A bug is causing some PS3 and PS Vita games to expire
PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita players could find some of their titles unplayable thanks to what seems to be an expiration date glitch in Sony’s backend. The issue was first noted by Kotaku, after users on Reddit and Twitter reported issues with numerous games and, in some cases, their whole libraries. The bug in question is falsely flagging some game licences as expired on the affected platforms. Owners are no longer able to download or play them. Luckily for those affected, this seems too sporadic and inconsistent to be something Sony has done deliberately. Instead, it is more than likely to do with something called the “Unix Epoch”.
Unix is one of the earliest operating systems, developed in the 60s. In that OS, engineers needed a way to express timestamps. Thus Unix time was created. Engineers picked exactly midnight on the 1st of January 1970 as the random starting point for their time system. So, a Unix time of ‘423792000’ denotes that many seconds have passed since exactly midnight on the 1st of January 1970. Unfortunately, some older Sony games have suddenly had the date before Unix time starts set as their expiration date. For some reason. Hopefully the bug, if that’s what it is, is corrected soon. Either that or Sony has decided to punish a few specific players on older platforms for no reason. We’re holding thumbs for the first option.
Source: Kotaku
Musk makes an about-turn, will not be joining Twitter’s board
The news cycle has been filled with mentions of Twitter and Elon over the past week or so when the world’s richest man revealed his 9.2% stake in Twitter. That followed a few provocative tweets in which he asked his followers if Twitter “rigorously adheres to” free speech, and if the platform needs an edit button. Now, almost as if designed to play out like this, the cycle continues with Musk declining to accept his seat on Twitter’s board of directors. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted a statement early this morning. He states “We believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interest of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward.” He also notes Musk’s appointment was contingent on a background check.
So, either someone found something they shouldn’t have in the background check, Musk didn’t want to keep his criticisms of Twitter to himself, or, you know, running multiple multimillion-dollar companies takes a lot of time, and going to board member meetings is boring. It’s almost definitely one of these, or a combination of all three, or none of them entirely. Maybe Elon will tweet something to let everyone know the real reason, lest his name falls out of the conversation for a day or two.
Source: Digital Trends
The first robot-crime has been committed
General Motors’ Cruise self-driving unit has been driving about San Francisco since the beginning of February 2022, offering public taxi services. It seemed to be going okay for the driverless service — until the police got involved this weekend. Police took exception to the fact that one of the service’s vehicles was driving around at night with no lights on. So, as any rational cop would do in that situation, they opened fire pulled the vehicle over. It appears the lack of a driver was very confusing for them.
Cruise commented on the tweeted video saying “our AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.” Good bot. Maybe the video that Cruise made on how to interact with their AVs should’ve been more widely circulated.
Source: Engadget
The TinyTan Tamagotchi will let you look after mini versions of the BTS members
If you grew up in the early 2000s you’ll be familiar with the Tamagotchi and the responsibility that came with owning one. If you’re the world’s biggest BTS fan and want to revisit that sense of responsibility, then maybe the TinyTan Tamagotchi is for you. You’ll be able to dance with them, bake a custard tart with them and keep them alive with their favourite foods all from your pocket. While you won’t be able to ensure the death of any of the actual members, you might be able to with their mini virtual counterparts.
According to The Verge, the press release contained a grave warning; “Keep your character’s stress barometer low or they will go back to Magic Door.” This is presumably the door they will use when they need to leave your pocket to perform in their sold-out global shows, or something. These probably won’t be coming directly to South Africa but you might be able to get a few off Amazon for $20 (R300) when they eventually release in October 2022.
Source: The Verge