Category: Technology

AMD has unveiled its first Ryzen 7000 laptop processors, but they’re aimed at a very different audience than the enthusiast desktop chips. The newly introduced Ryzen 7020 mobile series is billed as a performance boost for budget laptops that combines AMD’s older Zen 2 architecture with a few newer technologies, including RDNA 2 graphics (the Radeon 610M) and LPDDR5 memory. It also promises a healthy, if unspectacular, 12 hours of peak battery life.

The result theoretically outruns comparable Intel-based systems. AMD claims a 2.4GHz quad-core Ryzen 3 7320U model with 4GB of RAM offers 58 percent quicker multitasking and 31 percent faster app launching than a dual-core Core i3-1115G4 machine with 8GB of RAM. We’d have pitted the new Ryzen against a six-core 12th-gen Core i3 instead, but this still suggests you’re getting solid performance for relatively little money.

On top of the Ryzen 3 variant, there’s also a Ryzen 5 7520U with a 2.8GHz base clock. Both have 6MB of total cache. Particularly cost-conscious buyers can also spring for a two-core Athlon Gold 7220U with a 2.4GHz base, 5MB of cache and the same Radeon 610M graphics. All three chips offer a thermal design power of 15W, so they’re suitable for thin-and-light systems.

You won’t have to wait long to buy a portable using any of these chips. AMD expects the first Ryzen and Athlon 7020 series laptops to arrive in the fourth quarter of this year (that is, October through December) starting at $399. Acer is promising 14- and 15-inch Aspire 3 systems with the new Ryzen inside, while an HP “17-inch Laptop PC” and refreshed Lenovo IdeaPads are also in the works. That entry price is important — AMD is targeting everyday users who won’t spend much, but still want solid capabilities.

 

Deathloop, a terrific time-loop puzzle box in the guise of a first-person shooter, is now available on Xbox. Until now, Arkane Lyon’s most recent game had been a PlayStation 5 console exclusive (it was available on PC too). As of today, though, it’s playable on Xbox Series X/S through Xbox Game Pass, as well as on Xbox One, tablets, phones and desktop browsers through cloud gaming. PC Game Pass subscribers can check it out at no extra cost on their gaming rig too. In addition, PS Plus Extra and Premium members now have access to Deathloop on PS5 as part of their subscription.

It’s not exactly surprising that Deathloop landed on Xbox Game Pass after the PS5 exclusivity window closed. Arkane Lyon and publisher Bethesda Softworks are now owned by Microsoft, which honored Sony’s exclusivity deals for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo after completing its acquisition of ZeniMax Media.

Meanwhile, Arkane has rolled out a free Deathloop update called Goldenloop. It introduces cross-play for player vs. player matchmaking across all platforms, as well as cross-saves across Xbox and PC. There’s a new ability called Fugue, a projectile that can slow down and confuse targets to briefly make them harmless. There are four Fugue upgrades to discover, including one that allows you to deploy the projectile as a proximity mine on a surface. Julianna’s Masquerade ability now has some upgrades too.

Players will have access to a new weapon called the Halps Prototype. This is a laser-style rifle with a beam that you can bounce off of turrets and security cameras to hit enemies from surprising angles with bank shots. The Paint-Bomber is a fresh enemy that will run toward you with paint-filled explosives strapped to them. Elsewhere, there are new 2-in-1 trinkets that combine the effects of two previous trinkets to beef up your loadout and perhaps free up some space in your inventory for other perks. Arkane also said the update brings an extended ending and some new secrets to Deathloop.

In addition, Microsoft revealed details on some more titles that are coming to Game Pass in the coming weeks. Among them is Hardspace: Shipbreaker, a puzzle game that sees you cutting up old spaceships for salvage. That’s available for Xbox Series X/S and via the cloud today. Slime Rancher 2 is coming to PC, Series X/S and Xbox Cloud Gaming through Game Pass on its release date of September 22nd. As for smash hit survival title Valheim, that will land on PC Game Pass on September 29th ahead of an upcoming console version.

 

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs won’t just rely on brute force to deliver high-performance visuals. The company has unveiled Deep Learning Super Sampling 3 (aka DLSS 3), a new version of its AI-based rendering accelerator. Rather than generating ‘only’ pixels, the third-gen technology can create entire new frames independently. It’s a bit like the frame interpolation you see (and sometimes despise) with TVs, although this is clearly more sophisticated — NVIDIA is improving performance, not just smoothing out video.

The technique relies on both fourth-gen Tensor Cores and an “Optical Flow Accelerator” that predicts movement in a scene by comparing two high-resolution frames and generating intermediate frames. As it doesn’t involve a computer’s main processor, the approach is particularly helpful for Microsoft Flight Simulator and other games that are typically CPU-limited. A new detail setting in Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 62FPS in 4K resolution using DLSS2 in NVIDIA’s tests, but jumps beyond 100FPS with DLSS 3.

Roughly 35 apps and games will offer DLSS 3 support early on. This includes Portal RTX, older titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and releases based on Unreal Engine 4 and 5.

It’s too soon to say how well DLSS 3 works in practice. NVIDIA is choosing games that make the most of DLSS, and the technology might not help as much with less constrained titles. Nonetheless, this might be useful for ensuring that more of your games are consistently smooth. Provided, of course, that you’re willing to spend the $899-plus GPU makers are currently asking for RTX 40-based video cards.

 

Tile has just launched “Lost and Found” QR labels that are a essentially a low-tech way to get your stuff back. They’re meant to be used on small or perhaps not particularly valuable items like “travel mugs, musical instruments, sports equipment and earbud cases,” the company said. It’s the company’s first new product release since its acquisition by location sharing service Life360. 

Unlike its Tile trackers that let you see where an object is physically located via Bluetooth, the new stickers are effectively a fancy version of an airport luggage tag. Anyone who finds it can scan the QR code to bring up your contact information, and then (if they’re honest) contact you to return the item. 

Without tracking or beeps to locate your object, privacy is less of an issue than it is with Tile’s trackers or Apple AirTags. That said, you’re still potentially putting your contact information out in public, so you should make sure the labels never appear in public social media posts, for instance. They’re priced at $15 for three sheets of five labels, which is a lot cheaper than the $25 trackers — but $1 for a sticker still seems like a lot.

 

Slack has introduced a new feature called “canvas,” which it describes as a “surface” where teams can “curate, organize and share mission-critical resources.” When it launches next year, Canvas could replace external apps or programs teams use to collate and share information and ideas, such as Google Docs, company Wikis or Notion. 

Users can create a new canvas by choosing the option in the drop-down menu beside their Slack team’s name. They can embed files in it, along with links, channel lists, videos, workflows, tasks to complete and other resources — anything useful team members might need, so they don’t have to waste precious time hunting for information.

The company envisions canvas as something teams could use to organize marketing campaigns, to share executive briefings with everyone and to onboard new hires. Users can create canvases without having to use code, and they can keep editing existing templates instead of creating new ones again and again. Here’s an example of what a canvas could look like:

Slack has also started rolling out the new and updated huddles with features it promised back in June. Huddles provides an audio chat capability for teams within Slack, but this update gives users the option to switch on video, as well. Opting for a video huddle will open a separate window, and users will have the ability to blur their backgrounds like they can in other video conferencing apps such as Zoom. And yes, they can use emoji reactions in video huddles. 

In addition, the revamped huddle allows more than one person to share their screen at the same time. In a session where multiple people are sharing screens, they can use live cursors and the ability to draw on the shared screens as a visual aid. Any information shared during a huddle, including links, files and notes, will automatically get saved in a thread in the channel or the DM where it was launched. These threads can be pinned for easy access and will even be searchable. If they’re posted in channels instead of in DMs, even users who aren’t part of the huddle will be able to see them. It could take a while for everyone to get access to these features, but Slack says they’ll make their way to all users over the coming weeks. 

 

Peloton is today announcing its long-awaited entry into the smart ergometer market with Peloton Row. Much like the firm’s other products, Row is a smart rowing machine with a 23-inch HD display onto which you can watch live classes. The company is making its usual noises about a premium piece of hardware that promises better customization than its competition.

Row is belt driven, much like its ostensible rival in this space, the Hydrow, which has a similar silhouette. That offers a fine-grain, electronically-controlled resistance — at odds with the broader resistance you’ll find on air rowers, of which Concept2 provides the gold standard. Peloton also says that Row can offer individually-calibrated on-screen feedback on your form as you row.

(This is something I’m particularly interested in exploring myself, given that my usual form issues are related to rounding over my back, rather than how I’m pulling the chain. Unless there’s some Peloton Guide-esque computer vision stuff that the company hasn’t mentioned in the Row’s press release that might identify real-world issues. Speaking of which, Guide is also getting an update this week to include rep tracking.)

You’ll also get personal pace targets to help you gauge what your instructors are bellowing at you to do through the screen. Not to mention a whole bunch of data that’ll be slapped onto you after each row, giving you performance metrics that should help you improve in future. (Rowers are, if nothing else, nerds for some good data.)

Of course, like most at-home fitness gear these days, Peloton is also making a big deal that you can stow this thing vertically. And that it’s brought on a raft of new instructors, with a series of pre-recorded classes available on-demand, while live classes will start in 2023. Plus, like other Peloton products, you can swivel the display to work out with free weights or any other class of your choice. 

As for the price, Peloton is asking $3,195, plus the cost of the monthly $44 per month membership for all of the content. The company hasn’t yet mentioned if Row will join its rental program, although it’s likely that the initial wave of devices will be needed to service the demand of folks who’ve been waiting for Peloton to join the rowing world for some time now.

 

Voyager and Lockheed Martin plan to have their private space station, Starlab, up and running by 2027. The latest development is a partnership with Hilton, which will help design astronaut facilities, including the sleeping quarters and other parts of the station. NASA has contracted four private companies to build private space stations ahead of the agency’s planned decommissioning of the International Space Station at the end of the decade.

Under the partnership, Hilton and Voyager will investigate marketing opportunities related to Starlab and trips to what could be one of the first space hotels.

– Mat Smith

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ASUS’ ROG Phone 6D Ultimate has a beefy cooling system

When the fan is attached, the phone’s cooling fins are exposed.

ASUS’ latest hardcore gamer phone, carrying its gaming PC ROG branding, includes a flap that exposes the phone when you attach the bundled AeroActive Cooler 6 – yes a giant cooling peripheral. This blasts 1,000cc of air through the phone per second. The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate will be available across Europe soon, priced at €1,399 (around $1,400) or £1,199 in the UK. No word on US availability yet.

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Rockstar confirms gigantic ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ leak

They featured an early build of the game.

That purported Grand Theft Auto VI leak appears to be real. Rockstar Games has confirmed the leak’s authenticity in a tweet, noting that a hacker stole confidential data including “early development footage” of the next Grand Theft Auto title. The firm didn’t foresee any long-term damage to development or live services like GTA Online, but was “extremely disappointed” that details of the future game were revealed. It was a big leak, including 90 videos of a very early build of GTA VI. The clips appear to confirm rumors from July that a return to Vice City was on the cards, as well as a Bonnie and Clyde-like pair of male and female protagonists.

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Boom’s supersonic jet is facing a lack of interest from engine suppliers

Manufacturers say supersonic travel is ‘tangential’ and are focusing on efficiency instead.

Boom recently lost its jet engine partner for the Overture supersonic jet, and other major engine manufacturers reportedly aren’t interested in the project either, according to a report from Insider. After Boom signed an “engagement agreement” with Rolls-Royce for supersonic jet engines back in 2020, the latter announced last week that it had left the project. Another jet engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney, cited efficiency as an issue for supersonic jets, while other manufacturers say they’re concentrating on reducing fuel-burn – the primary focus for the industry, given criticism of air travel’s contribution to global warming.

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The iPhone 14 is the most repairable iPhone in years

It’s completely been reworked inside.

iFixit has finished a teardown of this year’s iPhone 14, and it’s clear that the device was reworked from the ground up, with do-it-yourself fixes in mind. The back glass is easier and cheaper to fix, but the metal midframe keeps the front just as accessible. Apple still demands that customers and technicians activate parts after installation, so you can’t just use an unofficial back instead of Self Service Repair components. Still, iFixit claims this is the most repairable Apple handset since 2016’s iPhone 7. In Fact, the design is more repairable than many Android phones that are only easy to open from the back.

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‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is a hit on Steam again

Thanks to its Netflix anime spinoff.

With nearly 80,000 concurrent Steam players at the moment, Cyberpunk 2077 is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. While it’s a far cry from the more than one million people that played the game on PC following its troubled launch, it’s still more interest than the game has seen in over a year. That’s likely thanks to the game’s anime spinoff, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which premiered on Netflix to critical acclaim.

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Apple has announced that it’s raising the prices of both apps and in-app purchases, not including auto-renewable subscriptions, across several regions starting on October 5th. All territories using the Euro currency are affected, along with Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden and Vietnam. Apple says the price increase in Vietman reflects new laws that require the company to collect value added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax.

The amount added to old prices vary, based on the list of updated pricing tier (PDF) the tech giant has published. Apps that currently cost 99 cents will set users back €1.19 in Euro territories, while those that cost €4.99 will cost a Euro more at €5.99. The additional charge gets bigger the higher one goes in the pricing tier — purchases that cost €14.99, for instance, will cost people €17.99 instead.

Apple didn’t explain the reason behind the price hike for most territories aside from Vietnam. For Euro-using countries, it could be partly because of the fact that the Euro is weak against the dollar and even fell below parity for the first time in almost two decades. Perhaps this price hike shouldn’t come as a surprise because of that, seeing as people are also expected to pay much, much more for the iPhone 14 in Europe than in the US. The iPhone 14 Pro, for instance, will set buyers back $999 in the US. Converted, that’s only €997, but the model is priced at €1,299 in Germany, €1,319 in Spain and €1,339 in Italy.

 

Xbox’s online DRM has been one of the biggest issues with Xbox Series X consoles, as outages and other issues have left players with no access to purchased games. Another big complaint is that cross-platform Xbox One disc games have been inaccessible offline, even with games that don’t require a connection. Now, a new update means you won’t be forced to do an internet check or download from an Xbox One disc anymore, engineering lead Eden Marie confirmed in a tweet.

Users started noticing the change recently, but it has been in place since the 2206 update earlier this summer, Marie said. “We examined data since Series X|S launch & determined the online compatibility check isn’t needed in the vast majority of cases for Xbox One discs. Some games may still need to be updated online after install to ensure the best experience,” she added.

What was the problem before? The issue essentially revolved around Microsoft’s Smart Delivery system. Previously, when you inserted various types of Xbox One/Xbox Series X game discs on a new-gen console, it wouldn’t install the game straight from the disc — rather, it would install an updated version via the internet. This, despite the fact that Series X consoles are perfectly capable of playing most Xbox One games directly (the main exception being Kinect games).

What this means it that you can now play many games offline that are branded “Xbox One,” “Xbox One/Xbox Series X,” “Xbox Series X/Xbox One” and “Xbox Series X.” However, you can’t play original Xbox or Xbox 360 games without updates, as the data “can’t be used directly,” according to Eden. (Most of this doesn’t apply to the Xbox Series S, of course, because it doesn’t have a disc drive.)

There are a few other exceptions as well. For instance, some disc games known as “stubs,” like Forza Horizon 5 or Halo Infinite, don’t contain the full version of the game — so you’ll need a connection for those. You’ll also need the internet to download the latest versions of games, along with expansion packs, etc. And Series X consoles require an account, so you’ll need to be online at least once to set that up. Still, the update is a good step and means you’ll be able to play a lot more games in the not-so-rare event that Microsoft’s servers go down.

 

If you’ve ever felt like it’s difficult to “un-train” YouTube’s algorithm from suggesting a certain type of video once it slips into your recommendations, you’re not alone. In fact, it may be even more difficult than you think to get YouTube to accurately understand your preferences. One major issue, according to new research conducted by Mozilla, is that YouTube’s in-app controls such as the “dislike” button, are largely ineffective as a tool for controlling suggested content. According to the report, these buttons “prevent less than half of unwanted algorithmic recommendations.”

Researchers at Mozilla used data gathered from RegretsReporter, its browser extension that allows people to “donate” their recommendations data for use in studies like this one. In all, the report relied on millions of recommended videos, as well as anecdotal reports from thousands of people.

Mozilla tested the effectiveness of four different controls: the thumbs down “dislike” button, “not interested,” “don’t recommend channel” and “remove from watch history.” The researchers found that these had varying degrees of effectiveness, but that the overall impact was “small and inadequate.”

Of the four controls, the most effective was “don’t recommend from channel,” which prevented 43 percent of unwanted recommendations, while “not interested” was the least effective and only prevented about 11 percent of unwanted suggestions. The “dislike” button was nearly the same at 12 percent, and “remove from watch history” weeded out about 29 percent.

In their report, Mozilla’s researchers noted the great lengths study participants said they would sometimes go to in order to prevent unwanted recommendations, such as watching videos while logged out or while connected to a VPN. The researchers say the study highlights the need for YouTube to better explain its controls to users, and to give people more proactive ways of defining what they want to see.

“The way that YouTube and a lot of platforms operate is they rely a lot of passive data collection in order to infer what your preferences are,” says Becca Ricks, a senior researcher at Mozilla who co-authored the report. “But it’s a little bit of a paternalistic way to operate where you’re kind of making choices on behalf of people. You could be asking people what they want to be doing on the platform versus just watching what they’re doing.”

Mozilla’s research comes amid increased calls for major platforms to make their algorithms more transparent. In the United States, lawmakers have proposed bills to scale back “opaque” recommendation algorithms and to hold companies accountable for algorithmic bias. The European Union is even farther ahead. The recently passed Digital Services Act will require platforms to explain how recommendation algorithms work and open them to outside researchers.