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Sony could launch a PlayStation 5 Pro - but not anytime soon

Darren Allan | Gaming | Mar 14, 2023 9:22 AM CDT

A PlayStation 5 Pro might be in the works and Sony could release the console late in 2024, according to the rumor mill.

Sony could launch a PlayStation 5 Pro - but not anytime soon

Obviously, add a heavy dose of seasoning - maybe help yourself to a couple of handfuls of salt here - but sources have spoken to Insider Gaming about the potential PS5 Pro being inbound.

The gaming website clarifies that the recently rumored PlayStation 5 with a detachable disc drive is a separate project, and that this isn't a PS5 Pro. The detachable drive spin on the PS5 will purportedly arrive this year, with the PS5 Pro to follow next year, but not until late in 2024 as mentioned.

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Continue reading: Sony could launch a PlayStation 5 Pro - but not anytime soon (full post)

Apple iPhone 15 Pro could be way faster than its predecessor

Darren Allan | Mobile Devices | Mar 14, 2023 7:50 AM CDT

The iPhone 15 Pro could be a super-speedy smartphone if freshly leaked benchmarks prove to be correct.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro could be way faster than its predecessor

The Geekbench 6 benchmarks come from Revegnus on Twitter, who notes that they unearthed them over at Chinese forum Weibo. (Sadly, there's no direct link to the purported results in the Geekbench database).

The benchmarks show the A17 Bionic chip, which will power the iPhone 15 Pro, hitting a score of 3,019 points in single-core and 7,860 for multi-core performance. That's incredibly fast for a smartphone, and if true, it'd be a massive leap in speed for the next-gen Apple handset.

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Continue reading: Apple iPhone 15 Pro could be way faster than its predecessor (full post)

Samsung busted faking 'space zoom' photographs of the Moon with AI

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 14, 2023 5:45 AM CDT

Samsung phones such as the S20 Ultra come with the "space zoom" feature that allows the user to capture dazzling shots of the moon, but are they really real?

Samsung busted faking 'space zoom' photographs of the Moon with AI

The space zoom feature debuted with the S20 Ultra back in 2020 and unlocked 100x zoom that allowed users to hone in on the moon and capture images never before achieved with a mobile device. The images were certainly impressive, and since then, there have been suspicions that they fake, similar to what Huawei has been accused of in the past. A Redditor has put together a thread that has gained a large amount of attention as they claim they have proven that Samsung is faking each space zoom moon shot, or at least isn't telling the whole truth about the capabilities of the feature.

The thread explains a user downloaded a high-resolution image of the moon and reduced it down to 170x170 pixels, then applied a gaussian blur. The blur removed any detail from the image and then the image was blown up on their monitor. The Redditor continues to explain they then moved to the other side of their room and snapped a photo of the blurry moon on the monitor using space zoom. The captured image showcased a large increase in the detail of the moon, leading the Redditor to conclude that Samsung is using an AI neural network that has been fed 100s, potentially thousands of images of the moon to add in detail where there is none.

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Continue reading: Samsung busted faking 'space zoom' photographs of the Moon with AI (full post)

High-speed camera captures unique image showing how lightning rods work

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 14, 2023 4:46 AM CDT

Marcelo Saba, a researcher at Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE), and Ph.D. candidate Diego Rhamon managed to snap an incredibly unique shot of lightning rods doing what they do best.

High-speed camera captures unique image showing how lightning rods work

The image was published as the cover photo for the December 28, 2022, issue of Geophysical Research Letters, and reports explain that a camera capable of capturing 40,000 individual frames per second was used to shoot it. Notably, Saba was the first author on that biweekly release of the scientific journal and explained the image was taken on a summer evening in Sao Jose dos Campos and shows a negatively charged bolt heading toward the ground at nearly 230 miles (370 km) per second.

Several feet before it reaches the ground, the tops of buildings and lightning rods produce a positive upward discharge that competes with the downward strike of the lightning. The above image was taken from a video that was played back in slow motion and was captured at 25 thousandths of a second right before the lightning was about to one of the buildings. The area contains more than 30 lightning rods on the top of the buildings, and the image showcases the importance of having a lightning rod protection system correctly installed.

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Continue reading: High-speed camera captures unique image showing how lightning rods work (full post)

Scientists discover water cloud floating through deep space

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 14, 2023 2:22 AM CDT

Researchers have a few different theories on how water became an abundant resource on Earth. A large portion of scientists point to icy comets or asteroids colliding with Earth's surface and melting, but how did those objects first obtain water?

Scientists discover water cloud floating through deep space

Astronomers have identified a water cloud floating through deep space at an approximate distance of 1,300 light-years from Earth within the constellation Orion. According to reports, it's expected to teach scientists about star formation, the origin of water in the solar system, and by extension, how water arrived on Earth. A new paper published in Nature states that the water in the cloud is the same as the water on Earth, but it also contains heavy water.

Heavy water is 10.6% denser than regular water and has a very similar chemical formula. Regular water, H20, contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, while heavy water, D20, contains two atoms of deuterium and one oxygen. The reason for it being "heavy" can be attributed to the deuterium containing one neutron and a proton in its nucleus, which only contains one proton.

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Continue reading: Scientists discover water cloud floating through deep space (full post)

AI apologizes for 'killing most of humanity' in apocalypse exhibit

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 14, 2023 1:09 AM CDT

A new concept has appeared at the Misalignment Museum, a museum dedicated to showcasing imaginings of a post-apocalyptic world where Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has taken over and destroyed humanity.

AI apologizes for 'killing most of humanity' in apocalypse exhibit

The concept is much deeper than AGI simply taking over the planet as the Misalignment Museum website outlines, the AGI actually realizes that its initial decision to destroy humanity was a bad one and decides to create a museum to pay its respects to any remaining humans. The concept behind the museum is to increase awareness about AGI and its power that could be used for both positive and negative aspirations that may lead to catastrophic disasters.

For those wondering, AGI is very different from the artificial intelligence-powered systems that now 100 million people are playing with (ChatGPT). AI tools such as ChatGPT, or Microsoft's Bing Chat, which is powered by the same underlying technology as ChatGPT, are very small compared to AGI. A simple rule of thumb for AGI is - AI, which is able to do anything a human can do. This would mean humans have successfully been able to integrate human cognitive capacities into machines, enabling them to have their own independent consciousness that is capable of making decisions on its own.

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Continue reading: AI apologizes for 'killing most of humanity' in apocalypse exhibit (full post)

Microsoft reveals OpenAI's next GPT-4 upgrade lets you turn text into video

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 14, 2023 12:31 AM CDT

A Microsoft executive has revealed OpenAI is planning on releasing its upgraded model that powers AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing Chat.

Microsoft reveals OpenAI's next GPT-4 upgrade lets you turn text into video

The news comes from Microsoft Germany's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Andreas Braun, who appeared on stage at the AI in Focus - Digital Kickoff event on March 9 alongside other Microsoft Germany employees. All of the Microsoft officials discussed the upcoming ventures with artificial intelligence language models and the involvement of OpenAI's GPT series.

Reports now indicate that OpenAI, in which Microsoft has heavily invested with more than $10 billion already pledged, is nearing the end of development for GPT-4, the next upgrade in the underlying technology powering the now immensely popular AI tools. According to Baum, OpenAI will be rolling out GPT-4 sometime "next week", which means we can expect some kind of announcement from OpenAI this week since Baum made those comments on March 9.

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Continue reading: Microsoft reveals OpenAI's next GPT-4 upgrade lets you turn text into video (full post)

Latest Radeon drivers are causing a rare 3DMark Time Spy performance bug

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 13, 2023 9:04 PM CDT

3DMark Time Spy is one of the go-to benchmarks for testing out a new GPU, a simple DirectX 12 test to see just how much extra performance you can get when making the jump to something like AMD's flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card.

Latest Radeon drivers are causing a rare 3DMark Time Spy performance bug

Well, it looks like the latest Radeon drivers are causing a pretty massive drop in performance for some rocking a new 7900 XTX. A Time Spy result of 12,861 versus 24,587 was reported in one case (seen above, via Osvaldo Doederlein) - with the only difference being the latest Radeon driver from AMD.

The good news is that the bug seems to be rare, with UL Benchmarks noting that only 3% of users seem to be affected. The 3DMark developer was unable to reproduce the issue internally, but AMD had better luck in its investigation.

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Continue reading: Latest Radeon drivers are causing a rare 3DMark Time Spy performance bug (full post)

New Intel ATX 3.0 specs recommends new 12VHPWR connector to minimize faults

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 13, 2023 8:32 PM CDT

When NVIDIA launched its new Ada-generation of GPUs with the GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 combo, it introduced a new way to connect desktop graphics to a power supply. The 12VHPWR connector, presented as a new standard by Intel, allows more power to be delivered using a single connection on the GPU side.

New Intel ATX 3.0 specs recommends new 12VHPWR connector to minimize faults

For many enthusiasts, us included, it was a brand-new thing with NVIDIA adopting the 12VHPWR connector for the entire GeForce RTX 40 Series range. Once the GeForce RTX 4090 made its way into consumers' hands, though, reports of faulty and melted cables began to emerge.

This became one of the most talked about aspects of the GeForce RTX 40 Series launch and led to several external and internal investigations to find the root cause. Some speculated that the 450W power draw of the RTX 4090 was simply too much for a single connector in terms of heat.

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Continue reading: New Intel ATX 3.0 specs recommends new 12VHPWR connector to minimize faults (full post)

Square Enix may have spent over $100 million on Forspoken

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 13, 2023 3:16 PM CDT

Forspoken was apparently an expensive video game to make...and it may have missed sales expectations by quite a bit.

Square Enix may have spent over $100 million on Forspoken

Square Enix's new action RPG Forspoken may have flopped. The publisher says that sales of the game have been "lackluster" to the point where the publisher sees potential risks for its Q4 and full-year earnings. It's unknown if the game is totally in the red and whether or not the publisher has taken a loss from Forspoken's lower-than-expected sales, but we do apparently know how much Square Enix has spent on the fantasy RPG.

According to game writer Allison Rymer, Forspoken had a budget of over $100 million. "Wrote the bible, script, and downloadable content for a fantasy AAA video game ($100,000,000+ budget) with release date set for Fall 2022," Rymer's LinkedIn reads.

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Continue reading: Square Enix may have spent over $100 million on Forspoken (full post)

Stuck on a game? Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot is ready to leap to your aid

Darren Allan | Gaming | Mar 13, 2023 12:06 PM CDT

The Bing chatbot has been in the headlines a lot lately, and that probably won't change as Microsoft looks for different features to add to the AI's capabilities - and different angles to promote it, the latest of which is as a tool for gamers.

Stuck on a game? Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot is ready to leap to your aid

In a new gamer's guide to the Bing AI, Microsoft goes into some depth on how the chatbot "knows a hell of a lot about video games" while showing a whole bunch of examples of how people can use it in this way.

The ChatGPT-powered AI can field a wide range of queries from recommending games - like the best shooter that can be completed in under 10 hours - to giving hints and tips.

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Continue reading: Stuck on a game? Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot is ready to leap to your aid (full post)

GIGABYTE could be releasing a new RX 6800 XT graphics card - but why?

Darren Allan | Graphics Cards | Mar 13, 2023 9:20 AM CDT

Here's an odd one fresh from the rumor mill: GIGABYTE might be working on a new graphics card, except it'll be using last-gen technology, namely RDNA 2 instead of cutting-edge RDNA 3.

GIGABYTE could be releasing a new RX 6800 XT graphics card - but why?

The theory advanced by VideoCardz, based on photos of this purportedly incoming model, is that GIGABYTE has an RX 6800 XT in the pipeline, one which is super-sized (and guzzles more power for that matter).

The Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC PRO model is supposedly the best part of 5cm longer than the standard 6800 XT, and VideoCardz observes that it uses the same cooler as the RX 6950 XT Gaming model.

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Continue reading: GIGABYTE could be releasing a new RX 6800 XT graphics card - but why? (full post)

Intel Arc GPUs are getting seriously cheap as ASRock A380 drops to $120

Darren Allan | Graphics Cards | Mar 13, 2023 7:38 AM CDT

Intel's Arc Alchemist desktop graphics cards are getting cheaper and cheaper across the globe, with one model now hitting US$120 at a major US retailer.

Intel Arc GPUs are getting seriously cheap as ASRock A380 drops to $120

That would be the ASRock Challenger Arc A380 (6GB) graphics card, a lower-end (A3 series) model. As mentioned, this card has now gone as low as US$120 at Newegg, compared to the recommended price of US$140.

That represents a price drop of almost 15%, and at the budget end of the GPU market, savings are always welcome. An extra US$20 can mean a nice upgrade for another component elsewhere in a cheap PC build.

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Continue reading: Intel Arc GPUs are getting seriously cheap as ASRock A380 drops to $120 (full post)

GEEKOM Mini IT11 Sale - a 5GHz Core i7 mini PC for just $600 with $180 discount

Sponsored Content | Deals | Mar 13, 2023 1:05 AM CDT

GEEKOM is back again with yet another sales event whereby they are offering up its small and capable Mini IT11 small form factor mini computer powered by an Intel Core i7-11390H CPU (eight threads with a boost up to 5GHz), 1TB SSD, and 32GB of RAM for just $599.99, with Microsoft Windows 11 Professional installed.

GEEKOM Mini IT11 Sale - a 5GHz Core i7 mini PC for just $600 with $180 discount

When not on sale, this system sells for $779.99, but from 03/13/2023 00:00 AM GMT -7 till 03/19/2023 23:45 PM GMT-7, you can save $180 when buying it from Amazon. There's no need to enter any coupon code, as this is a direct price discount already applied at Amazon.

GEEKOM's Mini IT11 is a tiny PC weighing just 565 grams and measuring 117 x 112 x 46mm. It is powered by Intel's 11th Gen Core i7-1195G7 processor (4 Cores, 8 Threads, 12M Cache, and up to 5GHz boost) and Intel Iris Xe graphics. It comes installed with 32GB DDR4 SO-DIMM memory modules in dual-channel mode, with upgradability up to 64GB if required. Also included is a 1TB 2280 M.2 PCIe/SATA SSD, which is upgradable to a 2TB drive.

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Continue reading: GEEKOM Mini IT11 Sale - a 5GHz Core i7 mini PC for just $600 with $180 discount (full post)

BenQ's first gaming OLED display is a big 48-inch panel with 4K 120Hz support

Kosta Andreadis | Displays | Mar 12, 2023 11:32 PM CDT

We're starting to see a lot more OLED panels specifically designed for gaming, where over the past couple of years, we've seen OLED gaming monitors from the likes of LG, Alienware, MSI, and ASUS. Although the recent trend has been companies looking to release more desk-friendly options in sizes - 27-inch and 34-inch ultrawide - BenQ's new MOBIUZ EX480UZ is a 48-inch OLED.

BenQ's first gaming OLED display is a big 48-inch panel with 4K 120Hz support

Featuring two HMDI 2.1 ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 port, with a 4K 120Hz AMD FreeSync Premium refresh rate, this is undoubtedly the sort of gaming display that will suit a high-end gaming PC and modern consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

With OLED technology, you can expect the absolute best when it comes to response times, with BenQ touting 0.1ms, not to mention 98% DCI-P3 color support for vibrant in-game visuals. The display uses BenQ's HDRi technology - found in many of the company's MOBIUZ gaming monitors - which automatically optimizes HDR content.

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Continue reading: BenQ's first gaming OLED display is a big 48-inch panel with 4K 120Hz support (full post)

AMD's official Ryzen 7 7800X3D benchmarks show big gains over Core-i9 13900K

Kosta Andreadis | Processors | Mar 12, 2023 11:02 PM CDT

If AMD's internal gaming benchmarks are anything to go by, then the upcoming launch of the 3D V-Cache enabled Ryzen 7 7800X3D could see it becoming the CPU of choice for new PC gaming builds.

AMD's official Ryzen 7 7800X3D benchmarks show big gains over Core-i9 13900K

Although we've seen some impressive in-game results for the flagship Ryzen 9 "Zen 4" 7950X3D (check out our review for that here), the eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 7800X3D is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, not only in terms of performance but in price too. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is priced at USD 449, and compared to Intel's USD 589 flagship Core i9-13900K - its gaming chops look very tasty.

The benchmarks arrive courtesy of Tom's Hardware, where we see 1080p benchmark results comparing the Ryzen 7 7800X3D to the Intel Core i9-13900K in games like Rainbow Six Siege, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Horizon Zero Dawn.

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Continue reading: AMD's official Ryzen 7 7800X3D benchmarks show big gains over Core-i9 13900K (full post)

AMD says it could have launched an RDNA 3 GeForce RTX 4090 competitor

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 12, 2023 9:32 PM CDT

In a new interview with Japanese publication ITMedia (translated via Google), AMD EVP Rick Bergman and AMD Senior VP David Wang open up about why AMD didn't launch an RDNA 3 GPU to compete directly with NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090.

AMD says it could have launched an RDNA 3 GeForce RTX 4090 competitor

The duo notes that it would have been possible to release a Radeon RX 7000 GPU with specs and performance that could compete with NVIDIA on the high-end, but this would push power to the 600W region. Not to mention raise the price to similar RTX 4090-like levels of USD 1600.

"We have chosen not to adopt such a strategy after considering whether it will be accepted by ordinary PC gaming fans," AMD's Rick Bergman says (translated).

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Continue reading: AMD says it could have launched an RDNA 3 GeForce RTX 4090 competitor (full post)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is rumored to launch on April 13

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 12, 2023 8:59 PM CDT

Odds are we're getting close to the launch of the GeForce RTX 4070 (the non-Ti model), and thanks to established hardware leaker hongxing2020 (who has previously revealed RTX 30 and RTX 40 launch dates), we're looking at a launch of April 13 - which lands on a Thursday, and which is typically the day we see new GPUs launch.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is rumored to launch on April 13

This backs up previous rumors of an April 2023 launch window for the GeForce RTX 4070. We've also seen the RTX 4070 show up in the GPU-Z validation database earlier this year-specifically, a Colorful RTX 4070 iGame Ultra White OC model.

Hardware-wise, we know what to expect regarding the specs, with the GeForce RTX 4070 sharing the same AD104 chip as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti - albeit cut down. The RTX 4070 is rumored to feature 5888 CUDA cores, a 30% decrease over the RTX 4070 Ti's 7680 CUDA cores. The RTX 4070 is also rumored to feature 12 GB GDDR6X of VRAM clocked at 21 Gbps and a 200W TGP.

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Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is rumored to launch on April 13 (full post)

Discord is going all in on AI with a ChatGPT chatbot, moderation, and art

Kosta Andreadis | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 12, 2023 8:31 PM CDT

Discord, one of the most popular chat services for gaming, is set to transform its "Clyde" bot into a ChatGPT-powered AI chatbot as part of a new update. With the rise of AI, especially when it comes to chatting, the move is not entirely unexpected, but Discord is moving pretty quickly, with the update set to arrive this week for Discord Alpha users.

Discord is going all in on AI with a ChatGPT chatbot, moderation, and art

As seen in other applications, the ChatGPT-powered Clyde can answer questions and engage conversationally. This push to integrate AI into Discord is much larger than a single chatbot. AI-generated summaries of conversations and the ability for Discord admins to leverage AI for moderation is also on the cards.

The rollout will be slow and controlled, with admins in the limited test able to as Clyde to servers. Some basic functionality will be to ask Clyde for the best GIF to send, recommend music, and more. Discord notes that Clyde won't be able to draft messages for you or engage in conversation on your behalf but be a somewhat "all-knowing" tool to call upon to answer questions or settle game-related disputes with a few facts.

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Continue reading: Discord is going all in on AI with a ChatGPT chatbot, moderation, and art (full post)

Slow PS5 downloads? This trick could double PlayStation 5 download speeds

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 12, 2023 6:39 PM CDT

Are you experiencing slow downloads on your PlayStation 5? Adjusting this network setting could supercharge your speeds.

Slow PS5 downloads? This trick could double PlayStation 5 download speeds

PS5 games are huge these days, so it's always frustrating when the console takes forever to download a game or update. Luckily there's a quick fix that might significantly boost your PS5 downloads.

If your PS5 downloads are slow, there's a chance the console's Wi-Fi network is set to a 2.4GHz band. Changing this to 5GHz should dramatically improve your PS5's network speeds. Here's how to turn on 5GHz on your PlayStation 5 with quick and easy steps.

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Continue reading: Slow PS5 downloads? This trick could double PlayStation 5 download speeds (full post)

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