Latest News - Page 684

If you wanted to spend $28,000 in a single transaction on something fancy, there's always an Apple Vision Pro that Apple CEO Tim Cook personally signed at the launch of Vision Pro in New York City.

One particular seller with such an item is throwing the signed Apple Vision Pro headset for $28,000 on eBay. The seller describes the item as: "This new era device is a rare gem signed by the amazing CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, @ Apple Flagship store, 5th Avenue, New York City. It is a valuable addition to any collection, especially for Apple enthusiasts. Apple & Tim Cook are well-known for their continuous leadership, innovative products".

The post continues: "This set is a signed technology masterpiece piece of history!!!!!There is no exception. This unit, the Vision Pro currently is an sealed box and come with a extra case box. The set adds to its uniqueness and makes it a must-have for collectors.🤍 Value will change over time on this signed unit".

GEEKOM is back yet again with another great deal for TweakTown readers. This time around, its new Mini IT12 small form factor mini PC powered by Intel's 12th Gen Core i5-12450H, 512GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM (expandable to 64GB) is up for grabs for only $389, including free shipping in the United States, and Microsoft Windows 11 Pro comes installed.

When not on sale, this highly capable SFF computer sells for $429, but right now, you can save a decent $40 when buying it from GEEKOM. Just enter coupon code tweaktownit12 at the checkout and remove $20 from the price. You can also buy from Amazon and UK readers can buy here from GEEKOM.

GEEKOM's Mini IT12 is a tiny PC weighing just 652 grams and measuring 117 x 112 x 45.6mm - it's small enough to almost fit in your pants pocket. It is powered by Intel's 12th Gen Core i5-12450H processor (12 Cores, 16 Threads, 12MB Smart Cache, and up to 4.4GHz Max Turbo Frequency) and Intel UHD graphics. It comes installed with 16GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory modules in dual-channel mode, with upgradability up to 64GB if required. Also included is a 512GB 2280 M.2 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, which is upgradable to a 2TB drive. Overall, it's quite a decent upgrade over the older Mini IT11 model.

There's a new toy from Microsoft called PC Manager, an app that Windows 11 users (or indeed Windows 10 folks) can grab from the Microsoft Store.

PC Manager was noticed by Windows Latest and the tech site explains that it was first launched in January 2024, but as of this month, it has been more widely rolled out to other regions including the US. (In fact, it has been in testing for a year or more, going by reports online).

This app has come from the Microsoft China division - the initial version was in Mandarin as a result - and indeed the product blurb on the Microsoft Store does sound like a translation. For example, it talks about PC Manager being 'pure without disturbance' (presumably meaning streamlined).

Intel's future CPUs span a number of ranges, and we've just caught a leak around a processor which bristles with 12 performance cores.

However, this isn't an incoming chip for the next-gen desktop range, Arrow Lake, but rather it's a processor that'll be part of the Intel Bartlett Lake-S line-up.

At least in theory - if it's anything at all, given that this is just a leak from Chinese site Benchlife (via Wccftech) at this point. So, it may be entirely off the mark.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best Apple Watch on the market right now and one of the best smartwatches, period. But there are still places where it could be improved and reports have long suggested that Apple intends to turn its attention to microLED as an upgrade for its display. But a new report hints that previously suggested release schedules might turn out to be optimistic.

There had been some suggestion that Apple would switch to microLED Apple Watch displays in 2026, with research firm TrendForce saying so throughout 2023. Some other sources had pointed to the switch happening as soon as next year, but a new report says that neither timing is likely to happen and that potential Apple Watch Ultra buyers should look to 2027 instead.

That's according to a report by The Elec which says that problems relating to the manufacturing costs and production yields associated with new microLED Apple Watch Ultra displays could see the launch delayed into 2027.

The Apple Vision Pro is now on sale in the United States and it has been for almost a week. There are still questions over when the headset will go on sale globally however, with some reports suggesting that a release in the United Kingdom, Canada, and China will take place within the next few months. Apple has yet to confirm that of course, but a new report suggests that there may well be an issue with the Apple Vision Pro name in one of those countries.

That country is China, with the report noting that while supply chain sources suggest that the Apple Vision Pro could launch in the country soon, it might not actually be called that. That's all thanks to a trademark situation that Apple may come up against.

The news comes via an IT News report which notes that Huawei successfully applied for the trademark of Vision Pro back in May of 2019. The company was granted a 10-year trademark from November 2021 to November 2031. With that in mind, the Apple Vision Pro could have an issue - especially considering the fact that Huawei's patent covers LCD TVs, head-mounted virtual reality devices, radio equipment, and more.

CD Projekt Red is on the lookout for any talented developers to begin working on the highly anticipated sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed "Project Orion".

The developer is gathering new recruits at both its US and Canada-based studies, which together form CD Projekt Red North America. According to reports, this studio is specifically tasked with developing Project Orion, and currently, the game is in its early stages of development. Notably, CD Projekt Red veterans are returning to the studio to work on the project, with other developers switching over to a sequel after completing development on Cyberpunk 2077 and its Phantom Liberty expansion.

As for new recruits, Dan Hernberg has joined CD Projekt Red's ranks as Executive Producer. Hernberg previously worked in managerial positions at Panic Button and Blizzard. Additionally, Hernberg also worked on titles such as Apex Legends and Amazon's New World. Ryan Barnard, who previously worked at IO Interactive and Ubisoft, will be working on the Cyberpunk sequel as Design Director, and Alan Villani from the Mortal Kombat games will be the engineering director.

The Apple Vision Pro has now been on sale for almost a week and that means that we are starting to learn more and more about Apple's first foray into the world of spatial computing. One of the things that we found out recently is that the Apple Vision Pro, running the latest available visionOS software, doesn't offer a way to reset the headset should the owner forget their passcode. That means that the only way to reset the device once it has been locked by someone entering the passcode too many times is to take the device to an Apple Store.

That of course means that people could be left with no way to get their new $3,499+ AR/VR headset to work without reaching out to Apple. That's particularly problematic if these people don't have a local Apple Store to which their headset can be taken. Reports have already suggested that Apple's support teams are being inundated with reports of this issue and were quite unprepared for the problem to arise. Now, it appears that Apple is in the process of changing the way visionOS behaves to stop this from happening.

9to5Mac reports that code spotted in the visionOS 1.1 beta shows that Apple has added an option that allows users to erase all data on the Apple Vision Pro when they forget the passcode used to unlock the headset. The change means that those who don't know their passcode need no longer take their headset to an Apple Store to get it reset.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are claiming to have created the first 3D-printed functional human brain tissue.

The researchers published a new study in the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell, and according to the paper, the team created the 3D-printed brain tissue using horizontal layers of "bio-ink" gel. According to the team, the tissue is soft enough to enable neurons to grow through it, yet it is hard enough to keep its structure.

This duality has resulted in the tissue being able to grow cell networks similar to a real human brain, and according to the team, the 3D-printed brain tissue has some advantages over "mini-brain" models that are commonly used to study a human brain.

The creator behind the insanely popular Elonjet has now fallen into the crosshairs of Taylor Swift's lawyers as the programmer created a website dedicated to tracking the location of musicians' private jet.

The programmer is Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student who quickly came into the public spotlight with his Elonjet X account that automatically posted the location of Elon Musk's private jet. The account gained so much attention that it sparked a response from Musk, who offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account, citing it as a security risk. Sweeney declined the offer and responded by saying, "Any chance to up that to $50k?".

Notably, the accounts Sweeney has created use public flight data available to anyone on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website. The programmer has received a cease and desist letter from lawyers representing Taylor Swift, with the letter labeling Sweeney's sharing of the FAA data as "stalking and harassing behavior." Furthermore, Swift's lawyers claim the musician has experienced "direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress" as a result of Sweeney's actions.

The hype surrounding Nintendo's next console just had a wet blanket thrown on it as the company published its quarterly financial results for the period ending March 31, 2024.

The financial results showcased that the Nintendo Switch is continuing to sell well despite numerous expectations from industry analysts that sales will begin to decline in late 2023. Notably, Bloomberg Japan has gathered important information from company president Shuntaro Furukawa, who said the Nintendo Switch has sold a staggering 139.36 million units as of December 31, 2023.

While Furukawa didn't deviate from the strict script that didn't mention anything about a next-generation console, the financial results stated the company's "main business" going into FY2024-2025 will be the current-gen console, indicating that a Switch successor is currently on the back burner, or at least in the eyes of Nintendo. This statement certainly shook up the gaming industry, which expected Nintendo to release a new console sometime in 2024.

The Apple Vision Pro headset has now been on sale for a few days and the headset now has its very first beta software update that has been made available to developers. That software, visionOS 1.1, can be downloaded and installed by those who are registered developers right now and Apple has shared details about what changes have been made.

Among a number of improvements, Apple notes that it has changed the way that the Apple Vision Pro handles 3D objects. Specifically, The visionOS 1.1 software update allows people to bring 3D objects closer to themselves than ever before, a change that could be vital if the headset's wearer is interacting with those objects such as when playing games and using other object-oriented apps.

Those who are not developers should definitely avoid installing the visionOS 1.1 beta, however. There are no ways to downgrade without involving Apple which means that problems could crop up if users experience bugs or other wonkiness during Apple Vision Pro usage.

A viral video of an Apple Vision Pro user wearing the headset while driving a Tesla Cybertruck has sparked concerns about the proper use of the newly released headset.

The now-viral video made the rounds on various social media platforms and even resulted in the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, taking to X to remind everyone that all advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times.

These warnings from the transportation secretary were backed up by Apple, which pointed to its user guide that states that Vision Pro users need to be aware of their surroundings at all times and "Never use Apple Vision Pro while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety." Furthermore, ChannelNews reports that Apple is introducing a travel model that enables limited functionality during plane movement.

If you're looking to pick up Apple's iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Plus when the two new models arrive later this year, reports suggest that you should look for one specific design change that will be immediately familiar to those who had an iPhone X.

The change, which has been shown off in schematics shared by the X user Maikin Bu and backed up by a MacRumors report, suggests that Apple intends to ditch the familiar square camera area on the back of the iPhones. Instead, buyers can look forward to a new design that will actually not be all that new at all. Instead of being square with the two cameras set up diagonally, the upcoming iPhones will feature a slim and vertical arrangement similar to that of the iconic 2017 iPhone X.

The pill-shaped arrangement will feature separate camera rings for the wide and ultrawide cameras, we're told, with Apple having used this arrangement throughout the prototyping process. MacRumors also notes that the LED flash will be placed to the side of the camera array, too.

The Apple Vision Pro has now been on sale for a few days and people have been putting the Persona feature through its paces. Dubbed a "beta" the Personal feature creates a 3D representation of the headset's wearer that can then be used in FaceTime calls and more. Now, Apple has released a new visionOS 1.1 beta software update and those who have already installed it have already started to report improvements.,

Those who have installed the visionOS 1.1 update noted that the Apple Vision Pro required that their Persona be recreated and the finished product does appear to be an improvement. And while some would argue that the result is still just the wrong side of uncanny, improvements are clearly being made. And we can likely all agree that these Personas are better than any of the more cartoon-like alternatives used by other headsets and software.

People have been taking to X, the social network previously known as Twitter, to share screenshots of their Persona with some also sharing before and after images to make it easier for people to compare.

Engineers have set loose a wheeled robot that's designed to teach itself how to open doors, demonstrating a step forward in machines interacting with the physical world.

The creators behind the wheeled robot trained it through imitation, showing the machine visual examples of how to open different types of doors. The robot was shown visual examples of how to open doors, cabinets, drawers, and even refrigerators. After each visual demonstration, the robot then spent anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour learning how to open each door.

After it was successfully trained, it was then set loose on a college campus where it would encounter different types of doors. The creators trained the robot on 12 objects for practice and then an additional 8 objects. Notably, the robot had a success rate of about 50% when it first started, but after many attempts, its success rate increased to about 95%.

The most volcanically active world in the entire solar system has recently been imaged by NASA's Juno spacecraft during a close fly-by.

That world is none other than Jupiter's moon, Io, and during a close fly-by, the Juno spacecraft captured the volcanically active body at a distance of just 930 miles. Notably, Io is a "tortured moon" as it's constantly engaged in a gravitational tug of war between Jupiter and the two neighboring moons, Europa and Ganymede. The result of being stuck in the middle is friction across the entire world, and when you have friction, you get heat.

The surface of Io is scorched by this intense heat that is further exacerbated by extreme volcanic activity, with recent estimates pointing to more than 400 active volcanoes littered across the surface of the moon. NASA's Juno spacecraft managed to capture some of the plumes of gas erupting into space from these volcanoes. Furthermore, Io's volcanoes aren't like the volcanoes here on Earth; they are much larger - in fact, Io's largest volcano, Loki Patera, is approximately twice the size of Earth's largest volcano, Mauna Loa.

UPDATE: Turns out the following story was just a hypothetical situation and not real, an error in translation. "To clarify, the topic of toothbrushes being used for DDoS attacks was presented during an interview as an illustration of a given type of attack, and it is not based on research from Fortinet or FortiGuard Labs," Fortinet confirmed in a statement. "It appears that due to translations, the narrative on this topic has been stretched to the point where hypothetical and actual scenarios are blurred." The original story follows.

In the age of every household object doubling as a smart device, this headline might not be as strange as it sounds - and could soon become the norm. It seems that recent Swiss DDoS attacks that caused millions in damage resulted from - get this - three million smart toothbrushes infected by hackers with malware forming a botnet. Yeah, it is not exactly something you can (apologies in advance) brush off - as it highlights some of the dangers of smart devices like toothbrushes connecting to a network for seemingly simple tasks like tracking oral hygiene habits.

Apparently, there was a vulnerability in the Java-based OS, but the report doesn't indicate which online toothbrush brands were involved in the attacks. Probably all of them when you consider that next to no one is sitting there updating the firmware and monitoring the network traffic on their toothbrush.

According to a new market analysis and report from TrendForce, the global monitor and display market is on track to recover in 2024, with shipments projected to increase by around 2%. That's not exactly a high number, but it's welcome news after the hardware boom of 2020 and 2021, which saw shipments for brands like Dell, HP, and Lenovo decrease by 20%.

Interestingly, even though global shipments were down, the gaming display sector has grown thanks to demand from China's gaming market. Companies like AOC and Philips recorded an increase in shipments in 2023. The report also notes that after Acer upgraded a number of its displays from 60 and 75 Hz to 100 Hz - the result was a 6.7% boost in shipments.

It seems that PC gaming monitors are in a great place, with companies like MSI and ASUS targeting ambitious growth of around 10% in 2024. That said, the report does indicate that Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and BenQ have more conservative shipping goals - instead focusing on profitability and high-end products.

Blizzard's Warcraft and StarCraft games are legendary examples of brilliant RTS games, and if you're a fan of the genre, you probably want to keep an eye on Stormgate. It's a brand-new next-gen RTS game from a team of WarCraft III and StarCraft II veterans at Frost Giant Studios, who left Blizzard so they could continue to work on the genre they love.

You can now play a Stormgate demo as part of the Steam Next Fest event - which ends on February 12, 2024. The demo features DLSS 3 Frame Generation support for those rocking GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs. And the Stormgate Steam Next Fest Demo is also playable via the GeForce Now cloud gaming service.

With its sci-fi setting, it's more StarCraft than Warcraft, focusing on epic large-scale battles with armies, vehicles, and lots of firepower. Stormgate is still a work in progress, with an Early Access launch slated for mid-2024.