Choosing to start a family is one of the biggest choices a couple can make. IVFAustralia charts the challenges and pitfalls for women couples making this important decision. The desire ...

The post Planning a family with donated sperm appeared first on Star Observer.

Social distancing, shelter-in-place, lockdown, quarantine:  the global coronavirus outbreak has made these terms part of daily usage. Governments and health organisations across the world are recommending social distancing. It is ...

The post Social distancing need not mean social isolation appeared first on Star Observer.

Eat well With isolation comes the three Bs: boredom, bingeing, and (can’t be) bothered. The evil accomplice of all three is comfort eating. While snacks and treats are okay now ...

The post How to stay healthy during quarantine appeared first on Star Observer.

The blanket ban on blood donation by gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men (GBT people), is one step closer to being lifted. The ...

The post Gender Neutral Blood Donation Comes With Sting In Its Tail appeared first on Star Observer.

I could be biased, but sex with transmasculine people is fantastic. A warning up front: this article is not safe for work, unless it’s your very first day at the ...

The post Your Guide To Enjoying Transmasculine Sex appeared first on Star Observer.

Given all the contradictory expectations we have for clothes, it’s easy to get your kickers in a twist, but finding the right clothes as a non-binary person challenges those expectations. ...

The post Navigating Non-Binary Fashion In A Binary World appeared first on Star Observer.

A group representing hunters in the Nordic countries says it’s more optimistic than ever that the European Union will lift a longtime ban on trading seal products that deprived Canadian sealers of their primary market.

Throughout the fall, unusual white blobs have been washing ashore on beaches in eastern Newfoundland. A Memorial University chemist says the substance is a type of pollution that shouldn't have been in the ocean in the first place.

The U.K. based aerospace company, Space Solar, plans to launch its space-based solar power plant by 2030 to deliver clean energy to Iceland, which is already a renewable-energy powerhouse.

Rachelle and Kelly Swan bought their house in Spiritwood two years ago. They gave up their keys to the bank voluntarily in May, closing the door on the bat-infested house.  

Sibert and Red Cloud, black-footed ferret siblings at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, are the first members of an endangered species born to a cloned animal.

On day one of Donald Trump's presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he'll be advising Trump to take fluoride out of public water. The former presidential hopeful — and prominent proponent of debunked public health claims — has described fluoride as "industrial waste."

The rare type of cloud, whose name is Latin for "roughness," was first observed in 2006 by an amateur cloudspotter in Iowa.

After weeks of hurricanes and blackouts have left many in Cuba reeling, an earthquake has left people shaken as rumbling was felt across the eastern stretch of the island, including in bigger cities like Santiago de Cuba, as well as Holguin and Guantanamo.

Researchers in Montreal are pointing to the benefits of bilingualism for the brain's health and efficiency — suggesting it could even help prevent diseases associated with aging, including Alzheimer's.

An emperor penguin found malnourished far from its Antarctic home on the Australian south coast is being cared for by a wildlife expert, a government department said Monday.

Dream about teeth falling out meaning often symbolizes anxiety, personal change, or fear of loss. Discover the deeper psychological and spiritual interpretations.

Moss Agate meaning revolves around growth, emotional healing, and nature's balance. Discover its grounding energy and how it fosters abundance and inner peace.

Libra and Capricorn compatibility blends charm and ambition. Discover how this air-earth duo balances romance and practicality in love, friendship, and relationships.

Living in a city offers a lot of excitement and opportunity on a daily basis, but it also comes with some downsides like pollution, trash and health risks. So, which cities have it worst? LawnStarter did a deep dive on this very topic to uncover the dirtiest cities in the U.S.

Discover the calming power of a worry stone! Learn how this ancient tool relieves stress, boosts mindfulness, and promotes emotional balance through touch.

Earthquakes are among the most powerful natural forces on Earth, often causing widespread devastation, triggering tsunamis and altering the landscape of a region. But how strong was the strongest earthquake of all time?

Angel number 33 symbolizes spiritual growth, compassion, and creativity. Discover its powerful meaning in love, career, and life purpose as a Master Number.

Apophyllite: Discover the healing powers of apophyllite crystals, known for enhancing clarity, intuition, and spiritual growth. Perfect for meditation and relaxation.

Adjacent angles are one of the earliest and most important concepts to learn in basic geometry, as they have applications in further subjects like trigonometry, physics, and engineering. Effective students of geometry should be able to identify adjacent angles on sight and calculate them to a great degree of accuracy without a protractor.

Discover agate meaning: learn how this beautiful crystal supports emotional healing, balance, and grounding energy, making it a must-have for spiritual wellness.

The United States has a wide range of climate zones, from the subtropical to the arctic. On the low end of the thermometer, there are plenty of options for a deep winter chill. Here, we look at a couple different ways to determine the coldest state in the U.S. — and by both definitions, there's one winner.

Two congruent angles are simply pairs of angles with equal measures. You can find congruent angles examples in hundreds of everyday objects.

A new children’s book tells the tale of a young South Dakota woman who flew dozens of mercy missions during the great blizzards of 1949.

The signs were all there for Latinos to break for Republicans.

Private ownership, consumer choice, and competition would deliver better benefits to veterans — and force policy-makers to confront the costs of military engagements.

There are not many usable precedents for what J. D. Vance can do with a one-term vice presidency.

The Sacred Heart and the presidential election.

It has fundamentally transformed the United States, and it influenced this election cycle.

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against a streamer called EveryGameGuru, accused of streaming gameplays of pirated games before they were even released — and of providing viewers access to piracy tools and illegal copies of the games.

EveryGameGuru allegedly streamed Mario & Luigi: Brothership across five days, weeks before its official release on November 7. After Nintendo had the videos taken down from various platforms, including YouTube, they continued live streaming on Loco and even included a QR code for their CashApp handle.

Nintendo said EveryGameGuru sent the company an email, saying it has “a thousand burner channels” and “can do this all day.”

Don’t anger the house of Mario! The company is asking for $150,000 in damages per violation of its copyright. 404media did the math: That could add up to millions, seeing as the suit cites at least 10 games, streamed on at least 50 occasions.

— Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

Engadget review recap: Two new Macs, the PS5 Pro and more

Sony has sold 65 million PS5s

Andor season two will hit Disney+ in April

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

HTC Vive Focus Vision review

An average-performing premium VR headset.

Sure, it’s not for most of us. The Vive Focus Vision isn’t for the same people as the PSVR2 or Meta Quest 3. This is meant to be high-end VR for businesses and creators: a cross between the Focus 3 and last year’s goggle-like XR Elite. The build quality is excellent, but it’s running on aging hardware. Worse, it’s riddled with software issues and is rather expensive compared to the Meta Quest 3.

Continue reading.

The voice of AOL’s You’ve got mail! dies aged 74

He recorded four phrases for $200 in 1989.

If you’re aged 30 and up, you know the voice of Elwood Edwards, realize it or not. He recorded the phrase, “You’ve got mail!” and three other lines for Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company became America Online (AOL), Meg Ryan made the movie with Tom Hanks and everything else. (AOL is currently owned by Yahoo, Engadget’s parent company.)

Continue reading.

Latest God of War Ragnarok patch tells the son to be quiet

It reduces all the hints from Kratos’ offspring.

The latest patch for the PS5 version of God of War Ragnarok adds the option first seen in the PC port to tone down the boy’s excessive and unsolicited hints when Kratos is contemplating the game’s many puzzles. Enough, Atreus! (The patch also includes PS5 Pro upgrades, for smooth 60 fps and better visuals. But that’s not as funny.)

Continue reading.

Nintendo is set to show off the Donkey Kong Country expansion of its Super Nintendo World theme park today (Monday, November 11) at 5PM ET, the company revealed in a post on X. That means the new Universal Studios Japan area might finally open soon, after being delayed from the previously announced launch window of Spring 2024. 

The new park attraction featuring Mario's barrel-throwing nemesis was first revealed in 2021. The centerpiece is a ride called Mine Cart Madness, named after the best level in the 1994 SNES game Donkey Kong Country. After being blasted out of a barrel cannon, you'll take a mine cart ride through the jungle that includes a "leap across a collapsed track" as Nintendo showed in a render earlier this year.  

The direct livestream appears to be focused on Donkey Kong world alone, and Nintendo specifically pointed out that "no game information will be featured" — so don't expect any news on the next-gen Switch 2 console either. 

Donkey Kong Country will expand the park size by up to 70 percent, Nintendo said when it was announced. Current attractions at the Japan park are the Mario Kart: Kuppa's Challenge rollercoaster and Yoshi Adventure. Nintendo recently announced that it would open a Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Orlando on May 22nd, 2025 with the same attractions as the park in Osaka. 

As the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Switch is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors have been swirling for years, but now they are really heating up. A sequel to Nintendo's most successful home console ever is coming and it’s likely coming sooner rather than later.

Will it be a straight up sequel to the Switch with updated specs while retaining the same hybrid functionality or will Nintendo get weird with it? Will it even be called the Switch 2, or will the company go with something like the Super Switch or even the New Nintendo Switch? You can never tell with Nintendo. Heck, maybe it’ll call the thing the Switch U.

In any event, recent weeks have brought feverish speculation regarding all aspects of the forthcoming gaming console. It’s important to note, however, that very little information has been confirmed by Nintendo. The company operates on its own timetable. With that said, here are all of the rumors that are most likely to come true, given industry analysis.

When will the Nintendo Switch 2 be announced?

As previously mentioned, Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum. We don’t exactly know when it’ll hold an event to reveal the console. It likely won't be in 2024, as the tech year is winding down and it's rare to get announcements of new harder in late November and December. 

Even Nintendo has trouble keeping the lid on a major console release, so we could learn something before the official reveal. There are parts that have to be sourced and shipments that have to be made. A senior analyst at MST Financial noted a spike in production equipment spending by Nintendo assembler Hosiden.

When will the Nintendo Switch 2 come out?

Once again, this is more or less a mystery. We aren’t totally in the dark, but it’s mostly rumor and speculation. One thing we know for sure is that Nintendo will announce the Nintendo Switch 2 (or whatever it chooses to call it) by March 2025, as the company confirmed back in May. Some are saying there will be a March release date, which makes sense given the OG Switch came out on March 17, 2017. However, other reports put the console’s release window later in 2025.

We can infer a lot from the announcement date. If the console is announced this year, March would be a safe bet, given that the original Switch was officially confirmed in October of 2016. However, the console likely won't be announced until next year, at this point, so expect a late 2025 release. 

Will it even be a proper Switch sequel?

Nintendo has a weird track record here. The baffling Wii U followed the massive success of the Wii. The Wii itself followed the more traditional GameCube. In other words, it’s possible it’ll be something out of left field and not exactly a true sequel to the Switch. However, this is unlikely this time around. As much as I would love to see wacky VR glasses or a completely bonkers console concept, all points indicate a more traditional approach.

Developers have already seen the hardware, though in a much earlier form, and it seems to be a regular old console. While Nintendo hasn't confirmed hybrid functionality, it’d be a weird omission given the absolute financial firestorm of the Switch. We’ve also heard rumors of a Mini-LED display, which would track for a hybrid console. It’s highly likely this will be a straight-up Switch 2, or something like it, calling to mind the Super Nintendo.

To that end, recent rumors suggest a design that recalls the original Switch. According to reporting by VGC, photos of the console have appeared online and they show an 8-inch screen and magnetic Joy-Con controllers. There looks to be SL/SR buttons and front-facing player LEDs on these controllers. 

Is the Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatible?

If it’s a sequel to the Switch, the next question has to be about backwards compatibility. The Switch’s library is absolutely massive, and continues to grow, so gamers would be rightfully peeved if they couldn’t play Tears of the Kingdom on their new next-gen console. There’s good news on this front.

The company has officially announced in a recent earnings report that the console will be fully backwards compatible. It will also feature access to Nintendo Online, so users will be able to play all of those old retro titles. 

What about specs?

The rumors regarding specs are all over the place, so it’s tough to pin down. We know one thing for sure: It’ll be more powerful than the ancient Switch hardware, which was already antiquated back in 2017. One analyst allegedly got a hold of a spec sheet from the Korean United Daily News that said the Switch 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the original Switch was in 2017. However, some reports do indicate that the console would include 12GB of RAM. 

Another source suggests that the eight-core CPU will be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the current Switch runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a lot of sense. The CPU will be more powerful, but it's the Switch 2's new GPU that will be a major differentiator. It's all-but-confirmed that the Switch 2 will support DLSS, NVIDIA's "deep learning supersampling" upscaling tech, which would allow the console to render games at a low resolution internally while outputting a high-resolution image. (Fun fact: We actually wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the technology was announced alongside the RTX 20 series back in 2018.)

There are still questions about the Switch 2 and DLSS: Will the system support newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will existing games be automatically tidied up by NVIDIA's algorithm? Regardless of the exact implementation, DLSS upscaling will be a huge leap over the rudimentary techniques available to Nintendo Switch developers.

As for the display, there are many conflicting rumors. Early reports from solid sources suggested the Switch 2 would have an 8-inch display LCD display, but there have also been rumors about an 7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Some analysts have suggested this would be an OLED screen, while others have said it would be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED display is basically an LCD display that has a backlight made of (surprise!) mini-LEDs rather than edge lighting. This allows for local dimming, making the blacks more black. I’m hedging my bets here. I think it’ll be a standard LCD, to cut costs, with an OLED or Mini-LED model coming later down the line. However, Mini-LED screens are slightly cheaper than OLED displays, so that’s certainly a possibility at launch.

As for resolution, recent reporting suggests that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That's much better than the OG Switch. 

How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?

We don't have too much information regarding price but we do have plenty of history to work with. The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300, which is pretty much the "magic number" when it comes to Nintendo console releases in recent years. The Wii U also came in at $300. 

However, there are plenty of rumors circulating that Nintendo could be upping the asking price for the Switch 2. Numerous outlets have reported it'll be $400, or potentially even more expensive. However, the same analysts who say the console will be $400 were also fairly certain it would be out by the end of 2024 and, well, it looks like that ain't happening. 

Dipping back into history, there is some precedence for a price uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Switch increased to $300 and, well, numbers like to go up. A $400 price tag would make it nearly as expensive as a PS5 and Xbox Series X. That would also put it at the same price as the 256GB LCD Steam Deck. 

Do we know about any launch games?

Nope! But it’s certainly been a long time since we’ve gotten a proper 3D Mario adventure, right? That would be one heck of a system seller. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Past as prologue, we can expect something from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Switch. 

If there’s a gimmick or hook involved with the console, we’ll also get a game that takes advantage of that. A dual release of Metroid Prime 4, just like Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess before that, is also a possibility.

That's everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2 today. We'll update this article with rumors we trust and with information we gather directly from sources. Any changes made to the article after its initial publishing will be listed below.

Update, November 11, 2024, 9:00 AM ET: This story has been updated with details about the Switch 2's backwards compatibility as well as more details about the current expected announcement and release timeline.

For the first time in over two years, Overwatch 2 players will be able to group up in teams of six. A three-week event featuring that format starts tomorrow, November 12. But there’s a twist: you won’t be able to select Kiriko or Sombra, or battle it out with an additional player on each side on Push maps just yet. That’s because in Overwatch 2’s first real taste of 6v6, Blizzard is taking us all the way back to the beginning with a limited-time mode called Overwatch: Classic.

You will be able to experience Overwatch almost exactly as it was upon its May 2016 debut. That means you can choose from the first 21 heroes, who all have their original kits and abilities. That means Hanzo loses his Lunge jump but regains his dreaded Scatter Arrow, Bastion and Torbjorn are vastly different than they are now and Cassidy's Flashbang once again stun locks enemies for a moment. 

Symmetra reverts to being a support who can teleport allies almost anywhere on the map from the spawn room, while Mercy can will once again bring five dead teammates back to life. Ultimate abilities will charge up faster too.

In addition, just like in Overwatch for a brief period at the very beginning, there are initially no limits on hero selection. So if you and your teammates want to run with a composition of four Winstons and two Lucios, have at it. However, this will only apply for the first few days, after which Blizzard will apply the single hero limit rule for the rest of the event. Games will take place under the Quick Play ruleset, rather than the Competitive format.

The original 12 maps will be available too — including the assault maps that Blizzard retired from the main modes during the transition to Overwatch 2. While assault maps are still available in the Arcade and custom games, you'll once again be dealing with the notorious choke points of the otherwise gorgeous Hanamura, Temple of Anubis and Volskaya Industries.

Things won't be exactly as they were in May 2016, however. Original maps that have seen major reworks over the years — Dorado, Numbani, Route 66 and Watchpoint: Gibraltar — will appear as they are in the current game. You'll only be able to use the original default Overwatch skins and no, there are no loot boxes. The user interface remains the same too, which hopefully means the ping system will still be in place.

Blizzard doesn't plan for this to be a one-and-done deal. There will be other Overwatch: Classic events in the future, focusing on various moments in the game's history, like the infamous triple-tank, triple-support GOATS meta. This limited-time mode is also separate from the other 6v6 tests Blizzard plans to run in the coming months as it looks to measure players' interest in that format and garner feedback.

There's a good chance that this limited-time mode will bring some lapsed players back into the mix, even just for a sip of nostalgia. I first played Overwatch several months after its debut, so it'll be fun to see roughly how the game felt at the very beginning. I will be instalocking Mei every match so I can remember what it's like to freeze an opponent before giving them a cheeky wave and firing an icicle into their skull. Ah, memories...

One of the most useful new features in the public beta of iOS 18.2 is the capability to share the location of a lost item connected to Apple’s Find My network. Sure, you could already share an item’s location with people in your contacts list, but Apple says this could help when you have to rely on the help of a stranger.

When you choose Share Item Location in the Find My app on iPhone, iPad or Mac, you get the option to share a link that shows the location of your missing item. The link’s recipient will be able to open it on any device, and they’ll also be able to see your Apple account email and/or phone number so they can get in touch with you. You can even share the information with selected airlines. Apple has apparently worked with several carriers to integrate this feature into their systems.

Better still, air transport tech company SITA is also incorporating Share Item Location into WorldTracer, its baggage-tracing system. Apple says more than 500 airlines and ground handlers at 2,800-plus airports use it. Perfect for when I head to Portugal in just five days’ time. Yes, brag.

For now, it’s part of the public beta, so if you want the feature, you’ll have to install iOS 18.2.

— Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

• Amazon reportedly wants drivers to wear AR glasses for improved efficiency

• This Shin Megami Tensei board game features 72 intricate demon figurines

• A white Steam Deck OLED can be yours for $679

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar review

New tech powers a big audio upgrade.

It’s not been a great year for Sonos, but still, here comes its latest upgraded soundbar. While the design is mostly unchanged from the Arc that debuted in 2020, there are several key changes inside the Arc Ultra that make this a better all-in-one solution. Sonos is promising better bass performance, thanks to new speaker tech debuting in the Arc Ultra, but just how good can it be? $999 worth of good?

Continue reading.

Google’s Pixel 8a is only $399, and it’s not even Black Friday

Just. Buy. This. Phone!

If you want an excellent midrange smartphone or an upgrade from that crunchy Android of yours from 2014, just get yourself the Pixel 8a, down $100 to $399. With Google’s Tensor G3 chip, the Pixel 8a supports many of the same AI features as the flagship Pixel devices. The cameras are excellent, and it has a gorgeous (and smooth) 6.1-inch 120Hz OLED display. The only caveat is… we’ve seen it drop to $380 briefly. Still, it’s a deal. We gave it a score of 90 in our review.

Continue reading.

An Overwatch: Classic event takes fans back to the beginning

A 6v6 limited-time Overwatch 2 mode starts November 12.

For the first time in over two years, Overwatch 2 players will be able to group up in teams of six for a three-week event starting today. But there’s a twist: You won’t be able to select Kiriko or Sombra or battle it out with an additional player on each side on Push maps just yet. Yes, you’ll be limited to the first 21 heroes, kitted out with their old movesets and ultimates. Did someone call for Symmetra, teleport savior? No, but they will.

Continue reading.

Fujifilm is developing a medium-format, 102-megapixel cinema camera, the company said in a surprise announcement. Due next year, the GFX Eterna will carry a boxy, modular design reminiscent of Sony's FX6 or the new Blackmagic Pyxis and will likely be launched with a top handle, electronic viewfinder and other optional accessories.

The new camera will have a medium format GFX 102-megapixel (MP) CMOS II HS sensor, the same one used on the GFX100 II. That sensor is 43.8mm x 32.9 mm in size, or 1.7 times larger than the full-frame sensor found on the aforementioned FX or Pyxis. That will be one of the largest cinema camera sensors available, even bigger than RED's V-Raptor XL sensor.

The benefits will be extra dynamic range, potentially high resolution and a very shallow depth of field that should allow for cinematic shots when paired with the right lens. That does bring up the fact that Fujifilm currently has no GFX glass designed specifically for film production. However, the company said it's developing a 32-90mm power zoom lens (24-70mm full-frame equivalent) and will have a mount adapter for GFX to PL lenses, which are widely used in cinema. 

One other concern might be rolling shutter distortion. RED's V-Raptor XL uses a global shutter that has zero distortion, but the sensor Fujifilm will employ has a fair bit of it . In addition, the GFX100 II captures 8K with a 1.53x crop, negating many of the benefits of a medium format sensor — so, hopefully Fujifilm will resolve those issues with its cinema camera. 

Fujifilm will show off the GFX Eterna starting tomorrow at the InterBEE 2024 media exhibition in Chiba City, Japan. It's set to be released sometime in 2025, with an exact date and pricing yet to be announced.

We wouldn’t blame you if you try to do all of your tech shopping around the holidays. That’s when you can typically get the best sales, both on relatively affordable gear and (more importantly) on big-ticket items. But it would be wrong to think that only the most expensive tech is worth gifting. Since we at Engadget test a plethora of gadgets every year, we know that there are some hidden (and not so hidden) tech gems at lower price ranges — you just have to know where to find them. That’s where we come in — these are the best tech gifts under $50 that you can get this year.

Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.

As someone who gets motion sick easily and doesn't love unexpected things coming at me, 4DX has never been my cup of tea. However, as a long time fan of Wicked, that could change as Xfinity has released a new 4DX ad ahead of Wicked the movie's November 22 release date. 

The ad is a short film titled Stay Connected to Your Dreams and was directed by Alice Brooks, Wicked's director of photography. It centers on Wicked's leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who play Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. The short film shows viewers Erivo and Grande's childhoods and their love of Wicked, Grande's decade and a half old tweet wishing she'd one day play Glinda and the calls when each actor learned they'd been cast in the movie. 

According to Xfinity, the 4DX film will allow the audience to "feel the magic of Oz" and includes synchronized motion seats, wind, lightning and, of course, bubbles (IYKYK). The company also claims it's the first 4DX spot to be played nationwide. While we've not always been fans of 4DX, Wicked lovers might enjoy the slightly more immersive experience. 

You can experience the short film in select 4DX Regal theaters before the movie premieres or sans-4DX here. The second part of Wicked should arrive next year, on November 21, 2025. 

More than 200 employees of 23andMe are being laid off as part of the company’s ongoing cost-cutting measures. The layoffs will impact 40 percent of the genetic testing company’s workforce.

23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said in a statement released on Monday that the staff reduction would save the beleaguered company more than $35 million. She called the layoffs “difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core consumer business and research partnerships.”

The company also announced it will start to shut down its therapeutics clinical programs that used its genetic database to research and develop new drugs. The therapeutics division housed two “immuno-oncology programs” that investigated therapeutic antibodies “designed to restore the ability of the body’s immune cells to kill cancer cells,” according to the division’s website.

The San Francisco-based company has not had an easy year. Hackers hit the genetics giant in April of last year and leaked information of 6.9 million customers. The data breach went unnoticed for a year and a half, leading to a $30 million settlement of a class action lawsuit and resignations from the company’s entire board.

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira received a 15-year sentence in federal prison for leaking classified military documents on Discord in a Boston federal court, according to The Washington Post.

Teixeira appeared before the court earlier today and asked the judge for leniency. He also issued a statement apologizing for “all of the harm that I’ve caused, to my friends, family and those overseas.”

Defense attorney Michael Bachrach also claimed that Teixeira was subjected to bullying in high school and his military unit as an adjudicating factor for his actions. Judge Indira Talwani didn’t buy the defense’s bullying claims stating that the Air Force has already disciplined 15 other members connected to Teixeira for not taking more actions “that might have stopped him from doing this.”

Teixeira shared classified military documents as far back as late 2022 on a Discord server dedicated to the pixelated sandbox game Minecraft. The leak included information about the Ukrainian and Russian troop movements and military equipment used in the war in Ukraine and Russia's attempts to obtain more weapons from Egypt and Turkey. The documents eventually found their way to other Discord servers as well as 4chan and Telegram.

FBI officials arrested Teixeira at his home in April of last year. Teixeira originally agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors in March that included a 16-year prison sentence for pleading guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information and violating the Espionage Act. If he stuck with his not guilty plea and received a guilty verdict, Teixeira faced a much steeper maximum prison term of 60 years.

This year's action RPG Stellar Blade has been a solid win for Sony as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. Developer Shift Up revealed in a recent quarterly earnings report that sales "have remained steady even as the initial surge has calmed" following its spring launch. But there may be a second boost coming for the game, because the studio is planning a PC port of Stellar Blade some time next year.

"Given recent trends like Steam’s growing presence in the AAA games market and the global success of Black Myth: Wukong, we are expecting the PC version to perform even better than the console version," the Korean company said when asked about their PC plans during the presentation.

The title referenced, Black Myth: Wukong, was able to set a new record for concurrent players in a single-player game on Steam when it launched on the platform in August. That's a lofty goal for any game to reach, so we'll have to see how successful Shift Up can be in reaching an international audience on PC.

Amazon is closing down Freevee, its free ad-supported video on demand service. This platform was home to original programming as well as more than 100 originals from the Prime Video roster. Freevee will be phased out over the coming weeks, and its content will become available as part of Prime Video. The ad-supported tier of Prime Video is included as part of Amazon's Prime membership for $15 a month.

"To deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out Freevee branding," an Amazon spokesperson told Variety. "There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST channels – all available on Prime Video."

The free viewing platform went through several rebrands since its original launch as IMDb Freedive in January 2019. It entered its final phase as Freevee in April 2022.

Leylah Fernandez et ses compatriotes auront fort à faire pour conserver leur titre.

Ça va mal pour Sidney Crosby et ses coéquipiers.

A VOLATILE year for our superannuation savings looks likely to end in positive territory as long as global markets don’t crash this week.

COMMENT: I am a father-of-three and a small-business owner in Oakey. Several days ago, The Courier-Mail conducted water tests on the irrigation bore on my property. I was extremely distressed by the results.