Samsung launched refreshed versions of its Smart Monitor, ViewFinity, and Odyssey OLED gaming monitor series in India on Thursday. These are currently available for purchase in the country. The company is also extending limited time offers on the purchase of some of these variants. Samsung’s latest monitors are equipped with up to 43-inch displays. One of the newly introduced monitors, the Samsung Smart Monitor M8, is equipped with an AI-backed Active Voice Amplifier Pro feature.

Samsung Odyssey OLED G6, Smart Monitor, ViewFinity Series Price in India

Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 price in India is set at Rs. 92,399 and the monitor is available in a black colourway. Meanwhile, the Samsung Smart Monitor and Samsung Viewfinity series start from Rs. 15,399 and Rs. 21,449 respectively. These monitors are currently available for purchase in the country via the Samsung Shop online store as well as through Amazon, Flipkart and select retail stores.

If the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 and any Smart Monitor series models are bought via the Samsung e-store between June 5 and June 11, buyers can avail of a no-cost EMI option and an instant cart discount of up to Rs. 2,750.

Customers who purchase the Smart Monitor M8 from the Samsung e-store will be eligible to receive a Samsung soundbar, while the OLED G6 monitor buyers can get Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.

Additionally, discounts of up to Rs. 11,100 are available on the purchase of these monitors via Amazon or Flipkart.

Samsung Odyssey OLED G6, Smart Monitor, ViewFinity Series Specifications

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 has a 27-inch OLED glare-free screen with a 360Hz refresh rate and 2,560 x 1,440 pixels resolution. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 port, and three USB 3.0 ports. The monitor also comes with Samsung OLED Safeguard+ protection.

The Samsung Smart Monitor series has up to 43-inch 4K Ultra HD (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) flat screens with 60Hz refresh rate and HDR10 support. The Smart Monitor M8 particularly features the AI-backed Active Voice Amplifier Pro tool which is claimed to analyse background noise and accordingly “optimise dialogue in the user’s content.”

Lastly, the Samsung Viewfinity series of monitors are offered with up to 32-inch 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) screens with up to 100Hz refresh rate and up to 350 nits peak brightness. They are also equipped with USB-Type C ports that allow users to charge devices with up to 90W of power.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a dramatic cosmic interaction occurring in the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy approximately 10 per cent the mass of the Milky Way, has been observed losing much of its gaseous halo. The phenomenon is attributed to the gravitational and environmental forces exerted by the Milky Way during the LMC’s close approach, as detailed by researchers led by Dr Andrew Fox of the European Space Agency in Baltimore.

LMC’s Halo Dispersal Observed

The study highlights the effect of ram pressure, a force generated as the LMC moves through the Milky Way’s dense halo of gas. This pressure has stripped away most of the LMC’s original gaseous halo, leaving behind only a compact remnant. Dr Fox, the principal investigator, noted that while significant mass has been lost, the remaining halo is still visible, trailing behind the dwarf galaxy like the tail of a comet.

Survival and Star Formation Potential

Despite this significant loss, the LMC retains enough material to sustain star formation. According to researchers, its relatively larger mass has enabled it to withstand the stripping forces. Dr Fox said that the LMC is a survivour. Smaller galaxies would not have retained their gas, resulting in a collection of ageing stars without the potential for new ones. The retained gas, while diminished, allows for the creation of new star-forming regions, keeping the galaxy active.
Scientific Insights

The findings provide valuable insights into galactic interactions and the role of ram pressure in shaping galaxy evolution. While the LMC’s closest encounter with the Milky Way has passed, scientists predict that the remnants of its gas halo will eventually merge with the Milky Way’s own gas, enriching its galactic ecosystem.

Xbox Game Pass is adding 12 new titles to its December catalogue, including two day-one releases. The standout here has to be the Remnant franchise — both From the Ashes and its newly launched sequel Remnant II, celebrated for its souls-like shooter experience that pits players against tough-as-nails fantastical monsters, across procedurally-generated levels. Its challenges can also be tackled in co-op, so it’s best advised that you check out the sequel because it will have a larger active player base. Another major addition this month is Far Cry 6, setting you against the vibrant tropical island of Yara to topple its ruthless dictator Antón Castillo (Giancarlo Esposito), who is hellbent on using the Viviro, an unstable form of cancer treatment, to restore his land to former glory. It arrives December 14 on Xbox Game Pass.

The December lineup feels too good to be true, but makes sense given the Christmas season, as a means for Xbox to get more people to subscribe to Game Pass. Rise of the Tomb Raider is another major entry, putting you in the shoes of lone adventurer Lara Croft, who is thrust into a sprawling mystery surrounding The Order of Trinity looking to acquire ancient artefacts that would grant them the power to change the fate of humanity. Taking players to the Lost City of Kitezh in Siberia, this is the second story in a three-part reboot trilogy from Crystal Dynamics, borrowing a range of mechanics from Naughty Dogs Uncharted games in terms of ammo pick-up and a robust close-quarters combat system. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be out December 5 across PC, console, and the cloud.

Let your creativity run wild as you construct a mining town punctuated by cutesy little roads and settlements, with enough power water, and resources to ensure your steampunk civilians are well-equipped to excavate long-lost space technology — the kind that might help save the barren, dying planet. SteamWorld Build is a day-one launch on Xbox Game Pass and is now available to download for free on PC and console. Experience the life of a village blacksmith in While the Iron’s Hot, a pixelated RPG set on the enigmatic island of Ellian, which drew countless craftsmen together in order to perfect their craft. Explore every tunnel, forge new machinery to get past puzzles, and interact with its colourful cast to unveil the mystery surrounding a recent disaster. The game is now available on cloud, console, and PC.

Or you could engage in some co-op zombie-killing action in World War Z: Aftermath, as thousands of undead hordes leap across rooftops to deliver high-tension challenges, as you stock up on ammunition and makeshift weapons to blast skulls, all the while being granted the responsibility of escorting civilians to safety. While it is based on the Brad Pitt-led Paramount Pictures film, the game was well-received at launch and promises to be a jolly good time when it comes to Game Pass on December 5. After all that gory beatdown, one might need to relax a little. So why not turn into an annoying farm animal, and wreak havoc on a sandbox town in Goat Simulator 3, as you headbutt, lick, and triple-jump your way through?

December 1 (now available)

Remnant: From the Ashes — PC, cloud, and console

Remnant II — PC, cloud, and Xbox Series S/X

Spirit of the North — PC, cloud, and console

SteamWorld Build — PC, cloud, and console

December 5

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone — PC, cloud, and console

Rise of the Tomb Raider — PC, cloud, and console

While the Iron’s Hot — PC, cloud, and console

World War Z: Aftermath — PC, cloud, and console

December 7

Goat Simulator 3 — PC, cloud, and Xbox Series S/X

December 8

Against the Storm — PC

December 12

Tin Hearts — PC, cloud, and console

December 14

Far Cry 6 — PC, cloud, and console

Additionally, Microsoft has confirmed some titles to be leaving the service. On December 15, you can say goodbye to Chained Echoes, Opus Magnum, Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, and Rubber Bandits.

And as usual, before they disappear from the service, you can choose to buy them at a 20 percent discount.

Honor Magic 7 series including the Honor Magic 7 and Honor Magic 7 Pro were launched in China on Wednesday. The lineup has now been confirmed to see a global unveiling soon, although an exact date has yet to be announced. The smartphones in the series are powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsets and support 100W wired and 80W wireless fast charging. They are equipped with triple rear camera setups including telephoto shooters. The phones ship with Android 15-based MagicOS 9.0 skin on top.

Honor Magic 7 Series Global Launch

The Honor Magic 7 series will launch globally soon, the company’s global PR head Bhavya Siddappa (@bhavis) confirmed in an X post. She did not reveal the exact date of the global launch. Siddappa did not mention if the Honor Magic 7 and Magic 7 Pro will arrive in India either. We can expect to learn more in the upcoming days.

Honor Magic 7 Series Features

The Honor Magic 7 has a 6.78-inch full-HD+ (1,264 x 2,800 pixels) LTPO OLED display, while the Pro variant sports a 6.8-inch full-HD+ (1,280 x 2,800 pixels) LTPO OLED screen. The display panels support up to 120Hz refresh rate, 1,600 nits of global peak brightness, and TÜV Rheinland certifications for eye protection. The phones are backed by Snapdragon 8 Elite SoCs paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of onboard storage. They run on Android 15-based MagicOS 9.0 skin out-of-the-box. 

In the camera department, the Honor Magic 7 series phones have 50-megapixel primary sensors, 50-megapixel secondary sensors with ultra-wide lenses, and 50-megapixel selfie shooters. The base model has a 50-megapixel telephoto camera, while the Pro option is equipped with a  200-megapixel periscope telephoto shooter, both with 3x optical zoom.

Both Honor Magic 7 and Magic 7 Pro handsets support 100W wired and 80W wireless fast charging. The vanilla version packs a 5,650mAh, while the Pro option is backed by a 5,850mAh cell. The phones come with in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensors for security as well as IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. They support dual 5G, dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, NFC and USB Type-C connectivity.

Lenovo’s Yoga laptop lineup has included a 2-in-1 option for a couple of years now. Now, the company has brought the new Intel Core Ultra H-series processors to the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 variant, along with OLED displays and improved battery life. The new Yoga 7i 2-in-1 can also be called an AI laptop as it comes with a dedicated Copilot key.

After using the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 for more than a week, here’s what I think of the convertible laptop. While I’m not a fan of convertibles, be it laptops or cars, the Yoga 7i could be an option for those looking to get the best of both worlds – a laptop and a tablet.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 price in India

Starting with the price, the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 is not too expensive, nor is it cheap. It starts at Rs. 1,01,990 for the variant with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU, a 14-inch OLED display with WUXGA resolution, and 16GB RAM. This is the variant that was sent to us for review.

The laptop has rounded edges that make it comfortable to hold

There’s also a variant with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, 14-inch OLED WUXGA display, and 16GB RAM priced at 1,19,990. Finally, you can get the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H option with a 2.8K OLED display and 32GB RAM for Rs. 1,29,990. All variants come with integrated Intel Arc graphics. The laptop has two colour options – Tidal Teal and Storm Grey. In the box, the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 also comes with the Lenovo Digital Pen and a 65W charger. We received the Tidal Teal variant.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Design and display

Let’s talk about design. The Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 features an all-aluminium design with curved edges and rounded corners. There are no sharp edges anywhere on the laptop. The design language is also very minimal, with the lid carrying a small Lenovo logo and the Yoga branding. As this is a 2-in-1 laptop, I must talk about the 360-degree hinge. Lenovo says that they’ve reduced the hinge size, making it easier to open the lid with one hand. I found that to be true, but that’s also thanks to the reverse notch at the top for the web camera, IR sensor, and microphone. The hinge feels super durable, and I don’t think it should cause any issues in the long run. You also get a slight lift with the hinge when using the laptop in regular mode, and it also helps in better cooling.

You get plenty of connectivity options on the Yoga 7i 2-in-1, but the Power button is in an odd place

Moving over to the sides, the laptop has all the necessary ports that you’ll need. The power button on the laptop is placed on the right side edge alongside the microSD card slot and a USB Type-A (USB 3.2) port. The power button placement is not ideal, as I found myself pressing the button by mistake and locking the laptop when simply trying to lift it using the right edge. You’ll find an HDMI 2.1 port on the left edge, dual Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, and a combo headphone port. The rear houses the exhaust vents.

The bottom of the laptop has two large grilles for cooling and rubber feet. The panel is removable and is made from 50 percent recycled aluminium. The laptop weighs 1.49kg and is 16.64mm thin at its thinnest. It is also rated to withstand 21 MIL-STD 810H durability tests, but I wouldn’t suggest dropping the laptop to find out. I did not find any flex on the lid or the back cover; everything is built solid.

In tent mode, the speakers face away from the user

Opening the lid reveals a keyboard and a large trackpad. The laptop has two speakers with grilles placed on either side of the keyboard. You get a 14-inch OLED display with slim bezels on all sides, 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution, 60Hz, and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The display is glossy but offers 400 nits of brightness with 600 nits of peak HDR brightness. It’s fine indoors but not usable outdoors due to the glossy panel. The blacks are deep, and the colours are vibrant. It offers great viewing angles and barely any colour shift. It’s an excellent panel for watching content, photo editing, and even drawing. When talking about drawing, the display supports multi-touch, and you also get a Lenovo Digital Pen 2 to use as a stylus. The display is also Dolby Vision HDR certified and covers 100 percent DCI-P3 colour space. There’s also a 2.8K PureSight OLED variant with a 120Hz refresh rate.

In tablet mode, the touch input is excellent, and you can use multi-touch gestures supported by Windows 11, but I mostly used the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 in laptop mode. As a tablet, the Yoga 7i was a bit bulky for my taste, and I did not enjoy using it while walking around the house. You can use it in tent mode, but then the speakers are facing the wrong way.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Keyboard, Speakers, Touchpad, and Camera

The Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 has an excellent keyboard, and it’s kind of obvious that Lenovo also makes ThinkPad laptops, which are known for their keyboards. Typing on the 2-in-1 was a joy as the keyboard had enough key travel with good tactile feedback. The keys also have good spacing between them, so there’s no cramped feeling here. The laptop also has a dedicated Copilot key placed before the left arrow key. You can toggle the Copilot chatbot with just a press of the button. The keyboard is also backlit with two levels of brightness and an adaptive mode that can automatically dim or brighten the backlight based on the environment.

The Yoga 7i 2-in-1 offers a good typing experience

Lenovo has given two speakers on the laptop. The speakers are placed on either side of the keyboard and are, therefore, top-firing. They’re not super loud, but the quality is good. There’s no cracking, and you also get Dolby Atmos support. However, the placement is somewhat flawed, as the speakers move to the back when you’re using the laptop in tablet mode or tent mode. You’ll probably need to use headphones if you’re in a loud environment.

Below the keyboard, you get a large touchpad that supports multi-touch gestures on Windows 11. The clicks are good, and the surface is smooth. When in tablet mode, the touchpad and keyboard are also disabled automatically.

In tablet mode, the laptop is considerably thick and not easy to hold

Moving on to the web camera, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 has a full-HD camera and comes with a privacy shutter. The video quality is good, and you also get support for AI features such as Windows Studio effects and smart gestures. The notch housing the web camera also gets an IR blaster with support for facial login via Windows Hello.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Specifications and software

Alright, let’s talk about specifications. The 2-in-1 laptop is well equipped and comes with either the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU. The chipset is paired with the integrated Intel Arc graphics. You can configure the laptop with up to 32GB LPDDR5X-7467 RAM and up to 1TB NVMe storage. Both of these are soldered, so no, you can’t upgrade RAM or storage.

In terms of connectivity, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 offers Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

The 360-degree hinge on the laptop seems durable

The laptop runs Windows 11 Home out-of-the-box and comes bundled with Office Home and Student 2021. There’s no special software here, but you get Copilot support with a dedicated key. It also features Lenovo AI Engine+, Windows Studio Effects, Smart Noise Cancellation, and a few other handy features. You also get the Lenovo Vantage software that lets you fine-tune the system as per your preferences. There’s Super Resolution, Dolby Atmos sound profiles, various modes tailored for different activities, three power modes, and features such as Flip to Boot that lets you turn on the laptop as soon as you flip open the lid, similar to an Apple MacBook.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Performance

Coming to the performance, the laptop is excellent for daily usage, content consumption, and some creative work. During my time using the Yoga 7i 2-in-1, I never ran into any major issues. 

You get excellent battery life from the laptop with regular usage

Multitasking on the laptop is also great, especially in tablet mode. The thermal management is also good, with the inbuilt cooling system doing a great job of keeping the heat to a minimum. However, there were a couple of times when the laptop would randomly run hot and turn on the fan without running any programs, but that’s probably a Windows 11 bug. Overall, the laptop offers very good performance.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Battery life

The battery life on the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 is really good. Lenovo has packed a 71Whr battery inside. The laptop consistently delivered a day’s worth of usage with browsing, working with multiple tabs on Chrome, watching YouTube videos, streaming on Netflix, and some light photo editing. This was the case in both regular laptop and tablet modes, with tablet mode actually offering longer battery life.

The laptop comes with a manual privacy shutter for the web camera

The laptop comes with a 65W charger in the box that offers fast charging support. It takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge the laptop, and you get about 80 percent battery with just a 30-minute charge.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 Review: Verdict

As I mentioned in the beginning, I’m not a big fan of 2-in-1 laptops, but if you’re looking for a powerful laptop that can also be used as a tablet, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 is a good choice. Even the base variant, priced at Rs. 1,01,990, is a good option, and you’ll get excellent performance and long-lasting battery from the laptop. The OLED display is great for content consumption and creative work, but you can pay more and get the 2.8K OLED panel with 120Hz refresh for an even better experience. The only drawbacks are the speakers and the inability to upgrade storage. Overall, though, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 is an easy-to-recommend 2-in-1 laptop.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expanded his lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, adding federal antitrust and other claims and adding OpenAI’s largest financial backer Microsoft as a defendant.

Musk’s amended lawsuit, filed on Thursday night in federal court in Oakland, California, said Microsoft and OpenAI illegally sought to monopolise the market for generative artificial intelligence and sideline competitors.

Like Musk’s original August complaint, it accused OpenAI and its chief executive, Samuel Altman, of violating contract provisions by putting profits ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI.

“Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralysing gorgon — and in just eight years,” the complaint said. It seeks to void OpenAI’s license with Microsoft and force them to divest “ill-gotten” gains.

OpenAI in a statement said the latest lawsuit “is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones.” Microsoft declined to comment.

“Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices have escalated,” Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Musk has a long-simmering opposition to OpenAI, a startup he co-founded and that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.

Musk has gained new prominence as a key force in US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Trump named Musk to a new role designed to cut government waste, after he donated millions of dollars to Trump’s Republican campaign.

The expanded lawsuit said OpenAI and Microsoft violated antitrust law by conditioning investment opportunities on agreements not to deal with the companies’ rivals. It said the companies’ exclusive licensing agreement amounted to a merger lacking regulatory approvals.

In a court filing last month, OpenAI accused Musk of pursuing the lawsuit as part of an “increasingly blusterous campaign to harass OpenAI for his own competitive advantage.”

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer release date is finally upon us, as confirmed by Rockstar Games via a tweet. The first footage from the highly-anticipated crime odyssey sequel will be out on Tuesday, December 5, at 7:30pm IST in India/ 9am ET in the US, with the publisher only posting an image of a sunset and palm tree silhouettes — confirming previous claims that it’s set in a fictionalised version of Miami, which franchise veterans might recognise as a return to Vice City. With that, it is clear that Geoff Keighley won’t be presenting the trailer at The Game Awards 2023, though a teaser or some screenshot drops are always possible.

Not much was known about GTA 6 since a massive data leak from mid-2022, which revealed in-development gameplay of our lead crime couple — allegedly Jason and Lucia — robbing a diner in broad daylight. Yep, this would mark the first female protagonist in the franchise’s controversial history, which has, for the most part, portrayed women as sex objects or nagging moms/wives. It is also worth mentioning that Rockstar hasn’t revealed an official title for the game yet, merely referring to it as the ‘next Grand Theft Auto,’ so it could very well be a spin-off with some outlandish subtitle. The sequel has been a long time coming, with a May earnings call at Rockstar parent Take-Two Interactive hinting that the GTA 6 launch window could be set for the fiscal year 2025 (opens in April 2024 in Rockstar’s case).

Earlier this month, the studio also scrapped the ‘Social Club’ branding from the website, referring to its online multiplayer service as ‘Rockstar Games platform,’ in addition to getting rid of the yellow block in its logo — hinting at some big changes to usher in the new era. At the time of writing, the studio has deleted all previous posts from its Instagram account, maintaining only the aforementioned trailer release date banner. As anticipation for GTA 6 grew, GTA Online served as the decade-long cash cow for Rockstar, delivering near-endless multiplayer content that easily rivalled the average AAA live service game. For now, it’s unclear whether the existing Social Club members will simply be updated to cater to the new entry or if players will be forced to migrate their data to a new account.

As of October, the 2013-released Grand Theft Auto V has sold 190 million copies worldwide, with minor graphical and performance upgrades to adjust to two whole console generations. Just yesterday, Rockstar confirmed that its remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy will be available to play on Netflix from December 14 onwards — accessible to subscribers of all tiers and playable exclusively on Android, iOS, and the Netflix phone app.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will probably release on the current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series S/X first, before heading to PC — as seen with previous Rockstar entries.