Blackfire

The local elections on Thursday 4 May are big both in terms of size and significance. Thirty-two out of 34 councils in the North West are being contested, with 17 being all-out elections, with every seat up for grabs rather than only one third. This means control of several local authorities could change hands, altering the face of politics in our region. Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool Jon Tonge said: "Only a fool would make definite predictions about what's going to happen in these local elections. "There's a lot of uncertainty associated with them but these are probably the biggest set of local elections we've seen in the North West in terms of the size and number of council seats being contested." But they're also significant nationally. With a general election 18 months away, they'll be a real indication of how voters are feeling. Of the 32 councils being contested, Labour are defending 18 whole the Conservatives are battling to stay in control of the four they run in Lancashire. Ten are under no overall control - meaning there's either a minority administration or a coalition. Labour need to do well and will hope to take some of those 'under no overall control' local authorities like Bolton, Burnley, Hyndburn, West Lancashire, Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester, and South Ribble. If they can make gains here, it would help leader Sir Keir Starmer feel more confident about getting his hands on the keys to Number 10 next autumn. "Labour needs to take back overall control of about five councils," Prof Tonge says. "That really is the benchmark that they are making adequate progress, that they can be confident at the next general election." The Conservatives should be confident of holding on to Wyre, Fylde and Ribble Valley, but there could be a real battle for Pendle. The Tories are defending six of their 17 seats there and Labour party bosses have eyes on them. Should the Conservatives hold on in Pendle, it will give Rishi Sunak real confidence that his party still has a real chance at the general election. "If the Conservatives can hold Pendle, then Rishi Sunak will be cock-a-hoop," Prof Tonge explained, "because that's a sign that Labour cannot inflict damage upon the Conservatives." He thinks the Tories will also be watching their overall level of seats in councils which are having big all-out contests. "Like in Bolton, where you have a Conservative minority administration running the council, can the Tories stay in charge albeit under no overall control?" [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-65277014]

A man had to return early from his first holiday in years when his emu decided it also needed a break - and went off on its own adventure. Runaway Rodney, aged one, jumped a fence at his Suffolk home on Thursday after a pet-sitter had locked him in. Owner Jon Cardy drove home to Chedburgh and spent the day reporting his pet as missing and scanning social media. His "pet dinosaur", as he calls Rodney, was spotted about a mile away and he said he was "so relieved" he was back. Mr Cardy, a former consultant in anaesthesia and critical care medicine, and his wife, Laura, a former frontline NHS nurse, and now a nursing lecturer, took in Rodney when the emu was just two weeks old. He grew up in our kitchen and he is like one of the family," Mr Cardy said. The couple have a variety of animals including a two-legged cat, a pig, a tortoise, several ducks and geese, a "lot" of rabbits - and Rodney - Mr Cardy's "favourite". "Rodney is definitely a character," he said. The energetic emu has managed to jump the fence before but has usually been swiftly found. Mr Cardy reported Rodney's disappearance to the RSPCA and RSPB, scoured social media groups and even informed the police - "in case anyone called them to say they'd found an emu". "I didn't expect the police to go and look for him. "He's a big running bird and can cover a lot of ground quite quickly, so we didn't know where he might be," said Mr Cardy. "I think he might have been spooked by the storm overnight, and while he's very friendly, he's also very large and inquisitive - and he has a very large beak. "Rodney is fascinated by anything shiny like rings and earrings and I was worried that if someone saw him coming towards them at high speed they might be a bit freaked out." Eventually Mr Cardy spotted a video posted in a local group, asking if anyone was missing their peacock. "I thought, that's not a peacock - that's my little Rodney," he said. With the help of a friend he found the feathered fugitive and brought him home. Many of the couple's rescue pet menagerie are used as therapy animals. "Rodney is adorable but not too smart," he added. "But he loves to be cuddled, and when he lies down he's like a four foot-long feathered draught excluder. "In our jobs, my wife Laura and I were used to mending people's bodies - now we try to help mend broken minds with our animals," he said. "My own health is not that good, but Rodney? He is like my therapy." [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-65277452]

Accepted

Spotify will be shutting down its Wordle-like music guessing game Heardle on May 5 less than a year after its initial purchase. If you head over to the website(opens in new tab), you’ll be greeted with a message informing you of the impending shutdown and a reminder to take a screenshot of your stats by May for the sake of posterity. After that date, your data will be gone forever. Heardle was released in the aftermath of Wordle’s successful launch and proved to be pretty po[CENSORED]r in its own right with 69 million monthly visitors at its peak(opens in new tab). Similar to Wordle, you have six guesses to figure out what song is playing by listening to snippets. For every miss, the game expands the snippet to give you better odds of winning. Whether you guess correctly or throw in the towel, the game concludes every session by giving you a link to the song on Spotify for you to check out. Refocusing efforts The company originally bought Heardle back in July 2022(opens in new tab) where it was pitched as a music discovery tool to help users find old, forgotten songs or “amazing new artists”. However, it appears Heardle wasn't po[CENSORED]r enough to keep around. A Spotify spokesperson told TechRadar “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to say goodbye to Heardle as we focus our efforts on other features for music discovery.” Recently, the platform rolled out a substantial redesign implementing a TikTok-style discovery feed offering an infinite carousel of “music, podcast [clips], and playlists suggestions” some of which come with video clips. Spotify also implemented its new DJ feature with the help of OpenAI tech back in late February. It pulls together “tracks based on the music you normally like” to create a personalized playlist complete with a cheesy DJ voice. If you’re worried about another round of Spotify layoffs, you don’t have to be – at least in this case. A source close to Spotify stated “that no Spotify employees will be impacted” by the shutdown. Spiritual successor All is not lost for Heardle as it lives on in Heardle Decades(opens in new tab), a similar game that expands on the original by providing music challenges based on certain decades and genres. You have one each for the 1980s, 90s, early 2000s, plus some artist-specific games. It doesn’t appear this version is associated with Spotify as it’s seemingly run by just one person. Everything is free to play, but if you would like to support Heardle Decades, they do have a Ko-fi account available on the web page where they accept donations to pay for server costs. Be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best music streaming services for 2023 if you're looking for Spotify alternatives. Tidal, for example, is well-known for its high-quality streams and spatial audio support. [https://www.techradar.com/news/Spotify-just-killed-the-best-Wordle-like-game-for-music-fans]

Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus SSD is one of the best SSDs around. Now imagine glomming 21 of these PCIe 4.0 SSDs together, because that's precisely what Sabrent has planned for the company's next product. The upcoming Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer will arrive with 21 Rocket 4 Plus 8TB drives to offer unprecedented storage capacity and transfer speeds. Sabrent is still conducting in-house testing on the Apex X21 Destroyer. However, the company said it easily achieved sequential read and write speeds of 31 GB/s. Sabrent's results even surpassed Apex Storage's figures, which rate the X21 with a sequential performance of 30.5 GBps reads and 28.5 GBps writes. If you look at the brand's past products, such as the Sabrent RocketQ Battleship, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Destroyer, or Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Destroyer 2, it's easy to see that Sabrent has a sweet tooth for big storage solutions. However, the Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer is on an entirely different level. Previous solutions saw Sabrent assembling a crew of eight SSDs. Now, the Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer has enough landscape for 21 drives, offering almost three times the storage and significantly more performance. Sabrent's Apex X21 Destroyer is based on the X21 from Apex Storage. While Sabrent's prior AICs leverage the HighPoint SSD7540 PCIe 4.0 x16 RAID card, the Apex Storage X21 doesn't feature a RAID controller. Instead, it utilizes a pair of unnamed PCIe 4.0 switches. This allows consumers more freedom to set up the AIC to suit their needs. Nonetheless, the Apex Storage X21 is bootable and supports RAID arrays through software or third-party hardware solutions, like the ones from GRAID. The X21 features a passive cooling design because the riser card's primary target is the server market. However, when deployed inside a regular system or even a workstation, the X21 will require some form of active cooling assistance. This is because so many PCIe 4.0 SSDs packaged together will output a fair amount of heat. Apex Storage recommends at least 400 LFM of airflow for the X21. In addition, given the considerable number of drives on the X21, the AIC needs two 8-pin PCIe power connectors to feed the entire lot of SSDs. It's basically like a high-end graphics card when fully loaded, at least from the power requirements perspective. It's worth pointing out that maximum performance ends up being limited by the x16 PCIe 4.0 connection to the card. A single Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 8TB can hit peak transfer rates of just over 7,000 MB/s in our testing, so 21 of them in aggregate could theoretically deliver 147 GB/s. However, an x16 PCIe 4.0 slot tops out at 16 GT/s per lane, and with 128b/130b encoding you're limited to at most 31.5 GB/s of actual throughput. Sabrent hasn't established a price tag for the Apex X21 Destroyer yet, and there's no estimated time frame for when the AIC will release. Considering that each Rocket 4 Plus 8TB SSD currently retails for $1,099(opens in new tab) (down from an official MSRP of $1,999 at launch), it would be foolish to think that the Apex X21 Destroyer will sell for less than $23,000. Moreover, the X21 sells for $2,800, so we have to factor that into the pricing. Even if Apex Storage offers discounts on volume purchases, the X21 still costs an am and a leg. [https://www.tomshardware.com/news/over-dollar23000-worth-of-sabrent-ssds-deliver-168tb-at-31-gbs]

Ukraine is front and centre of a number of classified Pentagon documents which a 21-year-old US National Guard airman is suspected of leaking online. The leaks include details about the West's military assistance to Ukraine, such as weapons deliveries and training, and perhaps more revealing, dire assessments of the war by US officials, making public concerns that for some time had been discussed in private. The timing of the leaks is sensitive for Kyiv. The military is expected to launch a counter-offensive within weeks, in what is likely to be a crucial phase in the nearly 14-month-long war that is believed to have killed tens of thousands of people. Such is the anxiety here that, last month, the defence ministry urged people to stop discussing potential plans. One leaked document, quoted by the Washington Post, said the Ukrainian army faced challenges in massing troops, equipment and ammunition, and could fall well short of its original goals for an expected counter-offensive. The document warned that only modest territorial gains could be achieved in Russian-occupied areas. It is grim but hardly surprising. One senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that the problems faced by the army were already known, and that the revelations would not affect relations between the two countries. "[The leaks] aren't the main problem. The problem is what's happening on the front line," the official said. "The decision to provide weapons doesn't mean they get to the front lines immediately. It takes weeks, sometimes months." For months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has talked openly about ammunition and weapons shortages; others have repeatedly complained of delays in the delivery of aid promised by Western countries, while the Ukrainian army grapples with difficulties in mobilising fresh troops. Major territorial gains for Ukraine would undoubtedly boost morale and could also help efforts to secure additional military support. But the opposite could result in pressure on Kyiv to consider negotiating with Moscow. Few Ukrainian officials have reacted in public to the leaks, and the revelations have not attracted significant media coverage. Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said the leaks did not affect the military's plans as "everything will be decided at the last moment". "All the speculation about the plans of the Ukrainian military," he said, "in particular regarding the counter-offensive, are utterly baseless". Earlier this week, Biden administration officials tried to reassure their allies in Kyiv of their enduring support despite the leaks. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Ukrainian military had "much of the capability that they need to continue to be successful". Crucially, the leaks have so far not included Ukraine's plans for its much-discussed counter-offensive. documents, which are from February and March, reveal the timeline for the training of Ukrainian brigades, details about tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces being provided by Western countries, and concerns that Kyiv might run out of critical missiles for its vital air defence systems. The front lines have remained largely static since Ukraine recaptured the southern city of Kherson, in November, and nearly a fifth of the country remains under occupation. Most of the recent fighting has been in the east, especially around Bakhmut, where a months-long battle has destroyed most of the city and inflicted heavy losses on both sides. In the south, satellite images show that Russian forces are fortifying some of their positions, including in areas around Melitopol, seen as a main Ukrainian target. In Russia, meanwhile, the deputy foreign minister suggested the documents that have appeared online might be an intentional US leak aimed at deceiving Moscow as part of a "hybrid war". The main suspect, Jack Teixeira, a junior member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been accused of the unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents and the unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information. The senior Ukrainian official, who spoke anonymously, said it was "insane" that officials at that level had access to this kind of sensitive information. "Can you imagine the reaction from our Western partners if it had happened in Ukraine?" documents, which are from February and March, reveal the timeline for the training of Ukrainian brigades, details about tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces being provided by Western countries, and concerns that Kyiv might run out of critical missiles for its vital air defence systems. The front lines have remained largely static since Ukraine recaptured the southern city of Kherson, in November, and nearly a fifth of the country remains under occupation. Most of the recent fighting has been in the east, especially around Bakhmut, where a months-long battle has destroyed most of the city and inflicted heavy losses on both sides. In the south, satellite images show that Russian forces are fortifying some of their positions, including in areas around Melitopol, seen as a main Ukrainian target. In Russia, meanwhile, the deputy foreign minister suggested the documents that have appeared online might be an intentional US leak aimed at deceiving Moscow as part of a "hybrid war". The main suspect, Jack Teixeira, a junior member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been accused of the unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents and the unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information. The senior Ukrainian official, who spoke anonymously, said it was "insane" that officials at that level had access to this kind of sensitive information. "Can you imagine the reaction from our Western partners if it had happened in Ukraine?" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65277838

On a wall next to his new house, Paul points to four Rawlplugs embedded in the bricks, a few inches from a small grey junction box. "That's where my EV charger was," he says. "When I first viewed the house a few months ago, it was there, but the day I moved in, I noticed it and the cable connecting it to the junction box had disappeared." Paul, not his real name, is one of a number of home owners on the newly built Lancaster Park development outside Hungerford whose 7kW uPowa EV chargers, some mounted on posts as well as walls, have suffered a similar fate. "The housing association said they'd get on to it but I haven't heard anything since," he said. "Neither has my neighbour, whose charger has also disappeared." The issue came to light at a recent meeting of Hungerford Town Council's Highways and Transport Committee. Councillor Fyfe told members that up to 15 chargers had been stolen from Lancaster Park. "Some have been stolen from garages and some from unoccupied premises," he said. "The management company is dealing with the problem Press reports had mentioned charger cables also being stolen. Given the difficulty of detaching one from a car, the risk of an electric shock should it be cut and the proximity of home owners, Autocar was intrigued and decided to visit the estate to learn first hand what had occurred. A short walk from Paul, Rik, whose charger had not been stolen, said he and other residents had formed a WhatsApp group to debate the problem. "I think around 20 chargers have been stolen, most of them when the houses were unoccupied," he said. "I've not heard of charging cables being taken from cars." Some chargers on the estate are mounted on posts at the ends of driveways. A few of these also appeared to have been stolen. Power cables hung from a couple while blue nylon cords dangled from others. It was at one of these missing chargers that we met Dan, another home owner. "I don't have a car, never mind an electric one, but my dad and my brother each have an EV and were shocked to see my charger had been taken." Dan's neighbour was missing hers too, but at the two houses along from her, the chargers had escaped the thieves' attention and remained on their posts. Chris Montgomery, a director of EV Chargers Direct, which supplies charging equipment, speculated that thieves might be stealing the chargers to resell online. "The prices of new 7kW chargers average around £550 so one for £100 could tempt someone who also might not ask too many questions. Manufacturers should design lockable charger boxes that would make it harder for a thief to access the mounting screws." https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/residents-shock-thieves-target-electric-car-chargers

On Saturday, residents of central Khartoum were shaken by the sound of gunfire as clashes erupted between army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. It’s not yet clear what triggered the fighting, but tensions have been high in Sudan following a stand-off between the two factions. On Thursday, the RSF - commanded by Sudan’s deputy leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo - deployed forces near a military base in the northern town of Merowe. Sudan’s leader, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has said he’s willing to talk to his second-in-command and resolve the dispute over who will lead a unified army in a proposed civilian government. Western powers and regional leaders have urged the two sides to de-escalate and return to talks aimed at returning the country to civilian rule. Sudan has been in political turmoil since Gen Burhan led the military in toppling a civilian government in October 2021 Sudan, once the largest and one of the most geographically diverse states in Africa, split into two countries in July 2011 after the people of the south voted for independence. The government of Sudan gave its blessing to an independent South Sudan, where the mainly Christian and Animist people had for decades been struggling against rule by the Arab Muslim north. However, various outstanding issues - especially the question of shared oil revenues and border demarcation - have continued to create tensions between the two successor states. Sudan has long been beset by conflict. Two rounds of north-south civil war cost the lives of 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000. Generals have been running the north-east African country of Sudan through what is called the Sovereign Council since a coup in October 2021. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is under the command of the council's vice-president, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The army, meanwhile, is led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the Sovereign Council. A proposed move to a civilian-led government has floundered on a timetable to integrate the RSF into the national army. The RSF wanted to delay the move for 10 years, but the army said it should happen in two. You can find out more about Sudan's attempts to revert to civilian-led government here. [https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-65285254]

Regarding the issue with connecting to the server, it's possible that the server is configured to only accept connections from the original IP address. You might need to check the server's settings to see if there's an option to allow connections from the reserved IP as well. Another possibility is that there's a firewall rule in place that's preventing the reserved IP from accessing the server. You might want to check the firewall settings and see if you can modify them to allow access from the reserved IP. Overall, it's important to carefully review your network configuration to ensure that everything is set up correctly. If you're still having issues, you might want to consider reaching out to a network specialist for further assistance.

V2 had many strengths that made it stand out, such as its catchy melody, powerful lyrics, and skillful instrumentation. Music is a personal experience, and it's clear that V2 resonated with me in a way that V1 did not. My vote goes for V2.

Hi Nadeem, To start your server with a reserved IP address, you will need to follow a few steps: Log in to your cloud hosting account and locate the section for managing your IP addresses. Assign your reserved IP address to your CS1.6 server. The process for doing this will vary depending on your hosting provider, so you may need to consult their documentation or contact their support team for assistance. Once your reserved IP address is assigned to your server, you will need to update your DNS settings to point to the new IP address. This is typically done through your domain registrar or DNS provider. After updating your DNS settings, you should test to ensure that players can connect to your server using the DNS name. You can do this by attempting to connect to the server using the DNS name yourself, or by asking a friend to try connecting from a different location. If you continue to have trouble connecting to the server using your reserved IP address, you may need to check your server configuration settings to ensure that they are correctly configured to use the new IP address. I hope this helps you get your server up and running with your reserved IP address. Good luck

To get the most help we can provide: Failure to comply posting Model leads to closing the topic. Topic Closed

Vote.

Name of the game: Assetto Corsa Price: 3.99 $ Link Store:Here Offer ends up after X hours:Offer ends 17 April Requirements: SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 Sp1 - 8 - 8.1 - 10 Processor: AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHZ, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 10.1 (e.g. AMD Radeon HD 6450, Nvidia GeForce GT 460) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 15 GB available space Sound Card: Integrated VR Support: SteamVR or Oculus PC. Keyboard or gamepad required RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 7 Sp1 - 8 - 8.1 - 10 Processor: AMD Six-Core CPU, Intel Quad-Core CPU Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 11 (e.g. AMD Radeon 290x, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970) DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 30 GB available space Sound Card: Integrated

Strava is one of the world's most po[CENSORED]r workout apps, and now it's added a much-needed feature that could give your workout motivation an extra boost – in-app Spotify integration. Until now, fitness fans who use both Strava and Spotify have had to clunkily switch between the apps during workouts. But the new integration between the services, which is rolling out now, will let you browse and select Spotify songs and playlists from within Strava's iOS and Android apps. The extra good news is that you'll get this functionality even if you're on the free tiers for both Strava and Spotify, which means no subscription is needed. While Strava hiked the pricing for its paid version last year, the free tier still lets you record and share your workouts. So what does Strava's new Spotify integration look like? As you can see below, you get more than just basic playback controls. The Spotify integration appears in Strava's Record section – once you tap that to start a workout, you'll see a new music icon that lets you connect your Spotify account and choose your music, podcast or audiobook Once you've connected your Spotify account, you'll get a new menu in the Strava Record section showing some of the most po[CENSORED]r workout mixes or your most recently played tracks. Below that menu you'll also get the option to play, pause, resume or skip songs, which theoretically means you should rarely need to delve into the Spotify smartphone app while you're working out. This new integration is naturally aimed at Strava users who mainly rely on the service's iOS or Android app. Many Strava users instead sync their data to the service from some of the best fitness trackers, while we also rate Strava as being one of the best Apple Watch apps around. Still, while using Spotify with Strava on a smartwatch will remain a more fiddly experience, this new smartphone app integration will be a good quality-of-life boost for anyone who regularly uses both on their iOS or Android phone. [https://www.techradar.com/news/stravas-new-spotify-integration-makes-it-the-ultimate-workout-partner]

The ray tracing effects my RTX 30-series GPU has managed so far are neat, but I think it is fair to say that the dream of proper real-time full path traced lighting in videogames has not been delivered yet. Which is why I was super excited to hear about Cyberpunk 2077(opens in new tab)'s new Overdrive RT graphics mode(opens in new tab), which enables full-on path tracing in the game. Available now in patch 1.62, Overdrive mode arguably delivers the proper ray tracing experience with more rays, more reflections, and more of everything that makes lighting realistic. But my excitement was soon tempered when I read the official patch release notes, which stated The technology preview of Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is currently recommended on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series (4070 Ti and up) graphics cards. Also, on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (1080p, 30 fps). As this is a cutting-edge feature, it requires the highest-performing hardware available to run it properly." an owner of an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti, I thought this meant that Overdrive mode was basically dead to me before it was even released. This is because I run an ultrawide curved gaming monitor(opens in new tab) with a resolution of 5120x1440, which sits between 1440p and 4K gaming. And, well, was I going to drop down to 1080p and 30 fps to game with Overdrive mode turned on? There's a better chance of Valve making Half-Life 3. Out of morbid curiosity though, I thought I'd still try and see how the game looked and ran on my rig, expecting an—admittedly well-lit—slide-show. However, after patching Cyberpunk 2077, turning on Overdrive mode and then running the in-game benchmark and playing the game, I've come away pleasantly surprised. Here are some videos that show why. As you can see, despite the fact that I ran the game at maximum settings, and turned the Overdrive path tracing mode to on, I still managed to post an average frame rate of 36 fps in the really rather punishing Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. As you can see from the rest of my system, it's strong but firmly mid-tier, with a AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-core CPU paired with 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The game-changer setting here is DLSS, which I set to Performance. I could push that frame rate even higher if I dropped the DLSS quality to Ultra Performance, but then I found the trade-off in sharpness was too much. These settings translated into a completely playable in-game experience, too, and one that was great to look at. Check the video out below for a sample of the Overdrive running on my rig. Would I like more frames? Of course. I'm a guy that prefers a locked 60-120fps frame rate or higher over, say, a strict 4K resolution. Resolution for me is nowhere near as important as frame rate as I feel the benefits to the latter in terms of immersion and actual gameplay far outweigh it. But I am a sucker for fancy new graphics tech and am willing to make some trade-offs to enjoy it. Right here, thanks to the magic of DLSS, and not even the frame generation-packing 3.0 version of it that is exclusive to Nvidia 40-series GPUs, I can manage to run Cyberpunk 2077 with Overdrive turned on while maintaining my ultrawide resolution and a completely playable (if not ideal) frame rate. And, sheesh, these videos probably don't do justice in terms of just how much of an impressive improvement this more full path-traced lighting is. Everything looks and feels more realistic as lighting sources don't have to be faked. People, objects, buildings and even atmospheric effects like smoke are lit consistently and accurately to the time of day and the surrounding light sources. Considering this Overdrive is still really only a work-in-progress "technical preview", it sure is bloody impressive and to me immediately feels like a game-changer. Overall, then, I think what I'm trying to say here is that there is absolutely hope for non-Nvidia 40-series graphics card owners when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 and its Overdrive mode. Indeed, just yesterday did Nvidia reach out to confirm that Overdrive mode will run on any GPU with hardware ray tracing, with that even stretching back to Nvidia 20-series cards. You might just have to get quite aggressive with your DLSS quality settings and resolution to make it happen. [https://www.pcgamer.com/i-tried-cyberpunk-2077s-new-rt-overdrive-mode-on-my-30-series-nvidia-gpu-and-i-was-pleasantly-surprised/]

A couple whose garden was being vandalised at night have uncovered the surprising culprit - a wild beaver. The rodent was discovered by couple who noticed trees going missing and machete-like damage in a field next to their Pembrokeshire house. Curious about the cause, they bought a "stealth camera" which captured footage of the creature swimming in their pond and felling their trees. The couple said they "love watching the beaver go about his business at night". The dam-building rodent had started to build itself a lodge under the family's pond deck at their rural property. The origins of the beaver are unexplained, but the landowners believe it may have come from an unsanctioned release by over-zealous rewilding enthusiasts. Nicknamed Anthony by the family - after military historian Antony Beevor - the herbivore has become as "fat as a pig" spending as much as six hours a night chewing tree trunks and dragging branches around. The discovery marks only the fourth time a beaver has been found living wild in Britain after they were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago. The landowners, who wished to remain anonymous to protect the location of the animal, were "astonished" to discover the herbivore was living behind their house. They said: "Some of our trees began to go missing overnight and others were simply being mauled. "It looked like someone was hitting them with a machete... we couldn't work out what was causing the damage. "The only clue were some teeth marks left in the bark." Two weeks after first noticing the damage, the couple bought a £100 stealth camera and left it out overnight to try and catch the vandal in action. When they reviewed the footage a week later, they spotted the creature. The closest official colony of beavers to Pembrokeshire is in the Dyfi Estuary - 50 miles away in mid Wales, where no escapes have been reported. Since their reintroduction to the UK in Argyll in 2009, beaver numbers have been increasing through enclosed colonies set up by wildlife trusts. But this is only the fourth time a beaver has been found living wild in Britain. Other wild po[CENSORED]tions were discovered in Scotland's Tay-Forth catchment area, in east Devon's River Otter and on the Avon near Bristol. Beavers are protected in law in England, But in Wales, where environmental law-making is up to the Welsh government, no protection exists. Their presence is a cause of concern for some farmers who feel their livelihoods are being threatened because beaver dams can flood valuable farmland. But rewilders highlight the positive effects of wetland creation, providing habitat for animals like otters, water voles, toads, frogs and wildfowl. There are no plans to reintroduce beavers to Pembrokeshire, but the Welsh Beaver Project is aiming to submit a licence application to Natural Resources Wales this year to release them in the Dyfi catchment. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65265928]

The UK economy saw no growth in February after being hit by the effects of strikes by public sector workers. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that a rise in construction activity had been offset by walkouts by teachers and civil servants. It follows a surprise 0.4% jump in economic growth in January. Despite February's flat performance the chancellor said the economic outlook was "brighter than expected" and the UK was "set to avoid recession". Jeremy Hunt noted that GDP - the measure of economic growth - had grown by 0.1% in the three months to February. Revisions to previous data also means that the ONS now estimates monthly GDP to be 0.3% above its pre-Covid levels of February 2020. The previous estimate in January had put it 0.2% below that point. Labour said the UK was "lagging behind on the global stage with growth on the floor". "The reality of growth inching along is families worse off, high streets in decline and a weaker economy that leaves us vulnerable to shocks," said shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said the UK construction sector had grown strongly in February after a poor January, with more repair work taking place. There was also a boost from retailing, with many shops having "a buoyant month". But he added: "These were offset by the effects of civil service and teachers' strike action, which impacted the public sector, and unseasonably mild weather led to falls in the use of electricity and gas." Walkouts by teachers nationwide on 1 February and in some regions of England on 28 February had been the biggest drag on growth, the ONS said. When schools close or only have a skeleton staff because of strike action, this is deemed to decrease the output of the education sector, as the ONS measures it, in terms of its contribution to GDP. Strikes by many civil servants on 1 February also affected output. Economic growth figures can vary wildly from month to month, and economists warn against reading too much into a single set of figures. But the big picture, according to Mr Morgan, is that the economy has been "pretty much flat" since last spring. High energy prices and rising interest rates to control inflation are taking their toll, and industrial action in several sectors is also having an impact. On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund warned the UK is set to be one of the worst performing major economies in the world this year, shrinking by 0.3% in 2023. The UK's inflation rate was 10.4% in the year to February, remaining near a 40-year high. However, many economists expect inflation - the rate at which prices rise - to ease later this year as energy and food prices fall, and recent forecasts suggest the economic situation is not as bleak as it looked a few months ago. But for many consumers and businesses, price rises are leading to a daily struggle to pay bills and buy food. Bees is an Asian bridal jewellery store in Upton Park, East London. The shop is busy at the moment because of Ramadan but thing are still "really tough" for the business, said manager Sushil Raniga. "From a consumer point of view, we're definitely seeing that [the cost of living] has impacted the way that they spend," he told the BBC. "We're also seeing an increase in the cost of our raw materials and transport costs, things like brass and aluminium, those things have gone up quite significantly. That's obviously impacting our bottom line." Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said the economy was "likely to escape recession but a period of stagnation awaits". "Economic activity will remain subdued in the near term as households continue to be squeezed by elevated prices and the cumulative impact of past interest rate increases," she said. Capital Economics agreed the UK had "probably avoided recession" but said more interest rate rises were likely as the Bank of England fights to get inflation under control. The Bank has raised rates steadily since December 2021, most recently from 4% to 4.25% in March. [https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65250170]

Japanese officials have approved controversial plans to build the country's first gambling resort. The complex will open in the western city of Osaka in 2029. Casinos have long been illegal in Japan. But a law was passed in 2018 providing exceptions to games, such as poker or baccarat, to create jobs and boost tourism. Public opinion has been split, with some concerned about a rise in crime and gambling addiction. Besides the casino, the 5.3 million square-foot (49ha) complex will include a hotel, conference centre, shopping mall and museum. "We hope (the casino) will become a tourism base that promotes Japan's charms to the world," according to Prime Minster Fumio Kishida. The project has an initial investment of 1.8tn yen ($13.5bn, £10.7bn) with US-based casino operator MGM and Japan's Orix Group each owning a 40% stake in the company. The other 20% will be owned by local companies such as West Japan Rail, Kansai Electric Power and Osaka-based Panasonic. Officials expect the resort to attract around 20 million visitors annually and bring in roughly 1tn yen in annual economic benefits to the region, according to a Japanese news service. The project was proposed years ago, but it was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a corruption scandal involving a ruling-party lawmaker who was accused of accepting bribes while in charge of casino policy. Japan is seen a promising market for gambling. It is the world's third largest economy with a po[CENSORED]tion of roughly 126 million. It also has close proximity to wealthy Asian gamblers, particularly from China. Macau is the only Chinese city where casino gambling is legal. A similar plan has been submitted by the Nagasaki prefecture to build a casino at Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-themed theme park. [https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65271857]

The latest Windows 11 update (KB5025239) is now out, and is coming to all PCs – whether you like it or not. That’s because this is an important update that’s mandatory – so you can either manually install it by opening up Windows Update and downloading it from there, or directly downloading it from Microsoft’s website If you don’t manually install it, Windows 11 will eventually download and install it automatically, to ensure that your PC gets the benefit of the latest bug fixes and features. However, while many of the new features including in this update are welcome, there’s one addition which is proving to be very controversial. If you want to know what Microsoft is adding to your PC with Windows 11’s KB5025239 update, read on for my three favorite new features – and one I absolutely hate. Windows 11 KB5025239 brings a few subtle changes to the taskbar which help improve its overall look. The biggest change is that when you have set Windows 11 to dark mode in Settings > Personalization > Colors, and apps to light mode, the search box will appear lighter – making it easier to see and use. Some users will also get a new button the lets them open up the new ChatGPT-powered Bing AI chat mode direct from the search box in the taskbar. Annoyingly (but not a surprise), Bing chat opens up in Microsoft Edge, regardless of the web browser you’ve set as default. Microsoft has done an admirable job when it comes to adding accessibility features to its products, including both software and hardware, and while Windows 11 KB5025239 doesn’t bring new accessibility features, it fixes and improves several existing ones. An important fix addresses a frustrating bug which caused PowerPoint, Microsoft’s presentation software, to crash when using accessibility tools. The update also allows Microsoft Narrator, which is a text-to-speech tool, to read out dropdown lists in Microsoft Excel. 3. Windows LAPS The addition of Windows LAPS (Local Administrator Password Solution) is a bit of a niche feature, but it’s actually a much-requested one from system administrators in IT departments. It allows admins to manage the passwords of local accounts on Windows devices and backs them up to the cloud. It also allows for password encryption and automatic password rotation for enhanced security, and it’s now integrated natively into Windows 11, making it much easier to set up and use. If you have no interest in Windows LAPS(opens in new tab) then this may not seem like a big deal, but for people who do use it, this is a fantastic update that’s already been warmly welcomed. [https://www.techradar.com/news/New-Windows-11-update-is-out-here-are-3-new-features-I-love-and-one-I-hate]