To understand the tech news, we first need to understand how a computer processor works.
So let me know if you figure it out cause I got nothing.
AMD's new RX 9070 and 9070XT graphics cards officially launched yesterday and in a stunning
turn of events, more than just a handful of gamers were actually able to purchase them
at or near AMD's suggested prices from retailers as it was in days of yore.
While the stock situation seemed to be better than it was for the launch of NVIDIA's RTX
50 series, scalpers are still very much a factor with some 9070XTs spotted going for
as much as 2000 bucks. And while stock of MSRP cards predictably vanished quickly, evidence from multiple retailers
indicates they were only able to sell an initial shipment of certain cards at MSRP with subsequent
shipments of the same cards priced higher.
TechTubers Hardware Unboxed said that retailers they spoke to apparently bought stock up front
for higher than MSRP on the promise of rebates from AMD that would make up the difference,
indicating that AMD maybe can't or won't give out as many rebates as they promised.
I'm saying it like that because this is unclear. In a statement to press, AMD's Frank Azor claimed it is inaccurate that MSRP is launch
only pricing, but when asked directly by the Verge to confirm or deny a cap on initial
sales of MSRP cards, AMD refused to do so.
Now whether AMD or the retailers or someone else is to blame for the limited amount of
MSRP cards, Azor implores you don't despair.
AMD is working to replenish stock ASAP and MSRP pricing will continue to be encouraged.
You can do it best by price that thing lower. I mean, what's money compared to the joy of they hung up?
Over to NVIDIA now who has reportedly asked laptop manufacturers to check all of their
RTX 50 series laptops for the same missing ROP issue that degraded performance in some
proportion of Blackwell desktop GPUs.
GPUs are even apparently opening up ready to ship pallets of laptop boxes to perform
the checks. But that's fine.
It's normal, at least according to NVIDIA, who confidently confirmed to the Verge that
no laptop GPUs are affected by the missing ROP issue.
They always reopen laptops to fire up GPUs after boxing them up for shipment.
In fact, they'll do it a couple more times before shipping them out. They're just checking.
Can you blame NVIDIA for trying to keep everyone calm though the RTX 50 series launch has had
so many issues, people are making them up now.
Dutch retailer Your Game Specialists sent out product recall notices to RTX 5090 owners
based on a potential fire hazard risk.
But after some digging, the retailer's CEO told KitGuru that the email was an error.
So don't worry, everything is totally fine until we find out that it's not next week.
A lot of space news going on right now. During Starship's latest test flight, the rocket spun out of control and blew up, spewing
dangerous flaming debris across the sky in an admittedly beautiful display.
SpaceX called this a rapid unscheduled disassembly, the same term they used the last time this
happened just over a month ago. But I actually feel worse for other space company, Intuitive Machines, who had their
lunar lander tip over while landing on the moon, again, the same thing happened to their
previous lander a year ago. I shouldn't be laughing.
I'm sorry. Hey, you know, it's never too late for a career change, night classes can be affordable.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't. This is sad. Look, it wasn't a total loss, the lander was able to collect some data while reclining
in its crater, but with its solar panels unable to charge its battery, the mission is over.
Hey, at least they didn't just shoot it into deep space like the Odin probe from Wannabe
asteroid mining company Astroforge. See ya.
And believe it or not, there is a space success story today.
The European Space Agency's Ariane 6 rocket successfully completed its first commercial
mission, delivering a French military satellite to orbit.
FÃ©licitations! That's just one of many non-English words you may hear if you travel while using our
sponsor. I know computers use quick bits, they're not the same kind that we have, but maybe there's
a connection there. A federal judge in Brazil has given Apple 90 days to enable side loading on iOS after
a court battle with e-commerce giant Mercado Libre over payment methods.
In his ruling, the judge noted that Apple has already complied with similar rules in
other places like the EU, proving that the company's business model still works just
fine when it stops helicopter parenting and pretending it has to approve everything its
customers do with their devices. They're gonna download a virus eventually.
Buy your mama virus! Okay, that's just rude.
In other Apple news, the company confirmed that it's delaying the rollout of the upgraded
Siri experience for iOS 18 that it showed off while announcing Apple Intelligence last
year, which is really too bad because the new Siri was arguably the only interesting
Apple Intelligence feature, along with inbox categories in the mail app.
Apple told press outlets that it anticipates them rolling out in the coming year, a prediction
they got by prompting the new Siri. Oh, yeah, no, she's ready now.
She's just shy. What if they don't like me? They already don't.
They got nothing to lose. Google's turned to bork something now, and this time it's the haptics of Pixel devices,
which got altered by the company's recent Pixel Drop update in a way that users can't
quite agree on. One user says their pixel vibrations used to be bold and crisp, and now feel hollow.
Another user says the haptics feel springy.
And yet another says they're now getting bang-bam feedback.
Sounds rough. Here's hoping we figure out a better way to describe this issue, and that Google brings
the good vibes back. Okay, that could work.
Western Digital has officially spun out its SSD business completely into Sandisk, which
is now an independent company. The change has some PC enthusiasts wondering about branding.
What will Sandisk call the popular WD Black SSD without the WD part?
But you shouldn't worry. Sandisk will figure it out, because as far as I can tell, all they do now is branding
after launching an objectively sick new logo and company identity.
Now their YouTube channel seems to just be videos about their logo.
Not sure whether they've fixed the issues with their portable SSDs, but yo, that logo
is good, you can't deny.
And a company called Bolt Graphics says their upcoming Zeus 1C GPU will perform 2.5 times
better than an RTX 5090 in rendering performance.
It shouldn't be that hard if the 5090's connector melted, am I right?
And similarly, Bolt claims are made in the rest of the video, despite the company only
showing what appears to be a CG render of their card.
Bolt is apparently showing up at a number of upcoming tech conferences, so who knows,
maybe they have something special. Hopefully they're planning on doing something substantial and not pulling an Intel this
morning, and literally just tweeting the word AI.
Trying anything at this point, we're manifesting. And if I imagine really hard that you'll come back on Monday for more tech news, then
you have to, that's the rules. What rules?
The ones I just imagined. This is great, you should try it.