If you're waiting for the Apple Store to open on May 15 so you can rush in and buy one of Apple's shiny new M2 iPad Airs, you probably aren't alone. But as excited as you might be and as impressive as the M2 chip is, there is always going to be something better - and according to a new leak, the M3 iPad Air is already something that we should all be considering.

That leak comes via a private X account that has a proven track record of sharing information about future Apple products and has been picked up by MacRumors. According to that report, the next iPad Air to come out of Apple Park will ditch the current M2 chip in favor of the M3, the same chip that powers the latest and best Macs right now.

That of course isn't all that surprising when you look at Apple's history of updating iPads and iterating the chip, but it does mean that the iPad Air won't skip the M3 and go straight to the M4. That's exactly what the new iPad Pro did of course, but it seems that the M3 iPad Air will be a thing - although we don't yet know when that will happen.

We're now just hours away from Apple's M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air officially going on sale after being made available for preorder last week. May 15 is the big day, and that's when people will be able to walk into an Apple Store and then walk out with a new tablet. It's also when those who got their preorders in quickly should see their iPad Pro or iPad Air land on their doorstep, too. No matter where the new iPad came from, the unboxing experience will include a new software update after the release of iPadOS 17.5.

That new update is already available and ready for download by people who have other compatible iPads. And while those with the new hotness can expect the same new features, there is actually one that's exclusive to the new tablets as well. For that reason alone, we would suggest that every new iPad buyer download and install iPadOS 17.5 as soon as they can.

The iPadOS 17.5 update brings with it a number of improvements and there's a special build number 21F84 that will be offered to the new iPads alone. In fact, they will ship with a version of iPadOS 17.4 that was never made available to the older models, too.

id Software's Doom (1994) and Doom II (1994) helped establish and define the first-person shooter genre as two of the most iconic PC games of all time. Those who grew up playing the original Doom might recall its cheat codes. IDKFA gave you all weapons, ammo, and keys while IDDQD unlocked 'God Mode.'

As spotted by Clawsomegamer, ZeniMax Media has trademarked IDKFA for 'computer game software' and 'downloadable computer game software.' It's an obscure reference for a company to trademark, but it could point to IDKFA being the title for some sort of DLC or add-on for an upcoming Doom game from id Software, Bethesda, and Xbox.

With the success of the recent DOOM and DOOM Eternal reboots, there are several rumors (and leaks) suggesting that id Software not only has another Doom game in the works, but we could be getting our first look at it during next month's Xbox Games Showcase event.

Bethesda's long-awaited 'next-gen' update for Fallout 4 arrived just in time to ride the wave of the smash hit Amazon Prime series, which saw the 2015 game once again become one of the most played titles on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

The update improved performance and visual fidelity for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S while adding ultrawide support for the PC version, several bug fixes, and some free add-on content that included new weapons, armor, and even quests.

However, the reception was not one of universal acclaim, as the 'next-gen' update for Fallout 4 broke many PC mods and added new glitches and crashes for gamers. Many players also reported problems with 4K or Quality Mode on Xbox Series X.

ASUS has teased its ROG Ally X handheld refresh, which will get a big reveal and debut at Computex 2024. The official reveal has confirmed that the ROG Ally X will arrive sporting a new black finish, an improved battery that will have 'way more' than 40% more capacity, and a new motherboard layout to support more memory storage (greater than 16GB) and storage, while improving and fixing the SD card reader.

Surprisingly, ASUS is even adding an M.2 2280 SSD slot. Yeah, the ROG Ally X is adding support for standard full-sized SSDs you'd find in a PC, laptop, or PlayStation 5. The handheld will also change the D-Pad, joysticks, and triggers and be slightly heavier.

But what about the processor, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme (a customized Ryzen 7 7840U), and the display? Well, according to a new leak, don't expect all that much on that front.

It sounds like AMD's next-gen Radeon graphics cards powered by the new RDNA 4 architecture are right around the corner. Although rumors and months of speculation have pointed to AMD skipping high-end GPUs that will compete with the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 (or the current RTX 4090, for that matter), RDNA 4 could still present an exciting option for the mid-range market.

With a massive improvement in ray-tracing coming and a more efficient GPU, a potential Radeon RX 8800 XT with the right price could be a real competitor to the popular GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER. With AMD's Linux developers adding nearly 20,000 lines of code for 'AMD GFX12 Mesa support' for its drivers, an RDNA 4 reveal and release could be right around the corner.

Linux kernel driver support for RDNA 4 (or GFX12) is a definite sign that things are progressing well for a next-gen Radeon release this year. Depending on the timeline, we could be getting a big reveal at Computex 2024 in the coming weeks.

According to WJM47196, a source of AMD leaks over on the ChipHell forums (via Videocardz), AMD's next-gen RDNA 4 GPU line-up will "merely be a bug fix for RDNA 3," bringing improvements to ray-tracing and incremental updates in other areas. Without a flagship, the top RDNA 4 card is expected to deliver raw performance, albeit more efficient performance, on par with the Radeon RX 7900 XT.

The source claims that RDNA 3, which powers the current Radeon RX 7000 Series, "didn't meet its performance expectations," leading to problems with the core frequency power curve. Throw in the R&D costs associated with developing a multi-chip GPU, a fast on-chip interconnect, and dealing with related issues - RDNA 4 is a stopgap before the main course - RDNA 5.

RDNA 5 "will be a clean sheet design," an overhaul of AMD's Radeon architecture similar to the arrival of Zen and Ryzen. The difference is so big that RDNA 5 could ditch the Radeon branding for something completely new.

NVIDIA and MediaTek are reportedly working on a new Arm-based AI processor, co-developing the new SoC that will be finalized in Q3 2024... just months from now.

The new silicon will support advanced technologies, and will be mass-produced on TSMC's new 3nm process node, and will compete against Apple's new M4 chip, and Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X Elite SoC according to Chinese media outlet UDN.

The site reports that the price of NVIDIA and MediaTek's new Arm-based AI processor will be "as high as $300" adding that this is the first time NVIDIA and MediaTek have cooperated on PC processors, and that it's expected we'll get details on the new AI PC processor during Computex 2024 in just a few weeks' time in Taipei, Taiwan.

SK hynix has announced it plans to complete the development of its next-gen HBM4E memory by as early as 2026, preparing for the next-gen AI GPUs of the future.

SK hynix's head of the HBM advanced technology team, Kim Gwi-wook, announced the news this week of the direction of next-generation HBM development at the International Memory Workshop (IMW 2024). HBM was developed by SK hynix in 2014, with HBM2 (2nd generation) in 2018, HBM2E (3rd generation) in 2020, HBM3 (4th generation) in 2022, and HBM3E (5th generation) was introduced this year.

There's a two-year cadence between HBM generations, with HBM3E unleashed this year, it means that HBM4 (6th generation) should drop in 2025, and HBM4E (7th generation) in 2026. That's a bit faster than two years for HBM4 and HBM4E, which is because SK hynix is predicting that HBM performance advancements would become faster than previous generations.

GigaIO and SourceCode have just unveiled Gryf, an ultra-portable AI supercomputer-class system that weighs less than 55 pounds, and fits inside of a TSA-friendly carry-on suitcase. Impressive.

Gryf can handle data collection and processing on a scale that would usually see the data sent off-site, this means that the suitcase-sized supercomputer handles super-fast processing and analysis, all in a suitcase. Gryf supports disaggregating and reaggregating its GPUs, with owners capable of customizing the system's hardware configuration in the field, and on-the-fly.

You can create the absolute optimal hardware configuration for one assigned workload, and then the next workload gets another optimized hardware configuration. Each Gryf has multiple slots filled with compute, storage, accelerator, and network sleds that are perfect for their respective workloads. There's 6 sled slots in total, where you can insert and remove the modules as required.

NVIDIA has published a new blog post providing some more details about the next level of performance offered by its new Blackwell GPU architecture.

The new blog post by NVIDIA shows the gigantic performance leap that Blackwell will deliver for the research industry including quantum computing, drug discovery, fusion energy, physics-based simulations, weather simulations, scientific computing, and more.

NVIDIA has another major goal with Blackwell -- other than industry-leading AI performance -- in that Blackwell can simulate weather patterns 200x cheaper than Hopper, and use 300x less energy while running digital twins simultaneously encompassing the globe with 65x less cost, and 58x less energy used. Absolutely astonishing numbers from Blackwell.

Ubisoft just stealth-announced the official name of the upcoming Assassin's Creed game set in Japan.

In 2022, Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed fans very happy with the reveal of Codename Red, a new project set in the wide 700-year period of Feudal Japan. Today, Ubisoft has confirmed the game will be called Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Apple regularly releases special Apple Watch faces, bands, and other accessories to celebrate specific communities and the latest Pride watch face is a great addition to the mix. It was announced alongside the stunning Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop which will be available to order on May 22, but you won't have to wait that long to get the watch face - it's available right now.

The new watch face is part of watchOS 10.5 software update that Apple has today made available for download and it also happens to be the only new feature that was confirmed via the update's release notes. Apple calls it the Pride Radiance watch face and says it's to honor the LGBTQ+ community and culture.

The update, which is free for owners of all compatible Apple Watches, can be downloaded via the Watch app on the iPhone. Alongside the new watch face, the update also brings with it a number of bug fixes and other improvements, although Apple's release notes did not go into details as to what they were.

Siri might not be the best digital assistant in the world, but it's definitely work knowing that you can at least use it. Siri is available on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and HomePods and it's also available on a few third-party smart home devices as well. Now, it's also available on a select number of Denon smart speakers. Not that you likely know that, after the audio company apparently launched the feature months ago and didn't tell anyone.

Seemingly ashamed of the partnership that brings Apple's ailing digital assistant to its speakers, Denon started to roll the new feature out back in December, HoemKit News reports. Getting access to Siri is achieved by updating the speaker's software via the HEOS app. Once updated, enabling Siri on the speaker is pretty simple we're told, but notably, you'll need to have a Siri-enabled speaker to hand as well. Why? That's the interesting part.

As HomeKit News notes, these speakers don't actually have Siri themselves but rather act as outputs for Siri on other devices. In other words, you'll need a HomePod or HomePod mini on which Siri will handle the heavy lifting before essentially throwing its voice to your Denon speaker - as if it were some kind of ventriloquist speaker.

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale in the United States since February and that came months after it was announced at WWDC in June of last year. Now, as we get to almost a year since the so-called spatial computer was announced, new reports suggest that the company is readying a global launch. And this comes as Apple continues to be working on making the headset cheaper, allowing more people to consider buying one. But did you know that you don't have to wait for Applet to offer a cheaper Apple Vision Pro in order to get one for less than the going rate of $3,499? Did you know that you can do it right now?

When the Apple Vision Pro first went on sale they were a little difficult to get hold of, and as always scalpers put them up on eBay in an attempt to make a profit. Some did, but as the months tick by people who bought their AR/VR headsets are starting to have buyer's remorse. Whether they paid the $3,499 that Apple chargers or the extortionate prices that eBay rip-off merchants were selling it for, people are finding that they maybe aren't using the Apple Vision Pro as much as they thought. And that means that those who had a little patience can now bag themselves a bargain.

As reported by 9to5Mac, now is an excellent time to treat yourself to a new Apple Vision Pro if you're willing to buy from Apple. You can now pick up an Apple Vision Pro with around a $500 discount, although we've seen reports of headsets being offered for around $2,000, a huge saving over the original price. Apple's $3,499 asking price gets you the 256GB model, while those who need extra space can pay $3,699 for the 512GB version and $3,899 for the 1TB capacity. Note that additional accessories like a new battery pack, ZEISS Optical inserts, and AppleCare Plus cost extra, too.

Intel's Panther Lake processors will be powering up laptops in 2026, and a bunch of further revelations have been made courtesy of a Dell roadmap.

As discovered by VideoCardz, this hefty piece of spillage consists of a presentation from Dell about an XPS laptop with a Snapdragon X SoC, and it runs to something like 300 pages (including a deep dive into the design of the hardware).

While the material focuses on that Snapdragon portable in the main, it also contains roadmap details of laptops further out than that ARM-based XPS model, including Panther Lake and Nova Lake.

After weeks of beta testing, Apple has today made macOS 14.5 available for download by the public. The update is compatible with all macOS Sonoma-based Macs and comes more than two months after Apple made the macOS 14.4 update available to the world. However, anyone who hoped that Apple had spent those two months adding a ton of new features is unfortunately going to be left very disappointed indeed.

On the contrary, this macOS 14.5 update is far from exciting and while we would always suggest installing the latest macOS software updates, this one isn't going to knock your socks off. These kinds of updates often bring with them bug fixes and other improvements, but in terms of big new software features, you're going to be out of luck. That is, unless you're a big Apple News Plus user who also happens to be a fan of word games. And you like playing them on your Mac, of course.

Just like the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 updates, macOS 14.5 brings the Quartiles game to the Apple News app. It's an original daily word game that's available to all Apple News Plus subscribers, albeit only those who happen to be in the United States and Canada.

When Apple announced the new M4 iPad Pro last week it confirmed, albeit via the company's tech specifications website rather than via the announcement event, that the new chip came in two different core configurations. The base model comes with a 9-core CPU whereas those who buy the iPad Pro with 1TB or 2TB of storage gain an extra performance core, making it faster when performing multi-core workloads. The upgraded chip also comes with twice as much RAM, so 16GB rather than the standard 8GB.

Now, new Geekbench test scores for the lower-core-count M4 have started to appear online and it gives us our first proper look at how that compares with the version of the iPad Pro that has an extra core built in.

The results suggest that the loss of a core is worth around 10% of the Geekbench results, as noted by MacRumors. In terms of cold, hard, figures, the 10-core CPU manages a score of around 14,600 during multi-core testing. For comparison, the 9-core version of the same chip manages around 13,000. Looking for added context? The M3 chip that the M4 replaces has just eight CPU cores and manages around 11,600 while the 8-core M2 chip posts scores of around 9,600.

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale in Apple's home country of the United States since early February but there has so far been no confirmation of exactly when we can expect the so-called spatial computer to go on sale globally. Apple has said that we should expect that to happen in 2024, but that leaves for a big time window in which a launch could happen, and with no confirmation of which countries will be involved, there's a lot of guesswork. Now, there might be more information on the horizon with a new report suggesting a launch could be imminent.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple appears to be readying a launch in multiple countries with the confirmation set to come at the company's WWDC event that will take place on June 10. That of course means that it is highly unlikely that we should expect Apple to announce the launch of the headset anywhere before then. Gurman also believes that Apple has been training its retail workers in a number of countries ahead of launch, potentially giving us a hint as to which countries will be on Apple's next wave of launches.

Gurman believes that workers in Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China have undergone training which is likely an indicator that those will be the first international markets that Apple intends to target with the Apple Vision Pro. There is ofc course no news on when the headsets will actually be available to buy, although the fact that an announcement is seemingly imminent is enough to get potential buyers excited.

Apple has today finally made the iOS 17.5 software available for download by everyone who has a compatible iPhone after weeks of beta testing. The app update is of course free to download and it brings with it a number of new improvements. We'd suggest that everyone downloads the new update sooner rather than later, too.

Apple made the update available alongside other software updates for the iPad, Mac, and the rest of its platforms, and this one, in particular, brings with it some interesting changes. The most notable change, albeit one that only affects people in the European Union, means that users can now download apps directly from the websites of individual developers for the very first time. The change comes as part of Apple's attempts to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act. Other changes that have already been applied include the allowance for third-party app stores and more.

Other changes of note in iOS 17.5 include the new Cross-Platform Tracking Detection system that will alert people if a compatible Bluetooth item tracker is moving with them but is not owned by them. It doesn't matter which device that tracker is paired with - meaning those paired with Android devices will still alert iPhone users and vice-versa.