Latest Tech News

AMD is bringing real-time ray tracing technology to its GPUs this year via the open source Vulcan 3D API. You can expect to see the technology debut in a AAA title in as soon as the next couple of months, according to the company.

HTC has announced the release of its two new budget devices, the Desire 12 and Desire 12+. Considering how much of a part the Desire series played in the journey of Android, it's a tad surprising to see the latest devices in the series fall so flat on their faces.

The creator of the Steam Spy website, Sergey Galyonkin, has claimed that 2017 has been a very good year for the video-game distribution platform Steam. He stated that the platform made an estimated US$4.3 billion in revenue from paid game sales, up from US$3.5 billion in 2016. Steam was developed, and is operated, by the Valve Corporation.

The Huawei Honor 6X was released back in 2016 on Android Marshmallow. It received the update to Nougat a few months later and is set for one final blaze, with confirmation on Huawei's forums touting a May 2018 Oreo rollout for the device.

Best Buy has pulled out of its partnership with Huawei. This means that the Chinese OEM will no longer be able to sell its smartphones via the retail store. Best Buy was Huawei's major channel of selling smartphones in brick-and-mortar stores, so this kills the company's hopes of making any headway in the US.

Meizu has announced the release of the next device in its mid-range E-series. The E3 features a Snapdragon 636, a powerful dual rear camera setup, 6 GB of RAM, up to 128 GB of storage, and fast charging technology.

The Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro launched on Android Nougat, while its Chinese variant ran on Oreo out of the box. The latter enjoys Treble support, and a discovery has shown that users of the Indian model can flash the Chinese Oreo build on their devices with TWRP, granting them Treble superpowers.

Gigabyte have released a redesign of their entry-level BRIX mini-PCs with an overlapping white trim around the standard black box. The front is curved and the top is adorned with a diamond pattern. The two new celeron models are the fanless BLCE-4000C and actively-cooled BLCE-4105C.

The new Exynos 7 9610 SoC consists of four Cortex-A73 cores, four Cortex-A53 cores, and a Mali-G72 GPU that supports 480 fps full HD recording and video encoding/decoding up to 4K 120 fps. According to Samsung, this new chip for mobile devices will enter the mass production stage in the second half of this year.

It appears Huawei might be working on a smartphone that offers a whopping 512 GB of storage space. A recent online listing for a Huawei device offers specification details such as 6 GB RAM and 512 GB ROM. If the Chinese technology company is actually developing a handset with such an amount of storage, then it will be twice the size of the largest amount of storage the iPhone X currently offers.

The three new CTL NL7 Chromebooks feature a rugged design and use Intel Apollo Lake processors up to the quad-core Intel Celeron N3450. The cheapest model starts at US$229, while the Wacom pen-enabled one has a price tag that reads US$329. All of them will hit the education market next month.

There has been a report suggesting that Huawei Technologies is developing a smartphone that could utilize blockchain technology. Officials from the Chinese multinational have apparently been in talks with representatives from Sirin Labs, who created the Finney smartphone that features blockchain-based security. If Huawei goes ahead and create a “blockchain smartphone” then the company will be the first major smartphone manufacturer to deliver this particular technology to the masses.

More than a year since the first Technical Alpha test that involved 1,000 players, Sea of Thieves is finally available for everyone to play. This game is available globally for Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles for a price tag of US$59.99, but it can also be acquired as a part of various bundles.

Jack Dorsey believes that Bitcoin can take over all fiat currencies of the world in about 10 years, but before this could happen, the cryptocurrency needs to get over a few problems it is currently facing. Besides faster transaction times and lower fees, Bitcoin needs to stabilize the volatility and the mining cetralzation, plus it most likely needs solid regulations.

The highly anticipated foldable phone from Samsung might include a slide-out display system, which would provide a wider screen suitable for movie-watching, streaming and playing games, especially when the 5G networks go online. This could add to the overall thickness of the device, but the benefits easily outweigh the downsides.

Lenovo has announced the launch of its new mid-ranger, the S5. The S5 features a 5.7-inch FHD+ display, a 13 MP + 13 MP dual rear camera setup, a Snapdragon 625, 3000 mAh battery, and USB Type-C. All of that at a price point just above US$150 makes the device an extremely attractive proposition.

After months of delays and speculation, the Atari VCS (formerly the Ataribox) finally debuted in physical form at GDC. There's still a lot of information about the console that Atari is keeping close to the chest, but we do know that Atari VCS will be more akin to a Linux PC than a dedicated gaming console, which should expand its capabilities (and possibly appeal).

The AMD RX-412ND-powered QNAP TS-x73 lineup targets small businesses and power users, featuring 4, 6, and 8 drive bays. In addition to the aforementioned processor and 4 GB or 8 GB of memory, its list of features also includes 2 PCIe Gen3 x4 slots for increased flexibility, 4 USB 3.0 ports, and 4 Gigabit LAN ports.

It took AMD more than one week to fully assess the CTS Labs report regarding 13 vulnerabilities found in all Ryzen and EPYC processors, but at least AMD's official position dismisses any claims that these vulnerabilities are critical and need immediate action. According to AMD, these exploits are to be fixed with simple firmware updates released through new BIOS versions in the coming weeks.

Scheduled to be generally available in the second half of this year, Windows Server 2019 is now accessible via Microsoft's Insiders program in a Preview stage. This operating system is based on the foundation of Windows Server 2016 and is expected to have the same licensing model as its predecessor.

Apart from the standard issue Radeon RX 580 GPU, the latest Gaming Box from Gigabyte comes with the usual 450 W PSU, and connectors including the Thunderbolt 3 port plus four more USB ports that let users connect peripherals like external HDDs. Additionally, there is support for three Display Port 1.3 outputs and an HDMI 2.0 port.

Officially released in English back in mid-April 2011, World of Tanks received many updates in the years that followed, but now it finally gets a whole new graphics engine with support for DirectX 11 features such as tessellation, remastered in-game music and improved sounds, a new garage, and more.

Although Xiaomi released Android 8.0 Oreo for the Mi A1 handset before the end of 2017 as they previously had promised, the first security patch of the new year arrives with a long delay. Even worse, the new firmware does not bring Android 8.1 or the latest security patch from Google, only packing last month's update and nothing else.

After watching iOS users enjoying AR experiences on their iPhones for the past several months, Android users can now also get in on the AR action. The first apps using Google's ARCore technology have started to hit the Play Store.

The Huawei P20 Pro is going all out with its triple rear camera configuration. The latest rumors suggest that its main camera will feature a huge 40MP sensor co-developed with Leica that will surely shake things up in the smartphone market when it lands.

A reference to an unnamed Intel 8-core CPU has popped up in the 3DMark database and while the information at hand is scarce, all indications point to it being a 'Coffee Lake-S' chip. As per earlier leaked roadmaps, the new 8-core CPU should also see the arrival of the Z390-chipset and both the new CPU and Z390 boards can be expected to launch sometime in H2 2018.

Holding the Surface Pro with one hand while drawing with a Surface Pen on the other is apparently enough to "break" the tablet. A small but annoying bug reduces the accuracy of the Surface Pen if the user is touching the screen at two or more spots simultaneously. Microsoft is offering no time table for when users can expect a fix.

Huawei has launched the first of the P20 smartphones, the P20 Lite, in Europe and China with the Chinese variant being christened the Nova 3e. With a midrange Kirin 659 at the helm of affairs, the P20 Lite features a notched 19:9 display and retails from Euro 369.

It has been reported that Apple will unveil the iPhone X Plus in September. There has already been mention of three new iPhone variants coming this year from the Cupertino-based manufacturer, including a “giant high-end iPhone,” a less expensive version of the flagship smartphone, and an upgrade of the iPhone X. It is believed the iPhone X Plus might feature a 6.2-inch OLED display.

Tencent Games released its mobile port of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds a while ago in China. The game was launched in Canada earlier in the week, and has finally been made available globally. Coming in as a free 700 MB install, PUBG Mobile may just represent the future of mobile gaming.

Xiaomi has released an official teaser for the upcoming Mi Mix 2S. The device is showing sporting minimal bezels and no notch. All things considered, it looks exactly like the Mi Mix 2. The device will feature a Snapdragon 845 and could also sport some sort of iris scanning technology and also wireless charging.

Since Vladimir Putin will be in charge for a few more years, it looks like Telegram might end up being blocked in Russia. A set of laws introduced back in 2016 required Telegram to give the government a way to decrypt all user conversations, and they received a fine of US$14,000 for failing to do so. Now, Telegram users in Russia should prepare for the worst.

Bitcoin has received a significant boost in market value that has been put down to “very productive” discussions about cryptocurrencies and regulation at a G-20 meeting. The leading cryptocurrency has seen its value battered recently due to a number of market-related events, including pressure from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for tighter regulation.

The French multimedia conglomerate Vivendi has given up with its attempt at a hostile takeover of Ubisoft. Vivendi has been buying shares in the latter company for several years now, giving the impression that the mass media giant intended to buy out the famous independent video-game publisher. However, it has now been reported that Vivendi has decided to sell all the firm's shares in Ubisoft.

Unleashed by SYBO and Kiloo back in May 2012, Subway Surfers managed to break the 400 million downloads barrier last year, thus becoming the most downloaded game of 2017 worldwide. Earlier this month, it also reached the 1 billion downloads milestone, so now this title is the most downloaded game on Google Play.

This year's Aero 15/15X models will integrate thinner bases, bringing the overall thickness down to only 0.7 inches. Users will be able to choose between an FHD 144 Hz panel with thin bezels and a 4K screen with AdobeRGB 100% color gamut. It has not been officially unveiled as of yet, but the new models could be powered by Intel's gen 8 Coffee Lake-H hexa-core CPUs.

The upcoming Huawei P20 Pro has been spotted on Geekbench and has posted some good numbers albeit more or less in line with the scores posted by the P20. While benchmark numbers are not everything, the P20 and its Pro cousin fall inline with the 2017 Android flagships and will definitely be overshadowed by the 2018 ones from the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi et al.

A recent teaser video posted by ASRock on its Youtube channel reveals the name for the soon-to-be-released lineup of gaming graphics cards. Previously rumored to focus on MXM cards for its mini PC business, ASRock now confirms it will also manufacture discrete graphic cards that will most likely be RX Vega models.

Just one month and a few days after the introduction of Samsung's 30 TB SSD, Nimbus Data pushes the size of the world's largest such drive to the impressive value of 100 TB. Compared to the previous owner of the crown, the new king of the storage market draws 85 percent less power per TB and has a 42 percent lower total cost of ownership per TB. The 100 TB model will be accompanied by a 50 TB one and both will be available this summer.

HTC’s second-generation VR headset, the Vive Pro, is now up for pre-order. Improved in every key area over the original, the company is hoping the addition of wireless support will help to attract new users put off by being tethered as with the original.

OPPO has announced its two new devices, the R15 and R15 Dream Mirror, in China. If history's anything to go by, the upcoming OnePlus 6 will share a lot of similarities with these devices, including a notch and a 3.5mm jack.

Qualcomm released Quick Charge 4.0 back in November 2016 and followed it up with an improved Quick Charge 4+ seven months later. Both versions of the technology don't look to have a lot of takers, though, with the list of supported devices standing bare.

Seven months after the release of Android Oreo, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is finally receiving the stable update to Android 8.0. Users in the US on Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile have gotten updates, with the story being similar in Australia.

Although the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the dual-camera Galaxy S9+ were well received globally, the latter even being crowned as ruler of the mobile photography kingdom by DxOMark, these two flagships only got a lukewarm response in South Korea. For many retailers, the most recent best seller is the Samsung Galaxy A8, mainly thanks to its dual front cameras and its very good value overall.

The Mate 10 Pro will be cheaper than the Galaxy S9 for a limited time in North America. Huawei intends to have smartphone options available across all price ranges from the budget $200 Honor 7X, mainstream $500 Honor View10, and flagship $700 Mate 10 Pro.

The latest result of the collaboration between LG and Verizon Wireless is the LG Zone 4 low-end Android smartphone. The highlights of this handset include a 5-inch HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and microSD support up to 2 TB, WiFi calling and HD voice, all with Android 7.1.2 Nougat on top. The (very) budget-friendly price tag reads only US$114.99.

Nvidia's new RTX technology may bring real-time ray tracing to gaming and other media. Ray tracing results in incredibly realistic lighting, which has long been a difficult process for most game engines to handle in real-time. In its current form, RTX is only compatible with Nvidia's Volta-based GPUs.

One month after the Android Nougat-driven BLU Vivo X got listed on Amazon, the US-based company BLU Products is back with a 5.5-inch handset that runs Android Oreo out of the box. The BLU Vivo XL 3 has a 2:1 ratio display, a single 13 MP camera on the back, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, and uses a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 processor. Its price tag reads US$189.99.

The tiny chips are smaller than salt grains and integrate several hundred thousand transistors. Computing power for each chip is estimated to be similar to an early 1990s high-end x86 CPU. They will be used as "cryptographic anchors" in mass produced goods, as a blockchain-enabled anti-counterfeit measure.

Last week, Fitbit started to roll out the firmware version 27.32.4.19 to the Fitbit Ionic smart wearables. This update is based on Fitbit OS 2.0 and includes Fitbit Today, described as "an updated on-device dashboard that keeps you informed about all of your health and fitness data," support for Deezer playlists, a new set of control gestures, various changes to the interface, and more.