The PC Pro Podcast

The team discusses adverts in Windows 11, AI-based photo upscaling, El Salvador’s Bitcoin fiasco and question marks over WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. As a Hot Hardware special, we take a trip back to 2016 and revisit the first-generation Amazon Echo.

A demo and explanation of the SR3 upscaling system: https://iterative-refinement.github.io/

The team discusses the impending arrival of Windows 11, Apple’s partial climbdown over App Store fees and accusations of deceptive marketing in the SSD world. Our Hot Hardware candidate is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, the manufacturer’s first Google-powered wearable.

The team discusses a new data-protection shake-up in the UK, the latest hurdle in Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm, vulnerabilities in a wide range of routers using Realtek chipsets and the inexorable rise of semiconductor prices. Our Hot Hardware candidate is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, a folding phone that could actually catch on.

Here’s a list of routers afflicted by the Realtek vulnerabilities:

https://therecord.media/hundreds-of-thousands-of-realtek-based-devices-under-attack-from-iot-botnet/

The team discusses the revelations in Facebook’s first ever “Widely Viewed Content Report”, a phishing attack that uses Morse code to slip past security scanners, a new lease of life for legacy landlines and Google’s mysterious new Tensor chip. Our Hot Hardware candidate is the ORIA Bluetooth transmitter, a low-cost gadget that could transform your in-car entertainment.

The team discusses new folding phones from Samsung, Apple’s controversial photo-scanning technology, the cost of outdated IT and Google’s threat to cut the pay of homeworkers. Our Hot Hardware candidate is the Huawei MateView, a 28in monitor with an unusual 3:2 aspect ratio.

If the rumours are right, Amazon won’t be delivering our parcels by drone any time soon - but the team isn’t too worried about this failure, it turns out. Plus, will any of our panel buy the Surface Duo phone now that it’s halved in price? Can a robot run a 5K faster than Lee? And will our hot “hardware” of the week, Microsoft’s all-new Windows 365 Cloud PC, get the thumbs up from Jon Honeyball and the live listeners? There’s only one way to find out.

Dell can no longer sell its most high-end PCs in California due to their power demands - is this a harbinger of what’s to come? Plus, Jon Honeyball shares his views on the astonishing profits lodged by big tech companies such as Apple and Barry falls in love with Flight Simulator on the Xbox - before trying to persuade everyone that the Amazon Echo Show 8 is Hot Hardware of the Week.

The team discusses Microsoft’s new Windows Cloud service, the growing problem of leaked phone numbers, the uneven distribution of music streaming payments and the UK’s largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency. Our Hot Hardware candidate is the MuteMe, a physical button for muting yourself on VoIP and video calls.