NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) resulted in the asteroid called Dimorphos being shattered and knocked off its original orbit, a groundbreaking mission that proved Earth has the capabilities of redirecting an asteroid should one ever pose a threat to our planet.

The test was more than successful with NASA being able to prove that a kinetic impactor is capable of changing the orbit of an asteroid, therefore changing its overall trajectory. For those that don't know, NASA launched a vending machine-sized spacecraft at an asteroid system that contained two space rocks, Didymos and Dimorphos.

Dimorphos, the smaller of the two, is orbiting its larger companion asteroid Didymos, and after the collision of the DART spacecraft, which was traveling at extremely high speeds, Dimorphos' orbit was reduced its orbit time around Didymos by 32 minutes and 42 seconds. Additionally, the impact resulted in Dimorphos' shape being completely changed. Now a new paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, details the possibility of pieces of Dimorphos entering Mars' thin atmosphere and making it down to its surface where it would create craters.

Varda Space Industries, a company whose goal is to cook real life-saving drugs in space, has posted the results from its first in-orbit manufacturing stint.

The goal of the company was to autonomously manufacture pharmaceuticals in microgravity or within Earth's orbit. The idea behind this process is to reduce the cost of life-saving drugs, and according to a recent paper published on a pre-print server, Varda Space is now one step closer to achieving it. The company dubbed the mission W-1, and it included sending Varda's hardware into Earth's orbit, where it would then autonomously manufacture the therapeutics.

Varda Space sent a capsule into Earth's orbit, and it remained there for seven months. When it returned back to Earth's surface on February 21, the capsule contained the life-saving HIV/AIDS medication ritonavir. According to Varda Space cofounder Delian Asparouhov, "Them space drugs cooked real good". Notably, manufacturing pharmaceuticals in microgravity has been explored before with astronauts aboard the International Space Station and other testing via parabolic flights.

Acer teased the release of a new 49-inch OLED gaming monitor back in December, which has seemingly flown under the radar of many publications - so here it is!

After doing a quick Google search for the Predator X49 X, I noticed that there wasn't any news regarding the monitor that was officially teased by Acer back in December. So, what is the Predator X49 X? DisplaySpecifications has provided a short list of what the Predator X49 X will provide gamers when it comes to specs, and to kick things off, this 49-inch display rocks a Samsung QD-OLED panel, presumably the third-generation panel that comes with significant text fringing improvements.

Additionally, the Predator X49 X features a super ultra-wide resolution of 5120 x 1440p, an 1800R curvature, 250 nits of typical brightness, 1,000 nits peak brightness, HDR10, DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification, a super quick response time of 0.03ms, a 240Hz refresh rate, AMD FreeSync certification, and two 5w speakers. As for connectivity, buyers can expect 2x HDMI 2.1 inputs, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 input, 1x USB-C port with 90W power delivery, 2x USB-A ports, 1x USB-B port, and a headphone hack.

With a maximum transfer speed of 2,000 MB/s, TEAMGROUP's new CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD is designed for professional photographers and videographers - with the ability to record directly to the drive when connected to a compatible DSLR camera or smartphone. It's the first product in TEAMGROUP's T-CREATE CinemaPr series of products for creators.

According to the announcement, the CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD was "designed specifically for filming," with 4TB capacity models able to store roughly 400 minutes (under 7 hours) of raw 8K video files. Of course, you can store Full HD, 4K, and even 6K on the CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD - which is also compatible with iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max for recording.

Naturally, this means the new SSD is designed for portability and durability, with a lightweight 97-gram aluminum alloy build that is IP67 waterproof and dustproof certified. TEAMGROUP's patented graphene cooling handles cooling.

Facial recognition has been around for a while, with Windows Hello employing the tech so you can log into a Windows 11 device by simply looking at your webcam. This technology also exists in smartphones, surveillance, and security - AI also plays a role in how facial recognition technologies are trained and used.

According to a new patent (seen by Windows Report), Microsoft plans to integrate facial recognition technology with Windows 11 and OneDrive image search functionality. It will use facial recognition to review photos, determine the number of people shown and their identities, and then rank them accordingly.

If you're wondering where a patent fits into the picture, well, faces "determined to be friends or family" will be ranked higher than groups of fewer friends and family - so it's all about using the tech in a detailed searching tool.

According to rumors, Intel's second generation of discrete graphics cards for desktops, codenamed Battlemage, is on track for release sometime in the second half of 2024. The first generation of Alchemist Arc graphics has come a long way since its 2022 debut, partly thanks to Intel's continued driver updates and software support. Arc GPUs have gone from products you wouldn't recommend to impressive and affordable mainstream gaming options.

With shipping manifest leaks (via @momomo_us on X) confirming the existence of two Battlemage GPUs - Battlemage G10 and Battlemage G21 - it's widely accepted that G10 will be targeting the mainstream and mid-range PC gaming market, with G21 being the mainstream or entry-level replacement for current Arc models like the A750 and A770.

With this latest update and last week's SiSoft Sandra database surprise appearance from Battlemage "Xe2-HPG," it looks like the silicon is now in the hands of Intel partners - pointing to a launch sooner rather than later. Intel has yet to formally announce Battlemage or provide details on what to expect hardware and performance-wise, but we know quite a bit based on the information out there.

Is 2024 the year for sensible GPU prices? According to how things have been tracking over the past few months, we could be on the cusp of serious competition in the mid to high-end discrete GPU market for PC gaming. Of course, playing devil's advocate, you could say that recent price cuts could be chalked up to the fact that we're now in the second half or tail end of AMD and NVIDIA's current GPU generation lifecycle.

Either way, you can get a PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB GPU for $889.99 USD (after entering a promo code) at Newegg. This exceptional deal sees AMD's RDNA 3 flagship drop below the $900 barrier for the first time (that we can recall), and it offers a sizeable 11% discount from the $999 MSRP.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX hasn't had an official price drop since launching in December 2022; however, its lower-tier sibling, the Radeon RX 7900 XT, recently saw its price officially drop to $749. With several Radeon RX 7900 XTX models currently available for less than the $999 MSRP, we wouldn't be surprised if the RDNA 3 flagship gets an official price cut soon.

NVIDIA recently launched the beta for its AI-powered ChatRTX app, a generative AI chatbot that runs locally on GeForce RTX 30 and RTX 40 Series hardware with at least 8GB of VRAM. With ChatRTX, being able to run AI locally versus in the cloud is a smart move, as Tensor-RT LLM optimizations and GPU AI acceleration are a big part of NVIDIA's entire lineup.

If you're an early adopter of ChatRTX, you should probably update to the latest March 2024 build. The UI contained a couple of 'Medium' and 'High' severity security vulnerabilities. According to the security bulletin, the more dangerous of the two (given an 8.2 rating) lets potential attackers gain access to system files. This exploit could lead to an "escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering."

The second security vulnerability, rated 6.5) doesn't sound much better. The exploit allows attackers to run "malicious scripts in users' browsers," which can cause denial of service, information disclosure, and even code execution.

A seismic shift just happened: NVIDIA, the powerhouse behind the most advanced GPUs, has officially acquired the Xbox brand from Microsoft. This seismic shift in the gaming industry could redefine console gaming as we know it, promising a future where graphics and AI blend seamlessly to deliver unprecedented gaming experiences.

Poised to revolutionize the market, NVIDIA's announcement has left the gaming community in awe. The company has not only promised to integrate its cutting-edge dual GPU technology recently teased with the new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs featuring a dual-chiplet design into the next-gen Xbox console but also to leverage next-generation AI and ray tracing capabilities. This bold move is seen as a direct challenge to Sony's dominance, with the upcoming PlayStation 6 console now squarely in NVIDIA's sights.

Reveling in the shockwaves of this news, enthusiasts and experts alike are speculating on the potential of NVIDIA's hardware prowess to transform the Xbox into a console unlike any other. The inclusion of dual GPUs promises a leap in visual fidelity and gaming performance, setting the stage for an epic showdown with Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro.

Ahead of the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 kicking off, the tournament organizers announced that players this year would be playing on rigs with AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPUs and GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs for "superior gaming performance." Usually, having a GeForce RTX 4080 powered rig is a big plus for competitive Counter-Strike 2, as you're looking at one of the most powerful GPUs on the market that can easily push CS2 performance into triple-digit territory.

But what happens if the GPU driver crashes during a match and your team loses a round, knocking you out of a tournament with a $1,250,000 USD prize pool? Not much, as a Virtus Pro player experienced "a technical malfunction due to an NVIDIA driver crash, resulting in a game crash" and subsequent loss during the second round of a best-of-three showdown.

Virtus Pro lost the round (strangely, there was no do-over) and the subsequent tie-break match-up. It might be a stretch to say that this single issue cost the team its chance to win part of the $1.25 million prize pool, but it shows that even the most trusted hardware and software can still fail.