🛰️ Solar Storm Halts Planting; Aurora Misses Top Spot; Microsoft EU Legal Woes
Good Morning! Kick off your week with our latest insights on technological advancements and AI developments.
Today’s pick
Solar Storm Knocks Out Farmers' Tractor GPS Systems During Peak Planting Season
Aurora breaks the exaFLOP barrier but falls short of the final Frontier once again
Microsoft set to face EU competition charges over Teams software
Amazon's Zoox Probed by US After Two Crashes in Autonomous SUVs
Intel Nears Deal With Apollo for $11 Billion Ireland Partnership
Let’s dive in
Solar Storm Knocks Out Farmers' Tractor GPS Systems During Peak Planting Season.
By Jason Koebler via 404 Media
A solar storm caused significant disruptions to GPS systems in tractors, severely affecting planting operations during a crucial time for farmers.
John Deere dealerships reported that the GPS inaccuracy has led to potential future complications for crop harvesting, underlining the vulnerability of modern agricultural technology.
Farmers like Kevin Kenney in Nebraska have halted their planting, predicting that this incident might spike commodity markets come Monday.
𝕏: Scoop: Solar storm is causing farmers' tractor GPS systems to go haywire. Many have shut down planting altogether during a critical period. A Deere dealer said accuracy is "extremely compromised" - Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler)
Aurora breaks the exaFLOP barrier but falls short of the final Frontier once again.
By Tobias Mann via The Register
Argonne National Laboratory's Aurora supercomputer has breached the exaflop barrier, marking it as the second exascale machine on the Top500 list, though still trailing behind Oak Ridge's Frontier system.
Despite its advancements, Aurora requires a substantial 38.6 MW of power to achieve over an exaFLOP of performance, significantly less efficient compared to Frontier's 1.2 exaFLOPS at just 22.7 MW.
Looking ahead, Lawrence Livermore's El Capitan is poised to potentially outclass both, with a theoretical peak performance of 2.3 exaFLOPS, nearly 400 petaFLOPS more than Aurora.
𝕏: Rick is saying a lot of the quiet part out loud here. Non-Top500 HPL scale runs were run at much smaller scale since ALCF’s focus was on breaking the 1 EF barrier HPL-MxP was 90% of the system Intel has “bad” product names - Glenn K. Lockwood (@glennklockwood)
The best way to reach new readers is through word of mouth. If you click THIS LINK in your inbox, it’ll create an easy-to-send pre-written email you can just fire off to some friends.
Microsoft set to face EU competition charges over Teams software.
By Javier Espinoza via Financial Times
Microsoft is set to face EU competition charges related to its integration of Teams software within its broader product suite.
These charges stem from concerns that Microsoft's bundling practices may hinder competition by disadvantaging rival communication tools.
The impending legal challenge could significantly impact Microsoft's operations in Europe, influencing both market dynamics and regulatory policies in the tech sector.
𝕏: The "theory of harm" here (after Microsoft unbundled Teams from Office anyway) may be this: "it's the world's most valuable company so the EU can't investigate Big Tech companies with a marginally lower market cap without doing something (even if performative) against Microsoft" - Florian Mueller (@Florian4Gamers)
Amazon's Zoox Probed by US After Two Crashes in Autonomous SUVs.
By Keith Laing via Bloomberg
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Amazon's Zoox after two of its autonomous SUVs unexpectedly braked, leading to rear-end collisions with motorcyclists.
These incidents, involving Toyota Highlander vehicles equipped with Zoox's automated-driving system, resulted in minor injuries to the motorcyclists.
Approximately 500 vehicles are estimated to be subject to this ongoing safety investigation.
Intel Nears Deal With Apollo for $11 Billion Ireland Partnership.
By Laura Cooper via Wall Street Journal
Intel is in advanced negotiations with Apollo to secure over $11 billion in funding for constructing a new chip manufacturing plant in Ireland.
The two companies are engaged in exclusive discussions, with a potential deal expected to finalize in the upcoming weeks.
This strategic partnership aims to bolster Intel's production capabilities and enhance its presence in the European market.
Trending in AI
Women in AI: Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick wants to pass more AI legislation
OpenAI Asks for Public's Help in Writing Rules for ChatGPT, and More AI News
Intel exec on bringing artificial intelligence into the workplace
Thanks for reading to the bottom and soaking in our Newslit Daily fueled with highlights for your morning.
I hope you found it interesting and, needless to say, if you have any questions or feedback let me know by hitting reply.
Take care and see you tomorrow!
P.S. Want to advertise with us? We’d love to hear from you.
How was today’s email?
🫤 Not Great | 🙂 Good | 🤩 Amazing