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Tag: TPM

  • Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Microsoft is upping the ante in its war on unsupported PCs, displaying a watermark on those systems running Windows 11.

    Windows 11 has stricter system requirements than its predecessors, requiring a CPU with Trusted Platform Module (TPM). While there are ways of installing Windows on an unsupported machine, Microsoft is not keen on the idea and is making it more irritating to do so.

    According to Gizmodo, reports are surfacing of Windows 11 displaying a watermark when running on an unsupported PC. The issue appears to have started with the January 2023 Windows 11 update.

    Microsoft already has a major adoption problem with Windows 11 and it’s unlikely this stunt will improve the situation.

  • More Than 40% of PCs Can’t Install Windows 11

    More Than 40% of PCs Can’t Install Windows 11

    The latest research shows that a whopping 43% of PCs still can’t install Windows 11, leaving many stuck on Windows 10.

    Microsoft changed the install requirements for Windows 11, requiring a CPU with Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Many PCs, including fairly recent ones, do not have a TPM.

    As a result, according to Lansweeper, many PCs are being left behind in the transition to Windows 11:

    Specifically, only 57.26% of CPUs for workstations tested met the system requirements for upgrading to Windows 11, while 42.74% did not. And while the majority passed the RAM test (92.85%), about 65% of the workstation TPMs tested met the requirements, while over 15% failed and 20% was not TPM compatible or did not have it enabled.

    Lansweeper does have some good news, although not quite as good as Microsoft would no doubt like:

    Compared to 2021, there are some good signs for Microsoft. The percentage of devices that meet the CPU and TPM requirements have gone up by roughly 12%. The RAM requirement moved up every so slightly by 1.8%. If this growth continues, theoretically all devices should be Windows 11 compatible by 2026. Although this does fall short of the Windows 10 end-of-life on October 14, 2025.

    Many businesses looking to upgrade beyond Windows 10, without investing in costly hardware, would do well to look at Linux. The free operating system has a well-earned reputation of breathing new life into old hardware, extending its useful life years beyond what it would have with Windows.

    WPN has been running an introductory series on Linux, covering some of the most popular desktop environments, distributions, and best use cases for individuals and small businesses.

  • Microsoft Unveils Pluton: A New Security Chip For Windows PCs

    Microsoft Unveils Pluton: A New Security Chip For Windows PCs

    Microsoft has unveiled Pluton, a new security chip designed to improve the security of Windows PCs.

    As threats from hackers and bad actors increase, and as more companies rely on remote work and cloud-based technologies, companies are working harder than ever to secure devices and systems. Microsoft’s latest announcement is a big step in that direction.

    The company has announced its new security chip, Pluton, that applies lessons from Xbox and Azure Sphere, bringing them to the Windows PC. The new chip was designed in cooperation with AMD, Intel and Qualcomm.

    This chip-to-cloud security technology, pioneered in Xbox and Azure Sphere, will bring even more security advancements to future Windows PCs and signals the beginning of a journey with ecosystem and OEM partners.

    The new chip is a substantial improvement over the existing Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Because the TPM is a separate hardware component, hackers have been targeting communication between the TPM and the CPU. Pluton addresses that by being integrated directly into the CPU.

    The Pluton design removes the potential for that communication channel to be attacked by building security directly into the CPU. Windows PCs using the Pluton architecture will first emulate a TPM that works with the existing TPM specifications and APIs, which will allow customers to immediately benefit from enhanced security for Windows features that rely on TPMs like BitLocker and System Guard. Windows devices with Pluton will use the Pluton security processor to protect credentials, user identities, encryption keys, and personal data. None of this information can be removed from Pluton even if an attacker has installed malware or has complete physical possession of the PC.

    Pluton promises to be a substantial step toward increased security for Windows PCs, and will hopefully see rapid deployment.

  • Twerking Miley Cyrus Was Almost As Important to Twitter as the Presidential Election

    So, Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards happened. Despite my firm belief that Miley’s performance will be looked back on in 10 years and deemed tame, it’s generating quite a bit of controversy. First, there was the backlash to her sexualized romp with “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke. Then there was the backlash against the backlash. I think we’ve reached the backlash to the backlash to the backlash stage. Or maybe we’re beyond that. I don’t know. I guess it’s the Madonna/Britney Spears kiss of this generation. The whole thing makes my head hurt.

    But here’s the thing. No matter how much you want to stand tall on your high horse and act like it doesn’t matter, it matters. It matters because, as an event, the Miley Cyrus twerk fest generated nearly as much Twitter buzz as last year’s presidential election.

    According to Twitter, the peak tweets per minute during Miley Cyrus’ performance was 306,100. I’ll let Twitter put that into context:

    “For a sense of scale, last year’s VMAs had a peak at 98,307 TPM, whereas election night last year saw a TPM peak of 327,452 TPM.”

    You can discount Twitter all you want, but that’s a lot of tweets about any subject going out during a single minute in time. And if you’re still discounting Twitter as a trendmaker these days, well, you should probably rethink that.

    The other top tweet-making moments from the VMAs fall like this: Justin Timberlake featuring NSYNC, 219,800 TPM; Drake, 194,500 TPM; Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, 189,300 TPM; and Kanye West performing “Blood on the Leaves” (awesomely, might I add), 181,200 TPM.

    About all that stuff I said above, about all of this actually mattering. To quote this week’s episode of The Newsroom, I guess I believe about 60% of the stuff that I just said.

    Image via Miley Cyrus, Instagram

  • State of the Union: Obama’s Minimum Wage Bit Sees Biggest Twitter Spike

    Tuesday night’s State of the Union address contained 6,419 words and took just about an hour to deliver. 101 different lines in the speech were followed by applause, and President Obama mentioned defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney a total of twice throughout the address.

    Twitter has provided us with some more figures – total tweets and tweets per minute. And according to their calculations, 1.36 million tweets were registered from the start of President Obama’s SOTU to the conclusion of Senator Marco Rubio’s GOP response speech.

    And if you think that Twitter buzzed the most during the President’s impassioned section on gun violence, you would be wrong. The moment of the speech with the highest tweets per minute registered was when he was discussing the minimum wage and “ladders of opportunity.” That saw 24,000 TPM.

    The gun violence part came in second with 23,700 TPM (the “they deserve a vote” part).

    As far Rubio’s speech goes, Twitter says they they saw a spike when he had to reach a little bit out of his comfort zone to grab a bottle to take a sip of water.

    State of the Union tweets

    If you need something to compare the SOTU tweet total to, let’s look back at this month’s Super Bowl. Twitter said that they counted 24.1 total Super Bowl-related tweets – 5.5 million of which were simply about Beyonce.

  • Twitter’s Top Super Bowl Moments Had Nothing to Do with Football (Hint: Beyonce Killed It)

    Sure, anything that happens in the context of the Super Bowl has football to thank for its existence. The halftime show wouldn’t exist without a football game that required an intermission. All of those funny ads wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t an incredibly popular contest to plant people in front of their screens.

    Sure, people love and care about the football aspect of the Super Bowl. But last night, the top moments on Twitter didn’t deal with any aspect of the actual game.

    In fact, Beyonce’s halftime show was the most buzzed-about period during Sunday night’s broadcast. When the performance concluded, Twitter tracked 268,000 tweets per minute (TPM). When her former Destiny’s Child bandmates joined Beyonce on stage, TPM hit 257,000. And when they performed “Single Ladies,” TPM hit 252,500.

    When half the lights went out in the Superdome, TPM hit 231,500.

    By comparison, the top football-related moment on Twitter was Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return TD, which generated a spike of 185,000 TPM.

    In all, Twitter says that they saw 24.1 million total Super Bowl-related tweets. 5.5 million of those had something to do with Beyonce.

    Those who opted to watch another, more cuddly game also generated a fair amount of chatter. According to Twitter, the Puppy Bowl produced 500,000 total tweets – or about 9% of what Beyonce saw during her halftime performance.

  • Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway Responsible for Top Twitter Moments from the Golden Globes

    With the declaration “I beat Meryl,” Louisville, KY native Jennifer Lawrence accepted the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy). That speech also put her over the top in another way, as she is also responsible for the most-tweeted about moment of last night’s ceremony.

    According to Twitter, the highest spike in tweets-per-minute during the awards occurred when Lawrence won her Globe. That spike hit 19,886 TPM.

    “Harvey [Weinstein], thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today,” said Lawrence during her acceptance speech.

    Coming in a close second (19,695 TPM) for most-buzzed about moment was Anne Hathaway, as she was accepting her award for Best Supporting Actress (Comedy/Musical) for her role in Les Miserables.

    And in third was former President Bill Clinton, who received a standing ovation as he appeared on stage to introduce Steven Spielberg’s epic Lincoln for consideration. That generated 18,290 TPM.

    In all, Twitter reports 4.2 million total Golden Globes-related tweets in the past 24 hours, and 3.6 when you just count the red carpet and the actual show.

    You can check out the top three Twitter moments from last night below:

    We’re pretty sure Tommy Lee Jones was unimpressed with all of it.

  • Second Presidential Debate Sees 7.2 Million Tweets

    Last night’s town hall debate saw the two Presidential candidates go at it for a little over an hour and a half on topics both foreign and domestic (mostly domestic). We’ve already told you how the Twittersphere reacted to one particular moment involving binders full of women, and now we have the official tweets statistics from Twitter themselves.

    According to the social media site, 7.2 million tweets concerning the debate were sent last night during its 90-minute duration. For comparison, last week’s Vice Presidential debate saw 3.5 million tweets and the first presidential debate saw over 10 million total tweets.

    Out of those tweets, most of them were about the economy (28%). 17% were about taxes and 16% were about foreign policy. At last week’s VP debate, foreign policy won the night with 26% of the total tweets.

    If you think Romney’s “binders” remark or one of various sparring matches between the candidates would have been the most-tweeted-about moment of the night, you’re wrong. Romney’s response to an audience member’s question on immigration actually won the night with 109,560 tweets per minute (TPM). Obama telling Romney that he’s “the last person to get tough on China” came in a close second with 108,619 TPM. Finally, Romney’s discussion on tax rates received 107,386 TPM.

    If you missed last night’s town hall debate, you can watch it in its entirety below:

  • President Obama’s Speech Sets New Political Tweets Record

    Last night in Charlotte, President Obama accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for a second term. This (and a few other high-profile speeches) made the final night of the DNC the most buzzed-about night across both conventions, in terms of Twitter.

    President Obama’s acceptance speech set a new record for tweets per minute during a political moment. At the conclusion of his speech, Twitter saw 52,756 TPM concerning the President.

    Here are some of the other moments that saw spikes in TPM:

    • 43,646: “I’m no longer just the candidate, I’m the President”
    • 39,002: “I will never turn medicare into a voucher”
    • 38,597: Discussing Medicare
    • 37,694: “We don’t think government can solve all our problems…”
    • 34,572: Quips about the Olympics and “Cold War mind warp”

    By comparison, Mitt Romney only garnered 14,289 TPM at the height of his speech. Before the President spoke, the person that had seen the most Twitter buzz throughout the conventions was First Lady Michelle Obama, who saw 28,003 TPM at the conclusion of her speech.

    Former President Clinton saw 22,087 TPM, and Vice President Joe Biden scored 17,932.

    The Democrats generated more than double the Twitter buzz that the Republicans did over the course of their convention. By the end of the night, the DNC had generated over 9.5 million tweets. The RNC generated just over 4 million last week.

    To put it all in perspective and to show just how much Twitter has grown since the 2008 election: those 4 million tweets more than double the amount of tweets sent globally on election day 2008 – about ALL topics.

  • Bill Clinton Impresses, But First Lady Still Tops in Twitter Buzz [DNC]

    At the bottom of the 10 o’clock hour last night, former president Bill Clinton began what was supposed to be around a half-hour speech. What he ended up giving was a 48 minute masterclass in politicking, a speech that was heavy on the policy yet still engaging. Say what you want about his politics, but it’s hard to deny the political skills of the Democratic Party’s elder statesman.

    If you were on Twitter during the speech, it felt like President Clinton broke it, right? Not only was “Bill Clinton” trending nationwide, but so was #SlickWillie, “Big Dog,” “Bubba,” and even “Arithmetic” (a nod to one of his more popular lines of the night).

    And yes, Clinton saw a huge spike in tweets per minute – 22,087 near the end. But that falls short of the buzz generated by the First Lady on Tuesday night. Michelle Obama garned a spike of 28,003 tweets per minute at the close of her weel-received speech.

    For some context, Mitt Romney’s biggest spike during his speech was 14.289 TPM.

    According to Twitter, here are some of President Clinton’s biggest moments from his speech:

    • Discussing Obama’s job record: 16,115 TPM
    • Urging the audience to vote for Obama: 15,266 TPM
    • “All in this together” statement: 15,111 TPM
    • Discussing Hillary Clinton’s role, and “blood sport” line: 14,538 TPM
    • “Takes some brass” quip: 14,393 TPM

    During the entire week of the Republican National Convention, Twitter logged a little over 4 million related tweets. The DNC has already seen 5.5 million in its first two nights.

    If you missed the speech, here it is in its entirety. Settle in, it’s a long one:

  • Mitt Romney Sees 14,289 Tweets per Minute During Speech

    One convention down, one to go. Last night in Tampa, Mitt Romney accepted his party’s nomination for President on the United States, and gave a speech that was part indictment of the Obama administration and part trip through memory lane. Though Twitter users have been fervently debating the speech’s delivery and merits – one thing is for certain:

    There were a lot of Twitter users watching, on both sides of the political aisle.

    According to Twitter, Mitt Romney was responsible for the three biggest spikes in tweets per minute during the night. At a little past 11pm ET, Romney mentioned Russian President Putin, and the Twittersphere lit up to the tune of 13,278 tweets per minute. And then a few minutes laters, as the speech was coming to a close, Romney registered 14,289 tweets per minute.

    Although it was clearly Romney’s night to generate conversation, two other speakers grabbed a share of the Twitter buzz as well. Senator Marco Rubio saw a tweets per minute spike of 8,937 during his speech and Clint Eastwood received a spike of 7,044 TPM during his interview of an invisible Obama in an empty chair.

    By comparison to Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Ann Romney’s speeches seem a bit tepid in terms of reaction. They generated 6,669 and 6,195 TPM, respectively.

    In all, Twitter says that there were over 4 million RNC-related tweets over the course of the week. Yesterday, there were only 2 million – so the final day generated quite a lot of buzz. The 2012 convention had trumped the 2008 convention in terms of total tweets before the first speaker took the podium on Tuesday.

  • Paul Ryan’s Speech Pushes GOP Convention Tweets Over 2 Million

    On Tuesday, Twitter told us that this year’s Republican National Convention had already produced more tweets that the entirety of the 2008 convention – and it hadn’t even gotten off the ground. When the 2012 convention smashed the 2008 convention in terms of tweets, there hadn’t even been a headlining speaker yet due to the delay for Hurricane Isaac.

    If you want more proof that 2012 really is the first true social media election, here it is: Twitter has just announced that last night during Paul Ryan’s VP acceptance speech, the total tweets surrounding the convention topped 2 million.

    That’s more the six times the total tweets from the 2008 convention.

    Ryan’s speech also drew the top three spikes in tweets per minute last night, with the highest spike coming at the end. As Ryan closed his 30+ minutes speech, 6,669 tweets were sent out in 60 seconds.

    That tops the previous TPM spike, which came at the end of Ann Romney’s speech Tuesday night. When Mitt Romney came out to give his wife a kiss, tweets per minute hit 6,195.

    Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also made Twitter buzz, logging 3,961 TPM at one point. That’s the most of any Wednesday speaker outside of Paul Ryan.

  • Ann Romney Won the Night, According to Twitter

    After a short delay due to Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf, the 2012 Republican National Convention had its first true night of activities on Tuesday. Some of the high-profile speakers included House Speaker John Boehner, former candidate Rick Santorum, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as the headliner.

    But it was Mitt Romney’s wife Ann’s speech that seems to have made the biggest impact – if you go by the response of the Twitterverse.

    Twitter is saying that the highest tweets per minute spike of the entire night of speeches came right after Ann Romney’s speech, when presumptive candidate Mitt Romney joined her on stage for a few quick kisses. They say that tweets hit 6.195 per minute.

    Plus, Ann Romney made a huge jump in an metric called the Twitter Political Index – from a score of 45 to 83, which is the biggest increase in TPI of any last night’s speakers.

    Twitter launched their Political Index earlier this month with the help of analytics firms and polling firms. The index judges the sentiments in tweets that mention Romney or Obama (originally), to determine how positive their mentions are. It appears that Twitter has expanded their indexing to auxiliary political figures.

    For comparison, Mitt Romney has only gained 2 point in the Political Index since yesterday (Obama’s gained 1).

    Gov. Christie’s keynote speech wasn’t far behind when it came to spikes in tweets per minute. When he gave his line about a “second American century,” TPM shot up to 6,079.

    Twitter also notes the Rick Santorum’s speech garnered a lot of jokes about his abundant use of the word “hands.”

  • The Olympics Generated More Than 150 Million Tweets

    Now that the London 2012 summer games have come to a close, Twitter is releasing some figures that shine a light on just how gigantic a role social media played in this year’s Olympics. 2012 is no doubt the first ever Twitter-fueled Olympics, as the amount of engagement on the site dwarfed anything seen in the 2008 Games in Beijing. More tweets concerning the Olympics were coming in on single days before the opening ceremony than came in during the entire 2088 Games.

    Twitter did their part to get people excited about the Olympics by launching their own dedicated event page.

    And now, Twitter is saying that the Olympics generated more than 150 million tweets from start to finish (a 16-day period).

    Among those 150 million+ tweets, it was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt who ran away with the show (apologies). Bolt was responsible for the two biggest tweet-spiking events during competition. He garnered 80,000+ tweets per minutes when he won the 200m dash and 74,000+ TPM when he beat the field in the 100m dash.

    The rest of the top five TPM moments belonged to Andy Murray (men’s tennis gold medalist), the Jamaican relay team (4×100 gold medalists), and Team USA (basketball, after beating Spain for the gold) – in that order.

    Twitter also reports that ten different athletes generated more than 1 million tweets each. The aforementioned Usain Bolt leads the pack, followed by Michael Phelps, Tom Daley, Ryan Lochte, Gabby Douglas, Andy Murray, Kobe Bryant, Yohan Blake, Lee Chong Wei, and LeBron James.

    Of all the sports, it was soccer that reigned supreme with over 5 million tweets.

    But in all, it wasn’t an Olympic athlete (or even a sport) that drew the most TPM. That title belongs to the Spice Girls, whose closing ceremony performance brought in a whopping 116,000 TPM.

  • Angelina Jolie’s Leg, “Undefeated” Part of Twitter’s Most-Tweeted Moments of The Oscars

    Now that we’re a couple of days removed from The Academy Awards, what’s your take on the night? Do you still think The Artist deserved best picture? Have you had time to ruminate on Billy Crystal’s performance as host – and does that change your opinion? How about Angelina Jolie’s leg – you have that one out of your head yet?

    Here’s what we do know about the night: According to Twitter, many of the most tweeted moments of the big night didn’t have anything to do with people actually winning awards. But the most buzzed-about moment did. And it came when Undefeated won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

    Undefeated is the story of a losing high school football team in a poor neighborhood in Memphis and how one coach helped turn them around. One thing that have might bolstered the tweet volume surrounding Undefeated’s win was the excitement of one of the film’s directors. T.J. Martin shouted that it would be “f*cking amazing” if their fellow nominees could join them in sharing the award. The expletive was bleeped out on the TV broadcast.

    @iamdiddy
    iamdiddy    Congrats to Oscar Winning FilmMakers @dan_lindsay @TJMckayMartin !!! And Coach Bill Courtney!! #Undefeated LET’S GOOOO!!! 1 day ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    The next most-tweeted moment came when Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis presented an award whilst crashing cymbals.

    @BuzzFeed
    BuzzFeed    Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell hoping to remake “Drumline.” #Oscars 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Next came a moment from the Red Carpet, when Sacha Baron Cohen arrived dressed as the character from his upcoming film The Dictator and promptly spilled ashes all over Ryan Seacrest.

    @RyanSeacrest
    Ryan Seacrest    My mom always told me to pack two jackets for red carpets, always wondered why. Now I know. 1 day ago via WhoSay ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    The fourth most-tweeted moment came when Angelina Jolie struck a very leggy pose while presenting an award. Her action even spawned a parody Twitter account (Angelina Jolie’s Leg).

    @AngiesRightLeg
    Angelina Jolie’s Leg    Look at meeee!! 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Last buzzworthy moment came when Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie won the Best Original Song Oscar for “Man or Muppet.”

    @MuppetsStudio
    Miss Piggy    Back to the drawing board…but congratulations to Bret on his #Oscar win for “Man or Muppet”! Maybe he needs me to help take care of it… 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    On Monday, we got a different report from Twitter analytics company TweetReach. They said that the Cirque du Soleil performance stole the night.

    Along with the top moments from the actual broadcast, Twitter has unveiled the results of their #BestDressed Red Carpet vote, and here are the winners: Jessica Chastain (24%), Michelle Williams (22%), Emma Stone (20%), Penelope Cruz (18%), and Miss Piggy (16%).