Month: August 2022

Categories
Australia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls for greater ABC voice in the Pacific to protect national security

Anthony Albanese looks out to the audience, he wears a yellow tie with a suit

The Prime Minister says it is a matter of national security that the ABC makes more content that projects Australian values ​​and interests to the Indo-Pacific region.

Anthony Albanese delivered an address at the ABC in Sydney on Friday night to celebrate the broadcaster’s 90th anniversary.

The event was attended by ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland, Opposition spokesperson for communications Sarah Henderson and award-winning actor David Wenham.

Current and former ABC luminaries were also in attendance, including former host of 7.30 Kerry O’Brien and former host of Lateline and parliamentary secretary Maxine McKew.

Anthony Albanese with ABC reporters
Anthony Albanese with past and present ABC identities (L-R) Fran Kelly, Jonathan Holmes, Kerry O’Brien and Maxine McKew.(Supplied: James Alcock)

The PM stressed the importance of a strong Australian voice in the Pacific in order to keep other influences out.

“When the ABC voice was removed from the Pacific, guess what nation moved in? Simple as that, a major mistake of foreign policy.”

He said Australia’s “identity, values ​​and interests” must be projected to the Pacific.

“On top of every other consideration, it is a prudent investment in our national security as well as our national interest.

“[This] was undervalued by the previous government, even trivialized. That was a mistake.”

Mr Albanese reaffirmed his government’s commitment to an Indo-Pacific broadcasting strategy, which increases ABC International funding so Australian content can be boosted in the region.

Since taking office in May, Mr Albanese has vowed to counter China’s rising assertiveness in the Pacific region and restore Australia as the partner of choice.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has already made four trips to the Pacific, and both she and Mr Albanese have met with the Solomon Islands Prime Minister, who signed a security pact with China in April.

Ita Buttrose stands at a reading
Ita Buttrose said the ABC was an essential contributor to Australian democracy.(Supplied: James Alcock)

Mr Albanese reiterated previous promises to restore $83.7 million in funding to the ABC, as well as five-year funding terms and options for financial sustainability which safeguard against political interference.

He appeared to aim at the former Morrison government, saying no government should ever fear the ABC “unless it fears the truth.”

“A government that chooses to attack a public broadcaster [is] motivated by either ideology or fear — or a toxic cocktail of the two,” he said.

“A government confident of its own ideas and principles should embrace independent questioning as crucial to the democracy it purports to uphold.”

He described the ABC as a “beacon of trust” and an “insurance policy” against misinformation and disinformation.

The organisation, he said, would play an important role in the discussions about an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

He also made a small jibe at ABC critics who claim the broadcaster is too focused on “inner-city elites.”

“We’ve all heard the mantras about the ABC as a haven of inner-city elites, repeated with straight faces by critics based in our inner cities.

“I hope those commentators take note of the 48 regional ABC bureaus spread in a great constellation across the country, and the continued existence of Landline.”

Anthony Albanese holds hands with human-size Bluey characters
Anthony Albanese poses with Bluey and Bingo from the hit ABC TV show Bluey.(Supplied: James Alcock)

Ms Buttrose, who once described the broadcaster’s relationship with the Morrison government as “strained”, implored Mr Albanese to keep defending the ABC even if that meant intense pressure on his government.

“Prime Minister, I have no doubt that our brilliant journalists will occasionally irritate your government. Let us all be grateful for it,” she said.

“This process strengthens the Australian democracy we all love.”

Ms Buttrose, who paid special tribute to the ABC’s focus on arts and culture, hit back at critics who have suggested the broadcaster does not represent “mainstream” Australians.

“Can you be any more mainstream than reaching 20 million Australians each week? I don’t think so,” she said.

ABC managing director David Anderson said the government’s commitment to the ABC was “reassuring” and public broadcasters should never be taken for granted.

“We will continue to hold the highest editorial standards and remain fully accountable to the Australian people,” he said.

“As global giants offer more news and entertainment choices, and commercial investment in Australian content declines, the ABC will need to play an even bigger role in sharing and promoting Australian stories and culture.”

.

Categories
US

Alex Jones Trial Live Updates: Jury to Consider Punitive Damages

Alex Jones testified this week in a trial to determine how much he must pay the parents of a child who was killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas jury on Thursday awarded the parents of a child killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4 million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the first time he has been held financially liable for defaming the victims’ parents by spreading lies that they were complicit in a government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.

The decision was the first in a series of potential awards against Mr. Jones. On Friday the jury will consider evidence of Mr. Jones’s net worth to determine how much, if anything, to award the parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, in punitive damages.

Two other trials by Sandy Hook parents seeking damages from Mr. Jones have been scheduled for next month, though they may be delayed because his company filed for bankruptcy last week.

Mr. Jones has become increasingly emblematic of how misinformation and false narratives have gained traction in American society. He has played a role in spreading some of recent history’s most pernicious conspiracy theories, such as Pizzagate — in which an Infowars video helped inspire a gunman to attack a pizzeria in Washington, DC — as well as coronavirus myths and “Stop the Steal” falsehoods about election fraud before the Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021.

The verdict came after several days of emotional testimony, including 90 minutes on Tuesday when Ms. Lewis personally addressed Mr. Jones, asking him why he knowingly spread lies about the death of her child, Jesse, 6, who died along with 19 other first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“Jesse was a real boy. And I am a real mom,” Ms. Lewis told Mr. Jones. Later she admonished him: “Alex, I want you to hear this. We’re more polarized than ever as a country. Some of that is because of you.”

But the most explosive revelation came Wednesday, when the family’s lawyer, Mark Bankston, revealed that Mr. Jones’s legal team had mistakenly sent him the entire contents of Mr. Jones’s cellphone, including at least two years’ worth of incriminating text messages now of interest. to the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. The committee is scrutinizing Mr. Jones’s role in planning events surrounding the insurrection, and Mr. Bankston is now seeking the judge’s approval to deliver the text records to prosecutors and the Jan. 6 committee.

Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin had requested $150 million in damages, and Mr. Bankston said he was optimistic about what the jury would award on Friday. “You can probably imagine that if a jury returns a verdict exceeding $4 million for these plaintiffs in compensatory damages, I think punishment is probably going to be in that range or higher,” Mr. Bankston said. “I think it’s perfectly expected that we’re going to see an over nine-figure judgment against Mr. Jones.”

He added: “It’s been a long journey, and it’s really, really nice to able to turn and look at my clients, and say ‘he can’t get off scot-free for this. He can not. You had a defendant who went into that courtroom and said, ‘I think I should have to pay them a dollar.’ And this jury said no.”

Mr. Jones said in his bankruptcy filing that he had paid $15 million so far in legal costs for the Sandy Hook litigation. Citing the damages that Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin had requested, Mr. Jones called the award a “major victory” in a video posted on Infowars on Thursday night, even as he urged viewers to buy products from his website to stave off what I have portrayed financial ruin.

“I admitted I was wrong,” he said. “I admitted it was a mistake. I admitted that I followed disinformation but not on purpose. I apologized to the families. And the jury understood that.”

Mr. Jones lost a series of Sandy Hook defamation suits by default last year after repeatedly failing to provide court-ordered documents and testimony. Those rulings set the stage for the trial this summer.

More important than money, the Sandy Hook families have said, is society’s verdict on a culture in which viral misinformation damages lives and destroys reputations.

“Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for,” Mr. Bankston told the jury last week. “This is a case about creating change.”

At the heart of the trial was a June 2017 episode of NBC’s “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” that profiled Mr. Jones. In the broadcast, Mr. Heslin protested Mr. Jones’s denial of the shooting. He recalled his last moments of him with Jesse, saying, “I held my son with a bullet hole through his head of him.”

Afterward, Mr. Jones and Owen Shroyer, an Infowars host, aired shows implying that Mr. Heslin had lied.

“Will there be a clarification from Heslin or Megyn Kelly?” Mr. Shroyer said on Infowars. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

During the trial, Mr. Jones’s lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, said that Mr. Jones was essentially running his own defense. After much uncertainty about whether the conspiracy broadcaster would testify, he was adamant that he would appear as the sole witness in his defense of him.

Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis deployed a variety of experts. The trial opened with testimony from Dan Jewiss, a retired Connecticut State Police investigator who led the Sandy Hook case; a forensic psychiatrist and the psychologist who treated Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis; and several Infowars employees, whose dubious statements allowed the family’s lawyers to submit evidence that was damaging to Mr. Jones, including a televised version of the full interview with Ms. Kelly, in which Mr. Jones advanced incendiary false claims.

Mr. Jones’s audience and corresponding revenues have risen sharply, to more than $50 million annually, in the decade since Sandy Hook.

His defense of the Second Amendment after the mass shooting brought attention from mainstream news organizations. But it was Mr. Jones’s alliance with former President Donald J. Trump, who appeared on Infowars in December 2015, that moved him from the far-right fringes to the center of Republican Party populism.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Trump have often echoed the same incendiary false claims, including the racist “birther” lie that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States; that Muslims in the New York area “celebrated” the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; and the 2020 election falsehoods that brought violence to the Capitol last year.

Categories
Technology

Square Enix’s Reason For Selling Crystal Dynamics And Eidos Makes No Sense

Square Enix's Reason For Selling Crystal Dynamics And Eidos Makes No Sense

Yesterday, on a Square Enix earnings call, the company explained its recent sale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos to Embracer Group, which was at the fire sale price of $300 million for the pair of them.

Their explanation is…bizarre to say the least, and according to Square Enix, the sale was “driven by concerns that the titles cannibalized sales of the rest of the group and so it could improve capital efficiency”

Asanalyst David Gibson explained in a thread about the call, this makes little sense, especially when by the time the sale is over, Square Enix has tons of cash on hand, more than enough to fund games and studios, and the real reason appears to be making itself a more attractive target for acquisition, but they refuse to say that.

At baseline, the notion that Crystal Dynamics or Eidos games are cannibalizing other Square Enix games makes little sense to anyone. First of all, Square Enix is ​​constantly complaining that games from those studios are underperforming and not selling. enoughso how could they be significantly cannibalizing Square Enix’s other games?

Then of course, the scheduling of releases and the genres of the games have literally nothing to do with each other. There’s no coherent argument about what Tomb Raider, Avengers, Deus Ex or Guardians of the Galaxy games are “cannibalizing.” The only thing I can even remotely think of here is the release of Avengers and Outriders in the same window, two live service looters, albeit if anything Avengers got the worse end of that stick, and Outriders has been extolled by Square Enix as a success and important IP for their future. But what do any CD/Eidos games have to do with “cannibalizing” other big Square Enix series like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest?

Again, the overwhelmingly common theory here is that Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics/Eidos have not been a good fit for years, and they wanted to offload them in order to become a slimmed down, more desirable target for acquisition by someone like Sony. While nothing official has been announced, an eventual Sony acquisition, given the history between the two companies and the current state of the market where all independent publishers are getting snapped up by megacorps, would be less than a surprising development. But the fact that Square Enix is ​​being this disingenuous about what’s really happening here is somewhat tiresome and corporate speak at its worst.

Meanwhile, Crystal Dynamics is still making Avengers content, helping Microsoft with Perfect Dark and starting a new Unreal Engine 5 Tomb Raider game for Embracer. Eidos is working on a number of secretive UE5 projects, and we could see the return of IPs like Thief or Legacy of Kain from them. Square Enix, meanwhile, is set to release its highest profile game in a long while, Final Fantasy XVI, next year.

follow me on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the hero killer series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

.

Categories
Sports

Fifteen Australians targeted by UAE Twenty20 league

Fifteen Australians targeted by UAE Twenty20 league

As many as 15 Australian players have been offered contracts worth up to $700,000 a year to abandon the Big Bash League and play in the UAE Twenty20 tournament in January.

The scale of the attempted raid on Australian players, revealed to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald by senior cricket sources, goes far beyond the threat of losing one player – David Warner – to the UAE because he does not have a BBL deal.

UAE contract sizes so far above and beyond what has been on offer in the BBL have placed Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association under pressure to reassure players that they are not being left behind the rest of the world by remaining loyal to the game in this country.

As many as 15 Australian players have been offered big money contracts to abandon the BBL for the UAE.

As many as 15 Australian players have been offered big money contracts to abandon the BBL for the UAE.Credit:AP

Chris Lynn, who lost his lucrative deal with the Brisbane Heat, is eager to sign on with the UAE league, but is also weighing up reaching terms with the Adelaide Strikers. Signing a BBL deal would make it contractually difficult for Lynn to also play in the UAE.

While CA is in talks with Warner about finding a way to get him back into the BBL this summer, the governing body’s chief executive Nick Hockley and his player union counterpart Todd Greenberg have been fielding countless calls from players about the offers.

Greenberg said he had been talking to players about the need for the group to take part in the BBL this summer, in some cases on inferior money to the market rates being offered elsewhere, in order to secure the best possible pay deal with CA when the current memorandum of understanding expires next year, and a richer cut of the next broadcast agreement to be signed in 2024.

“I’ve been really heartened by the maturity of the players in response, because after a discussion and communication and a bit more context, they’re not just thinking about the short-term,” Greenberg said.

“They do have this genuine sense of care about the game – if they didn’t, they would be mercenaries and take what’s in front of them. But they’re not, they’re actually taking a mature, considered approach to this and trying to be part of the solution. This comes down to establishing trust with your own players and the relationships you develop with them.

“Sometimes when you work closely with players, you’ve got to tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. We’re not in the business of being sycophants – occasionally you need to square them up, talk to them as adults, and give them proper information and let them make some informed decisions with a long-term focus.”

Categories
US

Alex Jones Trial Live Updates: Jurors to Hear About His Financial Situation

Alex Jones's Texts Could Be Given to Jan. 6 Panel, Lawyer Says

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas jury on Thursday awarded the parents of a child killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than $4 million in compensatory damages from the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the first time he has been held financially liable for defaming the victims’ parents by spreading lies that they were complicit in a government plot to stage the shooting as a pretext for gun control.

The decision was the first in a series of potential awards against Mr. Jones. On Friday the jury will consider evidence of Mr. Jones’s net worth to determine how much, if anything, to award the parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, in punitive damages.

Two other trials by Sandy Hook parents seeking damages from Mr. Jones have been scheduled for next month, though they may be delayed because his company filed for bankruptcy last week.

Mr. Jones has become increasingly emblematic of how misinformation and false narratives have gained traction in American society. He has played a role in spreading some of recent history’s most pernicious conspiracy theories, such as Pizzagate — in which an Infowars video helped inspire a gunman to attack a pizzeria in Washington, DC — as well as coronavirus myths and “Stop the Steal” falsehoods about election fraud before the Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021.

The verdict came after several days of emotional testimony, including 90 minutes on Tuesday when Ms. Lewis personally addressed Mr. Jones, asking him why he knowingly spread lies about the death of her child, Jesse, 6, who died along with 19 other first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“Jesse was a real boy. And I am a real mom,” Ms. Lewis told Mr. Jones. Later she admonished him: “Alex, I want you to hear this. We’re more polarized than ever as a country. Some of that is because of you.”

But the most explosive revelation came Wednesday, when the family’s lawyer, Mark Bankston, revealed that Mr. Jones’s legal team had mistakenly sent him the entire contents of Mr. Jones’s cellphone, including at least two years’ worth of incriminating text messages now of interest. to the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. The committee is scrutinizing Mr. Jones’s role in planning events surrounding the insurrection, and Mr. Bankston is now seeking the judge’s approval to deliver the text records to prosecutors and the Jan. 6 committee.

Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin had requested $150 million in damages, and Mr. Bankston said he was optimistic about what the jury would award on Friday. “You can probably imagine that if a jury returns a verdict exceeding $4 million for these plaintiffs in compensatory damages, I think punishment is probably going to be in that range or higher,” Mr. Bankston said. “I think it’s perfectly expected that we’re going to see an over nine-figure judgment against Mr. Jones.”

He added: “It’s been a long journey, and it’s really, really nice to able to turn and look at my clients, and say ‘he can’t get off scot-free for this. He can not. You had a defendant who went into that courtroom and said, ‘I think I should have to pay them a dollar.’ And this jury said no.”

Mr. Jones said in his bankruptcy filing that he had paid $15 million so far in legal costs for the Sandy Hook litigation. Citing the damages that Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin had requested, Mr. Jones called the award a “major victory” in a video posted on Infowars on Thursday night, even as he urged viewers to buy products from his website to stave off what I have portrayed financial ruin.

“I admitted I was wrong,” he said. “I admitted it was a mistake. I admitted that I followed disinformation but not on purpose. I apologized to the families. And the jury understood that.”

Mr. Jones lost a series of Sandy Hook defamation suits by default last year after repeatedly failing to provide court-ordered documents and testimony. Those rulings set the stage for the trial this summer.

More important than money, the Sandy Hook families have said, is society’s verdict on a culture in which viral misinformation damages lives and destroys reputations.

“Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for,” Mr. Bankston told the jury last week. “This is a case about creating change.”

At the heart of the trial was a June 2017 episode of NBC’s “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” that profiled Mr. Jones. In the broadcast, Mr. Heslin protested Mr. Jones’s denial of the shooting. He recalled his last moments of him with Jesse, saying, “I held my son with a bullet hole through his head of him.”

Afterward, Mr. Jones and Owen Shroyer, an Infowars host, aired shows implying that Mr. Heslin had lied.

“Will there be a clarification from Heslin or Megyn Kelly?” Mr. Shroyer said on Infowars. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

During the trial, Mr. Jones’s lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, said that Mr. Jones was essentially running his own defense. After much uncertainty about whether the conspiracy broadcaster would testify, he was adamant that he would appear as the sole witness in his defense of him.

Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis deployed a variety of experts. The trial opened with testimony from Dan Jewiss, a retired Connecticut State Police investigator who led the Sandy Hook case; a forensic psychiatrist and the psychologist who treated Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis; and several Infowars employees, whose dubious statements allowed the family’s lawyers to submit evidence that was damaging to Mr. Jones, including a televised version of the full interview with Ms. Kelly, in which Mr. Jones advanced incendiary false claims.

Mr. Jones’s audience and corresponding revenues have risen sharply, to more than $50 million annually, in the decade since Sandy Hook.

His defense of the Second Amendment after the mass shooting brought attention from mainstream news organizations. But it was Mr. Jones’s alliance with former President Donald J. Trump, who appeared on Infowars in December 2015, that moved him from the far-right fringes to the center of Republican Party populism.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Trump have often echoed the same incendiary false claims, including the racist “birther” lie that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States; that Muslims in the New York area “celebrated” the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; and the 2020 election falsehoods that brought violence to the Capitol last year.

Categories
Technology

Random: We’re Really Jealous Of This French Pre-Order Bonus For Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Random: We're Really Jealous Of This French Pre-Order Bonus For Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Pokemon Starter Trio Figures
Image: The Pokémon Company / Micromania-Zing / Nintendo Life

We admit it, we’re suckers for a really nice pre-order bonus. Especially when it comes to figurines. And with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet coming out this November, we’re eager to see just what kind of bonuses or gifts will be on offer from various retailers.

So far, we only know about a few digital gifts — such as an exclusive backpack and that cute little Pikachu who’s Terastral form means he gets balloons! — but Nintendo Wire has discovered that French retailer Micromania-Zing is already ahead of the pack with this lovely physical pre-order bonus.

This exclusive pre-order bonus is a little figurine of all three of generation 9’s starters — Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxley. It’s really rather lovely, and we really rather want it.

You’ll get this trio if you pre-order either Scarlet, Violet, or the Double Pack from Micromania-Zing. So, if you love it and you live in France, there’s no reason not to!

Here in the UK, we sometimes get figurine pre-order bonuses for Pokémon games too, and maybe this will head our way too (if it does, we’ll be sure to tell you), but for now, we’ll have to admire this from a distance.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out our list of everywhere you can pre-order the upcoming Pokémon games.

Do you like this pre-order bonus as much as we do? Do you hope a retailer near you gets something like this? Let us know in the comments!

.

Categories
Sports

McLaren reportedly sack West Australian Daniel Ricciardo for 2023 Formula One, replaced by Oscar Piastri

McLaren reportedly sack West Australian Daniel Ricciardo for 2023 Formula One, replaced by Oscar Piastri

WA Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo has reportedly been told he won’t be driving for McLaren next season, with countryman Oscar Piastri set to replace him.

Ricciardo’s initial three-year deal with McLaren does not end until the end of next season, but it is being reported he’s been told he will not be in the seat next year.

He would have to receive a significant payout, with Piastri set to take his place after initially signing on as a reserve driver for next season.

.

Categories
US

Lightning strikes near White House, killing 2 people : NPR

Lightning strikes near White House, killing 2 people : NPR

Across the street from the White House, shown here in 2021, is Lafayette Park. On Thursday, a lightning strike hit four people, and two of them were pronounced dead on Friday.

Andrew Harnik/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Andrew Harnik/AP

Across the street from the White House, shown here in 2021, is Lafayette Park. On Thursday, a lightning strike hit four people, and two of them were pronounced dead on Friday.

Andrew Harnik/AP

Two people were killed and two others are in critical condition after lightning struck at the park next to the White House in Washington, DC

Emergency responders received a report about people found injured in Lafayette Park at 6:52 pm on Thursday evening. US Park Police and members of the US Secret Service who were in the area at the time also rushed to assist the four people hurt. No property or vehicles were damaged by the strike, said DC Fire and EMS official Vito Maggiolo.

It is believed that the four might have been struck while they were near a tree during the heavy downpour, Maggiolo told NPR.

On Friday morning, 76-year-old James Mueller and 75-year-old Donna Mueller, both from Janesville, Wis., were pronounced dead, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life after the lightning strike in Lafayette Park. Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

As more thunderstorms are expected in the US capital Friday evening, Maggiolo advises people to stay indoors.

“If you see lightning or hear thunder, you should seek shelter inside of a building or a vehicle. Do not attempt to seek shelter under a tree,” he said.

Categories
Technology

AMD’s High-End X670E Motherboards From ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock & Biostar Detailed

AMD's High-End X670E Motherboards From ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock & Biostar Detailed

AMD’s motherboard partners such as ASUS, MSI, ASRock, Gigabyte & Biostar have unveiled more details about their top X670E designs for Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs.

ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock & Biostar Showcase Their High-End AMD X670E Motherboards

The AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs will be migrating to a new home known as AM5, the successor to the long-lasting AM4 platform. It marks a fresh start for the Ryzen Desktop family and as such, existing Ryzen CPUs starting with Ryzen 1000 & all the way up to Ryzen 5000 won’t be supported by the new platform we will tell you why it is so.

The AM5 platform will first and foremost feature the brand new LGA 1718 socket. That’s correct, AMD isn’t going the PGA (Pin Grid Array) route anymore and now focusing on LGA (Land Grid Array), similar to what Intel uses on its existing desktop processors. The main reason to go LGA is due to the addition of enhanced and next-gen features such as PCIe Gen 5, DDR5, etc that we will get to see on the AM5 platform. The socket has a single latch & gone are the days of worrying about pins underneath your precious processors.

Representatives of each motherboard manufacturer joined AMD’s latest “Meet The Experts” live-stream to talk about their next-gen X670E designs but it looks like we may still be missing some details regarding overclocking and memory support which is something that AMD might not like being talked about right now although the full announcement of the product lineup is just a few weeks away on 29th August with a planned launch for 15th of August. So let’s look into what the new high-end motherboard offerings have to offer.

ASUS X670E Motherboard

ASUS kicked it off by unveiling its high-end ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme and ROG Crosshair X670E HERO motherboards. The ROG Crosshair motherboards come with 20+2 phases for the Extreme & 18+2 phases for the HERO models. Both models are designed with some insane 110A Power Stages and in a Teamed design. The VCore PWM controller is an Infineon ASP2205 while the Power Stages are based on Vishay’s SIC850.

  • ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme – 20+2 Phase (110A)
  • ROG Crosshair X670E HERO – 18+2 Phase (110A)

ASUS specifically states that the high-end power delivery is a necessity when overclocking the CPU as it leads to massive current swings and power demand increasing exponentially. Some features highlighted include WiFi 6E (AX210), 10 GbE Marvell AQC113CS connectors, Gen 5.0 PCIe x16 & M.2, USB 4 and Quick Charge 4+ ports.

asus-rog-x670e-motherboards-_-wccftech-_-4
asus-rog-x670e-motherboards-_-wccftech-_-6

MSI X670E Motherboard

MSI will be rolling out four brand new X670E Motherboards within its MEG, MPG, and PRO lineups. We recently revealed their flagship MEG X670E GODLIKE motherboards and the manufacturer has confirmed the specs and PCB we reported. The VRM configuration for MSI’s X670E motherboard is as listed below:

  • MEG X670E GODLIKE – 24 (105A) + 2 + 1
  • MEG X670E ACE – 22 (90A) + 2 +1
  • MPG X670E Carbon – 18 (90A) + 2 +1
  • PRO X670E-P WiFi – 14 (80A) + 2 +1

MSI is pushing things to the limits with high-end heatsink designs such as screwless M.2 Shield Frozr technology, M.2 XPANDER-Z Gen 5 Dual AIC (supporting up to two PCIe Gen 5.0 x4) SSDs in actively cooled solution), 60W USB Type-C power delivery and more robust power delivery for each tier of the motherboard. We also get a better look at the MEG X670E GODLIKE which looks as beast as ever with its massively saturated PCB design and tons of IO to work with. More details on MSI’s lineup here.

Gigabyte X670E Motherboards

The lineup that Gigabyte unveiled includes four AORUS motherboards which include X670E AORUS Xtreme, AORUS Master, AORUS Pro AX & AORUS Elite AX. The Xtreme is expected to break some OC records on AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs.

  • X670E AORUS Xtreme – 18 Phase (SPS 105A) Renesas RAA229628
  • X670E AORUS Master – 16 Phase (SPS 105A) Renesas RAA229620
  • X670E AORUS ProAX – 16 Phase (SPS 90A) Infineon XDPE192C3
  • X670E AORUS EliteAX – 16 Phase (SPS 70A) Infineon XDPE192C3

We already covered these motherboards including the AERO model previously over here along with their prices.

ASRock X670E Motherboards

ASRock is showing five X670E motherboards for the AMD Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs. These include the X670E Taichi Carrara, X670E Taichi, X670E Steel Legend, X670E PRO RS & X670E PG Lightning. All five motherboards feature full compatibility with the next-gen AMD Zen 4 CPUs along with DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0.

The company highlighted some of the main features being USB Type-C with fast charging, an 8-layer PCB design, PCIe 5.0, and M.2 fan heatsink design plus DDR5 with protection circuits. The lineup is also detailed by us here.

Biostar X670E Motherboards

Biostar also talked a bit about their flagship X670E VALKYRIE motherboard which features a 22-phase VRM design and a very solid-looking design that comes with DR.MOS and Digital PWM ICs. The motherboard is a very premium product designed to support the highest-end AMD Zen 4 CPUs.

Will There Be mATX & Mini-ITX AM5 Motherboards?

Answering a question raised by viewers on whether we will see mATX and Mini-ITX designs within the AM5 family, ASRock’s Mike Yang stated that there are certain obstacles that they are working on such as thermal heat dissipation on such a small form factor but once a breakthrough is made, they certainly plan on offering smaller board designs for every chipset of the AMD 600-series line.

Do 2280 M.2 SSDs Fit On The New 2510 M.2 Slots?

MSI’s Michiel Berkhout stated that the current 2280 M.2 form factor is fully compatible with the 2510 M.2 slots featured on their motherboards.

Will Gigabyte Have A Tachyon Motherboard For AM5?

Gigabyte’s Sofos Oikonomou has stated that there will indeed be a Tachyon motherboard based on the AM5 socket but it will be based on a different chipset, not the X670 so we are likely looking at a B650(E) product.

It is always great to hear more information directly from motherboard manufacturers but key details such as AMD EXPO DDR5 memory and overclocking support are still missing. It looks like we now have to wait till the reviews which don’t come out until the 13th of September to get more data on those but we will try to provide you with more information on those in the coming weeks.

Which motherboard manufacturer do you think has the best X670E design?

Categories
Sports

St George Illawarra young star Jayden Sullivan to request release to Canterbury Bulldogs if Ben Hunt re-signs

St George Illawarra young star Jayden Sullivan to request release to Canterbury Bulldogs if Ben Hunt re-signs

The development won’t come as a surprise to the club hierarchy. Sullivan’s agent also acts for Amone and the parties have just completed a two-year extension for the latter. During the course of negotiations, it was made clear that he didn’t want his promising clients jostling for the one spot.

Sullivan is prepared to bid his time for now, but that will change the moment there are moves to extend Hunt’s tenure at the joint-venture outfit.

Several clubs in need of a halfback have inquired whether Hunt could be released early to join them next year, but the Maroons ace has no appetite to leave the Dragons before his deal expires. The former Bronco’s preference is to finish his career in the Red V.

As revealed by the herald Back in May, the Bulldogs have identified Sullivan as the playmaker they want. Given Amone has extended his contract and there’s likelihood of Hunt following suit, Sullivan could well be Matt Burton’s Bulldogs halves partner next year.

At one stage a player swap of Kyle Flanagan for Sullivan was floated – ironically premiership-winning coach Shane Flanagan, Kyle’s father, is a recruiter for the Dragons – but the move never got traction.

Flanagan junior has done a serviceable job during Canterbury’s mini-revival under interim coach Mick Potter, but Sullivan is considered the man to take the “Family Club” to the next level.

The Bulldogs are also looking for a fullback and the Dragons appear to have one too many of those as well. Tyrell Sloan will get a rare taste of first grade against Cronulla after being named on the bench, but he has fallen behind Cody Ramsey and even utility Moses Mbye in fullback calculations. Sloan’s future may not be at the Bulldogs, but it mightn’t be at the Dragons either.

loading

It could result in more upheaval at a club that has already had its share. Coach Anthony Griffin still has a year to run on a contract that some pundits feel shouldn’t have been extended. His side of him goes into Friday’s derby against the Sharks just one win out of the top eight, although their inferior for-and-against effectively means they are four points out of the finals.

The club also trying to find the right balance between blooding young stars Ramsey, Sloan, Sullivan, Amone and Max and Matthew Feagai, while ensuring they have experienced heads around them. Some believe the scales have tipped too much in favor of the grizzled, older heads.

How it all transpires from here will ultimately decide the future of the club and the coach.

Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.