accuracy Archives

Winsage

April 14, 2026

Veteran Windows dev shows off AI running on 47-year-old PDP11 with 6 MHz CPU and 64KB of RAM — ‘gloriously absurd’ project runs transformer model written in PDP-11 assembly language

Veteran Windows developer Dave Plummer is using a 47-year-old PDP-11 system with a 6 MHz CPU and 64KB of RAM to train a neural network called ‘Attention 11,’ developed in PDP-11 assembly language. The model is tasked with reversing a sequence of eight digits, requiring it to understand structural rules similar to those used in contemporary large language models like ChatGPT. Plummer emphasizes the importance of optimizing for the system's constraints, stating that constraints drive creative engineering. The model operates with 1,216 parameters and uses fixed-point math with 8-bit precision. After approximately 350 training steps, the model achieved 100% accuracy in the number-reversing task in about 3.5 minutes. Plummer argues that modern AI operates on the same mechanical principles as this vintage machine, just at a much larger scale, and suggests that companies focusing on efficiency and optimization may gain an advantage in the AI landscape.

BetaBeacon

April 13, 2026

Pixel X Racer: Retro-Style Drag Racing Arcade Game Debuts on iOS and Android

Pixel X Racer is a new mobile arcade racing game with retro pixel graphics and deep car customization options. It offers players the chance to build their ultimate pixel car garage and compete in various game modes, including real-time multiplayer. The game has received positive feedback and promises future updates with more content.

AppWizard

April 10, 2026

Meta’s new LLM, Muse Spark, wants to take its AI into a ‘people first’ era

Meta AI has launched its new large language model, Muse Spark, designed to enhance user interaction with a "people first" approach. The model will roll out to U.S. users and includes Instant and Thinking modes, although users of Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Meta's AI glasses will experience delays in access. Muse Spark focuses on personalization, assisting users with tasks like troubleshooting home appliances and engaging in minigames. Meta collaborated with over 1,000 physicians to improve the AI's health-related capabilities. The model emphasizes user interaction and multi-agent functionality, allowing it to perform complex tasks efficiently. Muse Spark aims to create a more personal and engaging user experience, distinguishing itself from previous AI iterations and positioning itself as a reliable assistant.

AppWizard

April 8, 2026

It Looks Like Steam Will Soon Use Frame Rate Data Gathered by Its Millions of Users to Estimate How Well a Gam

Valve is collecting frame rate data from its user base to predict game performance on individual systems. This initiative started with a SteamOS beta that gathers performance metrics. A code string in a recent Steam update suggests that Valve plans to use this data to estimate game performance based on users' CPU, GPU, and RAM specifications. Users will have the option to input their hardware details or receive projections based on their existing configuration. This feature aims to provide more comprehensive performance estimates compared to existing offerings from other digital game stores. The current data collection is limited to the beta client, but the rollout of this feature is expected to help gamers assess their hardware's capability to run new titles.

Winsage

April 8, 2026

Microsoft Rolls Out New Defender Update for Windows 11, 10, and Server Images

Microsoft released a security intelligence update for Microsoft Defender Antivirus on April 7, 2026, enhancing protection for Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows Server. The update introduces refined threat detection capabilities to combat malware and zero-day attacks, utilizing advanced detection logic and cloud-based protection. The security intelligence version is 1.447.209.0, engine version is 1.1.26020.3, and platform version is 4.18.26020.6. Updates are automatically delivered via Windows Update, but can also be manually initiated or deployed using standalone installer packages. The update supports legacy platforms, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, provided they have SHA-2 code signing support enabled. Additionally, updates to the Network Inspection System (NIS) are available for certain environments.

AppWizard

April 7, 2026

It Looks Like Steam Will Soon Use Frame Rate Data Gathered by Its Millions of Users to Estimate How Well a Game Will Actually Run on Your PC

Valve has integrated frame rate data from its user base to provide estimates on game performance tailored to individual gaming rigs, starting with a SteamOS beta that collects performance metrics. A recent code discovery suggests that users will soon be able to input their CPU, GPU, and RAM specifications for tailored performance projections. Steam will also automatically generate performance estimates based on existing hardware configurations for users accessing the platform on their gaming PCs. This feature aims to enhance the accuracy of performance estimates, particularly for the Steam Machine, which may benefit from data collected from similar configurations. The frame rate data collection is currently in beta and may take time before becoming widely accessible.

AppWizard

April 6, 2026

Pixel update restores a key feature to the Now Playing app

In March, Google removed the manual search button from the Now Playing app, causing frustration among users. The recent update reinstated the “Tap to see what’s playing” feature, which allows for a cloud search to improve song recognition accuracy. Users had expressed their concerns about the absence of this feature, emphasizing the need for a reliable fallback in music identification.

AppWizard

April 6, 2026

How to Profile Modern PC Games with NVIDIA Nsight Graphics

Performance analysis in PC gaming has become more complex with the introduction of DirectX 12 and Vulkan, incorporating technologies like asynchronous compute, hardware ray tracing, and machine learning-assisted denoising. Understanding GPU performance requires advanced tools to analyze workload distribution and shader behavior, with NVIDIA Nsight Graphics being a key resource. NVIDIA Nsight Graphics is a graphics debugger and profiler for modern graphics APIs, featuring the GPU Trace Profiler, which provides detailed insights into GPU execution and performance bottlenecks. Recent updates have improved its utility, including a Flame Graph for the Shader Profiler and support for NVIDIA's DLSS in D3D12 applications. The Peak-Performance-Percentage analysis method focuses on identifying GPU workload constraints and optimizing utilization rather than relying on assumptions about performance bottlenecks. This methodology is applied using Nsight Graphics to analyze GPU traces from the game Cyberpunk 2077, contrasting traditional rasterization with path tracing enhanced by DLSS Ray Reconstruction. The test setup included an Intel Core i7-14700K CPU, 32 GB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, capturing two scenarios: one with raster-only settings and another with path tracing and DLSS. The analysis revealed that the rasterized frame's most costly aspect was lighting processing, while the path-traced frame showed increased total frame cost and a hybrid workload involving rasterization, ray traversal, and AI-driven processes. Key findings indicated that modern GPU performance is heavily influenced by memory behavior rather than just shader arithmetic, with significant time spent on compute-driven lighting processing and data movement. The analysis also highlighted that ray tracing performance is constrained by memory efficiency, indicating that performance does not scale linearly with RT-core throughput.

AppWizard

April 5, 2026

All Three Mainline Jak & Daxter PS2 Games Now Have Native PC Ports

The OpenGoal team has released a beta version of its native PC port for Jak 3, making all three games in the Jak & Daxter series "feature complete and fully completable" on PC platforms. Players can access the games on Windows, Linux, or Mac by following instructions on the OpenGoal website, provided they have a copy of the original games. The ports offer enhanced accuracy and various quality of life improvements. Jak 3's release was announced via a YouTube trailer on April 1st and has been confirmed as genuine. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is not yet in beta, while Jak II and Jak 3 have minor audio and graphical issues being addressed. The team is not currently considering porting PSP games but may explore the possibility of decompiling Jak X: Combat Racing, which uses the GOAL programming language. Further details are available on the OpenGoal website.

Winsage

April 5, 2026

Microsoft Copilot Cowork is Now Available to Windows Users

Microsoft has introduced early access to Copilot Cowork through its Frontier program, enhancing the Researcher feature to improve planning, analysis, and decision-making workflows. Copilot Cowork is an AI system designed to manage complex, multi-step tasks within Microsoft 365, allowing users to set outcomes and receive real-time updates while enabling adjustments as needed. It is based on the Claude Cowork framework by Anthropic. The Researcher tool now includes a Critique feature that uses two AI models, GPT and Claude, to improve response accuracy, resulting in a 13.8% performance boost on the DRACO benchmark. Additionally, the Model Council feature allows users to compare outputs from multiple AI models side by side. These updates are part of Wave 3 of Microsoft 365 Copilot, aiming to make AI a more active participant in work tasks.