It’s Sunday, which means it’s PCGuide weekly roundup time. This week has been huge with Microsoft having the details leaked for their next generation of consoles, forcing them to actually confirm prices and release dates for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, Apple announcing its ‘Time Flies’ September event, and Uber pledging to have zero emissions by 2040.
We’re going to give you a brief insight into these top stories as well as much more but if you fancy reading the individual articles, head over to the news portion of the site or click their respective links in this piece.
First up, let’s talk about what’s gone down in terms of Xbox news. After multiple leaks for the Xbox Series X and the previously mysterious Xbox Series S went live, Microsoft had to come out and officially confirm various tidbits.
We’ve known about the Series X for a while and it was clear after we heard about the Series S it was set to be more powerful and much bigger, but we couldn’t anticipate it would be the “world’s most powerful console,” as the company so humbly described it.
In a letter, Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer writes:
“We know you expect the next generation of consoles to set new standards in graphical power and processing speed, converging together in games that look incredible and feel alive. This will be defined by worlds that are visually astounding and immediately immersive, with innovative leaps in CPU, GPU, and storage technology to give you frictionless access to new stories and new creators constantly.”
The Series X has been designed with power and speed in mind. Offering a completely redesigned and engineered model, the new console makes use of a Next Generation Custom Processor, a patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS), and Hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing (“a first for console gaming”).
The Xbox Series X has an estimated retail price of $499 or will be available with Xbox All Access for $34.99 per month in a 24-month payment scheme. It is available for preorder from September 22 and will be launching on November 10 alongside the Series S.
Interesting that when the leaks began to flow, Microsoft just blurted out all of the info fans have been clambering for. Let’s see how Sony with the PS5 will respond.
Now, let’s take a look at Apple and its announcement of the Time Flies event.
On Tuesday, Apple announced this year’s annual September event. The event is usually used to announce new iPhone models but, while it was expected the event would be an announcement of their iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models, the name (“Time Flies”) lends itself to the suspicion they’ll be focussing on the newest Apple Watch.
A little later than usual – presumably in thanks to Covid-19 interruptions – the event will be held on September 15 at 1pm EST, as told by their interesting video announcement. The Verge assumes this to be an augmented reality Easter egg since it involves AR, so it might not be too much to expect some AR focussed updates this time around.
It’s certainly interesting that Apple has chosen to name the event Time Flies and seemingly not going to announce the next generation of iPhones. Maybe this is pandemic related or could there be another event in the works for later in the month?
Uber is a company that’s taken a lot of heat for past decisions but now, it seems that a big change is afoot in terms of emissions, with them planning to make all of its cars electric by 2030 in the US, UK, Canada, and Europe, and by 2040 everywhere else.
This is, of course, a big step for their drivers so in order to combat issues and offset some of the cost upgrade costs, Uber has pledged to spend $800 million by 2025 on helping its drivers go electric ($160 million per year).
In the meantime, Uber is hoping to incentivize drivers by adding a surcharge to rides by electric and hybrid vehicles ($1 to be exact) which somehow doesn’t feel like the right way to go about things but, I guess we’ll see for ourselves. This means drivers using battery-powered vehicles can earn an extra $0.50, or $1.50 if they’re using specifically battery-electric vehicles.
The company has also formed partnerships with General Motors in the US and Canada, and Renault-Nissan in cities in the UK, France, Netherlands, and Portugal to get discounts on EVs for its drivers.
Great to see that a company like Uber is going to be contributing to saving the planet and reducing those greenhouse gases.
These were the biggest news stories to come out this week but here are some other pieces that you should definitely read before the week is up.
- Google’s Phone App Will Now Tell You Why a Business is Calling
- Data Leak Left Information About 50,000 Letters Open Online
- Facebook Announces Plan To Protect Democracy In Run Up To 2020 Election
- Amazon Deleted 20 000 Fake Reviews Following Investigation By The Financial Times
As a switch-up, we haven’t published any features or how-to guides this week and instead, we’ve focused on revamping some of our product reviews so we can give you the absolute latest tech in the industry at the best prices. Here are some of the articles we’ve given a fresh lick of paint.
And now for this week’s giveaway! Up for grabs this time is the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum XT Keyboard so if you fancy getting your hands on a fantastic peripheral to put into your setup, head over to the giveaway page and get your entry in!
See you next week for the latest and greatest tech industry news as well as potentially a sneak-peek into AMD’s upcoming announcements!