Key Takeaways
- Windows 11 24H2 boasts snappy performance on unsupported hardware.
- Microsoft’s Copilot gains new features including Copilot Labs and Daily mode.
- Raspberry Pi and Sony introduced an AI camera with onboard processing.
Are you checking out Windows 11 24H2? The long-awaited operating system was finally released, and from what it looks like, it’s a pretty good upgrade. In fact, in our news coverage last week, we saw reports that 24H2 was running a lot better, even on unsupported hardware. However, there was a lot more news than just 24H2, so let’s dip into the headlines of the past week.
AI in the eye
We’ve seen a few SBCs with AI powers built into them, but how about a camera that does all the processing itself? Sony and Raspberry Pi have announced a cool AI camera that can record and process everything by itself. That way, you can plug it into an SBC that doesn’t have an NPU on it and unlock some good AI processing power.
Microsoft’s assistant just got better
In a surprise twist, the Redmond giant suddenly unleashed a whole Copilot revamp on the world. If you’re a big fan of the assistant, it got a huge wave of updates, including a new Copilot Daily mode that breaks down the ones that happened during the day. Plus, Microsoft is bringing out “Copilot Labs” which lets you test out all the new things that Microsoft has been cooking in the background before anyone else gets to try them.
Things are looking great for the new version of Windows 11
So, how about that Windows 11 24H2 update? It comes with a bunch of new features, but one of its most interesting points is its improved performance. In fact, someone running Windows 11 on a (very, very unsupported) 10-year-old CPU noticed big improvements when running the OS. Does this mean that Microsoft is dropping the system requirements? Probably not. However, it’s still good news for people who want to install Windows 11 on whatever hardware they like, alongside those who have the proper hardware. Maybe now’s a good time to upgrade that Windows 10 machine you have kicking around.
Trying to get Doom running on hardware that doesn’t exist yet
Once the public gets their hands on a quantum computer, one thing’s for sure; someone’s going to get Doom running on it. However, why wait until then? One developer has already made the leap into getting Doom running on a quantum PC despite not having the hardware for it. And boy, does it sound complicated. As the developer put it:
“For now, I’m still tidying up the engine code, but basically, I have about 8,000 lines of C++ functions allowing a number of reversible binary and arithmetic operations on quantum registers, for example ‘flipIfLessThanOrEqualTo,’ which flips all qubits in a register if the value of another register is less than some given value.”
Surely, this is the ideal reason to develop quantum PCs.
Doesn’t cost an Arm and a leg
Finally, we round off this week’s digest with even more good news for Windows on Arm fans. Soon, you’ll be able to download ISOs for Arm-based versions of Windows, much like how you can with x64 systems right now. And given how Windows on Arm devices have never looked better, this may be a big turning point in getting people into Qualcomm’s wheelhouse.
