News
- Finchetto develops photonic packet switch eliminating electronic control bottlenecks
- Dual-wavelength innovation enables optical routing without electronic memory slowdown
- Future-proof passive optics promise scalability beyond terabit network generations
Photonics chip startup Finchetto is working on an optical packet switch which could help hyperscale networks scale into the AGI era. The design could potentially switch data up to 1000 times faster, while using less power and remaining scalable for future network speeds.
At a basic level, a digital packet switch receives data on one port, reads the header stored in memory, and forwards the packet out through the right port. That is straightforward in electronics, but not in photonics.
The problem with an optical packet switch is that light cannot be stored. A light beam carrying a data packet cannot be paused while its header is read, so conventional designs revert to slower electronic processing.
Future-proofFinchetto’s co-founder, Mike Pearcey, realized that the data and header could instead be transmitted on two separate wavelengths simultaneously.
One carries the payload, the other the destination, allowing the switch to route packets optically.
Finchetto CEO Mark Rushworth told Blocks & Files: "We’ve eliminated the electrical control signal, the rate limiter on how granular you can get your switching in the circuit switches. We’re talking tens of microseconds, reconfiguration time, others are looking at less than a microsecond reconfiguration time, but that’s not fast enough to do a hundred gig network even, which is fairly low small fry these days. By eliminating that electronic control signal that says; switch this way, switch that way; that’s taking tens of microseconds or hundreds of nanoseconds and replacing it with light controlling lights, we’ve reduced that switching time to low nanoseconds."
He added that the processing part of the switch “is actually taking those two parallel wavelengths and it is transposing the data onto the addressed wavelength. So only one wavelength comes out … on the destination wavelength, and then you have demultiplexer would send them out. Then you can physically get the data to the correct destination based on what wavelength it is on.”
Rushworth also stressed, “The packet remains integral as an Ethernet or Infiniband packet. Whatever protocol you’re using stays so that it can be understood at each end without any issues. We keep the same protocol that the system has.”
He argued the all-optical design is inherently future-proof: “At the moment, cutting edge is 800 gigabits per second. They’re pushing on 1.6 terabyte per second. In two, three years it’ll be 3.4 and so on. But because the switch is passive optics, it doesn’t matter what speed the signal comes in, because whatever the speed, we’ll pass it through.”
Finchetto is still in the early stages, with hurdles ahead including flow control in a bufferless optical system and completing the firmware, software, and management layers needed for a full network solution.
If successful, the company expects to have a lab-ready product within 12–18 months.
You may also likeIf Huda felt like she'd been ganged-up on in the villa, as she's stated in interviews, at the very least Love Island was good preparation for the reunion. Olandria understandably wants answers, but the trailer (embedded below) teases what appears to be something of a pile-on.
You can watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.
Premiere: 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Monday, August 25 (US, CA)
WATCH FREE: CTV (CA)
Stream: Peacock (US) | Crave (CA)
Use Nord VPN to watch any stream
On-hand to stir the pot are Andy Cohen and Ariana Madix, experts at feigning concern while picking gleefully at fresh wounds. One of the big topics of conversation is a cheating scandal involving one half of Love Island season 7's winning couple.
Bryan describes his indiscretion as "a lapse in judgement", though he and Amaya still appear to be together. On-hand to witness said lapse was Chris, although to be fair to him he may have been too busy tallying up Huda's faults to notice. There are also tears from Hannah and a spot of verbal jousting between Ace, kitted out impeccably in a three-piece suit, and Jeremiah, who's on the back-foot from the start because he looks as if he got dressed in the dark by a paramedic.
The pièce de résistance, however, appears to be the screening of a previously unseen, extended version of the heartrate challenge, which was what brought the beef between Chelley and Huda to a head originally.
Read on as we explain how to watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion free from anywhere.
Can I watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion for free?Yes. Canadians can stream the Love Island USA season 7 reunion for FREE on catch-up for a limited time via the CTV website and app.
We also expect the entire series to hit free-to-air 9Now and ITVX in Australia and the UK very soon.
Unblock any stream with a VPNAway from home at the moment and blocked from watching the Love Island USA season 7 reunion on your usual subscription?
You can still watch it thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear as if they're back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business wanting to watch their usual services. We recommend NordVPN (try it now risk-free).
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How to watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion in the USThe Love Island USA season 7 reunion is exclusive to Peacock in the US. It premieres at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Monday, August 25.
The Peacock price starts at $7.99 a month or $79.99 per year.
Not in the US? Anyone from the US who wants to watch their usual streaming service from abroad can do so by using a VPN.
How to watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion in CanadaThe Love Island USA season 7 reunion airs on both Crave and CTV in Canada, at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Monday, August 25.
It will be available to stream for FREE for a limited time after broadcast via the CTV website and app.
Alternatively, Crave plans start from CA$9.99 a month (plus tax). Crave offers classic HBO series, on-demand movies, Crave originals and Showtime content.
Outside of Canada? Use a VPN to gain access to all the content you'd normally stream at home.
Can you watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion in the UK?Love Island USA is typically shown on free-to-air ITV in the UK, though at the time of publication there's been no word on season 7. When it arrives, it will be available to stream for free on the ITVX streaming service.
In the meantime, if you're traveling across the pond from the US or Canada, a VPN will help you tune in. Nord VPN is our recommended provider.
Can you watch the Love Island USA season 7 reunion in Australia?Aussies can watch Love Island USA on free-to-air Channel 9, though at the time of writing plans for season 7 are still under wraps. When it starts airing, it will be available to stream for free on the 9Now streaming service.
For now, if you're an American or a Canadian traveling Down Under, a VPN will help you tune in. Nord VPN is our recommended provider.
Love Island USA season 7 reunion trailerWe test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
- Compact colorful laptop concept designed by Microsoft employee offers fresh ideas for portability
- Experimental a_77 laptop shows how compact layouts and playful design can work together
- Microsoft designer’s laptop concept isn't real, but we wish someone would make it
In his spare time, Braz de Pina, Principal Product Designer at Microsoft, comes up with some amazing hardware concepts that we wish were real, and shares these on his website, and Behance and Instagram pages.
Although he came up with the a_77 compact laptop concept over a year ago, I’ve only just stumbled across it and wanted to share the device with anyone else who might have missed it.
The a_77 started life as a simple 3D model of a small keyboard. De Pina then added a screen and ports, eventually shaping the model into a fully realized laptop.
(Image credit: Braz de Pina)Copilot keyThe process gave the device an unusual form that looks very different from traditional designs.
The keyboard itself is the defining element. It features a 65% layout with function keys along the top, an oversized escape key, and a bright orange power button.
A Copilot key sits beside the spacebar (even though this isn’t an official Microsoft product, he works there, so a Copilot key was always going to be part of the design), while a ThinkPad-style nub below the Enter key offers cursor control.
Speakers sit along the bottom edge, making the most of the compact frame.
The screen, which de Pina says is touch-enabled, doesn’t stick to standard aspect ratios such as 16:9. Instead, it resembles an enlarged smartphone display, giving the device an unconventional but still practical format.
This choice, paired with the small footprint, makes the laptop feel both portable and approachable.
The a_77’s appearance is where it breaks most from current design trends.
Instead of metallic finishes, it uses plastic in bold colors including yellow, blue, and white.
Fan vents line the sides and back, and four USB-C ports are split evenly across both edges.
Its compact size makes it easy to imagine carrying in a jacket pocket, and USB-C charging would do away with the need for a bulky external charger.
Even though it is only a concept, the a_77 shows how laptops can be reimagined to carry personality as well as function, something that I’d personally love to see a lot more of.
Via Yanko Design
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- Best Buy Marketplace sells DVD and Blu-Ray discs
- Online only via third party sellers
- Available in-app and online from today
We've been saying for ages that reports of the death of movie discs are premature, and it looks like Best Buy agrees with us: it's launching a new online marketplace that'll sell DVDs, Blu-Rays and UHD Steelbooks as part of a doubling of its online offering.
If you're thinking, "Hang on, didn't Best Buy stop selling disc-based movies in early 2024?", you're right: they did. Citing the changing way we enjoy entertainment, Best Buy announced in late 2023 that it'd stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays in its stores and online after the holiday season, though it continued to sell the best 4K Blu-ray players afterward.
So what's going on? As FlatpanelsHD reports, this isn't a reversal: you're not going to see the DVD or Blu-Ray aisles return to your local store. The new marketplace is online and features third-party sellers, and those sellers will be the ones offering DVDs, Blu-rays and Steelbooks.
Oppenheimer's 4K Blu-Ray sold out in its first week at many major retailers. (Image credit: Universal Pictures)Why the death of the disc isn't inevitableCaring about movies on Blu-ray isn't just nostalgia. Some movies simply aren't available to stream, and the ones that are don't stream in the same quality as you'll get from the best Blu-Ray editions. That's because streaming uses compressed media formats, and that inevitably involves loss, something particularly apparent with movie soundtracks.
There's also the ongoing worry with streaming that what's available today won't be available tomorrow as licensing deals expire or bean-counters decide to cut back the catalog. And of course, different movies are on different streamers, and with prices of streaming services ever rising – Apple TV+ upped its prices just last week – cutting back on your streaming subscriptions means losing access to a lot of movies and shows.
I'm not being naive: the days of disc-based media being the world's favorite home entertainment option are over. But for serious movie fans – and people with serious home cinema setups – it's still a superior experience. Just ask Christopher Nolan.
You might also likeSamsung’s massive, in both price and size, micro-RGB TV is barely two weeks old, but it’s making waves for those two factors as well as the promised visual quality. The 115-inch Micro RGB Samsung Vision AI Smart TV – yes, a long formal product name for sure – is out in Korea right now for 44.9 million KRW and will soon be up for order in the United States at $29,999 with more markets to follow.
I had the chance to check one out in person at Samsung’s new headquarters in New Jersey. While it wasn’t a formal testing session, it was clear from my first look that Samsung's micro-RGB tech here is creating immersion on a grand scale with picture quality to rival even the best OLED TVs.
I also had the chance to view it after seeing the similarly sized and priced, but notably different 115” Class Samsung QN90F Neo QLED 4K TV. And while that TV looks sharp and bright, the new micro-RGB TV's picture is much more controlled and realistic. Samsung even created a custom Micro RGB AI Engine to handle visuals in the $30,000 TV, specifically for the likes of upscaling and enhancing colors.
(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)The tech here is reflected in the name of the product category – micro-RGB TV – and it’s the first consumer release from Samsung. It uses micro-scale LEDs for the TV's backlight, which is comprised of individual, quite tiny red, green, and blue modules. That’s the key difference here – like the best mini-LED TVs, it still uses the core principles of LCD technology, but swaps white or blue backlighting for red, green, and blue micro-scale LEDs that can be more accurately controlled. All, of course, in a quest to deliver the best picture quality.
So while this isn’t at the same level as Samsung's The Wall microLED tech, the 115-inch micro-RGB TV is a stunner, with the ability to produce vivid, rich, and crisp colors that don’t skew super bright and end up oversaturating or blowing out a particular visual. While Samsung only had test content running on the micro-RGB TV, it looked great from all angles, not just a direct head-on view. Even at extreme angles to the left or right in the lifestyle set-up space, the micro-RGB delivered a vivid view, with reds and blues especially popping.
Having also seen the 115-inch Neo QLED 4K TV, I can confidently say it outperformed it in terms of visuals, at those angles and even head-on. It simply looked a step above, offering more accurate, realistic interpretations of colors that could still pop and get bright without skewing them out of reality. It has more than four times the dimming zones compared to top mini-LED TVs, and significantly greater color accuracy.
(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)Contrast points for more stark or ones that require black were a bit more minimal in the test footage. However, since it can turn off those individual LEDs, it didn’t offer lesser performance there.
Of course, Samsung’s 115-inch micro-RGB TV won’t be for everyone. $30,000 is a lot for a TV, especially a first-generation of sorts, and even though it’s still LCD-based, the excitement here is around the use of individual red, green, and blue micro-scale LED modules in the backlight. The pictures here don’t really do justice to the experience of viewing this, but I’m really excited about where micro-RGB is going. It does undercut Samsung’s own The Wall, which is true microLED and costs a ton more, so seeing that bits of that tech are starting to trickle down might make for more exciting developments in this space.
(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)Alongside it being Samsung’s first micro-RGB TV, this 115-inch size also comes with the brand's VisionAI tech onboard for smarter features – like asking what something is while you’re watching content – but also handles the upscaling to ensure content looks great on this grand scale. You’ll also find Samsung’s Art Store here, and you do get access to a rotating allotment of photos and art to display, even if you don’t subscribe. Although I didn’t get to try any gaming or watch F1 races, the TV does support a 144Hz refresh rate.
If you get the chance to see this TV in person, I would take the opportunity to – it's certainly one of the best I've seen in quite some time.
For now, Samsung’s 115-inch micro-RGB TV is available in Korea at 44.9 million KRW and will soon be available in the United States for $29,999. You can sign up for more details on that launch here, and the company has confirmed it should roll out to more markets in the coming months. Just make sure you have the space for it.
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