Day: March 19, 2020

Today, Microsoft announced a new DirectX standard that it claims will not only sync the graphics improvement process in games across both PC and console, but will also be backwards compatible with older PC hardware. If it works as explained it’s going to be a lot easier to port games from PC to Xbox and vice versa.

Called DirectX 12 Ultimate, it supports all next-generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX raytracing, variable rate shading, mesh shaders and sampler feedback without (hopefully) having an adverse effect on game compatibility with hardware that does not support those DX12 Ultimate features. It’s a single graphics API for Windows PC and Xbox—which also means, following on the heels of the Vulkan API, DXR (aka ray tracing) is now standardized, too.

As Microsoft noted in a press release today, the graphics improvement process has gone like this for decades: new hardware tech comes out, developers slowly design games for new hardware tech, and the process continues until everyone and everything is up to speed. Or more specifically: As new PC hardware or a new console generation reaches market saturation, the number of addressable sockets with next-generation capable graphics features increases. More next-gen sockets means more game studios are willing to adopt the new features, and the process continues until everyone has adopted the new socket and market saturation occurs.

But that cycle for Windows PC and Xbox graphics platforms has seen little overlap over the years. Even if the hardware was similar between the two platforms, the software interfaces have always been different. What the new DirectX 12 Ultimate standard does is unify the PC and console cycles so they no longer operate independently from each other. So when the new Xbox does arrive, both it and desktop GPUs will have the same feature set that comes with DirectX 12 Ultimate. The same tools will work across both PC and Xbox, and unify future PC hardware and console cycles for years to come.

This also means DirectX 12 Ultimate is backwards compatible, unlike DirectX 12. DirectX 12 has required support by both your OS and hardware since it launched back in 2015. Graphics cards have evolved a great deal in the last five years, so that’s a non-issue now unless you’re still running an older version of Windows. (Some games like World of Warcraft are DirectX 12 compatible on Windows 7 despite support for Windows 7 ended at the beginning of this year.)

All Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards are compatible with DirectX 12 Ultimate, too. So if you have any 20-series card, a simple driver update will get you up to speed. And since we know that the custom AMD GPU inside the Xbox Series X supports DXR, it will also support DirectX 12 Ultimate. And whenever AMD decides to release desktop graphics cards with ray tracing, it makes sense that they should support the new standard as well. We’ve reached out to AMD for confirmation and will update when AMD responds.

If you are running something like a GTX 970, which is supported by DirectX 12, you’ll still be able to play games that use DX12 Ultimate features. Of course, you’re not going to get ray tracing with a GTX 970, and it could struggle with games like Battlefield 5, depending on your graphics settings, but the point is that it will work with the latest DirectX API.

While we all have tech-based privacy intrusions to deal with on a daily basis, Hong Kong residents are seeing that taken up to a new level thanks to the coronavirus’s spread—and it’s only getting worse.

Case in point: Earlier today, Hong Kong’s Chief Information Officer, Victor Lam, announced earlier today that the city-state will be cracking down on new arrivals that try to break their federally mandated two week quarantine upon touching down. Lam explained that Hong Kong residents put under quarantine will now need to wear a handy wristband that tracks their location to ensure they’re staying put, and (hopefully) staying socially distant.

But don’t worry—despite how dystopian this might sound, Lam assured reporters that he’d consulted with Hong Kong’s “Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data,” who “basically agreed” that the system wasn’t invasive. As Lam said:

In fact, the app will not capture directly the location, but only capture the changes in the location, especially the telecommunication and communication signals around the confinee to ensure that he (or she) is staying at home.”

The wristband—which looks kinda like a souped-up hospital wristband that you might get during a prolonged stay—is made to pair with a native app that, much like many of the apps on many of our phones, garners location data from the wristband itself. Wristband-wearers are also told to walk throughout their house so that the tech can map out the coordinates of a living space, and tip-off authorities if the wristband-wearer goes somewhere they aren’t allowed.

Right now, Hong Kong has more than 50,000 people locked in their homes—and that number is expected to rise, according to an earlier federal press release.

“So far, 5,000 reusable wristbands […] are readily available and another 60 000 disposable wristbands have been procured from the market. Among which, 5 000 disposable wristbands were delivered and tested,” the statement reads, adding that “the remaining 55 000 wristbands will be delivered in batches.”

The company that developed this band’s associated app is a Hong-Kong based Compathnion, which brands itself as “an award-winning team with a mission to deliver effective location-based solutions to fulfill evolving business needs in Hong Kong, China, and other parts of the world.” A quick look at its clientele shows that before the company helped Hong Kong authorities map out its citizens, Compathnion did the same for malls, construction companies, and universities.

According to an earlier federal press release, this app/wristband combo won’t be the only thing tracking Hong Kong citizens’ locations. Popular apps like WhatsApp and WeChat will also be beaming that intel back to Hong Kong’s Department of Health, and local arms of law enforcement.

Both of these departments will get the memo if someone under quarantine tries to un-quarantine themselves before the two weeks are up, and will also get flagged if someone tries breaking their wristband or disconnecting their smartphone—federal no-no’s that will result in one of these agencies taking “follow-up action.” The exact definition of what that “action” means has yet to be defined, but considering Hong Kong’s track record of alleged police brutality, it’s not hard to imagine what could happen if the quarantined don’t stay quarantined.