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Microsoft Surface Laptop and Tablets

Courtesy: Microsoft

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled new Surface computers and shared details on the release of this year’s version of Windows 11, including its embedded Copilot AI assistant, during an event in New York.

The company introduced the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and the Surface Laptop Go 3, and unveiled enterprise availability for Microsoft 365 Copilot, its supplemental AI tool for core productivity apps like Word and Excel.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella began the event by speaking about how the company’s Copilot AI tools will make a broad impact across its user base for consumers and enterprises.

“I mean, it’s crazy,” he said. “It’s kind of like the 90s are back. It’s exciting to be in a place where we’re bringing some software innovation and really having fun enjoying this entire journey.”

Rivals such as Atlassian, Google and Salesforce have also been racing to update their existing products with generative AI this year.

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 starts at $1,999, while the Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $799. Both will ship with Microsoft’s revamped Windows 11 operating system, which includes its Copilot software. The new Surface models will be available Oct. 3 and are available for pre-order today, Microsoft said. 

Notably absent from the event was Panos Panay, the Microsoft executive who presented Surface computers to the public for a decade. On Monday Microsoft announced a series of leadership changes as it disclosed that Panay was leaving.

Here’s a rundown of Thursday’s news:

Windows 11 update

Microsoft’s updated Paint app for Windows 11 will allow people to create images by just typing in a few words.

Microsoft

Microsoft said it will begin rolling out the next major update to Windows 11 on Sept. 26.

The update will include the new Copilot in the Bing search engine and the Edge web browser, and people will be able to summon the Copilot by holding down the Windows key and pressing the C key.

Here are some of the key features of the new version:

Testers have gotten access to some of these features in early builds in recent months.

Copilot for advertising

Microsoft Advertising Platform will get a Copilot assistant that will be able to create advertising copy and imagery.

Microsoft

Microsoft is also incorporating generative AI into its advertising tool, although the company did not disclose when exactly it will do so.  A Copilot for the Microsoft Advertising Platform will be able to answer marketers’ questions through a chat interface.

And over time, it will help automate the process of coming up with ads. Alphabet and Meta have both been active in this area.

“Using Copilot in the Microsoft Advertising Platform, you can tailor content, design, and strategies to your branding and advertising goals, creating stunning and effective ads in minutes,” Kya Sainsbury-Carter, corporate VP for advertising at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.

Surface Laptop Studio 2

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio

Courtesy: Microsoft

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a similar look and feel to the original model that launched in 2021. It can be used like a traditional laptop with a keyboard, but customers can also lay it flat and use it like a tablet.

It offers a 13th-generation Intel Core chip, with a few options for Nvidia graphics processing units: the GeForce RTX 4050 or 4060, or the RTX 2000 Ada Generation. Models with Nvidia graphics will come with 120-watt power supplies. Or people can choose integrated graphics with Intel Iris Xe.

Microsoft has also added a single traditional USB-A port, along with a MicroSD card reader.

People can choose to include up to 64GB of RAM, compared with a maximum of 32GB in the first iteration.

The device has an 14.4-inch screen and is the “most powerful Surface ever built,” Brett Ostrum, Microsoft’s VP of Surface devices, said at the event. He added that the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is twice as fast as the previous model, and it also features an updated haptic touchpad, which is the “most inclusive touchpad on any laptop today.”

Models with 2TB of storage and Nvidia graphics boast up to 16 hours of battery life, while devices with less space and Nvidia cards can deliver up to 18 hours, while Intel graphics models have a 19-hour capacity, Microsoft said. The company claimed the inaugural Surface Laptop Studio boasted 18 hours of battery life, but CNBC found it generally lasted closer to 4.5 hours.

The new version starts at $1,999, compared with $1,599 for the original model.

Surface Laptop Go 3

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go

Courtesy: Microsoft

Surface Go 4

Microsoft Surface Go For Business

Courtesy: Microsoft

Microsoft announced the Surface Go 4, the latest miniature version of its Surface Pro tablet that’s available exclusively for organizations. The company suggested in a release that the new model could be especially useful for businesses and frontline workers.

The Surface Go 4 can be docked to a monitor, used as a laptop with a paired keyboard or like a tablet using the touch screen.

It’s powered by an Intel N200 processor. The Surface Go 4 also features an 10.5-inch touchscreen display and supports 12.5 hours of battery life, which is an increase from the 11 hours of battery life offered by the Surface Go 3.

Surface Hub 3

Surface Hub 3

Courtesy: Microsoft

Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about its Surface Hub, its large touchscreen device for use in the office.

A 85-inch model and a smaller 50-inch option offer organizations an easy way to join Teams video calls. During Teams calls, software will be able to remove the background from various participants and adjust their sizes, Microsoft product marketing director Frank Buchholz wrote in a blog post.

The smaller version can switch between portrait and landscape modes. Two people can simultaneously draw or write on the devices with Surface Hub Pens or Surface Slim pens.

Microsoft is touting 60% better performance in the main processor of these devices and a 160% bump for their graphics processing units.

Microsoft 365 Copilot release for big businesses

Large organizations will be able to start paying for Microsoft 365 Copilot starting Nov. 1.

The launch could provide a financial boost to Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365, a key part of the business that had 382 million commercial seats in the fiscal third quarter. Microsoft said enterprises can call their account representatives to get started.

Companies that participated in the tool’s early access program will be given first chance to deploy the software, which will cost $30 per person per month on top of Microsoft 365’s existing costs. Microsoft has also started allowing some small businesses into the early access program.

“In the testing that we’ve already done with preview customers, you’re in a meeting, you can have a meeting summary, and the AI can summarize the entire meeting and give it to you in bite-sized chunks, Yusuf Mehdi, the new head of Surface and Windows at Microsoft, told CNBC’s Steve Kovach.

“If you missed the meeting, you can tell me what happened out of it, you can say to get action items, what did my boss say, when was I mentioned, and you can get all that. That time is unbelievably precious, and for $30 a month, it’s an incredible value. People really love that capability.”

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Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for $74.7 million

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Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for .7 million

Anne Wojcicki attends the WSJ Magazine Style & Tech Dinner in Atherton, California, on March 15, 2023.

Kelly Sullivan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and New Mountain Capital have submitted a proposal to take the embattled genetic testing company private, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wojcicki and New Mountain have offered to acquire all of 23andMe’s outstanding shares in cash for $2.53 per share, or an equity value of approximately $74.7 million. The company’s stock closed at $2.42 on Friday with a market cap of about $65 million.

The offer comes after a turbulent year for 23andMe, with the stock losing more than 80% of its value in 2024. In January, the company announced plans to explore strategic alternatives, which could include a sale of the company or its assets, a restructuring or a business combination. 

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23andMe has a special committee of independent directors in place to evaluate potential paths forward. The company appointed three new independent directors to its board in October after all seven of its previous directors abruptly resigned the prior month. The special committee has to approve Wojcicki and New Mountain’s proposal.

“We believe that our Proposal provides compelling value and immediate liquidity to the Company’s public stockholders,” Wojcicki and Matthew Holt, managing director and president of private equity at New Mountain, wrote in a letter to the special committee on Thursday.

Wojcicki previously submitted a proposal to take the company private for 40 cents per share in July, but it was rejected by the special committee, in part because the members said it lacked committed financing and did not provide a premium to the closing price at the time.

Wojcicki and New Mountain are willing to provide secured debt financing to fund 23andMe’s operations through the transaction’s closing, the filing said. New Mountain is based in New York and has $55 billion of assets under management, according to its website.

23andMe declined to comment.

WATCH: The rise and fall of 23andMe

The rise and fall of 23andMe

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Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

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Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

Hims & Hers

Shares of Hims & Hers Health tumbled more than 23% on Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the shortage of semaglutide injection products has been resolved.

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic. Those medications are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1s, and demand for the treatments has exploded in recent years. As a result, digital health companies such as Hims & Hers have been prescribing compounded semaglutide as an alternative for patients who are navigating volatile supply hurdles and insurance obstacles.

Compounded drugs are custom-made alternatives to brand-name drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs, and compounders are allowed to produce them when brand-name treatments are in shortage. The FDA doesn’t review the safety and efficacy of compounded products.

Hims & Hers began offering compounded semaglutide to patients in May, and it owns compounding pharmacies that produce the medications.

Compounded medications are typically much cheaper than their branded counterparts. Hims & Hers sells compounded semaglutide for less than $200 per month, while Ozempic and Wegovy both cost around $1,000 per month without insurance.

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The FDA said Friday that it will start taking action against compounders for violations in the next 60 to 90 days, depending on the type of facility, in order to “avoid unnecessary disruption to patient treatment.”

“Now that the FDA has determined the drug shortage for semaglutide has been resolved, we will continue to offer access to personalized treatments as allowed by law to meet patient needs,” Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum posted Friday on X. “We’re also closely monitoring potential future shortages, as Novo Nordisk stated two weeks ago that it would continue to have ‘capacity limitations’ and ‘expected continued periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications.'”

Him & Hers’ weight loss offerings have been a massive hit with investors. Shares of the company climbed more than 200% last year, and the stock is already up more than 100% this year despite Friday’s move.

Even before it added compounded GLP-1s to its portfolio, the company said in its 2023 fourth-quarter earnings call that it expects its weight loss program to bring in more than $100 million in revenue by the end of 2025.

Despite the turbulent regulatory landscape, Hims & Hers has showed no signs of slowing down.

On Friday, the company announced it has acquired a U.S.-based peptide facility that will “further verticalize the company’s long-term ability to deliver personalized medications.” Hims & Hers will explore advances across metabolic optimization, recovery science, biological resistances, cognitive performance and preventative health through the acquisition, the company said.

That move comes just days after Hims & Hers also bought Trybe Labs, the New Jersey-based at-home lab testing facility. Trybe Labs will allow Hims & Hers to perform at-home blood draws and more comprehensive pretreatment testing.

Hims & Hers did not disclose the terms of either deal.

WATCH: Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad sparks controversy

Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad sparks controversy

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Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

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Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

Tesla models Y and 3 are displayed at a Tesla dealership in Corte Madera, California, on Dec. 20, 2024.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Tesla is voluntarily recalling 376,241vehicles in the U.S. to correct an issue with failing power-assisted steering systems, according to records posted to the website of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a safety recall report posted on the NHTSA website, Tesla said the recall includes Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were manufactured for sale in the U.S. from Feb. 28, 2023, to October 11, 2023, and that were equipped with a certain older software release.

The records said printed circuit boards in the steering systems in affected vehicles could become overstressed, causing the power-assist steering to fail in some cases when a Tesla vehicle rolled to a stop and then accelerated.

When electronic power-assist steering systems fail in a Tesla, drivers need to exert more force to steer their cars, which can increase the risk of a collision.

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Tesla told the vehicle safety regulator that it was not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths related to the power steering failures, and that it was offering an over-the-air software update as a remedy.

The recall follows an earlier related probe and voluntary recall in China concerning the same systems.

President Donald Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to lead a team that is slashing the federal government workforce, and in some cases, regulations and entire agencies. Those cuts already affected the NHTSA, an agency Musk has long seen as standing in the way of some of his ambitions at Tesla.

The regulator has been engaged in a yearslong investigation into safety defects in the systems that Tesla markets currently as its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) options. The features do not make Tesla cars into robotaxis. They require a human driver ready to steer or brake at any time.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Musk’s team has led mass firings at the NHTSA, reducing the agency’s workforce and capacity to investigate companies including Tesla by about 10%.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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