Hackers can eavesdrop on conversations near smartphones by measuring sound vibrations with the handset’s built-in motion sensors.

Experiments had previously shown that the gyroscope and accelerometers in smartphones, collectively known as an inertial measurement unit (IMU), could detect sound vibrations in the air and listen in on conversations. This means an app that doesn’t have permission to use the microphone could get around this by using the IMU as a makeshift sound sensor.

To combat this, Google set a limit…

The Halo franchise is going to look a bit different going forward, starting with developer 343 Industries itself. The company announced Sunday that it’s rebranding to Halo Studios to mark a whole “new approach” to development, along with multiple new Halo projects.

This is the second time in history that the Halo series will be developed under a different name. The first three Halo games was developed by Bungie, followed by 343 Industries, which was formed inside Microsoft after Bungie opted to go independent.

“If you really break Halo down, there have been two very distinct chapters. Chapter 1 – Bungie. Chapter 2 – 343 Industries,” studio head Pierre Hintze said in an Xbox Wire post. “Now, I think we have an audience which is hungry for more. So we’re not just going to try improve the efficiency of development, but change the recipe of how we make Halo games.”

The first big change is to transition from using the proprietary Slipspace engine to Unreal Engine 5. Halo Infinite, the franchise’s last new mainline game, was made on the engine, but it required a lot of internal upkeep. It’s made from decades-old Bungie code, and according to Bloomberg, that partially led to Infinite‘s long development cycle, along with a dependance on contract workers, and a switch to remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bloomberg reported early last year that the company would be switching over to Unreal after a series of disappointments. While Infinite had a positive launch, the edges started to show soon after. The multiplayer’s post-launch releases were received negatively by the fan base that cited overpriced cosmetics, slow progression, and thin updates, but game modes were also delayed due to problems with Slipspace. Basically, the switch to Unreal is a long time coming, and will allow the team to work on more projects.

“Respectfully, some components of Slipspace are almost 25 years old,” art director Chris Matthews said in the post. “Although 343 were developing it continuously, there are aspects of Unreal that Epic has been developing for some time, which are unavailable to us in Slipspace — and would have taken huge amounts of time and resources to try and replicate.”

“We had a disproportionate focus on trying to create the conditions to be successful in servicing Halo Infinite,” Hintze said in the Halo Studios announcement. “[But switching to Unreal] allows us to put all the focus on making multiple new experiences at the highest quality possible.”

Halo Studios has been working in Unreal with Project Foundry, which isn’t a new game but a demonstration of how the Epic Games engine can be used with the Halo series. The company showed off some example clips at the 2024 Halo World Championship on Sunday. As for the new Halo games in the works, we don’t have any information on them just yet.

Most physicists operate under the assumption that there is a world out there that is entirely independent of us, an objective reality in which more-or-less well-defined things behave according to immutable physical laws. Yet over the past century, ever since the development of quantum theory, there have been discombobulating questions about the role of observers – not least ourselves – in the makings of reality.

These questions are often brushed under the carpet, but Daniele Oriti, a theorist at the Complutense University of Madrid, prefers to confront them. Arguably, he has been pushed to do so by his work on one of the foremost challenges in modern physics: creating a quantum theory of gravity. The difficulty here is reconciling the inherently smooth picture of space-time in general relativity with quantum theory, which is written in contradictory mathematical language. Getting the two to play nicely together has forced Oriti to think deeply about the subtleties of physical laws – not least the fact that space-time is a shaky foundation on which to build them. His verdict? That physical laws can’t exist independently of us, as something that we can all agree on, but instead reside within us somehow.

Oriti spoke to New Scientist about how he came to such a startling conclusion, why physicists need to be more aware of the complex relations between the world, scientific models and observers, and how appreciating the true nature of physical laws might yield fresh breakthroughs.

Thomas Lewton: What do people get wrong about the nature of reality?

Daniele Oriti: At the risk of…

The Verizon network is down again. This is the second, seemingly nationwide, outage of the wireless and wired broadband internet service provider in the US this week.

Complaints arise about the Verizon network being down again

Verizon suffered a nationwide outage recently. The company managed to ensure its services were back to normal operations. However, complaints about the Verizon network going down have once again surged on Downdetector.

According to Downdetector, the number of complaints it received from Verizon customers was hovering at 24 at 5:51 am ET. But they surged to 5,119 after 8 am. Analysis of the complaints indicates the company’s wireless cellular network is experiencing problems.

More than 75% of the complaints are about Verizon not being able to complete calls. Some users have claimed their 5G home broadband service isn’t operational. Less than 10% of the complainants claimed they could not connect to a Verizon network as their devices weren’t getting any signal from the carrier.

According to PhoneArena, major U.S. cities have been affected by the outage. Hence, it could be safe to assume that Verizon may have suffered a nationwide outage for the second time in less than 10 days.

How to check if the carrier’s network is operational?

Several Verizon subscribers have complained on social media platforms. Some of them heard a recording that said, “Welcome to Verizon Wireless, your call cannot be completed as dialed”.

Needless to say, such automated recordings do not offer any clue about what may have gone wrong while the carrier attempted to connect the call. It is, however, concerning to note that services that rely on the carrier’s networks also seem to be experiencing problems.

Straight Talk, a prepaid cellular service operator too seems to be down for many users. This service piggybacks on Verizon’s network.

Verizon offers a dedicated webpage to see if the company’s network is operational in their area. Affected users can use any network to head over to this website if they are experiencing connectivity issues.