The Hot Take: "Hey look an OS we can't control all of the users data or track and monitor them, ATTACK!"
GrapheneOS is defending its duress-password feature after an environmental activist used it to wipe his Pixel phone during a U.S. Customs search and was later indicted for allegedly destroying property under government control. The nonprofit says the operating system is "completely legal," cannot recover the erased data, and should not be weakened with encryption backdoors. Meanwhile, the activist faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. PCMag reports: In a post on Saturday, the Canadian nonprofit behind the operating system, the GrapheneOS Foundation, explained that the software offers a range of features to prevent data extraction. For example, one safeguard is the "auto-reboot timer" that'll reboot a locked device after a set period of time to put the data at rest, leaving all files inside encrypted.
The group's post subtly suggests that GrapheneOS phones can withstand law enforcement searches without requiring users to resort to a duress password. "People should carefully consider how to use it in an actual duress situation where there can be physical or legal consequences for wiping the device," the nonprofit wrote. "GrapheneOS doesn't require it to protect data from being extracted from the device, but it takes recovering it completely off the table even with the PIN/password for each profile on the device."
On X, the nonprofit has also said it can do nothing to help US law enforcement recover data from Tunick's phone. "Data cannot be recovered after the key derivation material is reliably wiped. It's not possible and there's nothing we can do to assist with it," the group wrote. "Similarly, it's not possible to assist with bypassing encryption because the hardware and software has been designed to prevent it."
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The Hot Take: Again, Nvidia doing anti-competitive practices?
Nvidiaâs graphics card prices are reportedly jumping again as memory costs rise and retailers start clearing shelves in panic.
With Samsung reportedly raising DRAM prices by about 20 per cent for the current quarter, Nvidia appears to have decided customers can pay. The result is another price rise for consumer graphics cards, the third such inflationary episode this year, according to the reports.
This one has reportedly emptied store shelves as distributors shift into full panic mode.
Unlike Nvidiaâs May price rise, the latest bout appears to cover far more consumer graphics card models.
According to Taiwanâs Economic Daily, Nvidia has increased prices on consumer-facing graphics cards by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. That follows a price rise of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in January 2026.
The May increase was aimed mainly at high-end cards such as the GeForce RTX 5090 series. The latest hike, therefore, looks like Nvidiaâs third attempt to test how much pain gamers and system builders can absorb this year.
BenchLife claims Nvidiaâs price notices to downstream supply chain partners now cover entire GPU bundles. That means the GPU itself and the GDDR memory are being lumped together on the same grim little invoice.
The notices, helped along by runaway rumours, have reportedly triggered a proper panic among retail channel distributors.
One major Chinese e-commerce platform went so far as to remove many mainstream Nvidia graphics cards from sale last week. Retailers that have already adjusted prices are showing a chunky difference.
The 16GB GDDR7 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is now selling for 10,700 yuan (âŹ1,389, $1,581), up from 9,299 yuan (âŹ1,207, $1,374) last week.
In November 2025, the same card was selling for 7,200 yuan (âŹ934, $1,064). The price rises are producing some daft results in the GDDR market as well.
Standard 2GB GDDR7 video memory now sells for $20, while a 3GB chip costs between $60 and $70. That means the 3GB GDDR7 part offers just 50 per cent more video memory but costs more than three times as much.
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The Hot Take: Is Nvidia pricing out AIB manufacturers to take the whole pie of selling their GPUs?
The ongoing component crisis has forced manufacturers to raise product prices around the world, which includes the best GPUs. MSI and PNY have just announced new prices for all RTX 50-series graphics cards for China, representing up to a 59% hike compared to MSRP. While Nvidia GPUs have been the most affected, offerings from Intel and AMD are also experiencing a similar predicament, according to Wccftech. MSI's price list actually shows the old prices (from a week ago) as well as the new ones, giving us an official percentage difference of 10-20%. Keep in mind the old prices still weren't at MSRP. The RTX 5080 Shadow 3X OC/Ventus sees the biggest change, going from 10,000 Yuan ($1,477) to 12,000 Yuan ($1,773), constituting a 20% hike. Other RTX 5080 variants received a pretty similar 18% hike, while the RTX 5070 Ti Shadow 3X OC now costs 19.5% more. Product NameOriginal PriceUpdated PriceOfficial MSRPvs. Originalvs. Base MSRPGeForce RTX 5090 D v2 24G VENTUS 3X OC„22,999„25,999„16,499+13.04%+57.58%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„10,999„12,999„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OC„10,999„12,999„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G SHADOW 3X OC/VENTUS„9,999„11,999„8,299+20.00%+44.58%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OC„8,199„9,699„5,499+18.29%+76.38%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G SHADOW 3X OC„7,699„9,199„5,499+19.48%+67.28%GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC„5,899„6,399„4,499+8.48%+42.23%GeForce RTX 5070 12G VENTUS 3X OC„5,499„5,999„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 3X OC„5,499„5,999„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 2X OC„5,299„5,799„4,499+9.44%+28.90%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OC„4,599„4,999„3,199+8.70%+56.27%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G SHADOW 2X OC PLUS„4,299„4,699„3,199+9.30%+46.89%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G SHADOW 2X OC PLUS„3,099„3,399„2,799+9.68%+21.44%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„3,399„3,699„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OC„3,399„3,699„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G INSPIRE 2X OC„3,199„3,499„2,799+9.38%+25.01%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G VENTUS 3X OC„3,299„3,599„2,799+9.09%+28.58%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„2,799„3,199„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OC„2,799„3,199„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC V1„2,699„3,099„2,199+14.82%+40.93%GeForce RTX 5060 8G SHADOW 2X OC„2,599„2,999„2,199+15.39%+36.38%GeForce RTX 5050 8G GAMING OC„2,599„2,999„1,899+15.39%+57.93%GeForce RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X E 6G OC„1,649„1,899„1,399+15.16%+35.74%The highest-end Blackwell GPU available in China, the RTX 5090 D V2 is a cut-down version of the RTX 5090, featuring 24GB of VRAM instead of 32GB. MSI raised its price by 13%, which is less than every RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 variant â those were around 14-15%. The RTX 5060 Ti (8GB and 16GB) and RTX 5070 both received price hikes under 10% compared to their old prices. If you put these numbers up against these GPUs' MSRPs then the picture becomes a lot grimmer. The RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio OC is now priced 76% above MSRP, while its cheaper Shadow 3X OC variant is still 67% more expensive than the suggested retail price. The prices for the RTX 5090 D V2 are 57.5% higher, the RTX 5080 and 5060 Ti up to 56% higher, the RTX 5060 up to 45% higher, and the RTX 5070 up to 42% higher. Moving onto Colorful's list, the company doesn't provide old prices to compare against, so we can only reference them against the MSRPs. The top-end offering, the RTX 5080 Vulcan W OC is now priced 59% above MSRP, while the 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC is 58.5% higher. The RTX 5070 and 5060 Ti 16GB models were largely under the 50% threshold, while price hikes for the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB and RTX 5060 variants were under 30% compared to MSRP. GPU ModelNew PriceOriginal PriceDifference% vs MSRPRTX 5080 Vulcan W OC 16G„13,199„8,299+„4,900+59.0%RTX 5080 Vulcan OC 16GB„12,299„8,299+„4,000+48.2%RTX 5080 Advanced OC 16G„11,799„8,299+„3,500+42.2%RTX 5080 Ultra W OC 16G„10,499„8,299+„2,200+26.5%RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC 16G„9,999„6,299+„3,700+58.7%RTX 5070 Ti Advanced OC 16G„9,299„6,299+„3,000+47.6%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra W OC SFF 16G„8,899„6,299+„2,600+41.3%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra OC SFF 16G„8,799„6,299+„2,500+39.7%RTX 5070 Ti Deluxe SFF 16G„8,699„6,299+„2,400+38.1%RTX 5070 Vulcan X OC 12G„7,199„4,599+„2,600+56.6%RTX 5070 Ultra OC 12G„6,799„4,599+„2,200+47.9%RTX 5070 Deluxe 12G„6,399„4,599+„1,800+39.2%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 16G„5,299„3,599+„1,700+47.3%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra Z OC 16G„5,249„3,599+„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 16G„5,249„3,599+„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 16G„5,199„3,599+„1,600+44.6%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W DUO OC 16G„5,099„3,599+„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra DUO OC 16G„5,099„3,599+„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Advanced OC 8G„3,949„3,199+„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 8G„3,949„3,199+„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 8G„3,849„3,199+„650+20.3%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 8G„3,699„3,199+„500+15.7%RTX 5060 Ti DUO 8G„3,549„3,199+„350+11.0%RTX 5060 Advanced OC 8G„3,199„2,499+„700+27.9%RTX 5060 Ultra W OC 8G„3,149„2,499+„650+26.0%RTX 5060 Ultra DUO OC 8G„3,049„2,499+„550+22.0%RTX 5060 Deluxe 8G„3,049„2,499+„550+22.0%RTX 5060 DUO 8G„2,949„2,499+„450+17.9%RTX 5050 DUO 8G„2,449„2,099+„350+16.8%Both of these lists came directly from the distributors but marketplaces online show that AMD and Intel GPUs are also more expensive now, as well. AMD's cards are selling for 14% to 29% higher prices, and Blue Team's cards are seeing $200 to almost $300 bumps, according to Wccftech. The RX 9060 XT 16GB is the worst offender among the two lineups, being hiked up by 28.8% compared to its MSRP. All of this is happening because VRAM prices have skyrocketed over the past year, with reports highlighting a $20 price increase per module. That means an 8GB card, with taxes included, should cost almost $100 more now, a 12GB card about $130 more, and a 16GB card roughly $180 more, and that's just accounting for VRAM price changes. With prices going up, there's an additional element of supply and demand that is pushing prices higher. There are no signs of the component crisis slowing down; in fact, we only see more fearmongering from major companies, persuading them to buy whatever they want now instead of waiting for some miracle market crash. With the way things are looking right now, prices don't seem to be coming down anytime soon, that much is clear.
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The Hot Take: ASML needs competition, but I wasn't saying from China. LOL
According to The Information (paywalled), a state-backed Shanghai company has begun mass-producing China's first homegrown immersion DUV lithography machines, with about five units expected this year for SMIC, Hua Hong, and CXMT. Roughly 20 more units are expected in 2027. Tom's Hardware reports: The Information didn't name the manufacturer, but its sources described the operation as having pulled DUV development teams from several Chinese companies, one of them the state-backed startup Shanghai Yuliangsheng Technology. SMIC has been testing a Yuliangsheng immersion tool since September 2025. Most components in the new systems are domestic, though some critical parts still come from Japan, and delays at local suppliers have held back output this year.
[...] China accounts for around 20% of ASML's net sales this year, down from 33% in 2025, driven mainly by mainstream logic demand... Independent analysis from the AI Futures Project in June put commercial-scale Chinese immersion DUV in the mid-2030s, with ASML holding 98.7% of the immersion market. Qualifying the new machines for production lines could take many months, and they trail ASML's tools on performance and build quality. China's domestic EUV effort, which Reuters first reported as a working prototype in December, remains years away.
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The Hot Take: Trying to kill a dinosaur client.
New Outlook is âpainful and drives me crazy,â one user told me as their organization prepared to ditch Outlook Classic. But does that mean Microsoft will hold off on its plans to force New Outlook? Certainly not. According to Microsoftâs roadmap, it still plans to move all Classic Outlook users to New Outlook starting in March 2027, and weâre not that far away now.
New Outlook for Windows has been around for almost three years, as it was first rolled out to testers in 2023. Fast-forward to 2024, and Microsoft released New Outlook for everyone, and it eventually replaced the native Mail & Calendar apps. While Mail and Calendar were not exceptionally good, they still worked better than New Outlook in several areas.
Outlook (New) is getting better, but itâs not the best app for everyone
Weâre nearly six months away from 2027, and thereâs no denying that New Outlook has gotten significantly better. Microsoft has added up to 15 features in the past several weeks, but most of them are not exactly new. They have already been available in Outlook Classic, and Microsoft is simply catching up.
For example, Microsoft has added support for .PST files and improved offline support to cover attachments. Outlook Classic has always supported .PST files, and since it wasnât a web app, the lack of offline support was never an issue.
Some of the other improvements include the ability to pin or snooze an email, which is quite handy, but itâs again something you could do in Outlook Classic.
More recently, Microsoft rolled out the ability to add multiple categories and create automatic actions to keep your inbox organized or clean. For example, you can set up rules to automatically purge promotional emails and keep only recent messages in your inbox.
Microsoft has also added Schedule Send, which was always available in Outlook Classic.
At the same time, New Outlook is still missing several useful features that have been available in Outlook Classic for years. Microsoft insists itâll bring everything back in the coming months, but the clock is ticking.
Youâll be forced to use New Outlook in March 2027
According to Microsoftâs roadmap seen by Windows Latest, the company is fully committed to moving Outlook Classic users to the new version starting in March 2027, so enterprises have less than a year to prepare for the forced rollout.
âThe opt-out phase for Enterprise environments will now begin in March 2027 (previously April 2026), providing organizations with 12 months of lead time to prepare,â Microsoft noted in an update earlier this year. âGCC High and DoD timelines will be communicated separately at a later date.â
What happens in March 2027 if you choose to keep using Outlook Classic?
All hell is not going to break loose, but you may find yourself automatically redirected to New Outlook when you open Outlook Classic.
Fortunately, youâll still be able to switch back to Outlook Classic. However, donât be surprised if it later reverts and you find yourself back in New Outlook again.
Weâve seen Microsoft use a similar approach before. When it began replacing Mail & Calendar with New Outlook, it allowed users to opt out and return to the older apps, only for some of them to be moved back to New Outlook later.
I am expecting a similar pop-up when Outlook Classic hits the deadline in March 2027, but remember that it does not mean you will be blocked from using the original email client.
In another document, Microsoft has clarified that itâll support Outlook Classic until at least 2029, as long as itâs already installed and you have either a perpetual or a subscription license. Of course, you canât expect new features after March 2027. In fact, Outlook Classic has mostly stopped adding new features except a few Copilot and agentic additions.
Microsoft says itâs seeing âstrong adoption of new Outlookâ
At this point, one thing is clear that thereâs no going back for Microsoft, and New Outlook will eventually become the default experience whether you like it or not. The company also argues that New Outlook is now being adopted by more users, and adoption growth is not just strong, but rapidly âaccelerating.â
That may be true because enterprises also need to embrace Copilot, which works more extensively in New Outlook than in Outlook Classic.
âWe continue to invest heavily in expanding capabilities and addressing feedback from customers who want to go further with new Outlook. To ensure organizations have the time they need to prepareâand to fully realize the value of ongoing innovationâweâre extending the opt-out timeline,â Microsoft previously said.
The post Microsoft still wants to force New Outlook on everyone by 2027, even as users call it painful, and prefer Outlook Classic appeared first on Windows Latest
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