Vector graphics are all around us, and provide an important way to visually communicate information, whether it's corporate branding, street signage, or a flier in the window of a cafe. But vector graphics themselves are even more fascinating when you look behind the shapes and fonts that combine to communicate a message at a glance, and recognize them for what they really are, and why they are such a powerful tool in any designer's toolbox.
Before we dive into what vector graphics are, let’s shed some light on the two main kinds of computer graphics: vectors and rasters. Chances are you’re already familiar with the latter thanks to many of the most common file formats – JPEGs and PNGs – falling in this category. The former is less mainstream but is essential to digital design, with the most common file formats being EPS, AI, or SVG, among a couple of other lesser used types.
If we see an image on a billboard or an ad in a subway car, that image started off as one of these two essential types of graphic before they made it out into the material world, but the two graphics down take the same path from the digital pen to the advert on the wall.
Vector graphics are images made from mathematically-defined points such as points, lines, and curves. They’re 2D in nature but with the help of colors, textures, and layers, they can be made to look 3D. Vector images are saved on your device as a set of commands that represents a list of attributes of the stored image, and it's this characteristic that makes them so incredibly useful for a graphic designer.
Since vector graphics are essentially just mathematical functions defining a shape, they are easily scalable, editable, and overall simpler to work with. They’re used for a variety of tasks, but advertising and marketing are by far the top use cases for vector graphics.
Vectors are an ideal choice for logos, business cards, posters, and other materials used in promotional campaigns. What makes them suitable for advertising is their scalability among a couple of other attributes. You can enlarge or reduce a vector image by any proportion and it won’t suffer a loss in quality.
If you took the mathematical function that defines a perfect circle, it doesn't matter that you input as that circle's radius, it will always form the same shape at any size.
Hence, businesses turn towards vector graphics for images that need to be scaled up and scaled down for, for instance, a billboard and a business card respectively. Since they’re not only painless to work with but also easy to store, they make for a great choice for both online and print design. This gives businesses an extra advantage of working with vectors as it enables them to ensure uniformity among their online and print marketing campaigns.
Vector graphics carry the immense potential to make illustrations look engaging. With the addition of attractive colors and eye-catching designs, mere lines, points, and curves can be enhanced to grab the attention of consumers. Hence, they’re also a personal favorite of web designers and app developers. Websites and apps often use vectors for interfaces, fonts, landing pages, and infographics.
Another common use of vectors is the designs you see on products, clothing, or merchandise. Since they’re relatively easy to duplicate, brands and individuals opt for them to amp up their products.
As mentioned above, their ability to be scaled without losing quality gives vectors the biggest edge over raster graphics. Since vectors are essentially lines, points, and curves held together via a mathematical equation, they can be resized to the size of your liking without getting blurry. There is zero chance of pixelation as there are no pixels involved in the process, unlike in raster images. Because of this quality, vectors are termed “resolution-independent.”
Another feature unique to vector graphics that is closely related to mathematical equations being their building blocks is their small file sizes. Since vector images don’t store pixels, unlike rasters, they do not require a lot of memory on your device. The images are saved as mathematical relationships translated into code. This makes it easy for businesses to save a number of vector images on their devices without overburdening their systems.
File size and loading time are interrelated. Since vector images have small file sizes, they also load faster. Hence, it is easier and faster to both transfer and load vector images on various devices and programs.
As mentioned previously, vector images are also easy to duplicate making it very simple for designers to create copies of an existing design, making it simple to tesselate or tile an image. Another interesting feature of vector images is that they can easily be converted to raster images. Raster images, however, do not have the ability to be converted into vectors, at least not easily.
As vector images are not made from pixels, they have a sharper and more precise look to them. Have you ever noticed how a JPEG image loses sharpness when it’s zoomed in a lot? Vector images won’t ever give you that issue.
Out of the many programs available for making vector images, Adobe Illustrator is the most popular and also the industry standard. However, you have to spend a good bit of money to be able to use it. Among the best free Adobe Illustrator vector alternatives, Vecteezy and Inkscape are some of the best graphics design software going, especially if you're on a tight budget or just starting out in graphic design.
Learning how to make vector graphics is fairly easy once you know how to use these programs. It may take you some practice to be able to make complex designs but you can make a simple graphic using just a couple of tools on Illustrator or other alternative vector design software. The most commonly used tools for vector designs in Illustrator are the Pen tool, Curvature tool, Shape tools, and the Shape Builder tool, and these four tools alone will let you create almost anything.
Let us look at how to make a simple house on Illustrator. If you don't have Illustrator, don't worry, Inkscape has pretty much the same functionality, though the interface might be different.
And that's it. This vector image, even though rather basic, can be scaled up as large as a city block but it will not blur or lose its shape.
There's a lot more to know about how to best utilize vectors to add depth and texture to an object, but this little house is a start, and it just might be the start of a new graphics design career.
The Google Pixel 7 got its initial unveiling back at Google IO in May, but we don't yet know everything about this upcoming flagship phone. Now newly discovered references in debug documentation for Android give us another hint about what's on the way.
As reported by Android Police, the documentation includes a mention of a Hall effect sensor: that's a sensor that can detect the presence of a magnet, most often deployed to tell a phone when a case is closed over it.
When it comes to flip covers, a variety of useful functions can be enabled if the phone knows whether that cover is open or closed. Essentially, it expands the possibilities for Pixel 7 accessories – and it's a feature that the Google Pixel 6 range didn't have.
While it's perhaps not the biggest upgrade that the Pixel 7 could possibly get over the Pixel 6, it does show that Google is thinking about the details when it comes to its next handset – and that it's also considering accessories and the wider ecosystem.
There are actually drivers for a Hall effect sensor included in the software for the Google Pixel 6a, although there's been no official confirmation from the manufacturer that the smartphone does indeed include such a sensor.
All will be revealed – probably – at some point in October, and we will of course bring you everything you need to know when the Pixel 7 goes on sale. In the meantime, expect a few more leaks and rumors to surface.
It's been a tough few years for the Google Pixel phone series, but there is a general feeling that the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro were the best handsets that Google has put out yet – even if the sales figures haven't really given Apple or Samsung anything to worry about.
That means that the Pixel 7 has something of a tough act to follow. We know that the main processor is going to get a significant upgrade, which should mean apps move along quicker and the AI response is even slicker.
There has been talk of a few camera upgrades, though a lot of the improvement in terms of picture taking and video recording might be done on the software side, which is of course something that Google has been known for with its Pixel range in the past.
On the other hand, the smartphone displays are likely to be more or less the same as they were on their predecessors, if the rumors and leaks up to this point are to be believed. The real test will come when we've actually got these phones in our hands to test.
I’m rollerskating at maximum velocity and still a sniper’s laser sight is pinned to my torso. I wait for the final moment, just when they’re about to pull the trigger, to dodge the incoming bullet and fire my shotgun – right at the brute swinging a spiked club at my forehead. After beelining for the nearest half-pipe, I spin a nose grab mid-air to replenish my pistol ammo, and land on a grind rail – heading straight for the marksmen.
Now it’s just a case of shooting a few homing rockets out of the air, engaging slow motion, and unloading my dual pistols – all before wall-grinding to safety. I feel like a gun-toting martial artist on wheels. I look like a high-speed jumpsuit of death. And I’m having an amazing amount of fun.
This is Rollerdrome, an upcoming single-player arena shooter from Roll7 that signs you up to the titular fictional bloodsport. Made up of a series of deathmatches that string together into a complete single-player narrative campaign, Rollerdrome challenges you to fight waves of enemies across combat arenas strewn with skatepark paraphernalia. With nothing but a slim arsenal of weapons in hand and a pair of rollerskates on your feet, you’ll be pumping up combos, ticking off challenges, and performing a whole bunch of sick tricks worthy of the most extreme sports games.
While lead producer Drew Jones pithily describes Rollerdrome as “a shooter on rollerskates”, studio fans might recognize it more as a mash-up of two of Roll7’s previous releases. Combining the fluid cell-shaded skating of Olli Olli with the frenetic arena survival of Laser League, the game’s taken a strikingly odd premise to what could be its zenith.
“The goal was not just to create a game that’s a blending of genres, so much as to create a game that’s its own genre,” says head of QA David Jenkins. “And not to have a game that is just, ‘Oh, it’s a skating game and you can shoot people in it’, or ‘Oh, it's a shooting game and you happen to be wearing roller skates’. It’s very much its own separate sort of system.”
After spending several hours playing the game’s first six levels, it's the skating half that’s really taken me. Rollerdrome is robust enough to hand you a range of tricks to perform – spins, grabs, and grinds – and intuitive enough to make even the most advanced techniques a breeze to pull off – like acid dropping down a quarter pipe or extending your air time. It’s all buttery smooth, too, with a fluidity that sells the magnificence of your violent performance.
Gunplay isn’t left out of that equation, either. With proximity mines to dodge, laser sights to shake off, homing missiles to avoid, and flaming beams of ionizing energy to think about, Rollerdrome’s freneticism is made manageable by a generous lock-on targeting system and nifty bullet time. Your reticle will automatically shift to enemies when you’re in close proximity, and slow motion can be engaged to let you rain down hell on your opponents while nipping about at furious speeds.
“It’s kind of gung-ho; throw caution to the wind,” says Jones. “These enemies are out to get you and you’ve got to take them on. If you try and play it a bit more conservatively, you’re not going to get as much [from the game] as you would if you just take the fight to the enemies.”
Rollerdrome’s gunplay is simple but elegant. It struck me as a rudimentary imitation of the Doom reboot
A slick ammo and health system incentivizes that aggression further, as you’ll need to dispatch enemies to replenish your fragile health bar, while performing a variety of tricks to refuel your limited ammo supply. Starting with a pair of pistols, I soon unlocked a shotgun and grenade launcher to take into fights, and was impressed by the mileage the game was able to wring out of even this small array. You’ll need to think carefully about your weapons, switching between them at pace to bypass each enemy’s defenses.
It’s simple but elegant. Rollerdrome’s gunplay struck me as a rudimentary imitation of Doom Eternal, as you dance between enemies, swap weapons on the fly, and barrel forward to keep your health and ammo afloat. Add to that the set of skill challenges that come with each level – which range from performing a particular trick, to wall-grinding a specific object, to beating a set score – and the scope for mastery is huge.
Where Rollerdrome starts to fluff its performance, however, is outside of the deathmatches. Set within a retro-futurist dystopia, marred by monopolistic corporations that quell civil unrest by televising hypnotic bloodsports, Rollerdrome punctuates its levels with snippets of worldbuilding. Between each set, you’ll walk around empty locker rooms and sports halls, reading newspaper clippings or listening to radio segments to get a whiff of the world beyond.
“There’s such an obvious well of inspiration in the ‘70s genre films, such as Rollerball and Running Man,” says Jones. “So once we had the bloodsport element, a lot of the setting, theme and time just slotted into place.”
Not that it made much of an impression on me. The main plot is fed to you so sporadically and with such little fanfare that I largely zoned out of the narrative entirely. I found myself more intrigued by my latest high score than the fate of this fictional world. A series of rollerskating deathmatches may well be fertile ground on which to tell a story of corporate moral turpitude, but with that story so divorced from the main events of the game, it amounted to little more than a forgettable aside. Hopefully Rollerdrome’s narrative promise blossoms in a full playthrough.
The most surprising thing about Rollerdrome is its single-player exclusivity. The idea of a rollerskating, cell-shaded arena shooter sounds like the perfect starting ground for the next hit battle royale or left-field competitive phenomenon in the mode of Rocket League. With Roll7 already packing some multiplayer development experience, why did it approach Rollerdrome as a single-player experience?
“The trap that we really didn't want to fall in was to go too wide on a new subgenre of video game,” says Jones. “We had enough on our plates, and enough to figure out with the core idea of the game and the single-player idea that we started off with. We really wanted to pick a focused experience and just push that as far as we possibly could.”
For the most part, it looks like Roll7 has done exactly that. Rollerdrome might stumble over the tricky launch ramp of sprinkled storytelling, but offers such a finely balanced mix of skating and shooting that you’ll find yourself engrossed anyway. It might be time to dust off those rollerblades that have been sitting in the garage, because by the time Rollerdrome releases on August 16, you’ll want to hit the skatepark.
If you love PC gaming, you’re going to want a sweet gaming PC, but there are many things to consider before getting one, the biggest being budget.
Trying to build the absolute best gaming PC imagineable can be obscenely expensive and buying one prebuilt isn't much better, but there are ways to get cheaper ones; particularly when you build your own, but even if you get them pre-built.
More than anything, the best computer for gaming is ultimately the best one you can actually afford, but you don't want to just settle for any old PC. Here are some tips for how to get the very best gaming machine possible for any budget.
You don't have to spend a fortune to get the pretty good prebuilt gaming PC, believe it or not.
Let’s start with the brand name. People tend to opt for PCs made by well-known brands like Alienware, Corsair or MSI. It makes sense that they would, particularly when shopping for a relatively expensive PC, considering how difficult comparing PCs can be – if a company is successful, it feels more likely that its products will be well made. And you may well have heard enough about them to have an idea of whether you can trust them with your money.
One study, Why the Devil Wears Prada: Cross-National Meanings of Branded Products by Robin Couter et. al for the University of Connecticut School of Business, found that consumers associate big brand products with quality. They also said that people associated branding with status and identity, after all, many people like to look good and have the best of the best.
But enough of the formal stuff. The point is, you don’t have to go with well-known manufacturers.
Usually, even the best budget gaming PC is going to use cheaper parts, but cheaper parts do not always mean bad or lower performance. Some also use parts that are not by big-name manufacturers; they might strip back on the aesthetics; a smaller case without extra trimmings like RGB lighting saves a sweet penny.
Still, how do you find out if a lesser-known product or company is worth it?
For individual computers, a great way is customer reviews. Amazon has a great platform for this. You can learn a lot from reading reviews, and you can ask questions, too.
Sometimes you just want to know if this or that company you’ve never heard of is worth considering, and quickly. For that, Trustpilot, which hosts user reviews of companies and gives them a score, is great for that.
It’s not just no-name manufacturers that make budget PCs. Even large ones do it, usually built with cheaper parts, like MSI’s Trident 3 10th ($1,153.27, around £949, AU$1,674) or the HP Victus 15 L, starting from as cheap as $750 (around £617, AU$1,086), or the CyberPowerPC Wyvern Gaming PC, which you can cop for a nice $936.33 (around £770, AU$1,356) on Amazon.
And this isn't even accounting for retailer sales events when these gaming PCs typically become even cheaper.
Then, there are gaming laptops. Now, hear us out, you might prefer a desktop, but with one of the best gaming laptops, you can still have a cool gaming setup, and without a tower, monitor screen, and keyboard taking up space further pressuring the purse strings.
When it comes to laptops we know the obvious perks of owning one. The fact that it’s mobile means you can take it with you wherever you need to go; you can take your gaming with you on holiday, or if you have to travel for work.
If you need a laptop anyway, buying a gaming one will save you from buying a desktop – you’ll save money, even though you pay more for power in a laptop. And many laptops can play the best PC games admirably, possessing some of the best processors and mobile GPUs, and feature some fantastic displays.
Let’s just take a moment to think about the PCs that have loved and served us for many years, only to have us discard and replace them with a newer, better model. You will never be forgotten.
In fact, we want to advocate on behalf of the discarded old PC, because there’s no reason for you to get rid of them. Ever heard of a makeover? Well, that’s where we’re going with this. You already have a case, we’re sure, salvageable parts, and the extra peripherals that would cost you extra, like a mouse, monitor, and keyboard – so why not upgrade it?
While it can feel intimidating if you’ve never touched the inside of a PC before, this is a great chance for you to learn. You should make a clear plan of what an upgraded version of your PC would look like. What do you want it to do?
You can check out online retailers like Newegg and Ebuyer. There’s User Benchmark to check how your PC measures up, and it’ll make it clear what’s old and bad about your PC, and there are also sites that help you to pick parts for your PC like PC Part Picker. Also, be sure to read our tech reviews to get a breakdown of PC components that may be right for you, and don’t forget your local PC shop is an option too.
All in all, it’s possible to get a great gaming PC for a budget price. So, explore your options and don’t limit yourself because you think it’s impossible.
Microsoft says it has produced a zero-carbon emissions replacement for the diesel-powered generators used for backups in data centers, in the event of power outages and other service disruptions.
In a blog post announcing the news, Sean James, Microsoft’s director of data center research, called the breakthrough a "moon landing" moment for the data center industry
Data center sustainability is a huge deal whatever way you look at it; the cornerstones of modern cloud hosting currently use nearly 1% of global electricity demand contributing 0.3% of all global CO2 emissions, according to research from the International Energy Agency.
Microsoft's backup generator was powered by two fuel cells residing inside two 40-feet-long shipping containers.
The set-up can reportedly generate up to 3 megawatts of power, which is enough to replace one diesel generator or up to 1,800 homes.
Microsoft has been experimenting with fuel cell technology since 2013, and has pledged to be carbon negative by 2030.
It's not just hydrogen that offers the chance to make the future of data centers more sustainable, however.
Fujitsu is working with Icelandic start-up Atmonia to produce sustainable Amonnia, which could be burned to effectively power data centers if the heavily emitting Haber-Bosch process could be replaced.
Hydrogen power also has many high-profile detractors, despite Microsoft's show of faith, with Elon Musk describing the technology as "the dumbest thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage" at a recent event.
“I’m excited about the idea of working on something that can make a difference in the world, and hydrogen has a ton of potential to be a huge game changer,” said Sean James, Microsoft’s director of datacenter research. “When a lot of people think of renewable energy, they think of wind turbines and solar panels, and they don’t necessarily think of hydrogen."
"I know I didn’t. I think that will definitely change.”
August 10 is going to be a big day for Samsung fans, as we're getting the formal unveiling of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 (and more besides). Ahead of the event, a new leak has revealed some of the official cases we can expect to see launching alongside the foldable phones.
As spotted by SamMobile, one retailer in Germany has already started listing a few accessories for both the Z Fold 4 and the Z Flip 4, showing off different elements of the design of both smartphones at the same time.
These cases don't seem to have changed massively from those we got with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, suggesting that there haven't been any major shifts in the designs of the foldable handsets either.
For the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it looks as though there's a Slim Standing Cover that does double duty as a case and a stand for the device, and according to the retailer that's going to go on sale for €43.47 (about $45 / £37 / AU$64). A single piece protector, meanwhile, will cost €19.13 ($20 / £16 / AU$28).
When it comes to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, there's a Flap Leather Cover for €72.84 (about $74 / £61/ AU$107), and a Clear Cover with Ring for €28.72 (about $29 / £24 / AU$42). These prices might just be placeholders or tentative estimates however, and might differ when the accessories actually go on sale.
We don't have long to wait until August 10, and we're going to get to see the Galaxy Watch 5, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, and the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro at the same event as well. We'll bring you all the announcements as they're made, along with details of any accessories that Samsung is unveiling too.
Samsung certainly isn't shy of pushing out a suite of accessories and add-ons alongside its main devices – it knows the importance of offering not just phones, tablets, smartwatches and all the rest, but also complementary products to go alongside them.
Apple is leading the way here, with laptops and phones and smartwatches and tracking devices and streaming boxes, all working seamlessly with each other. Plus, there are plenty of official cases and chargers and cables for users to pick through too.
You can see that this is something that Google is trying to emulate. Google hasn't always been able to get hardware right, but the Google Pixel 6 was seen as a success for the company, and it's bringing out the Pixel Watch as well later in the year.
One edge that Samsung does have over both of these competitors is that it has two well-established foldable phones in its line-up – available in various colors and with various accessories as well. While both Apple and Google are expected to launch folding phones at some point, Samsung has a clear head start here.
Fujitsu's soon to launch high performance computing (HPC) cloud is already being put to use researching the next generation of space travel.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) utilized Fujitsu’s wave analysis solution to conduct large scale electromagnetic wave simulations, used to evaluate the radio wave intensity within the X-ray spectrometer of the space agency's X-ray imaging satellite XRISM.
Utilizing Fujitsu’s solution, JAXA was reportedly able to generate an experiment environment that simulates observation conditions as in outer space and conducted evaluations that could not be performed with traditional computing methods.
Electromagnetic interference between electronic components and communications equipment can be a big issue for users in all types of different fields, from space to standard urban transportation.
Fujitsu claims precise simulations of complex and large-scale electromagnetic wave problems could not be solved with conventional approximation algorithms.
However, using the HPC solution JAXA successfully confirmed that the radio wave intensity in XRISM’s X-ray spectrometer is at a level that does not impact the observation performance of the satellite even in orbit.
"This represents a major technical advance in satellite design," said Masahiro Tsujimoto, associate professor, JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. "n the XRISM satellite project, the results of this simulation played an important role in quantitatively evaluating unverified risks and confirming the validity of the design.”
Even if a satellite is out of your budget range, you might still be available to afford some of the technology under the project's hood.
Japanese readers will be able to get access to the computing cloud for between $400 to $8,000 a month, depending on their requirements, when it launches later this year.
Dubbed Fujitsu Computing-as-a-Service (CaaS), the cloud will give users access to some of the same Arm-based architecture that powers the world's most powerful supercomputer, "Fugaku" in Kobe, Japan.
We've already heard plenty about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro – enough for us to be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next-gen wearables – and today we've got some more leaked renders to flip through.
Courtesy of 91mobiles, the renders show off both smartwatches and a total of five different colors, ahead of the grand unveiling of the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (expected to be on August 10).
The leak matches up with images that we've previously seen on the web, while adding a few more angles for us to take a look at. While the designs aren't changing much from their predecessors, they have been slightly refined in places.
It would seem that we're getting the Pro model in black and gray at least, and the standard model in black, pink gold, and what looks like the Bora Purple shade that the Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone has just been made available in.
The last we heard about these wearables was that the new watches would be more or less the same price as the current models, though the Pro model (known as the Classic model last year) is said to be getting a major boost in terms of battery life.
These shots also appear to back up another previous rumor, specifically that the rotating bezel on the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic is going to be ditched as it transforms into the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro – which is a shame, as it was a handy method of operating the watch.
There's likely to be a cornucopia of new hardware from Samsung on August 10. The tech giant has already confirmed that it's holding a product launch event on that day, and it's also been dropping plenty of hints about what we can look forward to.
And where Samsung hasn't yet provided information, leaks have filled in the gaps: check out the recently revealed renders of the upcoming foldable Galaxy Z Fold 4 phone, for example, which show off an appealingly slick aesthetic.
Add everything up together, and it would seem that we're going to get the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro – at least.
That's an impressive slate of products, and one that's likely to catch the attention of Apple, Google, and all of Samsung's other competitors across various categories. As for the Samsung Galaxy S23, that isn't likely to see the light of day before January.
James Bond studio MGM has lost the film rights to the Tomb Raider franchise, leaving Lara Croft in search of a new big screen home.
As first reported by The Wrap, MGM had until May 2022 to sign off on a sequel to its 2018 Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander, but failed to meet the deadline in time. Multiple rival studios are now in the hunt to take over the IP, with one insider describing the situation to THR as a “feeding frenzy.”
MGM, which was recently acquired by Amazon, purchased the film rights to the popular video game franchise from GK Films back in 2013, which had itself struck a deal with Tomb Raider publisher Square Enix two years prior. The rights in question have now landed back at GK films, where they are reportedly the subject of an intense bidding war.
Although a sequel to 2018’s Tomb Raider was in early development – Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green had been attached to write and direct – Vikander’s role as the iconic action heroine is expected to be recast in any future movie projects.
Prior to becoming a James Bond stablemate at MGM, the Tomb Raider brand had enjoyed some relative big screen success at Top Gun parent studio Paramount, which released two Angelina Jolie-led movies – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life – in 2001 and 2003, respectively. The films raked in a combined $432 million worldwide.
Incidentally, both Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Tomb Raider (2018) took the same $274.7 million total at the global box office – though, adjusted for inflation, the former technically performed better.
As above, Tomb Raider has never been a bona fide Hollywood money-spinner – at least in the same way as the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises have for their respective owners. But in today’s ludicrously competitive entertainment industry, the ownership of major intellectual property (IP) has become more important than ever for attracting and keeping increasingly prudent audiences.
Tomb Raider is and will remain a prominent name in popular culture, and as a result of MGM moving slower than Winston in Croft Manor – both in terms of releasing and green-lighting movies under the franchise banner – the Amazon-owned studio has lost an important feather in its cap.
What’s more, MGM’s tardiness will soon become a rival studio’s gain. The likes of Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. are sure to be involved in the aforementioned “feeding frenzy”, while streaming services like Netflix – ever the doomed project vulture – may also be keen to bring Lara Croft to new audiences.
Wherever the famed English adventurer ends up, though, franchise fans can rest assured that, in all likelihood, we’ll be seeing a whole lot more Tomb Raider in the next five years than we have in the previous 10.
The Wilds has been cancelled by Amazon Studios after two seasons.
According to multiple outlets, including Deadline and Variety, Amazon has abandoned the popular Prime Video show less than three months after its second season was released. Deadline suggests that the series' main cast members were only informed about the decision on Thursday, July 28. At the time of writing, though, members of the core cast are yet to publicly comment on the matter.
News about The Wilds' cancellation is sure to disappoint fans of the young adult (YA) survival drama series. The Prime Video production is one of the more highly-rated original series on Amazon's streaming platform, with its first season holding a 92% certified fresh rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, The Wilds season 2 fared just as well; the show's latest installment garnering an 85% score on the same website. Over on IMDb.com, The Wilds has amassed an average 7.2 out of 10 score from nearly 20,000 user reviews.
No official reason has been given for the show's cancelation, but Deadline claims that the subdued reaction to The Wilds' second season led to its downfall. The series arrived to critical acclaim upon the release of its first season in December 2020, with its Lost meets Castaway-style narrative and excellent casting helping to drive newcomers to Amazon's streaming service.
However, with similarly positioned YA series, such as hit show Yellowjackets, starting to muscle in on its territory, coupled with its pandemic-induced release date delay, it seems that The Wilds didn't have the tools to craft a life raft to keep it afloat.
We've reached out to Amazon Studios for an official comment on The Wilds' cancellation and we'll update this article if we hear back.
The Wilds' cancelation is something of a pivotal moment in Amazon Studios' history.
The series was the first young adult-positioned project to release on Prime Video and, thanks to its relative success, it paved the way for other YA shows to roll off the Amazon production line. Panic, Amazon's failed I Know What You Did Last Summer remake, Alex Rider, and The Summer I Turned Pretty owe their existence to The Wilds, which paved the way for those series to see the light of day.
With Amazon bringing the curtain down on The Wilds, then, it's consigning one of its pioneering shows to the streaming history books – and some industry insiders and fans may see that as a watershed moment for Prime Video.
How so? Well, Amazon isn't exactly pivoting away from YA-developed series, but it's certainly leaning harder into more popular and profitable genres.
For one, Amazon continues to expand its original superhero offerings to its subscriber base. The Boys season 4, plus a live-action spin-off series, are in the works. Invincible season 2 is currently in development, while a new original movie in Samaritan is set to release in late August.
Meanwhile, Amazon is pushing harder into fantasy genre territory. A second season of The Wheel of Time is on the way, while a third season was announced at Comic-Con 2022. Carnival Row, Prime Video's first fantasy original series, is also getting a second runout at some point. Oh, and there's a little known show called The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – the most expensive TV series ever made – coming exclusively to Prime Video on September 2.
Of course, there'll always be an audience for YA content on Prime Video, so it's likely that Amazon will continue to commission projects of this nature, providing they sound intriguing enough. But there's no question that the studio is pumping money into more popular genres with bigger fanbases, which could be a dangerous move to make.
Amazon won't want to alienate its young adult/teen audience by failing to deliver content targeted specifically at this demographic. If it does so, it may find those viewers abandoning it – in much the same way that Amazon abandoned The Wilds – for other streamers, such as Netflix, whose YA back catalog includes hit shows such as Shadow and Bone, Riverdale, and Heartstopper. Time will tell if The Wilds' cancellation was the right decision or not.
For more Prime Video-based content, check out the platform's new user-friendly interface, or read up on a new feature that Prime Video just added – one that Netflix is yet to implement.
Apple is just weeks away from officially unveiling and launching the iPhone 14 series in Early September this year. Earlier we had learnt that the Cupertino-based tech giant is facing issues with the production of iPhone 14 Max mainly due to its screen. Now, a leaked report suggests that Apple is also facing issues with the cameras that they will be using for the iPhone 14 series.
Well-known Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo has revealed that Apple is facing some major quality control issues with the rear glass elements and lenses for its rear camera for the iPhone 14. The specific problem is all about “coating-crack quality concerns” which basically means that the some of lenses on the back camera of the iPhone 14 are developing cracks for no reason.
As a result, Apple may be searching for a new components supplier as a result of this issue to avoid difficulties with the next shipments of the device. A Taiwanese company by the name of Genius Electronic Optical has been making glasses for the iPhone’s cameras all these years.
However, since Genius is having quality control issues, Apple has evidently already transferred about 10 million lens orders to Largan Precision, another Taiwanese optical lens manufacturer, to avoid iPhone 14 shipment delays since the Taiwanese company is capable of filling the supply gap.
Kuo claims that Genius should be able to address the coating-crack issue within two months, and if it doesn't, Largan will receive more orders from Apple for the lenses.
Apple is facing a number of challenges in making the iPhone 14 series. First, there were some issues with the supply chain, and component shortages. Then, there were issues with the RAM modules that would have gone in some of the iPhone 14s, which was followed by issues with the display panel of the iPhone 14 Max. And now, this.
Apple will be doing everything in their power to launch the devices as per its schedule, that is the 6 September. However, there is a very good possibility that they may have to limit the number of units that are available for sale on the day of the launch.
We know that they will have a limited supply of the iPhone 14 Max on the day of the launch of the iPhone 14 series, due to the issues with the panel. Let’s just hope that Apple is able to get its issues in order and is not forced to delay its launch.
We’ve heard a number of times now that every iPhone 14 model – including the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max – might have 6GB of RAM, and the latest leak again suggests as much, but this RAM apparently won't all be equal.
According to a report in DigiTimes – spotted by MacRumors – the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max will have 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM, while the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will have 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
In all cases – other than the iPhone 14 Max, since that phone has no predecessor - this would be an upgrade. The iPhone 13 had 4GB of RAM, so the new model would be getting 2GB more. In the case of the Pro models, we saw 6GB in both the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but they had LPDDR4X RAM.
LPDDR5 RAM is faster and more energy-efficient, so we could see improvements to both performance and battery life from the Pro models, even if they have the same amount of RAM as their predecessors.
This would also mean that despite all four iPhone 14 models apparently having the same amount of RAM, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max would offer better performance than the standard and Max models – and that’s before you get to the rumored use of a new A16 Bionic chipset in the Pro models, while the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max will apparently be stuck with last year’s A15 Bionic.
In a sense then this news is good regardless of which iPhone 14 model you’re considering, since they should all be an upgrade on the RAM front – but the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max should retain an edge.
While the move to LPDDR5 RAM is a positive step, it’s one that some rivals took a while back. Samsung has been using it from the Galaxy S20 series onwards in its flagship line, and hasn’t reserved it for the very top models, as even the likes of the Galaxy S20 FE 5G got LPDDR5 RAM.
Samsung isn’t alone either, as a number of other Android phone manufacturers have made the move already.
It’s not entirely surprising that Apple is behind here. After all, the company has never been one to chase specs for the sake of it, but this slow progress was likely a cost-cutting move, which is a bit disappointing when iPhones are already so expensive. If Android manufacturers can deliver this faster RAM, then Apple should be able to in its premium phones.
It’s also a shame that this move is apparently limited to the Pro models, given that you can get mid-range Android phones with LPDDR5 RAM. It’s just one more example of how – more than in most years – the Pro iPhones look set to be the ones to buy, and could end up being the only new entries in our best iPhones guide.
Boy, the CPU industry is certainly looking leakier than the Titanic right now. Ahead of an official reveal scheduled for August 5, a new leak has seemingly confirmed the existence of four new processors from AMD, which will be part of the upcoming Ryzen 7000 series of CPUs. The kicker? This leak hasn’t come from some secretive Twitter account, but from AMD itself.
As reported by Wccftech, four new products were added to AMD’s own resource library: the Ryzen 9 7950X and 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, and Ryzen 5 7600X. Although we don’t have official specs for these chips from AMD, previously leaked benchmarks for unnamed Zen 4 CPUs give us a rough idea of what we’re looking at here.
The Ryzen 9 7950X is the top-end enthusiast processor, and is believed to be the 32-thread powerhouse CPU leaked through benchmark results, while the midrange 7600X is expected to run on 12 threads at around 5.2GHz. Power requirements for these chips may go as high as 170W, signaling a shift towards higher TDPs for both CPUs and GPUs.
Perhaps the most interesting inclusion is the 7700X, an unexpected appearance; previous speculation had the 7800X as the first Ryzen 7 chip to launch, but it looks like AMD might be releasing a lower-powered (and presumably more affordable) Ryzen 7 CPU first. All four of these processors will require AMD’s new AM5 socket, found on X670 and B560 motherboards.
With an official announcement coming in a week and current leaks pointing towards a mid-September release for the Zen 4 processors, Intel might want to hurry up with its Raptor Lake CPUs, which are expected to launch sometime in October.
The Ryzen 7000 series will come loaded with AMD’s clever 3D V-cache technology, which allows for the ‘stacking’ of cache memory on the chip. It’s currently only available in the excellent Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and the boosted cache makes it absolutely incredible for gaming – something AMD is leaning into when it comes to marketing its CPUs. If Intel doesn’t react fast enough, AMD could corner a significant chunk of the gaming processor market.
Still, it’s a bit sad to see these leaks only go down as far as Ryzen 5. Don’t get me wrong – the Ryzen 5 5600X is a fantastic mid-range CPU, but it seems as though AMD has forgotten about its budget Ryzen 3 line, which has previously represented amazing value for budget gaming and media center PC builds.
The last Ryzen 3 desktop chip to launch was the 4100, which admittedly only hit stores back in April 2022, but there was a time when a new Ryzen generation would bring Ryzen 3 chips with it. Rumors dating back to March indicate that a 5100 might be in the works, but anything like a 7100 or 7300 seems out of the question for now.
Marvel Studios has reportedly hired Daniel Destin Cretton to helm the next Avengers movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cretton – who directed 2021 Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – has signed on to lead production on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Cretton's continued involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will come as no surprise to diehard Marvel fans. Following his superb work on arguably the best Marvel Phase 4 film, the US filmmaker penned a multi-project deal with Marvel Studios in December 2021. Those plans reportedly include Cretton returning to direct a Shang-Chi sequel.
With Marvel handing the reins to Avengers 5 to Cretton, too, the studio clearly has confidence in the Just Mercy director delivering another suitably epic superhero flick. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty won't arrive in theaters until May 2025, though – it's part of Marvel's Phase 6 plans, which were tentatively revealed during the studio's main presentation at Comic-Con 2022. There's plenty of time, then, for Cretton to create a blueprint befitting an Avengers movie.
Shang-Chi is arguably the best Marvel Phase 4 movie - so you can bet your ass I'm delighted with this news (if it's true, of course) https://t.co/HYcFqHWciCJuly 26, 2022
It's unclear if Cretton will have dual responsibilities on Avengers 5. Cretton co-wrote Shang-Chi alongside Dave Callaham (Ant-Man, Wonder Woman 1984) but, according to MCU insider Charles Murphy, there's no word on whether Cretton will write and direct the upcoming Avengers film.
It's equally uncertain if Cretton will direct Avengers 6, aka Secret Wars. The Russo brothers, who have helmed four MCU movies including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, have repeatedly spoken of their desire to adapt that comic series for the MCU. However, with the duo busy on other projects including a sequel to The Gray Man, the latest hit Netflix movie, the duo's schedule is packed enough as it is.
If The Hollywood Reporter's claim is correct, it'll be a busy few years for Cretton. As well as Shang-Chi 2, the 44-year-old is believed to be developing a Disney Plus series based on another underrated Marvel superhero in Wonder Man. Meanwhile, a Shang-Chi spin-off show starring Meng'er Zhang's Xu Xialing – aka Shang-Chi's sister – is also in the works for Disney Plus. Cretton is thought to be involved in its development, too, which is said to follow Xu's revamp of the Ten Rings organization. However, Marvel didn't provide any details (or confirmation, for that matter) on either TV show during its primary Comic-Con 2022 panel.
In fact, it's going to be a busy period overall for Marvel. At Comic-Con, the studio announced that its current Phase 4 slate would end with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which arrives in theaters in November. Marvel also announced its full line-up of movies and shows for MCU Phase 5, starting with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February 2023. In total, Phase 5 will comprise six movies and seven TV series.
Finally, Marvel teased its plans for Phase 6, which will begin in November 2024 with its Fantastic Four reboot. The next two Avengers movies – The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars – will follow May and November 2025 respectively.
On the surface, Cretton may not have appeared as the most likely candidate to helm Marvel's next Avengers movie. Until he directed Shang-Chi, Cretton had largely been involved in the indie film scene, with credits on films such as I Am Not a Hipster and Short Term 12.
However, considering how well Shang-Chi was received, it's only right that Cretton is given the opportunity to make a more grandiose MCU movie involving multiple superheroes. Okay, Shang-Chi only made $432.2 million at the worldwide box office – making it the fifth lowest grossing Marvel movie ever – but that was during a time when the pandemic still loomed large over the theatre going experience. For context, it did beat another Phase 4 movie in Black Widow ($379.8 million) and the first Captain America film ($370.6 million) monetarily. Given the immense popularity of that duo and Shang-Chi's relative obscurity before he made his MCU debut, his box office takings shouldn't be sniffed at.
Meanwhile, Shang-Chi is one of the highest-rated Marvel movies of all-time. The film currently sits ninth on Rotten Tomatoes' best Marvel movies list with a 91% certified fresh rating. Spider-Man: No Way Home is the only MCU Phase 4 movie with a better score (93%) – again, though, given how popular the webslinger is, the fact that Shang-Chi holds its own against Spider-Man's third MCU outing is something to be admired.
No Way Home aside, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is my favorite Marvel Phase 4 film. Okay, it may sit 18th out of 29 movies in TechRadar's best Marvel movies ranked guide, but it's a rip-roaring, funny, and emotional film that contains some of the best action sequences in the MCU. A lot of that is down to Cretton's involvement and, if he can deliver a similarly well-balanced, thrilling and shocking movie with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, we're all in for a wild ride.
For more Marvel-based content, check out our Marvel movies in order guide.
Just a few weeks ago, Samsung unveiled their ISOCELL HP3 sensor, the world’s first smartphone camera sensor that has a resolution of 200MP.
We also learned that Motorola and Xiaomi are working on devices with the first generation of Samsung’s 200MP sensor, the ISOCELL HP1.
Well now, it seems that Samsung has already started developing a whole new sensor system that would double the resolution of the best smartphone camera sensor they make.
Samsung trademarked the term “Hexa²pixel”, which is described in the filing as “image sensors for photographic devices”.
A new leak by a reputable tipster, IceUniverse suggests that the new sensor will have a resolution of about 400-450MP. The new Hexa²pixel uses the 36-in-1 pixel binning system, which basically means that a group of 36 pixels in a grid of 6x6 pixels get merged into one bigger pixel) which is well above the current arrangements of Tetracell (2x2) and Nonapixel (3x3).
If the target is 12MP output, like the Tetracell and Nonacell binning systems, the overall resolution that can be calculated comes out to be 432MP, which, in all likelihood will be rounded up to 450MP.
In any case, it will more than double the resolution of the 200MP sensors from Samsung, the ISOCELL HP1, which is a 1/1.22-inch sensor with a pixel size of 0.64µm pixels, as well as the ISOCELL HP3 which is a 1/1.4-inch sensor, with each pixel measuring in at 0.56µm.
Both the current ISOCELL HP sensors have Tetra²pixel systems, which allows them to go for both 4x4 and 2x2 pixel binning for 12MP and 50MP image output, respectively. Given the “²” in the name of the new sensor, it will probably have two output modes as well.
If so, it will be able to output 12MP and 48MP resolution images, respectively. Binning will be necessary since even if the sensor is huge, fitting that many pixels will make them pretty tiny and the images very grainy, if left unprocessed.
A few years ago a rumour had come up that suggested Samsung is planning to develop sensors with resolutions as high as 600MP, with an insane 1/0.57-inch optical sensor. The Hexa²pixel sensor may represent just the halfway point of what is coming in the next few years.
Samsung’s second big event of 2022 is fast approaching, and to build hype the company has now launched an official trailer for the next Galaxy Unpacked, in which it shows off the designs of at least two phones, which from the look of them are almost certainly the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
While Samsung hasn’t mentioned these handsets by name, we’ve long been expecting to see them both at this event on August 10. However, previous teasers had focused specifically on a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, so seeing a new Z Fold here as well is reassuring.
As for what to expect from these phones. Well, the video only shows brief glimpses of each, but various angles are shown, and some details can be made out.
In the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 then (or at least the foldable flip phone believed to be named that), there appears to be two rear camera lenses, along with a flash. That’s in line with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, and so is the two-tone design on the rear, and the arrangement of ports, buttons, and antenna lines from what we can see here.
Glimpses of the next Samsung Galaxy Z Fold are more fleeting, but this too looks very similar to its predecessor from what we can see. None of which is surprising, since leaks had suggested as much.
Beyond the imagery, this trailer also includes some text that hints at possible improvements. There’s mention of new ways to work and play, new ways to capture life, and new experiences that will forever change our behavior.
Some of that is fairly vague and could just be highlighting the advantages that foldables have over flat phones, but the bit about capturing life is likely a hint at camera upgrades, especially as it’s followed by an image of the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s lenses.
The mention of new ways to work and play meanwhile could be a hint at the rumored S Pen slot in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. We should find out for sure on August 10.
While the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 are likely to be the stars of Samsung’s August 10 event, they’re not the only things we’re expecting to see, with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also likely to make an appearance.
These are expected to be top-end wearables with worryingly high prices but big upgrades to battery life.
We may also see other gadgets, such as the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro – though at least one source reckons they’ll land before August 10. Either way, this looks set to be a packed event, and a big deal for Samsung fans.
TechRadar will be covering the launch in full, so make a note in your calendar to head back here then for all the news on what could be some of the best foldable phones and best smartwatches.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has unveiled a new monetization feature that seeks to share revenue between music artists and content creators on the social media platform.
Music Revenue Sharing is designed to make it easier for creators to monetize videos even when using licensed music, with Meta championing it as “the first of its kind within the music industry,” helping the site’s content creators “access more popular music, deepening relationships with their fans.”
The service, powered by Meta’s Rights Manager - a content-match tool that searches images, videos, and audio across Facebook and Instagram for original, copyrighted content - lets creators use their favorite tracks in videos and still earn money from them.
Before content creators can start monetizing videos using licensed music, they must first be eligible for Facebook’s in-stream ads and meet the platform’s monetization eligibility standards, community standards, and music guidelines.
According to Meta, eligible videos must be 60 seconds or longer and uploaded to a Facebook page, contain a visual component (so, users can’t upload the song with a blank screen), and feature music samples that are covered by Music Revenue Sharing. Users can explore all songs covered by the deal in Facebook’s Licensed Music library.
The Menlo Park-based business, meanwhile, assures users that it’ll continue working with music rights holders to expand the current list to help “bring creators and the music industry closer together, leading to more authentic connections with fans.”
If a video meets the criteria set by Meta, content creators can expect 20% of the revenue share. The rest will go to Meta and music the rights holder. However, on those ungenerous terms, it’s possible content creators will prefer to use open-license or royalty-free music and keep the full 100%.
Music Revenue Sharing is available globally today. However, initially, creators will only earn money on videos delivered to US audiences, with the service expanding worldwide over the next few months.
This latest unveiling builds on Meta’s on-going drive to help creators make more money on its platforms. In 2020, it revealed plans to pay users for live streaming content. Last week, the company announced the introduction of NFTs on Instagram, expanding the Facebook Stars and Facebook Reels Play bonus programs.
