Today, we’re learning how big AMD’s gaming business is for the very first time — and the answer is $5 billion a year. That’s how much the company earned in 2021 from the “semi-custom” chips that go into Sony’s PS5, PS4, and every modern Microsoft Xbox, in addition to its discrete GPUs you’ll find in graphics cards and high-end gaming laptops.

It appears to have become quite a profitable business, too — nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2021 — and could exceed that this year: in an earnings call, CEO Lisa Su says the company typically sees its most money from game consoles in the third quarter, and it’s on track for “record semi-custom annual revenue in 2022.”

In 2020, AMD actually lost $138 million on gaming... but in just one year, operating income rose by over a billion dollars to hit $934 million in 2021. Late 2021 is when Sony started turning a profit on the PlayStation 5, though Sony still has supply constraints; Microsoft generally doesn’t turn a profit on the Xbox itself, though AMD almost certainly would as a chip supplier.

This quarter, AMD’s gaming revenue is up 32 percent year over year.

Gaming revenue for 2021: $5.6 billion.

That’s all according to the company’s Q2 2022 earnings, as you can see in the slide above. As we mentioned in May, this is the first quarter that the company’s broken out gaming into its own financial segment: previously, game console revenue was lumped in with embedded and data center, and GPUs were lumped in with CPUs.

AMD’s planning to launch its RDNA 3 GPUs later this year; they’ll use 5nm chiplets, and AMD’s promising “more than 50 percent generational improvement in performance per watt.” While AMD says it is seeing the slowdown in demand for gaming graphics now — PCs in general are slowing down, BTW — it expects that a new launch will improve demand in the fourth quarter.

Gaming is now AMD’s second-biggest business after its “client” business (desktop and notebook processors), though its data center business is currently blowing up, too. It’s currently up 83 percent year over year.

Embedded now includes Xilinx, a company AMD finished acquiring in February.

Here’s how much AMD’s revenue is growing in general.

Record revenue quarter after quarter, now up to $6.6 billion.

AMD rode the PS5, Xbox, and GPUs from a loss in 2020 to a likely billion in 2022

Raspberry Pi 4 expands 3D potential with Vulkan update

Dell follows Apple in exploring laptops with reverse wireless charging

In brief In the early days of AI research it was hoped that once electronics had equalled the ability of human synapses many problems would be solved. We've now gone way beyond that.

A team at MIT reports that it has built AI chips that mimic synapses, but are a million times faster, and are additionally massively more energy efficient than current designs. The inorganic material is also easy to fit into current chip-building kit.

"Once you have an analog processor, you will no longer be training networks everyone else is working on. You will be training networks with unprecedented complexities that no one else can afford to, and therefore vastly outperform them all. In other words, this is not a faster car, this is a spacecraft," said lead author and MIT postdoc Murat Onen.

"The speed certainly was surprising. Normally, we would not apply such extreme fields across devices, in order to not turn them into ash. But instead, protons ended up shuttling at immense speeds across the device stack, specifically a million times faster compared to what we had before. And this movement doesn't damage anything, thanks to the small size and low mass of protons. It is almost like teleporting."

Now that's some intelligent design.

Why results from machine learning models are difficult to reproduce

Princeton computer scientists Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan blame data leakage and inadequate testing methods for making machine-learning research difficult to reproduce by other scientists and say they are part of the reason results seem better than they are.

Data leakage occurs when the data used to train an algorithm can leak into its testing; when its performance is assessed the model seems better than it actually is because it has already, in effect, seen the answers to the questions. Sometimes machine learning methods seem more effective than they are because they aren't tested in more robust settings.

An AI algorithm trained to detect pneumonia in chest X-rays trained on data taken from older patients might be less accurate when it's run on images taken from younger patients, for example, Nature reported. Kapoor and Narayanan believe practitioners need to clearly describe how the training and testing datasets do not overlap.

Models aren't sufficient by themselves, however, the code needs to be readily available too, they argued in a paper [PDF] released on arXiv.

AI contract between Palantir and US Army Research Lab extended

The US Army Research Lab has extended its contract with Palantir to continue developing AI technologies for its combatant commands, worth $99.9 million over two years.

Both parties began working together in 2018. Palantir's software is used to build and manage data pipelines for platforms used by the Armed Services, combatant commands, and special operators. These resources, in turn, power machine learning systems deployed by various military units for combat.

"We're looking forward to fielding our newest ML, Edge, and Space technologies alongside our US military partners," Shannon Clark, senior veep of Innovation, said in a statement.

"These technologies will enable operators in the field to leverage AI insights to make decisions across many fused domains. From outer space to the sea floor, and everything in-between." ®

Source

Ultrasound imaging is a safe and noninvasive window into the body’s workings, providing clinicians with live images of a patient’s internal organs. To capture these images, trained technicians manipulate ultrasound wands and probes to direct sound waves into the body. These waves reflect back out to produce high-resolution images of a patient’s heart, lungs, and other deep organs.

Currently, ultrasound imaging requires bulky and specialized equipment available only in hospitals and doctor’s offices. But a new design by MIT engineers might make the technology as wearable and accessible as buying Band-Aids at the pharmacy.

In a paper appearing today in Science, the engineers present the design for a new ultrasound sticker — a stamp-sized device that sticks to skin and can provide continuous ultrasound imaging of internal organs for 48 hours.

The researchers applied the stickers to volunteers and showed the devices produced live, high-resolution images of major blood vessels and deeper organs such as the heart, lungs, and stomach. The stickers maintained a strong adhesion and captured changes in underlying organs as volunteers performed various activities, including sitting, standing, jogging, and biking.

The current design requires connecting the stickers to instruments that translate the reflected sound waves into images. The researchers point out that even in their current form, the stickers could have immediate applications: For instance, the devices could be applied to patients in the hospital, similar to heart-monitoring EKG stickers, and could continuously image internal organs without requiring a technician to hold a probe in place for long periods of time.

If the devices can be made to operate wirelessly — a goal the team is currently working toward — the ultrasound stickers could be made into wearable imaging products that patients could take home from a doctor’s office or even buy at a pharmacy.

“We envision a few patches adhered to different locations on the body, and the patches would communicate with your cellphone, where AI algorithms would analyze the images on demand,” says the study’s senior author, Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT. “We believe we’ve opened a new era of wearable imaging: With a few patches on your body, you could see your internal organs.”

The study also includes lead authors Chonghe Wang and Xiaoyu Chen, and co-authors Liu Wang, Mitsutoshi Makihata, and Tao Zhao at MIT, along with Hsiao-Chuan Liu of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A sticky issue

To image with ultrasound, a technician first applies a liquid gel to a patient’s skin, which acts to transmit ultrasound waves. A probe, or transducer, is then pressed against the gel, sending sound waves into the body that echo off internal structures and back to the probe, where the echoed signals are translated into visual images.

For patients who require long periods of imaging, some hospitals offer probes affixed to robotic arms that can hold a transducer in place without tiring, but the liquid ultrasound gel flows away and dries out over time, interrupting long-term imaging.

In recent years, researchers have explored designs for stretchable ultrasound probes that would provide portable, low-profile imaging of internal organs.

These designs gave a flexible array of tiny ultrasound transducers, the idea being that such a device would stretch and conform with a patient’s body.

But these experimental designs have produced low-resolution images, in part due to their stretch: In moving with the body, transducers shift location relative to each other, distorting the resulting image.

“Wearable ultrasound imaging tool would have huge potential in the future of clinical diagnosis. However, the resolution and imaging duration of existing ultrasound patches is relatively low, and they cannot image deep organs,” says Chonghe Wang, who is an MIT graduate student.

An inside look

The MIT team’s new ultrasound sticker produces higher resolution images over a longer duration by pairing a stretchy adhesive layer with a rigid array of transducers. “This combination enables the device to conform to the skin while maintaining the relative location of transducers to generate clearer and more precise images.” Wang says.

The device’s adhesive layer is made from two thin layers of elastomer that encapsulate a middle layer of solid hydrogel, a mostly water-based material that easily transmits sound waves. Unlike traditional ultrasound gels, the MIT team’s hydrogel is elastic and stretchy.

“The elastomer prevents dehydration of hydrogel,” says Chen, an MIT postdoc. “Only when hydrogel is highly hydrated can acoustic waves penetrate effectively and give high-resolution imaging of internal organs.”

The bottom elastomer layer is designed to stick to skin, while the top layer adheres to a rigid array of transducers that the team also designed and fabricated. The entire ultrasound sticker measures about 2 square centimeters across, and 3 millimeters thick — about the area of a postage stamp.

The researchers ran the ultrasound sticker through a battery of tests with healthy volunteers, who wore the stickers on various parts of their bodies, including the neck, chest, abdomen, and arms. The stickers stayed attached to their skin, and produced clear images of underlying structures for up to 48 hours. During this time, volunteers performed a variety of activities in the lab, from sitting and standing, to jogging, biking, and lifting weights.

From the stickers’ images, the team was able to observe the changing diameter of major blood vessels when seated versus standing. The stickers also captured details of deeper organs, such as how the heart changes shape as it exerts during exercise. The researchers were also able to watch the stomach distend, then shrink back as volunteers drank then later passed juice out of their system. And as some volunteers lifted weights, the team could detect bright patterns in underlying muscles, signaling temporary microdamage.

“With imaging, we might be able to capture the moment in a workout before overuse, and stop before muscles become sore,” says Chen. “We do not know when that moment might be yet, but now we can provide imaging data that experts can interpret.”

The team is working to make the stickers function wirelessly. They are also developing software algorithms based on artificial intelligence that can better interpret and diagnose the stickers’ images. Then, Zhao envisions ultrasound stickers could be packaged and purchased by patients and consumers, and used not only to monitor various internal organs, but also the progression of tumors, as well as the development of fetuses in the womb.

“We imagine we could have a box of stickers, each designed to image a different location of the body,” Zhao says. “We believe this represents a breakthrough in wearable devices and medical imaging.”

This research was funded, in part, by MIT, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.

Source

Windows builds

We'll start off with news about build 25169 landing in the Dev Channel. This contains an interesting feature called “multi-app kiosk mode” where an IT admin can configure a device to run a selection of apps and block all other functionalities. If you're wondering what the use-case for this would be, it's more to do with frontline and retail workers, or those in the education sector sharing a single machine. That said, there are other improvements that are geared more towards regular consumers too in this build too, such as enhancements to Windows Spotlight and the Settings app.

Meanwhile, the Beta Channel got some love in the form of builds 22621.440 and 22622.440. As usual, the former has new functionalities toggled off, while the latter has them enabled. The main difference this time around is that one build has the Taskbar overflow while the other does not. The shared feature-set includes dynamic Widgets content on the Taskbar and a bunch of other fixes and general improvements.

The Release Preview Channel wasn't forgotten, either. It actually received builds for two versions of Windows. Windows 11 got build 22621.317 (KB5015885) with some fixes, whereas Windows 10 got version 22H2. If you're wondering how to get the latter, check out the linked guide in the Under the Spotlight section of this article.

We also heard some further confirmation that Windows 11 version 22H2 is set to launch in September and that Microsoft plans to launch 10th anniversary Surface devices in October. This is in addition to Microsoft's first in-person event, Ignite, since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, Windows Server vNext received preview build 25169 too, but as usual, there's no changelog.

And if you're a Mac user looking to dip your toes into the world of Windows, you might want to check out the recently released VMwareFusion 22H2 Tech Preview. This virtualization software now allows you to run Windows 11 next to macOS, with support for Apple Silicon and Intel. Similarly, if you're a Rufus user, you'll want to have a look at the beta update that introduces the option to create a local offline account and copy regional settings from the current Windows installation.

Software issues

We'll start this section off by talking about Microsoft confirming that a KB5014666 for Windows 10 - released late last month - breaks printing… again. In essence, it causes Windows 10 to display duplicates of a single printer with a “Copy1” suffix. More importantly, applications referring to a specific printer by name cannot print a document. While Microsoft is still investigating the issue, it has published some workarounds.

There is also a problem in Edge Collections where it does not sync across devices. Microsoft is working on the issue and has committed to solving it in the next release of Android and as well as Edge 104 next month. In related news, the Redmond tech firm has also talked about how it is fixing performance issues in its Edge browser with cache compression.

Talking about fixing issues, Microsoft is working on reducing the cold boot time on Xbox consoles as well. This is being done by reducing the length of the startup animation by five seconds, which should result in an overall boost of up to 25% when it comes to boot time performance. That said, these changes will only take effect when you've set your console to Energy Saver mode. Those on Standby mode will not be able to benefit.

Google is taking another matter into its own hands when it comes to Windows' default app configuration. The Chrome-maker clearly believes that Microsoft's process to switch the default browser is a bit tedious. It is working on a new tool which allows users to do the same for Chrome through a one-click process, just like Mozilla's implementation for Firefox.

Finally, the latest Windows 10 KB5015878 update has fixed some DirectX 12 problems and has improved the overall OS upgrade experience. So, if you're on Windows 10, check out the changelog here before installing the update.

Cyber threats

Coming over to news about cybersecurity, Microsoft published some details about how it is preventing a new strain of malware called Knotweed infecting Windows devices in financial and law sectors. It revealed these details to highlight the threat posed by private firms selling cyberweapons. In this case, Knotweed's origin has been tied to Austrian firm DSIRF, which, according to its website, is a security and analytics company.

In related news, security researchers have also reported on a new threat in which LockBit ransomware actors are abusing Windows Defender to load Cobalt Strike beacons as payloads. You can find more details here.

Meanwhile, if you're an Azure customer, you might find it interesting to read about how Microsoft handles and protects against security threats on the cloud. The company has outlined its process at a high level, which should be a fascinating read for those involved in this space or considering becoming an Azure customer.

Talking about Azure, Ubuntu Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs) are now available on Microsoft's cloud platform. Ubuntu 20.04 is the only Linux distribution to support CVMs at this point in time, so make sure to select it if you're spinning up a new VM on Azure and require the enhanced security offering.

Finally, if you're an iCloud for Windows user, you'll be happy to know that the app can now generate two-factor authentication (2FA) codes directly on Windows.

Git Gud

Microsoft has revealed its next Games with Gold offerings, and you can see them in the graphic above. At this point, it is important to once again highlight that Microsoft is getting rid of Xbox 360 games in this offering in October. Make sure that you claim any games you're interested in as they become available in the next couple of months.

That said, there are quite a few deals going around on Xbox storefronts if you're looking to purchase games. This week's Deals with Gold offerings are headlined by Jurassic World and Assassin's Creed franchises. There's also an Xbox Ultimate Game Sale going on that significantly knocks off some of the price of Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, and more. Then there's the Xbox Free Play Days featuring WWE 2K22, Generation Zero, and Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker.

Last but not least, our PC purist readers will once again want to check out this weekend's PC game deals, curated by our News Editor Pulasthi Ariyasinghe.

Dev Channel

• Here are all the features Microsoft added to Excel in July 2022
• Microsoft had a decent last quarter of FY22, but it has blamed global conditions for some lukewarm earnings
• Edge Dev 105.0.1329.1 has added better mute indicator and PDF editor improvements
• Intel has ended 10th Gen and older support with its Windows 11 22H2 WDDM 3.1 drivers

Under the spotlight

This week's edition of Tech Tips Tuesday explains how you can check PayPal for old “active” payments. It's an important thing to know for users of the service, so make sure to have a look at forum member Warwagon's guide on the topic.

Meanwhile, our News Reporter Taras Buria has been extremely busy with guides lately. His first guide explains how you can get Windows 10 version 22H2 right now. The update is extremely minor, but if you're a sucker for those pesky build numbers, you might be interested in installing it.

Another guide talks about how you can enable the Taskbar overflow in Windows 11, a feature which hit the Beta Channel just this week. It's useful to know about, especially if you keep a lot of apps open.

There's also a guide on how you can enable the new Windows Spotlight theme offered by the latest Windows 11 Dev Channel build 25169. You would need this information if you're on the Dev Channel and have not been automatically offered this capability.

Finally, Taras also wrote some of his thoughts about a third-party MyPhone utility that allows you to make phone calls directly from your PC, regardless of whether you're using an Android, iOS, or Windows Phone (!!!) device. Check out the details here.

Logging off

This week's most entertaining news item is undoubtedly about a Filipino politician looking to brand the art of ghosting as a criminal offense. According to the ludicrous bill submitted to the Philippines House of Representatives, ghosting is an “emotional cruelty” that happens “for no apparent justifiable reason but solely to cause emotional distress to the victim”. There's little chance of the bill being passed as law, but if it does, the politician has previously hinted that the punishment for ghosting could be community service.

Microsoft Weekly: Windows builds, software issues, and cyber threats

Talking about its decision of setting the sun on Amazon Drive, the company stated:

We are taking the opportunity to more fully focus our efforts on Amazon Photos to provide customers a dedicated solution for photos and video storage.

The email sent to customers by Amazon mentioned:

We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos.

However, for files other than photos and videos, you'll have to manually download them from the website. In case you need to retrieve larger files, Amazon has also put out a recommendation for the Amazon Photos desktop app for Windows and macOS.

While the service will lose support by December 31st, 2023, new uploads won't be supported by January 31st, and Amazon Drive apps for Android and iOS will be removed on October 31st, 2022. Users are advised to migrate to Amazon Photos if they do not want to lose their data. This service offers 100GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage tiers for $1.99 per month, $6.99 per month, and $11.99 per month, respectively.

If you want to cancel your Drive subscription, you can head over to the dedicated webpage here. If you cancel your subscription, you will be eligible for a refund.

Via The Verge

Amazon is killing its cloud storage service, Amazon Drive, after 11 years

AMD Ryzen 7000 series of processors are long time coming now. Based on new Zen 4 architecture and 5 nm tech, Ryzen 7000 series will be a successor to Ryzen 5000 series processors. It will support DDR5 exclusively, as well as PCIe 5.0. They are going to come later this year.

However, Ryzen 7000 CPUs might get launched earlier than expected. AMD has announced a special even on 4th August to showcase the 600 series motherboard chip-set which are going to support the newer generation Ryzen Zen 4 7000 CPUs.

Titled “An Exclusive Look at Partner Products: A Showcase of The New AM5 Motherboards”, AMD is going to showcase X670 Extreme (X670E) and X670 motherboard chip-sets. These are flagship and enthusiast motherboard chip-sets, respectively. They have even opened a registration page for people to register for the event.

The motherboards which are going to be up for the show will be from various manufacturers like ASRock, ASUS, BIOSTAR, GIGABYTE, and MSI.

What’s missing from the event is the mention of B650 chip-set based motherboards, which are going to be the mainstream motherboards that are going to be affordable to the most. When are they going to launch them or release them or whether they will release together with X670E and X670 chip-sets, no one knows

AMD Ryzen 7000 Launch

What makes this event interesting are its wordings. The original wordings for the summary of the event, as reported by TechPowerUp, was as follows: “Supporting the recent launch of AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors”. Folks at AMD quickly realized their slip and later changed the sentence to “Supporting the recent announcement of AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors”.

The above can mean two things. Either AMD made an honest mistake by using the word launch, or, AMD is going to launch 7000 series processors on that event or even before it. It’s anyone’s guess what’s the possibility.

As Ryzen 7000 processors have already started mass production, it’s not a surprise really. What is a surprise is that if reports are to be believed, AMD Zen 4 are going to be available for purchase starting from September 15 itself. Which is about a month earlier than Intel’s next gen Raptor Lake processors, giving AMD an early head-start in the impressive next gen processor race.

Ryzen 7000 Model Numbers Leaked

Meanwhile, as per VideoCardz, AMD themselves have leaked the model numbers for the Ryzen 7000 on their public library. The model numbers are as follows:

• Ryzen 9 7950X
• Ryzen 9 7900X
• Ryzen 7 7700X
• Ryzen 5 7600X

Missing from the list is Ryzen 7 7800X and Ryzen 3 7000 series processors.

While famous leaker Greymon55 suggests that Ryzen 7 7800X could become the higher cached Ryzen 7 7800X3D instead (just like what AMD did with Ryzen 5800X3D), what is interesting is missing of lower powered Ryzen 3 processors. Why this is important is that one side there is no mention of cheaper B650 series chip-set being launched and on the other side we have Ryzen 3 7000 processors missing from the leaked list.

This means that we might not see both B650 series chip-set motherboards and cheaper Ryzen 3 processors available at release and they might come for everyone later.

It’s important to remind that Ryzen 7000 series will work only with new 600 chip-set motherboards, as they require an entirely new AM5 socket for the processor.

AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs Might Launch On 4th August

New PS5 system software beta adds two of users’ most-requested features

The COVID-19 pandemic made personal computers more important than ever, and sales exploded two years in a row. But the good times for PC and chipmakers now seem to be fading fast. Last quarter’s slump in Chromebook sales has made way for an even bigger decline that’s hitting Windows manufacturers as well, and today, chipmaker Intel has revealed a 25 percent decline in consumer chip sales. It says that a “near-term cyclical slowdown” is shrinking the total market for PCs by approximately 10 percent this year.

“Some of our largest customers are reducing inventory levels at a rate not seen in the last decade,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on today’s earnings call.

Earlier this month, Gartner reported that the global PC market had already declined 12.6 percent compared to last year. And today, Apple reported a roughly 10 percent decline in its Mac sales as well, though Tim Cook suggested that it may have simply be selling out of its Mac inventory.

Back to Intel: overall, the company’s reporting a 22 percent revenue decline to $15.3 billion for Q2 2022, and its profits actually went negative — it lost half a billion dollars this quarter. That’s a 109 percent decline in profit from the $5.1 billion it saw in Q2 2021.

Intel is planning to increase the prices of its chips later this year. Might that help? The company’s data center business dropped 16 percent in revenue and 90 percent in operating income as well.

Mobileye is a bright spot with record quarterly revenue of $460M and $190M in profit

Intel’s losses aren’t all from declining sales, though. In fact, the company’s slide deck shows it lost half a billion dollars (operating loss) just to launch its underwhelming first-generation GPUs. (On the earnings call, Gelsinger says the company won’t meet its GPU target of four million units this year, but they’re track for $1 billion in revenue by year’s end, and Intel will ship the A5 and A7 Arc desktop GPUs next quarter.)

It’s also seeing a loss of another $155 million to ramp up its foundry services business, which sees the company ink deals to produce chips for other companies including Qualcomm and MediaTek. Building chips for other companies is something the company historically hadn’t done before but is part of its new plan under Gelsinger.

Rough earnings aside, Intel had a major win for that new strategy today: Congress just passed the CHIPS Act that will approve $52 billion in funding for companies to manufacture chips in the US, and it’s thought that a substantial chunk of that money will go to Intel. It seems exceedingly unlikely that the funding will actually fix the chip shortage or make the US a chip manufacturing powerhouse like its rivals in Asia, but Intel has promised (and temporarily withheld) factories and jobs based on that money. Intel says it expects to see some of that money in 2023.

Intel also revealed today that it’s exiting the Optane memory business — which it originally kept despite selling off the rest of its SSD business to SK Hynix in 2020 — and confirmed it has exited its drone business as well. Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal bought Intel’s drone light show business, The Register reported earlier this month.

Intel is forecasting lower returns next quarter as well, but CFO David Zinsner suggests things could get better from there: “We expect Q2 and Q3 to be the financial bottom for the company.”

As a point of comparison, Qualcomm reported yesterday that its phone chip business was up 59 percent this past quarter to $6.1 billion.

People aren’t buying as many PCs — and Intel is feeling the multibillion-dollar burn

Apple narrowly outperformed Wall Street expectations with its Q3 earnings on Thursday afternoon, reporting a slight year-over-year increase in iPhone revenue and a 12 percent jump for its services division. But elsewhere, the company’s numbers sagged: Mac revenues were down by 10 percent — a drop that CEO Tim Cook attributed to supply chain constraints and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. But it also matches an industry-wide trend of PC sales being on the decline.

Earlier this month, Apple released a redesigned MacBook Air powered by the company’s M2 chip — but that didn’t factor into this quarter’s results. The new Air followed the launch of the upgraded 13-inch MacBook Pro in June. The Mac Studio desktop, Studio Display, M1-powered iPad Air, and the latest iPhone SE went on sale back in March. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that Apple has a “flood” of new products in the pipeline for the fall and extending into 2023.

Wearables revenue was down around 8 percent, while the iPad unit fell by 2 percent. On the whole, Apple still managed to set a June quarter revenue record, taking in $83 billion with earnings per share of $1.20.

For its 2022 lineup of new iPhones, Apple is rumored to be preparing not one but two large, 6.7-inch devices. These will be the iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPhone 14 model with fewer frills. You can also expect the usual pair of 6.1-inch phones: the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14. The mini-sized iPhone will not be part of this year’s updates. The new phones will feature upgraded cameras, with the top-tier Pro models gaining a faster processor and redesigned, smaller screen cutouts for Face ID and the selfie camera.

Apple is continuing development of its next wave of major software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. iOS / iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and other updates are currently in public beta testing ahead of a wide release to all consumers in the fall. The iPhone release will include new lock screen customization capabilities, the option to edit or unsend messages, and more features.

But like other tech giants in recent weeks, Apple plans to slow hiring in the face of a potential economic downturn and recession. Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach that Apple will be “deliberate” in bringing on new employees.

Apple says Mac sales are getting hit hard by supply constraints

It might get cheaper and easier to buy popular tech products, like gaming consoles and graphics cards, after Congress approved $52 billion in funding for domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

In a 243-187 vote on Thursday, the House passed the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen US science and technology innovation. The bill, a Biden administration priority, includes $52 billion in subsidies to encourage chip manufacturers to build out semiconductor fabrications plants, or “fabs,” in the US.

After months of negotiations between the House and Senate, Thursday’s approval resolves the looming threat of chipmakers reconsidering plans to build US plants. Earlier this month, the groundbreaking ceremony for a $20 billion Intel foundry was delayed while the funding remained stalled.

“The American people may not know it, but semiconductors are integral to their everyday experiences,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) said in a Thursday floor statement ahead of the vote. “They are microchips that are used in automobiles, consumer electronics, and washing machines.”

The coronavirus pandemic upended a wide variety of industries, but especially businesses that manufacture products that require semiconductor chips. Demand for tech products, like laptops, consoles, and tablets, skyrocketed as consumers grew accustomed to spending more time at home instead of at school or the office. The confluence of demand and pandemic-related supply chain disruptions spurred a global semiconductor shortage that hardware suppliers, like Nvidia and AMD, are just now beginning to resolve.

But the pandemic supply chain crisis inspired lawmakers, namely Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to craft legislation to make it more feasible for chipmakers to employ American workers and build their products domestically. Over the last few decades, semiconductor plants have shipped factories and jobs overseas, primarily to countries like China, to cut down on manufacturing and shipping costs. The CHIPS and Science Act is the Biden administration’s bet to incentivize chipmakers to reverse course and build fabs in the US.

“For decades, some ‘experts’ said we needed to give up on manufacturing in America. I never believed that. Manufacturing jobs are back,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday. “Thanks to this bill, we are going to have even more of them.”

President Joe Biden has encouraged lawmakers to pass the measure, but it’s unclear when he intends to sign it into law.

The CHIPS and Science Act is the final version of an innovation bill that’s undergone numerous title and language changes since the concept was first introduced in 2019. The initial version of the bill was titled the Endless Frontier Act, a nod to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Last summer, the Senate approved a newer version of the bill, the US Innovation and Competition Act, that stalled as House and Senate leaders negotiated changes.

But with pressure building due to a looming August recess and midterm election cycle, lawmakers revved up momentum to pass a smaller bill, the CHIPS and Science Act, that trimmed down some of the former package’s ambitions but included billions for domestic chipmaking.

As the bill’s passage grew more imminent, progressives became more bullish in their opposition to the measure. In a statement earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders — a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats — criticized the bill for serving as a “blank check” for profitable semiconductor companies despite supporting the expansion of domestic microchip manufacturing.

“There is no debate that the microchip and semiconductor shortage is a dire threat to our nation,” Sanders said. “What I cannot understand is why so many in Congress are so eager to pay this bribe.”

Sanders’ statements chilled optimism that House Democrats could garner enough support to approve the bill. It was unclear how many members of the House Congressional Progressive Caucus would vote hours ahead of the bill’s passage.

Outside of the chips subsidies, the bill provides the Commerce Department with $10 billion to award states and localities grants to build out “regional technology hubs” across the country. The hubs would serve as mini Silicon Valleys as a means of bringing jobs and economic growth to areas hard hit by globalization. The National Science Foundation is also set to receive billions in additional funding for semiconductor manufacturing research and workforce development programs.

CHIPS Act clears Congress, ensuring $52 billion boost to US foundries

Microsoft Ignite, an event for developers and IT implementers, will offer a suite of new experiences, depending on whether you will attend the online or in-person event. The former will be free for everyone who wants to participate and available in alternative languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. In addition, Microsoft is going to offer 28 AI closed-captioning languages in order to cater to more participants worldwide.

The registration for the event is still not live (it is expected to be available in late August 2022), but Microsoft encourages everyone interested in attending the event physically to sign up in order to get notifications once the registration starts.

Aside from the digital and physical versions of the event, Microsoft says that the latter will be offered in two categories: one that will be free and one that will be paid. However, there are still no details on the differences between the two or how much the latter will cost. 

For those who are determined to get the limited passes for the in-person event, Microsoft has already divulged some things to expect, including demos, on-site learning, and meeting Microsoft experts. And in addition to the sessions and content that will be shared with digital participants, attendees at the Seattle Convention Center are promised to experience collaboration with Microsoft and partner technology innovators and experts. They will also be allowed to participate in on-site forums hosted by Microsoft and partner leaders. Lastly, they can try various product demos focusing on productivity and collaboration, intelligent business applications, customer insights, new product and service innovations, AI and automation, IoT, mixed reality, end-to-end security, sustainability, industry-specific cloud services, and more.

Microsoft Ignite 2022 to arrive as in-person and digital event in October

Two new filings with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) revealed that the next-gen Nvidia and AMD graphics cards will most likely be launched soon. These include the oft-rumored RTX 4090 and RTX 4090 Ti models.

According to the filings that were reported by Digital Trends not only are the Nvidia Lovelace RTX 40-series listed in many variations but there are also more listings for the 30-series, particularly the RTX 30 Super series. Meanwhile, the AMD RX 7000 variations are also listed on their own page.

The EEC is a trademark registry that often reliably reveals product ldetails, but with that said there are still no guarantees these models will all release in the market. At the very least, we know that these trademarks indicate the manufacturers are either developing these products or hedging their bets and securing the trademarks in case they want to release one at a later date.

The registration is from manufacturer Afox, which is a Foxconn subsidiary based in Taiwan.

Analysis: What does this mean for Team Red? 

These AMD and Nvidia graphics cards debuting on the EEC usually indicate a rapidly approaching release date, which corresponds to the rumored October release date for the NTX 4090.

Furthermore, the fact that both the AMD and Nvidia graphics cards were registered at the same time most likely means that they’ll be launching at around the same time in October too. This would be excellent news for buyers since the market would be especially competitive and could drive down prices.

Considering that for its last graphics cards launch, AMD trailed behind Nvidia by launching months later might have contributed to its grabbing a far smaller chunk of the market share this generation. So it’s honestly a given that this time around the tech giant would want to avoid a late launch at all costs.

Next-gen Nvidia and AMD graphics cards are one step closer to release

Microsoft posted the fourth quarter of its 2022 financial results today, reporting revenue of $51.9 billion and a net income of $16.7 billion. Revenue is up 12 percent, and net income has increased by just 2 percent. But while revenue was up, Microsoft saw some of its core businesses, including Windows and Xbox, start to slip.

The PC market had been thriving throughout the pandemic, but PC shipments experienced a big decline in the recent quarter — nearly 13 percent according to Gartner. It’s the sharpest decline in nine years, thanks to geopolitical tensions, inflation, and continued supply chain challenges.

Microsoft’s Windows OEM revenue, the price PC manufactures pay Microsoft to put Windows on machines, fell 2 percent in Q4, driven by what Microsoft described as “production shutdowns and a deteriorating PC market.”

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

“We did see the market weaken through the quarter, so that did impact our results,” says Kendra Goodenough, director of Microsoft investor relations, in a call with The Verge. Despite the weaker PC market, Surface is doing well on the commercial side. Surface revenue has increased 10 percent for Q4, despite no big Surface launches during the quarter. “Consumer side is definitely dropping off at a faster rate when it comes to overall demand environment right now, so when we think of the commercial strength on Surface that’s where we get a little bit more help on that Surface [revenue] number,” explains Goodenough.

Microsoft refreshed its compact Surface Laptop Go in June with 11th Gen Intel processor, but we’ll be waiting until the fall until we see a bigger refresh to the Surface lineup. 2022 marks 10 years of Surface, so expect the usual fall event for new devices.

All eyes are now on Intel’s planned price increases of its CPUs and chips, and how they might affect the PC market. Intel is planning price rises for its flagship CPUs and a wide range of other chips later this year, including Wi-Fi and other connectivity chips.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Over on the Xbox side, hardware revenue fell 11 percent, alongside a 6 percent dip in Xbox content and services revenue. Microsoft attributed the services declines to “lower engagement hours and monetization” across both first- and third-party titles.

“The decline you’re seeing in Xbox hardware is partly a reflection of the fact we had that launch... about two years ago, so with the supply constraints that we had seen over the last couple of years it has kind of extended out that period for consoles,” say Goodenough. “We’re still seeing strong demand, but coming off those highs that we saw in the last couple of years with the launch.”

Last quarter Microsoft revealed 10 million people had used the company’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service, and that’s bound to have grown even higher thanks to Fortnite now being the only game that’s free to stream on the service. Microsoft hasn’t provided an update on Xbox Game Pass subscribers this quarter, after the service grew to 25 million in January following the holiday releases of Age of Empires IV, Forza Horizon 5, and Halo Infinite.

Microsoft also isn’t discussing its planned $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard any further today. The purchase is expected to close in fiscal year 2023, and it will see Microsoft publish franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush.

Outside of gaming and Windows, Microsoft’s Office, cloud, and server products continue to growth at impressive rates. Office commercial products and cloud services revenue is up 9 percent this quarter, and Office consumer is up 9 year over year. Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions are now at 59.7 million, as Microsoft continues to tempt consumers into Office subscriptions and services like Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft’s cloud services continue to grow. Image: Microsoft

Microsoft’s server products and cloud services revenue also jumped s percent year over year, thanks as always to Azure and other cloud services revenue growing by 22 percent.

LinkedIn continues to grow at Microsoft, thanks to advertising demand. LinkedIn revenue was up 26 percent this quarter, which Microsoft attributes to its Talent Solutions and Marketing Solutions businesses. Search and news advertising revenue is also up by 15 percent year over year.

These latest results arrive after Microsoft was forced to lower its guidance for this quarter in June, and the company cited unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The dollar is strong against a number of currencies right now, amid geopolitical tensions and inflation. Microsoft is affected when it converts foreign currency into dollars. Microsoft is now also seeing impacts from a softening of the PC market, and even a reduced ad market spend as the economic outlook looks increasingly more uncertain.

Microsoft will now hold an earnings call with investors at 5:30PM ET / 3:30PM PT, and we’ll update this article with any relevant comments.

Update, July 26th 4:45PM ET: Article updated with comments from Microsoft.

Xbox and Windows fall in Microsoft’s $51.9 billion quarter

AMD X670E chipset AM5 motherboards

Back in May, AMD announced the upcoming Socket AM5 motherboard and the 600 series chipsets. It also talked about the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs which are going to be housed in these motherboards. According to leaks, the company is planning to launch the next-gen CPU alongside the AM5 Socket in September.

The company has announced that its motherboard vendor partners, namely, ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte and MSI, will share more details on the upcoming AM5 motherboards in a Meet the Experts webinar. More specifically, the discussion will be held around the premium X670 Extreme (X670E) and the X670 chipsets.

Here is what the summary of the upcoming event says:

Supporting the recent launch of AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors, the new AMD AM5 Chipset offers users high power performance across gaming, creating, and intensive computing tasks. Supporting DDR5 memory and PCIe® 5.0 for the world’s fastest NVMe storage, the AM5 platform introduces more performance, power, and possibilities than ever before.

In this webinar, join experts Mike Yang, Michiel Berkhout, Anny Hsu, Juan J. Guerrero, and Sofos Oikonomou. Learn about upcoming motherboards from partners such as ASRock, ASUS, BIOSTAR, GIGABYTE, and MSI on how their AM5 motherboards introduce cutting-edge features to the market and unlock the full power of AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors.

What we’ll cover:

• AM5 Ecosystem Solutions

  • Socket AM5 X670 Extreme and X670

• Flagship AM5 Motherboards

  • Socket AM5 motherboard lineup, specifications, and features from ASUS, GIGABYTE, ASRock, MSI, and BIOSTAR

• The Next Frontier of Ryzen™ Motherboards

  • How the Socket AM5 platform and AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors deliver unbeatable performance

Those who are interested to know more about the upcoming AM5 boards can register on AMD's website at this link. The webinar will be held on Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 11 a.m. CT or 9 a.m. PT or 9.30 p.m. IST.

Via: Planet 3DNow! (Twitter)

Excited for next-gen AMD Socket AM5? You'll soon learn more at this upcoming event

Motherboards are already supporting unreleased, unannounced 13th-gen Intel CPUs

With the partnership, MediaTek will benefit from Intel processing technologies and produce chips for smart devices. According to Engadget, Intel is likely to produce chips for medical devices, industrial computing, and much more for MediaTek.

Established in 2021, the IFS became a leading software provider and semiconductor manufacturer by Intel. The IFS, as Intel states in the press release, “offers a broad manufacturing platform with technologies optimized for high performance, low power, and always-on connectivity built on a roadmap that spans production-proven three-dimensional FinFET transistors to next-generation breakthroughs.”

IFS President, Randhir Thakur, tweeted that the partnership will give MediaTek “a more balanced, resilient supply chain.” The partnership will also provide a new foundry to MediaTek, giving it an extended manufacturing capacity in Europe and the US. Thakur further stated,

”As one of the world’s leading fabless chip designers powering more than 2 billion devices a year, MediaTek is a terrific partner for IFS as we enter our next phase of growth,”

“We have the right combination of advanced process technology and geographically diverse capacity to help MediaTek deliver the next billion connected devices across a range of applications.”

Earlier this year, Intel announced a $1 Billion fund, attracting startups and encouraging them to bring innovative technologies to the IFS. In today’s press release, the company stated that IFS customers would be able to benefit from new investment opportunities in Ohio and Germany, as well as the expansion of IFS factories at existing sites.

Source: Intel via Engadget

Intel to produce chips for MediaTek under a partnership

This month, South Korean chipmaker TSMC, which produces some of the world’s most advanced silicon, announced record profits for the past quarter—up by 76.4 percent from the year before to 237.03 billion New Taiwan dollars ($8.05 billion). It also warned that weakening consumer demand coupled with chip hoarding would put a dent in future financials.

“Our expectation is for the excessive inventory in the semiconductor supply chain to take a few quarters to rebalance to a healthier level,” C.C. Wei, TSMC’s CEO, said during the company’s earnings call.

It’s just the latest sign that the recent chipmaking boom is finally over—for some at least. But that doesn’t mean the shortage of chips that has bedeviled the global economy is about to disappear, or that the US need no longer worry about shoring up its advanced chipmaking capacity.

“In certain industries, there’s an easing—an equilibrium,” says Julie Gerdeman, CEO of Everstream Analytics, a company that analyzes supply chain data to help companies forecast risk. But she says the complexity of the chip supply chain, the diversity of components used in different sectors, and evolving risks affecting product availability, require a more nuanced picture. Gerdeman says people often talk as if all chips are the same, “but you really need to look at the kind of chip and the industry.” Some sectors still see shortages, as well as growing uncertainty around future supply, she adds.

Many chip companies have made a killing in the past few years, thanks to the pandemic rush to buy laptops, games consoles, and other gadgets; soaring use of cloud computing; and increased need for chips in industries like automotive and home appliances. The unprecedented demand, combined with supply chain shocks and pandemic shutdowns, has caused critical shortages of some chips, shuttering factories and forcing companies to redesign or reengineer products and hoard components. Now soaring inflation, growing economic uncertainty, crashing cryptocurrency prices, and a glut of some components have eased some shortages, and sky-high pricings for certain chips are coming down.

Other manufacturers of high-end consumer chips also expect orders to start drying up. Last month, Intel said it would put a freeze on hiring in the group that produces desktop and laptop chips, due to declining sales prospects. Reports published last week suggest the South Korean memory chipmaker Hylinx is considering whether to slash its 2023 capital expenditure by a third because of softening consumer demand.

The price of some chips reflects the downward trajectory. The cost of DRAM memory chips, for instance, fell by 10.6 percent from April to July, according to TrendForce, a Taiwanese market research company. The cost of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are needed for gaming PCs, for crypto-currency computations, and to run artificial intelligence computations, has fallen roughly 17 percent over the past month, according to one analysis. In April, Gartner forecast that semiconductor revenue growth would be roughly 13 percent in 2022, compared with 25 percent in 2021.

But the turnaround is far from uniform. Everstream’s data shows that lead times for some advanced chips needed for medical devices, telecommunications, and cybersecurity systems is around 52 weeks, compared to a prior average of 27 weeks.

Automotive companies that were badly affected by the pandemic because they initially canceled orders for components were then blindsided by an uptick in demand and had no spare inventory and little negotiating leverage when it came to ramping back up. Modern cars can have thousands of chips, and future models are likely to pack even greater computing power, thanks to more advanced in-car software and autonomous driving functionality.

“Anything automotive—or competing with capacity for automotive—is still highly constrained,” says Jeff Caldwell, director of global supply management at MasterWorks Electronics, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, cables, and other electronics products. Actify CEO Dave Opsahl, whose company sells operation management software to automotive companies, says the supply of chips has not improved for carmakers, and shortages of raw materials like resin and steel, as well as of labor, have also gotten worse.

Frank Cavallaro is CEO of A2 Global, a company that finds, procures, and tests electronic components for manufacturers. He says the current situation reflects the complexity of the chip market and supply chain. Many end products include numerous semiconductor components sourced from all over the world and require devices to be packaged by companies that are mostly in China. “It’s macro, it’s micro, it’s down to individual regions,” he says.

Everstream’s Gerdman says the appearance of the new BA5 Covid variant in China has raised fears of draconian lockdowns that could hamper the production of chips and other products. She adds that uncertainty around future capacity—as well as geopolitical restrictions on chip exports—makes it difficult to plan ahead.

The geopolitical picture may significantly increase global capacity to produce advanced chips. Legislation making its way through the US Senate would provide $52 billion in subsidies to increase domestic chip production. The US share of global chip production has fallen from 37 percent in the 1980s to 12 percent today. But while chip shortages have been cited by those boosting subsidies, much of the money would go to reshoring production of advanced chips. The country’s most advanced technology, from Intel, lags behind that of TSMC, presenting a potential weakness in US access to technology that promises to be vital for everything from AI to biotechnology to 5G.

The current downturn may only contribute to instability further along the semiconductor supply chain. “Unfortunately, a slowing economy brings with it the risk of some suppliers going into financial distress or liquidity crunch if they cannot access capital,” says Bindiya Vakil, CEO of Resilinc, a company that sells AI-based supply chain management tools. “This can introduce a lot of risk into the supply situation. Companies should really monitor supplier financial health and collaborate closely with suppliers to give them favorable payment terms, upfront payments, and so on, to help them with liquidity.”

The cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry even has some, including Syed Alam, who leads the global semiconductor practice at consulting firm Accenture, envisioning the shortage turning into a glut. “A rising concern for 2023 is the possibility of overcapacity for chip production,” he says. “Companies need to be focused on building an agile and resilient supply chain for the longer term, and be prepared to react.”

The Chip Shortage Is Easing—but Only for Some

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Global shortage of fiber-optic cable threatens digital growth

Windows 11 quality

This week, Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev Channel received build 25163. This adds a Taskbar Overflow for those who have a lot of pinned and open apps on their Taskbar, as well as an improved nearby sharing experience. There were lots of other fixes for File Explorer, Taskbar, and the Settings app along with a significant list of known issues too so do read through them here before you decide to pull the trigger on the update.

Interestingly, it also seems that Microsoft is lowering the Windows 11 startup sound quality. Some eagle-eyed people have noticed that the bit rate in Windows 11 version 22H2 RTM build 22621 is 1536kbps, which is noticeably lower than the 2304kbps bit rate in last year's build 22463. Of course, whether this leads to a perceptible difference in real-world experiences is a different story altogether.

Microsoft rolled out builds 22621.436 and 22622.436 to the Beta Channel too. The main difference between the two builds is that the latter has new features on by default while the other has them off. The same improved nearby sharing experience present in the latest Dev Channel build as well as some fixes are now present for the Beta Channel too. Microsoft has also requested people who install the build to join its latest Bug Bash.

And while this is not exactly new, a senior Microsoft security executive highlighted this week that Windows 11 version 22H2 comes with brute-force attack protections enabled by default. Although these mechanisms were in place in previous versions of Windows too, they were disabled by default.

There are a few other Windows client updates to talk about too. The Dev Channel received build 25163.1010 (KB5016904), but this was just to test the servicing pipeline. There were some non-security updates for Windows 11 in the form of KB5015882 (build 22000.829) too. It introduced improvements to IOPS performance, fix for a File Explorer bug, a new option to update Windows 11 at the startup, and lots more. And Windows 10 Release Preview netted build 19044.1862 (KB5015878) with improvements to IOPS performance, better reliability in push-button reset after an OS upgrade, and more. Meanwhile, if you're considering upgrading to Windows 11 or have just upgraded to it and feel a bit lost, Microsoft has a bunch of new introductory videos to familiarize you with its latest OS.

On the Windows Server side of things, Microsoft pushed out a reminder that version 20H2 is reaching end of life in the next couple of weeks. Besides this, the company is also about to retire the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) and has encouraged customers to move to Azure Stack HCI or Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC).

And if you're running a supported version of Windows Server 2022, you might want to install the July 2022 cumulative update right away. Build 20348.859 (KB5015879) is a C release with boosts for IOPS and fixes for a bug which causes Windows to freeze due to Defender.

Canceled Surface Duo 2

Fans of the Surface Duo series of products are in for some heartbreak as it appears that Microsoft may have canned a mid-range version of the Surface Duo 2. This "lite" product was codenamed "Cronos" and was originally scheduled to release later this year. It has a full plastic exterior with a rounded matte finish, a smaller camera bump, and an "upper mid-range" Snapdragon chipset. It seems that Microsoft was ready to cut a lot of corners to bring the price of the device down, but it's unclear why the hardware eventually ended up getting canceled. That said, the silver lining from this news is that the budget category of consumers is still something that Microsoft may consider targeting in the future, specifically when it comes to the Duo lineup.

Talking about hardware, the Surface Headphones 2+ are soon getting Teams certification over native Bluetooth without requiring dongles. The update is scheduled to arrive on July 28 and would make the Surface Headphones 2+ the first Bluetooth device to receive such a certification.

Coming over to hardware hosted on the cloud, Microsoft has announced a range of new features for Windows 365, a service that allows businesses to securely stream the full Windows experience as the OS is hosted on the Microsoft Cloud. Upcoming features include Citrix HDX Plus add-on, a Government edition of Windows 365, better monitoring and analytics, and a more simplified sign-up experience for Windows 365 Business. Check out all the details here.

Macros in Office

Earlier this month, Microsoft surprised its customers as well as the cybersecurity community by rolling back its decision to block internet macros by default in Office applications. This week, it once again reversed its decision and stated that it will start blocking macros again from July 27. What's different this time, you ask? This time, Microsoft has prepared some detailed documentation for customers looking for more information about blocked macros.

Talking about Office applications, PowerPoint for iPad and iOS is getting text highlighting capabilities after tons of user requests. And if you're an active Teams users, Microsoft is working on Excel Live for Teams, which will enable you to collaborate in real-time on a shared Excel file while sharing your screen with Teams meeting attendees. But if you still use Skype for some reason, you'll want to know that an Insider update packs a new call screen and fixes for some older Windows versions.

Meanwhile, Edge users received a new version 105 build in the Dev channel. It has a new tooltip, notifications, and better UX, among tons of other bug fixes. Microsoft has also announced a new "DevTools Command Palette" in Edge Canary, which should give you quick access to some common functionalities using textual commands.

Microsoft Store developers and consumers will also be pleased to know that commercial open-source apps are officially allowed on the storefront, and that the Microsoft Store now has better price tags, and improved discoverability for game editions.

Git gud

We will kick off our gaming section by talking about new arrivals for Xbox Game Pass, including As Dusk Falls, Inside, Watch Dogs 2, and MotoGP 22, among others. That said, if you'd rather pay to own games rather than paying for a subscription service, you'll want to take a gander at the Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, headlined by Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, and other heavy-hitting franchises.

People who heavily participate in multiplayer gaming should also know that Discord Voice chat is now available for select Xbox Insiders. Microsoft will make it available to more Insiders within the next few weeks, followed by general availability. Xbox Alpha Insiders have a separate OS update too. It features new controller firmware and a couple of bug fixes, but the list of known issues is on the longer side as well.

And as always, for all you PC purists out there, our News Editor Pulasthi Ariyasinghe has compiled a list of game deals across a variety of storefronts so don't forget to check this article out if you're on the lookout for games on the cheap!

Dev Channel

• Microsoft has discontinued Windows Information Protection (WIP) in favor of Purview
• Microsoft announces Viva Engage to boost communication across remote workers

Under the spotlight

In his ongoing Tech Tip Tuesday series, forum member Adam Bottjen - better known as "Warwagon" - published a guide about how you can quickly open Apple Pay on your iPhone. If you regularly use Apple Pay, you should probably give the brief guide a look.

Meanwhile, News Reporter Anmol Mehrotra wrote a very comprehensive guide about how you can set up a small secondary display connected to your PC to monitor hardware vitals. It's a pretty interesting read, even if this is not a use-case relevant to you.

Logging off

Our most unique news item of the week relates to Google firing the senior engineer who had claimed last month that the company's AI, LaMDA, has become sentient. This allegation was based on some interviews that the engineer conducted with LaMDA. Google has found the engineer, Blake Lemoine's claims to be "wholly unfounded" and noted that it's "regrettable that despite lengthy engagement on this topic, Blake still chose to persistently violate clear employment and data security policies that include the need to safeguard product information." According to the latest reports, Lemoine is seeking legal counsel, but it's unclear if he'll take the matter further or just cut his losses.

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 11 quality, canceled Surface Duo 2, and Office macros

According to UploadVR, the tech big has signposted the change in an e-mail despatched out to Horizon Worlds customers, informing them that creators want to use a content score to their worlds to point out whether or not it’s acceptable for all ages or solely for mature customers (age 18 and over).

If creators take no motion and don’t replace their present worlds throughout the subsequent month, then these worlds “will default to over 18 regardless of the content in the world”.

Creators can discover the brand new score possibility in the World tab in Build mode, which might be adjusted anytime.

The change comes as Meta unbundles Facebook accounts from the core expertise of its Quest VR headsets and replaces them with Meta accounts which require a reputation and “date of birth so we can verify your age,” the report stated.

Facebook required individuals to make use of the title “they go by in everyday life” with its earlier policy, however that is not the case for Meta accounts.

Recently, Meta introduced a brand new setting referred to as Voice Mode in Horizon Worlds, giving customers extra management over their expertise. The function permits the Quest 2 VR headset customers to decide on how they hear individuals, not on the buddies listing, together with the choice to not hear undesirable conversations.

Source

Recently an early review of a purported Core i9-13900K was posted and the CPU, although very powerful, is seen consuming quite a lot of power when pushed. With that, the chip was also reaching 100°C even with a 360 AIO cooler.

However, as said above, Raptor Lake also has genuine performance to show for all that power draw. The latest leak comes in the form of a Geekbench 5 benchmark of the Core i7-13700K, which will be one performance tier below the 24 core 32 thread (24C/32T) Core i9-13900K.

The CPU tested here has put up 2,090 points in the single-core test and 16,542 points in the multi-core benchmark.

The score, especially the single-threaded one, is very impressive compared to AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs and even the upcoming Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 parts could have a hard time keeping up. On the multi-threaded side though, it is a close call, though the numbers are still impressive nonetheless as the 13700K only features half the number big cores (P-cores) compared to a 16 core 5950X.

Here is how the Core i7-13700K Geekbench 5 score compares with 13900K and 13600K, as well as Ryzen 5000 parts. The percentage differences have been given taking the 8C/16T Ryzen 7 5800X as base:

The leaked benchmark also shows the i7-13700K running on an ASRock Z690 motherboard which recently received firmware support for the upcoming Raptor Lake-S family alongside Asus and MSI. Another noteworthy thing is the supposed use of DDR4 memory which is in line with a recent leak that suggested DDR4 DRAM support on Raptor Lake-S.

Source and image: Geekbench via Benchleaks (Twitter)

Intel 16C/24T i7-13700K Raptor Lake bests AMD's 16C/32T Ryzen 5950X in leaked Geekbench

Much like their flesh-made cousins, robot dogs do not lack attention on the internet. Many have seen the footage of Spot, a high-tech quadruped developed by the US-based company Boston Dynamics, flaunting its dance moves.

However, the latest addition to the robot dog content stream looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Twitter user Sean Chiplock shared a video of someone in Russia firing a gun from a quadruped robot.

Even though the post’s author discusses robots Boston Dynamics make, the one seen in the video is not made by the American company. As Sean Gallagher, a Senior Threat Researcher at Sophos points out, the robot dog is of Chinese origin.

 twitter

The design of the robot looks a lot like Go1 robot dog Unitree Robotics makes. For example, the back side of the device in the video exhibits a distinct pattern on a plastic covering between its hind legs. A similar design is visible on devices in Unitree’s promotional material.

The Hangzhou-based company is selling the Go1 model of the robot for $2,700 on its website, a fraction of over $75k that American-made Spot would cost its owner.

While the robot doesn’t seem to handle recoil very well with the gun on ‘burst fire’ mode, switching to a ‘semi-automatic’ setting allows the robot to hit targets without moving around too much.

The robot in the video has patches on its surfaces with insignia associated with the Russian military: a Russian flag on one side and what seems to be a Wolf, which Russian special forces use.

The original video was posted on Youtube by Moscow-resident Alexander Atamanov.

Robot dog 'Spot' from Boston Dynamics.

Image by Shutterstock.

Use in conflict

Recently reports came out that the US Army had agreed to send one of its two Boston Dynamic-made robot dogs to Ukraine, where it will carry out demining operations around the capital Kyiv.

The robot dog will help an American non-profit HALO Trust remove unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions, and drag them to be safely exploded in batches far from civilians.

Although Boston Dynamics prohibits using the Spot platform as a weapon, its possible application for military and law-enforcement purposes is evident.
The robot dog trained alongside French troops in a reconnaissance exercise earlier this spring. However, its employment in the NYPD ended quickly last year after the public deemed it too creepy.

Fears that robot dogs will be used against humans have been vocal for several years. Most notably, a cult anthology TV series Black Mirror dedicated a whole episode, Metalhead, to the device in 2017.

The plot follows a group of humans hunted by a robot dog. Series creator Charlies Brooker said the inspiration for the episode came after he saw one of Boston Dynamics’ promotional videos.

< Watch the video at the source page. >

Source

Problems include controllers losing sync or disconnecting, the audio mixer in the Guide is not always adjustable, icons for disc-based titles doesn’t always show up on the dashboard, and HDMI-CEC isn’t working properly for some users. Furthermore, some games incorrectly appear with the Trial tag in My games & apps, some people have noticed flickering when navigating the Store, and some displays are not adjusting to the correct resolution when the console first comes on.

There are workarounds for some of these issues, such as the last one, where users are asked to restart their console via the Power menu (accessed by holding down the Xbox button). It would be nice, though, if Microsoft finally got around to fixing these issues which have been present for varying lengths of time. Looking at the previous releases, it seems some of these issues were even present in January this year.

If you would like to install this update, press the Xbox button and go to Profile & system > Settings > System > Updates. If the update hasn’t already been applied, you can choose to apply it from here. In the same menu, you can mark an option to keep your console up to date, which should download updates without your intervention in the future.

Microsoft updates Xbox system software to OS version 10.0.22000.4976