Latest News - Page 649

Apple released the macOS Sonoma 14.4 software update recently and while it brought with it new emojis and support for transcripts in the Apple Podcasts app, it also brought with it a number of bugs, it seems. Recent reports have suggested that the new software update is causing issues with some USB-C and Thunderbolt docks, now it seems printers aren't faring much better.

The previous reports said that some people who connected input accessories like mice and keyboards via a hub were finding that they no longer worked after updating to the macOS Sonoma 14.4 software version. Some also reported the same problem when using their monitor, too. While the problem doesn't seem to be impacting everyone, people have already taken to social media and even Apple's own support forums to report the issue. Now, it seems that people are having similar issues with printers - but it doesn't matter how they're connected to the Mac which rules out hubs, it would appear.

Apple Insider reports that a number of macOS Sonoma 14.4 users have reported that they can no longer print after installing the same update. Posts on Reddit and again, Apple's own support forums, suggest that the problem isn't one that users can easily fix. According to one Reddit post, macOS Sonoma 14.4 removes the core CUPS software that is required for printing which in turn means that there is no way for the Mac to talk to the printer and ask it to do its job.

OmniFocus is a task management app that has been around for what feels like forever, and it quite possibly has actually been around that long. It's already available for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and the web - and now it's also available as a native visionOS app on the Apple Vision Pro for the first time.

The update, which is available for download from the visionOS App Store as OmniFocus 41 right now, joins other OmniGroup app OmniPlan and is sure to not be the last Apple Vision Pro app from the long-time Apple platform developer.

In a blog post detailing the new update, OmniGroup says that this release includes all the same functionality that was introduced in OmniFocus 4.0 across the other platforms but with a decidedly spatial twist. As an example of that, bad counts now float over the Perspectives Bar in a three-dimensional space in a way that simply isn't possible on other platforms. The Inspector and commonly-used buttons are also in a new location outside the application window, something else that couldn't be done elsewhere.

As Apple reportedly gets ready to launch its first iPad with an OLED display in the form of the 2024 iPad Pro, a new report claims that the high-end tablet won't be the last of Apple's lineup to make the switch to the new technology.

The report, which is based on research by Omdia that was first picked up by The Elec, claims that Apple will start to look towards the iPad Air as the next tablet to move to OLED after the iPad Pro, but it won't happen just yet. Alongside the new OLED iPad Pro, Apple is tipped to be ready to launch new iPad Air models within weeks, likely alongside the new iPad Pros, but they will continue to use the existing LCD displays.

So when should we expect the iPad Air to also make the move to OLED? Omdia researcher Kang Min-soo, speaking on Thursday at the 2024 Korea Display Conference in Seoul, said that the researchers at their firm believe that Apple will launch an OLED iPad Air in 2028. However, the technology won't be quite the same as the higher-end, and more expensive, iPad Pro.

The House of Representatives has voted on a bill that could result in TikTok being banned across the United States, and now the app is requesting users contact their Senators to tell them "how important TikTok is to you".

The message from TikTok is the second to be pushed out to users requesting them to contact their representatives to tell them how much they like TikTok, as the first message asked users to call House representatives. However, the prompt for calling lawmakers may have backfired on the company as officials have now claimed TikTok is attempting to "interfere" with the legislative process, as offices were inundated with calls, many of which were from teenagers.

The latest prompt from TikTok stated, "The House of Representatives just voted to ban TikTok, which impacts 170 million Americans just like you." For those that don't know, the bill has been passed in the House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate where if its passed will then go to President Joe Biden who said he would sign it into law. If completely passed TikTok will have six months to sell itself or be hit with a nation-wide ban.

NVIDIA and Microsoft-backed humanoid robot Figure has published a new video of what it calls "Figure 01", a humanoid robot powered by OpenAI technology designed to simulate speech.

Figure, which raised $675 million in Series B funding at a $2.6 billion valuation received funding from companies such as Microsoft, OpenAI's Startup fund, NVIDIA, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and much more. The goal of the company is to develop "next-generation AI models for humanoid robots" and judging by the latest video posted by the company they are well along the way of achieving that.

The new video shows an engineer chatting with Figure 01, with the engineer asking the humanoid robot, "Can I have something to eat?" to which the robot responded, "Sure thing," and then proceeded to hand over a red apple. Figure 01 was then asked why it "did what it just did" while it was picking up trash from a table. The robot explained that it gave the engineer the red apple as it was the "only edible item I could provide you with from the table."

We got our first look at the new LG CineBeam Q portable 4K projector at CES 2024. This is LG's new flagship lifestyle projector, featuring a retro-inspired look, handle, and cutting-edge features. LG notes that it can deliver a vivid 4K UHD image up to 120 inches with a 450,00:1 contrast ratio and 154% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

Other features include Auto Screen Adjustment and Auto Focus, so setting it up and moving it to different rooms is hassle-free. Although it's the sort of projector you can carry around (the handle isn't just for show), the LG CineBeam Q requires dedicated power, so it's not as portable or versatile as some battery-powered projectors.

With the launch on the horizon, LG has confirmed that pre-orders for the LG CineBeam Q will be available from March 18 with "exclusive benefits" for those who get in early. The projector will hit retail in South Korea later in the month, with markets like the US

When you think you have either read or heard it all a story such this one surfaces, revealing one man's quest to create a giant hybrid sheep species.

Arthur "Jack" Schubarth, an 80-year-old man from Montana has pleaded guilty to two felony wildlife crimes that authorities are calling an "audacious scheme" to create a giant hybrid sheep species that was going to sold and hunted as trophies. Schubarth began conspiring with several other individuals in 2013 to create the new species, and according to reports the Montana man purchased parts of the Marco Polo argali sheep, that can weigh as much as 300 pounds, from Kyrgyzstan into the United States.

Schubarth didn't declare the importation and this particular species of sheep is protected both internationally and domestically by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Schubarth then took genetic material from the Marco Polo sheep parts and sent it to a lab to create embyros, paying a deposit of $4,200 to the lab back in 2015.

ENERMAX's range of power supplies has been impressive for years, with its REVOLUTION series offering excellent features, build quality, and versatility. According to the company, its latest entry not only adheres to the most up-to-date ATX 3.1 standard but is also the world's smallest ATX 3.1 power supply, with a depth of only 122mm.

The new ENERMAX REVOLUTION D.F. 12 is all about maximizing space for airflow while delivering the power you need to jump into the latest PC games (or run complex AI tasks or content creation apps). As an ATX 3.1 power supply, it comes equipped with the newest 600W 600W 12V-2x6 cable compatible with modern GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards. This new cable design minimizes issues when a 12V cable is incorrectly seated.

As the world's smallest ATX 3.1 power supply, the ENERMAX REVOLUTION D.F. 12 is compact enough to fit in micro-ATX cases, making it perfect for building a tiny PC gaming powerhouse. Available in 750W and 850W capacities and in black or white, hit the jump to find out more.

Created by NVIDIA using its powerful RTX Remix tools, Portal with RTX showcases what full path tracing can bring to an experience and how RTX Remix can transform a classic PC game like Portal into a cutting-edge modern masterpiece.

Path tracing is, of course, hardware intensive, and to play Portal with RTX at a decent frame rate, you'll need the help of DLSS 3 Frame Generation and a GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics card. Today, NVIDIA announced that it has updated and leveled up Portal with RTX to make it compatible with DLSS 3.5, allowing the new Ray Reconstruction tech to improve ray-traced image quality.

DLSS 3.5 is a game changer for RT image quality, as seen in Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake II, so it's great to see it added here. The update also supports RTX IO (aka DirectStorage) for faster loading times and a smaller storage device footprint (Portal with RTX now takes up 37% less disk space).

SpaceX has conducted its third orbital test flight of the world's largest and most powerful rocket, Starship, flying further and higher than it ever has before.

Starship blasted off from the launch pad at the Starbase facility in South Texas on March 14 and went on to accomplish many mission objectives before the vehicle experienced a RUD, which SpaceX calls "rapid unscheduled disassembly," or boom. Starship executed its second hot-stage separation, which is when Super Heavy disconnects from the ship. Additionally, SpaceX's crown jewel of launch vehicles became the first Starship rocket SpaceX has built to complete its full-duration ascent burn and reach orbit.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket hit orbit, and then upon its re-entry back to Earth, where it was going to splash down in the Indian Ocean, communications were lost, resulting in the boom. Despite the RUD, SpaceX has described the launch as a "phenomenal day," as all of the objectives that were completed during the third orbital test flight will assist SpaceX in its next test flight, which it plans to do very soon.

Star Wars Outlaws, from Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment (The Division, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora), is described as the first open-world Star Wars game and will launch later this year.

The story is set between Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. In it, you play Han Solo-like scoundrel Kay Vess as you "fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy's crime syndicates."

As part of its latest DLSS update and round-up, NVIDIA has confirmed that Star Wars Outlaws will launch later this year and feature ray tracing, DLSS 3 Frame Generation, and Reflex support. The announcement arrives alongside a new RTX-powered ultrawide trailer showcasing snippets of some of the game's planetary (and out-of-space) environments.

Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most highly anticipated game releases for 2024. It is an epic action adventure based on the legendary Monkey King and Journey to the West myth, powered by the latest Unreal Engine 5 technology. The game fully uses NVIDIA's RTX technologies, and several impressive RTX On trailers have dropped over the years.

With the launch set for August 20, today comes word from NVIDIA and developer Game Science that Black Myth: Wukong will be one of the most visually impressive and cutting-edge (see: hardware intensive) PC games ever when it arrives in the second half of this year. In addition to DLSS 3.5 support (including Frame Generation and Ray Reconstruction), Black Myth: Wukong supports full path-traced lighting.

Yes, this is the latest game to support full ray tracing, also known as path tracing. This technique presents realistic and cinematic lighting, shadows, global illumination, and reflections. It powers Cyberpunk 2077's incredible RT Overdrive mode, Alan Wake II's highest detail mode, and NVIDIA's path-traced Portal with RTX mod.

Dr. Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, delivered the keynote at SXSW the other day with her speech focused on the future of AI. "AI is the most important technology to come on the scene in the last 50 years," Lisa Su said. Adding, "Companies that learn how to leverage AI are going to win over companies that are not."

With that, AMD is all in on AI, leveraging AI to help design better chips and software. Lisa Su added that AI is a productivity tool within AMD's walls. With 2024 ushering in the era of the AI PC, there are already plenty of options out there (both mobile and desktop) powered by AMD Ryzen CPUs with inbuilt NPU hardware and Radeon RX GPUs with dedicated AI hardware.

Like other big players, Lisa Su and AMD advocate for an open-source ecosystem for AI because "no one company has all the answers" when it comes to building the AI future; "it takes a village."

The TT show is back, and this week, Jak and Kosta take a closer look at several cool-looking games on the horizon. With the smash hit Dune Part Two now in cinemas, the sci-fi franchise is getting a massive open-world survival MMO called Dune Awakening from the creators of Conan Exiles. With new info and gameplay, the Arrakis-set title is looking very spicy.

The duo also looks at PlayStation classic Ghost of Tsushima, finally coming to PC (Assassin's Creed meets Shogun), and the breathtaking indie action RPG No Rest for the Wicked.

In the world of science and space, Jak brings up Samsung's recent (and super fun) marketing stunt, which sent Galaxy phones into the lower atmosphere to take a few snaps of planet Earth. Plus, new solar-powered implants that can restore someone's vision are paving the way for a Cyberpunk future.

We've got some news about the AI upscaling on the beefed-up PlayStation 5 Pro console, which is reportedly called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).

In a new video, leaker Moore's Law is Dead has sources that have explained to him that PSSR is Sony's new Multi-Frame Super Resolution (MSFR) implementation. It uses PlayStation Machine learning (PSML) to perform super-resolution processing on input data to generate color buffers with a current maximum resolution of 4K, although support for resolutions up to 8K are coming in a future version of the SDK.

PSSR is a machine learning-enhanced version of Temporal Anti-Aliasing Upscal (TAAU). It will replace a game's existing temporal anti-aliasing or temporal upsampling. The inputs are "quite similar to DLSS or FSR" with full HDR support.

Sony has announced that PS5 system software version 24.02-09.00.00 contains controller improvements.

PlayStation 5 owners received a notification on Wednesday to download the latest version of their console, which makes the DualSense and DualSense Edge controller speakers louder when used to produce in-game sounds and voice chat. Additionally, Sony writes on its website that details the update version 24.02-09.00.00 will also enhance the microphone through a "new AI machine-learning mode" that reduces the sound of background noise caused by button presses, thus improving the voice chat experience.

The update has also added some more customizability to the PS5 power indicator, which can be found in Settings > System > Beep and Light > Brightness. From there, users can select between dim, medium, and bright, which is the default setting. Other new features within the update are pointers and emoji reactions to the Share Screen feature, which viewers of your shared screen can send to the host. Notably, emojis and pointers can be switched off by the host within the Share Screen settings.

PGL has just announced its upgraded gaming PC setups for its CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 event, where Counter-Strike 2 pros will fight for a $1.25 million prize pool.

PGL is ready to deliver an "unparalleled esports experience" at the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 event with upgraded PCs featuring AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card. PGL chose the heart of this cutting-edge setup for its exceptional performance capabilities and the "ability to handle the demands of CS2" at what I'm sure are going to be the highest FPS the team can manage.

The systems have been fully optimized by "Afromnazareth" who is a PC optimizer in Paris, France. PGL explains that the team has "meticulously optimized this bespoke gaming setup to ensure that every participant experiences CS2 in the highest fidelity without compromise. The AMD RYZEN 7800 X3D stands out as a game-changer in the esports arena, promising to elevate the competitive play of CS2 to new heights".

ASUS has just announced that all of its Intel 700 and 600 series and its entire fleet of AMD AM5 socket motherboards, support up to 256GB of DDR5 memory.

The only exception to the new 256GB DDR5 RAM support upgrade to ASUS' fleet of motherboards is that they'll need to have 4 x DIMMs to have 64GB sticks in each of them for a total of 256GB. Motherboards with only two DIMM slots will now support up to 128GB of DDR5 memory.

64GB DDR5 memory modules are now out in the market, with ASUS updating its motherboard family to support these 64GB sticks for a total of 256GB memory. If you own an Intel motherboard based on the Intel 700 or 600 series chipset by ASUS, you'll need to update your BIOS to support 256GB of DDR5 memory. AMD users might not need to update their BIOS, but if there's a new one, you'll probably want to update just to be sure.

Sony's upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro is a hot topic for a fresh round of rumors, where we're hearing that the PS5 Pro will feature up to 45% faster rendering performance over the standard PS5, but a whopping 2-3x performance boost in ray tracing when it drops later this year.

Inside the PlayStation 5 Pro console is a beefed-up "Trinity" semi-custom SoC from AMD, with the GPU being larger and using faster system memory, which should see 20Gbps GDDR6 memory inside. The new Trinity SoC has a new, more powerful ray tracing architecture, with 2-3x performance over the regular PS5. Moore's Law is Dead's sources said they've "seen 4x speedup in some cases," which is incredible if true.

AI is another big part of the PlayStation 5 Pro console. The Trinity SoC features a custom architecture for matching learning (ML), which is used for Sony's upscaling and anti-aliasing solution, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR for short.

Intel's just-released special edition Core i9-14900KS processor has hit the market, with overclockers already pushing the new CPU to a world record 9.1GHz.

ASUS announced the news that a group of elite overclockers -- Elmor, SkatterBencher, Shamino, and Safedisk -- gained four new world records using the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore motherboard using Intel's new Core i9-14900KS processor. Elmor joined the ASUS overclocking team, pushing the Core i9-14900KS up to an incredible 9117.75MHz.

Overclocker Safedisk used the same setup to hit three additional world records, with PiFast completed in just 6.79 seconds, SuperPi finished in 3.767 seconds, and PYPrime 32B finished in 97.596 seconds. The Intel Core i9-14900KS processor had liquid helium cooling keeping it at a chilly -231C with 1.85V pumping into the CPU.