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Huawei / Huawei denies plans for Kirin X-series PC processors

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 07:18:35 PM »

(Image credit: Huawei)

The US recently revoked Huawei's access to Intel processors for its products, and shortly thereafter, a leaked document from Huawei shared by Chinese media revealed that the company had a new plan called the 'Taishan Battle' for PC processors, reports Cailian News Agency. However, in a rare move, Huawei has denied the report and called it 'fake news.' The supposed plan included launching Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin X-series processors and supporting platform this year, and Huawei's rare rebuttal gives us some insight into the company's actual plans.

The report originally emerged from the Huawei Pollen Club, stating that He Tingbo and Yu Chengdong of Huawei HiSilicon Semiconductor and the Consumer Business Group had announced the plan. This initiative was supposedly aimed at speeding up the development and release of PC processors in the wake of the revoked Intel export licenses that left Huawei without a steady chip supply for its PC lineup.

Huawei officials categorically denied the report, describing it as unfounded. Journalistic investigations supported this by confirming that multiple sources within the company had not received any communications related to PC processors.

For now, Huawei says it will use processors it has already procured to build its PCs, meaning it will leverage its existing stockpile. However, some of Huawei's computers aimed at the domestic market already use processors from China-based chipmaker Phytium. Furthermore, the company is working with Phytium to unify the software and hardware infrastructure of the China-native Kunpeng and Phytium CPUs.

Oddly, Huawei strongly denies that it is developing its higher-end CPUs for laptops that would compete with Intel or AMD. That isn't too surprising, though—Huawei has a history of hiding its suppliers, and even its own chip models, from prying Western eyes that might bring about more sanctions on its products.

There are many reasons for Huawei to develop its own PC processors. On the one hand, this will ensure that the company can differentiate itself from other PC makers. On the other hand, this will reduce risks for Huawei's PC division amid tightening U.S. export controls. On May 8th, the U.S. government withdrew export licenses from semiconductor giants Intel and Qualcomm, effectively barring them from selling to Huawei. The Department of Commerce confirmed the revocation of these licenses, impacting undisclosed American companies. Intel has already cut its quarter forecast due to the revocation of the license.

Last month, it was reported that Huawei was developing a next-generation Kirin processor for PCs. The new PC chip is expected to feature eight Arm cores — four high-performance next-gen Taishan V130 cores and four energy-efficient cores. It also features a significantly enhanced Mailiang 920 GPU with 10 clusters, promising a major upgrade over the previous Kirin 9000s. This chip aims to rival Apple's M3 in multi-threading performance and near M2 levels in graphics, supporting up to 32GB of memory, which hints at a 128-bit interface. Moreover, Huawei is said to be considering expanding its Kirin lineup with "Pro" and "Max" versions, including additional cores, a more powerful GPU, and expanded memory capacity.

Despite having a smaller share of the global PC market than Apple, which means that it may have no economic reasons to develop its own processors, Huawei's development of high-performance Kirin CPUs aligns with China's goal of achieving self-sufficiency in semiconductors. These processors are poised to replace AMD and Intel components in PCs used by government agencies, enhancing national technological independence.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Software | Drivers & Utilities / This Microsoft Add-On Is the Ultimate Windows 11 Customization Tool

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 07:04:04 PM »

Microsoft’s own PowerToys utility can help you unlock the full potential of the Windows desktop.

Photograph: Microsoft

There's no shortage of utilities to tweak, customize, and modify Windows, but one of the best utilities is made by Microsoft itself. PowerToys is a free and powerful customization tool for Windows 11, and well worth installing if you want to see what's possible beyond the default settings and layouts of Microsoft's operating system.

From window management to image resizing, there's a lot to explore. Here I'll introduce you to some of PowerToys' best features. It has grown to include so many different tools, most people are going to find something of use here.

Once you've downloaded and installed the utility, you'll be met with a dashboard where you can browse through the various modules available and customize them as needed.

FancyZones

Specify zones for your windows. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

FancyZones can bring some order to an unruly desktop. It lets you set specific layouts on screen for your windows to drop into, and these layouts can be saved for later use too, so you can switch between different configurations as needed.

Choose Launch layout editor from FancyZones settings and you're able to pick between different layouts for windows on the screen. You can stack windows in columns, for example, or have them in rows on top of each other, or keep them stacked in one corner of the screen. It's particularly handy for widescreen monitors, or when using multiple displays.

With FancyZones enabled and your preferred layout selected, just hold Shift while dragging a program’s window to drop it into a zone, where it will snap into position. You can even tweak zone colors and the margins between the zones.

Keyboard Manager

Use Keyboard Manager to remap keys and shortcuts. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

If you feel a little bit limited by the keyboard customization options you get with Windows, give Keyboard Manager a go. This PowerToys module lets you remap keys and key press combinations so they do something different than the defaults.

For example, maybe you never use the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard, and you want to set it up to minimize all the windows on the screen when pressed. Shortcuts can be set up to only work in specific apps if you want, and you're also able to have certain keys produce specific blocks of text—handy if you're always typing out certain sentences and phrases.

Use the Remap a key and Remap a shortcut links in the Keyboard Manager settings pane to get the keyboard working the way you want it to. Note there are some system keys you won't be able to remap—Microsoft explains that here.

Crop and Lock

Use Crop and Lock to keep certain parts of apps visible. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

The best way to understand Crop and Lock is to see it in action, but if I were going to attempt a description, I'd say it works like an “always on top” mode for a video player—only instead of a video, you can lock anything, anywhere on the screen.

Maybe you're waiting on a countdown to ticket sales for an event: With Crop and Lock, you can have the countdown part of the website visible in its own window, which always stays on top of everything else on the screen. There are lots of ways to use it.

The default shortcut for Crop and Lock is Win+Ctrl+Shift+T, though you can change it if you want to. Press this combination, then drag your mouse over the part of the screen you'd like to pin, and it pops up in a new window.

PowerToys Run

Get the macOS Spotlight experience on Windows as well. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

If you've used macOS as well as Windows, you'll know how useful the Spotlight search tool can be: a floating bar in the middle of the screen that helps you find files, search the web, and launch applications.

PowerToys Run brings something similar to Microsoft's operating system. Once it's enabled, you can launch it with the Alt+Space keyboard shortcut (you can change this if needed). Then, type whatever it is you're looking for into the box.

You can use the same box to run calculations, conversions, and system commands. Use the settings available in PowerToys to change various aspects of the search box behavior, including how many search results you get at once.

Image Resizer

One of the fastest ways to resize images on Windows. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

PowerToys can enhance Windows’ File Explorer in a variety of different ways, and Image Resizer is one of them. As the name suggests, it enables you to quickly resize images without having to open up a photo editor.

It's best used for processing batches of pictures that you need to get into a consistent size and shape (for publishing on the web, for example). In the settings for Image Resizer, you're able to specify the preset sizes you'd like to work with, and the file formats you want your images to end up in.

As long as Image Resizer is enabled, you'll see it when you right-click on a picture in File Explorer and choose Show more options. You can work with images one by one, or select a whole group of them and right-click to resize them all together.

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Intel / Intel’s new Thunderbolt feature ‘fundamentally changes’ how you use two PCs

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:43:54 PM »

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Intel is finally leveraging its Thunderbolt platform to give you a direct connection between two of your PCs. Thunderbolt Share, a new feature launching today through some Thunderbolt 4 and 5 PCs and accessories, allows you to share files, use the same peripherals, and sync your data across two different systems — and all with a single cable.

There are a few different ways to set this up. Most obviously, you can connect two PCs and a single monitor to a Thunderbolt dock, or connect two PCs through a Thunderbolt monitor. The more unique advantage with Thunderbolt Share is a daisy-chain setup. You can connect two Thunderbolt PCs directly to each other and pass everything through to your monitor.

Intel

It’s not difficult to share peripherals and even copy files between multiple PCs if you already have a Thunderbolt dock or monitor. The fact that you can connect two PCs directly is a bit of magic, however.

It doesn’t work automatically. Thunderbolt Share is an application that will connect the two PCs together, and Intel is careful to note that you need Thunderbolt support on both ends of the cable — regular USB-C won’t work. However, only one device needs Thunderbolt Share support. If you have a Thunderbolt 5 or 4 port, it will work as long as at least one device in the chain supports Thunderbolt Share.

From there, you can only choose to do one thing at a time. There are four options in the app:

• Share peripherals across two computers

• Drag and drop files across two computers

• Sync files across two computers

• Transfer data from an old computer to a new one

You can do all of this through various different methods now, some of which are more convenient — a KVM switch for your monitor comes to mind. Thunderbolt Share stands out by condensing all of this functionality into one spot with a single cable. On top of that, it’s using a cable, so you don’t have to worry about your security like when transferring files over a network, and you’re getting the full speed and bandwidth of Thunderbolt.

Intel

There are some pretty clear downsides to Thunderbolt Share, however, at least right now. For starters, it only works on PC. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The more pressing issue is screen sharing.

When sharing peripherals, Thunderbolt Share will stream the display of one of your PCs to your main display. This appears in a window, and it’s limited to 1080p at up to 60 frames per second. Even in a work setting, that’s fairly low. Modern monitors are pushing to higher resolutions and refresh rates, even if you don’t use them for gaming.

Even with those issues, it’s clear this is just the first iteration of Thunderbolt Share, and the feature will likely be updated as new versions of Thunderbolt are released. To unlock the feature, you’ll need a compatible accessory. Intel says companies like MSI, Lenovo, Razer, Acer, Belkin, and Kensington will have PCs and accessories available this year.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Hardware / What is Thunderbolt, and is it different from USB-C

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:37:20 PM »

image: Youtube

Thunderbolt is a type of hardware interface technology that is used to connect various devices to a PC. You’ve likely already seen Thunderbolt in the form of its distinctive ports and cables — the latest generations use the USB-C connector. That’s the quick definition. But if you’re here, you’re probably looking for a more comprehensive explanation of what Thunderbolt is, and why it differs from USB-C.

In this guide, that’s exactly what you’ll get: We’ll go over some of its current iterations and how they compare, how Thunderbolt is different from USB-C, how to identify Thunderbolt ports, and find out the latest on when Thunderbolt 5 will launch. Now let’s take a closer look at Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt 3 vs. Thunderbolt 4

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Since Thunderbolt was introduced in 2011, there have been a number of different versions of it. But these days, if you’re shopping for a device that features Thunderbolt’s use, you’re probably looking at Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4

Introduced in 2015, Thunderbolt 3 features a USB-C connector, a max transfer speed of 40GB/s, and up to 15W of power for running accessories. It can also support one 4K display and is compatible with USB4 specification.

Launched in 2020, Thunderbolt 4 is the latest version of its connection technology that’s currently available. Thunderbolt 4 still has the same max transfer speed as Thunderbolt 3: 40Gb/s, but it mandates that as the minimum, whereas for Thunderbolt 3, it’s not enforced. Like Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 also has a USB-C connector and offers up to 15W power delivery for accessories. But that’s where the similarities between the two pretty much end.

Unlike Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 can support two 4K displays and is rated as “compliant” for USB4 specification. Thunderbolt 4 also has double the PCIe SSD bandwidth speed (32 Gb/s) of Thunderbolt 3 (16 Gb/s).

Is Thunderbolt the same as USB-C?

No. Though Thunderbolt has recently incorporated the use of USB-C connectors, they’re still different connection technologies. So just because Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports are designed for use with USB-C connectors, not all USB-C ports are designed to support Thunderbolt.

Do Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 accessories work with Thunderbolt 3?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

They can, but not without help. Thunderbolt 3’s USB-C connection isn’t compatible with devices based on Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 without an expensive adapter.

How do I know if I have a Thunderbolt port?

There are two main ways to know: You can either see if there is a thunderbolt icon next to your device’s USB-C port or you can check your device’s tech specs online to see if it mentions Thunderbolt ports in the product description.

When will Thunderbolt 5 launch?

While Intel officially introduced Thunderbolt 5 in September 2023, the exact launch date for Thunderbolt 5 has not been announced yet. Thunderbolt 5-based products are currently expected to begin their release at some point in 2024.

We’ll update this section once we know more.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Hardware / USB-A vs. USB-C: What’s the difference

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:19:19 PM »

USB cables and ports are one of the most common types of connectors for everyday devices like computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, A/V receivers, game consoles, and many other components. Engineered for data transmission and charging capabilities, there are currently two main types of USB cables and ports: USB-A and USB-C.

When it comes to data transfer, charging, and other useful features, there are quite a few differences between USB-A and USB-C. This is why we’ve put together this guide to explain how these connections are similar, and what sets them apart from each other.

What is USB-A?

Digital Trends

USB Type-A connections refer to the physical design of the USB port. Every USB connection makes up a port in the host device, a connecting cable, and a receptor device. USB-A is a traditional USB host port design and one of the easiest to recognize on devices.

It’s a horizontal port with the bottom portion dedicated to pin connectors. This arrangement creates the infamous, one-sided USB connection that only works with the cable perfectly inserted — no matter how many times you have to try.

Interestingly, there is no USB-B host port. The USB-B connector is the receptor port on the USB device you are connecting to the host computer. Type B connections also are easy to recognize because of their square shape with rounded corners on one side, almost like the shape of a tiny house. USB type B is mainly for external peripherals, with a USB-A connection on one end and a USB-B connection. There are USB-B to USB-B cables, but they’re rarely used.

Note that there are also subsets of this design, like USB Mini-A and USB Micro-A, with different port designs, but these aren’t as important for our current discussion.

What is USB-C, and how does it differ?

Digital Trends

USB-C is a newer port type officially announced in 2014, although it took several years for the ports to reach widespread consumer devices, as we see today. Designed to solve many of the old USB-A port problems, USB-C is an entirely new type of USB port. Critical features of USB-C include:

• A slimmer design that fits into a port no matter which direction it’s flipped,

• A total replacement of USB-A, B, mini, and micro USB connections

• A 100-watt, 20-volt connection is far more powerful than the older port and can handily power even larger devices.

• Potential for a much higher data transfer rate than USB-A.

• Support for power delivery to charge up devices on either end (with the right cables) and charge larger devices.

• Support for video delivery at much higher quality, including transmitting 4K video to a screen.

• Support for alternate modes that allow for lots of different adapters for specific connections like HDMI or VG — or older types of USB connections.

• Potential compatibility with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 connections means a USB-C port can double as a TB4 or TB3 port with extra hardware.

So, USB-C is a better connection?

With the right data standard (see below), the USB-C connection is much faster and more versatile than USB-A. In time, you can expect USB-C connections to replace all older USB-A connections and other ports. This switchover will, however, probably take years.

For now, USB-A shows up alongside the USB type C connector in many computers, primarily to deal with compatibility issues. People may still have an older device, including smartphones, beloved controllers, receivers, TVs, keyboards, and many peripherals that require a USB-A/B connection.

Most people don’t want to buy an adapter to make USB-C backward-compatible with all their stuff. As the use of these older devices fades, USB-C will become the go-to port that everyone knows to look for — and we already see this happening in some sectors.

Where does USB 3.2 fit into this?

USB 3.0 to 3.2 refers to a specific USB protocol for data when it comes to USB connections: Instead of describing the physical port, this refers to the data formats the port can handle. A notable change came with USB 3.0, which required a modification of the USB-A and USB-B designs to gain more capabilities and a faster data transfer speed. USB-A cables that support USB 3.0 and above come with a blue pin protector instead of the standard gray one.

USB 3.2 is divided into two different types. The fully updated version called USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which is named after both the second generation and how it uses two 10Gbps lanes to reach a total of 20Gbps. The second type is an older USB 3.1 10Gbps standard that, with its latest updates, can also be referred to as USB 3.2 Gen 2.

And just to throw one more wrench into the mix, USB type A and USB-C ports can support various standards, anywhere from USB 2.0 to USB 3.2. There are no universal names for these protocols to make matters more complex, so not everyone uses the same name. For example, USB 3.1 Gen 1 is also called USB 3.0. Fortunately, USB 3.2 is backward-compatible with all other USB connections, although USB-C ports may require an adapter. You also must make sure that your USB cables and devices support 3.1 data capabilities when possible.

What about USB4?

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Announced in 2019, the USB4 standard (also known as USB 4.0) is the latest addition to the USB cable and port lineup. While the technology is slowly being rolled out to modern PCs and other devices, Apple was one of the first companies to include USB4 ports on its 2020 M1 MacBook Air and Pro laptops, and M1 Mac mini.

Actually, these Apple ports are considered Thunderbolt 4 connections, that just so happen to support the USB4 standard. Not every USB4 cable and port will work with Thunderbolt 4 though.

So what are some key features of USB4? For starters, data transmission rates for the protocol are required to be at least 20Gbps, but you’ll find a lot of USB4 ports capable of 40Gbps transfer rates. And with the 2022 USB 2.0 update, you’ll even find some USB4 ports that can push up to 80Gbps.

USB4 can also deliver up to 100 watts via power delivery and is also backward compatible with USB 3.x, 2.x, and 1.x hardware.

The TLDR of USB-A and USB-C

If you’re feeling confused, we understand. Luckily, there are only a few simplified, crucial points that you would do best to remember:

• USB-A and USB-C can both have a degree of data standards, up to USB 3.2, which outlines their overall data capabilities.

• USB 3.2 is backward-compatible with other standards, making it an excellent standard for users, although it may call for you to use extra adapters.

• A USB-C connection is the only one that can support the full potential of USB 3.2

• Ensure that all of your external cables, cords, and devices are compatible with the USB data standard. It’s just simple
matching: if you get a port with USB 3.2, your cable and connected device must also support 3.2.

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Linux, gOS, Harmony OS, Moblin, Ubuntu, OpenSuse / Step aside AMD and Intel, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite will also support Linux

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 03:56:45 PM »

The dominance of AMD and Intel could be coming to an end if Qualcomm has its way with its new ARM processors. ARM continues to make headlines with Qualcomm and Apple releasing incredibly powerful desktop and mobile processors and now the former has unveiled support for Linux is already in the works. Qualcomm’s efforts will see Snapdragon X Elite processors booting on Linux and Windows-powered systems.

The company has already upstreamed numerous patchsets for merging into the Linux kernel, including NVMe over PCIe, sound machine driver, PMC8380 PMIC, Pinctrl (TLMM), Phy (PCIe/eDP/USB), reference board support (CRD/QCP), and system cache. These were loaded into Linux kernels 6.8 and 6.9 and shows a strong commitment to supporting not only Windows but the alternative operating systems.

Why is this a big deal for Linux?

Qualcomm showing love for Linux is a massive step forward for the company and the Linux community. Many important features have already made their way into patches but Qualcomm has more in the works for Linux kernel 6.10 and 6.11, including battery, USB host, GPU, external DP, suspend/resume, video, camera, and speakers/microphone/headset.

The Snapdragon X Elite is a powerful CPU, featuring 12 cores that can run up to speeds of 4.3 GHz. It’s a system-on-chip (SoC) design with an Adreno GPU that can handle 4.6 TFLOPs for gaming and other GPU-intensive tasks. And as AI is all the rave right now, the Snapdragon X Elite boasts 45 TOPs for AI-specific workloads.

The roadmap for the next six months includes work in end-to-end hardware video decoding on Firefox and Chrome, CPU and GPU optimizations, power optimizations, making firmware openly available through Linux-firmware, and access to easy installers on Ubuntu and Debian.

Qualcomm published an experimental disk image for a Debian installer and is asking the wider community to monitor their work on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) archive (search for "X1E80100") to inform them of what needs to be added. It’s exciting times ahead for the Linux platform and the PC industry as a whole with more competition gearing up for an expansive launch.

Looking ahead at new Snapdragon PCs

We likely won’t see much in terms of Qualcomm hardware running Linux outside of laptops and other portable devices, but it’ll be interesting to see how far Qualcomm takes its new chips with the desktop market ripe for the taking. May 20th is just around the corner when we'll see a host of devices launch with the new Qualcomm chip and I cannot see Linux being too far behind with this work.

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Android O.S | Apps / Android’s AI era includes eavesdropping on phone calls, warning you about scams

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 03:45:05 PM »

A scammer says "transfer the money in your bank account," but Android is listening.

Google's "code red" demands that AI be part of every single Google product and that includes Android. At Google I/O, the company announced a "multi-year journey to reimagine Android with AI at the core" but only demoed a few minor AI enhancements.

Gemini can soon be brought up via the power button as an overlay panel, where it will have access to whatever's on your screen. The demo involved opening a PDF in Android's PDF reader, summarizing it, and answering questions based on the content. You can do something similar with a YouTube video. The demo also showed generating images based on a text prompt and then sending those images in a text message. Another demo involved Gemini understanding a chat log and suggesting future actions.

Talkback, Android's system for low-vision users, will soon be able to use AI to describe images that lack descriptive text.

The wildest demo revealed that Gemini will listen to your phone calls. One demo involved a scam phone call where the scammer on the other end claimed fraudulent charges were happening on your account and that the best way to secure your money would be to transfer it to a new account. After hearing the scammer speak the request to transfer money, the Google phone app popped up with a warning: "Likely scam. Banks will never ask you to move your money to keep it safe."

Google says that some of these features will require the pay-per-month Gemini Advanced. The company says all of these features will happen on-device, so your phone calls and PDFs will not be streamed to the Internet. It still feels just a bit creepy to have an AI listen in on your phone calls. Google says the feature will be opt-in.

In other Android news, Android 15 is being demoted to Day 2 of Google I/O, when it used to be headline keynote stuff. An operating system is not AI, so it's not making the keynote.

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Surface Event 2024 / What to expect from Microsoft's Surface and Windows 11 AI event on May 20

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 06:15:58 AM »

Next-gen AI experiences and new Arm-powered Surface PCs are on the agenda.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft is hosting a special event in Seattle on May 20, and as always, the company is remaining tight-lipped about what exactly we're going to see. Luckily, we already have a pretty good idea about what the company intends to talk about, and it's likely to involve Windows, Surface, and yet-to-be-announced AI experiences that will join them together.

Unfortunately, this year's event will not be livestreamed, which means you will have to follow our live blog to see the news as it happens. Or, keep reading for a preview of the announcements I'm expecting to see.

AI experiences in Windows 11 will be the main focus. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Microsoft is expected to spend some time taking the wraps off its next major Windows 11 update, which will ship later this year as the Windows 11 2024 Update. This release will ship first on new Qualcomm Snapdragon X-based PCs launching in June and will roll out to everyone else in the fall.

The big focus for this year's Windows 11 update is on next-gen AI experiences, some of which are expected to require a neural processing unit (NPU) with around 40-45 TOPS of power. Qualcomm's upcoming SoC is capable of running this, and next-gen chips from Intel and AMD coming in 2025 are also expected to run these next-gen AI experiences.

AI Explorer

AI Explorer is expected to be the blockbuster AI feature coming to Windows 11.
(Image credit: Windows Central)

The likely star of the show will be AI Explorer, an internal umbrella term for a number of next-gen AI experiences coming to Windows 11 later this year. AI Explorer will deliver a set of features that utilize next-gen NPU hardware to allow Windows to run AI in the background, which analyzes everything you do and turns that into snapshots and memories that can be recalled at a later date using natural language.

According to my sources, the feature includes a timeline interface that will let you scroll back through all the different things you've done on your PC that the AI has captured, and let you Recall any moment just by typing in a search criteria.

For example, if you were chatting with a friend called Sarah on WhatsApp who casually mentioned a list of movies they wanted to see, typing "show me that list of movies Sarah said she wanted to see" would bring up that exact moment in time when that conversation was happening.

AI Explorer can also analyze what's currently on-screen and provide contextual suggestions based on what it can see. An example of this is looking at two apps or webpages side by side, and asking AI Explorer to compare the two things. Or you could be looking at an image sent to you in an email, and AI Explorer can suggest removing the background of that image using Photos with a single-click.

You can learn more about these upcoming AI Explorer features in my in-depth write-up.

Advanced Windows Studio Effects

Studio Effects will enhance webcam feeds with artistic styles. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft is also planning to unveil a number of enhanced Windows Studio Effects, specifically with new video effects that will apply filters in real-time in a handful of different artistic styles. These are expected to be built-in to Windows and can be applied in any app that uses the built-in webcam and Studio Effects feed.

Live Captions

Live captions are expected to get an AI upgrade that can translate different languages in real time.
(Image credit: Windows Central)

Live Captions may also get a mention too. I hear Microsoft has been working on a new AI-powered feature that will enable the ability to translate different languages in real time based on whatever audio is being played on the system. Microsoft will tout this as an example of how AI is improving accessibility software.

Local Generative AI

Copilot should gain some local AI capabilities. (Image credit: Windows Central)

I also expect Microsoft to talk a bit about how it's enabling on-device Generative AI experiences. Up until now, many of the AI experiences on Windows 11 are cloud-based, which allows PCs without NPUs to utilize LLM technology. Starting later this year, Copilot will gain some local generative AI capabilities, reducing their reliance on the cloud on PCs with dedicated NPUs.

The Surface Pro and Surface Laptop will be top billing at this event. (Image credit: Microsoft)

The other half of this event is expected to be all about Surface and Windows on Arm. Specifically, I am expecting Microsoft to unveil consumer variants of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, both powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Series SoCs.

Qualcomm's new chip beats Intel's latest Core Ultra chips in both performance and efficiency benchmarks, and even trades blows with the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. It's the first Windows on Arm chip that truly competes, and hardware makers are finally confident enough to position Windows on Arm devices as part of their mainstream lineups.

That's what we're going to see with the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 at this event. As far as I'm aware, Microsoft only intends to offer these consumer variants with Arm chips, a first for the Surface line. I also expect other OEMs such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo to announce their own Qualcomm-powered laptops around the same time.

The first Snapdragon X Series-powered laptops are expected to start shipping in June, and Microsoft's Surface Pro and Surface Laptop offerings are expected to be some of the first available.

Surface Laptop

Expect the Surface Laptop to ship with a refreshed design. (Image credit: Windows Central)

It's the Surface Laptop line that's in the most need of a design refresh, and it sounds like that's what we might be getting with the Arm-powered Surface Laptop 6. According to my sources, the new Surface Laptop with Arm will be available in both 13.8- and 15-inch display sizes, both consisting of thinner bezels with rounded display corners.

Additionally, the device is also said to ship with an updated keyboard deck with a larger haptic trackpad, which is said to be similar to the trackpad found on the Surface Laptop Studio 2. I also hear the device will have a revised selection of ports, including one USB-A, two USB-C, and Surface Connect.

Surface Pro

The Arm-powered Surface Pro 10 may ship with an OLED display option. (Image credit: Microsoft)

As far as I'm aware, the Arm-powered Surface Pro is less of a major update. I expect it to ship with a similar design to the Surface Pro 10 for business, including the rounded display corners that debuted with that model. The device will be available in more colors, as will the Surface Pro Type Cover, which has been updated with a dedicated Copilot key.

I'm told Microsoft is planning to offer the Arm-powered Surface Pro in an OLED display configuration for the first time, matching that of the new iPad Pro. The device will also offer an anti-reflective coating, similar to the Surface Pro 10 for business.

Surface Go 4

Surface Go 4 may finally go on sale for consumers. (Image credit: Future)

While I don't expect this to get a mention during the event, I have heard that Surface Go 4 will be made available to buy for consumers this summer. Up until now, the Surface Go 4 has been exclusively available for commercial customers, but that means you've not been able to find the Surface Go 4 in retail stores like Best Buy or Amazon.

I understand that the Surface Go 4 for consumers will be identical to the Surface Go 4 for commercial customers, meaning it will be powered by the same Intel N200 processor and not an Arm chip.

It's always a possibility that Microsoft may have one or two surprises up its sleeve. I know we're not going to hear about any other Surface products at the event. That means no Surface Laptop Studio, no Surface Studio, and definitely no Surface Duo or headphones. The focus is on Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, and Qualcomm's newest SoC.

So, that's everything I'm expecting to see (and not see) during Microsoft's event on May 20. I will be on the ground covering the event as it happens, so keep it locked to Windows Central for all the news.

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AI, MR & VR | Robotics articles / What is Windows 11 'AI Explorer'

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 06:14:00 AM »

Everything you need to know about Microsoft's upcoming defining AI PC feature

Windows 11 will be supercharged with AI designed to enhance productivity and search across the OS.

(Image credit: Windows Central)

It's an open secret that Microsoft is gearing up to supercharge Windows 11 this summer with next-gen AI capabilities that will enable the OS to be context aware across any apps and interfaces, as well as remember everything you do on your PC to enhance user productivity and search.

These new capabilities are set to ship as part of "AI Explorer," an internal umbrella term for a number of next-gen AI experiences which I'm told will be unveiled during Microsoft's special Windows event on May 20. AI Explorer will utilize next-gen neural processing unit (NPU) hardware to process these machine learning and generative AI experiences locally on the device with low latency.

The feature is also said to be exclusive to devices powered by Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X series chips, at least at first, as Intel and AMD play catchup in the NPU race. It will also require PCs with at least 16GB RAM. But what exactly is AI Explorer, and what can it do? Here's everything I know about it so far.

AI that remembers everything you do

AI Explorer is an app that will run in the background on NPU capable PCs. (Image credit: Windows Central)

According to my sources, AI Explorer will run in the background and capture everything you do on your computer. It will document and triage everything it sees, no matter what apps or interfaces you're looking at, and turn them into memories that you can recall at a later point.

For example, you can have a conversation with a friend in the WhatsApp app for Windows, and AI Explorer will record and remember the content that was on-screen and process it with AI for you to recall later. AI Explorer can also summarize conversations, emails, web pages, and general UI surfaces just by asking for it during or after the fact.

I'm told that much of this experience is rendered on-device and does not reach out to the cloud to process information. This is important for privacy reasons, but also for performance reasons. To reduce latency, AI Explorer will rely on NPU silicon to process content that has been recorded. I also understand that users will be able to filter out specific apps from being recorded by the AI Explorer process or disable AI Explorer entirely.

Search for anything with natural language

A mock-up of what the search bar in AI Explorer may look like. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Sources say AI Explorer features a UI that runs along the top of the screen, and lets users recall memories based on the user's inputted search criteria. Because AI Explorer is recording and triaging everything you do on your computer, anything and everything becomes something you can search for.

Looked at some webpages about dinosaurs a few days ago but can't remember the name of the websites? Just type "show me webpages about dinosaurs I viewed a few days ago" and AI Explorer will be able to pull it up. How about a chat with a friend about the Fallout TV show, but you can't remember who it was or what app you used? Type "find me conversations I've had about the Fallout TV show" and AI Explorer will pull up those chats and the points in time where you had them.

Notably, AI Explorer enables the ability to search for things using natural language. No longer will users be confined to strict search terms that must be accurate for results. If you're looking for a document that your colleague Bob sent you on Slack, just typing "find me that file Bob sent me on Slack a few weeks ago" should yield results based on memories that AI Explorer has captured.

You can also use basic search terms such as "FY24 earnings," and every instance where FY24 earnings (and related queries) appeared on-screen will be brought up and shown in AI Explorer for you to look back at.

Contextually aware across any app

The AI will be able to help across apps. (Image credit: Windows Central)

AI Explorer is able to do more than just remember the things you do on your computer, it's also able to analyze what's currently on-screen and provide contextual suggestions and tasks based on what it can see. For example, if you're looking at an image in an app or webpage, AI Explorer can present suggested tasks such as "remove the background of this image using Paint," which can be initiated with a single click.

You can also ask AI Explorer to compare two documents that are on-screen, which will lean on Microsoft Copilot to create a comparison. It can also read, understand, and help craft responses to emails or conversations, no matter the app. This capability is called Screen Understanding, and I'm told one of the big selling points of AI Explorer is that it's supposed to work across any app, with no developer input required.

There will likely be things developers can do to enhance their apps for AI Explorer, but out of the box it should be to analyze, triage, and provide contextual suggestions for content within apps without any developer input.

A new era of AI experiences on Windows

Microsoft has teased AI Explorer in the past. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Sources familiar with AI Explorer describe it as a truly useful AI experience that works for you in the background to enhance your workflow while using a Windows PC. With that in mind, it's not an entirely new concept. There's already a third-party app available on Mac called Rewind.ai that does pretty much everything AI Explorer is attempting to achieve.

The existence of Rewind.ai proves that this is a concept that can be done, and Microsoft is essentially building its own version into Windows 11 that offloads the resources required for such a feature onto NPUs to keep the load away from the CPU. AI Explorer will be the defining difference between upcoming AI PCs and a non-AI PCs, my sources say.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella himself has teased that personal computing is about to enter a new era thanks to AI, and that this year will be where we really see how AI can aid and improve people's digital workflows on Windows. New Windows lead Pavan Davuluri has also previously teased what's coming this year:

"The AI is going to be able to orchestrate across multiple apps, services, and devices, functioning as an agent in your life that can connect and keep context across entire workflows."

AI Explorer isn't the only new AI experience Microsoft is working on for Windows 11 in 2024 either. I understand that Microsoft also has more advanced Windows Studio Effects in the works, a new Live Captions feature that can translate languages in real-time, and more on-device generative AI experiences such as local Copilot capabilities, background removal in Photos, image generation in Paint, and more.

We will have hands-on with AI Explorer, and all the new AI features, once they are announced, likely on May 20.

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Windows 10 Help | How To & Fixes | Tips & Tricks / How to clean the dust out of your PC tower

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 05:19:39 AM »

Dust buildup is bad for your system, so you should regularly clean your PC tower to keep it free of dirt and grime

Cleaning is a crucial part of the PC maintenance routine, and we can't stress how important it is to regularly dust and clean your PC tower. If you ever peek inside your PC's chassis, and you see piles of dust gathered around the internals, then that's not a good sign. We say that because the dust and grime that's collecting on your PC's power and its internals are not only tarnishing its looks, but they're also significantly affecting your PC's performance by reducing the thermal efficiency of your system.

Even the best PC cases will eventually accumulate enough dust to start impacting your system's performance, so it's important to ensure you're getting rid of the dust frequently. While the process of cleaning your PC tower may sound rather tedious, this step-by-step procedure will help you selectively clean the components that are prone to collecting a lot of dust during everyday usage.

What you’ll need

The prerequisites

Most PC cases use thumbscrews to keep the front and back panels in place, but you’ll need a Phillips screwdriver if you plan to unmount the components during the cleanup procedure.

As for the cleaning tools, you’ll need a can of compressed air to get rid of all the dust and debris on your components. Additionally, you’ll need some isopropyl alcohol wipes to properly clean the non-fragile PC parts. You can technically use rubbing alcohol, but I would advise against it as rubbing alcohol contains more traces of water, which can harm your PC's internals. As such, you should typically use isopropyl alcohol with over 90% alcohol concentration when you clean your PC.

Before you begin

Prepare your PC for a clean-up

There are certain steps you should take to ensure that you don't harm yourself or your PC during the cleanup procedure.

1. Turn off your PC and unplug all the cables connected to it.

2. Press and hold the power button for at least 20 seconds to drain all residual power from the PSU.

3. Move the PC tower to a well-ventilated area to ensure that the dust does not settle back into your rig after you finish cleaning it.

4. Remove the front and side panels after loosening the thumb screws that hold them in place.

How to clean the dust out of your PC tower

A step-by-step guide

Cleaning your PC is a lot easier than you think because dust tends to gather around the fans and on the surface of the components instead of settling inside the parts. The most dust-attracting components of your PC are the dust filters, cabinet fans, GPU fans, and the CPU cooler, so you should focus on these parts during the cleanup procedure.

1. Start by removing the dust filters from your cabinet and cleaning them with isopropyl alcohol wipes.

2. Use a compressed air duster to get rid of the dirt and dust accumulated on the case fans. Alternatively, you can use a microfiber cloth to gently clean them, but you'd want to detach them from the cabinet to avoid damaging them.

3. Next up is the GPU. While you can remove most of the dust from your GPU by simply blowing air on it using a compressed air duster, I’d recommend removing the GPU from the case for thorough cleaning. Detach the PSU wires from the GPU, loosen the expansion slot screws securing it in place, and gently unmount the GPU while pressing down on the PCIe latch.

4. Using a finger or a toothpick, hold the GPU fans in place while you clean them with the compressed air can.

5. If the RAM sticks have some dirt gathered around them, you can blow it away using the compressed air duster.

6. If you want to properly clean the dust off your CPU's cooler, you’ll have to detach the fan from the heat sink. Some CPU fans are attached to the heatsink via latches, allowing you to easily disconnect them, while others require you to unmount the entire cooler from the CPU before you can separate the fan from the heatsink. Consult its manual before going ahead with the unmounting process. Use the same procedure you followed when cleaning the GPU fans to dislodge dirt and grime from the CPU fan and heatsink.

It only takes a few minutes to clean the PC tower regularly

Although your PC is now dust-free, you’ll notice that it’s left in a disassembled state. Once you’re done putting your rig back together, be sure to regularly clean the dust filters every other week and the cabinet fans every three months to prevent dust from gathering inside your PC tower. Cleaning them every once in a while will also help improve your system temperatures.

If you want to improve your PC's thermal efficiency even further, consider looking into the cases with the best airflow. You may be inclined to believe that more airflow is synonymous with increased dust accumulation, but many of these cabinets have dust filters around the intake fans to ensure they don't get clogged with dirt.

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