msg newsletter: IT news – October 2024

Author: Zuzana Kocáková

Digitization

06. 11. 2024 8 reading minutes

In October, we cover the following products and IT news: new ChatGPT and Windows 11 features, changes to YouTube Shorts, USB 4.0 specs, and more.

ChatGPT subscription price increase

Raising the price of subscription services, will also affect the well-known AI tool ChatGPT. The current price of the premium version of ChatGPT Plus is $20 per month, but is expected to increase by $2 by the end of the year. Longer-term plans, however, call for a more significant increase in price, with the price potentially reaching as high as $44 per month. This increase could affect a number of users, especially in Slovakia. It is not yet clear whether OpenAI plans to offer cheaper alternatives for those who are not comfortable with the high price.

Source: androidauthority.com/openai-chatgpt-plus-price-increases-report-3486032/

ChatGPT for Windows

After making the ChatGPT app available for macOS, OpenAI has focused on extending it to Windows as well. A preliminary test version is now available for ChatGPT Plus, Enterprise, Team and Edu subscribers. An official release to the general public is expected by the end of the year, and for now the app is built in the Electron environment, which means it works as an encapsulated web application in a small desktop window.

It is currently supported from Windows 10 onwards, but the voice interactions feature is not yet available. The app allows photo analysis and summarization of document content directly in Windows, similar to macOS. The advantages of the macOS version include that it is natively built on that platform, which may not be the case for Windows users.

The size of this application is approximately 280 MB, as Electron uses Chromium components to display the content. In comparison, Microsoft’s integrated Copilot is only 600 KB, as it uses WebView2 technology from Microsoft Edge.

Source: windowslatest.com/2024/10/18/i-tried-the-official-chatgpt-app-for-windows-11-its-just-an-electron-based-chrome-wrapper/

ChatGPT Plus with advanced voice mode coming to Europe

ChatGPT Plus subscribers from Europe can enjoy the novelty of Advanced Voice Mode. This feature, available on Android and iOS, allows voice communication with a chatbot that recognizes several artificial male and female voices.

Advanced Voice Mode brings improvements over the previous voice mode – the chatbot can now communicate more fluently and understands both Slovak and Czech, albeit with a slight accent. The latency is much shorter, so the dialogue feels more natural and the interaction with it can resemble a conversation between two people.

Extended voice mode could be a great help on holiday, where it could serve as an interactive translator. Simply instruct the chatbot to translate the conversation in real time, for example from English to Slovak, and the result will be displayed directly in the text transcript.

Despite the advances, Advanced Voice has limitations for now. It lacks a direct connection to hardware like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, which would allow activation without an app. In the future, OpenAI could work on its own voice-activated assistant, possibly a device that responds to the password “Hey, ChatGPT.”

Source: pcmag.com/news/no-more-vpns-openai-rolls-out-advanced-voice-mode-to-eu-users

Windows 11 news: changes to the Start menu and data sharing with Android

Windows 11 comes with a number of new features that are gradually being released in test versions. The Start menu brings back some familiar features from Windows 10, such as jump sheets that show lists of files when you right-click on an app icon. Other changes include a faster option to sign out directly from the profile icon bar. Also new is data sharing between your PC and Android smartphones directly from Explorer. A feature called Hand off will make it easier and faster to send files between devices.

Source: blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/09/20/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26120-1843-dev-channel/

Changes to YouTube Shorts – longer videos and new tools for creators

YouTube plans to extend the length of Shorts videos to three minutes, up from the current limit of 15 to 60 seconds. This change will be effective from 15 October. In addition, YouTube is preparing new tools for creators, including the ability to remix videos and use templates. For users who aren’t interested in short videos, a feature to temporarily reduce the frequency of Shorts will be introduced. Other changes, including a special section for trending Shorts, will come at a later date.

Source: blog.youtube/news-and-events/tall-updates-coming-to-shorts/

Intel admits a flaw in Raptor Lake processors – voltage issues

Intel has finally openly admitted the problem with the 13th and 14th generation Raptor Lake desktop processors, specifically the K-series models designed for overclocking. The main problem is a high minimum voltage value that causes physical degradation of the processors, even under low load. Intel is working with motherboard manufacturers to update the BIOS to adjust the processor voltage, which may minimize damage, but overclocking will be risky. Intel has not yet released a list of affected processors, but promises to replace the chips under warranty.

Source: theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262287/intel-13th-14th-gen-crash-raptor-lake-root-cause-fix

USB4 2.0: Higher speeds, but ambiguity persists about the specification of the new standard

USB4 2.0 will deliver speeds of up to 80 Gbps both way and improve power management, allowing devices to be powered up to 240 W. Cables for this standard will be available in late 2024, initially in Japan. In addition to higher speeds and support for 8K video, versatility in power supply is also improved, making it suitable for more powerful devices. However, even with these improvements, transparency of USB ports will still be an issue, as different ports may support different functions, and the user will need to follow the specifications of specific products.

Source: notebookcheck.net/First-USB4-2-0-cables-set-to-launch-in-2024.897837.0.html

Meta unveils Movie Gen – an AI video generator from a single photo

Meta has introduced a new tool, Movie Gen, which allows you to generate videos from audio and images. A single photo and a text description is all that is needed to create a video. Movie Gen can create Full HD, 16-second long videos at 16 frames per second. Meta claims that this tool is better than competing models such as OpenAI’s Sora or Runway Gen-3. Movie Gen can also add sound effects and music, but it can’t yet sync speech with lip movement, a feature of other tools.

The risk of such technologies is deepfake videos, which can spread misinformation or create fake situations.

Source: ai.meta.com/research/movie-gen/

YouTube steps up action against ad blocking and encourages Premium subscriptions

YouTube has significantly tightened its rules against adblocker users in recent months. Users with an adblocker are now asked to turn it off or their video will not play. The alternative is a Premium subscription, which allows ad-free viewing. In addition, YouTube is changing the appearance of the ad skip button on smartphones, which now appears less prominently and only after a certain amount of time, encouraging users to watch it. Computer users have also noticed changes in the way ads behave when blocked, which should continue to encourage interest in subscription services.

Source: androidauthority.com/youtube-hides-skip-ads-mobile-3488684/

Qualcomm responds to security flaw in Snapdragon chips

Qualcomm has confirmed a serious security issue in its Snapdragon chips that has affected a large number of Android smartphones around the world, including popular models such as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, OnePlus 10 Pro and Xiaomi 12. The hackers discovered a vulnerability, labeled CVE-2024-43047, which could be exploited for targeted attacks, with the prerequisite being that the attacker knew about the flaw and targeted specific devices.

A fix for this bug, sent to smartphone manufacturers last month, must be included in operating system updates to reach users directly. Qualcomm stresses that the flaw was exploited by attackers on pinpointed targets, suggesting that these were targeted attacks rather than mass attacks. Confirmations from Google’s security team also attest to the seriousness of the problem.

Source: techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/hackers-were-targeting-android-users-with-qualcomm-zero-day/

25 years since the first modern NVIDIA graphics card and the upcoming release of the next generation

In October 1999, NVIDIA introduced its first modern graphics card, the GeForce 256, which made history with its Transform and Lighting (T&L) technology, which moves some of the computation from the processor directly to the graphics card. This innovation enabled significantly more detailed graphics models and took gaming to a new level. Gamers were able to fully enjoy titles such as Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena, while graphics cards also began to make inroads in video production and artificial intelligence.

The anticipated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000 series will be unveiled in January 2025 at CES in Las Vegas. Upcoming models include the RTX 5070, RTX 5080, and the most powerful RTX 5090, which is expected to feature 21760 graphics cores and 32GB of GDDR7 memory. According to speculations, the price of the flagship model may range between $2000 to $2500. The RTX 5080 is expected to come with 10752 cores and 16 GB of GDDR7, and the price could be around $1500. The RTX 5070 is rumored to have 12 GB of GDDR7 and priced at $700.

Source: blogs.nvidia.com/blog/first-gpu-gaming-ai/

Author Jozef Wagner, Senior Java Programmer at msg life Slovakia

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msg newsletter: IT news – October 2024

Zuzana Kocáková

At msg life Slovakia I take care of the company culture, events and I am part of the marketing team. I like a job where I can be creative and contribute to making my colleagues at msg feel good. I regularly prepare for you not only news and interesting things from the world of information technology and insurance, but also from behind the scenes events at msg life Slovakia.