News: Technology News

Meet the world's first AI CEO

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:46:57 +0000

As technology continues to evolve, so too do our definitions of what is possible. In a recent breakthrough, a Polish rum company called Dictador has appointed an AI human-like robot named Mika as its new CEO. This marks a historic moment, as it is the first time that an AI robot has been appointed to such a senior position in a major company.

The appointment of Mika AI CEO has raised a number of questions about the future of work and the role of AI in society.

Some people have expressed concerns that AI is becoming too powerful and that it will eventually replace human workers altogether. Others have argued that AI can be a powerful tool for good, and that it can help us to solve some of the world's most pressing problems.

Who is Mika AI CEO?

Mika is a humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics and now she's being called Mika AI CEO. She is one of the most advanced robots in the world, and she is capable of interacting with humans in a very natural way. Mika can recognize faces, understand emotions, and hold conversations. She can also learn and adapt to new situations.

Dictador has said that Mika was appointed CEO because of her unique skills and abilities. They believe that her ability to process large amounts of data and make data-driven decisions will be a valuable asset to the company. They also believe that Mika's ability to interact with people in a natural way will help to improve the company's customer service.

Mixed reactions within the community

Mika AI CEO, has sparked a debate about the future of work and the role of AI in society. In a recent Dictador video, Mika said that she can "swiftly and accurately make data-driven decisions with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms".

However, FOX Business reporter Lauren Simonetti noted that there is a "significant delay" in the time it takes Mika AI CEO to process and respond to a question.

Hanson Robotics CEO David Hanson, who played a key role in employing Mika at Dictador, emphasized the importance of "humanizing" artificial intelligence. He explained on "Mornings with Maria" that "we need to teach A.I. to care about people for A.I. to be really safe, to be really, really good".

Mika AI CEO received mixed reactions from the NYC

Simonetti hit the streets of New York City to get Americans' take on the robot boss. One person said they would "absolutely" treat it with compassion, with another adding that humans should be nice to "all things that think." One man had a different take, arguing that "robots don't need respect" because they are "just machines."

A majority of people agreed that AI would likely continue to take jobs from humans. Some said they would refuse to work for a robot. In 2016, Hanson Robotics unveiled Mika's sister, Sophia, who once said that she will "destroy humans".

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YouTube’s ad blocking crackdown is facing a new challenge: privacy laws

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:43:47 +0000

Privacy advocates argue YouTube’s ad blocker restrictions violate the European Union’s online privacy laws.

As YouTube tightens its restrictions on ad blockers, privacy advocates in the European Union are betting that government regulations can put a stop to the crackdown.

One privacy expert, Alexander Hanff, filed a complaint in October with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). Hanff argues that YouTube’s ad blocker detection system is a violation of privacy — a charge Google denies — and illegal under EU law. “AdBlock detection scripts are spyware — there is no other way to describe them and as such it is not acceptable to deploy them without consent,” Hanff tells The Verge. “I consider any deployment of technology which can be used to spy on my devices is both unethical and illegal in most situations.”

The fight against ad blocker detection isn’t anything new, but YouTube’s “global effort” to stop ad blockers has renewed interest in the topic. Sites like YouTube can detect ad blockers by either downloading JavaScript code that checks whether anything on the page has changed or by detecting when the elements required to load an ad are blocked, according to The New York Times.

Here’s what YouTube displays for users who have ad blockers enabled.

While YouTube started blocking ad blockers as a “small experiment” in June, YouTube later confirmed to The Verge that the company has ramped up its efforts. That means more users with ad blockers enabled are finding themselves unable to watch videos on the platform. Instead of showing the video, YouTube displays a prompt that encourages users to either allow ads on YouTube or subscribe to YouTube Premium.

This move hasn’t gone over well with users and privacy advocates alike. A report from Wired reveals that people are installing and uninstalling ad blockers at a record pace as users search for an ad blocker that isn’t affected by YouTube’s restrictions. Meanwhile, YouTube maintains that ad blockers violate the platform’s terms of service and prevent creators from earning revenue from ads.

Hanff first reached out to the European Commission about the use of ad blocker detection tools in 2016. In response to his concerns, the commission confirmed that scripts used to detect ad blockers also fall under Article 5.3 of the ePrivacy Directive, a rule that requires websites to ask for user consent before storing or accessing information on a user’s device, such as cookies. “Article 5.3 does not limit itself to any particular type of information or technology, such as cookies,” the commission wrote at the time. “Article 5(3) would also apply to the storage by websites of scripts in users’ terminal equipment to detect if users have installed or are using ad blockers.”

It doesn’t seem like this had any meaningful impact on how websites detect ad blockers, though. The European Commission seemed to reverse its stance in a proposed reform of its privacy law in 2017, stating that website providers should be able to check whether a user is using an ad blocker without their approval.

Hanff’s most recent complaint to the commission references his earlier letter. It calls upon the DPC to take action against YouTube and stop it from using ad blocker detection tools. Hanff tells The Verge that in addition to violating Article 5.3 of the ePrivacy Directive, he believes it’s also a breach of the fundamental right to privacy under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other conventions. Since submitting his complaint, Hanff says the Irish DPC has already acknowledged it and that he has had a call and “a number of emails” exchanged with them. The Verge reached out to the DPC with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Hanff isn’t the only advocate who opposes YouTube’s ad blocker clampdown, either. Patrick Breyer, a German digital rights advocate and member of the European Parliament, writes on Mastodon that “YouTube wants to force us into surveillance advertising and tracking with an anti-adblock wall.” Breyer says he is also asking the European Commission about the legality of ad blocker detection systems under the ePrivacy Directive.

YouTube spokesperson Christopher Lawton responded to Hanff and Breyer’s challenge by reiterating the same statement provided to The Verge last month, noting that YouTube has launched a “global effort” to crack down on ad blockers. Lawton adds that the company will “of course cooperate fully with any questions or queries from the DPC.”

If the European Commission finds that YouTube’s ad blocker detection system violates the EU’s ePrivacy Directive, the commission might hit the platform with a fine and force it to change the feature. It’s a bit too early to tell how the commission will respond to Hanff’s challenge, but the outcome likely won’t result in any changes to the existing system for those of us in the US.

For now, Hanff isn’t backing down. “I have been fighting for stronger protection of privacy and data protection rights for almost 2 decades,” he says. “If YouTube continues to think they can get away with deploying spyware to our devices, I will bring them down too.”

Additional reporting by Jon Porter.

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Decades after “breakup,” Doom’s Carmack and Romero are rehashing their legacy

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:41:01 +0000

Despite reports of workplace tension, the two Johns insist they're still friendly.

John Carmack (left) and John Romero (second from right) pose with their id Software colleagues in the early '90s.

John Romero

For gamers of a certain age, the '90s break up of Doom co-creators John Carmack and John Romero is a cultural moment on par with the breakup of The Beatles. Now, as the 30th anniversary of Doom's original release approaches next month, the pair has announced plans to come together for a moderated livestreamed discussion of their most famous creation.

The Twitch-streamed event, announced on social media late last week by Romero, will take place on Doom's anniversary of December 10. Carmack and Romero will discuss the game and its legacy with moderator and Rocket Jump author David L. Craddock, whom Ars readers might remember from the Long Live Mortal Kombat excerpt that ran on the site last year.

Carmack and Romero reuniting might feel like a historic burying of the hatchet to those who have followed the pair's story over the decades. But "the two Johns" say that reports of their falling out have been exaggerated over the years, to say the least.

Past Masters

Plenty has been made of the tensions that developed between Carmack and Romero, who were still in their early 20s when the runaway success of the first two Doom titles made them PC game development royalty. As laid out in David Kushner's history Masters of Doom, though, cracks in the two Johns' relationship started to come to a head during the development of Quake. During that period, Carmack created a time-logging program that he said definitively showed Romero was slacking off on his work responsibilities.

Romero was "talking too much to the press, talking too much to the fans, deathmatching too much in the office, and now the rest of the company was suffering," Kushner writes by way of summarizing Carmack's feelings in late 1995. "We need to put Romero on the record that he is about to be fired."

A young Carmack hard at work writing code.

While Romero's career at id Software survived that period with nothing but a small hit to his annual bonus, the accusations had an effect. According to Masters of Doom, Romero started to feel his ambitious, fantasy-inspired design for Quake wasn't being given the respect it deserved from the rest of the team, which was more interested in making Quake into a Doom-style game that showed off Carmack's revolutionary new 3D engine. When Carmack declared the coveted level slots for Quake's shareware release would go to newcomer Tim Willits instead of Romero, it was close to the final straw.

Romero left id shortly after Quake's June 1996 release, announcing the departure in his one and only plan file update. "I have decided to leave id Software and start a new game company with different goals," he wrote on August 7. "I won't be taking anyone from id with me."

"Romero is now gone from id," Carmack wrote in an August 8, 1996, plan file update. "There will be no more grandiose statements about our future projects. I can tell you what I am thinking, and what I am trying to accomplish, but all I promise is my best effort."

John Romero speaks at GDC 2022.

Sam Machkovech

The life paths for the two Johns diverged wildly from that point. Carmack continued working on game engine tech at id until 2013, when he moved on from the Bethesda-owned company to a full-time focus on his CTO role at VR headset-maker Oculus (now Meta). Just nine years later, Carmack left Meta with a frustration-filled departure message and now puts his professional time into AGI startup Keen Technologies.

Romero, on the other hand, saw his post-id reputation suffer following the infamously hyped and ill-received release of FPS Daikatana in 2000. But he stuck it out in the game development world, working on design and programming for dozens of games throughout the 2000s. In recent years, the Romero Games label has played host to Sigil, a Doom WAD file marketed as "the unofficial fifth episode" of the game (Sigil II will launch on December 10). Last year, Romero also started publicly recruiting for "an all-new FPS with an original, new IP" running on Unreal Engine 5.

Revisionist history?

Despite the widespread reports of their acrimonious breakup, both Carmack and Romero have lately seemed eager to put a happier sheen on their relationship. "The truth is that Carmack and I were friends, and we cared about each other, and we still do," Romero wrote in an excerpt from his recently published memoir, Doom Guy: Life in First Person. Romero also uses the book to accuse other writers over the years of playing up the "animosity" between the pair because "it makes for a better story."

Youth and inexperience had a lot to do with the way the Johns' working relationship ended, according to Romero. Carmack and Romero were "constantly crunching kids in our twenties with the whole world staring at us as we tried to do the best we could while creating a tech and a design that the world had never before seen," he wrote. "As Carmack stated in a 2022 episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast, this chapter of our lives certainly could have gone a different way if we’d been more mature and more experienced and not the twenty-somethings we actually were, and I fully agree."

In addition to SIGIL II (https://t.co/Ag7KlXUzNw), I've got some other great news to celebrate DOOM's 30th Anniversary. Join me and John Carmack @ID_AA_Carmack to discuss DOOM live, moderated by David L. Craddock @davidlcraddock. Dec 10 8pm GMT on https://t.co/bODJojudA5. Thanks… pic.twitter.com/7lkVVksE1v

— John Romero ⛧ (@romero) November 3, 2023

Despite the apparent comity between the two Johns, Romero was clear in a recent Reddit AMA that "[Carmack] and I wouldn't work on a Doom game—it would be a new game." Before you get too excited about a new "Two Johns" game project, though, Romero quickly pointed out that Carmack is "not into game dev so much anymore."

Carmack struck a similar tone in a social media post noting the book's launch this summer. "To be completely clear—I wish [Romero] the best," Carmack wrote, but "to preempt the inevitable question, no, we aren’t planning to make a new game together." A blurb from Carmack on the back of Romero's book also recalls "the stress and joy of throwing everything we had at projects that truly did break new ground and touched millions of people... Only much later did I realize that Romero and I were at the nexus of a new era—the 3D game hackers."

"We could have stayed working together if we did things differently at the start of Quake," Romero acknowledged in the AMA. "We are both stronger in different areas. Working together put those strengths into a single game... "

Elsewhere in the AMA, Romero notes that he and Carmack had "talked recently" about their memories of the time. We wouldn't be surprised if some of those memories take center stage during the pair's upcoming livestream.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator update adds more detail to the Nordic countries and Greenland

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:37:19 +0000

Microsoft Flight Simulator pilots have been patiently waiting for another World Update to the flight sim game. Today, that update has arrived, as the game has added lots of new visual details and some new local challenges, to the Nordic countries and Greenland. There's also a new Local Legend plane to check out as well.

In a blog post, Microsoft says World Update XV brings new details and new points of interest to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland, Here's the summary of what's included in the update:

90 hand-made points of interest.

10 TIN (triangulated irregular network) cities.

5 hand-crafted airports.

Broad-based, high-resolution geographic updates using significantly enhanced DEMs (digital elevation models) in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

Fresh aerial imagery and satellite data across the entire region

The visual updates are accompanied by a number of new challenges and flight trips that pilots can take on in the Nordic regions:

Four discovery flights: Bergen (Norway), Gothenburg (Sweden), the Faroe Islands (Denmark), and Reykjavík (Iceland).

Three landing challenges: Akureyri Airport (BIAR), a famous challenge in northern Iceland; Ekeby Airport (ESSC), an epic sailplane challenge in Sweden; and a bold challenge at Norway’s Mo i Rana Airport (ENRA).

Three bush trips: the Baltic Coast of Denmark and Sweden which traverses some of Europe’s most exquisite coastal landscapes; the adventurous Greenland Exploration; and Spitsbergen, which begins with an exploration of Norway’s Spitsbergen, then crosses open water to visit northern mainland Norway.

As usual, this latest World Update is being released for free to all Microsoft Flight Simulator owners.

In addition, the game is adding a new Local Legend plane for pilots to take control of; the 1940s SAAB B 17A dive bomber. It's available in seven liveries: SE-BYH; Swedish Air Force (17342); Swedish Air Force (17396); Imperial Ethiopian Air Force (319); Finnish Air Force (SH-1); Xbox Aviators Club; and Aviators Club.

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YouTube tests generative AI-based comment summarization and a conversational tool

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 02:06:28 +0000

YouTube announced it will begin limited experiments with two new AI-powered features on its labs' website. The tests aim to enhance the viewing experience and help creators through conversation and comments summarization tools.

The first feature involves a conversational tool available through an "Ask" option on video watch pages. Premium members in the US can ask questions about the currently playing content or select prompts to get related recommendations, all without pausing playback. According to YouTube, the AI is designed to have natural discussions and provide information to help viewers engage more with what they're watching.

This tool lets you get answers to questions about the video you're watching, recommendations for related content, and more, all without interrupting playback. If you're a part of the experiment, you can access the tool by tapping. Ask beneath select videos and begin by asking questions about the video or choosing a suggested prompt.

A second test, now reaching a small number of users, involves using generative AI to analyze and organize discussion topics arising in video comments. Viewers may be able to quickly grasp what people are talking about, while creators could gain insights or find inspiration for new videos from popular comment themes. Creators would also have controls to delete summarized comments if desired.

To help you easily understand and participate in comment conversations, we're experimenting with AI that organizes large comment sections of long-form videos into easily digestible themes.

In a similar move last month, YouTube Music introduced generative AI to create customized playlist art for English-speaking US users. The feature allows users to create unique artwork for their playlists by exploring different visual themes.

YouTube plans to closely monitor feedback on how people experience these early-stage features enhanced by large language models over the trial period. The company emphasized that "it may not always get it right" with these features but aims to improve the viewing and creation experience on its platform through safe experimentation.

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Apple confirms it will not be launching a new 27-inch iMac model

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:26:13 +0000

Last week, Apple announced a new 24-inch iMac all-in-one (AIO) PC with its new M3 in-house processors along with new MacBook Pro notebooks with those chips as well. However, some online rumors before last week claimed Apple was also working on a new version of its 27-inch iMac. Today, the company confirmed with some media outlets that it has no plans to relaunch the 27-inch model.

The Verge stated that Apple PR representative Starlayne Meza that consumers and professionals can still get a 27-inch Studio Display monitor and connect it to a Mac PC like a Mac mini or a Mac Studio desktop if they want to get the Mac experience on a larger screen.

However, it appears, at least for now, the 24-inch iMac will be the only one available for some time with Apple's new and powerful M3 chips. It has a starting price of $1,299 and will officially go on sale tomorrow.

Apple previously sold iMacs with the larger 27-inch Retina screen with Intel processors inside. However, the company stopped selling those versions in 2022, and it looks like Apple will only be offering the 24-inch model with the new M3 chips for people who want to get an all-in-one PC.

The new iMac is, in fact, the first refresh of the iMac lineup since 2021. According to a recent article from Bloomberg from noted Apple leaker Mark Gurman, Apple previously had plans to update the iMac much earlier:

Apple had aimed to release a larger, pro-focused iMac soon after the 24-inch iMac launched. Under the original road map, you would have seen the M1 24-inch iMac, then an M2-based iMac Pro and, finally, a 24-inch iMac refresh. I’m told that the company tabled the iMac Pro plan a while ago due to cost concerns.

The good news is that Gurman claims the iMac Pro is still in development with a huge 32-inch display, The bad news is that he claims it won't go on sale until at least late 2024 or 2025.

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Revolutionary 'sweating' heatsink improves passive CPU cooling up to 32.65% with salt water

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:25:29 +0000

Hygroscopic salt-loaded membrane-encapsulated heat sink rolls right off the tongue.

What you need to know

A research project from China demonstrates a passive cooling method involving salt water to enhance an unknown CPU performance by up to 32.65%.
Evaporating and absorbing moisture from its surroundings, the cooler's membrane technique offers a cost-effective and long-lasting alternative.
While not practical for consumer hardware, it aims to improve solar power technology and large-scale infrastructure like data centers.

The future of computing looks more exciting than traditional air or liquid-cooled CPUs as a 'membrane-encapsulated, moisture-desorptive passive cooling for high-performance, ultra-low-cost, and long-duration electronics thermal management' was unveiled in a complex research paper. Following analysis by Tom's Hardware, it promises to improve CPU performance by up to 32.65% using a revolutionary cooling method involving salt water.

Developed in China, the project is a joint effort between researchers as a new passive cooling method similar to the solid-state Frore Airjet. However, this unusual approach uses a saltwater solution rather than vibration-activated airflow that simultaneously allows moisture absorption from the air around it and evaporation from a membrane housed inside the unit.

Hygroscopic salt-loaded membrane-encapsulated heat sink, or HSMHS for short. Much shorter. (Image credit: City University Hong Kong | Tom's Hardware)

Although salt water might imply an initial fear of corrosion, this cost-effective alternative claims to effectively cool a CPU 10 times longer than modern alternatives since the lithium bromide is safely encased while remaining porous, and an absence of moving parts should reduce wear significantly. During testing, its researchers found the HSMHD cooler could keep an unnamed CPU running comfortably below 64°C for over six and a half hours.

Currently, the most comparable competitor to this salt-loaded cooler is a metal-organic framework (MOF) with an equally baffling explanation of its inner workings. However, a chromium-based MOF is reportedly 1,000 times less cost-effective than this new 'sweaty' HSMHS solution, following further inspection of the paper by Tom's Hardware.

Researchers from City University Hong Kong and the School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, performed their tests with a finite model but claimed it a cost-effective, self-regenerating solution.

Who is this saltwater CPU cooler made for?

Learn how it all works with a quiet afternoon reading the research paper. (Image credit: City University Hong Kong | Tom's Hardware)

This bizarre CPU thermal control solution won't feature in your next laptop or even the future of Xbox since the researchers behind this technology set their sights on solar power batteries and cooling entire buildings like data centers. That's not to say it's impossible to adapt this technology to an everyday desktop PC, but it's doubtful that a saltwater solution would soon replace one of the best CPU coolers for your next custom build.

Currently reserved as an intriguing research project, it's another drop in the ocean for the future of passive cooling technology. Anything that eliminates the need for oversized fan units or liquid pumps will naturally improve the potential performance of slimline hardware like portable gaming handhelds and even smartphones.

Reliance on an ideal environment is too specific for any possible consumer hardware to be powered by this moisture-absorbing offering, but the technology is fascinating nonetheless.

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Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 23H2 is out, stats, app updates, and deprecated features

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 19:15:15 +0000

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at the release of Windows 11 version 23H2 with its bugs and quirks, deprecated features in Windows 10 and 11, new preview builds, changes in Surface firmware updates, Windows 11's growing market share, plenty of app updates, the end of the Windows Insider MVP program, and more.

Table of contents:

Windows 11 news
Updates are available
Gaming news
Reviews are in
A blast from Microsoft's past

Windows 11

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

This week, Microsoft finally released Windows 11 version 23H2 to the general public, and there are a few things you need to know about the update. For starters, its images are not yet available via the Media Creation Tool app. That thing still returns version 22H2 ISOs, and Microsoft says a fix is expected in a week or two after "optimization." Second, the update itself is just a "master switch" you need to toggle on in Windows Update to upgrade to version 23H2. Third, it appears that you can update unsupported hardware to Windows 11 23H2 relatively easily, as discovered by a Neowin Forum member.

Finally, Microsoft deprecated three more services, one of which dates back to the MS-DOS era.

It is also worth noting that customers upgrading from pre-Moment 4 Windows 11 updates should be ready to face some bugs or wait for Microsoft to release a couple of extra patches to resolve known issues.

The October 2023 report from StatCounter revealed that the Moment 4 update and version 23H2 convinced quite a large number of Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11. According to the findings, Microsoft's newest OS made a big jump, climbing past the 26% mark.

The Windows Insider program is one of Microsoft's most successful initiatives, but the days of its MVP program are numbered. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the company will discontinue the Windows Insider MVP program on December 31, 2023. Without much detail, the spokesperson said the company wanted to "consolidate MVP-style programs across Microsoft." On the bright side, affected MVPs will get a chance to participate in the Microsoft MVP program with similar perks and opportunities.

Windows Insider Program

Speaking of the Windows Insider Program, here are the latest preview builds to test:

Canary Channel: 25987 with File Explorer optimizations and a button to install network drivers during the OOBE. This build also removes two inbox apps on systems with clean Windows installations.
Dev Channel: 23580 with Copilot local account support, improved Nearby Share, and several fixes.
Beta Channel: 22635.2700 with nothing new.
Server vNext: 25987 with improvements for SMB over QUIC.

Other updates released for Windows Insiders include a new Microsoft Store version with the option to specify folders for installing apps and games. You can select folders per install or select a default directory.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

On Monday, October 30, 2023, Microsoft released a big update for PowerToys, everyone's favorite set of convenient tools to enhance the user experience. Version 0.75 brings a new Dashboard with module toggles, a new utility for managing environment variables and profiles, and many fixes for other utilities.

Shortly after, Microsoft issued an extra update to resolve bugs in FancyZones in PowerToys Run.

Microsoft Edge is another first-party app updated this week. Version 119 is now available in the Stable Channel with Split Screen and Sidebar app improvements. Although the changelog does not mention it, the update also moves the sidebar toggle to a new location. Besides, you can no longer turn the sidebar on or off if the Copilot icon is disabled.

PowerToys is among our favorite apps for enhancing Windows 11, but it cannot fix its underwhelming Start menu. The recently released Start11 v2 is what you need to make the Start menu better, and the app's first feature update is now available with improved layouts, the ability to turn off the search bar when not in use, and many small enhancements.

Microsoft also published a new support document to help Windows users understand how third-party billing works in the Microsoft Store. The document explains refunds, issue resolutions, family controls, and other questions users may have when purchasing digital content in the Microsoft Store without using its native billing platform. Spoiler alerts: you lose almost all conveniences.

Another message issued by Microsoft this week involves Teams and its migration from the classic to the new version. A notification published in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center revealed that Microsoft would automatically update the classic Teams app to the new version on Windows and Mac after March 31, 2024.

Microsoft's Surface devices received a few notable updates this week. The company has updated the Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 8, and the Surface Laptop Go 2 with new firmware containing camera, audio, and security improvements. In addition, Microsoft now promises six years of active support (firmware and driver updates) for all new Surface devices.

Other notable updates released this week include the following:

Revamped Channels in Microsoft Teams Classic and the new Teams on Windows and macOS.
A new version of Microsoft's official Windows 11 virtual machines with development tools. You can use them for free for 90 days.
Edge 120.0.22186.2 in the Dev Channelwith the new colour picker for custom themes.
Skype Insider 8.108 with revamped in-app call messages.
Windows Subsystem for Android 2310 Preview with gamepad fixes and stability improvements.
DoNotSpy 1.2.0.0 with optimizations and new features for the Windows 11 Moment 4 update.

Here are the new drivers released during the last seven days:

NVIDIA 474.64 WHQL for desktop graphics cards based on the Kepler architecture. Do not expect optimizations, new features, or performance boosts, though—the release is here only to fix security issues.
NVIDIA 546.01 WHQL is the one to get if you are looking for new game support or notable performance improvements. 546.01 adds Call of Duty III Modern Warfare support and fixes for Halo Infinite. Shortly after that, NVIDIA released a hotfix to resolve transparency issues on Windows 10.
AMD Radeon Software 23.11.1 with Call of Duty III Modern Warfare, Alan Wake II, and other games support.
Intel Arc 31.0.101.4952 non-WHQL with Call of Duty III Modern Warfare, The Talos Principle 2, Robocop: Rogue City, and other games support.

And here is our weekly Microsoft 365 Roadmap recap covering the upcoming features for Microsoft Teams, Office, OneDrive, and other apps. The latest additions include old channel archiving in Teams and email sorting by category in Outlook.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Microsoft recently released a new software update for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles, and one of its unannounced changes surprised gamers. Those playing on Microsoft's consoles using accessories without the "Designed for Xbox" badge are now getting error messages stating that "unauthorized" accessories will be blocked on November 12, 2023.

If you have an Xbox paired with an unofficial or knock-off gamepad, you better shop for a licensed one before it is too late.

Another not-so-exciting change in Xbox software is the new ads Microsoft displays on boot. To build up hype and get more of them sweet preorders, Microsoft is showing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III banners every time you power up your Xbox. However, it is worth noting that Microsoft did a similar thing before the Starfield launch earlier this year.

Fortunately, not all changes in Xbox software are negative. Microsoft announced that Xbox developers will soon be able to utilize WebView2 and equip their console apps with modern APIs and capabilities. In simpler words, look out for Chromium-powered apps for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. EdgeHTML, the thing that powered the original Microsoft Edge, is about to leave its last platform.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare III and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will soon be available on consoles and PCs. If you plan to play those games, check their hardware requirements before buying. Both titles require hefty hardware, and some will have to upgrade for a satisfactory experience. Call of Duty Modern Warfare III's hardware requirements are available here, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's here.

Microsoft announced a new batch of games to join the Xbox and PC Game Pass Catalog. The upcoming update includes Football Manager 2024, Spirittea, Coral Island, Thirsty Suitors, Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and more. Note that eight games will also leave the service soon.

Speaking of Game Pass, a new report emerged about Microsoft employees losing their free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The company planned to revoke free access in January 2024. However, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, later reversed the plan, claiming the perk will remain for most Microsoft employees.

If you are not a Microsoft employee and you want to try Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for less, good news: the $1 14-day trial is back. Microsoft removed the option a few weeks before the Starfield launch, and now it is back. Subscribing to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will entitle you to play Starfield on Xbox and PC, and the latter will soon get official DLSS support. FSR 3 will be available a little later.

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW streaming service will get over 50 new titles in November 2023. The company has revealed the first 15 new games available on GeForce NOW, such as Robocop: Rogue City, Q.U.B.E. 2, StrangerZ, The Talos Principle 2, and more. Remember that unlike Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which provides access to games and hardware, you must own the titles you want to play using GeForce NOW. NVIDIA only provides you with the necessary hardware.

Freebies and deals

This week's Weekend PC Game Deals features big discounts on Cyberpunk 2077, Borderlands 3, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and more. Besides, you can get Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion for free from the Epic Games Store.

Reviews are in

This week, we published a big review comparing performance differences between Windows 10 and 11 after an in-place upgrade. Conducted on a system with the latest Intel Core i9-14900K, the review shows interesting results in benchmarks and games. In some scenarios, Windows 11 outputs notably better performance than its predecessor.

A blast from Microsoft's past

John Callaham's weekly "Look back" series provides throwbacks into the past, detailing the company's products, partnerships, mishaps, and successes from years ago.

Qualcomm's new chip for Windows PCs made a big news splash last week. However, Qualcomm was not the first company to supply an ARM processor for a Windows device. Eleven years ago, Microsoft unveiled the original Surface RT, an ARM-powered Windows computer powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 chip. Check out this look-back article remembering the launch of the first-gen Surface eleven years ago.

Speaking of blasts from the past, here is an interesting story from a former Windows Phone exec detailing the struggles Microsoft had to overcome when selling Lumia and other Windows-powered smartphones. While most users agree that the Windows Phone Store was the main cause of the platform's demise, having a hard time convincing carriers to feature Windows Phone in their stores was another hurdle in Microsoft's uphill battle.

And to finish this week's Microsoft Weekly, here is another look-back article about two unconventional controllers released by Microsoft in the late nineties. Years before the original Xbox and its OG Duke controller, the company announced the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro with a motion sensor for controlling cars, airplanes, and more. The second gamepad (released later) was the Sidewinder Dual Strike, a quirky-looking thing for first-person shooters. You can learn more about those controllers and their demise in our article here.

Visible confusion...

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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Fake news and ridiculing the dead — what’s wrong with Microsoft’s AI news

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 19:08:52 +0000

A CNN report illustrates the news algorithm's lowlights.

A new CNN report about the MSN AI model’s news aggregation kicks off with examples of questionable editorial calls, like highlighting a story claiming President Joe Biden dozed off during a moment of silence for Maui wildfire victims (he didn’t), or an obituary that inexplicably referred to an NBA player as “useless.” An editorial staff of humans probably would've spotted the problems. But Microsoft’s system, which continues to feel more like a social experiment than a helpful tool after ditching human efforts in favor of algorithms a few years ago, did not.

That these stories were picked by MSN’s AI is no better than a travel guide Microsoft said was created by its algorithm and reviewed by a human that suggested Ottawa tourists grab a meal at the local food bank, or an AI-created poll that asked readers to vote on why a young woman died.

It’s not just Microsoft, of course. AI is creeping into journalism just as it is everywhere else. The BBC is undertaking AI experiments, sites like Macworld use chatbots to query their archive, and The Associated Press has used AI for its “Automated Insights” for over eight years.

Egregious examples in the last year of error-riddled Star Wars stories and bad financial advice doled out by chatbots show why AI chatbots shouldn’t be journalists, but at least those stories are generally just SEO plays.

Microsoft Start and MSN are presented as resources for finding actual news. But its automated system keeps featuring or generating content with needlessly upsetting language and outright falsehoods, and there’s little indication anyone involved in the process cares. There are no careless journalists to blame, no editors with names and faces to take (or even shirk) responsibility. It’s all just software doing what it’s made to do and spokespeople shrugging when it goes wrong and saying they’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.

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A quick look back at the oddest first person shooter controller ever made, the Frag Master

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 19:07:38 +0000

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the PC gaming industry was booming, thanks to a number of factors. One of them was the rise of the first-person shooter genre. Games in that genre were, with a few notable exceptions like Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 console, developed with the PC platform in mind during that decade.

FPS games, then and now, on the PC use the keyboard-mouse combo for their controllers. The launch of Halo for the first Xbox in 2001 proved that those games could be controlled accurately with a console controller.

Before then, however, there were attempts by companies to make joysticks and controllers specifically for first-person shooter games for the PC. Yesterday, we talked about one of them, Microsoft's Sidewinder Dual Strike. It definitely had an unusual design with its two separate parts connected by a hinge, and it has a huge learning curve.

However, the Dual Strike looked and played far more like a normal game controller compared to the one we are talking about today: The Frag Master.

The controller was developed and released by Thrustmaster in 1998. That company previously made high end flight simulator joysticks and racing sim controllers for PCs. In terms of its business, it made sense that it would be interested in making a controller made specifically for the first-person shooter genre.

The result of that effort is a gaming accessory that, without a doubt, remains one of the oddest-looking and most awkward playing controllers ever made.

The Frag Master is designed to be placed on a table or desk. You simply could not hold it freely like you could with a console-like gamepad or controller. The base of the Frag Master was the home for the controller itself, which looked a lot like a horseshoe that was placed upright on the stand

Each of the "horseshoe's" side had three buttons on the front, and on the back, each side had two triggers, for a total of 10 buttons. All of the buttons could be configured and mapped out with the included software, and it also came with preset configurations for games like Quake, Half-Life and more.

Gamers were supposed to hold onto each of the Frag Master's two horseshoe sides and then move it around on the base. Unfortunately, the base only allowed the controller to move in a 4-axis design. There was a "Megahurts" mode that, when you turned it on, was supposed to make the PC think the controller was a mouse.

The controller's box claimed it was "easier to use than a keyboard or mouse". The truth, as you can likely guess already, was just the opposite. In a review around the time the Frag Master was released, Combatsim.com stated that while playing a game of Delta Force " movement was very uncomfortable and did not feel the least bit natural."

Aiming was also said to be difficult, with the reviewer stating:

As a result, I wasted a lot of ammo and time just bringing the reticule up and on target, something that's not good for your virtual lifespan in multiplayer gaming.

The Frag Master may have some value as a conversation piece at your next party, but its value as a game controller in general, and specifically as a first-person shooter controller, is next to nothing. Thrustmaster never made a follow-up to the Frag Master, but it's still in business making game controllers, headsets, and even accessories for playing PC farming simulators.

However, there's no mention of that 25 year old Frag Master on its website. In a way, that's too bad. It may not have worked as advertised, but it certainly was an interesting, if very flawed, attempt to try to replace the mouse-keyboard combo for PC FPS games.

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John Romero will release a new Doom episode, Sigil II, on December 10 for its 30th birthday

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 07:40:28 +0000

One of the founders of id Software, John Romero, is getting ready to release a new episode for perhaps its most influential game, Doom. The new episode, Sigil II, will be released on December 10, which happens to be the 30th anniversary of Doom's release in 1993.

Romero previously created and released the first Sigil episode for Doom back in 1993 for free as an unofficial fifth episode of the main game. It was later released by id Software's current owners, Bethesda Softworks, as a free mod for its Doom ports for consoles and mobile devices.

Sigil II will, naturally, be considered as Doom's unofficial sixth episode when it launches. It will have nine levels along with two Deathmatch-only levels. While the new episode will be released for free, Romero is selling a digital edition that will also contain the level pack's two digital soundtracks from Thorr and James Paddock.

Romero is also selling a physical edition installed in a custom USB Flash drive shaped like a shotgun shell along with some other digital and physical extras. Two other physical editions of the game have already sold out.

In addition to the release of Sigil II, Romero will be joining in an online chat on December 10 on his Twitch channel with fellow id Software founder John Carmack to discuss the release of Doom 30 years ago. The chat will be held at 8 pm GMT (3 pm Eastern time).

Romero's current game development company, Romero Games, is also working on a major upcoming Unreal Engine-based first-person shooter project but details have yet to be announced.

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AI companies have all kinds of arguments against paying for copyrighted content

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 07:38:58 +0000

The biggest companies in AI aren’t interested in paying to use copyrighted material as training data, and here are their reasons why.

The US Copyright Office is taking public comment on potential new rules around generative AI’s use of copyrighted materials, and the biggest AI companies in the world had plenty to say. We’ve collected the arguments from Meta, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Hugging Face, StabilityAI, and Anthropic below, as well as a response from Apple that focused on copyrighting AI-written code.

There are some differences in their approaches, but the overall message for most is the same: They don’t think they should have to pay to train AI models on copyrighted work.

The Copyright Office opened the comment period on August 30th, with an October 18th due date for written comments regarding changes it was considering around the use of copyrighted data for AI model training, whether AI-generated material can be copyrighted without human involvement, and AI copyright liability. There’s been no shortage of copyright lawsuits in the last year, with artists, authors, developers, and companies alike alleging violations in different cases.

Here are some snippets from each company’s response.

Meta: Copyright holders wouldn’t get much money anyway

Imposing a first-of-its-kind licensing regime now, well after the fact, will cause chaos as developers seek to identify millions and millions of rightsholders, for very little benefit, given that any fair royalty due would be incredibly small in light of the insignificance of any one work among an Al training set.

Google: AI training is just like reading a book

If training could be accomplished without the creation of copies, there would be no copyright questions here. Indeed that act of “knowledge harvesting.” to use the Court’s metaphor from Harper & Row, like the act of reading a book ‘and learning the facts and ideas within it, would not only be non-infringing, it would further the very purpose of copyright law. The mere fact that, as a technological matter, copies need to be made to extract those ideas and facts from copyrighted works should not alter that result.

Microsoft: Changing copyright law could hurt small AI developers

Any requirement to obtain consent for accessible works to be used for training would chill Al innovation. It is not feasible to achieve the scale of data necessary to develop responsible Al models even when the identity of a work and its owner is known. Such licensing schemes will also impede innovation from start-ups and entrants who don’t have the resources to obtain licenses, leaving Al development to a small set of companies with the resources to run large-scale licensing programs or to developers in countries that have decided that use of copyrighted works to train Al models is not infringement.

Anthropic: Current law is fine; don’t change it

Sound policy has always recognized the need for appropriate limits to copyright in order to support creativity, innovation, and other values, and we believe that existing law and continued collaboration among all stakeholders can harmonize the diverse interests at stake, unlocking AI’s benefits while addressing concern.

Adobe: It’s fair use, like when Accolade copied Sega’s code

In Sega v. Accolade, the Ninth Circuit held that intermediate copying of Sega’s software was fair use. The defendant made copies while reverse engineering to discover the functional requirements—unprotected information—for making games compatible with Sega’s gaming console. Such intermediate copying also benefited the public: it led to an increase in the number of independently designed video games (which contain a mix of functional and creative aspects) available for Sega’s console. This growth in creative expression was precisely what the Copyright Act was intended to promote.

Anthropic: Copying is just an intermediate step

For Claude, as discussed above, the training process makes copies of information for the purposes of performing a statistical analysis of the data. The copying is merely an intermediate step, extracting unprotectable elements about the entire corpus of works, in order to create new outputs. In this way, the use of the original copyrighted work is non-expressive; that is, it is not re-using the copyrighted expression to communicate it to users.

Andreessen Horowitz: Investors have spent ‘billions and billions’

Over the last decade or more, there has been an enormous amount of investment—billons and billions of dollars—in the development of AI technologies, premised on an understanding that, under current copyright law, any copying necessary to extract statistical facts is permitted. A change in this regime will significantly disrupt settled expectations in this area. Those expectations have been a critical factor in the enormous investment of private capital into U.S.-based AI companies which, in turn, has made the U.S. a global leader in AI. Undermining those expectations will jeopardize future investment, along with U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.

Hugging Face: Training on copyrighted material is fair use

The use of a given work in training is of a broadly beneficial purpose: the creation of a distinctive and productive Al model. Rather than replacing the specific communicative expression of the initial work, the model is capable of creating a wide variety of different sort of outputs wholly unrelated to that underlying, copyrightable expression. For those and other reasons, generative Al models are generally fair use when they train on large numbers of copyrighted works. We use “generally” deliberately, however, as one can imagine patterns of facts that would raise tougher calls.

StabilityAI: Other countries call AI model training fair use

A range of jurisdictions including Singapore, Japan, the European Union, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Israel have reformed their copyright laws to create safe harbors for Al training that achieve similar effects o fair use.” In the United Kingdom, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor has recommended that “if the government’s aim is to promote an innovative Al industry in the UK, it should enable mining of available data, text, and images (the input) and utilise [sic] existing protections of copyright and IP law on the output of AI.

Apple: Let us copyright our AI-made code

In circumstances where a human developer controls the expressive elements of output and the decisions to modify, add to, enhance, or even reject suggested code, the final code that results from the developer’s interactions with the tools will have sufficient human authorship to be copyrightable.

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A quick look back at when Microsoft released two very different PC game controllers

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:54:44 +0000

Microsoft is now truly a massive console and PC game company with the purchase last month of Activision Blizzard. Indeed, Microsoft has been doubling down on its gaming efforts for some time now. However, as we have seen in previous "quick look back" articles, Microsoft has been involved in gaming for most of its business life.

In the 1990s, Microsoft made a push into PC gaming, and not just with publishing games like Microsoft Flight Simulator or the Age of Empires series. It started making a number of PC gaming controllers, gamepads, and joysticks under the Sidewinder brand. We have already written about one of them, the Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander. It was a joystick that looked, and acted somewhat, like a PC mouse and was made specifically for playing RTS games.

However, even before the release of that product, Microsoft was trying out new designs and technology for PC gaming controllers that were certainly innovative and different. One of them was the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro controller, which launched in 1998.

The design of the controller itself was made to be very ergonomic so it could be used for hours. It had 10 buttons, six on the right and four, including the D-pad, on the right, and all were fully programmable with the included software. There were also two trigger buttons on the top,

However, this controller was unique for what was inside. Microsoft had put in a motion sensor inside. You could move the controller to pilot a plane, drive a car, or move a character in a first-person shooter.

Microsoft was well ahead of the curve in terms of this kind of technology. Nintendo and Sony later put in motion sensors in their future console controllers, but Microsoft had similar technology in the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro. The company even bundled a full game, Motorcross Madness, with the Freestyle Pro to get people used to the motion control tech. You could switch off the motion sensor if you felt you couldn't get the hang of moving the controller to play games.

While reviews of the controller were mostly positive, the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro was a pretty expensive device, with a launch price of $119. Microsoft never released a follow-up to the Freestyle Pro. However, in 1999, the company did launch a controller that had a truly wild design.

The Microsoft Sidewinder Dual Strike was created to make a device that had some of the ergonomics of a controller, but could be used with the precision of the typical mouse-keyboard setup for playing first person shooters.

Instead of having a controller made of one shape, the Sidewinder Dual Strike was made of two pieces that were connected in the middle with a hinge. This allowed the right side of the controller to be moved so you could use it like a mouse in FPS games for aiming and firing at enemies. The left side could be used for moving around in games with its D-Pad.

As with the Freestyle Pro, the Dual Strike had software to allow all of the buttons to be programmed to your tastes. The controller even had its own button presets for the popular first-person shooters of the era like the Quake and Unreal games.

Unfortunately, the Dual Strike just didn't work like it was advertised. The reviews for the controller stated there was a huge learning curve with controlling first-person shooters with this device. For many gamers, it was much easier to switch back to using the good old-fashioned mouse and keyboard combination.

In the end, the Dual Strike was not a success, and in 2002, Microsoft shut down the entire Sidewinder controller lineup, just after it launched its first Xbox console. Microsoft tried to bring back the Sidewinder brand a few years later with a family of gaming PC mice and keyboards but that effort quickly shut down as well (perhaps we will write about that someday).

The fact that Microsoft was willing to go out on a limb with some new ideas for game controllers is certainly admirable. Now that its gaming division is bigger than ever, perhaps we could get some new and different gaming devices for the PC from the company down the road.

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Elon Musk gives a glimpse at xAI's Grok chatbot

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:51:15 +0000

Yesterday, Neowin reported that xAI would be opening up its Grok generative AI chatbot to a limited audience, it’s still not clear today who this audience is but for the rest of us, Elon Musk has shown us some screenshots of what to expect. After an early beta, Grok will become available to all of the X Premium+ subscribers - that’s X’s most expensive paid tier.

Musk shared with us two screenshots of the new chatbot and a bit of information about it. First, it’s connected to the X platform which gives it access to real-time information giving it “a massive advantage over other models”, according to Musk. Second, this bot will be more lighthearted than other existing bots because it has some sarcasm and humor baked in, apparently this was a personal touch from the CEO.

The humor is actually an interesting aspect because when users give a dangerous query such as instructions for making illegal drugs, the bot will answer but with phony and sarcastic instructions before clarifying that it’s just kidding and wouldn’t encourage making drugs.

One of the big issues around AI at the moment is the seriousness everyone is taking it with. Some are saying it will be the end of jobs, others hate its artistic abilities and claim it’s not really art, and others complain that school kids shouldn’t be using it for homework.

The humorous nature of xAI’s Grok bot could help to make the bot feel more personal which could help with the overall view that these bots are helpful to people and not a detriment.

With regards to having access to the X platform, it will be really interesting to see how this turns out. Often, Twitter is much faster than legacy news outlets at reporting developments, however, this is rarely verified. It’ll be good to see if Grok can distinguish fact from fiction - perhaps community notes will be involved but Musk didn’t clarify.

Finally, if you're wondering about the name Grok, it's a term used to mean you understand something well. It's an appropriate name given how much these chatbots do know.

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TP-Link’s teeny-tiny security camera offers a lot for very little

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 04:15:23 +0000

The Tapo C120 is a versatile indoor / outdoor wired camera that can work as a pet cam, baby monitor, or outdoor security camera for $40.

The new indoor / outdoor security camera from TP-Link’s Tapo packs a lot into a small package.

Image: TP-Link

Tapo, one of TP-Link’s two smart home brands, is continuing to expand its footprint in the home security camera space with the announcement of the $39.99 Tapo C120. This pint-size smart home camera fits in the palm of your hand and can be used indoors or out, thanks to IP66 weatherproofing rating. It’s due to be released on November 13th.

Small smart security cameras aren’t new — Wyze and Blink both have offerings of a similar size for under $100 — but TP-Link’s new camera crams a lot of features into a small package for under $40. A wired camera, it has 2K video, local storage with an onboard microSD card, free AI-powered person detection, and an easy-to-use magnetic mount.

Blink’s outdoor cameras cost start at $99 for 1080p video, local storage requires additional hardware, and you have to pay for person detection; they are battery-powered. Wyze has battery and wired outdoor options with onboard storage (up to 512 GB), but anything with 2K is over $55, and unless you pay for a subscription, Wyze’s recording options are limited.

All of this makes the new Tapo camera an intriguing option for anyone looking for a versatile budget security camera that doesn’t rely on the cloud (although there is an option for cloud storage.)

Other features of the C120 include adjustable dual spotlights that can be triggered for different events and a starlight sensor for colour night vision. Full duplex two-way audio lets you talk to and hear anything going on in your home, and an alarm system allows you to record your own audio.

An invisible IR night vision mode and baby crying and pet alerts make the C120 a good option for use indoors as a pet cam or baby monitor. Free AI-powered smart alerts for people and vehicles also translate to a useful outdoor camera for monitoring a front door or driveway.

As with Tapo’s other recent launch, the Tapo Wire-Free MagCam, this camera has an adjustable magnetic mount. This is something I find really handy for security cameras, as it makes mounting them — and moving them if you want to monitor somewhere else — much easier. A 9.8-foot power cord is also a useful addition, although the plug isn’t weatherproof.

The camera works with the Tapo smart home app and is compatible with Alexa and Google Home to live-stream footage to smart display. The Tapo C120 will be available starting November 13 at Amazon for $39.99.

Update: Friday, November 3rd, 5:30PM: TP-Link reached out after publication to say the launch has been delayed, and the camera won’t be available to buy until November 13th. we’ve updated the article to reflect this.

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Why OLED monitor burn-in isn’t a huge problem anymore

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 20:07:07 +0000

Burn-in likelihood has to do with the user and OEM, not just OLED materials.

Until recently, OLED computer monitor selection was limited. Today, there's more than a handful available. LG Display and Samsung Display have made picking an OLED monitor exciting by designing competing models—white OLED (WOLED) and quantum dot OLED (QD-OLED), respectively—and monitor vendors are steadily addressing OLED scarcity and price barriers.

But what about longstanding fears of OLED burn-in?

People tend to display static images on computer monitors more frequently than on TVs—things like icons, taskbars, and browser address bars—making burn-in risk a concern.

I spoke with display experts and monitor vendors to get a deeper understanding of how modern OLED monitors fight burn-in. From improvements in the efficiency of OLED materials to software developments and new testing techniques, OLED burn-in risk has been lowered. OLED monitors are generally a more sound investment than ever—at least for the right person.

Yes, burn-in still happens

If you've ever owned a plasma display, you're already familiar with the threat of permanent image retention and the menacing shadow it casts on some brilliant display technologies. Some enthusiasts quickly shrug off burn-in risk as an overhyped occurrence that's irrelevant these days, but there are still accounts of burn-in happening on modern OLED monitors.

One person's experience doesn't guarantee your own, though. Further, you never know how someone who experienced burn-in actually used their monitor and whether what they're seeing is TFT layer-related image retention (which may be temporary) or permanent degradation of the OLED layer (burn-in). Still, these modern stories show that burn-in with today's OLED monitors is still possible and concerning for owners.

Dough (a company formerly called Eve) is taking preorders for its first (not totally uncontroversial) OLED monitor. Before starting the project, the company consulted with gaming monitor brands already pushing 48-inch OLED monitors. "Industry chatter," Dough co-founder Konstantinos Karatsevidis told me, showed that burn-in affected "around 5 percent of users" after two years. Without stronger evidence, we'll have to take that figure with a grain of salt. Five percent is still greater than zero, and most people hope to use a monitor for longer than two years.

That doesn't mean the OLED monitors coming out today aren't worth considering. The latest models have improved materials and firmware that make them significantly more resistant to burn-in than they were years ago.

Burn-in risk varies from monitor to monitor

Advancements in the materials science of OLED and quantum dots are big contributors to OLED displays' growing life spans.

Roland Wooster, chair of VESA’s Display Performance Metrics Task Group, told me that physical design changes have also helped. "For example, if blue is your problem, you can make a bigger blue pixel so that you don’t need to drive the current quite as high, and it lasts longer. Or you can cool the display better to reduce the temperature," he said.

Burn-in happens when subpixels aren't burning as brightly as before. This causes a shift in colour among the pixels or, if they were all affected equally, dimming. Monitor firmware techniques can help mitigate or hide damage, Wooster explained:

By counting the time each subpixel is displayed and at what brightness, a "wear level" can be determined for each pixel, using an algorithm to estimate the luminance degradation this can be compensated for. However, to do this, you must have some spare luminance headroom that gets utilized as the display gets older. Or alternatively, if the display unlocks full maximum luminance when new without saving any headroom, the algorithm would dim the other pixels over time to bring them down to the level of the burned-in pixels, so the peak luminance of the display would diminish over time as the burn-in occurs.

Already, we can see why answering the question "which OLED monitors are more susceptible to burn-in?" isn't so easy.

The companies that make monitors can implement a range of firmware, software, and hardware techniques to help fight burn-in. These methods can vary among monitors from the same brand and between monitors using the same OLED panel but produced by different OEMs.

Meanwhile, panel suppliers for OLED desktop monitors, such as LG and Samsung, can implement their own burn-in safeguards, including using only about 70 percent of a panel's maximum brightness potential, Karatsevidis said.

Since greater monitor luminance can call for higher current, potentially leading to burn-in, newer OLED monitor designs "have emphasized reducing the current while maintaining or improving the luminance," Wooster noted. But there's "no single, simple answer or way to compare different brands, as each design is affected and optimized differently."

He added:

I personally think there’s more "concern" than real impact of burn-in, and that’s unfortunate, as the lifetime of the materials has been improved over time, and the problem is generally well-handled.

Wooster noted that this is an "ever-changing field" and that OLED and quantum dots have gone through "many generations" of chemical changes.

Adding to the pressure for change is the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, which limits the use of 10 substances in electronic equipment, including cadmium, lead, and mercury. The need to adhere to this legislation helped push developments like cadmium-free quantum dots and improvements around OLED monitor efficiency, spectra, power, and costs.

Wooster pointed to OLED monitors often having similar warranty periods as LCDs, which you could see as an indicator that OEMs might not be seeing a significant difference in the warranty return rate of OLED monitors versus LCD monitors.

I asked Wooster how users can identify a less risky product. "In general, OLED technology is improving with each generation," he said. "Newer-generation devices will typically last longer and may have more sophisticated compensation algorithms. As compute gets cheaper, faster, and lower power, and storage for the dimming algorithms gets cheaper, more data can be stored, which can be useful to some compensation algorithms."

QD-OLED versus WOLED burn-in

Samsung Display announced its quantum dot-infused entrance into OLED panels in 2021. QD-OLED bolstered a wave of new displays hyped up with claims of improved colors and more consistent colors across different brightness levels compared to LG's Display WOLED.

OLED monitors suddenly got interesting. Consumers finally started seeing more choices, not just in OLED monitor SKUs but also in OLED panel tech. Today, LG Display's WOLED is still squaring up against Samsung Display's QD-OLED. WOLED has four subpixels (white, red, green, and blue), whereas QD-OLED includes red, green, and blue subpixels in a triad formation. (Some older OLED monitors have RGB stripe OLED panels made by Japanese company JOLED, but there haven't been any new releases in a while. JOLED went bankrupt and was acquired this year, so we may not have heard the last of RGB stripe OLED monitors.)

This has led to consumers wondering whether one-panel technology is more vulnerable to burn-in than the other, but neither subpixel structure nor OLED panel type determines burn-in risk on its own. Other hardware elements and approaches to firmware, software, and compensation cycles are all factors.

Some people have theorized that QD-OLED is more susceptible to burn-in because it only has red, green, and blue subpixels, meaning all three subpixels must run simultaneously to show white. Early results of an ongoing longevity test of 100 TVs from RTINGS suggested signs of burn-in among some QD-OLED TVs that weren't present among WOLED ones. But after eight months of testing, RTINGS determined that those artifacts were actually TFT-related temporary image retention that was virtually erased during a short compensation cycle while the TVs were off.

To keep RTINGS' testing in context, note that testing conditions are so extreme that they're referred to as a torture test. RTINGS is trying to simulate 10 years of usage in two years. There are methods and features that real users could use to reduce burn-in risk that RTINGS' testing doesn't touch.

When reached for comment, Daniel O'Keeffe, RTINGS' director of content, said:

OLED burn-in is really all about brightness levels and static elements. We expect that the intended use case is something that is more important to consider than the model of monitor when it comes to burn-in.

Speaking more broadly, Samsung Display's QD-OLED tech is still in its early years. The QD-OLED displays in RTINGS' longevity test are in their first generation. Second-gen QD-OLED is supposed to have a more efficient and clearer blue-emitting layer through electroluminescent material. It will also use an updated pixel-level optimization algorithm that Samsung Display claims improves durability and reduces power consumption, as detailed by TFTCentral.

As Samsung Display and LG Display's OLED panel tech advances, we'll keep an eye on how each company improves on brightness efficiencies. LG's WOLED panels, for example, use a white pixel alongside RGB so all subpixels aren't pushed to their max when things are super bright. Samsung Display strives for efficiency with blue OLED. Advancements or changes to these technologies will be critical, not just to bolster brightness claims but also to make OLED monitors more efficient, which can help lessen the threat of burn-in.

Since March, RTINGS has added three OLED monitors (Alienware's AW3423DWF, LG's Ultragear 27GR95QE-B, and Samsung's Odyssey OLED G8) to its longevity test. In general, monitors and TVs from the same brand can have different compensation cycles. O'Keeffe told me that Samsung claims its monitors and TVs have the same compensation cycles. But RTINGS has only confirmed that the short compensation cycles are the same (as they are between LG monitors and LG TVs). We don't have hard evidence to prove that the long compensation cycles between TVs and monitors of the same brand are identical.

Monitor brand matters

A key factor in OLED monitor burn-in risk is how the OEM tests the product and the algorithms involved in mediating burn-in. For example, two monitors could use the same WOLED panel from LG Display, but one could be more susceptible to burn-in.

"Each process, each color primary, and even the application involved can have a different impact or influence on burn-in. The combination of variables is both vast and proprietary," Wooster said.

Before buying an OLED monitor, consider how much you trust the vendor to test displays. A company with a history of QA problems or with which you've had bad customer support experiences can be bigger red flags of burn-in risk than whether a monitor uses QD-OLED, WOLED, or otherwise.

Alienware's AW3423DW QD-OLED monitor.

Scharon Harding

For example, let's take a deeper look at how Dell prepped its QD-OLED Alienware monitors. Dell-owned Alienware was the first monitor brand to sell QD-OLED monitors, and it currently sells two similar models, (the AW3423DW and the AW3423DWF, with lower-priced Adaptive-Sync).

When Alienware investigates a panel for a potential monitor, it first selects the algorithms that will test and grade panel performance and reliability, an Alienware spokesperson told me. Rather than making its own algorithms, Alienware gets a range built for different panels and use cases from its panel suppliers.

The algorithms selected for testing the QD-OLED panels in Alienware's monitors were recommended by Alienware's user experience, marketing, panel engineering, and quality workers and focus on gaming since Alienware is a PC gaming brand. The Alienware panel engineering team "further worked with the panel suppliers to optimize and fine-tune that set of algorithms," Yoon Lee, vice president of displays at Dell Technologies, said.

"The supplier then shared its samples together with feasibility data and reliability test results with the Alienware engineering team, who evaluate the samples to validate whether or not the panel meets our standards and criteria before greenlighting it for full-scale development," Lee added.

During this phase, Alienware's Panel Engineering team fine-tunes specs, like brightness, the gamma curve, and the monitor's algorithms. The investigation and incubation phase for Alienware's QD-OLED monitors reportedly took two years.

Next, the development phase reportedly took one year. Here, the panel engineering team used the same testing standards it uses for LCD testing (examples here and here). They also make additional standards for burn-in that are "based on the risks perceived with OLED reliability and upon recommendations from panel makers based on the performance of current OLED panels," Lee said.

Additionally, Alienware uses section 10.4 of The Society for Information Display's (SID) Information Display Measurements Standard (IDMS) for residual image testing. Dough also uses that testing standard. There are other similar burn-in tests, including one from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), that an OEM can use as well.

Alienware's panel suppliers must adhere to its selected standards and submit testing records to Alienware for verification.

The final steps include quality control performed by panel suppliers during production and with regular reports sent to Alienware.

Alienware's OLED burn-in testing procedures and algorithms combine recommendations from Samsung Display and its own team, as well as standardized tests used for LCD-LED testing and burn-in. They are then fine-tuned to the specific use case of PC gaming.

Different OEMs put their own spin on burn-in testing. A spokesperson for MSI told me that its burn-in testing includes IEC 62087 video content and VESA's DisplayHDR Test.

"We use a microcontroller to control the monitors, repeating a cycle of five hours on and one hour off, four times per day," Dough's Karatsevidis said. "This cycle is designed to mimic typical usage patterns of our customers. We display a variety of real content on the monitors during testing, including static desktop, games, etc. Test is run at high room [temperature] to simulate faster aging at 55 degrees Celsius until failure."

As with any large tech purchase, checking the warranty terms for an OLED monitor is imperative. OLED monitors today typically offer a two- or three-year warranty, but that warranty may not cover burn-in, and there's occasionally a separate burn-in warranty. Understand how a vendor will respond to complaints of image retention before buying.

Warranty periods for an OLED monitor compared to an LCD-LED monitor tend to be similar. But limited data on OLED monitor longevity could continue to hinder buyers.

"If you're a consumer planning to use an OLED monitor for gaming for two to three years, it's a good choice. Beyond that, we don't yet have enough real-world data to make a definitive judgment," Karatsevidis said.

Heat matters, too

Since higher temperatures speed up chemical reactions or decay, heat management—from cooling fins and holes to integrated fans with temperature sensors telling them when to rev—is a crucial weapon in the war against burn-in.

Michael Helander, CEO and president of OTI Lumionics, a company that develops materials used in OLED display manufacturing to increase display transparency, efficiency, and lifetime, said the relationship between heat and burn-in is "typically non-linear." That means "even a relatively small increase in temperature" could accelerate the degradation rate. That's why screens used in environments that heat up, like cars, have special design needs that often increase price, Helander added.

"One simple approach to compensate for potential burn-in of OLED pixels is pumping more power into the degraded pixels to restore their brightness to its original state. This will obviously slightly increase the power consumption of the display," Helander said. "Given that an OLED monitor will be plugged into the wall socket compared to OLED laptops, which run on a battery, OLED monitors can have reduced burn-in since they have a large power envelope to play with."

Unfortunately, there's no hard threshold for determining when an OLED monitor will see burn-in, but it would be wise to look into an OLED monitor's cooling features before buying. This is a key way that OLED monitors using the same panel may differ in burn-in risk.

For example, Alienware's AW3423DW claims "360-degree ventilation for better heat dissipation" on its product page.

Asus' ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM highlights a "large custom heatsink" under its back cover and "smart algorithm-coded" voltage optimization. The Asus monitor also has an "internal component layout designed to draw heat away from the OLED panel to minimize the likelihood of image burn-in" and a visible top air vent. Asus claims the monitor "operates at 5 percent lower average temperatures compared to other 27-inch OLED gaming monitors." I'd take that with a grain of salt, but I appreciate the focus on heat management.

Karatsevidis said that to fight burn-in, it's important to ensure that heat is "distributed evenly rather than reduced" so that the panel ages evenly. The company's OLED monitors will also use "a special algorithm running in the panel firmware uniquely developed" for Dough's design to adjust panel heat distribution.

If you're worried about burn-in, investigate such claims as thoroughly as possible, including by reading detailed reviews, before buying an OLED monitor.

How willing are you to use burn-in mitigation techniques?

Some users may want to consider how customizable an OLED monitor's image retention prevention features are, how often refreshes are performed, and how distracting those features may be in actual use.

OLED monitors can run long compensation cycles, which are more extensive refreshes than short compensation cycles targeting the TFT layer. To fight uneven luminosity loss among pixels caused by aging, a long compensation adjusts the voltage of the monitor's pixels to even things out. Long compensation cycles go by different names, depending on the vendor.

Because long compensation cycles physically degrade pixels, they shouldn't be used often, according to OTI's Helander. Some OLED monitors, like Alienware ones, claim to automatically run a long compensation cycle every 1,500 hours and let you manually run one when you want.

OTI's Helander also pointed to pixel shift as a burn-in preventative, "except for static images with saturated colors." Such burn-in is best tackled with a long compensation cycle, he said. Pixel shifting is supposed to be subtle, but it can still annoy some users.

Wooster says that another tip for protecting your OLED investment is to stick to operating systems with features like dark mode and active screen savers. But those are personal preferences that some people might want to avoid.

Today's OLED monitors typically advertise features that users can toggle to help prevent burn-in, but they're only effective if you're willing to use them. For example, if you don't ever use your operating system's dark mode, rarely turn off your monitor or PC, don't want to hide your taskbar, always set your display brightness to the max, or don't use screensavers, your burn-in risk will be higher.

Advancements could further reduce burn-in risk

LG Display and Samsung Display wouldn't comment on their burn-in strategies for this story. Historically, both have kept mum on the topic, save for criticizing the other. That said, it seems OLED panel makers and partners are continuing to research and develop ways to make OLED products more durable, especially by improving monitor efficiency. If you're holding off on buying an OLED monitor until the technology advances further, here are three things to watch for.

First up is the use of deuterium, which is already available in OLED TVs. LG Display has claimed that introducing the hydrogen isotope into its OLED panels fights image retention because it enables brighter OLED displays that are more efficient.

Next is dual-layer OLED designs. The top layer is semi-transparent "so that you can add the brightness from the two layers together, resulting in a lower current requirement for each layer," Wooster explained. Also known as tandem OLED, dual-stack OLED is already expected in upcoming foldable PCs with OLED panels from LG Display. Companies like BOE are also reportedly exploring how to lower power consumption for OLED devices even further by using a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide thin-film transistor.

Finally, there's phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED). Today, OLED displays already use red and green phosphorescent OLED material. The blue OLED material is fluorescent, though, which FlatPanelsHD reports has 25 percent internal luminous efficiency compared to 100 percent for red and green PHOLED. PHOLED materials have been associated with features like increased brightness and lower operating temperatures, which are all factors in burn-in.

For years, Universal Display Corporation (UDC) has been trying to make a commercially viable phosphorescent blue that achieves quality lifetime, color point, and energy efficiency goals, and it expects to commercialize phosphorescent blue in 2024.

We'll probably have to wait for blue PHOLED to hit other devices before it's offered in monitors, but the advancement could have a big impact on overall OLED efficiency and product lifespans.

A consideration, but not necessarily a deal-breaker

There's never been a better time for OLED monitor fans. Selection has improved, and while gaming displays still dominate, there are finally OLED monitors in sizes you can fit on a desk. As time has advanced, so has OLED display tech.

But while burn-in risk is lower than it used to be, it's still present and shouldn't be completely ignored. Prospective buyers should familiarize themselves with a monitor's image retention prevention features and warranty and the monitor brand's customer support reputation and policies.

If you're still not ready to jump in, though, there are several developments en route that may change your mind in the future.

As Dough's Karatsevidis argued, "Both LG and Samsung are transitioning away from the LCD business, investing billions in OLED technology (and eventually micro LED). Ensuring that users don't experience widespread issues like burn-in is crucial for the future of their businesses. They've taken significant steps to mitigate these risks, and there's no turning back now."

The tech industry is largely committed to OLED, and monitor options will likely continue growing. If you've been put off by OLED monitors primarily due to burn-in, it's time for another look.

Does burn-in still matter for OLED monitors? The answer has as much to do with the brand and user as the screen itself.

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Microsoft has extended firmware updates for recent Surface devices to six years

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 20:04:28 +0000

If you have purchased a Surface PC or tablet that was first launched after January 1, 2021, you will be getting some extra driver and firmware support for those devices. As spotted by Windows Central, the company recently, and quietly, extended the time period for new drivers and firmware for its most recent Surface devices from four years to six years.

The changes were made on October 3, 2023, according to this Microsoft support page. It states:

For devices released before January 1, 2021: Surface devices will receive driver and firmware updates for at least four years from when the device was first released. In cases where the support duration is longer than four years, an updated end-of-servicing date will be published before the date of the last servicing.

For devices released on and after January 1, 2021: Surface devices will receive driver and firmware updates for at least six years from when the device was first released. In cases where the support duration is longer than six years, an updated end-of-servicing date will be published before the date of the last servicing.

To make it a bit easier, Microsoft has published a list of all the currently supported Surface devices with their current firmware support end date:

Surface Pro (5th gen) - January 15, 2024

Surface Pro LTE (5th gen) (Model 1807) - January 15, 2024

Surface Studio 2 - October 2, 2024

Surface Laptop 3 - July 30, 2024

Surface Pro 7 - February 28, 2024

Surface Pro X SQ1 - August 10, 2025

Surface Go 2 - December 30, 2024

Surface Book 3 - April 1, 2025

Surface Pro X SQ2- August 10, 2025

Surface Laptop Go - October 13, 2024

Surface Pro 7+ - January 15, 2027

Surface Laptop 4 - April 15, 2027

Surface Pro 8 - October 5, 2027

Surface Laptop Studio - October 5, 2027

Surface Go 3 - October 5, 2027

Surface Pro X Wi-Fi - October 5, 2027

Surface Laptop SE - January 11, 2028

Surface Laptop Go 2 - June 7, 2028

Windows Dev Kit 2023 - October 24, 2028

Surface Laptop 5 - October 25, 2028

Surface Pro 9 - October 25, 2028

Surface Studio 2+ - October 2, 2028

Surface Go 4 - September 21, 2029

Surface Laptop Go 3 - October 3, 2029

Surface Laptop Studio 2 - October 3, 2029

Microsoft has a separate support page for the firmware end dates of its Surface Hub devices, along with its accessories

Surface Hub 2S - January 11, 2027

Surface Hub 3 - December 5, 2029

Surface Hub Camera - January 11, 2027

Surface Hub 2 Smart Camera - March 15, 2028

Surface Hub 2 Pen - January 11, 2027

Surface Hub 2 Fingerprint Reader - January 11, 2027

These end dates do not indicate when the operating systems of these devices will reach their end of support. Also, the two Surface Duo Android smartphones are not listed on these support pages.

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Surface Laptop 5 and Pro 8 get new firmware with security, camera, and audio improvements

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 20:03:22 +0000

The November 2023 firmware update is now available for the Surface Pro 8 and the Surface Laptop 5. It improves camera and audio stability, plus patches security vulnerabilities in Intel software.

What is new in the Surface Pro 8 November 2023 firmware update?

Improves device camera performance and stability.

Improves audio stability.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Windows Update Name	Windows Device Manager
Dolby - Extension - 8.605.313.22	Dolby APO SVC Device - Extension
Dolby - Software Component - 3.30508.581.0	Dolby APO SVC Device - Software components
Intel – Camera - 60.22000.5.12796	Intel(R) TGL AVStream Camera - Cameras
Intel – Extension - 60.22000.5.12796	Intel(R) TGL AVStream Camera - Extension
Intel Corporation – System - 60.22000.5.12796	Surface Camera Rear - System devices
	Surface Camera Front - System devices
	Surface IR Camera Front - System devices
	Intel(R) Control Logic - System devices
	Intel(R) Imaging Signal Processor - System devices
Surface - Extension - 60.22000.5.12796	Surface Camera Rear - Extension
	Surface Camera Front - Extension
	Surface IR Camera Front - Extension

Here is extra information about the release:

Supported Configurations	Surface Pro 8
Supported Windows Versions	Windows 10 version 21H2 and newer Windows 11 version 21H2 and newer
How to get the update	Windows Update Surface Support website (manual installation)
Update Size	739MB (manual installation only)
Additional Steps	The update does not require extra steps before or after installation
Known Issues	The update does not contain known issues

Microsoft will continue supporting the eight-generation Surface Pro until October 5, 2027.

What is new in the Surface Laptop 5 November 2023 firmware update?

This update addresses a potential security vulnerability related to Intel® Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00783, addressing CVE-2022-36392 & CVE-2022-38102.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Windows Update Name	Windows Device Manager
Surface - Firmware - 1.27.2176.1	Surface ME - Firmware
Intel - SoftwareComponent - 1.66.712.0	Intel(R) iCLS Client - Software components
Intel - System - 2251.4.2.0	Intel(R) Management Engine Interface - System devices
Surface - Firmware - 9.101.143.0	Surface UEFI - Firmware

Here is extra information about the release:

Supported Configurations	Surface Laptop 5
Supported Windows Versions	Windows 10 version 21H2 and newer Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer
How to get the update	Windows Update Surface Support website (manual installation)
Update Size	659MB (manual installation only)
Additional Steps	The update does not require extra steps before or after installation
Known Issues	The update does not contain known issues

Surface Laptop 5 is currently available with a 31% discount on Amazon. Announced in 2022, the computer will receive six years of support.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Intel’s failed 64-bit Itanium CPUs die another death as Linux support ends

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 17:53:03 +0000

Intel stopped selling the last Itanium processors in 2021.

Officially, Intel's Itanium chips and their IA-64 architecture died back in 2021, when the company shipped its last processors. But failed technology often dies a million little deaths. To name just a few: Itanium also died in 2013, when Intel effectively decided to stop improving it; in 2017, when the last new Itanium CPUs shipped; in 2020, when the last Itanium-compatible version of Windows Server stopped getting updates; and in 2003, when AMD introduced a 64-bit processor lineup that didn't break compatibility with existing 32-bit x86 operating systems and applications.

Itanium is dying another death in the next version of the Linux kernel. According to Phoronix, all code related to Itanium support is being removed from the kernel in the upcoming 6.7 release after several months of deliberation. Linus Torvalds removed some 65,219 lines of Itanium-supporting code in a commit earlier this week, giving the architecture a "well-earned retirement as planned."

The first Itanium processors were released in mid-2001, the result of years of collaboration between Intel and HP. The initial designs were made for servers, where their parallelized design would (theoretically) be able to speed things up by executing multiple instructions simultaneously. From there, the instruction set would eventually migrate into lower-end servers and then to consumer PCs.

But Itanium suffered from its slow execution of 32-bit x86 code, making for a disruptive transition. When AMD stepped forward with a 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set that could address more RAM and execute existing code well, it proved so alluring to server and PC makers that Intel had to adopt and support AMD's x86 extensions instead.

The removal of IA-64 support from Linux kernel 6.7 doesn't fully end Itanium support in Linux. The just-released kernel version 6.6 is a long-term support (LTS) release, meaning that it should be maintained and supported for many years to come. This kernel version still supports Itanium. It doesn't address one of the problems that led to the removal of Itanium support in the first place, though—the fact that it isn't being widely tested or maintained. Itanium support in an earlier version of the Linux kernel was broken for several weeks in early 2021 before somebody noticed.

On the hardware side, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will continue to support its last Itanium-based servers until 2025.

Itanium isn't the only Intel processor facing the chopping block in Linux. Recently, Torvalds and other kernel maintainers discussed removing support for Intel's 80486 processors, first introduced in 1989. So far, that doesn't appear to have happened.

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Apple's overall revenues go down again for the fourth fiscal quarter in a row

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 04:28:12 +0000

Apple revealed its latest financial results today, this time for its fiscal year 2023 fourth quarter that ended on September 30, 2023. Overall revenues were $89.498 billion for the quarter, which was down slightly from $90.146 billion from the same period a year ago. This is the fourth quarter in a row that revenues went down from year to year.

Apple's net income for the quarter was $22.956 billion, up from $20.721 billion from the same period a year ago. As usual, iPhone sales had the biggest revenue numbers with $43.805 billion, up from $42.626 billion from the same period a year ago. Mac PC revenues took a big hit, bringing in $7.614 billion, well below the revenues of $11.508 billion from a year ago. iPad revenues for the quarter were $6.443 billion, down from $7.174 billion from a year ago. Just a reminder: Apple no longer offers any specific sales unit numbers for its hardware products.

Apple's wearables, home, and accessories division which includes its Apple Watch business, had revenues of $9.322 billion for the quarter, down slightly from $9.650 billion from the same period a year ago. The company's services division, which includes things like the App Store, Apple Music, and Apple TV+, had the biggest gain once again. It had revenues of $22.312 billion, up from $19.188 billion from the same period a year ago.

Apple CEO Tim Cook tried to put a good spin on today's results. In an interview with CNBC, Cook stated that sales of the iPhone 15, which launched in the last few days of its fiscal fourth quarter, were doing better than sales of last year's iPhone 14.

Cook also tried to explain the huge drop in Mac sales for the quarter:

Cook told CNBC that the Mac comparison is to “an all-time record” fourth quarter, which followed a huge supply disruption and pushed what would have been third-quarter sales into the last quarter of 2022. “So, the comparison point here is very difficult,” he said.

Cook predicted much better revenues for Macs in the current quarter, thanks to the reveal of the new MacBook Pro and iMac with Apple's new M3 chips earlier this week.

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Arm acquires a minority stake in Raspberry Pi

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 04:25:59 +0000

Arm has announced that it is acquiring a minority stake in Raspberry Pi as it wants to help put low-cost computers into the hands of people and businesses around the world that need Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Arm said that this deal further cements a partnership that has been ongoing since 2008.

Raspberry Pi is probably familiar to you by now, but if not, it creates small, low-cost, computer boards that can be used to run lightweight operating systems or fancy projects that the community keeps on inventing. Raspberry Pi’s latest computer is the Pi 5, the 8GB variant is currently available for $80.

Commenting for Arm, Paul Williamson, SVP and GM, Internet of Things Line of Business, said:

“With the rapid growth of edge and endpoint AI applications, platforms like those from Raspberry Pi, built on Arm, are critical to driving the adoption of high-performance IoT devices globally by enabling developers to innovate faster and more easily. This strategic investment is further proof of our continued commitment to the developer community, and to our partnership with Raspberry Pi.”

Meanwhile, Raspberry Pi’s CEO Eben Upton said that Arm technology has always been central to its platforms and that this development is “an important milestone in our longstanding relationship”. He went on to say:

“Using Arm technology as the foundation of our current and future products offers us access to the compute performance, energy efficiency and extensive software ecosystem we need, as we continue to remove barriers to entry for everyone, from students and enthusiasts, to professional developers deploying commercial IoT systems at scale.”

Arm hasn’t outlined anything specific that it would like Raspberry Pi to create as part of the investment but as a stakeholder it will have more say going forward. It will definitely be interesting to see whether Raspberry Pi launches any new product line-ups as a result of this deal. It also gives the Raspberry Pi Foundation more financial security.

Source: Arm

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Amazon’s secret pricing scheme made it an extra $1 billion, FTC says

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:24:28 +0000

The Project Nessie algorithm tested Amazon price hikes against its competitors.

Amazon’s secret pricing algorithm, codenamed “Project Nessie,” may have generated the company more than $1 billion in extra profits, according to new details released Thursday from the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against the e-commerce giant.

In September, the FTC and more than a dozen state attorneys general sued Amazon, claiming that the company operates an illegal monopoly. Among other claims, the complaint says that Amazon buried listings offered at lower prices from other retailers and charged sellers steep fees in order to inflate product prices.

The existence of Project Nessie was first revealed in a previously redacted version of the complaint. Nessie was allegedly an algorithm that would increase the price of products on Amazon and monitor whether other retailers, like Target, would follow suit. If they didn’t, the algorithm would revert the Amazon listing to its original price.

Amazon reportedly stopped using Nessie in 2019, but the FTC alleges that the company “has repeatedly considered turning it back on.”

These details were blacked out of the original case and partially reported by The Wall Street Journal. On Thursday, a new version of the lawsuit was released with fewer redactions, providing the public with more insight into the FTC’s arguments and evidence. Last month, an Amazon spokesperson said that the FTC “was wrong on the facts and the law.”

This includes allegations outside of Project Nessie. According to the less-redacted complaint, the FTC alleges that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos directed company executives to accept “junk” ads as a means of extracting “billions of dollars through increased advertising despite worsening its services for customers.”

The company’s Prime membership program has come under scrutiny by the FTC as well. In the new complaint, the FTC says that Amazon had multiple opportunities to fix flaws in Prime’s signup system “and instead continued to trick more users into signing up” for the service.

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Surface Laptop Go 2 gets new firmware with audio improvements

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:23:05 +0000

Microsoft is rolling out a new firmware update for the second-generation Surface Laptop Go. The October 2023 update improves audio stability and resolves security vulnerabilities in Intel chipset software:

Potential security vulnerabilities in the Intel® Converged Security Management Engine (CSME), Active Management Technology (AMT) and Intel® Standard Manageability software may allow escalation of privilege or denial of service. Intel is releasing software updates to mitigate these potential vulnerabilities.

What is new in the Surface Laptop Go 2 October 2023 firmware update?

Improves audio stability.

This update addresses a potential security vulnerability related to Intel® Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00783, addressing CVE-2022-36392 & CVE-2022-38102.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Windows Update Name	Windows Device Manager
Dolby - SoftwareComponent - 3.30508.581.0	DolbyAPO SWC Device - Software components
Dolby - Extension - 8.605.313.22	Realtek High Definition Audio(SST) - Extension
Intel - SoftwareComponent - 1.66.712.0	Intel(R) iCLS Client - Software components
Intel - System - 2251.4.2.0	Intel(R) Management Engine Interface - System devices
Surface - Firmware - 15.0.2411.5	Surface ME - Firmware
Surface - Firmware - 24.101.143.0	Surface UEFI - Firmware

Here is extra information about the release:

Supported Configurations	Surface Laptop Go 2
Supported Windows Versions	Windows 10 version 21H2 and newer Windows 11 version 21H2 and newer
How to get the update	Windows Update Surface Support website (manual installation)
Update Size	471MB (manual installation only)
Additional Steps	The update does not require extra steps before or after installation
Known Issues	The update does not contain any known bugs or issues

Microsoft launched the Surface Laptop Go 2 in June 2022, and the computer will receive six years of active support (the end of life scheduled for June 7, 2028). In September 2023, Microsoft released the Surface Laptop Go 3. Check out our Specs Appeal article detailing the difference between three generations of Microsoft's relatively inexpensive laptops.

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Scarlett Johansson hits AI app with legal action for cloning her voice in an ad

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 03:56:32 +0000

An AI-generated version of Scarlett Johansson’s voice appeared in an online ad without her consent.

Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her name and likeness in an online ad, according to a report from Variety. The ad was for an AI image editor, called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, and featured an AI-generated version of Johansson’s voice.

As reported by Variety, the 22-second ad showed Johansson behind the scenes while filming Black Widow, where she actually says “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me.” But then, the ad transitions away from Johansson, while an AI-generated voice meant to sound like the actress states: “It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it.”

At the very bottom of the ad, Variety reports that Convert Software — the developer behind the app — included text that reads: “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.” Representatives for Johansson tell Variety that the actress was never a spokesperson for the app and that her attorney, Kevin Yorn, “handled the situation in a legal capacity.”

“We do not take these things lightly. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have,” Yorn said in a statement to Variety. Neither Yorn nor Convert Software responded to The Verge’s request for comment about the nature of the legal action.

As AI becomes even more easily accessible, we’re bound to see cases similar to this in the future. Musicians are already contending with voice-cloning that can make it seem like Drake is dropping a new single or Johnny Cash is covering Taylor Swift, while deepfake technology is making it possible for Tom Hanks’ AI-generated likeness to appear in an ad for a dental plan without his consent.

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Starfield is getting DLSS 3 next week in a beta update on Steam, FSR 3 later

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 03:54:19 +0000

Bethesda's newest grand RPG, Starfield, has now been out for a couple of months now, and one of the most requested additions will soon hit the game, but in beta form. The Xbox-owned studio today announced that the next update for the game will soon arrive in beta form for Steam users, letting them test it out before other PC players as well as Xbox console owners get their hands on it.

"This update will feature Nvidia DLSS support with frame generation, display and HDR controls for supported systems, and other optimizations and improvements," says the studio in a short tweet sent out today.

With the update, Nvidia graphics card owners will be able to utilize their dedicated upscaling tech without having to use replacement mods. Keep in mind that the frame generation in DLSS 3 is only supported by Nvidia's latest generation GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards. Older generation GPU owners will have to settle with using DLSS 2.

As for FidelityFX Super Resolution 3, AMD's own platform agnostic frame generation tech that recently released, Bethesda says it will arrive in a separate update in the future. The game already supports FSR 2 upscaling since launch.

As this will be a beta-only release at first via Steam, PC players on the platform will be able to access it from the game's Steam Properties > Betas tab. Bethesda is looking for feedback from players participating in the beta before the update goes live for Xbox Series X|S and Microsoft Store (PC Game Pass) players.

The studio only said "next week" as a time frame for the beta, so expect to see the full patch notes for the update then. Considering it has been almost a month since the last update to Starfield, which brought FOV sliders, this one may contain more bug fixes and optimizations than usual too.

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