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First CIA director: aliens exist, US withheld 'this fact' from public

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 6, 2021 2:31 AM CDT

An old Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) report from Australia is causing a stir online. Many Redditors are using it to compare against the recently released Pentagon report on UFOs that was widely considered online as "lacking" information.

First CIA director: aliens exist, US withheld 'this fact' from public

The UFO report from Australia can be found on the National Archives of Australia website and is titled "Scientific Intelligence - General - Unidentified Flying Objects". The report is free to view publicly, and its contents range between 1957 - 1971.

One section of the report on page 11 under the "U.S. Official Attitude To U.F.O.'s", it's stated that Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, the first director of the Central Intelligence Agency that was created by the National Security Act of 1947 publicly stated that the US government knew the UFO were extra-terrestrial beings but were withholding the information from the public. Full quote can be found below.

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SKA's new telescope listening out for extraterrestrial civilizations

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 5, 2021 10:33 PM CDT

SKA is building out the world's largest telescope, with the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) costing $2.2 billion and will have 197 dishes (50 feet/15 meters in diameter) installed in Karoo, South Africa's Northern Cape, and then 131,072 antennas (6.5 feet/2 meters tall) in Murchison, in Western Australia.

SKA's new telescope listening out for extraterrestrial civilizations

Professor Philip Diamond, Director-General of SKAO said during at SKAO's global HQ in the UK this week: "I am ecstatic-this moment has been 30 years in the making. Humankind is taking another giant leap by committing to build what will be the largest science facility of its kind on the planet".

SKA's new radio telescopes will study the "detailed properties of the first luminous objects in the universe, and be able to take snapshots of the 21cm emission at many different epochs, before, during and after reionisation, yielding detailed information about the formation of the first structures in the universe. It will provide the best measurements available of the characteristics of the first light sources in the universe" according to the SKA Telescope website.

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Uh, so Windows 11 laptops will REQUIRE front facing camera in 2023

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Jul 5, 2021 10:05 PM CDT

Microsoft is really pushing towards its 1984-style future where its criticized "Productivity Score" technology would use cameras in the room, or on your devices (laptops, desktop PCs, TVs, etc) to measure how productive you are at work.

Uh, so Windows 11 laptops will REQUIRE front facing camera in 2023

The technology is most likely going to be heavily driven by Windows 11, which will require laptop makers to include a front-facing camera at Microsoft's demand. It all starts on January 1, 2023 which will require every single new laptop built from that day forward, feature a front-facing camera for Windows 11.

Not only does Microsoft require you to have a front-facing camera on the new laptop in 2023, but there are some specifics that it requires, too. Microsoft demands that laptop cameras have a resolution of HD or better, Auto Exposure (AE) and Auto White Balance (AWB).

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Check out 7 minutes of System Shock remake gameplay video

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 9:32 PM CDT

The original System Shock and more so its successor System Shock 2, are two of my favorite games of all time -- with a 7-minute gameplay video from the remake of System Shock.

Check out 7 minutes of System Shock remake gameplay video

Nightdive Studios is behind the System Shock remake and have released a new "Research Teaser Trailer" that is a glorious 7 minutes long, showing off exploration, the UI, combat, the graphics, and more. It is shaping up beautifully right now, making me beg for Shodan to insult me before my untimely death.

System Shock will drop on the PC later this summer on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GoG -- but those who pre-order will get themselves a free copy of System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. Not a bad deal, and if you haven't played the System Shock games then I suggest you do... they are the inspiration for many of the games from today.

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SKA begins building the world's largest, most complex radio telescopes

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 5, 2021 9:11 PM CDT

After over 30 years of planning and preparing, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) observatory is being built and will be the largest radio telescope on the planet.

SKA begins building the world's largest, most complex radio telescopes

SKA will be building two new sites with the first in Australia and the second in South Africa, after representatives of the SKA Organization (SKAO) met at the annual European Astronomical Society (EAS) on June 29, 2021. The news is gigantic for not just the science world, but all of us -- the new telescopes will also be listening out for extraterrestrial radio signals with much more power than ever before.

SKA is spending $2.2 billion on the project, and will have 197 dishes (50 feet/15 meters in diameter) installed in Karoo, South Africa's Northern Cape, and then 131,072 antennas (6.5 feet/2 meters tall) in Murchison, in Western Australia.

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TSMC finishing up clean room, EUV contracts for US fab as we speak

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jul 5, 2021 8:52 PM CDT

TSMC is in the final stages of the business side of things with its upcoming US chip facilities, with the latest reports stating that contracts for clean room supplies teases that we're not far from TSMC's new US-based fab construction beginning.

TSMC finishing up clean room, EUV contracts for US fab as we speak

The new US-based fabs are being built in Arizona, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) joining Intel in the state of Arizona and making some of the world's best chips. Clean room supplies are required right as you're going to -- drum roll please -- need a clean room.

A clean room is the central part of a fab -- a place that has absolutely zero dust, because a single tiny speck of dust can ruin a microcircuit -- and a microcircuit has nanoscale features that are smaller than dust. So dust in a clean room, is a very big deal. Getting to the clean room stage means we're close to TSMC kicking things off in the US with its fabrication plant.

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'Huge UFO' spotted hovering over the sea for 10 seconds by student

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 5, 2021 8:26 PM CDT

A student in Teignmouth, Devon saw a gigantic UFO hovering over the ocean -- right from his kitchen window, before it blasted off into the distance.

'Huge UFO' spotted hovering over the sea for 10 seconds by student

Matthew Evans lives in a block of units on the top level and when in his kitchen could see the UFO over the horizon, he explains: "I couldn't help but see it. My kitchen window gives a great view of the sea so when it came across the horizon".

Evans added: "It wasn't moving like a plane would. It was moving a lot slower and went up and down for a bit before hovering a good ten seconds. It stayed in one spot long enough for me to pull out my phone and get those snaps. Then it quickly zoomed off at some speed and I couldn't see it anymore".

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AMD now powers 3 of the top 10 supercomputers in the world with EPYC

Anthony Garreffa | Processors | Jul 5, 2021 7:50 PM CDT

AMD is now powering more of the world's fastest supercomputers than Intel processors, with EPYC overtaking Xeon in a huge way.

AMD now powers 3 of the top 10 supercomputers in the world with EPYC

During the ISC High Performance 2021 event, it was revealed that 3 out of the top 10 fastest supercomputers in the world are powered by AMD EPYC processors. AMD EPYC chips are inside of the Perlmutter (NERSC Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Selene (NVIDIA), and JUWELS Booster Module (Forschungzentrum Julich FZH).

AMD EPYC processors are used in custom designs in all 3 of these supercomputers, while Intel Xeon processors are in just 2 of the top 10 fastest supercomputers.

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Australia's new 50 petaflop supercomputer: 200,000+ AMD EPYC CPU cores

Pawsey Supercomputing Centre down in Perth, Australia chose Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for its next-gen Setonix supercomputer, but now we have some more details on the specs inside of the new supercomputer.

Australia's new 50 petaflop supercomputer: 200,000+ AMD EPYC CPU cores

Setonix will have over 200,000 AMD EPYC "Milan" CPU cores, over 750 AMD Mi-Next GPUs with 128GB of VRAM per GPU, over 548TB of system memory, near-node NVMe storage, 15PB ClusterStor Lustre filesystem with 2.7PB SSD and 90PB of Ceph storage.

The additional details on Pawsey's next-gen Setonix supercomputer were provided by Pawsey CTO Ugo Varetto.

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Ivermectin Coin: new crypto will end the pandemic, launches on July 24

Anthony Garreffa | Cryptocurrency & Mining | Jul 5, 2021 7:10 PM CDT

There's been one person who has been on top of the COVID-19 pandemic and that is Adam Gaertner, who has now launched Ivermectin Coin -- yeah a cryptocurrency based on the anti-parasitic drug that's used to treat several diseases and can be used as a COVID-19 treatment.

Ivermectin Coin: new crypto will end the pandemic, launches on July 24

Ivermectin Coin has the very best intentions, with Gaertner pointing out that "The pandemic is not simply a medical matter, either; there is a very significant political angle. You might have noticed. Without total eradication, driven by the people of the world, overbearing government responses will quite surely continue. We must completely eradicate COVID".

It was this very reason why Ivermectin Coin was created -- with Gaertner adding that it is his plan to "unite all of the medical and legal groups, all the world over, with a single purpose: to eradicate this virus, starting on July 24th. The heroic efforts of many of these groups have made impacts; many are alive today that would not have been otherwise".

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Activision buys 11.6% stake in mobile casino game developer

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 6:27 PM CDT

Activision-Blizzard has acquired a 11.6% stake in Play Studios shortly before the company went public.

Activision buys 11.6% stake in mobile casino game developer

Games titan Activision-Blizzard has purchased 12,677,398 shares of Play Studios, a game developer mostly known for casino-based F2P social smartphone titles. The acquisition was made after Play Studios merged with the SPAC Acies Acquisition Corp. in order to start publicly trading on NASDAQ. Activision-Blizzard's share buyout represents a 11.6% portion of Play Studios.

Neither Activision nor Play Studios have publicly announced the share purchases on their press release pages, and the deal was found via SEC filings. Play Studios currently has over 4 million monthly active users and its share value sits at $7.84 per share with 106 million shares outstanding.

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Microsoft wouldn't have bought Bethesda if Todd Howard didn't agree

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 5:42 PM CDT

Microsoft's most important gaming buyout depended a lot on one man.

Microsoft wouldn't have bought Bethesda if Todd Howard didn't agree

Microsoft has built its Xbox Game Studios label around collaboration, synergy, and empowerment. The company doesn't want to disrupt studios, but empower them with resources, tools, and funding. None of this is possible if management doesn't agree with acquisitions and fights back the entire way

According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft's huge $7.5 billion Bethesda acquisition wouldn't have happened if Todd Howard didn't want to join. Microsoft wouldn't have forced a hostile takeover against Howard's wishes.

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Atari takes a loss as it restructures towards premium games business

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 3:48 PM CDT

Atari is restructuring its games business to focus on premium games for console and PC.

Atari takes a loss as it restructures towards premium games business

Today Atari announced it's investing heavily into its games division, more specifically into bigger titles for current platforms including its own new Atari VCS system.

"Atari intends to shift its video game portfolio to premium games for consoles and PC," Atari said in a press release. The company is cancelling and selling five free-to-play titles that have underperformed.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake series will be a convergence of all FF7 media

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 3:06 PM CDT

Final Fantasy VII Remake isn't just a celebration of the beloved old-school RPG, but also the expanded canon that branched out from the series.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake series will be a convergence of all FF7 media

Final Fantasy games are now like franchises within a franchise. Final Fantasy VII, for instance, spawned a myriad of content like PS2 and PSP spin-offs, CGI and animated films, and finally a fully-fledged remake with expanded combat. This is by design, and Square Enix says it wants to make the new FFVII Remake episodes into the ultimate convergence for the series--hence the new Intergrade expansion that helps fill out Yuffie's backstory more.

"The world of Final Fantasy VII was vastly expanded through multiple works that followed after the original game. We do want to make it a culmination of all the 'Final Fantasy VII'-related works created up to this point. There are characters that, I too, do not know, but that is the same with Cloud and company as well," Final Fantasy VII Remake co-director Motomu Toriyama told The Washington Post.

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Antivan Crows and Andarateia may be in Dragon Age 4

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 5, 2021 2:35 PM CDT

BioWare releases new concept art for Dragon Age 4 to help tide fans over in their long wait...and it shows a surprising character.

Antivan Crows and Andarateia may be in Dragon Age 4

Dragon Age 4 won't be at EA Play live later this month, and the game is a long ways off, but that hasn't stopped BioWare from fanning the flames of speculation through artwork. A bit of new concept art clearly shows the Antivan Crows, a deadly band of graceful assassins from the east. One fan points out the femme fatale in the art could be Andarateia Cantori, the Seventh Talon of the Crows who was featured in the Dragon Age Tevinter Nights anthology book.

While Dragon Age 4 is firmly set in the Tevinter Imperium, we may even go to the bordering region of Antiva at some point, which is renown for its trade ports, ships, coastal climes and thievery. This is the second time we've seen an Antivan Crow in Dragon Age 4 concept art, and it actually might be the second time we've seen Teia, too. The first image was shown back in 2020:

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Australian UFO report declassified indirectly confirms aliens exist

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Jul 5, 2021 6:08 AM CDT

A declassified Australian report on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) mentions several encounters with alien life that are unexplainable.

Australian UFO report declassified indirectly confirms aliens exist

The declassified report is located on the National Archives of Australia website and features 58 pages of compelling information on UFO sightings and strange encounters with alien creatures between 1957 and 1971. Page 32 of the report states, "50m from object, witness paralyzed (also birds and cows). Four handsome men with brown skin emerge with translucent helmets." The report also shows the United States has been involved in UFOs and conducting investigations into them since 1947.

Page 7 of the report reads as follows: "The early analyses of UFO reports by USAF Intelligence indicated that real phenomena were being reported which had flight characteristics so far in advance of US aircraft that only an extraterrestrial origin could be envisaged." Additionally, the report lists many cases where extraterrestrials were using paralysis as a way of subduing witnesses.

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Elon Musk's tweets cause Dogecoin price to spring upwards

Jak Connor | Cryptocurrency & Mining | Jul 5, 2021 5:30 AM CDT

Dogecoin has seen a recent uptick in its value after Tesla, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted a few tweets to his Twitter page.

Elon Musk's tweets cause Dogecoin price to spring upwards

On July 1, Musk took to his Twitter to post a play-on-words tweet that replaces the word "shark" with "doge". The tweet references the extremely popular "Baby Shark Dance" that has nearly been viewed 9 billion times since it was posted to YouTube in 2016. That tweet from Musk directly correlates to Dogecoin's price spike by nearly 10%.

The following morning Musk followed up with another tweet that was a meme referencing The Godfather and a caption that reads, "Release the Doge!". It seems that the latest string of tweets from Musk has been impactful to the price of Doge, but not as impactful as they once were. Back in April, Musk let loose a series of tweets that caused the price of Dogecoin to more than $0.40. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

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If you have Bitcoin, Congress thinks you're in a 'criminal conspiracy'

Jak Connor | Cryptocurrency & Mining | Jul 5, 2021 5:03 AM CDT

During a live event, co-chair of the House blockchain caucus said that there is a growing "sentiment" in Congress that cryptocurrency users are involved in a "criminal conspiracy".

If you have Bitcoin, Congress thinks you're in a 'criminal conspiracy'

Democratic Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois, the co-chair of the House blockchain caucus, said during an Axios virtual event on June 29 that there need to be new laws written that bridge gap between what is illegal with cryptocurrencies and what is legal. Foster said, "We're going to have to establish a law between the legal and illegal regimes here."

One of the suggestions Foster made was that US regulators need to be able to identify an individual that is trading anonymously (Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies) in case that individual is performing fraudulent transactions. Foster said that regulators must be granted the power to identify digital-asset holders through a "very heavily guarded key" and reverse transactions in Bitcoin.

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US government says it must have power to reverse Bitcoin transactions

Jak Connor | Cryptocurrency & Mining | Jul 5, 2021 4:33 AM CDT

As Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have grown in adoption and overall interest, the US government has been posed with the question of how regulation should be implemented.

US government says it must have power to reverse Bitcoin transactions

Many cryptocurrency investors are against the idea of regulation as it infringes on the very principles of why the blockchain and cryptocurrencies are popular in the first place - decentralization. Having any form of regulation for cryptocurrency transactions would add a third party that traders may not necessarily trust or believe is warranted to be there. You can see where the divide currently lies and where new laws need to be written to bridge the gap.

Democratic Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois, the co-chair of the House blockchain caucus, said on June 29 that the US government regulators need to have the power to identify digital-asset holders and reverse transactions in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Foster says, "You have to be able to go to a court to unmask participants under some circumstances." Foster suggests that new laws should be written that would allow a court (third-party) to identify a cryptocurrency use through a "very heavily guarded key."

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Team Trump launches Twitter lookalike social media, gets hacked day 1

Jak Connor | Software & Apps | Jul 5, 2021 4:07 AM CDT

A new social media platform released by Team Trump has debuted on the Google Play and Apple App Store. It's called GETTR.

Team Trump launches Twitter lookalike social media, gets hacked day 1

The release of the GETTR has been in response to many conservatives leaving mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter after claiming both platforms are censoring conservative content and people. GETTR states its mission is "fighting cancel culture, promoting common sense, defending free speech, challenging social media monopolies, and creating a true marketplace of ideas."

The platform is led by Trump's former spokesman, Jason Miller, and Tim Murtaugh, Trump's former campaign spokesperson, is also involved as a consultant to GETTR. Trump has yet to confirm if he will be making an account on the app or if this is the long-awaited social media platform that he vowed he would create for his followers. A person involved with the app did confirm that there is an account reserved for him if he chooses to join.

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