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Snapdragon X Elite Can Redefine the Future of Windows Computing
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In the build-up to the launch of Snapdragon X Elite, we take a look at the x86 architecture, and how different is the ARM architecture. Can the Snapdragon X Elite fix poor battery life and thermal performance, mostly seen on Windows laptops? We tackle all these questions and try to understand the future of ARM-based PCs.
How to Use Phone as Webcam for Streaming or Video Conferencing
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Desktop and Laptop cameras have hardly improved in decades and offer laughable video output. Hence, you might want to use your phone's cameras to take video calls or record videos. We'll explain how you can use your Android phone as a webcam via Android's native "Device as Webcam" feature. There are also third-party apps that you can use to do the same on both iOS and Android.
This Essential New Chrome Feature Will Shield Your Account From Hijacking
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Cookie theft aka session hijacking has become a security menace where attackers gain access to users' online accounts without requiring a password or 2FA authentication. To put a stop, Google has developed Device Bound Session Credentials (DBSC) for Chrome that bind the authentication session to the device. It means attackers can't use the stolen cookie to access accounts on another device. You can enable DBSC on Chrome right away.
10 Best Screen Recording Apps You Can Use on Android
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Every Android device comes with an in-built screen recorder these days. However, in some phones like the Pixel series, you don't get a lot of control over the screen recorder. You can't tweak the screen recording quality, frame rate and other settings. This calls for reliance on third-party screen recording Android apps, like XRecorder, AZ Recorder and Mobizen. These are free too, with only certain features like recording at over 60 FPS being locked behind a paywall.
How to Enable or Disable Hibernate Mode on Windows 11
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If you use a Windows laptop, you should enable the hibernate mode on Windows 11. It allows you to save your current session and quickly resume the session with all your open apps and files. Hibernation consumes almost no power, as it completely switches off the PC, saving the current state of the session. You can enable it from the Control Panel, Command Prompt, or Registry Editor.
How to Access and Use Gemini 1.5 Pro API Right Now
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Google has finally given access to Gemini 1.5 Pro API to all users. You can generate the API key from Google AI Studio and start calling the API for both text and image inputs. The API access is currently free as part of a public preview. We have also added some coding examples so go through our guide to understand the documentation.
Gemini 1.5 Pro Now Listens to Audio and Is Available to All
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You no longer have to wait to access the Gemini 1.5 Pro model. Google has made the model generally available to all users via Google AI Studio. You can access a context window of 1 million tokens without paying any fee. In addition to that, Gemini 1.5 Pro can now process audio files too, apart from videos and images.
Google’s Imagen 2 Model Can Generate Four-Second Video Clips
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Google at the Cloud Next 2024 event made its Imagen 2 model generally available to enterprise customers. One of its new features is that it can generate short video clips aka live images of up to four seconds. In addition, the generation clips show different camera angles and motion. Users can also inpaint and outpaint images on Vertex AI.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Benchmark Comparison
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We have pitted the newly launched Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with 2022's flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The key takeaway from the benchmark comparison is that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 matches the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in all key benchmarks while maintaining better efficiency. Expect a lot of sub-Rs. 50,000 phones to feature the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in 2024.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Benchmark Comparison
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We recently got our hands on the Xiaomi Civi 4 Pro from China which is powered by Qualcomm's newly launched, Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset. We tested the SoC on several benchmarking apps and compared the scores with the premium Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. We have performed various tests including Geekbench, AnTuTu, CPU Throttling, Geekbench GPU, and more.
Snapdragon X Plus With a 5G Modem in the Works For Windows: Report
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Apart from Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm is also working on a new Snapdragon X Plus variant for Windows PCs. It may come with 10 Oryon CPU cores, instead of 12, and may pack a Snapdragon 5G modem as well. Qualcomm is testing two variants of the chipset internally.
YouTube CEO Says OpenAI Could’ve Violated Platform Rules For Sora Training
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Speaking to Bloomberg, the YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan said that OpenAI would violate YouTube's Terms of Service if the company used YouTube videos to train its Sora model. Google also uses some corpus of YouTube videos to train its Gemini model, but signs licensing contracts with individual creators. Earlier, the CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati, refused to clarify whether Sora was trained on YouTube videos.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 Benchmarks and Specs
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The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is targeted at the premium segment but comes with underclocked CPU cores and lacks some Snapdragon experiences. We got our hands on the first Snapdragon 8s Gen 3-powered smartphone, the Xiaomi Civi 4 Pro, and tested the chipset with multiple benchmark tests. It performed on expected lines and rivals the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset from Qualcomm.
Want to Continue Using Windows 10 Securely? Here’s How Much It Will Cost You
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If you are running a business or educational organization, and want to continue using Windows 10, you will have to pay a subscription fee to keep getting security updates. Microsoft has designed an ESU (Extended Security Update) program for Windows 10 that will keep your Windows 10 PC up-to-date for up to three years, after Windows 10 hits end-of-life in 2025.
There’s a Secret Way to Opt-Out of ChatGPT Model Training!
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While ChatGPT offers the option to disable model training on your content inside ChatGPT's settings page, it also disables Chat History. This discourages users from disabling model training. That said, OpenAI has a separate privacy portal page where you can request the company to not train its model on your data while keeping the Chat History functionality intact. OpenAI doesn't promote this privacy portal page inside ChatGPT's interface. In fact, a passing mention is found on its FAQ page.
Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Benchmark Comparison
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Qualcomm's newly released Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is making headlines because of its sheer performance in the mid-range segment. In our benchmark tests, we found that it rivals the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC from 2022. The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 comes very close to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in Geekbench, and AnTuTu benchmark tests. In fact, in the CPU Throttling test, it does better than the SD 8 Gen 2.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 Benchmarks and Specs
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Qualcomm has delivered a powerful mid-range chipset in the 7-series segment. In our benchmark tests on the OnePlus Ace 3V, which is powered by the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset, the SoC performed consistently on all fronts, be it the CPU, GPU, modem, or memory. It has officially defeated MediaTek's Dimensity 8300 Ultra and stands as the top performer in the mid-range segment. You can read our detailed article to find all benchmarks, including Geekbench, AnTuTu, CPU throttling, 3DMark, and more.
ChatGPT’s Free Version Can Now Be Used Without Logging In
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Just like Microsoft Copilot, you can now use ChatGPT without an account. You no longer need to sign in or create an account to use the free version of ChatGPT. The GPT-3.5 model is readily available to all free users including those without an account. Keep in mind, you won't get some features like custom instructions, chat history, chat sharing, and voice conversations without an account.
Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 vs Dimensity 8300 Ultra Benchmark Comparison
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While the Dimensity 8300 Ultra is used in mid-range smartphones, it delivers powerful performance in all aspects, be it the CPU, GPU, memory and storage speed, 5G connectivity, and more. As a result, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 loses to MediaTek's chipset in all categories. MediaTek has significantly raised the CPU core frequencies and packed a mighty GPU.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 Tested: Benchmarks and Specs
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OnePlus has launched its mid-range Nord CE 4 smartphone so we benchmarked the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset to evaluate the performance of CPU, GPU, 5G modem, etc. Its CPU performed fairly well and in the CPU Throttling test, it sustained a high workload without dropping performance. In the 3DMark GPU test as well, the Adreno 720 GPU offered exceptional stability. You can go through our article to find more benchmark numbers of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.
OpenAI’s Voice Engine Can Clone Human Voices From a 15-Second Sample
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After introducing Sora, a remarkable text-to-video AI model, OpenAI has previewed its Voice Engine model that can clone voices with a single 15-second audio sample. It can translate voices into different languages with high accuracy. Since there are risks associated with the technology, the company is not releasing the speech synthesis model now. The company encourages society to understand the capabilities of AI and adapt to a new reality.
Elon Musk’s xAI Announces Grok-1.5 With 128K Context Length
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Elon Musk's xAI firm has launched a new intermediate model called the Grok-1.5. It comes with improved reasoning capabilities and supports a large context length of 128K tokens. On the NIAH test, the model has shown great retrieval capability. xAI says early testers and existing Grok users will be able to access the model on X (formerly Twitter) in the coming days.
You Can Now Install Any Extension on Edge Canary for Android; Here’s How
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If you are on Android, you can install browser extensions on Edge for Canary. With the latest update, it now lets you install any web extension on Edge. You just need to paste the extension ID and Edge will install it for you. While the experience is somewhat buggy and it crashes the browser often, the availability of extension support on Android is quite promising.
Google Chrome Arrives for Windows on ARM Before Snapdragon X Elite Debut
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After a long hiatus, Google has launched a native ARM version of Chrome for the Windows on ARM platform. The new stable Chrome for WoA brings all the latest features and it's fully optimized for running on the upcoming Snapdragon X Elite processor. Google says, in the coming months, Chrome's performance will get an even bigger boost running on Qualcomm's chipset.
Qualcomm Says Windows Games Will Just Work on Snapdragon X Elite
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At the Game Developers Conference 2024, a Qualcomm Engineer presented a session on how PC games would run on the Snapdragon X Elite platform. Qualcomm is quite confident that PC games would work even when they are not ported to ARM64 architecture. The company is testing top Steam games on the new ARM platform. Besides that, Qualcomm has prepared Adreno GPU drivers for DirectX 11, 12, Vulkan, and OpenCL.
Microsoft has announced two new Surface devices for business customers including the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. Both devices come with Intel's new Core Ultra processors with built-in NPU. And the new Surface devices have received notable upgrades in display and webcam. You also get 5G and NFC connectivity on the Surface Pro 10.
Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 vs 7 Gen 3 vs 7+ Gen 2: Mid-range Chip Comparison
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The new midrange king, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset, is remarkably better than the four-month-old Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and a year-old Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2. It has received all new CPU cores, comes with a significantly upgraded GPU, and the NPU can handle on-device AI models as well. Its ISP is also quite powerful and supports many premium features. You also get Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4 support.
Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 with Flagship Features
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Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3, a midrange chipset in the 7-series segment. However, going by the specs, it seems like a powerful SoC. It packs the latest CPU cores, a 45% more powerful Adreno GPU, and the Hexagon NPU with on-device capabilities. The ISP is also equipped with many flagship features like semantic segmentation, video super resolution, and low light vision. For local connectivity, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 brings the FastConnect 7800 system with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
GPT-5 Might Release in Summer 2024; ‘Materially Better’ Than GPT-4
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The ChatGPT maker, OpenAI, is reportedly planning to release the GPT-5 model during the summer of this year. A new report says that OpenAI has already demoed the GPT-5 model to a few enterprise customers and one of the CEOs called it "materially better" than GPT-4. OpenAI is also working on AI agents that can perform complex actions.
Microsoft Appoints Google Deepmind Co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to Lead Its AI Efforts
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In another reshuffle, Microsoft has hired Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Google DeepMind, and Inflection to lead AI innovations at Microsoft. Suleyman will oversee the development of Copilot, Edge, and Bing and how AI can be leveraged to make meaningful product improvements.
Microsoft Announces May Event for ARM Surface AI PCs and Windows 11
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Microsoft has confirmed an event for May where it will likely unveil the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. The event is all about Surface devices and Windows 11. The next update for Windows 11 is said to bring many AI features including AI Explorer, AI Super Resolution, on-device live captioning, and more.
Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: What’s the Difference?
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Qualcomm has unveiled a new Snapdragon 8 series chipset in the premium tier, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, there are minor specs downgrades in most departments. The CPU is underclocked and the Adreno GPU misses out on some gaming features. The 5G modem is also an older one. Having said that, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 still manages to position itself as a flagship chipset. Go through our detailed comparison to find out more.
Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with Minor Spec Downgrades
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While the new "8s" series chipset by Qualcomm may confuse consumers, the segment has been introduced to enhance the "price to performance ratio" aka to reduce the 8 series chipset price with some compromises. There are some downgrades in CPU, GPU, ISP, and other departments, however, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is still in the realm of a flagship SoC. Qualcomm says smartphones powered by Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will be released by Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, iQOO, and other OEMs in the coming months.
Google Demos a New AI That Can Play Video Games with You
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The Google DeepMind team has developed a generalized AI agent called SIMA that can perform actions in a wide range of virtual games. Google has trained the AI agent on nine video games including No Man's Sky, Teardown, Valheim, and more. It can carry out tasks even on unseen video games which makes it a unique AI agent.
PM Modi Inaugurates Three Semiconductor Plants in India; Starting with 28nm Chips
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The Indian government has set out an ambitious plan to manufacture chips in the country. It's investing over Rs. 1.25 lakh crore to set up three chip manufacturing facilities in Gujarat and Assam. Tata's TEPL has partnered with Taiwan's PSMC to build a fabrication facility in Gujarat. TEPL plans to develop 28nm chips by the end of 2026.
OpenAI Blog Leaks GPT-4.5 Turbo; Sparks Interest
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OpenAI might be working to release an intermediate GPT-4.5 Turbo model before launching the next-gen GPT-5 model. It was leaked through the OpenAI Blog page which was indexed by Bing and DuckDuckGo. The upcoming model promises better "speed, accuracy, and scalability" than the GPT-4 Turbo model. However, strangely, the captured description says the model will have a knowledge cutoff of up to June 2024.
You Can Now Upload Files to Copilot on Windows 11; Here’s How
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Microsoft is slowly adding new features to Copilot on Windows 11. Copilot has finally received the file upload capability on Windows 11. You can upload a range of documents including PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT, and more. Copilot seamlessly ingests the documents and answers from the provided document accurately. From analyzing financial sheets to summarizing PDFs and understanding private code documentation, the feature can be immensely helpful to all kinds of users.
Elon Musk Says xAI to Open-Source Grok This Week
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After filing a lawsuit against OpenAI for becoming a closed-source company, Elon Musk has now announced that xAI's Grok model will be open-sourced this week. Musk founded xAI in March last year to rival OpenAI and released its first preview model in November. However, Grok has not been received well and it's highly prone to hallucination. Open-sourcing the model may help the company improve Grok on many fronts.
Samsung Teases Next-Gen Copilot Coming to Windows 11
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Before Microsoft could announce the advanced Copilot for Windows 11, it seems Samsung spilled the beans via the Galaxy Book4 product page. The new Copilot seems to have deeper integration with Android phones and can read and summarize your messages. You can also ask Copilot to send a text message and set a reminder.
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge With Snapdragon X Elite Spotted on Geekbench
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The Snapdragon X Elite chipset visits Geekbench yet again, and this time, running on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop. The benchmark score is impressive but does not outperform Apple M3. That said, Snapdragon X Elite performs better than Apple M2 and M1. A new leak also suggests that a "Snapdragon X Plus" variant exists and comes with a total of eight SKUs.
Microsoft’s Seeing AI Mobile App Can Help Visually Impaired Users
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Microsoft launched the Seeing AI app with AI features during its Ability Summit 2024. The app is powered by AI and allows low-vision users to make sense of the world by hearing descriptions of scenes, images, products, currency, and more. You can install the app on Android and iOS for free. It's currently available in 33 languages, and Microsoft is planning to bring support for 36 languages by the end of 2024.
Microsoft is Holding a Surface, Windows & Copilot AI Event Later This Month
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Microsoft has announced a new event for March 21st where the company is likely to unveil Windows 11 improvements, new Copilot features, and refreshed Surface devices. The company may release refreshed versions of Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10. Microsoft is also preparing to showcase an advanced version of Copilot with a new feature called "AI Explorer".