Latest News - Page 286

KIOXIA AiSAQ (All-in-Storage ANNS with Product Quantization) is a groundbreaking software solution for large AI RAG systems that leverages the flexible nature of high-speed SSD storage, rather than expensive DRAM. It's an open-source solution that has just been updated with new, flexible controls.

With large AI models covering a wide range of datasets, efficiently indexing data is extremely important. However, as speed is a critical component, these are usually stored in memory, which is extremely expensive. Solutions that leverage disk-based storage exist, but what makes AiSAQ so impressive is that its 'all-in-storage' approximate nearest neighbor search (ANNS) algorithm is fast, efficient, and scalable.

This week's KIOXIA AiSAQ update is all about enhancing the control users and organizations have over scaling by offering system architects the ability to "define the balance point between search performance and the number of vectors."

AMD introduced AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, or FSR 4, with its latest generation of Radeon RX 9000 Series GPUs. Currently exclusive to the company's new RDNA 4 architecture on PC, it leverages new powerful AI hardware integrated into the latest Radeon graphics cards to deliver AI-powered Super Resolution that is exponentially more impressive than previous non-AI versions of FSR.

As we highlighted in our review of AMD's new flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT desktop graphics card, FSR 4 image quality brings the technology so close to NVIDIA's DLSS that it's now a feature you should always enable when gaming in 1440p or 4K to receive a free performance boost.

As part of a new interview with Tom's Guide, PlayStation architect Mark Cerny has confirmed that FSR 4 will arrive on the PlayStation 5 Pro sometime in 2026. AMD co-developed FSR 4 with Sony, and although the PS5 Pro's custom NPU or AI hardware isn't quite at the level of what you'd find in an RDNA 4 GPU, the version of FSR 4 headed to consoles will not be a cut-down version of the algorithm.

Sony has a long-standing partnership with AMD, which supplies and develops custom CPU and GPU hardware for PlayStation consoles. Late last year, Sony announced 'Project Amethyst,' a closer partnership that would jointly develop next-gen hardware and AI architecture for the PlayStation 6.

This partnership builds on Sony's custom work, which includes new AI hardware and tools, such as PSSR upscaling, that it developed for the PlayStation 5 Pro. Although the new initiative was only announced last year, we already know that AMD's new AI-powered FSR 4 for its RDNA 4 generation of Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics was developed as part of 'Project Amethyst.'

That's only the beginning, as we've now learned that Sony is driving significant components of AMD's next-generation Radeon architecture development. In a new interview with PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny over at Tom's Guide, he confirms that "big chunks" of AMD's next-gen gaming architecture are "coming out of engineering I am doing on the project."

HighPoint has just announced the launch of their new RocketStor 8631CW and RocketStor 8531AW Gen5 x16 eGPU enclosures, which have been purpose-built to handle the high-end performance of the GeForce RTX 5090, pumping up to 600W of power into the eGPU enclosure.

The new HighPoint RocketStor 8631CW and RocketStor 8531AW Gen5 x16 eGPU enclosures are ready for space-constrained workstations and server environments, perfect for professionals who are space-limited but still need a ton of GPU power.

HighPoint's new eGPU enclosures provide a dedicated external PCIe Gen5 x16 expansion pathway, which enables the full utilization of cutting-edge GPUs like NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090, all without compromising the thermal performance, PCIe bandwidth, or system integrity of compact workstation and server platforms.

Intel has reportedly significantly restructured its glass substrate workforce after years of development, and would move into off-the-shelf solutions.

In some continued (weird) decisions from new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, rumor has it the company has performed a huge restructuring of its glass substrate workforce. It looks like Intel is shifting away from the strategy of internally producing and fully customizing glass substrates, and would instead use off-the-shelf glass substrates from other companies.

Not just that, but various glass substrate companies are reportedly reaching out to former Intel staffers, with South Korean firms "closely monitoring the situation". Intel had spent years on developing the technology for glass substrates, and had a huge lead in the glass substrate market... but these reports are looking grim indeed.

ZeniMax Online Studios founder Matt Firor is leaving the company amid the recent layoffs at Xbox.

Today, Microsoft conducted layoffs across various divisions including Xbox gaming. Multiple studios were affected by the layoffs, with some like The Initiative being shut down, as well as game cancellations. One game that had been reportedly cancelled was a new MMORPG in the works at ZeniMax Online Studios, the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online.

Following the cancellation of Blackbird, ZeniMax's MMORPG set in a new IP, studio head Matt Firor announced he would be stepping down from a leadership position and leaving the team that he founded nearly two decades ago.

Apple has reportedly shelved its plans for its foldable iPad according to new reports, with industry insiders citing manufacturing difficulties and more.

In a new report from DigiTimes picked up by insider @Jukanrosleve on X, we're hearing that while Apple is going full-steam ahead with its foldable iPhone -- the purported iPhone Ultra -- its foldable iPad plans have been folded up, pun intended. I mean, it makes sense... a foldable iPhone will unfold into an iPad mini-sized device, while a foldable iPad isn't exactly going to fit in your pocket.

Apple might talk up its revolutionary and unprecedented word salad for marketing, but if the company took the chance to release a foldable MacBook laptop, then things would really get spicy. A foldable iPad would be cool to see, but I don't see the market ready for something like that at the adoption rates that Apple would need.

Layoffs at Microsoft's Xbox games division have affected multiple projects and led to studio shutdowns, including its California-based group The Initiative.

Xbox management has confirmed that it will close video game studio The Initiative, and shut down production on the Perfect Dark reboot project. Xbox had shown a gameplay reveal of Perfect Dark last year at its annual games showcase. Everwild, the new IP from Rare, was also confirmed as cancelled. The announcement was made in an internal memo from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty.

"We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative."

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5090 D v2 is reportedly the name of its new China-specific GPU, according to a new post on X by leaker "MEGAsizeGPU".

In another post, HKEPC reports that NVIDIA is preparing its new GeForce RTX 5090 D v2 for an August launch, something we heard about in previous reports. This means that gamers in China will only have another month before they can secure themselves the new (tweaked) flagship GeForce RTX 5090 D v2 graphics card.

Inside, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D v2 has the same GPU core count as the RTX 5090D with 21760 CUDA cores and the tweaked GB202-240-K-A1 GPU. The VRAM has been scaled down to 24GB (down from 32GB on the RTX 5090) on a 384-bit memory bus clocked at 28Gbps and the same 575W TDP but leaks tease "and there's a surprise".

Former vice president of editorial and creative services, Thomas François, was found guilty of moral and sexual harassment, along with attempted sexual assault.

François was fined €30,000, and sentenced to a three-year suspended prison sentence. Former chief creative officer at Ubisoft, Serge Hascoët, was also accused of making lewd and racist comments to a Muslim Ubisoft employee. Hascoët was also accused of harassment by this employee, as it's claimed he replaced her desktop background with images of food while she was fasting for Ramadan. Hascoët was fined €45,000 and was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The third Ubisoft executive is Guillaume Patrux, who was accused of psychological harassment. Patrux was fined €10,000 and given a 12-month suspended prison sentence. This harassment trial initially began in March but was delayed until June, and came after the "A Better Ubisoft" fiasco that occurred in 2021. For those who don't know, "A Better Ubisoft" was an open letter from employees that called out the toxic culture that was taking place at the company, particularly by the higher ups, such as the three former Ubisoft executives mentioned above.

Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of the hit PlayStation video game The Last of Us, has said he is officially stepping back from the HBO TV show.

The news was confirmed on the Naughty Dog X account, where a message was posted stating that Druckmann informed the team that now is the perfect time for him to step back from the HBO series, as work has been completed on season 2 of the show, and no meaningful work has begun on season 3. Druckmann wrote in the message he is stepping back to put his full focus on writing and directing Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and resuming his responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative.

G.SKILL has been working closely with the ASUS ROG team to find the overclocking potential of the new DDR5 CAMM2 memory form factor, reaching a new milestone of DDR5-10000 speeds.

The company used a large 64GB capacity CAMM2 memory module on a modified custom ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 HERO CAMM2 motherboard and Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor. G.SKILL pushed its 64GB CAMM2 memory module to DDR5-10000 CL52 and ran Memtest to 100% coverage, without a problem, creating a new overclocking milestone for the CAMM2 memory standard.

Better yet, the 64GB CAMM2 memory module from G.SKILL didn't require any cooling whatsoever. In fact, it didn't even have a heatsink, which you can see in the shot below. That's mighty impressive, DDR5-10000 speeds without a heatsink or any active cooling. Now I want to see what it can do with some active cooling.

As expected, Microsoft has begun its third round of layoffs targeting studios under its Xbox Game Studios umbrella, and according to reports, the process is messy, with employees discovering they have been let go from their studio by no longer being able to get into their Slack account.

Previous reports indicated Microsoft was preparing for a third round of layoffs within its Xbox games division, and that this round would be quite significant in terms of how many people would be let go from development studios. Those layoffs have now begun, as accurately predicted by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who said a few days earlier that Microsoft would begin the layoff process on Wednesday.

Reports now indicate several Xbox studios are being targeted, and as many as 9,000 people could be affected by these layoffs. More specifically, King, a key aspect of Microsoft's $70 billion Activision-Blizzard acquisition, has had 10% of its staff cut, with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier recently reporting that at least two games have been cancelled: Rare's Everwild, announced in 2019, and ZeniMax Online's unannounced new MMORPG that was codenamed Blackbird and began development seven years ago.

Samsung Foundry is working hard on securing new customers, with reports persisting that the company is pushing to make GPUs for NVIDIA on its new 2nm process node.

In a new report out of South Korea picked up by Jukan Choi on X, we're hearing that thanks to the success of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its use of a custom NVIDIA Tegra T239 processor inside fabbed on Samsung Foundry's 8nm process node, Samsung Foundry is pushing for 2nm GPU orders from NVIDIA for the future.

Samsung Electronics is pursuing orders for NVIDIA GPUs in the Gate All Around (GAA) 2nm process node, with the GAA process technology first developed by Samsung, and is a transistor structure which sees the gate surround all four sides of the channel. GAA is superior in terms of power efficiency and performance compared to the FinFET process, where the gate contacts one and three sides of the channel, respectively.

NVIDIA's RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB of VRAM, and the 8GB spin on the RX 9060 XT, are both selling pretty abysmally compared to the 16GB flavors of these graphics cards, going by some new stats.

The sales figures, picked up by TechPowerup (as flagged by VideoCardz), come from major German retailer Mindfactory.

For NVIDIA - and this includes every model available at the retailer - the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB has only achieved 105 sales to date. The RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB has raced ahead with 1675 units shifted, which is almost 16x more sales thus far.

The gaming news site Kotaku has officially been sold off to a new buyer, which will not be cleaning house of Kotaku's editorial team.

Axios has confirmed that G/O Media has sold the gaming news website Kotaku to Keleops, the same European media company that acquired Gizmodo approximately a year ago. Axios reports that Kotaku won't have any senior staff removed as part of the acquisition and that Keleops actually intends to hire more senior talent.

Keleops CEO Jean-Guillaume Kleis spoke to Axios and declined to comment on how much Kotaku was sold for, and that in the short term, he had no immediate strategy shifts as he has yet to meet with the website's editor-in-chief.

Apple has officially filed a lawsuit against a former employee for allegedly taking company secrets about the Vision Pro mixed reality headset over to Snap, the creators of the popular social app Snapchat.

The lawsuit has been filed against former Vision Pro engineer Di Liu, who has been accused of stealing thousands of confidential files related to Apple's augmented reality headset. The theft of these files was then allegedly taken to Snap, a competitor of Apple.

Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that Liu secretly accepted a job offer from Snap, while also attempting to cover his tracks of the stolen documents by deleting files, which Apple alleges violated the confidentiality agreement he signed when he accepted his position at the Cupertino company.

Multiple video game projects have been cancelled at Microsoft as the company sheds hundreds of workers from its interactive entertainment division.

Today, Microsoft is holding mass layoffs with over 9,000 people believed to be affected. Xbox gaming is being hit with job eliminations and full-scale projects are being cancelled as part of the big cost cuts. Microsoft appears to be clearing its slate of portfolio risk in an effort to control spending, especially at a time when game budgets are spiraling out of control.

Sources have told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that at least two games have been cancelled: Rare's Everwild, which was set in a new colorful IP and announced in 2019, and ZeniMax Online's unannounced new MMORPG, which was codenamed Blackbird and started development some 7 years ago. We had originally reported on Blackbird in 2018, just a few years after The Elder Scrolls Online had launched.

One of the most popular Content Delivery Networks (CDN) available, Cloudflare, has recently announced it is drawing a line in the sand with AI companies.

The new initiative began on July 1 with Cloudflare announcing via a new blog post that it will be blocking AI web crawlers on the websites it hosts by default, preventing AI companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and others from scraping the websites' content. For those who are out of the loop, AI companies are continuously gathering new data through web crawlers that essentially act as leeches on websites, and in many instances, slowing down the speed of the website through their continuous requests.

However, Cloudflare is putting a stop to that, and as of July 1, all AI web crawlers will be blocked by default. This isn't a small change either, as Cloudflare has more than two million customers, which is approximately 20% of the web. Moreover, Cloudflare states it also has the capabilities to detect "shadow" scrapers, which are bots that attempt to evade detection by using various unpopular or sophisticated tactics.

Certain aspects of the Xbox business will cease, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says, but specifics remain unclear.

Today, Microsoft conducted layoffs that could affect 9,000 people, including workers at Xbox. However, as Windows Central reports, gaming wasn't hit the hardest by the layoffs this time.

As is usually the case, Xbox management issued a segment-wide memo telling employees what was happening. In the memo, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said something interesting: "To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness."