For iOS 18, Apple has introduced a new Focus Mode called Reduce Interruptions, which aims to use Apple Intelligence to prioritize notifications to cut them down, yet not have you miss anything important.
The new Reduce Notifications Focus Mode
A strength of Apple Intelligence is that rather than some separate ChatGPT-like app, its features are woven into all aspects of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But that also makes it confusing when Apple promotes some feature but doesn't say where it fits.
"For example," said Craig Federighi at the WWDC 2024 launch, "your iPhone can prioritize your notifications to minimize unnecessary distractions while ensuring you don't miss something important."
Apple has announced its new Advanced Commerce API, designed to provide app developers the ability to manage large catalogs of in-app purchases or subscriptions.
Apple has introduced a new Advanced Commerce API for in-app purchases.
The announcement was published on Apple's developer page, along with the eligibility requirements. The Advanced Commerce API aims to help app developers with exceptionally large content catalogs and creator experiences, as well as those who have subscriptions with optional add-ons within their apps.
The iPhone maker's new API will enable a new way of managing in-app purchases, meaning that developers will no longer need to rely on App Store Connect. Developers will be able to use either, or both, to manage their in-app purchases, assuming they receive access to Apple's Advanced Commerce API.
Epic Games is launching an additional 19 games for its third-party app store in the EU, once some bugs are worked out, and it has also promised to pay the Core Technology Fee for apps on its store.
Epic Games hopes to bring new developers to its app store by paying Apple's fees
After the European Union Digital Markets Act mandated that Apple allow third-party app stores, Epic Games jumped on the bandwagon. It launched the store with Fortnite and a slim selection of other titles in August 2024.
According toThe Verge, Epic Games is making moves to make its alternative app store more appealing with 19 new third-party titles and some financial incentives for developers. The announcement arrives after it failed to meet a goal of 100 million alternative app store users, reaching only 29 million.
Despite widespread adoption, Walmart has doubled down and gone on record saying it will not accept NFC-based payments like Apple Pay — in the U.S., at least.
Walmart would much rather you use Walmart Pay
Walmart has more than 4,500 stores in the United States, and exactly zero of them accept Apple Pay. Or Google Pay. Or even tap-to-pay with your credit or debit card.
This is because the big box retailer has decided to eschew NFC-based payments altogether. And it looks like it's going to stay that way, too.
Apple has released a new developer beta firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4, but it's not clear what the update contains.
Apple has released a new developer beta firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AIrPods 4.
Thursday's developer beta increases the build number to 7E5067b, up from the previous 7B21 and 7B20 updates. This beta software release is available for Air Pods 4 and AirPods Pro 2, both the USB-C and Lightning models. The software won't be released for AirPods Max or other non-H2 devices.
Apple periodically releases beta software updates for nearly all its platforms, including AirPods. While beta updates for Apple's mobile and desktop operating systems are released much more frequently, developers still rely on beta software for AirPods to test new features ahead of launch.
Samsung's latest smartphone launch, the Galaxy S25, is the South Korean tech company's latest attempt to win the mobile AI war. Here's how the entry-level model compares against Apple's iPhone 16.
iPhone 16 [left], Samsung Galaxy S25 [right]
On January 22, Samsung launched an update to its flagship smartphone line. The Samsung Galaxy S25, along with the Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 Ultra, are set to become the biggest smartphones on Android, and possibly in AI.
During the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung promoted its smartphones as a way for anyone to quickly use AI while on the move. Promises were made of natural context-aware mobile experiences, an intuitive interface, and high performance.
Apple's latest installment of quarterly earnings is on January 30 after market close, and there are five key points that Apple needs to make to satisfy investors.
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Morgan Stanley has proven to be one of the more accurate and reasonable firms that cover Apple. In a new note released on Friday by the firm, analyst Erik Woodring notes that the earnings setup feels very similar to a year ago. Like a year ago, he is expecting a street beat, but a lower than expected second quarter revenue predictions.
Specifically, the firm remains bullish on its overweight rating and maintained $273 price target. Woodring expects revenue of $124.0 billion, and $2.31 earnings per share. This all implies a 3.7% revenue growth — which is roughly in line with what Wall Street expects as a whole.
Silverstone has just unveiled the Lucid LD04, a stylish micro-ATX chassis that offers a panoramic view of your system's internals and supports a wide variety of components.
Inspired by the popular aquarium-style trend, the Lucid LD04 features tempered glass front and side panels, providing a stunning 270-degree view of your internal components. This design lets you showcase your carefully chosen hardware while ensuring optimal airflow and thermal performance through the vented panels surrounding the rest of the case.
Despite its compact size (38.25 litres), the Lucid LD04 can accommodate micro-ATX motherboards and most triple-fan graphics cards up to 350 mm long. It offers ample space for components and provides multiple internal mounts for up to seven 120 mm fans (rear and top fan mounts also support 140 mm models). It supports CPU coolers up to 177 mm tall and can accommodate 240 mm or 280 mm radiators in the top panel. The PSU (up to 150 mm long) is housed in a separate vented compartment at the bottom.
Silverstone chose a USB-C port, two USB-A 3.0 ports, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a 3.5 mm mic port for the front I/O. The Lucid LD04 will be available in black and white finishes. The black version will retail for $72.99, while the white version will be slightly more expensive at $79.99. Both versions come with three ARGB 120 mm fans.
KitGuru says: Although cheap for an aquarium case, the Lucid LD04 is slightly limited in some aspects. However, if these don't interfere with your needs, this could be a case worth considering if you want something different from a traditional-looking case and don't want to spend much.
Amazon wants you to enjoy a stress-free tax season with deals on TurboTax for Mac, allowing you to get a head start on filing your tax return. Deluxe, Premier, and Business versions are all on sale.
Save up to 47% on TurboTax for Mac.
Amazon's TurboTax deals apply to both Windows and Mac versions, with discounts up to 44% off. Prices for the Deluxe version start at $36.99, while Premier is marked down to $64.99 and Home & Business has fallen to $75.99.
Since their handing over of the Life is Strange series to Deck Nine, DON’T NOD have experimented with a variety of different projects across multiple new IPs. Their latest endeavour – Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – which was slated to arrive in early 2025 has now gotten a bunch of new details including an updated release date.
“Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will be priced at 39,99€/$39.99/£35.89 upon release including both parts of the game – ‘Bloom’ and ‘Rage’ – which add up to roughly 10-12 hours of gameplay.”
As was previously announced, the first part of the game will launch on the 18th of February. That said, players will have to wait a bit longer for part 2 with the team sharing that “to optimize the experience for players and enhance the storytelling for a truly immersive continuation of the journey, the release of Tape 2 ‘Rage’ has slightly be (sic) pushed back to April 15, 2025.”
Since leaving the Life is Strange series behind, DON’T NOD has struggled somewhat to find its footing. That said, with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage looking like a nice blend of old and new, hopefully the team have found their new identity.
KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Lost Records? Will you play the episodes on release or wait until both parts are out? Let us know down below.
30 years ago, Ted Price founded Insomniac Games. In the decades since, the studio has created many iconic franchises, from Spyro the Dragon to Ratchet and Clank – and most recently the Marvel’s Spider-Man games. After leading the studio for more than 30 years, Price has now announced his retirement.
Taking to the PlayStation Blog, the Insomniac Games founder and CEO officially announced his retirement, saying “despite a challenging 2024, Insomniacs stayed fully focused on building games for our fans. As a result of the team's persistence and collaboration, we're in one of the strongest positions we've experienced in years, with each game in development looking beautiful and playing fantastic.”
Price continued, “Therefore, last week, I felt comfortable announcing to the Insomniac team that after having been incredibly fortunate to enjoy such a fulfilling career in games, I'll be retiring from the industry at the end of March. Today, I'm sharing this news more broadly.”
The full blog post is lengthy and goes into greater depth on what this means for Insomniac Games moving forward.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the announcement? Does this change anything for Insomniac Games, or will it be business as usual? Let us know your thoughts down below.
The nominees for the 97th Academy Awards have been announced and Apple TV+ is not going to take home another Best Picture Oscar, or anything else — because it didn't try.
"Blitz" was the only Apple production to even make it as far as the Oscars shortlist
Nobody can ever take away from Apple that it was the first-ever streamer to win a Best Picture Oscar for "CODA." It's not going to repeat that in 2025, but unlike Netflix, Apple truly didn't try very hard this time.
That's clear not from the lack of nominations, but from the Oscars shortlist — and before that, from Apple's own PR attempts. Every year studios mount campaigns known as "For Your Consideration," trying to get the Academy's voters to at least watch key films, and Apple pushed four titles.
It might not be "new year, new me" for the iPhone yet, as scattered reports across social media show that the iPhone is, yet again, failing to wake people up.
The iPhone seems to be sleeping on the job once more
Nothing starts the day off on the wrong foot like missing your alarm when you've got somewhere to be or something to do. Unfortunately for some iPhone owners, that seems to be the exact situation they've found themselves in.
Stop us if you've heard this before. A quick check on X shows plenty of iPhone owners reporting that their alarms are not going off or are going off silently. A smaller subset of people are reporting that their alarms are going off at the incorrect time.
Apple took a big swing with their iPhone 15 series of phones, introducing a renewed focus on gaming with the announcement of iOS ports for a number of major AAA titles. Unfortunately, all of these games, including multiple Resident Evil releases, underperformed pretty significantly. It seems little has changed in the months since, with Capcom’s latest mobile port for RE2 Remake reportedly bringing in just over $100k.
As reported by MobileGamer.biz, the latest AAA title to come to iOS – Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 Remake – has brought in just over $100,000 since it launched on the platform back in December of last year.
According to the publication, during the game’s first 4 weeks on sale (in which it was discounted heavily to just $10), RE2 Remake brought in a total of $95K from 9500 purchases (via Appmagic).
In the week since, the game has seen these modest sales figures drop significantly, with the return to its full $40 price tag having tempted just 175 additional players – for an extra $7k in revenue.
While it’s impressive to see these modern AAA games running on a smartphone, it seems as though a majority of players aren’t comfortable enough yet to switch to mobile as their gaming platform of choice. Perhaps in time this will change.
KitGuru says: Are you surprised by the performance of these ports? Do you think Capcom expected higher sales for these games? Could AAA gaming be viable on a smartphone? Let us know your thoughts down below.
SEGA’s been on a bit of a hot streak in recent years, with the publisher releasing a ton of critically acclaimed and strong-performing titles including but not limited to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metaphor: ReFantazio and even Sonic x Shadow Generations. Wanting to capitalise on its ongoing success, the publisher has now unveiled its new ‘SEGA Account’ initiative.
Available to sign up for right now, the publisher's new account system will offer “a profile that lets you maximize SEGA's online services and offers a ton of benefits,” adding that “anyone can sign up, and it's free to use!”
As of right now, account holders can “take part in promotions with incredible rewards!” however SEGA also promised that in the future you’ll also be able to view your stats and records across the publisher’s various titles.
Currently, those who sign up for an account can – between now and the 7th of March – redeem the ‘Kazuma Kiryu Special Outfit DLC’ to be used in their upcoming title: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 is the fastest graphics card ever released. It comes with a whopping 32 GB VRAM, and support for multi-frame generation, which achieves hundreds of FPS easily. We also managed to disassemble the card, and our review includes performance testing without upscaling or frame generation, too.
The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the first high-end graphics card that makes use of a PCI-Express 5.0 bus interface. Are you in trouble when try to run it on PCIe 4.0? What about x8, like when an SSD is using up some bandwidth? We've also tested various PCI-Express 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1 configs to get a feel for how FPS scales with bandwidth.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090: MSRP $1,999 NVIDIA's powerful but pricey GeForce RTX 5090 is the company’s latest flagship GPU and our tests show it crushing everything in AI, gaming, and content creator workloads. Fastest GPU Ever Bleeding Edge Features DLSS 4 RTX Nerual Rendering Great For AI, Creators, And Gaming Smaller Form Factor Than...
After more than two years, NVIDIA's new flagship is here. Now, this might seem like a silly question, but did NVIDIA really need to release the GeForce RTX 5090 now? Consider that…
Announced back at CES 2025, Nvidia's RTX 50-series is here, built on the latest Blackwell architecture. First up for review is the new flagship, the RTX 5090, which hits the market at an eye-watering £1939/$1999. Packing in a total of 92.2 billion transistors, 21760 CUDA Cores and 32GB of GDDR7 memory, Nvidia claims that the RTX 5090 is ‘up to 2x' faster than the out-going RTX 4090, but is that really the case? And what's power consumption like given the rated 575W TGP? All that and more is covered in today's review…
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:49 RTX 5090 recap, pricing + specs
02:50 Test setup
04:31 Alan Wake 2
05:11 Black Myth: Wukong
05:47 Cyberpunk 2077
06:17 Final Fantasy XVI
06:42 Forza Horizon 5
07:11 Ghost of Tsushima
07:38 Horizon Forbidden West
08:05 The Last of Us Part 1
08:30 Plague Tale: Requiem
08:53 Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
09:22 Starfield
09:50 Total War: Warhammer III
10:37 12-game average results
11:41 Cost per frame analysis
12:47 RT Alan Wake II
13:19 RT Black Myth: Wukong
13:47 RT Cyberpunk 2077
14:14 RT F1 24
14:45 RT Ratchet & Clank
15:07 RT Returnal
15:34 RT Shadow of the Tomb Raider
16:07 RT Star Wars Outlaws
16:33 RT 8-game average
17:31 DLSS 4 – new Transformer model
19:59 DLSS 4 – Multi Frame Generation
27:09 AI & productivity benchmarks
28:33 Closer look at the Founders Edition
29:44 Thermals & acoustics (with soundest)
31:31 Power draw and efficiency
33:33 Closing thoughts
If you missed the announcement earlier in the month, the Nvidia RTX 5090 is arriving as the first of four 50-series GPUs. The RTX 5080 is the next cab off the rank, launching on January 30th, while the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti are set to arrive some time next month. This review is firmly focused on the flagship SKU, though, and there is plenty to cover. We look at raster performance, ray tracing, new upgrades made to DLSS 4, alongside AI benchmarks, power, efficiency and more.
RTX 5090
RTX 4090
RTX 4080 Super
RTX 4080
RTX 4070 Ti Super
Process
TSMC N4
TSMC N4
TSMC N4
TSMC N4
TSMC N4
SMs
170
128
80
76
66
CUDA Cores
21760
16384
10240
9728
8448
Tensor Cores
680
512
320
304
264
RT Cores
170
128
80
76
66
Texture Units
680
512
320
304
264
ROPs
176
176
112
112
96
GPU Boost Clock
2407 MHz
2520 MHz
2550 MHz
2505 MHz
2610 MHz
Memory Data Rate
28 Gbps
21 Gbps
23 Gbps
22.4 Gbps
21 Gbps
L2 Cache
98304 KB
73729 KB
65536 KB
65536 KB
49152 KB
Total Video Memory
32GB GDDR7
24GB GDDR6X
16GB GDDR6X
16GB GDDR6X
16GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface
512-bit
384-bit
256-bit
256-bit
256-bit
Memory Bandwidth
1792 GB/Sec
1008 GB/Sec
736 GB/Sec
716.8 GB/Sec
672 GB/Sec
TGP
575W
450W
320W
320W
285W
First, a quick spec recap. The RTX 5090 is built on the new GB202 die, measuring 750mm2, though it's not quite a full implementation of the silicon. Instead we find a total of 11 Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), each holding up to eight Texture Processing Clusters (TPC), for a total of 85. Each TPC is home to two Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), giving us 170, and each SM still holds 256 CUDA Cores, meaning the RTX 5090 has an eye-watering total of 21760 shaders. We also find 170 RT cores, 680 Tensor cores, 680 Texture Units, and 176 ROPs.
This time around, however, there's no node-shrink, and GB202 remains fabricated on TSMC's N4 node, as per the RTX 40-series. As such, rated clock speed is not increased this generation and is actually touted slightly below that of the RTX 4090, with the RTX 5090 delivering a rated 2407MHz boost clock, compared to its predecessor's 2520MHz boost.
The memory configuration has seen significant upgrades, though.The RTX 5090 now comes equipped with a super-wide 512-bit memory interface, paired with 32GB GDDR7 memory running at 28Gbps, and that puts total memory bandwidth at a staggering 1792 GB/s. L2 cache is also increased to 98MB, up from the 74MB of the RTX 4090.
Considering the large increases to die size and core count, but with no node shrink, it's perhaps unsurprising to see power draw has increased, this time boasting a 575W TGP. This is something we focus on closely in this review, using our enhanced GPU power testing methodology, so read on for our most detailed power and efficiency testing yet.
The United Kingdom's competition regulator is investigating Apple and Google once again, with the CMA assessing the "strategic market status" of the two companies in mobile ecosystems.
UK Houses of Parliament - Image Credit: David Zherdenovsky/Pexels
The Competition and Markets Authority is launching an investigation into the mobile business, once again taking on the dominance of Apple and Google in the smartphone market. As it flexes its new powers to investigate big tech companies like Apple, it's taking on the two companies responsible for the two biggest mobile operating systems.
According to Statcounter, iOS has 47.7% of the mobile operating system market share in the UK as of December 2024. Android is reported at 51.9%.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple over the use of fluoroelastomer in several Apple Watch bands, saying the company is hiding how it is using dangerous chemicals.
The Apple Watch Sport Band is among those said to contain harmful chemicals — image credit: Apple
As long ago as 2015, when it filed a patent regarding Apple Watch bands, Apple has been aware of health concerns over the fluoroelastomer material it uses in some bands such as the basic Sport Band. At the time, it was claimed that the particular fluoroelastomer recipe used had been strenuously tested to prevent rashes and other skin reactions.
Ten years later, the company is being sued for the use of this material, and accused of promoting a health device that is unhealthy. The suit targets Apple's Sport Band — which comes as standard with an Apple Watch — plus the Ocean Band, and the Nike Sport Band.
With the GeForce RTX 5090 having a whopping 575W TDP, concerns about potential power connector meltdowns, similar to those experienced with the RTX 4090, are understandably high. However, Nvidia has assured gamers that it has taken steps to prevent that from happening again.
During a recent Q&A session in South Korea (via QuasarZone), Nvidia addressed these concerns head-on. The company acknowledged the previous issues with the RTX 4090's 12VHPWR connector, which sometimes led to overheating and melting, likely due to improper installation or faulty third-party adapters.
To prevent similar issues with the RTX 5090, Nvidia has implemented the updated 12V-2×6 connector, which features a more robust design and improved contact points. The company also emphasised the importance of proper connector installation, highlighting that user error was the primary cause of the RTX 4090 meltdowns.
While the updated connector and increased awareness should significantly reduce the risk of similar incidents with the RTX 5090, Nvidia and AIB partners aren't taking any chances. For example, companies like Zotac (safety light) and MSI (coloured cable connectors) have implemented additional safety measures in their custom RTX 50 series designs.
KitGuru says: With the RTX 5090's launch just around the corner, gamers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Nvidia has taken steps to address the power connector concerns and ensure a safe and stable experience with its next-generation flagship GPU.
It's been a few months since Apple launched the black Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the all-new Apple Watch Series 10. Here's how they compare after three months of daily use.
Let's compare the Apple Watch Series 10 to the Apple Watch Ultra 2
We wore the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for an entire year. Once the new Apple Watch Series 10 was released, we made a chance to the new wearable instead.
This has given us lots of insight into the two models and how they actually compare after prolonged use. We'll go beyond just the specs on a website.
Connexion
-xl-(1)-xl.jpg)
