Valve continues expanding the hardware support for its SteamOS
<https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/08/valve-slowly-expands-steamos-support…>.
More of the Windows-based handhelds now have the option of running this
Linux-based OS instead.
Another interesting note in the above is the improvement in the Linux
driver for the Steam Controller, so that it becomes more useful outside
Steam-based games.
Here’s an interesting possibility for the future of smartphones
<https://www.computerworld.com/article/4203560/how-ai-in-china-is-killing-sm…>:
get rid of apps, and just rely on the device’s built-in “agentic” AI
capabilities to get stuff done. Of course, they would be powerful
enough to do everything that an app might do, and more.
Would you call them “smarterphones”? Or perhaps “AI feature phones”,
since they go back to the old feature-phone model of just having
the built-in software and nothing more. And yet, of course, they are
capable of getting more done than a regular smartphone -- assuming the
AI works reliably enough.
And some of them might even be “robot phones”, where there are physical
components on the phone (like a high-definition camera on a gimbal)
that can be operated by the AI.
And then there are these coming “AI wearables” ...
Steam Machine review summary: interesting to see how the reviewers
<https://www.zdnet.com/video/what-we-really-think-of-the-steam-machine/>
take for granted features that a Windows-based PC cannot provide.
One of them talks about taking the box into the living room, and using
it there, without a second thought (or complaints from the spouse).
Remember, Microsoft tried to do its “Living Room PC” thing with
Windows Media Center, and failed. But this Linux-based SteamOS
operates without any drama in that role.
And then there is the well-known friction with everything
Windows-based, including regularly having to download tons of updates
before you can actually play your games. SteamOS actually gets close
to the switch-on-and-go experience of a console, even as consoles
themselves seem to be losing some of that smoothness themselves.
Very likely, the attractiveness of the form factor will prompt vendors
to launch Windows-based rivals, just as happened with the handheld
Steam Deck. And just like with the Steam Deck, the awkwardness of
Windows will simply throw the slickness of the Linux-based interface
into even more stark relief; to the point where some of those
competitors will want to adopt SteamOS for their offerings as well.
Will Windows ever be as good a gaming platform as Linux? Maybe this
effort will help
<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/valve-funding-port-of-linux-rad…>.
Quote:
AMD's Vulkan driver for Windows has developed a reputation for
instability. Meanwhile, Linux RADV is generally praised for its
stability and performance, sometimes running faster than the AMD
Windows driver, especially on older cards. With a rapid
development schedule, it also generally sees fixes and speed
upticks often.
Developing drivers for Windows isn’t easy, though.
History repeats itself. Remember the days of viruses that spread
through Microsoft Office macros?
Well, those days are back, this time courtesy of AI. Someone could send
you a document with text prompts in it that, if you use for AI training,
will instruct your model to do things you weren’t expecting, like
corrupt your data
<https://www.computerworld.com/article/4203676/copilot-worm-can-spread-throu…>.
And unlike those old-style macro viruses, there is no separate “macro
facility” that you can lock in a sandbox and issue warnings about: it’s
all just text in the document.
This quote, from Mike Leone, a VP/principal analyst at Moor Insights &
Strategy, sums it up:
“It’s hard not to chuckle a bit with this one. People have been
asking whether data can give orders since SQL injections. We fixed
that one by giving the database a way to tell an instruction from a
value,” Leone said. “Thirty years later, we’ve built an entire
category of software that can’t tell the difference at all.”
