HP restructure announcement could cost up to 9,000 jobs

Shannon Robb | Business, Financial & Legal | Oct 8, 2019 4:31 PM CDT

HP, the acclaimed purveyor of PC systems, printers, and other consumer and enterprise-level tech, announced it would move forward with plans to restructure and 'simplify operations.' The term 'simplify operations' is a cute way to say they want to lower headcount to match their business needs.

HP restructure announcement could cost up to 9,000 jobs

Needless to say, HP has seen a downturn in its formerly popular printing business as the world has become far more digital with less reliance on printers and printing technologies. HP has just made the planning announcements last week that they will be restructuring over the next three years and reducing overall headcount by 7000 - 9000 (up to 16%) employees.

This on the surface is not that uncommon as business units falter, companies will try to relocate or reposition employees to avoid the culling. But in this case, it appears between now and 2022, HP's goal is to make the necessary cuts. The strange part in all of this has to do with the fact that the board for HP just approved an extra budget of $5 billion for opportunistic repurchases of HP common stock.

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MSI leaks its Threadripper 3000 motherboard, the 'Creator TRX40'

Shannon Robb | Motherboards | Oct 8, 2019 4:15 PM CDT

The internet has been ablaze with the recent update from AMD in regards to both the 3950X and the upcoming third-gen Threadripper, or Threadripper 3000. We know that the top end AM4 CPU consisting of 16 cores and 32 threads, along with the HEDT platform of Ryzen 3000 Threadripper reaching an unknown, but potentially 64 cores on a single package will see the official light of day coming in November which is a mere month away.

MSI leaks its Threadripper 3000 motherboard, the 'Creator TRX40'

The eagle-eyed among enthusiasts such as the team from Videocardz noticed an update from MSI on their promotional review program page. It has been recently updated to list a new model in the register for eligible products for the promotion, the Creator TRX40.

One takeaway from this listing is that the "Creation" moniker which was applied to Z390, X570, X399, and X299 seems to be going away. It looks like the "Creation" label will be pitched aside as the new Creator X299 and TRX40 show that they may be trying to clear up the marketing and targeting message to ensure users understand these boards are made for content creators.

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TEAMGROUP announces new memory and SSDs for AMD X570 and Ryzen 3000

Shannon Robb | Storage | Oct 8, 2019 3:58 PM CDT

The launch of AMD's Ryzen 3000 and the new X570 chipset has come with new memory speed capabilities for Ryzen. Also, supported is PCIe Gen 4, which is all but useless for GPUs, but one area definitely makes good use of it, storage! Storage supporting PCIe Gen 4 launched with GIGABYTE and Corsair leading the charge, but we knew it would not be long until others entered the ring. Enter TEAMGROUP and their well-established prowess in both memory and storage.

TEAMGROUP announces new memory and SSDs for AMD X570 and Ryzen 3000

T-Force Dark Z DDR4

TEAMGROUP today announced its first entrants into official Ryzen 3000 and X570 targeted memory and SSD products. The memory labeled T-Force Dark Z is offered in several capacities and frequencies. The baseline for the Dark Z is 3200MHz, with kits reaching up to 3600MHz and 4000MHz. Most enthusiasts know that the proposed sweet spot for Ryzen 3000 is 3600 for a smooth plugin and go performance option as the FCLK and UCLK can all be synchronized across the platform for optimal performance.

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Doom Eternal delayed to March 2020, Switch release TBA

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 8, 2019 2:16 PM CDT

Doom Eternal has been delayed from its original November launch to March 2020, id Software today announced.

Doom Eternal delayed to March 2020, Switch release TBA

id confirms Doom Eternal has been delayed to March 20, 2020 on PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Switch version doesn't yet have a targeted release date, but it'll launch after other systems. The studio says the four-month delay will ensure higher quality and polish for the game on all platforms. id is offering Doom 64 free as a consolation, but only if you pre-order Doom Eternal.

"Throughout the development of DOOM Eternal, our goal has been to deliver a game that exceeds your greatest expectations across the board," id said in a statement.

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PS5 games will ship on 100GB Blu-ray BDXL discs

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 8, 2019 12:07 PM CDT

PlayStation 5 games could end up spanning multiple BD-XL discs and pack serious content, as Sony today confirmed PS5 games will ship on 100GB Blu-ray discs.

PS5 games will ship on 100GB Blu-ray BDXL discs

As we predicted, PlayStation games will ship on two separate SKUs once the PS5 rolls out in holiday 2020: the dual-layer 50GB Blu-rays for the PS4, and 100GB capacity BDXL discs on the PS5. Although the generations will overlap, Sony plans to support the PS4 well into 2022. Since the PS5 is backward compatible with all PS4 games we'll likely see two variants of every PS game out on the market.

According to a new info blowout at Wired, PlayStation 5 games will be packed onto bigger BDXL Blu-ray discs to give developers more room for their titles. The PS5 will still require users to install games via an optical 4K UHD drive, but this process will be speedier thanks to the SSD.

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PlayStation 5 battles next-gen Xbox in holiday 2020, Sony confirms

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Oct 8, 2019 10:59 AM CDT

Sony's new ultra-powerful next-gen PlayStation 5 console is coming in holiday 2020, Sony today confirmed.

PlayStation 5 battles next-gen Xbox in holiday 2020, Sony confirms

"Today I'm proud to share that our next-generation console will be called PlayStation 5, and we'll be launching in time for Holiday 2020," Sony Interactive President Jim Ryan today announced. Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console, codenamed Project Scarlett, will likewise release holiday 2020. The console wars are far from over.

According to inside sources, the PS5 is a true generational leap ahead of current console tech. The system leverages AMD's new potent Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU tech to deliver up to 120FPS, 8K graphics, dedicated ray-tracing lighting,and is outfitted with a potent PCIe 4.0 SSD to massively accelerate gameplay. Rumor has it the PS5's GPU is nearly as fast as an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2080 GPU to deliver high-end 4K gaming and 1080p with higher FPS.

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RAGE 2 & Just Cause dev are building HUGE next-gen console AAA title

Jak Connor | Gaming | Oct 8, 2019 7:11 AM CDT

New job listings from Avalanche Studios have indicated that the development studio behind the RAGE and Just Cause franchise are gearing up for a mega-sized title.

RAGE 2 & Just Cause dev are building HUGE next-gen console AAA title

According to the listings on their website, Avalanche Studios are looking for a "Build Engineer" for the the studios New York based team. The position requires knowledge in "building and managing a large and complex code base for diverse platforms as well as enormous amounts of data." The listing also mentions that applicants need to have "in depth knowledge of game engine architectures and next generation console architectures and future architectural trends."

It seems that Avalanche Studios are planning on taking full advantage of the coming next-gen consoles and the massive hardware upgrade that will arrive with him. By doing this, the studio plans on building what seems to be a massive game and to back up this claim GamesRadar managed to find two more listing that specifically ask for applicants who have knowledge on next-gen engines.

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Zombieland 2: DOUBLE TAP Red Band trailer shows an alive Bill Murray

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Oct 8, 2019 6:14 AM CDT

The official Red Band trailer has been released for the upcoming sequel to Zombieland, Zombieland: DOUBLE TAP. Somehow Bill Murray is alive?

Zombieland 2: DOUBLE TAP Red Band trailer shows an alive Bill Murray

Zombieland: DOUBLE TAP will bring artistic value back into dismembering zombies in the most glorious ways possible. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone will be returning as Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock, respectively. The new movie will pit the characters against new and improved zombies while also picking up some new survivors along the way.

In the above trailer we get a little cameo part from Bill Murray, who should be noted, died to a accidental gun shot wound in the chest. Since Murray is died in the first movie, we can assume that this cameo role takes place before the events of the first movie which could mean that this sequel could show off a bit more about how the zombies came about before taking over everything the characters know and love. Zombieland: DOUBLE TAP will be arriving in cinemas October 18th. If you want to check out the original trailer, visit this link here.

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Instagram follower activity stalking now over, app axes 'Follower' tab

Jak Connor | Software & Apps | Oct 8, 2019 5:08 AM CDT

This week Instagram users will say goodbye to the 'following' tab feature that allows you to keep tabs on your followers activity.

Instagram follower activity stalking now over, app axes 'Follower' tab

According to a new report out of Buzzfeed News, Instagram is removing their "Following" tab that is found behind the heart icon at the bottom right of the user-interface. If you are unaware of what the "Following" tab is, don't be alarmed as its definitely one of Instagram's lesser-known features. The "Following" tab allows for users to see the activity of the users they are following; e.g what photos they are liking and what other Instagram accounts they have decided to follow.

Instagram's Vishal Shah spoke out about the decision and said "People didn't always know that their activity is surfacing. So you have a case where it's not serving the use case you built if for, but it's also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up." In conclusion, Shah said that "Simplicity was the driving factor."

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China #1 at successfully growing life on the dark side of the Moon

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Oct 8, 2019 4:02 AM CDT

Back in January, China launched their Chang'e-4 spacecraft to the dark side of the moon. Now that spacecraft, and the potential life it contains has sprouted leaves.

China #1 at successfully growing life on the dark side of the Moon

China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft housed six life forms on the lunar surface: potato seeds, cotton seeds, rapeseeds, yeast, fruit fly eggs and Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed. Also aboard the spacecraft was a mini-biosphere called the Lunar Micro Ecosystem (LME). This biosphere re-created Earth-like conditions excluding factors such as micro-gravity and cosmic radiation.

All of the other seeds died besides the cotton, and according to a new 3D reconstruction, the cotton planet grew not one but two leaves before it also died due to cold temperatures. The cotton leaves lasted about two weeks before falling into their cold fate, and from these findings China plans to continue studying how various life forms might be able to survive on the moon.

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