Author: mangakiko

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GTA 5 Accounts For Nearly Half Of All GTA Sales

gta 5

Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto is now the sixth highest-selling video game franchise ever, with over 380 million copies sold. Surprisingly (or maybe not), GTA 5 is responsible for almost half of this, making it Rockstar’s most popular title ever.

GTA 5 was released in 2013, but has still managed to top the global sales charts on multiple occasions over the years. It is also the second highest-selling video game of all time – beaten only by Minecraft.

RELATED: Falling Back In Love With Grand Theft Auto 5

In a recent earnings report (via Wccftech), Take-Two Interactive revealed that GTA 5 has sold close to 170 million copies as of Q3 2022. Additionally, it has also generated a $1 billion revenue through retail sales, and has also been the best -selling game in the US for the past decade. The developer also reported a loss of around $100 million owing to the Zynga takeover, but will recover soon thanks to a great Q3 2022 start.

THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

In the same report, CEO Strauss Zelnick recently said that the development of GTA 6 is ‘well underway’ and will set ‘creative benchmarks’ for the franchise. So far, we have only seen reports of what GTA 6 could be like. The most recent one suggested that the game will get its first female protagonist. Furthermore, it is claimed that the game will be set in a Miami-inspired area and will feature one of the biggest maps ever. Additionally, there is also talk of the game adding more cities post-launch. The same report also claims that Rockstar is going through an extreme makeover, where it moves away from the ‘crunch’ and the ‘frat boy’ culture. This is also one of the reasons the development of GTA 6 has been slow.


Rockstar prioritizing GTA 6 also meant that the development of other projects would be hindered. Apparently, this was the reason Red Dead Redemption and GTA 4 remasters were shelved.

There is still a long way to go for GTA 6 despite reports saying it has been in development since 2014. Until then, GTA 5 has a lot of time to break the 200 million unit sales mark and challenge Minecraft for the top spot.

NEXT: Grand Theft Auto 6 Needs To Ditch The Scripted Missions

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US

Is Taiwan worried about the threat of invasion from China?

Is Taiwan worried about the threat of invasion from China?

It has been a major point of discussion around the world, however, as the live-fire military exercises China launched in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit raise fears it is looking to change the long-established status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese officials say it is the United States that is trying to change the status quo by strengthening its unofficial relations with Taiwan, a self-ruling island that Beijing claims as its territory.

“Faced with this, China has no choice but to fight back and defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday.

But either way this latest crisis has sharpened global concerns about the future of the island, a longtime flashpoint in US-China relations and a flourishing democracy in a region where autocracy has been making steady gains.

‘We only want to protect our way of life‘

Lee Ming-che was among the human rights activists who met with Pelosi last week, during the brief visit in which she reiterated Washington’s support for Taiwan.

Lee spent five years in a Chinese prison as a political prisoner. Now, only four months after his release from him and return to Taiwan, Chinese threats to the freedoms he can again enjoy at home are escalating.

From left, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Lee Ming-che and Lee's wife, Lee Ching-yu, in Taiwan last week.
From left, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Lee Ming-che and Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu, in Taiwan last week. Courtesy Lee Ming Che

“I saw and personally experienced in prison how the Chinese government disregards human rights and the law. And now this kind of country wants to encroach on Taiwan’s democracy and human rights,” Lee told NBC News by phone on Tuesday.

“Because Taiwan’s previous generations have dedicated a lot of effort for Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and human rights, we only want to protect our way of life, to live in our own country, but China uses its military might to threaten Taiwan.”

Beijing’s military exercises around the island have gone further than in the past and than many experts had expected. On Wednesday, a spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command said the military had “successfully completed” various tasks around the island but would “carry out military training and preparedness continuously.”

“It is possible we will see the staging of additional military exercises, at intervals, over the coming months,” said Amanda Hsiao, senior analyst for China at the International Crisis Group, who is based in Taipei.

But for generations of people in Taiwan, where Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled in 1949 after losing to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in China’s civil war, these security concerns are nothing new. Co-existing with Beijing’s threats is simply part of life, which has carried on across Taiwan this summer as usual.

On Dongyin, a Taiwanese island just 31 miles off the coast of China, an electronic dance music rave with clouds of foam, fog and jets from water cannons kicked off on Saturday evening even as China’s military drills were unfolding in the surrounding skies and waters.

This measured approach flies in the face of some rhetoric abroad comparing Taiwan to Ukraine, where many residents reacted with disbelief to Russia’s long-signaled invasion in February. US military experts and former defense officials have warned China’s army is now much more advanced than the last time cross-Strait tensions soared in 1996, leading some to ask whether Taiwan is being too complacent.

“There’s a lot of what feels like judgment from experts in the US looking at Taiwan’s calm reaction and saying people in Taiwan need to take this more seriously, they don’t fully appreciate the circumstance they’re in,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist and associate professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “To which I think a lot of the Taiwanese response is, ‘We fully appreciate the circumstance we’re in, we’re just choosing to react to it in a more calm way than you are.’”

Air raid drills are held regularly in Taiwan, and officials are revising a civil defense handbook that was issued earlier this year. But the island also says it needs continued support from the international community.

“This has repercussions for the entire region, which we are all witnessing real-time,” said Enoch Wu, the founder of the Forward Alliance, a nonprofit group that holds public workshops to prepare Taiwanese for conflict and crises. “This is why it is in the common interest of democratic partners to enhance defense alliances now, as the only means of preserving peace and ensuring stability.”

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Technology

SpaceX Performs Limited Static Fire Test of Starship Booster, Avoids Explosion

SpaceX Performs Limited Static Fire Test of Starship Booster, Avoids Explosion

Engineers at SpaceX have performed the first static fire test of Booster 7, a prototype of the Super Heavy first stage. The test, in which just one of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines was ignited, moves the company closer to its first orbital test of the revolutionary Starship system.

The test happened on August 8 at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, according to a company tweet. Ground teams completed a single Raptor engine static fire test as the 69.19 m-tall (69 meters) booster stood vertically at the “Mechazilla” launch tower. Booster 7 is equipped with 33 Raptor engines, but SpaceX, in a rare moment of caution, chose to ignite just one.

Encouragingly, a pair of spin-prime tests conducted earlier in the day did not result in an explosion. SpaceX avoided a repeat of the July 11 incident in which a gaseous mixture of methane and oxygen was accidentally ignited, causing a significant explosion directly beneath the booster.

Spin-prime tests, in which propellants are pumped through the engines without igniting them, are typically done in preparation of static fire tests (static fire tests involve engine burns without an actual launch of the rocket). They’re done to test the plumbing, but the gasses produced during the July 11 spin-prime test got ignited by an unknown source. The resulting explosion damaged the prototype booster, sending it back to the Starbase factory for repairs.

Booster 7 returned to the launch pad on August 6 following the re-installation of 20 of the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines, according to Teslarati. On August 8, “clearly indicative of a much more cautious second attempt at engine testing, SpaceX ‘primed’ just one of those 20 Raptors by flowing high-pressure gas through the engine to spin up its turbopumps without igniting its preburners (used to generate the gas that powers the turbopumps) or main combustion chamber,” as Teslarati reports.

Later that day, SpaceX ignited the lone Raptor engine. The company has performed a static fire test of a Starship booster prototype before, but this marks the first static fire test of Booster 7, even if limited in scale. The test appeared to go smoothly, with the engine firing and shutting down following a four-second burn. Not content to stop there, SpaceX also performed static fire tests of two Raptors on an upper stage, namely the prototype Starship 24.

It’s a small step for Starship, but a potentially big leap for SpaceX, as it works to develop its revolutionary heavy launch system. The booster is the first stage of the fully reusable two-stage rocket, with the Starship spacecraft serving as the upper stage. SpaceX envisions Starship as a platform for delivering passengers and cargo to deep space, including future missions to Mars. It’s also NASA’s current first choice to serve as the human landing system for Artemis 3, scheduled for no earlier than 2025.

Both Starship stages are powered by Raptor engines, which are more powerful than the Merlin engines used on the company’s Falcon 9 rockets. The Starship upper stage has already completed a series of suborbital tests, including a successful vertical landing on May 5, 2021. A launch of the fully stacked system has yet to take place, but SpaceX expects to perform an orbital test at some point this year . CEO Elon Musk expects this test will fail, saying a successful orbital test could happen at some point within the next 12 months.

The sight of a single Raptor engine burn is impressive, making it hard to imagine what it’ll look like when all 33 Raptor engines are set to go-mode. The successful test on August 8 suggests a full-fledged static fire test of Booster 7 is closely approaching.

More: Gigantic Crowds Expected for Inaugural Launch of NASA’s Mega Rocket.

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US

Ron DeSantis, unconstrained by constitutional checks, is flexing his power in Florida ahead of 2024 decision

Ron DeSantis, unconstrained by constitutional checks, is flexing his power in Florida ahead of 2024 decision

It was a striking scene, not just for its extraordinary outcome, but for how it had been choreographed. The event was premeditated to trigger — as his spokeswoman wrote on Twitter the night before — “the liberal media meltdown of the year.” Pat Kemp, a Democrat who sits on the local Hillsborough County commission, described it as “our own Jan. 6th moment.”

The ruthless display of raw political power in removing Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren, however brazen and unprecedented, was merely the latest example of a new reality in Florida: DeSantis is governing unconstrained by the traditional checks on executive authority. In the last eight months, DeSantis orchestrated a new law to exact revenge on Disney amid a political feud with the entertainment giant, bulldozed an aggressively partisan redrawing of congressional boundaries through the state legislature and pushed nearly every facet of state government to the front lines of the culture wars. And he has done it all with limited dissent from the Republicans who control the other branches of government in Florida.

“DeSantis has a blank check,” said Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, a private school in Fort Lauderdale. “There is no part of the constitution now that is protecting democracy because the checks and balances on him have been completely eviscerated. If he wins, he’ll spin it as a mandate and say, ‘If Floridians didn’t like any of what I did, they would’ve voted me out.’ “

DeSantis justified the removal of Warren as necessary to protect Floridians from an elected official who won’t follow the law. Warren had pledged in a pair of letters to use prosecutorial discretion to not go after people who seek abortions or gender affirming care as well as those who provide those services.

“That is not how a rule of law can operate and ultimately, you cannot have safe and strong communities,” DeSantis said.

To defeat Ron DeSantis, Florida Democrats are coalescing around Charlie Crist and the Joe Biden playbook

His critics have bristled at these decisive and contentious actions as an overreach of his office. The two leading Democratic candidates for governor in Florida, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Rep. Charlie Crist, liked DeSantis to a dictator after he suspended Warren.

But they have also solidified DeSantis as the only Republican who consistently challenges former President Donald Trump in polls looking ahead to the 2024 presidential primary, and they earn DeSantis plenty of free airtime on conservative media. DeSantis went straight from Thursday’s suspension announcement to an interview with Fox News digital. He then appeared on the network during prime time, where Fox host Tucker Carlson lauded DeSantis for “finally doing something more than whine.”
DeSantis is also building up his influence nationwide. This week, I have blasted the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, calling it a “weaponization of federal agencies.” And next week, he’ll headline rallies for GOP candidates in New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Charlie Kirk, the president of Turning Point America, the conservative organization that is hosting the rallies, called DeSantis “the model for a new conservative movement” when he announced the planned events.
DeSantis has already laid out some of his future targets for a second term, when his actions will be closely watched amid the expected 2024 buzz. He recently said he wants to punish financial institutions that consider factors like environmental destruction or societal good when making investment decisions, which he has derived as “woke banking.” DeSantis has also vowed to change gun ownership laws to allow people to carry firearms in public without a license or prior training. Democrats are bracing for further restrictions on abortion after DeSantis promised to “expand pro-life protections,” though he hasn’t yet said how far he will go.

“Previously, under past Republican governors, you could expect policies to have a conservative bent,” said state House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell. “But this is not a conservative bent, this is a DeSantis bent. It’s not about what the party wants, it’s about what he wants.”

Wealthy space entrepreneur who has pushed for exploration of aliens and the afterlife donates $10 million to DeSantis
The Republican-controlled legislature has so far done little to suggest it will stand in DeSantis’ way. Instead, they have balked at the face of DeSantis’ growing popularity. After Republican lawmakers spent months carefully crafting a new congressional map, DeSantis blew up the redistricting process by introducing one of his own that eliminated two districts represented by Black Democrats. Republicans at first resisted, but ultimately caved, and are now defending the new boundaries in a legal challenge.
Then, later in year, they quickly got on board when DeSantis’ office authored legislation that punished Disney, the state’s largest employer, for wading into Florida’s fight over a contentious new law to restrict the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. And two months after that, top legislative leaders cheered DeSantis on as he announced he was using his line-item veto power to slash their agreed-upon budget by $3 billion and eliminate many of their pet priorities from him.

“The dynamics have been this way for the last two years,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from St. Petersburg. “I think it maintains its trajectory.”

Brandes is the rare Republican who has publicly criticized DeSantis, but he’s also reaching his term limit this year. He’s leaving behind a legislature that is far more conservative than when he entered office in 2012 and one that will be shaped considerably by DeSantis, who has waded into GOP primaries, at times boosting candidates over others preferred by legislative leadership in his party.

Whether DeSantis continues to amass authority “really depends on whether the House and Senate and courts see themselves as independent bodies that are there to provide a check and balance to the system,” Brandes said. “If they forget that or if they believe that’s not necessary, then we go down one path. But if just one of those groups stand up and say, ‘We have a different perspective,’ I think you’ll see a different outcome. “

The Florida constitution gives the state Senate authority to reinstate Warren. Few expect it will. Senate leaders declined to publicly comment on the suspension, but in a telling series of post, the presumptive Speaker of the House for 2023, Rep. Paul Renner, applauded DeSantis on Twitter minutes after he suspended Warren, calling it a “decisive action.”

“The Florida way puts public safety first,” Renner wrote.

Warren has vowed to mount a legal challenge, arguing DeSantis has overstepped his constitutional authority. That case would likely end up before the state Supreme Court, a panel appointed entirely by Republican governors. On Friday, DeSantis nominated his fourth judge to the high court, meaning a majority of the seven-member panel owe their jobs to DeSantis.

Ron DeSantis has raised more than $100 million for his reelection bid. Could he use that money in a presidential race?

Jarvis, who teaches the Florida constitution and has written textbooks on the topic, said lawmakers did not envision a DeSantis-type executive when they wrote the latest version of the state constitution in 1968. They drew up a system of government that vested within the Legislature the authority to overrule the governor on several fronts, including appointments and suspensions, and oversight of executive administration. They initially placed considerable power in the hands of a Cabinet, six independently and constitutionally elected state executives who served alongside the governor.

With those checks, the constitution also awarded the governor incredible discretion to suspend elected officials for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.” Past governors have used the power sparingly to remove elected officials accused of egregious actions or violations of local trust, said Susan MacManus, a retired political science professor and the foremost expert of Florida’s political history.

However, Warren was not suspended for anything he had done, but for something he suggested he someday would not do. If that is the standard for removing someone from office, then, Jarvis said, there is little to stop DeSantis from removing any official he disagrees with — an alarming reality given that his administration has labeled political dissenters “groomers” and characterized Democrats as lawless socialists.

“This is sending a message to every other officer that is subject to his suspension power, ‘If you don’t toe the line or if I see you as a political threat, I won’t hesitate to suspend you,'” Jarvis said . “And I know the senate will remove you.”

MacManus said it’s presumptive to speculate that DeSantis in a second term won’t face new headwinds or changing sentiment from voters and fellow lawmakers. There are polls that show large swaths of voters fear for the future of democracy, though they often clash with other surveys that suggest crime remains a top issue for much of the country, she noted.

“It looks insurmountable right now, but politics shift, issues shift,” she said. “A snap of a finger, things can change.”

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Categories
Technology

Tower of Fantasy character creator lets you Smash or Pass the avatars of other players

Tower of Fantasy

Tower of Fantasy’s in-depth anime character creator lets you share your own avatar and vote on the creations of others, and it also includes a Smash or Pass-style roulette reminiscent of the bottomless pits of dating apps.

I discovered this tidy little feature for myself while poking through the preload client ahead of the Tower of Fantasy launch times scheduled for tomorrow, August 10. To the surprise of no one, the most popular Tower of Fantasy custom characters are Genshin Impact lookalikes, but the Smash or Pass tab – technically Like or Pass, but that’s just splitting hairs really – is a much more varied free-for-all.

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US

Texas Gov. Abbott dares NYC Mayor Adams to ‘make my day’ in migrant war

Texas Gov. Abbott dares NYC Mayor Adams to 'make my day' in migrant war

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tapped into his inner “Dirty Harry” on Wednesday and publicly dared Mayor Eric Adams to “make my day” by carrying through on his threat to send New Yorkers to campaign against his re-election bid.

Abbott also vowed to keep sending busloads of asylum-seekers to New York City, saying Adams was merely “getting a taste” of what beleaguered border communities have been dealing with in the Lone Star State since President Biden took office.

Abbott’s comments on Fox News came amid his ongoing feud with Adams over migrant relocations and just hours after three charter buses hired by Abbott dropped off nearly 100 migrants outside the Port Authority terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

The transports added to almost 70 who arrived on Friday and Sunday.

In response to Adams’ threat Tuesday that he was “deeply contemplating taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good, old-fashioned door-knocking” against Abbott, the Republican governor said, “You know, I kind of feels like Clint Eastwood.”

“Go ahead, Major. Make my day,” he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Major Eric Adams to "make my dad" in response to Adams' threats to send New Yorkers to Texas to campaign against him.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Mayor Eric Adams to “make my day” in response to Adams’ threats to send New Yorkers to Texas to campaign against him.
foxnews

The taunt echoed Eastwood’s iconic line from the 1983 movie “Sudden Impact,” in which his San Francisco detective character “Dirty Harry” faced off against a robber who was holding a coffee shop waitress at gunpoint.

Then-President Ronald Reagan also famously invoked Eastwood’s words in 1985 when he threatened to veto “any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up.”

“And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead. Make my day,” he added.

Abbott said the buses of migrants is giving Adams "to taste" of what border towns go through in Texas.
Abbott said the buses of migrants is giving Adams “a taste” of what border towns go through in Texas.
Matthew McDermott

Abbott said there “could hardly be anything better” for him than for Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke to be “aided by a bunch of New Yorkers.”

“That will not be viewed very positively by the state of Texas,” he said.

Abbott also accused Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, of “rank hypocrisy” for attacking his motives for him in responding to what he calls President Biden’s “open border policies.”

“Listen, New York is a sanctuary city,” Abbott said.

A bus carrying migrants from Texas arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on August 10, 2022.
A bus carrying migrants from Texas arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on August 10, 2022.
AFP Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images Getty Images

“Mayor Adams said that they welcome illegal immigrants. And now once they have to deal with the reality of it, they’re suddenly flummoxed and they cannot handle it.”

Abbott added: “They are now getting a taste of what we’re having to deal with… the challenges that Texas is dealing with every day.”

“Only when they see that will the Biden ministration begin to have to realize the Biden administration is gonna have to finally start enforcing the laws passed by Congress that secure the border,” he said.

Migrants getting off the bus in Manhattan after being driven from Texas.
Migrants getting off the bus in Manhattan after being driven from Texas.
Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

Adams responded during an unrelated afternoon news conference in Queens, saying of Abbott, “I know he thinks he’s Clint Eastwood, but he’s not.”

“He is an anti-American governor that is really going against everything we stand for,” Adams blasted in response to a question from The Post.

“And I am going to do everything feasible to make sure Texans, the people of Texas, realize how harmful he is to us globally.”

Adams then called Abbott a “global embarrassment.”

“Because this is not what we do as Americans,” the mayor said.

“All of us — and I’m sure if he goes into his lineage, he came from somewhere. And if his ancestors of him were treated the way he’s treating these asylum seekers and migrants, then he would not be where he is right now.

The mayor said that “without the proper coordination,” the city was “unable to receive people at one location and give them the support they deserve…but often they end up at our intake centers.”

Adams also called on New Yorkers to assist the migrants, saying that “if anyone in the city sees someone that they believe needs the assistance, we’re asking them to point them and direct them to the intake centers.

Abbott's comments came after three buses dropped off nearly 100 migrants in Manhattan.
Abbott’s comments came after three buses dropped off nearly 100 migrants in Manhattan.
NY Post/Georgett Roberts

The Biden administration quietly ended the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy Monday — clearing the way for potentially tens of thousands more migrants to enter the US and stay here while their applications for asylum are processed.

The Department of Homeland Security announced it would no longer enroll asylum-seekers in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program – which forced about 70,000 people back south of the border over the past three years to await their immigration hearings.

Abbott, who began sending migrants to Washington in April, said that “our goal is to, for one, help our local communities and in doing so send even more buses to New York, to DC and maybe even to other communities to alleviate the challenge we dealing with.”

In addition, Abbott said he wanted “to continue to expose this national catastrophe caused by President Biden.”

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Technology

Logitech launches stylish Aurora Collection gaming gear

BeReal app

Keen to spruce up the gamer peripheral market, Logitech G – the company’s gaming brand – has launched the Aurora Collection, a range of colorful equipment far removed from the industry’s obsession with many shades of grey.

The Aurora Collection consists of a new headset, two keyboards, a mouse, and various accessories aimed at customizing your preferred aesthetic. Primarily aimed at women, the range is also for anyone wanting something different from the norm.

Logitech G735 Wireless Gaming Headset

Out of the box, the G735 Wireless Gaming Headset is the first Logitech G headset to include new customizable tech from microphone brand Blue. It means you can modulate your voice and save audio settings via the G Hub software and directly on the headset.

In keeping with the Aurora Collection’s ethos of catering to women gamers, the headset is designed to better fit smaller head sizes. It comes in a Mist White finish, which can be customized with accessories, and features RGB lighting. According to Logitech, you can expect more than 56 hours of battery life when the lighting is off, so it should stand up to marathon gaming sessions. The G735 headset connects wirelessly to PCs via a USB dongle using its low-latency Lightspeed technology. Plus you can connect to a Bluetooth device simultaneously and control the audio levels of both sources.

The G735 Wireless Gaming Headset is up for pre-order through Logitech G and other retailers for $399.95.

G715 and G713 Mechanical Gaming Keyboards

One wireless and one wired, both keyboards are tenkeyless options made to take up minimal space on your desk. Similar to the G735 headset, the G715 keyboard has both Lightspeed and Bluetooth wireless connectivity – up to 25 hours via a rechargeable battery. Meanwhile, the G713 is for those who prefer a wired connection.

Each Aurora Collection keyboard comes in the standard White Mist finish, replete with RGB lighting. Importantly for mechanical keyboard users, they each offer three different switch types: Tactile, Clicky, and Linear. Again reinforcing the range’s focus on aesthetics, each keyboard comes with a cloud-shaped palm rest.

Available for pre-order, the G715 Mechanical Wireless Gaming Keyboard retails for $349.95, while the wired G713 version sits at $269.95.

Fast clicking, pretty microphones, and Aurora Collection accessories

Logitech G Aurora Collection range
The full Aurora Collection range.

Rounding out the Aurora Collection is the G705 Wireless Gaming Mouse, and a special edition Blue Yeti microphone release. Made for smaller hands, the G705 is a slender 85 grams, built to contour to users’ hands. It also uses both Lightspeed and Bluetooth wireless technology, lasting up to 40 hours with a USB-C rechargeable battery. Minimalist in comparison to other gaming mice, the G705 has a DPI button for quickly changing mouse sensitivity. It’s available to order for $149.95.

Made with content creators in mind, the special edition Blue Yeti USB microphones come in either Pink Dawn or White Mist. In addition to voice modulation, EQ, and Nvidia Broadcast Noise Removal features through G Hub, both mics also include exclusive Aurora Collection stream overlays in Streamlabs. Both mics will retail for $199.95.

As part of the Aurora Collection, you can also kit out the peripherals with eight new accessories. These range from keycaps, mouse pads, and earpads – many available in either white, pink or green.

I really dig the look of the Aurora Collection, although you’re paying a premium for the privilege. More accessories and color options are a fun way to show a bit of personality through the gear you use. However, many stylish tech options tend to be for those who can afford them.

Read more gaming news on GadgetGuy

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US

Washington Post deletes tweet accusing Merrick Garland of ‘politicizing DOJ’

Washington Post deletes tweet accusing Merrick Garland of 'politicizing DOJ'

The Washington Post deleted a tweet promoting one of its stories on Wednesday that suggested Attorney General Merrick Garland “politicized” the Department of Justice by authorizing an FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” read the headline of a story written by Justice Department reporter Perry Stein.

The headline in the tweet sparked outrage on Twitter, which apparently prompted the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet to remove the tweet and re-post it using a different headline.

“No, he’s in the middle of unraveling a crime spree committed by the former president of the United States. There…fixed it for you,” one Twitter user wrote.

The Washington Post deleted a tweet that suggested Attorney General Merrick Garland "politicized" the Justice Department by authorizing an FBI raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday.
The Washington Post deleted a tweet that suggested Attorney General Merrick Garland “politicized” the Justice Department by authorizing an FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday.
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“This is so embarrassing I worry for the future of journalism,” another Twitter commenter said of the original headline.

Jay Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University, said the original headline was “painfully under-thought” because it “seemed to say that Garland was shifting course and unduly politicizing DOJ.”

The original tweet by The Washington Post generated backlash.
The original tweet by The Washington Post generated backlash.
@washingtonpost

The newspaper on Wednesday posted a tweet which read: “Clarification: A previous tweet of this story had a headline that has changed after publishing. We’ve deleted the tweet.”

The new headline reads: “FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago lands Merrick Garland in a political firestorm.”

FBI agents on Monday searched Trump’s Palm Beach estate — marking the first time that federal investigators descended on the private residence of a former president.

The raid was conducted as part of an ongoing federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents that were apparently removed from the White House in the waning days of his presidency.

Trump is also the subject of a federal inquiry into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters mobbed the US Capitol as Congress was in session to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.

FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago on Monday as part of an investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents.
FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago on Monday as part of an investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents.
TNS

Republicans accused the Biden administration of using the Justice Department as a tool to persecute political opponents.

Even some Democrats expressed unease with the search.

Form New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted: “DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations.”

Trump is expected to announce whether he’ll seek another run for White House. Polls show him leading the field of GOP hopefuls.

Garland has refused to comment if he authorized the FBI’s search.

The former president condemned the raid on his home.
The former president condemned the raid on his home.
GC Images

In her story, Stein writes that “some lawyers questioned why the Justice Department and FBI would execute such a high-profile search on a former president’s residence over missing documents, even if some of them are classified.”

The paper’s Twitter gaffe comes on the heels of an internal drama that played out on the social media site.

One of his political reporters, Dave Weigel, was suspended for a month without pay in June for retweeting a post that was deemed sexist.

Weigel’s colleague, Felicia Sonmez, who first flagged the retweet, was fired weeks later after she criticized management and other co-workers on the social media site.

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Technology

SpaceX successfully completes static fire test of Starship’s Super Heavy booster

Mariella Moon

SpaceX has cleared an important hurdle that brings it closer to the Starship system’s first orbital flight test. The company has successfully completed a static fire test of the Super Heavy’s current prototype, the Booster 7, a month after its previous attempt ended up in flames. SpaceX used the Booster 7 for this test again but fired only a single Raptor engine on the orbital launch pad, igniting it for a few seconds to give engineers a close look at how it’s performing.

The Booster 7 is equipped with 33 Raptor version 2 engines meant to give it lift it needs to launch both the first stage itself and its upper stage companion, the Starship spacecraft. During the company’s previous static fire test attempt, the booster caught fire on the launch pad. Company chief Elon Musk revealed on Twitter back then that the issue had stemmed from the engine spin start test SpaceX had conducted and that going forward, the company “won’t do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once” anymore.

In addition to testing Booster 7, SpaceX also did a static fire test on two of the six Raptor engines on Starship 24. That’s the current prototype for the launch system’s upper stage, and it’s what will fly to space for the system’s first orbital flight test . It’s still unclear when SpaceX intends to send the Starship to orbit for the first time, but it likely has to conduct more testing before that happens, including static firing more of its Raptor engines.

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10 House Republicans impeached Trump. Here’s where they stand now

Pro-impeachment Republican Herrera Beutler concedes in House race

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.) became the latest Republican who impeached former President Trump to lose her primary bid after she granted on Tuesday night, one week after her primary in Washington state.

Herrera Beutler was one of 10 House Republicans to join all Democrats in voting to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump was ultimately acquitted in the Senate, becoming the first president to survive two impeachment trials.

Trump has since used his popularity to influence races across the country as he mulls a third bid for the White House in 2024, and he has taken a particular interest in removing Republicans who impeached him by endorsing and holding rallies for their challengers.

Here’s where the 10 House Republicans who impeached Trump stand.

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.)

Cheney will face primary voters next week in her at-large district, but recent polling indicates she’s facing an uphill battle against the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman.

The Wyoming Republican, in particular, has drawn the ire of Trump and his allies not just for her impeachment vote but also for her role as vice chairwoman on the House select committee investigating Jan. 6. Cheney’s caucus ousted her as conference chairwoman last year.

She has been a vociferous critic of the former president and those in her party who support him, recently calling the GOP “very sick” and saying Republicans can either give their loyalties to Trump or the Constitution.

In late May, Trump traveled to Wyoming to stump for Hageman. Hageman also has the support of Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.), who became chairwoman of the House Republican Conference after Cheney was ousted from the role, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), both of whom delivered video addresses at the rally.

Cheney and some Democratic lawmakers have encouraged Wyoming Democrats to switch parties for the primary election to boost Cheney’s chances. Two House Democrats, Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) and Rep. Tom Malinowski (NJ), recently cut ads in support of the strategy.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio)

Gonzalez, a former NFL player who was first elected in 2018, announced in September 2021 that he would not seek a third term to the House, months after impeaching Trump.

Less than two months after the former president’s second impeachment, Trump endorsed his former aide, Max Miller, in his challenge to Gonzalez.

Gonzalez’s impeachment vote also set off a firestorm among Ohio Republicans, and the Ohio Republican Party’s central committee censured Gonzalez and called for his resignation in May 2021.

Days later, Gonzalez did not hold back and voted alongside 34 other Republicans to establish an independent commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6.

He also voted with a small number of House Republicans to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with the House Jan. 6 panel.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.)

Herrera Beutler is the latest pro-impeachment Republican to lose her primary.

She conceded on Tuesday evening after facing eight primary opponents, the first major primary challenge to her seat since she took office in 2011. Herrera Beutler’s state party previously rebuked her.

Trump endorsed her top opponent, Joe Kent, a former Green Beret, although The Associated Press has not yet called the race.

“Joe Kent just won an incredible race against all odds in Washington State,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. “Importantly, I have knocked out yet another impeacher, Jaime Herrera Beutler, who so stupidly played right into the hands of the Democrats.”

Washington operates under a jungle primary system, meaning the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election regardless of their party affiliation.

Kent is on track to face Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in November in the district, which is rated “solid Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Rep. John Katko (NY)

Katko, who represents Syracuse, NY, and other upper parts of the state, announced almost exactly one year after impeaching Trump that he would withdraw at the end of his term.

He has denied that Trump’s focus on ousting pro-impeachment Republicans factored into his decision to leave the House.

“I was quite certain, even with the redistricting that was done in New York state, that I had a path to victory,” Katko told The Washington Post in March. “And I had a very good path to victory.”

The New York Republican will also step down as chairman of the Republican Governance Group, a caucus of moderate House Republicans he has led since 2017.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)

Like Cheney, Kinzinger did not just impeach the former president but also now serves on the House panel investigating Jan. 6, further infuriating Trump and his allies.

He announced in Oct. 2021 that he would withdraw at the end of the term, which also came after redistricting maps approved by Illinois lawmakers drew him into the same district as Rep. Darin LaHood (R), who was endorsed by Trump just before the primary.

LaHood won his primary in June in what is seen as a reliably Republican district.

Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.)

Meijer became the second pro-impeachment Republican defeated in their primary, losing last week by less than 4 percentage points to Trump-backed candidate John Gibbs.

Meijer and Kinzinger have condemned the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for running an ad they say boosted Gibbs, who has supported Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

“I would rather lose office with my character intact than stay reelected having made sacrifices of the soul,” Meijer told SiriusXM following his loss.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (Wash.)

Newhouse is so far one of only two pro-impeachment Republicans to survive a primary challenge.

I have faced six challengers last week, including Loren Culp, a former police chief backed by Trump, and former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, who was in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6.

Newhouse’s victory comes after the Washington State Republican Party chastised him for his impeachment vote, calling on him to resign.

In November, he will face Democrat Doug White, although the district is rated as “solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report.

Rep. Tom Rice (SC)

In June, Rice became the first Republican who backed Trump’s second impeachment to lose reelection.

Former state Rep. Russell Fry defeated Rice by more than 25 percentage points, or roughly 22,500 raw votes.

His defeat came the same night as South Carolina Republicans narrowly voted to keep Rep. Nancy Mace as their nominee. Mace voted against Trump’s impeachment but criticized her actions surrounding Jan. 6, leading Trump to endorse Mace’s challenger.

Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.)

Upton, the only lawmaker to vote to impeach two presidents, announced in April he was retiring at the end of his term.

A moderate Republican, Upton has bucked his party on impeachment and other issues, like a national red flag law opposed by most members of his caucus.

“He’s had a number of decisive wins where he’s endorsed candidates that they have won,” Upton said of Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union” in June.

“He’s had a few losses as well, but he certainly entertains a majority of the Republican base and will be hard to stop,” he added.

Rep. David Valadao (Calif.)

Valadao served in the House from 2013 to 2019 before being ousted by former Rep. TJ Cox (D-Calif.). In a 2021 rematch, Valadao won back his seat and voted to impeach Trump one day after being sworn in.

Unlike other pro-impeachment Republicans, Trump did not endorse a challenger to Valadao in his primary. McCarthy, the top House Republican and a Trump ally, endorsed Valadao.

Valadao advanced from California’s jungle primary system in June, and he will face California state Assembly member Rudy Salas (D) in November.

Despite Trump not weighing in on the race, Valadao faces a tough reelection under the newly redrawn maps. The Cook Political Report rates the contest as a toss-up.