Love Pulse

The first Mazda CX-5 kicked off a revolution at Mazda. It was Mazda's first mainstream SUV and the first car to feature the company's new "Kodo - soul of motion" design language. Mazda ran that style through the subsequent 2, 3, 6, CX-3 and MX-5 and it now has one of the best-looking range of cars on the road. This new CX-5 builds on the solid foundations of that first model. Essentially the same length and width, it's slightly lower than before, and its design sticks with the Kodo design theme, updating it with more sophisticated surface language, details and technology. The new car sits on a modified version of the old car's platform, continuing with Mazda's SkyActiv technology - which prioritises the use of light-weight materials and a different approach to engineering the car - in pursuit of better engine efficiency and greater driving pleasure. Putting the sport into sports utility Core to the CX-5's appeal is its sporting intent. Let's face it, Mazda is the only mainstream company that's managed to build out a range around a sports car, the seminal MX-5. It might be a thought you'd not considered (or that's deeply buried in the subconscious), but by buying a Mazda you're partly buying into the sporting pedigree of a brand that's built on 30 years of making the the best best-selling sports car. The new CX-5 certainly looks sportier than before. That's taken care of by its improved proportions - they come from moving the A-pillar rearwards, lowering the roofline and then adding more modern details. The new model also features much slimmer lamps, and much bolder sections of chrome details that surround elements like the grille. Yes, the CX-5 could still only be an SUV, but it's significantly better-looking than many big, heavy lumpen SUVs, and is distinct without being in any way ostentatious or in-your-face. Only the wheel design of this top-spec Sport Nav lets the side down. The wheels are big 19-inch units, but somehow look lost in the arches. On bigger rims, or a different design, the CX-5 would look genuinely stand-out. As it is, Mazda's engineering and design team chose to come down on the better ride side of the ride versus looks trade-off. An SUV you'll actually enjoy driving The sporting theme continues when you take to the road. As much as you can ever expect a diesel SUV to be fun to drive, the CX-5 moves down the road in a really enjoyable way. It feels car-like and is easy to drive. It's light and responsive, but there's a very positive reaction to every input you make. The steering is not big on feel but is perfectly weighted - so are the pedals, and the gear shift has a nice positive action and a stubby lever which makes it fun to row up and down the 6-speed manual box. If you're in a hurry on an average British B-road, the CX-5 is the car you'll want to be in, when considered against its rivals. It feels dynamic and precise - it might ultimately be based on the same platform as the car it replaces, but around 50 per cent of the suspension components are new, giving the CX-5 more poise in corners. It rides with impressive composure; its sure footed-ness and the lack of body lean gives you the confidence to chuck it into corners in a way that few of its rivals do, helping this 4.5m-long SUV shrink around you. But the CX-5 has always been a decent drive, so what stands out about the new CX-5 compared to the old model is that it's much more refined. Mazda has worked hard on insulation and refinement, and now only the noise of the Toyo tires spoils the party. Even then, we're nit picking. The CX-5 is a great motorway cruiser and a really comfortable place to sit. A limited choice of engines One area the CX-5 lags compared to some of its rivals is in the choice of engines and powertrain options on offer. There's one petrol (a 2.0l 163hp unit which unusually isn't turbo-charged) and two diesels (a 150hp, or the 175hp version we drove). Want the petrol? You'll need to stick with a manual gearbox and front-wheel drive. The diesels are available in both two and four-wheel drive formats, with either manual or auto boxes. But if you want the higher-output diesel, you'll need to buy the top spec Sport Nav version, as tested here in its four-wheel-drive manual-box spec. All the engines benefit from Mazda's SkyActiv technology, which means they're lighter, have less friction and run higher compression ratios than their rivals. What does that mean for you? The headline CO2 and economy figures are good, but not all class-leading, but it's realistically a little easier to get nearer to the economy figures quoted, in real driving. We got 42mpg during our 200 miles of driving, which was mostly bound to town and country roads, where we drove the Mazda fairly hard. Expect 50mpg or more on motorways. The engine contributes to the overall positive driving impression. Apart from an odd tendency to hold the revs high for a minute on cold start-up (presumably so it warms up quicker), the diesel is quiet and refined. The 6-speed manual gearbox is slick, positive and enjoyable to use. In 175hp format, the CX-5 is an easy car to make progress in. It's not outright fast, but the engine is very torque-rich across a wide-band of the rev range, which means you're often carrying more speed than you might think. And it generally sounds smooth and clatter-free. A neat interior but lacking premium polish To look at and drive, the CX-5 is sufficiently good enough to make you think twice about spending an extra £ 10K (or more) on a premium SUV like the Audi Q5. Beyond badge snobbery, there's little in the way the Mazda looks or drives that it gives away to much more expensive competition. The difference is revealed when you step on board: it's the one stand-out area where Mazda has clearly pushed a significant upgrade compared to the out-going model. Yet the game in this area has moved on quickly, so the Mazda's interior architecture still feels uninspiring, verging on hum-drum. If you're a fan of simplicity, there's much to like. But the section of the dash-top, the design of the air vents and the way the (faux) wooden trim on the dashboard is applied make it look and feel quite dated already. Adding to this is a lack of material or color choice - there's little ability to personalize your CX-5 beyond choosing a different leather color. Which is a shame in a car that's in such a competitive market and otherwise has so many of the qualities it needs to take on the premium brands. Luckily the driving position is good and easily adjustable, the interior is relatively easy to use with no real ergonomic flaws and there's plenty of space.

Today, the Moon lifestyle is about as inhospitable to life as it gets. The little water that’s there is trapped in ice or rock. It’s otherwise dry and airless, fluctuating in temperature by hundreds of degrees anywhere the sun shines. But long ago? That’s an entirely different story. New research published in Astrobiology suggests that the Moon may have been shockingly habitable in the past during at least two periods — shortly after the Moon formed, and when volcanic activity was at its highest. The key to it all is heat and lots of energy. The Moon formed after a collision between Earth and a proto-planet astronomers call Theia. And just after the smash up, there was lots of water vapor — enough that the Moon could’ve had a fairly substantial atmosphere and pools of water on the ground. Volcanic activity was also high, which could have replenished the atmosphere with water vapor from deep in the interior. That all happened roughly 4 billion years ago. And by the time volcanic activity settled down some 500 million years after the collision, the atmosphere couldn’t cling on — and much like Mars, the Moon dried up. But in that 500 million-plus year span, all the ingredients for life may well have been present. That habitable era also fell during a period of frequent asteroid bombardment, so the inner solar system may have shared with the Moon ingredients to make life possible. Asteroids could have even struck early Earth and transported primitive bacteria to the surface of the Moon. The short span of lunar life didn’t really have long to evolve much beyond single-cell organisms. However, there’s abundant evidence that the early lunar water is still trapped within rock now. So, digging a little deeper under the surface of the Moon — in, say, a lunar exploration program — could yield greater evidence for lunar life, including the possibility of fossilized microbes trapped in rock.

The hackers who seriously disrupted operations at a large hospital chain recently and held some data hostage broke into a computer server left vulnerable despite urgent public warnings since at least 2007 that it needed to be fixed with a simple update, The Associated Press has learned. The hackers exploited design flaws that had persisted on the MedStar Health Inc. network, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss the findings publicly. The flaws were in a JBoss application server supported by Red Hat Inc. and other organizations, the person said. The FBI, which is investigating, declined to discuss how the hackers broke in. The JBoss technology is po[CENSORED]r because it allows programmers to write custom-built software tools that can be quickly made available across a company, but security researchers discovered it was routinely misconfigured to allow unauthorized outside users to gain control. The U.S. government, Red Hat and others issued urgent warnings about the security problem and a related flaw in February 2007, March 2010 and again earlier this week. The government warned in 2007 the problem could disrupt operations and allow for unauthorized disclosures of confidential information. Fixing the problem involved installing an available update or manually deleting two lines of software code. It was not immediately clear why the hospital chain, which operates 10 hospitals in Maryland and Washington including the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, was still vulnerable years after those warnings. The new disclosure doesn't diminish the potential culpability of the hackers responsible for the break-in, but it reveals important details about how the crime unfolded. And it could affect MedStar's civil or administrative exposure under U.S. laws and regulations that require health providers to exercise reasonable diligence to protect their systems. MedStar's assistant vice president, Ann C. Nickles, said in a statement Tuesday to the AP that the company "maintains constant surveillance of its IT networks in concert with our outside IT partners and cybersecurity experts. We continuously apply patches and other defenses to protect the security and confidentiality of patient and associate information. " MedStar said Monday its systems "are almost fully back online," just over a week after the March 28 hacking. The company hired experts from Symantec Corp. to help investigate. Nickles said Tuesday there was no evidence that patient or employee records were compromised. MedStar said in a statement Friday evening to the AP that it would not provide details about how the attack occurred, and it criticized further media coverage of the case as perpetuating "the infamy of malicious attacks for airtime and publicity" and encouraging copycat hackers. The MedStar hackers employed virus-like software known as Samas, or "samsam," that scours the Internet searching for accessible and vulnerable JBoss application servers, especially ones used by hospitals. It's the real-world equivalent of rattling doorknobs in a neighborhood to find unlocked homes. When it finds one, the software breaks in using the old vulnerabilities, then can spread across the company's network by stealing passwords. Along the way, it encrypts scores of digital files and prevents access to them until victims pay the hackers a ransom, usually between $ 10,000 and $ 15,000. If a victim hasn't made safe backups of files, there may be little choice except to pay, although MedStar has said it paid nothing. The hospital chain shut down its systems quickly after discovering the attack, limiting its impact to archives, some imaging and lab files and other duplicate records, according to the person with inside knowledge of the attack. "This old issue is still somehow spread across Internet-facing servers," said Stefano Di Paola and Giorgio Fedon of Minded Security, an Italian security firm, in a joint statement to the AP. They discovered a related vulnerability in the servers in 2010 that Red Hat designated its highest priority to fix. The FBI issued a flash message to companies days after the MedStar hacking, describing the dangers of samsam and asking for help detecting it and improving defenses against it. Days later, the Homeland Security Department issued a separate warning about samsam and another common ransomware strain, Locky, which tricks victims into opening email attachments to infect computers. Cisco Systems Inc., which has studied the attacks, estimated there were about 2.1 million servers around the world vulnerable to samsam, although some may be additionally protected by other layers of security. It described the ransomware campaign as "proving to be a profitable affair." "If you haven't patched your server, you're vulnerable, and it can compromise your server at 3 a.m. in the morning when no one's watching," said Craig Williams, a senior Cisco technical leader. "This is simply a case of people not following best practices and not applying patches for people to correct their systems." Identifying the hackers and arresting them can be difficult. Tracing the scanning activity preceding an attack typically leads to other hacked computers; logs that might yield identifying clues can be mani[CENSORED]ted or deleted and the samsam software is unusually self-sufficient and doesn't require hackers to control it after an infection. Ransoms are paid using hard-to-trace digital currency.

Minecraft is one of the games that will support cross-platform gameplay with the Better Together update which will be released sometime next fall. Better Together will enable Xbox One, PC, Smartphones and Switch players to play together except PlayStation 4 players who will be deprived of this feature due to Sony's refusal to support it on PlayStation 4. Sony has justified the reasons for its refusal by being keen on children who make up a large proportion of Minecraft players and wants to keep them safe from any exploitation they may be exposed to if this feature is supported. Game developer Mojang seems to be unconvinced of the reason given by Sony.He revealed today that he is still in discussions with the company to persuade her to support the joint game feature Minecraft game between PlayStation 4 and the rest of the devices, and stated that if Sony allowed to support this feature will be children more safely than you think This update will work in accordance with the Xbox Live security conditions that give parents options to control their child's accounts, including chat room control and the things they want their children to see.

Bad software is everywhere, buzzing our phones, losing our orders, insinuating itself into every corner of our lives. Sometimes it’s just an inconvenience: slow, confusing, dated. But often the consequences are more serious, as when insecure software exposes our private data and even our bank accounts. Bad software played a central role in last winter’s nuclear panic in Hawaii. It only took a wayward text message from the Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency to touch off a statewide frenzy: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill, ”the message read. It was a drill. News reports explained that a state employee triggered the crisis by clicking the wrong link on his screen, issuing a full-blown alert instead of an internal exercise. A screenshot shows a link for the drill that looks almost identical to one for the real alert. And while the employee later said he thought the attack was real, it took 40 minutes for the government to correct the error — in part, because the app provided no way to issue a “false alarm” correction. Meanwhile, thousands of residents and tourists faced very real alarm. Even where the stakes aren’t life and death, the economic effects of bad software are staggering. By one estimate, ecommerce sites lose $ 260 billion a year to badly designed checkout systems — costs inevitably passed on to consumers. Even companies that spend millions on usability design, like Amazon, can succumb. Amazon agreed to refund $ 70 million because children playing on games on their devices thought they were just spending virtual currency. Some families racked up bills of up to $ 10,000 in actual currency before parents realized what was going on. No one can fully explain why bad software happens to good people. Thankfully, we have a way to make software better. A product-minded approach to software development embraces change, so good stuff gets better and bad stuff gets fixed. It relies on adaptive techniques like Agile development, with its iterative cycles and feedback loops, and DevOps for smooth, continuous deployment in fast-changing environments. Four product minded principles will help you avoid the scourge of terrible Live it - Make sure the people building your software live and breathe the customer experience. Ideally, that means your team physically visits the customer, watching them use your software in their natural habitat. If they can’t visit, they can find other ways to gain empathy, like listening in on customer service calls. One bill payment software company asks every employee to pay their own personal bills using the service. After trying it for the first time, every employee comes in the next morning with a list of questions and improvements. Love it - Understanding your customer will help the team focus on improvements that reduce friction, encourage return visits and inspire loyalty and advocacy. In other words, they will build software customers love to use. Map out the customer’s journey and flow through the system to make sure it is a smooth, delightful process they will want to repeat and recommend to others. Leverage it - You can extend the life and value of your product by building a platform that’s useful for today’s customers but can also meet the demands of tomorrow. Amazon built an e-commerce platform that first sold books, then sold just about anything, then allowed others to sell their products. Then Amazon’s underlying cloud platform (now called Amazon Web Services) became a product in its own right, accounting for a fast-growing percentage of Amazon’s revenue. Good platforms don’t just allow you to add new features and functionality over time: they can also provide a convenient way for your customers and partners to contribute value as well. Launch it - This one can be hard, but you need to launch your product quickly… before it’s perfect and before you think it’s ready. Getting your software into the hands of real users lets you start a feedback loop and evolve the product more responsively. Start with the minimum product that will be useful and add value. Then use the feedback to get the insights to create something great. Customers will tell you how to make it better and you can scale up as you go. This product-minded approach isn’t just for software. It works for all kinds of experiences you may be developing for customers and other stakeholders, whether it’s an annual conference or a new location. After all, graceful adaption to change is critical for every business: of the original members of the Fortune 500 in 1955, only 12 percent remain. But software is a good place to start. By eliminating bad software wherever you find it, you’ll not only help rid the world of a dangerous phenomenon, you’ll give your own business the best chance of avoiding extinction.

Episode Summary: Some businesses are going to require a sea change in the way that their computation works and the kinds of computing power that they’re leveraging to do what they need to do with artificial intelligence. Others might not need an upgrade in hardware in the near term to do what they want to do with AI. What’s the difference? That’s the question that we decided to ask today of Per Nyberg, Vice President of Market Development, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud at Cray. Cray is known for the Cray-1 supercomputer, built back in 1975. Cray continues to work on hardware and has an entire division now dedicated to artificial intelligence hardware. This week on AI in Industry, we speak to Nyberg about which kinds of business problems require an upgrade in hardware and which don’t. Subscribe to our AI in Industry Podcast with your favorite podcast service: Guest: Per Nyberg, Vice President of Market Development, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud - Cray Expertise: international market development, go-to-market strategy, sales and partner management Brief Recognition: Nyberg holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Concordia University. Nyberg has worked at Cray since 2002. Interview Highlights (2:30) What are the kinds of business problems or kinds of sectors where this sea change in hardware is going to be borderline necessary? PN: Yeah. That’s a good question. Maybe a couple of different perspectives there. One is certainly that we look at AI in the enterprise, we kind of think about the journey, if you will. Early on, it’s really all about just understanding the capabilities of machine learning. At that point, it is very much around the skills within the organization and the business problem that they’re trying to address. As organizations kind of progress through their journey, so they convince themselves that there is some value there to their lines of business, and they move into more significant implementations or operationalizing AI, it's kind of at that point that the infrastructure really does start to become really important. We’ve seen that in our customer base. We've had companies come to us and say, “We've been experimenting with AI or deep learning now for nine months, and then all of a sudden, we increase our data sizes and we need faster training or we need faster storage” , for example. We see that arc through the journey where, again, the infrastructure really does start to become a critical and necessary part of their journey. In terms of specific use cases or problem areas, again, I think that where we see today, areas in like manufacturing, obviously things like autonomous vehicles is the one that a lot of people hear a lot about and it resonates with them, but in the manufacturing space at large, we see everything all the way into really interesting areas that people are looking into, like what they call cognitive simulation, where they're using machine learning to improve their computational fluid dynamics, for example. You see it permeating throughout that industry. Then obviously, areas like life sciences, healthcare, financial services, oil and gas, so you really see it across that large industrial base. (6:20) What separates those problems that we may need big deal hardware versus the problems that oftentimes are not as much an emergency with regards to updating hardware? PN: Yeah. We kind of think along two dimensions. One is, let’s call it, scale, the size of your problem. The other one is just complexity. If you’re looking at some of these workflows in drug discovery, like electron cryomicroscopy, cryo-EM, that is a very complex workflow. Even if somebody’s just starting out experimenting with it, it can still be a computational and an [inaudible 00:06:58] challenge. The scale question’s really interesting because we’ve spoken with a lot of companies where at a small scale, they don’t have enough data to even make deep learning worthwhile. It’s not even a question of whether or not you need it. It can’t demonstrate the benefit, but they can project forward in time as data sizes or data volumes grow, and at that point, they’ll be a crossover. I think it’s an important point, so even before you talk about the infrastructure, is that this machine learning isn’t for everybody just yet. That’s kind of the first starting point is whether or not you can really see the benefit today. Like I said, a lot of companies we speak to, as they project forward, they absolutely do see this. Yeah. I can imagine looking forward long enough, all of us are going to be upgrading hardware in some way. The computer that I’m on now is going to be a pretty different computer maybe five or 10 years from now. The same thing with phones. The same thing with all the computation I’m using in business. There’s an inevitable trajectory here. There’s different levels of urgency, as you’ve rightly pointed out. (9:00) You brought up those two dimensions, complexity and scale. That might be a fun kind of thought “experiment way” of thinking through this for business folks. Is there a better way to think about it as a business leader? PN: I think one of the other terms that we like to use is heterogeneity. When you look at something about deep learning, I think to date, deep learning has been kind of defined from a processor architecture perspective, but if you’re a data scientist, you’re really focused on the workflow. Even the workflow itself is very heterogeneous, if you will. There’s data preparation and model development, model implementation. AI practitioners will iterate between these steps across the entire workflow. Really, when you look at workflows, they are heterogeneous by nature, but we also see them becoming increasingly heterogeneous, blending data analytics, blending machine learning, simulation. It’s at that point where complexity goes up, heterogeneity goes up, and really, at the end of the day, what ends up happening is that it’s more than any single technology or product. That’s, again, just trying it back to infrastructure is that you really have to look across the various needs of your workflow and choose the right technology which is going to provide the greatest value for that particular portion. We really see AI as kind of fundamentally a supercomputing problem, but there are certainly… There’s a range along that scale. I think that it’s kind of interesting too when you talk about complexity, I think the rate of change in technology as well is another dimension that’s [inaudible 00:12:04] behind here. A lot of the IT or data science practitioners that we speak to in the enterprise are overwhelmed with the rate of change as well. That’s not only coming from industry in terms of new technologies, but as they go through this journey as I described before, this arc, their problems change there too. What they discover at one point might be very different than they discover six months later. That landscape and how they address these problems, they really are overwhelmed. (13:30) If you’re speaking with an executive team… where should they be focused if they want to not be completely bowled over by all the new press releases every minute about AI? PN: That’s a great question. I think that the advice that we provide, and quite frankly, this is why people come to Cray, is that we’ve always taken a system view, focused on the workflow or the application performance. I think that really taking a step back and viewing it holistically is the first step. Don’t get rat holed down any one particular technology, but open up your aperture a little bit and view end to end. Then I think everybody’s journey’s a little bit different. Again, we’ll speak with two different companies that, on the outside, have exactly the same use case, and where they might be in their, let’s say, digital transformation really defines what the right solution is for them. I think that there is a personalized aspect to this as well, and that’s look for people who can look from a system perspective and look at it holistically for your particular organization. (16:00) How do you ask people to think about scale? How do they get a sense of where they stand in terms of scale of data? PN: Yeah. That’s a good question. I think a couple of views here. One is that regardless of the size of the organization, I think one of the trends that we see is just towards distributed training, for example. As any problem gets… All problems are getting larger, so it’s all relative to the particular organization. There is this push towards scaling your individual training runs, for example. There’s also a push towards things like distributed inference, let’s say. I think that thread is common regardless of the size of the organization. Again, after that, it just right sized to whatever their problems might be. I think computing today, especially supercomputing, fundamentally you have to think parallel. It’s all about running things in parallel. That’s true for anything that you’re doing, whether it’s, again, structural engineering or distributed deep learning training. It’s all about finding parallelism. That’s really how most people should think about the scale question because that’s the only way to really ultimately accelerate their workflows.

Turn-based post-crabpocalyptic strategy game Phoenix Point is on track for a September 3rd release, announced during yesterday’s Inside Xbox presentation at E3. The X-COM-alike is due to launch simultaneously on the Epic Games Store and now the Xbox Game Pass for us PC folks, but won’t hit Steam until a year later. It looks like it’s coming together nicely too, after a few bare-bones early backer builds. It seems that Snapshot Games head Julian Gollop (of the original ’90s X-COM) still has a few tricks to teach the young’ins. Below, a new trailer and a peek at the most recent backer build. While a visual treat, the new trailer is more of a mood piece than anything really representing the game. Still, it gives us a nice up-close look at some of the gruesome mutant beasties that your troops will be shooting with very large guns at. The game is set after an alien viral apocalypse, which has turned much of Earth’s po[CENSORED]tion into horrible arthropods. It’s not just a cool look, but reflected in the combat, which allows you to target anywhere., ala Valkyria Chronicles. Aim away from armoured crab shell and try to hit the squishy bits, or break dangerous appendages. You can see a little of this in action in this developer walk-through of a single backer build mission, and you can see other improvements they’ve made in this dev blog. The latest version has new enemy types (ranging from very small to extra large) and the first look at player-made bases. Right now they’re just randomly generated as defence maps, but in the full game players will be able to build their own fort in the style of classic X-COM. They’ve also added the first wave of FTL-like story decisions to be made on the world map. Probably the most striking thing for me is this single animated GIF, though. That’s dynamic physics-based damage, not a stock animation. It’s also extremely satisfying to watch on loop, and a good reason to use heavy cannons if I ever saw one. As bullet spread happens in a cone, similar to many first-person shooters, the position of every piece of cover matters, and it’s nice to see that there’s more to terrain destruction than fixed blocks of cover that either exist or don’t.

candy Crush Saga is a puzzle game that involves making matches of 3 or more colored candy pieces. Players swap candy pieces either horizontally and vertically, and once a match is made, the candy disappears, causing the surrounding pieces of candy to fall into the empty spaces. This sometimes causes a chain reaction, netting players bonuses in the form of increased score and power-ups. The game also tosses in obstacles for players, like covering candy in jelly that must be eliminated before the candy can be matched. There are more than 100 levels of gameplay, with five different game modes that mix up the goals and maps of the levels so that there is always a fresh challenge. The game is easy to learn and play, but quite a challenge to fully master. Players can take on the saga by themselves, or they may connect with Facebook users to play against others to test their skills and see who can dominate the leaderboard. Candy Crush Saga is appropriate for and playable by kids as young as five years old, although they may experience difficultly passing some of the deeper and more advanced levels of the game. UntitledSuccess in Candy Crush Saga is nearly impossible without the use of Planning skills. Each level allots a maximum number of moves that players can use to achieve the level's objectives. Therefore, players must skillfully pick their moves in such a way that facilitates the quickest means of achieving the goals. In levels where all jelly must be eliminated, for example, players have to examine the grid and look for the best sequence of moves that eliminates jellies as quick as possible. The best moves will get rid of multiple jellies as once and thus reduce the need to use unnecessary/extra moves. Players will benefit from thinking ahead before using special candies as well, as they can help to move multiple candies at once. Candy Crush Saga makes it far too easy for players to fail a level without making smart and calculated moves. Additionally, players only get 5 lives, which they must wait thirty minutes for just one to replenish. Lack of planning can cause players to use their lives too quickly and thus get considerably less game time and fun. Flexibility Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations. The game offers five different game modes that require players to continually re-think their strategies. For example, the same approach to "Jelly" levels where players eliminate jellies does not translate to "Ingredient" levels, where players have to deliver a specified number of ingredients to the delivery point before running out of moves. Alternatively, "Candy Order" levels switch to collection of specific candies. Even within game modes, levels show much variability and continually present players with different predicaments to overcome. For example, some Jelly levels have locked jellies that cannot be eliminated until they are unlocked by a specific color and then cleared. Players have to allow their minds to play with using different strategies to approach the varying challenges. If they do not, they risk becoming stuck on a certain strategy or small handful of strategies that cannot work for all levels. This is a problem, considering players cannot skip a level. In order to continually progress in the game each level must be completed before the next is unlocked, which highlights the great importance of using Flexibility skills.

What Roller Champions does offer is a shockingly simple, yet surprisingly fun and addictive, multiplayer sports game with easy-to-understand controls that possess enough nuance to keep you engaged. Unfortunately, the free-to-play PC game has less-than-optimal online connectivity and a barebones design that will hopefully be improved prior to the title's release. The Rules of Engagement You shoot hoops while wearing skates in a high-walled velodrome. That's Roller Champions in a nutshell. Two teams of three compete against each other in a match and a team wins by either scoring five points or earning the highest score before the seven-minute clock expires. To score, a team must complete a lap around the velodrome while in possession of the ball, fending off challenges from the other team. Once you complete the lap, you must shoot a hoop to score a point. Gutsy players can opt to keep possession of the ball for a second lap. So long as they do not lose possession, a player who completes a successful second lap makes the team eligible for a three-point shot. Finally, a team that completes three laps with the ball can land a five-point shot, effectively winning the game with a single, skillful shot. As one can imagine, it's not easy to hold on to the ball. The opposing team hounds you constantly, doing its best to slap the stars out of you and snatch it away. Players not in possession of the ball can freely tackle members of the opposing team, and this tackle is quite potent. A successful tackle knocks down the target and forces a fumble, giving you a chance to claim the ball. If, on the other hand, you find yourself in possession of the ball, you must use your dodge ability to evade incoming tackles. The evasion timing is fairly strict, but if you're attentive, you can juke the enemy and continue the lap. You can also pass the ball to other players to keep it out of the other team's clutches. Naturally, it's a risky gambit, because the opposing team won't skate idly as you toss the ball to one another. However, combined with strategic maneuvering and skillful evasion, you can take advantage of passing to keep the ball in your team's possession and advance the lap Pump It Up Roller Champions' most advanced technique is pumping, which is essentially a squat you perform on inclines and declines. Holding the pump button makes your character squat and releasing it makes the character stand. You see, Roller Champions has a momentum system that modifies your speed whenever you go up and down the slopes of the velodrome. By pumping correctly at specific points in your slope decline, you earn a hefty speed boost that you wouldn't get via normal acceleration. Using this mechanic is a great way to speed up your lap or catch up to a possessing opponent. It's a dynamic wrinkle in what is otherwise a fairly simple game and seems to be a very valuable technique to master if you want to take your skill to the next level. Rocket League has already shown the extent of what players can achieve when they commit to mastering a system, so I look forward to seeing what creative tactics players discover when Ubisoft launches Roller Champions next year. Uncut Gem Roller Champions has a rock-solid foundation, tight, responsive controls, and fascinating systems under its hood, that give the game a surprisingly polished feel even in its early state The team-based matches are fast-paced and intense, and it is fairly easy to coordinate with other players online on a casual level. It's instinctive to defend allies and block attackers when in possession of the ball, and the game displays a large prompt whenever a teammate calls for a pass. However, voice chat is desperately needed for any game session more intense than casual play. There is a quick-chat wheel for basic prompts and communication, but it feels a bit too rudimentary. This becomes painfully apparent when you're getting blown out by a better team and have no convenient way of strategizing with teammates. As the game is still in pre-alpha, some choppiness is to be expected. While the overall gameplay is smooth, some animations don't blend all that well together, so movement can seem a little jerky despite the game being quite responsive. The online connectivity is a mixed bag, as well. In my time with Roller Champions, I experienced quite a few laggy matches. In addition, the wonky character model hit boxes caused me to get occasionally nailed with phantom elbow jabs. But considering the state of the current build, these issues seem relatively minor compared to Roller Champions' overall polish. While Roller Champions' basic game mode is entertaining, I can also see casual players quickly losing interest. In truth, I was hungry for a change of scenery after a few matchups, despite the rock-solid core gameplay. I would like to see additional game modes and varied roller rinks in the future, too. Much like Rocket League's various gravity and ball modifiers, some weight, stage, and ruleset customization would go a long way towards extending the arcade sports game's lifespan. Granted, all we've seen of the game is a very basic demo, so it is entirely possible that the developer has something in the works further down the line.

ABOUT THIS GAME In a city where information is heavily monitored, agile couriers called Runners transport sensitive data away from prying eyes. In this seemingly utopian paradise, a crime has been committed, your sister has been framed and now you are being hunted. You are a Runner called Faith and this innovative first-person action-adventure is your story. Mirror's Edge ™ delivers you straight into the shoes of this unique heroine as she traverses the vertigo-inducing cityscape, engaging in intense combat and fast paced chases. With a never before seen sense of movement and perspective, you will be drawn into Faith's world. A world that is visceral, immediate, and very dangerous. Live or die? Soar or plummet? One thing is certain, in this city you will learn how to run. From the makers of the groundbreaking Battlefield franchise, Mirror's Edge is an action-adventure experience unlike any other. Features Move yourself: String together an amazing arsenal of wall-runs, leaps, vaults and more, in fluid, acrobatic movements that turns every level of the urban environment to your advantage and salvation. Immerse yourself: In first person every breath, every collision, every impact is acutely felt. Heights create real vertigo, movements flow naturally, collisions and bullet impacts create genuine fear and adrenaline. Challenge yourself: Fight or flight. Your speed and agility allow you not only to evade, capture and perform daring escapes, but also to disable and disarm unwary opponents, in a mix of chase, puzzles, strategy and intense combat. Free yourself: Runner vision allows you to see the city as they do. See the flow. Rooftops become pathways and conduits, opportunities and escape routes. The flow is what keeps you running - what keeps you alive. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Supported OS: Microsoft Windows® XP SP2 or Vista Processor: 3.0 GHz or faster Memory: 1 GB RAM or more Graphics: DirectX® 9.0c compatible video card, Shader Model 3.0 required. Video card must have 256 MB, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better Hard Drive: 8 GB free space Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card

ABOUT THIS GAME Second Galaxy is an open world sci-fi game that combines RPG and SLG elements. Second Galaxy welcomes you to explore a universe of 4,961 galaxies, where you can navigate hundreds of different space ships across the stars to secure scarce resources, team up with players to form alliances, trade freely with any player on a global server, and engage in unrestricted, epic intergalactic battles with other players around the world. The universe beckons, Commander. This sea of stars is now yours to conquer. A Creative Vision of Future Human Civilization Three thousand years in the future, mankind’s interstellar colonization has expanded to the Origin realm, known as the Second Galaxy, serving as the base-point of the Earthen’s journey to colonize the universe. Five unique nations, each with tenuous and twisting relations, cooperate and hold each other in check. In the vastness of space, different civilizations and motives have emerged to change the face of history ... Fight for Rare Resources in 1,000-player Galactic Battles Jump into ever-escalating colonial wars with players around the world. Resources are scarce, Commander ... Secure the future of your chosen alliance and corporation in glorious battle with up to a thousand players engaged in simultaneous intergalactic warfare, and compose a stunning war epic all your own. Diversified Interstellar Ship Design These five nations have also developed radically different spaceships, due to the vast differences in their levels of science & technology, design, and military ambitions. Astronomical & Hyperrealistic Game World Using galaxy mapping technology, Second Galaxy’s universe boasts a diameter of a whopping 1,000 light-years and contains 4,961 galaxies containing countless features, such as planets, stars, satellites, gas entities, wormholes, and other celestial bodies and man-made facilities. Open World - Random Events Shape Your Fate In Second Galaxy, you can traverse wormholes and reach the unknown depths of the universe to encounter unexpected random events. Each player’s actions in the game world cause a "butterfly effect" on the cosmic ecology based on how they tackle different events. Global Real-time Dynamic Trading All interactions in the game occur in real time on a global server. These interactions can range from making real-time dynamic transactions through neutral trading planets or underground black markets, or engaging in combat that directly leads to large-scale galactic warfare or cooperation throughout the server. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Win 7 / Win 8 / Win 10 Processor: Intel E2140 / Athlon 64 x2 4000 @ 2.7 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: 512 MB DirectX 9.0 – compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher DirectX: Version 9.0c Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 2 GB available RECOMMENDED: OS: Win 7 / Win 8 / Win 10 Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M / AMD A6-6400K Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM: AMD Radeon HD 5870, nVidia GTX 480 DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 2 GB available space

One of the most anticipated cars in India, the new 2018 Hyundai Santro, is set to launch in our market next month. With thousands of families remembering the Santro as their first small city car, the nostalgia is rather strong with this one. Sold as Hyundai Atos in international markets, the new Hyundai Santro is heading towards its launch on 23 October. So, what will the new Santro bring to the table now to be on top of the game in its segment? We had reported earlier about the new and fancy features that are expected to be available on the new Santro and now, sources close to the subject have confirmed that they will. The new generation Hyundai Santro will be positioned between Hyundai's entry-level hatchback Eon and the Grand i10. Hyundai may eventually be discontinued, however, there is so far no confirmation on the matter. All-new Hyundai Santro spotted testing After prolonged brainstorming on what should be the name of the all-new Santro, Hyundai India came up with a unique way of settling on a name for it, conducting an online poll asking fans and prospective buyers what to name it. Nostalgia ruled and most of the suggestions were 'Santro'. The tallboy hatchback will retain its name but everything else will be new. For a little preview, here are some details: Hyundai Santro Safety Features With the government bringing in a new set of rules on safety features in April 2019, Hyundai Santro will come updated with safety features like ABS (anti-lock braking system) with EBD (electronic brake distribution), dual front airbags, and rear parking sensors as standard across all variants. Besides these mandatory features, new Hyundai Santro will also feature child seat ISOFIX mounts as standard as well. The new Santro will definitely have an edge over the competition with such features on board. Hyundai Santro Climate Control The new 2018 Hyundai Santro's cabin will be much more premium compared to the older versions. The new Santro will come with automatic climate control, which isn't a very common feature among budget cars. Besides the fact that cabin temperature will be maintained without manual intervention, the new Santro is also likely to feature rear air-conditioning vents that will allow faster cooling. Hyundai Santro Infotainment System A touchscreen infotainment system has pretty much become a basic requirement in cars and manufacturers are offering these in the smallest of their models. Hyundai Santro will come with a new touchscreen infotainment system which will support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Hyundai Santro Tallboy Stance Hyundai Santro was one of the first tallboy hatchbacks to launch in India, the other one being the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R. The new Santro will be the tallest in the segment, hence offering more headroom and better visibility for the driver. Also read: Biggest car battle of 2018: All-new Hyundai Santro vs 2018 Maruti Suzuki Wagon R Also read: 2018 Hyundai Santro (AH2) unveil on 23rd October: Expected price, gearbox and engine specs! Hyundai Santro AMT The new 2018 Hyundai Santro will be the first car in the company's line up to be offered with an AMT gearbox. The AMT gearbox on the new Hyundai Santro is expected to be available with the mid and top variants. An AMT is an advanced version of a conventional manual transmission that changes gears automatically. Hyundai Santro Expected Price in India: The price tag on the new generation 2018 Hyundai Santro is expected to be in the range of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5.5 lakh (ex-showroom). At this price, it will compete with the like of the Maruti Suzuki WagonR, which has been one of the best-selling cars for Maruti.

The Swedish way of life can be described in general as combining the love of nature and proximity with the quest to rationally and systematically exploit its resources for the well-being of present and future generations. The majority of people in Sweden are keen to exercise while maintaining good health habits, along with a keen interest in developing a cultural sense and upgrading the values of justice and equality. The Swedish way of life can be described in general as combining the love of nature and proximity with the quest to rationally and systematically exploit its resources for the well-being of present and future generations.One of the most important features of luxury is the provision of comfortable housing and the implementation of an effective social welfare system. The majority of people in Sweden are keen to exercise while maintaining good health habits, along with a keen interest in developing a cultural sense and upgrading the values of justice and equality. Some newcomers or people who visit Sweden for some time may call many hasty judgments on the nature of the people of this country, such as introverts or social isolation, while these qualities are actually limited phenomena or due to the symptoms of the development of society and the complexities of its economic relations, One of the most important features of the Swedish lifestyle in terms of personal behaviors is to find a balance between physical and mental activity while keeping the nerves cool and calm during daily activities. The balance between preserving the long tradition of the Swedish people and the requirements of opening up to the world and absorbing scientific innovations is one of the most important balances that Swedish society is keen to follow. Some newcomers or people who visit Sweden for some time may call many hasty judgments on the nature of the people of this country, such as introverted love or social isolation, while these qualities are actually limited phenomena or due to the symptoms of the development of society and the complexities of economic relations, where people spend their time here Either at work or take advantage of leisure in things they consider useful for the body and soul. Some also believe that Sweden suffers from a high rate of suicide, a belief that results from the statistics the state is keen to provide to citizens and not to hide, while suicide rates can be much higher in other countries that do not count and do not provide any statistical information for its people related to the dissemination of facts as a key and important To solve social problems. Some also believe that Sweden suffers from a high rate of suicide, a belief that results from the statistics the state is keen to provide to citizens and not to hide, while suicide rates can be much higher in other countries that do not count and do not provide any statistical information for its people related to the dissemination of facts as a key and important To solve social problems. The daily lifestyle in Sweden also varies year-round and according to its seasons, its long and dark night forces people to go home early or to practice certain types of winter sports as theaters and cinemas grow on weekends. Residents of Sweden hike and stay at length outdoors. Folk and music festivals abound on the shores of lakes. In short, Swedish society is one of the communities that sanctify work and place human value regardless of color, gender or religion in the first place in its calculations. This does not mean that things are always perfect in Sweden, and there are no violations, abuses, or mistakes, but strong laws, institutions, neutral media and general social awareness always ensure that the lifestyle that people have chosen for themselves is maintained, and that it also evolves.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) began on Monday at dawn a massive demolition of 100 houses in Wadi Homs neighborhood in the town of Sur Baher, southeast of occupied Jerusalem. Israeli occupation forces, reinforced by special units, surrounded and surrounded the neighborhood, evacuating hundreds of residents and planting dynamite and blowing up their houses. In the morning, the Israeli occupation forces demolished eight buildings containing dozens of Palestinian apartments. Eyewitnesses told the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) that hundreds of Israeli soldiers, accompanied by large bulldozers, stormed the Homs Valley inside the apartheid wall, closed the area tightly and prevented citizens and journalists from reaching it. Israeli soldiers forced the residents to evacuate the buildings by force after refusing to leave their homes without being able to evacuate any of their personal needs and were beaten by the soldiers. This came after the occupation court refused on Sunday to resume the residents to freeze the demolition decision in the region. The demolition is a war crime, affecting more than 100 apartments as a first stage. If this is done, there will be another demolition in the area, which will include some 225 other apartments. The unjust military order to demolish houses violates agreements signed with the Palestinians, as well as the Geneva Convention calling for the protection of citizens under occupation and the Rome regime. The demolitions and the accompanying activities aim at creating a buffer zone to separate Jerusalem from Bethlehem and not to connect with the West Bank. The Palestinians fled from within the city of Jerusalem and its environs and came to the area of Wadi al-Homs, which, according to the Oslo Accords, is classified as an "A" area under Palestinian sovereignty. Statements Hamada Hamadeh Chairman of the Committee of the people of the neighborhood of Homs More than 1500 soldiers and dozens of military vehicles and bulldozers stormed Wadi al-Homs neighborhood, to implement the decision to demolish 16 residential buildings in the neighborhood, including more than 100 houses, some of them inhabited and others under construction. All buildings in Area A are subject to the Palestinian Authority in accordance with the agreements signed and have building permits from the Ministry of Local Government. However, the Israeli authorities insist on demolishing them under the pretext of being close to the security fence on the lands of the area. Ali al-Obeidi of the neighborhood committee: what happened in the neighborhood and houses is like a war. Al-Obeidi: What is happening today is a mass displacement of the people of Wadi al-Homs neighborhood despite their legal and diplomatic attempts to protect their properties. What we are witnessing today is not only demolitions, but a clear reoccupation of Area A as defined by the Oslo Accords, through the deployment of large forces of occupation soldiers, and thus is an organized operation and scenario of future demolitions, because it is taking place in more than one location in the region. What is happening between Jerusalem and Bethlehem is a clear blow to all international conventions and norms and human rights.It is time for the international community to act before its responsibilities before it is too late, because the Palestinians may be impatient with these horrendous crimes, the content of which is clearly forced displacement. I strongly condemn the horrific war crime against our people in the Homs Valley in occupied East Jerusalem, and call upon the international community, the International Criminal Court and the Prosecutor to open an investigation into these crimes. We have a deposit with this court, and the only remedy is to open an investigation with Israeli officials. I call on the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council to hold Israel accountable for its crimes. It is time for the Arab countries to realize that what is happening in the scheme is the implementation of the "deal of the century", which declared Jerusalem as the capital of the occupation state, and opened tunnels under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The economic boom announced at the Manama workshop is being carried out through the demolition of 100 apartments for Palestinians: this is prosperity. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the police deployment began on Sunday evening in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Homs in Jerusalem, and began to destroy 13 buildings, explaining that in the early hours of Monday morning, troops entered one of the buildings and began to evacuate the family living there, as well as activists who opposed Demolition. Wadi al-Homs neighborhood is located on the outskirts of the village of Sur Baher in southeast Jerusalem, unlike the rest of the village, outside the municipal boundaries of the occupied West Bank, that is, the administrative and security responsibility of the Palestinian Authority. It is noteworthy that the people of Wadi al-Homs filed a petition in 2003 against the route of the wall that passes through the village of Sur Baher, and the neighborhood occurred on the Israeli-controlled side of the wall, but remained outside the influence of the municipality of occupation.

"Games and eSports: A Glimpse of the Virtual World of the eSports Community" session at the second day of the World Youth Forum in Sharm El Sheikh under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, which will run from 3 to 6 November. The session dealt with the increasing number of practitioners of these e-sports, hence the international sports organizations recently started to consider their users as athletes, although they do not practice sports in the known sense, and there is a strong tendency to include these sports in the Olympic sports competitions, and major clubs around the world began to form sports teams. As for the electronic games in Egypt and its transformation to the professional form, says Sherif Abdel Baqi, president of the Egyptian Federation of Electronic Games, said that the Federation was founded more than 15 years ago, in 2003, as the first Arab federation concerned with electronic games and their practitioners. Abdul-Baqi added in remarks to the "homeland" that the Union includes any electronic game played by young people, such as TAKEN and wrestling, but the focus of the Union on a game centered around football games, which has a similar po[CENSORED]r with large masses, explaining that the most important games played by numbers Great is PES and FiFA. The President of the Federation pointed out that the International Federation of Electronic Games, if organized international tournaments, send to the Egyptian Federation, which is in turn qualifying for the participants to choose Egypt to represent them in the tournament, pointing out that the last tournament participated by Egypt was the World Championship two years ago, in which Egypt For seventh place. Internal tournaments in Egypt are not regular, but the federation is organizing and establishing them as periodically as possible, according to Abdel Baqi, adding that the federation organized two tournaments during the last book fair, participated in the first 5 clubs, and the second was for the clubs of the 21st century, located in youth centers , Dedicated to technologically and scientifically outstanding, and participated by 17 teams. The president of the Egyptian Federation of Electronic Games confirmed that he will work to hold the tournament during next year's Book Fair in January, hoping to allocate a large number of halls in the exhibition for the tournament so that the participants in the exhibition from all countries participating in the tournament. Abdulbaki believes that the electronic games session is well suited to the World Youth Forum, as all young people are using technology as a language of communication between them, they are not isolated in the electronic games community, and that society is completely isolated from them, the majority and non-practitioners of the games are the minority. President of the Federation believes that electronic games are now the conscience of young people and young people, young people in the last 25 years dealing only in the language of technology, and the impact of electronic games has become easy and easy, and discussed in the World Youth Forum helps to understand their language and dialogue with them, and know their interests. Abdelbaki pointed out that the biggest evidence of the domination of electronic games on youth, a study prepared by the International Olympic Committee, which confirmed the decline in viewership of the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016 by 30% compared to the World Cup London 2012, because the new generation is linked to the Internet and electronic games more than television, which is This prompted the Committee to consider the introduction of electronic games as an Olympic game after the Tokyo 2020 World Cup. Economically, electronic games have become a huge industry, according to the president of the Federation, pointing out that the global production of electronic games up to $ 200 million, and Egypt is eligible to enter the industry from its widest doors, a trend served by the allocation of games sessions in a global forum on the ground of Egypt such as Forum Young people of the world, explaining that the discussion of the forum is a success of the message advocated for many years, the importance and seriousness of electronic games.

You’ve heard of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), a common Windows error screen displayed when a system fault occurs. But the B in BSOD doesn’t always stand for blue. A Black Screen of Death can prove to be more difficult to resolve as it doesn’t display an error message. It’s simply a black screen, often with a movable mouse pointer, but no other Windows features. Here are a few common causes and solutions for the Black Screen of Death. What Causes the Black Screen on a Computer? Various issues can cause the black screen of death. In this guide, we’ll give you solutions for the most common causes: Incomplete Windows 10 installation Windows Update Software and driver errors Display issues Overheating Power supply problems All the above can lead to a black screen in Windows. Fortunately, almost all Black Screen of Death cases can be resolved. Installing Windows 10: Beware the Black Screen! If you’re installing Windows 10, whether updating from a previous version or onto a formatted hard drive, errors can occur. Among them is the Windows 10 Black Screen of Death, which can occur in this instance if: Setup is still in progress: In this case, check if the hard drive LED is blinking. Setup is probably still running, but slow, which might be due to the age of the computer. Windows 10 should install within a couple of hours in most cases. Setup is stuck: If this has happened and there is no HDD activity, power off the computer by holding the power button for five seconds. Disconnect any non-vital peripherals, then power up again. Setup should restart; if not, and you’re updating from an old Windows version, try installing with the media creation tool. A device driver has failed: In this case, reboot the computer into Safe Mode. See the section “Repair a Black Screen of Death in Safe Mode” below for more information on this. Installing Windows 10 and hitting a Black Screen of Death might discourage you from persisting. If this is the case, and you’re using old hardware, consider a free alternative operating system. Windows 10 Update: Black Screen of Death Issue On Windows 10 systems, a Black Screen of Death can be caused by an unfinished Windows Update. What typically happens is that the system reboots as part of the update process and you’re presented with a login screen. However, after entering your password, Windows 10 hangs with a black screen after login. The mouse is responsive; you might see some desktop icons; there is no taskbar. In short, Windows 10 is stuck with a black screen. To resolve this problem, simply hold the power button down on your PC or laptop to switch off the computer. A cold start should result in the system booting properly. If not, check our tips on how to recover Windows 10.

Computers aren’t perfect. Parts can, and do, break—and when something goes awry, it’s a frustrating experience. MacBooks are no exception. Users complain about everything from broken Mac trackpads to poor performance when running on battery. But even more common than both those issues is a malfunctioning keyboard. It’s also a more exasperating problem. With a broken battery, you can run off external power. If your trackpad isn’t working, you can use a physical mouse. But if your keyboard breaks? It’s off to your local computer store to buy a Bluetooth device. Or is it? Don’t grab the car keys just yet. You might be able to fix it. Keep reading to find out more. The Butterfly Mechanism in MacBook Keyboards Back in 2015, Apple reinvented the keyboard. Or at least, that’s what the company claimed. In practice, it didn’t come up with a revolutionary new keyboard layout or a different way of typing; it just altered the physical mechanism under the key. As is the logic behind so many Apple design decisions, the change was made to save space. It allowed Apple to make its MacBook thinner than ever. The new design is known as the “butterfly” mechanism. Theoretically, it reduced each key’s travel distance and paved the way for a more stable, less error-strewn typing experience. In practice, it’s prone to jamming up and not functioning. You can see the difference between Apple’s butterfly approach and the more conventional “scissor” The Problem With Butterfly Keyboards So, what’s the problem? Why are the MacBook keyboards so prone to jamming? In a word: dust. Unlike scissor keyboards, Apple has designed its butterfly keyboards to be exceptionally good at preventing dust from getting under the keys. Again, in theory, that’s a good idea. But dust being dust, it can get into the tiniest spaces imaginable. No matter how good the design is, it’s an inevitability that gunk will eventually work its way under the keys. On a scissor keyboard, that’s not an issue. A good blast of air will clear it out again. On the MacBook, less so. The space between the key and the laptop chassis is so small, even compressed air might not be able to budge it. How to Fix a Jammed MacBook Key Yourself Warning: All MacBook keys are fragile; proceed with extreme caution. If you don’t fancy handing over $700 to Apple for something that’s not your fault, you can try to use a can of compressed air. Sounds simple, but it’s an Apple-approved method. Before you start using the compressed air, there are a couple of notes to keep in mind: Always use the supplied straw so you can control air flow. Keep the end of the straw at least half an inch away from your machine. Never turn the can of air upside down. Spray the first bit of air away from your machine in case there’s liquid in the nozzle. Try to maintain a steady airflow throughout the process. Ready? Great. Now follow the step-by-step instructions below: Pick up your laptop and hold the keyboard at a 75-degree angle. Move the straw over your keyboard in a steady left-to-right motion. Rotate your keyboard to the left so it’s vertical. Again, hold it at 75 degrees. Steadily blow the air in a left-to-right motion. Lastly, rotate your keyboard to the right. Blow the air left-to-right.