IT Tech

 Today's comparison uses brand new fresh data for the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, GTX 1080 Ti and GTX 980 Ti. We're currently in the process of updating all our GPU data in anticipation of Nvidia’s soon to be released GeForce 30 series. So we thought, why not compare five years of flagship GeForce GPUs while we’re at it? Before we jump into all the benchmark data, let’s compare these three GPUs on paper. Looking at this basic side-by-side spec breakdown we see that back in 2015 the most you were paying for a GeForce GPU was $650, a price that no doubt seemed steep at the time. Then two years later the GTX 1080 Ti pumped that price point up to $700, which seemed reasonable given how significant that upgrade was in every conceivable way. Then 18 months after that we got the RTX 2080 Ti and this is where things seemed to get out of hand. Pricing for the flagship GeForce GPU jumped by ~43% to $1,000, or at least that’s what Nvidia told us upon release. The plan was for Nvidia to charge a ...

 As a culmination to our testing of Ryzen Mobile 4000-H processors and the various laptops they are found in, today we’re discussing the best AMD gaming laptops on the market so far. It's clear that mobile Ryzen is not as widely available as we wished, but various new laptops have been released and reception has been great, including the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and most recently the HP Omen 15, which launched with 10th-gen Intel chips and is now shipping the long awaited AMD model as well.  These recommendations are based on a number of factors. We’ve been fortunate to test a number of these options in-depth although some models are not available everywhere, so to strengthen this look we’ve spoken to other testers and gathered their impressions. We’ve also looked at every laptop in most available configurations, assessing all hardware options to see what products out there offer the best value, using the US retail market as a baseline. Our recommendations are split in three pric...

 Most animal cells need to become spherical in order to divide. To achieve this round shape, the cells must round up and deform their neighboring cells. In a growing tumor tissue, the tumor cells need to divide in an environment that is becoming more crowded than the healthy tissue. This means that the dividing tumor cells likely need to generate much higher mechanical forces to round up in such a densely packed surrounding. Yet, tumor cells seem to be adapted to overcome these difficulties. Scientists led by Dr. Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich were curious how do the tumor cells gain this enhanced ability to deal with the crowded tumor environment? The researchers found that the EMT could be one of the answers. What is it exactly? "EMT or epithelial-mesenchymal transition is a hallmark of cancer progression," says Kamran Hosseini, PhD student who performed the experiments. It is a cell transformation during which tumor cells lose their asymmetric organization and detach from the...

 Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered a molecule that can activate a natural immune-boosting protein called STING. The findings mark a key advance in the field of oncology, as the STING protein is known for its strong antitumor properties. STING (short for STimulator of INterferon Genes) marshals the immune system against viral and cancerous invaders and, because of its role in promoting antitumor immunity, has garnered enthusiastic interest from drug developers. However, STING's natural activators in the body are unstable DNA-related molecules that do not last long in the bloodstream. That has hindered the development of treatments based on them, and has prompted a search for a hardier STING-activating small molecule -- one that can circulate in the blood and work against tumors "systemically," wherever they may exist in the body. The Scripps Research scientists, who report their finding in Science on August 20, screened a set of suitable small molecules with d...

 The Honda S660 is a very tantalizing piece of forbidden fruit. It's hard not to be attracted to a tiny, affordable mid-engined roadster, but this machine is exclusive to the Japanese market. To make you want one even more, the tuner Mugen now has a range of new components for the pint-sized sports car. The pieces include a new front fascia with a sharper look, including a splitter with pointed ends at the bottom. It's not ostentatious but gives the car a more aggressive look. Buyers can also add optional LED fog lights and aero illumination to make the car's face a bit brighter at night. Side sills run along the body. They include an inlet in the rear fender, but it doesn't appear to be functional for cooling the brakes. Mugen also offers a piece that entirely replaces the factory rear bumper. It has much sharper creases than the stock section. There's also a diffuser along the bottom edge. As a further flourish, there is a set of wheels with eight skinny spokes in...

 Last year, I finally had occasion to get behind the wheel of a Lamborghini for the first time – you can read about the results of that test drive right here on Auto123, in fact. But there’s no denying this reality: despite its many qualities and its inspired madness, the Urus didn’t speak to me. At least, not like a Lambo-tagged supercar. Yes, the arrival of the Urus SUV did permit the Italian automaker to double its sales and it’s a model of capital importance to the top brass at the Volkswagen Group, but for me and probably for many others, a Lamborghini worth its salt has to hug the ground like a rug in the entrance hallway. It has to bug the neighbours when you start it up. It has to draw the attention of everyone you come across. Enter the 2020 Huracán EVO Spyder, which accomplished all this and more during the three days I was entrusted with it recently. Three days marked by summer storms and uncommonly humid weather. Personally, I wasn’t actually all that crazy about the cl...

The crowded market of gaming monitors has received two new 27-inch entries: Dell's S2721HGF 1080p curved display and the S2721DGF 1440p flat-panel. Unlike its Alienware division, Dell's latest 27-inch duo isn't going all-out in terms of design or specs but is focused on delivering value for money, especially with the curved 27-inch G-Sync compatible unit going for under $300. Dell S2721HGF 27" Curved Gaming Monitor Sporting a 1080p VA panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio, this model's 1500R curvature won't be as immersive as a curved ultrawide display but will likely excel when compared to a flat panel. Its affordable price point also lowers the bar for gamers new to fast curved monitors capable of 144Hz, 1ms response time, along with G-Sync and FreeSync Premium compatibility. The display doesn't support HDR but gets reasonably bright at 350 nits, supports 16.7M colors, and has a 3000:1 contrast ratio. In terms of I/O, there's 2 x HDMI 1.4 and 1 x DisplayPort...

 One particularly nice feature of these new Microsoft-certified systems is that they can be purchased with the Azure Stack HCI software already installed and configured on them, making them about as easy to set up and configure as possible. You literally plug them in and turn them on and they’re ready to install, making it suitable for smaller businesses, branch offices or other locations where there may not be dedicated or specially trained IT staff. In addition, Microsoft offers the option of installing the new Azure Stack HCI on existing data center hardware if it meets the necessary hardware certification requirements. Combining the software-defined data center (SDDC) capabilities inherent in HCI along with the cloud-native opportunities of Azure Stack initially was a big step forward in getting companies to modernize their data centers from both a hardware (HCI) and a software (Azure) perspective. While it may seem logical to do so, those two modernization efforts don’t necess...