Toward the end of 2023, an Israeli security researcher from Tel Aviv said that he was approached on LinkedIn with an opportunity to work abroad with good pay. He said that the companys HR department told him that it was a legitimate offensive security company that was starting from scratch in Barcelona, Spain.But during the whole recruiting process, the researcher recounted to TechCrunch, things felt a bit off.The whole secrecy was very weird. Some employees that interviewed me didnt use their full names, they took super long to reveal where the company even is, let alone its name. Why is it such a secret if everythings legit? the researcher told TechCrunch. It seems like a company that might get sanctioned in the future, and things might get dirty.When he spoke to the companys chief technology officer, the researcher said that he was told something along the lines of, we will only have legit customers and unlike other companies wont sell to shady nations.Alexey Levin, the hiring CTO and a former researcher at the sanctioned spyware maker NSO Group, told the researcher that the company trying to hire him was called Palm Beach Networks, and that it develops everything from the zero-day exploits used for compromising devices to the spyware implant itself, referring to the surveillance software that gets installed on a targets device, according to the researcher.The researcher said that Levin also told him that Palm Beach Networks had at least one U.S. government customer. (Levin did not respond to a request for comment.)But why found a spyware startup in Barcelona, which just years earlier was at the center of a wide-reaching political scandal where Spanish government officials used spyware to target local politicians who pushed for independence? Just like many other startups in the city; the researcher said that company employees told him that it was because living in the city is similar to living in Israel, that there are good tax benefits, and good weather.Those are some of the reasons why in the last couple of years, Barcelona has become an unlikely hub for spyware companies, according to multiple people who work in the offensive cybersecurity industry who spoke with TechCrunch, as well as business records we have seen.Having Barcelona become a crucial regional outpost for offensive cybersecurity companies puts the spyware problem squarely on the doorstep of Europe, which has a fractious relationship with surveillance tech, due to scandals in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, and Poland all involving Israeli spyware makers.It is a concerning development if a major city in Europe becomes a hub for spyware makers, Natalia Krapiva, the legal counsel at nonprofit Access Now, which specializes in investigating and researching spyware, told TechCrunch. Krapiva said that the spyware business goes hand in hand with corruption and abuse of power.Spanish citizens, media, and policymakers should be carefully scrutinizing these businesses in terms of whether their operations are consistent with national and EU laws and whether the Spanish government may be involved in abusing their surveillance tools, especially given Spains history with Pegasus, said Krapiva.John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, where he and his colleagues have for more than a decade investigated abuses carried out with spyware tools, also expressed concern. Scott-Railton noted that in the past there have been cases of spyware abuse not only against human rights activists and dissidents in non-democratic countries like Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, but also against U.S. diplomats and targeted individuals, including politicians and citizens within Europes borders.This will add fuel to the fire of Europes spyware crisis. If experience is a guide, its only a matter of time before this tech winds up used by customers against Spains allies and EU partners, Scott-Railton told TechCrunch. Governments that allow this industry to flourish take a gamble with their own secret capabilities and human capital. These capabilities tend to drain outwards, including to potential future adversaries, once mercenary spyware and exploit developers come to town and start hiring.View of the Sagrada Familia in the evening light in Barcelona, Spain, on October 19, 2024. (Photo by Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto/GETTY IMAGES)Sun, seafood, and spywareApart from Palm Beach Networks, as it was known at the time, Barcelona is home to several other exploit and spyware makers that too are making the most of the citys sunny, temperate weather, fresh seafood, and vibrant expat community.Among them are Paradigm Shift, a spin off of the embattled startup Variston, which lost staff and was struggling to survive in 2024; and Epsilon, which is led by Jeremy Fetiveau, an industry veteran who used to work for a division within U.S. defense giant L3Harris that was created after the company acquired the Australian startup Azimuth. Fetiveau did not return a request for comment.The city is said to be also home to an unnamed group of Israeli researchers who moved to Barcelona from Singapore to work on developing zero-day exploits. The existence of this unnamed team as well as Epsilons presence in Barcelona was first reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, whose article sparked coverage in local newspapers and news websites.Other cybersecurity companies have a presence in Barcelona, even if they are not headquartered there. Andrijana ekularac, the chief executive of Austrian cybersecurity company SAFA lives in the city, according to her public LinkedIn profile. SAFA has sponsored offensive cybersecurity conferences, including OffensiveCon and Hexacon, and employs at least two security researchers with past experience at spyware companies, according to their public LinkedIn profiles. ekularac also did not respond to a request for comment.These zero-day and spyware companies are part of a broader cybersecurity and startup ecosystem in Barcelona. As of last year, according to the Catalan regional government, there were more than 10,000 people working for more than 500 cybersecurity companies in Barcelona, or around 50% more workers than five years earlier.Contact UsDo you have more information about Epsilon, Head and Tail, Paradigm Shift, or other government spyware makers? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email. You also can contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.Barcelona isnt just a hotbed for surveillance tech makers, but startups in general, with some ranking the city among the top startup hubs in Europe. The city is the founding home for food delivery startup Glovo, which competitor DeliveryHero valued at 2.3 billion in 2021 when it acquired a majority stake in the Catalan company; orthodontics startup Impress, which raised $125 million in 2022 and $114 million in 2024; and business travel management platform TravelPerk, which raised $105 million in 2024; among more than 2,200 other startups, according to the Barcelona and Catalonia Startup Hub, a local government project that tracks the startup ecosystem in the region.The city is attractive to workers because its cost of living is cheaper than other European startup hubs like London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Then, theres the perhaps more obvious reasons, at least for anyone whos been to Barcelona: The city has nice beaches, similar to Tel Aviv, Cyprus, and Greece, places that are or were home to spyware companies like NSO Group, Circles, and Intellexa.There are also other reasons, apart from the citys attractiveness, that have brought Israeli security researchers in particular to Barcelona. As Haaretz reported at the end of December 2024, Israel has become more restrictive in granting licenses to export spyware to other countries in the wake of the scandals involving NSO Group, leaving the door open for companies to move abroad. It is now more difficult for companies to export spyware from Israel to the rest of the world, including the European Union, than from within the bloc itself.One person told Haaretz that this process is not emigration to Spain, its expulsion to Spain.While Paradigm Shift is openly advertising itself as an offensive cybersecurity company, with job listings for roles that fit this type of business, other companies arent as transparent, just like Variston used to be. Paradigm Shift is headed by Leone Pontorieri, according to the companys business records, as well as Filippo Roncari and Simone Ferrini, according to their public LinkedIn profiles. The three were part of an Italian startup that was acquired by Variston in 2018, when the company launched in Barcelona, and one of the first spyware companies to set up its operations in the Catalan city.Representatives for Paradigm Shift did not respond to a request for comment.A stealthy startup with many namesPalm Beach Networks has so far avoided any public claims of involvement in human rights abuses, unlike spyware makers NSO Group, and before it Hacking Team and FinFisher, have in the past. But the company does have an intriguing history of changing names, a strategy that other spyware vendors have previously used to mask their corporate ownership. Israeli spyware makers Candiru rebranded several times before the company was added to the U.S. governments trade ban list in 2021, and NSO itself had a complex corporate structure.The name Palm Beach Networks was a bit secretive and only said by Levin and others at later stages, according to the Israeli researcher.As it turns out, Palm Beach Networks may already be an obsolete name, and the second iteration of a startup with a different identity.A company called Defense Prime Inc. became Palm Beach Networks on May 11, 2023. On June 16, 2023 a company called Head and Tail started operations in Barcelona. Then on June 28, 2024, Palm Beach Networks was dissolved, according to business records filed in Florida and Spain.Defense Prime and Palm Beach Networks appear to be linked to Head and Tail due to overlapping executives and key figures.A person named Sai Gopal is listed as Head and Tails authorized signatory in Spanish business records, and someone with the same name was listed as the treasurer of Defense Prime in Florida business records. Gopal could not be reached for comment.Business records also show Alexey Levin, the CTO who tried to hire the Israeli security researcher for Palm Beach Networks, is the director of Head and Tail. Representatives from Head and Tail did not return TechCrunchs request for comment.A current executive at a spyware maker, who asked to remain anonymous, told TechCrunch that Levin works at Palm Beach Networks. Previously, the executive said, Levin was an early developer at NSO Group, and then also worked at Candiru.On its official website, Head and Tail makes no explicit mention of the fact that it develops surveillance technology, but instead says it addresses a myriad of cybersecurity issues, including threat intelligence, vulnerability assessments, security awareness training, and incident response. The company has job listings for Barcelona, Madrid, and Sevilla.In the end, the Israeli researcher turned down the chance to work at Palm Beach Networks, even though people he knows told him the company pays some of its employees eye-watering salaries that vastly exceed the countrys gross annual average.The researcher said he was worried he may end up like some NSO Groups employees, who have had to deal with the fallout from human rights scandals, Facebook blocking and deleting their personal accounts, and the U.S. government threatening to deny their visas.I could get good enough money elsewhere and not have to worry about what will happen or who Im working for, said the researcher, especially when I felt they arent a transparent company and I wouldnt know who the customers are.

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has announced its keynote speakers for the 2025 AMUG Conference.Taking place from March 30 to April 3, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois, the AMUG Conference will bring together additive manufacturing professionals for nearly 150 presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and hands-on training sessions.Featuring distinguished keynote speakers and interactive opportunities, the event will foster collaboration and highlight the evolving AM applications across industries.This years conference will see Ryan Watkins, Research Engineer with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), deliver his keynote address on Tuesday, April 1, followed by Joe Scarbo, President of Scarbo Performance Corp, who will take the stage on Thursday, April 3.Both speakers bring a diverse range of expertise, showcasing the potential of 3D printing in industries ranging from aerospace to high-performance automotive engineering.Conference details and registration are available atwww.amug.com.Ryan Watkins, Research Engineer with NASAs JPL. Photo via AMUG.Aerospace and automotive advancesThis year, Watkins will present his work on 3D printed crushable structures for high-speed impact attenuation during the upcoming conference.Developed for aerospace applications, these structures integrate advanced materials and computational design techniques like topology optimization to overcome unique engineering challenges. Watkins will share insights from his role at JPL, where he focuses on enabling innovations to support future space missions.As a Ph.D. graduate in aerospace engineering, Watkins has been part of NASAs JPL for nine years, contributing to projects like the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission and the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, where he designed, built, and tested launch restraint hardware.His current research extends to lattice structures, 3D printed shape memory alloy systems, and optimizing workflows for flight projects. In 2024, Watkins achievements were recognized with the 3D Printing Industry Awards in the aerospace category. His software, UnitcellHub, was also named JPLs Software of the Year and made available as open-source technology.Shifting from aerospace to high-performance motorsports, Scarbo will highlight how AM has been utilized in creating high-performance motorsport vehicles.As the founder of Scarbo Performance, he has integrated 3D printing into the design and manufacturing of components for race cars, including those that competed in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the Baja 1000. Scarbos presentation will offer insights into the decision-making process behind using AM for vehicle optimization.Scarbos passion for engineering began at a young age and led him to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. He started his career working for Arciero Racing and later contributed to Volkswagen Motorsports Baja program, focusing on the Toureg TDI.After exploring 3D printing at a California firm and applying it in consumer electronics design, Scarbo returned to Scarbo Performance, where he shifted the companys focus to low-volume manufacturing.To date, Scarbo Performance has produced more than 30 bespoke vehicles and numerous performance components, combining traditional engineering expertise with novel manufacturing techniques.Together, Watkins and Scarbos work highlights the versatility of AM, demonstrating its ability to address challenges in aerospace and motorsport while facilitating new developments across industries.Joe Scarbo, President of Scarbo Performance Corp. Photo via AMUG.A recap on previous AMUG ConferencesLooking back, previous AMUG conferences have explored diverse uses of 3D printing, diving into developments in film, energy, medical, and aerospace industries.Last year, the 2024 AMUG conference featured Jason Lopes of Gentle Giant Studios, who explored the role of 3D printing in film industry, showcasing its impact on Disney collectibles and large-scale art installations. His talk also highlighted advancements in metal printing, translucent materials, and integrating traditional color techniques.In addition, Siemens Energys Tad Steinberg discussed AMs use in hydrogen technology, emphasizing rapid prototyping and combustion challenges.The event also celebrated achievements, with Gary Rabinovitz of Reebok receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to additive manufacturing.Two years ago, the 2023 AMUG Conference highlighted a collaboration between Nicholas Jacobson of CU Anschutz Medical Campus and Robert Ducey of LAIKA Studios.Their partnership blended techniques from special effects and medical fields, resulting in new workflows for 3D bitmap printing. Max Haot, CEO of Launcher, discussed how AM accelerated the creation of the E-2 liquid rocket engine and Orbiter space tug program, showcasing the technologys aerospace applications.Attendees at past conferences also engaged in technical sessions, networking events, and the Innovators Showcase, with contributions celebrated through the return of the DINO Awards.Who won the 20243D Printing Industry Awards?All the news fromFormnext 2024.To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on Twitter, or like our page on Facebook.While youre here, why not subscribe to our Youtube channel? Featuring discussion, debriefs, video shorts, and webinar replays.Featured image shows 2025 AMUG Banner. Image via AMUG.

Hey!I want to share a technique that I use when making muzzle flashes.Its pretty useful for adding some extra variety to muzzle flashes and getting more out of your flipbooks.The basic idea is that you dont really run through the entire flipbook on one particle but instead you use random segments of that flipbook to decrease the chances that any two particles in sequence will look too similar.In Unitys Shuriken it could look something like this if you use a custom shader:You would specify the range of the curve (How many frames will play during the particles lifetime) and then you would set a random start frame which will control where on the flipbook the curve starts.The start frame would work like this:See how its animating over 4 frames but the starting frame is being controlled by you. You can either set a Random between two constants to offset this starting frame or use random between two curves.If youre using VFX Graph you can set it up like this:In both cases you need to make sure you dont exceed the maximum number of frames otherwise itll looks super weird when it starts at 0 again.Happy blasting!

On land he acquired from family, Dwight Wellington Pierce (1816-1901) erected this large, temple-front Greek Revival estate just outside Cornwall Village in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Mr. Pierce farmed this land and built barns across the street from his residence on Popple Swamp Road, where he kept his livestock. The Pierce house is unique in Cornwall as a temple-front Greek Revival style house and features a two-story portico with four Doric columns, the center two are rounded and fluted with the ends square. The elongated house is seven bays wide and must have been quite the sight when it was built in the mid-19th century.

CW+ Premium Content/Computer WeeklyThank you for joining!Access your Pro+ Content below.14 January 2025Generating customer experience at NatWest BankIn this weeks Computer Weekly, we find out how NatWest Bank is using generative AI to enhance its customer experience. Our latest buyers guide examines the emerging regulatory compliance environment affecting IT leaders. And we learn how Toyota is turning to automation to improve its helpdesk support service for employees. Read the issue now.Access this CW+ Content for Free!Already a member? Login hereFeaturesin this issueInterview: Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer, NatWest Retail BankbyMark SamuelsThe retail bank is moving at pace to introduce generative AI into key customer-facing services as part of a wider digital transformation across the organisationPreparing for AI regulation: The EU AI ActbyCliff SaranThe EU AI Act builds on existing cyber security, privacy and data governance regulations such as GDPRView Computer Weekly ArchivesNext IssueMore CW+ ContentView AllE-HandbookComputer Weekly 25 March 2014

Everyone and their dog is getting into AI, but Red Hat has serious plans, and acquiring Neural Magic will help bring them to fruition.

'Macross Frontier' is now available on Hulu.BIGWESTWhat with, almost, all of Macross now available on Hulu, its worth looking back at the sagas huge popularity and what that now means for Gundam internationally.Back in the early 80s, Macross came onto the scene and pretty much blew most of its competition out of the water. Gundam had only just managed to pick itself up off the floor after the TV series had tanked, and the one two punch of a movie trilogy and model kits had saved it.Macross, on the other hand, tackled the new real robot craze head-on, not only with its narrative but also with its more believable treatment of its mecha, designed by both Shoji Kawamori and Kazutaka Miyatake. This was then backed up by amazing transformable toys and model kits, along with something Gundam and the other mecha anime lacked: an enormous amount of music.Gundam and its ilk worked because its mecha design sat across the super robot and real robot tendencies. It channeled elements of the samurai in its mecha design, and the anime was mostly there to promote sales of mecha model kits.Macross was a very different beast by comparison. It not only had the right kind of military-leaning model kits, but it also abandoned all the samurai elements and treated the mecha as actual vehicles.MORE FOR YOUThe fact that the VF-1 Valkyrie was very clearly inspired by the F-14 Tomcat also helped to ground the setting and its mecha in the minds of the viewers. Macross was also tied into the transforming robot toy craze of the early 80s in Japan of Diaclone and Microman, of which many of the same mecha designers worked on.So why does this hasty history lesson have any relevance to todays global anime market?Gundam didnt really and properly come westward until 10-15 years ago. Yes, a few outlying series were released, but they werent from the main Universal Century timeline. Consequently, the cultural backbone of Gundam didn't come into being in the US until very recently.You also still have the problem that the Gundam mecha designs are still channeling elements of samurai armor even today, which is great for Asia but has less cultural overlap with the US.In fact, Gundam has covered a lot of ground in the last decade due to the uptake of its model kits, which the anime, now more prevalent outside of Japan, helps to promote.By contrast, Macross came Westward back in the mid-80s as Robotech, and many of the mecha also ended up in BattleTech and the later MechWarrior games. The mecha are also based on US military aircraft, for the most part, and there is far greater cultural alignment compared to Gundam and its vestigial samurai design motifs.That means Macross has been part of the cultural background in the US for far longer than Gundam and makes more cultural sense.This means that, after multiple decades, the Macross boom of the 1980s may once again occur in the US.However, much of this still depends on merchandising, and a large chunk of toys and model kits for Macross are handled by Bandai, who dont own the intellectual property for Macross and are thus less motivated to promote it over Gundam, which they do own. The other aspect to this is that the original Macross TV series and movie Do You Remember Love? are still landlocked to Japan.These points are by no means trivial obstacles, but the difference now is that almost all of Macross is available to stream on Hulu. There are also multiple other companies handling toy and model kit merchandising, and we havent even touched on the huge musical component to MacrossIn short, the next few years are going to be very interesting, and if people think Gundam has it locked in outside of Asia, they really dont know their mecha anime history at all.Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.

Through the looking glass: In an era when the American Civil War dominated headlines, an English sheep farmer in New Zealand penned a letter that would prove remarkably prophetic. On June 13, 1863, The Press newspaper of Christchurch published a missive titled "Darwin among the Machines," which may contain the first published argument for halting technological progress to prevent machines from dominating humanity. As we grapple with the implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, a letter penned in 1863 resonates with a chilling clarity: "Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them."Recently, this letter has resurfaced on social media, thanks to Peter Wildeford of the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy, bringing Butler's prescient warnings to a new generation grappling with the implications of artificial intelligence.The author, Samuel Butler, writing under the pseudonym Cellarius, drew direct parallels between Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the rapid development of machinery. Butler suggested that machines could evolve consciousness and eventually supplant humans as Earth's dominant species.Butler's letter delved into the taxonomy of machine evolution, discussing mechanical "genera and sub-genera" and pointing to examples like the evolution of watches from "cumbrous clocks of the thirteenth century." He even suggested that, like some early vertebrates, mechanical species might get smaller as they became more sophisticated. // Related Stories"We are ourselves creating our own successors," Butler wrote. "We are daily adding to the beauty and delicacy of their physical organisation; we are daily giving them greater power and supplying by all sorts of ingenious contrivances that self-regulating, self-acting power which will be to them what intellect has been to the human race."Butler portrayed humans becoming subservient to machines, initially serving as caretakers who would maintain and help reproduce mechanical life. He compared this relationship to that between humans and their domestic animals, before it later inverts and machines take over.These themes of machine dominance and human subservience would later find their way into numerous works of science fiction. Isaac Asimov's "The Evitable Conflict" explored the concept of machines subtly controlling human society. Frank Herbert's Dune novels featured the "Butlerian Jihad," a crusade against thinking machines, possibly inspired by Butler's warnings. The Matrix films further popularized the idea of a world where machines have subjugated humanity.Also see: The Terminator at 40: the sci-fi cult classic that still shapes how we view the threat of AIButler didn't end his letter with passive acceptance of this fate and instead called for immediate and drastic action: "War to the death should be instantly proclaimed against them. Every machine of every sort should be destroyed by the well-wisher of his species. Let there be no exceptions made, no quarter shown; let us at once go back to the primeval condition of the race."What makes Butler's vision particularly remarkable is that he was writing in a vastly different technological context. The most advanced calculating devices of 1863 were little more than mechanical calculators and slide rules. The first working program-controlled computer wouldn't appear for another 70 years.While there were no "computers" as we think of them today in the late 1800s, there were significant advancements in mechanical computing devices and concepts. Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine (1837 - never fully built) is considered the first design for a general-purpose computer.The debate Butler started continues today. In recent years, the world has grappled with what one might call the "great AI takeover scare." The release of advanced AI models has inspired open letters signed by AI researchers and tech executives warning of potential extinction-level risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence.These modern concerns bear a striking resemblance to Butler's 19th-century call for pausing mechanical progress. Even if machines never become truly intelligent, Butler's predictions about our dependence on the ways they algorithmically regulate our lives seem eerily accurate.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsHow many software updates does the OnePlus 13 get?How many software updates does the OnePlus 13R get?Why security updates matterThe OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R are the companys latest entries in the western market, with the OnePlus 13 designed to serve as a sort of flagship and the 13R to take the role of a midrange, entry-level phone. The OnePlus 13 starts at $900, while the 13R retails for $600 for its 12GB RAM/256GB storage configuration.Considering the price of other flagships, the OnePlus 13 is more wallet-friendly than most. But does that come with a tradeoff, and will the phone be worth considering in two or three years? The simple answer is yes, although there are several factors you should be aware of.Recommended VideosThe OnePlus 13 will receive four years of major software updates and six years of security updates. This means the OnePlus 13 will reach the end of its lifespan on Android 19, although it will still be a viable phone for a couple of years after, thanks to the security updates.RelatedThat might not sound like much, but few companies offer such long-term support. Even the Samsung Galaxy S24 is limited to seven years of updates across both OS and security patches. The first reason is to encourage you to purchase a new phone; after all, who do you know who is still using a model from seven years ago?The second reason is that maintaining long-term support for older operating systems demands resources that could be better spent on developing newer, better-performing OS versions.The OnePlus 13R will get the same amount of updates as its flagship cousin, with four years of Android updates and six years of security updates. Like the OnePlus 13, this means the 13R will end functional support on Android 19.The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, the closest equivalent to the OnePlus 13R, will also receive seven years of updates. Thats actually longer than the S23 FE, which only received four OS updates and five years of security patches.Joe Maring / Digital TrendsMobile device updates tend to fall into one of two camps. The first are numbered OS updates iOS 18, Android 15, etc. These updates usually introduce new and exciting features to the device and are what many announcements are focused around.Security updates are the second type. These tend to introduce patches for bugs and security vulnerabilities, allowing you to continue using your phone for a longer period of time. More security flaws are discovered as operating systems age. Think of security updates like shoring up an old mineshaft: It doesnt completely eliminate the danger, but it makes it far less likely.Once a phone no longer receives security updates, that specific device becomes an easier target for bad actors, malware, and other threats.Editors Recommendations

not too much longer? Report: After many leaks, Switch 2 announcement could come this week Reveal will reportedly focus on hardware, with game announcements to come later. Andrew Cunningham Jan 13, 2025 1:34 pm | 56 The original Nintendo Switch is pushing eight years old. Credit: Nintendo The original Nintendo Switch is pushing eight years old. Credit: Nintendo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreNintendo may be getting ready to make its Switch 2 console official. According to "industry whispers" collected by Eurogamer, as well as reporting from The Verge's Tom Warren, the Switch 2 could be formally announced sometime this week. Eurogamer suggests the reveal is scheduled for this Thursday, January 16.The reporting also suggests that the reveal will focus mostly on the console's hardware design, with another game-centered announcement coming later. Eurogamer reports that the console won't be ready to launch until April; this would be similar to Nintendo's strategy for the original Switch, which was announced in mid-January 2017 but not launched until March.Many things about the Switch 2's physical hardware design have been thoroughly leaked at this point, thanks mostly to accessory makers who have been showing off their upcoming cases. Accessory maker Genki was at CES last week with a 3D-printed replica of the console based on the real thing, suggesting a much larger but still familiar-looking console with a design and button layout similar to the current Switch.On the inside, the console is said to sport a new Nvidia-designed Arm processor with a much more powerful GPU and more RAM than the current Switch. Dubbed "T239," Eurogamer reports that the chip includes 1,536 CUDA cores based on the Ampere architecture, the same used in 2020's GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards on the PC.This might not sound terribly exciting for PC gamers; this is a four-plus-year-old architecture with fewer CUDA cores than the budget-minded RTX 3050 (2,304 or 2,560 cores, depending on the version you buy). However, the original Switch uses 256 GPU cores based on 2014's Maxwell GPU architecture, just one-sixth as many cores based on a much older design. The new chip will give the Switch 2 a huge boost, relatively speaking. Ampere also opens the door to things like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS upscaling, which Nvidia just updated with improved transformer models that should lead to improved image quality even on older GPU architectures if Nintendo and third-party developers take advantage of them.It has been nearly eight years since the original Switch was released, and the console's internal specs haven't been updated since it launched. Consoles manufactured after mid-2019 included a chip made using a newer 16 nm manufacturing process, which boosted battery life but mostly didn't affect performance. A rumored "Switch Pro" refresh with beefed-up hardware was supposedly scuttled because of pandemic-era supply-chain issues; the OLED edition of the Switch we eventually got in late 2021 had a nicer screen but the same chip as before.We know that the new Switch will play games made for the original, but we still don't know if that extends to physical game cards or just digital downloads. We also don't know if controllers or other accessories for the original Switch will work with the Switch 2. We should hear a bit more about these kinds of details after the console is announced.Andrew CunninghamSenior Technology ReporterAndrew CunninghamSenior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 56 Comments