Following Monday’s massive service outage that took out all of its services, Facebook has published a blog post detailing what happened yesterday. According to Santosh Janardhan, the company's vice president of infrastructure, the outage started with what should have been routine maintenance. At some point yesterday, a command was issued that was supposed to assess the availability of the backbone network that connects all of Facebook’s disparate computing facilities. Instead, the order unintentionally took those connections down. Janardhan says a bug in the company’s internal audit system did not properly prevent the command from executing.

That issue caused a secondary problem that ultimately made yesterday’s outage into the international incident that it became. When Facebook’s DNS servers couldn’t connect to the company’s primary data centers, they stopped advertising the border gateway protocol (BGP) routing information that every device on the internet needs to connect to a server.

“The end result was that our DNS servers became unreachable even though they were still operational,” said Janardhan. “This made it impossible for the rest of the internet to find our servers.”

As we learned partway yesterday, what made an already difficult situation worse was that the outage made it impossible for Facebook engineers to connect to the servers they needed to fix. Moreover, the loss of DNS functionality meant they couldn’t use many of the internal tools they depend on to investigate and resolve networking issues in normal circumstances. That meant the company had to physically send personnel to its data centers, a task that was complicated by the physical safeguards it had in place at those locations.

“They’re hard to get into, and once you’re inside, the hardware and routers are designed to be difficult to modify even when you have physical access to them,” according to Janardhan. Once it could restore its backbone network, Facebook was cautious not to turn everything back on all at once since the surging power and computing demands may have led to more crashes.

“Every failure like this is an opportunity to learn and get better, and there’s plenty for us to learn from this one,” said Janardhan. “After every issue, small and large, we do an extensive review process to understand how we can make our systems more resilient. That process is already underway.”

Filming is underway on the first feature-length movie to be shot in space after Russian actor Yulia Sherepild and director Klim Shipenko docked at the International Space Station. Their movie, The Challenge, will feature around 35-40 minutes of scenes filmed on the space station, according to The New York Times. The film is about a surgeon (Sherepild) who goes on an emergency ISS mission to save the life of a cosmonaut (Shipenko).

The two cosmonauts who were already on the ISS captured a shot as Peresild (or her character) emerged from the capsule and entered the station. Sherepild and Shipenko will film scenes over the next couple of weeks before returning to Earth on October 17th.

Other projects have been filmed on the ISS, including documentaries, virtual reality projects and a short called Apogee of Fear. Tom Cruise hoped to make the first feature film in space with the help of NASA and SpaceX, but the Russian team beat him to the punch. Russia's Roscosmos agency announced a plan to send an actor to the ISS soon after word emerged about Cruise's movie in May 2020.

Time will tell whether The Challenge is any good. Regardless, the creatives behind the project have carved out their own little slice of history.

Remember Hyper Scape? No? Well, apparently neither does Ubisoft. The publisher is working on a new battle royale that will take players to the Tom Clancy universe. On Tuesday, the company announced Ghost Recon Frontline. Like many of its contemporaries, the free-to-play title will pit you and two other teammates against more than one hundred other players. 

If the Call of Duty: Warzone comparisons weren't inevitable already, Frontline moves the series away from its traditional third-person perspective to a first-person one. However, where Ubisoft's Bucharest studio hopes to differentiate the game is with a tweak to the battle royale formula. In Frontline's signature Expedition mode, you and your team will need to find three pieces of intel scattered across an island map. The twist is that you later need to extract that information by calling in an airlift. Other teams can ambush you during this crucial moment and steal the data you fought so hard to obtain. The playspace also won't get smaller as a match progresses.     

The franchise’s most recent outing, 2019’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, was, to put it mildly, a disastrous release for Ubisoft. Thanks to its unfinished state, the game performed so poorly in its first week of availability that the company delayed all of its biggest 2020 releases. It then went on to spend months patching Breakpoint, but the game never quite recovered from the reputation it earned at launch. Ubisoft said it plans to continue to support Breakpoint while working on Frontline.  

Ubisoft didn't share a release date for Ghost Recon Frontline, but it said it would hold a closed PC test starting on October 14th that people in select countries across Europe can sign up to take part in by visiting the game's website.

Razer is joining many PC makers by unveiling new Windows 11 systems, although the biggest news may have more to do with prices than the computers themselves. To begin with, the Razer Book now has a regular starting price of $1,000 as a company store exclusive. You'll still get the familiar 11th-gen Core i5, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, but you no longer have to wait for the 13.4-inch machine to go on sale if $1,200 is too extravagant.

Higher-spec Razer Book models are also better values than their outgoing models, at least at official prices. A jump to $1,500 gives you a touchscreen, a Core i7, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD (previously $1,600), while it now takes 'just' $1,800 to buy a 4K touch variant that now includes 1TB of storage on top of the existing Core i7 and 16GB of RAM.

There's also a slight update for heavy-duty gamers. The Blade 15 Advanced now comes in new configurations that mate a 240Hz QHD screen and a 11th-gen Core i7 with faster GeForce RTX 3070 and 3080 graphics choices. They won't be cheap, of course. The 'base' starts at $2,700 with the RTX 3070, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, while the all-out $3,100 model leaps to the RTX 3080 and 32GB of RAM.

All the new Windows 11 PCs are available to order today. Existing Razer systems (including those still on sale) can upgrade to Windows 11 as well, although you'll want to check the compatibility list before you pick up an older model.

If you turn to Facebook Gaming to watch other people play your favorite games, you’ll now see creators collaborate on joint streams. Facebook is introducing support for co-streaming. The feature allows up to four accounts to stream together concurrently. With today’s rollout, co-streaming is available to all content creators, not just those enrolled in Facebook’s partner program. You can access the functionality search for and tag other creators through the Live Producer left rail, in addition to the Gaming Tab and Stream Dashboard of the edit stream module.

“With co-streaming, we aim to increase discoverability for creators, encourage collaboration between creators and elevate the overall viewing experience for everyone,” the company said in a blog post. The addition of co-streaming support is a case of Facebook playing catch up. Twitch has offered similar functionality through its Squad Stream feature since 2019. It’s also worth pointing out the idea itself isn’t new. While it’s no longer around, OnLive introduced a multi-view feature back in 2012. All the same, it’s a significant addition for Facebook Gaming, particularly as it continues to try to compete with Twitch.

It wouldn't be a new James Bond movie without a few tie-ins, and No Time to Die is clearly sticking to that rule. Psyonix and Epic Games have revealed that Bond's Aston Martin Valhalla, the first hybrid car in the game, will be available in Rocket League (complete with matching audio, decal and wheels) for 1100 Credits starting October 7th. You'll also find three in-game challenges to unlock a Bond-themed avatar border, banner and player title.

Completists will have the option of buying a Bond 007 Collection between October 7th and October 13th that includes both the Valhalla and the classic DB5 for 2,000 Credits. The DB5 was released in July, but this could represent a better deal for Bond aficionados.

The expansion isn't a surprise when Epic has lots of money to throw at promotional deals. This could boost interest in Rocket League among either diehard Bond fans or newcomers looking for more real-world cars. If nothing else, it should be amusing to watch 007 score a flying, upside-down goal or two.

Google has revealed the date for its big fall hardware event. It will show off the Pixel 6 lineup in more detail on October 19th, starting at 1PM ET.

The company has already revealed some details about the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, including what they phones look like. In August, Google said Tensor, the first system-on-chip it designed, will debut inside these phones. The SoC will power the Pixel 6's AI-heavy features, such as speech recognition and on-device live captions and translation.

The phones will have camera upgrades, of course. The Pixel 6's main camera will allow in approximately 150 percent more light than previous models, while the Pro will have 4x optical zoom and an additional telephoto option. The company claimed that Tensor will improve the photo processing capabilities too.

You can expect up to a day's worth of battery life from a single charge, Google told us. The devices are 5G compatible and they'll be able to take advantage of all the new features of Android 11.

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Amazon is reportedly aiming to bring some of the tech it uses at cashierless Amazon Go stores to your kitchen. According to Insider, the company has been working on a smart fridge that can monitor items and help you order replacements if you're running low on something.

The team behind the Amazon Go systems is said to be heading the charge on the project, which has been in the works for at least two years. The Just Walk Out tech used at Go stores tracks what shoppers put in their carts and automatically charges them when they leave. Members of the Amazon Fresh and Lab126 hardware teams are reportedly involved with the fridge project too.

The fridge would monitor the items inside and keep tabs on your purchasing habits, according to the report. If you run low on something you buy frequently, the fridge would notify you and make it easier to order more from Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh, which could give the company's grocery division a boost. The fridge could offer recipe suggestions too, which may prove useful if you forget about an item that's about to expire.

Amazon wouldn't make the fridges itself, Insider's sources said. It's looking to team up with an appliance manufacturer. There's a possibility that Alexa voice control could be included. That's said to not be a major concern, but given Amazon's propensity for stuffing Alexa into nearly every other type of product, including home robots and its own TVs, it wouldn't be a surprise if the fridge has voice assistant support.

The company has reportedly spent upwards of $50 million per year on the project so far. Even so, there's no guarantee that the fridge will come to market as it's possible Amazon will shelve the plans. If the fridge does come to market, it likely won't come cheap. An Amazon spokesperson told Engadget the company doesn't comment “on rumors or speculation.”

The concept isn't entirely new. In 2016, Samsung revealed a fridge that can help you keep track of what's inside without having to open the door. You can even order groceries using the built-in touchscreen. Amazon's fridge would take the idea a little further, though, since it would flag items that you're about to run out of and help you order more through the company's own grocery ecosystem.

The Facebook whistleblower who has provided a trove of internal documents to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission is testifying about research she says proves the social network has repeatedly lied about its platform. The documents were the basis for The Wall Street Journal's reporting on Facebook's controversial rules for celebrities, and the disastrous effect of Instagram on some teens' mental health.

“Facebook and big tech are facing their big tobacco moment,” committee chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal said at the start of the hearing. “Facebook knows its products can be addictive and toxic to children. They value their profit more than the pain that they cause to children and their families.”

In her opening statement, Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, said that the company has ignored much of its own research and is “buying its profits with our safety.” She urged Congress to adopt new regulations

“The choices being made inside of Facebook are disastrous for our children, our public safety, our privacy and for our democracy,” Haugen said. “And that is why we must demand Facebook make changes.”

She highlighted Facebook’s unwillingness to make data available outside of its own research teams has helped the company mislead the public. “The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the US government, and from governments around the world,” Haugen said. “The documents I have provided to Congress prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public about what its own research reveals about the safety of children, the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems, and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages.”

She also said that Congress should not be swayed by Facebook’s insistence on “false choices,” and that simply reforming privacy laws or Section 230 would not go far enough. “We can afford nothing less than full transparency,” Haugen said. “Facebook wants you to believe that the problems we're talking about are unsolvable... Facebook can change, but it's clearly not going to do so on its own."

Haugen’s appearance comes days after Facebook sent its head of safety, Antigone Davis, to testify in front of the same committee. She and other executives have repeatedly tried to downplay the company's research, with Davis saying that the documents "were not bombshell research." In Tuesday’s hearing, some senators called out Mark Zuckerberg, saying that they should be hearing from him instead. “Rather than taking personal responsibility, showing leadership, Mark Zuckerberg is going sailing,” Blumenthal said, in an apparent reference to a recent Facebook post from the CEO.

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Instagram may have been down for hours, but it's back with an arguably overdue change to how the social network handles videos. The Facebook brand is merging its long-form IGTV format with the regular videos from your feed, leaving just one format for all Instagram footage — you won't have to distinguish between the two. We've asked Instagram if this will lead to longer videos playing directly in your feed, but there will always be a Video tab in profiles to explore more content.

The move might help Instagram-based creators, too. While they'll still have to produce long-form video to qualify for ads (now called Instagram In-Stream video ads), they should have an easier time reaching viewers who would have glossed over IGTV in the past. Instagram is also merging post and video insights into a single metric.

You may have an easier time polishing that video, too. Instagram is bringing a few common editing features to its videos, including trimming, filters, location tags and people tags. Still images have had filters and tags for a while, of course, but this theoretically puts moving pictures more on par. You may have an easier time finding videos linked to a friend or a memorable concert.

The merger could boost uptake for Instagram video. IGTV demand wasn't what Instagram expected, and this update makes the longer video format more accessible, not to mention less confusing. Creators might be more inclined to share videos on Instagram as a result — and that might help the social media giant better compete against TikTok, YouTube and other video-focused heavyweights.