ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7800 XT White OC Edition Review

ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7800 XT White OC Edition Review

The ASUS TUF Radeon RX 7800 XT looks incredible in white, delivering exceptional 1440p performance that presents real competition against the RTX 4070.

TT Show Episode 14 - Grand Theft Auto 6 deep dive, Fallout TV show, Windows 12, and more!

Kosta Andreadis | TweakTown | Dec 7, 2023 11:32 PM CST

The TT Show Episode 14 is here, and of course, this week's big story is the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, which dropped moments before Jak and Kosta started recording - so strap in for some genuine immediate impressions. The GTA 6 discussion covers quite a bit, from the visuals to the game potentially skipping PC at launch to why Rockstar released the trailer ahead of schedule.

TT Show Episode 14 - Grand Theft Auto 6 deep dive, Fallout TV show, Windows 12, and more!

The Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer isn't the only trailer the duo dig into as they talk about the new Fallout TV show from Amazon for Prime Video and how it captures the series' look, feel, and tone. As a Fallout player, Kosta is more impressed than Jak, but hey. In the world of GPUs, the ongoing GeForce RTX 4090 China ban saga continues, with the recent news that NVIDIA is designing a cutdown RTX 4090D for the region.

This week's episode also covers the early arrival of Windows 12 in June 2024 alongside dedicated "AI PCs," Tesla's Cybertruck's launch, and some sad news about NASA's planned Moon mission in 2025. It turns out progress at Elon Musk's SpaceX isn't where it should be,

Continue reading: TT Show Episode 14 - Grand Theft Auto 6 deep dive, Fallout TV show, Windows 12, and more! (full post)

Intel keeps up the good work with Arc GPU driver: up to 34% boosts, Battlefield V is 23% faster

Darren Allan | Video Cards & GPUs | Dec 8, 2023 1:57 PM CST

Intel's Arc GPUs just got a new graphics driver which again brings in some impressive performance uplifts.

Intel keeps up the good work with Arc GPU driver: up to 34% boosts, Battlefield V is 23% faster

Driver version 31.0.101.5074 offers a rather tasty boost of up to 34% for Train Sim World 3 (at Full HD resolution, Ultra settings) and Arc graphics card owners are getting 23% more FPS in Battlefield V at those same 1080p settings.

Here's a full roundup of the frame rate uplifts provided by the new Arc graphics driver:

Continue reading: Intel keeps up the good work with Arc GPU driver: up to 34% boosts, Battlefield V is 23% faster (full post)

Final Fantasy XVI on PC: there's possible good news on DLC, and bad news on the spec (for some)

Darren Allan | Gaming | Dec 8, 2023 8:34 AM CST

Final Fantasy XVI is coming to the PC next year, and we just got some more details on the port, bringing some good news regarding bundling the DLC, and some not so great news as to the potential minimum hardware requirements.

Final Fantasy XVI on PC: there's possible good news on DLC, and bad news on the spec (for some)

The info was spilled in an interview conducted by Famitsu (a Japanese magazine) with producer of the game Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida.

In the interview, Yoshi-P suggested that the PC release would come complete with both expansions, and as that second DLC for Final Fantasy XVI is due in the spring of 2024, we can perhaps hope that the port will arrive on PC then, or shortly thereafter (fingers crossed - though from previous hints, it may well take longer).

Continue reading: Final Fantasy XVI on PC: there's possible good news on DLC, and bad news on the spec (for some) (full post)

Here's why you shouldn't cheap out on a PSU - a Redditor found a lump of iron inside theirs

Darren Allan | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Dec 8, 2023 6:40 AM CST

If anyone is building a PC and asks our advice, we always point out that while it might seem tempting to get a cheap PSU, this isn't a good approach - and if we ever needed an incident to effectively illustrate why, well, here it is.

Here's why you shouldn't cheap out on a PSU - a Redditor found a lump of iron inside theirs

As Tom's Hardware spotted, a Redditor bought a cheap (claimed) 500W power supply - an Equites T500 (no, we've never heard of the brand either) - and then opened it up.

To their surprise, they found at one side of the power supply, a block was attached, filled with iron filings. It had no functional purpose, and wasn't connected to anything, the block was just sat to one side of the PSU, doing nothing.

Continue reading: Here's why you shouldn't cheap out on a PSU - a Redditor found a lump of iron inside theirs (full post)

WhatsApp chat filters are coming and they're now in beta

Oliver Haslam | Software & Apps | Dec 8, 2023 5:45 AM CST

While the world continues to discuss whether Apple should open iMessage to make it work with other platforms like WhatsApp, the meta-owned messaging service is pushing on with new features of its own. The app has had new features added over the last few months and now a new one is on the way after it appeared in the latest WhatsApp beta that's now available to testers.

WhatsApp chat filters are coming and they're now in beta

The new feature adds support for filtering chat threads to make it easier to find the one that you're looking for. The WhatsApp beta watchers at WABetaInfo have reported on the change that is now available to users of the latest build that is now in the hands of those running the latest TestFlight beta.

The new WhatsApp feature adds a filter row to give users the chance to filter out chats that they don't want to see. One example is being able to filter unread messages so that they are easier to find in a sea of chat threads. Other options include the ability to filter group chats and more.

Continue reading: WhatsApp chat filters are coming and they're now in beta (full post)

WhatsApp gains listen-once voice messages

Oliver Haslam | Software & Apps | Dec 8, 2023 5:30 AM CST

The instant messaging platform WhatsApp has announced a new feature that could well help keep voice messages more private after they have been sent. Normally, sending a voice message to someone means that the message is there forever and that the recipient can listen to it whenever they want to. However, a new change allows people to now send the same voice messages but have them automatically disappear immediately after they have been listened to.

WhatsApp gains listen-once voice messages

Such listen-once voice messages can be used for sending messages that are only valid for a short period of time. WhatsApp's announcement blog post includes the example of reading out your credit card details to a friend, although we're not sure that's something you should be doing all that much anyway. Another example is when planning a surprise, too.

Voice messages of the listen-once variety are clearly marked as such so those who receive them will immediately know what the situation is before they listen to that message. The new voice messages work in much the same way as the existing view once photos and videos that are already supported by WhatsApp.

Continue reading: WhatsApp gains listen-once voice messages (full post)

Elon Musk rolls out new AI to X that has a 'killer feature'

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Dec 8, 2023 5:03 AM CST

Elon Musk has officially started rolling out the new AI-powered chatbot Grok, developed by Musk's AI startup, xAI.

Elon Musk rolls out new AI to X that has a 'killer feature'

X has taken to its official X account on the platform to announce that Grok is now being rolled out to Premium+ subscribers across the United States. For those that don't know, Premium+ is the paid version of X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, and it costs $16 a month, which gets you an ad-free experience on the platform, other features, and now Grok.

The new AI chatbot is powered by the generative model called Grok-1 and is trained on data acquired from the web that's as recent as Q3 2023. Additionally, Grok differentiates itself from other chatbots, such as OpenAI, as it also incorporates real-time data from X, which means the chatbot should be able to provide responses on posts occurring on X in real-time.

Continue reading: Elon Musk rolls out new AI to X that has a 'killer feature' (full post)

Facebook Messenger is now end-to-end encrypted as standard

Oliver Haslam | Software & Apps | Dec 8, 2023 4:45 AM CST

Meta, the company that makes Facebook Messenger and owns the similar instant-messaging platform WhatsApp, has announced that it finally supports end-to-end encryption as standard with that being the default for all new chats. The move comes after Meta promised to make this change some time ago. Messenger has been around since 2016 and launched against a very different instant messaging backdrop.

Facebook Messenger is now end-to-end encrypted as standard

By adding end-to-end encryption Facebook Messenger ensures that all messages and calls are protected from snooping eyes before they leave the sending device. They are then unencrypted when they are received at the other end, with nobody between those two points able to decipher what was going on. That also goes for Meta, although that will change should the message be reported for violation of the Facebook Messenger terms.

Meta does say that it might take a little while for all chats to be updated with the new default, but there will be no limitation on the functionality that is available to the people using those chats once end-to-end encryption has been enabled.

Continue reading: Facebook Messenger is now end-to-end encrypted as standard (full post)

Confirmed: iPhone 15, 14, and 15 will support 15W Qi2 wireless charging

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro it was confirmed that both phones will support the Qi2 wireless charging standard. Similar to MagSafe, the new standard allows for magnetic charging with speeds of up to 15W. However, it wasn't confirmed at the time that we should expect the iPhone to also charge that fast using those chargers. To date, iPhones have only charged at 15W when using MagSafe, limiting standard Qi chargers to just 7.5W. However, there's good news.

Confirmed: iPhone 15, 14, and 15 will support 15W Qi2 wireless charging

Apple's upcoming iOS 17.2 update is set to bring Qi2 support to the older iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 families of devices which had people wondering what that meant for charging speeds. Would all of these devices top out at 15W, or would Apple limit people to a lower charging speed if they didn't choose an official MagSafe charger?

Now, we appear to have had an answer. Speaking with The Verge, Anker an Anker spokesperson confirmed that its MagGo products will indeed charge at 15W when used on compatible iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 devices with Qi2 support. The one difference will be the iPhone 12 mini which will continue to max out at 12W, just as it does when paired with one of Apple's own MagSafe chargers. It's thought that's down to the smaller size and the inability to properly dissipate the heat generated by 15W charging.

Continue reading: Confirmed: iPhone 15, 14, and 15 will support 15W Qi2 wireless charging (full post)

The iPhone SE 4 is tipped to borrow this vital component from the iPhone 14

There have been rumors of Apple launching the iPhone SE 4 for some time now, with most of those rumors suggesting that it will be the first iPhone to use Apple's own in-house 5G modem. But as it becomes increasingly clear that Apple is struggling to make that modem work in the sizes that are required to fit into a phone, it now looks increasingly likely that a Qualcomm modem will be used. What's more, it now looks like Apple is going to reuse another part from an old iPhone, too.

The iPhone SE 4 is tipped to borrow this vital component from the iPhone 14

That part, according to a new MacRumors report, will be the battery taken out of an iPhone 14. That battery will have a capacity of 3279mAh which is considerably bigger than the 2018 mAh capacity of the battery currently sold inside the iPhone SE 3. If that's the case, we can likely expect a significant battery life improvement from the new iPhone.

MacRumors says that the new iPhone SE 4 is currently being developed under the device identifier D59 and that it will now use the iPhone 14's battery with partially assembled models now using that part.

Continue reading: The iPhone SE 4 is tipped to borrow this vital component from the iPhone 14 (full post)

Apple to launch new Magic Keyboard and updated Apple Pencil alongside 2024's iPad Pro refresh

When Apple updates the iPad Pro with a new OLED display and the M3 chip next year, it will also launch a new Magic Keyboard and a new Apple Pencil. That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman was writing as part of a larger piece discussing Apple's plans to arrest a decline in sales across the tablet and laptop lineups.

Apple to launch new Magic Keyboard and updated Apple Pencil alongside 2024's iPad Pro refresh

To arrest that line Apple is set to launch the updated iPad Pros while two new iPad Airs are also expected to be unveiled. Those two tablets will ship in March, Gurman believes, with the main news being the addition of a new model with a display of somewhere around the 13-inch mark. Beyond that, no new design changes are expected at this point.

As for the accessories, Gurman says that Apple is already testing a pair of new Magic Keyboards under the codenames R418 and R428, likely in 11-inch and 12.9-inch configurations. The new keyboards are expected to be sturdier than any of the keyboards that have so far shipped for use with the iPad Pro, with an aluminum construction ditching the fabric and plastic of previous models. That could help Apple convince people that the iPad Pro can truly be the tablet replacement that they want it to be.

Continue reading: Apple to launch new Magic Keyboard and updated Apple Pencil alongside 2024's iPad Pro refresh (full post)