TechSpot

Switzerland is paying $11 million to stop using Outlook and Teams

Alfonso Maruccia — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 11:50 -0500

Federal authorities of the Swiss Confederation recently launched a pilot program to replace Microsoft 365 tools with open-source alternatives. The Federal Chancellery's plan calls for investing 9 million Swiss francs (more than $11 million) to replace Redmond's productivity software with the openDesk suite on 3,000 machines, but it could eventually...

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This app applies Nvidia DLSS 5 to the entire Windows desktop

Daniel Sims — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 11:07 -0500

NeuralScreen, developed by DLSS 5 modder Perseval_BLR with help from Claude, overlays Nvidia's recently introduced neural rendering technology onto any app running in windowed mode. Although Nvidia designed the filter specifically to make PC games look more realistic, it can technically run on top of almost anything.

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Google mapped a fly's nervous system and developers are using it to play Doom

Skye Jacobs — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 10:24 -0500

The MaleCNS v1.0 dataset, announced by Google Research late last week, includes more than 166,000 neurons from an adult male fruit fly. Google worked with HHMI Janelia Research Campus and other researchers on the project, using AI to turn millions of 2D images into 3D reconstructions of neural structures.

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LG accused of tracking its smart TV users, scanning home networks, and recording conversations

Kishalaya Kundu — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:43 -0500

The investigators found that LG was using Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to track not only users' viewing habits but also any content played through the TVs' HDMI, USB, RJ45, optical, RCA, and coaxial ports. However, using ACR to track content is not just a problem limited to LG but...

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Anthropic researcher resigns, warns the AI race could end in human extinction

Rob Thubron — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 08:27 -0500

Jacob Coxon announced on X yesterday that he had resigned from Anthropic, having spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Dario Amodei's company. He was a member of AI's technical staff from July 2023 until he moved to Anthropic in July 2026.

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Jensen Huang declares AGI has arrived, again, and again he's selling GPUs

Daniel Sims — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 08:01 -0500

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has declared the arrival of AGI for the second time this year. Last time, he cited the popularity of AI agents such as OpenClaw; this time, he made the declaration in response to the launch of GPT-6 Astra. In both cases, he sounds like he's just...

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Windows users are getting Harry Potter ads as their Bing Wallpaper, and they aren't happy

Rob Thubron — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 07:33 -0500

For those unfamiliar, the optional Bing Wallpaper app gives users a new wallpaper each day and lets them browse previous Bing images and themed collections. It usually consists of nature photos, animals, space, gaming, sports, and seasonal wallpapers.

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ASML targets 2033 for High-NA EUV with larger masks, promising a 40% productivity gain

Skye Jacobs — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 06:58 -0500

High-NA EUV is ASML's next major lithography platform. It can print finer features than today's EUV tools, which could help chipmakers build denser designs at advanced nodes. But its smaller mask limits the die area that can be printed in one exposure.

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The iPhone Duo is expected to headline Apple's event today – watch it here at 1pm ET

Rob Thubron — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 06:15 -0500

Given that many phone reveals consist of showcasing a new device that's barely distinguishable from the last one, it's understandable why people are losing interest in these events. But Apple is showing off more than the iPhone 18.

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Dell Alienware AW3926QW Review: The 39-Inch OLED to Buy

Tim Schiesser — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 05:02 -0500

The Alienware AW3926QW pairs a 39-inch 5K2K OLED with RGB stripe clarity, strong HDR, and a price that makes LG's rival look far less appealing.

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Modders have already found two ways to make DLSS 5 playable, and neither one is Nvidia's

Julio Franco — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 14:29 -0500

When we benchmarked DLSS 5 across the entire RTX 50 series last week with no frame generation inflating the charts, the numbers were bleak enough on their own. An RTX 5090 fell from 192 FPS to 76 FPS at 4K. An RTX 5060 Ti dropped from 129 FPS to 46 FPS at 1440p.

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The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake arrives on Switch 2 November 5

Shawn Knight — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 12:54 -0500

The remake brings one of Nintendo's most beloved games into the modern era. The original arrived on the Nintendo 64 in late 1998 and was unlike anything seen up to that point. The 3D action adventure game was initially planned for the 64DD, but was eventually moved to cartridge when...

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Lucky enthusiast found $12,000 worth of RAM sitting in his garage

Kishalaya Kundu — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 12:11 -0500

According to Redditor VastOption875, the old server, which had been collecting dust in their garage, contained 30 64GB DDR4-2666 memory modules, totaling nearly 2TB.

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HWiNFO lets you see exactly what your PC hardware is doing

Ivan Franco — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 11:52 -0500

HWiNFO combines detailed system information with extensive sensor monitoring, making it useful for checking temperatures, power usage, clock speeds, and other hardware behavior in real time. It can also help troubleshoot performance issues.

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PC shipments are falling, but manufacturers are making more money selling pricier AI PCs

Skye Jacobs — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 11:16 -0500

The pressure is originating in the AI infrastructure market, where demand for memory chips has driven up component costs and limited supply for other hardware categories.

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Intel's CPUs could get 10% more expensive next month

Rob Thubron — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 10:34 -0500

According to DigiTimes, supply-chain sources say Intel is prioritizing profit margins as CEO Lip-Bu Tan reviews CPU pricing, manufacturing costs, and its product lineup.

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Apple is reportedly exploring a Chinese memory supplier, and it's politically loaded

Skye Jacobs — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 09:58 -0500

For Apple, the prospect underscores how China's domestic chip industry is beginning to create new supply-chain choices – and new political complications – for the world's biggest technology companies.

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California city canceled Flock, removed its cameras, then found the company had put some of them back

Rob Thubron — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 08:49 -0500

Grass Valley, California, is one of the many cities that have dropped Flock license plate cameras. It comes as the company faces criticism over the extent of its devices' surveillance network, the sharing of data with other agencies, the cost, and, most controversially, their misuse by police officers.

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Xiaomi 18 Fold takes on the foldable iPhone with a 200MP camera and 6,000mAh battery

Skye Jacobs — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 08:18 -0500

The phone has a 5.38-inch cover display and a 7.58-inch internal display. Both use 120Hz LTPO panels and can reach 4,000 nits of peak brightness, according to Xiaomi. The folding display is protected by a new double-layer ultra-thin glass structure.

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Old School RuneScape developer sentenced for stealing and selling in-game virtual gold

Alfonso Maruccia — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 07:47 -0500

Stealing virtual gold coins can earn some real-world money, even in retro-focused experiences such as Old School RuneScape. A developer named Andrew Lakeman tried to abuse his privileged position as a content creator working at Jagex, but a years-long investigation has illustrated that crime does not pay – no matter...

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An AI-developed drug appeared to make patients biologically younger in a clinical trial

Rob Thubron — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 07:13 -0500

The experimental drug, rentosertib, comes from Insilico Medicine and was developed to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that progressively scars the lungs.

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Jeep, Ram, Hyundai, and Ford are turning to gas backup engines to save the electric truck

Skye Jacobs — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 06:25 -0500

The approach could make electric trucks and larger SUVs more practical, though its success will depend on whether consumers see enough value in the added technology to pay more for it.

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AMD GPUs are climbing the sales charts as Radeon beats Nvidia on Amazon and in Germany

Rob Thubron — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 05:17 -0500

The rise of RDNA 4 was highlighted by TechEpiphany on X.

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You can now play PS3 games straight from the disc, without owning a PS3

Alfonso Maruccia — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 12:07 -0500

The RPCS3 team recently unveiled a major upgrade for the emulator: PS3 games can now run directly from their original Blu-ray discs, giving retro gaming enthusiasts a new way to use their physical collections. The developers are billing it as a "plug & play" solution, though users will still need...

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Microsoft promises faster Windows 11 boot times and better performance on 8GB PCs

Rob Thubron — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 10:18 -0500

As reported by Windows Latest, Mark Linton, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Devices at Microsoft, spoke about the improvements being made to Windows 11, including "significant gains on things like boot time, Windows Hello responsiveness..."

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Elon Musk's xAI loses second bid to block Minnesota's AI nudify-app ban

Rob Thubron — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 09:03 -0500

On August 1, Minnesota banned apps and websites that allow users to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery. The companies behind these services can be fined $500,000 for each unlawful access or download of images that were altered to make someone appear naked or worse, which could add up to the hundreds...

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Japan is launching a mission to bring back the first samples from a Martian moon

Skye Jacobs — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 08:33 -0500

The "Martian Moons eXploration" mission, or MMX, is expected to take about a year to reach Mars. It will then spend three years operating around the planet and its moons before beginning a roughly one-year trip back to Earth. The sample return is expected in 2031.

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Humanoid robots are being prepared for combat as China moves them from labs to military training grounds

Rob Thubron — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 07:47 -0500

August saw the World Humanoid Robot Games take place in China, where robots took parts in several events. The same month, Unitree claimed its Superman robot can run faster than Usain Bolt, although the figure has not been independently verified.

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A Microsoft engineer says "typing code is absolutely over," here's what he means

Skye Jacobs — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 07:03 -0500

Fowler was not suggesting that software engineers are becoming unnecessary. But as AI handles more routine coding work, developers may spend less time writing individual lines and more time on system design, requirements, dependencies, and the review needed to make sure software is secure and works as intended.

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CD and vinyl sales are surging as frustration with digital media keeps growing

Rob Thubron — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 06:15 -0500

News of the latest increase in physical media sales comes from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It revealed that recorded music revenues for H1 2026 were up 6.9% from the first half of 2025 and outpaced inflation, with both streaming and physical formats posting gains.

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