Latest News - Page 1387

Have you ever wondered how expensive toilets can get? Well, I bet you never thought a toilet could be worth millions of dollars.

International Space Station (ISS) astronauts are installing the world's most expensive toilet aboard the floating laboratory. The new toilet arrived aboard the ISS back in September of last year and is a massive upgrade over the current one that is on the ISS. The new toilet is much smaller, lighter, and has been better equipped for female use.

The new toilet, dubbed the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), will cost $23 million and features handholds and foot restraints instead of the thigh straps that are on the old toilet. NASA received feedback from ISS astronauts regarding the old toilet and made the appropriate changes, stating, "Everyone positions themselves differently while 'going,' and consistent astronaut feedback indicated that the traditional thigh straps were a hassle." The new toilet won't be replacing the old toilet, so now the ISS has two toilets for its growing crew!

NASA's small but study, Mars helicopter has successfully completed its seventh flight. This time Ingenuity has explored a new area.

NASA launched Ingenuity off the surface of Mars and took it 350 feet south to inspect a possible landing location that has only been seen from orbiting spacecrafts. The mission took Ingenuity to a completely new terrain that was then captured on the helicopter's navigation camera for further research. NASA announced that the mission was a success, giving Ingenuity its seventh flight badge.

When Ingenuity touched down on Mars with Perseverance, the new Mars rover, NASA planned that the small helicopter would only have five flights, as that's all it was designed to do. However, Ingenuity doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and recently it encountered a shock test that gave NASA researchers some insight into just how strong the helicopter is - more on that story here. Ingenuity is currently stationed in the new landing location, awaiting orders. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

The current sanctions against the Russian space sector by the United States have caused Russia's space chief to threaten to leave the International Space Station (ISS).

A new report by NBC has revealed that Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said during a Russian government hearing that Russia will withdraw from the ISS in 2025 if the United States doesn't immediately lift the current sanctions imposed on Russia. Rogozin goes on to say, "If the sanctions ... remain and are not lifted in the near future, the issue of Russia's withdrawal from the ISS will be the responsibility of the American partners."

Additionally, Rogozin said that Russia cannot launch some of its satellites its construct due to US sanctions stopping it from importing a certain microchip set. "We have more than enough rockets but nothing to launch them with. We have spacecraft that are nearly assembled, but they lack one specific microchip set that we have no way of purchasing because of the sanctions." Lastly, Rogozin says that the US and Russia need to work together, and if the sanctions aren't lifted immediately, Russia will pull out of the ISS and deploy its own space station.

Researchers have run the numbers on a theoretical large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results, it would be much more powerful than the one we currently have on Earth.

A new pre-print study has explored the possibility of a large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results of the study, the Circular Collider on the Moon (CCM) would be able to generate a proton-proton center-of-mass collision energy of 14 PeV. In the study, the researchers estimated that the CCM would be 6,835 miles long, which is much bigger than the one currently on Earth that measures in at 16.6 miles.

The study found that if a large hadron collider was constructed on the Moon, it would be able to generate 1,000 times more energy than the one at CERN, assuming the dipole magnetic field was 20 T. Having a large hadron collider of this size may pave the way for unprecedented particle physics discoveries that could help physicists, and the human race as a whole, better understand the universe and how it came to be. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has flown past Jupiter's largest moon, and on its way, it has snapped some awesome pictures of it.

On June 7, NASA's Juno orbiter flew past Jupiter's largest moon named Ganymede. The recent flyby by Juno has marked the closest spacecraft to fly past Ganymede in two whole decades. The orbiter snapped some pictures of the moon with its JunoCam imager and its Stellar Reference Unit, revealing the surface of the moon in remarkable detail.

From the images taken by Juno, we can see craters, its terrain, and long structural features that NASA says are "possibly linked to tectonic faults." Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said, "This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation. We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder."

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele put himself in the direct center of the crypto world with his country becoming the first in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. This has caused gigantic tsunami-level waves, shaking the cages of the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF is now stepping in and has said that it is "closely" monitoring the movements by El Salvador, and that it has called for a meeting with El Salvador officials.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) spokesperson Gerry Rice said: "adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis so we are following developments closely and will continue our consultation with authorities".

A congressional hearing for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Economic Policy is taking place -- with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren saying some choice words about cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin mining.

Warren said there are 4 "significant problems" with cryptocurrencies, which are its fluctuating value, investment issues, illegal activity, and of course -- its cost to the environment.

Warren said: "Cryptocurrency has created opportunities to scam investors, assist criminals and worsen the climate crisis. The threats posed by crypto show that Congress and federal regulators can't continue to hide out, hoping that crypto will go away. It won't. It's time to confront these issues head-on".

We're all waiting for the coveted UFO report from the Pentagon, which will discuss all things UFOs and UAPs (or unidentified flying objects aka unidentified aerial phenomena) -- we've got astrophycistist Neil deGrasse Tyson adding in some of his thoughts with CNN recently.

During the interview with John Berman on CNN, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked about the "ring of fire" solar eclipse, the upcoming UFO report from the Pentagon, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) about physically moving the moon to fight climate change -- no, I'm not kidding and neither was he. You can see that in the CNN video above, and Tyson's comments.

Tyson's comments about UFOs kicks off at around the 2:28 mark, where Neil deGrasse Tyson said to CNN's John Berman: "I wish we had better evidence than monochromic fuzzy Navy video, if we're being visited by aliens -- you know, we upload 6 billion high-resolution color photos and videos to the internet every day. We have unwittingly crowdsourcing the observation of the planet, and I want better evidence than that... and just because you don't know what it is, doesn't mean you then know what it is ".

In one of the most stupid things to have been an "accident", the private keys of sophisticated hax0r group DarkSide were left on a cloud server... the private keys to their $4.5 million in Bitcoin it was paid by Colonial Pipeline CEO in a ransomware attack that took down a huge percentage of US Southeast fuel supplies... so the FBI secured them, and didn't need the help of Coinbase.

Or at least, that's what authorities, the FBI, the US Department of Justice, and mainstream media are telling us. Well, I'm not biased and I'm not paid to say a single word that isn't from my own independent thought -- and this story smells like horse sh*t.

The FBI says that they recovered most of the millions of dollars paid in ransomware, but how in the hell did they get the private keys that gave them access to the wallets where DarkSide hackers "hid" their Bitcoin? Just how did they do that?

A single password... that is all it took to bring down most of the fuel supplies to the US Southeast, with Colonial Pipelines claiming it was the victim of a vicious cyberattack.

We then heard that Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount approved paying $4.5 million in Bitcoin to the ransomware hacking collective DarkSide, and then the US Department of Justice announced the FBI had "recovered most" of the $4.5 million ransomware payment.

But it was all from a single password, with the attack using a legacy Virtual Private Network (VPN) system that didn't have two-factor authentication. Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount said: "In the case of this particular legacy VPN, it only had single-factor authentication. It was a complicated password, I want to be clear on that. It was not a Colonial123-type password".

Chinese authorities have arrested over 1100 people involved in money laundering using cryptocurrency, all from phone and internet scams over the years.

The Ministry of Public Security has said that last month three industry bodies in China banned crypto-related financial and payment services. By the middle of the week, Chinese authorities had arrested over 170 criminal groups that were using cryptocurrency to launder money.

The criminals were charging somewhere between 1.5% and 5% to launder the illegal money they were receiving, converting it into cryptocurrencies through crypto exchanges. The public security ministry announced the news on its official Wechat account.

Microsoft reiterates that Xbox consoles aren't going anywhere, and gaming exec Liz Hamren re-confirms that new Xbox hardware is currently in development.

Today Microsoft announced a new plan that goes beyond console gaming. Xbox gaming will soon be possible in the living room without any hardware. The company plans to release special Xbox streaming sticks and include Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a native app within smart TVs. Project xCloud servers will stream games from the Game Pass catalog directly to TV sets. So what's next for hardware? Microsoft once again says this move won't threaten dedicated consoles.

In a recent press briefing CVP of Gaming Experiences & Platforms Liz Hamren says Microsoft is already plotting on new next-gen Xbox console hardware. Just don't expect it any time soon.

Microsoft today confirmed it plans to significantly accelerate the release timing for its first-party Xbox exclusives.

For a long time, Microsoft has faced criticism for its comparative lack of first-party exclusives. That's about to change. The company wants to release a new first-party game every quarter. That's four new first-party games on Game Pass every year.

"With more than 23 studios worldwide creating games for Xbox, our goal is to release at least one new, first party game into Game Pass every quarter," Microsoft announced.

Hackers have infiltrated EA's servers and stolen lots of sensitive data including game files, sources tell Vice's Waypoint.

EA's company severs have been infiltrated and hackers have stolen 780GB of files, data, tools, and source code for games like FIFA 21. The hackers also took code for EA's Frostbite engine, which is used internally to create most of its billion-dollar games. A next-gen iteration of the engine is being used to create new high-end games like Battlefield 2042, Dragon Age 4, and new annualized sports games in the FIFA and Madden series.

Frostbite is one of the company's most important assets and EA has invested billions into the engine over the years. EA regularly spends hundreds of millions on research and development every year to help further the engine's functionality and power. In FY2021, EA spent a record $1.7 billion on R&D.

Bandai Namco has slapped a surprising release date on its new open-world Souls-like Elden Ring--the game is coming January 2022. Yes, really.

Elden Ring will release January 21, 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS4 and Xbox One, Bandai Namco announced at the Summer Game Fest. The action RPG is a big departure from previous FromSoftware games, featuring a more open-world environment complete with horseback traversal and emphasis on exploration.

Elden Ring is being co-written by famed A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, and the new trailer clearly has shades of Martin's previous work. There's talk of "tarnished," a designation given to the protagonist who is possibly cursed. Cryptic lore threads are seen and heard throughout the trailer, blended with bizarre character designs, striking atmospheric visuals, and towering ancient castles.

Death Stranding is coming to Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 with optimizations and extended content, Hideo Kojima today announced

Hideo Kojima joined Geoff Keighley during the Summer Game Fest live stream to announce Death Stranding's director's cut, a new lengthy version of the game that's optimized for Sony's PS5, and the teaser showed Sam Porter Bridges hiding in a box just like Metal Gear Solid's Snake. There's no official info on when the game is coming or what exactly is included, but expect next-gen upgrades including higher resolution textures, better frame rates, and ultra-fast loading with the PS5's PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Here's what Kojima said about his next game: "I have to think about what's going to happen in the future. If it as something like an alien coming, it wouldn't matter. I always want to put societal elements as a base into the game, to introduce the player to what's happening and maybe they'll think about it."

Battlefield 2042 is releasing on both current- and next-gen consoles, but the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version will be $69.99.

Despite being multiplayer-only, EA will sell Battlefield 2042 at the new premium price on next-gen consoles. The campaign-less shooter will cost $69.99 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but the PS4 and Xbox One version will retain the standard $59.99 MSRP.

It's implied the cost hike is justified by exclusive next-gen console features like 128-player Conquest battles, improved fidelity and frame rates, and other CPU and GPU intensive in-engine physics effects. The PC version also costs $59.99 on Steam.

GameStop has appointed two seasoned Amazon executives to help lead its digital e-commerce transformation.

GameStop has found a new CEO to replace its long-running leader George Sherman. The company announced that ex-Amazon executive Matt Furlong will take over as GameStop CEO in June. During his 8-year tenure at Amazon, Furlong led the e-giant's operations in Australia and also served two years as a technical advisor for Amazon's North American consumer business. Furlong is well-versed in digital retail.

17-year Amazon finance expert Mike Recupero has also been appointed as GameStop's CFO. Recupero has been involved in eight different finance roles at Amazon ranging from VP of Finance and CFO of European business to CFO of Amazon's mighty North American sector.

GameStop is slowly transforming towards being a profitable company and has made significant reductions in losses and debt in 2021.

GameStop ($GME) just announced its earnings for the 13-week period ending May 1, 2021, and the results show significant progress towards profitability. The company has reduced its debt by 91% and its net losses by 59%.

As of May 2021, GameStop owes $48.1 million in total short- and long-term debts, down 91% year-over-year. GameStop owed a whopping $552 million in debt in May 2020. The current debt is part of the company's French term loans, which GameStop says can be extended and adjusted over time. The retailer was able to wipe out its long-term debts with a successful 3.5 million share offering. GameStop earned $551.7 million from the stock issue and it used that money to pay back over $330 million in borrowings and senior debt notes.

Microsoft is teaming up with TV makers to bring Xbox Game Pass as a built-in app to smart televisions.

Consumers will soon be able to play Xbox games in their living room without owning any gaming hardware. Microsoft today announced an ambitious plan to expand Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to smart TVs as a native application. Certain TVs will ship with the app pre-installed and users will be able to wirelessly stream games over Project xCloud servers.

"Xbox is working with global TV manufacturers to embed the Xbox experience directly into internet-connected televisions with no extra hardware required except a controller," the company announced.