Now that Windows 11's first major post-release update has been issued, Microsoft has started testing a huge collection of new features, UI changes, and redesigned apps in the latest Windows Insider preview for Dev channel users. By and large, the changes are significant and useful—there's an overhauled Task Manager, folders for pinned apps in the Start menu, the renewed ability to drag items into the Taskbar (as you could in Windows 10), improvements to the Do Not Disturb and Focus modes, new touchscreen gestures, and a long list of other fixes and enhancements.
But tucked away toward the bottom of the changelog is one unwelcome addition: like the Home edition of Windows 11, the Pro version will now require an Internet connection and a Microsoft account during setup. In the current version of Windows 11, you could still create a local user account during setup by not connecting your PC to the Internet—something that also worked in the Home version of Windows 10 but was removed in 11. That workaround will no longer be available in either edition going forward, barring a change in Microsoft's plans.
While most devices do require a sign-in to fully enable app stores, cloud storage, and cross-device sharing and syncing, Windows 11 will soon stand alone as the only major consumer OS that requires account sign-in to enable even basic functionality. Apple's Macs still allow for local account creation during setup, and you can skip signing in when you set up iPhones and iPads (an Internet connection is sometimes required for device activation, though). Android likewise needs an Internet account for activation but doesn't require signing in to get you to the home screen. Even Chrome OS has a guest mode that you can use to enable basic browsing without a user account.
Article note: Nice step. Now we just need it so _whole geographic areas_ don't have effective monopolies, and the definition of "broadband" isn't so watered down as to be meaningless.
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to ban the exclusive revenue-sharing deals between landlords and Internet service providers that prevent broadband competition in apartment buildings and other multi-tenant environments. The new ban and other rule changes were adopted in a 4-0 vote announced yesterday.
Although the FCC "has long banned Internet service providers from entering into sweetheart deals with landlords that guarantee they are the only provider in the building," evidence submitted to the commission "made it clear that our existing rules are not doing enough and that we can do more to pry open the door for providers who want to offer competitive service in apartment buildings," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in her statement on the vote. The broadband industry has sidestepped rules that already exist with "a complex web of agreements between incumbent service providers and landlords that keep out competitors and undermine choice," she said.
With the new rules, "we ban exclusive revenue sharing agreements, where the provider agrees with the building that only it and no other provider can give the building owner a cut of the revenue from the building. We also ban graduated revenue sharing agreements, which increase the percentage of revenue that the broadband provider directs to the landlord as the number of tenants served by the provider go up," Rosenworcel said. Rosenworcel had circulated the proposal to commissioners in late January.
Article note: I've long been an advocate of walking and/or exercising as the best thing for getting one's mind (back) in order... but I'm not sure if I could physically do their sample exercise, that's intense.
Article note: Huh. Interesting. I don't generally love consolidation, but neither of them are single players in their market.
If it leads to "rental VMs that behave like computers transparently fronted by a CDN" products, that could be a really nice offering for small-to-medium customers.
Article note: Man, this thing is getting traction in the media.
It _is_ far and away one of the most polished and practical machines of it's sort if seen, but lots of people are building little custom machines in odd form-factors. Most of that activity is under the "cyberdeck" name.
If someone is using a handheld PC these days, it's almost certainly a smartphone. But a Raspberry Pi has a way of bringing out an enthusiast's retro side. Add in some old console parts and a true mechanical keyboard, and you've got a DIY PC that can fit in the palm of your hand.
Called the Penkesu and shared via GitHub by a user known as Penk Chen, the project is described as "a homebrew retro-style handheld PC." It uses a 7.9-inch touchscreen with a 400 x 1,280 resolution and a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. Other electronic parts include a 3.7 V Li-Po battery and Adafruit PowerBoost 1000C for power.
Chen 3D-printed the PC's chassis and shared the corresponding STL files and STEP file. The maker also used replacement hinges for the Game Boy Advance SP to allow the PC to fold shut.
A bill that prohibits requiring masks at Kentucky public schools, colleges and child care centers advanced Tuesday in the General Assembly. House Bill 51, introduced by State Rep. Lynn Bechler, … Click to Continue »
“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision”
