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https://www.pcgamer.com/americas-army-is-finally-closing-for-good/ After 20 years of operation, America's Army—the videogame, not the real-world military force—is going away. The US Army said in the official America's Army forum that all support and official servers for America's Army: Proving Grounds, the current iteration of the series, will be shut down on May 5. America's Army first appeared in 2002, and in case the title leaves any doubt, it was designed as a promotional tool for the US Army. It was a free-to-play tactical shooter at its core—and a pretty good one—but also featured more mundane aspects of military life such as medical training, Humvee driving, and weapon systems operation. It was surprisingly po[CENSORED]r, and made enough of an impact to land a spot in our 2018 list of the 50 most important PC games of all time. One design quirk of the FPS-as-propaganda was in how America's Army structured its multiplayer. Everyone who played was on the side of the US Army, but saw their opponents as a generic enemy faction—an unsettlingly deep message about the nature of war, if you think about it. Multiple sequels followed the first edition, and so did public attention and criticism of the military's overt outreach to young gamers through videogames. By all reports, the Army's effort was wildly successful: A 2008 MIT study (via Game Developer) found that "30 percent of all Americans age 16 to 24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of the game and, even more amazingly, the game had more impact on recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined." The Canadian punk band Propagandhi actually wrote a protest song about the game in 2005, Die Jugend Marschiert, that it hosted on a fake America's Army website that remains up to this day. Despite that opposition, the series persisted, although it's been largely dormant since 2013, when the Army released Proving Grounds. A new game in the series was reportedly being considered, but these days it seems that the Army, and other branches of the US military, have found more fertile recruiting grounds in streaming and esports. America's Army: Proving Grounds is still being played—SteamCharts indicates that there are currently about 300 people in the game—and the good news for committed fans on PC is that private servers, the mission editor, and other offline features are expected to continue to function. Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

https://www.techradar.com/news/irs-drops-use-of-facial-recognition-for-id-verification The IRS has backtracked on plans to allow users to verify their identities using facial recognition after a major backlash. The government body had announced it would be using a a third-party facial recognition system built by a contractor called ID.me to verify US taxpayers looking to log in to its online portal. However, following concerns over how much biometric data would be collected by the tool, and worries of possible identity theft, the IRS now says it will drop the technology for good. “The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement “Everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured, and we are quickly pursuing short-term options that do not involve facial recognition.” The move had drawn the attention of several prominent US lawmakers, with Republican and Democrats alike raising concerns over possible cybersecurity risks, as well as recent findings claiming facial recognition systems can often feature in-built racial bias against non-white faces. Instead of ID.me, the IRS will now be implementing an “additional authentication process” that doesn’t collect facial images or video, with the changeover set to be completed within the next few weeks. Along with the uncomfortable amount of data being given over, users had also complained that if the system failed, they would instead spend hours aiming to have their identities manually approved in video calls with a separate third-party company. The IRS statement added that the change does not interfere with the taxpayer's ability to file their return or pay taxes owed, and that the IRS will continue to accept tax filings, meaning users should continue to file their taxes as normal. "The IRS will also continue to work with its cross-government partners to develop authentication methods that protect taxpayer data and ensure broad access to online tools," the statement concluded. First launched back in 2010, Virginia-based ID.me was originally created to help ecommerce sites validate the identities of customers like veterans, teachers and students who might be eligible for discounts at online retailers. Unlike other online verification services, ID.me requires applicants to submit even more documents, including copies of utility bills and details about their mobile phone service in addition to scans of their driver's license or other government-issued IDs. We've also featured the best software and best accounting software around

https://www.techspot.com/news/93297-unrelenting-chip-demand-fuels-globalwafers-toshiba-capacity-expansions.html The chip shortage has been a constant source of bad news for tech companies and consumers. However, the good news is the industry is slowly adapting to the unrelenting demand and even exploring ways to create a more resilient supply chain. GlobalWafers recently announced it would expand its manufacturing capacity between 2022 and 2024 in a project with capital expenditures totaling NT$100 trillion (approximately $3.6 billion). The company thought it a prudent move after it failed a planned $4.98 billion takeover of German wafer supplier Siltronic. More details about the expansion plans are expected to be revealed in March, including factory locations. In a statement, GlobalWafers CEO Doris Hsu said the company would evaluate several possible sites in the US, the EU, and Asia. If all goes well, the first production lines will be operational in the second half of 2023. Elsewhere, Toshiba is also looking to expand its capacity for 300-millimeter wafers for power semiconductors. The Japanese company wants to build a new manufacturing facility in the Ishikawa Prefecture that could become operational in 2024. This expansion would help Toshiba deliver capacity 2.5 times greater than what the company offered in 2021. The importance of continued investments in manufacturing capacity cannot be overstated. Earlier today, Ford said it would need to cut or suspend production at several facilities over the ongoing chip shortage. Sony has also cut its PS5 shipments forecast, and some tech industry leaders believe the situation won’t improve until 2023. The chip shortage has been a constant source of bad news for tech companies and consumers. However, the good news is the industry is slowly adapting to the unrelenting demand and even exploring ways to create a more resilient supply chain. GlobalWafers recently announced it would expand its manufacturing capacity between 2022 and 2024 in a project with capital expenditures totaling NT$100 trillion (approximately $3.6 billion). The company thought it a prudent move after it failed a planned $4.98 billion takeover of German wafer supplier Siltronic.

WINNER : ME GOOD LUCK FOR NEXT TIME : @King_of_lion & @Mr.BM CLOSE THE TOPIC.

https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-driver-update-could-help-fix-stuttering-in-final-fantasy-7-remake/ Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most beloved console titles of all time, but it’s always had a bit of a rocky time on PC. The original port from PlayStation to PC back in 1998 was always considered a bit inferior due to framerate issues and was only recently modded to run at 60 FPS. Over 20 years later and the HD remake of Final Fantasy 7 seems to be singing a similar tune of letting down PC players. One of the biggest issues with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PC, a relentless stuttering especially in crowded areas while running in DirectX 12, has finally been addressed. WCCFTech reports that the issue appears to be mostly resolved by a recent Nvidia GeForce driver update. Nvidia claimed the update to Game Ready Driver v511.65 should fix the bug in an email shared by a player, and so far the consensus seems to be that it's helping. The bug was bad enough it had many players dropping the game to DirectX 11 and forgoing features like HDR in favour of a far smoother experience. Some players report the new driver fixing the issue enough that they’re ready to change back to DirectX 12, while others are still having the issue to varying degrees. Thankfully, modders have also taken to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake to help improve the lacklustre port. Most are visible improvements like keeping Cloud in his dress for the whole game, but many can also help with resolution or HDR improvements. We may see a better fix released by the community in conjunction with this driver update, but there’s only so much that can be done to improve a bad port. Without that foundation there, we could be waiting another 20 years before this new version of Final Fantasy 7 catches up with today’s standards Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast at BlockbusterStation.buzzsprout.com. No, sadly she’s not kidding.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93286-january-steam-survey-sees-amd-cpus-bounce-back.html After an unexplained delay of almost a week, the Steam Hardware and Software survey results for January are here. Last month’s winners were AMD, Windows 11, and the Oculus Quest 2, while it wasn’t a good period for Nvidia’s Ampere desktop line. Diving into CPUs, AMD bounced back after suffering a decline in user numbers in December, which marked the first time it failed to steal share from Intel since August 2021. In January, 0.25% more survey participants were using team red’s processors, pushing its overall share to 30.96%. In the graphics card section, many of the trends we’ve seen over the past few months weren’t present in January’s results. The RTX 3000 desktop cards that have been increasing their user share didn’t have the best time, with the 3070, 3060, and 3060 Ti all losing users. The RTX 3090 and 3070 Ti were unchanged, the RTX 3080 was up just 0.01%, and the RTX 3080 Ti increased 0.04%. The RTX 3050 Ti fared slightly better with its 0.06% rise, but the only desktop Ampere card to see significant gains was the vanilla RTX 3050, up 0.14%. It was a different story for Ampere’s laptop variants, the mobile RTX 3060 and 3080 were January’s second- and third-best performers, up 0.32% and 0.16%, respectively. Only the GTX 1650 had a better month thanks to its 0.39% gain. The top ten GPUs remain the same, apart from the laptop RTX 3060 moving higher. As for AMD, the Radeon RX 6700 XT is still the only RDNA 2 card in the main chart. Elsewhere, Windows 11 continues to chip away at Windows 10’s lead as 3.41% more participants opted for Microsoft’s latest OS in January, taking its total to 13.56%. Additionally, more than a quarter of people now have 8GB of system RAM as those with 16GB declined. The survey also reveals that 2.14% of all participants own a VR headset, almost half of which (46.02%) are Oculus Quest 2, now known as Meta Quest, models. desktop Ampere card to see significant gains was the vanilla RTX 3050, up 0.14%. It was a different story for Ampere’s laptop variants, the mobile RTX 3060 and 3080 were January’s second- and third-best performers, up 0.32% and 0.16%, respectively. Only the GTX 1650 had a better month thanks to its 0.69% gain.

https://www.techradar.com/news/workers-are-actually-far-more-obsessed-with-slack-than-microsoft-teams When it comes to collaborating with colleagues, most workers are more likely to use Slack, rather than Microsoft Teams, new research has found.. However, when it comes to making video conferencing calls, chances are people will be using Teams instead of Slack. A report from SaaS intelligence firm Productiv found 175,000 of its users opt for Slack, while 70,000 went for Teams as their productivity weapon of choice, although many of these users overlap, and go for both platforms when it suits them. So, for overall engagement over 60 days (measuring for one day, a week, a month, and two months), in which “engagement” is defined as logging in and sending a message, Slack is a clear winner, getting more than double the engagement compared to Teams. Measuring for a day, 37% of Slack users engaged with the platform, compared to 14% of Teams users. Measuring for two months, on the other hand, has shown 83% for Slack users, and 42% for Teams users. Similar figures are for group messages, as 92% of engaged users in Slack used the feature over the course of 30 days, while just 11% of Teams users did the same. When it comes to attending meetings, however, Teams excels, while Slack lags behind. Measuring for a single day, just 2% of Slack users logged in for the feature, compared to 46% of Teams users. For 30 days, it’s 12% and 62%, respectively. Among the possible reasons for this discrepancy, Productiv believes, is the fact that Teams comes bundled with, and is integrated well, with Outlook. Microsoft has also “heavily advertised” the video conferencing feature in its Teams platform, while many Slack users might not be fully aware of their platform offering the same functionality. Finally, it could be due to many Slack users already very used to Zoom for video conferencing, Productiv concluded. Check out our list of the best project management software right now

Happy birthday @badVENOM I wish you a day beautiful and have a new year full of good. Stay Blessed.

V1 - text and i like the darken.

https://www.pcgamer.com/ultima-online-is-still-receiving-updates-as-it-celebrates-its-25th-anniversary/ As reported by Massively Overpowered, the venerable MMO Ultima Online turns 25 in September, and developer Broadsword is celebrating with in-game rewards. Ultima Online was a foundational MMO. Initially released by Origin Systems in 1997, its robust, unique systems have helped it retain a core base of players all these years later despite titanic shifts in the genre like the release of Everquest and World of Warcraft. Ultima Online is also the source of one of gaming's greatest stories: The Assassination of Lord British by the Coward Rainz. Lord British was Ultima creator Richard Garriot's in-game avatar across the series, and he was supposed to be invulnerable and immortal. While making an appearance during a stress test in Ultima Online's beta, Garriot forgot to reactivate god mode after a server crash, and Rainz pickpocketed a scroll of fire field from another member of the crowd and chucked it at British, bringing the great monarch low. The patch notes for Ultima Online's celebratory rewards list various useful trinkets rewarded based on how long you've been playing. For those who have been around since release or the beta, Broadsword is providing a premium, account-bound shield and "Founding Citizen of Britannia" title. The patch notes also go over a smattering of balance tweaks and the introduction of "friendship roses" as a Valentine's Day treat. Ultima Online is one of the oldest PC games still being updated today, and it's a fantastic thing to behold even if you aren't an invested player yourself. If you're interested in more stories about Ultima Online, I'd highly recommend Alyssa Schnugg's fantastic personal essay about being a grandma guildmaster from 2018. fire field from another member of the crowd and chucked it at British, bringing the great monarch low. The patch notes for Ultima Online's celebratory rewards list various useful trinkets rewarded based on how long you've been playing. For those who have been around since release or the beta, Broadsword is providing a premium, account-bound shield and "Founding Citizen of Britannia" title. The patch notes also go over a smattering of balance tweaks and the introduction of "friendship roses" as a Valentine's Day treat. Ultima Online was a foundational MMO. Initially released by Origin Systems in 1997, its robust, unique systems have helped it retain a core base of players all these years later despite titanic shifts in the genre like the release of Everquest and World.

https://www.techradar.com/news/musicmatch-simplifies-cross-platform-music-sharing-for-macos-users There are now so many streaming music services to choose from, it's become difficult to easily share links to songs. Sure, you can use the sharing option in Apple Music to send a friend a link to a track you love, but this is little help if they're not an Apple Music user. And this is where MusicMatch can help. This free app makes it possible to open a shared music link you receive in whatever happens to be your favorite streaming app. So, someone could send you a link to a track on Spotify, but if you're one of the many people who has decided to move away from this particular streaming service, you can use MusicMatch to open the track in Tidal, Pandora, YouTube Music or several other alternative services. In all, there's now support for seven streaming music platforms – namely Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal and YouTube Music. In short, MusicMatch gives you a quick, easy and reliable way to open music links in the app of your choice. We've already looked at the iOS version of MusicMatch as well as the web extension, but things have moved on a great deal in just two short months. We've already mentioned the newly expanded number of supported platforms. The addition of the likes of YouTube Music, Pandora and Tidal means that all of the key music streaming platforms are now covered, so whatever your preferred app is, you should be able to open links in it. The idea is great, and the implementation is simple and effective. When someone sends you a link to a track, album or even an artist on a particular streaming platform, you can just copy the link to the clipboard. Fire up MusicMatch and the app will open the link in whatever you have configured as you preferred music streaming app. It's quick and painless, and significantly less drawn out than performing a search for whatever it is you have been sent. Even better, if you have the MusicMatch extension for Safari installed, everything is taken care of for you automatically. There is no need to manually open the MusicMatch app as everything will be handled in the background. Getting set up is simplicity itself. Grab the app from the Mac App Store, and when you launch it you can indicate which of the seven supported music services is the one your use. The ap also lets you create universal links to the music you want to share with others. Send a MusicMatch-created link to a friend and they can choose the app they want to use to listen to the music you want them to hear. MusicMatch for macOS is available to download from the Mac App Store and more information is available on the MusicMatch website. Sofia is a tech journalist who's been writing about software, hardware and the web for nearly 20 years – but still looks as youthful as ever! After years writing for magazines, her life moved online and remains fuelled by technology, music and nature. Having written for websites and magazine since 2000, producing a wide range of reviews, guides, tutorials, brochures, newsletters and more, she continues to write for diverse audiences, from computing newbies to advanced users and business clients. Always willing to try something new, she loves sharing new discoveries with others. Sofia lives and breathes Windows, Android, iOS, macOS and just about anything with a power button, but her particular areas of interest include security, tweaking and privacy.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93268-intel-had-half-number-bugs-cpus-amd-last.html Intel’s public offensive against AMD has grown more intense recently. The latest diss from team blue is found in a report that states its CPUs faced 16 reported vulnerabilities last year while almost double that amount (31) were found in AMD’s processors. Intel did lead the way in GPU vulnerabilities, but it’s placing the blame for that stat on its rival. Intel’s 2021 product security report starts by revealing that the company delivered mitigations for 226 product security issues last year, of which 113 (50%) were found internally by Intel employees, and 97 (43%) were reported through its bug bounty program. One section of the report compares Intel and AMD Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure (CVE) counts. Of the 16 CPU vulnerabilities Intel reported in 2021, 10 were discovered internally, and six came from bug bounties. It lists AMD as having discovered 31 CPU vulnerabilities, all of which are classed as coming from “external” research. When it came to GPUs, there were a massive 51 Intel vulnerabilities reported—15 internal and 36 from bug bounties. AMD had just 27. However, Intel does have its own caveat: the CVE INTEL-SA-00481 for Intel Core Processors with Radeon RX Vega M graphics contains 23 vulnerabilities affecting AMD components. Tom’s Hardware notes that these appear to be for the Kaby Lake-G processors that combined Intel’s 8th-gen CPU and AMD’s Radeon Vega GPU onto a single piece of silicon. They were famously used in Intel’s Kaby Lake G NUC, known as Hades Canyon, and the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. Intel also notes that it did not find any AMD-published CVEs in 2021 attributed to the company’s internal research—all information in the report is based on AMD CVEs that came from external research. Earlier this week, Intel expanded its bug bounty program with a group of elite hackers under the Project Circuit Breaker banner. We’ve also seen CEO Pat Gelsinger throw shade at AMD recently, claiming the company is “in the rearview mirror” following the success of Alder Lake.

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Opponent's nickname: @Mr.BM & @King_of_lion Theme (must be an image): Click !! Work Type: Avatar Size & Texts: 150x250 - FREE TEXT How many total votes?: 9 Work time: 12 Hours

https://www.pcgamer.com/bioshock-fan-film-makes-living-in-rapture-seem-like-a-pretty-bad-time/ Our bodies may exist to provide a bridge between our consciousness and the physical world, but I think they were truly meant for a higher purpose: giving environment artists something to evocatively pose around videogame levels. I'm talking corpses holding books, corpses embracing other corpses (looking at you, Fallout), and, the peak of the art form: corpses with accompanying audio logs. Irrational Games' BioShock is a true legend in the dead bodies and audio logs field, and this short film by Solano Pictures presents a take on one of those memorable vignettes. It tells the backstory behind Timmy H., who you encounter early on in the first BioShock as a charred corpse with a recording of his final moments. Bioshock presents Timmy as having been a smuggler working for Frank Fontaine. Andrew Ryan's chief of security, Sullivan, tortured poor Tim to death two years prior to the events of the game. Solano Pictures' short starts with the events as presented in-game, then diverges in an interesting direction that ropes in a key player in the first BioShock's story. It also features an original score by Gary Schyman, a prolific composer who did the music on all three BioShocks. I appreciate the filmmakers' work and clear affection for the source material. As much as videogame environment artists might get flak for their theatrically posed bodies and graffiti, clearly the ones who worked on BioShock did something right if they could inspire other artists to create a whole short film to explain one such placement. Irrational Games' BioShock is a true legend in the dead bodies and audio logs field, and this short film by Solano Pictures presents a take on one of those memorable vignettes. It tells the backstory behind Timmy H., who you encounter early on in the first BioShock as a charred corpse with a recording of his final moments. Bioshock presents Timmy as having been a smuggler working for Frank Fontaine. Andrew Ryan's chief of security, Sullivan, tortured poor As much as videogame environment artists might get flak for their theatrically posed bodies and graffiti, clearly the ones who worked.

https://www.techradar.com/news/stay-focused-with-a-new-distraction-filtering-app Only a few weeks into 2022 and we’re seeing plenty of new apps promising to solve your various problems in novel ways. For example, do you sometimes send reminders to yourself by text message? A new note-taking app with a chat interface will make that habit a little bit more convenient. Another app wants to help you stay focused by removing distractions across all of your Apple devices. Created by Michael Tigas, Ochi was released as a free download on February 1 in the App Store. You can also opt for the Pro version by paying a monthly subscription of $3.99 / £3.49 / AU$4.99, or a yearly one for $19.99 / £17.99 / AU$21.99. You can avoid any subscription fee by purchasing the Pro version outright for the one-time price of $49.99 / £44.99 / AU$53.99. This new app allows you to create filters for different apps and websites, so you don’t become distracted when you’re trying to finish important work. You can block out certain social media accounts, for example, preventing you from accessing specific apps or associated webpages via web browsers. Ochi lets you pick and choose the apps and web pages you need to be silenced while you focus. It’s easy to be distracted when you’re using your smartphone, tablet, or computer. While Apple has its own features to assist with distractions - such as Do Not Disturb and the relatively new Focus feature in iOS 15, which can hide apps and change your home screen - Tigas wanted to create something that goes further. Having tried Ochi over the last few weeks, I’m reminded of an app I used to use called SelfControl, which was available on my old MacBook Air 2013 machine. SelfControl would automatically close apps and block websites when I was focused on writing my college dissertation. But Tigas’ app is tailored for the modern age, where you have multiple devices with the same account. If you create a filter to block out Facebook on your iPhone, for example, that same block will carry over to your iPad or desktop iMac without any additional input from you. And the design of the app on iPhone and macOS is appealing, both simple and colorful, with useful widgets to enable filters or show you how much time remains before Ochi unblocks the apps and websites you’ve specified. Ochi also shows up in the menu bar on macOS, so you easily pause the filtering if you need to access any of the apps or sites you’ve blocked.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93270-google-promotes-chromebook-repair-program-schools.html Google claimed many times that Chromebooks are designed as sustainable devices, consuming less energy than similar products and featuring resistant materials to ensure these devices last. Nonetheless, Google believes there's still room to make the ecosystem more sustainable, introducing a Chromebook repair program for schools. Overall, Chromebooks are more eco-friendly than the competition, consuming up to 46 percent less energy. As they consume less power, their battery life tends to last longer than similar devices. Maybe this is why over 50 million students and teachers use them daily. Despite that, Google thinks it can still make the Chromebook ecosystem more sustainable, and that begins by launching the Chromebook repair program for schools in the US. The program aims to educate users on how to repair their devices. Users have been repairing their Chromebooks for a while. Some of these repairs are even covered under warranty, but finding the information needed to do it isn't always easy. So, Google has partnered with Acer and Lenovo to centralize information needed to fix Chromebooks. Once on the website, users can select a Chromebook model and learn how to repair it. The material includes videos showing how to repair the device, finding the proper tools for the job, getting replacement parts, finding training to repair your device, and giving you system update access if necessary. Acer is already training schools so they can fix Chromebooks on their own. Various schools including the Jenks Public Schools in Oklahoma have already created their own Chromebook repair programs, with teachers and students working together to repair broken devices. Some of them even have a "Chromebook repair" course. "Acer designs its Chromebooks for the education market with both durability and ease-of-repair in mind," says James Vick, VP of customer service at Acer Pan America. "On campus repair programs enable students to help their own school by conducting safe and rapid repairs of Chromebooks, while also teaching them a valuable transferable skill that can help them pursue a career in the IT field. Acer supports valuable programs that give students an opportunity for hands-on learning beyond traditional curriculum." Google has been implementing various measures to achieve its sustainability goals. Besides the Google repair program, the tech giant also wants to include recycled materials in all "Made by Google" products. The tech giant has been carbon neutral since 2007 and reduced its lifetime net carbon footprint to zero in 2019, but it has more ambitious plans of being carbon-free by 2030.Pan America. "On campus repair programs enable students to help their own school by conducting safe and rapid repairs of Chromebooks, while also teaching them a valuable transferable skill that can help them pursue a career in the IT field. Acer supports valuable programs that give students an opportunity for hands-on learning beyond traditional curriculum." life tends to last longer than similar devices. Maybe this is why over 50 million students and teachers use them daily. Despite that, Google thinks it can still make the Chromebook ecosystem more sustainable, and that begins by launching the Chromebook repair program for schools in the US. The program aims to educate users on how to repair their device.

Happy birthday @LordJok3r I wish you a day beautiful and have a new year full of good. Stay Blessed.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93256-europe-only-dram-nand-factory-expanding.html Europe wants to double its semiconductor manufacturing capacity by 2030, and this week marks a small step in that direction. While companies like Intel are staging large multi-billion dollar projects in the region, Goodram's European manufacturing partner is making progress on a smaller, but just as ambitious expansion project for its DRAM factory in Poland. Global semiconductor sales increased over 25 percent in 2021, crossing the $500 billion mark for the first time in history. This was fueled by strong demand for everything powered by chips, coupled with higher material costs that led to higher average selling prices for electronics. Memory was the best-performing category, with DRAM vendors in particular seeing the highest annual revenue growth. This happened despite the ongoing shortages and supply chain woes that have affected the entire consumer tech industry as well as adjacent sectors like the auto industry. Foundries haven’t been able to keep up with demand, and new factories won’t be ready to churn out wafers until they can get a steady supply of silicon and the expensive lithography machines designed by ASML for advanced process nodes. And the cherry on top is that chipmakers still can’t find enough skilled workers — yet another problem that doesn’t have an easy fix The good news is that companies are investing heavily in a more resilient supply chain that spans multiple regions, including Europe. This week, we learned that expansion on the only computer memory factory in the region is well under way. Construction began nine months ago after Will Elektronic SA — the manufacturer behind Goodram’s DRAM and NAND products — obtained the private investment necessary for the project. The goal is to expand the existing campus by 1,140 sqm in the warehousing and logistics area and by 1,200 sqm in the production section. The pure cost before factoring in the equipment that will be installed in the new production hall is estimated at $5 million. If all goes well, the manufacturer expects to complete the expansion by the end of 2022. In the meantime, other companies like Intel are looking to invest up to €80 billion ($94.7 billion) into building new chip plants and support facilities in Germany, France, and Italy, amid a global race to expand capacity and reduce reliance on Asia for semiconductors.

https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-shares-some-good-windows-11-news-weve-all-been-waiting-for If you were worried that you’d have to wait a while before Windows 11 gets any major new features, then Microsoft has just shared some good news, which means the new operating system will get updated and improved far more regularly than first thought. Microsoft had initially said that it would be only releasing a single annual feature update for Windows 11 each year, which led some people to worry that they would have to wait 12 months for new features to come to their PCs. However, as ZDNet has discovered, in a new blog post about the Windows Insider program, Microsoft states that: “We will deliver updates to features and experiences in builds from the Dev and Beta Channels by releasing Feature, Web, and Online Service Experience Packs on top of these builds too.” This means there will be three ‘Experience Pack’ updates alongside the annual feature updates. Rather than bringing a range of features, bug fixes and security upgrades across the whole of the Windows 11 operating system, as a major feature update does, these new Experience Packs will focus on adding or expanding features for particular aspects of the operating system. So, Online Service Experience Packs will focus on adding features related to how Windows 11 manages online services and accounts – such as changing or improving the ‘Your Microsoft Account’ settings page. Web Experience Packs will add features to do with browsing the internet, as well as features within Windows 11 that use the internet to bring you news and information. ZDNet spoke to Microsoft, which clarified that “the Web Experience Pack is updated through the Microsoft Store (while the Feature Experience Packs and Online Service Packs will be updated through Windows Update). The Web Experience Pack will allow Microsoft to update things like the Widgets experience in Windows 11.” Finally, Feature Experience Packs will contain more broader features, such as updates to legacy apps to make them feel more modern. These new Experience Packs will be released independently of the annual major operating system updates, and this is good news for several reasons. As we mentioned earlier, it means that you don’t have to wait a year for new features to be added. While in our Windows 11 review we said there’s a lot to like about the new operating system, it’s still not perfect. By having a regular new features coming to the operating system, Windows 11 will continue to evolve, while feeling fresh and exciting. There’s another benefit as well. Microsoft’s move to single annual major updates for Windows 11 (and Windows 10, which is getting the same treatment) is a welcome move in many respects. It should reduce the number of times a user gets bugged to download, install and restart their PC. It’s also no secret that Microsoft has having some pretty major issues with recent Windows 10 updates. By focusing on a single update, there’s a hope that Microsoft will be able to ensure these updates are much better built and tested, hopefully reducing any potential problems. However, if Microsoft kept all of its updates to a single download once per year, that could lead to very large and complex updates. By separating features to their own updates, this will reduce the size of the annual update. Adding new features to an operating system is also fraught with complexities, and this is where issues sometimes arise. If a new feature is added that doesn’t work as expected – or ends up breaking other parts of the operating system – it should hopefully be easier for Microsoft to identify and fix if it’s part of a smaller Experience Pack update, rather than causing issues in a major annual update (which will also inevitably lead to bad PR). So, this is good news from Microsoft regarding Windows 11. Hopefully the days of major issues after updating Windows are behind us. These are the best laptops of 2022