Highly anticipated: As the unveiling of consumer Blackwells draws near, clear images of Nvidia's next-generation graphics cards are beginning to materialize. The new lineup's flagship product will undoubtedly set new performance benchmarks, but the latest information suggests that it will also use one of the biggest chips in Nvidia's history. Trusted leaker "MEGAsizeGPU" recently claimed that Nvidia's upcoming GB202 graphics processor, which will power the GeForce RTX 5090, uses a 24mm x 31mm die. If the report is accurate, it might support earlier rumors claiming the graphics card will retail for nearly $2,000.A 744mm die would make the GB202 22 percent larger than the RTX 4090's 619mm AD102 GPU. It would also be the company's largest die since the TU102, which measured 754mm and served as the core of the RTX 2080 Ti, released in 2018.Although the RTX 5090 utilizes a larger GPU than the 4090, earlier reports indicated that the final consumer product will be smaller than its predecessor, as it won't use the entire die. The 4090's monstrous profile primarily stems from its triple-slot cooler. In contrast, the Blackwell flagship will have a more typical two-slot design featuring dual fans to fit a broader range of chassis.However, all other known specs suggest that the 5090 represents a substantial leap forward. With 21,760 CUDA cores and 32GB of 28GB/s GDDR7 VRAM on a 512-bit bus, it should offer an estimated 70 percent performance boost over the 4090. The clock speed remains unclear, but the card features a 600W TBP. Connectivity support includes PCIe 5.0 and DisplayPort 2.1a.The second Blackwell GPU, GB203, will power the RTX 5080 and 5070 Ti. While the 5080 utilizes the whole die with 10,712 cores, 16GB of VRAM on a 256-bit bus, and a 400W TBP, the 5070 Ti is cut down to 8,690 cores and draws 300W. // Related StoriesThe RTX 5070 will also use the full GB205 die, with 6,400 cores and 12GB of VRAM on a 192-bit bus. Reports indicate that the 5090, 5080, 5070, and 5070 Ti will debut at CES in January, featuring GDDR7 VRAM. The RTX 5060 will likely launch a few weeks later.AMD is also expected to unveil the Radeon RX 8000, codenamed RDNA4, at CES, while Intel might reveal its Arc Battlemage GPUs next month.

Momentum has been slowly building for well over a year now for James Gunn and Peter Safrans new DC Universe. The multimedia, DC Comics-inspired franchise hasnt officially begun, though. That long-awaited moment will come when the new Gunn-created animated Suicide Squad spin-off TV series, Creature Commandos, premieres December 5 on Max. Nonetheless, Gunn is already not only receiving criticisms from some comic book readers and superhero fans, but also pushing back against certain claims.The DC Studios co-CEO did that very thing when one fan recently argued on Threads that Gunns decision to greenlight projects about niche characters like Sgt. Rock and Swamp Thing makes it seem like hes only making the DCU for hardcore comic book readers and not for the general audience. In response, Gunn wrote, Dont put Swamp Thing in the corner. Thats a project in development weve actually announced, and hes an incredibly well known character with not only some of the greatest comics of all time but a successful film series and his own TV show, something that could be said of only a very small handful of DC characters.Recommended VideosIn the same comment, Gunn also defended his decision to skip Batman and Supermans origin stories in the DCU, succinctly explaining, Im not telling Batman and Supermans origin stories again because everyone knows them.As a filmmaker, Gunn has experience bringing obscure comic book characters into the mainstream scene. He did so in 2014 when he directed Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy. There are, additionally, multiple projects in development at DC Studios right now that promise to focus on lesser known comic book characters, including Creature Commandos, The Authority, Booster Gold, and the recently reported, Luca Guadagnino-directed and Daniel Craig-starring Sgt. Rock.RelatedThat said, there are also just as many, if not more, TV and film projects in the works at DC Studios right now that are centered around characters who are anything but niche and obscure, like Superman, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, The Brave and the Bold, Swamp Thing, and Lanterns. Movies about the Teen Titans and fan-favorite Batman villains Bane and Deathstroke are also reportedly in development.Taking all that into account, it doesnt seem like Gunn and Safran are planning on relying too much on niche characters in the DC Universe so much as theyre trying to fill the franchise out with a healthy mix of both well-known and lesser known heroes and villains. Only time will tell whether or not their efforts to do so actually pay off, but its a hard strategy to criticize, especially before anyone has even seen one of the DCUs forthcoming shows or movies.Editors Recommendations

The 2025 Oscar nominations may still be several months away, but one of the stars of Dune: Part Two is already making his expectations for them known. In a recent interview with Variety, Josh Brolin said that he will take drastic action if Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuvedoesnt receive a Best Director nomination for his work on the film. If he doesnt get nominated this year, Ill quit acting, the actor announced.Brolin went on to explain why he believes Villeneuve deserves the kind of critical recognition for Dune: Part Two that an Oscar nomination would provide. It was a better movie than the first one. When I watched it, it felt like my brain was broken open. Its masterful, and Denis is one of our master filmmakers, Brolin argued. If the Academy Awards have any meaning whatsoever, theyll recognize him.Recommended VideosIt is, of course, worth noting that 2021s Dune: Part Onereceived a total of 10 Oscar nominations in 2022. It went on to win the Oscars for Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. Villeneuve was nominated for the film in the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay categories that year, but he pointedly didnt receive a Best Director nomination. That award ended up going in 2022 to Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog, and Villeneuve has, in fact, only ever been nominated for Best Director once in 2017 for directing the acclaimed sci-fi drama Arrival.Warner Bros. PicturesVilleneuve and Brolin, notably, have a history together that extends beyond the Dune films. The duo collaborated for the first time on 2015s Sicario. Their work together on Dune: Part One, therefore, marked a reunion for the two artists. To Brolins credit, while Dune: Part One received mostly positive reviews when it was released, Dune: Part Two was indeed widely recognized as an even more astonishing achievement than its predecessor when it hit theaters earlier this year.Whether or not that opinion is eventually reflected in the films Oscar nominations and wins remains to be seen. Now, though, fans at least know one person who will be unhappy if Villeneuve is once again not recognized for his work.Dune: Part Two is streaming now on Max.Editors Recommendations

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predatory pricing Elizabeth Warren calls for crackdown on Internet monopoly youve never heard of Senator wants to investigate whether VeriSign is ripping off customers and violating antitrust laws. Joel Khalili, WIRED.com Nov 23, 2024 1:00 pm | 33 Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday, May 18, 2023. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday, May 18, 2023. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreUS Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York have called on government bodies to investigate what they allege is the predatory pricing of .com web addresses, the Internets prime real estate.In a letter delivered today to the Department of Justice and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a branch of the Department of Commerce that advises the president, the two Democrats accuse VeriSign, the company that administers the .com top-level domain, of abusing its market dominance to overcharge customers.In 2018, under the Donald Trump administration, the NTIA modified the terms on how much VeriSign could charge for .com domains. The company has since hiked prices by 30 percent, the letter claims, though its service remains identical and could allegedly be provided far more cheaply by others.VeriSign is exploiting its monopoly power to charge millions of users excessive prices for registering a .com top-level domain, the letter claims. VeriSign hasnt changed or improved its services; it has simply raised prices because it holds a government-ensured monopoly.We intend to respond to senator Warren and representative Nadlers letter, which repeats inaccuracies and misleading statements that have been aggressively promoted by a small, self-interested group of domain-name investors for years, said Verisign spokesperson David McGuire in a statement to WIRED. We look forward to correcting the record and working with policymakers toward real solutions that benefit internet users.In an August blog post entitled Setting the Record Straight, the company claimed that discourse around its management of .com had been distorted by factual inaccuracies, a misunderstanding of core technical concepts, and misinterpretations regarding pricing, competition, and market dynamics in the domain name industry.In the same blog post, the company argues that it is not operating a monopoly because there are 1,200 generic top-level domains operated by other entities, including .org, .shop, .ai, and .uk.Though far from a household name, VeriSign takes in about $1.5 billion in revenue each year for servicing its particular section of the Internets inscrutable plumbing.In their letter, Warren and Nadler allege that VeriSign has exploited its exclusive right to charge for highly sought-after .com addresses to juice its revenues and drive up its share priceall at the expense of customers for whom there is no viable alternative.The letter claims that separate agreements with the NTIA and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit established by the Commerce Department to oversee the webs domain name system, have allowed VeriSign to establish monopoly power. The former sets how much the company can charge its customers for registering .com addresses, while the latter assigns VeriSign as the sole operator of the .com domain. The letter also alleges that VeriSign might be in violation of the Sherman Act.The NTIAs decision in 2018 to lift the price cap imposed on VeriSign also benefited ICANN, which in its role as overseer can reject price increases proposed by domain registry services. ICANN signed an agreement with VeriSign in 2020, sanctioning the maximum allowable price increases in return for $20 million over a five-year period. Thus, allege Warren and Nadler, Verisign and ICANN may have a collusive relationship.In June, a coalition of activist groups wrote to the DOJ and NTIA to express similar allegations. ICANN and VeriSign function as a de facto cartel, and the NTIA should stop sanctioning the incestuous legal triangle that serves as a shield to deflect overdue antitrust scrutiny into their otherwise likely illegal collusive relationship, the coalition claims. The group urged the government to stop this cycle of exploitation by refusing to renew the relationship between the NTIA and VeriSign.Neither ICANN nor the NTIA responded immediately to requests for comment.The NTIA has since indicated that it will renew its agreement with VeriSign. However, the terms of that agreement are up for review on November 30, before the start of Trumps second term, leaving the outgoing Democratic administration with an opportunity to put in place pricing rules that will apply for a six-year period, as a parting gift.In an August letter, the NTIA told VeriSign that it had questions related to [the company's] pricing and wanted to discuss possible solutions. VeriSign said it welcomed an opportunity to have this important discussion. But Warren and Nadler are now publicly pressing the NTIA to make sure that customers cannot be overcharged by VeriSignand pressing the DOJ to review for potential antitrust violations, too.Verisign has squeezed customers to enrich its investors while doing nothing to improve service, they claim. NTIA and DOJ should take action to ensure that over the next six years, VeriSigns consumers are charged fair prices for .com registration.This story originally appeared on wired.com.Joel Khalili, WIRED.com Wired.com is your essential daily guide to what's next, delivering the most original and complete take you'll find anywhere on innovation's impact on technology, science, business and culture. 33 Comments Prev story

Not so total recall Tweaking non-neural brain cells can cause memories to fade Neurons and a second cell type called an astrocyte collaborate to hold memories. Jacek Krywko Nov 23, 2024 7:00 am | 17 Astrocytes (labelled in black) sit within a field of neurons. Credit: Ed Reschke Astrocytes (labelled in black) sit within a field of neurons. Credit: Ed Reschke Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIf we go back to the early 1900s, this is when the idea was first proposed that memories are physically stored in some location within the brain, says Michael R. Williamson, a researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. For a long time, neuroscientists thought that the storage of memory in the brain was the job of engrams, ensembles of neurons that activate during a learning event. But it turned out this wasnt the whole picture.Williamsons research investigated the role astrocytes, non-neuron brain cells, play in the read-and-write operations that go on in our heads. Over the last 20 years the role of astrocytes has been understood better. Weve learned that they can activate neurons. The addition we have made to that is showing that there are subsets of astrocytes that are active and involved in storing specific memories, Williamson says in describing a new study his lab has published.One consequence of this finding: Astrocytes could be artificially manipulated to suppress or enhance a specific memory, leaving all other memories intact.Marking star cellsAstrocytes, otherwise known as star cells due to their shape, play various roles in the brain, and many are focused on the health and activity of their neighboring neurons. Williamsons team started by developing techniques that enabled them to mark chosen ensembles of astrocytes to see when they activate genes (including one named c-Fos) that help neurons reconfigure their connections and are deemed crucial for memory formation. This was based on the idea that the same pathway would be active in neurons and astrocytes.In simple terms, we use genetic tools that allow us to inject mice with a drug that artificially makes astrocytes express some other gene or protein of interest when they become active, says Wookbong Kwon, a biotechnologist at Baylor College and co-author of the study.Those proteins of interest were mainly fluorescent proteins that make cells fluoresce bright red. This way, the team could spot the astrocytes in mouse brains that became active during learning scenarios. Once the tagging system was in place, Williamson and his colleagues gave their mice a little scare.Its called fear conditioning, and its a really simple idea. You take a mouse, put it into a new box, one its never seen before. While the mouse explores this new box, we just apply a series of electrical shocks through the floor, Williamson explains. A mouse treated this way remembers this as an unpleasant experience and associates it with contextual cues like the boxs appearance, the smells and sounds present, and so on.The tagging system lit up all astrocytes that expressed the c-Fos gene in response to fear conditioning. Williamsons team inferred that this is where the memory is stored in the mouses brain. Knowing that, they could move on to the next question, which was if and how astrocytes and engram neurons interacted during this process.Modulating engram neuronsAstrocytes are really bushy, Williamson says. They have a complex morphology with lots and lots of micro or nanoscale processes that infiltrate the area surrounding them. A single astrocyte can contact roughly 100,000 synapses, and not all of them will be involved in learning events. So the team looked for correlations between astrocytes activated during memory formation and the neurons that were tagged at the same time.When we did that, we saw that engram neurons tended to be contacting the astrocytes that are active during the formation of the same memory, Williamson says. To see how astrocytes activity affects neurons, the team artificially stimulated the astrocytes by microinjecting them with a virus engineered to induce the expression of the c-Fos gene. It directly increased the activity of engram neurons but did not increase the activity of non-engram neurons in contact with the same astrocyte, Williamson explains.This way his team established that at least some astrocytes could preferentially communicate with engram neurons. The researchers also noticed that astrocytes involved in memorizing the fear conditioning event had elevated levels of a protein called NFIA, which is known to regulate memory circuits in the hippocampus.But probably the most striking discovery came when the researchers tested whether the astrocytes involved in memorizing an event also played a role in recalling it later.Selectively forgettingThe first test to see if astrocytes were involved in recall was to artificially activate them when the mice were in a box that they were not conditioned to fear. It turned out artificial activation of astrocytes that were active during the formation of a fear memory formed in one box caused the mice to freeze even when they were in a different one.So, the next question was, if you just killed or otherwise disabled an astrocyte ensemble active during a specific memory formation, would it just delete this memory from the brain? To get that done, the team used their genetic tools to selectively delete the NFIA protein in astrocytes that were active when the mice received their electric shocks. We found that mice froze a lot less when we put them in the boxes they were conditioned to fear. They could not remember. But other memories were intact, Kwon claims.The memory was not completely deleted, though. The mice still froze in the boxes they were supposed to freeze in, but they did it for a much shorter time on average. It looked like their memory was maybe a bit foggy. They were not sure if they were in the right place, Williamson says.After figuring out how to suppress a memory, the team also figured out where the undo button was and brought it back to normal.When we deleted the NFIA protein in astrocytes, the memory was impaired, but the engram neurons were intact. So, the memory was still somewhere there. The mice just couldnt access it, Williamson claims. The team brought the memory back by artificially stimulating the engram neurons using the same technique they employed for activating chosen astrocytes. That caused the neurons involved in this memory trace to be activated for a few hours. This artificial activity allowed the mice to remember it again, Williamson says.The teams vision is that in the distant future this technique can be used in treatments targeting neurons that are overactive in disorders such as PTSD. We now have a new cellular target that we can evaluate and potentially develop treatments that target the astrocyte component associated with memory, Williamson claims. But theres lot more to learn before anything like that becomes possible. We dont yet know what signal is released by an astrocyte that acts on the neuron. Another thing is our study was focused on one brain region, which was the hippocampus, but we know that engrams exist throughout the brain in lots of different regions. The next step is to see if astrocytes play the same role in other brain regions that are also critical for memory, Williamson says.Nature, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08170-wJacek KrywkoAssociate WriterJacek KrywkoAssociate Writer Jacek Krywko is a freelance science and technology writer who covers space exploration, artificial intelligence research, computer science, and all sorts of engineering wizardry. 17 Comments

Amine Anoun, CTO, EvisortNovember 22, 20245 Min ReadJ.V.G. Ransika via Alamy StockArtificial intelligence is a critical tool for companies looking to keep pace in the current competitive business landscape. The potential of AI promises great things -- greater efficiency among the workforce, customized customer experiences, better informed decision making for C-suite executives -- but it also comes with great risk, being just as useful to bad actors as it is to those with good intentions.To combat nefarious use and promote transparency around the new technology, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently released ISO/IEC 42001. The new standard guides the ethical and responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence management systems -- effectively giving organizations a vehicle to demonstrate that their approach to AI is ethical and secure.In a world where AI is rapidly reshaping industries, having a structured approach like the one outlined in ISO 42001 ensures that businesses are harnessing AI's power while maintaining ethical and transparent practices. Having recently gone through the certification process, heres what other companies considering taking this step should know:What Is ISO 42001 and Why Does It Matter?ISO 42001 is a groundbreaking international standard designed to establish a structured roadmap for the responsible development and usage of AI. This standard addresses critical challenges such as ethics, transparency, continual learning, and adaptation, ensuring that AI technologies are harnessed ethically and effectively.Related:The standard is also intentionally structured to align with other well-known management system standards, such as ISO 27001 and ISO 27701, to enhance existing security, privacy, and quality programs. For companies that touch AI, its of the utmost importance to be on top of the most rigorous AI frameworks and to implement strict guardrails to protect customers from malicious intent. It also gives organizations a foundation to comply with upcoming regulations, like the EU AI Act and related legislation in Colorado.The Journey to ISO 42001 ComplianceAchieving compliance with ISO 42001 required our organization to take a risk-based approach to the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of an AIMS. This approach involved several phases, including:Defining the context in which our AI systems operate.Identifying relevant external and internal stakeholders.Understanding the expectations and requirements of the framework.Related:Additionally, building out a comprehensive, ISO 42001-certified AIMS required us to standardize the fairness, accessibility, safety, and various impacts of our AI systems. The standard looks at an organization's policies related to AI, the internal organization of roles and responsibilities for working with AI, resources for AI systems such as data, impact analysis of AI systems on individuals, groups, and society, the AI system life cycle, data management, information dissemination to interested parties (like external reporting), the use of AI systems, and third-party relationships.Undergoing this certification process took approximately six months and involved us working closely with our auditing partner. Upon completion of our assessment, we received certification of compliance with ISO 42001 standards to serve as an indicator of our prioritization of responsible and secure AI to all stakeholders. Moving forward, we must sustain the practices mandated by the framework and undergo future routine assessments to continuously ensure we maintain compliance.The Impact of ISO 42001 Compliance on Our AI StrategyCompliance with ISO 42001 is not just about meeting a set of standards; it fundamentally impacts how we utilize AI moving forward. With many companies building out their own AI capabilities, proving to customers and stakeholders that they can trust our systems is crucial -- and ultimately becomes a competitive differentiator.Related:ISO 42001 addresses these concerns through comprehensive requirements, providing a roadmap to satisfying security and safety concerns about our AI. Getting ISO 42001 certified has allowed us to do the following:Validate our AI management: ISO 42001 certification provides independent corroboration that we manage our AI systems ethically and responsibly.Enhance trust with stakeholders: The certification demonstrates our commitment to responsible AI practices and ethical, transparent, and accountable AI development and usage.Improve risk management: The certification helps us identify and mitigate risks associated with AI, ensuring potential ethical, security, and compliance issues are proactively addressed.Gain a competitive edge: As ISO 42001 was published recently, becoming one of the first globally to certify our AIMS gives us an edge in the market, signaling to clients, partners, and regulators that we are at the forefront of responsible AI use.The Importance of Working With an Accredited BodyAchieving ISO 42001 certification is a significant milestone, but its essential to work with an accredited body to ensure the certifications credibility. In our certification process, we prioritized working with Schellman, an ANAB-accredited auditing certification body, as our partner in this journey. Schellmans accreditation gave us assurance that they are properly equipped to verify our compliance with the ISO 42001 framework, adding an extra layer of validation to our certification while guiding us through the process.While compliance does not equate to absolute security, it positions an organization to mitigate risks effectively and demonstrate to customers that their security is a top priority. By adhering to the rigorous standards set out in ISO 42001, we are committed to responsible AI practices that not only meet but exceed stakeholder expectations, ensuring the safe and ethical use of AI technologies.About the AuthorAmine AnounCTO, EvisortAmine Anoun is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Evisort. Prior to Evisort, Anoun served as a data scientist at Uber. Anoun is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CentaleSupelec. He was a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was also recognized as one of the Top 100 MIT Alumni in Technology in 2021.See more from Amine AnounNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeReportsMore Reports