Author: Blaze Woodard
Blaze Woodard, an editor at cubox-i.com, is presently working as an intern at a Silicon Valley technology company while majoring in politics at the University of Kansas. Blaze, who identifies as both a policy thinker and a self-described tech geek, offers a viewpoint on hardware and computing coverage that few editors in this field can match: the capacity to relate the workings of a circuit board to the larger political, regulatory, and social forces influencing the technology sector. Even though her academic path led her to political science, her early fascination with technology persisted. She writes about computing, AI, and hardware with the zeal of someone who truly loves the subject, not as someone assigned to cover it. Blaze plays soccer and spends her free time with friends and living her life, which is exactly what a college student should do outside of the office and newsroom.
The first time you hold the CuBox-M, there’s a subtle humor to it. It is a glossy little cube that resembles the Rubik’s puzzle that took over living rooms in the 1980s and sits in your palm like a kid’s toy. Nevertheless, a neural processing unit with 2.3 trillion operations per second is crammed inside that two-inch shell. It’s difficult to ignore how strange it is to have a machine learning engine next to your coffee mug that is smaller than a deck of cards. FieldDetailsProduct NameCuBox-M (also known as CuBox Pulse)ManufacturerSolidRun Ltd.HeadquartersYokneam Illit, IsraelForm Factor2″ x 2″ x 2″…
I’m not particularly interested in how quickly AI is being implemented. It’s the quiet in places where people used to fight, like coffee shops, open-plan offices, and classrooms. There’s a feeling that thinking aloud, stumbling over a response or making a mistake in front of others, has quietly ceased to be a valued ability. After years of researching human cognition, theoretical neuroscientist Vivienne Ming believes we know exactly what we’re giving up. We simply don’t want to face it head-on. FieldDetailSubjectThe cognitive cost of generative AI on human reasoningCentral voiceVivienne Ming, theoretical neuroscientist and cognitive scientistBackgroundFounder of Socos Labs; former…
The timing almost demands admiration. In a single line of a quarterly filing, Tesla concealed what might have been one of the most significant acquisitions in its history under Note 14, the type of footnote that most average investors ignore in favor of the revenue figures. There was no press release. not using a slide deck. The earnings call made no mention of it. Just a sentence stating that the company had agreed to pay up to $2 billion in stock and equity awards back in April to purchase an unidentified AI hardware company. FieldDetailCompanyTesla, Inc.HeadquartersAustin, Texas, United StatesCEOElon MuskIndustryElectric…
Generative AI quietly ceased to be a novelty somewhere between the polished demo videos and the quarterly investor calls. It developed into infrastructure. Additionally, it is now at the center of a discussion that was meant to take place earlier, much like most infrastructure that is constructed more quickly than it is understood. Tech advisors, who were previously called in for cybersecurity audits or cloud migrations, are increasingly being called into rooms with more complex questions. Who is the owner of this output? In the training data, whose face is it? What made the model say that? Topic ProfileDetailsSubjectThe Tech…
The first thing you notice when you enter Frontier’s wing of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is not its size. It’s the noise. A long, low hum that resembles the weather. For years, the fastest computer on the planet was responsible for that hum, and those who worked close to it spoke about it with a peculiar blend of pride and superstition, much like pilots talk about their favorite aircraft. After years of delays that had turned into a running joke in the world of high-performance computing, Aurora finally woke up in Illinois. No supercomputer in recent memory may have been…
The CuBox has an almost obstinately antiquated feel to it. It runs Android, Debian, and Yocto without a hitch, and it sits on your desk like a paperweight without a whirring fan or aggressively blinking LEDs. It’s worth stopping for that alone. The majority of small-form-factor computers choose an ecosystem, choose a lane, and ask developers to accept the trade-offs. That is not what SolidRun, an Israeli company that has been developing these things covertly for more than ten years, will do. The end product is a small machine that feels more like a statement than a product. CuBox-i /…
These days, it’s difficult to ignore the tone change whenever Argonne makes a new announcement. There’s a swagger that didn’t exist a few years ago, the kind that occurs when a research institution begins acting more like a venue for the AI race rather than a participant in it. According to the most recent information, the lab outside of Chicago is no longer in line thanks to a broad collaboration between the Department of Energy, NVIDIA, Oracle, and Argonne. It’s establishing the agenda. FieldDetailsInstitutionArgonne National LaboratoryLocationLemont, Illinois (about 25 miles southwest of Chicago)Operated ByUChicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. Department…
When the U.S. freight market is brought up in Indian logistics boardrooms, a certain kind of optimism emerges. In the press releases, you can practically hear it. Tiger Logistics, a Delhi-based freight forwarder that has been discreetly transporting goods across continents for more than 20 years, recently launched CUBOX, a consolidation service for less-than-container loads that is specifically targeted at the American supply chain market. The launch is being presented as standard. Most likely it isn’t. To put it simply, CUBOX is a service for shippers who don’t have enough cargo to fill a container. Cargo from several shippers is…
The way Pony.ai announced its new domain controller—rather than with the typical fanfare of a Silicon Valley keynote, but rather as part of a larger Nvidia partnership story that already has Stellantis, Uber, and Lucid vying for headlines—is subtly telling. It’s the kind of move that causes you to stop. After nearly ten years of trying to persuade investors, regulators, and doubtful passengers that it can be trusted with a steering wheel, the company is now wagering that the next chapter won’t be about cars at all. It has to do with the silicon within them. Pony.ai — Company SnapshotDetailsFounded2016HeadquartersFremont,…
A tiny black aluminum cube known as the CuBox used to be on the desks of a specific type of hobbyist around 2013. It was hardly bigger than a Rubik’s cube. After installing a version of Debian and plugging it into your router, you were able to run a web server, a Git repository, and possibly even a personal cloud. It was less expensive than a good dinner. The people in charge of them were regarded as somewhat strange. By then, the cloud had already taken the lead, and self-hosting seemed like a pastime for the obstinate. FieldDetailTopicEvolution of decentralized…