The SAP Best Tech Awards 2025 honoured ANZ organisations, including Telstra and Woolworths, for excellence in digital transformation and innovative SAP technology use. Read...

Santiago Blanquet discusses the growing importance of open-source networking in shaping modern technology landscapes. Read...

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Borderlands 4 takes the video game series to new heights. As Gearbox Software`s Anthony Nicholson explains to 9news.com.au, the help of the latest technology bought this new world to life. Borderlands 4 is out now. Read...

Steve Arentzoff has joined Globality as Chief Marketing Officer to lead marketing and boost its AI-driven autonomous sourcing technology in enterprise procurement. Read...

This year’s October Prime Day event starts today, October 7th, and will end at midnight Pacific, October 8th — a two-day event rather than a four-day sale like we had in July. Still, we’re already seeing some killer deals on everything tech, including flash drives. After all, everyone needs a great USB flash drive, and October Prime Day is an excellent time to grab one for cheap. Why listen to my recommendations? I’ve been a journalist for 19 years, with 13 of those years focused on consumer technology. I love sifting through deals and spend every day hunting down the very best sales on the very best tech. With October Prime Day, I’m exercising those muscles to help you find the best USB thumb drives worth your money. These hand-curated recommendations take price, reviews, and brand reputation into consideration. Best October Prime Day deals on 64GB to 256GB flash drives Kindston Ironkey Vault Privacy 50, 256GB, USB 3.2, Encrypted — $90 (42% off, was $155) SanDisk Ultra Luxe, 256GB, USB 3.2 — $21 (12% off, was $24) Lexar JumpDrive Dual, 128GB, USB 3.2 — $13.88 (37% off, was $22) The best deal of the lot is for the Kingston Ironkey Vault Privacy 50, where you can get 256GB of storage space for 42% off. The thing that makes this flash drive stand out is the fact that it can secure your data like no other. Plus, it comes with a rugged metal casing. Best October Prime Day deals on 512GB to 2TB flash drives PNY Pro Elite V3, 512GB, USB 3.2 — $45 (17% off, was $61) SanDisk Extreme Pro Dual, 512GB, USB 3.2 — $58 (28% off, was $80) A superb pick from this list is the Ultra Flair from SanDisk. This is a flash drive with a USB-A connector, 128-bit AES encryption, and up to 150MB/s transfer speeds for a quick job on moving files around. Other great October Prime Day deals These aren’t the only October Prime Day deals being tracked by the PCWorld team. If you’re looking to supercharge your home setup with the juiciest tech sales, hit the links for the best expert-curated picks we’ve found. Best Amazon October Prime Day tech deals: Great sales chosen by experts Best October Prime Day laptop deals: Gaming notebooks, 2-in-1s, and more Best October Prime Day deals on SSDs and storage Best monitor deals for October Prime Day: OLED, home office, and more Best October Prime Day deals on Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs Best October Prime Day mini PC deals: Big savings on tiny computers Best October Prime Day deals on battery chargers and power banks Best October Prime Day deals on Chromebooks Best October Prime Day deals on office chairs and standing desks Best October Prime Day PC computer deals USB flash drive deals FAQs 1. What capacity do I need in a USB flash drive? This is a question that you need to answer yourself because it really depends on what you plan to use it for. If you’re only moving work documents around, a small capacity like 64GB will be fine. If you want to use a flash drive for backing up photos, videos, games, and other big files, then you might want to go 512GB or larger. 2. What features should I prioritize when choosing a USB flash drive? First of all, our recommendation is to look at the flash drive’s transfer speeds. To ensure you get fast read/write speeds, you should get a USB 3.0 or above. USB 2.x drives are sorely outdated. Then, you have to make sure the flash drive can survive living in your pocket, getting crushed by your laptop, falling through your fingers, and so on. Aluminum casings will offer better protection in such cases. If the flash drive offers 128-bit AES encryption or better, your data will also have some extra protection in case you lose it, as the drive will be inaccessible and block out others from reading your data. 3. How did we find the best USB flash drive October Prime Day deals? Finding great deals can be difficult because not all discounts are worth covering. When looking for good October Prime Day deals, we compare the prices on Amazon with the regular retail price and check pricing history to see if there have been any changes lately and that the price drops are truly noteworthy. We also check product reviews to see if they’re reliable in the long run and live up to their promises. Read...

OpenAI partners with AMD to deploy 6 gigawatts of GPUs from 2026, boosting large-scale AI infrastructure with multi-year technology collaboration. Read...

In the ongoing war of AI investment, OpenAI has secured itself a new ally: AMD. The chip maker will trade millions of its upcoming Instinct MI450 GPUs for an investment by the AI company, worth up to 10 percent of its stock. The numbers, though, remain vague. The deal hinges on AMD’s ability to deliver “6 gigawatts” worth of Instinct MI450 GPUs, a rack-scale enterprise GPU chip that the chip manufacturer hasn’t begun shipping yet. If it begins shipping the MI450 by an undisclosed milestone and in undisclosed amounts, then OpenAI has warrants to buy the company’s stock, worth up to 160 million shares. That would be about 10 percent of its current outstanding shares, according to CNBC. AMD must deliver its first tranche, or shipment, of MI450 GPUs by the second half of 2026, worth one gigawatt. The total deal encompasses six gigawatts, though the company’s announcement of the deal didn’t put a timetable to the final shipments. It also includes “multiple generations” of Instinct chips. Since AMD hasn’t formally announced the MI450 yet, it’s unclear how six gigawatts’ worth translates to in actual chips. Assuming that the MI350X draws a kilowatt of power apiece, and that the older MI300X drew a board power of 750 watts, I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a projection. It returned a range of between three to six million GPUs, with a likelier target of between four and five million. That also assumes that the upcoming MI355X draws 1,400W, which hasn’t been confirmed. In the technology space, there’s one surefire domestic source of nearly unlimited cash — and no, it’s not the Trump administration. That administration has already agreed to convert its CHIPS Act investment into Intel and transfer it into a nearly 10 percent stake. OpenAI’s cash reserves aren’t publicly known, but it’s in the process of raising a $40 billion funding round this year, and CNBC reports that the AI company is already pulling in between $10 billion and $13 billion per year. Is AMD headed for the cloud, and not the PC? But there’s a very uneasy subtext in all this, too. AMD chief executive Lisa Su now has a very loud, dynamic, and persuasive voice telling her to invest in high-end GPUs for the cloud, and not the PC. Every business, from Intel to Nvidia to AMD, has to decide how to spend their capital allotment and negotiate for production output inside TSMC and other fabs. “We are thrilled to partner with OpenAI to deliver AI compute at massive scale,” Su said in a statement. “This partnership brings the best of AMD and OpenAI together to create a true win-win enabling the world’s most ambitious AI buildout and advancing the entire AI ecosystem.” When a report was published last week that AMD might use Intel as a production partner, no one from Intel would comment. Charlie Demerjian at SemiAccurate reported that the rumor was simply not true. It most likely isn’t, but the problem in the breakneck world of AI, where truckloads of money are backed up to anyone who can use “AI” in a press release, is that most anything is somewhat plausible these days. Intel has already built tiles inside its Core Ultra PC processors at both its own fabs as well as at TSMC, of course. The second half of 2026 is far away, but enthusiasts do have to grumble and worry. With more and more emphasis being placed on GPU training and inferencing in the cloud, how much will be left for PCs? Nvidia already controls more than 90 percent of all PC GPU shipments, even after AMD had made waves about trying to aim at the mainstream PC market instead of the high end. If it can’t succeed in PCs, why wouldn’t it simply turn to the more lucrative enterprise market instead? Sure, Nvidia GeForce 5000-series GPUs may be near MSRP once again. But remove a source of competition, and who knows how long that will last? Read...

In the ongoing war of AI investment, OpenAI has secured itself a new ally: AMD. The chip maker will trade millions of its upcoming Instinct MI450 GPUs for an investment by the AI company, worth up to 10 percent of its stock. The numbers, though, remain vague. The deal hinges on AMD’s ability to deliver “6 gigawatts” worth of Instinct MI450 GPUs, a rack-scale enterprise GPU chip that the chip manufacturer hasn’t begun shipping yet. If it begins shipping the MI450 by an undisclosed milestone and in undisclosed amounts, then OpenAI has warrants to buy the company’s stock, worth up to 160 million shares. That would be about 10 percent of its current outstanding shares, according to CNBC. AMD must deliver its first tranche, or shipment, of MI450 GPUs by the second half of 2026, worth one gigawatt. The total deal encompasses six gigawatts, though the company’s announcement of the deal didn’t put a timetable to the final shipments. It also includes “multiple generations” of Instinct chips. Since AMD hasn’t formally announced the MI450 yet, it’s unclear how six gigawatts’ worth translates to in actual chips. Assuming that the MI350X draws a kilowatt of power apiece, and that the older MI300X drew a board power of 750 watts, I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a projection. It returned a range of between three to six million GPUs, with a likelier target of between four and five million. That also assumes that the upcoming MI355X draws 1,400W, which hasn’t been confirmed. In the technology space, there’s one surefire domestic source of nearly unlimited cash — and no, it’s not the Trump administration. That administration has already agreed to convert its CHIPS Act investment into Intel and transfer it into a nearly 10 percent stake. OpenAI’s cash reserves aren’t publicly known, but it’s in the process of raising a $40 billion funding round this year, and CNBC reports that the AI company is already pulling in between $10 billion and $13 billion per year. Is AMD headed for the cloud, and not the PC? But there’s a very uneasy subtext in all this, too. AMD chief executive Lisa Su now has a very loud, dynamic, and persuasive voice telling her to invest in high-end GPUs for the cloud, and not the PC. Every business, from Intel to Nvidia to AMD, has to decide how to spend their capital allotment and negotiate for production output inside TSMC and other fabs. “We are thrilled to partner with OpenAI to deliver AI compute at massive scale,” Su said in a statement. “This partnership brings the best of AMD and OpenAI together to create a true win-win enabling the world’s most ambitious AI buildout and advancing the entire AI ecosystem.” When a report was published last week that AMD might use Intel as a production partner, no one from Intel would comment. Charlie Demerjian at SemiAccurate reported that the rumor was simply not true. It most likely isn’t, but the problem in the breakneck world of AI, where truckloads of money are backed up to anyone who can use “AI” in a press release, is that most anything is somewhat plausible these days. Intel has already built tiles inside its Core Ultra PC processors at both its own fabs as well as at TSMC, of course. The second half of 2026 is far away, but enthusiasts do have to grumble and worry. With more and more emphasis being placed on GPU training and inferencing in the cloud, how much will be left for PCs? Nvidia already controls more than 90 percent of all PC GPU shipments, even after AMD had made waves about trying to aim at the mainstream PC market instead of the high end. If it can’t succeed in PCs, why wouldn’t it simply turn to the more lucrative enterprise market instead? Sure, Nvidia GeForce 5000-series GPUs may be near MSRP once again. But remove a source of competition, and who knows how long that will last? Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Decent performer for PCIe 4.0 HMB Super-stylish and beefy heatsink Affordable given the heatsink Cons Runs off of secondary cache in PS5 Our Verdict You can use Orico’s PCIe 4.0 OS5 NVMe SSD in the PS5 it’s marketed towards, however PS5 doesn’t support HMB so it will operate off secondary cache. Workable, but not as quick as a DRAM design. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Orico OS5 PCIe 4.0 SSD Retailer Price $71.99 View Deal $79.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The OS5 NVMe SSD from Orico is a looker thanks to its stylish and beefy heatsink. It’s moderately fast for its ilk and will work fine, if not optimally in the PS5 it’s marketed for. That gaming console doesn’t support the host memory buffer (HMB) technology that the OS5 uses for primary caching duty on a PC. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparion. What are the Orico OS5’s features? You’ll notice from the photo at the head of the article that the OS5 ships with a rather hefty heatsink to fit its 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) form. It’s a PCIe 4.0, NVMe SSD using a host memory buffer (HMB) for primary caching in place of DRAM. The OS5’s controller is a Maxio 1602A and its NAND is 144-layer TLC (Triple-Level Cell/3-bit). Seemingly around 35 percent of that can be dedicated to secondary cache (Orico claims 20 percent), i.e., writing the NAND as single-bit SLC (Single-Level Cell). Another view of the OS5 and its handsome heatsink. Orico warranties the OS5 for five years, which is mitigated by a 600TBW (terabytes that may be written before read-only commences) per terabyte of capacity. That’s about average for the industry and 144-layer TLC. Should you ever want to know how close you are to your TBW limit, download CrystalDiskInfo or a similar utility and check the “percentage used” number. As this only increases with writes, it’s likely going be a lot less than you might imagine. My last main computer was only at 1 percent after two years, albeit with heavy use of external storage for many tasks. How much is the Orico OS5? The OS5 is $90 in the 1TB capacity, $150 for 2TB, and $280 for 4TB (prices on Amazon are about $20 less than that). That’s quite a bit of capacity for a reasonable price given that the included heatsink is generally a $10 to $15 option with most SSDs. I wouldn’t call OS5 an outrageous bargain, but it’s certainly competitive. How fast is the Orico OS5? Using our new test MO and equipment, the OS5 turned in the fourth fastest PCIe 4.0/HMB score out of six SSDs. Not great, though the difference isn’t vast in most tasks, as you’ll see below. The upshot is that even slower NVMe SSDs are really, really fast. The OS5 we tested was hurt by the fact that it’s only 1TB and nearly all the SSDs we test are 2TB or 4TB. Because of that, it ran out of secondary cache more quickly. This really took a toll in the 450GB write. But the OS5 was certainly competitive in CrystalDiskMark 8, including the sequential transfer tests shown below. The OS5 offers quite a bit of capacity for a reasonable price given that the included heatsink is generally a $10 to $15 option with most SSDs. The OS5 was competitive in CrystalDiskMark 8, including the sequential transfer tests shown here. Longer bars are better. CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K numbers were much the same story. Hardly awesome, but good enough for government work. CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K numbers were much the same story, not ground-shaking but close enough for rock n’ roll. Longer bars are better. When shuffling only 48GB around, the Orico OS5 was largely on par with the more capacious Lexar 2280 Play SE (another heatsink/HMB design marketed for the PS5), Teamgroup MP44Q, and WD Blue SN5100. Faster in some cases, a tad slower in others. Note that FastCopy is a highly recommended file transfer utility that operates far nearer the pace you see in synthetic benchmarks than Windows Explorer. When shuffling only 48GB around, the Orico OS5 was competitive with the more capacious PCIe 4.0/HMB SSDs. Faster in some cases, a tad slower in others. Shorter bars are better. The 450GB write is where the OS5 was body-slammed by its competitors. The result of the already discussed lower capacity and lack of secondary cache. However… Arrgh! With only 1TB on board, the OS5 was at the mercy of other 2TB/4TB SSDs with more secondary cache. Shorter bars are better. …the long write news isn’t all bad. Once secondary cache is exhausted, the TLC still transcribes data to cells at a livable pace of around 1GBps. Believe me, I’ve seen worse. How about 75MBps in the early days of QLC? This really isn’t that bad a pace for native writing. Twice SATA. Not ideal, but not one of the 75MBps to 150MBps horror stories we used to see. Should you buy the Orico OS5? Though not optimal for the PS5, like other HMB designs, the OS5 will get the job done adequately and for a lot less than a DRAM model. I like the look of the heatsink, so if you find the right price, have at it. But to be honest, slapping a heatsink on HMB and then marketing the SSD as ideal for PS5 is not my favorite marketing schtick. That goes for Orico, but also Lexar with its Play 2280 series. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 24H2, 64-bit running off of a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro in an Asus Z890-Creator WiFi (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard. The CPU is a Core Ultra i5 225 feeding/fed by two Crucial 64GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (128GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 5 are integrated and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. Internal PCIe 5.0 SSDs involved in testing are mounted in a Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 adapter card. We run the CrystalDiskMark 8.04 (and 9), AS SSD 2, and ATTO 4 synthetic benchmarks (to keep article length down, we only report one) to find the storage device’s potential performance, then a series of 48GB and 450GB transfers tests using Windows Explorer drag and drop to show what users will see during routine copy operations, as well as the far faster FastCopy run as administrator to show what’s possible. A 20GBps two-SSD RAID 0 array on the aforementioned Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is used as the second drive in our transfer tests. Formerly the 48GB tests were done with a RAM disk. Each test is performed on a NTFS-formatted and newly TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This issue has abated somewhat with the current crop of SSDs utilizing more mature controllers and far faster, late-generation NAND. Note that our testing MO evolves and these results may not match those from previous articles. Only comparisons inside the article are 100% valid as those results are gathered using the current hardware and MO. Read...