Samsung Reportedly Cancels The Galaxy S21 FE

Despite the numerous leaks which have allegedly revealed its design and specifications, the supposedly upcoming and highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S21 FE might not see a release in the end. Not long after a report suggesting its cancellation was published by South Korean website DelightIT.net a few days ago, Samsung is said to have silently removed any traces of the smartphone from its official online presence.

Even before a product is announced or released, the tech giant has been known to put up an upcoming device’s support page on its website across multiple regions. Most of the time, these pages usually bear a device’s model number, but lack the necessary documentation related to it – especially if its uploaded ahead of an official launch. Regardless, the support page’s existence is enough to suggest the product’s imminent release.

However, in the Galaxy S21 FE’s case, it has been found that Samsung has recently removed the support pages for the smartphone from its Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and other markets’ websites. According to SamMobile, which first reported the discovery, these pages now return an error message stating “Sorry this link is now unavailable”.

The phone was first expected to launch in August this year, but was then said to be delayed to September. Supposedly corroborating the latter rumour is a leaked photo shared by Max Weinbach, which allegedly revealed the Galaxy S21 FE’s branding being present in an unspecified Samsung store. However, as most of us are aware by now, the launch never came to be.

It is speculated that the ongoing chip shortage, among other potential factors, resulted in the supposed cancellation of the Galaxy S21 FE. If this is true, it will undeniably disappoint those who’ve been looking forward to a more affordable variant of Samsung’s current generation flagship.

Given that the phone was never officially announced, the company can easily claim that it has never existed in the first place – despite prior evidences or leaks. Samsung’s own Schrödinger’s cat, if you may.

Alleged Intel Core i9-12900 Appears With ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Motherboard

We more or less know what the specifications of Intel’s upcoming 12th generation Alder Lake Core i9-12900K are, but little is still known about the processor’s non-K variant, the 12900. That is, until now.

According to Videocardz, evidence of the 12900’s existence made its way online due to what it says was the carelessness of an engineer at the ASUS HQ. Details of the 12900 sprung up on the UserBenchmark site, along with information of the other components it was tested with, chief among them being an ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard. That, and a single stick of Crucial 16GB DDR5 RAM, clocked in at 4800MHz.

Changes between the 12900K and 12900 are minimal, the main differences being that the non-K variant of Intel’s top-of-the-line Alder Lake CPU isn’t overclockable. To that end, the CPU’s base and boost clock is locked at 2.4GHz and 4.25GHz, respectively. As for its core count, it also retains the same hybrid 16-cores, 24-threads configuration.

Performance-wise, the 12900 scored 114% in the UserBenchmark test, along with a 214 single-core score and 2510 points in the multi-core segment.

On another note, an image of the 12900KF has also leaked, showing both its front and grid array. Again, it shares nearly identical specifications as the 12900K, save for the lack of an integrated Xe graphics core.

Intel is expected to launch its 12th generation Alder Lake lineup sometime next month but did not specify an exact date. However, a recent posting by MSI suggests that that date is set for 4 November.

iPad mini 6 Also Reportedly Exhibiting A Display Issue

It looks like the iPhone 13 Pro models aren’t the only newly launched Apple products experiencing display issues. According to 9to5Mac and The Verge’s Dieter Bohn, exhibited on the company’s new iPad mini 6 is a wobbling effect that occurs when content is moving quickly on screen when used in portrait mode.

The issue, also dubbed as “jelly scrolling” by both sources as well as owners of the tablet, is easily noticeable when scrolling up or down on a web page or certain apps (ie: social media). As demonstrated by Bohn in a Twitter post, it appears that one side of the 6th gen iPad mini 6’s display is refreshing slower than the other, thus causing content to appear as if it is wobbling. Strangely enough, he notes that the effect is not present when using the new tablet in horizontal orientation.

It looks like that this isn’t an isolated issue either, as an owner told 9to5Mac that the wobbling effect is also present on all iPad mini  6 demo units that are displayed in their local Apple Store. The company has yet to acknowledge and address the flaw, and it is still uncertain whether it is caused by the tablet’s LCD panel, its display controllers, or by its firmware/software.

Apple recently responded to the iPhone 13 Pro series’ refresh rate issue and promised to roll out a fix soon. With that, hopefully the company would also follow up on the 6th gen iPad mini and offer a potential solution for the display’s wobbling effect problem.

As previously reported, the iPad mini 6 will retail at a starting price of RM2,299, but its expected arrival in Malaysia has not been determined at this time. Meanwhile, all four iPhone 13 variations, which includes the standard, mini, Pro and Pro Max models, are slated to arrive locally next month on 8 October.

Alan Wake Remastered FAQ Details System Requirements; Confirms 5 October Release

We’ve previously seen the supposed release date of Alan Wake Remastered of 5 October, as revealed ahead of schedule by a Taiwanese retailer. The developers at Remedy Entertainment has since put out an FAQ page for the game. It not only confirms the release date, but also lists the PC system requirements for the remaster.

Starting with the minimum specs, we’re looking at an Intel Core i5-3340 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX470 GPU and 8GB of RAM. The only other option listed is recommended, which is a Core i7-3770 or Ryzen 5 1400 CPU, GeForce GTX1060 or Radeon 5600XT GPU, and 16GB of RAM.

All in all, it looks like the Alan Wake Remastered isn’t too demanding when it comes to PC requirements. Though it’s worth noting that the game will only come in x64, and supports only DX12. For Nvidia users, there’s support for DLSS, but not raytracing, which requires an RTX card either way.

Then again, it’s not entirely surprising. After all, this is a remaster and not a remake. Which means that while it will look prettier, it is still mostly the same game. Though interestingly, on the PS5, there’s DualSense support, which makes the torchlight shine brighter if you squeeze the L2 button harder.

MSI Seemingly Confirms Launch Date of Intel Alder Lake CPU Lineup

During its Architecture Day in August, Intel has promised that its 12th generation Alder Lake CPU lineup will launch this year, but fell short of providing a solid date for the event. Well, thanks to MSI, it appears that the date seems to be set for 4 November.

The alleged confirmation date stems from the Taiwanese PC components and laptop maker’s press release, announcing that it would be providing a free upgrade kit for Intel LGA1700 CPUs, along with their Coreliquid CPU coolers. More specifically, consumers will need to fill up a form in order to receive the upgrades but as of this publication, the button that would usually take them to the necessary portal is greyed out and sporting the words “Coming Soon”.

More to the point, the availability date of 4 November initially drew suspicions from Videocardz, whom after reaching out to what it says were reliable sources, was confident that the date is when Intel plans to launch its Alder Lake-S desktop CPU lineup. Further, that date reportedly coincides with the product’s sales and review embargo.

Intel is expected to launch three SKUs under the Alder Lake-S series, including the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i5-12600K. As it stands and given how these things usually go, Intel has yet to officially confirm anything, so take this news with a pinch of salt.

Apple Being Investigated Again By Brazil For Missing iPhone 13 Charger

Brazil’s Foundation for Consumer Protection and Defense (Procon-SP) has revealed that they’ve already started investigating Apple’s decision to once again sell the new iPhone without the charger, before it’s even started shipping in the country. The report by local publication TechTudo says that by 29 September, both Apple and Samsung will be notified for selling the charger separately from the iPhone 13, Galaxy Z Flip3, and Galaxy Z Fold3.

Apple already got in trouble with Procon-SP when it first decided to exclude the power brick from the iPhone 12, with the regulator fining the tech giant US$2 million (~RM8.3 million) earlier this year, which also included charges of misleading advertising and unfair terms. Even before they had taken action against the company, the regulator already concluded back in November that Apple’s move did not demonstrate environmental gain.

Procon-SP’s executive director Fernando Capez told TechTudo that it’s not legal to sell the phone and charger separately as “you can only charge the device with that power brick,” leading to customers being obligated to buy two products. Even though Apple already says on its website that the iPhone 13 doesn’t come with the charger in the box, he believes this is not enough – calling it “camouflaged information”.

Capez added that consumers already have an expectation of getting the charging brick with their smartphones and wants Apple to stamp the change on the packaging so that consumers are aware. For the record, while Samsung also followed Apple’s decision as well, the South Korean firm avoided a fine from Procon-SP by striking a deal to include a “gift” charger with Galaxy S21 pre-orders in Brazil.

The consumer protection regulator is looking into forming a class action to help any consumers who feel that Apple should give them a free charger, and advises consumers that for now, they should file a small claims suit in civil court. Apple did not give a response to TechTudo, though when the company was fined in March, they commented that “all iPhones sold in the country work with the available chargers, including third-party ones since they follow Anatel standards.”

Geely Founder Takes A Step Into The Smartphone Market

Geely, or to refer to its full name, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is primarily a carmaker. Since 2017, the company has owned basically half of local car brand Proton. But it looks like the automaker’s founder is venturing into the smartphone market as well.

Geely group chairman and founder Eric Li started the company called Hubei Xingji Shidai Technology, to that end. The phones that the company makes will be of the premium, high-end variety, according to its press release.

In a statement, Li said that “there is a close connection in technologies within intelligent vehicle cockpits and smartphone software technologies”. Which may go to explaining the reason behind the new company. The new company will also be benefiting from the tech and processes of Geely itself.

Earlier this year, Geely started another company, called Zeekr, for its electric car endeavours. At the time, reports indicated that the company was aimed at challenging the dominance of the US-based Tesla brand. Chances are Xinji Shidai has been set up to cut into the dominance of Samsung and Apple at the top end. That being said, if the company does make phones for regions outside of China, it’s difficult to imagine them not using Android as its OS.

Xiaomi Watch 2 Launches In China; Retailing At CNY1000

Launched alongside the new Xiaomi Civi smartphone yesterday is the brand’s next generation smartwatch, the Xiaomi Watch 2 (known as Watch Color 2 in China). Typical of any sequel device, the new wearable comes with upgrades such as a larger display and new health tracking features, among other things.

The Xiaomi Watch 2 comes with a circular 1.43-inch AMOLED display with 326 ppi pixel density. The wearable is offered in three colourways – white, black, and gray – which can be combined with over 200 watch faces and 6 strap colours including black, blue, white, green, yellow and orange. Like its predecessor, it is also water resistant up to 5 ATM.

Features-wise, the new smartwatch comes with dual-band GPS support, 24/7 heart rate, Sp02, sleep and menstrual health tracking capabilities, as well as over 110 sports tracking modes. The Watch 2 does not run on the new Wear OS platform but instead uses Xiaomi’s proprietary smartwatch-based operating system, which supports a fair number of third-party apps. 

The device has a battery capacity of 470mAh, which is a decent upgrade over the 420mAh capacity of its predecessor. The company claims that this is enough for 30 hours of continuous GPS tracking, and up to 12 days of regular use on a single charge. With Extended Mode switched on, the new smartwatch is said to be able to last up to 24 days.

The Xiaomi Watch 2 is slated to ship out in China on 30 September 2021 and will retail at CNY1,000 (~RM648). However, the company has yet to announce the new smartwatch’s expected availability in other regions outside of its home country.

Samsung Wants To Make An AI Chip That Mimics The Human Brain

Samsung, together with researchers from Harvard University, have published a paper that puts forth their idea of making neuromorphic chips, semiconductor technology that mimics the human brain by “copying and pasting”. The Perspective paper, published in Nature Electronics, propose that the feat can be achieved by – in their own words – copying the brain’s neuronal connection map using a nanoelectrode array and pasting the map onto a high-density three-dimensional network of solid-state memories, such as commercial SSDs or resistive RAM.

They claim that the copy and paste method would create a chip that shares brain-like traits such as running on low power, facile learning, adaptation to environment, autonomy, and even cognition. Each of the memory drives would be programmed so that its conductance represents the strength of each neuronal connection in the copied map.

The human brain has an estimated 100 billion neurons, so Samsung says that the ultimate neuromorphic chip will require 100 trillion or so memories. The idea of neuromorphic engineering has been around since the 1980s, but has never been achieved due to its complexity.

The researchers say that the neuronal connection map is the key to reverse engineering how our brains work and applying them in our computers. It’s probably still a long way away from becoming a reality, so for now, we’ll have to be content with AI that swerves your vacuum away from hitting dog poo.

Intel ARC Alchemist Cards To Use “Arc aXXX” Naming Methodology

It appears that Intel’s ARC Alchemist graphics card will be named in a rather surgical manner, with each card bearing an “Arc aXXX” label. Alleged details of Intel’s naming guidelines for its upcoming GPUs were first leaked by the leakster, 188号 (@momomo_us), who somehow managed to get their hands on the details.

According to the guideline, the “a” in the “aXXX” moniker refers to the Alchemist GPU. This actually clears up two details for us: Firstly, we now know that Intel isn’t going the way of NVIDIA or AMD, with the two GPU makers slapping the RTX and RX moniker to their respective GeForce and Radeon GPUs. Instead, Intel just wants to keep it simple.

The second detail is Intel’s categorisation of its GPUs, now and in the future. We know that the next three generations of ARC GPUs are known as Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid. Therefore, we can at least deduce that, assuming this naming guideline holds, the next round of graphics cards will be launched with the “bXXX”, “cXXX”, and “dXXX” label.

It’s also clear that Intel is being pretty strict with itself and even goes so far as to even list down an incorrect use of its product’s names.

Intel’s ARC Alchemist graphics cards are expected to debut sometime during the first quarter of 2022, but reports have been unable to pinpoint an exact launch date. Another rumour suggests that Intel will be launching not one, but three different SKUs when the time comes, but do take that bit of news with a large grain of salt.

Super Nintendo World To Get Donkey Kong Expansion In 2024

The Super Nintendo World area in the Universal Studios Japan theme park was opened earlier this year. As was reported last November, the section of the theme park will get a Donkey Kong expansion right next to the Mario-themed original area. Nintendo has since announced that the new area will be open sometime in 2024.

As is the usual theme park fare, the new Donkey Kong section will feature things like a roller coaster, themed merchanise, and food. But what really stands out is the area of “lush jungles where Donkey Kong and his friends live”. Overall, the new expansion will increase the Super Nintendo World area by 70%.

In the initial report, Bloomberg noted that the Mario section is a little on the small side. In retrospect, perhaps it wasn’t that small after all, or that the new location is even smaller, if the addition of a new area themed around another IP didn’t immediately double the size of Super Nintendo World.

But at any rate, it will be awhile before those outside of Osaka will be able to visit the place anyway. And it’s really up in the air right now as to whether the world will return to a time where travel is not quite so restricted first, or the expansion will be completed first.

PDRM Begins To Investigate JPN Database Leak As LHDN Refutes Seller’s Claim

The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) has begun to investigate the database leak that is said to involve the National Registration Department (JPN) and Inland Revenue Board (LHDN). As per our report earlier, a database that apparently contained four million data that belonged to Malaysians was put on sale at a well-known marketplace forum.

The seller claimed that the data was from JPN but acquired through LHDN’s website using myIDENTITY’s API. It was listed on the marketplace for 0.2 BTC which was around RM 35,495 at the time we published the report this morning.

According to the Director of PDRM’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department, CP Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, a police report regarding the incident has been filed at Putrajaya by the Deputy Director of JPN and the case is currently being investigated under Section 4(1) of Computer Crimes Act 1997 [pdf].

CP Kamarudin added that a thorough investigation will be carried out in collaboration with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, CyberSecurity Malaysia, and National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA). Interesting enough, the police are not ruling out the involvement of insiders in this incident.

PDRM reportedly has also made the first move by attempting to block the sale of the database although our quick visit to the marketplace forum showed that the listing is still there in the marketplace forum as of 9:30 PM today.

In a separate statement, LHDN has refuted the claim that its website was the source of the database leak and insisted that it is just a user of myIDENTITY but does not own the platform. The board has also revealed that its own internal investigation showed that there was no leak of data and information at its end.

LHDN insists that all of the data and information under its custody is safe and protected by “recognised data security technology”. That being said, it is currently working together with JPN, NACSA, and National Security Council to go through all the possibilities in regards to the said database.

Tourism Bubble For Tioman Island And Genting Highlands Put On Hold Indefinitely

The tourism bubble for Tioman Island and Genting Highlands, which was previously announced to begin on 1 October 2021, has been placed on indefinite hold. This was confirmed by Tourism Pahang general manager Kamaruddin Ibrahim earlier today, during the implementation of SOPs in Tioman Island at the Teluk Gading ferry jetty terminal.

Kamaruddin said the decision was made during a recently held special meeting with the Malaysian National Security Council (MKN), which was chaired by prime minister Ismail Sabri. He further clarified that the reason behind this postponement is to give the government more time to achieve its goal of reaching a vaccination rate of 90% of the Malaysian adult population.

Until then, travelling to both Tioman Island and Genting Highlands will only be allowed for fully-vaccinated residents of Pahang from locations that have been declared to be under Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN). Kamaruddin said that the reopening for both locations to those outside of the state is expected to be officially announced by the prime minister at a later time.

“This may take another two or three more weeks, or whenever the vaccination rate of the country’s adult population has reached 90%,” he added. “For the out-of-state tourists who have already made reservations, we ask that they contact the tourism operators for advice, either to postpone their trip or otherwise.”

At this time, the total percentage of fully-vaccinated adult individuals in the country is currently at 60.6% as of 27 September 2021, according to the Ministry of Health’s COVIDNOW website. As reported last week, the government believes that the goal can be met in another two weeks or so.

EA: Battlefield 2042 Early Access Date Is Now 12 November

Electronic Arts has very recently confirmed that Battlefield 2042 has been pushed back to 19 November. At the time, video games leaker Tom Henderson claimed that this will also push back the open beta and early access dates to October. But now, it looks like it will be pushed even further back than that.

Adam Freeman, EA Europe’s community manager, has shared on Twitter that the new early access date for Battlefield 2042 has now been pushed back to 12 November. This puts it just a week before the launch of the game.

This small window makes the open beta date in a pretty precarious spot. If it retains the pattern of being two days after early access opens, this means that there will only be five days for the open beta phase of Battlefield 2042. Even if the so-called open beta is a glorified server stress test, it does feel like five days is too tight a window for anything to be done if anything does go south.

Freeman says that an exact date for the open beta will be shared later this month, which leaves things up in the air. But as it is, it does seem like the 19 November release of the game itself is quite set in stone.

Toshiba Launches Microwave-Assisted 18TB HDDs For Desktops, NAS

Toshiba recently announced its first 18TB HDDs for the consumer markets. Further, the new hard drives feature the brand’s flux-control microwave-assisted magnetic recording (FC-MAMR) technology.

The new 18TB HDDs can be categorised into two SKUs: the X300 and N300. The X300 18TB model is, as the “X” prefix would suggest, designed for users with high-end desktops, while the N300 variant is designed for inexpensive network-attached storage (NAS) solutions.

As per Tom’s Hardware, the X300 HDDs are the only hard drives in the world to use the MAMR technology for the consumer desktop segment, while the N300 series HDDs are designed for NAS with up to eight bays. Oddly enough, Toshiba hasn’t fully let its hair down in regards to the drives’ performance, but what is known is that the hard drives run on a 7200 RPM-class helium-sealed platform. And offer up to 281MB/s in average sustained data transfer rate.

At the time of writing, Toshiba has yet to disclose the pricing for either the X300 or N300 18TB HDDs. However, it has said that the drives should be out sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Intel Goes On Hiring Spree Of Game Developers For ARC Alchemist GPU

Intel appears to have jumped head-on into a hiring frenzy of late. The chipmaker has reportedly managed to fill four positions within the company, with each new member having a background in game development, in one form or another.

It should be noted that Intel’s new hires are being brought in to work on “gaming and graphics”, making it obvious that the company is recruiting hard for the development of its ARC Alchemist GPU. As mentioned, the list of individuals who have a gaming background but more specifically, they made their bones over at companies like Electronic Arts and AMD.

First of is Andre Bremer, who joins Intel as the Vice President (VP) and General Manager (GM) of Gaming and Graphics Workload Engineering, and previously worked EA, LucasArts, and Amazon. Next on the list is Michael Heilemman, who comes in as the Senior Director of Game Developer Tools and Technologies.

The third hire is Ritche Corpus, who now heads Intel’s Game Ecosystem Business Development and Developer Relations as Vice President and General manager. Prior to his latest appointment, Corpus was a member of the PC Gaming Alliance, working as its Treasurer.

Last on the list is Steve Bell, who joins Intel directly from AMD as the former’s new Senior Director of Gaming Developer Relations. Bell reportedly spent more than 13 years at AMD, working in exactly the same capacity as his current position.

Riot Games To Release Its Own Game Launcher Soon

GOG Galaxy, EA Origin, and Steam are some of many game launchers that are currently available on PC. And if you happen to be a regular player of League of Legends (LoL) and Valorant, well… then get ready to add another one to that list.

According to Riot Games, the developer of the two aforementioned titles, the new launcher is aimed to unify all of its in-house games under a single platform and enable players to access them under a single sign-in. In addition, existing desktop shortcuts to titles such as LoL and Valorant will still work even after the rollout of its platform. However, it was not mentioned if accessing these shortcuts would directly launch their respective games, or redirect users to the new Riot Games Launcher.

From their description, the upcoming platform seems like it might function similarly to Activision-Blizzard’s BattleNet client, where each game features its own tab and respective page for launching it and receiving patch updates. At the same time, the overall launcher will also act as a central hub for users to easily keep up with the latest announcements, news, and events for each title. The developer ensures that the new launcher will be lightweight in terms of resource requirements.

The new Riot Games Launcher will first be available on 20 September for testing, and is expected to roll out to all players worldwide starting 4 October. The team noted that the latter is subject to change, should additional time be needed to iron out any issues as well as to add new features to the upcoming client app.