Newshot Apple announces Swift Student Challenge schedule
Recently, Apple announced the schedule for the 2027 Swift Student Challenge. The submission period runs from February 8 to February 28, 2027, lasting three weeks. Starting this year, students can submit apps developed for any Apple platform, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and visionOS; in previous years, the challenge was mainly aimed at iPhone and iPad.
Entries must be an Xcode app or an app playground made with Swift Playground, submitted as a ZIP file no larger than 500 MB, with an experience lasting no more than three minutes. Entries must be completed independently by an individual, must not rely on a network connection, must be built with Xcode 27 or Swift Playground 4.7 or later, and must be in English. Participants must be enrolled students or eligible recent graduates and must register an Apple Developer account; full-time developers cannot participate. Participants in mainland China must be at least 14 years old.
Before the challenge, Apple will hold three online "Meet with Apple" events: on December 10, how to get started with agentic coding in Xcode; on January 14, 2027, preparing for the challenge; and on February 4, how to tell the story of your app. Winners receive a one-year Apple Developer Program membership and a special gift, and Distinguished Winners will be invited to Apple Park for WWDC 2027. Source
Microsoft's Auto SR technology officially arrives
On November 10, Microsoft announced that its AI super-resolution technology Automatic Super Resolution is officially rolling out to Xbox Ally X, Xbox Ally X20 and some Windows Copilot+ PCs powered by AMD Ryzen processors.
Like NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR and similar technologies, Auto SR is Microsoft's AI super-resolution technology for Windows games. It can raise game resolution through image processing and AI algorithms, improving visuals while reducing the native rendering load.
Microsoft began testing Auto SR on Xbox Ally X in April this year, when the feature was only supported when the device was connected to its dock. With this official release, players can enable Auto SR on handheld devices while running on battery, and support for 1080p games has been added.
Microsoft has also introduced a new performance mode, raising the Auto SR frame rate cap from roughly 60 to 75 FPS to 120 FPS. Players can switch between quality and performance modes via Xbox Game Bar and adjust settings while a game is running.
According to Microsoft's DirectX blog, users need to update Xbox Game Bar, install the latest Windows 11 update, and download or update the Auto Super Resolution Package from the Microsoft Store. Then open Xbox Game Bar, go to "Widgets — Display — Graphics" and enable the corresponding Auto SR mode. Source
Arm releases Cortex-M42 processor
On November 10, Arm announced the launch of the Cortex-M42 processor and its inclusion in the Flexible Access and Total Access technology licensing programs.
In terms of positioning, the Cortex-M42 processor is mainly aimed at cost- and die-area-sensitive smart devices, with the goal of bringing stronger machine learning and digital signal processing capabilities to products such as wearables and industrial controllers. In terms of architecture, the Cortex-M42 processor is based on the Armv8.1-M architecture, combining Helium technology with a compact AHB bus design, making it easy for chipmakers to upgrade existing Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M33 microcontroller solutions. In terms of performance, compared with Cortex-M33, the latest Cortex-M42 processor offers up to three times the vector computing capability and up to twice the vector computing energy efficiency.
In practical applications, the new processor can be used for audio processing and keyword recognition in wearables, and can also handle sensor analysis and condition monitoring for industrial equipment.
This release also expands Arm's technology licensing portfolio. As of November 2026, Flexible Access has 319 active members and has enabled more than 500 independent tape-outs; Total Access has 60 partners and has supported more than 600 projects in total. Arm hopes to drive more devices to complete intelligent processing locally by broadening access to its technology. Source
Huawei announces new sub-brand OSTA 星芒
On November 11, Huawei Terminal BG chairman 余承东 announced on Weibo that the new Huawei sub-brand OSTA 星芒 will make its public debut at a launch event on November 20.
Meanwhile, the OSTA 星芒 phone Weibo account is already online, with a page background showing the OSTA letter logo, but no content has been posted yet. Source
Nintendo announces "easy login" feature will be discontinued
On November 10, Nintendo announced that the "easy login" feature for Nintendo Account will be discontinued on January 26, 2027 at 15:00 (Beijing time). After the feature is discontinued, Nintendo will no longer support creating accounts with Google or Apple account credentials, and the Google account linking missions in the My Nintendo points program will also end.
For players currently using "easy login," if they encounter a login screen after the expiration date, they will need to log in with the email address or ID paired with their Nintendo Account, or use a passkey to log in. Source
Alibaba launches Qwen Code 1.0
On November 11, Alibaba Group announced the release of Qwen Code 1.0, with Qoder and Qwen Code merged and open-sourced.
Alibaba has integrated the Harness capabilities refined in Qoder into Qwen Code, opening them up alongside the Qwen Code 1.0 Preview to provide developers with an Agent runtime foundation that can be embedded in their own products.
Qwen Code 1.0 starts from an in-process in-memory event bus and evolves toward distributed operation along a unified event model: access, scheduling and execution are scaled in layers, and through a "separation of hands and brain" approach, inference orchestration and tool execution are managed independently. While retaining existing entry points and return methods, it moves from "one process, multiple sessions" to "multiple nodes, more sessions."
Alibaba said the unified event mechanism not only connects entry points and tasks but also establishes clear boundaries for capability expansion and resource management. Various processing units collaborate around events, with models, sandboxes and external extensions managed separately, making it easier to expand capabilities, centralize control and control costs as the system takes on more tasks.
The Qwen Code 1.0 Preview is available on a separate branch, while the existing stable branch continues to be maintained. The team will continue to improve feature coverage and stability along the 1.0 evolution roadmap. Source
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