Disney Plus to Add a Tile for ESPN Later This Year - CNET

The move follows the streaming service's addition of a Hulu tile.

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Nvidia has transformed into an AI superpower, becoming the third most valuable company in the world off the back of it, so it's perhaps no surprise other tech giants are looking on in envy and shifting their focus to follow suit.

During its recent earnings call, Samsung reported a consolidated operating profit of $4.8 billion in Q1 - a tenfold increase YoY - and company executives revealed a change in focus going forward. 

The plan is now to concentrate on producing HBM and DDR5 memory and high-capacity SSD chips for the enterprise market, rather than targeting consumer PCs and mobile devices.

Meeting demand

"We plan to increase supply of HBM chips in 2024 by more than threefold versus last year," Kim Jae-june, Samsung’s memory business vice president, said on the call, reported the Korea Economic Daily. “We have already completed talks with our clients on this year's supply of HBM chips. In 2025, our HBM chip production will double from this year. Our talks on the 2025 volume with our customers are also going well.”

Samsung, currently ranked 23 in the world, has already invested heavily in HBM but currently trails behind its archrival, SK Hynix, in this area. SK Hynix recently announced plans to construct the world’s largest chip factory and has begun a partnership with Taiwanese foundry TSMC to produce HBM4.

Samsung said it anticipates a 50% increase in server DRAM production in Q2, and double output of server SSD in terms of bit growth. The company believes robust demand for AI chips will continue and stretch chip supplies throughout the year.

The South Korean tech giant also revealed it will commence mass production of its 8-layer HBM3E chips this month.

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A prominent hardware leaker has alleged that while Thunderbolt 4 will come as standard for Intel Core Ultra 200 CPUs on Z890, that the upcoming CPU generation will miss out on Thunderbolt 5. 

As spotted by Videocardz, hardware leaker Golden Pig Upgrade has claimed that Intel Arrow Lake will miss out on Thunderbolt 5 support for Z890 motherboards after all, despite its unveiling last year. If true, it's disappointing news considering that Intel 14th Gen missed out on Thunderbolt 5 at release, too. 

As a frame of reference, both Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are capped at 40 Gbps which means there's no great increase in the two technologies despite their seven-year age gap. In contrast, Thunderbolt 5 can achieve double this at 80 Gbps which can be increased to 120 Gbps through Bandwidth Boost. 

Also alleged by Golden Pig Upgrade is that Ultra Core 200 CPUs will feature just four Xe cores baked onto the chip which is half of what's currently available through Meteor Lake for laptops. This is unlikely to be too big a deal considering most (if not all) users will pair the processor with one of the best graphics cards, but it's worth noting. 

We can take the alleged specs for the Arrow Lake flagship as a point of comparison. It's believed that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K will feature 24 cores and 24 threads with a maximum boost clock of up to 5.5 GHz and a 125W TDP. In contrast, the current-generation Intel Core i9-14900K features 24 cores and 32 threads up to 6 GHz. It's certainly a different approach moving to Disaggregated architecture from Hybrid.

Not the best impression for Arrow Lake 

Should Intel Arrow Lake miss out on Thunderbolt 5, that would mean that we would likely have to wait until Lunar Lake in laptops and Panther Lake in desktops to get ahead. 

The new connectivity standard would mean not only increased bandwidth for external GPUs and SSDs but also boosting higher resolutions and framerates of up to 540Hz and enhanced multi-monitor in 4K and 8K (via Intel). 

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During Western Digital's recent Q3 earnings call, CEO David Goeckeler disclosed that the ever-growing need for higher capacity and speedier data access from customers across the world is pushing the company to expand its solid-state capacities.

The company chalked up a profitable quarter, with revenues soaring over forecast to $3.46 billion, a 29% YoY rise. The company managed to turn around a streak of losses, reporting a $135 million profit. These achievements are in stark contrast to rival Seagate, which posted an 11% YoY reduction in its revenues to $1.66 billion.

Goeckeler underlined that Western Digital's improved financial performance was a result of the company's efforts to offer a more diversified product range. He also said that WD was committed to delivering larger SSD capacities off the back of growing demand for AI-related applications. He said customers “want them [SSDs] in much bigger capacity points, 30- and 60-terabyte capacity points.”

HAMR HDD technology

Reporting on the third quarter results, Blocks & Files wrote “WD currently ships DC SN640 TLC PCIe gen 3 SSDs with up to 30.72 TB capacity and PCIe gen 4 SN650 and 655 drives with 15.36 TB. We now expect 60 TB SSDs to be announced by WD later this year.”

Without going into details of the exact capacities being worked on, Goeckeler said the company was expanding the size of the drives in line with what customers were demanding, stating WD is “increasing capacity and going through a qualification on that. So, we're in that process with customers.”

He also discussed hard-drive recording (HAMR) technology, including the issues surrounding it, stating, “we've been working on HAMR for quite some time. We understand HAMR extremely well. We understand all the issues with HAMR, and what it takes to get it qualified. Clearly, we're doing that all behind the scenes, because we have a product portfolio with the best TCO we can offer in the market today, and we can do that all the way up to 40 terabytes.” Western Digital’s rival Seagate recently announced the results of an experimental test that showed one of its hard drives using HAMR could run continuously for over 6,000 hours.

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I'm Ditching Extra Baggage Fees on My Next Trip, With These Products - CNET

Going on a summer getaway but don't want to pay extra for a carry-on or suitcase? Here's what I'm using to pack everything into a single personal item.

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The Best Apple Cider Vinegar Drinks to Get Your Daily Fix - CNET

Drinking ACV has benefits galore, but it's not always the easiest to down. These six apple cider vinegar-based beverages take the bite out of this healthy elixir.

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As ever, a new month means a new range of movies and shows on Hulu. Out of everything that's coming in May 2024, we've picked out four movies that cover a range of genres, all with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

In addition to two Wes Anderson classics perfect for relaxed viewing, we've selected a family favorite from the '80s, and a historical drama from last year. 

This is just a taste among the other new Hulu movies this month, but they're an ideal place to start!

Big (1988) 

RT score: 98%
Director: Penny Marshall
Runtime: 104 minutes
Age rating: PG
Available to stream from: May 1

A classic straight from the '80s and a childhood favorite among dads everywhere, Big tells the story of 12-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) with a huge crush on a girl who rejects him for being too short. When he wishes to be 'big' to a Zoltar machine, he wakes up the next morning as a fully grown man (Tom Hanks) and must navigate the world as an adult. He moves to New York and lands a job, but the pressures of living in the grown-up world get to him, and he finds himself longing for his childhood back. 

Rushmore (1998)

RT score: 90%
Director: Wes Anderson
Runtime: 93 minutes
Age rating: R
Available to stream from: May 1

The first of two Wes Anderson movies in our list, and Anderson's sophomore directorial feature with recurring actors across his filmography. Jason Schwartzman stars in his first feature film as Max Fischer, a private school student whose academic performance is weak but knack for his extracurricular activities keeps him occupied. The arrival of new teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams) turns Max's world around, and he must find a way to cope with his feelings while navigating life on academic probation. 

The Promised Land (2023)

RT score: 96%
Director: Nikolag Arcel
Runtime: 127 minutes
Age rating: R
Available to stream from: May 1 

Arcel's historical drama was submitted as Denmark's entry for Best International feature at this year's Academy Awards, but while it didn't receive the nomination it still left a lasting impact on audiences. In 1755 Denmark, soldier Ludwig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) seeks to make a wealthy man of himself by following the king's order to cultivate the land. When landowner Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) rebels against the king's order, he plans to execute a ruthless revenge. 

Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)

RT score: 93%
Director: Wes Anderson
Runtime: 88 minutes
Age rating: PG
Available to stream from: May 1 

Rushmore's Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray join George Clooney and Meryl Streep in Anderson's first animated feature, adapted from the beloved children's book by Roald Dahl. Together with their son Ash (Schwartzman), Mr Fox (Clooney) and Mrs Fox (Streep) live peacefully inside a tree, but their new human farmer neighbors Boggis, Bunce, and Bean threaten their safety. Going behind his wife's back, Mr Fox plots to raid the farm of their produce. 

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Best Family Phone Plans for April 2024 - CNET

Looking for a wireless plan with multiple lines doesn't need to be difficult. We break down the best family plan deals from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

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It was hard not to shed a tear when MediaWorkstation disappeared, taking its wild six-screen a-X2P workstation laptop with it. 

The company’s workstation laptop promised to be an incredible, and ridiculous, powerhouse, with two AMD EPYC Genoa Zen 4 CPUs, two full-size GPUs, up to 3TB DDR5 RAM, one M.2 NVMe boost SSD, and five storage drives.

But if you still have a yearning to own a laptop with half a dozen screens attached to it, then we have good news.

Choice of screen resolutions

Acme Portable's Megapac L3, the successor to the company’s FlexPAC III, is available to buy and while it only – only! – comes with three 24-inch displays, it can be combined with the company’s ML3 triple display accessory, for a grand total of six screens. 

If you're noticing similarities between this system and the discontinued a-X2P beast, it's because MediaWorkstation was once a reseller for Acme Portable and had been looking to push the limits of what could be achieved with the platform.

The Megapac L3’s 3x 23.8-inch displays come in a choice of resolutions - UHD (3840x2160) with up to 800 nits brightness, Full HD (1920x1080) with up to 1000 nits, or WUXGA (1920x1200) with 1000 nits, all featuring an optional touchscreen.

It's powered by a single/dual Intel Xeon, Intel Core, AMD Ryzen or AMD EPYC CPU, with up to 1TB DDR4 RAM and up to 150TB storage. There are seven expansion slots, and it comes with an 850W auto-switching power supply, although there are 1000W or 1200W PSU’s available.

The dimensions for the three screen Megapac L3 are 16.39-inches high, 22.96-inches wide and 11.98-inches deep, with a weight of 52.82 lbs. It  comes with a 105-key keyboard with an integrated touchpad, padded rolling transit case, and can be customized to military specifications.

There’s no pricing available on the website, but if you want the Megapac L3, with three or six screens, you can contact them with your requirements.

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Over 60 of the Best Star Wars Gifts for 2024: Top Picks For May the Fourth - CNET

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VPN Users Beware: Windows 11 Security Update Might Break Your Connection - CNET

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Despite some stiff competition from the likes of Lenovo, Asus, MSI, and more, Valve’s Steam Deck has made its position as one of the best PC gaming handhelds in the market known time and again. And with the announcement that Nvidia’s GeForce NOW will introduce wider support for the Steam Deck, its dominance is even more assured.

There are two particularly excellent updates geared towards Steam Deck users. The first is a new beta installation method for GeForce NOW on the Steam Deck, which will automatically install Google Chrome to the device and add all necessary settings so users can immediately start playing after booting up for the first time. 

And the second is a GeForce NOW update that lets users navigate on the browser with a gamepad, including on the Steam Deck. This makes finding and playing games on the handheld without worrying about system specs — including non-Steam games and titles with Nvidia DLSS support and ray-tracing.

Nvidia and Valve had been in talks since 2023 to add more support for the Steam Deck, so these updates were certainly a long time coming.

Steam Deck is charging full steam ahead in the gaming space 

These latest updates from Nvidia help to smooth over some of the Steam Deck’s issues, mainly that its lack of power compared to other PC handhelds is becoming more apparent over time. The Steam Deck OLED fixes some of these problems, but certain titles cannot natively run without mods.

But being able to stream titles through GeForce NOW this easily is the best way to combat this issue (at least until the Steam Deck 2 finally launches, of course) since the hardware is completely irrelevant to how well the best PC games run. As long as you have a solid connection, framerate and general performance are as stable as it can be, even for titles that the system can’t otherwise play.

And with the added controller support coupled with the Steam Deck’s largest advantage over the competition — its excellent OS fully optimized for the handheld — it truly feels like it’s gotten meaningful enhancements that keep it competitive with its more powerful rivals.

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If the recent news concerning two Windows 11 updates that have been breaking various features isn’t enough, the recent reveal that the OS’s market share has dipped below 26% certainly should spark some alarm.

According to April 2024 data from Statcounter, Windows 11 plummeted to a 25.69% market share after it reached an all-time high of 28.16% back in February 2024. Meanwhile, Windows 10 has risen to over 70% market share during the same period, and this is after Microsoft announced its intentions to reach End of Support (EOS) for Windows 10 by October 2025.

Microsoft could be looking at a tremendous issue, in which its hopes for Windows 11 being the ultimate AI-supported OS with Copilot, are hampered due to not having the user base it needs. Normally, an OS drops in support once the successor launches, so Windows 11 falling nearly three points in just a few months is quite telling.

But is it honestly surprising? 

It’s no secret that Windows 11 has been plagued with issues and bad updates since its launch — not to mention its biggest problem involving many users not being able to make the upgrade in the first place due to its much steeper installation requirements, which prevents many otherwise interested users from even upgrading in the first place. 

There’s also the fact that the OS has been forcing ads as "recommendations" into the Start menu and has even begun testing promotional recommendation pages that take up your whole screen, urging users to make Edge the default browser and installing or enabling other services. The worst part is that there’s no way to fully opt out of these ads, which accomplish nothing but clog up the UI with constant notifications.

As for what features Windows 11 offers over Windows 10? There’s simply not enough incentive for users to make the jump, with some features like centering the icons and Start menu on the taskbar and bringing back desktop widgets, barely worth mentioning. And some features, like the ability to move the taskbar, were actually removed.

On the other hand, Windows 10 came after Windows 8/8.1 which endeared users to its many improvements including bringing back the Start menu. Not to mention how much more stable the OS is compared to its successor, with far fewer broken updates.

What's the future for Windows 11?

The biggest reason to make the move to Windows 11 is possibly Microsoft Copilot, but that’s also coming to Windows 10. There are some unique AI tools that Windows 11 will be getting eventually, but that could also serve to further the divide between users with higher-end PCs and less powerful ones.

So then, what should Microsoft do? The tech giant might have to cut its losses and speed up the release of Windows 12, putting all the AI goodies and other new features there instead. The user base would be more willing to move to a new OS, and doing so could even prevent a possible ecological disaster in the making. There are also tons of other features and tools that could be added, plenty of which are fan favorites that would easily draw in users from Windows 10.

This move would be the kiss of death for Windows 11, but this would honestly be a net positive for Microsoft, as it could put all the bad press for Windows 11 behind it and fully support a superior OS while giving Windows 10 users far more incentive to make the switch in the process.

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Best Air Fryer for 2024, CNET Tested - CNET

Air fryers have taken the kitchen scene by storm. Check out our expert tested top picks for the best air fryer.

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A new feature was discovered in the files of the fourth iOS 17.5 beta called Repair State. What it does is place your iPhone in a special hibernation mode that doesn’t force people to disable Find My when sending their device in to be serviced.

The way it works currently is whenever an iPhone is taken to a repair shop, users must turn off Find My in the settings menu. Doing so hasn’t been a problem for anyone until the introduction of the Stolen Device Protection feature on iOS 17.3.

Stolen Device Protection “adds extra security steps” to certain functions like requiring biometric authentication whenever an iPhone owner wants to access stored credit card information. It also adds a time delay when changing certain sensitive settings, such as Find My. This forces you to wait a full hour until you’re allowed to use your smartphone again regardless of how long repairs took. As a result, people have begun to complain about the lockout.

Repair State is the company’s solution. It lets users confirm “their Apple ID and password” designating them as the iPhone’s owner to technicians without having to deactivate Find My or Stolen Device Protection. According to MacRumors, phones under this mode have a “Ready for Repair” label alongside a stethoscope icon inside the list of devices. 

Work in progress

It’s been confirmed the feature is “only available on iPhones”. None of Apple’s other gadgets have been spotted with Repair State. You can check it out yourself by installing iOS 17.5 beta 4 from the tech giant’s Developer program However, it is recommended that you leave it alone. 9To5Mac in their report states users can enable the mode “when trying to remove their iPhone via [the] Find My app.” But once activated, there isn’t a way to disable Repair State.

The publication states there may be two reasons why you can’t revert the phone back to normal. It’s either because the company has yet to implement a way to turn off the mode or an Apple technician must first complete repairs before removing the mode. 

There doesn’t appear to be any performance issues associated with Repair State. None of the reports we sifted through mention anything relating to iPhones becoming inoperable. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as the hardware apparently “remains fully functional.” Still, just to be on the safe side, it’s better that you don't mess with it.

Apple’s WWDC 2024 is the tech giant’s next major event kicking off on June 10. While we don’t know what’ll be shown on the big day, we do expect to see iOS 18 make its world debut and Repair State may be one of the new tools on display.

Until then, check out TechRadar's list of the best iPhone for 2024.

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