Monday, August 16th, 2021

Time	Event
12:04a	Lamborghini Introduces Rare Hybrid-Electric Countach Sportscar Lamborghini's exotic Countach sportscar was featured in the opening scene of the 1981 movie Cannonball Run. On the car's 50th anniversary, they've now introduced a 802-horsepower hybrid-electric version. Mashable reports: The reimagined Countach, unveiled in Monterey, California on Friday, is the Italian carmaker's second hybrid. Its drivetrain and performance borrows heavily from the Sián supercar, which was introduced in 2019 as the famous sports car maker's first hybrid. Lamborghini's new Countach (pronounced "coon-tash") has a V12 hybrid engine and 48 volt e-motor, as also seen in the Sián. It can accelerate up to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and has a 220 mph top speed. Unlike some hybrids, the Countach doesn't have a pure electric mode. Instead, it's always using a blend of the electric motor and gas engine. The air vents on the back are 3D-printed and the roof is photochromic, meaning it switches from solid to transparent at the push of a button. There are also four exhaust pipes on the backside... There will only be 112 of Lamborghini's new hybrid Countach ever made... TechCrunch adds that "Powering the Countach's electric motor is a supercapacitor Lamborghini claims delivers three times more power compared to a lithium-ion battery of the same weight. "The automaker says it mounted the electric motor directly to the gearbox to preserve the feeling of power transfer you get from a V12 engine." Read more of this story at Slashdot. (Comment on this)
7:34a	Samsung is Using AI to Design a Smartphone Chip. Will Others Follow? "Samsung is using artificial intelligence to automate the insanely complex and subtle process of designing cutting-edge computer chips," reports Wired: The South Korean giant is one of the first chipmakers to use AI to create its chips. Samsung is using AI features in new software from Synopsys, a leading chip design software firm used by many companies... Others, including Google and Nvidia, have talked about designing chips with AI. But Synopsys' tool, called DSO.ai, may prove the most far-reaching because Synopsys works with dozens of companies. The tool has the potential to accelerate semiconductor development and unlock novel chip designs, according to industry watchers. Synopsys has another valuable asset for crafting AI-designed chips: years of cutting-edge semiconductor designs that can be used to train an AI algorithm. A spokesperson for Samsung confirms that the company is using Synopsys AI software to design its Exynos chips, which are used in smartphones, including its own branded handsets, as well as other gadgets... Chipmakers including Nvidia and IBM are also dabbling in AI-driven chip design. Other makers of chip-design software, including Cadence, a competitor to Synopsys, are also developing AI tools to aid with mapping out the blueprints for a new chip. But Synopsys's co-CEO tells Wired that Samsung's chip will be "the first of a real commercial processor design with AI." Read more of this story at Slashdot. (Comment on this)
8:10p	Nokia's Smartphone: 25 Years Since it Changed the World The Nokia 9000 Communicator -- "the office in your back pocket" -- was a smartphone even before the word was invented. It has been 25 years since it revolutionized the market. DW: Nokia presented its 9000 Communicator at the CeBIT 1996 computer fair in Hanover, Germany, and launched on August 15 of that year. "The office in your back pocket" added to the IBM Simon from 1994 and the HP OmniGo 700LX from March 1996. The 9000 Communicator was a smartphone even before the word had been invented. For a decade, the device was ââwhat a smartphone was supposed to look like. After the Communicator, Blackberry perfected the idea -- until Apple's iPhone with its multitouch screen in 2007 came along. Opened like a minilaptop, with a keyboard and a black-and-white display with a diagonal of just 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches), the retrofuturistic-looking device was made famous by actor Val Kilmer in the remake of the film The Saint. The 9000 Communicator was the first device to offer a combination of keyboard, quality screen, and business and internet software in one package. It had for the first time all of the features of a computer on a phone, putting email, web browsing, fax, word processing and spreadsheets into a single pocketable device. Read more of this story at Slashdot. (Comment on this)

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