Fail

Tesla is having to recall 130,000 of its vehicles to address an issue that forces their touchscreens to work improperly. Apparently, the cause of the issue is AMD's Ryzen APU, which features integrated RDNA 2 graphics. While modern Tesla's may match the performance of a Sony PlayStation 5, they cannot adequately dissipate waste heat.

The preventable accident that is associated with the new Nintendo Switch Sports game is reminiscent of similar incidents which happened in the early days of the iconic Nintendo Wii, during which gamers had to get used to the dangers of wireless motion controllers.

The convenient "Smart Summon" feature, which Tesla has released as a beta version a couple of years ago, is apparently unable to navigate an airfield as a new surveillance video shows a Model Y crashing into a smaller but still expensive plane during an event in the state of Washington.

Microsoft has announced workarounds for error code 0xc1900101 that has been affecting recent Windows 11 Insider Preview Builds installations. For some reason, the error code 0xc1900101 appears to be linked to SecretFilterAP.dll, although Microsoft lists other solutions too.

Microsoft poised Windows 11 as a huge upgrade to Windows 10, claiming increased performance and improved security. This is partially true, especially if you are using an Intel Alder Lake CPU, but the launch of Windows 11 was marred by substantial amounts of negative user feedback and concerns about some decisions that Microsoft implemented in the update.

Some smartphone innovations are great ideas and make a lasting impact on the market. Others are also great ideas but either fail to launch completely or somehow go the way of the dodo, never to be seen again. Let's look at some recent would-be home runs that just didn't pan out for some reason.

The oddly-behaving electric car without a human driver was pulled over during a traffic stop in San Francisco, which is when the Chevy Bolt unexpectedly drove off and came to another stop on the other side of an intersection.

After a long wait, Android 12 arrived on the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro in Europe (and other regions, since the update is a global one) as MIUI 13.0.2. The update package has 3.3 GB in size and includes quite a few changes and fixes, but also packs new bugs and compatibility issues (Xiaomi's popular app Poco Launcher is also a victim).

Cryptocurrency miners have now shifted focus from gaming GPUs to enterprise-centred models. A PC parts seller from Vietnam is showing off dozens of mining rigs that use eight Nvidia's RTX A4000 workstation GPUs. Each machine can reportedly mine Ethereum at 500 MH/s under the right conditions.

A storm seems to be brewing after a faked Geekbench score was used in a recent video from the highly popular Mrwhosetheboss tech channel on YouTube. The result for a supposed Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra device with an Exynos 2200 chip was shown with a much higher multi-core score than expected. The show’s host, Arun Maini, has made it clear that no foul play was intended.

The watchOS 8.5 update appears to be breaking fast charging on the Apple Watch Series 6 and Watch Series 7. Experiences vary, but some third-party chargers have stopped working completely.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 has apparently been caught utilizing similar application identifiers to Samsung’s Galaxy S22 smartphone series and Galaxy Tab S8 lineup. The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) issue led to multiple Samsung devices being delisted from Geekbench’s performance charts and the same could happen to the Mi 11.

The popular card strategy game Storybook Brawl has been subject to mass negative review bombing on Steam. The increase in negative reviews ties in with the news that the game’s developer, Good Luck Games, has been bought out by crypto company FTX. There are concerns FTX will proceed with monetized NFT and blockchain integration.

The grotesque stunt and ensuing crash once again highlight that the sheer quickness and neck-breaking acceleration of a Tesla Model S can in fact become dangerous if the premium electric sedan is being driven in a completely irresponsible manner.

ApeCoin has dipped in price from a 24-hour high of US$14.54 to a low of US$11.25, finishing the trading day on US$11.33. The market cap loss from the high to the low price for ApeCoin amounted to an astonishing US$1.2 billion. However, some fans of the coin from the makers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT project remain bullish about its prospects.

Even though the GPU heist itself was successful, trying to sell the almost two dozen brand-new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards at a local pawn shop may not have been the smartest move by the three Russian robbers.

The Apple M1 Ultra has been absolutely flattened by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 in a synthetic benchmark and gaming comparison. This particular M1 Ultra, in a brand-new Apple Mac Studio, was the 20-core CPU/64-core GPU model, which is as high-end as it gets. But the RTX 3090 was able to score over +158% higher than the Apple silicon in one synthetic benchmark.

After the "Pepe the Frog" creator released 46 identical NFTs, an apparent case of buyer's remorse has now led to a US$500,000 lawsuit in which the winner of the original NFT auction accuses the creator and his organization of fraudulent inducement and unlawful business acts.

According to reports, TP-Link devices are sending data about browser behaviour to third-party providers regardless of whether people consent for them to do so. Affected devices include TP-Link routers and Deco Wi-Fi mesh systems.

Xiaomi's latest Android 12-based MIUI 13 updates seem to be breaking phones. According to Xiaomiui, phones like the Mi 11, Mi 11 Ultra, and Mi 11 Lite 5G have all been hard-bricked recently after installing the new MIUI 13 builds.

With Apple's unveiling of the long-rumored iPhone SE 3, the iOS world has a new budget option. While it may look like a decent value on paper, the new iPhone SE has far too many trade-offs and compromises for its US $429 price tag to be considered a viable option.

A short 20 minute stop at a Tesla Supercharger ended with a shock for a Chinese Model 3 owner who was suddenly confronted with a preposterous charge of more than half a million dollars.

Geekbench has decided to delist the Samsung Galaxy S22 series along with the Galaxy S21 range, the Galaxy S20 lineup, and all models in the Samsung Galaxy S10 family from its Android benchmark chart. The popular synthetic benchmark site has taken this drastic action in regard to the ongoing Game Optimizing Service (GOS) controversy.

It has emerged that Samsung's Game Optimizing Service is limiting the performance of more than just games. In fact, the service could be holding back the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra in over 10,000 applications. Samsung has now commented on the matter in an attempt to explain its reasoning.

Fitbit has announced a recall of the Ionic, a smartwatch that it launched over four years ago. Supposedly, the Fitbit Ionic has a habit of going up in flames because of an overheated battery. There have been at least 174 reports of the issue occurring globally, of which 118 caused burn injuries. Fitbit is recalling all units, which amounts to nearly 1.7 million sold between September 2017 and December 2021.

Reportedly, Samsung has sent out tens of millions of smartphones with weak or faulty encryption. Estimates for the number of affected smartphones could reach 100 million and include all Galaxy S smartphones from the Galaxy S8 onwards. Samsung was made aware of the security issues nearly a year ago.

Frame-rate issues have apparently befallen Elden Ring on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Initial testing by Digital Foundry discovered that stutters and jitters frequently occur during Elden Ring gameplay, with a couple of workarounds suggested depending on the platform. FromSoftware’s action RPG has been met by universal acclaim from reviewers.

Introduced at the end of 2017, the Marketplace app that allowed drivers to order and pay for various goods and services is now ready to leave the scene. According to General Motors, the service will be discontinued next month, but it might be replaced by a similar in-car shopping solution soon enough.

Google has taken note of the Wi-Fi bug introduced in some Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones by the February 2022 security update. The company says that it is working on a fix and it will be included with the March 2022 update.

The OnePlus 10 Pro has now been tested by Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything, and performed rather shambolically. The OnePlus flagship snapped in two in the bend test, just weeks after the foldable OPPO Find N aced similar tests.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra leads Samsung's latest smartphone lineup as a replacement for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Some owners of the flagship in Exynos regions aren't too thrilled, though, as their phones appear to suffer from a weird display issue.

After reports claiming so surfaced a while ago, BlackBerry license holders OnwardMobility have now announced a complete shutdown. That, of course, means that the promised 5G BlackBerry phone will no longer see the light of day.

CD Projekt Red has admitted that Patch 1.5 is causing some Cyberpunk 2077 installations to crash at launch on PC. Supposedly, incompatible audio drivers are the cause, even though they were fine pre-Patch 1.5. CD Projekt Red is also investigating the option of raising the FPS cap on Xbox Series S too, among other requests.

Samsung has issued a statement about the state of display refresh rates for the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+. Listed initially as supporting between 10 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates, Samsung has admitted that it did not use 'widely-recognised' industry standards. When applying industry standards, the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ have closer to 5x higher minimum display refresh rates than Samsung previously advertised.

Samsung is no stranger to broken promises, half truths, and retracted statements. Just ask foldable fans who wanted eSIM or Galaxy Buds Plus users who were looking forward to Multichannel Audio. The list could go on. Let’s take a look at where Samsung went wrong with its latest flagships.

Samsung has already changed its specification sheets for the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+, two of its latest flagship smartphones. Unfortunately, the pair do not support a 10-120 Hz variable refresh rate as Samsung advertises.

As a part of its supposed anti-bot measures, Best Buy allowed only users with a US$199 Totaltech subscription a chance at buying Nvidia RTX 3000 series graphics cards. However, there wasn't a limit on the number of purchases per account, which effectively allowed scalpers/bots to walk away with a good chunk of the GPUs.

At the start of the year, OnwardMobility reiterated its commitment to delivering a 5G BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard. It appears that promise may go unfulfilled, as a new report claims that the company has now ditched the project in its entirety.

The Steam Deck handheld gaming console from Valve has appeared in two major teardown videos from popular tech content creators. While the overall build of the Steam Deck and its custom AMD SoC received positive attention there was one particularly noticeable shortcoming with the battery and its removability.

The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have been struggling with various software problems since their launch last year. The February update was supposed to fix critical bugs, but people are now reporting that the patch also introduces new bugs. Reportedly, the February update causes frustrating Wi-Fi issues, seemingly without an obvious cause.

NVIDIA and SoftBank have brought an end to the acquisition of ARM because of 'significant regulatory challenges'. SoftBank will now look to float ARM before the end of the financial year to March 31, 2023. ARM has also replaced its CEO with Rene Haas, who worked at NVIDIA until he joined ARM in 2013.

Another bug has reared its head on the Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphones. This time around, users have been reporting an issue with the Google Photos app that has been crashing after attempting to use the Magic Eraser utility. At the moment, there is no official fix for the latest bug to annoy Pixel 6 owners.

An investigation into Nvidia’s Lite Hash Rate (LHR) solution to prevent GeForce RTX 30 series boards from being bought up en masse by crypto miners has revealed that many involved in the crypto craze were not discouraged by Team Green’s limiter. Third-party software is available to bypass the LHR mining lock and raise the rate.

Authorities in the Spanish town of Santiponce busted upon a cryptocurrency mining operation and seized €50,000 worth of equipment. It was initially suspected to be a marijuana farm due to its high energy consumption. The miners were found to be stealing €2,000 worth of power every month via an illegal electricity connection.

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.

Some Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro devices are suffering from pink colour overlay issues. The problem renders devices unusable, but Apple does not have a simple resolution yet. However, it does not believe that hardware issues are the cause.

Synthetic benchmark results for the upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card have been shared, and it seems to be another nail in the coffin for the brand-new AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT board. While the RTX 3050 appears to be likely yet another successful addition to Team Green’s lineup, the much-lambasted RX 6500 XT is practically destined to fail.

Even though most reviews heavily criticized AMD's latest Radeon graphics card for its poor performance, the RX 6500 XT can only be bought from an incredibly small number of scalpers who usually snatch up every halfway decent GPU that becomes available in today's shortage-ridden hardware market.

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.

The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra cannot be far away from arriving, as Samsung used it in hands-free Bixby promotional material. The image shows Samsung's next flagship tablet with a notched display, though to be a 14.6-inch panel with two front-facing cameras.