The prestige TV network has invested a Game of Thrones-esque budget of at least $100 million USD (about $135.9 million CAD) into the show, signifying its interest in the PlayStation video game adaptation. It also hails from award-winning creators Neil Druckmann (one of the game’s original lead developers) and Craig Mazin (the mind behind Chernobyl).
That’s all been covered quite extensively, but what you might not know is that the entire series was shot in Alberta over the course of a year. In fact, it’s that Canadian filming location that star Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, is saying was “essential” to the whole production.
“The Canadian crew that we had was so wonderful. They were so consistently passionate throughout the whole year. There was never a moment where it felt like no one wanted to be there. Even on the really hard, long nights we spent shooting, everyone was so pleased to be there and passionate about the work we were collectively creating.”
“I feel like being there was essential to the experience — that we couldn’t have done it anywhere else,” adds Pascal. “Physically, one, but also for our crew and the warmth and the dedication and everybody really in it together and caring as much. There wasn’t a fraction of apathy in the entire experience, and honestly, it felt Canadian to me.”
The Last of Us follows Joel, a grizzled survivor who’s tasked with transporting Ellie across a post-pandemic U.S. on a critical mission. The story spans all four seasons, making Alberta the perfect setting to capture all types of weather.
For more from Pascal and Ramsey, as well as Druckmann, Mazin and actors Gabriel Luna and Merle Dandridge, check out our full feature.
HBO’s The Last of Us will premiere in Canada exclusively on Crave on January 15th.
New York City bans ChatGPT, Amazon lays off 18,000 workers and Chinese researchers find a way to break online encryption with quantum computers.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Friday, January 6th, and I am your host, Ashee Pamma.
According to a report by Vice, the New York City education department has banned access to machine learning chatbot, ChatGPT on school networks and devices, due to concerns about negative impacts on students’ learning. However, individual schools can request access to ChatGPT for studying AI or technology-related education. A spokesperson also said that while ChatGPT may provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not provide critical thinking or problem solving skills. Concerns have also been raised about the safety and accuracy of the content as well as risks of AI plagiarism.
Amazon is laying off 18,000 workers, which is more than what was initially expected and the largest cut the company ever made, Business Insider reported. The divisions said to be affected are Amazon Stores and People Experience and Technology Solutions. CEO Andy Jassy cited as reasons for the layoffs, uncertain economic conditions and rapid hiring over the last several years. The company announced late last year to lay off 10,000 workers but that number has since grown, and according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Amazon will make the rest of the cuts in the coming week. It is the largest group of layoffs at a major tech company in recent months, according to the Journal.
According to a report by Financial Times, Chinese researchers claim to find a way to break online encryption with quantum computing, years before the technology was expected to pose a threat. According to the claims from 24 researchers from a number of academic bodies and state laboratories, the method could be used to break the RSA algorithm that underpins most online encryption using a quantum machine with only 372 quantum bits. Other experts, as quoted by the Financial Times said that while the theory outlined in the research paper appeared sound, trying to apply it in practice could well be beyond the reach of today’s quantum technology.
New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said, in a settlement that required Coinbase to strengthen its security, that the cryptocurrency exchange platform is vulnerable to money laundering, drug trafficking and fraud. Financial regulators added that Coinbase did a poor job at screening new customers and examining transactions on the exchange to ensure they comply with state banking, cybersecurity and other rules.Under the settlement, the company will pay a $50 million penalty and agreed to spend another $50 million over the next two years to address shortcomings identified by the agency, CBS News reported.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Ashee Pamma.
In 2013, PlayStation took the entertainment world by storm with The Last of Us, a gripping action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic America. Developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us tells the harrowing and emotional story of Joel, a hardened smuggler, and Ellie, a bright-eyed teen, who slowly become close as they fight to survive in a hellish, zombie-infested world. It’s a tale that resonated deeply with people; The Last of Us went on to garner more than 200 ‘Game of the Year’ awards and spawn a similarly acclaimed sequel. Together, they’ve sold more than 37 million copies worldwide, and, for many, set the gold standard for prestige, narrative-driven gaming experiences.
Naturally, then, Sony has been looking at many ways to adapt it for a wider audience, including, at one point, a scrapped film helmed by original Spider-Man trilogy director Sam Raimi. Some of these efforts go as far back as 2014, and during that time, Hollywood’s interest in games has only increased. Netflix alone has such series as Arcane, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Castlevania and The Cuphead Show!, and that’s to say nothing of big-screen fare like Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and Uncharted.
What makes HBO’s The Last of Us stand out, though, is the people involved. At a time when we have the showrunner of Paramount’s Halo show declaring that he didn’t even look at the games, the key creatives behind HBO’s live-action adaptation of The Last of Us have a much more apparent love and understanding of the source material they’re adapting and the gaming medium as a whole.
First, there’s Neil Druckmann, the co-writer and co-director of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, who serves as co-creator, co-showrunner, co-writer and executive producer on the HBO series. It’s practically unheard of to have one of the driving forces behind a game be so involved with its adaptation, especially when, in Druckmann’s case, he already has his hands full serving as Naughty Dog co-president and director of a future, mysterious title. His co-showrunner, Craig Mazin, is the Emmy-winning mind behind HBO’s Chernobyl who’s also been quite candid about his affection for The Last of Us game, even recently calling it “the greatest story ever told in video games.”
For Druckmann, it’s made all the difference to have someone like Mazin — both an avid fan of the source material and a proven screenwriter who knows the ins-and-outs of Hollywood — to be such a close collaborator on the series. The pair were introduced through a mutual friend, Westworld‘s Shannon Woodward, with whom Druckmann worked on The Last of Us Part II. “I can see the love and the passion and how he wanted to do this story justice — it started there. And that would often move me, just to have a partner like that,” he tells MobileSyrup during a group interview.
From left to right: Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Pedro Pascal, Neil Druckmann, Bella Ramsey and Craig Mazin.
Of course, Mazin’s screenwriting experience was only enhanced by having Druckmann himself around to ensure authenticity towards the games. In between commitments at Naughty Dog’s Santa Monica, California-based studio, Druckmann spent a fair amount of time in Alberta, where The Last of Us was filmed between June 2021 and 2022. With a rumoured budget of at least $100 million — a sum that rivals what HBO spent on several of Game of Thrones’ individual seasons — The Last of Us is believed to be the most expensive TV production in Canadian history.
According to Druckmann, HBO enlisted a top-notch crew of Canadian talent, including “some of the best prosthetic people, some of the best set designers, costume designers,” to work on The Last of Us. While he’s quick to praise the crew now, he acknowledges that his reaction to their work has regularly left him speechless.
“Most importantly, we needed to feel the movement of Joel and Ellie through space and time” — Mazin
“I often don’t have the right words to describe that feeling,” he says of what it was like to see his creations come to life. “To have our prop master come to me and be like, ‘What do you think of this?’ and they hand me Ellie’s switchblade, and I’m looking at it like, ‘oh my God, I’m holding Ellie’s switchblade, don’t freak out, just be serious and give him some notes!'”
That feeling only got “bigger and bigger” as he went from props to the actual Alberta sets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7L8AGYAjrE
“I’m standing inside Joel’s house, and I’m having to take a Zoom call with people back at Naughty Dog. And I’m like, ‘look at the sheets, look at the posters, look at their wallpaper… look how they’re studying this thing that you’ve all built and how they’re honouring it!'” I would often just pause in the middle of a set and just look around and be like, ‘appreciate this — this thing that we’ve made over here as a video game is inspiring all these other artists and craftsmen to just build this really beautiful other version of the story that can stand on its own just as strongly.'”
Mazin adds that it was “fantastic” to shoot in Alberta, pointing out that it was a prime location to adapt The Last of Us‘ story, which is broken up into four chapters based on each season.
“Most importantly, we needed to feel the movement of Joel and Ellie through space and time. Space means diversity of environment and time means seasons — it means weather. We needed snow, we got snow! We needed it to be cold, it was cold! But we also had the Canadian Rockies. We had Canmore, which is a town that’s a dead ringer for Jackson, Wyoming . We needed people on horseback, no problem. We needed some of the best stunt people in the world — they were there While we were bringing crew in from Vancouver as well, there was an enormous amount of fantastic people working in Alberta.”
Mazin says the production took the cast and crew all around the province, including Grand Prairie and Lethbridge. “We’ve been everywhere, and it was a delight. And I miss Calgary and I miss all the folks there. It was an incredible experience to shoot there.”
The cast’s experiences
Joel and Ellie encounter a Clicker.
Of course, the other half of the equation is who’s in front of the camera, and The Last of Us also has some pretty notable talent in that regard. Fittingly for a big HBO production, The Last of Us‘ two leads are Game of Thrones alums Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie). Pascal, of course, plays a spiritually similar role in The Mandalorian, the titular protector of the infant colloquially known as “Baby Yoda.” Meanwhile, Game of Thrones saw Ramsey — who uses they/them pronouns — portray Lyanna Mormont, a fierce and quick-witted teen not unlike Ellie.
Over the course of his prolific career, Pascal, in particular, has been a part of many big and beloved franchises, including the aforementioned Star Wars and Game of Thrones, as well as DC’s Wonder Woman 1984 and Netflix’s Narcos. Even still, he notes that filming The Last of Us in Alberta was special. Last year, he raved about Banff on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and he was equally effusive when asked about the rest of the province.
“I feel like being there was essential to the experience — that we couldn’t have done it anywhere else” — Pascal
In his typical gentlemanly demeanour, though, he’s quick to let Ramsey answer first.
“My favourite place that we went to was Canmore for sure,” they say, eliciting an excited response — “I was gonna say Canmore!” — from Pascal.
“Yeah, it was great!” adds Ramsey, to which Pascal smiles and nods in agreement. “We went to Waterton as well. High River, Fort Macleod….”
While Pascal notes that they went “all over Alberta,” he keeps coming back to Canmore. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge.”
“I never tried the fudge! Oh man,” laments Ramsey, leading Pascal to laugh and say “you should!”
Jackson community is coming to life in Canmore. The town is gaining details characteristic of The Last of Us universe.
Evidently, the lighthearted rapport between the two is infectious, and it should help convey the tight bond between their characters on the screen.
Ramsey also noted how “wonderful” the Canadian crew had been. “They were so consistently passionate throughout the whole year. There was never a moment where it felt like no one wanted to be there. Even on the really hard, long nights we spent shooting, everyone was so pleased to be there and passionate about the work we were collectively creating.”
“I feel like being there was essential to the experience — that we couldn’t have done it anywhere else,” adds Pascal. “Physically, for one, but also for our crew and the warmth and the dedication and everybody really in it together and caring as much. There wasn’t a fraction of apathy in the entire experience, and honestly, it felt Canadian to me.”
Canadian connections aside, part of the wider appeal of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation for gamers is how Druckmann and Mazin have updated the story. While it’s an overall faithful recreation of the first The Last of Us game, the pair have also added material to expand upon what was originally there. One of the biggest examples of this comes in the pilot during extended pre-pandemic scenes with Joel’s daughter Sarah (Nico Parker, Dumbo) and younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).
Luna as Tommy.
For Luna, this presented a rich opportunity to flesh out the games, which he’d played and enjoyed even before being cast in the HBO series.
“What was wonderful is that we got to show the family together before the world ends. Even if it’s just a couple of brief scenes, you get to just see them be together, see them joke, see them read each other as brothers do,” he says. “It was really, really great to do that — to start to just build the tissue of a very small, tight knit family that we intend for you to fall in love with very quickly so you can feel the pain with us when they get ripped apart.”
Tommy is an interesting character in that he’s a major part of Joel’s life both before and after the outbreak. That makes the role significant in and of itself, and Luna says he only felt closer to it due to his own experiences. That started with bonding with Pascal about their shared Hispanic backgrounds and upbringings in Texas, but he says he also related to Tommy due to his own family.
“You just have a really superb script that depicts this brotherly connection, this relationship, this somewhat paternal relationship that Joel has not only to his daughter Sarah, but also to his younger brother, Tommy, which I can absolutely identify with, as an older brother myself. My father has been gone since before I was born. My mother was a 15-year-old widow when she had me. And so she very much sometimes is more like a sibling than she is a mother in that we’re so kind of close in age,” he says.
“Then I feel that I have to assume the role of patriarch and take care of my younger brother and younger sisters as a father would have. My mother raised my brother and was a single mother. And so there’s that element, too — that Joel feels that he’s the guy, he’s the boss, he’s the father figure, not only to his daughter, but to also. So you try to explore all that.”
Marlene (Dandridge) and Kim (Natasha Mumba).
Merle Dandridge (Greenleaf) also has her own close connection to The Last of Us. While original game actors Troy Baker (Joel), Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Jeffrey Pierce (Tommy) all return to play different characters in the show, Dandridge actually reprises her role of Marlene, the leader of a resistance group known as the Fireflies. Her character is how Joel becomes introduced to Ellie, and she plays a pivotal role throughout the story.
“At times, it still moves me to tears, as weird as that sounds, because I never expected that people would, again, put so much of themselves and honour it to this degree” — Druckmann
Naturally, this gives Dandridge a unique perspective among the cast, especially since acting in the original game meant having to imagine nearly everything while being in a largely empty motion-capture studio. While she says her background in theatre made such mo-cap work “a natural fit,” she was still in awe when she got to actually step foot in a physical recreation of the world of The Last of Us.
“To get up there in Alberta on the set and to tangibly be able to touch everything and feel the weight and hear the water drip and the texture of the sets and accuracy and beauty of the costumes — it was, at many times, deeply overwhelming. I know would always think of me as his litmus test and put me in front of things and I would have a visceral emotional reaction every single time! And, often, dissolve into a puddle of tears because one, as an artist, I’m an open spirit, but I was, fundamentally, deeply moved by the clear love that all of the artists and designers had in every single detail of the show. So for me to know and love and have so much sentimentality for this and see it elucidated was highly emotional and joyful.”
Even after years of developing the series, Druckmann says he still gets a similar feeling.
“At times, it still moves me to tears, as weird as that sounds, because I never expected that people would, again, put so much of themselves and honour it to this degree. And I love taking everything back to the Naughty Dog team and just showing them the stuff. I’m like, ‘the love that you’ve given this thing is now translated over here.’ And often, they’re moved to tears when I show them this. It’s a really hard thing for me to articulate, but it’s pretty surreal.”
The Last of Us will begin streaming in Canada exclusively on Crave on January 15th.
Japan-based watch brand Citizen has announced its new ‘CZ Smart’ watch that comes with a built-in self-care advisor in the form of the CZ Smart YouQ application.
Citizen says that the application was developed in partnership with NASA’s Ames Research Center and AI technology from IBM Watson, and that it helps wearers understand and anticipate patterns of fatigue and alertness and offers personalized strategies to build better habits and maximize their daily potential.
The CZ Smart YouQ application uses neural networks developed in the IBM Watson Studio workspace to learn about the wearer’s chronotype (individual sleep and wake patterns) within seven to ten days by processing sleep data and ‘Alert Scores.’ The software also “deepens that understanding over time,” says Citizen.
The ‘Alert Scores’ are reportedly generated when the wearer takes a custom-designed Alert Monitor test, which is a consumer version of NASA’s Psychomotor Vigilance Task Test (PVT+). This was originally created to measure the mental acuity of astronauts. According to Citizen, with such personal data points, including Alert Scores, chronotype, sleep patterns, activity and heartrate monitoring, “CZ Smart YouQ quantitatively analyzes and learns about the wearer’s unique characterization, rhythms, and habits to enhance personalization.”
The watch subsequently suggests actions that the wearer should take to mitigate the effects of fatigue, improve alertness, and promote the building of better habits over time.
“The latest CZ Smart watch is a game-changing product that brings Citizen’s legacy of watchmaking together with best-in-class research and technology of NASA and IBM, directly to wearers’ wrists,” said Jeffrey Cohen, President at Citizen Watch America. “Coupled with the proprietary CZ Smart YouQ application, this smartwatch is a revolution in wearable wellness.”
The second-get CZ smartwatches from Citizen run the new YouQ software. The newest version of the CZ Smart watch, which includes the CZ Smart YouQ application, will be available for purchase in the United States via the Citizen website starting in March 2023.
The CZ smartwatches will be available on Citizen Watch’s website and Best Buy (in March). Pricing ranges from $469-$499 for the Sport and $399-$479 for the Casual.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot tool is storing up debate again. The New York City Department of Education has decided to block access to ChatGPT on its networks and devices quoting concerns about the potential “negative impacts on student learning” and “concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content” provided by the chatbot.
A spokesperson of The New York City Department of Education, Jenna Lyle, told ChalkBeat New Yorkabout the development, and said, “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success.”
ChatGPT was released in November 2020, though it gained mainstream popularity in December 2022. It has since sparked debates with its ability to answer questions in human-like language and discussing a wide range of topics using data from the internet. However, it has also been known to repeat and amplify biases and prejudices, as well as make up information and present it as factual, considering that it sources ‘the internet’ for all of its knowledge.
It is because of the above-mentioned risks associated with ChatGPT that The New York City Department of Education has decided to block access to the platform on its networks and devices. Some educators also worry that tools like ChatGPT would make it difficult to properly assess a students’ writing skills, considering how human-like the chatbot’s language and writing style is.
On the other hand, as reported by The Verge, there are people that argue that the education system will ultimately have to adapt to the new world where ChatGPT and similar Chatbots exist. The education department can block access to the chatbot on its own networks and devices, but students would still be free to use the tool on their home network and devices.
Further, the tool is being compared to the early days of Google. However, Google has only been beneficial for learning, and tools for detecting plagiarism for instances when students copy information from the web are available in abundance. Similar tools to detect texts written by chatbots are the need of the hour, though developing them is sure to take some time.
Amazon-owned Ring first announced that it’s developing car dash cams more than two years ago. Now, in 2023, the device is finally available for pre-order, although only for those in the United States.
Revealed at CES 2023, Ring’s first car dash cam is dual-faced, and can monitor what is happening inside and outside your vehicle, while offering a majority of the Ring features we’ve come to know of with its home security cameras.
It draws its power from your vehicle’s battery via the OBD-II port, and serves as a microphone and speaker to talk to others and for voice commands. It features sensors that allow it to detect motion in and around your vehicle, while providing real-time alerts in the Ring app.
It’s worth noting that for features like real-time alerts, live view, cloud storage, LTE connectivity and more, you’ll have to subscribe to the Ring Protect Go plan for $6/mo or $60/year. The camera also has local storage that can be accessed when it’s connected to Wi-Fi, such as when it is parked in the driveway or connected through a phone’s hotspot.
The Ring Car Cam can be activated with the voice command “Alexa, record” using the Traffic Stop feature, but does not have Alexa integration beyond this. An LED light flashes when the camera is recording, and there’s a physical shutter that can be closed at any time to shut off all interior video and audio. The camera also supports optional end-to-end encryption for videos.
The Ring Car Cam is now available to pre-order in the U.S. for $200 USD ($271 CAD). It will cost $250 USD ($339 CAD) when it starts shipping in February. Amazon did not reveal if and when the product will make its way to Canada.
NTT DATA, a global digital business and IT services provider, Embotech, a software firm that focuses on autonomous driving systems, and Valeo, a company that provides technology advances to automakers, have announced what they call “the next big step” in providing automated parking capabilities.
In a release issued at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, which opened today, the three companies said they have created a consortium called VEN.AI, designed to be the go-to provider for production-ready parking automation with global roll out capabilities.
The consortium combines each company’s core competencies, and the infrastructure-based offering, they added, will have few requirements on the vehicle side, as it guides vehicles via the use of sensors, connectivity (e.g., 5G), and offboard computing to a dedicated parking spot.
“Automated parking solutions can be implemented in a variety of use cases including the assembly plants where vehicles are produced, outbound-logistics distribution parks, depots for vehicle fleets operators, retail surfaces as well as in parking garages as an automated valet service” the release noted.
In the initial phase, VEN.AI is focusing on manufacturing-specific use cases to help car manufacturers increase the efficiency of their assembly lines by automatically guiding vehicles from one production station to another.
From there, the system would then drive the vehicle from the end of the assembly line to a dedicated parking space in a staging area, prior to being shipped. The outcome is a more efficient assembly line, saving on time and costs.
Prasoon Saxena, president of manufacturing at NTT Data Services, said VEN.AI is an example of the investments the company is making to “drive efficiency and productivity toward Industry 4.0 for our clients in the automotive industry.
“With innovations from NTT DATA, including advances in edge computing, network monitoring, and advanced connectivity, VEN.AI will make mobility much easier and energy efficient for consumers, car manufacturers, and more.”
Safety, the release stated, is a “key component of VEN.AI, by integrating the latest technology innovations including the use of cameras, light detection, low-latency connectivity and sensors. The system has been designed to fulfill the highest requirements and standards on safety and availability and has the best-in-class building components.”
To that end, Embotech, short for embedded optimization technologies, will provide its PRODRIVER, an SAE Level 4 virtual driver designed to provide “flexible, human-like driving, which is a key enabler of automated driving in busy logistics areas with mixed traffic, as well as parking in very tight spaces, increasing the space efficiency.”
Valeo, a market leader in sensors for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and related detection algorithms, will be responsible for supplying the necessary technology to make the parking system function properly.
Its sensors will be “used to detect and locate cars in the parking area, as well as to understand the surrounding environment. This information is then used by the algorithms to accurately guide the car to an available parking space,” the three companies said.
At CES 2023, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Satellite, a two-way smartphone messaging solution. The service will start with devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform.
The feature relies on the Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF systems and the Iridium satellite constellation. Qualcomm said in a press release that the solution uses Iridium’s weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink. Qualcomm also plans to support 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) as it becomes available.
Qualcomm plans for emergency messaging on Snapdragon Satellite to be available in select regions in the second half of 2023.
Moreover, Qualcomm says Snapdragon Satellite can expand to other devices, including laptops, tablets, vehicles, and IoT.
Snapdragon Satellite appears to be Qualcomm’s attempt to take on Apple’s Emergency SOS feature that launched on the iPhone 14. Emergency SOS came to Canada in November, and it has already proven helpful in the U.S., helping save a stranded snowmobiler and people who fell into a canyon.
You can find all of our coverage from CES 2023 here.
Telus International (TI) has added WillowTree to its roster of companies.
WillowTree, a U.S.-based organization that helps companies with their digital strategy, including building and designing apps, websites, and voice experiences, has been renamed to WillowTree, a Telus International Company.
Now under the TI banner, it will change the way TI serves its 600 clients. The tech company provides IT and business services while serving as the global arm of the Telus Corporation, one of the Big Three telecom companies in Canada.
Tobias Dengel, president of WillowTree, told MobileSyrup that the capabilities of the two companies are “extraordinarily complementary to each other.” With WillowTree primarily focusing on the design aspects and TI on supporting technology, the future will allow the companies to tie various experiences together, creating an “omnichannel customer and user experience,” Dengel said.
From the perspective of TI, the $1.2 billion US (about $1.6 billion CAD) acquisition will also serve its existing client base.
“The combination of WillowTree with TI, for me, is like peanut butter and jelly,” Jeffrey Puritt, TI’s president and CEO, told MobileSyrup. “We’re both in the technology services sector. But we have the competency set that’s quite complimentary, quite synergistic.”
Design and build capabilities are aspects TI lacked, Puritt said. It cost TI “four monster opportunities” alone.
Telus Corporation is TI’s biggest client, and the corporation will utilize WillowTree’s services.
“We’ve already identified a multitude of areas of opportunity for WillowTree’s capabilities to be leveraged in order to help progress Telus’ digital transformation ambitions,” Puritt said.
He didn’t share specifics but did say there is some work WillowTree did for providers in the U.S. that could be leveraged for Telus’ mobile platform in Canada.
One of WillowTree’s many American clients is telecom company Verizon. A 2018 press release from Petsky Prunier Invest Bankers outlining WillowTree’s work stated the company launched mobile, over-the-top (OTT) and IoT services, along with websites and chatbots for several companies, including Verizon.
In a keynote speech yesterday, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su kicked off CES with a number of announcements of new mobile and desktop processors designed to elevate the power of AI (artificial intelligence), gaming, adaptive computing, and sustainable computing.
Despite the challenges, the pandemic reminded us of the omnipresence of semiconductors in our lives, Su noted. “Virtually every product, every service, every experience in our lives is powered by semiconductors. Whether you’re talking about cloud services, or how we work, game and connect, chips have become a critical enabler of everything in our modern life.”
AI
AMD announced the new AMD Ryzen 7040 Series Processors for ultrathin PC laptops, which integrates a dedicated on-chip AI engine, called Ryzen AI. Ryzen AI is an “industry-first AI hardware for X86 processors,” stated Su.
The Ryzen 7040 Series chips have up to eight “Zen 4” cores, integrated AMD RDNA 3 graphics architecture, and is capable of delivering up to 12 trillion AI operations per second, Su said.
In a demonstration, Su boasted of the high performance delivered by Ryzen 7040, which she said is “30 per cent faster than Apple (M2) and 45 per cent faster than AMD’s X86 competition.”
Su was also joined on stage by Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief product officer Panos Panay, who teased the integration of AI in Windows using AMD’s processors to “reinvent everything you do on Windows and deliver the best experiences to customers.”
Gaming
AMD unveiled the AMD Ryzen 7045HX Series processors for gamers and creators looking for high performance on a notebook. Ryzen 7045HX is powered by up to 16 “Zen 4” cores, 32 threads and is built on 5 nanometer process technology. It offers DDR5 (Double Data Rate 5) memory support.
In addition, to power 1080p gaming at ultra settings and content creation applications, AMD announced the AMD Radeon RX 7000 Series Graphics for laptops. Built on AMD RDNA 3 architecture, the Radeon RX 7000 is designed to achieve “the best balance of performance and battery life across a wide range of system designs,” affirmed Su.
Ryzen 50800 X3D CPUs, announced last year, used 3D packaging to stack memory on top of CPUs (central processing units) in order to deliver more performance in gaming. This year, AMD announced the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series X3D to bring the power of 3D V-Cache technology to the Ryzen 7000 Series desktop lineup with the addition of three new X3D processors.
Su also announced the bundling of Respawn’s upcoming Star Wars Jedi Survivor game with select Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, starting later this month.
Adaptive computing
Su was joined on stage by Bob DeSantis from medical company Intuitive Surgical, who explained how AMD’s technology has been key to improving surgical processes, optimizing robotic surgeries, motion control, visual controls and safety mechanisms.
Peggy Johnson, chief executive officer of augmented reality solutions provider Magic Leap also stressed the importance of high performance processors in delivering highly immersive AR such as that used in digital twins, as well as 3D visualizations of data or surgical plans for patients.
And former NASA astronaut Dr. Katie Coleman highlighted the impact of AMD’s high performance and adaptive computing in powering the future of space exploration.
Sustainable Computing
Su highlighted how AMD is bringing sustainable computing to the largest data centers in the world. AMD Instinct MI300, announced yesterday, is an integrated data center APU (accelerated processing unit), leveraging 3D chiplet design combining AMD CDNA 3 GPU (graphics processing unit), “Zen 4” CPU and HBM (high bandwidth memory) chiplets, designed for energy-efficient AI training performance and HPC (high performance computing) workloads.
Furthermore, AMD announced the preview of the Alveo V70 AI Accelerator, a video analytics AI accelerator based on AMD XDNA with AI Engine architecture, for data center and cloud deployments.