Latest News - Page 1388

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities who monitors Apple's supply chain, predicted that at least three new XR devices from top tech companies would hit the market in 2022. Kuo derived his opinion from his knowledge of the lens industry.

Ming-Chi Kuo recently released a research report which analyses orders for lenses that Taiwanese lens manufacturer Yujingguang (also known as Genius Electronic Optical) expects to deliver this year and next year. According to Android Central, Kuo's report states that Yujingguang will build the lenses for a future Oculus Quest headset and Sony's upcoming PSVR2. Based on the order details, Kuo expects the headsets to land next year.

Kuo's report also suggested that the lenses for these new devices would be more expensive than current generation lenses. However, they should provide an increased field of view and improved image clarity. Yujingguang currently builds 50% of the lenses for Facebook's Quest 2 headset, and the company expects to continue that rate next year, with an expected supply of 22 million units delivered. The company also anticipates supplying 50% of Sony's PSVR lenses but provided no sales estimates.

According to a report from UploadVR, the next Oculus Quest update will introduce a 50% increase to the maximum area that you can set the guardian bounds.

The Oculus Guardian gives you a virtual boundary to prevent you from walking into a wall or your TV. Currently, the Oculus Quest can address up to 10m x 10m of useable place space, which is a lot more space than most people have available. However, there must be at least a subset of users who desire more trackable space because Oculus is reportedly going to increase the maximum to 15 meters square when version 30 of the Oculus Quest OS rolls out later this year.

Oculus told UploadVR that it expects the increased size to "benefit a variety of apps." Which apps need more space remains to be seen. We would imagine it would mostly be custom applications for location-based entertainment facilities and training solutions for businesses that would most benefit from the increased tracking space.

I bet you didn't think you'd be reading this right now, but NVIDIA has had discussions with Intel about the CPU giant making NVIDIA GPUs in the future if the situation arose.

In his latest video, Tom from Moore's Law is Dead has teased that NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang called Intel's new CEO Pat Gelsinger, and the two giants talked about NVIDIA making future GPUs on Intel's fabs which is just gigantic news on its own.

Tom said: "I didn't just put those last few musings for extra hype... people need to understand that NVIDIA, Intel, they're not going to roll over and let TSMC combine with AMD and crush everyone or TSMC combine with Apple and crush everyone".

Intel's next-gen Alder Lake-S processors will reportedly be launching on October 25, 2021 according to the latest rumors.

The new "S1" processors will be launching first, with the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" processors launching in full desktop form first -- with the new LGA 1700 socket, and 125W K-series CPUs. Most of these high-end Alder Lake-S processors will consume most of the volume "if not all" says Tom from Moore's Law is Dead, until 2022.

The flagship Core i9 processor will have 8 Golden Cove (GLC) and 8 Gracemont (GRT) cores for a total of 16 threads. The 8 Golden Cove cores are the high-performance CPU cores, while the 8 Gracemont cores are the high-efficiency cores.

I can safely say I didn't see this coming -- but super-pro-crypto El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has just instructed the president of their state-owned geothermal electric company, LaGeo, to start offering facilities for Bitcoin mining with super-cheap energy from El Salvador's volcanoes.

Yes, you read that right -- the president of El Salvador is going to be using volcanoes for Bitcoin mining farms, as they offer super-cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy. Bitcoin and crypto mining farms in general, consume giant amounts of power... so why not tap into volcanoes for energy I guess?

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele tweeted out the news, following up that LaGeo engineers have "just informed me that they dug a new well, that will provide approximately 95MW of 100% clean, 0 emissions geothermal energy from our volcanos. Starting to design a full Bitcoin mining hub around it. What you see coming out of the well is pure water vapor".

El Salvador has just entered the history books as the world's first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, with President Nayib Bukele proposing a law to adopt Bitcoin -- and now Congress has approved the Bitcoin Law with 62 out of a possible 84 votes.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can now be used by Salvadorans living overseas, where they send money back home to their family and loved ones. This is a big deal as 70% of Salvadorans don't have a bank account, living outside of the fiat-based currency system -- whereas Bitcoin and cryptocurrency can be used anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

The country will begin accepting Bitcoin as legal tender in 90 days, and it will be completely optional to Salvadorans. The government will be guaranteeing convertibility to dollars at the time of the transaction, which will be done through BANDESAL -- El Salvadore's development bank. The exchange rate with the US dollar "will be freely established by the market" according to the Bitcoin Law.

GameStop lists Microsoft Flight Simulator's console port for a June 15 release.

It looks like Microsoft Flight Sim will be soaring over to Xbox Series X/S consoles on June 15, which is two days after the Xbox E3 briefing. Although it's a next-gen exclusive, the GameStop storefront page says Flight Sim will cost $59.99 instead of the new $69.99 premium assigned to next-gen titles. Microsoft has confirmed Flight Sim will not release on Xbox One due to the game's high CPU and GPU demands.

Microsoft announced Flight Sim for new Xbox consoles way back in December 2020, and we should expect the game to show up in a big way at the Xbox media briefing on Sunday, June 13 at 10AM PST / 1PM EST.

Activision plans to reveal this year's Call of Duty with a special Warzone event, sources tell Video Games Chronicle.

Activision will one again announce a mainline Call of Duty shooter within its billion-dollar F2P game Warzone. This year the reveal will shed light on Call of Duty Vanguard, a new World War II-based FPS from Sledgehammer Games. Sources tell VGC that Vanguard will feature both multiplayer, campaign, and zombies, and will bring the biggest Warzone update to date.

This time around the new Call of Duty will release alongside its integrated Warzone tie-in. When Vanguard launches this holiday on current- and next-gen consoles and PC, it'll also bring the huge WWII-themed Warzone update. Sources say the new WWII map will be the massive--much larger than Verdansk--and is set in the Pacific Theater.

Crossplay is finally coming to Overwatch, but Blizzard says the process won't be super straightforward.

Today Blizzard confirmed Overwatch is getting cross-play between PC and consoles. There's a few trade-offs, though. Cross-progression won't be available at launch, so all your unlocks and content won't carry over between platforms. PC players also can't turn off cross-play, and competitive modes won't support the feature.

Here's a few details from Game Director Aaron Keller:

Battlefield 2042 is multiplayer-only and won't have a traditional campaign, but that doesn't mean the game won't tell a story.

It's official: Battlefield 2042 won't have a singleplayer campaign. Instead, DICE and EA are focusing exclusively on multiplayer, which includes a huge new 128-player Conquest mode.

While the game doesn't have a campaign, DICE still has a story to tell. Only this time DICE will spin their sci-fi tale exclusively through multiplayer live services. The delivery method will be the battle pass scheme: Battlefield 2042 will have four free and paid battle passes that release in the game's first year. These passes will include content like new specialists, weapons, and more.

The rumors were right: DICE LA is helping with Battlefield 2042, but the studio isn't making a battle royale mode.

Today DICE and EA announced Battlefield 2042, a new multiplayer-only shooter with three parts: 128-player chaos in Conquest and Breakthrough, the new Hazard Zone gametype that flexes the next-gen Frostbite engine with world-destroying weather effects, and a new surprise mode that may be Battlefield's unique answer to Warzone.

According to press materials, the new mystery mode is being developed by DICE L.A. We knew the studio was working on Battlefield 2042. Right now Respawn boss Vince Zampella is leading DICE L.A., but the new mode won't be a battle royale.

Today EA announced Battlefield 2042 with an explosive cinematic trailer, confirming crazy world-destroying category 6 storms, a futuristic setting, multiplayer-only combat, and a crazy 128-player Conquest mode that's not coming to older consoles.

Battlefield 2042 is a cross-gen game but certain features won't be available on weaker console hardware. EA today confirmed Battlefield 2042's hugely ambitious 128-player Conquest mode (64v64) is exclusive to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Both PS4 and Xbox One will be limited to 32v32 action. And yes, the game does feature cross-gen multiplayer. Here's what EA said in a press release:

"128 players and massive-scale maps only available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation®5. Xbox One and PlayStation®4 are capped at 64 players and reduced map sizes.

This week the world will be able to see the very first solar eclipse of 2021, and here's how anyone can watch it happen!

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun at a very precise angle, hence why it only happens once a year. If you want to view the eclipse in person, you will need to be located in the Northern hemisphere, preferably in Canada, northern Russia, or Greenland, as you will see the total solar eclipse. If you are stationed in North America, Europe, or Asia, you will see a partial solar eclipse, and if that's not good enough for you, then there is an easy solution.

Through the power of the internet, anyone can enjoy the solar eclipse from the comfort of their own home, and while it doesn't come close to how gorgeous the eclipse is in real life, it's better than not seeing it at all. Above is a link to a livestream by timeanddate that will begin at 5 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), tune in to see the "Ring of Fire" solar eclipse. If you are interested in reading more about the coming solar eclipse, check out this link here.

Last month Bitcoin's value took a major dive after China banned mining and Elon Musk announced that Tesla was no longer accepting Bitcoin as payment for its electric vehicles.

After making some steady gains, Bitcoin has taken another hit as the price of the cryptocurrency dived by 11% in just 24 hours. The drop occurred on Tuesday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it seized $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin that was related to a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline. The cyberattack shut down the US's largest gas line, and according to the DOJ, 63.7 Bitcoins were retrieved from the hacking group named DarkSide.

Forbes reports that the DOJ was able to retrieve the Bitcoin from the hacking group by, "reviewing bitcoin's public ledger, locating the transaction and using a private key to access the tokens." At the moment, it remains unclear exactly how the DOJ was able to get the private key to get access to the Bitcoins. Nicholas Weaver, a cybersecurity professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has said that the DOJ effectively hacked the hackers, which is something that has yet to occur in the cryptocurrency space until now.

NASA has successfully created one of the most detailed maps ever of the impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the Los Angeles region.

NASA used the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) instrument that is located on the International Space Station to gather data of carbon dioxide levels. NASA has compiled its gathered data and has created an animated video displaying the levels of CO2 throughout each region.

The yellow regions represent the highest levels of CO2, and as Phys.org reports, "Yellow indicates atmospheric CO2 elevated by five or more molecules out of every million molecules of air or five parts per million. That's equivalent to the amount that global atmospheric CO2 is rising globally on average every two years."

This coming Thursday, Earth will be blessed with the first solar eclipse of 2021, and according to one astronomer, it will look like the Star Wars "death star".

The first solar eclipse of 2021 will have a 100-minute viewing window, but unfortunately, not the entire planet will be able to enjoy its beauty. People that are located in the Northern hemisphere, and predominately those living in Canada, northern Russia, and Greenland, will be able to see a total solar eclipse. The total solar eclipse will look like a "Ring of Fire", or as Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said, it will look like "the 'Death Star".

Now, it should be noted that if you aren't living in Canada, northern Russia, or Greenland, you will still be able to see the solar eclipse, just not the total solar eclipse. Residents in North America, Europe, and Asia will be able to see a partial solar eclipse that will look like the moon has taken a bite out of the Sun. Faherty also said, "Most people might not realize that these eclipses chase each other", referring to the recent super blood moon.

1% of Bitcoin's total supply, worth approximately $6.2 billion, has been successfully tokenized on the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) protocol.

The news comes from Kia Mosayeri, who is the product manager of crypto custody firm BitGo. According to Mosayeri, 1% of Bitcoin's total supply has successfully been brought over to the Ethereum blockchain via WBTC. CoinGecko states that there is currently 18.73 million Bitcoin currently in circulation, and 1% of those, or 182,610 BTC are now on the WBTC protocol.

Additionally, BTConEthereum has estimated that around 240,620 Bitcoins have been converted to tokens via various protocols, which equates to a total market capitalization of $7.91 billion. However, 78% of tokenized Bitcoin on Ethereum is WBTC. If you are interested in reading any more about this story, or stories similar to this one, check out this link here.

EA will be unveiling Battlefield 2021 aka Battlefield 2042 aka Battlefield 6 aka BATTLEFIELD -- the go here seems to be Battlefield 2042 and the reveal event happens tomorrow.

The official Battlefield YouTube account has a new video dubbed Battlefield Livestream: Countdown to Reveal Trailer, with the Battlefield 2042 reveal kicking off at 7AM PT. We last heard through 4chan leaks of course, that the new Battlefield would be called Battlefield 2042.

At the time of writing -- around 11 hours before the premiere -- there were 2500 people on the video and the chat was pumping away. We'll be watching closely, reporting from the event live -- well, as live as we can by streaming it online and writing about it, that is.

I'm sure there will be thousands of people that will read this and be angry that they haven't been able to buy a new AMD Radeon RX 6000 series or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics card... yet sales are still sky-high in Q1 2021.

John Peddie Research has some numbers to share, with 119 million graphics cards shipped in Q1 2021 -- a 39% increase over Q1 2020. This is pretty damn astonishing, for a few reasons: there is a gigantic everything shortage right now -- multiple parts to build these graphics cards are super hard to find right now.

Not only that, but the market is insane when it comes to pricing right now -- with NVIDIA pricing its just-launched GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition at $1199... yet the RTX 3080 Ti can be found for $2500+ in some markets. Second-hand prices are just as insane right now, the entire market is a Bizarro world... yet GPU sales are record high.

Fortnite's new season is here, and it's an alien invasion -- Chapter 2: Season 7 is called Invasion and it changes the game up from the previous season with its prehistoric theme to full sci-fi... check it out:

Yeah, you saw that right -- we have Superman in the game now, as well as Rick and Morty as another surprise, a customizable Kymera outfit which is an alien specimen you get to sculpt throughout the season. One of the biggest shocks is that Guggimon, a virtual influencer with over 1.3 million followers on Instagram, has made it into the new season.

If you purchase the new Battle Pass then you'll unlock Superman later in the season, but you'll also secure yourself the customizable Kymera slien, Joey who is a human/alien double agent, and a huge battle robot.