Latest News - Page 585

Samsung and SK hynix are looking into 1c DRAM as the key to next-generation HBM4 competitiveness, with Samsung considering changing the DRAM to 1c DRAM for its HBM4, with South Korean rival SK hynix (who is working with TSMC for HBM4) also looking at 1c DRAM for its new HBM4 memory.

HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is memory that features multiple DRAMs stacked vertically, connected with TSV (Through Silicon Via), so the performance of the DRAM product on the HBM memory, greatly affects the performance of HBM. Samsung was initially planning to use 1b DRAM, a 10-nano class 5th-generation DRAM, to HBM4.

1b DRAM has a linewidth of 12nm, with Samsung starting mass production of 1b DRAM in May 2023, with Samsung's HBM3E memory using 1a DRAM. ZDNet Korea reports that Samsung has established a new plan internally to change the DRAM inside of its future-gen HBM4 to 1c DRAM, with competitors like SK hynix and Micron using 1b DRAM in their respective HBM3E, HBM4 is interpreted as a steategy to take the lead of its competitors in the front-end process area.

AMD's next-gen Zen 5 processors will be launched at Computex 2024 next month, while next-next-gen Zen 6 processors are being teased with 32 cores per CCD.

In some new posts on X from leakers "Kepler_L2" and "InstLatX64" we're discovering the Zen 5 and Zen 6 core configurations, with Zen 5 hitting in just a few weeks time. Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores are expected to both be smaller than existing Zen 4 cores, which means there'll be more room to fire more CCDs on the CPU package.

Zen 4 has up to 12 CCDs while Zen 4c had up to 8 CCDs on the flagship EPYC processors, with two CCDs that had each had 8 cores for up to 128 cores and 256 threads of CPU power. The next-generation Zen 5 processors will have up to 16 CCDs on Zen 5 and up to 12 CCDs on Zen 5c, with Zen 5 keeping the same single CCX design within the CCD with a total of 8 cores for up to 128 cores, while Zen 5c processors have a single CCX with up to 16 cores for up to 192 cores in total.

Western Digital has announced a new portable HDD expansion across its WD, WD_BLACK, and Sandisk Professional product lineups with the world's highest storage capacity in a 2.5-inch portable HDD at a huge 6TB.

The new WD My Passport portable HDD, WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive, and Sandisk Professional G-DRIVE ArmorARD will all now be available in 6TB capacities. The new WD My Passport 6TB drive comes with the latest USB-C connectivity, and a modern metal design. The out-of-the-box experience is easy, with a convenient and slim form factor that fits almost anywhere... with 6TB in your pocket.

The 6TB WD My Passport Ultra and 6TB WD My Passport Ultra for Mac both retail for $199.99 MSRP. The 6TB WD My Passport and WD My Passport for Mac both retail for $179.99 MSRP. The 6TB WD My Passport, Works with USB-C retails for $184.99 MSRP. All products are available now at select Western Digital retailers, e-tailers and on the Western Digital Store

ORIGIN PC has just launched its latest gaming laptops with the introduction of the new EON16-SX, NSX-16, NSL-14, and NSL-16.

The new ORIGIN PC EON16-SX laptop features Intel's latest Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs, designed for the generation of AI with their built-in NPU and Intel AI Boost technology for AI workloads. ORIGIN PC's four new gaming laptops have all passed MIL-STD-810H-SPEC standards, passing extensive stress tests including extreme temperatures, humidity, shock, and more.

The new EON16-SX and NSX-16 gaming laptops fuse high-performance and portability, weighing just 4.29lbs and just 0.77 inches thin. Inside, they pack the new Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor (16 cores, 22 threads) with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 that's been tuned for a TGP of 105W, a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 resolution display at 240Hz, up to 16TB of SSD storage, and up to 64GB of DDR5 memory.

A few of Apple's high-level executives have 'secretly' visited TSMC, with Apple wanting to secure TSMC's first batch of 2nm production capacity.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams met with TSMC president Wei Zhejia, with Apple wanting the first batches of 2nm production capacity, but TSMC benefits big time with NT$600 billion (around $18.6 billion USD or so), which is a new high for the Taiwanese contract chip manufacturer.

Apple has been working closely with TSMC for many years now, with the A-series processors used in iPhones, the long-term plan for the M-series processors inside of the latest iPads and MacBook laptops, with the "key driver" behind this being Apple COO Jeff Williams. The new wave of package production capacity and cooperation with TSMC for Apple's self-developed AI chips, is a very important step.

I've gotta say, I would never do this myself... but I really do love seeing modded graphics cards like this. NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER graphics card has been modded, with 24Gbps and 26Gbps GDDR6X memory.

A competition was recently held in Brazil between the Paulo Gomes and TecLab teams, with the competition involving swapping out the VRAM on the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER graphics card with faster memory, and overclocking it to its absolute limits.

NVIDIA ships the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER graphics card with 21Gbps GDDR6X memory modules, with NVIDIA using Micron 21Gbps GDDR6X dies (161-0479-900) were swapped, and modded, with 24Gbps GDDR6X dies (161-0480-900).

South Korea has plans to build an AI semiconductor innovation center in the heart of Silicon Valley, USA.

The Korean Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA) said on Wednesday that it would take applications up until the end of this month for those who wished to reside at the planned center, reports TheElec. A committee will review the applications next month, with those who pass to start moving in in August.

The new project kicked off in April, with the aim of forming research platforms in the United States and China, with the Ministry of Trade working with industry associations including KSIA for the project. A KSIA spokesperson told TheElec that the "center will give independent offices for three to four companies and also have a large, open space to house other companies".

This year's Call of Duty game, which is expected to be Black Ops 6 and take place during the Gulf War, will launch on Xbox Game Pass, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. Publication Reuters has also corroborated the reports.

The upper limits of Xbox Game Pass will soon be tested as Microsoft plans to roll out Call of Duty, one of the world's most popular video game franchises, onto the subscription service. Inside sources have told two major news outlets that this year's new Call of Duty title will be released onto Game Pass on day one.

The move has caused speculation and doubt among gamers who question the financial viability of the service, despite multiple clarifications from Xbox management that Game Pass is not only profitable, but sustainable. Our own calculations indicate that Game Pass made as much as $1.887 billion in revenues throughout calendar year 2021, and up to $1.796 billion in 2022.

While we expect that Apple will release the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max later this year, we don't expect there to be any more new iPhones before the end of the year. That means that the iPhone SE won't be updated in 2024, but a new report suggests that we won't have to wait another whole year for the updated iPhone SE to arrive.

We've been told to expect an updated iPhone SE with a new design for some time now, and it had been thought that the launch would coincide with the arrival of Apple's first in-house 5G modem. That's so far proven difficult for Apple to manage, but we're now being told that 2025 will be the year that Apple finally brings the iPhone SE 4 to market.

That's according to a report by The Information which claims that Apple intends to launch the handset next year while matching previous rumors that Apple intends to ditch the Home button and Touch ID, finally, and replace the current model with a design that closely matches that of the iPhone 14.

As we reach the halfway mark between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro going on sale and them being replaced by their 2024 counterparts, Apple has started to incentivize people to pick up a new handset now rather than wait for the new hotness to arrive later this year.

As part of the drive to improve new iPhone sales Apple has started to offer more trade-in value for those who are buying one of its latest handsets and choosing to hand over their old device. The increases apply to the iPhone SE and iPhone 13 or newer and it's important to remember that the discount only applies when you buy one of the iPhone 15 family of devices. Also of note, the increased value is only available to buyers in the United States and Canada.

In terms of figures, the current trade-in prices available in the United States include iPhone SE (3rd generation) up to $160, iPhone 13 mini up to $270, iPhone 13 up to $300, iPhone 13 Pro up to $370, iPhone 13 Pro Max up to $450, iPhone 14 up to $370, iPhone 14 Plus up to $420, iPhone 14 Pro up to $520, iPhone 14 Pro Max up to $630.

Apple is expected to start selling the Apple Vision Pro outside of the United States for the first time after the WWDC event on June 10, according to previous reports. Now, a new report suggests that we can add two countries to the list of countries that we'd already been told to expect that launch to take place in.

Those two countries, we're told by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, are the United Kingdom and Canada, two countries that would normally be included in any first-wave launch of new Apple devices. That made it all the more interesting that neither were added to the list of countries that Gurman believed would be included in the second wave but he has now shared a post on X to suggest that they will indeed be included after all.

This list of launch countries now includes Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the UK. Ap[ple has not yet confirmed that any of these international launches are happening, but Gurman has previously reported that work is underway to train the relevant retail workers ahead of a global launch. The Apple Vision Pro has also already received regulatory approval in China ahead of the headset's launch there.

If you're a fan of Apple's big phones but don't want to have to pay the big money to get your hands on something like the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Plus handsets are always the best way to go. But while we expect there to be an iPhone 16 Plus launched later this year, a new report suggests that it will be the last of the family and be replaced by something new entirely.

Apple started offering a Plus model with the iPhone 14 Plus, replacing the iPhone 13 mini with something very different, and the iPhone 15 Plus carried that on last year. The iPhone 15 Plus has all the same features and specifications as the iPhone 15 but with a larger 6.7-inch display, just like the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But a new report by The Information suggests that Apple isn't happy with the demand for the Plus models and will choose to ditch them entirely when the iPhone 17 ships in the fall of 2025.

That report says that Apple will replace the iPhone 16 Plus with a new iPhone 17 model that will have a slightly smaller display but be thinner and more expensive than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. It's possible that this is the Ultra device that was tipped to be part of the iPhone 15 lineup but ultimately didn't materialize.

Phillips is looking to make a smash in the gaming monitor market with the unveiling of the Evnia 49M2C8900L, a 144Hz refresh rate, QD-OLED panel, super ultra-wide gaming monitor.

The newest offering from Phillips arrives under the company's Evnia 8000 premium gaming monitor line-up, and according to DisplaySpecifications the new 49M2C8900L is a cut-down version of the 49M2C8900, which debuted in August 2023. Both of these monitors feature the same identical design, weight and dimensions, with the only major difference on the latest one being the refresh rate (144Hz versus the 240Hz on the 49M2C8900).

As for other specifications with 49M2C8900L, Phillips has equipped the new gaming monitor with a QD-OLED panel that spans 48.9 inches. Phillips' latest offering will arrive with a 5120 x 1440 resolution, making it dual-QHD, an 1800R curvature, 10-bit color depth, and the following color coverage: 153.1% of the sRGB, 125.2% of the Adobe RGB, 127.4% of the NTSC, and 99% of the DCI-P3. Additionally, the 49M2C8900L will have a 0.03ms response time, typical brightness of 250 nits, peak 1000 nits brightness via HDR, and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification.

Apple is planning on releasing its thinnest iPhone yet, according to a new report from The Information that cites multiple sources familiar with the project.

The new report follows the recent release of Apple's latest iPad Pro, which the company said is its thinnest device yet. Notably, the iPad Pro comes in at a width of just 5.3mm, and according to the report from The Information Apple's iPhone 17 lineup could feature a "significantly thinner" smartphone device compared to other iPhone models.

Furthermore, this new iPhone model is slated to replace the Plus model in 2025, and internally, the design changes are being compared to the leap taken with the iPhone X. Notably, Apple hasn't locked down the new design of the iPhone and is still testing various materials to reach the desired level of thickness. Other details mentioned in the report are the possibility of an upgraded front-facing camera, a smaller pill-shaped cutout, and the rear camera array moving to the center of the device.

Reddit and OpenAI have announced a new partnership agreement that will enable the AI developer to scrape data from Reddit's valuable API.

The new partnership agreement has been signed into effect and now OpenAI is able to scrape real-time data from Reddit's API, meaning users will be able to see Reddit posts in responses by OpenAI products when they are appropriately queried. It should be noted that OpenAI isn't the first company to come to Reddit with a bucket full of money to scrape its API for data to train AI models, as Google entered into a similar partnership earlier this year, which is reportedly valued at $60 million annually.

A report from The Verge cites a blogpost from Reddit that explains the deal with OpenAI will bring "new AI-powered features to Redditors and mods". It should be noted the new detail will bring OpenAI on to Reddit as an advertiser and that no specific financials were announced alongside the deal, meaning we don't have a specific value of the deal.

A group of scientists have managed to thaw frozen human brain tissue without causing any damage to the tissue itself.

The new research is coming out of the Fudan University in Shanghai, China, where a team led by Zhicheng Shao grew self-organizing brain samples that are called organoids. These organoids are grown from embryonic stem cells and take three weeks to fully mature. Once fully mature the brain tissue has developed neurons and neural stem cells, which means they are ready for experimentation.

The team then took these brain tissue samples and combined them with various chemicals with the goal of discovering which chemical compound would enable the brain tissue to survive being frozen and still enable growth following its thawing. According to the team's results, which were published in the scientific journal Cell Reports Methods, the most successful combination of chemicals was methylcellulose, ethylene glycol, DMSO, and Y27632 - together, the solution is called MEDY.

The team at OpenAI that was dedicated to reducing the existential risk of the emerging technology has reportedly been disbanded, only days after two of the company's founders quit.

According to a new report from Wired, OpenAI's Superalignment team, which was tasked on identifying risks of advanced artificial intelligence-powered systems going rogue and endangering humanity, has been disbanded by the report, and absorbed into its numerous research and development ranks. The report states research into the risk of AI-powered systems will now be headed by OpenAI cofounder John Schulman.

Notably, Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, founders of OpenAI, announced only a few days ago they were departing the company. Both Sutskever and Leike were top researchers focussing on AI risk mitigation, and following his departure from the company, Leike took to X explaining he had been fighting with OpenAI leadership for quite some time about its core values but, unfortunately, reached his tipping point this week.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher for the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, recently held its earnings call where the publisher's CEO Strauss Zelnick commented on the release date for GTA 6.

It was only earlier in the week that we heard from Take-Two Interactive a more specific release date for GTA 6, and while it wasn't an exact date, it was more specific than sometime in 2025. The Take-Two earnings call revealed the publisher is planning on dropping GTA 6, saying it will be arriving in the Fall 2025 season. Despite this more accurate release date, Zelnick said that it doesn't really matter when GTA 6 releases as excitement for the next installment in the billion-dollar franchise has already reached "fever pitch".

Zelnick was asked if there is any benefit to releasing GTA 6 during the holiday period, a strategy many game publishers decide to take as game sales typically spike during the holidays. Zelnick replied to the question by saying GTA 6 will likely be a massive success whenever it releases simply due to the hype surrounding the title. However, Zelnick did say the holiday release window is preferable for all developers and publishers.

Valve appears to be working on its next game and it fans of the company and it's title may be glad to know it's going to be an Overwatch-style shooter.

The new Valve title was made available to a select group of competitive gaming YouTubers who would have undoubtedly had to agree to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to gain early access to the title. Under this agreement, which I can personally verify as someone who has signed many of them, it's typically stipulated that you are unable to share any images, video, or even descriptions of the product you agree to see under embargo. Simply, it's in the name of the agreement "Non-Disclosure".

According to the leaks, the new Valve title will be called Deadlock, and it appears to be an amalgamation of "Valorant, Overwatch, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2," according to Valve reporter Tyler McVicker. As for what was specifically leaked, the above images show third-person gameplay and a character called "Grey Talon," who is armed with a bow and can lay traps for enemy players.

Sony has officially put its stake in the ground on where it stands when it comes to AI models using the company's IP for training, or at least Sony Music has.

According to a letter seen by the Financial Times, Sony Music has warned more than 700 companies developing AI products, along with music streaming platforms, that using any of Sony's music is strictly prohibited, and the company, along with all of its signed artists opt of out any text and data mining. It should be noted the letter states Sony has opted out of data mining for individuals and companies that are using its content for the purpose of commercialization, or in other words, to make money.

Companies that have already received the letter include OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and many more. Additionally, music streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify have received a different letter recommending they implement measures that will align with Sony's new policy. This move by Sony Music is the latest from the Sony arm that has signed artists such as Harry Styles, Adele, and Beyoncé to protect its IP from being used to train an AI model that can then produce its own unique music.