Latest News - Page 820

A USB hub is a PC's best friend as it expands the PC's connection capabilities and, in most cases, makes connecting USB drives, SD cards, monitors, and everything much easier. Especially if your PC is located far away from where you are sitting and you have an extension cord paired with the hub, or if you are on the go with a laptop that doesn't have the inbuilt connectivity to achieve what you want to get done efficiently.

Introducing Dockcase's Smart USB-C hub Explorer Edition, a 10-in-1 USB-C hub that comes with a tonne of powerful connectivity and gorgeous aesthetics. Personally, I'm a massive fan of bare circuit boards, and Dockcase has designed a new USB-C hub based around that visual, as the Explorer Edition features two clear panels showcasing the dock's juicy internals.

If that doesn't tickle your fancy, and all you care about is performance, the Explorer Edition doesn't let you down there as Dockcase has packed this relatively small device with all the connectivity you will need for pulling video files from SD card, ripping images from a micro SD card, fast transfer speeds over USB-C and USB-A ports, display connectivity with 4K 120Hz and 8K 30Hz support through DisplayPort and HDMI. Perhaps you are after fast charging, Dockcase's Explorer Edition is outfitted with 100W PD charging and comes equipped with 3x USB-C ports.

NVIDIA's DLSS or Deep Learning Supersampling suite of technologies and features now covers multiple generations of GeForce RTX hardware, advances, and upgrades. And to be honest, with DLSS 2 Super Resolution, DLSS 3 Frame Generation, and now DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, it can get a little confusing as to what does what - and what's supported by what hardware.

What began as a way to upscale an image with the aid of AI to improve performance without adversely affecting image quality now extends to cover AI-based Frame Generation to improve perceived performance by up to 4X and Ray Reconstruction to make ray-traced lighting, reflections, and other effects look cleaner, sharper, and more realistic than what's possible with 'DLSS Off.'

Let's start at the beginning with DLSS 2 Super Resolution and how it makes use of the AI-based Tensor Cores in all GeForce RTX hardware - from the GeForce RTX 2060 up to the current flagship model, the GeForce RTX 4090.

At Gamescom 2023, NVIDIA announced DLSS 3.5 for all GeForce RTX graphics cards coming this year, introducing AI-powered Ray Reconstruction to improve ray-tracing image quality. For support titles (and so far, NVIDIA has announced DLSS 3.5 is coming to Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Portal with RTX, and Alan Wake 2), it will be a game-changer for 'how good' games will look with RT enabled.

It replaces hand-tuned denoisers, which are used to fill in pixel detail when tracing rays, with an AI solution that improves image quality and reduces things like ghosting. And with DLSS 3.5 coming to Cyberpunk 2077, NVIDIA provided a few screenshots of DLSS 3.5 in action, and we get to see ray-traced reflections look cleaner, sharper, and generally more impressive.

And with that, we've got a trailer for Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty showcasing DLSS 3.5 in action, and the results are impressive, to say the least - making it one of the best-looking PC games in 2023. As nice as the fancy RT effect can be, CD Project Red has presented a new trailer for Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty, showcasing how much it overhauls the game.

At Gamescom 2023, Blizzard lifted the lid on the upcoming second season of Diablo IV called 'Season of Blood', which is set to begin on October 17. Per the naming, the next season will feature a story all about a new "fanged threat" emerging from the shadows - vampires.

The brief story description hints at a "dark master" controlling an army of vampires unleashed on Sanctuary, which will unfold as part of a new questline, including obtaining new Vampiric Powers "to wield against their originators." Blizzard has released a trailer for the new season that introduces Erys, a vampire hunter voiced by actress and producer Gemma Chan.

In addition to bloodsuckers, five new endgame bosses will be arriving, with players finally able to target specific Unique and Uber Unique items as a drop.

Samsung has announced the world's first dual 4K gaming monitor that sports a 240Hz refresh rate at an astounding resolution of 7,680 x 2,160.

Samsung invited me to test out its brand new Odyssey Neo G95NC Curved QLED DUHD gaming monitor, and it was simply mind-blowing. The newest display for Samsung's line of gaming monitors ushers in a jaw-dropping 57-inch display that has a 1000R curvature, Quantum Matrix Technology for improved brightness and contrast, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a 1ms response time. As for connectivity, Samsung has outfitted the G95NC with DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1, and a USB hub, enabling users to connect multiple input sources.

Other specifications worth mentioning are the inclusion of AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, an ergonomic stand for height/swivel adjustments, and the Auto Source Switch+ feature. As previously stated, the G95NC is the world's first 57-inch dual 4K monitor, which means that Samsung has crammed two 4K displays into one single form factor, bringing the total resolution up to 8K, or more specifically, 7,680 x 2,160.

NVIDIA's latest Game Ready Driver is here, and it brings official support for the upcoming release of Starfield on PC alongside the New Frontiers expansion for ICARUS. "Our latest driver is Game Ready for Starfield," is all NVIDIA has to say on the matter, which means the game will not launch with any GeForce RTX technologies like DLSS and Reflex.

When a major title with RTX support gets a Game Ready Driver, it's usually accompanied by performance data showcasing what performance (with and without DLSS enabled) to expect across the GeForce RTX line-up - which is not the case here.

As mentioned the other day, modders plan to add DLSS Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation support into Starfield as soon as the game goes live. For those looking for a DLSS-based performance bump when exploring any of the game's thousand planetary bodies - you'll need to wait for the modding community to save the day.

At Computex 2023, we got our first look at NVIDIA ACE, a custom AI model designed to power NPCs in open-world role-playing games - or titles where there's a lot of walking up and talking to people. The demonstration was impressive, with an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo with high-end RTX effects showcasing a futuristic ramen shop owner named Jin you can talk to in a world heavily inspired by Cyberpunk 2077.

The idea behind NVIDIA ACE is for developers to create NPCs within an established world, flesh them out with detail, and then let AI handle dialogue and engage with players in a way that feels real.

In the demos, we see interaction carried out via microphone, adding a layer of NPC interaction not seen in a game before - even if the dialogue, animation, and vocal performance are a little stilted, it's a fascinating glimpse into the future. And in the time between Computex 2023 and Gamescom 2023, NVIDIA has continued to work on the NVIDIA ACE demo. The latest update sees the inclusion of NVIDIA NeMo SteerLM for developers.

Gamescom Opening Night has kicked off, and what better way to start 2023's biggest gaming announcement week than Bethesda's Todd Howard taking to the stage to tease the highly anticipated Starfield.

Todd Howard, the director of Bethesda, took center stage at Gamescom 2023 opening night, teasing the highly anticipated Starfield by announcing that despite all Bethesda has shown of the title, there are still many surprises left for gamers to uncover. Howard also said that Bethesda has always dreamt of making a game that enables players to blast off from different planets, and explore the galaxy with complete freedom.

The Bethesda director went on to reveal some key details about the opening of Starfield, saying that players will experience a "NASA meets Indiana Jones"-style adventure that begins after players encounter a strange artifact. Despite revealing some details about the opening of Starfield, and the overall story, Howard says, "the story goes a lot of places" and that "the game has a lot of surprises that we haven't talked about. I don't want to spoil it here, but we're really really happy with how the story turned out, and where it goes."

Weeks ahead of its launch, hard copies of Bethesda's Starfield have been spotted in the wild, even ahead of the early access period.

Starfield is scheduled to become available on September 6, and those that purchase the Starfield Premium Edition/Constellation Edition will enter into the Early Access program, enabling gamers to jump into the space-based fun on September 1. However, before either of these release dates, X users have spotted hard copies of Starfield in the wild a full week before the Early Access launch. The image comes from @Starfieldboy, who took to X to announce that hard copies of Starfield have been spotted, adding an image of what appears to be an Xbox Series X version of Bethesda's title.

With what seems to be hard copies of Starfield already being passed out to gamers, it's only a matter of time before leaks start to surface on the internet. However, leakers for Starfield will have a much harder time accessing the game than they typically would, as each hard copy contains a code and not a hard disk - at least for the Premium and Constellation Editions. Bethesda customer support confirmed that Standard Editions will feature a code.

The UK's competition agency officially prohibits and blocks the Microsoft-Activision merger under the original deal terms.

Today the Competition and Markets Authority has made new announcements regarding their assessment of the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA has issued its Final Order, a legally-binding decision, that has prohibited the existing Microsoft-Activision merger due to a significant lessening of competition (SLC) in the cloud gaming space.

Alongside its Final Order, the CMA also published an explanation on recent events regarding the Competition Appeals Tribunal. A bit ago, the CMA and Microsoft jointly filed for a specific court motion that would effectively cancel an impending appeals trial. The CMA recently filed its Final Report in April that recommended blocking the merger, and an Interim Order in May.

NVIDIA still has a large stock of Ampere chips to get rid of at the lower-end of the market - and these will represent the main entry-level offerings from Team Green for years to come, we're told.

This is the latest gossip from YouTube leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who shared the info in a new video discussing all manner of topics (mostly revolving around AMD, mind).

Moore's Law is Dead tapped one of his top-tier NVIDIA sources to find out that Team Green has no fewer than six million Ampere GPUs still to push through and sell. Those are GA106 and GA104 chips which are the engines of RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 graphics cards (and also the RTX 3070 in some cases with GA104).

Geoff Keighley can't catch a break as Gamescom gets stage crashed by pranksters.

During The Game Awards 2022, Matan Even aka the "Bill Clinton kid" snuck on stage alongside other FromSoftware developers and accepted the game of the year award for Elden Ring. At the end of the speech segment, Even dedicated the award to 42nd American president Bill Clinton.

Now fast-forwarding to the present, some less stealthy stage crashers paid homage to Bill Clinton. During the Gamescom Opening Night Live event in Cologne, Germany, two people went on stage to interrupt the stream to let everyone know that "Bill Clinton wants to play GTA 6."

If you're looking to pick up a new OnePlus 12 as your next smartphone, you could be in for a treat. We've already heard rumors that suggest this phone will be a true flagship competitor for other Android phones. Now, we're hearing that all over again thanks to a new leak suggesting the phone will have globs of RAM to play with.

This new leak claims that the OnePlus 12 will offer up to 24GB of Ram depending on the configuration that you choose. That'll be the top-end model of course, but the others will not be short of memory - we're told to expect 16GB of RAM in all other models.

This is according to a leak by Weibo's Digital Chat Station (DCS), a source that has started to become the go-to for this kind of thing. 9to5Google spotted the post and notes that while much of what DCS has had to say, there are some notable clarifications.

When Apple releases its new iPhones next month, one of them might be missing. That's because the iPhone 15 Pro Max is now thought to be launching later than the other three models, leaving buyers to wait a little bit longer.

How long will those iPhone 15 Pro Max buyers have to wait before they can get their hands on the new hotness? Anything up to four weeks according to reports.

This is all according to a 9to5Mac report that cites a major equity analyst's research note that was seen by an unnamed source. That source apparently explained what the note had to say, but the gist is that the iPhone 15 Pro Max might not go on sale until towards the end of October, rather than the usual September.

You'd need to have been hiding under a rock to have missed the fact that Apple is going to announce as many as four new iPhones next month, likely alongside the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra. But the phones' new cables are perhaps going to be the star of the show this time out - and not just because they're going to come with USB-C connectors at both ends.

Recent reports have already suggested that the new iPhones will come with color-matched cables and that those cables will also be braided for the first time. Now, a new report suggests that those cables will have something else going for them - they're going to be 50% longer than the cables that currently ship inside iPhone boxes.

That's according to Twitter X leaker Majin Bu who says that the new cables will most likely run at 1.5 meters. The Lightning cables that currently ship with iPhones are much shorter than that and have historically required people to buy their own, longer cables just to be able to reach relatively close plug sockets.

We're now well and truly in the middle of new iPhone season and the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max are all expected to be announced during an online event that will take place in September. The rumors currently point to that happening on September 12 or September 13, with the former the most likely at this point. And now we might also know what colors two of the new models will be available in.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be the cheapest of the new handsets announced this year and they'll also be the most colorful, too. Now, a new leak by X user URedditor appears to outline the new colors that will be available for buyers to choose from. This particular leaker has shared a ton of details about Apple's upcoming products over the last year or so, but it's still important to take these kinds of leaks with a pinch of salt until proven accurate.

That being said, the X post claims that Apple will offer the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus in Pink, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, and Black although the actual names for those colors aren't immediately clear and could well change.

Apple releases new iPhones every September and each year the Pro models cost more than the non-Pro ones, as you'd expect. But when the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max roll around this year, expectations are growing that they'll both cost even more than last year's handsets.

We've been hearing price hike rumors here and there for a little while now, but this latest report comes as we edge closer to the big unveiling next month. If the report is accurate, buying the new iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max could cost up to $200 more than picking up an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max today.

That's according to a paywalled DigiTimes report that has been seen by MacRumors, at least. The report apparently says that the new best iPhones will cost at least $100 more than their predecessors while a $200 price hike isn't out of the question at this point.

NVIDIA's DLSS has been one of the most significant gaming technologies to emerge in the past decade, a form of upscaling that leverages the power of AI and dedicated hardware to boost performance without adversely impacting image quality. With last year's arrival of the GeForce RTX 40 Series, NVIDIA introduced DLSS 3 and Frame Generation, which added a new AI layer that created entire frames.

Frame Generation makes the previously unplayable playable for ray-tracing and full path-traced titles like Cyberpunk 2077 (using the new RT Overdrive Mode) and Portal with RTX. Not to mention opens the door to being a great tool that all 40 Series cards can benefit from - from the entry-level GeForce RTX 4060 to the flagship beast, the GeForce RTX 4090.

Today NVIDIA is announcing the arrival of DLSS 3.5, which unlike DLSS 3 and Frame Generation, is compatible with all GeForce RTX GPUs. What does the .5 add to the DLSS stable? Well, a little something called Ray Reconstruction.

When NVIDIA showcased the first look at its modding toolset called RTX Remix, which allows for the streamlined development and remastering of older PC games using modern rendering techniques like NVIDIA DLSS and real-time ray-tracing, our first reaction was probably similar to yours. Half-Life 2 RTX when?

Well, we don't have a definite answer to the when part but at Gamescom 2023, NVIDIA has announced that some of the top Half-Life 2 modders have joined forces to form a new studio called Orbifold Studios - and the team is working on Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project.

Using NVIDIA's groundbreaking AI and Omniverse-driven RTX Remix platform, this remaster will include full ray-tracing ala Portal with RTX, DLSS 3, RTX IO, and remastered and modernized assets.

If you're after an external USB-C storage device with military-grade security, you can stop the search because the new Kingston IronKey Keypad 200C has you covered. The small thumb drive has the latest FIPS 140-3 Level 3 military-grade security specifications, including XTS-AES 256-bit encryption alongside Brute Force and BadUSB attack protection.

Physical device-independent security means that the IronKey Keypad 200 Series can be unlocked without software and plugged into any system with USB-C support - making it one of the most secure and flexible storage expansion options available today.

As you can see from the images, the lock system uses a PIN code, and with that, you can set up different Admin and User profiles - to help set up read-only modes to protect the drive from untrusted systems. There's also the option to make the drive Read-Only to help bolster the integrity of the data stored.