MHLoppy

In short:

Japan has seen a decline in tourists, especially from China, with some citing a disaster prediction in a manga (Japanese comic book) that was first published in 1999.

The manga The Future I Saw details the dreams of the author, including one that some believe predicted Japan's tsunami in 2011.

What's next?

The manga's reprint in 2021 triggered rumours a catastrophic event would occur on July 5, 2025, which has sparked concerns from some superstitious tourists about travelling to Japan.

Pixiv source (has losslessly compressed, separate images)

For those like me who have been investigating childcare for almost a year now, the news was horrifying but not a surprise.

Fearsome trash-talker and Halo matchmaking enthusiast Timmy Dobbins has lost a valuable online trump card this week as his father has reportedly lost his job at Microsoft, Dobbins confirmed.

“Okay so I guess Microsoft fired a bunch of people this week, and it looks like my dad might’ve been one of them,” said 12-year-old Timmy. “Which is total bullshit cause, like, my dad worked really hard for them and he was really good at banning all the people who were mean to me in Halo. But also, I’m not even really that worried because my dad still has some really powerful friends at Microsoft who can definitely still ban all these fucking griefers.”

Timmy’s father, Randall Dobbins, expanded upon his responsibilities with the company as well as his feelings on the company’s recent staffing changes. [...]

In a nutshell: While modern aircraft carriers are gigantic vessels packed with amenities one might not expect to see on a warship, the UK Royal Navy's HMS Prince of Wales has something unique: a full eSports/gaming suite for the crew to compete against each other.

In February, permission was given to set up the suite on the 1,600-crew carrier as part of a partnership between the Royal Navy and the British eSports Federation.

The gaming room includes 12 high-end Alienware Aurora R15 gaming desktop PCs, featuring RTX 4080 graphics cards and Core i7 CPUs – the systems are capable of running far more than just low-demand eSports games. The room also has LED lights, a widescreen TV, and office chairs.

In short:

Princeton Consumer Research carried out tests for certification for at least eight sunscreens that fell short of their advertised SPF50 claims in a recent review by consumer group Choice.

Several industry experts have raised concerns about PCR's testing methodology and calculations.

Both the Cancer Council and the Therapeutic Goods Administration said it was important people continued to use sunscreen as protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation.

As more Americans contemplate their employment prospects during a time when it’s becoming increasingly difficult to retire, experts stated Wednesday that it’s not too late to change careers at 50, despite the fact that they sure as fuck wouldn’t. “If you’re finding your work increasingly unfulfilling and always dreamed of doing something else, there’s nothing wrong with making that career switch, even if you’re over 50, although that personally sounds like an absolutely stupid-ass idea to us,” said Stony Brook University economist Clare Ewell, adding that there are a few notable examples of people who pivoted career paths late in life, but statistically your chances of succeeding are abysmal, which would definitely prevent her and all other employment experts from even considering something so goddamn shortsighted. [...]

(self-censored title for the sake of instances that want that)

The editorial team at a major news outlet has celebrated in the office today, after successfully publishing their 15th consecutive story on musicians protesting about Gaza without mentioning that icky “genocide” thing.

“Here at Balanced News Daily we strive for bipartisan reporting on all the big issues, which is why we have a ratio of 56:1 on coverage about protesters to coverage about genocide,” said the editor.

Thanks to recent political statements from Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury Festival, journalists met their outrage-bait KPI’s in record time. [...]

Taking a deep breath and straightening his back, Yo-Yo Ma finally worked up the courage to tell his parents that he was quitting cello, sources confirmed Friday. “Mom, Dad, this is it—I quit,” said Ma, who exhaled and then winced as his parents immediately reacted to the consequential words by simultaneously exclaiming “But you love cello!” and “Is this a joke?” “You always say I love cello, but that’s not true. You guys love cello. I hate cello. [...]

So it does seem as though at lower resolutions, the earlier RDNA4 drivers weren't as efficient as they could've been.

In a test suite of 16 games, HUB saw an improvement of ~9% at 1440p for the RX 9070 XT (with no improvement in four games) with the latest available drivers compared to the drivers available during launch reviews. The RTX 5070 Ti saw a ~2.5% improvement under the same conditions.

The difference is minor at 4K for both cards, with a 3~4% improvement for each. Seven games in the 16-game test suite did not show improvement for the RX 9070 XT in these 4K tests.

As impressive as these gains are, overall it doesn't really change much. Overall, [the 5070 Ti and 9070 XT] should deliver a very similar gaming experience. So then, as has always been the case, it's the price that will largely be the deciding factor.

Edit: written version now available: https://www.techspot.com/review/3008-radeon-9070-xt-amd-finewine/

In short:

A contact centre for Australian airline Qantas has been the target of a cyber attack, leading to a breach of customer data.

The records of 6 million customers are held on the platform that was compromised and Qantas expects a "significant" proportion of the data has been stolen.

What's next?

Qantas has informed government agencies including the Australian Federal Police and says it will provide support as the investigation continues.

TechPowerUp's team conducted research to find out how the market for handheld consoles performs and where its users are mostly going. The large community poll of 22,649 PC gamers, asking a simple "Do you game on a handheld console?" paints a solid picture of the customer base that a handheld console maker can expect. The majority, at 65.3% of the polled gamers, have chosen the option "No," indicating that two-thirds of PC gamers spend time on their main desktop or notebook PCs without using an additional handheld console. Among the 34.7% of respondents (7,852 votes) who game on the go, Valve's Steam Deck leads with 2,798 votes (35.6%), narrowly edging out Nintendo's Switch at 2,785 votes (35.5%). [...]