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Eerie red cloud that appeared in the sky blamed on SpaceX launch
Multiple photographers have captured the phenomenon unwittingly, as it is invisible to the naked eye.
The phenomenon is known as space jellyfish, and occurs when sunlight reflects off of plumes of exhaust gases from recently launched rockets, particularly later in the evening or in the early morning. The phenomenon has been observed more frequently as more launches occur, and with the advent of reusable rockets, exhaust gases are also present when a rocket fires its engines as it returns to the ground.
Photographer David Johnston was capturing shots of the Milky Way on the night of June 19th when he noticed a large red spot in one of his photos, ruining his picture. It proceeded to grow in subsequent images, dominating the sky, despite being invisible without the camera. A friend of Johnston's suggested a rocket launch could be responsible. Coincidentally, SpaceX had launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets, carrying a Globalstar satellite minutes before when Johnston first noticed the red appear in the sky.
Continue reading: Eerie red cloud that appeared in the sky blamed on SpaceX launch (full post)
Strange veiny Martian terrain captured by NASA satellite
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) satellite has photographed strange polygonal structures covering the Martian landscape.
The image was captured by the MRO using the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, and high resolution versions up to 10K are available on the HiRISE website. The Martian surface pictured is divided into numerous polygonal sections by water that freezes into ice in the ground, splitting the soil. Dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) sublimates into a gaseous form in the springtime, further fracturing the boundaries of the polygons.
Dry ice covers the visible ground, and various vents form across the surface as the temperature rises, allowing gas to escape while eroding other particles that are then carried along with the gas. These particles are carried a short distance, creating dark, fan-shaped deposits. The vents occasionally close and reopen, though a change in wind direction produces a second fan-shaped deposit extending in another direction.
Continue reading: Strange veiny Martian terrain captured by NASA satellite (full post)
A new supercomputer can run 'brain-scale' AI, rivaling human brains
The latest generation of Sunway supercomputer rivals the performance of Frontier, which was recently labelled the world's most powerful supercomputer.
According to the researchers behind the latest Sunway supercomputer, the Sunway has over 37 million CPU cores, quadrupling the number found in Frontier, nine petabytes of memory, and 96,000 semi-independent computer systems referred to as 'nodes,' that can exchange data at rates greater than 23 petabytes per second. The Sunway is capable of exascale computing, allegedly up to 5.3 exaFLOPS (5.3 quintillion floating-point operations per second).
The research team trained an artificial intelligence (AI) model, named bagualu (meaning alchemist's pot), with 174 trillion parameters using the Sunway. According to the South China Morning Post, this number rivals that of the number of synapses in the human brain, though some estimates of the true number of synapses go as high as 1,000 trillion.
Continue reading: A new supercomputer can run 'brain-scale' AI, rivaling human brains (full post)
Soundwave levitation now possible even with objects in the way
A study on the levitation technique titled "High-speed acoustic holography with arbitrary scattering objects" has been published in the journal Science Advances.
Researchers from the University College London (UCL) have developed a self-correcting acoustic levitation system, which can levitate objects by firing sound waves at them, essentially just by pushing them with air particles. Before their system, if something came between the speakers and the levitated object, the flow of air particles causing levitation would be interrupted, and the object would fall.
To account for this, the research team increased the number of speakers to 256 in a grid, all controlled by software to allow the array to shape sound waves to achieve the desired result. When something blocked sound waves from some speakers, other speakers' sound waves could be redirected to keep the object levitated. The researchers levitated water, small beads, and a piece of fabric with various interfering objects.
Continue reading: Soundwave levitation now possible even with objects in the way (full post)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 4080, 4070: new rumored specs are here
NVIDIA looks to be making some changes to its upcoming GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs, with leaker "kopite7kimi" revealing "some updates" on the new Ada Lovelace graphics cards on Twitter.
In a new tweet, the leaker has provided some updated specs on NVIDIA's three first Ada GPUs: the second-flagship GeForce RTX 4090, the new GeForce RTX 4080, and the GeForce RTX 4070. Let's tackle the elephant in the room: the GeForce RTX 4090.
The updated specs for NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 see its CUDA core configuration tweaked, with kopite7kimi noting that the AD102-300 GPU will have 16384 CUDA cores (up from 16128 CUDA cores). The SMs (Streaming Multiprocessors) have changed slightly, with the leaker saying NVIDIA is using 128 SMs on the GeForce RTX 4090 (up from 126).
Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 4080, 4070: new rumored specs are here (full post)
Mark Zuckerberg reveals how many people he expects in the metaverse
Following Meta's announcement of a new virtual clothing store, Mark Zuckerberg has sat down for an interview to discuss the metaverse.
Meta announced this week that it would be releasing the Meta Avatar Store on Facebook, where users can purchase outfits for their avatar. Meta has partnered with big-name brands such as Prada, Balenciaga, and Thom Browne. The prices for the clothing are yet to be revealed, but the store will eventually become a marketplace where developers will be able to create their own clothing lines/brands and sell them.
Zuckerberg believes that digital goods will be an "important way to express yourself in the metaverse", and people are going to want different ways to express themselves in the metaverse. Zuckerberg explained in the recent CNBC interview with Jim Cramer, that people will want to express themselves with digital content and goods for their virtual home or conference room.
Continue reading: Mark Zuckerberg reveals how many people he expects in the metaverse (full post)
Elon Musk confirms Cybertruck design is fully 'locked'
Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk sat down for an interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley that was filmed on May 31 and published on YouTube on June 22.
Throughout the lengthy interview, Musk covers multiple topics, such as the struggles of owning a car company and the plethora of supply chain problems Tesla is currently facing. Additionally, Musk discusses the problems of owning a car company and the extreme effort that has to be made for the company to stop itself from going bankrupt. Musk also touched on the recent shutdown of Tesla's Shanghai factory following a COVID-19 outbreak in the region that resulted in a full lockdown.
20 minutes into the interview, the topic of the Tesla Cybertruck was brought up, and Musk said that "we to get on that", and then confirmed that the design for the highly anticipated electric truck, as of May 31, "locked". Musk emphasized that the design is "for sure locked", and that the delay in the vehicle's production can be attributed to supply chain shortages. In particular, Musk pointed to the microchip shortage and how Tesla was forced into "starving" the PowerWall line of batteries so the company could manufacture vehicles.
Continue reading: Elon Musk confirms Cybertruck design is fully 'locked' (full post)
Elon Musk says Tesla is losing billions from two big 'money furnaces'
Elon Musk sat down for an interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley to discuss gigafactory production, Full-Self Driving (FSD), and more.
The interview spans over an hour, but at the beginning, Musk is asked if anyone at Tesla is working on Car Sharing, which will allow Tesla owners to rent out their car, much like Uber. Musk replies by saying that no one at Tesla is working on that feature, and that the company is simply trying not to go bankrupt. The Tesla CEO explains that the company is focused on its making sure Tesla Gigafactory's are producing vehicles that will keep Tesla's revenue above its high cost.
Musk explains in the interview conducted on May 31, that at the moment, the Austin gigafactory and the new gigafactory in Berlin are "gigantic money furnaces", since both of the factories have only been able to manufacture a small number of vehicles due to a myriad of supply chain issues. Notably, a COVID-19 outbreak caused Shanghai to enter into a full lockdown that shut down Tesla's factory. Now Musk says the company is working hard to get all its factories up and running smoothly, so he can increase production to meet the overwhelming demand.
Continue reading: Elon Musk says Tesla is losing billions from two big 'money furnaces' (full post)
Sunspot size of 3 Earth's is facing us, doubling in size every 24hrs
A large sunspot that is estimated to be three times the size of Earth is rapidly growing, doubling in size in just 24 hours.
The large sunspot called AR3038 is being monitored by officials, and according to SpaceWeather.com, it has grown to an enormous size of three Earth's and is expected to produce a medium-sized solar flare sometime in the future. Notably, the sunspot is Earth-facing, meaning that if a solar flare was to occur, Earth could be hit with an intense wave of electromagnetic radiation. Solar flares are often, but not always, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is a blast of charged particles that interacts with Earth's atmosphere.
The interaction between the charged particles and Earth's atmosphere can cause geomagnetic storms that can result in disruptions for GPS, radio communication, satellites, and even radio blackouts. More positively, a CME impact can also cause auroras to appear in the night sky, which is a result of the aforementioned interaction between the charged particles from the Sun and Earth's atmosphere. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) monitors the risk of coming solar flares and CMEs, and at the time of reporting, it hasn't issued any warnings regarding sunspot AR3038.
Continue reading: Sunspot size of 3 Earth's is facing us, doubling in size every 24hrs (full post)
FDA to command Juul stop selling e-cigarettes in the US very soon
Recent reports indicate that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to shut down e-cigarette sales from Juul across the United States.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the FDA is preparing to order Juul Labs to remove its e-cigarette products from the US following a two-year investigation by the regulator of the benefits of Juul's e-cigarettes and if they are effective at getting smokers to quit. The investigation also took into account health impacts, and explored if Juul's e-cigarette products provide benefits that outweigh the health damage.
According to people close to the coming decision by the FDA, the regulator is expected to announce a decision as early as next week. Following the report by the WSJ, Altria Group, a tobacco giant that owns 35% of Juul Labs, saw its stock fall by 8.5%. Notably, the FDA declined to comment on the report from the WSJ, and Juul, along with Altria, didn't respond to any questions for comment.
Continue reading: FDA to command Juul stop selling e-cigarettes in the US very soon (full post)
AI creates images of new horrifying demon out of a single made up word
A Twitch streamer and voice actor plugged a made-up word into an artificial intelligence, and it has seemingly created a new demon.
Guy Kelly took to Twitter over the weekend to ask his followers if anyone could explain why the DALL-E Mini, an artificial intelligence that scraps the internet and creates images based on the user's prompt, is producing a selection of demonic images when "Crungus" is entered into its text box. Kelly explains that he made the word up and was confused when the AI produced demon-like images since a normal Google search doesn't show anything remotely close to what the AI was creating.
The difference between a normal Google search and asking the AI led Kelly to try and probe the AI for a warning by writing "Crungus warning". This prompt caused the AI to produce the same demonic images, but some featured dark clothing. One Twitter user replied to Kelly and said that the name "Crungus" is used by a easter egg video game mob that mysteriously made its way into the game Carnivores Ice Age (2001).
Continue reading: AI creates images of new horrifying demon out of a single made up word (full post)
Bitcoin continues to bleed as price falls below its cost of production
The cryptocurrency market has taken a turn for the worst throughout June, and reports indicate the price of Bitcoin has fallen below its cost of production.
In the first week of June, the price of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency fell 30%, taking the already trickling-down price from approximately $30,000 to $20,000 - with some days it dipping as low as $17,800. As many seasoned traders or hodlers would have expected, there were many buy orders in place for the $20,000 support, giving way to three days of green buy candles that have formed (what seems to be) a mini-support.
The bloodbath of red candles may not be over, and with the new on-chain analytics being talked about by data analytics company MacroMicro, there may still be some bleeding to come in the future. According to MacroMicro, who has found the average cost of mining Bitcoin with data provided by Cambridge University, the average cost to mine a Bitcoin is about $24,000, and the price of Bitcoin is currently at $20,000.
Continue reading: Bitcoin continues to bleed as price falls below its cost of production (full post)
China is using an AI 'mind reading' device to censor porn
China has developed an apparatus that is designed to detect porn and censor in through an artificial intelligence.
A team of researchers from the Beijing Jiaotong University in China have developed a new device that scans the brain of an individual that is moderating online content, and record the brain signals that are fired when the individual sees a piece of content that needs to be flagged for removal. As you can probably imagine, porn is banned in China and the nation already has widespread policies that removal large portions of content from its internet service.
China is heavily moderating its content through an artificial intelligence (AI) program, and while the AI is doing a lot of the heavy lifting some responsibilities still fall on humans. There is a position called a jian huang, or a "porn appraiser", which is essentially a content moderator specifically looking for pornographic images and video.
Continue reading: China is using an AI 'mind reading' device to censor porn (full post)
Intel Arc A40 Pro appears, the first desktop Arc workstation GPU
Intel's new Arc desktop GPUs are only just launching now... at least as an exclusive in China... but we're already seeing the first whispers of a new Intel desktop workstation GPU.
A new "Intel Arc Pro" graphics card has been spotted on the South Korean National Radio Research Agency (RRA), where the certification for Intel's new Arc Pro GPU is listed with certification number "RR-CPU-DG2IPC" on June 22, 2022 -- today.
Intel has changed its Arc GPU roadmap a bit over the last 6 months, but it did have Arc mobile GPUs in notebooks in Q1 2022 -- promised Arc desktop GPUs in Q1 2022, then Q2 2022 and barely made it with an exclusive, super-limited launch in China -- with Arc workstation GPUs teased for Q3 2022.
Continue reading: Intel Arc A40 Pro appears, the first desktop Arc workstation GPU (full post)
Samsung wants to beat TSMC in 3nm manufacturing, 2nm coming in 2025
Samsung is expected to announce mass production of its next-gen 3nm semiconductors next week, meaning it would beat the industry dominator (not just leader) in TSMC.
The next-gen 3nm chips will see Samsung building them on Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, which allows a 45% area reduction while driving 30% more performance, and lowering power composition by 50% when compared to the existing FinFET process.
Samsung showed off its new 3nm chips to US president Joe Biden last month when the Biden administration visited Samsung's Pyeongtaek complex -- which, by the way, is the world's largest semiconductor facility -- located 43 miles (70km) away from the capital of South Korea: Seoul.
Continue reading: Samsung wants to beat TSMC in 3nm manufacturing, 2nm coming in 2025 (full post)
Intel Arc A380 desktop GPU benched: gets its ass kicked, not surprised
Intel's first foray back into the GPU space since its AGP-powered i740, the new Arc A380 desktop GPU is here... at least kinda... released in China as an exclusive for now.
The new custom GUNNIR A380 Photon OC graphics card is the first, and only (so far) custom Arc desktop graphics card, but that's something we already knew. What's new here is that we have the first benchmarks tested by Shenmedounengce benching the Core i5-12400 processor, mid-range B660 motherboard, and DDR4 memory.
Intel's new Arc A380 desktop GPU was benched against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 and GeForce GTX 1650, while AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT and Radeon RX 6400 were also tested. These are all low- to mid-range graphics cards, against the Intel Arc A380 with its ACM-G11 GPU (up to 2.45GHz GPU boost clocks) with Xe-Cores and 6GB of GDDR6 memory on a 96-bit memory bus.
Continue reading: Intel Arc A380 desktop GPU benched: gets its ass kicked, not surprised (full post)
Intel 'Serpent Canyon' NUC: Core i7-12700H CPU + Arc A770M GPU
Intel is working on a beefed-up NUC system, with codename "Serpent Canyon" officially teased. Check it out:
The new Intel NUC 12 "Serpent Canyon" packs up to a 14-core Intel Core i7-12700H processor and Intel's new in-house Arc A770M discrete GPU. The CPU and its 14 cores and 20 threads will spool up to 4.7GHz, also featuring 24MB of L3 cache.
GPU wise, Intel has upgraded from NVIDIA and its GeForce RTX 2060 with 12GB of GDDR6 memory, over to the Arc A770M GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 memory (the full ACM-G10 GPU with 32 Xe-Cores). We don't know how much TDP the A770M GPU inside of the new Intel "Serpent Canyon" NUC has, but it should fall between 120W and 150W.
Continue reading: Intel 'Serpent Canyon' NUC: Core i7-12700H CPU + Arc A770M GPU (full post)
Final Fantasy XVI won't have any loading times, Yoshi-P says
Final Fantasy XVI will leverage the full power of the PlayStation 5's ultra-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD to eradicate in-game loading sequences.
Having been built specifically for the PS5 on day one, Final Fantasy XVI aims to harness the console's new high-end upgrades--especially its 5.5GB/sec SSD. In a recent interview with the PlayStation Blog, game producer Naoki Yoshida said he is most impressed by the PlayStation 5's storage technology and how it essentially destroys all loading sequences within Final Fantasy XVI.
"With the boost in processing power, we can obviously make the graphics even richer than we could before, but it's the super-fast loading times that really impress me," Yoshi-P told the PlayStation Blog.
Continue reading: Final Fantasy XVI won't have any loading times, Yoshi-P says (full post)
Final Fantasy XVI is not open-world, relies on area-based zones
Final Fantasy XVI will not have a singular open-world area to explore and discover, will instead be carved up into more meaningful and condensed game zones.
Square Enix is releasing a new round of press info on Final Fantasy XVI, and this time we get more information on the in-game world of Valisthea. According to game producer Noaki Yoshida, the in-game fantasy world will not be a gigantic persistent open environment similar to Final Fantasy 15 or Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Instead, Final Fantasy XVI will incorporate more isolated and independent zones and areas throughout the world. This could make each area feel more meaningful and engaging.
"To bring a story that feels like it spans an entire globe and beyond, we decided to avoid an open world design that limits us to a single open world space and instead focus on an independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly 'global' scale," Yoshida told IGN.
Continue reading: Final Fantasy XVI is not open-world, relies on area-based zones (full post)
Sony to reveal new PlayStation 5 headsets, gaming monitors on June 28
Sony plans to reveal its new line of PlayStation 5 gaming accessories and hardware during a special stream on June 28.
Sony will soon release a new brand of enthusiast gaming peripherals specifically for the PlayStation 5, complete with interoperability on PC. Reports indicate that the new line will be called INZONE, and will feature gaming headsets, high-end monitors, and a new PlayStation 5 DualSense controller aimed at pro gamers.
The INZONE line is expected to be revealed during a new showcase on June 28 at 5PM EST. Sony has released a new YouTube countdown video with the teaser "Find your new ZONE," an obvious reference to the leaked INZONE products.
Continue reading: Sony to reveal new PlayStation 5 headsets, gaming monitors on June 28 (full post)






















