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You might not have heard about AMD’s ROCm. It (unofficially) stands for Radeon Open Compute PlatforM—a pretty terrible acronym—and it’s pronounced “rock ’em.” This is a way for programs to take advantage of the computing power in a graphics card instead of a CPU. Think of it as a software accelerator, sort of like AMD’s version of Nvidia CUDA. And it’s about to become a lot more relevant. PCWorld contributor Will Smith got to speak with Andrej Zdravkovic, Senior Vice President of GPU Technologies at AMD. While ROCm is mostly relevant for large-scale “big iron” enterprise applications right now, the latest changes are making it more relevant for regular Windows users. How so? Well, the new HIP (Heterogeneous Interface for Portability) SDK. It’s a bit of special sauce that lets programs designed to use CUDA and similar systems tap into ROCm’s power to leverage Radeon graphics cards. And it has the potential to be a huge game-changer. Basically, any local program that needs extra power—from AI applications to rendering to file processing and beyond—can benefit from this, with only small tweaks needed to get existing code up and running in most cases. Check out the full video interview above for the technical ins and outs. And for more deep dives into the latest PC tech, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld and The Full Nerd Network on YouTube. Read...

Microsoft is sending the next annual feature update for Windows 11, version 25H2, out to the Release Preview channel for testing beginning today. It’s a signal that Windows 11 25H2 will arrive on your PC soon, as September quickly approaches. Actually, chances are that you have most of the bits associated with Windows 11 H2 on your PC right now. Microsoft is servicing both Windows 11 24H2 as well as Windows 11 25H2 on the same servicing branch, and the 25H2 update will be pushed to your PC as an “enablement package.” In simpler terms, this means that Microsoft has simply sent most of the code in Windows 11 25H2 to your PC already, and the only thing left to do will be to turn the new, updated features on. The enablement package will basically be a standard patch, delivered to your PC by Windows Update. How big the patch is and how long it will take to install is basically determined by your habits: if you’ve previously kept your PC up to date, there won’t be that much code to install and the process should go far more quickly than the sizeable Windows 11 24H2 update that took place late last year. In June, Microsoft pitched the Windows 11 25H2 update as “as easy as a restart.” It will be rolled out in the “second half of 2025,” Microsoft said then. Naturally, there will be bugs — though with a smaller update hopefully they will be minimal. You can always postpone the Windows 11 25H2 Update by using the “Pause updates” control in Windows Update. That will buy you seven weeks until Microsoft forces you to apply new patches, including Windows 11 25H2. Usually, there’s a small cadre of what Microsoft calls “seekers” that flip on the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle in Windows Update, and those users will receive Windows 11 25H2 first. When should you get Windows 11 25H2? Typically, Microsoft’s fall release happens in September or October. I’d expect it to roll out in September, since it’s on the smaller side. What new features are expected in Windows 11 25H2? Typically, Microsoft tests a variety of new features throughout the year, in the Canary, Dev, Beta, and Release Preview Channels. Microsoft pushes some of these features out via app updates; with others, it enables them as part of the feature update. Here’s some of what we expect. Start’s mobile sidebar By Windows 11 25H2, Microsoft should be making its Start mobile sidebar available to all PCs that connect the PC to either an iPhone or preferably an Android phone. While that doesn’t do away with the Your Phone application, it’s an easy way to see if you have messages that need replying to, for example. Microsoft Supposedly, you should be able to resume an app that you’ve begun on your Android phone and launch it on your PC via the Your Phone app, too. New category views within Start Similarly, Microsoft is tweaking the Start menu to show off different views, such as a new “category” layout. That should appear in Windows 11 25H2, though it’s not guaranteed. Both the mobile sidebar and the new category views should be adjustable via the Personalization > Start menu within Windows Settings. Improved Settings Page Microsoft has shown off an improved Settings page with “cards” that show off the highlights of your system at the very top. Microsoft added this to via the 25H2 release schedule earlier this year, so it should be available this fall as well. Likewise, the “smarter” Settings should respond to queries using AI. Microsoft Semantic search Microsoft unveiled semantic search in the 25H2 Canary Channel earlier in August. Essentially, it allows you to search for a file using its characteristics (“the presentation I made to the town council”)without knowing the exact file name. Quick Machine Recovery An under-the-hood change, Quick Machine Recovery should facilitate issues when your computer crashes. Instead of putting the onus on you to solve your own problems, what QMR claims to do is search out the solution on Microsoft’s servers and apply it itself. Click-to-Do improvements Microsoft also is adding new contextual features to Click-to-Do, such as describing an image or converting a table to Excel, with just a right-click of the mouse. Microsoft Read...

As they suffered through yet another service outage that left them unable to access their locally stored TV recordings, many Tablo over-the-air DVR users were asking themselves—and Tablo—one question: When will we finally get an offline mode?  The answer, it turns out, is today. On the official Tablo blog, Tablo manufacturer Nuvyyo announced that it’s rolling out a long-promised feature that allows users of the fourth-generation Table DVRs to watch live TV with an antenna and stream previously recorded over-the-air TV shows even when their internet goes out or Tablo servers go down.  Tablo’s new offline mode comes a few weeks after Tablo DVR users endured a pair of server outages that briefly locked them out of live and recorded over-the-air TV streams and temporarily blanked out their electronic programming guides.  There have been plenty of other Tablo outages in the past too, enough so that Tablo owners have long been asking for an offline mode that would allow them to access live TV via an antenna, as well as their recorded OTA shows when Tablo’s servers are inaccessible.  The new offline mode (first reported by Cord Cutters News) has some quirks, including the fact that it can’t be activated manually. Instead, your Tablo DVR will prompt you to enable offline mode if it detects your internet is offline or the Tablo service is down or spotty.   Also, your Tablo must be online and able to retrieve the current time from your ISP prior to going into offline mode. If, say, your Tablo reboots during an internet outage, the offline mode won’t work. (Tablo says it’s “working on a solution” to this limitation.)  Finally, your home router must be powered on and working to connect the Tablo DVR to client devices, including TVs and streaming players.  For now, Tablo’s offline mode is working only for Amazon Fire TV and Android TV versions of the Tablo app; it will be available “later this week” (it’s Friday as of this writing) for Apple TV, iOS, and Roku. Users of the Samsung, LG, and Android versions of the Tablo app will get offline mode in the “coming months.”  Tablo DVRs in offline mode will only have limited features. Live streaming channels from the internet won’t be available (of course), nor will you be able to browse the Home or Guide screens for upcoming shows. And while you’ll have access to up to 14 days of “basic” programming guide information, you won’t be able to schedule new recordings.  Even with those limitations, it’s good to hear Tablo users won’t be blocked from watching over-the-air TV, live or otherwise, when their internet conks out or if Tablo’s own servers gives up the ghost. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best over-the-air DVRs. Read...

OLED monitors aren’t exactly cheap, but Dell subsidiary Alienware definitely has some of the best bang-for-your-buck value in this space. The first model it offered is still popular for exactly that reason, and today you can get that ultrawide OLED gaming monitor at a deep discount. It’s $549.99 right now on Amazon (half its launch price of $1,099.99). The Alienware AW3423DWF is a 34-inch ultrawide curved design, using the semi-standard 3440×1440 resolution. That means this is basically a 27-inch monitor stretched out to the cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio. On top of that gorgeous OLED panel with its near-perfect contrast, it’s packing a 165Hz refresh rate. While that isn’t as fast as some more recent OLED gaming monitors, it should be enough to make your desktop PC sweat with newer 3D games at full resolution. It also supports a standard VESA mount, so you can easily add a monitor arm. You can check out PCWorld’s full review for more details. This monitor comes with plenty of ports for multiple consoles or desktops—one HDMI, double DisplayPort, five USB-A, but no USB-C support so it’s not a great choice if your only gaming device is a laptop. But even a couple of years after it debuted, it’s one of the best deals around. You simply won’t find a new ultrawide OLED at this size for this price. Amazon says this is a “limited time deal,” so it might not stick around for long, especially since it’s been replaced with a newer Alienware model. I’d get an order in quickly if it’s what you want. If not, be sure to check out PCWorld’s selections for the best monitors on the market. Get an Alienware 34-inch ultrawide OLED gaming monitor for $550Buy now at AMazon Read...