Cerebras’ CS-3 aims to cram cluster-level AI performance into a dorm-sized fridge by dint of building off a single wafer-scale chip that carries on-chip memory and interconnects, making it a self-contained AI supercomputer that makes NVIDIA GPUs look like a toy (especially considering that you can “stack” or interconnect multiple wafers).

This effectively means that it can run inference with almost negligible interconnect overhead–and that also applies if you split model layers across wafers, which is a neat trick. It is also the kind of paradigm shift I meant in my predictions for the year, although I wasn’t expecting it to come on the hardware side.

But I’m pretty sure it won’t be the only one.

The UK government’s mandate for Apple to create a global iCloud encryption backdoor is, frankly, a stretch even by bureaucratic standards. I mean, who does the UK think it is, the US?

That said, the sheer stupidity of trying to enforce backdoors on encryption is clearly still a thing, and is a stark reminder of how far we’ve come since the FBI’s failed attempt to force Apple to unlock an iPhone.

The Home Office’s statement that this is a “routine request” is laughable, and the possibility that this may lead Apple to withdraw iCloud services from the UK would be an interesting precedent. But what worries me is that, all of a sudden, Western states are starting to act like totalitarian regimes, and what that will eventually do to global digital privacy norms and EU use of US-based cloud services.

Apple’s new Invites app looks like another whimsical step in their relentless pursuit to be meaningful in what I suppose would be teenager’s daily lives, but reminds me too much of Clips (which I used exactly one time) and makes me wonder if they have their priorities straight.

Instead of improving Shortcuts, making the iPad more useful or de-enshittifying Photos, they devoted (probably heartfelt and well-meaning) engineering resources to this, and, well… Read the room, guys.

Fine, it’s pretty and clever, but after decades in the tech world, one might ponder if customizing invitations really needed another Apple tool. Or any tool at all.

That said, the ability for non-Apple users to RSVP is a thoughtful move, but the inclusion of Apple Intelligence for generating unique images seems a tad forced, and, again, I expect to use it (or be on the receiving end of it) exactly once, and that makes me kind of sad.

This was a pleasant surprise. I look fondly upon my experience with the Original Pebble ten years ago, and it would be nice to have (slightly) more modern hardware that sticks to its simplicity and week-long battery life. My OG is still around (although the bracelet has desintegrated), and I might just dust it off and see if it still works.

This is a little earlier than I expected, but completely in line. Like I wrote over the holidays, there is no more low-hanging fruit. But smarter (and massively cheaper) training strategies seem to yield “nearly as good” results as turning datacenters into massively expensive power sinks, so no wonder the market is jittery.

After all, deepseek-r1 (with which I have been playing with in quantized form) makes it plain to everyone that we’ve been essentially brute-forcing the entire thing, regardless of any quibbles there still might be over their actual training cost (because someone had to be that person and try to cast doubt).

But it’s also plain that the market hasn’t really bought into AI, and my personal take is that the uncertainty around the new U.S. administration’s tariff policies and a pretty insane week didn’t help–otherwise people would have realized that companies like ASML will always make money in today’s economy, AI or not.

While it’s easy to panic about a potential shift in the AI landscape, the reality is that U.S. firms still hold significant advantages in terms of access to advanced chips and infrastructure. And even though I think that OpenAI has been somewhat sitting on its laurels, I see no reason (other than their perennial lack of focus) for OpenAI not to improve upon what DeepSeek did, and for those techniques to become merely the first step in a wave of research into even greater efficiency gains.

After all, a lot of current AI research excels in copying good ideas rather than finding better ones, so I expect a torrent of Arxiv papers to follow suite.

Update: Ege Erdil wrote up a nice walkthrough of the techniques used and Ben Thomson has a great overview of why it matters.

I’ve been tracking the controversy around this, and there is just no way their technical solution makes any sense (or actually improves security)–at first I thought it was just rushed mis-communication, but it just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and in an industry where the ability to use (mostly) open tools against any printer with any filament is a given because people always want more customization and control, restricting what slicer you can use directly with your printer is likely the most hostile move you can make short of going full HP and actively preventing users from using their own consumables.

The promise of a Developer Mode is a small consolation, but it raises questions about long-term support and the potential for future changes that could lock users out.

I hope they come to their senses on this one, because the amount of influencer noise is becoming deafening.

Buckle up. As much as I loathe politics, I cannot ignore this, and even though I’m not a US citizen, I am sad that this happened on MLK day.

Trump’s inaugural address is a classic case of political theater, blending grand promises with a hefty dose of populist rhetoric. He paints a picture of a “golden age” while simultaneously decrying the current political landscape as a “crisis of trust.” It’s a curious juxtaposition, especially when you consider the crowd behind him—wealthy corporate leaders who are part of the very establishment he claims to oppose.

I did this back in 2016, and I’m doing it again:

John put together a great overview of the TikTok situation, of which most of what I could say would be either a rehash or a mention that it goes fairly well with popcorn.

It’s a political theater drama mixed with corporate maneuvering. With Trump’s return to the presidency, the notion of a U.S. government stake in a social media platform feels like a plot twist straight out of a dystopian novel, and the idea that a government would want to own (or guide the disposal of) half of a private company is not just bizarre; it raises serious questions about the implications for privacy and control over digital spaces.

Meanwhile, companies like Apple and Google are playing it safe, adhering to the law while TikTok’s back-end providers seem to be banking on a promise from a not-yet-president–either that or Oracle must be really confident in their legal team (which is the true core of their business, so I guess that makes sense).

It’s a risky gamble (both political and for the many people who have somehow managed to make a living off it; I read somewhere it might be up to 30% of its user base, which is staggering), and one that could lead to significant legal repercussions for providers of various sorts.

As the public clamors for access to the app, it’s clear that the real issue isn’t just about whether TikTok is “back”—it’s about who gets to control the narrative and the platform itself.

Me, I’m just going to add this to the “Impending Apocalypse” folder and move on. I expect to run out of metaphorical storage over the next four years…

Welcome to my life.

Seriously, this is an amazing likeness to some of the stuff I go through every day at work.

This didn’t fully register when it came out last Thursday (had other stuff on my mind, I guess), but I still think they should have done this for the Raspberry Pi 500 first–because regular desktop users would reap the most benefits, and it would greatly increase the usable lifetime of the device.

As to having 16GB on a Model B, it’s certainly welcome, but the value proposition is completely different–for $120 without a case, a keyboard, and a power supply, if you want to do “regular” (non-GPIO) computing (Linux or otherwise) you’re probably better off buying a mini-PC (which these days will also be low-power and possibly even fanless).

Even though it’s true that Raspberry Pi continues to have excellent software support when compared to any other ARM single-board computer, any Intel N series will completely outclass it (and have pretty much zero software constraints).

And you always have the option of adding an RP2040 as a USB peripheral–which is sort of what the Radxa X4 does, really.

Rodney Brooks’ latest predictions scorecard is a refreshing dose of reality in a tech landscape often clouded by hype. His candid assessment of self-driving cars, AI, and space travel highlights the gap between expectation and reality, especially where it relates to the AI hype cycle and a need to both temper expectations and have a more rational approach to understanding LLMs.

Some things just take time, while others will never really pan out. It’s going to be interesting to check back in by 2026 and see where we are at, but it’s quite sobering to see that he’s been doing this for seven years now and things are the way they are, so I don’t feel like I’m out on a limb with my own predictions.

Lenovo’s new Legion Go S handheld is an interesting twist in the gaming landscape, especially with it being the first officially licensed SteamOS device. The hardware timing is a bit off (it’s not using the freshly launched Ryzen chipset, which feels like a missed opportunity), but after years of speculation about SteamOS licensing, it makes for an interesting start to 2025.

As a fairly long-term Bazzite user, I’m quite optimistic about Linux gaming, especially if it continues this “appliance” approach. Windows on handhelds comes with too much baggage, and the constant improvements to Proton and WINE (and to game engines) mean that compatibility is now much less of a hassle even when developers take the happy path.

And as more (and, hopefully, more up to date) hardware surfaces, I’ll certainly try to give it a look.

This is an intriguing proposition, especially for those who live and breathe data science and AI. At $3,000, it’s not exactly pocket change, but the specs are impressive—200 billion parameters and a petaflop of performance packed into a desktop unit. I’d love to get my hands on one.

The idea of linking two units for even more power is appealing, but it raises the question: how many hobbyists or researchers really need that kind of horsepower? Sure, it’s great for prototyping and fine-tuning models, but let’s not forget that the software ecosystem is just as important as the hardware. If Nvidia can deliver a seamless experience with their AI stack, they might just have a winner. Otherwise, it could end up being a very expensive paperweight for those who don’t have the right use case.

DOOM: The Gallery Experience is a curious blend of nostalgia and satire, poking fun at the often pretentious atmosphere of art galleries. Walking through a reimagined E1M1 while sipping wine and munching on hors d’oeuvres with a string quartet soudtrack is a delightful juxtaposition that might just make you chuckle (or roll your eyes). The touch controls are straightforward, which is a relief–no one wants to fumble with a wine glass while trying to navigate a virtual gallery, and I found the little touches of snobbery quite amusing.

It also has just the right amount of snark and in-your-face attitude to lift my spirits before embarking on the first working Monday of the year. I raise my glass to you, gentlefolk.