Items tagged with Software
Accurate timers are critical to the function of the low-level parts of the underlying code that drives the user-facing software we actually use in our daily lives. Fortunately, x86-64 PCs include numerous timers. Actually selecting which of those timers to use in a given scenario, however, can be a headache due to bugs, design flaws or implementation issues. The preferred timer on most modern machines should be the High-Precision Event Timer, or HPET. Sadly, that's not always the case on recent Intel hardware. Back in 2019, Linux started disabling the HPET on Coffee Lake and Ice Lake-based Intel platforms, owing to problems with the timers' accuracy when the system enters the PC10 low-power...
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We all know Intel is getting ready to release Alder Lake, a hybrid architecture that will evolve into future designs, including Raptor Lake and Meteor Lake. And of course there are new chipsets on the horizon, like Z690. But hardware is only part of the equation. Software is an important revenue stream as well. And as such, Intel could take more of a "software-first" approach in the future, according to recent comments by Pat Gelsinger, the company's CEO. As far as Gelsinger is concerned, expanding Intel's software and services portfolio is a "somewhat natural progression" for the chip maker. His time spent as CEO of VMware broadened his outlook in that regard, giving him a front-row seat to...
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Anyone who has accidentally deleted a file knows the panic that comes with the mistake. Sometimes you can find the files in the recycle bin and restore them, but other times the files are just plain gone. Anyone familiar with how Windows and other operating systems work might know that files aren't actually deleted, they're marked to allow other data to overwrite them in the future. That means with the right recovery software, there is a chance to recover "deleted" files like images or documents. To that end, Microsoft has quietly launched a new tool specifically to help with this task. The new tool is called Windows File Recovery and it's free. Windows File Recovery is a command line tool...
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The latest craze making the rounds on social media is a facial recognition program called ImageNet Roulette. It allows users to upload a selfie after which artificial intelligence will classify the photo with the tag that it thinks is appropriate for the subject person in the image. Some think that the program is fun, and others think it is downright racist, sexist and offensive. For example, it tends to classify anyone of any skin tone, or who uploads an image in poor light, with tags like "Black, Black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid," according to numerous user reports. Some of the tags it gives to people include things like "psycholinguist," "scientist," while other male subjects were...
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Adobe doesn't have the best of histories when it comes to software like Flash and Shockwave. Both have been leveraged by nefarious types to take advantage of computer users over the years. Flash is such a risk that Firefox 69 disables it by default. Adobe has announced that Flash will see the end of its life next year. Meanwhile, Shockwave will die off before then with an official end of life date announced by Adobe. Adobe says that the end of Shockwave will be April 9, 2019. After that date, Shockwave will be discontinued, and the Shockwave Player for Windows will no longer be available for download. Adobe does note that companies with Enterprise licenses for Shockwave will receive support until...
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The latest version of the enthusiast tool GPU-Z has launched bringing with it new features and stability updates. The latest version is GPU-Z v2.12.0, and one of the main goals for this version of the benchmark was to detect fake NVIDIA graphics cards. The "fake" cards don't have the GPU that is listed in its specifications according to the benchmark results. When such a video card is detected, GPU-Z will add "[FAKE]" to the name field for the graphics card, as seen in the screenshot below. The update promises to be able to detect a fake RTX 2060 that has a GK106 GPU, for instance. Another major feature in the update is that the benchmark can now extract and upload the graphics card...
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Apple has rolled out the very first public beta of its upcoming iOS 12 software for iPads and iPhones. This marks the first time that people outside the Apple developers community have had access to iOS 12. Apple fans can download the new software and use it now. Naturally, with the word "beta" attached to the software, there are caveats to it with the big one being that there will be plenty of bugs present. That is the purpose of a beta; to let users find bugs that Apple can squash. Among known bugs in iOS 12 as a beta product are incorrect data in Map and other apps, CarPlay crashes when side and backup cameras are used, and dropped calls can occur in FaceTime if you are multitasking. If you...
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Nintendo has been selling the Switch about as fast as it can build them resulting in some bountiful profits for the company. The Switch has been the subject of some hacks with all the consoles on the market suffering from an unpatchable exploit thanks to the NVIDIA Tegra chip inside. Hackers have been able to leverage that exploit to do things like install Linux on the device. The ability to load unauthorized software led to concerns of piracy for Nintendo. The exploit may be something that Nintendo can’t fix but it can most certainly tell if you are running pirated software. Nintendo is banning consoles running any pirated software from its network. There are a few ways that Nintendo can...
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Microsoft has announced that it has acquired Flipgrid, a social learning platform, and intends to leverage it to bring social learning to students around the globe. Flipgrid currently boasts users in over 180 countries with over 20 million pre-kindergarten to PH.D. level educators, students, and families using the service. Microsoft says that it plans to make Flipgrid free for schools to use, just as it does Office 365 Education software. For those who previously paid for use of Flipgrid, Microsoft says that it will be giving a prorated refund. "We’re thrilled to see the impact Flipgrid has had in social learning thus far and look forward to helping them continue to thrive as part of the...
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There are two major camps in the PC world that most consumer types fall into- Windows or Mac. Windows users sometimes scoff at Mac fans due to the premium Apple commands for its computers, even though the hardware inside the machines is often dated compared to similarly priced Windows machines. Mac fans sometimes scoff at Windows users over build quality, design, software, security, and lots of other points. Clearly, both platforms have their pros and cons. However, especially as of late, it's undeniable that Apple has really been trailing in base technology of its Mac platform. As such, Mac software developer Rogue Amoeba is bashing Apple for what it calls the "sad state" of Mac hardware....
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Microsoft decided to file criminal charges against an e-waste recycler named Eric Lundgren. The case against Lundgren originally went to court months ago, but the man remained free as his appeal worked its way through the court system. A federal appeals court has now upheld the original ruling, meaning that Lundgren will serve a 15-month prison sentence and will be forced to pay a $50,000 fine. What led to this harsh prison sentence? Lundgren had taken to downloading free software that Microsoft offers to Windows users commonly called restore disks. Lundgren's idea was to make these discs available to computer recycling shops so that they wouldn't need to make the disks themselves. He also wanted...
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Nintendo Switch gamers have a new system update that is available for download right now. The update brings the Switch to version 5.0.0 and should have downloaded automatically, and is probably ready to install on your console. If the update didn't download automatically, Nintendo reminds that you can apply the update manually by following the steps outlined here. Before you apply the update, you might be wondering what exactly changes in the new software. One of the improvement has to do with social media accounts. If you have your Facebook and Twitter accounts linked in the Switch menus, you will now be able to find friends on Facebook or Twitter via Friend Suggestions. Those suggestions can...
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Microsoft this week announced that it has integrated some new tricks into Windows Defender to help prevent users from being bullied to buy upgraded versions of free software. According to Microsoft, there has been a big uptick in free versions of programs that claim to scan a user's computer and find a litany of errors. The software then uses coercive messaging to scare users into buying upgrades to license premium versions of the software to fix the errors. Microsoft notes that the premium version of these programs are often called cleaner or optimizer applications and claim to fix the issues that the free version found. Microsoft wrote, "We find this practice problematic because it...
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There are a number of ways to tell if your computer is vulnerable to the Spectre or Meltdown security exploits that have been making rounds over the last several weeks. For instance, Microsoft has a tool that will analyze your rig and tell you, but it is a PowerShell script that gives you results that you almost need a computer science degree to understand. A new tool is now available that makes it very easy to test your machine and understand the results, and it is called InSpectre. InSpectre is from Steve Gibson, security researcher, and his tool (download here) delivers easy to understand results. It will tell you with simple yes or no answers if you are vulnerable. The image...
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Microsoft wasn't always particularly pro-open source. In fact, for much of its history, the software giant was very much focused on its own offerings often to the detriment of anything open source. That isn't the case today with Microsoft contributing to open source projects and developing versions of its popular programs like Skype specifically for Linux. One of Microsoft's bread and butter products is Office, and there is a version of the Office suite that can be used on Linux thanks to Android. Android support is something Microsoft was forced to adopt due to Windows Phone's abysmal market share to get a foothold in the mobile world. Microsoft has now pledged even more support to the...
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When Microsoft released Windows 10 to the general public at the end of July in 2015, it generously offered free upgrades to Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 users for a full year. Sure, it was in Microsoft's best interest to get as many people as possible to run Windows 10, and at times the company was more than a little bit obnoxious about it, but those who took advantage of the offer benefited from improved security, DirectX 12 support, and many other features. That offer expired around five months ago, but there are still ways to upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost.For people with accessibility needs who use assistive technologies, Microsoft extended its free Windows 10 upgrade offer without any hoops...
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As most US-based companies have learned by now, it's very difficult to penetrate the Chinese market (just ask Microsoft), with the country's government being at the crux of the issue more so than cultural differences. Apple in particular has had a rough go at feeling comfortable in China, and recently, things have been made more difficult with sliding sales. In the past year, Apple had to mold its products to better-suit the Chinese market, which included getting rid of iTunes Movies and iBooks, and crippling its popular news app. Since then, Apple has invested more in the Chinese market, which included a staggering $1 billion investment in "Chinese Uber" Didi Chuxing. Next up? The opening up...
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Everyone has birthdays and anniversaries, but not everyone considers them to be that significant. However, an occasion that is hard to argue as being anything but notable is the anniversary of the first webpage going live on the World Wide Web (remember when we used to call it that?). This weekend marks the 25th year for the first publicly-accessible webpage. To say we've come a long way since that day on August 6th, 1991 would be an incredible understatement. By the mid-90s, many school computer labs began to gain internet access, and at around the same time, or not long after, home users began picking it up, too. Since then, we've moved away from our phone lines and into our broadband connections....
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Researchers from Purdue University have developed a software tool for Android smartphones that purportedly slows down battery drain when handsets enter a sleep state. With the software tool installed, the researchers claim that smartphone battery life can be extended by nearly 16 percent.Called "HUSH," the software solution was developed in response to what the researchers say is the first large-scale study of smartphone energy drain occurring from everyday use by consumers. The researchers conducted the study in collaboration with Intel and startup mobile company Mobile Enerlytics, who together examined the use of 2,000 Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 phones from 191 mobile operators in 61 countries.What...
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Apple announced a handful of products yesterday, including a new iPhone, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro that's better suited for productivity than its other iPad tablets, and a refreshed Apple TV set-top box. However, there's one thing that kind of flew under the radar, and that's the impending release of Mac OS X 10.11, otherwise known as El Capitan.The successor to OS X Yosemite was officially unveiled earlier this summer with a developer preview made available to Mac Developer Program members. At the time, Apple said the OS would release sometime "this fall," but didn't offer up a specific date. Now we have one.Apple slyly tipped September 30, 2015 as El Capitan's release date while previewing an email...
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I'm a sucker for nostalgia, especially as it relates to technology and gaming, so I particularly enjoyed the latest Forza 6 Motorsport TV commercial. It's filled with sights and sounds from several decades of racing games dating all the way back to 1974 with a nod towards Gran Trak 10, a single-player racing title released by Atari. That's far from the only racing reference in the 1-minute 47-second ad spot. Forza 6 developer Turn 10 Studios and publisher Microsoft Studios paid homage to several other racing classics, including R.C. Pro-Am (1987), Pole Position (1982), Outrun (1986), Chase H.Q. (1988), and Ridge Racer (1993). Throughout the ad, the new model Ford GT zips through racing scenes...
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As you might expect following a flurry of positive reviews, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is off to a fast start. It released to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One less than a week ago on September 1, 2015, and like its predecessor, has shipped over 3 million copies worldwide. That figure comes from an advertisement with Japanese lettering. It was first spotted by a NeoGAF forum user who screen captured the ad and uploaded it to Imgur, a free image hosting service. There's reason to believe the figure is accurate. Not only did Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots sell just as many copies during its first week on the market, but Phantom Pain is currently...
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