Sunday, January 01, 2023

Why 'Call of Duty' game matters to the FTC in Microsoft-Activision deal

call of duty
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Vancouver, Washington, resident Michael Feist has logged nearly 163 hours on "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II" since it was released two months ago.

That's nearly a week spent at virtual war on his Xbox Series X, and exactly the kind of commitment Xbox-maker Microsoft is investing in by acquiring gamemaker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The 27-year-old and his brothers took days off work to play when it came out.

"Call of Duty," one of the most successful video  franchises ever, has been in Feist's life ever since he was a child. He used to wait in line at GameStop for the latest "Call of Duty" release with his stepdad.

They weren't the only ones—the 19-year-old military-themed franchise has generated over $30 billion in revenue, with 425 million units sold.

Now, "Call of Duty" is at the center of a legal battle surrounding Microsoft's largest-ever acquisition, the purchase of "Call of Duty" owner Activision Blizzard. The company approved Microsoft's nearly $69 billion acquisition bid in April. In the months since, regulators in the U.S. have assailed the deal as anticompetitive and moved to block it. It is undergoing regulatory scrutiny in the U.K. and European Union.

The deal would be among the 30 largest acquisitions in history. It dwarfs Amazon's $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM earlier this year and Microsoft's largest successful acquisition so far, the 2016 purchase of professional network platform LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.

Microsoft competes with Sony and Nintendo in the video game world, but remains in last place, according to Microsoft. With the acquisition, the Redmond-based tech giant wants to become more competitive in the industry.

"Its vision for the transaction is simple: Xbox wants to grow its presence in , and three-quarters of Activision's gamers and more than a third of its revenues come from mobile offerings," according to Microsoft.

The Activision acquisition didn't sit well with the Federal Trade Commission, the newly emboldened federal agency tasked with stopping monopolies from forming. Microsoft's promises to make key games such as "Call of Duty" available on more platforms haven't swayed the FTC. Commissioners claimed the acquisition is anticompetitive in a complaint filed earlier this month.

"With control of Activision's content, Microsoft would have the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision's content in ways that substantially lessen competition—including competition on product quality, price and innovation," the complaint says.

Microsoft contests the claim that the deal would give it any sort of monopoly. Xbox and Activision, the company said last Friday in a response to the FTC lawsuit, "are just two of hundreds of , who compete by providing different types of games on different platforms at different prices, ranging all the way down to $0."

A key to the legal fight? "Call of Duty."

"The FTC's case is all about … one game, "Call of Duty," " Microsoft President Brad Smith said during the company's annual shareholder meeting in December.

Activision has released a new "Call of Duty" installment every year since 2003, when the shooting game debuted. This year's Modern Warfare II generated $1 billion in sales in the first 10 days following its Oct. 28 release, despite the $70 price tag.

Modern Warfare II includes a story mode, a cooperative mode and a multiplayer platform offering players a soldier's-eye view of battles historical and imagined. "Call of Duty" game developers have consulted with Pentagon advisers on the battle mechanics to make them as lifelike as possible. The franchise's biggest draw is the multiplayer mode, which allows teams of gamers to square off against each other, sometimes in championships.

"Call of Duty" has been the bestselling game of its release month for a record 14 consecutive years, said Mat Piscatella, a  adviser with research company The NPD Group.

"It doesn't get much bigger than "Call of Duty," " Piscatella said.

Platforms such as Xbox and Sony's PlayStation get revenue from "Call of Duty" in two ways: game sales and in-game transactions. Players can buy special weapons and gun "skins," making it a long-term revenue source for platforms, said Joshua Foust, who has written about the video game industry and consumer identities.

Sony is worried about losing this long-term revenue source if "Call of Duty" is no longer on PlayStation, the world's most popular gaming console, Foust said. Sony claims Microsoft will end PlayStation's access to the game if the acquisition goes through. Sony representatives did not respond to inquiries.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo sometimes lock popular games down in exclusive contracts, in the hope that gamers particularly interested in, for example, Mario Bros. or The Last of Us will buy their system and not a competitor's for access to the titles. Sony has 286 exclusive games, while Xbox has 59, Smith said.

The FTC is concerned Microsoft plans to withhold Activision titles, including "Call of Duty," from Sony and other competitors.

In the response to the FTC filed Friday, Microsoft argues it is not financially viable to remove "Call of Duty" from PlayStation.

"Paying $68.7 billion for Activision makes no financial sense if that revenue stream goes away," Microsoft attorneys said in the response. "Nor would it make sense to degrade the game experience and alienate the millions of "Call of Duty" players who play together using different types of consoles."

Microsoft further argued that Xbox and Activision "are just two of hundreds of game publishers, who compete by providing different types of games on different platforms at different prices, ranging all the way down to $0."

Feist has a YouTube channel and Twitter account where he talks about Xbox releases and news using the name XBOXOBI. He said in an interview the deal is protecting the competitor more than the consumer. Sony argues Microsoft could change console and game prices at will without fear of losing  or consumers, which Sony, as the market leader, already does, Feist said.

He also said PlayStation has exclusive "Call of Duty" in-game deals and content that Xbox doesn't. Microsoft's acquisition would create "console parity," Feist said.

Microsoft has agreements with Nintendo to make "Call of Duty" available on Nintendo consoles. Bellevue, Washington-based Valve, maker of PC platform Steam, said a deal with Microsoft for "Call of Duty" isn't necessary.

Sony has not agreed to a deal.

Microsoft also offered to submit a legally binding consent decree to the FTC that the company would offer "Call of Duty" to Sony and others for a decade.

Some consumers also object to the acquisition. A group of 10 gamers filed a lawsuit last week to stop Microsoft from buying Activision, arguing the deal would suppress competition and reduce consumer choice.

Denzel Dickens, who has been playing "Call of Duty" for more than five years, said that while he has played competing military games such as Battlefield, "Call of Duty" is the most popular and fun. He said every year the gameplay improves and there's more detail. He and four friends play "Call of Duty" online together, he said.

"It's been around for so long, the quality has gotten better over time," said Dickens, who is 32. " "Call of Duty' sets the bar for gameplay and mechanics of military shooters."

Dickens owns an Xbox Series X, a PlayStation 5 and recently got a PC. He plays "Call of Duty" on Xbox and PC, and uses his PlayStation 5 to play console exclusives like "The Last of Us."

Feist said he buys the new "Call of Duty" installment every year and plays with his brothers and friends. He likes the graphics and realism, and was especially excited about the single-player mode in "Modern Warfare II." Feist also has a PlayStation 5 where he plays console exclusives, such as the Spider-Man games.

Industry consolidation

A merger such as Microsoft and Activision's is considered a "vertical merger," said David B. Hoppe, founder and managing partner of San Francisco-based Gamma Law.

Vertical mergers are typically seen as supporting competition, because two companies with complementing services become one, with one profit margin transacting with consumers, Hoppe said. But when the companies are too big, regulators may argue that they stop caring about customers.

In the lawsuit, the FTC claimed Activision is among the "Big 4" biggest video game studios, along with Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive and Electronic Arts.

Hoppe said the Big 4 denomination leaves out other studios who produce top quality games, as well as the largest video game company in the world, Tencent. Games that are most expensive to make are called "AAA" titles.

"Activision may not have the same dominance in the space of video game development of "AAA' titles as the FTC is suggesting," Hoppe said.

China-based technology and entertainment giant Tencent has made several acquisitions of video game studios, such as the maker of "League of Legends," Riot Games, in 2011. And according to Reuters, the company is currently refocusing its mergers and acquisitions strategy on gaming companies abroad.

Industry consolidation are "bigger, uncertain currents that are going on in the background of a lot of this that's come to a head with what Microsoft is doing with Activision," researcher Foust said.

Microsoft acquired one gaming company last year, ZeniMax Media, for $7.5 billion. ZeniMax is the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, maker of blockbuster games series such as "Fallout" and "The Elder Scrolls."

According to the FTC's complaint, the commissioners' current worries stem from the aftermath of that acquisition. Microsoft had made commitments to the European Commission that it would not make Xbox-exclusive titles.

"But, shortly after the EC cleared the transaction, Microsoft made public its decision to make several of the newly acquired ZeniMax titles, including "Starfield," "Redfall' and "The Elder Scrolls VI," Microsoft exclusives," the complaint states.

Microsoft said in response it honored the commitment and the first two games released by Bethesda after its acquisition—"Deathloop" and "Ghostwire: Tokyo"—became one-year PlayStation exclusives and were available on Xbox afterward. But for future ZeniMax games, the company's decisions would be made "on a case-by-case basis, taking into account player demand and sentiment."

'Games-as-a-service'

Part of Microsoft's offer to Sony includes the right to sell "Call of Duty" as part of Game Pass, Microsoft's gaming subscription service, which Foust calls "games-as-a-service."

While Sony is the dominant player in the video game platform market, Game Pass is the leader in the cloud-gaming subscription market. It launched in 2017 and has more than 25 million subscribers.

According to the FTC, Microsoft's acquisition would also be a way of stifling competition in cloud gaming. The deal would "enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business," the commission said in a news release.

Dickens said having "Call of Duty" on Game Pass, which users can subscribe to for $9.99 a month, would eliminate the $70 price and allow him to spend more on in-game transactions.

Dickens also said he thinks Sony will be more inclined to make multiplayer games such as "Call of Duty" if the acquisition goes through. His most-played game this year was Halo Infinite, an Xbox-exclusive shooter game.

Feist said having the game on the cloud can make the game more affordable and accessible—also among the reasons cited by Microsoft to justify the deal.

"If I'm on my lunch break at work, I'm going to be able to have access to play on my phone," Feist said. "I'll jump in and play a quick match."

Due to the length and cost of the FTC process, Hoppe said Microsoft might end up breaking off the agreement. Still, Microsoft has been pushing the deal forward.

"While we believed in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case," Microsoft's Smith said after the FTC's lawsuit announcement.

2022 The Seattle Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


Video gamers sue to stop Microsoft's Activision Blizzard buy

China approves first foreign video games since crackdown

e game
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Chinese regulators approved 44 new foreign video game titles Wednesday, the first to be allowed to hit the market since an industry crackdown to rein in minors' gaming habits swept the sector last year.

Beijing moved against the country's vibrant gaming sector last August as part of a sprawling crackdown on big tech companies, including a cap on the amount of time children could spend playing games.

Officials also froze approvals of new titles for nine months until April, but a growing number of domestic titles have been approved since then.

China's gaming regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration, on Wednesday said it had approved 44 new imported games in December including Nintendo's Pokemon Unite.

It separately approved 84 new domestic titles. The body normally approves foreign titles in batches a few times per year. The last foreign game approvals to be handed out were in June 2021.

Earlier this month, China granted homegrown tech giant Tencent its first video game licence in 18 months, ending a dry spell that had threatened its position as the world's top  maker.

China's  shrank more than 19 percent year-on-year in November, according to a Wednesday report by Chinese gaming consultancy Gamma Data.

The approval signals a relaxing of China's strict attitude towards , although games are still censored for politically incorrect themes.

During the crackdown, hundreds of  makers pledged to scrub "politically harmful" content from their products and enforce curbs on underage players to comply with government demands.

Restrictions announced last year but still in effect allow players under the age of 18 to play for up to three hours a week.

© 2022 AFP

Apple sued over alleged ineffectiveness of Apple Watch's blood oxygen reader on people of color

apple company
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Apple is facing a federal class-action lawsuit that claims the blood oxygen reader in the Apple Watch yields inaccurate results for people of color.

The suit, filed Saturday on behalf of plaintiff Alex Morales in New York, draws on old and new pandemic-era literature that shows that pulse oximeter technology is ineffective in measuring  levels in darker skin tones, according to Morales' attorney Spencer Sheehan.

This flaw came to the fore during the pandemic as overwhelmed hospitals used the devices to determine  in COVID-19 patients and help make decisions about care. The Food and Drug Administration recently initiated a review of the technology with the goal of offering recommendations to make it effective on all skin types.

But it's unclear whether Apple uses the same technology as a standard pulse oximeter. It calls its feature the "Blood Oxygen" app, and presents it as "breathtaking innovation" online. It also measures blood oxygen at the wrist, as opposed to the fingertip as with pulse oximeters.

Apple did not immediately respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY Tuesday about the lawsuit or the nature of its blood oxygen reader's technology and its effectiveness across skin colors.

Sheehan called the claim in the lawsuit about the app's ineffectiveness "a reasonable inference," based on existing knowledge about the limits of pulse oximeters with regard to skin color.

Apple notes on its website that the blood oxygen reading may be affected by "permanent or temporary changes" to the skin, such as tattoos.

"The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult for the Blood Oxygen app to get a measurement," Apple's website reads. But the page makes no explicit mention of a person's natural skin color.

Morales bought an Apple Watch with the blood oxygen reader feature between 2020 and 2021, according to the lawsuit.

He believed the watch purported to measure his  "without regard to ," and "would not have purchased" or "paid as much" for the watch had he known otherwise.

Sheehan, a New York-based lawyer and a known prolific filer of consumer class-action suits, said he expected Apple to argue that it warns consumers that the product is not intended for .

"Yes, you're not getting this at a drugstore or a medical goods store," Sheehan told U.S. TODAY. "Nonetheless, if a product is presented as a feature that is described as a … blood oxygen monitor, you will expect that it will function without respect to a person's skin color."

The suit alleges Apple violated several laws, including New York state law, and a federal multi-state class action law that prohibits "deceptive business practices."

It alleges Apple committed fraud and unjustly enriched itself by misrepresenting its product's capability and seeks a jury trial.

Attorneys for Apple were not listed at publication time in online court documents, which showed that Apple had received official notice of the lawsuit on Tuesday.

2022 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


Commercial smartwatch provides reliable blood oxygen saturation values as compared to a medical-grade pulse oximeter

21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY

Quasicrystal formed during accidental electrical discharge

Quasicrystal formed during accidental electrical discharge
Cross-section of a fulgurite sample showing fused sand and melted conductor metal from a
 downed powerline. Credit: Luca Bindi et al

A team of researchers from Università di Firenze, the University of South Florida, California Institute of Technology and Princeton University has found an incidence of a quasicrystal formed during an accidental electrical discharge.

In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of a quasicrystal found in a  in Nebraska.

Quasicrystals, as their name suggests, are crystal-like substances. They possess characteristics not found in ordinary crystals, such as a non-repeating arrangement of atoms. To date, quasicrystals have been found embedded in meteorites and in the debris from nuclear blasts. In this new effort, the researchers found one embedded in a sand dune in Sand Hills, Nebraska.

Study of the quasicrystal showed it had 12-fold, or dodecagonal, symmetry—something rarely seen in quasicrystals. Curious as to how it might have formed and how it ended up in the sand dune, the researchers did some investigating. They discovered that a power line had fallen on the dune, likely the result of a lightning strike. They suggest the electrical surge from either the power line or the lightning could have produced the quasicrystal.

The researchers note that the quasicrystal was found inside of a tubular piece of fulgurite, which they suggest was also formed during the electrical surge due to fusing of melted sand and metal from the .

Quasicrystal formed during accidental electrical discharge
Diffraction pattern of a quasicrystal showing 12-fold symmetry. Credit: Luca Bindi et al

In looking at the quasicrystal using an , the researchers were able to make out its composition. In so doing, they found bits of silicon dioxide glass, which told them that temperatures inside the sand dune during the electrical discharge had to have reached at least 1,710 degrees Celsius. They also found that the quasicrystal had been retrieved from an area of transition between melted  and silicate glass. Their work confirmed that the object they were studying was, indeed, a quasicrystal, and that it had a previously unseen composition.

The researchers conclude that finding a  in such a place suggests that others are likely out there, as well, having formed due to lightning strikes or downed . They also suggest their work could lead to techiniques to create quasicrystals in the lab.

More information: Luca Bindi et al, Electrical discharge triggers quasicrystal formation in an eolian dune, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2215484119

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 


© 2022 Science X Network

ECOCIDE

South Asian Black carbon aerosols accelerate loss of glacial mass over the Tibetan plateau

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

Black carbon aerosols are produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, and are characterized by strong light absorption. Black carbon deposition in snow/ice reduces the albedo of snow/ice surfaces, which may accelerate the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological process and water resources in the region.

The South Asia region adjacent to the Tibetan Plateau has among the highest levels of black carbon emission in the world. Many studies have emphasized black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayan Mountains to the inland region of the Tibetan Plateau.

Recently, a joint research team led by Prof. KANG Shichang from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prof. CHEN Deliang from the University of Gothenburg, and Prof. Robert Gillies from Utah State University analyzed the influence of black carbon aerosols on regional precipitation and glaciers over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Their findings were published in Nature Communications on Nov. 30.

The researchers found that since the 21st century, South Asian black carbon aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers by changing long-range water vapor transport from the South Asian monsoon region.

"Black carbon aerosols in South Asia heat up the middle and upper atmosphere, thus increasing the North­–South temperature gradient," said Prof. KANG. "Accordingly, the convective activity in South Asia is enhanced, which causes convergence of water vapor in South Asia. Meanwhile, black carbon also increases the number of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere."

These changes in meteorological conditions caused by black carbon aerosols make more water vapor form precipitation in South Asia, and the northward transport to the Tibetan Plateau was weakened. As a result, precipitation in the central and the southern Tibetan Plateau decreases during the monsoon, especially in the southern Tibetan Plateau.

The decrease in precipitation further leads to a decrease of mass gain of glaciers. From 2007 to 2016, the reduced mass gain by precipitation decrease accounted for 11.0% of the average glacier mass loss on the Tibetan Plateau and 22.1% in the Himalayas.

"The transboundary transport and deposition of black carbon aerosols from South Asia accelerate glacier ablation over the Tibetan Plateau. Meanwhile, the reduction of summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau will reduce the mass gain of plateau glaciers, which will increase the amount of glacier mass deficit," said Prof. KANG.

HEY CONSPARITORIALISTS

NASA and HAARP conclude asteroid experiment

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

A powerful transmitter in remote Alaska sent long wavelength radio signals into space Tuesday with the purpose of bouncing them off an asteroid to learn about its interior.

The asteroid, 2010 XC15, is estimated to be about 500 feet across and is passing by Earth at two lunar distances, which is twice the distance between the Earth and the moon.

Results of Tuesday’s experiment at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program research facility at Gakona could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage.

“We will be analyzing the data over the next few weeks and hope to publish the results in the coming months,” said Mark Haynes, lead investigator on the project and a radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This experiment was the first time an asteroid observation was attempted at such low frequencies.

“This shows the value of HAARP as a potential future research tool for the study of near-Earth objects,” he said.

Several programs exist to quickly detect asteroids, determine their orbit and shape and image their surface, either with optical telescopes or the planetary radar of the Deep Space Network, NASA’s network of large and highly senstive radio antennas in California, Spain and Australia.

Those radar-imaging programs don’t provide information about an asteroid’s interior, however. They use signals of short wavelengths, which bounce off the surface and provide high-quality external images but don’t penetrate an object. 

Long wavelength radio signals can reveal the interior of objects. 

HAARP, using three powerful generators, began transmitting chirping signals of long wavelength at 2 a.m. Tuesday and continued sending them uninterrupted until the scheduled end of the 12-hour experiment.

The University of New Mexico Long Wavelength Array near Socorro, New Mexico, and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array near Bishop, California, are also involved in the experiment.

Data analysis is expected to take several weeks.

The Tuesday experiment also served as a test for probing an asteroid larger than 2010 XC15.

Asteroid Apophis, discovered in 2004, will make its closest approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. It will come within about 20,000 miles of Earth, closer than the many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.

Apophis, which NASA estimated to be about 1,100 feet across, was initially thought to pose a risk to Earth in 2068, but its orbit has since been better projected by researchers and is now not a risk to the planet for at least a century.

Tuesday’s test follows tests in January and October in which scientists bounced long-wavelength signals off the moon in preparation for this week’s experiment. 

Haynes said understanding the makeup of an asteroid’s interior, especially of an asteroid large enough to cause major damage on Earth, can increase the chances of an effective defense. Knowing the distribution of mass within a dangerous asteroid could help scientists target devices designed to deflect an asteroid away from Earth.

Amateur scientists from around the world reported receiving the outgoing transmission, said Jessica Matthews, HAARP’s program manager. The reports will help infer the conditions of the ionosphere during the experiment.

“Our collaboration with JPL is not only an opportunity to do great science but also involves the global community of citizen scientists,” she said. “So far we have received over 300 reception reports from the amateur radio and radio astronomy communities from six continents who confirmed the HAARP transmission.” 

The University of Alaska Fairbanks operates HAARP under an agreement with the Air Force, which developed and owned HAARP but transferred the research instruments to UAF in August 2015. 


CONTACTS:

• Ian J. O’Neill, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

• Rod Boyce, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, 907-474-7185, rcboyce@alaska.edu


Mysterious gamma-ray emitting bubbles around the center of our Galaxy explained

Evidence shows strong outflowing winds responsible for the “Fermi bubbles”

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Proposed schematic for the formation of the Fermi bubbles. 

IMAGE: FAST WINDS FLOWING OUT FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER CREATES A FORWARD SHOCK AND A REVERSE SHOCK. THE LATTER FORMS THE OUTLINE OF THE FERMI BUBBLES. view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Tokyo, Japan – A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has shown that large gamma-ray emitting bubbles around the center of our Galaxy were produced by fast blowing outward winds and the associated “reverse shock.” Numerical simulations successfully reproduced the temperature profile observed by an X-ray telescope. Such outflows have been observed in other galaxies; this finding suggests similar winds may have been blowing in our own Galaxy until quite recently.

The universe is full of massive celestial objects which are yet to be explained. One of these are the “Fermi bubbles,” so-called because they were first discovered by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in 2010. These bubbles are enormous gamma-ray emitting regions which extend either side of the center of our Galaxy over approximately 50,000 light years, protruding out from the plane of the Galaxy like balloons as shown in the figure. Despite their mind-blowing scale, the mechanism by which they are formed is yet to be deciphered.

Now, Professor Yutaka Fujita from Tokyo Metropolitan University has presented theoretical evidence demonstrating how such objects may have been formed. Since their discovery, many hypotheses have been put forward about the formation of the Fermi bubbles, including an explosive activity of the central supermassive black hole, winds from the black hole, and steady star formation activity. Telling these scenarios apart is a challenging task, but the availability of state-of-the-art X-ray observations from the Suzaku satellite gives us a chance to compare measurements with what we expect from various scenarios.

The simulations of Professor Fujita considered fast outflowing winds from the black hole injecting the necessary energy into the gas surrounding the center of the Galaxy. Comparing with the measured profiles, they found that there was a good chance that the Fermi bubbles are produced by the fast outflowing winds, blowing at 1000km per second over 10 million years. These are not winds as we would experience them on earth, but streams of highly charged particles traveling at high speeds and propagating through space. These winds travel outwards and interact with surrounding “halo gas,” causing a “reverse shock” that creates a characteristic temperature peak. The Fermi bubbles correspond to the volume on the inside of this reverse shock front. Importantly, simulations also showed that an instantaneous explosion at the center could not reproduce the profiles measured by the telescope, lending weight to a scenario based on steady winds generated by the central black hole.

The author notes that the winds predicted by the simulation are similar to outflows observed in other galaxies. The correspondence suggests the same kinds of massive outflows seen in other parts of the universe were present in our own Galaxy until fairly recently.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid (Grant Numbers 20H00181, 22H00158, and 22H01268).

SPORT and petitSat CubeSats to shed light on space weather disturbances

Business Announcement

NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Ionosphere As Seen from the International Space Station 

IMAGE: THE IONOSPHERE CONSTANTLY GLOWS AND WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF STUDY FOR THESE TWO SATELLITES. HERE, AN AURORA IS CAPTURED AS SEEN FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. view more 

CREDIT: NASA

Two CubeSats, or small satellites, are on a quest to provide insight on space weather disturbances and the subsequent impact on communication signals. The dynamic duo, the Plasma Enhancements in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite (petitSat) and Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task (SPORT), arrived at the International Space Station on Nov. 27, 2022, as part of SpaceX’s 26th commercial resupply mission for NASA. Both CubeSats deployed from the space station on Dec. 29, 2022, at 8:55 a.m. EST.

Scientists on both missions are most interested in studying a layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere. The ionosphere is where the impacts of space weather on our technology are felt most strongly. It's home to many satellites, including the International Space Station. Radio waves and GPS signals travel through the ionosphere, and variations there can interfere with, or even disrupt, our communication signals. Space weather can also create electric currents that can induce electrical charge in orbiting satellites, and, in extreme cases, cause power outages on the ground.

Day in and day out, the ionosphere is cooked by the Sun's radiation into a soup of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons, called plasma. Fluctuations in the ionosphere cause low-density and high-density regions – bubbles and blobs – to form in the plasma. These bubbles and blobs can scatter radio signals, sometimes sending them crashing into each other in a phenomenon called scintillation. The result is noisy radio signals, which can reduce the reliability of communication and navigation systems, or even disrupt signals completely.

“If you put a pencil into a glass of water that’s half full, the pencil appears broken,” said Linda Habash Krause, the project scientist for SPORT at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “What happens when you have bubbles? Similar to the pencil in the water, the signals go through ample bends.”

Unfortunately, scientists do not understand exactly how the plasma bubbles and blobs arise. Once petitSat and SPORT are launched from the space station, the two CubeSats will use complementary scientific instruments to investigate the conditions that cause these disruptive features to form.

“The idea is that the science teams will work together and cross compare,” said Jeff Klenzing, the principal investigator of petitSat at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

SPORT is equipped with six instruments to make measurements throughout the ionosphere. It will help determine the conditions that exist just before plasma bubbles form and, ultimately, how their evolution impacts ground-based communications signals. SPORT will transmit data back to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), where the data will be distributed to researchers at INPE, NASA, and other U.S. partners.

In a complementary fashion, petitSat will work to determine what triggers plasma blobs, when they appear, or even how large a region they occupy.

Both petitSat and SPORT will provide improved observations and insights into space weather phenomena which impact communications. These missions will collectively enhance our understanding of our ever-changing space environment and amplify current capabilities of small satellites to directly benefit our society.

The more we learn about space weather – and how to predict it – the better we can protect our astronauts, spacecraft, and technology.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; BIG DATA
Google to pay $9.5 million to resolve Washington DC location tracking suit

Nice location data! That'll be $9.5 million.

By Christianna Silva on December 31, 2022

Google has to pay out big after it settled a lawsuit for allegedly "deceiving users and invading their privacy" in Washington, D.C.

Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine — who also recently won a settlement against Grubhub — accused Google of violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act and employing "dark patterns," or design choices that are meant to trick users into doing things that don't benefit them, like turning on location tracking.

SEE ALSO: Grubhub ordered to pay $3.5 million in Washington DC deceptive practices suit

Google has agreed to a settlement payout of $9.5 million and to change its practices regarding how it tells users about collecting, storing, and using their location data. Through it all, Google still denies any wrongdoing, according to the DCist. The site also agreed to create a compliance report every year for the next four years to prove that it is abiding by the terms of the settlement.

The complaint, which Racine filed in January 2022, alleged that Google led customers to believe they're in control of whether or not the platform collects and keeps their location data, but that isn't the case; instead, consumers "cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing, and profiting from their location," the complaint read, according to Engadget.

"We sued because Google made it nearly impossible for users to stop their location from being tracked," Racine tweeted after the settlement was reached. "Now, thanks to this settlement, Google must also make clear to consumers how their location data is collected, stored, and used."

In a blog post from November, Google wrote that the "settlement is another step along the path of giving more meaningful choices and minimizing data collection while providing more helpful services."

Christianna Silva is a Senior Culture Reporter at Mashable. They write about tech and digital culture, with a focus on Facebook and Instagram. Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow them on Twitter @christianna_j.




China says demands for negative COVID-19 tests from travelers are 'discriminatory'











CGTN

The UK government has announced that passengers arriving from China will require a negative COVID-19 test after an increase in infections in China.

Starting on January 5, those traveling from China will need to show a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than two days prior to departure, UK's Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement.

Airlines will be required to check all passengers on outbound flights from China for tests, and passengers will not be allowed to board a flight without providing evidence of a negative test result, it added.

The UK joins other countries, including the United States and India, to impose COVID-19 tests for travelers from China. France, South Korea and Spain have also done so.

UK officials had said on Thursday that the government was reviewing whether to impose restrictions on people arriving from China.

'Discriminatory' measures


Chinese media on Friday called the imposition of COVID-19 tests by various countries on travelers arriving from China "discriminatory."

Popular columnist Frazer Nelson has also questioned this in his article for The Spectator, in which he argues that the data in Singapore from travelers in China confirms Beijing's evidence that the variants it is dealing with have been in the UK for months.

"So why, even in theory, would it be a problem if people flew in from China or anywhere else with a virus that is now ubiquitous?" writes Nelson.

'Putting people and their lives front and center'


In an article for The Guardian, Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, wrote: "Over the past weeks, Beijing has become the first city to go through the infection peak, and life and work are returning to normal in the capital. The Covid-19 situation in China is generally stable and controllable, and people are making plans to work, study and travel."

Zheng said this is what gave the Chinese government the confidence to announce new cross-border travel rules, requiring no mandatory COVID-19 test for those visiting China, and in cases where someone tests positive while in the country they will not be required to quarantine.

"Over the past three years, China has always put people and their lives front and center while it tries to keep COVID-19 under control, and promote economic and social development. Our response policies have been effective, science-based and in line with China's national conditions," he argued. "China has withstood the impact of five infection waves around the world, successfully avoided the widespread prevalence of the original strain and the Delta variant, and greatly reduced severe cases and mortality,"

Zheng added: "As the Covid-19 situation in China continues to improve, the effects of policies to stabilize economic growth continue to emerge, and the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel becomes easier, China's long-subdued consumer demand will be released, investor confidence will be boosted and the economy will rebound strongly. This is good news for not just China but the entire global economy," added the ambassador.

Source(s): Reuters