Latest News - Page 2703

China is going to have the most robots working in production plants by 2017 when compared to other countries, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The production facility is the main focus, but robots are finding their way into restaurants, hotels, offices, and retail stores as hardware and software develops.

South Korea has the most robots per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industries, with 437, ahead of 323 in Japan, 282 in Germany and 152 in the United States. China currently tallies only 30 robots per 10,000 employees, but has been forced to rapidly adopt robots - and foreign automakers are building manufacturing plants in the country - helping drive adoption.

"Companies are forced to invest ever more in robots to be more productive and raise quality," said Gudrun Litzenberger, general secretary of the IFR, in a statement published by Reuters. "In the current phase it's the auto industry, but in the next two or three years it will be driven by the electronics industry."

Given the recent lifetime bans issued to American and Canadian CS:GO players due to their match-fixing and betting ring scandals, multiple professional players and community members have spoken up - stating that a lifetime without CS:GO tournaments is too harsh, requesting that the ban be shortened to one year at most.

One of the most notable people having their voice heard is that of Filip "NEO" Kubski. Widely regarded as one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time, NEO has won the 'player of the decade' award twice throughout his CS 1.6 history and has seen his fair share of global tournament attendances and wins throughout his CS 1.6 and CS:GO careers.

In a post to his public Facebook page, NEO states:

French CS:GO player Joey "fxy0" Schlosser has had a harsh few weeks. After being reported by former team member Robin "GMX" Stahmer for match-fixing, fxy0 came clean in a video confession, admitting he purposefully played badly during the match that was under investigation.

Given this news, two major things have happened. Firstly, Epsilon have officially released both fxy0 and another player, Kévin "Uzzziii" Vernel from their sponsorship, alongside Valve issuing both of these players with 1-year tournament bans across any Valve-supported event.

As seen on a post to his Facebook recently, fxy0 stated:

We recently reported a story on ex-Epsilon CS:GO squad member Robin "GMX" Stahmer reporting his old team for match-fixing, then later adding that their world-class player Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom was not involved.

In a breaking news report by HLTV, Epsilon CS:GO squad member Joey "fxy0" Schlosser has admitted to match-fixing in his heartfelt video.

The video is uploaded to YouTube as unlisted and is already reaching over 64,000 views, with the outcome of Valve and ESEA's investigation not yet set in stone. We've seen previously that people found guilty of match-fixing have been handed life bans from almost all major tournament providers globally, alongside Valve themselves damning the players from any event they support.

We previously teased an EK Waterblocks release, toting it as one of the most simplistic and beautiful blocks we've ever seen - low and behold, here's something better.

Bitspower have come into the market with this 'VG-NGTX970ADIIS', a water block designed for ASUS' GTX 970 Strix. Shared by Kurpiewski Concept, this block will seemingly suit any kind of design or build - once again going for the simplistic route overall, as is most common in mods in this day and age.

We will let the images speak for themselves, take a look below.

Just months after the mess that was Assassin's Creed: Unity, Ubisoft has announced Assassin's Creed: Rogue for March 10. Assassin's Creed: Rogue launched back in November for the Xbox 360 and PS3, but will be launching next month on the PC.

Assassin's Creed: Rogue will have gamers playing as a Templar named Shay Patrick Cormack, who becomes an Assassin Hunter. Rogue takes place in North America during the Seven Years War, which will also see the return of naval-based combat, something we saw from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Ubisoft Kiev is the studio behind Assassin's Creed: Rogue, with the studio teaming up with eye-tracking company Tobii Tech.

Tobii Tech will see their technology baked into Assassin's Creed: Rogue, where you can use SteelSeries' Sentry eye-tracking hardware to pan the game's camera left and right through eye movement. Ubisoft teases that this creases "an 'infinite screen' experience". PC gamers are also in for a treat if they choose to allow themselves to purchase another Assassin's Creed title, with Ubisoft offering a free Assassin's Creed game through Uplay if they pre-order Assassin's Creed: Rogue.

NetherRealm Studios, the developer behind Mortal Kombat X, has revealed the PC specifications of its upcoming fighting title. In a world where 60GB installations seem normal, you'll only require 25GB to 40GB to get Mortal Kombat installed.

Mortal Kombat X requires a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, as well as 3GB of RAM. 8GB of RAM is recommended, however. The minimum requiremetns have you needing an Intel Core i5-750 at 2.67GHz, or AMD's Phenom II X4 965 at 3.4GHz. The GPU required is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or an AMD Radeon HD 5850. As for the recommended specifications, Mortal Kombat X would run better on an Intel Core i7-3770, or AMD FX-8350. An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7950 would also run the game better, so would an additional 15GB of HDD space for a total installation of 40GB.

Mortal Kombat X launches on April 14 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC.

Intel is expected to unveil its new 10nm processors sometime in early 2017, with the news coming from Intel's GM for the Middle East and North Africa region, Taha Khalifa.

Khalifa, when talking about the new Intel CPUs, said: "We have been consistently pursuing Moore's Law and this has been the core of our innovation for the last 40 years. The 10nm chips are expected to be launched early 2017". When it comes to this year though, we should expect Intel to unveil its new 14nm Skylake processors in the second half of the year.

Intel was originally meant to roll out its 14nm processors in late 2013, but there were various technical setbacks with the Broadwell architecture, which was eventually delayed into 2014. This has pushed back the rest of Intel's upcoming processors, with the 10nm-based Skylake being included. Intel will most likely unveil tablet and mobile parts under its 10nm umbrella, before moving it into the desktop family in the later parts of 2017.

NVIDIA announced its powerhouse mobile SoC, Tegra X1, at CES 2015 last month, but now it looks like we might see a new Shield Tablet emerge powered by this new processor.

The new Shield Tablet would reportedly be powered by the Tegra X1 chip, and announced during GTC 2015 next month. The current Shield Tablet is powered by the Tegra K1 processor, released back in July 2014 at $299 and $399 (Wi-Fi only, and LTE, respectively). The new Tegra X1 processor should arrive on a 20nm process, arrive as an 8-core processor with some serious power behind it.

We should expect it to feature around 500 GFlops of performance for 32-bit workloads, and 1 TFlops of compute power in 16-bit workloads. 2MB of L2 cache is found, while one of the quad-core CPU stacks (the Cortex-A57) includes 48KB of L1 instruction cache, and 32KB of L1 data cache. The GPU side of things should also be incredibly fast, as we have a Maxwell GPU inside of the Tegra X1 processor. It'll arrive with 256 Maxwell cores, thanks to the 2 SMMs from the Maxwell architecture.

We know it's coming, but AMD is beginning to acknowledge its forthcoming Radeon 300 series more and more. First, we had company CEO Lisa Su confirm the new GPUs for Q2 2015, but now the official AMD Facebook page has said they're coming.

In a response to someone asking about whether AMD would reveal its next-gen GPU shortly, they replaced with "We don't have an official date to share just yet but hte second we know, we will definitely announce it on Facebook". Another reply added "We're still putting the finishing touches on the 300 series to make sure they live up to expectation. Can't wait to reveal them though. We're pretty excited".

We should expect AMD to reveal the new GPUs in the near future, which should feature the exciting new High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) which should provide a huge memory bus. 4GB of RAM is expected, but I think we'll also see 8GB models coming thorugh, too.

Microsoft has reportedly acquire Sunrise, which is a calendar app maker for a swift $100 million. Both sides haven't confirmed the deal, but sources close to TechCrunch have said that the deal is wrapped up for over $100 million.

Sunrise was founded in 2012, where it has since raised $8.2 million from investors like Balderton Capital, SV Angel and BoxGroup. But what can make it an attractive acquisition target for Microsoft? Well, Sunrise consolidates calendars from various providers, making them available on different platforms like iOS, Android and the web.

The acquisition of Sunrise by Microsoft is an interesting one, as it shows that Microsoft is happy to support other, competing operating systems. If Microsoft does indeed acquire Sunrise and continues development of the application for iOS and Android like it does for Office, it could eventually lead to great things.

WhatsApp is now providing a select number of its 700 million strong users with a new voice calling function inside of its Android app. It was first spotted on Reddit, with a user based in India posting a screenshot of the new voice calling function icon.

Others began noticing the same thing, where basic functions like speakerphone, mute and other call options were found within WhatsApp for Android. This will be a small test for now, before it is rolled out into a bigger update for WhatsApp in the near future. It is being suggested that it wasn't intended for the new voice calling function to reach WhatsApp, as it is still very buggy and not ready for the public.

If you've received the voice calling function for WhatsApp, let us know!

theScore just released a new app that centers around the world of eSports, dubbed "theScore eSports" that will provide users with everything happening in the world of eSports, in the palm of their hand.

There will be more games added to theScore eSports app, but for now it includes League of Legends, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, StarCraft II and Hearthstone. Major tournaments can be followed with real-time scores, standings, ladders and curated links to the live streams of the events as they're happening.

theScore says that they are "the first major sports media company to launch a dedicated mobile app for eSports" which is huge, as eSports just isn't slowing down. If you want to grab theScore eSports for Android, check it out on the Google Play Store.

Kim Kardashian is enjoying her millions of dollars earned from her game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, but it looks like it will soon be Katy Perry's turn to make money from a game.

Glu Mobile, the company that worked on Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, has announced it's working on an untitled game for Katy Perry. Glu Mobile said: "Katy is arguably the most recognized musician in America following her Super Bowl XLIX Halftime performance this past Sunday. She is a cultural icon and we expect to translate key elements of her success into an innovative, highly entertaining mobile experience. We anticipate that Katy's significant global audience, including more than 170 million fans on social media, will make her a strong gaming partner for Glu".

The game will launch later this year on both iOS and Android, featuring Perry's voice, likeness, and much more.

It looks like the end of an era is approaching, with news that Sony is shutting down the production facility that makes the RSX processors for the PlayStation 3 console.

Sony had recently said it would discontinue any and all operations at the factory responsible for the RSX chips in the PS3, but it looks like this is now happening. Oita TEC who was previously responsible for the memory packaging recently starting the production of advanced packaging for the CPUs that power the PlayStation consoles. The plant itself was producing the packaging of the Cell and RSX processors for the PS3, but is now being shut down keeping the "changing business landscape" in sight.

With 220 employees at the factory, usually their jobs would be lost, but this isn't the case. All of their jobs will be transferred to other plants that are used to make image sensors, or to other factories at alternate Sony Semiconductor Corporation sites.

There are going to be big shifts in manufacturing nodes this year, with Samsung reportedly making 14nm FinFET chips for the three biggest players in the industry: NVIDIA, Apple and Qualcomm.

Samsung will be capable of doing this as the company only reached an important breakthrough recently, which has allowed the South Korean giant to increase yields, and reduce costs. On top of this, TSMC has been experiencing various delays which have seen big companies having to shift over from TSMC to Samsung. Qualcomm also reportedly stopped their production of 16nm FinFET chips at TSMC just three weeks ago, jumping over to Samsung and its next-gen 14nm FinFET processors.

Apple's upcoming A9 processor will be based on its main competitors technology, with Samsung making the 14nm FinFET A9 processor. NVIDIA had originally partnered up with TSMC to make 16FF+ GPUs, but then we have the legal battle between Samsung and NVIDIA stepping in the way. We don't know if Samsung will choose to make its discrete GPUs using Samsung's next-gen 14nm node, but right now NVIDIA will be making its next-gen GPUs with TSMC on its 16FF+ process. NVIDIA will be having its Tegra processors made over at Samsung, however.

The new open beta for Battlefield Hardline has kicked off, with EA revealing the PC requirements of the game. Gamers will need 60GB of HDD space to play Battlefield Hardline, as well as a 64-bit version of Windows.

The bare minimum specifications aren't too bad, with an Intel Core i3/i5 at 2.4GHz or an AMD Athlon II/Phenom II at 2.8GHz required. 4GB of RAM is also required, with Windows Vista SP2 64-bit being the minimum OS to get it going. As for EA's recommended specifications, they are asking for a quad-core Intel, or six-core AMD processor, 8GB of RAM, 3GB of VRAM on either an AMD Radeon R9 290 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760.

Battlefield Hardline reports for duty on March 17 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC.

The interconnected age is upon us, and the proliferation of smart devices has made them consumer accessible and easy to use. The "Internet of everything" is everywhere. Business Insider estimates that by 2018 there will be more than 18 billion connected devices in use globally, ranging from smartphones to cars and wearable tech. Creating a connected home has never been easier. Here's a look at just a few of the devices you can use to move your home into the smart age. And you don't even have to be a rocket scientist or engineer to make it happen.

The August Smart Lock lets you control your home locks from the palm of your hand, and even issue keys with various accessibility permissions. You can issue one key for a family member that allows 24/7 access and another for a cleaning person or guest who will only unlock the door at a certain time. August Smart Locks even keep a log of who entered and when, allowing you to know precisely who has been in and out of your home. August sends you reminders if the batteries in the lock are low and can even unlock the door automatically as it senses your approach.

Smart lighting is more than just being able to turn your lights on and off from your phone. Philips Hue Smart Lighting systems let you create macros and parameters for your lights. Hue can brighten gradually over time to wake you up in the morning or dim slowly to help you fall asleep. Perhaps the most impressive feat of the Hue system is the ability to re-create light parameters from photographs, such as bathing your home in the colors of your favorite sunset or even match the ambiance to events in the movie you are watching.

We've already heard that a redesigned PS4 is coming, as well as a redesigned Xbox One on AMD's new 20nm APU, but now Netflix is teasing that the redesigned consoles are coming.

Samsung has some shiny new high-density GDDR5 memory that should be baked into the redesigned PS4 Slim, while the redesigned Xbox One should feature AMD's new 20nm-based APU. Both consoles are now close to 18 months old, which is about the time the previous generation consoles saw their slimmer, faster, redesigned models. Netflix's Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said at CES 2015 that the company is expecting a "traditional two-year refresh" which should see both consoles with 4K abilities.

We should expect thinner, cooler, hopefully more powerful consoles from the redesign. AMD's 20nm APU should provide some added performance thanks to its lower heat and power outputs, while the better GDDR5 RAM from Samsung will give Sony a boost to its PS4. Let's just hope it's not a redesign, as in a smaller/thinner console, and that we get some added performance with them, too.

It looks like Samsung is about to hit a bump in the road, with Kim Seok-pil resigning from his position as the executive in charge of the company's upcoming Galaxy S6 smartphone.

Seok-pil only joined the company in December, and was goign to take the company through the launch of the Galaxy S6, which should be unveiled on March 1. The launch of the upcoming flagship handset is being watched by many, after not-so-great things came from the Galaxy S5. December was a bad month for Samsung as it is, with multiple executives being laid off due to a planned restructuring process.

D.K. Lee left the company, with Seok-pil replacing him, but with Seok-pil now leaving the company, what happens now? For the meantime, Samsung Russia's boss, Lee Sang-chul will take over, until the South Korean giant can find a replacement.