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MSI is bringing Re-Size BAR support to Z490, B460, and H410 motherboards by the end of the year. MSI is preparing a new BIOS update to enable Re-Size BAR across all of its 400-series Intel motherboards. That now makes three major motherboard manufacturers, MSI and Asus, that are confirmed to be working on available beta BIOS updates to enable the functionality at the heart of AMD Smart Access Memory on Intel Z490, B460, and H410 motherboards. Re-Size BAR isn't actually anything new, in theory. It's a part of the standard PCIe specification, although it was never really put to good use on a wide scale until AMD announced Smart Access Memory (SAM)—a new feature than allows Ryzen 5000 CPUs to access the complete VRAM of RX 6000-series graphics cards across 500-series motherboards. And while the hot new feature on the block, in our testing of SAM we only experienced a marginal performance uplift across most games. It's great to switch on, if you have the option, but hardly something to go searching for as a must-have feature—especially as it might soon be available on a wider basis. Shortly after SAM was announced, Nvidia claimed it had managed to get a similar functionality operating in the labs with its graphics cards. That's actually the pretty big caveat to today's motherboard support announcement—you'll still need an RX 6000-series graphics card to put it to good use right now, as no other GPUs currently support it, though Nvidia is expected to release an update early in the new year. And good luck getting hold of one of those if you haven't already. The AMD RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 launched last month and sold out immediately. Your best bet will be to look out for stock of the RX 6900 XT on December 8, but we suspect this enthusiast-grade GPU to be even more sparsely found than the others. Regardless, MSI aims to release Z490 motherboard BIOS support for Re-Size BAR this week and the complete B460 and H410 support by the end of the month. Similarly, AGESA updates have effectively enabled the functionality on older X470 and B450 AM4 motherboards too, pending a BIOS update, although you'll still need to have other compatible hardware—CPU and GPU—in order to switch it on. It's currently suggest that most recent Intel processors will be able to support the feature, while older AMD processors, pre-Ryzen 5000, may not have the prerequisite native instruction support (via CapFrameX). We cannot confirm or deny this at this time, however, so take that with a pinch of salt. It's also worth noting that AMD is so far the only company to extensively test all motherboards, GPUs, and CPUs of its latest generations with the function, and therefore we don't yet know how competitors' products will operate with Re-Size BAR enabled or the performance gain it will offer. So there's still very little practical use to any of this, with so little hardware available, and very little to be gained in the end anyways. Still, free performance is free performance, however slight it might be. There's no 'Silicon Valley' where Jacob grew up, but part of his home country is known as 'The Valleys' and can therefore it be easily confused for a happening place in the tech world. From there he graduated to professionally break things and then write about it for cash in the city of Bath, UK.

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The CS:GO community awoke from their slumber today to discover that Valve had reached down a benevolent hand and given them an early Christmas gift. Broken Fang, the 10th CS:GO operation, is here. It even comes with a cinematic trailer (a whole 16 seconds long), the first official Counter-Strike cinematic in eight years. Broken Fang adds a new Retakes mode that's available for all players, which pits three terrorists against four counter-terrorists for eight rounds, with weapons chosen from a loadout card each round. Those with the Operation Pass also get access to the competitive Broken Fang premier mode, and an Operation Stats page collecting their personal statistics complete with heat maps and win rates broken down per map. There are seven new maps, and an Operation Shop that sells rewards in exchange for spending 'operation stars' that are earned by completing weekly missions. It sells graffiti, patches, stickers, weapon collections, a new weapon case, and agents themed around a SWAT team and a criminal crew called The Professionals. The accompanying patch also adds a contextual ping system accessed via a customizable chat wheel. Which is nice. For full details of the various new additions, maps, agents, and cosmetics, head to the Counter-Strike website.

We’ve been finding out if Jeep’s most hardcore 4x4 can cut it against techheavy new rivals. What’s the verdict? - 11 November 2020 They wave to each other, you know. Jeep Wrangler owners, that is. I didn’t know at first, but after a few months of remembering to wave back, I’ve got into it. US Wrangler fans refer to themselves as Jeepers. Like a Caterham or a motorcycle, the Wrangler is a recreational or hobby, not utility, vehicle. An off-road sports car, if you like. And it’s an enjoyable one. This Wrangler arrived in July in full hobbyist Rubicon specification, which means uprated axles, better off-roading angles and beefier tyres than lesser models in the Wrangler line-up. Those and a £50,000 price tag. It’s the purist’s choice, perhaps, although in the Wrangler’s home market, the US, loads of Jeeps are modified within a few weeks of being delivered, with lift kits and even more hardcore axles and bigger tyres, so a base starting point there would matter less. As standard off-roaders go, though, a Wrangler Rubicon is as tough as they come. Which was the point of us running one: to see if the original 4x4 is still the best car off road, and whether that compromises its on-road performance. Answers are: it’s there or thereabouts in the rough and bearable on road, at least for me. It arrived with 18,000 miles on and leaves with more than 25,000, so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to find out. In effect it came and went as a used car, but was serviced before its arrival so needed no attention and no oil – and not even AdBlue – while it was with us. So, sadly, I can’t tell you too much about the ownership experience. Back to top Our big off-road test took place in August, alongside a new Land Rover Defender and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Neither was on tyres as knobbly as the Wrangler’s BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain KM2s (32in outside diameter), so we did our best to factor rubber out of the equation. That it was a dry, dusty day helped in that respect. But while the air suspension of the Land Rover Defender raised its ride height to boost its clearances, and the Mercedes had three locking diffs, the Jeep – you’ll not be that surprised to note – more than held its own. Ultimately, how easily a car gets over an off-road course depends on the specific obstacles. That the Jeep is narrower and lighter than its competitors will be as significant as the clearances, depending on the day. But it was the most engaging car in which to off-road. The most fun. Which is at least half of the point of it, really. A Defender seems to want to make travelling through the rough very easy; the Jeep thinks pulling levers and getting involved is all part of the appeal. And, for me, I think that’s true. If I was looking for a car to do hobby green-laning or off-roading, it would be my choice. Partly that’s also because the roof comes off. The two targa panels above the front seat occupants lift out quickly and easily and store on board, with the rest of the roof a five-minute operation involving just eight Torx bolts. You can even take the doors off and fold the windscreen down, for a fully open-air experience – although you lose the mirrors if you do. The roof squeaks a bit in general driving and rain patters on it like you’re inside a tent. But I don’t mind either of those, nor the hum that those Goodrich tyres make out on the road – my son always says he can hear it coming from quite a distance if I was on the way to pick him up. From the outside they might dim the noise of the 2.2-litre, 197bhp diesel that drives through an eight-speed auto, but from inside it takes quite a lot of road speed before you manage that. Aurally, this is quite an unsophisticated car but so pure in its purpose that I can live with it. And over serious distances? Having spent a day or two a little down the range in an Overland model, which was at the office for another magazine test, I can tell you that on milder tyres and less tough axles, and with more sound insulation in the roof, it’s possible to make the Jeep more refined without overtly dimming its character. But even this Rubicon is acceptable over long journeys – you’ve just got to change your perception a little. Two colleagues and I drove it to southern Germany and back for our upcoming Christmas road test and, sure, while a conventional saloon or executive car would have been quieter and more relaxed over the 1600-mile round trip, the Wrangler was fine and kept returning more than 32mpg – apart from a few stretches of autobahn. You just have to raise your voice a bit more to talk. After all, distances in the US are big and temperatures are extreme, so it’s not like it’s not built for them. It keeps itself as hot or cold as you’d like inside, it has heated seats and steering wheel and a comprehensive smartphone integration and cruise control. You don’t need more. You just want more. In the end, and because I like hobbyists cars, I wouldn’t have wanted for much more. You can, after all, dim the experience if you do. Second Opinion
 I agree with Matt that longer journeys in the Jeep require a change of perception. It’s certainly far less refined and comfortable than any road-biased SUV and the off-road tyres are noisy. My 6ft 3in frame also found the lack of space for my left foot irritating. Lawrence Allan Back to the top Love it: Towability Towing ability is excellent – the Jeep has pulled my own Defender to the mender’s once or twice… Off-road performance It’s superb off road. That you can lock diffs or disengage the anti-roll bar involves you in the process. Design touches There are some very cool visual details with historic and modern Jeep icons hidden around the car. Loathe it: Fuel cap lock Fuel filler cap needs the key put in it to open, like in the old days. Which is a bind. bright lights Oncoming traffic occasionally flashes the Jeep, although this is a common new car phenomenon. A mission to Germany highlights some surprising strengths - 21 October 2020 Our time with the Wrangler is nearing its end, which gave it the perfect opportunity to remind me of its usefulness. “When I’m gone,” it might as well have said, “who is going to tow your Land Rover Defender to the garage when its clutch packs up on a rainy Sunday October night?” Sigh. The Jeep, as a proper off-roader should, has snatch points front and rear, so it’s pretty easy to hook up a rigid tow pole. With just under two tonnes of 203,000-mile Defender 90 on the back (at which mileage I think we’ll allow it a clutch issue), you’d hardly know the Land Rover was there under gentle acceleration or braking, were it not for an alarmed face in the rear-view mirror. I suppose being towed at that distance is quite disconcerting. Anyway, it’s a bit extreme to keep a spare 4x4 hanging around in case another 4x4 doesn’t work, so it’s just as well that the Wrangler, for all of the rugged off-roady things we’ve used it for, has also turned out to be a surprisingly capable on-road vehicle. Not that everybody believes me. Last month, I took the Jeep to southern Germany as support vehicle for our Christmas road test; something we thought we should get in the bag while we’re still able. Logistically, it was quite involving, because the road test vehicle in question would end up several hundred miles and in a different country from where we started – a journey photographer Olgun Kordal would have to make in the car. And, I’ll be honest, he wasn’t looking forward to it, thinking his Skoda Superb would have done a better job. Back to top Perhaps it would, but the Wrangler’s ability to swallow loads of kit yet be left in 2WD mode and cruise on a motorway in reasonable comfort is, I think, quite commendable. Its engine, tyres and aerodynamics make it noisier than the alternatives, and asking for a lot of high-speed motorway performance dropped economy to about 27mpg from my usual average of 32mpg. But I don’t reckon it’s as unrefined as people expect. Between now and the Wrangler’s return to its maker, I’ll do a genuine economy run to see just how much you can squeeze out of it. I suspect 40mpg is possible, even on some of the gnarliest tyres you can buy. Loading up the Wrangler reveals a few things. Mostly good: it’s accommodating, with 548 litres behind the seats and 1059 litres with them folded. The boot floor is, understandably, quite high, although this is usually a good thing for your back. Only if heaving something very heavy into the car would that be a real bother. I suppose really huge objects could be baulked by the roll-cage, too. This isn’t a smooth-sided, van-like interior like some big SUVs. And the side-swinging tailgate is quite long, so it pays to leave a bigger gap behind the car when parking than you would with a top-hinge unit. But in the same way that it’s not meant to be a motorway cruiser, it’s not meant to be a hold-all, utility vehicle: it just happens to be adept at both. While retaining its true abilities for dealing with poorly maintained Defenders. Love it: Meet and greet Never noticed this before: Wrangler owners wave to each other as they pass, like Defender or Caterham owners. Loathe it: Flash Mob Oncoming traffic will occasionally flash their lights at night. I think the Wrangler’s dipped beam is quite bright, and can’t be lowered. Mileage: 25,065 Back to the top Life with a Jeep Wrangler: Month 2 In it for the long haul - 7 October 2020 The Jeep has been on a mostly motorway jaunt to Germany and back – 1800 miles in three days. Not quite what it was designed for (it’s noisy at speed), but it has a 550-mile range, rides well enough and swallows loads of photographic kit. It hits a limiter at 97mph, which feels fast enough, and at which point it’s no longer returning 30mpg-plus. Mileage: 23,014 Back to the top Which would you rather have? - 16 September 2020 We tried a softer, Overland version of the Wrangler the other day, with milder tyres, less hardcore axles and more insulation inside the roof. No question it smoothens the on-road driving experience, with sharper steering and a more settled ride, and it’s quieter. But I think if you’re going to go Wrangler, you might as well go full Rubicon-spec Wrangler.

US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office to curtail the spread of coronavirus. He told CNN he believed there would be a "significant reduction" in Covid-19 cases if every American wore a face covering. Mr Biden also said he would order masks to be worn in all government buildings. The US has recorded 14.1 million cases and 276,000 deaths from Covid-19 - the highest of any country in the world. Mr Biden is preparing to take office as pharmaceutical giants are poised to ship millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines to the American public. The UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine. What did Biden say about masks? In his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris since the election, Mr Biden said: "The first day I'm inaugurated to say I'm going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days. "And I think we'll see a significant reduction if we occur that, if that occurs with vaccinations and masking to drive down the numbers considerably." The first 100 days of a new presidency is symbolically important in the US and is seen as a gauge of how a president will get things done. 'Coronavirus ended our marriage' Dr Fauci apologises for saying UK 'rushed' vaccine US ex-presidents pledge to get vaccinated on film Constitutional experts say a US president has no legal authority to order Americans to wear masks, but Mr Biden said during the interview he and his Vice-President Kamala Harris would set an example by donning face coverings. The president's executive authority does cover US government property, and Mr Biden told CNN he intended to exercise such power. "I'm going to issue a standing order that in federal buildings you have to be masked." He added: "Transportation, interstate transportation, you must be masked, airplanes and buses, et cetera." US airlines, airports and most public transit systems already require all passengers and workers to wear face coverings. The Trump White House has rejected calls from American health experts to mandate masks in transportation as "overly restrictive". What did Biden say about the vaccine? The Democratic president-elect said he would be "happy" to take a vaccine in public to allay any concerns about its safety. Three former presidents - Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton - have said they are also prepared to be inoculated publicly to show that it is safe. "People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work," Mr Biden said, adding that "it matters what a president and the vice-president do." Mr Biden's Vice-President-elect Harris, who joined him at the CNN interview, received some criticism from Republicans in September after she said she would not trust Mr Trump's word on a potential vaccine and the assessment of public health experts would be "suppressed" under his administration. The Pew Research Center says just 60% of Americans are currently prepared to take a coronavirus vaccine, up from 51% who said the same in September. Pfizer, which says its vaccine is 95% effective in clinical trials, and Moderna, which says its jab is 94% effective, have both applied to the Food and Drug Administration to distribute their drugs in the US. In the CNN interview, Mr Biden said he would retain Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, as chief medical adviser to the new administration's Covid-19 team. "When Dr Fauci says we have a vaccine that is safe, that's the moment in which I will stand before the public and say that," Mr Biden said. Earlier on Thursday, Dr Fauci apologised in an interview with the BBC for critical remarks he made about the UK's vaccine approval process. "I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way," he said. A day earlier, Dr Fauci told US networks that UK regulators had "rushed" the vaccine approval. The incoming president also mentioned Dr Fauci's stance that "you don't have to close down the economy" if Americans follow other safety measures to stop the spread of the virus. He spoke as California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order for much of his state. On Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an order restricting all public travel on foot or vehicle, adding: "It's time to cancel everything."

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While we wait patiently to find out whether the Honda CB350 H'ness is coming to Europe, a funky Scrambler version has been teased Arguably one of the year’s more surprising arrivals, Honda’s decision to dust off the CB350 nameplate and attach it to a retro-inspired 350 targeted at volume Asian market has been a roaring success so far. First launched in India, where it is being marketed most heavily, the CB350 (or H’ness as it is known there) essentially spoiled the party of the Royal Enfield 350 by getting the jump and hitting the headlines before its much delayed main rival could be rolled out properly for the first time. The impact can be clearly seen, with more than 1000 orders being taken in just 20 days, while global reaction to the simple, classic styling and good value approach has been ‘when can we get it over here…?’ 2021 Honda X-ADV: All the specs and details of the quirky adventure scooter Honda has sounded optimistic at the prospect of giving the CB350) a European debut and our confidence is growing with this rendering of a funky Scrambler variant from Japanese publication Young Machine, an authority that has been almost spot on when it comes to predicting new models from the ‘big four’. Indeed, with Honda having promised some ‘surprises’ as they grow the CB350 line, Young Machine has produced a convincing looking render with the knobbly tyres and high-set exhaust traits very much intact. It reports the model will be coming some time in the summer. A move into the Scrambler arena for the Honda CB350 H’ness inevitably has us pondering whether it will end there, with a cafe racer version surely the most logical derivative to follow on from the standard model’s neo-retro appearance. Honda HNess CB350 Will the Honda CB350 be sold in the UK? As for whether we will ever see the CB350 cross to this side of the world, Honda will certainly have been watching the market carefully. Indeed, while the big manufacturers have tended to separated their Asia-European line-ups due to differing local regulations, with India’s new BS-IV emission sti[CENSORED]tions largely mirroring the incoming Euro5 regulations, the scope for crossover is stronger than before. Plus, with Royal Enfield’s sales rising globally and Triumph announcing its forthcoming Bajaj co-developed India-targeted small displacement models will be sold around the world, Honda may want to get a jump on the competition with the 350. Again.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has said that the UK was not as rigorous as the US in its Covid-19 vaccine approval process. The UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus. "The UK did not do it as carefully," he told Fox News. "If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated." Dr Fauci said the US approval of the vaccine would come "very soon". The remarks come as the US nears 14 million total Covid-19 infections, with a recorded 273,590 deaths. Are countries under pressure to approve a vaccine? Did Brexit speed up the UK's vaccine approval? What does UK vaccine approval mean for US? The top doctor has said he believed that the US would have vaccine approval soon, and defended the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its review process. "The way the FDA is, our FDA is doing it, is the correct way," he said on Fox News. "We really scrutinise the data very carefully to guarantee to the American public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine." The FDA plans to meet on 10 December to discuss approval for the UK-approved vaccine, which was created through a partnership between Pfizer and BioNTech. They will meet again on 17 December to discuss a second vaccine - Moderna's - request. The UK's approval is expected to place extra pressure on FDA regulators to swiftly approve the vaccine, as American regulators will examine the same data. And on Thursday, Dr Fauci told CBS News he will meet with members of President-elect Joe Biden's team to discuss the incoming administration's response to the pandemic. Mr Biden had said that President Donald Trump's initial refusal to engage in the transition process, and to co-ordinate planning for vaccine distribution, could cost American lives. Dr Fauci told CBS that he agreed with Mr Biden that it was "possible" the US might see an additional 250,000 deaths by January. He has led the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) for more than 30 years, and has become the most visible member of the White House's coronavirus task force. He has clashed repeatedly with Mr Trump since the onset of the pandemic, but said on Thursday that he was never prevented by the White House from speaking his mind. "There have been bumps along the road," he said of his interactions with the Trump administration.

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What will each of these top manufacturers be bringing to the table? Right this very second, a whole host of third party Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti cards are being picked and packed behind the scenes, as they roll out in stores worldwide, today. There's a huge array of these new, lower-end Ampere GPUs, so we decided to bring these contenders together from across the board, so you can see how their juicy specs, and designs, compare. And, so you can swoon at just how gorgeous some of these babies are, too... Before you inevitably fail to secure one in your shopping basket. We don't have the full details for all of these just yet, and some prices are nebulous. Not many of them are expected to go for the base cards MSRP, so expect to pay at least $50 more than the standard $399—and that's before the resellers start trying to con you. Still, that's nothing compared to what people have been trying to sell the elusive RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090 cards for. And, although there's supposedly enough RTX 3060 Ti stock to match the others combined, don't put it off if you're trying to get your hands on one. It's looking to be another story of these next-gen ray tracing cards being bought up before they ever touch the shelves. EVGA MSI Zotac Gigabyte Palit Colorful So while it may be hard to get your hands on one of these right now, we can all stand back and marvel at them, here in this timeless article—where they will forever remain encased and out of reach. Trapped in glistening amber. Perhaps they were never meant to be held in actuality.

Microsoft turns down individual tracking in workplace software following outcry Microsoft has agreed to lower some of the privacy settings in its new productivity tool after a significant backlash. Privacy advocates had last week raised concerns about the Productivity Score tool in Microsoft 365 that would allow employers to gather granular data about particular employees. In a blog post, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Microsoft 365 acknowledged the concerns and announced that the company is, “responding by making changes to the product to further bolster privacy for customers.” Here are the best Windows 10 VPN services We’ve also rounded up the best business VPNs Also take a look at our list of the best VPN services Aggregating data It was the tools’ ability to enable employers to drill down into data on individual employees over the last 28 days that spooked data privacy researcher Wolfie Christl. Microsoft has addressed this concern by removing user names from the product: “Going forward, the communications, meetings, content collaboration, teamwork, and mobility measures in Productivity Score will only aggregate data at the organization level,” wrote Spataro, adding that employers or administrators will no longer be able to access data about how a particular employee is using Microsoft 365. Spataro also shared that they are tweaking the user interface of the feature to make it clear that “Productivity Score is a measure of organizational adoption of technology”. He assured that the Productivity Score was always about scoring an organization rather than an individual. The execution however was flawed as the screenshots shared by Christl clearly showed that the feature scored individuals.

Phogs! review Developer: Coatsink, Bit Loom Games Publisher: Coatsink Platform: Played on PS5 Availability: Out today on PS4/PS5, Switch, PC, and Xbox One Sliding about on a bedrock of blancmange, moving past boulder-sized strawberry slices and mountains of pink-tipped whipped cream, I pinball myself off chunks of milk chocolate straight into a gooey, molten vat of the stuff. The strange but friendly creatures lounging at the sides appraise me silently, unconcerned that I didn't get the memo that it was Giant Fruit-Shaped Hat Day - I am shamelessly sporting a snorkel and a nightcap - and sigh contently. I'm a little envious as they slip a little further into their delicious hot tub. I spend the next ten minutes or so doing a whole lot of nothing much. Phogs! - a sweet, if peculiar, puzzler that stars an elasticated, two-headed dog (now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write) - doesn't intervene. Like my hot tub companions, its calm and unhurried, content just to wait for me to noodle about and work it out on my own. I know pulling the (marshmallow) cork free from the (chocolate) cauldron up above must have done something but... ah! Wait! I didn't know I could grab onto this fountain! Phogs! is full of those "ah!" moments. Mostly it's exclaimed in delight, incited by the whimsy of it's sweet, dreamy environments and sharp puzzling, and sometimes it's uttered through clenched teeth like a curse word. This, my friends, is a physics game, where you can solve a puzzle properly, bumble your way through and cheese it, or end up sacking it off entirely because you've wedged yourself between a jammy dodger water wheel and a giant Victoria Sandwich cliff-face. I spent a lot of time being caught on things, actually. Your two-headed monster dog - which looks like two front parts of a car welded together by a cold-hearted second-hand car salesman - not only has an extra head, but they're missing their legs entirely, too, which wouldn't be so bad if their conjoined stomach hadn't been greased up like Clark Griswold's sled. This makes precision movement pretty much impossible, and while it's is astonishingly forgiving when it comes to mistakes - an untimely plunge off the side sees you respawn, without penalty, pretty much where you were - that doesn't mean it's not frustrating, particularly as a lot of errors are forced by tight angles and an uncooperative camera. Phogs! isn't a fighting game, and yet fighting makes up such a big part of the experience. If I'm not fighting the camera, I'm fighting the physics, and if I'm not fighting the physics, I'm fighting the urge to drop kick shrieking alarm clocks into oblivion. I started off my adventure in Sleep World, which is a shame because Sleep World might be the weakest of the three, but as I progressed through Play World and Food World respectively - yup, the place with the chocolate hot tub - I grew to enjoy my time wandering through this strange little game. Each area offers a different motif, a different assortment of puzzles, and a different array of cute characters; thank goodness Play's cheesy arcade games and Food's wafer walkways were less of a chore than the introductory puzzles I met in Sleep. It's all a bit confusing when you start, though, with four busy, meandering overworld hubs - a home hub, and three for each individual world, too - all strung together by ginormous worms that gobble you up once you've woken them, unlocked them with stars, or tempted them with an edible treat. Sometimes, you'll traverse by way of rollercoaster, and yes, that is just as delightful as it sounds. You play it as a twin-stick shooter, mani[CENSORED]ting both ends - which are, ironically, not ends but heads - of your pups to solve environmental challenges by either biting stuff to tether yourself or grab an item, or by stretching out your poor pups' torso. They don't seem to mind it, to be fair; though they'll sweat a bit when expanded to capacity, they're back to their yappy selves in no time afterwards. And that's it, really. Phogs! has a minimalistic control scheme and exactly zero tutorials. Everything you learn is done so by doing, slaloming around the place and poking your dual snouts into everything and everyone, barking and biting and stretching to see what, if anything, sticks. It's a confident, hands-off approach, particularly for an indie studio, but one that works admirably here. It can also be played in couch or online co-op, and while I couldn't test the latter ahead of release, attempting this with my other half almost ended in divorce. It's hard enough controlling these skittish pups when you're in charge of both of them - passing the reigns to someone else is unthinkable, quite honestly. Kudos to those of you brave enough to try it! There's a fantastic array of diverse puzzles, enough that I didn't get bored as I worked my way through the worlds and their levels. Sometimes you need to freeze yourself into a long stick to cross treacherous gaps; other times, you might need to anchor one pup's mouth to a fountain and stretch the other to water distant shrubs. Occasionally, you'll use the heat of chillis to melt things - it never fails to amuse me that it's the other end of the pup that suffers - and every now and then you'll need to fire cannons, or help creatures locate lost items, or sink a hole in one, or find a way across a bothersome see-saw. While the puzzles, on the whole, aren't particularly cerebral, there are a couple of deliciously devilish ones in the mix, too, with one complete rotter involving factory pipes stumping me longer than I care to admit. Phogs! is playful and wholesome and stuffed with adorable creatures in a world where everything's larger than life and just a teeny bit odd. There's barely a story, but it doesn't matter as you slip around this peculiar place with its peculiar people and a peculiar, if perfectly happy, two-headed doggy that adores being petted by friendly townsfolk. Bright, bold, and wonderfully accessible, Phogs! is phantastic stuff.

Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson has called on the car industry to commit fully to switching to electric vehicles, believing that will speed up both customer demand and infrastructure development. Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car digital conference, Samuelsson said it is clear electric cars are the future and “the more you hold open the alternatives, the slower it will go.” He added: “The [Covid-19] pandemic has increased the understanding that the car industry needs to change. At Volvo, we believe electric is the way to go and said: ‘Let’s transform into an electric car company.’” Asked whether consumers are ready to make the switch to EVs, Samuelsson said: “We believe it’s 50/50. Once you have electric cars in the showroom, a lot of people will go for the new technology.” He said he anticipates the shift will happen as quickly as the move from traditional mobile phones to smartphones: “It’s like a telephone 15 years ago, when you said: ‘Do you want one with buttons or do you want one with a touchscreen?’” Although there are concerns about whether the charging infrastructure is ready to support a full switch to EVs, Samuelsson said: “If we don’t sell electric cars, nobody will invest in charging, so we have decided we cannot have that as an excuse and wait until charging increases. It will come and I don’t think anyone will have trouble charging their cars at the moment. In our view, the car industry will become electric and the clearer that signal is, the faster it will go.” The UK government is planning to ban the sale of non-zero emission cars by 2030, with certain hybrids allowed until 2035. Samuelsson said banning the sale of combustion-engined vehicles is a better way of accelerating the switch than offering subsidies. Asked during the FT conference about his reaction to the UK 2030 ban, Samuelsson said: “The first reaction is that it’s a bit fast and that’s not good. But I have a more humble reaction. If you look at how we pushed for safe cars, that happened 40 years ago and then regulations came in for seatbelts and crash bags and so on. That happened really fast and enabled better mobility, and that was not enabled with threats or incentives, but old-fashioned rules. So maybe the way forward should be to have clear rules of when we need to go to electric combustion. “Once you realise the petrol and diesel engines are not part of the future, you say: ‘Okay let’s go fast into the new world.’ We have taken that conclusion and Volvo will be very careful at delivering only electric engines before anyone legally requires it.” Asked about when Volvo will phase out combustion engines, Samuelsson said: “The customer will decide. We will have hybrid, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we deliver electric-only cars from 2030. Realistic time bands will give us a signal to move in that direction and really speed up the charging network. If the UK takes such a decision, I’m sure it will accelerate developing charging systems.”

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination. Britain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe to be rolled out. The first doses are already on their way to the UK, with 800,000 due in the coming days, Pfizer said. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS will contact people about jabs. Elderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff. But because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at -70C, as required, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - so none of the vaccine is wasted. A further 648 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test were recorded in the UK on Wednesday, with another 16,170 cases reported. Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the public not to get "carried away with over optimism or falling into the naive belief that our struggle is over". He told a Downing Street news conference that, while the "searchlights of science" had created a working vaccine, significant logistical challenges remained. What are the safety checks for vaccines How will I get a vaccine? Follow live updates as vaccine approved NHS staff: 'Vaccine is a game changer' The Pfizer/BioNTech jab is the fastest vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same steps that normally span 10 years. The UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the jab - enough to vaccinate 20 million people. The doses will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, Mr Hancock said, with the first load next week and then "several millions" throughout December. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first people in Scotland will be immunised on Tuesday. Welsh Health and Social Care Minister Vaughan Gething said the rollout of the Pfizer jab to care homes would be particularly difficult because of how it needs to be stored. Mr Gething said that it was not possible to transport the Pfizer vaccine to more than 1,000 care homes across Wales. The bulk of the rollout across the UK will be next year, Mr Hancock said, adding: "2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better." There is a clear priority list for who gets the vaccine first - and care home residents and staff are top of it. But operational complexities mean the reality will be somewhat different. When the vaccines arrives, it will be sent straight to major hospitals who have the ultra-cold facilities to store it. From there it can be moved just once - and when it is, it must be kept in batches of 1,000. That means sending it out to care homes, where there may be only a few dozen residents in some places, would lead to a huge amount of vaccine being wasted. Because of that, the NHS, which is in charge of distributing the vaccine, will run clinics from hospitals at first. This will allow NHS and care home staff to get immunised first as well as, perhaps, some of the older age groups who come into hospital. It looks like it will not be until much more of the Pfizer vaccine is available or the Oxford University one, which is easier to distribute, is approved that care home residents will be able to get it. While Mr Hancock said that the government does not yet know how many people need to be vaccinated before restrictions can start being lifted, he added: "I'm confident now, with the news today, that from spring, from Easter onwards, things are going to be better. And we're going to have a summer next year that everybody can enjoy." Mr Johnson added: "It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again." Downing Street press secretary Allegra Stratton said Mr Johnson would not rule out receiving the vaccine jab live on television, though she said he would not want to take a jab meant for someone more vulnerable. The free vaccine will not be compulsory and there will be three ways of vaccinating people across the UK: Hospitals Vaccination centres "a bit like the Nightingales project and including some of the Nightingales", said Mr Hancock In the community, with GPs and pharmacists Around 50 hospitals are on stand-by and vaccination centres - in venues such as conference centres or sports stadiums - are being set up now. It is thought the vaccination network could start delivering more than one million doses a week once enough doses are available. NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service was preparing for "the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country's history". But experts said people still need to remain vigilant and follow rules to stop the virus spreading - including with social distancing, face masks and self-isolation. "We can't lower our guard yet," said the government's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty. The order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations and decided by the government. Mass immunisation of everyone over 50, as well as younger people with pre-existing health conditions, can happen as more stocks become available in 2021. Pfizer confirmed that the first stocks of the vaccine will be for the NHS, which will give them out for free based on clinical need. People in the UK will not be able to bypass this and buy the vaccine privately to jump the queue. The vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose. Most of the side effects are very mild, similar to the side effects after any other vaccine and usually last for a day or so, said Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, the chairman of the Commission on Human Medicine expert working group. The vaccine was 95% effective for all groups in the trials, including elderly people, he said. The head of the MHRA, Dr June Raine, said that - despite the speed of approval - no corners have been cut. Batches of the vaccine will be tested in labs "so that every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety", she said. Giving the analogy of climbing a mountain, she said: "If you're climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. We started that in June. By the time the interim results became available on 10 November we were at base camp. "And then when we got the final analysis we were ready for that last sprint that takes us to today." The Pfizer/BioNTech was the first vaccine to publish positive early results from final stages of testing. It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity. An mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials. Covid vaccine: How will we keep it cold enough? Because the vaccine must be stored at around -70C, it will be transported in special boxes of up to 5,000 doses, packed in dry ice. Once delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge. And once out of the fridge it needs to be used within six hours. Other coronavirus vaccines are also being developed: One from Moderna uses the same mRNA approach as the Pfizer vaccine and offers similar protection - the UK has pre-ordered seven million doses that could be ready by the spring The UK has ordered 100 million doses of a different type of Covid vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca Russia has been using another vaccine, called Sputnik, and the Chinese military has approved another one made by CanSino Biologics. The World Health Organization's Dr David Nabarro said the Pfizer vaccine would not replace the other measures "for a number of months, even a year, so we'll have to keep doing physical distancing, mask wearing, hygiene and isolating ourselves when we're sick". He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme "the vaccine will only start to dent the size of the pandemic somewhat later in the year". The pace has been breathtaking. From an unknown virus at the start of the year to a vaccine approved by the regulator and ready to use in early December is an unprecedented timescale. At the Downing Street briefing, the MHRA's chief executive said it was like climbing Everest, with preparations starting in June and a team working "night and day" assessing early data and reaching "base camp" by early November when Pfizer/BioNtech published the trial results. At the same time, the MHRA was adamant that the process had been robust with safety considerations paramount. A rapid emergency approval process was used by the UK regulator. The European Medicines Agency is taking longer to reach a view and there has been some sniping from European politicians arguing their processes are more reliable and authoritative. But the MHRA is an internationally respected independent watchdog and for now those about to receive the first jabs will rely on its ruling.

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Working from home pandemic boom proves very profitable for Zoom Video conferencing tool Zoom has revealed the extent to which it has benefited from the coronavirus pandemic, after unveiling some seriously impressive financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2021. The firm reported that it took in $777.2 million during the quarter, up a staggering 367% year-on-year. Zoom posted similarly impressive results last quarter and expects revenue to at least quadruple year-on-year for the fourth quarter as well. Check out our list of the best video conferencing software Here's our list of the best collaboration tools around We've also built a list of the best business webcams right now “We remain focused on the communication needs of our customers and communities as they navigate the current environment and adapt to a new world of work from anywhere using Zoom. We aspire to provide the most innovative, secure, reliable, and high-quality communications platform to help people connect, collaborate, build and learn on Zoom,” said Zoom founder and CEO, Eric S. Yuan. “Strong demand and execution led to revenue growth of 367% year-over-year with solid growth in non-GAAP operating income and cash flow in our third fiscal quarter. We expect to strengthen our market position as we finish the fiscal year with an increased total revenue outlook of approximately $2.575 billion to $2.580 billion for fiscal year 2021, or approximately 314% increase year-over-year.” Zooming ahead Of course, when Yuan talks of the “current environment,” he is referring, at least partly, to the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in a huge uptick in use for videoconferencing tools like Zoom. Work collaboration, learning, and even socializing have come to rely on digital tools in the era of social distancing. As a result, Zoom has found itself in a competitive struggle with the likes of Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and many other solutions to emerge as the industry leader. Based on its latest financial results, Zoom is clearly performing well. In addition to its impressive revenue figures, the company saw the number of customers with more than 10 employees increase by 485% in the third quarter compared to the same period 12 months ago.

This GPU mini-beast is finally on its way, with feisty—even frightening—1440p performance. Nvidia is finally ready to hit us with the next installation of RTX 30-Series GPUs. In stores tomorrow, Dec 2nd, the long awaited Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti will be coming in at a very reasonable $399 (£369). And, just in time for Christmas. If you do manage to grab one, you'll also be able to bag a one-year subscription to Nvidia GeForce Now, for a limited time only. Emphasis on the if. Because honestly, hunting for a 30-Series card has started to feel like having a second job at this point. Way too many of us have been left wondering where to buy an RTX 3080, RTX 3090, or even an RTX 3070 right now. Sometimes it feels like Nvidia is just dangling the carrot. It seems like the only real way to get your hands on one of these bad boys, from the get-go, has been to get yourself a juiced-up laptop, or pre-built machine—unless you're one of the lucky few who managed to snag one on release. For the rest of us, we're all sitting here, asking ourselves whether these elusive cards ever even existed. Well yes, we can confirm without a shadow of doubt that they do, and we've been testing them out, so you can live vicariously through us. Check out our reviews for the Founders Edition RTX 3080, RTX 3090, and RTX 3070 if you're interested. Alternatively, if you've been waiting for something a little less intense (and cheaper), but something that'll still kick butt at 1080p or 1440p—and even delivers some pretty tasty 4K performance—the RTX 3060 Ti may have what you seek. With its 3rd gen Tensor cores, and Gen2 ray tracing capabilities, the RTX 3060 Ti gives its big-bro in the 30-series line-up, the RTX 3070, a run for its money—for $100 less. It averages well over 60fps at 1440p in many of the more graphic intensive games of today. So, it seems the RTX 3060 Ti will be the card to see you through until all the 4K hype dies down a bit, and starts to become more affordable. If you want more information on what to expect from this miniature beast, take a look at Jacob's musings in our RTX 3060 Ti review, where he marks it as delivering "rather stupendous" gaming performance. Scary, even, considering Nvidia's performance trajectory across previous generations. This thing actually outperforms the RTX 2080 Super, a $699 card from the last generation. Who knows what the next generation is going to look like? But, that's all background chatter right now. Time to focus. Get your online shopping details ready, and your clicking fingers poised if you want to have even a hair of a chance of getting your hands on one. My silicon senses tell me these babies will be gone in milliseconds.

Game Information What is it? A psychological mystery set in a small West Virginian town. Expect to pay £28 / $37 Developer Dontnod Publisher Dontnod Reviewed on i5-2500K, 8GB RAM, GTX 670 Multiplayer? No Link dont-nod.com/en/projects Release date Out now With Twin Mirror, Dontnod has left time travel, telekinesis and mind-reading behind, stepping away from the supernatural themes of its previous games and switching it up for grounded psychological drama. A story of mystery and conspiracy is well within the Dontnod's wheelhouse, but the studio's first self-published game is unfortunately a little underwhelming. It starts out as a great detective mystery, but its unwillingness to explore difficult topics with any depth is a big issue. Twin Mirror follows former investigative journalist Sam Higgs as he returns to his hometown, Basswood, in West Virginia. After being MIA for two years, Sam's visit is far from a celebratory event. He's been informed that his best friend and fellow reporter Nick Waldron has passed away, so he drops by to pay his respects at the funeral. As Sam begins to explore his childhood home, he gets caught up in a bigger conspiracy involving his friend's death and the mining town's community and decides to follow the case until the end. The town isn't Sam's biggest fan. Before he bailed, he wrote an article exposing the lack of safety measures in the local mine, which led to it being shut down, leaving many people jobless and angry. From Twin Mirror's opening hour, it's pretty clear that Dontnod has perfected the technique of laying out the foundations of a mystery. Before you attend the wake, Nick's daughter, and Sam's goddaughter, confides in him that she thinks something about her father's death feels off. Shortly after, you're introduced to the Basswood townsfolk, and with the idea of a conspiracy already worming its way into your brain, your investigation cap is firmly on as you begin to chat with the locals. It's a great set-up, the stage is set and you've met all the players, so it immediately starts your mind racing about who could be involved and why. For the first hour or two, I was genuinely excited to solve this small-town mystery. I love the aesthetic of Basswood too, the mining town has an unglamorous West Virginian charm that makes everywhere a joy to explore. Its dingy dive bars, mountain viewpoints, and cheap hotel rooms are packed with information about Basswood's residents and the tough times they've been through. It paints the perfect portrait of a struggling town where community matters. (Image credit: Dontnod) Detective work plays out similarly to exploration in Dontnod's previous games. You're dropped into a new area and need to walk around examining objects and finding clues. This mechanic works particularly well when you're getting to know the town, examining posters and looking at photos hung on the walls of bars, but when gathering evidence for your investigation it's far from streamlined. You always have to find evidence in a certain order, meaning that you'll be doing multiple laps of the same scene until you discover things at the right time. After gathering up enough evidence, Sam will enter his mind palace (which involves closing his eyes and thinking really hard) and these sequences are a highlight of the game. The mind palace is where is a place where Sam can put his analytical brain to the test and can use the evidence gathered to reconstruct several possible sequences of events. Examining the different timelines that Sam has visualised, you need to decide which one is the truth and pick the one that plays out exactly how events went down. This can be anything from how a bar fight developed over the course of a ten-minute spat or the reason why a car inexplicably swerved off the road. Versions of this mechanic have been used in plenty of detective games before, but Twin Mirror's take on it, where you build scenes from shattered glass, stands out. Head scratcher Even though the evidence gathering is flakey, I went into the rest of the game excited to uncover the secrets of the sleepy town of Basswood. Unfortunately, the investigation never really cranks up—it barely gets going at all. There's no sense of crescendo or eureka moment where you crack the case—the investigation just fizzles out. There are plenty of story threads flying around, but none of them land. Sam never really addresses his guilt for destroying the town's main livelihood, for instance. Even after he's confronted several times by angry townsfolk who are suffering because of his decision, he never really engages with it head-on. Was it right to publish the truth at the cost of people losing their jobs? It's a tough question that the game sidesteps. Never exploring these themes beyond the surface pretty much sums up Twin Mirror. There are moments inside Sam's mind palace where he shows guilt and compassion for the characters he's hurt, but they're in the form of vapid minigames, like running through empty doorways that say 'breathe' on them or trying to find your twin in a crowd of people. (Image credit: Dontnod) Speaking of our mystery man, Sam's twin accompanies him throughout the game, but he exists solely in Sam's mind, piping up to provide another perspective on a situation. He's different from Sam in that he's more socially conscious, trying to keep his fleshy counterpart out of trouble and helping him navigate tricky conversations. He appears in key moments, where the player's decision is meant to impact the rest of the game. After trying different paths, however, I didn't notice much difference. Many of the fears that I voiced in my Twin Mirror preview were about the representation of this character. Although the double is, thankfully, not part of a Jekyll and Hyde situation, Dontnod is deliberately coy when addressing what exactly Sam's double is. Throughout the game, Sam walks the line between trying to be his authentic self, and acting in a way that is 'socially acceptable.' His other half tries to stop Sam acting how he likes, voicing his disapproval when his bluntness rubs people up the wrong way. Advertisement It's not only Sam's bluntness that is at odds with his double; he also has problems reading people, occasionally places the truth ahead of characters' feelings, and struggles with the invisible social etiquette of conversations. Together with his analytical mind, this makes it seem like Twin Mirror is suggesting that Sam's on the autistic spectrum, and his struggles with staying true to who he is and social conformity run throughout the game. Although Dontnod's portrayal of Sam avoids the condescending and grossly misinformed tropes found in a lot of media, there are certain story decisions that make Sam feel like a ghost of that representation. Dontnod doesn't commit to this idea, only alluding to these topics instead of exploring them with insight and understanding. There are some interesting ideas in Twin Mirror, but the game doesn't spend any time digging into its challenging topics. There's a foundation of a story about how we relate to others and the conflict of being authentic over being accepted, but ultimately it's all hollow. Twin Mirror feels like a string of scenes sewn together with thin narrative threads, and is ultimately a game that says nothing, lacking any sort of commitment to subjects that it coyly alludes to. For a studio whose voice is celebrated for being loud and clear about improving representation in games, Twin Mirror a misstep for Dontnod.

Norton is taking details from interested parties as it confirms the Atlas range of scramblers will go into production in 2021 THE wheels of industry are beginning to turn at Donington Hall as Norton confirms the Atlas models for 2021. We first saw the 650cc parallel twin-cylinder Atlas models at the end of 2019, when the then-CEO Stuart Garner revealed the model to the world at Motorcycle Live. Moto Corse Norton Commando Custom | Tokyo Motorcycle Show 2019 Since then, it’s fair to say that movement on the models has been, well, static really. And we all know what’s happening in the intervening years. The good news is that TVS and the Interim CEO, John Russell, can see enough potential in the bikes to be forging on with full production. The range of sweet-looking retro scrambler is reported to encompass the Atlas Nomad (top) and Ranger (below) models, both of which are going to share a common engine and chassis, with varying trim and equipment levels defining the range. Norton Atlas Ranger The bikes are powered by a 650cc parallel twin-cylinder engine that is claimed to be producing 84bhp and 47lb-ft of torque. The engine runs a 270° crank, meaning V-twin-esq delivery and sound. It should be a revvy little number two, with some reporting peak power arriving at 11k rpm. Dry weight at launch was a claimed 180kg. At the launch in 2018, the Nomad had a very un-Norton-like price-tag of £9,995, while the Ranger, which is the slightly more off-road inspired of the two, came in at £11,995. As it stands there is no confirmation as to how TVS is pricing the two-bike range. For more information on the Atlas Nomad and Ranger, or to register your interest in the bikes, head to: Nortonmotorcycles.com

China has successfully put another probe on the Moon. Its robotic Chang'e-5 mission touched down a short while ago with the aim of collecting samples of rock and dust to bring back to Earth. The venture has targeted Mons Rümker, a high volcanic complex in a nearside region known as Oceanus Procellarum. The lander is expected to spend the next couple of days examining its surroundings and gathering up surface materials. It has a number of instruments to facilitate this, including a camera, spectrometer, radar, a scoop and a drill. The intention is to package about 2kg of "soil", or regolith, to send up to an orbiting vehicle that can then transport the samples to Earth. It's 44 years since this was last achieved. That was the Soviet Luna 24 mission, which picked up just under 200g. Nasa's new 'megarocket' set for critical tests Water on the Moon could sustain a lunar base Artemis: To the Moon and Beyond Unlike the launch of the mission a week ago, the landing was not covered live by Chinese TV channels. Only after the touchdown was confirmed did they break into their programming to relay the news. Images taken on the descent were quickly released with the final frame showing one of the probe's legs casting a shadow on to the dusty lunar surface. The US space agency congratulated China. Nasa's top science official, Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, said he hoped the international research community would eventually get the chance to analyse any samples sent home. "When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the international science community," he tweeted. The 8.2-tonne Chang'e-5 spacecraft "stack" was launched from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 November (local time). It arrived above the Moon at the weekend and then set about circularising its orbit before splitting in two. One half - a service vehicle and return module - stayed in orbit, while a lander-ascender segment was prepared for a touchdown attempt. image captionAnother frame from Chang'e-5's camera on the descent The Chinese space agency said this lander-ascender element put down at 15:11 GMT (23:11 China Standard Time). The precise position was reported as 51.8 degrees West longitude and 43.1 degrees North latitude. Chang'e-5's success follows China's two previous Moon landings - those of Chang'e-3 in 2013 and Chang'e-4 last year. Both of these earlier missions incorporated a static lander and small rover. image captionChina has previously put two static landers and rovers on the Moon A total of just under 400kg of rock and soil were retrieved by American Apollo astronauts and the Soviets' robotic Luna programme - the vast majority of these materials coming back with the crewed missions. But all these samples were very old - more than three billion years in age. The Mons Rümker materials, on the other hand, promise to be no more than 1.2 or 1.3 billion years old. And this should provide additional insights on the geological history of the Moon. The samples will also allow scientists to more precisely calibrate the "chronometer" they use to age surfaces on the inner Solar System planets. This is done by counting craters (the more craters, the older the surface), but it depends on having some definitive dating at a number of locations, and the Apollo and Soviet samples were key to this. Chang'e-5 would offer a further data point. Reports from China suggest the effort to retrieve surface samples may last no longer than a couple of days. Any retrieved materials will be blasted back into orbit on the ascent portion of the landing mechanism, and then transferred across to the service vehicle and placed in the return module. The orbiter will shepherd the return module to the Earth's vicinity, jettisoning it to make an atmospheric entry and landing in the Siziwang Banner grasslands of the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. This is where China's astronauts also return to Earth. "Chang'e-5 is a very complex mission," commented Dr James Carpenter, exploration science coordinator for human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency. "I think it's extremely impressive what they're trying to do. And what I think is fascinating is you see this very systematic, step by step approach to increasing their exploration capabilities - from the early Chang'e missions to this latest one."