Latest News - Page 1059

ASUS has detailed its two new X670E motherboards during AMD's recent "Meet The Experts" event, where we now have some more details on the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme and ROG Crosshair X670E HERO motherboards, ready to rock on with Zen 4.

ASUS showed off its flagship ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme and ROG Crosshair X670E HERO motherboards, where the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme is an absolute behemoth, that also looks delicious. It rocks super-enthusiast-grade 10GbE networking, USB4 connectivity, RGB lighting, and so much more.

ASUS drops 10GbE and a bunch of weight and size with the ROG Crosshair X670E HERO, it's a smaller motherboard, but still has enthusiast-grade 2.5GbE networking, USB4 connectivity, and more. Both boards of course have PCIe 5.0-ready M.2 SSD slots, and 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots ready for next-gen graphics cards, or RAID cards for some monster storage setups.

Activision made more money from mobile in Q2 2022 than all other platforms combined, signalling the importance of breakout hits like Diablo Immortal.

Diablo Immortal is helping buoy Activision-Blizzard earnings amid stabilization of pandemic spending highs. The publisher has reported significant revenue drops The popular mobile game helped Blizzard's mobile earnings skyrocket by 462% year-over-year, and with the help of Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile, has catapulted total company mobile earnings.

In Q2 2022, mobile generated $831 million and accounted for 51% of total quarterly earnings. Mobile beat all other segments combined including console ($376 million), PC ($332 million), and other, which includes distribution and Overwatch/Call of Duty League earnings ($105 million).

Activision's Q2 2022 period doesn't meet or beat last year's record highs as revenues slide by $652 million.

Call of Duty Vanguard and World of Warcraft were the major contributes to Activision's recent earnings drop. Activision-Blizzard reported $1.644 billion in net revenues during the Q2 period, down 29% or $652 million from Q2 2021's record $2.296 billion. Tough comparisons were the main reason for the drop in revenues; Q2'21 had the might of Black Ops Cold War swinging into the mid-year season after the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S from the year-ago holiday period, coupled with World of Warcraft's Shadowlands from a year prior and new classic content.

"The decrease in...net revenues...was primarily driven by a decrease in revenues of $627 million due to lower revenues from Call of Duty Vanguard (as compared to Black Ops Cold War) and World of Warcraft," Activision wrote in its Q2 earnings report.

Blizzard Entertainment's mobile segment earnings are up 462% year-over-year thanks to Diablo Immortal's release in June.

Activision-Blizzard just posted up its Q2 2022 earnings, and while overall revenues and metrics are down, game segments like Blizzard are showing growth in key platforms. Blizzard's mobile revenues hit $90 million in Q2'22, up 462% over the $16 million earned in Q1'22.

In terms of raw earnings, mobile only generated $28 million in revenues for Blizzard during the period. However the company recognized $62 million in deferred revenues to boost total earnings to $90 million. These revenues likely reflect the release of Diablo Immortal.

Warner Bros' latest AAA game will not feature microtransactions, possibly signalling a move away from monetization.

Gotham Knights, the new Batman game that doesn't feature Batman at all, will not have microtransactions. WB Montreal recently confirmed the news on Twitter with a simple denial of the popular billion-dollar business model.

On paper this makes sense. Gotham Knights isn't a live game and only features two-player co-op. That being said, WB Games has infused microtransactions in other singleplayer-only games like Shadow of War...although the publisher did remove mTX after launch. Other games like Mortal Kombat also featured in-game purchases.

Tencent wants to buy more stock in Ubisoft and possibly take over the company, sources have told Reuters.

Billion-dollar Chinese juggernaut Tencent, who has invested in dozens of video game firms over the last few years, has set its sights on Ubisoft. Tencent had originally secured a 5% stake in Ubisoft and helped the Assassin's Creed-maker stave off a hostile takeover from Vivendi in 2018. Now Tencent wants a bigger piece of the shares.

Sources have told Reuters that Tencent is looking to acquire an increased stake in Ubisoft in a bid to become the largest shareholder in the company. Ubisoft's current largest shareholder is a corporation run by the Guillemot family who has a combined 15.418% in Ubisoft shares. As of May 2022, shares were split up among institutions like JP Morgan Chase (10%), Credit Argicole Corporate & Investment Bank (10%), JP Morgan Securities (10%), The Capital Group (5%), and Baillie Bifford & Co (5%).

A study on the merger titled "The First Short GRB Millimeter Afterglow: The Wide-Angled Jet of the Extremely Energetic SGRB 211106A" has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Researchers led by Northwestern University and Radboud University have recorded one of the most high-energy, short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) ever, exploding from the merger of a neutron star and another nearby star. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the largest radio telescope in the world, the researchers produced a time-lapse of the GRB produced by the merger, generating a large flash of light radiation.

A study on the synthetic embryos titled "Post-Gastrulation Synthetic Embryos Generated Ex Utero from Mouse Naïve ESCs" has been published in the journal Cell.

Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science have grown synthetic mice embryos with only stem cells cultured in a petri dish. The process did not involve any sperm or eggs, the combination of which leads to the formation and growth of an embryo in nature. Allowing the stem cells to grow into an embryo and the organs that develop as the embryo grows paves the way toward using stem cells to grow tissues and organs using this model in the future.

Vertagear has just unveiled its latest Vertagear 800 Series gaming chair, celebrating its 7th anniversary in style with the special launch of its new gaming chair.

The new Vertagear 800 Series gaming chair is a "bold step towards a revolutionary future of ergonomics as it aims to tackle core health and comfort-related issues plaguing the industry-standard gaming chair". Vertagear has been developing the new gaming chair since 2019, with "countless man hours poured into research and testing".

Add in the new herbs and spices in the way of Vertagear's patent-pending ContourMax and VertaAir Seat, and promises to "tailor itself to each individual's specific needs to maximize comfort and healthy posture".

Lake Mead, the United States' largest reservoir, has dropped to its lowest level since the Hoover Dam was built to contain it.

The levels are their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time after the Hoover Dam's construction was completed in 1936. As of July 31st, 2022, Lake Mead is only 27 percent full, with the level of water elevation at the Hoover Dam dropping to 1,040.92 feet (317.3 meters) above sea level, compared to 1199.97 feet (341 meters) near the end of July 2000.

The lake's elevation reaches 1,220 feet (372 meters) at maximum capacity, and to continue the operation of the hydropower turbines at the dam, the water level should stay above 1000 feet. The continually dropping water levels have revealed numerous surprises, however, such as the body of a murder victim inside a barrel on May 1st.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the first "astronaut" that will be flying aboard NASA's upcoming Artemis I mission.

The Artemis I mission marks the first part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon. The program will use the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, and Artemis I will fly without any living crew members as it makes its way around the Moon. Artemis II will make the same journey but with human passengers. The Orion spacecraft will house astronauts on Artemis missions, including Shaun the Sheep for the first.

The Orion spacecraft includes the European Service Module, which Shaun has been familiarised with as he has engaged in an astronaut training program since 2020 in preparation for Artemis I. The preparation has seen him visit various sites across Europe and the USA to explore different aspects of the Artemis mission, a process which was documented and will be shared by the ESA as Artemis I's launch draws nearer.

The head of the United Nations (UN) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned of the "completely out of control" situation in Ukraine.

Europe's largest nuclear power plant (NPP), the Zaporizhzhia NPP, is located in Ukraine and has been the site of numerous battles since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24th, 2022. Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the IAEA, has pleaded with Russia and Ukraine to allow experts to visit the complex and contain any potential for a nuclear accident.

The plant has suffered shelling attacks and weapons fire on its premises, potentially compromising its physical integrity. Paradoxically, the plant is currently under Russian control, though Ukrainian staff continue to come and go from the plant to continue operating it. The IAEA claim to have contact with some of the staff, however, they are "faulty" and "patchy" according to Grossi.

A Diablo Immortal gamer has claimed to have spent $100,000 on upgrading his character but now is seemingly unable to play with any other players.

JT from the jtisallbusiness YouTube channel posted a video at the end of last month where he claims that he has spent around $100,000 on upgrading his Diablo Immortal character to its absolute maxed-out potential. As you can imagine, JT destroyed any opponents that attempted to fight him and broke several in-game records, according to Techspot.

The gamer's character was so powerful that the matchmaking system is now unable to find him an opponent of a similar level, meaning that JT is unable to clown on opponents with his pay-to-win gear. After contacting Blizzard about this issue more than a month ago, JT received a response from a Blizzard representative on August 2 that informed him they had "approved a fix" and that it would be implemented in the "next coming days". The details of this update weren't revealed.

NASA has taken to its social channels to share an image snapped by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that's tasked with mapping the Red Planet's geology.

NASA explains on its website that the above image is a martian ridge that researchers suspect was created from the erosion of the surrounding area that could be an indicator of an ancient fluvial channel. Notably, NASA states the ridge itself is made of much tougher material than what's surrounding it, as indicated by the craters on its flanks.

Furthermore, NASA explains that the erosion is still taking place, which is evident by the "fresh" boulders and sand dunes that are forming alongside the ridge and its outskirts. As previously stated, the image was snapped by NASA's $720 million Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which was launched on August 12, 2005, and was designed to study the geology and climate of Mars while also providing a relay point for data acquired by rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance.

Three individuals were caught in a car while a severe bought of hail fell from the sky, causing damage to multiple vehicles.

Gibran Marquez Cedillo and his two friends were stuck in a car when a severe weather system hit Alberta on August 1. Cedillo recorded the event on his phone, and the footage stands as a representation of what many residents in the area experienced as it shows softball-sized hailstones impacting several vehicles in the area and individuals ducking for cover.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, there were at least 34 vehicles that were damaged as a result of the hailstorm, with many of the owners reporting shattered windows and windshields. Cedillo's vehicle was damaged, and according to his statement to Storyful, the event lasted about 17 minutes. During that time, Cedillo and his two friends were "fearing for [their] lives". If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A large sinkhole has just opened up and has caused officials to dispatch experts to the area to begin an investigation.

The sinkhole randomly appeared over the weekend in Chile, approximately 500 miles north of Santiago, according to the National Geology and Mining Service. Officials have already dispatched experts to the area to begin an investigation, and according to preliminary results, the diameter of the sinkhole stretches 104 feet, with current estimates putting its depth at about 200 or more feet.

As you can imagine, experts have fenced off the area by putting a 300-foot perimeter around the hole. Luckily, the appearance of the sinkhole didn't cause any damage to personnel, equipment, or infrastructure in the area. Furthermore, Canadian firm Lundin Mining, which operates the nearby Alcaparrosa mine, has said in a statement that its temporarily suspended mining operations.

A team of archaeologists has unearthed an ancient Egyptian cemetery for the pharaohs that dates back some 4,500 years.

Researchers believe there were six sun temples constructed to honor the ancient Egyptian god Ra, the god of the Sun, kings, and the sky. Only two of these temples were discovered, but now a team of Polish and Italian archaeologists has discovered a third during the excavation of the Abusir necropolis, the primary burial site for the pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.

The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt existed between 2465 and 2323 BC, and according to the Egyptian Ministry, the temple was constructed using mud bricks and had a weighted limestone entrance. Dr. Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that archaeologists accessed the temple through a limestone entrance which has a paved floor of mud bricks with some being embedded with a weighted face.

Researchers are on their way to slow down the process of dying, or perhaps, more accurately, healing damaged organs.

A team of Yale researchers have successfully revived dead pig organ cells by mixing the animals' blood with artificial hemoglobin and OrganEx, which is a solution that contains anti-inflammatory medicine as well as nerve blockers. The researchers also added nutrients and drugs that are known to slow down the death of cells.

Notably, the results from the study don't directly correspond to human cell revival, as further testing is required on OragnEx without the presence of nerve blockers. Furthermore, the researchers wish to perform the tests on humans eventually, but it isn't yet clear when those tests will happen or if any ethical barriers would present themselves in the researchers' quest to slow down the dying process. If proven to be effective, OrganEx could extend the viability of organ transplants.

Last month NASA's Perseverance rover snapped an image of the martian surface that caused the internet to claw for answers at what was seen in the image.

Perseverance managed to capture a strange string-like object in the photograph on July 12, sparking viral internet debate about the origin of the object and if it came from Earth or was natural to Mars. Following the widespread speculation from many individuals on Twitter, and the numerous reports from publications, NASA has confirmed the origin of the string-like object, and the answer is unsurprisingly underwhelming.

Originally, NASA speculated that the object was likely some part of Perseverance's own landing gear, and the space agency wasn't too far off from its first guess as it has now confirmed in a statement on Monday that the origin of the string-like object is Dacron netting, which is commonly used in thermal blankets. Notably, NASA concluded that the above netting has undergone significant "unraveling/shredding, suggesting that it was subjected to strong forces".

OWC has just unveiled its new Envoy Pro FX Portable SSD with Thunderbolt is now available in a larger 4TB capacity.

The new OWC Envoy Pro FX Portable SSD with Thunderbolt is compatible with USB, and now in a 4TB capacity SKU that offers up to 2.8GB/sec (2800MB/sec). It's also dust, drop, and waterproof certified... so it can take a beating, and still keep your data safe and secure.

If you're using a Mac or PC, or even work between them, the OWC Envoy Pro FX Portable SSD with Thunderbolt is bus-powered, so there's no annoying external power adapters required. You can use it for everything: content creators with photos and video, portable backups of your drives, a secondary or even portable OS boot drive, and so much more.