Microsoft Corp on Friday announced that a major update to its Windows operating system is to be released globally on Oct. 17.
The release of the Windows 10 “Fall Creators Update” is to come the same day that Windows Mixed Reality headsets powered by the software hit the market, Microsoft executive vice president of operating systems Terry Myerson said in a blog post.
Unlike virtual reality gear already available, Windows headsets made by partners such as Acer Inc (宏碁), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), HP Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) will not require cameras to track user movements, Myerson said.
Photo: Reuters
Windows headsets are to be priced as low as US$299 and will need to be plugged into computers powered by the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft said.
The original version of Windows 10 debuted a little more than two years ago.
The latest version is being built into a wide array of devices that are to be on the market in time for the year-end holiday shopping season, the company said.
Microsoft has highlighted how Windows 10 will let software savants serve up creations on the full spectrum of smart devices, including the HoloLens augmented reality headgear.
“By combining our physical and digital worlds, we believe mixed reality is the next step in the evolution of human computing,” Myerson said in the blog post.
Designing Windows to make Microsoft cloud services available from competitors’ devices and moving quickly in the nascent mixed-reality market were seen as shrewd moves by the company.
To get Windows 10 adopted quickly, Microsoft decided to give it away as a free upgrade for a year after its release.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
RSS