Majority

EK’s New RTX 3090, RTX 3080 Waterblocks Are Partially Made Out Of Walnuts

You have to hand it to EK. The watercooling specialist really knows how to think out of the box. The brand just announced its new EK Lignum lineup of products that are partially manufactured out of walnuts (Juglans Nigra). The waterblock itself is based on the company’s EK-Quantum Vector RE RTX 3080/3090 design that’s tailored… Read more

U.S. Senators Propose 25% Tax Credits for Domestic Chipmakers

Home News (Image credit: Qualcomm) A bipartisan group of U.S. senators proposed on Thursday a 25% tax credit for investments in chip production in the country. The proposal is an addition to the $52 billion semiconductor industry funding plan approved by U.S. legislators last week, showing a large push to boost support for domestic chipmakers. The Facilitating American-Build… Read more

TeamGroup T-Force Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 2x8GB Review: Performance Over Eye Candy

Our Verdict The Dark Z FPS DDR4-4000 C16 is a great alternative for Zen 3 CPU owners who want a kit that’s faster than the sweet spot but don’t want to break the piggy bank. For + Quick out of the box + RGB-less design + Room for overclocking Against – Costs more than similarly-specced… Read more

How Republicans and Democrats are gearing up to fight tech monopolies

In a surprise decision Tuesday, President Joe Biden tapped Lina Khan, one of the most prominent critics of Big Tech, to lead the Federal Trade Commission. In that role, Khan will have the authority to guide the FTC’s agenda — and it’s fair to assume she’ll be taking a hawkish stance toward Big Tech. The… Read more

The Twitch streamers fighting to keep minority languages alive

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Minority languages are often associated with aging rural communities, thought to have fallen out of use or confined to textbooks. Defined simply as a language spoken by less than half of the population in a country, they… Read more

General Motors’ electric vehicle plan just got even more expensive

General Motors announced that it would increase its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025. The new figure represents a 30 percent increase over the amount the automaker said it would spend last November, and a 75 percent increase from its initial investment prior to the pandemic. It’s a staggering amount… Read more

Tech antitrust pioneer Lina Khan confirmed as FTC commissioner

The Senate confirmed Lina Khan as commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday, by a vote of 69-28. First nominated in March, Khan will give Democrats a majority on the commission, filling a vacancy left by Republican appointee Joseph Simons who resigned in January. Khan’s appointment signals an increased focus on antitrust regulation against major… Read more

IRL is a new social network taking on Facebook groups

Do people want an app specifically for discovering events and messaging as a group? That’s the bet behind IRL, a young social network that has been quietly growing over the past year and just attracted an eye-popping amount of money to take on Facebook. The two-year-old startup is betting that a post-pandemic world will fuel… Read more

5-Bit PLC SSDs Not Coming Until 2025, or Later: Western Digital

Home News (Image credit: Western Digital) Both Intel and Toshiba have become increasingly confident in their projections for the debut of PLC flash, which packs in five bits per cell to reduce SSD pricing, but Western Digitial recently downplayed the feasibility of PLC SSDs before 2025. WD says this type of memory will only become viable… Read more

Nvidia to drop Windows 7 and Windows 8 driver support in October

Nvidia is planning to drop support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 later this year. Nvidia drivers will be exclusively available for Windows 10 in October, with only critical security updates available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 through September 2024. Microsoft has already dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows… Read more

Air taxi startup Archer shows off small electric aircraft but no flight test

Archer Aviation, a Santa Clara-based aviation startup, unveiled a new electric aircraft Thursday that it says will serve as the basis for a future fleet of air taxis that will criss-cross cities and help alleviate traffic. But much like the majority of these startups, the company was not able to demonstrate its flying taxis doing… Read more

Apple is trying to dominate watch parties, but it needs more help

Apple is bringing one of streaming’s trendiest features to iPhone users with the debut of SharePlay in iOS 15 later this year, allowing FaceTime users to stream music, online videos, and movies together with friends. The move positions FaceTime to compete more directly with platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Houseparty, which all offer ways… Read more

Chia Demand Prompts WD, Seagate to Ramp Up HDD Production

Home News (Image credit: Toshiba) Demand for hard drives skyrocketed recently because of Chia cryptocurrency farming, causing major HDD shortages and sending retail prices to record highs. In a bid to meet the demand for hard drives, Seagate and Western Digital are ramping up production of their high-capacity HDDs by essentially cranking up their existing production… Read more

Apple AirPods Pro review: Silence is golden

(Pocket-lint) – Whether you agree with the polarising design or not, Apple’s AirPods became an overnight phenomenon back in 2017. Since then those in-ear wireless buds have gone on to become the number one sellers in the world – and you only have to head to any city street to see how many people are… Read more

Will Apple end the newsletter boom?

Today, let’s talk about one of Apple’s many announcements this week at its Worldwide Developer Conference, which some see as a possible threat to the rise of journalism distributed by email. If that sounds self-indulgent, given that it’s coming from a journalist who distributes his work via email, I apologize. But it touches on so… Read more