Learn about how TweakTown tests and reviews hardware. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you.
Stay Updated
Follow TweakTown for breaking tech news, reviews, and daily updates.
AI in real-life usage: Can't win an argument with your partner? Get ChatGPT to do it for you
Fallen out with your partner? That's nothing new, all couples have disagreements - or even more full-on arguments at times - but one person's solution, namely turning to AI, has gone viral for reasons that, well, you'll see.
This comes to us courtesy of a post on Reddit by 'Drawss4scoress' on r/AmITheA**hole (or AITAH) where as you can guess, people ask whether they might be, shall we say - in the wrong.
To sum up the gist of this scenario, Drawss4scoress has been dating their girlfriend for eight months, and every time they argue, to quote the Redditor:
New Kindle Colorsoft is Amazon's first-ever color Kindle and it's available for preorder
Color e-ink displays have existed for a while. Still, this week, Amazon announced its very first e-reader with a color display - the new Kindle Colorsoft (priced at $279.99 USD), available for preorder today.
As part of the announcement, Amazon noted that creating a colorized Kindle required more than simply swapping out the traditional black-and-white display for a color one. "It uses an oxide backplane with custom waveforms for fast performance and a higher contrast on both color and black-and-white content," Amazon writes in the announcement.
The display includes custom nitride LEDs that enhance color and brightness without affecting image quality. Amazon adds that you can zoom in on images without "worrying about pixelation." The new technology also means that Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite is the fastest yet, with 25% faster page turns.
Dell PowerEdge XE9712: NVIDIA GB200 NVL72-based AI GPU cluster for LLM training, inference
Dell has just unleashed its new PowerEdge XE9712 with NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 AI servers, with 30x faster real-time LLM performance over the H100 AI GPU.
Dell Technologies' new AI Factory with NVIDIA sees the GB200 NVL72 AI server cabinet with 30x faster real-time LLM performance, lighting-fast connectivity with 72 x B200 AI GPUs connected and acting as one with NVLink technology. Dell points out that the liquid-cooled system maximizes your datacenter power utilization, while rapid deployment will see your AI cluster at-scale, with a "white glove experience" adds Dell.
We have 25x more efficiency than Hopper H100, 8K for LLM training with the highest performance delta at 8K+ GPU clusters, and 30x faster real-time trillion-parameter LLM inference compared to the H100 AI GPU.
ASUS's ROG THOR III PSUs have patented 'GPU-First' tech for next-gen GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs
ASUS has announced its new line-up of Republic of Gamers (ROG) power supplies with the Thor III Series. This includes the ROG Thor 1600 W Titanium III, ROG Thor 1200 W Platinum III, and ROG Thor 1000 W Platinum III.
As premium ROG products, you've got gallium nitride (GaN) MOSFETs that are 30% more efficient than standard MOSFETs, high-performance copper components, a detachable magnetic OLED display, and something called 'GPU-FIRST' voltage sensing with a patented intelligent voltage stabilizer (IVS) cable.
ASUS says this enhances voltage delivery to your GPU by up to 45% for "smooth and consistent gaming." The Voltage Sensing Mode involves connecting a purple-colored patented IVS cable for more stable power. Disconnecting the cable switches things back to "conventional CPU-focused voltage sensing."
Intel and AMD are testing 12V-2x6 PCIe power connectors for their next-gen Radeon and Arc GPUs
The debut of the new 12VHPWR power connector with the arrival of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 Series wasn't smooth. With widespread reports of cables 'melting,' it led to a redesign with the newer and 'safer' 12V-2x6 power connectors. These new connectors can be found on the latest GeForce RTX 40 Series SUPER cards and will be utilized across NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 50 Series, coming early 2025.
According to a new report by the Hungarian outlet Prohardver (via Wccftech), Intel and AMD are currently testing 12V-2x6 power connectors with their partners to see if the new standard will be used in their upcoming GPUs. With Intel prepping next-gen Intel Arc 'Battlemage' and AMD prepping RDNA 4-powered Radeon RX GPUs for the desktop market, a shift in connector would mean that all next-gen GPUs will feature 12V-2x6 power connectors.
Interestingly, the report indicates that even though Intel and AMD are testing the new power connectors, they're still reluctant to change.
Google to buy nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power
Google has signed the world's first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors (SMR) to be developed by Kairos Power.
The company says that the initial phase of work will bring Kairos Power's first SMR online quickly and safely by 2030, followed by additional reactor deployments through 2035. Overall, this deal will enable up to 500MW of new 24/7 carbon-free power to US electricity grids, with Google adding that this will "help more communities benefit from clean and affordable nuclear power".
Google explains why the company is supporting new advanced nuclear energy: "This agreement is part of our efforts to develop and commercialize a broad portfolio of advanced clean electricity technologies to power our global data centers and offices. This approach will complement our use of variable renewables, like solar and wind, and help us reach our ambitious 24/7 carbon-free energy and net-zero goals".
Google shares photos of liquid-cooled NVIDIA Blackwell GB200 NVL racks for AI cloud platform
Google has teased some photos of using NVIDIA's new Blackwell GB200 NVL AI server racks for its AI cloud platform, using liquid-cooled GB200 AI GPUs. Check it out, because it's utterly gorgeous:
The official Google Cloud account shared the photo on X, with the US-based search giant showing off its first GB200 NVL-based server, deployed to power its AI cloud platform. Google is now deploying NVIDIA GB200 NVL racks for its AI cloud platform, showing off liquid-cooled GB200 high-performance AI GPUs: each of the GB200 chips feature 1 x Grace CPU and 1 x B200 AI GPU for up to 90 TFLOPs of FP64 compute performance.
Google is using custom GB200 NVL racks here, so we don't know what the configuration is exactly -- as the GB200 NVL72 packs 32 x Grace CPUs and 72 x B200 AI GPUs through a 72-GPU NVLink domain.
Qualcomm waiting for 2024 US election results before making its big move on Intel
Qualcomm is awaiting the outcome of the upcoming 2024 US presidential elections, before it sinks its teeth into an acquisition of Intel.
In a new report from BNN Bloomberg, we're learning that Qualcomm continues to discuss its takeover plans of Intel, but the company is waiting for the US 2024 presidential elections between Trump and Harris, before it makes its move. We should expect some big Qualcomm + Intel news in the first week of November, with the elections decided on November 5.
Qualcomm is awaiting a change at the White House to see what antitrust issues it'll be walking into depending on a Trump administration or Harris administration, as an acquisition of Intel is going to be incredibly difficult, no matter what happens with the 2024 US presidential elections.
Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 boosts publisher revenues by 1200%
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is a monstrous success for Pullup Entertainment (formerly Focus Home Entertainment).
Space Marine 2 has become a huge hit for developer Saber Interactive and publisher Pullup Entertainment. The game did so well at launch that Tim Willits, who had previously worked at id Software on games on Quake and Doom, said that Space Marine 2 could actually be the fastest-selling game he's ever worked on. The publisher went on to say Space Marine 2 has sold 4.5 million copies.
"Todd Hollenshead (former CEO of id Software) and I believe that Space Marine 2 is the fastest selling game we've ever worked on, including all the Quake, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and RAGE games over the years," Willits said when the game launched in September.
Continue reading: Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 boosts publisher revenues by 1200% (full post)
Sonos announces 'breakthrough' Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4 with new 'Sound Motion' tech
Sonos has just unveiled its new Arc Ultra, a new premium soundbar that features the company's revolutionary transducer technology called "Sound Motion" with a price of $999.
The company says that a significant breakthrough in audio engineering is something that Sonos is calling Sound Motion, which drastically reduces the size of the transducer while supercharging the bass, which the company adds opens a "new chapter in sound innovation where bigger, better sound can be delivered from smaller products".
Sonos' new Arc Ultra delivers up to double the bass of its predecessor, with an unprecedented 9.1.4 spatial audio in a sleek, sophisticated design. The company has also unveiled its new Sonos Sub 4, which is the next-generation of our iconic subwoofer with a refreshed design and internals, that Sonos says will "elevate your favorite movies, hit shows and more with rumbling bass".
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero sells 3 million copies in first day
The latest Dragon Ball fighting game has ignited the industry with a killer kamehameha on the competition.
Interactive entertainment proves once again that nostalgia is one hell of a sales pitch. This time the nostalgia effect has driven up sales of the latest Dragon Ball game to astronomical heights, making this the third quarterly hit for Bandai Namco--Tekken 8 in Q4, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree in Q1, and now Dragon Ball Sparking Zero in Q3.
"Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. today announced DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, the first sequel in more than 15 years in the legendary DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI TENKAICHI series, has surpassed a total of 3 million units sold worldwide in 24 hours after its launch," the company said in a press release.
Continue reading: Dragon Ball Sparking Zero sells 3 million copies in first day (full post)
Halo Infinite's cancelled Tatanka battle royale would have been a 'game changer,' director says
Halo Infinite's unannounced battle royale game has been mentioned by a former Certain Affinity developer.
343 Industries' original vision for Halo Infinite was an interesting one. Both the F2P multiplayer and premium campaign came to fruition, but the team was also working on a new gametype alongside longtime franchise partner Certain Affinity.
The mode was codenamed Tatanka, and would've been Halo's take on the then-popular battle royale craze (for reference, Call of Duty Warzone, a breakout battle royale hit, achieved 85 million players in less than a year and contributed many millions of mTX revenues).
Discord only exists because of Final Fantasy XI
Discord's co-founder says that the app was created to have a better way to talk about Final Fantasy XI with friends.
Square Enix's 2002 MMORPG Final Fantasy XI is one of the main inspirations for Discord, the world's most popular video games chat platform. In a recent interview with Japanese publication Famitsu, Discord co-creator and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevsky said that the first prototype of the app was made specifically to discuss FFXI with both written and voice chatting.
"When I was a student, I was obsessed with FF11 , and I made something like a prototype of Discord as software that could be used while playing the game. From there, I moved to California and joined a company called GREE, where I met co-founder Jason Citron. I thought it would be nice to make the communication tool we created available to even more people, so I started developing Discord in earnest," Vishnevsky said.
Continue reading: Discord only exists because of Final Fantasy XI (full post)
Microsoft 'resolves' class-action antitrust lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard merger
The class-action antitrust lawsuit challenging the $70 billion Microsoft-Activision merger has been dismissed.
One of the last lawsuits opposing Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard has been dismissed. The case in question, Dante DeMartini et al v. Microsoft, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:22-cv-08991-JSC, also referred to as the "gamer's lawsuit" by media, alleged that Microsoft's buyout of Activision Blizzard King showed signs of breaking antitrust law. A group of private citizens banded together to sue to challenge the merger, seeking an enjoining ruling that would prevent the two groups from merging.
The case has been dismissed with prejudice by the courts, meaning that the same complaints cannot be refiled. It's believed that Microsoft has settled the lawsuit with the plaintiffs, but exact details remain unclear.
Hate Windows 11's modern looks and interface? Now you can make it look like Windows 95
When Windows 11 arrived, it received a rather lukewarm reception - something that continues up until today, in some respects (as evidenced by the OS adoption figures) - and some of that reaction was bound up in the interface.
Granted, most of the grimacing was around mysterious and baffling UI changes (getting rid of 'never combine', taskbar options and so on), but there were folks who didn't take to the new look (and especially the Start menu).
Of course, if you want to tinker and customize Windows 11, you have a raft of options and software to help you, and one intrepid modder has illustrated how radical a change it's possible to make - in reskinning Windows 11 to look like Windows 95.
Reminder: Microsoft also sells refurbished Xbox Series X/S consoles at a discount
Microsoft just released its new Xbox Series X/S lineup, but the company is also selling refurbished models at a discounted rate.
The new Xbox Series X/S models are currently out and Microsoft is selling its disc-less Xbox Series X for about $450, which is a savings of $50 off the retail price of the main disc-based console. The value proposition here is just upfront savings--paying less to be forever locked out of any kind of physical media being played or read on the console.
But Microsoft is also selling fully-fledged Series X consoles with disc drives on its website for the same price. These are refurbished units and are guaranteed to work and operate, and they also come with the standard one-year hardware warranty. There's also two Xbox Series S variants being sold as refurbished stock--the newer 1TB Series S for $299 and the 512GB Series S for $249.
Own a Western Digital SSD? Windows 11 24H2 could be a BSoD nightmare - but there's a fudged fix
It seems that Windows 11 24H2 has another bug, and a pretty nasty one at that, affecting some of those who have a Western Digital SSD.
After installing the 24H2 update, owners of certain NVMe drives are finding that Blue Screen of Death crashes are being triggered randomly, seriously disrupting their PC usage - or even worse, they're ending up in a boot loop, one of the most-feared negative outcomes from an update.
TechSpot, which noticed the problem being reported on WD's community forum, notes that the bug seems to mainly hit those with WD_BLACK SN770 and WD Blue SN580 SSDs (which don't have DRAM-based cache).
RTX 50 for Q1 2025 launch: RTX 5090, 5080 in January, RTX 5070 in February, RTX 5060 in March
NVIDIA is rumored to have a Q1 2025 launch schedule of January 2025 for the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, February for the RTX 5070, and March for the RTX 5060.
In the latest rumors from Chinese Board Channels, we're hearing reports that the final launch plans for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" gaming GPUs will be staged out across Q1 2025. The post explains: "The latest news reveals that the release dates for the NVIDIA RTX 50 series are mostly confirmed. This time, the various models of the RTX50 series may be launched rather quickly, with a near-monthly release schedule".
It continues: "Based on the information available, the estimated release timeline is as follows: the tentative release dates for the RTX50 series have been set. At CES in January 2025, NVIDIA will launch the RTX5090D and 5080 series. In February, the RTX5070TI and 5070 series will be released, followed by the RTX5060TI and 5060 series in March. This means the entire lineup will be released within Q1 of 2025. As of now, there are no plans for any SUPER models".
Ubisoft rumored to kill support for a major title after sharp player count decline
Ubisoft is experiencing one of its most tumultuous periods in recent memory. Following the controversy surrounding the Assassin's Creed Shadows, which delayed its launch until next year, Ubisoft has found itself in another potential boiling pot of negativity.
Gamerant has reported that Ubisoft is considering ending XDefiant after its fourth season if developers are unable to attract a significant increase in players. Previous rumors suggested XDefiant was suffering from a dwindling player base, which was denied by the game's executive producer, Mark Rubin, a Call of Duty veteran who worked on some of the franchise's biggest releases. However, insiders speaking to Gamerant said that despite Rubin's assurances that XDefiant isn't dying, Ubisoft is ready to put it on the chopping block.
Industry insider and leaker Shaun Weber posted on October 14 that he has learned Ubisoft's research team is actively asking their playtesters to host an in-house test session to gather new feedback on XDefiant and that if player counts aren't increased, support for the title could be severed post Season 4.
Intel Battlemage desktop GPU reveal could be imminent - mark October 29 in your diary
Are we about to see Intel reveal its discrete Battlemage graphics cards to take the baton from standalone Alchemist GPUs? Maybe, if a hint that Team Blue has dropped pans out.
Leaker HXL on X pointed out that Intel has its Partner Alliance BaseCamp event coming up on October 29, and there are a few key topics that the company highlights:
It's the top one which is interesting, as the theory is that 'client graphics updates' must surely refer to Battlemage, and with the integrated GPUs for 2nd-gen Arc already having arrived, perhaps this is a reference to the desktop graphics cards finally getting an unveiling.






















