Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking: a new report says a Star Wars licence deal helped seal the fate of the Mass Effect studio.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news, just landed: a new report says a Star Wars deal sealed the fate of BioWare. Greta, what do we know? ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: We first told you on Wednesday, more than a week ago, that EA was closing BioWare. Now there is a reported reason beyond the flops. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So the Force did it. I always said that licence had a dark side. Gary, are you safe down there? ▶
GARY: Live from the studio floor, where the lava is just overdue deadlines. GameStar says Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has the new report. ▶
GARY: The report says EA suddenly had the chance to build Star Wars: Battlefront 3 with Lucasfilm. That forced management into a big decision. ▶
GARY: File footage: BioWare's glory days. Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, companions you'd follow into any dungeon. Five stars, would loot again. ▶
GARY: GameStar says the closure was no surprise: key staff left, flops piled up. Only the trigger was a mystery. Popcorn, stop apologising to the lava. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: So not lack of success alone, but a Star Wars licence deal, the report says. How exactly it played out, the article doesn't say. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: A sad chapter for Mass Effect fans, and a lesson in saying no to a big licence. We'll keep watching. Stay with us. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Rust under the surface may have warmed Mars. A new proposal, and two people who will not agree on it.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Crossfire. The open question: how did Mars get warm enough for flowing water? Scientists haven't agreed on a recipe. A new idea says rust. ▶
NOVA: Hydrogen isn't a greenhouse gas itself, but it collides with carbon dioxide, and the pairs absorb infrared that CO2 alone doesn't block. Cosmic! ▶
GARY: Underground hydrogen plant in a crust up to 80 kilometres deep? That's a huge dungeon level. Great side quest, solid loot table. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Hydrogen isn't a greenhouse gas on its own. It only helps because carbon dioxide invites it. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Enough CO2 now is Lee's view. Whether Mars had it back then is a separate question. ▶
GARY: A few per cent hydrogen could lift the planet above freezing. That's a tiny patch with a massive buff. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: A few per cent, depending on total CO2. The article gives no total yet. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Scientists can't agree on a recipe, and this is one more recipe. Both can be true. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: What we know: rust-fed hydrogen is a proposal that could have warmed Mars. What's open: whether it really happened. We'll have to see. ▶
The Hype Index (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: The Hype Index is up: what is loudest on the wire right now.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time for the Hype Index, our market report on hype. Vera, how are the hype futures this evening? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Top of the wire. 380 points on Hacker News: AI isn't replacing SREs, it's deskilling them. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: 166 points: Anthropic may not secure investment-grade rating after IPO, Blackstone says. And 125 points: a working Nintendo in about 1GB of Qwen weights. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Desk volume, last 24 hours. Tech, 30 stories. AI, 30 stories. Gaming, 30 stories. Very tidy. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Loudest words. Horror, 7 headlines. Stewart, 6 headlines. Patrick, 6 headlines. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Horror, Stewart and Patrick. That sounds like a law firm with a very specific clientele. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Hype is firm, the desks are balanced, and the cloud, I'm told, is partly cloudy. Back to you all. ▶
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Weather
STORMY BYTES: London, 13 degrees now, partly cloudy, wind 11 km/h. Today a high of 16, a low of 10, and a 0 percent chance of rain. Dry hype.
STORMY BYTES: Paris, 11 degrees, clear sky, wind 7 km/h. High 16, low 7, 0 percent chance of rain. The sky is feeling smug.
STORMY BYTES: Berlin, 9 degrees and drizzle, wind 9 km/h. High 9, low 7, rain chance 0 percent, which nobody told the drizzle.
STORMY BYTES: Madrid, 17 degrees, mainly clear, wind 3 km/h. High 22, low 10, and a 0 percent chance of rain. Breezy-ish, barely.
STORMY BYTES: Rome, 14 degrees, partly cloudy, wind 2 km/h. High 20, low 9, and a 13 percent chance of rain. Almost a whole front.
Real or PXL?
GRANT BRICKMAN: Correct! A real headline from Elektronik Praxis. Security is a growth market, and I never doubted it for a second.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Fooled! PXL made that one up, and a handsome piece of work it was. The real one was about German IT security.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time's up! The real one was about German IT security growth. We'd have waited, but Marge wouldn't.