Latest News - Page 982

A group of scientists discovered a massive Burmese python had a significant lump in its stomach. This python was euthanized for science and dissected.

The group of five scientists, including Rosie Moore, geoscientists based in Florida, took to social media on November 1 by posting a video to Moore's Instagram account that showcased the massive 18-foot-long python being de-skinned and eventually cut open to reveal it had consumed a 5-foot-long alligator that was mostly still intact. Moore spoke to CNN and said that the researchers were taking breaks during the dissection process just to get away from the smell. Moore said she thought it was "pretty gross too".

Hackers have infiltrated Australian health insurance provider Medibank and stolen sensitive information on 10 million customers.

Australia's largest private health insurer was breached by hackers that are believed to be based in Russia. The first news of the hack came out in October but was quickly thrown back into the mainstream news after the ransom the hackers demanded wasn't paid for by Medibank, which resulted in the hackers releasing a portion of its stolen customer data that includes health records, mental health treatments, and more sensitive insurance-related information.

The latest release occurred on November 13 when the hackers released a folder labeled "psychos" onto a blog found on the dark web, which contained hundreds of claims relating to mental health treatment from Medibank customers. Along with the folder holding sensitive information was the caption, "We never lies [sic] - it doesn't make sense, if we lie to somebody - nobody will treat us as a serious business side [sic]." Recent reports indicate that the hackers will temporarily stop releasing customers' information in hopes that something will come out of Medibank's annual general meeting that is expected to be held on Wednesday.

It was only last week that the US military's X-37B space plane reached a milestone number of days in orbit while on its mysterious mission.

The X-37B space plane that has captured much attention is called Orbital Test Vehicle 6, or OTV-6, and was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 17, 2020. OTV-6 is the sixth space plane launched under program, with the first being launched in 2010, spending just 224 days in orbit, and the last being OTV-5, which launched in 2017 and spent 780 days in orbit. Now, OTV-6 has broken that record when it touched back down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, November 12, completing 908 days in orbit.

The mystery behind the space plane is widely known as the majority of its contents, equipment, mission objectives, etc, are classified, with only a few details being given to the public. What is known is that Boeing constructed OVT-6 and that during its time in orbit, it deployed the FalconSat-8 that's developed by the US Air Force Academy, which is carrying its own experimental payloads counting five, as well as the Naval Research Laboratory's photovoltaic radiofrequency antenna module, which is an antenna designed to convert solar power into radio frequency microwave energy.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to his personal Twitter account to publicly apologize for Twitter, while also announcing that the platform is feeling "increasingly alive".

Since Elon Musk officially bought Twitter on October 27, the platform has already gone through a roller coaster of changes, with many of these changes causing division among users. However, there is one thing everyone can agree on, it certainly hasn't been boring since Musk has taken over.

Within the three weeks, Musk has owned Twitter, he's revised the Twitter Blue subscription, taken Twitter's verification badge and made it a purchasable cosmetic, created a second verification badge for "official" accounts, faced waves of people impersonating his account, fired half of Twitter's staff, asked some of those fired staff to return back to the company, and much more. On November 14, Musk took to his account to post, "Twitter feels increasingly alive".

Following the massive downfall of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry are informing asset holders to seek self-custody of their assets.

The collapse of FTX has caused ripple effects throughout the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin immediately saw a heavy hit, with the world's most valuable digital asset falling to the $15,000 range, a price that it hasn't been since November 2020. This massive decline in price came after confidence was completely lost in FTX as it was discovered the cryptocurrency exchange was mishandling users' funds.

The stake was further driven home for FTX users when it's now former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) announced that the company has filed for bankruptcy. With the collapse of FTX came major concern about the stability of other cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, and the many more that are out there holding thousands of user funds.

Luxury automaker Bugatti will only produce 10 hand-built units of the super-exclusive Centodieci car - and each owner can rest assured the line was thoroughly tested. The most experienced Bugatti test driver they have, Steve Jenny, with almost 220,000 miles of testing for the Veyron, Chiron, Divo, and Centodieci, is handling the assignment - but he's familiar with the smallest, possibly overlooked details in Bugatti cars.

Bugatti promotes Centodieci's pre-delivery inspection as one of the most intense and demanding among automakers. The test drive is designed to take hours and will include time on a closed runway of an airport - to ensure the car's 0-62 mph time of just 2.4 seconds, and maximum speed of 236mph - is accurate.

The Centodieci features the same 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine as the Chiron Super Sport - pushing out a rather insane 1,578 horsepower. High-speed slaloms, emergency braking, and emergency lane changes also will be tested at high speed as part of the testing process.

French automaker Renault recently expanded its partnership with Google, the US software company tasked with aiding Renault's end-to-end digital transformation.

This is a wise strategic partnership expansion for Renault, as the company wishes to capitalize on growth opportunities. Google will help using its experience with cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and Android throughout a vehicle's lifecycle.

The software-defined vehicle (SDV) powers in-vehicle software, while both companies also discuss the so-called digital twin: "a virtual twin of the vehicle that will feature the most advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, for an easier and continuous integration of new services into the vehicle and the creation of new onboard (In-Car Services) and offboard applications."

Despite its transition towards a fully-electric vehicle portfolio, BMW isn't expected to just leave lower-priced auto buyers high and dry. Of course, BMW isn't really known for the most affordable vehicle lines, whether gas-powered or electric.

Here is what BMW CEO Oliver Zipse recently said while speaking at a Bosch event: "We are not leaving the lower market segment. Even if you consider yourself a premium manufacturer, it is wrong to leave the lower market segment - that will be the core of your business in the future."

Competitors found their own EV platforms to develop and nurture, while BMW was rather discombobulated making a move. However, its Neue Klasse (New Class) EV architecture shows BMW doesn't want to share drivetrain data and other EV-based solutions with anyone else.

The 2022 Land Rover Range Rover First Edition luxury SUV seems to deliver the expected performance from a rather pricey vehicle.

The test model Car and Driver tried was $169,900, slightly higher than the $164,000 base price - and featured a twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 engine powering 523hp and 553 lb-ft of torque.

There is a 13.1-inch touchscreen infotainment center with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support. In addition, drivers can sign up for a data plan and deliver voice commands using Amazon Alexa. Rear passengers also have access to 11.4" entertainment screens for them to enjoy. The front seats are 24-way heated and cooled, with a built-in electric massage feature. The leather seats are complemented with an Ecru walnut veneer.

After less than a year, Fortnite Chapter 3 is coming to an end next month.

Today Epic Games announced a new event that will break Chapter 3 and make way for Chapter 4. The in-game event is called Fracture and is believed to be connected to the crack in the sky seen above Loot Lake that had appeared months ago. It's assumed the Fracture event will see the glass rift cracking more and more until Chapter 4 is revealed.

Fracture will go live on December 3 and should bring a new map with it. Gamers are surprised that Chapter 3 may only contain 4 seasons, as compared to the 8 seasons offered in Chapter 2.

GALAX is the only one in the world with a super-ridiculous-high-end GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, with its GeForce RTX 4090 HOF (Hall of Fame) graphics card destroying world records easily.

The new GALAX GeForce RTX 4090 HOF graphics card has been punished by Benchlife, breaking 20 world records that include 3DMark, Unigine Superposition, and Catzilla benchmarks. As for the GALAX GeForce RTX 4090 HOF itself, it rocks dual 16-pin PCIe power connectors and when cooled with LN2 cooling, those 20 world records were smashed.

The internal GALAX OC team with overclocker Tobias "Rauf" Bergstrom used a custom BIOS on the GALAX GeForce RTX 4090 HOF alongside LN2 cooling, slaying benchmarks in its path. Given that EVGA has completely pulled out of the graphics card business, there's no other card like this... so GALAX will probably hold these benchmarks for quite some time.

BMW recently started production of the fully-electric BMW iX1 EV crossover at its Regensburg plant, an eastern Bavarian city in Germany. Interestingly, BMW Group Plant Regensburg is able to produce combustion-engine, plug-in hybrid, and fully-electric vehicles in a single facility.

The xDrive 30 variant from the iX1 line is aimed at auto markets in Europe and China - and the 66.5 kWh battery supports up to 272 miles of drive range per charge. The 313 horsepower motor powers 0-62mph acceleration in 5.7 seconds.

Each German production plant can assemble electric cars, a milestone the automaker announced around two years ago. At least one in three BMW models produced at Bavarian plants will be electric by 2024, according to BMW executives. These continued efforts display BMW's effort to prepare for a fully-electric car and SUV portfolio in the future.

NVIDIA's infamous "unlaunched" and now "reunlaunched" GeForce RTX 4080 12GB graphics card is getting a makeover, and being turned into the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti according to the latest leaks.

The company was meant to launch two different SKUs of the GeForce RTX 4080 -- the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB and GeForce RTX 4080 12GB, but plans changed in a big way -- and now it looks like AIB partners are re-doing their retail packaging to align with the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti launch for early next year.

Not only are we hearing that NVIDIA will be calling it the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, but we're hearing about the product unveil, product review, and product launch dates. Wccftech is reporting that NVIDIA is looking at unveiling its new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card on January 3, 2023... while 24 hours later the review NDA will go up... and another 24 hours later NVIDIA will launch its GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card (and I'm sure, a bunch of custom GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards from AIB partners).

A prototype crossover from General Motors was spotted with a camouflage wrap back in September. Initially identified as the 2024 Chevrolet Trax, it turns out the unidentified vehicle might actually be a Chevrolet Trailblazer.

The Trailblazer entered the Chinese auto market in 2019 but has recently excited China - as the 2023 Chevrolet Seeker will replace it overseas. However, the US market is expected to see a new vehicle sporting a traditional crossover shape that appears smaller than current versions of the Trailblazer.

Expect a familiar two-tiered headlight configuration with no wheel and door trim present on the prototype. Chevrolet also added some noticeable roof rails, perhaps to develop a model trim focused on the outdoors. The profile does appear to look like a Trailblazer, even though it does look smaller.

Is it just another millennial problem? It looks like younger people like the idea of electric vehicles, but often cannot afford them. Between EVs being eco-friendly and packed full of next-generation technology, guess it shouldn't be a big surprise younger people like them.

Depending on driver's age, they may be able to receive help from their parents, as they increasingly want their kids to learn to drive in tech-centric EVs. In addition, these Gen Z and millennials will get older and their interest in EVs will develop even further - and sticker shock will decrease as there is price parity in the auto market.

As noted by Camila Domonoske, cars, energy and the future of mobility reporter for the NPR Business Desk, said during a recent discussion:

Volkswagen has created an office chair that can move up to 12.5 mph with a battery range of over 7 miles per charge. This is just a VW concept...chair designed as a clever PR and marketing tactic. Check out a short introduction:

The lights are inspired by VW ID models, so the chair is easily recognizable - and illuminates a dark hallway. After buckling up with a seatbelt, the passenger also can listen to music and activate a horn while operating the chair.

For office workers that spend hours every day in an uncomfortable chair, Volkswagen has "the chair" to help. Designed to help promote Volkswagen Utility Vehicles - the tricked-out chair includes reversing cameras and 360-degree sensor coverage, with information displayed on a built-in infotainment display.

The 2023 Lexus LX 600 luxury flagship SUV continues to add customer-driven updates to the model line, with prices starting at $89,610. Expect sales of the 2023 Lexus LX 600 to begin before the end of 2022.

The LX line went under major changes between 2021 and 2022 models - so nothing significant was planned for the 2023 year. Instead, Lexus worked to make small improvements to jazz up the LX, including making the heated steering wheel standard. Leather seats are now standard across all trims for the 2023 model.

The 3.4-liter V6 twin-turbo gasoline engine produces 409 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. The 2023 LX 600 uses the exact platform as the Toyota Sequoia SUV and Tundra pickup truck, so it's already something well-established.

UPDATE: Readers have correctly pointed out that Ricardo Cardoso had previously spent 17 years with the European Commission's Competition department, which is the department that handles mergers and acquisitions. Cardoso had previously served as Deputy Head of the COMP.B.1 Antitrust: Energy and Environment division

Original article continues:

The European Commission has responded to reports of perceived bias in favor of Sony regarding the Microsoft-Activision merger.

The controversial Grand Theft Auto trilogy remaster is currently selling better than GTA V, data from publisher Take-Two Interactive indicates.

According to the latest figures from Take-Two's Q2 report, Rockstar Games may have seen a sales surge in its new GTA remaster collection. A particular slide from the investor's presentation shows some interesting numbers. Total GTA franchise sales reached 385 million units, whereas GTA V sales have stalled and failed to break 170 million copies sold. Based on sales trends, this could indicate that the GTA remaster trilogy picked up the slack.

Our findings indicate that the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition games may have sold as many as 4 million copies from June - September. If accurate, this would bring the trilogy remaster sales above 14 million.

Volvo continues gearing up for an electrified product lineup but won't hastily release and produce vehicles just to try it. Instead, expect each new Volvo car or SUV announcement ready to deliver an enjoyable driving experience.

The first four Volvo EVs should all be SUVs, though other car types will eventually become available. Volvo wants to create a roadmap that offers variety for auto buyers - and the company wants to cater to all drivers - but will be strategic. Expect one EV announcement each year, while the automaker chases climate-neutral status by 2040.

Here is what Volvo CEO Jim Rowan recently told Autocar: "Our strategy is that we will be tight. We'll look after the demographic that we think makes sense. We've teased what's coming next, and we'd already signaled we'd do a smaller SUV. Then different formats, saloons and estates or whatever: we'll get to that when we get to that."