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Jordan Libowitz from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's potential ethical obligations.

Zuck wasn't content with just ruining social media.

Elon Musk has jokingly suggested the 'Department of Government Efficiency' to describe his role with the new Trump administration.

On the heels of the general election last week, there's another important vote on tap this Wednesday in Washington that will greatly impact what President-elect Donald Trump can accomplish during his four years in office: Republicans in the Senate will vote by secret ballot to choose a new leader.

President-elect Donald Trump's selection of Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his nominee for defense secretary would place atop the Pentagon a combat veteran and political ally who has assailed the military as ineffective and "woke," mused about firing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and blasted the top brass as having failed to safeguard American strength.

Nvidia, Oracle, Google, Dell and 13 other companies reported how long it takes their computers to train the key neural networks in use today. Among those results were the first glimpse of Nvidia’s next generation GPU, the B200, and Google’s upcoming accelerator, called Trillium. The B200 posted a doubling of performance on some tests versus today’s workhorse Nvidia chip, the H100. And Trillium delivered nearly a four-fold boost over the chip Google tested in 2023.

The benchmark tests, called MLPerf v4.1, consist of six tasks: recommendation, the pre-training of the large language models (LLM) GPT-3 and BERT-large, the fine tuning of the Llama 2 70B large language model, object detection, graph node classification, and image generation.

Training GPT-3 is such a mammoth task that it’d be impractical to do the whole thing just to deliver a benchmark. Instead, the test is to train it to a point that experts have determined means it is likely to reach the goal if you kept going. For Llama 2 70B, the goal is not to train the LLM from scratch, but to take an already trained model and fine-tune it so it’s specialized in a particular expertise—in this case, government documents. Graph node classification is a type of machine learning used in fraud detection and drug discovery.

As what’s important in AI has evolved, mostly toward using generative AI, the set of tests has changed. This latest version of MLPerf marks a complete changeover in what’s being tested since the benchmark effort began. “At this point all of the original benchmarks have been phased out,” says David Kanter, who leads the benchmark effort at MLCommons. In the previous round it was taking mere seconds to perform some of the benchmarks.

Performance of the best machine learning systems on various benchmarks has outpaced what would be expected if gains were solely from Moore’s Law [blue line]. Solid line represent current benchmarks. Dashed lines represent benchmarks that have now been retired, because they are no longer industrially relevant.MLCommons

According to MLPerf’s calculations, AI training on the new suite of benchmarks is improving at about twice the rate one would expect from Moore’s Law. As the years have gone on, results have plateaued more quickly than they did at the start of MLPerf’s reign. Kanter attributes this mostly to the fact that companies have figured out how to do the benchmark tests on very large systems. Over time, Nvidia, Google, and others have developed software and network technology that allows for near linear scaling—doubling the processors cuts training time roughly in half.

First Nvidia Blackwell training results

This round marked the first training tests for Nvidia’s next GPU architecture, called Blackwell. For the GPT-3 training and LLM fine-tuning, the Blackwell (B200) roughly doubled the performance of the H100 on a per-GPU basis. The gains were a little less robust but still substantial for recommender systems and image generation—64 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

The Blackwell architecture, embodied in the Nvidia B200 GPU, continues an ongoing trend toward using less and less precise numbers to speed up AI. For certain parts of transformer neural networks such as ChatGPT, Llama2, and Stable Diffusion, the Nvidia H100 and H200 use 8-bit floating point numbers. The B200 brings that down to just 4 bits.

Google debuts 6th gen hardware

Google showed the first results for its 6^th generation of TPU, called Trillium—which it unveiled only last month—and a second round of results for its 5^th generation variant, the Cloud TPU v5p. In the 2023 edition, the search giant entered a different variant of the 5^th generation TPU, v5e, designed more for efficiency than performance. Versus the latter, Trillium delivers as much as a 3.8-fold performance boost on the GPT-3 training task.

But versus everyone’s arch-rival Nvidia, things weren’t as rosy. A system made up of 6,144 TPU v5ps reached the GPT-3 training checkpoint in 11.77 minutes, placing a distant second to an 11,616-Nvidia H100 system, which accomplished the task in about 3.44 minutes. That top TPU system was only about 25 seconds faster than an H100 computer half its size.

A Dell Technologies computer fine-tuned the Llama 2 70B large language model using about 75 cents worth of electricity.

In the closest head-to-head comparison between v5p and Trillium, with each system made up of 2048 TPUs, the upcoming Trillium shaved a solid 2 minutes off of the GPT-3 training time, nearly an 8 percent improvement on v5p’s 29.6 minutes. Another difference between the Trillium and v5p entries is that Trillium is paired with AMD Epyc CPUs instead of the v5p’s Intel Xeons.

Google also trained the image generator, Stable Diffusion, with the Cloud TPU v5p. At 2.6 billion parameters, Stable Diffusion is a light enough lift that MLPerf contestants are asked to train it to convergence instead of just to a checkpoint, as with GPT-3. A 1024 TPU system ranked second, finishing the job in 2 minutes 26 seconds, about a minute behind the same size system made up of Nvidia H100s.

Training power is still opaque

The steep energy cost of training neural networks has long been a source of concern. MLPerf is only beginning to measure this. Dell Technologies was the sole entrant in the energy category, with an eight-server system containing 64 Nvidia H100 GPUs and 16 Intel Xeon Platinum CPUs. The only measurement made was in the LLM fine-tuning task (Llama2 70B). The system consumed 16.4 megajoules during its 5-minute run, for an average power of 5.4 kilowatts. That means about 75 cents of electricity at the average cost in the United States.

While it doesn’t say much on its own, the result does potentially provide a ballpark for the power consumption of similar systems. Oracle, for example, reported a close performance result—4 minutes 45 seconds—using the same number and types of CPUs and GPUs.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) went live on X Wednesday, giving the public a way to question and see how tax dollars are being spent.

House Republicans are holding elections to choose their round of leaders for the 119th Congress.

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz's selection by President-elect Trump for attorney general led to immediate pushback from some Republicans, who forecast a bleak outlook for a confirmation.

GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said he was detained by police at Dulles International Airport after he became disoriented from mixing Ambien with alcohol.

Two opposing House GOP factions have come together to agree on raising the threshold for the motion to vacate the chair.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday won a unanimous closed-door vote for his first, full term as Speaker despite rumblings of a possible rebellion against him, after he received a full-throated endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump.

Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party's sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is set to hit the golf course in a pro-am tournament with Nelly Korda and Annika Sorenstam on Wednesday.

Colorado superfan Peggy Coppom turns 100 next week, and coach Deion Sanders is hoping to deliver her what might be the best birthday gift ever.

Fox News host Jesse Watters broke down what Washington can expect as President-elect Trump gets his new administration staffed on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The FBI announced its offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect responsible for West Coast ballot box fires.

ESPN NBA writer Brian Windhorst criticized the Los Angeles Lakers' plan for Bronny James, who won't be heading on the road with the G League South Bay Lakers.

Gable Steveson, who won the coveted Hodge Trophy an unprecedented two times, is not quite ready to bring his wrestling career to a close.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., didn't hold back in his criticism of Rep. Matt Gaetz being nominated to serve as attorney general in President-elect Trump's second administration.

'Gutfeld!' panelists react to the latest round of Cabinet picks in President-elect Trump's upcoming administration.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani has been projected as the winner in the race for Arizona's 6th Congressional District, one of the most closely watched House races in the country.

It's been nearly eight years since Honest Ed's closed its doors for good. And as the city experiences a housing crisis, some are wondering what's going on with the hundreds of affordable and purpose-built rental units that were supposed to be completed by now on that legacy block.

GOG still puts up new DRM-free titles, but it sees opportunities in oldies.

Since Donald Trump won the presidency last week, Democrats have been pointing fingers, laying blame and second-guessing themselves.

All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro talked with three democratic strategists who are looking ahead and asking: Where does the party go from here?

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1. ‘Cricket at crossroads. Keep egos in check…’: Afridi attacks India without taking names for Champions Trophy row  Hindustan Times
2. Should Men In Blue play in Pakistan?  The Times of India
3. Champions Trophy 2025: ‘Not BCCI’s Issue, It Is…’ – Former PCB Chairman Najam Sethi Makes Controversial Claim  News24
4. "Countries Once Divided...": Shahid Afridi's Big Appeal To BCCI Amid Champions Trophy Row  NDTV Sports
5. ‘ICC should snatch hosting rights from India and Pakistan for 8 years’: Rashid Latif to HT on Champions Trophy muddle  Hindustan Times

1. Horoscope 14th November, 2024: Check astrological prediction for Virgo, Sagittarius and other signs  The Indian Express
2. Horoscope Today: November 14, 2024  VOGUE India
3. Love and Relationship Horoscope for November 14, 2024  Hindustan Times
4. Horoscope Today, November 14, 2024: Read your today's astrological predictions  The Times of India
5. Aries Daily Horoscope Today (Mar 21 – April 19), November 14, 2024: Relationships will be comfortable!  India Today

1. Gold price today: MCX gold rate falls below ₹74,000 per 10 grams; silver price drops by ₹1,100 | Stock Market News  Mint
2. Gold prices fall for 4th straight day, silver remains steady; check the latest prices in your city  Upstox
3. Gold Price Today: Yellow metal prices continue their fall, tumble by Rs 2,000/10g this week  The Economic Times
4. Today Gold Rate 14-11-2024: Check latest prices in your city  Hindustan Times
5. Gold off Rs 4,775 per 10 gm from all-time highs; trade at Rs 75,000/10 gm  Zee Business

1. Doctor stabbed by patient’s son: Demanding security, Tamil Nadu government doctors begin indefinite strike  The Hindu
2. Video | Chennai Doctors To Boycott Non-Patient Work For An Hour Amid Stabbing Incident  NDTV
3. Tamil Nadu doctors attacked: Protests erupt, no surgeries, OPDs at Coimbatore hospitals today  The Times of India
4. Video: Chennai man calmly walks away after stabbing doctor, wipes knife  India Today
5. Chennai doctor stabbing: Minister Subramanian retracts “north Indians” claim, apologises  The News Minute

Throughout her decades-long career, Goldberg has become one of the few entertainers to achieve EGOT status

Israeli archeologists use models based on their find to spin flax into yarn, indicating these pebbles were used as a version of a spinning wheel.

For Canadian men's soccer goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, it's all about winning the small contest in front of you, and accumulate enough of those wins in succession, and greatness will follow.

This is Lightfoot, a solar scooter conceived by San Francisco-based R&D outfit Otherlab that, it claims, will be available to buy in the US from January. The most eye-catching feature are the two side panels covered in solar cells that will hopefully keep you from needing a charger. In the gap between the two, however, is a fairly capacious cargo compartment with almost 1.6 cubic feet of space. That should be more than enough to haul your gear to and from work, or to pick up some groceries when you’re out and about. The padded seat and footplates, too, are designed to carry the rider and an additional passenger when required, too. 

Specs-wise, there’s a pair of 750W brushless DC motors with a top speed of 20 miles per hour, generating 90Nm of peak torque, which should hopefully be enough to scale the hills around SF (and wherever you are). They’re wired up to a 1.1kWh battery that the company promises will deliver a range of 37 miles on a single charge. The two 120W panels on either side will trickle charge the battery when on the road or parked up outdoors. Otherlab claims this idle solar charging will add three miles of charge per hour, or 18 miles if you leave it for a whole day.

Aside from the solar hardware, Otherlab claims that you — or a qualified technician — will be able to keep this running without any outside assistance. It said most of the components are off-the-shelf motorcycle parts and that they can be repaired or replaced just as easily. There’s also a one-year whole-bike and two-year mechanical guarantee, as well as a no-question buy back policy. We’ll reserve judgment on every facet of this until we’re able to test it for ourselves, but we’re looking forward to doing so just to see what this thing feels like to ride.

Pre-orders for the Lightfoot are opening today for $4,995, with Otherlab pledging to make the first deliveries in January 2025.

Everything old is new again. Turntable Labs just launched Hangout, a social music platform that’s eerily similar to that champion of 2010s internet, Turntable.fm. The app is available as a web client or via an app for Android and iOS. It allows users to play virtual DJ, with over 100 million songs to choose from.

It not only functions like the old-school Turntable.fm. It even looks the same. There’s a stage, record players and cartoon avatars that sort of look like characters from South Park. I started my own room just to check things out and am pleasantly surprised at the sheer number of songs here that I actually like.

This is because those 100 million songs have been secured through partnerships with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The catalog also pulls from Merlin, which represents a vast array of indie labels and rights holders.

The company likens the experience to “gathering around a jukebox or listening to albums with friends.” It seems that way to me, as someone I don’t know just jumped in my room and started playing their own stuff. To that end, folks take turns playing DJ. There looks to be room for five people at the same time to play a game of round robin with their favorite songs.

The robust catalog is one major difference from Turntable.fm. The platform didn’t have agreements in place with labels, instead relying on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a partnership with ASCAP. This forced a number of rules on users as to how many people could be in a room at once and how many songs could be played each hour. It looks like those rules are now dunzo.

Turntable.fm originally went dark all the way back in 2013, before showing signs of renewed life in 2021. This could be a fun retro throwback to an age when we actually got our music recommendations from people, and not algorithms.

Google is conducting a “test” that will omit results from EU-based news publishers. The company says the time-limited trial will only affect a small portion of users in nine EU countries and will help “assess how results from EU news publishers impact the search experience for our users and traffic to publishers.” But given the fragile state of the news media — and the company’s history of threatening to pull its services in the face of news-related regulations — it’s tempting to view it as the equivalent of a mob boss conducting a “little test” to see how the corner laundromat fares without its protection.

Google describes the experiment (via The Verge) as a “small, time-limited test” to omit EU results from search, Google News and the personalized Discover feed. It will only affect one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Those users will still see results from other websites, including non-EU news publications.

The company says news results will reappear as usual once the test concludes. (It didn’t list a specific timeframe.) Google stresses that the experiment won’t impact the publisher payments it makes under the European Copyright Directive (EUCD), under which the company has inked deals with over 4,000 EU publishers.

Google does have a history of using the potential withdrawal of its visibility as a negotiating stick in similar situations. In some cases, the tactic has helped it draw concessions.

Last year, Google pulled its news links from Canada in response to Bill C-18 (the Online News Act), which required tech companies to negotiate compensation with online publishers for linked content. After months of negotiations, Google said Canada had addressed its concerns and given it a path to an exemption. Canada said it granted one to Google last month, with the company agreeing to pay $100 million annually to news organizations.

In April of this year, Google briefly removed links to California news outlets in response to the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), which would require Google to pay news publishers in exchange for continuing to link to their websites. Although the bill’s fate is still up in the air, Google struck a deal with state lawmakers this summer, committing tens of millions of dollars to a fund supporting local news.

In 2021, the company threatened to remove its entire search engine from Australia in response to a then-proposed law requiring tech companies to share royalties with news publishers. The nation’s then-Prime Minister stood firm. “Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia,” Scott Morrison said. After the bill was passed and enacted, Google struck deals with Australian media companies to license content.

Google says it hopes the data analysis tools it provides publishers will help them use the EU test to “understand traffic patterns.”

Blizzard pulled off a rare surprise today by shadow launching remasters of the original Warcraft and its sequel to commemorate the franchise’s 30th anniversary. These updates of the hit RTS games are available right now and look to merge retro goodness with some modern sensibilities.

The remasters feature “brand new, hand-drawn visuals that capture the original art style from each game.” Players will be able to swap between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time. If the trailer is anything to go by, the games look purdy. The simple animations match the vibe of the two games nicely.

The original Warcraft is getting some serious quality-of-life changes to make the game more appealing to modern audiences. The update includes 16:9 resolution support and modern control options. For instance, players can now right-click to move units instead of having to rely on hotkeys.

Both remasters have also received "various UI and UX improvements such as tooltips and health bars, mission select screens, and increased unit selection." The original games placed strict limitations on how many units could be selected at once, so that last one is a nice improvement.

Warcraft 2 will even be available for multiplayer sessions. Franchise manager Brad Chan said during today’s 30th anniversary livestream that “all legacy custom maps will still be fully compatible and playable.” These remasters are available right now. Warcraft 1 is $10 and Warcraft 2 is $15.

Today’s 30th anniversary stream also dropped all kinds of other nuggets beyond the remasters. Warcraft 3: Reforged got a major update today that fixes many long-standing issues. Blizzard also announced that the affiliated mobile title Warcraft Arclight Rumble will be playable on PC starting on December 10, albeit as a beta.

The developer is relaunching WoW: Classic, complete with “all-new, fresh realms.” WoW: Classic 20th Anniversary Edition will be available on November 21 and will include PvE and PvP servers, in addition to Hardcore realms.

WoW Classic is even getting a new (old) expansion. Mists of Pandora Classic will be available next year. Check the trailer above for proof.

If you spend a good portion of your waking hours behind a desk, simply slapping an ergonomic mouse and keyboard on your desk won’t solve the real problem, which is sitting still for too long. But after you’ve peppered in a few walks and added some stretches for good measure, your workstation ergonomics is the next thing to consider. Hunching, twisting and contorting are all likely to lead to discomfort in the long run.

Ergonomic keyboards can help: these boards split, tilt and/or angle the keys in ways that help keep your shoulders and chest more open and your forearms and wrists more aligned. One ergonomic board won’t work for everyone, so I tested out 15 different models, and considered a mix of ergonomic features that include Alice and fully split designs, columnar orientations, thumb clusters, programmable keys and more. Here are the best ergonomic keyboards we could find.

Table of contents

• Best ergonomic keyboards for 2024

• What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard

• How we tested ergonomic keyboards

What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard

Alice vs split

Most ergonomic keyboard layouts fall into two categories: Alice and split. The former is a single board with the two halves of the keys rotated about 30 degrees apart at the bottom. The separation forms an A-shaped space between the keys — which has nothing to do with why it’s called an Alice layout, it’s just a happy coincidence. This subtle tweak pushes your elbows away from your ribs while keeping a straight line from your forearm to your middle knuckle. Using one, I pretty instantly felt more open along the front side of my body. This layout more closely resembles a traditional keyboard, so it should be easier for most folks to get used to than a fully split option.

Speaking of, split boards break the keys into two separate parts you can position individually. You can put them shoulder distance apart, bring them closer together or angle them as much as feels comfortable. You can also put your mouse between the halves, which may feel like an easier trip for your cursor hand and could potentially help with conditions like repetitive strain injuries. Personally, I like being able to put my current snack between the two parts. I've also found that pairing a split keyboard with a good ergonomic mouse has helped me even more, particularly a vertical mice. 

Tenkeyless

You can find ergonomic keyboards with and without number pads. Not having those number keys on the right side lets you keep your mouse closer in, minimizing overall reach. But if you work with numbers a lot, you’ll likely want that pad included. Some programmable boards allow for the use of layers, which temporarily repurpose keys and can provide you with a ten-key option through clever remapping of letter keys.

Tenting and negative tilt

Tenting raises the middle of the keyboard up, so your hands move closer to a “handshake” position. Alice keyboards usually angle up towards the middle and always to a fixed degree, since the two sides are connected. Split boards often let you adjust the degree of tenting, going from flat to subtle to extreme lift.

You may have encountered keyboards with an optional lift at the back of the board, raising the top keys higher than the space bar. Every set of hands is different, but for most people, pulling the backs of the hands towards the forearms increases strain. Negative tilt has the opposite effect by sloping in the other direction, lowering the top number keys while raising the edge with the spacebar. Many Alice and some split keyboards offer an optional negative tilt. I found it was more comfortable to enable that feature when I’m standing, and I preferred to have the keys flat when sat at my desk.

GOG is launching an effort to help make older video games playable on modern hardware. The GOG Preservation Program will label the classic titles that the platform has taken steps to adapt in order to make them compatible with contemporary computer systems, controllers and screen resolutions, all while adhering to its DRM-free policy. The move could bring new life to games of decades past, just as GOG did two years ago with a refresh of the 1999 title Wheel of Time. So far, 92 games have received the preservation treatment.

"Our guarantee is that they work and they will keep working," the company says in the video announcing the initiative.

Preservation has been a hot topic as more games go digital only. Not only are some platforms eliminating disk drives by default, but ownership over your library is more ephemeral than it seems. After all, most game purchases are just a license, and licenses can be revoked (as The Crew players know all too well).

Republicans do not have the luxury of wasting all their political capital on a damaging internal family feud that would drag on for weeks or months.

He should be prepared to stand up to an arrogant union that he’s previously supported, just as Reagan did.

Dozens of researchers across Canada have joined a growing chorus of voices urging the federal government to halt the importation of an endangered monkey species for medical research in Quebec.

Federal government departments are still allowed to advertise on TikTok despite mounting security concerns about the social media app, CBC News has learned. 

When Niigaan Sinclair pitched his collection of articles to a Toronto publisher, he was told Winipek: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre was a "regional book."

WASHINGTON — Members of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources said, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon. The planning for the firings is at an early stage after Trump's Nov 5 election victory and could change as Trump's administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar with the Trump transition and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the plans. One of the sources questioned the feasibility of a mass firing at the Pentagon. It was also unclear if Trump himself would endorse the plan, although in the past he has railed extensively against defence leaders who have criticised him. Trump has also spoken during the campaign of firing "woke" generals and those responsible for the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment.

London’s National Gallery is celebrating 200 years with newly digitised artworks, curated stories and an interactive AI experience connecting art and music on Google Art…