Latest News - Page 1315

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a private investigation into Activision-Blizzard's alleged securities fraud and employee discrimination, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The SEC is currently scrutinizing Activision-Blizzard in an attempt to determine whether or not the company has violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC's own investigation was likely prompted by the current class-action securities fraud lawsuit that Activision-Blizzard is facing in the District Court of Central California, which alleges that the company misled investors by not disclosing details of the current ongoing investigation from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing regarding sexual harassments and discrimination at Activision's offices.

Activision-Blizzard shares dropped following the DFEH investigation news, causing material harm to investors. Over a dozen law firms are calling for investors to join the class-action lawsuit and settle the matter in a court trial. Now the SEC is getting involved with their own private investigation.

Astronomers have detailed in a new study what the bright cosmic object was that lit up the sky over Japan and China back in 1181.

Historians and astronomers have been attempting to find an answer for what contemporary astronomers recorded seeing in the sky in 1181. According to accounts from these astronomers, onlookers of the sky saw a bright light that resembled the same brightness level as Saturn.

This bright light remained in the night sky for six months, according to historical accounts of the event. Now the mastery of the bright light in the sky may be uncovered as a new study has tracked a cosmic event back to around 1181.

A team of researchers has created holograms that users can actually feel, which very well may be the first step towards StarTrek-level technology.

The team of researchers is from the University of Glasgow, and according to a report by researcher Ravinder Daahiya written in The Conversation, the team uses a technology called "aerohaptics". So, how does it work? Users of the hologram are blasted with jets of air, or "aerohaptics," which simulate the sensation of touch on people's fingers, hands, and wrists.

Daahiya explains that the team of researchers tested the jets of air with an interactive projection of a basketball. Daahiya says that the system provided the appropriate amount of simulated weight to the basketball, causing the overall experience to be quite convincing. Daahiya wrote, "Those jets of air deliver a sensation of touch on people's fingers, hands, and wrists."

The Inspiration4 crew arrived safely back on Earth this past Saturday with SpaceX's Dragon capsule touching down safely in the Atlantic Ocean

The crew of four ordinary people were up in lower-Earth orbit for three days, and throughout that time the crew enjoyed some music, did science experiments and enjoyed an incredible view at Earth from Dragon's cupola. Jarrad Isaacman, the sponsor and commander of the mission wanted to raise money for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Isaacman reportedly paid SpaceX an undisclosed amount of money for the trip, as well as gave $100 million to St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

As a welcome home present, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk counted himself in for $50 million to be donated to the St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Musk dropped the welcoming him present on a tweet from the team that said they are back on Earth and are "Happy. Healthy. Home." SpaceX mission control said when the Inspiration4 Crew was landing, "On behalf of SpaceX, welcome back to planet Earth. Your mission has shown the world that space is for all of us."

Rolls-Royce is currently working on a power source for mining resourcing on the Moon and even Mars.

The firm recently released a joint study with the UK Space Agency into nuclear reactor development for space rockets and mining. The firm is taking a look at how a micro-nuclear reactor could be implemented into a rocket and then redeployed as a power source for mining on the Moon and mining on Mars. The head of Rolls-Royce's defense division, Dave Gordon, said that the firm can utilize its 60-years of development experience making nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Navy and apply it to nuclear rocket/space mining development.

Gordon said rockets and submarines are similar in the following ways, "non-air breathing environments, long-endurance, super reliable with a very dense power source." Gordon goes on to say that there aren't very many rare metals on Earth and that other objects in space have an abundance of these metals. Mining these metals will require a power source, and Gordon argues that the power source will have to be nuclear and not solar. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

SpaceX has just successfully made history with their Inspiration4 mission, raising $210 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and sending four civilians into space.

Elon Musk wasn't happy about the news, with someone tweeting him asking: "The President of the United States has refused to even acknowledge the 4 newest American astronauts who helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for St. Jude. What's your theory on why that is?"

The Tesla and SpaceX founder tweeted back, simply saying: "He's still sleeping".

GoPro has just unleashed its new Hero 10 camera and like every other GoPro action camera, there's upgrades across the board that make this one the very best yet.

The new GoPro Hero 10 action camera has a beefed-up image sensor and faster processor, allowing for some pretty crazy 5.3K 60FPS and 4K 120FPS recordings. The UI is faster, the Hero 10 starts up faster (great for on/off between use) as well as higher-resolution still photos, and so much more.

Another big upgrade for the Hero 10 is that GoPro is using their new GP2 processor, the first processor upgrade in 4 years with the now old Hero 6 camera.

The US government is about to hit its debt ceiling, with renewed concerns over the economy looming as the Benjamins tick over, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell not budging on refusing GOP assistance on increasing the debt ceiling.

McConnell said that Democrats need to raise it in order to finance their huge social spending plans on healthcare, education, and childcare. Business Insider reports that there is a loophole in solving this issue, where instead of raising the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department has the power to mint a $1 trillion platinum coin.

The $1 trillion platinum coin would be minted and then deposited at the Federal Reserve, and then the US government would continue away paying its bills like nothing happened -- without the debt ceiling being raised. But then the not-so-federal Federal Reserve has that $1 trillion platinum coin in their possession.

XFX has launched its Radeon RX 6900 XT ZERO WB graphics card, which rocks an ultra-premium pre-installed water block from the good folks over at EK.

The new XFX Radeon RX 6900 XT ZERO WB graphics card is one of the very fastest custom Radeon RX 6900 XTs ever made, with 350W+ power available and promised 3GHz+ OC GPU clocks. XFX explains: "The base of the block is CNC machined out of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is CNC machined out of glass-like Acrylic. Sealing is ensured by high-quality EPDM O-Rings. The brass standoffs are already pre-installed and allow for a safe and easy installation procedure".

XFX requires 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors on the custom Radeon RX 6900 XT ZERO WB graphics card, we don't know how much power the card can use at its maximum -- but it should be 350W+ while staying cooler than air-cooled RX 6900 XT cards using the same Navi 21 XTXH GPU.

AU Optronics has just unveiled a beautiful sight -- a gigantic 85-inch 4K TV but with an insane 240Hz refresh rate. We've already got multiple large 4K 120Hz gaming TVs but now there's an 85-inch 4K 240Hz (!!!) TV coming and man it is going to be a beast.

The new 85-inch 4K 240Hz will need a next-gen GPU to run it, which will be perfect for AMD's next-gen RDNA 3 GPU architecture and the multi-chip Navi 31-based Radeon RX 7900 XT or NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture and the GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards.

You'll need a new graphics card with HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 2.0 with the HDMI 2.1 already on the Radeon RX 6000 and GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs, meanwhile DP 2.0 will debut with next-gen cards. If you're using HDMI 2.1 then you'll need DSC (Display Stream Compression) to reach the lofty heights of 4K 240Hz as HDMI 2.1 only supports 4K 144Hz without DSC.

ADATA's XPG S70 Blade SSD fits into the PlayStation 5's expansion bay for more high-speed storage.

ADATA's XPG Gammix S70 Blade is compatible with the PS5's M.2 expansion slot and brings up to 7.4GB/sec read speeds across PCIe 4.0 Gen4 x4. The S70 Blade comes with an optional aluminum heat sink for extra heat dissipation to keep the drive cooler under 4K 60FPS gaming load, matching both speed and reliability to become a good pick for PS5 expansion storage.

The S70 Blade comes in 1TB ($169.99) and 2TB ($329.99) capacities complete with 176-layer Micron TLC flash, a five-year warranty, and a DRAM cache buffer. "Got a PS5 and need more capacity? The GAMMIX S70 BLADE is your answer. Plug one into your PS5 and enjoy better, smoother performance over the built-in storage," ADATA writes on its website.

Gran Turismo 7 will have real-time weather simulations that dynamically change tracks and in-game environments, Polyphony Digital confirms.

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi confirms a host of new details about the upcoming cross-platform racer. Some details--like campaign being online-only--are a bit disappointing, but the game promises to push the PlayStation 5 to its limits with high-performance features like real-time weather effects and in-game simulations.

According to Yamauchi, GT7's real-time weather effects will change track conditions based on things like humidity and temperature. Water will have a huge effect on gameplay too, and rain physics can change how cars handle quite a bit with drift and hydroplaning depending on tires, car type, etc. There's also time simulations that tie right into the dynamic weather effects--for example, mid-day sun can quickly evaporate any rainwater on a track.

GTA V's huge 8-year birthday isn't met with celebration but controversy from devout fans.

There's a big issue brewing in the GTA community and Rockstar Games should address it as soon as possible. The controversy stems from the recent GTA V Expanded & Enhanced PS5 trailer, which has been widely criticized by Grand Theft Auto players. The footage promises high-end graphics that many gamers say look similar to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, and the next-gen re-release is being called a "cash grab" as a result.

Fans are using YouTube's dislike feature to send a message to Rockstar Games. Five days ago the trailer had 120,000 dislikes with an 83% dislike ratio. Now the trailer has grown by a colossal 87,000 dislikes and currently sits at 207,000 dislikes, representing an 87.7% dislike ratio. Just yesterday it had 197K dislikes.

343i is slowing down support for Halo Master Chief Collection ahead of Halo Infinite's launch.

Halo MCC's new Season 8 update will be the last big update of 2021, and will be the end of the game's seasonal release cadence. 343i says they will no longer release big updates in a seasonal format and instead launch new content and features when they're ready. This will fee the studio up to focus on Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer which will take precedence over everything else (thanks in part to in-game microtransactions).

"Starting next year, we're targeting pivoting away from our current seasonal model and cadence to instead focus on smaller MCC updates that can land when they're ready based on development status and studio roadmap alignment," Postums said in a new Halo Waypoint update.

Now that the PlayStation 5 supports PC-grade expandable storage, gamers are looking to buy high-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs to supercharge their next-gen gaming experiences. With blazing speeds also comes potential for higher temps and a proper heat sink is incredibly important for any internal storage--especially NVMe drives in compact gaming consoles.

If you're a PS5 owner looking to pop in an extra SSD, Be quiet!'s MC1 cooler should be on your radar. The MC1 fits right into the PS5's expansion bay and is a great fit for both single- and dual-sided high-performance drives without heat sinks like the Samsung 980 Pro or Crucial's P5 Plus.

SpaceX has announced the date and time for when the Inspiration4 crew will return to Earth.

The Inspiration4 crew took off from the Kennedy Space Center on September 16 on the back of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The success of the launch marked a milestone in the space tourism industry as the first all-civilian flight into space. According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the crew onboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule is happy and healthy, who announced that he has recently checked in with the crew to see how they are doing up in lower-Earth orbit.

The crew has been in lower-Earth orbit for a few days, and according to an update from the SpaceX Twitter account, Inspiration4 is slated to return back down to Earth on Saturday, September 18, at 7:06 pm EDT. The Dragon capsule will splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, where a team will be waiting to recover them.

SpaceX recently launched its Falcon 9 rocket, and onboard the rocket was the Inspiration4 crew, who are currently floating around in lower-Earth orbit.

The launch for SpaceX was a success and marked a milestone for the space tourism industry as the very first all-civilian flight to space. The launch took place from the Kennedy Space Center located in Florida and stunned onlookers as the Falcon 9 soared off into the sky at high speeds. Throughout this article, you will find some of the best videos and images taken of the launch.

The crew aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule will have one of the best views of Earth through the cupola. Since the Inspiration4 mission doesn't take the passengers on board to the International Space Station, SpaceX has modified the Dragon capsule and has replaced the docking mechanism with a cupola or glass dome. Passengers onboard Dragon will be able to enjoy a stunning 360-degree view of Earth.

NASA has posted a new video to its YouTube channel as a part of its "We Asked A NASA Scientist" series.

This time around, NASA has posed a simple to a NASA asteroid expert, but probably a burning question on everyone's mind - "Does NASA Know About All the Asteroids?" Most people are aware that asteroids enter Earth's atmosphere and break up before ever causing any damage. But on the odd occasion, some of the larger asteroids end up reaching Earth's surface, and sometimes they can cause devastating destruction. But are we really in any danger?

According to NASA asteroid expert Dr. Amy Mainzer, the short answer is "No", NASA has not identified all of the asteroids. However, Manizer says that the space agency has identified more than 90% of the large ones that come close to Earth. The asteroid expert adds that it's unlikely a large asteroid will impact Earth during our lifetimes and that NASA is constantly scouring the vastness of space for any asteroids that would pose a threat to our planet.

Over the next few days, the United States, particularly states along the east coast, are at risk of experiencing new tropical storms that could eventuate into hurricanes.

Official warnings have been announced by the National Hurricane Center for three tropical storms approaching the United States. These dangerous weather systems pose a threat to Texas, Florida, and other states located on the eastern seaboard. As you have probably already imagined, these storms could bring torrential rainfall, strong winds, and thunder/lightning.

Meteorologists are saying that the storms are coming from the Atlantic Ocean and have the potential to be the next tropical storms that are named under the 2021 hurricane season. If officials decide to name the storms, they will be named Odette and Peter. For those living in these potentially affected areas, be sure to regularly check official information for any updates regarding the storms, as they can change trajectory at the drop of a hat.

ASUS launched its ROG gaming furniture earlier this year, but now it is being deployed in the US through IKEA both in-store, and online next month.

The new ASUS ROG gaming furniture includes gaming chairs, gaming desks, cabinets, drawers, ring lights, phone holders, mouse pads, a mouse bungee, an insulated tumbler, a multifunctional blanket (so awesome), a neck pillow, cup holder, and even a wooden arm headphone stand.

That's a pretty extensive ASUS ROG setup there.