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According to a presentation from Intel on Tuesday, which weirdly debuted Microsoft's "requirements for an AI PC," vendors will need three specific components if they want to advertise their new machines as such. One, "NPU, CPU, and GPU powered silicon." Since that presumably includes integrated GPUs like Intel's Xe systems, the NPU (neural processing unit) is the new hotness in question.
What exactly is an NPU? That's a bit nebulous at the moment. An NPU is a distinct (if not necessarily discrete) processor designed for specific tasks, very much like a GPU for visuals, but it's for "AI." Another term for an NPU is "AI accelerator." But again, exactly what it does isn't exactly clear. For the live demos I've seen, the most interesting thing it's doing is blurring the background in video calls somewhat more efficiently than existing chips.
Microsoft also demands that an AI PC include its Copilot assistant…which is built into Windows 11. So, that's basically a given. And also that there be a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard, generally replac
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Not only did we give Carbonite four stars out of five in a glowing review, but we also awarded it the coveted Editor's Choice badge. It's great.
"Carbonite Safe is a capable set-it-and-forget-it backup service that eliminates any worries about running out of room when backing up your stuff," we concluded, "It's a worthy service for the average user."
Carbonite offers once-a-day backup, unlimited data backup with file versioning (that means it retains older versions of files), and more. This service also intelligently pinpoints the most common data and locations like Windows documents, pictures, folders, and so on. To signal the backed-up status of a file, Carbonite places a small dot next to the file or folder. Orange means the backup is pending and green means they've already been backed up.
This is a terrific deal, but it ends on March 31st, so you better swoop in now and get it while you can.
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Chrome for Windows on Snapdragon should be available via Google, complementing the version for X86 PCs that has been on the market for years.
Qualcomm soft-launched the Snapdragon X Elite platform last fall in anticipation of PCs shipping with the Snapdragon X Elite processor in mid-2024. Some of the first devices expected include consumer versions of the Microsoft Surface Pro 10 and the Surface Laptop 6. Those devices, marketed as the Surface Pro 10 for Business and the Surface Laptop 6 for Business, were announced with Intel Core Ultra processors a short time ago. All told, nine PC vendors are expected to ship Snapdragon X Elite PCs.
Chrome's commitment, though, is good news. Early iterations of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7- and 8-series chips were often accompanied by beta versions of Microsoft's Edge and Mozilla's Firefox browser, indicative of the lack of software support for the Arm architecture. Chrome, however, owns 51 percent of the U.S. market, with Edge tally
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