Evidence of an ancient ocean on Mars has been potentially uncovered by China’s Zhurong rover, scientists report. Data gathered by the now-defunct rover indicates a possible ancient shoreline in Mars’ northern hemisphere. Researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, including lead scientist Bo Wu, believe these findings support long-standing theories of a large Martian ocean that existed billions of years ago. The Zhurong rover, which travelled approximately 2 kilometres within the Utopia Planitia basin, relayed this data through observations from its onboard cameras and ground-penetrating radar.

The study describing the findings was published in the journal Scientific Reports. Through Zhurong’s exploration, researchers identified features possibly related to water activity, including pitted cones, channels, and formations resembling mud volcanoes. Such structures, the scientists suggest, could represent a coastal landscape shaped by the once-existing ocean. Further analysis of the surface deposits indicates that the ocean may have existed around 3.68 billion years ago, potentially containing silt-laden water that left distinct geological layers on the Martian landscape.
Complex History of Water on Mars

The research team posits that Mars’ ancient ocean may have experienced phases of freezing and thawing, contributing to the formation of the observed coastline. Sergey Krasilnikov of Hong Kong Polytechnic University noted that the ocean may have frozen over for about 10,000 to 100,000 years before completely drying up, roughly 260 million years later. Wu acknowledged the difficulty in conclusively determining the shoreline due to erosion over millennia but proposed that asteroid impacts could have preserved certain regions of the coastline.

Future Prospects for Verifying Mars’ Water History

Despite Zhurong’s findings, scientists acknowledge that definitive evidence of Mars’ ancient water history will require analysis of Martian samples on Earth. China’s Tianwen 3 mission, set to launch in 2028, aims to return surface samples by 2031. In comparison, NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is projected to return samples in the 2030s.

The US Federal Trade Commission official on Thursday withdrew the agency’s case before an in-house judge that sought to block Microsoft’s $69 billion (roughly Rs. 5,66,200 crore) acquisition of game-maker Activision.

The agency has been pursuing a two-pronged attack against the proposed transaction. One was in district court, which refused last week to slap a preliminary injunction on the proposed transaction. An appeals court also turned down a request for the deal to be paused.

The second was before an FTC administrative law judge, where the deal was set to go to trial on August 2. It was this attack that the agency put on hold on Thursday, in an order made by FTC Secretary April Tabor.

Microsoft and Activision argued in a motion posted to the FTC’s website on Wednesday that withdrawing the agency’s case was both mandatory and in the public interest.

“The district court had a full opportunity to consider the FTC’s claims and found that the Commission was unlikely to succeed on the merits of those claims for multiple, independently sufficient reasons,” the companies said in their motion.

Activision Blizzard said on Wednesday it had extended the deadline for the close of its takeover by Microsoft to October 18 as the companies work to secure approval from the United Kingdom’s antitrust authority.

The Call of Duty publisher said the companies also agreed to increase the deal termination fee to $3.5 billion (roughly Rs. 28,700 crore) from $3 billion (roughly Rs. 24,600 crore) if it does not close by August 29. The fee will further rise to $4.5 billion (roughly Rs. 36,900 crore) after September 15.

Earlier this week, Microsoft’s appeal against Britain’s block on its takeover of Activision was formally paused by a London tribunal, to give the parties more time to resolve the dispute. Microsoft, Activision, and Britain’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), had all asked for a two-month stay of the case after the CMA said it would consider a modified deal put forward by Microsoft.

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

OnePlus 13 has reportedly been listed on a few certification websites, ahead of the anticipated debut of the company’s flagship phone. The listings for the purported handset on the sites reveal some details, including connectivity and camera speciation’s. The company is yet to announce plans to launch a successor to the OnePlus 12, which is tipped to arrive with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 (or Snapdragon 8 Elite) chipset that is expected to be unveiled at Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit on October 21.

OnePlus 13 Models Listed on Certification Websites

A OnePlus handset with two model numbers — CPH2645 and CPH2653 — was spotted on Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) website by 91Mobiles. The entries for both models suggest that the upcoming smartphone, believed to be the OnePlus 13, will offer 5G, 4G LTE, W-Fi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC) connectivity.

Meanwhile, one of the model numbers mentioned above has also been listed on the TUV Rheinland website, and the listing for a new CPH2645 model appears to confirm that the smartphone will be manufactured by OnePlus. However, this entry does not provide any meaningful information related to the smartphone’s specifications.

The publication also identified a listing for the same model number (CPH2645) on the Camera FV-5 database, which gives is a look at some of the specifications of the purported OnePlus 13. It is worth noting that some of the specifications could be higher due to pixel binning technology.

It will reportedly be equipped with a 50-megapixel camera (the Camera FV-5 entry states it will have a 12.6-megapixel primary sensor) along with an f/1.9 aperture and support for optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS). It can capture images with a resolution of 4,096×3,072 pixels, as per the listing.

The entry also reveals that the OnePlus 13 might be equipped with a 16-megapixel selfie camera (the entry states it will sport a 4-megapixel sensor), with an f/2.4 aperture and EIS. This camera is said to be capable of capturing images at a resolution of 2,304×1,728 pixels.

More details about the OnePlus 13 are likely to surface online in the days leading up to its debut. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 (or Snapdragon 8 Elite) chip is expected to be announced on October 21, which means that the OnePlus 13 could be introduced in China in the coming days or week, following by a launch in global markets.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 series could reportedly be launched in India this month. The laptop series was unveiled in December last year, but there was no word from the company at the time on plans to launch the lineup in India. The South Korean brand is now taking pre-reservations for the laptops and will make them available to buyers soon. The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 series includes the Galaxy Book 4 Pro, Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360, and Galaxy Book 4 Ultra models.

The company announced on Monday that it is now taking pre-reservations for the Galaxy Book 4 Pro and the Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360. These laptops can be expected to launch in India in the coming days, and we can expect to hear more about pricing and availability when they are launched in the country.

Both the Galaxy Book 4 Pro and the Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360 are available in Moonstone Gray and Platinum Silver colour options.

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro, Book 4 Pro 360 specifications (expected)

The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro that was launched in global markets is available in both 14-inch and 16-inch screen options and features an AMOLED WQXGA+ (1,800×2,880 pixels) display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 400 nits of peak brightness. Buyers can equip the laptop with either an Intel Core Ultra 7 or Intel Core Ultra 5 (Intel Evo Edition) processor paired with Intel Arc graphics, up to 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of SSD PCIe inbuilt storage.

The 14-inch model has a 63Wh battery whereas the larger 16-inch variant is backed by a 76Wh battery. Both versions come with 65W wired charging support. For connectivity, the Galaxy Book 4 Pro includes a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB Type-A port, HDMI 2.1 port, MicroSD slot and headphone microphone combo port.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro 360, it is available in a single 16-inch display option. The display and the processor configuration are the same as the Pro model. Additionally, it has a 360-degree hinge that allows the user to turn the display all the way around and use it like a tablet. It houses a 76Wh battery with 65W wired charging support. The laptop also comes bundled with the S Pen.

After a tough year, Microsoft’s video-gaming chief is still looking at acquisitions and charting how to compete and partner in the markets for handheld game devices and mobile stores.  

Deals that add “geographic diversity,” including in Asia, might be worthwhile, Phil Spencer said in an interview Tuesday at Bloomberg’s offices in New York. Buying another mobile company would add to titles Microsoft picked up in its $69 billion (roughly Rs. 5,82,417 crore) acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, he said.

“We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up,” Spencer said.  Still, there’s nothing “imminent” and very large deals are probably off the table at present as the company is spending a lot of time absorbing Activision Blizzard employees, he said.  

Microsoft wants to diversify the teams working on games by looking more to China, he said. The company developed a new mobile version of Age of Empires, a world-building franchise that first appeared in the 1990s, by partnering with Tencent Holdings Microsoft and Tencent released the game globally in October.

“It’s been a good area for us to learn from creative teams that have real unique capability,” Spencer said. “The real opportunity is to partner with creative teams in China for global.”

The executive, who has repeatedly professed his admiration for handheld game devices, said the “expectation is that we would do something” in that category. Although the company is working on prototypes and considering what it might do, Spencer also asked his group to look at the market and develop its vision based on what it learns. Such a device is a few years out, he said.

In the coming months, designers and engineers will focus on making the Xbox app work better on existing portable devices and partnering with hardware makers to make sure their products sync with Xbox games and experiences, he said. The Xbox app right now is good rather than great on some of these gadgets, he said.

“Longer term, I love us building devices,” Spencer said. “And I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now.”

The company’s planned online store for mobile games has been delayed as the group does additional research on the market, Spencer said. Xbox President Sarah Bond had announced the store in May, with a planned release date of July. But staffers are still talking to mobile developers, including those responsible for Microsoft-owned Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile, to figure out a plan. As regulatory cases involving Apple Inc.’s iOS and Alphabet Inc.’s Android mobile stores work their way through courts in various countries, Microsoft still doesn’t have an effective way to get its own store on mobile phones.

“So a web store would mean somebody doesn’t have to go into the app store to try to install something, but you still have to have a way to find the store,” Spencer said. “If we’re just hoping, like, if we build it, they will come, I’m going to bet that doesn’t work.”

That means Xbox has to make its store unique for players and figure out what will draw content creators. At the same time, it’s preparing for a world where Apple and Google mobile devices are more open to Xbox.

“I think the ball is moving in the right direction,” Spencer said. “I think this idea of open platforms, where users have more choice, creators have more choice, you see the momentum, right?”

After releasing the first batch of Xbox games for Sony Group’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Switch, Spencer is pleased with the results. Microsoft will do more of that, he said, and won’t rule out any game in Microsoft’s stable.

“I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’ ” he said. It’s too early to make any sort of decision on the next version of Halo, he said. 

Following the Activision acquisition, Xbox cut more than 2,500 jobs and closed three game-design studios. With the company exiting what management calls a difficult year amid a challenging mobile-game market, Spencer feels good about 2025. 

“The Xbox business has never been more healthy,” he said, citing growth in cloud and PC gaming as well as console usage. “The business is performing right now, and I think that means a more healthy future for hardware and the games we build.”

Spencer also said he’s optimistic about the growth of mobile games.

“I feel pretty good about where this industry is going,” he said. “To reach new players, we need to be creative and adaptive of new business models, new devices, new ways of access. We’re not going to grow the market with $1,000 (roughly Rs. 84,408) consoles.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)