Latest News - Page 942

Western Digital's My Book Desktop Storage line-up has been a go-to for many when backing up files and having an offline repository of 100+ Steam games ready to take over to a laptop or secondary PC. And with the storage company introducing its new My Book range, it does so with a model featuring a whopping 22TB storage capacity. It joins a line-up of models starting at 4TB, going all the way up to 16TB, 18TB, and now 22TB.

All drives are formatted exFAT and compatible with both Windows and Mac, with a backward compatible USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface boasting 5 Gbps speeds. Throw in a 3-Year warranty, 256-bit AES hardware encryption, and WD's trusted build quality, and you've got products built to go the distance.

"With multiple devices used in our everyday life, we have the ability to instantly create, consume and generate massive amounts of content," said Susan Park, vice president of product management at Western Digital. "Our goal is to help people easily and reliably store it all."

A group of researchers has discovered an exoplanet within the galactic neighborhood of Earth, and this exoplanet appears to be a similar size to the planet we call home.

The team of international researchers has penned a study that has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, and according to the study's results, the team discovered what is now called K2-415b while searching for transiting exoplanets. Notably, transiting exoplanets are planetary bodies that pass in front of their host star.

From Earth's perspective, this transition looks like a shadow moving across the face of the target star. This transition throughout the planetary body's orbit of its host star stands as an indicator that something is orbiting this specific star, prompting researchers to follow up with more observations. In K2-415b's instance, researchers discovered the exoplanet in data acquired by NASA's decommissioned Kepler Space Telescope. The data indicated that K2-415b is approximately 72 light-years away from Earth, making it a neighbor to Earth on the cosmic scale.

A UFO expert has warned that the United Kingdom is expected to see a massive uptick in the number of UFO sightings.

The warning from the UFO expert came after the United States downed three unknown objects appearing in its airspace within three weeks. Notably, the US air force general that is responsible for protecting American airspace said that military personnel was unable to identify each of the objects, with some fighter jet pilots even reporting that when they approached the object, it appeared it interfered with the fighter jet's sensors.

Reports indicate that each of the objects detected by the US military was vastly different in shape and definitely not Chinese spy balloons. In fact, the US military specifically pointed out that the language it's using to describe the unknown objects is deliberate and that it's calling these anomalies "objects" and "not balloons, for a reason." All three of the detected objects were shot down by US military fighter jets, and each of the wreckages is currently in the process of being recovered.

An investigation has been launched into a recent UFO sighting reported by at least 20 people. According to reports, the military is running the investigation.

Uruguay's Air Force (FAU) has announced it has begun an investigation into the strange red lights that were seen early Saturday morning. These lights were seen by approximately 20 different people and were captured from numerous angles. The footage of the unknown object was quickly shared on social media and showcased glowing red lights hovering in the sky of Paysandu, a city located in western Uruguay. Additionally, sightings were reported in the neighboring Argentine province of Entre Rios and the Uruguayan towns of Colonia and San Jose.

Notably, a team of experts has been instructed to inspect the area and collect as many witness statements as possible. The news comes from the Receiving and Investigating Committee of Denunciations of Unidentified Flying Objects, which gave its statement on social media. Saturday afternoon, Uruguay's Air Force said the following; "Given the reports received about the sighting of flashing lights in the sky in the Almiron hot springs, [in the] department of Paysandu, the intervention of the CRIDOVNI has been arranged."

An asteroid originally discovered in 2005 is about to get closer to Earth than it has in the past 400 years.

The incoming space rock is expected to approach Earth on February 15, coming within 2.8 million miles of our planet at 7:46 pm EST and marking the closest moment this space rock has gotten to Earth's surface within the past 400 years. For those that can't visualize 2.8 million miles, the asteroid called 2005 YY128 will fly safely past Earth at a distance of approximately 12 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Experts have emphasized that there is zero chance that this asteroid will collide with our planet as 2005 YY128 is an asteroid that's had its orbit mapped out to a very precise level. Researchers have been studying the asteroid for the past 17 years, and from their observations, they have derived a precise orbit but not a concise prediction of its size. Unfortunately, researchers have a large discrepancy between their predictions, with EarthSky reporting that astronomers suspect 2005 YY128 has a diameter anywhere between 1,903 feet and 4,265 feet.

On February 3, the Norfolk Southern cargo train separated from the tracks and crashed, spilling toxic chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since been monitoring.

The derailing took place in eastern Ohio and resulted in many toxic chemicals catching fire and emitting thick black smoke into the air. Officials immediately informed more than 1,000 people living in the surrounding area of East Palestine to evacuate their homes. These orders came straight from the state governor. Moving forward to February 8, officials at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) announced that air quality wasn't contaminated and that food supply and livestock risk remains very low.

Despite the announcements from ODA officials, some residents in the area remain skeptical, with reports of chickens dying around the crash site and thousands of fish being found dead due to the chemical burn entering waterways. It should be noted that officials haven't connected the death of the chicken to the toxic chemicals released into the airspace. An EPA official explained that harmful chemicals were released into waterways and did kill fish, but contamination levels in both the air and waterways aren't at levels that cause concern.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has been on the way out for years, as the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge became the company's focus. Even though Internet Explorer hasn't been officially supported since June 2022, its death date has now arrived for Windows 10 users - on Valentine's Day.

Microsoft Edge was announced in 2015 as the successor to Internet Explorer. With the transition complete, we can only assume Edge is putting on its best Darth Vader to say, "Internet Explorer was weak, and I destroyed him." Officially though, Microsoft has said the following.

"All remaining devices that have not already been redirected from IE11 to Microsoft Edge are scheduled to be redirected with the Microsoft Edge update scheduled for February 14, 2023," writes Microsoft. "The change to using Microsoft Edge update to disable IE is intended to provide a better user experience and help organizations transition their last remaining IE11 users to Microsoft Edge."

With Intel recently entering the discrete GPU market with its Intel Arc range, a fourth challenger to NVIDIA's dominance in the GPU space has arrived in China via a company called Moore Threads. This is a significant development for the consumer GPU space and PC gaming, especially in Asian markets where player bases are both huge and increasing.

The GPU in question is the MTT S80, a second-generation Moore Threads card based on the MUSA architecture with 14.4 TFLOPs of performance, 16GB of GDDR6, and a 256-bit memory bus. Those numbers should put its performance somewhere between the GeForce RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti. Plus, you'd expect decent performance with a 250W power rating, triple-fan cooling, and it being the first GPU to offer PCIe Gen5 support.

Well, that was the expectation. A new review by South Korean outlet BullsLab shows it lagging even the GeForce GT 1030. A passively cooled 30W GPU with 2GB of VRAM and a 64-bit memory bus. Yeah, not a good sign.

The CEO of the world's second-largest social media platform, Twitter, has decided to hand over his title as CEO to his dog.

That, of course, is SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who took to his personal Twitter account on February 15 to humorously announce that Floki, his Shiba Inu dog, is the new amazing CEO of Twitter. Musk posted an image of Floki at his desk, which shows a piece of paper with the Twitter logo, a black spot for a signature, Floki's name, and title "chief executive officer" (CEO). Musk replied to his own image, writing, "so much better than that other guy!" and "He is perfect for the job!".

The humorous posting continued from Musk with the Twitter CEO snapping another image of Floki wearing glasses, writing, "He's great with numbers!". This post was followed by another shortly after, with Musk snapping a close-up of Floki to show off his "style". Obviously, Musk hasn't officially made his dog CEO of the world's second-largest social media platform, the Twitter CEO is just having a bit of fun with his platform as everyone else does.

A new report covering motherboard shipments from four of the biggest names in the game - ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, and ASRock - has revealed that 2022 was a devastating year. According to DigiTimes (via Tom's Hardware), citing supply-chain sources, there was a decline of around 10 million in motherboard shipments compared to the previous year.

The usual suspects of economic downturns and a post-pandemic slump are listed as the reasons, which is in line with recent reports about overall PC shipments seeing a similarly massive decline in 2022.

Even though 2022 saw the release of new CPUs from Intel and AMD, with the latter introducing a new motherboard chipset in the form of AM5, it wasn't enough to cover the shortfall in demand for new PC hardware.

A recent eBay listing for a Voodoo 5 6000 drew a lot of attention as it was the last 'Voodoo' card from 3dfx and a product that never actually made its way to market. Back in the early days of 3D graphics in the 1990s, the Voodoo brand was one of the most well-known in PC gaming, and the Voodoo 6 6000 was looking to try something new with four 166 MHz VSA-100 processors, each with 32 MB of 166 MHz SDRAM.

This unique design meant that it needed additional power at a time when plugging in multiple 8-pin connections on a high-end graphics card wasn't a thing, and this ultimately led to multiple delays before 3dfx finally pulled the plug. And exiting the discrete GPU market in 2002, paving the way for the rise of NVIDIA and AMD.

As such, the only Voodoo 5 6000 GPUs produced were prototype models, with this listing covering the Voodoo 5 6000 (Rev 3700A) that made use of a Molex adapter to give it some extra juice. "This card has been considered to be the ultimate holy grail piece for most if not all 3DFX enthusiasts/collectors," wrote the seller gtastuntcrew302. "Which is why I'm wanting to pass it on to someone that will truly view it as such and get that warm and special feeling for it. I wish to pass the card to someone that will care for it for years to come and preserve the history and significance this card holds in the world of 3D."

The driver drought for AMD Radeon RX 6000 GPUs built on RDNA 2 architecture has ended with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 delivering updates and performance boosts to several games. The list includes the recently released Dead Space from EA and Motive and Square Enix's Forspoken - an AMD-sponsored title.

The driver also adds some of the improvements that arrived in recent driver updates that were exclusive to the new Radeon RX 7000 series, including optimizations for H.264 and H.265 streaming via AMD Link. The good news is that AMD is back on track with a unified AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition driver for AMD Radeon RX 6000 and Radeon RX 7000 Series graphics cards and even older GPUs like the Radeon RX 5700 and Vega Series.

There is a tonne of performance improvements for games in this new driver for Radeon RX 6000 GPUs, with AMD making a note of several games performing better on the RDNA 2 flagship Radeon RX 6950XT GPU.

Xiaomi is expected to announce as many as three new phones at this year's Mobile World Congress, and one of them borrows very heavily from the very best that Apple has to offer.

Just like the iPhone 14 Pro, the mid-range Xiaomi 13 Lite will have a front camera system that isn't like the ones we're most familiar with in the world of Android. It sure does look like a Dynamic Island, but that is where the similarities end.

Whereas Apple's iPhone 14 Pro uses its Dynamic Island to display information and widgets, there is no suggestion right now that we can expect anything that impressive from what the Xiaomi phone will have to offer. Instead, it looks like we can simply expect it to be a larger hole in the screen than other Android hole-punch designs. But in a world where so many Android phones look the same, it's probably fair to say that this one stands out.

Sony will expand the PlayStation 5's peripheral lineup with two new audio accessories, including a set of higher-end earbuds.

Sony has released a number of premium PS5 products over the last 3 years, including the $99 Pulse 3D wireless headphones and a fleet of higher-end audio headsets and monitors in its new INZONE gaming brand. Now sources have told Insider Gaming that the peripheral push will continue with two audio devices specifically designed for the PS5.

The first is set of wireless headphones codenamed Nomad. These are said to be a premium grade set of wireless Bluetooth earbuds, complete with long-lasting 5-hour battery life and firmware updates that could unlock new features and optimize the earbuds. It's worth noting that the PS5 currently does not support non-Sony branded Bluetooth headphones--I tried hooking up a pair of cheaper eBay earbuds and the PS5 gave me an error message.

Microsoft is prepared to face off against Sony and defend its merger proposal during a closed-door hearing with European regulators.

Microsoft, Activision, and Sony are expected to attend a hearing with European Commission regulators next week, February 21 to discuss the biggest gaming merger of all time, sources tell the Policy and Regulatory Report (thanks, Foss Patents). This hearing will not be public and may be the last opportunity that interested parties have to address European regulators ahead of the merger's set decision deadline of April 11, 2023.

The hearing could be a fiery one. Microsoft is expected to fend off Sony's complaints while also defending the merger proposal against any and all claims of anti-competitive harm. European Commission regulators have issued a Statement of Objections on the Microsoft-Activision merger that outlines the regulator's concerns and worries about the combination. This filing gives Microsoft an idea of what points to concentrate on with its defense and will also help guide what kinds of remedies and concessions that may be offered during the proceedings.

The recent fiasco with unknown objects being detected in North American airspace has driven up stock prices for defense companies.

Over the weekend, the US military was very active, shooting down three unknown objects being detected in North American and Canadian airspace. The first object appeared near Alaska and was detected by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) radars and resulted in, in all instances, a US fighter jet being dispatched and instructed to bring down the object.

The unknown objects were operating between 20,000 and 40,000 feet and were deemed a threat to civilian air traffic. There was also the element of potential intelligence operations being conducted by an unknown foreign party following the destruction of a Chinese spy balloon a week prior. If you include the removal of the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina the previous weekend, the US military has brought down four objects in US airspace within the last two weeks.

Many unknown objects have been popping up on US military radar systems over the weekend, with the US government authorizing the removal of three unknown objects.

US military detected an object on radar systems on Friday, the object popped up near Alaska, and the US military responded with a fighter jet being sent out first to inspect it and then later destroy it. The following day the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected an unknown object near Canadian airspace, which after deliberation between US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was also brought down.

The third object was detected over Lake Huron and, much like the two previous objects, was shot down by US fighter jets. So, why is the US military suddenly detecting these unknown objects within US airspace? According to Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command, these objects began appearing on radar systems when NORAD switched from searching for larger objects to much smaller objects.

A lawyer has been killed after sustaining major wounds from his own weapon after he entered a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

40-year-old lawyer Leandro Mathias de Novaes entered an MRI machine on January 16 and failed to mention that he had a concealed firearm on his person before getting into the machine. Unaware staff carried out the MRI procedure at Laboratorio Cura in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and were shocked when the gun reportedly fired, causing major injuries to the lawyer's abdomen, which he later succumbed to at Sao Luiz Morumbi Hospital on February 6.

Reports indicate that the magnetic field generated by the MRI machine caused the gun to fire and that the lawyer signed a document acknowledging the requirement to remove all metal objects from his body before entering the MRI room. Additionally, a spokesperson for the facility said that the lawyer didn't mention his gun at all and entered the MRI room on his own decision. So, why did this happen? Why does an MRI machine cause a gun to fire?

Hogwarts Legacy debuted on Steam on February 13, and since then, the wizarding title has attracted the attention of more than 800,000 players.

According to data provided by Steam Charts, Avalanche Studios and Warner Bros' Hogwarts Legacy has taken the top four spots on Steam's Top Selling list, with each of the spots being different versions of the game. How is this possible? Valve measures its titles sales individually but separates the Standard Edition from the Deluxe Edition and then further separates pre-orders from purchases made after the title was released.

Since the metrics are broken down in this fashion, Hogwarts Legacy is currently occupying all four top slots, beating the likes of the Steam Deck and the popular remake of the survival horror game Dead Space. At the moment, Hogwarts Legacy is currently available on PC and current-gen consoles. Previous-gen consoles such as the PS4 and Xbox One are expected to get Hogwarts Legacy sometime in April 2023. Nintendo Switch users will have to wait a little bit longer, with the release date set for July 2023.

European skywatchers were stunned at a fireball entering Earth's atmosphere on February 13. Multiple video angles were captured from various locations.

Krisztian Sarneczky, an asteroid hunter working at the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary, discovered the asteroid only hours before it began its descent to Earth. According to reports, Sarneczky forwarded the appropriate information to the European Space Agency (ESA), which determined the asteroid measured 3.2 feet wide and was called SAR 2667. Sarneczky explained to Space.com that the small space rock was discovered during a routine Near-Earth Object (NEO) check.

The asteroid plummeted to Earth at 10 p.m. EST on February 12 (0300 GMT February 13), and there have been at least 61 sightings of its bright entry. From the above and below video footage captured by skywatchers, the space rock can be seen growing in brightness, completely lighting up the sky for a brief moment before disappearing into the darkness. The American Meteor Society confirmed the reports from residents, which spanned across England, Netherlands, Belgium, and France.