Ga[M]er

You are standing in an apartment when you hear on the news that an earthquake has struck. Soon you feel your body sway and the ground starts to shake, the intensity increasing until the shelves on the walls and items on the table fall off. For 10 seconds it stays that way, loud rumbling filling your ears, and you feel an immense urge to crouch down and hide. Then, as quickly as they came, the tremors gradually die out. Upon taking off your headset, your turbulent surroundings dissipate and you find yourself back on safe and stable ground at NUS—thankfully. Through the use of virtual reality (VR) technology and a vibrating platform, also known as a shake board, students will soon not only learn about earthquakes through slideshows but get to experience them too. This is particularly eye-opening for students in Singapore where earthquakes are non-existent, said Associate Professor Feng Chen-Chieh from the Department of Geography. While the city-state sits outside of the Pacific Rim of Fire and is hence spared natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, NUS undergraduates can now experience the tremors first-hand through the project supported by the Learning Innovation Fund—Technology (LIF-T). The VR-based learning environment not only plugs a gap in earthquake education, where fieldwork is limited, but also simulates the earth processes that lead to earthquakes, such as plate tectonic movements. "Fieldwork involves visiting specific sites, but the best thing you could see is a crack in the land surface, a fault line, or a volcano. So, there is some indication of an earthquake, but it is static because, of course, you don't want to be there when the ground is shaking," said Prof Feng. But getting to this point has not been easy, he shared, with COVID-19 delaying the project by close to a year due to supply chain disruptions. The team also had to surmount another obstacle—creating virtual scenarios that they, and in some cases, all humanity, have not witnessed personally. How to shake: Re-creating unseen events As a Taiwanese, Prof Feng has encountered several earthquakes, the most recent being just last December when he was on vacation back home, which had him grabbing onto the desk for 10 seconds during a Zoom meeting with colleagues. While he knows how earthquakes occur, he has not seen the many earth processes that either happened millions of years ago or take place at areas inaccessible to humans. Take the formation of mid-ocean ridges as an example. They occur along divergent plate boundaries deep underwater, where tectonic plates spread apart, creating new ocean floor. As the plates separate, molten rock from within the earth rises to the seafloor, producing volcanic eruptions and in turn, earthquakes. Representing a divergent plate boundary in deep water in VR is challenging, as "no one has actually seen this in reality, so we had to imagine how they look based on published materials," he said, adding that the team had many discussions on how the phenomenon could be portrayed to facilitate learning earthquake concepts. Eventually, they settled on mimicking the experience of diving to the ocean floor. There was also the issue of ensuring the domain knowledge experts—the NUS team—and the graphic designers understood each other. This required various refinements along the way to make sure that the depictions were accurate yet engaging. Technology-enhanced learning: The future of education The project was Prof Feng's first involving VR, but he learned the ropes quickly. Through the LIF-T grant, he was connected to John Yap, a senior manager of NUS IT department who not only helped him with the technicalities of VR, but also advised him about potential pitfalls. These included the risk of students losing concentration, feeling uncomfortable, or experiencing vertigo if the program exceeds three minutes. He was also connected to Prof Marcelo and Dr. Lee of Mechanical Engineering, who assisted on system integration, especially the synchronization of VR, which provides perceptual feedback, and the vibration board, which provides physical feedback. Now, with these hurdles crossed and the system built, the team will soon be testing the system on students to evaluate the effectiveness of the VR environment in improving learning. While there are no concrete plans to expand the project yet, the team has some preliminary ideas to create new scenarios. They include simulating cascading natural hazards such as an earthquake followed by a tsunami, or how natural hazards affect the built environment.` Although such VR environments will not completely replace slideshows, they will certainly make learning more immersive. "Our ultimate goal is to enhance our students' experiences in the classroom, adding a touch of realism to earth science concepts that can sometimes be hard to visualize especially when they happen over millions of years. We compress that into a matter of seconds," he said.

Name of the Game : Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Price : 0.09$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/552500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 22 march Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: 64-bit Windows 7, 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1) or 64-bit Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 @ 2.80 GHz / AMD FX-4350 @ 4.2 GHz Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 5870 DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 85 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: 64-bit Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i7- 3770 @ 3.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4 GHz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970/1060 or ATI Radeon R9 series DirectX: Version 12 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 85 GB available space

Get ready to wield the power of the Norse gods in the divine adventure continuing Valhalla year 2 With the Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok release time rapidly approaching, you may be wondering the specific point at which you can embrace the power of Odin in the mythical dwarven world of Svartalfheim. Starting with the Kassandra-starring Crossover Stories DLC, Dawn of Ragnarok continues the second year of post-vanilla-Valhalla missions as you defend an epic dwarven kingdom from the ice-powered Jotnars and the flame-spewing Muspels. If you've somehow finished the massive worlds of England, France, and the Isle of Skye, you've also got another huge, icon-dotted map to tackle. It's not like there's anything else to play at the moment. If that sounds like your thing, then here's what we know about the Dawn of Ragnarok unlock time, so you can find out when you can pack your bags for Svartalfheim. When is the Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok unlock time? While we don't know the exact release time of Dawn of Ragnarok on March 10, the launch of the previous expansion, The Siege of Paris, could give us an idea. Players in all territories could start their French adventure at 1am, so if you're keen to start the next chapter of Valhalla right away, check in on your PC platform of choice (either the Epic Store or Ubisoft Connect) around then. Ubisoft has neither confirmed a release time nor whether we can pre-load the game ahead of March 10. While that could mean a late night for you when the game unlocks, depending on your internet speed, it looks like the Dawn of Ragnarok file size isn't huge. PlayStation Game Size confirmed on Twitter that it would only be just over 15GB on PS5, so it shouldn't be too different on PC. But what if you're desperate to see the mythical sights of the Nine Realms, but you're not at the right level? Thankfully, as per the tweet above, you can use the "Player Boost" in Valka's hut in Ravensthorpe to get to Svartalfheim right away. You can also start it as a new game in the main menu, but the game warns, "your experience will be severely limited." For more on Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok, check out Lauren's guides on the new Hugr-Rip weapon, where to find all the shelters, and more. Harry Shepherd UK — After collecting and devouring piles of print gaming guides in his younger days, Harry has been creating 21st century versions for the past five years as Guides Writer at PCGamesN and Guides Editor at PC Gamer. He has also produced features, reviews, and even more guides for Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and Top Ten Reviews. He's been playing and picking apart PC games for over two decades, from hazy memories of what was probably a Snake knock-off on his first rig when he was seven to producing informative guides on football simulators, open-world role-playing games, and shooters today. So many by now he steadfastly refuses to convey information unless it’s in clickable online form. https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-creed-ac-valhalla-dawn-of-ragnarok-release-time-unlock/

Black Mirror is a British television anthology series created by Charlie Brooker that features speculative fiction with dark and sometimes satirical themes that examine modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies.[1] The first two seasons of the series were produced by Zeppotron for Endemol. The show was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 2011. In September 2015, Netflix commissioned a third season of 12 episodes. The commissioned episodes were later divided into two seasons of six episodes; the third season was released on Netflix worldwide on 21 October 2016. The fourth season was released on 29 December 2017, followed by a special Bandersnatch that was released on 28 December 2018. The fifth season was released worldwide on 5 June 2019. Regarding the programme's content and structure, Brooker noted, "each episode has a different cast, a different setting, even a different reality. But they're all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time if we're clumsy."[2] The series has received critical acclaim, and has seen an increase in interest internationally (particularly in the US) after being added to Netflix.[3] Stephen King, in particular, has noted his interest in the series.[3][4]

After devastating surges in hospitalizations and deaths, many look forward with some relief to the possibility of COVID-19 shifting into an endemic phase, like seasonal influenza. Of course, this assumes that we keep up with vaccines, antivirals and traditional public health measures; but our relief may not be fully justified. Coronaviruses are found extensively in animal reservoirs to a much greater degree than influenza. Should we worry about SARS-CoV-2 infections in domestic and wild animals? And what about the more highly transmissible delta variant or the emergence of new variants? Animals and coronaviruses Pathogenic coronaviruses (CV) infect many species of birds and mammals, including humans. And some coronaviruses cause significant morbidity and mortality in neonatal animals such as kittens, calves and piglets. At birth, however, these neonates are often protected from clinical disease due to ingestion of colostrum, which contains protective antibodies. CV and CV-like infections (although many are subclinical) have commonly been described in swine, cattle, horses, camels, cats, dogs, rodents, birds, bats, rabbits, ferrets, mink and various wildlife species (Machlachlan and colleagues). In swine and some ruminants, CV is ubiquitous. These viruses are more commonly associated with the gastrointestinal tract than in the respiratory tract. Nonetheless, CV is part of the serious swine respiratory disease complex associated with five viruses. CVs also contribute to significant morbidity (weight loss) in dairy and beef cattle. Feline infectious peritonitis is caused by a CV. Kittens commonly carry an avirulent enteric strain, replicating in enterocytes. But, when a genetic mutation occurs, a systemic infection follows with severe immune-mediated pathology and high mortality, according to Hartmann and colleagues. Ninety percent of cats in catteries carry specific CV antibodies. Pig cells express the same ACE2 receptors as human cells and are susceptible to CV. Edwards and colleagues reported that in China in 2018, pigs became infected with a deadly CV diarrheal disease that impacted piglets, 5 days of age. The virus was transmitted by a horseshoe bat and killed 25,000 piglets, according to the NIH. The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Minnesota reported that another CV, the swine enteric coronavirus disease, caused the death of more than 8 million pigs in the United States and Canada in 2013. And chickens, turkeys and pheasants are prone to a CV that causes infectious bronchitis, according to a 2007 report in Avian Pathology. Animals are getting COVID-19 Zoo animals are in the news. A tiger in a Swedish zoo developed respiratory symptoms and rapidly deteriorated with acute respiratory distress and was euthanized. Forbes reported that the causative agent was COVID-19 with variant B1.177,21, the alpha U.K. strain. At the San Diego Zoo, cats and primates have been vaccinated. However, three Malayan tigers got breakthrough respiratory infections, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Their treatment included quarantining in addition to the administration of nonhuman monoclonal antibodies and antibiotics in case of a bacterial component. The tigers recovered. The New York Times reported that at a Nebraska zoo, three snow leopards recently died from complications of COVID-19. Most recently, CNN reported that two hippos tested positive for COVID-19 in a Belgian zoo, believed to be the first such infection reported in the species. They both had mild symptoms, according to the zoo. Red flag: COVID-19 outbreak in mink — zoonotic spread In 2020, COVID-19 broke out on two mink farms in the Netherlands, rapidly spreading to 70 farms, leading to deaths and the culling of 20 million mink, according to a report in Science. Mink, susceptible to COVID-19 and living in packed cages, developed respiratory symptoms. The virus mutated, infecting workers with the variant found in the mink. This jump back to humans is the definition of zoonotic spread (Munnink and colleagues). COVID-19 has been confirmed at mink farms in Utah and Wisconsin, but thus far there has been no zoonotic spread to humans. Red flag: White-tailed deer — true animal reservoir? An important distinction should be made between a temporary animal host and an animal reservoir. For example, a pet cat can get COVID-19 from its owner. After a short respiratory illness, it makes a full recovery but spreads it to no other pet cats or humans. In contrast, deer may become a potential COVID-19 reservoir as deer-to-deer transmission and ensuing infections in some deer po[CENSORED]tions appears to have been established. In a recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv, 30% of Iowa white-tailed deer tested positive for COVID-19 found in retropharyngeal lymph nodes. It is not known how the virus spreads from humans to deer and, thus far, no humans have been infected by deer. Yet, the deer are not dying, and the virus is clearly spreading. This discovery that deer can survive with infection and transmit the virus to other deer sets the stage for deer po[CENSORED]tions to potentially maintain the virus over time and become a well-defined, true animal reservoir for COVID-19. (Bats were likely the first true reservoir.) Predators kill and eat fresh meat composed of infected lymph glands and upper respiratory tissue, thus promoting potential spread both up and down the food chain, including vultures who clean up the carcass. What are the implications for hunters and for those butchering the animal? COVID-19 in wild animals can mutate. And there is a big difference between infection in domesticated production animals that die or get culled in contrast to infection in wild animals. There are considerable disease control opportunities when dealing with production animals. For example, when food animals are sent to commercial slaughter, both antemortem and postmortem inspections are done with facilities being deep-cleaned between shifts. In swine production, often an “all in, all out” system is used for feeder pigs in which the facilities are cleaned and left vacant for a time after each group. No such controls exist in wild animals. What if the delta variant gets into wild animals, or if further mutations occur with the emergence of even more virulent variants for humans? Due to the high efficiency of human-to-human transmission of COVID-19, it takes only one animal-to-human transmission to make a difference. Perhaps the risk to humans from animals is low In a balanced and reasoned analysis of the potential COVID-19 risk to humans from animal po[CENSORED]tions, Smriti Mallapaty reviewed the extensive animal surveys carried out by the World Organization for Animal Health, WHO, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the CDC. The evidence indicates that pigs, the most susceptible, with ACE2, have poor replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on challenge testing. Only two species of bats — the horseshoe bat and a fruit bat — carry CV. Animals in closer proximity to people, including voles, racoons, cows, ducks and chickens, seem mostly resistant to COVID-19. Animals more likely to harbor the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including ferrets, cats, raccoons and racoon dogs, don’t get sick or get mild disease upon exposure. The one notable exception from this list was the example of the Dutch mink farms and the documented zoonotic transmission. What’s next: Water buffalo and pangolin What are the likely next animals to harbor SARS-CoV-2? Ilya R. Fischhoff, PhD, from Barbara Han’s lab at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, used a machine-learning tool to predict binding between the ACE2 protein in mammals to the spike protein from the original wild type SARS-CoV-2 (not with any of the variants). The researchers used artificial intelligence modeling on transmissibility and other ecological traits. They then tested the model with surveillance and lab tests. High on the list were mink, bats, rodents, water buffalo and pangolin. Conclusions: The animal-human interface The likelihood of zoonotic transmission from animal to human of a mutant SARS-CoV-2 strain is unclear. What is clear is that we need to encourage and support surveillance and monitoring of both domestic and wild animals, which includes genetic sequencing. Furthermore, we need to ensure that there is adequate funding for responsible national and international organizations. We would do well to adopt a One Health approach, which advocates for increased collaboration between the veterinary world and the human medical world in the face of accelerating urbanization, climate change, ecological degradation and increasing interaction between humans and animals. The best way to prevent animal infections is to vaccinate the main reservoir — humans. In the meantime, let’s hold our breath!

Pakistan vs Australia, 1st Test, Day 5 Highlights: Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq slammed unbeaten centuries in the second innings on Day 5 as first Test against in Rawalpindi ended in a tame draw. Pakistan vs Australia, 1st Test, Day 5 Highlights:Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq slammed unbeaten centuries in the second innings on Day 5 as first Test against in Rawalpindi ended in a tame draw. Shafique remained unbeaten on 136 while Imam, struck his second ton of the match to end up 111*. Pakistan finished with 252 for no loss. Earlier, Nauman Ali took six wickets as Australia were bowled out for 459 with the hosts taking a 17-run lead.Nauman struck early on Day 5 to remove Australia captain Pat Cummins in the ongoing first Test in Rawalpindi. It completed a five-wicket haul for the left-arm spinner. When umpires called off play on Day 4 with three overs still to be bowled, Mitchell Starc was on 12 and skipper Pat Cummins four -- with Australia just 27 behind Pakistan's first innings total of 476-4 declared. Australia are on their first tour to Pakistan since 1998, having previously refused to visit over security fears. (SCORECARD) Pakistan Playing XI:Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (c), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/pakistan-vs-australia-1st-test-day-5-live-cricket-score-updates-2809812

Tens of thousands of Sydney residents have been told to evacuate their homes as floods ravage eastern Australia. In the past fortnight, New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland have been pummelled by heavy downpours that have caused floods and killed 20 people. The threat has now intensified in Sydney, which has been hit by widespread flash-flooding. Two bodies - believed to be of a woman, 67, and her son, 34 - were found in a Sydney canal on Tuesday. Police said their deaths would be investigated, but noted the canal had risen "from ankle-deep to above neck height in a matter of minutes". NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said 40,000 residents in the state had been ordered to evacuate, and another 20,000 people were on standby. He added that a dam in the suburb of Manly had begun to spill, and a flooded river was threatening lives in the city's southwest. There was also a "substantial catastrophe" in the state's north, where more than 800 people had been placed in temporary accommodation. The State Emergency Service said more than 2,500 people had requested help in the past 24 hours. Australian Defence Force soldiers have also been deployed. "The best thing you can do right across our state is follow those instructions and please do not drive through flood waters," Mr Perrottet said. He warned flash-flooding was likely to continue on Wednesday. Experts say the flooding emergency has been worsened by climate change and a La Niña weather phenomenon. A La Niña develops when strong winds blow the warm surface waters of the Pacific away from South America and towards Indonesia. In their place, colder waters come up to the surface. In Australia, a La Niña increases the likelihood of rain, cyclones and cooler daytime temperatures. Roads become rivers Phil Mercer, BBC News in Sydney's Northern Beaches The wailing sirens can just about be heard above the incessant drumbeat of rain on the roof and an angry wind. Roads have become rivers as Sydney is battered by another mammoth storm. For 16 consecutive days, it has rained, and more is on the way. On the Northern Beaches, friends ask for sandbags to protect their home as a reservoir overflows, but hundreds of people have been told to leave. Images posted online show high school children watching in disbelief as cars float away outside. Bookended by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the harbour on the other, parts of the seaside suburb of Manly have been swamped. Australia's biggest city had had its wettest summer in 30 years. About 4,000km away, Perth - the Western Australian state capital - has been sweltering through its hottest summer on record. This is a vast country that's well used to nature's extremes, but many Australians will be asking: what will happen next? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60656717

Happy Birthday!

Presidential candidate’s pledge to build shopping complex spotlights regionalism and suspicion of big business. Seoul, South Korea – When Yoon Seok-yeol visited the southwestern city of Gwangju while campaigning to be South Korea’s next president last month, the conservative frontrunner’s speech generated headlines for days. In a country facing thorny problems such as a rock-bottom birth rate and a nuclear-armed neighbour in North Korea, Yoon struck a chord with a decidedly prosaic concern: shopping complexes. “I see the citizens of Gwangju are longing to have a shopping complex, where people can watch movies and buy staples, and which is also a cultural space,” Yoon, a former chief prosecutor-turned-political neophyte, said in his speech. “You can find such shopping complexes anywhere else. Go to Busan and see for yourself. Or Daejeon and Daegu … Why are there none in Gwangju?” Many young people in Gwangju welcomed the speech by Yoon, who is running neck and neck with his centre-left opponent Lee Jae-myung ahead of Wednesday’s vote, the run-up to which has spotlighted fairness-related issues such as soaring house prices and gender inequality. Much of the rest of South Korea was surprised to learn that their country’s sixth biggest metropolis did not have a single shopping complex. Among South Korea’s seven self-governing major cities, Gwangju is the only one without any large shopping complex or big-box retail stores. Gwangju, a city of 1.5 million people located 270 kilometres southwest of Seoul, has for decades been a stronghold of a strain of left-wing politics that views big business with suspicion. The city and surrounding Honam region have voted overwhelmingly for a left-leaning candidate in every presidential election since the country’s democratisation in 1987. In a recent newspaper column, Bae Hun-cheon, the leader of a campaign aimed at establishing a shopping complex in Gwangju, pointed to the ruling Democratic Party’s monopoly on local governance and exceptionally strong civic activism as the reasons for the city’s unique aversion to big retailers. South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol has pledged to build a large shopping complex in the liberal stronghold of Gwangju [File: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters] Several attempts to establish a shopping complex in the city have been made during the last decade to no avail. Most famously, in 2015, Shinsegae, South Korea’s largest retail giant announced plans to build a shopping complex and hotel. The retailer jettisoned the plans following two years of administrative deadlock and protests by local merchants’ groups that later attracted the support of Moon Jae-in, the ruling party-affiliated incumbent president, and Lee Jae-myung. Despite Gwangju’s association with the political left, many city residents appear ready to welcome big business to their home. In a survey carried out by a local newspaper last July, 58 percent of respondents said the city should welcome large shopping malls. Support was especially strong among younger residents, with more than 70 percent of those aged 18-39 in favour. Others have criticised Yoon’s promises for failing to offer credible solutions to the southwestern region’s underdevelopment. “A responsible political party should offer solutions for quality jobs for the region, not churning out temporary jobs (with large shopping complexes),” The Gwangju branch of the minor left-wing Justice Party said in a statement. “How could they expect the citizens to spend when there’s no money since there are no jobs?” Lee, Yoon’s opponent, has dismissed the idea of building a large shopping complex, promising to redevelop traditional markets in the city instead. South Korea’s industrialisation Cho Gwi-dong, the author of a book on the development of the Honam region, said the city’s de facto one-party rule could be traced to the history of South Korea’s industrialisation. “During industrialisation, Korean entrepreneurs based their business on their networks based on regionalism, school relations, and kinship,” Cho told Al Jazeera. “The politicians, the military and the high officials who nurtured them were also part of these networks.” During the era of military dictatorships that held sway between the 1960s and 1980s, most political and military leaders hailed from the southeastern region of Yeongnam, which includes the major cities of Daegu and Busan. Regional favouritism among the ruling elites helped Yeongnam-based conglomerates like Samsung and LG to flourish into world-renowned brands. “Isolated from industrialisation, the people of Honam couldn’t grow their own conglomerates, entrepreneurs, and the social capital required for modern business activity,” Cho said. Disconnected from the centres of power, the Honam region came to rely on left-leaning political parties to compete with other regions for resources from the central government. Cho said the recent debate on shopping complexes showed that the traditional model of hyper-localised politics was faltering. “Previously, the local establishment had local politicians and consumers on their side when the capital tried to set foot in their city,” Cho said. “The issues one-party politics can’t solve, including the shopping complex one, are emerging as we see now.” Recent polls also suggest a weakening of the country’s traditional regionalism ahead of the presidential poll. While a conservative presidential candidate has never received more than 10 percent of the Honam vote in a presidential election, Yoon, who represents the centre-right People Power Party, has garnered as much as 30 percent support in some opinion polls. “The hostility toward the conservative party contributed to Honam’s absolute support for the Democratic Party but the regional development stalled,” Yu Chang-seon, an independent political commentator in Seoul, told Al Jazeera. “Yoon’s shopping complexes pledge has led to a bigger debate about whether the ruling party’s dominance in the region has actually been beneficial or not. So it is of significant interest how many votes the conservative candidate can garner in Honam.” The fraying regionalism comes even as gaps between the capital region and the rest of the country are widening. The greater Seoul area’s share of gross national income grew to 55.6 percent in 2019, compared with 51.7 percent in 2000, according to the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, a state-funded think-tank. The po[CENSORED]tion is also increasingly concentrated around the capital. For the first time in history, the greater Seoul area’s po[CENSORED]tion in 2019 accounted for more than half of the country’s approximately 52 million residents. Cho said local politics would have to offer better solutions for regional development than haggling over the central budget, which is outmoded in the modern era. “To look squarely at Honam’s problems and seek solutions will ultimately help the nation overcome other provinces’ problems, too,” Cho said. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/3/8/as-south-korea-votes-shopping-mall-bid-spotlights-regional-split

The ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold OLED fills a niche that even we don’t think exists yet. The device is a huge foldable tablet with a keyboard attachment. We have seen the problems with foldable devices, mainly in the smartphone market, with the plastic displays being easily damaged, either by the consumers themselves or by debris, which can collect by folding and unfolding the device. There is also the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, which is a very similar device. What the ASUS laptop brings is updated and newer hardware, along with the obvious learnings from the already available X1 Fold. Design The laptop is built using magnesium alloy and has a Tech Black finish, which is sleek and minimal. There is also a dark green kickstand, which is made out of faux leather. The back also has a new ASUS monogram, which can also be seen on other ZenBook laptops, such as the ZenBook 14 OLED. The device has chamfered edges, which further elevate its elegance. In terms of weight and height, the machine stops the scales at 1.65 kg and has a profile of 11.7 mm. Display When unfolded, the laptop has 17.3-inches of screen real estate, which is like a small TV. The aspect ratio is 4:3, which is a tad old school, but with so much modern tech inside, some old school won’t hurt. With a resolution of 2560 x 1920, anything will look great on the laptop. When folded and with the keyboard attached, you have a 12.5-inch display with FHD resolution. The OLED panel has fantastic color reproduction and true black colors. It also fully covers the DCI-P3 gamut, 500 nits of brightness, and Pantone validation for color accuracy. Specifications and features The device is powered by the Intel Core i7-1250U, which has 10 total cores (2 Performance and 8 Efficiency) and 12 threads. This is not a laptop for performance, but more of a statement device, as its appearance and tech alone will blow people’s socks off. The iGPU here is pretty capable, with the Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU) being able to handle everything that the CPU is capable of running. The I/O is shallow, but you get some ports nonetheless, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The keyboard attachment brings 1.4 mm key travel and connects via Bluetooth. The unit brings a full row of function keys, a pitch of 19.05 mm between the keys, making the experience feel like a traditional keyboard. ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) series CPUIntel Core i7-1250U GPUIntel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU) Display17.3", (2560 x 1920), OLED Dimensions378.5 x 287.6 x 8.7 - 11.7 mm (14.90" x 11.32" x 0.34") Weight1.65 kg (3.6 lbs) Full specs sheet and benchmarks

If you share your computer with family or friends or just want to protect your files, Anvi Folder Locker is a handy program that lets you hide folders or apply passwords to them to prevent others from accessing the contents. The interface is very simple, so even if you don't have much experience, you won't have any problems getting it to work. To use Anvi Folder Locker, just add items with the 'add' button on the top. There are no limitations to how many folders you can add. Once you have everything that you want on your list, you'll see a tab beside each option with six different locks for you to choose from: unprotected, which is self-explanatory; hidden, to make it disappear from view; locked, to require a password in order to access it; read-only, to prohibit any edits to your documents; and hidden and locked, to hide a file and prevent access with a special password. If you want to change the protections for any document, just select or deselect options as necessary, even if you only want to pause it for a few minutes. You can also cancel it by completely disabling the protection, or you can remove files from the list with a single click, limiting outside access to your files. https://anvi-folder-locker.en.uptodown.com/windows#:~:text=If you share your computer,others from accessing the contents.

The specifications H670, B660 and H610 motherboard specifications have leaked courtesy of @momomo_us. If they turn out to be accurate—and given momomo’s track record, we have no reason to doubt they won’t be—it points towards H670 and B660 series chipsets being highly capable, though we don't expect too much from cheap H610 boards. Affordable boards to pair with upcoming i3 and i5 CPUs will be very welcome indeed, though. Let's begin with the H670 chipset, which sits one step below Z690. Most of the core functionality remains the same, including DDR4 and DDR5 support. The H670 chipset lacks the ability to overclock the CPU, which is difficult anyway unless you have very good cooling. Thankfully, H670 retains the ability to overclock the memory. The DMI link remains at 8x, meaning it will be possible for manufacturers to make H670 boards with up to four or five M.2 slots. The USB count is the disappointing part as the H670’s USB 3.0 count is lacking compared to Z690. Of course, thanks to a high number of chipset PCIe lanes, board manufacturers are free to include auxiliary USB controllers. Some H670 boards are likely to be priced at pretty steep levels making them strong entry/mid range Z690 competitors. B660 is the chipset that most DIY’ers on a budget will look at. Compared to Z690 it loses the ability to overclock the CPU, while retaining memory OC capabilities. It includes only one PCIe 5.0 slot, which at this point in time means very little—it's possible PCIe 5.0 support will be optional or limited to high end models. The DMI link drops to 4x, half that of Z690 and H670, so board makers are unlikely to include more than two or three M.2 slots. The USB count drops only a little from H670. B660 looks like it has a set of specs that the majority of the market will find perfectly adequate. You can run a fast CPU like the Core i5 12600K and any GPU you wish along with a fast NVMe SSD or two and some HDDs for storage. B460 and earlier boards lost a good chunk of performance when stuck with DDR4-2666. Luckily locked memory is a thing of the past. We can expect to see high end B660 boards cost more than their entry level Z690 counterparts, especially those that include a strong VRM, good heatsinks and Wi-Fi 6E. Some B660 boards should end up offering a well balanced core feature set and good bang for buck. YOUR NEXT UPGRADE (Image credit: Future) Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest H610 looks to be very much entry level. There’s still a PCIe 5.0 slot which is surprising, along with DDR5 support too, but curiously, there's no PCIe 4.0 at all so your NVMe SSD will operate at PCIe 3.0 only. It dramatically cuts down on the amount of expansion potential, with just eight chipset PCIe 3.0 lanes in total. There’s also a low USB 3.0 count. Still, H610 boards are designed to be cheap and as long as the VRMs are not heatsink-less junk, they’ll be able to do a job in an entry level systems when paired with the likes of an i3 CPU such as the Core i3 12100. You can forget about running a 12900K in one of these boards even if they officially include support. It's certainly good to hear of cheaper 12th Gen compatible boards. Z690 rather shocked us with its high pricing—part of it is pandemic and component shortage related, but some pricing is surely opportunistic. Let’s hope that H and B series boards will end up with a better price/feature balance, with decent stocks on shelves as well. The boards are expected to launch in Q1 of 2022, with announcements and product showcases possible at CES in early January. https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-alder-lake-h670-b660-and-h310-motherboard-specifications-revealed/

Name of the Game : Airborne Kingdom Price : 06.79$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/982290/Airborne_Kingdom/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 14 march Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 2.5GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 256mb or ATI Radeon HD 5670 256mb or Intel HD Graphics 4600 Storage: 1 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 Processor: Intel Core i5-3470, 2.7GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.2Ghz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 1gb or AMD Radeon HD 7870, 1gb Storage: 1 GB available space

Agreed With FazzNoth you deserve a chance great activity

It's a 3D platformer, with marble run elements, starring a glove., starring a gloveReleased back in 1998 for Nintendo 64 and PC, Glover was a 3D platformer starring a glove and its ball. It's very much a product of its time, though it has an interesting twist: the sentient glove protagonist needs to guide a ball to the end of each level, so it plays a little like Mario 64 blended with a marble run game. Piko Interactive, a studio which, in its own words, buys "old intellectual property to make cool stuff", is re-releasing Glover for PC next month. Using the original Nintendo 64 source code (there was a hugely inferior PlayStation version), Piko Interactive has "completely redone" the game so that it'll play nice with modern PCs. Judging by the footage in the trailer above, that has resulted in a higher res version of the original, with a much improved framerate. Some assets retain their ye olde pixelated form, mostly the 2D sprites, but the world itself and the 3D models look vastly improved over the original console version. Glover was originally developed by Interactive Studios, a British studio that developed and published a huge number of games between 1996 and 2013, including Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge and Bratz: Rock Angelz. It could be just me, but Glover is definitely the most recognisable title in its back catalogue, and I distinctly remember seeing screenshots in old '90s gaming magazines and wanting to give it a go. The game was decently received upon release in 1998. IGN advised that it wasn't the best looking Nintendo 64 game, but succeeded nevertheless due to its "intuitive gameplay mechanics and off-the-wall character design." Gamespot was a bit more lukewarm, noting that it offered a stiff challenge, and required a lot of patience. Glover will hit Steam on April 20. Shaun is PC Gamer’s Australian editor and news writer. He mostly plays platformers and RPGs, and keeps a close eye on anything of particular interest to antipodean audiences. He (rather obsessively) tracks the movements of the Doom modding community, too. https://www.pcgamer.com/nintendo-64-platformer-glover-is-getting-a-pc-reissue-next-month/

In a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges. Set in 2031, the entire world is frozen except for those aboard the Snowpiercer. For seventeen years, the world's survivors are on a train hurtling around the globe creating their own economy and class system. Led by Curtis (Chris Evans), a group of lower-class citizens living in squalor at the back of the train are determined to get to the front of the train and spread the wealth around. Each section of the train holds new surprises for the group who have to battle their way through. A revolution is underway. —Anne Campbell The nations release the substance CW-7 with the intention of controlling global warming, but accidentally it results in another Ice Age destroying Earth. The only survivors live in the train Snowpiercer which is driven by a perpetual motion engine created by the millionaire Wilford (Ed Harris) that lives in the engine part. In 2031, after seventeen years, there is a fight of classes inside the train since the oppressed lower class lives in dreadful conditions in the last wagons of the train while the elite lives in the front wagons. The lower class is fed with protein bars only; they are oppressed and punished by Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton) and her brutal guards; and their children are taken every now and then when they reach a certain height. The leaders Gilliam (Sir John Hurt), Curtis Everett (Chris Evans), and Edgar (Jamie Bell) are plotting a scheme to reach the engine and talk to Wilford about their conditions using the addicted security engineer Namgoong Minsoo (Song Kang-ho) and his clairvoyant daughter Yona (Ko Asung) that are imprisoned to open the locked doors. When the son of Tanya (Octavia Spencer), Tim (Marcanthonee Reis), is captured by Mason, they decide to execute their plan. There are many casualties and soon Curtis discovers that they have been mani[CENSORED]ted by Wilford to balance the resources in the train, and why the magnate keeps the lower class alive.

Habitat and distribution Koalas live over a range of open forest and woodland communities but ultimately their habitat is defined by the presence of a select group of food trees. Koalas are found in higher densities where food trees are growing on more fertile soils and along watercourses. They do, however, remain in areas where their habitat has been partially cleared and in urban areas. The distribution of koalas covers much of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and a small area in South Australia. Over the past 200 years, their distribution does not appear to have reduced, however, individual koala po[CENSORED]tions have declined. Local extinctions have occurred due to clearing and fragmentation of eucalypt woodlands and forests for agriculture and human settlement. Fossil records indicate that many years ago, the koala inhabited parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. There are no fossil records of koalas ever living in Tasmania. In Queensland, the greatest concentration of koalas is in South East Queensland where they now compete for space with a rapidly growing human po[CENSORED]tion. Description Koalas are well-known for their large round head, big furry ears and big black nose. Their fur is usually grey-brown in colour with white fur on the chest, inner arms, ears and bottom. They have no fur on their nose or the palms of their paws. Koalas have particularly hard bottoms, which is similar to their closest relative, the wombat. For the koala, this feature enables them to wedge comfortably in tree forks for long periods of time, whereas the wombat uses its hard bottom as a defence mechanism. Koalas have poor vision and rely heavily on their other senses. They have excellent hearing which helps them detect predators and other koalas. They have an acute sense of smell which also helps them detect other koalas and their favourite food trees. The male uses a scent gland on his chest to mark trees and attract females, by rubbing his chest up and down the trunk. The gland oozes a clear, oily, strong musky smelling liquid. Diet Koalas eat a variety of eucalypt leaves and a few other related tree species, including lophostemon, melaleuca and corymbia species (such as brush box, paperbark and bloodwood trees). They consume around 500 grams of leaves each day, (approximately the size of a small lettuce) and obtain most of their water requirements from the leaves, which can contain up to 50% water. This removes the need for a koala to climb down a tree for a drink of water, except during very hot or dry periods. The leaves are also very low in energy comprising only 5% sugars and starches on average. Eucalypt leaves contain many toxic compounds similar to that of cyanide, which most animals cannot eat. This unique diet is shared only with possum and gliders, and provides koalas with access to a relatively untapped food resource. Koalas are able to break down the toxic oils using a specialised digestive system. First, the leaves are ground into a paste by the koala's heavily ridged molars, allowing any nutrients to be absorbed in the stomach. Toxins in the leaves are isolated by the liver and excreted as waste in their urine and faeces. The residue is then broken down by specialised bacteria in an elongated, coiled sac (the caecum) that branches off the large intestine before any remaining nutrients are digested. Koalas are not born with this bacteria in their system and need to acquire it from their mother when they are young. The mother passes on this bacteria by excreting a sticky runny faecal substance called ‘pap’, which the young ingests instinctively, providing it with the bacteria it needs to eat the leaves in adult life. Behaviour Koalas can sleep for up to 20 hours a day, due to their low energy diet, and the intense amount of energy required to break down toxic leaves. Koalas are mostly active at night (nocturnal) and around dawn and dusk. However, they can be seen moving during the day if they are disturbed, get too hot or cold, or need to find a new tree. Koalas are solitary animals living within a network of overlapping home ranges, which allows contact between individuals for mating. Males will try to establish dominance over the home ranges of a number of females during the mating season. These home ranges in southern and central Queensland vary in size from 1km to 135km, depending on the density of the po[CENSORED]tion and the abundance of suitable food trees. In spring, adult males begin to call as a way of advertising their presence to surrounding koalas. Males will seek out a mate and fight with rival males to establish their dominance.

Hosts New Zealand got their first win of the Women's World Cup with a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh. After losing their opener to West Indies, the White Ferns were in danger of further frustration when rain delayed the start in Dunedin. However, in a match reduced to 27 overs per side, World Cup debutants Bangladesh were restricted to 140-8. New Zealand raced to their target in 20 overs through Suzie Bates' 79 not out and an unbeaten 49 from Amelia Kerr. Bangladesh go on to play Pakistan on Monday, while New Zealand meet 2017 runners-up India in Hamilton on Thursday. New Zealand are likely to by vying with India, South Africa and West Indies for two semi-final spots and a washout against Bangladesh would have been hugely detrimental to their last-four hopes. Women's World Cup 2022 - full fixtures and results For much of the day it looked like the White Ferns could be left disappointed at the world's southernmost international cricket ground. Play eventually began at 15:00 local time and Bangladesh, who pushed South Africa in their opening game, made another encouraging start. Shamima Sultana and Fargana Hoque added 59 for the first wicket in little more than nine overs. They were parted when Sultana was well held by Lea Tahuhu, running in from the leg-side boundary, from the off-spin of Frankie MacKay. Although Hoque went on to make 52, Bangladesh were kept in check by 3-25 from Amy Satterthwaite. Former captain Bates led the chase, playing on her home ground in an international for the first time in a 16-year career. Bates also became only the sixth player to pass 1,000 runs in Women's World Cups as she shared an unbroken stand of 108 with Kerr. Women's World Cup, Dunedin Bangladesh 140-8 (27 overs): Hoque 52 (63), Sattherthwaite 3-25 New Zealand 144-1 (20 overs): Bates 79* (68), A Kerr 47* (37) New Zealand won by nine wickets Scorecard https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/60630169

When Svitlana Maksymenko's train pulled into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, about halfway through her 800-mile journey from home to safety, people pushed onto every part of the carriage, she said, grasping for their own escape route west. Some abandoned their luggage. Some begged to get on. "They were on their knees on the platform," Maksymenko said. "There was no room. There were people standing in every space, in every gangway, there were five people on every bed." Maksymenko's journey began in Kharkiv, an eastern city that has been heavily shelled by Russian forces, and stopped, for now, in Lviv, a picturesque western city about 50 miles from the Polish border with a grand central station that has become a waypoint for hundreds of thousands of refugees. In almost every corner of the station concourse over the weekend, in the waiting rooms, the underpasses and all along the platforms, there were people taking shelter, sleeping, anxiously waiting, rushing for trains. There were tense moments as volunteer stewards tried to hold back the crowds of people massed at entry gates, fearful of missing their chance to escape. Women with children wept with the stress, clutching their passports and family birth certificates in one hand and their children in the other. Outside the station, there were tearful goodbyes as fighting-age men, banned from leaving Ukraine, stopped and let their families go, unsure if they would ever see them again. By the time she reached Lviv, Maksymenko had been on the train with her parents-in-law and three-year-old daughter for 26 hours. Some reported longer journeys. Maksymenko was a drop in a river of people that began flowing into Lviv when Russia invaded and swelled over the past few days as Russian forces escalated their campaign of bombing against Ukrainian civilians. "We estimate 30,000 people arrived on Thursday, 100,000 people on Friday and at least a 100,000 more on Saturday," said Viktoria Khrystenko, a Lviv city council official helping to manage the influx of refugees. "We are doing our best to cope but we have never seen anything like this," she said. "We are expecting more people. It might be millions. It's a disaster. These people have nothing, just one bag because they had only three minutes to run and save their lives." Lviv station was heaving with people on Friday night, thinning only slightly as trains departed for Poland before filling again with new arrivals from the bombed-out cities in the north, east, and south of Ukraine. Outside, Kolya, 46, was standing with tears streaming down his face, watching his wife and two teenage daughters walk away from him. "I hope they will make it safely to Europe, I want so badly to be with them," he said. "This is as far as I can go." Ukraine has banned men aged 16-60 from leaving the country, unless they have a disability or three children under 18. They are stopped in document checks at the station or at border crossing points further west. Kolya had stood for 10 hours on the train from Kyiv to ensure his family reached Lviv safely, he said, and now he would make the same journey back to join his 19-year-old son and his brothers in the fight against Russia. "I will go back to Kyiv and defend my city. It is my home," he said. "How, I don't know - I have asked them for a gun, but how will I protect my city from missiles with a gun?" Kolya's wife and children would press on to Poland, whose government has sent trains and buses to bring people from Ukraine into its country, sparing tens of thousands of refugees traumatic journeys to the border and long waits to cross by foot. By Sunday, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians had crossed into Poland, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands more were on the move inside Ukraine. Amid the chaos in the station at Lviv, volunteers and fellow travellers helped the very young and the very old, carrying pushchairs and suitcases up and down the stairs to the platforms, marshalling children to rooms upstairs where they could get a hot meal, and helping the elderly wherever they could. "Physically it was very hard for me of course, people were pushing very hard," said Dusia Kostiuk, 91, who boarded a train in Kharkiv at 9pm on Friday, arrived in Lviv at midnight on Saturday, and spent the next 15 hours in a queue at the station to move on Poland. "Our house was still there when we left but shelling was happening all around and we were told that terrible shelling is happening there now," Kostiuk said. "We didn't take anything with us, I took two dresses and that's it. "I was born and raised in Kharkiv. I didn't really travel before, I don't like to travel. I never thought I would leave my home like this." Many of those arriving in Lviv, like Kostiuk, stay in the station until they can board a train to Poland - some bedding down for a night or longer in any free corner. The air inside the grand waiting rooms and gangways was thick with the heat and odour of a mass of people who have been on the move for many days. Those who cannot move straight on to Poland head out into the city looking for temporary shelter. At a small theatre in Lviv's historic old town, 20 beds had been arranged for those who needed to spend up to three nights in the city before they can leave. Olha Adamenko, 32, arrived there on Sunday evening with her husband and sick two-year-old daughter. They had driven over four days from Kyiv, stopping in shelters along the way. But the shelter in the theatre was already at capacity and it was not clear whether there was going to be a bed there for her that night, the staff said. It was a problem many would face that night, according to Khyrstenko, the city official, who said all of the roughly 20,000 temporary beds in the city were already taken. At the theatre, Adam Yemchenko, a volunteer, was preparing to turn people away. "Most people arrive later than this but people getting to us tonight won't get a bed, we will have to send them somewhere else," he said. "Some will carry straight on to the border but they face an eight hour wait there in the cold." This was the choice facing Adamenko, as she sat down inside the small theatre foyer looking tired and stressed. She stopped to breastfeed her daughter, who was restless and tearful. Her husband would soon have to leave them here in Lviv and travel back to Kyiv to join the territorial defence forces. She asked the volunteers at the shelter how to reach the Polish border by bus and which were the best border crossings. "Maybe we will go tonight," she said. But she was worried, there were long queues at the crossing points and it was the depth of winter. "I heard people are queuing outside there during the day but at night locals take them into their homes, but I don't know if it is true," she said. "I am worried about the baby, she is sick and tired." Adamenko was also starting to worry more about her husband. She thought their local defence battalion on the outskirts of Kyiv would be relatively safe, but heavy fighting surrounded it over the weekend in the districts of Bucha and Irpin. "Maybe that means the Russians will go through our neighbourhood next," she said. As night fell, Adamenko and her husband left the theatre and walked into Lviv with directions to another shelter, where if she could find a bed they would part - one on to safety abroad, one back to danger at home. Later on Sunday night, at the station, many thousands more people were still arriving and departing. They formed queues that were as orderly as possible under the circumstances and continued to help each other. Volunteers bustled through the crowds with trays made from cardboard boxes, handing out tea and snacks in plastic cups. At the same time, Viktoria Khrystenko, the city council official, was driving her own three children to the Polish border. They had left on Sunday morning and by early Monday morning they had been in the car nearly 24 hours through the bitterly cold night. Eventually they crossed in to Poland and Khrystenko left her children with relatives and began the long return journey to Lviv. As she drove, she wept. "I'm sorry, I'm emotional because I didn't sleep at all," she said. "I had a task to take my kids to a safe place across the border and I have done that, so now I need to go back to Lviv and continue to help." Khrystenko was born here in Lviv. She had never been more proud of its people, she said. They were "ready to give away their last package of buckwheat or can of food" to help others. "We have only one Ukraine and we need to save it," she said. She hung up and drove on, headed for her three-room apartment in the city, where there were 17 women and children from all over Ukraine resting after long journeys to Lviv. She had taken home as many people from the station as she could, she said. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60645126

The latest wireless headphones from the Swedish company Urbanista hide an ingenious solution to battery life woes: solar charging. The Los Angeles cost £169 ($199/A$349) and look no different from a normal set of headphones, apart from a flexible Powerfoyle solar cell on top of the headband. Fairly compact with simple, clean lines, they are available in either black or gold, the first of which helps the solar strip blend in the most. They feel solid and well made with a soft-touch finish, but are slightly heavier than the market-leading Sony 1000XM4. The headband is well padded, but they have some serious clamping force on the sides of your head, requiring a bit of stretching out on first wear. But at least they don’t move around when worn. The Los Angeles are standard Bluetooth 5.0 headphones supporting the universal SBC and AAC audio formats used by most devices, and maintained a solid connection to various Apple and Android devices. The right ear cup has three buttons for controlling playback and volume. Taking off the headphones also pauses the music. The left ear cup has a button for adjusting the noise-cancelling functions and a USB-C port for charging. They lack a 3.5mm headphone socket for using them without Bluetooth, which is irritating for use on a plane. But where the headphones really stand out is through battery life. Without the solar charging the headphones last a tremendous 80 hours on battery (50 hours with ANC on), which is far longer than most competitors. But the solar charging makes them last almost indefinitely unless you only use them in a darkened room. When the battery charge drops below 90%, the solar strip tops it up when exposed to sufficient sun or artificial light. In my time testing the battery never dropped below 50%, topping them up by leaving the headband facing a window when not in use. Specifications Weight: 320g Drivers: 40mm Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C and solar charging Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC Battery life: 50/80 hours ANC on/off Urbanista estimates that the battery will maintain in excess of 80% of its original capacity for more than 300 full charge cycles, but it is not replaceable nor are the headphones repairable, ultimately making them disposable. The headphones do not contain any recycled materials. The company does not offer trade-in or recycling, nor does it publish environmental impact assessments. The headphones have active noise-cancelling, which works well enough to dampen the drone of a plane engine or road noise, but struggles with higher pitched tones such as fans or speech. They beat most cheaper headphones but won’t trouble some of the market leaders, making them about right for the price. The ambient sound mode is fairly good too, allowing you to listen out for announcements or traffic, but struggles with wind noise. The headphones have a reasonably wide and expansive sound that handles tracks with plenty of energy. But the sound is skewed to the low end with plenty of well-controlled, punchy bass producing lower notes than most headphones can manage. Treble and high tones are pretty good, but will get squashed by the bass. There is no equaliser available to manually turn it down, sadly. Feed them some high energy electronica and they sound great, but less so with classical music or more nuanced tracks. Activating the noise-cancelling makes them sound slightly less wide, expansive and energetic. The announcements made when you switch on the headphones or change modes are too loud and can be quite shocking if you’re listening in a quiet space. Call quality is average with my end of the conversation sounding a little robotic even in quiet environments. The ear cups rotate to be flat and slide in the case, but do not fold up for travel. The Urbanista Los Angeles are the first solar-charging headphones on the market and deliver on one thing above all else: almost limitless battery life. If you use them in bright environments you may only have to charge them once or twice a year, or not at all if they’re left facing daylight when not in use, which is remarkable. And they manage this solar feat while looking like a regular, tidy set of headphones. They sound good, but very bass-heavy with no adjustments available. The noise-cancelling is reasonable, but can’t touch market leaders. The Bluetooth connection and controls are good, but they lack a 3.5mm analogue headphones socket and crushed my ears a little.

What is FTTX and what are its variations? First up, let’s clarify that FTTX itself appears in two formats: FTTX or FTTx. However, they both mean the same thing and that’s ‘Fiber to the X’, which is a collective term for all the various fiber delivery methods. ADSL (or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is the more traditional, wired cable method of internet that uses electric signals. Fiber, on the other hand, uses light to transmit signals to the ‘X’ which represents a particular object, for example, a home or end-user premise. FTTX is a central component of what’s called Next-Generation Access or NGA, which is the evolution of broadband infrastructure towards faster speeds and Quality of Service (QoS), something that’s obviously crucial with the increasing adoption of IoT, VoIP and even blockchain technology. Old copper-based networks are fast being replaced with FTTX all across the world, mainly because of speed and capacity issues. FTTX is essentially faster and can cope with a lot more traffic. It’s also able to transmit data at higher transmission rates and with more consistent connectivity, something we’re all more than happy to hear! What are the benefits of FTTX? We've listed the best VoIP services and best VoIP headsets available for businesses to help give you a head start in your search. Why not also take a look at our po[CENSORED]r RingCentral VoIP services review or Nextiva vs RingCentral VoIP comparison? Or, if you're just starting out with VoIP learn the difference between VoIP and PBX. On a more technical level, it not only provides long-distance signal transmission and immunity against electromagnetic interference, but it also operates at a lower overall energy consumption too. Again, music to many a business’ ear! When it comes to ‘Fiber to the Home’ (FTTH) in particular, what’s essentially happening is that you’re moving fiber closer to the user, allowing for traffic bottlenecks to be almost eliminated. Some analysts even claim that the maintenance costs are much, much lower than for the copper network too – which makes the network suppliers happy as well. FTTP architecture and acronyms explained FTTP ‘Fiber to the Premises’ (FTTP) is possibly the most common acronym of them all – not to be confused with its smaller cousin, ‘FTP’, which stands for something completely different, ‘File Transfer Protocol’. FTTH One of the forms of FTTP is FTTH – ‘Fiber to the Home’, where the cabling runs directly from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the individual home. With FTTH, fiber is essentially reaching all the way to the living space and is becoming increasingly used for your home broadband set-up. FTTB The business equivalent of FTTH is, of course, FTTB – ‘Fiber to the Building’, although this can also represent apartment buildings too. Here, the optical cable terminates at the building’s main communication room. Individual units within the building are then usually served via leveraging the existing wiring. FTTR FTTR – ‘Fiber to the Room’ – extends the FTTB set-up to overcome the physical limitations of the network cable. It uses what’s known as a ‘master and slave’ optical router and can deliver high-speed gigabit broadband directly to the users. FTTC architecture and acronyms explained FTTC FTTC (‘Fiber to the Curb’ or ‘Fiber to the Cabinet’) represents the other main type of FTTX, as the cabling usually terminates within about a few hundred yards of the end premises. FTTC is not strictly ‘fiber’ end-to-end as the fiber itself only runs to the curb or cabinet and then the more traditional copper ethernet cable connects from the curb to the final location. FTTC is similar to FTTN (coming next!), but fewer customers are served from each location. FTTN Lesser known is FTTN, or ‘Fiber to the Node’, often also called ‘Fiber to the Neighborhood’. Like FTTN, the optical fiber ends in a cabinet a few miles from the customer premises, with the remaining cabling being copper. Advertisement So, to recap, FTTX refers to all types of fiber infrastructure. FTTP goes all the way to the premises and includes FTTH, FTTB and FTTR. FTTC, which is very similar to FTTN, goes only partway, with copper cabling usually doing the rest. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to generalize about the installation process for FTTX, as every system is unique. It therefore has to be designed for the location it’s serving, with components and installation methods optimized accordingly. Your supplier is best placed to advise you on what systems are available and how or if they can be customized for enhanced speed and lower costs. When it comes to FTTH, most of these networks are based on a Passive Optical Network (PON) and are made up of the following components: A ‘feeder’ cable. An Optical Line Terminal (OLT). A Central Office (CO). A Fiber Distribution Hub (FDH). An Optical Network Terminal (ONT). Steps to set up an FTTX 1. Measure accurately. We all know the old adage – ‘measure twice, cut once’! The same goes for fiber cabling. You’ll need to measure and record the full length of the system with a measuring wheel. 2. Adjust duct width. Depending on how many fiber ‘feeder’ cables you have, you’ll then need to adjust your duct width accordingly. 3. Feed fiber cabling. Once adjusted, you’ll need to roll the feeder fiber off the supply wheel and feed it into the duct. Advertisement 4. Align and position. Align the cabling outside the middle handholes in the shape of a figure eight. Position your alignment markers in the center of the handholes and place any required slack back into the handhole itself. 5. Release and coil. When you’re happy that the cable is properly aligned, release and coil the tether in the handhole. 6. Locate your terminal. Position your ONT and select the terminal fiber count. Remove any dust caps and connect the tether to the terminal tail. 7. Place and accept. Finally, place your terminal and slack in the handhole and you’re ready to accept drop cables for customer connections! If you’re looking to go a step further and set up an FTTX network, then you’ll want to start with careful design and planning. Consideration needs to be given to the quantity and location of your users, the fiber distribution and access points, existing utilities, and the architectural elements such as the PON technologies to be included in the design. Detailed architectural designs then need to be drawn up to account for splice locations, precise distribution patterns and loss budget calculations. Incorrect splicing, contaminated connectors or microbends can lead to optical loss and decreased QoS. A construction certification plan implemented with Test Process Automation can help to mitigate these risks.