Recent #Microsoft news in the semiconductor industry
➀ The Magnificent Seven, known for their market-moving influence, are currently experiencing losses;
➁ All seven companies closed last week at least 14.5% below their most recent three-month high;
➂ Tesla's share price has nearly halved since December 17 due to CEO Elon Musk's involvement with the Trump administration and the resulting damage to the brand.
➀ Windows 10 will stop receiving free security updates in October 2025;
➁ Many PCs cannot run Windows 11 due to hardware requirements;
➂ Charities face the challenge of what to do with these PCs, considering security risks and the need for user-friendly systems.
➀ Cloud games run entirely on remote servers managed by big tech companies like Nvidia, Sony, Amazon, Microsoft, and Jio. Users don't need to download or install anything locally; they can simply log in and play.
➁ The advantages of cloud games include not needing expensive hardware, platform independence, frequent feature updates, and no piracy concerns. However, they require a stable and fast internet connection and may consume a lot of data.
➂ Major players in cloud gaming include Microsoft Xbox Gaming Pass Ultimate, Nvidia GeForce Now, PlayStation Plus, Amazon Luna, and Boosteroid. Cloud gaming is expanding globally, with opportunities for data centers, ISPs, and device manufacturers.
➀ Skype has been popular for connecting people via voice and video for years, but its journey is coming to an end.
➁ Microsoft announced that Skype will be replaced by Microsoft Teams in May 2025.
➂ The decision to discontinue Skype is to better meet customers' needs and focus on Teams, which has more advanced features and capabilities.
➀ Microsoft has announced the shutdown of Skype, with users having until May 5, 2025, to transfer their chats and contacts to Microsoft Teams.
➁ Skype, launched in August 2003, has been a key player in online messaging, especially during the recent pandemic.
➂ Despite its decline, Skype's legacy continues through Microsoft Teams, reflecting the evolution of communication technology.
Microsoft has shared an update on its Majorana 1 quantum computer, which uses a topological qubit for speed, compactness, reliability, and controllability. The company aims to scale this technology for large qubit quantities, potentially ushering in an age of quantum computing.
Majorana 1 is named after Ettore Majorana, who theorized particles that are their own antiparticles. Microsoft's qubit focuses on harnessing this property. While not yet at a million qubit supercomputer, Majorana 1 is a significant step towards that goal.
The challenge now is the speed of scaling. If Microsoft can scale to one million qubits quickly, it could lead to practical quantum computing. Otherwise, it may be another decade before we see the promise of quantum computing realized.
➀ Microsoft has published the CPU support lists for Windows 11 version 24H2, omitting Intel's 8th, 9th, and 10th Gen processors from official support.
➁ The decision may be linked to Intel's shift to a legacy support model for 7th-10th Gen iGPUs in December 2024.
➂ AMD Ryzen 8000 chips are added to the support list for the first time.
➀ Microsoft is testing a 'Drag Tray' feature in Windows 11 that appears when dragging a file, making sharing via email or Phone Link easier.
➁ This feature is similar to sharing files on Android and iOS devices, which could make the Windows 11 experience more familiar to smartphone users.
➂ Despite new features, Windows 11 remains a buggy OS, and many users are hesitant to upgrade from Windows 10.
➀ Microsoft has released Windows 11 Build 26100.3025 (KB5050094) through the Release Preview Channel.
➁ The update includes fixes for mouse stuttering and HDR issues.
➂ New features include improved taskbar previews and a 6GHz hotspot option.
➀ On January 22, 2025, President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure at the White House.
➁ This project, called The Stargate Project, aims to build new AI infrastructure in the United States over the next four years, led by SoftBank and OpenAI.
➂ The initiative is expected to secure American leadership in AI, create jobs, and enhance national security.
➀ A software engineer named Wojciech Graj has successfully ported the classic game Doom into a standalone Microsoft Word document.
➁ The document, which is 6.6MB in size, can be run on x86 systems with modern Microsoft Office installations.
➂ Despite the successful port, there is currently no sound in the game, and users need to bypass security warnings to enable the VBA macro in the document.