Air travel remains one of the largest contributors to global warming in the transportation sector, producing 915 million tonnes of CO2 worldwide in 2019, per ATAG. In an effort to usher in a more sustainable era of flight, NASA announced Thursday that it is seeking partners "to develop technologies needed to shape a new generation of lower-emission, single-aisle airliners that passengers could see in airports in the 2030s."
NASA is looking to fund the design, building, testing and flying of large-scale demonstrators as part of its new Announcement for Partnership Proposals program. Specifically, the agency seeks to "reduce carbon emissions from aviation and ensure US competitiveness in a high-demand area of aircraft design — single-aisle commercial airliners."
“In the coming years, global air mobility will continue to grow at a steady pace, and single aisle aircraft will continue to carry the majority of that passenger traffic,” Bob Pearce, NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said in Thursday's media release. “Working with industry, NASA intends to seize this opportunity to meet our aggressive environmental goals while fostering continued global leadership of the U.S. aviation industry.”
This effort comes as part of the White House's US Aviation Climate Action Plan, which itself aims to make make aviation emissions carbon-neutral by 2050. To help reach that deadline, NASA is planning to have these demonstrators ready by the end of the decade so that the lessons learned can be applied to the next generation of single-aisle aircraft coming in the 2030s. NASA plans to select at least one industry partner early next year, granting them funding and access to NASA facilities at Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Back in 2017, the European Union took the shockingly rational step of largely eliminating roaming charges for its citizens travelling among member nations, dubbing it the "Roam-like-at-home" system. Operating across the 27 countries that make up the European Economic Area as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — but not the UK because Brexit — Roam-like-at-home was set to expire at the end of June. On Thursday, however, the European Commission announced that it will be extending the system for another decade, through 2032.
The EC cites benefits to both consumers and telecom providers as part of its decision, with consumers enjoying "a better roaming experience, with the same quality of mobile service abroad as they have at home," as well as improved access to emergency services and increased transparency in charging rates so travellers in the EU won't find a massive bill waiting for them when they get home.
“Remember when we had to switch off mobile data when travelling in Europe — to avoid ending up with a massive roaming bill?" Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, said in Thursday's press statement. "Well this is history. And we intend to keep it this way for at least the next 10 years. Better speed, more transparency: we keep improving EU citizens' lives."
The extended rules strongly suggests that carriers "ensure that consumers have access to use 4G, or the more advanced 5G, networks, if these are available at the destination" and "automatically interrupt mobile services if the mobile services over non-terrestrial networks reach charges of €50 or another predefined limit." What's more, they require 112 to dial emergency services be made available across the entire economic area and, by June 2023, for carriers to notify travellers of that ability either by text or popup when they enter the EU.
Most importantly, the new rules will put a couple Euros back in consumers' pockets because the EU is run by rational adults who can negotiate with telecom carriers for better wholesale data and voice pricing without the entire process devolving into a constitutional crisis. Users can expect to pay 2 €/GB this year with that rate steadily dropping to 1 €/GB from 2027 on, 0.022 €/min for voice until 2025 when it will drop to 0.019 €/min, and each SMS from here on out will cost 0.004 € until 2025 when it nudges down to 0.003 €.
The Food and Drug Administration has asked COVID-19 vaccine makers to update booster shots to tackle newer omicron variants that are on the rise. It says the manufacturers should add a spike protein component to shots to target the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants in addition to the original strain.
An "overwhelming majority" of the FDA's advisory committee voted this week in favor of updating shots with an omicron component, in the hopes of starting to use those modified boosters in the fall. The advisory is only for booster shots and not primary inoculations.
Vaccine makers are essentially playing whack-a-mole with the various strains of COVID-19. Pfizer and Moderna have created versions of their vaccines that target BA.1, the omicron variant that caused a significant upswing in COVID-19 cases during the winter.
However, that strain isn't circulating in the US anymore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week, the CDC said BA.4 and BA.5 now account for over 52 percent of COVID-19 infections in the US. That figure is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
As CNBCnotes, Pfizer and Moderna released clinical trial data this week showing that the current omicron shots performed better against BA.1 than the original versions of their vaccines in terms of offering a stronger immune response. While the immune response against BA.4 and BA.5 was still said to be robust, the omicron inoculations were less effective against those strains. It's unclear how long it will take vaccine makers to develop shots that take aim at BA.4 and BA.5.
"Vaccine manufacturers have already reported data from clinical trials with modified vaccines containing an omicron BA.1 component and we have advised them that they should submit these data to the FDA for our evaluation prior to any potential authorization of a modified vaccine containing an omicron BA.4/5 component," the FDA said. "Manufacturers will also be asked to begin clinical trials with modified vaccines containing an omicron BA.4/5 component, as these data will be of use as the pandemic further evolves."
With Pokémon Go, Niantic became the poster child for the power of mobile augmented reality (AR) apps. Since then, the company has struggled to recapture that glory. Yesterday's round of layoffs and canceled projects cemented how difficult things are for Niantic, driven by the pandemic that has made it tough for people to get outside and gather in groups. But it turns out there's another way for Niantic to double down on its AR lead: By making it easier for its existing players to communicate with each other.
Today, the company has begun rolling out Campfire, a social app that will let Niantic's users chat with their friends, join groups of like-minded mobile wanders, and arrange major events like Pokémon Go's raids. Up until now, Poké-addicts have used Discord and other messagings apps to arrange their gatherings. But, likely seeing a missed opportunity, Niantic has developed its own social platform, one that'll be accessible across all of its titles (including Ingress, its first major release).
Campfire is about more than just messaging, though. It also gives players a broader glimpse at everything the company's games have to offer. In Pokémon Go, for example, it can show you that there's a Venusaur hanging out on the other side of town, a far wider view than you'd typically get in the game's main app. You can also light a flare on specific events, which alerts other local players that you'd like some help tackling it. And, as you'd expect, Campfire also makes it easier to coordinate your friends, like quickly being able to DM your friends if there's a Snorlax you want to take on.
Even if you don't have Campfire, though, you'll still see some benefits within the company's apps. That expanded map view will be integrated within Pokémon Go, for one. That's useful for all players, while also being enticing glimpse at what they can access if they sign up for Campfire.
According to Ivan Zhou, Niantic's head of product, the company is still focused on bringing people together in the real world, rather than using Campfire to power remote events. The app's Communities feature is also a big step forward, since it'll let users create groups around any sort of topic. Zhou was already surprised to see groups pop up for niche local topics. There's also room for Campfire to grow as a location-first social network, rather than using location as an afterthought (like Facebook's Groups).
Users in the U.S. will get access to Campfire over the coming days, the company says, while international access for Pokémon Go will light up throughout the summer. There aren't any specific launch dates yet, but the company says it will announce future updates on its social channels.
Twitch has announced a new feature for creators who want to include other streamers and even viewers on their broadcasts. Up to five guests can join a stream through Guest Star, which works on both desktop and mobile. If a viewer wants to take part in the discussion or ask a question, they can raise a virtual hand and the creator or a moderator may invite them on. This seems to work in a similar fashion to Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces.
While the feature is akin to Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Spotify Live, Discord Stage Channels et al, Twitch can set itself apart from those services. Guest Star supports live video as well as audio — this is Twitch, after all.
The platform says Guest Star is easy for both newcomers and experienced streamers to use and it works with software like OBS and Twitch Studio. However, streamers won't need to use a third-party app to host a broadcast with other participants.
Until now, bringing guests on to a broadcast has required a bit of a workaround if creators don't want to simply stream a Zoom, Skype or Discord call. If they prefer to use custom layouts, overlays and branding, it's possible to include remote video feeds from Skype or a web app. Guest Star should streamline things.
Streamers and their moderators can swiftly remove guests at any time and for any reason. Guests will need a Twitch account, which means they can be reported for violating the platform's rules. There are some measures in place to help weed out bad actors before they become a guest. Creators and moderators will be able to look at factors like the age of an account, if it's in good standing and if the user has verified it with a phone number.
Guest Star seems to build on features like Squad Stream, which allows viewers to watch four livestreams simultaneously on the Twitch app or website and jump between those creators' chats. The new feature is about bringing people together on the same channel. Creators might use Guest Star for podcasts, call-in advice streams and even game shows.
While Twitch is most commonly associated with gaming, talk-style content has long been on the rise on the platform. Just Chatting has been the most popular category since the third quarter of 2020, according to data from Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet.
Twitch says that, in the first five months of 2022 (compared with the same period in 2020), hours watched in the Just Chatting category grew 151 percent, while revenue for streamers who create that type of content rose by 169 percent. It suggested Guest Star may encourage more creators to try their hand at talk-focused content.
At first, Guest Star will only be available to a small number of hand-picked streamers who already create talk content so that Twitch can get some feedback before a broader rollout. Twitch plans to make the feature available to all creators this fall.
A year of attacks against reproductive rights culminated in the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, with communities around the nation responding in protest. The decision also reinvigorated a growing business response to abortion access, with dozens of employers pledging to cover their employees' costs for abortion travel or care.
And at the same time, some experts say employers should anticipate legal backlash from state lawmakers and those standing in the way of accessible abortion, Reuters reported. Other legal professionals contend they'll be protected in civil lawsuits by federal laws overseeing employer-sponsored healthcare and employees, including the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (or ERISA). ERISA prohibits states from enacting requirements that relate to such health plans, but wouldn't apply to criminal cases.
Below are the organizations that have made initial commitments to do so, in varying capacities. You can also visit DontBanEquality.com to learn more about the coalition of more than 500 businesses pledging support for reproductive rights.
Apple has a big update to CarPlay slated for sometime later this year, but in the meantime, the tech giant has begun working with partners to support a new feature that will let users pay for gas directly inside the company's infotainment platform.
While the ability to purchase fuel using CarPlay was first revealed during developer sessions at WWDC earlier this month, it didn't get a ton of attention until recently when energy company HF Sinclair announced plans to implement the feature at its gas stations in the U.S.
HF Sinclair told Reuters that more specific details will be released in the coming months, but the basic idea is that instead of needing to swipe your credit card at the pump, users will be able to buy gas via an app in CarPlay. However, there will be some initial setup, as you'll need to download the app and enter your payment info first. Once everything is set up, you'll be able to select a specific pump from your navigation screen and refuel without needing to pull out your wallet.
Ahead of a major update to CarPlay, Apple's push to support buying gas digitally comes amidst larger efforts to integrate more third-party services as the company looks to expand the role of its automotive platform. In a statement given to Reuters, Asymco analyst Horace Dedie said given the reach of CarPlay, this strategy could have an even greater impact than Apple's long-rumored efforts to design its own EV.
“Forget about Apple Car - Apple CarPlay is a bigger deal,” Dediu said. “It’s very likely to scale to millions and millions of cars, if not hundreds of millions.” However, with Google also eying a number of upgrades to Android Auto, it appears the competition among in-car infotainment systems is just beginning to heat up.
Google is updating its password manager to make it easier to use and more consistent across platforms. The tool could also help users make their accounts more secure following the upgrades. For one thing, Google is making the password management experience the same in Chrome and Android settings. It will automatically group together passwords for the same sites and apps.
You'll now be able to add passwords directly to Google Password Manager on top of saving them when you log in to an account. Google suggests Android users will be able to log in to sites faster on Chrome with a touch-to-login feature, which will be available on an overlay on the bottom of the screen. This builds on biometric verification features Google added to Chrome last year.
In addition, Google says it will notify you through the Password Checkup screen if you're using compromised credentials. Android users will see alerts about weak and reused passwords too. If you receive such a warning, it should be easy to correct the issue with the automatic password change feature. Compromised password warnings will be available for Chrome users on iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux and Chrome OS too.
Last week, Google added the ability for iOS users to set Chrome as their autofill provider. The idea was to make it easier for people who use Google Password Manager to sign in to any app on their iPhone. Google recently introduced the option for Android users to set a home screen shortcut for Password Manager as well.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle was a pleasant surprise. A charming game that married Nintendo’s Mushroom Kingdom with the chaos of Ubisoft’s Rabbid mascots and crammed it into a game that was, well, pretty much a cartoon interpretation of the tactical strategy series XCOM.
It was an unlikely early hit on the Switch. Ubisoft was able to offer a different kind of game than Nintendo was offering in its first-party titles. Apparently, that was the seed that led Ubisoft Milan Creative Director Davide Soliani to Mario + Rabbids. Talking to Engadget, he said, “[We] should create something that makes sense from Ubisoft’s point of view, something not happening in Nintendo’s catalog.”
Ubisoft fulfilled that brief with Kingdom Battle. Soliani added: “We can match the aesthetics [of Super Mario], using and misusing the elements…. The contrast is the drive.” That’s the context for this sequel, too.
In Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Mario et al. (and their Rabbid equivalents) face a shared threat, called Cursa. The blended worlds of Mario and Rabbids are being contorted by darkness, but this time it’s a little more galactic. Expect to see varied worlds, à la Mario Galaxy, with the Lumas of that game being transformed into Sparks, elemental sprites that work like summonable magic attacks in the many, many battles.
That may sound new to anyone that played Kingdom Battle, but there are far bigger changes afoot. We’re yet to play the game, but judging from the new teaser and Davide Soliani’s explanation, it’s going to feel different – less of an XCOM tribute and something between tactical strategy conventions and the manic dashing and leaping of typical Mario games.
Ubisoft
Your party of three heroes can now move around in real-time, no more grids. You’ll be able to see how far a character can move within their environment thanks to a white outline, but you’ll be able to figure out cover and optimal attacks on the fly. Each hero will get their turn before the baddies get to, well, return the favor. Soliani says this should help the game to feel more “natural”.
Crucial elements will include where you move your hero (as long as you don’t shoot), utilizing items to extend movement and even using some enemies against other enemies – like hurling a Bob-omb towards some unsuspecting enemies on the other side of an area. Like Kingdom Battle, the synergy with other heroes will be crucial in tackling the biggest enemies.
Alongside companion elemental Sparks, which will grow in abilities as your characters do, each hero will have their own unique weapon this time, running the gamut from melee weapons like swords through to dual pistols and even bows. (You can’t have a game in the 2020s without including a bow.)
You’ll be joined by some new characters, including a Rabbid with a sword called Edge. (Dumb, I love it.) and age-old rival Bowser, who’s apparently a heavy-hitter equipped with what appears to be a bazooka.
More freedom in battles is mirrored in the game too. The worlds you’ll explore should feel more open-ended than the areas of its predecessor. Explore planets, take on fetch quests (this is a Ubisoft game after all), solve the major darkness problems of this specific planet – or just do the bare minimum and move on to the next part of the game.
Ubisoft
This should all help Sparks of Hope feel a little more contemporary – aided by a pretty incredible array of musical talent. Kingdom Battle composer Grant Kirkhope, who also contributed to Rare’s epic run of Nintendo 64 games, returns, joined by Gareth Croker (Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Halo Infinite) and Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XV). Those are some gaming music heavyweights which should help ensure all these different worlds sound as different as they’ll look.
Judging from the teaser and Soliani’s comments, Ubisoft is evolving Mario + Rabbids at a swift clip, modernizing the battle system and adding further strategic wrinkles and customization to fights. Sparks of Hope could feel like a different sort of tactical battle game, and if they nail the synergy like the first game, it could be just as entertaining.
"When it comes to emulation or bringing classics back or doing really any sort of remastering or reimagining, I don't know if there's anybody who does it better than Digital Eclipse, so they were always our first choice," Atari CEO Wade Rosen told Game Informer.
Atari has yet to share a complete list of the games that will appear on the compilation, but in addition to many classics, the collection will include six new retro-inspired games. One of those is a sequel to 1981’s Haunted House for the Atari 2600. Haunted Houses will feature modern 3D voxel-based graphics and new levels for players to explore. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration will cost $40 when it arrives later this year on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC and Atari VCS.
Julia Roberts and George Clooney are back in action in the upcoming rom-com Ticket to Paradise, where they play bitter exes. Although they dislike each other, they've agreed to work together in order to stop their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) from getting married. (Roberts should be an expert given that she's tried to stop a wedding before, in My Best Friend's Wedding.)
Of course, things don't quite go as planned, and between dance parties, beer pong, and surprisingly bite-y dolphins, Roberts and Clooney's characters may discover a second chance at love. Will they carry out a classic lovers-to-enemies-then-back-to-lovers arc? Stay tuned.
ARM’s newest flagship GPU will offer hardware-based ray tracing, a first for the company. Announced today, the Immortalis-G715 promises a 15 percent performance boost compared to the firm’s previous generation of premium Mali GPUs. The performance improvement is courtesy of architectural improvements and a design that can accommodate up to 16 cores.
ARM already offered support for software-based ray tracing with last year’s Mali-G710. However, the company claims the Immortalis-G715 will deliver a 300 percent improvement in ray tracing performance thanks to its dedicated hardware.
Whether you’ll see a mobile title with ray tracing anytime soon is hard to say. Since creating games is so expensive, most developers try to make their projects playable on as many devices as possible. In the immediate future, you’re more likely to see a benefit out of the Immortalis-G715’s support for Variable Rate Shading. VRS is a technology that sees a GPU focus its efforts on rendering the parts of a scene that require the most detail. You likely won’t perceive a drop in visual quality, but the GPU will operate more efficiently. ARM says it saw frame rate improvements of up 40 percent in some games thanks to the tech.
ARM announced two other GPUs today: the Mali-G715 and Mali-G615. Both components incorporate the VRS technology found on their more expensive sibling but don’t offer ray tracing and boast fewer cores for lower overall performance.
Android phones with Immortalis-G715 GPUs will begin arriving in 2023. At least when it comes to timing, ARM is playing catch-up. Samsung’s Exynos 2200, with ray tracing graphics from AMD, is already available on Galaxy S22 phones in Europe and other parts of the world.
White noise has been a trustworthy aid for a variety of reasons, such as meditation, studying, sleeping with insomnia, and helping young children (and their parents) fall asleep faster. After stumbling across #brownnoise TikTok, however, I may never go back to white noise again.
Credit: TikTok / hannahemaute
Whereas white noise encompasses sounds from all over the spectrum, including low, mid-range, and high frequency notes, brown noise uses only low frequency and bass-heavy notes. This makes brown noise much deeper in sound than white noise and more ideal for those who find the high frequency notes in white noise uncomfortable. Both can occur naturally in nature: Gentle rain showers and crashing waves are examples of white noise, while thunder and strong winds are examples of brown noise.
TikTokkers, especially those with ADHD, have been raving about the benefits of brown noise as opposed to white noise. While previous studies have shown the benefits of white noise on cognitive performance and verbal working memory in ADHD, the effects of brown noise are relatively understudied. Some people find that brown noise is more effective in quieting thoughts, allowing for better focus and productivity. Others prefer it to white noise for sleeping, or simply for the calming effect.
Credit: TikTok / htizz
I suffer from bouts of tinnitus and the high frequency notes in white noise can often make it worse. So far, brown noise has helped distract me from uncomfortable tinnitus sounds. And I’m not the only one who finds comfort in brown noise: I’ve found that my cats seem to prefer it for the low frequency rumbles as well.
If you’re not a fan of brown noise or white noise, don’t despair! There’s also pink noise, blue noise, violet noise, and gray noise, all of which operate on different frequencies. Ready to hear what all the hype is about? Here are a few apps you can use to play noise:
Noise Generator allows you to choose sounds from the whole spectrum. Users can customize sounds based on color, low and high cuts, and balance. For those who are sensitive to frequencies, this app allows you to pick and choose which frequencies sound the most comfortable to you.
Noise Machine allows you to filter by white noise, pink noise, and brown noise. Although the initial app is free, the sounds have a time limit of 5 minutes. Users can pay $10 to unlock the app for life and play all three sounds without a time limit.
Although titled “White Noise,” this app allows you to choose from a variety of sounds. Users have the option to mix sounds and control the fade, oscillator, and timer for each sound. In the free version, sounds are limited to eight hours.
Last year, hurricanes hammered the Southern and Eastern US coasts at the cost of more than 160 lives and $70 billion in damages. Thanks to climate change, it's only going to get worse. In order to quickly and accurately predict these increasingly severe weather patterns, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Tuesday that it has effectively tripled its supercomputing (and therefore weather modelling) capacity with the addition of two high-performance computing (HPC) systems built by General Dynamics.
“This is a big day for NOAA and the state of weather forecasting,” Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said in a press statement. “Researchers are developing new ensemble-based forecast models at record speed, and now we have the computing power needed to implement many of these substantial advancements to improve weather and climate prediction.”
General Dynamics was awarded the $505 million contract back in 2020 and delivered the two computers, dubbed Dogwood and Cactus, to their respective locations in Manassas, Virginia, and Phoenix, Arizona. They'll replace a pair of older Cray and IBM systems in Reston, Virginia, and Orlando, Florida.
Each HPC operates at 12.1 petaflops or, "a quadrillion calculations per second with 26 petabytes of storage," Dave Michaud, Director, National Weather Service Office of Central Processing, said during a press call Tuesday morning. That's "three times the computing capacity and double the storage capacity compared to our previous systems... These systems are amongst the fastest in the world today, currently ranked at number 49 and 50." Combined with its other supercomputers in West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Colorado, the NOAA wields a full 42 petaflops of capacity.
With this extra computational horsepower, the NOAA will be able to create higher-resolution models with more realistic physics — and generate more of them with a higher degree of model certainty, Brian Gross, Director, NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center, explained during the call. This should result in more accurate forecasts and longer lead times for storm warnings.
"The new supercomputers will also allow significant upgrades to specific modeling systems in the coming years," Gross said. "This includes a new hurricane forecast model named the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System, which is slated to be in operation at the start of the 2023 hurricane season," and will replace the existing H4 hurricane weather research and forecasting model.
While the NOAA hasn't yet confirmed in absolute terms how much of an improvement the new supercomputers will grant to the agency's weather modelling efforts, Ken Graham, the Director of National Weather Service, is convinced of their value.
"To translate what these new supercomputers will mean for for the average American," he said during the press call, "we are currently developing models that will be able to provide additional lead time in the outbreak of severe weather events and more accurately track the intensity forecasts for hurricanes, both in the ocean and that are expected to hit landfall, and we want to have longer lead times [before they do]."
Sayonara Wild Heartsdeveloper Simogo has revealed its next game and the eclectic studio is again moving in a different direction. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a non-linear adventure title that will land on Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2023.
Simogo and publisher Annapurna Interactive announced the game during today's Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase. The first trailer depicts a dark, atmospheric world in which you'll need to solve puzzles to get to the bottom of a murder mystery. While the clip is light on story, there are a few peeks at the titular laser eyes.
The trailer description notes that you'll play as a woman who's looking for answers in a central European manor (or possibly a hotel or museum). Players will need to pay attention to what's going on, and think about numbers, patterns and puzzles that they find. Annapurna suggests these could be part of a "macabre game" or just a "simple treasure hunt."
Simogo shook up the gameplay of Sayonara Wild Hearts from level to level and it looks like it's adopting a similar approach here. The trailer suggests there will be a first-person shooter element, for instance. The visuals will vary too, from lo-fi PS1-era environments and character models to wireframe figures. It looks delightfully strange.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is nearly perfect and one of my favorite games of all time. So, I'm really looking forward to checking out Lorelei and the Laser Eyes next year. Here's hoping for more details during the Annapurna Interactive Showcase, which takes place on July 28th.
Russia has fined Airbnb, Twitch and Pinterest for violating the country’s personal data legislation, Reuters reports. On Tuesday, a court in Moscow ordered all three companies to pay fines of 2 million roubles (approximately $37,700) for not storing the data of Russian citizens within the country. The decision came after Russia’s Roskomnadzor internet commission opened administrative cases against the three platforms in May. Airbnb, Twitch and Pinterest did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.
In the years to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, US tech firms would sporadically attract the attention of Russian regulators, leading to conflicts over the country’s approach to content, censorship and local data representation. Since the war began, those disputes have intensified in both frequency and severity as the west has moved to punish Russia for the war. In May, for instance, Google’s Russian division filed for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account. The search giant said the move had made it “untenable” for the office to pay employees and suppliers.
Airbnb is permanently banning all parties and events at host properties around the world, it announced. That follows a temporary 2020 ban it had instituted on house parties to comply with COVID-related social distancing restrictions. "Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure," Airbnb said in a blog post. "It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors."
Airbnb had already banned "chronic party houses" in 2019 following a California Halloween shooting that resulted in five deaths. It later barred all "open-invite" house parties, but still allowed invitation-only parties in single family dwellings. However, those too are now prohibited, under penalty of account suspension or full removal from the platform.
On a more positive note, Airbnb lifted a 16-person occupancy cap also instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's because certain properties "from castles in Europe to vineyards in the US to large beachfront villas in the Caribbean" can easily accommodate more than 16 people, it said, adding that "properties like these thrive on hosting multi-generational family trips and larger groups."
The company runs a tip line that allows neighbors or others to report parties. Airbnb noted that it saw a 44 percent drop in the rate of party reports after the ban was implemented in 2020 and it suspended the accounts of around 6,600 guests for breaking the policy last year.
There's some good news if you've been waiting to get your hands on a Steam Deck. Valve says it has boosted production and will be shipping more than twice the number of units each week than it has over the last few months.
The company planned to start shipping the device in December, but supply chain issues forced it to delay the Steam Deck until February. It now appears Valve has found the parts and production capacity it needs to build units at a faster pace and get them out to customers more quickly.
Hello! Some great news on the production front. We just sent the last batch of Q2 emails, and we’ll start sending Q3 reservation emails on the 30th.
Production has picked up, and after today we'll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week! pic.twitter.com/kAHE0zRrV7
Were you to reserve a Steam Deck now, you likely wouldn't receive it until at least October. However, since Valve is ramping up the volume of shipments, it may be able to bring down the wait time. Hopefully, it will soon get to the point where it can ship a Steam Deck within days of someone deciding to order one.
Valve says those who had an expected shipment window of Q3 will start receiving reservation emails on June 30th. When you do eventually get your Steam Deck, though, it's probably best to avoid swapping out the built-in storage. Valve hardware designer Lawrence Yang warned that the power requirements of off-the-shelf SSDs could cause a Steam Deck to overheat and shorten the lifespan.
My first playthrough of Endless Dungeon ended in disaster. The “Crystal Bot” I was supposed to defend was overrun by a ravenous swarm of bugs after I left it open to attack by pulling my two heroes away to protect a resource point. Naturally, I started a new run immediately after I had a moment to curse my luck.
Endless Dungeon falls somewhere between a sequel and remake of 2014’s Dungeon of the Endless, the game that helped developer Amplitude Studios make its name. Like its predecessor, Endless Dungeon tasks you with protecting a crystal from hordes of enemies while finding your way through a mysterious multi-level dungeon. But where Dungeon of the Endless took place on a strange alien planet, this one is set on a station left behind by the Endless, the ancient alien race that connects all of Amplitude’s projects.
Also new to Endless Dungeon is that it’s a twin-stick shooter and features a roguelite progression, meaning you’ll need to start from the beginning of the game each time you fail your objective but you’ll carry over some of the things you earned to make your next run easier. Additionally, Amplitude has built the game from the start with multiplayer in mind.
“We had a lot of ideas for Dungeon of the Endless that didn’t make it into the game,” says lead game designer Arthur Prudent during a press event Sega held last week. “This time we wanted to do something more accessible. That’s why we wanted the player to have direct control. That forced us to change a lot of things.”
Each run of Endless Dungeon begins with you picking a team of misfits to delve into the depths of the station. In the demo I played, you could take two characters with you. The final game will feature eight playable heroes, with a full team consisting of three squadmates.
Amplitude Studios / Sega
When playing online, you and two other friends control one character each. In singleplayer, you can only play as one hero at a time. However, you can issue orders to your two party members. Each hero has their own backstory and playstyle, as well as special and ultimate abilities. Zed, one of my favorites, carries a minigun into battle with her and can clear rooms with an explosive line attack.
Once you have a squad assembled, the bulk of Endless Dungeon’s gameplay involves attempting to get the cute Crystal Bot I mentioned before to the end of a level so that it can descend further down the station and you can find what’s at the center. The catch is that each time you attempt to move the robot, an endless horde of enemies will attack until the bot is either destroyed or you successfully get it to its destination. Waves of enemies will also periodically attack you while you explore each level.
What makes the action in Endless Dungeon thrilling is that it’s a tower-defense game where you don’t know the entire layout of a level when you start. You have to explore each level to find all the enemy spawn points. My first run ended when I left one of the corridors leading to my Crystal Bot undefended. Some levels will feature locked doors, with a central switch you can trigger to unlock them all at once, allowing you to shape the path enemies take.
Amplitude Studios / Sega
Every level consists of multiple rooms, and in each room, you can build turrets to thin out enemy waves. In addition to the usual assortment of damage-dealing ones, you can build turrets that slow your enemies and shield your other assets to make them more resistant to attack. Gone from Dungeon of the Endless is that game’s light mechanic where enemies would spawn in rooms where you didn’t spend Dust to power them. That makes planning your defenses both more and less difficult since you need to find the enemy’s dedicated spawn points.
Building turrets requires a resource called industry. Alongside food and science, it’s one of three primary resources you’ll collect to build structures, heal your heroes, research new turrets and more. A fourth resource called Dust Shards lets you upgrade your Crystal Bot and restore power to rooms left without any.
Amplitude Studios / Sega
Managing your resources in Endless Dungeon is its own tightrope act. As you explore each floor of the station, you’ll find rooms with spots for generators that can add to your food, industry or science stockpiles. If you have enough industry points, you can build additional extractors, with each subsequent one costing more than the last. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
That’s because Endless Dungeon plays out in real-time but your generators only add to your resource pool when you open a new room. Moreover, they’re one of the first things the denizens of the station will attack on their way to your Crystal Bot. To make things even more complicated, even if you build an industry generator on every spot you find, you won’t have enough materials for all the turrets you need to defend everything. In short, expansion comes with risks in Endless Dungeon, and the game constantly asks you to make those kinds of decisions.
For instance, collecting Dust Shards involves uprooting your Crystal Bot and moving it, meaning it must leave behind any turrets you built to defend it. Obtaining upgrades from a research terminal is similarly perilous since starting one will trigger a wave of enemies.
Amplitude Studios / Sega
My second and third runs end about as well as my first one, and I’m no closer to completing the demo than I was when the preview began. “The game is supposed to be hard,” Prudent tells me and everyone else taking part in the event. Each time you fail a run in Endless Dungeon, you find yourself back in a bar that plays smooth jazz in the background. It’s here that you get a chance to talk to all the characters you can take on your runs and unlock the things that will make your next playthrough go smoother.
Amplitude Studios wasn’t ready to preview those systems when I played the game. Without experiencing them, it’s hard to say if Endless Dungeon will have the staying power of games like Hadesor Rogue Legacy 2, but what I played last left me excited to see where the studio takes the game. Endless Dungeon doesn’t have a release date, but when it does arrive, you’ll be able to play it on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
This ergonomic split keyboard is designed to be comfortable to use, lights up in any color you like, and can even be programmed for maximum customization.
Amazon will literally pay you to shop this Prime Day. No, really.
New for 2022, the retail giant is giving customers several ways to earn free credits, which they can spend during its massive annual sale (which is happening on July 12 and 13 this year). All offers but two are open to anyone with an Amazon account, so even non-Prime members can score.
Amazon is planning on adding at least one more of these credit-earning promotions in the coming weeks, but here's everything you can do as of June 27.
After downloading the free Amazon Photos app and signing into your Amazon account, simply upload at least one picture and turn on the Auto-Save feature to automatically back it up. Amazon will follow up with you via email within four days to confirm that a free $20 credit has been applied to your account, and you'll be able to put it toward any Prime Day order over $40 of products sold by Amazon.com or Amazon.com Services LLC. (Look for "sold by Amazon.com" or "sold by Amazon.com Services LLC" under the "Add to Cart" button in the right-hand column of product pages.)
Need to stock up on paper towels, laundry detergent, dish soap, diapers, or shampoo? You'll secure a $20 Prime Day credit by spending $75 or more on Proctor & Gamble household and personal care essentials. Amazon will send you the reward confirmation email near the start of Prime Day, which you'll be able to redeem the day(s) of.
Prime members who haven't purchased or reloaded a gift card before will receive a $12.50 credit in their account when they do so on Prime Day. (The only catch is that you have to spend at least $50.) Be sure to click the yellow "Apply code to your account" button or enter the promo code GCPRIME22 at checkout to make sure the offer goes through; you should get an email telling you that the money's been applied to your account within two days.
As part of Amazon's new virtual punchcard program, Prime members can earn a free $10 credit just for making use of their benefits at least once through July 13 — that includes streaming any movie or show on Prime Video, listening to any song on Prime Music, borrowing a Prime Reading or Kindle Unlimited book (or adding one to a library), and making a Prime shipping-eligible purchase of at least $5. The credit will automatically appear in your account within 24 hours of you completing those four tasks, and you'll be able to spend it on any purchase within the next year.
Kind of random, but Amazon will give you a free $5 voucher for buying an Atom movie ticket to Pixar's Lightyear, a Toy Story prequel starring Chris Evans that recounts the origin story the beloved space ranger. (Mashable's deputy entertainment editor Kristy Puchko called the intergalactic adventure "a rollicking good time," for what it's worth.) An email with instructions on how to redeem the credit will arrive soon after.
For an extra $5 you can use on Prime Day, grab some Lightyearmerch off Amazon once you get back from the theater.
Baz Luhrmann's flashy Elvis is... something, so if you're going to put yourself through the arduous task of watching it, you might as well make some money off the experience. Buy at least one ticket to see it in theaters through Atom using the promo code ELVIS at checkout, and you'll get a $5 credit to put toward a Prime Day purchase sent to you via email.
Amazon says it'll give you two whole dollars just for visiting its landing page for Affirm (a "buy now, pay later" financing option) and taking a good, long scroll down the whole thing. This one isn't available for everyone, FYI, but it's so easy that it's worth a shot.
According to the U.S. Flag Code, flying the American flag shouldn't be flown upside down — with the stars at the bottom — "except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property." U.S. Flag Code is officially a law, but there aren't any federal punishments or enforcement for people who don't follow the code, according to Cornell Law School. So, it's not a particularly useful law. It sets the rules for when the American flag can be flown at half-staff (mourning) and how the flag shouldn't be used (for clothes, bedding, or drapery).
So protesters are flying their flags upside down in response to what they see as a nation in distress. It's one of the many forms of peaceful protest that aren't particularly radical, but can be useful in making people feel like they're doing something when they feel helpless, or showing your neighbors where you align politically and that you're a safe space for certain folks.
Forms of peaceful protests can help people find community when they feel frustrated and alone, can help to share resources, and can result in real change — like the 1963 March on Washington, which successfully pressured the government to pass a civil rights bill. Or take 2020's Black Lives Matter protests, which led to fewer legislative progress than the March on Washington but still important societal moves, like the removal of confederate symbols and marking Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Putting up signs in your yard and attending peaceful marches can be an important way to show your support for movements, but activists and organizers encourage supporters to not feel that they've done enough work by simply flying a flag upside down. One of the problems with participating in demonstrations that don't put real pressure on those who hold actual power is that it can feel like you've done something to push the movement forward when, in reality, you have not.
Google is warning of a sophisticated new spyware campaign that has seen malicious actors steal sensitive data from Android and iOS users in Italy and Kazakhstan. On Thursday, the company’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) shared its findings on RCS Labs, a commercial spyware vendor based out of Italy.
On June 16th, security researchers at Lookout linked the firm to Hermit, a spyware program believed to have been first deployed in 2019 by Italian authorities as part of an anti-corruption operation. Lookout describes RCS Labs as an NSO Group-like entity. The firm markets itself as a “lawful intercept” business and claims it only works with government agencies. However, commercial spyware vendors have come under intense scrutiny in recent years, largely thanks to governments using the Pegasus spyware to target activists and journalists.
According to Google, Hermit can infect both Android and iOS devices. In some instances, the company’s researchers observed malicious actors work with their target’s internet service provider to disable their data connection. They would then send the target an SMS message with a prompt to download the linked software to restore their internet connection. If that wasn’t an option, the bad actors attempted to disguise the spyware as a legitimate messaging app like WhatsApp or Instagram.
What makes Hermit particularly dangerous is that it can gain additional capabilities by downloading modules from a command and control server. Some of the addons Lookout observed allowed the program to steal data from the target’s calendar and address book apps, as well as take pictures with their phone’s camera. One module even gave the spyware the capability to root an Android device.
Google believes Hermit never made its way to the Play or App stores. However, the company found evidence that bad actors were able to distribute the spyware on iOS by enrolling in Apple’s Developer Enterprise Program. Apple told The Verge that it has since blocked any accounts or certificates associated with the threat. Meanwhile, Google has notified affected users and rolled out an update to Google Play Protect.
The company ends its post by noting the growth of the commercial spyware industry should concern everyone. “These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools and arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house,” the company said. “While use of surveillance technologies may be legal under national or international laws, they are often found to be used by governments for purposes antithetical to democratic values: targeting dissidents, journalists, human rights workers and opposition party politicians.”
A year of attacks against reproductive rights culminated in the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, with communities around the nation responding in protest. The decision also reinvigorated a growing business response to abortion access, with dozens of employers pledging to cover their employees' costs for abortion travel or care.
Employer support through covered health plans or monetary reimbursement adds another, albeit more corporate, layer to this fold of reproductive health access, but the announcements have also prompted justified concern about an employer's right to your personal health information.
And at the same time, some experts say employers should anticipate legal backlash from state lawmakers and those standing in the way of accessible abortion, Reuters reports. Other legal professionals contend they'll be protected in civil lawsuits by federal laws overseeing employer-sponsored healthcare and employees, including the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (or ERISA). ERISA prohibits states from enacting requirements that relate to such health plans, but wouldn't apply to criminal cases.
