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Ubisoft to reveal new Assassin's Creed game on September 10
Ubisoft will reveal the future of Assassin's Creed during a new Ubisoft Forward event this September.
Like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft also skipped the usual summer E3-timed schedule in favor of a showcase down the line. Ubisoft Forward, which is basically Ubisoft's own E3 segment/show, will now premiere on September 10.
This particular stream should have some interesting reveals. In a recent blog post celebrated 15 years of Assassin's Creed, the publisher confirmed that it will reveal something related to Assassin's Creed in September.
Continue reading: Ubisoft to reveal new Assassin's Creed game on September 10 (full post)
Forspoken delayed once again, will now launch in 2023
Forspoken, the unique magic-only action RPG that was among the first games to cost $69.99 on Steam, has been delayed once again.
Today Square Enix announced that its new RPG Forspoken has been delayed to January 24, 2023 on all platforms. This marks the second major delay for the hack-and-slash fantasy game, which was originally supposed to launch in October 2022.
The delay apparently isn't because of internal issues. The developers at Luminous Productions say that Forspoken is finished and is currently being polished, and say the delay is because of a consensus it made with its partners.
Continue reading: Forspoken delayed once again, will now launch in 2023 (full post)
Sony officially confirms God of War Ragnarok release date
God of War Ragnarok will release on November 9, 2022 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Sony today confirmed.
The wait is finally over. Following months of frenzied fan hype, the release date of God of War Ragnarok is upon us. Sony Santa Monica today released a short new cinematic trailer that announced the November release date, showing Kratos and his son Atreus facing off against a fearsome towering Loki in wolf form.
Pre-orders for God of War Ragnarok go live on July 15 and Sony will be offering four editions (yes, four) of the game including: Standard, Digital Deluxe, Collector's, and Jotnar. Check below for more information on what's included in each edition, and more info about the game. Oh, and PS4 owners will not be getting a free PS5 upgrade for God of War Ragnarok--you'll have to be a $10 upgrade fee to go from PS4 -> PS5.
Continue reading: Sony officially confirms God of War Ragnarok release date (full post)
GTA IV, RDR1 remasters cancelled, Rockstar focused on GTA 6
Rockstar Games has cancelled any plans for Grand Theft Auto IV or Red Dead Redemption remasters so it can exclusively focus on GTA 6's development.
Grand Theft Auto 6 has Rockstar's full attention, and the studio may not release any mainline games until after GTA 6 launches. A bit ago, renowned insider Tez2 was told be a reliable source that RDR1 and GTA IV remasters were on the drawing board at Rockstar Games. Then the disastrous GTA remaster tanked the collective goodwill with the developer, which was already in lower spirits partly because of Red Dead Online's sparse updates.
Now sources tell Kotaku that the GTA giant is narrowing its AAA vision to GTA 6, which is rightly so given the massive importance of the project. Kotaku's sources say that new remasters aren't "out of scope" and could happen at some point...just not any time soon.
Continue reading: GTA IV, RDR1 remasters cancelled, Rockstar focused on GTA 6 (full post)
Tesla unveils new 'range extender trailer' with solar panels and more
Tesla has shown off a new "solar range extender trailer" at the IdeenExpo in Hanover, Germany.
The solar-panel-laden trailer also has a Starlink internet system to connect with the satellites in SpaceX's network. Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers like Lightyear have produced cars with their own solar panels built in, however, Tesla seems to be taking a different route to extending the range of its vehicles.
The relatively low efficiency of solar technology means such vehicles can't significantly extend their range beyond what the inbuilt battery capacity offers. However, some owners of other EVs have still opted to augment their experience by using separate, portable solar panels for charging their vehicles.
Continue reading: Tesla unveils new 'range extender trailer' with solar panels and more (full post)
Spanish authorities seize huge drug-smuggling underwater drones
The Spanish National Police released footage from the seizure on July 4th, 2022.
A 14-month investigation has resulted in the arrest of eight people across Spain; in Cadiz, Malaga, and Barcelona. Spanish police confiscated three large underwater drones used for smuggling drugs from Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow strip of the sea only 13 kilometers (8 miles) wide, separating Morocco from Spain. It is the first discovery by the Spanish police of remotely-operable submersible vehicles.
Only one of the submersible drones was fully built, with the other two still being constructed by the gang operating them, which are believed to have been intended for delivery to a French gang. Each submersible can allegedly transport up to 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of cargo. The police also seized six "large aerial drones," rounding out 13 different vehicle types found in the gang's possession.
Continue reading: Spanish authorities seize huge drug-smuggling underwater drones (full post)
NASA accuses China of planning to 'take over' the Moon, China responds
Bill Nelson, the Administrator of NASA, has been vocal about being wary of China's space program, including its activity regarding the Moon.
Nelson recently spoke with German newspaper Bild, stating "we must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out'," during an interview published on July 2nd, 2022. He went on to describe the Chinese space program as a military endeavor, and reiterated sentiments he has previously expressed about China's apparent penchant for stealing technology and more.
Nelson's remarks have drawn the ire of Beijing, with Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, describing them as a continuation of a "smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors" by the United States. Lijian also said that "China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks."
Continue reading: NASA accuses China of planning to 'take over' the Moon, China responds (full post)
Cosmonauts use space station to display 'anti-Ukraine propaganda'
The International Space Station (ISS) and its crew have thus far kept the situation in Ukraine from interfering with their work and relationships.
Nevertheless, on Monday July 4th, 2022, just over four months out from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, new photographs from aboard the space station have been shared on Telegram by Roscosmos, Russia's state space corporation. Featured in the images are the cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev, and Sergey Korsakov, holding the flags of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic.
Continue reading: Cosmonauts use space station to display 'anti-Ukraine propaganda' (full post)
Three brand-new particles discovered by the Large Hadron Collider
CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is back up and running after a three year hiatus, operating at its highest power yet.
Now, the LHCb experiment at the LHC has observed three never-before-seen particles: a new type of pentaquark, and two new tetraquarks. Quarks are elementary particles that combine to make hadrons, the most common of which are protons and neutrons, found inside the nucleus of atoms. Six different kinds of quarks exist, the up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom quarks, and the LHC has been able to observe new combinations of them in four (tetra-) and five (penta-) arrangements.
Protons and neutrons are made from a combination of three up and down quarks, however, exotic hadrons like the newly discovered tetraquarks and pentaquarks contain less common quarks. The new pentaquark contains a charm quark, a charm antiquark (the antimatter equivalent of a charm quark), an up, a down, and a strange quark, making it the first pentaquark observed to be made with a strange quark.
Continue reading: Three brand-new particles discovered by the Large Hadron Collider (full post)
Intel's rebranded 7nm node, Intel 4, enters mass production in 2H 2022
Intel's next-gen "Intel 4" process is on track heading into volume production in 2H 2022, according to the very latest information from DigiTimes.
The site reports that "Intel 4, formally known as Intel's 7nm process, is on track to get ready for volume production in the second half of 2022, according to the chip vendor". Intel has been lagging behind in its process node for years now, but have slowly been playing catch up... the Intel 4 process node is a re-branded Intel 7nm node, just so you know.
But, the new Intel 4 process node is the star of the show when it comes to the next-gen 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPU series, which will be launching in 2023. Intel will also be using its upcoming Intel 4 process node for its enterprise-level Granite Rapids CPUs, too.
Continue reading: Intel's rebranded 7nm node, Intel 4, enters mass production in 2H 2022 (full post)
Intel Raptor Lake-S CPU platform: DDR5-5600 support, 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes
Intel's new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs are a few months away yet, but we've got previews and reviews out already, and now some more details are coming out from a presentation held in Shenzen, China, by Intel this week.
The meeting itself saw Intel focusing on NAS products and other roadmaps, but there was a slide that Intel had up titled "Raptor Late-S Platform Overview" with some new details. The slide teases that Intel's next-gen Raptor Lake-S will support DDR5-5600 memory officially, a big jump over the current 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs with support for DDR5-4800 (the JEDEC default for DDR5).
Not only that, but the slide also means that Intel's upcoming Raptor Lake CPUs will have support for DDR4 memory, with up to DDR4-3200 supported. Intel's current-gen 600-series chipset and its associated motherboards have SKUs with DDR4 or DDR5 memory, so it looks like we can expect the same for the upcoming 700-series chipsets: motherboards with either DDR4 or DDR5 memory.
Continue reading: Intel Raptor Lake-S CPU platform: DDR5-5600 support, 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes (full post)
GIGABYTE S55U gaming monitor: 55-inch 4K 120Hz with Android OS
GIGABYTE has just unveiled its latest GIGABYTE S55U gaming monitor, which is another member of GIGABYTE's growing family of 4K gaming monitors.
The new GIGABYTE S55U gaming monitor features a huge 54.6-inch Quantum Dot-based 4K panel, with a very gaming-smooth 120Hz refresh rate thanks to its HDMI 2.1 connectivity. GIGABYTE's new S55U gaming monitor also has Android OS, which means you get access to built-in apps like Netflix and YouTube, as well as the ability of streaming content through Chromecast to the GIGABYTE S55U gaming monitor.
I don't know why GIGABYTE calls this a "gaming monitor" when you need HDMI 2.1 to use its 4K 120Hz goodness, something you can only get on AMD's new RDNA 2-based Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, or NVIDIA's new Ampere-based GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. There's no DisplayPort 1.4 here, folks.
Continue reading: GIGABYTE S55U gaming monitor: 55-inch 4K 120Hz with Android OS (full post)
Red Dead Redemption 2 mod enables unofficial AMD FSR 2.0 support
It's an all-out AMD FSR 2.0 party for the PC modding community, with mods out in the wild that add support for AMD's new FSR 2.0 technology into games that don't support it... games that support the competitors upscaling tech: NVIDIA DLSS.
One of the big NVIDIA DLSS games that have received a new mod that adds unofficial AMD FSR 2.0 support is Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2, which a new mod from PotatoofDoom has created, the same modder behind the Cyberpunk 2077 FSR 2.0 mod.
You can download the Red Dead Redemption 2 FSR 2.0 mod right here.
Continue reading: Red Dead Redemption 2 mod enables unofficial AMD FSR 2.0 support (full post)
Dying Light 2 gets AMD FSR 2.0 support through new mod
Dying Light 2 has received a new mod that enables unofficial support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 (FSR 2.0) technology. I've attached a great comparison video by MxBenchmarkPC on YouTube, which compares Dying Light 2 running on a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in FSR 1.0 vs FSR 2.0 vs DLSS 2.4 upscaling technologies:
The PC modding community has been working wonders in the last week since AMD unleashed FSR 2.0 upscaling technology into the wild, especially in open source. Dying Light 2 has support for NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) but now there's AMD FSR 2.0 upscaling support, of which you'll need to run Dying Light 2 in DX12 mode for it (the mod) to work.
The Dying Light 2.0 FSR 2.0 mod isn't perfect -- which is to be expected -- with the creator of the mod warning gamers that it's obviously not as good as if the developer added official support for AMD FSR 2.0 technology. We have issues like ghosting and smearing, lighter shadows, and lower resolution skybox textures will be what plagues the Dying Light 2.0 FSR 2.0 mod.
Continue reading: Dying Light 2 gets AMD FSR 2.0 support through new mod (full post)
Amazon uses electric cargo bikes, look like mini-trucks for UK parcels
Amazon has announced the launch of its first UK micromobility lab, something that will make for "more sustainable deliveries" in Central London.
The project will roll out e-cargo bikes and walkers, that will ride alongside Amazon's electric fleet that is already on the roads of London. Amazon says that it will deliver 1 million packages in a year, with a combination of walking and electric cargo bikes, as well as deliveries that get made with electric vans.
Amazon will replace "thousands" of traditional van trips on London's roads, as well as reduce traffic congestion with its new fleet of e-cargo bikes and walkers. There are over 1000 electric delivery fans that Amazon has on the roads in the UK, which delivered over 45 million packages in 2021 alone.
Continue reading: Amazon uses electric cargo bikes, look like mini-trucks for UK parcels (full post)
Xiaomi 12S Ultra smartphone: huge 1-inch camera sensor from Sony
Xiaomi has just announced its beast new flagship 12S Ultra smartphone, where it has collaborated with image specialist Leica and taps Sony's impressive new 1-inch IMX989 sensor.
Inside, the new Xiaomi 12S Ultra smartphone is rocking Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chipset: cooled by what Xiaomi calls its "3D cooling system". Xiaomi offers a couple of versions of its new 12S Ultra smartphone with 8GB or 12GB of RAM configurations, with 256GB or 512GB of storage. There's a large 6.73-inch AMOLED display with a gaming-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, too.
Xiaomi also includes a large 4860mAh battery inside of the flagship 12S Ultra smartphone, with 67W of fast charging, 50W of wireless charging, and even 10W of reverse wireless charging (if you need to wirelessly charge up your wearable, or a friend's smartphone).
Continue reading: Xiaomi 12S Ultra smartphone: huge 1-inch camera sensor from Sony (full post)
Frozen sperm cells work as well as fresh for fertility treatments
The results of the largest study of its kind have been presented at the 38th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
The study analyzed 5335 intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles performed for fertility treatments between 2004 and 2001 at the practice of Dr. Panagiotis Cherouveim from the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The results show that cryopreserved sperm do not produce inferior outcomes for IUI treatments compared to fresh sperm.
Sperm are most commonly stored with cryopreservation, which involves a six-month quarantine period in which samples are screened for infections. Concerns regarding sperm viability after being thawed include potentially affected motility, structure, and DNA content. However, both fresh and frozen samples resulted in similar pregnancy rates, though the frozen samples had a marginally longer time-to-pregnancy, and minor differences were observed in a small subgroup receiving specific medications after more than one IUI cycle.
Continue reading: Frozen sperm cells work as well as fresh for fertility treatments (full post)
The U.S. is now funding VPNs to fight censorship in Russia
Russia has cracked down on independent media sources inside its borders following its invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.
A campaign backed by the United States government and led by the Open Technology Fund (OTF) non-profit organization is financially supporting American virtual private network (VPN) providers that offer their services to Russians for free. VPNs allow the Russian people to bypass censorship in their country to access blocked websites while protecting their data from outside observers. Their usage has skyrocketed since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Continue reading: The U.S. is now funding VPNs to fight censorship in Russia (full post)
New 'Democratic AI' can distribute wealth better than humans
A study on the artificial intelligence (AI) system titled "Human-centred mechanism design with Democratic AI" has been published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
DeepMind, an AI company in the United Kingdom, has built an AI that excels in value alignment, a concept which refers to how well aligned the values and goals of an AI system are with what humans actually want in an outcome. However, the team explained that one of the key obstacles "for value alignment is that human society admits a plurality of views, making it unclear to whose preferences AI should align."
The DeepMind team trained an AI agent for the task of wealth distribution, using real and virtual interactions between people to guide it toward a desirable and hopefully fairer outcome. The so-called "Democratic AI" studied an exercise called the public goods game, where players can invest money into a fund and receive returns according to their level of investment. Traditional redistribution methods were tested, as well as an additional method created with deep reinforcement learning, called the Human Centered Redistribution Mechanism (HCRM).
Continue reading: New 'Democratic AI' can distribute wealth better than humans (full post)
This Swedish company makes award-winning 'human meat' burgers
Swedish company Oumph! released its limited edition Human Meat Plant-Based Burger late last year for Halloween.
The company set out to create a plant-based meat patty that recreated the taste and texture of human meat for Halloween, to prove that they can make their plant-based meats taste like any other meat "you can ever imagine." Claiming to have never eaten human meat, Ankan "The Duck" Linden researched online to determine what texture and taste would be necessary to replicate human flesh.
Linden made the meat with soy protein, mushrooms, wheat protein, starch, and "some secret spicing." The resultant burger has since won a Silver Brand Experience and Activation Lion at the Cannes Lions Festival, among 1,919 other entries. The burger isn't listed on the Oumph! website, but it may resurface for Halloween later this year.
Continue reading: This Swedish company makes award-winning 'human meat' burgers (full post)






















