The original Angry Birds game is back. Sure, there are other, newer entries in the Angry Birds franchise out there — and even a couple of movies — but this one's for those who have a special place in their hearts for the game that started it all. In a letter to fans published last year, Rovio explained that it had to take its older titles out of circulation, because they used outdated game engines and design. "Today’s mobile technology and games landscape has evolved to a place where supporting them was untenable," the company wrote. The developer also couldn't leave them up without updating them, because they'll soon be incompatible with the latest mobile operating systems. 

Apparently, there was a "big outcry" for Rovio to bring back the older games, especially the original, so it decided to work on bringing the classic experiences back. The company said at the time that it has to figure out "what is possible and for which games," so it's unclear if other older titles will also get remakes. Rovio rebuilt the original Angry Birds from the ground up using Unity, which allowed the company to recreate the feel of the classic for newer devices. That's a much more involved process than simply touching up older graphics or updating game mechanics. 

The new version of the game called Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, is now available from the Apple App Store and from Google Play. It will set you back 99 cents to download, but it doesn't have in-app purchases and even makes the Mighty Eagle (an old in-app purchase) available at no extra cost. 

Netflix is now using its growing mobile game collection to support a good cause. The streaming service has launched three Android and iOS games headlined by This Is A True Story, a game meant to raise awareness about the lack of safe drinking water. The team-up between Frosty Pop, Charity:Water and Pantone is a puzzle title that challenges you walk miles in sub-Saharan Africa to find water while dealing with poachers, windstorms and other hazards. It's a frank commentary on a dire state of affairs (771 million people don't have access to clean water), although the hand-painted backdrops might keep you coming back after you understand the message.

The other games are less poignant, but may still be worth a try. Pik Pok has unveiled both Into the Dead 2: Unleashed, a sequel to its endless runner/shooter hybrid, as well as Shatter Remastered, a modernization of its brick-breaker/shoot-em-up crossover for the PS3.

All three games should be available on Android and iOS today (March 22nd) at 1PM Eastern. As with other Netflix games, the latest selection is 'free' once you've signed in with your account. These releases probably won't convince you to sign up for Netflix. However, This Is A True Story might just use Netflix's size to reach a large audience.

Your Steam Deck can now double as an Xbox Cloud Gaming handheld, provided you're willing to put in some work. The Vergereports Microsoft has brought Xbox Cloud Gaming support to the Steam Deck through a beta release of the Edge browser. You'll need to run some command line tasks on top of installing Edge (Microsoft recommends a mouse and keyboard during the install), but after that you can play Halo Infinite and other titles anywhere you have a reasonably fast internet connection.

Community Manager Missy Quarry made clear this was "just the beginning" of gaming on Edge, suggesting the experience might get better. Microsoft's team is open to feedback on Edge and the Xbox Cloud Gaming experience.

Microsoft has devoted significant energy to Steam Deck Support in recent days. On top of game streaming support, it outlined first-party game support for Valve's handheld with word that titles like Deathloop and Psychonauts 2 are verified to play properly. Separately, Valve enabled basic Windows support by offering drivers.

It's not shocking that Microsoft would support the Steam Deck despite its use of a Linux-based platform. Microsoft not only makes money from the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription you'll need to play, but gets you to try Edge and games you might have otherwise ignored. What the company might lose in immediate Windows sales it could gain in long-term customers.

The Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor near Oxford in the UK has produced the highest level of sustained energy ever from atom fusion, Nature has reported. On December 21st, 2021, the "tokamak" reactor produced 59 megajoules of energy during a five second fusion pulse, more than double what it managed way back in 1997. 

"These landmark results have taken us a huge step closer to conquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of them all," said Ian Chapman, lead of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE). 

The JET reactor is the flagship experimental device of the European Fusion Program (EUROfusion) funded by the EU. It's mainly designed to help scientists prove that their modeling is correct, with an eye toward future experiments with the much larger ITER reactor being built in France, set to start fusion testing in 2025. "JET really achieved what was predicted. The same modelling now says ITER will work," fusion physicist Josefine Proll (who is not involved with JET) told Nature. 

The experiment pushed the reactor to its "absolute maximum," said CCFE plasma scientist Fernanda Rimini. JET used a mixture of deuterium (aka heavy water) and tritium, the same fuel mix that will power ITER. Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope that generates more neutrons when fused with deuterium than deuterium fused with itself, increasing energy output. The researchers also replaced the tokamak's inner wall to reduce tritium waste. 

JET hit a Q value of 0.33, meaning it produced about a third the energy put in. The highest Q value achieved so far is 0.7 by the US Department of Energy's National Ignition Facility, but it only hit that figure for 4 billionths of a second. The goal with ITER is to reach a goal of Q factor of 10 or greater, while creating 500 MW of power for long 400 to 600 second pulses. ITER will not produce net energy in the form of electricity, but will pave the way for future machines that can. 

Before that happens, however, researchers must solve several challenges. Principally, they have to deal with the heat created in the exhaust region of ITER, as it will be much greater proportionally than with the JET reactor. Still, the experiment's success allowed the team to glean a wealth of information that can be analyzed over the next few years. "If we can maintain fusion for five seconds, we can do it for five minutes and then five hours as we scale up our operations in future machines," said EUROfusion program manager Tony Donne. 

The Biden administration is determined to eliminate combustion engine vehicles from federal fleets, and it's not thrilled that one agency might be holding it back. According to The Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency and White House Council on Environmental Quality have sent letters to the US Postal Service urging it to rethink a proposal to mostly buy gas-powered next-gen delivery trucks in a project worth up to $11.3 billion. The current strategy is a "lost opportunity" to more drastically reduce the carbon footprint of one of the world's largest government fleets, EPA associate policy administrator Vicki Arroyo wrote.

Only 10 percent of the USPS' new trucks would be electric under the existing proposal, and the overall effort would only improve the fleet's fuel economy by 0.4MPG. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously claimed the Postal Service couldn't afford more electric mail vehicles, and has argued his agency needs to focus on basic infrastructure improvements over technology. The USPS is required by law to be self-sufficient, and can't simply request government funds.

There may be an uphill battle to make any changes. DeJoy has staunchly refused to alter the purchasing plan, and the USPS rejected California officials' January 28th request for a public hearing on the plans. The service also largely ignored EPA advice when it created the analysis guiding its plan. The environmental regulator accused the USPS of using "biased" estimates that preferred gas-based trucks. The mail institution reportedly assumed battery and gas prices would remain static even decades later, and that the existing charging infrastructure wouldn't grow. It further overestimated the emissions from plug-in vehicles, according to the EPA.

The Postal Service might be forced to change regardless. The EPA has the option of referring its disagreements to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which can mediate disputes like this. The letters gave the USPS a last chance to voluntarily rethink its proposal before the Council stepped in, sources for The Post claimed. Environmental groups are also likely to sue if the gas-centric plan moves ahead, and the law firm Earthjustice told The Post the USPS might lose when its proposal often lacks supporting evidence. You may well see a transition toward mail-carrying EVs, even if the transition is particularly messy.

Following the release of Unicode 14, Apple is finally starting to include the new emojis on iOS with the release of the 15.4 developer beta, Apple Insider has reported. As we detailed last summer, some of the new emojis available are "heart hands," "troll," "biting lip" and "melting face." The latter could be a popular option for our troubled times, smiling as your face literally melts while a pandemic and other strife rages on.

The final version of Unicode 14 also includes multiple skin tone variations of the handshake emoji, the one character you ironically couldn't modify for different skin shades. It took the Unicode Consortium a good two years, but they've finally got a new handshake character that's available with up to 25 different skin tone combinations. 

Unicode 14.0 has already arrived on Android 12, which has now gone out to most major smartphone brands. They're only available on Apple's iOS devices with the latest 15.4 developer beta, but will appear widely once the release comes out of beta later this year. 

Netflix is still relatively new to mobile gaming, but that isn't stopping it from quickly releasing new titles. What's on Netflixnotes the streaming service has unveiled two new titles for subscribers. The headliner, Arcanium: Rise of Akhan, is an Android and iOS card battler reminiscent of Hearthstone. Supercombo's mobile adaptation of its Steam Early Access game may be single-player, but it adds open-world and roguelike elements you don't often see in titles like this.

The other release, Krispee Street, is billed as a "feel-good hidden object game" for Android and iOS. FrostyPop's newest project is effectively a Where's Waldo?-style character and item hunt based on the Krispee Street webcomic. It's decidedly more relaxed than Arcanium and offers both a daily puzzle and a future "Zen Mode" to help you unwind.

The Netflix game library is still relatively small (these latest additions bring it to nine), and likely won't be a draw by itself. The collection should become more substantial over time, though, and this might reduce the temptation to skip a month when you've run out of things to watch.

Wind and solar power could meet around 85 percent of US electricity needs, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. Batteries, capacity overbuilding and other storage options could increase that figure.

A blend of wind and solar power should be enough to meet most of the current energy needs in "advanced, industrialized nations," according to the study. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), China’s Tsinghua University, the Carnegie Institution for Science and Caltech looked at 39 years of hourly energy demand data from 42 countries to determine whether there's enough wind and solar resources to meet requirements.

They found that most reliable systems, in which wind power is most prevalent, can meet energy needs in the countries they studied between 72 and 91 percent of the time, and that's before any storage considerations. Add the capacity to store up to 12 hours' worth of energy, and these renewable energy sources can meet between 83 and 94 percent of hourly energy needs. However, the researchers noted even when wind and solar sources can power over 90 percent of a region's energy needs, there would still be hundreds of hours per year where demand isn't met.

“Wind and solar could meet more than 80 percent of demand in many places without crazy amounts of storage or excess generating capacity, which is the critical point,” co-author Steven Davis, professor of Earth system science at UCI, said. “But depending on the country, there may be many multi-day periods throughout the year when some demand will need to be met by energy storage and other non-fossil energy sources in a zero-carbon future.”

There are geophysical challenges at play. The paper suggests it would be easier for larger countries closer to the equator to fully switch to sustainable power sources, since they can more reliably bank on having solar energy all year long. Germany, for instance, might struggle to meet most of its needs through wind and solar, since it's a relatively smaller country at a higher latitude.

One solution would be for neighboring countries to pool their resources. "A lot of consistency and reliability could be provided by a system that includes solar resources from Spain, Italy and Greece with bountiful wind available in the Netherlands, Denmark and the Baltic region," Dan Tong, assistant professor of Earth system science at Tsinghua University and lead author on the paper, said.

Many countries are cutting back on their reliance on fossil fuels, which is key to mitigating carbon emissions and limiting the impact of climate change. Europe generated more electricity from renewable sources in 2020 than it did from fossil fuels, according to a report from two green energy-focused think tanks.

So what is the metaverse? The big tech news last week was that Facebook — the company — is renaming itself Meta, which will apparently align it with its future goals and aims.

But what does it even mean? Judging from Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, it’s definitely about “experiences.” Meta’s take on the metaverse is “a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality.”

Other things that have been described as metaverse include: Snow Crash (where the term originates), Ready Player One, Second Life, The Matrix universe. Both Roblox and Fortnite even touch on a lot of the major points of the metaverse. Senior Editor Daniel Cooper tries to detangle Zuckerberg’s view of his business’ future, right here.

— Mat Smith

‘Roblox’ returns after three-day outage

The company didn't pinpoint the cause until just hours earlier.

The gaming platform's developer said it was "incrementally" bringing regions back to service after having pinpointed the cause roughly three hours earlier. Some had blamed the outage on a Chipotle promo that launched half an hour before the failure. Roblox has over 40 million daily users. Maybe they really like burritos? The company, while it didn't detail the cause, has ruled out particular "experiences or partnerships."

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NASA delays SpaceX Crew-3 launch to November 3rd

It’ll be a late start.

NASA has delayed the launch of Crew-3 from early on Halloween to 1:10 AM ET on November 3rd. The agency pinned the setback on "unfavorable" weather. There probably won't be another delay, though. Officials say there’s an 80 percent chance of good weather for the new date. Live coverage of the launch on NASA's channel will start November 2nd at 8:45 PM ET.

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Juno probe shows the first 3D view of Jupiter's atmosphere

Giant cyclones.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, Gerald Eichstädt and Sean Doran (CC BY-NC-SA)

​​Researchers have produced the first 3D view of Jupiter's atmospheric layers, showing in greater detail than before how its turbulent clouds and storms work. Most notably, it's clearer how its giant cyclones and anticyclones behave. They're much taller than expected, with the Great Red Spot (an anticyclone) running 200 miles deep.

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Apple's mixed reality headset might play 'high-quality' VR games

The headset could still launch as soon as 2022.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed Apple is aiming for a headset with both fast chips and high-res displays that can handle "high-quality" VR games. While it's not certain just what chips would be involved, a previous leak mentioned a possible 8K resolution per eye.

The headset is still poised to arrive "as early as" 2022, Gurman said. He also suggested Apple would eventually follow up the mixed headset with an augmented-reality-only model, but that was "years down the road."

Apple has acquired companies and reportedly shuffled executives with mixed reality in mind. And you know what this means? Apple might dabble in the metaverse, too.

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Lenovo's rumored 17-inch ThinkBook Plus has a second screen for drawing

You could scribble without obscuring the main display.

Evan Blass

Well-known device leaker Evan Blass has shared what he said is an image of a 17-inch ThinkBook Plus model, and it includes a secondary screen that appears to work with a stylus. The 17-inch ThinkBook Plus seems to have an extra-wide main display and fit in a full keyboard along with a large trackpad.

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Apple is rolling out updates to its iWork suite of Keynote, Pages and Numbers on iPhone, iPad and Mac. The next time you deliver a presentation with Keynote, you'll be able to include live video feeds directly in the slides. You can resize the video feed and change the look with masks, frames, drop shadows and reflections.

With the Mac version of Keynote, you can add feeds from multiple external cameras, and share a connected iPhone or iPad screen, which could prove useful for interactive demos. There are more collaboration features too. A new multi-presenter function lets anyone control a shared slideshow and advance slides remotely using a Mac, iPhone or iPad. This could come in handy for group presentations.

The changes to Pages are largely iPhone-focused. The Screen View feature arranges text, images and other aspects of the document into a single-column view. Apple has increased the text size, while images are sized to fit your phone's screen. You can also view tables by scrolling left and right. Users will still be able to edit documents as usual when Screen View is active. You don't need to do anything to set up the feature, and it works with all word processing documents. Apple says you can toggle off Screen View so you can see the proper layout before you're ready to share or print the document.

As for Numbers, you can now get to grips with pivot tables across Apple devices. You'll be able to summarize, group and rearrange data to spot and study trends and patterns. There are options to visualize the pivot tables with charts and to share pivot data without disclosing the source data. You can also import pivot tables from and export them to Microsoft Excel.

Elsewhere, there's a new chart type called radar charts. Apple says this "makes it easy to visually compare multiple variables with similarities shown as overlapping areas, allowing differences and outliers to really stand out." There are new filters you can use to highlight unique entries or duplicate data.

All three apps now support Apple's new translation tools on iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey. The latest versions of Keynote, Pages and Numbers are now available on the App Store and Mac App Store.

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