Latest News - Page 914

A part of Twitter's source code was uploaded to GitHub on Friday last week, and immediately the public began diving through the files.

The revealed code suggested that Twitter's algorithm would identify tweets by Elon Musk and label tweets by other users as "Democrat", "Republican," or "power user". The portion of the code that revealed these details has since been removed from GitHub, but a screenshot of it can be found above. Twitter CEO Elon Musk appeared in a Twitter Spaces call to address these concerns of his name being hardcoded into Twitter's algorithm, saying that he found it "weird" and that "This is the first time I'm learning of this by the way."

During the Twitter Spaces call, Twitter engineer Brian Wichers explained that these categories or labels were implemented into the algorithm about 10 years ago, and they are not a valuable variable throughout the entire code base. The point of the labeling not being an important factor throughout the entire code base was backed up by another Twitter engineer on the call, who said that these categories were only used for tracking purposes to identify if the platform was swaying too far towards one side.

YouTube channel SkatterBencher, with ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero motherboard and EK custom loop water cooling, has managed to push the new AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU to 5.4 GHz with some clever overclocking.

The Ryzen 7000X3D series, with 3D V-Cache technology, are CPUs not designed for overclocking. AMD has manually disabled manual overclocking on the chip outside of a few exceptions-Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) and AMD's Curve Optimizer.

So if you're wondering how SkatterBencher managed to push the single-core clock speeds to 5.4 GHz and 4.85 GHz on all eight cores, it was a somewhat complicated process that took advantage of the features of the ASUS motherboard - namely two external clock generators.

It was only last week when the news broke that Elon Musk and other leading technologists signed an open letter calling for artificial intelligence (AI) development to slow down. Now, we are hearing that call, which cites AI being a potential threat to humanity, maybe a guise that's hiding some individual's self-interest.

During an interview with CNBC, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman discussed the recent call for AI development to slow down and the relationship between Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. It should be noted, Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, and others signed the open letter penned by the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit that concentrates on reducing existential risk from powerful technologies.

The open letter called for all development of artificial intelligence systems beyond OpenAI's GPT-4 language model to halt immediately, citing a threat to humanity as a whole if they don't. Furthermore, the letter says developers should stop training AIs for at least six months while researchers can assess the power of the new technology and how it is going to impact the human race. Lastly, the letter cites major problems with AI, such as its power to spread misinformation, its impact on the labor industry through automation, and how it will influence society.

Scientists have discovered what could be the earliest piece of evidence of a meteorite colliding with Earth billions of years ago.

The group of researchers presented their findings at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference last week, and according to the team, the meteorite fragments, known as spherules, were drilled out of volcanic and sedimentary rocks called the Dresser Formation of the Pilbara Craton in located Western Australia.

Notably, spherules are formed when a meteorite collides with the surface of the planet, causing vast amounts of rock to be superheated and thrown up into the air, where it is then cooled and hardened. Over the thousands, millions, or even billions of years since the event, these spherules are reduced in size to approximately a pinhead. Despite their size, these small fragments of meteorite hold clues about Earth's distant past and the various cataclysmic events that took place.

Some planets and moons within the cosmos only show one side to their host star, meaning one side of the object is permanently a day side, and the other is permanently a night side.

Suppose that Earth was like this. It would mean one side of the planet is forever the day side, and the other is dark. While this may sound like an apocalyptic scenario, if Earth suddenly shifted into this state, for other planets in the universe where life may exist, this would be normal. According to a new study that explores the possibility of life on these planets, planets that have become tidally locked to their star could have the right ingredients for life to exist at their "terminator zones".

The researchers explain that these terminator zones are the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet. It should be noted that planets that are tidally locked to their stars usually vary drastically in temperature, with the day side of the planet reaching hundreds or even thousands of degrees in temperature, while the night side is the exact opposite, with temperatures falling into the low minuses. However, researchers suggest that the dividing line between the hot and cold sides of the planet may be the perfect balance of temperature for life, as humans know it, to exist.

Intel has issued a Product Change Notification outlining that several 11th Generation Tiger Lake CPUs will be discontinued as of January 26, 2024.

The list primarily covers mobile processors, including Core i5, i7, and even the powerful Intel Core i9-11900H processor, as Intel shifts the focus to 12th Generation Alder Lake and 13th Generation Raptor Lake line-ups. This makes sense, as these CPUs are the only real options out there for DIY builders.

The list doesn't cover all models, and the desktop line-up is limited to 11th Generation Tiger Lake B-series processors with a 65W TDP. These CPUs, like the Intel Core i9-11900KB, are mainly used for smaller systems like Intel NUC.

Windows 11 is the latest version of Microsoft Windows, and as an extension of Windows 10, it brings several tricks and hidden features to the table for those looking to get the most out of the operating system.

One of them that you might already be aware of is the hidden Start Menu you can access by right-clicking on the Windows 11 Start button. Doing so brings up a handy, excellent shortcut menu that gives you direct access to several Windows 11 features and system settings.

This hidden menu gives you one-click access to manage your app installations, system power settings, device manager, disk management, and more.

Yesterday we got an impressive video and breakdown of the new Cyberpunk 2077 Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, which brings full path tracing to the game on April 11 as part of a technical preview.

The "technical preview" wording there is key, as it takes the already technically demanding (and visually impressive) Cyberpunk 2077 and gives it a cinematic makeover thanks to full ray-traced lighting. From Global Illumination (GI) to shadows, full-resolution reflections, to every direct and indirect light source in the neon-soaked Night City given the RT treatment. Shader Execution Reordering (SER), Real-Time Denoisers (NRD), and RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) are all being leveraged here.

As per the video, in addition to a brand-new unified pipeline to make path tracing possible in Cyberpunk 2077, the Overdrive Mode also uses DLSS 3 and Frame Generation on the GeForce RTX 40 Series to make it more than a tech demo meets slideshow. And with that, native 4K rendering for the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode on the GeForce RTX 4090 drops to as low as 16 frames per second.

Windows 11 gamers who found themselves unable to play Red Dead Redemption 2 following an update to Microsoft's operating system can breathe a sigh of relief, because Rockstar Games has fixed the bug in question.

You might recall that this problem affected gamers running Windows 11 21H2 (not the latest version of the OS, which is 22H2, of course), and the bug was present in patch KB5023774. That update rolled out to Windows 11 21H2 users at the end of last month.

The good news is that Rockstar has announced an update to its launcher software in which various stability improvements have been applied.

We've seen Mario make an appearance in the App Store and Google Play Store a couple of times over the years, not always to great success. In fact, it turns out that mobile games just might not be worth Nintendo's time anymore.

In an interview with Variety, Nintendo fellow and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto made it clear that mobile apps will not be a key focus for Nintendo going forward. Not that they ever really were. Instead, it appears that the company wants to focus on making games that actually make it the big bucks.

As an example, Mario Kart 8 apparently raked in a cool $3 billion to date, which isn't to be sniffed at. By comparison, Super Mario Run made $60 million in its first year while Mario Kart Tour generated $300 million since its 2019 release. It's easy to see why Nintendo might focus on games for its own platforms as a result.

Sony is reportedly working on a new PlayStation handheld, but it won't be a PS Vita 2.

Reports from Insider Gaming indicate that Sony is developing a new PlayStation handheld codenamed Q Lite that is very different from its previous devices.

Leaks show that the PlayStation Q Lite handheld will not support dedicated gaming like the PlayStation Portable or PlayStation Vita, and will instead only support Remote Play from a PS5. The new handheld is expected to be always-online and target 1080p 60FPS gaming, and will also require gamers to own a PlayStation 5 in order for the handheld to function.

The KEBOHUB EE01 is born from a collaboration between Whatgeek and affordable Apple peripheral specialists 3inus. The goal is to combine a mechanical keyboard's precision and tactile feel with the versatility of a device hub. Designed primarily for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMacs from 2021 onward, the KEBOHUB is also compatible with Windows devices.

For that, 3inus packs in replaceable Windows-specific keycaps to integrate correctly. Sporting a funky two-tone look with full support for dynamic RGB lighting, I had the chance to test the KEBOHUB EE01 before its Kickstarter crowdfunding debut this week. And even though my platform of choice has always been PC, it was fun to dip into the world of Apple with the KEBOHUB.

Of course, the main draw here is the hub, powered by the KEBOHUB EE01's dual USB-C cable, which connects to your Apple device. The hub features multiple USB 3 ports and USB-C for charging and connecting things like storage devices directly to the keyboard and an HDMI port capable of outputting a 4K 60 Hz signal for a secondary display.

AMD has released new firmware that speeds up the time taken for a Ryzen 7000 PC to boot quite considerably - in fact, AM5 rigs now boot twice as fast.

As Hardware Times reports, a fair number of users have been complaining that their Ryzen 7000 system - built on AMD's new AM5 chipset for Zen 4 - is seriously sluggish to boot (including the tech site itself).

Now we have a piece of evidence that the new BIOS update from AMD (AGESA 1006) reduces boot times significantly, as shown by HXL, a well-known leaker on Twitter.

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is released tomorrow (April 6) - with reviews set to arrive later today - but we've just had another last-minute leak that indicates the performance of this CPU will pretty much match the more expensive 7950X3D.

The leaked slide aired by VideoCardz, which is purportedly straight from AMD's launch materials - apply all the usual caveats around rumors here, by the way, though we've seen another slide from the tech site too (we'll come back to that) - shows how the 7800X3D performs compared to the 7950X3D in 1080p resolution (with high graphics details).

Going by the AMD benchmarks across a raft of games, the 7800X3D offers 92% to 113% of the performance level of the 7950X3D, despite the gulf in price between the two chips.

Earlier this year, we reported that cost-cutting measures at Google went beyond things like cutting thousands of jobs, with employees set to share desks in the company's Cloud division. "Most Googlers will now share a desk with one other Googler," wrote the internal memo that leaked.

And now CNBC's Jennifer Elias is back with another leaked memo, a companywide note from Google CFO Ruth Porat, outlining more cost-cutting measures.

It's all about cutting costs, ranging from removing staplers and tape from all Google print stations (apparently, you need to go to the reception desk and ask to borrow a stapler if you need one) to fewer offerings when it comes to laptop replacements.

One of the big PC display advances in recent years has been the introduction of high-refresh-rate OLED panels designed for gaming and content creation tasks. From Samsung to Alienware, ASUS, and LG's UltraGear OLED panels - more and more OLED options for gamers are becoming available.

TFT Central outlines some of the OLED displays from LG and Samsung expected in the second half of 2024 and beyond. Plenty of goodness is coming, including the ability to run some of the LG OLED panels in dual refresh-rate modes. Native resolution at 240 Hz or 1080p at 480 Hz is very cool.

For the 16:9 aspect ratio, LG has 27-inch, 31.5-inch, and 42-inch OLED displays that will double the existing 4K refresh rate of 120 Hz up to an impressive 240 Hz. For gaming, a few cards outside of the GeForce RTX 4090 can push frame rates higher than 120 fps in 4K, but this is still excellent to see.

The new Xbox Wireless Controller - Remix Special Edition is being released just in time for Earth Day, with recovered plastics from reclaimed materials making up a third of its physical design.

It also sports a stylish look with earth-tone colors and different texturing, with the reclaimed materials featuring subtle variations and markings to give each Remix Special Edition controller its unique look and feel.

In addition to reclaimed materials that include CDs, plastic water jugs, and even automotive headlight covers, it also uses "regrind." The team at Xbox describes "regrind" as the process of recycling leftover Xbox One controller parts into raw materials that can be used to create new controllers like the Remix Special Edition.

The Last of Us Part I has had a rocky launch on PC. From poor performance to glitches to high VRAM and CPU, it's a mess for several players.

Developer Naughty Dog and its partners at Iron Galaxy are working on updates and patches, with an extensive one expected later this week. In the meantime, to fix the game randomly crashing on GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, NVIDIA has released GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 531.58, which you can download here.

The Hotfix also fixes issues with the recent Resident Evil 4 Remake when FXAA is enabled, which is good to see - though the big story here is improving performance for one of the most highly anticipated PC releases of 2023. As with all Hotfix Drivers from NVIDIA, this is considered Beta, with the fixes set to appear in the next WHQL driver release.

Cyberpunk 2077's new Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is set to be released in technology preview form on April 11. It brings full path tracing to one of the most technically impressive and advanced games for PC.

Path tracing or full ray tracing can already be seen in NVIDIA's own Portal with RTX mod, where essentially all lighting effects, including global illumination, shadows, direct and indirect light sources, and shadows, are all path traced. As expected, it's incredibly taxing on PC hardware.

Check out this new look at Cyberpunk 2077 with full path tracing in the trailer above, captured with a GeForce RTX 4090 with DLSS 3 enabled.

Apple is getting ready to give the iPhone 17 one of the best features of the iPhone 14 Pro, according to a new report. It will be the first time that the feature has been made available on a non-Pro iPhone if the report turns out to be accurate.

There's a very good chance that will be the case as well, with display analyst Ross Young being the one responsible for it. Young has a great track record for these kinds of display-related things, with the report being that Apple will bring 120Hz ProMotion to the non-Pro iPhone in 2025.

Apple's ProMotion technology allows for a variable refresh rate all the way to a maximum 120Hz. It means that iPhones with ProMotion are capable of smoother animations and transitions thanks to the faster refresh rate of their LPTO displays. Those displays also support a refresh rate of just 1Hz, making them able to offer an always-on display with minimal battery life impact.