Geekbench ML becomes “Geekbench AI,” a cross-platform performance test for NPUs and more

Geekbench ML becomes “Geekbench AI,” a cross-platform performance test for NPUs and more

Primate Labs Neural processing units (NPUs) are becoming commonplace in chips from Intel and AMD after several years of being something you’d find mostly in smartphones and tablets (and Macs). But as more companies push to do more generative AI processing, image editing, and chatbot-ing locally on-device instead of in the cloud, being able to…

AMD Ryzen 9000 review: Impressive efficiency, with bugs and so-so speed boosts

AMD Ryzen 9000 review: Impressive efficiency, with bugs and so-so speed boosts

Enlarge / AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X. Andrew Cunningham Nearly two years after the release of the first Ryzen 7000 CPUs, AMD has returned with a full-fledged follow-up. The new Ryzen 9000 chips—the 6-core 9600X, 8-core 9700X, 12-core 9900X, and 16-core 9950X—bring AMD’s new Zen 5 architecture to the desktop a couple of weeks after it…

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

Roku has finally axed the Redbox app from its platform. Redbox parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June and moved to Chapter 7 in July, signaling the liquidation of its assets. However, the app has remained available but not fully functional in various places, leaving customers wondering…

Apple will let other digital wallets into Apple Pay, and even be the default

Apple will let other digital wallets into Apple Pay, and even be the default

Enlarge / Soon enough, iPhone owners will be able to use “CREDIT CARD” to pay for delicious clams and prawns at the bistro of their choice. Getty Images Do iPhones have NFC? Up until recently, the answer was “Kind of,” or, possibly, “It depends.” You could use an iPhone’s near-field communication (NFC) hardware for Apple…

Classic PC game emulation is back on the iPhone with iDOS 3 release

Classic PC game emulation is back on the iPhone with iDOS 3 release

Enlarge / The start of any journey in MS-DOS. Samuel Axon After a 14-year journey of various states of availability and usefulness amid the shifting policies of Apple’s App Store approval process, MS-DOS game emulator iDOS is back on the iPhone and iPad. It’s hopefully here to stay this time. iDOS allows you to run…

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 has a bigger screen, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 are smaller

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 has a bigger screen, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 are smaller

Google In addition to a whole bunch of Pixel 9 phones, Google launched the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 at its Made by Google event today. Here’s the lowdown on what’s new, what’s interesting, and what Google has to say about the products beyond their AI connection. The Pixel Watch 3 45…

The Pixel 9 phones are big cameras and screens soldered onto Gemini AI ambitions

The Pixel 9 phones are big cameras and screens soldered onto Gemini AI ambitions

Google / Aurich Lawson Google announced its fall lineup of Pixel phones today: three standard phones and a second tablet-esque folding model. There are new chips, new cameras, Satellite SOS, and some notable promises, like the 9 phones being “twice as durable” as their Pixel 8 equivalents and getting seven years of updates. But as…

Framework Laptop 13 reviewed, again: Meteor Lake meh, Linux upgrades good

Framework Laptop 13 reviewed, again: Meteor Lake meh, Linux upgrades good

Enlarge / The ever-evolving Framework Laptop 13 is back again, this time with some Linux-friendly upgrades and Intel’s new Meteor Lake-based Core Ultra CPUs. Andrew Cunningham Would you believe that the Framework Laptop 13 is back again? Framework’s fifth motherboard for the Laptop 13—which, in typical fashion, can be easily swapped into any existing Framework…