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Wait for AMD to make its Big Navi move before you buy the Nvidia RTX 3080 – TechRadar

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Earlier this week, Nvidia unveiled its Ampere GeForce cards, led by the RTX 3080 and accompanied by the Titan replacement RTX 3090 and the RTX 3070. All three of these graphics cards are bringing major generational improvements over the 2018 Turing lineup, without another price increase like we saw last time around. 

And, while it’s definitely exciting seeing the promise of such improved performance, it’s important to note that Nvidia isn’t the only company that’s going to be releasing new graphics cards this fall – AMD Big Navi is coming soon, too. 

Beyond claims made on behalf of the PS5 and Xbox Series X – that those consoles will be capable of 4K 60 fps gameplay with ray tracing – we don’t really know what RDNA will be capable of, or where exactly it will be competing within this new Nvidia lineup – but you should still wait to see the hand AMD has to play before you jump in. 

(Image credit: Future)

AMD RDNA 2 could also slap

The GPUs in the PS5 and Xbox Series X are super impressive. 

For a console. 

It is kind of ludicrous to believe that the GPUs being included in the consoles are not going to be cut down versions of whatever ends up in actual AMD graphics cards, in order to fit the cooling and power requirements that a console has. Think about it – there’s no way that Microsoft and Sony are going to be stuffing a 750W+ power supply in a console, so we’re going to get a way less powerful GPU. 

The actual graphics cards that come out of RDNA 2 will likely be way more powerful than what ends up going into the gaming consoles. AMD has already said that it’s going to be competing with Nvidia at the high end – maybe not as high end as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 – so it’s very possible that whatever top-end graphics card AMD launches will actually put some pressure on Nvidia. 

If AMD can launch a graphics cards that tackles the the RTX 3080 at 4K, or even outperforms it at the same price, anyone who buys an RTX 3080 might feel a little burned. 

It’s also important to note that AMD didn’t knock Intel out in the CPU race right away, either. The first generation of Ryzen was impressive, but didn’t really threaten Intel too much – similar to the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT in July 2019. 

However, if AMD takes the same approach with RDNA that it did with Zen, this generation we could see AMD really start to hit Nvidia hard – though it does remain to be seen. Nvidia isn’t Intel, after all, and it looks like Ampere is the biggest jump in GPU performance in years, something that can’t really be said about, say, Coffee Lake

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Only three Nvidia cards to start

At its GeForce Special Event, Nvidia only had three cards to show, and while it’s likely that those will be the only Nvidia cards we get this year, the gaps in performance and price between the three are pretty huge. Nvidia is claiming that the GeForce RTX 3070 is slightly faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, whereas the RTX 3080 is apparently nearly twice as fast as the RTX 2080 – that’s a huge gap in performance, and is clearly open for Nvidia to slide in another graphics card. 

Now, for the sake of argument let’s say that AMD launches a card that comes close to beating the RTX 3080 at the same price point. We already saw a Lenovo leak a little while back that showed an RTX 3070 Ti with 16GB of VRAM that was conspicuously absent from Nvidia’s showcase. 

It’s important to keep in mind that graphics card lineups never all come out at the same time. While the RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 all got announced and launched at the same time at Gamescom 2018, we didn’t see the RTX 2060 until CES 2019, which was then followed up by the GTX 1660 Ti, GTX 1660 and GTX 1650. And then, we got yet another refresh in middle of 2019 with the Super cards. 

With its RTX 30 series, Nvidia likely has a whole cavalcade of graphics cards, that it can likely launch whenever

If AMD undercuts one of the RTX 30 series cards without absolutely dominating it, Nvidia can easily launch a new GPU that can just steal AMD’s thunder. So, especially if you have your eyes on the RTX 3070 – and you definitely should – it’s super prudent to wait for AMD to show its hand. If Nvidia is going to react to any of AMD’s launches, this is the card that will be most significantly impacted. 

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Patience will pay off

Even if you’re a die-hard Nvidia loyalist, waiting a few months before adopting a new generation of graphics card is just a good idea. Over the course of the first few months of this generation of graphics cards, both AMD and Nvidia will have a bunch of kinks to work out through driver and firmware updates. 

It’s not like your graphics card is going to explode or anything before the drivers mature, but you might get degraded performance and game crashes out of nowhere – on top of some possible visual glitches. 

But beyond that, we’re about to enter into one of the most competitive graphics card battles in years, and until AMD shows its hand, we can’t really proclaim Nvidia as the victor yet. 

And even if Nvidia does win, grabbing a graphics card a few months down the line when availability stabilizes after the early adoption rush and drivers have a chance to mature is just a good idea – mashing F5 on Newegg or Nvidia’s store page is never fun, and with the reception Nvidia’s announcement had, you can bet that these graphics cards are going to sell out fast. 

TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2020 is celebrating the most powerful gaming platform on Earth with articles, interviews and essential buying guides that showcase how diverse, imaginative, and remarkable PC games – and gamers – can be. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2020 page to see all our coverage in one place.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.

Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.

The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.

There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.

Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.

“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”

Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.

“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.

But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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