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Windows-based handhelds have a problem, and it’s Windows 11. The operating system made for laptops and desktops just doesn’t work well for Steam Deck-style handhelds with screens as small as seven inches. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally was supposed to be the first device to get a new, gaming-focused interface that addressed these issues. But now the UI is leaked, and you can try it. Microsoft had always intended to expand the new Xbox-style user interface, including the new, united Xbox app with games automatically pulled from rival storefronts and launchers like Steam and Epic, to other devices. But the tentative timeline for that was sometime in early 2026, giving the ROG Xbox Ally (and its souped-up X variant) at least a couple of months to shine as the first portable device with official Xbox branding. Earlier this week a poster on Reddit discovered that you can turn the compact, controller-friendly interface on by tweaking some registry values in the latest Windows 11 build, 25H2. Reddit user “Gogsi123” posted the guide and a demonstration video of the process running on the original ROG Ally handheld (spotted by The Verge). It’s up and running, and in theory, it should work on any Windows 11-powered handheld after you get the Windows Insider build installed and apply the patches to your system…which I personally wouldn’t recommend at the moment. This requires multiple administrator-level tweaks to your system, and I think at least some bugs are likely. That said, if you use a handheld as a secondary gaming-only device and you’re eager to check out these changes, hey, the only thing you might lose is a lot of time. I’ve done dumber things to my PCs. The gaming-focused interface for handhelds is an exciting development for Microsoft. The company has spent the last couple of years trying to leverage the booming PC gaming market to boost its Xbox Game Pass as a platform while the Xbox console itself stagnates. Early hands-on reports of the ROG Xbox Ally indicate that the system is, indeed, a considerable improvement over various manufacturer skins that have tried to mask Windows 11’s clunky performance on these small devices. The new interface was one of the biggest selling points of the ROG Xbox Ally, which still does not have an official price a month before its release. But the changes have an opportunity to enhance all Windows-based gaming handhelds, from the similarly powerful Lenovo Legion Go 2 releasing around the same time, all the way back to the original ROG Ally. They’re more than skin-deep, with the optimized tuning of Windows said (by Microsoft and Asus, anyway) to offer performance benefits for games running on these low-power systems with tuned integrated graphics. The Reddit post indicates small but measurable gains in this unofficial application, a 5 percent boost in Red Dead Redemption 2 frame rates and over a gigabyte of RAM saved in Celeste. These bumps are on the very small side, but again, we’re talking about an unofficial application on a years-old, not-officially-supported device. Improvements are possible, if not inevitable, as Microsoft and its hardware partners make final tweaks. Read...

Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display and Neural Band, which are smart glasses with a color high-resolution display and wristband controls. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s more of an inconspicuous integration of tech into everyday life. Ray-Ban Display and Neural Band The glasses look like classic Ray-Bans, but they have a discreet display on the side of the right lens. It supposedly doesn’t get in the way when looking through the glasses and only appears when needed to display messages, photos, translations, or AI responses. Meta / Ray-Ban The smart display’s resolution is 600×600 pixels with a 20-degree field of view and 42 pixels per degree—sharp enough for everyday use by everyday people. The display’s brightness adjusts from 30 to 5,000 nits and the refresh rate goes up to 90Hz, according to Meta. A new feature here is control via the supplied Meta Neural Band. This wrist-worn device recognizes muscle movements on the wrist and converts them into commands—a swipe of the thumb is enough. Meta / Ray-Ban Based on four years of research with 200,000 participants, the AI glasses should be intuitive to control. The glasses themselves have a battery life of up to 6 hours, and up to 30 hours with a charging case. The Vectran material is as strong as steel but flexible, and Meta also claims that the AI-powered glasses are waterproof with an IPX7 rating. Other features include WhatsApp and Messenger integration, video calls, navigation, live subtitles, and music control. The 12MP camera films in 1440p at 30 FPS, while the internal 32GB storage can store up to 500 photos or 100 30-second videos. Two open-ear speakers and five microphones ensure good audio and recordings. The AI glasses are compatible with iOS 15.2 and Android 10, and corrective lenses from -4 to 4 diopters are also possible. Meta offers the Ray-Ban Display in black and sand colors and with transition lenses, in two sizes: Standard and Large (144mm to 150mm width). Pricing and availability The price of the Meta Ray-Ban Display at launch will be $799 including the Neural Band, and the AI glasses will initially only be available to buy in the US starting September 30th, 2025. Europe is to follow in early 2026. Meta sees these smart glasses as an intermediate step between camera glasses and holographic AR models—technology that you wear inconspicuously in day-to-day life instead of constantly staring at your smartphone. It remains to be seen whether Meta’s AI glasses will catch on, but neuro-control is an exciting development. Read...

Surprise! We woke up this morning to a blockbuster mashup between Intel and Nvidia. Team Green invested a cool $5 billion into Intel, and in exchange, the two companies will be co-creating consumer and data center x86 processors interwoven with Nvidia’s RTX graphics. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… MASS HYSTERIA! It’s simultaneously a shocking shakeup of the PC chip triumvirate (AMD must be fuming), a much-needed lifeline for struggling Intel, and a recipe for a potentially exciting future – the world’s foremost graphics pioneer joining forces with the company formerly known as Chipzilla. Imagine the possibilities! But I also have to ask myself at the same time: What does this mean for the future of Arc, Intel’s own in-house graphics project? Intel Arc’s short history shows promise… Arc is still in its infancy. Intel famously canceled its early “Larrabee” graphics architecture in the 2000s, which became a liability after the rise of Bitcoin and AI demonstrated the powerful potential of GPUs. Intel realized it missed the boat and rushed – slowly, at times – to orchestrate both the Arc brand and the Xe graphics architecture girding it. The first Arc graphics cards launched in just October 2022, delivering great value for its price despite an onslaught of annoying bugs. Intel diligently fixed those bugs over time, and by the time the second-gen Arc B580 launched in late 2024, we called it “the first worthy budget GPU of the decade.” And Arc’s underlying Xe graphics architecture now powers the integrated graphics in Intel’s CPUs too, bringing a notable spike in laptop gaming performance. …but potentially shaky foundations Software bugs aren’t the only problem that rears its head when you’re trying to break into a new field where Nvidia and AMD have a decades-long lead. Intel’s GPU hardware prowess isn’t up to par with its rivals yet either; this shows in the size of the discrete Arc GPU die sizes. Bigger dies are much more expensive to make. The $250 Arc B580’s die size is a relatively massive 292 mm. By contrast, Nvidia’s RTX 4060 was around 150 mm, while the RTX 5060 is around 181 mm. That matters. Intel’s Tom Peterson (a frequent guest on our Full Nerd podcast!) admitted last year that the Arc B580 is a “loss leader” – a product that costs the manufacturer money to sell, in the hopes of attracting customers. Intel figured it was worth eating that loss to build for a stronger GPU future. Intel’s partnership with Nvidia suddenly throws that into question, even though the company says no major changes are currently planned. “We’re not discussing specific roadmaps at this time, but the collaboration is complementary to Intel’s roadmap and Intel will continue to have GPU product offerings,” an Intel spokesperson told me. Intel needs strong GPUs to battle Nvidia in the data center, because AI is where the real money is. The consumer Arc cards are stepping stones to that goal. Now Nvidia is investing $5 billion into Intel – roughly a 5 percent stake, if the recent government investment is any indicator — to integrate RTX graphics into at least some Intel consumer CPUs, and to create data center solutions that interweave Intel’s x86 chips and Nvidia’s class-leading graphics. If a major investor is bringing GPU technology to Intel’s chips, spanning from consumer to enterprise, and gifting Intel a lifeline in the data center where AMD has been eating Intel’s lunch. Is Arc worth investing in separately anymore? Intel Arc’s certain yet uncertain future From a strategic standpoint, there’s certainly a case to keep Arc around. What if the Nvidia relationship suddenly goes sour despite the big money? The company is known to be a ruthless partner. Keeping Arc and Xe in motion protects against a potential future where Nvidia pulls the rug out from underneath Intel, especially since Xe (and seemingly this Nvidia partnership) touches everything from laptops to data center GPUs. Continued investment into internal GPUs makes so much sense for Intel’s future. But I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen. Bright futures have a way of bumping into ugly realities. Part of the reason this Intel-Nvidia mashup even happened is because Intel lost its manufacturing lead and has been hemorrhaging cash (and CEOs) ever since. Nvidia’s deal follows in the footsteps of the U.S. government taking a 10 percent stake in the company to help it stay afloat, and Intel selling off subsidiaries like RealSense cameras and Altera’s FPGA chips. Christian Wiediger / Unsplash Intel is scrambling to stay relevant, and Nvidia’s partnership is a major shot in the arm – not least by likely infusing Intel’s beleaguered 14A process, the current crown jewel of Intel’s foundry arm, with work from Nvidia and other companies inspired by Nvidia’s faith. Either way, don’t expect major announcements from Intel (who I’ve asked for comment) any time in the near future. “I don’t expect these platforms for 2-3 years,” Patrick Moorhead, an analyst who founded Moor Insights & Strategy and formerly served as an AMD executive, told me via direct message. “Both companies said there are no roadmap changes… on either side. “Now… what will the demand be for Arc be once these are in market by customers remains to be seen.” Xe and Arc have driven much-needed competition in the entry-level graphics card market this turbulent decade. I hope they manage to stick around. If not, Nvidia’s $5 billion investment could not only get the company a foothold in the x86 markets, but also drive a competitor out of the market. If that happens, that sky-high price tag will wind up looking like a downright bargain in the rearview mirror. In the meantime, the Intel Arc B580 remains the best budget GPU of the decade. Read...

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MicroSD cards are always useful to have on hand because you never know when you’ll need a bit of extra storage space for your devices. One of the best value microSD cards you can get right now is the Samsung Evo Select, which just so happens to be on sale today—act now and you can get the 256GB model for just $19.99 (that’s a 26 percent discount). This tiny little card is perfect for your devices, enabling you to store more pics, vids, and all sorts of files. With data transfer speeds of up to 160 MB/s, you can easily record 4K video without worrying about lag or skipped frames. The 256GB capacity can store nearly 12 hours of 4K footage or 100,000+ photos in 4K resolution. The Samsung Evo Select is compatible with a wide range of devices. Beyond just smartphones, you can use this card with tablets and handheld game consoles. It even comes with an SD adapter, making it more widely compatible, such as with your laptop. (Just remember that while this card will work great with the original Nintendo Switch models, it’s not compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2.) This is a solid price for a robust 256GB microSD, so get it with this discount while you can. Need a different size? Other variants of this card are also on sale right now: the 128GB model is $12.99 and the 512GB model is $34.99. Save 26% on Samsung`s reliable 256GB microSD card with SD adapterBuy now at Amazon Read...