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Earth's closest neighbor has had its photo taken by NASA and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager telescope.

According to a new post on NASA's website, NASA and ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft flew past Venus 4,967 miles from the planet's surface. During the days leading up to its approach, the Solar Orbiter snapped several images of it, which can be seen above. Looking at the image, we can see Venus' nightside, which is the large blacked-out semi-circle, and the Sun behind it.

Phillip Hess, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C, said, "Ideally, we would have been able to resolve some features on the nightside of the planet, but there was just too much signal from the dayside. Only a sliver of the dayside appears in the images, but it reflects enough sunlight to cause the bright crescent and the diffracted rays that seem to come from the surface." NASA also mentions that there are two bright stars in the background of the time. The star furthermost to the right is Omicron Tauri, and above it to the left is Xi Tauri.

NASA will be sending a new space probe to a distant moon that is believed to have water in search of ancient signs of life.

NASA plans to launch a rotorcraft named Dragonfly to Saturn's largest and the solar system's second-largest moon, Titan, in 2027. Researchers believe that Titan possibly has liquid water beneath its icy surface and that within that water could be chemical biosignatures that indicate life is/was present. Alex Hayes, associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Dragonfly co-investigator, said, "Titan represents an explorer's utopia."

He continued, "The science questions we have for Titan are very broad because we don't know much about what is actually going on at the surface yet. For every question we answered during the Cassini mission's exploration of Titan from Saturn orbit, we gained 10 new ones." In addition to looking for signs of life, Dragonfly will also be inspecting the moon's methane cycle as well as the chemical make-up of Titan's strange atmosphere.

Humans of the future will be very different from what we are today. They will possess much more advanced technology and will most likely have a deeper understanding of the universe.

However, humans of the future will probably still be interested in the history of our species, which is why NASA is sending a message to us of the future. This isn't the first time NASA has created a time capsule that contains what humans have understood so far and sent it out into the void of space. In the 1970s, NASA's first four spacecrafts to leave our solar system contained time capsules plaques that have messages to alien life.

Now, NASA is doing it again, but this time the space agency isn't planning on sending a message to aliens but to human astro-archeologists of the future. The mission is called "Lucy," named after the fossilized human ancestor discovered in 1974. NASA will launch the Lucy in 2033, and its destination will be six asteroids that are on six separate orbits of the sun. Once Lucy has passed those asteroids, it will reside among the Trojan asteroids for possibly millions of years, or until it's discovered by someone or something.

Intel's new Core i9-12900K processor is still in the oven and months away, but it has appeared in the CPU black market -- and now on the BaseMark benchmark database.

The new Alder Lake-S flagship processor has 12 cores and a CPU clock of 3.2GHz on the BaseMark database, but we've been hearing it'll be a 16-core, 24-thread CPU. This will see 8 high-performance cores (with HT) and 8 high-efficiency cores for 24 threads in total on the Core i9-12900K processor.

Intel's Core i9-12900K processor was reportedly run on an "Acer Z69H6-AM" which going by the Z69 part of the product name could mean a new Acer Z690 motherboard which would be capable of taking a new 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPU.

EA DICE won't have a single-player campaign for Battlefield 2042, which is a good thing in my opinion -- as they can purely concentrate on where it matters: the multiplayer. But that doesn't mean there isn't a story behind Battlefield 2042, which has been explored beautifully with a 9-minute short film "Exodus", check it out:

You might remember Michael K. Williams from Battlefield 4 back in 2013, where he was in the game as Sgt. Kimble "Irish" Graves -- but he looks much better under the next-gen graphics that EA DICE has cooking up inside of Battlefield 2042. Irish makes a return, and what a return it is.

I'm actually fine with DICE not having a single-player campaign if we at least get a back story in the way of these awesome short films like Exodus. Anyway, let us know what you think about the Battlefield 2042 "Exodus" short film in the comments below.

Before I even start, remember this is a technical playtest and not the final game -- but early reports from the Battlefield 2042 technical playtest report that the Xbox Series X version of the game runs better, smoother than the PC version of the game.

Battlefield leaker Tom Henderson tweeted out that he was receiving reports that "the Xbox version of the Battlefield 2042 tech test is much smoother than the PC version". The PC version of Battlefield 2042 on the other hand, once it launches, have NVIDIA-powered DLSS and Reflex technologies that will make it far superior than any console could ever wish to be.

It seems the console versions of Battlefield 2042 aren't perfect, as EA DICE had to pull the plug on the PlayStation 5 version of the Battlefield 2042 technical playtest over a "critical issue". The full game launches on October 22, so let's hope things are worked out by then.

AMD is now shipping out its very first Radeon Instinct MI200 accelerators, codenamed Aldebaran -- is an exciting new CDNA 2-based MCM (multi-chip module) graphics card made for datacenters of the future.

The new CDNA 2 architecture succeeds the CDNA architecture, which is an architecture AMD created specifically for data centers, with the new Aldebaran GPU now shipping to its first customers. If that's happening, we should expect AMD to push more and more of these out as we slide towards the end of 2021.

We don't know if the new MCM GPU is made on 7nm, but AMD's last slide on Aldebaran simply mentioned they would be using an "Advanced Node" which could be 7nm+ or 5nm. Aldebaran is AMD's first MCM GPU, but it's for datacenters -- gamers won't get to see an MCM-based Radeon GPU until 2022 with the introduction of the next-gen RDNA 3 architecture.

NVIDIA kinda tried to gimp its GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs by updating them with the introduction GeForce RTX 30 series LHR cards -- or Lite Hash Rate.

The crypto gimped performance has been interesting to say the least, with more on that below -- but NBMiner has now pushed out an update that ungimps performance by up to 70% which is big news... at least for now. The new NBMiner update doesn't instantly unlock the mining performance on the GeForce RTX 30 series LHR cards, but rather provides you with the ability to adjust some vaues that will boost mining performance.

NBMiner's new update will let you adjust values that works out the maximum unlockable hash rate for your specific LHR-series gimped GPU, with up to 68% more performance achieved when mining Ethereum on the ethash algorithm. Not bad at all.

Sony's OG car-smashing battle royale could make a return on the PlayStation 5.

The Twisted Metal franchise may come back to PlayStation consoles sometime in 2023, new reports from Battlefield informer Tom Henderson suggest. Sony is expected to support the PS4 until 2023, and after that the PS5 will take over.

While Sony has yet to officially confirm the news, a new game does seem likely. Sony has said a new Twisted Metal TV show is in development at itsPlayStation Productions media label (Sony's PlayStation Productions is adapting its core gaming IPs into films, TV shows, and series, including a Uncharted film starring Spider-Man's Tom Holland, a TV show based on The Last of Us, and a new Ratchet and Clank production).

AMD's next-gen RDNA 3 graphics architecture and its Navi 31 and Navi 33 GPUs have been teased again, with Navi 31 and Navi 33 GPUs being added into official ROCm developer tools.

Not all of the next-gen Navi 3X GPUs are in the ROCm dev tools, but the Navi 31 and Navi 33 are making an appearance. First off, AMD's new Navi 31 GPU is reportedly an MCM (multi-chip module) or MCD (multi-chip design) -- which should pack up to an insane 15360 GPU cores. MCM and MCD are fancier words for a dual, or multi-GPU design on a single card. Exciting times.

Even the GPU cores are reportedly not being called GPU cores anymore, they're known as RDNA Workgroup Processors (WGP). Navi 33 is a monolithic GPU, continuing on as we have GPUs of today with single monolithic GPUs.

NVIDIA's workstation-focused RTX A4000 card has been torn apart by "snake-robot" on Reddit, giving us a gander inside of the NVIDIA RTX A4000 workstation card -- something we don't normally see with high-end workstation GPUs.

Inside, the NVIDIA RTX A4000 uses a PG190 board design, which is based on the RTX 3060 Ti PCB with a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. On the RTX A4000 however, the power connector isn't directly connected to the board and rather, uses an extension cable.

As for the GPU, NVIDIA is using its GA104-875 GPU with has all of its 6144 CUDA cores, making it more like the GPU that NVIDIA uses in its GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Unlike the RTX 3070 Ti, NVIDIA has used GDDR6 non-X memory but with ECC (Error Checking and Correction).

One of, if not the most trusted name in "fact-checking" is reeking like hot garbage right now and has been for years but it is only getting worse -- Snopes co-founder David Mikkelson was busted over "mass plagiarism" and now Snopes has retracted 60 articles.

Snopes pulled the articles after their co-founder and still -- even after this -- chief executive officer David Mikkelson had his world imploded in on himself again. Mikkelson owns half of Snopes Media Group, and has been plagiarising articles from major outlets like The Guardian and the LA Times, because he was hungry for traffic.

BuzzFeed News busted Snopes' co-founder and his major plagiarism, and within hours 60 articles were retracted according to The New York Times. Mikkelson admitted he had "multiple serious copyright violations of content that Snopes didn't have rights to use". He added: "There is no excuse for my serious lapses in judgment. I want to express how sorry I am to those whose copyright I violated, to our staff, and to our readers".

Battlefield 2042 is still a couple of months away, but there's a technical playtest going on right now on multiple platforms and someone has just broken their NDA to upload some Battlefield 2042 gameplay up, and onto YouTube. Check it out:

It is very early... remember this is the Battlefield 2042 technical playtest... and not the full game. It's probably very early, but it is shaping up well so far. The videos are being pulled left, right, and center -- with EA copyright striking them as fast as they pop up.

EA DICE's ongoing Battlefield 2042 technical playtest looks super janky and is here to just test the game itself, stress EA's servers, and the gameplay mechanics of Battlefield 2042 itself. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, and I want to see a lot... a lot, a lot, a lot more.

Remedy has an ambitious plan to have three franchises on the market by 2025, and it's possible new games like Alan Wake and a Control sequel could release in the next four years.

Remedy Entertainment is currently working on five big projects, including two projects funded by Epic Games (which are believed to be Alan Wake titles), and a new big-budget Control game with 505 Games. These titles could release by 2025.

"By 2025, we aim to create several successful games and at least one major hit game that can [appear] on global selling charts," Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said in a recent earnings call.

Nearly two years after launch, Control is still selling well and Remedy expects 2021 to be a good year for overall purchases.

Remedy's new IP is paying off big. The developer's earnings are strong (they made more in 1H 2021 than the entire 2017 year) and Control is a big reason for continued revenues. Control has sold 2 million copies as of December 2020 and has been played by over 10 million people via game sales, PlayStation Plus, and Game Pass. Remedy expects Control to continue selling well into its third year.

"Control sold well in 2020, a long time after its original launch, and Control has continued to sell well this year," Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala said in a recent earnings call.

DICE has cancelled the planned Battlefield 2042 technical test on PlayStation 5 due to a "critical issue" with the build.

PS5 gamers won't get to try out Battlefield 2042 and put it through its paces this weekend. DICE recently confirmed the BF2042 technical test has been scrapped on PS5 due to an unspecific "critical issue."

"We've been testing our builds in the background on console ahead of the crossplay testing this weekend. We've already identified a critical issue with our submitted build on PlayStation 5 and have notified folks that we will not be testing on PlayStation 5 this weekend," Lead Community Manager Adam Freeman said on Twitter.

Nintendo conquers hardware and software sales in the United States with the Switch and Zelda Skyward Sword HD.

Nintendo is topping the charts once again. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD was the best-selling game in the United States in July 2021, the NPD Group confirms. Not many games released in July, however the NPD Group's figures don't even include digital sales of Skyward Sword which may be even higher. The Switch also took the top spot as the best-selling console for the month, helping Nintendo push past 89 million console sales.

"The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was the best-selling game of July 2021. It is the first Nintendo published title to lead the monthly best-sellers chart since the launch of Super Mario 3D world in the February 2021 tracking month," NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella said.

SAPPHIRE has released something quite interesting: a new dual Polaris GPU-based crypto mining graphics card, with the introduction of the new SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 570 Duo.

The new SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 570 Duo graphics card packs dual Polaris 10 GPUs, with 8GB of GDDR5 memory each for a total of 16GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit memory bus with 268GB/sec of memory bandwidth each.

Each GPU has its own heat sink, so the GPUs are individually cooled and then the card is cooled with dual fans that should keep it pretty cool when mining 24/7. Since the Radeon RX 570 itself is a cut-down Polaris GPU, the dual Polaris 10 GPUs on the Radeon RX 570 Duo uses just 125W of power and pumps out 60MH/s when mining Ethereum.

Intel will be launching its next-gen Alder Lake CPUs later this year, with the LGA 1700 socket making its first appearance, and now ASUS will support the new 12th Gen Core CPUs with its ASUS ROG STRIX LC II cooler.

The ASUS ROG STRIX LC II cooler is born from a collaboration between ASUS and Asetek, as an AIO cooler for a multitude of processors. But now according to Xfastest, the ASUS ROG STRIX LC II cooler has fasteners that are adjustable between 75-78mm, which should see it being compatible with the LGA 1700 socket for Intel's next-gen Alder Lake CPUs.

The new ASUS ROG STRIX LC II cooler will be compatible with the next-gen ASUS ROG Maximus XIV motherboards that will be powered by Intel's next-gen Z690 chipset. We should expect the new Intel 12th Gen Core CPUs and Z690 chipset (as well as the B660 and H670 chipsets) to launch before the end of the year -- sometime during, or after October 2021 when Windows 11 launches.

We're hearing new rumors that Intel has secured most of TSMC's upcoming 3nm production capacity, underscoring rumors from all the way back in January 2021.

Now we have Chinese publication UDN reporting that mass production of Intel's new CPUs on TSMC's new 3nm node will begin in Q2 2022, with production capacity expected to hit 4000 wafers in May 2022, and in the months after that, it will flow out 10,000 wafers per month.

The new report says that Intel will be using TSMC's new 3nm node for 3 x GPUs, and 1 x GPU -- we should expect the 3nm CPUs to be next-gen Xeon processors for next-gen servers and data centers -- not the upcoming Raptor Lake CPUs that will be launching in the second half of 2022.