Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Sells Stake Citing 'Conflict of Interest'

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee announced on Reddit today that he had divested most of his litecoins, which are an alternative to Bitcoin. He cited “a conflict of interest” for him to continue buying and selling Litecoin while tweeting about it because he has “so much influence.” Lee says he sold and donated all his litecoins, which makes it the first time in six years that he doesn’t own a single litecoin that’s not stored in a physical coin. He did not share the exact amount sold but said that he would continue to work on Litecoin and when the currency succeeded, he would “still be rewarded in lots of different ways, just not directly via ownership of coins.”

It’s uncommon for a founder of a major cryptocurrency to publicly divest themselves from their holdings. Satoshi, the founder of Bitcoin, remains obscured from the public eye, while Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, still owns a lot of ether and stays active on social media.

Many on Reddit doubted Lee’s intentions for divesting. One user wrote that he had lost faith in Litecoin after Lee’s divestment, saying, “Typically in finance, a founder selling out his stake is a very BAD indicator for his perception of future performance.” Some even hypothesized that Lee pulled out of Litecoin in order to invest more in Bitcoin Cash, and accused him of insider trading. Lee responded to such accusations with a tweet and an update to his Reddit statement, strongly denying that he had any involvement with the Coinbase Bitcoin Cash insider trading allegations. “Don’t worry. I’m not quitting Litecoin,” he wrote, then later added, “As you can see, some people even think I’m pumping Bcash [Bitcoin Cash] for my personal benefit. It seems like I just can’t win.”

One litecoin is currently worth $325.13, which is not a significant change from before Lee’s announcement yesterday. We’ve reached out to Lee for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Oscars: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Takes Aim Below the Line

In some sense, it seems silly to continue weighing the awards prospects for Lucasfilm’s ongoing “Star Wars” franchise each year. With “The Force Awakens,” “Rogue One,” and now “The Last Jedi,” it’s become clear, both in how these extravaganzas are realized on the screen and how Disney chooses to position them at year’s end, that trophies aren’t part of the equation. Revenue and firmly rooted brand appeal drive the machine, and even when a filmmaker like Rian Johnson steps in with the first truly fresh writer-director vision of the series since George Lucas breathed life into it 40 years ago, there just seems to be a ceiling on how galvanizing the material can truly be outside the established fandom. That’s not to say what Johnson has created is otherwise disposable. Quite the opposite. Albeit overstuffed and built on a script that spins its wheels a bit while trying to reconcile everything being thrown into the mixture, “The Last Jedi” contains more character moments and detail than the franchise has seen in years. It’s going to reach deeper into viewers’ hearts, just like “The Empire Strikes Back” before it. That was a goal, and it was met with aplomb. But will these films ever again catch fire as something the industry feels compelled to recognize as well, let’s just say it “Oscar-worthy?” In bold-faced terms, that is? It seems unlikely.

So idle best picture thoughts, speculation that Mark Hamill’s return to the role of Luke Skywalker or Carrie Fisher’s emotion-stirring work as Leia Organa could generate supporting conversation that’s not really in the cards. But when it comes to year-end kudos, the story with “Star Wars” tends to be the considerable crafts effort on display anyway, and “The Last Jedi” is no different.

The visual effects will always be at the top of the list, and with exciting action sequences, creative world-building spectacle, and a compelling performance-capture offering from Andy Serkis, this one is sure to be in the thick of it once again. It’s not quite as shiny as “The Force Awakens,” though, and that’s a compliment; Johnson has paid lovely homage to some of the handmade charm of the original trilogy, and that will no doubt resonate with effects artists who appreciate a mix of digital and practical wizardry.

Once again, the sound editing and mixing prove that the aural world of “Star Wars” is half of the experience. One moment in particular actually makes incredibly bold use of silence. But then again, “Rogue One” a straight-up war film was notably excluded from the sound editing field last time around, so who knows? And while the detail of John Williams’ score escapes me at the moment (as it did, frankly, with “The Post”), the reverence for him in the Academy’s music branch is pretty self-explanatory: 50 nominations and counting.

It would be nice to see the production design get some love. Oscar-winning legends are crafting wildly detailed environments on this saga, Rick Carter (“Lincoln”) on “The Force Awakens,” Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”) on “The Last Jedi.” The decadent, Monte Carlo-inspired city of Canto Bight, in particular, is a lively addition to the canon. But production design and costume design are two of the categories no “Star Wars” film has managed to nail down since the original.

Naturally, makeup and prosthetics where actually utilized over CGI add appreciated tactile flavor, and the film editing deserves a shout-out not least of all for a 45-minute chunk of the movie’s second act that builds gloriously, feverishly, to an electrifying climax. But a note on Steve Yedlin’s cinematography: When Peter Suschitzky saddled up to “Empire,” he captured some of the most iconic frames of the series, punctuating the material with expressive and dynamic visual language. Yedlin does something similar here. His lighting is elegant, his camera movement graceful. Oscar nominee Greig Fraser (“Lion”) managed similarly elevated visuals in “Rogue One,” however, and he was passed over. But ultimately, again, playing that “what’s in the cards?” Oscar game with “Star Wars” just feels beside the point of the whole exercise. No one making these movies is interested in awards. It’s unbridled passion and love for a franchise at the wheel. Come what may, it’s probably better to just give the prognostication a rest.

Steam No Longer Accepts Bitcoin Payments

Bitcoin is becoming so valuable and volatile that it's not possible to use it to actually sell things, according to one prominent online shop. Valve’s popular gaming and digital distribution platform Steam started accepting bitcoin payments back in April 2016, when the cryptocurrency was trading at about $450. The cryptocurrency’s surge seems to have made it too volatile and expensive for the platform to continue to accept it, as Valve announced on Wednesday it will no longer accept bitcoin payments.

In a blog post, the company revealed that the cryptocurrency’s fees have become too high for it to be accepted on the platform, as they lead to “unreasonably high costs for purchasing games with bitcoin.” The company’s blog post reads:

In the past few months we’ve seen an increase in the volatility in the value of Bitcoin and a significant increase in the fees to process transactions on the Bitcoin network. For example, transaction fees that are charged to the customer by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, topping out at close to $20 a transaction last week (compared to roughly $0.20 when we initially enabled Bitcoin). Unfortunately, Valve has no control over the amount of the fee.

Although most bitcoiners are well aware of how the network works, Steam is also worried about its volatility. Since the cryptocurrency’s value keeps rapidly changing, and the amount of bitcoin used to purchase a game is only guaranteed by the marketplace for a limited period of time, if the customer doesn’t finish the purchase during that period, the amount of bitcoin needed to purchase the game can then be significantly different. Steam’s blog post adds that the platform usually solved the problem by either refunding users, or asking them to transfer additional funds to cover the remaining balance. The solution is no longer feasible, as additional transactions incur more costly transaction fees, and may not immediately solve the problem as bitcoin’s value could keep on fluctuating. For these reasons, Steam’s post ends stating that “at this point, it has become untenable to support bitcoin as a payment option.” The company adds that it may re-evaluate if accepting the cryptocurrency makes sense at a later date.

California Fires Enter the Heart of Los Angeles

With thick plumes of smoke, towering flames and mass evacuations, a fast-moving wildfire struck one of America’s major cities on Wednesday. Wildfires are spreading unchecked across Southern California, adding more infernos to the state’s worst fire season on record. A warm, dry fall in Southern California and strong offshore winds combined to create dangerous fire conditions that will probably get worse. As the winds continue to blow, a dome of warm, high-pressure air is forming over the West Coast that could keep California dry and flammable for weeks to come.

The largest fire burning in Southern California started in the foothills of Ventura County on Monday evening. Called the “Thomas fire,” it spread overnight to burn more than 65,000 acres, jumped the 101 freeway, and was stopped only by the Pacific Ocean, the LA Times reports. Four more fires are raging from San Bernardino to Santa Clarita. Hot, dry winds blowing up to 70 miles per hour across Southern California are fanning the flames, but those aren’t unusual for December, says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles and writer of the Weather West blog. Called the Santa Ana winds, these southern counterparts to Northern California’s Diablo winds tend to kick up during the fall and continue through the winter.  But something unusual is happening: Southern California’s warm winter dry spell, Swain says. “By this time of year, usually, there’s been some rain that’s wetted things down,” he says in a telephone interview, speaking over the Santa Ana winds howling in the background. “It’s just as dry as it was in the summer months.”

California gets most of its rain between October and May from storms that roll in from the Pacific, riding a highway of strong winds in the upper atmosphere called the jet stream. By now, LA should have been sprinkled by about two inches of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist John Dumas told the LA Times. But so far it’s only seen about 5 percent of that, amounting to about one-tenth of an inch. Burbank, California, has seen even less, says National Weather Service meteorologist David Sweet. Despite the rain that’s been showering Northern California, the bottom part of the state is abnormally dry; certain areas are even experiencing a moderate drought. “We’re quite parched,” Sweet says.  Storms in the jet stream can get diverted by high-pressure bubbles of warm air. A version of this phenomenon called an "atmospheric ridge" is to blame for Southern California's current dry spell. And even even bigger one has started forming along the entire West Coast of the US that could shunt rainfall into Canada or Alaska, Swain writes. “We were dry before and now the prospects for rain look even less likely because of the size of this thing,” Sweet says.

This is the same atmospheric phenomenon that squatted over the state for three winters in a row during California’s record-setting, five-year drought. “The real question is how long it persists,” Swains says. During the drought, these ridges lasted for months at a time but we don’t know what’s in store for this new one. Even worse news: these atmospheric ridges are getting more common possibly thanks to human-caused global warming, Swain and his colleagues reported in a 2016 study. And they could become even more frequent in the future as the polar ice melts, new research says. Scientists led by Ivana Cvijanovic at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory modeled how dwindling Arctic sea ice could affect the global climate over the coming decades. They found that as the sea ice melts, the Arctic warms starting a chain reaction that ultimately helps these atmospheric ridges form over the North Pacific, blocking rain from falling on California. That doesn’t just make drought more common, it’s also possible that it could also make fire seasons last longer.

The findings, described in a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, are a hint of what’s to come but they’re not a prediction of the future, Cvijanovic cautions. Other shifts in air pollution, greenhouse gasses, and even volcanic activity over the coming decades could also change how much rain falls on California. (In fact, another recent study suggests climate change could make California wetter.) What’s clear for now is that the dry, windy weather forecast for Southern California means that the firefighters struggling to stop the flames have a long battle ahead of them. “The fire season in Southern California stops when you get enough rain that everything gets wet and turns plump and green,” says Bill Stewart, a forestry specialist at UC Berkeley. “That’s the only thing that’s going to change the system down there.”

The Weeknd deleted Selena Gomez from his social media

Just as one relationship blooms in England, another disastrously crumbles right here in America. We're sad to announce that the The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) and Selena Gomez are now, for real, no more - both romantically and on social media, according to E! News. They broke up just about a month ago, but we all know that a relationship isn't really over until one person scrubs all proof of it from your Instagram. Star Boy has officially done just that and also pressed the unfollow button.

The couple began their romance back in January of 2017 and announced their split after rumors swirling regarding Gomez and Justin Bieber getting back together and rekindling their relationship. Those rumors, of course, turned out to be true. Obviously the Weeknd didn't take too kindly to the news and began his unfollow spree quickly and quietly unfollowing not only Gomez but her friends and family as well. Meanwhile, Selena still has plenty photos of them together during their 10-month relationship. Gomez might erase the photos once and for all and replace them with her former ex and new beau, Bieber. But, as of now, it seems as though The Weeknd is completely over and done with no sign (or photo) of looking back. His next album will most likely have us all in our feelings mourning over the loss of such a great musical duo. Although, if there's one thing we know it's that all of this is just very exhausting.

Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp is Out

Clarified that Tumblr COO David D’Onofrio will be Tumblr’s new, permanent CEO now that Karp is leaving. Tumblr CEO and founder David Karp, who created the blogging site more than 10 years ago at the age of 20, is resigning from the company. The news, first reported by The New York Times, was confirmed to The Verge in a statement from Verizon-owned media conglomerate Oath, to which Tumblr belongs, following a dizzying string of mergers and acquisitions over the last four years. “David Karp will depart Oath by the end of the year,” the statement reads. “David founded Tumblr 10 years ago as a space for the world’s creators, and we thank him for his commitment and passion driving the growth of the platform to almost 380 million blogs and over 155 billion posts.” Since 2013, Tumblr has been a property of Yahoo following a $1.1 billion acquisition that put the social network and Karp, still its CEO, under the guidance of then-Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer. Four years later, Yahoo was sold to Verizon in a deal that was finalized earlier this year with Mayer’s departure back in June, making Karp a Verizon employee as part of a combination of AOL and Yahoo’s assets that came to be called Oath.

The many corporate reshuffles may be why Karp has finally stepped down, although it’s unclear exactly why he’s leaving the company or what he plans to do now. According to the statement, Tumblr Chief Operating Officer Jeff D’Onofrio is taking over for Karp. An Oath spokesperson later confirmed that D’Onofrio will lead Tumblr going forward as its permanent CEO. Karp, in a note sent to his colleagues at Tumblr, says the “decision comes after months of reflection on my personal ambitions, and at no cost to my hopefulness for Tumblr’s future or the impact I know it can have.” He goes on to say, “The internet is at a crossroads of which this team can play a fundamental role in shaping.” Regardless of his underlying motives, Karp’s resignation marks the end of an era for Tumblr, which became a blogging juggernaut and home to the internet’s more idiosyncratic personalities during the mainstream and meticulously corporate rise of Facebook. Over the years and under Karp’s leadership, Tumblr offered a platform to writers, artists, other creators with a unique penchant for fandom and a peculiar and unique aesthetic, giving those voices a place to express themselves, find a following — and occasionally go viral in ways reminiscent of the earliest days of web blogging.

Liverpool capitulate as Sevilla pull off incredible comeback

Liverpool's "new maturity" was abandoned in Seville as they threw away a three-goal lead in another second half capitulation against the Spanish side Liverpool owed Sevilla for defeat in the 2016 Europa League final according to Jürgen Klopp. Instead, they were transported back to Basel as another astonishing second-half recovery from his Spanish nemesis cancelled out a three-goal interval lead and denied Liverpool qualification for the knock-out phase of the Champions League. Seven times Klopp has faced Sevilla as manager of Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and now Liverpool and he has yet to taste victory. He may never get a better opportunity. Liverpool were rampant, clinical and formidable in a first half that brought two goals for Roberto Firmino, one for Sadio Mané and looked certain to devastate Sevilla’s proud 12-month unbeaten home record. But the tables were turned dramatically after the interval and a equaliser three minutes into added time from Guido Pizarro ensured qualification will go to the final game for Liverpool. Liverpool’s players had their heads in hands on the final whistle and with good reason. They had the home side well beaten after 45 minutes.

By the time it was over it was they who were in despair. The visitors were handed an added incentive before the game began. A stoppage-time equaliser for Maribor away at Spartak Moscow in the earlier kick-off meant they would not only qualify for the knock-out stage with victory over Sevilla but win the group outright with a match to spare. They seized the opportunity quickly and emphatically. Ninety seconds had elapsed when Firmino punctured the defence and the fantastic atmosphere inside the stadium, a considerable feat in itself considering the noise level. The breakthrough came courtesy of a Philippe Coutinho corner on the right, won by the relentless Mané that Georginio Wijnaldum flicked on at the near post with two Sevilla players for company. The home side were equally sluggish at the back post and Firmino was unmarked as he steered a precise finish into the small gap between the goalkeeper, Sergio Rico, and the woodwork. Sevilla started nervously. Even their own kick off caused problems. Once they regained composure on the ball, however, they showed what a good side they can be with several slick, impressive moves. The hosts could and should have turned a deficit into a lead with two glorious chances in the space of two minutes. The failure to convert either would be ruthlessly punished. Nolito had the first opening when released behind the visiting defence by Éver Banega. The former Manchester City forward improved his prospects by cutting inside Joe Gomez’s despairing challenge but his right-foot shot was tipped on to the inside of the far post by Loris Karius. Simon Mignolet’s replacement in the Liverpool goal gratefully pounced on the rebound. Karius was beaten seconds later when Wissam Ben Yedder was played through on goal with Alberto Moreno and Ragnar Klavan caught out of position. The striker’s shot lacked conviction from the moment it left his boot and trickled wide of the exposed goal. Liverpool made Sevilla pay almost immediately with a replica of their opening goal. Rico conceded a corner with a save from Firmino after the Brazilian was sent clean through by an excellent ball from Jordan Henderson. His defenders had not learned their lesson. Coutinho swept over another inviting delivery, Firmino won the aerial challenge and, with Gabriel Mercado asleep at the back post, Mané reacted instinctively to steer a diving header back across goal and into the far corner. Having gone almost exactly a year unbeaten on home soil, Sevilla were staring at humiliation in front of their disbelieving supporters when Liverpool scored a third with 30 minutes played. This time Mané was the provider as he sprinted on to a sumptuous long pass from Moreno over Johannes Geis and forced Rico into a low save to his left. The rebound fell perfectly for Firmino, who had time to control, look away and lash home into an empty net. Sevilla have conceded 12 goals in 12 La Liga games this season, to put Liverpool’s attacking prowess into context, and their first-half evisceration could have been worse had Mohamed Salah taken another chance. Sevilla exited to a cauldron of disapproval at half-time but re-emerged like men possessed. Playing for pride, and no doubt stung by their coach’s words during the interval, they subjected Liverpool to another second-half ordeal and clawed the deficit back to one goal within 15 minutes. Ben Yedder orchestrated the fightback as Moreno, similarly to the Europa League final, endured a fraught night against his boyhood club. A foul by the Liverpool left-back gifted Banega a free-kick in a dangerous position on the right. Ben Yedder ghosted across the visiting defence to steer a glancing header into the far corner and was then presented with a second from the penalty spot following another Moreno error. The Spain international mis-controlled a Coutinho pass and compounded the mistake by clipping Ben Yedder inside the area as he attempted to make amends. It was only a faint touch by Moreno and the striker exaggerated contact, but contact was made. Ben Yedder sent Karius the wrong way but having been ordered to retake due to encroaching he sent him the other to set up a nervous finale. Liverpool had several clear openings to restore their comfort late on but from substitute Joaquin Correa’s corner in injury time, that flicked off Klavan, Pizarro pounced from close range to bring an astonishing game to a fitting climax.

Paramore Release New Video for 'Fake Happy'

The official music video of paramore’s “fake happy” has trended on youtube, getting over a million views. On youtube, fueled by ramen shared the music video of the paramore’s latest song. “paramore’s music video for ‘fake happy’ from the album, after laughter available now on fueled by ramen,” read the caption of the video.

As of posting, the video already has over 1,800,000 views and more than 135,000 likes. “first, I couldn’t stop playing the song. Now, the video,” youtube jessiepaege commented.


“my smile faded away while I was watching the last part, some tears appeard in my eyes. Songs with sad lyrics and happy sound are my favourite cus they talk to my inner me, they don’t make me fully sad but kind of relieved,” rafaelle duarte wrote. “different from usual paramore, but still catchy and happy!” thanasis vaharelis said. “half of the world can relate to this song! Love you, hayley!” sj flow stated. As of posting, the video is no. 23 on youtube’s trending list.

Johnny Depp Is Front and Center in the Next Fantastic Beasts 2

There was a time when Harry Potter fans would have been delighted to see Johnny Depp in their beloved films heck, there was a time when we didn't know Depp had abused his ex-wife, and neither of those times is now. On Thursday, Warner Bros. released the first cast photo for the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel, with the shockingly tone-deaf title The Crimes of Grindelwald. Depp and his hideous frosted hair are here to stay; he now plays the titular character, and the film's title reveal is nothing if not a giant middle finger to Harry Potter fans and audiences around the world. It was basically inevitable, but with the release of the first cast photo from the next Fantastic Beasts movie, it’s official: Johnny Depp will return as Grindelwald, the fiend and former love interest-turned-rival to Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore.

What’s more, Depp’s character has been upgraded to title-worthy villain; W.B. also revealed today that the second film in J.K. Rowling’s second Harry Potter universe series will be subtitled The Crimes of Grindelwald. As alleged abusers within Hollywood continue to see their stars fall from grace, this announcement might cause a few furrowed brows. Depp’s original casting in the first film ruffled feathers last year, as the reveal of his role in the films came just months after his ex-wife Amber Heard filed for divorce amid allegations of domestic abuse. In the larger context of 2017, Heard’s allegations feel, in some ways, weightier than ever. Yet still, there’s Depp, leaning against a wizardly platform in his whimsically embroidered pants, smirking into the camera with his character’s one good eye. Christopher Plummer’s services, it seems, will not be needed in the Potter-verse. (The first film earned $814 million worldwide so regardless of the aura around Depp, it seems the sequel, too, is destined to do just fine.)

For those who need a refresher: Heard and Depp’s divorce got nasty in the spring of 2016, when Heard accused Depp of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse, writing that the actor “pulled her hair, screamed at her and repeatedly hit her and violently grabbed her face.” Depp denied abusing Heard, and when they finalized their divorce, the two also made a joint statement: “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity. There will be no further public statements about this matter.” Heard subsequently donated her entire $7 million settlement from Depp to the American Civil Liberties Union, “with a particular focus to stop violence against women,” and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Keyboard Upgraded With Water And Dust Resistance

Razer’s latest mechanical keyboard just might be able to survive spilled drinks. The new BlackWidow Ultimate gaming keyboard is now water and dust resistant with an IP54 rating, the company says. In standard game accessorizing opulence, the backlit green LED keys also have lighting effects like wave, ripple, starlight, and more that gamers can customize.

The keyboard is said to have an 80 million keystroke lifespan and uses Razer Green Switches, which have an actuation force of 50 grams for some pretty solid clicking. You can also program the keys for on-the-fly macro recording, if you’re into that. If Razer can deliver on its promise, then I’m getting this keyboard, if only because I’ve spilled one too many drinks, miso soup, and snacks on my desk. For those of you with terribly narrow gaming tables like me, the BlackWidow will likely fit. Its dimensions are 7.98 inch x 6.02 inch x 2.36 inch and it weighs a little less than a pound if you count the cable.

Just in time for League of Legends’ preseason refresh and some substantial Black Friday gaming discounts, the Razer BlackWidow is available now on the company’s website and will be available worldwide by December. It costs $109.99 or €119.99 in the EU. It’s worth noting that Corsair also makes a snack-proof mechanical keyboard that uses Cherry MX Red switches. The Corsair K68 has a IP32 rating, backlit red LEDs, and costs $99.99. That means that, while slightly cheaper, it’s not dust resistant like Razer’s, and it doesn’t have the same level of water resistance. So if you’re constantly worried about elbowing over a glass of liquid onto your pristine gaming setup, perhaps spring for the new BlackWidow.

Final Fantasy Noctis Joins the King of Iron Fist Tournament!

Tekken 7 is getting Final Fantasy XV’s main protagonist Noctis Lucis Caelum joins the King of Iron Fist Tournament this spring. The surprising news broke out during Tekken World Tour Finals earlier today, not only are we getting the prince of pain himself, it looks like there’s a new Hammerhead Garage stage as well! Square Enix joins the long list of studio collaborations with Bandai Namco with Noctis coming in the fray.

Noctis Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV enters the TEKKEN 7 ring! Wielding his signature Engine Blade, Noctis is ready to deal heavy hard-hitting blows as he takes on the likes of Yoshimitsu, Devil Jin, Jack 7, and the rest of the TEKKEN 7 fighters when he enters the King of Iron Fist.

The first DLC was Akuma from the Street Fighter Series followed by Geese Howard of the King of Fighters/ Fatal Fury series; both coming from a long line of fighting game franchise. It’s interesting to note that Noctis is the only character ported not coming from a fighting game genre. With his trusty arsenals and magic bombs at his side, it’s interesting how the addition of this brooding character shift the dynamic of Tekken 7 fights. We’ll be seeing Noctis zip in the ring of Tekken 7 come spring of 2018. (Also, how crazy is it that Noctis and Lars know each other ?!)

ASUS Announces WS X299 Series Motherboards

ASUS announced WS X299 SAGE, WS X299 PRO and WS X299 PRO/SE, a trio of workstation-class motherboards based on the Intel® X299 platform and designed to blend powerful performance and tuning options with the extra validation and management functions required by enterprises. WS X299 SAGE leads the family with support for four-way graphics configurations, allowing users to apply tremendous GPU power to compute-intensive workloads like deep learning and complex rendering. WS X299 PRO scales back the expansion slots and offers enhanced M.2 cooling for businesses and content creators. WS X299 PRO/SE features added out-of-band remote management via dedicated hardware. Together, these boards provide a compelling balance of features and performance that bridge the gap between the ASUS desktop and Xeon® motherboard lineups.

WS X299 SAGE, WS X299 PRO and WS X299 PRO/SE motherboards provide a new level of features, security and design for businesses, prosumers and PC enthusiasts

KEY POINTS

    WS X299 SAGE supports four-way graphics configurations, enabling tremendous GPU power for intensive workloads, like deep learning and complex rendering
    WS X299 PRO offers a balance of performance and features in a standard ATX form factor for businesses, content creators and enthusiasts
    WS X299 PRO/SE features similar specs to WS X299 PRO, but adds extensive remote management capabilities


Although the ASUS WS X299 lineup inherits many cutting-edge features from its desktop counterparts, workstations have more stringent performance and reliability requirements. ASUS WS boards are subjected to more rigorous testing than standard models; they meet tighter tolerances in crucial areas like power delivery to PCIe® devices, and they endure longer simulated aging tests with extra electrical and environmental variables. ASUS engineers also validate compatibility with an extensive collection of desktop and workstation hardware, including graphics cards, memory, storage devices and even power supplies, so system builders can rest assured that their rigs will be rock solid.

WS X299 SAGE

The highly-anticipated WS X299 SAGE motherboard is made for maximum GPU density with seven full-sized expansion slots and room for up to four double-width cards. It’s the best board for training neural networks and crunching other scalable compute loads.

WS X299 PRO

With a standard ATX form factor, WS X299 PRO fits where larger workstation motherboards cannot. Its appeal extends deeper into the prosumer space to content creators, yet it easily makes the crossover into enthusiast territory for builders who want one machine for both work and play.

WS X299 PRO/SE

WS X299 PRO/SE offers similar specs to WS X299 PRO, but adds extensive remote management capabilities. In addition to supporting ASUS Control Center for in-band communication, it has an
ASMB9-iKVM module for out-of-band management. The board can receive keyboard and mouse input remotely while sending a live video feed, all without any client software installed.

The Punisher : Frank Castle is darkest turn yet for Netflix-Marvel

Marvel’s The Punisher comes out on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 17 and provides a story of pain and grief as Frank Castle tries to live his nightmare. Audiences were introduced to Frank Castle in Daredevil season 2. The character was on a warpath of vengeance as he sought retaliation for the death of his wife and children. The gangland murder also left him for dead, but he survived the bullet to his head, and now much deal with the constant turmoil of living a nightmare with seemingly no resolution in sight. The Punisher showed his rage, violence and aggression in Daredevil but now he has his own standalone series on Netflix that will dive deeper into the character and those around him.

The Punisher has the darkest storyline of any of the other Marvel characters on Netflix and that’s the compelling reason to watch when the series drops at midnight PST on Friday morning. The review is based on the first six episodes of the 13-episode season and sees Frank Castle struggling to process his grief and his pain. He’s walled himself off to everyone and after faking his death in Daredevil, he has to adopt a new identity. He lies low, grew a beard and doesn’t talk to anyone, other than Karen Page and his former military buddy Curtis (Jason R. Moore). It’s how Frank lives that is more fascinating as the series begins. The viewer knows what he’s capable of and the trauma he’s experienced. He’s a rubber band on the verge of snapping. A character on the brink of no turning back. He’s isolated and struggling with not only the loss of his family but from the post-traumatic stress from his time in the military and the things he was ordered to while overseas. This attention to veterans and the care, or lack thereof, they receive when they return stateside.

The Punisher isn’t just a story about a vigilante who has a war chest of assault rifles and a penchant for inflicting pain. The Punisher is a story about a man mourning and unable to process the emotions of the devastating losses he’s experienced and the lingering trauma it causes. The fractured masculinity gives way to the supporting characters from law enforcement who are investigating something devious that happened in Kandahar and a private securities firm that crosses paths with Frank.

I enjoyed what I saw from The Punisher and the continuation of the storyline first introduced in Daredevil. The supporting characters, especially David Lieberman aka “Micro” as the super spy with a past connected with Frank makes for good drama and suspense to make it feel “Marvel” in a show that otherwise feels like its own thing. And it’s because of that feeling that I think it’s one of the best shows from Marvel and Netflix. Having said that, The Punisher isn’t going to be for everyone. If you didn’t like his turn in Daredevil, I don’t suspect you’ll be watching his own show. The violence is extremely present and the use of guns to carry out that violence may be a sensitive subject for viewers, especially in the wake of mass shootings happening with regularity in the United States. I understand the sensitivity in that regard, but at the same time, this is a fictional story based on a comic book character. Frank Castle is not a hero. This is not a guy that is going to have a happy ending. He is a broken man and he is beyond repair. Watching the extent of the pain and grief he’s experiencing and the lengths he’ll go to alleviate that is what makes The Punisher a must-watch.

Motorola’s $150 Alexa Moto Mod is available for preorder Today!

Last month, Motorola officially announced its Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa. The Smart Speaker is the latest Moto Mod for the Moto Z family, and it allows you to take Alexa and a beefy external speaker with you wherever you go. Motorola initially said that the Moto Smart Speaker would be available for purchase at some point in November, and now it's been revealed that preorders for the accessory will officially start on November 7 through Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola's own website.

Official sales will begin on November 13, and you'll be able to pick up the Smart Speaker at Verizon starting November 16. As noted when Motorola first announced the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, it’s worth remembering that you can just buy an actual Amazon Echo for $99 (or a $129 Echo Spot, or a $149 Echo Plus), and get a device with better microphones, a larger speaker, and compatibility with more than just a handful of Motorola phones. Like other Moto Mods, the Moto Smart Speaker isn't cheap with a price tag of $150. Having a tiny Alexa speaker that you can take with you wherever you go is neat, but an Echo Tap only costs $80 and offers the same general functionality. The Moto Smart Speaker does have the unique ability to attach to the back of your phone and should have considerably better battery life than the Tap, but seeing as how the Mod covers the camera lens for your Moto Z device, you likely won't want to have this thing attached to your phone at all times.

Rivals Intel and AMD partner to take on Nvidia

Rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are teaming up to produce a laptop computer chip that uses an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit. The partnership will pit the two companies against competitor Nvidia. The new chip will be made for laptops that are designed to be thin and portable, but still powerful enough for gamers who need a stronger option to play intensive games. It’ll be part of Intel’s eighth-generation Intel Core line and marks Intel and AMD’s first partnership since the 1980s, as The Wall Street Journal notes.

The laptops built with the new chips won’t be competing with AMD’s Ryzen chips, which are also designed for ultrathin laptops and due out at the end of this year. AMD specified that these new Intel chips will be aimed at serious gamers, whereas Ryzen chips can run games but aren’t specifically designed for that purpose. Intel says this is the first consumer product that uses the EMIB small intelligent bridge design, which allows information to be passed quickly in “extremely close proximity.” The bridge allows chips to be both smaller and more powerful. The new chip will use HBM2, and can be used in devices including notebooks, two-in-ones, and mini desktops. Intel has previously investigated chips modeled after the human brain to build better hardware for AI uses. Nvidia is also working on hardware for AI applications.

The Walking Dead Episode Season 8 Episode 3 Prediction

It's been almost a week since the last episode, but fans are still reeling from the shocking revelation that Morales is still alive on The Walking Dead. As Rick explored one of the Saviors' compounds, he had a gun pulled on him, and he soon learned his old friend was at the other end of the firearm. When last week's episode was over, it was easy to forget everything else going on in the world of The Walking Dead. Let's remember that Ezekiel is on a warpath, Gregory is on the run, Jesus has a horde of prisoners and Gabriel is trapped with Negan.

What will happen in tonight's episode? Here are a few of our predictions:

Father Gabriel's Fate Revealed

At the very end of the season premiere, Gabriel almost lost his life trying to save Gregory. Now, he's found himself trapped in a trailer with Negan, and the two are surrounded by a horde of walkers.Since we didn't see anything regarding this storyline last week, it's probably time for the show to head back to the trailer and check in on the situation. It's unlikely Gabriel is dead, considering Negan will likely need his help coming up with a way out of their troubles.


Ezekiel Takes a Step Back

Ezekiel is on a roll right now, completely confident about the battles he's getting his people into. Unfortunately, comic readers know that his arrogance leads to multiple devastating losses. Charging into battle without all of the facts got both Richard and Shiva killed in the comics. While we may not see a big death for The Kingdom this week, it's definitely time for Ezekiel to be brought back down to Earth, realizing that he's not invincible.

Morales Steps Down

Something has to change if both Morales and Rick are going to make it out of this situation alive, and we all know that Rick isn't about to take a step back for anyone. This means Morales will have to be the one to change. There's a possibility Rick can continue talking to the man he travelled with back in Atlanta, convincing him that Negan is a terrible person and forcing Morales to call off the saviors. Remember, Negan killed Glenn and Rick can use that. Let's also remember that Daryl is in the same building, and he can always step in to help solve the problem.

Gregory Returns

Gregory stole Gabriel's car when he left him to die in the Sanctuary, and we all know he's speeding back to Hilltop right away. He's going to hope he can beat Maggie there and sweet talk those standing guard. Unfortunately for him, Maggie will be right there waiting. In the comics, Gregory tries to double cross Maggie and it ends up costing him his life. Could the same scenario play out in tonight's episode?

Eric Dies

Sadly, Eric's days on The Walking Dead are numbered, and his position on the front lines aren't helping his chances. Aaron and Jesus eventually get together in the comics, a relationship that fans have been eagerly waiting for. Eric is currently standing in the way of that. The All Out War will have casualties, so look for Eric to become one of the first in tonight's episode.

Watch: Koenigsegg closes highway near Vegas for top-speed record attempt

Koenigsegg Agera RS driven by factory driver Niklas Lilja hit a VBOX-verified average top speed of 277.9 miles per hour. In one direction, the Agera RS hit 284.3 mph; in the other the max velocity was 272 mph. The official top speed of 277.9 is the average between the two runs. Jalopnik reports that the Koenigsegg was fitted with standard Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, and reps from the tire manufacturer were on hand to oversee the high-speed runs.

Check out a video of the run from inside the cockpit up above. The original story continues below. An 11-mile stretch of highway plays host to a top-speed record attempt by Koenigsegg this weekend. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Nevada Department of Transportation granted a special permit to the Swedish automaker to close a long, straight stretch of State Route 160 between Vegas and Pahrump.


The event is hosted by Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club, and it's apparently been in the planning stages for over a year. A reporter from the Journal reports on Twitter that an Agera RS has already hits speeds of 291 miles per hour, albeit unofficially. If that's true, it'll handily destroy the current 268-mile-per-hour top-speed record set by Bugatti in 2010. Of course, Koenigsegg has a habit of one-upping Bugatti, having broken the Chiron's 0-248-0 record of 41.96 seconds by a comparatively massive 5.2 seconds. The Koenigsegg Agera RS being used reportedly has the factory's one-megawatt upgrade, which means it's sending 1,360-horsepower and 1,011 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. We'll have to wait for an official Guinness-approved record announcement, but we're guessing that's only a matter of time.

Cosmic Rays Reveal Mysterious Void In Egypt's Great Pyramid

High above Egypt and everywhere else, cosmic rays bombard the atmosphere. The rays consist mostly of hydrogen nuclei, but they finish their interstellar journey with a bang, splitting into a shower of smaller elementary particles when they hit the sky. Negatively charged particles called muons wink into existence and out again within millionths of a second, shooting downward at nearly the speed of light. Each minute, muons rocket through your skull by the hundreds. Muons are so small that they're harmless. They're also tough to detect. But they're not undetectable to physicists, who can use the particles' trajectory to peer through otherwise impenetrable substances, the way an X-ray reveals a fractured bone. Now, by monitoring the cosmic rain on Egypt's Great Pyramid, an international research team has detected a large void hidden within 4,500-year-old stone structure. The 455-foot-tall Great Pyramid, or Khufu's Pyramid, is the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.

The newly discovered void is nearly 100 feet long. The cavity is above and similar in size to the Grand Gallery, a passage through the pyramid's belly that leads to the King's Chamber. "They really hit pay dirt," said Roy Schwitters, an expert in experimental high-energy physics at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved with this project. "It's a very convincing story they have." The mission to probe the pyramids of Giza, named ScanPyramids, began in 2015. It is a joint program between Cairo University and the French nonprofit HIP Institute, with guidance from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. In the new discovery, which the journal Nature published Thursday, scientists from those institutions teamed up with Japanese physicists and brought three types of muon detectors to examine the Great Pyramid. Stone absorbs muons' energy in ways that pockets of air do not. "When searching for a void in one location, what you look for is a muon excess in that direction," said Arturo Menchaca-Rocha, a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Menchaca-Rocha, not a member of this project, has used cosmic radiation to probe an ancient Mesoamerican pyramid. "Muon tracking is what helps locate and image the void's shape." One type of muon detector, called a nuclear emulsion film, catches muons as lines of little black globules. The film is "developed by the muon, so to speak," Schwitters said; muons create cross-sections the way light creates the photos on your iPhone. (But muons are even better than light, he said, because the particles "tell you where they come from, and they tell you which direction" they came from, too.) Independent teams were assigned to each of the three muon detectors arrayed around the Great Pyramid. "We came to the conclusion that all of the teams have been able to detect this," Mehdi Tayoubi, president of the HIP Institute, told reporters on Wednesday. "If you see the same signal with different technologies, it increases your confidence that what you see is real," said Konstantin Borozdin, a physicist who worked on muon detection at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and is vice president at Decision Sciences, a California-based security company that uses muon technology to scan vehicles for hidden radioactive cargo. Muon detectors have probed volcanic chambers and Fukushima's nuclear disaster zones. The detectors can distinguish rock slabs from a void from water. ScanPyramids is not the first archaeological application of this technology. In the 1960s, a team led by Luis Alvarez, the University of California at Berkeley physicist who predicted the existence of a dinosaur-killer asteroid, used muon technology to look for voids in the Pyramid of Khafre, the second-largest Egyptian pyramid after the Great Pyramid. That pyramid has no secret chambers, Alvarez declared. But Alvarez and his colleagues did not examine the Great Pyramid, which still had secrets to spill. The likelihood that the newly discovered void was a technical error, the authors of the new study said, was less than 1 in 3.5 million. Despite their confidence that a void exists, the researchers know little beyond its dimensions. Muon detection, or tomography, can sketch only a rough outline of the void. The chamber may be horizontal, or at an incline parallel to the Grand Gallery. It may be a single structure or smaller rooms in sequence. It may be as stocked with treasures as Al Capone's vault. The void's discoverers, none of whom were experts in Egyptology, were reluctant to speculate on the nature of the void. Nor did the physicists say whether there were plans to access the chamber. "This structure is not accessible," Tayoubi said. "This void was hidden, I think, during the construction of the pyramid." Muon-based technology is still rare in archaeology. It is expensive and time-consuming. An array of detectors can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a significant departure from typical archaeology budgets. The exposure time for the nuclear emulsion film used around the Great Pyramid was measured in months. Applying particle physics to archaeology requires a certain level of technical sophistication. "Indiana Jones wouldn't be doing muon tomography," Schwitters said. Yet muons may play an increasing role in future discoveries. Schwitters is in the process of creating detectors that run on solar energy and are rugged enough to survive the jungles of Belize, where he plans to examine Mayan pyramids. "They're coming from the most energetic cosmic events in the universe. They're a piece of nature," Schwitters said. "You're using elementary particles to do something you can't do any other way."

Channing Tatum's epic entrance as guest host on 'Jimmy Kimmel Show

Channing Tatum never revealed to his dad that he used to reveal almost everything as a stripper. Acting as a guest host on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Wednesday night, the actor, 37, told Ellen DeGeneres that his father, Glenn, only found out about his past from watching her show. “The first time you were on the show, you showed me the flexibility of your spine,” DeGeneres, 59, recalled of Tatum’s first visit to her show in 2010, in which the “Magic Mike” star gave her a lapdance. “That was my very first time on your show, and I gotta let you know that that was the first time my dad actually found out that I was a stripper for a short time,” he admitted. DeGeneres asked Tatum how his father took the news, to which he replied with a chuckle, “Not well  I mean really, really not well.” While the actor didn’t go into how his father felt about his previous career, we’re guessing he doesn’t mind much now. In May, Tatum brought a “Magic Mike” live show to Las Vegas, and in August he engaged in a little bump and grind with a cashier.

With US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on a leave of absence as his infant son prepares to undergo heart surgery, a number of celebrities have stepped up to take on guest-hosting duties on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week. Shaquille O'Neal kicked things off on Monday, while Dave Grohl followed on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it was "Magic Mike" star Channing Tatum's turn and he made his entrance memorable. With guest Ellen Degeneres known for her own dancing intros on her talk show urging and then ordering him to strut his stuff, Tatum starts hoofing it to C + C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" with the aid of several pro dancers. The result is as fun as you'd imagine.

The Razer Phone Specs And Features

It’s no big secret that Razer (the company best known for building gaming peripherals and laptops) has been building a phone. The company bought fledgling smartphone maker Nextbit earlier this year, and there’s been talk of a Razer phone ever since. Sure enough, here it is: the Android-powered Razer phone. (Not to be confused, of course, with that shining beacon of the early 2000s, the RAZR).

The company announced the device at an event in London this afternoon. Like most things Razer does, this phone is built with a focus on gaming which, in this case, means it’s got some pretty crazy specs:

*  Qualcomm’s ultra-speedy Snapdragon 835 chip, the same one that powers flagships like the Pixel 2 and the Galaxy S8
*  A big ol’ 4,000mAh battery
*  8GB of RAM
*  64GB of internal storage, plus a microSD slot for expansion
*  Dual 12-megapixel cameras on the rear with different levels of optical zoom — one wide angle, one telephoto.
*  8-megapixel cam on the front
*  As with the Nextbit Robin, they’ve hidden the fingerprint sensor in the power button on the side
*  802.11a/b/g/n/AC, Bluetooth 4.2, and NFC
*  It’ll run Android Nougat 7.1.1 at launch, with plans to update to Android Oreo (8.0) in the first quarter of 2018.
*  A 5.72 inch, 120hz display meaning the screen refreshes super-fast for smoother scrolling and animation/movement in games. The iPad Pro tablet has a 120hz screen, but it looks like Razer might be the first to market with a 120hz display in a phone

I got to go hands-on with the device a few days ago, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with it for a review. For now, I’ll say: The device looks and feels well-built, the speakers were nice and loud and the 120hz screen seemed buttery smooth. In what seems to be an unstoppable trend at this point, there’s no 3.5mm jack here. The company tells me they needed that space for the battery and the speakers. On the upside, there’s a THX certified 3.5mm to USB-C DAC adapter in the box. If you’ve ever held the previous phone made by the Nextbit team, the Robin, the Razer phone feels a bit like the bigger, badder evolution of that. If there’s a parallel universe where Nextbit lived on independently and made a “Robin 2 XL,” it’d probably look a lot like this (minus, you know, the Razer logo on the back).


They’ve understandably dropped some of the software features that were unique to the Robin in its time. The Robin would, for example, automatically back your photos up to the cloud and remove the local copies to save space. Shortly after the Robin’s debut, Google rolled similar functionality into Google Photos right within Android and made the whole thing a bit redundant. The phone will cost $699 at launch. Pre-orders should go live shortly, and it’ll ship in North America and Europe on November 17th.

The Lion King Cast Announced

Oh we just can't wait to see Beyonce knowles in The Lion King! Earlier today, Disney Live Action announced the full all-star cast of Jon Favreau's new take on the 1994 classic animated film, The Lion King. While there have been rumors swirling about for months, Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Seth Rogen and more stars have officially signed on for the live-action retelling of the beloved film. Jay-Z's lady love posted a photo of the full cast on her Facebook, along with the simple caption, "#TheLionKing 2019." "It is a director's dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life," said Favreau in a statement. Glover (Atlanta, Solo: A Star Wars Story) will be the future king Simba, Beyonce will take on Simba's friend-turned-love interest Nala, and James Earl Jones will reprise his role of Simba's loving father, Mufasa. Meanwhile, Chiwetel Ejiofor will answer the call to play Simba's villainous uncle Scar, Alfre Woodard will take on Simba's no-nonsense mother, Sarabi, JD McCrary fills the shoes of Young Simba and Shahadi Wright Joseph will play tough girl Young Nala.

But that's not all that's been announced: John Kani has been enlisted to play wise baboon Rafiki, John Oliver will be telling everyone what to do as hornbill Zazu. Of course, no retelling of the beloved story would be complete without Timon and Pumba. Seth Rogen will be honing his comedic chops to gaseous warthog Pumbaa, and Billy Eichner will know it all as the meerkat Timon. Some other foes will be coming out to play: Florence Kasumba, Eric André and Keegan-Michael Key will all be appearing as the trouble-making hyenas. The original film, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, was the highest grossing animated film for 16 years until it was surpassed by Toy Story 3 in 2010. The film was re-released in 2011, where it got a 3D conversion. And with $30.2 million, it had one of the best sales debuts ever. In 2016, Disney announced it would be bringing back a live-action version of The Lion King. The Lion King is slated to roar into theaters on July 19, 2019. What do you think of the casting news? Sound off in the comments!

Monster Hunter World: here are ten new features that fans will want to know about

Monster Hunter World is looking huge, and the more we find out about it, the more excited we are. Our own Alex Donaldson recently went hands-on with the next Monster Hunter game and came back very impressed, and everything we’ve seen suggests that it will be great. Now, we have a new video from our friend Arekkz about some of the game’s features that players might not be aware of. He breaks down ten ‘amazing new features’ that the game touts, which we’ve rounded up below the video.

The features outlined are:

1. Bounties and investigations: Every quest can now be done either solo or with friends, and will scale depending on how many players are in there. Where once there was filler quests, there are now bounties – instead of needing to go and kill 20 small monsters, for instance, you can just meet that condition while out in the world doing more exciting things. You can carry six bounties at a time. Investigations are optional hunting quests that hand out additional items, which are also new for World. This means that there should be less time spent grinding away at uninteresting objectives.

2. A clear key quest line: You’re now given a much clearer idea of which quests are essential and what you need to do to progress, thanks to the ‘assigned quest’ list, in Monster Hunter World. It’s now easier to figure out what you need to do next to progress the plot forward.

3. Daily bonuses: Each day when you log in you can get a bonus item and voucher just for opening the game. Solid! These probably won’t be huge rewards, but they’re a nice incentive to jump in daily.

4. Research levels: The scout flies you bring with you to track monsters level up as you examine things in the world. Eventually they’ll level up to a point where they can simply tell you where a monster in on the map without you needing to look for clues. You’ll also learn more about monsters each time you hunt them, eventually learning their weak points.

5. House and pets: You will gain access to different houses as you progress this time. You can also get house pets – catch a spider in your net, for instance, and it will be your buddy in the new home you potentially just bought. Cool.

6. The Training Room: There’s now a room…for training. It’s actually very good – plenty of targets to hit, vines to climb, walls to run up, and lots of different tools for testing different scenarios. Arekkz says it’s very helpful and that they’ve ‘thought of everything’. It’s a great place to learn how to use weapons.

7. Squads: Basically Monster Hunter now has guilds/clans, which give you access to member-only online sessions and squad icons.

8. Arm wrestling is back! In the lobby you can start arm wrestling other players at one of the barrels. A lovely little way to pass the time.

9. Weapon and gear previews: You can now try on a whole set of armour before buying, and get an idea of how it will look before you buy. You don’t have to buy a full set of armour only to find that it looks ugly together now.

10. The Wish List: When you mark that you need something for crafty with your Smithy, the game will start tracking it and let you know when you collect the objects you need. Very handy, and saves you from needing to obsessively check yourself. It sounds like the game is generally better at tracking your progress in its many forms now.

Sounds good, right? Monster Hunter World releases January 26 for PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

Destiny 2: Curse Of Osiris DLC Release Date

The anticipated announcement of the first Destiny 2 expansion was made Monday during Sony’s PlayStation presentation at Paris Games Week 2017. The Curse of Osiris will extend the story from the base PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC shooter with plenty of new content as well as some promised improvements from the Bungie Live Team.

Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris will launch Tuesday, December 5 globally on all three platforms. The exact launch time has not been announced yet, but community manager David “Deej” Dague explained via Twitter that everyone will start playing at the same time. An Osiris-themed expansion for Destiny 2 was anticipated ever since Bungie first revealed the $35 Expansion Pass graphic with the Osiris banner on it. The DLC takes place after the game’s main campaign and sends players to Mercury to find “the most powerful Warlock to have ever lived,” Osiris.

Guardians who have completed the Adventures and other activities in Destiny 2 have likely already heard the hints at Osiris and the Vex. Ikora and the Vanguard want his help in figuring out how to fight the Vex but are not entirely sure they can trust the ancient Warlock either. New content coming to Destiny 2 with the Curse of Osiris includes a new destination on the planet Mercury. Players have only previously visited the planet via the Crucible but will now explore more of the planet in locations like the Infinite Forest and the Lighthouse social space. Owners of the DLC should also expect new missions, new strikes, new free roam activities, and “new raid content,” which presumably means a new raid, but we’ve reached out to Bungie for confirmation. There is also mention of a new world quest to complete “and more,” with the “more” likely being new multiplayer maps, armor, weapons, mods, shaders, and other gear. Some of that can be seen in the new trailer with a hint at the return of the Jade Rabbit and the Telesto.


The release of Curse of Osiris will coincide with the launch of Destiny 2 Season 2. This is when all Clan progress will be reset and new content will be introduced to Eververse along with events like Iron Banner and Faction Rallies. It will also introduce the holiday-themed Dawning Event that introduces ice hockey and snowball fights to existing social spaces. As previously covered, the Bungie Live Team has taken over Destiny 2 and is now addressing the many complaints from players about the endgame and other game features. The improvements will start this week with changes to spawn points in the Crucible along with how different game types are scored. The improvements will continue with updates to rewards across almost every activity in the game, the mod economy, exotics, emotes, and eventually the addition of private matches. There is not an exact timeline on when these improvements will arrive but expect the bulk of them to hit with via an update around the time of the Curse of Osiris DLC and the second season of Destiny 2.

SpaceX launch and land a Falcon 9 rocket

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida today. That rocket’s mission is to send a satellite known as Koreasat-5A into space, where it will hang above Earth for 15 years while providing communications bandwidth for Korea and Southern Asia. If the launch is successful, it will be the company’s 16th of the year more than all of 2015 and 2016 combined.

Liftoff is scheduled for 3:34PM ET from Launch Complex 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center, and the company has a 2.5-hour launch window. Should weather or some kind of technical issue get in the way, SpaceX will try to launch again tomorrow at the same time. As of writing, the weather forecast in Cape Canaveral is 90 percent favorable for a launch.



Shortly after launch, the main rocket stage of the Falcon 9 will separate and head back down to Earth. The rocket booster will attempt to land on one of SpaceX’s autonomous drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX began attempting to recover these boosters about two years ago, and despite some fiery hiccups at the outset, the company has successfully landed 18 in a row. Twelve of those landings happened in 2017 alone; the company let three other rockets splash down in the ocean this year during missions where, by design, there was not enough leftover fuel for the propulsive landing that settles the rocket down on the platform. This is all to say SpaceX has gotten very good at landing its rockets, some of which the company also now refurbishes and reuses. The goal of all that work is to reduce the cost of reaching space, for both SpaceX and the companies that pay it to get there. SpaceX’s coverage of the launch will likely start about 15 minutes before launch time, so be sure to check back then. You can watch the live stream above.

SoftBank to halt Sprint's T-Mobile merger talks

SoftBank Group Corp.’s talks to merge U.S. unit Sprint Corp. with T-Mobile US Inc. have hit a serious snag, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing the deal into jeopardy after months of talks. SoftBank will propose ending the talks as early as Tuesday, Nikkei said. The company had initially been open to having T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom AG, control the combined entity, but SoftBank's board decided Friday not to surrender that power, the news outlet said. Sprint shares sank as much as 13 percent in New York trading, while T-Mobile fell as much as 5.9 percent. The companies had been ironing out final terms of the merger in the hopes of announcing a deal in mid- to late November, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this month. Several SoftBank directors raised strategic concerns in the Friday meeting about not owning or controlling a wireless network in the U.S., though it wasn't clear whether the board had decided to call off the talks, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News on Monday.

While merger talks have been underway for months, the board members raised their concerns in the last few days because it's now a make-or-break moment, with the sides very close to a deal, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. A Deutsche Telekom spokesman had no immediate comment. Sprint, T-Mobile and SoftBank representatives didn't immediately reply to requests for comment. Investors have cheered on a combination of T-Mobile, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, with No. 4 Sprint as a way to cut costs and forge a bigger competitor to take on AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. Without the merger, the industry could return to the intense price wars that have put pressure on profits for all four major carriers -- to the delight of consumers, who have gotten heavy phone discounts and unlimited data service. A deal between Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint and Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile would be certain to attract heavy scrutiny from regulators, since it would reduce the four largest carriers in the country to three. Under former President Barack Obama's administration, officials fended off a previous attempt by SoftBank to merge Sprint with T-Mobile. The companies had been hoping their chances would improve under a more business-friendly Trump administration. Deutsche Telekom, based on Bonn, Germany, has maintained throughout the talks this year with SoftBank that it should maintain control of the combined company. Tokyo-based SoftBank had been willing to accept a stock-for-stock merger that valued Sprint at our near its market price, with no premium, people familiar with the matter said last month.

The Movie Bad Boys TV Spin-off With Gabrielle Union

Plans for Bad Boys 3 may have stalled, but there’s may still be some more action yet in the form of a new Bad Boys TV spin-off. The planned show will focus on Gabrielle Union‘s character from Bad Boys II, an undercover operative with the DEA. While it’s doubtful Will Smith or Martin Lawrence‘s characters will show up, anyone looking for a Bad Boys fix might be keen to give the show a shot. Remember the Bad Boys series? Michael Bay‘s ultra-slick, ultra-violent saga that starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as two hot and cold cops who caused a ton of destruction while trying to catch criminals? Bad Boys II hit theaters in 2003, and seemingly ever since then, there’s been talk of a Bad Boys 3, but nothing has materialized.

Recently, co-star Martin Lawrence claimed that a Bad Boys 3 was unlikely at this point, saying, “I don’t think we’re going to get one, not the way everything’s turning out. Will is off doing another movie, and I don’t think it’s going to happen.” However, soon after Lawrence’s statement, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that a third Bad Boys was still a possibility once scheduling-conflicts are cleared up and a script is in order:

“Well, we’ve been developing it for I don’t know how many years now and we had a period of time where it got pretty close and then it drifted away a little bit and hopefully it will drift back again. We have a new writer on it who’s working on it right now, so that gives me encouragement.” Just where, exactly, Bad Boys 3 stands right now is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, if you want more Bad Boys action in your life, good news: shit just got real. In the bombastic Bad Boys II, Gabrielle Union played Sydney “Syd” Burnett, sister of Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett.

Unbeknownst to both Marcus and Smith’s Mike Lowery, Sydney was an undercover special agent with the DEA tracking dangerous money launderers. Much mayhem and several car chases followed. Deadline reports a Bad Boys TV spinoff centered around Union’s character is in the works, with The Blacklist writers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier working on the script for the as-of-now untitled spin-off. Just how much interest there is for a Bad Boys spin-off not featuring the two main bad boys themselves remains to be seen, but per the Deadline story, the potential show has “garnered strong interest from multiple places and is expected to land a major commitment.” Just when and where this Bad Boys TV spin-off will end up is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, why not watch an absolutely ridiculous chase sequence from Bad Boys II?