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The sweltering record temperature was recorded in the town of Onslow in Western Australia.

Reaching a temperature of 50.7 degrees Celsius (123.26 degrees Fahrenheit) according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), the temperature equals Australia's hottest day on record. It is the hottest recorded temperature for Western Australia.

The temperature was last recorded on January 2nd, 1960, at Oodnadatta Airport in South Australia. The country's Climate Council warms these temperatures could become commonplace as global warming continues, with Dr. Martin Rice stating the record cones as "part of a long-term warming trend driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas."

The new study discussing the threat was published in the journal Biological Reviews.

Five major extinction events have been identified in the history of life on Earth. The five events are the Ordovician-Silurian, Late Devonian, Permian-Triassic, Triassic-Jurassic, and the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction events. Scientists suggest a sixth, Holocene extinction or Anthropocene extinction, is now underway, threatening global biodiversity.

Biologists from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France, extrapolated land snail and slug estimates to determine that between 7.5% and 13% of the two million identified species on Earth could already be extinct. The extinction rates are not equal across all ecosystems, with marine species somewhat less affected despite their own significant threats.

Apple's upcoming AR headset is meant to be a game-changer and would replace the iPhone over the next 10 years -- and is now facing delays of "at least a few months" according to sources of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg reports from the usual "people familiar with the situation" that Apple is "potentially delaying its first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2015". Apple was meant to unveil its next-gen headset that would combine the worlds of virtual and augmented realities at its WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in June 2022, and a release later this year... but that isn't happening anymore.

The new Apple AR headset is reportedly facing "development challenges" that include overheating, cameras and software "have made it harder to stay on track" according to people involved in the project. The sources said that these issues could force Apple to delay the announcement of its AR headset until later this year, or even into 2023 -- while the headset itself is pretty much confirmed to be delayed into 2023 at the very earliest.

NVIDIA announced its new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card at CES 2022, but I've just reported exclusively that NVIDIA has halted production on the RTX 3090 Ti -- not stopping GIGABYTE from preparing its new GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards.

GIGABYTE has a fleet of new custom RTX 30 series GPUs on the way, with the new flagship GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3090 Ti AORUS Xtreme Waterforce -- a new watercooled card -- and the new GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming OC graphics card. We should expect to see the RTX 3090 Ti Gaming OC be an air-cooled variant, both laden with RGB lighting.

In the new EEC listing, it wasn't just the new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti that gets some new custom card lovin' from GIGABYTE, but also the new GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC Stealth, and not just 1 but 4 new GeForce RTX 3050 cards. The new GeForce RTX 3050 cards include the RTX 3050 Gaming OC, RTX 3050 Eagle OC, RTX 3050 Gaming, and RTX 3050 Mini.

It looks like Tesla's exciting new Cybertruck has hit a speedbump, with production reportedly delayed and now 2022 shipping is out the window and 2023 is when Cybertruck's will start rolling off the production line.

Reuters reports from the usual "person familiar with the matter" that the Tesla Cybertruck delays are because of the "changing features and functions" that the company is introducing into the vehicle to make it even better, now that the company faces competition in the electric pickup truck market.

Tesla's official Cybertruck website previously said: "You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears in 2022" but now it reads "You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears". The thing is, the internet records everything and archives show that the reference of 2022 for the Cybertruck was removed at the end of December 2021.

Samsung has just teased some future tech, with In-Memory Computing being part of the future of technology that will use next-gen low-power AI processing and now Samsung has demonstrated MRAM for In-Memory Computing using a novel 64 x 64 crossbar array based on MRAM cells.

In a new paper, researchers published to Nature titled "A crossbar array of magnetoresistive memory devices for in-memory computing" they explained that the key architectural innovation by the research team at Samsung tested a 64 x 64 crossbar array based on MRAM cells that "overcomes the low-resistance issue with an architecture that uses resistance summation for analogue multiply-accumulate operations".

For this demonstration, Samsung's novel technology used a 64 x 64 array integrated with readout electronics in 28nm CMOS technology. There were researchers from both the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Samsung Electronics Foundry Business and Semiconductor R&D Center -- using the new MRAM technology -- and checked its AI computing performance.

Anyone that plays Call of Duty: Vanguard, Warzone Pacific (or before it was called that, Call of Duty: Warzone) knows that there are major issues with the game. It's not a mess like Battlefield 2042, but there are fixes that the developers need to do -- and now Activision is addressing that, exactly.

In a new tweet on the official Twitter account for Call of Duty, the developer has a "message to our community" that takes in the criticism gamers have over the franchise, and that the teams have fixes and improvements on the way. Activision said: "We wanted to take a minute to talk about fixing the game. We hear you, and we feel your frustrations. Our teams are hard at work addressing the issues that are being experienced across Vanguard, Warzone, and Modern Warfare".

"Updates are being deployed as quickly as possible. We want everyone to have a seamless experience, no matter which game, game mode or platform you play on. Your feedback is a critical part of our development process to make our games the best they can be. Stay posted for real-time updates" while the company says you should follow Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch on Twitter.

LG has just announced that its launched the world's first commercial service robot, with the introduction of its CLOi ServeBot robot for the US market. The video below is from CES 2021, check it out:

The new semi-autonomous robot will be perfect for restaurants, retail stores, hotels, and more with LG building it for "complex commercial environments". LG's new CLOi ServeBot robot stands at 53 inches tall, has 11 hours of operation on a single charge, and handles up to 66-pound loads. It won't be chasing you down because your credit card was declined, as the CLOi ServeBot has a top speed of just 2.2 mph.

LG's new CLOi ServeBot robot can be tweaked to work on a number of floors, with LG saying "enabling precise multi-point deliveries ranging from densely packed restaurants to sprawling office complexes". There are a bunch of sensors and cameras on the CLOi ServeBot that stops the robot from hitting walls, staff, and customers.

NVIDIA is preparing its next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture behind the scenes, cooking in the silicon oven, while I just reported exclusively that NVIDIA has halted production on its new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti -- and now, we're hearing comments from NVIDIA on GPU shortages, and that things will improve in the coming months.

NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress said during the 24th Annual Needham Growth Conference that the GPU shortage will improve in 2H 2022, that there is gigantic demand from gamers for GeForce GPUs, and that there are more people wanting to buy their chips than they have on hand right now.

Kress said: "So even throughout all of calendar 2021, we have seen strong demand for GeForce. And it continues to remain strong and stronger than our overall supply that we have. The holiday demand, for example, was quite strong, particularly in laptops. And we're still finishing out our quarter. But we'll look at the end of the quarter in terms of what we've seen in terms of channel levels. We had seen channel levels be quite lean, and we are working with our supply chain partners to increase the availability of supply. And we feel better about our supply situation as we move into the second half of the calendar year '22".

Respawn's new mystery game is reportedly a singleplayer action-adventure FPS...but it is not Titanfall 3.

Respawn is working on a third project alongside ongoing Apex Legends content and Jedi: Fallen Order 2. Our previous coverage indicates the game is in early incubation phases of development, and new reports from GamesBeat say the title will be a singleplayer-driven FPS with an emphasis on fluidity.

The news comes after Respawn creative director Mohammed Alavi left the studio. Alavi was leading the charge on the unannounced game and back in 2021 he described the team as a "small and compact group of specialists that have a lot more freedom to shape a new game".

Netflix has raised the price of its standard and premium subscription plans in the United States.

On the heels of a record Netflix's record-breaking $22 billion 9-month revenues, the streaming giant is raising prices in an effort to generate more earnings. The company's standard plan is increasing by $1 to $15.49 monthly, and the higher-end premium 4K-ready plan now costs $19.99, a $2 increase over the previous price.

Netflix's basic option, which allows for one viewer at a time with 480p resolution streams, has risen to $9.99 a month.

Digital video game services made the bulk of the global games industry's revenues in 2020.

Game services have far eclipsed product sales as the market continually shifts to a lease-based subscriptions, live games, and engagement-driven business models. According to figures from analyst Joost Van Dreunen, services including the likes of Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, and free-to-play live titles made up 70% of 2020's global games industry earnings.

The worldwide games market generated $180 billion in 2020 due to stay-at-home measures. Services accounted for roughly $127 billion according to SuperJoost analysis, whereas products--game sales, accessories, etc.--made up $53 billion.

Renowned video games voice actor Troy Baker announces his support for NFTs, and fans aren't happy.

Troy Baker has voiced dozens of characters in gaming, film, and anime; if you've played a video game in the last 10 years there's a good chance he's been in it. Baker portrayed icons like Joel in The Last of Us and Higgs in Death Stranding, and even The Joker in a multitude of animated films.

Now the actor is embracing NFTs. In a controversial Twitter post, Baker says he is working with Voiceverse to make unique voice-based NFTs. "You can hate, or you can create," Baker wrote.

As a resident of South Australia and a big fan of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, the news that they're building a black box just south of me in Tasmania is both awesome, and alarming.

What we will know as Earth's Black Box will be a huge 10m x 4m x 3m steel monolith that Kubrick would be proud of, and will be built on a remote outcrop on the west coast of Tasmania. Earth's Black Box will be made from 7.5cm thick steel, cantilevered off granite, according to co-founder of artistic collective the Glue Society, Jonathan Kneebone.

As for what data it will be collecting: "It will collect measurements of land and sea temperatures, ocean acidification, atmospheric CO2, species extinction, land-use changes, as well as things like human population, military spending and energy consumption. And it will collect contextual data such as newspaper headlines, social media posts, and news from key events like Conference of the Parties (COP) climate change meetings".

SEGA has filed multiple NFT-related trademarks on the Japan Patent Office, possibly indicating its plans to delve into the digital market.

SEGA has filed two new NFT trademarks on the JPO. One is for a SEGA Classics NFT Collection, which should feature pixellated 8- and 16-bit non-fungible tokens, and the other is simply entitled SEGA NFT. The trademarks were filed in late December 2021.

These developments come days after SEGA's new CEO Haruki Satomi said he would abandon NFT plans if it were "perceived as simple money-making."

Exclusive: NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card was announced at CES 2022, and was meant to be released later this month... but yeah, that might not be happening.

I've had an industry source reach out to me talking about the situation with NVIDIA and its latest GPUs, where I was told that NVIDIA asked AIB partners to "pause production" on their custom GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards. I asked if they knew the reason, but they didn't know why NVIDIA asked them to pause production.

The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is meant to be an absolute GPU monster, with upgrades in every way right up to a huge new 450W TDP. But asking AIB partners to "pause production" out of nowhere without an explanation? That's weird, but maybe there are problems in silicon paradise? First Samsung has major issues with its new AMD RDNA 2-powered Exynos 2200 SoC -- made on Samsung's in-house process node -- and so too are NVIDIA's current flock of Ampere-based GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs, including the new flagship GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

The mystery arose from lunar rock samples collected by NASA's Apollo program and brought back to Earth.

Analysis of the rocks brought back between 1968 and 1972 as part of the program indicate they were formed in the presence of a magnetic field of equivalent strength to that of Earth's. Researchers from Brown University have now proposed an explanation for how an object the size of the Moon could generate such a strong magnetic field.

The Moon has no magnetic field presently, but the researchers suggest in the first few billion years of the Moon's history, while its surface was more molten, large rock formations sinking through the Moon's mantle could create a kind of interior convection capable of generating strong, intermittent magnetic fields. Typically, a planetary body produces magnetic fields with strength proportional to its size via a core dynamo, the convection of molten metals in its core.

A new paper published in Physical Review Letters explains the theoretical model.

Scientists from CERN have proposed a theory that explains the small mass of the Higgs boson and solves a problem with the theory of the strong force. The Higgs boson is an elementary particle with a mass of ~125 GeV and has prompted scientists to theorize why it is so light. The strong force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature and binds quarks together to form subatomic particles like protons and neutrons.

The theory uses a multiverse model to propose many different universes, each with a Higgs boson of a different mass. At the birth of these universes, those with more massive Higgs bosons would collapse quickly, and the surviving universes would have a light Higgs boson, of which our universe would be one.

A paper on the discovery was published in the journal Nature Astronomy, led by David Kipping and his Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University.

The second exomoon candidate to ever be identified was found orbiting the planet Kepler 1708b. The discovery comes four years after the same team discovered the first exomoon candidate, found orbiting Kepler 1625b, which has yet to be officially confirmed. Kepler 1708b is an exoplanet found 5,500 light-years from Earth, and its candidate exomoon is about two-thirds the size of the roughly Neptune-sized candidate exomoon orbiting Kepler 1625b.

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has begun to observe the first target of its mission.

The IXPE has been in space for over a month after launching on December 9th aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. It was launched into an orbit 370 miles (600 kilometers) above Earth's equator and has since had its X-ray detectors deployed, telescopes calibrated and undergone other procedures by the IXPE team to make the observatory operational up to this point.

The first official target for the IXPE to observe is Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a supernova remnant (SNR) in the Milky Way galaxy, left behind after a once-massive star exploded, with the light of the Cas A estimated to have first reached us around 350 years ago. Starting January 11th, IXPE will observe Cas A over about three weeks, using X-ray polarization to examine its magnetic field structure.