‘***** cyclone’ to bring damaging weather to US Pacific states
‘***** cyclone’ to bring damaging weather to US Pacific states
Weather Forecast: US West coast braces for once-in-a-decade ***** cyclone
A storm developing off the coast of the US northwest is forecast to bring high winds, flooding and snow to over seven million residents living in states along the Pacific Ocean.
It started impacting the region Tuesday and is expected to worsen through the end of the week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Beyond wind, rain and snow, the storm could also bring flash flooding, rock slides and debris flows as well as heavy mountain snow and blizzard conditions in areas of high elevation.
The “***** cyclone” – as forecasters call it – is caused by air pressure quickly dropping off the coast, which has rapidly intensified the weather system.
Getty Images
A ***** cyclone previously hit California in March 2023.
When and where will it hit?
Parts of the northwest are already starting to feel impacts from the storm, with strong wind gusts already observed in the Seattle area.
NOAA’s weather prediction centre said the storm is expected to bring heavy, wet snow to mountain ranges in the Pacific Northwest with accumulation rates of 2-3in (5-8cm) per hour and wind up to 65 mph (29mps).
The weather could bring whiteout conditions that will make travel difficult, according to NOAA. There could be 10-20in (25-50cm) of snow in spots.
Wind gusts could bring power outages, downed trees and high surf along the coastline, the US weather agency said, which issued a “high risk excessive rainfall outlook” for northwest California.
The heaviest rainfall – which could bring mud slides – is expected to hit northern California and southwest Oregon, according to the NOAA.
The National Weather Service also issued winter weather alerts and a winter storm warning through Wednesday for several other areas along the Pacific coast.
“Numerous flash floods, hazardous travel, power outages, and tree damage can be expected as the storm reaches max intensity,” the National Weather Prediction Centre wrote in a post on X.
What is a ***** cyclone?
***** cyclone is a term given by meteorologists to a storm that appears to intensify rapidly, with its central air pressure dropping to at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
They are referred to as ‘*****’ cyclones due to the explosive power of these storms caused by the rapid fall in pressure.
The storm brings with it an array of weather, ranging from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
BBC Weather forecaster Helen Rossington has said that the ***** cyclone will first deliver strong winds, rain and snow to the north-west coast before the region is walloped by a prolonged spell of heavy rain, mountain snow and flood risk.
These weather events are not unusual for this time of year.
Similar atmospheric river events – when small regions of moisture travel outside tropical regions – have occurred throughout North America over the last few weeks.
But the conditions of an atmospheric river combined with a ***** cyclone can create a major weather event.
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Turn Your Smartphone Into A Gaming Console With These PowerA Controller Deals
Turn Your Smartphone Into A Gaming Console With These PowerA Controller Deals
If you’re planning on traveling over the holidays, consider turning your smartphone into a portable gaming handheld with a controller case like the PowerA MOGA XP7-X Plus, which is down to just $50 (normally $100) at Amazon ahead of ****** Friday.
The PowerA MOGA XP7-X Plus is officially licensed by Xbox and features all the usual inputs you’d expect from a standard controller or handheld system, including two thumbsticks, face buttons, triggers, and a D-pad. It supports Android and iPhones up to 7.13 inches long in handheld mode and connects via Bluetooth. The controller has an integrated 2000mAh power bank and charging pad, so you can charge your phone while you play. It’s perfect for playing games via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or other cloud streaming apps, or native Android/iOS games that support controllers. You can also collapse the controller down and use it separately with your phone, Xbox, or Windows.
PowerA MOGA XP7-X Plus Bluetooth Controller
If you’re looking for a more traditional form factor, PowerA’s MOGA XP5-A Plus is also on ***** for just $36 (was $70). This is another Bluetooth controller compatible with smartphones, Xbox, and PC, though, unlike the XP7-X Plus, the XP5-A Plus is a standard controller that connects to your iPhone or Android device with the included clip accessory. The PowerA XP-ULTRA is also discounted to $60 (was $100), which can be configured into multiple modes with your smartphone, PC, or Xbox console.
PowerA Bluetooth Smartphone Controller Deals
If you’re looking for more ways to cloud stream Game Pass games this holiday season, Amazon also has a bundle deal that includes an Xbox Wireless controller, Amazon ***** TV Stick 4K Max, and one-month subscription to Game Pass Ultimate for $80 ($147). A cheaper bundle with a standard ***** TV Stick 4K is also available for $75 ($137).
While PowerA’s controllers can turn your smartphone into a portable cloud gaming device, you can get more reliable performance using a dedicated gaming handheld that runs the games directly on the device’s hardware. Luckily, one of the best Windows-based gaming handhelds, the Asus ROG Ally, is on ***** at Target and Best Buy ahead of ****** Friday.
For more deals, be sure to follow GameSpot’s ****** Friday hub to see the latest discounts.
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Quantum computers hit a crucial milestone for error-free calculation
Quantum computers hit a crucial milestone for error-free calculation
Lasers in a quantum computing set-up at Atom Computing
Atom Computing
Useful quantum computers are one step closer. Microsoft and Atom Computing announced that they have set a new record for the most entangled logical qubits, which are crucial for developing quantum computers that can correct their own errors.
“We are co-designing and building the world’s most powerful quantum machine,” says Krysta Svore at Microsoft.
Over the past decade, quantum computers have rapidly increased in size, there are more and more experts who can program them and…
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How to turn on Bluetooth in Windows and connect your devices
How to turn on Bluetooth in Windows and connect your devices
Lenovo
Bluetooth is one of the best ways to connect a range of devices to your PC or laptop, from game controllers to wireless speakers and headphones. While most PCs will have Bluetooth enabled by default, though, some may require you to enable it yourself. That goes for both Windows 11 and Windows 10, and though the methods are very similar, they’re not identical.
Here’s how to turn on Bluetooth in Windows.
How to enable Bluetooth in Windows 11
You can enable Bluetooth in Windows 11 in just a few clicks using the Settings menu. Here’s how.
Step 1: Launch the Windows Settings menu by pressing Windows key + I. Alternatively, search for Settings in the Windows search bar and select the corresponding result.
Step 2: Select Bluetooth and devices from the left-hand menu.
DigitalTrends
Step 3: Select the Bluetooth toggle on the right-hand side so that it’s set to On to turn Bluetooth on.
DigitalTrends
Step 4: To connect a new Bluetooth device to your PC, select Add a device on the Bluetooth settings page. Then select the type of device you want to add, and follow the on-screen instructions to connect it.
How to enable Bluetooth in Windows 10
The process for turning Bluetooth on in Windows 10 is much the same, but it looks a little different.
Step 1: Open the Action Center (it looks like a comment bubble on the right end of the Windows 10 taskbar).
Step 2: Select the the All Settings button. Then, select Devices and select Bluetooth & Other Devices on the left-hand side.
Step 3: Within the Settings menu’s Bluetooth section, toggle Bluetooth to the On position. Once you’ve turned Bluetooth on, you can select Add Bluetooth or Other Device. After the *Add a Device *window pops up, select Bluetooth, and Windows 10 will start searching for Bluetooth wireless devices.
Note: Make sure to set your Bluetooth device to pairing mode to connect it.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Want to learn some more Windows tips and tricks? Here are our top secrets to get to grips with it.
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The reality of my life with a brain tumour
The reality of my life with a brain tumour
Warning: This video contains scenes which some viewers may find distressing
As I waited for brain surgery, I instinctively pressed record on my phone camera, thinking I might be documenting the final months of my life.
I have made a career telling other people’s stories but this seemed like a time to tell my own.
It began with a bicycle ****** in June 2023 when I broke 10 ribs – but that led to me discovering a much ******* health challenge.
In bed one night, I had a seizure which revealed a cancerous brain tumour.
The most likely scenario seemed to be that I had an aggressive glioblastoma, a tumour which typically ends your life within 12 to 18 months.
In my hospital bed, I turned the camera on myself, not as a self-indulgence, but to spotlight a ****** ******* that’s hard to treat and even ******* to beat.
I suppose this was my way of extracting some purpose from a personal tragedy.
Glenn wants to give an insight into living with an incurable *******
The result is My Brain Tumour And Me – a TV and iPlayer film that is far more optimistic than you might think.
After 15 months I’m still going strong because it turns out I have a rare form of the ********, an oligodendroglioma, that tends to respond better to treatment.
The brilliant brain surgeon Paul Brennan saved my life by chopping out most of my tumour and, with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it seems to be keeping my ******* in check for now.
There are quarterly scans to see if it’s growing again.
There have been a couple of false alarms but the most recent check suggests my tumour is stable. I have no idea how long that will last.
I try not to worry too much between scans because what my brain tumour is up to is not within my control.
What I have been learning to deal with are the difficult legacies of my ******* treatment – persistent fatigue and the risk of further seizures.
Glenn with (left to right) his sister Lorna, his mum Jennifer and his wife Claire
A daily nap and careful budgeting of my time and effort help with the fatigue.
Adjustments to anti-seizure medication have minimised the frequency and severity of any fits.
It has taken time, trial and error to get that right.
In December last year I had a very big seizure which put me in intensive care.
A medically-induced coma was the only way doctors could make it stop.
When I came round I felt extremely lucky to be alive – but the euphoria I had experienced after brain surgery was absent.
This time, I felt as if I had only narrowly escaped ******.
It had all been a bit too close for comfort. I was very emotional.
This was, and ********, the lowest point in my experience of living with brain *******.
But I bounced back and further tweaks to my epilepsy drugs gave me enough confidence to return to the hills I love so much.
Glenn and his friend Nikolaj before they set off to climb Meall nan Tarmachan
Rarely do I feel more alive than when I’m on top of one of Scotland’s magnificent mountains.
By March this year, I felt well enough to climb one without any sense of foreboding.
The specialists are clear – they don’t want to stop me doing things. They want to enable me to live as normally as possible.
In preparation for my climb up Meall nan Tarmachan, on the banks of Loch Tay, I had successfully scaled another mountain the weekend before with no problems.
So when my friend Nikolaj and I strode out from the Ben Lawers car park to climb the Perthshire peak we had no concerns.
Within 10 minutes – before we’d really begun our ascent – I suddenly had to lie down.
It wasn’t long before my left hand and arm were twitching and shaking uncontrollably. I was having another seizure.
Glenn had a seizure shortly after starting the climb
It is very frustrating to feel perfectly well and then to be immobilised by epilepsy. Fits are also physically exhausting.
If I had thought there was much chance of this happening that day, I would have stayed at home.
This is one of only four big seizures I have ever had. The others happened in bed, at work and in a hospital car park.
Nikolaj and other walkers made me comfortable on the hill and I was given the medication I carry with me.
There was an impressive response from the emergency services and I imagined recovering on the hillside then walking slowly back to the car park.
But that was not to be.
Glenn was taken to hopsital on a Coastguard helicopter
At times, the professionals attending to me on the mountainside were not sure if things were getting better or worse so they decided to have me winched aboard a Coastguard helicopter and taken to hospital.
I would like to thank everyone who was there for me that day. I am extremely grateful.
The seizure had stopped by the time I got to A&E in Glasgow. I was soon calling friends and family to work out the best way home to East Lothian.
While on the hill, I had persuaded my walking companion to film some of the drama on his phone.
At first, he was uncomfortable with this request but when I explained that I wanted to show what having a seizure was like, he agreed.
His camerawork is some of the footage which features in My Brain Tumour and Me – my attempt to give an insight into living with an incurable ******* that is not well understood.
My wife Claire and my mum Jennifer also described the impact that such a devastating diagnosis can have on your family.
Glenn’s mother says his determination has helped her to cope
I am very lucky. I am defying the typical odds.
Six in 10 people with brain ******* do not live for more than a year beyond their diagnosis.
I may be around for some years yet.
If I have a wobble, I know I can count on the love and support of my family and friends.
I’ve found that more overwhelming and humbling than being confronted with my own mortality.
I also have a wonderful network of fellow brain tumour patients, including my friend Theo Burrell, to help me through.
Glenn has been undergoing chemotherapy as part of his treatment
That’s important because sometimes only someone with a similar condition can really understand.
The medical care I have had from NHS doctors and nurses in Edinburgh has been exceptional.
My recovery is allowing me to make a gradual return to work covering politics for BBC Scotland.
That helps me stay positive, as does the personal effort I put into Brain Power – a fundraising community I set up to help establish a new Brain Tumour Research centre in Scotland.
No-one can tell me how I got my tumour and no-one can fix it.
I think well resourced science can do a lot better. If not for me, for those who come after.
In my case, there has been no need for medical help with seizures since the airlift in March.
After four months off the mountains, my walking boots are back on.
My personal challenge is to climb all 282 Munros – Scottish mountains above 3,000ft – by the end of 2028.
Despite all my health problems since last summer, I have completed my first nine, including Meall nan Tarmachan second time around. That is a start.
Glenn climbing Stùc an Lochain with his dog Ruadh
There’s been a lot of dog walking and a little bit of running and cycling too.
In June, around the anniversary of my bike ******, I returned to the route I was on when I took a tumble.
I called at the café I had been heading for that day and enjoyed the breakfast I had been denied the year before.
Never before has French toast with bacon and maple syrup tasted so good.
I am now starting to think about how to celebrate my 50th birthday in 2026 – 15 months from now.
It’s not so long since I thought I would not be around to mark that milestone.
Now, the half century seems within reach.
My Brain Tumour And Me – Glenn Campbell faces down his mortality and considers what matters most in life.
You can watch the programme on BBC One Scotland at 19:00 on Wednesday 20 November or on the iPlayer.
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Surprising PlayStation Portal Update Offers Cloud Streaming Beta
Surprising PlayStation Portal Update Offers Cloud Streaming Beta
I don’t play bingo, so I didn’t have a bingo card available specifically for this situation (sorry!), but it appears Sony wants you to play more video games within its ecosystem, so the company’s pushing a new update for the PlayStation Portal today. The update includes cloud streaming, which is still in beta, with support for 120 PlayStation 5 titles available via the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Of course, you must subscribe to PS+ Premium to enjoy a cloud streaming performance of 1080p resolutions in 60 frames per second. Fancy!
That said, according to the PlayStation Blog, several features are available during the beta, some that aren’t available, and a number of locations where you can check out the cloud streaming beta. We’ll start there:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, ******* Kingdom, and ******* States.
Beta Features
As for new features available as part of the PlayStation Portal cloud streaming beta, you can enjoy:
Stream select PS5 games in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog
Over 120 PS5 games from the PS Plus Game Catalog, including Dave the Diver, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Monster Hunter Rise, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, will be accessible on PS Portal via cloud streaming*
Streaming up to 1080p/60fps**
DualSense wireless controller features, including haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, speakers, touchpad (emulated on the touch screen for PS Portal), and motion sensor***
PlayStation Plus Cloud storage
Save data and game progress can be stored up to 100GB and will be automatically synced with your PS5 console, making it easy to switch seamlessly between local and streaming gameplay, and between multiple devices.
Related: PlayStation Portal is the Best Selling Accessory This Year
How to Join the Cloud Streaming Beta
If you want to participate in the beta, you require an active PlayStation Network account, an active PS+ Premium subscription, access to high-speed broadband internet, and the PlayStation Portal. Once you have everything, you can access the new update and activate cloud streaming by:
Open “Quick Menu” and access “Settings” on your PS Portal.
Select the “Cloud Streaming (Beta)” button
Switch the Cloud Streaming (Beta) toggle on (this will be off by default).
Unfortunately, per the blog post, some features will not be readily available for this beta. This includes Game Trials, system features like party voice chat, the create button, 3D audio, and in-game microtransactions.
Do you play on the PlayStation Portal? Let us know your thoughts on the device in the comments below, or visit our community forum to talk PlayStation with like-minded fans!
Speaking of Sony and PlayStation, did you hear the news that they’re talking about buying FromSoftware‘s parent company? Maybe we’ll finally see Bloodborne 2?!
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Starship launch live: Musk and Trump both attend sixth SpaceX test flight – latest
Starship launch live: Musk and Trump both attend sixth SpaceX test flight – latest
SpaceX is making preparations for the sixth test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket, Starship. Elon Musk’s company has been taking a “fail fast, learn fast” approach to research and development more akin to the world of Silicon Valley than the aerospace industry, and the pace of launches only appears to be speeding up.
When is the next flight?
SpaceX says on its website that it aims to conduct the sixth test flight of Starship on 19 November, with a launch window opening at 4pm Central Time (10pm ***). A livestream of the launch will be broadcast on SpaceX’s X account, the social media platform also owned Musk, or you will be able to watch it here at newscientist.com
It took SpaceX 18 months to carry out the first five Starship test flights, with the fifth taking place in the middle of October. If the company carries out the sixth next week, it will mean a gap of just over one month since the last flight – its fastest turnaround yet.
What will SpaceX attempt in flight 6?
In many ways, flight 6 will be a repeat of flight 5, but with a few key differences.
The booster stage will again attempt a “chopstick” landing, in which the craft is grabbed and secured as it returns to the launchpad, allowing it to be lowered to the ground. This approach is designed to eventually allow the booster to be re-used multiple times and massively reduce the cost of putting payloads into orbit.
Starship during a high-altitude test flight
SpaceX
The upper stage will reach space, carry out a partial orbit and then re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for a splash landing in the Indian Ocean. But this time, the upper stage will attempt to reignite one of its Raptor engines while in space in order to collect valuable operational data. It will also test new heat shield designs during re-entry.
Another difference is that the launch will take place later in the day so that the landing of the upper stage in the Indian Ocean can be filmed in daylight, ensuring greater detail. Previous missions have seen night landings and therefore footage – while cinematic and dramatic – hasn’t given engineers as much insight as video of a daytime landing will.
What happened during previous Starship launches?
Test flight 1 on 20 April 2023 saw three of the booster stage’s 33 engines fail to ignite. The rocket later span out of control and self-destructed.
The second test flight on 18 November 2023 got further, gaining enough altitude that the booster and upper stages separated as planned. The booster stage ultimately exploded before reaching ground level and the upper stage self-destructed, although not before successfully reaching space.
Test flight 3 on 14 March 2024 was at least a partial success, as the upper stage reached space once more, but it ******* to return to ground level intact.
The next flight, on 6 June, saw the upper stage reach an altitude of more than 200 kilometres and travel at over 27,000 kilometres per hour. Both the booster and the upper stage completed soft splashdowns in the ocean.
Test flight 5 was the most ambitious to date, with Starship’s Super Heavy booster dropping back to the launch pad and being safely caught by SpaceX’s launch tower, called Mechazilla, in a pair of “chopsticks”. It is equipped with a pair of “chopsticks” to grab the craft at a specific point and secure it, allowing it to be lowered to the ground.
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As Biden nears Trump’s number of judicial confirmations, Republicans look to slow the process
As Biden nears Trump’s number of judicial confirmations, Republicans look to slow the process
Washington — As Senate Democrats work to push through President Biden’s remaining nominees to the nation’s courts before he leaves office and control of the upper chamber flips, they are bumping up against efforts by their *********** colleagues to slow down the pace of confirmations, amid President-elect Donald Trump’s urging that his party “hold the line.”
Mr. Biden and Trump have made judicial nominations a priority in their respective terms in office, as courts become the arbiters of politically charged disputes over issues that affect all corners of ********* life.
During his first term in office, the Senate confirmed 234 of Trump’s judicial nominees to the Article III courts, which include the Supreme Court, federal appeals courts, district courts and U.S. Court of International Trade. But Mr. Biden is fast approaching that number for his four years in office, with the Senate approving 217 of his candidates for the federal bench so far. There are 44 current vacancies, and 14 nominees awaiting action by the upper chamber, according to the Judicial Conference.
Democrats are hoping to meet or surpass Trump’s 234 judicial confirmations during the lame-duck session, but have encountered resistance from Republicans — who, egged on by Trump — looking to hold up and drag out the process.
When the Senate convened for votes Monday, Republicans used procedural maneuvers to drag out the floor proceedings, slowing Democrats’ efforts to confirm Mr. Biden’s judicial picks. The plan to slow down the confirmations was orchestrated by Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who was elected last week to serve as the next GOP leader, according to Fox News.
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune said in a statement.
Trump is also pushing Senate Republicans to thwart Democrats’ efforts to continue approving Mr. Biden’s judicial picks.
“The Democrats are trying to stack the courts with ******** left judges on their way out the door,” he wrote on social media. “*********** senators need to show up and hold the line — no more judges confirmed before inauguration day!”
But Democrats are not breaking new ground by confirming Mr. Biden’s judicial nominees during the lame-duck session. In 2020, after Trump lost his bid for reelection, the GOP-led Senate confirmed 19 candidates to the federal bench, including one judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and four to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Among those who won approval in the weeks after the 2020 election was U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle, who at 33 years old was the youngest of Trump’s nominees and was deemed “not qualified” to serve on the district court by the ********* Bar Association. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who tossed out the ********* case against Trump for his alleged mishandling of sensitive documents, was also confirmed by the Senate after the 2020 election.
“Delaying the confirmation of highly qualified, experienced judges takes a real-life toll on constituents and leads to backlogs of ********* cases – meaning Senator Thune was correct in 2020 when he said senators have every urgent reason to continue working together in good ****** to staff the federal bench,” Andrew Bates, White House spokesperson, said of the efforts to gum-up the confirmation process. “There is no excuse for choosing partisanship over enforcing the rule of law.”
Advocacy groups are pressuring Senate Democrats to continue to hold votes to approve all of the president’s remaining nominees to the federal bench before Trump takes office in late January and Republicans claim the majority in the Senate.
On Friday, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and 141 groups sent a letter to senators urging them to confirm all pending judicial nominees, calling it “urgent and enduring.”
“We implore you to stay in and do this necessary work,” the organizations said. “It is essential that we leave no judges behind.”
Demand Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group, also launched a campaign aimed at pressuring senators to green-light Mr. Biden’s picks for the federal courts.
“With only weeks left before the new Congress, it’s more urgent than ever that Democratic senators do whatever it takes — staying late, working weekends — during the lame duck session to confirm the dozens of remaining fair-minded, qualified judges nominated by President Biden that the ********* people deserve,” said Maggie Jo Buchanan, managing director of Demand Justice.
Senate Democrats are unbowed by Republicans’ efforts and have indicated they will charge ahead with confirming Mr. Biden’s judicial picks.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed Tuesday that Democrats “are not done yet,” and said his party will do what it can to “get as many judges confirmed as we can.”
“Everyone should be prepared for another late night on Wednesday to vote on nominations and get as many judges done as possible,” the New York Democrat said, adding that Republicans “can try dilatory tactics but we’re going to persist, as we showed last night, as we’re persisting now.”
Sen. ***** Durbin, the Democratic whip who also chairs the Judiciary Committee, celebrated the judges brought forward by the committee over the last four years of Democratic control, noting that the vast majority of the judges that the Senate has considered are bipartisan, winning support from Republicans.
But some Republicans didn’t see them that way, such as Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who argued that many of Mr. Biden’s nominees “are not qualified to be on the federal bench” and called them “activists.”
Still, Senate Republicans acknowledge that they can’t block the judicial picks across the board as Trump has requested. Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska ***********, said that although Republicans would like to deliver on Trump’s wishes, “Democrats are in the majority, and even if we have all of our members here, we still can’t prevent that, as long as they have all their members.”
“So, we’ll certainly try,” Ricketts said.
Melissa Quinn
Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
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Zodiac Symbol of Goat-Fish Found in 2,200-Year-Old Egyptian Rock Art
Zodiac Symbol of Goat-Fish Found in 2,200-Year-Old Egyptian Rock Art
Until now, no one had ever found a sign of the zodiac encoded in Egyptian rock art. But that has all changed, as scholars from Macquarie University in Australia have identified an ancient Egyptian petroglyph in the village of el-Hosh that features a depiction of the creature who represents the zodiac sign Capricornus, a mythical animal with the front quarters of a goat and the body of a fish.
In an article just published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Dr. Linda Evans and Dr. Frederick Hardtke present the results of their analysis of this intriguing Egyptian petroglyph that had never been identified before. It was discovered by Dr. Hardtke while he was doing fieldwork in Upper Egypt.
“The goat-fish was found in a locality of el-Hosh, which hosts a large number of petroglyphs and texts, much of it Predynastic, but also material from the Graeco-Roman and Islamic periods,” the archaeologist said in an interview published by Phys.org. “The goat-fish was found adjacent to another extremely unusual image of what we believe to be a chameleon. These two taken together make the panel that they are on rather enigmatic.”
Dr. Hardtke recognized the carvings as animals, but was not able to identify them at first. He then showed them to Dr. Evans, and after examining them for a while she thought the image that turned out to be the goat-fish looked familiar.
“We had described it in an earlier paper as a mythical animal, but after a bit of digging, I realized that it resembled the goat-fish, after which I began to research its history and meaning as an astrological sign,” she said.
Tracing that shows what the Capricornus petroglyph at el-Hosh, Egypt depicts. (Linda Evans, Fred Hardtke, Wouter Claes/Journal of Egyptian Archaeology).
“The Egyptians didn’t create hybrid animals ******-nilly; instead, they drew together the features of animals that shared certain qualities, such as the Seth animal, which combines the physical features of a range of aggressive predators to create a truly powerful being,” she continued. “The el-Hosh creature also resembles the zodiac goat-fish so closely that we felt it is more likely the latter than evidence of a new type of hybrid animal.”
When the Signs of the Zodiac Conquered the Ancient World
The first depictions of Capricornus have been traced to ancient Mesopotamia, where it was identified on cylindrical seals dating to the years 2112 through 2004 BC. It was associated with the Sumerian **** Enki and the Akkadian equivalent Ea, who were seen as manifestations of the stars that comprise the constellation we know today as Capricorn.
In Mesopotamia the stars and planets were believed to have an influence on events on earth and on the lives of individual people, and from these ideas the concept of the zodiac that underlies astrology was born.
Live shot of night sky featuring the constellation Capricorn in outline. (Till Credner/CC BY-SA 3.0).
The earliest horoscopes, customized for people based on the zodiac constellation that was most prominent in the sky at their time of birth, appeared around 420 BC. From Mesopotamia the interest in horoscopes gradually spread across the ancient world, apparently reaching Egypt by around 300 BC.
The earliest indication of an Egyptian interest in the zodiac came during the Greek Ptolemaic *******, when the signs of the zodiac were added to the ceilings of temples. The same type of imagery became even more common during the Roman era, when the signs of the zodiac, including Capricornus, could be found decorating tombs, coffin lids, ceilings in various buildings, and even coins.
It is believed that the petroglyph associated with Capricornus was created during the Greco-Roman *******, given the fact that it was the Greeks and Romans who introduced this symbol (along with other astrological symbols) to Egypt at this time. Notably, the depiction of Capricornus featured a straight tail, and this suggests it was carved before the second century BC when Greek influence was predominant. The Roman version of the symbol included a looped tail, and this began to show up in figures of the goat-fish creature at the beginning of that century.
Adding further weight to the assumption that the goat-fish petroglyph was created between 200 and 300 BC is the fact that rock art made at that time often included Greco-Roman (and particularly Greek) motifs.
“During this *******, we might find Greek inscriptions with names and dedications to gods, etc.” Dr. Hardtke explained. “Occasionally, there are examples of figural depictions of gods and animals along with texts.”
Making a Conclusive Case for a Historic First
There is of course no way to interpret the motivations of the glyph maker. They could have been someone who was born under the sign of Capricornus, or they may have just liked the way the mythical animal looked. The petroglyph that resembles a chameleon is located very close to the goat-fish, and given the stylistic similarities it seems likely that the same person created both art works.
Petroglyph of creature believed to be a chameleon, found at el-Hosh, Egypt. (Linda Evans, Fred Hardtke, Wouter Claes/Journal of Egyptian Archaeology).
Ancient art that depicts mythical animals or imaginary creatures is always open to some degree of interpretation. One person’s bear with a lion’s head could be another person’s deer with a jackel’s head, and so on. But the Macquarie University scholars believe that the time, place, and characteristics of the figures in the two petroglyphs clinches the case they are making.
“Following a review of the symbol’s development in Egypt, in which its occurrence on ceilings, coffins, and coins was examined, we are confident that the petroglyph depicts Capricornus and that it was most likely produced during the Graeco-Roman *******,” the study authors wrote in the conclusion of their Journal of Egyptian Archaeology article. “Furthermore, as the figure is related stylistically to a nearby petroglyph of a chameleon, an equally unique subject for Egyptian rock art, the latter can now be dated more firmly to the same era.”
Top image: Petroglyph at el-Hosh, Egypt that shows what appears to be a goat-fish creature.
Source: Linda Evans, Fred Hardtke, Wouter Claes/Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
By Nathan Falde
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Red ***** Redemption 2’s Immersion Set a High Benchmark for GTA VI and Players Have A Lot of Expectations From It
Red ***** Redemption 2’s Immersion Set a High Benchmark for GTA VI and Players Have A Lot of Expectations From It
Rockstar Games’ Red ***** Redemption 2 is often cited as one of the best action-adventure games of all time. Its breathtakingly detailed, immersive world combined with its exceptional storyline has indeed set a high benchmark, putting pressure on not only other video game publishers but also on Rockstar Games itself.
GTA VI is all set to release in fall 2025 (Image via Rockstar Games)
The studio is currently working on its next title, Grand Theft Auto VI. It’s been 11 years since the release of the last installment in the GTA series, so obviously the expectations are quite high. Many would agree that GTA V was ahead of its time, so many expect that Rockstar Games will do the same with its successor.
Players Are Expecting GTA VI To Be As Immersive As Red ***** Redemption 2
As gamers around the world eagerly wait for GTA VI’s next trailer, a fan on the r/GTA6 subreddit has sparked a discussion over how immersive the highly-antiquated game would be. Rockstar Games, the studio working on the game, is well-known for giving gamers a realistic, highly immersive experience in the past, particularly in 2018’s Red ***** Redemption 2. It’s clear that fans are expecting the same level of immersion.
Comment byu/Every-Examination720 from discussion inGTA6
Comment byu/Every-Examination720 from discussion inGTA6
Comment byu/Every-Examination720 from discussion inGTA6
Comment byu/Every-Examination720 from discussion inGTA6
Thanks to dynamic weather, realistic wildlife, and expansive landscapes, Red ***** Redemption 2 gave fans an exceptional open-world experience.
Players hope that Rockstar Games recreates something like that as the GTA franchise, being set in a different era, would certainly be an interesting experience.
Is It Really Possible To Replicate Red ***** Redemption 2‘s Immersion?
Red ***** Redemption 2 is set in a fictionalized America of 1899 (Image via Rockstar Games)
Gamers would love to see Rockstar Games using Red ***** Redemption 2 as an inspiration while creating the immersive world of GTA VI, but the games are completely different so the experience won’t be exactly the same. The thing is, Red ***** Redemption 2 features an open world that players traverse at a much slower pace as compared to a game like GTA VI which will feature high-speed cars.
A slow pace allows players to get immersed into their environment, plus the ambient, realistic sounds in Red ***** Redemption 2 can’t be replicated in the GTA franchise as the radio will blast through the speakers as soon as players hop in a car.
The franchises are different, but to some extent, Rockstar Games must replicate what it did with Red ***** Redemption 2. On the official website, it is clearly stated that GTA VI is “the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet,” confirming that the game will be much more immersive than GTA V.
CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most immersive video games of all time and it proves that fast-paced gameplay doesn’t mean players can’t have an immersive experience. Red ***** Redemption 2 has indeed set a high benchmark but Rockstar Games has spent a lot of time working on the game, so we can expect GTA VI to exceed all the expectations.
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5 laptops to buy instead of the M4 MacBook Pro
5 laptops to buy instead of the M4 MacBook Pro
The M4 MacBook Pro is pretty stellar. Apple made it far better than the previous generation — without increasing the cost. That includes bumping up the memory of the base configuration to 16GB, improving the webcam, and unlocking the max brightness of the screen.
But maybe you don’t love macOS. Or maybe you’re just an Apple hater. Either way, I feel ya. Fortunately, there are some good choices these days that make for a solid alternative to the M4 MacBook Pro.
My only warning is that we’re expecting Nvidia to launch new RTX 50-serues mobile GPUs early next year, so some of these devices may get an upgrade in a few months.
Asus ProArt P16
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
There’s never been a MacBook competitor quite like the Asus ProArt P16. In many ways, it’s the Windows version of a MacBook Pro that I’ve always wanted. It’s powered by AMD’s latest Zen 5 chip and up to an RTX 4070, which are definitely competitive with what the M4 Pro and M4 Max can do. I don’t have direct comparisons with the M4 Max yet, but I know the ProArt P16’s RTX 4070 outperforms the M4 Pro in many benchmarks.
But really, it’s the chassis design that makes this such a compelling alternative to the MacBook Pro. At 0.68 inches thick, it’s only marginally thicker than the 16-inch MacBook Pro — and yet its over a half a pound lighter.
There’s a lower-tier version sold at Best Buy that starts at just $1,900 and gets you 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and an RTX 4060. That’s a solid deal. Meanwhile, the high-end model with the RTX 4070 comes with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
Another one from Asus. What can I say? It seems like this 14-inch gaming laptop is, in many ways, the inspiration for the ProArt P16, so it’s fitting to include it here. Asus doesn’t currently have a 14-inch version of that laptop, either. So if you’re looking for an alternative to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, this is it.
The ROG Zephyrus G14 is a remarkably minimalist gaming laptop. It doesn’t completely do away with all the trappings of gamer aesthetic, but takes a big step in that direction. You still get RGB backlighting on the keyboard, as well as the distinctive “slash” on the lid. But all in all, this is pretty tame. And the white ****** option, extra large trackpad, and thin bezels make it an extremely attractive little device.
Of course, it’s all about performance when it comes to gaming laptops. And as an alternative to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, what you get here is an OLED display and more performance for less money. You can pick up an RTX 4070 configuration for $2,000 at Best Buy, but the real value comes in the previous-gen models, which will get you the same RTX 4070 for as low as $1,600. Apple just can’t compete at that price.
Dell XPS 14
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
The Dell XPS 14 has received a lot of undue backlash since it launched. People really don’t like the glowing capacitive touch buttons that have replaced the function keys. Look, I don’t either. It’s a futuristic look, but just not very practical.
But there’s no getting around the fact that this is an absolutely gorgeous laptop. I adore how this laptop looks, and appearances are a big part of what draws people to the MacBook Pro, too. Dare I say that the Dell XPS 14 is prettier. Now, it has a number of downsides when you compare it directly to the base M4 MacBook Pro. The speakers aren’t as good, you get less ports, and the base model comes with a worse screen — it’s even slightly thicker. That’s a lot to compromise on.
You can, however, configure it with an RTX 4050 for $1,700, which gets you some decent performance at a more affordable price than the M4 Pro MacBook Pro.
Razer Blade 14
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
The Razer Blade led the pat hin many ways for laptops like the Zephyrus G14 by attempting to be a laptop that takes some direct inspiration from the MacBook Pro. The Razer Blade 14 does that amazingly well. The sleek all-****** look blends in great, with the only giveaway that it’s a gaming PC being the green snake logo on the lid.
With the Blade, you have your choice between 14-inch, 15-inch, and 16-inch — but the 14-inch really is something special. It has a 1600p 240Hz screen, paired with an RTX 4070 GPU and a Ryzen 9 8945HS processor. While the Blade 14 won’t stay as quiet and cool as a MacBook Pro or last as long on battery, you’ll certainly get higher frame rates in games.
Asus Zenbook S 14
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
All the rest of the laptops on this list have discrete GPUs — and that’s to compete with the incredible performance of the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. I wanted to include one option, however, that was more of a direct competitor with the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro, a laptop that doesn’t have quite as much on the GPU front. That laptop is less of a performance-driven device and more for someone who’s looking for something that’s top of the line.
That’s where the Asus Zenbook S 14 comes into play. It’s a stunning-looking laptop that is thinner than the MacBook Pro and a bit less chunky overall. It doesn’t give up any port selection to reach those highly compact sizes either, unlike something like the MacBook Air. The 14-inch 120Hz OLED screen is fantastic too. The speakers can’t compare with those of the MacBook Pro, nor can the trackpad, which is not a smooth haptic feedback one.
It gets incredibly good battery life too. So, while the performance isn’t up to snuff with the M4, it’ll likely get you by on the types of tasks this laptop should be used for.
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Trump’s FCC pick, Brendan Carr, wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the agency. Here’s what he wants.
Trump’s FCC pick, Brendan Carr, wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the agency. Here’s what he wants.
Trump to announce more cabinet picks this week
Trump to announce more cabinet picks this week
03:10
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will oversee the agency that regulates U.S. internet access and communications networks such as TV and radio. Carr believes it’s an institution ripe for change, according to the nominee’s Project 2025 chapter on the agency FCC.
Carr will be stepping into the role of FCC Chair after serving as one of its five commissioners since 2017, when Trump nominated him to the role during his first administration. Prior to that, Carr served as the agency’s general counsel.
The FCC may not be a household name to most Americans, but the agency enforces communications laws, runs programs to help communities gain access to high-speed internet and regulates communications services, including satellite internet access, among other tasks. But under Carr, the agency may pivot to some new priorities during Trump’s next term, with a renewed focus on battling big technology companies and ********-based telecom firms.
“The FCC needs to change course and bring new urgency to achieving four main goals,” including “reining in Big Tech,” Carr wrote in his chapter on the FCC in Project 2025.
Here’s what to know about Carr’s priorities.
How might the FCC deal with tech giants?
In Project 2025, Carr highlighted what he believes is a need for a new approach to dealing with tech giants such as Google, Meta and others.
“Today, a handful of corporations can shape everything from the information we consume to the places we shop,” Carr wrote in the document. “These corporate behemoths are not merely exercising market power, they are abusing dominant positions.”
The FCC should restrict immunity from Section 230, part of a law that says tech companies aren’t liable if a user posts something libelous, as well as tamp down the businesses’ ability to “censor protected speech while maintaining their Section 230 protections,” he wrote.
Carr also wants tech companies to be more transparent about their algorithm changes and their decisions to block or demonetize users.
What are Carr’s views on Elon Musk?
Carr has built an alliance with billionaire Musk, the world’s wealthiest person who backed Trump’s campaign and whose Starlink satellite internet service could benefit from access to federal cash.
In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Carr pointed to Musk as an example of how the federal government doesn’t treat people fairly, noting that a grant of almost $900 million to Musk’s Starlink was “revoked unlawfully.” Last year, the FCC said it rejected the grant because of lack of proof that Starlink would be able to provide service to hundreds of thousands of rural properties.
“It is time for the ********* government to not give people different treatment based on their last name,” Carr told Fox News. “Everybody will get a fair shake from the government going forward.”
What about his views on TikTok and ******** businesses?
In his Project 2025 chapter, Carr singled out TikTok and other ********-owned businesses as potential threats to U.S. security.
“As law enforcement officials have made clear, TikTok poses a serious and unacceptable risk to America’s national security,” Carr wrote. “It also provides Beijing with an opportunity to run a foreign influence campaign by determining the news and information that the app feeds to millions of Americans.”
That would align his views along those with the Biden administration, with the president signing a law in April that would require TikTok to be sold or else banned from the U.S.
Carr also wrote that he believes the FCC needs to do more to monitor and restrict ******** telecom and tech businesses from operating within the U.S.
What does Carr say about broadcasters?
Carr has taken aim at some broadcasters, including CBS News, echoing Trump’s claims that they engage in political bias. For instance, Carr singled out NBC for including Trump’s Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, in a “Saturday Night Live” skit before the election.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” Carr wrote on X on November 2. “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.”
After Trump announced Carr’s pick, Carr said on X that he will ensure the FCC “will enforce” laws that call on broadcasters “to operate in the public interest.”
Trump has repeatedly called to strip major broadcasters such as ABC, NBC and CBS of their licenses. During the 2024 campaign, Trump sued CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, alleging the network used “deceitful” editing of her responses. CBS News has called the president-elect’s claims “completely without merit” and added it intended to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.
What do supporters and critics say about Carr?
Trump praised Carr as “a warrior for Free Speech” in a statement announcing his selection. Fellow FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, a Democrat, described Carr as “a dedicated public ******** and a recognized leader on the many issues before the Commission today.”
But some critics have flagged some of Carr’s stances, with the nonpartisan public interest group Free Press describing his relationship with Musk as well as his stance on broadcasters as problematic.
“While styling himself as a free-speech champion, Carr refused to stand up when Trump threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations for daring to fact check him during the campaign,” Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement. “This alone should be disqualifying.”
Free Press and ****** for the Future, an advocacy group focused on digital rights, both have cited concerns about net neutrality, a policy that ensures internet service providers treat all websites and online content equally. Net neutrality was overturned during the first Trump administration, but was restored during Biden’s term.
“Trump’s nomination of Brendan Carr, one of the co-authors of Project 2025, to head the FCC is more than just a reversal of popular policies like net neutrality,” said Evan Greer, director of ****** for the Future, said in an email. “Carr has made clear he actually wants the FCC to get more involved in policing online speech.”
Aimee Picchi
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
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Fremantle Dockers wingman Matt Johnson has focused on his speed to break into star studded midfield
Fremantle Dockers wingman Matt Johnson has focused on his speed to break into star studded midfield
Fremantle wingman Matt Johnson has spent the last two months doing private training sessions that focus on improving his explosive speed in a bid to get more opportunities alongside the club’s star studded midfielders next season.
Johnson played 19 games last season but was played mostly as a wingman. The 21-year-old showed off his ability to play as an inside midfielder against Richmond in round eight when Nat Fyfe played as the sub, collecting a career-high 25 disposals and kicking one goal.
But Johnson recognised that he needed to do more to convince coach Justin Longmuir to consistently play him alongside Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw and Hayden Young. So he went straight to Fremantle’s Director of Football Performance & Innovation, Adam Beard, and mapped out an off-season plan.
“I spoke with Adam Beard about trying to improve explosiveness out of contests,” Johnson explained from the club’s Community Camp in Karratha.
Camera IconMatthew Johnson signs autographs for kids in Karratha. Credit: Craig O’Donoghue
“I did a few sessions with him in the off-season to work on that. I think it’s definitely helped me so far. You have that natural ability but it’s about refining it and trying to improve it. Everyone at this level has a lot of natural talent so you’ve got to find ways to improve yourself.
“That’s always been my goal – to be an inside midfielder. I’m working hard on my power around stoppage to try to improve.”
Competition for midfield minutes will again be fierce with Nat Fyfe’s big body and experience a key part of the club’s planning, while Shai Bolton is expected to rotate into the midfield while also playing forward after being recruited from Richmond.
Johnson recognised that being given the chance to play on the wing was still important for his game.
Camera IconMatt Johnson in action. Credit: Jason McCawley/via Getty Images
“It’s a blessing and a curse. You get to develop in other areas. Getting an opportunity to play in the team, I don’t take that for granted. Last year, to play on the wing for a lot of it, I still loved it,” he said.
Fremantle players spent Tuesday morning conducting school visits around Karratha and Johnson was quick to immerse himself with the students at Tambrey Primary School as they took part in a push-up challenge while raising funds for Movember.
Camera IconMatt Johnson answers questions from kids. Credit: Craig O’Donoghue
“It’s a good initiave. Any time you can do something for a charity it is good to get involved. Hopefully I can show these kids up a little bit,” he laughed.
“We want to try our best to inspire them. Whether that’s playing footy or any other sport in general.”
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Flocking ***** is a roguish auto-battler spin on Minesweeper full of demons and fluffy sheep
Flocking ***** is a roguish auto-battler spin on Minesweeper full of demons and fluffy sheep
Flocking ***** brings together roguish game design, Minesweeper-style exploration, and auto-battler mechanics in a fun new demo that’s out today!
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This may be your last chance to buy an RTX 40-series GPU
This may be your last chance to buy an RTX 40-series GPU
Just last week, we reported on the end of production for the RTX 40-series. Now, new information from Board Channels (shared by Gazlog) suggests that the final shipments of Nvidia’s best graphics cards are right around the corner. Some GPUs, like the RTX 4090, have already seen their final shipments. With the holidays on the horizon, now might be the last time to buy the RTX 40-series at a decent price before stock levels begin dwindling.
Despite being two years old, Nvidia’s RTX 40-series has held up in terms of GPU prices. Only the RTX 4090 went up from its original recommended list price (MSRP), with the rest of the lineup holding steady and mostly hovering around the launch price. Things might take a turn for the worse, though, if this report ends up being true.
Board Channels reports that Nvidia is preparing for the launch of the RTX 50-series in early 2025. This includes the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 in January, followed by the RTX 5070 in February. As such, the current-gen equivalents of those graphics cards are said to be the first ones to end production and shipping.
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
The RTX 4070 Ti Super and the RTX 4080 Super have reportedly already been discontinued. In fact, the RTX 4080 Super is almost done shipping, with the final shipment expected in November. The RTX 4070 Ti Super is said to follow, so the supply of those GPUs may slowly decrease.
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Nvidia’s favorite mainstream GPUs, the RTX 4070 and the RTX 4070 Super, are also said to be at an end. The source claims that Nvidia reduced the supply of those GPUs last quarter, and the final shipments are scheduled for December. Tha would be a huge ***** for gamers, as the RTX 4070 and its Super equivalent are widely considered some of the best-value graphics cards in this generation.
Of course, ending shipments doesn’t mean that all the cards will be gone this year — but it does sound like Nvidia is keeping the stock levels in check. If it had an overflow of last-gen GPUs by the time the next-gen cards launch, many people might have instead chosen the (often discounted) older cards instead of paying for their more expensive counterparts. The RTX 4090 comes to mind here.
We’ve already heard whispers that the RTX 50-series might be really pricey. Some of the rumored pricing, such as $2,500 for the RTX 5090, seems downright impossible — but even more ************* leaks put the RTX 5090 at around $1,900 to $2,000. X user Bits and Chips revealed that the RTX 5090 will cost roughly $1,900, making it $300 more expensive than the RTX 4090 at launch.
Nvidia’s flagship card is a good example of supply and demand. It was in high demand throughout the last two years, and as a result, you’d be hard-pressed to find a new model for ***** at less than $2,200 right now. With shipments at an end, we might start see the pricing of other RTX 40-series ****** up over the next few months, just like what we’ve seen with the RTX 30-series in the past.
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Visa & Mastercard execs grilled by senators on high swipe fees
Visa & Mastercard execs grilled by senators on high swipe fees
The Senate Judiciary Committee convened on Tuesday for a hearing on the alleged Visa–Mastercard “duopoly,” which committee members from both sides of the aisle say has left retailers and other small businesses with no ability to negotiate interchange fees on credit card transactions.
“This is an odd grouping. The most ************* and the most ******** members happen to agree that we have to do something about this situation,” committee chair and Democratic Illinois Sen. ***** Durbin said.
Interchange fees, also known as swipe fees, are paid from a merchant’s bank account to the cardholder’s bank, whenever a customer uses a credit card in a retail purchase. Visa and Mastercard have a combined market cap of more than $1 trillion, and control 80% of the market.
“In 2023 alone, Visa and Mastercard charged merchants more than $100 billion in credit card fees, mostly in the form of interchange fees,” Durbin told the committee.
Durbin, along with *********** Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, have co-sponsored the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act, which takes aim at Visa and Mastercard’s market dominance by requiring banks with more than $100 billion in assets to offer at least one other payment network on their cards, besides Visa and Mastercard.
“This way, small businesses would finally have a real choice: they can route credit card transactions on the Visa or Mastercard network and continue to pay interchange fees that often rank as their second or biggest expense, or they could select a lower cost alternative,” Durbin told the committee.
Visa and Mastercard, however, stand by their swipe fees.
“We consider them incentives, some people might consider them penalties. But if you can adopt new technology that reduces the risk and takes ****** out of the system and improves streamlined processing, then you would qualify for lower interchange rates,” said Bill Sheedy, senior advisor to Visa CEO Ryan McInerney. “It’s very expensive to issue a product and to provide payment guarantee and online customer service, zero liability. All of those things, and many more, senator, get factored into interchange [fees].”
The executives also warned against the Credit Card Competition Act, with Sheedy claiming that it “would remove consumer control over their own payment decisions, reduce competition, impose technology sharing mandates and pick winners and losers by favoring certain competitors over others.”
“Why do we know this? Because we’ve seen it before,” Mastercard President of Americas Linda Kirkpatrick said, in reference to the Durbin amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which required the Fed to limit fees on retailers for transactions using debit cards. “Since debit regulation took hold, debit rewards were eliminated, fees went up, access to capital diminished, and competition was stifled.”
But the current high credit card swipe fees for retailers translate to higher prices for consumers, the National Retail Federation told the committee in a letter ahead of the hearing. The Credit Card Competition Act, the retail industry’s largest trade association wrote, will deliver “fairness and transparency to the payment system and relief to ********* business and consumers.”
“When we think of consumer spending, credit card swipe fees are not the first thing that comes to mind, yet those fees are a surprisingly large part of consumer spending,” Notre Dame University law professor Roger Alford said. “Last year, the average ********* spent $1,100 in swipe fees, more than they spent on pets, coffee or alcohol.”
Visa and Mastercard agreed to a $30 billion settlement in March meant to reduce their swipe fees by four basis points for three years, but a federal judge rejected the settlement in June, saying they could afford to pay more.
Visa is also battling a Justice Department lawsuit filed in September. The payment network is accused of maintaining an ******** monopoly over debit card payment networks, which has affected “the price of nearly everything,” according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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DOJ’s reported push for Google to sell Chrome is ‘political move’
DOJ’s reported push for Google to sell Chrome is ‘political move’
The US Justice Department (DOJ) is reportedly looking to force Alphabet’s Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to divest from its Chrome browser as part of its ongoing antitrust case, according to a Bloomberg report. Former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chief technologist and the Abundance Institute head of AI policy Neil Chilson joins Market Domination to discuss his read on the ongoing antitrust lawsuit.
A federal judge ruled that Google maintained a monopoly on search through its traffic acquisition agreements, violating antitrust laws. The DOJ is reportedly asking the same judge to force Alphabet to sell Chrome.
Chilson tells Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton that he thinks the DOJ is “trying to anchor everybody to a position right now, given that there’s quite a lot of uncertainty going forward. The DOJ will be under… different leadership by the time [Judge Amit] Mehta decides this. So I think of this as more of a political move to ***** these a trial balloon to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be very aggressive in this space. What does everybody think about it?'”
The expert explains that “the best remedy,” in his view, would be to “address what the judge saw as a competitive problem, without having potentially unintended consequences for other parts of the market, would be to restrict the ability of Google to enter those types of contracts.”
“The problem here is that those contracts involve Google paying billions and billions of dollars to other companies, such as Apple (AAPL) and Mozilla… And one assumes that there’s a group of [companies] who would like to keep receiving that money from Google and have been trying to think of other remedies that we could get.”
Watch the video above for more from Chilson about the impact of the upcoming Trump administration on Alphabet’s antitrust woes.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here.
This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
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Destiny: Rising: release speculation, platforms, trailers, gameplay, and more
Destiny: Rising: release speculation, platforms, trailers, gameplay, and more
The next chapter in the Destiny saga is approaching, but it isn’t in the form most Guardians were expecting. Instead of a proper Destiny 3 from the original developer Bungie, Destiny: Rising was revealed by developer NetEase Games as a free-to-play mobile game. While the mobile market has no doubt come a long way in terms of delivering console-quality experiences — there are plenty of upcoming mobile games on the horizon — Destiny fans are rightly cautious about how the massive live-service formula will translate. Perhaps even more important is the story, which some have invested over 10 years into. Let us act as your Ghost to guide you through all the information you need about Destiny: Rising.
If you’re on the lookout for new games on your favorite platform, don’t forget to visit our list of upcoming video game release dates or our articles on upcoming PS5 games, upcoming Switch games, upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PC games.
Release date speculation
NetEase
NetEase Games didn’t give us a release window for Destiny: Rising when the game was revealed, so all we can do is speculate. Based on the fact that there is a closed Alpha in November 2024, we predict that the game won’t launch for at least a year after that to allow for another couple of open betas in 2025.
When an official date or window is shared, we will update this section.
Platforms
NetEase
The biggest shakeup from past titles is that Destiny: Rising will be a mobile exclusive for iOS and Android devices. If you want to see if your specific phone model will be able to run Destiny: Rising, check out the official website here for details. There appear to be no plans to add any PC or console ports, so make sure your mobile device is charged if you intend on grinding for some legendary loot.
Trailers
The announcement trailer is mostly focused on gameplay but does feature some very impressive visuals and action that almost look as good as its console siblings. The biggest detail the trailer shows off is that we won’t be making our own Guardian as we normally have, but instead we’ll be playing as defined characters. Some of these are familiar faces to the Destiny world, while a few are new. A few we can look forward to playing as include Ikora Rey, Iron Lord Jolder, and Kabr. Each one is said to have their own background and personality, so it is possible there may be narrative payoffs to playing the story as each character, if not unique storylines for each one.
Destiny: Rising takes place in an alternate timeline to the core Destiny games, but is also set in the distant past. We will be experiencing a different series of events, with humanity recovering from the Collapse and working toward the creation of the Last City. Being an alternate universe, we don’t suspect Destiny: Rising to influence the main Destiny lore much (if at all) but instead stay as a self-contained narrative.
Gameplay
NetEase
The transition to mobile hasn’t drastically altered the gameplay for Destiny: Rising. This is still a FPS with a heavy emphasis on abilities and unique weapons, although now you can also play the game entirely in third-person if you prefer. From what we’ve seen, it looks to be as faithful as possible in maintaining the core systems of Destiny. There will still be open zones to explore, guns and loot to grind, and a mix of PvP and PvE content to enjoy. The game will have touchscreen control options but is made with controllers in mind.
NetEase promises many of the same game modes we’re already familiar with for both PvE and PvP content. This includes a new set of Campaign missions, Haven Ops strikes, and a new raid-like mode called Gauntlet Ops. New modes to look forward to include Morgran’s Prey, Legacy, and Realms of the IX, but no details were shared about what exactly these will be.
Your loadouts will be changed a bit in Destiny: Rising, which now only allows for a primary and power ******* to be carried. Furthermore, what types of weapons and abilities you have will depend on which character you’re playing. Relics will determine what super and signature abilities you have, plus a set of perks.
Preorder
Destiny: Rising has no release date or window as of yet, but there wouldn’t be a need to preorder even if it did. This is going to be a free-to-play game whenever it launches, so there’s no barrier to entry.
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Nvidia’s new GPUs are already running into problems
Nvidia’s new GPUs are already running into problems
Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPUs are running into problems in the data center, reports The Information. According to the report, Nvidia’s customers are worried about how well the AI accelerators will hold up, as overheating issues have caused delays in server racks being deployed for AI training.
The Blackwell architecture is at the heart of both Nvidia’s next-gen AI accelerators and its upcoming RTX 50-series graphics cards. In the data center, the architecture was previously delayed due to “design flaws,” pushing the deployment of the B100 and B200 GPUs back. That’s despite big orders with AI players like Meta, Microsoft, and Google.
According to the report, the big problem in the data center stems from cramming 72 of the AI accelerators together in a server rack, which has led to overheating problems. Reuters reports that Nvidia has asked suppliers to redesign the server racks “several times” in order to get around the overheating issues.
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Blackwell is a signficant step for Nvidia. It’s at the heart of the next generation of GPUs, which could earn spots among the best graphics cards. Blackwell is also a point for Nvidia to cement its lead ahead of AMD. Team Red has already deployed its MI300X AI accelerator in data centers, and it’s currently rolling out its MI325X accelerator as it prepares next-gen AI chips.
Nvidia claims Blackwell is able to train large language models at 25 times lower cost and energy consumption compared to its last-gen Hopper architecture, or that it’s able to train these models up to 30 times faster. That kind of speed-up has a big impact on heat, which is already an issue that data centers need to deal with when it comes to AI accelerators.
It could have implications for RTX 50-series GPUs, too. Although we know cards like the RTX 4090 are incredibly efficient when it comes to gaming, Nvidia’s previous flagship still ran into issues with high power consumption and melting power connectors. The latest speculation is that a card like the RTX 5090 could push power requirements further, up to 600 watts. Corsair also confirmed that Nvidia’s next-gen graphics cards will stick with the 12V-2×6 connector that’s been at the center of melting issues on the RTX 4090.
Gamers won’t be cramming 72 RTX 5090s inside a PC, but the scale of overheating issues is different between a data center and a desktop PC. If the Blackwell architecture is running into these issues in the data center, it could spell trouble for Nvidia’s desktop range.
For now, all we can do is wait. Nvidia is expected to reveal its RTX 50-series GPUs in January at CES 2025. Recent reports suggest Nvidia is winding down production of its RTX 40-series cards, most likely clearing the way for next-gen options.
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Police investigating ****** Boissonnault’s former company, business partner
Police investigating ****** Boissonnault’s former company, business partner
As calls mount for ******** cabinet minister ****** Boissonnault to resign over conflicting claims about his family’s Indigenous heritage, Global News has learned Edmonton police are investigating an allegation of ****** made against Boissonnault’s former company and business partner.
Michael Weber, a Florida-based lawyer who is the legal counsel for medical supply procurement company 4M Medical LLC, said he submitted a police report on July 31 regarding 4M Medical’s ******* transaction with Global Health Imports.
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) confirmed that the complaint is under investigation.
Boissonnault co-founded medical supply company Global Health Imports (GHI) with Stephen Anderson, a former hockey coach, in early 2020.
The Edmonton Centre MP said he resigned from the company after he was re-elected and appointed to cabinet in the fall of 2021. He remained a 50-per cent shareholder in the company until June, when he surrendered his stake.
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Boissonnault distanced himself from the embattled medical supply company following Global News investigations that revealed GHI’s legal troubles and text messages Anderson sent in 2022 telling clients he was consulting someone named ‘******’ on business deals.
Boissonnault is not named in any of the lawsuits and he denies he is the person Anderson is referring to in the text messages.
Weber said in a statement to Global News he provided police with the same information that was recently filed in court.
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In those filings, Weber alleges GHI and Anderson fraudulently induced him to send a $350,000 ******** for a large shipment of medical gloves that GHI never delivered. The refundable ******** 4M Medical sent in October 2022 was not returned, Weber states in court documents.
Boissonnault “has never been contacted by Edmonton Police or any other law enforcement agency regarding Global Health Imports or Mr. Anderson,” Boissonnault’s director of communications, Alice Hansen, said in an emailed statement.
In the fall of 2022, when Weber and Anderson were corresponding about the *****, Boissonnault owned 50 per cent of GHI.
The new court evidence, reported by Global News last week, included new text messages Anderson sent to Weber in September 2022 saying he was consulting ‘******’ about the $3.45-million deal between GHI and 4M Medical.
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The minister maintains he has had nothing to do with the company since his resignation and, for weeks, has accused Anderson of using his name without his consent.
“If Mr. Anderson is using my name, without my knowledge, which I never gave him permission to do, then he should share that with the committee,” Boissonnault said at a press conference in Vaughan last week.
The new court evidence spurred the House ethics committee to re-open its study into whether Boissonnault broke federal laws by being involved in a private business while in office.
************* MPs have ramped up calls for Boissonnault to step down amid the new ‘******’ texts and Boissonnault’s conflicting claims around his family’s Indigenous ancestry.
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“Any one of these things would be a resigning offence. Why won’t he resign now?” ************* Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said in the House of Commons on Monday.
Hansen said Boissonnault had previously referred to himself as a “non-status adopted Cree” but he has never claimed to be Indigenous.
Last week, Boissonnault apologized for not being more careful about how he characterized his family’s ancestry, adding he was still learning about it.
4:02
Boissonnault apologizes over scrutiny of Indigenous identity claims
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday he still had confidence in Boissonnault, who is currently minister of employment, workforce development and official languages.
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“I’m happy that he is continuing to lead on issues around jobs and employment and represent Alberta in our government,” Trudeau said at the closing press conference for the G20 summit.
Anderson, who is the chief operating officer of GHI, is facing allegations in court that he defrauded two U.S. companies out of around $850,000 in total.
Anderson denies the allegations of ******, which remain unproven in court.
Neither Anderson nor his lawyer responded to Global News’ requests for comment by deadline.
The Ghaoui Group, a California-based company, sued GHI, Anderson, and Anderson’s other company, Global Healthcare Solutions (GHS), in May 2023.
Two months later, it was awarded a $7.3-million default judgment in that case when no defence was filed. The Ghaoui Group also received a partial judgment for around $500,000 to be paid by Anderson directly.
The case currently is under a stay order from a judge. Anderson is trying to get both judgments set aside because he said he was unaware of the lawsuit until December 2023, when he discovered his bank accounts were being garnished, according to his statements in court documents.
The Ghaoui Group is also suing Anderson and two GHI employees in a second lawsuit filed in April alleging civil ******. All three deny the allegations.
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Weber’s affidavit was filed in support of both of The Ghaoui Group’s lawsuits.
Malvina Ghaoui, principal of The Ghaoui Group, also filed a police report with Edmonton police in March regarding her company’s ******* transaction with GHI.
Similar to Weber, Ghaoui’s company put down a $500,000 ******** on a large shipment of medical gloves that never arrived. That ********, sent in September 2022, was also not returned in full, The Ghaoui Group alleged in court documents.
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Edmonton police said it investigated Ghaoui’s complaint, but no arrests were made, and no charges were *****. The investigation ******** suspended pending the receipt of new information.
Weber’s police report is “not sufficient to re-open this investigation,” EPS spokesperson Carolin Maran said in a statement without elaborating.
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Boissonnault won’t say whether police should investigate claims of ****** against his former business partner
The police officer handling Ghaoui’s complaint, Const. Justin Cook, wrote to Ghaoui on April 10 telling her Anderson told him he had “paid the ******** back,” emails obtained by Global News show.
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A month later, in his sworn affidavit dated May 22, Anderson told a different story.
In court documents, Anderson said that as a result of an arson ***** at GHI’s Edmonton warehouse that “crippled” his business, he could only return $10,000 to The Ghaoui Group.
The EPS did not confirm nor deny Cook’s email to Ghaoui. Maran did not respond to questions regarding whether it is investigating what appears to be a false statement Anderson allegedly made to police about returning the ********.
The EPS had previously investigated the arson ***** set at GHI’s warehouse in September 2022. That investigation also ******** suspended pending new information. No charges or arrests were made in that case as well.
“I can confirm that all three incident reports have been cross-referenced by investigators. The EPS cautions against drawing conclusions that police investigations have been unable to confirm,” Maran wrote in a statement.
Ghaoui said she is “deeply concerned” by the conclusion reached by EPS in her case.
“It seems that the evidence — particularly the hard evidence I presented — was not fully considered in the final assessment,” Ghaoui said in a statement.
Dan Jones, a former Edmonton police inspector and chair of justice studies at NorQuest College, told Global News police should be connecting Ghaoui and Weber’s complaints.
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“Cross-referencing is one thing, but what they should be doing is looking for potential linkages,” he said.
Jones said, in general, investigating ****** is difficult, and most local police departments lack the capacity to take on every case.
However, he said he thinks the allegations made against Anderson and GHI warrant a deeper look.
Boissonnault has been called back to testify before the ethics committee for a third time alongside two GHI employees and Ghaoui. No date has been set for those hearings.
MPs did not invite Anderson back to Ottawa to testify after several members said they found him to be an unreliable witness during his July appearance.
Anderson told MPs during that hearing all nine ‘******’ references in text messages were the result of an “auto-correct error,” but refused to disclose who he was referring to. He also admitted to initially lying to Global News about the identity of ‘******.’
Anderson is expected to face a motion to be found in contempt of Parliament for refusing to answer questions and turn over documents ordered by the committee earlier this summer.
If you have information for this story, or information for another story, please contact the author in confidence at *****@*****.tld
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Qualcomm says it expects $4 billion in PC chip sales by 2029
Qualcomm says it expects $4 billion in PC chip sales by 2029
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon speaks at the Computex forum in Taipei, Taiwan, June 3, 2024.
Ann Wang | Reuters
Qualcomm said on Tuesday that it expects its push into new markets to generate an additional $22 billion per year by 2029.
Of that amount, roughly $4 billion will come from PC chips, Qualcomm said at its investor day on Tuesday. The chipmaker just introduced PC processors earlier this year, when it released Snapdragon X for Windows devices.
The latest forecast marks an important milestone for Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, who took over the company in 2021 with a promise to get past a reliance on smartphones. In fiscal 2024, Qualcomm’s handset business reported $24.86 billion in sales, about 75% of its entire chip business.
Qualcomm also said on Tuesday that automotive revenues would rise about 175% by 2029 to $8 billion, of which 80% is tied to contracts that have already been secured.
“We have been on this trajectory realizing that the technologies we have developed over the many years can be very relevant to a number of different industries beyond mobile,” Amon said at the investor event.
Another $4 billion in revenue will come from industrial chips and $2 billion will come from chips for headsets, a category Qualcomm calls XR. About $4 billion of the forecast is a catch-all for other chip sales, like those for wireless headphones and tablets.
Qualcomm shares are up 16% this year, trailing the Nasdaq, which has gained 26%.
Qualcomm grew rapidly over the past decade as its modems and processors became essential parts for high-end smartphones, especially those running Google Android. Qualcomm also sells modems and related parts to Apple for its iPhones.
But the company has warned investors that Apple could choose to stop buying Qualcomm parts as soon as 2027. Qualcomm said on Tuesday that its growing businesses will more than offset any losses from Apple.
A Li Auto L9 electric vehicle (EV) is seen displayed at the Qualcomm booth during the first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China November 28, 2023.
Florence Lo | Reuters
Qualcomm’s strategy under Amon has been to use the technology its developed for its handset chips, like modems, processors, and AI accelerators, in new markets, including cars, PCs, and virtual reality. The investor event was the first time in years that the company has given a forecast for those new markets. Qualcomm said its total addressable market is as large as $900 billion.
“We put a strategy in ’21, and we’re not changing our strategy,” Amon said.
Laptop and desktop chips are currently dominated by Intel, which has over 70% percent of the market, according to Mercury Research. Intel reported $29 billion in PC chip sales in its 2023.
“The competitive landscape changed between the Windows and Macs,” Amon said, referring to Apple’s move in 2020 to switch from Intel to its own processors. “We saw that as an opportunity, especially as the ecosystem did not have confidence in the existing players to actually deliver a solution.”
The forecast for XR headsets also hints at the growth potential of the VR market over the next five years. Qualcomm supplies chips to many of the top headset makers, including Meta for its Quest and Ray-Bans products.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Qualcomm calls itself an “edge AI” company, in contrast to cloud-based AI that’s typically powered by Nvidia processors. Company officials didn’t rule out introducing data center products in an interview with CNBC.
Qualcomm suggested that its mobile chips will be able to run the kind of advanced AI that’s restricted to large server farms today, an indication that that company may benefit from the AI ***** down the road as the technology becomes more efficient.
“What you can run on the cloud last year, you can run on the device this year,” Durga Malladi, Qualcomm’s senior vice president in charge of planning, said at the event.
WATCH: Qualcomm shares spike on earnings beat
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X adds Twitch to its advertising boycott lawsuit
X adds Twitch to its advertising boycott lawsuit
Twitch is now on the docket for X’s lawsuit against companies that stopped advertising on the social media site. X amended its lawsuit on Monday to include Twitch as a defendant in its lawsuit in a federal court in Wichita Falls, Texas, according to Reuters.
The new complaint claims that the gaming stream site owned by Amazon stopped purchasing ads on X at the end of 2022. X alleges that Twitch and other companies conspired with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) network’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative to withhold “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from Elon Musk’s social media company.
The plaintiff alleges the boycott violated federal antitrust laws and is demanding a jury trial to settle the matter. GARM also announced its discontinuation two days after X filed its lawsuit.
X Corp.’s ****** lawsuit first filed in August also includes the WFA, the global food manufacturer Mars Incorporated, the drugstore chain CVS and the Danish energy company Ørsted A/S over the advertising boycott. X also has a lawsuit against the media watchdog group Media Matters for publishing a report showing X displayed ads next to antisemitic content on the platform.
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4 CPUs you should buy instead of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D
4 CPUs you should buy instead of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D
I’m not going to even pretend the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a bad CPU. It’s one of the best processors you can buy, and undoubtedly the best processor you can buy for gaming. There are just a couple of problems. It’s pretty expensive at nearly $500 for an eight-core CPU. Also, at the time of writing, it’s sold out everywhere — and signs don’t point to it being back in stock any time soon.
You don’t need to wait. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D, for as impressive as it is, isn’t the right processor for everyone. In fact, I’m using an entirely different processor in my personal high-end gaming PC, and for a lot of gamers, the extra price you pay for the AMD’s 3D V-Cache could go to waste. Here are four CPUs that you can not only pick up now, but they also provide solid competition for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, be it on price, performance, or both.
Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
The obvious alternative to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is last-gen’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D. You can pick it up for around $450 brand new, and for anywhere from $300 to $350 on the secondhand market. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is faster, there’s no doubt about that. However, it’s mainly faster in productivity applications, and in a lot of games, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D are very close.
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I’ll point you in the direction of my head-to-head matchup between the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D for the full details, but in short, the last-gen chip is only around 5% behind in most games. There are plenty of games where there’s no difference at all. If you look at graphically intensive titles like ****** Myth: Wukong or Returnal, the two CPUs post basically identical results. That’s at 1080p, too — if you push up to higher resolutions, the differences disappear even further.
That’s not surprising, either. The Zen 5 architecture isn’t significantly faster than Zen 4, and both of these chips are otherwise packing identical specs: eight cores, 16 threads, and 104MB of total cache. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D certainly falls behind in productivity applications, but if your main focus is gaming, it delivers performance that’s just shy of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and for a lot less money.
There are some downsides to choosing the last-gen chip, however. Although it’s extremely efficient — it usually doesn’t draw more than 70 watts in games — it gets fairly hot. In addition, it’s not unlocked for overclocking. You can boost the Ryzen 7 7800X3D with AMD’s Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO), but you can’t dig into the BIOS and tweak the CPU with manual overclocking. If gaming is your primary concern, however, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Core i9-14900K
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
Intel’s Core i9-14900K has faced a lot of criticism, and rightfully so. It was at the center of a months-long controversy due to Intel’s instability issues, which were mostly ignored by the company during the beginning of the year. After many months, Intel has addressed the problem, and it doesn’t look like it’s coming back. Although it’s fair to doubt the Core i9-14900K given Intel’s track record this year, the CPU looks safe to buy now. Intel has extended the warranty to five years for the processor, so you’re covered in the event of any issues.
This is one heck of a processor. It’s a 24-core monster that can boost up to 6GHz, and that’s even before any overclocking. When it comes to productivity applications, the Core i9-14900K eats the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s lunch and somehow still manages to have an appetite.
Gaming is a slightly different story. The Core i9-14900K isn’t as fast as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D or its last-gen counterpart, but it’s the closest competitor I’ve seen. It takes a back seat in games that favor extra cache, such as Final Fantasy XIV and F1 2022, but it’s very close to AMD when it comes to graphically demanding titles like Red ***** Redemption 2 and *********’s Creed Mirage. Those gaps are easier to accept considering the Core i9-14900K comes in at $430.
The one major caveat with the Core i9-14900K is power draw, and in turn, heat. Even at stock settings, it can sustain 250 watts of power draw. If you plan on picking up the Core i9-14900K, you’ll want an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler, or at the very least, one of the beefier air coolers you can buy.
Ryzen 7 9700X
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
I use a Ryzen 7 9700X in my personal gaming PC, and I love it. Despite clocking in at just $320 — a full $160 less than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D — it’s almost identical to AMD’s 3D V-Cache CPU. You’re getting eight Zen 5 cores, 16 threads, and an unlocked processor that can handle overclocking. AMD also recently added a 105-watt mode to the Ryzen 7 9700X, which puts it neck and neck with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in productivity applications.
The CPUs are very similar when running above 100 watts, but the Ryzen 7 9700X also benefits from its default 65-watt power mode. The CPU offers excellent gaming performance in this mode — it doesn’t benefit at all from higher power draw in games — making it an ideal candidate if you have a weaker cooler or a small form factor build where you want to dedicate as much space as possible to your graphics card. I fall in the latter camp.
The Ryzen 7 9700X is certainly slower than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in games, but it performs around the level of the Core i9-14900K overall. This CPU is living proof that most games don’t need much more than eight fast cores, even if you’re pushing the latest titles like ****** Myth: Wukong. And once again, the benefits of AMD’s 3D V-Cache start to disappear as you push up the resolution and graphics settings. Up at 4K, where I play my games, the Ryzen 7 9700X is just about 3% behind the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
I generally like to include some caveat or major downside, but the Ryzen 7 9700X is fairly resilient to most major criticisms. Given how much cheaper it is than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and how close it can get in performance at higher resolutions, the Ryzen 7 9700X is a slam dunk.
Core i7-14700K
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
The Core i7-14700K is a sleeper hit. The Core i7 range is usually popular, but this 20-core ****** has faded from the limelight amid the controversy surrounding the Core i9-14900K, and it deserves a fair shake. That’s because, despite the massive core array and the productivity performance it brings, the Core i7-14700K is selling for just $350 right now. That’s an insane deal considering how powerful this CPU is.
Although the Core i9-14900K is faster in productivity applications, the Core i7-14700K is no slouch. It demolishes the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, particularly in heavily threaded workloads like rendering and video transcoding. Like its more expensive sibling, the Core i7-14700K has access to up to 250W out of the box, as well as clock speeds up to 5.6GHz. If that’s not enough, you can always overclock the processor.
On the gaming front, the Core i7-14700K is basically no different than the Core i9-14900K. They post nearly identical results across games. Compared to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the Core i7-14700K is around 10% slower down at 1080p. However, that gap shrinks to just 5% at 1440p, and it completely disappears at 4K. Depending on what games you play, and at what resolution, the Core i7-14700K is just as fast as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
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Watch SpaceX launch Starship’s sixth test flight
Watch SpaceX launch Starship’s sixth test flight
SpaceX launched the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday, as the company looks to keep up momentum of the mammoth vehicle’s development.
The rocket took off from SpaceX’s private “Starbase” facility near Brownsville, Texas. There are not any people on board the Starship flight.
Starship reached space and will travel halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX had aimed to return the rocket’s “Super Heavy” booster after it separated from Starship and land it on the arms of the company’s launch tower. But SpaceX said during its webcast that the booster did not clear its “commit criteria” needed for the catch attempt, so the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico instead.
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on November 19, 2024, for the Starship Flight 6 test.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
As with each previous test flight, SpaceX aims to push development further by testing additional Starship capabilities, including reigniting an engine while in space and testing its heatshield while reentering the atmosphere.
Additionally, the evening launch time means that this will be the first time Starship makes a daylight splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on as Elon Musk explains the operations of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in a control room on November 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Pushing the envelope
SpaceX catches the first-stage “Super Heavy” booster of its Starship rocket on Oct. 13, 2024.
Sergio Flores | Afp | Getty Images
SpaceX has flown the full Starship rocket system on six spaceflight tests so far since April 2023, at a steadily increasing cadence. Its previous launch last month featured the dramatic first catch of the rocket’s more than 20-story tall booster.
After the successful fifth flight, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that SpaceX was authorized to move forward with the sixth flight.
But, as with its previous test flights, the fifth launch was not without incidents. SpaceX management, in audio posted after the launch on social media by Musk, revealed that Starship’s booster nearly missed the catch due to a timing issue with one of the rocket’s subsystems.
“We were one second away from that tripping and telling the rocket to abort and try to ****** into the ground next to the tower instead of [landing at] the tower — like, erroneously tell a healthy rocket to not try that catch,” an unidentified person told Musk in the audio.
SpaceX did not catch the booster again. The company said on its website that it made hardware upgrades to the rocket’s booster for improved redundancy and improved structural strength.
Read more CNBC space news
The Starship system is designed to be fully reusable and aims to become a new method of flying cargo and people beyond Earth. The rocket is also critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA’s Artemis moon program.
Starship is both the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. Fully stacked on the Super Heavy booster, Starship stands 397 feet tall and is about 30 feet in diameter.
The Super Heavy booster, which stands 232 feet tall, is what begins the rocket’s journey to space. At its base are 33 Raptor engines, which together produce 16.7 million pounds of thrust — about double the 8.8 million pounds of thrust of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which launched for the first time in 2022.
Starship itself, at 165 feet tall, has six Raptor engines — three for use while in the Earth’s atmosphere and three for operating in the vacuum of space.
The rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The full system requires more than 10 million pounds of propellant for launch.
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