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Meta's new Q2 earnings show another consecutive billion-dollar loss for its metaverse division.

Meta's Reality Labs segment has been posted billion-dollar operational losses for many quarters in a row as the social titan ramps up its metaverse endeavors. The division, which includes development of its Oculus VR headsets and its Horizon metaverse platform, is costing Meta big and its digital ecosystem ambitions are very, very expensive.

According to earnings data from Meta that was compiled by us, Reality Labs has lost over $18 billion in operating income since Q4 2020. Remember that Meta bought Oculus back in 2014, and released the first Oculus Rift in 2016, so these billion-dollar losses likely stretch back for many more years before the October - December 2020 period.

The falling piece of space junk is the core stage of a Chinese Long March 5B rocket.

The rocket launched on Sunday, July 24th, 2022, taking the Wentian module for China's Tiangong space station to orbit, the second module for the under-construction space station. Experts estimate that the rocket stage will stay in orbit for about a week before re-entering Earth's atmosphere on July 31st, around 3:30 a.m. EDT (07:30 UTC), plus or minus 22 hours, and then crashing to the ground to an as-of-yet unknown location.

The Aerospace Corporation noted that about "20-40% of the mass of a large object will reach the ground," meaning 5-9 tonnes (5.5-9.9 tons) of rocket will reach Earth, with the rest burning up in the atmosphere. The uncontrolled return of the Long March 5B rocket is the second of its kind, after an identical rocket did the same after delivering the first module of the Tiangong space station, Tianhe, to orbit on April 29th, 2021.

A study on the predator titled "A crown-group cnidarian from the Ediacaran of Charnwood Forest, UK" has been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Paleontologists have discovered a 560-million-year-old fossil of the earliest known predator from the animal kingdom. The animal has been named the Auroralumina attenboroughii in honor of Sir David Attenborough, with the first portion of its name meaning "dawn lantern" in Latin. The A. attenboroughii is related to the group of animals that includes corals, jellyfish, and anemones.

The fossil was found in Charnwood Forest near Leicester, England, where many famous fossils have been found. It is the oldest animal discovered to have a skeleton, and it predates the emergence of animals like jellyfish around 540 million years ago by about 20 million years. Jellyfish and many other animals appeared during the Cambrian Explosion, from which point much of the anatomy of living animals became fixed. However, this find suggests that this general anatomy may have been fixed at least 20 million years earlier.

A study on the bacteria titled "Plastic pollution fosters more microbial growth in lakes than natural organic matter" has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers from Cambridge University have studied 29 European lakes, finding that bacteria that were naturally present in the lakes grew faster and more efficiently when consuming degraded plastic bags instead of organic matter like leaves or wood. The bacteria broke down and ate the carbon compounds making up the plastics and appear to prefer the carbon compounds sourced from the plastic as they are easier to break down than carbon in organic matter.

Only a 4% increase in carbon levels due to plastic in water bodies resulted in a doubling in bacterial growth rate. The team believes that increasing the concentration of these bacteria in other water bodies polluted with plastic could be a viable means to remove the pollution. However, the researchers warn that this finding does not condone continued plastic pollution, which has a wide gamut of adverse consequences.

The footprints were spotted by researchers from Cornell University and the Far Western Anthropological Research Group.

Driving along the salt flats at the United States Air Force's Utah Testing and Training Range (UTTR), they spotted "ghost tracks" that only appear when the moisture conditions are right before disappearing again. They returned to the site the next day with ground-penetrating radar, and more tracks were discovered, created by bare feet and totaling 88 footprints from adults and children.

The trash was collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) by the non-profit organization, The Ocean Cleanup.

The Ocean Cleanup has collected its first 100,000 kilograms (220,462 pounds) of plastic from the patch, as announced by the organization on LinkedIn, saying "we have now officially cleaned up 1/1000th of the GPGP." The GPGP is the single largest collection of plastic in the ocean worldwide and is located between Hawaii and California. It is estimated to cover a surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers (617,763 square miles), about twice the size of Texas.

The GPGP is estimated to weigh approximately 80,000 tonnes (88,185 tons), equivalent to about 500 jumbo jets. This estimation only considers the densest, central region of the patch, as the density of mass decreases towards the outer boundaries. When factoring in the mass in both areas, the total mass is estimated to be around 100,000 tonnes (110,231 tons).

EVGA has just unleashed one of the most insane PC chassis ever made, with the introduction of its new E1 Frame Set: a new open-air chassis that is for the EVGA lover in anyone.

The new EVGA E1 chassis comes in three different SKUs: the bare E1 Frame set and GPU vertical kit for $1600 which makes up "EVGA E1 Kit 2", while the "EVGA E1 Kit 1" throws in the EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti KINGPIN and the free 1600W PSU that you get with it, for $3700.

EVGA wants to max out your credit card out with the monster "EVGA E1 Bare Bones" that includes everything that the E1 Kit 1 does, but also throws in the PowerLink 52u, the Z690 DARK KINGPIN motherboard, and a very, very awesome premium shipping case (that's worth $800 on its own). If you're building a brand new, super-high-end, all-EVGA system then that'll set you back $5000.

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AMD's higher-end Ryzen 9 SKUs of their next-gen Zen 4-based CPU family that includes the Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7900X, will use 170W of power by default.

The new AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7900X processors will have a 170W TDP when running normal voltages, but they'll chew more power when overclocked. We already know that AMD's higher-end Ryzen 7000 series SKUs would have a 170W TDP and 230W PPT, confirmed by Robert Hallock.

We know that AMD's new Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series CPUs will be hitting 5.5GHz pretty easily, 5.8GHz without a problem and I'm sure we're going to see 6.0GHz+ breached by overclockers. "HerbieHSSO" tweeted that the GIGABYTE leak confirmed the TDP and PPT of the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, with leaker "kopite7kimi" tweeted: that all "R9 SKUs with a normal voltage are base on 170W TDP".

XMG has just teased it will be launching its next-gen XMG NEO 17 (M22) gaming laptop is "coming in August" and it will be the most powerful XMG gaming laptop ever.

The new XMG NEO 17 (M22) gaming laptop will pack a 2560 x 1600 display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and super-fast 240Hz refresh rate. Inside, XMG will provide a large 99 Wh battery that will provide battery life for all of that powerhouse performance inside of the XMG NEO 17 (M22) gaming laptop.

XMG adds that the NEO 17 gaming laptop is expandable with their innovative XMG OASIS liquid cooling system, which will ensure the CPU + GPU will be as cool as possible inside. We should expect to see the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU.

Intel has its first graphics card since the Intel i740 and its benchmarking it with indoor environments of Death Stranding, which I'd say was a weird flex but not after reviewers calling the Intel Arc A380 graphics card like "sitting in a minefield, playing drunk".

Anyway, GPU marketing dude of Intel, Ryan Shrout, posted a new article and video on the official Intel Arc website and Intel YouTube channel. In the video, Shrout is using the Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition graphics card with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), HDR (High Dynamic Range) and HDMI 2.1 technologies.

Shrout tested an Intel-marketed Death Stranding with indoor environments, where it said it was running at 80-100FPS. I don't know if you'd want to be testing that particular game, in that particular way, for your first graphics card since the Intel i740, but that's where we are here in July 2022. I get it, but there are far better games and tests that could've been run... Death Stranding and indoor environments? Aight.

AFOX is teasing both AMD's next-gen RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards, and NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace-based GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards, registering a laundry list filled with graphics cards to the EEC.

The company makes a bunch of PC hardware including graphics cards, motherboards, SSDs and PSUs but man, AFOX is truly preparing for a bloody lot of next-gen graphics cards. AFOX has submissions for the new flagship AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Ti and GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards.

But it didn't stop there, it has filed submissions to the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) regulatory office for what seems like every possible model of next-gen graphics cards that both AMD and NVIDIA will be unleashing in the coming months. From the very top of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT down to the Radeon RX 7500, and the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti down to the GeForce RTX 4050.

NVIDIA is boxing up its next-gen GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs it seems, as we're now hearing that a Chinese GPU supplier is expecting their first batches of Ada Lovelace GPUs very, very soon.

In a recent PRO Hi-Tech tech news roundup, Ilya Korneychuk said that their Chinese GPU supplier is expecting to receive their first batch of GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs in less than a month. In some Google-powered translation from Russian, he explained: "our graphics card supplier in China has told us that it will receive the first batch of RTX 4000s in less than a month".

Pulling this all together: the last we heard is from a leaker that said that NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 4090 was actually really close, in that "we will see her soon". Before that, we heard that NVIDIA would be launching its higher-end GeForce RTX 4090 first in August, and then the GeForce RTX 4080 in September, and the GeForce RTX 4070 after that.

AMD has officially confirmed its next-gen Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series CPUs coming to the desktop in the coming months.

The company has confirmed the next-gen Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 5 7600X processors on the official AMD website, inside of the public AMD resource library spotted by VideoCardz. There isn't any news on the Ryzen 7 7800X and lower-end Ryzen 3 7000 series CPUs, but I'm sure they won't be too far away.

AMD's current and now kinda confirmed Zen 4 processor launch lineup was rumored over a month ago now, which was said to include the Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7800X, Ryzen 5 7600X. But it seems the 7800X was switched out, replaced with the 7700X. AMD does love the number 7, where it launched the Zen 3-based Ryzen 3000 series CPUs on 7/7/2019 on 7nm.

Development on the new Knights of the Old Republic remake has been halted as Saber Interactive and Aspyr Media fire key game developers.

The fate of the upcoming KOTOR Remake on PS5 remains uncertain. Sources have told Bloomberg that the KOTOR remake has been put on ice and Aspyr recently fired two high profile developers: Brad Prince, design director on the KOTOR remake who hired 25 level designers and has 20 years of experience in AAA game dev; and art director Jason Minor, who has been with Aspyr for 3 years.

Reports seem to suggest the game's presentation demo (also known as a "vertical slice") may have disappointed partners at Sony and Lucasfilm, leading to Aspyr firing both Prince and Minor and stopping production of the game. The slice may have cost too much money and time, one source suggested to Bloomberg, and full development of the game as presented in the slice would simply be too costly.

Sony has amped PlayStation Plus' value to better compete in the billion-dollar subscription service wars.

Services are the future of gaming. Live service games make platform-holders like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo billions of dollars every year. One of the most powerful offshoots of live gaming are value-oriented subscription services, which offer on-demand access to games for a monthly fee. Xbox successfully adapted the all-you-can-play Netflix content buffet model, and now Sony has done the same.

The key to having a successful content buffet is the quality and quantity of the content. Subscriptions have to provide value, and Sony is ramping up its efforts with a ton of new games in the PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium tiers.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will feature a playable female protagonist and be set in Vice City, sources have told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

GTA 6 was originally codenamed Project Americas and was to span across North and South America. That plan has been scrapped, and GTA 6 will now take place in Vice City, a fictional rendition of Miami.

The sequel is set to star two main characters based on a modernized Bonnie and Clyde. One of them, a playable female protagonist, will also be Latina, Bloomberg has learned. Unlike GTA V, whose story was set in stone and hasn't been touched since 2013, GTA 6's story campaign will also evolve over time with new missions and cities as the game shifts towards a service model.

Over the weekend, hundreds of people reported seeing a fireball light up the night sky over Texas, with some individuals seeing the event from surrounding states.

The object has been confirmed to be a meteoroid entering Earth's atmosphere over the Texas region, and according to the American Meteor Society (AMS), the fireball flew overhead at 10:52 pm on Sunday. The fireball that hundreds of people saw was unusually large when compared to the typical space debris entering Earth's atmosphere. According to the AMS, the meteoroid was approximately the size of a small car when it entered Earth's atmosphere and began burning up.

Furthermore, the AMS states that initial computer-generated trajectory indicates that it entered Earth's atmosphere over Cistern, Texas, and its flight ended a few miles west of Austin. Additionally, the AMS writes that many of the witnesses of the event reported hearing a sonic boom just after the fireball appeared in the sky, leading officials to say that it's possible that pieces of the meteor broke off and impacted the surface of Earth somewhere along its travel path.

In early June, Yellowstone National Park was devastated by torrential flooding that was so powerful it knocked out roads and homes and left individuals stranded.

Yellowstone is still recovering from the horrific natural disaster, and according to previous reports, the flooding came from the adjacent river, which caused the roads as well as some banks to erode and collapse into the rushing water. Notably, the park was closed due to the flooding, marking the first time in 34 years that officials were forced into closure. Furthermore, the flooding caused more than 10,000 visitors to exit the park as well as officials estimated that the damage caused by the flood water will likely take months to repair.

Now, Yellowstone has taken to its social channels to post a video that showcases the widespread flood damage that was caused, in particular to The Canyon and the North Entrance Road. According to the US Geological Survey, the immense volume of water is a "1 in 500-year event", which translates to just a 0.2% chance of a flood of this level occurring each year.

There are many ways humans die, and one way that may not necessarily exist now will certainly pose an issue in the future.

The ever-growing problem of space junk will not only present many issues for companies looking to launch satellite, etc, into Earth's orbit, but also for humans on Earth's surface. According to a newly published study as more space junk is gathered in Earth's atmosphere, humans will be at risk of falling space junk being a measured cause of death. Notably, the study predicts that within the next decade, there's a 6-10% chance that someone will die from falling space junk.

Falling space junk isn't something humans have had to worry about until now, but now space has been opened up to the commercial market, which is causing many companies to look at low-Earth orbit as a prospect for business. As a result of this, we can expect more and more satellites (etc) to blast off from Earth's surface, with one example being SpaceX set to send thousands of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit to provide internet connection.