Latest News - Page 872

Nearly 10,000 subreddits have joined the digital picket line by protesting the recent changes Reddit has made to its API pricing for third-party developers.

More than 8,000 subreddits that contain more than 40 million members have decided to go dark, or offline, in protest to Reddit's changes to its API pricing that are expected to be implemented as early as next month. Reddit communities have expressed their distain for company's changes to its API as third-party developers that are behind some extremely popular third-party Reddit tools will now need to pay exorbitant fees to keep their apps up and running.

Notably, these changes to Reddit's API pricing came after the company realized a large portion of the platform's data was being used to train potentially lucrative AI-powered tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. In an effort to charge AI developers for Reddits plethora of data the company has increased its price, which has led to Reddit moderators feeling the pinch. Many moderators of subreddits use third-party tools to speed up their moderating process, which they do voluntarily.

The AMD Instinct MI300X is a new high-performance computing hardware that could dent NVIDIA's dominance in the generative AI space by offering an alternative to the popular H100 GPU and the Grace Hopper CPU and GPU combo.

AMD Instinct MI300X is like the latter in that it's an APU with up to 24 'Zen 4' Cores alongside CDNA 3 GPU Architecture. Making full use of AMD's groundbreaking chiplet design with 8 Chiplets and 8 Memory Stacks using 5nm and 6nm processes, the real kicker is up to a whopping 192 GB of HBM3 Memory - which makes it tailor-made for memory-intensive AI workloads.

And it's right around the corner, too, with AMD noting that the CPU-only MI300A version is sampling right now, with the full MI300X expected to do the same next quarter with full production and availability in Q4 2023. The MI300A is currently being deployed in the El Capitan 2 Exaflop supercomputer.

TEAMGROUP has announced it has a new top-performing memory card available aimed at individuals looking to store high-definition 4K photos and video.

TEAMGROUP has launched its newest edition to its memory card solution line-up, with the company announcing via a press release, the PRO+ TEAMGROUP PRO+ MicroSDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30, which will arrive in various capacities such as 1TB, 512GB, 256GB, and 128GB. Notably, TEAMGROUP has made sure the PRO+ MicroSDXC meets Application Performance Class A2 standards, along with UHS Speed Class 3, and Video Speed Class V30, as outlined in the aforementioned name of the product.

As for read and write speeds, TEAMGROUP's newest top-performing memory card will be capable of reaching 160 MB/s and 110 MB/s read and write, respectively. TEAMGROUP writes in its press release that the PRO+ MicroSDXC is aimed at creators that are looking to capture 4K videos and high quality images, while also being a solution for mobile users looking to upgrade their storage. If you are interested in reading more about the PRO+ MicroSDXC, check out the website link here.

AMD has yet to announce or even formally hint at when we might see the proper mid-range options for its new RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7000 line-up. It's not hard to understand why there has been a delay, as sales for discounted Radeon RX 6700 and RX 6800 GPUs have made them an excellent choice for many new PC builds in recent months.

Still, we got our first look at Navi 32, the GPU that will presumably power the Radeon RX 7700 XT and Radeon RX 7800 XT, via a new Forbes interview with AMD CEO and President Lisa Su. As part of the b-roll footage in the video (which you can see at the end of the article at around the 1:30 mark), we got a glimpse at Navi 32 sitting alongside other AMD chips, and it provides some insight into what to expect.

The image confirms a similar multi-chip or chiplet design seen with the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX, albeit with a single GCD (Graphics Compute Die) in the center measuring at around 200mm squared with four MCDs (Multi-Cache Die) measuring at approximately 37.5mm squared each.

AMD recently launched its new Radeon RX 7600 GPU, an 8GB GPU targeting the mainstream 1080p gaming segment. Based on our in-depth review, the USD 269 price point presents a pretty good deal when you're getting better than GeForce RTX 3060 performance. Not to mention around 25% more performance than its predecessor, the Radeon RX 6600.

But, with new GPU launches sitting alongside massive discounts to previous-gen models (where it seems like now's the right time to purchase something like the Radeon RX 6700, RX 6800, or GeForce RTX 3060 Ti), it looks like AMD's new mainstream RDNA 3 card has effectively dropped the price of the previous-gen RDNA 2 model.

And with that, over at Newegg (link at the end of this article), the ASRock Radeon RX 6600 8GB is currently being sold with a $20 off promo that puts its price down to USD 179.99. This represents a 33% discount when you compare the price to the new Radeon RX 7600 though you're getting something less powerful.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is the big story expansion for CD Projekt Red's visually stunning first-person action RPG, and it's out this September. In addition to presenting a new cinematic story with more Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand and Idris Elba as Solomon Reed, it will take players to a new section of Night City called Dogtown with the overall tone described as a "spy thriller."

And with the base game being on the absolute bleeding edge regarding in-game visuals and real-time ray-tracing, NVIDIA has confirmed that the expansion will support DLSS 3 at launch alongside the Technology Preview of the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, which is a fully path-traced version of the game that requires the use of DLSS 3 to ensure a playable frame-rate on account of, well, ray-tracing for just about everything you see.

And with that, we've got the full PC requirements for the Phantom Liberty expansion covering everything from the minimum specs to the non-RT Ultra requirements and the fact that you'll need a GeForce RTX 4080 to play with the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode enabled in 4K at 60 frames-per-second.

Blizzard's Diablo IV is currently one of the most talked about and played games on PC and console, breaking both sales and revenue records for the studio. On PC, the game makes full use of GeForce RTX technologies like DLSS 2, DLSS 3's Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex for low-latency performance, not to mention it runs great on a variety of hardware that includes Valve's Steam Deck.

But, with new mainline entries in the Diablo franchise being few and far between, this means that the very first title in the series dates back to 1997 - when the presentation was 2D and a far cry from the massive open world Sanctuary seen in the latest release.

As part of a reminder that Diablo IV supports the GeForce RTX 40 Series exclusive DLSS 3 feature - which uses AI to generate frames and boost perceived performance - NVIDIA and the GeForce team have released a cool little video showcasing the various NVIDIA GPUs that have been used to play each Diablo game over the years. Starting with the RIVA TNT 128, which put NVIDIA on the map regarding 2D and 3D acceleration.

If you expected the new Mac Pro to be fast, you've probably been waiting for the first benchmarks to arrive so that you could confirm whether you were right or not. And now they're here and sure enough, the M2 Ultra absolutely destroys everything that came in a Mac Pro before it.

Before we move on we have to have some context. That context comes in the form of the previous best Mac Pro you could buy - it started at $13,000 and sported an Intel Xeon chip with 28 cores. It was fast. at the time, and it probably still is. Unless you happen to pit it against Apple silicon. It managed a Geekbench single-core score of 1,378 and a multi-core score of 10,390.

The early benchmarks for the new M2 Ultra Mac Studio give us scores that are barely believable - a single-core score of 2,794 and a multi-core score of 21,453.

Ubisoft's new Star Wars game came out of nowhere, and it looks to be one of the most visually authentic franchise games ever made.

Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment turned heads with its surprise new Star Wars Outlaws game. The project is a more gritty take on the universe and dispels the myth and magic associated with the Jedi, instead focusing on the dire straits of the galaxy's most-wanted accidental criminal. It's a unique take that's more like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

Apart from the storyline, the most captivating part of Star Wars Outlaws is just how well Ubisoft Massive has captured the look and feel of the universe. Star Wars is an eclectic mix of high-tech futurism with low-end analog tech. The Empire has gleaming star-cruisers, but the poorest worlds have lots of junky, broken down rustbucket ships where everything is just held together by shoestrings.

Microsoft's first-party game support teams have been engaged with Starfield's development since early 2022, Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty says.

Starfield is one of the most important Xbox games in years. Xbox management feels that Starfield will be a catalyst for growth for Xbox Game Pass and the brand as a whole, and that confidence is partly a result of how stable Starfield currently is.

Xbox execs say that Starfield may ship with the least bugs out of any Bethesda game due to the intense testing from quality assurance teams, and partly because of the support Microsoft has offered with its internal groups, including the console-centric Advanced Technology Group, who has helped Bethesda better streamline its new Creation Engine on Xbox Series X/S platforms. We've actually known about the ATG's involvement in Starfield since May. Bethesda has also made the decision to target 30FPS on consoles to ensure that in-game performance matches their vision for Starfield.

The Federal Trade Commission asks federal courts to intervene by issuing orders that would halt and temporarily prevent the Microsoft-Activision merger from closing.

Microsoft wants to buy Activision for $68.7 billion and acquire some of the most profitable video games on the planet. The Federal Trade Commission is wary of the merger, and has scrutinized the deal in a heavy Phase 2 investigation of millions of business documents and submissions. During its investigation, the FTC identified antitrust concerns and determined that the merger would harm competition. The Commission then opened an administrative lawsuit against Microsoft and is now challenging the merger in its internal courts.

Although the deal is currently in active litigation with the FTC, Microsoft and Activision can still merge in an action known as a "close over". The FTC notes that Microsoft and Activision intend to close the merger after June 15.

Bethesda certainly is known for rolling out games that can be plagued with bugs, and sometimes these bugs are hilarious, while other times they can be so severe that it ruins the experience within game.

According to Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty and Xbox Game Studios CEO Phil Spencer, who sat down for a podcast with Giant Bomb, Bethesda has ironed out most of the bugs in Starfield, as the title is expected to be the most bug-free game Bethesda has ever released. During the podcast, Booty says that even if the game was shipped today it would have "the fewest bugs that any game from Bethesda has ever shipped with."

This point was backed up by Spencer, who said that Bethesda has many titles under their belt such as Fallout, Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls. Throughout developing the aforementioned games Spencer believes the team at Bethesda has matured, leading to a much more polished Starfield. Additionally, Spencer said that every QA person at the company is currently play-testing Starfield, looking for bugs within the game and attempting to determine the overall quality of the title.

YouTube has announced that it will now be much easier for creators to start earning money from their videos as the eligible requirements for the YouTube Partner Program have been reduced.

World's hub for video content has announced that it has reduced the requirements to earn money from normal YouTube videos as well as YouTube Shorts, with the blog post stating that effective immediately monetization in 2023 will require 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads within 90 days and 3,000 watch hours within the past year. As for Shorts, creators will need to get 3 million valid public views in 90 days.

To understand how much of a reduction YouTube has made to its requirements, you need to know that the platform previously required creators to have 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 watch public watch hours and/or 10 million Shorts views to enter into the Partner Program. The newly updated policy will certainly make it easier for creators to start getting paid for their videos, and since the YouTube Partner Program is easier to get into creators are able to utilize other monetization features such as Memberships, Super Chats, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks.

The mighty decentralized video games company the Embracer Group today announced a restructuring plan that will more closely centralize and solidify its games empire and lead to layoffs and cancellations.

Following the eleventh-hour cancellation of a lucrative $2 billion deal, the Embracer Group today announced that it is enacting a new restructuring strategy that will affect its workforce and content pipeline. This restructuring plan will lead to layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations. As of March 2023, Embracer Group had 16,601 employees, with 5,175 non-game developers, 138 internal studios, and a total of 221 video game projects in development with 165 of these being unannounced.

"The program presented today will transform us from our current heavy-investment-mode to a highly cash-flow generative business this year," Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors writes in an open letter.

Apple's brand-new 15-inch MacBook Air and updated M2 Ultra Mac Studio are both now available to buy and you can pick either up from the Apple Store right now, depending on where you happen to be.

The two machines are available for in-store pickup starting today across the United States with same-day or next-day collection available depending on the configuration that you want to buy. However, while the new M2 Ultra Mac Pro is also available for in-store pickup, you're going to have to wait a little longer for it to be ready - many locations report that the new Mac Pro won't be available for a couple of weeks yet.

Apple announced its three new Macs during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5. The new MacBook Air is its biggest to date and gives buyers who want a big-screen laptop another option rather than forcing them towards the costly 16-inch MacBook Pro. Beyond the display size, the 15-inch MacBook Air is largely identical to the smaller 13-inch model, right down to the M2 chip that powers it.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup later in 2023, likely around the first couple of weeks of September. And now a new report suggests that prices are going up across the board.

While the report believes that all of the 2023 iPhones will be more expensive than those that they replace, it's the 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max that could make the eyes water. According to Economic Daily News, the phone will cost around $1,800 which would make it the most expensive iPhone to date.

Not that buying any of the other iPhones will be a cheap endeavor, though. It's thought that all of the iPhones will see a price hike of as much as 20% depending on the model in question.

If you've been waiting to get your hands-on the next big phone from Nothing, you won't have to wait too much longer. That's because the company has finally confirmed when the Phone (2) will be unveiled - and it isn't all that far away.

In a post to Twitter, Nothing confirmed that the Phone (2) will be unveiled on 11 July. That's just a month away, and while the company didn't go into details about what the phone will have up its sleeve we do have some bits and pieces that we're pretty confident in already.

At the top of that list is the fact that we're expecting the Nothing Phone (2) to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. Qualcomm had already confirmed that one of its chips would be used months ago and while some had hoped for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, that doesn't appear to be in the cards.

South Korean lawmakers have indicted a former Samsung executive after accusing them of stealing company secrets and attempting to use that information to create a new company that would directly compete with Samsung.

The former Samsung executive is a 65-year-old that has remained unnamed, and according to reports, was taken in custody last month and charged with the theft of trade secrets. Notably, the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office has officially indicted the former Samsung executive, per an announcement made on Monday. According to reports, the former Samsung executive worked at Samsung for 18 years, while also working at another massive chip manufacturer SK Hynix.

The former Samsung executive started a new chip manufacturing company in China and Singapore, hiring two-hundred Samsung and SK Hynix employees. According to prosecutors, the former Samsung executive stole Samsung's confidential information, such as blueprints, basic engineering data, room designs, and more, between August 2018 and 2019. According to prosecutors, the ex-Samsung executive attempted to "duplicate an entire factory to manufacture and mass-produce semiconductors in China."

A group of astronomers has confirmed the existence of four warm exoplanets that are estimated to be between the Earth and Neptune in size.

The team used NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) telescopes to identify the four planets, which the ESA explains on its website, are "unlike any planet in our Solar System and provide a 'missing link' between Earth-like and Neptune-like planets that is not yet understood." The ESA refers to these planets are "Mini-Neptunes," which astronomers are yet to know much about. However, what is known about Mini-Neptune's is they are smaller, cooler, and more difficult to find than hot Jupiter-like exoplanets.

For example, hot Jupiter-like planets have surface temperatures of more than 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit, and orbit their host stars within days, sometimes within a matter of hours. Mini-Neptune planets have a much cooler surface temperature of approximately 572 degrees Fahrenheit and orbit their host stars within a matter of days. Despite what is known about their orbiting patterns compared to other exoplanets, there is very little known about the composition of Mini-Neptune's.

NASA plans on putting new boots on the lunar surface as part of the space agency's Artemis 3 mission, and according to new research, the team that lands on the Moon should look out for evidence of ancient microbial life.

NASA is aiming to put the Artemis 3 mission down somewhere in the Artemis Polar Exploration Zone, and each of these potential regions, which totals 13 candidates, are approximately 9.3 by 9.3 miles. The specific landing zone within those regions is approximately a 328-foot radius. According to new research, locations on the south pole contain super cold craters that live in a permanent shadow. These craters have a chance of containing microbial life that could have potentially survived the harsh conditions of the lunar south pole.

Prabal Saxena, a planetary researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, spoke to Space.com and said, "One of the most striking things our team has found is that, given recent research on the ranges in which certain microbial life can survive, there may be potentially habitable niches for such life in relatively protected areas on some airless bodies".