Latest News - Page 694

AMD is currently cooking its next-gen Kraken Point APU, a new premium APU entry that will reportedly feature Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores and an upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU.

The company is gearing up for its new APUs, codenamed Strix Point and Strix Halo, with Kraken Point sharing similar specs to the Strix Point APU. Both of these new APUs will feature Zen 5 and Zen 5c CPU cores, as well as an upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture. They'll also both feature an upgraded XDNA 2-based AI processor, with Kraken Point falling under the Strix Point APU when it comes to Zen 5c core counts.

We're hearing new information from leaker "Everest" on X, suggesting that AMD's next-gen Kraken Point APU will feature 4 x Zen 5 and 4 x Zen 5c cores, a total of 8 cores based on the new Zen 5 CPU architecture. Strix Point, however, has 4 x Zen 5 cores and 8 x Zen 5c cores, leaving Kraken Point with one-third fewer Zen 5c cores.

Minisforum has a new Mini-PC on the way, with the new HX100G Gaming Mini-PC featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, and Radeon RX 6650M GPU. Check it out:

The new Minisforum HX100G Gaming Mini-PC is a successor to the HX99G, which featured a Ryzen 9 6900HX "Rembrandt-R" processor, with a Radeon RX 6600M graphics card, but now the HX100G has far better specifications inside.

We're talking about the Ryzen 7 7840HS "Phoenix" processor with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, a decent upgrade over the Zen 3+ chip inside of the HX99G Mini-PC. AMD's new Ryzen 7 7840HS processor has a TDP that spans between 35W and 54W.

MSI is cooking up its new Z790 MPOWER motherboard, which will feature a price of just $199 and support for a dual-DIMM memory configuration that supports DDR5-8000+ and beyond.

The new MSI Z790 MPOWER motherboard has been leaked by our good friends over at Wccftech, who remind us that the last time we saw an MPOWER motherboard was during the Z170 and Z270 era, which was almost 7 years ago. Time flies when you're having fun -- or making CPUs and motherboards -- and MSI is getting the party started at just $199 with its new Z790 MPOWER motherboard.

MSI now has its new Z790 MPOWER motherboard waiting in the wings, with its mainstream design, support for ultra-fast DDR5-8000+ memory, and a price tag of just $199.

Intel's next-gen Battlemage GPU will reportedly only be in discrete graphics card form, with no laptop variants on offer, according to the latest rumor... and now we've got some new leaked specs on Intel's upcoming Battlemage GPU family.

In his latest video, Tom from Moore's Law is Dead leaks that Intel's next-gen G31 "Battlemage" GPU will be made on TSMC's 5nm process node, featuring up to 512 EUs (Execution Units). Intel's flagship Battlemage GPU will have 512 EUs, joined by 16GB of VRAM (either GDDR6 or GDDR6X) on a 256-bit memory bus.

Under that, MLID reports that the second SKU will feature 448 EUs and the same 16GB of VRAM on a 256-bit memory bus, while Tom has seen references to a "384 EU" variant, adding that he's "not sure this is planned to release publically". Under that, we've got lower-end Battlemage SKUs, including a 320 EU version with 12GB of RAM and two 256 EU models: one with 10GB of VRAM and another with 8GB of VRAM.

Intel will be launching its next-gen Xe-HPG "Battlemage" GPU architecture later this year, where we're being promised new discrete Battlemage graphics cards for gamers in 2025... but man, these new leaks are a continuing depressing story for Intel and its GPU department.

In a new video, Moore's Law is Dead goes into some detail about Intel's next-gen Battlemage GPU, saying that Intel will not have any add-in GPUs for laptops based on its Battlemage architecture. Why? Well, laptop makers and OEMs just don't want to bother with it after Alchemist, which is a pretty major deal.

MLID had one of his sources also talk about the "ultra-enthusiast" Alchemist+ GPU: "Honestly, I have no idea where that guy that roadmap with "Alchemist+" discrete on it allegedly launching in 2023... all I can tell you is that there were no legit roadmaps with ACM+ on them by the time the A770 launched... if ever".

Intel launched its first AI-enabled product with the launch of Meteor Lake not too long ago now, the first member of the new "Core Ultra" branding... and now Intel is coming out swinging when it comes to teasing its next-gen Lunar Lake and Panther Lake processors.

We can expect to see Intel launch its next-gen Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake CPUs later this year, with up to 3x the AI performance over Meteor Lake. But now we're hearing directly from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who has promised some major AI improvements with the next-gen Panther Lake CPUs featuring 2x the AI performance that we can expect from Lunar Lake, which has its own major AI performance improvements over Meteor Lake.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said during the Q4 2023 earnings call: "The Core Ultra platform delivers leadership AI performance today with our next-generation platforms launching later this year, Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake tripling our AI performance. In 2025 with Panther Lake, we will grow AI performance up to an additional 2x".

Apple currently sells three different Apple Pencils and there could be another one joining the list in the future, but this one will have a big new feature that the other three can't boast if a new report turns out to be accurate.

That report claims that Apple is getting ready to launch a new Apple Pencil with support for the Find My network, potentially making it easier than ever to locate the stylus should it go missing. As anyone with an Apple Pencil will know, these thin and light accessories can easily fall between cushions or just about anywhere else that you could imagine a pen or pencil finding itself. When that happens, finding your expensive stylus can be difficult and that's where Find My support could come in handy.

Apple's Find My network allows people to locate anything from iPhones to AirPods in a variety of different ways. Some accessories simply display a rough location of the last time they were connected to an iPhone while others can make an audible sound on command. Other accessories like AirTags have ultra wideband technology built in so they can provide precise location data should that be required.

Apple's Vision Pro headset is capable of both recording and viewing so-called Spatial Videos, or videos that have effectively been recorded in 3D. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are also capable of capturing the Spatial Videos, but the Vision Pro is the only device that can play them back in all of their 3D glory. But that could be about to change.

That's according to a new report which suggests that Meta Quest headsets could be about to benefit from the same Spatial Video technology without any need for clunky workarounds.

9to5Mac reports that strings of code found in the Meta Quest app for iPhone suggest that some form of Spatial Video playback is on the work. The information was shared by the M1Astra account on X. They say that there are four strings in Meta's iPhone app that mention Spatial Video concluding:

When the majority of podcast-listening iPhone owners go to listen to a new episode of their favorite show, they do it via the Apple Podcasts app. So any changes to that app are a huge deal for the podcasting industry which makes the news that podcast transcriptions are coming to the app particularly notable.

Apple will add podcast transcriptions to the iPhone's Podcasts app with the release of iOS 17.4, a software update that is currently in beta form and is being tested around the world. That initial beta already includes the functionality and Apple has updated its podcaster-oriented support website with information about the feature.

The new feature is enabled automatically for all podcasts which means that podcasters will not need to do anything on their end to make their episodes available in text form. However, Apple will offer a way for podcasters to opt out of transcription availability should they choose to and Apple has detailed how to do that on the same webpage.

The Apple Car project, known internally as Project Titan, has had something of a difficult life over the years. The project has reportedly gone through a variety of incarnations with a number of executives and engineers moving through the project. It still isn't 100% clear whether the project will ever turn into a vehicle that can be bought, but Apple seems reticent to drop it completely after spending so long - and presumably so much money -on the project. Now, it's reported that Apple has lost yet another executive.

Writing for Bloomberg, Apple-focused reporter Mark Gurman says that Apple has lost a key executive to a competitor in the form of Rivian, a company that has been making popular electric vehicles for some time. DJ Novotney was reportedly involved in the Apple Car project since the beginning and was a vice president of hardware engineering before informing colleagues of his decision to leave the company this past Friday. Novotney will reportedly take over as senior vice president of vehicle programs at Rivian.

Gurman reports that Novotney worked at Apple for almost 25 years before his decision to leave and that he was instrumental in the development of a number of Apple's most iconic products including the iPod and iPhone. He was also chosen to lead the development of the iPad, too. It's also reported that he was part of the Apple Watch launch which speaks to how integral he has been in a number of huge launches for Apple. It's easy to see why he would have been chosen to be involved in the Apple Car project, but that involvement will now come to an end.

Apple's iOS 17.4 and tvOS 17.4 software updates are now available for download by developers which means that people are starting to put the software through its paces ahead of an official release within the next few weeks. That also means that we are starting to learn more things about the software and what it is capable of, including news that a music control feature is on the way.

As reported by MacRumors, Apple's new software updates expand the SharePlay music control feature previously offered via CarPlay to the home. The addition means that people can share control of the Apple Music playlist when using a HomePod or Apple TV with the system working in much the same way as it does via CarPlay.

When listening to music via the HomePod, MacRumors says that tapping the SharePlay icon at the bottom of the screen will display a QR code. When someone else scans that QR code they will be able to control the music playback even if they don't have an Apple Music subscription themselves. The QR code works with the HomePod and HomePod mini with the report suggesting such a QR code could be displayed on the rumored HomePod with a display.

Apple's Vision Pro headset is going to finally go on sale on February 2 but there is one app that will be notable by its absence. The visionOS App Store is going to be full of apps for people to take for a spin when they receive their new headset, but there is one that you might go looking for and find that you can't download at all. That app is Netflix, with the streaming service having taken the decision not to work on a Vision Pro app to date.

The streamer has also taken the unusual decision not to allow people to download and install the company's iPad app either, something that few others have also chosen to do including Spotify and YouTube. In all three cases, this means that users of those services will have to access them via their websites in Safari or a similar browser instead.

Netflix's stance came via co-CEO Greg Peters who was speaking in an interview with Stratechery when he confirmed that the company had thought about launching a Vision Pro app but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth its time. Peters said that it was a case of the company needing to use its resources in the right places, adding that the rarity of the Vision Pro headset means that it simply isn't worth the company's time to build an app. Peters even went so far as to say that Apple's Vision Pro is "subscale," meaning that it just isn't worth building an app for.

Microsoft is now offering those in the Windows 11 Beta channel the ability to turn their preview build into a release installation of the operating system, if they've had enough of testing.

Normally, if you decide you want out of the Windows Insider scheme, you must start from scratch with a fresh (release) install of Windows 11.

However, with the latest preview in the Beta channel (version 22635.3130), Microsoft has implemented an escape route for those keen to turn their test build into a finished version of Windows 11.

Apple's first iOS 17.4 beta is now available for download by developers as they put it though its paces before it becomes available to everyone. That'll likely happen within the next few weeks and this first beta has already given us a glimpse at what new features we can look forward to.

One of those new features will be handy for people who ar multilingual and use Siri to read their messages. As seen in the iOS 17.4 beta 1 release, a new option will allow people to add a new language for when Siri reads messages. This change does not affect the main Siri language and is only applied to reading messages that have been received.

Apple's description of the feature says that Siri will also read messages using languages in the list, with multiple languages able to be added at once. Apple also notes that the languages selected here will not change the primary language that Siri listens to and responds in, ensuring that usual Siri usage will remain untouched by this setting.

If you're an iPhone gamer you're no doubt familiar with the idea of downloading games from the App Store and Apple Arcade, but game streaming services are also another option. Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now are two such game streaming services, but they have never been allowed into the App Store for various reasons. Instead, Apple forced Microsoft and NVIDIA to launch web apps that allowed people to visit a website in Safari and then access the streaming services that way. That is now changing.

As part of a larger set of changes to the App Store and the way that the iPhone is going to be used by millions, Apple has now confirmed that it is going to allow game-streaming apps into the App Store for the very first time. The change will allow companies like Microsoft and NVIDIA to ditch their web apps in favor of a real app that can be downloaded via the App Store.

While it isn't yet clear whether those companies and others intend to go that route, there are reasons why they might want to. For example, having an app in the App Store instantly makes it more visible to iPhone users and definitely easier for people to use if they are not familiar with the way web apps work.

Apple's iPhones have featured NFC chips for years now, including the latest and greatest iPhone 15 models. Those chips can be used for reading NFC tags of course, and they are also what makes contactless payments work when using Apple Pay, too. However, Apple Pay is the only kind of contactless payment system that Apple allows the iPhone to work with - or at least, it was.

As part of a wide-ranging series of changes made at the behest of the EU's Digital Markets Act, Apple has confirmed that it intends to begin allowing the iPhone's NFC chip to be used for third-party payments for the very first time - but only in the EU. The move could potentially allow companies like PayPal and Google to offer their own payment wallets and systems to iPhone users.

Apple's press release said that it will offer "new APIs enabling developers to use NFC technology in their banking and wallet apps throughout the European Economic Area," adding that Apple is also introducing new controls that will allow iPhone owners to select a new third-party contactless payment app and service as their default. That would then be the app that launched when double-pressing the power button rather than the Wallet and Apple Pay feature that such an action triggers today.

We've been hearing rumors of new iPads arriving in the first few months of this year and two of those will likely be new OLED iPad Pro models. Those tablets are expected to come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch variations and a new report suggests that there will be one as-yet unreported change beyond the display and internal upgrades.

According to that report by MacRumors and developer Steve Moser, Apple is going to move the iPad Pro's FaceTime camera from the top of the display to the side which means that it will then be moved to the top of the iPad when it is used in portrait mode. Historically, all iPads have had their FaceTime camera a the top of the display when it's in the portrait orientation but this change is going to change that, we're told. Notably, Apple does have one iPad where the camera is on the top in landscape mode - that tablet is the base model 10th-gen iPad.

According to MacRumors, code found in the first iOS 17.4 beta suggests that "During ‌Face ID‌ setup, iPad needs to be in landscape with the camera at the top of the screen."

If you're someone who used to play Fortnite on the iPhone or iPad and has been missing the game since it was kicked out of the App Store, you might be in for a good time. That's after Epic Games confirmed that Fortnite is coming back to Apple's portable devices. But that isn't quite the end of the story and it definitely isn't as simple as you might have hoped.

Instead, Fortnite isn't coming to the App Store and it's unlikely that it ever will at this point. Apple kicked it out of the App Store after Epic Games broke the rules over third-party payment methods years ago. But new EU rules have now forced Apple to allow third-party app stores onto the iPhone in a change that will change the way people use those iPhones forever. And Epic Games has already confirmed that it intends to launch its own app store on the iPhone, and that store will host Fortnite to allow iPhone and iPad owners to download it from there.

While Fortnite is currently playable on those devices via cloud gaming services like NVIDIA GeForce Now, the experience isn't the same as playing a local game running on the device itself. There's little doubt that a dedicated app will be a better option for gamers, and now it seems that it's finally going to happen.

Shortly after Starfield was removed from store shelves, Microsoft has reportedly shuttered parts of Xbox's physical retail teams. This decision potentially moves the video games industry closer to an all-digital future.

With the exception of Nintendo, the other members of the Big 3--PlayStation and Xbox--make most of their revenue from digital channels. This trend has been growing in recent years and was supercharged during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Both PlayStation and Xbox have furthered a digital-first future with their respective digital-only PS5 and Xbox consoles, but recent events indicate that Microsoft is aggressively pursuing its all-digital aspirations. After all, Xbox plans to achieve market leadership by 2030 with an implied $32 billion+ in gaming revenues. Digital is a big part of those plans.

Intel's Arrow Lake processors are on target to release later in 2024, as promised, we've been told (again) by the CEO of the company.

Pat Gelsinger made the revelation during Intel's latest fiscal results (which saw revenue rise by 10% year-on-year).

As PC Gamer spotted, Gelsinger said: