Latest Tech News

At the recently concluded XDC 2018 conference, Intel's Linux graphics kernel developer, Manasi Navare touched upon the support for DisplayPort 1.4a and Display Stream Compression capabilities of the upcoming generation of Intel integrated graphics. The Gen 11 iGPU is slated to be a part of the 10nm 'Ice Lake' CPU family expected to launch sometime in holiday 2019.

A driver download from ASUS' website has been found to contain a text file about the Intel processors supported. They include a line called "Coffee Lake S Refresh". This is likely to refer to the upcoming ix-9000 series of processors. These chips were also referred to as "8th generation" chipsets.

Microsoft has updated the Surface Studio desktop computer for the first time since it launched in December 2016. Originally shipping with 6th gen Intel Skylake-based silicon, the new Surface Studio 2 has been refreshed with Intel’s 7th gen Kaby Lake chips.

Fancy one of the new Surface devices from Microsoft, but can’t afford to drop the cash up front? Microsoft’s new All Access subscription plan will let you pay off your new Surface and bundled Office 365 subscription over 24 months.

Microsoft has used its Surface event to take the covers off its second-generation Surface Laptop, which, as rumored, comes in a new matte black color. Also joining the Surface range for the first time is a new pair of Bluetooth Surface headphones powered by the Cortana voice assistant.

Almost a year since the initial announcement of the name change, Hitachi changes its name to HiKOKI. However, this change only affects the tools division of the huge conglomerate that also makes power plants, computers, trains, and more. The electronics brand Hitachi will remain around as well.

Sources claim that a few Ryzen 3000-series CPU samples have arrived at Radeon Technologies Group in order to tune the GPU drivers for the new interconnects. Tests have revealed that the upcoming CPUs are faster than the i7-8700K from Intel, but are very unstable and crash very often at the moment.

The latest Geekbench results come to contradict Huawei's claims from last week. The Kirin 980 is certainly not faster than the A12 Bionic, but it does perform better than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845. This might just be an early Mate 20 test sample and performance might be better on the final version, we'll just have to wait two more weeks to find out for sure.

According to a leak posted on Twitter, Finnish telecommunications company HMD Global is working on a new flagship device that will eventually be called the Nokia 9 PureView. The PureView name has been associated with smartphones in the past, such as the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL. The PureView technology brand was acquired by HMD Global in August 2018.

The US market will not get the Atomic Red color option, but those interested will be able to order the BlackBerry KEY2 LE in Slate and Champagne. This Snapdragon 636-powered handset with a physical keyboard and a 4.5-inch 2K display can be acquired via Amazon for an almost reasonable US$450.

Pete Lau, the CEO of the smartphone maker OnePlus, has been talking about the company's upcoming release in a new interview with CNET. Lau admitted that this phone, the 6T, is going to retail for more than its predecessor. According to him, Screen Unlock is a driving factor in this decision.

Just as promised, Verizon's first commercial 5G network is now live in the following four US cities: Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Houston, and Sacramento. On this occasion, a Houston resident named Clayton Harris who subscribed to the Verizon 5G Home service has become "the first 5G customer on the globe."

The Honor 7X is barely one year old and the manufacturer is already preparing to launch its direct successor. If the specifications are anything to go by, then the 6.5-inch Honor 8X is looking to be a huge upgrade. We're hopeful that the company can keep the price just as low as before.

Introduced last week, Vivaldi 2.0 is a major update that delivers essential features like Sync, Resizable Tab Tiling, and Floating Web Panels to this niche browser, as well as a fresh look with window background images and Start Page backgrounds. Vivaldi is now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

The Atrohaus Freewrite Traveler is a "distraction-fee" writing machine that can do one thing: type. As a dedicated writer, the 1.8 lb computer only supports document creation and file management. However, the Traveler can sync with online services like Dropbox and Google Drive, and thanks to its E-Ink display, the device should last about 12-14 hours on a single charge (4 weeks standby).

Fewer people own traditional desktops and laptops this year compared to last year. The drop in users can be attributed to the rise of the concept of "Internet of Things" and the ever-increasing processing power of smartphones outright replacing PCs.

Google has partnered up with the French gaming behemoth Ubisoft to show off the American company’s new Project Stream service. The California-based technology giant is hoping its rather prosaically named offering can take media streaming to a whole new level by allowing gamers to enjoy live interaction with graphically challenging titles, such as the upcoming RPG Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

Finally, after a month since the law was approved by California's legislative branch, Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law SB822, their Net Neutrality legislation. However, just hours after the law was signed, the Department of Justice announced its intention to sue California for enacting what it claims is an illegal law.

Dual-core Amber Lake-Y CPUs will debut on the Spectre Folio convertible when it launches later this month for $1400 USD. Perhaps not by coincidence, the conference was streamed live this morning in the very same city that Microsoft will be holding its Surface press event scheduled for October 2nd.

A Russian engineer claims to have invented an "exoskeleton" that allows the walker to walk up to 3 times their normal possible range. This device, the Kineticstep, reportedly augments or supports normal walking motions with specific engineering breakthroughs. It is mainly directed at people with walking difficulties or impairments.

OnePlus has posted a teaser video for its upcoming 6T flagship update on Twitter. This clip, which is the first of its kind, may hint at the in-display fingerprint sensor confirmed to feature in the phone. The video also invites us to "Unlock the Future" with the 6T.

The new Samsung Galaxy A6 sports a 5.6-inch Infinity display with 1,480 x 720 pixels, a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 3 GB RAM, and 32 GB internal storage. Sadly, there is no dual camera setup on the back and its full retail price is US$419.99. Obviously, AT&T customers can get it for 30 monthly payments of US$14 each.

Although Huawei was never very fast to update its handsets, it seems that the Mate 10 Pro is already receiving Android 9.0 Pie in Europe. Two months since its release, the latest Android version still struggles to hit the 0.1 percent market share. In other markets, this handset should get the update — which comes with EMUI 9.0 on top — in the coming weeks.

We’ve known for some months that the forthcoming LG V40 will feature five cameras. What we didn’t know is what function each camera module served. Until now. Evan Blass is back with another leak, this time detailing the functionality of each.

At the end of September, Google updated Wear OS with a few Google Fit features and a new notifications system that brings browsing, dismissing, and shortcuts. A trip assistant is now available with Google Assistant as well, and it also includes suggestions for restaurants. Thanks to this update, Wear OS devices get "proactive and personalized help."

The mixed battery life results and glossy 4K UHD touchscreen on the high-end ThinkPad X1 Extreme have us curious about how the less expensive FHD configuration can perform. Will the FHD SKU be any dimmer or grainier than its pricier option? Will it exhibit less ghosting with faster response times? We'll be reviewing the FHD ThinkPad X1 Extreme - as well as its ThinkPad P1 workstation counterpart - throughout the month of October.

A lucky Reddit user by the name of GroveStreeHomie was able to buy a (currently unannounced) third-generation Chromecast from his local Best Buy. The new device features a slightly tweaked design and might have some new features, such as Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the device is currently unusable as it requires an update to the Google Home app that isn't available yet.

This past week saw a plethora of smartphone rumors overshadowed by the launch of the iPhone XS and XS Max. Laptops with 32 GB DDR4 RAM modules are now a thing and Microsoft will almost surely announce new Windows features and Surface products in the days to follow.

Evan Blass, a noted tech leaker, has now confirmed that LG will be launching its latest Android wearable, the Watch W7, alongside the V40 smartphone this Wednesday. While the watch will use mechanical hands and watch movement to extend battery life in a low-powered mode to extend battery life, it's unlikely that the Watch W7 will see much market penetration.

Manufacturer of SSDs and RAM kits ZADAK has unveiled its new 32 GB DDR4 RAM module with a height far greater than that of typical RAM sticks. Mainstream PCs with 4 DIMM slots could support 128 GBs of RAM using these modules.

Reports coming from several different sources claim that some brand-new iPhones are not charging unless their screens are on. This issue apparently affects both the iPhone XS and XS Max. However, the reports also suggest that this problem is software based, yet not constant across all devices.

Elon Musk has lost his position as the chair of Tesla's board as a result of needing to make a deal with the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The e-vehicle manufacturer will also have to pay the SEC US$20 million as part of this agreement. The commission has taken this action over Musk's threats to make his company private.

It's been almost two months since the release of Android Pie and one would expect the latest version of the Android OS to have made its way into a decent number of devices. Apparently not.

The OnePlus 6T is one of the high-profile smartphones billed for an October release and details of the device have made their way across the media. Here's all we know about OnePlus's next flagship.

Huawei's Honor sub-brand is dedicated to providing high-value devices, and will continue that tradition with the launch of the budget Honor 8C, a device officially confirmed to be billed for an October 11 launch.

Xiaomi is set to release a direct successor to its Black Shark gaming phone soon, and the device surfaced on TENAA a short while ago carrying three rear cameras and otherwise similar hardware to the original Black Shark.

Google will reportedly pay US $9 billion over 2018 to remain the default search engine for the Safari browser. This price may go up to as much as $12 billion next year. However, due to the growing popularity of Apple's devices, the privilege may be worth the cost to Google.

Instead of battling it out at the very high-end smartphone market dominated by Samsung and Apple processors, MediaTek is taking a tangent into the world of voice activation. The move has paid off as the majority of voice activated products are powered by MediaTek SoCs with even more to come in the near future on everything from microwaves to cars.

While the 14nm CPU shortage did not initially affect US retailers, it has become clear that it finally has. Intel's flagship 8700k CPU has gone from $350 to $399 in under a month, which is nearly a 15% increase in price.

A Facebook breach has compromised almost 50 million accounts. After discovering the breach on September 25, the company reset the access tokens of the 50 million affected accounts and 40 million others as a precautionary step. The attackers accessed the accounts via a vulnerability involving Facebook's access tokens which keep users logged in.

A leaked benchmark of Ashes of the Singularity supposedly shows metrics for the upcoming Intel Core i9-9900K. Compared to the current Intel Core i7-8700K, the 9900K offers marginal improvement. In heavy CPU workloads, the 9900K is noticeably better, but if the leak is legitimate, the CPU may not warrant an upgrade. We will of course release our own benchmarks when the CPU is released next year.

TechSpot, a website known for its reviews on hardware such as CPUs and GPUs, investigated Nvidia's new RTX technology known as DLSS, an advanced form of super sampling that is similar to anti aliasing. The website found that DLSS can improve the image quality of a 1440p image to look like an 1800p image.

Huawei is now rumored to be integrating a new form of device security, Voice Unlock, into its upcoming flagship, the Mate 20 Pro. This device may also have a 6.9-inch screen, as much as 6GB in RAM and an extra-large battery. However, this leak reinforces the lack of a 3.5mm jack in this device.

The global AI market is expected to grow at a high annual rate between now and 2023. It will probably be driven by the need to process more and more data as time goes on. The machine learning market is also expected to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future.

AMD is planning to launch a 7 nm gaming GPU codenamed Arcturus some time in 2020, but before that, the red team needs to come up with a viable alternative to Nvidia's new Turing GPUs first. Rumor has it the Navi GPUs scheduled for next year are still on the GTX 1000-series level, but, since the RTX 2000-series is overpriced for now, AMD might have enough time to fine-tune the Navi cards and even push for more aggressive prices.

The FCC has finally approved Apple's iPhone XR, and the smartphone is expected to hit the stores on October 26. Apart from the fast A12 Bionic SoC, the "more affordable" iPhone does not really feature anything that justifies the US$750 price tag. It only has 3 GB of RAM, a 12 MP rear cam and a 7 MP selfie, which in most cases is subpar even for mid-range phones.

The new Redmi Note 6 Pro is Xiaomi's first quad-camera handset and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor, a notched display with a generous size of 6.26-inch, as well as 4 GB of memory and 64 GB internal storage. A variant with 6/128 GB will be introduced at a later date as well. In Thailand, those interested can get it for the equivalent of roughly US$215.

NVIDIA's share price could reach as much as US$400 thanks to new estimations by Evercore ICI. This company is pinning a lot of earning potential on the graphics giant due to its position in the emerging AI market. However, other analysts are not quite that optimistic.

A start-up called Habana claims that its new chip, the Goya, can out-perform NVIDIA V100 and Intel Xeon platforms in terms of image processing. Goya works on ONNX and MXNet AI frameworks at present, although Habana is working on TensorFlow too. On the other hand, there may be some caveats to the new company's claims.

The CFO and interim CEO of Intel, Bob Swan, has released an open letter to all interested parties concerning the company's ongoing processor-supply woes. Swan asserted that increased investment and a renewed focus on high-end chipsets are the best ways to solve Intel's problems.