Astra had to map 3D game spaces and understand the puzzles before it could plan solutions and succeed.
Category: entertainment – Page 3
Making superconductors thinner can change how they accommodate magnetic fields
What happens when a superconductor becomes so thin that electrons can no longer behave as if they were moving through an ordinary three-dimensional piece of metal? This question has been at the center of my recent work on quantum confinement in metallic films. Over the past few years, I have been developing this line of theory with my colleague Giovanni Ummarino at Politecnico di Torino. Our initial goal was to understand something rather concrete: Why does shrinking the thickness of a superconducting film change the temperature at which superconductivity appears?
Martians by ZIA | High Arctic | NASA HMP-2003 | Remastered and AI-enhanced with subtitles
We helped remaster and AI-enhance and subtitle this cool pro-Mars settlement video by our Elaine Walker. Enjoy!
We worked a bit with our board member https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.elaine.w… dig up this version from her hard drive before YouTube compressed the hell out of it when she uploaded it in 2006. Subtitles are now added as well as YouTube’s auto-dub just didn’t cut it for this video. This is also AI-enhanced for better resolution.
You can also view the non AI-enhanced version at • Martians by ZIA | High Arctic | NASA HMP-2…
Also, check out Elaine’s new mini-movie music album at • Macrochip Mini-Movie Album (Bohlen-Pierce… t’s meant for friends to have viewing parties! It’s 40 minutes total, made with real human-made stock footage!
This video was commissioned in 2003 by the NASA Haughton-Mars Project and filmed on DV tape (digital video) in the Canadian High Arctic on Devon Island 75 degrees North, Nunavut, Canada. Sam Burbank of National Geographic did the videography and Elaine Walker did the editing. Her band ZIA was formed in 1991 and described themselves as electronic-pro-space-pop. Elaine took part in four additional seasons since then as an official participant, interviewing the scientists and posting photos and blogs.
NVIDIA’s DLSS 5: Slop Or Not?
People have been messing around with it in different games.
How high scores in an online brain teaser made mathematicians lie for three years
It might not yet be the phenomenon that is Wordle, but for hundreds of thousands of players, Digit Party has scratched the itch of a casual brain teaser to break up their day.
Players arrange numbers on a 5-by-5 grid, earning points whenever identical numbers touch on adjacent or diagonally connected squares. They can then compare their score to the puzzle’s maximum score that the game spits out at the end of a round.
There’s just one problem: The game was lying. Or rather, its creators were. For more than three years, Vincent Vatter, Ph.D., at the University of Florida and Robert Brignall, Ph.D., at The Open University in the United Kingdom didn’t know how to calculate the true high scores.
Microsoft shares temporary fix for Windows 11 gaming issues
Microsoft has shared a temporary fix for ongoing gaming issues caused by Windows 11 updates released during the August 2026 Patch Tuesday.
On impacted PCs, users reported games crashing or failing to launch, as well as game freezes, “EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION” errors, and even unexpected system restarts.
When it confirmed it was investigating this known issue on Wednesday, Microsoft said it affects games like ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.
Microsoft blames Windows gaming issues on RGB lighting devices
Microsoft says ongoing issues causing games to crash or fail to launch after installing the August 2026 Windows updates may be caused by peripherals with RGB lighting.
As Microsoft explained when it confirmed it’s investigating on Wednesday, this known issue affects games like ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.
“Following the release of Windows updates on August 11, 2026 (KB5121003) and later, Microsoft received reports of issues involving inability to run games as expected,” Microsoft said on the Windows release health dashboard.
VS Studio adds another Tekken veteran as Kohei Ikeda joins as game designer
8 director Kohei Ikeda has joined Katsuhiro Harada’s VS Studio.
Ikeda announced his departure from Bandai Namco in June after twenty years with the company. At that time, he did not disclose his future plans but stated he would “continue taking on new challenges as a game developer.”
He has now joined VS Studio as a game designer. “Working on games again with two of my former bosses feels nostalgic in many ways,” Ikeda shared on social media.
Microsoft says August Windows updates may cause gaming issues
Microsoft is investigating a potential issue with the August 2026 updates that may prevent some games from launching or cause them to crash on affected Windows 11 systems.
Barbie and Hot Wheels owner Mattel launches Mattel Game Studios
The toy company wants to develop, publish, and operate video games based on its sprawling brand portfolio.