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Rwanda backed M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed hundreds of villagers in July, according to Human Rights Watch, raising doubts about Trump backed peace process.

(Image credit: JOSPIN MWISHA)

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Aug. 21, No. 332.

• AI teams still favor Nvidia, but rivals like Google, AMD and Intel are growing their share
• Survey reveals budget limits, power demands, and cloud reliance are shaping AI hardware decisions
• GPU shortages push workloads to cloud while efficiency and testing remain overlooked

AI hardware spending is beginning to evolve as teams weigh performance, financial considerations, and scalability, new research has claimed.

Liquid Web’s latest AI hardware study surveyed 252 trained AI professionals, and found while Nvidia remains comfortably the most used hardware supplier, its rivals are increasingly gaining traction.

Nearly one third of respondents reported using alternatives such as Google TPUs, AMD GPUs, or Intel chips for at least some part of their workloads.

The pitfalls of skipping due diligence

The sample size is admittedly small, so does not capture the full scale of global adoption, but the results do show a clear shift in how teams are beginning to think about infrastructure.

A single team can deploy hundreds of GPUs, so even limited adoption of non-Nvidia options can make a big difference to the hardware footprint.

Nvidia is still preferred by over two-thirds (68%) of surveyed teams, and many buyers don’t rigorously compare alternatives before deciding.

About 28% of those surveyed admitted to skipping structured evaluations and in some cases, that lack of testing led to mismatched infrastructure and underpowered setups.

“Our research shows that skipping due diligence leads to delayed or canceled initiatives - a costly mistake in a fast-moving industry,” said Ryan MacDonald, CTO at Liquid Web.

Familiarity and past experience are among the strongest drivers of GPU choice. Forty three percent of participants cited those factors, compared with 35% who valued cost and 37% who went for performance testing.

Budget limitations also weigh heavily, with 42% scaling back projects and 14% canceling them entirely thanks to hardware shortages or costs.

Hybrid and cloud-based solutions are becoming standard. More than half of respondents said they use both on-premises and cloud systems, and many expect to increase cloud spending as the year goes on.

Dedicated GPU hosting is seen by some as a way of avoiding the performance losses that come with shared or fractionalized hardware.

Energy use continues to be challenging. While 45% recognized efficiency as important, only 13% actively optimized for it. Many also regretted power, cooling, and supply chain setbacks.

While Nvidia continues to dominate the market, it’s clear that the competition is closing the gap. Teams are finding that balancing cost, efficiency, and reliability is almost as important as raw performance when building AI infrastructure.

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• Intel Shared GPU memory benefits LLMs
• Expanded VRAM pools allow smoother execution of AI workloads
• Some games slow down when the memory expands

Intel has added a new capability to its Core Ultra systems which echoes an earlier move from AMD.

The feature, known as "Shared GPU Memory Override," allows users to allocate additional system RAM for use by integrated graphics.

This development is targeted at machines that rely on integrated solutions rather than discrete GPUs, a category that includes many compact laptops and mobile workstation models.

Memory allocation and gaming performance

Bob Duffy, who leads Graphics and AI Evangelism at Intel, confirmed the update and advised that the latest Intel Arc drivers are required to enable the function.

The change is presented as a way of enhancing system flexibility, particularly for users interested in AI tools and workloads that depend on memory availability.

The introduction of extra shared memory is not automatically a benefit for every application, as testing has shown that some games may load larger textures if more memory is available, which can actually cause performance to dip rather than improve.

AMD’s earlier "Variable Graphics Memory" was framed largely as a gaming enhancement, especially when combined with AFMF.

That combination allowed more game assets to be stored directly in memory, which sometimes produced measurable gains.

Although the impact was not universal, results varied depending on the software in question.

Intel’s adoption of a comparable system suggests it is keen to remain competitive, although skepticism remains over how broadly it will benefit everyday users.

While gamers may see mixed outcomes, those working with local models could stand to gain more from Intel’s approach.

Running large language models locally is becoming increasingly common, and these workloads are often limited by available memory.

By extending the pool of RAM available to integrated graphics, Intel is positioning its systems to handle larger models that would otherwise be constrained.

This may allow users to offload more of the model onto VRAM, reducing bottlenecks and improving stability when running AI tools.

For researchers and developers without access to a discrete GPU, this could offer a modest but useful improvement.

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The military vehicle, which is designed to withstand explosive attacks, collided with a "civilian vehicle" just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

(Image credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)

• Criminals found using Skype to deliver images hiding malware
• Victims were mostly SMBs in the Middle East
• The malware is new, but seems to have distant relatives

Cybercriminals have been found using Skype messenger to deliver Remote Access Trojans (RAT) malware, compromising victim's computers and opening the doors for devastating stage-two attacks.

Cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky recently uncovered a previously unseen malware variant called GodRAT being distributed via malicious screensaver files, disguised as financial documents.

Unusually, the miscreants were delivering the malware to their victims via Skype messenger until March 2025, when they pivoted to other channels.

GodRAT malware being spread

First off, the hackers would share fake financial data in an image file. By using steganography, they would hide shellcode in the files which, when activated, downloads the GodRAT malware from a third-party server.

The RAT harvests operating system details, local hostname, malware process name and process ID, the user account associated with the malware process, installed antivirus software, and the presence of a capture driver.

After that, GodRAT can receive additional plugins, depending on the initial information shared with the attackers. These plugins can be file explorers, or password stealers.

In some cases, the crooks used GodRAT to deploy AsyncRAT, a secondary implant that granted them prolonged, if not permanent, access.

“GodRAT appears to be an evolution of AwesomePuppet, which was reported by Kaspersky in 2023 and is likely linked to the Winnti APT. Its distribution methods, rare command-line parameters, code similarities with Gh0st RAT, and shared artifacts - such as a distinctive fingerprint header - suggest a common origin,” said Saurabh Sharma, Security Researcher at Kaspersky GReAT.

“The discovery of GodRAT demonstrates how such long-known tools can remain relevant in today’s cybersecurity landscape,”

Kaspersky did not discuss the number of victims, or potential success rate of the campaign, but it did stress that the victims were mostly small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) in UAE, Hong Kong, Jordan, and Lebanon.

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The White House said that after the administration eliminates "woke" culture from the Smithsonian, it would expand to other museums around the country. Would that be possible?

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

Health innovations are everywhere. From a cancer vaccine to an Alzheimer's blood test to a life-changing exoskeleton, we take you on a tour of the economics of health technology.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 21, No. 536.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 21, #802.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for Aug. 21, No. 1,524.

Hurricane Erin is currently bound for New Jersey, Delaware and parts of New England: Here's how to stay prepared.

As President Trump's tariffs kick in, American companies that rely on imports are worried about rising costs and passing them onto consumers. But some U.S. exporters are worried too.

(Image credit: Kirk Siegler)

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Commentary: Google almost had the right form factor with the first Pixel Fold. It took the wrong path by copying Samsung.

Commentary: It might help in one aspect of the game, but that's it.

The Google Pixel 10 Pro and its larger sibling, the Pixel 10 Pro XL, look like fantastic smartphones – Google hasn’t messed with the winning formula that made the Pixel 9 Pro my phone of the year choice for 2024. The refinements seem minor, but could signal a sea change in Google’s fight against Apple and its friendly competition with Android rival Samsung. I only had a few hours with these phones, but they look like the best Pixel phones yet – and some of the coolest features have yet to reveal themselves.

Google doesn’t compete with Samsung on specs or with Apple on features, so it’s been easy to dismiss past Pixel phones as also-ran devices that offer a nice alternative to the iPhone and Galaxy lines, but are rarely the first choice. That changes with the Pixel 10 Pro.

The new Pixelsnap magnet features may seem like old news to iPhone users, but they open up a world of new accessories and convenience for Android fans. I’m pretty sure that Samsung and OnePlus will follow suit in due course, but for now the Pixel 10 Pro and its three stablemates are the only Android phones that I can snap onto my bedside charging stand (sorry iPhone 16 Pro) and use with my UAG magnetic wallet.

I only had a couple of hours with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro X, so the most important features remain a mystery right now. Google says it has upgraded the image signal processor in the Tensor G5 chipset, which should result in better photos, and possibly a better camera experience.

The new Camera Coach feature is totally fascinating, but it wasn’t working on the demo units I tried. Some Google reps had it working on their own phones, so the feature seems baked and ready to serve, but I’ll need to spend a lot of time using the cameras in a variety of situations to see if it really makes a difference.

If it does, it could be a turning point for smartphone AI features. So far, AI on smartphones has been a mix of useful tools and frightening oversteps. The Pixel 9 Pro is my favorite AI phone because it does a great job of screening calls, recording meetings, and managing notifications.

Those are genuinely useful AI tools, not image generators that make lousy (or possibly offensive) images, or writing tools that take over the job of sending love notes to my sweetie. The Pixel 10 Pro promises a host of new and similarly useful AI features, but none of them were apparent in my hands-on time.

The new Magic Cue feature will need to get to know me better before it starts bubbling up relevant information during my phone calls. When it does know me, it should do things like showing me my flight information if it hears me talking about my upcoming travel plans. I hope it works well, but so far AI features like this from other phone makers have failed to materialize after launch, or have failed to demonstrate the utility that phone makers claim.

I’m not too concerned. The Pixel 9 Pro was already ahead of the competition on useful AI features, and Google is doing an admirable job of keeping the AI processing – and therefore your private data – on the device instead of relying too much on cloud computing.

I saw a Pixel 10 Pro translate the voice of my colleague on a phone call from his English into a natural-sounding Spanish. Other phones can do the translation bit, but the Spanish voice actually sounded like my colleague would if he spoke Spanish! Most astonishingly, all of the processing happened on the Pixel 10 Pro, not in the cloud. The conversation and the sound of your voice are kept private.

In other words, after spending a couple of hours with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, they seem to me like refined devices that marginally improve on the success of last year’s redesign, and that’s enough for me. If the Pixel 10 Pro simply offers camera improvements and better zoom, along with all of the latest Pixel features I already enjoy, I’ll be able to recommend it easily.

If the new AI features really help me take even better photos and do a better job of helping me organize my digital life, I’ll consider that an even bigger win, but I think we’re only seeing the tip of the AI iceberg on these phones. With seven years of Android updates ahead, who knows what the Pixel 10 Pro will be capable of doing in the future.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Price & availability

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 10 Pro and the Pixel 10 Pro XL both come with 16GB of RAM inside and 256GB of storage to start. Those are very respectable specs, and most people won’t need to spend more for more storage, unless there’s a great discount if you buy more space.

The phone comes in four colors: blue-grey Moonstone, light-green Jade, white Porcelain, and dark-grey Obsidian. The Moonstone is very appealing, but I like all of this year’s colors equally, even the blackish Obsidian. I do wish there were more vibrant color options, but subtle seems to be the new norm for Pro-level phones.

The Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL are priced high, but the price is competitive with the top-end iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra phones. The new Pixels don’t measure up evenly spec-for-spec, but the overall experience is just as good, and the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL are the newest-looking phones of the bunch, with the most recent redesign.

While I expect the base-model Pixel 10 will drop in price throughout the next year, Google has been more stingy with its Pro models recently. Last year’s Pixel 9 Pro saw regular discounts of $150 in the US, but rarely dropped further than that, and discounts were less common on this phone than on the base model. The price is pretty good, though, so if you want a Pixel 10 Pro, buy it now – there probably won’t be a huge deal coming that makes you regret buying early.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Specifications

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 10 Pro launches with 256GB of storage on the cheapest model, a step up from last year, and the same storage and 16GB of RAM inside both the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. The specs are nearly identical across the two phones, but the differences are significant enough to consider before you buy.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL has a larger display, of course, and that means a larger battery inside as well. It uses a big 5,200mAh cell, compared to the 4,870mAh battery in the Pixel 10 Pro. I’ll need to test these phones thoroughly before I can tell you if the larger battery makes a big difference.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL is also the only Pixel 10 phone that can charge wirelessly up to 25W, which is the full potential of today’s Qi2 wireless standard. The Pixel 10 series is the first phone family with Qi2 certification, including the magnets that make Pixelsnap features possible, but the other two phones charge at 15W, not the full 25W speed.

Otherwise, both of these phones pack the Google Tensor G5 processor inside, which has a new and improved image signal processor that should improve image quality and help you take better pics. Both phones have the same 50MP main camera and two 48MP sensors behind the ultrawide and 5x zoom lenses, as well as the same 42MP selfie camera up front.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL Specifications

Dimensions:

152.8 x 72.0 x 8.6mm

Weight:

204g

Display:

6.3-inch Actua display

Resolution:

1080 x 2424 pixels

Refresh rate:

60-120Hz

Peak brightness:

3,000 nits

Chipset:

Google Tensor G5

RAM:

12GB

Storage:

128GB / 256GB

OS:

Android 16

Wide camera:

48MP; f/1.7; 0.5-inch sensor

Ultrawide camera:

13MP; f/2.2; 0.33-inch sensor

Telephoto camera:

10.8MP; f/3.1; 0.31-inch sensor

Selfie camera:

10.5MP; f/2.2

Battery:

4,970mAh

Charging:

25W wired; 15W wireless Qi2

Colors:

Indigo, Frost, Lemongrass, Obsidian

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Design

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL look nearly identical to last year’s Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, and that’s a good thing. The iPhone and Galaxy lines have been stagnant for years, using the same basic design, while Google made a significant improvement to its Pixel design last year.

The new Pixel look is more durable than before, and Google reiterates that the Pixel 10 Pro is twice as durable as the Pixel 8 Pro, which used the older camera-bar design. The Pixelsnap magnets inside haven’t added any bulk to the latest phones, either, so the devices are just as thin as last year’s models.

For better and worse, the Pixel 10 Pro looks almost identical to the base model Pixel 10 as well. You’d need an expert guide to tell them apart – the Pixel 10 Pro uses a matte finish on the back and glossy sides, while the Pixel 10 flips that script and uses a glossy back with matte side rails.

The easiest difference to spot is the temperature sensor on the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, which somehow still exists even though it’s one of the more useless hardware additions I’ve seen in recent years.

For color choices, I liked the Moonstone quite a bit, but it was admittedly drab. The green Jade might be my favorite color, but the black and white options are also very appealing, with that nice matte finish making them look more professional.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Google doesn’t brag enough about its Super Actua displays on the Pixel Pro phones, and the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL models were incredibly bright and colorful in the time I spent testing them. Seriously, Google’s Pixel displays are quietly the best screens on any smartphone – even better than Samsung’s. They look great in every lighting condition.

In my morning with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, I found the displays to be satisfyingly bright and very sharp. Google has great custom wallpapers and themes that match the phone’s color, and this makes the display pop even more when you twirl the device in your hand to get an overall look.

Of course, I’ll need to spend more quality time with these phones to see if the display really holds up in bright sunlight. Google claims these phones can reach 3,300 nits of peak brightness, but I’ll have Future Labs confirm these claims before I give Google the credit.

I’m also curious to see how the Pixelsnap feature makes the Pixel 10 Pro into a bedside clock. I use the Standby feature on my iPhone 16 Pro Max every night, and I intend to use the Pixel 10 Pro XL as my new alarm clock – I hope it provides a better experience than iOS.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Software

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Software is the biggest question mark with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL. With the new Google Tensor G5 chipset, Google is claiming the Pixel 10 Pro does even more AI processing on the phone than any competitor phone I’ve used. I’m curious to see how effective these AI tools will be, and if performance benefits when the Pixel 10 Pro doesn’t need to call the cloud for every request.

With the new Magic Cue features, Google is finally getting into the game of letting the phone know everything about me in order to make useful suggestions. I’m not sure how it will work, but eventually the Pixel 10 Pro will hear what I am saying and offer information from my personal life to help with context, for example flight reservations if it hears me talking to a friend about an upcoming trip.

Apple had a very hesitant launch with this feature on Siri, and eventually delayed the idea entirely. It still hasn’t materialized. Samsung is trying to use data from all of my smart devices and my smart home together, but the results have been disappointing – I haven’t seen any personal suggestions from my Galaxy phone even after months of using those features.

Other phone makers like OnePlus and Nothing tend to rely on the AI reading screenshots and photos, and not your Gmail messages. I’m interested to see if Google has finally cooked up a winning recipe for a useful AI assistant that knows me personally, but doesn’t creep me out with that knowledge.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Cameras

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL don’t get a camera upgrade this year – Google is sticking with the same 50MP main camera and twin 48MP ultra-wide and zoom cameras that were on last year’s Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL. Instead, the improvements are software-based, thanks to AI improvements that Google says are possible with the Tensor G5 chipset.

Unlike the Pixel 10, the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL models has features like high-resolution portrait shots, and an advanced Video Boost feature that will stabilize your videos even better than before. All of the new Pixel 10 phones get Pro Res zoom powered by AI, but the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL will reach up to 100x telephoto range, farther than the 30x Pro Res zoom on the Pixel 10.

Just like last year, the Pro and Pro XL models have the exact same camera specs – no need to buy the bigger phone just because you want more zoom.

The Pixel 10 Pro uses a smaller sensor than Apple or Samsung on its main camera, but Google relies on a lot more computational photography techniques to fix up images after you take the shot.

I tried the Pro Res zoom in my time testing the phone, and I definitely noticed how it could smooth images and reduce the significant noise that occurs at the 100x range. I’ll need to see the final images up close on my big monitor before I decide whether or not this feature makes those long zoom shots worth keeping.

I’m also very curious about the Camera Coach features, which will help you rearrange your shot to get the best composure and lighting. Will it tell me to move my camera around, or turn on a different lamp? Will it suggest I use the flash, or maybe switch to Night mode?

I’ll need to test the feature in a variety of situations, but I’m excited about the possibilities – I prefer AI features that help me improve my picture-taking to features that make the picture for me.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Performance

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL use the same Tensor G5 chipset as the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but the Pro models get 16GB of RAM instead of the 12GB in the base model. That should help with performance, especially when it comes to tackling AI processing on the device itself, without tapping Google’s cloud computers for help.

Google’s Pixel phones have never been performance powerhouses, and I’m not expecting these phones will dominate benchmark tests from Future Labs. I couldn’t download any games in my hands-on time, but in my experience games will run just fine, although hardcore gamers looking to max-out graphics should find a faster phone.

Still, Google’s Tensor chips enable AI features that other phones often can’t match. The Pixel phones are the best at transcribing my voice accurately, for instance, and the Pixel 10 Pro also has some astounding new AI features, like the live translation that mimics the sound of your voice as it translates your speech.

My hope is that Google’s custom chips pay dividends down the road as Google adds more AI features to Android. The Pixel 10 family will all get major Android updates for the next seven years, which should take them from today’s Android 16 to Android 23.

That means today’s AI features are important, but tomorrow’s AI features will be even more advanced, and I’m hoping that Google has a long-term roadmap that keeps the Tensor chipset fresh as it improves Android. I’ve been very impressed by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chips this year, so Google is going to need to do more to justify using its own designs instead of Qualcomm’s proven winner.

Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL hands-on review: Battery

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

As I only spent a couple of hours with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, battery life remains a question mark, but I’m hoping that it will be easier for most folks to keep these phones topped up and charged throughout the day.

Having Pixelsnap accessories that work with MagSafe charging will be very convenient. The batteries in both the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL are bigger than last year’s models, even though the phones now have magnets inside for Pixelsnap. That’s an impressive design achievement.

Sadly, the Pixel 10 Pro doesn’t take full advantage of the new Qi2 wireless charging standard. The Pixel 10 Pro XL can charge at up to 25W on a wireless, Qi2-certified charger, while the Pixel 10 Pro can only charge wirelessly up to 15W, so it won’t charge faster than previous Pixel phones, but it will still have the convenience of magnets.

The final say on battery life will come after Future Labs tests these phones with our proprietary battery rundown tests. The recent crop of Android phones with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor inside have shown remarkable gains in battery life, so I’m hoping that Google has learned some tricks to improve the Pixel 10 Pro’s battery as well.

Photos and other uploaded documents from chats are also visible on the website of Elon Musk's rival to ChatGPT.