Month: August 2020

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  A new controller for a system that hasn't launched yet? That's interesting enough, sure. But the news comes when you turn the box. [credit: Zak S ]

The new Xbox console controller is now officially in the wild, which is astonishing enough since its accompanying console, the Xbox Series X, still doesn't have a release date or a price.

But the two leaked controllers we've seen thus far are even more intriguing because of something they have in common: an apparently official mention of "Xbox Series S" as an additional Microsoft next-gen console. Ars Technica can confirm that this is indeed the name of an upcoming, unannounced Microsoft product.

S marks the spot—but questions remain

The controller itself was previously announced alongside Xbox Series X's reveal during the December 2019 broadcast of The Game Awards. While it bears a strong resemblance to the existing Xbox One controller, its general mold has been shrunken to better support a wider range of hand sizes. Functionally, it's identical, other than a new "share" button, while its d-pad has been updated to resemble one of the d-pad options found in the first-party Xbox Elite Controller line. One owner of the new controller, who goes by Zak S on Twitter, pointed specifically to the updated d-pad as "one of [his] favorite parts."

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  Hyundai is spinning out Ioniq as a brand for electric cars, in the same way that it spun out Genesis as a standalone brand for luxury cars. It will launch three new battery electrics between 2021 and 2024. [credit: Hyundai ]

Hyundai is going to market a range of new battery-electric cars under Ioniq branding. The Korean automaker first introduced the Ioniq name in 2016 with a subcompact that comes in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and BEV flavors, but early in 2021 those cars will be joined by the Ioniq 5, a midsize BEV crossover based on a 2019 concept called 45. In 2022, Ioniq will launch the Ioniq 6, an electric sedan based on the stunning Prophecy concept car from earlier this year. Finally, in early 2024, there will be a larger SUV called the Ioniq 7. It's not the first time we've seen this strategy from the automaker, which did the same thing with the creation of Genesis as a standalone luxury brand.

"The Ioniq brand will change the paradigm of EV customer experience. With a new emphasis on connected living, we will offer electrified experiences integral to an eco-friendly lifestyle,” said Wonhong Cho, executive vice president and global chief marketing officer at Hyundai Motor Company.

Ioniq's first three BEVs will be built on a new platform that Hyundai is developing, called the Electric Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP, which it says is highly flexible with regard to body style and interior design. We can probably expect these cars to be built in serious volume; Hyundai Motor Group (which also includes Kia and Genesis) is aiming to sell 1 million BEVs a year by 2025. By that same year it also plans to sell more than half a million hydrogen fuel cell EVs.

Enlarge / Photo from North Paulding High School, tweeted by student Hannah Watters on Tuesday, August 4. (credit: Hannah Watters)

There are nine confirmed COVID-19 cases at the high school that suspended a 15-year-old who had tweeted a photo of a hallway packed with maskless students.

North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia sent a letter to parents Saturday, saying, "At this time, we know there were six students and three staff members who were in school for at least some time last week who have since reported to us that they have tested positive." The letter was published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Most or even all of the six students and three staff members who tested positive could have had the virus before the school reopened on Monday. As Harvard Medical School explains, "The time from exposure to symptom onset (known as the incubation period) is thought to be three to 14 days, though symptoms typically appear within four or five days after exposure," and "a person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 to 72 hours before starting to experience symptoms."

Enlarge / Mitch (Gabriel Jarret) and Chris (Val Kilmer) play young science whizzes trying to build a 5-kilowatt laser in the 1985 film Real Genius. (credit: TriStar Pictures)

Back to the Future justly dominated the summer box office in 1985, but it's too bad its massive success overshadowed another nerd-friendly gem, Real Genius, which debuted one month later, on August 9. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the film remains one of the most charming, winsome depictions of super-smart science whizzes idealistically hoping to change the world for the better with their work. It also boasts a lot of reasonably accurate science—a rare occurrence at the time.

Real Genius came out the same year as the similarly-themed films Weird Science—which spawned a 1990s TV sitcom—and My Science Project, because 1980s Hollywood tended to do things in threes. But I'd argue that Real Genius has better stood the test of time, despite being so quintessentially an '80s film—right down to the many montages set to electronic/synth-pop chart-toppers. The film only grossed $12.9 million domestically against its $8 million budget, compared to $23.8 million domestically for its fellow cult classic, Weird Science. (My Science Project bombed with a paltry $4.1 million.) Reviews were mostly positive, however, and over time it became a sleeper hit via VHS, and later, DVD and streaming platforms.

(Spoilers for the 35-year-old film below.)