Victoria Fox's Blog, page 150
December 31, 2023
Intel Core i5-14450HX spotted in benchmark: only a slightly higher clock speed than its predecessor
An as yet unannounced Raptor Lake Refresh CPU for laptops has appeared in the Geekbench Browser. This concerns the Intel Core i5-14450HX, a likely successor to the current mid-range i5-13450HX.
In terms of specs, the processor does not differ much from its predecessor, with 10 cores (16 threads), of which six are probably performance and four efficiency, and a 20 MB cache. The clock speeds have been increased slightly: from 2.40 to 2.60 GHz (base clock), and from 4.60 to almost 4.80 GHz (boost). Comparable to the difference between the Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh desktop processors, actually.
Intel’s i5-14450HX in Geekbench.
The Core i7-14700HX was spotted in a benchmark early last month, and it looks like we can also expect an i7-14650HX and i9-14900HX. The series is expected to be unveiled early next year (perhaps at CES 2024).
Microsoft's Copilot app can now also be downloaded for free for iOS
Microsoft brings its AI assistant to iOS. The Copilot app can now be downloaded for free from the App Store, for the Apple iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Copilot runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL-E 3 models. You can use it to compose emails, generate texts and images, have texts translated or simply have some chat conversations with it.
Copilot on the iPhone.
Microsoft released the app for Android last week. Copilot is also coming to Windows 10, and is increasingly integrated into Windows 11. With the next version of Windows, the AI assistant seems to really be integrated into the Windows Shell itself.
Source: Apple
LG unveils walking 'AI robot' that should be able to determine the mood of users with voice and image recognition
In the run-up to CES 2024, LG has shown a prototype of a bipedal robot that should be able to realistically communicate with users using on-device AI via Qualcomm’s RB5 robot chip. The robot has few functions, for example it has no arms, but it can move on wheels. LG calls it a ‘walking smart home hub’, although it is not clear whether it can be connected to other smart home devices, so that users can command the AI robot to turn on the lights, for example.
LG does promise that the robot understands the ‘context and intentions’ of users through voice and image recognition. The ‘AI agent’ could thus decipher the mood of its owner and play matching music ‘or other content’. Just like Siri and Google Assistant, it can also provide weather forecasts and travel information, plan activities and send reminders.
Furthermore, the robot can serve as a surveillance camera and notify users remotely via an app if ‘suspicious activity’ takes place in the house, or keep an eye on pets, LG writes. The manufacturer also mentions that the device can let you know if users have forgotten to turn off the lights, or if a window is still open. Finally, the robot has sensors that allow it to measure air quality and temperature. A price and release date have not yet been announced.
Source: LG
Hardware Info has stopped. What happens to your account?
At the end of November, we announced DPG Media’s decision to stop publishing Hardware Info from January 1, 2024. You can read more about this decision here.
What happens to your account?The website will no longer be updated after January 1. User accounts and contributions will also be deleted in the subsequent period. Eventually the site will go completely offline.
If you still want to save personal contributions, you can log in until February 1, 2024 . Your account will then be deleted and logging in will no longer be possible. We do not support downloading or exporting your personal data.
Source: Quit Hardware Info
adv: Psst: this nas is lightning fast, but you can't hear it!
This article is brought to you by QNAP.
Nas devices are versatile. This means that you can use them in many environments: at home, in the office or elsewhere. The TS-410E from QNAP has been specially developed for use in special locations. It is completely passive, and designed to be combined with 2.5-inch SSDs.
You can use the TS-410E in environments where absolute silence is desired. Think of a (podcast) studio or an office environment. Large 2.5-inch SSDs are readily available. An 8TB variant is a sustainable and quiet alternative to a hard drive. Besides the fact that SSDs are quiet, they are much faster than hard drives. That also makes this NAS an interesting choice for use in media production. The robust housing makes it ideal for professional applications.
Top performanceThis NAS is therefore optimized for use with SSDs; in that context, it has two fast network ports on board. Both operate at 2.5Gbit/s. This means that you can use it optimally with a fast Wi-Fi 6/6e/7 network, but you can also use it for file storage in media production. If 2.5Gbit/s is not fast enough, you can bundle the network ports so that the bandwidth doubles to 5Gbit/s. This makes this NAS just as fast as a standard USB drive, and because the TS-410E uses SSDs, it is much faster than an external hard drive. You can even achieve a volume of 32TB by combining four 8TB SSDs! QNAP offers a wide range of switches that allow you to optimally connect NAS devices and other equipment, such as WiFi access points and the like.
QNAP offers a total solution with NAS equipment and switches.
The TS-410E is a professional nas that can be used under harsher conditions. You can use it between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and at a humidity (non-condensing) between 5 and 95 percent.
ApplicationsIt is a NAS that is ideally suited for use in environments where temperatures can rise or noise production is undesirable. There are numerous conceivable applications for which it is useful. In addition to standard applications such as file sharing or storage, you can use it to monitor virtual machines installed in the QTS operating system. You do not have to log in via the network for this. You can get started right away: just connect a keyboard and mouse and connect a monitor via HDMI. The TS-410E’s Intel UHD Graphics supports resolutions up to 3840×2160 at 30Hz.
Ideal for surveillance applicationsYou can expand the TS-410E with QVR Elite. This is a surveillance environment that gives you a complete overview of a location. Plug an HDMI cable into the nas and you can watch immediately!
The TS-410 comes with a three-year warranty as standard. This term can be extended to five years if desired. In addition, QNAP promises that the NAS will be available for five years. This means that you can standardize a professional environment and, by extension, do not always have to select a different, newly launched NAS.
Optimal safetyQNAP has built in the Intel Atom J6412, a chip with four cores and a clock speed of up to 2.8GHz. This chip is designed for efficiency and specifically tailored to the applications for which this NAS is intended, with a focus on reliability, availability and low energy consumption. The Atom J6412 also offers extra security thanks to the built-in AES-NI encryption that allows you to effortlessly encrypt files and data traffic. That is a safe idea if you use the NAS in a public environment, for example.
Source: QNAP
December 30, 2023
Year in review: The gaming year that will go down in history
Hardly any year has such a reputation in the gaming scene as the year 1998. This year, well-known games such as Half-Life , Metal Gear Solid and Starcraft were released. The Game Boy Color came onto the market with Pokémon Yellow (in Japan), the first PlayStation was at its peak and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released, according to the review aggregator Metacritic, the best-rated game of all time to date. 1998 is a legend because of Grim Fandango , Banjo-Kazooie and of course Baldur’s Gate , a game that almost single-handedly reinvigorated the role-playing genre.
LG announces new series of smart monitors, with WebOS 23
LG has announced a new series of monitors with smart functions. The LG MyView screens are equipped with WebOS 23, so that in addition to ‘normal’ monitor use, you can use them for streaming Netflix series, playing music via Airplay 2, or running Microsoft 365 apps.
The MyView lineup consists of the 32SR85U, 32SR83U and the 32SR70U, all three equipped with a 31.5″ IPS panel with 4k resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate and a response time of 5 ms. They achieve 400 nits brightness (350 nits for the 32SR70U) and 95% of the dci-p3 color space.
The LG 32SR85U, with separately available webcam.
The 32SR85U and 32SR83U have three USB-C ports with 90 and 65 W of power respectively. The 32SR70U has one (45 W) and two normal USB-A ports (USB 2.0). An accompanying webcam (1080p) is sold separately for the 32SR85U. The monitors also have two HDMI connections and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth.
The MyView series seems to mainly compete with Samsung’s Smart Monitor M8 series, released earlier this year. The LGs will be slightly more expensive, with a converted €590 for the 32SR83U (according to Engadget). You now pay around €450 for the Samsungs here.
Source: LG
Here's Every Windows Feature Microsoft Has Pulled the Plug This Year
Microsoft has pulled the plug on quite a number of Windows 10 and 11 features this year. Although ‘only’ two applications have been discontinued, many more components have been placed on the deprecated list. This does not mean that they will immediately be removed from the operating system, but they will immediately no longer receive updates. We have written about it many times over the past year, but for the sake of completeness we have listed all discontinued Windows components here:
Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool
Last February, the Support Diagnostic Tool received the final blow from Microsoft. At least, the program, which can automatically detect problems within Windows using various built-in troubleshooters, will only disappear permanently in 2025. However, until then, more and more of the built-in legacy troubleshooters will be replaced by the Get Help software. At the time of writing, half of the MSDT troubleshooters have already been killed.
UWP apps for Arm32 systems
In July, support for Universal Windows Platform applications on 32bit Arm chipsets was discontinued. Apps that did not have a 64bit version became unusable.
Windows app of Cortana
Support for the pre-installed Windows 10 and 11 voice assistant Cortana app was ended in August. This tool, which has been around since 2014, is similar to Siri and allows users to perform tasks using voice commands. The app is now unusable.
TLS 1.0 and 1.1
The outdated security protocols TLS 1.0 and 1.1 have been around for many years, but are now also quite unsafe. Over the years, several vulnerabilities have been found in these protocols, as a result of which people have often switched to the more secure, new versions. Because these two protocols are now only used by very few users, Microsoft decided last August that it will completely phase out TLS 1.0 and 1.1.
AllJoyn
AllJoyn, an open-source project that makes it easy to set up P2P connections with devices, was defunct in August.
WordPad
Microsoft announced in September that it was ending support for Wordpad after 28 years. The word processor will therefore no longer receive updates and will be removed in a future version of Windows.
Timeline for Microsoft Entra accounts
In January 2024, Microsoft will discontinue the Windows Timeline feature for Microsoft Entra accounts. This makes it possible to synchronize accounts on different Windows 10 devices. Timeline was never available for Windows 11 in the first place.
VBScript
In March, a preview version made it clear that Microsoft planned to discard the old scripting language VBScript, and in October the tech giant confirmed that it will be removed in a future version of Windows.
Tips app
Through the Tips app, users can discover the latest Windows 11 features through a variety of tips, guides, articles and videos. Apparently this application was not used often, because Microsoft announced a month ago that it will be removed from the operating system in the future, which will probably happen in the major 2024 update.
Computer Browser, Web Client (WebDAV) and Remote Mailslots
These three Windows components were simultaneously disconnected in November. All three have been around for some time, and Remove Mailslots was even first used in MS-DOS. The three functions have been disabled by default in Windows for some time, but have now been officially retired.
Step description
A deprecated feature that probably doesn’t ring a bell is Steps Recorder (or Steps Recorder in English). This application is used to record all the steps performed in Windows over a period of time. All this should make it easier, for example, to outline the situation in which a problem occurs during technical support. As of November, this program will be on the chopping block, meaning it will no longer be present in Windows 11 after a future update.
Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office and Edge
The Microsoft Defender Application Guard (including its associated APIs) has been on the deprecated features list since November. This business feature should prevent untrusted (and potentially malicious) Office documents or Edge links from being opened and potentially infecting the corporate network with malware. Microsoft recommends that organizations switch to Defender for Endpoint.
voice recognition
In December it was announced that Microsoft is no longer working on the development of the outdated Speech Recognition app. The newer Voice Access application should serve as a replacement. However, the latter only works from Windows 11 version 22H2, while Speech Recognition was already available in Windows Vista.
Outdated console mode
The legacy console mode in Windows cmd could be used to bring back an older version of the shell (Command Prompt or PowerShell), in case a program does not function properly with the latest version. However, a few weeks ago this mode was put on the deprecated list.
Mixed Reality Portal
Finally, this month the Mixed Reality Portal app and Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR were deprecated. This makes it possible to operate various games, apps and Windows programs with compatible mixed reality headsets.
Samsung brings AI-powered robot vacuum cleaner Bespoke Jet Bot Combo to CES 2024
In the run-up to the upcoming CES trade fair, Samsung is introducing a new vacuum cleaner with AI functions. The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, a robot vacuum cleaner and mopping robot in one, contains a 3D sensor and AI-driven object recognition, which should allow the device to recognize objects more accurately than regular robot vacuum cleaners. The South Korean manufacturer claims that objects with a size of at least 1 centimeter can be recognized and avoided.
In addition, the device must be able to independently recognize rooms. As a result, it automatically designates ‘no-go zones’, such as the bathroom. The device must also be able to detect stains, so that it can autonomously decide to retrieve the mop pads from the cleaning station to scrub the stain clean (with a promised 170 rotations per minute). The built-in AI functionalities can also recognize the type of floor. According to Samsung, this makes it possible, among other things, to distinguish hard floors from carpet, after which the suction power is adjusted or the mop pads are disconnected to prevent cross-pollination.
The manufacturer has built its own deep learning model into the vacuum cleaner for this purpose. The datasets used for this are gradually updated via software updates. The intention is therefore that the robot will function better over time. The company will show the vacuum cleaner at CES next month, but does not mention what it will cost or when the device will be available.
Source: Samsung
Microsoft Surface series 'gets a major overhaul', with a new look and a Snapdragon X CPU
According to sources from Windows Central, Microsoft is giving its Surface series a major refresh next year. In addition to an interesting hardware upgrade, the next Surface Laptop and Surface Pro would have new features and a new look.
This seems to mainly involve rounded corners on the screens of both models, and thinner screen edges on the Laptop. The screen of the 13.5″ Laptop version would therefore become slightly larger (13.8″), and the Pro tablet will have a brighter panel with support for HDR, and on top of that a less reflective coating.
The ‘Laptop 6’ would also have an extra USB-C connection (hopefully not at the expense of the 3.5 mm port), a pressure-sensitive touchpad and a separate Windows Copilot button on the keyboard. The ‘Pro 10’ should also have this, in addition to a webcam with a wider viewing angle and an NFC reader for business users.
The current Surface Laptop 5 and Pro 9.
In addition to the standard Intel version, both the Surface Laptop and the Surface Pro would come with a version with an arm processor: a custom Snapdragon X from Qualcomm. The devices must therefore be ready for the next version of Windows, with associated “next-gen AI functions”, and compete with Apple’s counterparts in terms of performance, security and economy.
A Surface Laptop Go refresh may also be planned for later next year. The new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro are expected to be unveiled sometime next spring.
Source: Windows Central
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