Reviews of NVIDIA's new RTX 4060 graphics card are out,
and frankly, even including the DIY salad kit from Safeway,
it is hard to imagine a bag more mixed. I'm Riley Murdoch, this is TechLinked,
and you will be disappointed to learn this card is decidedly underpowered in terms of hardware.
Compared to its predecessor, the RTX 3060, the 4060 has fewer GPU cores, fewer RT cores,
fewer AI cores, and less memory. So NVIDIA made the card half off.
The PCIe lanes, I mean, it's got half as many. Now, the 4060 does see a substantial performance boost
with DLSS3 and specifically the new frame generation feature,
which is probably why NVIDIA allowed a small handful of reviewers to post early sneak peeks of the 4060
a few days before the official review embargo lifted.
So long as those reviewers only showed benchmarks of NVIDIA-approved games
and emphasized its AI upscaling capacity. Like how the Olympics only shows up athletes
who use steroids. They're the best. In a normal world, NVIDIA would weather
significant backlash from this strategy, be forced to apologize and commit to do better.
But we live in the real world, where everyone and their cat is giving NVIDIA
direct access to their bank accounts in exchange for mountains of AI cards.
Sure, boycott this product launch.
I mean, a best of luck. Starfield, the hotly anticipated new game from Bethesda,
is officially partnering with AMD and PC gamers are big mad,
not just because that's a... Anagram. Thank you.
Admittedly, gamers don't really do small or medium mad, but there's a reason this time.
AMD has been taking a lot of heat recently for the fact that a large percentage
of AAA AMD partner games lack support for NVIDIA's DLSS
and Intel's XESS upscaling, despite the fact that a majority of NVIDIA partner titles
do support AMD's FSR upscaling.
Make it make sense. Of course, even if Starfield does lack DLSS support,
PC gamers with GeForce cards will still be able to enable FSR too,
due to AMD's more open approach to upscaling. This kind of anti-competitive behavior on all sides
reminds me of my visit to the donkey sanctuary, because I'm supposed to be having a fun time,
but it's nothing but jackasses as far as I can see.
This possible lack of DLSS has also raised concerns that the game might perform poorly on release,
but come on, it's a Bethesda game. It managed to make it to five seconds of gameplay
before your first bug. It's a big mutated bug. And reviews are also out for the Pixel Fold,
and somebody has already broken it.
Early reviews have been positive. The Fold is a well-rounded device
with a thin form factor, relatively large screen, and top-notch premium hardware, just as Google promised.
However, the big concern with foldables and Google hardware in general is always durability,
especially for the hinge that makes all the difference between a foldable and a breakable.
We don't want to make those anymore.
A reviewer from Ars Technica holds the questionable honor of being the first to turn Google's much-hyped foldable phone
into an $1,800 foldable paperweight.
Though luckily for them, the Pixel Fold is the first foldable to date
to offer DIY repair through iFixit on release,
which probably should have been the case for some previous foldable models, given how these launches have gone.
The Ars Technica reporter's phone died after four days of light use,
in part because the protective plastic layer on top of its ultra-thin glass
doesn't quite stretch to the edge of the screen. Hey, this sounds familiar,
but also because the two halves of the display are so close when folded,
users can wind up smashing small debris into the screen,
potentially puncturing the delicate OLED where it's exposed.
Ars Technica's Pixel Fold appears to have died due to a near microscopic perforation
between the end of this protective plastic layer and the beginning of the bezel bordering the screen.
Funnily enough, everyone freaked out about the Pixel Fold's huge bezels
when they first saw them, but little did we know. This was an Achilles ankle situation.
Normally you say Achilles heel, but we're just kind of quirky today.
There are five quick bits and five only.
If you add more or take any away, their quantum structure will become dangerous,
lay on the table. I don't believe that.
You didn't sell that at all. Google reportedly canceled its lightweight AR glasses project
during its mass layoffs earlier this year, according to Business Insider.
It's unclear whether the glasses were intended to be full AR or simply some kind of smart heads-up display,
but it doesn't matter now because you're not getting them either way.
Apple has likewise postponed their lightweight AR glasses
indefinitely while Meta plans to ship their own version in 2027.
Although, given how things are going, wouldn't necessarily believe that one either.
It's all gonna be big headsets from now on. I wanna wear helmets anyways, they keep me safe.
I wanna look like deaf punk. Daemus, a potential Twitter rival,
has been removed from Apple's App Store over a feature that allows users to tip other users in Bitcoin.
According to Apple, these transactions amount to in-app purchases
of which Apple is owed a 30% cut. It was a tip, don't do that, says Apple.
Hot tip. Daemus says Apple is abusing its in-app purchase guidelines
because, well, no digital content is unlocked by tipping,
and thus no purchase is taking place. I, however, would like to ask a separate question.
Namely, when Chipotle charges me $2 for extra guac,
is that a microtransaction? And should I treat it as a microaggression?
Dolly Parton, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, and Adele are all protesting outside of Meta's London headquarters
after they claim they were repeatedly banned from Facebook and Instagram for impersonation.
To be clear, these are not the real Parton, Spears, Swift, and no last name given.
They're musical tribute acts. In theory, Meta's policy against impersonation
is intended to crack down on malicious, malicious.
Melissa's actions. Both malicious and delicious impersonation.
Even nutritious. Not cover bands. However, their automatic moderation keeps flagging
entertainers even after their accounts have been repeatedly reinstated.
It's just a prank, guys. A Meta spokesperson recommended that tribute acts
make it clear in their bio or profile that they're not the real individual,
as if it had never occurred to them to clarify that they're not actually Shania Twain.
I do that every day. Pope Francis is teaming up with the Marcula Center
for Applied Ethics to create an AI ethics handbook.
Thought the Bible was good enough. Turns out, this might feel like it's coming out of nowhere,
but this is actually far from the first time that the Pope has commented on artificial intelligence.
In early 2020, his holiness, Papa Frank.
I love it when you call me ill, Papa.
Partnered with Microsoft and IBM on the creation of a set of principles
for the ethical use of AI, including that technology should respect privacy,
consider the needs of all human beings, and operate transparently and without bias.
And not put popes in fluffy jackets. While you and I might not have seen
the AI apocalypse coming, turns out the Holy See had 20-20 vision.
And a college in New York is suing a cleaning company for $1 million in damages
after one of their staff allegedly destroyed decades worth of research
by turning off a lab freezer in order to mute an annoying alarm sound.
I shouldn't be laughing, but I'm so sorry.
In September, 2020, an alarm sounded indicating that the freezer temperature was fluctuating,
though not yet at a level that would damage the cultures inside.
COVID restrictions meant that it couldn't be repaired for a week, so lab officials put up a sign
and locked the freezer's outlet and socket to stop anyone from unplugging it.
Undeterred, the cleaner resorted to turning off the circuit breaker,
destroying the samples over the course of the next several hours.
It's like how sometimes you're just too tired to figure out the snooze alarm, and instead you just burn your entire house down.
And we won't burn your house down if you come back on Friday for more tech news.
You're mortal enemy? The line has been drawn in the sand,
so make the decision.