Microsoft Corp on Wednesday said it would mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 10 with a major update to the software powering more than 350 million computing devices.
“The Anniversary Update will help people be more productive, stay safer online and, of course, have fun,” Windows and Devices Group corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post.
The Windows 10 update set for release on Aug. 2 promised improved security and enhanced capabilities for the Microsoft Edge browser.
It also adds Microsoft Ink, which supports the use of digital pens for tasks such as writing, drawing or working on math problems.
“Now, using a Windows 10 device, graphic designers can be more creative, musicians can write digital music, lawyers can edit documents with the power of the pen and students can do mathematical equations and learn by writing — all with Windows Ink,” Mehdi said.
The new Windows 10 also lets virtual assistant Cortana handle more commands, and opens the door to sync with Xbox One consoles to play video games.
The anniversary update was also touted as making Windows computers easier to set-up and use in schools.
Windows 10 operating system is designed to work on laptops, desktops, smartphones, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens augmented reality headsets and more.
Microsoft has been aggressively promoting upgrades from old versions of Windows, and has made Windows 10 available as a free upgrade until the operating system turns one year old on July 29.
After that, it will be available pre-installed on new devices or for purchase separately, with a home computer version priced at US$119, according to the Redmond, Washington-based company.
Microsoft provoked ire by pushing people to upgrade to Windows 10 by automating the process and, for a time, modifying the red “x” in a corner of a upgrade notice pop-up box to approve the action instead of simply close the message.
Microsoft has set a goal of having the operating system in use in more than 1 billion devices by 2018, which would put it on par with Apple, which said this year it has 1 billion active devices running iOS.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts