Latest News - Page 1184

Sony's European division has shipped multiple "console prototypes" overseas to the United States, import records show.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has made some interesting shipments lately. The company has sent thousands of development kits from all over the world to Oakland, California. These devkits are presumably modified PS5 systems specifically for software creators. They might also be PSVR2 devkits, or perhaps even early units for a new upgraded PS5 Pro.

Now Sony is apparently shipping prototype units overseas. According to international shipment records, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe shipped 1,500lbs of video game console prototypes from its London, UK headquarters over to Norfolk, Virginia on November 16, 2021. The shipment was made in 4 CTN (cartons) weighing 694 kg (about 1,532 lbs).

Epic Games has purchased Bandcamp, the independent music marketplace platform.

Bandcamp is now part of Epic Games. The internet music company isn't changing operations and day-to-day business will resume as usual. Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond explains:

"Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team. The products and services you depend on aren't going anywhere, we'll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82% of every sale), you'll still have the same control over how you offer your music."

United States import records show that Sony has shipped thousands of mysterious software development kits from across the world to its Oakland, California branch.

Sony Interactive Entertainment may be preparing to ship dev kits of new PlayStation hardware to video game makers. According to domestic trade ledgers, the billion-dollar games giant has shipped approximately 2,374 cartons of dev kits from October 2021 to January 2022.

The breakdown looks like this:

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has pledged $10 million towards assisting the affected residents of Ukraine.

Russia began a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine last week, and since then, there have been thousands of injuries, numerous deaths, and tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes. Neighboring countries are beginning to receive refugees fleeing Ukraine. Assisting these people is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance. The cryptocurrency exchange has announced it will give $10 million USD to major Intergovernmental Organizations and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Along with its donation, Binance has set up a public donations page to gather more funds for the cause. The page is called "Humanity First - Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund", and so far has accumulated 156.05 BTC worth around $6.8 million. The announcement of the donation page and the pledged comes after Binance said it won't be freezing the accounts of Russian users as it would undermine the fundamental ethos of cryptocurrency, moving away from centralized control.

Since its invasion into Ukraine, Russia has been hit with sanctions that are crippling its economy, and as a result, the value of the country's native currency is plummeting.

Over the weekend, Western nations implemented sanctions on Russia after it began its invasion into Ukraine. These sanctions caused investors to bail out of Russian assets, causing financial turmoil for the country, which is precisely what the sanctions were designed to do. Additionally, Russia has been removed from the SWIFT interbank messaging service, while also having its central bank assets seized. In order to keep things afloat, Russia more than doubled its interest rate, but that hasn't seemed to slow the crashing value of the ruble.

Since the sanctions and other economic impacts, the ruble has crashed by almost 30%, which makes Bitcoin's total value more than the ruble for the first time ever. Furthermore, Bitcoin has seen a spike in value by 20% compared to its trading price of around $35,000 USD last week. The spike in value for the digital asset can be attributed to the demand cryptocurrency is seeing in Ukraine and in Russia, as residents in both countries are deciding to store their wealth in digital assets that either government can't seize.

Russia recently began its invasion into Ukraine, and now Putin has decided to move more military into the country.

The U.S Earth Observatory company Maxar Technologies have released a collection of images snapped by satellites flying over the region. The images showcase a massive convoy of Russian troops and military vehicles that stretches 40 miles. The convoy of troops is moving near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, stretching from the town of Prybirsk, located in the north of the region near the border of Belarus, to the Antonov International Airport close to the capital.

Russia continues to push its military forces into Ukraine despite taking heavy losses at the hands of Ukrainian troops, and these recently released satellite images confirm the nation's intentions of furthering the attack. Reports also indicate that more troops and ground attack helicopters were spotted in southern Belarus, which is only 20 miles away from Ukraine's border.

Oh man, it just doesn't stop reigning terror for NVIDIA in the last few days -- the company was hacked, with intellectual property, rumored GPU specs, and more -- but it extends now to Nintendo's next-gen Switch handheld.

In the new leaks, NVIDIA would be using its Ampere GPU with ray tracing support as well as DLSS 2.2 technology -- Deep Learning Super Sampling, especially DLSS 2.2 -- would be fantastic for Nintendo's next-gen Super Switch, or Switch 2, or Switch Pro, or whatever the hell Nintendo calls its new handheld.

NVIDIA has "nvn2" in its leaks which points to a graphics API for the Switch Pro, which is based on NVIDIA's current-gen Ampere GPU architecture with ray tracing support and DLSS 2.2 technology. From there, there's also mentions of the T234 and T239 SoCs that would be for the next-gen Nintendo Super Switch (or Switch 2).

China may not be willing to help Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, circumvent its sanctions.

Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin expressed in recent tweets that its space industry would be continue in spite of recent sanctions banning exports of "sensitive technologies" by "spinning up fabrication of the necessary components and instruments ourselves." However, it seems they are unable to produce everything within Russian borders.

The Artemis program has already faced numerous delays, such as to its uncrewed Artemis 1 flight due early this year.

Following NASA's uncrewed Artemis 1 flight will eventually be a crewed Artemis flight that will see astronauts landing on the moon once again. However, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin has delivered an update on the program during a House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing on March 1st, saying the crewed mission likely won't happen any earlier than 2026.

The ominously named "doomsday plane" is a modified Boeing 747 called the Boeing E-4B.

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent announcement of Russia's nuclear armament being put on high alert, the plane has taken to the skies for a training mission on February 28th. It took off from a U.S. Air Force base in Nebraska on a 4.5 hour flight to Chicago and back. The plane was also reportedly accompanied by several early-warning jets that are used to track ballistic missiles.

The E-4B plane is part of the United States Air Force, particularly a fleet of Nightwatch aircraft maintained by the U.S. military since the 1970s. It is resistant to nuclear weapons and is designed to serve as a mobile command headquarters for top-ranking military personnel in the event of nuclear war. The plane is equipped with analog equipment instead of digital, allowing it to operate in the event of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear blast.

A paper on the mission titled "Tomographic Muon Imaging of the Great Pyramid of Giza" has been submitted to arXiv.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that has stood the test of time and still stands today. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest of the pyramids at Giza, and it will scientists will study it using cosmic-ray muons to see deep into the pyramid and map its internal structure. The effort is known as the Explore the Great Pyramid (EGP) mission.

Muons are elementary particles, similar to electrons but more massive. They can penetrate structures more deeply than even X-rays and thus are even more useful in tomography. Cosmic rays consist of high-energy protons and atomic nuclei from the sun and elsewhere in the galaxy, which arrive at Earth and collide with the atmosphere. When they do so, they produce various secondary particles, including muons.

The new study on face masks titled "Modelling the direct virus exposure risk associated with respiratory events" has been published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

An international team of researchers from Sweden, Italy, and Austria have developed a model that assesses the risk of spreading a given virus with and without an infected person wearing a face mask. Current recommendations regarding the transmission of infectious respiratory diseases are based on a simplified model developed by American scientist William Firth Wells in 1934.

The researchers incorporated many factors into their model to account for the true complexity of transmission. These include interpersonal distance, temperature, humidity, viral load, type of exhalation, and the use of face masks. They found that without a mask, talking can spread infectious particles up to a meter away, while cough can spread them up to three meters, and sneezing can spread them up to seven meters. However, masks dramatically reduce these figures.

NASA has announced it has awarded Elon Musk's SpaceX with three additional transportation missions to the ISS.

The new awards are a part of the NASA Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract, which will allow NASA to continue "uninterrupted US capability for human access to the space station", amid threats from the head of Russia's space agency. While NASA doesn't directly mention Russia and the comments from its space agency head, the announcement is definitely relatable as it shows that NASA is moving to rely on American-based companies to support science on the ISS.

For those who don't know, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, tweeted that "If you block cooperation with us, then who is going to save the ISS from an uncontrolled descent from orbit and then falling onto the territory of the United States or Europe?" In response to the statements from Russia's space agency head, NASA said, "The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space operations. No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in-orbit and ground-station operations."

UL has just announced its next-gen 3DMark Speed Way benchmark, which will stress test GPUs with ray tracing, and other DirectX 12 Ultimate features.

The new 3DMark Speed Way benchmark sees UL teaming with Lenovo for branding, stressing out your GPU with ray tracing, and real-time global illumination to render realistic lighting and reflections. Microsoft's new DirectX 12 Ultimate features will be stressed, including mesh shaders, and variable rate shading (VRS) to optimize performance and visual quality.

Lenovo's partnership with UL sees the company's Legion gaming brand having product placements in the Speed Way benchmark, including Legion gaming products (gaming PC + monitors + laptop) as well as merchandise. As for the benchmark, 3DMark Speed Way will be launching on Steam later this year -- but we don't know if it'll be an add-on available for free -- or a separate DLC.

Secretlab is expanding its DC Collection of gaming chairs with the introduction of the officially licensed Secretlab "The Batman" Movie Edition chair... and it even has a magnetically detachable Bat emblem... oh man.

The new Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 "The Batman" Movie Edition gaming chair joins the ranks of the growing Secretlab DC Collection in The Joker Edition, The Flash Edition, the Superman Edition, and the older Dark Knight Edition gaming chairs.

In the usual Secretlab style, the new Batman Movie Edition gaming chair arrives in the Bruce Wayne-ready NEO Hybrid Leatherette with perforated matte leather detailing -- and what I need to see in-person -- a brand-new Bat emblem that magnetically attaches to the backrest. Secretlab teases that "The Batman" Edition gaming chair features "nuanced details inspired by Batman lore to create a statement piece for Super Hero aficionados". Uhhh, yeah Secretlab that's me and you really did nail those details (at least from the pictures).

NVIDIA has admitted that it was the victim of a cyberattack, confirming that it was smashed by hackers on February 23, 2022, and that they got away with intellectual property, and much more.

An NVIDIA representative explained to HardwareLuxx: "On February 23, 2022, NVIDIA became aware of a cybersecurity incident which impacted IT resources. Shortly after discovering the incident, we further hardened our network, engaged cybersecurity incident response experts, and notified law enforcement".

"We have no evidence of ransomware being deployed on the NVIDIA environment or that this is related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, we are aware that the threat actor took employee credentials and some NVIDIA proprietary information from our systems and has begun leaking it online. Our team is working to analyze that information. We do not anticipate any disruption to our business or our ability to serve our customers as a result of the incident".

DisplayPort 2.0 display connectivity is nearly here so the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has just announced a new certification program... and I don't know if it makes things any easier for consumers, like, at all.

VESA has announced the new DisplayPort UHBR (Ultra-high Bit Rate) data transfer rates that the next-gen DisplayPort 2.0 standard will offer, with the introduction of the new DP40 and DP80 UHBR cables. In the future, you'll see DP40-marked cables that are good to support the UHBR10 standard (up to 10Gbps across four lanes, for up to 40Gbps of bandwidth).

Meanwhile, DP80-marked cables will support the UHBR20 standard (up to 20Gbps across four lanes, for up to 80Gbps of bandwidth). The higher bandwidth unleashes new capabilities: uncompressed 8K 60Hz HDR, 4K at up to an insane 240Hz with HDR, 2 x 4K 120Hz with HDR, or a bonker 4 x 4K 60Hz with HDR -- all over a single cable -- mighty impressive.

Qualcomm has announced its new Snapdragon X70 5G modem, which is capable of a blistering 10Gbps downlink speed and 3.5Gbps uplink speed.

The company says that it's using AI technology to improve mmWave and sub-6GHz bands, with an AI-based channel-state feedback and optimization algorithm that boosts the average download/upload speed. It seems all those engineers at Qualcomm might be reconsidering their jobs, as AI is doing a better job than them it seems.

Inside, the Snapdragon X70 5G modem is the first to support all 5G bands ranging from 500MHz to 41GHz -- as well as support for global 5G multi-sim and Dual-SIM Dual Active -- all wrapped up with 60% more power efficiency, which Qualcomm says is thanks to its 5G PowerSave Gen 3 technology.

Elon Musk has delivered on his personal promise, with a truck filled with SpaceX Starlink user terminals to Ukraine.

Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to help the country out by sending over Starlink satellite internet access, which had been activated in the days prior, but now the user terminals have turned up.

Fedorov tweeted "Starlink - here" and thanked Elon, to which the SpaceX founder simply tweeted "You are most welcome". Now that is some impressive turnaround time for SpaceX, to have Starlink satellites above Ukraine and then user terminals out in something like a 72-hour period is mighty impressive. So too is all of this happening with rockets, explosions, and everything in between that a special convoy from SpaceX with next-gen satellite technology was able to make it through unscathed.

Forspoken will utilize DirectStorage to unlock full throughput power of NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 speeds on PC.

Forspoken was built from the ground up in close collaboration with AMD, and utilizes technologies like FidelityFX Super Resolution and raytracing. Luminous Productions has built AMD features right into its engine alongside support for Microsoft's new DirectStorage tech.

A new GDC 2022 panel schedule confirms that Forspoken will use DirectStorage, a new DirectX 12 API that supercharges data throughput by fully unlocking NVMe speeds.