Latest News - Page 996

The Ford F-150 Lightning said the automaker's first all-electric pickup truck can travel 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, though that number is now less than 4 seconds, according to Ford CEO Jim Farley. Here is a recent Tweet that he sent out:

Once it was released, drivers found they were able to accelerate 0-60 mph faster than the 4.5 seconds expected - even though Ford never confirmed an actual drive time. However, it's extremely plausible the extended-range battery-equipped F-150 Lightning can hit 0-60 mph time in 3.8 or 3.9 seconds. It's always a welcome change when car buyers find their vehicle has even better range and speed than initially promoted by the manufacturer.

The extended range was initially believed to support 480km driving capacity, but that figure has now been bumped to 515km.

GIGABYTE has teamed with TEAMGROUP on enabling XMP support for a hefty DDR5-7800 memory on new AORUS Z790-based motherboards, and Intel's new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors.

The new XMP DDR5-7800 memory will work on the Z790 AORUS EXTREME and Z790 AORUS MASTER motherboards with TEAMGROUP T-FORCE DELTA RGB DDR5 memory.

GIGABYTE's new high-end motherboards have new generation Shielded Memory Routing design, exclusive BIOS settings, top-quality components, and an advanced design from hardware to firmware on their motherboards. This is how they've achieved the DDR5-7800 memory support on their new Z790 motherboards.

NVIDIA's new GeForce Game Ready 526.47 WHQL drivers are here, offering the best day-0 gaming experience for Sackboy: A Big Adventure.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure features ray-traced reflections, shadows, and ambient occlusion effects as well as support for NVIDIA's new Ada Lovelace-exclusive NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution technology. NVIDIA's very, very impressive DLSS Super Resolution technology amplifies performance by up to 2.5x on the new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card.

Not only does Sackboy: A Big Adventure get day-0 support in the new GeForce Game Ready 526.47 WHQL drivers, with the new drivers also supporting Victoria 3, WRC Generations - The FIA WRC Official Game, and it also introduces DLSS 3 technology into F1 22.

The world of 8K TVs is absolutely glorious, but it looks like things are going to be changing big time with the European Union making it much harder for TV manufacturers to sell monster 8K TVs starting in March 2023.

There are new rules inside of the 2023 Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) that have a lower maximum level of power consumption for all new TVs that are being produced, with concerns that future-gen 8K TVs and their increased power needs are in trouble.

The 8K Association explains on its website: "Unless something changes, March 2023 will spell trouble for the emerging 8K industry with the 8K EU Regulatory Ruling. That's when new EU power consumption regulations are set to go into effect. The power consumption limits on 8K TVs (and microLED-based displays) are set so low that essentially none of these devices will pass. It not only means a failing grade but a requirement that these devices cannot be sold in the EU. That will have a very chilling effect on all players working to develop the 8K ecosystem, including consumers whose access to devices and innovation will now be restricted".

A Reddit user has secured themselves a decommissioned Netflix cache server, posting about his experience on Reddit.

Redditor "PoisonWaffle3" works for an ISP that has been getting rid of old Netflix servers, as they've been upgrading to new systems. In a thread titled "So I got a Netflix cache server..." with a bunch of pictures of the bright-Netflix-red server, and what is inside of the cache server.

PoisonWaffle3 explained on his post on Reddit that all he could find online for the Netflix cache server was overviews, installation and configuration guides for their proprietary software, and more. The Redditor noted that he had "no specs, no clue what was inside the red box".

Elon Musk walked into the San Francisco headquarters of Twitter yesterday carrying an actual sink... and now CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have left the company, and they won't be coming back.

CNBC is reporting the news, with CNBC journalist David Faber tweeted the news that Elon Musk was now in charge of Twitter, where he's "told" that former CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have left, and aren't coming back "as the Musk era begins".

It seems that the story is only going to get bigger from here on out, given that Elon Musk is now in control of the second-largest social networking site in the world... just as Meta is burning. Meta shares are down a stark 24.5% overnight, down from $130+ to just $98 at the time of writing.

NVIDIA is reportedly about the slash the price of its "Priority" tier of its GeForce NOW game streaming service, but nothing is official just yet.

The price will be dropping to just $29.99 for the first 6 months for the "Priority" tier of GeForce NOW, which makes it $20 cheaper than it stands right now. NVIDIA's current GeForce NOW "Priotity" tier provides up to 6-hour gaming sessions at 1080p 60FPS, but there are tiers that offer higher resolutions and frame rates than that.

NVIDIA will reportedly also make its "RTX 3080" tier of GeForce NOW cheaper, down to $99.99 for 6 months, or just $19.99 for a single month. The "RTX 3080" tier offers you up to 8-hour gaming sessions, and in the higher-end 1440p 120FPS or 4K 60FPS visual modes.

COLORFUL has just introduced 8 new custom GeForce RTX 3060 series graphics cards, 4 in the new GeForce RTX 3060 8GB variant, and 4 new GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X variants.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3060 8GB is based on the same GA106 GPU that packs 3584 CUDA cores, but it's had its memory gimped to 8GB on a 128-bit memory bus that reduces overall memory bandwidth down to just 240GB/sec (which is down from the 12GB GDDR6 on the regular RTX 3060, with a much bigger 360GB/sec memory bandwidth).

COLORFUL is also re-releasing previous GeForce RTX 3060 12GB variants, but are adding "BattleAx Deluxe" and boosting GPU clock speeds from 1777MHz (reference clocks) up to 1867MHz. The TDP will change depending on which GeForce RTX 3060 variant you purchase, but it won't go above 220W.

The European Council has pushed ahead with its "common charger directive" that now only requires formal signatures by the presidents of the EU and EC, mandating that all small chargeable electronics will use USB-C charging ports in the future.

USB-C charging on future electronic devices has been officially approved by the European Council, with the President of the European Parliament and the President of the European Council needing to provide their signatures, with the European Parliament passing the common charger directive with a vote of 602-13.

What does this mean? It means that electronic manufacturers will have to design their devices with USB-C charging by the fall of 2024, and this includes Apple and its future-gen iPhones that will be sold across Europe. Bigger devices like laptops, will see makers having a little while longer to comply with the EC's new directive: they've got until 2026 to have all laptops with a USB-C charging port.

Microsoft has missed its internal Game Pass subscriber growth projections for the second year in a row.

New SEC filings to shareholders reveal key information about Game Pass' performance over the past few years. This particular document outlines important information for investors, including voting matters, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's pay structure. Nestled in this compensation plan are interesting tidbits about Game Pass.

According to the filing, Game Pass missed its internal growth projections by some 44%, representing the second year in a row that it missed growth projections. Microsoft had originally expected to grow Xbox Game Pass subscribers by 72.8% in Fiscal Year 2022, which was a record year for Xbox gaming revenues with a mighty $16.22 billion earned, but only managed to grow subscribers by 28%.

Activision reveals all the bonus rewards that PlayStation gamers will enjoy in Modern Warfare 2.

Years ago, Sony signed a big multi-year marketing deal with Activision to secure exclusive Call of Duty content and rewards. Sony's deal has lasted all throughout the PlayStation 4 generation and will expire in 2024, but PlayStation gamers will still get access to a bunch of goodies in the new Modern Warfare 2 shooter.

Some of these bonuses are pretty big, like double XP events that are exclusive to the PlayStation platform, giving players a potential heads-up over Xbox gamers. Other bonuses include a significant 25% extra weapon upgrade XP when you're partied up with other players (this is great for engagement in multiplayer, which has proven to prompt in-game spending), 5 tier skips in the battle pass bundle, combat packs every seasons, and two extra loadouts.

Xbox gaming head Phil Spencer admits that Microsoft may eventually have to raise prices on its video game products and services, Xbox Game Pass should be the first in line for a cost bump.

Not everyone is ready to charge $69.99 for new-gen games, but how long can the holdout last against rising inflation costs? Companies like Xbox, Nintendo, SEGA and Capcom have resisted charging more for their games. At yesterday's Wall Street Journal Tech Live event, Phil Spencer says that eventually Xbox may have to increase prices of its games, hardware, services and/or content.

The price hike won't happen this year, though. Microsoft doesn't want high prices to impact their critical holiday period--last year Xbox made a record-breaking $5.44 billion during the holiday and Microsoft is eager for more of that growth. So far FY23 is off to a great start with record Q1 highs of $3.61 billion revenues.

Japanese automaker Acura has arrived at dealerships with a few extra add-ons and a higher starting price tag. The crossover's price tag will start at $750 more than it did for the 2022 model, though that is a common trend among automakers due to inflation and supply chain problems as of late.

The 2023 5-passenger RDX will reach drivers with three years of AcuraLink services at no additional cost. The solution is an app that connects your vehicle to your smartphone and lets you use Alexa-enabled devices to control features of the driving experience. It's also possible to turn the Acura into a Wi-Fi hotspot thanks to the AcuraLink and AT&T.

The AcuraLink also has Security and Remote Packages able to remotely lock and unlock doors, start and turn off an engine, and find a vehicle if the driver forgot where it is - or it's been stolen.

Modern Warfare 2's disc is basically an authentication key for a digital copy of the game.

It's been discovered that Call of Duty Modern Warfare's retail PS5 disc is nothing more than a physical installer with 72.23MB worth of files on it. Modern Warfare 2's Blu-ray disc does not include the actual game, and consumers will have to also download 130GB worth of files to experience the full game in its entirety, effectively making the disc itself redundant other than a gift or collectible.

This of course means Modern Warfare 2 can't be played without a day one update...except in this case, the day one update is the actual game. While this seems to be the case for modern Call of Duty games, it certainly isn't a widespread trend in gaming; According to Does it Play?, a tracking site that catalogs whether or not a physical game can be played day one without any sort of patch, 99% of disc-based games still do not require online downloads to play.

Meta's Reality Labs division recorded an all-time high operating loss of $3.67 billion over the last quarter.

Meta's recent Q3 earnings saw a revenue declines and record operating losses for the company's nascent and controversial metaverse. Revenues declined 4.5% to $27.714 billion, and operating losses of Meta's Reality Labs VR division, which is helming its virtual reality hardware and virtual metaverse platform, saw a record-breaking loss of $3.67 billion. These events contributed to Meta's stock diving nearly 20% in after-hours trading.

The metaverse has been under close scrutiny by investors and the media due to its lack of widespread adoption and consumer appeal. Meta shows no signs of slowing down its megaton investment into the fledgling platform, which it hopes to pioneer in order to significantly boost its advertising presence across a new medium. Since Q4 2020, Meta has lost over $21.7 billion on its bet on the metaverse.

French automaker Renault recently showed off the Renault 4Ever Trophy full-electric SUV that is still a couple of years away from the open market. The publicly available production version is expected for release sometime in 2025.

The original Renault 4, also dubbed the 4L, was a small economy car that was manufactured from 1961 until 1994. Needless to say, the car market has undergone just a bit of technological advancement since 1994, and Renault hopes to impress consumers with its EV SUV. The electric compact SUV will be built in France and assembled on the CMF-BEV platform for B-segment EVs.

The 4EVER Trophy has a cube-shaped upper silhouette that features rounded corners - and should be rather nostalgic for fans of the older Renault 4. The hatchback was added to provide a more spacious interior able to provide multipurpose functionality. Drivers can expect round matrix LED headlamps blended into the bare sides and wings that cover the wheel arches - Renault was careful to design every side and edge on the vehicle to be honed and exact.

Astronomers have recently discovered a very large asteroid that has been classified as "potentially hazardous", and it will be making an approach with Earth quite soon.

NASA has added the asteroid called 2022 RM4 to its Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) database, where it states its estimated diameter, speed, and the closest it will come to Earth during its closest approach. According to the database, 2022 RM4 is anywhere between 1,083 feet to 2,428 feet in diameter, which puts it just under the height of the tallest building in the world, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

The CNEOS database states the very large asteroid will pass Earth at extremely fast speeds, traveling at an estimated 52,500 mph, which is about 68 times the speed of sound. Notably, 2022 RM4 poses no risk to Earth at all as astronomers estimate that it will pass Earth at a safe distance of 1.43 million miles, or about six times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. So, why is 2022 RM4 classified as "potentially hazardous"?

The absolute rollercoaster of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter is finally coming to an end, and it seems the SpaceX CEO didn't need to sell any more of his Tesla stock to get the financing he needs to make the closure.

Firstly, Elon Musk proposed buying Twitter back in early April, which, at the time, he showed extreme excitement for. That excitement changed after he entered into the acquisition deal and began digging through Twitter's analytics that supposedly revealed to Musk that the world's second-biggest social media platform that he was about to purchase was underreporting the number of bot/spam accounts. Musk then tried to back out of the $44 billion deal, which sparked lawsuits being filed by both Twitter and Musk.

The dispute ended up in the Delaware Court of Chancery, and without getting bogged down in the many details and accusations thrown from both sides, Musk seemingly conceded his position, back peddled, and decided to fulfill his original deal of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion at $54.20 a share. The Delaware Court of Chancery gave a deadline of October 28 at 5:00 pm for the deal to be closed, or Musk would have to go to trial.

NVIDIA is in some serious hot water over the 16-pin "12VHPWR" power adapter with its new flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, with multiple reports of cards catching fire and the "12VHPWR" power adapter melting, or worse.

The story gets juicier now with Igor's Lab reporting that NVIDIA reportedly notified all of its AIB partners that all damaged cards that they receive back from consumers, need to be sent directly to NVIDIA HQ for "failure analysis".

This news lines up with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang flying out to Taiwan to meet with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) to nail 3nm wafers for its next-gen Blackwell GPUs... but maybe Uncle Jensen was calming AIB partners down as they're about to get reamed with returns, bad reviews from customers, and more.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an incredible image taken by the famous Hubble Space Telescope.

The ESA took to its website to share the image along with a video of NGC 1999, a reflection nebula located within the constellation Orion, approximately 1,350 light-years from Earth. NGC 1999 is located near the Orion Nebula, which is Earth's closest region of massive star formation, and according to the European Space Agency, NGC 1999 is actually a relic of recent star formation as it's left behind material from a newborn star.

The eerie glow that is seen throughout the image below comes from the light source located at the center-left of the image. This light source is the newborn star V380 Orionis, and next to it is a large hole, which the ESA describes as an "inky-black keyhole of cosmic proportions". So, what is the black space seen at the center of the image? Astronomers initially believed the keyhole-shaped gap was a Bok globule, which is a dense, cold cloud of gas, molecules, and dust that blocks out any light. However, follow-up observations with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory discovered that it's simply an empty region of space.