Close to the Metal Episode 53: Windows Mixed Reality isn’t so mixed

By Matthew S. Smith Published August 30, 2017

IFA 2017, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show, is about to begin, and with it we’ve received a burst of new reveals. Microsoft is using the show to talk about Windows Mixed Reality, which we went hands-on with, and clarify what the first batch of headsets will do.

The products are a bit different from what the term “mixed reality” lead us to think. Instead of focusing on a blend of virtual and augmented reality, they heavily focus on augmented reality, using built-in cameras primarily for spatial recognition without the use of external sensors.

It’s innovative, and important, but not for the reasons we first thought. We’ll examine all the latest Windows Mixed Reality news on this week’s Close to the Metal.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube and Facebook at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern, every Tuesday.

Matthew S. Smith

Former Senior Editor, Reviews

Matthew S. Smith is the former Lead Editor, Reviews at Digital Trends. He previously guided the Products Team, which dives…

Topics

Computing

Google brings its best AI music model Lyria 3.5 to the Gemini app

Developers get full API access through Google AI Studio.

Google-gemini-lyria-3.5

Google has added Lyria 3.5, its most advanced music generation model yet, to the Gemini app. Previously available through Google's AI filmmaking tool Flow, the model is now rolling out to all Gemini users, making it easier to generate polished songs, instrumentals, and soundtracks from simple text prompts or even photos.

Lyria 3.5 makes AI-generated music sound more natural

Computing

AMD’s new workstation packs 576GB of GPU memory and enough horsepower for trillion-parameter AI models

AMD just built a desktop workstation with more raw memory than most small data centers had a decade ago.

People, Person, Performer

AMD just built a desktop that really has no business sitting on an actual desk. At IFA 2026, the company unveiled the Threadripper Halo Station.

As the name probably already suggests, it is a liquid-cooled machine that can run AI models with more than a trillion parameters without touching the cloud even once. If you don't already know, those numbers are reserved for server shelves, not someone's personal desk.

Gaming

Why doesn’t DDR5 memory always perform the way you expect?

Electronics, Hardware, Computer Hardware

This post is brought to you in paid partnership with ASUS.

DDR5 memory doesn't always perform the way you'd expect because so much of its behavior is shaped by the platform it's running on, not the memory kit alone. A motherboard is one of the few PC components that continues to influence your system long after you've finished building it. Even after you've chosen your processor, graphics card, and memory, it continues to shape which upgrades are possible, how well new hardware behaves, and whether your PC evolves gracefully or starts showing its age before the rest of the system does.