A group of video game testers working for Microsoft’s ZeniMax has voted to form the tech giant’s first union, the Communication Workers of America union said Tuesday.
The CWA, which represents the union, said Microsoft will recognize the union in accordance with a promise Microsoft made to the CWA in June to recognize unions formed by employees. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax, the parent company of game developer Bethesda, which develops the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, in 2021 for $7.5 billion.
Microsoft confirmed it’s recognizing the new union, saying in a statement “We look forward to engaging in good faith negotiations as we work towards a collective bargaining agreement.”
President Chris Shelton said that by agreeing to recognize the union, Microsoft is distancing itself from other tech companies that have actively fought against employees’ efforts to unionize.
“Microsoft is charting a different course which will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry and as a blueprint for regulators,” Shelton said in a statement.
Microsoft’s recognition of the union comes a little more than a week after dozens of video game employees at Proletariat video game studio, which was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2022, filed for union representation, the third unionizing push that Activision has seen in the past year. Raven Software employees organized in January, and employees at Blizzard Albany voted to unionize earlier in December.
Dell throws everything a worker bee can think of into its new UltraSharp 32 (U3224KB). It’s a new-for-CES 32-inch monitor with a 6K-resolution IPS Black panel (that’s 6,144×3,456 pixels), plus a plethora of graphics and productivity-focused bells and whistles. The IPS Black screen has a higher contrast than typical IPS panels — and it tested well in the 4K version of the monitor I reviewed last year.
What bells and whistles?
4K webcam
Mic array and dual 14-watt speakers
Clever pop-down front-facing USB ports
DisplayHDR 600 certification plus 99% P3 color gamut coverage
Thunderbolt 4 support with DisplayPort 2.1, 140-watt power delivery, automatic peripheral switching between two connected systems and an Ethernet connection
Support for portrait-orientation rotation
Thunderbolt and the high resolution plus the 140-watt power delivery make it seem especially suitable for use with a Mac, though it may lose some capabilities that might be dependent on Windows-based software (as frequently happens).
Dell expects to ship it by the end of June. There’s no pricing yet, but it probably won’t be cheap.
Two more Dell UltraSharps are getting refreshes: the 43-inch U4323QE with 4K resolution and a USB-C hub (shipping this month for $1,330); and the 34-inch curved U3423WE 3,440×1,440-pixel display, also with a USB-C hub (shipping this month for $1,260).
Apple Arcade — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — features hundreds of games to play for just $5 a month. The service offers familiar and classic games, as well as exclusive titles. You can find these games in the App Store, but they have paywalls and ads that might hinder your gaming experience. With an Apple Arcade subscription, you can play each title without paywalls or ads at no extra charge.
Here are the new games you can play in January.
Episode XOXO
Developer: Pocket Gems Release date: Jan. 6
Apple
Episode XOXO is the sequel to Episode: Choose Your Story. It’s an interactive storytelling game where players can choose to enjoy a story full of drama, romance and adventure. The game is launching with five new stories, and there are plans to add more stories in future updates.
Illustrated
Developer: Border Leap Release date: Jan. 13
Apple
Illustrated is a puzzle game whose gameplay blends jigsaws and word play. Each puzzle starts with an illustration that shows a concept sketch with the hidden words of the artist’s story behind the illustration. As you place puzzle pieces in their correct spot, the illustration begins to color itself in and the words of the story are revealed.
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!
Developer: GAME FREAK Release date: Jan. 20
Apple
Game Freak, the creator of the Pokemon game series, isn’t horsing around with its next Apple Arcade game. Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! was originally released as Pocket Card Jockey on the 3DS. The game is a combination of solitaire and horse racing where players clear cards with sequential numbers from the game as fast as they can. The more cards you clear, the better your horse’s mood is. Your horse’s mood helps your trusty steed charge energy during races. Once your horse’s energy is charged and you’re in the homestretch, your horse will have to use that energy to sprint to victory. Special cards also litter the raceway, and they provide your horse boosts and benefits, like leveling up and learning new skills. Off the track, you can breed your horses to produce foals with their parent’s abilities to be used in future races.
Squiggle Drop
Developer: Noodlecake Release date: Jan. 27
Apple
If you like puzzle games with a little bit of physics, you should try Squiggle Drop. In this game, players have to solve puzzles by drawing a single shape. As players solve more puzzles, they can earn rewards and unlock buildings and upgrades to build their own Squiggletown.
Amazon began using drones to deliver small packages to homes in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California, last month, according to a report from Ars Technica last week. The retail giant had pointed ahead to the launch of its new delivery method back in June. Amazon hopes to expand Prime Air to more locations in the future.
Amazon says the Prime Air drones can safely fly packages weighing up to 5 pounds. The flying bots arrive at a customer’s backyard, descend and hover at a safe height, then lower the package. Residents in the two towns can sign up with Amazon for the new delivery service.
Prime Air uses MK27-2 drones that have six propellers and can move through the air with minimum noise. Installed algorithms are supposed to keep the drones from hitting obstacles such as power lines and chimneys.
Customers in the two towns can expect more deliveries from Amazon, which is looking to have deliveries take less than 60 minutes in the future.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wireless Power Consortium said Tuesday at CES 2023 that Qi2, a new standard for wirelessly charging smartphones and mobile devices including wearables, will arrive later this year.
Qi2 will “ensure devices and chargers align perfectly,” thanks to Magnetic Power Profile technology led by Apple, a WPC member, according to the group’s website. If you’re familiar with MagSafe chargers, you’ve got an idea of what Qi2 charging may look like.
The new standard, pronounced “chee two,” aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce charge times without shortening battery life or damaging the device. Furthermore, Qi2 could extend wireless charging to devices such as VR headsets that aren’t designed to lay flat against another flat surface and “support new types of accessories that magnetically attach to the back of the phone, like an extra battery.”
Enhanced wireless charging also poses the potential to reduce the waste of discarded wired chargers that eventually wear out from daily use.
The WPC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on when Qi2 devices and chargers will be available, but a recent Business Wire post indicates they are expected to arrive ahead of the 2023 holiday season.
Dell always has interesting prototypes and concept pieces to show off at CES. I don’t think any of them have actually turned into real products, but this year, we’re seeing some of those prototypes return in a V2 form. Last year’s Concept Nyx was a home gaming server, which let you store games in one place and play them from different screens around the house. This year, I got to see a new Nyx controller, which looks like a standard gamepad but with a lot of extra features packed in.
There’s a fingerprint reader under the central button, which is clever. Touch sensors sit under the shoulder buttons, so you can scroll your finger along them for different effects. There are dual scroll wheels under the center area, giving you new options for zooming and selecting. On the back, there are shift buttons, similar to how some fancy controllers have paddle buttons. These could let you swap between sets of commands — hold down a shift button, for example, and the main face buttons could all do different things.
Note the scroll wheels on the bottom edge.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Much like the Nyx central server unit we saw last year, this is just a concept, but I think it’s promising. There’s a lot of room to improve on the classic Xbox-style controller, which has become the standard for PC gaming but can be limiting.
Nyx and the future of work
The Nyx brand is also expanding to a seemingly unrelated series of experiments involving hybrid office connectivity.
This is a stereoscopic (no glasses needed) 3D display, with eye tracking.
Josh Goldman/CNET
It’s a big collection of hardware and software, and in my hands-on demo I used glasses-free 3D displays and depth-sensing cameras to create a 3D avatar that could participate in VR meetings.
That’s not so new, but then I shifted over to a new prototype big-screen display, which was also autostereoscopic, using eye-tracking cameras to create a custom 3D image for my eyes. I tried a lot of glasses-free 3D technology about 10 years ago, when it wasn’t great, but adding the eye-tracking cameras makes it so much better.
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I also jumped into the same virtual meeting using a VR headset (not made by Dell), then later used a small tablet to write on a shared whiteboard you could see in VR, on the 3D monitor and projected onto a wall. The idea is that any kind of future metaverse-related workspace is going to have to seamlessly accommodate people in VR, on flat displays, in meeting rooms and more.
The things that stood out most to me were some of the accessories paired with Dell’s prototype 3D monitor. I loved this little puck, which can slide left and right to highlight menu items in the 3D space, then turn to zoom or rotate.
Dell calls this puck a spatial input device.
Dell
Like the Nyx gaming hardware, the workplace and connectivity version of Nyx isn’t a specific product or products you’ll be able to buy any time soon, but I’m glad people are thinking hard about the future of work, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the return of autostereoscopic 3D displays.
Nvidia delivered the first of the notable CES livestreamed announcements Tuesday — a day ahead of the primary marathon day of launches — with expected news about its GeForce 40-series mobile GPUs and the long-rumored RTX 4070 Ti desktop GPU. One notable surprise was the new GeForce Now Ultimate tier, which AT&T has already staked out for a six-months-free promotion. The company also gave some updates on its commercial tools for robotics, collaborative design and cars.
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RTX 40-series mobile graphics
Nvidia launched a complete line of mobile GPUs, from the RTX 4050 (for barely-there cheap discrete graphics) to the RTX 4060 and 4070 (for mainstream or thin-and-light gaming and graphics laptops) up through the top-end RTX 4080 and 4090.
Thanks to the Ada Lovelace architecture, the new mobile chips are a lot more power efficient, which means a new generation of Nvidia’s Max-Q power-management technology: It incorporates ultra-low voltage DLSS 3, “tri-speed memory control” to drop to lower power memory states on the fly and more. My experience with the 4080 and 4090 showed quite an improvement in DLSS over the last gen. And finally gaining traction is the adoption of Advanced Optimus, Nvidia’s design for allowing the GPU to live on the same bus as the CPU, which lets you use G-Sync on the built-in display and switch to the integrated graphics for lower power use without a system reboot. (Every time the phrase “MUX Switch” is used, my soul dies a little more.)
It highlighted nongaming 14-inch laptops, such as the Lenovo Yoga Pro 14 and Asus ZenBook Pro 14 with RTX 4070, 4060 or 4050 mobile chips, shipping in late February starting at $999. Gaming laptops like the Alienware x16 with an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 ship in early February, starting at $2,000.
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Desktop GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
Nvidia first announced the 12GB card as a low-end RTX 4080, but people pointed out that its specs really didn’t match those expected of an xx80-class GPU, causing Nvidia to “unlaunch” the card. It’s subsequently been reborn as the RTX 4070 Ti, which starts shipping on Jan. 5, starting at $800.
What seems particularly interesting is that despite Nvidia’s generic renderings of the card, there doesn’t seem to be an Nvidia-branded Founders Edition version, which there usually is for this level of GPU. That means there’s no guarantee that there will be an actual card available at that entry-level price; we could always count on an Nvidia Founders Edition to be the one model that hewed to the announcement price. Even if it had a tendency to go out of stock and stayed that way.
Stay tuned for my review!
Nvidia
GeForce Now Ultimate
Nvidia has also upgraded its back-end cloud servers for its cloud-gaming service with RTX 4080-class GPUs from the RTX 3080-class models, which means its top-tier option for its cloud-gaming service gets an upgrade as well. By going with “Ultimate,” Nvidia doesn’t have to rebrand every time it upgrades, as it does from the previous “RTX 3080” membership.
For the same $20 per month, you get the same perks but the better performance afforded by the card. That can translate to effectively 240 frames per second up from 120fps (the details are unclear). Current RTX 3080 subscribers will automatically transition to the new plan when it becomes available. As usual, it will roll out incrementally across different regions.
You may also get GeForce Now as part of your car’s entertainment system if it uses Nvidia Drive technology. Now all you need is a way to create routes based on the quality of your cell signal to prevent interruptions.
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Creator tools
Two notable software tools that run on RTX GPUs join the family. Nvidia Broadcast will get a beta Eye Contact effect — faking eye contact for videoconferences and presentations is the New Big Thing that I don’t like (Windows has it as well). I’ve never seen an implementation that’s not disturbing, and I think at least one of the presenters in the stream was using it because of the unblinking thousand-yard stare that didn’t so much look at you as through you. Maybe that’s just me, though.
The other potentially big feature is RTX Video Super Resolution, designed to improve video streaming on Chrome and Edge. It uses AI upscaling and artifact reduction to improve the look of 1080p video on higher-resolution screens. That will run on RTX 30- and 40-series GPUs.
And Nvidia’s Canvas generative-AI sketch tool, which can work on any RTX GPU, will go into beta this quarter.
Nvidia also provided some updates on its robotics and automotive development technologies. They include new features in its Isaac Sim environment, such as the ability to model multiple humans and arrays of robots (for AI training) and more. CES isn’t a big show for these back-end technologies — that’s more the purview of Nvidia’s designer- and developer-focused GTC and GDC conferences — so most of the news was about partnerships and updates on capabilities entering early access. If that’s what floats your boat, you can get all the details on Nvidia’s site rather than have me de-weed them for you.
TikTok rolled out more audience controls for creators last Friday, according to a Dec. 30 blog post. While the video platform already had policies and technology in place that censor nudity and sensual content, borderline inappropriate or “suggestive” content for children is harder to detect. TikTok now gives creators the power to restrict their content to adults over 18.
The company already allowed creators to restrict content in TikTok Live, meaning some livestreams wouldn’t show up on the For You pages of minor users. Now it’s offering the same control option for short-form videos. This feature will continue to expand globally in the coming weeks.
TikTok is adamant that its “strict policies prohibiting nudity, sexual activity, and sexually explicit content” will still apply to creators who use this new feature. The platform will remove any content that violates its community guidelines and continue to educate creators on these policies.
“Our goal has always been to make sure our community, especially teens on our platform, have a safe, positive and joyful experience when they come to TikTok,” the company said in the post. “We’ve already taken significant strides to help ensure their feeds are full of content that is appropriate for them, and these improvements mark an important next step to meet that goal.”
Samsung envisions a future in which mobile devices can fold, bend and slide. That’s the message Samsung is sending at CES, where it unveiled a slew of new display concepts, including the slidable and foldable Flex Hybrid.
The new concept can switch between 10.5-inch and 12.4-inch screen sizes, thanks to its slidable and foldable design. The left side of the screen folds, while the right side slides. In addition to changing the screen’s size, the prototype can also jump between 4:3 and 16:10 aspect ratios. Although the Flex Hybrid is just a concept, it shows that Samsung is investigating what the next evolution of foldable phones and tablets might look like.
In a Jan. 3 press release, Samsung summarized its new display concepts, but the company plans to showcase the technologies at CES. The Flex Hybrid is just one of several mock-ups. There’s also a 17-inch slidable display, which was previewed in September, and a digital cockpit concept meant for self-driving vehicles.
Samsung’s Flex Hybrid concept folds on one side.
Samsung Display
Concepts like these don’t always translate into real products, but the Flex Hybrid feels most in line with Samsung’s current product strategy. Foldable phones only account for a sliver of the broader phone market, but the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip have become well-established within Samsung’s mobile device lineup. The company’s early entry into the foldable phone space has given it an edge in terms of market share as Samsung accounts for more than 88% of the foldable smartphone market, according to Omdia.
TM Roh, the head of Samsung’s mobile experience business, suggested in an interview last August that the company is already thinking about what’s next after the Z Fold and Z Flip. The introduction of new concepts like the Flex Hybrid underscores that point.
“It’s everything you saw [at CES] plus more,” he said, referencing the display concepts Samsung showcased at CES last year.
But Samsung will also likely face more competition as foldable phones continue to evolve. Motorola and TCL have both shown rollable phone concepts of their own. Oppo’s Find N2, which the company introduced in late 2022, also shows a lot of promise thanks to its lightweight design, as my colleague Sareena Dayaram wrote.
Although Samsung is trying to make foldables a more regular fixture in our daily lives, its goal isn’t to replace regular phones.
“I would not see either just a bar-type, or just a foldable, or just another potentially new form factor dominating the market,” Roh also said during the previous interview. “But rather I see the different categories coexisting together.”
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Asus was first to hit the big 5-0(-0) in May when it introduced the 500Hz refresh-rate ROG Swift. Just as Dell followed Tuesday with its own 500Hz model, Asus once again bests itself with the new 540Hz ROG Swift PG248QP, a 24-incher unveiled at CES that uses the same E-TN (the “E” is for “esports”) technology as the slower model.
TN — twisted nematic — is a veteran LCD technology that’s known for its ability to hit very high refresh rates but lacks the color, viewing angle and brightness of IPS or OLED. That makes it important for esports players who need smooth, fast, low-latency performance more than other monitor qualities, but not great for the majority of gamers.
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The 1080p monitor incorporates Nvidia G-Sync with Reflex Latency Analyzer support and has a built in ESS DAC for improving clarity of important audio cues, like weapons fire, when you’ve got a headset plugged in.
Asus says it’s expected to be available by the end of June, but frequently these high-profile monitor announcements never result in a shipping product. As far as I can tell, the 500Hz model hasn’t become available yet. The company didn’t provide pricing.
On the other hand, OLED desktop models are finally hitting their stride — most major monitor companies have new ones for 2023, many for gaming. Asus’s newest offering is the ROG Swift OLED (PG27AQDM) and a 1440p 240Hz model with a peak brightness of 1,000 nits (though only for a window 3% of the screen at a time). That resolution and screen refresh is a nice change from the 4K 120/144Hz models, in part because 1440p is well suited to gaming at 27 inches.
It’s not Asus’ first gaming OLED — the company launched a 48-inch model last year — and the new model incorporates some of the same technology, including burn-in protection and a head sink-plus-airflow cooling system. It’s the cooling that makes the back of the monitor so thick, which we tend not to expect from ultrathin OLED TVs, but is essential for high-brightness desktop monitors.
The OLED is slated to ship before the end of March. Asus hasn’t yet provided pricing.
