Amazon's third-generation Echo Show features faster speeds and an ambient display to streamline your smart home experience.

ZDNET's key takeaways The Vivobook S 15, Asus' first Copilot+ PC, normally retails for $1,299, but it is currently on sale for $1,099 on Amazon. It is sleek and lightweight with a gorgeous OLED display, great battery life, and snappy performance. However, because of the nature of Windows on ARM laptops, it's not yet optimized for certain apps and games. View now at Amazon What's the deal?Amazon is currently selling the Asus Vivobook S 15 laptopfor $1,099, which is $200 less than its typical selling price. At that price, it's a steal for some of the newest processor technology on the market. Asus' first Copilot+ PC with the Snapdragon X Elite chip last year was the Vivobook S 15, a sleek and lightweight 15-inch laptop with a gorgeous display and ultra-snappy performance. The chassis' minimalist, all-metal design is lightweight and airy, and it feels more premium than last year's Vivobook S 14. It's only 0.58 inches at its thinnest point, and it weighs just 3.13 pounds, making it particularly well-suited for hybrid or remote workers who want a powerful laptop with a gorgeous display that doesn't weigh a ton.Also: I tried Lenovo's infamous 'rollable' laptop at CES - it's more practical than I thoughtLike all of the new Windows on ARM laptops released this summer, the Vivobook S 15 is fast and responsive with nice battery life, but it comes with new technology that isn't fully optimized for all tasks quite yet, which could limit its use case for some users.For the average consumer, however, this is the epitome of a laptop that looks and feels good right out of the box, and it starts with the brilliant 3K OLED display. details View at Amazon With an 89% screen-to-body ratio and ultra-thin bezels, the screen is brilliant and high-contrast, rocking a max 600-nit brightness and 120Hz refresh rate for some silky-smooth and crisp image quality.Also: I recommend this high-end laptop to creative pros over MacBooks - here's whyThe display's 16:9 resolution gives it that premium widescreen feel, lending itself well to both watching and editing media, but it might not be for everyone. Most 15-inch laptops come with a 16:10 resolution, which might feel more "natural" for some, but ultimately the distinction is subtle. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETWith 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, Asus is able to keep costs close to that $1,000 price point with just the right amount of hardware on this machine. And it feels even better in tandem with the snappy, responsive performance the Snapdragon X Elite processor provides.The Vivobook S 15 features the 12-core, 3.4GHz chip with a 45 TOPS NPU, the same one found in the HP Omnibook X 14, but slightly below the 3.8GHz chip found in the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge.The benchmarking scores in Cinebench reflect that same hierarchy, with numbers above the Omnibook and just below the Galaxy Book4 Edge. In testing the CPU's performance, I got a single-core score of 106 and a multi-core score of 969. In Geekbench, I got a single-core of 2447 and a multi-core of 14384.Remember that these scores were recorded while the device was plugged into power. While on battery, I got scores about 30% lower -- somewhat more of a difference than I expected. This is in comparison to the HP Omnibook X 14, which had a much narrower gap in scores in my testing, something I noted as I was reviewing it.Also: This affordable Lenovo laptop I tested handled my various workflows like a champThis paints a picture of a laptop that has somewhat variable battery life, depending on what you're doing and what kind of mode you have the laptop in. There's no escaping the power this display requires, and if you're someone who typically ignores battery setting profiles and keeps your machine blasting at "Best Performance," you may want to adjust the power modes in either the MyAsus software or in Windows (or both) because you'll see a drastic difference. That being said, the Vivobook S 15's 70Wh battery performance is good, but the user must manage it to maximize its efficiency. During the battery test that ZDNET runs on all laptops, I got about 10 and a half hours before it died, but that number fluctuated in subsequent tests with different power mode settings.Also:The Lenovo ThinkPad I recommend to most professionals is also one of the most affordableOptimization is the theme here, and this also extends to its performance. The Windows on ARM architecture provides fantastic up-front performance in ways that are immediately apparent to most users. But when you start looking closely at more specialized tasks, things have the potential to get tricky.For example, the Vivobook S 15's aforementioned 16:9 resolution OLED screen seems like it would be perfect for editing video. While the integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU is up to the task, its interaction with different apps and their performance in Windows (via Prism) is still a work in progress. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETDuring my testing, I ran DaVinci Resolve for Windows on ARM, and it worked mostly fine, but the performance is still not 100% optimized. There was some lag, graphic stuttering, and quirkiness, especially with 4K video. Adobe Photoshop, however, ran smoothly, with local AI-generative tasks popping off seamlessly with help from the NPU on board the Snapdragon. I expect performance to continue improving as Windows improves and developers improve their products for the platform.The other elephant in the room is gaming, which is not entirely up to speed with Windows on ARM. Yes, technically, you can game on this laptop, but many titles still don't run, and the ones that do are not well-optimized. Although the Vivobook S 15 looks like something you might want to game on, I wouldn't recommend it as a dedicated gaming laptop. At least not yet.Also: The best Windows laptops you can buy: Expert testedInstead, I see the Vivobook S 15 as a primary driver for remote workers or digital nomads who are already integrating AI into their workflows and appreciate an aesthetic laptop with a brilliant display that handles media well. Supporting that use case, it has a generous selection of ports: two USB-A ports on the right-hand side, two USB-C on the left, an HDMI port, a MicroSD slot, and a headphone jack.It also has a "full" keyboard (the number pad on the right side has slightly smaller keys, as typical for sub-16-inch machines), which is satisfying and responsive to typing on. The keyboard has colorful LED backlighting that can be configured in many different lights and effects. Still, again, this is not something that I would consider high on the priority list when optimizing battery life. ZDNET's buying adviceThe Asus Vivobook S 15 is a sleek and lightweight laptop with a gorgeous OLED display and solid battery life -- as long as you're mindful of your power usage. I'd recommend it to forward-thinking digital nomads who want a performant, AI-ready laptop with a blazing-fast Snapdragon X Elite processor. It's a solid investment for people who regularly swap between creative work, productivity software, and media.All things considered, the sale price of $1,099 is very competitive for this laptop, particularly for the display alone.Featured reviews

GenAI is a tooland like any tool, its more useful for some creative jobs than others. gettyOne of the more remarkable traits of generative AI is its ability to produce creative work, whether its text, images or video. This capability has spurred businesses to experiment with the technology to produce anything from marketing copy to advertising mood boards. Generative AIs uptake among marketing departments has been swiftin a recent survey of nearly 600 chief marketing managers by Everest Group, more than half of respondents said content creation was the most frequent use of AI.Little wonder: For some kinds of creative tasks, AI can produce in minutes what a team of creatives could take days or weeks to produce.But thats not the end of the story. While businesses would do well to get started with trying out generative AI in some of their creative workflows, theres a lot they need to understand about its best role.In my own experience with using GenAI for creative work, it can be very useful in moving you more quickly through the sometimes painful, onerous and time-consuming stages of the creative processgenerating a first draftto the part most of us actually enjoy: injecting the material with human artistry, punching up the emotional impact, or aligning it with the brand message or target audience.The magic isnt in the quality of the first draft itself but in the speed of generating something to react to. No longer, for instance, do advertising teams need to spend days or weeks working through the first ideas for a creative brief for a new campaign. And in seconds, creative professionals can translate their visual, text or musical ideas into a tangible format instead of the days it would require using conventional digital design tools. This allows them to share their ideas more quickly and effectively, get feedback, and fine-tune the output.How to optimize AI in the creative processOf course, GenAI is a tooland like any tool, its more useful for some creative jobs than others. Its not an all-or-nothing approach. Businesses may also meet with some resistance from their creative staffs, and they need to be prepared to clearly communicate what generative AI should, and should not, be used for. There are some areas where human creativity is the only answer.Other key issues businesses will need to address when integrating GenAI as a creative sparring partner include:Providing training, education and safe experimentation opportunities for creative staff.Understanding where human oversight is neededAddressing potential legal concerns regarding data ownershipFortifying data management and security processesWorking closely with business, technology, and creative managers to make the best GenAI decisionsOur recently published article, The future of creative work is a partnership with AI, provides input on these important topics and more. Managers of creative staffs will learn how to go beyond skepticism or fear about generative AI to understanding how AI can, in certain cases, help produce higher quality creative work more quickly and less expensively.In so doing, businesses will be moving their creative staffs to the next era, in which GenAI can play an integral role in the creative process.

The future isnt about humans versus machinesits about humans and machines working together.

Key TakeawaysChinese AI Startup DeepSeek has released its latest AI assistant DeepSeek V3.The tool is more efficient than OpenAI and Metas AI models while costing a fraction of their cost.It has sent Metas AGI team into a panic mode while Trump warns its a wakeup call for US AI firms.A new Chinese AI model has taken the world by storm. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has just released the latest version of its open-source AI model DeepSeek V3, and its better than the latest ChatGPT 4.0, Llama3, and Claude AI models. In fact, in some areas, it even surpasses its rivals.To add a cherry to the top, its training and development cost is just a fraction of that of its rivals. Where giants like OpenAI and Meta have pumped billions of dollars into data centers and AI training, DeepSeek has built a model from scratch for just $5.5M.The US stock market bore the brunt of this new breakthrough, wiping off $1 trillion for investors in a single day. Nvidia was the most affected stock it fell almost 17% in a day. Nvidia investors saw $593B vaporize into thin air the single biggest market cap loss for a company on Wall Street.Nvidias whole business is centered around selling massively expensive GPUs at 80-90% margins. In contrast, DeepSeek built the whole model on around 2,000 Nvidia H800 GPUs.DeepSeek has rocked the belief that the AI industry is a capital-intensive one and only big corporation giants can participate in it.As per reports, DeepSeek uses efficient computing techniques such as a mixture of experts approach to lower the cost. Now that the industry knows similar results can be achieved with a fraction of resources, the whole AI chip industry business may falter.The only downside might be that the model is trained on data up to October 2023. But this is only for the web version. The app seems to have access to the latest information.What Does This Mean For US AI Giants?DeepSeek stepping foot into the industry has sent the rest of the players into a frenzy. As per an inside source, the generative artificial intelligence division of Meta is in panic mode.Engineers are moving frantically to dissect DeepSeek and copy anything and everything we can from it. Im not even exaggerating. Meta employeeThe biggest worry of the management right now is how they will justify the massive cost of their tools and the massive salary that their leaders are drawing when China has managed to create an equally competent tool at such a low price.Even President Donald Trump praised DeepSeek in a speech at a Republican retreat, applauding its technological breakthrough and saying it should be a wake-up call for American companies.OpenAIs CEO Sam Altman seemed to be a little more calm in his response. He took to X and said that it was quite invigorating to have new competitors in the market. He also applauded the company for delivering that kind of service for such a low cost and in the end,promised to speed up some of OpenAIs own releases.It might seem that DeepSeek is the next big thing. And it might be so, considering that it has already become the No.1 downloaded free app on Apples app store. Its open-source model makes its codes and technical details open to all. This might also speed up progress through collaboration.But there are some hurdles in the way. For instance, so far the tool censors all topics that are not favored by the Chinese government. However, the question is how viable this approach will be if it tries to make it big in the global market.Plus, China is not on good terms with many of its neighbors. We have all seen how it went down for TikTok. So in this environment, will DeepSeek manage to survive or will it sink after this banging launch?Add Techreport to Your Google News Feed Get the latest updates, trends, and insights delivered straight to your fingertips. Subscribe now! Subscribe now Vlad is Tech Report's Executive Editor. With over a decade of experience in tech content, he's passionate about computer hardware, an advocate of online privacy, and strongly believes in the open-source, scarce-money nature of cryptocurrency.When hes not working, hes traveling with his partner and their cat, learning Python, or reading good books. He never owned a PC he did not build. View all articles by Vlad Melnic Our editorial processThe Tech Reporteditorial policyis centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written byreal authors.

In brief: Except for the flagship RTX 5090, the Nvidia Blackwell graphics cards revealed so far feature VRAM pools identical to their RTX 40 series predecessors. Although the company hasn't disclosed the new generation's mainstream products yet, reports suggest they will continue the trend, likely disappointing budget-conscious consumers. Numerous Nvidia RTX graphics card variants have recently appeared in a Eurasian Economic Union database, including multiple models of the yet-to-be-announced RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti. The leak reveals the VRAM configurations for the entire next-generation GPU lineup, some of which are disappointingly small.The RTX 5060 Ti is listed with 8GB and 16GB variants, mirroring the 4060 Ti models released in 2023. Unsurprisingly, the 5060 is shown with only the 8GB option, likely igniting concern over its longevity for playing high-end games.Several recently released titles suffer from unplayable frame rates on 8GB GPUs when running in 4K or at maximum graphics settings. For example, the framerate for every 8GB card shown in TechSpot's Stalker 2 benchmark collapses under the game's "Epic" graphics preset, even at 1080p. However, turning the game down one notch to "High" immediately causes a significant improvement until the resolution reaches 4K.Notably, the EEU listing also contains 12GB models of the RTX 5070 Ti. Nvidia unveiled the GPU with 16GB of VRAM at CES 2025, but a scaled-down model would echo the 4070 Ti's release pattern. Although 12GB is more comfortable than 8GB, it can still prove insufficient when features like hardware-assisted ray tracing and frame generation are enabled in 4K.Nvidia likely believes that upgrading to faster VRAM reduces the need for more VRAM from generation to generation, as all desktop RTX 50 GPUs feature GDDR7 RAM. However, recent reports indicate that the new memory solution has inflated production costs, complicating efforts to sell custom GPU variants at MSRP.Further testing is also needed to determine whether upgrading from GDDR6 VRAM was worth it. The only RTX 50 review currently available is for the 5090 the sole card to receive more memory than its predecessor. The new flagship outpaces the old one by an unimpressive 27 percent on average, and the gains from the lower-tier products will probably be smaller. // Related StoriesThe RTX 5090 and 5080 will launch on January 30 for $999 and $1,999, respectively. The 5070 Ti is rumored to begin shipping on February 20, and the 5070, 5060 Ti, and 5060 will likely be released over the following weeks.

Contrarian View The revelation that development costs for DeepSeek's AI assistant came in at only $6 million sent shockwaves through the stock market this week, particularly affecting companies heavily invested in AI technology. Nvidia saw its shares tumble alongside other tech stocks over concerns that the demand for Nvidia's chips would decrease if AI models can be developed more cost-effectively. However, not everyone shares this pessimistic outlook. Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger offers a different perspective on the situation, arguing that the demand for high-performance computing in AI development is likely to remain strong, despite the emergence of cheaper alternatives. "The market reaction is wrong, lowering the cost of AI will expand the market," Gelsinger said on social media. "Today I am an Nvidia and AI stock buyer and happy to benefit from lower prices."Gelsinger argues that the response to DeepSeek overlooks three crucial lessons from the past five decades of computing history.First, Gelsinger emphasizes that lowering the cost of computing resources expands the market rather than contracts it. He draws parallels to previous technological advancements like PCs and mobile devices, where increasing affordability led to widespread adoption. He believes that making AI more accessible will integrate it into a broader range of applications, ultimately driving growth in the industry.Second, Gelsinger highlights the importance of constraints in fostering innovation. He points out that the DeepSeek team, faced with export restrictions and limited resources, managed to create a world-class solution at a fraction of the usual cost. This ingenuity, Gelsinger notes, aligns with insights from computer science pioneers, who often achieved their best work under significant limitations.Third, Gelsinger advocates for openness in AI development. He expresses concern over the trend toward proprietary AI models, arguing that open ecosystems consistently lead to better outcomes. "Open wins every time it is given a proper shot," he said. The ex-Intel boss believes that DeepSeek's open approach serves as a reminder of the value of shared innovation in the AI field. // Related StoriesBut the big reveal came when he said that engineers at his startup, Gloo, are running R1 today. "They could've run o1 - well, they can only access o1, through the APIs."One of the key advantages of DeepSeek's AI model is its ability to run on local devices, including personal computers and mobile phones, in contrast to ChatGPT's latest models, which are exclusively cloud-based. The local deployment option offers users greater control over their data and reduces reliance on internet connectivity.However, the initial training of such advanced AI models still requires substantial computational power. Despite DeepSeek's innovations in model efficiency, major AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI possess significant computing resources allowing them to further scale up their models and increase the number of parameters while leveraging their infrastructure.In other words, while some companies like DeepSeek focus on efficiency and doing more with less, others leverage their vast resources to push the boundaries of model size and complexity. Both approaches have their merits and contribute to the advancement of AI technology.

Games come in all shapes and sizes, and a longer game isnt necessarily better than one you can beat in an afternoon. That said, as the video game generations have gone on and hardware has improved, some developers have pushed the limits on just how long a game can last. Now, we have tons of live-service games, MMORPGs, and multiplayer games that technically have no end to them at all. However, looking at games that can in fact be beaten, some titles might as well be endless for how much time they ask of the player. If you are looking for a game you can sink dozens and dozens of hours into, weve found the longest video games of all time.Note: While some live-service and MMOs do have storylines, we arent counting them here due to them being ongoing. Likewise, sandbox games only count if there is a way to finish the game. We also used How Long to Beat for a general consensus on the hour count for each of these games based on the Main Story ranking.Recommended VideosRelatedEditors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsMarch 4 eventNothing Phone 3, or 3a?Big year for NothingNothing will launch a new device on March 4, this much seems certain. However, exactly what it will reveal on the day, or how many devices it will have in hand, is still unknown due to the extensive rumors and teases regarding the event. Heres what we know so far.Nothing did not release a major flagship phone in 2024, and instead updated its Phone 2 range with the Phone 2a and Phone 2a Plus. Nothing founder Carl Pei confirmed the Nothing Phone 3 would arrive in 2025 and come with a new AI-powered home screen and other new software features.Recommended Videospic.twitter.com/9MmuzleJai Nothing (@nothing) January 28, 2025Please enable Javascript to view this contentIn January 2025 Nothing announced an event for March 4, with the tagline Power in Perspective, on social media. An accompanying video showed what appears to be a triple camera system, complete with Nothings trademark Glyph lighting effect to highlight it. Nothing phones have so far come with two camera lenses.A further official tease from Nothing repeats the March 4 date, but does so in a video of Pei where we see the camera zoom in from a distance, complete with a noticeable switch between lenses. Pundits are linking this with the upcoming phone having a telephoto camera, a first for the brand.Nothing Phone 2a Plus Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsWhile we can be certain Nothing will launch a phone on March 4, its not clear what phone it will be. The Nothing Phone 3 seems like the logical name, but rumors about the specification of the phone have mentioned a Nothing Phone 3, a Nothing Phone 3a, and a Nothing Phone 3a Plus. Its possible Nothing will launch more than one phone on March 4.A spec list for the Nothing Phone 3a suggests it will have a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging, and a triple camera made up of two 50-megapixel cameras for main and telephoto duties, and an 8MP wide-angle camera. The early indication is all new Nothing phones will all use a Qualcomm processor, most likely the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3.Nothing will likely update its Nothing OS software to version 3.1, which will be based on Android 15 and contain the AI features Pei discussed in his 2024 video.Nothing Phone 2a Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsIt appears Nothing is ready for a big 2025, with the potential of multiple new phones hitting stores. In a leaked email said to be from Pei, the founder called the Phone 3 a flagship, and said it would be a landmark smartphone launch for the brand. The email also revealed the companys camera and software development teams had expanded to help create the new device.The March 4 event will take place during Mobile World Congress 2025, although its not known whether Nothing will host it in Barcelona, Spain with the rest of the mobile world, or at another location.Editors Recommendations

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