Latest News - Page 1731

Back in May, we heard a rumor about Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed game and what era in history it would be focussed around. Now rumors are flying again, but this time circling around an Amazon listing.

The original rumors indicated that Ubisoft was working on a vikings-themed Assassin Creed title. Images were leaked online but were later proven to be fake, and there was also an "easter egg" found in The Division 2. The images were debunked, and then news went dead about the new game, and Ubisoft hasn't made any official announcement so far.

Now, on the German version of Amazon, a listing for Assassin's Creed Ragnarok - Valhalla Edition. While this listing can certainly be fake, it's still very interesting to see rumors starting up again for a vikings-themed Assassin's Creed game. We will have to wait for an official announcement from Ubisoft to know for sure what they are working on. Would you like to see the next Assassin's Creed game go into the vikings era?

Over the course of Earth's life many meteors have slammed into its surface, scientists know about the impacts but have struggled to find the craters, until now.

One meteor, in particular, crash-landed into Earth around 790,000 years ago, and the explosion that it created blanketed 10% of the Earth in rock debris. The debris was launched all the way from Indochina to eastern Antarctica and from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. Scientists were aware of the impact the meteor created but were unable to find the crater until just recently.

Through the analysis of geochemical and local gravity, scientists were able to pinpoint the impact location to southern Laos on the Bolaven Plateau. The crater was found under a massive field of cooled volcanic lava that spanned a ridiculous 2,000 square miles. According to the recent study, scientists estimated that the crater impact measured in at about 300 feet thick, 8 miles wide and 11 miles long. In the entirety of this article, you will find a geological map of what the scientists have comprised out of evidence.

CES 2020 - Intel kinda teased its next-gen Thunderbolt 4 technology at CES 2020 this week, but didn't go into detail about it -- and now, we know why.

Thunderbolt 4 is essentially a re-branding of Thunderbolt 3, with ex-TweakTown staffer and now Tom's Hardware contributor Paul Alcorn talking with Intel during CES. Alcorn writes: "Intel confirmed it referenced USB 3.1 in the presentation, meaning Thunderbolt 4 is in fact not faster than Thunderbolt 3".

Articles started flying quick and fast out of CES 2020 that Intel had teased Thunderbolt 4, after it had pushed out slides that its new Tiger Lake architecture had integrated Thunderbolt 4. Confusion happened pretty quickly, with Intel trying to clarify by saying: "Thunderbolt 4 continues Intel leadership in providing exceptional performance, ease of use and quality for USB-C connector-based products".

CES 2020 - Acer unveiled its Predator Thronos Air 'gaming chair' last year for an eye-watering price of $29,000 and now it is coming to the US. The first-gen units weren't available in the US, and had everything built-in -- the new chairs are much cheaper, dropping a bunch of now optional upgrades and no more built-in Acer Predator gaming PC.

The expensive Acer Predator Thronos Air gaming chair has received a bunch of changes to get down from its original price of $29,000 when fully equipped. The new Predator Thronos Air starts at $13,000 and drops the fully-motorized, remote-controlled arm, a built-in chair in the pod itself, an an Acer Predator ready-to-rock-and-roll gaming PC. The new one, doesn't have any of this.

Acer will sell all of these parts separately, which is why the price is down from $29,000 to $13,000 -- as it doesn't have any of that gear, and a full gaming rig, built-in. If you want to throw your own, and most likely much more powerful gaming PC into the Acer Thronos Air, then it'll only start from $13,000. You can still mount 3 x large 27-inch monitors into the Acer Predator Thronos Air, and is still "modular, adjustable, and customizable".

CES 2020 - Samsung was showing off its upcoming flagship consumer SSD at CES 2020, with the new 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD based on the new PCIe 4.0 standard.

Samsung's new 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD will be pushing some huge sequential read/write speeds, with the company promising up to 6.5GB/sec reads, and up to 5GB/sec writes. Samsung will be making its new 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD available in 250/500GB and 1TB capacities.

We're already seeing a ceiling being hit of around 5GB/sec on these new PCIe 4.0-based SSDs, but Samsung is pushing a new boundary here up at 6.5GB/sec. Later this year we'll see the next-gen Phison E18 NVMe SSD controller, which will unlock up to 7GB/sec on both read/write. Samsung said it will have more information on its new 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD in Q2 2020.

Tesla goes from strength to strength hitting the New Year, with the electric vehicle maker now worth more than any American vehicle manufacturer at any point ever -- a milestone that topples even Ford Motor Company's all-time high in 1999.

Back at Tesla's IPO in 2010, you would've purchased a single share of $TSLA for $17 but now you're looking at an insane $470 per share. Tesla has continued to impress through the years, with 2019 being one of their best yet on strong Model 3, Model S, and Model X sales as well as the introduction of their exciting new Cybertruck.

Tesla has also got its new Gigafactory operational in Shanghai, China -- with Elon Musk flying into the country and even dancing for the crowd on stage. Tesla will be building its new Model Y electric vehicle in Shanghai at its new Gigafactory 3, with the company also teasing an all-new "built for China" model that will be announced in the future.

CES 2020 - Alienware demos its new innovative dual-screen laptop that's all screen and no keyboard.

Alienware's new experimental Concept Duet laptop doesn't have a keyboard or any buttons. It's basically two 13-inch screens that fold together via a clamshell clamp that're both fully integrated in an Intel-powered Windows 10 platform. The screens are full touchscreen panels with pen support similar to a souped-up, high-powered Nintendo 3DS, and the device can be folded vertically like a book, horizontally like a traditional laptop, and can also use one screen as a kickstand for tabletop use (or folded into a tablet for single-screen use).

Dell's main use case for Duet Concept is for productivity and content creation like digital art. It looks pretty convenient for anyone who needs to bring their touch-oriented work with them on-the-go, and the demo showed a Skype call on one screen and a note-taking app on the bottom. Thankfully the Duet has a special magnetic keyboard that attaches to the bottom screen so you type more efficiently.

CES 2020 - Sony reveals just how big its PlayStation 4 platform is with some gargantuan figures, including over 1 billion games sold to date.

Sony didn't drop the big PS5 reveal we wanted at CES 2020, but it did clarify the enormity of the PS4's current dominance over the games industry. Since the PS4's original launch in 2013, Sony has sold over 106 million consoles worldwide, putting it just 49 million away from usurping the PS2's long-standing reign.

Hardware isn't everything though (especially when you sell the hardware at a loss). Consoles are just the beginning and serve as the entry point to an ecosystem. The real money is in software sales, and the PS4's numbers are just outrageous. In 7 years, gamers have bought an incredible 1.15 billion PlayStation 4 games. Rough estimates show the average PS4 owner has 9 games.

Ex-Xbox VP Mike Ybarra won't be buying an Xbox Series X console. The reason? He can play all Xbox exclusives on PC.

Mike Ybarra's recent Twitter comment is brief but speaks volumes about Microsoft's service- and software-first gaming business. Ybarra says he'll buy a PlayStation 5 because he's already a PC gamer, hinting it'd be redundant to own both a gaming PC and Xbox console. Honestly it's pretty true. All first-party Xbox exclusives are coming to Windows 10 PCs day-and-date of release, and that goes with Game Pass too.

This isn't a new development though. As far back as 2016, I said Microsoft's cross-platform synergy basically talks a portion of consumers out of buying Xbox hardware--namely existing PC gamers. This is a point of strength for Microsoft simply because it no longer cares that much about Xbox console sales. It's no longer trying to win over PC gamers by fighting with them, and joining the two platforms and making Xbox into a service rather than a console has been tremendously beneficial.

Interactive 3D renders of the Xbox Series X give an extensive look at the console's current case design, complete with ventilation, ports, and dual-orientation setup.

On the heels of AMD's recent Xbox blunder, key sources recently clarified info on the Xbox SX. Yes, the Xbox Series X has back and bottom thermal vents, and no, it doesn't have two HDMI ports with HDMI pass-through (at least currently).

The info has now also been independently verified with Windows Central, who made a nifty 3D render you can actually rotate and zoom in on. From what we can see, the Xbox SX has a pretty robust vertical-optimized cooling solution that mirrors the thermal cooling found in cases like the Phanteks Evolve Shift X.

CES 2020 - MSI unveiled its new Creator 17 laptop at CES 2020, touting that it was the "world's very first" laptop with a nifty Mini LED display.

Mini LEDs are much smaller traditional LEDs that are used as a backlight in displays, with MSI's new Creator 17 rocking a huge 17-inch 4K panel. The 17-inch panel can dim and brighten with more accuracy than a traditional LCD and LED backlight, with Mini LEDs being super-small down to less than 2mm.

MSI says that the Creator 17 panel can display 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, reach up to 1000 nits of brightness (great for HDR content), and speaking of HDR content we should expect stellar HDR abilities thanks to the high levels of contrast bet ween light and dark areas of images and video on the Mini LED display.

CES 2020 - Portable battery maker Goal Zero has just unveiled its new Yeti X range of portable batteries at CES 2020, with smaller portable batteries all the way through to huge home power backups that will power normal household appliances.

Goal Zero has provided USB-C Power Delivery inside of its new Yeti X portable chargers, with faster solar charging through MPPT (maximum power point tracking). The company has also added regulated 12V ports for better compatibility, for when you plug in power-hungry devices like portable fridges.

The new Yeti X 6000X is "the most powerful Yeti to date" says Goal Zero, and has been made to run critical home circuits for multiple days of power outages. In cases like the current fires raging across Australia where thousands of Australians have all electricity, a portable battery like the one here from Goal Zero and its new Yeti X 6000X would be invaluable.

There is still a lot of Skyrim players out there, and I'm sure out of the current player-base, there are a few players who are using monitors that are above 60Hz.

Skyrim supports uncapped framerates, but unfortunately, the game locks players' refresh rates to 60Hz. So, even if you do have a monitor that is above 60Hz (75Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz etc), you are aren't using its full capabilities in Skyrim. This is where mods come into play.

Modder SlavicPotato has released a new mod that can unlock the in-game refresh rate from 60Hz to 300Hz, enabling those higher refresh panel gamer to feel that glorious smoothness. If you are wondering how the mod works, the plugin is passive, meaning that after it performs the patch, there is no need for any fiddling around with files, it's basically plug and play. A download for the mod can be found here.

One of the few issues that players had with Capcom's incredible Resident Evil 2 Remake was that the zombies' animation was only in 30FPS. That problem can now be solved with this mod.

PC gamers really hate low FPS, and to some PC gamers, 30FPS is just unbearable. Luckily, PC gamers are competent when it comes to fixing these problems and release mods that solve said issues. That is precisely the case for Resident Evil 2 on the PC, modders have released a fix for distant zombies' animations being locked at 30FPS, bringing it up to a smooth 60FPS.

If you are wondering how to install the mod, follow these steps: Download the framerate unlocker from here, open the file and install it. You might have to select your games .exe file, which can be found here "Steamsteamappscommon RESIDENT EVIL 2 BIOHAZARD RE2". I'd advise checking your framerate before and after installing the mod as enabling could hinder performance on some not-so-powerful PC's.

Astronomers have managed to spot something quite unexpected at the outer rims of our Milky Way galaxy -- new stars forming.

How is this happening? According to Price-Whelan and his colleagues who presented their findings on January 8 at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, spectral analysis has shown that these young stars are not of this galaxy and are actually from another. This means that these stars haven't formed from material located in the Milky Way, but have instead come from two close dwarf galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds.

Both of these galaxies are currently on a slow collision course with the Milky Way, and it seems that a stream of gas extending from the galaxies is making its way into the Milky Way and forming new stars. Primary discoverer Adrian Price-Whelan, a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York City, said "This is a puny cluster of stars-less than a few thousand in total-but it has big implications beyond its local area of the Milky Way". Price-Whelan also named the star cluster - Price-Whelan 1.

CES 2020 - American Airlines will be using Google Assistant's interpreter mode as a means of making travelers more comfortable in lounges.

If you weren't aware, Google Assistant has a really cool Interpreter Mode that allows for people to communicate over the language barrier. Engadget managed to spot Google Assistant's Interpreter Mode at the Los Angeles International Airport's Admirals Club lounge, where American Airlines was testing it out on Google Nest Hubs.

Interpreter Mode can currently translate 29 different languages in real-time; those languages are the following: Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Engadget has also said that according to American Airlines Interpreter Mode will only be used if a multilingual team member isn't present to assist travelers.

CES 2020 - IOGEAR has announced a big new line of live streaming video production tools aimed at content creators.

IOGEAR is introducing content creators to a new line of content creation tools called 'UpStream'. The new line of products is aimed at both content creators that require high-end video production, and ones that can do with simple on-the-go video capture. IOGEAR's new line of products comes under the guise of 'UpStream'.

Right off the bat, we have the UpStream Video Capture Adapter, this device can capture high-quality audio/video up to 1080p at 60FPS. It connects to an HDMI-enabled camera and uses its USB-C cable to save the file to a device such as a laptop or PC. For the gamers out there that want a bit more bang for their buck, IOGEAR has the UpStream Game Capture Adapter which outputs video at 1080p at 60FPS but can pass-through a 4K 60FPS signal to a monitor.

When an update drops for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, players' hearts have a sudden panic feeling as they are wondering if their main character has been nerfed (reduced in overall power). Luckily, today isn't one of those days.

Right off the bat, I can say that update 6.1.1 doesn't change any current fighter at all, meaning that no pro-player tier list will be altered. Update 6.1.1 is just an amiibo support update that has been rolled out to allow access to the new Dark Samus amiibo and Richter amiibo -- that's it!

How do I know this? Simply check out the patch notes on this link, as well as on your Nintendo Switch. At the moment, every current fighter now has their own amiibo, excluding the Fighter Pass DLC fighters -- Joker, Terry Bogard, Hero and Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo is still yet to announce the final fighter for the Fighter Pass DLC, and if I were to speculate when they would do this, I'd say that they are most likely waiting for the next Nintendo Direct. So stay tuned.

CES 2020 - If you are bacon lover, you most likely wouldn't think that people could make plant-based bacon that tastes the same as normal bacon. Impossible Foods believes the opposite.

If you didn't know, Impossible Foods is a company whose sole purpose is to develop plant-based foods that are used as meat substitutes but taste the same. At this year's CES, Impossible Foods CEO, Pat Brown, was asked a question regarding research and development on a new product -- plant-based bacon.

The question was if the company was currently developing a plant-based bacon substitute for traditional bacon. In short, Brown said "of course we are!" Here's his full response, "In fact, we've already played around with it. We're not going to release a bacon product until we feel like anyone who is the most hardcore bacon worshiper thinks it's awesomely delicious. But we're definitely on track."

CES 2020 - Phillips has announced three new families of lights that will cover almost all of your lighting needs.

If you already have Phillips Hue lights throughout and you want to bring Phillips' lighting greatest to your outdoor areas, then you soon will be able to. Phillips will be launching three new families of lighting, first a wall-mount version called 'Appear,' which comes in at $140. Next is the Lily XL spotlight, which offers about double the brightness than the current Lily spots.

Lastly, Phillips is going to be launching the Hue Econic lights, which are in the above image. These lights are designed to give some tasteful color to pathways either out the front of your house or in your back yard. Basically, Phillips wants to be there for all your lighting needs, and with the recent popularity of the in-door Hue lighting range, these outdoor lights will no doubt be a hit as well. Side note - Hue Econic lights are priced at $130.