Latest News - Page 1332

Did you know Google paid $10 billion to Apple in 2020 to stay on as their default search engine? If you didn't, it should blow your mind 50% more knowing that Google is paying $15 billion to Apple in 2021 to continue as the default search engine on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

In a new investor note seen by Ped30, Bernstein analysts estimate that Google will be paying Apple a huge $15 billion in 2021 to remain as the default search engine... but somewhere between $18 billion and $20 billion for the rights in 2022.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi notes that Google is probably splashing the cash to "ensure Microsoft doesn't outbid it". The analysts continue:

Elon Musk only just announced SpaceX had shipped out 100,000 Starlink terminals barely 24 hours ago, and now there are multiple states across the US and globally, that are experiencing outages.

Starlink users are reporting their satellite internet connections are down on Reddit and Twitter, with Reddit user "godch01" saying that his Starlink connection wouldn't work for 8 minutes and then it was alright. Most reports on Reddit state that services were down for around 90 minutes, with users reporting in from the US, Canada, the UK and Germany.

Another Reddit user "ID_John" who said his service went down, and then his Starlink terminal performed a software update out of nowhere and once it was finished, his Starlink service was operational. It could've been SpaceX making some tweaks as users are beta testers, which makes sense if the Starlink terminal software update being pumped out to a few users fixed their issues.

We only just got slapped in the face with GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER rumors, but now there's different specs that have been teased by leaker kopite7kimi on Twitter:

The new leaks tease that NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER from kopite7kimi are same as the previous rumors from Greymon55 with 10752 CUDA cores, but kopite7kimi details that it will have the GA102-350-A1 GPU, the original 21Gbps GDDR6X memory from the GeForce RTX 3090, a TGP of over 450W, and it launches... in 2021.

Yeah, the latest rumor has it that NVIDIA is launching the GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER sometime in the next few months which is big news on its own. There's nothing from AMD that can compete, but maybe NVIDIA is feeling a bit threatened by the Intel ARC Alchemist -- and the new Navi 21 XTXH-powered Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards that it feels forced to unleash the GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER this month.

The Matrix 4 is officially called The Matrix: Resurrections and its first trailer for the movie has dropped, and some movie sites got to have eyes-on with it for the big tease.

The trailer for the movie opens up with Neil Patrick Harris talking to Keanu Reeves' iconic character, Thomas Anderson aka Neo, in a near-future San Francisco setting. Anderson seems to be at the point he was just before the events that changed his life in the original Matrix.

It's revealed that Anderson is talking to his therapist, with Anderson saying: "Am I crazy" to which Harris' character says "We don't use that word in here". I'll stop here, as this rings alarm bells for me: this sounds like a very woke version of Thomas Anderson who goes to a therapist... the Thomas Anderson we met in the original Matrix did not seem like the kind of guy who would do that.

We are all waiting in the wings for the flagship Alder Lake CPUs from Intel in the form of the Core i9-12900K and Core i7-12700K -- but it is the Core i5-12600K that everyone needs to stand up and look at.

AMD hit the right chord with their Zen 3-based Ryzen 5 5600X processor, offering 6 cores and 12 threads of power on 7nm for the right price in this hectic market. But Intel is about to unleash its new hybrid Alder Lake architecture and with it, a new "mid-range" champion: the Core i5-12600K.

In some new leaks, Tom from Moore's Law is Dead talks about the new Core i5-12600K and that his sources tell him that it "slots in exactly where the i5-11600K does in their lineup. The i5-12600KF does too, and it is indeed also a 6+4 config". I agree with Tom when he says that the flagship Alder Lake processors will of course be fast, but they'll be power-hungry -- but they're overshadowing what the real winner of this real lineup will be -- the Core i5-12600K.

We all know how bad the GPU shortage is worldwide, but US gamers can now fight each other for a GeForce RTX 30 series Founders Edition graphics cards at Best Buy.

GPU Restock Monitor on Twitter keeps a track of the cards flowing into Best Buy, tweeting out that around 17,000 units have passed through Best Buy doors. This includes the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition.

There's a gigantic list of cards, with a nice spread between stores across many states in the US. There is around 25 x GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics cards per Best Buy it seems, with a different spread of RTX 30 series FE cards at Best Buy stores across the US.

Intel's new Alder Lake CPU architecture is nearly here, with a new Alder Lake-S engineering sample codenamed QWV0 clocking in at 1.6GHz has been spotted.

VideoCardz had the first Intel Alder Lake CPU engineering sample picture quite some time ago now, all the way back in November 2020 -- but this picture is probably an early ES1 or ES2 chip that Intel would've been sending out for qualification samples in late June 2021.

As the site points out, it's definitely odd that it took close to a year for a new photo of an Alder Lake engineering sample CPU to leak out.

I think this is one of the most interesting graphics cards I've seen, and I've seen quite a few over my years being obsessed with graphics cards... but Palit's new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Chameleon, with new color shifting paint.

The new Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Chameleon has color shifting paint, hence nthe name "Chameleon" -- a new custom modded GeForce RTX 3070 Ti g raphics card. Palit teased the card on their official Twitter, but unfortunately we don't know who modded the card, making it feel like this is going to be an official card that will be released by Palit.

Just as VideoCardz laughs at in their article, and they couldn't have put it better: "One would guess that Palit Chameleon graphics cards will be even harder to find".

Death Stranding is a game built on limitations. The new director's cut re-release on PlayStation 5 removes a lot of those limitations and eases the pain of meticulous gameplay.

The quality of life improvements in the new Death Stranding Director's Cut are so good it's almost like playing the original game with cheats. Today at Gamescom, Kojima Productions outlined some of the new major adjustments and tweaks coming to the $50 Death Stranding re-release that will probably irk anyone who beat the game at launch.

As I outlined in our Death Stranding PC review, the game is built on monotony and constantly paying attention to a million little things. Carry weight, not tripping over a rock, carefully balancing on a ladder over a gigantic precipice fall. The new Director's Cut makes things far easier for new players.

Halo Infinite will not release in time to celebrate Halo's 20th anniversary, and Microsoft is instead releasing a custom $549 Xbox Series X instead.

Halo will turn 20 years old on November 15, 2021. Sadly due to coronavirus interruptions and internal development complexities, Halo Infinite won't be ready in time for the big day. Instead, Microsoft is giving fans an opportunity to buy a premium product that will sell out nearly instantly to commemorate two decades of one of gaming's most pivotal shooters.

The new custom Halo Infinite Xbox Series X is priced at $549, or about $50 more than the usual Series X console as it comes with a copy of Halo Infinite. The system is already sold out at retailers like Walmart and has yet to go on sale on sites like Best Buy. Considering base Xbox Series X consoles are still flying off the shelves due to extreme demand, don't expect to actually get one of these snazzy custom consoles.

Each of Halo Infinite's multiplayer seasons will tell a specific story and have a set theme, 343 Industries has confirmed.

Today 343i released a cinematic trailer for Halo Infinite's first multiplayer season. The footage shows the origin story of Academy Commander Agryna, a new Spartan introduced in Halo Infinite that trains recruits in the pre-war simulations division. Like Halo 4's Spartan Ops, it looks like Halo Infinite's multiplayer seasons will also tell the story of a band of new Spartan recruits as they jump into the fray to show a new perspective of the war. Gamers will get to forge their own storyline in a free-to-play environment as Master Chief battles Cortana and the Banished on Zeta Halo.

Like Battlefield 2042, Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer will also tell a story. While specifics are light, 343i has confirmed each multiplayer season will spin its own event arc that somehow ties into the Halo Infinite campaign. The first season, Heroes of Reach, will chronicle the legendary conflict outlined in Bungie's 2010 FPS epic.

Halo Infinite's multiplayer and campaign will launch together on December 8, missing both Xbox's and Halo's big 20th anniversary celebration.

The rumors were right: Halo Infinite will launch in December 8, a month after Call of Duty Vanguard. The news was announced with a multiplayer cinematic trailer, but still haven't shown off any actual new campaign footage of the game. Infinite will also miss Halo's once in a lifetime 20th anniversary on November 15.

343i's Joseph Staten says the team is currently polishing the campaign--maybe we'll get some footage soon? "We're putting our finishing touches on our most wide-open, feature-filled Halo campaign ever, and today I would like to announce that Halo Infinite's campaign and multiplayer will launch together on December 8, 2021,"343i's Joe Staten said.

Blizzard confirms Diablo 2 Resurrected won't get any major new features added from now until launch, and the open beta matches the content found in the final game.

There's bad news for D2R players on consoles: Lobbies and chat rooms won't be in the final game when it launches. In fact, the beta is basically the final version of the game. Blizzard says they aren't adding in any new features outside of bug fixes until after the game's release.

"We've heard the community feedback but with four weeks till launch we're focused on stability and optimizations. No new features till after launch," Diablo head Rod Fergusson said on Twitter.

Horizon Forbidden West has been delayed to February 18, 2022 on both PS4 and PS5, Guerrilla Games has confirmed.

As many expected, Aloy's big ambitious new sequel won't release in 2021 and has been pushed back to early 2022 to give Guerrilla more time to polish the experience. The PS4 port hasn't been cancelled though and Forbidden West is still a cross-gen game on both PS4 and PS5.

"We have entered the final stage of development, but we were a bit uncertain if we would be able to deliver the game with the level of polish and quality that we strive for. It's no surprise that our teams were impacted by the global pandemic, and we've been adjusting to new workflows and other challenges while keeping our teams safe and prioritizing a healthy work life balance," said Horizon Forbidden West game director Mathijs de Jonge.

The new Saints Row is here, but it's not exactly what you expected.

Volition today revealed its new Saints Row reboot at Gamescom, but it's entirely new game set in a new city with totally new characters. There's no iconic banter between Johnny Gat and Shaundi, for instance. Instead, your crew is Neenah, Eli and Kevin set in an origin story of the Saints gang. The game takes place in Santo Ileso, a colorful and chaotic modernized Wild West overrun by lawlessness and gang warfare.

Characters aside, the devs are going all out with the reboot. Santo Ileso is the largest and most dynamic playground ever featured in a Saints Row game. There's tons of unique weaponry (does that distinct purple "bat" make a comeback?) and players will enjoy features like seamless co-op with a crazy amount of customization for their own specific boss.

We've been hearing so much about Intel's new ARC Alchemist and AMD's new RDNA 3 graphics architectures, that a new rumor has come up and slapped us right in the face: NVIDIA's purported GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER graphics card.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER graphics card is swirling strongly into the rumor mill, with leaker Greymon55 teasing that the new GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER would feature the full GA102 GPU with 10752 CUDA cores and even faster GDDR6X memory to boot.

Not only would it feature an insane amount of CUDA cores and even faster GDDR6X memory -- but the new GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER would reportedly have over 400W of power behind it. We should expect the new GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER to be super-expensive as well, in a world of ridiculously priced graphics cards this should be the least surprising part of this news.

I'm sure we've all heard about the shitty thermal pads on some graphics cards these days, but this story takes it to another level -- a finger cot has been discovered underneath the cooler and wedged between memory modules and the cooler. Uhhh, check it out:

Reddit user "antonyjeweet" replaced the thermal pads on his NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card, and once he had taken it apart -- he noticed that there was a finger cot inside. What is a finger cot you ask? A finger cot is something that a worker that assembles the graphics card would wear, so there's no fingerprint left on, or inside of the graphics card when it's being assembled.

The 24GB of GDDR6X memory was running quite toasty on his GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition, with the memory modules hitting 110C. Once the card was disassembled, the finger cot removed, and the thermal pads replaced, the GDDR6X memory module temperatures dropped to a much more respectable 86C.

Intel's new ARC series gaming GPUs will support overclocking out of the box, with OC tools built into the Intel UI -- thanks to newly-released details on Intel's upcoming gaming GPUs.

Not only that, but Intel is fully supporting the latest DirectX 12 Ultimate API which means we will see hardware-accelerated ray tracing through DXR (DirectX Ray Tracing), as well as support for Variable Rate Shading (VRS) and Mesh Shading. The Vulkan API will also receive ray tracing support from Intel's new ARC series GPUs.

Roger Chandler, Intel's VP and GM of Client Products explained: "While Xᵉ cores provide compute capacity, render slices combine them with the fixed function rendering units required to produce 3D graphics. Each render slice pairs four Xᵉ cores with four ray tracing units that fully support DirectX Raytracing and Vulkan Ray Tracing standards. Render slices also add samplers, pixel backends, and geometry and rasterization pipelines that are all designed for DirectX 12 Ultimate".

Intel's new ARC series graphics cards will be coming with something even NVIDIA didn't have in its Control Panel -- and only through GeForce Experience many, many years later -- overclocking support.

In a new blog post on Medium, the company has explained that it will give gamers and enthusiasts built-in overclocking tools in the official driver UI. This means you can tweak your Xe GPU-based ARC graphics card right from the Intel ARC UI, just like you overclock a Radeon GPU through AMD's own Radeon Software UI.

Intel won't just have overclocking support with its ARC graphics cards and UI, but it will have built-in hardware for video encoding that will let you direct capture and stream from the software itself.

Battlefield 2042 will be one of the biggest games of the year and once again NVIDIA has its name on it when it comes to technologies supported: DLSS + Reflex and more, but now you'll get it bundled for free.

NVIDIA is offering GeForce RTX-powered gaming desktops, laptops, and graphics cards will get a free copy of Battlefield 2042. Not only that, but the Battlefield 2042 Standard Edition comes with Early Access to the upcoming Beta, pre-order exclusive cosmetics including Mr. Chompy -- an epic weapon charm, the Baku ACB-90 tactical knife, and special player cards and in-game tag for online profiles.

Seth Christie, Head of Technology for EA Studios Europe explained: "With NVIDIA's game-changing suite of technologies, we're able to make Battlefield 2042 the most technologically advanced Battlefield ever. NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex provide maximum performance, image quality, and the lowest latency for the ultimate competitive experience. We're really excited to be partnering with NVIDIA as our official PC Graphics Platform Partner, to help showcase iconic all-out warfare, unprecedented scale, and dynamically-changing battlegrounds".