Software giant Microsoft and Chinese computer maker Lenovo have entered into a $1.2 billion agreement for Lenovo to pre-install Windows operating systems on its computers during the next year, including systems to be sold in China, where Lenovo is the leading computer manufacturer. Lenovo’s deal to pre-install legitimate copies of Windows on new computers is part of the two companies’ global efforts to combat software piracy.
Lenovo plans to pre-install Windows on its computers worldwide, but a considerable portion of those machines will be sold in China, where rampant software piracy has stunted development of western software enterprises like Microsoft. By ensuring new systems are sold with legitimate copies of Windows pre-installed, the companies hope to take some incentive away from pirates.
Although the overall impact of the $1.2 billion deal on Microsoft’s overall finances isn’t clear (since it would supersede existing deals between Lenovo and Microsoft: the companies describe the deal as “reaffirming” existing deals rather than establishing a new one) the amount represents about 10 percent of the annual revenue posted by Microsoft’s Windows division during its most recent fiscal year.
According to Lenovo Chairman Yang Yuanqing, speaking at a press event at Microsoft’s Redmond campus yesterday, about 70 percent of Lenovo’s Chinese customers are choosing PCs with Windows pre-installed; that number has risen from just 10 percent prior to Lenovo’s licensing agreements with Microsoft.
Microsoft has also announced recent deals with other Chinese PC makers: TCL Group has announced a $60 million Windows licensing arrangement, China’s Tsinghua Tongfang Co., (China’s third largest PC maker) said it would spend $120 million on Windows over the next three years, and last week China’s Founder Technology Group, China’s second-largest PC maker, announced a three-year, $250 million Windows licensing deal.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.