Latest News - Page 1014

Amazon is responding to Google Stadia's demise with a well-timed sale on its own game streaming platform.

Today Amazon announced a substantial discount on its game streaming service, Luna. Gamers can get the Luna controller and one month of the premium Luna+ subscription service for $39.99, which represents a 43% savings over the bundle's original MSRP of $69.99.

Luna+ includes access to 130 games across AAA, indies, and casual gametypes. The lineup includes hits like Yakuza Like A Dragon, Control, the Castlevania and Contra collections, Metro Exodus, Alien Isolation, and both Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes. Luna+ originally costs $9.99 a month but is free for all Amazon Prime subscribers (shared accounts don't work, however).

If the Activision merger goes through, Microsoft could use Game Pass to deliver in-game content bonuses to key franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch.

Bethesda is celebrating Fallout's 25th anniversary with some freebies. One interesting freebie is one month of Fallout 1st, the premium Fallout 76 subscription service, for all Xbox Game Pass subscribers. This isn't new: Microsoft routinely gives out extra perks and bonuses for Game Pass subscribers.

It did remind me that Game Pass delivers more than just games. It also delivers content. Xbox Game Pass perks could have big implications for Activision-Blizzard's live games should Microsoft's $68.7 billion mega-merger go through. Microsoft could offer extra perks to sweeten the deal and incentivize more Game Pass sign ups. This content wouldn't even have to be exclusive to make a meaningful contribution for adoption and retention (Microsoft has said it will make the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC if it acquires Activision).

Sony needs to ensure there is proper synergy between its live games and big premium AAA singleplayer games in order to maximize reach, engagement, and potential sales.

We've outlined a few things that Sony should be doing regarding its live games, including dropping the PS Plus requirement for any first-party free-to-play games, and now it's time to quickly discuss synergy between online and singleplayer games.

Ideally, Sony should establish direct links between its first-party AAA games and its live games. This is especially true for games that are set in the same franchise, and it can be done in a number of ways. We've already seen Sony's early start into live games with built-in monetized multiplayer modes like The Last of Us' Factions mode, Uncharted 4's multiplayer, and non-monetized live content like Ghost of Tsushima Legends.

Commercial production of the Endurance electric light-duty pickup truck from Lordstown Motors has officially started, with the company aiming to deliver 50 units to customers by the end of the year. So far, two Endurance trucks have rolled off the line, with another unit expected to be completed in the immediate future.

Manufacturing will take place at Foxconn's EV Ohio factory, which Lordstown purchased from General Motors - but later sold to Foxconn for $230 million. Foxconn will produce the Endurance truck and EVs for automaker Fisker.

Lordstown aims to build at least 500 vehicles and will spend around $85 million during Q4 - and have only $110 million cash and equivalents available to finish 2022. The company is going to start slowly and hopefully ramp up production, based on supply chain constraints ranging from engineering readiness, quality, and parts availability.

Sony is significantly ramping up production of its PlayStation VR 2 headset and plans to make 2 million units by March 2023, sources have told Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki.

Sony is planning a VR blitz to accompany its new record-breaking PlayStation 5 shipments. The company will produce 2 million PlayStation VR 2 headsets throughout Fiscal Year 2022 as part of a new hardware fusillade meant to meet exceptionally high market demand.

Sony will also ship 18 million PS5's during the year, the single largest console shipment in PlayStation history. By March 2023, Sony expects to have over 37 million PlayStation 5 consoles shipped worldwide.

Fandom, a network of websites known for walkthroughs and content, has bought out some of the biggest gaming sites on the internet.

Today Fandom announced that it has purchased a ring of leading gaming and entertainment websites including Gamespot, Giant Bomb, GameFAQs, Metacritic and others. Workers' jobs are apparently being preserved and no one is expected to be fired during the transition period.

"The news is out. We learned about this last week. The amazing thing is everyone got to keep their jobs, titles, and salaries, which never happens with these acquisitions. While it's kind of scary to be bought out, at least our new parent company understands what it is we do," Gamespot video producer Tom Caswell said on Twitter.

Italian luxury automaker Maserati has shared additional details about its GranTurismo Folgore, an all-electric luxury sports car.

The GranTurismo Folgore utilizes a 100 percent electric battery-based powertrain with 760 horsepower and 996 pound-feet of torque. The car can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.7 seconds and reach 124 mph in 8.8 seconds - with a top speed of 199 mph.

There is a normal battery capacity of 92.5 kWh with a discharge capacity of 560 kW, with the "T-bone" battery modules not located under the seats. New manufacturing processes were needed because Folgore has high-performance steel and lightweight materials that include aluminum and magnesium.

Tesla engineers have showcased new technology at Tesla's AI Day 2022 that reduces the amount of time for a 3D animated scene to be produced.

Tesla has recently held its AI Day 2022, and throughout the presentation, the company revealed many interesting upgrades to its software line-up, as well as a humanoid robot named Optimus that took the show by storm. During the presentation, Tesla explained that 3D scenes, such as the one seen in the video above, are extremely useful for teaching vehicles and, eventually, robots to accurately carry out a task.

However, simulated scenes such as the intersection from Market Street in San Francisco can take up to two weeks for artists to complete. This time frame isn't something Tesla was willing to work with, which led the company to develop new technology that can procedurally generate a scene like the one above and others of the same quality in just five minutes.

Electric car maker Tesla produced more than 365,000 vehicles and delivered over 343,000 vehicles during its fiscal Q3. Financial Wall Street analysts expected the company to deliver more than 364,000 vehicles throughout the quarter, though still had better year-over-year success.

Tesla doesn't offer public sales reports - or vehicle production or delivery breakdowns by region - so delivery rates are the most accurate way to predict overall sales health.

The leading electric automaker noted that delivery volumes tend to peak towards the end of each quarter because of "regional batch" manufacturing of its vehicles. Due to this surge, it's more difficult for low-cost transportation capacity, so the company had to change its strategy, which Tesla noted:

NASA's now-famous James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has pointed its high-tech instruments at a cosmic tarantula.

NASA has taken to its blog to reveal an incredible mosaic image of the stellar nursery called 30 Doradus, which is located "only" 161,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. Astronomers have nicknamed 30 Doradus the "Tarantula Nebula" for its wispy and dusty filaments, along with its structure and composition of gas and dust.

NASA explains that the Tarantula Nebula is the brightest star-forming region in the Local Group, which the group of galaxies closest to our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers have used Webb's infrared instruments to observe the Tarantula Nebula and discovered tens of thousands of never-before-seen young stars that were previously obscured from astronomers' view by cosmic dust. The above image showcases a large cluster of massive young blue stars in the center, which are causing the center of the nebula to be hollowed out by their "blistering radiation".

A new report from the Financial Times has revealed that TikTok is preparing to roll out a new shopping feature to users in North America.

According to the report from the Financial Times, TikTok is gearing up to release a new feature called "TikTok Shop" across North America in partnership with US company TalkShopLive, which will be responsible for supporting livestreams hosted by influencers and brands. The report states that TikTok will release this new feature "over the next month" and that large brands will be part of its release.

The new feature comes after TikTok's sister app Douyin, which is extremely popular in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, released a similar feature where it hosted nine million live ecommerce broadcasts per month, which resulted in more than ten billion products being sold in a year.

Google Japan has announced a new type of keyboard, but instead of keeping the traditional format, the arm of the largest search engine in the world has opted for something a little different.

Introducing the Gboard Bar, a 65-inch long bar that features every key on a typical keyboard but in a straight line. According to the above video, the design is meant to be "extremely simple" that is also meant to save on desk space. Additionally, Google Japan said that due to the small width of the Gboard, users will be able to have piles of documents and papers on their desks and not have to worry about the Bar taking up too much space.

Furthermore, Google's official specifications sheet states that the Bar is "wide enough for a cat to walk across" and that its height is at a "comfortable thickness". Adding to the array of features, Google Japan states that two people are able to use the Gboard Bar at the same time, allowing users to pair up and tackle programming tasks together. Here's where things take a turn, Google Japan has also equipped the Gboard Bar with a bug-removing stick which allows users to take advantage of its long shape.

Google originally unveiled its generative 3D AI system called Dream Fields in 2021, and now a new and improved version has arrived.

Google's new next-generation artificial intelligence software designed to convert text into 3D generated images is called DreamFusion. So, how does this work? In a new proof-of-concept paper published to the pre-print server arXiv, researchers outlined that Dream Fusion, much like Dream Fields, uses a neural network called Neural Radiance Field (NeRF) that is designed to general novel views of complex 3D scenes using 2D datasets.

However, DreamFusion has taken a different approach than Dream Fields, as explained by Google research scientist Ben Poole who wrote on Twitter that the team replaced OpenAI's CLIP technology that powered Dream Fields with Google's own AI model called Imagen. The 3D models seen above and below aren't as photo-realistic as what we've seen with Midjourney. However, they are certainly still impressive as the 3D models have accurate surface geometry, depth and are even relightable for various lighting conditions.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has flown past Jupiter's moon Europa, snapping images that it has now relayed back to Earth for public viewing.

The fly-by of Jupiter's sixth-closest moon to the planet was conducted on September 29, 2022, and during Juno's closest approach to the large moon, it came within 219 miles of its surface. As the Juno spacecraft flew past the icy object, it captured several images, marking the third time any spacecraft in history has come within 310 miles of its surface while also providing the closest look at Jupiter's fourth largest moon since NASA's Galileo flew past at an altitude of 218 miles on January 3, 2000.

NASA has taken to its Jet Propulsion Laboratory website to explain that Europa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and is just smaller than Earth's moon. However, Europa is very different from Earth's moon as researchers believe that there may be a salty ocean residing under its thick icy crust, which stretches for many miles beneath its surface. Moreover, researchers suspect that this salty ocean beneath Europa's surface may have the right conditions to support life.

NASA has released an update on the condition of its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket following Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida.

NASA was required to cancel the launch of its Artemis 1 mission as Hurricane Ian approached its Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space agency rolled back the SLS rocket to its Vehicle Assembly Building as the hurricane passed overhead, and now that it's passed, NASA has conducted a damage assessment on the SLS rocket and its facility.

According to a recent update posted to the NASA website, there was no damage to the Artemis flight hardware, and NASA's facilities are in overall "good shape" with only minor water intrusion across a few locations. NASA explains that it will be extending platforms to the SLS rocket for additional inspections leading up to the next launch attempt scheduled for November 12. The space agency writes that the launch window for Artemis 1 opens on November 12 and closes on November 27.

Autonomous technology and automation are proving disruptive across numerous verticals, including the agriculture industry. Cutting-edge solutions such as driverless tractors, Internet of Things (IoT) temperature and moisture sensors, GPS, and drone technology allow farmers to be far more efficient than if the technologies weren't made available to them.

Although the future appears bright, there are a few issues that need to be addressed, including risk management, legislation, and safety protocols. Safety is a significant area of concern, as farming can be inherently dangerous - but rapid advancement in technology could create potential safety risks for human workers sharing their work environment with these newer technologies.

As noted by Dr. Salah Issa, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department: "The introduction of mechanization in agriculture in the early 1900s transformed farms and surrounding communities. We expect digital technologies to lead to a similar transformation on farms and in many rural areas."

If you are planning on buying yourself one of AMD's new high-end Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" processors, you might want to wait and check out the latest MicroCenter deal: you'll get 32GB of DDR5 RAM for free.

MicroCenter is giving away 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory (G.SKILL Flare X5 series with built-in EXPO profiles) with any Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 series Zen 4-powered CPU. All of the AMD Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 SKUs are included -- so this means the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X, the Ryzen 9 7900X, and the Ryzen 7 7700X -- leaving out the mid-range Ryzen 5 7600X processor.

The 32GB kit of DDR5-5600 memory from G.SKILL costs $189.99 on its own, so if you are buying the Ryzen 7 7700X for $399, then you're getting half price effectively. You will need some new DDR5 RAM anyway, or you could sell the DDR5 second-hand and recoup close to 1/3 or more of the $399 price you just paid for your new Zen 4-powered Ryzen 7 7700X processor.

You've got to give it to Acer, they've crafted one of the best-looking custom Intel Arc graphics cards so far, with a very brief tease of the "Predator Bi Frost" graphics card.

The new Acer Arc A770 Predator BiFrost will feature an interesting design: a hybrid-style blower + open-air fan design that hasn't been done before. It looks fantastic, and I'm sure even better inside of your PC. Inside, the Acer Arc A770 Predator BiFrost will feature the full ACM-G10 GPU with 32 Xe-Cores, but we don't know if it will have 8GB or 16GB of GDDR6 (Intel's in-house Arc A770 Limited Edition has 16GB, but AIB-made Arc A770s can have 8GB).

Acer didn't provide any details of its new Arc A770 Predator BiFrost graphics card, but it will require dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors, while the Intel Graphics Twitter account joining in the launch fun saying "Bravo, team! We're excited to have you on board". Jarred Walton of Tom's Hardware tweeted, asking if it were the 8GB or 16GB model, and what was the TBP, the GPU and GDDR6 clocks.

The release of NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 4090 and Intel's first-gen Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards will all release on October 3, with GPU v2.50.0 here to support all three of the cards.

GPU-Z v2.50.0 supports everything you need to know about your GPU, especially if you've got a new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card: detailed BIOS information, GPU clock and GPU overclocking information, power limits, and a very cool and important new feature: a built-in NVIDIA DLSS scanner. This scans your PC for all of the games installed that use DLSS, detailing which exact version of DLSS the game uses (which is very useful for reviewers).

You can download GPU-Z 2.50.0 here.

GIGABYTE has a monster graphics card in its behemoth AORUS GeForce RTX 4090 MASTER graphics card, but on the other side of the scale we have the small -- at least for the card -- powerhouse card with the upcoming AORUS GeForce RTX 4090 WATERFORCE graphics card.

The new AORUS GeForce RTX 4090 WATERFORCE has been teased with a tiny RTX 4090 card, but a large 360mm AIO cooler that will surely keep the next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU nice and cool.

GIGABYTE is re-using the same look, design, and size as its current-gen Ampere-based AORUS GeForce RTX 3090 Ti WATERFORCE with the new AORUS RTX 4090 WATERFORCE. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because it's a good-looking card... and you get all that RTX 4090 horsepower in a smaller card (sans the huge 360mm AIO cooler).