It’s about time
You don’t get to witness history being written very often. But that is about to change because NASA is officially developing a ‘lunar time standard’ designed for the Moon’s rotation, a task delegated to it by the US government as America continues to set its sights on touching down on the big rock (sometime in 2025) and colonising it for generations to come.
Following the White House’s directive sent out in April, NASA has confirmed it will “coordinate with U.S. government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC),” a whole five months later. Despite sharing an abbreviation with a crypto coin, the LTC’s establishment is a sound idea that NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program is working on building.
Accomplishing this mission will require the weighted average of several atomic clocks on the Moon – itself creating another issue – as the clocks will “appear” to tick faster by microseconds every day. That’s something NASA will need to deal with, and quickly, as it determines which mathematical models will be best employed to establish the LTC. Before long, LTC-time will be scalable for Mars and all the rest of the planets by the time the Artemis mission sets up shop.
Google rolls out Gemini Live globally (for free)
Last week, Google began shipping Gemini Live, the company’s conversational AI-powered chatbot, to all Android users for free. The feature makes it possible to hold a back-and-forth conversation with Gemini using only your voice and the same natural language you use to talk to real people.
The feature was first unveiled during Google’s I/O 2024 event in May and initially required a $20 Gemini Advanced subscription. But now every Gemini Android user can be a Gemini Advanced subscriber without paying a cent, for this specific feature anyway.
Unfortunately, iOS users will still have to wait; either for Apple Intelligence or for Google to release an iOS Gemini app. OpenAI fans will also need to wait for that company’s equivalent feature, Voice Mode, which is still in its alpha stage and rolling out to select ChatGPT Plus users.
Google’s Gemini Live feature will eventually be able to use your smartphone’s camera to gain further context of your surroundings (once you’ve given it permission, we hope) to better inform its responses. However, Google hasn’t specified an exact date for when this ability will be available.
Unity bins silly runtime pricing scheme
Remember when software company Unity wanted to charge game developers every time their game was downloaded? Well, exactly one year and one CEO later, the company announced it is cancelling its controversial ‘runtime fee’ price model with immediate effect.
In case you’re feeling out of the loop because you don’t develop video games, when Unity announced in September last year that it was increasing its prices, the game development community went up in flames. Instead of a set monthly rate, Unity said it would adopt a pay-per-download pricing structure.
In the year since, Unity attempted to make amends by reworking the pricing model, raising the per-download fee threshold, and ‘retiring’ its then-CEO John Riccitiello with Unity Create’s president Marc Whitten leaving earlier this year.
“After deep consultation with our community, customers, and partners, we’ve made the decision to cancel the Runtime Fee for our games customers, effective immediately,” said Unity’s current President and CEO Matt Bromberg.
After all that, we’re back where we started. However, Unity did say it would be implementing increases to its Pro and Enterprise subscription tiers from 1 January 2025.
The best controller of all time just got a little better
We don’t need to tell any real gamers that Nintendo’s original GameCube controllers are some of the best out there. The curves, the triggers and the weird little yellow analogue stick are all part of Nintendo’s wacky personality. All they’re missing now? Hall effect joy sticks, Bluetooth, and Switch compatibility.
Scrounge up $26 (R460), hand it over to 8BitDo, and that’s exactly what you’ll get in return – turning up in the form of a solderless mod kit that just about anyone can install without too much hassle. The modders announced the new kit, which will also hook up to Android devices, in a post on X. You’re unfortunately losing out on the ability to connect to the GameCube unless you pick up 8BitDo’s wireless Retro Receiver for another $25.
There are no wires to mess with, meaning you’ll need to make do with the 300mAh battery pack that 8BitDo reckons unlocks six hours of playtime. A pack of new triggers accompanies that, without the years of hand chum gunking up the gaps. The kit is available to pre-order now before shipping on 25 September.