Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer is very interested in the possibility of Xbox on-the-go, whether that means an official Xbox handheld or highly-customized mobile software.

With multiple devices like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and Valve's Steam Deck, handheld PCs have emerged as a new nascent gaming platform to market and monetize. The Nintendo Switch arguably was the pioneer in the console-handheld space, but portable chip technology is now powerful enough to deliver playable, console-ish quality gaming while on-the-go. Tech-wise, it seems like a good time for Sony and Microsoft to start thinking about a PlayStation or Xbox handheld.

Sony's $199 PlayStation Portable selling like hotcakes may dissuade the company from making a costly dedicated handheld device, but what about Xbox? Phil Spencer is psyched for Xbox handheld gaming, but as is usually the case, there's a lot of ambiguity in what's said about Xbox's future. An Xbox handheld experience could range from a fully-fledged dedicated handheld device that natively plays Xbox console games to...an Xbox app that's optimized for Windows handhelds.

When Apple released the watchOS 10 software update last year it brought with it a number of new features to the Apple Watch including the addition of a new topographic mapping option. However, the feature was only available to those who owned an Apple Watch but that is now thought to be about to change.

According to a new report by MacRumors, Apple now intends to bring that same feature to the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro with the as-yet-unannounced iOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2 software updates.

MacRumors says that code that it has reviewed indicates that the topographic map is coming to the new devices. That mapping feature includes trails, contour lines, elevation, and points of interest which are all features that are useful for those who go hiking.

If you're an Apple Maps user on the iPhone you might be about to get a whole new feature for choosing the route that you take when using driving directions, according to a new report. It's said that Apple is working on a new custom route feature and that Apple Maps users will be able to choose different routes rather than the one that Apple picks out.

Users are not currently allowed to change anything to do with the route that they take and are instead left to follow the route that Apple Maps chooses for them. However, that could all change later this year with MacRumors noting that code reviewed by the website suggests the change is coming when iOS 18 arrives.

While Google Maps does offer a similar feature to edit the route chosen for drivers, that feature is only available via the Google Maps website and has not yet made its way to the iPhone app.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro in September the new phones were also confirmed to have support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard. Based on MagSafe, the standard is open to all who want to implement it which means that wireless charger makers no longer have to pay to license Apple's MagSafe technology. The benefit here is that there are more options while also making the chargers cheaper for people to buy. At the time, Apple confirmed that support for Qi2 would also be brought to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 via software updates.

However, Apple now appears to have also added Qi2 wireless charging to the iPhone 12 series of devices for the first time, and it did it via the iOS 17.4 software update that was released to the public earlier this month. Apple didn't make any mention of the new functionality in the software's release notes and it hasn't said anything since the release, either. But according to testing carried out by Macworld, Qi2 support is now very much alive and well on their iPhone 12 after installing the iOS 17.4 update.

Previously, using the non-MagSafe wireless chargers with the iPhone 12 meant a charging speed of just 7.5W, but as Macworld found out when trying to charge using a Qi2-compatible charger, the full 15W charging speed was available. In fact, there were instances where the third-party Qi2 chargers were performing better than the official Apple MagSafe Wireless Charger.

AMD will launch its next-gen Zen 5 CPU architecture later this year, which will be used in Kraken Point, Granite Ridge, Strix Point, and Strix Halo APU and CPU designs... with Granite Rapids desktop CPUs in both 6-core and 8-cores tested, spotted in a new shipping manifesto.

The leak on the Zen 5-powered "Granite Ridge" CPUs from AMD comes from leaker and dataminer "momomo_us," who discovered shipping manifests that confirm the next-gen desktop CPUs. There are two new AMD OPN (Product Codes) that confirm 6-core and 8-core variants are being tested right now, with what looks like a 105W TDP for the 6-core Zen 5 "Granite Ridge" CPU and 170W TDP for the 8-core Zen 5 "Granite Ridge" CPU.

Amazon AWS has announced that it will build data centers in Taiwan, with "specific progress" expected in 2024. This will see the US cloud provider joining other American cloud companies like Google and Microsoft, which have been setting up data centers in Taiwan.

Wang Dingkai, general manager of Amazon AWS Taiwan and Hong Kong, said on March 28 that the "computer room implementation plan continues," and that it is also subject to "dynamic adjustments". Dingkai added that "there will be good news to share with you soon".

Microsoft first announced in 2020 that it would build a new data center in Taiwan, "quietly carrying out related projects" over the past 2 to 3 years. It's rumored that there will be "specific progress" in Microsoft's data center in Taiwan. The company says that since this is a large-scale project, it will be completed in stages and that if everything continues going to plan, there will be an announcement in the future.

The South Korean government is considering subsidies for the semiconductor industry. The government reportedly decided to review the provision of subsidies for South Korea's wide-ranging high-tech industries, including the semiconductor industry.

This would be a first for South Korea, where on March 27, the government discussed a comprehensive support plan for specialized clusters in advanced strategic industries based on the proposals at the 5th National Advanced Strategic Industry Committee, which was held at the South Korean Government Complex in Seoul and chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

In a new report from Business Korea, the outlet reports that the South Korean government said: "The competition for investment subsidies among rival countries is intensifying," and that "in addition to the current investment incentive support, we will continue to review the expansion of incentive systems for advanced investments".

YouTube is constantly testing new features in what the company calls "experiments" and the latest experiment to surface online is a new AI feature that's called "jump ahead".

Most YouTuber users are aware that double tapping the screen on either side either rewinds or fast forwards the video by 10 seconds, with each additional press increasing the time that is jumped forward/backward. But what if you double-pressed the screen and jumped right to the next most interesting part of the video? That feature is currently being worked on over at YouTube, and it's powered by AI that analyses user watch data and picks the next most interesting part of the video.

The feature works like this; double tapping the screen will bring up a prompt that says "jump ahead". Tapping that prompt will fast forward the clip to what YouTube considers the next best point of interest. Notably, YouTube says that the feature will only work for specific eligible videos, while also not specifies what criteria a video will need to meet to become eligible for the feature. Furthermore, users will need to have a YouTube Premium account to access the feature.

Google has rolled out a new landing page for Google Messages that provides a bunch of information regarding the benefits of its service and, particularly, the Rich Communication Services (RCS) communication protocol.

Apple announced in November 2023 that it was going to be adopting RCS sometime "later next year", which led most users to expect the update to roll out with the next big iOS update, presumably iOS 18, which is slated to be Apple's biggest iOS update ever. Now, Google has seemingly confirmed that with one of the new Android landing pages stating the following: "Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024. Once that happens, it will mean a better messaging experience for everyone."

Notably, Apple never specifically said when it was going to adopt RCS, which means Google's announcement is may have circumvented Apple's upcoming announcement. For those that don't know, Apple has been using SMS and MMS protocols when texting non-Apple smartphones, which means low-quality images/videos when sending to non-Apple smartphones, problems with group chats, and low security. The adoption of RCS will mean users will get typing indicators between Android and iOS devices, improved security, and many more features.

A leaker has revealed that Capcom's highly anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds will be a "fully open world" experience, and will be the developers most ambitious title yet.

Capcom unveiled the next installment in the Monster Hunter franchise back in December, and since then, gamers have been speculating how this next installment will differentiate itself from the previous games in the series. With details regarding the title being scarce, we now have a little bit more to go off of, with well-known leaker Dusk Golem writing over Discord that their hearing Wilds will be "by far the biggest game they [Capcom] ever attempted".

Golem revealed other details such as development for Wilds beginning back in 2019, meaning the game has been cooking in Capcom's development labs for 6 years now. Additional information included Monster Hunter World director having "complete freedom" with Wilds and that the new game will include many "scrapped ideas from World". Probably the biggest piece of information was the claim that Wilds will be "fully open world" and that it was Capcom's idea from "day one" to pursue this development path.