Microsoft recently released preview updates for Windows 11 and also announced that Windows 11 25H2 is coming along with the changes it will bring. Some dynamic updates have also been delivered. But on top of all this, Microsoft has quietly “force-installed” another update on Windows 10 and 11 PCs, according to Neowin. The “secret” patch with update code KB5001716 has already arrived for some users, but others are apparently still waiting. (We have not yet discovered it on our own Windows 11 PCs.) What’s in the KB5001716 update? Update KB5001716 isn’t an “update” in the classic sense. It’s more of an auxiliary update for Windows Update itself. The release note for the patch explains how KB5001716 works: “When this update is installed, Windows may attempt to download and install feature updates to your device if it is approaching or has reached the end of support for your currently installed Windows version. Feature updates offer new functionality and help keep your device secure.” “After this update is installed, Windows may periodically display a notification informing you of problems that may prevent Windows Update from keeping your device up-to-date and protected against current threats. For example, you may see a notification informing you that your device is currently running a version of Windows that has reached the end of its support lifecycle, or that your device does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for the currently installed version of Windows.” In other words, it appears the main purpose of update KB5001716 has mostly to do with the approaching end of support for Windows 10 and is intended to help deliver feature updates to PCs with Windows versions that have already expired or will soon expire. What this means for you Microsoft recently announced that Windows 10 will receive another year of free security updates under some circumstances. Nevertheless, warnings about the approaching end of support will continue to be shown on affected Windows PCs. According to Microsoft, notifications will “respect full screen, game, quiet time and focus assist modes.” Users can also continue to check whether their hardware is sufficient for Windows 11 and consider switching. Meanwhile, Microsoft is trying to convince users of the improved performance of Windows 11 and point out that the user experience is not only more secure but better. If you receive the KB5001716 update, it means your version of Windows will soon expire or will no longer be supported. That includes versions Windows 10 22H2 and 21H2 as well as Windows 11 21H2. Further reading: How to save your PC at Windows 10’s end of life Read...

TL;DR: For a little while longer, you can score a Deal Days discount on this Surface Laptop 3, now under $400. If you’re looking to boost your productivity without draining your bank account, this Deal Days offer hits the sweet spot. For a limited time, you can get a refurbished Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 for only $399.99 (reg. $1,099). That’s an over 60% discount on a sleek, high-performance machine. This 2019 model is no slouch—it’s powered by a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and comes packed with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, making it more than capable of multitasking, streaming, creative work, or light gaming. Whether you’re handling large spreadsheets, running code, or editing media, this laptop keeps up. It also features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with a 2256×1504 resolution, offering sharp visuals and smooth interaction. Its ultra-slim aluminum chassis, weighing just under three pounds, makes it an ideal pick for students, professionals, or anyone who needs a portable, stylish daily driver. This refurbished unit comes with a Grade “A” rating, meaning it may show minimal signs of wear, but it functions like new and arrives with a minimum of 80% battery health. At this price, it’s hard to beat the value. Act fast on this Deal Days price drop—this near-mint Surface Laptop 3 deal won’t last long at just $399.99 (reg. $1,099), and quantities are limited. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (2019) i7, 1.3GHz Touchscreen 16GB RAM 512GB SSD (Refurbished) See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro for life for only $44.97 (reg. $418.99). If you’re tired of monthly fees just to use basic software, this bundle might be the easiest upgrade you make this year. For $44.97 (reg. $418.99), you can get lifetime access to Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro, no subscriptions, no ongoing charges of any kind. The Microsoft Office license gives you full access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams (free version), OneNote, Publisher, and Access. It’s a permanent license for one computer, so you’ll want to install it on a device you plan to use long-term. Whether you’re writing documents, managing spreadsheets, or building presentations, it covers the tools most people use daily. This bundle also includes a lifetime license for Windows 11 Pro, Microsoft’s most advanced operating system. It comes with a redesigned Start menu, Snap Layouts, multiple desktops, and built-in Teams integration for easier communication. It’s designed to handle everything from remote work to gaming, and it includes security upgrades like BitLocker, TPM 2.0 support, and Smart App Control. Windows 11 Pro even has its own built-in AI that can answer questions, generate text, and more. It might finally be time to cancel that ChatGPT subscription. It’s time to upgrade. Get the Ultimate Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro Bundle while it’s on sale for $44.97. Sale ends July 20 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro Bundle See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

New York Times: As countries race to power AI, a yawning gap is opening around the world. Read...

Artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs by creating new roles that blend human skills with machine intelligence, set to define workforces by 2030. Read...

Peter Kyle says the Alan Turing Institute should prioritise boosting the UK`s AI capabilities. Read...

Ditch the multiple chargers and opt for an Anker charging station; it offers numerous ports while freeing up desk space. The Anker station is also down to $36 from its $46 MSRP. With a compact design, this station can charge up to nine devices at a time. There are three AC outlets on its sides and six USB ports on the front. The fast-charging 100W Type-C ports are at the very top, followed by another couple of 15W Type-C ports just below, and two USB-A ports with a max 12W output underneath. This means you can plug in your monitors, your laptop, and charge a bunch of gadgets at the same time. Instead of taking up a ton of space on your desk, this Anker charging station has a 3.15×3.15-inch base and it’s just 4 inches tall. Another thing that earns this station extra brownie points is the fact that it comes with a 5-foot cable with a flat plug, which makes it super easy to fit behind furniture. And did we mention it’s only $36 to buy right now? That’s the best price we’ve seen this available for, and you should definitely check it out. Prime Day is starting next week and we already found a bunch of impressive early deals on chargers and power banks that you can check out. Charge everything at once with this 9-in-1 Anker charging stationBuy now at Amazon Read...

If you’re on the hunt for a new graphics card, you’re likely looking at clock rates, how many shader cores, and how much VRAM it’s packing. But don’t underestimate memory bandwidth when shopping around as it can result in sneaky performance impacts. There is a data bus connection between the GPU and the graphics memory which is responsible for data transport, this is known as a GPU’s memory bandwidth. If the bandwidth is insufficient, a bottleneck occurs: the GPU cannot work efficiently because data is provided too slowly. great 1440p card, great bandwidth Radeon RX 9070 XT Read our review The memory bandwidth is specified in gigabits or gigabytes per second. It depends on the memory type (such as GDDR6 or GDDR7), the clock rate, and the width of the data bus. A higher bandwidth improves the performance of the card, as data flows faster between the graphics chip and memory. A high bandwidth is particularly important for high resolutions such as 4K, which represent four times more pixels than 1080p. Even at lower resolutions, high-resolution textures or graphics-intensive features such as ray tracing can still make heavy demands on the memory bandwidth. Furthermore, the numerous processors and cores on modern GPUs must be continuously supplied with data. A bottleneck in data transfer therefore affects the overall performance of the graphics card. Limited bandwidth often manifests itself in stuttering and fluctuating frame rates. Data transfer quickly reaches its limits, especially at high frame rates of 120 or 240 frames per second. A frame limiter can help by adapting the frame rate to the available bandwidth though. Virtual reality applications also require a high memory bandwidth because the GPU has to calculate a separate, high-resolution image with at least 90 frames per second for each eye. Ray tracing further increases the bandwidth requirement. In this case, additional brightness data has to be transferred for real-time calculation. Compared to the graphics memory of the GDDR6 generation, the 7 series – here from Micron – is designed for significantly higher memory bandwidths. Micron Graphics cards are often optimized for specific target resolutions and detail levels. For example, models from Nvidia’s XX60 series are aimed at 1080p gamers, while higher-class cards are designed for 1440p or Ultra HD. Within a series, the available bandwidth differs mainly in the width of the memory bus. Entry-level cards often use a 128-bit bus, while high-end models are equipped with 256 or more bits. If you are aiming for higher resolutions or frame rates, you should opt for a graphics card with a high memory bandwidth. The definition of what is considered “high” changes with technological progress. A few years ago, 1080p was still considered the premium standard, whereas it is now usually regarded as the entry level. Benchmark tests provide a valuable guide to compare the performance of different graphics cards at different settings. They help to recognize potential bandwidth bottlenecks and select the right card for your needs. Next time you’re in the market for a new GPU, make sure you pay close attention to the memory bandwidth on top of everything else. It’ll help you avoid potential buyer’s remorse to pay attention to this kind of technical data when buying a graphics card, or test it yourself if possible. Read...

There’s a certain peace of mind that comes from being able to see who’s outside your door before you even get up from your seat. If you haven’t yet made the jump, or you want an upgrade, the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is on sale for its very best price of $150 ahead of Prime Day. The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is usually available for $230 and, unlike other similar products, it’s not constantly on sale, making this 35% discount even more enticing. The video doorbell captures head-to-toe images in 1536p, which means you’ll get a full view of who’s outside your door, what’s on the porch, and well beyond that. There are many useful features you’ll end up loving. For instance, it doesn’t even matter if there’s very little light outside, because the doorbell comes with sensors that help it enhance the video so everything remains perfectly visible and clear. When friends are picking you up, you can use the two-way audio feature to tell them you’ll be right there. Oh, and you’ll get alerts on your phone when packages are delivered if you get the Ring Protect subscription. Don’t miss out on the chance to get the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus for its best price of $150. This is a Prime deal, so you’ll need to have a subscription to access it. You can start a 30-day free trial at any point or just take the plunge and subscribe for $14.99/month or $139/year. Now’s the perfect time to do it since Prime Day starts July 8th. Make sure to also check out the best early Prime Day deals on video doorbells and our main Prime Day hub. One of the best video doorbell for its best price.Buy now at Amazon Read...

Welcome to this week’s issue of The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardcore hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. In it, we dive into the hottest topics from our YouTube show, plus hot news from across the web. This week, Adam and Will have a couple of revelations: AMD and Sony’s upscaling partnership, and a startling challenge to a long-held belief about Windows. Oh, and it’s time to expand our gaming backlogs via a Steam sale again. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! In this episode of The Full Nerd… Willis is pumped about our new intern, Glenn Mah.Willis Lai / Foundry In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, Will Smith, Willis Lai, and guest intern Glenn Mah discuss new details about AMD and Sony’s Project Amethyst, the discovery that a clean install of Windows doesn’t have performance benefits, and our favorites in this year’s Steam Summer Sale. I have to admit, Project Amethyst shocks me a bit. But that has more to do with the open approach to machine learning-based frame generation and ray regeneration—historically, Sony loved proprietary tech. So this new collab with AMD to work on machine learning-based features like FSR 4 signals a different world in tech, one where Microsoft (who is not part of this effort) could benefit from the upscaling improvements. As our crew discusses, this reflects the whole industry’s understanding that gaming performance improvements won’t be purely in GPU hardware advances, as we’re used to seeing, but through software optimization, too.Adam of course sees this as a win for handhelds, but for me, it makes me wonder what long-held expectations and assumptions we’ve had around tech will become upended by this decade’s end. Speaking of completely overturned wisdom—Will’s been busy revolutionizing our understanding of long held cherished norms. If your PC’s feeling wonky and sluggish, it may not be because you haven’t refreshed your OS. He actually pitted a clean install vs a one-year Windows 11 install, and the performance results put them still equal. In fact, by the numbers, the older install came out slightly ahead. A lot of questions remain (I for one want to know if an in-place reinstall of Windows has the same results), and viewers on our YouTube video that dives into this also had bones to pick over optimizations on the “dirty” install. But still, maybe this once-relevant piece of advice is now outdated. I have to confess, I didn’t mark the passing of the seasons until the Steam Summer Sale popped up in my notifications. To celebrate the arrival of BBQ days, each of us on the show give our top recommendations from among the deep discounts. (You can find the full list of game titles in a pinned YouTube comment for this week’s episode.) Turns out Will knows all the best indie games, Adam leans into mashups of horror + random other genres, Brad loves 80s cyberpunky vibes, and I’m into testing (stressing) friendships. Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time!  And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s best nerd news The Atari 2600 brought the pain upon another AI model adversary.Foundry Tech journalists may seem like a touchy bunch, but we want what’s best for consumers—so this week’s news out of Nvidia and Comcast’s corners was disappointing. But it’s not all gloom, thankfully. Fast SSDs, retro audio gear, and awesome thrift store finds still put a smile on my face. Nvidia’s RTX 5050’s benchmarks are in, and they’re not great: I was hoping for better news for budget gamers, but Intel’s B580 can beat this new GPU in raw performance at the same MSRP. (Plus, Intel’s card comes with much more memory.) Yeah, you can turn on frame generation to boost your FPS, but that’s not the win I was hoping for. I want this modern Walkman: Count on Japan to keep nostalgia (and old tech) alive. Sure, Bluetooth, USB-C, and a rechargeable battery all sound nice, but I’m jazzed for that 3.5mm aux jack. I never digitized a few cassettes with special radio edits of favorite songs, and this is easy to store in my tiny SF apartment. (Plus, no one’s going to mug me for this if I ever take with me on a walk.) 3D V-Cache war incoming? Rumor has it that Nova Lake, Intel’s next-gen LGA1954 desktop chips, will sport low-latency L3 cache. That addition could put Team Blue’s CPUs on equal footing with AMD’s X3D gaming chips—we’ll have to see what happens next year. So apparently, the Atari 2600 is OP as heck: At least, it is when it comes to putting the beatdown on AI models in chess right now. First it was ChatGPT, and now it’s Microsoft Copilot. Rekt. Comcast finally lifts data caps on plans…sorta: Most of us hate Comcast for a reason—and its paltry 1.2TB of included data use per month is one of them. The company is now promising to offer unlimited data, but naturally there’s a catch. Only new subscribers automatically get the perk. If you’re an existing subscriber, you’ll have to contact customer service to negotiate, which you definitely should do, because it could save you hundreds of bucks per year. (Pro tip: Try the Xfinity customer care team on Reddit, rather than calling.) Nvidia’s GTX 10-series graphics cards may be facing the end of line soon. Respect to the GOAT.Thiago Trevisan/IDG Pour one out for the GOAT: Retirement is likely coming for Nvidia’s GTX 1080 Ti, if the Unix support schedule is any indicator. If the reaper comes for all platforms, it’ll happen with the 580 release of Nvidia’s graphics driver package. A somber thought, but I guess I can finally secure it a rightful spot in TFN’s Hardware Hall of Fame. SK Hynix’s new Platinum P51 goes zoom zoom: Feel the need for speed? SK Hynix is about to drop its first PCIe 5.0 SSDs, with sequential read speeds of up to 14,700MB/s. Nice. Check your Anker power banks again: Six more Anker models were recalled for the risk of melting, smoke, and fire. Time to squint at teeny print to verify my model numbers again. (Aging sucks.) Lucky Goodwill shopper pays $30 for a RTX 3080 Ti gaming PC: This Redditor’s dad is definitely better at thrift shopping than me. Here I am, thinking a $7 Anthropologie dress was a pretty decent score. User accidentally ejects graphics card in Windows, breaks PC for over an hour: I remember poking around in Windows as a young’un, confident in my ability to figure out what I could and couldn’t mess with. So while I can empathize with this French PC user’s impulse to see what ejecting a GPU like a USB drive would do, I can’t say I didn’t still wince. (Shout out to Mark Tyson at Tom’s Hardware for this gem of a quote: “The tragedy is made all the more poignant by the user’s faint cries of ‘Oh merde,’ which broadly translates as French for ‘Oh bother.’”) That does it for this week—for all my fellow Americans, happy 4th of July. May your BBQs stay sizzling and your fingers intact. ’Murica. Alaina Read...