(Photo: Joshua Golde/Unsplash)A pair of data broker executives want every quantifiable aspect of your education and employment to appear on a public report for future employers to see. Auren Hoffman, CEO of Safegraph, hosts a podcast called World of DaaS (Data as a Service). His May 3rd invited Charlie Youakim, CEO of Sezzle (a buy-now-pay-later firm), to discuss a number of various entrepreneurial touchpoints. During a part of their conversation focused on hiring and “team-building” techniques, the pair came up with a dicey idea: to record workers’ test scores, performance reviews, employment history, and more on a privately-owned (yet publicly viewable) website.
When you look up at the night sky, do you wonder about what’s out there? Most of the stars we can see with the naked eye reside within our own galaxy. And now we know a lot more about them. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission has just announced the largest, most accurate, most detailed map of the Milky Way ever made. This is actually the Gaia mission’s third data release. But it blows its predecessors out of the water. This is the richest star catalogue to date, including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars.
Many gamers spent the early phases of the pandemic trying and failing to get their hands on a decent video card, but the spike in crypto prices and intensifying component shortage made that almost impossible. Anyone who gave up and decided to wait for the next generation of GPUs is gearing up for another retail struggle as Nvidia’s RTX 4000 () cards are on the horizon, but they might have to wait a little longer. The expected summer release date may not be happening after all. Previously, all signs pointed to the first cards based on the new 5nm architecture , but the latest suggests that won’t happen.
It looks like it’s going to be a long week for those holding crypto. On Sunday evening crypto lending firm Celsius announced it was suspending all activity due to “extreme market conditions.” The move prevented anyone with assets in Celsius from making withdrawals, transfers between accounts, or swaps. The company said the move was necessary to put it in a “better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.” In the aftermath all the big crytpocurrency values plunged, making it the second big sell-off in recent weeks. Celsius made the in a memo to its community. For the uninitiated, Celsius is a crypto lender and functions similar to a traditional bank.
Sony announced a redesigned PlayStation Plus program several months , and today is the big day in the US. You can now sign up for Sony’s new three-tier Plus program, unlocking access to hundreds of games. This includes the latest titles on PlayStation 5 back to classic PS One games. Sony only offered a sample of the included games before launch, but now they’re all available for your perusal. The cheapest plan is , which runs $9.99 per month (or $60 for a year). This is what you need in the event you only care about online multiplayer and not a massive back catalog of games.
(Photo: Concept by Taeyeon Kim)There has been a lot of speculation on what Apple plans to bring to the table with its foray into mixed reality. It’s been widely reported the company has been working on some kind of virtual reality (VR) headset for many years now, possibly alongside a pair of augmented reality glasses. According to an analyst’s summary of the situation, both products are on track for future release. The VR headset will arrive first, then the AR glasses will follow, likely in 2024. Even more interesting, when the glasses finally arrive, they will reportedly launch with the second generation of Apple’s headset.
(Photo: IHI Corp./NEDO)A deep sea turbine off the coast of eastern Japan has proven capable of producing almost as much energy as a coal plant. Kairyu, a massive turbine prototype produced by Japanese machinery manufacturer IHI Corp, sits at least 100 feet underwater. Its anchor line allows it to flex its position to most effectively harness energy from the Kuroshio Current—one of the strongest ocean currents in the world. At first glance, Kairyu looks like an underwater jet. Its middle consists of a 66-foot fuselage, each side of which has a similarly-sized turbine cylinder attached. Both turbine cylinders contain power generators, control mechanisms, and measuring systems which correspond with their respective 36-foot turbine blades.
(Photo: Jakub Sisulak /Unsplash)Just because you haven’t yet gotten your hands on an Xbox Series S or X doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the newest games. In fact, a Samsung smart TV might be all you need. Microsoft has teamed up with the electronics manufacturer to bring Xbox game streaming straight to its TVs—no console required. It’s called Xbox TV, and it will allow anyone with a $14.99/month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a newer Samsung TV or monitor to stream over 100 games without an actual Xbox. Like with any other smart TV app, you’ll be able to select Xbox TV from your device’s menu.
Friends, countrymen, space nerds — lend me your ears! For we come not to retweet space news, but to enjoy it. This week we’ll hear about a surprise collision at the James Webb Space Telescope. We’ll also hear about less-surprising threats from Russian space agency Roscosmos. (They’re not even threatening the ISS this time!) There’s news from Mars, from both Ingenuity and Perseverance. Also, SpaceX had to scrub a launch after a hydrazine leak on the launchpad. And last but not least, we’ll tell you about the best skywatching targets for June. Russia Threatens to Unilaterally Reactivate German Telescope
