TL;DR: As of July 20, get the Plantum Plant Identifier Premium Lifetime Plan for only

US chipmaker Micron said Friday it would invest more than $600 million in a packing and testing factory in northern China, less than a month after Beijing banned...

Canada is bracing for higher-than-normal wildfire activity to continue into August, as soaring temperatures and drought turn much

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--

Iran has imposed curbs on the internet in the year since protests erupted over Mahsa Amini's death, forcing people to find other ways to run their businesses or...

Yamaha has unveiled a self-riding electric motorbike that features no handlebars or other standard controls. The Yamaha Motoroid 2 is the next generation of the firm’s Motoroid concept bike first revealed in 2017, but unlike its predecessor, Yamaha has built a working prototype of the latest vehicle. The self-balancing bike features gyroscopes and image recognition AI systems to stay upright and navigate roads, while also being capable of riding itself without anyone aboard. “Motoroid 2 is a vehicle for personal mobility that can recognise its owner, get up off its kickstand and move alongside its rider,” the company said. “[It] has a distinctly lifelike feel when somebody is riding on its back and has a presence more like a lifetime companion.” Yamaha plans to show off the prototype of the Motoroid 2 at the Events Japan Mobility Show 2023 in Tokyo next month. It is not clear whether Yamaha plans to release a production model of the bike, however its continued development suggests that the automotive giant is working to integrate at least some of its features into future motorcycles. Self-driving technology is increasingly common in production vehicles, though it is currently limited to four-wheeled cars and trucks. Some have even considered eschewing steering wheels, with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk originally planning to build a fleet of self-driving electric taxis that have no visible user controls. The plan was reportedly sidelined after company executives noted that regulators in most major markets require steering wheels and pedals on vehicles. Several motorcycle manufacturers have unveiled concept bikes that require no rider to operate. BMW’s ConnectedRide retrofits the company’s R 1200 GS Adventure with autonomous technology to serve as a “testbed for advanced motorcycle safety” equipment that it hopes to introduce to its production models. “In a future world of autonomously driving cars, being connected will be an urgent requirement for all motorcycle segments,” BMW’s Markus Schramm said in 2020. “This will enhance safety and ensure that motorcycling remains future-proof.” Read More Reinventing the seatbelt for the self-driving era

After nearly two years and $69 billion, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is finally complete. The Xbox maker and the game developer are joining together in the biggest purchase in gaming history. It is a vast business undertaking that will define the future of the two companies and the gaming industry more broadly. But what will it actually mean for the gamers who use Microsoft’s platforms and play Activision’s games – as well as those that don’t? What happened in the deal? Microsoft first announced that it wanted to buy Activision Blizzard in January last year. Microsoft makes the Xbox and Activision Blizzard makes many of the worlds biggest games – it is often associated with Call of Duty, but also makes World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and mobile giant Candy Crush, and more. In the time since, the deal has been hit by opposition from rivals, primarily PlayStation maker Sony, and has been undergoing scrutiny from regulators, who worried that it would give Microsoft too much power in the gaming market, and harm players as a result. Regulators across the world expressed those reservations, and in some cases required Microsoft to make changes to the deal. Chief among those changes were Microsoft’s decision to give French gaming company Ubisoft the rights to distribute Activision games in the cloud. This was a response to concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which expressed concern specifically that the deal would give Microsoft too much power over cloud gaming. But there were a host of less dramatic and expensive commitments. That included signing deals with other companies such as Sony and Nintendo to commit to keep Call of Duty games on their platforms. What will it mean for Xbox players? At least initially, the biggest consequences of the deal are likely to be for Xbox’s Game Pass, the subscription platform that allows players to download and play games in return for a monthly fee. More Activision games are expected to come to that platform as a result of the acquisition. But even that won’t happen straight away, at least with all games. Activision said in a statement this week – before the deal closed – that its big titles won’t be coming to Game Pass this year, and has not made any commitments about which games will do so or when. “While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world,” Activision wrote in a tweet. “And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.” What will it mean for gamers on other platforms? Much of the discussion with regulators has been about this question. And many of the concessions that Microsoft gave over the deal were done with the aim of ensuring that the answer is: not that much, at least at first. Xbox has committed to keep making its games available on other platforms such as PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, as well as on cloud platforms. And Xbox chief Phil Spencer echoed that commitment in the announcement that the deal was completed. “Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here - and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favourite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win,” he wrote. But the bigger question might be about new games, especially those that come out after the initial commitments are over. Microsoft has committed to keep Call of Duty on rival platforms for 10 years, for instance – but things could change in the years after that, and with other, new games. When Microsoft bought another game developer Bethesda in 2020, for instance, there were questions over what it would mean for players on other platforms, and whether its games would be exclusive to Microsoft. Its most recent game Starcraft was available only on the Xbox and PC, and the upcoming Elder Scrolls VI is likely to be the same. Read More Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision

TL;DR: The Apple iPad Mini (6th Gen) is on sale for $379.99 this Prime Day.

Fire might seem like one of the most elemental things in the natural world, but it’s never been found anywhere other than Earth. It’s because the creation of fire relies on very specific circumstances. In fact, if fire was ever found on another planet, it would be a good indicator of the possible existence of life. Oxygen is key to fire, and while it’s particularly prevalent in the universe, Earth’s atmosphere features an abundance of the element in the right molecular form for it to form. Even then, the way the Earth’s atmosphere has changed over its lifespan is also crucial to conditions being fostered where fire can form [via IFLScience]. For millions of years, in fact, there wasn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere to create fire. Before the Middle Ordovician period, when there was far less oxygen, there’s no evidence of fire whatsoever. Most of the fuel that fire needs is also directly related to life existing on the planet – think wood, oil and coal. Without life, there isn’t an awful lot of fuel going around, which just shows why the existence of fire on another planet would be a very promising sign when it comes to exploring the universe for life. Despite fire being much rarer in the universe than most might think, it was previously confirmed that humans in Europe may have mastered fire long before we previously thought. According to a study published in Scientific Reports, humans made the discovery around 245,000 years ago, up to 50,000 years earlier than scientists believed, Researchers studied samples from the Valdocarros II, a huge archaeological site found east of Madrid, Spain. Using chemical analysis, they found certain compounds that show things were burnt by fire in "organised" social events, rather than through accidents or wildfires. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

'Horizon Forbidden West' is coming to PC and the 'complete edition' is heading to PS5.

Listen to The Big Take podcast on iHeart, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Terminal. The US dollar is the world’s

Light bulbs have grown exponentially smarter in recent years. You can now replace your standard