New week, new stories. The tech news cycle has moved on from Apple and, over the weekend, Disney showcased a lot of new projects.
1. New Disney, Pixar and Marvel projects
Over the weekend, Disney revealed a heap of new projects across their Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars brands. Leading the announcements seemed to be the announcement of a prequel to The Lion King, titled Mufasa. We’re sure everyone wanted that.
2. NASA’s asteroid-smashing spacecraft snaps the first image of its target
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is finally within sight of its target. In 17 days, the probe will crash head-on into Dimorphos, a natural satellite of the asteroid of Didymos. The plan to smash a spacecraft into a binary asteroid system is part of an effort to shore up our planetary defence capabilities. NASA said last week that the DART team was finally able to see the light reflecting off the asteroid Didymos after combining 243 images taken by DART’s high-resolution imager.
3. Quentin Tarantino’s NFT legal battle comes to an end
Quentin Tarantino and Miramax have reportedly buried the hatchet in their dispute over NFT auction excerpts of Pulp Fiction. The settlement comes amidst a brutal cryptocurrency downturn that’s all but killed the once seemingly unstoppable NFT hype train. Miramax claimed the NFTs fell under an emerging technology category from which they could still potentially profit. Wanting a cut, the company sued Tarantino for allegedly violating the company’s copyright and trademark.
4. Assassin’s Creed is going to Japan
Moving over into gaming news, the next major Assassin’s Creed title will be going to feudal Japan, a long-awaited setting for the franchise. Although a solid name for the game hasn’t been announced, it’s being called ‘Codename Red’ for the moment. Originally the time period was seen as “boring” by developers of the game, however now there’s dread that the new game will continue the RPG focus that’s had a mixed reaction since the series first adopted it with Origins.
5. Rivian and Mercedes are teaming up on electric vans
Popular electric truck maker Rivian has signed an agreement to consider a partnership to pursue a deal in cooperation with Mercedes’ van division, with the goal of building a new electric van factory in “Central/Eastern Europe.” If that sounds convoluted and vague, that’s because it is — Rivian acknowledges that the “Memorandum of Understanding” is non-binding, and requires nothing of either party; any further partnership would be subject to regulatory approval.
BONUS ITEM: One of Pixar’s new projects, Elemental, seems quite a bit like Fireboy and Lavagirl, which millennials and zoomers might remember from Coolmath Games in high school.
— Coolmath Games (@TheRealCoolmath) September 10, 2022
Have a nice week.