1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,200 You came for tech news, so that's what I'll give you. 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:10,240 If you also want to hear my sci-fi series pitch, just let me know at any point. 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:17,760 Microsoft has reiterated that it will not budge on including TPM 2.0 or the Trusted Platform 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,440 Module as a hardware requirement for Windows 11, with senior product manager Stephen Hosking 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:29,200 writing in the company's IT Pro blog that the security feature is non-negotiable. 6 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,880 Unless you're a business and opt for the IoT Enterprise LTSC version of Windows 11, 7 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,360 which doesn't require it, or if you're following guides from Microsoft themselves, 8 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,360 as well as others that tell you how to install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC. 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:51,680 But other than that, it's off the table. The double down comes as Microsoft is ramping up pressure on Windows 10 users to upgrade, 10 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:57,840 which for many means upgrading their hardware too, because of the phantom menace requirement 11 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:03,520 different TPM. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that the real requirement, keeping 12 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:10,640 some users from upgrading, isn't even TPM 2.0. There are a couple generations of Intel and AMD 13 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,600 processors that have that feature, but aren't included in the list of supported processors 14 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:22,240 for Windows 11. So what does Microsoft actually want your PC to have to let you upgrade your OS? 15 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:28,320 The right vibe? They actually don't even want you to upgrade. They just like popping ads up in 16 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:34,560 your face. I got them. You're sick. Intel finally unveiled their second gen 17 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:40,720 ARC GPUs yesterday after busting them out of freshly fired CEO Pat Gelsinger's office. 18 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:47,600 He was fired because he wouldn't let the company launch them? That's not true. I'm just looking 19 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:53,200 for a reason that makes sense. Linus Tech Tips has a full breakdown, but the TLDR is the ARC 20 00:01:53,200 --> 00:02:02,080 B580 will launch for $250 on December 13th with the B570 launching at $220 on January 16th 21 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:08,480 in a number of colors and flavors, thanks to Intel having more board partners on board this time. 22 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:13,600 Despite having a power draw on the lower side with the limited edition reference design only 23 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:20,640 sporting a single 8-pin connector, Intel says the B580 is 24% faster than the previous gen 24 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:29,040 ARC A750, a higher tier board, and delivers 64% better ray tracing performance than an RTX 4060. 25 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:35,600 Now you might say, I don't care about ray tracing. Well, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle just 26 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:41,040 became the first mainstream game to require hardware ray tracing support. You want to give 27 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,640 it with the times or have an atypically swashbuckling archaeologist say that you belong in a museum? 28 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:52,560 That would not feel good. Alongside architecture improvements, Intel's upgraded their Xe Super 29 00:02:52,560 --> 00:03:00,880 Sampling Tech to Xe SS2, which now has frame generation like NVIDIA's DLSS3 and AMD's FSR3, 30 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:06,160 along with a low latency feature. Intel is leaning hard into its aggressive pricing here, 31 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:12,160 saying the battle mage cards have 25% better performance per dollar than NVIDIA and AMD's 32 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,720 60-tier cards. And they've got about a month to convince gamers that's the case, 33 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:22,960 before Team Red and Green start dropping their own next gen GPUs. NVIDIA is heavily expected 34 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:30,080 to announce the RTX 50 series at CES, and AMD's own recently released code references both the 35 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:37,120 RX 8800 and RX 8600. Look at me. You're going to wait for the reviews this time before shooting 36 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:43,920 your mouth off, right? You can do it. Stay strong. OpenAI has announced 12 days of OpenAI, 37 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:49,520 which means that, starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific, it'll host a live stream every day 38 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:57,280 for 12 days to launch or demo new AI features, a holiday tradition of tech bros since days of 39 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:03,440 your, or so Chachibi tells me. But Google seized this opportunity to give Sam Altman a taste of his 40 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:09,680 own preempt your competitor's AI announcements, medicine. The tech giants suddenly opened access 41 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:16,640 to their VO video generator through their Vertex AI platform, along with their Imogen 3 image 42 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:24,000 generator. But more importantly, they unveiled Genie 2, a foundation world model that one ups the 43 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,480 World Labs demo for Monday's episode and generates 3D game worlds you can run around in, or sail 44 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:38,320 around in, for up to a minute before reality starts to deco here. DeepMind says that Genie 2 45 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:44,000 generates game content that's plausible, which I was going to say is the bare minimum for games, 46 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,680 but then I remembered Kingdom Hearts exists. Unlike D-Carts AI generated Minecraft simulation, 47 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:56,160 Genie 2 can actually make it so the world looks the same, or at least similar, when you turn 48 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:01,280 around, imagine, and can generate gameplay in multiple perspectives, like first person, 49 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:06,560 third person, and isometric. A few demos even showed characters interacting with objects 50 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:12,560 in ways that stretch the meaning of the word plausible, but again, Death Stranding shipped so. 51 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:18,960 Genie 2 can render game protagonists as well as NPCs and lead to some fun situations, like this 52 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:24,080 one where the player just stood in a garden and didn't move at all and eventually a ghost appears. 53 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:29,040 Huh? If that's not creepy enough, the Googlers took their previously announced 54 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:34,320 generalist AI agents capable of operating in any game and dropped them into these 55 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,000 nonsensical dream worlds, presumably as a kind of prank. 56 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:46,480 Hey, wait a sec, is this AI? Yeah, just like you. Just like me. Aw, that's funny. 57 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:51,600 Oh, DeepMind also showed their new GenCast AI weather forecasting system 58 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:56,240 outperforming the current best-in-class model, but that's like actually practical stuff. 59 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:05,200 A thousand years in the future, a space travel experiment has torn the fabric of reality and there's portals everywhere. Also, humans have evolved tails again. They came 60 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:11,440 back. I'm working on it. But first, quick bits. In response to the US tightening export restrictions 61 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:17,120 even more, China said it would ban rare minerals crucial to tech production 62 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:22,880 from being exported to the US, who said it's just now realizing how much rejection can hurt. 63 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:28,880 The banned minerals include gallium and germanium, of which China is the biggest producer. 64 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:35,040 On the plus side, if stuff isn't being exported to the US, then it can't be subject to tariffs, 65 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,960 so at least American companies won't have to pay extra for it. Win-win. 66 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:45,840 The FBI and CISA, America's cyber defense agency, have warned the nation about the dangers of using 67 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:51,040 unencrypted messaging, such as text messages sent between iPhones and Android phones. 68 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,760 It's a bit of a strange warning coming from the FBI, which has historically 69 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:01,600 opposed encryption, which makes it harder to get into people's phones for national security purposes. 70 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:08,000 The thing is, it looks like Chinese hackers still have deep access to American communication 71 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:14,880 after using a government backdoor to break in. So please make sure to use encrypted messaging 72 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,920 apps until we can get these hackers out of here, and then we can go back to unencrypted, 73 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:25,840 so the right government can spy on you properly. Ubisoft has announced it's shutting down its 74 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:32,720 free-to-play shooter, X Defiant, less than a year after launching and less than two months after 75 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:37,920 denying reports that it was going to do this very thing. While the game's Season 3 content 76 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:43,840 will still launch with servers remaining live until June 2025, the news also means the shutdown 77 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:50,400 of three different production studios and 277 employees being laid off. My heart goes out to 78 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:56,240 those developers, one of whom I really hope brought up the fact that that name sounds like a call of 79 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:02,800 duty parody game they made up for a B movie to avoid licensing fees. X Defiant. It sounds like 80 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:08,720 a translation error. And the FTC won't let scummy companies be proposing orders yesterday 81 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:15,760 that would ban location data firms Ventel and Mobile Walla from selling location data, 82 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:21,120 which can reveal details about consumers visits to medical clinics and places of worship, 83 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:26,160 sensitive areas. The ban would prevent these companies, which are some of the most prominent 84 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:31,040 of their kind, from conducting their main business, providing location information to 85 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:38,160 advertisers as well as government agencies like the IRS, DAA, and FBI. Man, they're not going to 86 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:43,920 be able to arrest anyone soon. Thankfully, the proposal is subject to public comment for 30 days 87 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:49,440 before it can be made final, so go let the FTC know if you really want weird companies to still 88 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,320 be able to dox you. And let me know if you want more tech news by coming back here on Friday for 89 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:59,840 more. I think I'm going to take a page from Tim Cook and keep doing this until the voice in my 90 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:06,640 head says it's time. It hasn't said it yet. It says all kinds of other fun things though.