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.
Like most structural changes in technology, it began quietly. Two years ago, a line item in a hyperscaler’s capital expenditure breakdown was hardly worth looking at, but now it looks more like a siege than a budget. The unglamorous workhorses of computing, memory chips, are devouring the cloud industry. According to semi-analysis data, memory will account for roughly 30% of all hyperscaler capital expenditures in 2026, up from roughly 8% in 2023 and 2024. That is a nearly four-fold increase in just four years, and it continues to rise. You can practically feel it if you stroll through any significant…
I saw something strange a few weeks ago while passing a construction site outside of Phoenix. It didn’t appear to be a warehouse because of the dust, the cranes, and the length of the perimeter fence. It appeared to be an airport. I was informed that it was a data center by a worker leaning on a Ford F-150. Only one. Within a forty-mile radius, there were three more that fed the same hunger. In part because it contradicts the narrative we continue to tell ourselves about artificial intelligence, that image has stuck with me. Benchmark scores and chatbots continue…
Seeing engineers cluster around a black plastic cube that is smaller than a deck of cards while strolling through a defense electronics lab is almost comical. On a shelf, the CuBox-i appears to be something you would overlook. However, that small cube and similar ones keep appearing in labs near the Pentagon, in drone integration shops in Huntsville, and in the back rooms of contractors discreetly retooling for the new arms race. It’s difficult to ignore the pattern. FieldDetailProduct NameCuBox-i Compact ARM ComputerManufacturerSolidRun Ltd. (Israel-based, global distribution)ArchitectureARM Cortex-A9 / A53 family, fanless, palm-sizedTypical Power Draw~3W idle, under 5W full loadPrimary…
At dusk, the buildings in Loudoun County, Virginia, reveal themselves when you drive by. Lined with chain-link fencing and substations that appear almost industrial-gothic in the orange light, they are enormous, windowless, hum-quiet from the road but loud up close. This area is known to the locals as “Data Center Alley.” It seemed like a curiosity a few years ago. It now has the appearance of a frontier town that expanded too quickly for its own water table. CategoryDetailPrimary IssueEnergy and water consumption by hyperscale AI data centersGeographic HotspotsNorthern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas, central Washington, rural IowaU.S. Data Center Share of…
A certain type of announcement appears subtly in the morning news cycle and continues to reverberate for days. One of those was the news from Argonne National Laboratory this past week. The Department of Energy, NVIDIA, Oracle, and a few supercomputers with names derived from astronomy make it appear on paper to be just another government collaboration. However, after a minute of sitting with it, the scale starts to feel different. One system with 100,000 Blackwell GPUs. It’s not an upgrade to the lab. That’s a claim. Key InformationDetailsInstitutionArgonne National LaboratoryLocationLemont, Illinois (near Chicago)Parent AgencyU.S. Department of EnergyDirectorPaul KearnsMajor PartnersNVIDIA,…
I nearly missed the first time I saw a CuBox-i perched atop a control cabinet in a packaging facility outside of Bursa. It was partially concealed behind a coil of orange Ethernet cable and smaller than the coffee mug next to it. Almost casually, the plant manager gestured toward it. “That little thing runs the inspection cameras on three lines,” he replied. He sounded a little taken aback, as though the cube had gradually gained his respect over several months, much like a quiet new hire eventually does. When I consider why industrial developers continue to return to the CuBox-i,…
With phones rattling, screens glowing, and the smell of stale coffee somewhere near the back, the trading floor continues to hum as it always has. A particular type of person is becoming more and more absent. The employee who used to build a deck on Sundays in preparation for Monday. The junior analyst who was familiar with every cell in a model. Not all of them have vanished yet. However, there are fewer seats than there were eighteen months ago, and this isn’t due to a fad in the market. It’s a non-sleeping piece of software. The numbers don’t hold…
Cubox has a subtle allure. You wouldn’t believe that one of Asia’s most fascinating AI stories is taking place inside an ordinary office building a few blocks from the subway if you were to stroll through Gangnam on any weekday. The business lacks both Naver’s marketing prowess and Samsung’s swagger. However, every time a traveler enters Incheon Airport without presenting a passport to a human, its fingerprints are literally on the gates. The models that Cubox is renowned for are located on either side of the two halves of the company’s story. The older, hardware-focused lineup, which includes the compact…
Millions of televisions in Pakistan are currently powered by a tiny black plastic stick, and the majority of those who purchase one hardly give it much thought. The story ends when they plug it in and access YouTube or Netflix. However, it turns out that the plot is becoming more intriguing. The variety is nearly overwhelming when you visit a store in Kohinoor City, Faisalabad, or look through the listings on AlhamdTech. The price of the Mi TV Stick 4K is approximately Rs 12,800. The more recent Mi TV Stick 4K 2nd Gen has a slightly higher push. Once thought…
Seeing the same three names consistently appear at the top of every Linux recommendation list is oddly comforting. Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. year after year. New competitors emerge, become well-known for a while, and then stealthily return to the obscure corners of the internet. There are still the big three. Additionally, how each of them is getting ready for the upcoming year in 2026 reveals something about how Linux is evolving. Established in 1993, Debian continues to feel like the family’s patient grandfather. It doesn’t follow fads. It doesn’t promote itself. First-class RISC-V support was included with the August 2025…