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More and more old-school RPGs are being remastered, and the shuttered Black Isle Studio’s last-ever published game Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is the most recent to get a glow-up. The hack-and-slash action RPG hit launched January 2004 on PS2 and Xbox following the very successful first entry Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance from 2001. Now, thanks to Square One Games and publisher Interplay, Dark Alliance II has been remastered and re-released for PC and consoles including the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X systems. So what’s been updated after nearly 20 years since its original launch? Here’s our review of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II on PC. The Baldur’s Gate titles have always held a special place in my heart, especially the Dark Alliance series. I remember I got my PlayStation 2 for Christmas in 2001, a year after the system launched, and unwrapped Final Fantasy X and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance alongside it. My favorite game up until then was Diablo II on PC (and still is), and Dark Alliance immediately hooked me with its similar top-down perspective, real-time ARPG-style combat, and D&D-based leveling and skill system. When Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II was initially announced in 2003, it was the most hyped I’ve ever been for a video game before. So what’s new with the Dark Alliance II remaster? Well, not much to be honest. New updates to the remastered port for PC include native 4K resolution, remote play support for online co-op on Steam, and has been Verified for the Steam Deck at launch (if you’ve been lucky enough to even get a Steam Deck). Sadly on consoles the only improvement is the updated resolutions. It’s ultimately disappointing that Interplay, and developer Square One Games, didn’t go further in touching up this classic with additional features such as including peer-to-peer online co-op or including toggleable cheats like God Mode, Insta-Kill, or Speed-Up Time like we’ve seen in several of the Final Fantasy remastered ports. Interestingly enough, the original cheats from the original PlayStation 2 version do work in Dark Alliance II, including becoming Invulnerable, Level Warp, and immediately hitting level 10 with 500,000 gold. There are also tricks for abusing the co-op and character save systems in order to duplicate items and gold infinitely as well. It’s nice to see that the original coded cheats are still active, preserving the integrity of Dark Alliance II’s original version as much as possible, but I still feel like its options could have been expounded - or even simplified to be just an option in the menu instead of requiring holding down 7 different buttons at once. The lack of new additions doesn’t detract from the classic gameplay presented in Dark Alliance II though as it was still a very enjoyable experience for me to go back and revisit the streets of Baldur’s Gate, subjugating goblins along the way and uncovering a sinister plot to destroy the great city. I will say that the “classic” ARPG gameplay from two decades ago definitely hasn’t aged well, and the monotony of killing small packs of monsters did start to turn stale after several hours in. The combat is still clunky, especially melee combat, and doesn’t feel anywhere near the level of polish that I would expect from a more modern RPGs. That said, spells in Dark Alliance II are incredibly fun to play around with and many of them have the added benefit of often utilizing whole areas of effect (AoE) to deal damage, or will add additional missiles based on the spell’s level. Which is why in revisiting Dark Alliance II I chose to play as the Necromancer class and opted to use ranged weapons, like the crossbow, in tandem with my skeleton summon and ranged spells in order to avoid melee combat as much as possible. The pathing and AI for my skelly-summon wasn’t great, and it would often get stuck behind crates or at doorways, but when it kept up with me it was fantastic for attracting mobs’ attention so that I could attack from a safe distance. Attacking from too far away often made my attacks miss, especially if the monsters were still moving around or otherwise engulfed. The only difficulty with ranged combat is that trying to break objects like barrels and crates is virtually impossible, so I would have to switch to a melee weapon solely to break apart these items. This got very tedious given how many breakable objects there are scattered around each level. In hindsight it probably wasn’t worth the inconvenience, but ultimately I just wanted to collect every single gold piece, potion, and gear that I could get my hands on. Now don’t get me wrong, fighting with melee weapons is still fine in Dark Alliance II but it just doesn’t feel as tight and easy to maneuver around enemies as it does to just stay far away and fire off some rounds of Magic Missile. In this regard, using a controller is the best way to experience Dark Alliance II, although PC players will still have the option of using a Mouse/Keyboard setup as well. Either because I’m already accustomed to using a controller, or because I find the Keyboard’s default keybinds to be uncomfortable, the controller configuration feels the most at-home to play. Those PC players may also be disappointed to note that the updated UI does not translate to larger screens, and both cutscenes and the inventory/skill screens will have black borders. Fortunately, Dark Alliance II does support ultrawide screens and even super-ultrawide 32:9 monitors. Unfortunately, the graphics and video options are severely lacking, with only a slider to adjust in-game resolution and virtually zero advanced graphics to go through to customize. Everything is pretty much locked into place. There’s no way to adjust the screen resolution setting, nor change between fullscreen or windowed modes. Thankfully, there is a Steam shortcut by pressing Alt+Enter in-game that will switch between a Windowed screen or Fullscreen. This wasn’t a concern for me while playing on my Steam Deck though, as the resolution and graphical settings work perfectly on Steam’s new portable machine by default. Dark Alliance II is Deck Verified, meaning the controls work and that it’s been tested enough times to determine that it has zero to minimal issues running on the device. There were a couple hiccups that I encountered while playing on the Deck that I hope get ironed out sooner rather than later. Occasionally, at the first loading screen after having selected a save file to load, the controller would stop responding and I wasn’t able to Press A to Continue, or quit back to the main menu. I would have to Exit Game entirely and boot it up again in order to resolve this issue. Likewise, sometimes the game volume will just completely disappear. This usually occurred after the Deck went to sleep and I would wake it back up. It was small issues like these that made me wonder where exactly the bar for quality control is kept at for Deck Verified titles on Steam. So far, these have been my only two issues on the Steam Deck, although there are still numerous bugs that I’ve experienced in-game such as getting my stuck between crates or items that will clip out or on top of other things that I couldn’t reach. These are small inconveniences, but every instance made me realize that Dark Alliance II isn’t as much a remaster as it is just a port of a classic for newer systems. Most aspects of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II, such as its clunky combat and linear maps, haven’t aged very well. After playing remasters like Diablo II: Resurrected, Nier Replicant, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition it is clear to see that Dark Alliance II was only given the bare-minimum in remaster treatment. There’s nothing new to see here, just a port of an old classic. For some, I’m sure that this is all that they want or need, but for others I feel that it’s a shame Dark Alliance II hasn’t been modernized - at least a little bit - to bring the gameplay more in line with the times so that it would feel more accessible to newer players. Even still, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II’s price tag at $29.99 feels too steep for what it is. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the Dark Alliance series, I’d wait for a hefty sale before picking this up. https://www.mmorpg.com/reviews/baldurs-gate-dark-alliance-ii-on-pc-review-2000125658

Move over, Center Stage. Insta360, a company that has staked its reputation on 360-degree cams, is revolutionizing the humble office webcam market with its latest addition, the Link. Like the Apple-branded Center Stage, Insta360’s Link aims to put creators, professionals, and streamers at center stage with features never seen before on personal video conferencing cameras, like a large 4K image sensor and three-axis gimbal. Insta360’s foray into the webcam space overcomes the limitations of today’s webcams by taking inspiration from both action and larger conference room cams. Hardware is only part of the equation for the Link. Insta360’s newest webcam challenges the rule of physics with A.I.-driven software to bring HDR video, smooth object tracking, quick focusing, and noise cancelation tech to keep you looking sharp and sounding your best. This delightful balance of advanced software algorithms combined with the best-in-class hardware propels newcomer Insta360 to the forefront of the webcam space with the Link. Insta360 Link: Pricing and availability Insta360 Link is available through Insta360’s web store for $299. Given that the Link is geared towards creators and professionals, the webcam’s color option is limited to a lone black hue, unlike other consumer-oriented webcams like the Lumina. Insta360 also sells a tabletop tripod accessory for the Link on its website, which could come in handy if you're using some of this camera's more advanced modes. Insta360 Link: What's good Insta360’s Link does miniaturization right. Hardware features such as the three-axis gimbal were once the exclusive domain of much larger and significantly more expensive conference room cameras. But by taking inspiration from action cameras, like rival DJI’s Osmo Pocket 2, Insta360 was able to democratize complex PZT (pan-zoom-tilt) conference room cams and bring this technology to everyone in a package that costs just $299. This focus on advanced features, like a three-axis gimbal, means that the Insta360 Link isn't as compact or as minimalist in its design when compared to the Lumina A.I. 4K webcam or Dell's UltraSharp 4K camera. Still, it packs in a lot of features in a package that measures just 2.71 x 1.61 x 1.77 inches (69mm x 41mm x 45mm). And at just 106 grams, the Link feels solid, and the camera's dense weight makes it feel premium despite the heavy use of plastic compared to the Lumina AI camera's all-metal housing. At $299, the Link comes in at a $100 premium compared to standard 4K webcams, like the Lumina A.I. webcam, which is considered one of the best options on the market today. That camera, however, lacks the PZT mechanism of the Link. Logitech’s PZT 2 conference solution comes in at $849, making the Link appear like a bargain for what you’re getting. The gimbal-mounted PZT package on the Link allows this camera to pan, tilt, and zoom into your face as you move around. While this may be overkill for standard video calls; for creators, it’s like having your own AI-powered cameraman. When object tracking is enabled and the Link can lock onto your face, the camera will swivel and follow you around as you move out of the frame. If this sounds familiar, it’s because hardware manufacturers like Apple, HP, and Lumina have been doing this with software. Apple’s Center Stage, for example, relies on a wide-angle camera on the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro to track and follow you around. Unlike the Link’s PZT camera, the built-in Apple camera hardware is stationary, which means that software is utilized to crop in to your face as you move around, resulting in some image compression. On the other hand, by relying on a PZT camera, the Insta360 Link can effortlessly track you, with the camera swiveling smoothly on the three-axis gimbal to deliver stunning image quality. “During our research into webcams, we saw a lot of benefits of a gimbal design to provide better stability, a wider range of motion for AI tracking, and more diverse viewing modes,” Insta360’s team informed Windows Central. “We think the future for the webcam industry lies in AI technology and versatile designs like our 3-axis gimbal.” While both Apple and Insta360 rely on AI to help drive the camera, the Link’s hardware-based approach means you’re going to get a clearer, less compressed image, as the camera doesn’t have to digitally crop into your face. To use the camera, you’ll need to download and install the companion Insta360 Link Controller on your PC or Mac, and the software provides plenty of customization options. The Link is compatible with major video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, and Google Meet, and Insta360 claims that even more are supported. A single USB-C port is located on the rear and a tripod screw is found on the underside of the monitor clip for flexible mounting options. Tracking on the Link works exceptionally well, and the camera will pan as you move around. I was in the kitchen over the weekend, demonstrating to a friend on the opposite coast how to prepare a dish over Google Meet. The Link panned around and followed me as I traversed my galley kitchen, grabbing ingredients, and prepping dinner. My friend was impressed with how accurately the Link could track my movement as I moved forward and back, side to side, and as I stood up and bent down to find supplies and ingredients stored in cabinets. With the Link, you can change the speed of tracking how quickly the camera will respond and pan around as you move outside of the frame with three settings: normal, slow, and fast. In my cooking tutorial, I used normal, which resulted in responsive but smooth tracking. Cranking it to fast was also impressive, as the camera speedily kept up with me like a robotic sidekick. But if you’re moving around too much, the results could be jerky and nausea-inducing. Slow was perhaps the smoothest experience, though it could appear to the viewer on the other end of the stream that there is lag. With the Link, the camera can pan around (side to side) and tilt (up and down) to frame you when you have tracking enabled. Additionally, if you need to zoom in, the camera can apply digital zoom to crop in to your head, your upper body (head and chest), or keep your whole body in frame. The last one could be great for yoga and fitness instructors who need to demonstrate specific whole-body poses. For more advanced users, the Link Controller software gives granular controls to features like image setting, AI zoom, manual focusing, HDR, and other settings. For example, you can rely entirely on the software’s intelligent AI chops for exposure, white balance settings, brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness, or you can dial up or down any of those settings to your liking. In my test under LED light bulbs and in more harsh lighting conditions while working in front of a bright window, I had no problems with the automatic AI adjustments. Users can also turn on HDR mode as well when working under more challenging lighting conditions, as I do, but the feature is not supported at 4K resolution or with 60 FPS. The HDR limitations aren’t so worrisome at present. Most video conferencing platforms still limit upload feeds for videos at 1080p to conserve bandwidth and deliver a stutter-free experience when ISP speeds may be poor. As such, dialing down to 1080p to gain HDR isn’t a compromise, at least at this time, but it does make the Insta360 feel a little less futureproof than I’d like, given that the rest of this camera’s specifications are so bleeding edge. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/shopping/insta360-link-review-the-best-webcam-you-can-buy-today/ar-AA10eyMB

Innoviz Technologies (NASDAQ: INVZ) stock rose sharply Tuesday. As of 12:41 p.m. ET, shares of the lidar technology specialist were up 22.1%. The news that revved up the engines of the bulls was that Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) had selected Innoviz to provide lidar sensors and software for its autonomous vehicle subsidiary. In early May, Innoviz Technologies announced that it had inked a new contract with a major automaker, but did not at that time name the customer. Now investors know the mystery client was Volkswagen. CARIAD SE, a technology company that is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, selected Innoviz for its InnovizTwo next-generation lidar sensors and perception software. "We are thrilled to work with the CARIAD team and be a supplier of LiDAR sensors and perception software to support safe mobility for vehicles launching from the middle of the decade," said Omer Keilaf, CEO and co-founder of Innoviz. In its press release Tuesday, Innoviz reiterated that its order book has increased to $6.6 billion from $2.6 billion, which it had previously announced in May. It's unsurprising that the market is celebrating the VW news, given that Innoviz's new customer is one of the biggest players in the global automotive industry. In addition, investors may also be speculating that this deal could be a harbinger for future partnerships with other leading vehicle manufacturers. https://www.msn.com/en-US/news/topstocks/why-shares-of-innoviz-technologies-are-soaring-today/ar-AA10eBkq

Analogue's recent firmware release includes an emulated PDP-1 minicomputer and working version of 1962's "Spacewar!" Originally expected at the beginning of this year, Analogue's 1.1 firmware beta release expands the Pocket's feature set and includes several additions focused on extending the capabilities of 3rd party developers. These additional capabilities provide developers with OS-level tools, settings, and configurations required to successfully create and deploy new cores for the system using the device's field programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware. Cores equate to functionality that mimics a computing or console platform at the hardware level. Unlike ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) that are designed and fabricated for a single purpose, FPGA's use configurable logic blocks and programmable interconnects that allow reprogrammed components to serve different functions using the same hardware. This reprogrammable capability provides developers with a flexibility not typically available on other consoles and platforms. Analogue demonstrated the system's potential by including a fully functional implementation of what some deem the first real video gaming platform, the Programmed Data Processor-1 (PDP-1). This DEC minicomputer (an ironic term by today's standards) provided the foundation for Spacewar!, a space combat game developed by computer scientists working with MIT's PDP-1 implementation in the early 1960's. The original specs of the minicomputer may be surprising for anyone not familiar with 1960's computer technology. Released in 1959 for the low price of $120,000 (well over the $1 million mark in today's dollars), the PDP-1 weighed in at a chunky 1,600 lbs. and provided a 4,096 word memory capacity made available via magnetic tape.The gigantic main cabinet and peripherals, pictured below at the Computer History Museum, offered users computing power that was roughly equivalent to handheld electronic organizers and calculators as far back as the mid 1990s. Eat your heart out Palm Pilot. Spacewar! was developed by several computer scientists and engineers at MIT in 1962. The space-based, two-player dogfight wasn't just a novel first attempt and creating a computer game. The game's mechanics and elements would go on to provide the physics models, controls, and gameplay for some of the most po[CENSORED]r titles ever created, including the 1979 classic Asteroids. Since then, the game has been continuously recognized as one of the most important breakthroughs in computer gaming history, has been named to numerous lists citing the top video games of all time, and was even nominated to be preserved in the official game canon of the United States Library of Congress. https://www.techspot.com/news/95474-openfpga-initiative-looks-preserve-video-gaming-history-through.html

U.S. stock-index futures rise, putting equities on track to reverse two consecutive days of losses, as investors look past Pelosi's Asia visit and ahead to key economic data. Stocks were set for a moderately positive open on Wednesday following two consecutive trading days of losses as investors looked past House Speaker Nanci Pelosi’s contentious visit to Taiwan and awaited key economic data. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.4%, or 104 points higher, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.35% and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.21%. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note moved higher to 2.781% as investors assessed Pelosi’s controversial Asia trip and looked ahead to Friday’s jobs report. Oil prices fell about 1% in early trade on Wednesday, reversing gains from the previous session ahead of a meeting OPEC+ producers that will determine how much global supply will be released going into the fall. Pelosi met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in Taipei, where Tsai thanked Pelosi for her support of democratic values and said she was committed to working with the U.S. over security in the Taiwan straits. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, had warned Pelosi and the U.S. administration not to set foot there, with Chinese officials threatening unspecified military countermeasures in response to her visit. Taiwan is a democratic self-ruled island that China sees as a runaway province, and Beijing has been vocal about its opposition to Pelosi’s trip. On the economic data front, investors this week are awaiting the July nonfarm payrolls report slated for release Friday for further clues into the state of the economy and the job market. Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting 250,000 new jobs were added to the economy last month following June's 372,000 gain. Before then, Services PMIs data will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET Wednesday, and factory orders will be revealed at 10 a.m. ET. Both data points will be important for investors as they track the slowdown of the U.S. economy. Among specific stocks, Robinhood (HOOD) - Get Robinhood Markets Inc. Report shares were higher in premarket trading after the company said it is slashing nearly a quarter of its full-time staff, the second round of layoffs this year. The online brokerage once synonymous with meme stock trading and other high-risk retail bets on stocks said it will cut some 23% of its workforce as it continues to reel from a sharp slowdown in trading activity. The layoffs come alongside a broader company reorganization, Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s chief executive, said in a message posted to the company’s blog. In the statement, Tenev said the previous round of layoffs in April “did not go far enough” in helping the company cut costs. Starbucks (SBUX) - Get Starbucks Corporation Report shares were also higher in premarket trading Wednesday after the coffee-chain giant said U.S. customer demand remains strong, despite higher spending on labor and inflationary pressures weighing on costs. The Seattle-based company said global same-store sales for the three months ended July 3 were up 3% from the same period last year. U.S. same-store sales increased 9%, while those in the chain’s China market plunged 44% amid the country’s renewed Covid-19 related shutdowns and other restrictions during the period. However, the gains were offset by increased employee wages and training as well as costs for ingredients, which hurt store-level profit for the period – even as higher prices partially offset the costs. Starbucks said prices are around 5% higher compared with a year ago. Airbnb (ABNB) - Get Airbnb Inc. Report shares, meanwhile, were down more than 6% as a weaker-than-expected outlook overshadowed otherwise strong quarterly results. The San Francisco-based company posted $2.1 billion in revenue in the three months through June, up 58% from the same period last year as people continued to book suburban rentals despite hosts raising prices. Airbnb reported a profit of $379 million in the period, topping analysts’ projections for a profit of $295 million and compared with a loss in the year-earlier quarter. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/stock-market-today-e2-80-93-83-stocks-rise-as-investors-await-key-economic-data/ar-AA10ge9J

Tracy Murphy of animal sanctuary Asha’s Farm Sanctuary was arrested yesterday and charged with grand larceny in the third degree. A warrant for her arrest was issued and executed, along with the retrieval of two cows that she claimed to have rescued but is formally charged with stealing. The animals seemingly belong to Scott Gregson, a beef farmer in Newfane, New York. Gregson had asked Murphy to return the cows, which she claimed had wandered onto sanctuary property. She offered to buy their freedom instead. The two have been embroiled in a disagreement for a number of weeks. Residents of the town gave support to Gregson in the form of placards and roadside banners. “Release the beef” and “Don’t mess with farmers” were common themes. What will happen to Tracy Murphy? Following her arrest, animal activist Murphy was taken to SP Lockport for processing. She was then moved to Niagara County jail for arraignment. Her lawyer, Matthew Albert, claims her rights are being violated and that she has a legal entitlement to retain the cows. “They’re entitled by law to hang onto these animals until that lien is paid, that never happened here,” Albert said in a statement. “They’re not following the Lien Law 183 and if they were, my client wouldn’t be charged criminally.” New York State Lien Law states that a boarding stable can consider animals as collateral against boarding or upkeep fees. Animals can be surrendered, in lieu of payment. Murphy states that Asha’s Sanctuary is entitled to a $100 per day boarding charge. #AshasFarmSanctuary is under attack by sick harmers. they recently saved two cows and the beef farmer found them somehow. since then they've received multiple death threats which the @nyspolice refuse to act on. PLEASE DONATE to them if you can and SHARE FAR & WIDE. State troopers worked with the Niagara County District Attorney’s office and claim the Lien Law is not applicable in this case. “During the investigation we did look at some of the law that she proposed to owner of the cow’s attorney and things like that. So we looked into those and we worked with the Niagara County DA’s office and those laws that were provided in the books for a very long time under the Newfane town court doesn’t apply to this,” state trooper James O’Callaghan said in a statement. He added: “The cows in question did have a working fence and wasn’t broken at any time. And with that Murphy never filed anything with the Newfane town courts so that’s why we were able to move forward with a criminal arrest.” https://plantbasednews.org/news/activism/animal-sanctuary-owner-arrested/

The expressions of mutual support and admiration were broadcast on live TV and went off without a hitch. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi re-affirmed her support for Taiwan, declaring Wednesday that American resolve to preserve democracy on the self-governed island remained “iron-clad.” A grateful Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen then bestowed on the San Francisco Democrat the turquoise sash and medal of the Order of Propitious Clouds in honor of Pelosi's contribution to U.S.-Taiwan relations. But while those ties might have been strengthened during a visit lasting less than 24 hours, the biggest consequences of Pelosi's trip are expected to unfold in the coming days, weeks and even months, analysts say, as China reacts furiously to what it deems an affront to its sovereignty over Taiwan. The result is likely to be increased instability in Asia home to more than one-third of the world's po[CENSORED]tion and greater challenges for the U.S. Beijing began rolling out punitive measures even before Pelosi left for South Korea on Wednesday, adding hundreds of products, including fruit and fish, to a list of banned Taiwanese exports to China to step up economic pressure on the island of 23 million, which counts the mainland as its largest trading partner. Taiwanese government websites also experienced a spate of cyberattacks while Pelosi was in Taipei. On Thursday, China is scheduled to launch an unprecedented four-day military exercise in waters surrounding Taiwan. The live-fire drills, which will include naval assets and missile tests, are expected to paralyze one of the world's most important commercial waterways and normally busy air traffic. While experts say China has no intention of starting a war for now, the risk of a miscalculation leading to an errant encounter with nearby U.S. or Taiwanese military units is uncomfortably high. On Wednesday, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said China's plans were tantamount to a blockade, infringing on Taiwan's sovereignty and international laws. In addition, U.S. allies such as Japan and South Korea are increasingly unnerved by China’s willingness to project its military strength. Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, said Pelosi's visit has inflicted potentially irreparable damage to the already-tense ties between Washington and Beijing. "We all know how bad this relationship has been in the past year,” Glaser told reporters Tuesday. “This visit by Nancy Pelosi is just going to take it to a new low. I think that it's going to be very difficult to recover from that.” Pelosi's visit — which was aimed at strengthening democracy in Asia has threatened to upend the delicate balance that governs U.S. and Chinese dealings with Taiwan. China claims the island as part of its territory, although Taiwan is ruled by a democratically elected government that considers itself politically and culturally separate from Beijing. The U.S. acknowledges China’s position but doesn’t endorse it, maintaining informal relations with Taiwan. As the U.S. and China spar over everything from tariffs to technology, Taiwan is possibly the most inflammatory point of discord between the two countries, and the one experts consider most likely to lead to military conflict. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has staked part of his credibility on the idea of unifying with Taiwan, by force if necessary, and has little incentive to moderate his stance. His hard-line approach has helped put him on the verge of securing a historic third five-year term as president. “He’s benefited so much from behaving this way. It only reinforces this behavior in the future,” said Alfred Wu, a professor of Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore. “There’s no reason to reverse course.” Equally, Pelosi’s visit and China’s aggressive response to it has likely strengthened support for Taiwanese leader Tsai’s administration and driven more voters to her Democratic Progressive Party ahead of local elections in November. In a sign of how political support for China has dissipated, even the more China-friendly Kuomintang opposition party said it welcomed Pelosi’s visit Tuesday. “The Tsai administration and DPP will tout Pelosi’s visit as a foreign policy success, that it was able to strengthen its relations with the U.S.,” said Brian Hioe, a founding editor of the Taiwan-based media outlet New Bloom. Greater electoral success for Tsai’s coalition, known as the pan-green camp, will inflame Beijing further at a time when it’s already convinced that Washington is driving Taiwan toward independence with visits by high-level officials such as Pelosi. The U.S. disagrees and says it still adheres to its long-standing “one-China” policy. U.S. officials have repeatedly said they support the status quo. One major concern for China is that Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan will embolden high-ranking officials from other countries to visit as well, strengthening diplomatic support for an island that Beijing works hard to isolate. The Guardian reported this week that Britain’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee is planning its own trip to Taiwan to show its support later this year. According to the British newspaper, China’s ambassador to the U.K. has opposed that possibility, warning of “severe consequences” and not to “dance to the tune of the United States.” “Speaker Pelosi opens up the door more widely for Taiwan," said Fang-Yu Chen, assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taiwan. “I think there will be more high-level visits for Taiwan in the coming years.” Another consequence of Beijing’s strong reaction to Pelosi’s visit could include a re-thinking of security policy for China’s neighbors. The U.S. has already bolstered defense ties with countries such as Japan, South Korea and Australia in response to China’s growing power, but that could extend to other countries if the Taiwan situation becomes more volatile. On Wednesday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles announced a strategic review of his country's military, driven by rising geopolitical risks and China's own military buildup. “Countries in Southeast Asia are also watching with great interest because if the Chinese are able to pull off a drill of this scale around Taiwan, they can imagine similar scenarios in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, a research fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies. Given its proximity to Taiwan, Japan has tried to deepen security ties with the island, sending a delegation there last month that included former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba. On Wednesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno expressed concern over China’s planned military drills, which could serve as a dress rehearsal for a blockade that extends to Japanese and South Korean waters. Such fears failed to dispel the excitement of some Taiwanese over Pelosi’s brief presence among them. One bakery in Taiwan’s Changhua county garnered attention for adding a free egg-yolk pastry to box orders for every hour Pelosi remained on the island. As Pelosi prepared to depart, she shook hands and posed for photos with Taiwanese officials, U.S. representatives and airport workers on the tarmac before her 6 p.m. flight to South Korea. With a few final waves, she and the rest of her delegation disappeared into the aircraft, leaving Taiwan in potentially graver peril than when she arrived. https://news.yahoo.com/news-analysis-pelosi-leaves-taiwan-135128659.html

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Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: MKIceAndFire Name of the game: Marvel's Avengers Link video: Rate this video 1-10: 9/10

Apple iPhones of at least nine US State Department employees were hacked by an unknown assailant using sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group, according to four people familiar with the matter. The hacks, which took place in the last several months, hit US officials either based in Uganda or focused on matters concerning the East African country, two of the sources said. The intrusions, first reported here, represent the widest known hacks of US officials through NSO technology. Previously, a list of numbers with potential targets including some American officials surfaced in reporting on NSO, but it was not clear whether intrusions were always tried or succeeded. Reuters could not determine who launched the latest cyberattacks. NSO Group said in a statement on Thursday that it did not have any indication their tools were used but canceled access for the relevant customers and would investigate based on the Reuters inquiry. "If our investigation shall show these actions indeed happened with NSO's tools, such customer will be terminated permanently and legal actions will take place," said an NSO spokesperson, who added that NSO will also "cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have." https://gadgets360.com/internet/news/iphone-hack-us-state-department-spyware-nso-group-apple-2636720

A software issue error has caused a massive spike in Queensland's COVID-19 case numbers, which include infections dating back to last month. The state recorded 18,678 new cases today, but Queensland Health said those include infections from as far back as June 10. That means the case numbers in recent weeks have been higher than those reported in daily totals, which have been between 8,000 and 9,000 in recent days. Out of the 18,678 cases, 4,713 were from the latest reporting period. A department spokesperson told the ABC that the administrative error was due to a backlog of data being loaded into the system, with dates ranging from June 10 to July 23. The spokesperson said that while some PCR tests were not tallied, patients were informed of their positive result. Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said the issue was with a number of private laboratories catching up and reporting. "As part of their normal process, treating doctors were notified, the patients were notified. This is just an issue with some of the pipeline of IT systems talking to each other. "I think it's more of a software issue that we're working through with providers." Hospitalisations drop There are 30 people with COVID-19 in intensive care units and 861 in hospitals, down from 906 yesterday. It is the fifth day in a row that hospitalisations dropped. Dr Aitken said it was unclear whether the peak had been reached. "I think it's too early to say. 'Cautiously optimistic' would be the phrase I'd use at the moment," he said. "We've had a couple of days in a row where we've had numbers drop and, hopefully, that means people are doing all those things we've talked about." Dr Aitken said it was reassuring that booster numbers had increased. "We know that, since the announcement of access to booster doses, there had been a three-to-four times increase in booster dose uptake," he said. "People are doing those things and, hopefully, we're starting to now see a change in the numbers as a result." https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-30/qld-coronavirus-covid-cases-update-administration-error-backlog/101272612

Analogue Co.’s Pocket has always turned heads: first for being the most authentic-seeming Game Boy replacement ever announced, then for taking an extraordinary length of time to finally come out. But come out it did, and it was pretty good. For some, its biggest drawback was that it required old, increasingly expensive physical cartridges to play games, as (for the most part) it couldn’t just load convenient ROM files. The Pocket really needed something the kids call a “jailbreak,” at least if it was going to fulfill the fantasy of being the ultimate Game Boy device. Today, that jailbreak just slipped in the side door. A little place-setting: When the Pocket finally shipped last December, it had only the most barebones operating system and lacked many of the system’s promised features, like save states that backed up your game progress. (Analogue also didn’t release the originally announced Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket, or TurboGrafx-16 cart adapters.) Early adopters, glad as they were to have their uber Game Boys with beautiful retina-quality screens, realized it’d be quite some time before the device in their hands was actually finished. The same was true for would-be developers eager to make the powerful portable do fun new stuff. The Pocket contains two field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which programmers can reconfigure to closely approximate the hardware of another device. They are wonderful for simulating classic video game systems, and hobbyist developers could surely put them to great use, perhaps by developing new FPGA cores meaning software that tells the FPGAs how to configure themselves—to simulate even more consoles. But that feature was delayed too. Fast forward to today. At 8:01 a.m. PT Analogue finally released a new version of the Pocket’s Analogue OS. Today’s Analogue OS v1.1 beta adds the long-promised “Library” and “Memories” features; the first displays information about games you insert, the second is basically save states. The v1.1 beta also finally opens the system up to developers, under the moniker “openFPGA.” As an example of what hobbyists can accomplish with the newly unlocked FPGAs, Analogue released an openFPGA core that simulates Spacewar!, one of the first video games. And that was it. A nice and necessary update, but it wasn’t the jailbreak many folks’d been hoping for, either. See you in another six months! (Actually, Analogue being Analogue, more likely eight.) But then. Some three hours later at 11:23 a.m., a Github account called Spiritualized1997, created less than 24 hours prior, uploaded a repository called openFPGA-GBA; one minute later, it uploaded another called openFPGA-GB-GBC. Each repository contained a single downloadable file. “To play Game Boy Advance on your Pocket follow these instructions,” said the instructions accompanying the GBA repository, outlining five steps to install a v1.0.0 Spiritualized1997 GBA core on the Pocket and get it running ROM files. The second repository offered similar instructions, but for a core that ran Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs. So to recap: Today Analogue Pocket got the ability to run third-party FPGA cores. Three hours and 22 minutes later the Pocket’s two most po[CENSORED]r supported handhelds mysteriously received new, third-party FPGA cores that could Do The Thing that everyone’s wanted the Pocket to do since it came out: load games from ROM files stored on a microSD card. Is this…is this finally the jailbreak? Yes, yes it is. Or rather, the jailbreak’s finally started, because today’s two v1.0.0 Nintendo cores are just the first wave of what is clearly going to be a longer, more sustained rollout. So what is happening here? Who is Spiritualized1997, and how the hell did they develop and release GBA and GB/GBC cores for the Analogue Pocket just three or so hours after today’s Analogue OS v1.1 beta release made running such things possible? Why is their account so new? Most observers’ theory which, to be clear, Kotaku cannot confirm is that Spiritualized1997 is Kevin “Kevtris” Horton, a legend in the emulation scene and the FPGA emulation guru behind all of Analogue’s FPGA-based game machines. He’s worked on the Analogue NT mini (which played 8-bit NES games), the Super NT (SNES games), the Mega Sg (Sega Genesis games), and of course the Pocket. Horton has a history (you’re now thinking of a Dr. Seuss book) of releasing unofficial “jailbreak” firmware for the Analogue Co. consoles he’s helped develop, starting back in 2017 when he uploaded the first jailbreak firmware for the NT mini. “The Core Store is officially open for business!” he wrote on the AtariAge forum, referring to the potential to make the NT mini run games from a variety of systems, when until then it had only played 8-bit Nintendo games loaded off of physical cartridges. In case that left any doubt, he added, “Yes, this means that it runs ROMs now!” And that’s how it’s gone for all the Analogue consoles since. Horton (and Analogue) got a little more discreet after the NT mini jailbreak, instead releasing the jailbreak firmwares through intermediaries like emulation scene mover-and-shaker Smokemonster. But folks in the scene, with a wink and a nod, understand where these po[CENSORED]r, hardware-enhancing bits of software really come from. (Prior Analogue consoles have been closed platforms, so who else could have made them?) That’s why many people considered it a given that the Analogue Pocket’s wonderful hardware would itself get liberated to play games from ROM files. It’s been a long eight months, but today’s surprise Spiritualized1997 FPGA cores are pretty much exactly what Pocket owners wanted, just in a slightly different form than usual—discrete FPGA cores loadable through the Pocket’s new openFPGA feature. That’s made this “jailbreak” seem a little more subtle than usual. It’s not a firmware replacement, but alternate cores you run off the microSD card. The end result is the same. Again, this is only the start of a longer jailbreak process that will play out over the coming months. After all, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance are just three of the handhelds people want to play on Pocket, not to mention folks clamoring for it to support TV-based consoles like Genesis and SNES. The Spiritualized1997 FPGA cores, both at a nascent v1.0.0, are also missing a few features enjoyed by the Pocket’s official built-in cores, most notably screen filters. These and further enhancements are coming; the missing filters are apparently just because the openFPGA API is still immature. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/there-it-is-analogue-pocket-just-got-its-long-awaited-jailbreak/ar-AA107xuZ