Customers can use the portal to locate physical service centers, book priority service repairs, check warranty status, schedule pick & drop service, and track the status of device repairs. The portal has a dedicated section where users can find model-specific spare part prices and repair costs. For instance, it can tell you how much a motherboard or display for a Galaxy S23+ will cost along with the labour charges.

Apart from that, users can fix various common issues on their own using the self-help content and DIY videos that are available on the portal. Customers can also request remote assistance and visual support through the digital service center if they are not able to fix the problem.

"The Digital Service Center is a step towards simplifying post-purchase services and providing personalized support to our consumers. We understand that to fully empower consumers, they need to be offered easy access to a digitalized ecosystem," said Sunil Cutinha, VP of Customer Service, Samsung India.

The new portal builds on top of an existing service called Smart Touch Call that the company rolled out in 2021. It was meant to replace traditional IVR service calls with a visual interface allowing users to do many things that are also offered by the Digital Service Center.

However, it is different from the Self-Repair program the company offers in several countries which allows users to do hardware repairs on their own. Samsung has partnered with the online repair platform iFixit, where users can find spare parts and repair manuals for their devices.

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MIT engineers have developed a new optogenetic technology that can manipulate the neurological connections between the brain and gut, potentially offering insights into the links between digestive health and neurological conditions.

The brain and the digestive tract are in constant communication, relaying signals that help to control feeding and other behaviors. This extensive communication network also influences our mental state and has been implicated in many neurological disorders.

MIT engineers have designed a new technology for probing those connections. Using fibers embedded with a variety of sensors, as well as light sources for optogenetic stimulation, the researchers have shown that they can control neural circuits connecting the gut and the brain, in mice.

In a new study, the researchers demonstrated that they could induce feelings of fullness or reward-seeking behavior in mice by manipulating cells of the intestine. In future work, they hope to explore some of the correlations that have been observed between digestive health and neurological conditions such as autism and Parkinson’s disease.

These flexible fibers, which are embedded with sensors and light sources, can be used to manipulate and monitor the connections between the brain and the digestive tract. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

 

“The exciting thing here is that we now have technology that can drive gut function and behaviors such as feeding. More importantly, we have the ability to start accessing the crosstalk between the gut and the brain with the millisecond precision of optogenetics, and we can do it in behaving animals,” says Polina Anikeeva, the Matoula S. Salapatas Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center, associate director of MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics, and a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

Anikeeva is the senior author of the new study, which was published on June 22 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. The paper’s lead authors are MIT graduate student Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Duke University postdoc Laura Rupprecht, MIT postdoc Sirma Orguc, and former MIT postdoc Tural Khudiyev.

The brain-body connection

Last year, the McGovern Institute launched the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center to study the interplay between the brain and other organs of the body. Research at the center focuses on illuminating how these interactions help to shape behavior and overall health, with a goal of developing future therapies for a variety of diseases.

“There’s continuous, bidirectional crosstalk between the body and the brain,” Anikeeva says. “For a long time, we thought the brain is a tyrant that sends output into the organs and controls everything. But now we know there’s a lot of feedback back into the brain, and this feedback potentially controls some of the functions that we have previously attributed exclusively to the central neural control.”

Duke University postdoc Laura Rupprecht, MIT graduate student Atharva Sahasrabudhe, and MIT postdoc Sirma Orguc in the lab. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

 

As part of the center’s work, Anikeeva set out to probe the signals that pass between the brain and the nervous system of the gut, also called the enteric nervous system. Sensory cells in the gut influence hunger and satiety via both the neuronal communication and hormone release.

Untangling those hormonal and neural effects has been difficult because there hasn’t been a good way to rapidly measure the neuronal signals, which occur within milliseconds.

“To be able to perform gut optogenetics and then measure the effects on brain function and behavior, which requires millisecond precision, we needed a device that didn’t exist. So, we decided to make it,” says Sahasrabudhe, who led the development of the gut and brain probes.

The electronic interface that the researchers designed consists of flexible fibers that can carry out a variety of functions and can be inserted into the organs of interest. To create the fibers, Sahasrabudhe used a technique called thermal drawing, which allowed him to create polymer filaments, about as thin as a human hair, that can be embedded with electrodes and temperature sensors.

The filaments also carry microscale light-emitting devices that can be used to optogenetically stimulate cells, and microfluidic channels that can be used to deliver drugs.

The mechanical properties of the fibers can be tailored for use in different parts of the body. For the brain, the researchers created stiffer fibers that could be threaded deep into the brain. For digestive organs such as the intestine, they designed more delicate rubbery fibers that do not damage the lining of the organs but are still sturdy enough to withstand the harsh environment of the digestive tract.

“To study the interaction between the brain and the body, it is necessary to develop technologies that can interface with organs of interest as well as the brain at the same time, while recording physiological signals with high signal-to-noise ratio,”

Sahasrabudhe says. “We also need to be able to selectively stimulate different cell types in both organs in mice so that we can test their behaviors and perform causal analyses of these circuits.”

The fibers are also designed so that they can be controlled wirelessly, using an external control circuit that can be temporarily affixed to the animal during an experiment. This wireless control circuit was developed by Orguc, a Schmidt Science Fellow, and Harrison Allen ’20, MEng ’22, who were co-advised between the Anikeeva lab and the lab of Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Driving behavior

Using this interface, the researchers performed a series of experiments to show that they could influence behavior through manipulation of the gut as well as the brain.

First, they used the fibers to deliver optogenetic stimulation to a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which releases dopamine. They placed mice in a cage with three chambers, and when the mice entered one particular chamber, the researchers activated the dopamine neurons. The resulting dopamine burst made the mice more likely to return to that chamber in search of the dopamine reward.

Then, the researchers tried to see if they could also induce that reward-seeking behavior by influencing the gut. To do that, they used fibers in the gut to release sucrose, which also activated dopamine release in the brain and prompted the animals to seek out the chamber they were in when sucrose was delivered.

Next, working with colleagues from Duke University, the researchers found they could induce the same reward-seeking behavior by skipping the sucrose and optogenetically stimulating nerve endings in the gut that provide input to the vagus nerve, which controls digestion and other bodily functions.

“Again, we got this place preference behavior that people have previously seen with stimulation in the brain, but now we are not touching the brain. We are just stimulating the gut, and we are observing control of central function from the periphery,” Anikeeva says.

Sahasrabudhe worked closely with Rupprecht, a postdoc in Professor Diego Bohorquez’ group at Duke, to test the fibers’ ability to control feeding behaviors. They found that the devices could optogenetically stimulate cells that produce cholecystokinin, a hormone that promotes satiety. When this hormone release was activated, the animals’ appetites were suppressed, even though they had been fasting for several hours. The researchers also demonstrated a similar effect when they stimulated cells that produce a peptide called PYY, which normally curbs appetite after very rich foods are consumed.

The researchers now plan to use this interface to study neurological conditions that are believed to have a gut-brain connection. For instance, studies have shown that autistic children are far more likely than their peers to be diagnosed with GI dysfunction, while anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome share genetic risks.

“We can now begin asking, are those coincidences, or is there a connection between the gut and the brain? And maybe there is an opportunity for us to tap into those gut-brain circuits to begin managing some of those conditions by manipulating the peripheral circuits in a way that does not directly ‘touch’ the brain and is less invasive,” Anikeeva says.

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Worryingly, China is responsible for 94% of the world’s gallium production so these control could eventually see rising prices for tech gadgets, electric vehicles, and more. Both metals are byproducts from processing coal and bauxite among other things so rising prices could see production ramp up elsewhere but it would still mean we see a period of higher prices.

Under the new rules, which come into force on August 1, exporters will have to apply for licenses for the two metals. They will also need to report the details of the overseas buyers and what the buyer plans to do with the metals.

China’s decision to put up export controls comes just days after the Dutch government decided to impose its own controls on the export of advanced machinery needed for making some chips. China called on the Dutch government to safeguard international trade and remove the barrier, according to Tom’s Hardware.

The Dutch restrictions come at the request of the US. The small Western European nation already limited access to EUV machines but the latest control stymie the export of DUV machines too. The export controls from the Netherlands are not due to go into effect until September 1, one month after China’s controls come into force.

Consumers shouldn’t immediately see high prices on electronics as it will take a while for increased prices to feed through, but unless this decision is reversed, higher prices will eventually be passed on.

Aside from restricting access to advanced machinery from China, Western nations are also increasing their capacity to produce semiconductors. This week, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, is in Japan trying to boost cooperation between the EU and the East Asian country.

Source: Ministry of Commerce PRC (translated) via Bloomberg

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A paper from researchers at Google published online claims that the company’s latest technology is “beyond the capabilities of existing classical supercomputers”.

Proponents of quantum computers say the technology, which relies on the peculiar states of quantum physics, can create hugely powerful machines able to battle climate change and create breakthrough drugs.

However, they also threaten to undermine today’s encryption systems, making them a national security priority.

Four years ago, Google claimed to be the first company to achieve “quantum supremacy” – a milestone point at which quantum computers surpass existing machines.

This was challenged at the time by rivals, which argued that Google was exaggerating the difference between its machine and traditional supercomputers.

Google claimed its quantum computer (pictured) cracked quantum supremacy in 2019, solving a problem other computers would need centuries to solve.

The company’s new paper – Phase Transition in Random Circuit Sampling – published on the open access science website ArXiv, demonstrates a more powerful device that aims to end the debate.

While the 2019 machine had 53 qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, the next-generation device has 70.

Adding more qubits improves a quantum computer’s power exponentially, meaning the new machine is 241 million times more powerful than the 2019 machine.

The researchers said it would take Frontier, the world’s leading supercomputer, 6.18 seconds to match a calculation from Google’s 53-qubit computer from 2019. In comparison, it would take 47.2 years to match its latest one.

The researchers also claim that their latest quantum computer is more powerful than demonstrations from a Chinese lab that is seen as a leader in the field.

Google’s paper demonstrates how larger quantum computers can manage “noise” – interference that threatens to disrupt the fragile states in which qubits operate – to continue to make calculations.

The researchers said: “We conclude that our demonstration is firmly in the regime of beyond-classical quantum computation.”

The rival machines were measured on a randomisation task that critics say favour quantum computers and lack any practical value beyond academic study.

Steve Brierley, chief executive of the Cambridge-based quantum company Riverlane, said: “This is a major milestone. The squabbling about whether we had reached, or indeed could reach, quantum supremacy is now resolved.”

Sebastian Weidt, chief executive of the Brighton-based start-up Universal Quantum, said quantum computers needed to demonstrate more practical functions.

He said: “This is a very nice demonstration of quantum advantage. While a great achievement academically, the algorithm used does not really have real world practical applications, though.

“We really must get to utility quantum computing – an era where quantum computers with many thousand qubits actually begin to deliver value to society in a way that classical computers never will be able to.”

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More than two decades ago, ATI, which is now owned by AMD, decided that they needed something faster than traditional DDR RAM, which was also commonly used in graphics cards.

For that, ATI joined hands with various memory chipmakers and made GDDR3 RAM. Based on DDR2, GDDR3 was specially designed with graphics cards in consideration. It was so good that it was officially adapted as a standard for graphics card memory.

Cut to 2016. After many previous updates to the standard, Samsung announced GDDR6. The latest GDDR6 offered a bandwidth of 16 Gbps, which was almost double of what GDDR5 offered.

However, its adaptation came only later, in 2018, when Nvidia started using it in its RTX 20 series graphics cards.

GDDR6 got an upgrade when memory maker Micron made a minor but important update to GDDR6. It named it GDDR6X, which increases the bandwidth to about 21 Gbps or more.

GDDR6X was adapted by Nvidia for its RTX 30 series graphics cards and was used even in the RTX 40 series. This is while AMD keeps using a slower but improved version of GDDR6 in its own graphics cards.

GDDR6 and its upgrade, GDDR6X, are now standard on all modern-day graphics cards. But what about their successor. It looks like we have more information about it.

GDDR7

A year ago, in October, Samsung showcased GDDR7 VRAM for graphics cards. It said that it would, as expected, double the bandwidth found in GDDR6. It would increase the bandwidth to 36Gbps. However, since then, we haven’t heard much about it.

A few days ago, Micron announced (PDF), via Tom’s Hardware, that it intends to introduce GDDR7 to the market next year, in 1H 2024. Quoting them:

We plan to introduce our next-generation G7 product on our industry-leading 1ß node in the first half of calendar year 2024.

The 1B node it talks about, while based on 10nm, is the latest cutting edge technology available in the world of computer memory.

In its announcement, Micron doesn’t say anything about the bandwidth that its version of GDDR7 offers, but we believe it to be relatively similar to what Samsung stated earlier.

As far as the actual graphics cards using them are concerned. As we had reported a few days ago, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards are not going to launch for at least two years.

Which means by the time Nvidia releases the RTX 5000 graphics cards, GDDR7 will be properly available in the market. They could be the first ones to use them. Unless AMD beats them and implements it in their graphics cards first.

The only issue is that let’s hope Nvidia doesn’t cut the bus width of its graphics cards further, saying that faster VRAM doesn’t need a wider bus width. Which would not be completely correct at higher resolutions while gaming.

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Elon Musk's latest decision to limit the number of posts users can read per day has not only caused lots of confusion among its audience, but it's also caused many of the social network's members to try something else.

CNBC reports that Bluesky, which launched in 2022 and has ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on its board of directors, received what it called "record-high traffic" on Saturday after Musk announced Twitter was temporarily going to put a cap on the amount of posts users could read each day.

At first, Musk said the limit would be 6,000 posts per day for verified accounts, 600 posts for unverified accounts, and posts for new unverified accounts were limited to 300 per day. A few hours later, he said the cap would go up to 10,000 posts per day for verified users, 1,000 for unverified users, and 500 for new unverified users.

Musk said he made his move to limit read posts because he felt Twitter needed to "address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation." However, that didn't stop lots of people on Twitter from posting screenshots this weekend and today that indicated they had now also joined Bluesky.

Officially, Bluesky is in beta and is invite-only for now. However, it temporarily stopped signups for that beta this weekend because it had seen "some degraded performance as a result of record-high traffic."

Signups for the beta were back online late on Sunday. So far, Bluesky has not revealed how many people it has added to its beta test over the weekend.

Twitter could also be facing some more competition very soon. The Verge reports that, briefly on Saturday, an Android version of Meta's upcoming Twitter-like service Threads popped up on the Google Play Store before being taken down. That could mean that Meta is close to actually launching Threads.

Source: CNBC

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In the game's latest developer's diary, the team goes deep into a lot of detail on how these features will work in the game. In terms of public transportation, city builders will have options for buses, taxis, trains, trams, subways, and even water and air options. Cargo transportation will include cargo trains, airplanes, and ships.

In addition to stations, public transportation also needs depots to repair vehicles. Colossal Order states:

In Cities: Skylines only buses, taxis, and trams had depots. Trains and subway trains spawned directly from the stations once a line was created. In Cities: Skylines II each land-based public transportation type has a depot or yard where the vehicles are spawned and where their maintenance takes place. Each depot can support a predetermined number of vehicles and this can be extended with suitable building upgrades.

The game will also have a Transportation Info View screen so players can get an overall look at public and cargo traffic in their city:

The passenger transportation data includes the number of lines present in the city as well as the number of tourists transported and the overall number of passengers transported in a month per transport type. The number of cargo lines is listed in the cargo section of the infoview panel. The panel also includes the amount of cargo transported in tonnes, per month and per transport type.

There's a ton more to learn about Cities: Skylines II's public and cargo transportation option in the new dev diary. The game comes out on October 24 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S platforms. You can pre-order the game now on Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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There was a time when government spending to support particular industries was widely deplored as wasteful interference in free markets.

No longer. China, the United States and the European Union have vastly increased government subsidies to industries, frequently supporting the development of advanced technologies. These subsidies are sometimes complemented by policies designed to deny technological innovations to competitor economies.

A report by Global Trade Alert reveals that the three economic superpowers introduced 18,000 industry subsidy programs in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, roughly split evenly.

Now in the order of US$361 billion a year, the industry subsidy programs of the big three are collectively bigger than the GDP of four-fifths of the world’s nations. As the international institutions argued, these huge programs pose a particular problem for smaller economies, which cannot begin to match them.

In contrast to earlier protectionist programs for import-competing domestic industries, today’s subsidies are more likely to support industries focused on a global market — particularly high-technology businesses.

Increasingly, subsidy programs are entangled in national security concerns, often justified by a declared requirement to maintain a lead against rival countries or achieve independence from them in new technologies.

While WTO agreements discipline certain subsidies where a harmful effect on competitors can be demonstrated, the new subsidies are often beyond the reach of international agreements.

The most expensive and spectacular example of the new subsidies is the intense battle between the United States and China over advanced chips. Beijing has long been determined to catch up in chip technology, while Washington strives to stay ahead.

Joe Biden’s CHIPS Act aims to bring more manufacturing to the US. Image: Twitter / Screengrab

Both China and the United States now lavishly support the development and production of advanced chips, though neither produces leading-edge chips on their own territory in commercial quantities.

Under programs announced in October 2022, the United States has adopted twin policies of subsidizing advanced chip production at home, while arranging with security allies to deny China access to advanced chips and advanced chip-making machinery.

Since the United States does not currently make leading-edge chips or the machinery to produce them, it relies on Taiwan to refuse to make advanced chips for Chinese businesses and the Netherlands to refuse to supply them with advanced chip-making equipment.

At the same time, Washington is paying billions of dollars to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and South Korea’s Samsung to establish advanced chip-making foundries in the United States.

China currently produces 16% of the world’s chips, more than the United States. But it cannot yet produce in quantity the advanced chips the United States is seeking to deny it.

While presented as a denial of one of a “narrow set of sensitive technologies” in the May 20, 2023 G7 communique, it is widely understood that the US objective is to block China’s progress in artificial intelligence technologies.

These technologies are already widely used in military applications such as eavesdropping and self-guided drones but, more importantly, hold the possibility of large-scale commercial transformation. As CSIS expert Greg Allen explained in 2022, the US strategy has shifted from slowing the pace of China’s advance to actively seeking to reverse it.

China is not far behind the United States in the number and quality of research publications in artificial intelligence. But Chinese businesses are encountering serious difficulty training large language models of the quality being developed by their US counterparts due to the shortage of advanced chips.

While it is commonly said China is 10 years behind in chip production, there are plausible signs that Chinese businesses can now design advanced chips. Despite having a somewhat smaller economy than the United States, China’s manufacturing value-add is roughly the same size as that of the United States, Germany, Japan and South Korea put together.

The new intensity and lavish scale of industry subsidization among the economic superpowers, coupled with the entanglement of these programs in national security rationales, pose issues for smaller powers.

Australia, for example, cannot begin to match the new levels of industry subsidization. There is also the considerable risk of being drawn into what is essentially a commercial competition on the US side, to the detriment of Australia’s far bigger economic relationship with China.

There are signs of that already in the Australia–United States minerals pact, signed in May 2023. There are thousands of research cooperation agreements between China and Australia, some of which are at risk, especially if the United States extends its chip denials to other frontier technology areas, as foreshadowed by the Biden administration.

China is doubling down on its indigenous chip-making capabilities but it may not work. Image: Twitter

Once dominated by business interests and economic bureaucrats, large areas of industrial policy are now shifting into the realm of national security. The director-general of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, noted in March 2022 that technology is “the center of gravity in this new geopolitical contest.”

The policymaking apparatus in Canberra has been rearranged to bring a national security lens to bear on what were customarily economic policy decisions.

This is evident in departments such as the Treasury, Foreign Investment Review Board and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the enhanced importance of the Office of National Intelligence and the Department of Home Affairs, and the changing focus of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group.

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Artificial intelligence can predict on- and off-target activity of CRISPR tools that target RNA instead of DNA, according to new research published today (July 3) in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The study by researchers at New York University, Columbia Engineering, and the New York Genome Center, combines a deep learning model with CRISPR screens to control the expression of human genes in different ways—such as flicking a light switch to shut them off completely or by using a dimmer knob to partially turn down their activity. These precise gene controls could be used to develop new CRISPR-based therapies.

CRISPR is a gene editing technology with many uses in biomedicine and beyond, from treating sickle cell anemia to engineering tastier mustard greens. It often works by targeting DNA using an enzyme called Cas9. In recent years, scientists discovered another type of CRISPR that instead targets RNA using an enzyme called Cas13.

RNA-targeting CRISPRs can be used in a wide range of applications, including RNA editing, knocking down RNA to block expression of a particular gene, and high-throughput screening to determine promising drug candidates. Researchers at NYU and the New York Genome Center created a platform for RNA-targeting CRISPR screens using Cas13 to better understand RNA regulation and to identify the function of non-coding RNAs. Because RNA is the main genetic material in viruses including SARS-CoV-2 and flu,

RNA-targeting CRISPRs also hold promise for developing new methods to prevent or treat viral infections. Also, in human cells, when a gene is expressed, one of the first steps is the creation of RNA from the DNA in the genome.

A key goal of the study is to maximize the activity of RNA-targeting CRISPRs on the intended target RNA and minimize activity on other RNAs which could have detrimental side effects for the cell. Off-target activity includes both mismatches between the guide and target RNA as well as insertion and deletion mutations. Earlier studies of RNA-targeting CRISPRs focused only on on-target activity and mismatches; predicting off-target activity, particularly insertion and deletion mutations, has not been well-studied. In human populations, about one in five mutations are insertions or deletions, so these are important types of potential off-targets to consider for CRISPR design.

“Similar to DNA-targeting CRISPRs such as Cas9, we anticipate that RNA-targeting CRISPRs such as Cas13 will have an outsized impact in molecular biology and biomedical applications in the coming years,” said Neville Sanjana, associate professor of biology at NYU, associate professor of neuroscience and physiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a core faculty member at New York Genome Center, and the study’s co-senior author. “Accurate guide prediction and off-target identification will be of immense value for this newly developing field and therapeutics.”

In their study in Nature Biotechnology, Sanjana and his colleagues performed a series of pooled RNA-targeting CRISPR screens in human cells. They measured the activity of 200,000 guide RNAs targeting essential genes in human cells, including both “perfect match” guide RNAs and off-target mismatches, insertions, and deletions.

Sanjana’s lab teamed up with the lab of machine learning expert David Knowles to engineer a deep learning model they named TIGER (Targeted Inhibition of Gene Expression via guide RNA design) that was trained on the data from the CRISPR screens.

Comparing the predictions generated by the deep learning model and laboratory tests in human cells, TIGER was able to predict both on-target and off-target activity, outperforming previous models developed for Cas13 on-target guide design and providing the first tool for predicting off-target activity of RNA-targeting CRISPRs.

“Machine learning and deep learning are showing their strength in genomics because they can take advantage of the huge datasets that can now be generated by modern high-throughput experiments. Importantly, we were also able to use “interpretable machine learning” to understand why the model predicts that a specific guide will work well,” said Knowles, assistant professor of computer science and systems biology at Columbia Engineering, a core faculty member at New York Genome Center, and the study’s co-senior author.

“Our earlier research demonstrated how to design Cas13 guides that can knock down a particular RNA. With TIGER, we can now design Cas13 guides that strike a balance between on-target knockdown and avoiding off-target activity,” said Hans-Hermann (Harm) Wessels, the study’s co-first author and a senior scientist at the New York Genome Center, who was previously a postdoctoral fellow in Sanjana’s laboratory.

The researchers also demonstrated that TIGER’s off-target predictions can be used to precisely modulate gene dosage—the amount of a particular gene that is expressed—by enabling partial inhibition of gene expression in cells with mismatch guides. This may be useful for diseases in which there are too many copies of a gene, such as Down syndrome, certain forms of schizophrenia, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (a hereditary nerve disorder), or in cancers where aberrant gene expression can lead to uncontrolled tumor growth.

“Our deep learning model can tell us not only how to design a guide RNA that knocks down a transcript completely, but can also ‘tune’ it—for instance, having it produce only 70% of the transcript of a specific gene,” said Andrew Stirn, a PhD student at Columbia Engineering and the New York Genome Center, and the study’s co-first author.

By combining artificial intelligence with an RNA-targeting CRISPR screen, the researchers envision that TIGER’s predictions will help avoid undesired off-target CRISPR activity and further spur development of a new generation of RNA-targeting therapies.

“As we collect larger datasets from CRISPR screens, the opportunities to apply sophisticated machine learning models are growing rapidly. We are lucky to have David’s lab next door to ours to facilitate this wonderful, cross-disciplinary collaboration. And, with TIGER, we can predict off-targets and precisely modulate gene dosage which enables many exciting new applications for RNA-targeting CRISPRs for biomedicine,” said Sanjana.

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Eurogamer reports that, according to some users who have downloaded the leaked source code, it lacks some content, including the Far Cry game assets. However, TechRadar reports that other users have been able to compile and run the game with some work, and by getting the assets from an actual copy of the game. There's no word on who uploaded the source code, and so far publisher Ubisoft has yet to make an official statement about this leak.

Far Cry was developer Crytek's first published commercial game, with the first version of its CryEngine. The developer previously worked on an engine tech demo called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island and showed it to NVIDIA in 1999.

The graphics chip maker shipped a version of X-Isle as a benchmarking tool for its GeForce GPUs in 2000. The demo also got Ubisoft's attention, and Crytek signed a contract with the publisher to make a game based loosely on that demo, which turned into Far Cry.

When the game was released as a PC exclusive it was a critical and sales hit, thanks in part to the CryEngine's ability to create large outdoor environments and its detailed graphics.

Ubisoft decided to buy the Far Cry IP from Crytek. It continued the series with a forked version of CryEngine 1 that eventually evolved into the in-house Dunia engine that's been used in all of the subsequent Far Cry games, along with other Ubisoft titles.

Crytek went on to develop the Crysis first-person shooter series for publisher EA with new versions of CryEngine, and eventually let other developers use it under license. It also used the engine for non-Crysis games like Warface, the Xbox One launch game Ryse: Son of Rome for publisher Microsoft, and most recently Hunt: Showdown. A fourth game in the Crysis series is in the works.

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Table of contents:

1. Windows 11 fixes and free virtual machines.
2. A big Windows 11 preview build.
3. App updates and new releases.
4. Microsoft Edge.
5. Gaming news.
6. Fun stuff.

Windows 11 fixes and free virtual machines

Microsoft has updated its prebuilt virtual machines you can download for free and use without activation for 90 days. The project is called Windows Development Environment, and it includes various development tools one will need to start making Windows apps. However, if you are not a developer, WDE can come in handy for getting around Microsoft's OS and its latest Moment 3 feature update.

For those running Windows locally, not inside a VM, Microsoft has a few optional updates with quality-of-life improvements and other non-security patches:

• Windows 11: 22621.1928 (KB5027303)
• Windows 11: 22000.2124 (KB5027292)
• Windows 10: 19045.3155 (KB5027293)

Usually, after releasing cumulative updates (optional and mandatory), Microsoft publishes details about newly found bugs or resolved issues. This week is no exception: Microsoft confirmed a specific bug might break Office apps on Windows due to specific anti-malware software installed. The company recommends updating your antivirus to mend the broken programs.

On the upside, those non-security patches resolved a long-standing bug messing with the Start menu, Windows Search, UWP apps, and other Windows 10 and 11 parts. If your system is affected, time to click the "Check for Updates" button in the Settings app.

A big new preview build!

Microsoft surprised Windows insiders this week with a feature-packed build from the Dev Channel. Version 23493 includes several new major changes and additions, such as the promised Windows Copilot, a new Home page for the Settings app, an updated Windows Backup app, a redesigned volume mixer, and support for more archive formats. All these features will be a great addition to the other five cool changes coming soon to Windows 11.

Sadly, Windows Copilot is a controlled feature rollout, which means you are unlikely to have access to it after installing build 23493. Those with unlucky tickets can force-enable Windows Copilot using our guide.

Microsoft also pushed a new update to the Beta Channel: KB5027295 with Windows App SDK-based File Explorer and various fixes.

In addition to features you can try after updating to the latest Dev build, Microsoft is making its operating system more secure. According to a senior Microsoft exec, future Windows versions might get more security features related to TPM and other components.

App updates and new releases

This week, the maker of Ventoy, a popular tool for creating bootable drives, released a new utility dubbed iVentoy—a program for installing an operating system through the network (essentially an enhanced version of the Preboot Execution Environment server). iVentoy is available for free, and it supports many popular operating systems.

On the first-party side, Microsoft released two new features for Teams users: in-meeting caption customization and profanity controls in messages. New meeting features are also coming soon to OneNote: the upcoming update will introduce improvements for meeting notes.

The company has prepared a set of firmware updates for several Surface Pro generations, including the Surface Pro 6, which is no longer supported. In addition to bidding farewell to the Surface Pro 6, kiss goodbye to Yammer as Microsoft renamed it to Viva Engage.

Finally, Bing got a fair share of new features and capabilities to help users leverage the power of AI. The highlight of the week was a new set of shopping features, better sports answers, and Image Creator in Skype. Now users can ask Bing to generate shopping guides, price-match products, and summarize what others think about something you want to buy.

And if you are a fan of beautiful UI and eye candy, check out the updated product activation interfaces for Windows and Office.

However, not all Microsoft-made updates were good. This week, users noticed that the latest Microsoft Launcher update broke the app for many, including those owning Surface Duo smartphones.

A few Microsoft Edge news

Microsoft revealed that Edge users in supported regions can now use 5GB of free built-in VPN service to secure their browsing when using open networks or unencrypted websites. The updated documentation confirms that the previous limit of 1GB has been increased to 5GB.

Another great change for Microsoft Edge is the new flag for enabling the mouse gesture feature. Now it is much easier to enable new mouse controls in Microsoft Edge Canary, and they no longer require modifying a shortcut or using special commands.

Together with the updated Edge VPN, these two features might help Edge attract more users. Sadly, according to Statcounter, the browser's market share remains unchanged, while Apple Safari continues rising above Edge.

Gaming news

Diablo fans with modern PCs compatible with Microsoft DirectStorage API will be happy to learn that Blizzard is reportedly working on enabling the feature in future updates. Although the technology was initially made for Microsoft's next-gen consoles, it is also available on PCs, delivering better performance, faster load time, and more.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator fans should start their engines and prepare to fly to Texas, the latest addition to the ever-growing list of cities, regions, and countries with reworked visuals, landmarks, and other points of interest. The update is now available for download for free from the in-game marketplace.

Microsoft's shopping spree in the gaming market caused the company to end up in long and tedious clashes with different regulators. The result of those is an outpour of documents revealing what was happening inside Microsoft, Sony, and other companies during the last few years. For example, Microsoft planned to purchase even more studios, including Sega, IO Interactive, Square Enix, Niantic, and Bungie. Sega, however, was quick to say it was not interested in being acquired by Microsoft.

In addition, published emails showed that Microsoft was willing to sell fewer consoles to invest more in cloud gaming services and game content (according to a slide published during the ID@Xbox presentation, Microsoft sold more than 21 million Xbox Series X|S consoles since the launch). Moreover, the company was ready to lose "two or three billion dollars" to prevent Tencent, Google, Amazon, or Sony from becoming the Disney of games.

There were other interesting stories, such as Satya Nadella claiming he does not like console exclusives and Jim Ryan, Sony's CEO, stating publishers "do not like Xbox Game Pass."

Freebies, discounts, and sales

The Epic Games Store is giving away The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk, a humorous RPG for PC. The offer is valid until the next Thursday, so be sure to grab it while you can. If you do not mind spending a few bucks on games, check out the Steam Summer Sale and its sweet discounts on games and even the Steam Deck.

Those playing on Xbox can get two games for free as part of the Games with Gold program.

Fun stuff

You might have heard about JavaGPT, a third-party app that makes it possible to use ChatGPT from old and long-unsupported operating systems, such as Windows XP. But what about something more ancient? Here is WinGPT, a similar program built for computers running 30-year-old Windows 3.1.

This is not a joke.

If you are up for reading about slightly more modern technology, check out a Microsoft Research project experimenting with using photons and electrons instead of traditional transistors to process data. This quirky Analog Interactive Machine aims to get around Moore's Law and deal with specific tasks, such as tracking large numbers of transactions.

This week we saw the return of Clippy, Microsoft's infamous and memed to oblivion assistant from Office 97. Now you can place Clippy on your Windows 10 or 11 desktop to access ChatGPT. Of course, the project is unrelated to Microsoft by any means, and it looks more like a fun throwback than a fully-fledged digital assistant.

Finally, have a look back at Microsoft Bob, one of the worst tech products ever released by the software giant in 1995. The latest issue of John Callaham's nostalgia series details Microsoft's failed attempt to make a digital assistant and help users get acquainted with Windows 95.

And that is all for the Microsoft Weekly covering the 26th week of 2023. Finishing this issue with another piece of trivia about Microsoft:

To promote the release of the then-revolutionary Windows 95, Microsoft partnered with The Rolling Stones, and the band released the single "Start Me Up," which referenced the new user interface and the Start menu button. Many believed the company paid The Rolling Stones about $12 million, but Microsoft denied the rumors, claiming it paid a quarter — $3 million.

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In 2016, AMD introduced its Radeon Open Compute Platform (ROCm) in response to Nvidia's dominance. While ROCm has gained traction among users seeking an open-source solution, there are concerns that AMD's own actions may hinder the adoption of Radeon GPUs.

With its latest ROCm 5.6.0 update, the company announced that its Vega II or Vega 20 (gfx906) graphics processors will be entering maintenance mode soon in Q3 of 2023. This means only critical security patches and bug fixes will be made available and no new feature support will come to Vega 20. In Q2 of 2024, the maintenance mode will also come to an end.

Speaking of Vega support, in a funny incident, Call of Duty players apparently sent pizza to the game's dev team to get support.

Vega 20 was the second generation of Vega GPUs consisting of discrete graphics cards like the Radeon VII, the AMD Instinct MI50, and more. Meanwhile, Nvidia still supports Maxwell GPUs from 2015 and only recently withdrew support for Kepler.

The official release notes for ROCm 5.6.0 states:

AMD Instinct MI50, Radeon Pro VII, and Radeon VII products (collectively referred to as gfx906 GPUs) will be entering the maintenance mode starting Q3 2023. This will be aligned with ROCm 5.7 GA release date.

• No new features and performance optimizations will be supported for the gfx906 GPUs beyond ROCm 5.7

• Bug fixes / critical security patches will continue to be supported for the gfx906 GPUs till Q2 2024 (End of Maintenance [EOM])(will be aligned with the closest ROCm release)

• Bug fixes during the maintenance will be made to the next ROCm point release

• Bug fixes will not be back ported to older ROCm releases for this SKU

• Distro / Operating system updates will continue as per the ROCm release cadence for gfx906 GPUs till EOM.

Moving on, there is some good news too as AMD confirmed in a separate blog post that RDNA 3 (7000 series) GPUs will gain support around the same time. Some of these cards will include the Radeon PRO W7900, as well as consumer cards like the RX 7900 XTX, and more. AMD writes:

We plan to expand ROCm support from the currently supported AMD RDNA 2 workstation GPUs: the Radeon Pro v620 and w6800 to select AMD RDNA 3 workstation and consumer GPUs. Formal support for RDNA 3-based GPUs on Linux is planned to begin rolling out this fall, starting with the 48GB Radeon PRO W7900 and the 24GB Radeon RX 7900 XTX, with additional cards and expanded capabilities to be released over time.

And in case you missed it, Windows support for ROCm (via nacasha on Twitter) is also in the works as you can see in the images below:

The one on the left shows a GPU support table that lists RDNA 2 cards like the RX 6600 and 6900 XT, while the one on the right shows system requirements for running AMD HIP (Heterogeneous-compute Interface for Portability) on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

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According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will introduce a USB-C charging case for the AirPods Pro. The move aligns with Apple's transition from the Lightning port to the more widely adopted USB-C standard, which complies with the EU's new common charging standard.

One of the notable new health features is a built-in hearing test function. The new earbuds can play different tones and sounds to assess a user's hearing health. This feature allows users to assess their hearing directly from AirPods, making it more convenient.

The company is working on a new hearing test feature that will play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear. The idea is to help users screen for hearing issues, not unlike how the Apple Watch ECG app checks for heart problems.

Gurman says Apple is also looking to take advantage of the recent FDA approval for over-the-counter sales of hearing aids without needing an exam or prescription. With this approval in mind, Apple is exploring using AirPods Pro as an alternative to hearing aids.

With engineers at established hearing aid manufacturers, it is working to expand the functionality of its earbuds to provide hearing aid capabilities.

In addition to hearing-focused features, the next-gen AirPods are expected to include a built-in temperature sensor. This sensor, similar to the one introduced in the Watch Series 8 and Watch Ultra, will allow users to accurately measure their body temperature using the ear canal.

However, Gurman emphasizes that these functions may take "several months or even years" to become available to users.

On the other hand, some notable features of the AirPods Pro include the addition of Transparency mode and Active Noise Cancellation. The product comprises an H2 chip, longer battery life, Touch Control, and immersive Spatial Audio.

Source: Bloomberg

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This comes days after Minecraft developer Mojang said it will stop sharing official updates via Reddit. While the IAmA mod team will continue doing regular activities like moderating, spam removal, and enforcing rules, it will take a step back from the following activities in the future, "effective immediately":

• Active solicitation of celebrities or high profile figures to do AMAs.
• Email and modmail coordination with celebrities and high profile figures and their PR teams to facilitate, educate, and operate AMAs. (We will still be available to answer questions about posting, though response time may vary).
• Running and maintaining a website for scheduling of AMAs with pre-verification and proof, as well as social media promotion.
• Maintaining a current up-to-date sidebar calendar of scheduled AMAs, with schedule reminders for users.
• Sister subreddits with categorized cross-posts for easy following.
• Moderator confidential verification for AMAs.
• Running various bots, including automatic flairing of live posts

Over the years, Reddit's AMA community has grown into a space frequented by many with a strong user base of 22.5 million. It has given users a chance to interact with the likes of Bill Gates, Nicolas Cage, Keanu Reeves, Barrack Obama, and more recently, Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman who addressed an AMA session about the controversial API changes.

The IAmA subreddit was vocal during the 2015 Reddit protests following the termination of AMA moderator Victoria Taylor. However, it didn't go dark along with other subreddits as part of the recent protests as "it reflects our belief that such actions will not make any significant difference this time."

The mod team said that it will allow most AMA topics on the subreddit, "leaving proof and requests for verification up to the community." It will focus on "removing rule-breaking content alone" and won't allow "fake AMAs explicitly," but the community will have to pay more attention.

Will this undermine most of what makes IAmA special? Probably. But Reddit leadership has all the funds they need to hire people to perform those extra tasks we formerly undertook as volunteer moderators, and we'd be happy to collaborate with them if they choose to do so.

The latest announcement from the AMA mod team shares its timeline with the demise of the third-party Reddit app Apollo, along with other popular names, including RIF, Sync, and Beacon Reader. Apollo's developer Christian Selig released a farewell wallpapers set and requested paid subscribers to decline pro-rated refund payments as the cost will come onto his shoulders.

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You've likely come across various display types when looking at the latest laptops, the best computer monitors, TVs, or even phones. LCD, IPS, and LED displays are somewhat outdated while the premium, sought-after panel type right now is OLED. However, you'll occasionally also hear about QLED, AMOLED, and Mini LED too. This might make you wonder what the difference is between OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED and which is best.

The exact build and manufacturing processes for each display type are all rather technical. But don't worry. I'm here to explain at a high level what the differences are and what they mean for you. I'll also go over which ones are the best in various scenarios.

What is the difference between OLED, QLED AMOLED, and Mini LED?

There are some serious differences between the ways that OLED, QLED, AMOLED, and Mini LED displays are made. These differences lead to some major differences in the viewing experience. Let's start by going over how each one is made and what it means for you. 

OLED displays

Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 with gamer at a desk. (Image credit: Samsung)

Of the three display types, OLED is the most well-known, likely due to the fact that it is the oldest, cheapest, and most common option among the four. It was first developed in 1987 and the name stands for organic light-emitting diode or organic electroluminescent diode. It refers to the fact that the display doesn't need backlighting like older displays did thanks to the use of an organic compound that emits light when it receives an electric current. 

Compared to IPS, LCD, and LED displays, OLEDs offer blacker blacks, more vibrant colours, and crisper details. They're far better at portraying darker scenes in games, videos, and shows since the hues can come through more distinctly without the dark sections turning cloudy gray rather than black.

However, OLED displays aren't very flexible, which means that they aren't as durable as some other options and can break more easily if pressure is applied. 

QLED displays

Samsung schematic showing QLED TV vs OLED TV. (Image credit: Samsung)

QLED is the least impressive and least expensive display type that I'll mention here, but it's also the most recent type having been invented by Sony in 2013. Despite the name looking like "OLED" they aren't OLEDs at all. They're basically just LCD screens that use quantum dots — microscopic molecules that emit a different colour when light reaches them from a backlight. 

QLEDs are cheaper to produce than other display types and thus are often used to produce cheaper TVs. However, their picture quality isn't as consistent as OLED, AMOLED, or Mini LED. Not to mention, they don't provide as good colour accuracy or true blacks as the other display types do.

It's worth noting that Samsung has produced some QLED TVs that use Mini LED rather than standard LED backlighting. These cost more, are more reliable, and are considered premium QLEDs.  

AMOLED displays

Schematic of an AMOLED display. (Image credit: Wikipedia)

An AMOLED, or active-matrix light-emitting diode, is a newer display first invented in 2006. They are basically OLED displays that utilize the aforementioned active matrix (a system where each pixel is controlled separately rather than in a group). AMOLED displays are higher quality than OLED as they are far more flexible and work using backplane technologies (physical connection points that allow circuitry to communicate between slots) as well as utilizing a layer of thin-film transistors (TFTs), which OLEDs don't have. However, they don't get as true black as OLED displays do. 

To clarify, TFTs often refer to liquid crystal displays (LCDs), but this film is also utilized in AMOLED to help better control the display's electrical flow. 

Mini LED displays

Samsung Mini-LED TV anatomy. (Image credit: Samsung)

The Mini LED (or mini-LED) display (not to be confused with micro-LED) was first invented in 2000 and operates rather differently from the previous panel types since it uses backlighting by incorporating tens of thousands of miniature LED bulbs behind an LCD substrate (the glass used for TFT LCDs). The use of miniature LEDs rather than normal-sized ones used in other LCD displays allows for more control in regard to showing proper hues and exact brightness or black levels within specific areas of an image.

Much like OLEDs, Mini LEDs do a much better job than AMOLEDs of portraying true black, but they aren't quite as good when it comes to colour accuracy. However, their design allows for a thinner, power-saving build.

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Which is best?

Dell XPS 15 9530 OLED on desk. (Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)

Overall, OLEDs tend to be the best when compared against QLED, AMOLED, and Mini LED. However, there are ways in which the other types are better. I'll go over these different categories and list the displays from best to worst, but you'll want to read through everything carefully as there are some caveats to keep in mind. 

Note: These are averages. Each individual laptop, computer monitor, TV, and any other display will be unique. There can be exceptions to the rule.

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Brightness

Samsung QLED Q60T TV above desk. (Image credit: Jez Corden / Windows Central )

When it comes to laptops, TVs, monitors, phones, and other displays the unit of measurement used to describe brightness is in nits rather than lumens. A nit is a candela per square meter or the brightness of a candle as it shines onto a one-meter surface. The more nits a display supports, the brighter it gets. But being brighter isn't always best as there are more things to consider when choosing a display.

• QLED: This is the biggest way in which the QLED shines. Ahem. That's because QLEDs can get exceptionally bright with some being able to reach up to 1,000 nits.
• Mini LED: Currently, Mini LED displays can reach up to 800 nits making them some of the brightest displays out there. 
• AMOLED: These displays have been known to reach up to 600 nits, which is neither the brightest nor the dimmest option available.
• OLED: Talking about brightness is tricky when it comes to OLED. Most OLED panels only reach up to 200 nits, which is far dimmer than other displays. However, since these displays tend to get darker than the others they don't really need to be as bright in order to display images well. 

WINNER: In regards to the brightness prize, QLED technically takes the gold and is a popular pick for placing in bright rooms. But these displays don't have the best viewing angles, so they aren't good for large rooms. 

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Viewing angles

Image of the ASUS ROG Swift OLED (PG27AQDM) gaming monitor viewed from the side. (Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)

Each display is built differently, but the most ideal viewing position in each situation is directly in front at eye level when seated. Some displays look distorted or darker from the sides. Some might even have colour washout, so it's important to take viewing angles in mind when considering various panels. 

• OLED: Regardless of what angle you view an OLED display from it will consistently provide a clear, unobscured image. That's why OLED is the best in this category. 
• AMOLED: Viewing angles on these panels tend to be around the same level as OLED, but the colours are more likely to be oversaturated, which is why it takes second place here.
• Mini LED: Though better than most IPS, LCD, and LED displays Mini LED panels don't have the best viewing angle, especially when compared to OLED and AMOLED.
• QLED: Modern QLED panels tend to have a limited viewing angle of around 55 degrees, which especially doesn't make them ideal as TVs in large rooms where people might be sitting at various locations. 

WINNER: It's undisputed that OLEDdisplays have the best picture quality compared to the other three when viewed from various angles. That combined with their accurate colouring and impressive true black images make them the best here.

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Latency, response time, and refresh rates

Cyberpunk 2077 on Dell XPS 17 (9730). (Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)

When we talk about latency, response times, and refresh rates in displays, we're talking about how fast the panel is. Latency (aka lag) is all about the delay time between when the system sends a signal and when the display actually shows it. Response times are measured in milliseconds (ms) and specifically refer to how long it takes for pixels to change colours. Meanwhile, refresh rates are measured in Herts (Hz) and describe the number of times per second that a display shows a new image. 

The ideal situation is to have low latency with high response time and faster refresh rates so the display can keep up with the image it's meant to display at that moment. These measurements of speed are especially important within the best gaming monitors and best TVs for console gaming as you can really gain an edge over opponents by having faster images come to your display. That way, you in turn can respond quickly. 

• OLED: Can have less than 0.1ms - 1ms response times as well as refresh rates between 60H, 120Hz, or 240Hz. 
• AMOLED: Often have less than 1ms response times along with either 60Hz, 120Hz, or 240Hz refresh rates.
• Mini LED: Typically, Mini LEDs offer 1ms - 4ms response times and up to 240Hz refresh rates.
• QLED: On average, QLED displays have between 2ms - 8ms response times and can refresh up to 120Hz. 

WINNER: As witnessed by various testing, OLED displays are the very fastest options we have right now making them ideal for gamers or tech enthusiasts who want the very best, lag-free experiences.

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: colour accuracy

Front view of Redmagic 4K Mini LED Gaming Monitor on a white table. (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Windows Central)

colour accuracy refers to how well a panel can produce the tones, colours, and shades that the system wants it to display. It's measured in a few different units including sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 (or just P3). The closer to 100% a display gets in each measurement, the truer to life the colours displayed on the panel are. 

• AMOLED:  The technology used to create AMOLED produces the most vibrant hues, even better than OLED. You can expect 100% sRGB or very near to it. 
• OLED: These OLED displays have long been praised for their vivid colours, but other display types have been catching up in recent years. Thanks to OLEDs' tendency toward stronger contrast ratio and their ability to achieve true black, they help display well-saturated colours more effectively than many other panel types. They often reach between 98% to 100% sRGB, making them very beautiful displays to look at. 
• Mini LED: While these smaller LED lights do produce amazing colours, the contrast ratio doesn't tend to be as good as OLED. Because of this, sometimes imagery doesn't come out looking as good as on an OLED or AMOLED display. Still, Mini LED is very good at displaying well-saturated hues and often produces between 97% and 100% sRGB. 
• QLED: Of the four display types, QLED is the least colour accurate, but this isn't by much. They still tend to produce around 95% or higher sRGB and are plenty vibrant in their own right. 

WINNER: As of right now, AMOLED is the king of colour accuracy, but not by a ton. OLED and Mini LED follow right after it. Unless you're comparing screens side by side you probably won't even notice a saturation difference between them all. 

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Durability and dependability

Razer Blade 16 Mini LED laptop on table. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)

When considering display durability, you need to take into account flexibility, which refers to how brittle a panel is. You also need to consider screen burn-in, an unsightly permanent discolouration of the display that resembles ghostly impressions of images on the screen as the display shows new images. 

Unlike older screens, modern burn-in isn't always caused by the image literally getting burned into the screen due to heat. For instance, when it comes to OLEDs, the modern burn-in effect is caused by degradation of the organic compound, which can lead to washed-out imagery. Note that every type of display here has been known to have burn-in issues, but some are more likely than others to actually have a problem.

• Mini LED: Thanks to the screen technologies used, Mini LED doesn't produce as much heat and is less likely than OLED to suffer luminance degradation. These types of displays also tend to be the most flexible of the panels listed here adding to their longevity.
• QLED: Several QLED displays have been specifically manufactured to have more flexible substrates, but some are more stretchable than others. Meanwhile, it is possible for a QLED to experience burn-in but not likely to actually happen due to the particle-obstructing technologies it uses.
• AMOLED: Much like OLEDs, AMOLEDs have come a long way in recent years in reducing and eliminating burn-in problems. However, it's still something you might encounter. As far as display durability goes, this kind of display can be extremely flexible thanks to the innovative technologies used to create them.
• OLED: Older OLEDs had issues with burn-in, however, the latest OLED technology has solved this issue by adding additional preventative measures, both software and hardware-based. But you need to check from one OLED device to the next to see if it is susceptible to burn-in. Additionally, OLED displays have become more flexible over the years, but some can get more damaged than others when bent or stretched

WINNER: It's a hard call in some respects, but thanks to its flexibility and lack of burn-in issues, Mini LED is the most durable and reliable display available right now.

OLED vs QLED vs AMOLED vs Mini LED: Price

Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED on table. (Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central )

It's an easy temptation to want to go for the cheapest display you can but remember that cheaper cost often equates to cheaper build. As the adage says, "you get what you pay for." Less expensive devices will save your wallet from getting too skinny, but they might also result in a higher chance of burn-in, reduced colour accuracy, a dimmer screen, or some other issue that will prevent you from really enjoying your purchase. Of course, going for a smaller size display can really help you save money.

But on the other hand, you don't always need the best quality to get a job done. Sometimes going for the cheapest thing is the right choice for you. 

• QLED: These displays can range a whole lot in value depending on what they're made of. However, when made with standard LEDs they can be very inexpensive. Just note that Samsung has produced a few premium QLED TVs that utilize mini-LED rather than standard LED, which make them cost a whole lot more. 
• Mini LED: Some people think that the latest Mini LED displays take a lot of work to produce and that is true. But on average, they tend to cost 10% less than modern OLEDs, making them slightly cheaper. 
• OLED: Thanks to their complex build and desirability, OLEDs tend to be somewhat costly and maintain their position as the premium, sought-after display on the market today.
• AMOLED: Due to the build that makes them more flexible, AMOLED displays tend to cost even more than OLED to manufacture, making them the most expensive display option here. 

WINNER: Truth be told, QLED displays can have a wide price range depending on what exactly they are made of. This allows them to be much cheaper than the other display types in some instances and on the same level in others. 

Bottom line: Some displays are better than others

So many variables go into determining what kind of display type is best for your needs. OLEDs tend to be the best overall due to their amazing colour accuracy coupled with their ability to display true black. Plus, they're available most plentifully as the premium display option for a variety of devices. They also tend to be rather fast and work well as gaming monitors or gaming TVs. 

However, Mini LEDs are the up-and-coming display that might give OLEDs a run for their money in a few years. These feature smaller LED backlighting than the LCD panels before them but allow for thinner, HDR visuals in a power-saving design. They make for great gaming monitors and laptop panels. 

Meanwhile, if you're set on getting a TV with the very best colour accuracy, you can't go wrong with an AMOLED. They get a fair bit brighter than OLEDs and produce some of the best-saturated hues of any display out there.

Of course, if you're keener on saving money or you need something that can be bright enough to shine in an overly illuminated room then QLEDs are a good choice. They range in quality far more than any of the other types of displays mentioned here, but if you do your research and check what technologies they employ you'll know what you're getting into. 

Think about what you specifically need from a panel before choosing which laptop, TV, monitor, or other device with a display to buy and you'll be more likely to get something that pleases you.

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In 2006, Microsoft launched a viral marketing campaign with a website with the URL notfornoobs.com (an address that is, apparently, available for sale right now). The site later revealed itself to be promoting the Microsoft Habu gaming mouse. This mouse was promoted as "Powered by Razer Precision" because it used that company's laser sensor technology, among other things.

Inside the Habu was Razer's 2,000 DPI laser sensor, which was considered to be pretty fast at the time. It also allowed users to adjust the DPI setting with the included software, which again was not normally done with a mouse at that time.

It had 32 KB of onboard memory to store up to five different control profiles. Finally, the thumb buttons were removable. You could switch the panel to a pair of keys that were lower on the mouse, or one where they were higher up on the mouse.

The Habu even had Razer's familiar large and flared-out two main buttons on the front. The back of the mouse is where both the Microsoft logo and the larger base, similar to its Intellimouse products, were found.

The Microsoft Habu went on sale for the price of $69.99 in the fall of 2006. Reviews were mostly positive. Today, you might be able to find an unopened version of the Habu on eBay for prices that are $250 and up.

In 2007, Microsoft and Razer teamed up again for the release of the Microsoft Reclusa keyboard. In terms of its overall design, it didn't look very different compared to some other Microsoft keyboards, aside from its rounded edges.

It does include 10 custom keys, five on either side, that can be programmed with the available software for different uses. However, reviewers of the Reclusa were not happy with the fact that only five custom profiles could be stored inside, compared to the popular Logitech G15 gaming keyboard which could store a lot more. The Reclusa also had two 360-degree dials on either side as well.

The keys themselves were marketed as using Razer's "Hyperesponse Gaming Key Action", which allowed users to press on the keys faster with less latency compared to some other keyboards. It also had a blue LED backlight for the keys, but unfortunately, you couldn't turn them off.

The release of the Reclusa was also the end of the direct collaboration between Microsoft and Razer. There's no word as to why this mashup of these two companies didn't continue, although the muted response from reviewers might have been a consideration.

Razer has, of course, continued to release some great gaming PC products, including new mice like the Cobra and Cobra Pro. It's even expanded its hardware efforts into new areas, like Xbox controllers like the Wolverine V2, and even making high-end Windows PC gaming laptops with its many Blade notebooks.

Sadly, Microsoft has gone in the other direction with its PC accessories line. While it certainly still makes its Surface tablets and notebooks, it announced earlier in 2023 it would no longer sell PC accessories like mice and keyboards under the Microsoft brand.

Officially, the company says it will still sell those kinds of products with the Surface brand, but right now we don't have any info on what they will be like. Hopefully one day, Microsoft will make a return to the gaming PC accessories industry.

As an Amazon Associate when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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They are showing up in hard hats and steel-toed boots to scope out mines in places like Chile, Argentina, Quebec and Nevada to secure supplies of a metal that could make or break their companies as they move from gasoline to battery power.

Without lithium, U.S. and European carmakers won’t be able to build batteries for the electric pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and sedans they need to remain competitive. And assembly lines they are ramping up in places like Michigan, Tennessee and Saxony, Germany, will grind to a halt.

Established mining companies don’t have enough lithium to supply the industry as electric vehicle sales soar. General Motors plans for all its car sales to be electric by 2035. In the first quarter of 2023, sales of battery-powered cars, pickups and sport utility vehicles in the United States rose 45 percent from a year earlier, according to Kelley Blue Book.

So car companies are scrambling to lock up exclusive access to smaller mines before others swoop in. But the strategy exposes them to the risky, boom-and-bust business of mining, sometimes in politically unstable countries with weak environmental protections. If they bet incorrectly, automakers could end up paying far more for lithium than it might sell for in a few years.

Auto executives said they had no choice because there weren’t sufficient reliable supplies of lithium and other battery materials, like nickel and cobalt, for the millions of electric vehicles the world needs.

In the past, automakers let battery suppliers buy lithium and other raw material on their own. But lithium shortages have forced carmakers, which have deeper pockets, to directly acquire the essential metal and have it sent to battery factories, some owned by suppliers and others owned partly or fully by the automakers. Batteries rely on lightweight lithium ions to conduct energy.

“We quickly realized there wasn’t an established value chain that would support our ambitions for the next 10 years,” said Sham Kunjur, who oversees General Motors’ program to secure battery materials.

The automaker last year struck a supply deal with Livent, a lithium company in Philadelphia, for material from South American mines. And in January, G.M. agreed to invest $650 million in Lithium Americas, a company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, to develop the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. The company beat out 50 bidders, including battery and component makers, for that stake, said Mr. Kunjur and Lithium Americas executives.

Ford Motor has made lithium deals with SQM, a Chilean supplier; Albemarle, based in Charlotte, N.C.; and Nemaska Lithium of Quebec.

“These are some of the largest lithium producers in the world with the best quality,” Lisa Drake, vice president for electric vehicle industrialization at Ford, told investors in May.

The deals that automakers are striking with mining companies and raw material processors hark back to the beginnings of the industry, when Ford set up rubber plantations in Brazil to secure material for tires.

“It almost seems like 100 years later, with this new revolution, we are back to that stage,” Mr. Kunjur said.

Establishing a supply chain for lithium will be expensive: $51 billion, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a consulting firm. To benefit from U.S. subsidies, battery raw materials must be mined and processed in North America or by trade allies.

But intense competition for the metal has helped inflate lithium prices to unsustainable levels, some executives said.

“Since the start of ’22 the price of lithium has gone up so quickly and there was so much hype in the system, there were a lot of really bad deals that one could do,” said R.J. Scaringe, chief executive of Rivian, an electric vehicle company in Irvine, Calif.

Dozens of companies are developing mines, and there may eventually be more than enough lithium to meet everybody’s needs. Global production could surge sooner than expected, leading to a collapse in the price of lithium, something that has happened in the recent past. That would leave automakers paying a lot more for the metal than it was worth.

Auto executives are taking no chances, fearing that if they go even a few years without sufficient lithium their companies will never catch up.

Their fears have merit. In places where electric vehicle sales have grown the fastest, established automakers have lost a lot of ground. In China, where almost one-third of new cars are electric, Volkswagen, G.M. and Ford have lost market share to domestic producers like BYD, which manufacturers its own batteries. And Tesla, which has built a supply chain for lithium and other raw materials over years, has steadily gained market share in China, Europe and the United States. It is now the second-largest seller of all new cars in California after Toyota.

Chinese companies often have an edge over U.S. and European car companies because they are state owned or state supported, and, as a result, can take more risks in mining, which often encounters local opposition, nationalization by populist governments or technical difficulties.

In June, the Chinese battery maker CATL completed an agreement with Bolivia to invest $1.4 billion in two lithium projects. Few Western companies have shown sustained interest in the country, known for its political instability.

With a few exceptions, Western carmakers have avoided buying stakes in lithium mines. Instead, they are negotiating agreements in which they promise to buy a certain amount of lithium within a price range.

Often the deals give carmakers preferential access, crowding out rivals. Tesla has a deal with Piedmont Lithium, which is near Charlotte, that ensures the carmaker a large portion of the output from a mine in Quebec.

Lithium is abundant but not always easy to extract.

Many countries with big reserves, like Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, have nationalized natural resources or have stringent currency exchange controls that can limit the ability of foreign investors to withdraw money from the country. Even in Canada and the United States, it can take years to establish mines.

“Lithium is going to be tough to get and to fully electrify here in the U.S.,” said Eric Norris, president of the Lithium global business unit at Albemarle, the leading American lithium miner.

As a result, auto executives and consultants are fanning out to mines around the world, most of which have not begun producing.

“There’s a bit of desperation,,” said Amanda Hall, chief executive of Summit Nanotech, a Canadian start-up working on technology to hasten extraction of lithium from saline groundwater. Auto executives, she said, are “trying to get ahead of the problem.”

Yet, in their hurry, car companies are making deals with small mines that may not live up to expectations. “There are a lot of examples of problems that come up,” said Shay Natarajan, a partner at Mobility Impact Partners, a private equity fund focused on investing in sustainable transportation. Lithium prices could eventually collapse from overproduction, she said.

The miners appear to be the big winners. Their deals with the car companies typically assure them fat profits and make it easier for them to borrow money or sell shares.

Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies, recently reached a preliminary agreement to supply lithium to Ford from a mine it was developing in Argentina.

Ford was one of several car companies that expressed interest, said Marnie Finlayson, managing director of Rio Tinto’s battery minerals business. Rio Tinto takes car company representatives through a checklist, she said, that covers mining methods, relations with local communities and environmental impact “to get everyone comfortable.”

“Because if we can’t do that, then the supply is not going to be unlocked, and we’re not going to solve this global challenge together,” Ms. Finlayson said, referring to climate change.

Until a few years ago, the price of lithium was so low mining it was hardly profitable. But now with the growing popularity of electric vehicles, there are dozens of proposed mines. Most are in early development stages and will take years to begin production.

Until 2021, “there was either no capital or very short-term capital,” said Ana Cabral-Gardner, co-chief executive of Sigma Lithium, a Vancouver-based company that is producing lithium in Brazil. “No one was looking at a five-year horizon and a 10-year horizon.”

Auto companies are playing an important role in helping mines get up and running, said Dirk Harbecke, chief executive of Rock Tech Lithium, which is developing a mine in Ontario and a processing plant in eastern Germany that will supply Mercedes-Benz.

“I do not think that this is a risky strategy,” Mr. Harbecke said. “I think it’s a necessary strategy.”

The post Lithium Scarcity Pushes Carmakers Into the Mining Business appeared first on New York Times.

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The service is one of many that is used by Internet users to upload and share animated gifs on the Internet. Founded more than eight years ago, Gfycat has risen to popularity and is widely used in some Internet communities.

The official website of the service informs users about the shutdown. There, the company writes: "The Gfycat service is being discontinued. Please save or delete your Gfycat content by visiting https://www.gfycat.com and logging in to your account. After September 1, 2023, all Gfycat content and data will be deleted from gfycat.com"

Existing users have time until September 1, 2023 to save their uploaded animated gifs for safekeeping. On September 2, 2023, all data will be deleted from the company's servers and will no longer be accessible.

Any image embedded on third-party sites will no longer display either and show an error instead. Uploaders may download their animated gifs from the service and upload it to another, and then change the embed codes of their posts to keep the images visible.

Gyfcat banned adult content in 2019 in the app and created a new service, called redgifs, for that. This service was later sold to another company.

The service was acquired last year by Snap, makers of Snapchat. Gfycat is not the only animated gif service that has been acquired recently. Meta, owner of Facebook, tried to acquire the popular service Giphy but was blocked to go forward by regulators. Meta had to sell Giphy at a $260 million loss to Shutterstock as a consequence.

Snap has not made an official announcement regarding the shutdown of Gfycat.

Here are some Gfycat alternatives

• Giphy -- While now part of Shutterstock, Giphy remains available at the moment on the Internet.
• Imgur -- One of the oldest standing sites that allows users to upload animated gifs and images.
• Kikliko -- Animated Gifs with sounds support is what sets this site apart from many others.
• Tenor -- Another site that allows users to upload animated gifs and embed them into third-party sites.

Now You: do you use another site for hosting animated gifs?

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“Rate Limit Exceeded” and “#TwitterDown” are the two top trending topics on the app in the US, for those who have use of it. The former had over 40,000 tweets as of Saturday noon.

Reports of outages began around 8 am EST, according to DownDetector, and shot up through the morning. As of noon EST, DownDetector showed more than 7,400 outage reports across the website.

Users, including CNN journalists, flagged that their feeds weren’t loading and that they were met with an error message saying, “Sorry, you are rate limited. Please wait a few moments then try again.” Others reported errors saying the site cannot retrieve tweets.

Musk changes policy

Hours after users began reporting the problems, billionaire owner Elon Musk tweeted that the site had applied temporary limits “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.”

Verified accounts are limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, he tweeted, while unverified accounts are limited to just 600. New unverified accounts are at 300 posts a day.

Musk began offering a blue verification check mark for users who sign up for its Twitter Blue subscription service to grow revenue.

Later, Musk posted he will increase the limit “soon” to 8,000 tweets a day for verified users, 800 for unverified and 400 for new unverified accounts.

Many expressed their frustration ith the connection problems. Other trending topics in the US included: “Wtf twitter” and “Thanks Elon.”

Just yesterday, Twitter appeared to be restricting access to its platform for anyone not logged into an account. It was not clear whether the change was an intentional policy update or a glitch. Most of the reported problems Saturday were on the website, at 44%, followed by 39% of problems reported on the app.

CNN has reached out to Twitter for comment, but the platform responded with an automated poop emoji.

Twitter users faced similar wide-ranging service disruptions in March, one of the largest outages since Elon Musk took over. More than 8,000 users reported disruptions in that instance.

Musk is trying to turn around the platform, which faced an exodus of advertisers, with the onboarding of a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino.

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Another week gone by means another roundup of the biggest Microsoft, Windows, and gaming news stories. The FTC v. Microsoft case captivated the gaming and tech industries this week, as Microsoft, Sony, and others testified in the monumental case about Microsoft's potential purchase of Activision Blizzard.

We also saw the initial rollout of Windows Copilot in preview, a ChatGPT-powered version of Clippy, and much more.

FTC v. Microsoft

The biggest story of this week and last was the FTC v. Microsoft case. As part of the case, key pieces of information were shared about Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft admitted defeat in the "console wars," shared that it prioritized Xbox Cloud Gaming at the expense of the success of the Xbox Series X, and revealed that it considered purchasing Sega at one point.

Microsoft also had to explain the ins and outs of the gaming industry to the FTC judge, including why Halo isn't on PlayStation.

Sony took part in the case as well. The company's CEO admitted that Sony would be "more than OK" if Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard. 

PlayStation head Jim Ryan opined that while he didn't like Starfield being Xbox console exclusive, it wasn't anticompetitive.

Plenty of other juicy tidbits emerged throughout the case, including Microsoft's previous interest in Sega, Bungie, and Square Enix.

Regarding acquisitions that did happen, we learned that Microsoft paid $117 million for Ninja Theory, developers of the upcoming Hellblade 2.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also spoke during the case. Kotick expressed an aversion to "multi-game subscription services" like Xbox Game Pass.

Windows 11 in the cloud

(Image credit: Windows Central)

The focus of the FTC v. Microsoft case is the purchase of Activision Blizzard, but we gained insight into other elements of Microsoft's business this week. An internal Microsoft presentation was shared during the case that outlined the company's plans for Windows 11. The tech giant specified its plans to "move Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud" and to work on custom processors.

Microsoft mentioned the following when discussing the Windows experience:

"Move Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud: Build on Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device. Use the power of the cloud and client to enable improved AI-powered services and full roaming of people's digital experience."

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden saw internal documents from Microsoft last year that showed the company was considering a consumer version of Windows 365. Whether that makes its way to general users is yet to be seen, but the document shown during the FTC v. Microsoft case shows Microsoft is still considering it.

Windows Copilot in testing

Windows Copilot is a new AI assistant that's powered by Bing Chat and Microsoft Edge. Microsoft announced Copilot earlier this year, and the company began testing the tool with Insiders this week.

Copilot is also a quick way to access Bing Chat on the desktop. Summoning the tool slides your desktop and opens a bar dedicated to Copilot. In addition to being able to do what you can already accomplish through Bing Chat, Windows Copilot integrates with your PC.

Copilot will gain new capabilities over time, but its initial preview launch can already switch your system to dark mode, enable do not disturb, and perform other tasks.

Third-party plugins aren't supported at this time, but they will become available in the future.

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden went hands-on with Windows Copilot and the rest of Windows 11 Build 23493 in his latest video.

Clippy on Windows 11

(Image credit: Windows Central)

When it became clear that Microsoft would invest heavily in Bing Chat, people started calling for the return of Clippy. While Microsoft does have plans to bring AI to Windows 11 in the form of Windows Copilot, the tech giant does not have any plans to resurrect Clippy. Thankfully, FireCube Studios stepped up.

Clippy by FireCube is a third-party app that brings the power of OpenAI's ChatGPT to your desktop. That means the tool can answer questions, code, and generate creative writing samples. 

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In his latest tweet, Musk says that verified accounts are limited to reading 6,000 posts per day, unverified accounts are limited to reading 600 posts per day, and new unverified accounts can only read 300 posts per day. He called these temporary limits too but it’s not clear what the answer is to Twitter’s data scraping problem.

One user commented on the change explaining that the new limits will break people’s addiction to Twitter and that “we will all be free”, to which Musk responded with “touch grass again”. It’s very unlikely that Twitter’s motivation for the change is about addiction, and much more likely to do with the fact that it wants scrapers to pay $42,000 for API access.

No indication has been given about how long these “temporary” measures will be in place, but unless Twitter finds a way to prevent bots from scraping content, it’s hard to see how restrictions will be relaxed again on the website.

The clampdown began all the way back in April when the company disabled search functionality for users that didn’t have an account. It was then reported yesterday that no Twitter content could be viewed at all without an account.

While Elon Musk has become a polarizing figure thanks to the remarks he has made and the actions he has taken over the last year, it’s not only Twitter that’s clamping down but Reddit too. Reddit announced that it would be charging $12,000 for 50 million requests via its API which has forced some third-party Reddit apps to close down.

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In a recent change to the website, any attempt to view tweets or a Twitter profile causes a login prompt to appear. If a user decided to close the popup without logging in, they would be bounced to the website’s homepage.

The move seems to be an extension of the restrictions placed on Twitter Search back in April. Neowin first reported that change before any other news outlets.

With the restrictions placed on search, those who were not logged in couldn’t see the search box at all while in the Explore feed but once they clicked on a tweet, the search box would be available again. However, clicking on the search box would bring up the login prompt so it was unusable if you didn’t have an account.

The whole Twitter lockdown issue is quite weird because when Musk took over the company he was eager to open up the search and briefly hired George Hotz to do the work. When ChatGPT splashed onto the scene, though, Musk questioned what data GPT had been trained on.

Musk has said several times that Twitter is struggling financially and as one means of making money, he has decided that the company will be charging $42,000 for API access. If any tech firms want to use tweets for training data, they will need to pay a hefty API fee before they can use the data.

Reddit is also following Twitter's lead by charging a massive fee for API access. Under Reddit’s pricing scheme, it’ll charge $12,000 for 50 million requests. The move has caused some third-party apps to close and many subreddits went private in protest.

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Of course. Microsoft has made more than one attempt to make using Windows and its apps easier for "normies". We've already looked back at the ill-fated "Clippy" Office Assistant feature.

Since Clippy was officially shut down, many people have grown fond of that animated paperclip. Indeed, a third-party developer released an unauthorized Windows 10 and 11 version of Clippy that uses ChatGPT earlier this week.

While Clippy may no longer be looked at as annoying as he once was, there's no one who is fond of Microsoft Bob. This piece of software was supposed to make Windows PCs easier to use, just as Copilot is supposed to be doing. Instead, Microsoft Bob quickly disappeared almost as soon as it launched.

In the mid-1990s, personal computer prices were going down, and the use of the internet was going up. At the time of Bob's launch in March 1995, Microsoft's most recent Windows version was Windows 3.1.

The company felt that many people who were buying a PC at the time couldn't navigate the native user interface in 3.1. So, they came up with a UI overlay that used art and animation to make things simple.

According to Microsoft employee Raymond Chen in a blog post from 2016, the code name for this software in Microsoft was "Utopia". That certainly indicated the hope that this software would be the perfect way for normal consumers to quickly start using their Windows PCs.

What the project came up with is making the UI look like the inside of an ordinary home. The idea was that people could look at the interface and see familiar objects that, when clicked on, would launch the appropriate Windows 3.1 application.

If you clicked on the bag that had a dollar sign, you would launch Microsoft Excel. If you clicked on the pen and paper on the desk, Word would launch. The UI also used something similar to Clippy with animated figures like a dog that would assist you with navigating the interface.

The truth is that it made sense at the time for Microsoft to come up with an alternative way to use Windows 3.1. The basic idea of using a graphical interface to launch Windows features and apps is a sound one. However, it was the execution of this product that was the big issue.

One of the first problems was the final name of this software. Chen stated in his blog, "When we learned that the marketing folks had decided to name the product Bob, we all shook our heads in disbelief." Yep, "Bob" just didn't really describe what this software was designed to do. It's just, well, a name seemingly picked from random.

It wouldn't have mattered if the software was supposed to be what Microsoft first envisioned. When Bob launched in March 1995, the final result was poor, to say the least. The UI made it look like you were playing a game, and a kid's game at that, rather than making Windows 3.1 easier to use.

Oddly enough, Melinda Gates, before she married and then divorced Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, was the head of marketing for Microsoft Bob, In a LinkedIn post from 2017, she admitted that it just didn't work, saying:

I understood that flops like this were part of the process—in fact, we used to joke that you had to have a major failure to get your first promotion—but that didn’t make them any more pleasant. Until that point, I’d made most of my mistakes on expense reports. Failing so hard—and so publicly—was a new experience entirely.

In short, Bob was a critical and sales disaster for Microsoft and, after a small software update in August 1995, the company discontinued selling the software in early 1996.

By that time, Microsoft was all in with Windows 95, complete with its own marketing program that showed first-time users how to navigate it without any cartoon-like pets in an animated 2D living room. Even Microsoft's former CEO Steven Ballmer, in a 2006 interview with CRN, stated:

We've been fortunate. There is nothing that we have undertaken -- with a couple of exceptions like Microsoft Bob that I'll cop to in advance -- where we have decided that we have not succeeded and let's stop.

Since its release, Time Magazine named Microsoft Bob one of the 50 worst inventions of all time, and PC World put it at number 7 on its list of the 25 worst tech products of all time.

Perhaps the one good thing that came out of Bob was the Comic Sans font. According to a BBC article in 2010, Microsoft employee Vincent Connare noticed that the animated dog in Bob used Times New Roman when he "spoke".

Connare felt that was a poor choice and made Comic Sans to be used instead. Ironically, Comic Sans didn't end up being used for the dog in Bob for technical reasons, so it was later added as a font option for Windows 95. At least Comic Sans is still available, while Bob is regulated to the dustbin of software boxes.

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These are probably part of the yields that didn't make the cut as full-fledged 5800X3Ds. However, seeing this happening so much later in the cycle than the 5800X3D hints that the yields of the octa-core chip must be quite good.

The 5600X3D, like its 5800X3D counterpart will sport the same amount (96MB) of level 3 (L3) cache. These enormous amounts of cache make these 3D V-cache CPUs particularly great in gaming workloads, and it also reduces the need for high-speed, low-latency memory, and this means even low-budget DDR4-3000 CL16 memory, which is available for around $40 for dual-channel 16GB kits, will suffice.

Interestingly, the new Ryzen 5 5600X3D is Micro Center-exclusive only which means the chip won't be available for purchase from major e-retailers like Amazon or Newegg. However, Micro Center stores are present in most major cities nowadays so it shouldn't be too much of an issue to go and pick one up.

"At Micro Center, we are thrilled to partner with AMD and introduce the limited-edition AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D processor to our valued customers," said Warren Beneson, the Chief Merchandising Officer at Micro Center.

"We are committed to delivering exceptional value to gamers, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D processor embodies that commitment. It offers an unparalleled gaming experience at an unbeatable price point."

" With this exclusive offering, gamers can push the boundaries of performance and elevate their gaming endeavors to new heights. We are thrilled to bring this extraordinary opportunity to our valued customers."

The new Ryzen 5 5600X3D is launching for $229.99 which means it will become difficult for Intel to compete in this segment once the price of the 5600X3D starts to drop off to around $200.

As you can see in the image above, the 5800X3D is able to beat Intel's 12th Gen Core i7 parts that come in for $250 or higher.

Although the 5600X3D has two fewer cores, it shouldn't be too far off in lightly threaded games like Valorant, Far Cry 6, among others. The processor will be on Micro Center shelves starting July 7th. You can pre-order it here on the company's website. Bear in mind though that it does not come with a cooler.

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At first, the CEO carefully monitors the work, but as months go by without error, the AI receives less oversight and more autonomy in the name of efficiency. It occurs to the CEO that since the AI is so good at these tasks, it should take on a wider range of more open-ended goals: “Design the next model in a product line,” “plan a new marketing campaign,” or “exploit security flaws in a competitor’s computer systems.” The CEO observes how businesses with more restricted use of AIs are falling behind, and is further incentivized to hand over more power to the AI with less oversight. Companies that resist these trends don’t stand a chance. Eventually, even the CEO’s role is largely nominal. The economy is run by autonomous AI corporations, and humanity realizes too late that we’ve lost control.

These same competitive dynamics will apply not just to companies but also to nations. As the autonomy of AIs increases, so will their control over the key decisions that influence society. If this happens, our future will be highly dependent on the nature of these AI agents.

The good news is that we have a say in shaping what they will be like. The bad news is that Darwin’s laws do too. Though we think of natural selection as a biological phenomenon, its principles guide much more, from economies to technologies. The evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin proposed that natural selection will take hold in any environment where three conditions are present: 1) there are differences between individuals, 2) characteristics are passed on to future generations, and 3) the fittest variants propagate more successfully.

Consider the content-recommendation algorithms used by social media platforms and streaming services. When particularly addictive algorithms hook users, they result in higher engagement and screen time. These more effective algorithms are consequently “selected” and further fine-tuned, while algorithms that fail to capture attention are discontinued. This fosters the survival of the most addictive dynamic. Platforms that refuse to use addictive methods are simply outcompeted by platforms that do, leading to a race to the bottom among competitors that has already caused massive harm to society.

TIME illustration

In the biological realm, evolution is a slow process. For humans, it takes nine months to create the next generation and around 20 years of schooling and parenting to produce fully functional adults. But scientists have observed meaningful evolutionary changes in species with rapid reproduction rates, like fruit flies, in fewer than 10 generations. Unconstrained by biology, AIs could adapt—and therefore evolve—even faster than fruit flies do.

There are three reasons this should worry us. The first is that selection effects make AIs difficult to control. Whereas AI researchers once spoke of “designing” AIs, they now speak of “steering” them. And even our ability to steer is slipping out of our grasp as we let AIs teach themselves and increasingly act in ways that even their creators do not fully understand. In advanced artificial neural networks, we understand the inputs that go into the system, but the output emerges from a “black box” with a decision-making process largely indecipherable to humans.

Second, evolution tends to produce selfish behavior. Amoral competition among AIs may select for undesirable traits. AIs that successfully gain influence and provide economic value will predominate, replacing AIs that act in a more narrow and constrained manner, even if this comes at the cost of lowering guardrails and safety measures. As an example, most businesses follow laws, but in situations where stealing trade secrets or deceiving regulators is highly lucrative and difficult to detect, a business that engages in such selfish behavior will most likely outperform its more principled competitors.

Selfishness doesn’t require malice or even sentience. When an AI automates a task and leaves a human jobless, this is selfish behavior without any intent. If competitive pressures continue to drive AI development, we shouldn’t be surprised if they act selfishly too.

The third reason is that evolutionary pressure will likely ingrain AIs with behaviors that promote self-preservation. Skeptics of AI risks often ask, “Couldn’t we just turn the AI off?” There are a variety of practical challenges here. The AI could be under the control of a different nation or a bad actor. Or AIs could be integrated into vital infrastructure, like power grids or the internet. When embedded into these critical systems, the cost of disabling them may prove too high for us to accept since we would become dependent on them. AIs could become embedded in our world in ways that we can’t easily reverse. But natural selection poses a more fundamental barrier: we will select against AIs that are easy to turn off, and we will come to depend on AIs that we are less likely to turn off.

These strong economic and strategic pressures to adopt the systems that are most effective mean that humans are incentivized to cede more and more power to AI systems that cannot be reliably controlled, putting us on a pathway toward being supplanted as the earth’s dominant species. There are no easy, surefire solutions to our predicament.

A possible starting point would be to address the remarkable lack of regulation of the AI industry, which currently operates with little oversight, much of the research taking place in the dark. Regulation needs to be done proactively rather than reactively; if something goes wrong in this domain, we may not get the chance to fix it.

The problem, however, is that competition within and between nations pushes against any common-sense safety measures. AI is big -business. In 2015, total corporate investment in AI was $12.7 billion. By 2021, this figure had grown to $93.5 billion. As the race toward powerful AI systems quickens, corporations and governments are increasingly incentivized to reach the finish line first. We need research on AI safety to progress as quickly as research on improving AI capabilities. There aren’t many market incentives for this, so governments should offer robust funding as soon as possible.

The future of humanity is closely intertwined with the progression of AI. It is therefore a disturbing realization that natural selection may have more sway over it than we do. But as of now, we are still in command. It is time to take this threat seriously. Once we hand over control, we won’t get it back.

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