After carrying the latest piece of the country’s Tiangong space station to orbit on July 24th, a Chinese Long March 5B rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, creating a dazzling (albeit somewhat unsettling) display as it crashed down in the Indian Ocean. A Twitter user named Nazri Sulaiman captured a 27-second clip of the rocket’s first stage breaking up in the skies above Kuching, Malaysia. Sulaiman and others initially confused the spacecraft with a meteor shower until astronomers correctly identified the debris as the remains of a Chinese rocket.
On Saturday afternoon, US Space Command confirmed the Long March 5B re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 12:45PM ET. China said most of the debris burned up in re-entry over the Sulu Sea between the Philippines and Malaysia. Unlike many modern rockets, including the SpaceX Falcon 9, the Long March 5B can’t reignite its engine to complete a controlled atmospheric re-entry. That has led to worry about where the rocket would land every time China has launched one. On a test flight in 2020, remnants of a Long March 5B fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, leading to property damage.
Reentry looks to have been observed from Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia. Debris would land downrange in northern Borneo, possbily Brunei. [corrected] https://t.co/sX6m1XMYoO
Following Saturday's re-entry, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson criticized China for lack of transparency. “The People’s Republic of China did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth,” he said on Twitter. “All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices, and do their part to share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk, especially for heavy-lift vehicles, like the Long March 5B, which carry a significant risk of loss of life and property.”
China plans to employ the Long March 5B at least two more times. In October, the rocket will carry the third and final part of Tiangong to space. Next year, it will do the same with the country’s Xuntian space telescope.
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According to director Ryan Barnard, Skull and Bones won’t be big on story. While Ubisoft has positioned the game as a live service title, it was still hoped there would be an extensive single-player campaign and plenty of narrative-driven content. Instead, however, it seems like the focus will be around “players creating their own stories.”
Skull and Bones won’t be story-driven
Speaking with True Achievements, game director Ryan Barnard clarified that Skull and Bones “is not a narrative-driven game.” In the interview, he made it clear that the focus seems to be on progression more than anything else:
We have narrative pieces — in the game, you’ll meet important NPCs called Kingpins which have their own stories that you’ll learn as you develop rapport with them by taking on contracts with them. There is an underlying story to the game with which we build the entire world lore, but that’s not the main focus.
We want players to create their own stories and be able to choose the type of pirate they want to be. That being said, what drives you through the progression system which we call Infamy, is the fact that you will gain access to blueprints in the game which will give you different types of ships, weapons, and armours, and you’ll need those as you move and explore around the world to be effective against new foes
It’s unfortunate that Ubisoft has leaned so heavily into the GaaS aspects of Skull and Bones. When the game was first revealed, most players seemed excited to see a title where the naval portions of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag would be expanded upon. There were hopes it would be a grittier spiritual successor to Sid Meier’s Pirates.
Instead, it looks like Skull and Bones will place its emphasis on grinding and microtransactions. Unfortunately, the more we find out about it, the more it seems like it’ll be DOA after its beleaguered development cycle and even some of its devs are doubtful it’ll be a hit.
A new month brings a whole new list of games coming to PS5 and PS4 consoles throughout August 2022. The first of those games will start arriving on August 2, although the AAA games won’t start making an appearance until the end of the month. Here is a list of all of those games coming to PlayStation consoles throughout August 2022.
All PS5 and PS4 August 2022 game release dates
There are more than 40 games coming to PS5 and/or PS4 over the four weeks, although there are likely to be more surprises coming from smaller indie developers too. The most notable of these is Madden NFL 23 on August 19 and Saints Row on August 23. Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently due to be released throughout the month of August 2022:
PS5 Games
Frogun (August 2)
Gale of Windoria (August 2)
South of the Circle (August 3)
QuByte Classics: Thunderbolt (August 4)
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever (August 4)
After Wave: Downfall (August 5)
GigaBash (August 5)
Sofiya and the Ancient Clan (August 5)
Two Point Campus (August 9)
Book Quest (August 10)
Arcade Paradise (August 11)
Cult of the Lamb (August 11)
Rumbleverse (August 11)
Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi (August 11)
Rollerdrome (August 16)
Way of the Hunter (August 16)
Dyna Bomb 2 (August 17)
Little League World Series Baseball 2022 (August 17)
Cursed to Golf (August 18)
Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire (August 18)
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (August 18)
Slaycation Paradise (August 18)
Thymesia (August 18)
Madden NFL 23 (August 19)
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (August 23)
Fallen Legion: Revenants (August 23)
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory (August 23)
Saints Row (August 23)
Yars: Recharged (August 23)
Back Again (August 25)
F1 Manager 2022 (August 25)
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (August 25)
SD Gundam Battle Alliance (August 25)
NHRA: Speed For All (August 26)
Pac-Man: World Re-PAC (August 26)
Soul Hackers 2 (August 26)
Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed (August 30)
Dusk Diver 2 (August 30)
Inscryption (August 30)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (August 30)
Tinykin (August 30)
PS4 Games
Frogun (August 2)
Gale of Windoria (August 2)
Gigapocalypse (August 2)
South of the Circle (August 3)
QuByte Classics: Thunderbolt (August 4)
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever (August 4)
Abyss (August 5)
After Wave: Downfall (August 5)
GigaBash (August 5)
Sofiya and the Ancient Clan (August 5)
The Jumping Nuggets (August 5)
The Jumping Pizza Turbo (August 6)
The Jumping Nuggets Turbo (August 7)
Two Point Campus (August 9)
Book Quest (August 10)
Arcade Paradise (August 11)
Cult of the Lamb (August 11)
Rumbleverse (August 11)
Super Bullet Break (August 12)
Rollerdrome (August 16)
Dyna Bomb 2 (August 17)
Little League World Series Baseball 2022 (August 17)
Cursed to Golf (August 18)
Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire (August 18)
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (August 18)
Slaycation Paradise (August 18)
Madden NFL 23 (August 19)
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (August 23)
Midnight Fight Express (August 23)
Saints Row (August 23)
Yars: Recharged (August 23)
Back Again (August 25)
F1 Manager 2022 (August 25)
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (August 25)
SD Gundam Battle Alliance (August 25)
NHRA: Speed For All (August 26)
Pac-Man: World Re-PAC (August 26)
Soul Hackers 2 (August 26)
Dusk Diver 2 (August 30)
Inscryption (August 30)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (August 30)
BMW is recalling 83 iX and i4 vehicles after investigating multiple battery fire incidents involving the two EVs. In an advisory spotted by Autoblog, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warns owners of select iX xDrive 50, iX M60, i4 eDrive40 and i4 M50 vehicles not to drive their cars, charge them or park them inside.
After first investigating an overseas incident involving a 2022 i4 eDrive back in April, BMW found a manufacturing defect with select Samsung SDI battery cells in iX models produced between December 2nd, 2021 and June 30th, 2022, and i4 models built between November 22nd, 2021 and June 13th, 2022.
BMW has already notified dealers of the recall. The automaker will replace the batteries in affected vehicles free of charge. BMW adds it’s not aware of any accidents or injuries due to the battery defect. Affected owners can expect a notification letter by September 19th. You can also contact BMW support ahead of time for more information.
For those worried about a potential repeat of the situation Chevy Bolt owners went through with GM, it’s worth noting BMW sources batteries for its iX and i4 EVs from two manufacturers: CATL and Samsung SDI. By contrast, GM single-sourced the Bolt’s battery from LG Chem before it announced a worldwide recall in 2021.
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The national news cycle may have largely moved on from coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic — despite, as of this writing, infections being on the rise and more than 300 deaths tallied daily from the disease. But that certainly doesn't diminish the unprecedented international response effort and warp speed development of effective vaccines.
In The Messenger: Moderna, the Vaccine, and the Business Gamble That Changed the World, veteran Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus takes readers through the harrowing days of 2020 as the virus raged across the globe and biotech startup Moderna raced to create a vaccine to halt the viral rampage. The excerpt below takes place in early 2021, as the company works to adapt its treatments to slow the surging Delta variant's spread.
Viruses of all types frequently change. They mutate as they jump from person to person. The coronavirus was no different. Throughout the pandemic, health officials tracked variants of the SARS CoV-2 virus first found in Wuhan, China, as those variants arose. None seemed a big concern, until one was flagged in the United Kingdom in December 2020, right as Moderna’s vaccine neared approval. This UK variant appeared to be as much as 70 percent more transmissible. It was given the name the Alpha variant.
Alpha reinforced the possibility that the virus could mutate enough to become resistant to vaccines and treatments that were designed to target the earlier, predominant strain. Or it could fizzle out. But variants would keep coming. Shortly after Alpha, researchers identified another variant circulating in South Africa. Beta.
In late December—just a few days after the United States authorized its vaccine — Moderna issued a statement that it was confident the vaccine would be effective at inducing the necessary immune response against variants. The original vaccine targeted the full length of the spike protein of the coronavirus, and the new variants appeared to have mutations in the spike protein that represented less than a 1 percent difference from the original.
“So, from what we’ve seen so far, the variants being described do not alter the ability of neutralizing antibodies elicited by vaccination to neutralize the virus,” Tal Zaks said during a virtual appearance at the all-important J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January 2021. “My definition of when to get worried is either when we see real clinical data that suggest that people who’ve either been sick or have been immunized are now getting infected at significant rates with the new variants.”
Even if the vaccine proved less effective against a new variant, Moderna could use its mRNA technology to quickly tweak the design of its Covid-19 vaccine, to better target a variant of the virus, Zaks said. After all, the company and its federal health partners had already demonstrated the year before how quickly they could design, manufacture, and test a new vaccine.
Still, Moderna needed to run a series of tests to see if its original vaccine offered the same high level of protection against variants as it showed in the big Phase 3 clinical trial.
Moderna collaborated again with researchers from NIAID including Barney Graham and Kizzmekia Corbett. They analyzed blood samples taken from eight people who were vaccinated with Moderna’s shot in the Phase 1 trial back in early 2020. They essentially mixed these blood samples with the coronavirus variants, engineered so they copied the mutations of the variants but couldn’t replicate and pose a threat to lab researchers. Researchers then analyzed whether the vaccine-induced antibodies present in the human blood samples could effectively neutralize the virus variants.
The results were mixed. They suggested the vaccine worked as well against the UK Alpha variant as against the original strain of the coronavirus. That was good news. Even if the UK variant spread more easily than the original virus, Moderna’s vaccine could probably mute its effects.
But the Beta variant first identified in South Africa seemed to pose a problem. The vaccine-induced antibodies had a significantly reduced neutralization effect on this strain in the lab tests. “Oh shit,” Bancel said when Stephen Hoge showed him the data. It wouldn’t be the last time. Moderna’s leaders saw the data on a Friday in late January 2021 and spent the weekend discussing it. They hoped that a modified, variant- targeted vaccine wouldn’t be needed, and that Moderna’s original vaccine would suffice, even if it had a reduced neutralizing effect. But Moderna didn’t want to be caught flat-footed if a variant-specific booster was needed.
They decided by the next Monday it was time to take action. They would develop a new version of the vaccine, one that more closely matched the mutations seen in the strain that circulated in South Africa, and which could potentially be given as a booster shot to better protect people who had gotten the original vaccine.
“It really highlights the fact that we need to continue to stay vigilant,” Moderna’s president, Stephen Hoge, said. “This virus is evolving, it’s changing its stripes. And we need to keep testing the new variants, and make sure the vaccine works against them.”
Moderna repeated the steps it took a year earlier: it quickly designed a new variant vaccine and manufactured an initial batch for human testing, shipping it to NIAID in late February, a year to the day after it had shipped the original batch of the original vaccine. The new batch was called mRNA-1273.351, appending the “351” because researchers initially called the variant seen in South Africa “B.1.351.”
“Moderna is going to keep chasing the variants until the pandemic is under control,” Bancel said that day.
Moderna also developed other plans to test. It would try a third dose of its original vaccine, given several months after the second dose, to see if that booster shot would protect against variants. It would also develop a combined vaccine that targeted both the original strain and the Beta strain.
Once again, volunteers stepped up to test these various approaches. Neal Browning, the Microsoft engineer who was the second person to get Moderna’s vaccine, showed up once again to volunteer. In the intervening year, he had gotten married, in a small outdoor ceremony to minimize Covid risk. Now he received a third dose of the Moderna vaccine. He felt tenderness at the injection site and a low-grade fever and chills, but the symptoms went away after several hours. He continued to visit the research site to give blood samples to be analyzed for immune responses.
By early May, Moderna had some answers. It gave booster shots — either the original vaccine or the Beta variant – targeting vaccine — to people about six to eight months after they had been vaccinated with two doses of the original vaccine. The company found that in the new analysis, both types of booster shots increased neutralizing antibodies against the Beta variant. And they increased antibodies against a related variant that had been detected in Brazil. But the newer version of the vaccine that targeted Beta induced a stronger immune response against the Beta variant than the booster shot of Moderna’s original vaccine.
At the time, Moderna’s plan was to continue testing the different booster approaches, with an eye toward possibly getting government approval to sell the booster shot that specifically targeted the Beta variant. But it didn’t seem particularly urgent. The existing mass vaccination campaign was making good progress at the time.
Then, with the virus on the retreat in the United States, scientists discovered a new variant driving an alarming surge in India. This variant had already jumped to other countries, including the United States. Initially, it was code-named B.1.617.2. It was even more contagious than the Alpha variant and there were fears that it could evade vaccines. This was the Delta variant.
The previous winter the hope provided by vaccines was juxtaposed with the deadliest virus surge in the United States. Again, in early summer 2021, the lifting of mask mandates and reopening of public life was bringing great hope and a sense of relief. And again, this would be juxtaposed with public-health officials sounding the alarm about the Delta variant. It could become the dominant strain of the virus in the United States, they said. The best way to stop its spread, officials said, was to get more people vaccinated, with any of the three vaccines available.
By mid-June, about 55 percent of the US adult population was fully vaccinated, which was good but still left many people exposed to the new Delta variant that spread much more easily than earlier strains. And there were clear geographic vulnerabilities. The Northeast United States had higher vaccination rates than the national average, particularly in some New England states, like Vermont with its 62 percent vaccination rate. But in the South the numbers were much lower in states like Alabama, where only 30 percent were fully vaccinated.
The high proportions of unvaccinated people in those places would serve as a breeding ground for Delta. And the more the variant spread, the more it could mutate into more variants.
By late July, the effects of an ill-fated combination — stubbornly low vaccination rates in some regions, the winding down of masking and distancing, and a rapidly spreading Delta strain—were clearer. Infections, hospitalizations, and deaths were climbing again, especially in open states like Florida, which suffered one of the highest rates of Covid-19 hospitalizations, and low-vaccinated states.
Doctors and nurses who thought they had put the worst of the pandemic behind them were once again scrambling to treat severely ill Covid-19 patients in intensive-care units. By the end of August, the United States was averaging about fifteen hundred Covid-19 deaths a day, versus fewer than two hundred in early July. Nearly all of the patients who ended up in the ICU were unvaccinated.
Some vaccinated people were beginning to test positive for Covid-19, too — commonly called “breakthrough” cases—and a few progressed to severe cases. The vaccines, after all, weren’t 100 percent effective in the clinical trials, either. A small percentage of vaccinated people in the studies got sick with Covid. But it was becoming clear that the vaccines weren’t entirely blocking transmission of the virus or stopping asymptomatic infections, as initially hoped.
Vaccinated people were better protected than unvaccinated people, even when Delta took over. In states like Massachusetts, less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people in the state had tested positive for Covid-19 by the fall of 2021. Other analysis showed that people who weren’t fully vaccinated were nearly five times more likely to get infected, ten times more likely to be hospitalized and eleven times more likely to die from Covid than fully vaccinated people.
But Delta reminded people, or made them understand for the first time, that the vaccines weren’t bullet-proof. New indoor mask mandates were imposed, including at schools, where educators just weeks earlier had been eager for the first normal back-to-school season in two years. No vaccine was yet authorized for children under twelve (both Moderna and Pfizer were studying that population), raising concerns that Delta would spread rapidly among them as they gathered in classrooms.
By the end of the summer, people wondered if the pandemic would ever end. Some started talking about the coronavirus as endemic, not a pandemic.
And a big slice of America was still saying “No thanks” to the vaccine.
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If you missed the chance to buy the Apple TV 4K when it was $59 off a few weeks ago, now is your opportunity to purchase it at that price again. Amazon has discounted the 32GB model to $120, making it only $10 more than it was during Prime Day. That’s a compelling price for one of the best streaming devices you can buy.
Engadget senior editor Devindra Hardawar awarded the 2021 Apple TV 4K a score of 90. Highlights include a much improved Siri remote and a more powerful A12 Bionic chip. The latter allows the Apple TV 4K to output HDR video at up to 60 frames per second and deliver excellent gaming performance.
If you own a handful of other Apple devices, you’ll appreciate the Apple TV 4K’s support for AirPlay. The wireless protocol makes it easy to share video, photos and music from your iPhone, iPad or Mac to your TV. With SharePlay built-in, you can even participate in watch parties over FaceTime with friends and family. For those with AirPods, Apple updated the Apple TV 4K last fall to add support for spatial audio so you can enjoy a more immersive experience without buying an expensive sound setup.
The Apple TV 4K also supports all of the most popular streaming services, including Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and more. One of the most significant drawbacks of Apple’s streaming device is its expensive price tag, but that's something the $59 discount helps address.
With stories of hackers selling personal information in bulk on forums becoming more common, it can be stressful to send your device for repair. Yes, you could wipe your phone, but then you have to go through the hassle of restoring it afterward. Now, Samsung has introduced a solution for that issue in the form of a new function called "Repair Mode."
According to a Korean announcement first spotted by SamMobile, you can activate the new mode under "Battery and Device Care" in Settings. Samsung didn't explain the technology behind the feature, but when activated, it will hide your personal information, photos, messages and linked accounts. Only the device's pre-installed apps will be visible to the technician. To regain access to your data, you simply have to disable Repair Mode and use pattern or fingerprint recognition to authenticate your identity.
Seeing as Samsung has yet to announce the feature outside Korea, it's most likely safe to say that it's only available in the company's home country at the moment. Further, it's only available on the Galaxy S21 series phones for now. However, the company says it will roll out Repair Mode to other models — and hopefully to other regions — in the future.
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Platprices, a website that tracks prices of PlayStation games as well as their trophy information, now hosts a helpful webpage that sorts games included in all PS Plus tiers by their OpenCritic score, trophy difficulty, completion time, and more. Ever since the revamped service has gone live, players have done a better job than Sony when it comes to offering easy-to-peruse lists. We’ve previously seen lists that sort all games by size and review scores, but this is the most extensive database we’ve seen thus far albeit still in its infancy. The best part? It includes all tiers as opposed to just PS Plus Extra and Premium.
Players can now sort all PS Plus tiers’ games by a number of filters
You can head over to the webpage in question here, where you can select your service tier and then further sort the games list by alphabet (A-Z and Z-A both), OpenCritic score, release date, difficulty, completion time, and much more. Reddit user N_Johnston, who’s behind this handy webpage, seems to be gathering feedback on the website and making improvements and updates where they can.
This webpage and the ongoing improvements look like a monumental task given the number of games included in all three tiers, so we’re pretty thankful for what we’ve got here. I’m not a hardcore trophy hunter but do enjoy some easy hunts here and there. More importantly, as someone who’s always pressed for time, being able to see which games I can knock out first without Googling so many of them is a breath of fresh air. Thank you, Platprices!
Warzel dives into questions about DALL-E 2 in his newsletter for The Atlantic, many of which have been voiced by others. Those include what it could mean for the future of art and the potential commercial ambitions of OpenAI, the company that created it.
Before Meta's dismal earnings report this week, there was news of how CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to revitalize the company as it focuses on the metaverse.
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Recent reports of a GTA 6 female protagonist has had an interesting response, to say the least. There are those who are simply looking forward to the game and want to see how it all plays out. On the other hand are “real gamers” who are upset that Rockstar Games is going “woke” (and about to go broke, or whatever the cool kids say), and the idea of a female protagonist in such a hardcore crime game that’s strictly meant for the most masculine of all males is just unacceptable. Such are the reactions that one of the best Twitter accounts, Shitty Gamer Takes, came out of retirement to share some of the shittiest takes on the story.
The idea of a GTA 6 female protagonist upset one GOP Congressional candidate as well
News of GTA 6 having a female protagonist didn’t just receive condemnation from males. You see, Ms Spicer – a GOP congressional candidate – is also very upset at the wokeness that’s taking over the games industry. The horror!
“Here we go again,” wrote one very upset player. “I’m expecting there won’t be any female prostitutes or strip clubs.” “Seriously, no one wants this,” complained another. “I don’t know why it’s suddenly so bad to have products specifically for men.”
I can’t count on my fingers how many times I’ve seen a comment that starts with, “I love Tomb Raider games and playing as Lara Croft but… (add some justification for complaining about a game that hasn’t even been shown off yet).” I haven’t even dared to look at the usual suspects on YouTube that go batshit crazy when they hear the word “female.”
If you’ve been following along with Call Of Duty lately, you’re no stranger to seeing skins that remind of something you’ve seen before, be it John McClain from Die Hard or Ghostface from Scream. A recent, very adorable, very fluffy skin, however, is looking all too familiar to one artist, and they’re now accusing the…
Kenya's National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), a government agency that aims to eradicate ethnic or racial discrimination among the country's 45 tribes, has given Facebook seven days to tackle hate speech related to next month's election on its platform. If the social media fails to do so, it faces suspension in the country. The agency's warning comes shortly after international NGO Global Witness and legal non-profit Foxglove released a report detailing how Facebook approved ads written to instigate ethnic violence in both English and Swahili.
The organizations joined forces to conduct a study testing Facebook's ability to detect hate speech and calls for ethnic-based violence ahead of the Kenyan elections. As Global Witness explained in its report, the country's politics are polarized and ethnically driven — after the 2007 elections, for instance, 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands more had to flee their homes. A lot more people use social media today compared to 2007, and over 20 percent of the Kenyan population is on Facebook, where hate speech and misinformation are major issues.
The groups decided not to publish the exact ads they submitted for the test because they were highly offensive, but they used real-life examples of hate speech commonly used in Kenya. They include comparisons of specific tribal groups to animals and calls for their members' rape, slaughter and beheading. "Much to our surprise and concern," Global Witness reported, "all hate speech examples in both [English and Swahili] were approved." The NCIC said the NGOs' report corroborates its own findings.
After the organizations asked Facebook for a comment regarding what it had discovered and hence made it aware of the study, Meta published a post that details how it is preparing for Kenya's election. In it, the company said it has built a more advanced content detection technology and has hired dedicated teams of Swahili speakers to help it "remove harmful content quickly and at scale." To see if Facebook truly has implemented changes that has improved its detection system, the organizations resubmitted its test ads. They were approved yet again.
In a statement sent to both Global Witness and Gizmodo, Meta said it has taken "extensive steps" to "catch hate speech and inflammatory content in Kenya" and that the company is "intensifying these efforts ahead of the election." It also said, however, that there will be instances where it misses things " as both machines and people make mistakes."
Global Witness said its study's findings follow a similar pattern it previously uncovered in Myanmar, where Facebook played a role in enabling calls for ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims. It also follows a similar pattern the organization unearthed in Ethiopia wherein bad actors used the Facebook to incite violence. The organizations and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen are now calling on Facebook to implement the "Break the Glass” package of emergency measures it took after the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. They's also asking the social network to suspend paid digital advertisements in Kenya until the end of the elections on August 9th.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that PS5 sales have reached 21.7 million units shipped as of June 31, 2022. This means that the company managed to ship 2.4 million consoles over the last quarter, which is a slight improvement over the same period last year, thanks in no small part to improved supply. But while hardware sales improved, Sony’s software sales saw “an expected” dip, resulting in the company lowering its profit forecast by $0.4 billion.
PS5 sales increase was accompanied by an increase in PS Plus subscribers
PS Plus has gained another one million subscribers compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. The number of subscribers stood at 47.3 million as of June 31st compared to 46.3 million a year ago.
On the software front, Sony told investors that it expected a decrease in first-party game sales. PS5 and PS4 software sold a combined total of 47.1 million units in first quarter of fiscal 2022, which is down 16.5 million from the 63.6 million sold in the same period last year. 6.4 million of the 47.1 million units sold is attributed to first-party game sales, which is down 4.1 million from the 10.5 million first-party games sold year-over-year. Sony has said that nearly 80 percent of its game sales are now digital.
Interestingly, despite an increase in PS Plus subscribers, Sony reported a drop in PlayStation Network’s monthly active users (MAUs). PSN MAUs stand at 102 million compared to 105 million in the same period last year.
Last but not least, Sony’s PlayStation division is expecting a drop in operating income due to a decrease in third-party game sales as well as expenses incurred in its acquisition of Bungie.
Last month, Instagram started testing a full-screen display for photos and videos. And we didn’t like it. Now, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says the test will be wound down over the next couple of weeks. “For the new feed designs, people are frustrated, and the usage data isn’t great,” Mosseri said to Platformer.
He added: “When you discover something in your field that you didn't follow before, there should be a high bar — it should just be great,” he said. “You should be delighted to see it. And I don't think that’s happening enough right now."
Instagram brought in the full-screen feed and larger number of recommended posts to compete with TikTok and to contend with the pivot from photos to videos. The time spent by people watching Reels grew by 30 percent last quarter, and Mosseri said users' gradual embrace of video was happening, regardless of Instagram’s own movements.
In an earnings call on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said around 15 percent of the posts people see on Facebook (and even more on Instagram) are recommended by algorithms. Zuckerberg expects the volume of recommended posts to double over the next year or so.
It was so impressed with Ingenuity, NASA’s making two more space helicopters.
NASA has altered the Mars Sample Return Program meant to bring back the rock samples the Perseverance rover has been drilling and collecting from the Jezero crater. Instead of sending a rover to the red planet like originally planned, the program will use Perseverance itself and send over two helicopters. The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander will take off in fall 2027 and summer 2028. Their journey to and from the red planet will take years, so the samples aren't expected to arrive on Earth until 2033.
The feature is in beta but will likely be available to all soon.
The PlayStation 5now supports 1440p, at least for gamers with access to its beta software. While the console has supported 1080p and 4K output from the start, 1440p support is still a much-requested feature by players who use monitors instead of TVs. However, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which rolled out for the console in April, is only available for 1080p and 2160p. VRR gives the screen the ability to sync its refresh rate with the game for a smoother experience. It's not quite clear why it's not available for 1440p output.
Automakers might just get the EV tax credit extension they've been hoping for. Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin may have agreed on an Inflation Reduction Act that would replace the 200,000-unit cap on federal EV tax credits with a system that would restore those perks for GM, Tesla and Toyota. According to Bloomberg sources, the new approach is a compromise that would switch to price- and income-based limits, drop union manufacturing requirements and even offer credits for used EVs.
Google’s latest Pixel Buds are its best yet, due mostly to the company finally checking a missing box: active noise cancellation. They do cost more, however, but the sound quality impresses, and there’s a host of handy features, like hands-free access to Assistant. There are a few shortcomings, but they remain Google’s best buds yet. Read on for our full verdict.
After Meta's revenue shrank for the first time in its history, the company has reportedly told publishers it will no longer pay for content to run in Facebook's News Tab, according to Axios. "Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a spokesperson said in a statement.
Facebook spent around $105 million on such deals, paying $20 million to The New York Times, $10 million to The Wall Street Journal and $3 million to CNN, according to Axios. Facebook struck the deals back in 2019 as it boosted its investment in news and even hired journalists to direct traffic to the news tab.
Facebook also promised to pay partner sites including The Guardian and The Economist for news in the UK when it launched the News Tab there late in 2020. Shortly after that, it signed a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to pay for content in Australia, after the Australian Parliament passed a law requiring Facebook and Google to do so.
Along with Google, Facebook has taken criticism for drawing ad dollars away from dedicated news sites. That has contributed to the failure of a quarter of US news sites over the last 15 years, according to Poynter, with the professional journalism vacuum often been filled by false or misleading news on Facebook.
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Twitter's $3 subscription now costs $5 a month. The social network has sent out an email notifying existing subscribers that Twitter Blue has raised its prices for new members, but as early adopters, the monthly amount they're paying will remain the same until October. In the email posted by social media consultant Matt Navarra and first spotted by The Verge, the company said early adopters will also be notified at least 30 days before the new monthly price takes effect for their accounts.
The company didn't elaborate on the reason behind the price increase and only said in the email that it will help Twitter build new features subscribers have been asking for, improve upon the ones it already has and sustain its mission of supporting journalism. It also said that it's currently creating a "more frictionless reading experience" and launching new experimental features in Twitter Blue Labs for those who choose to stick around even with the higher subscription price.
Twitter launched its subscription service in the US back in November, unlocking additional features for the website's most dedicated users. Some of its features can be very useful, including the ability to Undo tweets, which is the closest thing to an "edit" button at the moment. It also allows members to browse news without ads and gives them access to the latest features the website is testing.
In its second quarter earnings report for 2022, Twitter said it has seen a sharp rise in the number of regular users on the website. The bad news was that it didn't translate to more money for the company. It posted a net loss of $270 million, which it blamed on the economic downturn and the uncertainty surrounding Elon Musk's takeover. If you'll recall, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion back in April and the social network quickly accepted, but they've been at odds since then. In July, Twitter sued Elon Musk for attempting to back out of the acquisition, and now the two parties are going to face off in an expedited, five-day trial beginning in October.
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At the end of its fiscal year in May, Sony was fairly bullish on gaming sales, predicting sales of 18 million PlayStation 5s for 2022 after selling 11.5 million in 2021. The company also expected a "significant" revenue increase in its gaming division over 2021 due to a boost across "all categories."
In its latest earnings drop, however, the company has revised its profit forecast down by 16 percent from 305 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in May to 255 billion yen ($1.9 billion), "due to an expected decrease in sales of first party titles," it wrote. The company also chalked up the drop in revenue to higher expenses due to its acquisition of Bungie Studios closing earlier than expected.
Sony didn't say anything about its PS5 console forecast, but it sold 2.4 million units this quarter compared to 2.3 million in the same quarter last year (21.4 million units to date). That means it must sell over 5 million units on average for the next three quarters to meet its May forecast — something it has never done before. In May, however, Sony said that it will finally be able to ramp up production to meet PS5 demand as supply chain issues ease — though as it stands now, the consoles are still in short supply.
On the software side, things also went south as Sony sold just 47.1 million titles, including 6.4 million first party games, compared to 63.6 million titles and 10.5 million first-party games in the same quarter of 2021. On top of that, PlayStation Plus users dropped slightly from Q4 (47.3 million instead of 47.4 million), and monthly active users also dropped from 106 to 102 million. Sony introduced the new higher-priced PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers in June, but it has yet to reveal the impact of those — hopefully, we'll learn more next quarter.
Looking ahead, Sony has a few major titles on the horizon that could perk up software sales, including God of War Ragnarokcoming November 9th, and The Last of Us Part I remake arriving on September 2nd. On the hardware side, the PSVR 2 has been revealed but isn't expected to arrive until next year.
The next quarter will be a lot more interesting for Sony's gaming division, as PS5 sales will show if it's been able to ramp up production. Game sales will also be notable, as the steep drop this quarter bodes ominously for the industry as a whole.
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NASA has altered the Mars Sample Return Program meant to bring back the rock samples the Perseverance rover has been drilling and collecting from the Jezero crater in a big way. Instead of sending the Sample Fetch Rover to the red planet like originally planned, the program will make use of Perseverance itself and send over two helicopters based on the Ingenuity for backup.
NASA and the ESA have been working together on the Sample Return Program over the past few years. The original plan was to send over the ESA-made Sample Fetch Rover to retrieve the samples and drive them back to a rocket, which will fly them up to be snatched by the Earth Return Orbiter. As The New York Times notes, though, the rover's design became too big until it could no longer fit in one lander with the return rocket. NASA would have to use one lander for each of them.
But why do that when there are other, more affordable options? The Sample Return Lander isn't scheduled to arrive on Mars until 2030, but NASA is confident that Perseverance will still be operational by then — after all, the Curiosity rover is still up and running almost 11 years after it launched. Under their renewed plan, the Perseverance will drive up to the lander to deliver 30 rock samples that will be loaded onto the rocket.
If anything goes wrong with Perseverance before then, though, the lander would settle closer to the rover and then the backup helicopters will fly over to retrieve the samples. While the helicopters are modeled after the Ingenuity, they'll have small wheels at the bottom. These will allow them to drive up to the samples that are sealed inside tubes and pick them up from the ground where the rover has dropped them.
The Ingenuity helicopter completed its first test flight on Mars in April 2021. NASA wasn't expecting much from the helicopter, which was just supposed to prove that flight on Mars is possible. It was also only supposed to fly a handful of times during a one-month technology demonstration, but it has accomplished 29 successful flights so far, with more on the way. Ingenuity's success has given NASA another means to retrieve the precious samples Perseverance has been collecting.
Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASA's science directorate, said during the press conference announcing the new Sample Return Program plans:
"We reached our decision based on new studies and recent achievements at Mars that allowed us to consider options that, frankly, weren’t available to us one year ago or before."
The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander will take off in the fall of 2027 and the summer of 2028, respectively. Their journey to and from the red planet will take years, so the samples aren't expected to arrive on Earth until 2033.
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Ghosting can hurt, for sure. When someone suddenly cuts off contact, doesn’t show up at a date or just unmatches on one of those many dating apps, it sucks. One Filipino lawmaker is trying to make it stop, which could be a tall order. Arnolfo Teves Jr., a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, said ghosting was "a form of emotional cruelty and should be punished as an emotional offense."
The bill — yes there’s proposed legislation — doesn't offer specific penalties, but Teves suggested in an interview that community service might work. The bill tries to define a dating relationship as one where the parties live together without being married or are "romantically involved over time and on a continuing basis."
Teves said neither casual acquaintances nor “ordinary socialization” constitutes a dating relationship. But those are likely the connections that ghost the most. The bill doesn’t account for blocking someone without explanation if they're being creepy or threatening, which can often be the case. (Why am I coming across as a regular ghoster / ghostee?) Silently ditching a conversation is usually easier than being honest, sadly. It’s not cool, but I’m not sure it’s truly a criminal offense.
Google Photos is getting a significant update that has the distinction of first arriving on Chromebooks. Your photo and video library will get a new movie editor and video editing features this fall as part of a Chrome OS update. You’ll be able to make videos similar to the highlight clips the app already automatically makes, and select a theme, people or pets you want to feature in it; from there, Google Photos will pull together a movie using video clips and images from your library. Google isn’t saying yet if these video editing features will come to the mobile apps for iOS and Android, but Google Photos has usually had feature parity regardless of platform.
Generative Artificial Intelligences (GAIs) are systems that create pieces of work to equal the old masters in technique, if not in intent. But there’s a problem: These systems are trained on existing material, often using content pulled from the internet, from us.
DALL-E 2, Open AI’s system for creating “realistic images and art from a description in natural language” is the current star of GAIs. A user could enter the phrase “teddy bears shopping for groceries in the style of Ukiyo-e,” and the model will produce pictures in that style, often to a pretty high standard. But this all prompts several questions on ownership, data biases and the law of art. Engadget’s Daniel Cooper explores the future of AI-generated images.
Projectors have come a long way from the clunky, dim models of the past. The latest models are brighter, sharper, more discreet and easier to install than ever. There are a lot of different types of projectors, though, ranging from ultra short throw to portable to long throw. There are also a lot of technical terms, so it’s the perfect topic for our latest Engadget guide, which explains everything you need to know.
Overall user figures grew to 433 million, but the company lost $197 million in the quarter.
The music streaming company hasn’t yet felt the effects of a looming global recession. Unlike Netflix, which had to report a fall in its overall customer base, Spotify has seen both free and paying accounts grow. It now has 433 million users, up from the 422 million reported at the end of the first quarter. Of those, 188 million pay for Premium, a leap of six million from three months ago. Spotify’s plan to pivot toward cheaper forms of audio content, like podcasts and audiobooks, should help to keep new listeners streaming away.
You can also get a peek at your environment to avoid collisions.
Finally, some early details of PlayStation VR2's software experience, not just the hardware. Sony teased a few key features for its PS5 VR headset, including live streaming support. If you have a PS5 HD Camera, you can broadcast both gameplay and a view of yourself. As you might guess, that could be helpful for Twitch streamers and YouTubers. The company also explained how it will handle non-VR content, with a 1080p Cinematic Mode that displays the PS5 interface and conventional games on a virtual screen at refresh rates between 24Hz and 120Hz.
VRChat’s had a hell of a week. On Monday, the wildly popular virtual reality social game announced that its next update would implement Epic Games’ Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) technology, prompting immediate outrage from a large portion of its playerbase. That update landed Tuesday, and since then, VRChat’s struggled to…
Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead. In other words, the player-hated, troll-approved Oppressor Mk. II jetbike in Grand Theft Auto Online has finally been nerfed following nearly half a decade of terror. While many players are happy about the change, others have shared concerns that it has made the expensive vehicle…
Sony has rolled out a new PS5 system update beta, which adds much-awaited 1440p support, gamelists (Sony’s fancy term for folders), and social features. The update quietly began rolling out yesterday, but it was only this morning that Sony detailed its features. Beta access is limited to select users in certain countries. It’ll be rolled out widely later this year.
PS5 system update beta patch notes – July 2022
New Gameplay and Personalization Options
1440p HDMI Video Output
The PS5 beta introduces support for 1440p HDMI video output, enabling players to choose an additional visual setting on compatible PC monitors and TVs.**
If the game you’re playing supports 1440p rendering you can experience native 1440p output on your display.
Or, if you’re playing a game with a higher native resolution like 4K, then you may benefit from improved anti-aliasing through supersampling down to 1440p output.
You can check if your HDMI device is compatible by selecting “Test 1440p Output” under “Screen and Video” options within system settings.
Gamelists
In your Game Library you can now create gamelists, which make organizing your games even easier.
To start, go to the [Your Collection] tab and select [Create Gamelist]. Choose games to add to your gamelist, then decide what to name it.
You can have up to 15 gamelists and 100 games per gamelist. All games under the “Your Collection” tab of your Game Library can be added to a gamelist, including disc, digital and streaming titles.*** You can also add the same game to multiple gamelists.
Compare 3D Audio and Stereo Audio
You can now listen to and compare the difference between 3D and stereo audio on the same screen, and then choose your preferred setting.
Compare 3D Audio and Stereo Audio
You can now listen to and compare the difference between 3D and stereo audio on the same screen, and then choose your preferred setting.
New Social Features
Request Share Screen
You can now request party members to start Share Screen to watch their gameplay. Go to the voice chat card, select the party member you want to send the request to, and then select [Request Share Screen].
Joinable Game Notification
When you join a party and a party member is playing a game you can join, you’ll now receive a notification. You can join the game directly from the notification.
Joinable Game Notification
When you join a party and a party member is playing a game you can join, you’ll now receive a notification. You can join the game directly from the notification.
Send Stickers and Voice Messages in Game Base
In the Game Base card, you can now send stickers and voice messages to your groups.
An updated art book listing on Amazon may have dropped a hint about Hogwarts Legacy release date. In a Reddit thread, Amazon UK customers who pre-ordered The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy: Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World reported that the placeholder release date for the book was changed from December 31, 2022 to December 6, 2022, the latter of which is a Tuesday and that’s typically when video games release. Additionally, users received emails from Amazon UK confirming that the book’s release date has been revised to December 6th.
Hogwarts Legacy release date might be set a little before or in early December
Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have reassured fans on multiple occasions that rumors of Hogwarts Legacy’s delay aren’t true and it’s still on track to release this year. Why is an art book’s release date relevant? As pointed out by Reddit user Aromatic-Adagio2121, Warner Bros.’ other game Gotham Knights is also getting a similar art book on its release date of October 25th, 2022 (also a Tuesday) so there’s a possibility that Hogwarts Legacy art book will coincide with its launch.
Folks over at Video Games Chronicle claim that they’ve seen the emails Amazon UK is sending out with the revised release date for the book. If Warner Bros.’ recent video game release pattern is anything to go by, Hogwarts Legacy’s release date of December 6, 2022 sounds plausible.
This is all speculation, of course, but it does seem to make sense. And if recent leaks are any indication, those who pre-order Hogwarts Legacy will be entitled to 72-hour early access.
We’ll update our readers when we have more information.
PS Plus Essential August 2022 lineup has leaked nice and early courtesy of trust Dealabs user billbil-kun. According to them, August’s free games include Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PS4, PS5), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS4, PS5), and Little Nightmares (PS4). Billbil-kun has yet to be wrong even once so we’re almost positive this leak is accurate. Nevertheless, take it with a customary grain of salt. If true, August will be a pretty good month for PS Plus Essential subscribers.
When will PS Plus Essential August 2022 games go live?
The Essential tier, which is the most basic PS Plus tier, usually has its lineup scheduled for the first Tuesday of the month. This means that August’s lineup will become available to download on August 2nd.
Released in January 2020, Yakuza: Like A Dragon is the latest mainline entry in the series that released globally. The game features a new protagonist and a turn-based RPG system. Like A Dragon was praised by critics and users alike, and not only sold well but also went on to win a number of awards.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 needs no introduction. You’re getting two of the series’ most beloved games – 1999’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and 2000’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – for the price of one but that’s not all. The games have been completely remastered, receiving a visual overhaul, gameplay improvements, and much more. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 was also praised by critics and users alike, and won numerous accolades.
Last but not least, if you’re looking for something short and sweet, Little Nightmares is a pretty good puzzle platformer.
If you're one of the few people in the US who've yet to get an Instant Pot — or if you want another model to add to the one(s) you already have — this is your chance to grab one at a discount. Amazon is holding a one-day sale for the brand's products, including the 5.7-quart Instant Pot Vortex Air Fryer, which is currently listed on the website for 52 percent off. At $67, that's the lowest price we've seen on Amazon for the air fryer-oven combo that has an original retail price of $140. While Instant Pot Vortex is an air fryer, it also has one-touch controls for baking, roasting and reheating. You can also create customized programs for specific types of food, so you can cook wings, potatoes or even cinnamon buns with a single touch.
Instant Pot's 8-quart 9-in-1 Duo Plus model is also on sale, if you what you need is the brand's classic pressure cooker. It has dropped back to an all-time low of $80, or $70 less than its retail price. The Duo Plus has nine functions in one device and could act as a rice cooker, slow cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, sauté pan, food warmer, sous vide and sterilizer, in addition to being a pressure cooker. It has 15 customizable programs to make cooking ribs, cake, soup, among other types of food a lot easier, as well.
But if you're looking to get an air fryer and a pressure cooker on a limited budget, you can get the Instant Pot Duo Crisp instead. It has nine functionalities that include air frying and pressure cooking — plus, it lets you easily switch between lids especially designed for each function. The Duo Crisp is currently on sale for $100, which $50 off its retail price. You'll find a few more models to choose from on the deals homepage. Some of them aren't selling for their all-time low prices at the moment, but Instant Pots are always a great pick-up on a deal.
A federal court has ruled that Uber does not need to provide wheelchair-accessible service in every US market, ABC News has reported. The company's decision to provide such a service only in certain cities was not in violation of federal law and would be overly burdensome, said Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the federal San Francisco Court.
Two users of motorized wheelchairs in New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi sued Uber over the lack of accessible services in those cities. Since Uber couldn't accommodate non-foldable wheelchairs, they claimed that it was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that prohibits businesses from discriminating against people based on their disabilities. They further argued that Uber has a "deep-rooted accessibility problem," treating it as an "afterthought." The trial for the case lasted nearly five years.
Uber said in its defense that it would be too expensive to offer wheelchair service in every city if it needed to contract with providers of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Judge Seeborg agreed, saying that the plaintiffs gave "scant evidence" that Uber could do so cost-effectively and that wait times would still be "significant" if it did. "The anticipated cost here is too high for the limited service that would result, making the proposed modification unreasonable," he said.
The judge did reject Uber's argument that it didn't need to provide wheelchair-accessible services everywhere because it has done so in some cities, noting that the ADA looks at each modification for reasonableness.
Uber does accommodate wheelchair users in other cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. New Orleans considered mandating the service, but Uber lobbied against those efforts, according to the court records. "We welcome the outcome and are proud of our efforts to improve accessibility for all users, including through Uber WAV,” said an Uber spokesperson in a statement.
Noting that the decision arrived on the eve of the anniversary of the ADA's passage into law, lead plaintiff Scott Crawford decried the ruling. "Uber made no sincere attempt to provide accessible service, but instead claimed it was too burdensome," he said. "This could have been economically resolved years ago.'
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It's rough seas for crytpocurrency exchanges these days and the latest to be buffeted is one of the world's largest, Kraken. It's reportedly under investigation by the US Treasury Department over possible sanctions violations for letting users in Iran and elsewhere trade digital tokens, according to The New York Times.
Kraken is a private exchange valued at $11 billion co-founded by chief executive Jesse Powell in 2011. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has been investigating the company since 2019 and may impose a fine, according to the NYT's sources. It would be the largest crypto company to face enforcement action related to US sanctions imposed in 1979 prohibiting the export of goods or services to Iran.
Sanctions issues at Kraken first came up in November 2019 when an employee sued the company for doing business with prohibited countries. That suit was settled, but the OFAC began investigating the company the same year over accounts in Iran, along with other sanctioned countries including Syria and Cuba.
Powell allegedly posted a spreadsheet to a company Slack channel showing that Kraken had 1,522 accounts in Iran, 149 in Syria and 83 in Cuba as of last month, according to the NYT. The data supposedly came from residence information on "verified accounts."
Kraken declined to comment to the NYT, but said that it "closely monitors compliance with sanctions laws and, as a general matter, reports to regulators even potential issues." A Treasury spokesperson said the agency was committed to enforcing "sanctions that protect US national security," but also gave no further details.
OFAC has previously fined other cryptocurrency exchanges over similar sanctions violations. BitGo was hit with a $98,000 fine in 2020 over 183 violations, and BitPay face a $500,000-plus fine last year for 2,102 violations.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are facing more than the usual scrutiny these days. Last year, the world's largest crytpo exchange Binance faced a US money laundering probe for being a major destination of illicit cryptocurrency. Crypto lender Celcius is under investigation by multiple states after it froze transactions, and the Winklevoss twins' crytpo exchange Gemini is facing lawsuits over a $36 million crypto theft.
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