Latest News - Page 1147

Samsung has just teased its new custom-themed Pokemon Edition of its foldable Galaxy Z Flip 3 smartphone, something that will sell out in a second to collectors across the world... gotta catch 'em all, right?

The new Pokemon Edition version of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 looks incredible, with the foldable smartphone looking like an actual Pokedex, but there's a plethora of Pokemon-themed accessories. You'll get a Pikachu picture case (which also includes a Pokemon Custom Pack), a Pikachu Clear Cover Set, a Pokemon Pouch with a lanyard strap, a Pikachu keychain, and a Poke Ball stand.

On the actual phone itself, you'll also get some Pokemon Edition ringtones, themes, and wallpapers. For the diehard Pokemon fans out there, this is going to be one of those collector's items that will make it hard to pass... especially because it's a foldable smartphone + Pokemon Edition. Samsung's new Galaxy Z Flip 3 Pokemon Edition launches on April 25, and will be available only in South Korea.

NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, which will be powered by the AD102 "Ada Lovelace" GPU, will have a TBP (typical board power) of 600W... and that's in reference form, not in custom AIB form where 600W+ could be in the rear-view mirror.

The rumors are coming from Tom @ Moore's Law is Dead, who said his sources has confirmed the 600W power consumption news. NVIDIA is going to do a "lot of weird things to not lose this generation" to AMD and its next-gen RDNA 3 architecture.

Tom's sources explained: "It seems the top 6000/8000 Lovelace Professional card could use 320-375W. Right now they are testing prototypes at the limits of an EPS 8-pin (375W), or they are even testing some prototypes with a 16-pin connector. It's still 2-slot, and still a blower cooler. So there are limited to what they can cool". The source added: "But this is an unprecedented increase in power for a standard class of professional card".

Nintendo has published a new patent that seems to suggest Breath of the Wild 2 will have armor/clothing durability systems. However, the patent isn't what you think.

Breath of the Wild's technical supervisor Takuhiro Dohta just published a new patent relating specifically to clothes worn by in-game character models. Video game news websites are reporting this patent could indicate Breath of the Wild 2 will have armor or clothing durability systems, wherein outfits and armors can break. This isn't the case.

Amazon is building a headset or smart glasses that they're describing as "magical and useful, new-to-world XR consumer product" in new job listings, even calling it a "new-to-world smart-home product".

One of the job listings reads: "You will develop an advanced XR research concept into a magical and useful new-to-world consumer product". Another job listing says they're looking for someone for their "XR/AR devices" and that whoever secures the job will be part of a "greenfield development effort" that includes "developing code for early prototypes through mass production".

Amazon is after a UX designer, someone that will be tasked with "the core system interface along with end-user applications spanning from multi-modal interfaces to 3D AR entertainment experiences" and that applications should be able to "think spatially, with 3D design experience in motion design, animation [and] AR/VR, games" and more.

Subscription price hikes have pushed consumers towards budget-friendly ad-based offerings.

According to findings from analyst firm Antenna, audiences in the United States are opting for cheaper subscription plans with ads. The firm estimates that 35% of new streaming sign-ups are for the lower-cost ad tiers offered by SVOD services like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Hulu. Cord-cutting mentality has nearly gone full-circle as costs pressures consumers back towards the ad-based models of traditional TV.

The annual growth rate of ad-based sign ups has jumped from 19% in 2020 to 35% in 2022, an increase of 17 percentage points.

Netflix is taking its first steps towards combining TV shows and video games into a unique inter-connected experience.

With its interactive experiences like Trivia Quest, Bandersnatch, and You vs Wild, Netflix has arguably already game-ified its TV shows. Now the streamer wants to connect shows to actual dedicated video games, a plan that includes the new Exploding Kittens TV show/mobile game combo.

Netflix Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters says the "interplay" between shows, films, and video games is part of the company's long-term strategy for boosting subscriber engagement.

Netflix will follow its competitors by offering a lower-cost subscription tier with advertisements.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirms the streamer plans to add new cheaper subscriptions with ads to stay competitive against its rivals. The strategy comes after Netflix lost over 203,000 subscribers in Q1 2022--the first loss in 11 years--and the company forecasts to lose another 2 million subs in Q2.

While Netflix hasn't concretely outlined its plans, Hastings says the new ad-based subscription tier will offer more consumer choice and highlights the benefits that ads have brought to Hulu, Peacock, HBO Max, and Disney.

Vietnam's government is planning on rolling out a new law that would put a 24-hour timer on any "illegal" content posted to social media platforms.

According to a new exclusive report from Reuters, the new law will make Vietnam one of the leading countries when it comes to tight laws around content posted to social media platforms and comes at a time when the controlling Communist Party is attempting to decrease any "anti-state" activity.

Furthermore, the 24-hour timer on any content that is deemed "illegal" won't have a grace period of two days as social media platforms currently have, and "illegal livestreams" are required to be removed within three hours.

A Twitter account with the handle @ArmedForcesUkr shared images of Russian military establishments taken from Google Maps on April 18th, 2022.

The account suggested that the publicly visible content meant that Google had sided with Ukraine against Russia, with a message translating to "now everyone can see a variety of Russian launchers, intercontinental ballistic missile mines, command posts and secret landfills with a resolution of about 0.5 meters per pixel." A spokesperson from Google told The Verge that the information had been in the public domain since before the conflict in Ukraine began. Google has already taken a stance concerning Russia by pausing ad sales in the country, cutting off Google Pay access, and banning Russian state media from advertising on YouTube.

Google blurs certain imagery in its Maps service, notably number plates and faces, to protect individual privacy. This blurring practice does extend to some military establishments, for example, the French Air Force base BA 705. However, the infamous Area 51 and other military bases are not blurred, as Google maintains its policy is to keep as much in the public domain as possible.

The humanoid species known as Homo floresiensis is believed by retired ethnobiologist Gregory Forth to be still alive.

Remains of the species were first found on the Indonesian island of Flores by the late anthropologist Mire Morwood in 2004. The bones found came from the Pleistocene era, the most recent geological epoch, which ended about 11,700 years ago and began about 2,580,000 years ago.

The species was believed to be extinct and at the time of its discovery was dubbed "the Hobbit" due to its diminutive stature. According to Forth, a local tribe called the Lio has encountered a small creature that he believes may be a member of the H. floresiensis species, which he describes in his upcoming book Between Ape and Human.

The full collection of The Facebook Papers contains thousands of pages of internal company documents from Meta.

The collection was shared last year with seventeen United States news outlets by Frances Haugen, a whistleblower, and former Facebook product manager. Haugen also shared the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a consortium of European news organizations.

The Facebook Papers have yet to make their way into the wider public domain for public access and scrutiny. Gizmodo was one of the outlets that had the documents shared with them and announced in November 2021 that it would publicize the documents after partnering with independent experts who would review them to redact private individuals' sensitive information.

The official Twitter account for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine ArmyInform has released a new video of drones Russia is allegedly using in Ukraine.

The video in question shows a Ukrainian soldier dismantling an Orlan-10 drone utilized by Russian forces. The drone appears to have been cobbled together from various civilian technologies, such as a handheld Canon DSLR serving as the drone's camera. The video also shows access to the drone's fuel tank in the form of the top of a water bottle and its lid.

Visible across the surface of the drone are also large swathes of duct tape. Despite drones constituting a significant portion of military operations, in this case surveillance, but also in delivering deadly payloads, it seems some of the drones in use are not as sophisticated as one might think.

The Discovery space shuttle launched the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) into orbit on April 25th, 1990.

The image released by NASA to celebrate Hubble's 32nd birthday features The Hickson Compact Group 40, a collection of five closely gathered galaxies. Three of the galaxies are spiral-shaped, one is elliptical, and one is lenticular, meaning lens-like. They are close enough together to fit within a region of space that spans less than twice the diameter of the Milky Way's stellar disk.

Other close groupings of galaxies can be found deep within large galaxy clusters elsewhere in the universe, but The Hickson Compact Group 40 is one of the most densely clustered. It is also unusual because it is relatively isolated, in the direction of the largest modern constellation, called Hydra.

Logitech has launched a new ergonomic mouse to add to its line-up, introducing the Lift, a vertical mouse for people with small hands.

The Lift is a small wireless mouse that comes in at an affordable price of $69.99 and is available now, coming in a range of different color variations and left/right-hand options. So, what makes the Lift different? Instead of a traditional mouse design, the Lift features a 57-degree angle that shapes the user's hand to be in a similar position to a handshake.

It seems that the Lift is a smaller version of the MX Vertical that comes in at a price of $99.99. The Lift features all of the same functionality as a traditional mouse would; two left and right buttons, a scroll wheel, a DPI switching button, and two programmable thumb buttons. Furthermore, the Lift features Logitech Flow software that allows for the mouse to be connected and used simultaneously across multiple devices regardless of their operating system. All of the devices will require Logi Options Plus apps running in the background.

Reports indicate that the Biden administration is expected to announce an additional aid package for Ukraine sometime this week.

According to five officials close to the matter that spoke with NBC News, the Biden administration is expected to announce a security assistance package that is similar in size to last week's package, worth $800 million. Biden's $800 million contained various military equipment from Howitzers, radars, artillery rounds, drones, Javelins, and multiple vehicles.

CNBC reports when asked on April 19 if he would send more military aid to Ukraine, Biden replied with a simple "Yes." Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to reveal the contents of the upcoming weapons package, as naming the contents would cause several security concerns. However, Kirby did say that the contents of the package comes "directly out of multiple conversations with the Ukrainians."

Taipei-based Chinese Television Systems, a TV network that is partly owned by the Taiwanese government, had a ticker at the bottom of its screen at 7 AM local time on Wednesday alerting everyone that Taiwan had been invaded by China.

The graphic on Taiwan TV read: "New Taipei City has been hit by a Chinese Communist guided missile. Ships in Taipei Port have exploded, damaging facilities. Banqiao Station is reported to have been set on fire by explosives placed by special forces".

The Ministry of National Defense had asked municipal governments to include the Chinese invasion scenario in a video as part of an annual drill, Huang De-ching, commissioner of the New Taipei City Fire Department explained: "This is for the drill of national defense mobilization and disaster prevention. The Defense Department asked us to include the scenario of a China attack. So we have that scripted in the start of the video".

A group of NASA-led researchers have proposed beaming information on the Earth and the human race into space, in search of any extraterrestrial life that may respond.

The project is called "Beacon in the Galaxy" (BITG) and includes researchers operating the ETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array in California and China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) to send out sensitive information regarding Earth's position in the solar system, images of humans, Earth's biology, information about DNA structure, physics and more.

The project has already been opposed by researchers from the United Kingdom's Oxford University, who warned that the dangers of sending out such a message are not yet fully understood, and that the downside of shooting up such a flare could be far larger than the upside. The warning from the Oxford researchers has now been echoed by famous theoretical physicist Michio Kau, who spoke on "Jesse Watters Primetime," where he said that it's a "horrible idea".

The US has committed to ending anti-satellite weapon testing in an effort to stop the spreading of space debris in low-Earth orbit.

The announcement came from Vice President Kamala Harris, that said the US is ending all practice of anti-satellite missile tests, which is a military demonstration that involves a missile being launched at a satellite. So far, four countries, US, China, Russia, and India, have conducted these tests on their own satellites, with the most recent being Russia in November 2021.

Russia's anti-satellite missile test created thousands of new space debris that caused astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to prepare for shrapnel impact in shelter. Harris said that space debris could destroy satellites that support the weather forecast, GPS driving directions, and "even your favorite television station."

The new survey was published by the renowned US National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine and details the most sought-after questions in science by top scientists in their respective fields.

The survey was published by the National Academies Press and details many scientific wishlist prospects that the researchers consider being a "top priority". One of them is the collection and retrieval of Mars rocks, and another is sending an interplanetary probe to Uranus to inspect the planet more closely and gather a deeper understanding of its history, current state, and future.

The scientists behind the survey have called upon NASA to take up the task and send a Uranus Orbiter and Probe. The orbiter would be similar to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that is designed to study the geology and climate of the Red Planet. The requested probe would plummet into the atmosphere of Uranus. The researchers expect that this level of a mission to Uranus should launch sometime in 2030 if engineers begin the development process in 2023.

In a recent interview, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed the dangers of living on Mars and the conditions humans will have to endure.

The SpaceX CEO sat down with TED conferences head Chris Anderson only hours after he offered to buy the second-largest social media platform in the world for $43 billion, Twitter. During the interview, Musk outlines his passion for wanting to have a "positive" outlook on the future, and to do that; you need to give people something to look forward to. Going to Mars is one of those monumental tasks that Musk has set out to achieve, but he warns the living conditions on Mars won't be for the faint of heart.

During the interview, Musk explains that the first humans to land on Mars and begin the colonization process won't be living in luxury, "It will be dangerous, cramped, difficult, hard work". Adding that participants "may not make it back". Musk has already taken steps towards getting humans on Mars with SpaceX's development of the 400-foot reusable Starship rocket that is prepared to carry 150 tons of cargo into orbit.