Microsoft releases new Spectre patch that disables ‘fix’ from Intel

With Intel’s fix for Spectre variant 2 only making matters worse, Microsoft had to release an out-of-band patch to disable what the chip maker has done. This patch is for Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 users. It’s said to stop the rebooting issues caused by Intel’s fix. If you’re experiencing these issues, you’ll need to download the update as it doesn’t automatically install yet.

Source: Engadget

Patch adds background blur to iPhone-shot photos

The iPhone 7 Plus comes with a dual rear camera and a new Portrait mode that creates a faux depth-of-field effect for, well, portraits. If you don’t have that version of an iPhone, there’s an app that replicates that. Called Patch, the app makes use of neural networks to analyze a photo and determine the subject matter. It’s not as serious a tool as you would expect, it’s more a fun thing to play around with. And since developers anticipated it won’t always accurately find the outline of your subject, you can adjust the mask manually by highlighting or erasing areas affected by the blur. It works best when taking a picture of a person straight on. The app comes with an in-app purchase option ($0.99) to get rid of the tiny watermark Patch adds to the photos you edit on it.

Source: Lifehacker

Valve’s ‘DotA 2 Reborn’ gets 5.5GB patch

Looks like there’s more downloading in store for you if you have Valve’s DotA 2 Reborn. The game is finally available to the public in beta and it seems there’s a significant number of bugs to fix. You originally had to download 7GB for the game, now you have to download around 5.5GB of data for the patch. Some of the big issues this patch fixes include “Fixed illusions being able to manipulate and sell items;” “Fixed Huskar causing significant frame rate loss;” and “Fixed crash when dire or radiant ancients are destroyed.” Prepare to do some heavy duty downloading.

For those who aren’t familiar with DotA 2 Reborn, this is Valve’s attempt to bring new graphics to the game. It’s now powered by Valve’s Source 2 engine and it features things like a new menu system, user interface, and other aspects of the game.

Source: Ubergizmo

Microsoft releases patch for IE zero-day flaw, includes security update for unsupported Windows XP

It looks like the security flaw discovered in version 6 to 11 of Internet Explorer was serious enough that Microsoft released an “out-of-band” fix for it. (The company usually releases security patches on the second Tuesday of every month.) This means all supported versions of Windows will be getting the patch. Unusually, Microsoft decided to issue a security update for Windows XP, which they discontinued support for already. This might be a bad move on the company’s part because it encourages its users to keep on using the old operating system. Here’s the link to the security update just in case you haven’t activated automatic update for your Windows OS.

Source: The Next Web