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

Grab This Beginner-Friendly Creality 3D Printer for as Little as $186 Right Now — Ender 3 V3 SE Drops to...
Creality’s Ender 3 V3 SE 3‑D printer is now available on Amazon for a record‑low $186.15, undercutting even Creality’s own store price. The machine arrives nearly assembled and offers premium features such as auto‑bed leveling, a direct‑drive extruder, a 3‑inch LCD and a 250 mm/s print speed within a 220 × 220 × 250 mm build volume. A bundled option adds a four‑pack of filament for $209.89, delivering roughly 25% savings. These specs and pricing make the Ender 3 V3 SE an especially attractive entry point for beginners and hobbyists.

Philips Debuts Evnia 32M2N8900X 4K 240Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor
Philips has launched the Evnia 32M2N8900X, a 31.5‑inch QD‑OLED gaming monitor that delivers 4K resolution at a blistering 240 Hz refresh rate and a quoted 0.03 ms response time. The panel is VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certified, reaching 515 nits typical brightness and up...

Three SSD Makers Buy Into Nanya to Secure DRAM Supply
SanDisk, Kioxia and Solidigm are each investing roughly $500 million, with SanDisk contributing $1 billion, in a $2.5 billion private‑placement deal for a 3.9% stake in Taiwan’s Nanya Technology. The equity purchase is paired with a multi‑year supply agreement that guarantees each SSD...

The Tech Download: How Russia Could Profit From Iran War Helium Supply Chain Disruption in the Chip Sector
The Iran‑U.S. conflict has halted Qatar’s helium output, wiping out roughly a third of global supply. With Qatar accounting for over 30% of the market, helium prices have spiked, prompting semiconductor makers to seek alternative sources. Russia, the world’s third‑largest...

Tonga Gains New Transpacific Cable Link via Hawaiki
BW Digital announced the landing of a 383‑km spur of the Hawaiki subsea cable in Tonga, creating the nation’s second international fiber link and its first direct connection to a trans‑pacific backbone. The cable ties Tonga to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii...

IOS 26.4 + Firmware 8B39: The Update That Finally Fixes AirPods Pro Connection Lag
Apple has released AirPods Pro firmware version 8B39, unifying the software across AirPods Pro 2 (USB‑C and Lightning), AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4 while leaving the original Pro 1 on its legacy code. The update resolves several bugs for Pro 2 users, including faster...

The Meaning of Asset Intelligence in the Age of AI
The article introduces "Asset Intelligence" as a shift from raw building data to shared meaning, enabling questions like “Why is this room too hot?” to be answered accurately. It highlights the Semantic Bridge—a knowledge‑graph layer that links physical spaces, systems,...

Best External Hard Drive (2026): SSD to Store Data, Video, and More
The guide ranks external storage options for 2026, from high‑capacity HDD backups to cutting‑edge Thunderbolt 5 SSDs. It highlights Western Digital’s Elements desktop drive as the most affordable large‑capacity backup, while LaCie’s Rugged SSD Pro 5 tops performance for 6K video editing. Prices reflect...

Best Gaming CPU 2026
The article crowns AMD’s Ryzen 7 9850X3D as the top gaming CPU for 2026, edging out the 9800X3D by a modest clock boost and a $20 price premium. Intel’s Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is highlighted as the best value option at $299, while the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus...

Study: European Companies Ramp up Electric Fleet Adoption
A DKV Mobility study of 1,732 European fleet managers shows electric vehicles are moving from niche to mainstream, with 56% of firms planning to add battery‑electric vehicles in the next two years. The Netherlands leads with a 21% electric‑fleet share,...

Why DCIM Still Fails when Data Centres Need It Most
Data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) often consists of disparate point solutions—SCADA, BMS, NMS, ITSM—that operate in isolation. This “system zoo” creates alert storms during incidents, forcing engineers to manually stitch together timelines across multiple consoles, which prolongs mean‑time‑to‑resolution. The rise...

My Favorite Bluetooth Speaker Just Got a Gold-Plated Edition, and It's Not as Expensive as You Might Think
The Minirig 4 gold‑plated edition adds a polished gold finish to the compact, mono Bluetooth speaker while keeping its core specs intact. It houses a 2.75‑inch driver that produces deeper bass than many multi‑driver rivals and offers up to 100 hours of...

CODM X Infinix NOTE 60 Series
Infinix has teamed up with Call of Duty: Mobile to turn its newly launched NOTE Edge and NOTE 60 series into optimized gaming devices for emerging markets such as Latin America, Brazil, India, and Africa. The partnership delivers 120 FPS performance, JBL‑tuned...

Virgin Media Business Wholesale Accelerates High-Capacity Delivery in the UK
Virgin Media Business Wholesale announced a major milestone in its Project Spark network transformation, completing national upgrades to its high‑capacity core, metro and MPLS layers. The new National High‑Capacity Services core now spans 23 sites, supporting 83% of demand, while...

6-Channel Piezo Driver for Piezo Stacks, Transducers, Scanner Tubes, and Precision Actuators
Physik Instrumente (PI) Ceramic has launched the E‑413, a six‑channel, low‑noise piezo driver designed for high‑precision actuation across static and dynamic applications. Each channel delivers up to ±250 V, 100 mA and 50 W peak power, enabling simultaneous control of multi‑axis piezo stacks,...
Indie Studios Rally Against Nvidia's DLSS 5, Calling It AI Gimmick
New Blood Interactive’s CEO Dave Oshry and Dusk developer David Szymanski publicly denounced Nvidia’s DLSS 5 generative‑AI upscaler, labeling it a low‑quality gimmick and urging indie studios to boycott the technology. Their criticism revives the anti‑NFT sentiment that once rallied indie...
Linux Patches Posted To Fix ~2x Performance Drop For CPU Workloads On NVIDIA Vera Rubin
NVIDIA engineers identified a severe performance regression on the upcoming Vera Rubin CPUs, where enabling Simultaneous Multi‑Threading (SMT) caused up to a two‑fold slowdown for CPU‑intensive workloads. To address this, Linux kernel developer Andrea Righi submitted a patch series that...
Amazon's Big Spring Sale Slashes iPad Air Price by $84.50, Sparking Tablet Frenzy
Amazon's third‑annual Big Spring Sale (Mar 25‑31) offers the 13‑inch M4 iPad Air for $714.50, $84.50 off its list price. The deep discount joins a wave of Apple markdowns that are reshaping spring‑season ecommerce traffic.
Amazon Acquires Fauna Robotics, Enters Humanoid Robot Market
Amazon has bought Fauna Robotics, the maker of the $50,000 Sprout humanoid robot, adding a kid‑size, developer‑friendly bot to its growing robotics lineup. The deal, announced on March 24, positions Amazon against Tesla and expands its reach beyond warehouse automation...

AI Glasses Are Catching on in China, From Shopping to Cheating
AI‑powered smart glasses are moving beyond novelty in China, with domestic players such as Xiaomi, Alibaba and Li Auto launching models priced $270‑$1,000. In 2025 the market shipped 2.5 million units, representing 16.7 % of global volume, and the government added a...
AMDGPU Driver For Linux 7.1 Preps Debug Improvements, New Hardware IP
AMD has released a batch of AMDGPU and AMDKFD kernel driver patches targeting the upcoming Linux 7.1 release. The updates introduce a new DebugFS interface for 64‑bit PCIe registers, add support for the SMU 15.0.8 IP block, and bring a series of...

Infrastructure as Code (IaC): A Complete Guide for IT Leaders in 2026
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has become the operational standard for enterprises, with the global market hitting $2.2 billion in 2025 and projected to surpass $12 billion by 2032. IaC replaces manual provisioning with version‑controlled code, delivering consistency, speed, security, and cost efficiency....

These WD Black SSDs Are over 60% Off During Amazon's Spring Sale
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale (March 25‑31, 2026) is offering steep discounts on Western Digital’s high‑performance WD Black gaming SSDs, with price cuts exceeding 60% on select models. The 4 TB SN850X drops to $670 (down from $1,700) and the 4 TB SN7100 to $626...

SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C5 Board Offers Dual-Band WiFi 6, Adafruit Feather Pinout, LiPo Battery Support
SparkFun has released the Thing Plus – ESP32‑C5, a Feather‑compatible development board built around Espressif’s dual‑band Wi‑Fi 6 ESP32‑C5 SoC. The board ships with the stable ESP‑IDF v6.0 SDK, OTA‑capable safe bootloader, and comes pre‑loaded with MicroPython while also supporting Arduino IDE....

SBQuantum and Spire to Send Quantum Diamond Magnetometer Into Orbit
Canadian startup SBQuantum will launch a quantum diamond magnetometer aboard a Spire Global satellite on March 30 via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare. The device, roughly the size of a quart of milk, is competing in the final phase of the National...

Mobile Network Spending to Fall 29% in 2026-31, Says ABI Research
ABI Research forecasts global outdoor mobile network spending to peak at $92 billion in 2026, stay flat in 2027, then tumble 29% to about $65 billion by 2031. The decline follows near‑complete 5G rollouts and early 6G planning, with 5G‑Advanced expected to...
New Jersey Turns to Big Batteries as Power Prices Rise
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities approved incentives for three battery storage projects totaling 355 MW under the Garden State Energy Storage Program. The projects—Woods Landing (200 MW), Two Rivers (150 MW) and North America Energy Storage (5 MW)—will receive up to $27.6 million annually,...

Connected Vending Machines Pass 8 Million Units as Cashless Payments Accelerate Adoption
Berg Insight reports that 8.1 million connected vending machines were operating globally in 2025, and projects the fleet to climb to nearly 11.7 million by 2030, driven by a 7.6% CAGR. The bulk of installations are in the Rest of the World...

EDC Flashlight: The Small Light That Handles Big Messes
The Rodman ED08 is a coin‑sized, titanium‑built EDC flashlight that offers five LED colors, magnetic mounting, and a 105° adjustable stand. It delivers up to 300 lumens, is IP68‑rated, and charges via USB‑C, providing up to 26 hours of low‑mode runtime. Priced...

I Love It when Apple Makes a Great Budget Device, and the iPhone 17e Is an Affordable Powerhouse – the...
Apple’s new iPhone 17e launches at $599 (about $760 USD in the UK), positioning it as a budget-friendly yet powerful alternative to flagship models. It packs the A19 3 nm chip, 8 GB RAM, and a 6.1‑inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, delivering performance...

Three Talented New Compact Radios for Surfing the Airwaves in Style
Philips introduced the TAR3500, a rugged DAB/AM/FM radio with a 60‑hour lithium‑ion battery, solar panel, hand‑crank charger and built‑in flashlight, SOS siren and beacon, priced at £59.99 (≈ $76). The company also announced the retro‑styled MS60 Roller at €179.99 (≈ $196). Roberts...

AML3D Secures $9.9M ARCEMY X Order From HII for U.S. Navy Shipbuilding
AML3D Limited secured a ~AU$9.9 million (≈$6.5 million) order from Huntington Ingalls Industries for four ARCEMY X large‑scale metal 3D printers to be installed at Newport News Shipbuilding. The machines, based on the company’s Wire Additive Manufacturing (WAM) process, will raise the shipyard’s ARCEMY X...

ASUS Debuts W890 Workstation Boards for Xeon 600 AI Systems
ASUS unveiled two workstation‑class motherboards, the Pro WS W890E‑SAGE SE and Pro WS W890‑SAGE, built on Intel’s W890 chipset for Xeon 600 AI processors. Both boards support up to 256 GB DDR5‑8800 memory, extensive PCIe 5.0 expansion, and enterprise‑grade connectivity such as dual 10 GbE and remote‑management BMC. The...

Hikvision to Unveil Multidimensional AIoT Ecosystem at Hannover Messe 2026, Redefining Industrial Safety and Smart Manufacturing
Hikvision will unveil a multidimensional AIoT ecosystem at Hannover Messe 2026, held April 20‑24 in Hanover, Germany. The showcase will feature AI‑driven safety tools such as PPE compliance monitoring and gas‑leak detection, as well as predictive maintenance solutions like temperature...

Innomotics Leads Turbine Replacement Technology Market
Innomotics, a global leader in electric motor and drive systems, announced a series of turbine‑replacement contracts across Europe, Asia and India, with total order values in the higher double‑digit million‑euro range (approximately $30‑$40 million). The projects replace gas and steam turbines...

AR Glasses Seamlessly Run on HP EliteBoard with 6K Display
Can confirm the @xreal_global and @rayneo_global AR glasses both work on @hp’s new EliteBoard G1a keyboard PC with @amd AI 5 PRO 340. I also connected it to the @dell 52” 6K monitor over TB4 and got power, data and...
Sony Hikes PS5 Prices, Digital Edition up $200
Sony is raising the price of its PS5 consoles: • PlayStation 5 – $549.99 to $649.99 • PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99 to $599.99 • PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99 to $899.99 PS5 Digital has now increased by $200 since its launch price...

Chip Industry Week In Review
Arm unveiled its first internally designed AGI CPU built on TSMC’s 3 nm process, targeting power‑efficient AI data‑center workloads. Gartner predicts inference costs for 1‑trillion‑parameter LLMs will fall more than 90 % by 2030, while Google warns quantum computers could break current...

Rising Console Prices Signal Switch 2 Could Hit $500
A new PS5 now starts at $600. A new PS Portal is now $250. This is absolutely unprecedented. There's no way we don't see the Switch 2 going up to $500. https://t.co/MJEFtycBBr https://t.co/D5peLfrfXe
Europe May Soon Ban Foreign WiFi Routers
An #unthinkable scenario, but not impossible: What happens if UK or Europe follow the US and try to ban foreign WiFi routers? https://t.co/63TLrKcnki

Viasat & QEST Explore Next-Generation Multi-Band Antenna
Viasat and antenna specialist QEST have begun a joint study to create a dual‑band X‑band/Ka‑band airborne terminal that builds on Viasat’s Hybrid SATCOM Approach platform. The project will replace the GAT5530’s Ku‑band aperture with QEST’s TRL‑9 X‑band hardware, enabling aircraft...

TEKEVER Successfully Integrates Quadsat Electronic Warfare Payload SpectraLoc Onto AR3 EVO Drone Platform
TEKEVER and Denmark’s Quadsat have completed flight integration tests of Quadsat’s SpectraLoc electronic‑warfare payload on the TEKEVER AR3 EVO tactical drone. The trial demonstrated the platform‑agnostic payload’s ability to detect and geolocate hostile RF emitters while airborne, cutting reliance on traditional...
Nanoverse Technologies Announces New Tools
Nanoverse Technologies (NVT) unveiled a new family of advanced packaging tools that combine laser singulation with integrated metrology. The flagship NVT 7700 can process up to 30 wafers per hour with sub‑3 µm placement accuracy and delivers die‑break strength two to three...
Ex-BYD, Huawei Engineers Launch Compact 32 Km/H Bike Motor
Turn Any Bike Electric: Ex-BYD and Huawei Engineers Unveil Compact 32 km/h Drive System via @Rainmaker1973 #Innovation #EmergingTech #Technology #Tech https://t.co/z9nN0Ue1kP
The Intel Core Ultra 3 205 Appears on PassMark for the First Time, Raising New Questions About Intel’s Entry-Level Strategy
Intel's Core Ultra 3 205, an Arrow Lake‑S entry‑level CPU, has finally appeared on PassMark with a 26,244 overall score and a 4,586 single‑thread rating. The chip features an 8‑core 4P/4E hybrid architecture, 4.9 GHz turbo, 15 MB cache and integrated Xe graphics, but...
ASUS X870 BIOS References to “Future CPU Support” Are Once Again Fueling Speculation About Upcoming AMD Desktop CPUs
ASUS has posted beta BIOS updates for its X870, B850, X670 and B650 motherboards that include a vague "Future CPU Support" note, sparking renewed speculation about a new AMD desktop processor line. Official ASUS support pages, however, only reference AGESA...

ASML Seeks Partnerships with Indian Firms, Team to Visit Semiconductor Units Across the Country: Ashwini Vaishnaw
ASML announced plans to partner with Indian semiconductor firms, sending a delegation to visit local chip‑making units. The move aligns with India’s Semiconductor Mission 2.0, which expands focus from pure manufacturing to design, materials, equipment, chemicals and gases. Union Minister...
Nintendo 3DS Debuts in North America, March 27 2011
#ThisDayInTechHistory. March 27, 2011. The Nintendo 3DS launched in North America, priced at US$249.99. #Gaming #Technology #History @Nintendo https://t.co/pYD9M6PqRT
Valeo's Invisible Trailer Lets Drivers See Through Cargo
Valeo’s ‘Invisible Trailer’ Tech Lets Drivers See Straight Through Their Load by @Khulood_Almani #Innovation #EmergingTech #Tech #Technology #TechForGood https://t.co/DVtIYuOjJj

Quantum Battery Prototype Achieves Ultra‑Fast Charging
Scientists demonstrate quantum battery prototype with rapid charging #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/AxphAp5wAP https://t.co/HjngLBmLdA