Technology

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• Western Digital plans to produce 100TB+ HDDs within a decade
• It will do this using HAMR and HDMR heat assisted technologies
• The company is also investigating long-term storage, like ceramics and DNA

Western Digital and Sandisk have begun the process of splitting into separate companies, with the former focused on HDD and platform development, and the latter now all-in on flash products. Both companies recently held investor days, and while Sandisk teased a 1PB SSD and a flash replacement for HBM at its event, WD’s focus was on how it intends to supercharge hard drive capacity within a decade.

The company’s roadmap to the future of HDD technology shows a clear progression from energy-assisted Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (ePMR) to Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) and ultimately to Heat Dot Magnetic Recording (HDMR), targeting over 100TB capacities.

By 2026, Western Digital says its HDD capacity will reach 36TB-44TB thanks to HAMR technology which uses laser heating to temporarily reduce disk coercivity. This allows for smaller magnetic grains, improving data stability and density while reducing interference, so HDDs can store more data per platter with long-term reliability.

(Image credit: Western Digital) Enter HDMR technology

Western Digital isn’t the only drive manufacturer banking on HAMR to supercharge the capacities of hard drives.

Its big rival Seagate recently debuted a 36TB drive while revealing a 60TB model is coming, and in especially bad news for WD, it also launched a bid to acquire HAMR specialist Intevac whose sputtering machines are used on over 65% of the world’s hard disks. Although Seagate is Intevac’s main customer, WD also uses the company’s tech.

By the 2030s, Western Digital expects HAMR to be superseded by HDMR (also known as bit-pattern recording), which will lead the push for 100TB+ HDD capacities. The tech, which is reported to be quite costly, uses nano-patterned magnetic media with discrete magnetic "dots" to boost data placement, reduce noise, and improve areal density.

Western Digital isn’t only focusing on traditional hard drives, it’s also exploring new growth opportunities. In AI compute, the company is investigating advanced computational models such as Boltzmann and Ising, as well as neuromorphic computing, which could enable more efficient, brain-like processing architectures for AI workloads.

The company is also looking into long-term DNA and ceramic storage, two emerging technologies that have the potential to offer extremely durable and high-density data preservation for archival needs. In the medtech sector, the company is considering developing magnetic biosensors and nanopore technology, which could have significant applications in biomedical diagnostics and personalized medicine.

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• Intel is currently without a CEO and its future looks unclear
• TSMC and Broadcom are interested in separate areas of the chip maker’s business
• Any deal faces big hurdles - government rules, factory retooling, and political pushback

Although it debuted some super-fast AI chips in 2024 in a bid to match its rival AMD, Intel isn’t the powerhouse it used to be.

While Nvidia is the second-largest company in the world (behind Apple) by market cap, worth $3.4 trillion, and AMD is in 80th place, worth $183.27 billion, Intel, currently without a CEO following Pat Gelsinger’s departure in December 2024, is languishing in 173rd place at $102.18 billion - placing it between Rio Tinto and Airbnb.

This has led to all sorts of rumors surrounding Intel's future, including speculation it could merge with AMD's former foundry, GlobalFoundries, in a potential multi-billion-dollar deal. But now, perhaps the saddest news of all comes from a new Wall Street Journal report, which says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Broadcom are separately considering deals that could split the iconic chipmaker in half.

Big hurdles to overcome

The report claims Broadcom has been "closely examining Intel’s chip-design and marketing business", and, according to people familiar with the matter, has, "informally discussed with its advisers making a bid but would likely only do so if it finds a partner for Intel’s manufacturing business, the people said.”

At the same time, TSMC is considering taking control of Intel’s chip plants (either some or all) - a move that was apparently suggested by the Trump administration. However, the WSJ was told by a White House official that the president is “unlikely to support a deal that involved a foreign entity operating Intel’s factories,” so make of that what you will.

The WSJ stresses Broadcom and TSMC haven’t teamed up to carve Intel in two - these are unrelated possibilities - and all of the talks so far are “preliminary and largely informal.”

There are a couple of hurdles standing in the way of such a deal. The 2022 Chips Act created a $53 billion grant program to boost domestic chip production, with Intel receiving the largest share - up to $7.9 billion. As a condition of the funding, the chipmaker must retain a majority stake in its factories if they are ever spun off into a separate entity. The U.S. government would also have to approve any deal involving TSMC or other investors taking control of Intel’s facilities.

The WSJ also notes that any deal faces operational issues, noting Intel’s factories have largely been set up to produce Intel chips, and the company has only started trying to make chips for external customers in the past few years. "Retooling Intel factories to make advanced chips TSMC’s way would be a significant and costly engineering challenge," it adds.

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• Sandisk says 3D Matrix Memory will be an affordable replacement for DRAM
• Will deliver DRAM-like performance at 4x the capacity and half the cost
• Sandisk says it will become more affordable as the technology matures

At its recent Sandisk 2.0 investor day session, the flash storage giant unveiled a series of new SSDs, including a 128TB data center model, while outlining its ambitious roadmap for even larger drives - a 256TB SSD in 2026, a 512TB SSD in 2027, and a whopping 1PB drive expected a few years later.

Sandisk is keen to calm any investor wobbles following its split from Western Digital, and beyond discussing its strategy to boost returns and margins, the company also took the wraps off its groundbreaking 3D Matrix Memory, a scalable memory technology that reportedly promises DRAM-like performance at four times the capacity and half the cost.

Sandisk has positioned 3D Matrix Memory as an affordable solution in response to the end of Moore’s Law for DRAM, where scaling stagnation, a widening compute-memory gap, and soaring memory costs have become major challenges. The company says its scalable memory architecture will break through the "memory wall", solving the problem of memory capacity and bandwidth struggling to keep pace with ever-increasing processing demands.

More cost-efficient

Developed in collaboration with IMEC, Sandisk’s 3D Matrix Memory is built on a dense array architecture featuring a novel memory cell design while maintaining compatibility with open industry standards, such as CXL.

The company claims its new memory tech will become increasingly more cost-efficient over time. According to a graph Sandisk shared, by Year 6, 3D Matrix Memory will achieve over 50% cost savings per bit compared to DRAM, with a significantly steeper decline in $/GB, making it a more affordable alternative to traditional DRAM solutions.

The company’s development roadmap, shown below, outlines a number of milestones, with transitioning from a 150mm WD Research Fab to a 300mm IMEC Facility in 2024, marking the tech’s first significant step toward large-scale production.

Beginning in 2017, the project has evolved from isolated devices to passive arrays, to CMOS development vehicles. Gen1 media samples will be the next big step and these are expected to reach 32-64Gbit capacities, although there are no details about raw performance, as of yet.

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I’ve just finished watching MGM Plus’ Earth Abides, and for a post-apocalyptic thriller, it was a nice change of pace to the usual grim battle for survival in a future world plagued by zombies and/or cannibals you find in movies like The Road or the long, plodding The Walking Dead TV series, or where everybody lives underground like Silo or Fallout.

Earth Abides, the TV show, is based loosely on the classic 1949 sci-fi novel of the same name written by George R. Stewart. The story follows protagonist Isherwood ‘Ish’ Williams (Alexander Ludwig), a geology student who is working on his thesis in the mountains somewhere in California. Bitten by a rattlesnake he manages to make it back to his cabin in the woods before passing out in a fever from which he doesn’t wake for days, possibly weeks.

When he does come round, he finds that nature biting back was a foreshadowing of what’s to come. Nature has indeed struck back and he’s completely alone. Civilization has been destroyed by a deadly pandemic; everyone he knows is dead, the streets are empty and the TVs and radios are all quiet. Wandering into the city he finds a couple of oddball survivors who were immune to the virus, but it’s only when he retreats to the suburbs that he finds Emma (Jessica Frances Dukes), a woman who seems to be more adept at surviving in a post-apocalyptic world than he is. They decide to make a life together and he gains direction as they slowly start to build a community around them.

If, like me, you trudged through every series of The Walking Dead out of some misplaced sense of duty, only to find out that it essentially repeats the same 'bad guy' plot line over and over every season, you’ll find it refreshing that the main focus of Earth Abides isn’t on how humans are inherently selfish and evil, but on how we need to cooperate to survive in nature.

Sure, they occasionally meet other groups, not all of whom have their best interests at heart, but more often than not the goal is simply to stay alive and the people choose to band together because they want to form a community. As humans it appears that working together gives us our best chance of survival – who knew?

• Watch Earth Abides on Fubo or MGM Plus in the US
• Watch Earth Abides on Prime Video or MGM Plus in the UK
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While Mary Shelley’s The Last Man was the first post-apocalyptic novel, Earth Abides is most likely the original source material for all the ‘waking up to discover civilization has collapsed’ plot lines that you see repeated again and again in sci-fi and horror – 28 Days Later, I’m looking at you. And talking of classic literature, throughout Earth Abides the value of a good old-fashioned public library is continually emphasized, because if you want to know how to do something in a post-apocalyptic world, like say, install solar panels or deliver a human baby, you can’t simply fire up YouTube. The local library turns out to be a lifesaver.

As the title suggests, throughout it all, the Earth abides. We get to watch nature recover and reclaim the world. As every last brick, fibre-optic cable and bridge that humans have created begins to rot away, cities are turning back into forests and wild animals are frolicking in the streets. There’s plenty of action, heartbreak and drama along the way, but we get to see a world where humans live without the concept of money or a social status to chase after, the survivors slowly lose their hangups and become freer to become the sort of people they really want to be, especially when it comes to human relationships.

If you’re looking for something different for your next binge watch of one of the best Prime Video shows (if you're in the UK), then I like to think that Earth Abides offers you a more realistic look at a post-apocalyptic future than we’ve seen so far, one where we don’t all instantly default to cannibalism as our first means of survival, and people find out what it really means to be human after all.

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Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, February 22 (game #622).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #623) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PICKLE
• GRATE
• MILK
• TEA
• JAM
• SCRAPE
• CAN
• BUTTER
• GRIND
• BEANS
• SYRUP
• FERMENT
• FREEZE
• GUTS
• HOT SAUCE
• GNASH

NYT Connections today (game #623) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• GREEN: Longer lasting produce 
• YELLOW: Smoosh it up
• BLUE: First meal of the day 
• PURPLE: “Drop” into a common phrase

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #623) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• GREEN: WAYS TO PRESERVE FOOD 
• YELLOW: RUB TOGETHER 
• BLUE: BREAKFAST CONDIMENTS 
• PURPLE: PROVERBIAL THINGS THAT ARE SPILLED 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #623) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #623, are…

• GREEN: WAYS TO PRESERVE FOOD CAN, FERMENT, FREEZE, PICKLE
• YELLOW: RUB TOGETHER GNASH, GRATE, GRIND, SCRAPE
• BLUE: BREAKFAST CONDIMENTS BUTTER, HOT SAUCE, JAM, SYRUP
• PURPLE: PROVERBIAL THINGS THAT ARE SPILLED BEANS, GUTS, MILK, TEA

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

I found today tough going and got myself in a real muddle with thinking I was looking for pancake ingredients and then when I ruled that out some combination of breakfast items – MILK, TEA, JAM and BUTTER are all key factors of tea and toast.

WAYS TO PRESERVE FOOD was far easier to get.

The strangest preserved food I’ve ever had was some shark meat that had been covered in salt and buried under sand and rocks for two months. This was in Iceland and I only found out what it was after I’d eaten it, along with being teased (or at least I hope I was being teased) about another way they preserve this particular delicacy. Chewy and pongy is my 2-star review.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 22 February, game #622)

• YELLOW: MEMBER OF A TEAM WITH THE MOST CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SPORTS CANADIEN, CELTIC, PACKER, YANKEE
• GREEN: CREATE SOME VOLUME/TEXTURE IN HAIR CRIMP, CURL, FEATHER, TEASE
• BLUE: SUPPLIES FOR MACARONI ART GLITTER, GLUE, MACARONI, PAPER
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER "GOLDEN" DOODLE, GOOSE, PARACHUTE, ROD

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, February 22 (game #356).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #357) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Oh, this old thing?

NYT Strands today (game #357) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SHINE
• LINE
• COLT
• COIL
• MALE
• TALL

NYT Strands today (game #357) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Available on eBay

NYT Strands today (game #357) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 3rd column

Last side: top, 4th column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #357) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #357, are…

• STAMP
• COIN
• VINYL
• COMIC
• PLUSHIE
• BOBBLEHEAD
• SPANGRAM: COLLECTIBLES

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Today’s puzzle collates items that some may consider junk and that others treasure, depending on your collecting demeanor.

Personally, I’ve always veered on the side of treasure and although my loft is free of a single BOBBLEHEAD it contains plenty of everything else listed here, all of which will bail us out of crisis and pay the mortgage off one day.

Well, that’s the dream of everyone with COLLECTIBLES, but the brutal reality upon perusing eBay is that it is all close to worthless . Having said that, I did once sell a comic for $300. The fact that it’s now worth $1,000 further entrenches my position of holding on to everything.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, 22 February, game #356)

• GRIDLOCK
• BLOCKAGE
• CONGESTION
• OVERCROWDING
• SPANGRAM: TRAFFIC JAM

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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