Business Articles

The latest Steam Survey highlights Full HD as the most popular display resolution, with over 58% of the total. At the same time, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is the most popular video card, accounting for roughly 6% of the total. The most popular multi-monitor resolution is 3,840 x 1,080, with slightly less than 58%.

Huawei is bringing its first-ever flexible OLED display ultrabook to a new region today (June 5, 2024). Its pricing and availability for the European market has been revealed alongside that of the (also OLED and Intel Core Ultra-powered) Matebook 14, as well as introductory deals and offers that include a free tablet in some cases.

As a direct consequence of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Google Play alternative Aptoide is now ready to take on iOS as well. The closed launch will take place tomorrow, and new users will need an invitation to join. Between 500 and 1,000 daily invites will be issued in the first stage.

Softbank has unveiled an AI to alleviate customer harassment of call center staff by softening angry customer voices during calls. The AI automatically replaces threatening, angry, and abusive-sounding speech with a gentler, calmer version. This technology helps protect the mental state of call center staff under ever stricter employee work regulations.

As part of a three-year strategic partnership, Hitachi will use Microsoft solutions to accelerate the growth of the Lumada business, which currently employs no less than 270,000 people. Hitachi will integrate Microsoft's training into its own to refine the advanced AI skills of over 50,000 "GenAI Professionals" as the tech industry enters a new era.

'AI' laptops, desktops and convertibles seem poised to take over the PC world already. According to new research, however, they are not likely to do so quite yet, with their percentage of the market projected to be in the single digits for 2024. Then again, they may also have the potential to be the thing that finally restores demand in the end.

Samsung is suing rival smart ring brand Oura in the US ahead of the Galaxy Ring's launch. The lawsuit references five of Oura’s patents on various technologies, claiming that many smart ring manufacturers use these features. In the filing, Samsung also confirms its intended launch date for the wearable.

Ford's CEO sees hybrids as more than a “transitional technology,” despite the company being all-in on EVs. US buyers seem to share his sentiment, with a recent survey finding that as many as 43% of US buyers still prefer hybrids to pure EVs. The biggest sticking point is still charging time.

Although these plans might change in a few months, it is worth pointing out Elon Musk's declaration that uncovered xAI's plans to buy roughly 300,000 Nvidia B200 chips. This shopping round should end by September 2025, he revealed. By then, xAi should also have some companions to its only product as of now, namely the chatbot Grok.

A New York Stock Exchange price-bands technical glitch has affected six dozen stocks and caused Berkshire Hathaway Class A stocks to lose $908.65 billion in market capitalization before it was fixed. Most affected stocks have resumed trading, but some are still paused. The glitch stemmed from CTA price data and was not caused by cyberattack or malware.

Cristiano Amon has formally introduced the Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chipsets during the company's "PC Reborn" Computex 2024 keynote speech. The series features a custom NPU touted to deliver the potential of their signature Microsoft Copilot+ "experiences". Qualcomm's CEO also officially unveiled some Oryon CPU performance gains compared to rival platforms such as Apple M and Intel Core Ultra.

Renault's Ampere EV division is currently hard at work developing an affordable electric Twingo to compete with Chinese EV brands. After a deal with VW soured, Renault has partnered with a Chinese firm for the Twingo EV and to learn how to produce cheap EVs.

The maxed-out ThinkPad P16s Gen 2 is a fantastic choice for users who need a copious amount of RAM and a high-resolution OLED screen, especially since Lenovo is now granting a huge discount on a refurbished unit of this well-equipped workstation laptop.

Apple will finally expand availability for the first-gen Vision Pro later in 2024, according to some new reports. The VR/AR headset is set to be released to a shortlist of additional countries on that date, in which Apple Stores will be re-decorated and possibly even re-configured in order to sell the ultra-premium (and ultra-expensive) headgear.

The MediaTek Kompanio series is back at Computex with a new variant touted to bring more AI power to Chrome OS-powered laptops via a dedicated NPU. The 838 is also touted to support modern form-factors that might still last a day at work or school on a single charge. It is also backed to allow a Chromebook to stream 4K over up to Wi-Fi 6E connections.

A well-equipped AMD version of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 is now extremely cheap as the certified-refurbished business laptop has been discounted by another 28% in addition to the already cheap list price.

Despite the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 2 not being the most recent model, it is still of interest: There will not be a successor with AMD CPUs. Even in 2024, the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 2 AMD can be a great work device.

Netflix announced yesterday that it is working on a new Minecraft series. Unlike the Minecraft film planned for 2025, however, the series will be animated and not realized via live action.

Acer has announced an upgraded TravelMate P6 14 at Computex 2024. The new TravelMate P6 14 now comes with Intel Meteor Lake processors up to the Core Ultra 7 with vPro Enterprise and a host of AI-assisted functionality. Buyers have the option of configuring the TravelMate P6 14 with both 2.8K OLED and FHD+ IPS displays.

Solar Foods has opened a cellular agriculture factory to grow Solein food protein using microbes fed oxygen and hydrogen split from water, carbon dioxide from the air, and a touch of minerals. The main inputs are renewable and drive a fermentation process to create a sustainable, vegan, nutritious protein that can substitute for traditional meats and protein sources.

Now that SpaceX's Starlink has a license to do business in Botswana and Zimbabwe, its services are set to become fully available in both countries in "Q3 2024". Starlink is also fully operational in Eswatini and Mozambique, which are two other Southern African nations, and it's set to become available later in 2024 in Namibia.

Getac asserts that its new S510 is ready for the oncoming AI-powered revolution in field-work, as it comes complete with a physical Microsoft Copilot button. The 15.6-inch PC is equipped with up to Core Ultra 7 processors from Intel and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, yet also supports more traditional rugged features such as hot-swappable batteries and the option of reading barcodes.

Zepp OS, the native software for Amazfit smartwatches, has been augmented with a new NFC feature. It is characterized as a "wallet", in that it can act as a holder for a number of virtual reward cards from brands such as Starbucks. On the other hand, it lacks other features one might expect from a mini-app of its name.

In today’s fast-paced business world, the demand for efficient, customizable, and powerful computing solutions has never been greater. According to a 2022 report by Grand View Research, the global market for custom-built PCs is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5% from 2021 to 2028, driven by increasing demand for tailored computing solutions across various industries.

Insta360 has announced a Summer 2024 sale with up to $80 off some of its latest innovative lifestyle and vlogging companions such as the Ace Pro action-cam, X3 360-degree camera and the 2-in-1 GO 3. Then again, there might be more cost-effective deals on that last one elsewhere.

After YouTube recently took action against the use of ad blockers with warning notices, the company has now come up with a completely new mechanism to secure its advertising revenue.

The latest annual report from the Embracer Group, which also includes the developers behind the Gothic remake, reveals a release window for the much sought-after remake.

After Epic Games' unexpected win, veteran antitrust US federal judge James Donato is now taking the story one step further by asking Google to calculate the costs incurred by allowing the Epic Games Store inside the Google Play Store, as well as providing catalog access and library porting rights. Google must reply by June 24th.

After missing the mark in its initial response to the damning Gamers Nexus report highlighting major shortcomings in Asus's warranty process for the YouTube outfit's ROG Ally, Asus has responded with more sweeping changes to its RMA process.

The well-equipped AMD model of the ThinkPad P14s Gen 3 has received its steppest discount to date as Lenovo has marked the 14-inch workstation laptop down by a considerable $1,970 relative to the original list price.

A recent survey of 1.7 million gamers found that games that involve “strategic thinking and planning” are becoming less popular amongst gamers. Out of twelve different motivations, strategic thinking in games has seen the biggest decline, regardless of gender or nationality, and researchers speculate that declining attention spans may contribute to the lack of interest in strategy-centric games.

Construction of a factory for energy storage systems for power grids is starting in Shanghai. Production, which will amount to 40 gigawatt hours per year, is due to start in less than a year.

Snapchat aims to bring back the AR lenses to desktop with a Chrome extension, which is now available for a public preview. This extension allows people to use fun AR lenses in video calls, virtual conferences, and more.

Now that Starlink is officially operational in Indonesia, many remote islands will finally get a reliable way to connect with the world. In the meantime, at least one other Asian nation is eyeing an official agreement with SpaceX.

Eyesynth and Sensotec have partnered to present a new smart wearable uniquely designed and equipped for wearers with visual impairments. The new kind of spectacles are touted to guide and inform the user as they move around with AI-generated "intuitive auditory cues". The NIIRA glasses support audio via bone conduction and cameras for 3D perception.

AI startup Humane Inc. is looking for someone to buy its business roughly a month after its first device, the AI Pin, was roundly panned by reviewers and early adopters. Humane values its company somewhere between $750 million and $1 billion.

Computing pioneer Gordon Bell, a name associated with the development of the PDP and VAX computer systems at Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1960s and 1970s, passed away at 89. In the 1990s, he advised Microsoft and then joined the company full-time, becoming the subject of the MyLifeBits project.

HP has announced a restructuring of its commercial portfolio offering. Starting with the EliteBook Ultra G1q, all HP commercial releases will launch with 'Elite' or 'Pro' prefixes. While HP hopes that the move will create simplicity that its commercial portfolio previously lacked, it may have created almost 20 new product segments in the process.

The dispute over the expansion of the controversial Tesla Gigafactory Berlin is coming to a head. After an attempt by around 800 climate activists to storm the building, nature conservation organisation Nabu is now taking legal action against the expansion of the Tesla factory.

Although the actress refused to lend her voice to OpenAI's AI assistant, it sounds suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson. Johansson has now taken legal action.

Google Cloud has deleted in error the $135 billion account and data for UniSuper, a retirement fund company holding the pension savings for over 647,000 members who work at 37 Australian universities. The funds were unavailable for two weeks until May 15, 2024 while the cloud provider rushed to restore everything.

The US is second to none with ~143,000 BTC mined in 2023 according to a report by BitRiver, the leading Russian cryptocurrency mining farm operator. This corresponds to $9.6 billion at May 18, 2024 value. Russia is a distant second with ~54,000 BTC, followed by Persian Gulf region countries.

SpaceX has started sending emails to Starlink satellite Internet subscribers that their roaming plan price will double. For new subscribers, the Starlink price increase is immediate.

Tesla may soon use a data center located in China to process the data needed for the company's self-driving software. While Tesla currently assesses data for EVs it sells in China, this move could allow the company to transfer driver data out of China and into other regions to train AI, a first for the nation's automotive industry.

Rockstar Games is planning to release GTA VI before 2025 comes to a close according to the latest earnings report from Take-Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Rockstar. This negates a past rumor which alleged that the game could be pushed back to 2026.

Although it went all the way above 2,100,000 simultaneous players, Palworld is now struggling in the second half of the top 100 most played Steam games. While Counter-Strike 2 easily peaks above the 1,000,000 threshold on a daily basis, Palworld has problems reaching 50,000. However, this summer's updates might bring it back to life.

Thanks to the industry-first deal that brings together Netflix and NFL, the Christmas Day games of the professional sports league with the highest per-game attendance in the world will be aired by the subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service headquartered in California that has over 270 million users worldwide.

With less than 150 employees left, the Gameloft studio in Cluj is far from the days when it accommodated around 500 people. Earlier today, the company confirmed the rumors about the closure of the Cluj studio, mentioning that all 136 people currently employed in the location will leave the company.

President Biden has raised US import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, solar cells, medical supplies, semiconductors, port cranes, minerals, steel, and aluminum. The tariffs are in response to unfair Chinese trade practices as well as technology transfers that threaten US supply chains. Americans depending on syringes, face masks, and medical gloves will be hit by 25-50% tariff increases.