University fails to observe lost observatory for 100 years [Interesting]

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Age of Empires IV arrives on Xbox consoles and Game Pass today

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is surprise launching Age of Empires IV on Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One consoles and Xbox Game Pass today. The latest game was announced for Xbox consoles last year with a 2023 promise, and Xbox Cloud Gaming players will also be able to stream Age of Empires IV.

Age of Empires IV originally launched in late 2021 on PC, and Microsoft added the title to its PC Game Pass service. Microsoft has added a tutorial to the console port of Age of Empires IV, which helps players get used to the controller layout. There’s also optional cross-play multiplayer support between PC and Xbox players and full keyboard and mouse support.

Real-time strategy (RTS) games aren’t an obvious fit for consoles and controller play, but Microsoft released...

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‘Inhumane’: judge hears arguments about anti-migrant buoys in Rio Grande

Court to decide whether to remove them as Greg Abbott and other Republican governors defend militarization of border with Mexico

A federal judge was hearing arguments on Tuesday about whether state authorities should remove huge buoys installed to stop migrants crossing the river that divides Texas from Mexico.

The court hearing in Austin came a day after Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, and a group of hardline Republican governors gathered on the riverbank to defend local militarization of the US-Mexico border – while also acknowledging that the 1,000-foot (305-meter) floating barrier had been adjusted after complaints that it had mostly drifted into Mexican territory.

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How to delete your Twitter history

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Over the last few months, Elon Musk’s X, which was formerly known as Twitter, has been a bubbling cauldron of strange advertising decisions, continuous upheavals, and weird overflows of testosterone.

Not that Twitter has ever been calm waters. Before Musk, Twitter was the social media world’s most reliable double-edged sword. One minute, you were retweeting a funny meme account and enjoying some wholesome discussion about your current TV binge fixation, and the next, you were being buried by a harassment campaign or finding your day ruined by a thread that makes you want to throw your laptop through the window.

Either way, if you’re now on X or were ever on Twitter, it’s a good idea to take precautions with your posting history since,...

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IBM announces it's selling Weather to the highest bidder, who for most of North America this summer, appears to be Satan himself [PSA]

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‘This power is reaching a natural end’: Michael Wolff’s new book predicts the fall of Fox News

The Fall will be published next month and promises to chronicle the rightwing network and the Murdoch family’s downfall

The author Michael Wolff, whose bestselling books have chronicled the rise and fall of Donald Trump, promised on Tuesday to tell readers how Fox News will end.

“I have been telling the story of the great power of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News for many years,” Wolff said, announcing his new book, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty. “This power is now reaching a natural end and The Fall brings the story to its closing act.”

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Former Met police officer jailed for rape of female colleague and 16-year-old girl

Judge says force protected Adam Provan by ignoring officer’s complaints, allowing him to attack teenager

The Metropolitan police protected a predatory rapist within their ranks, dismissing the complaints of one of his victims and leaving him free to attack a teenager, a judge has said.

Adam Provan, 44, was on Tuesday jailed for 16 years, followed by eight years on licence, for eight counts of raping two victims between 2003 and 2010.

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Parents of baby killed by Lucy Letby say they got a ‘total fob off’ from hospital

Exclusive: after newborn son was murdered, family say repeated calls to Countess of Chester’s medical director were unanswered

Demands for a statutory inquiry into the Lucy Letby murders have intensified after a bereaved family accused the hospital of “a total fob off” when they pleaded for answers.

The parents, whose newborn son was murdered and his twin poisoned, said they tried repeatedly to meet the hospital’s medical director but their calls went unanswered.

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Putin’s War Against Ukraine Is Slaughtering Dolphins in the Black Sea

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has destroyed infrastructure and displaced about 5 million people from the country since last spring. The country’s conservationists have also noticed that the war is killing endangered Black Sea dolphins and harbor porpoises.

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

Amazon’s latest Paperwhite is on sale with a power adapter and a fabric cover for $174.97. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you [Scary]

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Did you notice YouTube’s new corners?

Watch this video on YouTube’s website to see if you have the rounded corners yet. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

YouTube is rolling out rounded edges on the main video player you see on YouTube.com, spokesperson Allison Toh confirmed to The Verge on Tuesday. They’re coming to all users, so if you’re not seeing them now, you should be seeing them soon.

I asked about the corners after noticing them while browsing YouTube on the web over the past day or two. (I included a screenshot of what I see at the top of this post.) I think the rounded corners look really nice. They also make YouTube’s desktop design feel more holistic since you’ll see rounded corners on a video and rounded corners on thumbnails off to the side.

Understandably, I’m only seeing the rounded corners when viewing the standard-sized video player; in theater mode, which expands the...

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Reality show Traitors inspired by murderous 17th century mutiny

Maritime horror, after Dutch sailing ship Batavia wrecked off western Australia, set TV show in motion

The hit TV reality show The Traitors was originally going to involve a recreation of a real-life murderous mutiny aboard a 17th century Dutch ship, with programme contestants pushed into the sea when they were voted out.

Jasper Hoogendoorn, who oversaw the programme’s development, said the show was inspired by the voyage of the Batavia, a Dutch ship which was shipwrecked off Australia in 1629.

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New Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Promises a Return to Phandelver

One of the first 5e adventure supplements ever released, The Lost Mines of Phandelver has remained a fan favorite for the past decade of the game. Now, Dungeons & Dragonshas released more information for the newest adventure supplement. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk returns to the town of Phandalin as…

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Lockheed's ARRW hypersonic missile: Sometimes it flies, sometimes it just tries

US Air Force keeping mum on results of weekend test

A deal's a deal. Despite canning Lockheed Martin's hypersonic weapon program over repeat failures, the US Air Force is still flying planned tests of the platform – including one over the weekend that the Air Force isn't giving many details on.…

It's like road rage, except with more sand in hard to reach areas [Murica]

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Microsoft’s AI-powered design tool is now widely available in Edge

Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge

Microsoft Designer, the company’s free AI-powered design tool, is now broadly available to Edge users in the US. This means you can access Designer from Edge’s sidebar, allowing you to generate designs without opening up a separate tab or program.

After launching Designer last year, Microsoft announced in April that it would build the tool into Edge. The integration lets you create a number of designs, such as social media posts, fliers, greeting cards, invitations, and more — all from Edge’s sidebar.

Once you enter a prompt, Designer’s AI will pull up a grid of suggested designs, complete with text and a photo. You can also tweak any of these designs to your liking, whether you want to swap out a photo, add an illustration, or change...

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Paramount Plus’ Frasier revival premieres in October

Image: Paramount Plus

Paramount Plus’ new take on Frasier begins streaming on October 12th, Paramount announced on Tuesday. The show brings back Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, the titular character from the hit sitcom that debuted in 1993.

New episodes in Frasier’s 10-episode season will come out every Thursday. Paramount will also air the first two episodes of the new Frasier show on CBS on October 17th, according to a press release.

The new version of Frasier is just the latest example of Paramount mining its past to convince people to sign up for Paramount Plus. The company has brought back a lot of its hit franchises as series for the service, including iCarly, a Rugrats reboot, and many new Star Trek series. Of course, if you want to watch old Frasier...

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Home Office considered using foreign workers in case of disease on Bibby Stockholm

Ministers had planned to issue visa waivers to cover staff absences on barge housing asylum seekers

The Home Office considered drafting in foreign workers using a visa waiver scheme in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

The barge is moored in Portland, Dorset. It was opened to asylum seekers on 7 August as a key part of the government’s stop the boats week to signal that it was implementing its undertakings to move asylum seekers out of hotels. However, in a blow to this policy the barge was evacuated just four days later after legionella bacteria was found in the barge’s water pipes.

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Command & Conquer is getting another mobile game

Image: Level Infinite

The Command & Conquer series is getting another mobile game. The new title, Command & Conquer: Legions, offers a “reimagined storyline,” a “new approach to strategy gameplay” that “opens endless strategic possibilities,” and includes “iconic heroes and villains, factions, and a vast array of units” from the series, according to a blog post.

Legions is set to launch later this year on iOS and Android. There will be a closed beta test on Android that kicks off this month in Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The game is being released by Level Infinite, which has reached a licensing agreement with Command & Conquer owner, EA. Level Infinite is also working on Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, a mobile entry...

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Nurses ‘rocked to core’ by Lucy Letby murders and fear impact on public trust

Profession faces long task to reassure families and patients that crimes and apparent failings will not be repeated

At hospitals around the UK nurses continue to pull on fresh scrubs and prepare for another day’s caring. But many have been “rocked to the core” by the Lucy Letby case and some fear the foundation of trust with the public “has been shaken”.

That was the message from senior nurses on Tuesday as the horror of the child killer’s sentencing sank in and the profession braced for a long task to reassure families and patients that Letby’s crimes, and the institutional failings that appeared to allow them to continue, were truly anomalous.

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Meta launches web version of flagging Threads app

Threads experienced initial boom in sign-ups when it launched in July

Meta has launched a web version of its “Twitter killer” social media platform Threads that can be used without an app, as it attempts to revive itself after a recent drop in usage.

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp launched the microblogging site in July, widely understood as an alternative for users disillusioned with Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has since rebranded as X.

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Destiny 2: The Final Shape arrives on February 27th to finish a light vs. dark battle

Image: Bungie

The first saga in Destiny’s universe is coming to an end with an epic battle between light and darkness. Destiny’s light and darkness saga has always been about The Traveler, a mysterious entity in the universe of Destiny that hangs motionless in the sky as a source of light for Destiny players. Now, The Traveler is asking Destiny 2 players for help, and it’s time to answer that call on February 27th.

A mysterious enemy, The Witness, has already entered The Traveler, and now, Destiny 2: The Final Shape players will have to venture inside to help defeat The Witness. What awaits inside is the Pale Heart, a first linear destination that’s unlike anything we’ve seen in Destiny during its nearly 10-year history.

Image:...

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Caption this wet and dry duo [Caption]

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