Computers & the Internet News and Discussions

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Google Photos Gets Material 3 Expressive Overhaul, New Video Editing Tools
The facelift comes with video mirroring options, the ability to add music to a clip, and more.
By Devesh Beri August 1, 2025

Google Photos is rolling out a significant update to its video editor. Initially discovered in an APK teardown, the update offers new editing options and a refreshed interface for Android users, making it easier to use in a small smartphone format.

The refresh appears to focus largely on a Material 3 Expressive look. The main editing screen now includes a larger video timeline with a vertical scrubber line, pill-shaped sliders, and icons within rounded boxes. The conventional Save Copy and Cancel buttons have been changed to tick and X icons, as reported by Android Authority.

https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/goog ... ting-tools

[weatheriscool]

Microsoft's 2030 Vision: Replace Mice and Keyboards With AI, Voice Commands
Windows is already moving in that direction with AI assistants meant to behave like digital coworkers.
By Devesh Beri August 7, 2025

Microsoft has some bold ideas about how people will use future versions of Windows. According to David Weston, corporate vice president of enterprise and OS security, the company is working toward making input hardware, like mice and keyboards, less central. Instead, Weston says voice communication and AI-based interaction will become the default way of operating computers by the end of the decade, somewhat akin to Iron Man's Jarvis.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/m ... e-commands

[weatheriscool]

Microsoft’s Copilot 3D Lets Users Turn Images into Ready-to-Use 3D Models
Copilot 3D only works with user-uploaded images and does not support text-to-3D generation.
By Devesh Beri August 11, 2025

Microsoft has unveiled Copilot 3D, an AI-powered tool from Copilot Labs made to make 3D modelling more accessible to a wide audience. Using Copilot 3D, users can turn a single 2D image, PNG, or JPG under 10MB into a rendered 3D model in GLB format that can be used in animation, gaming, 3D printing, etc.

The tool is made to be easy to use and works through Copilot.com on all browsers. It is available globally at no cost, but a user needs to sign in with a personal Microsoft Account to try it out.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/m ... -3d-models

[weatheriscool]

You can now talk to Google Photos to make your edits
Sarah Perez
9:00 AM PDT · August 20, 2025

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/20/you-c ... our-edits/

At Wednesday’s Made by Google event, the company announced new features in Google Photos that will allow users to ask the app to edit their pictures for them. The functionality will launch first on Pixel 10 devices in the U.S., allowing people to describe whatever edits they want to make to the photo by either voice or text.

Google is also adding support for C2PA Content Credentials in Google Photos. The Pixel 10 phones will be the first from Google to adopt this standard, which is designed to improve transparency around how images are made and whether AI is involved. On Pixel devices, C2PA is supported with the Camera app itself and in any photos taken with it, even if AI is not used.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Google Vids adds AI avatars to its video editor and launches a consumer version
Ivan Mehta
7:00 AM PDT · August 27, 2025

Google debuted its new-age video editor called Vids for the Google Workspace productivity suite last year. On Wednesday, the company is adding new features like AI avatars, automatic transcript trimming, and image-to-video tools. It is also releasing a free-to-use feature for consumers with limited features.

This version of the editor will have basic edit controls along with access to Google’s template library, font collection, and stock media library, but it won’t offer AI features at this time.

In the business world, startups like Sythesia and D-ID offer companies access to AI avatars and related tooling for the creation of training and educational videos. Google is debuting a similar feature for its Workplace customers through Vids. The core pitch is the same: if you don’t have enough budget to create videos, use our AI tools to make one.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/27/googl ... r-version/

[weatheriscool]

Google launches Preferred Sources for critical news consumers
By Ben Coxworth
August 29, 2025

Google's Preferred Sources function was introduced earlier this month

Now more than ever, it's important to get your news from sources you trust – not just from whatever the first hits are that come up in a Google search. That's why Google has launched a Preferred Sources function within its new News on Search feature … and you can use it with our site!

First of all, we should point out that for now, Preferred Sources is only available to Google users in the US and India. Here's how it works …

When you Google a topic that's currently in the news – using any type of device – one of the first things you'll see is a banner that says "Top stories." Directly to the right of those words is an icon of two cards with a star on top

https://newatlas.com/telecommunications ... d-sources/

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Samsung Debuts Gigantic Capacity 8TB 9100 Pro SSD
The new drive offers double the capacity of the previous model.
By Josh Gulick September 4, 2025
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/s ... 00-pro-ssd

Samsung's popular 9100 Pro line of PCIe 5 SSDs welcomed its largest-capacity drive yet, and it's a whopper. We've been expecting to see the 8TB 9100 Pro for quite some time, and it’s finally available, though the price is just as staggering as the capacity: It's going for $999.99 on Samsung's website. The drive is extremely fast for both traditional and AI tasks, so it's bound to end up in a range of systems, from gaming PCs to workstations.
Until the 8TB model arrived, Samsung's flagship 9100 Pro SSD line for NVMe M.2 connections topped out at 4TB for $549.99. Samsung discounted the drive to $399.99, but the new 8TB isn't discounted, so at the moment, that 4TB drive is going for less than half of a drive twice its size. That's still pricey, compared to many of the 4TB SSDs out there, but it's not bad for a Samsung 9100 Pro. The line also has 1TB ($129.99 with the discount) and 2TB ($199.99, thanks to a $100 discount) models. They're not bad for housing just your OS at that capacity, but a gamer can quickly blow through a 1TB drive and need more room for their game library.

[caltrek]

Rural America Deserves Dependable Broadband, Not More Billionaire Handouts
By Claude Cummings Jr.
October 29, 2025

Introduction:

(Other Words) Nearly a century ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led a campaign of bold investment to electrify rural America. Until recently, we were on track to do the same for broadband internet in this century.

Before President Trump’s second term, our country was on the cusp of a breakthrough.

Billions in federal funding was set to deliver reliable high-speed internet service to every corner of America. Instead, the Trump administration has turned its back on millions of Americans, prioritizing profits for billionaire backers over the needs of families, students, and small businesses.

Earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick derailed the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) when he upended the rules for it after all states had run extensive selection processes — and several had already submitted their final proposals.

Under Lutnick’s new rules, the Commerce Department agency that advises the president on broadband — the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) — pressured states to take a shortsighted, stop-gap approach by allocating a higher share of the funds to satellite and fixed wireless service instead of building fiber networks.

Read more here: https://otherwords.org/rural-america- ... ionaires/

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

Epic CEO: "RAM price increases will be a real problem" — as OpenAI et al. blow up RAM prices, threatening affordability of everything from Xbox to TVs and laptops

21 hours ago

Gamers can't seem to catch a break, although this latest goldrush is going to impact far more than just gamers this time around.

After years of dealing with the crypto craze blowing up GPU prices, the artificial intelligence fad being pushed by companies like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and others, is now having a serious impact on the affordability and scarcity of RAM.

For those who don't know, RAM (random access memory) is used as temporary memory storage used to store and access data on a short-term basis. Simplified, you can think of it as your computer's short-term memory, and is designed for on-demand rapidity so apps and games can run instantly. You can find it in basically any "smart" device, from TVs to phones to laptops, to Xbox consoles and gaming PCs.

In just a few weeks, the general price of consumer-grade DDR5 RAM has increased in some cases by as much as 110%, with products like Micron's Crucial Pro 32GB DDR5 kit effectively doubling in price in the space of a month. And things might only get worse.

Speaking on X, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney described the scale of the problem, as government-backed companies like OpenAI outbid consumer manufacturers on RAM fabrication priorities.

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/e ... end-gaming



Credit: Windows Central | Jez Corden

[weatheriscool]

New DDR5 Memory Overclocking World Record Set at 13,530 MT/s
The record-setters used a Gigabyte Z890 motherboard and Corsair Vengeance sticks.
By Jon Martindale December 1, 2025

Intel, Gigabyte, and Corsair have once again broken the memory overclocking world record, pushing the limit to over 13.5 megatransfers per second (MT/s). Using a Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Tachyon Ice board and Corsair's Vengeance memory, the overclockers pulled out all the stops to set this new record, wielding liquid nitrogen, special chip-and-stick binning, and hours upon hours of testing.

Most DDR5 kits are designed to operate at around 5,000 to 6,000 MT/s, with the very latest CUDIMM kits offering speeds in excess of 8,000 or even 9,000 MT/s, though those can only be used with the very latest Intel CPUs. But overclocking records are not about mainstream or even viable performance; they're just about pushing the limits, which this team of overclockers well and truly did.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/n ... -13530-mts

[weatheriscool]

[Yuli Ban]

Would love it if they could test being able to turn off AI Overview entirely and make that optional.

[weatheriscool]

Micron Announces End to Crucial SSDs and Memory, Goes All-in on AI Chip Production
So long, and thanks for all the chips.
By Jon Martindale December 4, 2025

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/m ... on-ai-chip
Micron has announced the impending demise of one of the most iconic brands in desktop and laptop memory. Crucial SSDs and memory will no longer be sold by February 2026, as Micron pivots more of its business toward HBM and low-power DDR memory that AI data centers are buying in such enormous volume, Tom's Hardware reports.

"The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage," said Sumit Sadana, EVP and chief business officer at Micron Technology. "Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments."

[weatheriscool]

Ultra-fast single-shot tensor computing trades 1s and 0s for light waves
By Malcolm Azania
December 10, 2025

https://newatlas.com/computers/single-s ... computing/
Want to call someone a quick-thinker? The easiest cliché for doing so is calling her a computer – in fact, “computers” was the literal job title of the “Hidden Figures” mathematicians who drove the success of early NASA.

But while modern electronic computers are far faster than even those mathematical geniuses were with paper, pencils, and slide rules, there’s another type of computing that leaves it eating space dust – optical computing, as fast as the speed of light because instead of using electrons, it uses light itself.

The need for faster computing isn’t just to satisfy impatient consumers screaming to stream movies while video-chatting, VR gaming, and 3D printing. It’s to handle the Big-Bang-level of data expansion of the modern digital world. The humble graphics processing units (GPUs) in standard computers simply can’t scale or work quickly enough to meet such massive overflow. Even worse, as The Smithsonian Magazine and Sustainability Magazine report, AI data centers filled with GPUs are consuming massive amounts of electricity (mostly from nonrenewable sources) and water (often in arid regions).

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

DDR5 RAM prices now over 4x higher since September 2025

Published 12 hours ago

A quick check on some price search engines underscores just how hostile the current upgrade market has become for system builders. In its latest look at online retail pricing for RAM, HDDs, and SSDs, the outlet reports that memory pricing continues to climb versus its previous monthly review, with RAM standing out as the most extreme case. Based on a tracked selection, RAM is now more than four times as expensive as it was in September 2025, with the average increase summarized at roughly 344%.

https://www.guru3d.com/story/ddr5-ram-p ... mber-2025/