Latest News - Page 1178

Gotham Knights, the new Batman game where Bruce Wayne is actually dead, will release this October.

After years of waiting, gamers finally have a release date for its gritty and visceral open-world action RPG Gotham Knights. The two-player co-op game will release on October 25, 2022 across PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Gotham Knights features four different playable knights including Red Hood, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin, each with their own special abilities, gear, and character roles. The game features distinct RPG elements with elemental affinities, health bars, stamina, adds, and huge boss fights against iconic villains like Mr. Freeze and Talons directly adapted from the Court of Owls comics.

Koch Media, entertainment parent company of games labels like Deep Silver, Prime Matter, has donated more money to Ukranian relief than Activision-Blizzard has.

Video games companies are donating funds en masse to help embattled Ukraine during the current Russian invasion. Many of the top games-makers including The Pokemon Company, SEGA, Remedy Entertainment, Activision-Blizzard, and Koch Media have donated tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars to worldwide humanitarian efforts.

One interesting thing about these donations is the overall values. Some companies give what they can--Remedy, for example, made 44.7 million euros in 2021 and donated 50,000 euros to Ukrainian relief. Koch Media, a multimedia company who made roughly $244 million in 2021, has donated $500,000 to Ukrainian relief and is prepared to donate another $500,000 through matched employee donations.

Valve's PC gaming platform Steam had more monthly active users throughout 2021 than the PlayStation Network, new data indicates.

PC gaming is on the rise and big-name publishers like Capcom, SEGA, Microsoft, and even Sony are bringing their games the market. Steam is firmly at the top of the PC platform hierarchy (nearly every publisher has released their own proprietary games launcher, but some, like Bethesda.net, are closing shop) and outside of multi-million Epic Games Store exclusivity deals, everyone wants their games on Steam for one big reason: That's where most of the players are.

New data from Valve shows that Steam had a whopping 132 million monthly active users (MAUs) throughout 2021.

If things couldn't get any worse, the Chernobyl nuclear site has lost power. In the last hour reports have flown around the world, with confirmation coming from the state regulator.

The Chernobyl nuclear site lost power at around 11:22AM local time, with emergency generators capable of keeping safety systems running for 48 hours. But the much, much bigger issue is that the ongoing special military operation by Russia in the Ukraine "are making repair impossible".

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported yesterday that it was "increasingly concerned about conditions at the site. 210 workers have now gone 14 days without being rotated. And the IAEA has lost remote radiation monitoring data". There are around 20,000 old nuclear fuel rods at Chernobyl that are kept in a spent fuel pool facility, which have been piling up since the operation of Chernobyl between 1977 and 2000.

AMD's new Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor is out in the wild, the very first consumer-focused CPU with 3D V-Cache technology. But... it comes at a cost.

The new CPU has been torn apart and that gorgeous die shot has been shown, our first look at the Ryzen 7 5800XD chip. One of the most unfortunate things about AMD's new Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor is that it doesn't look like it has any OC (overclocking) support, whatsoever.

A post on the Chiphell forums by 'brother number one' said: "Information that can be disclosed so far: 5800X 3D does not support overclocking". But why? The 64GB of additional cache through the 3D V-Cache means that CPU clocks are lower on the 5800X3D, and the additional 3D-stacked cache gets hot underneath, and could reduce the CPU clocks too far -- or even damage the CPU.

The project was developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Zhuhai Futian Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

The world's first pilot project for demonstrating gasoline production from carbon dioxide hydrogenation has completed its first trial operation and technology assessment on March 4th, located in Zoucheng Industrial Park, Shandong province, China. The demonstration device was completed in 2020 and completed a continuous 72-hour on-site assessment in October 2021 by China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF).

The site can produce a thousand tons of gasoline per year, realizing carbon dioxide and hydrogen conversion rates of 95% and producing gasoline with a selectivity of 85% in all carbon-based products. The octane number of the gasoline produced exceeded 90, conforming to the Chinese national VI standard while keeping energy consumption low for its production.

The photo captured by the Mars Perseverance rover is the "Image of the Week" for Week 54 (February 20th - 26th, 2022) of the Perseverance mission.

The image was taken using the Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A aboard Perseverance, at 14:24:43 on February 25th, 2022, or Sol 362 of the Perseverance rover's mission on Mars. Perseverance periodically stops and surveys its surroundings with its Hazard Cameras, generating a 3D view to help the rover navigate without needing to consult the rover team on Earth constantly.

The rock inside the wheel is still present as of March 7th, when the Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A captured a similar perspective. The rover has continued regular operation despite the rock, and it is likely to fall out of its own accord as the rover continues on its mission. Other rovers such as the MSL Curiosity have had rocks get stuck in their wheels, but they haven't had any significant detrimental effects.

A paper on the new species titled "Fossil coleoid cephalopod from the Mississippian Bear Gulch Lagerstätte sheds light on early vampyropod evolution" has been published in the journal Nature.

A research team from the American Museum of Natural History and Yale has discovered a new species of vampyropod using a 328-million-year-old fossil. The discovery uncovers one of the oldest ancestors of the group of animals that includes octopuses and vampire squids and shows their ancestors had ten arms instead of eight. The newly discovered species extends the fossil record of this group extends by about 82 million years.

The photos will be auctioned at Copenhagen's Bruun Rasmussen auction house on March 9th, 2022.

An anonymous foreign collector contacted the auction house to sell their collection of 74 photos, including photographs from the missions Apollo 8 through Apollo 17 and more, with 26 of the photos being taken on the moon. Each photograph is being auctioned off individually, and the entire collection is estimated to be around 1.4 million kroner in value, or almost 190,000 euros ($205,000).

The new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) is part of its Global Energy Review, titled "Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2021".

Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions worldwide rose by 6% in 2021 to their highest ever level, 36.3 billion tonnes (36.3 Gt, or gigatonnes). The increase in emissions was by more than 2 billion tonnes, marking the largest absolute increase year-to-year, and more than offset the decline in emissions from the previous year attributed to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The recovery of the global economy led to recovering energy demand in 2021. However, factors such as increased natural gas prices led to more coal being burned for energy, despite the largest recorded growth in renewable power generation.

Interfax reports that Russia's President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that introduces special economic measures on importing and exporting.

According to reports, Putin has signed a decree that adds restrictions on foreign trade under the guise of protecting Russia's security. The new decree puts "a ban on exports outside of the Russian Federation's territory and (or) imports to the Russian Federation's territory of products and (or) raw materials according to lists determined by the Russian government."

Additionally, restrictions have been put on exports outside of the Russian Federation's territory, "and (or) imports to the Russian Federation's territory of products and (or) raw materials according to lists determined by the Russian government." Adding that "the measures envisioned by Clause 1 of the decree shall not be applied to products and (or) raw materials exported outside of the Russian Federation's territory and (or) imported to the Russian Federation's territory by citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, and persons without citizenship for personal use."

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has described the technology that he considers to be a "mathematical miracle".

The Apple co-founder sat down with Yahoo Finance to discuss various topics, and closer to the end of the interview, Wozniak was asked his thoughts of cryptocurrency as a whole and if Bitcoin (BTC) will be a big part of the future. The Apple co-founder said he is in the camp of cryptocurrencies such as BTC will change the way humans live in the future, which echos his statements from a tech conference last summer where Wozniak described the currency as "the most amazing mathematical miracle."

During the interview with Yahoo Finance, Wozniak said that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency "that's pure-gold mathematics", and also touched on the reliability of blockchain technology against the reliability of US dollars. The Apple co-founder says that Bitcoin has a fixed amount and that its underpinning technology is "mathematically pure." If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

Spaceweather reported that a coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed after an eruption of a magnetic filament.

According to the report, the CME departed the Sun on March 7, 2022 and is expected to hit Earth on sometime on March 10. The coronal mass ejection is expected to cause relatively weak geomagnetic storms at a rating of G-1, which means there little chance that satellites and electric grids will be taken offline by the storm.

While the storm is expected to be weak, there is still the increased chance for auroras to be spotted in the night sky. Previous Sun blasts have caused auroras to be spotted across Europe, Scandinavia and as far south in the US as Washington State. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has provided an area where auroras as expected to be seen. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A NASA astronaut has taken to Twitter to voice his opinion on the recent comments from the head of Russia's space agency.

The leader of Roscosmos, Russia's equivalent to NASA, has been the target of former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman who critized Russia's space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin over his comments amid Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Rogozin is no stranger to making outlandish comments on social media, as the Roscosmos head recently threatened to crash the ISS into the US over the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion.

The comments from Rogozin have caused international partners to pull out of relationships with the Russian space agency, which is essentially jeopardizing any future space exploration-ties between Russia and prominent space-advancing countries. Additionally, Rogozin has warned that if any Russian satellites are hacked or infiltrated that it is "a reason to go to war" with those who organized the attack.

In response to Russia's invasion into Ukraine, two massive global brands have halted service throughout Russia.

According to reports from ABC, McDonald's has announced it will temporarily close all 847 of its restaurants across Russia, in an effort to show its support for the Ukrainian people and its stance on Russia's recent decisions. McDonald's employs 62,000 individuals across its 847 stores and has announced it will continue to pay the salaries of all of its employee's.

McDonald's isn't the only global brand that is halting service across Russia, as Starbucks recently announced it will also be taking a stand against Russia by temporarily closing at least 100 Starbucks cafes and suspending all shipments of its products. According to Starbucks' announcement the nearly 2,000 partners in Russia that depend on Starbucks for their livelihood will continue to be supported by the Kuwait-based Alshaya Group.

The director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been asked if he thinks Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, is "crazy".

The question came from US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and was aimed at CIA Director William Burn's who spoke at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. According to the head of the CIA, he doesn't believe Putin is crazy, but instead is becoming increasingly insulated and hardened in his views, which makes him "extremely difficult to deal with".

According to Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, who is the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, estimates measure Russian casualties to be somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000. However, Berrier noted that this estimation was made with "low confidence". Additionally, director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said that the US hasn't seen any notable movement from Russia's nuclear force despite concerning warnings from Putin.

The governor of the Reserve Bank warned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will have economic and psychological impacts around the world.

The warnings have come from Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe who said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will cause a new wave of inflation to ripple around the world. As soon as Russia began its invasion into Ukraine, the nation was hit with sanctions designed to cripple its economy, which as a result has created a supply shock that is increasing prices.

According to Dr. Lowe, "The war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia have created a new supply shock that is pushing prices up, especially for commodities". Dr. Lowe added that this "supply shock" will cause a new wave of inflation that will rise above central banks' current targets. As a result of central banks' targets not being met and widespread higher inflation, a larger monetary policy response will be required to remedy the issue.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs have been detailed in great length over the last couple of months, but so too have AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs.

We now have some more information from Tom @ Moore's Law is Dead with his sources providing some new details, and pieces of the Navi 31, Navi 32, and Navi 33-based Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards will form into. The flagship Radeon RX 7970 XT graphics card is teased here, with the Navi 31 GPU and up to 32GB of GDDR6 memory.

AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 7970 XT graphics card would tote its 32GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory bus, and have a TDP of between 375-450W. As for the Navi 31, it is an MCM (multi-chip module) GPU and packs up to a ridiculous 15360 FP32 shading units (Navi 21 GPU inside of the RX 6900 XT has 5120 shading units).

If you can believe it was nearly 10 years ago now when Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Internet was originally created as a "CIA project".

I have been working full-time for TweakTown for close to 12 years now, and wrote a story back in April 2014 -- close to 8 years ago now -- headlined "Vladimir Putin says that the Internet is a 'CIA project'". Well, it wasn't just a random conspiracy theory -- but Putin was speaking at a media forum in St. Petersburg when he said the Internet was created as a "CIA project" and that it "is still developing as such".

Putin said at the time that Russia needed to "fight for its interests online".

Basemark has just unveiled its all-new GPU performance benchmarking suite, which is fully cross-platform and works on all modern graphics APIs and operating systems.

The new GPUScore works on graphics APIs including Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX while operating systems like Windows, Linus, macOS, Android and iOS are supported. There are three different testing suites available, with the first of GPUScore's new benchmarks -- Relic of Life -- released immediately, while the others will be released over the "following months".

GPUScore Relic of Life will become a big part of high-end gaming PCs and their super-fast graphics cards, with support for ray tracing benchmarking of both Vulkan and DirectX, on Windows and Linux, respectively. Tero Sarkkinen, Founder & CEO of Basemark explains: "As veterans of the graphics performance benchmarking industry, we know that it takes the most modern tools to reliably benchmark the latest GPU technologies. I am proud of the new GPUScore Relic of Life benchmark".