Latest News - Page 634

If you own an iPhone you're already familiar with the option to use your passcode to secure it from prying eyes. You can also use Face ID or Touch ID if you prefer to go the biometric route, too. Some apps like banking apps can also give users the chance to protect them using in-app passcodes and biometrics, too. But what if you want to do that with an app that doesn't have the feature built in?

For those apps, App Lock is available in the App Tore and it does exactly what you think it will do based on that name. Once configured, App Lock lets people completely hide apps and lock them behind Face ID or Touch ID. It's all made possible using the Screen Time API to control access to apps so there are no hacks or potential privacy implications here. What's more, users can even choose to have the app disappear from the Home Screen entirely. In fact, the apps will even be hidden from the App Library. too.

Choosing apps to be locked behind biometrics is simple and users can even decide to have entire categories covered, too.

The Apple Vision Pro went on sale in February but only in the United States. We're expecting the company to unveil the headset in new countries later this year and Apple's own website has confirmed that it intends to take the spatial computer global in 2024. However, it hasn't been more specific than that and we still don't know for sure which countries Apple has in mind. However, we have seen various hints.

Recent indications have suggested that Apple has a few countries that it is leaning towards including Australia, Canada, the UK, Japan, and others. Now, there is more indication that Apple is going to launch the Apple Vision Pro in France sooner rather than later.

That's after a WatchGeneration report noted that Apple has been inviting employees from its retail stores in France to a special Apple Vision Pro training program this summer.

Samsung is still working on its in-house Mach-1 AI inferencing chip. CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who is in charge of the chip business, teased a second-gen Mach-2 AI accelerator in a new Instagram post.

Samsung Electronics CEO Kyung Kye-hyun said: "Client interest in inference-committed Mach-1 is increasing. Some of the clients want to use Mach in large-scale applications with more than 1 trillion parameters, which justifies the faster-than-expected development of Mach-2. We should get down to preparation".

The new Mach-1 AI accelerator was announced at Samsung Electronics' recent shareholder meeting, but few details were released: all we know is that it will be used for AI inferencing and will launch in early 2025. Samsung recently formed a new HBM team focused on increasing productivity and quality to ensure HBM leadership against South Korean rival SK hynix.

Apple is now expected to announce the new OLED iPad Pro in both 11- and 12.9-inch configurations in May with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman saying that Apple's supply partners have now begun production. However, a new report suggests that those who want to buy the smaller of the two could potentially find the tablet harder to come by when compared to the larger one.

That's according to a report by Hankooki which claims that LG Display has had to pick up the 11-inch OLED display slack after it was found that Samsung was struggling to meet Apple's exacting quality standards.

A previous report by display analyst Ross Young had claimed that Apple's 11-inch OLED iPad Pro manufacturing was behind that of the larger model, and now the new report appears to add some context to that/ It's said that Samsung Display has been unable to produce displays quickly enough while still maintaining the required quality standards, and now it's over to LG Display to try and produce enough to get things back on track.

A couple of ex-Google chip designers have left the US search giant, forming a new MatX startup to build AI processors specifically designed for LLMs (Large Language Models).

Mike Gunter and Reiner Pope used to work at Google, forming MatX, which has one objective: design next-generation silicon specifically for processing the data needed to fuel large language models (LLMs). LLMs are the basis in which the generative AI world sits on, with the likes of ChatGPT from OpenAI, Gemini from Google, and other LLM-powered generative AI platforms.

Gunter used to focus on designing hardware like chips to run AI software, while Pope wrote the AI software itself for Google. Google has been working hard at building its own in-house AI processors with Tensor Core Processors, first designed before LLMs became a thing and were too generic for the tasks at the time.

Kaspersky's in-house team of cybersecurity experts are warning about new "acoustic side-channeling attacks" -- or ASCA -- as they use sophisticated AI to listen to your keyboards to work out what you're typing... email addresses, passwords, phone numbers, private messages, and more.

The hackers using this new ASCA method rely on the sounds being typed into a keyboard; using AI, the hackers will determine what you're typing. If the hackers have the right equipment, they can analyze the sounds you're making by tapping on your keyboard, and possibly decode the exact letters that you're typing in.

ASCAs are another type of side-channel attack, exploiting unintended lines of communication leakage within a system; they're dangerous as they target indirect channels like power consumption and electromagnetic emissions... or the sounds of your keyboard.

Samsung has set up a dedicated HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) team inside its memory chip division. The new HBM team will increase production yields as the South Korean giant continues developing its sixth-generation AI memory, HBM4, and its new Mach-1 AI accelerator.

In a new report from KED Global, we're hearing about the new HBM team that's in charge of the development and sales of DRAM and NAND flash memory "according to industry sources." Hwang Sang-joon, corporate executive vice president and head of DRAM Product and Technology at Samsung, will lead the new HBM team.

Kyung Kye-hyun, head of Samsung's semiconductor business, said in a note posted on social media: "Customers who want to develop customized HBM4 will work with us. HBM leadership is coming to us thanks to the dedicated team's efforts".

Microsoft and OpenAI have been "drawing up plans" for a data center project to feature an AI supercomputer that is codenamed "Stargate" with millions of next-gen, specialized server chips to power OpenAI's artificial intelligence.

The news comes from The Information and "three people who have been involved in the private conversations about the proposal." According to a person who spoke to OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman about it and had viewed some of Microsoft's initial cost estimates, the new data center and AI supercomputer codenamed "Stargate" would cost as much as $100 billion to build.

The gigantic explosion of AI across virtually every industry has seen demand for AI data centers capable of handling massive use compared to traditional data centers is seeing multiple big players announcing and building new AI-focused data centers.

Sony's upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console will be released later this year, but today, we're learning about the PS5 Pro's new "PS5 Pro Enhanced" label that Sony will introduce with PS5 Pro-ready games.

The new PS5 Pro Enhanced label on PS5 Pro-exclusive games will include using PSSR (PlayStation Spatial Super Resolution) technology to upscale the resolution to 4K, a "constant" 60FPS frame rate, and adding or enhancing ray tracing effects. Insider Gaming reports that this is through a 45% faster GPU that's 67% larger than the regular PS5, and 27% faster RAM.

PS5 Pro Enhanced features in games:

Amazon plans to spend nearly $150 billion over the next 15 years on data centers, as the company expects an "explosion in demand" for AI applications and other digital, cloud-based services.

Microsoft is the king of data centers right now, but Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been experiencing record lows in the last year as business customers reduce costs and delayed projects. The insatiable AI demand has fueled new energy for Amazon, as AWS is looking at securing land and power systems for its new data centers.

Kevin Miller, an AWS vice president who oversees the company's data centers, said: "We're expanding capacity quite significantly. I think that just gives us the ability to get closer to customers".

NVIDIA launched its modified GeForce RTX 4090 D graphics card last year, reducing CUDA core counts and TDPs to meet US export restrictions on high-performance chips going into China... and now a custom ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 D has been unlocked to 600W power with impressive results.

In their official sense, all of the GeForce RTX 4090 D graphics cards ship with compliant specs approved to go into the Chinese (and other restricted markets) with lowered TDPs of 425W, down from 450W on the full-spec RTX 4090. There is no factory overclocking, and no dual-BIOS features allowed that push higher GPU clocks... until now.

HKEPC tested an ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 D graphics card after ASUS introduced a new 600W overclock power setting for its ROG Strix GPUs. The ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 D is identical to the ROG Strix RTX 4090 non-D, with a new AD102-205 GPU that packs fewer CUDA cores than the full RTX 4090.

COLORFUL has just announced its new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER graphics cards in its iGame Vulcan series, with a new Fog Hill of Five Elements Edition inspired by the anime series.

The new COLORFUL iGame Vulcan GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 SUPER graphics cards are both inspired by Samsara Animations' "Fog Hill of Five Elements" anime series. The Chinese AIB beautifully uses the gold and black theme on the cards.

Underneath, the design of COLORFUL's iGame Vulcan GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 SUPER packs a gigantic triple-slot cooling design with a triple-slot fan keeping the Ada Lovelace GPU cool. The heatsink features a massive aluminum-finned array that spans the entire length of the cooler, with a cut-out on the back that assists the third fan in venting hot air out of the shroud.

The Dutch government will spend $2.7 billion on infrastructure and education projects in the Eindhoven region after ASML threatens to move its operations overseas.

According to an emailed statement from the Dutch government on Thursday, the $2.7 billion in funding will be spent upgrading the roads, bus, and train networks, educating technical workers, providing vocational training, funding housing projects, and more.

ASML is the company behind bleeding-edge EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography machines, which Intel just took delivery of at the cost of $380 million for US semiconductor manufacturing. The Dutch government recently launched "Operation Beethoven," which will keep Europe's most valuable company --ASML -- from expanding out of the Netherlands.

PUBG Mobile is a gigantic money-making machine, with Krafton now confirming that PUBG Mobile's new version 3.2 update will include higher refresh rate support: up to 120FPS on certain smartphones.

Currently, PUBG Mobile supports up to 90FPS for much smoother gameplay, but now it's being upgraded to 120FPS on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra and S23 Ultra smartphones. There's no word on whether Apple's family of iPhones will support 120FPS on PUBG Mobile, but let's hope it's not too far away.

Krafton recently released the v3.1 update to PUBG Mobile, but the new v3.2 update, which adds 120FPS support, will be great. PUBG Mobile currently runs at 90FPS on the S24 Ultra and S23 Ultra smartphones, so you'll be able to enjoy 120FPS if you've got one of Samsung's flagship phones.

Sabrent is the hero of storage on World Backup Day, offering everyone up to 33% off its storage-related products. Grab your World Backup Day bargains from Sabrent here.

The storage leader explains on its website that in honor of World Backup Day, Sabrent is here to "ensure your digital life is not only secure but thriving. As our way of celebrating, we're offering exclusive discounts on our top-tier storage solutions, designed to keep your data safe".

We've got products like the Sabrent Rocket nano XTRM Thunderbolt 3 external SSD for $130, down from $170, while the 5-Bay USB-C Docking Station for 2.5-inch SATA HDDs and SSDs drops from $150 to just $99. If you're after a USB Type-C to Dual 3.5-inch SATA and RAID Docking Station, that's dropped by $30 to $120, down from $150.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max last year they were the first iPhones to use a new titanium construction rather than the stainless steel that was more familiar for buyers of Apple's Pro models. The switch was roundly well-received thanks to the weight savings that made the normally heavy iPhones much lighter. However, the change to titanium meant that the edges of the iPhone went from behind a highly polished stainless steel to a more matte, brushed titanium look. Now, a new report claims that Apple has been working on a way to make the titanium more shiny next time out.

That's according to a post on the Naver blog by the yeux1122 account that has been responsible for iPhone leaks in the past. The post was then spotted by MacRumors and reshared. According to that report, Apple is testing a new process that will allow the previously matte titanium finish to be made more shiny, or appear more polished, in a way that will be much shiner than the iPhone 15 Pro and closer to the stainless steel of the iPHone 14 Pro and earlier.

Notably, the report also claims that Apple will also be able to ensure the new finish is less likely to scratch than the old, scratch-prone stainless steel finish.

Apple is expected to announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus later this year, likely alongside the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. We've been hearing various things about the four different devices in recent months, but the non-Pro models are tipped to feature a big change in terms of the camera layout.

That camera layout can be seen in a newly leaked pair of iPhone 16 cases which clearly show a vertical camera arrangement just like the older iPhone XS. The pill-shaped layout is clear to see, while what appears to be a cutout for the LED flash to the side. But it's why Apple has chosen to ditch the familiar diagonal camera layout in favor of this new, tweaked arrangement that's most important.

It's been suggested that Apple intends to give the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus the ability to capture spatial videos, the 3D videos that can currently only be viewed to their full potential via the Apple Vision Pro. Currently, only the Apple Vision Pro spatial computing headset, the iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max devices are capable of capturing spatial video but that now looks set to change when the new 2024 iPhones roll around.

Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer is very interested in the possibility of Xbox on-the-go, whether that means an official Xbox handheld or highly-customized mobile software.

With multiple devices like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and Valve's Steam Deck, handheld PCs have emerged as a new nascent gaming platform to market and monetize. The Nintendo Switch arguably was the pioneer in the console-handheld space, but portable chip technology is now powerful enough to deliver playable, console-ish quality gaming while on-the-go. Tech-wise, it seems like a good time for Sony and Microsoft to start thinking about a PlayStation or Xbox handheld.

Sony's $199 PlayStation Portable selling like hotcakes may dissuade the company from making a costly dedicated handheld device, but what about Xbox? Phil Spencer is psyched for Xbox handheld gaming, but as is usually the case, there's a lot of ambiguity in what's said about Xbox's future. An Xbox handheld experience could range from a fully-fledged dedicated handheld device that natively plays Xbox console games to...an Xbox app that's optimized for Windows handhelds.

When Apple released the watchOS 10 software update last year it brought with it a number of new features to the Apple Watch including the addition of a new topographic mapping option. However, the feature was only available to those who owned an Apple Watch but that is now thought to be about to change.

According to a new report by MacRumors, Apple now intends to bring that same feature to the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro with the as-yet-unannounced iOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2 software updates.

MacRumors says that code that it has reviewed indicates that the topographic map is coming to the new devices. That mapping feature includes trails, contour lines, elevation, and points of interest which are all features that are useful for those who go hiking.

If you're an Apple Maps user on the iPhone you might be about to get a whole new feature for choosing the route that you take when using driving directions, according to a new report. It's said that Apple is working on a new custom route feature and that Apple Maps users will be able to choose different routes rather than the one that Apple picks out.

Users are not currently allowed to change anything to do with the route that they take and are instead left to follow the route that Apple Maps chooses for them. However, that could all change later this year with MacRumors noting that code reviewed by the website suggests the change is coming when iOS 18 arrives.

While Google Maps does offer a similar feature to edit the route chosen for drivers, that feature is only available via the Google Maps website and has not yet made its way to the iPhone app.