Latest News - Page 441

Microsoft is currently working out several key problems with Windows 11 24H2, the company's latest version of Windows 11.

According to Redmond, the latest Windows 11 24H2 update contains several bugs that result in some issues presenting themselves within the operating system. Users have previously reported that if administrative privileges weren't granted, it would be difficult to change the time zone in the Date & Time view, which Microsoft confirmed was the case but only within the Settings app. This problem, along with others widely reported by users on Microsoft's community forums and Reddit, was confirmed by Microsoft in a Windows health release on Friday last week.

Some of the most prominent issues were related to USB connectivity issues, which Microsoft has responded to by blocking the Windows 11 24H2 update on computers with USB scanners that support the eSCL protocol, which is a driverless scanning protocol that works over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and USB connections. Windows 24H2 users began reporting compatibility problems with a wide list of devices approximately a month ago, and the list covers devices such as multi-function printers, scanners, modems, and network-connected devices that utilize the eSCL protocol.

Last week, telecommunications executives sat in front of the Biden administration and discussed the exponential frequency of cyber attacks from China on the United States, with one Senator saying the attacks from China make severe cyber security events such as Solar Winds caused by Russia-affiliated bad actors look like "child's play."

The details come from Senator Mark R Warner, who spoke to the press and said that "my hair is on fire" with the ramping cyber attacks from China, which started increasing well before the recent US election. Additionally, the Senator stated the presence and nature of the attacks may require the replacement of "literally thousands and thousands and thousands" of routers, switches, and other potentially infiltrated hardware.

Furthermore, the Senator warned that the extent to which these attacks have affected US networks is currently unknown, describing the situation as follows: "The barn door is still wide open, or mostly open." More specifically, US telecommunications networks that have been infiltrated may provide Chinese state employees or affiliated hackers with the means of listening in on phone calls, even as high as President-elect Donald Trump.

Microsoft deservedly received criticism over its unveiling of Windows Recall, the company's latest AI feature that enables users to "recall" what they were doing on the PC by asking via natural language or scrolling back through a provided timeline.

When Recall was first unveiled, it was met with heavy criticism from security experts as the new AI tool works by indiscriminately taking screenshots of a user's desktop and then storing those images locally within a folder. This means Recall would also capture user passwords and other sensitive information, and since all of that data is stored in a single folder, a hacker or bad actor gaining access to that folder would compromise all account information, potentially leading to fraud, theft, and other cybercrime.

Microsoft responded to these concerns by pulling Recall right before the rollout of its new Copilot+ PCs and then announcing additional security layers for users. After what was meant to be only weeks of delay, Microsoft re-released Recall this month, but this time to Windows Insiders who have Copilot+ PC hardware. Since the release, Windows Insiders have been reporting problems with the new feature, with the main problem being a delay in the time Recall takes snapshots of the desktop, which results in there being gaps in the feature's memory or timeline over the course of a session.

ASUS has just unveiled its new Pro WS Z890-ACE SE workstation motherboard: ready for Intel Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" CPUs, with an interesting rotated socket design. Check it out:

ASUS is using the consumer-focused Z890 chipset for its new workstation motherboard, the best chipset for Arrow Lake CPUs, in a workstation design. The company is using a rotated LGA1851 socket on the Pro WS Z890-ACE SE workstation motherboard, with more of the components rotated and shifted around.

The company first and foremost has (obviously) rotated the LGA1851 socket, but the VRMs have been switched around, also featuring 16+2+1+2 phase power stage design. The DDR5 DIMMs (there are only 4 here) are at the top of the motherboard, with ASUS also repositioning one of the M.2 SSD slots.

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) startup, Neuralink, has announced it has received approval to test its BCI implant with an assistive robotic arm.

The first-ever study will see someone using a BCI to control a robotic arm with just their thoughts, the post by Neuralink on X said: "We're excited to announce the approval and launch of a new feasibility trial to extend BCI control using the N1 implant to an investigational assistive robotic arm".

Brain implants and controlling a robotic arm isn't something entirely new, as it has been done before with cumbersome setups that required cables running to the research participants' head and then to a computer that decoded the brain signals. Neuralink's brain-computer interface (BCI) is wireless, making everything far easier. On top of that, Musk has Tesla and its robotics side, so it's a family affair technology wise.

Tencent has just unveiled its new 3D One gaming handheld prototype, with a rather gigantic 11-inch display, and powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V "Lunar Lake" processor. Check it out:

The standard feature of the new 3D One handheld is the 11-inch 2.5K display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, Tencent has even baked in 3D eye-tracking technology, providing another layer of immersion in games that support it. Tencent is using Intel's new Core Ultra 7 258V "Lunar Lake" processor with 4 Lion Cove and 4 Skymont cores.

There is 32GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory and Intel Arc 140V graphics based on the Xe2-LPG GPU architecture, something that we've seen powering new waves of Intel Lunar Lake laptops.

Ausom is one of the world's most notable brands when it comes to electric scooters, and to celebrate Black Friday sales the company is slashing the price of its Ausom Leopard DT1 Pro Electric Scooter.

The Leopard DT1 Pro is one of Ausom's best electric scooter offerings, with its forged aluminum frame, max speed of 41 mph, top range of 47 miles, buyers will be able to tackle almost any terrain that is in front of them. Ausom has equipped the Leopard DT1 Pro with all the bells and whistles you would expect out of an electric scooter of this caliber, as the Leopard DT1 Pro comes with an LCD screen, dual 1000W motors, NFC security lock to prevent unwanted use, USB ports, and an incredible illumination design.

The Leopard DT1 Pro comes with an insane 2000W dual motor, that enables a maximum speed of 41 mph for a maximum range of 47 miles, meaning the Leopard DT1 Pro is perfect for quick cruises around the block, and also substantial medium-distance rides. The battery capacity measures 946.4WH and the figure of 47 miles was measured by Ausom lab with a load of 143 lbs, riding at a speed of 15 mph on a flat road. But what if you want to take the Leopard DT1 Pro offroad? No worries, the Leopard DT1 Pro comes with SUV-level suspension that is designed to provide comfort across all terrains.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5090 and its Chinese variant in the newly-revealed GeForce RTX 5090D, won't have any differences when it comes to GPU configurations (core count) and clock speeds.

The new GeForce RTX 5090D graphics card was revealed yesterday, but now leaker "panzerlied" has said "there is no hardware difference between the 5090 and 5090D". He was asked about the RTX 5090 vs RTX 5090D in gaming performance, with the leaker adding "I think there is no difference in frequency".

NVIDIA originally launched the GeForce RTX 4090D in a reactionary way, offering a tweaked RTX 4090 to get around the export ban, as its TPP rating exceeded the limits set by US regulators. NVIDIA simply sliced and diced some of the specifications of the original RTX 4090 in order to get the RTX 4090D into the market early, without looking at other ways to tweak the TPP figure.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to cause a "global distraction event" when it launches, with millions taking time off of work and school to play it... but what about a beefed-up version on the PC?

We're learning about GTA 6 on "next-gen consoles" and PC from the LinkedIn profile of a Principal Engine Programmer who has been working at Rockstar since 2020, with Grand Theft Auto 6 as the only project they've worked on over the last 4 years.

The developer listed some details about working with RAGE, the in-house engine Rockstar uses for its games, with RAGE being used to power the next-generation world of GTA 6. The post teased that the developer has worked with ray tracing, ray-traced global illumination, and "procedural generation for objects and game environments".

The PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units worldwide, Sony has officially clarified in new sales figures.

Sony's 30 years of PlayStation promo website has revealed new information on the PS2's lifetime sales. The PlayStation 2 section of the site confirms that the early 2000's console had sold 5 million more units than what Sony has listed on its website. Granted the previous figures were from 2012.

"PS2 is one of the biggest-selling video game consoles of all time, with over 160,000,000 consoles sold worldwide since 2000," the site reads.

Elon Musk was asked at the recent SpaceX launch if he played League of Legends, to which he said if he did, it "would damage the space program".

At the recent SpaceX launch, President-elect Trump and members of his family were in attendance hanging around with the Tesla, SpaceX and now DOGE boss asking him some space-related questions, but then the questions moved to gaming as they Elon is a gamer.

The group were talking about the difficulties of getting into space and blasting off to Mars, when Elon was asked: "what's harder, this or Greater Rifts in Diablo 4". Elon laughs, but then Kai Trump asks Elon if ever played Fortnite, to which he replied "no, but I did like Quake and a bunch of other first-person shooters". He was then asked "League, did you play League (of Legends)".

CD Projekt may plan to release some sort of new content in the next two years, potentially a new game.

Today, CD Projekt announced strong Q3 earnings results driven by continued sales of Cyberpunk 2077 (just hit 30 million sales) and The Witcher franchise.

In the Q&A section of the livecast, CD Projekt management said something very interesting about short-term business strategies--apparently new content would be arriving in the next two years.

Project Polaris, aka The Witcher 4, has now entered full principal development at CD Projekt RED's studios.

CD Projekt is full steam ahead on the next Witcher game. Codenamed Polaris, the adventure will be the first chapter in an epic new trilogy of games. The company currently has 61% of its development workforce on Project Polaris, or 400 people.

"I'm pleased to announce that several weeks ago it moved to full-scale production. Of all our projects, this one is currently the most far along, and we're starting the most intensive phase of development," CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said in an earnings brief.

Cyberpunk 2077 is still selling strong as the franchise hits another major milestone.

Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold over 30 million copies, CD Projekt RED today announced in its Q3 financials. According to our data, this significant sales breakthrough was made possible through 5 million games purchased from October 2023 - November 2024.

"Sales of Cyberpunk 2077 have topped 30 million copies, while the Phantom Liberty expansion has sold eight million units. These are impressive figures--they reveal the true size of the fan community and the scale of interest in the Cyberpunk universe," said CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz.

Apple has been rumored to be working on a new ultra-thin iPhone that's pegged to be launched sometime next year as part of the new iPhone 17 line-up.

It was only recently that an Apple analyst, Jeff Pu, agreed with the rumored thickness of the new device being 6mm, making this new iPhone the thinnest the company has ever released. For perspective, Apple's latest iPhone 16 and 16 Plus measure 7.80mm thick, and the thinnest iPhone ever made was the iPhone 6 at 6.9mm thick.

According to a new report from The Information, "iPhone 17 Air" prototypes are measuring between 5mm and 6mm thick. While this doesn't sound like a large reduction, it is pretty severe, which is why Apple engineers have had to make concessions as to what features are included in the rumored device.

A NASA scientist has captured an unprecedented view of a secret US military research base that is known as the "city under the ice".

That NASA scientist is Chad Greene, who was joined by other NASA engineers who were conducting testing on the Greenland Ice Sheet with a radar instrument, which gathers valuable data by beaming out radio waves at a target and measuring how long it takes for them to get back to the instrument. By doing this, researchers are able to map the surface of ice sheets, and what's beneath them. Using NASA's UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar) mounted to the belly of the aircraft, researchers detected signs of a base beneath the ice.

The team corroborated the radar data with the known coordinates of Camp Century, otherwise known as the "city under the ice". This scientific military base was drilled directly into the ice sheet of Greenland and was used during the Cold War as an outpost to conduct experiments on creating nuclear missiles capable of hitting the Soviet Union across Greenland. Camp Century is now approximately 100 feet below the surface, and the evidence of the base gathered recently by NASA scientists lines up with the historical maps of the base's planned layout, such as underground parallel structures used for all of the base's many facilities.

SpaceX recently completed its sixth flight of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, and now the company has released awesome footage of Ship splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

The Elon Musk-led company recently unlocked a new phase of development following its sixth launch of Starship, which was deemed a successful test flight despite automated health monitoring checks triggering Super Heavy, the booster, to abort a catch on the launch tower.

The suborbital flight took place on November 19, and the ship landed off the northwestern coast of Australia. The splashdown moment was captured by a camera floating in the water near the landing zone, which shows the 165-foot-tall upper stage of Starship slowly making a descent by firing its boosters. Notably, Flight 5 was launched during the morning time in Texas, which resulted in a splashdown in the Indian Ocean during the night local time. As for Flight 6, SpaceX conducted the launch during the late afternoon on November 19, resulting in a splashdown during daytime.

Microsoft has announced a "better way" of browsing the internet while PC gaming, with the company unveiling "Microsoft Edge Game Assist," the new way of browsing the internet while gaming.

Microsoft has taken to its Windows Blog to announce Microsoft Edge Game Assist, a new way to browse the internet in-game without having to alt-tab or pick up your phone, enabling a seamless gaming/browsing experience. Microsoft writes that "88% of PC players use a browser while gaming," and the browser is typically used for help on the game, tracking their in-game progress, or simply chatting with friends. Microsoft wants to remove the steps needed to access a browser, which if in fullscreen, requires a user to alt-tab.

The company explains that Game Assist is a "special version of Microsoft Edge" that has been optimized for PC gaming, and is able to appear "on top of your game in Game Bar". Microsoft writes it's "game aware and will suggest tips and guides for what you're playing." Additionally, the Game Assist Edge browser will share the same data as the standalone Edge browser, which means users won't need to log back into accounts.

IMAX is stepping up its game, announcing a partnership with Dubai-based startup Camb.ai, using its AI speech models to translate IMAX original content, including documentaries, to increase its global reach.

The entertainment industry has been going through some gigantic shifts, with the entertainment and media industry growing 5% to $2.8 trillion in 2023 according to a report published by PwC. The industry is expected to continue its momentum, with a compound annual growth rate of around 4% to $3.4 trillion in the next 5 years.

The fact that non-English language content is growing rapidly (even in English markets) including the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. Netflix reported 90% growth in its viewership of non-English content in the UK over the last 3 years, reports Yahoo Finance.

MSI's powerhouse MAG 321UPX QD-OLED gaming monitor is enjoying some Black Friday discount, with 11% off of the 32-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED monitor, bringing its price down to $799 at Amazon.

If you've got the GPU power to handle 4K 240FPS gaming -- NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 would be perfect, or the RTX 4080 or RTX 4080 SUPER -- or want to prepare yourself for the next-generation GeForce RTX 50 series (especially the new RTX 5090) then the MSI MAG 321UPX QD-OLED could be your next purchase.

32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel at 240Hz with 0.03ms response time and OLED Care 2.0, now priced at $799.