Microsoft releases new Nvidia-chip AI PCs with revamped Windows 11

TechCrunchOct 7, 2026Oct 7, 2026, 4:22 PM AST

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra is one of the first PCs to use Nvidia's RTX Spark chip, designed to run AI models and agents on the device rather than in the cloud. Microsoft says the chip's CPU, GPU and unified memory let the laptop handle local AI work, and a revamped Windows 11 adds Execution Containers for sandboxing AI agents. The two base models start at $2,600 and $3,700.

Summary written with AI by HowTechMoves, based on reporting by TechCrunch.

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Hardware
MIT Technology ReviewOct 16, 2026
This implant can restore sight for patients with macular degeneration
In macular degeneration, the light-sensing cells in the eye die but the rest of the retina's circuitry survives. The Prima system uses camera glasses and a pocket processor to convert video into near-infrared light, which a 378-pixel implant turns into electrical signals for the retina; the implant also powers itself like a solar cell. Over 80 percent of recipients could read again.
Read original at MIT Technology Review (opens in a new tab)
Hardware
Scientific AmericanOct 15, 2026
Google’s quantum Willow chip may be able to grow ‘magic states’
Quantum computers make frequent errors, so they need special states, called magic states, to run the gates that give them their power. The usual way to make those states can eat up most of the machine. Google researchers instead encoded one rough magic state on their Willow chip, checked it without destroying it, and grew it across more qubits, cutting errors about 40-fold.
Read original at Scientific American (opens in a new tab)
Hardware
en.sedailyOct 14, 2026
Korea Clears Safety Rules to Put 20 Humanoid Robots on Factory Floors
Industrial robots usually stay bolted in place behind safety fences, repeating one task, so older rules did not cover machines that walk among people. South Korea has approved a pilot where 20 two-legged Robros humanoids clean chip components, place auto parts, stack shipyard material and move logistics packaging alongside workers. Companies must assess risks, and the data will shape future safety standards.
Read original at en.sedaily (opens in a new tab)
Hardware
TechCrunchOct 13, 2026
Science Corporation implants its vision-restoring chip in its first Stargardt disease patient
Stargardt disease kills the eye's light-sensing cells while the inner retina that signals the brain survives. Science Corporation's PRIMA is a two-millimeter chip placed at the back of the eye that acts like artificial photoreceptors, receiving images from camera-equipped glasses. The first Stargardt patient received it in a trial in Australia and later read a word in rehabilitation.
Read original at TechCrunch (opens in a new tab)

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