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EzBench: a new Unreal Engine 5 benchmark + 8K textures, FREE on Steam
If you've been wanting to benchmark Unreal Engine 5, then now is your chance with the release of EzBench: a new Unreal Engine 5-powered benchmark with ray tracing and even 8K textures.
You'll need a monster GPU to handle it at 4K, with NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti being the fastest on the planet, and the highest score on EzBench without a doubt. I just ran it on my Intel Core i9-12900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and scored just under 37,000 points. I'll run all my GPUs through it tomorrow, and have an article up ASAP.
EzBench developers recommend people use a GPU with at least 8GB of memory, where you can rewind back to the GeForce GTX 1080, but with ray tracing support you're going to need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 or RTX 30 series GPU or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPU.
Continue reading: EzBench: a new Unreal Engine 5 benchmark + 8K textures, FREE on Steam (full post)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Ti Founders Edition leaked: cooler is HUUUUGE
We have been hearing plenty about NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU-powered GeForce RTX 4090, but now it's time for the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti -- and more specifically -- NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 4090 Ti Founders Edition graphics card.
In some of the latest rounds of rumors, we've been hearing whispers that NVIDIA would unleash the GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs sooner rather than later -- a possibly mid-July release -- meaning we're just months away. NVIDIA looks to be providing some rather impressive cooling array to the RTX 40 series Founders Edition GPUs so that they can handle the 450W to 600W of power we're also hearing about.
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090 Ti (this name could change) Founders Edition graphics card has three different parts: first up we have the silver-themed metal skeleton that goes around the heat sink for that beautiful finish. You can see the nice little "RTX 4090 Ti" logo there, too.
Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Ti Founders Edition leaked: cooler is HUUUUGE (full post)
Cyberpunk 2077 fan creation in Unreal Engine 5 teases the future
CD PROJEKT RED created a beautiful game with Cyberpunk 2077 but it wasn't perfect... and now that Epic Games has unleashed Unreal Engine 5, the game has been teased in the new engine. Check it out:
YouTuber and developer "Enfant Terrible" has used Unreal Engine 5 with assets from other developers, Environment megapacks from the Epic Marketplace, VFX, and Zbrush to create what you see above. Cyberpunk 2077 dipped in the beautiful Unreal Engine 5, and it looks fan-freaking-tastic.
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD PROJEKT RED announced earlier this year that it would be shifting away from its in-house engine and over to Unreal Engine 5 for the upcoming Witcher game.
Continue reading: Cyberpunk 2077 fan creation in Unreal Engine 5 teases the future (full post)
Final Fantasy franchise sales: Top-selling Final Fantasy games ranked
Final Fantasy is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and the series has amassed and incredible slate of multi-million selling games. So what's the best-selling Final Fantasy to date?
Today Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XV has sold 10 million copies worldwide. Out of curiosity, I looked over the top-selling Final Fantasy games to see how FF15 fit into the mix. It turns out Final Fantasy 15 is tied for the fourth best-selling mainline franchise game. The original Final Fantasy 7, however, beats all others with a mighty 18 million+ units sold.
Note that this does not include all sales from every Final Fantasy game, and that some data may not be accurate. This is by no means a complete register of all sales throughout the franchise's three-decade span but more of a softer reference point to gauge overall success.
Continue reading: Final Fantasy franchise sales: Top-selling Final Fantasy games ranked (full post)
Arma is coming to consoles with full mod support
The new Arma Reforger early access game brings the series to consoles for the first time ever.
Beloved tactical shooter Arma is back with its next release for consoles and PC. Introducing Arma Reforger, a new campaign set in the 1980s Cold War built from the ground up with the tweaked Enfusion engine. Reforger takes place in the classic mid-Atlantic island of Everon and is Bohemia's biggest map ever with 52 square kilometers of battlefield.
Reforger supports multiple modes including Game Master, which allows players to edit missions and parameters in real-time. One of the biggest features is how mods are now compatible between Xbox Series X/S consoles and PC. Users can create mods with the same game-making tools the devs used to make the game and release them for both consoles and PC.
Continue reading: Arma is coming to consoles with full mod support (full post)
Final Fantasy XV hits 10 million sales and didn't underperform
Final Fantasy XV has amassed a whopping 10 million sales worldwide, Square Enix has announced.
Final Fantasy XV is a big success for Square Enix, a publisher known for lamenting games as "disappointing". While Final Fantasy XV's big expansions were cancelled and future plans for the game were shelved, FFXV has generated 10 million sales across PS4 and PC since its release in 2016. Square Enix can't exactly say this one didn't live up to expectations.
The winding tale of Noctis and friends is now among the best-selling games in the Final Fantasy franchise. FF15 is currently tied with Final Fantasy IV for the #4 best-selling slot.
Continue reading: Final Fantasy XV hits 10 million sales and didn't underperform (full post)
Sony will add new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games every month
Sony says it will add more games to its PS Plus lineup over time and hints that games could rotate out similar to Game Pass.
Yesterday Sony released a list of games coming to its new PlayStation Plus Extra ($99/year) and PlayStation Plus Premium ($119/year) subscription tiers. Sony had originally promised that 740 games would be offered, but the list was incomplete and only included 119 games.
Sony plans to update the list of available games over time which may indicate the promised 740 games possibly won't be available when the service launches in June. It's also suggested that games could leave the service after a specific amount of time, which is what happened on PlayStation Now.
Continue reading: Sony will add new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games every month (full post)
Tons of Ubisoft back catalog games come to PlayStation Plus in June
Ubisoft is bringing nearly 30 back catalog hits to Sony's new PlayStation Plus subscriptions starting in June.
Sony's new PlayStation Plus Extra ($99/year) and Premium ($119/year) tiers will include access to a ton of PS4 and PS5 games, including Ubisoft+ Classics. The value-added service is features 27 older games across a wide spectrum including singleplayer Far Cry games to medieval multiplayer For Honor and yesteryear shooter-looter The Division.
The headlining game is Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is entering its second year of DLC content. The base game will be included on PS Plus Extra and Premium, but the new expansions will not. For a full list of all the games included with PS Plus Extra and Premium, click here.
Continue reading: Tons of Ubisoft back catalog games come to PlayStation Plus in June (full post)
Elon Musk: Twitter deal 'cannot move forward', here's why
Elon Musk is putting up a fight against Twitter, saying that the "deal cannot move forward" until current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal proves his claims that less than 5% of Twitter users are fake/spam accounts.
In a new reply tweet to @Teslarati on Twitter, which shared an article and tweeted "Elon Musk may be looking for a better Twitter deal as $44 billion seems too high with 20% of users being fake or spam accounts".
Musk replied, tweeting: "20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher. My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter's CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does".
Continue reading: Elon Musk: Twitter deal 'cannot move forward', here's why (full post)
The Super Flower Blood Moon lunar eclipse produced some stunning shots
The first lunar eclipse of 2022 on the night of May 15th was the longest total lunar eclipse in 33 years.
The full moon spent approximately 85 minutes inside the Earth's umbra and shadow, compared to 96 minutes during a total lunar eclipse in August 1989. May's full moon is known as the Flower Moon, while the reddish appearance taken on by the moon during a total lunar eclipse due to light from the Sun bleeding around the Earth and landing on the moon earns it the moniker Blood Moon.
A Super Moon occurs when a full moon or new moon closely coincides with perigee, meaning the point in the moon's orbit at which it is closest to Earth, giving the moon a larger apparent size in the sky than normal. The culmination of these three factors has given this month's spectacular total lunar eclipse the mouthful of a name that is the Super Flower Blood Moon.
Continue reading: The Super Flower Blood Moon lunar eclipse produced some stunning shots (full post)
Watch NASA's X-59 supersonic jet being assembled in this new video
The Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) supersonic jet is being developed for NASA's Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator project.
Lockheed Martin's team at its Skunk Works facility is working with NASA to develop the experimental supersonic aircraft to address a persistent issue with supersonic flights; the sonic boom. A recent video posted to Lockheed Martin's YouTube channel features team members discussing testing and more on the journey to X-59's first flight.
The X-59 recently returned to Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, after critical ground tests over several months in Lockheed Martin's Ft. Worth facilities in Texas. The ground tests were conducted to ensure the aircraft could withstand the stresses of supersonic flight, meaning speeds of at least Mach 1. When exceeding the speed of sound (Mach 1), aircraft typically produce a loud sonic boom. However, the design of the X-59 is intended to reduce that to a quiet sonic "thump."
Continue reading: Watch NASA's X-59 supersonic jet being assembled in this new video (full post)
AI-controlled 749-ton cargo ship completes a 500-mile journey
The 749 gross ton container ship completed a 491-mile (790 kilometers) journey from Tokyo Bay to Ise Bay, Suzaka.
The vessel, called the Suzaka, was powered by Orca AI, and traveled without any human intervention for 99% of the 40-hour trip. Suzaka was chosen by the Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ships (DFFAS) project. Orca AI has previously conducted tests with its Automatic Ship Target Recognition System on Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) ships.
The voyage involved the Suzaka traversing some of the most congested waters in the world in Tokyo Bay before arriving at the port of Tsumatsusaka in the Ise Bay. On its way, the ship autonomously performed 107 collision avoidance maneuvers unassisted, avoiding between 400 and 500 other vessels in the water during its outbound trip alone.
Continue reading: AI-controlled 749-ton cargo ship completes a 500-mile journey (full post)
6G technology is now hackable in minutes, using only household items
A study on the hack titled "Metasurface-in-the-Middle Attack: From Theory to Experiment" will be presented at the Proceedings of the 15th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (2022).
Researchers from Rice University have created a tool to eavesdrop on 6G wireless signals (which range from 110 to 170 gigahertz, or GHz), dubbed the "Metasurface-in-the-Middle." Metasurfaces are thin sheets of material with particular designs that allow them to manipulate light or other electromagnetic waves, while a "Man-in-the-middle" attack is a type of hack where an eavesdropper secretly intercepts communications between two parties.
Continue reading: 6G technology is now hackable in minutes, using only household items (full post)
Gene editing tools can now alter social behavior, including aggression
A study on the gene editing breakthrough titled "CRISPR-Cas9 editing of the arginine-vasopressin V1a receptor produces paradoxical changes in social behavior in Syrian hamsters" has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers from Georgia State University used CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology to remove the expression of the Avpr1a receptor in Syrian hamsters. By removing the genes encoding for Avpr1a, the receptor is no longer made, and vasopressin, which normally binds to that receptor, can no longer influence the social behavior it typically regulates, such as pair bonding, cooperation, communication, dominance, and aggression.
Without the receptors, the hamsters showed higher social communication behavior levels than those with intact receptors. Typical differences in aggressiveness between male and female hamsters were also eliminated, with both displaying high levels of aggression towards members of the same sex.
Continue reading: Gene editing tools can now alter social behavior, including aggression (full post)
Elon Musk predicts how long the US will be in a recession for
In a recent interview with SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the soon-to-be Twitter owner discussed his thoughts on the current state of the US economy.
Musk appeared via video chat at a Miami tech conference hosted by the All-In podcast, where he was asked about his thoughts on the economy. Musk said that he believes the United States is in a recession and contributed most of the blame to the Biden administration for not getting enough done and for printing "a zillion amount of more money than it had".
Back on December 31, Musk predicted that a recession would happen sometime around spring or summer in 2022, but no later than 2023. Now, Musk has said that if the US enters a recession, it will last anywhere from 1 year to 18 months, and during that time, things will get a whole lot worse. However, the SpaceX CEO said that recessions aren't necessarily a bad thing, as it's an "economic enema" that "clears out the pipes" of misallocated capital.
Continue reading: Elon Musk predicts how long the US will be in a recession for (full post)
Tesla makes a big move towards its Semi truck becoming a reality
Tesla announced the Semi in 2017, and finally, five years down the line, the company is taking a step towards getting the electric truck out on the road.
A new report from CNET has revealed that Tesla has started accepting reservations for the Semi, which are reportedly priced at a $20,000 wire transfer deposit. Since its announcement in 2017, companies such as PepsiCo and Walmart have been able to place bulk orders for the Semi, but this is the first time smaller reservations have been seen.
Notably, Tesla has already delayed the Semi a few times, with the latest problem being the overall microchip and battery shortages caused by the pandemic. Furthermore, Tesla hasn't confirmed an official launch date for the Semi, and production is expected to begin in 2023. For those that don't know, the Tesla Semi is expected to have a 500-mile range, a fast "megacharger", and a 20-second 0-60 mph carrying 80,000 pounds. It features a price tag of $150,000.
Continue reading: Tesla makes a big move towards its Semi truck becoming a reality (full post)
IT worker nukes employers financial database to teach them a lesson
An unhappy IT worker that was employed by a real estate firm has hacked his company's database servers that contain sensitive financial information.
According to a recent report by Chinese news outlet Bejing Roar, former database administrator Han Bing had previously warned his employer, Lianjia, about a selection of holes in the company's online security for its databases. Failing to gain any traction on any of his requests, Bing decided to launch a full-scale attack on four of the company's servers, specifically targeting servers containing financial information. The attack worked, and Bing wiped out four severs and prevented Lianjia from being able to access its own financial system.
As you can probably imagine, an investigation was immediately launched into the online attack, which ended up being boiled down to five potential individuals with the appropriate administrator credentials. Investigators then cross-referenced server logs, MAC addresses, and IP addresses with CCTV footage and were able to determine that Bing was the culprit. After facing an appeal rejection in court, Bing has been sentenced to seven years in prison and a restitution bill of $30,000, or approximately 200,000 yuan.
Continue reading: IT worker nukes employers financial database to teach them a lesson (full post)
Bitcoin's future questioned by top cryptocurrency exchange CEO
The future of Bitcoin as a payment network was questioned by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who recently criticized many aspects of the digital currency.
The founder and CEO of FTX, which often goes by his initials as SBF, said that Bitcoin has very little future as a payments network due to its inefficiency and high environmental costs associated with its proof of work algorithm. The 30-year-old billionaire went on to say that the BTC network isn't capable of handling thousands/millions of transactions-per-second (TPS), but also mentioned that BTC can be transferred over a layer two protocol such as Lightning.
However, Bankman-Fried also took to Twitter to clarify that criticisms weren't all that he said, as he mentioned that Bitcoin could have a potential future in becoming a store of value. If that were to become Bitcoin's future, the digital currency would change from being viewed as a currency to an asset, similar to how gold is viewed.
Continue reading: Bitcoin's future questioned by top cryptocurrency exchange CEO (full post)
Even if your iPhone is off it can still be hacked 'Evil Never Sleeps'
A team of researchers out of Germany has provided evidence of iPhones still being hackable even when powered off.
The researchers come from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany and have been able to identify an exploit that came with a new feature in iOS 15. The new feature allows for the iPhone's "Find My" application to continue running for a few hours after the phone is powered off, which is very helpful for users who have had their device stolen.
The continued tracking is done through the phone's Bluetooth, NFC, and ultra-wideband chips, as all three maintain a lower-power mode despite the phone appearing off. The researchers were able to find an exploit in the Bluetooth firmware that they say could be modified to run malware. However, the conditions for this exploit to present itself need to be favorable, as explained by security researcher Ryan Duff who spoke to Motherboard about the researcher's recently released paper.
Continue reading: Even if your iPhone is off it can still be hacked 'Evil Never Sleeps' (full post)
US government will host a live public hearing on UFO encounters today
The US government is preparing to have a discussion about UFOs, or as officials would prefer them to be called "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)", on May 17. Individuals can tune in online.
Last year the US government officially recognized that there are several cases of UAPs entering US airspace and performing maneuvers that are currently impossible with modern-day technology. The official recognition of these UFOs came in the form of a report from the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force that documented many cases of high trained military officials tracking mysterious objects.
This report has been one of the key stepping stones toward the public hearing held by the House Intelligence Committee's Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, being scheduled for May 17 at 9 AM. The hearing will feature high-profile witnesses such as Ronald Moultrie, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, and Scott Bray, the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence.
Continue reading: US government will host a live public hearing on UFO encounters today (full post)






















