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Nvidia's RTX Spark chip is now shipping in laptops from multiple manufacturers, with prices starting at $2,599 for a 24GB Asus ProArt P14 at Best Buy. Configurations scale up to 128GB of unified memory, with models like the Asus ProArt P16 reaching nearly $7,000 and HP's OmniBook line topping out around $5,300. Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra with 48GB of memory is also among the initial retail offerings.
A security research team documented their process of dumping and analyzing firmware (version 3.4.2.2h) from the Eufy HomeBase 2 device, following up on earlier work examining a Eufy doorbell. Because the HomeBase's flash chip was soldered directly to the board with no exposed test pins, the researchers used spring clips and a Raspberry Pi to physically read the Winbond flash memory chip.
Security firm Calif reported a decades-old integer overflow bug in OpenBSD's shared memory attachment counter, tracing back to original BSD source code. Combined with a separate out-of-bounds write flaw, attackers could exploit a race condition to achieve local root access even with protections like KARL, SMAP, and SMEP enabled. OpenBSD has since patched both issues through errata 026 and 018.
IDC reports smartphone shipments dropped 22% in the September quarter, the steepest decline the research firm has tracked, as manufacturers raised prices and cut cheaper models. IDC attributes the surge to memory chip prices rising roughly 350% over the past year amid heavy demand from AI companies.
Corsair is now selling its 32GB (2x16GB) Vengeance RGB DDR5-5600 memory kit for $409, a $108 reduction, directly through its own store. The kit features CL40 latency, RGB lighting, and Intel XMP profiles, and has been confirmed as the cheapest currently available memory kit at this speed tier.
Microsoft says a new Windows 11 update improves responsiveness in Search, Start, Settings, File Explorer and other tools by up to 20%, based on internal comparisons between build 26300.9550 and build 26200.7628. On systems with 8GB of RAM or less, Windows now delays loading Widgets until opened, freeing over 200MB of memory, and the OS can hold up to 2GB more active data in RAM before offloading it to storage. The update also speeds up Windows Hello sign-in and Bluetooth pairing, including faster AirPods connections, while a redesigned Search experience is being tested with Windows Insiders.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that a phospholipase enzyme called Pla2g2f rises with age in mouse hippocampal cells and is associated with lower brain inflammation and healthier neuron connections. Mice engineered to lack the gene showed increased inflammation and neuron degradation with age, while mice with excess amounts had less inflammation and performed better on spatial memory tests. The findings, published October 15 in Nature Neuroscience, also drew on human and cell-based data.
IDC's preliminary Q3 2026 data shows global smartphone shipments fell 22% year-over-year, driven largely by a memory chip shortage that has pushed component costs up roughly 350% since last year. Samsung led with 57.8 million units shipped (22.6% share), just ahead of Apple's 57.3 million, as Apple's iPhone shipments fell only 4%—the smallest decline among top vendors—narrowing the gap to 500,000 units and 0.2 percentage points.
Microsoft says recent Windows 11 updates have improved memory management and cut background resource use, making the OS up to 20% more responsive, with the biggest gains on machines with 8GB of RAM or less. Changes include freeing over 200MB of memory by deferring Widgets loading, letting the OS retain up to 2GB more active data before swapping to disk, faster Windows Hello sign-in, quicker Bluetooth pairing, a less disruptive Windows Update process, and a taskbar that can now be repositioned. A new, faster Windows Search is currently testing with Insiders ahead of a broader rollout later this year.
The open-source memory testing tool Memtest86+ now runs on ARM64 systems with UEFI and ACPI, tested on Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptops, Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 with community firmware, and QEMU. The update also lets users save full test reports to a FAT32 USB drive via F6, introduces a new bus stress test for DDR5+ systems, and reworks test algorithms with SIMD instructions for faster, more thorough error detection.
SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron shares fell sharply this week, with SK Hynix down 26%, Samsung 22% and Micron 11% over five days. The drop followed China's CXMT unveiling a new server memory architecture, plus a South Korean newspaper opinion piece urging Seoul to prepare for a potential slowdown in AI-driven memory demand and a possible oversupply by 2029.
Elon Musk criticized memory suppliers for 'extortionate' pricing during the ongoing DRAM and HBM shortage, without naming them directly, while praising Micron for taking a more 'reasonable' approach that he said builds long-term customer loyalty. Musk did not disclose specific pricing figures or contract terms for any supplier.