Miscellaneous Tech News
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Windows 10 will automatically remove updates, drivers that break booting
Problematic updates will be held back for 30 days.
Windows appears to be getting a little smarter about updates that go wrong. A newly published support page (spotted by Windows Latest) describes what the operating system does when a recent update causes a boot failure. First, Windows will uninstall the update and revert to a configuration that should work correctly. It will then block the update for 30 days.
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All signs point to a Google game console announcement at GDC
Google's "future of gaming" event involves hardware for Project Stream.
Normally, Google showing up to the Game Developers Conference isn't a huge deal. The company does this pretty much every year—Android smartphones and Google Play are a pretty big gaming platform, after all—and it shows up with livestreams and blog posts and all the usual festivities. This year, though, is different. Google has been sending out vague teasers since last month for a GDC event, but as the date approaches, the company has been dropping more and more hints of exactly what it is announcing: Google is launching video game hardware for the Project Stream platform.
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Microsoft brings (some of) DirectX 12 to Windows 7 to boost WoW multithreading
A few more games may get the same treatment, too.
The latest patch for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, version 8.1.5, includes the user-mode components of the Direct3D 12 (D3D12) runtime, modified to run on Windows 7. Blizzard found that there was a "substantial framerate improvement" from updating WoW to use D3D12, thanks to D3D12's improved support for distributing the work of building graphical scenes across multiple threads. For complex environments with lots of on-screen objects, this multithreading can provide a healthy performance boost.
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Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products
The group that brought us the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate is being downsized.
A report from Business Insider claims that Google has axed "dozens" of employees from its laptop and tablet division. BI's sources describe the move as "roadmap cutbacks" and also say that Google will likely "pare down the portfolio" in the future.
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products
The group that brought us the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate is being downsized.
A report from Business Insider claims that Google has axed "dozens" of employees from its laptop and tablet division. BI's sources describe the move as "roadmap cutbacks" and also say that Google will likely "pare down the portfolio" in the future.
It's a Google division. Google is a brand name designated to warn us that all products are temporary and will be going away soon.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products
The group that brought us the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate is being downsized.
A report from Business Insider claims that Google has axed "dozens" of employees from its laptop and tablet division. BI's sources describe the move as "roadmap cutbacks" and also say that Google will likely "pare down the portfolio" in the future.
It's a Google division. Google is a brand name designated to warn us that all products are temporary and will be going away soon.
Crap. I was thinking of getting a Pixel for my next phone. Dunno now.
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@scotth said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products
The group that brought us the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate is being downsized.
A report from Business Insider claims that Google has axed "dozens" of employees from its laptop and tablet division. BI's sources describe the move as "roadmap cutbacks" and also say that Google will likely "pare down the portfolio" in the future.
It's a Google division. Google is a brand name designated to warn us that all products are temporary and will be going away soon.
Crap. I was thinking of getting a Pixel for my next phone. Dunno now.
All depends if you want a phone from a company that is dedicated to long term manufacturing, or you just care about the one phone. It doesn't change what the phone itself is like.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scotth said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Google Hardware makes cuts to laptop and tablet development, cancels products
The group that brought us the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate is being downsized.
A report from Business Insider claims that Google has axed "dozens" of employees from its laptop and tablet division. BI's sources describe the move as "roadmap cutbacks" and also say that Google will likely "pare down the portfolio" in the future.
It's a Google division. Google is a brand name designated to warn us that all products are temporary and will be going away soon.
Crap. I was thinking of getting a Pixel for my next phone. Dunno now.
All depends if you want a phone from a company that is dedicated to long term manufacturing, or you just care about the one phone. It doesn't change what the phone itself is like.
Don't get me wrong. I think the product is fine. My brother and son-in-law have one and they are fine with them. I'm just thinking that they won't continue to develop the line by the time I'm ready to move.
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Firefox Send lets you send files up to 2.5GB with time and download limits
It was in "Test Pilot" before. Now it's live and offers more control.
Firefox Send can handle files as large as 2.5GB. When the Test Pilot period for the service began in August of 2017, the limit was 1GB; that limit still applies until you sign in with your Firefox account (opening an account is free).
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Yes, 5G will cost you more—Verizon plans $10 add-on charge for 5G access
Verizon 5G is only for unlimited data plans, will cost $85 to $105 a month.
Verizon today announced that its 5G network will go live on April 11 in "select areas of" Chicago and Minneapolis and eventually hit "more than 30" US cities in 2019. To use the 5G service at launch, you'll have to pay $50 for "the Verizon-exclusive 5G Moto Mod," which can be attached to a Motorola Moto Z3, a phone that Verizon sells for $480.
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Yes, 5G will cost you more—Verizon plans $10 add-on charge for 5G access
Verizon 5G is only for unlimited data plans, will cost $85 to $105 a month.
Verizon today announced that its 5G network will go live on April 11 in "select areas of" Chicago and Minneapolis and eventually hit "more than 30" US cities in 2019. To use the 5G service at launch, you'll have to pay $50 for "the Verizon-exclusive 5G Moto Mod," which can be attached to a Motorola Moto Z3, a phone that Verizon sells for $480.
could be worth it - IF truly unlimited - which we all know it's not going to be.
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Google Play apps with 150 million installs contain aggressive adware
Google removes 210 apps after outside researchers report them as abusive.
The 210 apps discovered by researchers from security firm Checkpoint Software bombarded users with ads, even when an app wasn’t open, according to a blog post published by the company on Wednesday. The apps also had the ability to carry out spearphishing attacks by causing a browser to open an attacker-chosen URL and open the apps for Google Play and third-party market 9Apps with a specific keyword search or a specific application’s page. The apps reported to a command-and-control server to receive instructions on which commands to carry out.
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GNOME 3.32 Release
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/03/best-gnome-3-32-features -
It looks like Windows 10 Home can now defer updates for 35 days
Change would give Home and Pro users the same deferral range
The next Windows 10 feature update, version 1903, looks like it's going to give Windows 10 Home users a little more flexibility about when they install updates. All versions of Windows 10 allow for updates to be deferred, waiting a number of days after each update is released before attempting to install it.
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
It looks like Windows 10 Home can now defer updates for 35 days
Change would give Home and Pro users the same deferral range
The next Windows 10 feature update, version 1903, looks like it's going to give Windows 10 Home users a little more flexibility about when they install updates. All versions of Windows 10 allow for updates to be deferred, waiting a number of days after each update is released before attempting to install it.
Sure I hear people clamering for this - but I'm just not sure how much difference this will really make to the home users masses.
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
It looks like Windows 10 Home can now defer updates for 35 days
Change would give Home and Pro users the same deferral range
The next Windows 10 feature update, version 1903, looks like it's going to give Windows 10 Home users a little more flexibility about when they install updates. All versions of Windows 10 allow for updates to be deferred, waiting a number of days after each update is released before attempting to install it.
If updating Windows wasn't so intrusive and prone to failure I'm sure more people would update. This is just giving MS time to fix any bugs that are found post public release.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
It looks like Windows 10 Home can now defer updates for 35 days
Change would give Home and Pro users the same deferral range
The next Windows 10 feature update, version 1903, looks like it's going to give Windows 10 Home users a little more flexibility about when they install updates. All versions of Windows 10 allow for updates to be deferred, waiting a number of days after each update is released before attempting to install it.
If updating Windows wasn't so intrusive and prone to failure I'm sure more people would update. This is just giving MS time to fix any bugs that are found post public release.
That's assuming they pay attention to people. That update bug that was deleting files was reported to them repeatedly for 3 months before they released the patch. They've really got to completely overhaul their patch processes.
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Google launches the next version of Android—Android Q—in beta
The beta is open to any Google Pixel phone.
On Wednesday, Google released a preview of the next version of Android, codenamed "Android Q." The final release should happen sometime toward the end of the year, but for now we get a work-in-progress build that will get several new versions throughout the year. The highlights for this release include new privacy and security controls, support for foldables, a share menu that actually works, faster app startup, and more.
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Google launches the next version of Android—Android Q—in beta
The beta is open to any Google Pixel phone.
On Wednesday, Google released a preview of the next version of Android, codenamed "Android Q." The final release should happen sometime toward the end of the year, but for now we get a work-in-progress build that will get several new versions throughout the year. The highlights for this release include new privacy and security controls, support for foldables, a share menu that actually works, faster app startup, and more.
Hm.... To Beta... or not to Beta, that is the question.
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Steam Link Anywhere lets you take your PC gaming with you
Move comes as Google, Sony expand game streaming options.
The only requirements for today's "early beta" release, according to the announcement, are that "your computer has good upload speed and your Steam Link device has a good network connection." Those are imprecise terms, of course, but Steam's in-home streaming has previously shown a pretty good ability to scale visual quality up and down based on network conditions.
