Tokyo 2020 drone show dazzles
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games kicked off on Friday last week and as is tradition with the opening ceremony, we were treated to a dazzling display. This year, towards the end of the ceremony, we saw a fleet of over 1,800 drones take to the sky where they collectively took the form of the 2020 Olympic symbol before transitioning into a drone rendering of our planet while Hanz Zimmer’s rework of ‘Imagine‘ by John Lennon played.
Although very impressive, it certainly wasn’t the biggest drone show we’ve seen. That title goes to Genesis and their 3,000 drone display in September 2020.
Source: Engadget
Steam Deck ’30fps target’ more of a minimum
We’ve been keeping our eyes on the Steam-powered (not literally) Steam Deck since it was announced and now something has caught our eye. Right off the bat, there’ll always be concerns about the performance of a handheld system like this one. It can’t be too powerful otherwise it won’t last long on battery, or it’ll have a massive battery but then it loses the portability. It’s all about balance.
Valve knows this, but when it was revealed by Valve and IGN that the Steam Deck will target 30Hz, people weren’t too impressed. But a coder at Valve, Pierre-Loup Griffais, has kindly clarified that when they say “30FPS target” they actually mean the floor of what they consider playable in their tests. Meaning you should see 30fps at least. If that will be a smooth 30fps however is a whole different question, because not all 30fps experiences are made equal.
Source: The Verge
Space helicopter continues to do space helicopter things
This past weekend saw NASA’s plucky little Ingenuity helicopter complete its 10th successful flight over the surface of the red planet bringing the total distance flown to just over one and a half kilometres. During its latest flight, NASA says the space-copter provided pictures of an area they’re calling ‘Raised Ridges’ to help out its buddy the Perseverance Rover in navigation among other tasks.
These ridges form part of a fracture system that the clever chaps at NASA say they want to visit soon. Fracture systems can sometimes serve as a way for fluid to get underground. Where there’s fluid there’s usually life, Martian life. Aliens confirmed everyone. Or maybe, among the ridges, the Ingenuity helicopter will find some tin or aluminium to celebrate its 10th flight. Either way, it’s been a good couple of months for science.
Source: Gizmodo
Turtle Beach is looking to expand into controllers
Turtle beach, most known for its headsets, is looking to broaden its horizons and product line up even further with the Recon Controller. Not happy with only flight-sim controls, the company want to put you in control of a lot more. The company have announced its very own gamepad, which will be compatible with the Xbox Series X|S and One as well as Windows.
Although we haven’t managed to get our hands on it just yet, the controller seems like it does a good enough job of marrying comfort and Turtle Beach’s premium audio experience. Towards the top of the controller, we can see a plethora of audio controls and along the sides, it looks like Turtle Beach has gone with a silicon-like grip material. The only downside is that it will only come as a wired option, yet another thing to trip over, fun.
Source: Engadget
