Hardware reviewers GamersNexus have earned a positive reputation for providing in-depth testing and analysis as part of their reviews and investigations into issues surrounding hardware faults. Like everyone in the industry, the channel has been reporting on the whole Intel CPU fiasco surrounding 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, including the recent confirmation by Intel that any damage is permanent.

However, with news that the outlet is putting together a multi-part in-depth report on the issues surrounding Intel's failing CPUs, GamersNexus has taken to X/Twitter to call out Intel - calling the company "unbelievably slimy." These are bold words, possibly due to how Intel has handled this issue over the past several months. However, it's most likely due to how Intel has responded to GamersNexus as part of its investigation.

Calling a company as big as Intel "unbelievably slimy" is no small thing, and for Intel, at least, the CPU debacle seems to be going from bad to worse.

Popular hardware and component retailer Newegg has expanded its trade-in program to include CPUs - just in time for the arrival of AMD's Ryzen 9000 Series. This announcement comes alongside the ongoing controversy surrounding Intel's 13th and 14th-generation CPUs. However, you need to know how Newegg's trade-ins work.

Newegg provides a pricing guide covering the components' trade-in value, and the trade-in values are noticeably low. Here are some examples of USD. The mainstream Intel Core i5-13600K will cost $150, the flagship Core i9-14900K $300, and the previous-gen flagship Core i9-13900K $260. On the AMD front, the Ryzen 9 7950X will cost $310, with the popular Ryzen 7 7 7800X3D worth $220.

On average, Newegg's trade-in prices are around 50% lower than what could be obtained by selling these CPUs on eBay, which is disappointing. However, there's the added convenience of trading in your old CPU for something new without hassle unless something goes wrong.

Windows 11 could see Copilot coming to the Start menu in some form, if a clue spotted in preview builds of the operating system is anything to go on.

Windows Latest, the source of a good many leaks related to Windows 11, has been doing some digging in previews of the incoming 24H2 update, and uncovered some hidden code.

Specifically, the tech site found a 'CotextualCopilotActionsOnStartRecommended' string which suggests that, well, Copilot could be integrated in the Start menu in some way.

Google has been battling deep fakes of people who didn't consent to their creation for quite some time, but recently, the search engine giant has upped its efforts.

The increase in its efforts against AI-generated non-consensual deepfakes is in response to the rise of generative AI tools that are making it easier for people to create deepfakes of people without their consent. Google has decided to respond to the influx of AI-generated content with a new system that streamlines the request for removal process from the victims' perspective, along with improvements to the response to removal requests.

Additionally, when the new system confirms a request it is then added to the algorithm, which is designed to filter out any other explicit instances related to the individual from Google Search. Any duplicates of the content will automatically be removed, even if its posted on various social media platforms. Moreover, the new system works to proactively reduce the spread of deepfake content that is emerging.

Since 2019, Russian-affiliated hackers have hijacked an estimated 30,000 domains since 2019, with the cybercriminals exploiting a flaw in DNS.

The vulnerability was detailed by security researcher Matt Bryant in 2016, who looked at how the vulnerability led to the hijacking of 120,000 domains. The same problem reared its head again in 2019 with GoDaddy, an internet domain registry, domain registrar, and web hosting company. The 2019 issue led to sextortion attempts and bomb threats.

The technique being used is called Sitting Ducks. It essentially exploits gaps in administrative privileges, enabling cybercriminals to alter domain records without any validation from the owner. Unfortunately, the hijacked domain isn't just damaging for the owner of the domain but also for any visitor to that domain, as hijacked domains are commonly used for phishing, scams, spam, and other illegal activity.

ASUS has launched a new dual-mode gaming monitor that gives the user the option of switching between 4K @ 240Hz and 1080p (FHD) @ 480Hz.

Introducing the ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP, a new gaming monitor that comes with a dedicated button for switching resolution and refresh rate. The PG32UCDP uses the new WOLED panel technology that enables this switching feature, which is presumably designed for gamers who flex between games that call for image clarity and high refresh rates. I'd imagine the PG32UCDP would be particularly useful for gamer who jumps between FPS and RPG titles.

As for the specifications, the PG32UCDP comes with an Anti-glare finish across the panel, Auto-KVM functionality, a 0.03ms GtG response time, and a 99% DCI-P3 color gamut. As for connectivity, ASUS has outfitted the PG32UCDP with a DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC port, a HDMI 2.1 port, a USB 3.2 hub, a SPDIF port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C port capable of 90W power delivery charging.

The CEO of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian has said during an interview on Wednesday the global CrowdStrike outage cost the company half a billion dollars in lost revenue, as the company was forced to cancel thousands of flights and put travelers up in hotels.

The global CrowdStrike catastrophe is still unfolding. We are just now hearing the first estimations of how much revenue was lost as a result of millions of Windows PCs being thrown into blue screen of death boot loops. For those who don't know, CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company, pushed out a faulty update to its security software, which is downloaded on millions of Windows machines around the world.

The faulty driver update triggered an error within the kernel, or before the PC boots to the user mode of Windows, leading to infinite blue screens of death. It was only recently that a cloud monitoring and insurance company estimated the global loss of revenue as a result of the outage to be $15 billion. That same insurance company estimated an $830 million loss for airlines.

Microsoft confirmed via an update on its Azure Status website that a 9-hour outage was a result of a DDoS attack that affected its Microsoft 365 and Azure services.

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack affected the services globally, and within the blog post, Microsoft didn't specify where or who the attack came from. More specifically, the post states that while the initial DDoS attack did trigger the event, it was responded to by Microsoft's protection mechanisms, but following investigations, Redmond discovered "the implementation of our defenses amplified the impact of the attack rather than mitigating it."

Furthermore, Microsoft said that customer impact began at 11:45 UTC, and by 14:10 UTC, the fix was already rolled out, and the majority of the impact was successfully mitigated. The only details we have on how the outage occurred was Microsoft's description of the outage being caused by an "unexpected usage spike" that "resulted in Azure Front Door (AFD) and Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) components performing below acceptable thresholds, leading to intermittent errors, timeout, and latency spikes."

Microsoft is testing further Discord integration on Xbox as a new feature has hit the Insider program for Xbox users.

Reports indicate that Microsoft has rolled out a new update that enables users to view Discord streams straight from their Friends list. The new option has appeared for users in Xbox's insider program, specifically those in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings. That isn't all of the new Discord features, as Microsoft is reportedly testing the integration of Discord buddies, which appear in your Friends list by relinking accounts.

Having Discord buddies enabled will mean a user will be able to jump into a voice channel without having to use their smartphone or PC. It's great to see further Discord integration into Xbox and if it will be possible for popular PC features such as share-screen will eventually make their way over to consoles. In other Microsoft-Xbox news, the company announced the end of an iconic Xbox era, as the Xbox 360 store was officially sunsetted.

On the heels of Reddit rolling out an update that booted Microsoft's Bing from accessing its data, Reddit's CEO has come out slammed Microsoft and other big tech companies for refusing to negotiate.

Reddit pivoted early this year and made major changes to its business, particularly how it handles its API with third parties. Seeing the massive rise in demand for data to train AI models, Reddit altered its API policies and began charging for access to its massive data pool. This change nuked popular third-party Reddit apps that were used by thousands of users. Reddit users caused the platform to go dark after that, but it has seemingly recovered.

These new API changes and Reddit now selling access to its data scored the company a deal with Google, which includes the $60 million a year paycheck for direct access to Reddit's wells of user data. Additionally, Reddit also signed on to OpenAI, which enables Reddit posts to appear in responses from ChatGPT and other AI tools. No specific financials were revealed about the deal.

It's only a matter of time before artificial intelligence-powered devices integrate into different facets of society, and considering these impressive AI tools are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), it only makes sense the integration begins with roles that require communication with humans.

One of the fundamental aspects of LLMs and, by extension, these AI-powered chatbots is to bridge the gap between human and machine communication. Microsoft recently revealed it created an AI model that was so powerful that it could perfectly replicate the sound of an individual's voice to the point where it was indistinguishable from the human-generated voice. Microsoft deemed the technology too dangerous to release to the public.

On the other end of the spectrum, AI voice generators could be capable of replacing a monotonous job such as a drive-thru server. Taco Bell is seemingly one of the first to take this step, as the fast-food chain revealed in a new press release that its parent company, Yum! Brands has been testing "Voice AI" technology at more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thru locations across the US. The parent company plans on bringing the technology to "hundreds" of more locations.

Samsung has launched new 1TB capacity variants of its Samsung PRO Plus and Samsung EVO Plus microSD cards, bringing capacity and speed to various compatible devices. Having 1TB to play with on a tiny microSD is impressive, with sequential read speeds of 180MB/s on the PRO Plus and 160MB/s on the EVO Plus - fast enough for 4K video and gaming.

As you can slot a microSD card into a range of portable gaming devices, including the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and countless other Windows and Android gaming handhelds from companies like MSI, Lenovo, and AYANEO, 1TB goes a long way.

As Samsung highlights in its announcement, it's enough to store 45 console games (weighing 20GB each) or over 400,000 4K images.

During financial earnings calls to investors, EA's CEO, Andrew Wilson, has a history of hyping up the games in development across the various studios under the Electronic Arts umbrella. A few months ago, we reported on Wilson proclaiming that the next mainline Battlefield game, currently in development, has the "largest team in franchise history" working on it.

As part of the latest financial earnings call covering the company's various games and franchises, Wilson stated that not only is the new Battlefield game being worked on by the largest team in the series' history, but that it's "one of the most ambitious projects in our history."

This comes down to rumors and reports indicating that it will include single-player, multiplayer, and various modes as a one-stop Battlefield portal. Apparently, four studios are working on it, including franchise creators DICE and Criterion Games. However, Andrew Wilson also threw out the same "one of the most ambitious projects" line for the previous game, Battlefield 2042.

To "expand the knowledge base of the gaming industry" and for non-commercial use and education, Activision has made the giant Caldera map from Call of Duty: Warzone open-source. The publisher and developer says this is a first-of-its-kind "data" release for Call of Duty and gaming, available in OpenUSD. It includes the geometry from the map plus "time samples showing how players move around the map."

Okay, so at this point, you're probably wondering what unlimited access to a giant Call of Duty battle royale map brings to the table. Well, for one, it's a great tool for machine learning, research, and education in various fields while also helping to advance game development.

"In an era where AI training and the evolution of authoring tools are pivotal, the availability of production-proven maps is crucial," Activision explains. On that note, the Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera map is the most extensive and complex bits of environmental geometry ever released as an open-source data set.

SK hynix has announced it will be attending FMS 2024, a global semiconductor memory event held in Santa Clara, California, where it will showcase advancements in its memory technologies and products and present "future visions" in the AI space.

The Future Memory and Storage was formerly known as the Flash Memory Summit (FMS) event for NAND providers mainly, was rebranded this year to invite a wider range of participants including DRAM and storage providers, thanks to the rocket-fueled demand in AI hardware.

SK hynix will give a keynote speech at FMS 2024 next week, where it will promote its competitiveness in leading the AI memory solution industry, with the company pointing out just "as it did with the announcement of the development of the industry's highest 321-layer NAND at FMS last year".

Apple has been making some of its iPhones in India for a while now, but rumor has it that higher-end iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max smartphones will be made in India for the first time ever.

According to sources that spoke with Money Control, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be made in India. One of the sources said it's happening for Apple to "deepen its manufacturing capabilities with partners in India".

The source confirmed that for this generation of iPhone, Apple will "make sure the India-assembled iPhone 16 models are available in the country after the launch".

TSMC will host a groundbreaking ceremony next month in Dresden, Germany, to celebrate its first semiconductor plant in Europe.

The milestone is a big one as TSMC expands its global semiconductor production footprint, with TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei leading a delegation from the company and host equipment and material suppliers, clients, and government officials on August 20 as a sign of TSMC's commitment to its investments into Germany.

TSMC's semiconductor plant in Dresden was formally known as European Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (ESMC) is scheduled to begin operation in late 2027, according to sources of Nikkei Asia. The new semiconductor plant in Dresden will represent a "new dimension for sustainable semiconductor production in Europe" according to the invitation to TSMC's event, as seen by Nikkei Asia.

China has just jumped on the AI PC bandwagon with the country's first AI-focused consumer processor based on the Arm architecture, with 45 TOPS of AI workload performance.

Chinese company Cixin Technology has unveiled its new Cixin P1, based on the Arm architecture-similar to Qualcomm's new fleet of Arm-based Snpadragon X series SoCs. The Cixin P1 features a 12-core Arm CPU split into 8 performance cores and 4 efficient cores, with a boost of up to 3.2GHz, and made on the 6nm process node.

Cixin is reportedly promising up to 45 TOPS of AI performance from the NPU inside of its new Cixin P1 SoC, which means they instantly jump up to the level of AMD's new Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs (which have just hit the market inside of a large number of Strix Point-powered laptops) and Intel's coming Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" CPUs (ready for a September 3 announcement).

AMD posted some better-than-expected Q2 2024 earnings this week, but its gaming business took a rather large 59% revenue drop year-over-year.

During its Q2 2024 earnings report, it was noted that gaming revenues dropped 59%, which covers the Radeon GPU business and semi-custom chips provided by AMD (made by TSMC) to Microsoft for its Xbox Series X/S consoles and Sony for its PlayStation 5 consoles.

Microsoft announced earlier today its Q4 2024 earnings results, with its Xbox sales dropping 42% year-over-year, which brings down AMD's gaming revenue. Radeon sales haven't been anywhere near as strong compared to NVIDIA's Ada-tight grip on the gaming GPU market with its GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs... and RTX 50 series GPUs only months away.

Microsoft has actually removed adverts from something in Windows 11, albeit it's likely an app you've forgotten about - namely Skype.

If you recall, when Windows 11 was released (in 2021), Skype was dropped as a default (pre-installed) app from the roster (replaced by Microsoft Teams instead). However, the Skype client is still available for Windows 11 (and is still happily chugging along on other platforms), you just have to download it from the Microsoft Store.

Wherever you use Skype, the good news is that with a new preview build for testers, all the adverts have been banished from the app.