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Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

TSMC to Begin 3nm Chip Production Next Month

News

3nm chips from TSMC are getting closer. TSMC will begin mass producing chips using its leading-edge N3 (3nm-class) manufacturing process this September, according to a Commercial Times report that cites equipment manufacturers. The contract chipmaker will deliver the first products made using its N3 node to its customers early next year. Traditionally, TSMC begins its high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of a new node sometime in the March to May timeframe to produce enough chips for Apple's latest iPhones, which typically launch in September. But the development of TSMC's N3 node took longer than usual, which is why Apple's upcoming smartphone chips will use a different node. In contrast, the first 3nm chips from TSMC will reach the HVM milestone only in September, which...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

Intel Factories in China Shut Down to Conserve Electrical Power

Computing, Gaming, News

Prioritizing survival over production capacity An ongoing heatwave in Sichuan, China is already compromising chip manufacturing within its borders - while simultaneously threatening the life of Chinese citizens. Air-conditioning usage has spiked due to the severity of the heatwave - which has driven average temperatures up from the 30 degrees Celsius average typical of August towards an arid, low-humidity 40 degrees Celsius. The sudden and unexpected surge in electric power demand, alongside also record-breaking lows in precipitation, means that the water supplies feeding Sichuan's hydropower plants are proving to be insufficient, adding further strain to the situation. The heatwave driving temperatures to 60-year-highs has led to shortages so severe that local news...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

ExpressVPN Gets a Boost on M1 and M2 Macs

Computing, News

It still works well on Intel-based Macs, too The latest version of ExpressVPN has been built to better integrate with Silicon-based Macs, resulting in several performance enhancements. If you use ExpressVPN on an M1 or M2 Mac, you should consider downloading the newest update because this one is designed to work as seamlessly as possible with Apple Silicon systems. As ExpressVPN describes it, many third-party apps have to be filtered through Rosetta 2 to run on M1 and M2 hardware, which can result in lower performance. This new update allows ExpressVPN to work in an M1 or M2 system directly without needing to pass through Rosetta first. Something the company states will improve reliability, boost performance and speed, and be less of a drain on the battery. Compared to running an...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

The All-New System Settings in MacOS Ventura Will Frustrate You—Here’s Why

Computing, Laptop, News, Tablet

Last year, Apple's Safari update was an embarrassing disaster. This year, it's the Mac's System Settings app. In the next version of macOS—Ventura—Apple has updated the Mac's System Preferences app to resemble the Settings app on the iPhone and iPad. It's called System Settings, and right there we see the problem—why not just keep the old name or use 'Settings?' According to everyone who has commented on it, the new design is an utter mess. And it might be too late to do anything about it. "Even after five betas, MacOSVentura's System Settings are still causing headaches," software product manager Daivat Dholakia told Lifewire via email. "Apple prides itself on its sleekness, user-friendliness, and dependability. To roll this out with cut-off buttons, menu...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

Foldable Phones Are Here to Stay and Experts Agree That’s a Good Thing

News, Phones, Tech

Apple might not agree, but folding phones have a lot to offer. Experts say that while you might not have one yet, a foldable phone could be in your future. And there's a lot to look forward to. With Samsung's recent announcement of not one, but two new foldable phones, it's the big player in a market that's still taking shape. That is to say that Samsung is one of a handful of companies offering foldable phones for sale in the country, but experts expect that to change soon enough. Apple will surely join the fray, and not before time. "More than anything else, foldables reintroduce an element of fun that was missing in the handset industry in the last five years," Harish Jonnalagadda, a senior editor at Android Central, tells Lifewire via WhatsApp message. They point to the fact ...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

There’s never been a better time to try Spotify Premium

News

Get three months of Spotify Premium for free If you’ve never used Spotify Premium and want to finally try it out then right now you can get a free trial for three months instead of the usual one month(opens in new tab). The new deal applies to the Spotify Premium Individual plan – which usually costs $10 / £10 / AU$12 per month – saving you extra cash compared to the usual single-month trial. This deal will also give you a bit longer to decide if Spotify Premium really is the best music streaming service for you. Unfortunately, there are some restrictions on this deal, with the main one being that your account can’t have ever held a Premium subscription before. If it has then you’ll be locked out of this deal, though that doesn’t mean you can’t still save on Spotify. If y...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

Corsair shows off next-gen SDD with incredible 10,000MB/s speeds

Computing, Gaming, News

Corsair has revealed a small teaser for its upcoming PCIe Gen5 M.2 SSD, the first of its kind from the manufacturer. Called the MP700 (a straight update from the previous Gen4 MP600 series), the new SSD supposedly features a whopping 10,000MB/s read speed, with up to 9,500MB/s sequential write speeds too. Off the back of a strong current partnership with AMD, Corsair was keen to highlight the AM5 compatibility of the new SSD, indicating that it might see a launch in September of October of this year to coincide with the release of AMD’s next generation of processors. It’s worth remembering that Intel’s Alder Lake chips already have PCIe 5.0 support, too. If it hits the projected speeds in real-world use, the MP700 will be as much as 40% faster than the most expensive PCIe 4.0 drive ...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

Intel Raptor Lake flagship CPU may have ‘extreme performance’ mode – at a cost

Computing, News

Intel could make it easy to get the most out of the Core i9-13900K processor Intel’s Raptor Lake flagship could offer a special ‘extreme performance’ mode which really juices up the power supplied to the CPU to offer a sizeable frame rate boost. This rumor comes from a Hungarian tech website, ProHardver(opens in new tab), as spotted by VideoCardz(opens in new tab), so we’d take this with more seasoning than usually applied; but it does back up what we’ve been hearing from the grapevine elsewhere (we’ll return to that point later). ProHardver claims that the performance mode will up the ante for power usage to 350W with the Core i9-13900K, whereas the standard PL2 (power consumption at maximum boost) is set at 253W. So it’d theoretically represent a huge leap in the top level of p...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

MediaTek’s new platform for 5G routers and mobile hotspots can help save cost

News, Tech

Shot in the arm for cellular internet services Taiwanese company MediaTek has announced the T830 hardware platform for 5G mobile hotspots, fixed wireless internet access devices, which are now getting more mainstream now. The new platform is intended to provide power savings and reduce development time and costs. The T830, MediaTek said, will make it possible for operators to deliver 5G speeds up to 7 Gbps right out of the box using sub-6 GHz cellular infrastructure and avoid the costs of wireline technologies such as cable or fiber. Thanks to T830, super-fast internet service is possible from a small device which can self-install, this can help avoid lengthy installation times for fixed line broadband. JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek’s wireless comm...

Aug182022 by Gadgets PrimeNo Comments

ColorOS 13 hands-on: Material You theming, music controls on AoD and more

Featued, News

ColorOS 13 is a significant overhaul over ColorOS 12 Oppo has changed quite a few things with the ColorOS 13 update. The new UI is based on Android 13, Oppo changed the naming of ColorOS versions to match Android versions with the debut of ColorOS 11. ColorOS 12 did not come with many changes over ColorOS 11 and did not resemble much with stock Android 12. But with ColorOS 13, Oppo has changed quite a lot with this update visually, to make it in line with the new design aesthetics of Android 13 by incorporating Material You design into the UI. COLOROS 13: FEATURES We had early access to ColorOS 13, and I've been using the UI for more than a week now. Here are the best features of ColorOS that you should know of, and my thoughts on Oppo's newest software update. NOTIFICA...