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Enlarge / Microsoft's Project Volterra is an Arm-powered developer desktop launching later this year. This image depicts two Volterra boxes stacked on top of one another. (credit: Microsoft)

Windows on Arm is arguably as successful as it has ever been—you can buy multiple Arm-powered Windows laptops and tablets, and those devices can run nearly the entire range of available Windows apps thanks to x86-to-Arm code translation. That said, Windows on Arm still accounts for just a fraction of the entire Windows ecosystem, and native Arm apps for the platform are still relatively rare.

At its Build developer conference today, Microsoft made a few announcements aimed at bolstering Windows on Arm. The first is Project Volterra, a Microsoft-branded mini-desktop computer powered by an unnamed Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. More relevant for developers who already have Arm hardware, Volterra will be accompanied by a fully Arm-native suite of developer tools.

According to Microsoft's blog post, the company will be releasing ARM-native versions of Visual Studio 2022 and VSCode, Visual C++, Modern .NET 6, the classic .NET framework, Windows Terminal, and both the Windows Subsystem for Linux and Windows Subsystem for Android. Arm-native versions of these apps will allow developers to run them without the performance penalty associated with translating x86 code to run on Arm devices—especially helpful given that Arm Windows devices usually don't have much performance to spare.

Enlarge (credit: Nvidia)

A 24-inch PC monitor with the ability to update its image 500 times per second will be available soon, Asus and Nvidia announced Tuesday. The monitor should boost desktop monitors from the 360 Hz max native refresh rate they see today while putting a mysterious new spin on an old panel technology.

Aptly named the Asus ROG Swift 500 Hz Gaming Monitor, it manages high refresh rates with lower resolution. The 1920×1080 screen leverages a new take on TN (twisted nematic) panels called E-TN, with the "E" standing for esports. According to Asus, the E-TN panel offers "60 percent better response times than standard TN panels," and in its own announcement, Nvidia claimed the E-TN panel brings "maximum motion and clarity." But neither detailed how the technology differs from regular TN.

Standard TN panels have been becoming less common among PC monitor releases as IPS (in-plane switching) and VA (vertical alignment) panels continue catching up in speed while being known for stronger viewing angles, in the case of IPS, and larger contrast ratios, in the case of VA. Those opting for TN are willing to sacrifice some image quality in the name of speed or, often, lower prices. It's unclear how much sacrifice E-TN may require (besides a max resolution of 1080p) or how much of a premium it'll have compared to today's standard TN monitors.

With the film's release mere weeks away, Marvel Studios finally released the official full trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder last night during Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

As I've reported previously, Thor: Ragnorak director Taika Waititi signed on for the fourth installment of the Thor films in 2019, adapting elements from the Mighty Thor comic books by Jason Aaron. (He'd read them while making Ragnarok.) That storyline follows Jane Foster being diagnosed with breast cancer and eventually becoming the Mighty Thor. Natalie Portman, who plays Foster in the franchise, has said both those elements will be in the film. (The Internet was abuzz when set photos of Portman leaked in March 2021, showing just how much muscle the diminutive actress had gained for the role.)

Per the official synopsis:

Enlarge / The "See more dates" option will soon appear on iOS and Android. (credit: Google)

Today is the 15th birthday of Google Maps Street View, Google's project to take ground-level, 360-degree photographs of the entire world. To celebrate, the company is rolling out a few new features.

First up, Google is bringing historical Street View data to iOS and Android phones. The feature has long existed on desktop browsers, where you can click into Street View mode and then time travel through Google's image archives. When you tap on a place to see Street View imagery, a "see more dates" button will appear next to the current age of the photo, letting you browse all the photos for that area going back to 2007. Google says the feature will release "starting today on Android and iOS globally," though, like all Google product launches, it will take some time to fully roll out.

If you'd like to help Google with its plan to photograph the entire world, the company is launching "Street View Studio." Google calls this "a new platform with all the tools you need to publish 360 image sequences quickly and in bulk." The Street View app is still around for people who want to build a 360 photosphere from a regular smartphone camera, but Google imagines Street View Studio as a tool for people with consumer 360 cameras. Google has a store-style page that lists compatible 360 cameras; the options range from sub-$200 fisheye cameras to the $3,600, ball-shaped Insta360 Pro, which looks like something out of Star Wars.

Sony's confusing new multi-tiered PlayStation Plus subscription plan has now launched in multiple Asian territories (outside Japan) ahead of a worldwide launch planned for the coming weeks. But users in those regions are finding that some of the classic games on the service are unexpectedly running slower than they remembered.

Video Games Chronicle has confirmed that first-party original PlayStation games (i.e., those published by Sony) available on PlayStation Plus in Asia are the European versions designed to run on the PAL video standard. That makes some sense in countries like Indonesia, which natively used that 50 Hz video format during the original PlayStation's heyday. But the PAL versions are also being offered for download in countries like Taiwan, which used the 60 Hz NTSC format of standard-definition TVs in North America and Japan, among other countries.

The result is games that run at slower and less consistent frame rates on modern displays, as seen in this sample video. Third-party classic PlayStation Plus titles, on the other hand, are available in the NTSC format.

Enlarge / Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies via video conference during a House antitrust subcommittee hearing on online platforms and market power on July 29, 2020. (credit: Getty Images)

Mark Zuckerberg was sued Monday by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, who says the Facebook founder should be held financially responsible for the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The lawsuit was filed in DC Superior Court and demands that Zuckerberg pay civil penalties and restitution or damages.

"We're suing Mark Zuckerberg for his role in Facebook's misleading privacy practices and failure to protect millions of users' data," Racine wrote on Twitter. "Our investigation shows extensive evidence that Zuckerberg was personally involved in failures that led to the Cambridge Analytica incident. This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary. Misleading consumers, exposing their data, and violating the law come with consequences, not only for companies that breach that trust, but also corporate executives."

Racine's lawsuit says that "Facebook's 2010 decision to open up the Facebook Platform to third parties" was "the brainchild of Zuckerberg." This change let developers "access the massive trove of user data that Facebook had collected through the 'side door' of applications," the lawsuit said, continuing: