(Photo: Techspot)If you thought gaming at 144Hz was glorious, that might be simply quaint in a few years. At a recent technology conference in China, a company unveiled the world’s first 600Hz gaming display. This begs the question: but why? As far as we can tell, because it’s a big number. In fact, it’s bigger than the previous number, which was 480Hz. But still, would anyone even be able to discern the difference? Maybe we’re asking too many questions. The company behind the new technology is named BOE, according to . It recently showed off its newest wares at the World Display Industry Conference in China.
Until recently, you needed some degree of artistic skill to create a piece of digital art, but artificial intelligence is changing that. Now, all you have to do is click a few buttons to generate new art, and that has put stock image providers in a tight spot. Fearing abuse and copyright issues, some image repositories have , but Adobe is willing to take a risk. It will allow AI art in the Adobe Stock collection, but there will be some strict limitations. When uploading AI-generated art from services like , Adobe will require contributors to mark their creations as “Generative AI illustrations.
Cooler Master is throwing its hat into the “computer desk as isolation chamber” market with a new gaming pod. Dubbed the Orb X, this all-in-one, desk-and-monitor setup wraps around the user like an RGB cocoon. The company describes it as a”Fully Immersive Multi-Purpose Semi-Enclosed Station for Gamers and Professionals.” It’s the type of product that is usually announced at a show like CES, then never seen in the real world. Acer unveiled its own gaming pod several years ago, the . The is a semi-enclosed “cockpit” according to Cooler Master. The front part can hold up to three 27-inch monitors, or a single widescreen 34-inch display.
The of the past was very different from the one NASA’s Viking 1 lander found when it made history as the first lander on the Red Planet in 1976. A new study suggests that Viking 1 landed at the margins of a megatsunami deposit from the planet’s earlier, wetter phase. Researchers say they have found the remains of a crater left 3.4 billion years ago when an asteroid impacted. It was this, they say, that produced a 250-meter wall of water that washed over the landscape and altered Viking 1’s landing zone. When planning the Viking 1 landing, NASA chose a landing zone that scientists believed was an ancient outflow channel.
(Photo: Apple headset render via Antonio DeRosa)Apple seems to be getting close to the launch of its much-hyped AR/VR headset, as it’s reportedly settled on a name for the operating system. Noted Apple soothsayer Mark Gurman is reporting it’s going to be xrOS. This is shorthand for “extended reality,” as opposed to strictly augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). Previously it was believed to be , but Apple has allegedly ditched that for a shorter name, the report said. (The Bloomberg article is paywalled and was summarized by .) The device will be Apple’s first new product since the Apple Watch, which debuted in 2015.
Myotis daubentonii. (Credit: Gilles San Martin/CC BY-SA 2.0)Bats and death metal singers don’t just share a dark and edgy vibe—they also share vocalization techniques. According to a new study, bats engage their “voice boxes” much like death metal artists do to create growl-like sounds. Bats are perhaps the most recognizable echolocators, or creatures that use reflected sound waves to understand the world around them. Most people know bats use chirps and clicks to echolocate, but some bats also employ their vast, seven-octave vocal range to growl. Despite these growls’ vital role in navigation and communication, scientists have historically struggled to understand exactly how bats produce such deep and guttural sounds.
(Photo: Tesla)Last week marked a special occasion for Tesla. Five years after announcing the development of its all-electric Semi trucks, the automaker finally delivered its first batch to PepsiCo— than it was originally supposed to. CEO Elon Musk hosted a celebratory event at Tesla’s Nevada “Gigafactory” on Thursday. The event, which was live via Twitter, allowed a select group of shareholders to view the company’s first production electric Semis in person. Pepsi representatives were present to receive the keys to the company’s first few units, some of which had Pepsi and FritoLay graphics on the tractor unit.
The unparalleled success of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has helped Elon Musk’s aerospace firm deploy a megaconstellation of Starlink satellites in just a few years. The service has been available to consumers for several years, and speeds were impressive at launch, but it’s slowing down as more users get on the network. SpaceX’s solution was to . They were supposed to go into effect this month, but customers have gotten a short reprieve. According to an update on SpaceX’s website, the “Fair Use” policy will . Previously, Starlink said we could expect it to begin clamping down on excessive data use this month.
A four-year-old company is coming to market soon with an unexpected technology to cool CPUs and SoCs. Frore Systems has developed a cooling chip it calls AirJet that sits on top of a heat-generating chip and cools it without the need for mechanical fans. It’s 2.8mm thick and uses pulsating inlets to suck air into it and exhaust it out the sides. The company claims its “solid-state” cooling solution allows for double the CPU performance compared with using traditional methods. It’s secured $100 million in funding and is now partnering with Intel to bring its technology to the company’s Evo line of laptops.
