NVIDIA teases its upcoming GTC 2024 event is all about AI, expect Blackwell B100 AI GPU unveil

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 19, 2024 7:02 PM CST

NVIDIA will host its GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2024 event on March 18, returning to an in-person event after the virtual world took over during the pandemic.

NVIDIA teases its upcoming GTC 2024 event is all about AI, expect Blackwell B100 AI GPU unveil

The company will be hosting a keynote with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to talk about AI, which shouldn't be a surprise by now, with NVIDIA now promoting GTC 2024 as the "#1 AI Conference for Developers". What should we expect at GTC 2024? NVIDIA will most likely unveil its next-gen Blackwell GPU architecture, and its new B100 AI GPU that will absolutely demolish AI benchmark charts.

NVIDIA's exciting GTC events -- which I used to attend year after year and truly, dearly miss, were one of my favorite events of the entire year in tech -- normally focusing on data centers, workstations, and high-end GPUs. Now, the focus is shifting to the world of AI, which NVIDIA absolutely dominates. It has the most AI GPUs in the market, has 90%+ of the AI GPU market share, and it's about to unleash a next-gen B100 AI GPU.

Continue reading: NVIDIA teases its upcoming GTC 2024 event is all about AI, expect Blackwell B100 AI GPU unveil (full post)

COLORFUL MEOW gaming laptop: AMD Ryzen 8040 'Hawk Point' APU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPU

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Feb 19, 2024 6:30 PM CST

COLORFUL doesn't make any AMD products right now, with the Chinese company only pumping out NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards over the last few years... but that's about to change.

COLORFUL MEOW gaming laptop: AMD Ryzen 8040 'Hawk Point' APU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPU

The company has just announced it is making a new gaming laptop that's powered by an AMD Ryzen CPU, with a new "MEOW" series gaming laptop to be announced on February 23. COLORFUL is teasing that it will be an "AMD AI PC" with a "GeForce RTX 40" series graphics card and part of its MEOW series of products.

COLORFUL is found in the laptop market with Intel processors, first debuting a laptop with an Intel 10th Gen Core CPU back in the day. But now ITHome is reporting that COLORFUL's new MEOW gaming laptops are named MEOW R15 24 and MEOW R16 24, which points to new 15-inch and 16-inch gaming laptops.

Continue reading: COLORFUL MEOW gaming laptop: AMD Ryzen 8040 'Hawk Point' APU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPU (full post)

Eurocom's new monster 780W AC adapter costs $428, supports MSI's new TITAN 18HX gaming laptop

Anthony Garreffa | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Feb 19, 2024 6:03 PM CST

Eurocom has just announced its monster new 780W AC adapter, which has been specifically designed to power the most powerful laptops that Eurocom offers and now supports MSI's new TITAN 18HX gaming laptop. Check it out:

Eurocom's new monster 780W AC adapter costs $428, supports MSI's new TITAN 18HX gaming laptop

The company says its groundbreaking new accessory addresses the power limitations of the stock 400W AC adapter that MSI ships with its new TITAN 18HX gaming laptop, ensuring peak performance for high-end gaming and workstation use from the laptop.

Mark Bialic, President of Eurocom, explained in the press release: "Our mission has always been to empower users with high-performance, upgradeable solutions. The 780 W AC Adapter for the MSI Titan 18HX exemplifies our commitment to excellence. This is the best option to replace aging AC Adapters and move to a single more powerful one. There is really nothing like this on the market".

Continue reading: Eurocom's new monster 780W AC adapter costs $428, supports MSI's new TITAN 18HX gaming laptop (full post)

Cyberpunk 2077 with photorealistic mod running at 8K looks unbelievably good

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 19, 2024 5:22 PM CST

Cyberpunk 2077 is already one of the best-looking games on the market... but man, with these mods (and running at the glorious 8K resolution)... it has never looked better. Check it out:

Cyberpunk 2077 with photorealistic mod running at 8K looks unbelievably good

A new video shared by modder NextGen Dreams on YouTube earlier this month shows off Cyberpunk 2077 with a bunch of mods installed: NovaLUT, the HD Reworked Project by HalfHogan, and a custom photorealism Reshade mod, all applied and running at 7680 x 4320.

The modded cars look absolutely insane; photorealism is the word here, making the world of Night City that Cyberpunk 2077 developed CD PROJEKT RED, shine brighter than it ever has before. Every single detail looks out-of-this-world, from the detail on the external parts of the car down to the tiny details on the interior... it all looks incredible.

Continue reading: Cyberpunk 2077 with photorealistic mod running at 8K looks unbelievably good (full post)

USB-C AirPods and AirPods Max could still debut this year according to a new report

Oliver Haslam | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Feb 19, 2024 2:00 PM CST

Apple continues to move more and more of its devices and accessories away from using the Lightning cable and towards the more universal USB-C connector, and it will do just that with the updated AirPods 4 and refreshed AirPods Max later this year. That's according to a new report reiterating claims from last year.

USB-C AirPods and AirPods Max could still debut this year according to a new report

That report comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, writing in the paywalled version of the weekly Power On newsletter seen by MacRumors. Gurman had previously said that Apple would launch new AirPods 4 and refreshed AirPods Max in late 2024, making the claim back in October of last year. Now, he's backed that up by saying that Apple's planned launch is still underway, hinting that a late 2024 release timeframe is still in the cards.

Gurman's comments were following a question from a reader about when the new USB-C AirPods would arrive, but little is really known about either product. Gurman says that Apple plans to discontinue the third- and second-gen AirPods when the new AirPods 4 arrive, with two models thought to be in the cards - one potentially borrowing design cues from the higher-end AirPods Pro.

Continue reading: USB-C AirPods and AirPods Max could still debut this year according to a new report (full post)

iPhone 16 Pro buyers could get two new titanium colors to choose from

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 19, 2024 1:45 PM CST

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max aren't expected to go on sale until September of this year, and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have only been on sale for a few months. But that doesn't mean that there aren't already plenty of rumors about the upcoming iPhones to go around and the latest rumors surround which colors buyers could be choosing from come launch day this fall.

iPhone 16 Pro buyers could get two new titanium colors to choose from

With Apple set to continue to use the titanium construction that began with the iPhone 15 Pro models last year, a new report claims that there could be two new colors added to the lineup although it's possible that some will be removed to make way.

Posting on the X social network today the leaker Majin Bu shared that they have heard of two new colors being worked on. The first, Desert Yellow (Desert Titanium), is said to be similar to the gold of the iPhone 14 Pro but with a deeper hue. The second, Cement Gray (Titanium Gray), is thought to be a shade of space gray similar to that used on iPhone 6.

Continue reading: iPhone 16 Pro buyers could get two new titanium colors to choose from (full post)

New iPhone 16 case leak again hints at a major camera redesign

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 19, 2024 1:18 PM CST

There have been a ton of stories over the last few weeks that suggest the upcoming iPhone 16 and iPHone 16 Plus will feature a pretty big design change. That change relates to the way the cameras are laid out on the back of the iPhone, and as time moves on we get ever closer to finding out whether these reports are accurate or not.

New iPhone 16 case leak again hints at a major camera redesign

But as that time rolls on we're starting to see more and more leaks adding fuel to the rumor fire and the latest comes in the form of photos of what are said to be iPHone 16 case molds. Posted on the X social network by leaker Majin Bu, the images do appear to match up with previous leaks relating to the iPhone camera situation. However, it's important to remember that this particular leaker has a mixed track record and that Apple could change its plans between now and the expected September launch - even if these images are legitimate.

The change in question is an interesting one and appears to be specifically related to the Apple Vision Pro and one of its key new features. That feature is spatial video, 3D videos that can currently only be captured by the headset itself as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Continue reading: New iPhone 16 case leak again hints at a major camera redesign (full post)

The next Apple Vision Pro could be at least 18 months away, report suggests

The Apple Vision Pro went on sale on February 2 after months of waiting for potential buyers. The mixed reality headset was first announced way back on June 5 2023 during the WWDC event that also saw iOS 17 and other software unveiled but it took months before it would finally go on sale. But that waiting time could turn out to have been a much smaller one than the wait those waiting for a second-generation model could be left with.

The next Apple Vision Pro could be at least 18 months away, report suggests

That's according to a new report which suggests that potential Apple Vision Pro buyers could have to wait a good long while for a second-gen model, with an 18-month timeframe now being discussed. What's more, that's being discussed as the low-end of the estimation which means that we could wind up waiting a lot longer before an updated Apple Vision Pro goes on sale.

That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, at least. Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter Gurman said that the updated Apple Vision Pro is probably at least 18 months away, a fact that will definitely not be music to the ears of potential buyers - especially those who are hoping for some big improvements over the model that is currently on sale.

Continue reading: The next Apple Vision Pro could be at least 18 months away, report suggests (full post)

Here's why people returned their $3,499+ Apple Vision Pro headset to the Apple Store

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale for more than two weeks now and the return window for those who pick theirs up on launch day has now been and gone. That means that a ton of early adopters have already had to make a difficult decision - do they want to keep their new mixed reality headset and put their faith into spatial computing, or not?

Here's why people returned their $3,499+ Apple Vision Pro headset to the Apple Store

With the Apple Vision Pro starting at a whopping $3,499 it's easy to see why some people would need to think long and hard about that decision before making a choice. The headset is, by all accounts, hugely impressive, but whether or not that initial warm feeling lasts is another matter entirely. And when you've just sunk high-end MacBook Pro money on something most people will need to be sure that they want to keep it. A new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman details why some people ultimately chose to return their headset rather than keep it.

Gurman was writing in his weekly Power On newsletter when he shared the details based on discussions with more than a dozen people who chose to return their Apple Vision Pro before their return window closed.

Continue reading: Here's why people returned their $3,499+ Apple Vision Pro headset to the Apple Store (full post)

Apple's iPhones are getting RCS to appease China, report claims

Oliver Haslam | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Feb 19, 2024 12:31 PM CST

Apple announced last year that it would be bringing RCS messaging to the iPhone in 2024 and tat's great news, but it turns out that the reason behind it might not be the reason that we had all assumed.

Apple's iPhones are getting RCS to appease China, report claims

RCS messaging is a rich messaging format that effectively replaces SMS and allows for iMessage-like read states, rich media, and more. It's also something that Androidd devices support and it was assumed that Apple's decision to add RCS support was an attempt to appears the European Commission and impending Digital Markets Act rules that might require iMessage be opened up to competing services. However, with the EC now confirming that iMessage won't be designated as a gatekeeper for DMA purposes, it appears that there was another reason for Apple to choose to bring RCS to the iPhone.

That reason, according to Apple watcher and well-connected blogger John Gruber, is China.

Continue reading: Apple's iPhones are getting RCS to appease China, report claims (full post)