Tag: Tech news

According to the reputable German publication ComputerBase, ViewSonic is preparing to launch an absolute unit of a gaming monitor at CES 2025, which is scheduled to take place in January of next year. The monitor is expected to sport an OLED panel, along with a peak refresh rate of a whopping 520 Hz. The product is also rumored to boast a resolution of 2560 x 1440, which should allow for decent pixel density considering its 27-inch size.

Like many other monitors available currently on the market, yet another unnamed ViewSonic OLED monitor will also boast dual-mode capabilities. Simply put, the monitor will give its user the option to toggle between a high-refresh rate mode with lower resolution, and a high-resolution mode, likely 4K, but with a lower refresh rate. No other details are known at this point, so interested folks will have to wait till next month to know more.

Apart from these offerings, ViewSonic is also expected to introduce a new ColorPro monitor aimed at creative professionals with a 5K panel and Thunderbolt 4 support. The panel is also expected to be extremely color accurate, which is a must-have for professional use. As with the other products, not much else is known about this one either, but more details and pricing information should be available next month. Either way, for those on the hunt for a new monitor, it seems waiting till CES will be a prudent choice.

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For better or worse, generative AI has been a disruptive force in many industries, although its reception in video games has been lukewarm at best, with attempts at integrating AI-powered NPCs into games failing to impress most gamers. Now, Google’s DeepMind AI has a new model called Genie 2, which can supposedly be used to generate “action-controllable, playable, 3D environments for training and evaluating embodied agents.” All the environments generated by Genie 2 can supposedly be interacted with, whether by a human piloting a character with a mouse and keyboard or an AI-controlled NPC, although it’s unclear what the behind-the-scenes code and optimizations look like, both aspects of which will be key to any real-world applications of the tech. Google says worlds created by Genie 2 can simulate consequences of actions in addition to the world itself, all in real-time. This means that when a player interacts with a world generated by Genie 2, the AI will respond with what its model suggests is the result of that action (like stepping on a leaf resulting in the destruction of said leaf). This extends to things like lighting, reflections, and physics, with Google showing off some impressively accurate water, volumetric effects, and accurate gravity.

In a demo video, Google showed a number of different AI-generated worlds, each with their own interactive characters, from a spaceship interior being explored by an astronaut to a robot taking a stroll in a futuristic cyberpunk urban environment, and even a sailboat sailing over water and a cowboy riding through some grassy plains on horseback. What’s perhaps most interesting about Genie 2’s generated environments is that Genie has apparently given each world a different perspective and camera control scheme. Some of the examples shown are first-person, while others are third-person with the camera either locked to the character or free-floating around the character. Of course, being generative AI, there is some weirdness, and Google clearly chose its demo clips carefully to avoid graphical anomalies from taking center stage. What’s more, at least a few clips seem to very strongly resemble worlds from popular video games, Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Sony’s Horizon franchise, and what appears to be a mix of various sci-fi games, including Warframe, Destiny, Mass Effect, and Subnautica. This isn’t surprising, since the worlds Google used to showcase the AI are all generated with an image and text prompt as inputs, and, given what Google says it used as training data used, it seems likely that gaming clips from those games made it into the AI model’s training data.

In the first clip, the buttons the character interacts with look like they can’t decide whether they are circular or angular. In some other clips, there are strange blurry textures, and there are moments in some clips where character interactions seem a little unnatural. Google doesn’t shy away from these bloopers, though, and has included a very funny collection of bloopers in the bottom of the announcement blog post.

Of course, any generative AI system is only as good as its training data, and Google says that Genie 2 was trained on a large-scale video dataset, and that the model likely contained a mix of different video game clips, some of which probably exhibited some visual artifacts typical of streamed gameplay. Google imagines using the Genie for everything from rapid prototyping game worlds and training and evaluating AI-powered NPCs in novel worlds and scenarios.

Google claims that its AI is developed “responsibly,” stating:

Genie 2 shows the potential of foundational world models for creating diverse 3D environments and accelerating agent research. This research direction is in its early stages and we look forward to continuing to improve Genie’s world generation capabilities in terms of generality and consistency.

As with SIMA, our research is building towards more general AI systems and agents that can understand and safely carry out a wide range of tasks in a way that is helpful to people online and in the real world

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Wednesday, December 4th 2024

Folks who admire their MacBook Pros can be divided into two broad categories that cannot see eye to eye – those who hate the touch bar, and those who think it did no harm. Either way, Apple felt it was best to send it the way of 3D Touch, after facing constant criticism over its lack of reliability.

To be fair, the touch bar was never a bad idea. It was entirely Apple’s implementation and lack of usability updates that made it a chore to use. However, there remain people who miss its presence, as it was somewhat useful when scrubbing through videos or throwing in emojis every now and then. For such people, ENIAC technology has started a kickstarter campaign that promises to bring back the utility – and woes – of the infamous touch bar.

Dubbed the Flexibar, the company describes the product as a “versatile” and “customizable” solution that mimics Apple’s touch bar functionality. The device sports an AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2,170 x 60 pixels, and is 10-inches wide. Shockingly however, the FlexibarDesigner tool that allows customization of the product is currently only available for Windows, although a macOS version is in progress. The build quality appears to be decent, placed within an aluminium housing with a built-in motor that provides haptic feedback.

For those who are interested in the device and are willing to back the project, ENIAC promises shipments sometime in the second quarter of 2025, at a price of $119. Although the project has already raised well over $75,000, potential customers are always advised to cognizant of the fact that the promised shipment dates are always to be taken with a grain of salt.

Source: Kickstarter

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A prominent maker of smartphone and computer accessories, Satechi, has introduced yet another product to its lineup. The Satechi Mini NVMe SSD enclosure boasts an impressively compact design, with USB-C connectivity that allows it to be used with PCs, Macs, smartphones, etc. Interestingly, the product features a read-only mode, thanks to its physical write protection switch.

Owing to its diminutive form factor, the NVMe enclosure can only accommodate M.2 2230 drives. Satechi claims speeds of 10 Gbps, which is decently fast for most use cases, and a maximum capacity of 2 TB. Somehow, Satechi has also managed to pack active cooling into the product, which can spin up to a claimed 10,000 RPM when needed, thereby mitigating the woe of thermal throttling when the drive hits 50° C.

As mentioned, the enclosure is remarkably pocketable, at just 35 grams with dimensions of 5.6 x 1.4 x 3 cm. While the product does not include a SSD drive, it does come with a braided USB-C cable that is 20 cm in length. In terms of build quality, there is hardly any room for complaint, considering that the enclosure is made of aluminium and tempered glass. Priced at $60 on Amazon US, the product seems to offer compelling value for its intended audience.

Marvel Rivals is set to launch on PlayStation 5 at the end of this week, Friday, December 6, and Sony has finally revealed some of the technical details that will ship with the upcoming PvP shooter. On the base-model PS5, Marvel Rivals will supposedly run at a stable 60 FPS at 1440p resolution, with UE5 Lumen Global Illumination and Chaos Destruction tech. Meanwhile, High Frame Rate mode will deliver 120 FPS, likely dropping the maximum resolution and quality settings to reach the higher frame rate, although Sony neglects to mention the resolution in this mode.

The PS5 Pro steps things up somewhat, thanks to the improved processing power and AI enhancement features. On PS5 Pro, Marvel Rivals will run at up to 4K and 60 FPS in Pro Mode, with an optional 120 FPS High Frame Rate Mode promising higher frame rates and resolutions than on the base PS5, although again there are no specific resolutions quoted here. The PS5 Pro also adds Lumen Reflections, which is a ray tracing implementation that allows for better, more accurate reflections off of a wide variety of surfaces, theoretically enhancing things like water effects, diffuse reflections, and indoor and outdoor lighting, making all the aforementioned more realistic. In addition to improved visuals and performance, PS5 and PS5 Pro players will get access to two special skins as in-game purchases or PlayStation Plus add-ons, namely Peni Parker’s VEN#M skin and a PlayStation-exclusive Scarlet Spider skin for Spider-Man.

Minisforum is a brand that is quite well-regarded by folks who are passionate about SFF/Mini PCs. Their latest offering, the UM870 Slim, continues to uphold that tradition, but with a relatively affordable price. With dimensions of 130 mm x 127 mm x 50 mm, the UM870 Slim boasts a volume of just 0.82 liters, staying true to its “Slim” moniker.

The UM870 Slim is powered by a 54 W Ryzen 7 8745H APU rocking 8 Zen 4 cores and 16 threads. This APU is basically a Ryzen 7 8845HS, but without the AI capabilities made possible by the XDNA NPU. The aforementioned 0.82 liter chassis means that the UM870 Slim lacks the luxury of discrete graphics, and relies on the integrated Radeon 780M GPU instead. Unlike some of its competitors, the UM870 Slim misses out on OCuLink support, which would’ve allowed for significantly faster eGPU connections as compared to USB4.

Apart from that, the UM870 Slim boasts a generous selection of ports, which include an RJ-45 2.5 G Ethernet port, dual USB 2.0, dual USB 3.2 Type-A, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, an audio jack, and a single USB4 port. The dual SO-DIMM slots can accommodate up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory, while storage requirements are handled by dual M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots. Prices start from $344 for the barebones version, while the 32 GB memory and 1 TB SSD configuration commands a $529 price tag.

Taiwanese political officials have agreed to discuss transferring TSMC’s advanced 2 nm chip technology to allied democratic nations, but only after establishing the main mass production launch in late 2025 in Taiwan. This new stance comes amid growing international pressure and recent comments from upcoming US president Donald Trump about semiconductor manufacturing. The announcement by National Science and Technology Council Minister Cheng-Wen Wu marks a notable departure from earlier statements by Economic Affairs Minister J.W. Kuo, who had previously emphasized legal restrictions on transferring leading-edge process technology overseas. Interestingly, these different positions aren’t so different from one point: timeline of node deployments. As TSMC produces latest nodes in Taiwan, overseas production will lag by a generation or two.

TSMC plans to implement its 2 nm technology in US facilities by 2030. The company’s Arizona facility, Fab 21, will begin with less advanced N4 and N5 processes in early 2025 and progress to 3 nm technology by 2028. However, this timeline could face pressure for acceleration, mainly if new trade policies are implemented. Industry analyst Dan Nystedt points out significant challenges in transferring advanced chip production. Integrating research and development with manufacturing processes in Taiwan provides crucial advantages for initial production ramps, making simultaneous mass production launches in multiple locations technically challenging. Simply put, there aren’t enough capable engineers, scientists, and factory workers capable of doing what TSMC accomplishes in Taiwan.

Trump’s recent criticism of the CHIPS and Science Act, suggesting tariffs as an alternative to current incentives, has raised questions about future US approaches to securing domestic chip production. The potential technology transfer faces practical limitations, including global shortages of fabrication equipment and the complex nature of establishing advanced semiconductor facilities. These challenges could impact any accelerated timeline for implementing 2 nm production capabilities outside Taiwan. However, the 2 nm node could come to US facilities by the end of the next decade. By then, more advanced nodes will be produced in Taiwan.