Sunday 20 August 2023

8 Key Websites That Everyone Should Know About


The internet is full of amazing resources that can help you with various tasks, from designing to learning to traveling. But how do you find the best ones among the millions of websites out there? To save you some time and effort, we have compiled a list of 8 key websites that everyone should know about. These websites offer free or affordable services that can make your life easier and more productive. Check them out below!

  1. Canva.com

Canva is a powerful online design tool that lets you create stunning graphics, logos, flyers, posters, presentations, and more. You can choose from thousands of templates or start from scratch with a blank canvas. You can also access millions of images, icons, fonts, and other elements to customize your designs. Canva has a free version that offers most of the features you need, and a premium version that unlocks more advanced tools and resources.

  1. Hunter.io

Hunter is a website that helps you find and verify email addresses of anyone on the web. You can enter a domain name and get a list of all the public email addresses associated with it, or enter an email address and get information about its validity and deliverability. Hunter also has a Chrome extension that lets you find email addresses from any website or social media platform. Hunter is perfect for sales, marketing, recruitment, or research purposes.

  1. Cheapoair.com

Cheapoair is a website that helps you find the best deals on flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. You can compare prices from hundreds of airlines and travel agencies and book your trip with just a few clicks. You can also use Cheapoair’s flexible search options to find the cheapest dates and destinations for your travel plans. Cheapoair also offers 24/7 customer support and rewards program for frequent travelers.

  1. Edx.org

Edx is a website that offers free online courses from top universities and institutions around the world. You can learn anything from business to engineering to humanities to languages and more. You can also earn certificates or degrees from some of the courses for a fee. Edx courses are self-paced and interactive, with videos, quizzes, assignments, and peer feedback. Edx is a great way to expand your knowledge and skills without spending a fortune.

  1. Calendly.com

Calendly is a website that simplifies scheduling meetings and appointments. You can create your own personalized booking page with your availability and preferences, and share it with anyone who wants to meet with you. You can also integrate Calendly with your calendar and other apps like Zoom, Google Meet, Salesforce, etc. Calendly automatically sends reminders and confirmations to you and your guests, and eliminates the hassle of back-and-forth emails.

  1. Remove.bg

Remove.bg is a website that lets you remove the background from any image in seconds. You just need to upload an image or enter an image URL, and Remove.bg will automatically detect the foreground object and erase the background. You can then download the image with a transparent or solid background, or edit it further with tools like crop, resize, rotate, etc. Remove.bg works with any image, whether it’s a person, an animal, or an object.

  1. Unscreen.com

Unscreen.com is a website that lets you remove the background from any video in seconds. You just need to upload a video or enter a video URL, and Unscreen.com will automatically detect the foreground object and erase the background. You can then download the video with a transparent or solid background, or edit it further with tools like trim, crop, resize, rotate, etc. Unscreen.com works with any video, whether it’s a person, an animal, or an object.

  1. Flaticon.com

Flaticon is a website that offers over 11 million vector icons and stickers for your projects. You can browse by categories, styles, themes, or keywords, or use the search function to find what you need. You can download the icons and stickers in various formats like PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD, and CSS. You can also edit them online with tools like color change, resize, rotate, etc. Flaticon is ideal for web design, graphic design, social media, presentations, etc.

 

Thursday 10 August 2023

How Apple Gets Ahead with the 3 nm Chip Technology

 TLDR

Apple has secured a deal with TSMC, the world’s largest chip maker, to buy all the 3 nm chips it can produce for its future iPhones and Macs. The 3 nm process is a new and advanced technology that can make chips faster and more efficient. However, it also has a high rate of defects, which means many chips are unusable. Apple’s deal with TSMC allows it to avoid paying for these defective chips, saving it billions of dollars. This gives Apple an edge over its competitors, who also rely on TSMC for their chips but have to pay for every chip they order. Apple’s 3 nm chips are expected to power its M3 series processors for Macs and the A17 Bionic for some next-gen iPhones.

 

Chip Manufacturing and the 3 nm Technology

Chips, or integrated circuits (ICs), are the tiny electronic devices that power our computers, smartphones, and other gadgets. They are made of silicon wafers that are cut into thin slices and then processed with various techniques to create complex patterns of transistors and wires. These patterns form the logic and memory functions of the chips.

How Chips Are Made

The chip manufacturing process involves hundreds of steps and can take up to four months from design to mass production

  • Deposition: This is the process of adding thin layers of materials, such as metals, insulators, or semiconductors, on top of the silicon wafer. These layers are used to create different components of the chip, such as gates, contacts, and interconnects.
  • Photoresist coating: This is the process of applying a light-sensitive material, called photoresist, on top of the deposited layer. The photoresist is used to protect some areas of the layer from being exposed to light in the next step.
  • Lithography: This is the process of transferring a pattern from a mask onto the photoresist-coated layer using a beam of light. The mask is a template that contains the desired shape of the chip features. The light changes the chemical properties of the exposed photoresist, making it either soluble or insoluble in a developer solution.
  • Etching: This is the process of removing the unwanted parts of the deposited layer by applying a chemical or physical agent. The etching agent only affects the areas where the photoresist has been removed by the developer solution, leaving behind the desired pattern on the silicon wafer.
  • Ion implantation: This is the process of altering the electrical characteristics of some regions of the silicon wafer by bombarding them with ions. The ions are atoms or molecules that have been stripped of some electrons, giving them a positive or negative charge. The ions penetrate into the silicon wafer and change its conductivity, creating regions called p-type or n-type.
  • Packaging: This is the final step of chip manufacturing, where the finished silicon wafer is cut into individual chips and mounted on a package. The package is a protective casing that connects the chip to external circuits and provides power and cooling.

Why 3 nm Technology Matters

One of the main challenges in chip manufacturing is to make chips smaller, faster, and more efficient. To achieve this, chip makers try to reduce the size of the transistors and wires on the chip, measured in nanometers (nm). The smaller the size, the more transistors can fit on a chip, increasing its performance and reducing its power consumption.

The 3 nm technology is a new and advanced manufacturing process that can create chips with features as small as 3 nm. This is about 10 times smaller than a human red blood cell or 30 times smaller than a coronavirus particle. The 3 nm technology can enable chips that are up to 30% faster and 15% more efficient than the current 5 nm technology.

However, making chips at such a small scale also comes with many challenges. One of them is the high rate of defects, which means many chips are unusable due to errors or flaws in their patterns. Normally, chip makers have to pay for every chip they order from their suppliers, regardless of whether they work or not. This can increase their costs significantly.

Apple has secured a deal with TSMC, one of the world’s largest chip suppliers, to buy all the 3 nm chips it can produce for its future iPhones and Macs. Apple’s deal with TSMC allows it to avoid paying for defective chips, saving it billions of dollars. This gives Apple an edge over its competitors, who also rely on TSMC for their chips but have to pay for every chip they order.

The 3 nm technology is expected to power Apple’s M3 series processors for Macs and the A17 Bionic for some next-gen iPhones. These chips will offer higher performance and lower power consumption than their predecessors, enabling new features and applications for Apple’s devices.