VR Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Full of Kids Now
The narrative that VR is dying is everywhere, but the sales data tells a different story. The audience has just radically shifted to a younger, more cost-conscious generation that loves free-to-play games.
Category: Computing
Google’s Gemini Chatbot Finally Hits Chrome on Your iPhone
Google is bringing its Gemini AI assistant directly into the Chrome browser for iPhone users in the United States. The feature lets you summarize web pages and generate FAQs without leaving your current tab.
Intel’s Panther Lake Leak Shows a Real Comeback Against AMD
Early benchmarks for Intel’s next-gen Panther Lake mobile CPU are a surprise. The chip appears to outperform AMD’s current Ryzen AI Max+ 395 in single-core tests while drawing significantly less power, hinting at a competitive 2026 for laptops.
The Hidden Energy Drain in Your Data Center
Data centers are full of non-linear electrical loads that create harmonics, distorting power and causing massive inefficiency. This can lead to a 2-10% increase in electricity costs and cut equipment life in half. The problem is getting worse with AI.
Intel’s Vulkan Driver Gets a Key Upgrade for Ray-Tracing Debugging
Intel’s “ANV” Vulkan driver in Mesa has merged a new shader VMA allocator. This is foundational work needed to enable Vulkan ray-tracing capture and replay, a crucial tool for developers. The feature is confirmed working with an older merge request in the RenderDoc tool.
Glibc Now Uses 2MB Huge Pages on AArch64 for a Speed Boost
A new patch in the GNU C Library (glibc) enables 2MB Transparent Huge Pages (THP) by default for memory allocations on AArch64 systems. This change aims to reduce page faults and kernel overhead, and has shown a consistent 6.25% performance improvement on SPEC benchmarks.
Windows 11’s December Patch Fixes Annoying Dark Mode Flash
Microsoft’s latest update for Windows 11 tackles a pesky visual bug that broke dark mode immersion. The patch also bundles a host of new features, especially for users with Copilot+ PCs, and plugs 56 security holes.
Firefox Beta Finally Adds MKV Support, Fixes Linux File Mess
Firefox is finally getting native support for the popular Matroska (MKV) video container. The latest beta also brings much-needed order to Linux users’ home directories with XDG support.
HP’s Big Split: The End of an Era, or Just More Chaos?
Hewlett-Packard is officially splitting into two separate, publicly traded companies this Sunday. The move caps over a decade of strategic missteps and boardroom drama. Can this “clean break” finally fix what’s broken?
Xbox’s 2026 Plans Are a Big, Mysterious 25th Anniversary Tease
Xbox exec Jason Ronald is teasing major plans for 2026, which marks the platform’s 25th anniversary. While not confirming specifics, he strongly hinted at a celebration of Xbox’s legacy while defining its future, with handheld gaming being a key focus.