Kalakshar US

Space is full of unsolved mysteries, and a team using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have recently turned up a doozy. “I remember after we got the data down, our collective reaction was ‘What the heck is this?’ It’s extremely different from what we expected,” said Peter Gao of the Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington, a co-author on the study.

The researchers found an exoplanet dubbed PSR J2322-2650b that orbits a small, dense star emitting electromagnetic radiation known as a pulsar. They are an example of a black widow system, where a rapidly spinning pulsar is paired with a smaller astronomical body. A black widow duo isn’t unusual, but this pair has sparked questions about how the exoplanet originally formed.

The exoplanet’s proximity to the pulsar and its intense gravitational pull have distorted it into an oblong lemon shape. More unusually, PSR J2322-2650b also has a unique atmosphere comprised mostly of helium and carbon. “Instead of finding the normal molecules we expect to see on an exoplanet — like water, methane, and carbon dioxide — we saw molecular carbon,” principal investigator Michael Zhang of University of Chicago said. Given its strange atmosphere, the team isn’t certain how the exoplanet formed. “It’s very hard to imagine how you get this extremely carbon-enriched composition. It seems to rule out every known formation mechanism,” Zhang said. For now, we’ll chalk this up as another mystery of the universe.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/astronomers-find-mysterious-lemon-shaped-exoplanet-with-nasas-webb-telescope-223722244.html?src=rss 

When it comes to convenience, it’s hard to beat Amazon. And that rationale isn’t limited to consumers: Many local districts shopping for supplies with public funds apply the same logic. But the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) published a study earlier this month (via The American Prospect) that illustrates the cost of that bargain. It suggests that Amazon’s “dynamic pricing” has led many schools and other localities to overpay for supplies.

Public schools and local governments have historically bought supplies by soliciting competitive bids from local suppliers. Those vendors then respond with fixed price lists, delivery timelines and other terms. This competition — all out in the open, part of the public record — encourages low prices and transparency.

On the surface, ordering from Amazon appears to offer competition, too. After all, the platform includes third-party vendors fighting for your dollars. But turning taxpayer funds over to Amazon’s algorithms isn’t quite that simple. That’s because the platform’s “dynamic pricing” (algorithmically driven real-time changes) is inherently opaque.

According to the report, Amazon’s contracts with public entities don’t include fixed price lists. Instead, they include language built around swings. “This contract has a dynamic pricing structure in which the price for items listed on the online digital marketplace is driven by the market,” Amazon’s contract with Utah reads. “This contract will not need to be amended when prices fluctuate.”

Below are some examples of wild price discrepancies for these districts. All of ILSR’s examples are from localities buying supplies from Amazon Business with public funds in 2023.

A City of Boulder, CO employee ordered a 12-pack of Sharpie markers from Amazon Business for $8.99. On the same day, a Denver Public Schools worker ordered the same markers for $28.63.

Amazon charged Clark County, WA, $146,000 for 610 computer monitors. On another day, that same order would have cost $24,000 less.

Pittsburgh Schools bought two cases of Kleenex for $57.99 each. On the same day, Denver Schools paid $36.91 for a single case.

On a single August day, Denver Schools placed two separate orders for bulk cases of dry-erase markers. One cost $114.52. The other was $149.07.

In March 2023, Denver Schools paid $15.39 for a Swingline stapler (sold by Amazon). A few days later, the same school system paid $61.87 for the same product (sold by a third-party seller).

Even in that last example, ILSR says Amazon’s algorithms are the culprit. “It might be tempting to blame the seller for putting a $62 price tag on a stapler or the employee for not noticing the cost,” the nonprofit argues. “But that overlooks Amazon’s pivotal role in the transaction — and the profit it makes. Amazon’s algorithms steer shoppers’ attention, selecting featured products and organizing search results. The platform routinely prompts users to ‘buy it again,’ even when the price has jumped. For busy public school employees, it’s all too easy to simply click the buy button, under the assumption that Amazon is surfacing the best option.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

One portion of the study looked at repeat orders for 2,500 “high-frequency items.” (These included Amazon-brand copy paper, Elmer’s glue, BIC pens, Lysol cleaning wipes and Crayola crayons.) In total, the jurisdictions in the study spent $3 million on those items. But based on the lowest prices Amazon charged during that period, they would have paid only $2.5 million. Across those same items, one school district could have saved 17 percent (about $1 million) if it consistently received Amazon’s lowest prices.

What would fair market value have been for those items? Well, it’s hard to say because the algorithms are steering pricing silently in the background. A more thorough study that included the same items, bought exclusively through the traditional procurement method, would tell us much more. And recent history has taught us that trusting Big Tech’s algorithms to serve the public good (rather than its own bottom line) is a fool’s errand.

In at least some cases, the practice routes public funds away from local vendors and toward overseas ones — and, of course, Amazon itself. In Berkeley County, WV, the school district spent $1.3 million on Amazon Business in 2023. What portion went to sellers in the state? A measly $142.

On top of all of that, the practice has snuffed out many of the smaller vendors that traditionally competed for these contracts. “The disappearance of these small and mid-sized businesses weakens local economies and tax bases,” the report concludes. “And it leaves governments increasingly dependent on Amazon, paving the way for the kind of monopoly control that ensures higher prices, poorer service, and less innovation.”

In a statement sent to The Guardian, Amazon disputed the study’s conclusions. “Pricing research is notoriously difficult to conduct accurately and typically lacks reliable methodology, including cherry-picked product selections, mismatched product comparisons and comparing in-stock items with products out-of-stock at competitors,”

ILSR’s report drew in spending data from 128 local governments (including cities, counties and school districts) and 122 state agencies. It also gathered contract documents and interviewed public officials, procurement experts and vendors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/study-links-amazons-algorithmic-pricing-with-erratic-inflated-costs-for-school-districts-202047988.html?src=rss 

Last year, Meta announced that it was opening up its VR operating system to other headset makers, starting with ASUS and Lenovo. Now, it seems that Meta is pumping the brakes on the effort and those third-party Horizon OS headsets might never actually launch.

The company has “paused” the program, Road to VR reported. Meta confirmed the move in a statement to Engadget, saying that it’s instead focusing on “building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market.” ASUS and Lenovo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Both companies have said little about the headsets since they were first announced in 2024. ASUS’ was going to be a “performance gaming” headset under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, while Lenovo’s was intended to be a mixed reality device focused on “productivity, learning and entertainment” experiences 

The shift isn’t entirely surprising. Meta Connect was very light on virtual reality news this year as smart glasses have become a central focus for the company. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Meta was planning significant cuts to the teams working on virtual reality and Horizon Worlds. The company said at the time it was “shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and wearables given the momentum there.”

Still, Meta is seemingly leaving the door open for third-party VR headsets in the future. “We’re committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves,” the company said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-is-pausing-third-party-vr-headsets-from-asus-and-lenovo-193622900.html?src=rss 

The creators of the Hitman series have honed their style of- open-ended and spectacle-driven sandboxes across several games, and now they’re taking their signature immersive gameplay to the world of James Bond. With 007 First Light, developer IO Interactive is crafting an origin story for the globetrotting British spy, showing how he undertook daring missions at the start of his career to eventually become the world’s most infamous agent.

Before the reveal at The Game Awards of 007 First Light‘s newest villain, played by Lenny Kravitz, we had an early look at the latest bits of plot for James Bond’s origin story as a superspy. We also spoke with cinematic and narrative director Martin Emborg about the main inspirations for the game, how Bond’s origin taps into decades of lore, and why a good spy story is timeless.

“What I think is kind of baked into doing an origin story for a character like James Bond, is that everyone knows the character and who he’s going to become,” Emborg said. “But how does he become this character? I think that’s an exciting challenge from a storytelling perspective.”

IO Interactive’s James Bond is young and inexperienced.

While some Bond films and novels have touched upon the early years of the iconic character, 007 First Light will be the first attempt at an actual, modernized origin story. As a twenty-something new MI6 recruit, this James Bond, portrayed by Patrick Gibson, is inexperienced and brash, which can result in some operations going off the rails. He still possesses a certain cunning, and near-supernatural levels of charisma and resourcefulness. This presents a solid archetype for the game’s open-ended missions where players will explore tightly designed worlds with a multitude of tasks and objectives to handle – however the players see fit.

While IO Interactive’s Hitman series taps into the spy experience, what really separates James Bond from Agent 47 is that he’s a far more social character. The social element will play a big part in how players can find ways to distract, or even outright bluff through charisma to sneak into areas.. Emborg explained that James Bond’s resourcefulness also makes him a compelling character for a video game, especially one that is all about player agency.

007 First Light will take players to several locations, including Slovakia and what appears to be Vietnam.

“Bond is a competent character,” Emborg said. “We want to give the player the opportunities to have that agency to say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna talk to that guy,’ or, ‘I’m gonna go and punch that guy,’ or, ‘I can probably crawl up into a tight space to sneak in.’ Having that sense of agency is pivotal if you want to deliver a full Bond experience. Obviously, the social aspect of that is important; to embed yourself and infiltrate socially is a big part of that Bond experience.” 

Emborg said the rhythm of a James Bond game is different from a Hitman title, even though espionage, infiltration and subterfuge are at the core of both. 

“We have a lot of experience with that from obviously making Hitman, but there are just many more gears to Bond,” he said. “Of course, the shape of this game is different. We have sandbox locations where you make the open-ended decisions, but we also have other levels where it is a chase or a set-piece encounter, and then it opens up again. So we kind of coined the term, having a game that breathes. It’s a very different way of playing this type of game that we usually do, so we’ve definitely bolstered our toolbox for this game.”

In many ways, 007 First Light is a story that can only be told in an interactive format. The new game will pull from numerous novels and films for its plot, and it also features a large cast of familiar characters seen throughout the franchise – such as MI6 assistant Moneypenny (performed by Kiera Lester), gadget guru and quartermaster Q (played by Alastair Mackenzie), and team leader M (Priyanga Burford). 

But like any singular Bond story, First Light features its own set of original characters. In addition to James Bond’s MI6 mentor John Greenway (portrayed by Lennie James), a new core villain, black-market smuggler and warlord Bawma, will be played by Lenny Kravitz. It’s a familiar setup for a Bond experience for sure, but within the context of a video game – one made by IO Interactive – it really taps looks to tap into the Bond fantasy more than other games have. 

From the gameplay demos and trailers we’ve seen, IO Interactive looks to be channeling the style and lore from decades of Bond with its modernized reboot of the character. From deep cuts to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – one of the great and underrated Bond movies – and You Only Live Twice, 007 First Light is keeping a keen eye on paying tribute to what came before.

“At the very beginning, it was very much like a maelstrom of [ideas], then suddenly something emerges, and you build up a story around it,” Emborg said. He continued, “I love doing this stuff and with great reverence for the material. It’s a privilege to work in this universe. James Bond is one of the few IPs that still hasn’t been overdone, in my view. We have a space to come in with a fresh take, and he’s a character who’s seen a lot of versions over the years.”

Confirmed MI6 gadgets include the “Q-Watch.”

So far, 007 First Light has the makings of not only the biggest Bond game but also the most true-to-life simulation of being a superspy. While previous Bond games like Goldeneye and Everything or Nothing are well-loved classics, they embody traditional video game shooting spectacle. 007 First Light is looking to lean into the immersive element of the Hitman games in its adaptation of James Bond, finally giving players the opportunities to explore the social aspects of spy work on a grand scale. 

007 First Light will arrive on March 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/io-interactives-007-first-light-reimagines-james-bond-as-a-young-and-reckless-spy-180000758.html?src=rss 

The entertainment industry’s most well-known awards show is heading to streaming. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced that the Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, will exclusively air on YouTube starting in 2029. The new deal means the awards show is abandoning its long-time partnership with ABC (owned by frequent Oscars heavyweight, The Walt Disney Company), though the Oscars will continue to air on the network through its 100th anniversary in 2028.

The Academy Awards will be joined by other Academy events and programming on the Oscars YouTube channel, including “the Governors Awards, the Oscars Nominations Announcement, the Oscars Nominees Luncheon, the Student Academy Awards, the Scientific and Technical Awards, Academy member and filmmaker interviews, film education programs, podcasts, and more,” AMPAS says. The Google Arts & Culture initiative will also digitize artifacts in the Academy collection and help provide digital access online as part of the new partnership.

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-oscars-will-exclusively-air-on-youtube-starting-in-2029-181545531.html?src=rss