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The Download: expanded carrier screening, and how Southeast Asia plans to get to space

The Download: expanded carrier screening, and how Southeast Asia plans to get to space

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Expanded carrier screening: Is it worth it? Carrier screening  tests would-be parents for hidden genetic mutations that might affect their children. It initially involved testing for specific genes in at-risk populations. Expanded carrier…

China mulls $70 billion domestic chip fabrication injection, would be largest of any government semiconductor investment — Huawei and Cambricon among candidates in push to compete with Nvidia, other U.S. firms

China mulls $70 billion domestic chip fabrication injection, would be largest of any government semiconductor investment — Huawei and Cambricon among candidates in push to compete with Nvidia, other U.S. firms

China is considering investing up to an additional $70 billion in its domestic chip manufacturers in an effort to better compete with US firms like Nvidia. Although exact figures and investment strategies have yet to be decided, this move would be in line with China's "whole nation" approach to tackling its chip shortages.

Get 40 percent off MasterClass subscriptions for the holiday season

Get 40 percent off MasterClass subscriptions for the holiday season

If you want to learn a new skill in the new year or brush up on some skills you already have, MasterClass could be a good option for you. It's even more accessible now that the company is running a holiday promotion that knocks 40 percent off subscriptions. For the top-tier Premium plan, which includes offline mode and use on up to six devices, you'll pay $144 for the year instead of the usual $240. The entry-level plan, which supports just one device and doesn't offer offline viewing, is marked down to $72 from $120. Over the past few years, MasterClass has grown to over 200 classes, sessions and original series. You can learn about entrepreneurship from Richard Branson, screenwriting from Aaron Sorkin, cooking from Gordon Ramsay and heaps more. Each of these offers classes in a one-on-one format with slick instructional videos and often workbooks to accompany them. MasterClass also appears on our list of the best subscription gifts for this Christmas. Loved ones will enjoy superb production quality and a rich library where they are sure to find something that piques their interest. Gift subscriptions can also be scheduled, so you can take advantage of the current sale even for future gifts. If you're buying it for yourself, know that MasterClass offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Whether you're looking to learn about business from Kim Kardashian or basketball skills from Steph Curry, MasterClass can help you expand your horizons in 2026. The "Holiday Head Start Offer" is available through December 15. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-40-percent-off-masterclass-subscriptions-for-the-holiday-season-150520505.html?src=rss

FileMaker Pro -- the massive hit no one realises is Apple's

FileMaker Pro -- the massive hit no one realises is Apple's

FileMaker Pro is the biggest Windows app that Apple makes, it and its Mac version are a crucial part of small and enterprises businesses, and it was nearly owned by Microsoft. Here's the story of the huge Apple hit you might never have used. FIleMaker Pro — a home and a livelihood for so many people It's also possible that you've used FileMaker Pro without actually realising it. Not because you didn't look up to see the app's name in the menubar, but because it is a tool for making other tools. FileMaker Pro is used to make database apps, many of which just run inside this one, but many others are sold separately. If you develop FileMaker Pro databases, you could roll them out across your company, or your customers, you can have it power websites and iPad data-collecting apps. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

I added a Bluetooth toggle to Windows 11’s taskbar and wish I did sooner

I added a Bluetooth toggle to Windows 11’s taskbar and wish I did sooner

Bluetooth on your laptop or desktop PC can be extremely handy for connecting devices in a heartbeat. But when the Bluetooth toggle refuses to show up on your taskbar it can be very annoying, forcing you to go track down Bluetooth submenus. Obviously, you want it available at a moment’s notice, and if it’s not showing up you can be slowed down from connecting — or just find it impossible to connect your Bluetooth devices whatsoever if you’re not tech-savvy. Here’s how to fix it. What to do: In the Search bar type Bluetooth and choose Bluetooth and other device settings . In the next window be sure Bluetooth is turned on. Then scroll down and look for More Bluetooth settings . Now be sure to tick the Show Bluetooth icon in the notification area. Hit Apply and Ok . Dominic Bayley / Foundry And that’s it. Now you should see the Bluetooth icon in the notification area. To connect a device, simply double-click the icon and select Add device . Then follow the prompts to add your Bluetooth-enabled device. That’s a wrap for this edition of Try This! For more tips and tricks delivered to your inbox be sure to subscribe to our PCWorld Try This newsletter .

AMD hyped FSR Redstone hard. The reality is underwhelming

AMD hyped FSR Redstone hard. The reality is underwhelming

Each December, our crew looks back on the whole year. One episode dedicated to our top hardware picks. One episode devoted to the success (and failures) of our early predictions. To ready myself, I’ve been reviewing the highs and lows of 2025. FSR Redstone’s launch really encapsulates the last 11 months. AMD first teased the arrival of its supercharged, graphics-enhancing tech for Radeon RX 9000 series cards in mid-November via Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 . The game’s launch contained a new machine-learning version of ray regeneration—and then just days later, the company hinted at a full release on December 10. It didn’t say much after that. It didn’t launch much, either. That’s how the situation feels, at least. Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the surprising topics on our YouTube show or latest news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website ! The official debut of FSR Redstone comprises four technologies—FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. Machine learning powers the whole set. AMD touts Upscaling and Frame Gen as “new” due to the upgrade. Ray Regeneration is truly new, applying deep learning to the denoising of ray-traced scenes. Radiance Caching will also be new when it drops in 2026, striking a middle-ground approach to global illumination via projections, rather than real-time calculations. (Is a product launched if it isn’t accessible until the coming year? Perhaps I’m just a stickler.) Hit the AMD website and you’ll see about 200 games listed as supporting FSR Redstone—that is, “one or more” of the technologies. That group narrows considerably to just 32 titles for Frame Generation. And Ray Regeneration? That only exists in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 right now. You wouldn’t be wrong to look at Redstone as mainly enhanced upscaling, with the promise of further visual enhancements down the road. But you may not want them. As early benchmarks show, the relatively limited group of Radeon GPU owners who even have access to Redstone may not get much use out of it—or that much of an improvement over earlier FSR iterations. Tim Scheisser at Hardware Unboxed dissects Frame Generation’s irregular frame pacing, and how the subsequent judder likely will affect those with variable refresh rate monitors much more adversely. Meanwhile, Steve Burke and the Gamers Nexus team dug into latency, showing similar lag when using Redstone vs. FSR 3.1—so still a killer for certain games and game modes. Games look prettier with FSR Redstone tech on, but it also currently comes with performance trade-offs. AMD The situation isn’t all bad, of course. The Gamers Nexus video has a fun quiz embedded in its coverage, asking viewers to identify the FSR 3.1 vs. FSR Redstone in a split-screen comparison. I could immediately spot the Redstone version. It’s prettier. And as Hardware Unboxed’s testing showed, Redstone is capable of outperforming Nvidia’s competing DLSS tech in image quality for select details, making the tussle between the two companies closer to even. But as a value-add for existing Radeon customers (and a select group at that—remember, Redstone features only work on current Radeon 9000-series graphics cards), this Redstone launch feels underwhelming. Yes, the promise is definitely there. Yes, AMD has proved before that it can and does improve its technologies. Yes, competition is good and necessary for healthy consumer choice. At the same time, PC gamers find themselves staring down the barrel of a hardware apocalypse, where building new or even upgrading may become outright unaffordable. If software is to be our saving grace —if tech giants’ claim that newer GPU architectures will continue to show smaller rasterized performance gains—this feels like an ill omen for the future. “Enshittification” is a term we’ve used on the show before, coined by Cory Doctorow several years ago. The overwhelming majority of 2025 has felt like a turbulent version of that process, simultaneously accelerated and erratic. Redstone isn’t necessarily an outcome of enshittification, but boy, does it drive the point home. Hardware? Too expensive. Software to bridge the gap? Full of compromises and future promises. In a year full of big statements and lackluster delivery, I don’t like this launch as a capstone. But maybe that’s the era we’re in. Consumers won’t matter to businesses until they realize that, actually, we do. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd , Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith discuss Crucial’s unceremonious end at Micron’s hands, the return of 32-bit PhysX , and a rumored extension on B650’s lifespan . You all of course caught some of my thoughts already on Crucial last week, but both Will and Brad weigh in with very relevant points—including the affect on PC vendors like Dell and HP. The most unexpected (and maybe unwanted) revelation: Will is willing to touch poop with his bare hands and admit it live on camera. To quote one YouTube comment, “Unhinged preshow today.” Maybe a little, yes. It was that kind of show this week. Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel , and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community —it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s offensive nerd news I exaggerate some, but Kohler’s attitude toward its toilet cam stinks. As does its crappy spin on privacy and encryption. I’m gonna be that party pooper that reminds y’all to always weigh convenience against security…and to dig into the details of any security measures. Thankfully, not all interesting news this week reeks. Well. Sort of. I … yeah. No thanks to this poop cam. Kohler Health Poo by any other name : Kohler obviously doesn’t understand what EE2E means for encryption. Or know about other, sketchier uses for toilet cams. Backup, backup, backup : An AI-flavored reminder that you should always have good backups on hand, in case of catastrophe. Or possibly predictable outcomes. JavaScript was created in 10 days? I am so unproductive compared to early internet pioneers. Speaking of bloat : Given our complaints on the show this week about Windows 11’s resource hogging, the only obvious solution to our problem is this crazy lightweight Linux distro. Or that’s what I imagine Will saying to me at some point. A case for aging gracefully : I suppose we all must accept that white plastic won’t stay white, and not interfere with nature taking its course. Are you entitled to AT&T settlement money? PSA: The deadline got extended until December 18, so get in those last claims if you qualify! So brown. Noctua/Prusa Speaking of poop brown : If you love Noctua’s commitment to earth tones, now you can replicate its exact color scheme with a 3D printer. Would I go back? Eh : Operation Bluebird wants to reclaim Twitter as a trademark, now that use of the name and the logo have been abandoned. I’m not sure if we can go back to those halcyon days where we only ever described our breakfasts in two sentences, though. “Divide by zero, go to hell” : Or so famously said one of my college’s professors. Perhaps he knew just how bad such attempts would go. Update Notepad++ if you haven’t already! Traffic jacking led to malware downloads instead of legit updates. You’ll want version 8.8.9 for the patched version, and you’ll have to do the update manually. Not a friendly rivalry : I can’t imagine having a budget that would accommodate $50,000 of computer replacements/repairs. Much less creating that amount of damage. In just a few days, I’ll be making my nominations for the best of 2025—along with the worst trend of the year. I have petitioned Adam to let us name more than one trend, because [ waves hands at everything ]. Catch you all next week… ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung , founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.