In Elon Musk Wikipedia tweet that wen viral on X, the businessman offered one billion dollars to Wikipedia, one of the internet's most venerable and valuable sources of information, if they change their name to... Well, ''D*ckipedia''.

See the Elon Musk Wikipedia tweet/xeet below.

Elon Musk Wikipedia tweet's unconventional offer

Elon Musk's offer is a testament to his unique style. He has offered this billion-dollar donation to Wikipedia on one condition: they must change their name to "D*ckipedia".

This unexpected and slightly eccentric proposition has sparked a whirlwind of reactions, raising questions about Musk's intentions and the implications of such a change.

Unsurprisingly, the internet was quick to react to Musk's proposal. Some found it amusing and in line with his well-known sense of humor, while others viewed it as an audacious stunt. There were debates about the potential impact of such a name change on Wikipedia's credibility and reputation as a trusted source of information.

After all, the name "D*ckipedia" carries a very different connotation and could lead to various interpretations.

Why is Elon saying that?

Elon Musk Wikipedia tweet came after Musk criticized the Wikimedia Foundation for seeking substantial funding. He questioned the necessity of such financial support, suggesting that the entire text of Wikipedia could easily fit on a mobile phone. Musk's curiosity led to a wave of inquiries about the purpose of the requested funds.

However, he didn't have to wait long for an answer. The Wikimedia Foundation, responsible for Wikipedia's operations, explained that their platform handles over 25 billion page views per month and manages over 44 million page edits monthly.

These staggering numbers reflect the substantial operating costs required to maintain the vast database of free information. Furthermore, the foundation maintains transparency by employing third-party financial auditors, whose reports are accessible to the public, ensuring accountability in their financial practices.

Isn't the first time

Musk's interaction with Wikipedia goes beyond this recent donation offer. In the past, he clashed with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales over content restrictions on the social media platform X in the lead-up to Turkey's presidential election.

Musk's decisions were criticized for potentially limiting free expression. Additionally, under Musk's leadership, the social media platform was accused of becoming more compliant with government requests for censorship and surveillance.

In 2018, Musk further demonstrated his interest in journalism and information credibility by announcing his intention to create a website called "Pravda".

The platform aimed to allow the public to rate the "core truth" of articles and track the credibility of journalists, editors, and their publications, emphasizing the importance of transparency and trustworthiness in the world of information but he decided to rebrand Twitter instead.

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This expansion is part of Netflix's strategy to enhance its offerings and keep subscribers engaged as streaming fees continue to rise.

Mike Verdu, Netflix's vice president for games, has said this about the launch of the Netflix Games in a blog post:

"While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more as we continue on the road ahead".

Netflix Games is set to launch its beta soon

Netflix's foray into gaming started with a limited beta trial that initially targeted Canadian and U.K. subscribers in August. The trial has now reached the shores of the U.S., further expanding the company's gaming ambitions.

The move into gaming is not only an exciting development for existing Netflix subscribers but also a strategic move to attract new users who are passionate about gaming.

How to play Netflix Games

For Netflix subscribers who are eager to dive into the gaming world, the process is simple. If you have a smartphone, you can play Netflix Games for free as part of your subscription.

Those invited to the limited beta trial of Netflix Games can enjoy gaming on a variety of devices, including:

• Amazon Fire TV
• Chromecast with Google TV
• LG and Samsung Smart TVs
• Roku devices
• Nvidia Shield TV
• Walmart ONN

Your smartphone becomes your controller for TV games, while for games played on Netflix.com via PCs and Macs, you can use a keyboard and a mouse.

What are the available games?

During the limited beta trial, Netflix is offering two games. One is "Oxenfree," an interactive story game developed by Night School Studio, which Netflix acquired in September 2021.

The other is "Molehew’s Mining Adventure," described as a "gem-mining arcade game".

In addition to these games, Netflix has been steadily building a library of games available on mobile devices, featuring titles like "Solitaire," "Cut the Rope," "LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed," and games based on popular series like "Stranger Things’’.

Netflix is also keen on expanding its gaming offerings and has ambitious plans, including a game based on the hit series "Squid Game". The company is also exploring the possibility of creating games based on its original shows, such as "Extraction" and "Black Mirror".

Furthermore, there are discussions about a Netflix game inspired by the beloved "Grand Theft Auto" franchise.

Featured image credit: Netflix.

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What you need to know

• Satya Nadella's 2023 compensation was $48,512,537 down from 2022's $54,946,310 compensation. 
• Other C-suite members were hit even harder like Amy Hood and Brad Smith losing between 22-24%. 
• The compensation amount for Satya Nadella is still 250-1 for the CEO-to-employee pay ratio. 

Every year Microsoft is required to submit a regulatory filing that includes compensation for its CEO and other top executives. In the most recent regulatory filing for fiscal year 2023 submitted by Microsoft, we are able to see that Microsoft's C-suite has had a substantial reduction in its compensation over fiscal year 2022. This was mostly due to the company missing several of its financial targets for the year. We have a breakdown of the compensation numbers and what it means on a larger scale.

How much does Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella make?

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made $48,512,537 down from $54,946,310 the prior year an astounding 250 to 1 ratio compared to the average Microsoft employee. Speaking of the average Microsoft employee, we recently reported on the new hire salary for several Microsoft positions. The other executives named in the filing document also had substantial decreases in their compensation. 

• Satya Nadella FY2023 compensation - $48,512,537, FY2022 - $54,946,310, FY2021 - $49,858,280
• Amy Hood FY2023 compensation - $19,902,897, FY2022 - $26,466,141, FY2021 - $23,466,141
• Judson Althoff FY2023 compensation - $16,204,718 FY2022 - $18,848,998, FY2021 - N/A
• Bradford Smith FY2023 compensation - $18,115,690 FY2022 - $23,408,739, FY2021 - $20,455,896
• Christopher Young FY2023 compensation - $9,815,914 FY2022 - $11,270,458, FY2021 - $28,495,083

Satya Nadella lost 11.2% over last year, Amy Hood is down 24.4%, and Brad Smith 22.6% over their fiscal year 2022 compensation, and this is being caused by the company missing some of its financial goals. We have a breakdown of some of the raw numbers as well as an image of the table from the filing document for those interested.

The Fiscal Year 2023 compensation tables show the top 5 Microsoft executives compensation over the last 3 years.. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Why are so many companies having layoffs?

As the globe is still struggling to deal with record inflation and a shifting landscape with so many companies going to work from home or returning back to the office, these types of compensation reports highlight what many people have been criticizing for years. On the heels of Microsoft announcing they will lay off 10,000 employees it's hard to not feel a sense of injustice when hearing the inordinate amount of compensation that a few people in Microsoft's upper echelon are earning. It's hard not to think how many people's positions could have been saved if these 5 people had offered to reduce their compensation low enough to cover the normal cost of living in their area and offer the rest to keep as many employees as possible.

Companies around the globe are suffering to handle reduced profits even as revenue grows year over year. The increased cost of energy, fuel, supplies, and raw materials as inflation rages rampant has destroyed profit margins and left many companies with the decision to raise prices or lay off employees. Many companies are raising the prices of their goods and services, but many are laying off substantial amounts of employees to keep profits viable. LinkedIn recently announced layoffs and there isn't a week that goes by where there isn't a Fortune 500 company or small to mid-sized company that has layoffs as well, especially in the video-game development scene. 

Take a look at just a few of the companies that have had layoffs this year alone that we have covered at WindowsCentral.

• Report: Fortnite and Unreal Engine developer Epic Games is laying off hundreds of employees
• Xbox studios behind Starfield, Halo, and Gears of War have also been hit by layoffs
• Sega cancels PvPvE shooter Hyenas, starts layoffs at developer Creative Assembly
• Immortals of Aveum developer hit with layoffs, almost half of the studio affected
• BioWare lays off 50 employees in shift to become more 'agile'
• The Witcher spinoff studio hit with layoffs as project restructured
• Following Relic Entertainment layoffs, Age of Empires 4 development will continue as planned
• Electronic Arts is laying off hundreds for 'restructuring'
• Microsoft confirms that it's cutting 10,000 jobs

Ultimately, the reason for these compensation decreases is because Microsoft isn't meeting its financial goals, and if profits aren't kept at an acceptable margin Satya Nadella will be replaced by the shareholders. He and the rest of the C-suite are incentivized through their compensation programs to improve profits and hopefully, they can do that by innovating and finding growth avenues rather than continuing layoffs and cost-cutting that could lead to more closures of divisions and product lines as we have seen with some of the Surface devices.

Microsoft has two shining rays of hope that could help launch the company into a growth period like they haven't seen in decades. As we reported, Microsoft and Xbox have a huge opportunity with the close of the Activision Blizzard King acquisition to really make a move in the massive mobile market. Also, Microsoft recently invested Billions of dollars into OpenAI and has completely pivoted to an AI-focused company with Copilot announced and heading to Windows 11 soon. If these executives aren't willing to take substantial pay cuts, they should focus on driving revenue and profits through methods that don't involve layoffs or removing offerings from the market such as we often see with Microsoft and Google. 

Do you think CEOs make too much money? How is Microsoft's future looking? Let us know in the comments. 

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Apple insider Mark Gurman claims that the Cupertino giant is set to announce the new iMacs soon. In his weekly Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, which talks about the company's generative AI ambitions, Gurman notes that Apple has not refreshed the iMac for over 900 days. The reason for such a delay was because of several reasons including cost concerns, forcing Apple to table the plans for a new device.

However, the company may finally be ready to launch the new hardware. Gurman notes that Apple may be planning to host an event at the end of this month where the company will announce the refreshed iMacs.

Fortunately, a new iMac is finally on the way. As I reported in March, the company has been readying the updated 24-inch iMac — a model that could be out soon. How soon? Well, I’m told that Apple is planning a Mac-centered product launch around the end of this month. That could be its chance to announce this model.

Furthermore, he also noted that there has been a decline in the availability of iMacs in Apple Stores, indicating the reduction in stock may be to make way for a newer model.

Apple retail stores are in short supply of the iMac, as well as the 13-inch MacBook Pro and high-end MacBook Pro — two other models that may be due for a refresh. If you try to order the products from Apple’s website, several configurations won’t arrive until mid-November. That several-week delay is a clear sign that something is about to happen.

Also, Apple has decided to push its earnings call to November suggesting that it may be holding another event between now and the end of October. This is the first time since 2018 that Apple is holding its earnings call in November instead of October.

Unfortunately for those who may prefer a bigger iMac, Gurman states Apple plans to launch the 24-inch iMac this month and that the 32-inch iMac will be launched in 2024 or 2025.

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Table of contents:

1. Windows 11 news
2. Updates are available
3. Gaming news
4. Reviews are in
5. More Microsoft news
6. A blast from Microsoft's past
7. Random fact about Microsoft

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.

Let us start the Windows 11 section with some fresh stats. According to a newly published report, Windows 11 recently crossed 400 million active devices. Although it may not sound that impressive to some, considering that the OS is now two years old, the figure is higher than what Microsoft initially expected.

If you feel tired of Windows 11, checking out Linux might be a good option, especially with its performance improvements. Even Microsoft thinks you should try Linux—the company released a handy guide to help those unfamiliar with Linux get started with the operating system.

Windows Insider Program

Here are the new Windows preview builds Microsoft released for testing this week:

• Server vNext: 25977 with new Desktop Experience features.
• Canary Channel: 25977 with Bluetooth LE Audio support for hearing aids, location improvements, and more.
• Dev Channel: 23570 with fixes for File Explorer, Copilot improvements, and more.
• Beta Channel: 22635.2486 with a bunch of improvements and minor changes.
• Release Preview: 19045.3633 for Windows 10 with DST changes in Syria and minor changes across the operating system.

Unlike the latest Dev build, 25977 from the Canary Channel introduced many new features, including some hidden ones. You can now share Wi-Fi passwords using QR codes, install network drivers during the initial setup (OOBE), and have better control over your privacy thanks to new Wi-Fi network access settings. As a cherry on top, there are also new animated network icons.

In addition, users discovered that Release Preview build 22621.2500 (KB5031455) contains a new Settings app section called System Components with stock applications, such as Microsoft Store, Phone Link, Windows Security, Game Bar, and more. A few months ago, Microsoft added a "System" badge to the Start menu to help users understand the meaning of specific apps, and the new Settings section expands the idea.

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.

Microsoft announced its plan to give a helping arm to developers thinking about porting their projects to Windows on ARM (sorry). On October 16, the company unveiled the ARM Advisory Service to help app-makers ensure their apps work well (emulation or native) on Windows PCs powered by ARM processors (the Surface Pro 9 5G, for example). The program includes QAs, guidance, suggestions, code samples, and other assistance needed on the road to creating a native or porting an existing app to ARM. The ARM Advisory Service program will come in handy in light of the news about Qualcomm making a big push with its upcoming Series X processor family for Windows on ARM.

In addition to ARM Advisory Service, Microsoft announced enhancements to Test Base for Microsoft 365 to help developers test their applications for the upcoming Windows 11 version 23H2 release.

Another week, another unofficial update for the original Surface Duo. In the last Microsoft Weekly, we covered the first unofficial Android 14 ROM. Now, it is time for preliminary Surface Dial support. This quirky display accessory may soon work on displays of the original Duo.

Here are the official Surface firmware updates released this week:

• Surface Book 3 with fixes for critical security vulnerabilities in Intel's firmware.
• Surface Laptop 4 (Intel) with audio improvements.
• Surface Duo 2 with generic security patches.

Microsoft Edge Canary received a neat update for the Split Screen feature, allowing you to display two pages in one browser window by dragging a tab to the right instead of clicking a button on the toolbar. Check out this article to learn how to enable the updated Split Screen.

However, the updated Split Screen is not the only great change released in the Canary Channel this week. One of the recent updates restored the previously deleted flag responsible for enabling the Mica material. You can once again make the Edge browser look pretty by enabling translucency effects on the tab strip, toolbar, and sidebar.

The Microsoft Store also made it to the news this week thanks to significant performance improvements in the latest update. Version 22309 finally fixed the long startup time, making the Microsoft Store open in one or two seconds.

Other notable software updates released this week include the following:

• VirtualBox 7.0.12 with fixes for the black screen when using Windows, TPM issues, nested virtualization, BIOS bugs, and more.
• VMware Workstation Pro and Player 17.5 with improved vTPM support and plenty of various fixes.
• Edge 120 in the Dev Channel with new extension API to toggle PDF translate and more.
• Microsoft Dev Home Preview 0.6 with machine configuration summary changes.
• Improvements for automatic data conversion features in Microsoft Excel on Windows and macOS.

Here are the drivers released this week:

• AMD Adrenalin Edition Technical Preview 23.30.01.02 with Fluid Motion Frames support for any DirectX 11 and 12 game when running on a RX 6000 or RX 7000 graphics cards.
• AMD Radeon Software 23.10.2 with optimizations for Forza Motorsport, AC Mirage, and The Lords of the Fallen. In addition, the release turns off the Anti-Lag+ feature following reports of players getting banned in multiplayer games.
• NVIDIA 545.84 with RTX Video Super Resolution support on the RTX 2000 series and two bug fixes.

On the gaming side

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

Forza Motorsport received its first post-launch update to resolve a large number of bugs on PC and consoles. Patch 1.0 improves stability, progression, graphics, multiplayer, tracks, and other aspects of the game.

Mojang, a studio Microsoft purchased nine years ago, held its annual Minecraft Live event this week, where it usually debuts game-related announcements, new features, mobs, and other changes. Here is what was new on Minecraft Live 2023:

• The 1.21 Vanilla Update with automated crafting, new underground structures with a new hostile mob (trial chambers), copper bulbs, and more.
• New Start Wars and Planet Earth III DLC packs.
• New content for Minecraft Legends, such as two in-game events, new units (piglins and frogs), and new allies. Minecraft Legends is available on all modern platforms, including PC and Xbox Game Pass.

Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order will soon launch their much-anticipated sequel to the original Cities Skylines on PC. Although the game is still on track to release on October 24, 2023, PC gamers may have a hard time playing the initial version.

Developers raised the hardware requirements and announced that the game would not meet their performance standards. However, gamers can expect plenty of patches and updates to resolve the situation and make the game work better on PCs that meet its hardware requirements. As a reminder, Colossal Order delayed the console release to resolve similar performance issues.

Speaking of having a hard time running some games, here are the hardware requirements for the upcoming Alan Wake II release. Spoiler alert: you need a beefier PC to run the game, as even the lowest settings at 1080p require an RTX 2060/RX 6600, 6GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and at least 90GB of free space on your SSD. That is right, no more spinning hard drives.

We had no new hardware announcements from Microsoft this week, but you still have a chance to get your hands on a unique custom Xbox Series X console. Microsoft's official X (Twitter) account announced the Diablo IV Xbox Sweepstakes, giving gamers a chance to win a custom Diablo IV Xbox Series X with an appropriately-themed stand. The contest ends on October 30, 2023, so you still have time to try your luck.

If that sinister-looking Xbox Series X is not enough to impress you, here is a PC cooled with real blood. Blizzard announced a promo to encourage Diablo IV players to donate their blood at any blood clinic. Participants can win a custom-built high-end PC with real human blood in its coolant.

The PC and Xbox Game Pass catalog received a fresh batch of new games. The latest additions include F1 Manager 2023, Cities: Skylines II, Dead Space, Like A Dragon: Ishin! and more. Five other games will soon leave the subscription service, so get ready to kiss goodbye to Gunfire Reborn, Persona 5 Royal, and others. As for Activision-Blizzard games, Phil Spencer revealed in an interview that gamers should not expect those titles in the Game Pass catalog earlier than 2024.

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW service also received a host of new titles, such as Counter-Strik 2, AirportSim, Ddead by Daylight, EverSpace 2, Torchlight III, and others.

Finally, Microsoft announced a set of accessibility improvements for Game Bar on PC. The latest update makes it easier for players to locate accessibility settings for visual and audio-related controls.

Deals and Freebies

This week's PC game deals cover Jedi hits, Warner discounts, Civilization bundles, multiple discounts on DRM-free games from GOG Galaxy, and more. Also, as usual, The Epic Games Store is giving away two games: The Evil Within and Ethernal Threads.

If you still have a hard time finding an interesting title to play, check out our updated picks for the most anticipated titles coming soon to Xbox Series X|S.

Reviews are in

Here are the latest hardware or software reviews published on Neowin during the last week.

On October 16, 2023, Intel announced the 14th generation of its desktop processors. The new model lineup consists of three models and their corresponding KF variants without an iGPU. Steven Parker published a comprehensive review of the Intel Core i9-14900K and its more affordable sibling, the Intel Core i5-14600K. Both processors deliver fantastic performance, and the flagship can dethrone one of the best chips AMD currently offers. However, you need to invest into a solid cooler to tame the new Core i9 model, plus your power bill might suffer a bit due to not-so-great power efficiency.

The second review moves from computers to unconventional smartphones. Check out our review of the Outitel WP27, a rugged phone with a night vision camera, an inexpensive price tag, and a casing that can withstand your abusive behavior sparked by the smartphone's less-than-satisfactory software.

More about Microsoft

LinkedIn, a professional social network Microsoft acquired in 2016 for $26.2 billion, announced a new round of layoffs. According to a statement from the company, LinkedIn will let go of approximately 668 roles across different teams, such as product, engineering, finance, and talent. The news emerged at an interesting time, right after Microsoft closed the Activision-Blizzard merger, which added roughly 17,000 new employees to Microsoft's immense workforce.

On the more exciting side, Microsoft announced Project Silica, an attempt to create a storage solution capable of keeping a multitude of data for up to 10,000 years. Project Silica writes data into small glass plates using an ultrafast femtosecond laser, resulting in compact, durable, and passive storage. Microsoft will use the technology to help create a music vault in Norway. However, the company claims it will take at least three more development stages before Project Silica becomes commercially viable.

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.

During its annual Minecraft Live event, Mojang, a Microsoft-owned studio, revealed a big new update for the game and a few impressive stats. For this occasion, John Callaham published a look-back article detailing the development of Minecraft and its acquisition in September 2014 for $2.5 billion. That amount of money seemed crazy then, but we did not know that Microsoft would shell out almost thirty times more for Activision-Blizzard in less than a decade.

The second look-back article is also about gaming, albeit a much older one. Microsoft Minesweeper, released in 1990 as a part of Microsoft Entertainment Pack 1, is one of the oldest and most-known Windows games. Check out this article to learn more about its story.

Random fact about Microsoft

And here is a randomly selected piece of trivia about the company, Windows, and other Microsoft-made things.

Did you know that Windows 3.0, released in May 1990, was the first operating system from Microsoft capable of running multiple apps at once? Early Windows versions were graphical user interfaces for MS-DOS, designed to work with only one app at a time. However, with processors becoming more powerful and advanced, Microsoft developed Windows 3.0 with "real mode" and "protected mode." The former enabled backward compatibility and allowed less powerful devices to run Windows 3.0, while the latter introduced multi-app support and enhanced memory management.

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From gaming leaks to an exclusive report about Windows 11, we saw quite a bit run across the Windows Central news desk this week. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden shared that Windows 11 is now on 400 million devices and is on pace to be on half a billion PCs in early 2024. Intel and AMD each launched processors, giving gamers and creators more CPU and GPU options. We also got a better idea of how much Microsoft pays its employees, thanks to a leak. Here are all the biggest stories from the past week.

Windows 11 on 400 million devices

Windows 11 is on over 400 million devices, according to an exclusive report from our Senior Editor Zac Bowden. Based on growth levels, that figure is set to hit half a billion in early 2024.

Windows 11's rollout has been different than that of Windows 10 in several ways. For example, Windows 11 has stricter minimum requirements, effectively cutting off PCs from before 2018. As a result of that, and other factors, the growth of Windows 11 is much slower than the adoption rate of Windows 10, which reached 400 million devices in just over one year.

While adoption of Windows 11 has been slower than that of Windows 10, it has still surpassed Microsoft's expectations. Bowden said that according to sources, "Microsoft has consistently blown past [its] internal goals."

14th Gen Intel CPUs

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Intel's 14th Gen CPUs were one of the worst kept secrets in tech, but the chipmaker officially announced and launched the processors this week. The Intel Core i9-14900K is the flagship CPU of the lineup, promising a 6GHz boost clock speed. You can already get a pre-built PC with that CPU, thanks to a new configuration option for the Alienware Aurora R16.

That isn't the only chip in Intel's lineup, however. In our Intel Core i7-14700K review Windows Central Managing Editor Richard Devine said the CPU "offers excellent performance for gaming and intensive tasks." He added that it's a "modest upgrade over the previous generation," so you need to consider your current setup when deciding if a 14th Gen Intel chip is worth it.

AMD Radeon RX 7900M

(Image credit: AMD)

Intel wasn't the only company to unveil a processor this week, though AMD's announcement was on the graphics side of things. The Radeon RX 7900M is the "fastest AMD Radeon GPU ever developed for laptops," according to AMD. It's built on AMD's RDNA 3 architecture and it features 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

Because of the architecture it's built upon, the RX 7900M has second-gen AMD Infinity Cache and second-generation raytracing technology. AMD designed its new GPU for 1440p gaming, though it could handle higher depending on settings other than resolution.

The Alienware m18 is among the first laptops with the RX 7900M inside. In that gaming laptop, AMD's powerful GPU is paired with an AMD Ryzen 7945X CPU.

AYANEO Flip DS

(Image credit: AYANEO)

In 2023 we've had plenty of handheld gaming consoles and devices with hinges, but how about both? The AYANEO Flip DS does just that, bringing Windows to a form factor that's eerily similar to the Nintendo 3DS. Images of the new gaming device leaked this week, giving us a glimpse of what's on the way.

According to reports, the AYANEO Flip family of devices, which includes one system with two screens and another system with a full keyboard, will run on an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U. The portable PC will sport a 7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, assuming leaks prove accurate.

Microsoft salaries

(Image credit: Windows Central | Kevin Okemwa)

One of the biggest stories of the week came courtesy of a leak about Microsoft salaries. A report shared the pay guidelines for various roles at the company, including hiring bonuses, annual stock awards, and the ranges of employee pay.

None of the figures are particularly surprising on their own, but having all of the information in one place is interesting. The leak shared such details as Level 70 employees having a base pay ranging from $231,700 to $361,500 plus a hiring bonus between $310,000 to $1.2 million. On the other end of things, Microsoft's lowest-ranking employees have a base salary of $42,500.

For context, level 68 employees are considered partners, so a level 70 employee is quite high in the company's corporate structure.

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However, getting access is a bit tricky. You’ll have to find the right web forums with the right users. One of those users might have a post marketing a private and powerful large language model (LLM). You’ll connect with them on an encrypted messaging service like Telegram where they’ll ask you for a few hundred dollars in cryptocurrency in exchange for the LLM.

Once you have access to it, though, you’ll be able to use it for all the things that ChatGPT or Google’s Bard prohibits you from doing: have conversations about any illicit or ethically dubious topic under the sun, learn how to cook meth or create pipe bombs, or even use it to fuel a cybercriminal enterprise by way of phishing schemes.

“We’ve got folks who are building LLMs that are designed to write more convincing phishing email scams or allowing them to code new types of malware because they’re trained off of the code from previously available malware,” Dominic Sellitto, a cybersecurity and digital privacy researcher at the University of Buffalo, told The Daily Beast. “Both of these things make the attacks more potent, because they’re trained off of the knowledge of the attacks that came before them.”

Over the past year, we’ve seen the precipitous rise of generative artificial intelligence the likes of which we haven’t seen before. The technology has been popularized by the likes of ChatGPT and Bard—and caused a fair amount of criticism and concerns surrounding the potential for it to disrupt the jobs of writers, coders, artists, actors, and more.

While we’re still coming to terms with the full impact of these models—including the harms it can cause by way of job displacement and bias—experts are starting to sound the alarm on the growing number of black market AIs that are tailor made for cybercrime. In fact, the past year has seen a veritable cottage industry of LLMs created for the express purpose of coding malware and assisting in phishing attacks.

These models are powerful, hard to police, and growing in number. They also mark the emergence of a new battleground in the fight against cybercrime—one that extends even beyond text generators like ChatGPT, and bleeds into the realm of images, audio, and video as well.

“We’re blurring the boundaries in many ways between what is artificially generated and what isn’t,” Sellitto explained. “The same goes for the written text, and the same goes for images and everything in between.”

Phishing for Trouble

U.S. consumers lose nearly $8.8 billion each year to phishing emails—and you’ve probably seen them in your inbox before. These are the messages that claim to be from your bank or from even places like the Social Security Administration urgently requesting that you give them your financial information in order to fix a made-up crisis. They might include harmless looking links that actually download malware or viruses—allowing bad actors to steal any sensitive information straight from your computer.

Luckily, they’re pretty easy to catch for the most part. If they haven’t already fallen into your spam folder, you can spot them based on the language alone—choppy and grammatically incorrect sentences and wording that a legitimate financial institution would never use. This is primarily due to the fact that many of these phishing attacks come from outside of English-speaking countries in places like Russia.

However, with the launch of ChatGPT ushering a veritable generative AI boom, that has all completely changed.

“The technology hasn’t always been available on digital black markets,” Daniel Kelley, a former black hat computer hacker and cybersecurity consultant, told The Daily Beast. “It primarily started when ChatGPT became mainstream. There were some basic text generation tools that might have used machine learning but nothing impressive.”

Kelley explained that there are a wide range of these LLMs with variants like BlackHatGPT, WolfGPT, and EvilGPT. Despite the nefarious-sounding names, he said that many of these models are simply examples of AI jailbreaks, a term that describes clever prompting of existing LLMs like ChatGPT in order to get it to produce the desired output. These models are then wrapped around a custom interface that makes it seem like it’s a different chatbot—when, in reality, it’s just ChatGPT.

That isn’t to say that they’re harmless. In fact, one model stands out to Kelley as being one of the more nefarious and legitimate ones: WormGPT, an LLM that’s designed specifically for cybercrime and “lets you do all sorts of illegal stuff and easily sell it online in the future,” according to one description of it on a forum marketing the model.

“Everything black hat related that you can think of can be done with WormGPT, allowing anyone access to malicious activity without ever leaving the comfort of their home,” the description said. “WormGPT also offers anonymity, meaning that anyone can carry out illegal activities without being traced.”

“The only real malicious one that I’ve come across that I felt actually used a legitimate custom LLM was WormGPT,” Kelley said. “That was the first one, as far as I’m aware, that hit the market and actually went mainstream.”

Both Kelley and Sellitto said that WormGPT could be used effectively in business email compromise (BEC) attacks, a type of phishing scheme that involves stealing information from company employees by posing as a higher-up or someone else with authority. The language produced by the model is extremely clean, with accurate grammar and sentence structure making it much harder to detect at a glance.

Also, practically anyone with an internet connection can download it, allowing it to be proliferated with ease. It’s akin to a service that offers same-day mailing for purchasing guns and ski masks—only these guns and ski masks are specifically marketed towards and tailor made for criminals.

“It’s more accessible, because at the end of the day, I don’t need to be an expert in crafting devious emails. I can just type the prompt,” Sellitto said. “That’s the promise of LLMs on the good side, and it also applies to the dark side.”

Knowledge Is Power

Since the release of ChatGPT, Kelley says that he’s “100 percent” seen a rise of such generative AI on digital black markets. Not only are they available on forums for black hat hackers, but they’re also on so-called darknet markets, which are illegal online marketplaces where users can purchase anything from drugs, to contract killers, to powerful LLMs.

Adding fuel to this fire are companies like OpenAI and Meta releasing their own open-source models. These AI tools are publicly accessible and can be modified by anyone. That means these black market LLMs will only become more powerful and proliferated as time goes on. “I think it will intensify because the technology is evolving, and eventually cybercriminals will work out more use cases,” Kelley said. He added, “It will impact regular people.”

When it comes to protecting everyday consumers, there’s only so much policymakers can or will do. While the U.S. Congress has held multiple hearings regarding the development of AI in the wake of ChatGPT’s release, there’s yet to be any concrete regulation from Washington. Given the government’s track record of responding to emerging tech at a glacial pace, it’s a sure bet that they won’t be able to catch up with black market AI for a while—if ever.

Ultimately, then, the best way for the public to guard against the dangers these models pose are the simple but effective tactics that we’ve been taught already when it comes to cybercrime: educate yourself, be wary of strange emails, and don’t click on those fishy looking links.

It’s tried and true, and the best tool we possibly have to fight back against bad actors armed with a jailbroken version of ChatGPT trying to get access to our banking information. As the AI race surges on with breakneck speed, it might be the only tool we have too.

“What we’re seeing isn’t a passing fad,” Sellitto said. “Generative AI, whether we like it or not, is really here to stay. So as consumers, professionals, and organizations, we all need to come together and start figuring out ways that we can thoughtfully and ethically engage with it.”

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Globally, around 4 in 10 adults above the age of 15 either have depression or anxiety or know someone close to them who does. Also, there may be an unknown percentage of people who don't even realize that what they're currently feeling or going through constitutes depression or anxiety.

If you are uncertain about how you feel or are currently experiencing mental and emotional struggles, it's important to explore several avenues for support. At the very least, you can confide in a close circle of friends and loved ones who you trust. You can also seek professional help in the form of therapy and by talking to your doctor. There are also several mental health support groups that you can reach out to.

If you're not quite ready to do that yet, you can use your mobile phone to self-reflect and take a step in the right direction toward addressing any issues you may be facing. iPhone users in particular can take advantage of one of the most important features included in iOS 17: an upgraded Health app that lets you track your mental wellbeing a lot more efficiently through various tools.

How to take the iPhone Health app's built-in mental health quizzes

The iPhone's built-in Health app can help you do things like track your sleep, number of steps, workouts, weight, and even your menstrual cycle (if you have one). However, thanks to a recent iOS update, you can now also take standardized mental health assessments to gain more understanding of potential internal struggles. While these questionnaires may be similar to those used by clinicians and mental health professionals, it's important to note that filling out these tests on an iPhone will not result in actual and actionable medical diagnosis or advice. These tools are merely designed to help you identify whether you may be at risk of depression, anxiety, or both and decide what to do after, on top of regular self-reflection.

Provided that you've already updated your iPhone to run on iOS 17 or newer, here's how to take the Health app's mental health tests:

1. Launch the Health app.
2. Tap Browse.
3. From Health Categories, choose Mental Wellbeing.
4. Tap either Anxiety Risk or Depression Risk, and then hit Take Questionnaire.
5. If you want to take a test for both, scroll down to the Get More From Health section and tap Take Questionnaire.
6. Confirm your age range.
7. Hit Begin.

Given the potential implications of these tests, it's important that you be truthful with your actual age as well as your responses to the individual multiple-choice prompts. Once you answer all, tap Done to finish the chosen quiz.

What's in the iPhone's Health app mental health tests?

The Anxiety and Depression Risk Questionnaires will feature a series of queries based on what you've been feeling and how often you've been bothered by the given prompts over the last two weeks. For each question, you can pick from a range of answers: Not At All, Several Days, More Than Half The Days, or Nearly Every Day. Make sure you choose the option that's most appropriate to your current situation.

For Anxiety Risk, you'll be asked to rate the level of occurrence of the following scenarios over a two-week period:

• Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge

• Not being able to stop or control worrying

• Worrying too much about different things

• Trouble relaxing

• Being so restless that it is hard to sit still

• Becoming easily annoyed or irritable

• Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen

Meanwhile, these are what you need to check for Depression Risk:

• Little interest or pleasure in doing things

• Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

• Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much

• Feeling tired or having little energy

• Poor appetite or overeating

• Feeling bad about yourself, or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down

• Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television

• Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed, or being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual

• Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way

If you opt to take the questionnaire via the Get More From Health section, you'll be asked both sets of questions in one go. Once you're done, there are several things you can do with the results.

Use the mental health questionnaire results to form a plan of action

After you fill up your chosen mental health assessment, you'll be able to see what level your anxiety or depression risk is at, given your answers. A short result summary will be shown beneath a level indicator, but you can tap on the level to read more. 

You can export your results into a PDF file to have a hard copy for personal use or to show your doctor or care team. At the bottom of the page, the Learn More section will contain helpful articles on what you can do to take care of your mental health. You'll also be able to visit websites of mental health support organizations that offer call, text, or online assistance in your area through links provided under the Mental Health Resources section, should you ever need it.

Once you've taken any of the tests, results should show up on the Health app's Mental Wellbeing page. You can tap on either Anxiety Risk or Depression Risk in order to retake the questionnaires, see past results, export a PDF of your recent results, and turn on reminders about retaking the questionnaires occasionally in the future.

Where to find the iPhone's built-in daily mood tracker (and how to use it)

The Mental Wellbeing page of the Health app is where you can monitor your everyday mental and emotional disposition. Here's how to start tracking your moods:

1. Launch the Health app.
2. Hit Browse.
3. From Health Categories, choose Mental Wellbeing.
4. Select State of Mind.
5. If this is your first time, tap Get Started, then Begin. Otherwise, hit Log.

At this point, you can choose to log one of the following:

• Emotion, or how you feel at the moment
• Mood, which pertains to how you've felt overall today

After picking, tap Next, and then use the slider to choose a graphic that matches your current feeling. After you hit Next, you'll have the option to select certain keywords that best describe how you're feeling, as well as factors that are currently having the biggest impact on you plus any additional context. Tap Done to finalize your log.

You may see an option to turn on reminders to log how you're feeling at least twice per day. On the "Would you like reminders to log?" prompt, tap Edit Schedule and enable During Your Day, End of Day, or both. To save these settings, tap Done twice. Forming a habit of logging your moods and emotions and using the Health app's mental well-being tools may help you reflect and figure out when it's time to talk to a mental health professional for additional support.

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Later, ISRO put 'on hold' the launch of first test flight (TV-D1) earlier in the day at 8:45 am due to an issue with the engine ignition. However, the reason for Gaganyaan's TV-D1 launch hold was identified and corrected.

As part of the Gaganyaan mission, the primary objective of this flight test vehicle abort mission was to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system. Mission objectives included evaluating the Crew Escape System and its separation systems, as well as the various subsystems of the test vehicle.

This test flight was a significant achievement for India's space exploration efforts, demonstrating the country's ability to send humans into space. With the Gaganyaan project, India plans to demonstrate its capability in human spaceflight by sending three astronauts into orbit for a 3-day mission, landing safely in Indian territorial waters upon their return. Once the mission has been completed, India will become the fourth nation to launch a manned spacecraft after the United States, Russia, and China.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has laid out his hopes for an AI-powered future across personal and working lives for users everywhere.

Speaking at an event in London, Nadella outlined how AI technology, primarily Microsoft's own Copilot and Open AI-powered tools, can bring in a new era for consumers and business alike.

Nadella also revealed exactly which AI tools he uses in his personal life, and how AI could transform the lives of individuals in the future, with the hope of improving access to knowledge and healthcare across the world.

AI-change

"Something has clearly changed over the past year," Nadella told Microsoft UK CEO Clare Barclay in his keynote at the Envision London event. "Our understanding of this new generation of AI and what it can do to pretty much any software category, any industry or any business process has, I think, gone through a real change."

“The idea that you can have a multi-turn, multi-domain and multimodal conversation with your computer is going to be perhaps the biggest change in computing.”

“The age of LLMs (Large Language Models) is the greatest leveler in terms of going up the learning curve," Nadella said, highlighting Security Copilot as a particularly useful tool. "We have a shortage of security professionals, and we need people to become professionals to fill those gaps. On the job, with Security Copilot, your learning curve gets bent – and that’s exciting.”

He likened the advent of generative AI technology to the initial launch of Windows by Microsoft back in the early 1990s and predicted it could have a similarly seismic impact.

“It reminds me of the Microsoft I joined in ’92,” he recalled. “The reason I say that is because the PC - and Windows in particular - was transformative in the workplace and in the workflow. We all remember what work looked like pre-email, word processing and spreadsheets, and what happened after…At least I do!”

(Image credit: Future / Mike Moore)

Moving forward from Windows, Nadella also highlighted the role of cloud computing in helping make these huge technological breakthroughs possible, with Microsoft Azure playing an understandably key part.

“The cloud is helping to make that possible,” he added. “Data is also already in the cloud. So, therefore, the adoption of AI is just the next step, and it has compounding effects. But we should also be very mindful that the rate of diffusion is so fast, that I don’t think there’s going to be a distinction.”

In his personal scope, Nadella revealed that he was a regular user of GitHub Copilot to polish his coding skills, noting, "how can you be a tech CEO if you can't code?" But he also revealed that he was a big fan of the Copilot tools included within Microsoft 365, utilizing them to summarize long-form documents or meeting notes into a single, digestible document that he could in turn ask questions of.

"I can really get to be very productive," Nadella laughed, "at this point, if someone took away my 365 Copilot, I wouldn't know what to do!"

AI running your life?

Looking forward, Nadella was understandably positive concerning the benefits that AI technology could bring to users from every walk of life - not just in the business world.

"I'm glad we're all talking about both the capabilities as well as the opportunities of applying this technology, to drive societal benefits that are broad, whilst also being aware of the unintended consequences," he noted.

“I think whether it’s in financial services, retail or even healthcare, it’s very exciting to see the broad swath of industries being reshaped,” Nadella added, before outlining his hopes of how AI could transform the lives of everyone on Earth.

“The eight billion people on this planet could have, in their pocket, a tutor that is personalized, a doctor that can sort of give you medical advice, and even a management consultant...to tell you how best to run your life!” said Nadella. 

“If you take those three things, just think about what it could do to just the agency of an individual. A lot of us are afraid to venture into new domains because it takes a whole bunch of initiative, preparation and learning. But if you have something like Copilot to help you – an assistant that is going to walk you through each step – that is game changing. I think psychologically, that is the most exciting thing.”

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One new feature is something that Twitch announced earlier this week, Stories. Similar to Stories features found on Instagram and Facebook, Stories will allow creators to post text, pictures and other media to the Twitch mobile app that will disappear after 48 hours. Today in a blog post, Twitch announced plans to add more features to Stories. Creators will be able "to upload and film short videos, tag other streamers, add links, gifs, and polls."

Another new feature that's currently in testing is something that was previously announced as Guest Star, but will now be called Streaming Together. It will allow up to six Twitch streamers to work together at once while also streaming from their own channels.

Twitch stated:

Soon, you can simply copy a single URL into an OBS scene and we’ll handle the rest. You can still configure your scene using individual URLs for each participant, but will also have this option to streamline setup. You can configure guest layouts for Stream Together for either a full screen grid or use film strip mode. All of this uses the same URL whether you’re a host or a guest.

The new feature will also be able to let streamers collaborate while in audio-mode only. Stream Together is currently being tested by 150,000 users, and Twitch launch the feature for all users later in 2023.

Twitch also revealed that it will be adding improvements to Featured Clips that launched earlier in 2023. In 2024, it will let feature clips be made "directly from the creation flow" also allow a Twitch channel moderator to create featured clips. The Clip Editor will also get some new features like placing vertical video clips in a Twitch channel's Discovery Feed and the ability to trim and change a video's aspect ratios

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Microsoft develops its products and services through the following engineering groups.

• Cloud and AI – focuses on making IT professionals, developers, partners, independent software vendors, and their systems more productive and efficient through development of Azure AI platform and cloud infrastructure, server, database, CRM, ERP, software development tools and services (including GitHub), AI cognitive services, and other business process applications and services for enterprises.
• Strategic Missions and Technologies – focuses on incubating technical products and support solutions with transformative potential for the future of cloud computing and continued company growth across quantum computing, Azure Space & Missions Engineering, telecommunications, and Microsoft Federal Sales and Delivery.
• Experiences and Devices – focuses on delivering high value end-user experiences across our products, services, and devices, including Microsoft 365, Windows, Microsoft Teams, Search (including Microsoft Edge and Bing Chat) and other advertising-based services, and the Surface line of devices.
• Microsoft Security – focuses on delivering a comprehensive portfolio of services that protect our customers’ digital infrastructure through cloud platform and application security, data protection and governance, identity and network access, and device management.
• Technology and Research – focuses on fundamental research, product and business incubations, and forward-looking AI innovations that span infrastructure, services, and applications.
• LinkedIn – focuses on our services that transform the way professionals grow their network and find jobs and the way businesses hire, market, sell, and learn.
• Gaming – focuses on developing hardware, content, and services across a large range of platforms to help grow our user base through game experiences and social interaction.

Apart from the above engineering groups, Microsoft has the following business groups to effectively run the businesses worldwide.

• Business Development Group: Christopher Young leads the Business Development group, responsible for driving growth across the company by setting corporate strategy and identifying and executing high impact strategic partnerships, corporate venture investments, and acquisitions.
• Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs: Brad Smith leads as president and chief legal officer. His teams are responsible for the company’s legal work, its intellectual property portfolio, patent licensing business, corporate philanthropy, government affairs, public policy, corporate governance, and social responsibility work. His teams also lead the company’s work on a number of critical issues including privacy, security, accessibility, environmental sustainability and digital inclusion, among others.
• Finance Group: Amy Hood leads the worldwide finance organization. This includes acquisitions, treasury, tax planning, global real estate, accounting and reporting, internal audit, business operations and investor relations.
• HR Group: Kathleen Hogan leads Human Resources, responsible for pushing the company’s cultural transformation forward so it can thrive in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.
• Marketing Group: Chris Capossela leads Microsoft’s worldwide marketing and consumer business. This includes advertising, brand, communications, research as well as Microsoft’s retail stores.
• Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions: Judson Althoff leads the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions organization, which includes enterprise, public sector, small and mid-market, services, developer and partner, as well as global sales, marketing and services for 122 subsidiaries worldwide.

In light of past reports of competition among Microsoft’s engineering groups, it is hoped that the current structure fosters a more collaborative environment. The ultimate goal is to improve customer experiences through unified efforts. By working together, these groups can leverage their diverse expertise to drive innovation and deliver superior products and services.

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While the RTX 4090 gets praised everywhere due to its unmatched performance, the other graphics cards in the RTX 4000 series don’t get that many compliments.

This is because while RTX 4090 is massively faster than its predecessor, that’s not a case for other graphics cards like RTX 4080, RTX 4070 & RTX 4060 series, which have rather unattractive improvement in the performance.

If that is not enough, then it’s likely that we will not see the next-gen Nvidia RTX 5000 series graphics card anytime soon, as they are stated to release only two years later.

So it’s highly likely that Nvidia wants to refresh its RTX 4000 series with improved specifications in the graphics card series. This could be done releasing the refreshed versions in between the release of the RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 series. Something it has previously done in both the GTX 1600 and RTX 2000 series.

A few days ago, a well known leaker MEGAsizeGPU revealed that Nvidia could be working on a RTX 4080 Ti or RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card, with improved specs by using a more powerful GPU and it’s expected to release next year, in 2024.

Yesterday, VideoCardz reported that Nvidia could be working on three new graphics card in the RTX 4000 series, the RTX 4080 SUPER, RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 SUPER. With release date being unknown.

Looks like we have gotten some information about one of them, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER.

RTX 4070 SUPER Specs Leaked

Today, MEGAsizeGPU on Twitter (via VideoCardz) has shared information about the possible specs of two new graphics cards in the RTX 4070 series.

The tweet mentions that Nvidia might be making two new graphics cards.

The first one is going to be the RTX 4070 D6, which would be based on the same specs as the current RTX 4070, but will use a slower GDDR6 VRAM. For the record, RTX 4070 uses faster and better GDDR6X memory. This could mean that RTX 4070 could be available for a cheaper price, but with slower VRAM.

More importantly, MEGAsizeGPU reveals that Nvidia is working on another graphics card upgrade, the RTX 4070 SUPER. As per the tweet, the RTX 4070 SUPER will be based on the AD103 GPU, which is the same GPU used in the RTX 4080 graphics card. Additionally, the RTX 4070 SUPER would come with a 256-bit memory bus and 16GB VRAM.

For the record, the normal RTX 4070 graphics card uses AD104 GPU and comes with just 12GB of VRAM using 192-bit memory bus.

The price and the CUDA cores count of the RTX 4070 SUPER isn’t revealed by MEGAsizeGPU as of now. But expect it to be higher than the normal RTX 4070 and expect an increase in the performance too.

This is welcomed because the RTX 4070 reviews weren’t that great and wasn’t selling much. So much so that Nvidia had even paused its production.

So if Nvidia does decide to improve the RTX 4070 and other graphics cards in the series, while keeping it at an attractive price point, then it would be a great thing for the users.

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Object Desktop for OS/2 from 1995

Stardock didn't start out as a Windows-based company, however. In a recent interview with Neowin, Wardell told us that at first, he was creating programs like Object Desktop and games like the original Galactic Civilizations for IBM's OS/2 system. "We had so much invested in OS/2 at the time," Wardell told us, adding that Stardock even helped to improve the operating system.

However, just a few years after Stardock began, the OS/2 market shut down in 1998. Stardock was at its lowest point, according to Wardell, and had to quickly pivot to supporting Microsoft's Windows operating system for its software and games.

Start8 for Windows 8 from 2012

In the end, the switch from OS/2 to Windows was successful, and Stardock has been releasing new software ever since. One of their biggest software releases was Start8, a Start menu for Windows 8 which, in Microsoft's wisdom, decided to remove from that operating system in 2012.

Wardell told us that he was approached by someone who told him about the missing Start menu in Windows 8. He said at the time "We are going to fix that right now", and in a day came up with their first test version. Start8 was officially announced in March 2012, and launched for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version just a few days later. The first commercial version of Start8 launched in November 2012, and by January 2013 the Start menu software had reached three million downloads.

When we asked Wardell how would Stardock be affected if Microsoft hadn't made so many mistakes in its Windows software, he bluntly told us, "I think this would be the end of our software business." Indeed, the company has refined its Start menu software over the years and is currently on Start11 for Windows 11.

Stardock is not just a Windows productivity and desktop enhancement software company. It's also a full-fledged game developer. Today, on the 30th anniversary of the company's start, it is officially launching Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova. It's the latest game in the game series that's been part of the company since nearly the beginning.

Wardell told us in an earlier interview about how players in the game can create their own alien civilizations with just a few text prompts via "AlienGPT". In our latest chat, he told us that AI will be a huge shift in game development. He feels that while some jobs might be lost due to AI, others will also be created. Stardock is also working on Sins of a Solar Empire II in Early Access with developer Ironclad Studios.

In our recent chat, he also told us that Stardock is also preparing to release The Political Machine 2024, the latest version of its US presidential election sim game. The early access version is currently scheduled to launch in November and will include the primary elections for the first time in a game. He also hinted at some possible AI features. We will do a more in-depth interview with Wardell on The Political Machine 2024 in the near future. Stardock also has another major game in the works but Wardell is not talking about that title just yet.

After 30 years, it looks like Stardock is not only continuing to develop software and games but is looking toward the future by incorporating generative AI and other future features. It will certainly be interesting to see where the next 30 years will take the company.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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Meet the AMD Radeon™ RX 7900M GPU - the Ultimate Laptop Graphics for Gamers and Creators. Built on the advanced AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture, the AMD Radeon™ RX 7900M GPU is the first-ever laptop graphics processor based on the revolutionary chiplet design. Get ahead of the competition with 16GB of GDDR6 memory and advanced AMD RDNA™ 3 compute units delivering state-of-the-art visuals and high FPS gaming.

The Radeon RX 7900M is based on the AMD RDNA 3 architecture with second-generation accelerators for real-time raytracing. According to AMD, its newest creation delivers, on average, 7% better performance in select games at QHD (1440p) resolution when compared to rivals. However, specific titles will grant you much more impressive performance uplifts.

It is also worth noting that the power is not cheap—in addition to a flagship price, the RX 7900M has a total power draw of 190W, significantly more than the RTX 4080 mobile AMD uses in its comparisons. On the upside, you get four extra gigabytes of video memory, which you can never have enough of.

Here is a detailed spec list:

AMD showcases its latest laptop graphics card in the Alienware m18, a new gaming laptop powered by the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX. It has an 18-inch QHD+ display with up to 480Hz refresh rate for "no-compromise, desktop-level performance." It is now available for purchase in the United States and Canada, starting at $2,799.99 and $3,799 (CA).

The Alienware m18 delivers the best mobile gaming solutions with desktop-level performance driving a spacious 18-inch display. This performance juggernaut will transport you into your game-of-choice in style, and with full immersion.

You can buy the Alienware m18 on the official website. More information about the Radeon RX 7900M is available in a post on AMD's website.

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The new desktop processors are the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series, and they are the first such Threadripper CPUs released to that market in the last few years. They were made under a 5nm process and are based on the company's “Zen 4” architecture. AMD states in its press release:

The Threadripper 7000 Series is built to enable powerful I/O for desktop users, with up to 48 PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes for graphics, storage, and more. Capable of twice the memory bandwidth of typical dual-channel desktop systems, the quad-channel DDR5 memory controller on Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series processors can support even the most intensive workflows.

The highest-end CPU in this family is the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X with 64 cores and 128 threads, with a maximum boost clock speed of 5.1 GHz, and 320MB of total cache. It's also super expensive at $4,999. System integrators will offer these CPUs by the end of 2023.

The new AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processors are made for the workstation market. AMD says:

For multithreaded workloads, Threadripper PRO processors offer up to 96 cores and 192 threads, the most cores of any workstation processor for complex simulation, generative design, rendering, and software compilation tasks, where users can see up to two times faster performance in tools like Chaos V-Ray. Additionally, Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series processors offer up to 384MB of L3 cache along with eight channels for DDR5 memory for applications which require high memory capacity and bandwidth.

The new Threadripper PRO 7000 processors will be available later this year and will be included in workstations from PC makers like Dell, HP, and Lenovo. DIY PC makers will be able to get all of these new Threadripper CPUs from retailers beginning on November 21.

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Recently, another leaker, @Zed__Wang, has mentioned that NVIDIA is developing a more powerful variant of the RTX 4080, which could utilize the SUPER or Ti branding.

While full specifications are unknown, the RTX 4080 SUPER is said to be based on the full-fat AD102 GPU core, identical to that found in the RTX 4090. This indicates it will have a higher CUDA core count and memory bandwidth than the non-SUPER RTX 4080, which uses a cut-down AD103 die.

TGP for the RTX 4080 SUPER is reportedly set at 450W, a significant boost over the 320W TGP of the RTX 4080. Perhaps most notably, leaks suggest the RTX 4080 SUPER will come with a 320-bit memory interface and 20GB of GDDR6X VRAM.

This new SKU could help address the large performance gap between the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090. The RTX 4080 SUPER pricing is speculated to match the original RTX 4080, with that card receiving a price cut. Refreshes of the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 are also believed to be in the works to provide additional options at different price points.

While the SUPER branding was not used for Ampere (RTX 30 series), it previously appeared with Turing (RTX 20 series) cards. This would mark the first time NVIDIA introduced a Ti model with the SUPER-branding if released. Historically, the Ti variants denoted a higher-spec SKU, while SUPER was used for performance bumps to existing non-Ti cards through a mid-series update.

If an RTX 4070 Ti SUPER does materialize, it would represent an interesting hybrid of these two naming schemes. So multiple leaks pointing to these SKUs suggest that plans are further along than speculation.

Sources: @hongxing2020 and @Zed__Wang (via Wccftech)

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What you need to know

• A team of overlockers has pushed the new Intel Core i7-14900KF beyond 9GHz, which is a new world record.
• The previous record was held by the same group last year using an Intel Core i9-13900K.
• The team also hit a 9.1GHz clock speed but this could not be officially validated.

Intel has just launched its new 14th generation CPUs and with that comes people trying to push those CPUs to the limits in their attempt to set a new frequency world record. And attain this they have, using the Intel Core i9-14900KF to pass the 9GHz barrier. The ASUS ROG OC team is formed of overclocking experts known as Elmor, SkatterBencher, Bing and Shamino. 

This team also held the record for last year with the i9-13900K, hitting a frequency of 8.7GHz (8734MHz). With the Core i9-14900KF they were able to hit 9.1GHz but unfortunately this couldn't be officially validated. However, this is likely to be rectified at some stage which would mean another new world record. For now, that record stands at 9043.9MHz and it took them a whole week to attain it, but I think we'll see more records come in over the coming weeks.

What is overclocking?

Overclocking a CPU is all about trying to push the clock speed past the frequency which is recommended by the manufacturer. This allows the CPU to execute more operations per second which brings increased performance.

This also causes the production of much more heat and means the overclockers need to deploy some serious cooling solutions to allow that CPU to reach its limits. Without that cooling there is potential to damage it. Overclocking can also be done with GPUs to a lesser extent.

On the flipside you can also undervolt a CPU so it uses less power. This is a fine balance to see how much energy you can save without affecting the overall performance too much. We covered this recently with our piece on undervolting the Steam Deck. 

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The news watch page has started rolling out and it will be available in over 40 countries in the coming future. It's supported on mobile devices as of now, but YouTube said that the feature will be available on its desktop and TV interfaces as well.

You can access the YouTube news watch page on the homepage feed or in search results. Primarily, it's meant to show up when a user looks for news stories on YouTube. The feature consolidates video content from a variety of sources and formats such as long-form, podcasts, live, and Shorts.

The YouTube news watch page carries a newspaper icon to differentiate itself from regular videos in the feed. You can swipe on its card to see thumbnails of various related stories. Apart from that, YouTube has also announced a new Shorts Innovation Program to help news organizations create short-form video content.

In a blog post, YouTube stated:

Our goal with the Shorts Innovation Program is to jumpstart innovative news publishers who are interested in embracing short-form news capabilities, but haven’t had the resources to do so. We look forward to getting feedback from publishers on the opportunities and challenges to short-form content, as we work together to support an innovative news ecosystem.

YouTube will select participants for the program based on their existing long-form video presence. The company has set aside a funding of $1.6 million which it will spend while working with over 20 organizations across 10 countries. This new watch page was added not long after YouTube's recent feature drop introducing various features like Stable Volume and a new way to increase playback speed.

In recent news, YouTube's parent company Google pulled the plug on the Google Podcasts app in favor of YouTube Music. YouTube's Premium Lite subscription tier, which is available in select countries, is also going away later this month.

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