Eliana Willis

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Jason Hiner/ZDNETAccording to a report by technology market analyst firm Canalys, the last quarter — Q2 2024 — saw an estimated 8.8 million AI-capable PCs shipped, with Apple Mac systems accounting for 60% of those sales. Additionally, when looking at $800+ Windows PCs, AI-capable PC shipments jumped from 7% in Q1 2024 to 14% in Q2 2024. Does this mean that there’s growing interest in PCs that can handle emerging workloads, or is AI capability becoming a standard feature? Before looking at that, let’s clarify a few things.Also: What is an AI PC? (And should you buy one?)First, what is an “AI-capable PC”? Canalys says that an “AI-capable PC must be a desktop or notebook possessing a dedicated chipset or block to run on-device AI workloads,” and goes on to highlight AMD’s XDNA, Apple’s Neural Engine, Intel’s AI Boost, and Qualcomm’s Hexagon as examples of such dedicated chipsets. The next point that always comes up when discussing the whole concept of AI-capable PCs is whether “AI-capable” is marketing fluff or something definitive and useful. The argument can be made both ways – some will claim that AI workloads are nothing new and that it’s just the type of workloads that have changed, while the point can also be made that modern AI workloads go beyond what the CPU and GPU can comfortably handle without making too many compromises, and that dedicated NPUs (Neural Processing Units) are needed to back up existing silicon and keep everything moving along.I’m old enough to have seen the “this is marketing fluff” argument made numerous times about new PC features. Making and selling PCs is a business, so there will always be marketing. However, workloads change, and progress must be made. Also: ‘SinkClose’ AMD CPU vulnerability explained: How dangerous is it really?And AI workloads are the latest new thing.But we can tease some additional data from the Canalys report that might shed light on consumer interest in AI workloads. A fact that’s hard to overlook from the data is that Apple Macs account for 60% of the 8.8 million AI-capable PC shipments. Since Apple made the switch to its M-series chips in November 2020 and began purging Intel CPUs from the Mac, dedicated neural engines have been built into those chips as standard, making NPUs the default. When most consumers buy a Mac, they’re not choosing an AI-capable system, they’re getting one by default. More

PM Images/Getty Images In 2021 and 2023, Cash App suffered two different data breaches — one in which a former employee downloaded user transaction reports, and another in which an unauthorized person accessed user account data. A new class action lawsuit alleges that Cash App was negligent in handling these breaches and didn’t properly address […] More

Orhan Turan/Getty Images Worrying computer news always comes out of the hacker convention Defcon — and this year was no different. A pair of security researchers, Enrique Nissim and Krzysztof Okupski from security specialist IOActive, announced they’d found a nasty CPU vulnerability, which they named SinkClose.  The flaw endangers essentially all — yes, all — AMD processors made […] More

SEAN GLADWELL/Getty Images By now, the risks of artificial intelligence (AI) across applications are well-documented, but hard to access easily in one place when making regulatory, policy, or business decisions. An MIT lab aims to fix that.  On Wednesday, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) launched the AI Risk Repository, a database of […] More

NordPass is the password manager from Nord Security, the cybersecurity company behind NordVPN and secure cloud storage service NordLocker. Its free tier offers the essentials of password management: unlimited password storage with autosave and autofill, a built-in password generator, and passkey support, all in a user-friendly interface that’s consistent across platforms. NordPass’s most significant limitation is that you can only be logged into your vault on one device at a time — accessing your account via mobile app will log you out on desktop, and vice versa. This is more of a minor inconvenience for most users, as it simply requires logging back into your vault using your master password, biometrics, or one-time code when you switch devices. NordPass is multi-platform, with apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux and extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Edge. While signing up for NordPass does require you to create a universal Nord Account login in addition to a master password for your vault, you can access all of Nord Security’s tools under the same credentials. Like other trusted password managers, NordPass uses strong encryption and has undergone an independent security audit. You can also enable multi-factor authentication as an extra measure to protect your vault.  NordPass’s intuitive platform on its free tier is a good choice for users new to password management who don’t mind having to log in with each device switch. Note, though, that if you want any extra features like security monitoring, file storage, or emergency access, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid account, which starts at $1.39 per month for a single user. NordPass features: Unlimited passwords on one device at a time | Multi-platform | Autofill and autosave | Secure note storage | Username and password generator | Passkey support | Biometric unlock  | Multi-factor authentication for vault | 24/7 customer support More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETGoogle just unveiled its new foldable smartphone, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold More