The 'Playstacean' is a crab-u-lous PS One mod

A games console modder has revealed a crab-themed PS One creation dubbed the ‘Playstacean.’ GingerOfOz’s real-world remake of an artwork of the same name byAnh Dang, a concept artist on League of Legends, is crab-solutely stunning. It is a fully functionalSonyPS One, as demonstrated in the video, but GingerOfOz humbly admits that the claw controllers are “not comfortable to use.” GingerofOZ’s regular (crab)shtick involves taking retro consoles like the Wii, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and others and documenting his work in turning these classics into portable consoles on his YouTube channel....

May 2, 2025 · 3 min · 427 words · Spencer Malone

The week in chip news: Intel gets a new CEO, China chip smuggling, AMD dominates

It’s been another busy week in the chip world, with the announcement of a new Intel CEO spurring fears of larger layoffs and the company selling off its crown jewel fabs. Meanwhile, AMD continues its home run streak with another winning X3D processor arriving at retail. We also learned more about the hijinks of GPU smugglers who bought more than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of banned AI servers under a ridiculous company name, and that’s assuredly just the tip of the smuggling iceberg....

May 2, 2025 · 6 min · 1210 words · Oscar Richardson

This custom Raspberry Pi voice assistant is built around ChatGPT

If there’s one thing theRaspberry Piis good for, it’s a little bit of everything. Home automation and voice assistant projects definitely aren’t unheard of—you can find quite a few around online. But today we’ve got an impressive voice assistant project made from scratch to share that we think is really impressive. Maker and developer Suryatejadev has created acustom voice assistantusing our favorite single board computer (SBC), theRaspberry Pi 5, along with a little bit of help from AI thanks to ChatGPT....

May 2, 2025 · 3 min · 518 words · Steven Davis

This fantastic early Memorial Day deal sees the RTX 4060-powered MSI Thin drop to only $649 — one of the lowest prices I've ever seen for a laptop of this caliber

It’s building up to Memorial Day on the 26th May, 2025, and here we have a gaming laptop deal at an exceptional price for the performance it can offer. It’s comprised of components from previous generations, but should still offer more than adequate performance in modern games. Available at Walmart, you’re able to pick up this great gaming laptop deal onMSI’s Thin 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop for just $649. This is a drop in price of $350 from its original list price of $999....

May 2, 2025 · 2 min · 390 words · Susan Maddox

TSMC struggles to meet demand for CoWoS packaging, holding back AI and HPC chip production: report

Major cloud service providers (CSPs) — AWS,Google, Meta, andMicrosoft— are set to expand their AI infrastructure, and the total capital expenditure for this is projected to hit $170 billion in 2024. This surge in investment is driving up demand for AI processors and putting pressure on production capacities, particularly at TSMC, which is struggling to keep up with the demand for its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology,TrendForcereports, citingCommercial Times. The larger size of interposers required for the latest AI and HPC processors from Nvidia and AMD means fewer interposers can be obtained from each 300-mm wafer, straining CoWoS production capacity....

May 2, 2025 · 2 min · 400 words · Thomas Shaffer

TSMC's 2nm process will reportedly get another price hike — $30,000 per wafer for latest cutting-edge tech

TSMC’sN2 (2nm-class)manufacturing technologypromises to provide numerous advantages over existing N3 (3nm-class) fabrication processes as it is set to adopt nanosheet gate-all-around transistors and NanoFlex. However, it will come at a much higher pricethan expectedas the world’s No.1 foundry will sell N2 wafers at a price that is roughly two times higher compared to a price of an N5 wafer, according toChina Times. But there is a catch. TSMC’s quote for a 300-mm wafer process using its N2 technology will exceed $30,000, according to the report....

May 2, 2025 · 4 min · 691 words · Larry Parker

U.S. earmarks $1B for 'offensive cyber operations' despite broader efforts to slash cybersecurity spending

Someone might be taking “the best defense is a good offense” a little too seriously. Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce U.S. government spending via mass layoffs, budget cuts, and whatever efficiency gains can be afforded by vibe coded services made by cybercriminals who can’t legally drink alcohol, the contentious “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” provides for $1 billion in funding to “offensive cyber operations.” TechCrunchreportedMonday that H.R. 1—a bill so sprawling that Congress....

May 2, 2025 · 3 min · 616 words · Charles Foster

UpHere M201 SSD Heatsink Review: $5 for essential NVMe cooling

Why you may trust Tom’s HardwareOur expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test. Benchmarks and Conclusion Thermal Performance If you look at the temperatures on the chart alone, the results will be a little misleading. When I’ve tested SSD heatsinks on this platform, I’ve always used a 360mm AIO for consistency. When paired with an AIO, the SSD does reach its peak temperature during stress testing....

May 2, 2025 · 2 min · 300 words · Joseph Singh

US introduces act to add tax credits for chip designers, extends credits for chip production, too

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is applauding the U.S. House of Representative’s introduction of the bipartisan Semiconductor Technology Advancement and Research (STAR) Act which extends Section 48D of the CHIPS and Science Act, or the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (AMIC). According to theSIA Press Release, AMIC gives an eligible taxpayer a tax credit of up to 25% of a qualified investment in an advanced manufacturing facility for semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, but it expires by 2026....

May 2, 2025 · 3 min · 474 words · Mr. Michael Smith Jr.

US justifies Huawei's Intel-powered AI laptops, saying chip bans aren't meant to hobble China's growth

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claims that United States trade restrictions on China and Chinese tech companies arenot meant to “contain or hold back” China in response to news thatHuawei is launching new laptopsbased on Intel’s Meteor Lake. Blinken made the statement on NPR on Friday, a claim that stands at odds with the real impact of the U.S.’s “Chip War” with China. “I saw that Huawei just put out a new laptop that it boasted was AI capable, that uses an Intel chip,” Blinken told NPR at the end of his recent trip to Beijing....

May 2, 2025 · 3 min · 636 words · Erik Miller

WD Blue SN5000 4TB SSD review: Western Digital launches a 4TB mainstream drive

Tom’s Hardware Verdict The 4TB WD Blue SN5000 is a surprisingly capable QLC-based drive with the lower capacities mirroring the SN770 with TLC. It’s a good entry-level drive for any type of machine, if it’s priced right. Single-sided at 4TB Performance is mostly good where it matters Pricing remains a question mark Only “new” hardware in the 4TB SKU Why you’re able to trust Tom’s HardwareOur expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you....

May 2, 2025 · 6 min · 1206 words · Jonathan Cox

We tried to install Windows 11 on Raspberry Pi 5 — lack of internet connectivity left us stuck

It hasn’t taken too long for theWindows on Raspberrycommunity to getWindows 11running on theRaspberry Pi 5. Yes, the flagshipRaspberry Piwith a quad-core 2.4 GHz CPU and up to 8GB of RAM can now run Windows 11, with some caveats. We watched a few videos from LeePSPVideo and followed the guidance, but our success was short lived. The first big hurdle that we faced was using a UEFI BIOS firmware that was able to boot Windows 11....

May 2, 2025 · 4 min · 711 words · Charles Thomas

What is a Metered Connection On Windows? How to Enable it

A computer with an active internet connection constantly exchanges data to and from the internet. This will result in high internet usage. Higher the data any device exchanges over the internet, the more the cost. This is where a metered connection comes in. Metered connection lets you limit the data that the PC uses. It does this by warning users when the PC reaches certain amount of data usage. Furthermore, it also restricts background application and process from using internet data....

May 2, 2025 · 4 min · 704 words · Edwin Evans