Latest News - Page 1698

So, Google has just kinda spoiled its Pixel 5 unveiling party -- by confirming it in public, kinda. Google's next-gen Pixel 5 smartphone has appeared on the Android Open Source Project, or AOSP.

9to5Google reports that there's "potential confirmation from AOSP code comments that Google's next mainline Pixel phone will, unsurprisingly, bear the name "Pixel 5." The confirmation comes from a new code change for Android's Linux kernel, which the AOSP developer explains has only been tested on the Pixel 4 and not the Pixel 5".

Since the story went live, theree has been some sneaky last-minute code changes which has replaced "on a Pixel 5 with 4.19" with "on an arm64 device with 4.19". Too late though, Google... too late. We should expect Google to unveil its next-gen Pixel 5 and Pixel 5 XL smartphones at its annual Google I/O developer conference in June, just after Computex 2020.

Well, well, well... what do we have here? We have some new leaked specs on Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X and Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console. The new posts are from 4chan, so take a walk to your cupboard and pick up whatever salt you have, because you're going to need it.

The new new post is reportedly a "game tester in a 3rd party studio" that has leaked out some specs for the second version of a PlayStation 5 developer kit. The specs are interesting, as it sees the PlayStation 5 with 12.6 TFLOPs of performance from an "RDNA 1.5" GPU -- this is very interesting. It's not RDNA (Radeon RX 5000 series) and it's not RDNA2 (next-gen Radeon).

The Xbox Series X in these specs has a slightly slower 11.8 TFLOPs performance, but a higher-clocked Zen 2-based CPU at 3.7GHz (compared to 3.6GHz of the PlayStation 5). The PlayStation 5 has 18GB of GDDR6 memory while the Xbox Series X has 16GB of GDDR6, but both consoles have 4GB of DDR4 system RAM.

EA servers went down today, taking down millions of players that were either playing or wanting to play huge games like Apex Legends, FIFA 20, Star Wars Battlefront II, and more.

Gamers were being blasted with error messages logging into EA games, with Down Detector reporting the EA server outages involved connectivity and log-in problems. Apex Legends, FIFA 20, Star Wars Battlefront II and other games were all affected, with EA quick off the mark tweeting out status updates.

EA was first aware of the issue, and then thanked gamers for their patience once all was restored. Apex Legends should be back up by the time you read this, while FIFA 20 is still niggly, and the Star Wars Battlefront II team is still working on a fix.

Warren Buffett has just offloaded $800 million worth of his Apple shares in the last quarter, according to SEC filings secured by Business Insider.

Berkshire Hathaway, where Buffett is the CEO, offloaded 3.7 million Apple shares between the months of October and December 2019 when Apple share prices increased by over 30% from $219 to $294. Even with the offloading of 3.7 million shares and securing $800 million, Berkshire Hathaway still holds $72 billion worth of Apple stock -- or around 5.6% of Apple.

In saying that, the $72 billion worth of Apple stock represents over 32% of Berkshire Hathaway's entire portfolio. The investment firm purchased its first loads of Apple stock in 2016, when Apple stock was sitting at around $100 -- Buffett's company spent $1 billion on 9.8 million shares at the time.

Alright, so I need to do this -- it has gone to the top of my bucket list instantly. Jetman Dubai has unleashed a new video that shows pilot Vince Reffet flying through the sky in a jet-powered carbon-fiber suit like a real-life Superman, or Iron Man, depending on how you want your superheroes.

The pilot launches off the ground and flies into the air at around the 2-minute mark in the video, flying around Dubai and heading south towards Jumeirah Beach Residence. Jetman Dubai notes that Reffet in "eight seconds [Reffet] had reached 100 meters height, in 12 seconds 200m, 19 seconds 500m, and reached 1000m in 30 seconds at an average speed of 130 knots". Crazy, but oh-so-damn-awesome stuff.

Reffet has a bunch of GoPro cameras attached to the suit which gives us some utterly gorgeous footage of his flight, which is wicked-fast in the end and makes me want to do it personally... even though I'm deathly afraid of heights, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, that's for sure.

Qualcomm has just unveiled its new Snapdragon X60 modem, built on the new and super small 5nm node, the new 5G modem won't make it into smartphones until sometime in 2021.

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G modem-RF System sees customers like Apple for example, buying its X60 modem alongside the separate RF antenna in a single package. Qualcomm is offering its mmWave Module separate to the Sub-6GHz, with both of them finding a new home inside of the Qualcomm SDX60 chip.

Qualcomm is offering up in the realms of up to 7.5Gbps download speeds, while upload speeds tap out at 3Gbps -- this is no better than the current Snapdragon X55 modem. Where the new Snapdragon X60 steps up to the plate is that it is built on the smaller, more efficient 5nm node -- hinting that its next-gen SoC will be built on the 5nm node -- something that should be unveiled at its annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in December 2020.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) was canceled in the end over coronavirus, and then the Facebook global marketing summit was canceled -- but the Game Developers Conference (GDC) is going ahead, not afraid of the coronavirus outbreak.

GDC is being hosted in San Francisco, the same city as Facebook's recent summit -- but it will be going ahead, with precautions. GDC is banning China-based exhibitors and attendees from coming to GDC this year, and while there are some China-based exhibitors using US-based staff, that makes up just 10 of the 550 companies attending GDC 2020.

The organizers will be taking other precautions that will amplify their usual flu season cleanliness protocols, something that includes disinfecting electrostatic sprayers in high-traffic areas, more frequent wipedowns of objects like doorknobs and microphones, more hand sanitizer stations, and daily carpet sanitation.

AMD has secured itself another design win for a crazy-specced supercomputer, where its kick ass EPYC Rome CPUs will power the US Navy's new Cray Shasta supercomputer.

The new Cray Shasta supercomputer will find a new home with the US Navy's Department of Defense Supercomputing Resource Center (DSRC), where it will become a part of the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. It packs some serious computing power, with a peak theoretical computing capability of 12.8 PetaFLOPS.

This is all thanks to:

I would have to say that this deepfake video of Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving being inserted from The Matrix and being deepfaked into Office Space is one of my favorites so far. Check it out:

YouTuber Ctrl Shift Face worked with Chris Ume did some great work seeing Neo take the blue pill in The Matrix, which saw him inserted back into the fake reality and not taking the red pill coming into the real-world. Neo wakes back up in his crappy life, but instead he is now deepfaked into Office Space.

Neo -- or I guess in this case since he never came out of The Matrix, Mr. Anderson, hangs up on Morpheus and goes back to his job but in the end he hates his life so much he jumps off the roof killing himself... but it's done beautifully using a scene from The Matrix. Amazing work, something I seriously want to see more of.

Motion Twin confirms it plans to launch more paid and free content for their wildly successful roguelike Dead Cells.

Dead Cells fans rejoice: The latest $5 DLC expansion Bad Seed is just the beginning of a new roadmap of post-launch content coming to the Metroidvania. In a recent Reddit AmA with Motion Twin, the devs say they're far from finished with the hard-as-nails game. There's ideas for new expansions and sequels that could explore the series and break out of the side-scrolling genre.

When asked about the future of Dead Cells vis-a-vis content, Motion Twin said: "More content both free and paid... Hopefully more games in the same universe? Man dreams and time..."

It wasn't too long ago that we saw some renders of Samsung's new 2020 Odyssey mixed reality headset that is planned for 2020. Now, leaked images have surfaced that back up that rumored design.

The first renders we saw of Samsung's 2020 model of their Odyssey headset was back in late January. Let'sGoDigital found some patents from Samsung for their new model, and created some render images based on those patents. What we saw from those renders was a new bug-like design that came with a larger head-strap, no rotary wheel, and a complete lack of wires.

The new leaked images have been sourced from UpdaterNews, who claim that they have received this leak from a source they have worked closely with for a while now. While that isn't an official confirmation of the design, these new images do back up the rendered design that was created from the patents. All of the images are located in the entirety of this article.

Nintendo finally ends the drought with a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct showcase planned for February 20.

The latest Nintendo Direct will star the furry islanders of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in a sizable 25 minute livestream. The Direct, which goes live on Thursday, February 20 at 6am PST / 9am EST (those times though), will cover a myriad of topics about Tom Nook's famous vacation package. We should expect to see more details on characters, building and crafting options, interactions with other players via co-op and online play, and the biggest of all, cloud saves.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons looks to be the ultimate relaxing palate cleanser with it's ultra-cute style and laid-back tone, but don't let that fool you: You're still in debt to Tom Nook and you've got to work your tail off to repay those bells. We should get a closer look at major gameplay mechanics--exploration, customization, etc.--and a tour through the charming tropical isle.

Halo: Infinite-themed NERF guns are coming, and purchases will unlock special in-game skins, confirming the existence of weapon cosmetics in the upcoming Halo game.

In today's Halo NERF gun reveal, 343 Industries inadvertently confirmed Halo: Infinite will have weapon skins, and we fully expect them to be monetized in some form. "Select products will also include an exclusive Halo Infinite code for unlockable game add-on content." A new Gamespot article confirms this add-on content is additional NERF weapon skins for the game.

While it's not been explicitly confirmed that buyable skins are included, it's not hard to see where Microsoft is going here. We actually saw this coming a mile away, originally predicting Halo: Infinite could have piecemeal cosmetic purchases combined with a seasonal battle pass scheme. Now that REQ packs--Halo 5's massively lucrative version of lootboxes--aren't coming back for Infinite, I expect to see layered monetization that could culminate in both cosmetic armor and weapon skins, along with the aforementioned battle pass system.

Cross-save opens up a new dimension of play for the Switch, and could help catalyze game sales while increasing play time on the handheld console.

According to NPD Group data, the Nintendo Switch is an additive system. Most Switch owners also have a PS4, Xbox One, or PC for gaming, making Nintendo's portable handheld a complementary device that lives alongside other hardware. Users simply switch (pun intended) to the handheld for on-the-go play and then jump back to other systems on a lark. Now thanks to cross-save support and cloud syncing, gamers don't have to restart their sessions every time they Switch over. Wherever they go with the Switch, their saves follow too.

Along with cross-play, the industry's most transformative feature for online play, cross-saves break down the platform barriers and alleviate one of the main frustrations with third-party re-releases on the Switch. Today's announcement of Witcher 3's PC-to-Switch cross-save support really drove this point home; before now, anyone who bought the Switcher would have to start over from scratch regardless if they had a 200-hour save on PC. After today's update, gamers can import their Witcher 3 files from GOG or Steam and seamlessly continue their progress.

The Witcher 3 on Switch now has cross-save with PC, allowing gamers to freely import their master files from GoG or Steam and play them on-the-go.

Today CD Projekt RED brought one of the most important features to the Switcher: cross-save. The new v3.6 game update lets Switcher gamers link up their GoG or Steam account and import their saves and continue Geralt's epic adventure. This was one of the biggest points of frustration for gamers who double-dipped and had to restart completely from scratch. Now that's not the case, now you can bring your hundreds-hours long game with you wherever you go (Switcher is perfect for long flights and commutes).

There's some potential issues, though. If you use a save file with mods, any issues, glitches, or bugs will transfer over to the Switch version. Also don't rename your master PC file or else the Switch Online cloud save can't access it--assuming you have an active Switch Online membership.

Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos has announced via his personal Instagram account the is launching a new fund to battle climate change - the Bezos Earth Fund.

Bezos took to his Instagram to announce what is called the Bezos Earth Fund, and this fund will be dedicated to fighting the effects of climate change. Bezos says that he wants to work alongside others that are fighting climate change, and to kick things off for the Bezos Earth Fund, he will be donating $10 billion that will go towards grants that will be issued out this summer.

Bezos says that the Bezos Earth Fund will fund scientists "scientists, activists, NGOs - any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world". He also says that to save the Earth it will require collective action from "big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals." It should also be noted that the Bezos Earth Fund is separate from Amazon's own initiatives and that the $10 billion came from Bezos' personal account.

A new job listing by Ubisoft has highlighted that its game development studio is currently building a team for a new unannounced VR project situated around one of Ubisoft's greatest IP's.

According to the new job listing, Ubisoft is currently looking for applications for a "Narrative Designer - VR [Unannounced Project]". This person would be working on cutting-edge VR technology on what is described as "one of Ubisoft's greatest IP's." The listing also states that this new title will be developed across multiple studios and that the Narrative Designer will have to create a consistent and believable narrative structure throughout all of the dynamics of the game.

It has been known for quite some time that Ubisoft is slowly moving towards VR titles, but this is the first bit of news we have gotten in regards to those titles being on "one of Ubisoft's greatest IP's". According to The Information, Facebook has signed deals for exclusive VR games with Ubisoft on their IP's; Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. While this hasn't been confirmed officially yet, this job listing could be for either of those titles. Until Ubisoft officially announces something, it's all speculation, all we know for sure is that their VR titles will be on "one of Ubisoft's greatest IP's".

Researchers and scientists have managed to create a new device that can generate electricity straight out of thin air.

Nature has reported that scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) have developed a new device that uses a natural protein to generate electricity from moisture in the air. Jun Yao, the electrical engineer, and mircobiologist who created the device has called it "Air-gen", or more specifically, an air-powered generator.

The new device connects electrodes to protein nanowires in a specific way that an electrical current is created from the water vapor that is naturally occurring the atmosphere. Yao says, "We are literally making electricity out of thin air. The Air-gen generates clean energy 24/7." The current model of the air-gen is able to generate power in environments that have low water vapor present in them, such as the Sahara Desert. It also is non-polluting, renewable and low-cost. If you are interested in learning more about this new invention, check out this link here.

Amazon is working hard of their Lord of the Rings TV show, and with writing and production getting fully underway, the public are asking for roles in the massive show.

A writer for Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show, Glenise Mullins, has taken to her personal Twitter account to ask the public to stop sending in audition videos. She says, "I have nothing to do with the casting of Lord of the Rings on Prime." She also states, "Please stop sending me audition tapes. I'm sure they're great and I trust you're super talented. And I really do understand your passion, but again... I'm not involved in the casting."

It also doesn't seem Mullins is alone in receiving a lot of the public audition videos. Fellow Lord of the Rings writer, Gennifer Hutchison posted onto Mullins' thread saying, "Yeeeaaaahhhhhh", suggesting she was also experiencing the same thing. Just yesterday, I reported about a stunt actress that got injured will filming the Lord of the Rings TV show, check out that story here. The cast has been revealed for Amazon's show, and if you haven't seen it check it out here.

There has recently been quite a lot of controversy surrounding Tesla's Autopilot feature, and a new level of hostility and division arose after Walter Huang's death on March 23rd, 2018.

Huang's vehicle experienced an Autopilot glitch that caused it to get lanes mixed up as it approached a left exit on US Highway 101. The vehicle was traveling at 70 miles per hour, but since then, new information has surfaced in multiple new documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The documents confirm that Huang experienced this same glitch in this very same spot, multiple times before his death. What isn't confirmed is that if Huang told Tesla about this issue.

The documents state that on the last two times Huang drove over the same spot on highway 101 he noticed the glitch and grabbed the wheel to correct it. This evidence was gathered from the SD card that is inside every Model X (Huang's vehicle). A friend of Huang, Hans Ting, also asked Huang in a private message on March 19th how his vehicle was doing, a screenshot has been provided below. Huang's family claims that Huang notified Tesla of this Autopilot issue and said that Huang visited Tesla in regard to it.