GadgetByte Nepal

For several years, Seagate has been working on dual-actuator hard drives. The Mach.2 Exos 2X14 is the company’s first dual-actuator hard disk drive (HDD). Although SSDs are getting cheaper and gaining more market share, HDDs are still quite popular and used in data centers because they can store large amounts of data at affordable prices. And Seagate plans to push the envelope even further with the world’s fastest hard drive, the Mach.2 Exos 2X14.

Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 Overview:

In this instance, dual-actuator technology provides disk drives with two reads/write head actuators with dedicated channels, contrary to one on a traditional hard drive. As both actuators pass I/Os at the same time, the drive’s output speed is nearly doubled.

Increased speed

According to the company, the max sustained transfer rate of Mach.2 is up to 524MB/s, which is faster than the Exos 15E900 and faster than any other HDD in the world. With this speed, it is approaching the territory of SATA-based SSDs.

In terms of I/O performance, it gained 304 Input/Output operations per second (IOPS) for reading, 384 IOPS for write operations, with just 4.16 ms average latency. Contrary to this, traditional HDDs have around 100/150 IOPS and the same average latency.

• Also Read:
  • iQOO Neo 5 Lite 5G launched with Snapdragon 870 and a 144Hz display
  • POCO F3 with flagship-grade Snapdragon 870 finally launched in Nepal

Storage

Likewise, Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 has 14TB of storage, which is basically two 7TB HDDs fused together in a “hermetically sealed helium-filled 3.5-inch chassis”. It has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM, a 256MB multisegmented cache, and a single-port SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 12GB/s interface. When connected to a server, Mach.2 is listed as two logical drives that can be managed independently.

Higher power consumption

On the other hand, Exos 2X14 takes relatively more power to operate. In idle mode, it consumes 7.2W which goes up to 13.5W under heavy load. To compare, the standard level of power consumed by 3.5-inch HDDs is 12W. But if businesses want to use Mach.2 in low power, then they can use Seagate’s PowerBalance capability. However, this does come at a sacrifice to read and write speeds. 

Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 Availability

While Mach.2 is listed on Seagate’s website already, it is only available to a limited number of buyers. And the odds of finding them on the open market aren’t great either. Rather, we might see dual-actuator Seagate hard drives in other products pretty soon.

• Meanwhile, check out our top 6 picks for the best smartwatches.

Snapchat has announced the release of a new pair of Augmented Reality (AR) spectacles. However, this is not the first time the company has launched a shade, as they already have three different models of Snapchat glasses currently available. These new pairs of lenses will apply Snapchat’s AR effects in the real world.

Snapchat AR Spectacles Overview:

Design and Build

The first pair of next-generation AR-capable glasses were unveiled at Snap Partner Summit 2021. Currently, the glasses are aimed primarily at developers or content creators who want to experiment with AR creation on headsets.

At 134gms, these are light pairs of spectacles. The frame includes two RGB cameras, four built-in microphones, two stereo speakers, and a touchpad. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Platform and a new Snap Spatial Engine. Furthermore, the lenses have a 3D waveguide display that can output an overlay with a 26.3-degree field of view.

• Also Read:
  • DJI RoboMaster Tello Talent drone aims to make coding fun and easy for students
  • Mi 11 with Snapdragon 888, 108MP camera to launch in Nepal soon

Features

Moving on, the Snapchat Spectacles has a feature called Lens Carousel, which operates from the touchpad on the side of the frame. This allows the wearer to switch between the AR effects. The button on the right activates a scan, while the button on the left triggers the lens to take a 10-second snap.

In terms of its reliability, it can offer a battery life of up to 30 minutes on a single charge. Interestingly, these are wireless shades, which most AR glasses of this size are yet to achieve. It comes in its own charging case as well. The lenses will trigger AR camera effects known as Lenses in glasses, allowing you to play AR games too.

Snap Spectacles will be compatible with Snapchat’s Lens Studio, a desktop application for developers who want to create and publish Lenses through the Snap AR Platform. The glasses have a peak brightness of 2000 nits and can track the world with six degrees of freedom. Furthermore, it can only provide a 480 x 564-pixel resolution for each eye.

Snapchat AR Spectacles Availability

These glasses will only be available to a small number of creators all over the world. That means you won’t be able to purchase one even if you liked it. Since these AR spectacles are not meant for general use, Snapchat has not disclosed the price yet.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of Honor Band 6.

A while ago, we reported on the news of how neural implants helped a paralyzed patient to type at a normal rate. There’s been a similar development. Here, a paralyzed person can now experience the sense of touch using a brain-controlled robotic arm.

Brain-controlled robotic arm:

The robotic arm employs Brain Control Interface (BCI), the same tech used in Neuralink’s neural implant. Nathan Copeland was 18 years old when he was injured in an accident that caused him to lose his sense of touch in the majority of his body parts and his ability to move. Later, he joined the University of Pittsburgh team that was trying to create a robotic arm that could potentially deliver a sense of touch and is completely powered by the brain.

For this, he went through surgery in which doctors implanted electrode arrays on his brain. The pattern of his brain activity can be read by these electrodes. It’s needed because the robotic arm is powered by signals from his brain. After three sessions, he was able to grip a cube with his arm simply by thinking.

• Also Read:
  • HP announces “Victus” lineup of powerful yet affordable gaming laptops
  • Latest leak suggests Google means business with the upcoming Pixel 6 Pro

The journey to date

That was just the beginning. According to a paper published in Science, Copeland can now actually sense something the robotic hand touches. When the team recruited the participant, the vast majority of electrical impulses from his body’s nerves were not reaching his brain. 

The team hypothesized that a paralyzed person’s brain could stimulate the robotic arm and the response will also be stimulated by electric signals from it. In return, this will allow the person to feel the touch. The main challenge, though, was to make it feel normal.

So, how does it work?

As aforementioned, the microelectrode arrays implanted in Copeland’s brain will provide impulses to control the robotic arm. Researchers used the fact that Copeland still has feelings in his right thumb, index, and middle fingers to develop the system.

They also examined the brain to determine which parts react to those fingertips. The team then decoded his intentions from each electrode when imagining real gestures. And, he could feel the sensation as they turned on the current to specific electrodes in his sensory system.

After the research team found he could feel the sense, they are ready to give him real touch feedback from the brain-controlled robotic arm. To portray a regular hand, the robotic arm has a sequence of sensors.

And after its use, the findings showed that Copeland could handle certain manual tasks using his robotic hand nearly as quickly as a person with regular hands. “The sensation would actually change intensity based on how much force the hand was exerting on the object,” Copeland says. “So I could also tell if I had a firm grip on it or not.” 

Limitations of the brain-controlled robotic arm

The brain-controlled robotic arm is only a proof-of-concept for now and has several limitations. It is not yet market-ready as the participant needs to come to the lab to test it. The team is now investigating why Copeland’s sensation doesn’t always feel natural, and how to best control grasping force for delicate objects or more complicated tasks. 

• Meanwhile, check out our review of Mi 11X (POCO F3).

Having accumulated over nine million users on the desktop platform, the gaming-centric Opera GX web browser is now available on mobile platforms. The company recently announced the beta version of Opera GX Mobile along with its key features.

Opera GX Mobile Overview:

Opera GX is the world’s first gaming-centric browser for smartphones. It’s a web browser with features to complement your gaming habit. Like its desktop counterpart, it tries to provide the best of both gaming and browsing. Opera says that the app was developed because users requested the smartphone version of Opera GX.

Aesthetics

Mobile browsers aren’t really known to offer many customization options. Their layouts are pretty generic and many don’t even offer theme selection. On the contrary, Opera GX Mobile stands out with its gaming-inspired design. Users can choose between four themes: GX Classic, Ultra Violet, Purple Haze, and White Wolf.

GX Corner

Moving on, GX Corner has made its way into the mobile version as well. But here, its functionality is pretty limited. It informs users about the latest gaming news, game-release calendar, links to best game deals, and so on. It is just below the search tab.

Flow

Flow is a medium by which you can sync your mobile and desktop browsers. Setting it up is pretty easy—all you need to do is scan a QR code on the desktop browser from your smartphone. It connects your smartphone and desktop browser in a chat-like space where messages can be sent between the two.

The messages should be under 10MB or smaller and can contain files, YouTube videos, photos, notes, and even links. Opera says that it will come in handy for sharing tutorials, walkthroughs, and character builds across different platforms.

Other features

Opera GX Mobile offers users a choice between standard navigation and the Fast Action Button (FAB). The latter is a one-handed navigation system that consists of two rows.

• Also Read:
  • Ripple Pandora with i7 11th-gen CPU launched in Nepal at an unbelievable price
  • DJI RoboMaster Tello Talent drone aims to make coding fun and easy for students

The bottom row is the menu row and it allows users to search for something and open or close tabs. Likewise, the row at the top lets you switch between tabs. FAB even supports haptic feedback when users interact with its element.

Other notable features of Opera GX Mobile include a built-in ad blocker, protection against cryptomining, and cookie dialog blocker.

Opera GX Mobile Browser: Initial thoughts

Despite all this, this browser won’t amp up your smartphone gaming experience in any way, no. Rather, it’s a complementary app to go with the desktop version. It looks like Opera is simply trying to please GX browser users that were asking for a smartphone version.

The features here are limited too. For instance, GX control, workspaces, video pop-out, and integrated chatting platforms are missing here compared to the desktop version. But, if you want to spice up the web browsing experience on your phone, it’s worth checking out. The app is still in the beta phase right now so we will have to wait and see what Opera does moving forward.

Opera GX Mobile Download & Availability

Opera GX Mobile is available for download on both Android and iOS devices. However, you will need to install TestFlight to access it on the latter as the app is still in the beta phase.

• Meanwhile, check out our top 6 picks for the best smartwatches.