The seemingly impossible (as per Intel) has happened: an Intel Z170 motherboard was made to support Intel's latest Core i3-8350K. This news comes after various reports and counter reports went for and against this being actually viable, according to motherboard socket pin count and function allocation. That this happened not on a Z270 motherboard, but on a Z170, really does serve to open our eyes as customers to what sort of games might be being played by tech companies in product refreshes and new motherboard chipsets.

Seagate Technology plc., a world leader in storage solutions, today announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), the leading Chinese language internet search provider, covering the fields of information technology, big data analysis and advanced storage system development and implementation.

The pact renews an existing agreement between the two firms signed in September 2014, under which Baidu would give priority to Seagate when selecting storage products and solutions, and Seagate would give advanced access to products, services and support to Baidu, as well as assign a dedicated team of engineers to the company.

The cooperation between the two parties builds on this, with Seagate providing double the amount of technical cooperation, and closer links to Baidu for its business needs. With regard to new products, Baidu will be at the forefront of Internet users in China implementing Seagate's new storage products, and also the two sides will jointly develop customized systems to meet Baidu business needs. In addition, the procurement model for both companies will be further upgraded to save costs for each side.

NVIDIA today unveiled a palm-sized, energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI) computer that automakers can use to power automated and autonomous vehicles for driving and mapping. The new single-processor configuration of the NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 AI computing platform for AutoCruise functions -- which include highway automated driving and HD mapping -- consumes just 10 watts of power and enables vehicles to use deep neural networks to process data from multiple cameras and sensors. It will be deployed by China's Baidu as the in-vehicle car computer for its self-driving cloud-to-car system.

DRIVE PX 2 enables automakers and their tier 1 suppliers to accelerate production of automated and autonomous vehicles. A car using the small form-factor DRIVE PX 2 for AutoCruise can understand in real time what is happening around it, precisely locate itself on an HD map and plan a safe path forward. "Bringing an AI computer to the car in a small, efficient form factor is the goal of many automakers," said Rob Csongor, vice president and general manager of Automotive at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 in the car solves this challenge for our OEM and tier 1 partners, and complements our data center solution for mapping and training."

NVIDIA today unveiled the NVIDIA DGX-1, the world's first deep learning supercomputer to meet the unlimited computing demands of artificial intelligence. The NVIDIA DGX-1 is the first system designed specifically for deep learning -- it comes fully integrated with hardware, deep learning software and development tools for quick, easy deployment. It is a turnkey system that contains a new generation of GPU accelerators, delivering the equivalent throughput of 250 x86 servers.

The DGX-1 deep learning system enables researchers and data scientists to easily harness the power of GPU-accelerated computing to create a new class of intelligent machines that learn, see and perceive the world as humans do. It delivers unprecedented levels of computing power to drive next-generation AI applications, allowing researchers to dramatically reduce the time to train larger, more sophisticated deep neural networks.

Seagate Technology, a worldwide leader in storage solutions, today announced it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu, China's largest web services firm, in the areas of low-cost online storage, archiving and Big Data analysis.

Under the agreement, Baidu will give priority to Seagate products when considering components for all Baidu servers and storage facilities. In return Seagate will align with Baidu as a Strategic Customer and give priority to Baidu when providing enterprise storage products and relevant support, as well as maintain a dedicated engineering team for Baidu. Seagate will supply enterprise capacity and performance products as part of the relationship. The agreement also allows for joint research in new technology projects in the areas of Cold Storage, Big Data analysis and Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR). Big Data analysis is the process of examining large amounts of various types of data to find useful information and patterns to assist in decision making.

WD, a Western Digital company and world leader in digital storage solutions, and Baidu, China's largest search engine, have agreed to integrate Baidu Yun public cloud storage services with WD's personal cloud and external storage platforms to provide Chinese consumers a compelling, hybrid digital storage solution.

WD's My Cloud personal cloud drives, available now in China in capacities of 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB, enable consumers to organize, centralize and secure the digital content from all of their computers and mobile devices and access those files from any device and from anywhere in the world. WD's My Cloud EX4 high-performance four-bay network attached storage (NAS) solution, available now in China in 0 TB, 8 TB, 12 TB or 16 TB capacities, provides creative professionals, prosumers and workgroups a reliable way to save, share, back up, stream and manage massive amounts of digital data. The Baidu Yun service is a leading public cloud storage service provider with more than 100 million users. Consumers and businesses store content on Baidu Yun for easy access and sharing from any computer or mobile device.