The Internet Archive is an invaluable resource, a digital library for the planet that gives people free access to digitized books, magazines, software, music, and even websites (thanks to the Wayback Machine). It preserves humanity's collected works for current and future generations.

However, thanks to a recent US court decision that ruled in favor of major publishers in a copyright infringement lawsuit, over 500,000 of half a million books are being removed from the Internet Archive's Open Library project. The organization is appealing the decision, but the books cover the works of publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley - the big boys.

So, many known books are unavailable in the Open Library. The good news is that the verdict doesn't affect the Internet Archive's accessibility program, so the affected books are still available for those with print disabilities.

The South Korean government has (finally) announced a comprehensive support plan for its semiconductor ecosystem at the Economic Ministers' Meeting on June 26.

In a new report from Business Korea, we're learning that in order to make South Korea's position in the global semiconductor market absolutely dominant (more so than it is) will be super-powered by this new bill passing through the South Korean government.

The new initiative builds on the 26 trillion won (around $18 billion USD) direction outlined in the 2nd Economic Issue Review Meeting, which has a focus on boosting the overall competitiveness of the semiconductor ecosystem in South Korea.

Samsung is reportedly ahead of next-generation panel-level packaging (PLP) in its never-ending semiconductor battle with TSMC.

In a new report from Business Korea, we're hearing that Samsung is making "significant strides" in the semiconductor packaging industry, "positioning itself ahead of TSMC in the Panel Level Packaging (PLP) field". This new development comes after Samsung acquired the PLP business from Samsung Electro-Mechanics back in 2019 for around $581 million.

During Samsung's recent shareholders meeting in March 2024, the former head of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor (DS) division, Kyung Kye-hyun, elaborated on the necessity of PLP technology. He said: "AI semiconductor dies (rectangular pieces with circuits) are typically 600mm x 600mm or 800mm x 800mm in size, necessitating technologies like PLP," he explained, adding, "Samsung Electronics is also developing and collaborating with clients".

SK hynix is continuing to boost its lead in the new cutting-edge field of what's being referred to as "dream memory" or 3D DRAM, with the South Korean giant recently hitting 56% yields on the new 3D DRAM.

In a new article by Business Korea and their industry sources, on June 23, SK hynix presented a research paper on the new 3D DRAM, aka "dream memory" at the semiconductor conference VLSI 2024, held in Hawaii between June 16-20.

At the event, SK hynix reported manufacturing yields of 3D DRAM, which is stacked in 5 layers, recording 56.1% yields. This means that there's around 561 viable devices produced out of 1000 3D DRAMs manufactured on a single test wafer. SK hynix's experimental 3D DRAM technology showed characteristics that are similar to what is used on 2D DRAM, with SK hynix disclosing specific numbers and operational features of its 3D DRAM development.

FromSoftware games are notoriously difficult, and typically, when a new title from the developer is released, it's met with a wave of gamers complaining about the overall difficulty.

This sentiment has been abundantly true for the recent Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, with thousands of gamers taking to Steam to review the game poorly for its difficulty (and some performance issues).

However, the difficulty in FromSoftware games isn't about to change, at least that's according to FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki, who said in a recent interview with The Guardian that players need to experience extreme difficulty to be given a "sense of achievement," and that reducing the difficulty "would break the game itself."

The first Neuralink patient has said his brain implant has given him "aimbot" making gaming particularly easy, so much so he believes there will be brain chip-dedicated leagues of gamers.

Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old man who became Neuralink's first human patient to receive a Brain Chip Interface (BCI), was granted the ability to control a computer cursor with his thoughts. Arbaugh became paralyzed from the neck down following a diving accident several years ago and decided to enroll in the Neuralink study to improve his quality of life. Arbaugh said during an interview with Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that his quality of life has drastically improved as he can now once again interact with the world in a meaningful way.

During the podcast Arbaugh says he is able to play video games such as Mario Kart and others. The Neuralink patient continued and said the BCI has given him "aimbot in my head", which refers to hacks that some gamers download that give them the ability to automatically lock onto an opponent's head. These types of hacks are commonly used in First-Person-Shooter (FPS) titles.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy is truly a remarkable sight, especially because its boosters land in unison, offering a glimpse into the future of space travel.

The recent Falcon Heavy launch involved transporting a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite into orbit approximately 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface. The new satellite is designed to monitor weather conditions across various regions of Earth, such as the United States, South America, and Central America.

The satellite was transported to its designated place in orbit by Falcon Heavy, which is comprised of three of the Falcon 9 boosters and is specifically designed for heavy payloads, hence the name. The NOAA satellite called the GOES-U was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, and upon launch the Falcon Heavy generated 5.5 million pounds of thrust.

An American healthcare provider that serves more than 1.2 million people is concerned a former employee from the Microsoft-owned Nuance Communications stole sensitive data on more than a million patients.

Geisinger, an American healthcare provider for more than a 1.2 million people across Pennsylvania announced a security breach took place last year that was traced back to a former employee of Nuance Communications, the Microsoft-owned IT provider. Geisinger discovered the security breach on November 29 and immediately contacted Nuance Communications, which discovered the individual removed his access before the authorities were notified.

Nuance Communications then launched its own investigation and discovered the former was terminated from their position and then two days later accessed the sensitive records, making copies of records on more than a million Geisinger patients. The data includes birth dates, addresses, hospital admissions, discharge records, medical data, and demographic information. Notably, financial and insurance information wasn't stolen, according to Geisinger.

Microsoft is moving to a world where a Windows user will be required to have a Microsoft account, and now the company has taken another step in that direction.

A new report from Tom's Hardware has pointed out that Microsoft has quietly removed the guide for transferring from a local account to a Microsoft account from its support page. Using the Internet Archive, we can see Microsoft previously had a set of instructions, albeit buried in a convoluted manner in its support pages, that informed users how to "Change from a local account to a Microsoft account".

These instructions were simply four steps and a notably helpful link that took users directly to the correct submenu. Prior to the removal of these instructions, Microsoft stated on the same support page it still "recommends" users create a Microsoft account. The prompt was similar to the alert users get when attempting to transition to a local account.

Microsoft is cooking up its next-generation Xbox console, with industry analyst Mat Piscatella saying that it'll be all-digital and that Microsoft will walk away from physical copies of next-gen Xbox games.

This isn't too much of a surprise, where earlier this year we reported that Microsoft had huge Xbox layoffs as the industry was moving (full steam ahead) into an all-digital gaming world. In a new post on X, Piscatella said that Xbox gamers should expect to see physical games leaving shelves sooner, rather than later.

Piscatella expects Sony and Nintendo to do something similar, but it will be a couple of generations from now. Piscatella said PlayStation should go full digital with the PlayStation 7 (so expect physical PlayStation 6 games) while Nintendo will be another two generations of physical games before moving to all-digital with the Switch (or whatever comes after the Switch 2 or Super Switch, whatever Nintendo ends up calling its next-gen platform).

Apple will be unleashing its next-generation A18 processor for its new iPhone 16 family of smartphones, which will roll out with ChatGPT-powered Apple Intelligence.

In a new rumor, we're hearing that the new A18 chipset will be more powerful than the new M4 processor that has rolled out inside of new iPad Pros recently. Apple's new M4 processor is inside of the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro slates have the most powerful Apple silicon to date, with its built-in Neural Engine capable of 38 TOPS of AI workload performance.

Apple's new A18 and A18 Pro chips will be made at TSMC on its 3nm "N3E" process node, providing the company with impressive performance per watt numbers.

AMD will be tapping the most advanced processes for each generation of product in the future, while adopting innovative design technologies.

Leading right into the Zen 5 launch, The Next Platform has interviewed AMD Executive Vice President, Forrest Norrod, who made some interesting comments of AMD's products in the future. Timothy Prickett Morgan of TNP asked: "Let's cut right to the chase scene after the announcement of Intel's first "Sierra Forest" Xeon 6 CPUs and your revelations about the future "Turin" line of Epyc CPUs two weeks ago. It looks to me like until Intel has anything close to parity on process and packaging with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, that they can't catch you on CPUs. Is the situation really that simple until 2025 or 2026?"

AMD senior executive Forrest Norrod explained: "I don't want to handicap Intel's capabilities on process. Pat Gelsinger has got a very aggressive plan and we always assume they are going to do what they say. And so, all we can do is run as fast as we possibly can on both the design and the process of TSMC".

TSMC CoWoS advanced packaging production capacity is in "serious short supply," reports UDN

Just as the new plant located in Nanke Chiayi Park in Taiwan is expanding production, the downstream supply chain broke news that TSMC is eyeing off going to Pingtung to build a new CoWoS advanced packaging plant, and is now looking into appropriate land in Taiwan for the new site.

TSMC hasn't responded to the new CoWoS advanced packaging facility rumors, with a National Science Council source telling UDN: "I have not heard anything about it so far". TSMC has packaging and testing production capacity in Longtan, Zhuke, Zhunan, Zhongke, Nanke, and other places.

AMD's new flagship Zen 5-based Ryzen 9 9950X processor has been benchmarked again, this time in AIDA64 tests with DDR5-8000 memory... blasting up to 45% more performance over the current Zen 4-based Ryzen 9 7950X processor.

Some alleged benchmarks were provided by AnandTech forum member "igor_kavinski," who reportedly has his hands on an engineering sample (ES) version of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor. He ran the 9950X processor on an AM5 motherboard with DDR5-8000 memory operating at CL34-45-40-42 timings.

Inside, the new Ryzen 9 9950X processor has two Zen 5 CCs and a single IOD, with the CPU packing 16 cores and 32 threads with a base CPU clock of 4.3GHz and boost clock of up to 5.7GHz.

ASUS has just (accidentally) confirmed AMD's new Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs will be launching on July 15.

ASUS operates its own online stores, with a bunch of Strix Point APU-powered laptops teaed on the eir website. ASUS says that its new Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) OLED laptop will ship "by 7/15" and it on multiple regional stores owned by ASUS, confirming the release date (at least, from ASUS and not AMD directly).

AMD hasn't confirmed July 15 for the launch of Zen 5 "Strix Point" APUs, but we now know it's kinda confirmed for just three weeks from now. AMD's desktop Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" processors are reportedly launching on July 31, two weeks after Strix Point, but there's no clarification on that, yet.

Intel isn't far from launching its next-generation Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" CPUs, which were teased at Computex 2024 earlier this month. Thanks to new leaks, we now have details on all of the models.

The new Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" CPUs have been detailed in all their unreleased glory by VideoCardz, with a new flagship chip teased: the Core Ultra 9 288V, which seems to be the new flagship Lunar Lake processor. The new Core Ultra 9 288V will feature a 30W PL1 (Processor Base Power) and 30W PL2 (Maximum Turbo Power), making it the only chip with 30W PL1.

We should expect up to 9 different SKUs of Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" CPUs, with the Core Ultra 9 288V at the top and the Core Ultra 5 226V at the bottom. The Core Ultra 9 288V will have 32GB of on-package LPDDR5-8533 memory, P-Core boosts of up to 5.1GHz, E-Core boosts of up to 3.7GHz, and Xe2-GPU "Battlemage" integrated graphics through Arc 140V at up to 2.05GHz.

Dr. Disrespect has officially commented on the recent controversy surrounding the popular streamer, and has confirmed exactly why he was banned from Twitch.

Back in 2020, Twitch made the curious decision to ban Dr. Disrespect, one of the most well-known celebrities in the space. Fast-forwarding to the present day, one ex-Twitch employee let slip the alleged reason that Doc was banned from the platform.

Today, Dr. Disrespect has formally revealed the actual reason for his ban on Twitch with an official statement.

Will game streaming replace dedicated gaming? Not any time soon, at least that's what former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden believes. The "Netflix of gaming" isn't expected in his lifetime.

Back in 2019, game streaming was all the rage. Google made a big splash into streaming with Stadia, the failed game client-and-storefront package that attempted to sell AAA games at big $60 prices. Microsoft also furthered streaming with xCloud, wrapping it in a convenient and well-managed package with its Game Pass subscription. Sony had established streaming years ago after its purchase of Gaikai, transforming the service into PlayStation Now, and further evolved it into PS Plus Premium. NVIDIA likewise has dominated PC game cloud streaming with its GeForce Now service.

Despite these big, expansive (and expensive) efforts from some of the biggest names in tech, game streaming hasn't taken off according to plan. Google shut down Stadia, and both xCloud and PS Plus streaming options are mostly used to sample games--not as the primary way to actually play long sessions.

Is console gaming hurdling towards ruin? Former PlayStation chairman Shawn Layden gives a frank answer on the current state of play with the traditional nexus of Big 3 hardware.

In terms of revenues, console gaming is still doing quite well. But hardware uptake is slowing compared to previous generations; gamers are buying fewer PlayStations and Xbox's during the Gen9 console cycle, and a significant portion of PlayStation gamers are still on the PS4 (the Nintendo Switch, however, is doing exceptionally well with its mid-generation cycle).

Even through yesterday's COVID boom and today's recession-driven market, the age-old question has remained: Is console gaming in trouble? In a recent interview with IGN, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden shares his candid thoughts on the existential threat to consoles--the expectation of continued, compounding growth.

Boeing's Starliner capsule was delayed for years and then scrubbed from two launch attempts, only to transport two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), and then leave them stranded.

It appears Boeing's airline fleet isn't the only product it manufactures that has problems, as its Starliner capsule was found to be leaking helium upon arrival at the ISS. More specifically, two helium leaks were detected right after the launch on June 5, and one leak was identified prior to the launch. NASA and Boeing both signed off on the leak discovered before launch, giving the go-ahead before the problem was fixed.

NASA and Boeing have now identified five sources of the helium leaks after it arrived at the ISS. Since the capsule's arrival, it has been under investigation, but the goal of the two NASA astronauts having a clear means of returning back to Earth hit a bump in the road, as NASA announced on Friday that it currently doesn't have any plans of a return journey via Starliner. Additionally, the return mission scheduled for Wednesday, June 26, has been canceled.