This week on the TT Show, Lord of the Rings superfan (and also superfan) Jak and Kosta discuss Peter Jackson returning to The Lord of the Rings franchise with the new movie 'The Hunt for Gollum.' They discuss the potential story, timeline, and their hopes for a return to the magic of the original trilogy. And not, you know, The Hobbit.

Another big story this week is Apple's apologizing for its seemingly tone-deaf iPad Pro advertisement that quickly caused a massive wave of negative backlash. Is it as bad as some of the comments? As a fan of retro hardware who doesn't like seeing it get destroyed, Kosta thinks so, while Jak is more on the fence and 'meh.'

And it wouldn't be an episode of The TT Show without GPU news, with all of the latest GeForce RTX 50 Series, Radeon, and Intel graphics talk bundled into a new section of the podcast called 'GPU Corner.' Speaking of new sections, Jak and Kosta play a round of Guess the Headline for some fun.

Apple isn't expected to announce the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max until much later this year, likely in or around September. But expectations are already starting to grow and a new report has detailed which colors we should expect to be choosing from when the big launch comes around.

The information comes via the usually well-connected supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a post on the X social network. According to the post, it seems that Apple is getting ready to ditch the popular blue titanium color in favor of its complete opposite - a new rose color that could be similar to the rose gold that was popular on previous devices.

In that X post, Ming-Chi Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple is expected to offer the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in black, white or silver, and a natural titanium finish as well as that rose color we mentioned earlier. However, it's also worth noting that we could see some of the colors change even if they have the same name given the way Apple likes to tweak finishes. We only need to look at the various different space gray finishes of iPhones past.

If Apple sticks to a familiar pattern we can expect the company to announce a slew of new iPhones this coming September, starting with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Both handsets are set to go on sale alongside the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max and it's thought that they'll be powered by iOS 18, complete with a big new AI focus that is set to be announced at WWDC on June 10. Now, a new report appears to have outed the colors that iPhone 16 buyers can expect to be choosing from this fall.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is normally extremely well-connected which means that it's always worth paying attention when he shares details about upcoming iPhones. Now, he's shared details about the iPhone 16 colors in a post on the X social network.

According to the post, Apple will launch the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus in black, green, pink, blue, and white. However, he does note that it's possible that the colors will have different names - as an example, he says that white could be called Starlight as has been the case previously. It's also worth remembering that it's possible that even if an iPhone has the same color name as a previous model, it could actually be a very different color when you see it in person.

With Apple's WWDC event set to kick off on June 10, we're starting to hear more and more about what we can expect to be unveiled. For some time now the rumors have pointed to a big AI presence at the event, with iOS 18 in particular set to benefit from some new smarts that will be a big upgrade over what we're already familiar with. Expectations are high, and now a new report has added additional detail on what we should expect from Apple's big event.

The iPhone is one of the devices that is expected to benefit greatly from the new features and Apple is expected to preview iOS 18 at WWDC. That update isn't going to be released to the public until September, but WWDC will give us a flavor of what to expect while a developer beta will also be released for testing on June 10, too. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that Apple intends to add features that will improve Siri's voice capabilities, among other things.

The Siri upgrades are set to include an improved, more conversational feel, we're told, while services like auto-summarizing of notifications will also be part of the unveiling. There's also talk of the ability to get a synopsis of news articles while voice memos will also be transcribed upon request. Gurman also believes that there will be improvements to existing features like the ability to auto-popular calendar data as well as suggestions for apps.

The current-gen iPhone SE has been around since 2022 and while it's a solid option for people who want to be able to get into an iPhone without spending too much money, there's no denying that it is starting to show its age. Even when the handset was released in 2022 the phone looked aged thanks to the use of a Home button and the relatively small 4.7-inch display. That's all expected to change when the iPhone SE 4 arrives and while we've been told to expect a price hike, a new report suggests that anyone concerned about a potential $500+ device need not worry too much.

This is according to a new post by the X leaker Revegnus which claims that the US price of the iPhone SE 4 will see a price increase of around 10%, although there is still the possibility that the price won't increase at all. However, if it does, Apple is reportedly very keen to ensure that the price doesn't increase beyond $499.

The reasons for the iPhone SE to get more expensive for this fourth generation are pretty obvious. The rumors currently have the handset coming with a large 6.1-inch OLED display while Face ID is also thought to be part of the spec sheet. Both of those things will cost Apple more to produce than the Touch ID and LCD display combination that is currently in use.

ASUS has launched a new gaming monitor and the company has claimed its the world's first WOLED gaming monitor to come to market.

The company has just taken to its YouTube channel to share a trailer for the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG, the world's first glossy WOLED gaming monitor. The XG27AQDMG arrives with a 2560 x 1440p resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, 0.03ms (GtG) response time, and a 20% brighter image in SDR mode, according to ASUS. Additionally, ASUS also claims the XG27AQDMG will have deeper blacks and more vibrant colors.

Notably, the XG27AQDMG packs ASUS's third-generation OLED technology, which includes a custom heatsink, a clear pixel edge algorithm to clean up any text fringing, and "extreme low motion blur". As for color, ASUS claims the XG27AQDMG supports 99% of the DCI-P3 color space, or 135% of the RGB color space. There is also support for 10-bit color.

A stunning meteor passed through the night sky at speeds of more than 100,000 miles per hour, causing a bright flash of blue-green light.

Skywatchers over parts of Spain and Portugal were reminded of the incredible beauty of the cosmos when an asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere at extreme speeds. The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed the space rock was traveling at around 27.96 miles per second, and the space rock was actually a small piece of a comet. Additionally, the space agency said the chances of finding fragments of the astronomical object was very low as it likely burned up over the Atlantic ocean at an altitude of 37 miles.

What is most impressive about the comet fragment is how streaked across the sky, with the Scientists at the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) estimate the fireball covered more than 310.69 miles before "going extinct". The event was captured by many people in both Spain and Portugal, and has since gone viral on social media as hundreds of videos were posted showing incredible light display from various locations.

New research from the University of New Mexico has confirmed that microplastics have now been found within human testicle tissue.

A team of scientists analyzed testicular tissue taken from both dogs and humans and found microplastics in every sample. More shockingly, the human testicle tissue had a presence of microplastics three times higher than what was found in the dog testicle tissue. More specifically, the team discovered an average of 122.63 micrograms of microplastics per gram of tissue in canines, while human tissue was 329.44 micrograms.

The discovery of microplastics entering the male reproductive system has raised concerns about its presence impacting fertility, particularly after the team found canine samples that contained a higher quantity of polyvinyl chloride, correlated with lower sperm count in dogs. The team was unable to test the impact of polyvinyl chloride in the human tissue samples.

Astronomers published a new study in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy detailing the discovery of an exoplanet called SPECULOOS-3 b.

The newly found exoplanet is approximately 55 light-years away from Earth, which is in the world of astronomy is extremely close to our planet, given the vastness of the Milky Way. SPECULOOS-3 b orbits its host star once every 17 hours, and astronomers expect that its also tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet is perpetually being blasted by host stars light, while the other side is stuck in perpetual cold darkness.

Due to its proximity to its host star, SPECULOOS-3 b is being bathed in high amounts of radiation, peeling away any form of atmosphere the planet may have had at one stage. The lack of atmosphere and the impossibility of hosting water due to its extreme temperatures make SPECULOOS-3 b inhospitable to life as we know it, but that isn't why astronomers are excited about it.

Microsoft is preparing to announce one of, if not the biggest change to Windows in its existence, which is the inclusion of artificial intelligence-powered tools.

The company is set to showcase its latest integrations of AI into PCs at the Build developers conference on Tuesday. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said in January 2024, AI will become the "first-class part of every PC". That shift has already begun with the inclusion of Copilot chatbot assistant in Microsoft's Bing search engine, and direct integration into Windows 11.

What users can expect out of tomorrow's conference is Microsoft explaining how AI will become fully integrated into Windows, specifically Windows 11, and what users will be able to do on the next generation of AI PCs. More specifically, AI PCs will have a two-purpose goal: increase the number of PC sales and maintain Microsoft's position in the AI industry via AI being rolled out to millions of Windows users.

Intel has released Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.5522 (WHQL Certified) for its Arc graphics cards for desktop and mobile Intel Core Ultra processors. It brings day one support for this week's big PC release, the highly anticipated Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, alongside optimizations for Starfield's big May 2024 update and support for Wuthering Waves and Ubisoft's XDefiant.

Starfield performance for Intel Arc GPUs has been something of a disappointment for months, so it's good to see progress being made here - with Intel noting that desktop Arc owners should see an 8% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings and a 7% average FPS uplift at 1440p with High settings. It's not a game-changer, like some previous Arc driver releases that have brought massive 100%+ improvements, but welcome nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the driver's release notes still list several outstanding Known Issues related to games like No Rest of the Wicked, DOOM Eternal, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora crashing and software like the popular video more upscale Topaz Video AI having issues exporting videos.