It was only last week that Ryu and Chun-Li from Street Fighter joined Fortnite and now another beloved franchise is making its way to the battle royale. This time, it’s Alien with both Ripley and Xenomorph skins available to purchase this week throug…
Source: Engadget – Ripley and the Xenomorph from Alien are the latest additions to ‘Fortnite’
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Netflix pledges $100 million to improve the diversity in its shows
After releasing its first diversity report in January, Netflix has also published the results of a study of its US-commissioned films and series over 2018 and 2019. While the earlier report covered the makeup of Netflix’s employees, today’s f…
Source: Engadget – Netflix pledges 0 million to improve the diversity in its shows
Facebook's Making a Good Case Why You Should Never Wear Its Smart Glasses
Everyone and their mother is supposedly building a pair of smart glasses now, Facebook included. However, a BuzzFeed News report notes that apparently, Facebook is thinking about building facial recognition into its forthcoming pair of AR glasses. Um, no thank you.
Source: Gizmodo – Facebook’s Making a Good Case Why You Should Never Wear Its Smart Glasses
Report: PS5 storage expansion will be available by summer
Enlarge / This style of PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD should soon work with the PS5, though that massive heatsink won’t fit inside the system’s expansion bay.
Bloomberg cites unnamed “people briefed on the matter” in reporting that PS5 owners will finally be able to expand the system’s built-in storage by this coming summer. The planned firmware update that will unlock this feature will also allow for higher cooling-fan speeds on the system to prevent overheating, Bloomberg reports.
For games designed for the PS5, owners are currently limited to 667GB of usable space on the system’s 825GB high-speed NVMe drive. That’s a pretty strict limit when individual PS5 games can be 50 to 100GB or more at the high end. PS5 owners can plug in a standard USB hard drive to store backward-compatible PlayStation 4 games running on the system, though.
Almost a year ago, Sony announced that the PS5’s storage space would be expandable with certain standard M.2 solid state drives, which are shaped a bit like a stick of gum. Sony said it would be benchmarking a number of those drives to ensure compatibility with the PS5’s stated 5.5GBps data transfer spec. But Sony’s Mark Cerny said at the time that the announcement of these officially confirmed PS5-compatible drives would “likely be a bit past” the PS5’s launch.
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Source: Ars Technica – Report: PS5 storage expansion will be available by summer
Halo Infinite's Year-Long Delay May Be Worth, Just Look At These Gorgeous New Screenshots
If things had gone to plan, Halo Infinite would have launched alongside the Xbox Series X, but like so many other projects, its release ended up being delayed—it is expected to launch in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Waiting is frustrating, but a delay might have been the best thing for Halo Infinite, because newly released screenshots
Source: Hot Hardware – Halo Infinite’s Year-Long Delay May Be Worth, Just Look At These Gorgeous New Screenshots
These modern-day treasure hunters reunite people with lost heirlooms
Whether it’s a family heirloom that’s been passed down for generations or a brand new engagement ring, losing a treasured piece of jewelry can feel like losing a piece of yourself. That’s why former professional soccer player and lifelong metal detec…
Source: Engadget – These modern-day treasure hunters reunite people with lost heirlooms
The FCC Just Authorized a $3.2 Billion Dollar Program Meant To Bring Low-Income Americans Online
The Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted late Thursday to adopt the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program—a $3.2 billion dollar initiative meant to lower the cost of internet services for the tens of millions of families struggling with connectivity during the ongoing pandemic.
Source: Gizmodo – The FCC Just Authorized a .2 Billion Dollar Program Meant To Bring Low-Income Americans Online
Is Your 'Attachment Style' Causing Your Relationship Problems?
The ways we were raised have an effect on our abilities to maintain healthy relationships. That particular can of worms is addressed in all manner of self help and mental health practices, but as of late, you’ve likely been hearing about most in relation to something called “attachment theory.”
Source: LifeHacker – Is Your ‘Attachment Style’ Causing Your Relationship Problems?
Take a look back at Engadget's favorite Nintendo 3DS games
Today is the 10th anniversary of the 3DS’s release in the Japan and, while the Switch has certainly captured our hearts these past four years, Nintendo’s 3D handheld still left quite an impression over the past decade. The system might have ceased pr…
Source: Engadget – Take a look back at Engadget’s favorite Nintendo 3DS games
Dyson’s Pure Humidify + Cool Cryptomic Is the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell of Air Purifiers—In a Good Way
Plastic Bottles Holding 2.3 Litres Are Least Harmful To the Planet
Using plastic bottles that contain the most liquid for the lowest packaging weight could help reduce plastic waste. From a report: Plastic pollution is a huge problem for the world, with much plastic waste reaching the oceans where it can affect marine life. In recognition of this, many researchers are developing strategies to tackle the plastic waste problem. Now, Rafael Becerril-Arreola at the University of South Carolina and his colleagues have come up with a relatively simple method to make a difference: change the packaging size to maximise its capacity for a given weight of plastic. “We realised we could establish a relationship between supermarket beverage sales and plastic waste,” says Becerril-Arreola. “I saw the opportunity to create an impact, and I took it.”
Becerril-Arreola and his team focused on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common material in plastic bottles. They weighed 187 empty bottles of different sizes from bestselling drink brands to determine the weight of plastic required to produce a bottle of a given capacity. They also compared this against PET waste and drink sales in Minnesota between 2009 and 2013, as the state government there reliably collects waste statistics and its bottled drink consumption is close to the US national average. The researchers found that the most efficient bottles — those with the greatest capacity relative to the weight of plastic used to make the bottle — had a volume between 0.5 and 2.9 litres. Bottles of this size are typically bought for on-the-go use or social gatherings. Bottles that were smaller (under 0.4 litres) or larger (over 3 litres) used more plastic in relation to each bottle’s capacity.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Plastic Bottles Holding 2.3 Litres Are Least Harmful To the Planet
Here's How The New Pokémon Snap Works
The original Pokémon Snap, released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999, saw players riding the Zero-One buggy across the generically-named Pokémon Island at the behest of Professor Oak. New Pokémon Snap gives players a whole new region to explore, a new professor to guide them, and new ways to edit and share endless photos…
Source: Kotaku – Here’s How The New Pokémon Snap Works
8 Things You Probably Didn't Know You Can Clean With Vinegar
It may be somewhat counter-intuitive that a liquid that arguably smells pretty foul on its own actually stands with the best household cleaners and odor-eliminators. Yet many years of homeownership have taught me that plain old white vinegar’s acidity—often when mixed with equal parts water—is an absolute beast on the…
Source: LifeHacker – 8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know You Can Clean With Vinegar
Intel DG2 Desktop Gaming GPU Rumored Specs Include Up To 512 EUs And 16GB VRAM
At some point, Intel is going to throw its hat into the discrete gaming graphics card ring with products based on its next-gen Xe-HPG GPU. Exactly when and what specific products will be offered are questions that will be answered in time, no matter how impatient we are to learn more. As we wait, a new leak suggests Intel could be prepping
Source: Hot Hardware – Intel DG2 Desktop Gaming GPU Rumored Specs Include Up To 512 EUs And 16GB VRAM
Striking Australian Bee Spotted for First Time in a Century—but It Could Face New Threats
Not since 1923 have scientists gazed upon the Australian cloaked bee. That is, until recently when scientists located a few populations in the wild. But its rediscovery comes as a mixed blessing owing to its potentially threatened status.
Source: Gizmodo – Striking Australian Bee Spotted for First Time in a Century—but It Could Face New Threats
'Pokémon Legends Arceus' is an open-world prequel coming early 2022
You won’t have to settle for modernized versions of classic Pokémon games in the near future. The Pokémon Company has used the 25th anniversary of the franchise to unveil Pokémon Legends Arceus, an open-world (apparently moreso than past games, a…
Source: Engadget – ‘Pokémon Legends Arceus’ is an open-world prequel coming early 2022
An Ode to a Jigglypuff
Twenty-five years ago in Red and Blue, freshly-minted Boulder-Badge owning Pokémon trainers would find themselves heading toward the first steps of the rest of their lives drowning in bird Pokémon. Route 3 was filled with them—Pidgeys and Spearows, as far as the tall grass could see—but every once in a while, when the…
Source: io9 – An Ode to a Jigglypuff
Stable kernels 5.11.2, 5.10.19, and 5.4.101
Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 5.11.2,
5.10.19, and
5.4.101 stable kernels. These all contain
a relatively small pile of important fixes; as usual, users should upgrade.
Source: LWN.net – Stable kernels 5.11.2, 5.10.19, and 5.4.101
'Pokémon Diamond' and 'Pearl' remakes are arriving on Switch later this year
The Pokémon Company had plenty to show off during its Pokémon Presents 25th Anniversary stream. Along with a deeper look at Pokémon Snap, the company announced remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl.
It looks like th…
Source: Engadget – ‘Pokémon Diamond’ and ‘Pearl’ remakes are arriving on Switch later this year
Maryland school district places largest-ever order for electric buses
Enlarge / This is a Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley school bus, built by Thomas Built Buses and equipped with an electric powertrain from Proterra. (credit: Daimler)
This week’s news about the new US Postal Service truck contract, and the USPS’ decision to order 90 percent of them with internal combustion engines, has been viewed by many as a missed opportunity. Thankfully, the news is better when it comes to electrifying another one of our public services—the school bus. On Thursday, Montgomery County—a wealthy Maryland suburb adjacent to Washington, DC—approved a contract to electrify its entire school bus fleet.
School buses are an ideal candidate for electrification, given the frequent stops and the fact that the buses usually only run a couple of times each day. With more than 1,400 buses, the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education, which has more than 200 schools and 160,000 students, has one of the largest fleets of school buses in the country. And now it’s getting 326 new ones, the largest single order of EV buses by a school district in the country.
The buses in question are Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouleys, built by Thomas Built Buses and equipped with electric powertrains made by Proterra. The Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley uses a 226kWh battery to achieve a range of up to 135 miles (217km), with up to 81 passengers aboard. The switch to electric power should cut the district’s carbon emissions by 25,000 tons and reduce diesel particulate pollution.
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Source: Ars Technica – Maryland school district places largest-ever order for electric buses