TechSpot

Anthropic files to go public, and it could be the biggest IPO ever

Julio Franco — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:17 -0500

Anthropic's filing opens with a letter in which the co-founders say they believe "AI is one of the most consequential technologies in human history." The rest of the 300-plus page document tries to back that claim up with numbers, while also spelling out, at unusual length, how things could go...

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Tiny11 developer squeezes Windows 11 onto a 700MB CD

Ivan Franco — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:05 -0500

NTDEV, the creator of tiny11, has pushed Windows 11 slimming to the extreme with pico11, an experimental build that fits on a standard CD while retaining a working desktop and basic apps. It uses just 883MB of RAM in testing, but sacrifices Windows Update and servicing. The developer plans to bring pico11's aggressive trimming capabilities to tiny11 builder.

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Windows is preparing for Intel's biggest x86 change in years, but only Xeon chips will use it at first

Alfonso Maruccia — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 14:06 -0500

Windows enthusiast Xeno recently uncovered what could be one of the most interesting changes coming to future Windows releases. Microsoft's OS may soon offer an option to enable Advanced Performance Extensions (APX) support on compatible hardware, the self-described "Windows Insider since day one" said. In turn, APX could deliver a...

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SteamOS 3.9.5 updates KDE Plasma, improves compatibility and device support

Ivan Franco — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:50 -0500

SteamOS 3.9.5 brings an updated Arch Linux base, KDE Plasma 6.7.3, and Linux kernel 7.2. The update also improves compatibility with handheld gaming devices, introduces preliminary hibernation support, and reduces idle power consumption on Steam Deck.

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Teardown reveals three theories for why iPhone Duo's screens keep cracking

Kishalaya Kundu — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:54 -0500

According to iFixit, the most plausible reason for the breakages is a malfunctioning central support bar inside the hinge. The bar is supposed to retract each time the phone closes, but it's likely failing to pull back far enough, which makes the curved part of the inner display press down...

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Apple's new iPad mini gets an OLED display, A20 Pro chip, and IP67 rating

Shawn Knight — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:13 -0500

Apple says the A20 Pro in the new iPad mini offers up to 60% faster multi-threaded workload performance, up to 4.5x faster AI performance, and up to 2.7x faster graphics performance compared to the chip in the last-gen device.

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You can now run Nintendo Switch games natively on iPhones and Macs

Zo Ahmed — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 11:32 -0500

This works because the Switch and Apple's recent devices both use Arm-based processors, meaning a game's instructions are already compatible with an iPhone's chip. PC ports like the recent AI-built Link's Awakening don't get that head start and must translate the code first, since most PCs use x86 processors.

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Unreal Engine 5.8 adds support for Microsoft's Advanced Shader Delivery to remedy stuttering issues

Alfonso Maruccia — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:49 -0500

Epic recently updated the official documentation for Unreal Engine 5.x, introducing a potentially significant change to how the popular game engine handles shader compilation and the associated stuttering issues. Thanks to a new built-in, command-line tool, UE 5.8 will offer native support for Microsoft's Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) technology.

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Meta plans $95 billion stock offering to fuel AI spending despite growing bubble fears

Rob Thubron — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:07 -0500

Meta launched roughly $35 billion in offerings on Monday, comprising $22.5 billion in Class A common stock and $12.5 billion in securities representing mandatory convertible preferred stock.

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Nvidia's AI chips already make billions, now Jensen Huang wants $2,000 per GPU in annual software fees

Zo Ahmed — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 09:31 -0500

The Register was first to report Huang's quote from a question-and-answer session at the event on October 22. The CEO told attendees that software licensing "will become increasingly a major part of our company's business." The $2,000 figure was his example of how that licensing would be priced.

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Peter Thiel slams Apple for doing "nothing new" since Steve Jobs died, praises controversial CEOs like Elon Musk

Rob Thubron — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:54 -0500

Speaking in an interview with author Walter Isaacson on The Builders podcast, Thiel said of Apple, "In my telling, it did nothing new after Jobs."

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Elden Ring movie reportedly has a $200 million budget, and it's the studio's biggest bet ever

Zo Ahmed — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:22 -0500

When cameras started rolling in the UK back in April, Elden Ring's budget was reported at well over $100 million, with filming expected to last roughly 100 days. By June, in its coverage of Google's $75 million investment in the studio, The Wall Street Journal put it at $175 million....

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Phantom Blade Zero's PC requirements reveal a 145GB install, 300GB for preloading, and upscaling

Rob Thubron — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:46 -0500

Chinese developer S-Game posted the PC requirements on the game's official X account. There are few details beyond just Minimum and Recommended setups. However, in what has now become a standard in the industry, these specs only apply when upscaling is enabled.

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Denmark gives up on replacing Microsoft Office, for now

Zo Ahmed — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:03 -0500

Early reports had the whole ministry ditching Microsoft Office by the end of 2025, but what launched on June 19 was a lot more modest – a pilot with 38 volunteers from the department. Those testers swapped Word for Collabora, an open-source office suite built on LibreOffice. Danish software firm...

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Elon Musk predicts a neocloud bloodbath as SpaceX seeks $40 billion to buy more GPUs

Rob Thubron — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 06:15 -0500

Writing in an X post yesterday, Musk said lenders had largely stopped providing money to those companies without substantial income outside AI data centers.

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The Best Tools to Redo the Windows Taskbar

Howard Wen — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 05:08 -0500

Whether you miss the classic Windows taskbar or want a complete makeover, these tools restore old favorites, unlock deeper customization, and bring macOS-style docks and retro designs to Windows.

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Google's privacy policy now has a loophole for using your Gmail and Photos data in ads

Zo Ahmed — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:33 -0500

The change sits in Google's updated privacy policy, which took effect on October 16 and was first spotted by Android Authority. The policy has long said, "We don't show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos." That line is still there, but it now ends...

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AI will keep uncovering critical software flaws for years, says Cloudflare CEO

Skye Jacobs — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 11:20 -0500

Prince told Reuters that Cloudflare is aware of "a bunch of additional severe vulnerabilities that are present in other pieces of critical software," though he did not name the affected programs. He compared them to the PHP bugs that recently forced government websites, the game store GOG, and many smaller...

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Microsoft's Windows Insider wallpapers were apparently made on a Mac

Zo Ahmed — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 08:26 -0500

Most image files carry a small tag naming the app that last saved them, buried in a properties menu that few people ever open. When a Windows developer checked it on Microsoft's newest wallpapers, it pointed to Photoshop running on a Mac. The company has since swapped in cleaned-up copies.

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Comcast lost 144,000 broadband customers last quarter, is planning layoffs so AI agents can take over customer service

Kishalaya Kundu — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:49 -0500

Comcast released its Q3 2026 financial results this week, showing lower revenue and adjusted profit amid an exodus of subscribers from its broadband business. The company reported $29.3 billion in total revenue, down 6.1% year over year from $31.2 billion on a reported basis, reflecting the Versant separation and the...

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Only one person in the world can play this free Steam game at a time

Zo Ahmed — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:39 -0500

Jono is the work of Tuomas Erikoinen, the artist behind the original Angry Birds, who now makes games on his own as Part Time Monkey. In the game, when your turn finally comes up, you get exactly one minute to steer the tiny pixel-art hero past spikes, crushers, ice, and...

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SK hynix will build a US fab for Solidigm, but scraps IPO plans

Skye Jacobs — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:35 -0500

A new facility would support Solidigm's high-capacity enterprise SSD business. Its existing manufacturing capacity barely covers projected requirements, making additional production a priority for parent company SK hynix.

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What the canceled Mass Effect 5 would have been: a sci-fi spy thriller built around player choice

Daniel Sims — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 09:37 -0500

A Redditor shared a trailer for the next Mass Effect game, revealed to be called Mass Effect: Universe, shortly after EA canceled the game and closed BioWare. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier and IGN later confirmed the trailer's authenticity, and others involved with BioWare have added some context.

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"Dark GPUs" at Amazon show the limits of the AI buildout: chips are easy to buy, power is not

Alfonso Maruccia — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:12 -0500

Amazon is allegedly taking in billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia racks every month, even though some sites aren't ready for them and there is no electricity to feed the AI accelerators just yet. According to internal emails seen by Business Insider, Amazon is willing to tie up billions in...

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PowerToys adds smarter mouse controls and more Windows customization

Ivan Franco — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 07:43 -0500

Microsoft's latest PowerToys update introduces Mouse Button Lock, which lets you drag and select without holding down a button, and CursorHide, which automatically hides the pointer while typing. The release also adds a quick-access shelf to Command Palette, more keyboard remapping options, and offline voice dictation for ZoomIt screenshots.

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The iPhone Duo's screen is cracking in the same weird L-shape for multiple owners

Daniel Sims — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 05:26 -0500

The iPhone Duo subreddit alone already has multiple threads from users complaining about, and sharing pictures of, cracked screens. Some report that Apple has been generous with replacements for the $2,000 phone so far, but it remains to be seen how the company's policy will evolve as it works through...

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Micron's 2027 roadmap: DDR6 with 2x DDR5 bandwidth, 1TB RDIMMs, and 400+ layer NAND

Kishalaya Kundu — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:12 -0500

Micron has detailed its 1δ (1-Delta) node as the follow-up to 1γ (1-Gamma). The new node, which features angstrom-level process control and HKMG CMOS structure, will reportedly deliver roughly 25% higher bit density than its predecessor when manufacturing advanced DRAM products.

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Vibe-coded emulator adds color to Virtual Boy's red monochrome games

Alfonso Maruccia — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:36 -0500

Despite selling just 770,000 units worldwide, Nintendo's Virtual Boy still has a small but dedicated fan base experimenting with new ways to use the console. The stereoscopic system failed to achieve commercial success and could display games only in monochrome red hues. Now, a new emulator called VBoy Color aims...

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Jensen Huang says Nvidia's AI chips carry "the lowest" risk of any asset and could serve as collateral for debt

Kishalaya Kundu — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:58 -0500

Speaking with Yahoo Finance's Deirdre Bosa on the sidelines of Nvidia's GTC conference in Berlin, CEO Jensen Huang described the company's AI accelerators as "productive," "fungible," and "durable." He argued that investors and lenders should rethink how they evaluate investments in AI infrastructure.

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Modern Warfare 4 is earning widespread critical acclaim

Ivan Franco — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:46 -0500

Following early positive reception from Steam players, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is now earning strong reviews from critics for its engaging campaign, refined multiplayer, and expanded DMZ mode, with some calling it one of the best entries in the franchise.

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