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3M has announced the world's first self-charging communications headset at CES 2024, which uses solar cell technology to convert outdoor and indoor light into a continuous charge.

The company behind the new headset called the 3M PELTOR WS ALERT XPV, which was officially showcased at CES 2024, uses patented solar cell technology called Powerfoyle. This technology was birthed out a partnership between 3M and Exeger, a Swedish company that specializes in solar cell technology.

In addition to its light harvesting capabilities the headset will come with Bluetooth functionality, noise-cancelling microphone, push-to-listen feature, and connectivity with the 3M Connected Equipment app for monitoring solar cell battery health and general settings adjustments. Upon discovering the 3M PELTOR WS ALERT XPV I was interested to learn more about the product. Below are my questions and answers.

At CES 2024, AMD announced a new GPU for its Radeon RX 7000 Series line-up with the Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB. Launching January 24 with an MSRP of $329, it's a rarity - a 1080p GPU with 16GB of VRAM. As exciting as that may sound, the extra VRAM (on a 128-bit bus) is more for content creation and AI than outright gaming.

Spec-wise, the new Radeon RX 7600 XT shares the same GPU and chip as the Radeon RX 7600 8GB - 32 Compute Units/Ray Accelerators and 64 AI Accelerators. In addition to doubling the VRAM, it also increases Clock speeds, which AMD advises will deliver faster 1080p and 1440p gaming performance than the Radeon RX 7600 in all games. Triple-digit max settings performance with upscaling and frame generation.

ASUS has announced that it is bringing two 7600 XT cards to market, the TUF Gaming AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and the ASUS Dual AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT. These OC models are "ready to unleash users' creativity in next-gen AI and content creation workloads."

While visiting GIGABYTE's CES 2024 suite at the Venetian for CES 2024 in Las Vegas, we found that GIGABYTE has been hard at work with their gaming monitor development. Showing us some serious gaming monitors, GIGABYTE should have a gaming monitor for any gamer looking to up their gaming experience to the next level. Let's face it you need a gaming monitor, so why don't you just get one already? Let's see what is so special with these new gaming monitor lines from GIGABYTE.

First up we have a massive 49 inch super ultrawide beast, the CO49DQ. Having a 32:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 5120 x 1440 on an OLED display running at 144Hz with only a 0.03 GTC response time, all while being a 10-bit panel with a 99% DCI-P3 color calibration. Support for AMD's Freesync Premium. MSRP and release date is unknown at this time.

Next up is the MO34WQC2, a 34 inch ultrawide OLED display with a resolution of 3440 x 1400 running at an impressive 240Hz on an 8-bit color panel with a 99% DCI-P3 color calibration. The MO34WQC2 also has support for AMD's Freesync Premium. MSRP and release date is unknown at this time.

We had heard that Patriot was up to some new things, and we showed off the prototype kit used for their 9000 MHz bench stable kit we featured in another article but were also told of something else that might be a huge surprise to us. When all was said and done, and the CES 2024 Patriot suite tour was over, Shannon Robb pulled me aside and said he had an early birthday present for me. What we are about to show is one of only three kits on the planet at the moment, and we get to take them home and abuse them to see what this new strain of DDR5 is all about.

At first glance, I am sorry for having to take these images on our bed, but the timing wasn't right to get any images sooner, but you might think these are the same red-topped Xtreme 5 we have already reviewed, but if you look a little closer, the red does not pop as well as the original sets we have reviewed. This is because, while keeping a similar aesthetic, you will soon have the option to grab these kits with RGB. The red diffuser is translucent this time, and while it may affect the RGB illumination, there are many choices that will still look amazing once this kit gets power.

We were not kidding in any form about the exclusivity of these sticks. If you zoom in on the image, you will see the part number PVXXXXXXXXXXXX 9DEXXXXX. While they do carry a valid serial number, these sticks are something you will have to wait a bit for, but they have us super excited to return to the office to stress the snot out of them and see how far we can push them. As one of three kits on the planet, we consider ourselves very lucky, as we know another kit is in or soon to be in the hands of Charles Wirth, who will be using a phase change cooler on his CPU to see how far he can push the second set. As for the third set, we are unsure of their current whereabouts, but whoever gets their grubby mitts on them should consider themselves "Xtremely" lucky.

While visiting GIGABYTE's CES 2024 suite at the Venetian for CES 2024 in Las Vegas, we found a few new ATX 3.0 PSUs that were coming to GIGABYTE's UD PSU lineup very soon. Previously we had looked at GIGABYTE's UD850GM PG5 model and found it to be a pretty decent little PSU, so we have our expectations for the upcoming models. So lets talk about what these two PSUs are all about.

The first ATX 3.0 PSU is the UD1300GM PG5, is an 80 Plus Gold rated ATX 3.0 PSU on a single 12V rail. Having support for a single PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connector which is rated for up to 600 watts. Being built with 100% Japanese capacitors, build quality should be good. All cables are fully modular as well as having OVP, OPP, SCP, UVP, DCP, and OTP protections. Currently available now for $229.99.

Next up is the UD1600GM PG5, which is an 80 Plus Platinum rated ATX 3.0 PSU again on a single 12V rail. This time however, the UD1600GM PG5 has two PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR connections to support two GPUs at 600 watts apiece. Again being built with 100% Japanese capacitors helps ensure power stability is at a high point. Again all the cables are fully modular just like on the UD1300GM PG5 and has all the same protections in place. The UD1600GM PG5 is the larger of the two ATX 3.0 PSUs that were announced. MSRP and release date is unknown at this time.

If you follow our DDR5 reviews, you will likely be aware of the RGB and non-RGB variants of the Xtreme 5 RAM from Patriot that they had on display. On the left are the RGB versions, whereas on the right are the sexy red-topped offerings, both capable of extremely fast XMP programming but also leave plenty of room on the table for those who like to overclock.

If you happened to miss the earlier posts on the TweakTown RAM Facebook page, this is the kind of speed attainable with all the right components from the Patriot Xtreme 5. With a few hours of work, Shannon Robb tuned this set of 8000 MHz RAM to an amazing 9002 MHz while I sat and watched the magic happen. This was done on Sunday night with a 13900K, the OG ASUS Z790 APEX, with nobody allowed to move as it passed 32M Super Pi and has been running ever since.

We have already had our hands on a set of the Elite 5 RGB that is shown on the left, but to the right is a new version with the ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance branding added to go along with the new ASUS TUF BTF motherboard and chassis.

When we arrived at the be quiet! suite for CES 2024, we were immediately greeted with a wall of products, or more likely, the packaging of just about all the options smaller than cases to gander at prior to getting into the nitty gritty of what follows. While they do not have a large amount of new gear to show off, we were told that there are some new and exciting things coming soon, even some keyboards and streaming gear.

The first thing we noticed sitting on the table was the Dark Rock Elite, which we have yet to get into our hands. It is an upgrade to the vanilla Dark Rock coolers but keeps all the ideas and concepts that make be quiet! coolers such an attractive product to many buyers.

What sets the Dark Rock Elite apart from all the other air coolers is that be quiet! make is the addition of ARGB to the top of the tower. While this may not be an amazing addition to their lineup for some, it is a major departure from the traditional offerings they have given their users in the past. The best part is while talking to Kevin, we arranged for a sample to arrive at our door not long after we return home.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card is now a scam for some customers, with HKEPC reporting that a new scam in the second hand market has turned up... counterfeit GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards.

The expensive and very fast GeForce RTX 4090 had at least one person spending $13,000 HK ($1660 USD or so) on a GeForce RTX 4090 that was... fake. The card looked fine, with the scammer showing off original photos of the graphics card with its RGB lights working and all.

But, once the card was received... that's when the person knew they were scammed. The fans didn't work, and get this: the GPU was missing. Yeah, the AD102 GPU that powers the GeForce RTX 4090 itself was gone. $1660 flushed down the toilet, as the buy has an expensive RTX 4090 that simply doesn't, and will never work.

As part of the latest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.40.01.10 Preview Driver for AMD Fluid Motion Frames Release, the company has added Radeon 700M graphics to the GPUs supported by driver-based frame generation. AMD Fluid Motion Frames, or AFMF, allows PC gamers to enable frame-gen at the driver level for any DirectX 11 or 12 game.

AFMF differs from AMD's FSR Frame Generation and NVIDIA's DLSS 3 Frame Generation because it doesn't use motion vectors or game-specific data acquired when DLSS or FSR is integrated into a title. This means there's a noticeable trade-off in visual quality and additional latency (mitigated somewhat by Anti-Lag). So it's recommended for games where you're already getting close to 60fps in performance.

Okay, with that out of the way, the additional support for Radeon 700M graphics is exciting because this applies to the integrated graphics found in mobile Ryzen 7040 and 8040 APUs, the brand-new desktop Ryzen 8000G Series announced at CES 2024, and the Ryzen Z1 chips found in PC gaming handhelds like the ROG Ally from ASUS and Legion GO from Lenovo.

XMG had something special to show off at CES 2024 this year, with a prototype XMG gaming laptop featuring Intel's new Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" processor... without a discrete GPU inside. Check it out:

Our friends at Wccftech took some photos of XMG's new prototype 15.3-inch gaming laptop, a new thin and light laptop that uses the built-in Arc-based GPU on the Meteor Lake CPU for gaming, and not a discrete GPU like other XMG gaming laptops.

We don't know the exact specs of the prototype XMG gaming laptop, but we do know that it features a 15.3-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio and an edge-to-edge keyboard with a number pad on the side. For connectivity, we have two USB Type-A ports, a single USB4 port, HDMI 2.1 for 4K 120Hz output, and an ethernet port to boot.

Panasonic has just announced a couple of new OLED TVs that have Amazon Fire TV built-in, the world's first OLED TVs with Fire TV built into the TV itself. Check it out:

The new OLED TVs come in the form of the Panasonic Z95A which is available in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, while the Panasonic Z93A arrives in a bigger 77-inch 4K OLED TV. Panasonic's new Z95A and Z93A OLED TVs have a brand-new chipset with brighter panel goodness, with Dolby Vision IQTM Precision making sure you get superior picture enhancements and brightness.

Panasonic's new OLED TVs also have 360 Soundscape Pro, which is "meticulously tuned" by Technics, ensuring immersive 3D surround sound on the audio side of things. Panasonic's new flagship OLED TVs also have 4K 144Hz support for high-end PC gaming, thanks to the new HCX Pro AI Processor MK II inside of the new Z95A and Z93A OLED TVs.

Patriot teased its next-gen PV573 Gen5 SSD at CES 2024, rocking speeds of up to 14GB/sec using a low-profile cooling solution. We've got more details below:

The company displayed its new Viper PV553 Gen5 SSD at Computex 2023 last year, but the faster Viper PV573 Gen5 SSD is waiting in the wings. Patriot's upcoming PV573 Gen5 SSD uses the same M.2 PCIe Gen5 x4 form factor with 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities.

Inside, Patriot is tapping the Phison E26 SSD controller, using Micron's new 232-layer NAND (B58R), which provides up to 14GB/sec (14,000MB/sec) reads and up to 12GB/sec (12,000MB/sec) writes. Patriot is achieving these higher speeds by using faster DRAM, with up to 2400MT/s speeds.

LG has been working on transparent OLED technology for a while now, showing off its new Signature OLED T at CES 2024 with a 77-inch transparent OLED panel. Check it out in all its transparent glory:

LG's new flagship Signature OLED T features a 77-inch transparent 4K OLED panel that blends beautifully into its environment, unlike regular TVs that stand out like a sore thumb. LG used its new Signature OLED T 77-inch transparent OLED TV to show off images and animations at CES 2024, letting viewers see through most (but not all) of the TV.

The new Signature OLED T can also display information at the bottom of the TV with its always-on feature, displaying things like news headlines, weather updates, and song titles when you're streaming music through the TV. LG includes an opaque mode that raises the contrast on the screen, turning it into a more normal 77-inch 4K OLED TV, if that's what you want when you're spending big money on a transparent OLED.

TCL announced its mega-sized 115-inch QM891G TV at CES 2024, offering one of the biggest and best TVs that we've seen (well, not literally, but you know what we mean).

The company developed a new AIPQ Ultra processor, which TCL is exclusively using inside of the new QM891G TV TCL USA's VP of Product Marketing and Development, Scott Ramirez, explains that the new processor makes sure users get "clean, precise, pristine image quality".

TCL isn't just using a Mini-LED backlight with its new QM891G TV, but the company has thrown in Quantum Dot technology as well for even better colors. TCL says that its new TV can accurately reproduce 98% of the DCI-P3 color spectrum. On the audio side of things, TCL's new QM891G features an integrated 6.2.2-channel sound system that features dedicated up-firing speakers and Dolby Atmos support.

Hyperkin takes us back to the early 2000s with its new Xbox controller.

I've long thought that Xbox has the best controllers in gaming. From the get-go in 2001, Microsoft broke onto the gaming market with innovative and stylish game controllers, including the massive and unwieldy OG Duke controller with its uniquely-designed joysticks and hulking frame. It turns out that the most popular Xbox controller wasn't even meant for the U.S.

If you grew up with the OG Xbox, odds are that you fell into two camps: Either you handled the oversized Duke, or you opted for the S controller with its uniform joysticks and more comfortable user-friendly casing (there was probably a Mad Catz controller or two in there but no one really wanted to use those all that much). Having already resurrected the Duke, peripheral-maker Hyperkin is now bringing back the S controller.

Sony has set a new record for monthly active users (MAUs) that beats any other period in PlayStation history.

A bit ago, Sony Interactive Entertainment management said that 2023 would deliver record-breaking success. Whether it be in revenues and/or PlayStation 5 console sales, SIE expects big things from its Q3 FY23 period. While Sony has yet to publish official Q3 earnings, the company is still setting new gaming milestones.

During Sony's CES 2024 showcase, Sony Group Corp. President Kenichiro Yoshida announced that the PlayStation Network surpassed 123 million monthly active users throughout December 2023. Comparing this with previous quarterly periods, we see that this is an astronomically high number. Not only is this a new high water mark for PlayStation MAUs, but the data suggests that Holiday 2023 could be the most prolific period in PlayStation's 30 years on the market.

More popular first-party Xbox games could launch on competing platforms like the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation. This move is consistent with the core Xbox business model and makes a lot of sense.

Unlike PlayStation and Nintendo, Xbox has marched to the beat of a different drum. Since unifying PCs and Xbox consoles in 2015 via the Windows OS, Microsoft has broken the chains of content exclusivity and released its games on both platforms. This strategy was accelerated greatly with the introduction of Xbox Game Pass in 2017, which brought hundreds of games to both Xbox and Windows PCs.

Microsoft's game plan has done nothing but evolve over time. The company still emphasizes exclusive content--Starfield, for instance, was kept off PlayStation--but the core of the Xbox brand is a wide ecosystem of products, content, and services that bridges all consoles and gaming platforms. Xbox wants to deliver spending opportunities to all consumer endpoints, whether it's Xbox consoles, competing systems like the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation, the cloud, mobile devices, and PC.

NVIDIA's RTX 4090 had issues with melting cables that raised considerable alarm bells early in its life - gremlins that have still been reported fairly recently - so you'd be forgiven for being paranoid around this problem.

However, ASUS has come up with a solution in its new ROG Strix Lovelace flagship, albeit this comes loaded with its own caveats (more on that later).

The ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition doesn't have a traditional 16-pin power connector that hooks up to the power supply, and instead gets its power using a PCIe connector.

NVIDIA is ceasing production of its GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 graphics cards according to a leaker.

We were informed of the situation by the editor of German tech site Hardwareluxx, Andreas Schilling on X (formerly Twitter).

Schilling listed the official pricing of NVIDIA's new RTX Super refreshes in a tweet, noting that the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 were EOL or end-of-life.

CES 2024 has had a roaring start, with many companies coming out the gate with a bunch of cool new tech, and now Hewlett Packard (HP) has joined the party with a world's first gaming monitor.

HP officially unveiled the Omen Transcend 32, a 32-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor that features a 3840 x 2160 (4K/UHD) resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate, 0.3ms response time, 99% DCI-P3 color coverage, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification, and a peak brightness of up to 1,000 nits. HP is aiming the Omen Transcend 32 at both content creators and gamers as the new monitor comes with KVM switchable inputs that enable the user to seamlessly switch between devices, drag and drop files across devices, and more.

The press release on the HP website states the Omen Transcend 32 is the "world's first gaming monitor with independent switchable USB Ports," while also being the "world's first OLED gaming monitor with 140W USB-C power delivery." Furthermore, HP writes that VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 provides up to 50x greater dynamic range and 4x improvement in rise time compared to DisplayHDR 1000.