TechAmok News Archive
Memory Chip Swap Mod SUPERcharges an RTX 2080 Ti - [hardware]
04:18 PM EST - Nov,27 2019 - post a comment Overclocking the memory clock of a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti to 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) isn't difficult, but most custom-design RTX 2080 Ti cards cap out at that, and so the enthusiasts over at TecLab took matters into their own hands by pulling off a daring memory chip replacement mod, by installing 16 Gbps-rated memory chips onto a Galax RTX 2080 Ti HOF graphics card. In a 16-minute video presentation, they detail the process of soldering a component as delicate and sensitive as GDDR6 memory chips, and 45 times over. The team had to sacrifice not one, but two Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics cards, which feature 16 Gbps-rated memory chips to support the SKU's 15.5 Gbps memory clock. A total of 33 manual solder operations had to be performed (removing the 15 stock chips from the RTX 2080 Ti, removing 11 chips from the two RTX 2080 Super cards, and soldering them onto the RTX 2080 Ti).
The group detailed the process of removing the memory chips under hot air, giving the extracted chips fresh ball-grids, and placing the chips onto the RTX 2080 Ti PCB. No BIOS modding was required, as the RTX 2080 Ti card's video BIOS was able to auto-detect the chips and run them at 14 Gbps. From here on, manual overclocking easily runs the card at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) memory, with overclocking headroom to spare. The memory clock could now be dialed all the way up to 2150 MHz (17.2 Gbps), something that's close to impossible with 14 Gbps chips. TecLab is calling their creation the world's first RTX 2080 Ti Super, which could very well be true. Last we heard, the RTX 2080 Ti Super could get more CUDA cores, and not just faster memory. Nevertheless, this mod blew our minds, and provides valuable pointers on how to solder dense BGA components without a multi million-dollar placer.
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MediaTek Details its First 5G SoC for High-End Phones - [briefly]
04:17 PM EST - Nov,27 2019 - post a comment MediaTek has revealed that its first SoC with integrated 5G modem and high-end processor will be called the Dimensity 1000. The company revealed the first set of details on the chip in May. Now that it has a name, MediaTek has revealed additional details of the SoC. It's fabricated using the latest 7nm process and is designed for "premium and flagship" phones. The 5G modem component supports SA (stand-alone) and NSA (non-stand-alone) 5G networks, as well as DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) that allows 4G and 5G to efficiently share the same frequency band. It also supports 5G carrier aggregation, which enables downlink speeds up to 4.7 Gbps and seamless handovers as users move around. It also supports dual 5G SIMs, which MediaTek claims is a first. The processor part of the chip includes a five-core image signal processor (ISP) to power cameras up to 80 megapixel at 24fps. Its AI processor assists with camera functions, offering features like multi-frame video HDR, which MediaTek claims is another first. The chip also supports Full HD+ displays with refresh rates up to 120Hz, and 2K+ up to 90Hz. The Dimensity 1000 only supports 5G in sub-6 GHz frequency bands, not mmWave. By the end of this year, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint will all offer sub-6 GHz 5G networks with broad coverage. The first devices powered by the Dimensity 1000 will ship in the US by the end of this year, which is earlier than previously announced. The new Dimensity brand will include a whole line of chips with integrated 5G. |
NVIDIA Releases GeForce 441.41 Game Ready Drivers - [gaming]
12:20 PM EST - Nov,26 2019 - post a comment NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce software. Version 441.41 WHQL comes game-ready for "Halo: Reach," which includes performance optimization and bug fixes specific to the game. The drivers also include optimization for "Quake II RTX v1.2" update, which includes higher-resolution textures and more lighting content. With GeForce 441.41, NVIDIA has also added OpenGL and Vulkan API support for Image Sharpening. With this, NVIDIA's implementation of Image Sharpening beats AMD's by supporting two APIs AMD doesn't yet: DirectX 11 and OpenGL. Both AMD and NVIDIA support DirectX 9, DirectX 12, and Vulkan.
GeForce 441.41 also address a handful bugs, beginning with "Red Dead Redemption 2." A bug has been fixed, which was causing RDR2 benchmark to crash on systems with SLI playing the game with its Vulkan renderer. Another bug that caused stalling on machines with certain 4-core and 6-core CPUs has been fixed. A "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" game crash at startup in DirectX 12 mode has been fixed. Also fixed is a "low streaming bandwidth" error in "Forza Horizon 4" after extended periods of gameplay.
Game Ready- Halo: Reach
- Optimal support for Quake II RTX v1.2
New Features and Other Changes- Image Sharpening is now supported on OpenGL and Vulkan applications.
- Image Sharpening (set from the NVIDIA Control Panel->Manage 3D Settings page) increases the level of sharpness, detail, or clarity of images in games and applications.
Fixed Issues in this Release- [SLI][Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan]: The benchmark may crash while running in Vulkan mode with SLI enabled and using Ultra graphics settings. [200565367]
- [Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan]: Stalling occurs on some systems with 4-core and 6-core CPUs. [2752394]
- [Shadow of the Tomb Raider]: The game may crash when launched in DirectX 12 mode. [200566997]
- [Forza Horizon 4]: "Low streaming bandwidth" error may occur after extended gameplay. [2750515]
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Windows 10 November Update Is Just A 180kb File - [briefly]
03:58 PM EST - Nov,25 2019 - post a comment Last week Microsoft officially launched its November update. Unlike prior releases, however, this one was merely looking to more apply some minor cosmetic changes rather than tampering with anything significant within the operating system. That doesn't, of course, mean that it doesn't have people worried. Let's be honest, Windows 10 updates don't have the best track record. In a report via ComputerWorld, however, it seems that if you have been keeping up-to-date with all of the Windows 10 patches, the download file isn't going to cause you too many downloading issues. Why? Well, in certain circumstances the file may be as small as just 180kb. The November Update file is (essentially) merely the activation for features previously downloaded but not yet ‘turned on' from prior updates. As such, if you're already on the most update to date version of Windows 10, the November update will only be a tiny download file that, essentially, unlocks the door. If you do have 1903 installed but not the most recent cumulative update, then even then the download is only 330MB (and possibly less).
In other words, the only people looking at a reasonably substantial download (circa 3.5GB) are those still using versions prior to 1903. |
Elon Musk: Earlier Cybertruck Tests - [technology]
04:13 PM EST - Nov,24 2019 - post a comment After a demonstration showing off shatterproof windows went awry on Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says earlier tests did not damage the car's glass windows :-D
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Office 2016 - How to Bypass of Office 365 Activation Screen - [guides]
02:36 PM EST - Nov,24 2019 - post a comment If you buy a new laptop with a preloaded operating system, there is 30 days' trial office 365. If you want to use more than 30 days, you need to buy office. But after removing the office 365 and install new office 2013 or 2016 or 2019, it will still say buy or enter a product key. In this situation what you will do?
Today I am going to show you, how to fix this issue.
run regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHIN/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Common
Delete OEM file
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHIN/SOFTWARE/WOW6432Node/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Common
Delete OEM file
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Verizon Publishes Detailed 5G Coverage Maps - [briefly]
07:06 AM EST - Nov,23 2019 - post a comment Verizon has added detailed maps of its mmWave 5G coverage to its web site. The maps show where 5G is available on a block-by-block basis in the cities where Verizon has launched the service. Verizon started offering 5G in April, but has not offered any coverage maps for the service until now. Because Verizon's 5G network so far uses only mmWave frequency bands, coverage is limited to small areas near each base station, and can vary wildly from city block to city block. T-Mobile was running an ad campaign attacking Verizon's unwillingness to share 5G coverage maps. |
AT&T Launching Low-Band 5G for Consumers in Coming Weeks - [briefly]
07:06 AM EST - Nov,23 2019 - post a comment AT&T is launching 5G for consumers in the coming weeks, and has detailed its launch plans for both sub-6 GHz (low-band) and mmWave launches in the coming year. The company promises "nationwide" 5G in the first half of 2020. AT&T is branding low-band 5G (which offers coverage similar to 4G) as '5G', and this is the service it is launching for consumers. Its mmWave service (with faster speeds but more limited coverage) will be branded "5G+", and remains limited to business customers. Neither designation should be confused with '5Ge', AT&T's misleading designation for 4G. AT&T is launching its low-band 5G in band 5 (850 MHz), which is the lowest-frequency band in AT&T's spectrum portfolio, offering the best long-range and in-building coverage. The launch cities for low-band 5G will be Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Providence, RI, Rochester, NY, and San Diego. Those cities will be followed by Boston, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, New York City, San Francisco, Birmingham, AL, Bridgeport, CT, Buffalo, NY, Louisville, KY, and San Jose, CA. AT&T has published coverage maps for all of the listed launch cities. AT&T's first phone to support low-band 5G will be the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G, which will only support low-band 5G and not mmWave "5G+". It will be available for pre-order on Nov. 25th. 5G service is included in AT&T's Unlimited Extra and Unlimited Elite plans. AT&T's mmWave "5G+" service for business customers is currently offered in parts of 21 cities, expanding to 30 in "early 2020". |
Apple removes customer reviews from its online store - [briefly]
05:48 PM EST - Nov,22 2019 - post a comment Normally when buying a product on the Apple Store, you'll have the option of reading through reviews that were written by people that have already purchased and used the product that you're considering. As it would seem, that option is going away. According to a tip sent into AppleInsider, the Ratings & Reviews section on Apple Store listings has been removed in at least the U.S., UK, and Australian regions. The change happened over the weekend, and no one is really sure why. One possibility would be that Apple decided that not enough people are reading through customer reviews, or that it just doesn't hold enough value for the cost of maintaining it. Surely, the Cupertino firm has data on how often these reviews are being read. Something like the Lighting to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter had 735 one-star reviews, with many simply complaining about the removal of the headphone jack from iPhones.
Another possibility is that this is only a temporary change. Apple could be revamping how it handles customer reviews, and it will be back after a certain period of time. For now, there's no way to be sure. |
Do Airlines Make Money From First Class? - [briefly]
04:06 PM EST - Nov,21 2019 - post a comment Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines make a lot of their money at the front of the plane. A strong economy and industry consolidation has allowed the airlines, in recent years, to invest in more fuel efficient planes with better cabins focusing on premium classes. One focus has been rethinking business class. First class internationally and on some key domestic routes has become a hybrid of first and business class.
As of November 2019, if you wanted to book a first class round trip flight on Emirates from JFK to Dubai at the last minute it could cost you over $23,000.
Flying from New York to Mumbai? Etihad Airways offers a three-room luxury suite called The Residence which features a private bathroom, a private living room and a personal butler. Flying round trip on Etihad for that flight could be over $36,000.
And, for about $3,000, American Airlines Flagship First fliers can go from New York to Los Angeles with access to an exclusive check-in area and premium wines in the flagship lounge.
While the airlines make a significant amount of money packing people into coach like cattle, premium cabins like business and first class are still a major source of income for U.S carriers.
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Half-Life: Alyx Announcement Trailer - [gaming]
03:34 PM EST - Nov,21 2019 - post a comment Valve has followed through on their promise, revealing first details of Half-Life: Alyx, a new installment in the Half-Life series that will require a virtual reality headset. The game will be free to owners of Valve's Index and will also support Rift, Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality.
Valve, the creators of Half-Life and the Steam platform, today announced Half-Life: Alyx, a new, full-length virtual reality entry in the Half-Life series. Slated for release on Steam in March 2020, the title will be compatible with all PC-based VR headsets in March 2020.
Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance and her father Eli secretly mount the resistance to the brutal occupation of Earth by a mysterious alien race known as The Combine. As Alyx, players take the fight to the Combine to save the future of humanity.
Half-Life: Alyx was designed from the ground up for Virtual Reality and features all of the hallmarks of a classic Half-Life game: world exploration, puzzle solving, visceral combat, and an intricately woven story that connects it all with the characters iconic to the Half-Life universe.
"Everyone at Valve is excited to be returning to the world of Half-Life", says Valve founder Gabe Newell. "VR has energized us. We've invested a lot of ourselves in the technology. But we're also game developers at heart, and to be devoting ourselves to a VR game this ambitious is just as exciting. For that to come in the form of Half-Life feels like the culmination of a lot things we care a lot about: truly great games, cutting edge technology, and open platforms. We can't wait for people to experience this."
Half-Life: Alyx is powered by SteamVR on Valve's Source 2 engine, and can be played on Steam with all PC-based VR headsets.
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Samsung Brings the Dark Side to Galaxy Note10+ - [mobile]
05:17 AM EST - Nov,20 2019 - post a comment Samsung will sell a Star Wars Special Edition of the Galaxy Note10+ this December, with Star Wars-inspired design elements and digital content. The phone will be bundled with a specially designed case, a metal badge as a collector's item, a red S Pen, and Galaxy Buds. The design features a First Order logo on the back. The phone comes loaded with exclusive Star Wars-themed content including wallpapers, shutdown animations, icons, and sounds. Engadget reports that the (unlocked) phone will go on sale in the US on Dec. 13th for $1300. This special edition coincides with the release of The Rise of Skywalker film on December 20th. |
HP board unanimously rejects Xerox's bid to acquire the company - [briefly]
05:15 AM EST - Nov,20 2019 - post a comment HP's board of directors said Sunday that they unanimously rejected a proposal from Xerox to acquire the company, because the offer is not in the best interest of shareholders and would undervalue HP. Xerox had offered HP $22 per share in its takeover bid for the company. The bid consists of 77% cash and 23% stock, or $17 in cash and 0.137 Xerox share for each HP share.
"In reaching this determination, the Board also considered the highly conditional and uncertain nature of the proposal, including the potential impact of outsized debt levels on the combined company's stock," the board wrote in a letter to John Visentin, Xerox's CEO.
HP announced in October that it will cut between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2022 as part of a broader restructuring plan that it estimates will save $1 billion a year. The cuts would amount to nearly 16% of its 55,000 employees across the world, according to data from FactSet.
The software company is worth $29 billion and is over three times the size of Xerox, which makes printers and copiers, in terms of market cap.
"We note the decline of Xerox's revenue from $10.2 billion to $9.2 billion (on a trailing 12-month basis) since June 2018, which raises significant questions for us regarding the trajectory of your business and future prospects," the board wrote. |
Google Camera Flaw (Android) - [security]
03:53 PM EST - Nov,19 2019 - post a comment The thought of a stranger hijacking your camera and being able to see what you are doing without your knowledge is the stuff of nightmares for most people. Our phones tend to follow us into every area of our lives. Checkmarx decided to see if the cameras that are built into Android phones might be vulnerable to hacking. For their testing, the team took a Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 3 smartphone and began to probe the Google Camera app. The team found that there were a number of "concerning vulnerabilities" in the Google Camera app.
They also found that the same vulnerabilities impact the camera apps of other smartphone vendors in the Android ecosystem. They specifically cited Samsung's camera app as vulnerable. The team found in testing that by manipulating specific actions and intents, an attacker can control the app to take photos and record photos through a rogue process that should have no permission to do so.
Checkmarx also notes that it found specific attack scenarios that could enable malicious actors to circumvent various storage permission policies to give them access to stored videos and photos along with GPS metadata embedded in photos; that data could be parsed to locate the user. One way the researchers found enabled a rogue application to force the camera to take pictures and record videos even if the phone is locked or the screen turned off. The researchers were able to force video and images to be taken even when the user was in the middle of a voice call.
Allowing an app to receive input from the camera, mic, and GPS location is highly invasive, according to Google (or course). The team was able to design an attack scenario that circumvents the permission policy by abusing the Google Camera app itself. The vulnerability has to do with giving permissions to external storage, which provides an app with access to the entire SD card. The team says that when activated during a voice call, the hacker could record the voices on both ends of a conversation.
Checkmarx says that it has already notified Google of its findings, and the company updated vulnerable versions of the Camera App in July 2019. |
Google Stadia - Early reviews - [gaming]
05:26 PM EST - Nov,18 2019 - post a comment Google Stadia, Google's new cloud-gaming platform, has had a ton of hype and made promises. Well it's finally here, in some form at least. With only a handful of games and a handful of compatible devices, a lot of its promised features aren't available at launch. Is the service the first step towards the future of gaming, or will Stadia fall flat on its face? Here's what the early reviews say:
ENGADGET:
The Stadia controller connects to the Chromecast Ultra via WiFi, enabling untethered gameplay in the living room. To play on a phone, tablet, laptop or PC, the official gamepad has to be physically plugged in (for now). The first Stadia game I booted up was Destiny 2 on the Chromecast Ultra. The title screen loaded quickly and I created a new character; the process felt so smooth and familiar that I forgot I was playing a AAA, online game on a streaming puck the size of a Thin Mint. But then, I started shooting. The lag was immediate.
WIRED:
With Stadia, games sometimes look like you're watching an ultra-high resolution gameplay video rather than actually playing the game yourself. They look drab. If you want to understand, go watch this video, make it fullscreen, set the quality to the highest your display can support. This is what it looks like to play games on Stadia. It's better quality than you'd get trying to play a game on mid-tier hardware, but not quite as crisp and crystal-clear as it would be if you played it on a really nice display. Stadia excels in that middle ground just shy of ultra-high-def.
THE VERGE:
While you've probably heard predictions that Google's Stadia will be the "Netflix of games," it turns out the analogy only goes so far. While Google intends to eventually have a back catalog of free games included for your $10 monthly fee, Stadia is not primarily a subscription service. The subscription only includes a single game as of today - Destiny 2. Primarily, Google tells us you should expect to buy, not rent cloud games for the same retail prices you'd find on other platforms like PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Steam.
CNET:
It costs $120 to get the early edition Founder's pack, which includes a Stadia controller, a Chromecast Ultra, a short USB-C-to-C cable, a Destiny 2 game download, and three months of a $10-per-month Stadia Pro subscription service needed to take advantage of all of Stadia's online features. Also, you need to buy the actual games at their regular prices... even though you can't download them. A more affordable Stadia play service is launching in 2020, though details are unclear. It all seems like a lot to pay for a "consoleless console." In the UK, you can get the Premiere Edition with the same features. Prices of Stadia games are basically full retail game prices. This could get crazy expensive fast!
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Why Car Windows Have Little Black Dots - [briefly]
01:38 PM EST - Nov,16 2019 - post a comment Every now and then, you get stuck in traffic. So what do you do? You stare blankly at your windshield, right. And you probably notice the little black dots around the edges. Ever wondered what those are for?
But black dots aren't the only part of your car that might have you wondering, "What on Earth is that for?" Since you're still looking at your windshield, did you notice that little line with an arrow pointing down and AS1 written on it? Or what about the black lines going across the back window and that little snowflake on your dashboard? Let's figure out!
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Google Maps Can Now Speak Aloud Places in Foreign Languages - [briefly]
01:36 PM EST - Nov,16 2019 - post a comment Google has updated its Maps app with the ability to speak aloud the name and/or address of your destination in the local language when traveling abroad. The feature is designed to be used when hailing a taxi or asking a local for directions. The feature appears automatically when in a country where the local language doesn't match your device's language setting. A speaker icon appears next to the place name in each listing. Tapping it brings up a new box with the option to speak the place name in the local language, speak the address in the local language, or jump to Google Translate to continue a conversation with a local. The new feature will be rolling out this month on Android and iOS with support for 50 languages and more on the way. |
NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal 2020 - [briefly]
01:29 PM EST - Nov,16 2019 - post a comment NVIDIA has reported revenue for the third quarter ended Oct. 27, 2019, of $3.01 billion compared with $3.18 billion a year earlier and $2.58 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $1.45, compared with $1.97 a year ago and $0.90 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.78, compared with $1.84 a year earlier and $1.24 in the previous quarter. NVIDIA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share on Dec. 20, 2019, to all shareholders of record on Nov. 29, 2019. The company will return to repurchasing its stock after closing the acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. Although discussions with the European Union and China regulatory bodies are progressing and closing the acquisition is possible by the end of this calendar year, the company believes the closing will likely occur in the early part of calendar 2020.
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AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.11.2 - [briefly]
01:27 PM EST - Nov,16 2019 - post a comment AMD Thursday released its latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition. Version 19.11.2 beta is the second release for the month of November 2019, and comes with optimization for "Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order." The driver also addresses a bug with certain map areas or cities in "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG) intermittently experiencing stuttering or performance loss.
Support For- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Fixed Issues- Some specific map areas or cities in Player Unknown's: Battlegrounds may intermittently experience stutter or performance drops
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7nm Intel Xe GPUs Codenamed 'Ponte Vecchio' - [hardware]
03:59 AM EST - Nov,14 2019 - post a comment Intel's first Xe GPU built on the company's 7 nm silicon fabrication process will be codenamed "Ponte Vecchio," according to a VideoCardz report. These are not gaming GPUs, but rather compute accelerators designed for exascale computing, which leverage the company's CXL (Compute Express Link) interconnect that has bandwidth comparable to PCIe gen 4.0, but with scalability features slated to come out with future generations of PCIe. Intel is preparing its first enterprise compute platform featuring these accelerators codenamed "Project Aurora," in which the company will exert end-to-end control over not just the hardware stack, but also the software.
"Project Aurora" combines up to six "Ponte Vecchio" Xe accelerators with up to two Xeon multi-core processors based on the 7 nm "Sapphire Rapids" microarchitecture, and OneAPI, a unifying API that lets a single kind of machine code address both the CPU and GPU. With Intel owning the x86 machine architecture, it's likely that Xe GPUs will feature, among other things, the ability to process x86 instructions. The API will be able to push scalar workloads to the CPU, and and the GPU's scalar units, and vector workloads to the GPU's vector-optimized SIMD units. Intel's main pitch to the compute market could be significantly lowered software costs from API and machine-code unification between the CPU and GPU. |
Minecraft Earth Launches in US - [gaming]
03:50 PM EST - Nov,13 2019 - post a comment Minecraft Earth is now available in the US in an "Early Access" version. Users can walk around to explore a Minecraft version of the real-world map, collect virtual resources scattered around the map, and start building with Minecraft blocks on "buildplates", which can be placed on a tabletop like a virtual AR diorama. Buildplates can also be placed in the world using life-size AR. Both modes allow multi-player collaboration. The map also includes interactive Adventures at set locations on the map. Like Pokemon Go, the map is based on Open Street Map data.
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Windows 10 Nov 2019 Update 1909 Released - [briefly]
04:04 AM EST - Nov,13 2019 - post a comment Microsoft late Tuesday released its second major update to Windows 10 for the year, the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (version 1909). This update beats conventions in that is "minor" in comparison to the Windows 10 May 2019 (1903) Update, in that Microsoft didn't change too many under-the-hood components, but updated the operating system's user-interface. For example, the operating system retains the older version's driver model. The Actions Center received several UI updates such as the ability to add items to your agenda directly from the calendar, improved sorting of notifications, improved accessibility of the Start menu, and the ability to use third-party accessibility software from even the Lock screen. The only notable under-the-hood changes concern the scheduler. Windows 10 now gets the ability to address multiple "favored" cores in a multi-core processor. A favored core is a physically superior core that can sustain higher boost clocks for longer.
Microsoft plans to release this feature update as an optional update, which means that it won't download and install until you manually start the process from the Windows Update settings page. However, if your device is running a version of the Windows 10 that's nearing the end of life, then eventually version 1909 will install automatically.
You can download the November 2019 ISO files for updating your Windows 10 from the following links: - Windows 10 November 2019 Update (64-bit)
- Windows 10 November 2019 Update (32-bit)
The following new features are being introduced as part of this update.- This update will be published to WSUS so that customers can deploy and manage Insider Preview builds alongside their standard ConfigMan/WSUS approach. See this blog post for details.
- We are offering pre-release support for 19H2 offered to Windows Insider Program for Business (WIP4Biz) customers who face blocking issues that prevent them from feature evaluation or device use. See this article for details.
- Windows containers require matched host and container version. This restricts customers and limits Windows containers from supporting mixed-version container pod scenarios This update includes 5 fixes to address this and allow the host to run down-level containers on up-level for process (Argon) isolation.
- A fix to allow OEMs to reduce the inking latency based on the hardware capabilities of their devices rather than being stuck with latency selected on typical hardware configuration by the OS.
- Key-rolling or Key-rotation feature enables secure rolling of Recovery passwords on MDM managed AAD devices upon on demand request from Microsoft Intune/MDM tools or upon every time recovery password is used to unlock the BitLocker protected drive. This feature will help prevent accidental recovery password disclosure as part of manual BitLocker drive unlock by users.
- A change to enable third-party digital assistants to voice activate above the Lock screen.
- You can now quickly create an event straight from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar. Just select the date and time at the lower right corner of the Taskbar to open the Calendar flyout and pick your desired date and start typing in the text box-you'll now see inline options to set a time and location.
- The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
- We have added friendly images to show what is meant by "banner" and "Action Center" when adjusting the notifications on apps in order to make these settings more approachable and understandable.
- Notifications settings under Settings > System > Notifications will now default to sorting notification senders by most recently shown notification, rather than sender name. This makes it easier to find and configure frequent and recent senders. We have also added a setting to turn off playing sound when notifications appear.
- We now show the options to configure and turn off notifications from an app/website right on the notification, both as a banner and in Action Center.
- We have added a "Manage notifications" button to the top of Action Center that launches the main "Notifications & actions" Settings page.
- We have added additional debugging capabilities for newer Intel processors. This is only relevant for hardware manufacturers.
- We have made general battery life and power efficiency improvements for PCs with certain processors.
- A CPU may have multiple "favored" cores (logical processors of the highest available scheduling class). To provide better performance and reliability, we have implemented a rotation policy that distributes work more fairly among these favored cores.
- We have enabled Windows Defender Credential Guard for ARM64 devices for additional protection against credential theft for enterprises deploying ARM64 devices in their organizations.
- We have enabled the ability for enterprises to supplement the Windows 10 in S Mode policy to allow traditional Win32 (desktop) apps from Microsoft Intune.
- We're updating the search box in File Explorer to now be powered by Windows Search. This change will help integrate your OneDrive content online with the traditional indexed results.
- We have added the ability for Narrator and other assistive technologies to read and learn where the FN key is located on keyboards and what state it is in (locked versus unlocked).
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NVIDIA Releases GeForce 441.20 WHQL Drivers - [briefly]
01:19 PM EST - Nov,12 2019 - post a comment NVIDIA today posted GeForce 441.20 WHQL software. The drivers come game-ready for "Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order," and "Stormland." This includes SLI support for the latest Star Wars game. NVIDIA also introduced support for CUDA 10.2 compute API. The list of G-Sync compatible monitors has been expanded with three more displays. Among the issues addressed with this release are geometry corruption on GTX 900-series "Maxwell" GPUs with "Red Dead Redemption" in Vulkan; G-Sync getting disengaged when V-Sync is disabled in "Red Dead Redemption." Vulkan-related errors with "The Surge" have also been fixed. There's also a surprising bug-fix, "Quake 3 Arena" appearing washed-out when color-depth is set to 16-bit. Performance drops with "CS: GO" have also been addressed.
Game Ready- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Stormland
New G-SYNC Compatible Monitors- Acer XB273U
- Acer XV273U
- ASUS VG259Q monitors.
Application SLI Profiles- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
New Features and Other Changes- Added support for CUDA 10.2
Fixed Issues in this Release- [Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan][Maxwell GPUs]: Geometry corruption occurs on some Maxwell GPUs. [2744709]
- [Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan]: G-SYNC disengages when disabling V-Sync on the game. [2740479]
- [The Surge 2] VULKAN_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST when using driver version 440.97. [2739146]
- [Quake 3 Arena]: Colors in the game become washed out when set to 16-bit color. [2738607]
- [HDR]: HDR black levels are grey on LG OLED55C9. [2738708]
- [CS:GO]: The game experiences performance drops in certain CPU-limited cases. [2682973]
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Samsung Faces Factory Contamination - [technology]
12:43 PM EST - Nov,11 2019 - post a comment Today, Samsung's foundry division, dedicated to the manufacturing of DRAM chips, is facing challenges from mistakes that happened a few weeks ago. Those mistakes are in the form of contamination of the clean rooms, where all the tools necessary for the manufacturing of DRAM chips on 200 mm wafers got infected, and now Samsung is taking a multi-million dollar loss because the new wafers have to be scrapped.
Clean rooms are essential for the semiconductor manufacturing process, because they keep all the pollutants away from silicon, keeping silicon clean and ready for use. However, Samsung has not managed to keep a clean room for its DRAM manufacturing facility working with 200 mm wafers for 1x nm-class DRAM chips. The tools used for wafer processing have been contaminated and, therefore, the wafers themselves because of their interactions. Samsung has admitted that they have lost around "several billion South Korean won," resulting in millions of US dollars. The re-assuring thing that this will not significantly impact the DRAM market is that production is now going as planned, and the issue is sorted out, so we can hope this doesn't have any big impact on the DRAM prices. |
Which is the best graphics card for Red Dead Redemption 2? - [gaming]
02:55 PM EST - Nov,10 2019 - post a comment If you really want to nail down 60fps or greater in Red Dead Redemption 2 at high/medium settings, you'll need to pack at least an Nvidia 16-series GPU or greater. While the GTX 1060 6GB is one of the most popular graphics cards on the market for mainstream gaming, it only just scrapes 1080p60 on average in most benchmarks. Across the board, framerates above and beyond 60fps are possible at 1080p, but don't expect ultra-smooth high refresh rate gaming on anything other than the very best Nvidia Turing graphics cards – such as the RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2080 Ti. The 1440p club is even more elusive. At this resolution even the latest 16-series mainstream cards fall a little short of 60fps. An RTX 2060 Super will net you acceptable frame times, although its bitter rival, the AMD RX 5700, manages just a few frames more. Ramping up to 4K is a privilege enjoyed only by graphics card royalty. Red Dead Redemption demands serious silicon to reach 60fps at 4K, and even the RTX 2080 Super struggles to get there despite its power and price tag. The RTX 2080 Ti is the only option for 4K in Red Dead Redemption 2 – at least without drastically dropping graphics settings.
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New Alcatel 3V Offers Huge Screen and Battery - [mobile]
05:45 PM EST - Nov,08 2019 - post a comment Alcatel has revealed the 2019 edition of its 3V affordable Android phone for the US market, which will launch soon on Metro by T-Mobile. The phone has a large 6.7-inch HD screen and a large 4,000 mAh battery with fast charging via USB-C. It also has a 16-megapixel main camera aided by a depth camera for portrait effects, and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. It's powered by a MediaTek P22 processor paired with 3 GB of RAM. Its 32 GB of storage is expandable via microSD memory cards. Other features include a standalone fingerprint reader on the back, 3.5mm headset jack, stereo speakers, Google Assistant, and Google Lens. Pricing and launch date were not announced. |
Google Expands Effort to Block Bad Apps - [security]
05:44 PM EST - Nov,08 2019 - post a comment Google this week announced a new program to collaborate with other companies to screen apps for harmful code before they reach the Google Play Store, the app store for Android devices. The App Defense Alliance includes Google, ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium. "As part of this Alliance, we are integrating our Google Play Protect detection systems with each partner's scanning engines. This will generate new app risk intelligence as apps are being queued to publish." |
OZZY OSBOURNE - "Under the Graveyard" - [off-topic]
05:41 PM EST - Nov,08 2019 - post a comment "Under the Graveyard" is the first song from Osbourne's upcoming album, Ordinary Man, which will be released in early 2020. Recorded in Los Angeles, the LP features producer Andrew Watt on guitars, Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses on bass and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums.
The five-minute track features echoes of the Black Sabbath classic 'Paranoid' in its lyrics, which include the lines 'My misery owns me' and 'I don't wanna be my enemy' – though the music is something of a departure in both its sound and construction.
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AMD Announces Ryzen 9 3950X - [hardware]
05:47 PM EST - Nov,07 2019 - post a comment Today, AMD introduced the third-generation of Ryzen Threadripper processors for creative professionals, starting at a whopping $1399. But if you don't need that much power, AMD also announced the release date for the Ryzen 9 3950X CPU, which was announced in June and later delayed.
As the top-tier offering in the Ryzen lineup, the Ryzen 9 3950X has 16 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock speed of 3.5GHz that can boost up to 4.7GHz. It has 72MB of cache and 44 PCIe lanes in conjunction with an X570 motherboard. The TDP matches the Ryzen 9 3900X at 105W.
Just like the new Threadripper CPUs, the new AMD Ryzen 9 3950X is coming on November 25, and it will cost $749 - a significant step up from the 12-core 3900X, which cost $499 when it was announced.
For "mainstream" desktop computers, AMD also announced a new Athlon processor today, the Athlon 3000G. It's the first Athlon processor based on the Zen architecture that can be overclocked, and it also comes with Radeon Vega 3 graphics. It has two cores and four threads running at 3.5GHz. The TDP is just 35W and it will cost $49 when it launches on November 19.
Lastly, AMD announced a fascinating new platform feature called ECO Mode. Applicable to all socket AM4 processors that have "Zen 2" CPU cores (Ryzen 5 3500 and above), ECO Mode is essentially a cTDP (configurable TDP) implementation for the desktop platform. You flick a toggle in Ryzen Master, and the processor's TDP is capped at 65 Watts on-the-fly. So when not gaming or doing serious work, you can turn on ECO Mode and ensure your processor never draws more than 65 Watts. For the mighty Ryzen 9 3950X, ECO Mode offers 77 percent performance, but 44 percent lower power-draw, and 7°C lower temperatures.
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Seagate's Roadmap Calls for 18TB, 20TB Drives in 2020,50TB by 2026 - [hardware]
04:48 PM EST - Nov,06 2019 - post a comment Seagate announced its roadmap for the coming years, and the company is naturally fighting tooth and nail for the relevance of HDD technology in the market. While the benefits of SSDs are already well understood by the entire industry, in some scenarios, it makes more sense to make use of high-density HDDs - particularly where deployment space is at a premium, and in scenarios where seek times for information stored on the media aren't all that important. This is why the company is aggressively pushing its new HAMR technology as a way to increase areal density on traditional platter-based media.
Plans to achieve 18 TB and 20 TB density HDDs in the first semester of 2020 seem to be well within reason, considering the company has recently shipped 16 TB HDDs. These HDD solutions will still make use of older technologies such as CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording), for the 18 TB drives) and SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) for their 20 TB 2020 products. The company will later make use of their proprietary HAMR (Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording) technology in order to upgrade their 20 TB, and 20 TB+ HDDs with higher performance (and density) than can be achieved with the tried and true SMR. When it comes to performance improvements, a latent disadvantage in HDDs compared to solid state solutions, the company will eventually deploy HDDs which make use of two sets of read/write heads instead of a single one. |
Microsoft's New Unified Office App Available in Public Preview - [software]
04:47 PM EST - Nov,06 2019 - post a comment Microsoft has released a public preview of its new, completely revamped Office app for Android and iOS. A single Office app replaces the previously separate Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps. It also includes the previously-announced features that let users take a photo of a document to create an editable Word document, and use the camera to import table data directly into Excel. It includes dedicated sections for non-Office documents: PDF, Media, and Notes. An Actions panel makes it easy to transfer files between phone and computer, or with nearby phones. It also includes shortcuts to create PDFs and add signatures to them. Anyone can try out the public preview, but it requires extra steps of enrolling in the testing program, a process that requires joining a group for Android, or using TestFlight for iOS. |
Google Play Launches Points Rewards Program in US - [briefly]
04:42 PM EST - Nov,06 2019 - post a comment Google has added a rewards program called Google Play Points to the Android app store. The program is free to join and members earn points for everything they buy through Google Play, and even for downloading "featured" free apps and games. Points can be redeemed for Google Play purchases, in-app purchases and discounts, as well as donations to charity. The program has four tiers, with higher levels offering weekly prizes. The program is launching this week in the US, but has been available in Korea and Japan for a year. |
Epic Games Store exploit allows you to play and keep a game forever - [security]
05:28 AM EST - Nov,06 2019 - post a comment It appears that PC gamers can take advantage of an exploit on the Epic Games Store to access and keep games to their accounts for free. Willian Worrall of CCN discovered this new vulnerability and - for anyone interested - Epic Games has not fixed it yet. If you install a game through the store by logging into someone else's account, you can continue to play the installed game even if you log back into your own account.
While logging into my account earlier today, I discovered that a game I didn't own but which was already installed from another Epic Games Store account was appearing in my library. Trying to boot the game resulted in it running fine, no error messages or stops at all. This was replicated on another machine and the result was always the same. As long as you had a game installed in the Epic Games directory, you could run the game even if you didn't own it.
The exploit was consistently replicable even when creating a completely new account that doesn't own any games. As well as making a new account we even tested the exploit on a third machine and the exploit persisted, meaning that it is almost certainly possible to do this with any account, on any machine.
The exploit was consistently replicable even when creating a completely new account that doesn't own any games. As well as making a new account we even tested the exploit on a third machine and the exploit persisted, meaning that it is almost certainly possible to do this with any account, on any machine.
This exploit seems to have something to do with a lack of DRM or license-checking on the part of the store. Back when Borderlands 3 was released, gamers on Reddit and Twitter discovered that they could still play the game after refunding it by locating the executable on their PC.
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Microsoft Unveils Project Silica - [hardware]
01:14 PM EST - Nov,05 2019 - (1 comments) Microsoft's cloud computing business unveiled Project Silica, a cold-storage device that's designed to stand the test of time. Essentially an optical storage media, it is a 7.5 cm x 7.5 mm x 2 mm square piece of glass that can store up to 75.6 GB of data (inclusive of error-correction code). Unlike conventional optical media such as CD or Blu-ray, which relies on etching pits of different lengths on a plastic substrate to denote ones and zeros, project silica uses nanoscale gratings and deformations, while AI is used for error-correction to overcome any aging of the media. The company developed a proof-of-concept using quartz glass. "A laser encodes data in glass by creating layers of three-dimensional nanoscale gratings and deformations at various depths and angles. Machine learning algorithms read the data back by decoding images and patterns that are created as polarized light shines through the glass," writes Microsoft in its description of how Project Silica works. CD can typically hold data for 1-2 centuries provided that the disc is stored properly. After that, the plastic physical layer decays, losing data integrity. Project Silica, on the other hand, is designed to be resilient not just in a box, but also outside it. The media can "withstand being boiled in hot water, baked in an oven, microwaved, flooded, scoured, demagnetized and [withstand] other environmental threats that can destroy priceless historic archives or cultural treasures if things go wrong," says Microsoft. |
NVIDIA Releases GeForce 441.12 WHQL Game Ready Drivers - [briefly]
11:26 AM EST - Nov,04 2019 - post a comment Nvidia released a major update to its Game Ready graphics drivers last week, adding a wide range of new features and capabilities. Today, the company has released a minor update to that driver, bringing the version number up to 441.12. The latest version mostly focuses on adding Game Ready support for the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Need for Speed: Heat. It also adds a new SLI profile for the former, as well as one for Borderlands 3. The new driver also adds support for new G-Sync Compatible monitors from LG. The new additions were announced last week, and they're the new E9, C9, and B9 models released this year. You can check the full list of G-Sync monitors here. There's only one new fix in this release, which addresses crashes in Super Robot Wars V.
Game Ready- The new Game Ready Driver provides the latest performance optimizations, profiles, and bug fixes for Red Dead Redemption 2.
- This new driver also includes the latest optimizations for Need for Speed Heat and Borderlands 3.
New G-SYNC Compatible Monitors- The list of G-SYNC Compatible displays increases to over 55 options with the addition of the LG
- B9, C9, and E9 4K OLED TVs. Make sure to update your firmware first for the best experience.
Application Performance Profiles
Added or updated the following performance profiles:- Borderlands 3
- Red Dead Redemption 2
New Features and Other Changes- Added security updates for driver components.
- Adds support for new LG TV G-SYNC compatible monitor.
Fixed Issues in this Release- [Super Robot Wars V]: The game crashes to a white screen. [2720588]
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters - [briefly]
06:53 PM EST - Nov,03 2019 - post a comment Arnold Schwarzenegger breaks down his most iconic characters, including his roles in 'The Terminator,' 'The Terminator 2: Judgement Day,' 'Predator,' 'Batman & Robin,' 'Pumping Iron,' 'Conan the Barbarian,' 'Twins,' 'Kindergarten Cop,' 'Jingle All the Way,' 'Total Recall,' 'True Lies' and 'Terminator: Dark Fate.'
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How This Blob Solves Mazes - [off-topic]
11:00 AM EST - Nov,03 2019 - post a comment Physarum polycephalum is a single-celled, brainless organism that can make 'decisions,' and solve mazes. Anne Pringle, who is a mycologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains everything you need to know about what these slime molds are and how they fit into our ecosystem.
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AT&T Tweaks Unlimited Plans - [mobile]
06:47 PM EDT - Nov,01 2019 - (1 comments) AT&T is introducing new unlimited plans that drop the live and on-demand TV package included with the existing Unlimited &More plans. Accounting for that and other minor changes, pricing stays about the same, with unlimited plan choices (and price points) increasing from two to three.
- The new entry-level plan is called Unlimited Starter and costs $65/month for a single line, down from $70/month for the old Unlimited &More plan. Multi-line discounts can bring that down to $35/month/line for an account with four lines. As with the plan it replaces, data, voice, and texting are unlimited across the US, Canada, and Mexico, and texts from the US to over 120 countries are free, but video is limited to SD quality and mobile hotspot is not allowed.
- The new step-up plan is called Unlimited Extra, replacing Unlimited &More Premium. The new plan is cheaper, but does not include a premium streaming service of choice, nor HD video streaming. It does include everything in the Starter plan plus 15 GB of mobile hotspot data. Unlimited Extra will run $75/month for a single line, (down from $80/month for the old Unlimited &More Premium plan.) Multi-line discounts can bring that down to $40/month/line for an account with four lines. Both Unlimited Starter and Unlimited Extra will launch on November 3rd.
- Unlimited Elite is AT&T's new top-end plan, and AT&T's only unlimited plan to allow HD video streaming. It also includes 30 GB of mobile hotspot data. Instead of a choice of premium streaming service, HBO is included. AT&T owns HBO. Unlimited Elite will cost $85/month for a single line. Multi-line discounts apply, such as $50/month/line for four lines. This plan will be available "in the coming weeks".
All of the pricing cited above is after applying AT&T's discount for auto-pay and paperless billing, (which was true of AT&T's existing plans as well.) AT&T offers an additional 25% discount for military, veterans, and first responders and their families. |
Google Buys Fitbit - [briefly]
06:46 PM EDT - Nov,01 2019 - post a comment Fitbit has agreed to be purchased by Google for 2.1 billion USD. Fitbit makes activity-tracking wearables, having sold more than 100 million devices, with 28 million current active users. Google has its own Wear OS smartwatch platform, which integrates with its Google Fit activity- and health-tracking service. Google said it sees "an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market." On privacy, Fitbit says "Fitbit will continue to put users in control of their data and will remain transparent about the data it collects and why. The company never sells personal information, and Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads." Fitbit also pledged to continue supporting both iOS and Android.
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Diablo 4 has been officially announced - [gaming]
06:28 PM EDT - Nov,01 2019 - post a comment Blizzard has officially announced the fourth part in its Diablo series. Diablo 4 will be an action isometric RPG, will have three classes (Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid), and its new "diablo" will be Lilith. The game will be darker and grittier than Diablo 3, and will have a similar style/tone to Diablo 2. Locations will be toned down, infrequently laid with corpses, wasteland, grey-ish deserts, clut caves surrounded by flesh, rotten crypts, marshes and bogs, as well as plagued cities. These levels will be larger than Diablo 3's levels. Characters will now be able to ride horses (possibly other mounts) and there might be contextual interaction with environment. Blood splatters will also look more like blood and not splashed jam. Diablo 4 is in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC (no sign of Nintendo Switch) but there's no release date as yet.
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