Logitech announced the launch of MX Creative Console, a new product category that allows digital creators to focus on their artistry. With instant access to essential controls and ultimate customization, the MX Creative Console streamlines workflows and automates repetitive tasks.

"Digital creativity is undergoing a massive transformation, constantly evolving the way people create. The MX Creative Console is designed to help people redefine their workflow, enabling them to work smarter and faster," said Anatoliy Polyanker, general manager of the MX Business Unit at Logitech. "With the latest additions to the Logitech MX Ecosystem, the MX Creative Console and recently-announced MX Ink, we are tapping into the key trends of democratizing digital creation, 3D design and spatial computing, and AI-enabled workflows."

Epson today introduced an expansion to its SureColor V-Series UV printer line and its first UV desktop printer - the SureColor V1070. Designed to bring the power of UV printing to small businesses for an exceptional value - at less than half the cost of comparable desktop flatbed UV printers - the new A4 desktop printer is easy to use and maintain, features a compact, space-saving design and prints high quality output on a variety of materials.

"Epson is dedicated to making cutting-edge UV printing technology accessible to everyone and simplifying the process for customers starting their own business or just beginning to explore the possibilities of UV printing," said David Lopez, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. "This powerful, yet affordable, desktop UV printer brings all the incredible technology of Epson's large format UV printer into a compact design that can fit into most places, allowing for high quality printing on almost anything from virtually anywhere."

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, expands its Luminous Superior Series by launching high-brightness laser B2B projectors. With brightness levels reaching up to 8,500 ANSI Lumens, these projectors deliver exceptional visual experiences in large venues such as auditoriums, museums, and reception areas. By adding 6 new advanced models to the DLP technology lineup, ViewSonic offers the most comprehensive projector product line available, designed to meet the diverse needs of professional AV partners.

"ViewSonic has achieved twofold growth in the 5,000 to 5,999 ANSI Lumens segment globally, driven by the launch of new laser projectors. The company has surpassed last year's performance as demand for high-brightness projectors continues to rise," said Dean Tsai, General Manager of Projector & LED Display Business Unit at ViewSonic. "The enhancement of our B2B projectors allows us to offer a broader range of brightness levels, catering to both mainstream and professional needs. This series is designed with a user-centric approach, delivering superior visual quality and performance with higher cost-effectiveness while setting new standards for sustainability in professional visual technology. This not only strengthens ViewSonic's market position but also opens up new opportunities, further reinforcing our leadership in the global projector market."

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce their Kickstarter program for the upcoming Professional Go Portable SSD with Hub. Offering the ultimate setup to shoot seamless video from a mobile phone, the innovative Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD with Hub is a revolutionary solution that lets creators use the SSD on its own for unmatched freedom and portability or with the hub to add peripherals like lighting, microphones, power banks, and more. Weighing a mere 13 grams but packing a capacity of 1 TB-2 TB, the powerful SSD delivers USB 3.2 Gen 2 performance of 1050 MB/s read, 1000 MB/s write to shoot seamless Apple ProRes 4K 60 FPS video from an iPhone 15 Pro/Max or above and perform post-production processes right on the drive.

The Kickstarter campaign, which is already underway, gives consumers a chance to not only be first in line to receive the product when it launches, but seeks to engage with them for input, feedback, and an overall better understanding of what customers' needs and pain points are. The campaign currently has more than 2,375 backers with 20 days left.

Display specialist AOC proudly presents the U27B3CF, a 27" (68.6 cm) 4K monitor that combines stunning visuals with easy-to-use USB-C connectivity. Designed for home users, flexible professionals and creatives who demand both quality and functionality, this monitor sets a new standard for workplace efficiency.

Unmatched clarity and modern connectivity
Featuring a 27" IPS panel with 4K UHD resolution (3840x2160), the AOC U27B3CF delivers crisp, lifelike images with a 163 PPI density - perfect for professionals who value both screen real estate and image quality. This combination allows users to view multiple documents, spreadsheets or applications side-by-side with crisp text and vivid visuals. For creative professionals, the high pixel density enables precise work in photo editing and graphic design, making the most of every inch of screen space.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce three new additions to its Professional SILVER card lineup: the SILVER PLUS microSDXC UHS-I Card, the SILVER PLUS SDXC UHS-I Card, and the SILVER SDXC UHS-I Card.

The SILVER series features outstanding performance of 205 MB/s max read speeds to expedite transfers and reduce wait times and 150 MB/s write speeds (140 MB/s for Professional SILVER SDXC UHS-I Card) to capture even fast action. Users can achieve max read speeds by pairing the cards with the Lexar Dual-Slot USB-A/C Reader, which can simultaneously read an SD card and a microSD card. Rated V30, the SILVER Series cards are designed to record 4K video in up to 60 FPS. These cards are also designed with real life in mind and are drop-proof, temperature-proof, x-ray-proof, shockproof, magnetic-proof, and vibration-resistant so they can stand up to all sorts of environments. They also offer users peace of mind with the Lexar Recovery Tool, which allows users to recover accidentally deleted files, and a lifetime limited warranty.

The Professional Gamers League (PGL) showcased its newly upgraded tournament rig specification prior to the kick-off of their (still ongoing) CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 esports event. As reported, over a week ago, competitors have been treated to modern systems decked out with AMD's popular gaming-oriented Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, while BenQ's ZOWIE XL2566K 24.5" 360 Hz gaming monitor delivers a superfast visual feed. A hefty chunk of change has been spent on new hardware, but expensive cutting-edge tech can falter. Virtus.pro team member—Jame—experienced a major software crash during a match against rival group, G2.

PCGamesN noted that this frustrating incident ended the affected team's chance to grab a substantial cash reward. Their report put a spotlight on this unfortunate moment: "in the second round of a best of three, Virtus Pro were a few rounds away from qualifying for the playoffs, only for their aspirations to be squashed through no fault of their own...Jame experiences a graphics card driver crash that irrecoverably steers the round in G2's favor, culminating in Virtus Pro losing the match 11-13. Virtus Pro would then go on to lose the subsequent tie-break match as the round was not replayed. In effect, the graphics card driver crash partly cost the team their chance at winning an eventual $1.25 million prize pool." PGL revealed, via a social media post, that officials are doing some detective work: "we wish to clarify the situation involving Jame during the second map, Inferno, in the series against G2. A technical malfunction occurred due to an NVIDIA driver crash, resulting in a game crash. We are continuing our investigation into the matter." The new tournament rigs were "meticulously optimized" and tested in the weeks leading up to CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024—it is believed that the driver crash was a random anomaly. PGL and NVIDIA are currently working on a way to "identify and fix the issue."

Audio-Technica U.S. Incorporated, recently announced the formation of a new logistical operations company, Technica Logistics Inc. The announcement was made by Mr. Manabu Aoki, Audio-Technica Director and CEO/President of Audio-Technica U.S. Inc., and underscores A-T's long-term strategic business plan for ongoing growth and expansion in the coming years. "This new company is formed to supply enhanced service to our customers and consumers," stated Aoki. "This change will take advantage of Audio-Technica's past experience and success in warehouse and distribution operations, as well as its unprecedented dedication to customer support and service."

Technica Logistics Inc. will begin operation on April 1, 2024, and Mr. Michael Fuller, who has been with Audio-Technica for over 15 years, has been named as the Managing Director. The company plans to have approximately 40 employees throughout the U.S. and will have its headquarters at the Audio-Technica campus in Stow, Ohio, and the mailing address at 4701 Hudson Drive, Stow, OH.

Dell Technologies is strengthening its collaboration with NVIDIA to help enterprises adopt AI technologies. By expanding the Dell Generative AI Solutions portfolio, including with the new Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, organizations can accelerate integration of their data, AI tools and on-premises infrastructure to maximize their generative AI (GenAI) investments. "Our enterprise customers are looking for an easy way to implement AI solutions—that is exactly what Dell Technologies and NVIDIA are delivering," said Michael Dell, founder and CEO, Dell Technologies. "Through our combined efforts, organizations can seamlessly integrate data with their own use cases and streamline the development of customized GenAI models."

"AI factories are central to creating intelligence on an industrial scale," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA. "Together, NVIDIA and Dell are helping enterprises create AI factories to turn their proprietary data into powerful insights."

Optoma, a world-leading manufacturer of large display solutions and the No.1 4K UHD brand and the No.1 DLP brand worldwide and in the Americas, announces its new N-Series Professional Displays with intuitive, user-friendly software for business professionals to connect, present, and collaborate globally, both in-person and remotely. Featuring portrait and landscape orientation, Optoma's N-Series is built for use in corporate lobbies, reception areas, conference rooms, lecture halls, digital signage, and other professional environments.

In response to the growing demand for commercial display solutions, Optoma designed the N-Series Professional Displays to enhance the current conferencing setups of corporate and education settings and accommodate hybrid work and distance-learning scenarios. Engineered for simplified connectivity and heightened engagement.

NVIDIA is offering a new professional certification in generative AI to enable developers to establish technical credibility in this important domain. Generative AI is revolutionizing industries worldwide, yet there's a critical skills gap and need to uplevel employees to more fully harness the technology. Available for the first time from NVIDIA, this new professional certification enables developers, career professionals, and others to validate and showcase their generative AI skills and expertise. Our new professional certification program introduces two associate-level generative AI certifications, focusing on proficiency in large language models and multimodal workflow skills.

"Generative AI has moved to center stage as governments, industries and organizations everywhere look to harness its transformative capabilities," NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang recently said. The certification will become available starting at GTC, where in-person attendees can also access recommended training to prepare for a certification exam. "Organizations in every industry need to increase their expertise in this transformative technology," said Greg Estes, VP of developer programs at NVIDIA. "Our goals are to assist in upskilling workforces, sharpen the skills of qualified professionals, and enable individuals to demonstrate their proficiency in order to gain a competitive advantage in the job market."

Lexar previewed part of their CES lineup late last week—we got a quick briefing that outlined various upcoming portable SSDs, M.2 NVMe SSDs, and professional CFExpress cards. TPU staffers spent some quality time at the storage specialist's booth in Las Vegas—they have reported back that emphasis has been placed on Lexar's portable SSD products. The headliner appears to be the prominently placed ARMOR 700 Portable SSD—this boasts an extra rugged design, thus providing the level of on-the-go protection that is required by modern professionals.

The ARMOR 700 will be available in three capacities: 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB. Maximum read and write speeds of 2000 MB/s are advertised on Lexar's wall-mounted exhibit, with support for 6K RAW video files. The rugged and durable housing has been certified at IP65, with drop-resistant properties. The already released SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD was showcased at CES, but it was joined by a similar looking (non-RGB equipped) sibling—the new SL600 is a more sober looking option, aimed at professional types. The SL500 Portable SSD sports credentials for a wide range of purposes: mobile devices, laptops, cameras as well as gaming on current generation games consoles. Lexar states that the SL500 is powered by Silicon Motion Technology portable SSD controllers—with speeds up to 2000 MB/s read and 1800 MB/s write. Capacities noted on the exhibit wall are 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB—this applies to the SL600 specification as well.

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce two additions to their professional lineup - the Professional CFexpress Type A Card SILVER Series and the Professional GOLD microSDXC UHS-II Card. Both cards come with the superior performance that professionals need to get their job done.

The Professional CFexpress Type A Card SILVER Series deliver pro performance for maximum creativity. With 800 MB/s max read, 700 MB/s max write, and sustained write speeds of 600 MB/s, it allows users to capture seamless 8K video and gorgeous burst-mode images. Compatible with Sony Alpha and Sony FX cameras that support CFexpress Type A cards, it comes with an industry-leading 10-year warranty. The Professional GOLD microSDXC UHS-II Card is a versatile, high-performance card that's perfect for capturing drone and action camera footage and is also great for UHS-II portable gaming devices. Read speeds up to 280 MB/s allow users to quickly transfer massive amounts of files and load games fast, while write speeds up to 180 MB/s and a V60 rating let them capture high-quality images and extended lengths of Full-HD and 4K video without dropping frames.

NVIDIA and PNY Technologies revealed their RTX 5000 Ada Generation professional model back in August, alongside a few other additions to the existing "Ada Lovelace architecture family of high-performance workstation graphics cards." VideoCardz noted that units started to hit the retail market last week—the Chinese Gigabyte flagship server store (a certified OEM) on JD.com is selling them for 35,999 RMB a pop (~$5015), including taxes/extra charges. Official MSRP for the RTX 5000 Ada is $4000, so some form of upcharge has been added, but it is nowhere near as expensive as the flagship RTX 6000 Ada card. Both models share NVIDIA's upper echelon AD102 GPU, but the RTX 5000 Ada's configuration is cutback in order to reduce its price (roughly half of the flagship's cost).

Tom's Hardware has observed that Western retail outlets have similarly tacked on cheeky extra charges: "The RTX 5000 Ada graphics card is now available from PC Connection, Ebay, ProVantage, ShopBLT, and ThinkMate, among other workstation-oriented retailers. Meanwhile, none of them currently sell this add-in-board at its MSRP of $4,000, with prices hovering 10-20 percent above this figure. ProVantage even goes so far as to suggest the list price for the card is $6,999 and that you're saving 37%. Nice try." NVIDIA and PNY have not implemented a major cooling solution redesign for this year's upper-mid model—the RTX 5000 Ada largely shares its predecessor's aesthetic and single blower fan system (RTX A5000), although it has been "upgraded" with a 12VHPWR PCIe connector.

Western Digital today introduces new solutions from its SanDisk brand and SanDisk Professional line ahead of IBC2023, further enriching its ecosystem of digital content storage solutions for the broadcasting, media and entertainment industry. These pro-grade products, which include two new desktop hard drive solutions and a memory card, offer the quality and dependability required for production-level video workflows without compromising the premium design.

"It is exciting to see Western Digital continue to expand its Thunderbolt offerings, which provide the higher-end capabilities and reliability that the media and entertainment industry needs," said Jason Ziller, General Manager, Client Connectivity Division, Intel Corporation. "By utilizing the power of our Thunderbolt technology, enterprise-class hard drives and multi-device connectivity solutions support prosumers and creative professionals, and their increasingly complex demands and innovative use cases."

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its new flagship UHS-I memory card model "PRO Ultimate" in microSD and full-size SD form factors, enabling professional photographers and content creators to maximize productivity in their creative workflows. The new PRO Ultimate lineup features a capacity of up to 512 gigabytes (GB) and a remarkable sequential read speed of up to 200 megabytes-per-second (MB/s).

"With the growing volume of high-resolution content generated from gadgets such as drones, action cameras and DSLR cameras, professional creators should be able to work with large-sized content seamlessly, whether they are writing, reading or transferring their data," said Hangu Sohn, Vice President of Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. "As creators rely on high speed and performance of the memory cards, the new Samsung PRO Ultimate significantly reinforces such needs through enhanced controller technologies and multi-proof protection features."

Dell Technologies introduces new offerings to help customers quickly and securely build generative AI (GenAI) models on-premises to accelerate improved outcomes and drive new levels of intelligence. New Dell Generative AI Solutions, expanding upon our May's Project Helix announcement, span IT infrastructure, PCs and professional services to simplify the adoption of full-stack GenAI with large language models (LLM), meeting organizations wherever they are in their GenAI journey. These solutions help organizations, of all sizes and across industries, securely transform and deliver better outcomes.

"Generative AI represents an inflection point that is driving fundamental change in the pace of innovation while improving the customer experience and enabling new ways to work," Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and co-chief operating officer, Dell Technologies, said on a recent investor call. "Customers, big and small, are using their own data and business context to train, fine-tune and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes effectively and efficiently."

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, unveils the next generation of ColorPro Wheel - an innovative multi-functional color calibrator. Bundled with the VP2776 and VP2786-4K Professional Monitors, the ColorPro Wheel's color calibration and OSD control features are complemented by integrated access to Pantone's digital libraries with hotkey control of compatible creative editing software. This harmonization of hardware and software provides ultimate color control and empowers seamless creative workflows for professionals.

"Precise color management is of utmost importance to creators and therefore remains a top priority for ColorPro, our professional monitor solutions," said Oscar Lin, General Manager of the Monitor Business Unit at ViewSonic. "We are delighted to further strengthen our partnership with Pantone, providing creators with the freedom and convenience of accessing digital color data to elevate their creative endeavors. The updated ColorPro Wheel empowers creators to achieve unparalleled color excellence and enhance their workflows through its human-centered design."

KYY, a leading manufacturer at the forefront of external display monitor technology, proudly unveils two exceptional triple display monitors, the X90A and X90, offering users enhanced visual experiences for work and entertainment.

Impressive Specifications and Enhanced Viewing
Both the X90A and X90 models feature impressive specifications, including a 14-inch 1080p FHD IPS display, a 60 Hz refresh rate, a 1:1000 contrast ratio, a 72% NTSC color gamut, a 16.7 million color count, and a 300 nits brightness. These features combine to deliver stunning image quality, vibrant colors, and sharp details, providing users with an immersive and enjoyable viewing experience.

A 64-bit Dec Alpha C compiler was found by Virtually Fun's neozeed earlier this year - the software archeologist has been searching for various test builds of Microsoft Windows NT, including an "AXP64/ALPHA64 port," deemed extra special due to it being the first 64-bit version of Windows 2000 Professional. The small discovery of this obscure compiler was celebrated, but its functionality is ultimately not all that useful - neozeed notes that the items have been sitting within 1999 vintage Windows Platform SDKs: "It turns out that the AXP64 compiler set has been hiding in plain sight for DECADES. I know that it's so unlikely that we'd ever see any public release of a 64-bit version of Windows for the Alpha, but oddly enough the compiler, headers and libraries are all there. YES. You can make full executes for AXP64/Alpha64. Of course with no OS, so it's not like you can run them."

He continues: "Sadly as of today, there is no way to test. There is one surviving machine with Windows 2003 AXP64, outlined in an article by Raymond Chen. It's a great read about how Alpha64 NT port came to be. The machine is still sitting in Microsoft Archives. Hopefully one day someone can dig it out." The story could have ended there, but a follow up post appeared on Virtually Fun earlier this week - courtesy of guest contributor Antoni Sawicki (aka tenox) who has also experimented with the cross-compiler. He provided a little bit more historical context before making an interesting announcement: "The Win64 project for AXP64 and IA64 was code named "Sundown." Sadly, 64-bit Alpha AXP Windows was never released outside of Redmond."

The new Sabrent Rocket CFX Type B (CF-XXIT) memory cards are here to give you the performance, endurance, and capacity you deserve. These cards come in at up to 2 TB with read/write speeds of up to 1,800/1,700 MB/s and sustained writes of up to 1,300 MB/s so that you are never slowed down. Massive IOPs let you quickly access any and all of your files rapidly. Capture and work with your HD content - videos, photographs, audio, and more - at high speeds, all in a convenient form factor. Don't settle for inferior storage media for your professional videography and photography needs.

Match your artistic vision. Revel in your element. Sabrent hardware is selected for performance, power efficiency, and reliability. These memory cards contain SSD-quality hardware with a powerful controller and fast flash memory for the smoothest takes. Features such as TRIM, LDPC, ECC, SmartRefresh, and wear-leveling keep your storage fast and enduring. Lose yourself in the moment and capture your vision. Who has time to deal with undependable, slow storage? Get the quality you deserve. Get Sabrent.

BenQ, a global leader in display technology, announced today the launch of its newest Ergo Arm series professional monitor, the PD2706UA. With a customizable ergonomic design and high-quality color performance, the PD2706UA features 4K UHD with AQCOLOR technology, 90 W USB-C for one cable connectivity, KVM with one key switch for multitasking, Display Pilot software to better facilitate screen use, and supports full flexibility through its Ergo Arm.

Designed to provide the right angle no matter the presentation or project, the PD2706UA is equipped with BenQ's uniformity technology, delivering corner-to-corner authentic color and consistent luminescence, and attentive modes, offering quick access to the smoothest workflow as well as supreme work efficiency. In addition, the PD2706UA is Mac-compatible with 95 percent display P3 industry standard color gamut to match Mac devices, HDR 400 for better brightness, color conformity and black levels, video/audio/data transmission to declutter desktops and power delivery to charge MacBook, a built-in KVM switch allowing designers to control two PCs or Macs of different operating systems (Windows or Mac OS) with only one set of keyboard and mouse with a simple switch, and high-quality color modes for work efficiency and productivity.

Intel today announced the new Intel Xeon W-3400 and Intel Xeon W-2400 desktop workstation processors (code-named Sapphire Rapids), led by the Intel Xeon w9-3495X, Intel's most powerful desktop workstation processor ever designed. Built for professional creators, these new Xeon processors provide massive performance for media and entertainment, engineering and data science professionals. With a breakthrough new compute architecture, faster cores and new embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) packaging, the Xeon W-3400 and Xeon W-2400 series of processors enable unprecedented scalability for increased performance.

"For more than 20 years, Intel has been committed to delivering the highest quality workstation platforms - combining high-performance compute and rock-solid stability - for professional PC users across the globe. Our new Intel Xeon desktop workstation platform is uniquely designed to unleash the innovation and creativity of professional creators, artists, engineers, designers, data scientists and power users - built to tackle both today's most demanding workloads as well as the professional workloads of the future." -Roger Chandler, Intel vice president and general manager, Creator and Workstation Solutions, Client Computing Group

EPI, the leading display specialist and brand license partner for Philips monitors introduces the Philips 27E1N8900. Designed for professionals working from home and looking for a monitor that offers impressive visual contrast, the Philips monitor provides a novel experience. The main feature of this monitor, OLED, is known for its stark contrast and state-of-the-art pixel responsiveness.

In addition to the new OLED technology, this monitor is packed with features that make the screen come to life, such as UltraClear 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution for precise imagery, DisplayHDR TrueBlack 400 for shadowing, Ultra Wide-Color for a vivid picture, True 10-bit display for smoother gradients, 99 percent Adobe RGB/DCI-P3, and an antiglare film. These features, along with LowBlue mode, make this monitor the perfect tool.

Lenovo announced today at Information Systems Europe (ISE 2023) in Barcelona the all new ThinkSmart View Plus running Microsoft Teams display, a standalone collaboration display with premium audio, video, and whiteboarding features. The smart collaboration solution is purpose built for hot desking, phone booths, executive desks and home office use cases. Also joining the portfolio of smart collaboration solutions are the newly announced Lenovo IP Controller for collaboration spaces and the newly available ThinkSmart One.

ThinkSmart View Plus
As the way people work continues to evolve, it is vital to stay connected and engaged, regardless of how and where they work. The innovative ThinkSmart View Plus running Microsoft Teams display is a solution that enables hybrid work by increasing productivity, flexibility, and collaboration through its personal and hotdesking experiences.