Galaxy that formed 300 billion suns found dead by astronomers

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Feb 6, 2020 4:07 AM CST

There are countless galaxies out there in the infinite vastness of space, and astronomers are constantly looking for new ones to study. Sometimes the ones they find aren't alive anymore and have perished long ago, being deemed 'inactive'.

Galaxy that formed 300 billion suns found dead by astronomers

Unfortunately, this was the case for astronomers out of the University of California who described in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, a galaxy called XMM-2599. XMM-2599 is shockingly old and has unfortunately fallen into the "inactive" category, but during its time alive, the galaxy pumped out an astonishing amount of suns. Lead author on the paper, Benjamin Forrest said, "Even before the universe was 2 billion years old, XMM-2599 had already formed a mass of more than 300 billion suns, making it an ultramassive galaxy."

What is even more interesting about XMM-2599 is that most of the suns it made happened in a relatively short amount of time. "More remarkably, we show that XMM-2599 formed most of its stars in a huge frenzy when the universe was less than 1 billion years old, and then became inactive by the time the universe was only 1.8 billion years old" said Forrest. The team of astronomers calculated that during XMM-2599's most active sun producing time, it was pumping out around 1,000 solar masses worth of stars per year.

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Google and Boeing backed autonomous flying taxi service to begin in NZ

Jak Connor | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Feb 6, 2020 3:07 AM CST

Flying cars have been talked about since Back To The Future, but what about flying taxis? Don't worry, they are on the way, and they are arriving sooner than you would think.

Google and Boeing backed autonomous flying taxi service to begin in NZ

The aircraft manufacturer called Kitty Hawk was formed back in 2016, and luckily the company enjoyed the backing of Google co-founder Larry Page for its design ideas. In 2019, Kitty Hawk split off into a joint venture with Boeing, called Wisk. The goal of Wisk was to develop a flying taxi service that would have the ability to be summoned via an app on consumers' smartphones.

Now, Wisk has announced on its website that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been formed between Wisk and The New Zealand Government. The MOU is basically a green light towards Wisk establishing an autonomous flying taxi service trial in Canterbury, New Zealand. The flying taxi that was birthed out of Google's money, Boeing's manufacturing and Kitty Hawk's designs are called Cora. At the moment, we don't know when trials will begin, but nonetheless, this is a true sign of confidence in Cora from the New Zealand government's perspective.

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These airlines are the most likely to be late and lose your baggage

Jak Connor | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Feb 6, 2020 2:29 AM CST

Flying can be quite stressful for even the best of people, as there is quite a bit to worry about - plane arrival times, luggage, being late, etc.

These airlines are the most likely to be late and lose your baggage

Luckily, a new analysis has been published detailing which airlines are most likely to make your experience miserable. The team at Upgraded Points decided to gather consumer complaints across multiple commercial airlines to see if a consensus could be made for which airlines give the worst customer experiences.

According to the analysis, the highest average monthly complaints per 10,000 passengers comes from Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines. The airline which is most likely to mishandle your baggage is Envoy Air, with an average of 8.7 bags mishandled every month per 1,000 bags. The airline, which has the highest percentage of canceled flights is by far ExpressJet Airlines. If you are interested in reading further into this analysis, check out it out here.

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Elon Musk asks the public if a gigafactory should be built in Texas

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 6, 2020 1:49 AM CST

Elon Musk has taken to his personal Twitter account to ask the public their thoughts on whether or not he should build a new gigafactory in Texas.

Elon Musk asks the public if a gigafactory should be built in Texas

Musk posted a poll to his Twitter account with the simple, yet effective caption "Giga Texas?". At the time of writing this, 80.1% of people voted "Hell yeah," and only 19.9% of people voted "no." If this plan goes ahead, this will mark Musk's fourth gigafactory, the first being near Reno, Nevada, the second in Buffalo, New York, third in China, Shanghai, and fourth near Berlin, Germany.

At the moment, Musk is on a roll with his electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla, as the company's stock price recently hit an all-time high. This all-time high pushed the company's total market value over Bitcoin's market value, quite an achievement if you ask me. In other news about Musk's ventures, SpaceX recently launched 60 more Starlink satellites into the atmosphere in an effort to bring a global internet connection to everyone.

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Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is coming to the Nintendo Switch this March

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2020 1:12 AM CST

While fans of the Saints Row series wait patiently for news about the game's fifth title, Nintendo Switch owners will be able to enjoy the fourth game in portable mode.

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is coming to the Nintendo Switch this March

If you haven't played a Saints Row title, and own a Nintendo Switch, now your chance to jump into some of the over-the-top action ever created. A new announcement trailer has been posted to the official Saints Row website that reveals Saints Row: Re-Elected will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch with a tonne of downloadable content.

If you haven't played Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, here's a quick summary of what you are in store for. You play as the President of the United States who is facing an alien invasion, and you must do whatever means necessary to stop these aliens from invading your home. Players have an incredibly diverse range of weapons to use, and ways of disposing of the alien invaders -- and the best bit about it is that it's all ridiculous action. Saints Row IV: Re-Elected will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch on March 27th for $40.

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Birds of Prey Harley Quinn is coming to Fortnite as playable character

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2020 12:33 AM CST

Birds of Prey have just released, and what better way to promote the movie than add Harley Quinn into one of the most popular games ever made?

Birds of Prey Harley Quinn is coming to Fortnite as playable character

Fortnite players will soon have mayhem on their hands as it has been discovered that Harley Quinn will be arriving as a playable character. The news comes from a known Fortnite news leaker, Lucas7Yoshi, who posted the above tweet showcasing what the character is going to look like.

According to the post, Quinn will be available in the Item Shop as a purchasable skin that will also have flag upgrade quests. Rumors are pointing towards Quinn being added on February 6th to go alongside the launch of Birds of Prey. It's most likely that the purchasable skin will cost around 1,500 V-Bucks. In the entirety of this article, you can find a list of challenges for Harley Quinn.

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Gears of War studio boss exits, joins Blizzard to run Diablo franchise

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 5, 2020 8:28 PM CST

Rod Fergusson is leaving The Coalition after 15 years, where he started working on the original Gears of War and has stayed with the iconic franchise since. Fergusson is leaving The Coalition for Blizzard, to run the Diablo franchise.

Gears of War studio boss exits, joins Blizzard to run Diablo franchise

In a tweet on his personal Twitter account, Fergusson said: "I began working on Gears of War over 15 years ago and since then, it has been the joy of my life. But now it's time for a new adventure. I leave Gears in the great hands of The Coalition and can't wait for everyone to play Gears Tactics on April 28".

Xbox boss Phil Spencer replied pretty quickly, thanking him for his passion and effort he put into the Gears of War franchise and the Xbox family of consoles. Spencer wished him the best of luck on his next journey, which is going to be over at Blizzard taking control of the Diablo franchise.

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Sex Dolls Experience in Vegas sounds just like Westworld

Las Vegas Sex Dolls Experience is now open for business, offering customers special time alone "interacting" with sex dolls in a private room, at an undisclosed hourly rate.

Sex Dolls Experience in Vegas sounds just like Westworld

The new sex doll brothel is licensed in Clark County and operates out of The Studios, which is a "fluid gender social lifestyle club" but residents are not happy. The Studios is under investigation by Clark County code enforcement right now, with the suspicion of operating a business without a license.

The Studios was licensed back in 2016 to operate as an educational institution, but a sex doll brothel is well, quite the opposite of that I'd say. They run under the name Fluid Lifestyles Learning Center, but inside The Studios has beds, couches, TVs, a stripper pole and even bondage equipment -- very educational.

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EA rakes in 90% of earnings from digital

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 5, 2020 3:34 PM CST

In the Holiday 2019 quarter, EA earned $1.593 billion in total revenues, and $1.444 billion from digital PC, console, and mobile games. Consoles raked in the lion's share of earnings with over $1 billion in revenues, or 72% of total gaming earnings. Both PC and console earnings were up by over 20% year-over-year.

EA rakes in 90% of earnings from digital

Digital reigned supreme as always. EA made over 90% of its quarterly revenues from digital, including live services like Apex Legends' microtransactions and battle passes, as well as full game sales across all platforms. Jedi: Fallen Order in particular outperformed EA's expectations; it did so well EA is now re-thinking its approach to Star Wars games.

The publisher made $993 million from live services (roughly 68% of all quarterly earnings), representing a huge 27% year-over-year revenue spike.

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Apple confirms existence of Samsung's Galaxy Buds+ with store preview

Jak Connor | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Feb 5, 2020 3:09 AM CST

You'd probably think that Samsung would be the one to confirm the existence of their new Galaxy Buds+, but Apple has beaten them to the announcement.

Apple confirms existence of Samsung's Galaxy Buds+ with store preview

It appears that Apple may have 'accidentally' revealed the new Galaxy Buds+ via their App Store Preview section as it depicts a new App called "Samsung Galaxy Buds+". The preview shows a bunch of screenshots from inside the app, as well as 'what's new' and compatibility requirements. The app doesn't describe the physical earbuds very much, but according to CNET, they are expected to have extended battery life on a single charge -- 12 hours.

It's expected that Samsung will officially showcase the new earbuds during their Unpacked event scheduled for February 11th. During this event, it's also expected that Samsung will showcase its new flagship device and a bunch of other cool devices (Galaxy Home Mini etc). CNET also reports that the Galaxy Buds+ could arrive with no noise cancellation, which would be a considerable downside to Apple's AirPods Pro.

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