Latest News - Page 1660

Like virtually all retail locations around the United States, Apple's retail stores have been closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic for over a month. Apple's retail chief recently told employees in a video briefing that Apple expects that the company will reopen many retail locations in May. Apple's retail stores have been closed outside of China since March.

Word of the store openings in May came from Deirdre O'Brien, vice president of retail and people for Apple. Word of her comments surfaced from unnamed retail employees who viewed the video. According to the employees, in the video, she said that "we are continuing to analyze his health situation in every location, and I do expect we will reopen up many stores in May." She failed to announce any specific stores or regions that would be reopening in May.

O'Brien had previously told Apple employees that some locations in the United States would resume operations in early May. Many states around the country are getting back to work as stay-at-home orders are being lifted around the nation. In some states, such as Georgia, some businesses have already reopened.

For one of the biggest reveals in decades, the Pentagon has just released not one, but three different videos of UFOs -- yeah, unidentified flying objects. The truth really is out there.

I should correct myself: they're not called UFOs, because that's so 1999 -- the US Defense Department refers to them as unidentified aerial phenomena. This isn't new and it's something that I covered in 2019, with the previously released footage coming out in "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017".

In a statement, the US Department of Defense said: "The US Navy previously acknowledged that these videos circulating in the public domain were indeed Navy videos. After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorised release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena".

GALAX has just announced an interesting new custom GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics card, with a white and pink design in the new EX Pink Edition.

The new GALAX GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER EX Pink Edition continues the tradition behind the normal EX model, with an identical cooler and PCB design -- but dips them in girl-gamer-worthy white and pink.

The new EX Pink Edition graphics card has RGB fans that glow pink, while the entire backplate of the card is also pink -- I kinda dig it, and I don't know why.

AMD will have next-gen CPUs and motherboards supporting the new DDR5 memory standard by 2022, but it will be Intel that is first-to-market with DDR5.

The upcoming Zen 4 micro architecture that AMD is aiming for a 2021 announcement and 2022 release, will pack support for both DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support. AMD will be taking a big leap with Zen 4 as it will be using the 5nm node from TSMC, and then on top of that supporting both DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 stnadards.

PCIe 5.0 won't be so much for gamers as we're not really pushing the boundaries of things now with PCIe 4.0 (and most gamers are still on PCIe 3.0 -- it's only X570 chipsets from AMD and Radeon RX 5000 series cards that support PCIe 4.0). But servers, datacenters, and supercomputers will embrace PCIe 5.0 bandwidth with their arms wide, wide open.

There are millions of people stuck at home with the stay-at-home coronavirus quarantine lockdowns right now, with Ashley Madison -- an online website dedicated to those seeking something outside of their marriage or relationship, reporting huge spikes in online affairs.

Ashley Madison's new report says that they've been adding 17,000 new members per day during the coronavirus lockdown, which is compared to 15,500 new members per day in 2019. A spike of 1500 new people per day is pretty big, which makes up 45,000 people per month looking for something outside of their marriage -- while stuck inside with their spouse.

Paul Keable, chief strategy officer for Ashley Madison, explained: "We've spoken to members, and they're saying they're using the site as a release valve for the tension that's built up at home during the pandemic. They're looking to have needs met that aren't being met at home".

Origin has just built the world's "fastest" custom gaming PC into a driveable Tesla, would you like to take your gaming PC on the go?

Above we have a video released onto the Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) YouTube Channel, and as you can see from the video, Origin PC has taken custom gaming PC building to a whole new level. Origin PC has created a custom gaming PC that is inspired by MKBHD's Tesla Model S. The car is actually a toy for kids and built by Radio Flyer. Origin PC noticed that under the hood of the Tesla was an empty space (just like the normal Tesla), and thought - "why don't we throw a gaming PC in there?".

Origin PC didn't just throw any gaming PC in there; they decided to go very high-end. Under the hood we have an AMD Ryzen 3900X CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition GPU, ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 motherboard, 32GB (2x16GB) CORSAIR Dominator Platinum RGB 3200MHz RAM, 2TB Force Series Gen.4 PCIe MP600 NVMe M.2 SSD, 2TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD, and a CORSAIR SF Series SF750 - 750 Watt PSU. Woah.

Bethesda doesn't just want to give back by providing hours of safe at-home gaming. It's also giving out $1 million to coronavirus relief funds across the world.

Bethesda and its parent company ZeniMax, the companies behind Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom, today announced a $1 million donation program to aid global coronavirus charities. The company will carve up its donation pool to a number of different efforts, including global, community-level, and national relief groups.

The games-maker is also launching a new program called Bethesda At Home, which will connect gamers to developers via live streams and other events. Viewers will have the opportunity to chip in and help coronavirus relief causes during these live streams and we could also get tidbits and hints on upcoming expansions and updates for Bethesda's biggest games, including Fallout 76, Doom Eternal, and The Elder Scrolls Online.

CD Projekt RED is bringing its anarchist sci-fi shooter to IGN's Summer of Gaming event this June, and we could get a look at finalized gameplay.

Right now Cyberpunk 2077 is entering its final phases of development, but we haven't seen gameplay since E3 2019. That could change in a few months, though. CDPR just announced it's joining IGN's E3 2020 replacement Summer of Gaming event this June, and the venue could be CDPR's last big opportunity showcase polished footage before the game's September release. Also remember Xbox has a promo deal with Cyberpunk 2077, so we could see gameplay shift over to Microsoft's upcoming big new Xbox Series X event instead.

CD Projekt RED promises this is their best game yet, and that Cyberpunk 2077 will one-up The Witcher 3 in every way possible. We've been writing about this game for years now and chronicling its development progress: From the early 2017 reports of flying cars, real-time AI, and a living, breathing city, to our predictions about online multiplayer and the demos of incredibly dynamic FPS-RPG mashup content that continually evolves and shifts based on your decisions.

What would Skyrim look like as a next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X game? Something like this.

Modding is absolutely incredible. Nothing extends the lifetime of a game more than mods (they will even fix your game after launch). Case in point: 9 years on, Skyrim is looking better than ever thanks to amazing user-created content. YouTuber Toxic Gaming put together a tantalizing glimpse at what Skyrim could look like on next-gen platforms like PS5 and Xbox SX, but of course the game is already next-gen on PC.

With a laundry list of over 200 mods, Skyrim Legendary Edition is transformed into something both familiar and completely unique. The textures are immaculate, complete with shield reflections and high-res 4K upgrades of ships, castles, armors--you name it. The world feels more enchanting and has that mystical Oblivion look, but with massive improvements like incredible ambient weather effects, lighting overhauls, beautiful water reflections, and realistic fog. And all of this is without ray tracing, so imagine that extra layer of depth on next-gen systems.

ASUS has launched a pair of new high-end notebooks aimed at professional users with workflows in the creative industry. The new machines include the StudioBook 15 (H500) and the StudioBook 17 (H700). The StudioBook 15 is aimed at artists, photographers, and designers who need a Pantone Validated display with 100% Adobe RGB color space and Delta E < 1.5 color accuracy. The screen also supports 4K UHD resolution and has color calibration technology too.

The StudioBook 17 has a 17-inch, 16:10 aspect-ratio panel fitted inside of a 15-inch laptop body. To get the big screen into the smaller chassis, the machine uses very thin 5.3 mm bezels on each side. The panel offers 97% DCI-P3 color gamut, and the screen is Pantone Validated. The 17-inch machine also supports wide 178-degree viewing angles. The screen also uses a 180-degree hinge to allow for a wider range of positions for the display, including laying flat on a table.

The machines will feature similar, if not the same hardware other than the screen size, but the specifications ASUS gives are for the 15.6-inch unit. The CPU is an Intel Core i7 9750H with an NVIDIA Quadro RTX5000 GPU. The machine can have up to 48 GB of RAM onboard and up to 2 TB of SSD storage. The keyboard is an illuminated chiclet-style unit, and the machine has an integrated speaker.

Google fans around the world have been waiting in anticipation for the all-new Google Pixel Buds to launch after their unveil in October. The updated version of the Google Pixel Buds app has turned up on the Play store. The new version of the app has support for the new earbuds and some interesting features.

The Google Pixel Buds app can be installed on any device running Android 6.0 or higher. The earbuds will use standard Bluetooth protocols, meaning they should operate using normal Bluetooth connectivity on any device, possibly missing features required from the app. Reports indicate that some Pixel 4 test devices have presumed the app to be pre-installed by the Play store. On those devices, rather than showing a link for installation, it prompts you to update the app.

However, on other Android devices, the app is available to install but reportedly doesn't run without being paired to a set of Pixel Buds. Tidbits have been gleaned from the app include controls for in-ear detection, adaptive sound, touch controls, Google Assistant settings, and the ability to locate them using the "Find my device" feature.

Sucker Punch's stylish samurai epic has been delayed a few weeks as Sony adjusts its first-party release slate.

Ghost of Tsushima is now launching July 17, three weeks after its original June 26 launch date, Sony today announced. The move comes as part of PlayStation's new first-party salvo that sees two heavy-hitters launching back-to-back: First with The Last of Us 2 in June, then Ghost of Tsushima in July. Sony accelerated TLOU2's release date to help combat the game's recent devastating story spoilers.

Today's news was surprising to say the least and many expected Sucker Punch's samurai slasher to be delayed indefinitely thanks to COVID-19 work-from-home orders.

Some new details have leaked that are for a next-generation Samsung Galaxy smartwatch, but exactly which model remains a mystery. What we know is that Chinese regulators are testing a Samsung smartwatch with two versions codenamed SM-R840 and SM-R850 listed. The mystery is that no one is sure if these are different sizes of the Galaxy Watch 2 or if they are the Galaxy Watch Active 3.

The assumption with two codenames is that we're looking at both a 42 mm and a 46 mm version. Other leaks have mentioned two different codenames, including R845 and R855, that are believed to be the LTE versions. The wearable is tipped to come in black, silver, and gold colors.

Rumors also suggest that the devices will have 8 GB of internal storage. That is a healthy gain from past Samsung Galaxy smartwatches and will be useful for people who like to store music on the watch for listening off-line. The battery reportedly increased in size to 330mAh, which is a significant gain from the 247mAh battery used on the Active 2.

One question that's been on the minds of many Apple fans and shareholders is when will the next iPhone generation launch. The coronavirus pandemic has caused significant delays for Apple, as it has for most of the world and other smartphone makers. A new report surfaced that claims that Apple is still gearing up for the next iPhone generation launch this fall, but it's launch plans could change.

According to the new report, mass production for the new iPhones has been pushed back about a month. That doesn't mean Apple couldn't announce the smartphones in September as it usually does, but it does mean that the devices may not be available to purchase the same month they are announced. The report also claims that Apple is planning four new iPhone models.

The new models are said to include one with a 5.4-inch screen, a pair of 6.1-inch screen models, and a high-end model with a 6.7-inch screen. It's unclear if all or only some of those models have been delayed. The original report started with the Wall Street Journal and claimed that the "flagship iPhones" would be delayed, which could indicate only the high-end models.

UPDATE: Naughty Dog has officially commented on the Last of Us 2 leaks:

The Last of Us 2's main story beats have been leaked out, and Sony is responding in the best way: By releasing the game early.

The Last of Us 2 will now release on June 19, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Sony today confirmed. The accelerated timeline comes weeks after Sony and Naughty Dog delayed the sequel indefinitely due to shipping issues. The game is basically finished, Naughty Dog said in the previous announcement, so an accelerated release makes sense (reports say Sony wanted to wait until Fall or thereabouts when COVID-19 is expected to fade and retailers open back up). Whether or not Sony will forego possible physical retail sales due to COVID-19 limitations remains to be seen, but the games-maker will assuredly sell millions of digital sales.

One of the big challenges for many people during the coronavirus pandemic with parents working from home and kids trying to learn from home is having access to enough computers. Many homes have one shared computer, leaving people looking for budget options to get more people online. A Chromebook is an excellent way to get someone on the internet to work from home, or learn, on the cheap. Lenovo has a machine called the Chromebook S340 that runs the Chrome OS operating system and has plenty of performance for average computing needs.

The Chromebook uses an Intel Celeron N430 processor operating at 1.10GHz and up to 2.60GHz with Turbo Boost. The processor has dual cores and can handle two threads at a time. The display is a 14-inch HD resolution unit with anti-glare coating and 220 nits of brightness. Native resolution for the screen is 1366 x 768.

Chromebook S340 has 4 GB of RAM, that isn't upgradable, and 32 GB of eMMC storage. Graphics are handled by Intel UHD Graphics 600, which won't do much for video games but will handle video playback and other general computing needs. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.2 and Intel 9650 802.11 AC Wi-Fi connectivity.

A lot of people out there enjoy filming from the air using drones, such as the line made by DJI. The company is gearing up to launch a new drone that has been leaked several times, called the DJI Mavic Air 2. The latest leak shows appear to be images of the device from the official press release, which is expected today.

The leaked images show the drone from multiple angles and give us a good look at the controller as well. The images give us a good look at the camera mounted up front on a gimbal and the folding design that makes it more compact to transport. The controller is interesting with the sliding section designed to hold the smartphone allowing the pilot to view the camera feed in real-time.

Another interesting feature of the drone are hints that it will have an advanced ActiveTrack feature. The camera is tipped using Sony IMX586 sensor that allows it to capture 4K images and video. The smartphone holder built into the controller is an alternative to the screen integrated into some past devices.

ASUS has launched a pair of new notebook computers today that include the VivoBook S14 (S433) and the VivoBook S15 (S533). The pair of notebooks are 14-inch and 15-inch computers that aim to strike a balance between portability and performance. ASUS also put a lot of work into the style of the laptops to give them "personality."

Both machines have diamond-cut edges and metallic textured finishes with multiple colors available. The keyboard features an "enter" key that has color-blocked edges. Both of the devices are powered by Intel Core i5 processors and use integrated Intel UHD graphics. Buyers can opt for up to 8 GB of RAM and high-capacity PCIe SSD storage.

The new machines bring additional colors to the VivoBook S line, including Resolute Red, Gaia Green, Dreamy White, and Indie Black. The notebooks also come with stickers that allow younger users to customize the laptops further match with each of the four colors. Machines weigh in at 3.09 pounds and have a thin profile that's as slim as 1.59 mm.

The Nintendo Switch is practically sold out across the globe. So if you can't buy a handheld, why not make one instead?

Custom handhelds are pretty amazing. They often carve up old-school consoles like the Wii and jam them into small form factors like an Altoids tin (yes, really). And now you can make your own...but there's some assembly required.

Renowned modder G-man is selling a unique DIY kit for his G-Boy handheld, which packs in a Wii console into a custom 3D-printed Gameboy chassis. The kit costs $325, and comes with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, custom-designed chips, screws, triggers, and PCBs, including one that fully emulates the functionality of a GameCube controller. But there's some big catches: You have to solder everything together and dremel your own Wii PCB to exact specs. The kit doesn't come with a pre-cut Wii motherboard (Nintendo would NOT be happy if it did).

Covidsafe has now launched Down Under, with the Australian government unleashing its coronavirus tracking app -- which is powered by Bluetooth, and millions of Australians who will download it.

How does it work? Covidsafe is an app that you can download from the Australian Apple App store and Google Play store, and once installed it'll use Bluetooth to record anyone else (that has the Covidsafe app installed) that gets too close to you. Covidsafe will be scanning Australians that are within 1.5 meters (5 feet) of you, for 15 minutes or more.

Covidsafe will transfer anonymized IDs between Australians' phones over Bluetooth, gets cycled every 2 hours, and then the government promises that the data is encrypted on your phone and deleted after 21 days.