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The Morning After: USB 4 is ready for 8K monitors

And Intel's 10th-gen desktop CPUs are here.

VESA

The only things that are unavoidable are death, taxes and new versions of USB. We barely knew USB 3.2 and now USB 4 is confirmed to support the DisplayPort Alternate Mode 2.0 standard, so it seems likely we’ll be plugging in 8K 60Hz HDR monitors with those USB-C cables someday.

DisplayPort
DisplayPort

If you’re into specs, this is the news you’ve been waiting for. On high-res displays, DisplayPort 2.0 works over USB by remapping the connector’s pins to push data in one direction, turning a 40Gbps bidirectional connection to 80Gbps. Between DisplayPort and Thunderbolt support, it looks like USB is on its way to becoming the universal standard it’s always promised. Is anyone ready for this?

-- Richard

Motorola Edge Plus review

At least it has a sizable 5,000mAh battery.

Motorola Edge Plus
Engadget

Now that Motorola is back in the flagship phone game, the results are… just ok. The Edge Plus specs are fine on paper, but exclusivity and bloatware courtesy of Verizon (the owner of Engadget’s parent company) takes some appeal away, and its Endless Edge display looks better than it feels.
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Apple's growth stalls as it deals with COVID-19's impact

But its services reported revenue of $13.3 billion -- an all-time high.

iPhone SE & 11
Engadget

Despite raking in $4.37 billion from its iPad business and $5.35 billion off Mac sales, the company still fell short of the watermark it set this time last year. Since it accounts for the majority of Apple's business, it's little surprise Apple's iPhone business took the brunt of the damage -- sales fell from $31 billion in the year-ago quarter to $28.9 billion this time.

Apple wasn’t the only one to take a hit, as analysts reported the smartphone market worldwide plunged by as much as 17 percent from last year.
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Intel's flagship 10th-gen desktop CPU arrives with 10 cores

The battle against AMD continues.

Intel Core i9 10th-gen
Intel

After months of leaks and rumors, Intel has pulled back the curtain on its 10th generation S-series desktop chips, with the Core i9-10900K leading the pack. For around $500, you'll get a 10-core processor that can reach up to 5.3GHz, with a base speed of 3.7GHz.

While AMD is pushing more cores and better efficiency -- its chips are built on a modern 7nm architecture while Intel is still stuck on 14nm with these Comet Lake processors -- Intel is leaning on higher clock speeds. Performance-wise, Intel claims the i9-10900K is 10 percent faster than the last-gen 9900K in PUBG and 63 percent faster than the three-year-old i7-7700K (remember, the i9 chips didn't exist back then). The new processor is also around 18 percent faster at 4K video editing than the last-gen chip and 35 percent faster than the 7700K.

There's a redesigned Intel Extreme Tuning Utility that lets you turn off hyperthreading on individual cores -- key for reducing heat while overclocking.
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Walmart's two-hour Express Delivery is coming to thousands of stores

That’s one way to beat Amazon Prime.

Walmart box
Walmart

Amazon launched one-hour deliveries with Prime Now back in 2016, but that still isn’t an option in many areas across the country. Now Walmart is ready to roll out a competing option with Express Delivery, which it will feature at around 1,000 locations in early May, and nearly 2,000 “in the following weeks.”

For $10 extra on top of the existing delivery charge -- or only the $10 fee for Delivery Unlimited customers -- Walmart will send you the order to your door in under two hours.
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Upgrade your Raspberry Pi with a 12-megapixel camera with interchangeable lenses

Action!

Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi

The latest upgrade for your Raspberry Pi is an interchangeable lens camera for budding photographers or folks who want to learn how to integrate a camera into their build projects. It comes with a Sony 12.3-megapixel back-illuminated sensor and a mount that works with off the shelf C- and CS-mount lenses used on industrial and 16mm film cameras.

It comes with a back-focus adjustment ring and tripod mount, and the larger format sensor is close to what you’d see on a compact camera, rather than a smartphone. It does, however, look ridiculous strapped to a giant lens.
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Epic cancels 2020 Fortnite World Cup

Nope, not even online.

Epic is the next big game developer cutting physical esports tourneys. The company has canceled the 2020 Fortnite World Cup outright in addition to moving all other Fortnite events online. Epic said that the “limitations of cross region online competition” made online tournaments at this level impractical.
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Microsoft offers virtual graduations with up to 20,000 attendees

It's doubling its audience limit on Teams Live Event for schools.

Microsoft
Microsoft

Most students will be missing out on traditional graduation ceremonies this year as social distancing keeps graduates apart. However, virtual versions can still go ahead, and an arena-sized audience can attend on Microsoft Teams.

From early May through July 1st, holders of a Microsoft Office 365 A1 faculty license, which is free to educational institutions, can run Teams Live Events with up to 20,000 attendees at no added cost -- double the standard limit.
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But wait, there’s more...

ICANN won’t let a for-profit group buy control of the .org domain

Reddit pulled its new 'Start Chatting' feature after less than 24 hours

Microsoft opens free registrations for the online-only Build 2020 event

Amazon plans to spend $4 billion on COVID-19-related expenses

Blue Origin and SpaceX win contracts to develop NASA's Moon spacecraft

'Doom Eternal' isn't the 'Doom' sequel I wanted -- but I still loved it

Wazr starts beta testing lane guidance

'Assassin's Creed Valhalla' arrives this holiday on Xbox Series X and PS5