architecture

Apple completely changes the architecture of its chips with a textbook “divide and conquer”

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The week started with a flurry of news from Apple, something we already expected after Tim Cook’s words stating that it was going to be a “great week.” And in addition to the new iPhone 17e and iPad Airtoday it was the MacBook’s turn. In this article we wanted to focus on explaining what is special about the new M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, chips that land at the latest MacBook Pro. The company follows the same pattern as always. First comes the base chip, the M5, which we already saw in the 14-inch MacBook Prohe iPad Pro and Apple Vision Proalong with the new MacBook Air, and then, they take advantage of their most capable equipment to welcome the most powerful variants. But this year there is something different, and that is that the company uses a new manufacturing architecture internal that Apple had not used until now in its Mac chips. We will tell you all the details. Apple’s M4 Pro and M4 Max SoCs, in numbers m5 pro m5 max M5 m4 photolithography 3nm (3rd gen) 3nm (2nd generation) 3nm (2nd generation) 3nm architecture Fusion Fusion A single die A single die CPU cores Up to 18 18 Up to 10 Up to 10 Supercores 6 6 4 4 performance cores 12 12 6 6 GPU cores Up to 20 Up to 40 Up to 10 Up to 10 neural engine 16 16 16 16 maximum unified memory 64 128 32 32 bandwidth 307GB/s 614 GB/s 153GB/s 120GB/s ray tracing Yes (3rd gen.) Yes (3rd gen.) Yes (3rd gen.) Yeah neural accelerator on GPU Yes (per core) Yes (per core) Yes (per core) No connectivity Thunderbolt 5 Thunderbolt 5 Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 codecs H.264, HEVC, ProRes, AV1 H.264, HEVC, ProRes, AV1 H.264, HEVC, ProRes, AV1 H.264, HEVC, ProRes, AV1 memory integrity enforcement Yeah Yeah No No The big news: the Fusion architecture Perhaps one of the most striking aspects of these new chips is the call ‘Fusion’ architecture. Apple has designed this SoC (system on a chip) by combining two other chips manufactured in TSMC’s third-generation 3-nanometer node. The signature promise that the chips communicate with each other through very high bandwidth and minimal latency. Why this approach? As chips grow in number of cores and memory needs, Putting everything on a single piece of silicon becomes increasingly complicated and expensive. The solution of dividing it into two interconnected chips allows its capabilities to be scaled without sacrificing efficiency. Each of these chips integrates CPU, GPU, neural engine, unified memory controller, Media Engine (which are the cores dedicated to processing multimedia codecs) and controllers. Thunderbolt 5. It is, in essence, the basis that makes it possible for the M5 Max to reach figures that we previously only saw in desktop chips. A new CPU from top to bottom Both the M5 Pro and M5 Max share the same CPU design: 18 cores organized into two very different types. On the one hand there are the so-called super cores: six high-performance cores which Apple also incorporated into the standard M5. The company assures which are “the world’s fastest CPU cores in single-thread performance”thanks to the fact that they handle greater bandwidth, and have a new cache hierarchy and better branch prediction. On the other hand, the chip incorporates 12 performance cores completely new, different from the efficiency cores we have seen in previous generations. They are optimized specifically for multi-threaded workloads that require sustained power without skyrocketing consumption. The combination of both groups of cores allows, according to Apple, a jump of up to 30% in performance for professional tasks regarding M4 Pro and M4 Maxand up to 2.5 times more multi-threaded performance compared to M1 Pro and M1 Max. It will be interesting to see this performance improvement in action when we test the devices in depth. What the M5 Pro promises Your GPU scales up to 20 cores next generation, each with an integrated neural accelerator. Memory bandwidth goes up to 307GB/sand the chip can manage up to 64 GB of unified memory. Apple promises up to 20% more graphics performance compared to the M4 Pro, and up to 35% improvement in applications that use ray tracing, thanks to its dedicated third-generation engine included in the chip. The shading engine is also updated, incorporating second-generation dynamic caching technology and hardware-accelerated mesh shading. What this technology basically does is simplify complex geometries into more manageable meshes for when it’s time to render. In terms of AI, Apple claims that the M5 Pro offers more than four times the GPU performance for artificial intelligence compared to the M4 Pro, and more than six times compared to the M1 Pro. M5 Max: the ceiling of Apple laptops The M5 Max shares the same 18-core CPU as the M5 Pro, but doubles the graphics and memory resources. Your GPU reaches 40 coresthe unified memory bandwidth reaches 614 GB/s (twice as much as the M5 Pro) and can hold up to 128 GB of unified memory. In graphic performance, Apple assures an improvement of up to 20% compared to the M4 Maxand up to 30% in ray tracing applications. For AI tasks, the chip promises more than four times the peak GPU performance compared to its direct predecessor and more than six times compared to the M1 Max. With these astronomical figures, Apple puts on the table a tremendously capable chip for all types of professionals, from 3D artists to app developers, AI, etc. And in the end, having such an amount of bandwidth on a laptop makes tasks with large volumes of data much easier to digest. We will see in practice how they perform. The rest of the package: Neural Engine, Thunderbolt 5 and security Beyond the CPU and GPU, both chips incorporate a 16-core Neural Engine renewed, which promises a higher bandwidth connection to memory, ideal for functions of Apple Intelligence and other local AI applications. In connectivity, the M5 Pro and … Read more

Windows 95 had a little secret that made rebooting faster. The reason was in its more chaotic architecture

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If before Windows 95 If you used other operating systems, it’s hard not to remember the feeling of being faced with something completely new. That proposal introduced elements that we take for granted today, such as the Start menu, the taskbar or Plug and Play, and it did so at a time when starting a PC was almost a small ritual. But beneath that familiar interface a complex architecture was hidden, the result of the forced coexistence between DOS inheritances, 16-bit Windows and the first 32-bit layers. That design, as inelegant as it was effective, gave rise to unexpected behaviors that still surprise today. Few users knew that Windows 95 hid an alternative route to the classic reboot. It was enough to hold down the Shift key during the process started from the graphical interface for the system to display the warning “Windows is restarting”, instead of following the path of a cold restart, as described by Raymond Chen. The difference was not spectacular, but it was noticeable at a time when every minute of starting counted. That small gesture activated an internal mechanism designed to avoid, whenever possible, starting from scratch. The shortcut that did not restart completely Behind this behavior there was a precise technical decision. Chen details that Windows 95 used a flag called EW_RESTARTWINDOWS when invoking the old ExitWindows function, still 16-bit. With that instruction, the system did not order a cold restart of the computer, but rather something more limited: close Windows and restart it. The objective was to save steps, as long as the internal situation allowed it, although this optimization depended on everything fitting correctly. Once that alternative route was taken, the process followed a very specific sequence. The 16-bit Windows kernel was shut down first. The 32-bit virtual memory manager was then turned off and the processor returned to real mode, the most basic state of the system. At that point, control returned to win.com with a special signal asking for something very specific: restart Windows in protected mode without going through a full computer boot. With control back on win.com, the most fragile part of the process began. The program had to simulate a clean boot of Windows, as if it had just been run from scratch, which involved, in Chen’s words, resetting the command line options and returning some global variables to their original values. Although the work was largely clerical, it was especially complex because win.com It was written in assembly. There were no abstractions or modern conveniences. The decisive point was in memory. When win.com was executed, like any .com file, it received all available conventional memory. However, it freed up almost all memory beyond its own code so that Windows could load a large contiguous block when entering protected mode. If during the session a program reserved memory within the space that win.com had left free, the memory was fragmented. In that scenario, win.com could no longer recreate the original map it expected, and, Chen explains, it was forced to abandon the fast reset and fall into a hard reset. When everything fell into place, the process continued without turning back. win.com jumped directly to the code responsible for booting Windows in protected mode, recreating the virtual machine manager and llifting the 32-bit layers again. From there, the graphical interface loaded as usual and the user returned to the desktop. The difference was subtle but real: Windows hadn’t had to reboot the entire system to get to that point. This type of shortcut was only viable in a system built on cross-compatibilities. Windows 95 had to coexist with DOS software, 16-bit Windows programs and Win32 applications, and that mix forced us to accept inelegant but very practical solutions. The developers took advantage of this complexity to introduce hidden optimizations that could speed up restarts, although they could sometimes end in crashes. The obsession with saving memory led to very imaginative solutions. Chen explains that in assembler it was common to recycle code that was no longer going to be used as if it were free memory. On win.com, the first bytes of the entry point were reused as a global variableunder the premise that this code was only executed once. Since the quick restart did not return to that initial point, the system could allow that shortcut without affecting the process. That shortcut also showed its seams. Chen recalls that some users detected errors after performing several consecutive quick reboots, something that he was unable to consistently reproduce. Their hypothesis is that some driver wasn’t rebooting properly, leaving the system in a weird state, and that weirdness ended up taking its toll later. It’s no surprise that this type of behavior wasn’t presented as a documented feature, but it sums up the spirit of Windows 95 well: inventive, ambitious, and full of compromises. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | Schrödinger’s Office: at this point it is impossible to know if Microsoft keeps it alive or if everything is AI and Copilot

The Vitruvian Basilica is the “holy grail” of Roman architecture. Also a huge enigma that we have finally solved

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If there is one thing that abounds in the presentations of archaeological finds (no matter where, when or who makes them) they are superlatives. Each discovery is the most important, the definitive one, the last missing piece to complete the puzzle. Another thing is that it really is like that. In the province of Pesaro and Urbino (Italy) the authorities they just announced a finding in which the opposite occurs: yes, there are superlatives, but they fall short. In the end, what they have unearthed there is neither more nor less than the “holy grail” of Roman architecture. In a stroke of luck, archaeologists have found the basilica erected 2,000 years ago by Marcus Vitruvius, which concludes a search for more than five centuries. What has happened? That Italy has put an end to a 500 year adventurethe time that archaeologists, architects and historians have been searching for perhaps the “holy grail” of Roman architecture: the legendary Vitruvian Basilica. Scholars placed it in Fanum Fortunae (current city of Fano) and for decades they probed its soil in search of vestiges or at least some indication. In vain. things changed about three years agowhen during the renovation works of the market square they found themselves (shortly half a meter deep) some remains that, we now know, belong to the basilica. “Millimeter correspondence”. What we have found under the cobblestones of Fano are Roman columns. So far nothing exceptional considering that we are talking about an ancient coastal city in the Marche region of Italy. The curious thing is that these vestiges fit closely with the description that Marcus Vitruvius left us of the basilica in his famous treatise. ‘Of Architecture’. The columns, their arrangement, the shape and layout of the nave coincide. The “definitive confirmation”, clarify from the Italian Ministry of Culture, arrived after the discovery of a fifth pillar that confirms both the position and orientation of the property. A planimetric reconstruction based on the description left by Vitruvius finally provided the guide. The coincidence is so precise that the authorities speak of a “millimeter correspondence”. “Imposing structures”. “The columns, around five Roman feet in diameter (147-150 cm) and about 15 meters high, rest on pillars and pilasters that supported an upper floor,” points out the Italian Government, which recalls that in 2022 experts were on the trail after discovering some “imposing masonry structures and marble floors” on Via Vitruvio. The confirmation that the remains belong to the old basilica does not complete the work. In fact, Cultura is already advancing that it will continue researching with the support of community funds. “Everything necessary will be done to recover and promote this exceptional find,” guarantees the regional president, Francesco Acquaroli. “Like Tutankhamun’s tomb”. During the presentation neither Francesco Acquaroli, nor the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, nor certainly the mayor of the town, Luca Serfilippi, spared praise (and superlatives). “The column behind us changes the history of the region. It is a discovery comparable to that of Tutankhamun’s tomb,” celebrated the regional leader. Giuli has used similar effusiveness, for whom the location of the mythical Roman basilica, erected ago two millenniabrand “a before and after” in archaeological history. “History books and not just journalistic chronicles will document this day and everything that will be studied about this exceptional discovery in the coming years. The scientific value is of absolute caliber,” he emphasized the Minister of Culture. “The vestiges discovered clearly demonstrate that Fano was and is the heart of the oldest architectural wisdom of Western civilization.” Is it so relevant? Whether the discovery of the Vitruvian basilica is comparable to that of Tutankhamun’s tomb may perhaps be discussed, of course what is undeniable is that it is one of the great archaeological news of the year (and that at the very least). The reason is not only the value of the building but that of its creator, Marcus Vitruvius (1st century BC), architect, engineer, treatise writer and author of ‘Of Architecture’a fundamental manual to understand Renaissance architecture. In his treatise Vitruvius addresses the three axes that would mark architecture for centuries: firmitas (firmness), utilities (functionality) and venustas (beauty). His work influenced, among others, León Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio and Leonardo Da Vinci, who was inspired by its proportions to create one of the most iconic (and recognizable) drawings of all time: the ‘Vitruvian Man’. In ‘De Architectura’ the Roman architect does something else: he describes in detail the basilica that has now been found (finally) in Fano, a project in which was directly involved. In fact, the Ministry of Culture remember that it is the “only building attributable with certainty” to the Roman writer. Now we no longer need to imagine it. Images | Office Stampa e Comunicazione MiC In Xataka | We have discovered (again) the secret of Roman concrete. It’s less impressive than it seems

“We had an architecture study two days stopped”

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In recent days, thousands of Spanish companies have been affected by a measure adopted by Movistar, at the request of LaLiga, to combat illegal broadcasts of football matches. The Teleco has begun to block Cloudflare IP addressesa fundamental service that provides security and optimization to a large number of websites. The problem is that these IPS are shared by many totally legal and legitimate services, which causes the blockade to affect business indiscriminately They have nothing to do with illegal football streaming. Not only online stores “We do not give credit. It seems that it was not Spain. It’s crazy,” says Nelson Domínguez, CEO of Docastixa small mobile application development company. Docastix was directly affected over the weekend when one of its customers, in full product launch with an important advertising campaign, discovered that Movistar users could not access their online store. The company was investing in advertising, paying for each click that took potential customers to its website, but Those clicks translated into error pages for Movistar users. “The launch was a disaster,” explains Domínguez. “We have not been able to count that specific impact yet, but it has been high. The campaigns were lost, the clicks and potential purchases were lost. And then our work to put a solution.” Cloudflare panel with the online store data that Docastix speaks. It is appreciated how the 8 (day indicated in the graph) begins the fall and does not begin to trace until 11. The advertising campaign had begun on the 7th (the traffic peak). Ceded image. Movistar’s response to the problem has been confusing. When Domínguez contacted the operator, they asked for his ID and A relationship of all the websites I had tried to access without success. Then they assured that the problem was solved. “We lost four hours of work again,” he says. “Today, what they have done is to implement blockades every 15 minutes. That is not a solution: perhaps a customer can enter to buy, but when he is going to pay he has already stopped working.” Cloudflare sent a hard statement to Xataka in which he accused LaLiga of acting deliberately, knowing the consequences of his blockade: «Although LaLiga perfectly understood that blocking Shared IP addresses would affect the rights of millions of consumers to access hundreds of thousands of websites that do not violate the law, LaLiga continued with said blockade. This seems to reflect the erroneous belief that their commercial interests must prevail over the rights of millions of consumers to access an open internet ». LaLiga, meanwhile, responded to Xataka With another statement in which he attributed cloudflare the responsibility of using his legal clients as “digital shield”: «Given the statements of Cloudflare to Xataka, LaLig legal as a digital shield to protect criminal organizations and mafias ». “LaLiga has repeatedly required Cloudflare to stop this complicit activity with criminal organizations, which threaten intellectual property and incur multiple criminal activities such as the violation of intellectual property, all kinds of scams and pornography, without a favorable response.” “Thus, LaLiga is not positioned against free access to the Internet, but requests measures and carries out controlled actions against companies or organizations that profit from illegal and criminal acts using legal companies as a digital shield.” LaLiga sources add that it is key to understand the role of Cloudflare not only in the illegal retransmission process of parties, but also of the process that follow to house domains. They explain that they are companies that trust Cloudflare, and deserve to know, according to their version, that they are used as a digital shield while it is profitable, hosting and protecting illegal and mafia activities next to the legal companies that are now affected. They speak of intentional complicity. And the impact goes far beyond online stores. Manuel Márquez, Systems Technician Cloudatarecounts serious cases that illustrate the breadth of the problem: “I had an architecture study two days stopped. They are not only websites and stores, but critical business applications for the daily functioning of companies. “Among their business clients have been affected from law firm, which could not access Lexneteven photography studies that depend on cloud services to share files with their customers. And he also affects the solution of fifteen minutes: “The architecture study has already told us that he will report, because they have left them two days,” he says. “We saw that the IPS were blocking every fifteen minutes. Not only do they do it wrong, but they do it wrong and are trying to mask it.” The situation has forced many companies to take drastic measures. Docastix, with only seven employees, has had to dedicate vital resources to move clients out of cloudflare. “Of those seven not everyone can attack the problem by the subject of knowledge, and of which yes, I can only at that time,” Domínguez explains. “We are a very recent small company, there are clients who do not understand this at all and sound a bit of an excuse. It seems that you blame Movistar from a mistake of yours.” The risk of deactivating cloudflare without a previous plan The background technical problem is complex. Cloudflare acts as a security intermediary for a large part of the Internetprotecting companies against computer attacks. As he explains Jaume PonsSystems Engineer in an automotive multinational, “for a small company, something else is unasumable. In the end, if you expose your website directly they lie down if they propose it. You have to use mastodontic suppliers such as Cloudflare, which will provide that first barrier of cybersecurity input. “ The paradox is that some companies, desperate to maintain their operational services, They are choosing to deactivate the protection of Cloudflare, exposing themselves to security risks. “They are actions that no longer end that someone cannot access a service,” Pons warns, “but that companies that have been forced to deactivate protections have been much more exposed to attacks without an adequate plan.” Economic damage multiplies in unexpected ways. Companies not … Read more

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