Blackfire

The Lunaz Upcycled Electric Vehicle (UEV) is a converted zero-emission bin lorry from a firm best known until now for converting ultra-posh Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Jaguars to electric power Rubbish? Quite the opposite: we’re all being encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle – and the Lunaz UEV applies those ‘three Rs’ to the machines that picks up your empties. At the moment, collecting rubbish and recycling is dirty and smelly work – and not just because it involves a load of, well, rubbish. Most bin lorries in use today are big, heavy, diesel-powered vehicles, which are good for providing the power to pick up your leftovers but create problems of their own. They’re quite loud for one thing, as you might well know if your bins are collected early. But, more significantly, they’re not great when it comes to emissions. Essentially, the use case of a bin lorry is really not suited to diesel powertrains: they make slow journeys through often in dense residential areas, with frequent stops and starts. Studies have shown that idling vehicles produce more emissions than when a vehicle is moving – and those emissions are more likely to stay in that area. And it doesn’t help that the lifts on most bin lorries are actually powered by their Diesel engines, burning extra fuel and creating further emissions. Change is needed, and there is increasing national and local government emphasis on reducing emissions – look at the rising number of Clean Air Zones, or the UK government’s planned ban on the sale of all non zero-emission cars and vans from 2035 onwards. As a result, many councils and waste firm operators have pledged to switch to zero-emission machines in the coming years – including electric bin lorries. There are some new ones coming to the market: for example, the Mercedes Econic is a particularly po[CENSORED]r bin lorry in Europe, and the firm now offers an eEconic (and yes, the double e in its title makes us wince a bit too). But new electric vehicles have problems of their own: manufacturing a bin lorry produces a significant amount of emissions in itself. So Lunaz’s idea is to take an existing vehicle and fit an electric powertrains, while also giving it a thorough makeover. “If you replace the current fleet you just ‘carbon postbox’ existing vehicles to other countries, so you don’t solve the problem,” says company founder David Lorenz. “You have to break the pattern, by taking existing vehicles and upcycling them to electric – or else you just end up with more vehicles on the road.” So the Lunaz UEV is a diesel bin lorry converted to electric power then? That’s essentially right, although Lunaz doesn’t like to use the terms ‘conversion’ or ‘repowered’. It uses the term upcycling – and the difference is more than just some terminology pedantry. In fact, it’s probably best explained by returning to those Rolls-Royce and Bentleys we mentioned earlier. Lunaz founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Lorenz and engineer Jon Hilton, with an initial focus on Lunaz Design. That’s the classic car upcycling arm, which is based in a large unit at Silverstone Business Park, a few hundred metres from the home of the British Grand Prix. The division works on a commission basis, and its clients include high-end hotels, classic car fans and some ex-footballer called David Beckham, who was so impressed he invested in the company. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/move-electric/first-ride-lunaz-upcycled-electric-vehicle-bin-lorry

A pet monkey attacked an Oklahoma woman on Sunday before a family member of the victim shot and killed the primate, police said. The attack, which left the woman with non-life-threatening injuries, occurred in Dickson, a town a little over 100 miles south of Oklahoma City. Police received a report of a monkey on someone's front porch just after 6 p.m., according to the Dickson Police Department. When police arrived at the scene, they called for help from the Oklahoma Wildlife Department. And when the officers got out of the car, the monkey jumped on the back of the vehicle and then ran toward the victim and climbed onto her, causing unspecified injuries, police said. NBC affiliate KTEN of Ada, a city about 83 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, reported that the victim, Brittany Parker, was the person who originally called police to report the monkey. She told the station that the monkey "ran up my back and jumped onto my head, pulled hair out, and then ripped my ear in half like you would a piece of paper." A spokesperson for the police department confirmed Parker's injuries and her identity as the victim in the case. Parker was transported first to Mercy Hospital Ardmore and then to OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City to receive treatment for her injuries, police said. She was released from the hospital early Monday with bruises and a stitched-up ear, KTEN reported. After attacking Parker, the monkey then ran into a wooded area, and its owners — and police — unsuccessfully tried to track it down, with police warning the public not to approach the animal. At some point, a family member of Parker shot and killed the monkey, police said. KTEN reported it was a friend of Parker's who killed the animal, with Parker claiming that the monkey also attacked the person who killed it. “We called him and he came over here, and after I had been attacked, the monkey went out to his vehicle, slapped him across the face, and pulled his hair,” Parker told the local station. The monkey's body is being analyzed at Oklahoma Disease Laboratory for testing, according to Dickson Police, who said the investigation is ongoing. Oklahoma law classifies primates as domesticated animals, making it legal to own one without a permit, KTEN reported. But state law also makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to $50 or 30 days in jail to fail to keep domestic animals adequately enclosed. A spokesperson for the Dickson Police Department said the case has been submitted to the Carter County District Attorney's office for review and officials there will determine whether the owner of the monkey faces charges. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/pet-monkey-attacks-oklahoma-woman-shot-killed-police-say-rcna75233

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A deal allowing Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain through the Black Sea despite the ongoing conflict with Russia has been extended. But it is unclear how long it will last, with Ukraine pushing for 120 days, and Russia calling for 60 days. Russia has warned it will not allow the deal to go on longer unless sanctions against Moscow are softened. The UN and Turkey helped broker the export agreement last July following fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine is one of the world's top producers of grain, but its access to ports in the Black Sea was blocked by Russian warships following the invasion in February last year. Countries that suffer with food insecurity, such as Yemen, rely heavily on these supplies Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an agreement on extending the deal on Saturday, with hours to go before it was due to expire. "This deal is of vital importance for the global food supply. I thank Russia and Ukraine, who didn't spare their efforts for a new extension, as well as the United Nations secretary general," he said. But neither Mr Erdogan nor the UN clarified how long it would last. Ukraine wanted it to be extended for 120 days, but Russia said it was only willing to renew the pact for another 60 days. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said on Friday that the EU, UK and US had two months to remove any sanctions targeting Russia's agricultural sector if they wanted the deal to continue. Moscow wants Russian producers to be able to export more food and fertiliser to the rest of the world, but says Western sanctions are preventing them. While food and fertiliser exports have not been targeted, Russia says restrictions on payments, insurers and shippers makes exports difficult. Russia briefly withdrew from the deal in November last year, accusing Ukraine of attacking its fleet in the Crimea - but it re-joined a few days later. According to the UN, the deal has already allowed nearly 25 million tonnes of foodstuffs from Ukraine's Black Sea ports reach global markets. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65000324

Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday and has urged his supporters to launch mass protests. However his lawyer said there had been no communication from law enforcement and the former president's post was based on media reports. Prosecutors have been looking at a possible indictment of Mr Trump. Reports say it could come next week. If he is indicted, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president. This case focuses on alleged hush money paid on Mr Trump's behalf by his lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. It is one of several cases in which the 76-year-old is currently being investigated, although he has not yet been charged in any and denies wrongdoing in each. Mr Trump has pledged to continue his campaign to become the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, even if he is indicted. Past efforts to investigate him, including two impeachment trials, the Russia investigation and the Mar-a-Lago raid, have tended to make him more po[CENSORED]r with his base, so an indictment could have a similar effect. It is not yet known if he is going to be criminally charged this week or even, beyond broad strokes, what those charges might be. But with the former president predicting an arrest, and calling for mass protests, this is a journey into unknown territory. Mr Trump has a loyal base of followers, and the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters following his repeated calls to protest has proven that a fraught situation can quickly escalate into violence. On Saturday Mr Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that "illegal leaks" from the Manhattan district attorney's office "indicate" he would be arrested on Tuesday. The district attorney's office has not yet commented. Mr Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, said her team had not heard anything from law enforcement officials. "Since this is a political prosecution, the district attorney's office has engaged in a practice of leaking everything to the press, rather than communicating with President Trump's attorneys as would be done in a normal case," she said. The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has hit out at the investigation, calling it "an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA [district attorney]". In a tweet, he also promised to investigate whether federal money was being used to interfere in elections "with politically motivated prosecutions". Any indictment would create a complicated calculation for Mr Trump's rivals within the Republican Party, as they decide whether to up their attacks on the former president while he is potentially distracted or keep their heads down and hope for the best. If history is any guide, it will be the latter https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65000325

In the wake of the world's most famous AI writer, ChatGPT, arriving on the Bing search engine, Microsoft has now unveiled its plans to use the same technology to improve workplace productivity, with the introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Copilot is powered by the same sort of prompt-based AI that drives ChatGPT - meaning that, with a written instruction less than a sentence long, Microsoft 365 can write entire emails and reports for you. The announcements were made in a virtual press meeting hosted on March 16 via LinkedIn, by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella and its Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro, on the same day TechRadar Pro reported that the company was leaning heavily into GPT-4, the latest version of OpenAI’s language model GPT-4 in the workplace After enthusing about technological advancements in computing that have made human lives easier, such as video conferencing and collaboration tools, Nadella noted that, for the first time ever, AI is now at the center of a product, rather than simply powering it behind the scenes. In light of this, he also called for its responsible use. https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-is-bringing-ai-to-microsoft-365

The new Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 is awesome. It's such a relief to say that. In recent months we've covered several new monitors based on cutting-edge mini-LED and OLED panel tech. But they've all disappointed to some degree, including Philips' own mini-LED monitor the Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV Not Philips' new Evnia OLED, though. This thing rocks. By most measures, this new OLED monitor isn't especially novel. It's based on the same Samsung-sourced QD-OLED panel we first saw in Alienware's 34-inch OLED model. You know, the one that went straight to the top of our favourite gaming monitor list. So, it's a 3440 by 1440 pixel item with that immersive 21:9 aspect ratio and a gentle 1800R curve. Philips claims the same 250 nit full-screen SDR brightness and 1000 nit peak HDR brightness, the latter in a small 3% window. Likewise, both monitors promise 0.1ms response times and are capable of 175Hz refresh. Both brands even claim precisely the same 99.3% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and in each case you get VESA DisplayHDR True Black certification. So, yeah, on paper there's basically nothing to choose between them. In practice? Well, in practice it turns out this new Philips panel has a decisive advantage. https://www.pcgamer.com/philips-evnia-34m2c8600-oled-gaming-monitor-review/

Name of the game: Cyberpunk 2077 Price: 29.99$ Link Store: Click here Offer ends up after X hours: Offer ends 23 March SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 470 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 70 GB available space Additional Notes: In this game you will encounter a variety of visual effects that may provide seizures or loss of consciousness in a minority of people. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above symptoms while playing, stop and seek medical attention immediately. RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G Memory: 12 GB RAM Graphics: GTX 1060 6GB / GTX 1660 Super or Radeon RX 590 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 70 GB available space Additional Notes: SSD recommended

Citroën is readying a mix of smaller electric cars that will be “aggressively priced” to undercut rivals in the ever competitive entry-EV market. Expected to arrive in the next couple of years, the smaller models will get “kick-ass” designs to attract a wider customer base to the French brand, Citroën design boss Pierre Leclercq told Autocar. “I think it's going to be huge, huge advantage [over other car makers] for a brand like Citroën. You know, as premium brands look to become more premium, [there are] some people who don’t have that kind of money to buy a car.” Speaking about the cars themselves, Leclercq added: “We have great products coming out soon that are, I think, really kicking ass in terms of design. It's going to be super-cool. I mean, we're excited to put those things on the road. Prices are going to be so aggressive. We can only be proud of having done it. “So, I think, we have a big role to play in the car industry in the next couple of years.” The electric cars are highly likely to sit on the CMP platform, which already underpins Stellantis cars such as the Corsa and Peugeot e-208. As a result, they can use the same 51kWh battery as the e-208, which offers a range up to 248 miles. A single-motor set up delivering around 130bhp is likely, given that is what is expected for the upcoming Citroën C3 Aircross. To save costs, the cars may also, as shown on the Oli concept, ditch infotainment for a system that links to the driver’s phone – albeit not as budget as the solitary phone clip in the £7000 Ami. When you think about it, what do people want? They want the best on-board experience,” said Leclercq. “You live with your phone all day. So the closer we get [in a car] to what we have on our phone, I think the better it is. You should just have what you have on your phone.” Speaking previously to Autocar, Citroën’s product and strategy director, Laurence Hansen, said: “Citroën loves to challenge the industry norms. With [the Oli], we want to find joyful, modern mobility, affordable and sustainable. It’s something that we’re going to [continue] in the long run, because we think it’s in line with our DNA.” She added: “The average sale price in Europe for a car today is €25,000 [£22,560]. Do [we] really think people will be able to invest more tomorrow? We need to do something. Will it be exactly at the same price? Maybe not. With the economic crisis that may come in six months, how will you manage? If you don’t have a car, you don’t have life https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/citroen-readying-mix-aggressively-priced-electric-cars

Arrest warrant is more than symbolic, says ex-war crimes prosecutor Since it is unlikely Russia will hand over any suspects, several commentators have suggested that the ICC's arrest warrant is more of a symbolic move. But to think that is “understating its importance,” says Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was lead prosecutor at the war crimes trial of the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. This is an extremely valuable step by the ICC, says Nice, because it shows that there is enough evidence that Putin “is criminal, that the war is and has been criminal”. But Nice says Putin has to be treated by the rest of the world as a criminal: “That’s very, very important”. If efforts by Ukraine to suspend Russia’s veto in the UN Security Council are successful, then motions might be passed to investigate crimes of aggression, says Nice, and that could lead to a trial by the ICC. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the ICC's arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin a "historic decision, from which historical responsibility will begin". He says Putin and children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova "have officially become suspects in a war crime". "The deportation of Ukrainian children is the illegal transfer of thousands of our children to Russian territory," he said. "It would be impossible to carry out such a criminal operation without the order of the top leader of the terrorist state". Russia has rejected the ICC's decision and described the move as "outrageous and unacceptable". Vladimir Putin is only the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Al-Bashir was issued with arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were related to a conflict that broke out in Darfur in 2003 and led to the deaths of 300,000 people. He was later ousted as president and in 2020, Sudan's rulers agreed to hand him over to the ICC, but this hasn't happened yet. The Gaddafi arrest warrant for crimes against humanity was issued by the ICC during anti-regime protests in 2011. The case was terminated after he was killed just months later. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-64994087

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Windows 11 has just been graced with a big update, albeit not a full feature update, but one of Microsoft’s so-called ‘Moment’ upgrades Moment 2 to be precise, and if that sounds familiar, that’s because Microsoft released it in testing (as an optional update) at the end of February. Now, however, it has arrived as a full release, which means it’s coming to all Windows 11 PCs as we type this. If you haven’t already been offered what is formally known as patch KB5023706(opens in new tab), then you can head to Windows Update and check for new updates, whereupon you should see Moment 2 ready to roll. The update introduces a raft of new features, including improvements for those using Windows 11 with a touchscreen (a touch-optimized taskbar). Another big move is Phone Link for iOS, giving iPhone owners the ability to hook up their handset to the desktop (giving access to iMessage correspondence from their PC). https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-11-just-got-loads-of-new-features-including-one-that-iphone-owners-will-love

There's a lot to be said about real-world functionality. When a product just fits into your life so easily as to push out something else that might empirically be 'better' you know it's got something tangible to offer. That's where I am with the Logitech G FITS earbuds. They're now the buds I use on a day-to-day basis, and have replaced the gaming headset I use in the office, too. That's because of their dual-mode wireless design and how easy it is to switch back and forth. I can wear the FITS on my walk into the office listening to stuff on my phone, switch on my PC, then one quick triple-tap and I'm hooked into my desktop rig. Then, when I shut down at the end of the day, I can just walk away and it'll automatically reconnect to my phone for the bus-ride home. Yeah, I'm a one-way walker. It's a big hill to get back home. The Logitech buds are comfortable enough that wearing them for such an extended period of time isn't really an issue either. That's largely because they actually mould to your ears when you first use them. It's a slightly odd feature, and a slightly odd sensation when they're forming to your ear-holes, too, because they do get warm. Logitech calls it Lightform and it uses UV LEDs in the buds to harden a material in the earbud tips (a photopolymer) that is designed to form to your ears' individual shape. This has the combined effect of giving you a secure fit so they don't fall out, and delivers a natural sound isolation that means Logitech doesn't need to add any battery-draining ANC features to its buds. https://www.pcgamer.com/logitech-g-fits-gaming-earbuds-review/

plan to build the world's first octopus farm has raised deep concerns among scientists over the welfare of the famously intelligent creatures. The farm in Spain's Canary Islands would raise about a million octopuses annually for food, according to confidential documents seen by the BBC. They have never been intensively farmed and some scientists call the proposed icy water slaughtering method "cruel." The Spanish multinational behind the plans denies the octopuses will suffer. The confidential planning proposal documents from the company, Nueva Pescanova, were given to the BBC by the campaign organisation Eurogroup for Animals. Nueva Pescanova sent the proposal to the Canary Islands' General Directorate of Fishing, which has not responded to a BBC request for comment. Octopuses caught in the wild using pots, lines and traps are eaten all over the world, including in the Mediterranean and in Asia and Latin America. The race to discover the secret to breeding them in captivity has been going on for decades. It's difficult as the larvae only eat live food and need a carefully controlled environment, but Nueva Pescanova announced in 2019 that it had made a scientific breakthrough. The prospect of intensively farming octopus has already led to opposition: Lawmakers in the US state of Washington have proposed banning the practice before it even starts. Nueva Pescanova's plans reveal that the octopuses, which are solitary animals used to the dark, would be kept in tanks with other octopuses, at times under constant light. The creatures - the species octopus vulgaris - would be housed in around 1,000 communal tanks in a two-storey building in the port of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. They would be killed by being put in containers of water kept at -3C, according to the documents. Currently there are no welfare rules in place, as octopuses have never been commercially farmed before. However studies have shown that this method of slaughtering fish using 'ice slurry' causes a slow, stressful death. The World Organisation for Animal Health says it "results in poor fish welfare" and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) - the leading farmed seafood certification scheme - is proposing a ban unless fish are stunned beforehand. Some supermarkets have already moved away from selling fish that have been killed using ice, including Tesco and Morrisons. Prof. Peter Tse, a cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth University, told the BBC that "to kill them with ice would be a slow death … it would be very cruel and should not be allowed." Adding that they were "as intelligent as cats" he suggested that a more humane way would be to kill them as many fishermen do, by clubbing them over the head. To supply "premium international markets" including the US, South Korea and Japan, Nueva Pescanova wants to produce 3,000 tonnes of octopus a year. This equates to around one million animals, with some 10-15 octopuses living in each cubic metre of tank, according to campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CiWF), which has studied the plans. Nueva Pescanova estimates in its documentation that there will be "a mortality rate of 10-15%". Jonathan Birch, associate professor at the London School of Economics, led a review of more than 300 scientific studies which he says shows that octopuses feel pain and pleasure. It led to them being recognised as "sentient beings" in the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. Prof Birch and his co-authors believe that high-welfare octopus farming is "impossible" and that killing in ice slurry "would not be an acceptable method of killing in a lab". "Large numbers of octopuses should never be kept together in close proximity. Doing this leads to stress, conflict and high mortality … A figure of 10-15% mortality should not be acceptable for any kind of farming." In a statement to the BBC, Nueva Pescanova said: "The levels of welfare requirements for the production of octopus or any other animal in our farming farms guarantee the correct handling of the animals. The slaughter, likewise, involves proper handling that avoids any pain or suffering to the animal ..." In the wild, octopuses are fiercely territorial agile hunters. Nueva Pescanova is proposing that the farmed animals be fed with industrially produced dry feed, sourced from "discards and by-products" of already-caught fish. The tanks would be filled with seawater piped in from an adjacent bay. The tanks would be different sizes for the different phases of the octopuses' life, with the salinity and temperature closely controlled. The initial brood of 100 octopuses - 70 males and 30 females - would be taken from a research facility, the Pescanova Biomarine Centre, in Galicia, northern Spain. The plans state that the company has achieved a level of "domestication" in the species and that they do not "show important signs of cannibalism or competition for food". Elena Lara from CiWF called on the Canary Islands authorities to block construction of the farm, which she said would "inflict unnecessary suffering on these intelligent, sentient and fascinating creatures". Reineke Hameleers, CEO at Eurogroup for Animals added that the European Commission was currently reviewing its animal welfare legislation and had a "real opportunity" to "avoid terrible suffering". https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64814781

British government ministers have been banned from using Chinese-owned social media app TikTok on their work phones and devices on security grounds. The government fears sensitive data held on official phones could be accessed by the Chinese government. Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden said the ban was a "precautionary" move but would come into effect immediately. TikTok has strongly denied allegations that it hands users' data to the Chinese government. Theo Bertram, the app's vice-president of government relations and public policy in Europe, told the BBC it believed the decision was based on "more on geopolitics than anything else". We asked to be judged not on the fears that people have, but on the facts," he added. Mr Dowden said he would not advise the public against using TikTok, but they should always "consider each social media platform's data policies before downloading and using them". Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had been under pressure from senior MPs to follow the US and the European Union in barring the video-sharing app from official government devices But government departments - and individual ministers - have embraced TikTok as a way of getting their message out to younger people. Use of the app has exploded in recent years, with 3.5 billion downloads worldwide. Its success comes from how easy it is to record short videos with music and fun filters, but also from its algorithm which is good at serving up videos which appeal to individual users. It is able to do this because it gathers a lot of information on users - including their age, location, device and even their typing rhythms - while its cookies track their activity elsewhere on the internet. US-based social media sites also do this but TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance has faced claims of being influenced by Beijing. Hours before the ban was announced the Ministry of Defence (MoD) uploaded a video of a Challenger 2 tank, a type being supplied to Ukraine, to its TikTok account. The MoD said it would continue to use the app "to promote the work of the Armed Forces and to communicate our support to Ukraine". The department's sensitive data is "held on a separate system", it added. The Welsh government has also banned TikTok from the work phones of ministers and civil servants. In Edinburgh, a spokesperson for the Scottish government said officials were liasing with the Cabinet Office "as we consider the need for further action". In a statement earlier, TikTok said the UK government's decision was based on "fundamental misconceptions". "We remain committed to working with the government to address any concerns but should be judged on facts and treated equally to our competitors," a spokesman added https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64975672

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No one can blame you if you've given up on Spotify HiFi ever becoming a thing. It’s been two years since the initial announcement. However, all hope is not lost as the streaming service recently confirmed that it’s still working on the high-res audio tier. This news comes from Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström who sat down for an interview(opens in new tab) on TheVerge’s podcast, Decoder. Confirming HiFi’s existence was pretty much the only straight answer he gave as the rest of the responses were vague at best. According to Söderström, the reason why the tier is taking so long is that the “industry changed and [Spotify] had to adapt”, but doesn’t elaborate any further. He does hint at the cost of HiFi and deals with music labels as being two major factors to the delay, and again, doesn't elaborate any further. Söderström goes on to say Spotify wants to do something “unique” with HiFi and not “unnecessarily commoditize” itself by “[doing] what everyone else does”. When asked about an expected launch date and support for spatial audio, Söderström remained tight-lipped. There will be a “Spotify HiFi lossless-type experience at some point” in the future, however, that’s all the co-president was willing to divulge. Chasing trends Söderström’s comment on needing to adapt to a changing industry is arguably the most telling in that whole exchange because it’s emblematic of the company’s recent moves. Pinning the delay of Spotify HiFi on not wanting to copy other platforms is rather ironic if you think about it. For starters, the streaming service is currently rolling out a redesign for its mobile app taking clear inspiration from TikTok. It now sports a vertical discovery feed as a way to encourage people to check out the latest songs or po[CENSORED]r podcasts. You even have Spotify incorporating tech from OpenAI in its new DJ feature to simulate a real-life radio DJ. While these additions are great and everything, do users really want the TikTok experience and generative AI? From what we’ve seen, not really. https://www.techradar.com/news/the-spotify-hifi-dream-is-still-alive-as-platform-plans-to-do-something-unique-someday

There are no bad products, just incorrectly priced products. So, the saying goes and if it's right, Intel's Arc graphics may have just come good thanks to a major price cut from ASRock. As spotted by TechPowerUp(opens in new tab), You can now have ASRock's 8GB version of the top Intel Arc A770 chipset for just $270 from Newegg(opens in new tab), well down on the $320 it used to sell for. The full 16GB reference A770 from Intel itself remains at $349 Next up, the ASRock Arc A750 8GB drops from $290 to $240(opens in new tab), mirroring the recent price cut of Intel's own reference A750 from $289 to $249(opens in new tab). Then there's the ASRock Arc A380, reduced from $150 to just $120 If a flagship GPU for just $270 in the A770 seems like a steal, the reality is that it's a relatively modest performer. The Intel Arc A770(opens in new tab) is probably slightly faster most of the time for plain old raster rendering than an Nvidia RTX 3060, which sells for well over $300. If that's a comparison that looks good for Intel, the contest with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT(opens in new tab) is tougher. It can be had for pretty much the same money as the newly reduced ASRock A770. Oh, and if you are slightly miffed that it's an 8GB version of the A770 going cheap rather than a 16GB board, well, the A770 is probably best suited for 1080p gaming, for which 8GB should be plenty. Having 16GB would be preferable if 1440p is your target resolution, it's just questionable whether the A770 is a true 1440p-class gaming GPU for the latest and most demanding titles Overall, it's a tricky choice. In some games, the A770 can be much faster than the 6600 XT and indeed the 6650 XT. In others, the Radeon board is a bit quicker. Then you have to factor in Intel's fast improving but still somewhat substandard driver quality. But that's not a certainty. What we can say for sure is that the A770 at $270 is now cheap enough that we would give it serious consideration. It's not the obvious, low risk choice. That remains the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. But ASRock's 8GB take on the A770 is now absolutely buyable, a genuine contender. And this is probably the first time we can genuinely say that about an Intel Arc GPU. Hooray. https://www.pcgamer.com/asrock-cuts-prices-of-its-intel-arc-graphics-cards-so-low-you-may-actually-want-one/

Nick Movie: Teen Wolf: The Movie Time: 2023 March Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: Netflix Duration of the movie: 2h 20m Trailer:

A Russian fighter jet harassed and then collided with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, forcing the U.S. to bring the MQ-9 Reaper drone down in international waters, the U.S. European Command said. “Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.” Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets tracked the U.S. surveillance drone as it flew in international airspace over the Black Sea, which borders Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, among other countries. Prior to the collision, the jets “dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” according to a statement from the U.S. European Command. At about 7 a.m., one of the jets struck the drone’s propeller, forcing the U.S. to bring it down. Two U.S. defense officials said the Russian jet that collided with the drone did not crash, but instead landed in Crimea. The officials said this is the first time they’re aware that a Russian jet has dropped fuel on a U.S. aircraft during an intercept. Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. believes that the collision likely caused some damage to the Russian plane. The U.S. has wiped out the drone’s software and is considering its salvage options for the wreckage, but the Russians can reach whatever remains of the drone faster than a U.S. ship, said the officials. The U.S. would need to send a ship through the Bosphorus Strait from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea, while the Russians have ships in the Black Sea. The Turks have resisted permission for U.S. and other warships to transit the strait in recent months, said the officials In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Russia had detected the drone flying over the Black Sea “near the Crimean Peninsula in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation” and scrambled jets to identify the intruder. The ministry said the two Russian planes did not use weapons, “did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and returned safely to their home airfield.” The ministry said that the drone was flying with its transponders off, “violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace, and published in accordance with international standards.” Russia refers to its invasion and occupation of Ukraine as a “special military operation.” According to the defense officials, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley plans to call his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, about the incident but they have not yet connected. 'Complete ineptitude' One official said the Russian pilot showed “complete ineptitude” and that it was shocking to see such poor flying by a military pilot in an operation environment. The U.S. is summoning Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to the State Department over the incident, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Tuesday, to convey the “strong objections” of the U.S. to this “unsafe unprofessional intercept.” The meeting is expected to take place this afternoon https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russian-jet-harasses-collides-us-reaper-drone-black-sea-rcna74910

An Ohio farm owner was hospitalized after one of his zebras attacked him and nearly took his arm off, officials said. Deputies with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office found a 72-year-old victim on the ground when they responded to a call about an animal bite around 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Circleville, about 30 miles south of Columbus. The owner had been burning brush when he turned his back and the zebra attacked him, Lt. Johnathan R. Strawser with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office said. He noted there were six to seven zebras in a fenced-in area on the property A responding officer positioned their cruiser in an attempt to block the zebras from the victim, but a "very hostile," large male zebra charged the driver-side door of the vehicle, according to the incident report. The officer scared away the zebras using the car's horn and sirens. The victim was found with a hemorrhage to his right arm below the elbow and was taken away by ambulance. As deputies were tending to the victim, an officer saw the male zebra approaching EMS staff and the victim’s family, the incident report said. The family authorized deputies to put down the animal and after failed efforts to scare it away by yelling, an officer fatally shot it. In a high-stakes hearing, a judge will consider whether to order an abortion pill off the market The incident report indicated that the zebra was "aggressive" likely because it was "protective" of the other zebras, all females, in the field. The victim was transported to Grant Hospital in Columbus and is recuperating. Officials said he has undergone a number of surgeries and will have several more. “Some damage to his arm, but we believe they saved it. So that’s a positive thing because at first they thought that the zebra totally tore it off,” Strawser said. Strawer said Sunday’s attack was a “freak thing.” He noted that the farm owner had the zebras for “quite some time” and the sheriff’s office had no history of the animals being aggressive. He noted that it was not illegal for the man to own the zebras. The Ohio Department of Agriculture says zebras are not considered “Dangerous Wild Animals,” which are illegal to own https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-zebra-attack-farm-rcna74911

Gordon Murray Automotive’s V12-engined T50 supercar, the “logical successor” to the seminal McLaren F1 of 1992, has entered production. The new car, which Murray calls “the purest, lightest, most driver-focused supercar ever built”, is an ultra-light, mid-engined, all-carbonfibre three-seater, dubbed the T50 because it’s Murray’s 50th car design in a career spanning more than half a century. It uses a refined version of the ground-effect ‘fan car’ technology that its designer introduced to grand prix racing with the Brabham BT46B for the 1978 Formula 1 season. Powered by a new 650bhp naturally aspirated 4.0-litre Cosworth V12 with a 12,100rpm redline, the T50 will be built entirely by Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA), the company Murray launched to stand beside his existing design business when he revealed his plans for this car back in 2017. Just 100 road-going T50s will be hand-built at the firm's Dunsfold facility, each at a cost of £2.36 million before local taxes – so about £2.8m in the UK. Most have already been snapped up by global car connoisseurs, notably in the US and Japan, each of whom has paid a £600,000 deposit for the privilege. A further £750,000 is due when their car is specified in detail, with the balance settled upon delivery. After road car production ends, there will be a run of 25 hardcore, track-only editions named after Niki Lauda. Speaking at the start of production today, Murray said: “From the very moment we announced [the] T50, conceived to be the world’s most driver-centric supercar, I’ve been looking forward to this day. "Designing and engineering the T50 has been an incredible journey with much of the initial work completed during lockdown, so to witness the engineering art of the first customer car’s carbonfibre monocoque ready for assembly, less than two-and-a-half years since reveal, is quite magical Like its revered McLaren predecessor, the rear-wheel-drive T50 places its driver centrally in the cabin, as in a jet fighter. Its footprint is similar to that of the Mini Countryman (it’s smaller than the Porsche 911 and lighter than the Alpine 110) and it forgoes door mirrors for cameras to avoid adding to its 1.85m body width, so it should feel highly manoeuvrable in tight going. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/gordon-murray-automotive-t50-v12-supercar-enters-production