Tech News Roundup for June 9, 2022
Much news over the last couple days, from fun new hardware, to Xbox Cloud Gaming news, to some.. less fun news.
Dell Announces New XPS 13 Lineup
Dell has given the XPS 13 line a complete redesign, and the result is a beautiful new laptop, and a curious tablet. First up, the laptop. The new XPS 13 laptop has a much refined design, and beautiful new colours. It features a full size keyboard, a 16:10 display, and slimmer bezels. Inside the laptop is the intel 12th generation Core processors. The laptop features just two thunderbolt 4 ports, down from 3 ports on previous models. This is a slick looking laptop, and as premium laptops go isn’t outrageously priced in Canada. A model with 8GB of ram and 256GB of storage starts at $1250 in Canada, a reasonable price for a premium laptop. My 2017 era XPS 13 laptop has been the most reliable computer I’ve ever owned, so this should be near the top of the list for anyone in the market for a premium thin and light laptop.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/9/23161066/dell-xps-13-2022-alder-lake-features-price
Next up is the new XPS 13 2 in 1. This is a tablet with a folio keyboard case, and while it looks nice enough, it has some obvious drawbacks. Without a kickstand, the tablet requires the folio case to stand, and that case only has 3 different angles for viewing. This makes the XPS 13 2 in 1 a less versatile option than the Microsoft Surface, and seems like a misstep. The XPS 13 2 in 1 will be available later this summer.
Microsoft Bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming to Samsung Smart TV’s
Microsoft has been promising an expansion of its Xbox Cloud Gaming service for years, and now we are starting to see it. Later this month the company will launch an Xbox app for 2022 Samsung Smart TV’s that will enable users to pair an Xbox Wireless Controller to the TV and play Xbox games via the cloud streaming service. This is a limited rollout for now, but we will hopefully see a wider release over time.
https://www.thurrott.com/games/268288/xbox-cloud-gaming-samsung-smart-tvs
Xbox Cloud Gaming Expanding to Purchased Games
One of the limitations of Xbox Cloud Gaming is that it has been limited to a subset of games offered in Xbox Game Pass. That will be changing later this year. Microosft will be rolling out support for users to stream games they have purchased outside of Xbox Game Pass on the streaming service. Not every game will be supported, as Microsoft must work with game publishers to allow support, but this expansion should help adoption of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Users will still need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to use Xbox Cloud Gaming for purchased games.
https://www.thurrott.com/games/268299/xbox-cloud-gaming-personal-game-library
Razer Kishi V2 Announced
In 2021 the Razer Kishi was announced. I liked it quite a bit at the time https://www.thewunderbar.net/blog/2021/5/19/razer-kishi-review, though my Galaxy Z Fold3 does not work with it.
Now the Kishi V2 brings improvements to the formfactor. The control grips are larger and should be easier to hold, and the shape should accommodate more devices. Perhaps the biggest downside is the redesigned backplate resulting in a less compact device when not in use.
https://www.ign.com/articles/razer-kishi-v2-announced-release-date-price
Twitter Will Give Elon Musk Access to Data Firehose
The debacle that is the Elon Musk/Twitter saga continues. After Elon Musk said that he was putting the his purchase of Twitter on hold (something he cannot legally do) until Twitter proves to him that its stats on the number of bot accounts on the service are correct, the company will apparently give him access to what is known as the the “firehose.” The firehose is the complete Twitter feed in real time. Every tweet from every user, an estimated 500 million tweets per day. Twitter carefully guards the firehose, with only a select fiew partners having access to it. Now, so will Elon Musk.
Microsoft Accidentally Pushed Windows 11 to Unsupported PC’s
This is an embarrassing one for Microsoft. Earlier this week the company began rolling out the 2022 update to Windows 11 to the Release Preview channel of its beta testing program. However, users with systems that are not officially supported by Windows 11 reported receiving the update. This is a bad look for Microsoft, as it shows clear evidence that the system requirements for Windows 11 are arbitrary and without a technical reason. Oops/
Microsoft Hololens Leader After Misconduct Allegations
Alex Kipman, the executive in charge of the Microsoft Hololens Mixed Reality headset project, has left the company. This comes after a report of allegations of misconduct against him over the course of several years.
https://www.engadget.com/hololens-chief-alex-kipman-leaving-microsoft-053826614.html