Smartphones are expensive, with many models running more than a grand. That’s before you even get into all the cloud subscriptions phone makers push on you. Google recently launched Pixel Pass, which offers a phone and online services as a bundle for a single monthly fee, and that is now planning a similar option for iPhone buyers. The company’s mobile hardware already makes up the lion’s share of its revenue, and this could make its smartphones even easier to buy. Apple has traditionally leaned on selling mobile devices at full price, the same way it does computers. However, you can also get iPhones with monthly installment plans based on the cost of the hardware — both Apple and its carrier partners offer that.
With the arrival of the DirectStorage API for Windows, game developers have begun talking about what it could mean for future games. The technology is currently in-use on the Xbox Series X and is part of the console’s Velocity Architecture. It allows for faster loading and decompression of game assets, quick resumption of paused games, and eliminates various I/O bottlenecks. Since game developers have to implement it in future games, it’ll be awhile before we can experience it. However, Forspoken is a game currently in development that uses it, and it will arrive in October. At the Game Developers Conference this week, the game’s Technical Director, Teppei Ono, some of its possible benefits.
Both AMD and Intel are currently hard at work prepping for an epic CPU battle in the fall of 2022, no pun intended. We already know quite a bit about Intel’s upcoming Raptor Lake, but less is known about AMD’s Zen 4 offerings. We know it’ll sport a new AM5 LGA socket, offer PCIe 5.0, and support DDR5 memory, but that’s about it. Some new details have finally emerged though, indicating the top-dog chip will consume a lot of power. It is rumored to top out at 32 threads, which is the same as AMD’s current Zen 3 chips.
(Photo: Boeing)China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 ended horrifically on Monday as a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet plummeted into a mountain. A total of 132 people were on board. The flight was headed to Guangzhou, Guangdong’s capital from Kunming, Yunnan’s capital, when it lost airborne contact over the city of Wuzhou, according to the China Aviation Commission (CAC). Chilling security camera footage shared by China Aviation Review depicts the 737 plunging nose-first into a mountain from 30,000 feet, which Chinese state media outlet CGTN occurred in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The crash sparked a wildfire visible from space, though the fire has since been extinguished.
Microsoft’s approach to Windows has long been to support as many devices as possible, even when they didn’t have the hardware to support an ideal computing experience. Things are different with , which has a — if you don’t have a relatively new CPU or a hardware security module, no (official) Windows 11 for you. If you install it anyway, an upcoming version of Windows 11 will with an “unsupported” watermark on the desktop. The watermark is not live in the current official build of Windows 11, so don’t go looking for it on your desktop. It has only just appeared in the new preview version of the OS for Windows Insiders, build number 22000.588.
Apple is a company that is known for taking its time when creating new products, sometimes taking years to get something just right. That’s what is supposedly happening with the company’s AR/VR headset, and its rumored electric car. The company reportedly worked on the recently released Mac Studio for five years. And yet, the Mac Studio itself is a Small Form Factor (SFF) PC, which again, has been around forever. Apple’s flair for improving products is typically a good thing, but the company seems to have misfired with the new 5K Studio Display. but it doesn’t appear to be the case with its new 5K Studio Display.
(Photo: Max Tech on YouTube)Over the weekend YouTuber Max Tech posted a full teardown of Apple’s new Mac Studio PC, and it’s worth watching. Some of the more interesting finds are what looks like an empty SSD port, as well as the physical size of the M1 Ultra chip itself. As you can see in the image above, it’s enormous. Obviously it’s not just a CPU; it’s an SoC with memory, a GPU, neural engine, and I/O on-package. It should be huge, but it’s still jaw-dropping. The reveals that opening a Mac Studio is simple. On the base of the PC is a rubber ring that’s glued in place.
Russia has been the target of extensive economic sanctions in the weeks since its invasion of Ukraine, but Moscow’s space program has been largely unaffected until now. The European Space Agency (ESA) has , a joint effort with Russia that was supposed to launch this year. Instead, the ESA will undertake a study to determine how it can launch without Russia. When the invasion began last month, Russian space agency Roscosmos attempted to remain neutral. Even when relations between Russia and the west have been strained, Roscosmos has managed to stay out of it. The Ukraine invasion is apparently just a bridge too far for the ESA, particularly as Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin spreads Kremlin talking points on Twitter.
In what we certainly hope will soon be a global phenomenon, the price of RTX 3080 GPUs has officially cratered in Australia. What’s even more remarkable is the fall wasn’t the result of the slow decline we’ve been seeing. Instead, the bust occurred seemingly overnight. According to Australian YouTubers , the price of an RTX 3080 was $2,299 AUD on Monday. That works out to about $1,700 USD, so not good. Then, on Tuesday, online listings showed the price had plummeted to $1,499, which is $1,110 USD. We never thought we’d say this about paying a grand for a GPU, but that’s not a terrible price.
