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The Apple TV is probably my favorite device that Apple makes. While the Apple TV app is in dire need of some basic improvements, the hardware box itself is a standoutespecially compared to competitors like Amazons Fire TV and Rokus streaming devices. This is largely thanks to the stellar Siri Remote, which makes navigating the device with your fingers or voice a cinch, and the powerful Apple silicon chip inside that makes the Apple TVs operating system, tvOS, run buttery smooth. However, when it comes to being a device meant to sit at the center of your living room as an all-encompassing entertainment hub, the Apple TV is lacking in one big department: gaming. The Apple TV is technically a gaming console, since it can play rudimentary games and supports third-party console controllers. But no one is likely to replace their PlayStation or Xbox with one any time soon, because the current Apple TV lacks the processing power to run console-quality games. Yet perhaps that could be changing. Recently, Ive noticed that Apple has been making moves that suggest the company may be on the cusp of turning the Apple TV into a full-blown PlayStation and Xbox competitor. Doing so would open up another potential billion-dollar revenue stream for the company. The new Apple Games app is currently MIA from tvOS 26 At Apples Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, the company unveiled a new cross-device app called Apple Games. The app acts as a central hub and launcher for all the games youve ever bought on Apples App Store or have access to via the companys Apple Arcade subscription service. The Apple Games app also gives you quick access to game events and challenges, and helps you discover new games to play and see what games your friends are playing. In other words, the new Apple Games app is similar to the PlayStation 5 Game Hub and the Xbox Dashboardthe interfaces on the consoles that significantly differentiate the living room gaming experience from PCs. Apple announced that Apple Games is coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 this fall. But the new app is conspicuously absent from the Apple TVs next operating system, tvOS 26, which also ships this fall. This is a notable omission, especially considering that Apple markets its Apple Arcade gaming service as a core feature of the Apple TV experience. It also offers thousands of mobile-level games through the tvOS App Store. The more I think about the Apple Games omission from tvOS 26, the more it makes senseif Apple is set to turn the Apple TV into a true gaming console but doesn’t want anyone to know it yet. [Photo: Apple] The next Apple TV is rumored to have two key hardware improvements essential to top-line gaming consoles Apple doesnt update the Apple TV as often as it does iPhones or even its iPads. Typically, years pass between Apple TV updates. The most recent Apple TV, the Apple TV 4K, was last updated in November 2022, nearly three years ago. That means it’s ripe for an update this year. Rumors suggest that a new Apple TV is indeed coming later this year and that it will feature two significant hardware upgradesones that would enable it to become a true gaming console. The first is an updated chipset. The current Apple TV 4K features the Apple A15 Bionic chip, the same one found in the iPhone 13 from 2021. Most people expect the next Apple TV to get a significant upgradeperhaps to the A18 or A18 Pro, found in the current iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro series, or perhaps even the unreleased A19 chip, which will go into this years iPhone 17 series. Its also possible Apple could put the M1 or M2 chip, previously found in Macs and iPads, into the new Apple TV. This jump from the A15 to the A18, A19, M1, or M2 would give the Apple TV the performance boost it needs to run AAA console games, such as the Resident Evil series from Capcom, which are currently capable of running (with controller support, no less) on the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to its A17 Pro chip. Another upgrade the next Apple TV is expected to get is a new Apple-designed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipset that will support the Wi-Fi 7 standard (via MacRumors). This standard offers lower latency and faster Wi-Fi speeds than the current Wi-Fi 6 standardsomething critical for gaming consoles and the bandwidth-hungry games that stream to them. The leading games console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, currently offers Wi-Fi 7 support. In other words, the hardware components Apple needs to turn the next Apple TV into a PlayStation and Xbox competitor are all in the pipeline. And, increasingly, so is something else the Apple TV would need to become a true gaming console: increasing commitment to Apple’s platforms from major games studios. More AAA games are hitting the Macand iPhonethan ever before In the video game industry, the top games are known as AAA (triple-A) titles. These are the games with the most advanced graphics and the biggest budgets, and are frequently the highlights of the console gaming experience. Historically, AAA game developers have shied away from releasing their major titles on the Mac (the Apple device with the hardware power most comparable to professional gaming consoles). But in the past year, thats changed a lot, thanks to Apple’s move to make game development on the Mac easier and more cost-effective than ever, thanks to tools like the company’s Game Porting Toolkit 3 and the hardware-accelerated graphics API, Metal 4, which makes graphics-intensive games look better on Mac and iPhone. Considering Apple devices are more popular than ever, game studios stand to financially benefit by bringing their biggest titles to Apple’s platforms and their millions of users. In July alone, two major AAA titles made their debut on the Mac: CD Projekt Reds Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate and Deep Silvers Dead Island 2. Other major AAA titles have also been released on the Mac over the past few years, including Ubisofts Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Remedys Control Ultimate Edition, Kojima Productions Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Round 8 Studios Lies of P, 11 Bit Studios Frostpunk 2, and Capcoms Resident Evil series remastered editions. Additionally, more AAA titles are coming to the Mac this year, including IO Interactives Hitman World of Assassination, InZOI Studios InZOI, and Pearl Abyss Crimson Desert. Most of these games require an M1 series chip or later, found in the companys Apple Silicon Macs released since 2020. Some, like the Resident Evil series, can even run on the A17 Pro and later, first introduced in 2023. Apples current A18 Pro is roughly equivalent to the M1 in terms of performance, and if Apple puts it, the M1 or M2, or the upcoming A19 Pro, inside the next Apple TV, as expected, there is no reason these AAA games that currently run on the Mac couldnt run on the new Apple TV. And if that happens, the Apple TV becomes a professional-level gaming console. Turning the Apple TV into a gaming console makes sense for Apples ecosystem and the companys bottom line When Apple announced the upcoming Apple Games app for all its devices except the Apple TV, it stood out as a glaring hole in the companys lineup, especially since Apple Games is a natural fit for the Apple TV. But when you take in the odd omission, along with recent rumors that the next Apple TV is set to get powerful new CPU and wireless chipsets, and the flood of new AAA titles hitting the Mac and iPhone this year, things start to look a lot clearer. Yet something else leads me to believe that Apple could be turning the Apple TV into a gaming console this year: the companys history of being unwilling to let software announcements spoil new hardware features. In the past, Apple has withheld software announcements at WWDC to avoid revealing upcoming hardware improvements to its devices. The AAA titles available on the Mac appear in Apple Games on the macOS 26 beta. If Apple had previewed Apple Games on the tvOS 26 beta, Mac games that run on the new unreleased Apple TV, including these AAA titles, might have also shown there. That would spoil a major, as-yet-unannounced feature for the as-yet-unannounced Apple TV. Of course, all this is just conjecture on my part. Still, all the signs seem to be pointing to Apple TV becoming a true gaming console. This would make a lot of business sense for Apple. At price points of $129 or $149, depending on whether you want more storage and an ethernet connection, the current Apple TV 4K is much more expensive than such competitors as the Roku Streaming Stick 4K ($49), the Roku Ultra ($99), and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K ($49). However, if Apple gives the new Apple TV gaming console capabilities, the current $129/$149 price suddenly looks like a bargain. A triple-A gaming experience on the Apple TV would be a unique selling point that Roku or Amazon couldnt compete with. It could also give Apple a major new revenue stream in the form of 30% App Store commissions on AAA titles sold through the tvOS App Store. As of 2024, the global AAA gaming market is valued at approximately $75 billion annually, according to a July 2025 Business Research Insights report. Its expected to grow to nearly $108 billion by 2033. But most of all, a new Apple TV with console gaming capabilities would further solidify the device as the digital heart of the living room and smart home, giving users another reason to stay within Apples ecosystem, both inside and outside the housean ancillary benefit Apple likely finds invaluable.
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When youre on a camping trip, you might have to pack your own food and maybe something to filter or treat water that you find. But imagine your campsite is in space, where theres no water, and packing jugs of water would take up room when every inch of cargo space counts. Thats a key challenge engineers faced when designing the International Space Station (ISS). Before NASA developed an advanced water recycling system, water made up nearly half the payload of shuttles traveling to the ISS. I am an environmental engineer and have conducted research at Kennedy Space Centers Space Life Sciences Laboratory. As part of this work, I helped to develop a closed-loop water recovery system. Today, NASA recovers over 90% of the water used in space. Clean water keeps an astronaut crew hydrated, hygienic, and fed, as it can use it to rehydrate food. Recovering used water is a cornerstone of closed-loop life support, which is essential for future lunar bases, Mars missions, and even potential space settlements. A close-up view of the water recovery systems racks these contain the hardware that provides a constant supply of clean water for four to six crew members aboard the ISS. [Photo: NASA] NASAs environmental control and life support system is a set of equipment and processes that perform several functions to manage air and water quality, waste, atmospheric pressure, and emergency response systems such as fire detection and suppression. The water recovery systemone component of environmental control and life supportsupports the astronauts aboard the ISS and plays a central role in water recycling. Water systems built for microgravity In microgravity environments like the ISS, every form of water available is valuable. The water recovery systems on the ISS collect water from several sources, including urine, moisture in cabin air, and hygienemeaning from activities such as brushing teeth. On Earth, wastewater includes various types of water: residential wastewater from sinks, showers and toilets; industrial wastewater from factories and manufacturing processes; and agricultural runoff, which contains fertilizers and pesticides. In space, astronaut wastewater is much more concentrated than Earth-based wastewater. It contains significantly higher levels of ureaa compound from urinesalts, and surfactants from soaps and materials used for hygiene. To make the water safe to drink, the system needs to remove all of these quickly and effectively. The water recovery systems used in space employ some of the same principles as Earth-based water treatment. However, they are specifically engineered to function in microgravity with minimal maintenance. These systems also must operate for months or even years without the need for replacement parts or hands-on intervention. NASAs water recovery system captures and recycles nearly all forms of water used or generated aboard the space station. It routes the collected wastewater to a system called the water processor assembly, where it is purified into safe, potable water that exceeds many Earth-based drinking water standards. The water recovery and treatment system on the ISS consists of several subsystems. Recovering water from urine and sweat The urine processor assembly recovers about 75% of the water from urine by heating and vacuum compression. The recovered water is sent to the water processor assembly for further treatment. The remaining liquid, called brine, still contains a significant amount of water. So, NASA developed a brine processor assembly system to extract the final fraction of water from this urine brine. In the brine processor assembly, warm, dry air evaporates water from the leftover brine. A filter separates the contaminants from the water vapor, and the water vapor is collected to become drinking water. This innovation pushed the water recovery systems overall water recovery rate to an impressive 98%. The remaining 2% is combined with the other waste generated. The filter used in brine processing has helped achieve 98% recovery. [Photo: NASA] The air revitalization system condenses moisture from the cabin airprimarily water vapor from sweat and exhalationinto liquid water. It directs the recovered water to the water processor assembly, which treats all the collected water. Treating recovered water The water processor assemblys treatment process includes several steps. First, all the recovered water goes through filters to remove suspended particles such as dust. Then, a series of filters removes salts and some of the organic contaminants, followed by a chemical process called catalytic oxidation that uses heat and oxygen to break down the remaining organic compounds. The final step is adding iodine to the water to prevent microbial growth while it is stored. The output is potable wateroften cleaner than municipal tap water on Earth. Getting to Mars and beyond To make human missions to Mars possible, NASA has estimated that spacecraft must reclaim at least 98% of the water used on board. While self-sustaining travel to Mars is still a few years away, the new brine processor on the ISS has increased the water recovery rate enough that this 98% goal is now in reach. However, more work is needed to develop a compact system that can be used in a space ship. The journey to Mars is complex, not just because of the distance involved, but because Mars and Earth are constantly moving in their respective orbits around the Sun. The distance between the two planets varies depending on their positions. On average, theyre about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) apart, with the shortest theoretical approach, when the two planets orbits bring them close together, taking 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers). A typical crewed mission is expected to take about nine months one way. A round-trip mission to Mars, including surface operations and return trajectory planning, could take around three years. In addition, launch windows occur only every 26 months, when Earth and Mars align favorably. As NASA prepares to send humans on multiyear expeditions to the red planet, space agencies around the world continue to focus on improving propulsion and perfecting life support systems. Advances in closed-loop systems, robotic support and autonomous operations are all inching the dream of putting humans on Mars closer to reality. Berrin Tansel is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Florida International University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Whether youre sitting at your desk at work or shopping at the grocery store, you can feel it: the shared sense of uncertainty in the air. Economic indicators are shifting; tariffs have impacted trade flows, and experts predict the nations growth rate may be cut in half. Combined with broad geopolitical instability, this sense of economic uneasiness has seen consumer sentiment dip to its second-lowest point since 1952. In this challenging climate, even industry giants like Target, Walmart, and Apple are forecasting declines in profits and sales. Yet, history shows that periods of uncertainty often spark innovation and resilience. Brands that can adapt, communicate clearly, and build trust with their customers are well positioned not just to endure, but to lead. So, what can business leaders facing such turbulence do to persevere? Return to the compass that always points to a way to growth: delivering for the consumer. Showing up consistently, adapting with purpose, and becoming the steady heartbeat in their customers increasingly chaotic world. The Power of Purpose in Uncertain Times As a counterbalance to all the bad news, resilient brands can become a source of strength and reassurance by understanding their consumers and delivering positive impact. In times of uncertainty, brands can improve their customers day-to-day by bringing moments of joy and meaning into their lives. Whats more, they can also deepen those consumer connections by demonstrating alignment with customer values and aspirations for the future. New research supports this call to action: 86% of consumers say brands play an important role in delivering a positive human future. But only 15% of companies are actively investing in efforts aligned to that purpose, a gap that speaks volumes. Consumers are quite willing to reward brands they see as positive difference-makers. Theyre nearly three times more likely to pay a premium, try new products and services, and even forgive mistakes from brands they think are working towards a better world. This is especially true among Gen Z consumers and younger generations, who prioritize brands that align with their ethical and social principles. So, what does it really mean to deliver a positive human future, and how can brands demonstrate the commitment consumers are seeking? It doesnt mean you have to solve every global issueyou just have to show consumers that you understand their challenges and respond in ways that align to their values. When a single headline can shake markets and communities, consumers are looking for something steady to latch onto, and brands have the opportunity to hold strong. Think Big with Small Gestures For brands, this doesnt require a complete overhaul of business strategy or major new investments. It can start with a simple challenge: how can you show up in small, meaningful ways to brighten consumers days and give them something to look forward to? Consumers today are seeking more than transactions; they want relationships. Nearly 50% of U.S. consumers are willing to pay more for brands that understand and respond to their needsbrands that listen, learn, and use what they hear to deliver amazing experiences. Take Little Spoon, for example. The baby food company didnt build trust by making grand gestures, but instead took the time to collaborate with parents and scientists to ensure parents have a voice in their childs health. They put their money where their mouth is to provide consistent engagement with parents through its Is This Normal community platform. They created a winning product that reflects real needs and values, showing up consistently for their customers when and where they needed them. Theyve successfully become more than a packaged goodtheyre a partner in parenting, building ardent fans through shared values. To follow in similar footsteps, there are several actions brands can take, starting with active listening and reliability. By using customer insights to understand what matters most, brands can reflect those priorities in their messaging and offerings and then communicate those priorities regularly and consistently. This requires ongoing dialogue and genuine responsiveness to customer feedback and changing needs. By ensuring consumers feel seen and heard, brands will not only build a customer base but also a community. This alignment becomes particularly powerful when economic pressures mount, and consumers are making more deliberate choices about where to spend their money. Above all, its those small moments of joy that will make all the difference. Positive experiences dont require massive budgets, but they do require intentionality. Whether it’s unexpected customer service excellence, community-building initiatives, or simply consistent, reliable communication, these moments transform into lasting relationships. Building Tomorrows Resilient Brands The businesses that struggle during volatile times often share common characteristics: They become reactive rather than proactive, focus inward rather than on customer needs, or stop innovating to avoid risk. Its more important to show up for customers during times of turbulence than when the waters are calm. Every interaction becomes an opportunity to build trust. Every product decision becomes a chance to show values alignment. Every communication becomes a moment to provide clarity and reassurance. In a world where headlines shift by the hour, brands can emerge as a steady beacon. The brands that thrive arent necessarily the biggest or the loudest, but those that prioritize real connection with their consumers; those that are able to deliver impact in their day-to-day, and in the world they inhabit. When purse strings tighten, brands that build real relationships, spark joy in the uncertainty, and support a positive human future will build the kind of consumer loyalty that pays dividends through good times and bad.
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