The company said that notebooks, which includes mobile workstations, declined 4% to 15.2 million shipments. A steeper decline was avoided by the return of Chromebook demand in the education sector.

Things were not as good for desktops which saw a steeper decline with shipments falling by 12% year-over-year to 3.0 million units. Canalys also noted that the US tablet market saw a 5% decline during Q2 to 10.3 million units.

Commenting on the figures, Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst at Canalys, said:

‘Despite undergoing another year-on-year decline, the US PC market showed promising signs of improvement in the second quarter. With the buildup of channel inventories now largely cleared, pockets of demand strength are now being reflected in vendors’ sell-in shipment performance.

A key area that helped drive volumes was the return of demand from education institutions, backed by the latest wave of federal funding, ahead of a licensing cost increase for ChromeOS. This helped propel Chromebook shipments to 4.7 million units, the highest level since peak deployments during the first half of 2021.’

According to the data, PC shipments in the commercial sector declined just 4% year-over-year. Meanwhile, there was a decline of 10% in the consumer sector. The analyst said that we probably won’t see a recovery in the consumer market until the fourth quarter when products are discounted for the holidays.

In terms of brands, nobody at all will be surprised to hear that the company with the most growth in PC shipments was Apple. It saw growth year-over-year of 32.6% thanks to the cultish following it has and higher spending ability of many of its customers.

Acer was hardest hit seeing its growth decline by 20.3%. In Q2 2022, it held 14.6% of the market share but in Q2 2023 it had declined to 11.9%. The company with the highest market share was HP at 26.5%, it also saw a modest annual growth of 6.0%.

Among tablets, Apple was the only company to record growth. It extended its market share from 41.3% in Q2 2022 to 52.2% in Q2 2023 with 20.1% annual growth.

Source: Canalys

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Herkelman made his announcement on X (formerly Twitter). His message stated he would "miss every single one" of his teammates in the AMD Radeon division, adding, "May you continue to punch above your weight class and one day… beat the final boss."

Herkelman made no mention of why he was departing AMD at this time, nor did he reveal what his next job would be. As Videocardz noted, the official AMD website already lists Jack Huynh as the senior vice president and general manager of both the Computing and Graphics Business Group.

CRN has a message from AMD stating that Huynh will take over as the general manager of the Graphics Business Group on an interim basis, which means the company may be looking for a permanent replacement. AMD's statement added:

Scott Herkelman has made the choice to leave AMD. We are grateful for Scott’s leadership and significant contributions to the AMD graphics business over the last seven years. He will stay through the end of the year to support a smooth transition.

Herkelman was previously the general manager of NVIDIA’s GeForce graphics business before joining AMD in 2016, Under his leadership, the Radeon division made itself more of a competitor to NVIDIA's GeForce products with the introduction of the RDNA architecture in 2019.

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Microsoft thinks next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data centers and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for a principal program manager who’ll lead the company’s nuclear energy strategy.

Data centers already use a hell of a lot of electricity, which could thwart the company’s climate goals unless it can find clean sources of energy.

Energy-hungry AI makes that an even bigger challenge for the company to overcome. AI dominated Microsoft’s Surface event last week.

Nuclear energy doesn’t create greenhouse gas emissions. Even so, it could also open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to handling radioactive waste and building up a uranium supply chain. The role nuclear energy ought to play in combatting climate change is still hotly debated, but Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has long been a big fan of the technology.

The role nuclear energy ought to play in combatting climate change is still hotly debated

Based on the new job listing, it looks like Microsoft is betting on advanced nuclear reactors to be the answer. The job posting says it’s hiring someone to “lead project initiatives for all aspects of nuclear energy infrastructure for global growth.”

Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can roll out a plan for small modular reactors (SMR). All the hype around nuclear these days is around these next-generation reactors. Unlike their older, much larger predecessors, these modular reactors are supposed to be easier and cheaper to build. For comparison, the last large nuclear reactor to be built in the US finally came on line this summer roughly $17 billion over budget after seven years of delays.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission just certified an SMR design for the first time in January, which allows utilities to choose the design when applying for a license for a new power plant. And it could usher in a whole new chapter for nuclear energy.

Even so, there are still kinks to work out if Microsoft wants to rely on SMRs to power the data centers where its cloud and AI live. An SMR requires more highly enriched uranium fuel, called HALEU, than today’s traditional reactors. So far, Russia has been the world’s major supplier of HALEU.

There’s a push in the US to build up a domestic supply chain of uranium, which communities near uranium mines and mills are already fighting. Then there’s the question of what to do with nuclear waste, which even a fleet of SMRs can generate significant amounts of and the US is still figuring out how to store long term.

Microsoft didn’t answer questions from The Verge about its plans for next-generation nuclear or how it might tackle those challenges that could come along with it. Gates happens to also be the founder and chair of TerraPower, an incubator developing SMR designs. The company “does not currently have any agreements to sell reactors to Microsoft,” it told CNBC. Microsoft already has a deal to buy clean energy credits from Canadian utility Ontario Power Generation, which is on track to be the first utility to deploy an SMR in North America, Axios reports.

Microsoft has also made an audacious deal to purchase electricity from a company called Helion that’s developing an even more futuristic fusion power plant. Both old-school nuclear reactors and SMR designs generate electricity through nuclear fission, which is the splitting apart of atoms.

Nuclear fusion, involves forcing atoms together the way stars do to create their own energy. A fusion reactor is a holy grail of sorts — it would be a source of abundant clean energy that doesn’t create the same radioactive waste as nuclear fission. But despite decades of research and recent breakthroughs, most experts say a fusion power plant is at least decades away — and the world can’t wait that long to tackle climate change.

Helion’s backers also include OpenAI CEO and ChatGPT developer Sam Altman. Microsoft extended its “multiyear, multibillion dollar investment” with OpenAI this year. Last week, it announced its plan to add OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 image generator to Bing Chat. “We are committed to helping our customers use our platforms and tools to do more with less today and innovate for the future in the new era of AI,” Microsoft chair and CEO Satya Nadella says in the job listing for a nuclear technology principal program manager.

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In a YouTube video interview conducted during the Intel Innovation conference, PC World interviewed Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Client Computing Group at Intel. During the chat, she confirmed that Meteor Lake on the desktop "will come in 2024." She added, "I want one processor family top to bottom for both segments, doesn't everybody?"

At the moment, that's all that Intel execs are talking about Meteor Lake on the desktop, although we can assume they will also have the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that the notebook version will have. Microsoft is already promoting the use of an NPU inside its Surface Laptop Studio 2, so it can handle AI features like its Copilot assistants better, but it won't be using the Meteor Lake chip inside.

While we know Meteor Lake/Core Ultra is launching in notebooks in December, Intel didn't reveal much about its next desktop chip at the Innovation conference last week. That chip is expected to be a refresh of its Raptor Lake series of CPUs.

Videocardz reports that Intel made a stealth demo of Raptor Lake Refresh at the Innovation conference last week. It didn't happen during a keynote address, but rather in a demonstration on the conference's exhibit hall. During the demo, which was mostly about showing off a "Meta Human" AI avatar, it was mentioned casually the demo was the first public use of Intel's Raptor Lake Refresh chip.

That CPU family, which may be labeled as 14th Gen Core chips, is expected to be officially announced by Intel on October 17.

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One of the bugs squashed in this update is the missing sun issue on AMD Radeon graphics cards on PC. Reported by players since launch, the game has not been rendering suns correctly while exploring planet surfaces. This should now be resolved with today's update.

One of the more popular bugs among the community has been accessing a certain vendor's inventory via a water puddle for easy money. This has also been patched up.

Here's the full list of fixes:

Starfield 1.7.33 Update -

• GENERAL
  • Characters: Fixed an issue that could cause some characters to not be in their proper location.
  • Star Stations: Fixed an issue where Star Stations would be labeled as a player-owned ship.
  • Vendors: Addressed an issue that allowed for a vendor’s full inventory to be accessible.

• GRAPHICS
  • AMD (PC): Resolved an issue that caused star lens flares not to appear correctly AMD GPUs.
  • Graphics: Addressed an upscaling issue that could cause textures to become blurry.
  • Graphics: Resolved an issue that could cause photosensitivity issues when scrolling through the inventory menu.

• PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY
  • Hand Scanner: Addressed an issue where the Hand Scanner caused hitching.
  • Various stability and performance improvements to address crashing and freezes.

• SHIPS
  • Displays: Fixed an issue that would cause displayed items to disappear when applied to in-ship mannequins.
  • Displays: Fixed an issue that would cause items stored in Razorleaf Storage Containers and Weapon Racks to disappear after commandeering another ship.

The Microsoft platform exclusive title recently crossed 10 million players across all platforms, reaching the impressive milestone only two weeks after launch. The game's first update landed a couple of weeks ago with some minor changes and hot fixes. The studio has also promised "years and years" of updates to the RPG going forward, with bug fixes and new features being planned.

Starfield is out now across PC, Xbox Series X|S, as well as across Xbox and PC Game Pass subscription services. Bethesda has confirmed that official modding tools are incoming in early 2024, while at least one expansion is currently in development too.

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The amount of karma a user has directly influences how much that can be earned, with accounts that have between 100 and 4,999 karma earning $0.90 per 1 gold, and that increases to $1 per gold once the account goes over 5,000 karma. Users need to earn 10 gold within a 30-day period to be eligible for a payout. Otherwise it rolls over to the next period.

Reddit has provided a short summary of how the program will work, and what the requirements are for an account to be eligible for the Contributor Program on its website:

How it works

1. Contributors apply to the program to see if they're eligible.
2. Redditors give gold to posts, comments, or other contributions they think are really worth something.
3. Eligible contributors that earn enough karma and gold can get paid cash.
4. Top contributors make top dollar. The more karma and gold contributors earn, the more money they can receive.

Requirements

1. Earn gold and karma each month
2. Be over 18 and live in the U.S.
3. Provide verification information
4. Only Safe for Work contributions quality
5. Account age must be 30+ days old

Payments from the program will be paid on a monthly basis in U.S. Dollars, with all participants being required to fill out the necessary tax paperwork to be able to receive money from Reddit posts that they submit under the new program.

Additionally, Reddit requires that users have a verified account with Stripe to be able to receive payments. This is Reddit's chosen payments partner which it states "can be changed at our sole discretion."

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In a recent AI Visuals' roundtable hosted by Digital Foundry, NVIDIA's VP of Applied Deep Learning Research, Bryan Catanzaro, was asked about his thoughts on the future of DLSS and the problem areas that machine learning could address. In response, he stated:

I do not believe that AI is gonna build games in a way where you just write a paragraph about making a cyberpunk game and then pop comes out something as good as Cyberpunk 2077. I do think that let's say DLSS 10 in the far future is going to be a completely neural rendering system that interfaces with a game engine in different ways, and because of that, it's going to be more immersive and more beautiful.

He mentioned a past demo of a world that was rendered by a neural network and driven by a game engine.

Back in 2018 at the NeurIPS conference, we actually put together a really cool demo of a world that was being rendered by a neural network, like, completely but it was being driven by a game engine.

So, basically, what we were doing was using the game engine to generate information about where things are and then using that as an input to a neural network that would do all the rendering, so it was responsible basically for every part of the rendering process. Just getting that thing to run in real-time in 2018 was kind of a visionary thing.

Catanzaro said the image quality of the rendered game wasn't anything close to Cyberpunk 2077, but he thinks “long term this is where the graphics industry is going to be headed.”

We're going to be using generative AI more and more for the graphics process. Again, the reason for that is going to be the same as it is for every other application of AI, we're able to learn much more complicated functions by looking at huge data sets than we can by manually constructing algorithms bottom up.

While NVIDIA’s vision for future DLSS versions is enticing, we are far away from it being a reality. For now, you are left with DLSS 3.5, which was introduced last week. It brings what the company calls Ray Construction, a supercomputer AI-based method for improving ray-traced images in games, in contrast to the current method of using hand-tuned denoisers.

(Via Wccftech)

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Wow, what a week it's been for news. We expected the last few days to be full of Microsoft news, but what came out shocked the tech world. The biggest Xbox leak in history gave us a glimpse of an Xbox Series X refresh and a new Xbox console in 2028. We also saw Panos Panay announce his departure from Microsoft just two days before the Surface and AI event that Panay was scheduled to present. And that event certainly made news, though not in the way Microsoft likely wanted. The presentation wasn't even live streamed and has been called the worst Surface event ever by some people (including myself).

Toss in Intel announcing its Meteor Lake CPUs, and more and you have one of the busiest weeks we've seen in ages.

Panos Panay leaves Microsoft

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Panos Panay was not present at this week's Surface and AI event, but he managed to steal the show. Panay, who has headed Microsoft's Surface and Windows efforts for years, announced that he would leave the tech giant. The news came abruptly and just two days before the Surface and AI event. Panay had previously been scheduled to speak at the event, as he had done at every previous Surface event while in his role.

Later reports stated that Panay will join Amazon. We also learned that Panay reportedly left Microsoft due to cutbacks and layoffs. Several Surface devices, including the Surface Studio all-in-one and Surface Duo, will not have new versions for the foreseeable future. A second generation of the Surface Headphones was once on the way, but that's no longer the case. Instead, Microsoft plans to focus on a collection of product lines, including the Surface Pro and Surface Go.

The move toward mainstream devices and away from experimental and niche hardware was reportedly a key reason Panay decided to leave.

Saddening Surface event

(Image credit: Future)

If you blinked, you missed Microsoft unveiling the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 at its event this week. If you only followed the event as it happened, you missed the announcement of the Surface Go 4 and Surface Hub 3 entirely. Microsoft did not announce those two devices during its Surface and AI event. Instead, the Go 4 and Hub 3 only appeared in posts and videos that went up after the event.

The strange treatment of the Surface Go 4 and Surface Hub 3 go along with what was considered the worst Surface event in years by some. I argued that if this is the future of Surface, I see why Panos Panay left Microsoft. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden called the event a "massive blunder and missed opportunity."

Xbox leaks

This week kicked off with the largest Xbox leak in history. Documents from the Microsoft vs FTC case were left unredacted on accident, allowing major news to drop. The leaks included plans for an Xbox Series X refresh, a new Xbox console on the way in 2028, and a library of games Bethesda had in the works in 2021.

Thanks to the documents, we also learned that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wants the company to purchase Nintendo. That hope has been laughed at by many, including our Rebecca Spear.

It's important to note that the leak was from years ago, so plans may have changed since then. Microsoft has since spent tens of billions of dollars acquiring studios and evolving its plans.

CMA provisionally approves Activision Blizzard deal

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard / Windows Central)

While we'll still have to wait until October for a final decision, it appears that the UK Competition and Markets Agency (CMA) will approved Microsoft's $75 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. The agency shared preliminary approval of the deal this week. The change of stance came after Microsoft restructured the deal. Most notably, the tech giant's new deal sees the cloud streaming rights of Activision Blizzard games sold to Ubisoft.

"We are encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review process," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. "We presented solutions that we believe fully address the CMA’s remaining concerns related to cloud game streaming, and we will continue to work toward earning approval to close prior to the October 18 deadline."

Intel Meteor Lake CPUs

(Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

Intel took the wraps off its Meteor Lake CPUs this week. To be completely honest, a couple paragraphs summarizing the news doesn't really do it justice, so I'll point you to our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino's full breakdown of Intel Meteor Lake.

That being said, there are some key takeaways from Intel's announcement. Some generational leaps are small. This is not the case with Meteor Lake. It's a big enough change that it's coming out alongside an entirely reset naming system by Intel.

Every Meteor Lake chip will feature a neural processing unit (NPU). Those processors will be vital as AI continues to become more mainstream. In addition to many creative applications using artificial intelligence, AI is becoming more common for improving webcams, microphones, and other everyday parts of computing.

This week's news focused on Intel's new architecture, not specific chips. That means we'll have to wait a bit to see things like the Core 3, Core 5, and Core 7 that are built on the new architecture.

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The generative AI bot ChatGPT has been busy helping writers, debating issues, generating code, and more—and now that developer OpenAI has opened the door to third-party plug-ins, a ton of new functionality is available.

These plug-ins can look up information on the web, draw diagrams, manage travel plans, interrogate Wikipedia, and more. To access the various plug-ins, you need an active, $20-per-month subscription to ChatGPT Plus. Here we'll focus on one particular type of extension: PDF plug-ins.

ChatGPT and these plug-ins can help you search through, summarize, and search these files in seconds. To access plug-ins, start a new chat in the ChatGPT interface and select GPT-4, then Plug-Ins from the options at the top. Click the small icon underneath the header, which lists currently installed plug-ins, then scroll down to Plug-In Store to find new ones.

Ai PDF

Ai PDF can upload documents to the cloud if needed.

 Ai PDF via David Nield

Ai PDF promises “super-fast, interactive chats,” and all you need to do to get its assistance is to give ChatGPT the URL of a PDF on the web. If that's not possible, the plug-in comes with a PDF upload option, so you can review documents stored on your computer too.

From there it's simply a question of letting the plug-in analyze the PDF you've provided and then asking ChatGPT questions about it—its premise, its conclusions, or specific pieces of information. You can even ask about the style the PDF is written in or the details that it omits.

One of the features we like about Ai PDF is that it refers to pages in the PDF when doing summaries and answering questions, so you can double-check that the plug-in is working properly. You can also ask ChatGPT for individual lines from the document to back up its answers.

AskYourPDF

The name of this plug-in shows you the sort of natural, conversational relationship it wants to facilitate between you and your PDFs—and it says it'll “unlock the power of your PDFs” by giving ChatGPT access to any PDF you give it.

If your PDFs aren't hosted online, then AskYourPDF can upload them for you, and you can then submit queries through ChatGPT. You can ask for specific details from specific sections, get overviews and summaries, get certain sections rewritten, and generally do anything ChatGPT can do with standard blocks of text.

The plug-in also responds well to follow-up questions, if you need clarification on something that's been said previously, or need to know where in a PDF document a response was sourced from.

Doc Maker

A lesson plan is one kind of document that Doc Maker can produce.

 Doc Maker via David Nield

Doc Maker offers something a bit different, in that it is focused more on making PDFs than querying them. There's no shortage of tools for this job, of course, but the extra twist of using ChatGPT as part of the process can be helpful in a variety of ways.

Here's how it works: You specify the type of PDF you want to create, and Doc Maker helps you make it, with ChatGPT's assistance. Maybe you want to put together a résumé, or you need to compile a financial report, or you've got a newsletter to finish. The plug-in will prompt you for the text it needs, or you can generate it using AI.

Say you have meeting minutes to write up, for example—give Doc Maker and ChatGPT access to the text and you can have a summary in PDF format in just a few seconds. You've got all the text-generating capabilities of ChatGPT, but also with an easy way to get that text into a shareable, standard format.

ScholarAI

If scientific papers are the PDFs that you spend most of your time with, then ScholarAI is going to be a ChatGPT plug-in of particular interest. It gives you access to more than 40 million peer-reviewed papers in PDF form from across the web, and you can query them individually or search through the database in its entirety.

For example, you might want to start by looking for papers on a particular topic that have been published this year, or in any specific range of years. Then, you could get ScholarAI to look at specific aspects of one particular paper—summarizing sections, asking about the methods used in the experiments, and so on. At the same time, ChatGPT can pull in more background knowledge that's not in the paper.

ScholarAI has been built to try to minimize the number of false hallucinations ChatGPT has, and to back up its answers with solid research. You can get the plug-in to link back to the paper on the web, and to quote specific lines from it, in order to double-check the answers that you're being given.

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Up until recently, Gmail users could access basic HTML view mode and make it the default view mode on the site. New Gmail users may not have come into contact with the mode, as the standard view on Gmail does not appear to include switching links anymore.

Users may still access it using a direct link, but doing so does not provide the option to set the mode as the default anymore. Any reload of the Gmail website, for instance after closing and reopening the browser, will load the standard view. Gmail users who prefer the Basic HTML view on the site may bookmark the URL to open it manually each time.

The option to do so will be removed in January 2024. Google confirms the deprecation of the Basic HTML view mode on a support page. The company is not displaying information about the planned change to Gmail users who use the mode, at least not currently.

Google writes: "You can display Gmail on your browser in Basic HTML view until January 2024. After this date, Gmail automatically changes to Standard view".

Basic HTML view mode URLs that open the classic mode currently will be redirected to the Standard view interface automatically once the change lands. Google goes on to explain that Gmail will be opened in Standard view automatically, if the browser is supported.

Unsupported browsers may not load the Gmail website anymore once Standard view becomes the only available display mode on the site. Google offers some recommendations to Gmail users who can't get Standard view to load in the browser they are using. The tips include switching to a supported browser, checking the Internet connection or using a different device.

Additionally, Gmail users may use the Gmail apps on their mobile devices or a dedicated email client to access the service.

Gmail's Basic HTML view lacks support for several of the features that Google introduced in recent time. This includes, among others, the ability to add or import contacts, rich formatting, spell checking, chat or custom "from" addresses.

Now You: do you use Gmail and its Basic View mode?

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Table of contents:

1. Big shifts and a Surface event
2. Windows 11 news
3. Updates are available
4. Gaming news
5. A blast from Microsoft's past
6. Random fact about Microsoft

Big shifts and a Surface event

One of the biggest stories in the world of Microsoft from this week is about Panos Panay leaving the company after 19 years. Panos was in charge of Microsoft's Surface brand and took the lead in Microsoft's Windows hardware and software efforts. According to an unconfirmed report, Panay is now heading to Amazon to rule its hardware division responsible for Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, Echo smart speakers, and more.

Panos Panay's departure from Microsoft is a big change for the company, which means more shifts will follow. Yusuf Mehdi, previously Corporate Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Office, will lead the Windows and Surface business. Pavan Davulury is the new leader for Windows planning and release management, and Mikhail Parakhin will take over the all-new Windows and Web Experiences Team.

We wish Panos Panay all the best in his new ventures and thank him for great Surface devices and quirky presentations!

Following the news about Panos Panay leaving Microsoft, a new report revealed details about Microsoft's plans for Surface devices. Rumors claim the company has decided to cut back on some of its Surface products and focus on well-established lineups instead of taking risks and creating unique and bold form factors. Therefore, you probably should expect Surface-branded devices akin to the Surface Neo, Surface Duo, or Surface Studio.

To prove the report, Microsoft revealed a somewhat uninspiring set of new Surface devices during its special event in New York on September 21, 2023. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is now official with more ports, a better display, and much more capable hardware. However, the laptop is now notably pricier, with the base configuration starting at $1,999.

The Surface Laptop Go 3 received much less exciting updates. The new version received only a more recent processor (not even the latest) and more RAM. Also, all configurations now come with 256GB SSD. Although Microsoft has not mentioned the Surface Go lineup during the event, this tiny tablet also got some attention. However, curb your enthusiasm if you are looking to buy one. As it turned out, the new Surface Go 4 will be available only through commercial channels, just like the new Surface Hub 3.

If you are on the market for devices like the new Surface Laptop Studio 2 or not-so-wallet-friendly Surface Laptop Go 3, check out our latest Specs Appeal articles detailing the difference between the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and its predecessor and three generations of the Surface Laptop Go.

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.

In addition to the Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Go 4, Surface Laptop Go 3, and Surface Hub 3, Microsoft announced Copilot and the next feature update for Windows 11, coming September 26, 2023.

Contrary to popular belief, the upcoming release is not version 23H2. It is allegedly a Moment 4 update, with the proper 23H2 is coming later. You can see what features the Moment 4 update will bring in our dedicated article. Our full Windows 11 23H2 review is available here. If you are unhappy with what Microsoft crammed inside version 23H2, check out this "Windows 11.2" concept daydreaming about a better OS made by Microsoft.

In August 2023, users noticed a document detailing Wi-Fi 7 support in Windows and other operating systems, which led to speculations about Microsoft limiting Wi-Fi 7 to Windows 11 and future iterations of the OS. However, this week, Intel released specs of two Wi-Fi 7 modules, namely BE200 and BE202, with explicit Windows 10 and 11 support. Those afraid of being unable to use Wi-Fi 7 on the soon-to-be-unsupported Windows 10 can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Windows Insider Program

Are you testing Windows 11 or 10 preview builds? Here is what Microsoft released this week:

• Dev Channel: 23550 with Voice Access in OOBE, WSL updates, and various fixes in File Explorer, Start menu, Search, Task Manager, and more.
• Release Preview: KB5030310 for Windows 11 with the Moment 4 update fatures, such as Copilot, taskbar upgrades, new features for Paint, the new volume mixer, Windows Ink improvements, and more. Note that those features are rolling out gradually.
• Release Preview: KB5030300 for Windows 10 with an updated taskbar search box and animated icons on the News & Interests button.

If you are upset about the lack of major new features in the recent Windows 11 preview builds, here is some good news: enthusiasts discovered a hidden change for the Start menu in build 23545. As it turned out, Microsoft is testing folders for the Recommended section to give users access to more files, recently added programs, and other suggested content.

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.

Let us start the updates section with a word or two about Paint, one of the oldest inbox apps in Windows, dating back to the original Windows 1.0 release in 1985. Microsoft updated Paint for Windows Insiders this week with two substantial features: full PNG with transparency support and layers. In addition, sharp-eyed enthusiasts clocked the first traces of the upcoming generative AI support, which aligns with earlier reports of Microsoft adding more AI-powered features to its products.

Microsoft also released a big update for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). The September 2023 update adds a few experimental options that let you shrink a Linux VM and reclaim some memory and storage. In addition, it introduces several network-related improvements and bug fixes.

We have also published a story with updates about various antivirus software for Windows. "Real-World Protection Test" conducted by AV-Comparatives revealed slight regression in Microsoft Defender and McAfee. At the same time, Avast and AVG scored perfect results and blocked 100% of malware samples with only one false positive. Check out this article if you are looking for a solid antivirus and want to see how various options compare, especially in terms of resource hogging.

Speaking of comparisons, check out these two articles detailing performance difference between several generations of Intel and AMD processors when running Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Finally, there is a new guide detailing how to update from tiny10 to tiny11. For those unfamiliar with the matter, tiny10 and tiny11 are lightweight Windows 10 and 11 images, free from bloat and unnecessary legacy components.

Other notable updates include the following:

• Microsoft released Dev Home 0.5 with a new extensions page, accessibility fixes, bug fixes, and other minor changes across the app.
• Microsoft Edge 118 arrived in the Beta Channel, bringing Edge Insiders the new smart find feature, updated policies
• The new Outlook app for Windows is now generally available for personal use. Microsoft says the app will come pre-installed on computers running Windows 11 version 23H2 (coming later this year) by default.
• Python Editor is now available in Excel, helping users add longer and more complex code into their spreadsheets.
• Microsoft will shut down Exchange Web Services in October 2026. The company published a blog post, detailing its plans to switch customers from Exchange Web Services (EWS) to Microsoft Graph.
• Surface Studio 2 received the September 2023 firmware update with security fixes and performance improvements.
• On the somewhat weird side, Microsoft announced new AI-based features for its SwiftKey keyboard for Androd and iOS. It now lets you use AI-powered camera lenses and generate stickers.

New drivers released this week:

• Intel Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers with connectivity dropout fixes and improvements for Bluetooth mice.
• Intel Arc 31.0.101.4826 Beta with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Lies of P, Party Animals, and Payday 3 support. It also boosts performance in Hitman Absolution and Bioshock Infinite.
• AMD Radeon Software 23.9.2 with Lies of P and The Crew Motorfest support.
• NVIDIA GeForce 537.42 WHQL with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty support and multiple bug fixes.

On the gaming side

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

The FTV vs. Microsoft case has dropped one of the biggest Xbox leaks, revealing the upcoming Xbox Series X|S refresh and the next-generation Xbox Wireless Controller. According to leaked documents (allegedly by someone at Microsoft), Microsoft plans to releas a cylindrical Xbox Series X refresh in November 2024. The new version will feature a 2TB SSD, no optical drive, a front-facing USB-C port, Wi-Fi 6E/Bluetooth 5.2 support, a smaller PSU, and a more efficient APU with a 6nm die. The best part is that the price should remain the same—$499.

The controller will also get a major refresh. The next generation will introduce Xbox Wireless 2, Bluetooth 5.2, better haptics, accelerometer, quieter buttons and sticks, a rechargeable and swappable battery, improved repairability, a lift-to-wake feature, and a new colour combination.

Besides spoiling the Xbox refresh one year early, the court documents confirmed that The Elder Scroll 6 is not coming to PlayStation 5. The upcoming game from Bethesda will be available only on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

You are not wrong if you think Microsoft got slightly upset about one of the biggest leaks in recent history. However, Phil Spencer decided to do some damage control and responded to those leaks, claiming that the company would share the real plans when ready.

Let us move from leaks and hardware to games and upcoming releases. Forza Motorsport, Microsoft's next-generation sim racer, is coming October 10, and you can already preload it from the Microsoft Store on PC and Xbox. And you better hurry up if you have a slow connection—the game will take up to 132GB on your drive, so plenty of bits do download.

While you wait for the game to arrive, check out Turn 10's plans for servicing the game with post-launch updates.

Sea of Thieves, Microsoft's another long-living IP, will soon get its tenth season with plenty of changes and new features. It is coming October 19, and gamers can expect a new way to play the game, form in-game guilds, participate in competitive hunts, and play with friends on private servers without dealing with random strangers.

In November 2023, Age of Empires IV will get a big expansion with a new campaign, civilisations, maps, and more. You can check out the Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend teaser trailer and details about the DLC here.

Xbox and PC Game Pass got several new games this week. The latest additions include Party Animals, Gotham Knights, Payday 3, Cocoon, and The Lamplighters League. In addition, Microsoft will soon remove several titles, so you better finish them before they vanish from the subscription on September 30, 2023.

Free stuff and discounts

Out of Line and The Forest Quartet are available for free in the Epic Games Store. You can also save on VR bundles, Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, It Takes Two, Superliminal, Hi-Fi RUSH, and other popular PC titles mentioned in our weekly Weekend PC Game Deals article.

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.

This week's look back article is about a weird Windows-Linux-Android device mixing three operating systems into a single dual-form factor device from Lenovo. In January 2010, Lenovo unveiled the IdeaPad U1, pitching the idea of a laptop-tablet computer with every operating system possible. Do you think the concept was strange? You are not the only one. Lenovo delayed the U1 by a year to "meet company standards" and redesign the entire thing. However, despite showing a newer version at CES 2011, the quirky triple-OS IdeaPad U1 never saw the light of the day.

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 MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), an operating system developed by Microsoft for IBM PC, originated from 86-DOS created by Tim Paterson in only six weeks? Microsoft purchased 86-DOS for $75,000, renamed it to MS-DOS, and licensed it to IBM PC while retaining the rights to give the operating system to other companies. This decision played a crucial role in making MS-DOS a dominant operating system in the personal computer industry, and it set the stage for Microsoft's widespread influence in the tech world.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook holds up a new iPhone 15 Pro during an Apple event on Sept. 12, 2023, in Cupertino, Calif.

For years, Apple has built its iPhone technology to be lighter, faster and — importantly to the nation’s most valuable company — designed in-house. But according to a Wednesday article in the Wall Street Journal, the firm just saw a massive engineering project come up utterly short.

Cupertino-based Apple has spent billions of dollars and hired thousands of engineers to build its own wireless carrier connection chip, or modem chip, for its flagship iPhone products, the Journal reported. Citing “former company engineers and executives familiar with the project,” most of whom were anonymous, the report says that the firm had planned to include the chip in this month’s iPhone 15 rollout but that tests late last year found the chip was far too slow and far too big.

So, the hardware and software giant will continue to rely on Qualcomm, a San Diego-based chipmaker that dominates the modem chip market and serves as one of Apple’s most important suppliers. Qualcomm announced Sept. 11 that it would keep supplying Apple with its modem systems through 2026; the deal brings Qualcomm billions of dollars a year, CNBC reported.

But while lucrative, the relationship has not fostered much goodwill between the firms, according to the Journal, which called their feud “one of the ugliest corporate battles in history” in a 2019 piece. For years, Apple has taken issue with

Qualcomm charging twice for each phone produced: once to license its patents and again to use the physical chip. The firms have bickered over patents in open court and traded barbs in the press.

Apple wanted to quit its reliance on Qualcomm, the Journal reported, so after a command from CEO Tim Cook in 2018, the phonemaker poured money into designing an in-house modem chip. An Apple-designed modem chip would boost profits on the iPhone, the firm’s most popular device, by eliminating the company's need to buy the part from an external supplier.

In Wednesday’s headline, the Journal called Apple’s effort to build the modem chip a “spectacular failure.”

The Journal reported that the chip project has been riddled with unrealistic goals, blown deadlines, mixed priorities and inexperienced leadership. Executives reportedly didn’t originally realize how difficult it was to make modem chips, which must work with various cellular providers at varying degrees of connection strength to reliably provide data and call services, per the outlet.

“Cellular is a monster,” former Qualcomm executive Serge Willenegger told the Journal, adding that Apple’s delays suggest the firm didn’t expect building a modem to be so complex.

A former Apple wireless director, Jaydeep Ranade, told the outlet plainly, “Just because Apple builds the best silicon on the planet, it’s ridiculous to think that they could also build a modem.” Both men left their firms in 2018, which is when, according to Journal source and former Apple human resources executive Chris Deaver, the company began work on the modem chip.

Billions of dollars went into the project, according to the Journal, including to buy up Intel’s 2,200-worker modem business and hire ex-Qualcomm employees. But prototype tests late last year went badly, the newspaper reported: Apple’s chips were about three years behind Qualcomm’s best — too slow, too big and “prone to overheating.”

The outlet reported that Apple, which has massive stores of cash and a major incentive to build the new chip, will keep working on the project.

Apple did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.

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Mozilla explains that it made sense to use the term Firefox accounts in the beginning, as the main focus lay on the Firefox web browser and its functionality. The organization created or acquired several services and products since then, including Pocket, Fakespot, Firefox Monitor or Mozilla VPN.

Not all of these products fly under the Firefox brand. The new name, Mozilla accounts, reflects the wide range of products and services better. Its intention is to "create a more consistent brand experience across all Mozilla surfaces, driving higher awareness of the portfolio of Mozilla products", according to Mozilla.

Firefox account users do not have to do anything. The transition to Mozilla accounts is automated and affects the name and branding only. Users continue to sign-in with their email address and password like before, and all account data and subscriptions are retained in the process and thereafter.

Mozilla explains further that users who signed-in using Google or Apple credentials may continue to do so after the change has been made.

Firefox users will still interact with the URL accounts.firefox.com, as it "ensures a smooth and familiar customer experience". Emails will also continue to come from accounts@firefox.com and not from another address. This too "ensures consistency" and helps "identify official correspondence".

In short: Firefox accounts will undergo a branding change to Mozilla accounts. The change affects the brand and its visibility only, and not user credentials, interactions with sites or email addresses, or user data.

Mozilla plans to launch the rebranding on November 1, 2023.

Closing Words

The renaming of Firefox accounts to Mozilla accounts is just a branding change. Nothing changes for users, as all endpoints and points of communication remain exactly as they were before.

Now You: do you use a Firefox account? (via Sören Hentzschel)

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Note: This update is not available for Surface Studio 2+ owners. This computer has different hardware and receives different firmware updates. Microsoft released the last Surface Studio 2+ firmware update in July 2023.

What is new in the Surface Studio 2 September 2023 firmware update?

• This update addresses security vulnerability and improves system stability and performance.

Here is the list of new drivers included in the update:

Here is extra information about the release:

Microsoft plans to support the second-generation Surface Studio for one more year. According to the official documentation, the Surface Studio 2 will reach its end of life on October 2, 2024.

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The first major addition for Patch 3 is full support for the MacOS. Mac PCs were able to play the early access version of the game nearly three years ago, and now those gamers can play the full and final version. Be aware that, as with the PC version, any saves you may have made in the Mac version on early access cannot be carried over to the full Mac version.

The other new feature is Magic Mirror, which will allow players to change their in-game appearance, with a few limitations:

The Magic Mirror allows you to change up your appearance whenever you’d like, however many times you’d like. There are some restrictions: your appearance, voice, pronouns and nether regions can be changed, but your race/subrace and body type cannot. Origin characters, hirelings and full illithids cannot use the Magic Mirror. Cosmetic modifications that are a consequence of your gameplay choices will persist – hag got your eye? Swallow any interesting tadpoles lately? There’s no Magic Mirroring those big life decisions away.

We will also remind you that these patch notes do sometimes have spoilers for the game's storyline so if you want to be surprised, don't read them all. Larian still plans to keep releasing updates to Baldur's Gate 3, including "additional features and epilogue scenes."

Larian plans to release the game on Microsoft's Xbox Series X and S consoles before the end of 2023. Xbox Series S owners will have to do without the game's split-screen coop feature, but it could be added in after the Xbox launch.

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Today, Unity officially announced it has backtracked on most of those pricing changes. The blog post also included an apology about how Unity announced its previous plans:

We should have spoken with more of you and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine.

One big change is that the Unity Personal plan will remain completely free with no runtime fees at all. The plan will also increase the revenue cap from $100,000 to $200,000, and games made with that plan will no longer have to show the "Made with Unity" splash screen. In addition, no Unity Engine game developer that makes less than $1 million "in trailing 12-month revenue" will have to pay runtime fees.

For game developers who sign up for the Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise plans, the runtime fee will not apply to the current Unity games they are working on. The fee will only be applied if a game is developed, or is upgraded to, the "next LTS version of Unity shipping in 2024 and beyond."

Unity added:

For games that are subject to the runtime fee, we are giving you a choice of either a 2.5% revenue share or the calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month. Both of these numbers are self-reported from data you already have available. You will always be billed the lesser amount.

While these pricing changes are certainly a lot better than what Unity announced last week, it remains to be seen if current Unity developers, many of whom say they can no longer trust the company, will abandon the engine for a competitor.

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Silicon photonic chips, which make use of silicon as an optical medium and make use of light instead of electricity, is a technology that is mostly used in fibre optic telecommunication systems currently. These chips are reported to be far faster, more efficient, and reliable than the existing offering of electronic chips in most devices.

The main goal of this development is to place the chips in Vodafone's mobile base stations, which would then provide its network with ultra-low latency, lower power consumption and greater programmability. This would also be future proof as well with support for newer technologies such as generative AI, quantum computing and autonomous vehicles.

Vodafone names two key partners in its post, Salience Labs (based in the UK) and iPronics (based on Valencia, Spain), who are two of the industry leading photonics companies who join Vodafone's existing partners working on the advancement of chip architecture within the business.

Silicon photonics allows for greater support of increasing power requirements of these more advanced computing technologies, with AI computation alone reportedly doubling every three and a half months, and is outpacing existing semiconductor technologies according to Salience Labs.

Finally, Vodafone goes on to state that this new technology will enable it to further scale up its 5G rollout, thanks to the step-change in processing power that it would provide at the mobile base station.

Salience Labs will be working primarily on building the silicon photonic solutions, while iPronics will be working on radio frequency beamforming, which is "the ability to bend and direct a signal to its intended recipient such as a smartphone user."

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While some of Intel's actions, like hidden rebates, were dropped on appeal due to lack of evidence of harm, the Commission upheld that Intel paid PC manufacturers to delay or limit products using AMD processors.

Specifically, the Commission cited examples where Intel paid HP not to sell AMD-powered business PCs to small and medium businesses through direct channels from 2002-2005. It also paid Acer to delay the launch of an AMD-based notebook from late 2003 to early 2004. Intel also paid Lenovo to push back the launch of AMD notebooks by six months.

According to the General Court, by placing these conditions on payments, Intel was able to limit the competitive threat posed by AMD desktops in key market segments.

The Commission said the new €376 million fine reflects that Intel hindered the development and expansion of its main competitors in the x86 CPU market during nearly 5 years.

As a result of those restrictions, computer manufacturers halted, delayed or placed restrictions on the commercialisation of products based on a competitor's chipsets, which they had actively planned and for which there was consumer demand.

Intel's naked restrictions therefore had a detrimental effect on competition in the market, by depriving customers of a choice which they would have otherwise had.

However, the fight is not over as the Commission has appealed the dismissal of the rebates part of the case. And Intel could still face more fines if the appeal court rules the rebates also violated competition laws. The €376 million fine is now set in stone as Intel did not appeal that ruling.

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Quantum computing is currently at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation, with rapid developments stretching the limits of what’s possible. Moreover, the frontiers of quantum computing extend beyond computation. Quantum communication, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing are flourishing fields that offer novel methods for securing information and advancing our understanding of the physical world. Additionally, as quantum hardware becomes more accessible, a vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurs and research institutions is contributing to the rapid evolution of this field.

Some of the main practical applications of quantum computing, according to a study conducted by Yole, are shown in Figure 1. Regarding specific applications, pharmaceutical (drug discovery) garners the most interest in quantum computing at present. Quantum computing, however, won’t be extensively utilized in the medical and pharmaceutical fields for several decades.

Figure 1: Main application areas in which quantum computing can play a key role (Source: Yole)

Following the adoption of quantum computing in the pharmaceutical industry, other applications like energy, chemistry, transportation, banks and finance may implement quantum computing in a decade or more.

The fundamental tenets of quantum theory that bear direct relevance to quantum computing encompass superposition, entanglement and interference. Superposition denotes the capacity of a particle to exist in multiple states concurrently; entanglement refers to the correlation between particles, even when they are spatially distant; and interference denotes the phenomenon wherein particles can either amplify or cancel each other out.

Current technology in quantum computing

The field of quantum computing has progressed beyond the realm of theoretical conjecture. In recent years, notable advancements have been achieved, propelling us toward the realization of viable quantum computing systems.

The major achievements in quantum hardware have led to:

• Superconducting qubits: Utilizing superconducting qubits is one of the primary technologies in quantum computing. These qubits, typically composed of niobium, are chilled to temperatures close to absolute zero to exploit their quantum properties. IBM, Google and Rigetti have developed qubit-based superconducting quantum processors.

• Trapped Ion qubits: Trapped ion qubits are another promising approach. Electromagnetic fields and lasers are used to manipulate ions in this process. This technology has been advanced by companies including IonQ and Honeywell, demonstrating high-fidelity operations and the potential for error correction.

• Topological qubits: Microsoft is currently leading the way in researching topological qubits. The functionality of these qubits is contingent upon the utilization of non-abelian anyons, which are peculiar states of matter. These anyons store and manipulate quantum information, endowing the qubits with an inherent resistance to specific categories of mistakes.

With the continuous advancement of hardware, there’d a corresponding development in quantum software and algorithms. Encompassing a broad spectrum of fields, these applications include:

• Shor’s Algorithm: The ability to factor huge numbers at an exponential rate compared to classical techniques has substantial consequences for the potential compromise of present encryption technologies.

• Grover’s Algorithm: The acceleration of database search and optimization issues is quadratic compared to traditional methodologies.

• Quantum Simulations: The utilization of quantum simulations in drug development and materials science has the potential to bring about significant advancements in both fields.

When considering software and hardware system stacks, it’s evident that quantum computers necessitate a fundamentally diverse software framework compared to classical computers. Presently, two separate methods are being observed in this regard:

• Several prominent corporations are currently developing quantum computers, with the creation of proprietary programming languages.

• Many emerging firms are presenting quantum technology-agnostic software solutions that have the potential to be utilized across several quantum platforms, including industry leaders like Google and IBM.

Challenges of quantum computing

Nevertheless, quantum computing isn’t devoid of its inherent issues. Quantum systems exhibit a high degree of fragility and vulnerability to external factors likenoise and errors, hence demanding the implementation of advanced error correction algorithms and hardware enhancements. The persistent challenge lies in the creation of practical quantum algorithms that can effectively address real-world challenges.

According to Alain Aspect, a French physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 for his pioneering work in the field of quantum mechanics, quantum computing currently faces two major obstacles:

• The first is decoherence, which is primarily associated with atom shielding and chilling.

• The other difficulty is the possibility of arbitrarily connecting any site to any other site.

However, he believes that there’s no fundamental impossibility in solving these problems; it’s simply a matter of engineering and excellent ideas. For a quantum computer to be both affordable and commercially available, three additional obstacles must be overcome:

• Utilizing surface code error correction to detect and repair the fragile quantum states of individual qubits.

• Development of hardware-independent software, or software that’s independent of the hardware platform on which it operates.

• Developing new electronic hardware to control and read individual qubits, as well as cryogenic hardware.

The creation of a quantum computer presents unprecedented design challenges due to the need to maintain individual qubits as stable and unchangeable as possible. To minimize noise as much as feasible, this frequently necessitates generating temperatures close to absolute zero. Consequently, quantum computing hardware is typically kept in a cryogenic dilution refrigerator.

The difficulty then lies in interfacing the low-temperature quantum device with control electronics that typically operate at ambient temperature. Considering that next-generation quantum processors will be able to integrate more than a thousand qubits, this procedure necessitates extremely intricate wiring.

Figure 2 depicts a quantum computer in detail and emphasizes some of the intricate wiring involved in the design of quantum computers. While a standard coaxial cable could be adequate for addressing and reading a few dozen qubits (at the expense of a non-negligible burden), higher-density interconnections are still required—both from a physical dimension standpoint and to reduce conduction heat in the dilution refrigerator.

Figure 2: A quantum computer with some connections highlighted (Source: Delft Circuits)

Future steps in quantum computing

Significant advancements have been achieved in quantum computing, yet numerous obstacles that require further attention and resolution persist. The following are many significant domains in which future advancements are anticipated:

• Error correction: Environmental variables and decoherence can lead to errors in quantum computers. The implementation of error-correcting codes plays a critical role in the development of dependable and scalable quantum machines.

• Quantum advantage: Also known as quantum supremacy, this term denotes the juncture wherein a quantum computer surpasses the computational capabilities of the most advanced classical computers. To achieve this objective, it will be imperative to persistently explore and expand the limits of quantum hardware and algorithms.

• AI: The utilization of quantum computing to augment machine learning and AI algorithms exhibits significant promise, as it facilitates the more efficient resolution of intricate problems.

• Cryptography: The field of quantum communication and cryptography holds the potential to provide unparalleled security by leveraging the fundamental principles of quantum entanglement. The establishment of a quantum internet and the development of secure quantum communication channels will have a profound impact on the area.

Security is also a major concern, as the advent of quantum processors capable of executing Shor’s algorithm would render insecure all asymmetric cryptographic algorithms, including RSA, ECC, and those based on integer-factoring mathematical problems, discrete logarithms, and discrete logarithms on elliptical curves.

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Starfield has only been available for a few short weeks, but Bethesda's talented community is already hard at work pumping out plenty of awesome mods for the PC version of the title. Everything from improvements to the game's graphics and user interface to sizable gameplay tweaks and balance changes are available, and there are even a few mods that bring an unofficial implementation of NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling technology to the expansive sci-fi RPG.

We've been keeping a close eye on all the latest and greatest mod releases over on the Starfield Nexus Mods archive, and to help you find the best of what the community's cooked up so far, we've compiled a list of all the top mods in this article. Below, you'll find sections for utility mods that some other mods depend on, graphics and UI mods, mods that adjust and rebalance gameplay, and DLSS-related mods. We've also included a quick guide on how to install Starfield mods as well.

Note that while they're not available on Microsoft's console yet, it's been confirmed that Starfield mods are coming to Xbox in the future. Once this happens, we suspect many of the mods we've listed below will get ports for the Xbox version of the game.

How to install Starfield mods

Many — but not all — Starfield mods can be installed using Nexus Mods' Vortex mod manager software.

(Image credit: Windows Central)

To install Starfield mods, you'll first need to create an .ini file with specific code in it that allows the game to read and load mod files. Thankfully, this process is both easy and quick, and once you've done it, you'll never need to do it again (as long as you keep Starfield installed, anyway). Here's what to do:

1. Open the File Explorer.

2. Go to Documents\My Games\Starfield

3. In this folder, create a new Text Document and open it.

4. Next, add the following lines of code:

[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=

5. Afterwards, save and close the document. 

6. Finally, rename the file "StarfieldCustom.ini" (no quotes). Don't worry about the warning Windows gives you about changing the file extension, and make sure you toggle the ability to see and change extensions by going to View > Show in File Explorer if necessary.

With this done, your Starfield installation is ready for mods! In most cases, installing mods is as simple as using 7-Zip to unpack their compressed files, then dragging those files into the Documents\My Games\Starfield\Data folder or the SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Starfield game directory. You should always read each mod's description to see which of these two locations is correct, or if the author has written different instructions.

It's worth noting that Nexus Mods' in-house Vortex mod manager software can also be used to install many, but not all, mods (again, read mod descriptions). With it, you can drag and drop compressed mod downloads into the software, and once you select "Install," Vortex will take care of the rest.

Best Starfield utility mods

(Image credit: Windows Central)

These mods don't affect how Starfield looks, sounds, or feels to play — at least not directly. Instead, they add extra functionalities to the game that other mods depend on, or that players may want to have. They might also make it easier to make changes to the game that are required for other mods.

BethINI PIE (Performance INI Editor)
If any mods require you to make some tweaks to Starfield's .ini configuration files, this tool allows you to do so very easily with a simple GUI.

Starfield Script Extender (SFSE)
Script extenders have served as critical dependencies for the best Skyrim mods and the best Fallout 4 mods for years now, and there's already one for Starfield, too. This is a must-have, especially since many mods won't work without it.

Baka Achievement Enabler
While using them is an absolute blast, punching in Starfield cheats and console commands does disable achievements. By installing this mod, however, you'll stop this from happening. Useful for dishonest achievement hunters (don't worry, we won't tell).

In-Game FOV Changer
Annoyingly, the vanilla version of Starfield doesn't have a field of view slider. Thankfully, you can use this mod to add some batch files to the game's installation folder that tweak the FOV when run via in-game console commands.

Photo Mode Tweaks
Starfield's Photo Mode is fantastic, but this nifty mod makes it even better by significantly extending the range of the camera and how far you can zoom in or out. It also allows you to raise the camera higher, increases the max strength of the Vignette effect, and prevents characters (including yours) from popping out of view when you zoom out extremely far.

Best Starfield graphics and UI mods

Neutral LUTs removes Starfield's colour filters, giving the game a more natural-looking visual style.

(Image credit: fadingsignal on Nexus Mods)

Want to make Starfield look better or different? Want to tweak the style of the game's user interface or elevate its functionality? These mods will be right up your alley.

Neutral LUTs - No colour Filters
While Starfield's vanilla colour grading is gorgeous, it's not exactly natural. This mod removes the game's colour filters, resulting in neutral, more realistic visuals that some may prefer. The author has also included instructions on how to tweak the mod so that space appears significantly darker.

EXE - Effect Textures Enhanced
The EVE Team behind the Effect Visuals Enhanced/Effect Textures Enhanced mods for the Fallout games are back at it again with an overhaul to all of Starfield's special effects. This includes brand new visuals for muzzle flashes, explosions, sparks, flames, bullet wounds, blood spatters, and more.

The Eyes of Beauty
The famous Skyrim and Fallout 4 mod has come to Starfield, and it's as fantastic as ever. It adds several gorgeous hand-drawn eye textures to the game that you can pick from when making your character. Rather than simply porting over the versions of the mod that were made for other Bethesda games, the author has created an entirely new variant for Starfield.

Realistic Water
Starfield's water looks pretty great already, but why not make it even better? Developed by the creators of the fan-favorite Realistic Water Two mod for Skyrim, this overhaul adds new water foam and wave textures and upscales what wasn't replaced from vanilla.

Real Flashlight
The vanilla flashlight in Starfield is rather weak and has some unappealing visual artifacts, so we recommend getting this mod to brighten it up and make its appearance cleaner.

Dark Mode for Terminals
Not a fan of how bright Starfield's computer terminals are? Use this to turn on dark mode and spare your eyes the discomfort.

StarUI Inventory
Starfield's inventory interface is rather simplistic and has a lot of large elements in it. This mod aims to make it more informative by adding sortable columns and item icons, while also making the UI more compact overall.

Compact Mission UI
Simple but elegant, this mod reduces the size of quest steps in the missions menu so that you can see more of them at once. On the whole, you'll be able to see about 50% more with it installed.

Enhanced Dialogue Interface
Tweak Starfield's dialogue interface with different text alignments, placements, font types, colours, sizes, and more. Text shadows and backgrounds are customizable for better readability, too!

Enhanced Subtitles
This is essentially the same as Enhanced Dialogue Interface, but for subtitles. We highly recommend using them together.

Scanner Encumbrance Display With Time
Adds an indicator of how much you're carrying to the interface that pops up when you're using your scanner. Intended as a way to keep track of your encumbrance while mining, it also doubles as a quick method for checking carry weight limit without opening your inventory.

Move or Disable XP Bar
In vanilla, the XP bar that appears whenever you gain experience is center-aligned and appears right over your crosshair. This is pretty annoying when it happens in combat, but you can use this mod to either move it to the left or right or simply remove it entirely.

DualSense - PS5 Icons
Playing Starfield with a DualSense controller? Use this mod to replace Xbox buttons on the UI with PlayStation ones.

Cleanfield
Removes the various intro videos that play when you launch Starfield. There's an option to get rid of the Message of the Day on the main menu, as well.

120FPS Smooth UI (Smooth Ship Reticle)
Originally a simple mod that only changed Starfield's ship reticle, it's been turned into a full overhaul that brings every UI element in the game up to 120 FPS (the vanilla ones only display at 30 FPS).

Best Starfield gameplay mods

Project Reality is a comprehensive overhaul that aims to offer players a hardcore survival type of experience.

(Image credit: ADAIVI on Nexus Mods)

With these mods, you can make Stafield's gameplay much easier or harder, and can also add new or expand upon existing mechanics. You can also balance out some wonky vanilla systems or fix certain things that many players find frustrating.

Starfield - Project Reality
If you're looking for an all-in-one mod that gives Starfield more of a hardcore survival feel, this is it. It rebalances the game's general time-to-kill so that both you and enemies are more lethal, while also improving the logic of the stealth system, making enemies smarter, and making it more difficult to acquire lots of money and loot.

Improved Combat AI
If Starfield's enemies aren't offering you much of a challenge, you can install this to make them more active, aggressive, and intelligent in combat.

Less Spongy Enemies
Hostile NPCs are arguably a bit too tanky in the vanilla game, but you can use this mod to reduce their health.

Stealth Overhaul
Starfield's stealth mechanics can be pretty weird, as enemies are often somehow able to detect you even through walls or when you're being completely silent and are out of their field of view. Using this mod rebalances stealth so that it's still difficult, but feels more consistent and viable.

Craftable Ammo and Utilities
It's not possible to create your own ammo and utility consumables in the vanilla game, but you can with this mod. New craftable items include Digipicks, Medpacks, and a wide variety of ammunition types.

Ship Builder Tolerance Tweaks
This simple mod gives you more leeway with module overlapping in the ship builder, allowing you to create tighter, more compact vessels.

New Atlantis - Billboard Map
Starfield's lack of city maps is irritating, and while there are community-made web apps that solve this problem, it'd be nice to have something in-game. That's where this mod, which adds a billboard map to New Atlantis' various zones, comes in. Hopefully mods like this for the rest of the game's major hubs release in the near future.

Ship Skip - Instant Station Docking and More
Starfield's docking, takeoff, and landing cutscenes are cool, but you might get sick of them after seeing them for the umpteenth time. This mod gives them the boot.

Responsive Grabbing
Starfield imposes a one-second long delay whenever you try to pick something up and move it around, which this mod cuts down to 300 milliseconds.

Undelayed Menus
Starfield's menu transitions look nice, but some players feel that they make the UI feel sluggish. This allows you to get rid of them.

Simply Faster Ladders
Bethesda has finally put ladders in one of its games, but going up and down them takes forever. Not anymore, though!

Richer Merchants
This simple mod gives vendors more money in their inventory so that you can sell more of your loot to them at once.

Easy Digipick (Lockpick)
Starfield's lockpicking digipick puzzles can be tricky, but with this mod they become extremely simple. Useful for players that just can't be bothered.

Easy Pickpocketing
Use this to significantly improve the chances of (or guarantee) a successful pickpocketing attempt.

Easy Speech
Instantly become the most charismatic smooth-talker in the Settled Systems with this mod that allows you to always pass Persuasion speech checks.

Instant Scan
Use this to make it possible to complete a planet's flora and fauna surveys with just one scan. There's also an option to do it in three instead if you want to pretend like you're not cheating. 

Increased Scan Distance
Your scanner's effective range is pretty short in vanilla, but with this, you can raise it anywhere between 5x and 50x.

Starfield DLSS mods

Starfield comes with an official implementation of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR2) temporal upscaling, but since NVIDIA DLSS 2 generally offers better performance and looks better, most gamers with Team Green GPUs would prefer to use that instead. These mods allow you to do just that.

Starfield Upscaler
PureDark has brought DLSS to past Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout 4, and had it available for Starfield before its Early Access period even ended. Their mod replaces the game's FSR 2 implementation with an unofficial version of DLSS 2 that works excellently.

Starfield Frame Generation
Have one of NVIDIA's 40 series GPUs? If so, you can use this mod that implements DLSS 3, the new version of DLSS that's exclusive to them. Notably, this includes the frame generation technology that creates additional frames between natively rendered ones, providing massive performance boosts.

Where will Starfield modding go from here?

(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

All of these incredible mods have already been developed for Starfield just a few weeks after its launch, so we're incredibly excited to see what the game's passionate community comes up with in the weeks, months, and years to come. Todd Howard himself has confirmed that official mod tools are coming in 2024, but we suspect that players will blow our minds well before that time with how fast things are already moving.

As more and more mods continue to hit the Nexus, we'll keep this article refreshed with all the best ones we come across. Check back regularly for updates, and have fun exploring the stars in your modded playthroughs.

Starfield is finally here, and it's undoubtedly one of the best Xbox games and best PC games for lovers of space exploration, deep RPG gameplay, and the sci-fi genre as a whole. 

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However, it's possible that some people are able to access DALL-E 3 right now, and they may not be aware of it. Microsoft's own generative AI art mater, Bing Image Creator, launched in March, and used DALL-E as part of its application.

After DALL-E 3 was announced on Wednesday, someone on X (formerly Twitter) decided to ask Mikhail Parakhin, one of Bing's executives and the newly announced head of a new Windows and Web Experiences team, when will Bing Image Creator get upgraded to DALL-E 3.

Parakhin replied, a little cryptically, "I think the question you should be asking is: are you lucky %er already or not yet :-)"

That certainly hints that Microsoft is fighting DALL-E 3 access from Bing Image Creator to a small percentage of its users right now. Microsoft offers early access to upcoming Bing Chat features to a small number of its users already, so it stands to reason that kind of testing could extend to Bing Image Creator as well.

OpenAI has stated DALL-E 3 will allow integration of its ChatGPT chatbot to help create images. It's possible that Bing Image Creator could do the same with Bing Chat as well.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to find out more information on Bing Chat Creator and how it will use DALL-E 3. It's possible we could learn more today at Microsoft's press event that begins at 10 a.m. Eastern time in New York City.

Update: 11:10 am Eastern time - Microsoft did indeed confirm at the press event that DALL-E 3 is coming to Bing Image Creator. It also showed off how it will work in a quick video clip

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Microsoft held a Surface 2023 event today and announced three new laptops. The first one is the Surface Laptop Go 3, the latest iteration of its lightweight laptop. The Laptop Go 3 weighs just under 2.5 pounds and features a 12.4-inch touchscreen display.

Some key features of the Surface Laptop Go 3 include an Intel Core processor for faster performance on Microsoft 365 apps. Users can opt for configurations with up to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Microsoft claims an 88% performance boost over the original Surface Laptop Go.

The new laptop features a full-size keyboard for comfortable typing and Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Audio for clear sound. Dual Studio Mics allow for crisp audio in video calls or recordings. Microsoft says its 12.4-inch touchscreen display makes navigating and interacting with apps.

A key point is a battery life of up to 15 hours, allowing it to work all day without recharging. It also supports Fast Charging capability, providing quick top-ups when needed.

For remote access to their desktop environment, the Surface Laptop Go 3 can pair with Windows 365 Cloud PC. This allows users to securely stream their own Windows experience, including personalized apps and settings, from the Microsoft Cloud.

"Surface Laptop Go 3 is designed for teams to make an impact and deliver results while on the go or in the office, " wrote Microsoft in the blog post. "Tested for durability and reliability, Surface Laptop Go 3 comes in a sleek, premium design with a durable, cool metal finish engineered to withstand daily use."

Pricing for the Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $799. It will be interesting to see if the claimed battery life and performance gains hold up in real-world usage.

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