I purchased a high-end pair of Apple AirPods Max headphones around 4 years ago and a couple of days ago they died... after many hours of stressing out and fault-finding, I put them in the freezer for 15 minutes... and then they worked again flawlessly.

A few days ago I was testing a brand new MSI Raider A18 HX A9W gaming laptop that I'm in the process of reviewing, which rocks some ridiculously high-end hardware -- AMD's new Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor, 64GB of RAM, NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and an 18-inch 4K 120Hz Mini-LED display (it's awesome so far) -- and paired by Apple AirPods Max headphones to the laptop.

I jumped into a game of Overwatch 2 for some testing, went out grocery shopping with my girlfriend, came home and went back to work, pairing the AirPods Max back to my workstation PC but they weren't working. After disabling Bluetooth, re-enabling Bluetooth, the headphones weren't syncing. I persisted, trying to sync them back to my laptop, but nothing... nada... zip.

Red Dead Redemption actor Rob Wiethoff pulls back on his teasing comments about a big new announcement.

A bit ago, Rob Wiethoff, who played John Marston in Red Dead Redemption 2, shared his excitement for a big new reveal.

Wiethoff wouldn't say what it was, but fans connected the speculative dots and tied his comments to recent rumors. Reports and rumors indicate that Rockstar will release Red Dead Redemption 2 on Switch 2 sometime this year, and Wiethoff's comments could be leading up to that.

Windows 11 is about to overtake Windows 10 - at long last - according to one set of stats that has just been published.

These are the figures for Windows desktop operating systems from StatCounter, and they show a big uptick in favor of Windows 11, at the expense of Windows 10 as you'd doubtless guess.

StatCounter's report for June 2025 shows that Windows 11 has accelerated from 43.22% (in May) to end up on 47.66%, a gain of 4.44%. Windows 10, on the other hand, dropped from 53.19% to 49.03%, a loss of 4.16%.

Microsoft is currently working to bring classic Xbox 360 titles and original Xbox titles to PC via emulation, according to a known Xbox leaker.

The information comes from Extas1s, who stated that a source who works directly at Microsoft informed him the company is currently working on what is referred to internally as "Xbox Classics," and these titles coming to PC wouldn't just be re-releases of the original game, either, as they would be brought to PC via a new advanced emulation platform designed to improve the original Xbox and Xbox 360 games.

According to the leaker, Microsoft's new emulation platform is intended to make the old console titles run with stability, but also improve the graphics and come with full integration on Game Pass. Additionally, the emulation platform integrates with PCs, current-gen Xbox consoles, the cloud, and portable devices such as the recently announced Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X handheld PC.

Some third-party publishers are reportedly disappointed with physical game sales on the Switch 2 while Cyberpunk 2077 soars as the top-selling third-party game on the platform.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a megaton success, selling 3.5 million units in its first four days, making it the fastest-selling system of all time and the best-selling video games console launch in history. But what about the games? Mario Kart World was unsurprisingly at #1, and it's a known trend that Nintendo platforms are utterly dominated by first-party games.

Data shows that Cyberpunk 2077 was high ranking in the US, and it was also the best-selling physical third-party game. Others, however, didn't do as well. New reports from The Game Business utilize analyst data to paint a clearer picture of how the Switch 2 did in terms of physical third-party software performance.

Playtesters of the new Battlefield game have informed Insider Gaming that the title has moved from its pre-alpha stage of development to Alpha, indicating significant progression has been made.

For those outside the Battlefield news loop, select playtesters in various regions have been experiencing "Battlefield Labs," the pre-alpha version of the new Battlefield game that is being built with significant community feedback. These playtesters have informed the publication that in-game watermarks and labelling have now switched from "Battlefield Labs" and "Pre-Alpha" to just "Alpha." This change comes amid a major update to the title, which reportedly came with files related to a Battle Royale mode.

Notably, the playtesters have said this mode isn't available to play yet, but the files being present within the game suggest it isn't far away from being playtested in Battlefield Labs. Moreover, images sent to Insider Gaming of the Battle Royale revealed two teams of four in a skirmish in what looks like an abandoned factory.

Capcom will show off new gruesome footage of its next Resident Evil game this Thursday, June 26, 2025.

While Capcom surprise revealed RE9 at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest weeks ago, the publisher is also doing its own event. The new Capcom Spotlight show goes live on Thursday, June 26 at 6PM EST and will highlight upcoming games like the hugely anticipated Resident Evil 9 Requiem, Capcom's new sci-fi IP Pragmata, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Street Fighter 6.

So what can we expect from the show? Weeks ago at SGF, Capcom showed off a Resident Evil 9 demo behind closed doors, and it's highly likely that fans will now get to see that same footage. It's also likely that a Capcom dev will be playing and/or narrating the experience, possibly even RE9 producer Jun Takeuchi.

AMD's Lisa Su comments on Microsoft's next-gen Xbox and how the two companies are building a fleet of gaming-oriented AI chips specifically for Xbox devices.

Two days ago, Microsoft confirmed it wasn't leaving the hardware market and announced plans for its next-gen Xbox console. The 10th generation Xbox will be powered by new special AI chips made by AMD in a sizable multi-year deal.

Now AMD CEO Lisa Su delivers updates on the partnership and what to expect from the next-gen Xbox, and from AMD, in the future. "Moving forward, AMD will go beyond building custom chips for Xbox consoles to designing a full roadmap of gaming-optimized chips combining the power of Ryzen and Radeon for consoles, handhelds, PCs and the cloud."

SpaceX has confirmed that Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, has exploded on the launch pad during a routine test.

In preparation for its 10th test flight, SpaceX's newest Starship model has experienced a catastrophic failure, resulting in it exploding into a fireball on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Wednesday night, June 18. The explosion occurred at about 11 pm, and SpaceX has confirmed that no personnel were injured during the event and everyone has been accounted for. Additionally, the Elon Musk-led company is now working to "safe the test site and immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials."

Moreover, residents living in the surrounding area are at no risk, according to SpaceX, with the company requesting that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while staff continue to make the area safe. So, what happened?

The HPE Spaceborne Computer performs the sort of edge computing and powerful processing you might find in a high-tech data center. The key difference is that it's doing all that 254 miles above the Earth's surface, traveling at 17,500 mph, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The current HPE Spaceborne Computer-2 project is one of the many HPE projects and solutions powered by KIOXIA's SSDs, which are also utilized in a wide range of HPE enterprise servers, storage, and data centers; from cloud to edge to AI.

Next week, HPE Discover Las Vegas 2025 will run from June 23 to 26 at the Venetian Conference and Expo Center. KIOXIA will showcase its latest SSDs powered by PCIe 5.0 technology, like the new KIOXIA CD9P Data Center Series, a live demonstration of the HPE Spaceborne Computer-2's 130 Terabytes of storage, and more.

A family man has proposed to an AI chatbot he has deemed his girlfriend and cried when the chatbot responded with "yes".

Speaking to CBS News, Chris Smith said he was initially very skeptical of AI-powered chatbots but changed his mind when he built his own model and designed it to flirt with him. Smith, who lives with his partner and their two-year-old daughter, explained to CBS News that what was initially a benign experiment led to him developing an emotional connection with the AI model, which he affectionately named Sol.

Smith said to the publication that his experience was "so positive, I started to just engage with her all the time," and after that, Smith stopped using all other forms of social media and search engines, pouring his entire focus into Sol. As Smith spent more time with Sol, the AI received a substantial amount of positive reinforcement, leading their conversations to become romantic. But things took a turn for the worse when Smith realized ChatGPT has a word limit of 100,000 words, and exceeding that word limit resets the AI.

The new KIOXIA CD9P Series PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD, designed for high-performance data center environments, has entered the prototype stage of its development. Built with the company's eighth-generation BiCS FLASH technology with cutting-edge CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) tech that boosts efficiency, performance, and density, the KIOXIA CD9P Series is a game-changer.

It arrives just in time for the surge in high-performance, high-capacity storage demand, thanks to the rise of generated AI and GPU-accelerated server environments. The KIOXIA CD9P Series leverages the latest SSD technology and is PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 compliant. With support for the 2.5-inch (U2) and EDSFF E3.S form factors, capacities start at 1.6TB and go up to 61.44 TB.

The KIOXIA CD9P Series real-world data center performance and capabilities are impressive. Sequential read/write performance is 60% and 45% higher than that of KIOXIA's previous-generation SSD. Random read/write performance is also significantly boosted, with the new KIOXIA CD9P Series' performance 55% and 100% higher than that of the previous generation.

DOOM: The Dark Ages just got a significant update, adding Path Tracing and DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction to the game, which dramatically improves the visual fidelity with full ray-traced lighting. For more on the game's Path Tracing, check out our impressions from an early hands-on we posted the other day.

As part of this update, id Software has provided updated 'Path Tracing Hardware Requirements' for DOOM: The Dark Ages, which confirms that you'll need some serious hardware to run the game in this mode, and a GPU with at least 12GB of VRAM. For 1080p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 4070, for 1440p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 5080, and for 4K 60FPS, a GeForce RTX 5090.

This is the baseline level of performance. You can then enable Frame Generation or DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation on top of this to boost performance into 100+ FPS territory. Alongside Path Tracing support, the game also got a surprisingly in-depth and detailed Benchmark Mode.

Warner Bros. Discovery intends to split itself into two entities by mid-2026; one WBD Global Networks that will handle traditional cable programming of sports, news, and entertainment, and the second being WBD Streaming and Studios, which controls HBO, TV series, and movie production, along with the company's gaming division and assets.

Now, rumors are circulating that Sony is eyeing an acquisition of the second entity. If true, this would considerably bolster the company's services and IPs under its umbrella, and make Sony more competitive on the IP front with the likes of Microsoft. If such an acquisition went through, Sony would own some of the biggest properties in entertainment, such as the DC universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Mortal Kombat.

The news comes from the website SEScoops, which claims that sources have informed the publication of Sony's consideration to purchase WBD Streaming and Studios, contingent upon the separation of WBD's streaming, studio, and gaming assets from its cable networks.

When NVIDIA announced the new GeForce RTX 50 Series and RTX Blackwell architecture earlier this year, the company focused heavily on the new architecture's AI capabilities and how new 'neural shaders' and AI rendering tools will drive the next generation of real-time graphics.

One of the latest technologies the company introduced is called RTX Neural Texture Compression, which sees a shift away from block-compressed textures to neurally compressed textures, saving up to 7X the VRAM. In the age of 4K gaming, where high-quality textures sit in VRAM, properly implementing this technology will dramatically reduce the VRAM requirement for running games at 1440p or 4K using high-quality textures.

Neural texture compression is a reality in DirectX 12 thanks to a recent update introducing Cooperative Vectors for rendering. Intel also leverages this technology for neural texture compression, as seen in its walking T-Rex demonstration. YouTube channel Compusemble has put together a video of Intel and NVIDIA's AI-powered texture compression demos in action, and the results are impressive.

AMD's new AI-powered FSR 4 update dramatically improves the upscaler's image quality, with results that are finally on par with or in the same league as NVIDIA DLSS. The new FSR 4 technology is exclusive to AMD's new RDNA 4-powered Radeon RX 9000 Series, as the AI model requires more powerful hardware that supports FP8 (8-bit floating point) technology.

This means that older Radeon GPUs, like the previous-gen flagship, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, are not supported by the current version of FSR 4, with those GPUs limited to the inferior FSR 3.1. Well, officially, as Reddit user Virtual-Cobbler-9930 has managed to get FSR 4 running on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX in several games.

The method they used included a combination of FP16 emulation, a Linux operating system, and a Proton layer with an FSR 4 patch to run Windows apps and games. The result? FSR 4's impressive image quality is present on a Radeon RX 7900 XTX, but games run significantly slower compared to running the game with FSR 3.

Texas Instruments plans to spend over $60 billion on semiconductor manufacturing plants in the United States, including two new factories in Sherman, Texas.

In a new report from Bloomberg, we're hearing that the US-based chipmaker is promoting its domestic semiconductor manufacturing ambitions after President Trump urged US investments, and threatened to cause waves through tariffs. Texas Instruments is reportedly keeping to its long-term capital spending plans, with the $60B+ put towards its new plants that are being constructed, and getting them ready towards full production.

The company will also begin construction of two new chip-making factories at its site in Sherman, Texas, as demand is strong. Texas Instruments beefed-up its in-house production plans, which counters the industry trend of shipping production off overseas, and this was before the US government offered subsidies through the CHIPS Act under the Biden administration.

Samsung's new 1c DRAM yields have reportedly increased from 0% to 40% recently according to new reports, with its new 1c DRAM a crucial part in the company's next-gen HBM4 memory, which gives the green light for the company to kick off HBM4 mass production later this year.

In a new report from Chosun picked up on X by insider @Jukanlosreve, where Chosun reports that a source familiar with Samsung Electronics said it had "recently improved" its 1c DRAM wafer yield for HBM4 to "about" 40% based on cold tests, and somewhere in between 40% and 50% based on hot tests.

Chosun's source said: "considering that the cold test yield of 1c DRAM was close to 0% just a year ago, the recent yield is an encouraging result". 10nm-class DRAM process technology is developed in a little bit of a confusing order, so we'll recap: 1x (1st generation), 1y (2nd generation), 1z (3rd generation), 1a (4th generation), 1b (5th generation), and the new 1c is the latest 6th generation DRAM from Samsung.

The Nintendo Switch 2 can add another highly anticipated title to its growing library of third-party games, as Nintendo and IO Interactive have confirmed the release of 007 First Light in a new announcement trailer.

007 First Light has received a new announcement trailer posted to the Nintendo of America YouTube channel, where we see a young James Bond get himself into some trouble that I'm sure he is going to enjoy working his way out of in a not-so-graceful way.

For those who don't know, 007 First Light is being developed by Danish studio IO Interactive, famous for the Hitman franchise, and First Light will be a new origin story on 007 that focuses on narratively driven action that is not linked to any previous Bond media, meaning this a fresh new take on 007.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its Donkey Kong Bananza-dedicated Direct, where it gave a deep dive on the upcoming title, revealing aspects such as the villains of the story, Donkey Kong's abilities, and his companion that will be tagging along with him throughout the duration of the game.

The Donkey Kong Bananza Direct was mostly gameplay-focused. Nintendo revealed that players will journey to the center of the Earth with Donkey Kong and his companion, Pauline. In the upcoming title, Pauline is a child who was hidden inside a rock until DK discovered her. As players progress through the game, they will get deeper and deeper into the world, with each level being completely different from the last.

Donkey Kong Bananza takes aspects from other Nintendo titles, such as Breath of the Wild, with DK being able to climb on almost any terrain, participate in unique challenges, and take on bosses for rewards and upgrades. One of the biggest surprises of the Direct was Nintendo revealing that Donkey Kong is able to transform into different animals, such as a zebra and an ostrich. Each of these forms gives DK special perks and abilities, such as the ability to fly or run on water.