Month: November 2021

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Enlarge / Logitech G G303 Shroud Edition wireless gaming mouse. (credit: Best Buy)

After months of gamer anticipation, Logitech's G303 Shroud Edition wireless gaming mouse is available. Logitech has yet to officially announce the mouse or list it on its US website, but Best Buy has the mouse available for $130.

The original G303 came out about 6.5 years ago. (credit: Best Buy)

The G303 originally debuted in March 2015 under the longer title of the Logitech G303 Daedalus Apex.

Logitech G303 Daedalus Apex with orange RGB. (credit: Logitech)

The mouse came as a higher-specced alternative to 2014's G302, with Christopher Pate, Logitech product manager at the time, saying that the mouse was "somewhat of an enthusiast edition of the G302." The new G303 ups the ante by going wireless and boosting the specs even higher.

G303 Shroud Edition versus the original G303

The most obvious difference between the 2021 G303 and 2015 version is the lack of a cable. The new G303 uses a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle that the product page claims can support up to a 32.8-foot distance. According to Best Buy, the mouse is rechargeable via an included USB-C cable.

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Qualcomm processors power many of the world’s fastest smartphones. But the company has a relative newcomer to the PC space. The first Windows PCs featuring Qualcomm chips began shipping just a few years ago, and the first Qualcomm-powered Chromebooks just started to hit the streets earlier this year.

And most of the PCs with Qualcomm chips released to date have been significantly slower than similarly-priced models with Intel or AMD chips. But Qualcomm says that could change with its next-gen chips, which the company says are expected to arrive in consumer devices in 2023.

Rival chip maker Apple has already shown that it’s possible to offer industry-leading performance using ARM-based processors. Macs with Apple’s M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max chips offer better single-core performance and better performance-per-watt than just about anything on the market  right now.

So in an effort to catch up, Qualcomm acquired chip designer Nuvia earlier this year. The company, which was founded by chip designers from Apple, Google, ARM, AMD, and Broadcom. One of the co-founders was former chief architect for Apple’s CPU designs up until a few years ago.

Now Qualcomm says its first chips produced using technology from Nuvia will begin sampling to customers in around 9 months or so and they could hit the streets sometime in 2023.

While the company isn’t sharing many specific details about the upcoming chips, the company did outline some goals during its Qualcomm Investor Day 2021 presentation:

• The goal is to have the highest performance low-power CPU in the industry.
• In addition to increased CPU performance, Qualcomm says its Adreno graphics can scale up to desktop-class performance (so the same architecture can deliver 0.3 TFLOPs for low-power wearables or over 15 TFLOPs for high-end gaming hardware).
• Other technologies developed for mobile devices can also help Qualcomm’s PC chips stand out from x86 processors, including integrated 5G modems and hardware-accelerated AI and camera capabilities.

More details should be available closer to launch.

The post Qualcomm’s answer to Apple Silicon is coming in 2023 (high-performance chips for Windows PCs) appeared first on Liliputing.

Enlarge / Artist's conception of New World players watching their in-game investments explode. (credit: Amazon Games)

Amazon has shut down wealth transfers in New World for the second time in a month, hobbling the in-game economy in an attempt to limit the damage from yet another item duplication bug in the popular MMO.

Over the weekend, news started to filter through the New World community regarding a trophy duplication glitch, letting unscrupulous players create copies of the lucrative items at will. As word of the glitch spread, the price for those trophies began to crater in the in-game marketplace, ruining the investments of time, effort, and in-game money for many legit players.

On Monday, New World Community Manager Tosch notified the community that the developers were aware of the glitch. In response, Tosch said they were "disabling all forms of wealth transfer between players (i.e. sending currency, guild treasury, trading post, player to player trading) while we investigate. Any player that has engaged in the use of this exploit will be actioned against."

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Wireless charging has become commonplace in recent years… but for the most part it means you can charge some phones, smartwatches, or earbuds by carefully placing them on a charging mat or stand and leaving them there. You may not have to plug in a charging cable every time you want to top up the battery, but your devices are still kind of physically tied to a charger.

But French device maker Archos and wireless charging company Ossia have announced plans to launch at least four new products in 2022 that will support wireless charging over longer distances. Just bring your gadgets within range of a compatible charger and the battery will begin refueling whether the gadget is in your pocket, on your wrist, or positioned on a table or countertop.

Ossia is one of several companies that have been developing wireless charging at a distance technology which delivers over-the-air charging without the need for physical contact or even line of sight. Instead, the company’s Cota Real Wireless Power system uses radio frequency (RF) for power delivery… but that means it only works with devices that have an RF receiver built in.

That rules out most existing phones and other gadgets that use the Qi wireless charging standard. One workaround would be an aftermarket smartphone case with support for Cota charging. But the other is to build support for Cota charging directly into hardware. And that’s what Archos plans to do.

The company’s first four Cota-enabled devices will include:

• Smart Health Watch with GPD, pedometer, ECG, blood pressure, and sleep quality tracking features and no need for a charging cable
• Smart Tracker Bluetooth tracker that can be used to locate keys, pet collars, or anything else they’re attached to
• Air Quality & temperature station that can detect and display ambient conditions in any room in your house
• Indoor wireless camera that can be placed without the need for running power cables

Archos and Ossia plan to showcase the upcoming products at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in January and bring them to market later in the year. According to a press release, these battery-powered devices should never have to be plugged in (although it’s unclear if you’ll at least have the option of plugging in a charging cable for faster charging or in the event that the wireless charger is unavailable).

The Bluetooth tracker, for example, is said to offer “a few days of autonomy” before it needs recharging, but if it’s attached to something that’s often around the house long enough to recharge, you may never need to manually charge the battery (at least until it degrades to the point where it can no longer hold a charge).

It’s worth noting that all of these gadgets are low power devices that likely consume less power than something like a laptop. It may be a while before we can go truly wireless for larger gadgets.

Archos does also make smartphones and tablets, but so far there are no official plans to launch any with support for Ossia’s Cota wireless charging technology.

via Gizmodo 

But a handful of companies have been developing technology for wireless charging over longer distances: walk into a room equipped with compatible wireless chargers and your devices will start charging automatically, whether they’re in your pockets, hands, or lying on the couch.

The post Wireless charging at a distance: Archos is launching four gadgets in 2022 that are truly wireless appeared first on Liliputing.