Cannibal CME is headed for the Earth today; Can spark a STRONG solar storm, says NOAA

Diablo 4 patch 1.1.3 notes will drop later today, on August 25, with the full patch following next week.

A court in the UK has found that an 18-year-old from Oxford, Arion Kurtaj, was a part of the Lapsus$ hacking group responsible for hacking a range of tech firms including Nvidia and Rockstar Games. These intrusions resulted in a major leak of footage from the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, a game that Rockstar has yet to officially unveil, and the court heard that Kurtaj leaked the clips from a Travelodge hotel while he was already on bail after being arrested for another hack.

Our online search history can reveal a lot about us, but which Americans are most curious about new technologies?

This week, the Earth has not been hit by a single solar storm. We have suffered some minor instances of radio blackouts and GPS disruptions due to solar winds, but apart from that, the Sun has remained quiet, even when a highly unstable sunspot, AR3405, has emerged in the Earth's view of the Sun. However, things could be changing. In the late hours of yesterday, strange radio emissions were detected, which is usually a warning sign for a solar flare eruption. Sure enough, a flare was set off and it did release a coronal mass ejection (CME), as per reports. The direction of the CME has not been confirmed so far, but there is a possibility that it could be Earth-bound.

The wait for Dead Island 2 lasted nearly a decade, but the game did finally launch earlier this year, and turned out to be a critical and commercial success. In May, it was revealed that the action RPG had sold over 2 million units worldwide, and interestingly enough, Embracer Group – parent company of publisher Deep Silver – is expecting those sales to accelerate next year when the game launches for another platform.

It's shaping up to be another dismal year for the smartphone market, with shipments on track to be the lowest over the past decade, according to Counterpoint Research. 

Kowloon Nights, London Venture Partners and Hiro Capital complete the speaker schedule for the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit in Seattle.

We’ve all got a few games we enjoy far more than expected and anyone who’s tried out House Flipper (Available on Gamepass), will know there’s plenty of enjoyment from fixing up a house and decorating it. This October developers FrozenWay (co-developers of House Flipper) return with Builder Simulator, where you’ll not just fix houses, you’ll build them.

As the Sun moves towards the solar maximum gradually, scientists are worrying about a once in a century solar storm that can impact Earth, and humanity, severely. We are now experiencing the most active sun so far and it is generating massive solar storms frequently. The peak of solar activities happens every 11 years when the sun reaches the solar maximum. Normally, these solar storms do not severely impact the Earth, but, occasionally, they get so intense that they can generate strong geomagnetic storms that affect all the electrical infrastructure that humanity has created including the power grid and the satellites. NASA believes that if such a solar storm occurs, it could put the safety and livelihoods of people at risk. Now, it is being feared that such a massive solar storm can happen over the next few years.

In a recent surge of solar activity, the Sun's eruptions have triggered a number of sloar storms, with further incidents projected to happen too. On August 7th, an intense X-class solar flare initiated radio blackouts across North America. Simultaneously, forecasts indicated a "cannibal" coronal mass ejection (CME), which had erupted on August 5th, might brush Earth's atmosphere with its edges, potentially causing a delayed solar storm. However, recent observations suggest it might have entirely missed our planet.

The last 24 hours were quite frightening for the Earth, as major solar storm prediction models said that a highly energized cannibal CME could deliver a glancing blow to the Earth today, August 9. However, it never came, leading the scientists to believe that the CME narrowly escaped the planet. Investigations are still ongoing to see whether the CME could have been delayed. However, there is some bad news as well. In the early hours of August 8, another X1-class solar flare erupted and sparked a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. Concerns are now rising on whether it will also send another CME towards our planet.

Over the last few months, the effects of the Sun have been felt in the form of CME, solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and solar flares. In turn, these phenomena have sparked further events such as auroras, power blackouts, and disruption of radio communications. But why is the Sun becoming increasingly volatile? This is perhaps due to the approaching Solar Max and the Sun nearing the peak in its solar cycle. As a result, 2023 has also broken a 21-year record for the highest number of sunspots.