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It’s also a great candidate for our 3rd-gen Ryzen testing on a B350 board because it is as bare as they come. It packs a 3-phase vCore VRM using the 4-phase ISL95712 controller, but we do get a doubling of components, so each phase features two high-side MOSFETs and two low-side MOSFETs. In that sense it’s pretty decent for a sub-$100 AM4 motherboard. Now in this article we want to investigate mainly two things: Can a budget B350 motherboard safely support the Ryzen 9 3900X?...

Shot taken on the standard 16-megapixel camera The primary camera features a small hardware upgrade over the G6, moving from a 13-megapixel sensor with an f/1.8 lens to a 16-megapixel sensor with an f/1.6 lens. The pixel size is similar (now 1.0µm, down from 1.1µm) though the resolution increase brings the V30 back to where the G5 debuted. Laser autofocus also returns, which was omitted from the G6, while OIS remains....

This week, prolific leaker Evan Blass revealed more details about an upcoming portable game system from Logitech and Tencent. It contained images and information about the device’s look and software functionality. Logitech responded by slapping Blass with a DMCA takedown notice, seemingly confirming its veracity. In early August, Logitech and Tencent announced a partnership to produce a cloud-gaming handheld that lets users stream high-end AAA games through Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now....

Hard disk drives (HDD) replaced magnetic media decades ago because of their speed, and now solid-state drives (SSD) are poised to supplant HDDs for precisely the same reason. However, Linear Tape-Open (LTO) devices, which came out in the 1990s, are still in use by many companies. Today, LTO drives are primarily used as a backup storage solution because they are far too slow for anything else. A typical use case is to start a backup at the end of the workday, and it completes after several hours overnight....

It’s easy to demonize Facebook – or any social network, for that matter – without first taking a closer look at how we use the service and gauging the consequences of over-sharing. But on the other hand it’s also true that some sites are not always forthcoming about how they handle your data. To quickly put things into perspective, Facebook has gone from sharing some basic personal information with your network and friends in 2005, to opening your profile up to the entire Internet and automatically enrolling you in their pilot programs as they look to monetize their huge user base....

Google will reportedly launch two phones at its I/O event in spring — the Pixel 7a and the much-anticipated Pixel Fold. The Pixel 7a (codename ’lynx’) should come in at the same MSRP as its predecessor, at $449, but bring a slew of improvements, including a 90Hz screen refresh rate, the newer Tensor G2 SoC, upgraded camera hardware, and wireless charging. As you might expect, the Pixel Fold (codename ‘felix’) won’t be anywhere near as affordable....

Typically multi-platform games just end up being sloppy console ports on the PC, but thankfully this was not the case with Max Payne 3. The menus work well and are easy to navigate with the keyboard or mouse while the gameplay is flawless. The wide range of API support means that gamers will be able to fine-tune the game to suit their rig. The ability to quickly switch between DX9, DX10, DX10....

Highlights include Myst, Ragnarock, The Exorcist: Legion VR and Rush for 40 percent off. Zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine can be yours for $27.99 after taking 30 percent off the top, while Contractors and Real VR Fishing are $13.99 apiece after similar savings. Bundles include the Battle It Out Pack for $55.99, which includes Superhot VR, Gorn and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and the Sports Starter Pack with Eleven Table Tennis, The Thrill of the Fight and Golf+ for $35....

With this guide, we’ll break down what all the different codes and ratings mean, and offer the best choices for a range of categories. Size & Capacity Speed Classes What to Buy? TL;DR: The Highlights Best Value microSD Samsung Evo Select microSD 256GB UHS-I U3 Price: $26 Best Value SD card SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB SDXC UHS-I V30 Price: $48 Performance microSD (for Phones / Tablets) SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB, UHS-I, A2 Price: $41 Performance microSD (for video recording) Lexar Pro 1066x 256GB UHS-I U3/V30 Price: $35 Performance SD card Lexar Pro 2000x 256GB SDXC UHS-II Price: $249 High Capacity microSD Lexar Play 1TB UHS-I U3/V30 Price: $133 High Capacity SD card SanDisk Extreme Pro 1TB SDXC UHS-I U3/V30 Price: $214...

Windows Central sources say that Microsoft is planning to offer a family option for Game Pass and that it could launch sometime this year. It will allow one subscriber to share the entire Game Pass library with up to four other family members in the same country. Currently, there is no information on pricing, but it will be much cheaper than paying for five separate subscriptions. It is unclear how Microsoft would apply a family plan across the different Game Pass tiers, including Console Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Ultimate....

This week, a Microsoft spokesperson admitted that the company rolled back its decision to block downloaded macros in Office files. Some think the reversal will make office users more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Hackers have often used macros — automated processes within Office files — as malware payloads. In February, Microsoft announced it would update most versions of Office on Windows so that, by default, they wouldn’t run macros in downloaded files, warning users of their security risks....

With the turbulent world economy and rising inflation pushing up manufacturing costs, Sony yesterday announced its intention to pass the extra expense onto consumers. The company is increasing PlayStation 5 prices by $20 to $80 across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and North America, though the United States is unaffected. There has been speculation since the announcement that Microsoft could follow Sony’s lead and hike the prices of its Xbox Series X/S consoles....

To be clear, turning ordinary objects into speakers isn’t a new idea. Devices that afford similar functionality have been around for years, but those are largely novelties with no real purpose. A traditional loudspeaker uses electric current passed through a coil of wire to generate a magnetic field. This, in turn, moves a speaker membrane, which moves the air around it to create the sounds we hear. As MIT highlights, most thin-film loudspeakers are freestanding because the film needs room to move to produce sound....

The Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 and 8.2 tablets pick up where the original Xoom tablet left off. They both offer Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE data speeds, large displays, and a stealth black finish that has been updated to feel better in the hand. It’s regrettable that they run Android 3.x Honeycomb, like the original Xoom tablet that they replace when Ice Cream Sandwich is literally already here. Still, as far as Android tablets go, these two devices are quite capable and aren’t hard on the eyes....

The upper surface of the mouse features a hard plastic with a splatter pattern design. The left and right sides have a very grippy surface that is somewhat similar to sandpaper in texture. On the bottom of the mouse are two large and one small Teflon feet, a weight system slot and the centrally-located tracking laser. A braided USB cable makes the connection between the mouse and your computer. Buttons include left and right mouse click, clickable scroll wheel that also tilts left and right, a hyper-fast scroll engage / disengage button like we saw on the Performance MX, and two thumb buttons with a third button centered below the two....

Starting this Thursday at 9am EDT, MoviePass will begin taking requests to join a waiting list for the reformatted service. The window of opportunity to get on the list will only be five days — requests close Monday, August 29. Anyone can join the list, but the service will have a gradual rollout in select regions of the US. So some users may not get to activate their accounts when the service officially launches on Labor Day, September 5, 2022....

Most of the Core i7-7700HQ’s specifications are identical to the Core i7-6700HQ. Both chips have four cores and eight threads with 6 MB of L3 cache and a 45W TDP, and largely the same feature sets. However, the Core i7-7700HQ is clocked higher: it has a base clock of 2.80 GHz with a maximum boost clock of 3.80 GHz, compared to previous clock speeds of 2.60 and 3.50 GHz respectively....

MSI showed off its first QD-OLED monitor during the Computex 2022 conference in Taiwan earlier this week. It mixes Samsung’s Quantum Dot technology with an OLED panel to create a monitor that should rival the Samsung Odyssey G8QNB and Alienware AW3423DW. We loved the latter, awarding it a score of 90 in our review. Samsung says its QD-OLED panel offers the same benefits as standard OLEDs, such as perfect blacks, but with better quality colors and higher brightness....

The Automotive Association of America (AAA) report provides test results for several commercially available vehicles with different advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The testing was conducted using systems that meet the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) level 2 self-driving requirements. According to SAE guidelines, level 2 automation features require ongoing driver supervision. The study evaluated two types of ADAS monitoring. One type, known as direct monitoring, uses a camera to detect driver distractions or disengagement....

Microsoft’s voice AI tool, called Vall-E, is trained on “discrete codes derived from an off-the-shelf neural audio codec model” as well as 60,000 hours of speech—100 times more than existing systems—from more than 7,000 speakers, most of which come from LibriVox public domain audiobooks. Ars Technica reports that Vall-E builds on a technology called EnCodec that Meta announced in October 2022. It works by analyzing a person’s voice, breaking down the information into components, and using its training to synthesize how the voice would sound if it were speaking different phrases....