A fifth force of nature may have been discovered by scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Atomki). The team was closely monitoring how an excited helium atom emitted light as it decayed, and the particles ended up splitting at an unusual angle, 115 degrees, which couldn’t be explained by known physics. They called this new particle X17 because they calculated its mass at 17 megaelectronvolts. Read more for a video and additional information.
Disney has officially joined the streaming business with the debut of its Disney+ service. The company hopes that its $6.99-per-month service will attract millions of subscribers with its mix of Marvel / Star Wars movies, TV shows, classic animated films, new series and lots more. The most highly anticipated original show is “The Mandalorian,” a live-action “Star Wars” series created by Jon Favreau. Read more for a video that tells you all about the service and additional information.
It’s official, we’re getting a new “The Matrix” movie. This fourth installment in the franchise will see stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski, co-creator of the original trilogy, will co-write, direct and produce the film, while being joined by writers Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, as well as producer Grant Hill. Read more for a behind-the-scenes video and additional information.
Photo credit: George Kao | Jonathon Leitschuh
Security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh discovered a zero-day vulnerability for the Zoom video conferencing app on Macs and publicly disclosed it today. Simply put, any website can open a video-enabled call on a Mac with the Zoom app installed because the software automatically installs a web server on OS X systems that accepts requests regular browsers wouldn’t. A website would simply be able to “forcibly join a user to a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user’s permission.” This also means that even if you uninstall Zoom, the web server can reinstall the software without requiring manual approval. Read more of a screenshot of what one person encountered when trying it.
Countless tourists have traveled to the areas across northern Chile to get the perfect viewing spot to witness Tuesday’s total solar eclipse. It all began at approximately 10:24 a.m. local time (2:24 p.m. ET) in the South Pacific and is expected to sweep along a 6,800-mile path across the open waters to Chile and Argentina. Those are the only places where the total eclipse will be seen, or at least in person, but for those who just happen to be online right now, NASA has a live feed of exactly what’s going on. Read more for the live video and additional information.
Jony Ive, Apple’s longtime design chief, announced that he is leaving the company later this year to launch his own independent design company called LoveFrom. “Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built. After so many years working closely together, I’m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a company statement. Read more to see three iconic Apple products that Jony Ive helped design over the years.
Bungie announced today that on September 17 it will be launching a free-to-play version of Destiny 2, downloadable on Steam, alongside the game’s upcoming expansion Shadowkeep called Destiny 2: New Light. Featuring the base game as well as all of the year-one content, including “foundational modes, activities and rewards.” Plus, the free-to-play version gives players the ability to explore areas introduced in year-two content without purchasing the expansions themselves.Read more for the full live stream video and additional information.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is currently the world’s most powerful operational rocket, and today, it launched its first commercial mission from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in a key demonstration for CEO Elon Musk who hopes to land lucrative military launch contracts in the future. The booster carried Arabsat-6A, a 13,000-pound Saudi telecommunications satellite designed to provide television, internet and mobile phone service to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, into orbit. Read more for the launch and to see the three boosters land back on Earth.
Photo credit: Ars Technica
The Walt Disney Co announced on Thursday a new family-friendly streaming service will costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 annually, complete with a variety of original programming. Disney+ is slated to launch on Nov. 12 in the U.S. and in every major global market over time. Subscribers will not only have access to Disney films and TV shows, but feature programming from the Marvel superhero universe, the “Star Wars” galaxy, “Toy Story” creator Pixar animation and the National Geographic channel. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Israel’s SpaceIL Beresheet spacecraft lost contact with Earth late on Thursday, just moments before its historic landing attempt after a series of technical failures during its final descent. The robotic lander experienced periodic engine and communications failures during the landing sequence, which lasted approximately 21 minutes. “It seems that a failure in our inertial measurements unit caused a chain of events in the spacecraft avionics which cut off the engines and caused us to lose the mission,” said Opher Doron, general manager of the space division at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Read more for a video and a shot the lander took right before crashing.