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Whistleblower tells Congress the US has recovered 'alien' pilots from a crashed UFO
Former US officials have claimed before the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs that the US government has "non-human" life from a crashed UFO.
David Grusch, a Former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force member at the Department of Defense, along with former Navy fighter pilot Ryan Graves and retired Navy commander David Fravor, sat before a House committee and alleged that the US government is in possession of a "non-human spacecraft," while simultaneously withholding information on reverse engineered technology from Congress and the wider public.
Congress asked Grusch if, based on his interviews with more than 40 experts and witnesses on UFOs, he thinks the US government has made contact with "intelligence, extraterrestrials". Grusch replied, "Something I can't discuss in a public setting."
Here's the most intense and best moments of the UFO hearing
UFO whistleblower David Grosjean testified under oath before Congress, claiming that the US government has in its possession a recovered UAP spacecraft.
Two former Navy Seals, commander David Friver and former fighter jet pilot Ryan Graves. The former military officials said before Congress that they have obtained evidence that suggests there is a real national security risk when it comes to UAP sightings within restricted air spaces. Grusch said that while he was at the UFO task force, he was informed of secret government programs that focused on developing technology related to UFOs without the knowledge of Congress and the wider public.
Grusch was Asked if the information that he received contained evidence of the US government recovering pilots from a crashed UAP craft, to which Grusch said, "Biologics came with some of these recoveries". Congress followed up by asking if these pilots were "human or non-human," to which Grusch replied, "non-human, and that was the assessment by people with direct knowledge of the program that I talked to and are currently still on the program."
Continue reading: Here's the most intense and best moments of the UFO hearing (full post)
Elon Musk simply takes @X handle from Twitter user that had it for 16 years
The world has now said goodbye to Twitter as Elon Musk, who purchased the company for $44 billion last October, announced on his personal account that the company is now X.
Within the days following the announcement from Musk, many changes hit the social media platform, such as a fresh new logo, and the acquisition of the official X Twitter handle. X formally Twitter didn't hold the @X Twitter handle following the announcement from Musk, which resulted in the company contacting the Holder of the @X handle, informing him that the handle was about to be transferred back to the company.
Gene X. Hwang, the co-founder of event photo company Orange Photography, was in possession of the Twitter handles for 16 years and said to Mashable that Elon Musk did not contact him about changing it. Additionally, Hwang said that X is his middle name which is why he chose it as his original Twitter handle. According to reports, Hwang said that he received an email from Twitter informing him that they would be taking his handle away while simultaneously the company offered to replace the handle with an available alternative.
Apple sneakers go on sale for $50,000
A very rare pair of Apple shoes are being sold at an auction for a staggering $50,000. This pair of shoes was only given to employees during the 1990s.
A new report from the BBC has revealed that the custom-made pair of shoes can be traced back to a conference where they wear a one-time giveaway. The shoe itself features the old-school Apple logo, which is a rainbow apple, along with a white design that features another rainbow Apple logo on the tongue.
Sotheby's auction house has described the rarity as "one of the most obscure in existence." The description states the shoes are brand new, but there are some deficiencies, such as yellowing around the midsoles. The description also states that the size is us 10.5 or European size 41, or UK 8.5. Additionally, inside the box, there is a pair of red laces if the buyer wishes to swap out from the traditional white laces.
Continue reading: Apple sneakers go on sale for $50,000 (full post)
Generative AI tool puts users inside their own custom South Park episodes
An artificial intelligence tool has been fed South Park content enabling it to create custom episodes with completed voices, animation, and editing.
The mind behind the impressive tool is US company Fable Simulation, which has created "AI showrunner," a generative AI tool that allows users to enter 1 or 2 sentences describing a custom South Park episode. Uses users are able to give the tool their own looks and voice, which would then be tied into the custom episode that's based on a variety of locations within the South Park universe. So how did they do this?
Fable simulation took over 1200 images of South Park characters, along with 600 images of background scenes. This South Park content was then fed to the AI, creating a unique AI model trained on South Park content, enabling users to create an infinite amount of character combinations and scenes. Users are able to edit individual scenes after a show has been created. The editorial process is in-depth for those that wish to specifically change the dialogue for certain characters, move objects, etc.
Microsoft expects Xbox to deliver record-breaking revenue during Starfield's release
According to internal forecasts published by Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, the Xbox games division is expected to deliver record-breaking revenues in Q1 FY24.
Xbox could start a new year with record-breaking earnings, or at least that's what Microsoft thinks will happen. In its Q1 outlook for Fiscal Year 2024, the company believes total Xbox gaming revenue could rise by "mid-single digits". That's up to a 5% increase over Q1 FY23, which was the best-ever first quarter in Xbox history at $3.610 billion in revenues.
Assuming Xbox is able to achieve this goal, then Microsoft's gaming segment could pull in $3.791 billion in Q1 FY24, driven by content and services growth. Based on the top-end targets of the forecast, the content and services segment could also break $3 billion for the first time ever in a Q1 period.
Square Enix commits to launching more games on Xbox 'whenever possible'
After years of exclusivity deals with PlayStation, Square Enix makes a commitment to bring more of its games to Xbox.
Like most publishers, Square Enix has a vested interest in making deals that make sense for the company. We've seen the publisher sign lucrative multi-year exclusivity deals with PlayStation in exchange for various benefits, including upfront payments/higher share splits, marketing budgets, and the ability to launch games more quickly by effectively shrinking the work required for the project by isolating it to one platform.
Despite these benefits, exclusivity also lowers potential sales for games, and that's something that all third-party publishers want to maximize. Take Final Fantasy XVI, for example--because of PS5 exclusivity, and the current installed base of the Gen9 market, FFXVI's sales were less than FFXV, which launched in 2016 across PS4 and Xbox One. While Square Enix probably won't stop making exclusivity deals with PlayStation, it sounds like it could be making less of them and bringing more of its heavy-hitting games to Xbox.
Final Fantasy XIV coming to Xbox with cross-play
It's officially happening: Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox.
In a deal that was six years in the making, Final Fantasy XIV is officially coming to Xbox in 2024. Square Enix's mega-popular MMORPG will jump over to Xbox Series X/S consoles in Spring of next year, complete with cross-play integration and modern gaming upgrades like quicker loading times via the PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
The news was announced at the big Final Fantasy fan fest in Las Vegas, with Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu, Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer, and legendary game dev Yoshi-P all taking the stage at the same time to talk about FFXIV's launch on Xbox.
Continue reading: Final Fantasy XIV coming to Xbox with cross-play (full post)
Apple's latest privacy push spells problems for app developers everywhere
Apple is going to require that developers of apps submitted to the App Store review team explain what APIs they are using and why starting later this year. The change is designed to help prevent users from having their privacy invited by rogue apps.
Apple told developers that this change was coming back at WWDC in June, but this is the first time that the change has been noticed in the public domain. Apple is also now telling developers which APIs it will consider as those that will soon require more information from developers.
According to Apple, some developers have been using some APIs as a way to digitally track people. That tracking information can then be used to target ads or sold to data brokers. It's Apple's hope that by making developers justify their use of those APIs that it will be able to catch those who don't have a legitimate reason to be accessing them.
Less than half of Threads' 100 million users are actually using it
Meta-owned threads took the world by storm when the social network launched not that long ago. Amid ongoing frustration with Elon Musk's Twitter and confusion over competitors like Mastodon, Threads launched and quickly acquired 100 million users. But how many are still hanging around a little while later?
According to Meta, not all that many. In fact, more than half of those 100 million users are no longer active on the platform although CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't seem all that worried about the revelation.
Reuters reports that Zuckerberg dropped the bombshell during an employee call that was heard by the outlet. During that call, Zuckerberg said that retention on the platform was actually better than executives had expected, although it wasn't perfect. He went on to say that it would ideally have been "awesome" if all of those 100 million people had stuck around. Or "even half of them," he said, suggesting that more than 50 million Threads users are no longer actively using the social network.
Continue reading: Less than half of Threads' 100 million users are actually using it (full post)
Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand reaches the iPhone with an X app icon
Elon Musk continues his rebrand of Twitter to X with a new iPhone, and iPad software update that changes the app's icon and name to the new one. That means that those who update to the new version will no longer see that familiar Twitter icon and will instead see a nondescript white X on a black background instead.
The gradual removal of all things Twitter has been going on for a few days now and the Android app already went through the same revamp earlier this week. But it's taken time for Twitter to get its iOS and iPadOS apps ready for download - likely due to the time it takes Apple's App Store review teams to check the new updates before their release.
While the new rebrand doesn't necessarily change anything about the app in practical terms, it does continue the rebrand that Musk has been hankering after for a while now. Twitter Blue subscribers (X Blue?) also get access to custom versions of that white-on-black icon, should they want to get a little more color in their lives.
Continue reading: Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand reaches the iPhone with an X app icon (full post)
Samsung removed this feature from your Galaxy S23 Ultra but hasn't said why
The Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup is undoubtedly a strong one and the Galaxy S23 Ultra is among the best phones around. But while it included support for high bitrate 8K video recording at launch it's now a feature that seems to have gone missing. And nobody seems to know why.
According to reports it seems that the feature for High Bitrate Videos disappeared around the time that the June 2023 security update was installed on devices. Actually, when we say that it disappeared that isn't strictly true - the feature is still there, but it's grayed out so it can't be selected in the Camera app's settings screen.
While it isn't immediately clear why Samsung seems to have disabled the feature - or even if the feature was removed on purpose or if this is a but - some people had noted that there were issues with it while it was still available. Some complained that the High Bitrate Video option caused videos to stutter when they were recorded, so it's possible that it has been disabled while the feature itself is being improved upon.
AMD RX 7900, 7800 and 7700 leak suggests aggressively priced GPUs to really worry NVIDIA
We now have an idea of where AMD's inbound mid-range RDNA 3 graphics cards - the GPUs to fill the gaps between the RX 7600 and 7900 series, and that's quite a gulf - might be priced.
A new video from YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) taps a source who gives us potential pricing for the RX 7700 and 7800, as well as the vanilla RX 7900 (non-XT).
All of this, though, comes with pretty weighty caveats upfront. Firstly, this is just chatter from the grapevine anyway, and secondly, things are rather up in the air still in terms of AMD's decision-making about these next RDNA 3 GPUs and exactly where they'll be positioned.
Samsung's profits dropped a whopping 95% last quarter
The worldwide demand for new smartphones continues to plummet with Samsung announcing that its profits dropped a massive 95$ drop for the second quarter in a row. Those figures are for the second quarter of 2023, and they make for worrying reading not only for Samsung but for the smartphone market as a whole.
Samsung confirmed the news in its Q2 2023 financial results, with a 95% year-over-year drop mimicking that of the quarter that came before it. Operating profit was KRW 0.67 trillion ($523.5 million), down from KRW 14.12 trillion ($11.06 billion) the year prior.
Samsung itself says that it's blaming the overall lack of demand for new phones, including its own flagship devices. It says that demand for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, its best smartphone if you don't count foldable, "faded" as time went on. However, it does say that the Galaxy S23 lineup of devices was able to post better results than its predecessor, the Galaxy S22 lineup.
Continue reading: Samsung's profits dropped a whopping 95% last quarter (full post)
Are GPU price drops over? Rumor claims graphics cards are only going one way now - up in price
All we've been hearing of late is about GPU price drops - that and current-gen graphics cards flailing badly for sales (with NVIDIA especially) - but we could be at the bottom of the market now, one YouTube leaker reckons.
Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) has a new video discussing GPU prices, with sources telling the leaker that sales are now picking up.
One retailer informs MLID that things are turning around and GPU sales started to climb in July, and have continued to gain momentum throughout the month.
New Red Dead Redemption remaster evidence surfaces on Rockstar's official website
New evidence unearthed by Rockstar sleuth Tez2 strongly indicates the existence of the long-awaited Red Dead Redemption remaster.
It looks like Rockstar Games could be ready to announce the eagerly anticipated Red Dead Redemption remaster. Earlier today, Rockstar Games apparently updated its website to include a new reference to its list of games: "Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar Presents Ver)" was added, as per discoveries from Tez2. There's also indications that the Red Dead Redemption website will receive a big revamp, possibly to coincide with the RDR1 remaster's reveal.
The Korean game ratings board recently turned heads by publishing a final decision for Red Dead Redemption, a 13-year-old game. The new rating for this version of Red Dead Redemption is separate from the Gen7 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.
Elon Musk is taking Twitter to the dark side
Twitter owner Elon Musk says that he is going to switch the social network to dark mode, ditching the familiar light mode look that has been around since its inception. However, Musk did at least relent on initial plans to make that the only option - light mode will now remain available for those who want it.
That doesn't mean that Musk hasn't killed something off as part of the switch, though. The current option to use a "Dim" mode is being removed. That mode was similar to dark mode but wasn't quite as dark - it used a dark blue background instead of the black of dark mode proper.
Musk said that a lot of people had asked for light mode to stick around, so it does appear that he is listening to feedback here. Reading text in dark mode in brighter conditions can be surprisingly difficult at times which is why many apps can automatically switch between light and dark mode when the system does - and people can configure their phones to invoke different modes at different times of the day.
Continue reading: Elon Musk is taking Twitter to the dark side (full post)
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE all but confirmed by the Wireless Power Consortium
It had been rumored on and off for months but we just had our closest thing to confirmation yet that the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is a thing and that it's probably just around the corner.
That's because the phone has just appeared in the database for the Wireless Power Consortium, complete with a photo of the device itself. And sure enough, it looks exactly as we'd been told to expect it to.
The Wireless Power Consortium is the outfit that is in charge of the wireless charging standard that is used by phones around the world, so when a new phone is released it's going to be tested. But it would appear that someone has gotten a little ahead of themselves and made the testing publicly available for all to see online.
Apple TV is already feeling the Lionel Messi effect as MLS viewership soars
You'd need to have been living under a rock to have missed the fact that superstar athlete Lionel Messi is now plying his trade in the MLS. He's only played two games so far, but it looks like Apple is already benefiting from his presence as viewing figures have spiked in the last week.
Apple famously paid $2.5 billion to get in on the MLS streaming rights for the next decade, with MLS Season Pass being the result. It's available via the Apple TV app and is of course a subscription service, although those who already pay for Apple TV+ do at least get a discount. Messi even gets a cut of that money as part of the deal that saw him ditch European football in Paris and it looks like the deal is already proving to be mutually beneficial.
While Apple doesn't share specific figures, it has confirmed that the last week has been a bumper one in terms of viewership. In a statement given to The Verge, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr confirmed that the week running from July 19 to July 26 saw the three most-watched matches ever on MLS Season Pass. The statement went on to say that viewers watched from almost 100 countries and regions around the globe with those viewers roughly split between English and Spanish broadcasts.
AMD unveils the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, a new custom model made exclusively for the Chinese market
Earlier this week, we reported on the existence of a brand new RDNA 3 GPU from AMD that isn't a Radeon RX 7800 or Radeon RX 7700. The new Radeon RX 7900 GRE or Golden Rabbit Edition is a cutdown version of the Radeon RX 7900 XT created exclusively for the Chinese market, with AMD unveiling the new GPU at ChinaJoy 2023.
AIBs, including PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX, were on hand to show off their custom designs of the new AMD GPU alongside a new reference design from AMD featuring a similar triple-fan cooling solution to what was found on the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference models.
Specs-wise, we also now have confirmation of what "cutdown" means, with the Radeon RX 7900 GRE featuring the same Navi 31 GPU as the Radeon RX 7900 XT but with 80 Compute Units compared to 84 Compute Units. And with 16GB of VRAM compared to 20GB on a slower 256-bit bus. Clock speeds have also been reigned in, with a boost clock of 2245 MHz sitting lower than the Radeon RX 7900 XT's 2400 MHz.





















