Amazon Web Services reveals EC2 instances based on AMD chips
The instances will be available in three variants of the existing EC2 instances. R5 and M5 instances can be launched from the AWS management console or command line interface, while AMD-based T3 instances will also be available later down the line.
The R5 and M5 instances will be available in six sizes going up to 69 vCPUs, providing up to 768 GB of memory. The T3 instances will be available in 7 sizes with up to 7 vCPUs and 32 GB of memory. All new instances can be purchased on-demand, reserved or in spot instances.
alternative available for general purpose and memory optimised cloud workloads. AWS chief evangelist Jeff Barr said the customised EPYC processors run at 2.5 GHz and cost 10 percent less than comparable instances.
They are designed to be used for workloads that don’t use all of compute power available to them, and provide you with a new opportunity to optimise your instance mix based on cost and performance, aws said
The AMD-based instances will be available from today in some instances in Asia-Pacific, the US and Ireland.
WS isn’t replacing Intel with AMD,
Telstra fault takes down Eftpos and ATMs
A nationwide Telstra network outage starting Friday has left merchants unable to use their electronic funds transfer terminals for sales transactions, and bank customers unable to withdraw cash from automated teller machines.
Telstra Enterprise said on social media that the fault is within its machine-to-machine (M2M) data services network, with EFTPOS terminals and ATMs being affected.
The outage has been blamed on faulty vendor equipment that had since been replaced. Telstra did not say what the equipment was, or name the vendor in question.
Taxis were unable to accept card payments for fares, and resorted to asking passengers to pay cash instead.
These sorts of outages disrupt commerce and erode trust of consumers in payment systems,” the RBA’s Assistant Governor for Financial Systems, Michelle Bullock said at the time.
“Regulators are therefore starting to focus on the operational risks associated with retail payment systems and whether the operators and the participants are meeting appropriately high standards of resilience.”
“These sorts of outages disrupt commerce and erode trust of consumers in payment systems
Telstra will let customers put consumer electronics on their mobile bills
Telstra will let customers buy high-end consumer electronics and add pay them off over time by adding the cost to their home broadband or mobile bill.
The products available through the new feature includes smart watches, speakers, headphones and drones, which can be bought with no upfront cost and paid for over the 24-month period of customers’ bills.
For example, customers who purchase a home or mobile plan can pay an additional $32 per month for 24 months to receive an Apple Watch S4, though customers can only add up to five products.
There are more than 20 products available at launch, including kit form the likes of Apple, Samsung and DJI, and Telstra plans to expand that to more than 30 by Christmas.
Telstra revealed its wide-sweeping Telstra2022 strategy in June this year, in which one of the four main initiatives is to simplify its product portfolio. The most drastic of these changes was the announcement that it would scrap all 1800 of its current consumer and small business plans and replace them with just 20 core plans, which started rolling out in July.
Telstra also scraped its excess data fees for mobile customers and instead caps download speeds to 1.5Mbps after reaching their limit.
Western Digital unveils ‘world’s first’ 15TB archive hard drive
Western Digital has launched the world’s first 15TB SMR hard drive, designed for use with hyperscale cloud and data centre workloads.
SMR (Shingle Magnetic Recording) hard drives are able to pack in higher storage capacities compared to a similar physical-sized HDD because the data can be stored on overlapping grooves. However, they’re not really suitable for reuse and as such is a perfect solution for the problem of storing data that needs to be kept for long periods of time.
The 15TB Ultrastar DC HC620 HDD drives can be combined together in a 4U60 HDD enclosure, offering a total capacity of up to 900TB. The company said this offers an extra 60TB per rack compared to its previous highest capacity HDD (14TB)
The company suggested it could be used to power smart city data centres where huge amounts of data, such as video surveillance and legacy information, needs to be stored for regulatory compliance.
Drone Racing World Championships: Race to be crowned top pilot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=fotWDhYWpbM
A 15-year-old Australian has been crowned overall champion at the FAI World Drone Racing Championships in Shenzhen, China.
beat over 127 other competitors of all ages from across the world to clinch the title as the four-day championship came to a close on Sunday.
take home a US$24,000 ($33,350) winner’s cheque, along with his gold medal.
Joes Podcast for 08/11/2018
What You Need To Know About eSims
https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/11/what-are-esims/
- What is an eSIM?
eSIM stands for embedded SIM and it does everything a regular physical SIM card does. - A SIM card stores information that authenticates your identity to your mobile phone carrier and tells them that you’re subscribed to a plan on their network.
- Without it, you wouldn’t be able to make calls, send texts or use mobile data. If you switch over to a different carrier this normally requires another SIM card sourced from the new carrier.
- An eSIM is a tiny chip that is embedded inside your phone, this gives the smartphone manufacturer move space to add other features where the existing card and card slot used to be.
- A eSIM is rewritable, so switching carriers doesn’t mean switching phones. With a couple of taps of your smartphone screen, you can sign up to a new plan with a different service provider and start using their network without ever stepping foot inside their store or messing about with changing a physical SIM card.
- It also means you won’t have to waste time researching plans from different carriers. Subscribing to a plan via an eSIM, you can see all of the carriers and plans available in your area right in your phone’s settings, allowing you to easily compare and find the best value.
- The eSIM is also supported in the cellular versions of the iPad, Apple Watch and Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatches. Some Aussie telcos including Telstra and Optus support eSIM in watches, but only as a way to use the existing number you have through a physical SIM on your phone.
- Dual SIM and eSIM
At the moment a physical SIM card slot working alongside an eSIM in a dual SIM arrangement, is what is available. Ultimately future smartphones will have dual eSIMS. - Think of eSIMS like this,
Before Netflix was around you had to go to a physical store, pick a movie and walk out with a DVD much in the same way that we have to walk into a store now to pick a plan and walk out with a new SIM. With a eSIM its completely digital, allowing users to sign up to a plan that best suits their requirements direct from their handsets.
Google and Disney Partner to Bring Storybooks to Life
https://voicebot.ai/2018/11/06/google-and-disney-partner-to-bring-storybooks-to-life/
- Google and Disney have partnered to bring Disney Storybooks to life. Just say , Hey Google let’s read along with Disney.
- When you start reading out loud selected Disney Little Golden Books, The Google Home will add sound effects and soundtracks to accompany the story as you read it out.
- This new feature uses voice recognition to be able to tell when a reader has skipped ahead or gone back a page, and it adjusts the sound effects accordingly.
- If the user pauses during reading, ambient music will start to play until the user begins reading again.
- The Disney Story Books feature works on Google Home, Home Mini, and Home Max speakers in the US only atm.
- When the device is in story mode, commands, searches, and answers are disabled.
- Here are the books currently available:
- Moana
Coco
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
The Three Little Pigs
Alice in Wonderland
Cinderella
Jack Jack Attack
Mickey Mouse and his Spaceship
Toy Story 3
Peter Pan
Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping
HBO’s has partnered with Amazon’s Alexa and has and animated children’s show Called Esme and Roy
https://voicebot.ai/2018/11/02/hbo-creates-their-second-alexa-skill-this-one-is-for-kids/
- Esme and Roy is like an adventure game where kids are able to pick different adventures for Esme, who is a “monster-sitter,” with her friend Roy, who is a giant yellow monster.
- You need to add this in the Skills Section of your Alexa device, The Skill description says it is meant for kids ages 3+