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The Bataan nuclear power plant has been lying unused since it was finished in 1986 By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes BBC News, Manila A cool breeze blows off the West Manila Bay into a grove of mango trees some 100km west of the Philippine capital. In the sky above, a family of Pacific swallows are busy doing acrobatics. Sitting rather incongruously in this bucolic scene is the vast concrete hulk of the Bataan nuclear power plant. This is South East Asia's first nuclear power plant, which was completed in 1986. Except it has never produced a kilowatt of electricity. It was never even put into operation. Now, more than three decades after it was finished, there is growing support for opening it. A rising energy bill and the ever-present threat of climate change is once again turning the tide in favour of nuclear power across the world. So why not in the Philippines, a developing economy where electricity is essential but expensive and often dirty?But the real question is: how easy is it to start up a 38-year-old nuclear power plant that has never been used? Ambitious or outlandish? The early morning calm outside the Bataan nuclear power plant is broken by the whop-whop of an approaching helicopter. Minutes later, Congressman Mark Cojuangco leads the way into the plant. Passing through a semi-lit machinery room, he points to the maze of piping and electrical conduits: "Look at the quality of that wiring. Look how neatly it is laid out." He walks down a long corridor, and through an airlock into the main reactor building. The walls are 1.5m-thick concrete; the whole containment structure is lined by a 30mm-thick welded steel liner. "Please feel the welds," he says, patting the walls. "I challenge you to find welding as nice as this anywhere in the Philippines. In the US they are required to do X-ray inspection of 20% of the welds [in a nuclear plant]. Here it was 100%, so arguably this building is better quality than in the United States." The inside of the Bataan nuclear power plant shows its age For more than a decade Mr Cojuangco has been waging an uphill battle to open the plant. It is an ambitious, some would even say outlandish, idea. "I don't think there's any way they can get that thing going," a foreign diplomat said at the mention of the Bataan nuclear plant. "That looks like an accident waiting to happen!" was another response upon seeing a photo of the plant. So, who would want to take this on? The answer is President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. Fukushima's long road to nuclear clean-up Japan's renewable revolution at risk For President Marcos Jr the plant is unfinished family business. It represents what might have been if his father hadn't been ousted from power. In the mid-1970s, with the world's economy reeling from the 1973 oil price shock, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr decided to bring nuclear power to the Philippines. It would have put the country alongside Japan and South Korea as a pioneer of nuclear energy in Asia. Marcos Sr commissioned the US company Westinghouse to build two pressurised water reactors on the Bataan peninsula, on the far side of Manila Bay. By the end of 1985 the first reactor was complete and ready to be loaded with nuclear fuel. President Marcos Jr's plan to start up this mothballed behemoth has surprised many But in February the following year Marcos Sr was forced from power as two million protesters took to the streets of Manila, demanding an end to his dictatorship. Just eight weeks later reports began to emerge of a terrible accident at a nuclear power plant in the then Soviet Union. A new word entered the global vernacular: Chernobyl. Plans to load fuel into the Bataan plant were put on hold indefinitely. Stepping back into the 1970s... Inside the plant, the main control room looks shockingly old and outdated, almost like a museum. The wall panels are filled with dozens of ancient-looking analogue dials. Below them, the control panels are a forest of black mechanical switches. Mr Cojuangco waves away these objections: "People always use the analogy of cars or motorcycles. But the mode of ageing of a nuclear reactor is from neutron bombardment. So far, this reactor has had none, so effectively it's brand new."He doesn't deny that the systems in the plant will need plenty of work, and that it will cost time and money. He says South Korean nuclear operator KEPCO, which runs an identical nuclear plant in Busan, has offered to bring the one in Bataan up to date for around $1.5bn (£915m). The plant's lone reactor - a planned second one was never built - can produce up to 620 megawatts of power, about half the capacity of its more modern counterparts. Mr Cojuangco repeatedly points out that Bataan would not be the first old, mothballed nuclear plant to be put into operation. It's been done before - in Tennessee. Work on Watts Bar Two, as the plant is known, began in 1973, even before Bataan. But then it was mothballed for decades, says Mr Cojuangco, before they decided to finish construction in 2009. "In 2016, it became America's newest nuclear plant. If it's ok there, then why not here?" he asks. For President Marcos Jr this might well be the best opportunity to revive his father's dream. The war in Ukraine has set off another energy price shock across the globe, and the Philippines is being hit hard. At the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, Dr Carlos Arcilla points to a pie chart that breaks down the country's energy sources. "You can see 50% is from coal, and 90% of that coal is imported from Indonesia," he says. The Philippines has one small natural gas field of its own, but that is running out. Electricity prices have doubled in the last 12 months as the country becomes more dependent than ever on imported fossil fuel. "The average Filipino already pays 10% of take-home pay on electricity," Dr Arcilla says, adding that prices will go higher. The 'sleeping monster' The impact is greatest among the poorest. You don't have to walk far in Metro Manila to find poor neighbourhoods, or barangay as they are known. All over the city vacant land is taken over and turned into squatter settlements, where homes are made from scrap wood and corrugated iron. In one barangay not far from Dr Arcilla's office lives Marilou Calica, a 47-year-old mother of six, who works as a part-time cleaner in a government office. The fatigue is written on her face.haven't paid my electricity bill for the last three months," she says. "After I have bought food there is nothing left." She pulls out a sheet of printed paper - a final notice from the electricity company. Her outstanding bill: 5,000 pesos (about $100; $75). She says it's double what she paid a year ago. "If I don't pay this week, they will cut me off. I may be forced to go to the money lender." Despite the struggles of poor Filipinos, the move to reopen the Bataan plant - and eventually lower the country's energy bill - faces stiff opposition. Anti-nuclear groups say re-commissioning the plant will take years and do nothing to help people like Ms Calica. Instead, they say the government should be investing in local solar and wind projects that are cheaper and much quicker to build. "If they get it running, by 2040 it will contribute only 2.5% of the power in the Philippines, so why do they really want to do it?" says Derek Cabe, who leads the Nuclear Free Bataan Movement. She says her parents' generation fought to stop the plant in the 1980s and she is ready to do the same now. "We cannot let the monster live again," she says. "We call it the sleeping monster and we cannot let the monster be awakened."Those who oppose the plant draw comparisons between the Philippines and Japan, and between the Bataan plant and the one in Fukushima, which was destroyed in the 2011 tsunami. Both countries sit on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. The Philippines has two dozen active volcanoes, and is regularly hit by earthquakes and is also vulnerable to tsunamis. But Mr Cojuangco, who has been to Fukushima and studied the disaster there, is not worried. "Before the incident in Fukushima I had no basis for saying that if we had a 9.0 earthquake here, we would sail through it. But now I have the evidence. The plant here is 18 metres above sea level. With a same-sized tsunami as Fukushima the plant would not even get wet. If this plant had been at Fukushima, there would be no incident to talk about." Around 60% of Filipinos now say they support the country building nuclear power. And there appears to be no scientific reason to stop this relic from the 1970s from producing electricity one day. Its biggest obstacle is politics. In the Philippines, a president can only serve a single six-year term. And for Mr Cojuangco the moment is now because after 37 years, history has come full circle. "In the 1980s we wanted to be independent of fossil fuels," he says, "Now in 2023 we have an energy crisis again, and there is another Marcos president in the Malacañ ang palace." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64634816

Awe has always been available to us. It’s an artefact of our own attention, rather than a force that emanates from magnificent things. It is perpetually nearby, but we like to imagine that it’s far away, a place that we visit on once-in-a-lifetime holidays, rather than a practice that we can foster across a lifetime. I’ve tended to see it as a frippery, an unnecessary decoration on the edges of experience that I can safely afford to ignore most of the time. I no longer think that’s true. Instead, I think that those vulnerable, ground-shifting encounters like awe, wonder, fascination and mystery are crucial to our survival. It wasn’t just the pandemic that had brought my brain to a standstill. It wasn’t simply the weight of home schooling and the bitter fight for time to work against a husband who had colonised my desk. It was the product of years of dislocation, years of living in a world that felt cruel and conflict-ridden, years of watching a slow apocalypse unfolding, and feeling helpless to stop it. Or perhaps that’s not quite it. After all, human life might have always felt like this. The problem is that we’re enduring this in a disenchanted age, when all of the magic has seeped away from our understanding. We’re no longer fluent in the language of folklore and mythology. We’re rejecting the spaces in which we once worshipped, reflected and congregated. We’ve come to see ourselves as profoundly separate from the landscapes we inhabit, as superior beings who do things to the world, instead of being woven into it. When we speak of nature, we mean “not us”. Bereft of the beliefs and practices that once sustained us, we’re left picking over the carcass of our human experience.I’d spent my adult life pushing my sense of enchantment away, denying its calling because I saw myself as a rational being who didn’t need such things. Without it, I was unable to make meaning as I aged, to feel any faith in this planet and its inhabitants as everything changed. But there was a yearning still there in me, a persistent, insurgent desire to connect and engage in shifting acts of understanding. The input of my own senses so often told me that there was something more to this life than the mere observable facts. If this was a spiritual longing, then it was also political: I did not want to follow arcane rules set down by distant patriarchs. And I refused to believe that enchantment was only available to those who could travel to far-flung places, led by expensively procured gurus. If enchantment mattered, it had to be democratic. It had to be the business of real life. When sickness arrived at my doorstep in January, it was deeply familiar, and not just because I’m used to contending with chronic illness. Something about the uncertainty of that time – the constant state of wondering when and if it would end – reminded me of that anxious first year of the pandemic, when the world felt remade in a new and incomprehensible shape. There was a state of mind, too, that was particular to that time. I drifted in and out of sleep in a perpetual twilight of stasis and drawn curtains. I lost my sense of night and day, and cursed my inability to do simple things.But the difference, this time around, was that I had now been practising enchantment for long enough to know that I could find it close by, and all around me. At night, when I was feverish and wandering, the moon was still there. I could step outside to see her, and be soothed in her constant, silvery light. Sometimes, the most I could do was to squint at her through a crack in the window. But that was something. It was, in fact, a small taste of everything. It was beautiful, and timeless enough to put me back into context again. In those cold months, I listened to the birdsong gradually returning, to the sparrows finding their way back into the nesting box I erected for swifts, to the robin singing its silvery thread into the dawn. When I had the energy, I watered my plants, clipping away their dead leaves, and using them to mulch the soil. I noticed as they began to put on new growth, tender and bright green, and I admired their survival in the face of my neglect. A single crocus sprang up in the middle of my garden, and it felt like a miracle. I certainly didn’t plant it, and I’ve been in this house for 17 years now. A part of me wanted to see it as a mysterious gift that showed me how life finds a way again, despite the odds. A different part of me wanted to understand the biology of crocus bulbs, to research how long they can survive under the soil and how they spread. I found that I could hold both kinds of knowing at once, without much conflict. It was like slipping between different layers of a well-made bed. My phone from that time is full of photographs of my bathroom window, which hosts a spotted begonia and a candle. At certain times of day, the light shone through the plant’s red leaves and made them glow like stained glass. At other times, I lit the candle and admired its glow against the darkening evening. Sometimes, sunlight would glance through the glass at a certain angle and project a small, crisp-edged rainbow on to the opposite wall. All of the ancient elements were right there in my bathroom: soil, water, fire and air. All of them were spaces in which to contemplate.I began to feel a little better again, and a halting walk down to the beach – which usually takes me four minutes, but now took 15 – revealed a riot of fresh colours, as if the world was entirely new. Or perhaps I was the one who was new. I felt as tender-leaved as my plants, moved by the exuberance of the strangers who rushed past me, exhilarated by the sight of friends who I’d only known through text messages in the preceding months. There was enchantment in all of it. Even in the long, dark nights, there was connection, and a sense of my place in the fabric of humanity, the weft of nature. My sense of enchantment sustained me through difficulty, but it, in turn, was fuelled by the empty, intimate space that opened up in those months. There is an exchange here that I’ve learned to carve: the binding of a small life to a vast universe. The way that the insignificant can speak of the whole. Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age is published by Faber. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/29/katherine-may-i-was-a-tiny-speck-in-a-vast-universe-enchantment

Electric black taxis have hit London's roads under plans to improve air quality but critics say their cost will put drivers off "going green". The cab costs £55,599 up from £45,000 for the newest petrol equivalent. Chris Gubbey, boss of manufacturer the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) insists the cab will "play a major role in helping to improve air quality". The launch comes weeks ahead of rules requiring new cabs in the capital to be capable of emitting zero emissions. More than 9,000 such taxis, roughly half the current black cab fleet, are expected on London's roads by 2021. The new TX can travel 80 miles on a single battery charge and is fitted with a 1.5 litre petrol engine to assist with longer journeys. The vehicle's filtration system also removes harmful gases from incoming air. The cab has six seats, contactless card machines, Wifi and USB charging. LEVC says it will save drivers on average £100 in fuel a week.Analysis by BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett: I took a ride in the new hybrid-taxi this morning - and it is certainly impressive. In full-electric mode it is whisperingly quiet. So much so that you realise just how noisy the rest of the traffic really is. From a passenger's point of view, the peaceful ride is really rather pleasant. On a cold December morning in London, when you can smell and taste the thick diesel fumes hanging in the air, it's easy to see the logic behind the new design. It offers a partial remedy to urban pollution, not just in London, but in other cities around the world - including those in China, where the financial backing for the London EV Company comes from. The inside of the cab is airy and spacious, and it comes with technical gizmos such as wifi and phone chargers built in. I'd like to say what the ride is like at speed, but I spend my entire journey stuck in slow-moving traffic. A problem the new design won't solve. I also spoke to a few cabbies who were plying their trade in the surrounding streets using old-fashioned diesel cabs. It's fair to say they were pretty sceptical. They were worried about how long the batteries would last, where they'd be able to charge them, and how they would pay for the new £55,000 design. The London EV Company has made a cab that looks the part. Now it needs to persuade its customers that the new machine can survive in the cut and thrust of city driving. line Concern has also been raised about the small number of electric charging points in place throughout the capital. An £18m scheme to install 75 rapid charging stations by the end of this year - which can load vehicles in 30 minutes - is reportedly behind schedule. "The whole thing is just a farce, you couldn't make it up," says Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. He added: "We're constantly being told about technology and innovation, but they can't even put a few chargers on the street so what chance have we got?" Mayor Sadiq Khan said the rate of delivery for electric charging stations is expected "to rise dramatically, with over 130 locations currently being worked on." https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42221375

The new development will be home to endangered animals like macaques A plan to build a new enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo to protect critically endangered species has been unanimously approved by councillors. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) submitted plans for two new buildings to house macaques and lowland anoa. The expansion will be located at The Green, which was previously used as stables and paddocks for wild horses. The zoo said the new development would help future-proof the species for future generations. A report to Central Bedfordshire Council's development management committee said: "The proposal is considered inappropriate development within the greenbelt, but special circumstances put forward are considered to outweigh the harm."The new development will cause the loss of 16 trees, but an equivalent number are due to be planted in an adjacent area to compensate, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) saidWhipsnade Zoo's chief operating officer Owen Craft said: "We inspire and empower people to stop wildlife going extinct. "Wildlife health is a key animal welfare priority for us regarding four key species, including the macaques and anoa. "They're critically endangered. The development allows future-proofing of these species for breeding purposes and to ensure viable po[CENSORED]tions." The project is due to provide the equivalent of three full-time jobs at the zoo, according to senior planning officer Lauren Rance. It will also allow the creation of a covered viewing area looking out over the enclosure and more pedestrian trails. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-65054123

KeolisAmey has run Transport for Wales rail services since October 2018 A further £62m of taxpayers' money will be needed to keep Transport for Wales trains going during the Covid pandemic, the economy minister has said. The service is set to be nationalised in February after a significant fall in passenger numbers since March. Now, Ken Skates has warned even with additional funding, "difficult choices" may have to be made to keep trains running. But he vowed to keep services going for key workers. The TfW rail service - run by KeolisAmey - is set to be taken over by the Welsh Government in February. KeolisAmey was awarded the franchise in 2018, taking over from Arriva Trains Wales, and covers most of Wales' trains - including key commuter services such as the valley lines. TfW rail customers 'among least satisfied in UK' Up to 8% of trains overcrowded In a statement before the Senedd on Tuesday, Mr Skates said £62m would help to keep services running until March - this comes on top of £105m of additional funding during the pandemic. Mr Skates said coronavirus had created "serious challenges" for the sector which services across the UK had "not been able to withstand". New train stations are planned around Wales including Cardiff Parkway on the outskirts of the city He said while tickets had provided about half the funding needed to operate services, sales had taken a significant hit. "We are taking the urgent action necessary to protect services, to safeguard jobs and to deliver the ambitious metro programme," he said."This additional funding is essential to provide sufficient services and capacity within a reduced timetable to meet the travel needs of key workers and those with other essential travel needs, such as pupils and students returning to schools and colleges." But Mr Skates said that as long as passenger numbers dwindled, ticket income would remain low and cuts may have to be made. "We'll need to take decisions about resource availability, operational costs and the potential of continuing to offer a reduced level of service until demand and passenger revenues increase again," he said. "However, we will take the steps necessary to ensure that key workers and those that depend on public transport will continue to be able to make the journeys they need to." Opposition parties have previously raised concerns about the financial implications of bringing the service into public ownership. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-54803261

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The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 2023 range of gaming laptops is designed for those who need maximum desktop-like performance in a relatively portable form factor. The combination of the flagship 13th generation Intel Core i9 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop graphics card offers truly impressive performance with plenty of room for the future. And the cooling system allows these powerful components to run stably without overheating. The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) has a gorgeous Mini LED display with high brightness, rich images and a 240Hz refresh rate, and enough connectors to connect external monitors and necessary peripherals. The laptop keyboard has very comfortable and nice buttons, but not a very familiar distribution that takes getting used to. Some minor complaints include the lack of a fingerprint scanner or infrared camera for owner identification. The price of the configuration that we have analyzed is148,000 UAH. 6 reasons to buy ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023): impressive performance; gorgeous 16-inch Mini LED display with a 240Hz refresh rate; efficient cooling system sufficient number of modern connectors comfortable keyboard and touchpad buttons Brilliant design with RGB backlighting. 2 reasons not to buy ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023): keyboard layout a bit unusual; No fingerprint reader or IR camera. fast transition: What is in the box? How about the appearance and build of the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023)? Is the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) comfortable? Is the screen good? What about performance and battery life? Conclusion What is in the box? ASUS has an interesting way of packaging and packaging its flagship gaming laptops. This also applies to the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023). The whole package comes in a big black box with the ROG logo in red. The laptop itself is in a smaller gray box with a bunch of prints and some anime drawings. In addition to the laptop itself, the box contains a 330W main power supply with power cable, an additional 100W Type-C power supply with separate power cable, an additional Armor Cap, a ROG Gladius mouse III, a transport case and documentation. ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) looks like a high-end gaming laptop should: aggressive design and RGB lighting throughout. It is not very heavy for such a powerful 16-inch model: only 2.5 kg. Almost the entire body is made of matte black plastic with different textures. ASUS continues to experiment with translucent design elements. In this case, the upper part of the work surface and the side edges are translucent. Above the work surface are two of the four built-in speakers and LED indicators. Unfortunately, the black underside of the work surface is very noticeable and fingerprints remain instantly.The lid is metal. It is matte and has a very high-quality oleophobic coating, so there are no fingerprints. The lid has a decorative diagonal stripe and a large backlit ROG logo. On the right side of the rear edge is a replaceable Armor Cap that snaps on easily but securely. The company has long been using Armor Cap on its gaming models. The idea is that you can download a 3D model from the website and print your own customized version on a 3D printer.Almost the entire width of the back of the laptop is taken up by a huge cooling radiator, so all the ports are located on the side. On the right are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and cooling system vents.On the left are the power supply connector, 2.5G LAN, HDMI 2.1, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (with DisplayPort, Power Delivery, G-SYNC), Thunderbolt 4 (with DisplayPort, G-SYNC), jack 3.5mm combo audio jack and vents.The rear only has ventilation grills and RGB backlightingThe hinges allow the laptop to be opened around 110º, which is quite a bit for a gaming model. The display unit is well fixed and does not wobble. Keyboard The keyboard of the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) has an unusual layout. At first glance, it looks like your typical laptop keyboard without a separate number pad. But on the right, it ends with an additional column with media playback control buttons, a right arrow from the bottom and Delete from the top. For the first few days of use, I kept hitting the back button instead of enter. The arrow block is full size, but not separate from the main block. Right Shift is a bit shorter than usual. It will take some time to get used to its design. Everything else is usual: the left Shift and Enter keys are long. The top function key is smaller. On it there is a block of five additional buttons. By default, they take care of adjusting the volume, muting the microphone, switching modes, and launching the Armory Crate app. You can also set macros on them. The power button with a red LED is located in the upper right corner, separated from the main unit. Unfortunately, there's neither a fingerprint scanner nor an infrared camera to identify the owner, so you'll have to log in with a password each time. The power button with a red LED is located in the upper right corner, separated from the main unit. Unfortunately, there's neither a fingerprint scanner nor an infrared camera to identify the owner, so you'll have to log in with a password each time. The power button with a red LED is located in the upper right corner, separated from the main unit. Unfortunately, there's neither a fingerprint scanner nor an infrared camera to identify the owner, so you'll have to log in with a password each time.The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2023) uses a 90 Wh battery. The laptop lasted just under 6 hours in office mode: Wi-Fi connection, document work, browser, minimum performance mode and low brightness. Using a 330 W power supply, the notebook fully charges in around 1.40 hours. If you don't need maximum performance, you can use a 100W Type-C power supply. The laptop has 4 built-in speakers that sound great and loud. It even has some bass. They are enough to watch movies or videos. For undemanding users, the quality is also quite good for listening to music. All the basic settings of the laptop are collected in the ROG Armory Crate app. It allows you to select notebook performance modes, update the system, adjust the backlight, AURA Sync, monitor system status, create profiles with different settings, record macros and much more. https://gagadget.com/es/asus-rog-strix-scar-16-2023-g634/229639-analisis-de-asus-rog-strix-scar-16-2023-dominio-total-en-el-campo-de-batalla-virtual/

Microsoft is working on a new, "modernized" version of Windows, designed to increase security and get faster updates, as well as focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to optimize hardware and software experiences.The new version under development, which is known internally as CorePC , stands out for its intention to allow Windows to adapt to different devices in a customizable way to take advantage of the different form factors of each computer. One of the main changes in the new version of Windows is that the company plans to implement 'separation of states', as sources close to the Microsoft project explain to Windows Central . In this way, Windows would be divided into multiple "read-only partitions" that are inaccessible to the user and third-party applications, which translates to faster updates and a more secure platform, since this could make it difficult for a ' malware' to infect the entire system.SOFTWARE Last minute Microsoft works on a new version of Windows focused on security, with faster updates and AI Microsoft works on a new version of Windows focused on security, with faster updates and AI Microsoft stand at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 during the second day, on February 28, 2023, in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). - DAVID ZORRAKINO - EUROPA PRESS Europa Press ICT Portal Posted: 03/29/2023 1:12 PM newsletter @portaltic MADRID, March 29 (Portaltic/EP) - Microsoft is working on a new, "modernized" version of Windows, designed to increase security and get faster updates, as well as focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to optimize hardware and software experiences. The new version under development, which is known internally as CorePC , stands out for its intention to allow Windows to adapt to different devices in a customizable way to take advantage of the different form factors of each computer. One of the main changes in the new version of Windows is that the company plans to implement 'separation of states', as sources close to the Microsoft project explain to Windows Central . In this way, Windows would be divided into multiple "read-only partitions" that are inaccessible to the user and third-party applications, which translates to faster updates and a more secure platform, since this could make it difficult for a ' malware' to infect the entire system. This would be a great novelty with respect to the current version of Windows , since it is not a separated platform by states, but the entire system is installed in a single writable partition and, therefore, all user data and files program files are stored in the same place. In turn, CorePC could also continue to offer full versions of Windows with the current set of features and capabilities of the Windows 11 desktop , but with state separation enabled and with a compatibility layer called Neon for legacy apps . In this way, it would offer the most convenient configuration in each specific case. Sources related to the project have also reported that Microsoft is experimenting with a version of CorePC 'optimized for silicon', with which it seeks to enhance artificial intelligence capabilities.NEW VERSION OF WINDOWS FOR EDUCATIONAL EQUIPMENT In addition to all of this, with the separation of states Windows would advance to a "faster and more reliable" system reset functionality, an important feature for Chromebook devices , with which Microsoft would aspire to compete. CorePC would be able to get Microsoft to release a version of Windows that would only run Edge, web apps, Android apps via Project Latte, and Office apps . In this case, the configuration would be designed for low-end computers focused on sectors such as education. Thus, as the sources have revealed, this version of Windows, with a configuration that could compete with Chromebooks, is being tested internally. https://www.europapress.es/portaltic/software/noticia-microsoft-trabaja-nueva-version-windows-centrada-seguridad-actualizaciones-mas-rapidas-ia-20230329131212.html

How much would you pay for each Giga on your hard drive? This will cost in 2025.As SSDs continue to evolve to be the fastest storage format ever, hard drives continue to dominate when it comes to storage cost. Up to the point where the HDDs of the future will be a penny per gigabyte . When will this happen? Do we really need that much storage capacity on our PCs, or will it reach the point where such an advantage ceases to matter? Hard drives continue to be used as the primary storage unit in many computers today, because of how little it costs to store data and programs on them. However, we will soon reach very low costs in the large server market. Will this apply to the systems we have in our home, or will it be totally different? When will we see a penny per gig on hard drives? According to the evolution of the cost per gigabyte in recent years, in 2009 the cost was 11 cents per gigabyte, in 2017 the amount had dropped to 3 cents in 2019. Currently? The cost has dropped to 1.4 cents, so if this trend continues in 2025 we will see how the cost will have dropped to 1 cent. In any case, said statement is a bit exaggerated due to the fact that the cost of the hard drive also includes the mechanical elements and the interface with the PC. So we are not going to see 10 TB hard drives for 10 euros in stores. However, if we look at the cheapest device currently on Amazon, we will see that on average we can get a 1TB hard drive for 40 euros. It is clear that in two years they will not drop so much in price, and at most the price of storage will drop by half on PC..And where does the 1 cent per gig come from? Well, from the market of servers and data centers that work with large hard drives and with great storage capacity, and as we increase the storage capacity in any HDD of the same type, we will see how each new gigabyte is more and more cheap. What's more, they are continually buying new drives and replacing broken ones as long as their systems are always up and running. Unfortunately, on PC hard drives will rise in price The fact that the consumption of tower PCs has decreased over time and in the case of laptops units with standard hard drives are no longer sold has caused the demand for these to plummet. On the other hand, the new generation consoles base their storage on NVMe SSDs and have abandoned hard drives. This means less demand and, therefore, a rise in the prices of hard drives, since manufacturers have to keep factories running and costs do not go down. All this means that fewer hard drives are manufactured than before for the consumer market and, consequently, they have had to look for other markets, where the volumes of money paid per unit are higher, in order to compensate for the lower amount of sold units. In any case, for ordinary users, having large-capacity disks is no longer useful when the storage exceeds the size needed for its use. In conclusion, above-average storage in terms of hard drive capacity will become a premium item, as consumers will go for smaller sizes because they are good enough. https://hardzone.es/noticias/componentes/discos-duros-centimo-giga/

Forspoken is visually stimulating and a musical delight, but boring combat, poor characterization, and loose movement mechanics make for a mediocre experience.Though it takes inspiration from isekai--stories in which people from Earth are transported to and become trapped in a fantastical world (think Alice in Wonderland but Japanese)--Forspoken ultimately doesn't understand what makes that genre so po[CENSORED]r. Instead, it tells a largely forgettable story that sets up major stakes but fails to offer a compelling reason for why the player should care. Luminous Productions' action-RPG feels great when it allows you to really stretch your legs and magically parkour across its fantasy landscape, but combat is clunky and regular exposition too often stalls the action. In Forspoken, protagonist Frey finds herself trapped in the magic-filled world of Athia after stumbling through a portal. There, she bonds with a sentient brace she nicknames Cuff and then encounters a group of survivors living in the last city that's free from the effects of a dangerous miasma. This blight, which Frey calls the Break, covers the land and transforms living creatures into mutated monsters. Frey is the only exception, making her an ideal candidate for exploring the Break, finding its source, and destroying it. The whole situation is an intriguing narrative setup but boring or unlikable characters let it down. It's difficult to like the standoffish and stubborn Frey, the incessantly sarcastic Cuff (who regularly quips in Frey's ear like a discount JARVIS), or any of the survivors who are all too eager to completely rely on Frey's protection from the Break while also asking her to complete boring optional tasks like going on a tour of a lifeless hub or petting a bunch of sheep. Forspoken's movement is far more fun, especially in the latter half of the game when you start unlocking and chaining new mechanics that increase the variety of ways that Frey can journey across Athia, like slingshotting herself through the air with a flaming whip or mani[CENSORED]ting gravity to skate across the water. Even if there's nowhere interesting to go in Forspoken--its open world is dotted with an assortment of run-of-the-mill side quests like time-limited parkour challenges and photo ops--there's fun to be had in the act of simply getting to your next main story mission. The quiet hum of Forspoken's excellent soundtrack worms its way into your ears while you're racing through the empty, yet beautiful, landscapes. I'm absentmindedly humming its main theme even now. Exposition regularly cuts into the experience, however. Frey and Cuff quip a lot, and though Cuff does have a few humorous one-liners and insightful commentary on the world of Athia over the course of the story, Frey...does not. Frey is one of the weakest parts of Forspoken. Her characterization resembles the narrative arc of '90s and early 2000s isekai light novels, manga, and anime, which largely focused on female protagonists becoming trapped in another world. There, they'd discover their innate talents translated into power, which they'd wield in a quest that awarded them personal agency and self-confidence. But Frey deviates from these isekai protagonists. She's inherently unlikable for most of Forspoken's story, with the game forcing her through her transformation from selfish sorcerer to defiant hero over the course of a single chapter of lengthy exposition. I didn't buy into her heroic shift in the final moments of the game--it felt like the storyline was going through the motions without taking the necessary steps to ensure Frey's emotional and mental development made sense. As a character, Frey feels flat. Our introduction to her is seeing her on the wrong side of a criminal court case, and that she views the world around her with jaded exasperation--she pushes people away because she's an abandoned orphan and believes no one wants her. Frey carries that disposition throughout most of the game and it's the primary means by which she views every aspect of Athia, and thus we the player are able to see it. Forspoken doesn't do anything to celebrate Frey as someone who is Black or a woman or anything else about her. The game posits that the only perspective worth noting from Frey is that of an orphan and that restriction not only stunts the character growth she can achieve, it also just gets stale after a few hours. Forspoken is a tricky game to recommend. The lore of its world is interesting but delivered in a stilted expository manner, and the freeing sensation of taking off across the landscape in a magically-propelled sprint is sullied by the knowledge that there's nowhere to go or anything fun to do. Combat is visually impressive but not all that engaging, and the excellent sound design and the catchy musical score are regularly undermined by unfunny quips from an unlikable protagonist. I enjoyed parts of it, but too often my fun was dragged to an unrewarding halt. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/forspoken-review-forsaken/1900-6418019/

Marvel Snap is an elegantly simple and inventive approach to digital CCGs that emphasizes adaptation and creativity.The advent of digital collectible card games has led to an explosion of different approaches to the genre. Mostly, though, new games have adapted the fundamentals of physical CCGs. With Marvel Snap, Hearthstone veteran studio Second Dinner has reduced the collectible card game to its most essential pieces and reimagined them, creating a combination of systems that are elegantly simple without ever feeling simplistic. Like many other modern card games, Marvel Snap automates its equivalent of mana or energy, adding one unit per turn. But then it streamlines the genre even further: Each game lasts only six turns, and there is no direct combat between characters or choosing whether to deal damage to enemy scrubs or "go face" for direct player damage. Instead, your goal is to accumulate the most power across three locations. At the end of six turns, whoever controls two of the three locations wins the match, and ties are determined by total power across all three. small that it's easy to tinker with a deck, swapping out one less-used card for your latest find, sample it for a couple of lightning-quick games, and then tinker some more. A similarly refined approach has been applied to its progression mechanics. The explosion of digital CCGs has by-and-large used the collection approach po[CENSORED]rized by Magic, Pokemon, and similar physical card games years prior. You pay money for a random pack of cards and then use that to construct your deck. Marvel Snap breaks out of this paradigm in favor of a different form of CCG progression that is truly only available in a digital context. Instead of cracking open randomized packs of cards, you build your collection by visually upgrading your existing ones. You earn upgrade materials through play and then use those to upgrade cards with several tiers of visual effects: breaking out of the frame, a nifty 3D effect, an animated background, and so on. Upgrading those cards earns you "Collection Rank," which progresses you along a path that earns you more upgrade materials and, most importantly, new cards. Then you can begin upgrading those new ones, and the process starts over again. It's a fiendishly compelling system that feeds into itself, and one that could easily have become predatory. So far, that isn't the case. While anything is possible with a live game that will continue to add content for the foreseeable future, right now you can't simply spend your way into all the best cards. Even if you had infinite money to spend, you can only purchase a handful of upgrade shortcuts per day, making it a fairly inefficient way to level up. The monetization strategy instead seems aimed mostly at purchasing variant art, like pixelated or baby versions of the characters. There's so many of these it seems impossible to gauge how long it could take to collect them all, but it's also a purely visual flourish. The other monetization comes in the form of a season pass, which awards new cards, credits, and other bonuses for completing missions. In my experience so far, this is also surprisingly generous and low-impact. I was concerned that by coming in midway through the season I may not be able to finish the season pass in time and miss out on the best rewards. After only a few days I was already caught up and able to start pocketing the new missions as they progressively unlocked. Daily missions unlock on a regular timer every eight hours, and take just a few minutes to complete, and largely grant progress toward your season pass missions. This is a game that wants you to check in frequently for a little bit of time, not obsess over for hours at a time. Though to be honest, it's too late for that--I've already lost hours to Marvel Snap and I am obsessed. The game is fine-tuned, well-designed, and so easily digestible that it’s difficult to put down. I keep finding myself continuing to play even after having completed my daily or season pass missions, just because I want to play another match, or try a new card. Second Dinner has built an incredible foundation here, and I expect Marvel Snap will continue drawing me in for years to come. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/marvel-snap-review-mccgu/1900-6417991/

Resident Evil 4 Remake sales have surpassed 3 million units globally, Capcom has announced. Capcom's latest Resident Evil remake is off to a great start with the publisher's announcing the game has managed to sell over 3 million copies in just two days after its launch. The publisher announced the news through an official press release. The press release doesn't mention if this means that Re4 Remake is now the fastest-selling entry in the series, but we do know that Capcom's previous two remakes, Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake managed to sell 3 million in three days, and 2 million copies in five days respectively. Meanwhile, Capcom has announced that Resident Evil 7 has sold over 10 million copies. Resident Evil Village, Capcom's most recent new Resident Evil entry has already sold over 6.1 million copies since its global launch in May of 2021. The entry managed to sell over 5.7 million copies in just 9 months. Impressive numbers for sure for Capcom's horror franchise. According to Capcom, as of December 31, 2022, cumulative shipments of Resident Evil games across all platforms have exceeded 135 million units since the launch of the original Resident Evil in 1996. Resident Evil 4 Remake is available globally now for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. Here's what we had to say about this amazing remake in our launch review. "Presentation-wise, Resident Evil 4 is yet another impressive showcase of Capcom’s RE Engine tech", we wrote in our review. "On PS5, I was able to play in Resolution Mode (which offers a full 4K picture via checkerboard rendering) with ray tracing turned on and the framerate remained solid. Perhaps not a full 60fps, but fairly consistently around the 50fps mark, which is impressive for a console game. I should also note I turned the fancy hair textures off as they cost more than ray tracing performance-wise and look kinda goofy. While Resident Evil 4 is an irrefutable technical achievement, artistically, it’s arguably a step below its predecessor Resident Evil Village. While some locations are undeniably gorgeous, others, particularly the opening village areas, are kind of grungy looking. This is largely down to the source material Capcom was working with, but I feel like they could have done a bit more to liven up the dingy browns of the early parts of the game." If you're playing this gem on PC, and are into modding games, be sure to check out these interesting mods for Resident Evil 4 - the first-person mod and visual improvement modifications. https://wccftech.com/resident-evil-4-remake-sales-surpass-3-million/

Satellite images show how a key bridge to the Crimean peninsula, damaged by an explosion in October in mysterious circumstances, has now been largely repaired. When it was originally opened in 2018, the Crimea bridge - also known as the Kerch Bridge - was hailed by Russian media as "the construction of the century", four years after Moscow illegally annexed Crimea. The explosion has severely hampered Russia's ability to keep its troops supplied, having to resort to a limited ferry service instead. It has also been a major embarrassment for President Putin, given the bridge's importance as both a strategic and symbolic project. What caused the explosion on the Crimean bridge? How has Russia been rebuilding the bridge? Repairs to the bridge had been scheduled for completion in July 2023. Although not yet fully completed, construction appears to be ahead of schedule. The process of clearing damage and starting repairs began shortly after the explosion on 8 October. Repairs to Crimean Bridge, 8 Oct to 30 Nov 2022 Source: Maxar, Planet Labs PBC Cranes on barges were floated out to the site to remove four sections of road that had collapsed or broken. By the end of October, the bridge was ready for new construction. During November, cloud cover made analysis via satellite images of the reconstruction impossible, but social media posts from Russian sources and regional news stories give further insight into the process. Images show that pre-made sections of carriageway were carried to the damaged site on top of giant flat-bed transporters - a journey which took seven hours from the Russian coast. Cranes positioned on the stable sections of bridge then laid them into place. Work began to repair the bridge days after the explosion Finally, the new sections of carriageway were given an asphalt surface. "The bridge has certainly been repaired much quicker than the timescales common in civilian engineering projects," says Dr Andrew Barr, a civil and structural engineering researcher. "But the resource prioritisation involved in restoring a military and political asset changes things significantly, especially in a country at war," he adds. A Kremlin video which it says shows President Putin driving across the bridge President Putin made a visit to the bridge on 5 December, and the Kremlin posted a video which it says shows him driving a vehicle along the repaired section, being told about the project. At one point, Mr Putin was told by a worker that traffic had been due to resume on 20 December, but that "accelerated construction" had allowed the section he was on to open sooner than that. How badly was the bridge damaged? The bridge carries both road and rail traffic across the Kerch Strait between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Satellite images reveal that a blast caused sections of one of the two road carriageways to collapse into the sea, with just part of it visible above water.Satellite imagery showing the damaged section after the blast in October The blast also set light to fuel containers on a passing train on the adjacent rail bridge, but that was reopened soon afterwards. The damaged part of the road bridge was 900ft (274 metres) long. Three people died in the explosion. The bridge has been closed to heavy road traffic ever since, although some light traffic has been allowed to use it. The cause of the blast remains a mystery. Russian officials said it was a terrorist act by two men from southern Russia who had been driving a truck across the bridge when the explosion happened. Other theories suggested the bridge could have been attacked using a boat-launched missile or a maritime drone. But there's been no confirmation on the Ukrainian side of any of these possible explanations. How important is the Crimean Bridge? The bridge is the longest in Europe. It's 19km (12-mile) long and spans the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea and is the only direct road and rail link between the two. It cost £2.7bn to build and was seen very much as President Putin's personal project, a vital supply link for the Russian war effort in Ukraine and symbolising a new political connection with Crimea. It is crucial for supplying goods such as fuel and food to the civilian po[CENSORED]tion there, and to the naval base at Sevastopol, which is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, the bridge has also become a major route for supplying Russian forces in southern Ukraine https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-63872209

A decade later, I’d lost hope of ever recollecting my childhood or recovering my creativity. A hit from the 80s changed everything The thing about waking up with no memories is that you don’t realise what you’ve lost until people start telling you who you are meant to be. That’s where my journey began, 20 years ago. I woke up as a 19-year-old, having survived a serious road accident and the subsequent surgery to remove a blood clot from my brain. I had broken my back but, although it was painful, I could walk and talk. Yet there was a lot missing. I was alive, but I was not the teenager who had crossed the road and been hit by a black cab that night. He was gone. I had lost my childhood memories. My head was flooded with questions. Everything was new. At first, the questions were small and simple and very much in the present. What’s an ice-cream? How do I make that music play? Who are they? Then I pressed ‘skip’ one more time, and that’s when it happened – the most surreal moment of my life I was very fortunate to have a family who supported me at home while I recovered. There was so much to learn and with every answer came more questions; soon, the questions became bigger and tougher. What am I going to do with my life? How can I get a job when I don’t remember school? Who am I, really?In my bedroom I found a drawer crammed full of artwork, essays and scripts with my name on them. I didn’t recognise any of it. I knew I had a good imagination but I couldn’t draw like that. I knew I loved stories, but I was struggling to read and write. It seemed hard to believe that I had once been this clever, creative kid, who had apparently dreamed of being a writer. How I wished I could be him again. Then I was told that it was possible that my memories might not actually be gone, they were just hard to reach. Maybe something from my past could jog them. My hopes ballooned. I just needed to find a key, and so my search began. I went to a lot of the places I was told I had been to as a child, all the parks and shops and old schools. I went to places we’d been to on holiday and travelled the tube on the routes I had taken in my teens. We tried everything, but as time went on, the boy with my name in so many stories and grainy photographs remained another person in another world. The night before my 30th birthday, I decided to try to accept that he was simply gone – for ever. I was planning a 1980s-themed party and had started preparing a playlist of 80s music. It was late. I went to bed, plugged my earphones in and closed my eyes. I started skipping from one classic to the next, adding each tune to the playlist. After 10 years of listening to the radio, I knew them all by heart. Then I pressed “skip” one more time, and that’s when it happened – the most surreal moment of my life. A song I had somehow not heard in all that time, The Whole of the Moon by the Waterboys, began to play, and I was transported. I found myself sitting on a strange, blue floor, staring at a silver stereo. Then suddenly I was walking in bright sunshine, holding a giant man’s hand. In a flash I was in another curious place; I saw some coloured glass lights on an enormous Christmas tree that towered over me. Near the tree, standing in a doorway, there was a woman. She was young, smiling, and didn’t have grey hair. She was my mum. I was her little boy, and it was real. I was finally there with her, at last.It was such a short moment but it was mine, and that changed everything. It lit a flame inside of me and the idea for a story exploded into my head. I knew that learning to write again would be hard, but it wasn’t impossible. And if something is not impossible then you can do it. I took that young kid’s dream, that he first had as a nine-year-old, out of the drawer. Today I’m 39 and inside that drawer is a shiny novel with my name on it, the first of a new series about a boy who wakes up with no memories, in another world. He must find his memories to unlock the power he’ll need to stop a villain who is making everyone forget. Twenty years on, I still know how much I lost from the accident, but I also know that it didn’t stop me – I found my way back – and that tells me who I really am. Jayben and the Golden Torch by Thomas Leeds is out now (Hodder Children’s Books, £7.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/29/a-moment-that-changed-me-road-accident-song-memories-childhood

Black-cab drivers are finding it cheaper to run their hybrid taxis on petrol rather than electricity because of rising prices, the BBC has learned. Drivers relying on rapid and ultra rapid public charging points have seen a 50% price increase in the last year, according to the RAC's Charge Watch. Taxi drivers' unions are calling for lower prices for on-street charging with a reduction in VAT. The government said it had generous tax measures for zero-emissions vehicles.Kevin Paul has been a black cab driver in London for six and a half years, driving his LEVC hybrid cab for three. He has to charge it on the street as there are no facilities at his home in Croydon, south London, and said his costs have risen so much, he has been forced to use petrol. 'I don't have a problem with green infrastructure but it needs to be affordable', Mr Paul said. "The street charger when I first started cost in the region of £7-£8. The same charge today, is well over £16, and has nearly doubled in the last year." "The lack of charging points in the city also means that taxi drivers are losing two hours of work a day, to queue up and recharge" he added. Electric black cabs hit London's roads Taxi fares to rise by 5.5% to stem driver exodus Black cabs kept in fields as demand 'evaporates' Drivers are subject to a 20% VAT charge at street charging points, compared with 5% if they charge at home. Mr Paul, who is a secretary at the RMT union which represents taxi drivers said: "Some drivers are queuing up and this affects how many jobs they can take. "A lot of drivers are finding its cheaper to run the taxi on petrol." A range of private operators in London means there are variations in prices across charging points The taxi and private hire trade has had to embrace electric vehicles in recent years amid a push from Transport for London (TfL) to reduce toxic air and emissions in the capital. All private hire vehicles licensed for the first time in 2023 have to to be zero emission capable as part of the London mayor's ambition for a net zero-carbon city by 2030. But there are calls for the government and TfL to step in to reduce VAT on charging points, to make these plans achievable. RAC electric vehicles spokesman Simon Williams said the cost of rapid and ultra-rapid charging had "increased significantly due to rising wholesale energy prices,". "An 80% charge at home is half the price of an equivalent rapid charge", he added. Unions claim there is "little incentive" for cab drivers to use electricity in their hybrid taxis James Farrar, founder of the ADCU union, which represents private hire drivers, said most drivers in London "do not have the luxury of access to charge points at home". He added that the expectation from TfL for a clean transport revolution in private hire was "unrealistic at best and disingenuous at worst". 'No incentive to recharge' Private hire drivers were "still under financial distress" from the affects of the pandemic, Mr Farrar said. "With petrol now at parity with electric, there is no incentive for taxi drivers to take hours out of their day to recharge like private hire drivers must". A range of private operators in London means there are variations in prices across charging points. In a statement TfL said that while it was a matter for the government it "support the lowering of VAT so that it is consistent between public charging points and home charging use'. A spokesperson said: "There is a comprehensive charging network across London with more than 12,000 public charge points, of which more than 850 are rapid or ultra-rapid. This is almost a third of the UK's total and a 180% increase from 2019" They added that the requirement to move taxi and private hire drivers to EV's would act as a "catalyst" in significantly reducing toxic emissions. The government said 20% VAT applied to most goods and services, and that owners of zero-emissions vehicles enjoyed a range of generous tax measures and purchase subsidies. A spokesperson for HM Treasury said: "To drive the UK's, move to electric vehicles, we have provided over £2.5 billion to cut down purchase costs for drivers and to build the necessary infrastructure to support their usage, such as local on-street residential charging and targeted plug-in vehicle grants." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-65083432

Stock picture of an alligator A dog-walker who was attacked by an alligator in the US state of Florida is believed to have been killed by the reptile, state wildlife officials say. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says Shizuka Matsuki was bitten by a 12.5 ft (3.8m) alligator. A necropsy was performed on the reptile after it was captured. It dragged Ms Matsuki, 47, into a lake in the town of Davie, 25 miles (40km) north of Miami, a witness said. Trappers found the victim's arm inside the alligator after catching it, officials told the Florida Sun-Sentinel. Authorities confirmed it as Matsuki's arm because of a tattoo, the newspaper reported. What happened? The incident occurred at about 09:45 (13:45 GMT) on Friday. "The FWC believes that the victim is deceased and we will continue recovery efforts on the lake with local authorities," the agency said in a statement. "This tragedy is heartbreaking for everyone involved," the FWC added. Local media earlier reported that officers found a dog on a leash but no signs of the woman at Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park. "Divers are searching," Davie Police Maj Dale Engle was quoted as saying by the Sun Sentinel newspaper. "Her dogs won't leave the pond. One of her dogs got bit by the gator." How great is the danger? Neighbours told local media they had seen children swimming in the lakes. Elsewhere in Florida, a man was knocked unconscious trying to remove an alligator Edwin Gomez, a regular visitor to the the park, told CBS News: "I saw the gator yesterday, it responds in a natural way. "It's sad to hear someone got hit by the gator." The reptiles are "opportunistic feeders" that live in all of the state's 67 counties, according to the FWC. It is not uncommon for alligators to be removed from householders' swimming pools but attacks on people are rare. Despite the reptiles' widespread presence, only 22 people have died in alligator attacks in Florida since 1948. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44419582

Transport for Wales blamed inflation and delays for pushing up the price from its £734m estimate By Huw Thomas Business correspondent, BBC Wales The cost of building the South Wales Metro has rocketed more than £260m to £1bn. Transport for Wales (TfW) blamed inflation and delays caused by the Covid pandemic for the price spiralling from its original £734m estimate. The Metro is aimed at improving south-east Wales' rail network, is due to be completed in 2025. Chief executive James Price said he was doing "everything possible" to control costs. The first Swiss-built Class 231 Flirt trains have been introduced ahead of schedule on the Rhymney Valley line to Cardiff.They will be joined by the Class 398 tram-train, which has now arrived for testing. The new Cardiff Parkway railway station will form a key part of the South Wales Metro At a naming ceremony for a Flirt train in Caerphilly, Mr Price said the soaring cost of raw materials had also helped pushed the Metro price-tag to £1bn. He said: "We're probably three-quarters of the way through the programme now, so opportunities for things to go significantly wrong are gradually reducing. "I'm pretty confident that we're in the right ballpark and we're doing the right things to control it." The Metro is largely being funded by the Welsh government. Metro boss James Price said he was doing "everything possible" to control costs Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said he hoped the new trains would get people out of their cars, especially following a dramatic drop in passenger numbers since Covid. "Hopefully people will start to have faith that things are getting better," he said. "Now the trains are getting better, please give them a try." Passenger Rachel Stephens, from Treherbert, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, is planning to use the new trains to go to Cardiff. She complained the current trains were sometimes late or cancelled and their "general upkeep" was not good enough. Rachel Stephens is planning to use the new trains to go to Cardiff Ms Stephens said she was pleased with the new trains on the Rhymney Valley line. "You can plug your phone in to charge your laptop if you want to do work and the seats are really comfortable," she added. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65115780

Your Nickname: [X]pErT- Your Problem:When I turn on laptop black screen comes out laptop is running but screen Display Is Black Screenshot:.

HIGHLIGHTS OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is set to launch on April 4 The handset is teased in pastel lime and Chromatic Gray colourways OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite will come with 5,000mAh battery OnePlus is all set to launch the successor to Nord CE 2 Lite in India on April 4. The company has confirmed to launch the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G on the above-mentioned date. A teaser page for the phone is already live on the OnePlus India website. The site has revealed its colour variants and key specifications. Meanwhile, a reliable tipster has now tipped the expected price of the upcoming smartphone in India. The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite will be powered by a Snapdragon 695 5G SoC. Tipster Abhishek Yadav (Twitter: @yabhishekhd) has tipped that the upcoming OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G will start at Rs. 21,999 in India. However, the storage variants of the upcoming smartphone are yet to be known. It is tipped to pack 8GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storageThe company has also shared that the phone will be equipped with a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging support. Additionally, the phone will come in Pastel Lime and Chromatic Gray colour options. A recent report also suggested the expected price of OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G in European markets. It is speculated to be priced at EUR 329 (roughly Rs. 29,000). Meanwhile, other specifications of the phone have also been leaked. It is said to come with an LCD display with 1,800 x 2,400 pixels resolution, and a Snapdragon 695 5G SoC. The phone is tipped to feature a 108-megapixel triple rear camera setup with a 2-megapixel macro sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Moreover, leaked images have suggested that the phone will have a selfie camera housed in a hole-punch cutout.The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G will succeed the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G that was launched in India last year. It features a 6.59-inch full-HD+ display with a dynamic refresh rate of 120Hz. The handset is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 695 SoC, paired with Adreno 619 GPU and up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. The OnePlus 11 5G was launched at the company's Cloud 11 launch event which also saw the debut of several other devices. We discuss this new handset and all of OnePlus' new hardware on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/oneplus-nord-ce-3-lite-price-tipped-specifications-teased-launch-april-4-3900874

Apple has released version 16.4 of the iOS mobile operating system , which in addition to introducing new emoji and corrections, incorporates notifications on the home screen of web applications and prioritizes voice in calls over ambient sound in a new feature. The new set of 21 emojis coming to iPhone include a pink heart, a shaking face, various animals (like a donkey, moose, goose, jellyfish, blackbird, and wings), and elements like a fan or maracas . Along with the emoji, the technology company has incorporated notifications from web applications on the home page and a feature in calls that isolates the voice from ambient noise. It has also optimized accident detection for iPhone and iPhone 14 Pro devices, as stated on the Apple Support page . In the Accessibility settings, iOS 16.4 has an option to automatically fade a video when it shows bright lights like flash or strobe effects. And in the Weather app it supports 'VoiceOver' screen reader. The new iOS update will also detect duplicate photos and videos in a shared iCloud album, and fix several bugs, including one where child purchase requests on parental devices failed. https://www.europapress.es/portaltic/software/noticia-apple-lanza-ios-164-nuevos-emoji-novedades-llamadas-funciones-accesibilidad-20230328110150.html

Despite the fact that the rise of SSDs to the detriment of the traditional mechanical hard drive has been with us for years, many people still use hard drives as secondary storage on their PCs. This is fine and nothing happens, as long as you follow a series of recommendations to the letter that will avoid both performance losses and potential problems . In this article, we tell you about them all. Today, many people use an SSD (whether in 2.5″ or M.2 format) as the main storage device, for the operating system, and a traditional hard drive as a secondary one to act as additional storage. This is great, since for now mechanical hard drives still provide the best capacity / price ratio, but you have to be careful because there are a series of bad practices that could lead to disaster. What you should NOT do if you have an SSD and a hard drive at the same time Especially when we talk about users who have low capacity SSD, it is common that they decide to use it only for the operating system and install the programs and games that they use the most, leaving the normal hard drive for the rest, including other program or game installations. They are not used very often. This is a serious mistake, since in this way we will be "linking" the mechanical disk to the operating system, so that if the disk is damaged or if we disconnect it, the PC will stop booting . Notice that we are putting quotes around that "link" between the hard drive and the SSD, and we do it because obviously it is not a link as such, but there are routes ("paths") in the operating system that lead to the hard drive and that, due to the way in which the operating system is programmed, cause that if these do not work, the system is not able to boot). This, at the same time, causes Windows to constantly check if the data on the hard drive is still there, and of course, the hard drive is much slower than the SSD (again, whatever the type, a hard drive is always slower). slower than an SSD) and this causes an increase in the latency of access to information that, in short, hinders the performance of the equipment. This is especially noticeable when starting the system, but it also slows down the overall performance of the PC. Follow the "best practices" and everything will work better The good practice when you have both an SSD and a hard drive on your PC is to use the SSD for ALL installations, be it programs or games, leaving the hard drive simply for mass storage. In this way, even if the mechanical disk is damaged or even if you disconnect it from the PC, the operating system will be able to continue booting without problems, as if nothing had happened and, at the same time, you will avoid that performance drag that we have mentioned before. This is one of the main reasons why you should think very carefully about what SSD capacity you need when you go to buy it, especially for the sake of not falling short. When you go to buy a new SSD for the system, think that you will not only install the operating system, Office and the programs or games that you use the most, you should think that EVERYTHING will be installed on the SSD, leaving the hard drive simply to store your photos, documents, videos, etc. but not to install anything on it. Now the question will come: what SSD capacity is it recommended to buy? That will depend on you, but normally in a PC used for office automation and browsing, with 256 GB you will have more than enough, while in a gaming PC in which you are going to install several games, you should think about buying 1 TB or even more. https://hardzone.es/noticias/componentes/ssd-disco-duro-pc/

The networks promotes Russia's Wagner mercenaries By Grigor Atanesian Global Disinformation Team A large social network that promotes anti-Western and pro-Kremlin ideas is helping Russia expand its influence at the expense of France in some of its former colonies in Africa. Called Russosphère (Russian Sphere), typical posts accuse France of modern-day "colonialism", eulogise Vladimir Putin, and call the Ukrainian army "Nazis" and "Satanists", echoing the official Russian line. They also heap praise on Russia's Wagner mercenaries - even sharing recruitment information should followers want to join up. Experts say that such misinformation drives mistrust between African nations and the West, and contributes to a lack of support for Ukraine on the continent. Working with Logically, the tech organisation who traced the network, the BBC's Global Disinformation Team tracked down the surprising figure behind it: a 65-year-old Belgian politician who calls himself a Stalinist. Defending Russia and thanking Wagner Russosphère describes itself as "a network in defence of Russia". Made up of several social media groups on different platforms, it was created in 2021 but fully launched in February 2022 - just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The network swiftly gained over 80,000 followers. After the invasion, Russian state media was restricted or banned from all mainstream social platforms. Russosphère was not, and quickly became active on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in addition to Telegram and VK - Russia's homegrown version of Facebook. The discovery comes at a time of a swift deterioration in relationships between France and several African nations that analysts partly attribute to the Kremlin's influence and a growing pro-Russian sentiment fuelled by propaganda. Kyle Walter is head of US investigations at Logically. Using data from their internal artificial intelligence-powered platform combined with open source intelligence, Logically tracked the network back to a man called Luc Michel. In the past, Mr Michel has worked to legitimise votes in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, and been linked to "Merci [thank you] Wagner", a group supporting the work of the Russian mercenaries. We contacted Mr Michel and he agreed to discuss Russosphère. He told us he created it, but said it received no financial support from Russia, saying it is funded by "private money". He also insisted that he had no connections with Wagner and its head Yevgeny Prigozhin. "I manage the cyberwar, the media war… and Prigozhin conducts military activities," he said. Luc Michel is little known in Europe, but promotes himself in Africa According to Mr Walter, a co-author of Logically's report, this campaign is the first time Mr Michel's efforts have had real-world impact. "Russosphère is the first time Luc Michel and the general influence operations he runs have had significant success," he says. "Even if the groups have been helped by bots in the beginning, they are now an authentic organic influence operation, with a large portion of real followers from across Africa." Admirer of Gaddafi and Putin Mr Michel's early history may seem unusual for a self-proclaimed friend of Africa. Born in 1958, he was politically active from a young age, first in the neo-fascist groups of his native Belgium, and later as a follower of Jean Thiriart, a former Nazi collaborator who envisioned a "Euro-Soviet empire from Vladivostok to Dublin", united against America. His career took him to Libya in support of the country's leader at the time, Muammar Gaddafi. He also went to Burundi as an advisor to then-President Pierre Nkurunziza. Mr Michel interviewing the CAR President Touadéra Throughout, he maintained a Russian connection, working with "Nashi", the Kremlin's youth movement, and creating a self-styled "election-monitoring group" that declared Moscow's 2014 illegal referendums in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk "free and fair". "I am a Stalinist," he told the BBC. "I have defended Russia since the 1980s. I think that Russia is the only force left in Europe that is anti-American. I am nostalgic of the Soviet Union. I want a free world without America." From social media to the streets It is difficult to assess the impact of specific disinformation campaigns, but in Africa the pro-Russian message is being heard - amplified, say analysts, by local influencers cultivated by Russia. "The success of people like Luc Michel is because of his opposition to France. It taps into real grievances on the ground," says Kevin Limonier, an associate professor at the University of Paris-8 studying Moscow's information operations in Africa. "Russian misinformation was a factor helping to drive the French forces out of Sahel countries, especially Burkina Faso," according to Ulf Laessing, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a centre-right German think tank. From 2013, some 5,000 French troops had been deployed to fight militant jihadist groups in Mali as well as in Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania. But last year, they pulled out of Mali and are preparing to leave Burkina Faso. They have been under pressure from the military governments in the two countries but Beverly Ochieng from BBC Monitoring agrees that po[CENSORED]r sentiment may have had something to do with it. "Russian flags were waved at protests in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, and that is in part due to pro-Russian info-ops," she says. In Burkina Faso, protesters attacked the French embassy and were heard demanding closer ties between Ouagadougou and Moscow. This chimes directly with Mr Michel's aims. "I think that Russia must replace the French in all of Africa," he told the BBC. "Estimating the impact of information operations is almost impossible," says Mr Limonier, expert in the Kremlin's influence campaigns. But one thing is clear: such operations worry the West. In Paris, according to Mr Limonier, "the diplomats and the military, they read it, they see it and they say: 'Oh my gosh'." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64451376

Brand beloved by Lil Nas X and AOC debuts new sales model: the more po[CENSORED]r an item is, the cheaper it ends up being Demi Elder owns 16 Telfar bags. The 31-year-old from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, tries to catch every drop she can from the brand, which has been name-checked in Beyoncé lyrics and seen on everyone from Lil Nas X to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “I love that it’s Black-owned, unisex, thoroughly inclusive, and meant for all genders,” she says. The brand’s rectangular shopping bags are particularly po[CENSORED]r, made in 38 hues and three sizes that range in price from $150 to $257; new colors sell out in seconds. On Monday, shortly after noon, Elder added to her collection. Instead of bags, she hit the website for its latest clothing drop, and found simple black T-shirts emblazoned with the brand’s logo for $50, cropped crew-necks for $65, and “gown-length basketball tops” at $150 each. The majority of items had sold out within the hour. Elder left Telfar.net feeling content, bagging a pair of heather gray sweatpants for the wholesale price of $80. That was about $240 less than the full price of the pants, because Elder was shopping Telfar’s “live pricing” experiment.The brand let customers determine the cost of 29 new pieces of sportswear by listing them at wholesale prices at noon on Monday. (Wholesale can cost over 50% less than what shoppers would normally pay on the brand’s website.) As customers shopped, the wholesale price went up in small increments until the stock sold out. The more people who added a piece to their cart, the more likely shoppers would get it at a discount. For instance: the sweatpants Elder purchased would have cost $320 full price. The price set by customer demand would become the “forever price” for all restocks of that item going forward. By early Monday afternoon, most of the stock had sold out. Anyone who missed the opportunity can come back next week: new items will drop every week through 24 April. As Babak Radboy, creative director of Telfar, told Fast Company, the brand’s stunt reveals just how arbitrary some of the costs in fashion can be. Radboy and Telfar Clemens, the brand founder, came up with the idea while they were designing a hoodie and “realized the brand could charge $100 or $600 for it”.If we charge $600 for the hoodie, then only one class of person would buy it – the person who can afford it,” Radboy told the publication. So they came up with a pricing model to help keep items affordable and accessible to the widest swath of customers. “Many brands use price as a barrier to entry,” Clemens said. “I never wanted that for my brand.” In a way, the new pricing model exposes just how much the traditional fashion system marks up clothing. This, obviously, goes against decades of fashion world logic that in-demand things need to cost lots of money. “Most brands use the po[CENSORED]rity of a product to increase prices and test the limit of client loyalty,” said Louis Pisano, a fashion reporter for Nylon France. “But those brands are not Telfar. When Telfar lowers the prices of po[CENSORED]r items, it doesn’t have the same negative effect and drop in brand perception as it would for other buzzy names.” Rachel Tashjian, the fashion news director at Harper’s Bazaar, said that Radboy once told her that he and Clemens set out to make “an avant-garde Fashion Nova”. Most couture houses would not dare to compare themselves to a fast fashion empire, and that’s part of Telfar’s appeal. “Dynamic pricing is just cool, and a rare genuine swipe at capitalism in fashion, to create a system in which the bestselling items in a collection are the most affordable,” Tashjian said. Andrea Bossi, a writer at Fashionista, believes the drop is another way for the brand to hype up its fanbase, which sees itself less as customers and more as a community. “I wonder if this model is an ode or a love letter to their fans. Even though the brand is about accessibility, you can’t always drop $200 for a bag.” Balancing couture and being community-oriented can be difficult. When Telfar’s buzzy faux leather Circle bag was released last year, online critics spoke out against its $567 price tag, saying the accessory went against the brand’s original ethos. But others defended Telfar, including the editor Shelton Boyd-Griffith, who wrote: “The conversation around Telfar’s Circle bag price point is loaded because it poses the dangerous misconception that Black luxury brands can’t grow and scale.” The debacle did not curb interest in the brand. Radboy told the Guardian that Telfar “will probably try live pricing with our duffels and circle bags” at some point in the future. Why start this experiment with clothes? Radboy said that the bags were already ubiquitous, especially in creative circles. “We want the clothes to have the chance to do the same,” he said. “If you walk five blocks in any direction in New York, you will see a Telfar bag. We want to see the full look out here.” There are also logistical reasons it makes sense for Telfar to let customers set their own prices. The model will help the brand collect data about what pieces customers want the most. “This will give us information about how much of each product we should order in the future,” Radboy told Fast Company. “And the larger the order, the cheaper it costs to manufacture.” Since starting his eponymous line in 2005, Clemens has always dismissed the idea that high fashion was synonymous with expensive products. Clemens, born in Queens to Liberian immigrant parents, embraces working-class references in his design. He’s created uniforms for White Castle employees and held fashion week events at Rainbow Shops, an inexpensive retail chain. Fans often point to the brand’s motto as its guiding light, when it comes to inclusion: “It’s not for you, it’s for everyone.” https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/mar/27/telfar-fashion-live-pricing

£1.3bn will be invested in electric vehicle charging points as part of the plan By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst New cars and vans powered wholly by petrol and diesel will not be sold in the UK from 2030, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. But some hybrids would still be allowed, he confirmed. It is part of what Mr Johnson calls a "green industrial revolution" to tackle climate change and create jobs in industries such as nuclear energy. Critics say the £4bn allocated to implement the 10-point plan is far too small for the scale of the challenge. The total amount of new money announced in the package is a 25th of the projected £100bn cost of high-speed rail, HS2. Will the UK be ready for a 2030 ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars? Business Secretary Alok Sharma told BBC Breakfast the £4bn was part of a broader £12bn package of public investment, which "will help to bring in three times as much in terms of private sector money". Mr Sharma, who is president of the COP26 international climate summit that the UK will host next year, said the money would also support the creation of 250,000 jobs in parts of the UK "where we want to see levelling up". The government hopes that many of those jobs will be in northern England and in Wales, and that 60,000 will be in offshore wind. The government has also given funding to boost cycling and walking Offshore wind: Produce enough offshore wind to power every home in the UK, quadrupling how much it produces to 40 gigawatts by 2030, and supporting up to 60,000 jobs. Hydrogen: Have five gigawatts of "low carbon" hydrogen production capacity by 2030 - for industry, transport, power and homes - and develop the first town heated by the gas by the end of the decade. Nuclear: Pushing nuclear power as a clean energy source and including provision for a large nuclear plant, as well as for advanced small nuclear reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs. Electric vehicles: Phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and investing in grants to help buy cars and charge point infrastructure. Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport for the future. Jet zero and greener maritime: Supporting research projects for zero-emission planes and ships. Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, including a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028. Carbon capture: Developing world-leading technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030 - equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber. Nature: Protecting and restoring the natural environment, with plans to include planting 30,000 hectares of trees a year. Innovation and finance: Developing cutting-edge technologies and making the City of London the global centre of green finance. The plan includes provision for a large nuclear plant - likely to be at Sizewell in Suffolk - and for advanced small nuclear reactors, which it is hoped, will create an estimated 10,000 jobs at Rolls-Royce and other firms. The government is close to giving the green light to a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk The plans will also affect some people's homes. The government will bring forward, to 2023, the date by which new homes will need to be warmed without using gas heating. Free home insulation: Too good to be true? Sea's heat to warm historic house Extra £40m pledged for green spaces in England Why the UK's carbon-free future will need rules It will aim to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 - these are low-energy electrical devices for warming homes. And it has extended the Green Homes Grant for home insulation for a year after the first tranche was massively over-subscribed. Clean hydrogen will be blended into the natural gas supply to reduce overall emissions from gas, and the government wants a town to volunteer for a trial of 100% hydrogen for heat, industry and cooking. The hydrogen - attracting a subsidy of up to £500m - will be produced in places such as the North East of England, partly by energy from offshore wind. unemployment and the climate emergency. "Only a fraction of the funding announced today is new." Mr Miliband, who served as energy and climate change secretary from 2008-10, said Labour wanted the government to bring forward £30bn of capital investment over the next 18 months and invest it in low-carbon sectors to support 400,000 additional jobs. And Green Party MP Caroline Lucas welcomed some measures but said the plan "completely fails to rise to the gravity of this moment". "When you put it in the context of the scale of the climate and nature emergencies that we face, and indeed the scale of the job emergencies that we face, then it's nowhere near ambitious enough, it's not urgent enough, it's not bold enough," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. She criticised the £4bn allocation, saying "the resources aren't there in order to make this a really strategic package". Ms Lucas also said the government's message is "inconsistent" and it must make clear which technologies it wants to invest in. She said nuclear power is "massively costly", will not be "on stream" until the middle of the 2030s, and risks undermining focus on offshore wind. The Green Party called for a transformation of the entire economy to reduce emissions, including scrapping the £27bn road-building programme, which will actually increase emissions. However, Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive of energy supplier SSE, told the Today programme he was pleased "to see this level of ambition from the government". He said the plan was "a really important step in getting the green recovery going" and would "help create a lot more jobs". Mike Hulme, professor of human geography at the University of Cambridge, said critics should not "nit-pick about precise details" of the plan as it was "far more important is to endorse the direction of travel that has been set for the next decade". Tanya Steele from WWF-UK said the government had "fired the starting gun on the action we need to see". She added: "We now need the chancellor to live up to the ambition expressed today through a spending review that tests every line of public spending to ensure it's compatible with meeting our climate goals." https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54981425