Latest News - Page 1644

The host of the JRE Podcast, Joe Rogan has just announced that YouTube's biggest podcast will be jumping ship and heading over to Spotify exclusively.

The move will not be immediate, and if you are thinking that viewers will be losing the video side of the podcast then don't worry, Rogan states in his announcement video that the video format will also be coming over to Spotify. Rogan announced the news via his personal Instagram account, where he stated that he signed a "multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify that will start on September 1st."

Rogan also says that the entire JRE Experience (Joe Rogan Experience) podcast library will be uploaded to Spotify on September 1st. Rogan reminds everyone that the other platforms that are hosting his content won't have to remove his content until "somewhere around the end of the year" when the exclusivity side of the new agreement with Spotify kicks in. Rogan emphasizes that the show will remain the same, and will also be free.

President Trump is bringing the pain to the World Health Organization (WHO) where he has threatened to cut funding from the WHO over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent WHO-related news, the ex-director of the WHO has said that coronavirus could "burn out naturally", more on that here.

President Trump tweeted out his four-page letter to Dr. Tedros, the Director-General of the WHO, saying that the agency must show "independence from China". Trump writes: "If the World Health Organisation does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organisation permanent and reconsider our membership in the organisation".

The letter from President Trump continues: "It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China".

Well, it looks like SD cards of the future are going to be mind blowingly fast -- with the SD Association announcing the new SD 8.0 specification and speeds of up to an insane 3.9GB/sec. Yeah, nearly 4GB/sec from an SD card.

The SD Association announced the new SD 8.0 spec which has support for PCIe 4.0, and speeds of up to 3940MBps (just shy of 4GB/sec). What are SD card speeds now? The current SD Express card spec sees speeds of up to 985MBps, while UHS-III SD cards provide up to 624MBps.

if you want those super-fast 4GB/sec speeds then you're going to need a new SD card reader that has 2 x PCIe 4.0 lanes, because if you don't those glorious speeds will be halved, down to just under 2GB/sec (1920MBps) over PCIe 3.0.

Alienware has just unveiled its new AW2521H, a new 24-inch gaming monitor with a ridiculously fast 360Hz refresh rate.

The new Alienware AW2521H rolls out with a 25-inch IPS-based panel, with a native 1920 x 1080 resolution and super-fast 360Hz refresh rate. You might be disappointed with the 1080p resolution but that's all you're going to get when you're at the lofty heights of 360 freaking hertz.

Alienware is also giving gamers G-SYNC support with the new AW2521H gaming monitor, with a dedicated NVIDIA G-SYNC module inside of the monitor. The 'F' model of this (AW2521HF) is the FreeSync enabled monitor, but if you didn't already know -- 360Hz gaming monitors are co-developed with NVIDIA.

FromSoftware's ultra-bizarre medieval fantasy Dark Souls series has sold over 27 million copies to date across digital and physical, Bandai Namco today confirmed.

The Dark Souls franchise is a huge success that's notorious in the gaming sphere. Just say it out loud and everyone knows exactly what you're talking about--the IP has tormented many an obsessed masochist through its lifespan. Like a moth to a flame, we can't escape the clutches of Dark Souls' monstrous claws.

As a result of this strange allure, the series has sold 27 million copies on all platforms across the globe. Bandai Namco also announced Dark Souls III has surpassed 10 million sales across all SKUs, platforms, and digital/physical, which is a pretty big milestone for a 4-year-old game.

The original 2002 PlayStation 2 classic Mafia is getting remade for current-gen hardware, complete with massively enhanced visuals and improved effects.

Today 2K Games and Hangar 13 revealed even more tidbits on the Mafia: Definitive Edition, a full-on remake that's launching August 28 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game has been reborn in Mafia 3's refined engine, complete with 4K HDR fidelity upgrades, more dynamic physics systems, and realistic lighting.

All of Hangar 13's major studios collaborated on the Mafia: Definitive Edition remake, and the game will be sold separately for $40 or as part of the new Mafia Trilogy bundle which includes Mafia II remastered alongside Mafia III with all its DLCs.

The PlayStation 5's customized PCIe 4.0 will help revolutionize console gaming by pushing 5.5GB/sec of data, leading to interruption-free gaming.

New SSD tech is one of the most exciting features of next-gen, and it'll empower devs like never before. The PS5's SSD in particular hits blazing fast speeds and can blast uncompressed data, assets, and content through the system's internal pipeline at 5.5GB/sec, and compressed data can hit 9GB/sec. That's 100x faster than the PS4's mechanical HDDs. This will translate to ultra-fast loading times, seamless gameplay without transition points, and pretty much instant access to gameplay.

PS5 architect Mark Cerny went into a deep dive on the PS5's new tech, but now Sony corporate is hyping up the hardware. In a recent corporate strategy meeting brief, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida talked up the console's new PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD and how it'll revolutionize PlayStation gaming.

Sony's versatile PlayStation Now offering is the leader in the streaming space, and has grown by over 100% in the last year.

Today Sony confirmed some surprising PlayStation Now numbers, reinforcing the company's trajectory for service-based revenues. PS Now currently has 2.2 million paid subscribers, up an incredible 120% year-over-year. Sadly, this is just 2% of the PS4's current 106.8 million install base.

The service's flexibility is a big adoption point: It allows gamers to stream titles to smartphones, consoles, and PCs, including a number of PS4 games and legacy PS1, PS2, and PS3 titles. Users can also download games for dedicated offline play on PS4.

Biostar has unveiled a pair of new mainboards that are designed to support 10th generation Intel processors. The new boards include the Racing B460GTA and Racing B460GTQ. Since both are Racing boards, they have the signature black, gray, and blue Racing colors. The boards are aimed at commercial and casual use and are designed with an eye towards power efficiency and cooling.

Both boards have similar features, including Super Hyper PWM with DCR current sensing architecture offering precision in delivering stable power with 100% fixed voltage. Biostar says that the differences between the B460GTA and B460GTQ boiled down to the GTA offering additional ports and connectivity options thanks to the ATX form factor while the GTQ is a micro-ATX mainboard.

Biostar says that both boards are designed to be extremely affordable and feature a stylish Armor Gear enclosure on the motherboard, helping to dissipate heat and housing the LED Rock Zone RGB lighting. Both boards have customizable light settings via the Vivid LED DJ software. The boards support up to 128 GB of DDR for RAM with four DIMMs.

Sony confirms new PS5 games will be shown "soon", reinforcing rumors of an early June event.

In its new Corporate Strategy Meeting, Sony outlined some important details on the PlayStation 5. Most of the info we already know--DualSense controller info, SSD specs, etc--but there's some new assurances around next-gen game reveals.

"By combining speed, haptics and sound, we can further improve on the wonderful experience available on PS4, making the PS5 a truly next generation console by providing game experiences that were not possible before," Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said in the presentation.

ADATA has announced the launch of a pair of new solid state drives that it is aiming at creators. The new SSDs include the Falcon and Swordfish PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 SSDs. Each use 3D NAND flash memory and delivers a read/write speed of up to 31000/1500MB per second. ADATA says that using the 3D NAND flash memory allows higher efficiency and increased reliability compared to 2D NAND SSDs.

Falcon drives will be offered in capacities that range from 256 GB up to 2 TB and feature data protection and correction technologies to expand the life of the SSD. Falcon also has intelligent SLC caching, host memory buffer, and a random read/write of 180/180K IOPS. To help keep the SSD cool, it features an aluminum alloy heat sink.

The ADATA Swordfish SSD also features 3D NAND flash memory and uses the PCI Gen3x4 interface. The drive offers sustained read/write speeds of up to 1800/1200MP per second and SLC caching. Other features include a host memory buffer and random 4K read/right of 180/180K IOPS. ADATA offers the SSD in capacities of 250 GB to 2 TB. This SSD also features an etched aluminum alloy heat sink to keep the drive cool.

It seems as though some hackers got into the University of Edinburgh's ARCHER supercomputer, forcing administrators to recently shut it d own and look into the attack. It's forced them to reset all SSH passwords, too.

Computer Security Incident Response Team (or CSIRT for short) for the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have released samples of the malware used, as well as network compromise indicators for some of the hacks on the ARCHER supercomputer. Other security researchers have since reviewed the samples and said hackers were successful in their infiltration of the ARCHER supercomputer through compromised SSH credentials.

ZDNet reports that the first report of an attack on ARCHER on Monday, reporting a "security exploitation on the ARCHER login notes". System administrators quickly shut the ARCHER supercomputer down, and reset SSH passwords to stop future attacks.

Well folks, it looks like we might not need a coronavirus vaccine after all -- as the former World Health Organization (WHO) director said that COVID-19 could "burn out naturally", thus, not needing a vaccine.

The former WHO director tweeted: "There is a real chance that the virus will burn out naturally before any vaccine is developed. We are seeing a roughly similar pattern everywhere - I suspect we have more immunity than estimated. We need to keep slowing the virus, but it could be petering out by itself".

Professor Sikora replied to his own tweet, adding: "It is my opinion that this is a feasible scenario. Nobody is claiming to know what will happen for sure - I believe in an unknown situation this is a possibility. We need to continue to keep our distance and hope the numbers continue to improve".

HBO Max is about to launch and with it there will be millions of hours of your favorite TV shows and movies, and hopefully the launch of Zack Snyder's Justice League -- yeah of course I was going to say it.

AT&T's Warner Media will be launching HBO Max on May 27 for a price of $15 per month, which is more expensive than the competitors and their cheapest plans. Netflix costs $9 per month, while Disney+ starts at $7 per month, and Apple TV+ at $5 per month. However, HBO Max launches out of the gate with some gigantic libraries of some of the biggest TV shows in history, as well as a gigantic library of movies.

HBO Max isn't just another quick streaming service being launched, rather the company has invested billions of dollars into HBO Max to make sure it is a success. This is why the company paid $1 billion to the streaming rights of The Big Bang Theory, a 5-year streaming deal for Seinfeld that cost over $500 million, and they signed Lost and Fringe creator, as well as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Mission Impossible director J.J. Abrams for $250 million.

Zack Snyder recently held an awesome and very casual screening of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on his personal Vero account, and now the director has announced a Man of Steel Watch Party. You can join the Man of Steel Watch Party (with a Q&A) right here.

Snyder will host the Man of Steel Watch Party on his personal Vero account on Wednesday, May 20 @ 8AM PDT, where he will provide some live commentary on the movie. He tweeted: "Many of us are struggling during this difficult time. Felt it could be cathartic to come together now for a Man of Steel Watch Party and celebrate the ultimate symbol of hope. Submit some questions, I'll answer a few after".

Man of Steel was an important moment for Warner Bros. as it started the DCEU, in its battle against Marvel and the MCU. Snyder had much more control alongside Dark Knight producer Christopher Nolan, with Man of Steel being the start of a 5-part story arc from the director. The second movie was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the third was Justice League.

It might not seem like it, but Disney has had a gigantic shake up internally in the last few months -- having its ex-CEO Robert Iger stepping down in February 2020, and now its head of streaming has left for TikTok.

Disney has lost its Head of Streaming to Chinese video giant TikTok (where influencers can make $1 million per post -- more on that here), with Kevin Mayer leaving as the boss of Disney's Direct to Consumer & International division. Mayer was recently passed over for the position of CEO when Iger stepped away suddenly, with now-CEO Bob Chapek replacing him.

Just as Disney+ is beginning its streaming dominance, and days away from the huge launch of HBO Max -- it loses its head of streaming to... TikTok. There's another few reasons why this is big: Mayer has been with Disney for over a decade, joining Disney in 1993 -- but left the company for Playboy.com, and then returned to Disney to run many websites for the company that eventually led him to strategic planning at Disney.

We are not very far away from the official launch of Intel's new 10th Gen Core processor launch, with the Comet Lake-S processors led by the flagship Core i9-10900K -- which TecLab is reviewing early with some delicious results below.

TecLab secured themselves a retail processor, so it has not been cherry-picked like most of the review samples going out to the press. TecLab used an Intel Z490-based motherboard (but didn't say which board they used) against AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 3950X processors inside of the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE motherboard.

Both systems were powered with DDR4 memory with the AMD system using DDR4-3600 while the Intel system bumped it up to DDR4-4000, an 850W PSU, and EKWB AIO 360 D-RGB cooler. In terms of graphics cards, the systems were powered by the GALAX HOF GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

Sony plans to start breaking its silence on PS5 games and hardware in early June, sources tell VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb.

We actually know a lot about the PlayStation 5, including its next-gen DualSense controller, the system's internal specs, how transformative the PCIe 4.0 SSD is, and how the system's SoC has been customized to push more performance at a steady rate of power. But the most important info still remains a mystery: Price, form factor, and the games. Sony will start revealing its hand starting in June.

Sony's June stream will focus on next-gen games, sources tell VentureBeat, but there's no word on whether or not the PS5 will be revealed in earnest.

A random 4Chan rumor laid out an appealing proposition: Daredevil getting the Spider-Man exclusive treatment on Sony's PlayStation 5. Too bad it's not actually happening.

Following big heated anticipation, Marvel has officially squashed the Daredevil PS5 game reports. Marvel's creative VP Bill Rosemann confirms no such game is in active development with Marvel and its partners. Rosemann wants to do it, though.

"From the office of Nelson & Murdock: While Bill greatly admires the Man Without Fear, there is no Daredevil game in development. Bill's tweet to Troy Baker was an acknowledgment of their shared desire about creating said game & he apologizes for any confusion his tweet created," Rosemann said.

Respawn's new Apex Legends studio team is part of Electronic Arts' Vancouver-based offices, and joins teams from EA Motive and EA Vancouver.

Apex Legends is one of the biggest things EA has right now. The BR sensation contributed lots to EA's $2.7 billion earned from live services in FY20, and the company has made comments about carrying Apex across the next decade.

"You'll see us launch true platform games like Apex Legends, which we expect will continue to grow over the next decade," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a Q4'20 earnings call. So it makes sense that EA and Respawn are opening a second studio in Vancouver to focus exclusively on the game's continued development.