Chips & Supply · United States

Microsoft releases new Nvidia-chip AI PCs with revamped Windows 11

Credited to TechCrunch · techcrunch.com · 3h ago

Back in June, Nvidia announced that it had secured agreements with Microsoft and a host of other PC makers to develop AI- and agent-ready PCs for Windows based on its RTX Spark chip, but details on the machines were scant at the time.

On Wednesday, at an event held in San Francisco during the city’s Tech Week, Microsoft revealed the specs and price for its new Surface Laptop Ultra. The PC comes in two base models, one that starts at $2,600 and one with a more powerful chip that starts at $3,700. Prices rise from there with options for more memory and storage, up to $5,900. (Microsoft says the highest-end device is already out of stock.)

Microsoft also revealed its new workstation powered by the RTX Spark chip: the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, which starts priced at $6,000 and comes equipped with Microsoft dev tools like VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, WSL, and PowerShell 7.

The pitch for both this PC and workstation is that they are designed to run AI models on-device locally (and for free) with the CPU, GPU, unified memory, and other hardware modifications, like superior cooling, necessary to handle them.

Plus, they are running a revamped version of Windows 11 that includes a feature called “Execution Containers.” This makes it easier to sandbox AI agents, the company says. That feature will be available for all Windows 11 users, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at the event.

Nadella explained: “One of the things we realized in the last 3-4 years is that just having a model doesn’t do much for anything. You really do need to orchestrate, and you need to have memory outside of the model. You need to have this harnessed layer that is able to take multiple models plus context, plus memory, and the action space.”

He added that Microsoft is enabling that “not just for our apps but apps for anyone’s agent. That’s what the Windows platform is all about going forward.”

The devices are clearly aimed at developers, so much so that Microsoft is offering up to $1,000 off to people who trade in a MacBook Pro, as Macs have become a popular choice for developers and AI agent enthusiasts, particularly in Silicon Valley.

Still, these Surface PCs, with such powerful graphics processing, are also capable of content creation,video processing, and gaming, the company promises.

Microsoft wasn’t the only PC company to announce the specs for its new Nvidia-RTX Spark AI Windows PCs on Wednesday. Dell also announced the details of its previously announced Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition PC. It’s available for pre-order now for a later October delivery at Best Buy, priced at $3,800.

Chips & SupplyUnited States

SpaceX credit risk jumps on worries over its borrowing spree

Credited to Financial Times$ · ft.com5h ago

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Leap in credit default swaps tracking Elon Musk’s aerospace group follows an FT report that it is seeking to raise $40bn to buy Nvidia chips

View the article · $Financial Times

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Chips & Supply · United States

Google says 180 billion images and videos now carry SynthID watermarks as detector goes public

Credited to The Decoder · the-decoder.com · 6h ago

Photograph · The Decoder

Anyone can now check whether an image, video, or audio file was created by Google's AI or its partners. Google has opened its SynthID Detector to the public. The tool spots invisible watermarks embedded in content from models like Gemini, Veo, or Lyria and supports JPG, PNG, MP4, and MP3. SynthID isn't a universal AI detector. It only flags content carrying a SynthID watermark. Other detection systems have the same limitation, typically only verifying their own provider's watermarks.

OpenAI, Nvidia, and Kakao also use SynthID for media. For text detection, OpenAI developed its own system. Apple is expected to join soon, according to Google. SynthID detection is also built into Google Search, the Gemini app, and Chrome, where Google says one million verification requests come in daily. The company claims more than 180 billion watermarked images and videos to date.

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