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Adult Swim release hilarious Rick and Morty Season 4 video shorts

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 20, 2019 2:25 AM CST

At the moment, we are currently on a short break from Rick and Morty Season 4, so to make the wait just that little bit easier, Adult Swim has released some shorts.

Adult Swim release hilarious Rick and Morty Season 4 video shorts

Before I get into what is shown in each of these videos, I must warn you that if you aren't up to date with Season 4 Episode 5, then these videos will be spoilers of some episodes. I'd advise you to go and watch the episodes before checking out these videos, as I believe you will enjoy them much more after you have seen the episodes.

Moving on now to the contents of the above video. This video is from Season 4 Episode 3, 'One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty' where the whole episode is one big rip on Heist movies. In the video, we watch Heist-o-Tron attempt the greatest heist of all time - steal a planet's core without its inhabitants knowing.

Continue reading: Adult Swim release hilarious Rick and Morty Season 4 video shorts (full post)

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot opening cinematic is a nostalgic rollercoaster

Jak Connor | Gaming | Dec 20, 2019 1:46 AM CST

The opening cinematic for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has been released by Bandai Namco and if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan you are about to take a trip down nostalgia lane.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot opening cinematic is a nostalgic rollercoaster

The opening cinematic really does show everything Dragon Ball Z fans wanted to see in a cinematic: Goku/Kakarot smashing down some food and then going toe-to-toe with some classic villains. The cinematic trailer shows off some not-so-forgetable characters, such as Master Roshi, King Kai, Krillin, Frieza, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Cell, Gohan, Vegeta, Goku and more.

We also get a look at some of the locations players will be able to go. We can see city-scapes, mountain ranges, oceans, Kame's house and more. If you haven't seen any gameplay of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, check out this video here. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is expected to launch on January 17th, 2020.

Continue reading: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot opening cinematic is a nostalgic rollercoaster (full post)

Facebook user data exposed online again, 267 million accounts now wild

Jak Connor | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Dec 20, 2019 1:10 AM CST

A security researcher has reported that Facebook had more than 267 million users' sensitive information exposed online.

Facebook user data exposed online again, 267 million accounts now wild

According to a report from Comparitech and a security researcher Bob Diachenko, more than 267 million Facebook users had their IDs, phone numbers and names exposed to the public online. This was discovered in a database that could be accessed without any means of a password or authentication, essentially being available to the public who would know how to access it.

Researchers believe this sensitive information was gathered as a part of an illegal scraping operation. According to Dianchenko, this data was exposed for nearly two weeks and was posted as a downloadable file in hacker forum. A Facebook spokesperson spoke to Engadget and said, "We are looking into this issue, but believe this is likely information obtained before changes we made in the past few years to better protect people's information".

Continue reading: Facebook user data exposed online again, 267 million accounts now wild (full post)

Jackass 4 will be coming back to the big screen on March 5, 2021

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 20, 2019 12:31 AM CST

Deadline has reported that Paramount Pictures has announced that the Jackass film-franchise will live on with another movie.

Jackass 4 will be coming back to the big screen on March 5, 2021

This will mark the fourth movie in the Jackass franchise, with the first being released back in 2002. Since then, there have been three more movies released, which in total bring the franchises gross to more than $335 million at the box office. Of course, this wouldn't be a Jackass film if the creator, Johnny Knoxville, wasn't involved. He will be returning for the fourth film.

So what will the fourth movie be about? Exactly what the other ones are about. Knoxville and his friends all playing pranks on each other and performing a variety of dangerous and strange stunts that should definitely not be performed at home. Jackass 4 will be arriving on the big screen on March 5th, 2021.

Continue reading: Jackass 4 will be coming back to the big screen on March 5, 2021 (full post)

Microsoft to 'virtually eliminate' loading times on Xbox Series X

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 19, 2019 9:11 PM CST

Most gamers are still using mechanical HDDs and once you step into the world of SSDs you can never, ever go back -- and finally, console gamers will enjoy those same fast storage freedoms, and even more.

Microsoft to 'virtually eliminate' loading times on Xbox Series X

We know that the PlayStation 5 will have super-insane loading times, with Spider-Man loading in just 0.8 seconds on a prototype PS5 versus 8.1 seconds on the PS4. We know that Microsoft and Sony have near-identical semi-custom designs from AMD with Zen 2/RDNA 2 hardware inside, and we're hearing about the new Xbox Series X packing the same super-fast storage as the PlayStation 5.

In a recent interview with GameSpot, Jason Ronald who is the Xbox Partner DIrector of Program Management said: "It's really about giving the developers the tools and the capabilities to use the hardware in the most efficient way possible. A good example of that is on the [solid state drive] side--we've basically reached the limit of [what's] possible with the traditional rotational drive. We're basically at the upper bounds of the raw performance we can get there. So we've invested in NVMe SSDs and we're also giving developers a lot of new capabilities on top of that to try to virtually eliminate load times".

Continue reading: Microsoft to 'virtually eliminate' loading times on Xbox Series X (full post)

Tenet trailer drops, Christopher Nolan's mysterious new movie

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 19, 2019 8:40 PM CST

Christopher Nolan is back, with WB dropping a trailer for his craziest movie ever -- Tenet. Check out the official trailer to Tenet below:

Tenet trailer drops, Christopher Nolan's mysterious new movie

Until now, Tenet has been shrouded in mystery and even though the official trailer is here, Nolan's new movie is still shrouded in mystery. John David Washington heads up Tenet, playing what seems to be some super-spy saving the world from World War 3.

Nolan being Nolan, we have some time travel goodness here, stunning cinematography (it wouldn't be a Nolan movie without it), and oodles of mystery. Nolan shot Tenet across 7 different countries, so we should expect some truly beautiful shots throughout the movie.

Continue reading: Tenet trailer drops, Christopher Nolan's mysterious new movie (full post)

Lyft blocking real names like 'Cocks', 'Cummings', 'Dick', and more

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 19, 2019 8:07 PM CST

Lyft has found itself in quite the bad position just before the holidays, with the ride-sharing giant seeing its algorithm flagging names and banning them, or going as far as asking them to change their name.

Lyft blocking real names like 'Cocks', 'Cummings', 'Dick', and more

The algorithm itself is flagging names like "Dick", "Finger", "Cummings" and others as inappropriate and not meeting Lyft's "community guidelines". One Lyft customer, Michael Finger, was emailed by Lyft with the email stating the company "noticed the name on your Lyft account doesn't align with our Community Guidelines". Crazy.

Another was Kevin Cocks, who received a push notification with the same warning and asked him to "update" his name by 12/21 in order to continue using Lyft. Lyft's mysterious algorithm is also picking up non-English names with a user named Bubunyo, where he received the same email about the Community Guidelines -- he said "if you are expecting me to use an English name, it won't happen cos I'm not English. You might as well ban me".

Continue reading: Lyft blocking real names like 'Cocks', 'Cummings', 'Dick', and more (full post)

NVIDIA's next-gen PhysX 5.0 tech coming in 2020

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | Dec 19, 2019 7:31 PM CST

NVIDIA has just announced it will be releasing PhysX 5.0 "soon in 2020" with the updated physics middleware SDK offering up support for a "unified particle simulation framework".

NVIDIA's next-gen PhysX 5.0 tech coming in 2020

In NVIDIA's own PhysX 5.0 announcement video you can see the physics at play here, where we can see the soft cloth of the foldable chair influenced beautifully. It reacts to being moved around, and when laid completely flat the cloth physics are displayed in their best light. Even when a plastic chair is thrown into the air and lands on top of the chair, the fabric moves how it would in real life.

Continue reading: NVIDIA's next-gen PhysX 5.0 tech coming in 2020 (full post)

Resident Evil 8 possibly in development for PS5, Xbox Series X

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 19, 2019 6:49 PM CST

Capcom's next mainline Resident Evil game could be in development for next-gen systems.

Resident Evil 8 possibly in development for PS5, Xbox Series X

On the heels of Resident Evil 3 Remake's announcement, Capcom is already teasing its next game in the horror IP. In a batch of emails sent out to Resident Evil Ambassadors (aka RE beta testers), Capcom said: "As limited offers to Ambassadors, we have invitations to a play test session of our unannounced title."

This isn't a surprise, though. Capcom has already confirmed it has multiple games in the works powered by the RE Engine, many of which are clearly destined for next-gen consoles in 2020. We expect one of these titles is Resident Evil 8.

Continue reading: Resident Evil 8 possibly in development for PS5, Xbox Series X (full post)

Hackers inject Fallout 4 assets into Fallout 76, chaos ensues

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 19, 2019 5:36 PM CST

What would Fallout 76 be like with mods? Crazy, unpredictable, and full of weird moments. Sounds like a Fallout game I want to play.

Hackers inject Fallout 4 assets into Fallout 76, chaos ensues

Hackers used a custom script to import Fallout 4 assets right into Fallout 76, leading to some rather awesome homebrew moments throughout the world. The script basically broke the game and gave a huge level of player freedom, injecting the guerrilla-style do-whatever-you-want attitude Bethesda used to promote. You know, before they started the whole paid mods thing and started selling you basic cosmetic features as paid DLC (which I still find ridiculous).

Armed with these hacks, users basically treated Fallout 76's Appalachia is a playground full of Frankenstein creations. Remember when that was a huge part of Bethesda games? The user-created modding scene where you bent and manipulated the game to do whatever you wanted? Yeah, I miss those days.

Continue reading: Hackers inject Fallout 4 assets into Fallout 76, chaos ensues (full post)

Xbox Series X could draw up to 300W of power

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 19, 2019 3:56 PM CST

The Xbox Series X's new Mini-ITX tower design isn't just for show. Its shoebox shape is specifically for heat management, and the new Xbox could belt out some serious thermals as it gobbles up lots of power.

Xbox Series X could draw up to 300W of power

Microsoft touts their new Xbox SX is the world's most powerful console that will "eat monsters for breakfast." It also might eat your power bill. New calculations from DigitalFoundry peg the Xbox Series X's power consumption at up to 300W thanks to the new high-end components housed in the monolith-shaped box. This represents a huge 76% spike in power draw compared to the Xbox One X's 170W.

The TDP numbers are based on the Xbox Series X's new SoC hardware that includes a Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which may be overclocked to higher frequencies and stacked with more CUs in order to hit the promised native 4K 60FPS and even 120FPS performance targets. Microsoft says the Xbox SX is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, and it could pull in twice the power as a result.

Continue reading: Xbox Series X could draw up to 300W of power (full post)

Famous British technology publication, TheInquirer, is shutting down

Rob Squires | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 19, 2019 12:22 PM CST

It seems that long time the British online technology publication, TheInquirer.net, is shutting down. The announcement has come as a shock to many, including the staff who were informed only last week of the decision.

Famous British technology publication, TheInquirer, is shutting down

TheInquirer.net was founded by Mike Magee after his departure from The Register in 2001. In 2006, the website was acquired by VNU from Mike Magee. Currently TheInquirer.net is owned by Incisive Media, which has made the decision to shut down the website. Incisive Media made the decision due to a recent decline in digital advertising, along with a change of focus for their business.

During the lifetime of the TheInquirer.net, many major stories broke on the site, including the Sony laptop battery scandal, including coverage of CPUs, and GPUs many fiscal quarters before their release to market. Several journalists and analysts also got their start at, or worked for TheInquirer at one point or another including Charlie Demerjian (SemiAccurate), Fuad Abazovic (Fudzilla, ACA), and Rob Squires (TweakTown).

Continue reading: Famous British technology publication, TheInquirer, is shutting down (full post)

NASA's Mars 2020 'earned its driver's license', completes first drive

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Dec 19, 2019 4:20 AM CST

In almost half a decade, NASA's Mars 2020 rover has taken to the streets and successfully completed its first drive.

NASA's Mars 2020 'earned its driver's license', completes first drive

While the rover didn't literally take to the public streets, it did successfully complete a driving test where it steered and drive in three-foot increments. The initial driving took the rover over small ramps that were covered in special static-control mats. The ramps were at different heights, as this was a way for the rover to simulate rocks and other obstacles that will be present on Mars' surface.

The team behind the rover has equipped the vehicle with much better cameras that have a larger field of view and have a higher resolution. Not only does the rover get better cameras, but its also being equipped with better auto-navigation software that will allow the rover to travel up to 650 feet per day. NASA expects that the rover will land on Mars in 2021 and begin its search for life and information regarding Mars.

Continue reading: NASA's Mars 2020 'earned its driver's license', completes first drive (full post)

New satellite launch to take an unprecedented look at 4,000 exoplanets

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Dec 19, 2019 3:50 AM CST

A new satellite called CHEOPS just launched into low-Earth orbit with the mission of observing and examining a number of exoplanets located outside our solar system.

New satellite launch to take an unprecedented look at 4,000 exoplanets

CHEOPS was originally meant to launch this past Tuesday, but just as the launch was about to go underway, some problems occurred. After these problems were fixed, the satellite launched into low-Earth orbit on the Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. CHEOPS camera lens only measures in at 32 centimeters in diameter, but don't let its size fool you, as the plans for the satellite are to relay unprecedented information back to astronomers.

CHEOPS will be taking a look at some 4,000 different exoplanets that astronomers have located and measure their size, mass, and atmosphere. Through this examination, astronomers will be able to determine what the composition of the planet is and if it has the possibility of harboring life. CHEOPS will stand as a new tool for astronomers to use in the hunt for life outside of Earth.

Continue reading: New satellite launch to take an unprecedented look at 4,000 exoplanets (full post)

Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show urgently needs people to play orcs

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 19, 2019 3:18 AM CST

Amazon is wanting to get the filming of their massive Lord of the Rings TV show underway, as apparently casting agencies are after people to play orcs.

Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show urgently needs people to play orcs

According to LadBible, who reported that casting agents are currently seeing in mass people with "wonderful noses" or "character faces". The requirements also detail people should join if they are over six feet tall or under five feet. The report says that two casting agencies are currently taking in requests for people of any background and ethnicity.

The LadBible also says that the casting agencies are looking for "long lithe dancers" as well as "stocky mean-looking bikers" and "redheads of all ages, shapes and sizes". The whole idea behind finding these peculiar looking people to be used as orc extras is that their faces will require less make-up. New Zealand's Stuff.co.nz reported that Amazon's casting calls are now "urgent" as they want to hurry the shooting process along.

Continue reading: Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show urgently needs people to play orcs (full post)

Twitter trolls cause seizures in epileptic users with flashing videos

Jak Connor | Software & Apps | Dec 19, 2019 2:47 AM CST

The Epilepsy Foundation has filed an official criminal complaint with law enforcement agencies for what they consider as attacks on users with epilepsy.

Twitter trolls cause seizures in epileptic users with flashing videos

According to the report, Twitter trolls have been using the Epilepsy Foundation Twitter handle as a way of distributing flashing videos or strobing lights to a number of people with epilepsy. The Epilepsy Foundation says that these posts, which are photosensitive visual patterns, were posted to trigger epileptic people into seizures.

Jacqueline French, M.D., chief medical and innovation officer of the Epilepsy Foundation and professor of Neurology at NYU Langone Health's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center said, "Flashing lights at certain intensities or certain visual patterns can trigger seizures in those with photosensitive epilepsy. While the population of those with photosensitive epilepsy is small, the impact can be quite serious. Many are not even aware they have photosensitivity until they have a seizure."

Continue reading: Twitter trolls cause seizures in epileptic users with flashing videos (full post)

PornHub in 2019 transferred 6,597 petabytes of data, 209GB per second

Jak Connor | Mobile Devices | Dec 19, 2019 2:12 AM CST

PornHub has released its annual internal data insights revealing some interesting information about one of the most popular websites on the planet.

PornHub in 2019 transferred 6,597 petabytes of data, 209GB per second

According to the insights which have been released onto the official PornHub Insights website, the site which is placed in the top 50 sites in global Alexa rankings transferred a staggering 6,597 petabytes worth of data. That number is further broken down to a ridiculous 18,073 terabytes per day, and an even more ridiculous 753,041 gigabytes per hour, and finally 209 gigabytes of data per second.

The info-graphic also indicates that the website had 42 billion website visits over the course of the year, with the United States easily being the country with the most visits. The total website visits number equates to 115 million visits per day. We also learn that 6.83 million videos uploaded, bringing 1.36 million hours of new content to watch. PornHub says, "If you started watching 2019's new videos in 1850, you would still be watching them today". To bring it back to the previous paragraph where all the data transfer is mentioned, PornHub says "If you copied all that data onto hard drives they would reach 100km high to the edge of space."

Continue reading: PornHub in 2019 transferred 6,597 petabytes of data, 209GB per second (full post)

SpaceX will smuggle a stash of weed to the ISS for 'testing purposes'

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Dec 19, 2019 1:35 AM CST

SpaceX will be doing another delivery of cargo to the International Space Station next March, and aboard that flight will be some cannabis.

SpaceX will smuggle a stash of weed to the ISS for 'testing purposes'

According to a new press release from Front Range Biosciences, who are partnering with SpaceCells USA Inc. and BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado to send hemp and coffee tissue to the International Space Station. The idea behind smuggling hemp to the ISS is to examine the effects of zero gravity on the plant's metabolic pathways.

While you might think that the astronauts aboard the ISS are going to be blazing up with their new stash in March, this is hardly the case. While hemp and weed (cannabis) are the same plant, for the plant to be deemed hemp it has to have no more than 0.3% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. For comparison, marijuana usually has anywhere between 5 to 20% THC; from this comparison, you can see its impossible to 'get high' on hemp.

Continue reading: SpaceX will smuggle a stash of weed to the ISS for 'testing purposes' (full post)

Hellblade II's 'in-engine' trailer might be next-gen smoke & mirrors

Jak Connor | Gaming | Dec 19, 2019 1:06 AM CST

During The Game Awards, Microsoft and Ninja Theory revealed the sequel to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice in an awesome new trailer. The trailer claimed that what we saw in the trailer was rendered 'in-engine', but was it in real-time?

Hellblade II's 'in-engine' trailer might be next-gen smoke & mirrors

Digital Foundry has put that very question into perspective and put the Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Xbox Series X trailer under their microscope. Digital Foundry explains that 'in-engine' means that what we see in the trailer is much closer to what we will get in the game when it releases. "But is it in 'real-time'? As in rendering the geometry affects and everything in Xbox Series X or PC hardware."

Digital Foundry goes on to dissect each of the rendering techniques we can see in the trailer, so if you want a full breakdown of each technique, check out the above video. For now, though, here's a summary of what they found. Digital Foundry believes that the assets used in the trailer are definitely above that of current-gen consoles, but they are still hesitant to say that nothing was pre-rendered or at least enhanced. This is due to the level of geometric detail at a distance, some lighting aspects, the fact its running at 24FPS at less than 4K and more.

Continue reading: Hellblade II's 'in-engine' trailer might be next-gen smoke & mirrors (full post)

PUMA engineer $105 'Active Gaming Footwear' socks with multiple modes

Jak Connor | Wearable Computing & Fashion | Dec 19, 2019 12:31 AM CST

PUMA has announced that it is stepping into the gaming market, but they aren't making games. Instead, they are making footwear for gamers.

PUMA engineer $105 'Active Gaming Footwear' socks with multiple modes

In a new video that was released onto the PUMA Group YouTube Channel, PUMA has announced what is called 'Active Gaming Footwear'. According to the video, PUMA has been in "extensive talks with professional gamers" and has since discovered there is a need for a "sock-like shoe".

This new design of sock/shoe is super lightweight and is designed for "indoor and in-arena use". It also comes with "seamless comfort, support and grip so gamers can adapt to different active gaming modes and game their best." Not only does it come with comfort as any sock/shoe should, but it also comes with different modes. According to the official PUMA website, the Active Gaming Footwear has three modes. I have listed them in the entirety of this article. The Active Gaming Footwear comes in at $105 USD.

Continue reading: PUMA engineer $105 'Active Gaming Footwear' socks with multiple modes (full post)

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