A Valve-designed next-gen VR headset is a compelling prospect, but not many details have emerged online since the company's (2022) teasing of new developments. Press outlets noticed a September 2023 registration of a mysterious device in South Korea; following this discovery, many anticipated a steady flow of leaks. Relative silence ensued; brewing speculation that Valve Corporation had shelved another top secret project. Fast-forward to the present day; Gabe Follower—a self-confessed Valve/Half Life 3 tipster—believes that all systems are go for a codenamed "Deckard" VR headset. The amusingly-named leaker (referencing Gabe Newell) claims to have an inside track: "several people have confirmed that Valve is aiming to release new standalone, wireless VR headset (codename Deckard) by the end of 2025. The current price for the full bundle is set to be $1200. Including some "in-house" games (or demos) that are already done. Valve want to give the user the best possible experience without cutting any costs."

The "Index" was Valve's first attempt at cornering the VR gaming market, but the buying public (back in 2019) largely favored rival models. A long-gestating follow-up would need to really "hit it out of the park," when placed against a new generation of competing hardware. Valve's alleged Blade Runner-themed device, was linked to a set of previously leaked VR controllers; codenamed "Roy." Additionally, Gabe Follower reckons that Valve is prepared to make financial sacrifices, in order to establish a foothold within an extremely competitive market: "even at the current price, it will be sold at a loss. A few months ago, we saw leaked models of controllers—Roy—in the SteamVR update. It will be using the same SteamOS from Steam Deck, but adapted for virtual reality. One of the core features is the ability to play flat-screen games that are already playable on Steam Deck, but in VR on a big screen without a PC. The first behind closed doors presentations could start soon."

Details of ASUS' next generation BTF 2.0 (BTF stands for Back to the Future) platform have appeared online, courtesy of Andreas Schilling from HardwareLuxx. The editor posted pictures from an ASUS presentation over at Bluesky that details one major change to the power connector design, which will make the BTF 2.0 graphics cards compatible with non BTF systems. This suggests that ASUS might consider offering more graphics cards with BTF 2.0 support, since they can be used in any system with the proposed changes.

As you may or may not know, the first generation BTF graphics cards ended up with a power connector at the rear, bottom edge of the graphics cards, placed somewhat behind the PCIe gold fingers. The cards also lacked any other power connectors, which made them exclusive for BTF builds. To solve this conundrum, ASUS moved its GC-HPWR PCB power connector up on the PCB, making sure it clears any motherboard components. However, instead of increasing the height of the motherboard BTF 2.0 connector, the company provides a small adapter that plugs in between the motherboard and graphics card, to make its new BTF 2.0 cards compatible with any system.

Kioxia Corporation, the world leader in memory solutions, today announced the launch of the second generation of XL-FLASH, a Storage Class Memory (SCM) solution based on its BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory technology, which significantly reduces bit cost while providing high performance and low latency. Product sample shipments are scheduled to start in November this year, with volume production expected to begin in 2023.

The second generation XL-FLASH achieves significant reduction in bit cost as a result of the addition of new multi-level cell (MLC) functionality with 2-bit per cell, in addition to the single-level cell (SLC) of the existing model. The maximum number of planes that can operate simultaneously has also increased from the current model, which will allow for improved throughput. The new XL-FLASH will have a memory capacity of 256 gigabits.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage, and enthusiast computer products, today expanded their Pyro brand of SATA III solid-state drives with the launch of its new Pyro SE. Powered by SandForce's SF-2281 SSD processor, the Patriot Memory Pyro SE brings the added performance of synchronous NAND to the brand while offering a very aggressive price per performance ratio.

To ensure rock-solid performance, the Patriot Memory Pyro SE utilizes TRIM, DuraClass, and DuraWrite technologies. Offering read/write speeds of 500+ MB/s, the Pyro SE will chew through large file transfers and make even the most demanding applications a smooth experience. The Pyro SE series will feature a standard 2.5-inch form factor for flexible compatibility with both notebooks and desktops.

A recent report in the Commercial Times China newspaper indicated that Taiwan-based Wintek has gained touch screen panel orders from Apple for its second-generation iPhone.
The article not only states that the new iPhone is to begin shipping in September with prices ranging from US$249-299 but also that people from Apple visited Wintek a few days ago to deliver instructions on manufacturing and the company has begun test production in small volumes.
JP Morgan officially believes that the next iPhone iteration will be a 3G phone.