A live-action film based on PAC-MAN is in the works from Bandai Namco Entertainment -- the company behind PAC-MAN -- and Wayfarer Studios, the production company founded by Justin Baldoni and Steve Sarowitz. The Hollywood Reporter reports: First introduced in the U.S. in 1980 -- and originally called Puck Man in Japan -- PAC-MAN became a coin-operated staple. The game is set in mazes where Pac-Man has to eat pellets while being pursued by colorful ghosts as the mazes get progressively more difficult. The game begat merchandise, several sequel games like Ms. PAC-MAN, as well as two television series, including a Hanna-Barbera produced ABC series and a Disney XD take.

The project will be based on an original idea from Chuck Williams (Sonic the Hedgehog) of Lightbeam Entertainment. Baldoni, Manu Gargi and Andrew Calof will produce on behalf of Wayfarer Studios, with Tracy Ryerson developing; Williams and Tim Kwok will produce on behalf of Lightbeam.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: If China were to invade Taiwan, the most-advanced chip factory in the world would be rendered "not operable," TSMC Chair Mark Liu said in an English-language interview with CNN this week. In the undated interview, Liu said that if Taiwan were invaded by China, the chipmaker's plant would not be able to operate because it relies on global supply chains. "Nobody can control TSMC by force. If you take a military force or invasion, you will render TSMC factory not operable," Liu said. "Because this is such a sophisticated manufacturing facility, it depends on real-time connection with the outside world, with Europe, with Japan, with U.S., from materials to chemicals to spare parts to engineering software and diagnosis." The remarks were aired as tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated in recent days as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits the island. "The war brings no winners, everybody's losers," Liu said.

Liu compared a potential conflict in Taiwan to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying that while the two conflicts are very different, the economic impact to other countries would be similar. He encouraged political leaders to try to avoid war. "Ukraine war is not good for any of the sides, it's lose-lose-lose scenarios," Liu said. Liu said an invasion of the territory would cause economic turmoil for China, Taiwan and Western countries. He said that TSMC sells chips to consumer-facing Chinese companies that need the company's services and the supply of advanced computer chips. "How can we avoid war? How can we ensure that the engine of the world economy continues humming, and let's have a fair competition," Liu said. Further reading: US To Stop TSMC, Intel From Adding Advanced Chip Fabs In China

Scientists have discovered dark matter around galaxies that existed about 12 billion years ago, the earliest detection yet of this mysterious substance that dominates the universe. Space.com reports: The findings, achieved by a collaboration led by researchers from Japan's Nagoya University, suggest that dark matter in the early universe is less 'clumpy' than predicted by many current cosmological models. If further work confirms this theory, it could change scientists' understanding of how galaxies evolve and suggest that the fundamental rules governing the cosmos could have been different when the 13.7 billion-year-old universe was just 1.7 billion years old. The key to mapping dark matter in the very early universe the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a sort of fossil radiation left over from the Big Bang that is distributed throughout the entire cosmos. [...]

The team combined lensing distortions of a large sample of ancient galaxies with those of the CMB to detect dark matter dating back to when the universe was just 1.7 billion years old. And this ancient dark matter paints a very different cosmic picture. "For the first time, we were measuring dark matter from almost the earliest moments of the universe," [University of Tokyo assistant professor Yuichi Harikane said in the statement]. "12 billion years ago, things were very different. You see more galaxies that are in the process of formation than at the present; the first galaxy clusters are starting to form as well." These clusters can be comprised of between 100 and 1,000 galaxies bound to large amounts of dark matter by gravity.

"Our finding is still uncertain," Harikane said. "But if it is true, it would suggest that the entire model is flawed as you go further back in time. This is exciting because if the result holds after the uncertainties are reduced, it could suggest an improvement of the model that may provide insight into the nature of dark matter itself." The team will continue to collect data to assess whether the Lambda-CDM model conforms to observations of dark matter in the early universe or if the assumptions behind the model need to be revised.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: According to cyber security firm Volexity, the threat research team has found the North Korean 'SharpTongue' group, which appears to be part of, or related to, the Kimsuky advanced persistent threat group, deploying malware called SHARPEXT that doesn't need your Gmail login credentials at all. Instead, it "directly inspects and exfiltrates data" from a Gmail account as the victim browses it. This quickly evolving threat, Volexity says it is already on version 3.0 according to the malware's internal versioning, can steal email from both Gmail and AOL webmail accounts, and works across three browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and a South Korean client called Whale.

The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, reports that Kimsuky has been operating since 2012, and is "most likely tasked by the North Korean regime with a global intelligence gathering mission." While CISA sees Kimsuky most often targeting individuals and organizations in South Korea, Japan, and the U. S., Volexity says that the SharpTongue group has frequently been seen targeting South Korea, the U. S. and Europe. The common denominator between them is that the victims often " work on topics involving North Korea, nuclear issues, weapons systems, and other matters of strategic interest to North Korea."

The report says that SHARPEXT differs from previous browser extensions deployed by these hacking espionage groups in that it doesn't attempt to grab login credentials but bypasses the need for these and can grab email data as the user reads it. The good news is that your system needs to be compromised by some means before this malicious extension can be deployed. Unfortunately, we know all too well that system compromise is not as difficult as it should be. Once a system has been compromised by phishing, malware, unpatched vulnerabilities, whatever, the threat actors can install the extension using a malicious VB script that replaces the system preference files. Once that's done and the extension runs quietly in the background, it is tough to detect. The user logs in to their Gmail account from their normal browser on the expected system. The security researchers recommend "enabling and analyzing PowerShell ScriptBlock logging" to detect whether you've been targeted by this attack, reports Forbes. Additionally, they recommend reviewing installed extensions regularly, especially looking for ones you don't recognize or are not available from the Chrome Web Store.

A mega-spending package to grow U.S. semiconductor production must reckon with a tough reality: The world is already awash in chip-making incentives. From a report: What makes the U.S. effort unique is the enormous one-time sum -- roughly $77 billion in subsidies and tax credits -- earmarked to boost American manufacturing of the ubiquitous tech component. But other countries, especially in Asia, have doled out government dollars and offered favorable regulations for decades. And they plan for more.

China has prepared investments of more than $150 billion through 2030, according to one estimate. South Korea, with an aggressive array of incentives, aims to encourage roughly $260 billion in chip investments over the next five years. The European Union is pursuing more than $40 billion in public and private semiconductor investments. Japan is spending about $6 billion to double its domestic chip revenue by the end of the decade. Taiwan has around 150 government-sponsored projects for chip production over the past decade, with its leader pushing for more localized manufacturing of semiconductor equipment.

Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said in the United States Wednesday that Japan plans to encourage startup businesses by sending 1,000 people to Silicon Valley over five years to provide them with valuable entrepreneurial experience in the California tech hub. Japan Today reports: The government aims to draw up a five-year plan by year-end to target a 10-fold increase in the number of startup companies as part of its push to drive economic growth through innovation and the cultivation of human talent. Hagiuda told reporters after his visit to the headquarters of technology giant Google LLC that he was very impressed by the mentality there in which there is no fear of failure, and that it is something Japan can learn. "Struck out swinging is considered (an experience) that can lead (people) to the next stage, here in America," Hagiuda said.

The plan envisions sending 200 people from Japan to Silicon Valley annually starting in the new fiscal year that starts in April. It will expand a similar yet smaller program under which around 20 people have been sent there annually over the past seven years.Devoting more resources to startups is one of four pillars in the strategy Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has set out in pursuit of a new form of capitalism that focuses on growth through investment.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Amazon filed a lawsuit Monday against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that coordinate cash or goods for buyers willing to post bogus product reviews. The global groups served to recruit would-be fake reviewers and operated in Amazon's online storefronts in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Italy. If 10,000 Facebook groups sounds like a lot, it's apparently the sum total of groups Amazon has reported to Facebook since 2020. The company notes that past legal action it's taken has been effective and "shut down multiple major review brokers," and yet here we are. They've been suing people for this stuff since all the way back in 2015.

The company named one group, "Amazon Product Review," which boasted more than 40,000 members until Facebook removed it earlier in 2022. That one evaded detection through the time-honored, AI-eluding strategy of swapping a few letters around in phrases that would get it busted. Amazon says that it will leverage the discovery process to "identify bad actors and remove fake reviews commissioned by these fraudsters that haven't already been detected by Amazon's advanced technology, expert investigators and continuous monitoring." The monitoring might be continuous but it's clear that thousands and thousands of illegitimate reviews push products across the online retailer's massive digital storefront every day, all around the world. And regulators are taking notice -- something that's bound to light a little fire under everyone's favorite online shopping monolith.

U.S. companies are facing a "new era" in which fewer people are entering the workforce and pressure to pay higher salaries may become permanent, Microsoft's President Brad Smith told Reuters in an interview. From a report: At the software maker's Redmond, Washington, headquarters, Smith highlighted one source of what he called today's "greater economic turbulence." In his office, he walked over to a wall-sized touchscreen device and pulled up a series of charts, showing how population growth has tumbled in the United States, Europe, China and Japan. The trend of around 5 million people expanding the U.S. working age population every five years since 1950 has shifted, starting in the period between 2016 and 2020 when growth slowed to 2 million, and is now slowing further, said Smith late last week, citing United Nations data. Major markets overseas have seen outright labor force declines. "That helps explain part of why you can have low growth and a labor shortage at the height at the same time. There just aren't as many people entering the workforce," said Smith, who oversees the nearly $2 trillion company selling cloud-computing services to major businesses.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Nikkei Asia: Panasonic will invest $4 billion in a second U.S. electric vehicle battery factory in Kansas, its subsidiary Panasonic Energy announced on Thursday, confirming an earlier Nikkei report. The factory is expected to hire as many as 4,000 employees and supply a new high-capacity battery for Tesla. The decision follows Tesla's April opening of a second American EV factory in Texas to meet brisk demand.

Panasonic aims to triple or quadruple EV battery production capacity by fiscal 2028 from the current level of roughly 50 gigawatt-hours per year. It plans to install two production lines at a battery component factory in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, in fiscal 2023 and begin manufacturing its new high-capacity model, the 4680. That investment is expected to total roughly 80 billion yen ($580 million). Panasonic had said it would determine whether to build new manufacturing facilities after seeing how production at the Wakayama plant fared in terms of profitability.

Increasing production demands from Tesla, a leading source of the Japanese electronics group's earnings, were likely a factor in the decision for a new U.S. plant, along with Panasonic's progress on the new technology. Prototypes started to ship in May. Emanuel noted that Panasonic's investment plan of up to $4 billion will create as many as 4,000 American jobs. Panasonic's first U.S. plant in Nevada, the Gigafactory 1, is jointly operated with Tesla. The Japanese company invested roughly 200 billion yen in that facility, which only began turning a profit in the year ended March 2021 as high defect rates kept mass production from getting off the ground.

Bandai Namco, the Japanese video game publisher behind titles including Pac-Man, Tekken and Elden Ring, has admitted that hackers accessed its systems and potentially made off with customer data. TechCrunch reports: In a statement shared with TechCrunch, Bandai Namco said it detected "unauthorized access" to its systems by a third party on July 3, adding that it has since taken measures, such as blocking access to the affected servers, to "prevent the damage from spreading." The confirmation comes days after the Alphv ransomware gang, also known as BlackCat, added the Japanese company to its dark web leak site. Bandai Namco declined to elaborate on the nature of the cyberattack or how hackers were able to access its systems, but warned customer data may have been stolen, all but confirming that it was hit by ransomware.

"There is a possibility that customer information related to the Toys and Hobby Business in Asian regions (excluding Japan) was included in the servers and PCs, and we are currently identifying the status about existence of leakage [sic], scope of the damage and investigating the cause," Bandai Namco said. The Alphv ransomware group -- believed to be the latest incarnation of the DarkSide ransomware gang responsible for the Colonial Pipeline attack -- has threatened that the stolen data will be released "soon," but no exact deadline has been given. Bandai Namco declined to say whether it had been given a ransom demand. "We will continue to investigate the cause of this incident and will disclose the investigation results as appropriate," Bandai Namco added. "We will also work with external organizations to strengthen security throughout the Group and take measures to prevent recurrence. We offer our sincerest apologies to everyone involved for any complications or concerns caused by this incident."

Magic Leap's next AR headset is coming this fall, and it's not cheap. The self-contained Magic Leap 2 glasses, which CNET tried earlier this year, will cost at least $3,299, and be available Sept. 30. From a report: Unlike the first Magic Leap headset, which launched back in 2018 and aspired to be for creative consumers, the Magic Leap 2 is entirely business-focused. The smaller glasses have their own dedicated AMD hip-worn processor puck. They offer a wider field of view than any other AR headset we've tried recently, and a unique feature that dims parts of the real world to make virtual objects seem less ghostly. The headset will come in three variations: the $3,299 Magic Leap 2 Base is the hardware plus a one-year warranty; while the Magic Leap 2 Developer Pro comes with extra developer-focused software and sample projects for $4,099. A Magic Leap 2 Enterprise version, with two-year support for enterprise-ready software, costs $4,999. Magic Leap's website will indicate where headsets will be available to buy: in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia on Sept. 30, and Japan and Singapore by the end of the year.

"Researchers and engineers from Kyoto University and the Kajima Corporation have released their joint proposal for a three-pronged approach to sustainable human life on the Moon and beyond," reports Gizmodo. The first element involves "The Glass," which aims to bring simulated gravity to the Moon and Mars through centrifugal force. From the report: Gravity on the Moon and Mars is about 16.5% and 37.9% of that on Earth, respectively. Lunar Glass and Mars Glass could bridge that gap; they are massive, spinning cones that will use centrifugal force to simulate the effects of Earth's gravity. These spinning cones will have an approximate radius of 328 feet (100 meters) and height of 1,312 feet (400 meters), and will complete one rotation every 20 seconds, creating a 1g experience for those inside (1g being the gravity on Earth). The researchers are targeting the back half of the 21st century for the construction of Lunar Glass, which seems unreasonably optimistic given the apparent technological expertise required to pull this off.

The second element of the plan is the "core biome complex" for "relocating a reduced ecosystem to space," according to a Google-translated version of the press release. The core biome complex would exist within the Moon Glass/Mars Glass structure and it's where the human explorers would live, according to the proposal. The final element of the proposal is the "Hexagon Space Track," or Hexatrack, a high-speed transportation infrastructure that could connect Earth, Mars, and the Moon. Hexatrack will require at least three different stations, one on Mars's moon Phobos, one in Earth orbit, and one around the Moon.

Earlier this week, long-time Slashdot reader ThinkPad760 wrote: How is this not news everywhere?

KDDI, Japan's 2nd largest mobile phone provider and carrier to multiple critical government agencies — including the weather service — failed for 86 hours. After failing to inform users and the government about the problems, questions are starting to be asked.
Japan's government "will set up an expert panel to compile measures to prevent a recurrence," reports Japan Today, citing Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Minister. The network failure occurred when a router for voice calls was replaced during regular maintenance, with repair work triggering a concentration of traffic that led the company to reduce user access. During that time, the carrier experienced a cascade of technical problems that further prolonged the connection difficultie
40 million users were affected by the outage, Reuters reports — adding that it's not the first time for something like this: Japan's three big telcos have all had widespread network failures in recent years. NTT Docomo's [29-hour] outage last October affected 12.9 customers, while disruption to SoftBank Corp's network in late 2018 cast a shadow over its bumper public listing.

In a game called GeoGuessr, competitors try to pinpoint where in the world a Google Street View image has been taken. Some can do it in seconds. From a report: An unremarkable stretch of highway and trees, as seen on Google Maps' Street View, appeared on the screen. It could have been anywhere from Tasmania to Texas. "This is going to be south Philippines, somewhere on this road down here," Trevor Rainbolt said instantly, clicking on a location on a map of the world that was less than 11 miles from the spot. A road winding through woods was up next. Lake Tahoe? Siberia? "It looks like we're going to be in Switzerland here, unless we're in Japan. Yeah, we have to be in Japan here," Mr. Rainbolt said, correctly pinpointing the country.

Mr. Rainbolt has become the face of a fast-growing community of geography fanatics who play a game called GeoGuessr. The premise is simple: As you stare at a computer or phone, you're plopped down somewhere in the world in Google Street View and must guess, as quickly as you can, exactly where you are. You can click to travel down roads and through cities, scanning for distinguishable landmarks or language. The closer you guess, the more points you score. To some, Mr. Rainbolt's snap answers seem like wizardry. To him, they are simply the result of countless hours of practice and an insatiable thirst for geographic knowledge.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- one of the most consequential leaders in Japan's postwar history -- died Friday, Japanese media reported, after being shot while he was giving a stump speech in the city of Nara. From a report: Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had earlier described Abe as being in a "serious condition." Abe was unconscious when he was rushed to a hospital and was bleeding from the chest. The police have arrested the man suspected of attacking Abe, who was giving a speech in front of Yamato Saidaiji Station when the incident took place at around 11:30 a.m. Campaigning had been underway for Sunday's Upper House election. Videos of the incident showed two shots being fired. Japan is known for having one of the strictest gun control laws in the world. Abe suffered an injury to the right side of his neck due to a gunshot and was bleeding internally in the left side of his chest, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The former prime minister was transported via a medical helicopter to Nara Medical University in the city of Kashihara, south of central Nara, according to NHK, who quoted ambulance officials.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Conversation: Five young people whose resolve was hardened by floods and wildfires recently took their governments to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Their claim concerns each country's membership of an obscure treaty they argue makes climate action impossible by protecting fossil fuel investors. The energy charter treaty has 52 signatory countries which are mostly EU states but include the UK and Japan. The claimants are suing 12 of them including France, Germany and the UK -- all countries in which energy companies are using the treaty to sue governments over policies that interfere with fossil fuel extraction. For example, the German company RWE is suing the Netherlands for 1.4 billion euros because it plans to phase out coal. The claimants aim to force their countries to exit the treaty and are supported by the Global Legal Action Network, a campaign group with an ongoing case against 33 European countries they accuse of delaying action on climate change. The prospects for the current application going to a hearing at the ECHR look good. But how simple is it to prize countries from the influence of this treaty?

The energy charter treaty started as an EU agreement in 1991 which guaranteed legal safeguards for companies invested in energy projects such as offshore oil rigs. Under Article 10 (1) of the treaty, these investments must "enjoy the most constant protection and security." If government policies change in order to curtail these projects, such as Italy's 2019 decision to ban drilling for oil and gas within 12 miles of its coast, the government is obliged to compensate the relevant company for its lost future earnings. The legal mechanism which allows this is known as an investor-state dispute settlement. A letter to EU leaders signed by 76 climate scientists (PDF) argues this could keep coal power plants open or force governments into paying punishing fees for shutting them down, at a time when deep and rapid cuts to emissions are desperately needed.

Money spent compensating fossil fuel investors will deprive investment in renewable energy and other things vital to the green transition, such as public transport. While withdrawing from the energy charter treaty is possible for any country to do, losing the benefits of membership -- such as fewer duties and taxes on imports of oil and gas -- will make it a difficult decision. Furthermore, the obligations of countries that have been signatories to the treaty are not nullified upon exiting it, but instead linger for 20 years thereafter. Investors can still bring disputes against former members and, if successful, must be compensated by the state in question. Russia and Italy withdrew from the energy charter treaty in 2009 and 2016 respectively, and continue to face multiple claims.

A prison term of up to one year and other tougher penalties for online insults came into effect Thursday as part of Japan's efforts to tackle cyberbullying. From a report: The revised Penal Code also raised the fine for insults to up to 300,000 yen ($2,200), upping the ante from the current penalty of detention for less than 30 days or a fine of less than 10,000 yen. The statute of limitations for insults has also been extended from one year to three years.

Moves to amend the law gained traction after Hana Kimura, a 22-year-old professional wrestler and cast member on the popular Netflix reality show "Terrace House," was believed to have committed suicide in May 2020 after receiving a barrage of hateful messages on social media. Two men in Osaka and Fukui prefectures were fined 9,000 yen each for insults posted about TV personality Kimura before her death, but some expressed concern the penalties were too light, which led to the push for the legal changes.

Japanese legal experts have said an antitrust case related to a local restaurant website could change how large internet platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon operate in the country, forcing them to reveal the inner workings of their secret algorithms. From a report: Last month, a Tokyo court ruled in favour of Hanryumura, a Korean-style BBQ restaurant chain operator in an antitrust case brought against Kakaku.com, operator of Tabelog, Japan's largest restaurant review platform. Hanryumura successfully argued that Kakaku.com had altered the way user scores were tallied in ways that hurt sales at its restaurant outlets. While Kakaku.com has been ordered to pay Hanryumura $284,000 in damages for "abuse of superior bargaining position," the internet company has appealed against the decision.

Japanese legal experts said the outcome may have far-reaching implications, as the court requested Kakaku.com to disclose part of its algorithms. While the restaurant group is constrained from publicly revealing what information was shown to it, the court's request set a rare precedent. Big Tech groups have long argued that their algorithms should be considered trade secrets in all circumstances. Courts and regulators across the world have begun to challenge that position, with many businesses having complained about the negative impact caused by even small changes to search and recommendations services.

"A metallic NATO is starting to take shape," writes the senior metals columnist at Reuters, "though no-one is calling it that just yet." The Minerals Security Partnership is in theory open to all countries that are committed to "responsible critical mineral supply chains to support economic prosperity and climate objectives". But the coalition assembled by the United States is one of like-minded countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany with an Asian axis in the form of Japan and South Korea. [Also the European Commission, as well as Finland and Sweden.]

It is defined as much as anything by who is not on the invite list — China and Russia.

China's dominance of key enabling minerals such as lithium and rare earths is the single biggest reason why Western countries are looking to build their own supply chains. Russia, a major producer of nickel, aluminium and platinum group metals, is now also a highly problematic trading partner as its war in Ukraine that the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" grinds on. A previously highly globalised minerals supply network looks set to split into politically polarised spheres of influence, a tectonic realignment with far-reaching implications. The United States and Europe have realised that they can't build out purely domestic supply chains quickly enough to meet demand from the electric vehicle transition....

The process was already well underway before the U.S. State Department announced the formation of the Minerals Security Partnership on June 14. U.S. and Canadian officials have been working closely as Canada fleshes out a promised C$3.8 billion ($3.02 billion) package to boost production of lithium, copper and other strategic minerals. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has just been in Norway to seal "a strategic partnership" on battery technologies and critical raw materials.
The article points out America's Department of Defense is already investing $120 million in a new plant for heavy rare earths separation — and has chosen an Australian company as its partner.

Shortly thereafter the Defense Department noted an online disinformation campaign against its new partner (according to U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant), disinformation which Reuters describes as "a pro-China propaganda campaign" using fake social media accounts to try to stir up opposition.

The UK is rattling off a series of international science agreements with a message to the European Union: if you don't want our money, we'll do deals elsewhere. From a report: Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed a memorandum of understanding with his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, on Friday, aimed at easing UK access to the Pacific nation's quantum and agricultural technology. The UK has already negotiated similar agreements with Israel, Switzerland and Canada -- as well as EU member Sweden, and is hoping to seal more with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and certain US states. The drive comes as the government seeks to diversify the country's scientific collaboration after the UK was frozen out of the EU's $96 billion Horizon research program because of tensions stemming from Britain's plan to override the part of the Brexit deal governing Northern Ireland. The majority of the UK's international science budget -- around $18 billion -- is usually spent helping to fund Horizon.