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Water is moist.
In an updated support article spotted by Neowin
the company is now recommending customers buy a new PC running the operating system
rather than install it on their current machines.
Some people are taking this to mean
that Microsoft is recommending you throw out your old PC.
But only because that's a direct consequence of what Microsoft is telling people to do.
The only curse in this story are the Windows 11 system requirements,
which still controversially necessitate a TPM 2.0 security chip.
Though it's kind of ironic that because of that requirement
millions of incompatible PCs will become unsecured.
But hey, it's not all bad news.
Microsoft will let you reprogram the new co-pilot key they started adding to laptops this year.
Thanks to Microsoft for solving the problem they themselves created.
Is there anything they can't do that I like?
Growing up, uh, My mom told me
I'd never get to host Quick Bits if I didn't eat my broccoli.
And look at me now.
Thanks, mom.
Following its most recent microcode update
Intel says that it's finally fixed the root cause of the instability in its Raptor Lake CPUs,
and this time, They mean it.
Intel has confirmed that V-min shift instability
resulting in excessive voltage is at the heart of the problem
something it was previously kind of cagey about.
While Intel says their future chips won't be affected by this issue
there's still no fixing the chips that are already damaged
and no way of telling that a chip is damaged until it starts crashing.
Intel is apparently working on developing such a diagnostic tool for that situation.
But in the meantime
I don't know
enable autosave in your Word doc, you crazy adrenaline junkie.
What are you doing?
Living on the edge, okay.
Japanese peripheral manufacturer, Elecom,
has become the first company to get cable certified for USB 4 2.0.
As fun as it is
that it ended up being named USB 4 20
USB 4 2 is kind of dumb.
Fortunately, the specs are far less stupid than the name.
There are two cables with certifications.
While they both are capable of 80 gigabits per second data transfer speeds
one of them is also capable of 240 watts power delivery.
The other delivers a more modest 60 watt.
The USB-IF, who governs the USB standard
said the cables will launch at the end of this year.
But they also named the new standard USB 4 2.0.
And I don't know if I can trust people like that.
USB 4 2.0.
Blaze it.
Now with blazing fast speeds.
An unusual number of M1 iMac users are reporting
phantom lines appearing on their displays
which is either screen degradation or this summer's hot new thriller.
This has been a known issue since mid-2023
but Apple has yet to acknowledge the problem.
This not-so-fashionable pinstripe pattern typically crops up
after two years of use
meaning that the device is already well out of warranty.
Which is a real bummer in an expensive all-in-one device
where you can't just buy a new monitor.
At least one repair tech blamed the issue
on a flex cable used to power the LCD gradually burning out.
Replacing it typically means replacing the entire screen
which costs about as much as an entire Mac Mini.
And you couldn't even buy one of those instead
because that doesn't have a display either!
Scientists created an artificial plant
that generates oxygen and electricity using photosynthetic bacteria.
Wow.
Mitochondria!
Don't cut that.
Mitochondria!
While the energy output is currently less than one milliwatt
researchers hope to increase it to more than a milliwatt.
And add something like a battery to store the energy for later use.
Right now it's just
they're just pouring it down the drain.
It just escapes in the air.
They're just extra.
According to the paper
the artificial plant was nine times better than natural plants at reducing indoor CO2 level.
Unfortunately for everyone, the plant is really ugly.
Or at least it was before it took off its glasses and let its hair down.
Let's get into some hybridization, baby.
And Jason Allen, a man who won an art competition two years ago
with an image generated using MidJourney, is appealing the U.S.
Copyright Office's denial of copyright for his image.
Why?
Well, Allen thinks the question of AI art copyright needs answering.
And he's kind of right there.
But he's also upset
that the lack of copyright gives his work a perceived lower value.
And it's even been appropriated and sold without his permission.
Kind of like the countless images that were appropriated
and used to train Midjourney and other art generators.
Guys, he's not making enough money from the picture the computer gave him.
What is he supposed to do?
Ask it for another picture?
They all changed the rules already!