174735498
submission
Dave Knott writes:
After once again being plagued by controversy, this time due to a thwarted ballot-stuffing campaign, the 2024 Hugo Awards have been awarded at the 2024 World Science Fiction Convention.
This year's winners are:
* Best Novel: Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh
* Best Novella: Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher
* Best Novelette: “The Year Without Sunshine”, by Naomi Kritzer
* Best Short Story: “Better Living Through Algorithms”, by Naomi Kritzer
* Best Series: Imperial Radch, by Ann Leckie
* Best Graphic Story or Comic: Saga, Vol. 11, written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples
* Best Related Work: A City on Mars, by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, directed by Peter Hoar
* Best Game or Interactive Work: Baldur’s Gate 3, produced by Larian Studios
* Best Editor Short Form: Neil Clarke
* Best Editor Long Form: Ruoxi Chen
* Best Professional Artist: Rovina Cai
* Best Semiprozine: Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
* Best Fanzine: Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla
* Best Fancast: Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
* Best Fan Writer: Paul Weimer
* Best Fan Artist: Laya Rose
* Lodestar Award for Best YA Book: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
* Astounding Award for Best New Writer: Xiran Jay Zhao
171660502
submission
Dave Knott writes:
John Warnock, co-founder and ex-CEO of Adobe, has died at the age of 82. Under his tenure, Adobe created Postscript, Acrobat, Photoshop, and many other technologies and software products that have become industry standards in publishing, graphic design, video editing, photography and more. A cause of death has not been released; he is survived by his wife, graphic designer Marva Warnock, and his three children
170880628
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The four class of 2023 inductees into the Video Game Hall Of Fame have been announced.
Barbie Fashion Designer : "The 1996 hit Barbie Fashion Designer emerged at a time when many games were marketed to male players. Published by Digital Domain/Mattel Media, it proved that a computer game targeted to girls could succeed, selling more than 500,000 copies in two months. The game helped greatly expanded the market for video games and in the process opened important—and ongoing—discussions about gender and stereotypes in gaming. Barbie Fashion Designer was also innovative in bridging the gap between the digital and the physical, allowing players to design clothes for their Barbie dolls and print them on special fabric."
Computer Space : "Nutting Associate’s Computer Space appeared in 1971 and was the first commercial video game. Inspired by the early minicomputer and previous World Video Game Hall of Fame inductee—Spacewar! (1962)—the coin-operated Computer Space proved that video games could reach an audience outside of computer labs. While not a best-seller, it was a trailblazer in the video game world and inspired its creators to go on to establish Atari Inc., a video game giant in the 1970s and 1980s."
The Last of Us : "Released by Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2013, The Last of Us jumped into an oversaturated field of post-apocalyptic zombie games and quickly stood out among the rest with its in-depth storytelling, intimate exploration of humanity, thrilling game jumps and cutscenes, and its memorable characters. More than 200 publications named it the game of the year in 2013. Its story has since made the jump to Hollywood, inspiring an HBO adaptation in 2023 watched weekly by millions."
Wii Sports : "Wii Sports launched with the Nintendo Wii home video game system in 2006 and introduced motion-based technology to living rooms across the world. With a simple swipe of the controller, players could serve a tennis ball, hurl a bowling bowl, throw a left hook, or drive a golf ball. The simple mechanics made the game accessible to almost anyone—allowing it to be played by young children and seniors alike—and helped to redefine the idea of who is a “gamer.” Ultimately, the game helped Nintendo to sell more than 100 million Wii consoles worldwide."
156840615
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The world's largest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away Saturday on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies and scour the universe for hints of life.
The $10-billion US observatory hurtled toward its destination 1.6 million kilometresÂaway, or more than four times beyond the moon. It will take a month to get there and another five months before its infrared eyes are ready to start scanning the cosmos.
The observatory will be able to peer back in time 13.7 billion years, within a mere 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang.
150440825
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Intel is branding its upcoming consumer GPUs as Intel Arc. This new Arc brand will cover both the hardware and software powering Intel’s high-end discrete GPUs, as well as multiple hardware generations. The first of those, known previously as DG2, is expected to arrive in the form of codename “Alchemist” in Q1 2022. Intel’s Arc GPUs will be capable of mesh shading, variable rate shading, video upscaling, and real-time ray tracing. Most importantly, Intel is also promising AI-accelerated super sampling, which sounds like Intel has its own competitor to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology.
149528023
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Having been in charge of the TARDIS since filming for the Thirteenth Doctor began in 2017, Showrunner Chris Chibnall and the Thirteenth Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, have confirmed they will be moving on from the most famous police box on Earth.
With a six-part Event Serial announced for the autumn, and two Specials already planned for 2022, BBC One has now asked for an additional final feature length adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor, to form a trio of Specials for 2022, before the Doctor regenerates once more.
145140810
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Microsoft has announced Visual Studio 2022, the next major revision of their flagship development IDE. A public beta will be arriving this summer.
The most significant change, which has long been rumoured, is that the entire application suite will now be 64-bit.
Other major changes include:
* Performance improvements in the core debugger
* Support for .NET 6, which can be used to build web, client and mobile apps by both Windows and Mac developers, as well as improved support for developing Azure apps
* An update UI meant to reduce complexity and which will add integration with Accessibility Insights. Microsoft plans to update the icons and add support for Cascadia Code, a new fixed-width font for better readability
* Support for C++ 20 tooling. language standardization and Intellisense
* Integration of text chat into the Live Share collaboration feature
* Additional support for Git and GitHub
* Improved code search
136022132
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The owner of TikTok has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as its preferred suitor to buy the popular video-sharing app, according to a source familiar with the deal.
Microsoft announced Sunday that its bid to buy TikTok was rejected, removing a leading suitor for the Chinese-owned app a week before President Donald Trump promises to follow through with a plan to ban it in the U.S.
The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September and ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese ownership.
TikTok denies it is a national-security risk and is suing to stop the administration from the threatened ban.
127419408
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Microsoft has provided detailed tech specs for their forthcoming Xbox Series X game console.
Full system specs are as follows:
* CPU — 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.6 GHz w/ SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
* GPU — 12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU
* Die Size — 360.45 mm2
* Process — 7nm Enhanced
* Memory — 16 GB GDDR6 w/ 320b bus
* Memory Bandwidth — 10GB @ 560 GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s
* Internal Storage — 1 TB Custom NVME SSD
* I/O Throughput — 2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8 GB/s (Compressed, with custom hardware decompression block)
* Expandable Storage — 1 TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
* External Storage — USB 3.2 External HDD Support
* Optical Drive — 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive
* Performance Target — 4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS
Digital Foundry visited Microsoft and provides a deep dive article detailing their hands-on experience with the new hardware including the following information:
* How Series X is more than twice as powerful as Xbox One X in practice;
* The difference its hardware accelerated ray tracing will make to the look of games;
* How its radical approach to memory and fast storage could be a game-changer — including the Quick Resume feature;
* Microsoft's war on input lag and screen tearing;
* Some impressive compatibility features, including automated HDR for older games
116942762
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Two Americans and a British scientist won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discovering details of how the body's cells sense and react to low oxygen levels, providing a foothold for developing new treatments for anemia, cancer and other diseases.
Drs. William G. Kaelin Jr., of Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Gregg L. Semenza, of Johns Hopkins University, and Peter J. Ratcliffe, at the Francis Crick Institute and Oxford University, won the prize.
They "revealed the mechanism for one of life's most essential adaptive processes," the Nobel committee said.
116745616
submission
Dave Knott writes:
A Montreal legal firm has requested authorization to launch a class-action lawsuit against Epic Games, makers the widely popular video game Fortnite. The legal notice, filed on behalf of two minors, likens the effect of the game to cocaine, saying it releases the chemical dopamine to the brain of vulnerable young people who can become dependent on playing. Much of the suit is based on a 2015 Quebec Superior Court ruling that determined tobacco companies didn't warn their customers about the dangers of smoking. Jean-Philippe Caron, a lawyer at Calex, said the firm was contacted by several parents whose kids had become addicted to the game.
Last year, the World Health Organization classified addiction to video games as a disease. It defined the disorder as “a pattern of gaming behaviour characterized by impaired control over gaming, increased priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.”
According to Caron, Fortnite was designed by psychologists to make it more addictive. “They knew that their game was very attractive, yet they did not divulge the risks to the population. It’s a little like tobacco.”
101467250
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Steve Ditko, the legendary comics artist best known for co-creating Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, has died at age 90. No cause of death was announced. Ditko was found dead in his apartment on June 29 and it is believed he died about two days earlier.
100050540
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The 2018 World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. The Hall Of Fame "recognizes individual electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile — that have enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general." The 2018 inductees are: Final Fantasy 7, John Madden Football, Spacewar!, and the first Tomb Raider.
94233393
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to researchers who developed cryo-electron microscopy, which is described as a way to create detailed images of the molecules that drive life — a technology that allows scientists to visualize molecular processes they had never previously seen. This is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.
From the Nobel committee's press release:
Electron microscopes were long believed to only be suitable for imaging dead matter, because the powerful electron beam destroys biological material.
But in 1990, Richard Henderson succeeded in using an electron microscope to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at atomic resolution. This breakthrough proved the technology’s potential.
Joachim Frank made the technology generally applicable. Between 1975 and 1986 he developed an image processing method in which the electron microscope’s fuzzy twodimensional images are analysed and merged to reveal a sharp three-dimensional structure.
Jacques Dubochet added water to electron microscopy. Liquid water evaporates in the electron microscope’s vacuum, which makes the biomolecules collapse. In the early 1980s, Dubochet succeeded in vitrifying water – he cooled water so rapidly that it solidified in its liquid form around a biological sample, allowing the biomolecules to retain their natural shape even in a vacuum.
Following these discoveries, the electron microscope’s every nut and bolt have been optimised. The desired atomic resolution was reached in 2013, and researchers can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules.
94185219
submission
Dave Knott writes:
The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to a trio of American scientists for their discoveries on the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms – in other words, the 24-hour body clock. According to the Nobel committee’s citation, the researchers were recognised for their discoveries explaining “how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth’s revolutions.” The team identified a gene within fruit flies that controls the creatures’ daily rhythm, known as the “period” gene. This gene encodes a protein within the cell during the night which then degrades during the day. When there is a mismatch between this internal “clock” and the external surroundings, it can affect the organism’s wellbeing – for example, in humans, when we experience jet lag.
All three winners are from the US. Jeffrey C Hall, 72, has retired but spent the majority of his career at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachussetts, where fellow laureate Michael Rosbash, 73, is still a faculty member. Michael W Young, 68, works at Rockefeller University in New York.
