Month: April 2017

Enlarge / An Orthodox priest hands out Easter eggs to the media at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad after blessing the Soyuz rocket on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 in Kazakhstan.

Barring any unexpected technical problems, a Soyuz rocket will launch Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying just two people: first-time NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and veteran Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. The launch will occur during the afternoon local time, but it will come early in the morning in the United States, at 3:13am EDT (8:13am UK time).

The rocket launch comes amid some uncertainty after a Soyuz rocket carrying an uncrewed Progress spacecraft exploded about six minutes into flight on December 1, 2016, wiping out 2.6 tons of food, fuel, and supplies. This was due to a problem with the rocket's third-stage engine, the kerosene-fueled RD-0110.

That Progress spacecraft launched on an older Soyuz-U rocket, and crewed launches now take place on a more modern Soyuz-FG rocket, but the two rockets share a common third stage. This is now the second time the third-stage engine has failed in some way in the last five years, as a similar problem occurred during the 2011 launch of Progress 44P.

With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 finally ready for market, it's time for a round of smartphone updates from the usual suspects. The chip debuted in the Galaxy S8 (full review coming soon), and Xiaomi is now featuring the 835 in the Xiaomi Mi 6, the new flagship for the company's home market of China.

Unlike the stunning Xiaomi Mi Mix, a slim-bezel "concept" phone from Xiaomi that the company actually sold, the Mi 6 is pretty boring to look at. Xiaomi has fallen back to its standard "do what Apple is doing" design language, with thick bezels on the top and bottom of the phone and a front-mounted fingerprint sensor. It gets a lot harder to complain when you see the price, though: $362 (RMB 2,499).

Enlarge / The actual SNES Mini probably won't be this small or have a cartridge slot. But we can dream... (credit: DannyChoo.com)

Eurogamer's report this morning that Nintendo is working on an "SNES Mini" plug-and-play console in the style of the NES Classic Edition (according to "sources close to the company") isn't too surprising. The original NES Mini was an unexpectedly large success that should logically inspire Nintendo to mine more of its classic hardware for more easy profits.

On the other hand, Nintendo recently discontinued the NES Classic Edition despite evidence of continuing huge demand that hasn't been satisfied by the paltry supply Nintendo rolled out to stores. Eurogamer goes so far as to say the SNES Mini's impending release is part of the reason the NES Classic Edition was discontinued, suggesting that the company thinks only one retro console can exist on the market at a time, for some reason.

In all likelihood, the SNES Mini will likely be nearly identical to the miniature NES that came before it. If we had Nintendo's ear, though, here's what we'd recommend to help it build the retro console of our dreams:

Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

NEW YORK—For fans of the racing game, Electronic Arts' 17-year-long exclusive contract with Porsche must rank as one of the great injustices of all time. These days, games like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport—which sell in the millions—do much to introduce cars to new audiences. Arguably, that has been true for some time now. Don't believe me? Just look at the Nissan GT-R's following in Europe and the US, fueled by Polyphony Digital. So the sporadic nature of Porsche's presence in these games has been frustrating for gamers who just want to race the cars.

Thankfully, all that appears to be at an end. Back in December we discovered that the EA contract had expired, and the German automaker hasn't been hanging around. Porsches will feature in the upcoming Project CARS 2. Sony recently revealed Porsche will be in Gran Turismo Sport. And at the New York International Auto Show, Microsoft and Porsche announced a six-year partnership. As you'll see in the video above, we spoke to Microsoft's Dan Greenawalt and Sebastian Hornung of Porsche to find out more.