Nvidia cancels the disputed RTX 4080 12GB version
On October 14, Nvidia said through its official website that it would cancel the previously controversial RTX 4080 12GB version. Nvidia originally released the new RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 at the end of September, the latter is divided into two video memory versions, 16GB and 12GB, but in fact, there are huge differences in the internal architecture: the 12GB version only has 7,680 CUDA cores and a memory width of 192bit, which is much weaker than the 16GB version’s 9,728 CUDA cores and 256bit width. This misleading naming has sparked criticism and controversy.
In this regard, Nvidia admitted in a press release that its naming error was confusing. The 16GB version will be available on November 16 as originally planned for $1,199; It is unclear whether the 12GB version will be rebranded and relaunched in the future.
Razer announces Android-based handheld Edge
On October 16, Razer officially unveiled the Razer Edge, a handheld device at its RazerCon conference that supports running local Android games, streaming cloud games via Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now, and streaming LAN games via Steam Link. PC games via Steam Link.
The hardware is a combination of a “tablet” style body and a detachable controller, with the controller being an enhancement of the Razer Kishi V2 Pro, a handle previously launched for smartphones. The main unit features a 6.8-inch FHD Plus OLED screen with 144Hz refresh rate and 288Hz touch refresh rate, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 chipset processor with 8GB of LPDDR5 memory and 128GB of storage space.
The Wi-Fi version of the Razer Edge will be released in January 2023 for $399.99, followed by a 5G network version in conjunction with U.S. carrier Verizon; pre-orders are now open, similar to the previous Steam Deck, for a $5 participation fee.
Spotify to launch Platinum plan with HiFi sound quality
According to 9to5Mac, some users recently received a questionnaire from Spotify after canceling their Spotify subscriptions, which revealed a new subscription slot called “Platinum”. The plan, priced at $19.99/month, will include all the benefits of the existing Personal Premium plan, as well as Hi-Fi sound quality, some features presumably enhancing sound and library management based on the name (Studio Sound, Headphone Tuner, Audio Insights, Library Pro, Playlist Pro), and the right to reduce ads when listening to podcasts.
Since the wording of the questionnaire is “Are you willing to switch to this new subscription plan within 30 days”, it can be assumed that the subscription plan will be officially announced in the near future. Spotify first announced in February 2021 that it would offer HiFi sound quality, but it has never been online; Although the plan was reconfirmed in January this year, the exact timing was not available.
The first international standard for autonomous driving led by China was officially released
On October 14, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a dynamic that the first international standard in the field of autonomous driving test scenarios led by China is ISO 34501: 2022 “Road Vehicles Autonomous Driving System Test Scenarios” vocabulary Road vehicles — Test scenarios for automated driving systems — Vocabulary) officially released. This is the first standard released in a series of international standard projects (including scenario vocabulary, safety assessment framework, design and operation scope, scenario classification, and evaluation and use case generation) jointly planned around autonomous driving test scenarios.
According to reports, ISO 34501 mainly standardizes the concepts of automatic driving system, dynamic driving task, design operation scope and conditions, clarifies the relationship between scene, dynamic and static environment and physical elements, and forms scene-level description rules including functional scenes, abstract scenes, logical scenes and specific scenes, which is an important basic standard for automatic driving system test scenarios.
Intel plans to lay off workers on a large scale
According to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter, Intel will carry out large-scale layoffs involving thousands of people to deal with the declining personal computer market. The layoffs will be announced as early as this month, in conjunction with the third-quarter earnings report scheduled for Oct. 27. As of July, Intel had 113,700 employees; It is revealed that the scale of layoffs in departments such as sales and marketing could reach 20%.
On the second-quarter earnings call, CEO Pat Gelsinger said he would do more to reduce spending this year in the second half of the year. According to analyst forecasts, the move could help Intel reduce fixed costs by 10 to 15 percent, saving between $25 billion and $30 billion. Intel’s last major layoffs occurred in 2016, when about 12,000 people were laid off.
According to Bloomberg contributor Mark Gurman, Apple will soon release new 11-inch and 12.9-inch versions of the iPad Pro with M2 processors, but with the same look; the first 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max are also expected to be released soon, but later than the iPad Pro. On the software side, iPadOS 16.1, which was skipped due to quality issues, is scheduled for release next week, along with macOS Ventura, and the previously revealed entry-level iPad with a USB-C port and similar design to the iPad Pro is still in development. Gurman also revealed that Apple will release an iPad speaker dock next year, similar to the one Google recently released for the Pixel tablet.
According to The Information, citing sources, Apple’s mixed reality devices will have pupil scanning capabilities that support multi-user authorized login, which the wearer can directly use to perform account login, payment authentication and other operations. In addition, the message further confirms that Apple’s mixed reality devices will be equipped with 14 cameras, two of which will face down to capture the wearer’s legs for full-body motion tracking.
Recently, 91mobiles learned about the possible screen specifications of the Google Pixel Fold from developer Kuba Wojciechowski. It is said that the machine will use Samsung flexible panel, the internal folding screen has a resolution of 1840 × 2208, and a size of 123mm × 148mm; The peak brightness is 1200 nits and the average brightness is 800 nits; 120Hz high brushes may be supported.
Recently, some sports media announced the list of the highest-paid NBA mascots, revealing that the Mountain Lion Rocky of the Denver Nuggets earned more than $600,000 a year; Later, the media interviewed the Erie Otters of the Hockey League and asked about the annual salary of its mascot, Otter Otto. In response, the Otters declined to give a specific figure, saying only that it was definitely less than $100,000. Otters said playing the otter mascot was definitely an exercise, and the amount of sweat at a time was unimaginable, as multiple candidates had failed to pass the interview due to physical exhaustion.