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NVIDIA boss will not have an office in their new HQ

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | May 9, 2017 11:22 PM CDT

GTC 2017 - NVIDIA has been constructing its new headquarters for a while now, and we're still 5 months away from completion so that their 2500 employees can have a new home to work.

NVIDIA boss will not have an office in their new HQ

The company has spent $370 million on the new HQ, which spans 46,500 square meters, and is split into two floors. The entire building is centralized, which has all of the underground garage through to the toilets being accessible from the center of the building. NVIDIA did this, so that they could "capture the energy and the buzz of the company".

NVIDIA has watercooled the entire building, where they're using recycled water that will be piped into a tower sunk under the roof of the building, and will cool the building through "an evaporation system with three giant fans". NVIDIA CEO and founder Jensen Huang will not have an office, and will work across different buildings in various places instead.

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NVIDIA's new system runs 4 x HTC Vive headsets at once

Anthony Garreffa | Extended Reality (XR) | May 9, 2017 10:31 PM CDT

GTC 17 - NVIDIA is always showing off incredible new technology at its own GPU Technology Conference, and this year is no different with a new system shown off that is capable of driving multiple VR headsets at once.

NVIDIA's new system runs 4 x HTC Vive headsets at once

It's just a proof of concept right now, with the system running 4 x NVIDIA Quadro P6000 graphics cards on 4 x virtual machines, all on HTC's Lighthouse tracking system. The 4 x Quadro P6000 graphics cards feed their GPU horsepower into HTC's Vive Business Edition headsets, making it perfect for professional multi-user VR systems in amusement parks, cinemas, and arcades.

Tom Kaye, Senior Architect at NVIDIA explains: "The possibilities are endless. With the addition of remote management and reliability features, such as multiple templates, clone on boot and remote rebuilds, we could see system builders working to create a robust, ready-to-deploy multi-user VR appliance".

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NVIDIA sees 48% leap in quarterly revenue

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | May 9, 2017 9:25 PM CDT

NVIDIA has come out swinging with its quarterly financial report yet again, with the company seeing a huge 48.4% increase in quarterly revenue, thanks to the never ending demand for its GPUs that are used in gaming PCs, cloud computing, AI, the data center world, and more.

NVIDIA sees 48% leap in quarterly revenue

NVIDIA's future HQ

NVIDIA's data center revenue saw nearly double the revenue in Q1 2017 up to $409 million, beating analysts' expectations of $318.2 million, according to FactSet. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said: "All of the world's major internet and cloud service providers now use NVIDIA's Tesla-based GPU (graphics processing unit) accelerators".

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'The phone is already dead' says HoloLens inventor

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | May 9, 2017 8:44 PM CDT

After Samsung has launched its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones, and before Apple has yet to counter with its iPhone 7S and iPhone 8/X release - Microsoft's Alex Kipman has kicked the house of cards over by saying "The phone is already dead. People just haven't realized".

'The phone is already dead' says HoloLens inventor

If we consider there are 1.5 billion smartphones expected to ship this year alone, and that Microsoft has virtually none of that pie, it's not hard to see how the company can have a skewed view on things. Sure, augmented/mixed/virtual reality headsets and devices will be really cool new technologies and products, but I don't see how the smartphone is "dead" and we all haven't "realized" it yet. Kipman didn't say when the smartphone would start showing signs of death, but with Apple recently being called one of the most valuable companies in the world - again - I wouldn't worry just yet.

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SK Hynix teases GDDR6 at GTC 2017, with 16Gbps bandwidth

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | May 9, 2017 7:42 PM CDT

GTC 2017 - SK Hynix is displaying its next-gen GDDR6 technology at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference, their new memory standard that will power NVIDIA's next-gen Volta GPU architecture, with Volta-based graphics cards set to arrive in 2018.

SK Hynix teases GDDR6 at GTC 2017, with 16Gbps bandwidth

NVIDIA is currently using various different RAM standards on their graphics cards, with their Tesla P100 graphics card using HBM2 (yes, before AMD's upcoming Radeon RX Vega), GDDR5X at 11Gbps on the TITAN Xp, Titan X(P), GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, and the new GTX 1080 11Gbps model, and then GDDR5 for the rest of its graphics cards.

SK Hynix displayed the differences between GDDR5 and GDDR6, with some huge increases in speeds and bandwidth - and up to 16Gb chips, while offering less power consumption.

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Cloud's voice actor returns in Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 9, 2017 6:17 PM CDT

Among the many changes Final Fantasy VII: Remaster has over the beloved PlayStation original, Cloud Strife--along with the rest of the cast--will have full voice acting. In fact, Cloud's voice in the Remaster will match the same tone and timber as in Advent Children, Kingdom Hearts, World of Final Fantasy, and other games.

Cloud's voice actor returns in Final Fantasy VII: Remake

In a recent Tweet, voice actor Steve Burton has confirmed he'll lend his voice to Cloud Strife in Square Enix's hotly anticipated Final Fantasy VII: Remake. "Hope you all have a great day. Flying to LA today for the Daytime Emmys this Sunday and a little voice over work for Cloud Strife. Much love," Burton wrote on Twitter.

Since Burton has voiced Cloud in fourteen games to date, including six Kingdom Hearts games, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, the aforementioned Advent Children, and two Dissidia Final Fantasy games, it makes sense for him to be on board for the Remake as well.

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Steam launches algorithm-based game recommendations

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 9, 2017 5:17 PM CDT

Today Valve released a new Steam feature to help point PC gamers towards titles they may not know about.

Steam launches algorithm-based game recommendations

Valve just published an interesting bit of insight into their hopes and plans for Steam as a whole, and if you haven't read it yet, I urge you to check it out. Valve says it will publish a three-part series that discusses various features and changes coming to Steam, and the first part revealed a new feature that's coming to the platform today: algorithm-based predictions. This feature will point you towards games you may like, and gives you reasons based on your previous games library on why you may like said new game.

"We want to show you more of what [the black box algorithm] doing and why - and we have some features planned to help with this, starting with one we're launching today: an algorithm section on game pages that states why the Store thinks this game will (or will not) be interesting to you," Valve's Robin Walker wrote in the update. "This section will let you see inside the black box, and understand what the Store is thinking. We hope it will be useful whenever you're exploring the Store, but in particular, whenever you've navigated from an external web page directly to a specific game's Store page."

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ROCCAT is now making games, announces Sick City

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 9, 2017 4:21 PM CDT

ROCCAT has transcended beyond gaming peripherals to make PC games, starting off with Sick City.

ROCCAT is now making games, announces Sick City

ROCCAT today announced its new games development studio, Roccat Games Studio, and its first-ever PC game called Sick City. The company says Sick City is a real-time tactical combat 4v4 squad-based game that incorporates mechanics and themes from classics like Commandos, Company of Heroes, and Warcraft 3 .

With this unique mashup the studio aims to "create a unique interpretation of action-based tactical combat" while also keeping the PC gaming community close to the game's development, integrating key feedback from players to shape the game.

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OnePlus posts first official teaser for the OnePlus 5

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices | May 9, 2017 3:25 PM CDT

When the rumors about the name and specs of the OnePlus 3T successor started floating around, the company decided to put an end to them and confirm that they will, in fact, launch the OnePlus 5 this summer.

OnePlus posts first official teaser for the OnePlus 5

And while they are still quiet about the specs and we haven't seen any official previews of the phone, OnePlus published the first teaser on its Weibo account.

Read also: OnePlus 5 confirmed, arrives this summer

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Toshiba demos NVMe SSD with 64-layer BiCS 3D flash

Derek Strickland | Storage | May 9, 2017 2:29 PM CDT

For the first time ever, Toshiba is publicly demonstrating its new 64-layer BiCS memory at the Dell EMC World conference in Las Vegas.

Toshiba demos NVMe SSD with 64-layer BiCS 3D flash

To demo its third-generation 64-layer BiCS 3D TLC NAND flash technology, Toshiba outfitted a laptop with a prototype XG NVMe SSD with 1TB of BiCS memory to highlight the advantages its new memory brings to the enterprise and consumer storage markets. As Toshiba notes, the new third-gen BiCS flash memory leverages a 64-layer stacking process that offers 65% greater per-millimeter bit density than its 48-layer 256GB storage, offering maximum capacity combined with high-speeds and reliability.

Toshiba also announces that it plans to migrate all client, data center and enterprise SSDs to tap its next-gen 64-layer BiCS 3D NAND TLC memory to ensure optimum performance, capacity, and endurance. No official timeline was given for this migration, but one thing is clear: Toshiba is betting big on its BiCS flash.

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Faraday Future is still here, with a new FF 91 video

Lana Jelic | Electric Vehicles & Cars | May 9, 2017 1:31 PM CDT

We haven't heard much from Faraday Future since they announced their first production vehicle, the FF 91, back in January at CES.

Faraday Future is still here, with a new FF 91 video

But the company is still here, and they wanted to remind everyone about their upcoming electric car with a new video titled "Emergence." This is the first time, since CES, that we see the car in action.

Read also: Faraday Future stops factory construction to afford CES

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Oukitel to launch a smartphone with a 10,000 mAh battery

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices | May 9, 2017 12:25 PM CDT

Back in 2015, Oukitel launched the K10000, a smartphone that stood out because of its enormous 10,000 mAh battery, which could fully charge three iPhone 6s Plus units and still have 10% battery life left. Now the company is preparing to launch its successor.

Oukitel to launch a smartphone with a 10,000 mAh battery

The rumored K10000 Pro is expected to have the same insane 10,000 mAh batter, but it should come with spec improvements.

The screen size is expected to stay the same, 5.5-inch, but with a higher resolution, 1080p. The K10000 Pro should be powered by MediaTek's octa-core 1.5Ghz processor, and according to the rumors, it will come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

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OnePlus discontinues the 128GB OnePlus 3T?

Lana Jelic | Mobile Devices | May 9, 2017 11:32 AM CDT

The OnePlus 3T is the company's current flagship released in November last year. The phone comes in two versions - with 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.

OnePlus discontinues the 128GB OnePlus 3T?

However, there are some reports that the company has decided to discontinue the 128GB version of the device. A quick look at the company's website shows that the device is indeed unavailable at the moment.

It could be that the company wants to focus on the upcoming OnePlus 5, which they recently confirmed and announced its launch in the summer.

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New Assassin's Creed: next-gen engine, leaked screenshot

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 9, 2017 10:18 AM CDT

The rumor mill is buzzing around Ubisoft's new ancient Egypt-based Assassin's Creed game, and now a purported leaked screenshot of the massive new game has surfaced.

New Assassin's Creed: next-gen engine, leaked screenshot

Two days ago we reported that Assassin's Creed: Origins, Ubisoft's reported new game in the landmark series formally known as Assassin's Creed: Empire, might take place in Hellenistic Egypt. Rumor has it that the game will be a massive open-world endeavor with staggering freedom that allows players to sail across the Mediterranean from Egypt to Greece--complete with naval battles, cyclopean cities and world wonders, and much more. Now a possible source on Reddit has released what could be a screenshot from Assassin's Creed: Origins.

The purported source goes on to say that the bulk of Black Flag's dev team at Ubisoft Montreal worked on AC: Origins, and that the game is built within the company's new high-end next-gen Anvil Engine to allow a new dimension of seamless travel and exploration, not unlike Zelda: Breath of the Wild's living, breathing world.

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Fitbit sales drop, Apple is the new king of wearables

Lana Jelic | Business, Financial & Legal | May 9, 2017 9:28 AM CDT

Apple has jumped to the lead in the wearables market, while former leader Fitbit has fallen to third place.

Fitbit sales drop, Apple is the new king of wearables

According to the data obtained by Strategy Analytics, global wearables shipments rose to 22 million units during Q1 2017, which is up 21% compared to the first quarter of 2016.

Steven Waltzer, Industry Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said:

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Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 660 and 630

Lana Jelic | Processors | May 9, 2017 8:20 AM CDT

Qualcomm has announced their newest mid-range SoCs, the Snapdragon 660 and 630, which will be succeeding the Snapdragon 653 and the Snapdragon 626.

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 660 and 630

The Snapdragon 660 is built on 14nm technology and has a 8x Kryo 260 CPU cores clocked at 2.2GHz. The Kryo 260 CPU has up to 20% higher performance than the prior generation.

The GPU is an Adreno 512, which is said to be 30% faster than the Adreno 510 in the 653. The Snapdragon 660 supports Quick Charge 4, a technology that the company announced last year. The Quick Charge 4 gives you 5 hours of talk time in just 5 minutes of charging.

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Man survives bullet, his Elder Scrolls games saved him

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 9, 2017 5:43 AM CDT

I thought going into this story that the Elder Scrolls Anthology saved this gamers life because of a skill he learned within the game, but it physically saved 'verolok' from a stray bullet fired into his house - while he was gaming away playing Prey.

Man survives bullet, his Elder Scrolls games saved him

He heard the sound of shattered glass which made him lose attention to the game and see a cloud of drywall float into the room, and when he inspected around his room, he noticed a bullet hole in his wall.

The bullet flew into his physical copy of The Elder Scrolls Anthology, stopping next to the expansions for Morrowind.

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Quake Champions large scale tech test: May 12-21

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 9, 2017 12:47 AM CDT

id Software will be hosting a Large Scale Tech Test for Quake Champions starting May 12, running through to May 21 - and this time, it'll be open to everyone.

Quake Champions large scale tech test: May 12-21

During the Tech Test, the Quake Champions servers will be online 24/7, unlike previous weekends. There will also be a new game mode used during the test, something id Software calls Sacrifice, which is a 4v4 team-based competitive mode that will see team mates working together to win.

Starting on May 12, id Software will drop the NDA that stopped people from talking about, streaming, or capturing footage of Quake Champions - so expect a flood of Quake Champions content in the next few days. All you need to do is sign up on the Quake Champions website, and you can take a shot at the game during the Large Scale Tech Test.

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MSI teases its next-gen X299 motherboard

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | May 8, 2017 11:23 PM CDT

MSI has started teasing its next-gen motherboard based on Intel's upcoming X299 platform, and man does it look slick AF. MSI's upcoming X299 motherboard has a bunch of beautiful RGB LEDs running under the hood, with three M.2 slots on the motherboard and plenty of x16 ports for 4-way SLI/CF systems.

MSI teases its next-gen X299 motherboard

It will be using the upcoming LGA 2066 socket, and MSI's own Audio Boost VI technology - and MSI will reportedly be using a 6-pin PCIe power connector above the first PCIe x16 slot, something that you'll need when running multi-GPU configurations. MSI will be making this X299 board their showcase motherboard for high-end/enthusiast systems, and I can't wait to build a new PC around it. Oh yeah.

Intel will reportedly be launching 12C/24T processors based on the upcoming Kaby Lake X architecture, a knee jerk reaction to the multi-threaded war that AMD is waging with Intel and its Ryzen processors. These new high-end CPUs are being dropped two months early, with Intel seemingly scared out of their pants over Ryzen.

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The old 'Blade Runner' magic is back in new 2049 trailer

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | May 8, 2017 10:52 PM CDT

Following on from last year's announcement trailer, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. have released a new trailer for the eagerly awaited 'Blade Runner 2049' which is set to return audiences to the universe for the first time since 1982.

The old 'Blade Runner' magic is back in new 2049 trailer

'Blade Runner 2049' sees Harrison Ford return as replicant hunter Rick Deckard, alongside Ryan Gosling and Robin Wright. While Ridley Scott won't behind the lens this time around, with 'Sicario', and 'Arrival' director Denis Villeneuve stepping in, he will serve as a producer. Those worried by the potential to screw-up one of the best films of the 20th century shouldn't be overly alarmed - the script written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green has been described by Ford as "the best thing he's ever read".

'Blade Runner 2049' will hit 2D, 3D and IMAX screens worldwide on October 6 2017.

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