NASA engineers have managed to get the long-running Voyager 1 space probe fully back in working order after some seven months of technical difficulties. In November 2023, the spacecraft — which is more than 15 billion miles from Earth — started sending back strange, unreadable data, and the team has been working ever since to get to the root of the issue. While Voyager 1 seemed to be receiving and executing commands just fine, none of the science and engineering data it sent home made sense.
In April, the team traced the problem to some corrupted memory in the probe’s flight data subsystem (FDS) computer and was later able to get two of its instruments sending science data again. Now, all four of Voyager 1’s instruments are back to sending readable data, NASA says. Voyager 1 launched in 1977, so the fact that it’s still going in any capacity is incredible. But now, it can resume its duties directly studying interstellar space.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasas-47-year-old-voyager-1-probe-is-back-in-action-after-months-of-technical-issues-192057182.html?src=rss
Just how thin can a Macbook Pro get? We may soon find out. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s mission to make its thinnest product ever won’t stop at the iPad Pro — the company also has plans for a skinnier Macbook Pro, Apple Watch and, as The Information also reported last month, iPhone. According to Gurman, Apple is on the cusp of ushering in “a new class of Apple devices that should be the thinnest and lightest products in their categories across the whole tech industry.” Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also shared his belief that the new Apple Watch Series 10 will get a thinner chassis than its predecessor — plus a larger screen (45mm and 49mm, compared to 41mm and 45mm).
Adding further fuel to the earlier iPhone rumors, Gurman says he too has been told the slimmed-down iPhone could come as early as 2025 with the introduction of the iPhone 17 line. There’s no timeline yet on the rest of the products named in the report. The upcoming thin iPhone is expected to be pricier than the current iPhone Pro Max, and have a screen sized somewhere between that of the Pro Max and the standard iPhone.
Update, June 17 2024, 5:26AM ET: This article has been updated to include analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's insight on the Apple Watch Series 10.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-reportedly-has-plans-for-a-thinner-iphone-macbook-pro-and-apple-watch-171137550.html?src=rss
Hate it or love it, Lollipop Chainsaw is so back. Developer Dragami Games announced this week that its remastered version of the game, Lollipop Chainsaw RePop, comes out on September 25 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Steam. The polarizing cult classic was first released in 2012 and follows the zombie-hunting cheerleader, Juliet, as she tries to fend off the apocalypse.
There were originally plans for a full remake, but last year it was revealed that this had been scaled back to a remaster. Ever since its return was announced, fans of the original have expressed concerns that the intentionally trashy, over-the-top hack-and-slash game might get the censorship treatment in order to appease modern sensibilities, but it looks like there will be a way to experience Lollipop Chainsaw just the way you remembered it.
The trailer states that “Lollipop Chainsaw RePop allows players to select Original mode, which is based on the original release, or RePop mode, which has less violence and uses pop-art damage effects.” The announcement also says RePop “leaves the story unchanged, with the focus on quality of life improvements and additional gameplay content.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-lollipop-chainsaw-remaster-comes-out-on-september-25-152207999.html?src=rss
MGM+ has ordered an eight-episode series based on Stephen King’s 2019 novel, The Institute, Deadline reported this week. The novel follows the plight of 12-year-old Luke Ellis and a group of other children with telepathic and telekinetic abilities who have been kidnapped and held captive at a facility deep in the Maine woods, where their powers are being exploited. Their story becomes intertwined with that of an ex-cop Tim Jamieson. I really enjoyed this one when it came out, and as a lifelong King reader who has become hardened against the disappointment of terrible adaptations, I’m choosing to remain hopeful.
So far, all we know about the cast is that it includes Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone) as Jamieson and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) as the villainous Mrs. Sigsby, according to Deadline. The show has Benjamin Cavell on board as writer and executive producer. Cavell helmed 2020’s The Stand miniseries remake, which… well, it happened. Again, we’re staying hopeful here. Production starts later this year in Nova Scotia.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-stephen-kings-best-recent-novels-is-being-made-into-a-show-for-mgm-203220393.html?src=rss
Some Cybertruck buyers who were scheduled to receive their new trucks this week have been told they’ll have to wait a little while longer as the company addresses a safety issue with the windshield wiper motor. Tesla hasn’t publicly confirmed any such problems or issued an official recall, but numerous commenters on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum and Reddit said they were notified that deliveries have been halted and their pickup dates were pushed back a week.
This follows reports from Cybertruck owners who have said that the windshield wiper failed on them, in somecases almost immediately after the truck was picked up. Tesla previously had to pause Cybertruck deliveries this spring, when it issued a recall over faulty accelerator pedals that could get stuck. The problem affected around 3,878 Cybertruck vehicles. In this case, the fix was fairly simple (installing a rivet) and deliveries resumed soon after.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybertruck-buyers-say-theyve-been-told-deliveries-are-paused-due-windshield-wiper-problems-173804018.html?src=rss
The US military used fake social media accounts to spread propaganda that was designed to discredit China’s COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines during the height of the pandemic, according to a bombshell report from Reuters. The anti-vax campaign ran from spring 2020 until mid-2021, and was intended to “counter what [the Pentagon] perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines,” the publication found in its investigation. The Philippines saw low vaccination rates through 2021 even months after China’s Sinovac vaccine arrived in the area, and recorded nearly 50,000 COVID deaths by November of that year.
In one example of the US’s anti-vax messaging cited by Reuters, an account in 2020 tweeted, “COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, don’t trust China!” The campaign also pushed the narrative that China’s vaccines were “haram” — or forbidden under Islamic law — because of a pig derivative in the ingredients.
Former military officials who spoke with Reuters said the Pentagon had propaganda accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram, and was warned in late 2020 by Facebook executives that the accounts had been identified and were acting in violation of the platform’s policies. Some of these accounts, however, ultimately weren’t taken down after the Pentagon said it would stop using them for its anti-vax campaign. Reuters notified X of at least 300 accounts it found during its investigation that appeared to be part of the operation. These were determined to be bots and removed.
According to Reuters, the campaign was launched after the Chinese government made unfounded claims that the COVID-19’s spread could be traced back to the US. In a statement to the publication, a Pentagon spokesperson brought up China’s disinformation campaign, and said the military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks aimed at the U.S., allies, and partners.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-military-reportedly-used-social-media-to-spread-anti-vax-propaganda-in-the-philippines-160357361.html?src=rss
Andrea Baroni’s Halfway to Dawn is unbelievably bleak for a game you can play from start to finish in about 10 minutes. I mean that as a compliment; it’s the best horror experience I’ve had on the Playdate yet.
As someone who tends to gravitate towards all things spooky, one of the things I’ve been most interested in as I explore what’s out there for Playdate is seeing how developers will make horror work for the weird little handheld. Halfway to Dawn takes a blended approach: in the first half, it’s a text-based narrative game where you’re scavenging for resources and readying yourself for the long night ahead; in the second, it’s an all-out fight for your life against an onslaught of eldritch creatures.
Halfway to Dawn wastes no time in setting a mood of desolation and impending doom, beginning with dialogue from our protagonist about feeling “as lifeless as these scattered remains of humanity” in a city overtaken by some unnamed terror. During the narrative portion of the game, you must choose among different locations to visit — the mall, pharmacy, gun store and a house — so you can hopefully find things like first aid kits, guns, ammo and traps. But there’s no telling whether each of these trips will be successful.
Andrea Baroni/Cyberleaf Studio
You might find a box of shotgun shells but never get your hands on a shotgun to actually use them. You might even get hurt while scavenging. There is also the option to rest, which will fill up your health bar (while you’ll start with full health on Easy mode, Hard will start you with two out of the six health points already depleted). But an hour will pass after each selection, and you have to stay conscious of the time. The clock starts at 6PM, and once it strikes 1AM, you’ll be forced to go out and defend yourself against the monsters until dawn.
At this point, the game becomes a top-down shooter — and depending on how you fared with resources, a pretty challenging one at that. Monsters will be closing in on you from all sides, some of them harder to take down than others, and you can only replenish ammo and first aid kits from your finite supply at set breaks marking the passage of one hour. If you run out before then, you’ll have no choice but to try and fight off the monsters with a knife, which you can swing using the crank. That’s about as effective as you’d think it is.
Halfway to Dawn is a very, very short game, but it really had me sweating on some runs. It’s a fun one to keep coming back to, since the randomness of resource collection makes for a different experience each time. And the tension of it all is perfectly rounded out by a synth-heavy soundtrack (available on Bandcamp), which could be right out of an ‘80s B-horror movie. If creepy is your thing, this is definitely a game to check out. Halfway to Dawn is on the Playdate Catalog and itch.io for $5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/halfway-to-dawn-is-a-surprisingly-tense-bite-sized-survival-horror-game-for-playdate-220033899.html?src=rss
Xbox’s Summer Games Showcase on Sunday brought a nice little surprise amidst all the expected news: the announcement of a new Life is Strange game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure. The game, which sees the return of its original protagonist Max Caulfield, will be released on October 29 for Xbox Series X/S, PC and PlayStation 5. Anyone dying to get their hands on it a little earlier, though, can pre-order the Ultimate Edition, which will grant them access to Chapters 1 and 2 on October 15. A Nintendo Switch release appears to be coming later, as well.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure picks up years after the events of the first game. Now, Max has found her friend Safi murdered and tries to use her powers of time manipulation to go back and save her — but things go awry. It’s a “full-on murder-mystery, with a supernatural twist” in which Max will have to bounce between parallel timelines to stop the killer.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/were-officially-getting-another-life-is-strange-game-this-fall-193230167.html?src=rss
After years of teasing its arrival, Xbox has finally announced a release window for the upcoming Fable reboot. The game is slated to hit Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2025, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. The company dropped a new trailer during the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday. Fable, which is being developed by Playground Games, was first announced with a teaser back in 2020.
Xbox is billing it as “a new beginning” for the series. The new Fable focuses on a washed-up ex-hero named Humphry, who we see in the latest trailer. He’ll be “forced out of retirement when a mysterious figure from his past threatens Albion's very existence.” In our last glimpse at the game, released during last year’s Summer Game Fest, we were introduced to a character named Dave, who is voiced by Richard Ayoade. The new trailer gives us a bit more of a look at some in-game footage and doubles down on the offbeat tone of the previous teasers.
We'll still have to wait a while for it to actually be released, but at least now there's a timeframe we can cling to.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xboxs-fable-reboot-will-come-to-xbox-series-xs-and-pc-next-year-181914674.html?src=rss
Paramount+ just dropped the full trailer for its upcoming animated TMNT series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it looks like a lot of fun. The show, a spinoff of last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, will see a slew of actors from the movie return to their roles, including Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael and Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil. It’s scheduled to be released on the streaming platform August 9.
In Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the brothers find themselves up against the villain Bishop (now depicted as a woman), who should be familiar to longtime fans of the franchise. After becoming separated by Bishop, they’ll have to stand on their own until they find each other to fight together again. The show will get 12 episodes, which will be available exclusively on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-new-2d-animated-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-show-hits-paramount-on-august-9-163555708.html?src=rss