The Notes app in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 makes it easy to add an audio recording to a note, and create a written transcription of it if desired. Here's how to do it.
Notes can record audio and provide transcriptions, starting with iOS and iPadOS 18.
It has long been possible to add an audio recording to a note created in the Notes app, but in earlier iOS versions it was a little more cumbersome. Users would open the Voice Memos app, record the audio, and then attach that recording to a new note in the Notes app.
As of iOS 18, that functionality is directly available in Notes — though it is still somewhat hidden until you know how to find it. The big change compared to the previous Voice Memos app is that Notes can now also provide a written transcript of what was said, if you are using an iPhone 12 or later.
Apple TV+ show "Servant" allegedly stole key elements from a 2013 film called "The Truth About Emmanuel," and the trial is back on with a jury set to decide if Apple and M. Night Shyamalan should be fined $81 million.
Apple TV+ show 'Servant.' Image source: Apple
Director Francesca Gregorini sued in January 2020, and the case was initially thrown out. She alleges that the dark themes surrounding a reborn doll and similar shots between the properties are enough to suggest copyright infringement.
According to a report from Variety, creators of the show and M. Night Shyamalan will testify to a jury. The jurors will watch "The Truth About Emmanuel" and the first three episodes of "Servant" to help make a determination.
If you're tired of smelly garbage, the Vego Kitchen Composter is a great way to responsibly dispose of food scraps — if you're fine with sacrificing the countertop space.
Vego Kitchen Composter
Food waste is a big deal. While the numbers vary depending on your source, it's estimated that the average American throws away anywhere between 200 and 400 pounds of food a year.
That might not seem like a big deal because that averages about 0.82 pounds of waste a day — about 2.5 apples or a little less than one russet potato.
Always on a quest to bring readers the steepest savings, AppleInsider has partnered with B&H Photo to drop prices on two MacBook Pro configurations from Apple's M4 Pro line.
Exclusive discounts are dropping MacBook Pros by up to $300.
The first 14-inch MacBook Pro model features Apple's M4 Pro chip with a 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU. It also has 24GB of unified memory and a bump up to 1TB of storage. Normally retailing for $2,199, you can grab the laptop in Space Black for $1,949 when you shop through the pricing links in this post from a laptop or desktop computer (activation instructions can be found below).
watchOS 11.3 has received its third developer beta, following the arrival of similar beta updates for the HomePod and Apple TV only hours earlier.
Apple has released the third developer beta of watchOS 11.3.
On Tuesday, Apple first released the third developer betas of tvOS 18.3 and HomePod OS 18.3, respectively. Now, the company has deployed a beta software release for its Apple Watch platform.
The third developer beta of watchOS 11.3 increases the build number to 2S5550a, up from the previous 22S5540e, which was released on January 7, 2025.
Apple has moved on to its third round of developer betas, but it has started quietly with a trial of tvOS 18.3's third beta, along with HomePod OS 18.3.
Apple TV 4K
The third beta for tvOS 18.3 follows after the second, which surfaced on January 7. The first round was issued on December 16.
It's also accompanied by the third developer beta of HomePod OS 18.3, which is used by the HomePod and HomePod mini.
The Apple Watch Series 10 has been on my wrist for three months now and it's clear that it's the best smartwatch Apple ever made. But that doesn't mean there aren't things that a future Series 11 could do better.
The Apple Watch Series 10 looks great, if a little familiar.
At this point, so early in the review, you're probably ready to scream "Apple Watch Ultra 2" at your screen. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten it, but the Apple Watch Ultra models are different and I'd argue the Series 10 is the better watch.
For most Apple Watch buyers, the Ultras are just too big, too bulky, and too expensive. They come with features they don't need like cellular connectivity and a huge, rugged design that's built to deal with the great outdoors in ways the standard models aren't.
We delve into AMD’s CES reveals, which include new CPUs, GPUs and SOCs
The Highlights
AMD’s GPU reveals include the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT
AMD’s CPU reveals include the 9950X3D and the 9900X3D
AMD announced 3 new SOCs: the Z2 Extreme, Z2, and Z2 Go
AMD also announced a new mobile CPU: The FireRange AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
Table of Contents
AutoTOC
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Intro
AMD announced a ton of CPUs, GPUs, and handheld hardware today. The announcements were for the 9950X3D, 9900X3D, Ryzen Z2 SOC for handhelds such as the ROG Ally, and RDNA 4 GPUs like the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT. AMD also announced a number of mobile CPUs. Our focus will be on RDNA 4 and the new Zen 5 X3D parts alongside the handheld SOC.
AMD 9070 XT & 9070
We’ll start with AMD’s GPU news since it’ll be the quickest.
Editor's note: This was originally published on January 6, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.
Credits
Host, Writing
Steve Burke
Video Editing
Vitalii Makhnovets
Writing, Web Editing
Jimmy Thang
AMD announced the existence of its Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT today, noting Q1 2025 availability.
Specs are extremely limited right now. The company did picture several partner model cards in its announcement slide, including at least one that looks like a Yeston model, an ASRock model, XFX, and all the others listed. The cards pictured above are generally 3-slot coolers that are 2-3 slots thick.
AMD says the GPUs will use its RDNA 4 architecture and will utilize a 4nm process from TSMC. AMD mostly described its specs with adjectives, which is unfortunately not particularly useful. Words like “optimized compute units,” “supercharged AI compute,” and “improved raytracing per CU” don’t tell us a whole lot. We’ll have to wait for that information.
Likewise, AMD announced that FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR4, will be released and has been built for RDNA 4. It intends to re-launch its Anti-Lag software solution that was intended to compete with Reflex, now in its Anti-Lag 2 iteration. We were not pre-briefed with any further information than this at the time of briefing.
The company is clearly self-aware, as it also presented a slide about its naming choices for the RX 9070 series. Go figure. The slide above shows that AMD intends to line-up the 9070 series, including both XT and non-XT models, with the RX 7900 XT down to the middle of the RX 7800 XT (read our review), whatever that means. The worst 9070 is apparently half of one RX 7800 XT -- or maybe that means 1.5 7800 XTs? All we’re missing is a note telling us that the image is not to scale.
Anyway, against NVIDIA, this roughly positions the 9070 series as comparable, according to this image, to the 4070 Ti (watch our review) and 4070 Super (read our review). We won’t get out our scrying stones for this hastily thrown-together image since it’s hard to judge without real numbers, but that’s at least how AMD seems to be positioning it.
The company claims the change is to line-up with its Ryzen 9000 CPUs and says it will reserve 8000 naming for its mobile CPUs.
AMD CPUs
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On the CPU side, AMD’s two new desktop CPUs are predictable: The 9950X3D and the 9900X3D, which use the Zen 5 architecture that shipped at the end of last year and follow-up the wildly successful 9800X3D. The 9800X3D has been constantly out of stock due to the demand.
The 9950X3D is a 16C/32T part that advertises a maximum boost frequency of “up to 5.7GHz,” noting a 144MB total cache size. At the time of writing this, AMD has not provided pricing details or a specific release date beyond sometime within the next few months.
For comparison, the 9800X3D (read our review) has a total 104MB cache and $480 MSRP. The advertised boost of the 9800X3D is 5.2GHz, so the 9950X3D has a greater cache size and may benefit from higher boosting. The 144MB cache on the 9950X3D comes from the additional CCD in the configuration and could have some specific benefits that we’ll explore in our eventual review.
The 9900X3D is a 12C/24T component that advertises up to a 5.5 GHz boost max. It has a 140MB total cache. The 9950X3D runs a 170W TDP, with the 9900X3D at 120W. The 9800X3D is also 120W. Because of this, the 9800X3D may benefit from additional power available during fully loaded workloads. There could be some shuffling of the CPU stack in specific benchmarks due to the power budget differences.
AMD’s updated chipset drivers should more intelligently park CCDs and, in theory, should make it easier to upgrade in-socket without needing to blow away the whole OS prior to moving from a single-CCD part to a dual-CCD part. We will still be using isolated SSDs for our reviews, but this should be a benefit for end users who may later seek to upgrade in-socket.
AMD published some first-party claims. As usual, we’ll have our own numbers soon -- as will basically all other reviewers -- and so you should wait for those prior to making decisions. To set the stage for what we’re verifying against, AMD is claiming the following:
AMD says this is “the world’s best gaming processor,” though note that they are comparing it to the 7950X3D (watch our review). The 9950X3D is shown as being on average 8% better across 40 games that AMD tested, with a range of no change to a 58% uplift over baseline compared to the 7950X3D.
AMD also claims that it outperforms the 285K (read our review) by 20% on average across 40 games. We definitely believe this, based on numbers we ran for the 9800X3D and 285K already.
Its first-party numbers also point to performance improvement in Blender, with lesser improvements in Photoshop and Premiere in PugetBench testing against AMD’s own prior processor.
Historically, these CPUs do not necessarily provide significant improvements over the single-CCD X3D CPUs of the same generation. You might see rough equivalence or slight changes in specific games. The primary advantage would be for someone who does a lot of gaming but also wants the additional cores for production workloads.
The other historical challenge has been behavior with core parking, something we’ve now detailed extensively. While core parking is still a “thing,” AMD says its new chipset drivers should resolve a lot of the past issues.
AMD Z2 SOC
AMD’s Z2 SOC follows-up the Z1 and Z1 Extreme mobile solutions that were found on some handheld devices. AMD has also offered mobile chips like the 7840U and 8840U that have been in handheld devices and are comparable.
The Z2 is light on information: AMD again defers to descriptors like ‘breathtaking” and “exhilarating speed,” which we assume is the next speed setting for a Back to the Future movie.
It also gets into some business-y stuff, like the addressable market and increase in competition in this market.
As for actual news, the Z2 family comes in 3 variations currently known: The Z2 Extreme, Z2 Go, and the…Z2 non-Extreme, non-Go.
The Z2 Extreme and Z2 are both 8C/16T parts with the same cache and a boost frequency separated only by 100 MHz. The actual change comes in the form of the integrated graphics. This is also where the Z1 and Z1 Extreme deviated most heavily. The configurable TDP allows up to 5W more driven to the Z2 Extreme, which will cost battery life but help power the GPU. The Z2 has a higher boost clock despite a lower cTDP, likely due to overall package budget allocation with the GPU change (and also density).
The Z2 Go is new. This is a 4C/8T part that only boosts to 4.3 GHz maximum advertised, only has 10 MB of cache, keeps the 15-30W cTDP, and keeps the 12 CUs. This CPU is far weaker than the others listed here, especially with that clock drop, so we’re curious to see what types of devices make the best use of it. We’ll also be curious to see battery life and if it can stick closer to that 15W number while still providing meaningful performance.
These are all listed for Q1 2025 availability, so we’ll be busy on our team running handheld benchmarks once again here soon. We ran several reviews last generation and will need to do a total refresh.
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AMD’s new mobile CPU is the FireRange AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D that’s releasing in 1H 2025, and it’s joining the 9955HX and 9850HX mobile parts.
The 9955HX3D is advertised as what AMD claims is the best gaming and content creation part for mobile. We don’t really test mobile, but we certainly use high-end laptops for our travel and might try these out.
The 9955HX3D is a 16C/32T part that boosts up to 5.4GHz. It has 144 MB of cache and a TDP of 54W. The 9955HX is the same, but with less cache. The 9850HX is a 12C/24T part with lower boost, no X3D cache by mercy of its easier name, and the same TDP.
AMD also spent some time on its new “AI” brand name mobile processors, but we’ll leave that to someone else to cover as that’s not really our area of focus.
Apple has joined the board of directors for the Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium, giving it more of a say in how the architecture for AI server infrastructure will evolve.
UALink logo
The Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium (UALink), is an open industry standard group for the development of UALink specifications. As a potential key element used for the development of artificial intelligence models and accelerators, the development of the standards could be massively beneficial to the future of AI itself.
On Tuesday, it was announced that three more members have been elected to the consortium's board. Apple was one of the trio, alongside Alibaba and Synopsys.
MacBook deals are heating up this Tuesday, with Apple's latest M4 14-inch MacBook Pro on sale for $1,799 when equipped with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
Save $200 on a well-equipped M4 MacBook Pro 14-inch - Image credit: Apple
Save $200 on Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip, 24GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage. This upgraded configuration is on sale for $1,799 at Apple Authorized Resellers B&H Photo and Amazon, as the two retailers engage in a price war in an effort to earn your business. Both Space Black and Silver are eligible for the markdown.
Adobe is giving private beta users a chance to test out a long-anticipated feature — allowing more than one person to access and edit Photoshop documents simultaneously.
Image Credit: Adobe
Adobe says the feature, dubbed Live Co-Editing, has been inspired by community input. Live Co-Editing will be implemented into both the desktop and web app versions of Photoshop, but there's no word if it will make its way to Photoshop on the iPad at this time.
The feature will be a boon for Photoshop users. Multiple designers can work together on a Photoshop document and split up tasks to finish a project more efficiently.
As Apple tries to diversify its supply chain, China's tightened export controls are slowing things down as the country asserts its manufacturing dominance.
Foxconn
For years, Apple relied heavily on China's manufacturing ecosystem. But rising labor costs, trade tensions, and pandemic disruptions are forcing the company to rethink its strategy.
In response, Apple has started moving production to India and Vietnam, countries that offer lower costs, friendly trade policies, and proximity to emerging markets. India is now a growing hub for iPhone assembly, with Apple leveraging the country's massive workforce and government incentives.
Widgets in the next generation of CarPlay will be very familiar to iPhone users, a leak of the user interface reveals.
Widgets in CarPlay 2.0 - Image credit: Aaronp613/X
Apple is still working on the next generation of CarPlay, despite having missed its self-imposed release deadline of 2024. Whenever it does actually ship, we now may have a good idea of what it will look like.
Images posted to X on Monday by @Aaronp613 claim to depict how widgets appear in the CarPlay 2.0 interface. The four images offer the same general appearance, with the central section dedicated to widgets and core functions.
After four years of planning, TSMC is now finally going to make older iPhone processors in the US, but it's not and never will be a true return to American manufacturing.
TSMC's Arizona facility will soon begin shipping A16 processors for Apple
It was back in 2020 when pressure over taxes made firms look again at manufacturing in the US, and TSMC announced it would build a processor plant in Arizona. By 2022, that expanded to plans for a second plant — and Tim Cook pledged that Apple would use processors made in Arizona.
Now after reportedly starting its first production run in September 2024, TSMC USA is about to reach a key milestone. According to Nikkei Asia, Apple is now in the process of officially certifying and verifying the processors.
The ban on TikTok in the United States is happening soon, but the circus surrounding it that's kicked off in the last few days makes it anything but guaranteed.
TikTok on a smartphone
TikTok has had a troubled existence in the United States, after years of threats for it to be banned. With the latest effort's deadline on January 19, it's days away from a reality.
The latest installment in the ongoing affair is a combination of waiting for a ruling, trying to implement delays on it happening, and searching for a sale. It's anyone's guess what will actually happen to TikTok now, with everything being so uncertain.
Huion updates its popular Kamvas 16 graphics tablet line with a sharper screen, newer pen, and more compact body, thus making the brand-new Kamvas 16 (Gen 3) highly attractive to content creators who illustrate for a living. It's also priced decently enough to interest prosumers who might be interested in drawing as a hobby.
Valve has really ramped up the number of Steam sales it holds each year and as a result, the company also often reveals planned sales dates well ahead of time so gamers and game creators can be prepared. Most of the Steam Sale dates for 2025 have already been announced.
Many of these sales are smaller, week-long events focusing on specific genres. For instance, the first Steam sale of 2025 will be focused on RTS games, and a couple of weeks after that, there is another sale scheduled to highlight Couch Co-Op titles.
Here is every Steam Sale announced for 2025 so far:
Real-Time Strategy Fest: January 20 – 27
Idler Fest: February 3 –10
Couch Co-Op Fest: February 10 –17
Steam Next Fest: February Edition: February 24 – March 3
Visual Novel Fest: March 3 – 10
Steam Spring Sale: March 13 – 20
City Builder & Colony Sim Fest: March 24 – 31
Sokoban Fest: April 21 – 28
Wargames Fest: April 28 – May 5
Creature Collector Fest: May 12 – May 19
Zombies vs. Vampires Fest: May 26 – June 2
Steam Next Fest: June Edition: June 9 – 16
Fishing Fest: June 16 – 23
Steam Summer Sale: June 26 – July 10
Valve will no doubt reveal Steam Halloween, Autumn and Winter sale dates soon. We will update the list with those sales as soon as possible.
KitGuru Says: What game are you currently waiting to pick up during a Steam sale?
The pursuit of 10GHz CPU clock speeds continues, with a Chinese overclocker recently pushing closer to the milestone. Using an Intel Core i9-14900KF, a new world record frequency has been set at 9.122GHz.
Chinese overclocker wytiwx has dethroned Elmor, who previously held the record with a 9.118 GHz overclock on the Intel Core i9-14900KS. The new record, achieved on an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, pushes the Core i9-14900KF to 9.122 GHz.
To achieve this feat, wytiwx employed liquid helium to cool the CPU and disabled all E-cores and hyperthreading on the i9-14900KF, focusing the system's resources on pushing the eight P-cores to their absolute limit. The core voltage was set to 1.387V. Interestingly, the record-breaking run was achieved on the ageing Windows 7 OS.
While this new record falls short of the mythical 10 GHz mark, it represents a significant milestone in pursuing extreme clock speeds. It also highlights the overclocking potential of Intel's Raptor Lake-S Refresh architecture, even as the company focuses on efficiency with its latest Arrow Lake CPUs.
KitGuru says: Intel might be dominating the frequency records currently, but it's worth remembering that AMD's FX-8350 held the world record for over a decade. Do you think you'll see an AMD CPU breaking the CPU frequency world record anytime soon?
A couple of years ago, a number of CD Projekt Red developers, including the director behind The Witcher 3, left the company to form a new studio. Now, Rebel Wolves is ready to reveal its first game – The Blood of Dawnwalker.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is the first new game from the former Witcher 3 developers at Rebel Wolves studio, also based in Poland. We already knew that this game would be an RPG, but more specifically, it is a dark fantasy RPG centred around vampires.
As you can likely tell from the cinematic trailer, the game is being developed with Unreal Engine 5 and has visual fidelity on par with other major UE5 titles in development, like The Witcher 4. In Blood of Dawnwalker, players will take on the role of Coen, who has been infected with the Dawnwalker curse, thus turning them into a Vampire. A full gameplay reveal is planned for later this summer.
Unfortunately, this game does not yet have a release date but we should hear a bit more in a few months time when the gameplay reveal is due to take place.
KitGuru Says: It would be a little funny if this game managed to release before the long-delayed Vampire Masquerade 2.
Whispers of an Nvidia-designed SoC for laptops are growing louder, with fresh leaks suggesting that the company is preparing to enter the Arm-based processor scene with the N1X.
The rumours originate from the data mining efforts by WalkingCat (via VideoCardz), who uncovered evidence of a new Lenovo laptop with an unusual naming scheme. Lenovo typically uses letters like “A” for AMD, “I” for Intel, and “Q” for Qualcomm to denote the processor platform in its Yoga 2-in-1 laptops. However, a new “N” designation has surfaced, potentially hinting at an Nvidia-powered device.
Further digging by leaker Hoang Anh Phu revealed references to a mysterious “N1X” chip attributed to Nvidia within Lenovo's job postings. This has fuelled speculation that the N1X could be the name of Nvidia's first SoC designed for consumer laptops. The leaker also added that this high-end SoC has been designed in collaboration with Mediatek. It's expected to be based on Blackwell architecture, offering about 180 to 200 TOPS of AI performance. The release/announcement is expected to occur at Computex 2025 and should come alongside an N1 SoC for the mid-range segment.
Nvidia's strength lies in its software and driver expertise, an area where Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series has faced challenges. If the green team can deliver a powerful and efficient Arm-based SoC with strong graphics performance and a solid Windows on Arm experience, it could disrupt the laptop market and intensify competition, ultimately benefiting consumers with more options.
KitGuru says: The potential applications for an Nvidia SoC extend beyond traditional laptops. High-performance tablets, new 2-in-1 devices, and handheld gaming systems powered by Nvidia's SoC would be something we would definetely be interested in.
Microsoft is ushering in a new era of graphics rendering with the integration of neural rendering into its DirectX API, leveraging the power of AI and machine learning (ML) to enhance visual fidelity and efficiency in games and other graphics-intensive applications.
Neural rendering uses ML models to generate and enhance visual elements like textures, lighting, and image upscaling. By offloading rendering tasks to AI, this technique can significantly improve both speed and accuracy while reducing the computational burden on traditional rendering pipelines. Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR have already demonstrated the potential of AI-enhanced rendering, and Microsoft's initiative aims to create a standardised and open foundation for these capabilities within DirectX (via Tom's Hardware).
A crucial component of this DirectX evolution is Cooperative Vector. This new feature optimises matrix-vector operations, which are essential for AI tasks like training, fine-tuning, and inference, leading to significant performance improvements in real-time rendering. By enabling AI operations to run at multiple shader stages, Cooperative Vector support allows for the efficient execution of neural networks without monopolising GPU resources.
Microsoft is actively collaborating with major GPU manufacturers, including AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, to ensure that these new features are optimised for a wide range of hardware architectures. This collaborative approach aims to democratise access to AI-accelerated graphics, fostering innovation and competition across the industry.
KitGuru says: While these advancements are still under development and lack a concrete release date, they highlight the growing importance of AI in shaping the future of graphics. Whether you're an AI advocate or not, it seems AI will eventually become standard in game graphics.
It's that time again where we are updating the KitGuru GPU test system for 2025! With a whole host of new GPU launches this year from Nvidia, AMD and Intel, it is more important than ever that our testing is as accurate and up to date as possible. This time around we've partnered with MSI, and here we go over all the details of the new GPU benchmarking system!
With our previous i9-13900KS test system starting to show its age, it was high time to upgrade to a new platform for all of our GPU testing needs. In partnership with MSI, and built by AWD-IT, at the heart of our brand-new test rig is – of course – AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Simply put, this is the fastest gaming CPU on the market right now so it was the obvious choice. I'm simply running it at stock, where it boosts to about 5.2GHz under load while sipping power, so safe to say my energy bill will be going down compared to the old Intel system!
Of course, opting for the Ryzen 9000 CPU means we are on the AM5 platform, and it makes sense to go all-out on an X870E motherboard. Specifically we have the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi, a board Leo reviewed and gave our Must Have award, so it doesn't get much better than that. It's got a great VRM, absolute tons of I/O ports, plus as someone who swaps graphics cards all the time, the ‘EZ PCIe Release' button is an absolute life saver.
It's also important to pair that board with a good kit of DDR5 memory, where we have opted for 64GB of Kingston Fury Beast in a 2x32GB configuration. At 6000 MT/s it's not the absolute fastest in terms of raw frequency, but faster kits can run into some quirks which I wanted to avoid, plus being a CL30 kit, latency is nice and low so we'll be getting very good performance from this memory.
As for storage, I've a told of 5TB in this system, with a 1TB Kingston NV3 acting as a boot drive for Windows, and then there's a 4TB NV3 which is housing the ever-growing game library. These are PCIe Gen 4 drives, and you actually can't see them given they're under the motherboard's built-in heatsinks, but they are more than enough for my needs and give me plenty of space to as many games as I could realistically test.
Cooling the CPU, I have chosen the MSI MAG CoreLiquid i360, an all-in-one that James reviewed last year and came away highly impressed. As the name suggests, this is a 360mm AIO and that is more than enough for the relatively low-power 9800X3D – during my initial game testing, it's barely exceeded 60C with the fans set to fairly relaxed speeds, so I can't ask for more.
All of those components are housed in the MSI MPG Gungnir 300R Airflow chassis. This is a mid-tower case with a focus on airflow, which is obviously hugely important as we want to provide as much cool air to the graphics card as possible. To help with that, there's three 120mm fans at the front bringing air through the mesh panel, while the three AIO fans are exhausting out of the roof, and there's one other 120mm set to exhaust out the back of the case. All of them are RGB-equipped, too, adding that bit of extra bling.
Lastly, we come to the PSU, arguably the most important part of any build! Here we have opted for the MSI MEG Ai1300P, which delivered excellent technical results in our review. It's a Platinum unit, and the 1300W output is more than enough for even an RTX 5090 build given that GPU is rated at up to 575W! It's also handy to have a PSU that can support both a 12VHPWR connector and 3x 8-pins all plugged in at once, so I can easily swap between different GPUs without fiddling around with the power cables or using adapters.
So there we have it, our brand-new GPU benchmark system for 2025! Many thanks to MSI for partnering with us on this, we've already used this system for our Intel Arc B580 review and looking forward to using it throughout the rest of the year…
KitGuru says: I've been using this system for the last few weeks as we prepare for the next set of GPU launches and it is proving to be highly capable.
Donkey Kong Country Returns is set to return yet again. The fourth entry in the Donkey Kong Country series bounded onto Wii in 2010, was revived as Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D on the 3DS in 2013, and now, over a decade later, Nintendo returns to the well with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for the Switch. You definitely can’t say The Big N hasn't recouped their original investment on this one. Is Donkey Kong Country Returns HD still a barrel-blasting bash here in 2025? Or has this once-ripe banana gone bad? Grab your red tie, it’s time to go […]
MSI's gaming monitor lineup has seen various additions in the past couple of years, with designs that cater to all kinds of gamers. These monitors come in four different tiers, from the high-end MEG series to the gaming-minded MPG series, the entry-level MAG series & the budget G-Series. The company has a vast array of options in 24, 25, 27, 32, 34, 40, and 49" options and a total of 17 models within its OLED lineup which range from 27, 32, 34, and 49" options. The company recently refreshed its QD-OLED lineup with new options that come with improved panels, […]
Ever since its 1.0 launch back in Summer 2022, PowerWash Simulator has been able to keep fans captivated not only through its satisfying gameplay loop, but also thanks to a number of free and paid DLCs – one of which included a full virtual reality port of the game for those with supported headsets. Unfortunately, this subsect of the community will no longer be catered to, as PowerWash Simulator’s VR support is now ending.
Making the announcement on Twitter, FuturLab’s CEO Kirsty Rigden shared the following: “I am so sorry to let you know that we won't be continuing support of PowerWash Simulator VR. We absolutely love and believe in VR, so this doesn't mean that we won't support it in the future but we aren't able to continue with support right now.”
Explaining their reasons for doing so, Rigden continued, “We have been faced with a cross roads: we have a truly excellent and kind VR team who were working on a platform which costs us more than it makes, while also having a list of job openings that were looking to be filled on other projects. We took the decision to redeploy our VR team into those other projects/roles.”
The virtual reality release of PowerWash Simulator was a welcome addition when it arrived, and so to see support for the peripheral ending is unfortunate – though understandable. Hopefully the team are able to return to virtual reality at some point in the future.
KitGuru says: What do you think of this announcement? Was VR the best way to play PowerWash Simulator? Will virtual reality ever be truly mainstream? Let us know your thoughts down below.
Apple Arcade was created with the intention to bring greater awareness to the many great video games available on mobile platforms. With a monthly subscription, iOS users can get their hands on a wide range of interesting and unique games, none of which have any microtransactions. Though the service as a whole has been a bit of a mixed bag, Apple Arcade is set to get a notable boost thanks to 10 new games dropping over the coming weeks.
Making the announcement on their blog, the iPhone maker shared the following: “Apple Arcade is kicking off the new year with an exciting slate of game launches, along with big updates to existing hits. Today, seven new titles are available, all with no ads or in-app purchases.”
For the uninitiated, the plus ‘+’ in many of these titles indicate that they are free from any ads or in-app purchases, meaning they are not Apple Arcade exclusives.
Still, it is nice to see the company continue to support its Arcade subscription – even if the rate and number of added games remain somewhat inconsistent.
KitGuru says: Have you used Apple's game subscription? What do you think of it? Would you prefer the service focuses on adding pre-existing games, or Apple Arcade exclusives? Let us know down below.
Since the explosive popularity of ‘World’ back in 2017, the Monster Hunter series has become one of Capcom’s biggest. In anticipation of the upcoming release of Monster Hunter Wilds, Humble is now offering a rather comprehensive Monster Hunter ‘New Year Hunting Collection' bundle (featuring World and Rise) for a heavily discounted price.
Upping your contribution to £11.96 adds two more titles:
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Deluxe Kit
Paying a total of £15.95 will then also include:
Monster Hunter: World
Monster Hunter: World – Deluxe Kit
Finally, paying the full £19.94 will give you all the above, plus:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Deluxe Kit
As always, a small portion of your money will go towards a charity, with this bundle supporting Breakthrough T1D – “the leading global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization.”
If you are at all interested in the Monster Hunter series, this bundle presents a great opportunity to try out Capcom’s hit franchise before Wilds arrives in a little over a month’s time.
KitGuru says: Will you pick up this bundle? What's your favourite Monster Hunter game? If you already own these games, how many hours have you put into both titles? Let us know down below.
Just over a year ago, Epic Games added multiple new game modes to Fortnite, including the Guitar Hero-esque Fortnite Festival. In the year since, the mode has gotten a bunch of updates – from new songs to support for guitar controllers. Now, Epic is taking its next big step with Festival, letting up to 4 players jam out together with local multiplayer.
Making the announcement on their blog, the team at Epic Games unveiled their latest set of updates coming to Fortnite Festival, saying “The launch of Festival Season 7 comes with a new local multiplayer feature on PlayStation and Xbox! In a local play session of Festival Main Stage, up to four players can play together on the same console. All of the players need to party up in the Lobby then enter the Festival Main Stage together.”
Unfortunately, despite being ‘local’ multiplayer, all participants will need to have and be signed into their Epic Games accounts in order to participate – meaning you can’t play using platform guest accounts.
Weird limitations aside, it is welcome to see local multiplayer being supported in one form or another. Hopefully the feature gets improved over time.
Fortnite Festival Season 7 launches today on the 14th of January, with vocaloid star Hatsune Miku headlining.
While the Hitman series has been well-known and loved by millions of players since the first game’s release back in 2000, the franchise truly hit it big with the release of 2016’s HITMAN and its sequels. Since rebranded to HITMAN: World of Assassination, this trilogy-turned-platform has gone on to be experienced by over 75 million total players.
“HITMAN World of Assassination has surpassed the milestone of 75 million players worldwide since its launch, ensuring even more its status as the most successful Hitman game of all time.”
It is worth noting of course that 75 million players does not equate to 75 million copies sold, especially as the World of Assassination Trilogy has been available in various different forms across multiple game subscription services.
Still, such a massive figure is worth celebrating, especially for a (now) independent studio such as IOI.
It will be interesting to see how the studio’s upcoming James Bond 007 game performs when it is eventually released sometime in the next few years.
KitGuru says: What do you think of this 75 million figure? Did you purchase the game or get it for ‘free’? Will IOI be able to capture lightning in a bottle twice with James Bond? Let us know your thoughts down below.
All the impending EU fines and rulings against Apple, Google, and Meta, are reportedly off the table as Europe awaits Trump — and reveals just how political its regulations are.
The EU has reportedly paused its probes into Big Tech issues such as Apple's App Store rules
For ten years, the European Union and especially competition chief Margrethe Vestager, has been working to control Big Tech. It's done so mostly very successfully, with the region being the first to implement a Digital Markets Act (DMA) that laid out conditions — and especially potential fines for transgressions.
Now according to the Financial Times, however, all of the regulator's plans for fines are on hold. Only what is described as technical work will continue on any of the Big Tech investigations, and for the moment there will be no fines.
Our second podcast of 2025 includes at least 10% more energy then the first one did, and is obviously our best of the year. In this episode, we've got semi-hot takes on…
Each month, those who are subscribed to Amazon Prime are able to acquire a wide range of ‘free’ games as part of the company’s Prime Gaming initiative. For the first month of 2025, Amazon is continuing with its past trajectory, offering well over a dozen games, ranging from known AAA titles to interesting indies.
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader [Epic Games Store]
Available on the 23rd:
Deus Ex GOTY Edition [GOG Code]
To The Rescue! [Epic Games Store]
Star Stuff [Epic Games Store]
Spitlings [Amazon Games App]
Zombie Army 4: Dead War [Epic Games Store]
Dropping on the 30th of January:
ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights [Epic Games Store]
Blood West [GOG Code]
Super Meat Boy Forever [Epic Games Store]
While it would be preferable that all of the games given away were made available through a single platform, it is still welcome to see Amazon continuing to give subscribers a massive pool of titles to obtain and play every single month.
KitGuru says: What do you think of January’s offerings? Which of the games are you most looking forward to trying? How can the service improve in 2025? Let us know down below.
Since the start of 2025, we have seen an influx of new leaks and rumours surrounding Nintendo’s much anticipated Switch 2. It seems we may be mere days away from an official reveal, as one insider is now claiming the next-gen console could be announced by Nintendo as soon as this week.
“I've been told that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be revealed in the coming week. Want to know when? On Thursday, January 16.”
Offering a bit more on what to expect from this event, Nate continued, “What I heard is that the reveal will focus on almost exclusively the console itself. There will not be any presence of games, there may be games shown running on the hardware on a screen/TV depending on how the trailer is put together but software will not be a focus. So if the trailer is absent of any games, do not be too surprised about it.”
Given just how long it’s been since the last Nintendo system, it will be interesting to see how their plans for the upcoming console pans out. Considering the fact that the first showing won’t include any games, here’s to hoping that the hardware itself proves to be exciting enough on its own terms. We might not have to wait long to find out.
KitGuru says: Were you expecting an announcement so soon? What are you hoping to see from the presentation? When do you think we’ll get a first look at the games? Let us know down below.
AVM is an unusual Berlin-based company that focuses on a particular niche and aims to excel at it – home and small business connectivity and communications. Its broadband routers generally offer competitive performance and features you won't find anywhere else. The AVM FRITZ!Box 7690 is a case in point. It takes the latest WiFi 7 standard and adds telephony capabilities. But that's only the headline unique feature in a router that is packed with detailed capabilities.
The AVM FRITZ!Box 7690 is barely distinguishable externally from the AVM FRITZ!Box 7590 that we reviewed nearly seven years ago to the day. But what is inside has been considerably upgraded. It can deliver WiFi 7 up to a theoretical 5,760Mbits/sec at 5GHz and 1,376Mbits/sec at 2.4GHz. You can combine multiple FRITZ!Box devices into a Mesh WiFi system. The FRITZ!Box 7690 lacks the 6GHz waveband, however, which may restrict its bandwidth.
One novel feature, which is shared with the previous model, is support for voice calling. Now that digital-only DSL is being offered without a telephone, this could become increasingly important if you still want a land line number associated with your physical location. This comes in the form of a built-in DECT base station for up to six cordless phones and jacks for analog wired ones. But the 7690 also now supports Zigbee, a wireless standard for controlling smart home devices such as lightbulbs, roller blinds, temperature and motion sensors, smart plugs, and switches. The Matter wireless smart home standard isn't supported yet, but will be soon via a firmware update.
In other words, this is more than just a router – it's meant to be the hub of your smart home and domestic communications at all levels. To achieve this, it's bristling with different connections. There's an ADSL modem built in, plus a 2.5Gbit Ethernet WAN port and a three-port LAN hub with one 2.5Gbit and two 1Gbit ports. There are also two RJ11 ports for connecting analog telephones, and a German TAE phone port on the side. The other side hosts a USB 2.0 port for storage media and dongles.
Despite the plethora of features, the AVM FRITZ!Box 7690 still comes in at under £330, which is cheaper than some WiFi 7 routers we've looked at. Let's find out if this new WiFi 7 iteration lives up to AVM's reputation for solid, feature-rich connectivity devices.
The AVM FRITZ!Box 7690 is available from Amazon UK for £329.84 inc VAT.
Specification:
Wireless protocols: MU-MIMO with 802.11b/g/n/be 2.4GHz, 802.11a/n/ac/ax/be 5GHz
Performance: BE7100 (5,760 + 1,376 Mbits/sec)
Antenna Configuration: 4×4 internal antennas
Ports: 2 x Gigabit Ethernet, 1 x 2.5Gigabit Ethernet, 1 x 2.5Gigabit Ethernet WAN, 1 x ADSL, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x TAE phone, 2 x RJ11 phone
At CES 2025, Bitspower unveiled its latest advancements in cooling solutions, signalling a new chapter for the company as it seeks to elevate its profile as a standalone brand. While many liquid cooling specialists thrive on high-visibility marketing, Bitspower has traditionally focused on collaborations with industry partners like Maingear and PC Werkx- quietly earning its reputation as a trusted innovator in custom water-cooling technology. With a new CEO leading its efforts in the US and Europe, the company appears ready to position itself as more of a ‘go-to' brand for enthusiasts and system builders alike.
Founded by Vincent Yu in 2001 in Taiwan, Bitspower has developed thousands of products over the years, including CPU and GPU water blocks, radiators and reservoirs – all designed with a focus on quality and user-friendliness, but at the same time considering how to be environmentally conscious with each innovation. The simple line-up of solutions revealed at this year’s CES, suggest Bitspower is looking to make its mark not only as a ‘behind-the-scenes expert', but as more of a ‘leading name’ in high-performance cooling – from 2025 onward.
While some of the products on display in the Bitspower suite have been seen before, fittings are in the process of being updated for the new generation of CPUs. What is new, is the Atlas range of AIO coolers.
Bitspower told us that the Atlas All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler has been specially designed to provide advanced heat management, as well as virtually silent operation. It offers everything you need to keep your CPU running at its best, including fans, radiator and pump – in a single closed loop that's easy to install and maintain.
The Bitspower Atlas All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler is equipped with a high-quality radiator, as well as PWM fans – running at up to 2000 RPM – for concentrated airflow and improved performance. A low-noise pump and copper plate ensure quiet and efficient cooling.
The new Atlas series AIO coolers are available in 240 mm and 360 mm sizes, with options for black or white colour schemes. The pump-block features a cubical design with side-mounted coolant fittings and an infinity mirror effect on top for added aesthetics. These coolers come equipped with two or three of Bitspower's Griffin series 120 mm ARGB fans and utilise a copper cold plate paired with an aluminium radiator.
The boxes we saw, claimed compatibility with LGA1700, LGA 1851 and AM5 – as well as all of the major RGB colour control systems from MSI and Gigabyte to Razor and ASRock.
The builds on display from PC Werkx (Nebula Waterblock, Leviathan II 360 radiators, CR240 reservoir and Hexagon 34 water tank) and Maingear (Nebular waterblock, custom distro and CPU blocks) were suitably stunning.
In recent years, the CPU trend toward TDPs up to 253 watts (Intel's Core i9-13900K ) was driving up complexity in cooling and the supply of power – as well as overall system costs. AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series, has improved instructions-per-clock performance while optimising power use – particularly in multi-core workloads. Similarly, Intel’s 15th Gen Core Ultra processors focus on Efficiency Cores (E-cores) and a modular Meteor Lake chiplet design, looking to achieve scalability and competitive efficiency. This industry shift mirrors the Conroe-era move from ‘brute-force power increases’ to ‘smarter, more sustainable’ solutions. As massive thermal demands give way to innovations like AI-assisted thermal controls – it will be interesting to see where high-efficiency/capability AIO coolers like the Atlas fit in a market.
Also on display were large scale/server-focused cooling solutions. An area where Bitspower is also hoping for growth in 2025/26.
At the time of going to press, the Atlas series products have not appeared on the Bitspower store web site – so final pricing is to be confirmed shortly.
KitGuru Says: Have you used any Bitspower gear before? What did you think of their CES 2025 showing?
Several sources report the firewall in macOS Sequoia can sometimes leak data after an update. Here's how to test and fix it.
macOS Sequoia can sometimes leak data after an update.
The macOS firewall in System Settings allows you to protect your Mac and filter network traffic based on a set of rules.
Several sites, includingmullvad.net have reported that after macOS Sequoia updates, the firewall built into macOS may leak some data, allowing it to avoid firewall rules.
Mobile gamers rejoice, the Abxylute S9 is an affordable controller that can stretch to fit your cased iPhone or iPad mini with a powerful set of customization features.
Abxylute S9 controller review: a controller for your entire Apple ecosystem
A controller manufacturer called Abxylute has finally built the perfect mobile gaming controller for iPhone and iPad mini owners. If all it did was stretch to fit an iPad mini and cost under $100, that would be enough, but it's so much more than that.
The Abxylute S9 is a wraparound controller that connects to the iPhone or iPad mini over USB-C while gripping it from either side. The end result is a mobile gaming solution similar to a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck.
Illinois is the latest state to claim Apple Wallet users will have access to digital IDs and driver's licenses by the end of 2025.
Illinois will implement digital IDs in the Apple Wallet app by the end of 2025.
An Illinois state law took effect on January 1, 2025 that will bring digital versions of IDs and driver's licenses to Apple Wallet. Illinois is already working with Apple to make digital IDs a reality, according to a press release from the Illinois Secretary of State, Alexi Giannoulias, as was originally discovered by 9to5mac.
Residents will be able to access their new digital IDs via Apple Wallet on their iPhone or Apple Watch. Digital IDs will be available at no cost and will be usable alongside existing physical ID cards rather than replacing them entirely.
ThieAudio introduces bone conduction drivers to its IEM line with the new Origin, a quadbrid set using a combination of DD/BCD/BA/EST drivers to put out a fun and colored sound that goes bass-first, yet has something of note in the mids and treble too. The Origin is also available with several faceplate options for added customization.
Parallels Desktop 20.2 is out now, with the latest edition including 64-bit x86 emulation for Apple Silicon and more enhancements to make Apple Intelligence Writing Tools work with Windows apps.
Using x64 emulation in Parallels to run Windows - Image Credit: Parallels
January's update to the popular virtual machine tool Parallels Desktop brings the software up to version 20.2, just under three months after the update to version 20.1. The latest version adds a few more key changes to the virtualization tool.
The big addition is an early technology preview of x86 emulation for Apple Silicon Macs. Using a proprietary emulation engine, it allows Apple Silicon Macs to run x86_64 virtual machines, for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Linux.
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