Today's Hardware Pulse
Nvidia driver adds DLSS 5 profile options, hinting at next‑gen AI rendering
Nvidia's GeForce Game Ready driver 610.47 introduces three new profile settings—Enable DLSS NR override, Enable DLSS NR SL override, and Override DLSS NR presets—suggesting continued development of its upcoming DLSS 5 neural‑rendering technology. The earlier DLSS 5 reveal sparked debate over AI‑driven image alteration, after which Nvidia fell silent on the feature.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cyient Semiconductors raises $30M Series A
5 Laptops That Outshine The MacBook Air In Battery Life
A new roundup highlights five laptops that outlast the Apple MacBook Air in real‑world battery tests. The Dell XPS 14 tops the list with a 43‑hour web‑browsing record, while the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ and HP OmniBook 5 deliver over 18 and 28 hours respectively in light‑use scenarios. Lenovo’s Yoga 9i 2‑in‑1 Aura Edition and Apple’s own MacBook Pro M5 round out the group, offering 25‑plus and 24 hours of video playback. Prices range from sub‑$600 discount models to premium $4,000‑plus configurations, giving buyers options across budget tiers.
Wolfspeed: The 10 kV SiC MOSFET
Wolfspeed has launched the world’s first commercial 10 kV SiC MOSFET, delivered as a bare die. The device targets high‑voltage motor drives, electrical infrastructure, and niche markets such as mining and nuclear‑fusion plasma generation. Compared with the incumbent 6.5 kV silicon IGBT,...
Researchers Demonstrate Megawatt-Class Ga₂0₃ Module
A research team led by the University of Hong Kong has built a megawatt‑class gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) power module that can pulse‑switch continuously at 1,000 V and 1,000 A. The device uses a novel junction‑side cooling architecture with a high‑permittivity interface, cutting...
‘Most Significant Overhaul in the iPhone’s History’: Here’s When Apple Could Unveil Its Highly Anticipated Device
Apple is set to unveil its first foldable iPhone in September, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models. The device, described internally as the most significant redesign in iPhone history, will carry a price tag north of $2,000. Apple claims engineering...
Banning New Foreign Routers Mistargets Products to Fix Real Problem
On March 23 the FCC updated its Covered List to ban all new consumer routers made abroad unless granted a Department of Defense or Homeland Security exception. The agency says foreign‑made routers create supply‑chain vulnerabilities that could threaten the U.S....
Your Kindle's Not Obsolete, It Just Needs a Jailbreak - and I'll Show You How It's Done
Amazon will block all Kindle models released before 2013 from accessing the Kindle Store after May 20 2026, effectively ending official support for those devices. A detailed guide shows how owners can jailbreak these Kindles using MobileRead bin files and the “Update...
MODA Calls for Reinforced Undersea Cables
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) announced a push for more resilient undersea cables, recommending deeper burial and steel jacketing to curb sabotage and accidental damage. The agency’s first assessment identified anchor‑related incidents as the leading cause of disruptions, prompting...
Teledyne Labtech Accelerates Prototype and Early‑Programme PCB Builds with New Rapid Quote‑to‑Manufacture Service
Teledyne Labtech has launched a Rapid Quote‑to‑Manufacture service that slashes prototype PCB lead times to as little as five days. The offering uses a matrix‑based quoting model and streamlined programming to deliver transparent pricing and faster release to production. It...
Dongfeng's Automotive-Grade MCU Chip DF30 Steadily Advances Toward Mass Production and Vehicle Deployment
Dongfeng Motor’s DF30, China’s first high‑performance automotive‑grade MCU, has completed vehicle verification and extreme‑cold trials at –43 °C, moving toward mass production. Built on a domestic 40 nm RISC‑V process and meeting ASIL‑D safety standards, the chip serves as the core controller...
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 2026: 14‑inch, Longest Battery Life
14" Laptop with THE longest battery life right now. Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 2026. Video up
Wait No More: TCL's E-Paper NXTPAPER 70 Pro Is at T-Mobile for Cheap
TCL has introduced its NXTPAPER 70 Pro smartphone to U.S. shoppers through T‑Mobile and Metro by T‑Mobile at a $199 price point. The device features a 6.9‑inch FHD+ e‑paper display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a physical NXTPAPER Key for switching...
Cosm Builds ‘Shared Reality’ to Power Immersive, Real-World Experiences
Cosm Inc. has launched a "Shared Reality" platform that fuses ultra‑high‑resolution video, GPU‑driven rendering, and venue‑scale LED environments to make digital events feel physically present. The company relies on Dell Precision hardware and Nvidia GPUs to run a distributed 50‑node...
Intel, Musk, and the Tweet That Launched a 1000 Ships on a Becalmed Sea
Intel announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s Terafab project, joining SpaceX, xAI and Tesla to develop a 1‑terawatt‑per‑year AI compute fab. The deal follows Intel’s $11.1 billion federal rescue, converting unspent grants into a 9.9% U.S. government equity stake. Musk’s ecosystem...
Arpit Dwivedi on the 2,000-Year-Old Battery That Could Power the World | Believe in Aliens Episode 4
Cache Energy is commercializing a 2,000‑year‑old chemical reaction that stores electricity in limestone (quicklime) pellets housed in ordinary grain silos. Founder Arpit Dwivedi argues the approach is three to five times cheaper than competing long‑duration storage and can be deployed...
Tech Firms Skip Middle East, Boost Latin America Data Hubs
Outstanding day for LatAm today. War ending or not… one thing seems highly likely: None of the major tech companies will go out of their way to allocate capital toward building new data centers or large-scale facilities in the Middle East anytime...
The Neo Effect: How Apple’s Cheapest Mac Is Changing the PC Game
Apple introduced the MacBook Neo, a $599 (or $499 for educators) laptop that brings the company’s premium design language to a budget segment. Powered by the A18 Pro chip borrowed from recent iPads and iPhones, the Neo delivers smooth performance...
These Beats Studio Earbuds (With Noise Cancellation) Are on Sale for $100 Right Now
Beats has slashed the price of its Studio Buds+ true‑wireless earbuds by 41%, bringing the list price down to $99.95 from $169.95. The refreshed model adds longer battery life, improved active noise cancellation and a sleek three‑color design that works...
Applied Materials Debuts New Gear For Making AI Chips
Applied Materials unveiled two new deposition systems—Precision Selective Nitride PECVD and Trillium ALD—designed for sub‑2 nm, angstrom‑class logic chips. The tools deliver atomic‑level material control, cutting parasitic capacitance and enabling complex metal‑gate stacks that improve performance‑per‑watt for AI workloads. The announcement...
PCI Express Roadmap: The Path to 1TB/S with PCI 8.0, the Challenges of Integration, and Beyond
PCI Express continues its historic cadence of roughly doubling bandwidth each generation, moving from PCIe 5.0’s 32 GT/s per lane to the upcoming PCIe 6.0’s 64 GT/s using PAM4 and forward error correction. The shift to multi‑level signaling in Gen 6 introduces tighter electrical tolerances,...
SK Hynix Begins Supplying 321-Layer QLC Consumer SSD to Dell
SK hynix has begun shipping its new PQC21 consumer SSD, a 321‑layer quad‑level cell (QLC) drive in a compact 2230 form factor, to Dell Technologies. The drive is offered in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities and features Periphery‑Under‑Cell architecture, die‑packaging technology,...
SEMES Sees Diverging Performance Between Front-End and Back-End Equipment in 2025
SEMES reported mixed 2025 results, with front‑end equipment revenue climbing 16% to roughly $610 million, while back‑end sales fell 31% to about $304 million. The company boosted R&D spending by 49% to approximately $139 million, raising its intensity to 7.36% of revenue. New...
Solidigm Targets the AI Bottleneck with Advanced Storage Tech and Ecosystem Partnerships
Solidigm, the SK Hynix‑spun off NAND specialist, is tackling the AI memory bottleneck with its high‑density flash solutions and a suite of ecosystem partnerships. The company unveiled a 122‑terabyte QLC SSD and plans to double that capacity, promising lower power...
APEC 2026: AmberSemi’s Direct 48V-to-Load Architecture With CEO Thar Casey
AmberSemi announced a direct‑48‑volt‑to‑load power architecture for AI data centers, eliminating intermediate conversion steps and promising dramatically higher efficiency. The solution achieves a sub‑2‑millimeter Z‑height—down to 1.68 mm—and can scale beyond 10,000 amps, far surpassing trench‑FET and IVR offerings. The company taped...
As MacBook Neo Demand Soars, Apple Faces 'Massive Dilemma' With Its Inventory
Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo has quickly become a bestseller, driven by its vibrant colors, solid performance, and affordable price. The laptop relies on the A18 Pro chip, a leftover from the iPhone 16 Pro, but Apple’s inventory of these chips is far...
ACM Prize in Computing Honors Matei Zaharia for Foundational Contributions to Data and Machine Learning Systems
The ACM announced Matei Zahara as the 2026 recipient of the ACM Prize in Computing, recognizing his pioneering work on distributed data systems that power large‑scale machine learning and AI. The $250,000 award, funded by Infosys, highlights his creation of...
Inside the Challenging Development of a Low-Friction Micropump
Trelleborg Medical Solutions engineered a 15 mm, lubricant‑free micropump for wearable drug delivery, delivering 2‑10 µL per dose. The project required a novel LSR material that bonded to a PBT housing on one side while remaining ultra‑low friction on the other, and...
NAB Show: Proton Camera Innovations To Launch Proton Pro Minicam
Proton Camera Innovations unveiled the Proton Pro, a 30 mm × 30 mm × 49 mm, 79‑gram miniature broadcast camera at the NAB Show. Built around a 2/3‑inch global shutter sensor, it eliminates rolling‑shutter distortion in high‑speed sports shots. The camera ships ready for professional workflows with...
Apple's Fanciest Watch Is $100 Off
Apple has slashed the price of its top‑tier Apple Watch Ultra 3, offering the GPS + cellular model for $700 on Amazon—a $100 discount from the $799 list price. The deal applies to the Natural Titanium and Black Titanium variants, both featuring the...
NAB Show: Kokusai Denki To Feature New, Affordable 4K Broadcast Camera
Kokusai Denki Electric America will unveil the Z‑HD6500‑S1, an affordable native 4K broadcast camera, and the RU‑2500JY remote control panel at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The camera uses a 2/3‑inch UHD sensor and global‑shutter technology, mirroring the...
Aria Networks Raises $125M and Debuts Its Approach for AI-Optimized Networks
Aria Networks, founded by former Apstra CEO Mansour Karam, announced the general availability of its Deep Networking platform and disclosed a $125 million funding round led by Sutter Hill Ventures, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners and Eclipse Ventures. The platform...
Tesla’s New Supercharger for Business Tool Reveals $940,000 All-In Price
Tesla has unveiled a public configurator for its Supercharger for Business program, showing a fixed $500,000 hardware price and a total all‑in cost of roughly $940,000 for an eight‑stall V4 site. The tool also projects location‑specific ROI, ranging from a...
More On Batteries, Or How To Grow Lemons In Vermont
The author explores modern portable battery power stations—like Anker Solix, Bluetti and Jackery—and shows how they enable off‑grid greenhouse operations in Vermont, providing heating, water circulation, and monitoring without noisy generators. By coupling these batteries with small solar panels and...
TCL’s New Flagship Mini-LED Fire TV Is the First to Run Android 14-Based Fire OS 14 in the US
TCL launched the QM64L Series, its first mini‑LED Fire TV to run Amazon’s Fire OS 14, which is built on Android 14. The lineup spans 55‑ to 98‑inch models priced between $649.99 and $2,499.99, with the 98‑inch unit already on sale for...
These AI-Powered Guide Dogs Don't Just Lead, They Talk
Binghamton University researchers have built a robot guide dog that uses GPT‑4 to converse with visually impaired users, offering route planning and real‑time verbal navigation cues. The system was demonstrated at AAAI 2026 and tested with seven legally blind participants who...
It’s iPhone Speculation Time: Flips, Flaps — and Fold
Apple’s rumored iPhone Fold is back in the spotlight as Nikkei warns of engineering snags that could push launch to 2027, while Bloomberg‑cited analyst Mark Gurman insists the device remains on track for a September debut alongside the Pro models....
This $500 Speaker Hides a Full Dolby Atmos System Inside
Samsung launched its 2026 Music Studio line, featuring the premium Music Studio 7 ($499.99) and the more affordable Music Studio 5 ($299.99). The Studio 7 packs a true 3.1.1‑channel speaker array with Dolby Atmos and Eclipsa Audio support, earning a CES 2026 Innovation...
TikTok Investing $1.16 Billion for Second Data Center in Finland
TikTok announced a €1 billion ($1.16 billion) investment to build a second data center in Lahti, Finland, with an initial 50 MW capacity that can scale to 128 MW. The project is part of ByteDance’s broader €12 billion ($14.02 billion) European data‑sovereignty initiative aimed at keeping...
5 Burning Questions About Elon Musk’s Terafab Chip Partnership with Intel
Intel announced it will work closely with Elon Musk on the ambitious Terafab project, a joint chip‑development and fabrication effort by SpaceX and Tesla aimed at delivering a 1‑terawatt, ultra‑high‑performance fab. The partnership remains vague, with no SEC filings confirming...
TI Breaks Down High-Voltage DC Power in Data Centers
NVIDIA is championing a move to 800‑V high‑voltage DC (HVDC) distribution in AI‑driven data centers, pushing power per rack beyond 100 kW toward 500 kW. The strategy relocates AC‑DC conversion to external sidecar modules, freeing rack space and improving efficiency by up...
Advanced Packaging Forces US Chips Back to Taiwan
Choke Points: Why even the best chips made in the U.S. take a round trip to Taiwan? It’s because of Advanced Packaging facility… World has woken up to the supply chain choke points… Katie Tarasov @KatieTarasov of CNBC explains moe...
AR Camera Maps Real World for Holodeck Experiences
I got a demo of this. You aim your phone’s camera at almost anything in the real world and it knows exactly where that thing, say a building is, and exactly where your camera is too. Makes a great platform for...
LAX Transforms the Travel Experience with Daktronics Video Display System Upgrade at Tom Bradley International Terminal
Los Angeles World Airports has chosen Daktronics to install more than 30 high‑resolution LED displays forming seven media walls in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The upgrade will cover over 15,000 square feet and display roughly 300 million pixels, enhancing wayfinding,...
Nvidia's Rubin GPU Delayed by Memory Shortage, Technical Hurdles
Nvidia's Rubin GPU is likely to be late thanks to memory shortage and technical challenges https://t.co/VMHNcFjnzc https://t.co/jjDxxHh9FN
Early Kindles Remain Among Last Reliable Tech
this is terrible. the early kindles are some of the last pieces of Good Tech that still work without issue
From SoC to System-in-Package: Transforming Automotive Compute with Multi-Die Integration
Automotive electronics are moving from monolithic system‑on‑chips to multi‑die system‑in‑package solutions to meet soaring compute, safety, and longevity demands. By stacking or side‑by‑side heterogeneous dies, manufacturers can combine CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators and high‑bandwidth memory within a single package. This...
2026 Market Forecast Jumps $200B, Extending ROIC Horizons
It is wild that about two months ago, consensus memory in dollars for 2026 was ~$600B and now people are saying north of $800B... Very challenging to square this with ROIC timelines now, as they will have to lengthen, and...
IBM System/360's Tiny Compilers Birthed PL/I
History of the IBM System/360. Compilers in 10’s of k. (“New Programming Language” is what became PL/1) https://t.co/05GlEITHrf
From $1T in 70 Years to $2T in Five
What no one saw coming about this, since most $$ estimates were on volume not ASP, is just that - this is simply costs going up. It took >70 years to hit $1T and it will go from...
Supply Chains Plan Years Ahead, Not Weeks.
It’s 2026, and I have to wait a month to obtain a basic stripped down Mac Mini. The semiconductor supply chain plans for demand years in advance. It should be able to plan and respond weeks in advance.
Steam Machine Looms; Performance Estimator May Arrive Soon
The Steam Machine is now on the horizon, and clues in the Steam Client suggest a performance estimator could be coming as well. https://t.co/GfdB1PXH9I