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Vivo X300 Ultra at half price: Importing from China can be worth it

Just a few days after the official Vivo X300 Ultra launch event, it is becoming increasingly clear how fans of the ultimate Zeiss camera phone can save a lot of money. Anyone primarily looking for the best camera in a phone form factor and willing to live with some day-to-day limitations as a smartphone should go for the China version. Here is an overview of current import prices and some tips for dealing with a China phone.

EU to tax old emails and photo clutter: New "Data waste" law effective April 1, 2026!

The EU Commission is set to introduce the so-called "Data Carbon Tax" on April 1, 2026. This tax on 'dark data'β€”such as old emails or duplicate photosβ€”is designed to offset the surging energy consumption of AI data centers powering ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar applications. In the future, users who fail to clean up their data within specified deadlines must expect financial penalties or even the mandatory deletion of their cloud storage. However, a little more tidiness can't hurt ;)

New Analogue 3D firmware update solves flash cart headaches by tracking each N64 ROM separately

Analogue’s firmware 1.2.4 update for the FPGA-based Analogue 3D addresses a major pain point for N64 flash cart users by detecting ROM header changes and treating each title on a single cartridge as a separate library entry. The β€œadvanced library detection” feature preserves per-game saves and settings, such as Virtual Controller Pak data and controller configurations, while additional OS tweaks, such as a cartridge-dependent β€œReady” prompt, streamline startup.

Tim Sweeney: Epic to resolve insurance hurdles for terminally ill laid-off dev

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the company is working directly with the family of Michael Prinke, a laid-off Epic employee with terminal brain cancer, and pledged to β€œsolve the insurance” gap that left him without life coverage. Sweeney added that Prinke’s medical condition was not a factor in the layoff due to confidentiality rules, as the case reignites scrutiny of how mass layoffs affect workers with serious health conditions.

β€œA computer should be yours”: Framework CEO calls out MacBook Neo design

Framework CEO Nirav Patel posted a teardown comparing Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo with the similarly priced Framework Laptop 12, arguing they embody opposing philosophies despite both targeting budget buyers. He praised Apple’s improved access to parts like the battery and ports, but criticized its soldered RAM and storage, and the costly display replacement, positioning Framework’s modular, upgradeable design as a longer-lasting alternative that reduces e-waste and avoids pulling users into Apple’s β€œwalled garden.”

EU to tax old emails and photo clutter: New "Data waste" law effective July 2026

The EU Commission is set to introduce the so-called "Data Carbon Tax" on July 1, 2026. This tax on 'dark data'β€”such as old emails or duplicate photosβ€”is designed to offset the surging energy consumption of AI data centers powering ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar applications. In the future, users who fail to clean up their data within specified deadlines must expect financial penalties or even the mandatory deletion of their cloud storage.

Samsung's 2026 flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar is here, but you should get the 2025 model instead

Samsung’s new HW-Q990H flagship soundbar brings AI-driven features like Sound Elevation and Auto Volume, but leaves the hardware largely unchanged from last year. At $1,999, it’s a tough sell when the HW-Q990F or even the older Q990D offer nearly identical performance for significantly less. Unless you really want the latest software tweaks, last year’s model remains the smarter buy.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra: Hasselblad camera phone gets official global release date

Alongside numerous other Oppo phones, tablets, and wearables, Oppo today revealed in both global markets and China the official launch date for what is likely to be one of the most exciting camera flagships of the year. At least in China, the Oppo Find X9s Pro, the Oppo Pad Mini and Pad5 Pro, the Watch X3 Mini, and the Enco Clip2 earbuds will also launch at the same time.

PokΓ©mon Champions is just around the corner – and it could be here to stay

PokΓ©mon Champions is meant to become more than just a new PvP spin-off: according to producer Masaaki Hoshino, the game is designed as a long-term platform that, in the best-case scenario, could keep running β€œforever.” To achieve that, The PokΓ©mon Works and Game Freak are relying on a live-service model with rotating PokΓ©mon pools so that the battle system remains manageable even with thousands of possible pocket monsters. The free-to-start title launches on April 8, 2026 for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 English translator says Warhorse studios replaced him with AI to cut costs: β€œI was told my role was now obsolete”

Czech-to-English translator and editor Max Hejtmanek says Warhorse Studios abruptly ended his four-year role on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, telling him his position would become β€œobsolete” as the company shifts all future translation work to AI to boost efficiency and cut costs. Hejtmanek, who says he handled much of the game’s English text from dialogue to promotional material, urged fans not to harass staff or review-bomb the game, while Warhorse and its publisher have not publicly responded.

GTA 6 sleuths deduce that Rockstar North has spent likely over $2 billion on the title

Fans awaiting Grand Theft Auto VI have begun scrutinizing Rockstar Games’ UK financial filings, with online analyses suggesting Rockstar North alone may have spent more than Β£2.1 billion (over $2.7 billion) since 2019, fueling speculation that the project could ultimately exceed $3 billion. The estimates, drawn largely from wages and expenses and popularized by a YouTuber and a Reddit user, remain unverified and may also reflect ongoing support for other Rockstar titles rather than exclusively for GTA VI development.

Citizen’s newest Promaster Dive is bigger, bolder, and now available in the US

If you’re a fan of big dive watches, Citizen’s newest limited-edition Promaster might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for. At 44mm, it has a prominent wrist presence, and its iridescent dial reflects light in vivid aquatic shades. Following its release in Canada and China, the watch is now officially available in the US for $495 starting today.

BYD spins off electric taxi unit: Linghui gives away $2,300 in free charging

BYD, the Chinese EV giant, is hitting the brakes. Too many BYD electric cars are being used as taxis, which is damaging its premium image among private customers. The solution is the new Linghui brand. The premium electric model e7 comes with completely free flash charging for one year, saving frequent drivers the equivalent of over $2,300 or €2,000.

New Blood CEO slams Nvidia DLSS 5: β€œWho asked for this?”

New Blood Interactive CEO David Oshry and Dusk creator David Szymanski have criticized Nvidia’s forthcoming DLSS 5, set to launch this fall on RTX 50-series GPUs, arguing that its shift toward generative AI goes beyond super-sampling and muddies what DLSS is meant to be. Both warn that β€œoptional” adoption may become effectively mandatory as games are built around the tech, and they urge developers and consumers to push back by withholding collaboration and spending.

Epic Games layoffs: developer with terminal brain cancer loses life insurance

Epic Games’ latest round of layoffs, which cut roughly 1,000 roles, has drawn renewed scrutiny after reports that a longtime programmer with terminal brain cancer lost his employer-sponsored life insurance immediately upon termination. While the company offered severance and six months of continued health coverage, the employee’s family says a pre-existing condition prevents obtaining new coverage, prompting outreach to Epic executives and an update that discussions are now underway.

God of War dev reveal Kratos' ashen design happened 'by accident'

Retro Gamer reports that Kratos’ iconic pale, ashen skin in God of War was not a lore-first design choice but the result of director David Jaffe approving an unfinished concept sketch that simply looked β€œreally cool.” Developer Stig Asmussen says the team later integrated the accidental look into the narrative, while the stark white palette also helped Kratos stand out amid the game’s marble environments and blood-soaked combat.

New Blood CEO slams NVIDIA DLSS 5: β€œWho asked for this?”

New Blood Interactive CEO David Oshry and Dusk creator David Szymanski have criticized Nvidia’s forthcoming DLSS 5, set to launch this fall on RTX 50-series GPUs, arguing that its shift toward generative AI goes beyond super-sampling and muddies what DLSS is meant to be. Both warn that β€œoptional” adoption may become effectively mandatory as games are built around the tech, and they urge developers and consumers to push back by withholding collaboration and spending.

The Sims creator continues to bet on AI memory game Proxi despite funding lapse

Will Wright, creator of The Sims, is continuing to push forward with Proxi, an AI-driven β€œmemory game” that turns players’ personal recollections into a navigable world populated by avatar-like Proxies, despite years of technical uncertainty and investor skepticism. After Gallium Studios’ funding dried up in October 2024 and its 30-person team was laid off, Wright has kept the project alive with an unpaid skeleton crew while still searching for backers in 2026, framing the effort as a high-risk pursuit he’d rather see fail spectacularly than succeed modestly.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra: Faster camera than Vivo X300 Ultra and best 3x telephoto

Both an Oppo executive and a well-known leaker have shared additional details about the Hasselblad camera on the Oppo Find X9 Ultra in recent hours, and these indications are highly promising for anyone looking for the best smartphone camera of the year. In direct comparisons, even some of the camera specs of the Vivo X300 Ultra appear weaker.

Vivo X300 Ultra: Official Euro and China import prices leaked

For several days, a supposed poster has been circulating in China revealing the retail prices of all Vivo X300 Ultra storage configurations. Ahead of the launch in China next week, there is now more concrete information available. Not only the import prices from China, but also the official euro pricing for Austria and Germany are known, and one of the accessories aimed at video creators will also be available in the EU.

Steam Machine should undercut PlayStation 5 price hike

The PlayStation 5 and 5 Pro price hikes make this the best time for Valve to secure truly competitive Steam Machine pricing, which matters greatly even if the product does end up trailing PlayStation 5 Pro in graphics performance. The beefier CPU of Steam Machine and superior PC upscalers versus base PS5 turn the coming showdown into an interesting battle, indeed.

Half-Life 2 writer: Valve devs quietly testing generative AI for game writing

Half-Life 2 and Portal writer Erik Wolpaw says a small group at Valve is quietly experimenting with generative AI tools, though he argues the technology remains β€œpretty bad” at creative writing and isn’t a near-term threat to human authors. He suggests AI may be more useful for improving real-time, reactive NPC dialogue systems, while emphasizing Valve’s efforts are informal and exploratory rather than a company-wide initiative.

Kingdom Come Deliverance director defends DLSS 5: "No way haters will stop this"

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 creative director Daniel VΓ‘vra has publicly defended Nvidia’s DLSS 5 amid widespread backlash over its early β€œuncanny” visual demos, arguing the neural-rendering tech will improve and may eventually reduce reliance on costly ray tracing. VΓ‘vra says β€œhaters won’t stop” DLSS 5’s adoption, predicting developers will learn to tune it to specific art styles even as he acknowledges his past skepticism toward AI-generated art.

Hideo Kojima ordered devs to make Death Stranding 2 more enjoyable so β€œmore people finish the game”

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach lead level designer Hiroaki Yoshiike says Hideo Kojima explicitly ordered the team to make the sequel more enjoyable so more players would finish it, a response to feedback that the original could feel slow and overly elaborate. By trimming mandatory worldbuilding and adding optional supplemental elements, Kojima Productions aimed to improve pacing and accessibility, an approach Yoshiike claims is reflected in stronger completion metrics and early critical and player praise.

Google Translate for iOS gets game-changing "Live Translate" feature

Google is expanding its "Live Translate" feature to iOS, allowing iPhone users to experience real-time audio translation through headphones. Supporting over 70 languages, the tool preserves the speaker's original tone and cadence for more natural conversations. The update is currently rolling out across major global markets, including the UK, Japan, and Europe.

"Pure magic": Jon L. Noble plays World of Warcraft with his thoughts

Jon L. Noble, one of the British participants in Neuralink’s clinical trial, describes his first 100 days with the N1 implant as β€œscience fiction” that has become part of everyday life. Particularly remarkable is his statement that he can now even play World of Warcraft using his thoughts. Golem reported on the case on March 25, referring to Noble’s own X post from March 22.

Another Lord of the Rings film announced – and that’s not the only surprise

Warner Bros. has announced another Lord of the Rings film alongside The Hunt for Gollum, one that will take a more detailed look at some of the early chapters Peter Jackson left out of his film adaptation. As if that were not surprising enough, the idea reportedly came from Stephen Colbert, who is co-writing the project together with his son Peter McGee.

Intel Arc Pro B70 performance metrics: significantly faster than Nvidia's RTX 4000 Pro at half the price and 33% more VRAM

Intel published slides comparing the Arc Pro B70 GPU with Nvidia's RTX 4000 Pro. The Intel card appears to have up to 2.2x larger context windows thanks to its 33% larger VRAM capacity, which leads to 2x tokens per dollar performance increase and up to 6.2x faster responses in multi-agent or multi-user workloads.

DJI unveils Avata 360 flagship 360Β° drone to take on Antigravity’s wild A1

DJI has officially launched its first-ever Avata 360 drone with a massive transmission range of up to 20 km (12.4 miles). The new 360 FPV drone is equipped with DJI’s 1-inch imaging system, O4+ video transmission, and omnidirectional obstacle sensing. The 1-inch-equivalent sensors can capture footage up to 8K/60 fps and 120 MP photos.

PlayStation 5's PSSR 2.0 uses AMD's FSR 4's INT8 version that may skip PC RDNA 2 & 3 GPUs

A leaked AMD GitHub repository revealed an INT8 build of FSR 4 that appears capable of running on RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 GPUs, even as AMD positions official FSR 4 support exclusively for newer RDNA 4 hardware. Sony has effectively deployed this same INT8 technology as the PlayStation 5’s upgraded PSSR (often dubbed PSSR 2.0), prompting modders to port the leaked libraries to Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 cards while AMD remains publicly silent.

From Megaswitch HD to SNES: YouTuber showcases new digital-bus 1080p mod

A prototype mod dubbed the Super Switch HD taps the SNES’s internal digital video bus to deliver native, lag-free 1080p output over a pure digital signal, avoiding analog RGB and external upscalers. Created by modder Stanislav Parhomovich, it adds an on-screen interface for resolution, aspect ratio, and processing tweaks, but has no announced release date or price.

Google’s new music AI here to steal more jobs; you can drop an album with a few clicks

Google is turning up the volume on generative AI with the launch of Lyria 3 Pro, capable of composing full three-minute songs with pro-grade control. This new model allows users to ask Lyria for specific verses, choruses, and bridges. From original gaming soundtracks to cost-cutting corporate jingles, Lyria 3 Pro is set to disrupt the music industry by putting studio-grade production in the hands of everyone.

DJI sues Insta360 for patent theft as drone market rivalry heats up in China

Update | (Update: official statement from Insta360) The rivalry between DJI and Insta360 has escalated into the courtroom, with the leading drone manufacturer filing a lawsuit in China against its competitor for alleged patent theft. The case involves employees who switched companies, plagiarised technologies, and a bitter fight for market share. This article outlines the key facts surrounding the lawsuit.

Historic crash: German car industry collapses as Chinese imports and US slump destroy market

The German automotive industry is gradually grinding to a halt. It is currently experiencing an unprecedented decline. Consequently, its most important export markets and core regions are also being pulled towards the abyss. The bare figures for the past year reveal an unprecedented turning point that poses a massive threat to the survival of the entire industry.

Steam surprise hit: This quirky scratch-off idle game is delighting thousands

Barely released and already a small Steam hit: Scritchy Scratchy is winning players over with a simple but apparently highly addictive idle concept built around scratch-off tickets. In just one week, the game has already racked up more than 16,000 reviews – 94% of them positive. It is currently still available with a 20% launch discount for $5.59.

Significant regressions for mid-range smartphones – but many users would welcome one old feature back

Rising RAM and storage prices could soon have noticeable consequences for mid-range smartphones. A leak suggests that manufacturers in the roughly $400 segment may increasingly return to older technology such as 90 Hz waterdrop displays, plastic frames, and hybrid SIM slots. The microSD slot, which has long been on the decline, could make a comeback as a result – much to the delight of many users.

"Thinnest and lightest" Dell Pro Precision 5 14S and Pro Precision 16S mobile workstations debut

Dell has debuted the Pro Precision 5 14S and Pro Precision 5 16S mobile workstation laptops. Dell claims that these entry-level productivity machines are the company's "thinnest entry-level mobile workstation with H-class processors". Both laptops comes with either Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra 300 or AMD Ryzen AI 400 Gorgon Point processors.

Tinder's radical AI update changes all the rules of online dating

The golden age of dating apps is over. Alongside dating pioneer Tinder, competitors such as Bumble are now also struggling with a massive drop in user numbers. It seems singles have grown tired of "endless swiping". Now, the industry leader from the US is responding to the growing frustration by implementing a plan that has been on the back burner for over a year.

Brenda Romero calls Xbox exclusive Dungeons & Dragons Heroes a β€œmiracle” after last-minute RPG overhaul

Brenda Romero says the Xbox-exclusive *Dungeons & Dragons Heroes* was effectively rescued just five months before release, after an internal reckoning prompted the team to pivot from Atari’s intended Gauntlet-style hack-and-slash into a more authentic RPG with quests, items, NPCs, and progression. Though the 2003 game ultimately received mixed reviews and Romero calls it β€œmediocre,” she describes the late-stage overhaul as a development β€œmiracle” given the compressed timeline.

Anti-AI filmmakers celebrate: OpenAI shuts down Sora, controversial AI video platform

OpenAI just announced the abrupt shutdown of its AI video app, Sora, just six months after its record-breaking debut and the collapse of a $1 billion Disney partnership. While the move marks a rare failure for the AI giant, creators are left wondering if this is a win for human artistry or simply a tactical retreat before a more powerful successor arrives.

Former Rockstar Games artist: Crimson Desert's water physics "better" than Red Dead Redemption 2's

Former Rockstar Games artist David O’Reilly, who helped develop Red Dead Redemption 2’s water systems, praised Crimson Desert’s rivers and creek simulation after analyzing the game on the Game World Art YouTube channel. He called its live particle-based approach a clear step beyond RDR2’s fluid mechanics, while noting minor inconsistencies he plans to examine in a later deep dive.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra: Native 10x optical zoom compared to teleconverter setups

A radically new periscope zoom module may deliver quite a sensation. On 24 March, Oppo for the first time officially likened the Find X9 Ultra’s optical zoom lens to a built-in 10x teleconverter. Early teasers and sample images reveal the underlying principles and offer a look at the kind of performance you can expect from the lens compared with its competitors.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang backtracks on DLSS 5 criticism after gamer backlash in podcast

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has softened his stance on criticism of DLSS 5 after initially dismissing gamers as β€œcompletely wrong” following the technology’s GTC 2026 showcase. In a Lex Fridman podcast interview, Huang said he understands concerns about β€œAI slop” and insisted DLSS 5 is intended as an optional, artist-controlled development tool amid controversy sparked by an altered Resident Evil Requiem demo and Capcom’s subsequent rejection of generative AI for final assets.

Windows 11 to soon get improved RAM management, snappier UI experience, faster File Explorer and better drivers

After focusing on too much OS-level AI integration and the small reality check delivered by Apple's MacBook Neo with its 8 GB of RAM, Microsoft now promises to scale back on the AI features and actually bring much needed improvements for Windows 11, including lower RAM footprint, WebUI3 user interface, a more responsive File Explorer and drivers for the latest hardware tech.

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