Unite for Unite improvements The last time I wrote about Pokemon Unite, I was merely a student. Now, I’m on my...
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Saturday, 31 July 2021
Over 100 warship locations have been faked in one year
Abuses of location technology might just result in hot political disputes. According to Wired, SkyWatch and Global Fishing Watch have conducted studies showing that over 100 warship locations have been faked since August 2020, including the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and the US destroyer Roosevelt. In some cases, the false data showed the vessels entering disputed waters or nearing other countries' naval bases — movements that could spark international incidents.
The research team found the fakes by comparing uses of the automatic identification system (AIS, a GPS-based system to help prevent collisions) with verifiable position data by using an identifying pattern. All of the false info came from shore-based AIS receivers while satellites showed the real positions, for instance. Global Fishing Watch had been investigating fake AIS positions for years, but this was the first time it had seen falsified data for real ships.
It's not certain who's faking locations and why. However, analysts said the data was characteristic of a common perpetrator that might be Russia. Almost all of the affected warships were from European countries or NATO members, and the data included bogus incursions around Kaliningrad, the Black Sea, Crimea and other Russian interests. In theory, Russia could portray Europe and NATO as aggressors by falsely claiming those rivals sent warships into Russian seas.
Russia has historically denied hacking claims. It has a years-long history of using fake accounts and misinformation to stoke political tensions that further its own ends, though. And if Russia is connected, the faked warship locations might be a significant escalation of that strategy. Even though such an approach might not lead to shooting matches, it could get disconcertingly close.
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People first drove on the Moon 50 years ago today
NASA just celebrated another major moment in the history of Moon exploration. The New York Timesnoted that July 31st, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Lunar Roving Vehicle's first outing — and the first time people drove on the Moon. Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin took the car on a stint to collect samples and explore the lunar surface more effectively than they could on foot.
Scott and Irwin would eventually drive the rover two more times (for a total of three hours) before returning to Earth. The Apollo 16 and 17 missions each had an LRV of their own. There was also a fourth rover, but it was used for spare parts after the cancellation of Apollo 18 and further missions. All three serving models remained on the Moon.
Early development was problematic, in no small part due to the lack of real-world testing conditions. They couldn't exactly conduct a real-world test drive, after all. The team eventually settled on a collapsible design with steel mesh wheels that could safely handle the Moon's low gravity, lack of atmosphere, extreme temperatures and soft soil.
The LRV was modest, with a 57-mile range, four 0.19kW motors and an official top speed of 8MPH. It was also expensive, with cost overruns bringing the price of four rovers to $38 million (about $249 million in 2021 dollars). It was key to improved scientific exploration during the later stages of the Apollo program, though, and it was also an early example of a practical electric vehicle — humans were using a battery-powered ride on the Moon decades before the technology became mainstream on Earth.
We wouldn't count on humans driving on the Moon any time soon, although that reflects the progress made in the 50 years since. NASA and other space agencies are now focused on robotic rovers that can explore the Moon without worries about crew safety. Those humans that do go on rides will likely use autonomous vehicles. Think of this anniversary as celebrating a first step toward the technology you see today.
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Genshin Impact's Official Discord Hit Its Max User Capacity Forcing Devs To Create A Second Server
I knew Genshin Impact was a popular game. I also knew it had a ton of active and ravenous players who can’t get enough of the free-to-play online RPG. But I had no idea it was so popular that it was pushing Discord to its limits and forcing the devs to start a second server for everyone.
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Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed
The ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has made public some truly terrible and horrendous behavior that occurred across multiple studios and offices. Many women were allegedly sexually harassed, assaulted, and psychologically traumatized while the folks in power at the companies involved seemingly did little…
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What are your favorite teeny, tiny consoles?
Cblogs of 7/24 to 7/30/2021 –Pacario shares their thoughts on the Arduboy FX, a tiny console that resembles the original...
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Rivian may build its first international EV factory in the UK
Rivian might not be focused solely on expanding its US production. Sky Newssources claim the EV designer is in talks with the British government to build a manufacturing plant near Bristol. The discussions aren't yet in late stages, but the focus is reportedly on production for the vehicles themselves rather than batteries, although there was room for an all-encompassing Tesla-style gigafactory.
Rival proposals have come from Germany and the Netherlands, Sky claimed. If the UK plant did go ahead, though, the government could supposedly invest "well over" £1 billion (about $1.39 billion). Rivian declined to comment.
There's certainly pressure to commit to international expansion. Rivian has just one factory, a former Mitsubishi plant in Illinois, and it only just unveiled plans for a second American facility that might also produce batteries. That output could limit potential sales, especially outside of North America, and might hamper Amazon's electric delivery van rollout.
This could help Rivian scale to counter rivals like Tesla and Volkswagen, both of which are rapidly growing their EV manufacturing bases. The UK intends to ban sales of combustion engine cars in 2035, and that means switching local production to EVs. A Rivian factory could help the country transition to EV manufacturing, not to mention encourage sales that would make public acceptance that much stronger.
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Ubisoft Offers Workarounds for AC Valhalla Sigrblot Festival Issues, Releases Hotfix for ‘War Effort’
The recently-launched Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Sigrblot Festival came with its own set of issues, at least one of which has been resolved with a hotfix.
Players reported missing foreign supplies in quest “War Effort.” According to Ubisoft, this is now resolved. You’ll need to restart your game to activate the hotfix.
The following issues are still being looked into, but you can use workarounds:
- Players may lose control of Eivor when activating the fishing line from the action wheel during the wolf kill finisher (Three Big Pigs)
- Workaround: Load a previous save file or reload the game
- Can’t interact with quest givers if players push them out of position
- Workaround: Move away from the zone and come back to reset the Quest Giver’s position
The following issues will be targeted in update 1.3.1:
Mastery Challenge
- [NEW] Enemies fall from their station and die
- [NEW] Gold medal cannot be obtained anymore in Calleva’s Raven trial if the player entered in conflict with the last soldiers on the bridge
- Workaround: Restart the trial after being detected and put the last guards to sleep twice.
World events or side activities-related issues:
- [NEW] Old Cellar Mystery cannot be completed / Tablet not there
General Issues:
- [NEW] Only receiving silver from smaller chests since Title Update 1.2.2
Last but not least, the following issues are still under investigation. There’s currently no ETA for fixes.
Wrath of The Druids – Expansion 1
- Contracts may disappear from your quest log if you die and reload
- Workaround: Rebooting the game should solve this issue
- [NEW] Unable to sleep in the bed in Dublin after one use
Main Quests
- A Brewing Storm / Duel with Dag doesn’t trigger
World events or side activities-related issues:
- Milk of Humankind / Audumbla is unable to move
- ULC quests disappear from Quest log
- Unable to access The Legend of Beowulf / Letter not in longhouse
- [NEW] The Mysterious Berserker – The quest disappears after changing the sound language from English to other languages
General issues
- A Little Problem / Man’s Best Friend ability not unlocked after completing the quest
- Players may fall through the map in a cave near Anlaf’s Lookout
- Potential Workaround: Fast travel away if you get stuck
- Avenge quests are difficult to spot
- [NEW] Autopathing not working for expansion skills
[Source: Ubisoft]
The post Ubisoft Offers Workarounds for AC Valhalla Sigrblot Festival Issues, Releases Hotfix for ‘War Effort’ appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Old-school 1983 shmup Nova 2001 is this week’s Arcade Archives release
‘Destroy All of Crazy Robots!’ After a solid week of slugging, this week’s Arcade Archives release sees Hamster return to...
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Apple pulls anti-vax social app over misinformation
Mobile app shops are cracking down on one of the higher-profile communities spreading anti-vax misnformation. Bloombergreports that Apple has removed Unjected, a hybrid social and dating app for the unvaccinated, for "inappropriately" referencing the COVID-19 pandemic's concept and themes. While Unjected bills itself as a place to find others who support "medical autonomy and free speech," social posts on the site have included false claims that vaccines modify genes, connect to 5G and serve as "bioweapons."
The app founders are also embroiled in a fight over their Android app. Google told Unjected on July 16th that it had two weeks to remove the misleading posts from its app to avoid a Play Store ban. The developers responded by pulling the social feed. However, co-creator Shelby Thompson said Unjected planned to defy the request by restoring both the feed and the offending posts.
We've asked Apple and Google for comment. Unjected still has a presence on Instagram despite that social network's anti-misinformation stance, although that account mostly promotes its views on "freedom" and only occasionally mentions falsehoods, such as incorrect claims that mRNA vaccines alter DNA. We've asked Facebook for a response as well.
Unjected is small compared to mainstream social networks, with roughly 18,000 app downloads (according to Apptopia). However, the crackdown clearly serves as a warning — Apple and Google won't tolerate apps that knowingly accept and encourage the creation anti-vax content, even if they aren't directly producing that material.
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DOJ: Hackers behind SolarWinds attacks targeted federal prosecutors
The perpetrators of the SolarWinds hacks apparently targeted key parts of the American legal system. According to the AP, the Justice Department says hackers targeted federal prosecutors between May 2020 and December 2020. There were 27 US Attorney offices where the intruders compromised at least one email account, officials said.
The victims included some of the more prominent federal offices, including those in the Eastern and Souther Districts of New York as well as Miami, Los Angeles and Washington.
The DOJ said it had alerted all victims and was taking steps to blunt the risks resulting from the hack. The Department previously said there was no evidence the SolarWinds hackers broke into classified systems, but federal attorneys frequently exchange sensitive case details.
The Biden administration has officially blamed Russia's state-backed Cozy Bear group for the hacks, and retaliated by expelling diplomats and sanctioning 32 "entities and individuals." Russia has denied involvement.
It's not certain if the US will escalate its response. The damage has already been done, after all. This further illustrates the severity of the attacks, however, and hints at the focus — they were clearly interested in legal data in addition to source code and other valuable information.
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Ubisoft And Bungie Suing Popular Cheat Seller Ring-1
Bungie and Ubisoft recently filed a lawsuit against the people who it claims are running Ring-1, a website that makes and sells cheats for various games like Destiny 2, PUBG, and Rainbow Six Siege. Both companies allege multiple offenses including copyright infringement and are seeking potentially hundreds of…
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Ghost of Tsushima Iki Expansion Will Present a Challenge Even if Players Have Finished the Main Game
Ghost of Tsushima‘s Iki Island expansion won’t be a simple affair regardless of how far you are into the main story. That’s according to Creative and Art Director Jason Connell, who told IGN that Sucker Punch Productions has scaled difficulty in such a way that even if players have completed the base game, Iki will still present a challenge.
“Whether you go there right at the beginning of act two, or you go there at the end of the game, a challenge will be presented because we’re scaling the difficulty of it,” Connell said. “If you’ve already gone all the way to the end of the game, it’s not like it’s going to be a breeze. It’s still going to have a challenge for you, which is important considering the way that we’ve implemented this.”
While Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut won’t have new weapons or stances, Jin’s horse will have new skills.
“You can see it do a charge, which is super exciting,” Connell added, referring to the Director’s Cut trailer. “And then there’s a bunch of other stuff that we’ll obviously want some people to play and find out for themselves.”
Outside of gameplay, one major addition to the Director’s Cut is Japanese lip sync. According to Sucker Punch, technical limitations of the PlayStation 4 prevented the studio from adding this feature in the past.
“The way we were making cutscenes and cinematics, and logistical time constraints, we just couldn’t make it happen,” Connell continued. “We had a chance to reevaluate that and make it happen this time.”
[Source: IGN]
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Review: NEO: The World Ends with You
Galaxy brain, activate! How do you follow up a game like The World Ends with You? It seems like a...
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Review: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The game is afoot Deduction and logic are at the heart of a good Ace Attorney case, and especially in...
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Hitting the Books: Buck Rogers flew so that NASA astronauts could spacewalk
You've all seen the iconic picture of the US astronaut riding gracefully upon his NASA-built MODOK chair. That astronaut was Bruce McCandless II, Houston’s capsule communicator during the moon landing mission, Challenger crew member, and the driving force behind America's ability to conduct operations outside of the stuffy confines of space shuttles and international stations. Without McCandless, there's no guarantee the US would have EVA capabilities today. Wonders All Around, exhaustively researched and written by McCandless's son, Bruce III, explores McCandless the elder's trials and tribulations during NASA's formative years and his laser-focus on enabling astronauts to zip through space unencumbered by the mass of their ships.
Greenleaf Book Group
Copyright @ 20201 Bruce McCandless III. Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press. Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group. Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group and Kimberly Lance. Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group, Shaun Venish, and Kimberly Lance. Cover image courtesy of NASA, photographed by Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson
In his long leaden days of waiting for a spaceflight, my dad found the route to redemption on the back of an aging cartoon character. From the afternoon in December 1966 that he first tried out the Manned Maneuvering Unit in a Martin Marietta simulator, he was hooked on a vision of a gas-propelled jetpack that would allow astronauts to operate outside their spacecraft. This vision had an obvious pop-culture antecedent. In the 1920s a comic-strip character named Buck Rogers — a rock-jawed, All-American World War I veteran — succumbed to the effects of a mysterious gas he encountered while working as a mine inspector. He fell into a deep sleep and woke after five centuries of slumber to a strange new world of spaceships, ray guns, and Asian over-lords. Though he initially traveled this new world via an antigravity belt, a device that allowed him and his best gal, Wilma, to leap great distances at a time, Buck eventually acquired a svelte and evidently omnidirectional jetpack. He eventually ventured into space in an adventure called Tiger Men from Mars, and his exploits in the cosmos changed America’s vision of the future forever. Millions followed Buck’s adventures in the funnies, on radio, and in movie serials. Among Buck’s imitators and spiritual heirs are Flash Gordon, Brick Bradford, John Carter of Mars, and Han Solo.
A host of talented men and women spent significant amounts of time and money to wrestle that jetpack out of the funny papers and into the space shuttle. None worked harder, though, than Bruce McCandless and his chief collaborator, an Auburn-educated engineer and Air Force officer named Charles Edward (“Ed”) Whitsett, Jr. Whitsett was a pale, bespectacled individual, mild-mannered but tenacious. He had a head start on my father. He’d been thinking and writing about jetpack technology as early as 1962. In a sense, he was trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist yet: Namely, how could an astronaut venture outside his or her spaceship and perform constructive tasks in an environment with no oxygen, with extreme temperature fluctuations, and in an orbital “free fall” that would leave the spacefarer lolling in the practical equivalent of zero gravity? Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union and American Ed White had proven that extravehicular activity was possible, that men could survive outside of their space capsule, but basically all they’d done was float. How could a man move from one part of a spaceship to another, or from one spacecraft to another craft, or from a spacecraft to a satellite, in order to make inspections or repairs? None of these needs really existed in the early sixties, when the programs of both nations were still just trying to fire tin cans into low Earth orbit and predict, more or less, where they would come back down. But clearly the needs would eventually arise, and various methods were proposed to address them.
In the mid-sixties, the Air Force assigned Whitsett to NASA to supervise development of the Air Force’s Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. Gene Cernan’s failed test flight of the AMU on Gemini 9 in 1966 — the “space-walk from hell,” as Cernan called it — set the jetpack project back, but it never went away. McCandless, Whitsett, and a NASA engineer named Dave Schultz worked quietly but assiduously to keep the dream alive. They enlarged and improved the AMU all through the latter half of the decade and into the seventies. In the “Forgotten Astronauts” wire story that portrayed him as a washout in 1973, my dad mentioned the reason why he wanted to stay in the manned space program despite not having won a crew assignment on either Apollo or Skylab. “McCandless,” said the article, “has helped develop the M509 experimental maneuvering unit. The Skylab astronauts strap it on like a backpack and propel themselves Buck Rogers — like around the Skylab interior. [He] wants to build a larger operational unit to perform space chores outside the shuttle.” And that’s exactly what he did.
Though the Skylab M509 tests in 1973 and 1974 were a resounding success, resulting in the triumph of the jetpack concept over both rocket boots and the handheld maneuvering unit, Whitsett and McCandless didn’t rest on their laurels. Over the next several years, using whatever time and funding they could scrape together, the team made multiple upgrades — eleven, by one count — to what was now being called the “manned maneuvering unit,” or MMU. The bulbous nitrogen-gas fuel tank of the ASMU was replaced with two streamlined aluminum tanks in the rear of the unit, each of which was wrapped in Kevlar. The number of propulsion nozzles was increased from fourteen to twenty-four, positioned around the jetpack to allow for six-degrees-of-freedom precision maneuvering. Smaller gyroscopes replaced those used on the ASMU, and, as space historian Andrew Chaikin has noted, the ASMU’s “pistol-grip hand controllers, which were tiring to operate in pressurized space suit gloves, were replaced by small T-handles that needed just a nudge of the fingertips.” The MMU’s new arm units were made to be adjustable, to accommodate astronauts of all sizes. Painted white for maximum reflectivity, the unit was built to survive the 500-degree fluctuation in temperatures (from a high of 250 degrees F to a low of minus 250 F!) that an astronaut might encounter in space.
By 1980 the machine weighed in at 326 pounds. Like the AMU and the ASMU before it, the MMU was designed to fit with or “over” the astronaut’s pressure suit. Shuttle astronauts wore a newly designed suit called the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit, or EMU, a two-piece marvel of textile engineering made up of fourteen layers of Nylon ripstop, Gore-Tex, Kevlar, Mylar, and other substances. Power for the jetpack’s electronics was supplied by two 16.8-volt silver-zinc batteries. Two motion-control handles — the translational hand controller and the rotational hand controller — were mounted on the unit’s left and right armrests, respectively, and a button activated an “attitude-hold mode,” which used motion-sensing gyroscopes to direct the firing of the thrusters to maintain an astronaut’s position in space.
The machine had been tested in every way its designers could imagine. A representative of a local gun club visited Martin Marietta and shot the MMU’s nitrogen fuel tank with a .50 caliber bullet to ascertain whether the tank would explode if pierced. (It didn't.) The jetpack was run through hundreds of hours of simulations. At my father’s urging, a gifted and intense Martin Marietta project manager named Bill Bollendonk subjected the device to space-like conditions in the company’s thermal vacuum facility. The MMU was no longer a “far out” experiment, as Mike Collins once called it. It was now a promising space tool. Unfortunately, for the moment, it was still an unused space tool. American astronauts remained on Earth, as NASA struggled to produce its next-generation orbital workhorse, the space shuttle.
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Let's Rank The Main Resident Evil Games, From Worst To Best
The Resident Evil series is arguably the most successful and popular video game horror franchise of all time. It’s spawned more movies, spin-offs, and comics than I can count, and has easily cemented itself in mainstream pop culture as “those zombie games with dogs.” But not all Resident Evil games are amazing. So the…
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Ubisoft CEO Says He Acknowledges Concerns About Misconduct but Employees Say Offenders Are Protected
Following the news that Activision Blizzard has been sued by the state of California over workplace misconduct, hundreds of Ubisoft employees penned an open letter in support of Activision Blizzard staff walkout, and criticized their own company’s handling of similar allegations.
For the past entire year, Ubisoft has been battling allegations of workplace misconduct, sexism, harassment, and an overall toxic work environment. The company did appear to take some immediate action, but employees claim that it was all smoke and mirrors.
In response to the recent letter demanding internal changes, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot released a statement claiming that the company takes the issues raised seriously, and has deployed numerous measures to improve working conditions. Part of the statement reads:
Yesterday’s letter expresses concern from employees who want to make Ubisoft a better place. We have heard clearly from this letter that not everyone is confident in the processes that have been put in place to manage misconduct reports. This is a top priority for Anika, who continues to ensure they are robust and independent. In addition to our current processes, we are currently recruiting a new VP Global Employee Relations.
However, employees have spoken to sites like Eurogamer, claiming that not much has changed and that Ubisoft’s management continues to protect known offenders.
“It’s hypocritical of management to say that they’re working on it while still harboring, protecting, permitting, and shuffling around known toxic and abusive people to other positions of power,” an employee complained. “Morale and trust is low.”
Both Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard have yet to make any meaningful changes to their organizational culture.
[Source: Eurogamer]
The post Ubisoft CEO Says He Acknowledges Concerns About Misconduct but Employees Say Offenders Are Protected appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Gengar Is A Scary Prankster That Loves To Kill
Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Gengar!
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Insomniac: Gen4 SSDs With Recommended Specs Are ‘Almost Indistinguishable’ From PS5’s Internal SSD
Insomniac Games’ Director of Core Technology, Mike Fitzgerald, has revealed that the studio has internally tested some Gen4 SSDs that meet Sony’s recommended specifications, and the results produced by them are “almost indistinguishable” from the PlayStation 5’s internal SSD.
Insomniac has been testing the drives with the recently-released Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and according to Fitzgerald, “it’s looking good.” He tweeted (thanks, The PlayStation Brahs):
Exciting to see PS5 beta testers getting access to the M.2 SSD feature! I’m sure the public beta will result in plenty of benchmarking across different games and drives, but I’ll spoil with some of our results from early testing at Insomniac on Ratchet & Clank: it’s looking good.
— Mike Fitzgerald (@fitzymj) July 29, 2021
The Gen4 drives we tried that met the recommended specs gave results almost indistinguishable from the internal SSD. The rest of the I/O path still in use (hardware Kraken decompression, etc.) is definitely pulling its weight in delivering the crazy loading moments in Rift Apart.
— Mike Fitzgerald (@fitzymj) July 29, 2021
Folks over at Insomniac Games also tested some Gen4 drives that are below recommended specs, and while the results weren’t too bad, the studio did experience up to 15 percent slower loading in some of the most stressed areas of Rift Apart. Fitzgerald asked fans to keep technical specs in mind when making a purchase. Speaking specifically about Rift Apart, he said that the game relies on high-quality storage.
So far, the Seagate FireCuda 530 and Western Digital M.2 NVMe SSDs offer Sony’s recommended specs. We’ll continue to update our readers as more options become available.
The post Insomniac: Gen4 SSDs With Recommended Specs Are ‘Almost Indistinguishable’ From PS5’s Internal SSD appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Whatcha been playing this week, Destructoid?
I’ll make all the time in the world for B-Girl Sakura Saturday! Finally! This has been quite a week. In...
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Friday, 30 July 2021
If Capcom is doing so well financially, then why isn’t my W/L with Juri better?
All these Resi sales aren’t getting me out of Gold Capcom has released its latest quarterly financial report, showing that...
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Why Tesla is delaying the Semi EV until 2022
Following its Q2 earnings call this week, Tesla representatives confirmed previous reports that its commercial EV project, Semi, will be delayed until 2022. The company cites both the ongoing global processor shortage and its own currently-limited battery production capability for the new 4680 style cells as contributing to its decision.
On the plus side, Tesla executives also confirmed that development of the highly-anticipated Cyber Truck continues apace. What's more,they explained that once production fully ramps up for the Model Y in the new Berlin and Texas plants, Tesla intends to launch production lines to begin the Semi line. For the full story, watch the video above, and for continuing coverage of all things Tesla, stay tuned to Engadget!
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Samsung's 'history of electronics' animated videos seem like great sleep aids
Samsung wants to teach you about the history of electronics, as long as you can stay awake long enough to sit through the dull lessons. Through its Innovation Museum, the company is releasing five animated videos about inventions that shaped society. If the first episode is anything to go by, they might as well be classified as sleep aids.
The series premiere delves into the history of telecommunications, starting with Morse code and how it paved the way for more recent innovations such as smartphones, 3G, 4G and (would you believe it?) 5G. The tone and narration is Atacama Desert dry, though. Even the name of the series is melatonin-inducing: "The History of the Electronics Industry That Changed the World."
There's no denying the importance of Morse code, including how it's helped save the lives of many who were able to send an SOS message when they were in peril. But Samsung could have presented the story in a much more interesting way. For what it's worth, the episode is educational. But, if you're going to create a video in which "some aspects have been fictionalized," at least make it fun.
Upcoming installments will cover John Logie Baird's TV, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, James Harrison's refrigerator and William Shockley and the semiconductor. Perhaps those will be more compelling, but it's hard to imagine anyone excitedly dashing off a telegram to a friend about it.
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This week's best deals: $150 off Apple's MacBook Air M1 and more
As July comes to a close, a number of laptops, earbuds, games and more have gone on sale across the web. Students planning their back-to-school shopping list have a few ways to save on Apple products — the latest MacBook Air M1 is $150 off at Amazon (that's better than Apple's own education discount) and the iPad Air remains $100 off as well. All capacities of Samsung's T7 portable SSD have been discounted, so you can grab one for as low as $70, while Microsoft's Xbox Ultimate Game Sale knocks up to 80 percent off console and PC titles. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
MacBook Air M1
The latest MacBook Air M1 is down to $850 at Amazon, or $150 off its regular price. The 512GB model has the same discount, so you can grab it for $1,099. It's one of the best laptops for most people, and it's a great option for students going back to school. The Air M1 earned a score of 94 from us for its incredibly fast performance, excellent keyboard and trackpad, good battery life and lack of fan noise.
Buy MacBook Air M1 (256GB) at Amazon - $850Buy MacBook Air M1 (512GB) at Amazon - $1,099
iPad Air
The latest iPad Air is down to the best price we've seen it, just $500 for the base model. That's $100 off its normal price and a great deal on what we think is the best iPad for most people. We gave the slab a score of 90 for its fast performance, speedy WiFi, healthy battery life and support for the second-generation Apple Pencil.
Buy iPad Air (64GB) at Amazon - $500Buy iPad Air (256GB) at Amazon - $639
Buy iPad Air (64GB, cellular) at Amazon - $629Buy iPad Air (256GB, cellular) at Amazon - $780
AirPods Pro
The AirPods Pro are back on sale for $190, or $60 off their normal price. While not a record low, it's still one of the best prices we've seen all year. The AirPods Pro earned a score of 87 for their improved audio quality, comfortable fit, solid ANC and IPX4 water resistance.
Buy AirPods Pro at Amazon - $190
10.2-inch iPad
Apple's 10.2-inch iPad is still on sale for $299, or $30 off its normal price. It's arguably the best iPad for new tablet owners and we liked its improved performance, familiar design and support for the first-generation Apple Pencil.
Buy 10.2-inch iPad at Amazon - $299
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Nintendo
Nintendo's Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit game for the Switch is down to $75, or $25 off its normal price. This add-on set lets you bring the action of Mario Kart into your real-life living room, creating your own racetracks and zooming around them using a tiny kart driven by either Mario or Luigi.
Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit at Amazon - $75
Samsung T7 SSD (500GB)
Samsung
Samsung's T7 portable SSD in 500GB is down to a record-low of $70, or $30 off its normal price. Other capacities are on sale, too — you can get a 1TB model for $150 and a 2TB model will set you back $300. We like these drives for their portability, durable design and speedy performance.
Buy Samsung T7 (500GB) at Amazon - $70Buy Samsung T7 (1TB) at Amazon - $150Buy Samsung T7 (2TB) at Amazon - $300
Echo Buds (2nd-gen)
Billy Steele/Engadget
Amazon's latest Echo Buds are on sale for $80, which is a discount we saw last during Prime Day. You can also get the buds with their wireless charging case for only $100. We gave these a score of 80 for their improved sound quality, good ANC and smaller, comfortable design.
Buy Echo Buds at Best Buy - $80Buy Echo Buds (wireless charging case) at Best Buy - $100
Echo Show 5 (1st-gen)
Nicole Lee / Engadget
Amazon's first-generation Echo Show 5 returned to its all-time-low price of $45 at Best Buy. If you're looking for a smart alarm clock of sorts, this is the best option if you already use Alexa as your primary voice assistant. The second-generation Echo Show 5, which came out recently, has a few minor differences, but we think the first-generation remains a solid buy — especially at half off its original price.
Buy Echo Show 5 (1st-gen) at Best Buy - $45
Xbox Ultimate Game Sale
Xbox
Microsoft's Xbox Ultimate Game Sale is still ongoing, knocking up to 80 percent off console and PC titles. On the console side, you can get FIFA 21 Ultimate Edition for $25, NBA 2K21 for $15, Battlefield 1 Revolution for $8 and more. And for PC gamers, you can get Gears 5 for $16, Yakuza: Like a Dragon for $36, Control for $15 and more.
Shop Ultimate Game Sale at Microsoft
Roku sale
A bunch of Roku devices are on sale at Amazon, including the Roku Streambar, which is down to a record low of $99. This compact soundbar is a convenient gadget to get if you want to upgrade your home theater system without spending a ton of money. We gave it a score of 86 for its space-saving design, Dolby Audio support and built-in 4K streaming technology. If you want to spend even less, a handful of Roku streamers have been discounted, including the Express ($25) and the Streaming Stick+ ($39).
Buy Roku Streambar at Amazon - $99Buy Roku Express at Amazon - $25Buy Roku Express 4K+ at Amazon - $29Buy Roku Streaming Stick+ at Amazon - $39
ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4
The Thermapen Mk4 has been discounts to $69 as ThermoWorks makes room for the new Thermapen One thermometer. The Mk4 is the best instant-read thermometer we've used so far —the backlit display makes it easy to read in almost any situation and the display rotates depending on how you're holding the pen. Plus, you never have to remember to turn it off because the pen automatically turns on when you pick it up and will shut off after some time of no use.
Buy Thermapen Mk4 at ThermoWorks - $69
Comic-Con 2022 sweepstakes
Through December 8, you can enter to win four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2022. Along with the passes, you'll get access to a special preview night, reserved seating in Hall H, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the "Night at the Comic-Con Museum" event. It's free to enter, but funds from this sweepstakes will go to the San Diego Comic Convention.
Virgin Galactic sweepstakes
In this Omaze giveaway you can win two seats on one of the first Virgin Galactic flights to space. In addition, you'll go on a tour of Spaceport America in New Mexico with Richard Branson. You don't have to pay to enter, but funds from all paid entries will support Space for Humanity, an organization that hopes to make space more accessible for all.
Gaming PC sweepstakes
Omaze is giving away another $20,000 to build your ultimate gaming PC. This sweepstakes is free to enter, but funds donated with purchased entries will benefit Schools on Wheels, an organization that provides free tutoring and mentoring services to children experiencing homelessness across Southern California.
Pricing and availability is subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.See official rules on Omaze.
New tech deals
DJI OM4
DJI's OM4 smartphone gimbal is $20 off right now, bringing it down to $129. It uses 3-axis stabilization to let you shoot smooth video with your smartphone, and it's new, magnetic quick-release makes it easy to snap your phone in and out of it. It also supports gesture control and Active Track 3.0, which lets you lock on to the subject you're filming with better accuracy.
Mirror
Mirror's summer sale knocks $400 off its high-tech fitness system when using the code JULY400 at checkout. The discount breaks down to $150 off the mirror device itself, plus free delivery and installation. Just know that the sale is only on the product itself, not on the subscription needed to take the Mirror's fitness classes.
Arturia Destination: Sound sale
Arturia has knocks 50 percent off all of its individual software titles through August 8. That means you can get some of our favorite music software, including Pigments and Analog Labs, for $99 each. This is a good opportunity to add new synths and other software instruments to your collection for less.
NordVPN
One of our recommended VPNs is running a good sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up for NordVPN for only $89 for the first two years, which comes out to $44.50 per year — and an additional summer promotion adds three free months on top of that. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
Sign up for NordVPN (two years) - $89
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
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Apple TV+’s 'Watch the Sound' is an invitation to start making music
If Gary Numan had heard a different sound the first time he encountered a synthesizer, we might not have had “Cars,” “Are 'Friends' Electric?” or even Gary Numan (he was born Gary Webb before adopting his stage name). The New Wave movement might have been little more than a ripple, Synth Pop may have never happened and, in a roundabout way, Calvin Harris might never have known what we came for.
But Numan did hear that all-important sound, the one that lit up his brain and switched him on to technology as a music-making tool, paving the way for electronic music to go mainstream. That’s just one of many accidentally influential moments to be found in Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson — a documentary jaunt through the cornerstones of music technology that’s streaming now on Apple TV+.
Ronson is, perhaps, best known for his work with Amy Winehouse — a decidedly analog, brassy affair. But his love of technology is abundantly clear as Watch the Sound serves up easily digestible bites of musical history around key technological themes: Sampling, drum machines, synths and beyond. Along the way, Ronson casually drops in on such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Quest Love and the aforementioned Numan, along with contemporary artists such as Charlie XCX and King Princess. If the series doesn’t inspire you to google around for a MIDI controller by the end of it then nothing ever will.
Apple TV+
Unlike Netflix’s fast-paced This is Pop, Watch the Sound leans more histrionic. Each episode starts with Ronson recounting his own first experience with whatever this episode is about (a sampler, distorted guitars and so on). He then spends time with artists that popularized that sound, asking pensive questions and generally nerding out about music as only someone with Ronson’s wide palette of influences really can.
This sense of a journey through Ronson’s musical interests gives Watch the Sound a more intimate feel than This is Pop’s more talking heads approach. “I think what's important is that there is a familiarity between the episodes, there is a kind of a guiding force. And that was always going to be Mark's personal experience,” executive producer Mark Monroe told Engadget.
This sense of “experience” is perhaps no more apparent when Ronson spends time with Sean Ono Lennon. Lennon talks candidly about his father’s own struggle with the sound of his voice. He then adroitly reinvents a recording of Lennon senior with Harmony Engine (that Ronson describes as “autotune on steroids”) in what turns out to be a surprisingly tender moment. Lennon junior is visibly moved by this brief yet intimate musical encounter.
Of course, the show is about the machines as much as the people that made them important. Watching DJ Premier’s absolute mastery of the MPC, for example, is as impressive as it is frustrating (at least to anyone else who’s had a go on one and could barely peck out a beat). Later on, watching Ronson take a box cutter to a speaker cone with David Grohl feels like it should have been an outtake until... goddammit, why is he somehow good at everything? (You’ll have to watch it to find out why they did this.)
Other humorous moments are, perhaps, less intentional. Ronson at one point finds himself in a full miner’s jumpsuit, and he’s never looked so uncomfortable. In episode one, we enjoy a rare, albeit slight crack in his golden touch as he struggles to make anything remotely musical with autotune (he rectifies that later, naturally).
If there were an enduring message in Watch the Sound (and many other series of its ilk) it’s that perfection and talent are rarely what creates something magical. Most of the technology featured was either misused, misunderstood or reappropriated through necessity. Legends were born thereof and this is just how we do things now.
It’s refreshing, if not invigorating to know that you don’t have to aspire to perfect pitch or even really have any formal musical training to be a pioneer. In fact, it’s easy to convince yourself that knowing your scales might even hold you back sometimes if you find yourself trying to only play by the rules.
This sentiment is solidified in the episode about synthesizers. Here, the cast of heroes is more at home with an oscilloscope than with an oboe. The band of misfits (and, let history show, many, many more women than are ever given credit) effectively reinvented what music could be from the ground up.
Apple TV+
Monroe said that was something that became apparent during filming, too. “Digging into synthesizer and really kind of understanding what a disruptor it was … what an opportunity for the people on the outside of the music business … and not just to gain a foothold, but to become, you know, legendary.”
Even if you don’t have an interest in how music is made, the show will have you jotting down the names of bands and songs you want to explore further and delight you with a sense of possibility. Or in my case, vindication. The episode on sampling recounts the abhorrent push-back that this new technology received. “That’s not real music” someone remembers being told. If, like me, you grew up listening to Fear of a Black Planet and the countless artists it inspired, it’s hard not to do a mental fist-pump to yourself for not being one of those jerks.
By the end of the show, you might find yourself motivated to dig out that guitar from the loft, or fire up your laptop. Apple, it seems, knew this might be the case. To coincide with the show’s launch, the company has created a “companion experience” for GarageBand via an exclusive Producer Pack.
That said, once you discover how the Beastie Boys achieved their iconic vocal sound on "So What’Cha Want" or how Sonic Youth creatively used drumsticks on their guitars, you might realize you don’t even need any fancy software to do something different.
Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson premieres on Apple TV+ today.
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NYC extends limits on food delivery app fees to February 2022
New York City capped food delivery app fees to help restaurants survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's keeping those limits in place as the recovery begins. Gothamistreports the City Council has passed a bill that extends caps on delivery app fees until February 17th, 2022. The limits were due to expire in August and kept fees no higher than 15 percent for deliveries, plus 5 percent for other services. Apps could have charged up to 35 percent without the fee ceiling.
Queens Council Member Francisco Moya claimed a return to higher fees would "completely" hobble businesses just starting to recover from the pandemic.
Other bills passed at the same time require apps to get written approval before listing businesses and to share customer data with restaurants. Delivery services have faced criticism, lawsuits and legislation after listing restaurants in their apps without permission.
The app creators have opposed New York City's new measures. GrubHub claimed the caps were "arbitrary price controls" that would allegedly damage businesses and the economy. DoorDash, meanwhile, suggested that data sharing with restaurants should be opt-in rather than enabled by default. The company was determined to "protect the privacy" of users, a spokesperson said.
The companies haven't been completely opposed to reduced fees. DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats and others started cutting and waiving some fees as the pandemic began. Their concern, as you might guess, is that these caps might become permanent and restrict the apps' long-term viability. It's not an unfounded fear — San Francisco's Board of Supervisors recently voted to permanently cap delivery app fees in the city.
At the same time, there's little doubt that restaurants are eager to avoid a return to pre-pandemic fees. Some eateries were only reluctantly listing themselves in these apps due to the large fees, and in many cases have offered incentives to customers who order directly. While NYC's extension won't necessarily ensure a given restaurant's survival, it could help that restaurant maintain familiar profits or keep prices in check.
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Halo Infinite’s Rough Start Test Is Slowly Getting Better
At 6:41 p.m. ET last night, fans expected to give Halo Infinite a spin in the game’s first “technical test.” Instead, technical issues pushed the undefined launch time back by an unspecified amount. Problems regarding the test continued through Thursday night and into Friday morning.
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Minecraft’s 'Worst' Server Was Exploited So Hard, Griefers Could See The Future
The tale of how hacker group Nerds Inc. took over 2b2t—Minecraft’s oldest so-called anarchy server—is convoluted and painstaking. It’s the story of how 300,000 players were constantly tracked, 15,000 bases discovered, and over 200 million items stolen. And it was all achieved exploiting not the software intended to…
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60-Player Action Battle Royale Game Naraka: Bladepoint Headed to Consoles, PS5 Gameplay Revealed
24 Entertainment and NetEase have announced that their 60-player action battle royale game, Naraka: Bladepoint, will release for consoles as well as PC. Specific platforms were not announced but the companies exclusively shared PlayStation 5 gameplay with IGN, so we have confirmation of a PS5 version at least.
Check out the gameplay below.
Naraka: Bladepoint offers melee action, parkour, and dynamic verticality. Here’s an overview of its features via Steam:
- When melee combat meets Battle Royale, pretty much EVERYTHING changes…Vertical map design, truly diverse character skills and a brand-new resurrection system.Enjoy the thrill of clashing blades and flying arrows in the battlefield of NARAKA: BLADEPOINT!
- From the shoulder of a giant Buddha to the very highest mountain peaks…From the rusty, rattling chains of floating coffins to secret trails of an abandoned mine. NARAKA: BLADEPOINT’s interactive map design allows you to roam Morus Island with freedom. Walk every path you find. Reach every place you see. Eliminate every opponent you encounter.
- Every player is equipped with a grappling hook that can be aimed at anyone, anywhere… ASSAULT — Instantly zip through obstacles to pounce on your target. AMBUSH — Hide in the darkness and wait for your moment. Ready your hook and surprise your targets with deadly long-range takedowns. AVOID — Sometimes discretion is the better part of honor; escape from battles in a flash with a well-aimed grappling hook maneuver.
- You can do EVERYTHING with your grappling hook.
- Warriors, Assassins, Swordsmen, Brawlers, and Monks… Together In blood and dust, heroes from around the world gather in Morus Island, there is only fighting, there is only death or life. Only one can remain.
Naraka: Bladepoint‘s console versions have yet to be dated.
The post 60-Player Action Battle Royale Game Naraka: Bladepoint Headed to Consoles, PS5 Gameplay Revealed appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Capcom launches survey asking if you want more Great Ace Attorney titles, with a free reward
Wallpaper for everyone The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is finally out in the west, compiling several older Japan-exclusive Ace Attorney...
The post Capcom launches survey asking if you want more Great Ace Attorney titles, with a free reward appeared first on Destructoid.
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Tips For The Ascent, The Best Cyberpunk Game Of 2021 So Far
The Ascent is a straight twin-stick shooter for the most part, but there’s a huge difference between surviving and thriving in Veles.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Adds Eggplant Cows And Cucumber Horses For Dead Spirits
With July nearly over, one of Japan’s biggest holidays gets underway next month: Obon. Not only will it be celebrated all across the country, but also in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with traditional cucumber horses and eggplant cows.
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Ghost of Tsushima PS5 Upgrades Aren’t Free Because They’re Not ‘Generic’ Hardware Upgrades
When Sucker Punch Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment lifted the curtains on Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, many were surprised – and upset – that PlayStation 5 specific features were paywalled, requiring existing players to fork out $9.99 at minimum to enjoy features exclusive to the new hardware. In the past, such upgrades have been offered for free, leading to Sony attracting criticism for the pricing strategy.
In a new interview with Australian publication Press Start, Sucker Punch Creative and Art Director, Jason Connell, said that the upgrades in question are not “generic hardware upgrades.” They have been incorporated into the Iki expansion and are “tightly connected” to Jin’s experience on the island.
“The thing that I think is important for people to know is that, those features that make it so specific to the PS5, we didn’t just work on those as a generic hardware upgrade, they are fully enveloped into the Iki expansion and Jin’s experiences on Iki,” Connell explained. “They were really tightly connected to one another, so that’s kind of the reason why we didn’t look at them as kind of separate. We really wanted those two to sing together, and that’s the base reason why.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Connell revealed that Sucker Punch has added the ability to hide the quiver in the game because it’s somehow a “very commonly requested” feature that wasn’t too difficult to implement.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut will release for the PS4 and PS5 on August 20th. For more information, check out our previous coverage.
[Source: Press Start via VGC]
The post Ghost of Tsushima PS5 Upgrades Aren’t Free Because They’re Not ‘Generic’ Hardware Upgrades appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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EB Games Canada to be rebranded as GameStop Canada
Retail and online outlets to take on GameStop name Video game retailer GameStop has announced that it will be rebranding...
The post EB Games Canada to be rebranded as GameStop Canada appeared first on Destructoid.
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Amazon handed record $888 million fine from EU data privacy watchdog
Amazon has been handed its largest ever privacy fine in the EU by Luxembourg's data watchdog. The CNPD fined the company €746 million ($888 million) on July 16th for violating the bloc's strict data privacy laws, known as GDPR. Amazon disclosed the ruling in an SEC filing on Friday in which it slammed the decision as baseless, adding that it intended to defend itself "vigorously in this matter."
“There has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to any third party,” Amazon told Bloomberg. “These facts are undisputed. We strongly disagree with the CNPD’s ruling.” It added that it plans to appeal the decision. Amazon has its EU headquarters in Luxembourg, tasking the local data regulator with overseeing its compliance.
The penalty is the result of a 2018 complaint by French privacy rights group La Quadrature du Net, which filed numerous lawsuits against Big Tech companies on the behalf of 12,000 people shortly after the GDPR was established that year.
Among those was a case involving Google's Android operating system that led to France's CNIL regulator slapping the search giant with a $57 million fine in January, 2019 — the biggest GDPR fine to date. The watchdog ruled that the company had violated the GDPR due to its failure to obtain legal consent for data collection related to its ad targeting practices.
The record penalty comes amid heightened scrutiny of Amazon's business in Europe. Its use of data is also at the heart of the EU's antitrust investigation. Following a year-long probe, officials in November reached a preliminary decision that Amazon had breached competition rules by using third-party seller data to boost its own products. At the same time, they launched a second investigation into its alleged preferential treatment of its own products on its site and those of its partners.
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Neo: The World Ends With You: The Kotaku Review
When I’m playing Neo: The World Ends With You, I’m smiling. Whether I’m running Rindo Kanade and his pack of teen misfits through the streets of Shibuya battling monstrous living graffiti beasts and picking up the latest fashions, or just rifling through the menus fiddling with equipment loadouts, I’m doing it all…
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Annapurna Showcase Roundup: Solar Ash Release Date, Stray PS4 Version, Outer Wilds Expansion, and More
Publisher Annapurna Interactive held a showcase for its upcoming titles yesterday, during which it announced a release date for Solar Ash, a new expansion for Outer Wilds, a PlayStation 4 version of Stray, and much more.
Here’s everything coming to PlayStation platforms:
Stray
This story of a stray cat will be headed to the PS4 alongside the previously announced PS5 version in early 2022. Developed by BlueTwelve Studio, Stray is a third-person adventure game in which we’ll play as a cat who has been separated from family and has to solve an ancient mystery.
Solar Ash
Brought to you by Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine, Solar Ash is 3D third-person action platformer that’ll release on October 26th for the PS4, PS5, and PC.
Outer Wilds
Mobius Digital has announced an expansion titled Echoes of the Eye. It’ll release on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 28th. Check out a teaser below.
A Memoir Blue
In development at Cloisters Interactive, A Memoir Blue is an “interactive poem” game about a superstar athlete and the “all-encompassing love between mother and daughter.” It’ll release on PS4 and PS5 among other platforms on October 12th. Check out the trailer to see what it’s all about.
I Am Dead
I Am Dead is a puzzle adventure game by developers Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg. It explores the afterlife through the eyes of a deceased museum curator and the ghost of his dog. The game will release on the PS5 and PS4 among other platforms on August 9th.
In addition to the above, Annapurna announced that it’ll publish new games from Outerloop Games, Jessica Mak, Ivy Road, and No Code.
The post Annapurna Showcase Roundup: Solar Ash Release Date, Stray PS4 Version, Outer Wilds Expansion, and More appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Engadget Podcast: Activision’s walkout and toxicity in gaming
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the toxic mess at Activision Blizzard with Senior Editor Jessica Conditt. California is suing the company over its frat boy culture, something we’ve seen at many gaming companies over the years. What’s actually going on, and what does it mean for the gaming industry as a whole? Tune in for our thoughts! Also, we chat about Facebook’s metaverse ambitions, some new chip plans for Intel and… Xbox Krispy Kreme donuts.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Subscribe!
Topics
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What’s happening with the Activision Blizzard walkout? – 1:25
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Facebook has started mentioning “the metaverse” a lot – 21:18
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New Samsung S-Pen for foldables – 26:16
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Intel is doing some interesting marketing to keep up with its competition – 32:33
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New earbuds from Nothing (the company) and Master & Dynamic – 37:50
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Working on – 44:46
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Pop culture picks – 49:52
Video livestream
Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Jessica Conditt
Producer: Ben Ellman
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos, Owen Davidoff, Luke Brooks
Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
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Two red objects between Mars and Jupiter may explain how the solar system formed
A group of scientists has discovered two unusually red objects in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, and they may have originated from farther in the solar system. These objects — called 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia — are redder than the reddest known objects in the asteroid belt and may have migrated to the area from beyond Neptune. If that's true, then they could provide insight into the chaos of the early solar system and into how the solar system as we know it today came to be.
The team led by JAXA's Sunao Hasegawa identified the objects through observations collected at the Infra-red Telescope Facility and Seoul National University Astronomical Observatory, according to the paper they published. As The New York Times points out, most objects in the inner solar system tend to reflect blue light, because they're devoid of or have very little organic materials. Objects from the outer solar system such as the Kuiper belt, however, tend to be redder. That's because they have a lot of organics like carbon and methane, which may have been the building blocks of our planet. As you may know, the Kuiper belt is the region extending from the orbit of Neptune where you can find remnants of our solar system's formation.
If Pompeja and Justitia truly were transplants from beyond Nepture, then they'd serve as evidence for the hypothesis that a fraction of the asteroids between Jupiter and Mars came from the Kuiper belt. They'd also support the set of theories, called the Nice Model, on how our gas giants settled into their orbits. The Nice model says our giant planets formed closer to the Sun until an instability forced Neptune, Uranus and Saturn to move outwards and Jupiter to move inwards. The event would've caused asteroids rich in organic materials to scatter and move around the solar system.
Of course, more observations and evidence are needed to be able to prove that the two objects are from the Kuiper belt. The good thing is that since the asteroid belt is much closer to us than Neptune, it would take a spacecraft less time to reach them if ever Earth's space agencies decide to send a probe to study them more closely.
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