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Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce after 27 years of marriage

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | May 3, 2021 3:59 PM CDT

Bill and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage, with the ex-CEO of Microsoft taking to Twitter to announce the news.

Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce after 27 years of marriage

The now-split couple wrote together, but published on Bill Gates' personal Twitter: "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives".

"We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life".

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FPS Boost breathes new life into 97 Xbox games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 3, 2021 3:45 PM CDT

Microsoft's technical wizards have worked their magic and now 97 Xbox games support FPS Boost on Xbox Series X/S consoles.

FPS Boost breathes new life into 97 Xbox games

Freed by the shackles of outdated CPU, GPU, and limited RAM, a bunch of Xbox console games can finally hit 60FPS on the new Series X/S duo. Microsoft has worked closely with developers to add FPS Boost to a multitude of new Xbox games on top of the native enhancements that next-gen consoles already offer. The result is last-gen games shooting up to 60FPS and even up to 120FPS on Series X. The Series S can even hit 120Hz in games like Hollow Knight.

Back in March, FPS Boost only applied to a handful of games. Today 97 games support the feature. Microsoft is careful to say that FPS Boost can lower resolution in some games in order to hit the frame rate target, so it won't be ticked on automatically. FPS Boost lowers res in games like Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Far Cry 5, Wasteland 3, and Titanfall 2. These games will automatically have FPS Boost turned off, and you have to manually turn the feature on via Xbox console settings.

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NASA's simulation proves we couldn't stop an asteroid even if we tried

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 9:04 AM CDT

A week-long exercise led by NASA has shown that space agencies wouldn't be able to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth even if they had 6 months to prepare.

NASA's simulation proves we couldn't stop an asteroid even if we tried

The simulation, or hypothetical scenario, posed an asteroid located 35 million miles away that was anywhere between 114 feet to half a mile in size was going to hit Earth in 6 months. Experts were tasked with developing ways to save Earth, and participating experts found that with the given timeframe, it wasn't possible to launch any type of spacecraft out to it in time to change its trajectory.

The participants said, "If confronted with the 2021PDC hypothetical scenario in real life, we would not be able us to launch any spacecraft on such short notice with current capabilities." Experts also considered launching nuclear weapons at the asteroid to knock it off its hypothetical course with Europe. "Deploying a nuclear disruption mission could significantly reduce the risk of impact damage", said the participants. However, due to the size of the asteroid fictitiously named 2021PDC, the chance of a nuke being effective was unclear.

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Scientists finally confirm how long a day is on Venus

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 8:33 AM CDT

Venus is a neighboring planet of ours, and despite its close position to Earth, there is still quite a lot of things we don't know about it.

Scientists finally confirm how long a day is on Venus

One of those mysteries was 'how long is a day on Venus?'. Now, researchers from the University of California have managed to figure it out after 15 years of observations. The researchers used a radar to bounce radio signals off of the surface of the planet. From doing this, the researchers learned not only how long a day is on the sister planet but also the actual size of the planet's core, as well as how much it's tilted.

The researchers found that one day on Venus is 243.0226 Earth days or two-thirds of an Earth year. The reason for a day on Venus being 243 Earth days is because Venus rotates extremely slowly. Researchers suspect that Venus' thick layer of sulfuric acid clouds may be impacting the speed at which the planet is rotating. As for the core, researchers found that the planet's core is 2,200 miles across, which is similar to the size of Earth's core. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

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China's rocket will crash back to Earth this week, could hit a city

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 7:32 AM CDT

Last week, China launched its first piece of its own space station that is expected to be completed by 2022.

China's rocket will crash back to Earth this week, could hit a city

Unfortunately, the launch wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as a 21-tonne rocket that carried the space station module to space is now going to crash back down to Earth. SpaceNews has reported that the Long March 5B rocket is out of control, and is likely to crash back down to Earth in the coming days. The rocket is currently travelling at 16,000 mph, and is circulating the Earth every 90 minutes.

Another unfortunate factoid is that due to the ever-changing variables of the rocket it's almost impossible to predict where it's going to land. At the moment projections estimate that the rocket could land anywhere between New York in the northern hemisphere and Wellington, New Zealand, in the southern hemisphere. Luckily, majority of the planet is covered in water, so the chances are it will land somewhere in the ocean, and not in someones backyard. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

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World's largest plane completes fight test, watch the video here

Jak Connor | Electric Vehicles & Cars | May 3, 2021 6:32 AM CDT

On April 29, 2021, the world's largest plane officially completed its flight test over California's Mojave Desert.

World's largest plane completes fight test, watch the video here

Developed by Stratolaunch, the "Roc" plane now holds the crown for the world's largest plane as it has a wingspan of 385-feet, and a length of 250 feet, which is slightly bigger than the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380. The Roc has six engines in total and 28 wheels to stabilize it when it lands on the runway.

On Thursday, April 29, Stratolaunch took the Roc out to Mojave Air and Space Port, which is about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. This test flight marked the first time Roc has flown in two years, and during the flight, the massive plane climbed to an altitude of 14,000 feet. Roc stayed in the air for 3 hours and 14 minutes, and the team behind the craft deemed the entire test flight a success. See the above videos to watch the bird in action!

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Continue reading: World's largest plane completes fight test, watch the video here (full post)

Scientists caught a real-life giant 'kraken' on video, here's how

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 5:34 AM CDT

Giant squid caused many people to tell tales of what was known in folklore as the Kraken. Now, researchers have found the real-life "Kraken", the Architeuthis dux.

Scientists caught a real-life giant 'kraken' on video, here's how

The Architeuthis dux (A. dux) is the world's largest known squid, and while it's not as big as the folklore tales describe the Kraken to be, it's still incredibly large growing to about 46 feet, or about the length of a semi-trailer. These giant squid are hardly spotted in their natural habitat, but that all changed back in 2012 when a team of marine scientists managed to capture a young A. dux 2,000 feet below the sea in south Japan.

A new study has explored why these giant squid, despite their size, are so hard to capture in their environment. The researchers explain that part of the reason the giant squid is so hard to observe in its natural habitat is because of its massive eyes. Due to the A. dux living so far beneath the ocean's surface, the creature has developed the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, as no sunlight can penetrate to the depth of its natural habitat.

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NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti listed at $1300 to $2250 online

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | May 3, 2021 5:17 AM CDT

NVIDIA is ramping into the announcement and release of its new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti which will pack 12GB of GDDR6X memory, with some online retailers teasing custom GIGABYTE and MSI models early.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti listed at $1300 to $2250 online

The new listings for MSI's upcoming custom GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Ventus 3X OC have appeared on Polish retailer X-Kom, as well as Australian and New Zealand outlets listing GIGABYTE and MSI custom GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards.

The pricing of the custom GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards from these early listings has it pegged at between $1300 or so through to an insane $2250. These are most likely placeholder prices so I wouldn't be putting away the Benjamins or Dogecoin just yet -- and yeah I'm serious about buying your GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with Dogecoin because Newegg will do that for you.

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Continue reading: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti listed at $1300 to $2250 online (full post)

Rockstar is looking for game testers, probably playing GTA 6 right now

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 3, 2021 5:02 AM CDT

Grand Theft Auto 6 is still many years away but that doesn't stop the hype engines from being fired up every now and again... with a "well-known movie scooper" known as ViewerAnon teasing GTA 6 news.

Rockstar is looking for game testers, probably playing GTA 6 right now

ViewerAnon said that Grand Theft Auto 6 will not be coming out for a few years yet, with Rockstar Games having an internal release set for late 2023 but I'm sure we're looking at that being pushed back because of various reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked havoc on virtually every inch of the planet, and next-gen consoles are here so Rockstar will want to take full advantage of them.

It can't be another Grand Theft Auto release if it's not going to blow gamers away, and I'm sure that GTA 6 is going to be something truly special. GTA V wasn't enough of a leap for me, I want to feel that same GTA 2 > GTA 3 leap with GTA V > GTA 6.

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FDA and Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes, here's why

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | May 3, 2021 4:33 AM CDT

Last Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will be working towards banning menthol cigarettes across the US.

FDA and Biden administration to ban menthol cigarettes, here's why

The FDA Commissioner, Janet Woodcock stated that the reason the FDA is looking to ban menthol cigarettes is because it will help save lives. Woodcock says, "Armed with strong scientific evidence, and with full support from the [Biden] Administration, we believe these actions will launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S."

Additionally, the FDA said that the menthol flavor masks the harshness of tobacco products, which makes them easier to start using, thus making them more addictive and harder to quit "by enhancing the effects of nicotine." 18.6 million people in the US smoke menthol cigarettes, and out of all Black smokers 85% smoke menthol cigarettes, while 30% of White smokers smoke menthol, according to the FDA.

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US Defense Secretary drops warning about next major war

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 3:32 AM CDT

The United States wants to leave behind the way it has fought previous wars and move into something that is "very different".

US Defense Secretary drops warning about next major war

According to speech excerpts provided to Reuters, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says, "The way we'll fight the next major war is going to look very different from the way we fought the last ones". Speech excerpts called for harnessing technological advances, as well as implementing military operations globally as it will allow the US to "understand faster, decide faster, and act faster."

The speech excerpts didn't mention rival nations such as China or Russia, but the speech excerpts have been published right as President Joe Biden has ordered US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan. Austin also states that the last two decades have been spent "executing the last of the old wars", and understanding the mistakes that were made. It should be noted that Austin didn't make any statements regarding what the US will be doing specifically and to what country.

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Flat Earth theory was debunked 2,000 years ago, explains Carl Sagan

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 3, 2021 2:31 AM CDT

More than 2,000 years ago, a Greek mathematician proved that the surface of the Earth was curved and not flat.

Flat Earth theory was debunked 2,000 years ago, explains Carl Sagan

That mathematician was Eratosthenes, who was a geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. So, how did a mathematician debunk the modern-day theory that the Earth is flat 2,000 years ago? As explained by Carl Sagan in the above video, Eratosthenes planted a stick in the ground in Syene, a city south of Alexandria, and another in Alexandria. The distance between the two sticks was 800 kilometers.

Now, if both of the sticks that were planted casted an identical shadow at the same time of day, it would suggest that the surface of Earth is flat. However, Eratosthenes found that the shadow casted by one of the sticks wasn't identical to the other, in fact, the difference between the shadow casted in Alexandria, and the one in Syene was 7 degrees.

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AMD Navi 33 GPU: next-gen RDNA 3 with 80 CUs + 5120 cores = beast GPU

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | May 3, 2021 1:23 AM CDT

We are still quite far away from the release of AMD's next-gen RDNA 3 architecture, but early rumbles of the Navi 33 are now making their way out of the cracks of the internet.

AMD Navi 33 GPU: next-gen RDNA 3 with 80 CUs + 5120 cores = beast GPU

KittyYyuko posted on Twitter that Navi 33 (or something close to that) is like the Navi 21 (a flagship GPU) but with "Next Gen IP Core" (which would be RDNA 3). The new Navi 33 GPU is reportedly based on a new GPU architecture, and has 80 compute units (CUs) and 5120 cores.

With this much raw power inside of the Navi 33 we would expect the Radeon RX 7600 XT, or whatever it is named, should have similar power to the current near flagship Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards. That would be a big deal for AMD, and great for gamers -- if there's enough of these new Navi 3X cards to go around whenever they make it to market.

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Check out the Royal Marines board a ship with jetpacks like Iron Man

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 2, 2021 10:31 PM CDT

I don't know about you but I would do anything to fly around in one of these Gravity Jet Suits, just like the Royal Marines did during a successful training exercise using the Iron Man-like jet suits. Check them out, taking off, flying up and next to and then landing on the ship.

Check out the Royal Marines board a ship with jetpacks like Iron Man

The Royal Marines are using Gravity Industries' own Gravity Jet Suit here for their operations, with 1000bhp of Jet Engine power to fly around with. The marines look so awesome easily flying off from their boat onto the ship, flying up to it and gracefully landing onto it -- reminding me of the graceful way Christopher Reeves' Superman used to land in the original Superman movies.

Former Oil Trader & Royal Marines Reservist, Richard Browning, founded Gravity Industries in March 2017 to introduce what will be a part of the future of combat -- taking "human flight into an entirely new era" explains the company on their YouTube video.

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Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink loses its co-founder

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | May 2, 2021 9:47 PM CDT

Elon Musk might be going from strength to strength with Tesla and SpaceX -- but brain-computer interface startup Neuralink lost its co-founder Max Hodak quietly "a few weeks ago".

Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink loses its co-founder

Hodak took to his personal Twitter to announce the news, where he said: "I am no longer at Neuralink (as of a few weeks ago). I learned a ton there and remain a huge cheerleader for the company! Onward to new things". Neuralink hasn't announced a replacement for Hodak at the time of writing.

Musk and Hodak started Neuralink together, with Hodak barely even a month ago saying that the technology exists right now to "build Jurassic Park if we wanted to". Because that isn't a scary thought at all, given how that went in all of the Jurassic Park movies. In departing Neuralink, Hodak was asked what he plans to do next where he simply replied "Not Jurassic Park".

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TSMC is using AMD's industry-leading EPYC CPUs to make next-gen chips

Anthony Garreffa | Processors | May 2, 2021 9:08 PM CDT

TSMC has announced that it is using AMD EPYC processors in its general workload, and even R&D teams to make the very latest technology on the planet.

TSMC is using AMD's industry-leading EPYC CPUs to make next-gen chips

In a new post on AMD's website titled "TSMC optimizes workloads with AMD EPYC CPUs" the company explains how it has been deploying AMD's industry-leading EPYC processors across its company. It started off with pushing the high core count beasts into their general workload, and then quickly into the R&D heart of TSMC.

Simon Wang, Director of Infrastructure and Communication Services Division at TSMC explains: "We first introduced AMD EPYC processors into the general workload and they are being deployed with our research and development team".

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Apple's new 12.9-inch iPad Pro costs $699 to repair without AppleCare+

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | May 2, 2021 8:26 PM CDT

Apple's new iPad Pro is a tour-de-force of technology, powered by Apple's new M1 processor, 5G connectivity, and a beautiful Liquid XDR mini-LED display to boot... but don't you dare drop or damage your new 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Apple's new 12.9-inch iPad Pro costs $699 to repair without AppleCare+

Why? Cos it'll cost you $699 to repair it -- where for $100 more you could just buy yourself a new 11-inch iPad Pro. That $699 cost is ballooned out that high for the sole reason that if you don't have AppleCare+ warranty, then you'll be paying an arm and a leg to get your 12.9-inch iPad Pro repaired.

The mini-LED display is the reason Apple is charging a wallet-busting $699 to repair the 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro without AppleCare+ but if you do have AppleCare+ then that $699 repair cost drops to just $49. You'll also find yourself with 2 x accidental damage repairs every 12 months, too. You can also split up the AppleCare+ payment with a subscription service at $7.99 per month, which works out to $149 over the course of two years.

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Continue reading: Apple's new 12.9-inch iPad Pro costs $699 to repair without AppleCare+ (full post)

STALKER 2: Xbox and PC exclusive for 3 months, sorry PS5 gamers

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 2, 2021 7:42 PM CDT

If you were lucky enough to nab one of Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 consoles you will be happy enough enjoying whatever games you've been playing with it -- as well as PS5 exclusives -- but one of those games will not be STALKER 2... at least not for the first 3 months of its release.

STALKER 2: Xbox and PC exclusive for 3 months, sorry PS5 gamers

During a recent interview with STALKER 2 developer GSC GameWorld, which said that there are no plans for STALKER 2 on any other platform other than Xbox and PC "for now". We might get a PS5 release of STALKER 2, but it won't be happening for many months after its initial release.

The news is coming from a court filing over the on-going Epic v Apple case, where Microsoft has some exclusivity deals for some games and one of those is STALKER 2. The documents reveal that the plan for now at least, is that STALKER 2 is due to be an exclusive to Xbox Series X/S consoles and the PC with a release scheduled for Q4 2021 (October-December).

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Battlefield teased again, with two new sketches from teaser trailer

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 2, 2021 7:06 PM CDT

Battlefield leaker Tom Henderson is a busy man between leaking out what should be EA's biggest game of 2021, and sketching his life away drawing out snippets from EA DICE's upcoming teaser trailer for Battlefield.

Battlefield teased again, with two new sketches from teaser trailer

Henderson started out with a GIF of him today, sketching away -- replied to someone else asking if there were more drawings on the way -- and more specifically "some soldier sketches". Henderson replied saying "I got you" and then dumped down two sketches he had been working on. The first of which is above, but then the talented (and very quick) folks at All Things Gaming replied with this magic:

How good is that!

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Continue reading: Battlefield teased again, with two new sketches from teaser trailer (full post)

How to play the Resident Evil Village demo as much as you want on PC

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 2, 2021 5:39 PM CDT

Capcom has significantly restricted Resident Evil Village's play time on consoles and PC...but Steam gamers have figured out a work around.

How to play the Resident Evil Village demo as much as you want on PC

The RE Village demo will lock you out after one hour of play regardless of which area you play--the castle or the village, either way it's only 1 hour. PC gamers can break the demo's restriction, however, by using Steam Achievement Manager and deleting a few files.

According to the Steam community, the method is pretty simple.

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Continue reading: How to play the Resident Evil Village demo as much as you want on PC (full post)

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