Latest News - Page 1597

Samsung announced its new Odyssey G7 and Odyssey G9 gaming monitors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year -- but now, they're available for pre-order.

There are three different models to choose from, with the larger-than-life 49-inch Odyssey G9 coming in with a native 5120 x 1440 resolution and 1000 nits of brightness. Samsung's other two are in the Odyssey G7 family, with a 27-inch and 32-inch gaming monitor each with a native 2560 x 1440 resolution and 600 nits of brightness.

Samsung uses a flagship QLED panel on the larger 49-inch Odyssey G9, while the lesser (and thus, cheaper) Odyssey G7 gaming monitors use a cheaper VA panel. But, all three models have a ridiculous 240Hz refersh rate -- so if you're buying the Odyssey G9, you might want to wait for that next-gen NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 or RDNA 2-based Radeon from AMD.

GitHub is standing behind the Black Lives Matter movement, with the Microsoft-owned company removing coding terms such as "master" and "slave".

If you didn't know, the term "master" and "slave" reference the versions of a software project. In physical terms in computers, IDE HDDs ran on a "master" and "slave" configuration -- one was the first, and the other was the second. Hence, master and slave.

GitHub CEO Nat Friedman replied to a tweet a few days ago to Una Kravets who is the director of product design at Bustle Digital Group. Kravets tweeted: "For what it's worth, I'm *super* happy to rename the default branch structure of "master" to "main" and I hope we can all do this together as a community with @github leading the charge by implementing in their product moving forward".

You might not know the name Jim Keller like you would Bill Gates or Jensen Huang or Lisa Su -- but the man is very important. He was the brain child behind AMD's kick ass Zen CPU architecture, and before that he was instrumental in the K7 and K8 architectures.

He left AMD for Samsung in 2015, and then left Samsung for Tesla to work on their custom self-driving car silicon, before leaving Elon Musk's company to join Intel back in 2018. Well, Keller has just left Intel after two years for "personal reasons" but will stay with Team Blue as a consultant for 6 months in a transitional period.

There is some movement in the company in Keller's departure:

If you're experiencing outages right now, you're not alone -- millions are being hit with internet, phone, and data outages across the United States.

T-Mobile was hit hard, with voice and data services affected and massive spikes in outage reports on Down Detector starting at 1PM ET. Neville Ray, T-Mobile president of technology, tweeted that the company was aware of the issue and that T-Mobile engineers were hard at work fixing it.

He tweeted: "Our engineers are working to resolve a voice and data issue that has been affecting customers around the country. We're sorry for the inconvenience and hope to have this fixed shortly".

We've been graced with some truly ridiculously fast PCIe 4.0-based SSDs over the last year or so, but it looks like Samsung is ready to give us "the super performance of real PCIe 4.0 SSD".

Samsung is gearing up to launch its new 980 Pro SSD by the end of August 2020, where it will be their first consumer-focused PCIe 4.0 SSD. We can expect some truly insane speeds of up to 6500MB/sec reads, and 5000MB/sec writes which translates to 6.5GB/sec read and 5GB/sec writes -- just let that sink in.

The news is coming from @UniverseIce on Twitter, who tweeted "Samsung 980 Pro SSD will be released within two months, you will see the super performance of real PCIe 4.0 SSD". We did see Samsung show off its insane 980 Pro SSD at CES 2020 earlier this year with crazy speeds.

AMD looks to be updating its Radeon logo as it forges ahead with its launch plans for the next-gen RDNA 2 architecture, with a new logo appearing during the PC Gaming Show when developer Gearbox Software teased its new game, Godfall.

The last time we saw an update to the Radeon logo was during the launch of Polaris under Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) back in 2016. Since then, the entire RTG team has been retconned and now AMD is shifting gears with the Radeon division as it leads into RDNA 2 and of course, next-gen consoles with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Interestingly, we could see AMD not using the Radeon RX 6000 naming scheme that we've been expecting and maybe something different. Remember we've had the Fiji-based Radeon R9 Fury X (you can see my look in 2020 of that here as I re-benchmarked it) as well as Radeon VII, and Radeon RX Vega 56/64 (another new article on that coming soon).

Unlike the PS4 Pro which sounds like a jet engine taking off, the PS5 should be pretty silent even when belting out new higher-end games like Gran Turismo 7.

The PlayStation 5 was designed from the ground up with cooling and noise in mind. In fact, Sony completely changed the CPU and GPU clock speed management to variable frequencies in order to maintain a constant PSU wattage, which would ensure the fans don't rev up to supersonic speeds. The console's ample ventilation, unique chassis, and slight V-shape will work in tandem with this new CPU/GPU variable clock scheme to keep the system cool.

Now we're hearing even more from Sony execs about the PS5's silent and cool operation. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Sony Europe exec Simon Rutter says "a great deal of effort" went into making the PS5's robust heat mitigation.

Publishers seem reticent on wide-sweeping Smart Delivery support on Xbox Series X, and may push towards re-selling separate next-gen SKUs for specific games.

Microsoft is making a big deal out of Smart Delivery, a concept that's not entirely new but quite simple. And they really should. Smart Delivery is a consumer-friendly idea that carries your games across multiple Xbox console generations.

The idea is simple: You buy a game once, and you can play it on any Xbox console, including Xbox Series X.

Sony's next-gen PS5 might let owners customize their consoles with skins or even replacable outer coverings unique side casings.

Sony UX designer Matt MacLaurin might've hinted the PS5 will have swappable custom panels that gamers can buy to customize their console, somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's faceplates. In a now-deleted comment on LinkedIn, MacLaurin said: "You will definitely be seeing special editions. This is also customizable in ways previous gens weren't."

This could mean many things, insofar as customization--could the PS5's outer glowing light strip be capable of full RGB? Might we be able to pop off the oddly-shaped side panels and place new custom ones back in? Maybe gamers will get an all-back PlayStation 5 at launch after all?

Sony's ambitious PS4 backwards compatibility support on the PS5 is going smoothly, SIE boss Jim Ryan says.

Microsoft is the uncontested leader in backwards compatibility, and four generations of Xbox games are playable on the Xbox Series X. But Sony also has big ambitions. Sony plans to support the "overwhelming majority of the PS4's 4,000 games library" on the next-gen PS5, but each game has to be added on a title-to-title basis. Thankfully, progress on this compatibility process is going smoothly.

In a recent interview with CNET, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan gave a quick update on PS5's backwards compatibility. The console was built with PS4 support in mind, and devs are currently updating their PS4 games to run on PS5.

Today EA announced Star Wars Squadrons, the EA Motive's ambitious spacefighter sim that combines cross-play, online and singleplayer content, and spans multiple Star Wars generations.

Star Wars Squadrons is a lot like Rogue Squadron and Battlefront mixed together. EA Motive's new game is a first-person starfighter that hearkens back to the old Tie Fighter and X-Wing PC games of yore, and lets gamers play both on the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire sides. Each side has five pilots, hinting at five ship variants. Below are the confirmed ships in Squadrons:

Star Wars Squadrons has two modes: A fully-fledged singleplayer campaign, and 5v5 online multiplayer. The online component is a live game that'll shift over time--EA refers to it as an "evolving battlefield"--but there's apparently no microtransactions this time. There is a robust level-up and ranking system that'll let you upgrade your ship over time, as well as customize it via cosmetics.

As the United States begins to slowly reopen in select locations, many people are wondering what places pose the greatest risk for contracting the coronavirus.

Public health experts have taken a survey and ranked common places such as bars and public pools on a scale of 1-10, ten being the greatest risk. According to these four health experts, there are five factors when considering how dangerous a location is; if it's outdoors or indoors, proximity to others, exposure time, likelihood of compliance, and personal risk level.

The public health experts generally agreed that outdoor activities are much safer than indoor activities, and that is mostly due to the virus being less concentrated outside than inside. While outdoors is generally safer, activities such as basketball, or a music concert are still considered risky as the activity is likely to break social distancing guidelines.

A former NASA scientist has released an informative animated video that shows how fast Earth is rotating relative to the Sun, the Milky Way galaxy, and the Cosmic Microwave Background.

The simple animation video found above was created by planetary scientists, and former NASA scientist James O'Donoghue, who wanted to put all of this information into context with a simple and informative video. According to O'Donoghue, "People often talk about how we are standing on a ball (Earth) which rotates at great speed, and that this ball orbits another at an even greater speed. Sometimes this is extended to how fast we orbit the centre of our Milky Way."

O'Donoghue also said, "In all the confusion of big numbers and directions, I simply wanted to put all this information into context in a single frame so people could understand where they're headed - and how fast." Looking at the video, we can on the left-hand side the numbers that show the speed of Earth's rotation (1030 mph). Below the Earth is the Sun, and how fast the Earth rotates in comparison to the Sun, the same goes for the Milky Way galaxy, and then finally the Cosmic Microwave Background that was produced by the Big Bang.

This past Sunday, the US Surgeon General took to his personal Twitter to urge everyone to wear face coverings.

US Surgeon General, Jerome Adams addressed the idea that face coverings, or masks are infringing on everyone's freedom of choice right. Adams said that while many people feel like the masks, or coverings are infringing on their freedoms, that wearing the masks actually promotes your freedom.

Adams' way of thinking is that the more face coverings being worn by Americans, the less asymptomatic viral spread, which means more places reopening, and the rate of which they open being faster. Adam's even went onto say, "Exercise and promote your freedom by choosing to wear a face covering!". The Surgeon General isn't the only medical professional urging people to adopt face masks, the Centers for Disease and Prevention has also pushed for everyone to adopt a face covering if they are venturing outside of their house and to a place that makes social distancing guidelines difficult to follow e.g a grocery store.

Australia is expected to launch its "next-generation" hybrid rocket that will take satellites into low Earth orbit in 2022.

A new announcement out of the University of Queensland has revealed that Australia is currently moving toward launching its own domestically-made hybrid rocket. This hybrid rocket is expected to take satellites into low Earth orbit, and will be completely constructed of components made in Australia - meaning that Australia won't have to out-source components from a different country.

University of Queensland's Dr. Ingo Jahn said, "Rather than buying products from overseas, the rockets and components will be manufactured in Australia, and this is an essential step towards developing a space launch vehicle industry in Queensland with many expected flow-down benefits to our manufacturing industries". The teams focus is developing and validating fuel systems, which according to Jahn, is "one of the most complex engineering challenges".

Red Barrels' new Outlast game is a grim, bloody and ultra-frenetic hellfest where you scramble to survive in the dark.

A bit of new Outlast Trials footage dropped during the PC Gamer show that haunts my sleep. It's a kind of hellish mixture of SAW's macabre torturous machinations with Hostel's brutal cruelty, with Manhunt's merciless murdering thrown in. There's not a whole lot of new content or gameplay thrown in here, but we do get the general gist of the game through some grisly scenes.

You're a test subject in a horrifying Cold War experiment to see the limits of human survival and shock trauma. We're not sure if you're an American who's been captured, or a Communist who's being put through the hellish test on American soil. You get special night-vision goggles literally drilled into your head and are set to roam around a black-as-night underground maze full of brutality, similar to The Descent.

The PS5's custom 12-channel PCIe 4.0 SSD has been hyped up to no end, and now we finally see proof of how the new storage tech will revolutionize console gaming.

Sony's PS5 SSD is the kind of storage The Flash would be proud of. It rockets data at 5.5GB/sec speeds, and can hit 9GB/sec compressed data rates and up to 20GB/sec with deeply compressed assets. This kind of speed can shoot data, assets, and content through the system to be processed and rendered on-screen. The practical use-case enables instantaneous, interruption-free gaming. And the new Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart game showcases what the SSD can do.

The latest PS5 event showed off lots of games that the system's new tricks, from the ray-traced visuals in Gran Turismo 7 to the elimination of loading screens in Ratchet and Clank. Thanks to the SSD's efficient pipeline, blazing fast speed, and the PS5's architecture, gamers will seamlessly transition between worlds within less than a second.

According to new data from analyst firm Ampere Analysis, the Nintendo Switch is currently beating the Xbox One's total global hardware sales.

The Xbox One has been on the market for seven years now, and compromises four separate SKUs--the 2013 Xbox One, the Xbox One S, Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, and Xbox One X. But the Switch hardware family--Switch and Switch Lite--has already beaten the Xbox One's sales in just four years on the market. This makes sense considering the Switch is the fastest-selling current-gen console in the US.

According to new figures from Ampere Analysis, which estimates total sales up until Q1'20, the Switch has sold 53 million units compared to the Xbox One's 49 million. Remember Microsoft no longer reports hard console sales figures so this data is an estimate.

Bluepoint and Sony Japan Studios are using PlayStation 5 hardware to breathe new life into an PS3 classic, and the results are incredible.

Demon's Souls is getting a fully-fledged next-gen remake on the PlayStation 5, complete with high-end visuals, smooth frame rates, and incredible ray-traced shadow and dynamic global illumination effects. The world has literally been recreated in stunning detail, creating a kind of visual marvel that not only resurrects the PS3 original, but rebirths it in a way not possible before now.

Sony's next-gen PS5 will outsell the Xbox Series X by over 29 million units by 2024, analyst firm Ampere Analysis predicts.

Ampere Analysis' latest report lays out some pretty hefty sales predictions for next-gen consoles. By 2024, four years into the hardware cycle, the PS5 is expected to hit 66 million sales, achieving over 60% of the PlayStation 4's total 110.4 million lifetime sales in five years on the market (the PS4 sold 80 million units by this period). The Xbox Series X, however, is expected to sell a dramatically less 37 million units.

That means by 2024, the PlayStation 5 is expected to have sold 29 million more units than the Xbox Series X. The PS5 is also expected to beat the Xbox Series X by 1.3 million units at launch. The main reason? Sony's existing platform domination with the PlayStation 4 will carry forward into next-gen thanks to backwards compatibility.