Framework has announced several new upgrades for the Framework laptop 16, including a new CPU option and a more advanced touchpad module. But the biggest upgrade is the introduction of an OCuLink Dev Kit coming later this year that introduces compatibility with PCIe devices, including eGPU docks and PCIe cards.

The kit comes in three parts. The first is an OCuLink Adapter Board that sits inside the Laptop 16's expansion bay shell and routes an OCuLink connector to the back of the laptop, rated at up to 128Gbps through an x8 interface. The Graphics Module OCuLink Dock is the second module, aimed at providing OCuLink connectivity to the Framework Laptop 16's graphics module externally. Basically, this component allows users to use the graphics module as an external GPU. The third component is the PCIe OCuLink Dock that enables users to plug PCIe cards into the laptop, including network cards and video capture cards. Framework claims the PCIe OCuLink Dock provides desktop-like PCIe performance with very little overhead.

Framework designed its OCuLink Dev Kit as a full package, featuring the three aforementioned components and reference 3D-printable designs, so users can build whatever they need around the PCIe devices they will be using with the laptop. As an example, Framework showed an image of a Framework Laptop 16 hooked up to its graphics module externally, mounted to a 3D printed chassis with an SFX power supply mounted at the bottom.

Troy Baker, who played Joel in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and its sequel, told Eurogamer in a recent interview that we haven't seen the last of the character. Baker expects Joel to appear in future projects across "multiple mediums," though he didn't specify in what capacity.

Joel was the central figure of the Last of Us series, but the second game gives his story a definitive and brutal conclusion. Spoiler warning: Joel is killed by Abby, a consequence of his actions in the first game. His fate plays out similarly in HBO's The Last of Us Season Two, where the character is portrayed by Pedro Pascal.

Baker admitted he didn't enjoy watching that moment any more the second time around, and said he hopes to see more performers take on Joel's role in the future. "I hope that Pedro is not the last person to play Joel," Baker said. "I want to see this character be proliferated and iterated on in multiple mediums, whether it be TV, film, more games, comic books. I see people that cosplay as [Joel] all the time. He made an impact."

Last year, Bolt Graphics announced its Zeus GPU, and while the brand was relatively unknown, its claim of up to 10x faster rendering than the RTX 5090 drew attention. Now it seems the company is pushing full force toward a 2027 release, with the chip successfully taped out at TSMC using a 12nm FFC process node, marking the end of design and start of manufacturing.

For those out of the loop, Zeus is a next-generation compute platform designed to reduce the total cost of compute by up to 17 times across high-performance computing, rendering, and resource-intensive applications. The goal is a product that doesn't cost too much, consume too much power, or take up too much rack space. Zeus also introduces two industry-first features for GPUs: expandable memory that scales VRAM up to 8x, and native 400GbE and 800GbE Ethernet support for direct, large-scale GPU interconnects.

Coming back to the Zeus GPUs, Bolt Graphics plans to offer them in both PCIe card and 2U server configurations, with multiple variants. The single-chip model, codenamed Bolt Zeus 1c26, features a single-slot, full-length PCIe design with up to 20 TFLOPs of FP16 performance, paired with 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and 128MB of on-chip cache. It also delivers up to 77 gigarays of path-tracing performance on a 120W power budget.

At Cloud Next 2026, Google introduced Workspace Intelligence, a new semantic layer for Google Workspace that creates a unified context by mapping emails, chats, files, collaborators, and active projects. The idea is to shift Workspace from a collection of productivity apps into an AI-driven system that can replicate how you actually work.

Workspace Intelligence is aimed at organizations that want AI to be more than just a chatbot. Google Workspace head of product Yulie Kwon Kim says the system is intended to "emulate the institutional knowledge of a long-tenured employee, but for AI." Google says it can gather material, rank priorities, track stakeholders, and adjust outputs to user writing styles.

To build a truly useful AI coworker, you need context, and a lot of it. Workspace Intelligence's goal is to provide rich organizational context from a company's documents, emails, presentations, and messages. This lets the system do things like generate content in your voice, picking up on preferences like whether you never use exclamation marks or love using them.

AMD's much-anticipated Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition CPU went on sale today. Reviews of the dual 3D V-cache CPU are starting to roll in as the embargo on in-depth reviews has been lifted. However, controversy seems to be brewing as AMD has not provided review samples to many notable publications, including Gamers Nexus, TechPowerUp, and Linus Tech Tips.

The issue went mainstream when Gamers Nexus published a video in response to AMD's decision not to source them a review sample ahead of launch. To say the video was strongly worded would be an understatement, as host Steve Burke alleged that AMD "blacklisted" Gamers Nexus in response to a previous video in which they outlined AMD's "seemingly anti-consumer lobbying efforts," according to Burke.

However, this does not seem like an isolated incident. AMD has seemingly been very selective in who gets a review sample of the 9950X3D2. As compiled by Videocardz, in addition to the two major publications already mentioned, AMD also did not send CPUs to Computer Base, HardwareLuxx, eTeknix, or PC Watch either.

IO Interactive is pulling back the curtain on its Bond reboot, with a new gameplay trailer for 007 First Light showing off stealth, gadgets, and a surprisingly deep tactical layer.

The latest "Rules of Spycraft" trailer for 007 First Light dives into what players can expect when stepping into the role of the iconic agent. This new footage shifts focus to gameplay, something fans of the upcoming title have been chomping at the bit for. Just like the James Bond movies, blending in appears to be a core pillar of gameplay, with players navigating environments through disguise, deception, and social stealth, alongside more traditional sneaking and takedowns.

One of the coolest features is players will have the ability to bluff enemies, enabling the player to move through large packs of enemy NPCs completely undetected. However, for enemies that are clued-in, bluffing will be more difficult, and if caught will aggro surrounding enemies.

Xbox could be about to shake up Game Pass in a big way, with a new Discord partnership hinting at a more flexible future for the subscription service.

In a recent post on X, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that Xbox is once again teaming up with Discord as part of its broader push to evolve Game Pass. While details remain scarce, Sharma teased that players may begin seeing "code in the wild" tied to the collaboration, suggesting testing is already underway. The move aligns with earlier reports that Microsoft is exploring a more customizable "pick your own plan" structure for Game Pass, signaling a departure from its current tier system.

The bigger picture here is flexibility. Internally, Xbox is reportedly experimenting with new tiers, including a "Triton" plan focused on first-party titles and a "Duet" bundle that could include services like Netflix. A Discord integration fits neatly into this strategy, with speculation pointing toward a potential bundle that includes Discord Nitro alongside Game Pass Ultimate.

A new Trojan dubbed "OpenClaw" is raising serious alarms, with researchers warning that AI agents are now being weaponized to take full control of thousands of systems.

Security analysts report that OpenClaw has already compromised more than 28,000 machines, leveraging AI-driven automation to execute commands, adapt to environments, and maintain on these systems in ways that traditional malware struggles to achieve. The key concern here isn't the scale or the number of affected machines, but the infection's capability. For example, OpenClaw effectively hands attackers a semi-autonomous operator inside a system, and this operator has access to the entire machine.

According to a TechRadar report, the malware uses these AI agents to dynamically interact with compromised environments. Because the AI agents have access to the entire machine, the malware can make real-time decisions and control the system. This means attackers can automate system monitoring, perform lateral movement across the layers of the system they have access to, and even conduct data extraction.

Xbox's next-gen Project Helix console has everyone on edge with its exciting proposition. Microsoft CEO Asha Sharma has suggested that the system could play both Xbox and PC games, pointing to a more hybrid approach. However, the rumored $1,200 price tag hasn't gone down well with many gamers, especially former Xbox owners, considering it is more than double the Xbox Series X's $500 launch price. Still, some insiders believe the premium could be justified.

In the latest episode of the Broken Silicon podcast, leaker Moore's Law Is Dead claimed Project Helix justifies its $1,200 price tag by offering performance comparable to a $2,000 to $3,000 gaming PC. He emphasized that this level of performance could disrupt the console space, much as the MacBook Neo disrupted the laptop segment, by offering premium capabilities well beyond traditional consoles.

According to the leaker, while it won't match ultra-high-end PC rigs, it is expected to surpass the performance of your average console. The hardware is said to be similar to a high-end PC, reportedly using silicon comparable to AMD's RDNA 5 70- or possibly 80-class GPU. The APU is described as the biggest in console history, built on "something insane at 3 nanometers."

Last month, Microsoft announced it is bringing Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) for Windows to PC gamers via the latest AgilitySDK 1.619 release. The feature was originally unveiled by Microsoft's DirectX team at Gamescom 2025 to address shader stuttering, with ROG Xbox Ally handhelds set to receive it first. Now, ASD is seemingly rolling out to Unreal Engine 5, enabling developers to use it for reducing shader stuttering and long load times.

A recent UE5-main commit shared on X by MADFINGER Games tech programmer Ondrej Hrušovský, and highlighted by VideoCardz, shows Epic working on 'ASD Tool improvements,' such as graphics PSO serialization, new D3D12 helper code, and PSO compilation fixes. While Hrušovský describes the implementation as 'in progress,' Epic has yet to comment officially.

This isn't the first time we have seen UE5 and ASD mentioned together. Back in March, Mihnea Balta, director of rendering engineering at Epic Games, said that "as Unreal, we're excited about supporting advanced shader delivery in the ecosystem," adding that early SODB and PSDB testing for Advanced Shader Delivery was already underway with more details to follow.

Unveiled at Framework's Next Gen event, the Framework 13 Pro represents the first ground-up redesign of the modular chassis since its 2021 debut. The new flagship features a rigid CNC-milled aluminum body, a custom 120Hz VRR touchscreen, and a haptic trackpad. Powered by Intel's Panther Lake and a sizeable 74 Wh battery, this is a clear shot across the bow of the MacBook Pro, starting at $1,199 for the DIY version.

The new chassis provides a unibody-like feel, similar to Apple's MacBook, and is built from 75% pre-consumer recycled 6063 aluminum. It includes a haptic trackpad, fingerprint reader, and keyboard with 1.5mm travel and a white backlight. The all-metal input cover replaces the previous metal-and-plastic construction for a better typing experience.

Framework has introduced a new Graphite finish, with Silver staying. Standalone chassis swaps start at $179. The 13.5-inch 2.8K (2880x1920) LTPS display keeps the 3:2 aspect ratio but adds 30-120Hz VRR and in-cell touch. With 700 nits peak brightness, 1800:1 contrast, 100% sRGB, and starting at $299, this is Framework's first custom panel.

Yesterday, we posted a story where a Reddit user claimed that their NZXT Kraken AIO cooler leaked onto and damaged their flagship ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090. The post noted that NZXT confirmed the issue was due to a manufacturing fault; however, disputes over inadequate compensation led to several months of back-and-forth, with the user then stating that after seven months of getting nowhere, they were in the process of suing NZXT.

Today, Ivan Barajas, the Senior Marketing Manager at NZXT, reached out to us with a statement clarifying the issue and confirming the age old saying that there are always two sides to a story. First off, there's no dispute regarding the cause of the damage: the AIO leaked, damaging the customer's motherboard and ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090.

With one of the sticking points in the original story being that NZXT offered the customer $2,855.99 for the GPU, which now costs well over $4,000, NZXT says this isn't true. "The $2,855.99 figure is not what NZXT offered," the statement reads. "That was the original invoiced purchase price, and that number appeared in an early email that was corrected the same day to $4,161.90, reflecting current market value."

Build A Rocket Boy's troubles are piling up, and the story around MindsEye is quickly turning into one of the most chaotic post-launch sagas in recent memory.

A fresh legal dispute over alleged employee surveillance has now been added to the growing list of issues surrounding the studio, but it's far from the only problem. In recent weeks, MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy has faced a wave of controversy that spans workplace complaints, leadership claims of sabotage, and the collapse of a major publishing partnership.

Employees are now pursuing legal action against the installation of monitoring software on devices without their consent, demanding transparency into how their data was used and an explanation for why the software was deployed in the first place.

Anthropic's unreleased Claude Mythos is at the center of a cybersecurity debate. Its coding capabilities are so powerful that in pre-release tests, the model identified thousands of previously unknown vulnerabilities in major operating systems and web browsers. Since then, many have questioned whether the model is truly the future of cybersecurity or simply a normal step forward wrapped in overhype.

Mozilla has now tipped the scales in Anthropic's favor, sharing in the zero-days are numbered blog post that early access to Mythos Preview helped it pre-identify 271 security vulnerabilities in the latest Firefox release. Firefox CTO Bobby Holley added that "in the never-ending battle between cyberattackers and cyberdefenders, defenders finally have a chance to win, decisively."

According to the post, Mythos detected these hundreds of vulnerabilities simply by analyzing unreleased code from the browser's latest version. The post didn't go into detail on the severity of these vulnerabilities, but Holley compared Mythos to earlier AI tools, noting that Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 had detected only 22 security bugs when analyzing Firefox 148.

A popular MagSafe power bank is back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, with regulators reissuing a recall after recent reports of fires, explosions, and a confirmed fatality.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has re-announced the recall of Casely's 5,000mAh MagSafe Power Pods, model E33A, following a series of serious incidents linked to the device. Around 429,200 units are expected to be faulty. Consumers are urged to stop using them immediately and request a free replacement. The recall was first issued in 2025, but has now been escalated after new reports of overheating lithium-ion batteries causing fires and injuries.

The scale of the issue is significant. The CPSC reports at least 51 incidents involving overheating, swelling, or fires, resulting in six minor injuries. Over the past year, an additional 28 cases have surfaced, including explosions on an airplane and a fatal incident involving a 75-year-old woman who suffered severe burns after the device ignited while charging.

Roblox is paying millions to settle child safety concerns, but the bigger story is how years of controversy are now catching up with the platform.

Roblox Corp. has agreed to a $35.8 million settlement with attorneys general in West Virginia, Alabama, and Nevada over child safety protections, marking one of the most significant regulatory actions against the platform to date. The agreements require Roblox to improve safeguards for younger users, including stronger age verification and tighter restrictions on how adults can interact with minors.

The settlements also direct funds toward child safety education, reinforcing the growing pressure on platforms that cater heavily to younger audiences following numerous reports of these platforms failing to maintain or even implement safeguards to protect their predominantly child-aged audience from harmful interactions with child predators. There was one instance where Roblox banned a Roblox creator from its platform who made content on catching predators on Roblox. The company argued the creator violated its terms of service.

Ubisoft's Black Flag remake might be grabbing the spotlight, but new reports suggest it's only the beginning of a broader Assassin's Creed remake push.

Alongside the upcoming reveal of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, fresh reporting from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, who has an extremely solid track record when it comes to Ubisoft's inner workings, claims the studio already has at least one more Assassin's Creed remake in development.

While details remain scarce, the existence of a second project may hint toward a longer-term strategy, with Ubisoft reportedly planning to greenlight additional remakes depending on how well Black Flag Resynced performs when it launches later this year.

Is Xbox teasing a next-gen cloud device powered by Hideo Kojima's new horror game, OD?

Hideo Kojima was recently seen meeting with Xbox's gaming leadership team, including with executives CCO Matt Booty and CEO Asha Sharma, and the photo has sparked some speculation among fans. The Metal Gear creator is holding a mysterious box etched with "Xbox for Kojima" on the front, which seems noteworthy, but what could it refer to?

Is Kojima holding an early prototype of Microsoft's next-gen Project Helix console? Perhaps some sort of next-gen cloud device, maybe an upgraded version of the scrapped Keystone, or the Sebile direct-to-cloud controller that was uncovered in the FTC trial documents? It's tough to say for sure, but Microsoft has confirmed it's working on next-gen cloud devices using custom silicon that it's co-created alongside AMD.

Ubisoft might be bringing back one of Assassin's Creed's most divisive features, with new leaks suggesting Black Flag Resynced won't ditch the Animus after all.

According to a leaked presentation for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Ubisoft is once again leaning into the series' modern-day narrative, confirming that Animus sequences will return in the remake. The leak, which also revealed details such as the lack of multiplayer and DLC, indicates that the modern-day component hasn't been scrapped, despite years of mixed fan reception.

For a franchise that has increasingly shifted focus toward fantastical historical storytelling, the decision signals Ubisoft isn't ready to abandon the connective tissue that's defined Assassin's Creed since its early days. What's changed, however, is how it's being handled. The presentation suggests a more streamlined approach, with the modern-day segments tied more closely to Edward Kenway's personal journey rather than broader Abstergo-centric storytelling.

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox plans might be bigger than expected, with Project Helix shaping up as both a console and a new class of OEM-powered gaming machines.

Fresh reports surrounding Project Helix, the codename for the SoC powering Xbox's next-generation hardware, suggest Microsoft is preparing a dual-pronged approach to its next-generation platform. While the company has already confirmed a first-party Helix-based console is on the way, new rumors indicate that PC OEMs like ASUS and MSI could also build their own custom systems around the same silicon. That would effectively turn Helix into more than just a console chip, and enable the creation of a new foundation for a broader ecosystem.

The key detail here is flexibility. Unlike traditional console hardware, which is tightly controlled and standardized, Project Helix is rumored to support a more open design philosophy. OEM partners could create their own "Xbox-like" machines, which is akin to pre-built PCs but with a console-style experience. The approach would be similar to what we've already seen with devices like ASUS' ROG Ally, which integrates Xbox's interface.