Vmin Shift Instability Root Cause 

Intel® has localized the Vmin Shift Instability issue to a clock tree circuit within the IA core which is particularly vulnerable to reliability aging under elevated voltage and temperature. Intel has observed these conditions can lead to a duty cycle shift of the clocks and observed system instability.  

Intel® has identified four (4) operating scenarios that can lead to Vmin shift in affected processors: 

1) Motherboard power delivery settings exceeding Intel power guidance. 

a. Mitigation: Intel® Default Settings recommendations for Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.  

2) eTVB Microcode algorithm which was allowing Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen i9 desktop processors to operate at higher performance states even at high temperatures. 

a. Mitigation: microcode 0x125 (June 2024) addresses eTVB algorithm issue.  

3) Microcode SVID algorithm requesting high voltages at a frequency and duration which can cause Vmin shift. 

a. Mitigation: microcode 0x129 (August 2024) addresses high voltages requested by the processor.  

4) Microcode and BIOS code requesting elevated core voltages which can cause Vmin shift especially during periods of idle and/or light activity. 

a. Mitigation: Intel® is releasing microcode 0x12B, which encompasses 0x125 and 0x129 microcode updates, and addresses elevated voltage requests by the processor during idle and/or light activity periods.  

“As I mentioned before, Felicia and I have known Vice President Harris for over 10 years and she has been a great friend to both of us during that time,” Horowitz wrote in an email to his venture capital firm obtained by Axios. “As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign.”

I… listen. Two things. First, one of the most striking things about the podcast Horowitz made with his a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was how focused both men were on who’d take their meetings. Their political commitments, in many respects, boiled down to who would spend face time with them. Near the end of the podcast, Horowitz told what was (I think?) supposed to be a heartwarming story about hanging out with Trump’s grandkids — and how his reaction to hearing about the assassination attempt on Trump was, “Oh my god, Grandpa just got shot.”

So, you know, the whole thing where Harris has been “a great friend” to both Horowitz and his wife checks out as a political position for him. In some respects, I get it. I, too, want to see my friends succeed!

But second, that crucial Trump endorsement was made before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, and before the enormous outpouring of support for the new Democratic candidate. That meant a16z had already sacrificed any leverage it might have with a Harris administration — and a candidate who made Trump look like less of a sure winner. In the case of a Harris win, these boys were looking at an entire four years without important meetings, and we already know they view that as a dreadful tragedy for the entire nation.

In order to regain any possibility of leverage in a potentially Democrat-led government, someone was going to have to eat humble pie, and it sure as shit wasn’t going to be Andreessen. Horowitz, whose support for Trump was termed a “Maga U-turn” by The San Francisco Standard, has a history of donating to progressive causes; Harris, then a senator, was even a guest at a Horowitz backyard barbecue in 2018.

“I’m just wondering what they’re gonna do when Kamala wins,” one founder told The San Francisco Standard of the a16z Trump endorsement. “Like, how do you walk that back?”

Well, I guess we know now. Horowitz’s email says that he’s had several conversations with Harris and her team — crucial to note here that he got to the candidate herself, given that access is apparently one of Horowitz’s main political concerns. And so while Horowitz still thinks President Joe Biden is no-good and very bad, he is “encouraged by my belief” in Harris to do good for tech, despite the fact that she has not yet staked out any policy positions.

Harris has sort of made overtures on what Horowitz termed “probably the most emotional topic” in the election: crypto. One of her campaign aides has said, “She’s going to support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow,” in response to a question about crypto.

I’m using the new Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max with iOS 18.1. For some reason, Siri responds about 60% of the time when I ask it to call or text someone. Yes, this garbage even happens to me, and I’ve been helping folks with their tech lives for decades. 

That’s why I’ve channeled my frustrations into easy ways to make your tech less annoying, too.

THE $40K SCAM THAT ALMOST GOT ME + 3 MORE SPREADING NOW

Speaking of new iPhones … I’m giving away an iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence! No purchase necessary to enter.

Let’s start with Alexa: Amazon Echo smart speakers repeat what you just said, but you can turn off that default setting with just a few clicks. Open your Alexa app, tap More > Settings > Voice Responses, then turn on Brief Mode. Ah, short, sweet and to the point.

Stop apps asking for ratings: Don’t want to be nagged to leave a rating for an app? On an iPhone, tap Settings > App Store and toggle off In-App Ratings and Reviews. There’s no fix for Android, unfortunately. Hey, Google, fix that!

You’re drowning in tabs: Here’s a faster way to navigate when you have lots of tabs open. Hit Ctrl + 1, 2, 3 and so on to go to that tab number. On Mac, it’s Command + a number. To cycle through tabs, hit Ctrl + Tab on Windows or Cmd + Tab on Mac.

3 SECURITY AND DATA CHECKS YOU SHOULD DO ONCE A YEAR

What the heck is that? Music blaring unexpectedly from a browser tab is no fun, especially when you can’t turn it off right away. Most browsers let you deal with this pretty easily now. In Chrome, for instance, simply right-click on the tab header and click Mute site.

Quick text search: You know you sent someone a pic but can’t find it. On iPhone, open Messages, tap a convo, then the person’s profile photo or group name. Scroll to Photos > See All. On Android, open Messages, then tap the search bar at the top.

Close up detail of a man holding a smartphone over a kitchen counter, taken on January 31, 2019.  (Neil Godwin/Future via Getty Images)

Fix the ducking autocorrect: This is one reason I rely on voice texting so much. When you type, autocorrect can keep changing the word you meant to write. Adding custom words that don’t get corrected helps. On an Android, head to Settings and choose System > Keyboard > Personal dictionary. From iOS, it’s under Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.

Printer out of black ink? Change the color to #010101. It’ll look black, but it’s really 99% gray. While you’re at it, knock down the font size and switch to Courier New or Garamond. They use the least ink. Bonus: If the prints are just for you, look for draft mode in your document settings.

20 TECH TRICKS TO MAKE LIFE BETTER, SAFER OR EASIER

30-second cleanup: If your phone’s home screen is a hot mess, folders to the rescue! Use a finger or stylus to drag one app on top of another to make a new folder. I like doing this to create folders by category (think one for social media apps, another for shopping apps and so on).

Undo drastic changes: Ever spent hours typing something and then — poof! — it all just vanishes on you? Simply hit “Undo” and it should come back. Press Ctrl + Z on Windows or Cmd + Z on a Mac. Ahhhh, there it is.

A man eats a slice of pizza while using a laptop. (iStock)

Desktop alerts: Notification overload is too much for my brain when I need to focus. Turn them off in Windows via Settings > System > Notifications. In macOS, it’s under your System Systems > Notifications.

Shhh: You can instantly silence incoming calls on your smartphone by pressing the side button, volume up or volume down button once. Nice.

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