Month: June 2022

Enlarge (credit: Activision)

The parents of former Activision employee Kerri Moynihan have asked a court to drop a wrongful death lawsuit that they filed in March against the company.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleged that harassment Moynihan suffered at the company contributed to her 2017 suicide, which took place during a corporate retreat at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. But Axios reports that Moynihan’s parents requested on May 6 that the suit be dropped “with prejudice,” preventing them from filing the same action again. No reason was given for the request, and neither side of the case commented on the move to Axios.

Moynihan’s story was referenced heavily in a California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard filed last July, though her name was not made public at that time. “We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family,” Activision Blizzard said in a statement issued shortly after that lawsuit was filed.

Enlarge / Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has officially announced the Surface Laptop Go 2, which replaces the original model that was released in October 2020. The new model is currently available for preorder. It starts at $600 and comes in four different colors, including a new green-ish Sage option. As of this writing, preordered laptops will arrive as soon as June 7.

The Surface Laptop Go 2 first broke cover in a retail listing yesterday, and that listing had the facts right: The Go 2’s biggest update is a Core i5-1135G7 processor. The chip is a generation out of date at this point, but it’s still a capable performer and a significant upgrade over the old model’s Core i5-1035G1. The 12.4-inch, 1536×1024 touchscreen remains the same, as does the laptop’s size, weight, and port selection.

The Laptop Go 2 retains Microsoft’s Surface Connect port on the right side. On the left side, you’ll find a USB-A port, a headphone jack, and a USB-C port. You can use the USB-C port to charge the laptop. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft also says the Laptop Go 2 is a bit easier to repair than the previous model. In addition to the SSD, the keyboard and trackpad, the display, and the battery are all designed to be replaceable (though technically only by Microsoft-certified personnel and not necessarily end users).

Enlarge / Anna Kikina will be just the fifth Russian woman to go to space. (credit: Roscosmos)

More than three months after the invasion of Ukraine, it is clear from the actions of Russia, the United States, and the International Space Station’s other partners that they would like to keep the jointly operated facility flying above Earth-bound tensions.

But one of the biggest outstanding questions is whether the manner in which astronauts and cosmonauts reach the space station will change. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, NASA and Russia had been planning to initiate “seat swaps” this fall, with a cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, flying on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle for the first time.

Presently, Kikina is scheduled to launch as part of the “Crew 5” mission in September, which will be commanded by NASA astronaut Nicole Mann. Around the same time, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio would launch on the Soyuz MS-22 mission, commanded by Sergei Prokopyev.

Enlarge / This Buick Wildcat EV concept is not destined for production, but it is supposed to tell us something about how future Buick Electra EVs might look. Just squint and imagine it’s an SUV. (credit: Buick)

Good news, Buick fans. Rather than suffer the fate of former General Motors brands like Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile (as well as Holden, Saab, Daewoo, etc), Buick is getting a revamp as it prepares for an all-EV lineup by 2030. These new Buick EVs will sport a famous name from Buick’s past as the brand revives the Electra name.

The first Buick Electra EV is due in 2024, and other than the fact that it will use GM’s family of Ultium batteries and drive motors, it’s not sharing too many specifics. But it has unveiled a new concept called the Wildcat EV that it says shows the brand’s new body language, including a low-mounted grille, turbine-look wheels, and tick-shaped light elements at the front and rear.

“The Wildcat EV concept represents the real design future for the brand,” said Global Buick and GMC Design Executive Director Sharon Gauci. “Buick has always been forward-looking and this expression is a glimpse of where we’re going, and the optimism we have for the limitless possibilities of an electric future.”

Enlarge / Welcome to hell. By that, we mostly mean Diablo Immortal‘s setting, but that sentence could also describe the figurative distaste we have for the new game’s economic choices. (credit: Activision Blizzard)

The best thing about Diablo Immortal is that it’s a fun, professionally crafted action RPG befitting the Diablo name. The new Activision Blizzard game, launching on iOS and Android on Wednesday and Windows PCs on Thursday, immediately impresses as one of the better smartphone-first ARPG games on the market. And my 10 hours in its universe have allayed my previous fears about its production values.

The worst thing about Diablo Immortal is its economy. My pre-release testing of the final game was marked with menus and in-game characters alike selling me new types of “orbs,” “stones,” gold, and other confusing microtransactions. At best, the game can be enjoyed despite this nonsense.

But the bean counters at Activision Blizzard aren’t willing to offer a one-time purchase in Diablo Immortal for fair, nag-free adventuring. (Worse, as of press time, the publisher appears to be doubling down on a famous 2012 fiasco.) That’s doubly tragic because the game is otherwise a fun, smartphone-friendly option for addictive dungeon delving—which leaves me stuck between recommending a perfectly fine smartphone adventure and warning about its ickiest aspects.

Enlarge / This John Deere tractor uses Amogy’s “ammonia to power” zero-emissions system. (credit: Bryan Banducci)

The world’s first ammonia-powered zero-emissions tractor successfully completed its first demonstration run at the Advanced Energy Center at Stony Brook University in New York last week. The midsized John Deere tractor had its diesel engine replaced with an “ammonia to power” system developed by a startup called Amogy. The system converts the energy-dense chemical into hydrogen, which then powers a 100 kW hydrogen fuel cell.

Although most EV coverage is devoted to consumer-oriented passenger cars and light trucks, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles represent more than a quarter of US vehicle emissions and are important targets for decarbonization. The low-energy density of batteries and their long charging times make fuel cells an attractive zero-emissions solution, and we’ve looked at the potential uses for hydrogen fuel cells in trains, trucking, and mining in the past.

But even the greenest hydrogen still isn’t very energy-dense, and outside of California, there’s little hydrogen infrastructure to rely upon.

Enlarge / Safari on a Mac, displaying the Google Chrome website. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple’s Safari web browser has more than 1 billion users, according to an estimate by Atlas VPN. Only one other browser has more than a billion users, and that’s Google’s Chrome. But at nearly 3.4 billion, Chrome still leaves Safari in the dust.

It’s important to note that these numbers include mobile users, not just desktop users. Likely, Safari’s status as the default browser for both the iPhone and iPad plays a much bigger role than its usage on the Mac.

Still, it’s impressive given that Safari is the only major web browser not available on Android, which is the world’s most popular mobile operating system, or Windows, the most popular desktop OS.