Qualcomm introduced its latest flagship processors last week in their Snapdragon Summit 2024, and its top featured chipset here is the Snapdragon 8 Elite, making up this week's Tech Times Weekly Wrap. It is followed by the latest from the Big Red of Japan which is now in its music streaming era as the Nintendo Music app debuted to the world to offer the original songs used in its games.
Apart from top developments, there was also a cybercrime nightmare from last week as Microsoft issued a warning regarding Russian state-linked hackers who launched their phishing campaign worldwide.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite is Here to Bring Massive Upgrades
Qualcomm introduced what it claims to be the most powerful smartphone chipset in the world with its Snapdragon 8 Elite, offering significant new upgrades to its flagship processor lineup. However, it is not just an upgrade, asQualcomm introduced its 'Holy Trinity' of compute power as it combines the Oryon CPU, Adreno GPU, and the Hexagon NPU to bring newfound power.
Its main specialty is on-device AI, as it can run any model and deliver significant performance alongside it, focusing on an improved chipset, building from its previous Snapdragon X Elite.
With this, Qualcomm promises improved performance for mobile gaming, camera capabilities with its AI-ISP, 5G upgrades featuring AI, Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, and more. Currently, the ASUS ROG Phone 9 and Xiaomi's 15 Pro confirmed that they possess this latest processor from Qualcomm.
Nintendo Music App Offers Game OSTs to Stream
Nintendo has expanded its entertainment offers to the world outside of gaming and motion picture developments, as now there is the 'Nintendo Music' app which offers music streaming for all. However, while it is regarded as the "Nintendo Spotify," it will be far from what these platforms are offering as Nintendo focuses its library to feature its games' original soundtracks (OSTs).
From the likes of "Mario," "The Legend of Zelda," "Animal Crossing," and more, Nintendo is now allowing users to enjoy the songs that play whenever launching, playing, finishing, or leveling up in a game.
However, it is an exclusive experience only for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, but the good thing is, that existing users need not pay another subscription fee as it is available for free alongside their online gaming accounts.
Microsoft: Russian Hackers Phishing Scam
Microsoft has found in its latest cybersecurity investigations that Russian intelligence-linked hackers are now launching a spear-phishing campaign, previously identified by the United States and United Kingdom authorities. It was revealed that the group called "Midnight Blizzard" is behind this new high-level cyber espionage which started its series of attacks on October 22.
According to reports, countries like Australia, Europe, Japan, and the US are affected by the spear-phishing campaign via emails of the group, targeting the likes of government agencies, IT service providers, and more.
The group is also known as the notorious "Cozy Bear" and "APT29," and has launched over 10,000 spear-phishing emails to as many as 100 organizations already, using inside information that it stole from renowned entities. The threat actors have been masquerading as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft representatives, and the emails contain a signed Remote Desktop Protocol attachment that leads to the group's servers.
