Month: August 2022

Enlarge / Not all progress is good. (credit: Hispanolistic/Getty Images)

It's probably a little early to be warning of extinction, but in some new cars, buttons are becoming hard to find. Given that a screen has to go into the dashboard anyway (thanks to things like backup camera requirements) and the fact that people increasingly won't consider a car without Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, touchscreens make life easier for automakers in terms of design and assembly.

It's just that they don't make life easier for drivers. Instead, we're treated to bad interfaces that don't create muscle memory but instead distract us while we should be driving. And now, Swedish car publication Vi Bilägare has the data to prove it.

VB tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments.

Enlarge / Space-based solar power involves harvesting sunlight from Earth orbit and then beaming it down to the surface where it is needed. (credit: Andreas Treuer/ESA)

Europe is seriously considering developing space-based solar power to increase its energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the leader of the European Space Agency said this week.

"It will be up to Europe, ESA and its Member States to push the envelope of technology to solve one of the most pressing problems for people on Earth of this generation," said Josef Aschbacher, director general of the space agency, an intergovernmental organization of 22 member states.

Previously the space agency commissioned studies from consulting groups based in the United Kingdom and Germany to assess the costs and benefits of developing space-based solar power. ESA published those studies this week in order to provide technical and programmatic information to policymakers in Europe.

Enlarge / A classic photo of famed author J.R.R. Tolkien, modified to reflect the new steward of his most famed intellectual property as of this week's megaton acquisition announcement. (credit: Getty Images / Sam Machkovech)

Swedish game publisher Embracer Group has racked up headlines in the past few years thanks to megaton acquisitions of video game studios, and on Thursday morning, the company announced it has grown further still. Its latest acquisition spree includes one surprising company outside its usual business purview: Middle-earth Enterprises.

This company is better known as the exclusive handler of all Lord of the Rings and Hobbit novels, along with all intellectual property derived directly from those J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy masterworks. The financial terms of this deal with previous handler the Saul Zaentz Company were not disclosed, but Embracer is already eager to tease brand-new films featuring the aforementioned novels' characters.

No production plans have been set for new films just yet; rather, Embracer says in a press release that it wants to "explore additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn, and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien." The deal has a logical connection to Embracer's existing business in the form of LOTR-themed board games already being produced by its subsidiary, Asmodee, while it's hard to imagine Embracer not immediately assigning one of its many wholly owned video game studios to the franchise in one way or another. Embracer has yet to suggest plans to produce a Tolkien-themed video game, however. Instead, its Thursday announcement hinted to "new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences."