Category: Uncategorized

MI300 vs Nvidia’s Grace: A Comparison of New Data Center Processors

MI300 and Nvidia’s Grace are two new contenders in the data center market that have garnered a lot of attention in recent months. These processors come with CPU and GPU cores on the same package with HBM memory, making them powerful tools for data center applications.

The MI300 is a new chip from AMD that is set to launch this year. It features four chiplets with a total of 144 compute cores and 1.2 terabytes of memory bandwidth. It is built on a 5nm process and has 192 megabytes of Infinity Cache, which provides fast access to frequently used data. On the other hand, Nvidia’s Grace is a GPU that features 4 ARM-based chiplets, and has 12 HBM stacks for a total memory capacity of 4 TB/s, making it a formidable competitor in the data center market.

When comparing these two products, there are a number of key features and specifications to consider. The MI300 has more chiplets than Grace, but Grace has more transistors, which allows it to pack more computational power into a smaller space. Grace also has more memory capacity and bandwidth than the MI300, which is important for data center applications that require a lot of memory. However, the MI300 has a larger Infinity Cache, which can provide faster access to frequently used data.

In terms of power consumption, both MI300 and Grace have been designed to be energy efficient, but it remains to be seen which product will be more power-efficient in real-world applications. In terms of performance, both MI300 and Grace are expected to deliver high levels of performance, with Grace having a slight edge in certain benchmarks. However, the performance of both products will depend on the specific workloads they are used for.

One advantage of MI300 is that it is built on AMD’s Infinity Architecture, which provides a scalable and flexible platform for data center workloads. Another advantage is that AMD has a strong track record in the data center market, which could help it gain market share against Nvidia.

On the other hand, one advantage of Grace is that it is built on Nvidia’s CUDA platform, which is widely used in the AI and data center markets. This could make it easier for companies to integrate Grace into their existing workflows. Another advantage is that Nvidia has a strong reputation for delivering high-performance GPUs, which could give it an edge in the market.

In terms of how MI300 and Grace will impact the data center market, it is likely that both products will find a place in the market, but it remains to be seen which product will be more successful. Both products have their strengths and weaknesses, and their success will depend on a number of factors, including performance, power consumption, and pricing.

When compared to Intel’s Ponte Vecchio, MI300 and Grace are both expected to offer better performance and energy efficiency, although Ponte Vecchio is expected to have a higher memory capacity. However, Intel has faced delays and challenges with its GPU roadmap, which could give MI300 and Grace a head start in the market.

In conclusion, both MI300 and Grace are promising new products that could have a significant impact on the data center market. While both products have their strengths and weaknesses, it is difficult to say which product is better suited for data center applications without more information about specific use cases. However, given AMD’s strong track record in the data center market and its scalable Infinity Architecture, MI300 could have an edge in the market. It is important to note that Intel faces significant delays and challenges with its GPU roadmap, which could further strengthen the position of MI300 and Grace.

7 Best Ways to be Successful in Meetings

Meetings are an essential part of any organization and can either make or break a project’s success. As a result, it’s important to approach meetings with preparation, focus, and a goal-oriented mindset. Here are seven ways to be successful in meetings:

  1. Preparation: Before attending a meeting, take the time to review the agenda, understand the purpose of the meeting, and gather any necessary information or materials. This will help you stay focused during the meeting and be ready to contribute.
  2. Active Listening: Pay close attention to what’s being said during the meeting, and avoid distractions such as checking your phone or email. Active listening will help you understand the context of the discussion, and you can respond thoughtfully.
  3. Communication: Clearly and effectively communicate your ideas, opinions, and concerns. Be sure to ask questions when you need clarification and be open to feedback. Good communication skills are key to a productive meeting.
  4. Time Management: Respect the time of others by being on time and keeping the meeting moving along efficiently. Stay focused on the agenda, and avoid getting sidetracked by unrelated discussions.
  5. Goal Oriented: Set clear goals for the meeting and work towards achieving them. Keep the discussion focused on what needs to be done, and avoid getting bogged down in unnecessary details.
  6. Collaboration: Meetings are a time for collaboration, so be open to working with others to achieve common goals. Be willing to compromise, and encourage others to do the same.
  7. Follow-Up: After the meeting, be sure to follow up on any action items or decisions made. This shows that you are engaged, organized, and committed to the success of the project.

In conclusion, successful meetings require preparation, active listening, effective communication, time management, goal orientation, collaboration, and follow-up. By following these seven best practices, you can ensure that your meetings are productive and contribute to the success of your projects.

Word of Advice: Stay away from TradeKing

Dear Internet,notradeking

I recently had the displeasure of dealing with TradeKing’s customer support, and decided I no longer want to do business with a company with their policies. Sadly, I had to learn the hard way and I am hoping I can save a reader or two from this ordeal.

At the end of last month, I deposited some money to buy some stocks. Since it is an ACH transaction, it takes a couples of days. So, I forgot and didn’t log back in until this month. To my surprise, there is an outrageous $50 charge in my account for an “inactivity fee”. This is a fee they added late last year and they claim they emailed me about it during that time. I can not find an email to this effect and even then, why not notify me before charging me this time around? Would it hurt them to drop a line with all the technology available nowadays? A text, IM, tweet, or something like hey we are about to charge you this fee if you do not make a transaction soon. Instead, the first month there is enough money in the account for them to charge me a fee, they just charge away.

In the following chat, I tried to talk them out of charging me this fee but they will mostly just argue the validity of their fee that is hidden in a 100 question long FAQ that I only found after googling for it. I honestly recognize it was my mistake not to research the company further. But, since I though I was somehow grandfathered in from Zecco, Inc. which they merged with, I did not do my due diligence. I admit I snoozed. However, I don’t want to and advise you not to do business with a company where if you snooze, you lose.

Welcome to TradeKing’s Live Help service. Your chat is currently being routed to one of our representatives, you will be connected shortly.
Thank you for contacting us, I am ‘Donnie’ how may I assist you today?
Donnie: Good afternoon. Thank you for contacting TradeKing.
Christian Rios: Hi Donnie, I was about to place a trade and I realized my account have a $50 charge!
Christian Rios: After reasearching it, I am very upset. I did not have to worry about this with Zecco
Donnie: Let me check your account
Donnie: Please provide your full name and the last 4 digits of your SS number for account verification.
Christian Rios: Christian Rios, 1337
Donnie: Yes I do see your account was charged with an inactivity fee, and we apologize if this caught you off guard.
Donnie: All Zecco clients were notified via email regarding the introduction of the Inactivity Charge to their accounts, so they could take the course of action they felt best fit their needs to avoid the charge. Unfortunately it does cost TradeKing to maintain dormant and inactive accounts. In efforts to continue to offer our deeply discounted commission structure to all our clients, and to avoid having to change our commission structure to offset the increasing maintenance costs associated with these inactive accounts, the Inactivity Charge was introduced.
Christian Rios: I would appreciate it if you guys remove that charge.
Donnie: Unfortunately, this charge is a valid part of our fee structure. However, if you would like I can extend an offer to have this charge reimbursed if you can make a deposit to raise your account balance to the minimum of $2500 in order to avoid this fee.
Donnie: I see your account value is roughly $800 short of the minimum balance required in order to be exempt from the fee.
Christian Rios: I thought all you needed to do was to make a trade once a year?
Donnie: That is correct as well.
Donnie: You will have until August of 2014 to place one trade in order to be exempt from the fee for next year
Christian Rios: Well, can you remove it and I can place a trade before the end of the month?
Donnie: Unfortunately not, this fee was validly charged to the account.
Christian Rios: Look, I am trying to be reasonable here. But, if you are not going to play ball, I promise you, I will take my business elsewhere.
Donnie: We do regret to hear that, and we would not want to lose your business. However, this charge is a part of our structure here at TradeKing, and we do apologize if this is not in line with your intended trading volume in the account.
Christian Rios: Yet, you agreed to remove the fee if I deposit 800 dollars to comply, but not if I place a trade. Fine, I am done doing business with you. Btw, I have a blog and would to share how you treat your customers.
Donnie: We do apologize for your lack of satisfaction here, but if placing one trade per year is not something that can easily be met then it may be best to find a broker that does not have minimum trading requirements.
Christian Rios: Yes, one without ridiculous and outrageous fees and one willing to work things out with their customers.
Donnie: If you should decide to leave then we do wish you the best of luck with future investments.
Christian Rios: well, I already decided to leave, can we get started with that process?
Donnie: Sure, if you intend to transfer your account to another broker then this process will be initiated on the receiving brokers end, as they will have special transfer instructions for you.
Donnie: Once this process is initiated on their end, no further action will be needed from you on our end here.
Donnie: Do you have any other questions that I can assist with at this time?
Christian Rios: No, I am just amazed a what a terrible company you are
Donnie: We do regret to hear you feel that way, and if there are no further questions then I wish that you have a great rest of your day.
Donnie: I am happy to be of service, have a great day.
Thank you for contacting TradeKing today. I hope I was able to answer your questions or address your concerns. If you believe that this issue is still unresolved or you have additional feedback, please email a copy of this conversation to service@tradeking.com.

Only FEDEX can destroy a TV this good!

With my dad recently passing, I finally decided to leave the country for greener pastures down south and to take care of family. So, my wife and I started selling all our belongings, furniture, electronics, and most stuff that won’t fit in 32″ duffel bags. More than 10 years living in America, you can rack up a lot of stuff. This included a Sony BRAVIA XBR Series KDL-46XBR9 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV.

Right now, there is one same model TV on Amazon selling for $900 used. I had it listed on Amazon for less than that. I ended up just selling it to a childhood buddy of mine but before I could remove it from Amazon someone else purchased it through the Amazon website. I had to cancel that Amazon order and ended up selling it to my friend for $660. I figured it would cost me around 100 bucks to ship it to my friend, so I could get around $560 for the TV then. I started looking for quotes, and found out that USPS will not even ship it because it was so big. UPS would charge me $130 and FEDEX quoted me at $105. So, I opened up an account with FEDEX, gave them my credit card, printed a label, taped it to the side of box, and scheduled a pick up. However, when I entered all the shipping information, I left the declared value empty. I thought they didn’t need to know that. But, apparently they need to know that so that they know how much to take CARE of it.

I had kept up all the original TV packaging and boxes as I was planning on selling it in the future. So, it was as well packed as SONY would pack it. However, when the box got to my friend, it looked like FEDEX tried to destroy the TV as much as possible. Then things started to get weird, instead of FEDEX charging me the $105 they had quoted me, they charged me $50.17. Their customer support was just horrible, Continue reading “Only FEDEX can destroy a TV this good!”

They’ve made it too hard to watch stuff

Viacom and DirectTV are currently fighting over money while DirectTV customers are left without a bunch of channels. Today, on Hulu while watching Jon Stewart, a commercial came out asking folks to drop DirectTV. They even have a website now. In my opinion, this is rather childish at best. What is even more puzzling is that these companies don’t realize they are shooting themselves in the foot. Television viewers are already migrating from overpriced cable channel bundles to popular online options like Hulu and NetFlix and even piracy. Cable companies are very comfortable charging up the wazoo for a hundred channels where there might only be a few that you enjoy. They have failed to provide a la carte options for people to save money and give customers more power as to what they like to watch. On-Demand attempts have left much to be desired and it is not a solution. If I want to watch HBO, I should not have to get 80 other channels I will watch once a year.

However, the solution to piracy and the fleeing customer base to online only is quite simple. Convenience! They simply made it too hard to watch stuff. Contrary to popular belief, piracy is more of a service issue than a price issue. Take a look at Steam, the online game store, for example. It provides everything a customer can hope for. It is open 24×7, great prices, fast downloads, automatic game patches, cloud saves, huge selection of games, and a community. All a user has to do is to login with his or her Steam Account on any PC or MAC and with a couple of click is able to buy, download, and play games. Simple and Convenient.

In the other hand, Continue reading “They’ve made it too hard to watch stuff”

jQuery Star Rating Plugin Web Method Call with ASP.Net

I started playing with the jQuery Star Rating Plugin v3.14. But, I could not really find a good way to make web method calls or a decent write up of how to use it with ASP.Net.

So, I added auto-submit-star to the markup for it to make the callback, added runat=”server”, and a hidden field with the record id.

<input name="star1" type="radio" class="auto-submit-star" runat="server">
<input name="star1" type="radio" class="auto-submit-star" runat="server">
<input name="star1" type="radio" class="auto-submit-star" runat="server">
<input name="star1" type="radio" class="auto-submit-star" runat="server">
<input name="star1" type="radio" class="auto-submit-star" runat="server">
<asp:HiddenValue id="hfRatingID" runat="server"/>

After that, added the following script that performs the jQuery Web Method call

$(".auto-submit-star").rating({ callback: function (a, b) { 
PageMethods.RateIt( $(this).siblings('input[id*="hfRatingID"]').val(), a) 
}})

Then makes web method call to a static class in code behind

[System.Web.Services.WebMethod()]
[System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptMethod()]
public static void RateIt(int id, string value) // Method have to be static { 
// Make call to update DB rating value 
}

Now you should be able to make an asynchronous call for users to rate an item. Hope this helps.

WP7 Windows Phone 7 Wish List

Nokia has recently released the Lumia 900 which is the WP7 flagship model at a great price. I had some time to play with it and overall the hardware looks and feels solid. However, I have a few complaints such as no memory card slot, no battery replacement, or the ability to change the Sim card without some sort of tool. On the software front, the OS has not changed much since I sold my Samsung Focus last year.

Windows Phone 7 has been in the market more than a year and has failed to steal the spotlight from Android and iPhone. To most power users, it still does not feel like a smart phone but more like an improvement from a feature phone. I am going to list several things I wish WP7 had but will probably not materialize until WP8 during the 2012 holiday season and very likely will never be on a Lumia 900.

  1. Microsoft is pushing the cloud everywhere and WP7 is not the exception. You got 20GB available in your SkyDrive. Therefore, they decided to drop support for memory card slots. If it is up to Microsoft you are pretty much stuck with whatever memory came with your phone. The Samsung Focus came with an option to install one but it required formatting the phone and you would never be able to take it out without having to reformat.  With Micro SD card prices constantly going down and increasing in size, it makes me sad that WP7 does not have this option.
  2. This one is probably more for Audiophiles but it is not possible to store music in Lossless formats on a WP7 phone. On my Zune HD, I was able to store WMA Lossless songs. However, WP7 devices will downconvert your music files to a WMA Lossy codec when trying to copy Lossless files to it. Again, this is probably a space concern. Maybe they don’t want you downloading big files from the cloud. iPhones let you use ALAC and Androids and Blackberries will even let you play FLAC files. Continue reading “WP7 Windows Phone 7 Wish List”