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Microsoft Edge is a free web browser based on the Chromium Open Source project and other Open Source software. A first look video available to watch. Microsoft Edge delivers as we hoped and expected with a clean, simple, friendly web browser that we think many people will now gladly use as their default web browser; something very few people wanted with Internet Explorer. [License: Freeware | Requires:
11|10|8|7|Linux|macOS | Size: 5 MB ]
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Apple's brand new 13-inch 256GB M3 MacBook Air has hit $999.00 today on Amazon, down from $1,099.00. This sale is available in Midnight, but you might be able to get in Space Gray depending on stock, which has been fluctuating today. B&H Photo is matching this sale.
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Google today announced several changes that it is making to the Google Maps platform, including an AI update. Google Maps now provides better at-a-glance information on locations, with the details powered by Google AI.
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At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone.
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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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Sony unveiled April's PlayStation Plus monthly games on Wednesday. The batch includes Immortals of Aveum, Minecraft Legends, Skul: The Hero Slayer and an Overwatch 2 skins-and-skips bundle. Subscribers on PS Plus' Essential, Extra and Premium tiers can claim the titles starting Tuesday, April 2.
Immortals of Aveum (PS5) showed promise, but its "first-person shooter with magic instead of guns" formula didn't fare incredibly well commercially. The EA-published game was met with mixed reviews, and its release date — competing against the likes of Baldur's Gate III, Armored Core VI and Starfield — likely didn't help. That led to indie developer Ascendant Studios laying off nearly half its staff a few weeks after launch. Still, despite its suspiciously smooth mechanics and too-sparse crowds, we liked its ci
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The 20TB Western Digital hard drive deal on Amazon rings up as $349.99. But it also includes a $70 coupon on the front page (don't miss it!), which brings down the price to $279.99 after checking out.
According to Gordon Mah Ung, who has done the math, the 20TB option is the cheapest that WD offers for this product, at a mind-boggling $14 per terabyte. Remember when dollars per gigabyte was a thing?
Okay, so is there a catch? Not really, but there are some things you need to know about. As one commenter points out, the way drive manufacturers report capacity and the way in which Windows reports it differ. Windows will report it as 18.6TB instead. This is typical for virtually all drives, however.
This is a powered drive, meaning you'll need to plug it into a wall. It also uses the USB 3.0 interface, which transfers data at a comparatively paltry 5Gbps. If you want to back up files, you'll probably just need to plug it in, connect it, and let it do its thing in the background. While the drive comes preformatted for Windows, if you want to fully format it for whatever reason, it will probably take close to a day.
Amazon also says that there may be a limited number of coupons available, so don't dawdle if you want to take advantage of this deal!
In just a few days, however, the world will recognize World Backup Day, where you're encouraged to make a copy of your data and a copy of that copy. Combining your laptop's hard drive, this dea
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Apple today announced that three more Apple Arcade games will be available on the Vision Pro headset starting this Thursday, March 28.
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I've poured out my love for this game and its predecessor before, bemoaning the fact the publisher EA and developer Respawn seem to have abandoned it in favor of Star Wars and battle royale. But to save you some reading time: it has a fantastic single-player campaign that's worth the price of admission alone. Fast-paced, parkour-infused FPS action in "pilot" mode contrasts with stomping around in your robot pal for big action set pieces. The sci-fi buddy cop story is decent and the level design is occasionally jaw-dropping.
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Apple's iPhone shipments in China dropped by 33% in February compared to the same month last year, according to governement figures (via Bloomberg).
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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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Amazon's Big Spring Sale has officially ended but a few deals are still going strong. While this latest event wasn't on the level of a Prime Day or a Black Friday sale, over the past week we found decent savings on some of the gadgets and devices we recommend. Now that the sale is done, the pickings are a little slimmer, but that doesn't mean you're out of luck completely. If you didn't take advantage of the sale while it was live, or if you've still got some shopping left to do, consider this list your last chance to reap the discounts from Amazon's latest sale. (Of course, if you miss out now, Prime Day typically comes back around in July every year.) Here are the best Amazon Spring Sale discounts on tech we love that you can still get today.
Best Spring Sale deals under $50
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In part, that's because they've had to run via emulation, a way of translating the X86 code into instructions that can be understood by the Arm processor. Qualcomm claims that performance won't be a problem for its upcoming Snapdragon X Elite processors and the PCs they run on. But the company also unveiled a pretty major caveat to that, too.
According to The Verge, Qualcomm executives told a Game Developer Conference audience that the company believes that most of the games in Steam's list of the most popular games should run at close to full speed on Snapdragon X Elite.
Qualcomm engineer Issam Khalil told the audience that game developers could port their games over to Arm, or they could create an Arm64EC app, a hybrid approach where Qualcomm's drivers run natively but the rest of the app is emulated. They could also just let Windows on Arm's emulation shoulder the load. Khalil said he believes most games are GPU-bound, meaning that the performance of the emulator won't have a big impact.
There are some problems, though. Games with kernel-level anti-cheat drivers simply won't work via emulation, as will games that use AVX instructions, Khalil said. The latter is the subject of a
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If you're not sure where to begin your quest for a budget-friendly machine, don't sweat it. We did the heavy lifting for you. (Note that laptop prices can fluctuate and there might be times when the price of one of our picks hovers over $1,000.) For more recommendations on gaming laptops, see our roundup of the best gaming laptops across all prices, or take a look at our roundup of the best laptop deals.
Why you should trust us: Hey, it's in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We've been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who've applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We're also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.
Updated March 21, 2024: We added the recently reviewed Acer Nitro V 15 as the best connectivity pick. Not only does it have a ton of ports, but it also offers good game performance and build quality for the price. We also updated our list of recently reviewed laptops.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is touring Shanghai, China this week, meeting with retail employees, suppliers, developers, the film industry, and others. He has been sharing photos from his trip on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
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