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NVIDIA's new flagship ultra-enthusiast GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card has an MSRP of $1999, but in Taiwan it's selling for 5x that MSRP at up to a mind-boggling $9100. Yes... over nine thousand dollars.

In a new report from CNA, we're learning that NVIDIA's new beasty GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card sells for up to NT $300,000 (which works out to around $9100 USD or so). Taiwan is one of NVIDIA's key markets, and with supply issues there -- and everywhere, really -- this is getting ridiculous.

Taiwan reportedly received just "single-digits" for launch stock of NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 graphics cards. We also have Chinese New Year mixing things up right now, so the next batches of Blackwell gaming GPUs is still weeks away at best, and it's not just Taiwan... the biggest US retailers are sold out, and the UK has between 3-16 weeks to wait for new waves of RTX 5090 graphics cards.

Samsung has not been conservative with using the tech world's favorite acronym. 'AI for All' was the theme of CES 2025, and Galaxy Unpacked teased 'a new era of AI integration'. However, the early reviews of Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra are in. And while the overall consensus is generally positive, many of the common criticisms are directed towards the phone's AI features.

Engadget's Sam Rutherford spent some time with the handset. Throughout his experience, he noted the iterative, rather than innovative, nature of the AI tools:

"A lot of what Samsung focused on in this generation feels more like a bonus rather than a must-have feature," Sam wrote.

The early access model has been a staple for game developers who want to secure both funding and player feedback throughout the development process. In a recent update, however, Valve aims to hold developers accountable by introducing a new warning feature that informs players if a title hasn't been updated in over 12 months.

Sightings of the feature first appeared on Bluesky, with SteamDB's account uploading a screenshot of the new warnings.

Valve appeared to have shadow-dropped the feature, with no official statement or patch notes issued regarding the update. On the surface, it appears to be driven by a need for consumer protection, as many players have been burned by early access games that are dead, abandoned, or never finished. However, accountability for developers, and improving the quality control of Steam's library are also potential factors.

USB flash drives have been around for decades; however, their convenience has waned in recent years due to the speeds no longer being that great for dealing with media and other large files. This is where PNY's new Ultra-Fast PRO Elite V3 flash drives come in, delivering read speeds of up to 1,000 MB/sec and write speeds of up to 800 MB/sec.

These are the speeds you can expect from SSD storage. They are not the fast PCIe Gen 5 kind, but they are a significant improvement over that draw full of USB flash drives we all have. The big speed increase is due to the shift to a USB Type-C interface and the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface for the new PNY PRO Elite V3 Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 Flash Drives.

Available in capacities from 256GB ($29.99) to 2TB ($144.99), it offers a fast, portable storage solution that is a fraction of the size of a portable SSD. It's also versatile and backward compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0 ports.

As world leaders gather in France next week for the AI Action Summit over February 10-11, all eyes will be on President Trump to see whether the United States and China can find some common ground on the matter of AI governance. With nearly 100 nations in attendance, the event focuses on the safe development of artificial intelligence, with focus areas covering everything from labor disruptions to national sovereignty, global AI governance, and open-source AI.

(Credit: Adobe / Stock)

However, the real test will be whether the US and China can bridge the growing gap created by the AI arms race. With tensions rising in Washington over AI leadership and national security, stakeholders from tech companies including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are also slated to attend. It remains unclear whether DeepSeek CEO Lian Wenfeng will be present, though the company's rapid rise is certain to be a major talking point.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the highly anticipated RPG sequel set in Medieval Europe, is already a smash hit on PC - with the game garnering an impressive 159,351 within the first few hours of its launch. The game's open-world environments and simulation levels of Medieval-life immersion are unlike anything else, and the visuals are also stunning.

With its Very Positive user review rating on Steam, many praise the game's optimization and overall performance, which is enhanced thanks to its support for DLSS Super Resolution. And all GeForce RTX gamers can enable the brand-new DLSS 4 'Transformer' AI model for even better image quality via the 'DLSS Override' feature in the NVIDIA App.

Launching alongside the new GeForce RTX 50 Series, DLSS 4's updated Super Resolution and Ray Reconstructions 'Transformer' AI model significantly improves image quality - making it a game changer for DLSS. It makes the DLSS Performance and Balanced presets look as good as the previous AI model's Quality preset, opening the door to 4K gaming to more gamers.

The GeForce RTX 5090 is effectively banned from sale in China thanks to US-based sanctions on companies selling powerful GPUs in the region. This is why you've got the cut-down GeForce RTX 5090D in China, and we're now seeing evidence of Chinese shopping tourists visiting nearby countries to source GeForce RTX 5090 cards for resale within China.

South Korean tech enthusiast @harukaze5719 posted a screenshot of ZOTAC's GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID OC model, which is currently up for sale on a Chinese auction site for approximately $4,000 USD-double the MSRP. It seems that gamers and enthusiasts in China would rather pick up a fully uncut GeForce RTX 5090 than settle for the RTX 5090D.

The Chinese auction site picture clearly shows a sticker with Korean text highlighting the card's three-year warranty and other information. However, it's safe to assume that this warranty doesn't extend to China - a region where the GPU is effectively banned from sale.

While markets respond to the shift in demand created by Chinese AI company DeepSeek, AMD's CEO Lisa Su provided some comments on the state of hardware sales moving forward.

"Relative to DeepSeek, we think that innovation on the models and the algorithms is good for AI adoption," she told analysts during Tuesday's Q4 earnings call.

Su welcomes the innovation, going on to state that she expects to see more AI compute deployment within the broader market.

Dockcase, known for its over-the-top connectivity solutions that combine functionality with style, has yet another project underway, the Smart USB-C Hub 7-in-1 that comes with an M.2 SSD.

The new device is designed for creators on the go or anyone who needs extra USB ports on their laptop. But a user that would get the most out of this device is someone in need of a single device capable of transferring videos/images from an SD card but also needs extensive connectivity options and a place to back up data via the in-built replaceable SSD. The idea behind the upcoming device is to provide users with the perfect balance of portability and storage, as users will be able to replace the provided SSD with any 2230 and 2242 SSDs.

Additionally, the smart hub has a touchscreen that users can navigate through the UI which has features such as SSD health monitoring, a Read-Only Mode, and much more. Additionally, the smart hub comes with an in-built fan that can be adjusted via the touchscreen options. The idea behind the fan is to implement a cooling system for users who are taking advantage of the smart hub's capabilities over longer periods of time. Users are also able to take advantage of the 4K @ 120Hz support support, along with the 100W power delivery charging.

Ahead of announcing the official release date for the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo has revealed it's currently preparing countermeasures against scalpers.

The news comes from Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, who spoke to Japanese News outlet Nikkei and said the company has learned valuable lessons from the release of the Nintendo Switch and, behind the scenes, Nintendo is implementing countermeasures to mitigate rampant re-selling of the new console when it debuts.

Furukawa stated back in July 2024, during a Q&A with investors, Nintendo struggled to produce a sufficient number of Nintendo Switch hardware due to a shortage of semiconductor parts, "but this situation has now been resolved" and that the same problem won't present itself with the Nintendo Switch 2.

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson tells investors and analysts that the publisher is willing to delay the new Battlefield game to ensure the FPS can deliver on all fronts.

Following two consecutive lackluster releases, EA is going all-in on the next Battlefield game. The project's four teams--DICE, Ripple Effect, Criterion, and EA Motive--came together and formed the hugely ambitious Battlefield Labs, which aims to get direct feedback via community playtesting. EA wants your help to build the next Battlefield.

The game is currently in pre-alpha phases of development yet EA is confident about a FY26 release window, which runs from March 2025 - 2026. The next Battlefield could be out during the holiday season if all things go well. But assuming they don't go well, or for any reason EA is skittish about launching in the year, the company says it's prepared to simply delay the game until it's ready.

Much of the digital environment is centered around optimizing for attention, from the Gattaca-style design of social media apps to the engagement-optimized matchmaking in online games. Opera's newest browser release, Opera Air, aims to remedy this struggle by offering a browsing experience designed around mindfulness.

Introduced as "the world's first mindfulness-based browser," Opera Air comes equipped with a range of unique, digital-wellness-based features. Visually, the UI has a friendly, tranquil feel, with bubbly, rounded address bars and transparent backgrounds covering the entire browser. On the left-most toolbar, you'll find a suite of browser-specific tools, including boosts, which 'simulate different brain waves through music and sound to boost creativity.' The 'take a break' button contains a range of breathing, neck exercises, meditations, and full body scans.

While these features might sound unusual or tacked on for a web browser, they feel very well refined and integrated with the experience. For users who work with hour-long focus music playlists on YouTube, you'll quickly embrace the audio options available in Boosts. The stretching-focused 'take-a-break' exercises are accessible, with voice guides and a 3D model you can follow along with. You can also set break reminders, which are built into your browser.

It sounds like singleplayer RPGs may be harder to greenlight at Electronic Arts moving forward as the publisher doubles-down on more guaranteed bets.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the third major BioWare game to miss the mark and EA has taken notice. The game did poorly enough to trigger a rare forecast adjustment from EA's executives, who had significantly lowered full-year earnings targets to reflect the disappointing sales of Veilguard (and the underperformance of EA FC25).

The magnitude of Veilguard's miss is even more pronounced when considering that EA had previously assigned a $20 billion market value to action RPGs. The news triggered a fresh wave of layoffs at BioWare, which has now been culled to a team of less than 100 people. BioWare is currently working on the next Mass Effect game, a singleplayer project that's entering pre-production phases of development.

Thanks to data center products, AI hardware, and Ryzen CPUs crushing it in the client space, AMD's Q4 2024 financial results saw its overall revenue grow to a record $7.7 billion. And for the full year 2024, AMD's revenue of $25.8 billion is a new record for the company. However, AMD's Gaming revenue, which includes Radeon products for PCs and chips for Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox consoles, fell by a massive 59% year-over-year for Q4 2024.

In addition, the reported Gaming revenue of $563 million is now a third of what it was for a similar financial period a few years ago. And with an operating income of $50 million for the quarter, this too is down year-over-year - pointing to slim margins for chips used in modern gaming consoles. For 2024, AMD's Gaming segment revenue of $2.6 billion was also down 58% compared to 2023.

The good news is that AMD's Gaming segment is profitable; however, it has become the smallest segment of the company's portfolio. Naturally, there's no mention of gaming in CEO Dr. Lisa Su's summary for the quarter or 2024 - the focus is placed on record Data Center profits driving the company's current success and future.

Nintendo wants to avoid shortages of its new Switch 2 console and tells consumers it is working hard to produce enough systems to meet high demand.

The Switch is reaching peak market saturation and Nintendo is ramping up a new console successor. The Switch 2 is due out sometime in 2025, and consumers are wondering if the Switch 2 will be yet another typical Nintendo hardware launch where excessive demand quickly outstrips supply.

Nintendo wants the Switch 2 to be different and doesn't want a repeat of the Switch's launch. The company is readily producing millions of Switch 2 consoles to meet the all-important Holiday 2025 sales surge. Company president Shuntaro Furukawa tells investors that Nintendo is accelerating production so it can make a "head start" over the original Switch.

Although it's not official, the latest word on AMD's big RDNA 4 reveal event is that the company is planning to hold a press conference at the end of this month, February 2025, where it will finally divulge all of the goodies and info surrounding the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT launch.

AMD has previously stated that both cards are expected to launch sometime in March, after the GeForce RTX 5070 and GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combo from NVIDIA, so it does feel like it's waiting to see how those pan out before presenting its alternative. Based on actually seeing several Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs at CES 2025 in January and AMD confirming that stock is already at several retailers around the globe, it's only a matter of time before we get full details on AMD's next-gen desktop GPUs for gamers.

The event will undoubtedly detail specs, pricing, and performance while focusing on the improved ray-tracing performance and the new and improved AI-enhanced FSR 4 Super Resolution and Frame Generation.

While the Switch 2 is fast approaching, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirms that the company will keep supporting and selling the original console as long as consumers buy in.

Eight years in, the Switch is finally starting to wind down. The Switch is a combination of Nintendo's megaton console and handheld businesses, leading to an incredible $85 billion in lifetime platform revenues and over 1.3 billion games sold. Nintendo wants to replicate this success one more time with the Switch 2, but unlike its forebear, the successor will carry forward games, content, and services to a new generation.

Nintendo doesn't plan to leave the original Switch behind. The company will keep producing and selling Switch consoles and games for the foreseeable future. According to Japanese newspaper Sankei, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa says that Switch 1 sales will continue after the Switch 2 is released "as long as there is demand."

UK gamers will have a couple of months of waiting before they see new flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards from hitting their shores, with retailer Overclockers UK completely sold out... with 3-16 weeks of waiting to go.

In a new post on X, the retailer said that their RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 graphics card supplies are sold out and "pre-orders ceased" adding that "due to incredibly high demand and limited stock, all 50 series cards sold shortly after launch with soem pre-orders taken in restricted quantities". Stock ETAs are as follows:

I just talked to some suppliers (I work in IT) and even the partner (MSI, ASUS, ZOTAC, etc...) is apparently complaining that the stock exists but NVIDIA is abusing their partner contract and decides when to send chips and which chip to send and if they don't comply they just don't get any even though it's already paid for".

The Switch family of consoles has shipped over 150 million units worldwide as of December 2024, Nintendo has announced.

Nintendo's latest Q3'FY25 results gives us a refresher on how well the company did during the critical Holiday 2024 period. Switch sales finally broke 150 million, putting the system in closer proximity to the age-old best-selling titans the Nintendo DS (154.02 million) and the PlayStation 2 (160 million), but if trends are any indicator, the system may not break the DS' record.

Switch shipments are starting to peter out as Nintendo gears up for its next-gen Switch 2 console. The company shipped just 4.82 million Switch consoles in the holiday period, a substantial reduction of 30% year-over-year, or more than 2 million units. This is the lowest-ever holiday period for Switch sales, predictably downwardly weighing the holiday Q3'25 results, which were likewise down to their lowest point in the Switch generation.

Taiwan will be supporting local companies that want to relocate to the United States, helping them find partners on US soil, according to the economy ministry, offering assistance following President Trump's new tariffs.

In a new report from Reuters, we're learning that Trump's new tariffs would see additional levies of 25% for goods imported from Mexico and Canada, with 10% tariffs on goods from China. They start this week, and now Taiwan -- with its companies being some of the key producers of technology products including semiconductors and electronic parts is vulnerable notes Reuters -- considering that many have factories in Mexico and China, as well as Trump's promised tariffs on foreign semiconductors.

Taiwan's economic ministry said in a statement that it would provide information for local companies that want to relocate, suggesting particular US states to invest in, the local laws, and help finding partners on US soil. Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute branches in the US will also actively promote research and development, and manufacturing cooperation between Taiwanese and US companies, too.