Business Articles

According to recent rumours, Diem, the stablecoin project backed by Meta, is looking to sell off assets such as its intellectual property. The company has faced many setbacks, including warnings from the U.S. Federal Reserve last year.

Ricoh's Theta series is one of the best-known types of omnidirectional or 360-degree cameras out there. Its new X flagship may be its most versatile and user-friendly variants to date, being the first of its line to have a large color touchscreen, a microSD card in place of internal storage and a replaceable battery.

Blizzard has announced a new survival game set in a brand new universe for PC and console. The company is currently hiring experienced developers to fill a variety of roles for the unannounced game. Although the project appears to be in its early stages, concept art has been released.

MediaTek has announced a new addition to its line of chipsets specifically intended for Chromebook laptops and tablets. The Kompanio 1380 is a chipset rated for speeds of up to 3GHz thanks to the presence of high-end ARM cores. It may be released soon in the form of an upcoming Acer PC.

It seems that Intel wants people to forget that it commissioned several 'Justin Gets Real' videos, published less than a year ago. For some reason, the company has set all the videos to private, preventing anyone from watching them. Unfortunately for Intel, not all its YouTube channels have got the message.

Weeks ago, Realme indicated that it would not send out the Android 12 update to its four-month-old tablet, the Realme Pad. It appears that the bad press from that choice has helped change Realme's stance on the matter, although the company's update policy on the Realme Pad remains unsatisfactory.

The Xiaomi 12U may replace the Xiaomi 12 Ultra as the top dog in the Xiaomi 12 series. New leaks essentially confirm the existence of such a device and tip it to be powered by a chipset that will likely debut as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. The 12U is expected to have better cameras than the Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi Mix as well.

The external monitor is as simple as it gets with nothing but two USB-C ports, power passthrough, and a surprisingly decent 1080p display with respectable response times, 95 percent sRGB coverage, and a 300-nit backlight all for $269 USD.

Neuralink is a company set up by Elon Musk that apparently exists to investigate the potential for brain implants that might allow their oneday users to control their personal devices with their minds. It might be ready to progress to a clinical trial of its futuristic technology with actual human participants, if its latest job postings are anything to go by.

General Motors announced the biggest single production investment in its history, a nearly US$7 billion outlay aimed squarely at the production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra electric trucks. GM plans to surpass Tesla and become America's largest EV manufacturer, and will start by converting the Orion factory in Michigan into an electric truck plant, as well as invest in battery cell production there.

A new report from Bloomberg says that Nvidia will abandon its prospects of taking over SoftBank-owned ARM. However, the official announcement could come later as both companies are still optimistic about the deal and want to convince regulators about its benefits.

Currently, most new Pro-series iPhones are shipped with displays made by Samsung. However, BOE aims to cut into that market with new panels with the specs Apple might be looking for in future models. They include LTPO and a double-stack tandem structure, which could persuade the Cupertino giant to throw more orders its way from 2023 on.

Digital cameras are often the medium of higher-end online and social content, and are projected to get even more versatile and innovative as time goes on. Despite this, however, its market is now thought to decline by hundreds of millions of US dollars by 2025. This might be driven by fragmentation and competition from other device categories.

HP has introduced new desktops aimed at business and professional users. The Elite 800 G9 Series includes the Elite SFF 800 G9, Elite Mini 800 G9, and the Elite Tower 800 G9. These desktops come with improved enterprise security and management combined with flexibility in upgrades.

The NIO ET7 and ET5 performance sedans that are sizing up Tesla's Model S Plaid won't be the first electric cars with semi-solid state batteries, as a humble taxi fleet just got its first delivery of EVs with such packs. Made by the world's largest lithium producer Ganfeng, the E70 electric cars' battery packs are made with solid electrolyte diaphragm.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 appears to be a superior chipset to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Word on the grapevine leans towards Samsung wanting a piece of that pie as well, with the Korean company potentially geared to equip a non-flagship model with the MediaTek chipset.

Volkswagen has finally previewed its new bus - the first of its kind to be electric. It has been revealed to have a design somewhat like the original's hallmark shape - however, it will be outfitted with considerably more up-to-date tech. They include an AR heads-up display, LED headlights and a new kind of wheel.

OPPO has introduced one of the latest products of its research and development as Zero-Power Communication, a new technology that might enable electronics to stay on by simply "harvesting" energy from other nearby devices that are using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi at the time. This potential replacement for batteries might end up as the way to sustain the IoT systems of the future.

The recently elected mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, has received his first paycheck in cryptocurrency earlier this week via Coinbase's Direct Deposit. Thanks to the Bitcoin & Ethereum combination that was transferred to his wallet, he became the first mayor of the Big Apple to be paid using crypto.

The Chinese car company Geely allegedly has plans to start making phones as well. To this end, it is said to be in talks to acquire the OEM Meizu. Meanwhile, the same brand has confirmed that it will release 2022 devices with Qualcomm silicon, prompting the release of an image projecting how such handsets might look.

Oukitel has launched its first-gen P2001 Portable Power Station as a reward via the OEM's latest crowdfunding campaign. This device is rated for a 2,000 watt-hour (Wh) capacity, and offers a range of outputs, AC and USB type C ports included, for an off-the-grid electricity at need. Oukitel claims that it can charge both mobile devices and home appliances several times over on a single charge.

The new Ohio mega-site is to accommodate eight fabs, and construction for two of these should begin by the end of this year, with effective production capacity scheduled for 2025. Intel is investing $20 billion initially, but the construction of the other six facilities is expected to cost an additional $80 billion.

Lenovo has not yet announced most of their 2022 ThinkPad lineup. At CES, only the premium models of the ThinkPad X1 line and the new ThinkPad Z series were unveiled. In an unprecedented move, Lenovo has revealed some information about unannounced models - notably, the new Lenovo ThinkPad T16.

Sony's stock has fallen by US$20 billion following the news of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This is the sharpest drop in Sony's shares since 2008, demonstrating the impact of Microsoft's deal on the gaming industry. It will be interesting to see how Sony responds to Microsoft and the Xbox Game Pass service.

Desktop graphics card availability remains scarce, with almost all RTX 3000 and Radeon RX 6000 series cards still hard to come by. Amazon has started selling loot boxes in Japan, but people have a far greater chance of winning a GeForce GTX 700 series card than anything from the last five years.

Microsoft has announced that its latest flagship 2-in-1, the Surface Pro 8, is now available for Indian customers to pre-order. It has been joined in this new market by its 7+ counterpart, which also has Tiger Lake silicon but lacks a 120Hz refresh rate. However, the models of either available to non-business customers are limited.

Advertised by AMD as capable of delivering an optimal 1080p gaming experience "with the fastest clocks on a gaming card in the world's first 6nm discrete GPU," the Radeon RX 6500 XT has a starting price of US$199.99. Unfortunately, finding in stock these cards, and even most custom versions with prices below US$250 seems impossible.

Nvidia is looking to try its hand at more CPU designs in the future, despite the setback caused by the ARM acquisition hurdles. The new CPU division will help with the growth of the Israeli R&D centers that is already focusing on high-speed networking, HPC, Data Processing Units and AI applications.

MediaTek has confirmed that it is working to support the roll-out of Wi-Fi 7 already. These products are projected to incorporate new and upgraded specs for improved speeds and bandwidths compared to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E. MediaTek aims to have its first examples of its new chipsets and components on the market by 2023.

Samsung is still trailing behind TSMC, but the South Korean foundries already managed to surpass Intel as far as 2021 revenues are concerned. 70% of the yearly revenue is invested by Samsung in improved production capacity, while TSMC only invests 50%, so the South Korean giant is confident that it can catch up and eventually overtake its main competitor by 2030.

Huawei is now on its own version of Google Mobile Services, which means its smartphones sold in markets such as Europe can't do most "normal Android" things, contactless payments included. Now, the OEM has announced that they might be back soon due to a Curve app that can use the NFC chip on Huawei phones.

Humble Choice has suspended its support for Mac and Linux systems as the company develops a new launcher for its subscription. The launcher will only be available for Windows PCs on February 1. Subscribers on Mac and Linux have until the end of the month to download DRM-free games from the Trove collection that are still supported, as some of these indie games will no longer be available in Mac and Linux versions.

In the largest deal in gaming history, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for a record US$68.7 billion. The purchase, which was made entirely with cash, will cement Microsoft as the third-largest gaming company in the world. The deal is targeting 2023 for a closing date.

Subaru Tecnica International, the motorsports focused arm of Subaru, has revealed a new concept car. The all-electric STI E-RA has four motors which can deliver up to 1,073 hp.

Netflix has introduced higher costs for its streaming service for customers in the US and Canada. Netflix explained that the price hikes are necessary to compete in a crowded streaming market and is spending billions of dollars in content programming. The company has still managed to see growth in the number of subscribers even though monthly rates were increased in the past.

Mazout is a new start-up targeting the growing electric 2-wheeler market in India. However, the company asserts that its upcoming motorcycle will be the country's first example of the "cruiser" variety. A prototype of its flagship has been previewed at events such as the EV India Expo 2021 thus far.

Xiaomi has revealed new data on Redmi Note series sales figures. Purportedly, the sales figures apply globally, but they do not include any units sold this year. Xiaomi is yet to release the Redmi Note 11 series worldwide, too.

A report by Counterpoint Research has now provided a look at sales of Apple's iPhone 13 range in China. The iPhone 13 dominates as expected but the iPhone 13 Mini comes in last by quite the distance, further buttressing rumors of Apple axing the iPhone 14 Mini.

Recent reports excited Samsung fans in Europe with the idea of the Galaxy S22 Ultra being shipped with the Snapdragon Gen 1 across all regions. New information might just have put paid to those thoughts, however, as it now appears that the Galaxy S22 series will ship with the Exynos 2200 in Europe.

The Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro look set to make the journey over to the global market after they debuted in China a few weeks ago. Both phones have now stopped over at Indonesia's SPDDI for certification. The Xiaomi 12X, however, looks to be absent.

Although no Tesla cars can be purchased using DOGE yet, the official Tesla online store is currently selling the Cyberquad for Kids (none in stock right now, apparently) and accepts this meme coin as (the only?) payment method. Other products available for DOGE are the Cyberwhistle and the Giga Texas Belt Buckle.

Hyundai Motors plans to release no less than seven electric vehicles in the U.S. this year among all of its brands like Kia or Genesis, starting with the base Ioniq 5 model. The existing factories in Alabama and Georgia may be retrofitted for expanding EV production in America according to Hyundai's US$7.4 billion manufacturing plan, but President Biden's pending subsidies for carmakers registered with the United Auto Workers Union may tip the scales in the Tennessee plant's favor.

After an initial jump of over 15 percent that came after the new rumors regarding a listing on Robinhood, Shiba Inu is now down nearly 7 percent compared to yesterday. Although the meme coin will probably hit Robinhood sooner or later, it looks like it will take some time until it even gets near to the ATH value.

An analysis from Goldman Sachs has revealed that Apple has largely met demand for the iPhone 13 series of smartphones. On the other hand, the supply for the 14-inch and the 16-inch MacBook Pros still lags behind the demand. Unlike the iPhone 13, the MacBook Pro supply situation has worsened.

The partnership between TSMC and Intel is solidified through the transformation of the Fab 12 P8 / P9 center in Baoshan into a fully fledged production site with an independent team serving Intel. TSMC thus ensures that the Intel and Apple production lines stay separate and designs remain confidential.

Gap has released NFTs, which were designed using hoodie art, as part of a digital experience to engage customers in line with modern culture. This customer experience consists of multiple tiers, with the Epic tier created via a partnership with Brandon Sines. The digital art was developed using Tezos blockchain, which Gap endorsed for its environmental friendliness.

Tesla scrubbed all Cybertruck 2022 production references from its website recently and threw those who hit the preorder button in a state of confusion. It turns out that Elon Musk may simply be preparing for a grand 2022 Tesla product roadmap unveiling during the next quarterly conference call where the top Cybertruck electric pickup trim and its pricing will be revealed.

Take-Two interactive has announced that it will be purchasing Zynga for US$12.7 billion dollars in an effort to boost its stance in the mobile gaming sector as well as incorporate Zynga's popular games to establish itself as a leading mobile developer. The move will aid Take-Two Interactive in broadening its scope and reach new audiences across the globe.

While chip shortages should gradually ease each quarter this year, laptop integrators are currently unable to secure enough PCIe 3.0 SSD controllers and possibly certain Intel Alder Lake processors. Smartphone integrators, on the other hand, are still confronting with low supplies for 4G SoCs, OLED DDIC / Touch IC, PMIC and A+G sensors.

AmazeVR, a virtual reality concert platform, has recently raised US$15 million in funding. The company’s first VR show with Megan Thee Stallion will be available in theaters in the US this year.