Latest News - Page 658

Apple finally announced the M3 MacBook Air in both 13- and 15-inch configurations earlier this week and the new tablets are now available for preorder. They'll begin arriving on the doorsteps of people who placed their orders early starting on Friday, March 8, and they should also become available in Apple Stores around the globe on the same day. But we don't have to wait that long to find out just how capable these machines are, with early benchmarks having already started to appear online.

As spotted by the folks at MySmartPrice, Apple's M3-powered MacBook Air has already popped up in the online Geekbench database of results which means that we can get a feel for how fast the new laptops are. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, these machines are just as quick as other M3 Macs that are already on sale.

The MacBook Air currently available in the Geekbench database is an M3 model with 16GB of RAM which manages a single-core score of 3,157 and a multi-core score of 12,020. The machine has the model identifier of Mac15,3 which suggests that it is a 15-inch model.

Apple released iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 to the public earlier this week and you've likely already seen plenty of news about what they have to offer. In particular, the new updates bring support for third-party app stores for the first time - but only if you happen to be in the European Union. But while that's a vital feature and a big addition for those in an EU member country, there's something arguably more important - and it's something that is applicable to owners of iPhones and iPads everywhere.

We're of course talking about a pair of vital security improvements that are designed to deal with vulnerabilities that could have allowed someone to gain access to a user's device without their permission. Notably, Apple says that it is also aware of the possibility that the bugs have been actively exploited by bad actors.

The issues, which are related to RTKit and kernel vulnerabilities, are notable because of the potential for someone to gain control of a device not to mention Apple's admittance that they might have been exploited. Apple has now fixed the memory corruption issues and improved validation to patch things up with the release of iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 however, and for that reason, we would suggest that people download and install these updates now rather than wait.

Apple's new iOS 17.4 software update brings with it a number of new features, but if you're in the European Union there's one that undoubtedly stands out more than the rest - support for third-party app stores. We're still learning more about how they work but it's now been confirmed that parents who are worried that their kids could install third-party app stores without their knowledge can prevent that from happening.

Apple has long offered parental controls that allow parents to be required to approve the downloading of apps from the App Store, but with the addition of third-party app marketplaces, there were concerns that kids might be able to bypass the need to get approval. However, 9to5Mac notes that Apple has added a feature that will give parents more control.

9to5Mac reports that parents will be able to choose to prevent the installation of third-party apps and app stores using the Screen Time protections that they're familiar with. Parents can also set an age rating rather than blocking all third-party app stores if they prefer, with Apple still requiring that apps installed via third-party marketplaces have age ratings attached to them.

When Apple released the iOS 17.4 software update to the public this week it added support for third-party app stores, a first for the iPhone. But the new feature is only available to those in the European Union thanks to the new Digital Markets Act and the requirements it places on companies like Apple. However, Apple has added complications to its support for third-party app stores, and they're starting to become clear.

They're becoming clear after MacRumors spotted a new support document on Apple's website that details a so-called grace period after which such app stores will become unavailable should users leave the EU for a length of time. Unfortunately, we don't know what that length of time actually is.

The support document warns users that, should they leave the European Union for short-term travel, they'll continue to have access to third-party app stores for a grace period. If they're gone for too long, Apple warns, they'll lose access to some features including the new alternative app marketplaces. Apps installed via those app marketplaces will continue to work, but users won't be able to update them or download new marketplaces.

It seems that NVIDIA is responding to mid-range pricing pressure from AMD, and has taken the hatchet to the price of the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, with this graphics card coming down close to the $400 mark in the US (or at least one model has).

If you've been following the discounts in this GPU bracket recently, you probably saw that AMD's RX 7700 XT has dropped down to $409 over at Newegg (following an official price cut to $419). There are two models at that cheaper price, from Sapphire (Pulse) and ASRock (Challenger).

That's a fair drop from the MSRP of $449 that the RX 7700 XT launched at, which at the time made the GPU look distinctly unfavorable compared to the more powerful 7800 XT which was only just over 10% more expensive.

After speculation online, the developer behind the massively popular Helldivers 2 has denied the claims that Sony has acquired the studio.

On March 5, rumors began circulating around X about Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead, which was quietly on the verge of being acquired by Sony. It appears the rumors began spreading on Reddit and the NeoGAF forum, but now they have been put to bed by Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt, who took to his personal X account to answer the main question about the rumors - are they true or not. The Arrowhead CEO wrote that it was the rumors were the first he had heard about an acquisition by Sony, and that should be a "good indication that it's fake".

The rumors of Arrowhead being purchased were further put to bed with another response by Pilestedt, who replied to an X user claiming Arrowhead was a "Sony-owned studio". Pilestedt replied, "We are not owned. We are independently owned!" and that the only owners of the company are the four founders, Pilestedt being one of them. Notably, Pilestedt pointed out that optically, it would look very bad for Sony to acquire Arrowhead as they recently laid off 900 workers.

Late last month, reports surfaced that the US military used artificial intelligence-powered algorithms to identify airstrike targets in the Middle East, according to a defense official.

The use of AI-powered technologies in warfare publicly began around 2017 when Project Maven was implemented, which was when the Pentagon put out a call for suppliers developing identifying object recognition software designed specifically to identify objects on drone footage. That same year, Marine Corps Colonel Drew Cukor said via press release that the Pentagon hoped to integrate that new object recognition software by the "end of the calendar year".

Now we are seemingly starting to hear about the impact that new technology has had on the success of missions. According to Schuyler Moore, CTO for US Central Command, the military deployed Project Maven's systems into real campaigns shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel last year, and now the technology has been used to carry out over 85 air strikes across seven locations in Iraq and Syria.

Samsung has informed PetaPixel that it strapped four Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones to a balloon that was then sent to space to capture photographs of Earth using the smartphone cameras.

This very well could be one of the most epic camera demonstrations a smartphone company has attempted, as Samsung has informed the publication that four carbon fiber skeletons, each designed around a flight computer and a Galaxy S24 Ultra, were floated into space using a stratospheric balloon canopy filled with hydrogen. Each of these balloons reached heights of more than 120,000 feet, and in total, Samsung was able to capture more than 150 images of Earth from space.

As the balloons reached the desired height, each of the smartphones began periodically snapping high-resolution images of Earth, and the results were truly impressive, especially considering the images came from a smartphone. It should be noted that technically speaking, the stratosphere isn't space, but it is 23 miles (121,440 feet) above the surface of Earth, which is far higher than the flying height of commercial airplanes (31,000 feet to 42,000 feet).

A new type of magnet developed by researchers at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) at MIT may get scientists one step closer to achieving sustainable nuclear fusion.

The creation of this new magnet has been detailed in several papers and, according to reports, will get researchers closer to unlocking the power of nuclear fusion or emulating the reaction that takes place on the Sun. If this is achieved, it would create a sustainable, limitless, clean energy source for all of humanity and remove the reliance on fossil fuels that damage the environment. While that all sounds like sunshine and rainbows, achieving nuclear fusion and maintaining the reaction long enough to harvest energy has proven extremely challenging.

Enter the new magnets. For an artificial Sun to be created, the nuclear fusion reaction needs to be held in place, and to do that, magnets are used. Unfortunately, researchers have only been able to maintain the reaction long enough to get a net energy gain or extract more energy than they are putting in to make the reaction occur. However, newly designed magnets made from rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) may be the answer, as they come with many advantages compared to the magnets currently being used.

Spotify is preparing to take full advantage of the European Commission's (EC) recent ruling against Apple that claims the company is "abusing its dominant position" in the music streaming app distribution business.

The ruling by the EC featured a massive fine of €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) for Apple and claimed the iOS developer has anti-steering rules within its App Store that prevent developers from informing users about alternative and cheaper subscription services outside of the app. According to European Commission's competition head Margrethe Vestager, Apple's guidelines are a violation of EU law, and the practice is "illegal".

In a nutshell, the EC claims Apple's guidelines to developers prevent services such as Spotify from informing its users about cheaper or even alternative pricing for subscriptions from outside of the iOS app, which is a tactic to get users to checkout through the App Store where Apple takes a 30% cut of all purchases. The EC has ordered Apple to lift its strict rules for developers and "allow music streaming developers to communicate freely with their own users," which would look like app developers providing pricing information to users within apps.

A team of scientists have penned a new study that details an interesting way to collect valuable minerals from electronic waste, and the method includes creating a sponge from dairy waste.

The sponge has been detailed in a research article published in Advanced Materials, where the team explains this method is capable of retrieving $50 worth of gold for every dollar spent on the recycling process of e-waste.

So, how was this sponge created? The researchers looked at the process of making cheese and, in particular, amyloid nanofibrils. First, the team denatures the dairy proteins by heating the whey in an acid bath, which forms the amyloid nanofibrils that are then used to create the sponge. The electronic components are then melted down in the acid, which then creates a solution that is rich in gold and copper.

Microsoft is ending support for hundreds of thousands of apps for Windows 11 users, with the company taking to its website to officially announce the news.

According to the announcement, Microsoft will no longer support Windows Subsystem for Android, which enables Android-based applications to run smoothly on Windows 11. Users who were taking advantage of this were able to simply download a large range of Android applications, typically through the Amazon Appstore, and utilize that application on a Windows 11 system.

However, support for this will end shortly as Microsoft has announced March 5, 2023, will be the last for support, with customers still being able to access already downloaded Android apps "through the deprecation date of March 5, 2023," but not after. Amazon also made the same announcement on its own developer blog, writing Amazon and Microsoft are working together to create a smooth "end of support experience for developers and customers".

Late last year, we got word that NVIDIA was planning to sunset the GeForce GTX product line - with the final GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, GTX 1650, and low-end GeForce GTX 1630 GPUs produced earlier this year. Today, we've got some updated info from the same Chinese Board Channels forum source (via Videocardz) that once the remaining stock is depleted, there will be no more new GeForce GTX 16 cards for partners and retailers.

The source cites NVIDIA's GPU product roadmap, which lists the GeForce GTX 16 Series as "completely discontinued," with all remaining "GPU stock allocated to AIC brand manufacturers." GeForce GTX stock is expected to run out in one to three months.

The final GeForce GTX cards, including the GTX 1660, are based on NVIDIA Turing architecture, albeit without dedicated RT or AI hardware. The redesigned GeForce RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM and a modest 70W TDP will become the company's entry-level option.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition is coming to PC very soon, with the first-party PlayStation hit from Sony and Guerrilla Games launching on March 21. Nixxes Software is handling the PC version, and today, we've got the hardware requirements and specs for running the game. It's impressively modest, pointing to some excellent optimization for a game that supports cutting-edge visuals, ultrawide resolutions, and DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Without any upscaling, the game will be playable with a 4GB GPU (either the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 5500XT) using the 'Very Low' quality preset and locking the game to 720p and 30 FPS. The recommended specs are pretty modest, too, with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 required for 1080p 60 FPS with a 'Medium' quality preset.

If you want the game to look as good as or better than the PlayStation 5 version, you'll need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 for 1440p 60 FPS action with the 'High' quality preset or an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900XT for 4K 60 FPS with the 'Very High' preset.

The GeForce Game Ready 551.76 WHQL driver is now available via direct download, through GeForce Experience, or the new NVIDIA App currently in Beta. The latest GeForce driver adds day-one support for The Thaumaturge, which includes support for NVIDIA DLSS 3 and Reflex technologies.

The Thaumaturge is a new narrative-driven isometric RPG from Polish studio Fool's Theory set in early 20th-century Warsaw. With turn-based combat and choices to make, it's something fans of Baldur's Gate 3, Divinity: Original Sin II, Disco Elysium, or Pillars of Eternity should check out.

Outside of support for the Thaumaturge, the GeForce Game Ready 551.76 WHQL driver fixes DLSS 3 Frame Generation stability issues with The Talos Principle 2 as well as solving video corruption when using the NVENC hardware encoder on GeForce GTX 16 Series GPUs.

Microsoft is set to unveil next-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptop hardware on March 21, the company's first wave of new AI PCs, ahead of next-gen Windows 11 AI features later this year.

The news is coming from Windows Central, which reports its sources said that Microsoft's new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are expected to be unveiled on March 21. Inside, they'll feature Intel's latest Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite processors with next-gen NPUs (Neural Processor Units) for boosted AI performance.

Windows Central reports that these new processors will enable "huge performance and efficiency gains" over the previous-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptops on the market. Both devices are posted to achieve "true all-day battery life and high-end performance capabilities". We're also told to expect other upgrades like new displays, higher-speed ports, and more.

Many fondly remember the Nintendo GameCube, from classic games, including Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, to its iconic physical cube design with purple-colored console and controller. To this day, the GameCube controller is still used by many gamers, especially those who love the Super Smash Bros. games. The GC controller's unique ergonomic design and button layout are perfect for Nintendo's brawler.

NYXI's new NYXI Warrior controller for the Nintendo Switch is modeled after the GameCube controller and features premium components like optical microswitches for the multidirectional D-pad (a change from the Nintendo four-way design) and A, B, X, and Y buttons and Hall effect joysticks for a drift-free gaming experience. Even though it features a retro design, the design is very modern regarding compatibility and components.

It's versatile, with Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz wireless, and USB-C wired connectivity. It's compatible with the Nintendo Switch, GameCube, Wii, and Windows 10 or above PCs. Yeah, it actually works with a GameCube console - the wireless dongle even mimics the look of Nintendo's WaveBird wireless GameCube controllers! Very cool.

Samsung Foundry is reportedly rebranding its 2nd generation 3nm-class fabrication technology -- aka SF3 -- to SF2, its 2nm-class manufacturing process... a move requiring a rewritten contract.

A source told ZDNet: "We were informed by Samsung Electronics that the 2nd generation 3nm [name] is being changed to 2nm. We had contracted Samsung Foundry for the 2nd generation 3nm production last year, but we recently revised the contract to change the name to 2nm."

The site reports that renaming its SF2 process node will see Samsung better competing against Intel Foundry, as it has its Intel 20A production node, also a 2nm-class technology, arriving later this year. Samsung unveiled its process technology roadmap through to 2027 back in 2022, listing many nodes along the way: SF3E, SF4P, SF3, SF4X, SF4, SF3P, SF2P, and SF1.4.

Before it was Meta, it was Facebook; before it was the Meta Quest, the popular VR headset was known as the Oculus Quest. After Facebook rebranded to Meta, it also removed all Oculus branding and moved to a single Meta/Facebook account for logging into the VR platform.

Moving Oculus-only accounts to Meta took place a while ago, with all digital purchases, details, and other information carried across. However, several users have still not made the transition, and for those VR users, their Oculus accounts (with all data, info, and purchase history) will be deleted at the end of this month.

Meta is sending notifications to those who haven't migrated their accounts, warning them of the cut-off date. "On 10/31/22, we emailed you regarding your Oculus account and the need to migrate to a Meta account," the notification states. "Your Oculus account is now scheduled for deletion on 3/29/24."

NVIDIA's new open-source Linux graphics driver "Nouveau" won't have issues with HDMI 2.1 integration, unlike AMD that was knocked back from getting its issues on Linux with Radeon GPUs sorted.

The HDMI Forum is the organization responsible for the HDMI standard, recently rejecting AMD's request for public access -- open-source level -- HDMI 2.1 functionality. AMD has had issues with Linux drivers for Radeon for years now, but NVIDIA has just breezed through, it seems.

Alex Deucher from FreeDesktop.org said: "The HDMI Forum has rejected our proposal unfortunately. At this time an open source HDMI 2.1 implementation is not possible without running afoul of the HDMI Forum requirements."