DescriptionThis week, new processors are showing up everywhere, internet usage is going up, and Twitch is admitting it screwed up.ParticipantsScott ErtzHostScott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLuGHiTz Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the DDR community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bar Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and judging engineering notebooks at competitions. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors.Avram PiltchHostAvram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.OpeningPowered by TeknoAXENifty GiftiesPowered by Microsoft StoreNew processor competition in Apple M1 and Amazon's AWS InferentiaOver the past year, Intel's place as THE processor maker has continued to slip away because of a stalling in innovation. Consumer devices have become less computer-focused and moved to phones and tablets, both generally powered by ARM chips. For those who are looking for a laptop, even Windows has implemented support for the ARM architecture in partnership with Qualcomm. But, in traditional terms, AMD has continued to creep up and steal market share with its Ryzen line, which has begun to outperform Intel's chips for less money and using less electricity.read full articlePiltch Point with Avram PiltchPowered by PureVPNExtra LifePowered by RazerMicrosoft's altered approach to gaming is working as plannedThis week saw the much-anticipated release of Microsoft's 4th (or possibly 5th, depending on your view of the Xbox One X) generation of Xbox consoles - the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The launch comes during a time when Microsoft has reconsidered its gaming business, placing a focus on services and subscriptions to increase recurring revenue, rather than occasional peaks and valleys. The change is part of a wider change to the company's business model, with services becoming a core aspect of the company under CEO Satya Nadella. And, as it has in other divisions, the change seems to be a success.read full articleNews From the TubesPowered by RiffTraxData caps are a very good thing - for the internet service providersWhen internet service providers (ISPs) first started talking about data caps, the stated goal was to discourage excessive data usage. They also reminded customers that very few subscribers ever came close to the cap level - it's only the small number of power users and super power users that would be affected by this new rule. At the time, power and super power users accounted for less than 1 percent of internet subscribers. But, the world has changed since then, and it changed in a way that the ISPs predicted.read full article* DRM Not IncludedPowered by Amazon PrimeTwitch apologizes for its amateur handling of new DMCA noticesSeveral weeks ago, Twitch streamers began receiving vague emails that videos had been deleted. It followed a statement from Typhoon Studios (a Google Stadia studio) Creative Director Alex Hutchinson claiming that Twitch streamers should be required to acquire a license in order to stream games. While there was speculation that these two events were connected, the smart money was on the Twitch community's complete disregard for copyright law.read full articleClosingPowered by Tech Podcast Network