News: Technology News

Forza Horizon 5’s full world map has been revealed

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 22:54:23 +0000

During the latest Forza Horizon 5: Let’s ¡Go! livestream, Playground Games unveiled the entire map for their upcoming open-world racing game, showing off Mexico’s 11 biomes.

After having been shown plenty of snippets of the map throughout past live streams, Playground Games has finally revealed the entire world map, which is “50 percent bigger, so one and a half times the size of Forza Horizon 4’s,” according to creative director Mike Brown.

With so much space on offer, Playground Games have been able to more deeply explore Mexico’s varied climate, stuffing an incredible 11 biomes into the sprawling map of Forza Horizon 5. These biomes are Canyon, Tropical Coast, Farmland, Arid Hills, Jungle, Living Desert, Rocky Coast, Sand Desert, Swamp, Urban City of Guanajuato, and Volcano.

On top of the vast number of biomes on display throughout Mexico, Forza Horizon 5’s map also has plenty of good roads to look forward to, with the longest motorway in any Forza Horizon game so far, an off-road Baja circuit, as well as a plethora of switchback roads spanning up the games huge volcano.

If all that wasn’t enough for you, Forza Horizon 5 also has the Events Lab, and a huge stadium to utilize those tools in, allowing you to create your own fun and wacky events if the slick city streets and rolling hills don’t quite fit your fancy.

Forza Horizon 5 is set to launch on November 9th 2021 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC, with the game launching Day One on Xbox Game Pass.

Forza Horizon 5’s full world map has been revealed

New BIOS updates will make Windows 11 support less annoying on custom-built PCs

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 22:51:13 +0000

Settings changes will make the upgrade smoother (if your PC is compatible).

If you're using a pre-built desktop or laptop PC made within the last three or four years, Windows 11's sometimes confusing, sometimes contentious security-oriented new system requirements won't be a problem for you—all of the security features Microsoft is requiring for the new operating system should be turned on by default. The change presents a bigger problem for people who build their own computers (or who have had computers built for them), since features like the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) are often disabled by default.

Most motherboard manufacturers have already posted lists of boards they expect to meet Windows 11's requirements, and some are going a step further by releasing new BIOS updates that enable the integrated TPMs in Intel and AMD processors by default. While it usually isn't too difficult to switch the TPM on manually, each motherboard manufacturer keeps this setting in a different place, and the way the setting is labeled differs depending on whether you're using an Intel or AMD chip or what motherboard you're configuring.

Asus is taking the most comprehensive approach, with BIOS updates either available or "under testing" for the vast majority of Intel and AMD motherboards made within the last three or four years (300-, 400-, and 500-series chipsets from both Intel and AMD are broadly supported, covering most 8th-generation and newer Intel CPUs and all of AMD's Ryzen processors). But ASRock has released TPM-enabling BIOS updates for a handful of its newer motherboards as well, and we'd expect other motherboard-makers to follow suit in the next few months. We've contacted ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI to see if they have any information to share and will update if they do.

Of course, you don't need a BIOS update to enable your processor's TPM module. But it's nice to know that new motherboards that ship with the latest BIOS version installed will support Windows 11 without requiring extra work, and these settings are important when a power outage or configuration change resets your BIOS settings to the default.

New BIOS updates will make Windows 11 support less annoying on custom-built PCs

Restaurant operators are turning to robots as labor shortage drags on

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 22:02:20 +0000

The pandemic is forcing a rethink in the food services industry. Again

The big picture: Robotics and automation are more affordable now than they once were, and with more people questioning whether or not they want to be involved in the food services industry due to unstable schedules and relatively low wages, there might be no better time than the present for restaurant operators to further test the waters.

For better or for worse, the pandemic has impacted nearly every facet of modern life. Nowhere is that more evident than in the food services industry.

In just over a year and a half, virtually everything has changed as it relates to food. Online grocery shopping has finally started to gain traction. Many fast food joints closed their lobbies, turning instead to takeout or delivery to keep the lights on. Others that weren’t able or willing to adapt often went out of business.

All of the turmoil has wreaked havoc on the job market, and as The Wall Street Journal reports, it’s forcing yet another rethink by restaurants and executives.

White Castle last year started testing a robotic fry cooker at select locations. “Flippy,” from Miso Robotics, operates 23 hours a day at the Merrillville, Indiana, White Castle – it gets one hour of downtime a day for cleaning. The company is so happy with the bot’s performance that it is planning to bring it to 10 additional restaurants across the country.

According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, there were more than 1.4 million job openings in the accommodation and food services sector as of May 2021. That’s more than double the number from a year earlier.

Indeed, with so many unfulfilled jobs and the pandemic still looming, even more restaurants and fast food establishments are willing to experiment with replacing human labor with robots. And the cost isn’t nearly as much of a factor as it once was.

“The 17-year-old fry cook isn’t expensive labor, but the 17-year-old becomes expensive labor if he or she doesn’t show up for work,” said, Ruth Cowan, an expert in kitchen automation.

Source

AMD wallops Intel in desktop CPU sales from major retailers – for now

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 21:37:51 +0000

Can Team Blue return to pole position with Alder Lake?

AMD's new Ryzen processors are dominating the most popular online retailers in the US, accounting for as much as 75% of new desktop CPU sales and filling up the bestseller lists at major online retailers.

Team Red's latest Ryzen 5000-series processors have proven to be wildly popular with builders – a major turn around from years past when Intel Core processors were considered the gold standard for new desktops.

According to a deep dive by PCGamer, new AMD Ryzen processors fill out the top seven bestselling processors on Amazon and account for eight out of ten overall. Meanwhile, the only two Intel chips in the top ten are both 10th-gen processors, with Intel's latest Rocket Lake Core-series processors not appearing until much further down the list at #37, as of this writing.

On Newegg, Intel does manage to place better with its latest Core i7-11700K processor hitting #5 on the list, with the Core i7-10700K and Core i9-11900K placing at #8 and #9, respectively. Newegg has more of a reputation as a PC component retailer than Amazon, so the rankings of Intel's latest Rocket Lake processors are definitely more reflective of enthusiast interest, which is a good sign for Rocket Lake, at least.

We also reported last week that AMD sales at German retailer Mindfactory accounted for roughly three out of four chips sold, though this was an improvement for Intel as Team Blue only accounted for 14% of sales the month before. Even with this uptick, though, Intel's latest chips do appear to be struggling against AMD's Ryzen 5000 onslaught for desktop CPU market share.

We've reached out to Intel for comment on these latest figures and will be sure to update the story when we hear back from the company.

(Image credit: Intel)

Needless to say, this definitely puts pressure on Alder Lake to perform better than Rocket Lake has so far, but there's some wide latitude for both optimism and pessimism on that front.

Alder Lake processors are going to be Intel's first major push into the big.LITTLE architecture pioneered by ARM that is used in the Apple M1 and Apple M1X chips. This architecture does put a higher emphasis on power efficiency over raw computing power, though it has been making significant strides in the performance department.

Whether that performance increase is enough to entice desktop builders to go with Alder Lake remains to be seen, though the first Alder Lake-S chips are expected to launch later this year specifically for this enthusiast market, so we won't have long to wait.

If Intel is able to pull a silicon rabbit out of a hat on this one, then it might be a whole different story next year given Intel's latest chips will have several months head start over the expected late-2022 launch of AMD Zen 4.

AMD's next chip will not feature a big.LITTLE architecture, so it will be an interesting – and high states – test of whether Intel is able to out-engineer AMD back into its once-vaunted leadership position.

AMD wallops Intel in desktop CPU sales from major retailers – for now

Intel has disclosed new details about its fab complex that will resemble a little city

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 22:49:30 +0000

Intel has provided new details regarding its latest fab complex in the United States. Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger stated that the new fab campus will cost between $60 billion and $120 billion.

Gelsinger also stated:

We are looking broadly across the U.S.. This would be a very large site, so six to eight fab modules, and at each of those fab modules, between 10- and $15 billion. It's a project over the next decade on the order of $100 billion of capital, 10,000 direct jobs. 100,000 jobs are created as a result of those 10,000, by our experience. So, essentially, we want to build a little city.

By the end of this year, Intel will finalize the location of its upcoming major semiconductor manufacturing hub in the United States as part of its IDM 2.0 strategy. The complex will incorporate between six and eight modules that will manufacture chips by employing the avant-garde fabrication processes of the company. Furthermore, it will be capable of packaging chips by making use of Intel's propriety techniques such as EMIB and Foveros, and will operate a dedicated power plant.

Intel has not revealed which nodes the initial module of the latest facility will support but since it will probably be operational as early as 2024, the fab will likely manufacture chips by employing the Intel 4 and the Intel 3 manufacturing technologies. The production capacity of the new facility has also not been revealed yet.

Gelsinger further said that:

We're engaging with a number of states across the United States today who are giving us proposals for site locations, energy, water, environmentals, near universities, skill capacity, and I expect to make an announcement about that location before the end of this year.

Each semiconductor fabrication module will cost between $10 billion and $15 billion so, there is a possibility that the investments by Intel into the complex over the course of the next ten years could top $120 billion or be as low as $60 billion.

Source: Tom's Hardware

Intel has disclosed new details about its fab complex that will resemble a little city

Valve working to make sure Steam Deck is Windows 11-ready

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 22:46:48 +0000

Valve’s Steam Deck portable gaming console is a mini-Windows 10 PC with Steam’s own Steam Deck UI skin.

Sometimes companies are reluctant to upgrade such specialist devices, but it seems Valve is more than ready to face the challenge.

“There’s nothing to indicate to us yet that there’ll be any issues with Windows 11,” says Valve’s Greg Coomer, designer of the Steam Deck.

The company has been working with AMD to make sure the device meets all Windows 11 criteria.

“There’s work looking at TPM just now,” Coomer said. “We’ve focused so much on Windows 10, so far, that we haven’t really gotten that far into it. Our expectation is that we can meet that.”

“It’s also a conversation that’s going on with AMD to make sure that, at the BIOS level, we can accommodate that,” he added.

Steam is touting the Steam Deck as “the most gaming power you’ve ever held”. The device features a 7” multi-touch display, trackpads similar to what we’ve seen on the Steam Controller, and gyroscopic controls for extra wiggly immersion and gameplay, the Steam Deck packs a lot into its £349 starting price tag.

Alongside a 2.4-3.5GHz AMD Zen 2 CPU and an AMD GPU, the Steam Deck will also have a 40 watt-hour battery for up to 8 hours maximum battery life when playing 2D games, or “several hours of play time” for most other games.

The handheld PC features a USB-C port similar to the Nintendo Switch, and the newly announced OLED model, which will allow you to dock the handheld and plug the portable PC into your TV.

Though it’s Bluetooth connectivity, as well as the USB-C port, the Steam Deck will support all manner of accessories from fighting sticks to Bluetooth mice and keyboards, so you can always play with the input you want to.

The Steam Deck is expected to start shipping in December 2021 starting at £349 for the 64 GB storage version. The handheld is also available at £459 with 256GB of NVMe storage, or at £569 for 512GB of NVMe storage as well as an “exclusive virtual keyboard theme.”

via GamingBolt

Valve working to make sure Steam Deck is Windows 11-ready

Microsoft Weekly: Age of Empires IV closed beta, Windows 365, and more productivity

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 22:43:31 +0000

Shocking absolutely no one, yet another week has gone by, bringing with it news about Microsoft’s Windows 365 solution, the beginning of the AoE IV closed beta, and some productivity-related announcements. You’ll find info about those subjects and more below, in your Microsoft digest for the week of August 1 – 7.

Age of Empires IV closed beta

Following the very well received remasters of the first three AoE games, Microsoft has now entered the closed beta phase for Age of Empires IV, the upcoming major entry in the rather legendary RTS series. For those who were able to register, the closed beta started on August 5, and is set to last until August 16, with the final copy of the game set to hit store shelves on October 28.

In the meantime, if you weren’t able to get in, but have a Game Pass subscription, Hades, Skate, Art of Rally, and more are either already available or coming soon to the service (in the case of Art of Rally and Hades). As expected, this is across PC, consoles and the cloud, with availability varying by title.

Additionally, the Xbox Ultimate Game Sale is worth checking out, as it includes deals for Dark Souls and Fallout games – among others -, and if you are a fan of limited-edition controllers, the two-tone Aqua Shift Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller is now available for pre-order for $69.99. The controller launches September 1.

To cap things off for this section, we should also mention that an ‘Xbox Through The Years’ curated artwork collection is now available for the Samsung Frame. Last but not least, there’s also a Halo Infinite-themed skin for the Waze app, which is available worldwide in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, though for a limited time. No word yet from Microsoft in regards to how long it’ll be available, beyond the previously mentioned, vague phrasing.

Windows 365

After announcing the service in July, Microsoft has now shared that Windows 365 – its cloud-hosted Windows solution, which can be streamed to personal and corporate devices – has now hit the general availability phase. Coinciding with this, the Redmond giant has also extended its App Assure program to include Windows 365. App Assure acts as a method of ensuring that a business will not have any app compatibility issues when switching to a newer solution or operating system.

Unfortunately for those eager to test out the cloud-hosted variant of Windows, Microsoft has paused trials due to an “unbelievable response” to the product. In case this hasn’t deterred you from wanting to try it out, you can sign up to be notified when trials are available again.

There are other relevant points that need to be discussed regarding this new service, including the fact that it comes in Business and Enterprise flavors, with Basic, Standard, and Premium tiers.

It starts from $24/user/month (or $20/user/month with Windows Hybrid Benefit), which nets you 1 vCPU, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It can go up to 8 vCPUs, 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which goes for $162/user/month (or $158/user/month with Windows Hybrid Benefit). In both cases, the subscription auto-renews.

There are also limits to outbound network traffic depending on the choice of tier, and Windows 365 can run on any device with an internet connection and an HTML5-capable browser. Lastly, the service is available globally, except in China (currently).

Switching from the cloud to something a tad more local, Microsoft also pushed out Windows 11 build 22000.120 to both the Dev and Beta channel. Alongside a new Family Safety widget, the build also comes with a laundry list of fixes, as well as the ever-present known issues.

If you want to test out the next major version of Windows, but want a slightly more stable experience, there’s also the option of the aforementioned Beta channel. For those curious, here’s how to switch to it.

And if none of the above is all that interesting to you, there’s also the option to wait until the OS is made available. If we’re to pay attention to Microsoft’s dropping of hints, the launch could be set for some time in October.

More productivity

Though shorter than the other two sections, I thought we would dedicate a small bit of column real estate to some more productivity-focused announcements.

We’ll start with OneNote. All of the various apps and solutions for Windows are set to be unified into a single app, something which folks have been asking Microsoft to do for years. According to the company, the unified solution will be created over the course of the next 12 months, and once the desktop variant of OneNote reaches feature-parity with the UWP one, invites will start rolling out for folks running the UWP app to switch to the desktop counterpart. These invitations will start rolling out in 2022.

In other Office news, the Office app for Android will be getting File Card support this month. In short, this is a UI element which offers inline information about your various files. The Redmond firm states that it is recommended users update to version 16.0.14228.20138 to use this feature – though it’s not guaranteed you’ll see this immediately.

Visual Studio Code itself also got an update, namely v1.59 (or the July 2021 update), which brought in improvements to the extensions view, built-in support for Jupyter notebooks, and more.

We end on some SwiftKey news, the latest Beta update for which has added support for clipboard sync between Android and Windows 10. This works on version 7.8.5 of SwiftKey Beta (and above) and for folks running the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809) or later. There’s no indication as to when the feature will come to iOS.

Dev channel

Microsoft has released the first SimuLand dataset publicly, aiming to help security research.
The first Edge Dev 94 build is now out, with a new Spellcheck experience on Mac, improved sign-in dialogs, and more.
PowerToys v0.43 is now available, including a laundry list of bug fixes.
Microsoft is now a Strategic Member of the Eclipse Foundation.

Logging off

To end, we’ll highlight a review from our very own Christopher White.

With the wave of folks working from home as a result of COVID-19, there were a number of tech-related issues that needed to be solved. Among them, how you would set up a place in your home in order to work efficiently.

To see how exactly Microsoft’s Modern remote work accessories stack up in a work-from-home scenario, Chris took a look at the Modern USB Headset (and its Wireless counterpart), the USB-C Speaker, Webcam, and the associated Accessory Center app.

Impressions after a week of thorough use, as well the answer to whether or not these peripherals are worth buying, can be found here.

Missed any of the previous columns? Check them all out at this link.

Microsoft Weekly: Age of Empires IV closed beta, Windows 365, and more productivity

30 Years On From Introducing The Web to The Word

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 18:51:06 +0000

On 6 August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted information about his WorldWideWeb project to the public and introduced the Web to the world.

“Try it“, Tim noted in his message – and since then, billions of people have.

Think about how often you use the Web. Aren’t you surprised at how essential the Web is to your life?

60% of the world is online. We use the Web every day in our communications, jobs, connecting to family, sharing knowledge and even our democracy depends on it. But what do we take for granted about the Web? How utterly ubiquitous it is, for one thing.

In 2019 Pew Research noted that: “Overall, 81% of Americans say they go online on a daily basis.” Statistica found: In Europe internet access stood at around 63 percent in 2009, within a decade that expanded to almost 80 percent. Less than 5 percent of the people living across Africa had access to the internet in 2009, while now almost a quarter of people across the continent have access to the internet.” The number of online users has also grown rapidly in Asia. As of 2021, about 2.6 billion people in Asia are online. As many as 40 million people in Southeast Asia came online for the first time in 2020, reported by CNBC and that increased the total number of internet users to nearly 70% of the population in Southeast Asia.

This anniversary is particularly meaningful in China where, according to a poem by Confucius, a 30th birthday means one’s feet are firmly planted upon the ground (三十而立). China has been on the internet on a permanent basis since the 1990s. Since 2000 when there were only 22.5 million internet users in China, that number has multiplied nearly 38 times in two decades. CNNIC reported that the number of Chinese online users has now reached nearly 1 billion. Web technologies have been playing an indispensable role in people’s daily life, and in the rapid development of China’s digital economy.

The World Wide Web Consortium has been producing technologies in some of the most vital areas of the growth of the Web, how we lived our lives during the global pandemic crisis; and how we will live in the future. To understand the magnitude of it, see “What happens in an Internet Minute” in 2020, for example:

Zoom hosts 208,333 meetings
There are 404,444 Netflix user streams
YouTube users upload 500 hours of video
Consumers spend $1,000,000 online
1,388,889 people make video/voice calls

The Web’s richness, health, and future potential is linked to the immense amount of work done at the Web Consortium since its founding in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, to ensure it is open, interoperable and works for everyone. If many big companies are mentioned in press about the Web (and for some people, a few have even become synonymous with it), it is because their engineers unite at our table. Because of the work accomplished at the Web Consortium you can use the Web on any device; you can go to a Web page on any browser; you can read and write on the Web in almost any language; you experience the same Web on desktop, laptop, mobile, TV (not separate silos); you can use the Web whether you are blind or have mobility or accessibility issues; and your use of the Web is more and more secure. Please read our most recent state of the work document.

The Web is one of the most powerful tools in history. Despite many users’ fears of social, political and technological misuse of the Web, the Web community are working at the Web Consortium to ensure that the Web can indeed be a force for good and connection, and we continue to translate the needs of humanity into Web technologies.

And our Technical Architecture Group states in their Ethical Web Principles that:

The web should be a platform that helps people and provides a net positive social benefit… The web should empower an equitable, informed and interconnected society. It has been, and should continue to be designed to enable communication and knowledge-sharing for everyone. In the 30 years since development of the web began, it has become clear that the web platform can often be used in ways that subvert that mission. Furthermore, web technologies can be used to cause harm, which is not in keeping with the spirit of this social mission. The web should be a platform that helps people and provides a net positive social benefit. As we continue to evolve the web platform, we must therefore consider the ethical implications of our work. The web must be for good.

In their Vision for the Web, our Advisory Board has stated that:

Our vision is for a World Wide Web that is more inclusive, and more respectful of its users: a Web that supports truth better than falsehood, people more than profits, humanity rather than hate.

We will improve the fundamental integrity of the Web platform. The Web will not only grow in scope and importance in our lives; it will grow in respect for its users, grow in the trust of its users, grow in its inclusion of all humanity as its users.

The Web is for all humanity. The Web is designed for the good of its users. The Web must be safe for its users. There is one interoperable world-wide Web.

As we celebrate the release of the Web to the public, we celebrate the Web and all the Members of W3C who have helped to shape and evolve Web technologies to give us the accessible, international, secure, Web we use all today. Our Advisory Board, Technical Architecture Group, Members and community are committed to, 30 years on, making sure that the Web which Tim Berners-Lee gave to the world and which has changed history and changed our lives, will continue to be a benefit to humanity.

The Web Consortium: making the Web work, for everyone.

Source

AI algorithms uncannily good at spotting your race from medical scans, boffins warn

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 14:15:54 +0000

Plus: British MP wants to ban AI deepfake smut tools

IN BRIEF Neural networks can correctly guess a person’s race just by looking at their bodily x-rays and researchers have no idea how it can tell.

There are biological features that can give clues to a person’s ethnicity, like the colour of their eyes or skin. But beneath all that, it’s difficult for humans to tell. That’s not the case for AI algorithms, according to a study that’s not yet been peer reviewed.

A team of researchers trained five different models on x-rays of different parts of the body, including chest and hands and then labelled each image according to the patient’s race. The machine learning systems were then tested on how well they could predict someone’s race given just their medical scans.

They were surprisingly accurate. The worst performing was able to predict the right answer 80 per cent of the time, and the best was able to do this 99 per cent, according to the paper.

"We demonstrate that medical AI systems can easily learn to recognise racial identity in medical images, and that this capability is extremely difficult to isolate or mitigate," the team warns [PDF].

"We strongly recommend that all developers, regulators, and users who are involved with medical image analysis consider the use of deep learning models with extreme caution. In the setting of x-ray and CT imaging data, patient racial identity is readily learnable from the image data alone, generalises to new settings, and may provide a direct mechanism to perpetuate or even worsen the racial disparities that exist in current medical practice."

Ban AI nudity tools, says British MP

Maria Miller, a Member of Parliament for Basingstoke for the Conservative Party, reckons machine learning algorithms that generate fake nude images should be banned.

These so-called “deepfakes” have been doctored using AI software for years. Several tools on the internet that allow perverts to feed the algorithms a picture of someone and get a naked image of them in return. The face is kept the same, but the body is made-up.

Miller is known for being vocal about revenge porn. She believes even if the computer-generated images are fake, the harm inflicted on victims is real.

“At the moment, making, taking or distributing without consent intimate sexual images online or through digital technology falls mostly outside of the law,” she told the Beeb.

"It should be a sexual offence to distribute sexual images online without consent, reflecting the severity of the impact on people's lives." Miller wants to raise the issue in a parliamentary debate, and introduce new legislation to ban deepfake-making software in the UK’s upcoming Online Safety Bill.

AI researchers at Facebook want to pry into your secret encrypted chats without decrypting them

Facebook has employed a team of AI engineers to figure out ways to analyze encrypted messages without decrypting them first.

Homomorphic encryption could help the social media biz sniff through WhatsApp chats to collect data that can be used to better target users with adverts, according to The Information [paywalled].

Facebook could, in theory, figure out what products and services people are interested in using homomorphic encryption techniques. Adverts for these goods could then pop up whenever they logged onto their social media accounts.

The effort appears to be led by Kristin Lautner, a cryptography expert who recently left Microsoft after two decades to join Facebook as head of its West Coast AI research group. A Facebook spokesperson, however, told the publication that the project is "too early for us to consider homomorphic encryption for WhatsApp at this time." ®

Source

Razer releases its RGB face mask for a public beta test

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 11:00:45 +0000

Highly anticipated: If you’ve ever wished that your face looked like a gaming PC’s transparent side panel, today’s your chance to make that happen. Sign up for the only face mask to ever need a public beta test, today.

At CES, Razer displayed an RGB-infused N95 face mask that garnered enough attention to compel them to turn it into a real product. It was called Project Hazel at the time, but it’s now the Razer Zephyr.

A zephyr is a westerly wind or a gentle breeze, which is what you’ll feel inside the mask thanks to its active ventilation that whisks heat away. That’s one of a few little features that Razer included to make you feel like you’re inside a gaming PC.

Another is the overwhelming amount of RGB. It has two large RGB rings with addressable zones that surround the filters and spill light onto your face, illuminating your mouth through the triangular window. The RGB is compatible with Razer Chroma, so you can sync it up to your keyboard or PC’s lightshow.

Zephyr, compared to the concept renders of Hazel, is a bit larger. The mask now has a Darth Vader-style grill below the mouth, which presumably houses the microphone and speaker. Allegedly they’re to help you speak clearly through the mask, but I’d much rather modify them to make myself sound like Vader. (Make it a feature, Razer.)

Zephyr also has a silicon guard that creates an airtight seal between your face and the mask, which should prevent it from fogging up your glasses (the window inside the mask has an anti-fog coating). Project Hazel’s ear loops were replaced with adjustable straps that wrap around your head, a bit like a VR headset’s.

For important health purposes the Zephyr has replaceable N95 filters, and ventilators that need recharging once a day. It comes with a wireless charging case with sterilizing UV lights inside.

If you’re interested, Razer’s public beta test of the Zephyr is global and free, although by signing up you’re agreeing to allow Razer to use photos of you wearing the mask for promotional purposes. You’ll probably save a few hundred dollars by picking one up in the test instead of buying one when they hit the market sometime in Q4.

Source

Steam's latest update improves the management of downloads

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 22:59:52 +0000

Valve released a new beta update for its Steam gaming client this week that improves the management of downloads significantly. While in beta currently, it usually takes a couple of weeks before beta features land in stable versions of Steam.

Game and content downloads have always been a thorn in the side of many Steam users. The interface was clunky, lacked information, and not a pleasure to work with at all.

Steam's new downloads page addresses many of these criticisms. It features a redesigned downloads interface that has a nicer look with a new color palette and game art displayed right on the page; this way, you get a visual reminder of what is currently being downloaded by the client without having to look at the download queue.

The new game download progress bar displays the total progress in the new client version and not just the downloading content progress. Steam did not highlight the disk allocation process in the previous version, and that made downloads appear complete when they were not.

The context menu lists options to launch the game once its download has completed. Valve's release notes suggest that there will also be a new option to suspend download throttling, if enabled, using the context menu. The option is only displayed if download throttling is enabled in the Steam settings.

Content that is partially downloaded is displayed with a shaded progress bar for better visual distinction; this happens when you pause a download, e.g. by moving another download to the top spot. Speaking of which, the new downloads manager supports drag & drop, meaning that you may easily rearrange the download queue using drag & drop operations.

Another feature that is highlighted by Valve is a new tooltip that is displayed when users hover over the i-icon next to the content's title. It displays the types of content that is included in the update, e.g. game content, downloadable content, or workshop content.

The "view news" button has been changed into a "Patch Notes" link that opens an overlay with the latest patch notes for the game, but only for games for which the publisher/developer has submitted patch notes to Steam's event system. Patch notes will only be displayed for updates.

Closing Words

The redesigned Steam downloads page is a step in the right direction, as it improves usability considerably. Users who never open the downloads manager won't benefit from the change, but if you download several games or updates at once, you get more control over the downloads and more information about the individual updates.

Steam's latest update improves the management of downloads

Microsoft’s new Xbox night mode dims your screen, controller, and power button

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 00:04:43 +0000

This Xbox night mode allows for a lot of customization

Microsoft is working on a new night mode for Xbox consoles. The software giant has started testing this night mode with Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring today, and it allows Xbox owners to dim their screens, controller LED brightness, and even the Xbox power button.

The night mode has a lot of customization, including different dimming levels and an optional blue light filter. Microsoft is also allowing Xbox owners to dim the LED brightness on their controllers in this night mode and dim the Xbox power button light or turn it off. You can also set an Xbox to switch to the system dark mode and disable HDR when the night mode is enabled.

The Xbox night mode lets you dim a controller LED brightness.

This Xbox night mode can also be set to a schedule, either a manual one or an automatic one that will enable it at sunset and disable it at sunrise. Microsoft is currently testing this with Xbox Insiders, so expect to see it filter through the various testing channels in the coming weeks before arriving on all Xbox consoles soon.

Microsoft’s new Xbox night mode dims your screen, controller, and power button

Next-gen NUC 12 could pack Intel's very own discrete GPU (DG2) with up to 16GB VRAM

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 00:01:36 +0000

Intel only recently launched the NUC 11 Extreme called "Beast Canyon" with 11th gen Tiger Lake processors and it looks like we already are getting leaks related to the next generation hardware. And if the leak today is accurate, then the upcoming NUC 12 would be really special as it could actually feature Intel's own high-end Xe HPG discrete graphics.

The next-gen NUC will apparently be called the NUC 12 Enthusiast and an alleged picture of it with its specifications has leaked on Weibo.

As mentioned above, the highlight of this leak is the possibility of the NUC 12 having Intel's own Xe HPG based discrete GPU (DG2). In fact, according to this image, there will be the option to choose between three separate graphics SKUs that will carry 16GB, 12GB, and 8GB VRAM. So, the SKU1 with the 512 Execution Units (EUs) must be on offer here. We aren't really sure about the two other variants since the memory capacities of those haven't been confirmed yet. So those could be among the rest of DG2 models except SKU5 since it has 4GB VRAM.

Now you may be wondering that these GPUs could well be AMD's RX 6000 series GPUs since the VRAM amounts match that of Navi 21, Navi 22, and Navi 23. A tiny detail on this alleged next-gen NUC 12 however rules that out. Apparently, the NUC will feature DisplayPort 2.0 option which is absent on Navi cards as well as Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 series cards as well.

CPU wise the NUC 12 will likely feature some form of Intel's next-gen Alder Lake-P mobile processors. In terms of system memory, it seems like there is no change from this year.

Source: 从未完美过 (Weibo) via HXL (Twitter)

Next-gen NUC 12 could pack Intel's very own discrete GPU (DG2) with up to 16GB VRAM

Dead Space to reportedly launch in fall of 2022

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 23:56:32 +0000

In a new report from VentureBeat, Dead Space is supposedly planned to release sometime in fall of next year, according to their sources familiar with the game’s development.

After being announced in last moths EA Play Live, the Dead Space remake, which is also plainly titled Dead Space, is still shrouded in mystery as the reveal teaser trailer didn’t show too much.

Notably, we were left without a release date for the next-gen exclusive remake however thanks to VentureBeat’s sources, it appears that Dead Space may launch sometime in late 2022. Internally, however, EA is apparently expecting a launch anytime within the next fiscal year which ends in March 2023, VentureBeat notes.

In a hopeful shot at getting any actual details, VentureBeat reached out to EA for comment, however, they refused to confirm any details, only saying that “we haven’t shared a release date for the game, and we don’t have any comment based on the current rumor and speculation. But we’re glad people are excited for the game!”

Even a provisional 2022/2023 fiscal year release date may still be susceptible to change, as recently, while we’re hopefully now in the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen a number of studios struggle with remote working which has caused games to be delayed.

Whenever the Dead Space remake does launch, it’s rumoured that it will include past cut content from the original game, while also including features and improvements from the game’s sequels to refine the original gameplay.

Dead Space to reportedly launch in fall of 2022

Microsoft release new firmware for Surface Book 3, Laptop Go, Surface Pro 5 and 6

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:57:14 +0000

Microsoft has released their August 2021 firmware update for the Surface Book 3, Laptop Go, Surface Pro 5 and 6

The update solves a variety of issues, with the full changelog available below:

Surface Book 3 firmware

Surface Serial Hub Driver – System devices 9.54.139.0 – Improves the stability of the device in the recovery scenario.
Surface Dock 2 Firmware Update – Extension 6.7.137.0 – Improve device stability and reliability with Surface Dock 2 scenarios.
Surface Radio Monitor – System Devices 3.50.139.0 – Improve device reliability when updating to the latest Windows OS.
Surface Base 2 Firmware Update – Extension 1.67.137.0 – Improves device stability and reliability.
Intel (R) Iris (R) Plus Graphics – Extn 27.20.100.9621 – Improve device stability in delivery display and graphics issues.
Intel (R) Iris (R) Plus Graphics – Video Cards 27.20.100.9621 – Improves device stability in delivery display and graphics issues.

Surface Laptop Go Firmware

Surface SMF – Surface System Management 57.0.1.39 – Improves the stability and reliability of the device.
Surface Dock 2 Firmware Update – Extension 6.7.137.0 – Improve device stability and reliability with Surface Dock 2 scenarios.

Surface Laptop Firmware

Surface Dock 2 Firmware Update – Extension 6.7.137.0 – Improve device stability and reliability with Surface Dock 2 scenarios.
Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) Extension 6.1.0.9 – Improves audio stability and reliability.
Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) – Sound, video and game controller 6.0.9083.3 – Improve audio stability and reliability.
Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller – Network Adapters 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Card – Bluetooth 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Intel Ir ® Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® CSI2 Host Controller – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Control Logic – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® AVStream 2500 Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Imaging Signal 2500 Processor – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Microsoft Camera Front – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.

Surface Pro 6 firmware

Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) Extension 6.1.0.9 – Improves audio stability and reliability.
Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) – Sound, video and game controller 6.0.9083.3 – Improve audio stability and reliability.
Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller – Network Adapters 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Card – Bluetooth 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Intel® Microsoft Camera Rear – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel Ir ® Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Microsoft Camera Front – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Imaging Signal 2500 Processor – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel Control Logic – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel CIO2 Host Controller – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® AVStream 2500 Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Surface Dock 2 Firmware Update – Extension 6.7.137.0 – Improve device stability and reliability with Surface Dock 2 scenarios.

Surface Pro 5 firmware

Surface Dock 2 Firmware Update – Extension 6.7.137.0 – Improve device stability and reliability with Surface Dock 2 scenarios.
Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) Extension 6.1.0.9 – Improves audio stability and reliability.
Realtek High Definition Audio (SST) – Sound, video and game controller 6.0.9083.3 – Improve audio stability and reliability.
Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller – Network Adapters 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Card – Bluetooth 15.68.17021.121 – Resolves critical security vulnerability and improves device stability.
Intel® Microsoft Camera Rear – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel Ir ® Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Microsoft Camera Front – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® Imaging Signal 2500 Processor – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel® AVStream 2500 Camera – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel Control Logic – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.
Intel CIO2 Host Controller – System 30.18305.6.5127 – Improves camera stability and reliability.

You can download the update by Checking for Updates in Settings.

via WBI

Microsoft release new firmware for Surface Book 3, Laptop Go, Surface Pro 5 and 6

Asus begins rolling out Windows 11-compatible firmware

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:26:13 +0000

Microsoft's Windows 11 seems nearly upon us with the company itself hinting towards a launch very soon. Naturally, all hardware vendors including motherboard-makers are gearing up for it and releasing compatible firmware and other related software that adds support for the next-gen OS.

Asus is one such vendor and the company had earlier released a list of compatible chipsets (image below), including both AMD and Intel ones, that would be receiving Windows 11 support due to the availability of compatible Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 module on such chipsets.

As it stands, Asus appears to have kept its word and from August 3 onwards, the company has started rolling out the compatible firmware versions for all the chipsets listed above. Plus, there are a lot of new chipsets added to the list of Windows 11-compatible motherboards too. Asus says that the new BIOS will automatically enable TPM on AMD systems or Platform Trust Technology (PTT) in case of Intel ones.

Not all motherboard models, however, have got the necessary update currently with plenty of such models still undergoing testing and final validation. For those that have, the changelog on the update reads:

Support WIN 11 installed or upgraded

In order to check if your model has received a new Windows 11-compatible BIOS, head over to this page on Asus' official site, where a list of motherboard models alongside their corresponding Windows 11-ready firmware has been provided for download.

Here, you either go through the list one by one or simply press "Ctrl + F" and input your motherboard model to quickly find it. If you have an AMD system, make sure you choose the "AMD Platform" tab.

If you're unsure what your motherboard model is, you can try running "msinfo32" or "System Information" to find that. Third-party tools like CPU-Z, or Piriform's Speccy, among others, can also be used to look it up.

Asus begins rolling out Windows 11-compatible firmware

AMD says it isn't too scared of the Apple M1, at least not yet

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 23:57:04 +0000

Apple launched its in-house ARM-based M1 processor last year replacing long-time partner Intel's Core CPUs in its MacBooks. This was a massive move since ARM silicon was essentially overthrowing x86 in a market space few would have thought of being possible even a few years earlier.

Intel however isn't the only x86 processor maker around. Its long-time rival AMD is also very close to the x86 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and yesterday, we received perhaps the first reaction from AMD about Apple M1.

In an interview with The Indian Express, when asked about the M1, AMD's CVP of Product Management and Marketing, David McAfee, said:

When we look at our roadmap going forward, I think we got a very competitive roadmap against what Apple is doing.

What Apple has done is that they have taken a different approach to design a chip, Their approach is something that has strong, single-threaded CPU performance that is right there with the Zen 3 series processor.

I don’t think that what Apple has done changes AMD’s strategy dramatically.

From the statement, it appears like AMD is well aware of the M1's strengths but is confident on its own "very competitive roadmap" to tackle any threats that the Apple chipset or its successors may pose.

Performance-wise, the M1 competes fairly well against Intel chips, especially taking into account the power drawn and heat produced. And this is what sets it apart from x86 says Apple. The company claims that the M1 consumes one-fourth the power of a fully-maxed x86 chip, with headroom for a lot more performance.

McAfee also acknowledged this in the interview stating:

I would say the biggest innovation Apple has brought into the ecosystem is the battery life and power efficiency that comes from the heritage of the mobile handset space and kind of taking it into the PC space from a mobile handset design methodology.

Apple and AMD may or may not be rivals, but the companies continue to be partners and the two recently announced the RDNA 2-based Radeon PRO W6000X graphics cards for Macs headlined by the dual Navi behemoth that packs 120 CUs and 64GB VRAM.

Interestingly, AMD isn't completely unfamiliar with the ARM ISA. Back in 2014, the company announced it was designing ARM-based K12 processors under its ambitious 'Project Skybridge' where it wanted to combine x86 and ARM for pin-compatible motherboards. All this was scrapped later but the company probably still has the ARM license and the unused K12 architecture IP.

Source: The Indian Express

AMD says it isn't too scared of the Apple M1, at least not yet

Zoom's next act may be a threat to the rest of tech

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 13:47:28 +0000

The pandemic catapulted Zoom Video Communications Inc. from a scrappy upstart into a $111 billion video-conferencing behemoth, central to the lives of millions of remote workers and other socially distant users. Now, as COVID-19 vaccination rates allow for more of a return to normal, the obvious question is, what's next? The answer could be a lot more than video chat.

This year is shaping up to be a pivotal time for Zoom. Industry watchers have questioned whether demand will ebb for the company's core service as the economy haltingly reopens and users complain of "Zoom fatigue." But there are signs that its conferencing business will be durable. Speaking from personal experience, the vast majority of my external meeting calls are now conducted on Zoom. I'm not alone. The combination of its ease of use, reliability and pervasiveness has made Zoom the standard for corporations. That's showing up in the numbers, too. The latest credit-card data shows spending with the company is still surging.

Zoom's share of the videoconferencing market rose by 10 percentage points to 76% in the June quarter from the prior period, with sales growth rising in each of the three months, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. And it seems large technology companies are giving up on trying to beat Zoom. For example, Alphabet Inc.'s Google Meet recently added a one-hour cap for nonpaying group calls. The end of the technology giant's unlimited free service for three or more users could drive additional customers toward Zoom.

And then there's Zoom's business beyond video conferencing. Consider the relatively sleepy market of corporate phone systems that has been traditionally dominated by Cisco Systems Inc. and Avaya Holdings Corp. Zoom Phone has been rapidly gaining market share in the category. And two recent acquisitions should accelerate its progress.

In June, Zoom agreed to acquire Kites GmbH, a startup that specializes in real-time language translation. And last month's $14.7 billion purchase of call-center software maker Five9, which has 2,000 global customers, opens up a large new client base as well.

Then there's last month's dual launch of Zoom Events and Zoom Apps. Events enables corporations to host large internal virtual gatherings or trade shows, and could be a hit. But the Apps platform may be even more important to the company's future.

Already, more than 50 apps are built on top of Zoom, from games, brainstorming whiteboards and cloud storage workspaces to real-time surveys. As a larger ecosystem of apps develops, the platform could further entrench Zoom's dominant position and increase the stickiness of its service.

With Zoom engineering all these products in adjacent markets, its competitors should be worried. It's clear the company isn't satisfied with conquering the videoconferencing category. There is more to come.

Source

The Pentagon Is Experimenting With AI That Can Predict Events 'Days in Advance'

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 02:52:02 +0000

If you're wondering just how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems are getting, then know this: the US military is testing an experimental AI network tasked with identifying likely future events worthy of closer attention, and days before they occur.

The series of tests are called the Global Information Dominance Experiments (GIDE), and they combine data from a huge variety of sources, including satellite imagery, intelligence reports, sensors in the field, radar, and more.

Cloud computing also plays an important part in this setup, making sure that vast chunks of data collected from all over the world can be processed efficiently, and then accessed by whichever military officials and agencies need them.

"GIDE, the Global Information Dominance Experiments, embodies a fundamental change in how we use information and data to increase decision space for leaders from the tactical level to the strategic level – not only military leaders, but [it] also gives opportunity for our civilian leaders," US Air Force General Glen D. VanHerck explained in a press briefing last week.

The idea is to anticipate the moves of other nations way ahead of time, which means deterrents and precautions can be put in place before the fighting starts, or before hostilities have a chance to ramp up.

In fact, the jumps in logic aren't as huge as you might think – if preparations are being made for a submarine to leave port, for example, then it's fairly obvious it's on its way out to sea. Where the AI really helps is in using machine learning to spot and collate all this information much more quickly than human operatives can.

Another example is the number of cars in a car park, at a military base or research station perhaps. If the AI sees increased activity, it can flag this to other parts of the system, where it's then analyzed as part of a massive data set.

"The data exists," said VanHerck. "What we're doing is making that data available, making that data available and shared into a cloud where machine learning and artificial intelligence look at it. And they process it really quickly and provide it to decision-makers, which I call decision superiority."

"This gives us days of advanced warning and ability to react. Where, in the past, we may not have put eyes on with an analyst of a GEOINT satellite image, now we are doing that within minutes or near real-time."

Understandably, the US isn't giving too much away about how exactly these new AI systems work, or how they process the information they're gathering, but the end result is more data processed in a quicker time. This third set of GIDE testing was recently completed, and a fourth is planned.

While the experiments sound a bit Minority Report at the moment – people being arrested for crimes before they've been committed – officials are framing them as a form of supercharged information gathering, rather than ways to actually see into the future.

VanHerck stresses that humans are still making all the decisions based on the data that the machine-learning systems produce – and says the AI under development will likely end up de-escalating situations, rather than the opposite.

"The ability to see days in advance creates decision space," said VanHerck. "Decision space for me as an operational commander to potentially posture forces to create deterrence options to provide that to the secretary or even the President."

Source

Apple begins selling Touch ID-equipped Magic Keyboard, new Mac Pro GPUs

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 23:00:15 +0000

The Mac Pro gets Radeon Pro W6800X and W6900X MPX modules.

Apple's new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.

Here's the numpad variant.

And here's a cheaper model without Touch ID.

The new Magic Trackpad has a subtly different design.

The Magic Mouse is pretty much indistinguishable from its predecessor.

Apple is in a slow period between major product launches, but Tuesday marked the launch of a few peripherals and add-ons that might be of interest to certain Mac users. The products include a Touch ID-equipped Magic Keyboard (previously only packaged with the 24-inch iMac) and three new graphics card modules for the Mac Pro desktop.

You'll also find updated versions of the Magic Mouse ($79) and Magic Trackpad ($129) at Apple's store, but these are not dramatically different. For example, the Magic Trackpad simply has a subtly different shape to better match the more significantly changed Magic Keyboard. Each of the updated accessories comes with a USB-C-to-Lightning cable for charging.

The keyboard has a completely new shape and added features, including a Touch ID fingerprint reader. Touch ID is a biometric authentication feature previously seen only in Apple's laptops and mobile devices.

The new Magic Keyboard design was introduced as an exclusive for the M1-equipped, 24-inch iMac that debuted this spring. Since that all-in-one desktop came in a variety of colors, the keyboard is available in the same shades. But it seems that the standalone Magic Keyboard just comes in the standard silver and white motif seen in so many Apple accessories.

The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID costs $149, and a variant without Touch ID goes for $99. There are also numeric keypad-equipped versions of both the non-Touch ID and Touch ID keyboards ($129 and $179, respectively).

New Mac Pro MPX modules

The Radeon Pro W6800X MPX Module for the Mac Pro.

The Radeon Pro W6800X Duo MPX Module for the Mac Pro.

The Radeon Pro W6900X MPX Module for the Mac Pro.

The Mac Pro is far from a mass-market consumer product; it's primarily meant for professional video editing bays and the like. But if you're among the few people who own one (or if you manage IT for a team that does), you now have some new upgrade options.

The Mac Pro has an upgradeable graphics card, but it uses preconfigured modules rather than off-the-shelf consumer GPUs. There are three new graphics modules available to purchase for the Mac Pro starting today.

Each carries the Radeon Pro name. Here are the names and prices:

Radeon Pro W6800X with 32GB GDDR6 ($2,400 at configuration, $2,800 standalone)
Radeon Pro W6800X Duo with 64GB GDDR6 ($4,600 config, $5,000 standalone)
Radeon Pro W6900X with 32GB GDDR6: ($5,600 config, $6,000 standalone)

They can be purchased individually or as part of a new Mac Pro configuration.

We'll have to wait for some benchmarks to emerge to get reliable insights on performance, but each module includes 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports and one HDMI 2.0 port. The Mac Pro can accommodate two modules, so you could have as many as 4 GPUs if you use a Duo module like the one listed above.

With the introduction of these new modules, Apple will no longer offer the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II or AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo modules as configuration options for new Mac Pros at the time of purchase. However, they will still be available as standalone options for Apple's existing customers.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Listing image by Samuel Axon

Apple begins selling Touch ID-equipped Magic Keyboard, new Mac Pro GPUs

Very high GDDR6 costs blamed for such high GPU prices

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 22:50:52 +0000

AMD recently launched the Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card for 1080p gamers. We were told by a source that Team Red was looking to price the new GPU at $349. And although the other details shared by him like performance numbers and boost clock speeds were spot-on, the official MSRP of $379 turned out higher - although the information was, at that point, over a month old -. This MSRP of $379 is what many are considering very high for what the 6600 XT claims to offer.

Of course, while some of this was expected due to the ongoing global chip shortage, there was a glimmer of hope since it seemed for a while that GPU prices were getting better. And the chip shortage problem isn't limited to just the processing units (CPU or GPU) as it's affecting memory parts too.

In fact, the high MSRP of the RX 6600 XT may be explained by the current prices of the GDDR6 SGRAM. GDDR6 is used as the memory buffer in the majority of current-gen AMD Radeon and Nvidia GeForce graphics cards. And according to an online marketplace called Digi-Key, GDDR6 chips from Micron are now selling for around US$13-16 per GB (spotted by Twitter user @ultrawide219).

AMD in fact did state the same reason to the press in order to justify this high MSRP of the RX 6600 XT. The company claimed that prices for GPU memory have doubled which may indeed be true if what we see on Digi-Key is any indication. (via Gamers Nexus YouTube channel)

And even if we take into consideration that manufacturers like AMD are getting discounts due to their possible bulk orders, say half of the retail listed price at just ~US$6.5 per GB, this would still equate to a very high US$52 for the 8GB GDDR6 VRAM on the $379 RX 6600 XT. And this isn't taking into account the costs associated with integrating the VRAM chips onto the card itself.

And it's also possible that AMD and Nvidia will be using memory from other makers like SK hynix or Samsung, however the prices on them won't be too different than the prices on the Micron units.

Source: Digi-Key

Very high GDDR6 costs blamed for such high GPU prices

Microsoft release new firmware for Surface Pro 4, Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Book

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

New firmware is now available for the Surface Pro 4, Surface Laptop 3, and the original Surface Book running Windows 10 1909 and above.

The update brings security and stability improvement. See the changelog below:

Surface Laptop 3

For the Surface Laptop 3 (Intel version) the update brings the following fixes and improvements:

Surface System Aggregator– Firmware: 14.502.139.0 Improves system performance.

Surface Integration – System devices: 6.119.139.0 Improves device performance.

Surface Dock Firmware Update – Firmware: 6.7.137.0 Improves Surface Dock 2 stability.

Surface Pro 4

The July update for the Surface Pro 4 addresses the following security issues:

Surface UEFI – Firmware: 109.3748.768.0 Addresses critical security vulnerability.

Surface ME – Firmware: 11.8.86.3877 Addresses critical security vulnerability.

Intel(R) Management Engine Interface – System devices: 2102.100.0.1044 Addresses critical security vulnerability.

Surface Book

The July firmware for the original Surface Book also addresses a critical security vulnerability:

Surface UEFI – Firmware: 92.3748.768.0 Addresses critical security vulnerability.

You can download the update by Checking for Updates in Settings.

via onMSFT

Microsoft release new firmware for Surface Pro 4, Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Book

Next-gen Thunderbolt 5 reportedly leaks, super-fast 80Gbps transfers await us

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 06:32:43 +0000

Next-gen Thunderbolt 5 reportedly leaks, super-fast 80Gbps transfers await us

Intel announced Thunderbolt 4 last year and the technology can be found mostly on the company's 11th gen Tiger Lake-based laptops. However, it didn't boost the maximum transfer rate (40Gbps) over what was already available with its preceding Thunderbolt 3 interface. But it looks like next-gen Thunderbolt 5 will be similar to Thunderbolt 3 and will double the throughput up from the current 40 all the way up to 80Gbps, according to a leaked internal presentation slide from Intel.

The slide which is showcasing Intel's "80G PHY Technology" was apparently posted on Twitter by the company's Executive VP & GM of the Client Computing Group, Gregory M Bryant, who is on an internal tour of the Intel Israel Lab. The image however was later deleted by Bryant probably after he realized his mistake but fellow media outlet AnandTech was quick to save it.

As noted above, Thunderbolt 5 looks to be bringing very high 80Gbps bandwidth still using USB-C, which means the compatibility and adaptability of the next-gen interface should be easy, and according to what the slide says, it will be based on a "novel PAM-3 modulation technology".

PAM-3 or three-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation can transfer three bits of data (-1, 0, +1) in two cycles/ unit intervals, exhibiting an efficiency of one and a half (1.5) bits per cycle. This is 50% higher than single-cycled Non-return-to-zero (NRZ) or PAM-2 (two bits: 0 and 1) which is used in current Thunderbolts. However, this still doesn't explain the rest of the gains so there could be more at play here.

Apparently, the test chips for the new 80G PHY to be used in Thunderbolt 5 are showing promising initial results and these test chips might be built using TSMC's 6nm FinFET (N6) process but this has not been confirmed yet.

Source and image: AnandTech

Next-gen Thunderbolt 5 reportedly leaks, super-fast 80Gbps transfers await us

Graphics card maker warns on dangers of buying second-hand mining GPUs

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 21:11:02 +0000

Graphics card maker warns on dangers of buying second-hand mining GPUs

Used market is more of a minefield than ever

With China’s cryptocurrency crackdown, we’ve been hearing about GPUs previously employed in mining setups being sold second-hand, but for those feeling tempted to pick up what might seem like a bargain – or at least a reasonably priced product – one graphics card maker has attempted to clarify the dangers involved in picking up an ex-mining card.

Palit has been talking to Polish tech site Benchmark.pl (as flagged by PC Gamer), and notes that going by independent testing carried out on graphics cards which have been used for crypto-mining, a 10% drop in GPU performance can be expected for each year the board has been used for 24/7 mining (so almost 9,000 hours of constant usage equals a 10% drop).

Of course, this makes some assumptions, but it’s delivered as an average expectation of the performance baggage an ex-mining graphics card might carry. There is, of course, no way of really knowing how hard the miner may have driven any particular resold GPU, and as PC Gamer points out, some folks are more careful than others – and may even have undervolted the card for better efficiency, and looked after it somewhat.

However, it’s more than likely that graphics cards involved in mining operations will have been abused, being pushed hard 24/7, and running hot in badly ventilated environments, so they likely won’t be in great shape as Palit is pointing out.

A further problem is that miners realize that when folks see a card is an ex-mining board, they’ll be more wary and less likely to buy, so the obvious thing to do is lie and not admit that the GPU has been one of those toiling away in the heat of the mines. They will simply claim that these are nearly-new cards, or indeed repackage them to look like entirely new products.

In other words, as we’ve argued before, with the influx of second-hand mining GPUs going on, you’ve got to be very careful about the used market for graphics cards full-stop. In particular, look out for suspicious things like a card for sale having had the stock cooler replaced (not something you’ll normally see).

Analysis: Clear and present danger

Naturally, Palit has something of a bias here in persuading folks that they should be buying new rather than used GPUs, seeing as that’s its business. But the dangers inherent in picking up such a graphics card are something that we’ve warned about in the past, as mentioned above, and there are clear risks involved.

Buying a second-hand GPU is a bit of a minefield (ahem) at any time, but with big mining operations closing up shop, if used cards need to be shifted, it’s obviously in their interest to do that sharpish before the market corrects further (while extortionate prices and stock difficulties are still a thorn in buyers’ sides – a reality that seems to be changing, slowly but surely). So right now, it is a point worth making that buyers of used graphics cards – or more to the point, purportedly new GPUs on the likes of eBay and StockX – should be more careful than ever about who they’re buying from.

Of course, the cryptocurrency mining crackdown is also good news in terms of the prices of new GPUs going down as well, with the crypto side of the demand equation falling off. All of which means that unless you’re really, really desperate, playing a waiting game for now, rather than leaping at buying a graphics card, is likely the smartest choice to make.

Graphics card maker warns on dangers of buying second-hand mining GPUs

Microsoft Weekly: Flight Sim on console, Windows updates, and Q4 earnings

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 21:05:53 +0000

Microsoft Weekly: Flight Sim on console, Windows updates, and Q4 earnings

As yet another set of seven days has gone by, it’s time we take a look at the news that popped up during this time, including the landing of Flight Simulator on console, a series of updates for Windows, and the Q4 earnings report for Microsoft’s 2021 fiscal year. You’ll find info about those subjects and more below, in your Microsoft digest for the week of July 25 – 31.

Flight Sim on console

As promised, on July 27, Microsoft Flight Simulator landed on Game Pass and the Xbox Series X|S. This is the first time the title has made its way to console, with Xbox One users presumably being able to enjoy it via Xbox Cloud Gaming, where possible.

In case simulators are not quite your thing, there’s currently an Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, featuring deals for Assassin’s Creed games, Call of Duty titles, and others, and if you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, Darksiders III and Lost Planet 3 are now free to claim.

In first-party news, Forza Motorsport 7 is set to be removed from storefronts in September (having initially been released in October of 2017). Those who currently own the game will be unaffected though, as they get to (obviously) keep their copies.

And ending with another first-party game, Halo Infinite’s first Insider test is now live, and runs until August 2, at 10AM PT. Do be warned that Microsoft has accidentally leaked Infinite campaign details, so you’ll need to be cautious if you don’t want to have plot points spoiled.

Windows updates

Much like taxes, Windows updates are a given, and this week, there were definitely some interesting such updates.

For one, Microsoft released the first Windows 11 build to the Beta channel, last week’s Dev channel build, 22000.100. As you’d imagine, it contains broadly the same number of fixes as the Dev build, only this one has a couple more known issues added. As is the case with Windows 11 going forward, Teams is quite tightly integrated with the OS, so here’s our hands-on with said Teams experience.

In additional news about changes, Microsoft is set to retire semi-annual Windows Server updates in favor of LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) releases. The next LTSC variant, set to drop this year, will still be based on Windows 10.

And speaking of, KB5004296 was pushed out by the firm, bumping up the build numbers for Windows 10 versions 2004, 20H2, and 21H1 to 19041.1151, 19042.1151, and 19043.1151. The list of fixes is a little longer than usual, and contains everything from fixes for bugs with WFP (Windows Filtering Platform) to System Integrity memory leaks, and more.

Last but not least, to end the talk about versions and version numbers, Windows 10 21H1 is now on 26% of PCs, with Windows 11 (the Insider flavor) grabbing 0.9% of the market.

Q4 FY21 earnings

It’ll come as no shock to those who follow Microsoft that the Redmond giant has now posted its quarterly earnings for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2021, which ended June 30.

Microsoft brought in $46.2B in revenue (up 21% Year-over Year). Operating income landed at $19.1B (up 42%), with net income being $16.5B (up 47%). Diluted earnings per share was $2.17 (up 49%).

Of the three sections that Microsoft’s earnings are split into, Productivity and Business Processes brought in $14.7B (up 25%), Intelligent Cloud contributed the most with $17.4B (up 30%), and More Personal Computing accounted for $14.1B of the total sum, a 9% increase year-over-year.

In the first category, Office Commercial products and cloud services grew 20% in terms of revenue – off the back of a 35% increase in Office 365 Commercial revenue. Consumer Office earnings grew 18%, with Microsoft 365 consumer seats increasing to 51.9 million. Revenue from LinkedIn and Dynamics grew 46% and 33%, respectively.

In the Intelligent Cloud bracket, Azure revenue grew 51%, with revenue from cloud services and server products being up 34% (accounting for $3.9B). The Enterprise Mobility install base grew 19% (to over 190 million seats), and Premier Support – as well as Microsoft Consulting services - grew by a respectable 12%.

Under More Personal Computing, there was strong Search advertising revenue growth, with Windows Commercial products growing 20%, and OEM Pro (as well as non-Pro) revenues dipping 2% and 4% (respectively), which happened due to supply chain constraints. The other effect of said constraints was a 20% fall in revenue for the Surface unit.

Gaming revenue was up 11%, with a 172% increase in hardware revenue (year-over-year). Xbox content and services were down 4%, and Search advertising was up 53%.

Because this is also the end of the fiscal year, Microsoft shared the overall FY21 figures, with revenue landing at $168.1B (up 18%) and net income being $61.3B.

Dev channel

The final Edge Dev 93 build (93.0.961.2) is now out with an improved Settings layout.
Outlook on the web now has a ‘My Day’ pane for easy access to Calendar and To Do.
New phishing protections are now live in Teams.
Teams now has nearly 250 million monthly active users.

Logging off

We end the column by highlighting a software transition that took place earlier this week.

As was announced by Microsoft two years ago, Skype for Business Online was retired on July 31, 2021. The replacement is of course Teams, and the company is so confident in its latest chatting endeavor that it’s not extending the EOL date of Skype for Business Online.

For folks who have not moved to Teams completely (or at all), there will be Microsoft-assisted upgrades (starting in August). Until the upgrades are completed, users will be free to continue their chats and calls via Skype for Business Online.

Missed any of the previous columns? Check them all out at this link.

Microsoft Weekly: Flight Sim on console, Windows updates, and Q4 earnings