The Galaxy Book3 Ultra Is Samsung’s Shot At the MacBook Pro

At the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event today, Samsung announced the Galaxy Book3 Ultra, a 16-inch workstation laptop with a 120Hz OLED screen, an H-Series Core i7 or Core i9, and an RTX 4050 or 4070 GPU. “Samsung makes a number of Galaxy Book models, but this is the first one of the past few years that has really targeted the deep-pocketed professional user — that is, the core audience for Apple’s high-powered and wildly expensive MacBook Pro 16,” reports The Verge. “It’ll start at $2,399.99 ($100 cheaper than the base MacBook Pro 16), with a release date still to be announced.” From the report: Like its siblings in the Galaxy Book3 line, a big draw of this workstation will be its screen. It’s got a 2880 x 1800 120Hz 16:10 OLED display (a welcome change from the 16:9 panels that adorned last year’s Galaxy Book2) rated for 400 nits of brightness […]. Elsewhere, using the device felt pretty similar to using any number of other Samsung Galaxy Books, with a satisfyingly clicky keyboard, a smooth finish, a high-quality build, and a compact chassis. The Ultra is 0.65 inches thick and 3.9 pounds, which is slightly thinner and close to a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro that Apple just released […].

I was able to use a number of Samsung’s continuity features, including Second Screen (which allows you to easily use a Galaxy Tab as a second monitor) and Quick Share (which allows you to quickly transfer images and other files between Samsung devices). For Samsung enthusiasts, those seem like handy features that aren’t too much of a hassle to set up. The one feature I had issues with was the touchpad — it registered some of my two-finger clicks as one-finger clicks and wasn’t quite picking up all of my scrolls. The units in Samsung’s demo area were preproduction devices, so I hope this is a kink Samsung can iron out before the final release.

Unfortunately, we don’t yet know how it will stack up when it comes to battery life. The M2 generation of MacBooks is very strong on that front — and given that the Galaxy Book3 Ultra is running a high-resolution screen, a power-hungry H-series processor, and a very power-hungry RTX GPU, I’m a little bit nervous about that. If Samsung can pull off a device that lasts nearly as long as Apple’s do, given those factors, hats off to them. Further reading:
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Is a Minor Update To a Spec Monster
Samsung, Google and Qualcomm Team Up To Build a New Mixed-Reality Platform

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Microsoft Upgrades Defender To Lock Down Linux Devices For Their Own Good

Organizations using Microsoft’s Defender for Endpoint will now be able to isolate Linux devices from their networks to stop miscreants from remotely connecting to them. The Register reports: The device isolation capability is in public preview and mirrors what the product already does for Windows systems. “Some attack scenarios may require you to isolate a device from the network,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post. “This action can help prevent the attacker from controlling the compromised device and performing further activities such as data exfiltration and lateral movement. Just like in Windows devices, this device isolation feature.” Intruders won’t be able to connect to the device or run operations like assuming unauthorized control of the system or stealing sensitive data, Microsoft claims.

According to the vendor, when the device is isolated, it is limited in the processes and web destinations that are allowed. That means if they’re behind a full VPN tunnel, they won’t be able to reach Microsoft’s Defender for Endpoint cloud services. Microsoft recommends that enterprises use a split-tunneling VPN for cloud-based traffic for both Defender for Endpoint and Defender Antivirus. Once the situation that caused the isolation is cleared up, organizations will be able to reconnect the device to the network. Isolating the system is done via APIs. Users can get to the device page of the Linux systems through the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, where they will see an “Isolate Device” tab in the upper right among other response actions. Microsoft has outlined the APIs for both isolating the device and releasing it from lock down.

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Sony Halves Reported Sales Expectations For Coming PSVR2 Headset

Sony is drastically scaling back its sales expectations for next month’s launch of the PlayStation VR2 headset, according to a Bloomberg report citing “people familiar with [Sony’s] deliberations.” Ars Technica reports: The PlayStation 5 maker now expects to sell just 1 million PSVR2 units by the end of March, down from sales expectations of 2 million units in that period, as reported last October. Sony expects to sell about 1.5 million more headsets in the following fiscal year, which ends in March 2024, according to the report. The scaled-back sales expectations would put the PSVR2 slightly ahead of the pace set by the original PSVR headset, which sold just under a million units in its first four months and 2 million units in just over a year. But that kind of sales pace looks less impressive today, when a headset like the Meta Quest 2 can sell a reported 2.8 million units in its first quarter, on its way to total sales of over 15 million, according to market analysis firm IDC.

The Quest 2 has a few key advantages in the competition with Sony’s upcoming headset, including an asking price that’s $150 less, even after a recent price hike. The self-contained Quest 2 also doesn’t need to be tethered to any external hardware, contrasting with the PSVR2’s reliance on a hookup to a $499 PlayStation 5. Despite the Quest 2’s success at its relatively low price, though, the VR industry at large seems to be moving toward the higher end of the pricing spectrum these days. Meta’s Quest Pro launched last October at a bafflingly high $1,499, though a one-week sale has slashed that price by $400 for the moment. And next month’s standalone Vive XR Elite will cost $1,099.

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PayPal, HubSpot Announce Layoffs

PayPal unveiled plans Tuesday to cut 2,000 employees, becoming the latest U.S. company to reduce its headcount, just hours after software company HubSpot announced it would lay off 500 positions in an effort to reduce costs as the company struggles from a “perfect storm” of inflation, tight customer budgets and “volatile foreign exchange.” Forbes reports: In a statement on Tuesday, online payment company PayPal announced it would cut 7% of its global workforce (2,000 full-time positions) amid a “competitive landscape” and a “challenging macro-economic environment,” CEO Dan Schulman said.

HubSpot, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based software company, said it would cut 7% of its workforce by the end of the first quarter of 2023 in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, as part of a restructuring plan, with CEO Yamini Rangan telling staff it follows a “downward trend” after the company “bloomed” in the Covid-19 pandemic, with HubSpot facing a “faster deceleration than we expected.” Yesterday, Philips said it would cut 3,000 jobs worldwide in 2023 and 6,000 total by 2025 after announcing $1.7 billion in losses for 2022. Spotify, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and a slew of other tech companies announced layoffs in recent days/weeks as well.

Further reading: PagerDuty CEO Quotes MLK Jr. In Worst Layoff Email Ever

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