NVIDIA has provided more details on its next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards with its new "Remarkable Art & Science of Graphics Card Design" video has some of the smartest engineers and designers working at NVIDIA detailing the art and science behind graphics card designs.

They touch on some of what to expect from the future GeForce RTX 30 series card -- specifically, the new 12-pin PCIe power connector. But more importantly, during the video (at the 6:10 mark or so) you can see NVIDIA and the big shift to the new 12-pin PCIe power connector.

Strangely, and yet-unexplained -- it is at a 45-degree angle which is very interesting. Check it out:

NVIDIA is now detailing some of the cooling technology from its previous generation graphics cards, all leading into the September 1 event where we will be introduced to the new Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards.

The new "Remarkable Art & Science of Graphics Card Design" video has some of the smartest engineers and designers working at NVIDIA detailing the art and science behind graphics card designs. They touch on some of what to expect from the future GeForce RTX 30 series card -- specifically, the new 12-pin PCIe power connector.

NVIDIA explains: "Over the past 20 years, computer graphics have made huge advancements in performance. It takes a combination of expertise in architecture development, thermal, mechanical, electrical, and product design to make it all happen. We offer a first glimpse at some of the strides we have made in designing graphics cards, so that they can reach their maximum potential and remain cool and quiet". They include:

At least... not yet ;)

It's now being confirmed by VideoCardz that NVIDIA will not be launching a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and instead we'll see the GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 unveiled on September 1.

VideoCardz said that the information had been "confirmed through our sources at AIBs" and I can confirm this, in an article I wrote not too long ago I said we would see custom GeForce RTX 30 series cards pretty quickly after launch. This is because I've talked with sources, and these sources only ever referred to the 'RTX 3090 and RTX 3080'.

ASUS revealed the world's first 360Hz gaming monitor earlier this year at CES 2020, but now the monitor is officially on its way and will be available in September.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN features a 24.5-inch Fast IPS panel with liquid crystal elements that "turn on and off up to four times faster than conventional IPS panels" that provides super-smooth gaming with 1ms GTG response time. This on top of the huge 360Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA G-SYNC and you have some serious monitor horsepower.

We have a native 1920 x 1080 (1080p) resolution, and driving those 360FPS numbers is being looked after by ASUS with the engineering team using a custom heat sink to keep the ROG Swift PG259QN cool.

Google is detailing a number of improvements and new features that will be included in the latest release of its Chrome web browser -- especially for people like me, who have 100+ tabs open at once.

The new improvements are coming thanks to the influx of people working from home over the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing Google to push a little harder in software-enabled productivity.

Alex Ainslie, Chrome's Director of UX explained in a blog post: "These days, people are spending a lot of time in their browsers to get things done, whether for work, school or something else. And while some write out a formal to-do list to keep track of tasks, for others, their to-do list is their tabs in Chrome. However you get things done, we want Chrome to help you be more productive".

NZXT has just surprised with a single step right before Microsoft and Sony release their next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles -- a new trio of pre-built gaming PCs guaranteeing 60FPS gaming.

The new StarterPC pre-built computers start at $699, with the introductory model packing an Intel Core i3-9100F, 8GB of RAM, MSI GeForce GTX 1650 D6 Ventus XS OC, and 512GB of Intel 660p M.2 SSD storage. The step up from there is $200 more at $899, with a faster Core i5-9400F, 16GB RAM, MSI GTX 1660 SUPER Ventus XS 6G OC and the same SSD.

Up from there is another $100 from the StarterPlus, with the StarterPro priced at $999 -- it rocks the same Core i5-9400F processor, upgraded MSI GTX 1660 Ti Ventus XS 6G OC, and larger 1TB of Intel 665p M.2 SSD.

Caviar makes some of the highest-end luxury custom smartphones in the world, with their new take on Samsung's just-released Galaxy Note 20 Ultra costing up to $6260.

Samsung charges around $1400 for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, so you're paying a $4860 premium for what exactly? Well, Caviar is using some exotic materials including red marble on the back panel, beautiful decorative framework on the back of the phone -- which uses rose gold covering.

The company is only making 396 of these smartphones in total, with 3 different series having 99 each -- starting at $5750 up to $6260. The website is light on details, but I don't think anyone paying $6000+ for a custom $1400 smartphone is going to care.

NVIDIA is preparing for its big next-gen GeForce reveal on September 1 -- more on that here, but now we have a GPU nude to share with you for the Ampere GA102 GPU. Check it out:

The GA102 nude is courtesy of PolyMorph on Chiphell, with a beautiful dieshot of the GA102-300-A1 GPU. This isn't a final GPU that would go into an official GeForce RTX 3090 or GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card -- as they will both be powered by GA102 -- but rather a qualifying state chip for testing.

Here's an easier break down for you:

Today 343 Industries confirms Halo: Infinite won't be delayed to 2022, and is still on track for a 2021 release and won't be next-gen exclusive.

Contrary to recent rumors, Halo: Infinite isn't being delayed to 2022. 343i community manager John Junyszek confirmed the news today in a Tweet:

"We're seeing lots of fake "leaks" out there, so please don't believe everything you read. There are no plans to change our 2021 release or the devices and platforms we'll be supporting. We're building Halo Infinite to be the best it can be on each device/platform."

Oculus VR is now part of the new Facebook Reality Labs division, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced.

Facebook is about to be integrated into all Oculus headsets on a base level, but this new cross-ecosystem focus goes a lot deeper. The entire Oculus business is now part of the new Facebook Reality Labs division, which includes VR products, AR initiatives including hardware and software, and deep research into future technologies like neural interfaces.

"Today we're unifying all our teams working on these areas -- our Oculus products, augmented reality efforts, home devices, and long term research initiatives, including areas like neural interfaces -- into a group called Facebook Reality Labs. This better reflects the full scope of what we're hoping to build: giving people the power to feel connected anytime, anywhere,"Zuckerberg said.

Microsoft's secretive The Initiative team is working alongside Gears developer The Coalition on the world's first AAAA game. This could get really, really messy for Microsoft.

If there's one thing I learned from Jason Schreier's book Blood, Sweat and Pixels it's that making games is a near-impossible feat at the best of times. It doesn't matter how big your budget is, or how big your team is; throwing endless cash and talent at a project doesn't mean anything will happen. Plans of mice and men often go awry, and this is extremely apt for games development, which often leads to cancellations, years' of wasted work, and outright closures of big studios (like Visceral Games, for example).

NOTE: One thing I want to get out of the way right now is that this isn't a jab at Microsoft. If Sony were doing something like this, I'd express similar skepticism. But how Sony and Microsoft handle gaming are very different. Sony is all-in on gaming, and Microsoft sees gaming as a side-business at best.

Activision may follow 2K Games' lead with NBA 2K21's Mamba Edition and sell a cross-gen bundle of Black Ops Cold War instead of free next-gen upgrades.

Activision probably won't have a free next-gen upgrade path for Black Ops Cold War. New leaks confirm a new ultimate edition that includes cross-gen versions, likely for a higher MSRP of at least $80 (or even $99.99). The leaks suggest anyone who buys the PS4 or Xbox One versions of Cold War will have two options to get next-gen versions of the game:

We're not sure if the next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X version of Cold War will be $69.99, but it's likely. If this happens we should see other publishers follow suit. Call of Duty is a trend-setter in the gaming sphere that other publishers imitate.

SEGA expects 2020 will be an 'extremely difficult period' due to coronavirus disruption, and forecasts 2.5 billion yen ($23.2 million) extraordinary losses.

SEGA is in trouble. The company is warning investors that COVID-19 is significantly negatively impacting all areas of its business outside of physical and digital gaming. SEGA arcades and pachinko are a big part of its business--or they were before coronavirus. It also operates resorts, but in 2020, both resorts and arcade segments are expected to incur -6.5 billion yen ($60.4 million) and -9.5 billion yen losses ($88 million), respectively. SEGA has already shut down its well-known Akihabara arcade in Japan.

The reports could be right, and Sony's next-gen PS5 could launch on Friday, November 13, 2020 after all.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will release on November 13 and is coming to next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. SEGA's new cross-gen Yakuza: Like a Dragon game also launches the same day. Is this a coincidence? Maybe. But maybe it indicates the PS5's launch date.

Why would we think this? We already know the Xbox Series X is targeting an early November 5 launch, so we'll see most cross-platform games hold off until the PS5 releases just to make sure they're hitting both platforms with a simultaneous launch. I doubt we'll see many cross-gen titles release early on Xbox Series X and then later on PS5, especially if the games launch in November. Better to just wait until the PS5 launches and not fracture the release.

MSI is gearing up for a huge next few months selling graphics cards, with the company submitting 29 different SKUs to the ECC for NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070 graphics cards.

I exclusively reported that we will see custom versions of GeForce RTX 30 series launching alongside, or shortly after NVIDIA makes the new cards official -- and it seems MSI is fully equipped to handle that onslaught of customers wanting Ampere-based custom GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards.

MSI has 14 x V388 models, 11 x V389 models, and 4 x V390 models -- where we should see those split into the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070 -- but we don't know which models are which. We could have 14 x custom GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards, or only 4 x custom GeForce RTX 3090 cards depending on those model numbers.

Astronomers have located an asteroid that is on track with colliding into Earth, and the expected collision date is a day before the U.S election.

If 2020 wasn't already filled with surprise curve balls, it certainly is now, or its at least close to it. Now, to add on top of everything the world has already experienced, scientists have identified an asteroid called 2018VP1, and according to the Center for Near Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory its trajectory is on course to collide with Earth on November 2nd, which is one day before the presidential election scheduled for November 3rd.

Palomar Observatory in California found the asteroid back in 2018, hence the name it picked up. The observatory believes there's three potential impacts "based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days", luckily, the observatory believes there's only a 0.41% chance that it will actually hit our planet. Additionally, NASA researchers don't consider 2018VP1 a "potentially hazardous object".

We are less than a week away from NVIDIA's huge GeForce RTX 30 series reveal event on September 1, where we should hopefully be introduced to the new Ampere-based graphics cards.

We already know there will be a 12-pin PCIe power connector on the flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card (which requires a huge 850W power supply), but there's some new dirt on the cheaper GeForce RTX 3070: it should beat the current Turing-based flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

Tom from Moore's Law is Dead tweeted out that he can confirm the GeForce RTX 3070 has around the same level of performance of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. He adds that "you all can do the math on how much stronger the 3080 & 3060 are relative to this based on the previous gen" with a nice big fat wink face emoticon at the end.

I've referred to Elon Musk as the 'real life Tony Stark' for years and years now, but now the man is actually going to do it -- put Jarvis in or around our heads through a BCI and Neuralink.

BCI and Neuralink? BCI = Brain Computer Interface, and Neuralink = the Elon Musk founded company that is making it happen. Neuralink is building out its brain computer interface, or BCI, with a robot that would surgically install it -- and all its required components, into your brain.

Once the BCI chips and components are installed into your brain (I can't believe I'm typing this) they will provide you with what would be the totally next generation of computing -- BCI. Giving you the ability of controlling computers and other technology devices with just your thoughts.

Microsoft celebrates the 25th anniversary of Windows 95 -- its most important operating system release of all time. It had industry-setting standards, features, and technologies -- that propelled Microsoft to OS dominance.

Ah, the golden years of PC -- where you had to decide on which Pentium to buy, how many megabytes of RAM you'd buy, the decision between IDE or faster (and more expensive) SCSI hard drives -- and whoaaa the introduction of CD-ROMs, and Creative Sound Blaster.

Oh, and who can forget the Start button, menu, and taskbar -- paradigm-shifting UI introductions with Windows 95 by Microsoft. Windows 95 has a laundry list of features that changed the operating system landscape and created total and utter OS dominance by Microsoft.

We are beginning to hear more about TSMC's next-gen 3nm process technology, with the company detailing it during its annual Technology Symposium.

TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has detailed its new 3nm (N3) process node. The company said it would go into risk production in 2021, and then into mass production in the second half of 2022. In between now and then, it will have 5nm (N5) which it also provided some details on.

The new 5nm node will be followed up by the 5nm+ (N5P) -- and somewhere in the middle of that we have the 4nm (N4) node -- both N5P and N4 will be enhanced versions of N5 -- which is already in high volume manufacturing.