Computing

We're sorry to say it, but if you recently purchased an RTX 2060, 2070, or 2080, then NVIDIA just made an announcement that'll likely make you regret that purchasing decision. Today, NVIDIA announced its new line of RTX Super graphics cards. Comprised of "Super" versions of the three cards we just named, this new line promises more performance at price points that are either similar or just straight up the same as existing cards in the RTX 20-series.

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The cat is out of the bag and Steve Ballmer’s worst nightmare has just come true. Microsoft, once the most outspoken enemy of Linux and open source software, not only loves it but may have just become dependent on it. Its cloud computing platform Azure has long offered customers the choice between Linux and Windows virtual machines.

Now a Microsoft engineer has just admitted that Azure customers have preferred using Linux instead of Windows servers. But what is a clear win for Linux in this market could also negatively affect other aspects of the operating system, most especially “The Linux Desktop” everyone loves talking about.

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On paper, Windows 10 would have been one of Microsoft’s best attempt at modernizing an almost ancient platform. It had all the elements of a modern operating system while still keeping compatibility with the thousands of software available for Windows. But, as they say, theory and practice aren’t always the same and Windows 10 became notorious for its updates, both the incessant nagging as well as the broken feature updates. For the next major Windows 10 update, Microsoft is promising it won’t break anything and it will be doing that by making that update less features.

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Google has pretty much axed the development of its Chrome OS tablets but it continues to build up the operating system as a platform for work as much as it is for content consumption. It’s not yet there but each release takes it closer to that reality. In the next release or two, Chrome OS will gain the ability to see how long before your Bluetooth device dies out and how to manage virtual desktops in a way that won’t make sense to tablet-only devices.

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For years, Google has been rumored to be working internally on a third operating system. Traces of this OS started to pop up in Google's official source code repositories but third-party developers had to piece the clues together themselves. It was only at I/O 2019 last May that Google even acknowledged Fuchsia's existence. Now the development engine may be picking up steam with the silent launch of a dedicates website for Fuchsia developers.

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Today seems to be a day for almost forgotten voice assistants. Samsung has just launched a Marketplace for Bixby Capsules, a.k.a. skills, suggesting there is indeed a market for that. Now Microsoft seems to be moving to decouple Cortana from its Windows 10 operating system. A beta version of a standalone Cortana app has appeared on the Microsoft Store and if the speculation is correct, this could actually help improve Cortana’s visibility and usefulness.

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Product recalls are nothing new but after the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, those that have been associated with batteries and potential fire hazards have been getting special attention. Especially when the recall comes from Apple. That, unfortunately, is exactly the case that happened just last week when Apple sent word about problems with its older MacBook Pros. Now the Consumer Product Safety Commission has echoed the company’s call for owners of 2015 15-inch MacBook Pros to get their laptop’s battery replaced ASAP.

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Apple quietly added one of Arm's top chip engineers to its ranks earlier this year, fueling talk that the Cupertino company plans to expand its silicon design expertise to the processors inside MacBooks and other computers. Rumors that Apple is looking to oust Intel chips from at least some of its upcoming hardware have been long-standing within the tech world, as the company refines the processors it designs for the iPhone and iPad.

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If you thought Apple's Pro Display XDR was exciting, get ready for DisplayPort 2.0 to usher in a whole generation of 8K screens and beyond. Freshly published by VESA, the standards association responsible for defining the connection, DisplayPort 2.0 brings with it a threefold increase in data bandwidth performance.

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Shenzen-based manufacturer GPD has really come a long way from its relatively obscure origins. Its name originally stood for “GamePad Digital” and it made a living out of making Android gaming handhelds. It has since then moved on to cater to an equally niche market of handheld PC and UMPC computers. Having filled the market with such five to seven-inch devices, GPD has returned to Indiegogo to “crowdfund” its latest product, the GPD P2 Max “Ultrabook”.

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There’s a saying in the fashion world that what’s old will eventually become new again. While not exactly the norm in the gaming industry, we’re seeing a revival not just of classic games but classic consoles as well. The NES and especially the PSX, however, has nothing on the Commodore 64 and Atari VCS in terms of antiquity and both of the latter have gotten their own retro revival. Not satisfied with a Mini version, however, Retro Games is returning with a full-sized recreation of the beloved computer, simply called “The C64”.

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One of Intel’s staunchest allies may be partially leaving it behind, striking it a blow just when it’s on the verge of making its biggest jump in processor architecture and design. Although Microsoft isn’t completely jumping ship away for its next generation of Surface products, it is reportedly working towards adopting a more diverse strategy when it comes to processors. That includes a Surface Laptop with a 12 nm AMD Picasso chip and, perhaps more interesting, a Surface Pro running on a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

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