Daniel Rubino

Editor-in-chief @WindowsCentral covering PC, AI, and gaming. 🏴

📧 [email protected]
🕸️

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

Rewatch today's Windows Central Podcast.

We talked about XBOX vs. Windows for the heart of Helix; should XBOX games go exclusive, AMD FSR 4.1 is almost here, and some thoughts on the ASUS ProArt P16 review (going live tomorrow AM).

https://t.co/vLHoDf3bP9

[Windows Central @WindowsCentral]

Are Windows and Xbox at ODDS with each other? Windows Central Podcast LIVE with @daniel_rubino and @zacbowden https://t.co/KjBWxL56ak

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

@ASUS It's also really good-looking (and has some of the best thermals, which is wild considering how thin/light it is).

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

I've spent a few weeks with the @ASUS ProArt P16. Actually, two of them. One 4K/128GB/2TB and the other 3K/64GB/1TB.

Both are extremely impressive and I think the top-choice for RTX Spark. It's also (by far) the lighest 16-inch laptop at 3.9lbs (MacBook Pro 16 is 4.7lbs), with outstanding hardware.

ASUS is an interesting company. For those of us who cover tech, we've all seen the change in the last 3 years where they went from "some good ideas, buuut .. they fail in these areas" to "Damn, this is awesome."

Anyway, my deep dive on why I think this is one of the best Windows laptops I've ever used. While nothing is perfect, and RTX Spark has some Gen1 growing pains, this is a really fun PC to use for creative work, agentic AI workflows, and yeah, even gaming on the side.

My full review:
🔗
https://t.co/6Y9o6VxX2S

[Jez @JezCorden]

AMD FSR 4.1 beta drivers are out on Xbox Ally X, gonna put together a video over the weekend and still some tweaks to do but the results are impressive so far.

It's mad not having to make huge compromises in AAA games on a handheld when it works well. 👏

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

You almost have to separate whether the Duo is a perfect $2,000 phone from whether it's strategically important.

It's clearly not perfect. But Apple has finally entered a completely new iPhone form factor, and arguably that's something people have been asking the company to do for years.

Some more thoughts on Apple ⤵️

[Schwab Network @SchwabNetwork]

Melissa Otto and @Daniel_Rubino share their take on $AAPL's iPhone Duo, which was released in stores today.

Rubino tells @NPetallides that it's strategically important for Apple and could be the future for many smartphones, while Otto adds that the larger screen could give consumers a compelling reason to use Apple's services more frequently.

For more market news, tune in at: https://t.co/VDhK7JB2vx

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

Hah, jokes on them; I just assumed Google was selling all my data anyway.

Anyway, none of this is surprising, though it is regrettable.

https://t.co/mFFATUbftQ

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

@MrKrueger70 @Rep_Walkinshaw @elonmusk Take it up with Rubio, who said it was Elon 🤷‍♂️

https://t.co/Xxh6WWeBJr

[Jimmy Rushton @JimmySecUK]

Nobody wants to own up to crippling Ukraine's military communications: Marco Rubio is now stating that SpaceX has the ability to modify the operation of Starshield without the direction or consent of the American government.

[Jez @JezCorden]

New Xbox Play Anywhere game "Moadra."

- Metroidvania style.
- Evolve and progress by absorbing biomass from enemies.
- You're fighting to uncover the truth behind the destruction of your civilization.
- Up now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Xbox Ally-optimized too.

[Windows Central @WindowsCentral]

Are Windows and Xbox at ODDS with each other? Windows Central Podcast LIVE with @daniel_rubino and @zacbowden https://t.co/KjBWxL56ak

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

Nice to see after being announced earlier this week.

[Windows Central @WindowsCentral]

AMD has rolled out FSR 4.1 beta drivers for the Xbox Ally, Ally X, and Ally X20.

All three handhelds can now download the update, giving players access to AMD’s latest upscaling improvements and early performance enhancements.

Full story
🔗
https://t.co/qB4hwMDLuA

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

@MrKrueger70 @Rep_Walkinshaw @elonmusk Then why are you out here defending him?

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

@sentdefender I went to their website. Turns out, they wrote more than 1 story today. It's kind of crazy, almost like you don't have to read this one or even give it airtime.

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

@MrKrueger70 @Rep_Walkinshaw @elonmusk Elon can speak for himself, he doesn't need you to defend him.

[Arc @arcinternet]

We've decided to sunset Arc on December 22, 2026.

That's not an easy sentence to write. We spent years building Arc and celebrating each and every release along the way: we have so much pride and love for what we made alongside the Arc community.

Our priority is to deliver best-in-class security for our members. Keeping a browser secure takes constant, dedicated work that is only increasing in the age of AI. Dia was built from the ground up to meet today’s security standards, so that's where our engineering and security teams will focus moving forward.

We've worked to make switching to @diabrowser as easy as possible for Arc members. Here's how:

· Your passwords, bookmarks, extensions and history come over to Dia seamlessly.
· Spaces, Folders, and Tab Groups are in Dia and import over with your data intact.
· Dia now surpasses Arc benchmarks in stability, speed, and security.
· The browser features you use in Arc are free in Dia, and the AI is optional.

Thank you for using Arc, for pushing us to make it better, and for building alongside us. The team that made Arc is the same team behind Dia, and some of our most ambitious work is just ahead. We'd love for you to be there with us when it lands.

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

"Before we play any game successfully, we first need to understand the rules."

You're taking the metaphor of a game a bit too literally when talking about survival and evolution. Indeed, 99.9% of the animal kingdom proves that you don't need to understand "the game" (life, survival) to thrive.

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

Finally, you can all have this very mid wallpaper.

(Full-resolution version coming soon.)

[Windows Central @WindowsCentral]

Microsoft showed off a gorgeous new wallpaper during its RTX Spark launch, but didn't release it. Instead, a regular user had to track it down.

Hidden in Microsoft's 'Retail Demo Experience' files, it's finally out in the wild 👇

https://t.co/UHpxx5Idg6

[Daniel Rubino @Daniel_Rubino]

Sobering read.

[AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️ @AISafetyMemes]

This is the most serious 48 hours in cybersecurity history.

"Black October" they're calling it

It seems every *hour* there's a new incident, that in a typical year, would be one of the biggest incidents of the *entire year*

SUMMARY OF THE LAST 48 HOURS:

YEAR-LEVEL INCIDENTS (In a typical year, these would be among the biggest incidents of the year):

1. PHP2Shell: a hole in the software behind ~70% of websites. Governments took sites offline.
2. eMudhra: the master keys that prove websites are real were cracked. One was the number 4.
3. California: data on every public school student since 2023 stolen, including disability status
4. Railway: hackers stole customers' secret keys from a hosting platform used by millions of developers
5. Zeabur: 321,810 accounts breached. The company is shutting down.
6. LiteLLM: an AI tool downloaded 3.4 million times a day was poisoned with a password stealer
7. GitLab: a 10-out-of-10 severity hole in every version since 2014
8. Cairn: criminals used an AI hacking tool to break into 100+ companies
9. Ahold Delhaize: hackers knocked the owner of Food Lion and Stop & Shop offline
10. Onamae: malware planted on up to 26,739 customer servers in Japan

MONTH-LEVEL INCIDENTS (In a typical month, these would be among the biggest incidents):

11. Signal: a bug could leave your mic and camera on after you hang up
12. NGINX: 3 critical holes in software running ~1/3 of websites
13. HTTP/3: a single connection can crash 7 of the 10 web server types tested
14. Plex: hackers breaking into home media servers
15. SafePay ransomware: FBI warns it has hit 600+ critical infrastructure organizations
16. Palo Alto: ransomware gangs breaking in through company firewalls
17. Bullhorn: platform used by 10,000+ companies knocked offline
18. Medi-Cal: 970,000 patients' data stolen
19. WordPress: hackers stole a plugin maker's keys and used them to plant backdoors on websites
20. AOMEI: backup software's update server handed out a backdoor
21. Meta Muse: Meta's AI agent exposed users' personal and business secrets
22. Tor: 333 relays hijacked to steal logins
23. TiDB Cloud: database company's cloud breached

Also serious:

24. State Bank of India: India's biggest bank confirms a data breach
25. OVHcloud: hackers slipped a password stealer into a cloud company's official tool
26. Siemens: a software hole being used to spread malware
27. North Korea: state hackers launch a new attack campaign on South Korea

[Jez @JezCorden]

Unboxing the new Razer Wolverine V4 Pro for Xbox and PC.

Removable back buttons, TMR anti drift sticks, trigger locks, premium feel, improved radios.

Full review on Windows Central soon.

[Min-Liang Tan @minliangtan]

Maybe we should do a collab with a fast food chain - can you guys tag your favorite chains so we can figure out which ones that gamers actually love?

[Scott Hanselman 🌮 @shanselman]

Editing and exporting 4K video, running a AAA game, and running copilot all at the same time on a @surface laptop ultra