AMD basically leaked its own hardware by shoving a Ryzen 7 9850X3D into driver support pages without saying anything official. The chip showed up next to other Zen 5 desktop parts with 3D V-Cache, but there is zero spec sheet or press release backing it up. Data miners caught the listing the same way they spotted the Ryzen 5 9600X3D before launch.
Rumors point to 8 cores with 96 MB of L3 cache and a boost clock around 5.6 GHz versus the 9800X3D hitting 5.2 GHz. That bump could help competitive gaming at high refresh rates, but cramming more speed into the same 120W envelope might cost efficiency. The 9800X3D dropped at roughly $512, which gives a baseline for where this new part might land if it actually ships.
The catch is that...
Someone dropped a sketchy BIOS for the ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 that lets the card pull 2000 watts, which is way past anything consumer cards should handle. ASUS said they never made this firmware and told people not to touch it because it could fry your hardware instantly. The file probably got made with community tools that mess with power tables at a low level, and even extreme overclockers think that wattage is wild.
The company warned that flashing unofficial firmware voids warranties and breaks past safety limits that keep the GPU and power delivery from melting down. The real problem is how easy it is for modded files to end up on public databases where they sit next to legit firmware, and users might not catch the difference...
A new group called Afro Sports Tourism just launched in Harare and wants to turn Zimbabwe into a regional sports hub that pulls tourists and cash. Co-founder Nyasha Sanyamandwe said the country already has solid material across 84 registered sports and recent international events like the Rugby World Cup qualifiers, Warriors making Afcon, and cricket tournaments have put Zimbabwe on the map. The group plans to work with local organizations to maximize visitor spending when these competitions happen while marketing different parts of the country.
Sanyamandwe pointed out that post-pandemic trends favor health-focused travel and recreational sports, which have been massive tourism drivers in places like South Africa. Zimbabwe got listed...
Economists torched Zimbabwe's 2026 budget for squeezing citizens harder while pretending to offer breaks. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube dropped IMTT on local currency deals by half a percent but cranked VAT from 15% to 15.5%, which wipes out any gains since VAT hits everyone and poor people catch the worst of it. Economist Chenayimoyo Mutambasere said the IMTT cut means nothing when people already ditched the local currency after getting burned by past reforms, and over 90% of transactions happen in dollars anyway.
The budget wants to pull in an extra $1.47 billion through aggressive taxation that targets informal businesses with rental levies and cash withdrawal fees. Economist Vince Musewe said revenues just reward party loyalists...
ZCTU secretary general Tirivanhu Marimo torched the 2026 National Budget for ignoring workers who are getting hammered by rising costs and stagnant pay. The government kept the income tax-free threshold frozen while bumping VAT to 15.5%, slapping a 15% withholding tax on digital services from offshore platforms, and cranking betting tax from 3% to 20%. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube cut IMTT on ZiG transactions to 1.5%, but Marimo said the VAT hike cancels out any relief.
The budget skipped unemployment benefits even though most people work in the informal sector, and pensioners keep getting tiny payouts that inflation destroys. Marimo blasted the cash withdrawal fees for pushing people away from banks and back to hiding money at home...
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries went after the government for keeping the Intermediated Money Transfer Tax around despite warnings that it wrecks production and makes businesses less competitive. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube dropped the rate on ZiG transactions to 1.5% from 2% but left forex transfers at 2%, which CZI said still creates a cascading tax problem where the same money gets hit multiple times as it moves through supply chains.
The levy hits every electronic payment at full value, whether companies are profitable or bleeding cash, and it can't be recovered on exports. CZI pointed out that formal business activity shrank to 23.9% from 40% while the informal sector dodges the tax entirely by using cash, which pushes...
Aurally Sound put out Prism, which is an audio-to-MIDI converter that runs on machine learning and apparently handles polyphonic stuff without falling apart. The plugin works best with solo recordings like guitar, piano, bass, and strings, and it keeps velocity and timing details when it spits out MIDI. The company said it can catch chords and single-note runs, plus performance quirks that usually get lost in translation.
The tool costs 69 bucks and needs a DAW with ARA support to actually function. Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, and Cakewalk Sonar all work with it, and Logic Pro runs it through Rosetta if you have an Intel or Apple Silicon machine.
Sinevibes dropped Cache, which is basically a plugin that records your audio in real time and lets you mess with it through a bunch of buffer-based tricks like looping, reversing, scratching, and time stretching. You can stack up to 12 effects at once and fire them off using MIDI notes with crazy precision, which makes it pretty solid for live sets or just messing around in the studio.
The thing runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux through VST3, AU, and AAX formats. They built in smooth interpolation and fade envelopes to keep everything sounding clean when you switch between effects. The company is asking $49 for it right this second.
Universal Audio just launched Paradise Guitar Studio, a single plugin that crams their whole recording chain into one package. The thing has 11 tube amp models, 35 cabinet and mic setups recorded by pros, and over 25 effects units from classic pedals to studio gear like the 1176 compressor. The interface looks like a pedalboard, and it ships with more than 300 presets covering everything from clean tones to heavy stuff.
Senior Product Designer James Santiago said they wanted guitarists to feel like they walked into a professional recording space. The plugin works on Windows 10 and up, plus Mac systems running version 11 or later in VST3, AU, and AAX formats. Right this second, it costs $149 instead of the regular $199 price.
