act like neurons. By stringing multiple chips together researchers can essentially build an artificial neural network. The version that IBM just debuted contains about 48 million connections — roughly the same computing capacity as a rat’s brain — over an array of 48 chips. These systems are designed to run “deep learning” algorithms — similar to Facebook’s new facial recognition feature or Skype’s insta-translate function — but at a fraction of the cost, electrical draw and space needed by conventional data centers. For example, a TrueNorth chip contains 5.4 billion transistors but only uses 70 mw of power. An Intel processor, conversely contains just 1.4 billion transistors and draws between 35 and 140 watts. In fact, future iterations of the TrueNorth system could (theoretically at least) be shrunk small enough to fit inside cell phones or smart watches. These chips also hold an advantage over the GPUs (graphics chips) and FPGAs (function-specific programmable chips) that the industry currently uses because TrueNorth chips operate much the same way that the deep learning algorithms running on them do. With it, IBM hopes to eventually shift some of the computing power requirements away from traditional data centers and onto end user devices. This should speed up the computing process since data isn’t being sent back and forth over the network. Instead, companies could simply develop a deep learning model (say, to count the number of cars in a photo), upload it to a central data server and then have the model run on the user’s TrueNorth-enabled device. The system would be able to spot every car in the user’s image gallery without having to upload each photo to the remote server for processing. Unfortunately, the system is still in its infancy and years away from your phone. [Image Credit: IBM] Filed under: Google , Facebook Comments Via: Wired Source: IBM Tags: computing, deeplearning, facebook, FPGA, google, GPU, IBM, neuralnetwork, neuromorphic, Skype, SyNAPSE
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IBM wires up ‘neuromorphic’ chips like a rodent’s brain
Think that Samsung’s 2TB solid-state drives are pretty capacious? They’re just the start of something bigger. The Korean tech giant has started manufacturing the first 256-gigabit (32GB) 3D vertical flash memory , doubling its previous capacity record. The new tech should turn multi-terabyte SSDs into practical options for your home PC, and help phone makers cram more storage into tight spaces. You might get more bang for your buck, to boot — Samsung’s manufacturing is 40 percent more productive, so you likely won’t pay twice as much for twice the headroom. The company plans to make this 256-gigabit flash through the rest of 2015, so you’ll probably see it crop up in a lot of products (from Samsung and otherwise) over the months ahead. Filed under: Storage , Samsung Comments Source: Samsung Tomorrow Tags: flash, samsung, ssd, storage, v-nand, vnand 
Cellular service appears to be down across every major provider throughout Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky with Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville being the hardest hit. According to the website Down Detector , more than 10, 000 AT&T, 1, 000 Verizon, 7, 000 T-Mobile and 300 Sprint customers are without internet or phone access. None of the affected companies have disclosed the specific reason for the outage yet, though they all have already issued vague statements about how they’re working on the issue. Update : Verizon is reporting the issue is resolved as of 8PM ET, however we haven’t seen an update from the others yet. Verizon issued the following statement after fielding numerous complaints on its Twitter account: A connectivity issue is causing a service interruption in our market. Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working with our vendor partners to resolve this issue quickly. At present we do not have an estimated time of resolution. As did T-Mobile: @baegail Customers across all carriers are affected in your region. Engineers are on it and working to restore your services asap! *MMH – T-Mobile USA (@TMobileHelp) August 4, 2015 Sprint followed the same pattern in its statement: We are aware of the impacts to service in which customers may be unable to access voice and some data services. This appears to be an issue caused by a local exchange provider and our network team is working with the provider to restore service to impacted customers as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience. As did AT&T: Some customers across parts of the Southeast are experiencing wireline and wireless service issues. We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to restore service. We apologize for this inconvenience. According to Re/code , a Sprint rep has hinted that the issue originated at a local exchange provider that works with the affected companies. “We are aware of the impacts to service in which customers across multiple carriers may be unable to access voice and some data services, ” the rep said. “This appears to be an issue caused by a local exchange provider and our network team is working with the provider to restore service to impacted customers as quickly as possible.” Filed under: Internet , Mobile , Verizon , Sprint , AT&T , T-Mobile Comments Via: Gizmodo Source: WATE 6 
