Hasta La Gadget!

Building a working nuclear fusion reactor has proven to be a daunting challenge even for multiple wealthy nations, as we’ve seen with the much-delayed ITER project. However, a private start-up called Helion thinks it can build one and start supplying energy by 2028 by taking a different approach than other reactors. 

Founded in 2013, Helion is in the news thanks to a $425 million funding round, backed by billionaires like Sam Altman and Peter Thiel. With more than $1 billion raised, the company is now valued at $5.4 billion.

Nuclear fusion, which combines hydrogen atoms to form helium, is the holy grail for green energy. It’s carbon free, and unlike current nuclear plants, produces no long-term radioactive waste. At the same time, reactors could produce enough electricity to power small cities.

Sustained fusion reaction that produces more energy that it consumes has never happened, though. The largest project, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), is projected to cost up to $22 billion and won’t go online until at least 2034 — and still hasn’t produced a sustained reaction. The longest fusion raction is 1,066 seconds (17 minutes and 43 seconds), set just recently by the EAST reactor in China. 

So how does Helion think it can succeed? Most experimental reactors compress plasma using magnetic or inertial confinement, which heats it enough to spark a fusion reaction. Once that happens, the fusion-generated heat powers a steam turbine to generate electricity. 

Helion is using a different approach by dispensing with the steam turbine. Fuel (deuterium and helium-3) is injected into both ends of the hourglass shaped reactor, then heated to form a plasma. Magnets form the plasma into a donut shape and fire them at each other at speeds up to 1 million MPH. They collide in the narrow middle section of the reactor and are further compressed by magnets there. That heats them up to the magic 100 million degrees Celcius, creating fusion. 

“As the plasma expands, it pushes back on the magnetic field from the machine’s magnets,” Helion explains on its website. “By Faraday’s Law, the change in field induces current, which is directly recaptured as electricity, allowing Helion’s fusion generator to skip the steam cycle.” 

This system is simpler and potentially more efficient than a steam turbine. However, while the company has achieved fast enough pulse rates to achieve fusion, it has only done so on a small scale to date. “There [are] some big engineering challenges to get to those high repetition rates at the kind of big pulse powers where we talk about millions of amps,” CEO David Kirtley told TechCrunch.

And that’s the rub with every other reactor. Fusion produces a huge surge of energy all at once and so far no one has been able to control and harness that. Helion thinks its simpler system will help, but has yet to prove it can do it experimentally, let alone commercially. Still, the company say sits seventh-generation reactor, Polaris, is now “in operation” but has declined to share any results to date. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/a-private-start-up-called-helion-aims-to-have-a-working-fusion-reactor-by-2028-142020697.html?src=rss

Independent book stores can now get a cut of the ebook market. Today, Bookshop.org announced the addition of ebooks to its website. As it does with physical books, the online retailer prompts shoppers to designate a local book store at checkout, then sends part of the purchase price to that store. Since it started selling physical volumes in 2020, Bookshop.org has funneled more than $35 million to indie booksellers. 

During a recent chat, CEO Andy Hunter told me hundreds of stores have credited Bookshop.org with their ability to stay in business through the shutdowns caused by the pandemic. Now through the added ebook sales, those stores will have one more revenue stream — and shoppers will have another way to support neighborhood stores. “It’s not a good business strategy to say, ‘Come to us for your books, but when you need an ebook, go to Amazon'” he said.   

The site will offer more than three million ebooks from every major publisher and the entire profit from the sale will go to the customer’s chosen store. If a user doesn’t designate a store, profits will partly channel into a pool for all participating bookstores and the rest will return to Bookshop.org. The company will also make money from publisher ads on its website. Because ebook prices are set by the publisher, titles will cost the same as they do from Amazon, Kobo, Google Books or elsewhere. 

In addition to the new category, Bookshop.org is also introducing a new reader app for iOS and Android devices today. Through the app, readers can explore curated lists of books, search the ebook catalog, read previews and add books to their wishlist. You’ll still need to head to Bookshop.org on a browser to make purchases — just as you do with other ebook sellers so they can avoid Apple and Google’s steep in-app billing commissions. (Though, on tangental note, Bookshop.org’s website now accepts Google and Apple Pay.)

Reading books on the app should feel familiar to anyone who’s used a tablet or smartphone ereader app, offering highlights, annotations, type and font adjustments and text searches. In addition to swipeable pages, you can also set the text to a vertical endless scroll mode, an option I haven’t seen in other ereader apps. 

Bookshop.org

Probably the most intriguing feature is Quote Sharing. As I was talking with Hunter, he pointed out that when people share quotes from books on social media, it’s often via a typed-out quote alongside a picture snapped of the physical page or the cover of the book. If you want to read that book, you’re going to have to put in a little work to find it and buy it. 

With Quote Sharing in the Bookshop.org app or browser reader, up to 300 characters of text can be highlighted and shared on Facebook, X, Threads, Bluesky or anywhere else you can share regular weblinks. The generated link creates a formatted post with the quote, along with the book cover image. Anyone who clicks the link will be taken to a webpage with the quote in context, above a button to buy the book. Hunter says the goal is to “make conversations around books feel like a native part of the social web.” 

As someone who is invested in ereaders, I asked whether Bookshop.org ebooks would be readable on Kindles or Kobos. Hunter told me his company is already working on compatibility with Kobo devices and has also been in talks with Amazon to potentially allow Kindles to display titles purchased from Bookshop.org. Integration with Kobo could come as early as this year; Amazon cooperation will likely take longer.  

Another forthcoming feature allows indie booksellers to sell ebooks directly from the bookstore’s own website using Bookshop.org’s tech. That partnership won’t be available at launch but should go live in spring of 2025. 

Hunter told me a story from the initial investor phase from the print-only iteration of Bookshop.org. When potential investors learned he couldn’t beat Amazon on price or speed, he was laughed out of the room. They assumed no one would be willing to pay more or wait longer for a book, no matter how worthy they thought independent bookstores might be. 

Five-plus years later, not only were those investors proven wrong — the company’s continued existence suggests at least some people can spare a few extra bucks and some patience to support bookstores — now with ebooks, Bookshop.org can indeed match Amazon on both price and speed, since even the largest e-retailer can’t discount ebooks and delivery is instantaneous no matter where you buy from.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/bookshoporg-is-now-selling-ebooks-113033975.html?src=rss

In the latest riveting episode of Everything Costs More, Fubo raised the prices of all of its English-language plans by $5 for new customers. The hike includes Fubo’s Essential plan, which only launched in early December.

In a statement to The Streamable (which first reported the news), Fubo blamed the fee hikes on increased programming costs. “The regular prices of the English-language plans have increased $5 due to rising costs from our programming partners,” a spokesperson wrote. “We only make adjustments when necessary, and we’re committed to keeping Fubo competitive while ensuring our subscribers have access to the channels, features and live events they enjoy.”

The changes now put Fubo’s cheapest plan (the aforementioned Essential bundle) at $85 monthly, slightly more than YouTube TV’s $83. The latter raised its fees by $10 per month in early December — up from the $35 monthly price it debuted with in 2017.

In addition to Fubo’s $85 Essential plan, the streamer offers a Pro plan that technically costs the same. But its angle is that, unlike Essentials, it includes regional sports networks, which add mandatory fees of up to $16 per month to the base price. Essentials gives you the option of skipping the RSNs and their fees if you aren’t worried about losing many of your local teams’ games. (Yes, live-streaming TV is often now as much of a confusing mess as traditional cable.)

Fubo Elite, which now costs $95 monthly (plus RSN fees), includes 78 extra channels — like The Cooking Channel, NBA TV and MLB TV. Fubo also offers a $33 Spanish-language Latino plan with networks such as ESPN Deportes, Cine Latino and Nat Geo Mundo. It was the only subscription tier spared from the price hikes.

Although Fubo is arguably the best live TV service for sports, it has some significant missing pieces compared to rivals like YouTube TV. Notable omissions are channels from Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV, Discovery, Food Network and more), A&E and AMC.

To ease the blow (very briefly), Fubo is offering savings to new subscribers on their first month of service. New signups get $25 off their first month of the Essential plan and $20 off Elite or Pro. Meanwhile, you can save $8 on the Latino plan. Just remember that the full prices will kick in after that single discounted month.

Earlier this month, Fubo and Disney agreed to merge the streaming service with Hulu + Live TV. If the deal gets shareholder and regulatory approval, it will create a new entity (under the Fubo brand) to manage both services. At least the initial promise is that the two services will continue to operate independently. Disney will own 70 percent of the new company, while Fubo will have 30 percent. The two products currently boast a combined six million subscribers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/fubo-raises-prices-on-all-english-language-plans-181540573.html?src=rss

Following a string of misfires, Ubisoft is shutting down a support studio and downsizing elsewhere, with the company firing around 185 workers in its latest cost-cutting measure. Ubisoft Leamington, situated in the English town of Royal Leamington Spa, is no more as the publisher is scuttling the 50-person studio. It’s also laying off employees in Stockholm; Düsseldorf, Germany; and Newcastle, England (Ubisoft Reflections).

“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” Ubisoft told Eurogamer in a statement. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

Ubisoft bought the Leamington studio from Activision in 2017. It was previously known as FreeStyleGames and the team was behind Guitar Hero Live and the DJ Hero series. Since joining Ubisoft, the studio has assisted with development on the Tom Clancy’s The Division games, Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones and Far Cry 5.

Things have been tumultuous at Ubisoft recently, as the company is dealing with the fallout of several underperforming games, such as Star Wars Outlaws, which didn’t meet sales targets. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown fell short of Ubisoft’s sales expectations too, and the company shifted many of the game’s developers to other teams. Ubisoft is also shutting down XDefiant in the coming months, with the publisher shutting three studios and laying off 277 workers as part of that decision. As Eurogamer notes, Ubisoft’s headcount dropped from 20,279 to 18,666 by the end of September.

Perhaps aligned with those recent woes, there have been numerous reports that Ubisoft is seeking a buyer or that it may create a joint venture with Tencent with some of its assets included. The company said earlier this month (PDF) that it would “continue to drive significant cost reductions” and it had “appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.”

Suffice to say, there’s a lot riding on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed has been a reliably bankable series for Ubisoft and it’s arguably the company’s flagship franchise at this point. Based on my early impressions, the game looks good enough and plays well enough for what the company needs it to do, and it seems to cater to both long-standing fans and series newcomers. There’s a chance that Shadows could be successful for the company, but it’s a mighty tall order for a single game to right a ship that’s as large and unsteady as Ubisoft.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-shuts-down-a-support-studio-and-lays-off-185-workers-191048262.html?src=rss

Bluesky just announced that it’s adding a new video tab to user profiles as part of a software update. This is nothing too crazy. It’s just an easy way for users to easily peruse all of the videos someone has posted, whether it’s original content or stuff pulled from other social networks. It’s like the pre-existing “Media” tab, but exclusively for vids. 

Engadget/Lawrence Bonk

This is yet another “pivot to video” move by Bluesky. It recently introduced a vertical footage feature on mobile called Trending Videos, which is eerily reminiscent of TikToks, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

There are also several TikTok rivals being built on top of Bluesky’s AT Protocol, though most are still in closed testing. Even billionaire Mark Cuban wants to get in on the action. All of these upstarts would, of course, receive a much-needed injection of eyeballs if TikTok were to actually be banned, but who knows what’s going on there.

Bluesky update 1.97 isn’t just about the video tab. It also streamlines the process to block folks who pop up in DMs and offers translation improvements.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-adds-a-video-tab-to-user-profiles-193929994.html?src=rss