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Apple sues former employee who leaked the Journal app and Apple Vision Pro
Apple has long been one of the companies that manage to keep leaks to a minimum compared to some others like Samsung, but there are still plenty of leaks to go around. Apple is notoriously ruthless when dealing with employees who leak information to members of the press, and now it seems to have decided that it has to sue one former employee, too.
According to the lawsuit, reported by MacRumors, one now-former Apple employee was leaking information to specific news outlets and was responsible for information about the iOS 17 Journal app leaking to the public. It's also argued that he was the source of leaks relating to spatial computers, suggesting some of the Apple Vision Pro leaks were due to him.
The employee in question is Andrew Aude with Apple's lawsuit detailing some of the leaks. In the case of the Journal app, aude leaked the finalized features for the app to a journalist at The Wall Street Journal, Apple says. The same month the outlet posted a piece detailing Apple's plans for a journaling app.
Apple's new OLED iPad Pro and revamped iPad Air now coming in May, report claims
After months and months of rumors, it had been thought that Apple would release its new OLED iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air on March 26. That report turned out to be inaccurate with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman saying that Apple was likely to launch in April depending on how development of a new iPadOS release went. Now, Gurman has updated the timescale in a new report.
According to Gurman Apple's overseas suppliers have now started to ramp up the production of Apple's new iPads and the company intends to be ready to launch them in May. That's according to people who apparently have knowledge of the matter. However, Gurman has not named them because they asked not to be identified because the plans are not yet public.
The new iPads are greatly anticipated after Apple did not release any new iPads throughout the entity of 2023. That marked the first time that no new iPads had been released in a calendar year since the first model launched. Now, Apple looks set to release four new tablets at once.
FuryGPU: PC enthusiast builds own DIY GPU, with custom Windows drivers, to run Quake at 60 fps
Every so often a weird and wonderful, highly surprising story pops up around a DIY tech project, and they don't come any more astonishing than FuryGPU, frankly.
As Tom's Hardware picked up, FuryGPU is the accomplishment of games developer Dylan Barrie (who seems to work at Respawn, or someone of the same name does on LinkedIn, at any rate).
Barrie had the idea to build his own GPU - completely from scratch - and actually managed to pull this off.
MSI's M580 FROZR SSD: 14.6GB/s reads, 12.7GB/s writes, and a cooler your CPU may be jealous of
MSI has released a new blazing-fast SSD which benefits from a seriously beefy cooling solution to allow it to reach extremely speedy read and write speeds.
How fast? The Spatium M580 FROZR is a PCIe 5.0 SSD which hits read speeds of up to 14.6GB/s and write speeds of up to 12.7GB/s, so yes, this is very, very quick.
The cooler is a passive tower heatsink sporting three heat pipes, with MSI noting that it reduces temps by up to 20 degrees Celsius, allowing for sustained throughput at the high-performing levels which the drive is capable of.
MSI launches two new 4K gaming monitors with high refresh rates
MSI has recently announced the debut of two new gaming monitors worth considering, as they feature a high refresh rate at a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (4K / UHD).
If you are looking to make the jump from 2560 x 1440p up to 4K gaming MSI has two new options for you to consider; the MAG 274UPF E2 and the MSI MPG 274URF QD. These monitors have very similar specifications with the main difference between the two being the MPG 274URF QD featuring Quantum Dot technology, providing a much larger color space coverage. So, what can expect out of the new gaming monitors?
The MAG 274UPF E2 is a 27-inch 4K gaming monitor with Rapid IPS pixel technology and a refresh rate of up to 160Hz. The new gaming monitor uses Wide Color Gamut technology that provides a color space of 133% sRGB, 93% of Adobe RGB, and 98% of DCI-P3 color space. As for response time, MSI has a 0.5 ms GtG response time, which is 1 ms MPRT. The MAG 274UPF E2 has two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4 port, a headphone jack, and a USB Type-C capable of 15W of power delivery.
Continue reading: MSI launches two new 4K gaming monitors with high refresh rates (full post)
Survival MMO Dune: Awakening will make players fight each other over spice
If you are a fan of the extremely popular Dune movies, you should keep Dune: Awakening on your radar, as the survival MMO looks very promising.
At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Dune: Awakening developer Funcom has provided some more details on its upcoming title. Chief Creative Officer at Funcom, Joel Bylos, touched on how PvP will work in Dune: Awakening, with the developer saying that Funcom believes PvP "works best" when players are competing over resources rather than fighting over bases, which is a common mechanic in other survival multiplayer games such as Rust, Ark, and DayZ.
For those that don't know, within the Dune universe, spice is the most valuable resource in the entire galaxy, and having Funcom adopt an approach that pits players against each other to acquire spice fits perfectly into the canon of the story. More specifically, players will be able to see "spice blows" as world events on the map. These spice events will be visible to all players, creating a sense of urgency to travel to the location, gather as much spice as possible and then transport their haul back to their home bases while fighting off other players.
Scientists are using AI to make beer taste even better
Artificial intelligence is being used around the world to create some pretty incredible things, such as photorealistic video from text prompts, but it's also being used to make beer taste even better than it already does.
A new study published in the scientific journal Nature details Belgian researchers taking a machine learning model and feeding it 180,000 online beer reviews, along with feedback from a panel of 16 people, to create a new AI system that is capable of predicting how to make taste as good as possible. The panel sampled 250 beers for 50 attributes over three years, taking into account variables such as bitterness, sweetness, alcohol content, and malt aroma.
The newly trained model was then asked to improve the taste of beer by providing the best composition. The team of researchers then made changes to already commercially available beers before they were given to the sampling panel. The panel responded by giving the AI-altered beer a much higher score. It should be noted that creating beer is much more than just identifying the best ingredients, as the skill of the brewer is a massive factor in the end result.
Continue reading: Scientists are using AI to make beer taste even better (full post)
Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro design leaks in new 5K renders
Extremely HD renders of Google's upcoming Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL have leaked online, revealing what buyers can expect out of the company's next-generation smartphones.
91mobiles and MySmartPrice published renders of Google's next smartphone back in January and they were believed to be the standard Pixel 9, but according to new reports those renders are actually the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, per Steve Hemmerstoffer from OnLeaks. There are four 5K renders of the upcoming devices and a 360-degree video that can be seen above.
The renders reveal a slightly different design compared to the Pixel 8, with the Pixel 9 Pro featuring much more rounded edges and a thick rear camera module that houses a triple-camera setup. Furthermore, the renders show that the Pixel 9 will have a flat display and a centered punch-hole selfie camera.
Continue reading: Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro design leaks in new 5K renders (full post)
Astronaut snaps embarrassing photo of space junk while aboard ISS
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have to endure many challenges during their stay aboard the floating laboratory, and one of those challenges is making sure their possessions aren't lost to the void of space.
Unfortunately, that is what astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara experienced on November 2, 2023, as a tool bag worth approximately $100,000 escaped from their clutches during a spacewalk. The tool bag is now being tracked from Earth's surface as it orbits the planet, which can be seen in the below video taken from Añasco, Puerto Rico, on November 11, 2023. Notably, the tool bag appears to be changing in brightness, which suggests that it's tumbling as it orbits the planet.
Furthermore, Crew-7 was transported back to Earth's surface by SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, and recently sat down for their first post-flight press conference where Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut, Satoshi Furakawa, explained he was embarrassed when he discovered he accidently captured the tool bag when he was attempting to take a photograph of Mt. Fuji.
Continue reading: Astronaut snaps embarrassing photo of space junk while aboard ISS (full post)
Panasonic's new in-flight entertainment system includes 4K OLED Displays for all passengers
If you've ever been on a long-haul flight or international trip flying Economy, you probably weren't impressed with the display slapped onto the seat in front of you. Sure, they do the job and provide access to a range of movies and TV shows to help you kill some time, but they're a far cry from the crisp 4K OLED experience you can get at home... until now.
Panasonic Avionics has a new Astrova in-flight entertainment (IFE) system that includes 4K OLED displays with HDR 10+ to deliver "cinema-grade picture quality." It doesn't stop there, as there's high-fidelity audio and Bluetooth functionality to connect your audio device. Plus, up to 100W of mobile and laptop fast-charging over USB-C. Naturally, the impressive thing is that 4K OLED displays are on a plane for all passengers.
The good news is that Qantas and Icelandair are already adopting the Astrova system. Qantas will include these systems in its long-haul direct flights from Australia to Europe and New York in Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
Baltimore bridge collapse aftermath photographed from space
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning when it was struck by a massive cargo ship.
The tragic event has now been captured by space, showcasing the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) long bridge mostly submerged in the cold waters of the Patapsco River. The massive cargo ship that measures 984 feet, named Dali, was en route to its destination in Colombo, Sri Lanka when it lost power and unfortunately steered itself into one of the critical pillars supporting the Key Bridge. Within just minutes, the bridge collapsed, sending people and vehicles into the water below.
Six people are presumed dead, with rescue efforts still underway to search for any remaining survivors. Before the collision took place, the ship sent out a signal to officials informing them that the cargo ship was going to collide with one of the pillars.
Continue reading: Baltimore bridge collapse aftermath photographed from space (full post)
Microsoft's game-changing pixel-dimming technology will bring some OLED magic to all displays
A new Microsoft patent could revolutionize gaming on modern LED/LCDs. Pixel Luminesce for Digital Display technology involves an EM gate driver that can send a signal to a row of pixels to control individual pixels' brightness. This adds pixel-dimming functionality normally seen in OLEDs to traditional LED monitors.
It's a rather technical process that includes a luminance controller that sends a pulse-width modulated signal to a row of pixels, letting parts of a screen be brighter while others are dimmer. This can improve color accuracy and works alongside VRR or variable refresh-rate technology.
There's also the benefit of improved power efficiency, which could see the technology make its way to laptop and mobile devices running Windows. For PC gaming, it will add more dynamic contrast to an image, bringing a traditional LED display's immersion closer to that of OLED - at least, that's the idea.
Quanta Computer to make NVIDIA GB200-based AI servers for Google, Amazon, and Meta
Quanta Computer is one of the largest OEM suppliers in the world, with new contracts won to build NVIDIA GB200 AI systems for the likes of Google, Amazon AWS, Meta, and some B200-based AI systems for Microsoft.
The company will have its first GB200 AI servers in testing in July or August "at the earliest" reports UDN, with mass production expected in September. Quanta holds "large OEM orders" for GB200 servers from Google, Amazon AWS, and Meta which are provided as complete AI cabinets. Microsoft ordered some B200 servers, which means Quanta is building next-gen AI systems for all four major US cloud servers in one set of orders.
NVIDIA's new GB200 cabinet AI servers cost around $2-3 million each, so we can expect some major revenues for NVIDIA in the second half of this year once these orders are processed. UDN reports that Quanta is "optimistic" that as a shortage of materials in the supply chain gets better, AI server shipments will increase as soon as May or June, while the second half of 2024 is expected to be an "explosive period".
Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian-made gaming system, like Xbox and PlayStation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his government to look into the requirements for organizing the production of both game consoles and portable gaming consoles in Russia.
Making them in Russia, producing them in Russia, and even creating a special operating system and cloud system for delivering games and programs to gamers. President Putin's deadline for executing the order is June 15, 2024, which is only a few months away.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin oversees the completion of the task, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that Putin's order to consider the creation of a domestically-produced console will help develop Russia's native gaming industry. The Organization for Developing the Video Game Industry (RVI) provided a five-year roadmap to the Russian government in February, laying out an 83-point program for developing games in Russia.
Scientists discover the moon shakes much more than they previously thought
A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research details the discovery of tens of thousands of seismic events on the moon that were previously unknown to researchers.
The findings were presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The space agency explains that billions of years the moon formed vast basins called "mare", which researchers assumed were dead, bereft of any geological activity that likely occurred before dinosaurs were even on Earth.
However, researchers conducted a survey on more than 12,000 images of the moon and found that one mare has been "cracking and shifting as much as other parts of the Moon" and may very well still be happening today. Notably, between 1969 and 1977, seismometers that Apollo astronauts stationed detected around 13,000 moonquakes, and now one researcher has gone back through the Apollo data with a fine-toothed comb and found an additional 22,000 moonquakes, bringing the grand total to around 35,000.
PCIe 6.0 connectivity demoed at NVIDIA GTC 2024: ready for Blackwell B100, B200, GB200 AI GPUs
Astera Labs was demoing its working PCIe 6.0 connectivity with next-gen Aries PCIe 6.0 retimers, spotted on the NVIDIA GTC 2024 showfloor by our friends at Tom's Hardware. Check it out:
We don't even have PCIe 5.0 across the board with all PC users and gamers, but PCIe 6.0 is coming with NVIDIA's new Blackwell B100, B200, and GB200 AI GPUs all ready for Gen6. AI workloads require ridiculous amount of throughput through the GPUs to process everything at full speed, with NVIDIA using its in-house custom NVLink and NVSwitch to offer massive GPU-to-GPU communication, offering up to 1.8TB/sec of bandwidth on GB200-powered systems.
Not every customer wants the entire NVIDIA solution, which is where PCIe 5.0 x16 connections step in for the current fleet of AI GPUs, but Blackwell introduces PCIe 6.0, doubling the 128GB/sec of bandwidth of an x16 connection on PCIe 5.0 to a huge 256GB/sec bandwidth on PCIe 6.0 x16.
Digital Xbox Series X spotted, no disc drive and all white like the Series S
Images of a yet-to-be-announced digital-only Xbox Series X have appeared online, showcasing an all-white version of the current console sans optical drive. The dimensions and size look the same in the surprisingly low-resolution leaked images presented by eXtas1s over on exputer.
Many have been expected to see the all-digital Xbox Series X sometime this year because it was included in that massive Microsoft document leak last year. The version of the console showcased there presented a cylindrical-shaped console with notes that the all-digital console would be released sometime in June or July of this year.
The leaked images, if real, show that Microsoft has moved on from creating a new look for the digital Xbox Series X console. Instead, it will be the same box in a white form factor to match the drive-free baseline Xbox Series S console. It's also reported to include an improved heatsink.
China president: we don't need ASML, 'no force can stop the pace of China' tech development
ASML is the only company in the world with advanced High-NA EUV lithography machines, with Intel as its latest $380 million customer. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping has told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte-ASML, who is in the Netherlands, that attempts to restrict China's success to technology will not stop his country's advancement.
The Netherlands slapped down export licensing requirements in 2023, stopping the sale of high-end machinery that is capable of making the world's most advanced processors. The US started by blocking access to advanced chips and the equipment required to make them, citing security concerns with China, seeing the Netherlands impose similar restrictions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said: "The Chinese people also have the right to legitimate development, and no force can stop the pace of China's scientific and technological development and progress."
MAINGEAR PRO AI workstation PC with Phison aiDaptiv+ platform: uses SSDs, DRAM to boost AI perf
Phison had something very cool to show off at NVIDIA GTC 2024 last week, with a single MAINGEAR PRO AI workstation PC packing 4 x NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada workstation GPUs using its in-house aiDaptiv+ software to use SSDs and DRAM to make up for the lack of VRAM, using it to super-speed AI workloads on the cheap.
By cheap, we mean cheaper than using full-fledged NVIDIA Hopper H100 or new H200 AI GPUs, let alone the next-gen Blackwell B100 and B200 AI GPUs that will be very hard to come by this year, and a huge chunk into 2025. Phison's aim with its aiDaptiv+ platform is to lower the (cost) barrier of AI LLM training by using systems' already-there DRAM and SSDs to augment the amount of GPU VRAM available for AI training.
Phison says that achieving intense generative AI training workloads at a far lower cost than using standard GPUs will come at a cost: reduced AI training performance and longer training times. If you want the best, you'll spend magnitudes more money on it, but more off-the-shelf AI systems from the likes of MAINGEAR and its PRO AI system, putting Phison's new aiDaptiv+ platform in between is a big win.
Marvel Rivals is a new team-based hero PVP game from Netease that looks a lot like Overwatch
Described as a "Super Hero team-based PVP shooter," Marvel Rivals from NetEase and Marvel Games gives off serious Overwatch and Valorant vibes. The free-to-play PC game was announced earlier today, and the announcement trailer showcases a stacked lineup of Marvel characters battling it out, including Black Panther, Spider-Man, Magneto, Rocket Raccoon, Iron Man, and more.
According to the press release, the global team developing the game comprises talent who has worked on franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. The game will, of course, fall into the live service online competitive space currently populated by Overwatch, Valorant, and even Counter-Strike, with the game set to feature an "ever-evolving all-star squad of Super Heroes and Super Villains." So expect new maps, characters, Season Passes, and all that.
Marvel is calling it one of the most ambitious game projects it has worked on to date. It is set to feature characters from the worlds of the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men, and more. An Alpha Test for Marvel Rivals begins in May, so a full or Early Access launch should happen this year.




















