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WD Black SN850 SSD Sees Write Speed Drops in Chipset M.2 Slots

Home News (Image credit: Western Digital) One of Western Digital’s Black drives, the SN850, is significantly underperforming in writes speeds on X570 chipset motherboards when connecting the SSD to a chipset-connected M.2 slot, according to a report from ComputerBase. The company told the site it’s looking into the matter. This strange situation started out when… Read more

Lenovo’s New ThinkPad Workstations Get Latest Intel Chips, Nvidia RTX A5000

Home News (Image credit: Lenovo) Lenovo’s lineup of ThinkPad workstation laptops are getting more powerful with the launch of the ThinkPad P1, P15 and P17. The notebooks are being bumped up to the latest Intel Core and Xeon mobile CPUs and Nvidia graphics, going up to the enterprise-grade RTA A5000 GPU. The new laptops are… Read more

Royal Kludge RK84 Review: Lots of Features, One Serious Flaw

Our Verdict The Royal Kludge RK84 offers a compact design with wired, Bluetooth and 2.4-Ghz connectivity, and hot-swappable key switches. However, the 2.4-GHz option is nearly unusable and the software is awful. For + Sturdy construction + Compact design compared to traditional tenkeyless keyboards + Hot-swappable switches + Three Bluetooth profiles + USB 2.0 passthrough… Read more

Apple reportedly trialed plans for a primary care service on its own employees

Apple took over a health clinic to test plans for a primary care service with its own employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. But efforts reportedly stalled as employees questioned the integrity of data collected through the services. Tech companies including Apple and Amazon have spent the past few years looking to expand into healthcare,… Read more

Waymo raises $2.5 billion in second external funding round

Waymo just announced a second external funding round, raising $2.5 billion for the continued advancement of its autonomous driving technology. According to investor website PitchBook, the company is valued at just over $30 billion, though that figure does not include this most recent funding round. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request seeking clarification.) For… Read more

Facebook’s AI moderator will tell group admins when users are beefing in the comments

Facebook is launching a suite of new tools to help group admins get a grip on their communities. Some simply offer a clearer overview of posts and members, while others are designed to help admins tackle conflict — including an AI-powered feature that Facebook says can identify “contentious or unhealthy conversations” taking place in the… Read more

GTA Online is shutting down for PS3 and Xbox 360 later this year

Rockstar Games announced that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online, the online multiplayer component of Grand Theft Auto V, will no longer be accessible starting December 16th, 2021. Shark Cash Cards, which unlock the in-game currency for GTA Online, will no longer be purchasable on these consoles after September 15th, 2021. The… Read more

Google’s first retail store opens this week

After years of pop-up experiments, Google is finally dipping its toes in the physical retail waters with its first store, located underneath its offices in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. It will primarily feature Google’s own hardware products, including Pixel phones, Nest smarthome gadgets, Fitbits, and assorted other devices. There will also be… Read more

OnePlus Nord CE vs Poco F3: Which should you buy?

(Pocket-lint) – The mid-range market is heating up. And in this instance, when we say mid-range, we mean the less expensive phones, not necessarily the low powered devices. That’s because in this comparison we’re looking at two fast, smooth phones that won’t leave you wanting. Those two phones are the excellently priced Poco F3 and… Read more

The Atari VCS retro console gets its long-awaited retail release

The Atari VCS — a part-desktop PC, part-retro console modeled after the Atari 2600 — is finally available to buy at retail. Atari is selling the console via its own site while Best Buy and Micro Center also have their listings. This isn’t the first time the console has been available to the public (VGC… Read more

Windows 11’s default wallpapers are Microsoft’s best yet

Windows 11 leaked yesterday, offering a closer look at some of the UI changes Microsoft is planning for its next version of Windows. The leak has also revealed what will likely become Microsoft’s default wallpaper for Windows 11, and a collection of new wallpapers that are bundled with the operating system. They’re Microsoft’s best Windows… Read more

Noctua’s long-awaited passive CPU cooler is here

Noctua is known for making mighty quiet PC fans, and now it has a CPU cooler that doesn’t need a fan at all. Two years after announcing a passive heatsink potent enough to keep a Core i9-9900K CPU in check, the dead-silent Noctua NH-P1 (via VideoCardz) has finally gone on sale today for $110. It’s… Read more

Raspberry Pi BMO Handheld Plays Games Using RetroPie

Home News (Image credit: Lazuardi Rinaldi) Come on and grab your friends—this Raspberry Pi project was made for adventure! Lazuardi Rinaldi, an electrical and computer engineering student from the Georgia Institute of Technology, has created a playable handheld shaped like BMO from the cartoon Adventure Time. This BMO lookalike is a fully functional retro gaming… Read more

Alphacool Eisblock GPX Aurora RTX 3080/3090 Reference Review

Introduction The TechPowerUp GPU roundup series continues today with Alphacool, after having examined entries from EKWB and CORSAIR to date. Alphacool is high up on the list of large, established DIY watercooling brands, and the company had sent two different takes on its cooling solution for the NVIDIA RTX 3080. We take a look at… Read more

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announces Series C investment in ordinary human beings

MacKenzie Scott, whose estimated fortune stands somewhere around $60 billion, announced via a Medium post today that she would be parting with a $2.7 billion portion of that wealth and distributing it to 286 groups, all of which are painstakingly named and linked at the end of her note. This third and latest gift brings… Read more