Latest News - Page 1505

BIOSTAR will be announcing its new family of Intel 500-series chipset motherboards later today, with the introduction of the Z590 RACING GTA, Z560 RACING GTQ, Z590 VALKYRIE, and Z590I VALKYRIE.

The one of interest here from BIOSTAR is the new VALKYRIE motherboard, which will be a new series that looks to stand a little higher than the current RACING family of boards that BIOSTAR has in its roster. We will have the full introduction to the boards in the next couple of hours.

This is the BIOSTAR RACING Z590 GTA motherboard, which I don't think has any affiliation with Grand Theft Auto as a brand.

MSI is preparing to launch its new Intel 500 series motherboards, which will be led by the big and bold -- and very beautiful -- MEG Z590 GODLIKE motherboard. Check them out:

MSI will also be detailing its next-gen MAG Z590 Tomahawk Wi-Fi and MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon Wi-Fi motherboards, too. The new MSI MEG Z590 GODLIKE motherboard is a gigantic next-gen flagship E-ATX motherboard that will be perfectly coupled with a new Intel 11th Gen Core processor like the Core i9-11900K.

We should see the Z590 GODLIKE motherboard packing 20 (18+1+1) VRM power phases, up from the 18 (16+1+1) on the Z490 series. We will know all about MSI's new motherboards in the coming days at this rate, with Intel announcements right around the corner, too.

Back in August 2020, we had ASUS announcing an unnamed ROG gaming monitor that packed HDMI 2.1 connectivity at up to 48Gbps, and now the company is officially teasing a ROG monitors with HDMI 2.1 are "coming soon" -- with what I'm sure will be an announcement right around the corner at the all-virtual CES 2021.

We should expect some new high-end ASUS ROG gaming monitors offering not just super-high-end 4K 120Hz monitors, but other features like 10-bit color, the latest in HDR technology, G-SYNC, FreeSync Premium, and so much more. HDMI 2.1 is also capable of 5K 120Hz and 8K 60Hz, all over a single cable.

ASUS will most likely push boundaries with HDMI 2.1 gaming monitors and its ROG brand, so expect 4K 144Hz and beyond, where we might see 4K 160/175/200Hz or something like that -- maybe 1440p and beyond 275Hz with something like 300/320/360Hz. Imagine that.

HP has just unveiled its new Envy 14 laptop, switching things up by offering a 16:10 aspect ratio multi-touch enabled IPS display with 11% more viewing area versus a 16:9 panel.

The new 11th Gen Intel Core CPUs are powering the HP Envy 14 laptop, backed up by 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, a 256GB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q graphics. We also have Wi-Fi 6 technology here, privacy-focused features including a fingerprint sensor, phsyical shutter for the built-in 720p webcam, and a dedicated button to mute the microphone on the keyboard.

Not bad, HP -- not bad.

GM is taking a very confident step into the future with a new modernized logo, changing up its 50+ year logo with underlined all-caps white letting on a blue square.

The new GM logo is a lowercase "gm" on a white background, insider of a square with newer, modernized rounded corners. Ooooh. There are three color variants -- ooooh again, with solid blue, solid black, and a blue gradient. You can see it above, while GM says the new logo evokes "the clean skies of a zero-emissions future" and the "energy" of its new Ultium battery tech.

Not only do we have a new GM logo, but the company has kick started the marketing campaign for its Ultium platform, with the company relaunching its website on January 11.

It might only be a few state right now, but drone race betting is now a real thing -- and legal. Drone Racing League has teamed with DraftKings to make it happen.

There's only a few states where it is legal right now, but after future regulatory approvla it shouldn't be too long until other states take on drone race betting. If you didn't know what drone racing is, well operators will use drones and control them through first-person view (FPV) and race other operators.

As for the Drone Racing League, they're a pro-tier international league for drone pilots with super high-end custom high-speed UAVs that speed through courses in particular locations. DraftKings on the other hand is a sports betting operator that lets you place bets on sporting events.

Kohler is taking a few steps towards the future with some more smart bathroom technology unveiling at CES 2021 this week, with the new Stillness Bath.

The new Kohler Stillness Bath is a technology-powered bath that the company took inspiration from a Japanese forest bath, which is means to be a sort of Fortress of Solitude from the noisy, hectic world. Kohler will have water filling from the bottom of the Stillness Bath, spilling into a wooden moat -- and I have to say it looks pretty damn incredible.

Splash in a bit of "full spectrum" mood lighting, fog generation, and an "experience tower" that emits nice aromas into your room. I'm sure with that full-body experience you're going to feel very, very relaxed after that.

ASUS has just unveiled the world's first Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) wireless router, with the introduction of its new ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 Wi-Fi Gaming Router.

The new ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 Wi-Fi Gaming Router packs the very latest Wi-Fi 6E standard, seeing its combined Wi-Fi speeds hitting an insane 11,000Mbps. This is between the 2.4GHz with 1148Mbps, the 5GHz and 6GHz bands each pumping away at 4804MHz each.

Not only that, but you can use WAN aggregation between 2 x 1Gbps ports for 2Gbps internet connections, while ASUS provides its iconic spider-like 8 antennas and a slew of IO on the rear. Inside, we have 1GB of DDR3 RAM and 256MB of NAND flash memory.

MSI is gearing up to unleash some new Ampere graphics cards, with GeForce RTX 30 series Sea Hawk water-cooled cards to be unveiled on January 13 @ 11AM PST during its Tech for the Future event at CES 2021.

We just saw EVGA teasing its GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hydro Copper graphics card, but now it'll be MSI's turn in a few days to unveil a liquid cooled graphics card. MSI should unveil two new variants, as it has done before: the Sea Hawk X and Sea Hawk EK X.

The difference here is that the Sea Hawk X has an AIO cooler similar to EVGA's GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hybrid, while the MSI Sea Hawk EK X graphics cards have a full pre-installed waterblock from the fine folks at EKWB.

EVGA is flashing around its custom GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hydro Copper graphics card and boy, boy, boy does it look good up here.

It looks like EVGA is using the same PCB as the original EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hybrid graphics card, which was a different variant that packed an AIO (all-in-one) cooler. But EVGA's new GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hydro Copper graphics card rocks out with a fully custom PCB and water block, ready for a fully-water cooled PC.

It looks like EVGA is going with 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors here on the GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hydro Copper graphics card, and we should totally expect the 450W XOC (extreme overclocking) BIOS for the GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN Hydro Copper, too.

ASUS is preparing one of the most insane motherboards I've ever seen, with the upcoming WRX80 PRO WS SAGE SE motherboard ready for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper PRO CPUs. Check it out:

AMD's new WRX80 platform is a gigantic leap over the TRX40 platform, with ultra-premium workstation systems of the near future will be able to choose from a few motherboards and one of those is the ASUS WRX80 PRO WS SAGE SE we have here today.

The ASUS WRX80 PRO WS SAGE SE has 8 memory slots with 8-channel memory support, which is something that AMD will be bringing to the table with the Ryzen Threadripper PRO series of CPUs. The WRX80 PRO WS SAGE SE has a huge 7 x PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, which will be fed by an incredible 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes.

ASUS is preparing a flurry of Z590 motherboards for Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake-S family of processors coming in March 2021, with the flagship ROG MAXIMUS XIII teased in all its Z590 glory.

This is the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME GLACIAL, which the company has designed as an ultra-premium enthusiast motherboard with a pre-installed monoblock. It's a huge motherboard if you haven't noticed, with the MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME GLACIAL coming in the huge E-ATX form factor.

This is the ASUS ROG Maximus III HERO, where we have dual 8-pin EATX12V connectors, so expect this motherboard to have some juicy overclocking on the Rocket Lake-S flagship processor in the Core i9-11900K.

Well, it looks like Apple is making its autonomous electric cars with Hyundai -- with Reuters reporting that Apple and Hyundai will "start production around 2024 in the United States" according to local newspaper Korea IT News.

The new Apple Car will either be made at Kia Motors' factory in Georgia, or alternatively a new factory somewhere in the US that will produce 100,000 vehicles around 2024 -- Kia Motors being an affiliate of Hyundai Motor. The full capacity of the plant is expected to eventually reach 400,000 and I'm sure Apple and Hyundai will only build more plants as production (and sales) ramp up.

Interestingly, Reuters reports that Apple and Hyundai have plans to release a "beta version" of the Apple cars next year... a beta version car. Alright. We do know that Apple's new Car is meant to have "next level" battery technology, which will "radically" reduce the cost of the batteries inside of the car and increase the range that it can drive on a single charge.

MSI will be showing off its new GE76 Raider gaming laptop in more detail at its MSIology: The Ultimate Shockwave event on January 13, but for now we have a tease of the interesting new gaming laptop.

The new MSI GE76 Raider gaming notebook has an interesting, and very unique "dragon skin" design that does truly look amazing. It's a 17.3-inch premium gaming laptop that will be powered by up to Intel's new Corer i9-10980HK processor and up to NVIDIA's soon-to-be-announced GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU.

MSI will reportedly also be offering a 15.6-inch version of the "dragon skin" themed laptop, which will be known as the GE66. NVIDIA's new high-end GeForce RTX 3080 will be powering the premium gaming laptop, so we should expect (hopefully) a higher-end 1440p 165Hz display.

We had a brief tease of LG's 55-inch transparent OLED TV just as the New Year was about to tick over, but now the company has many more details on its futuristic TV now that the virtual CES 2021 event is upon us.

LG sees a future where we'll be using transparent OLED TVs at the end of our bed, that can pop up just enough to give you a notification bar -- think weather, emails, traffic, the time, etc -- while the company uses its own built-in speakers through LG Display's Cinematic Sound OLED (CSO) technology.

Jong-sun Park, LG Display's senior vice president and head of commercial business explains: "Transparent OLED is a technology that maximizes the advantages of OLED and can be used in various places in our daily lives, from stores, shopping malls, and architectural interiors to autonomous vehicles, subway trains, and aircraft. It will grow into a next-generation display that can change the existing display paradigm".

Microsoft has lofty ambitions to take over Western RPG gaming. Now we know of another big project in the company's first-party arsenal, and it's from the Wasteland devs at inXile.

Microsoft has a ton of RPGs in development right now. Obsidian is making new games including the new fantasy game Avowed and possibly The Outer Worlds 2. Bethesda is flexing with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI (and maybe even Fallout 5). PlayGround Games is working on Fable 4. Now we're getting clues about inXile's new project.

According to a new job listing for a Senior Gameplay Designer, inXile, the studio known for the Wasteland series, is making a new first-person shooter RPG.

NiOh 2, one of the best Soulsborne games on the market, is just $10 right now on Walmart.com.

If you've beaten Sekiro, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, and find yourself wanting a new challenge, definitely pick up NiOh 2 on Walmart. The PS4 version is just $10 and offers quite a bit of bang for your buck, including intense demon-slaying chaos, Oni transformations, and big upgrades over the original insofar as loot and mechanics.

The game has a deep Japanese folklore-fantasy scope and taps into history and legend, complete with excruciatingly challenging hack-and-slash combat. The bossfights are over the top, the combat is fluid and innovative with multiple stances and weapon types, and there's lots of room for experimentation with the new Oni powers and transformations.

Dying Light 2 narrative director Pawel Selinger recently left Techland after 22 years with the studio. What if he left because the project is finished?

Dying Light 2 has had a rocky development timeline. First the game was delayed indefinitely so Techland could target next-gen consoles. Then Chris Avellone, the game's previous writer, was embroiled in controversy, forcing Techland to find a new writer.

Now Selinger is leaving the company. The popular consensus is that Selinger is leaving because of Techland's internal problems, and that Dying Light 2 could be in development hell similar to Dead Island 2. But what if this isn't the case? What if the game is already written and Selinger is simply moving on because the work is finished?

Grand Theft Auto V's upcoming next-gen version might be built off of Red Dead Redemption 2's enhanced RAGE engine tech, possibly with more optimizations and upgrades.

Rockstar plans to bring GTA V to PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2021, complete with a standalone version of GTA Online. New tidbits found in GTA V's source code hints the game will be built from RDR2's excellent RAGE engine optimizations. The code was uncovered by GTA Forums user Tez2 and directly references RDR2's RAGE version.

Remember that Red Dead Redemption 2 was built from the ground up for the PS4, PS4 Pro, and Xbox family of consoles, so its RAGE engine is specifically designed to harness the power of those systems. Expect Rockstar to tweak the engine to utilize the full might of the PS5 and Xbox Series X SoCs, which include Navi 2 GPUs and Zen 2 CPUs, as well as hefty16GB GDDR6 RAM upgrades.

Parler CEO John Matze has confirmed that Amazon is shutting down all of their servers, which are connected to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and if it can't find a new host before then, Parler goes dark.

Apple has removed the Parler app from the Apple App Store, so too has Google from its Play Store -- and now Amazon removing Parler from AWS and being online at all. Amazon will pull their servers sometime today, unless Parler has a new host in the coming hours.

Why is Parler being wiped off of AWS? In an email received by BuzzFeed News, a member of Amazon Web Services Trust and Safety team told Parler "it violated its terms and services, adding that Amazon is unconvinced Parler will be able to effectively moderate its platform relying only on a team of volunteers".