Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed his government to organize and create a domestic gaming console that would compete with the likes of the PlayStation and Xbox consoles... with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade seeking a company to help it create a console.

However, the ministry is also talking with businesses and other departments to work out if the necessary resources and support are there for the project, with experts doubting a Russian-made console is something that will happen without the Russian government providing subsidies, with massive amounts of time (many years) and investment required.

After Putin's presidential directive in making a Russian-made gaming console, skeptical experts are still concerned, saying that no Russian company is capable of creating a console that competes with Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox console, as these consoles pack some of the most bleeding-edge chips on the market, that cost hundreds of millions, but more like billions of dollars to develop.

Phison had plenty to show off at Computex 2024 earlier this month, including the world's first DRAM-less Gen5 SSD controller with the new Phison PS5031-E31T Gen5 SSD controller. Check it out:

The company says that its new PS5031-E31T Gen5 SSD controller is essential in making Gen5 SSDs more cost-efficient, with some things tweaked that will result in cheaper Gen5 SSDs in the near future. Phison says that its new E31T SSD controller is the world's first DRAM-less Gen5 SSD controller, still pushing about the 10GB/sec read threshold.

We have 4K random reads and write IOPS hitting 1500K, with 4 x NAND channels built on TSMC's 7nm process node, packing two Arm Cortex-A5 cores. Phison's new E31T Gen5 SSD controller uses its in-house 7th-generation ECC engine based on the LPDC coding scheme, providing great speeds and data reliability.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has joined the lexicon for the various now-viral applications of machine learning software. Now, Apple has arrived, unsurprisingly, fashionably late with its own implementation of AI that's slated to hit hundreds of millions of users.

Apple announced in iOS 18 that it will be introducing Apple Intelligence to its new line-up of devices while also outlining what older generation iPhones will get the new features. Simply put, to use Apple Intelligence, you will need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, which are both under a year old at the current time of writing. As for Mac users, Apple states Apple Intelligence will work on Mac's using Apple Silicon, which is models 2020 and up.

So, why this gatekeeping of new AI features from older generations? This problem can be viewed in multiple ways. A common take would be to suggest Apple simply wants to increase its bottom line by enticing consumers with new features that are locked to the latest generation devices to sell more units. While that is certainly happening, there is also a very real hardware limitation for AI features, at least according to Apple and, separately, Microsoft with its Copilot+ PCs.

A new report from Reuters claims the Pentagon approved a vaccine disinformation campaign that ran for approximately one year, and the campaign involved the use of social media bots.

The investigative report states the US military launched a secret clamdistine anti-vax campaign to reduce the impact of China's emerging influence in the Phillipeans. The campaign involved at least 300 accounts on X, at the time Twitter, that US military officials said to the publication matched the description of accounts that were involved in the operation. Reuters writes the identified accounts all shared the hashtag #Chinaangvirus, which translates to China is the virus.

X was informed about the accounts by the publication, and the social media platform quickly responded by discovering their involvement in a coordinated bot campaign. Notably, the Pentagon or the US government is prohibited from targeting US citizens with propaganda, and according to the Reuters report, the investigation found no evidence to suggest that occurred.

Microsoft recently announced it was recalling its Windows Recall feature, which uses artificial intelligence and screenshots to enable users to access different times in the past on their Copilot+ enabled PC.

For those who don't know, Windows Recall is one of Microsoft's AI-powered features. The company said it would be released alongside the selection of the new Copilot+ PCs. However, the feature was quickly criticized by many for its impact on user privacy and security, as Recall only works by taking screenshots of a user's desktop - indiscriminate of what is on the screen. This means any sensitive user information such as passwords, financial information, and private content would be captured and stored on the PC.

Security researchers were quick to criticize the feature, saying it was a hacker's dream to have a target's information all aggregated in one file directory. There is also the more simple criticism, which is the feature enables Microsoft to "watch" everything a user does on their device, even if the company claims that none of the screenshots are being uploaded to their servers and that the images are stolen entirely on the user's device.

NASA has confirmed that it has received a message from a spacecraft located more than 15 billion miles away from Earth.

That spacecraft is none other than Voyager 1, which in 2023 began sending incomplete messages back to NASA headquarters as it continued its long journey through interstellar space. However, the space agency has now said the messages Voyager 1 has sent through are nominal and that scientific operations conducted by its four instruments have returned to stable levels.

More specifically, NASA engineers were required to reprogram the timekeeping software aboard Voyager 1 to ensure the legendary spacecraft executes its commands at the correct times. There is still some work that needs to be done, but it shouldn't be understated how much of a feat this recent correction has been. Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles away from Earth, or 24 billion kilometers. Any engineering at distances such as these is an achievement in itself.

ASUS is preparing to launch its new As-You-Wish motherboard range, starting with the Z790-AYW OC WIFI motherboard that has some stellar overclocking potential.

We're hearing about the new As-You-Wish motherboard range by ASUS by French outlet, Overclocking.com, with the new ASUS Z790-AYW WIFI motherboard shown off at Computex 2024 earlier this month. At the time, the board had two DIMM slots, which was a cut-down version of the full board.

The new ASUS Z790-AYW OC WIFI "PRIME" motherboard has an Intel LGA1700 socket, with the OC model of the motherboard featuring two DIMM slots that support DDR5-8400+ (OC) memory. ASUS has managed to deal with the dual-channel memory more efficiently, which provides some insane 11550MT/s memory speeds (by reducing the DIMM slots, and using exotic LN2 cooling, of course).

Cooler Master is unleashing its first-ever completely fanless power supply, and it wants to give early adopters something truly special: buy the new X Silent Edge Platinum 850W power supply, and you'll get a 27-inch 240Hz gaming monitor for FREE.

The new Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W power supply is a fully fanless PSU, the largest-wattage ATX power supply without a fan commercially available today. The new PSU features all of the standard power supply leads for an 850W unit, including the 12V-2x6 power connector for new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 -- and soon RTX 50 series -- GPUs.

Cooler Master will begin shipping its new X Silent Edge Platinum 850W PSU towards the end of this month, but for a limited time, the price will be locked at $399 versus its MSRP of $549, and will include a Cooler Master GM27-CF 27-inch 1080p 240Hz curved gaming monitor. Another early bird special that Cooler Master is including are an ATX 24-inch 90-degree adapter, and an M.2 SSD thermal pad. Damn good deal if you ask me.

Qualcomm must be absolutely loving the exclusivity of Copilot+ right now, with its new Snapdragon X Series processors soon to be out in the wild, running Copilot+ experiences... meanwhile, AMD's new Ryzen AI 300 series and Intel's Lunar Lake series processors won't have Copilot+ features at launch.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X-powered laptops will be launched on June 18, supporting the new Copilot+ features, including Auto Super Resolution, Recall, and more. Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered laptops can run the Copilot+ features like AutoSR, Recall, Restycle Image, and Cocreator... while new AMD and Intel processors will have to wait.

AMD will have its new Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs available in July, but you'll have to wait for a Windows Update to get those Copilot+ experiences. Intel will launch its new Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" processors in Q3 2024, and once again, you'll need to wait for a Windows Update to enjoy Copilot+ features.

Lexar has been showing off its new NM1090 Gen5 SSD for a while now, but the company has finally unleashed it onto retail shelves... offering 12GB/sec+ Gen5 SSD speeds, and a new upgraded cooling design.

Inside, the Lexar NM1090 Gen5 SSD features up to 12GB/sec (12,000MB/sec) reads, and up to 11GB/sec (11,000MB/sec) writes. Lexar says that its new NM1090 offers double the performance of its previous-gen flagship SSD, thanks to the upgrades delivered by the new PCIe Gen5 standard.

Lexar is using 4GB of onboard SLC dynamic cache that supports Microsoft DirectStorage technology, ensuring optimal performance and significantly lower latency. Lexar is using 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory chips, providing that 12GB/sec+ of read speed goodness.

AMD has teased a future-gen GPU architecture that would use a "multi-chipset" GPU design in a new patent filing... this is NOT RDNA 4... rather, this would be RDNA 5 or further out in AMD's Radeon GPU roadmap.

The company is very experienced in multi-chiplet designs, with AMD's Instict MI200 AI accelerators being the first to feature an MCM (multi-chip module) design, using multiple chiplets stacked onto a single package. This includes the GPCs (Graphics Processing Cores), HBM memory stacks, and the I/O die.

The newly-spotted patent describes the use of three different "modes" of chiplet utilization, with the differences being in how the resources are allocated and then managed ahead. The patent shows three different modes: the first is the "single GPU" mode, similar to how graphics cards with GPUs function now, all of the on-board chiplets would act as a single, unified processing unit, with resources shared in a collaborate environment.

Valve Corporation is being sued for £656 million (around $843 million USD or so) with the largest digital distribution platform for PC gamers being accused of using its market dominance to overcharge 14 million PC gamers in the UK.

Vicki Shotbolt, a digital rights campaigner who is bringing the case, said: "Valve is rigging the market and taking advantage of UK gamers". The claim has been filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunual in London, accusing Valve of "shutting out" competition in the PC gaming market.

They're claiming that Valve "forces" game publishers to sign up to price parity obligations, which prevents games from being sold at cheaper prices on rival digital platforms. Shotbolt said that this has enabled Steam to charge an "excessive commission of up to 30%" making UK consumers pay too much to buy PC games and add-on content for those games.

AMD's next-generation Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors are nearly here, and now we have some juicy leaked pricing on the first four Ryzen 9000 series CPUs.

In a new video, leaker Moore's Law is Dead provides Zen 5 early pricing as well as some awesome X3D whispers (which has me far more excited than stock Ryzen 9000 series chips). In his video, one of his sources said: "Some distributors have just had pre-markup pricing loaded into their systems for Zen 5. If I extrapolate final pricing from what the markup was last gen, and assume AMD won't massively increase margins this generation (which is a notable assumption), the current loaded pricing suggests these MSRP ranges":

MLID's second source said: "Multiple AMD sources communicated to me that Zen 5 X3D may have less limitations on boost clocks, and have overclocking support! However, there were issues controlling thermals with Zen 5 X3D with high clocks, and so I cannot yet 100% confirm this'll happen, but based on Donny W's recent statements it seems likely".

It's a bit of a standing joke at this point, questions and rumors about Bloodborne being ported to the PC - but we've just had a juicy little hint that has fired up a sliver of hope that one day, this could still happen. Maybe.

But we wouldn't get carried away with that notion, because, of course, speculation about Bloodborne being brought over for PC gamers to enjoy goes back a long old way.

At any rate, PC Gamer has the latest nugget of a rumor on the subject, prised from the president of FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki, at the close of an interview on the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring.

Computex 2024 took place in Taipei last week, and once again, it was the place to be for all things tech and PC gaming hardware - with the added spin of 'everything AI.' Jak and Kosta were there for the entire week catching up with all the latest from AMD, NVIDIA, ASUS, MSI, Zotac, ASRock, Ducky, Aero Cool, Thermal Grizzly, Phison, Phanteks, and more.

For this week's jam-packed Computex 2024 wrap-up, the duo reviews all 15 TweakTown's Best Tech of Computex 2024 winners, covering everything from impressive new cases to high-end GPUs, Copilot+ PCs, OLED displays, memory tech demos, and even some impressive AI demonstrations from NVIDIA.

Jak and Kosta also discuss all of the big AMD announcements from the show, including the new Zen 5 power Ryzen 9000 Series desktop CPUs and the impressive Ryzen AI 300 Series for laptops, which feature the most powerful NPUs to date for Microsoft's new Copilot+ PC line-up.

Dockcase has introduced a combination of a smart hub and an SD card reader, and it's specifically designed for photographers and professional users.

The Dockcase Studio: Smart USB-C Hub 8-in-1 has appeared on Kickstarter and combines gorgeous aesthetics with irreplaceable functionality. In the past, Dockcase has released products designed for photographers and professionals, but the Smart USB-C Hub 8-in-1 is aimed directly at high-end professional users, considering the inclusion of CFexpress Type-A and Type-B support.

A professional or avid photographer will know that CFexpress ports are completely needed, but the Studio offers much more than that, as it comes with normal SD card support up to UHS-II (312mb/s), HDMI ports capable of 8K at 30Hz, 4K at 120Hz, USB-C ports capable of 10Gbps, and USB 3.2 Gen 2. Notably, all of the aforementioned specifications are housed within an aluminum alloy, tempered glass touchscreen enclosure that only weighs 118g.

At WWDC Apple unveiled its impending iOS 18 update schedule to be rolled out later this year will feature integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT, and as you would probably imagine, the deal between the two companies would have included millions of dollars. However, that reportedly isn't the case.

Known Apple insider and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurmann has published a new article explaining the deal between OpenAI and Apple for integrating ChatGPT into the next version of Apple's operating system didn't involve a single penny of money. How? Apple simply views giving OpenAI access to its customer base as a commodity.

According to anonymous sources talking to Gurmann, "Apple believes pushing OpenAI's brand and technology to hundreds of millions of its devices is of equal or greater value than monetary payments." In fact, Apple will likely benefit monetarily when it rolls out generative AI capabilities to consumers, which will likely cost them a payment in some form. Gurmann also points out that as more people use ChatGPT the more OpenAI's expenses increase as it pays Microsoft to host the AI-powered service on its Azure servers.

Alogic has unveiled a new line of monitors designed specifically for creatives, and some come with touchscreen capabilities.

An Australian computing manufacturer unveiled a new selection of monitors at InfoComm 2024, and some of the most attractive products are a combination of touchscreen capabilities and portability. For example, Alogic showcased the Clarity Xtend/Xpand, a 4K portable monitor that can fit in your bag. More specifically, this portable monitor comes with 2x USB-C ports (one for power, another for the connection to a PC), 1x mini HDMI, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-A, and 1x 3.5mm headphone jack.

Additionally, the Clarity Xtend/Xpand comes with 10-point multitouch capabilities and a resolution of 3840 x 2160 at a 60Hz refresh rate. Another product unveiled by Alogic was the Slate 28-inch Double Vertical QHD monitor, which features a resolution of 2560 x 2880, which makes it essentially two 1080p displays stacked on top of each other. Additionally, the Slate comes with a USB-C port that supports 90W laptop charging, 2x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x USB-A, and 1x RJ45 Ethernet. There are no touchscreen capabilities on the Slate.

X is reportedly coming after its former employees for being allegedly overpaid through currency conversion between the US and Australian dollars.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that laid-off Australian X workers received an email from Elon Musk's social media platform requesting that they return entitlements that were overpaid to them. The former employees received emails from X's Asia Pacific human resources department, which stated there was a "significant overpayment in error in January 2023". Notably, the company is requesting anywhere between $1,500 and $70,000 for each employee.

As you can probably imagine, a total number of zero employees have paid back the requested amount, according to the Sydney Morning Heral. More specifically, X said the overpayment is related to the "deferred cash compensation" that occurred when the company issued employees shares when the employee joined then-Twitter. "These shares were valued at $US54.20 ($82) each, the price at which Musk bought Twitter in 2022, and the total number of shares acquired by an employee was based on the length of their tenure at the company."

SIGGRAPH 2024 begins on July 28, where NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a 'fireside chat' at the show, which is the 50th anniversary of SIGGRAPH, which first took place in 1974.

SIGGRAPH, or Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, is an annual conference that looks into the world of computer graphics. We're talking academics, developers, and GPU makes like NVIDIA and AMD. SIGGRAPH takes place on July 28, running through to August 1.

The official SIGGRAPH page explains Jensen: "Jensen Huang founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has served since its inception as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board of directors. Huang has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering and is a recipient of the Semiconductor Industry Association's highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award; IEEE Founder's Medal; the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award; and honorary doctorate degrees from National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan University, and Oregon State University".