Today's Hardware Pulse
Nvidia driver hints at next‑gen DLSS 5 work
Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready driver 610.47 adds three new profile options—Enable DLSS NR override, Enable DLSS NR SL override, and Override DLSS NR presets—suggesting continued development of DLSS 5 neural‑rendering technology. The earlier DLSS 5 reveal had sparked debate over AI‑driven image alteration, and the new driver hints at a quiet but ongoing effort.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cyient Semiconductors raises $30M Series A
AI Restores Voice by Reading Neck Muscle Movements
Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology have created an AI‑driven neck sensor that reads microscopic muscle and skin movements to convert silent speech into audible voice. The device combines a miniature camera with silicone markers in a multiaxial strain‑mapping sensor, sending motion data to a deep‑learning model that predicts words and then recreates the speaker’s own voice via synthesis. It promises a comfortable, non‑invasive alternative to EMG or EEG‑based systems for laryngectomy patients and noisy industrial settings. Tests show high accuracy even in factory‑level noise.
Broadband Restored In Orkney Islands After Fibre Repairs
Broadband service was restored to Orkney’s North Isles after BT Group repaired a damaged subsea fibre cable. The outage, declared a major incident, began on 16 March and left Westray, Sanday, Stronsay and nearby islands without broadband and, in some cases,...
The United States Is Repeating Its Silicon Mistake with Gallium Nitride
China controls roughly 99% of the world’s primary gallium and imposed an outright export ban on the United States in December 2024, leaving the U.S. defense stockpile with zero reserves. The article warns that the U.S. is repeating the silicon...
Sennheiser Launches HD 480 Pro, the Closed-Back Headphones Fans Have Been Waiting For
Sennheiser has launched the HD 480 Pro, a closed‑back headphone aimed at audio professionals. It reimagines the open‑back HD 490 Pro with a new Vibration Attenuation System to improve bass accuracy and reduce distortion. The design adds detachable cables, cushioned...
Illy Is a Primitive Intelligence
Illy is an experimental web‑based interface that reacts to spoken input by analyzing its sonic attributes—attack, loudness, roughness, and pitch—rather than parsing language. Built with the Web Audio API and WebGL, it generates abstract tonal replies and visualizations that mirror...
Samsung Unveils Bone‑conduction Galaxy Buds, Clip‑style Design
Our first look at the Samsung Galaxy Buds with bone conduction They have a clip style design. Expected launch alongside the new foldables
The Changing ASICs Landscape: The Shift Toward Chip Disaggregation
AI’s rapid growth is forcing ASIC designers to move away from monolithic dies toward modular, disaggregated architectures. By partitioning functions onto smaller, specialized dies and using advanced 2.5D, wafer‑to‑wafer and die‑to‑die packaging, companies can achieve better power, performance, and time‑to‑market...
Research Bits: Apr. 21
Researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrated a compute‑in‑memory (CIM) implementation of state‑space models using a 65 nm CMOS resistive‑RAM crossbar, achieving vector‑matrix multiplication within 4.6 bits of the ideal result while dramatically cutting energy use. In Tokyo, scientists from the Institute...
Huawei AI Glasses Take on Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley
Huawei unveiled its AI Glasses in China on April 20, pricing the base models at ¥2,499 (about $365) and a sunglasses variant at ¥2,899 ($420). The eyewear runs HarmonyOS, features a proprietary AI‑powered chip, a 1/2.8‑inch camera, and a built‑in real‑time...
Galaxy S26 US Sales Surge 30% Over S25
Another hit Galaxy S26 series US sales are up almost 30% over the S25 series. Launch has been so successful it erased the previous decline caused due to their delayed release The lineup is outperforming the S25 series globally Get yours: howl.link/9xu0aa4nd4ckh
KDDI to Launch HTC VIVE Eagle AI Glasses Through Au Retail Channels
KDDI and Okinawa Cellular will introduce HTC’s lightweight VIVE Eagle AI glasses in Japan on April 24, 2024, through the au +1 collection. Pre‑orders open on April 21 via the au Online Shop and selected stores. The glasses will also be stocked at...
Cisco Launches Sovereign Critical Infrastructure Across EMEA
Cisco announced the launch of its Sovereign Critical Infrastructure (SCI) portfolio for customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The offering bundles Cisco’s networking, security, compute, collaboration, AI and Splunk solutions into configurable, air‑gapped or hybrid on‑premises environments. It...
Government Pours $30m Into Counter-Drone Technology in Wake of Iran War
The Australian government has allocated about $30 million AUD (≈$20 million USD) to two domestic firms—Sypaq and AIM Defence—to fast‑track counter‑drone solutions. Sypaq will develop the Corvo Strike armed drone that can hunt larger UAVs, while AIM Defence will advance the Fractl high‑power...
Ray Launches in Dubai with $1.2 Million Investment in Hand
Ray, a UAE‑based powerbank‑sharing startup, closed a $1.2 million seed round led by private angels to launch its service in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The company’s portable charging stations let users rent a powerbank and return it at any network location,...
Doodle Labs Introduces New Nano² Mesh Rider Radio
Doodle Labs has unveiled the Nano² Mesh Rider radio, delivering the full capabilities of its Mini Mesh Rider platform in a dramatically reduced form factor. The new unit tackles the longstanding size‑weight‑power (SWaP) trade‑off that has limited small UAVs, ground...
AMD FSR 4 Multi-Frame Generation Nears Release With SDK Changes
AMD is preparing an upgrade to its FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) that introduces Multi‑Frame Generation, allowing multiple AI‑generated frames to be inserted between native renders. The FidelityFX SDK now includes parameters for developers to control frame‑generation levels, signaling a...
How Motor Architecture Shapes Surgical Hand Tool Performance
Portescap’s new white paper highlights motor architecture as a pivotal early‑stage decision for surgical hand‑tool design. It breaks down four core architectures—slotted, slotless, brushless DC and core‑less brushed—showing how each influences torque density, vibration, speed range and thermal management. The...
Honor MagicPad 3 Pro Debuts with 165Hz OLED and PC Features
Honor unveiled the MagicPad 3 Pro, a premium tablet slated for an April 23 launch. It features a 12.3‑inch OLED screen with a 165 Hz refresh rate and 5280 Hz PWM dimming for flicker‑free viewing. The ultra‑thin 4.8 mm chassis weighs about 450 g and offers up...
Hmmm: Rail-Optimized Networking for AI Workloads
Phil Gervasi’s recent piece promotes a “rail‑optimized” networking approach for AI training workloads, describing a mapping of endpoints to a dedicated plane within a standard leaf‑spine fabric. The article argues that keeping traffic within leaf switches and using server‑bus paths...
ASUS ROG Launches Zephyrus G14 and G16 Air with RTX 50 GPUs
At CES 2026, ASUS Republic of Gamers unveiled two new Zephyrus Air laptops—the 14‑inch G14 Air and the 16‑inch G16 Air. Both are powered by Intel’s Core Ultra 9 386H and NVIDIA’s RTX 50‑series mobile GPUs, with the G16 topping out at an RTX 5090...
Lenovo Debuts ThinkCentre X AI Desktops with Rotating 16:18 Display
Lenovo unveiled two enterprise‑grade desktops under the ThinkCentre X line: the AIO Aura Edition, a 27.6‑inch all‑in‑one with a rare 16:18 screen that rotates 90°, and the X Tower, a 34‑liter tower supporting up to 256 GB DDR5 memory and NVIDIA’s upcoming RTX 5090 GPU....
Xbox Project Helix Leak Suggests Shift to Standard PC Hardware Design
A leak suggests Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Project Helix will forgo a custom APU in favor of a PC‑like architecture built from off‑the‑shelf AMD components. The platform is rumored to pair RDNA 5 graphics with Zen 6 or Zen 6c CPU cores, mirroring modern gaming...
Inside SatEnlight's Spiral Staircase of Lasers: Interview with Startup Space Winner Matteo Vismara
In this episode, Jeffrey Hill interviews Matteo Vismara, CEO and co‑founder of Italy‑based SatNlight, the winner of the Sat Show’s 10th annual Startup Space Entrepreneur Pitch Contest. Vismara explains how his team’s optical‑communication terminal uses stacked vortex beams—visualized as a...
Cellcentric Launches 375 kW Truck Fuel Cell System
cellcentric introduced the BZA375, a 375 kW heavy‑duty fuel‑cell system weighing under 500 kg, at Hannover Messe 2026. The single‑module design replaces the twin‑stack BZA150, delivering 20% lower hydrogen consumption and 40% higher power density. It fits 13‑litre diesel engine bays, targets...
Brightspeed Reaches over 100,000 Locations with Fiber in Arkansas
Brightspeed announced that more than 101,000 homes and businesses in Arkansas now have access to its fiber network, marking the halfway point of its statewide deployment. The company aims to serve over 202,000 locations once the buildout is complete. Service...
Ingram Micro to Distribute J5create in Australia
Ingram Micro has signed a distribution agreement to bring j5create’s full line of accessories, including docking stations, Wormhole wireless display solutions, USB hubs, and adapters, to the Australian market. The partnership leverages j5create’s vertically integrated design‑to‑manufacturing model and its alignment...
Inline 3D Metrology Transforms Shipbuilding by Enabling Real-Time Forming Accuracy
Germany’s DIKUQ project, led by Fraunhofer IOF and shipbuilder Ostseestaal, has unveiled a semi‑automated inline 3D metrology system that captures steel sheet geometry in under half a second. The low‑latency sensor network uses synchronized cameras and structured‑light projection to generate...
Rise of Physical AI – KUKA and NVIDIA Partner to Launch Automation 2.0
KUKA and NVIDIA announced a strategic partnership at NVIDIA GTC, unveiling the KUKA Automation Management Platform (KUKA AMP) that blends traditional rule‑based control with intent‑based AI. The collaboration marks the launch of what KUKA calls Automation 2.0, a Physical AI framework that...
Seven Mental Models to Understand the AI Compute Era
The AI compute landscape expanded dramatically, with total tracked capacity jumping 8.5‑fold between Q1 2024 and Q4 2025, rising from 2.5 million to 21.3 million H100‑equivalent units. The article argues that this surge reflects a deeper power‑infrastructure race rather than merely more chips or...
FPGA Developer Claims Plaion's NeoGeo AES+ Is Effectively a “Bait and Switch”
Plaion announced the Neo Geo AES+, slated for a November 13 2026 launch, as a 1:1 hardware replica built on newly engineered ASIC chips rather than emulation or FPGA technology. The company highlighted collaboration with retro‑hardware experts Jotego and Furrtek in designing the...
According to a Leak, Microsoft’s Next Surface Lineup Will Feature a New Division: Snapdragon X2 for Consumers, Panther Lake for...
A leak reported by VideoCardz suggests Microsoft will split its upcoming Surface refresh between Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 processors for consumer devices and Intel’s Panther Lake (Core Ultra Series 3) for business models. The rumor aligns with recent announcements: Windows 11 26H1 is optimized for Snapdragon X2,...
CHUWI Admits to Incorrect Ryzen Configuration: CoreBook X and CoreBook Plus Can Be Returned by the End of May
On March 23 2026, CHUWI announced a recall of a limited batch of CoreBook X and CoreBook Plus laptops that were shipped with the wrong processor. The devices were marketed as AMD Ryzen 5 7430U but actually contain the older Ryzen 5 5500U, a discrepancy AMD has publicly...
Intel Is Reportedly Reconsidering Its Desktop Sockets, but Raptor Lake, of All Things, Might Still Be in the Running
Intel is reportedly planning to lengthen desktop socket lifespans, aiming for AMD‑style multi‑generation support. An insider leak suggests a Raptor Lake refresh could extend the aging LGA1700 platform alongside the upcoming Arrow Lake refresh on LGA1851 and Nova Lake on...
AMD’s openSIL Lands on an AM5 Consumer Board: The MSI PRO B850-P Becomes a Testing Ground for Coreboot Beyond AGESA
AMD’s openSIL firmware is being tested on a mainstream AM5 motherboard, the MSI PRO B850‑P, through a collaborative effort by 3mdeb. The project ports Coreboot and the Phoenix‑based openSIL stack, addressing challenges such as PCIe initialization and reliance on AMD PSP blobs....
Arch Linux Pulls the Plug on Pascal: GTX 10 Cards Are Dropped From the Default Path with NVIDIA 590
Arch Linux announced that its default NVIDIA 590 driver will no longer support Pascal GPUs, including the GTX 10 series. Users of these cards must manually install the legacy nvidia‑580xx‑dkms package to retain functionality. NVIDIA’s own support plan limits Pascal, Maxwell...
Chip Price Surge Rivals Oil Shock, Adds $300B Surplus
Chip price shock is by some measures as big as the current oil shock -- $300b annual increase in Korean/ Taiwan combined trade surplus v 24 based on latest data (depends of course on where oil settles for the rest...
Skin-Conforming Electrodes Improve Comfort in Long-Term Heart Monitoring
Researchers at NC State and UNC have created a skin‑conforming, gel‑free polymer electrode for ECG monitoring. The device incorporates a conductive polymer and surfactant into a POMaC elastomer, delivering adhesive, comfortable wear while matching the signal quality of commercial patches....
Max‑setting Cyber
Well, not if someone in the single family home wants to play Cyberpunk 2077 at max settings - but I take your point. https://t.co/KTPoGJvvx5
Nordic SoC Powers Holyiot Smart Badges
Holyiot Technology has embedded Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF54L15 system‑on‑chip into its Inkcard‑A1 e‑ink smart badge, delivering twice the processing power and three‑fold efficiency of the prior generation. The Bluetooth LE‑enabled badge can refresh images, QR codes or text in under six seconds...
Diamond Stretching and Squeezing Paves Way for Ultra-Precise Quantum Sensors
Researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design and Yangzhou University have demonstrated that applying precise mechanical strain to silicon‑vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond can controllably alter their quantum properties. Under compressive stress the SiV retains its symmetry, while tensile...
PortalVR Enables SteamVR Gaming Without a Headset
PortalVR Lets You Play SteamVR Games Without Wearing a Headset by @GabRoXR #AR #VirtualReality #AR #AugmentedReality #Gaming https://t.co/P38JakGvGv
Indra Group USA Launches $50 Million Manufacturing Center in Kansas for Next‑Gen FAA Radar
Indra Group USA opened a $50 million, 118,000‑square‑foot Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Olathe, Kansas, adding more than 200 high‑skill jobs. The facility will fulfill a multi‑million‑dollar FAA contract to build next‑generation air‑traffic surveillance radars and other defense communications equipment.
Conavi Medical Secures FDA 510(k) Clearance for Hybrid IVUS‑OCT Imaging System
Conavi Medical announced FDA 510(k) clearance for its next‑generation hybrid intravascular ultrasound‑optical coherence tomography system, positioning the company for a U.S. commercial rollout in the second half of 2026. The clearance opens a pathway into a global intravascular imaging market...
IBM and Arm Team Up to Build Dual‑Architecture Hardware for AI and Edge
IBM and Arm unveiled a strategic collaboration to develop dual‑architecture hardware devices that merge IBM’s enterprise‑grade system expertise with Arm’s energy‑efficient cores. The partnership targets AI, data‑intensive and edge workloads, promising greater flexibility, reliability and security for corporate customers.
Canada Launches Sovereign AI Supercomputing Program, Opens Applications
The Canadian federal government opened applications on April 15 for the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, a key element of its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. The initiative seeks private‑sector partners to design, build, operate and maintain AI‑optimized high‑performance computing systems,...
Turbo Energy and Hithium Link AI Optimization to Battery Storage Across Europe and Latin America
Turbo Energy announced a strategic partnership with battery maker Hithium to integrate its AI-driven optimization platform into Hithium’s storage systems, aiming to roll out software‑defined energy assets across commercial and industrial sites in Europe and Latin America. The deal builds...
Honor Launches 600 Lite with 108 MP Camera and 45W Fast‑charge in South Africa
Honor unveiled the 600 Lite in South Africa, a mid‑range phone that packs a 108 MP ultra‑clear camera, a 6520 mAh battery with 45W fast‑charging, and a metal‑forged unibody. The launch aims to raise the performance bar for budget‑friendly devices while emphasizing AI‑driven...
OPPO to Unveil Pad Mini, First Tablet with Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, at April 21 Event
OPPO announced that it will introduce the Pad Mini, the industry’s first tablet to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, at a launch event on April 21, 2026. The 8.8‑inch device is 5.39 mm thin, houses an 8,000 mAh battery and dual cameras, and promises a...
Roundhill Memory ETF Hits $1 B AUM in Just 10 Trading Days
Roundhill Investments' Memory ETF (DRAM) surpassed $1 billion in assets under management only ten trading days after its April 2 launch, marking the fastest‑growing thematic fund of 2026. The fund’s rapid inflow reflects investor appetite for direct exposure to global memory‑chip...
U.S. Army Deploys Ukraine‑Tested Merops Drones to Counter Iranian Shahed Threat
The U.S. Army has started fielding the Merops low‑cost interceptor drone, first used by Ukraine, to counter Iran‑made Shahed UAVs. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said 13,000 units were bought in eight days at about $15,000 each, a price that could...