Latest News - Page 1367

Zack Snyder is coming off of his Netflix exclusive Army of the Dead, with the announcement of another Netflix exclusive: Rebel Moon.

Rebel Moon is the next feature film for Snyder with the sci-fi epic centered around a mysterious young woman who is tasked with building a team to fend off an invasion from Rebel Moon's big bad: Regent Balisarius. Rebel Moon has been built as an original property that Snyder pitched for the "Star Wars" universe before the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney.

Snyder will be making Rebel Moon into its own beast in the way of Army of the Dead with a prequel film and anime series, with production of Rebel Moon to kick off in early 2022 and no actors have been announced just yet. It would be good to see Snyder work with some of the actors from Zack Snyder's Justice League -- I'd love to see Henry Cavill in a sci-fi epic as the villain.

A woman has had her life saved from her Apple Watch after her heart rate was elevated and she was notified by her wearable to seek medical attention immediately.

Diane Feenstra was wearing her Apple Watch on April 22 when her heart started beating at 169 beats per minute, so she called her husband and asked what he thought she should do. He told her to call her doctor, while her Apple Watch was blasting notifications to her to seek medical attention.

Feenstra explained: "The day in question, April 22, I had 169 beats per minute heart rate even though the most vigorous exercise I had done was to walk up 12 steps. So I called my husband at work and said do you think this is concerning? And he said call your doctor".

The Pentagon has just pulled the plug on its $10 billion JEDI cloud computing deal with Microsoft, and now the entire JEDI program is up in the air.

JEDI -- or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure -- had originally caused issues for Amazon that had been one of the players in the $10 billion cloud deal. Microsoft eventually won, but now they've lost their grip on the JEDI contract with the Pentagon explaining in a statement: "Due to evolving requirements, increased cloud conversancy, and industry advances, the JEDI Cloud contract no longer meets its needs".

Toni Townes Whitley, Microsoft's president of U.S. regulated industries, said in a blog post: "One contract has never, and will never, define our relationship with the DoD or any customer. Our decades-long partnership with the DoD will continue - and we stand ready to support our nation's men and women in uniform as they address our national security needs".

Bitcoin.org has been hit by an "overwhelming attack" in the form of a DDoS attack, with the attackers demanding a ransom or they'll keep the attacks coming.

Cobra is the operator of the original Bitcoin website, and said that Bitcoin.org was hit by attacks who demanded 0.5 BTC in ransom -- worth around $17,000 right now. Cobra reached out to Decrypt, and said: "It's a very overwhelming attack, it's a struggle to deal with, and I don't know how long we'll be down for".

Cobra then tweeted out: "It's a very overwhelming attack, it's a struggle to deal with, and I don't know how long we'll be down for".

Elon Musk is not shy of controversy, with the SpaceX and Tesla founder sharing and then quickly deleting a meme about fellow billionaire Warren Buffett.

The tweet was posted up on Monday and was deleted within a few hours, with Musk tweeting an image of Warren Buffett and a fake quote that reads: "Find as many coins as you can. And fast!" except he didn't say that... and that's probably why Musk deleted the tweet.

As for what Warren Buffett actually said, back in 2018 he said in regards to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency: "There's two kinds of items that people buy and think they're investing: One really is investing and the other isn't. If you buy something like bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don't really have anything that has produced anything. You're just hoping the next guy pays more".

SpaceX's ambitious Starlink internet service is accepting pre-orders right now, with users in beta testing right now -- users in Iran are getting duped by a fake Starlink website.

A fake Starlink website has been set up and is accepting pre-orders for internet service, taking payments of $249 and accepting Bitcoin which makes it easier for whoever, or the team that set up the website -- to hide the money that they've taken.

The website isn't far off the official Starlink website, with "www.starlinkiran.com" virtually identical to the official website by SpaceX. There's the same background images, translated text in Persian, and for the most part people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two sites.

EA has filed a patent for a unique battle pass scheme that covers a lot of permutations, including tiers/hierarchies as well as nonlinear unlocks.

Note: This patent may not ever be used in an actual game. This article is not confirmation that such a battle pass system will show up in an existing or future EA game.

EA latest patent would theoretically let gamers choose their own way across a winding battle pass with different branching paths. The idea is to give players much more variety in how seasonal rewards are unlocked, including both free nodes as well as premium paid unlocks. It's kind of like if a battle pass acted like a skill tree in an RPG. This could be a part of EA's emphasis on new engagement models, which is a big part of the company's new three-part business model.

What if Skyrim was a 2021 game built with Unreal Engine 5? It would look absolutely incredible.

Artist Chris G. has a penchant for recreating older Bethesda RPGs using newer Unreal Engine software. Two months ago he created Fallout New Vegas in Unreal Engine 4, and now Skyrim gets the treatment in the next-gen Unreal Engine 5 toolset. The results are just stunning.

UE5 has been praised as one of the most flexible and powerful games engines of the modern era. Artists and level designers are most impressed with Unreal Engine 5's new Nanite tech, which is a game-changer for next-generation game design. Devs can now pop in cinematic-quality assets right into scenes without any adjustments. Nanite was used extensively in the Skyrim watchtower demo.

Sony's new State of Play is set for Thursday, July 8 at 5PM EST, but don't expect to see any first-party games at the event.

The rumors were right: Sony is holding a State of Play on July 8 that will be entirely focused on third-party games. Sony's Sid Shuman says we won't get any Horizon Forbidden West or God Of War 2 info at the show. Instead, the 30-minute stream will mainly show off an extended 9-minute gameplay sequence of Deathloop, Bethesda's upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive, leaving 21 minutes for other games.

Sony also says there are a number of "exciting" indies and third-party titles to be shown. We could see a better glimpse of Grand Theft Auto V on PlayStation 5, new games like Final Fantasy 16 or Forspoken, and maybe even a Call of Duty tease. However it's more likely that each of these games would have their own separate event--Rockstar, in particular, could hold a specific stream that highlights the major improvements in Grand Theft Auto V.

The world of space billboards and major cities having billboards in the sky are about to become a reality, with Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) announcing it will be offering advertising in space very soon.

GEC announced on April 1, 2021 that it would be sending up Geometric-1 with the 12 x 6U CubeSat adapter plate into low Earth orbit. Geometric-1 will ride the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rideshare mission, announced as DOGE-1 which is completely paid for in cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Well, now GEC has provided more details on what it will be doing with its CubeSat and that's offering billboards in space that would be available above major cities, at a major cost. We're looking at around $974,000 per month for an advertisement on one of the new space billboards above Tokyo, Japan -- while it would cost an average of around $932,000 above a major city.

Nintendo recently announced specs for its new Switch OLED console...and they're practically the same as existing Switches.

The new $349 Switch OLED isn't what everyone expected. It's not a 4K-ready console that uses a new fancy Orin Tegra chip with Tensor cores for DLSS upscaling. There's no mention of 4K gaming. In fact, the Switch OLED's internal components are the same as the current Switch models--game CPU, RAM, battery, etc. Nintendo has confirmed the Switch OLED doesn't have internal hardware upgrades.

So why buy the Switch OLED? This is a more premium console that's aimed at creature comforts and higher immersion rather than performance. It features an OLED panel with a wider bezel to give you 6.9 inches of visible game display, complete with crisper colors and more vibrant visuals. There's a new enhanced stereo speaker system include as well as a fancy support for Tabletop Mode; if the Switch had a kickstand, this one has a entire spine to lean on.

Nintendo announced a new Switch model today, but it's not the fancy high-end 4K Switch that gamers expected.

The new Switch OLED isn't a next-gen system that pushes Nintendo into a new era of 4K gaming. Instead, it's a quality-of-life upgrade to the existing Switch models and doesn't have any internal hardware upgrades.

Nintendo confirms that the Switch OLED doesn't feature a new upgraded Tegra SoC for 4K gaming. There's no Xavier chip with gen-1 Tensor cores or the outrageously overpowered Orin SoC + Ada Lovelace GPU combo complete with DLSS support. The new Switch has the exact same 1GHz Cortex-A57 CPU and 4GB of LPDDR4-1600 RAM as the base models.

The rumors were way off the mark. Nintendo has announced a new Switch model with a 7-inch OLED panel and a few upgrades, but there's no mention of 4K output whatsoever.

It's official: Nintendo is releasing a new Switch OLED model on October 8, 2021 for $349. The new Switch mostly has quality-of-life improvements like a 6.9-inch 720p OLED panel with more vibrant colors, better sound quality, a wider kickstand for tabletop use, double the internal storage memory, and a new dock with a dedicated ethernet port. The main selling point isn't 4K gaming, and apparently there's no DLSS-enabled NVIDIA Tegra chip. It's highly likely the Switch OLED uses the same 16nm Tegra X1 refresh as the Switch Lite and the 2019 base model.

Switch OLED's official specs chart confirms the new model will hit up to 1920 x 1080 output at 60FPS, which is the same performance target as the base 2017 and 2019 models. Remember that the Switch's GPU is halved to 302MHz while in handheld mode and can only be fully unlocked when it's connected to a TV via docked play.

A former Microsoft employee may face deportation back to his home country if he's found guilty of stealing $10 million in Xbox gift cards.

According to a report from Windows Central, Vologymyr Kvashuk used his position as infrastructure tester at Microsoft to give himself $10.1 million worth of Xbox gift cards. Kvashuk reportedly discovered a bug in Microsoft's e-commerce code when he found that that Microsoft gave digital goods to the buyer even if they used a fake credit card.

Kvashuk then wrote a program essentially printed money to himself as it allowed him to mass-withdraw virtual gift cards from Microsoft. Prosecutors said that the scheme devised by Kvashuk "singularly responsible for global fluctuations in the price of Xbox gift cards on reseller markets." As previously mentioned, Kvashuk may face deportation back to Ukraine after he completes his prison sentence in 2027. Additionally, Kvashuk is required to pay back $8.3 million.

The United States experienced a massive cyberattack last Friday, right at the start of the Independence Day weekend.

President Joe Biden has said that at the moment, the US isn't sure "who it is", and that the "initial thinking was it was not the Russian government." However, Biden also said that he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and said that if Russia is found to be guilty of the attack, the US will respond. "But if it is Russia, I told Putin we will respond", said Biden, in reference to their meeting last month in Geneva, Switzerland.

The cyberattack affected at least 200 companies across the United States, with the cyber-security firm, Huntress Labs describing the attack as "colossal". Earlier reports indicate that Huntress Labs believe the Russia-linked REvill ransomware gang was responsible for the attack. The first attack happened at the Kaseya, a Florida-based IT company. If you are interested in reading any more information about this story, check out this link here.

Dogecoin holders would be rejoicing at the price turnaround for their precious meme-cryptocurrency, as the coin is currently sitting in the top rankings.

At the moment, Dogecoin has surpassed $253 billion in market capitalization and is sitting in the 5th spot. Most of the coin's increase in value can be attributed to Elon Musk's vocal support for the coin on his Twitter account, as well as Snoop Dogg. It was just the other day that Elon Musk tweeted about Dogecoin causing the value of the cryptocurrency to spike 10%.

Now, Dogecoin has experienced its lows in the past weeks, as have most other cryptocurrencies. However, Dogecoin is trailing behind the big cryptocurrencies now, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Binance Coin, and Cardano. Since January, Dogecoin has increased in value by 2,400%. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Reports are indicating that Chinese researchers have announced a new species of human after DNA analysis was performed on a skull.

Paleoanthropologists have been performing studies on a skull that a bridge construction worker found in Harbin, a city in Northeastern China, in 1933. The researchers have published their findings in three separate studies in the peer-reviewed journal The Innovation on June 25, 2021, and according to the studies, the researchers discovered a new species of human that has now been named Homo Longi, or Dragon Man.

The skull that was discovered back in 1933 and handed into paleoanthropologists for studies to be performed on it three years was found to be from a male that lived 146,000 years ago during the Central Pleistocene geological period. The Harbin skull is the largest Homo skull that has been discovered, and according to Qiang Ji, a professor of paleontology at Hebei GEO University, "The Harbin fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world. This fossil preserved many morphological details that are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens".

Researchers have discovered what is currently believed to be a Christian community's remains that date back to the 6th century.

A team of researchers from the Dyfed Archaeological Trust partnered with the University of Sheffield unearthed more than 200 skeletons that the University of Sheffield said were a mix of children, women, and men. The skeleton remains were found in more than 100 graves at a popular beach in Pembrokeshire. The researchers found that the bodies were positioned so their heads for pointing west and that they weren't buried with any possessions.

Due to the bones being completely submerged in sand, the quality of the bones was found to be very high. Jenna Smith at Dyfed Archaeological Trust, who led the excavation, said the bone preservation is "absolutely incredible". The Dyfed Archaeological Trust said there's "still a significant amount of evidence left to excavate". Adding, there is an "intriguing stone structure which pre-dates the burials" that still needs to be excavated from the site. The bones are being stored in the National Museum of Wales.

The 58-page document outlines several interesting pieces of information surroundings Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), such as old reports that are relevant today and the United States' involvement with conducting research.

Page 24 features an introduction that states a list of three "weapon systems" that were extracted from data analysis of 1,000 reports of UFO landings or near-UFO landings. The report states that the creatures or objects outlined in the cases possess "a device to interfere with electrical circuits," "a device to induce paralysis," and a "heat ray."

Under the "Stalled Engines," it reads on page 27 that a vehicle stalled within the vicinity of a transparent mushroom-shaped object that had occupants inside with "cat-like" faces. Page 32 features Case 144, France, which states that two individuals came into contact with two "dwarfs" who used an object to paralyze one of the individuals. The paralyzed individual was unable to move or talk until the light was shut off.

An old U.F.O. released by the Australian government has resurfaced online and is currently being used as a reference to compare to the recent U.F.O. report from the Pentagon.

The report can be found on the National Archives of Australia website and is titled "Scientific Intelligence - General - Unidentified Flying Objects" with its contents ranging from 1957 - 1971. Reports have indicated that these documents were originally released back in 2008, and while definitely being dated, they are still being used as a reference point to compared against the recent U.F.O. report released by the Pentagon.

The 2008 report features chronological documentation on what is described as "U.S. Official Attitude To U.F.O.'s" (now referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or U.A.P.). Page 9 is the beginning of the section, and it outlines the events that took place between the late 1940s to mid 1950s. According to the report, U.F.O. investigations in the U.S. began in June 1947 under the project code name SIGN. The report outlines several events in the following years, but a few to especially note are: