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Trilobites were a group of marine animals with half-moon-like heads that resembled horseshoe crabs, and they were wildly successful in terms of evolution. Though they are now extinct, they survived for more than 250 million years -- longer than the dinosaurs. Thanks to new technologies and an extremely rare set of fossils, scientists from UC Riverside can now show that trilobites breathed oxygen and explain how they did so. Published in the journal Science Advances, these findings help piece together the puzzle of early animal evolution. "Up until now, scientists have compared the upper branch of the trilobite leg to the non-respiratory upper branch in crustaceans, but our paper shows, for the first time, that the upper branch functioned as a gill," said Jin-Bo Hou, a UCR paleontology doctoral student who led the research. Among the oldest animals on earth, this work helps situate trilobites on the evolutionary tree more securely in between older arthropods, a large group of animals with exoskeletons, and crustaceans. The research was possible, in part, because of unusually preserved fossil specimens. There are more than 22,000 trilobite species that have been discovered, but the soft parts of the animals are visible in only about two dozen. "These were preserved in pyrite -- fool's gold -- but it's more important than gold to us, because it's key to understanding these ancient structures," said UCR geology professor and paper co-author Nigel Hughes. A CT scanner was able to read the differences in density between the pyrite and the surrounding rock and helped create three-dimensional models of these rarely seen gill structures. "It allowed us to see the fossil without having to do a lot of drilling and grinding away at the rock covering the specimen," said paleontologist Melanie Hopkins, a research team member at the American Museum of Natural History. "This way we could get a view that would even be hard to see under a microscope -- really small trilobite anatomical structures on the order of 10 to 30 microns wide," she said. For comparison, a human hair is roughly 100 microns thick. Though these specimens were first described in the late 1800s and others have used CT scans to examine them, this is the first study to use the technology to examine this part of the animal. The researchers could see how blood would have filtered through chambers in these delicate structures, picking up oxygen along its way as it moved. They appear much the same as gills in modern marine arthropods like crabs and lobsters. Comparing the specimens in pyrite to another trilobite species gave the team additional detail about how the filaments were arranged relative to one another, and to the legs. Most trilobites scavenged the ocean floor, using spikes on their lower legs to catch and grind prey. Above those parts, on the upper branch of the limbs, were these additional structures that some believed were meant to help with swimming or digging. "In the past, there was some debate about the purpose of these structures because the upper leg isn't a great location for breathing apparatus," Hopkins said. "You'd think it would be easy for those filaments to get clogged with sediment where they are. It's an open question why they evolved the structure in that place on their bodies." The Hughes lab uses fossils to answer questions about how life developed in response to changes in Earth's atmosphere. Roughly 540 million years ago, there was an explosive diversification in the variety and complexity of animals living in the oceans. "We've known theoretically this change must have been related to a rise in oxygen, since these animals require its presence. But we have had very little ability to measure that," Hughes said. "Which makes findings like these all the more exciting."

SAN RAMON, Calif. — The executive who steered the transformation of Google's self-driving car project into a separate company worth billions of dollars is stepping down after more than five years on the job. John Krafcik announced his departure as CEO of Waymo, a company spun out from Google, in a Friday blog post that cited his desire to enjoy life as the world emerges from the pandemic. “I'm looking forward to a refresh period, reconnecting with old friends and family, and discovering new parts of the world," Krafcik, 59, wrote. Two of Krafcik's top lieutenants will replace him as co-CEOs. Dmitri Dolgov, who has been working on self-driving cars since Waymo began within Google in 2009, will focus on the technology for the autonomous vehicles. Tekedra Mawakana, a lawyer who had been Waymo's chief operating officer, will handle the business side of the operation. Krafcik will remain an adviser to Waymo, a company that has established itself as the clear leader in autonomous driving since Google hired him in 2015. Not long after that, Google's self-driving division morphed into Waymo, a company owned by Alphabet, which is also Google's parent. Under Krafcik's leadership, Waymo forged partnerships with several major automakers and launched the first ride-hailing service to pick up passengers without a driver or anyone else in the vehicles. That service, called Waymo One, only operates in the Phoenix metropolitan area, but Waymo plans to expand into other markets as the company continues to refine a technology that is expected to transform the auto industry. Waymo's inroads have left it with an estimated market value of about $30 billion, based on analyst estimates made last year after the company raised $2.25 billion in its first round of investments from outside Alphabet. Waymo subsequently received $1 billion from outside investors. But last year's estimated $30 billion valuation was down dramatically from 2018 when a Morgan Stanley research report estimated Waymo was worth about $175 billion. The huge swing reflects the challenges of building self-driving cars that can navigate the roads safely while still dealing with traditional vehicles under the control of humans. That task has proven far more difficult than Waymo and dozens of other companies working on self-driving technology envisioned five or six years ago. For all its progress in autonomous driving, Waymo isn't believed to have ever made money during Krafcik's reign. Waymo doesn't disclose its financial results. It operates within an segment of Alphabet called “Other Bets" that includes several other far-flung projects financed by the huge profits generated from Google's digital advertising empire. Alphabet's “Other Bets" have lost nearly $13 billion during the past three years.

Given the prospect of once again visiting people for whom we want to make more of an effort, my mind turns to how the past year might have changed our grooming habits. Doubtless many will relish the opportunity to trowel on makeup, enjoy colour again and feel different as we come out of lockdown. But every day? Even if people return to full-time office life, I’m not convinced. We may have been in tracksuits and moisturiser too long to return to rigid waistbands and 10 different makeup products. With this in mind, I’ve been testing sticks that claim to enhance eyes, cheeks and lips in just a few strokes. Live Tinted’s Huestick (£22.50/3g) is among the most hyped products on Instagram, and it’s a compelling package: one stick of flattering colour (choose from nine: I got Perk, a peachy pink) acting as dark-circle corrector, eyeshadow, blusher and lipstick, for women of all skin tones. It mostly delivers. I found the texture creamy on the skin, but it remained firm in the tube and in situ wherever I blended it. Application is kid’s stuff: stroke straight from the stick and pat with fingers. There’s no shade light enough to correct dark circles on paler white skin, but the market is already awash with products for that. A solid 3/4 for white women and 4/4 for most brown and black women is a pretty great performance overall. I wondered if an old favourite, Milk Makeup’s Mini Lip + Cheek £13/6g) could diversify into eye makeup. It, too, fared very well. The pinky Werk shade (one of five) is dusty and muted enough to avoid looking mouse-like, and it’s the most moisturising of the three here (all are vegan).

One of Britain’s foremost historians of slavery has accused the authors of a controversial racial disparities report commissioned by Downing Street of giving the impression they would prefer “history to be swept under the carpet”. Broadcaster David Olusoga, professor of public history at Manchester University, made the comments in an article for the Guardian, as hundreds of experts on race, education, health and economics joined the criticism of the report for brazenly misrepresenting evidence of racism. Published in full on Wednesday, the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said its findings presented “a new race agenda for the country”, and concluded the “claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence”. MPs, unions and campaigners swiftly condemned the report, with comments made by the commission’s chairman, Dr Tony Sewell, in its foreword singled out for special criticism. Sewell wrote there was a new story to be told about the “slave period” not just “about profit and suffering”, but about how “culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain”. “Shockingly, the authors – perhaps unwittingly – deploy a version of an argument that was used by the slave owners themselves in defence of slavery 200 years ago: the idea that by becoming culturally British, black people were somehow beneficiaries of the system,” Olusoga wrote in a Guardian article. “Determined to privilege comforting national myths over hard historical truths, they give the impression of being people who would prefer this history to be brushed back under the carpet,” he added, describing the report as Britain’s version of the “1776 report” commissioned by the Trump administration, which urged the US to return to an era of “patriotic education”. Hakim Adi, professor of the history of Africa and the African diaspora at the University of Chichester, told the Guardian that the report’s foreword failed to make clear that the subjugation of millions of African people was a crime against humanity. “It is forgetting the hundreds of years of the crimes against the African people, the deaths of millions of African men, women and children,” said Adi. “We live in a country where [many] have denied this as a reality, they have refused to make any reparation, and for this report to put it in a paragraph in that manner – the word insulting does not do it justice.” The British theologian Robert Beckford said it was consistent with the radical and “historical amnesia and vicious historical revisionism” of Caribbean and African history by the far right. Beckford, professor of Black theology at the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, said the report had reduced slavery’s racial terror and Britain’s racial capitalism to a simple exchange of cultural ideas. Responding to the criticism, Sewell said: “It is absurd to suggest that the commission is trying to downplay the evil of the slave trade. It is both ridiculous and offensive to each and every commissioner. The report merely says that, in the face of the inhumanity of slavery, African people preserved their humanity and culture.” The commission behind the report was set up by Downing Street to investigate racial disparities in the UK in response to the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. The report drew further criticism on Friday from hundreds of UK academics who came together to sign an open letter criticising its “selective and distorted use of academic research”. While the report claims education was “the single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience”, the letter’s signatories said it had “completely overlooked the substantial base of evidence in educational research that has shown how structural, institutional and direct racism works in and through schools, universities and other sites of education”. Those involved had a “limited knowledge of education research”, the letter writers said, adding that research was cited so as “to present simplistic understandings of education and divisive views of ethnic minority groups”. “The report misrepresents, omits and elides longstanding and nuanced academic debate and evidence about the complex relationship between racism and educational practices, cultures, policies, and systems,” they added. Signatories to the letter included Arathi Sriprakash, professor of education at the University of Bristol, who said they came from a variety of disciplines within educational research – including psychology, sociology and economics – and many were leading and respected figures in the field.

Name of the game: Disco Elysium - The Final Cut Price: 31.99$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 9 April Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 11 compatible video card (integrated or dedicated with min 512MB memory) DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 20 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7/8/10 Processor: Intel Core i7 or AMD 1800 equivalent Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce 1060 or equivalent DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 20 GB available space

Game Information: Initial release date: September 4, 2020. Software Developer: Vicarious Visions. Publisher: Activision. Platform: PlayStation 4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, in case you weren't aware, is an excellent remake of the first two games in the legendary series. It originally launched last year on PlayStation 4, and it's a fantastic reimagining of these skateboarding classics. While it looked great on the older hardware, Activision has seen fit to develop and release a PS5 version, taking advantage of all the new bells and whistles. So, how is it? Well, first of all, it's still a cracking arcadey sports game. No matter where you play it, the remake revitalises the seminal franchise by folding in all the gameplay tweaks from subsequent releases, meaning it plays like a dream. There's an old-school charm to it all; it's quite a challenge, and the objectives in each level are refreshingly simple. The title also adds in original content in the form of new objectives, hundreds of unique challenges, and a revamped Create A Park mode, as well as decent online multiplayer. As for PS5-specific enhancements, the thing you'll notice most is the DualSense feedback. The game makes good use of the controller's haptics — you feel every landing, ollie, and grind, giving the experience a more tactile feel. The adaptive triggers are only really used when performing reverts, but there's a satisfying resistance as you do so. Elsewhere, the game runs flawlessly at 4K and 60 frames-per-second, although we did run into one random crash during our testing. We should also mention the game makes good use of Activity Cards, allowing you to hop straight into Free Skate, multiplayer, and other modes, skipping the usual title screens. Oh, and the loading times are definitely reduced, though not completely eliminated. Overall, we'd say this is a decent upgrade that makes effective use of PS5's capabilities. However, if you're yet to grab Sony's new machine, the PS4 version will serve you just fine until you do. For a more in-depth look at the game itself, read our more comprehensive Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 PS4 review. Only Via PlayStation.

It looks like Nvidia has found at least one buyer for its recently announced Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) graphics cards. An order worth $30 million has been placed with the graphics card maker for an unconfirmed quantity of mining GPUs, which are said to deliver 1,600GH/s in extra mining oomph for their new owner. The order was placed by Hut 8 Mining Corp., Tom's Hardware reports, who is a large crypto mining company that focuses on the top coin of today, Bitcoin. Business is evidently booming. Although perhaps Bitcoin's recent $60,000 valuation made that clear enough. The exact mix of GPUs that Hut 8 has ordered is unknown, but it has just four to choose from: the CMP 30HX, 40HX, 50HX, and 90HX. Those numbers roughly match the hash rates on offer with these cards, and while the GPUs in each one has not been revealed—it's all very hush hush all-round—it's suspected that only the 90HX is of the latest Ampere generation. Hut 8 says the new GPUs will be used primarily with alternative blockchain networks. Whatever the specification, too, $30 million is sure to buy a lot of them. While Nvidia hasn't named a price per card publicly, some back of the napkin maths would suggest that's roughly 18,600 of the top CMP chip, or over 35,000 of the purported Turing chip, to hit 1,600GH/s. At least by Nvidia's rated speeds. That works out at over $1,600 per card if it were just the 90HX alone, which seems steep, but I suppose where else are you supposed to buy graphics cards by the tens of thousands right now? Nvidia holds all the cards (pun intended). Hut 8 will not utilise these GPUs for Bitcoin mining, however. Bitcoin has long been dominated by ASICs, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits, which are now capable of hash rates upwards of 100TH/s. GPUs instead are useful for ASIC-resistant networks, such as Ethereum, and manage anything from a couple MH/s to 100MH/s. “We are incredibly excited to have these high performance CMPs in our fleet," says Jaime Leverton, CEO of Hut 8. "We believe mining with CMPs will open up new opportunities for Hut 8 and will allow us to continue to execute on our long- and short-term plans for increased and diversified revenue streams.” It's said the order will begin to be fulfilled through May 2021, and "completed this summer."

Apple has begun warning iOS developers that it will reject apps containing advertising SDKs that use data from the device to create unique identifiers, or fingerprints, in preparation for the upcoming release of iOS 14.5. Fingerprinting code of this sort is used by marketers for ad-related tracking, a practice Apple aims to curtail in its next iOS update. iOS 14.5 is expected to implement Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, which has been delayed for months due to the objections of large advertisers like Facebook. ATT brings with it an App Store rule change that requires developers to implement an app-tracking authorization request to ask users to opt-in to being tracked and having their data collected. Facebook and Google have both warned that giving people this privacy choice will mean less ad revenue for publishers, not to mention their share of it. Apple's developer guidelines were expanded in late January explicitly to disallow fingerprinting in apps that "reference SDKs (including but not limited to Ad Networks, Attribution services and Analytics)." The fingerprinting ban and other pending privacy rule changes were discussed back at the company's June 2020 developer conference. Enforcement of those rules has now expanded to cover device-derived fingerprinting. On Friday, Paul Müller, CEO of mobile analytics biz Adjust, said Apple had started enforcing its ATT restrictions. "Our SDK was one that was flagged because it had code that Apple indicated as being in violation of their guidelines," he said in a blog post. "This code was in the SDK to collect information for our fraud prevention suite." Müller said a compliant version of the Adjust SDK, v4.28, has been released and advised customers to ensure they've revised their apps to incorporate the updated code. He further suggests that Apple's ban of the Adjust SDK arose from iOS app reviewers who identified object references or symbols (e.g. NSFileManager) that Adjust added to its SDK to combat spoofing but weren't exposed for customer usage. "Apple saw these symbols and flagged them because they were similar to symbols being used in other SDKs that together could be used to create a persistent ID, even if a user didn’t consent," he explained, insisting that while other ad tech firms may have been misusing the symbols, Adjust never used them for crafting an identifier. In any event, the objectionable object references have been removed from the Adjust SDK, he said. Other companies flirt more openly with defiance, though they stop short of rebellion, which would accomplish little given Apple's near-absolute control over its iOS ecosystem. According to the Financial Times, Snap has explored options for bypassing Apple's privacy rules for its Snapchat messaging app. Snap, it's claimed, sought to use data from third-party companies to identify people who responded to ad campaigns in the hope its developers could cross-reference data like IP addresses with its own information to track app users via a fingerprinting technique called "probabilistic matching." However, when asked about this by the Financial Times, Snap insisted it supports Apple's guidelines and believes advertising should respect consumer privacy. We reached out to Snap for comment but we've not heard back. The Chinese Advertising Association, meanwhile, has developed an identifier called the China Anonymization ID, or CAID, that it hopes will provide the tracking capability lost through iOS 14.5's privacy protections. Apple reportedly has warned developers in China not to flout its rules. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Apple's smartphone rival Google is also taking steps to improve privacy in its Android ecosystem. The ad biz recently issued a Google Play policy update that restricts availability of an API in Android 11 (API level 30) called QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES. The API returns a list of apps installed on the queried device, which Google now considers to be a high-risk permission. "Play regards the device inventory of installed apps queried from a user’s device as personal and sensitive information, and use of the permission is only permitted when your app's core user facing functionality or purpose, requires broad visibility into installed apps on the user’s device," Google's support document explains. To use this permission, apps must provide either device search, antivirus, file management, or browsing functions and must sufficiently justify and disclose the use of the API.

Full warranty information is out for the Rivian R1T and R1S. This wouldn’t be news for most cars, but since Rivian is a brand new car company and its vehicles are electric, there’s reason for some comparing and contrasting. Starting with the basics, the full bumper-to-bumper warranty is good for a very normal 5-year/60,000-mile term. That’s consistent with many new cars today, but we’ll point out that Tesla’s similar warranty is only a 4-year/50,000-mile warranty. The one you’re likely most interested in is the battery pack warranty. Rivian says that “all components inside the high-voltage battery” are warrantied for 8 years or 175,000 miles. Additionally, Rivian says the coverage includes retaining a usable battery capacity of 70% or more in the same amount of time or miles. If your Rivian battery doesn’t make it, the company will replace it. Tesla will also give you 8 years of coverage for the same battery retention, but the number of miles varies. You get as many as 150,000 miles with the Model S or Model X, and as little as 100,000 miles with the Model 3 Standard Range. All other Model 3 and Model Y versions offer 120,000 miles. Rivian also includes a longer warranty for drivetrain components that is good for 8 years or 175,000 miles. By contrast, Tesla’s drivetrain component warranty is good for the same amount as the models’ respective battery retention warranties were good for (all listed in the paragraph above). Lastly, there’s a perforation warranty that covers the aluminum body panels for eight years/unlimited miles. If you purchase Rivian’s wall charger, it comes with a five-year warranty. You’re allowed to transfer the vehicle warranty to a new owner, but Rivian says you should contact its customer service department to determine what is transferable at sale. As for potential instances of having your warranty voided, Rivian says that could happen “due to improper maintenance, service or repair.” The company says it doesn’t require all service to be done at a Rivian-authorized repair facility, but doesn’t offer any promises with its warranty if you pursue that path. If you want to get into the nitty gritty, Rivian says it will have more details on warranty limitations at a later date.

Nearly a third of people who have been in hospital suffering from Covid-19 are readmitted for further treatment within four months of being discharged, and one in eight of patients dies in the same period, doctors have found. The striking long-term impact of the disease has prompted doctors to call for ongoing tests and monitoring of former coronavirus patients to detect early signs of organ damage and other complications caused by the virus. While Covid is widely known to cause serious respiratory problems, the virus can also infect and damage other organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys. Researchers at University College London, the Office for National Statistics, and the University of Leicester, compared medical records of nearly 48,000 people who had had hospital treatment for Covid and had been discharged by 31 August 2020, with records from a matched control group of people in the general po[CENSORED]tion. The records were used to track rates of readmission, of deaths, and of diagnoses for a range of respiratory, heart, kidney, liver and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes. After an average follow-up time of 140 days, nearly a third of the Covid patients who had been discharged from hospital had been readmitted and about one in eight had died, rates considerably higher than seen in the control group. “This is a concern and we need to take it seriously,” said Dr Amitava Banerjee, at the Institute of Health Informatics at University College London. “We show conclusively here that this is very far from a benign illness. We need to monitor post-Covid patients so we can pick up organ impairment early on.” Unexplained symptoms that persist for more than four months are often described as “long Covid” or “post-Covid syndrome”, but doctors are still working out patterns of long-term organ damage that can be caused by the infection. New diagnoses of respiratory and heart disease and diabetes were all raised in the former Covid patients compared with the control group, as were problems with the function of multiple organs. The rate of multi-organ dysfunction after discharge was greater among patients under the age of 70 compared with those over 70, they found, and the rate was higher in ethnic minorities than in the white po[CENSORED]tion. The authors write in the BMJ: “The increase in risk was not confined to the elderly and was not uniform across ethnicities. The diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of post-Covid syndrome requires integrated rather than organ or disease specific approaches, and urgent research is needed to establish the risk factors. Our findings suggest that the long-term burden of Covid-19 related morbidity on hospitals and broader healthcare systems might be substantial.” The study revealed that while existing conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory illnesses put people at greater risk of severe Covid disease, the infection itself could cause such medical problems. “Until now we tended to think of heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes as risk factors for Covid patients, but these are also complications of Covid as well,” said Banarjee.

Iran’s foreign minister has taken to the social media forum Clubhouse to answer questions in front of 8,000 people, in a move regarded by some as showing an unprecedented degree of openness but denounced by others as a fix in which unwelcome queries were not permitted. Javad Zarif is the latest in a line of politicians to try out a medium that is proving increasingly po[CENSORED]r in Iran amid a growing demand for political debate and discussion. Although observers viewed Zarif’s presence as a further sign that he is testing the water prior to a potential run in the June presidential elections, he again swore he had no intention of standing and insisted he did not have the personal capabilities required. The session had been billed as focusing on the controversial 25-year agreement between Iran and China signed at the weekend, but the questions ranged wider with the foreign minister staying until after midnight – despite admitting his bedtime was usually 10pm. Zarif revealed he did not have an iPhone, and said: “I am not rich like the rest of you and I only managed to get the beta software that allows Androids to use Clubhouse two hours ago.” The software has been downloaded 20,000 times in Iran, since iPhones are beyond the reach of most ordinary Iranians. Afterwards, a lively debate took place on social media over the degree to which the discussion had been mani[CENSORED]ted to give an artificial sense of democratic participation. Some claimed Zarif answered challenging questions, including about Iran’s power structure, while others said those who participated had been carefully vetted in advance. There was particular anger that Farsi-speaking journalists working for overseas outlets were not allowed to ask questions. Defenders of the event pointed out that the New York Times and the US-based host of a well-regarded podcast on Iran did question Zarif. Farid Modarresi, the journalist that chaired the meeting, said afterwards opponents of the regime and the Farsi-language journalists working outside Iran had been barred from speaking, but this was a decision not taken by the ministry of foreign affairs. One critic, Gissou Nia, from the Atlantic Council, said on Twitter: “ … iPhone using elites posing questions to a potential candidate on Clubhouse is not an adequate substitute for free expression of actual political parties (which Iran does not have). CH convos are interesting but can give the appearance of free debate where there is none.” With suspicions rife that Iran had sold its sovereignty to China by signing a 25-year-long cooperation agreement, Zarif defended the deal, insisting it “does not create any obligation for either party”. Referring to the financial value of the deal, he said it “has no number”, and “does not cede any territory or even a point. There has been no pressure on the Iranian foreign ministry to sign the document.” He added that Iran was not seeking to look exclusively east, but wanted connections east and west. Zarif spent part of his time attacking a semi-fictional Iranian TV spy series called Gando, which implies some in the nuclear deal negotiating team were weak or spies. He said his life would have been easier if he was just allowed to get on with his job. He again insisted the US had to move its position for talks on Iran coming back into full compliance with the nuclear deal to start, but said the grounds existed for choreographed mutual compliance so long as Iran was able to verify US sanctions were being lifted. Joe Biden has hired Richard Nephew, an expert on Iran sanctions, and it is thought he is going through the painstaking process of classifying the sanctions so a sequenced and conditional lifting can take place in return for specific actions by Tehran to come back into compliance. Iran has reduced the level of inspections, increased its uranium stockpile, raised the level of enrichment and used increasingly sophisticated centrifuges. Informal indirect talks have been under way with the EU acting as mediators. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, spoke with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the start of the week. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said there were encouraging signs coming from the Biden administration. But there is growing frustration on the left of the Democratic party that Biden is delaying making any move for fear of alienating Congress, when urgency may be required as a result of the probability of a hardliner being brought in by the Iranian elections. Others argue that the politics of the next president is not critical since all major decisions are taken by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his circle.

Name of the game: Northgard Price: 11.99$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 6 April Requirements: MINIMUM: OS: Windows Vista or better Processor: Intel 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo or equivalent Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia 450 GTS / Radeon HD 5750 or better DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 1 GB available space Additional Notes: Minimum display resolution: 1366x768 RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 7 or better Processor: Intel i5 3.1 Ghz Quad core Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 660 / Radeon HD 7800 or better DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 1 GB available space Additional Notes: Recommended display resolution: 1440x900

Game Information: Initial release date: 30 Mar, 2021. Software Developer: Ghost Dog Films. Publisher: Wales Interactive. Platform: PlayStation 4, Windows Microsoft. While it might not be as compelling as its predecessor, Root Letter, Kadokawa Games’ follow-up visual novel Root Film is still worthy of your time. You’ll visit a bevy of locations and witness the culture of Shimane Prefecture while trying to solve an ever-increasing number of murders. As the title of the game suggests, it places a much greater emphasis on film and the craftsmanship that goes into it. Each of your two protagonists are intimately connected to the medium; Rintaro Yagumo is a little-known director looking for his big break, and Riho is an up-and-coming actress. Each of them possesses the skill dubbed "synesthesia" which allows the characters to memorise noteworthy clues to use in vocal sparring matches that conclude each chapter. Obviously, with a visual novel, there's an expectation of less in the way of traditional gameplay, which means areas like writing and art are required to do more of the heavy lifting. This is something Root Film more or less succeeds in. The art is splendid, with detailed character models and a robust roster of unique personalities. Environment design is even better, bringing a huge variety of places to life, all gorgeously stylised in a way that works especially well with nature shots. Although, conversations would benefit from more reaction shots when characters uncover important revelations. Everything feels a bit too static. However, the writing is a bit of a letdown. The character interactions are solid, and seeing their interplay is a delight. There’s also an impressive level of detail paid to the minutiae of film-making that we rarely see. Unfortunately, this level of care doesn’t touch all corners of the experience. The character's connection to the primary narrative is tenuous. Outside of the very first mystery, the protagonist's motivations for remaining involved in these murders don’t feel warranted. This is especially problematic when it comes to Rintaro’s chapters, which comprise the brunt of the game’s 15 or so hours. The writing is able to somewhat successfully sidestep this problem, through sheer force of intrigue, but it’s not wholly successful. The lack of agency doesn’t help either, as there's almost nothing for the player to do other than sit and read. This makes the experience feel barren, even by visual novel standards. This passivity allows for it to be the kind of experience you can do other things while playing, though the lack of a dub may leave some people feeling left out. Only via Playstation4.

Worldwide graphics card supply is a big ol' dumpster fire right now, and is likely to be the same for the foreseeable future. So finding any GPU in stock I guess can be called a win. But it's a damning indictment of just how bad the GPU crisis has gotten that rumours of Nvidia expanding the supply of the TU117-powered GTX 1650 to the desktop market are causing some excitement. Yay, a graphics card you might actually be able to buy, even if it's one you might not actually want to. The Turing GPU is the lowest spec silicon of the last generation, but was reportedly undersupplied to the desktop market, and skewed towards mobile because it was such a big seller in terms of budget gaming laptops. You can still buy a whole host of GTX 1650 notebooks right now, and they're fine, but comparatively slow next to the latest silicon. But that means the GPUs themselves are still getting manufactured in decent numbers and, given the dearth of desktop cards, it looks like Nvidia is starting to skew production the other way again in order to increase the supply of the chips into the desktop DIY market. The report suggests that the increased supply will take hold from April into May, delivering more GTX 1650 cards into the hands of budget PC gamers everywhere. And it likely will go into the hands of gamers, not because of some smart hash rate limiter, or some clever anti-miner retail shenanigans, but because it is—if you'll pardon the language—too shit for Ethereum mining. That 4GB framebuffer and the fact it will only get you some 16 MH/s at best, means it's not really ideal for mining. Even Nvidia's weakest CMP GPU offers 26 MH/s; that's a mining-focused card that looks like it's 100 percent based on the GTX 1660 Super silicon. Though I expect if someone wanted to buy tens of thousands GTX 1650 cards it could probably still turn a profit somewhere along the line, but that seems like a whole lot of effort. Still, tough to get too excited about the potential increase in supply of one desktop weakheart GPU. Well, unless your current card has died and you're entire rig is down because of it. But possibly the most depressing part of this depressing story is that the pricing for the GTX 1650 is actually going to be increased from its $150 origins. This story has come from Chinese media, however, so it's not totally guaranteed the extra desktop supply will happen globally, but we're all suffering so there's a good chance it will.

AWS has introduced the "interactive EC2 Serial Console", enabling troubleshooting of virtual machines when normal SSH access is not working, with one user gushing: "I have been waiting 10 years for this moment." The purpose of serial console access is to enable troubleshooting when an SSH connection is impossible, for example, because of an out-of-memory condition. "It provides a one-click, text-based access to an instances' serial port as though a monitor and keyboard were attached to it," said the AWS post. Previously, admins could see serial console logs, using the command get-console-output, but not enter any commands. Back in January 2011, a user reported on the AWS forum (login required) about a case where the console output was "Continue to wait; or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery." Unfortunately, "there is no way for me to hit 'S'," he said. Reasons he gave for requiring the interactive console feature included when boot failed and the SSH daemon did not start, errors configuring the firewall or network which blocked all access, broken networking on the instance, or denial-of-service attacks. This person was building a base instance for a system image, which is the kind of case where fatal errors are more likely. Admins confronted with an inaccessible EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) VM may have another option, which is to stop the instance, detach the storage, mount the storage on a working instance, and edit or recover the files from there. This is not always possible, though. If the VM uses instance type storage, this cannot be detached. It also requires interruption of service. "I had a customer once that erased their SSH keys, and had a running database cluster on EC2 that they couldn't get access to anymore. That was... fun," said a user on Hacker News, looking forward to the new feature.

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Nearly three-quarters of in-market buyers looking to buy within the next three months have started their search, while a third of these motorists have already contacted retailers about a vehicle, according to the latest research from What Car?. The results – part of What Car?’s latest weekly industry study of 2,758 in-market buyers – found 41.4% of customers are looking to buy between now and the end of June, suggesting demand is once more on the rise. Of those looking to buy within the next three months, 72.4% said they had already started researching deals on their next car, while 32.7% have contacted a dealer about a car they are interested in. What Car?’s research in March also reveals buyers are looking forward to taking test drives, in particular those after a new electric vehicle. The research of 1,029 in-market buyers found 59.7% of EV buyers were unwilling to buy an electric car without taking a test drive. In contrast, only 46.0% of petrol and diesel buyers regard a test drive as essential. What Car? also found that the pandemic has changed buyers’ attitudes to additional policies such as service packs and extended warranties in order to help spread out the costs of ownership. It’s research found, 29.1% of buyers are now more likely to buy a service plan, with 19.3% more likely to buy an extended warranty than before the pandemic. Even policies for wheel and tyre insurance and GAP protection saw a rise, with 4.5% now more likely to purchase wheel and tyre cover and 9.4% looking to protect their purchase with GAP insurance. Rachael Prasher, managing director, What Car?, said: “With less than two weeks before showrooms reopen, we’re seeing clear signs that buyers are increasing their activity in the market. From researching the latest deals to contacting retailers about vehicles and arranging test drives, this is the time retailers can lay the groundwork so they are in best position to take advantage of the demand that’s been building up over recent weeks, when the showroom doors finally open. “This means having adequate stock, actively engaging live leads and ensuring staff are fully up to date on the latest models and aftermarket offers available.”

When you think of boosting your immune system, you probably think of the usual staples used to combat colds. Orange juice, echinacea, and chicken soup are usually at the top of the list. But experts in several fields are suggesting a new addition to your immune support arsenal: sex. And likely not for the reason you think. It turns out that the most common things tanking our immune systems today is stress. Busy days, short nights, and pressure from every direction makes it harder for our bodies to stay healthy (via the American Psychological Association). Our bodies are so busy fighting the stress that they just don't have the resources to combat illness. This is where sex comes in. It's a great stress buster. Dr. Nicole Prause, a leading sex researcher at UCLA, spoke on this when interviewed by Women's Health in 2015. "Sex can get you to sleep and get your brain off what it's ruminating about." So what happens when your brain stops focusing on worry and stress? In most people, at least, the result is sleep. And that's a good thing. Our bodies need sleep to rest and recharge, which is part of why stress tanks our immune system (according to the National Sleep Foundation). When we're stressed, we don't sleep. Read More: https://www.healthdigest.com/370071/the-surprising-way-sex-can-benefit-your-immune-system/?utm_campaign=clip

Joe Biden’s dog Major has been involved in its second biting incident in a month, the White House has said. The dog “nipped someone while on a walk” on Monday, according to Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa. The animal “is still adjusting to his new surroundings”, he said. The individual was seen by the White House medical unit “out of an abundance of caution” and returned to work without injury. Reporters had seen Major on a walk around the White House south lawn before the president and first lady travelled to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial early on Monday evening. The German shepherd only returned to the White House last week, along with his older sibling Champ, after causing a minor injury to an employee of the US Secret Service on 8 March. The president said after the incident that Major was “a sweet dog”. He told ABC News the animal had “turned a corner, there’s two people he doesn’t know at all, you know, and they move … to protect”.

Name of the game: I Saw Black Clouds Price: 11.69$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 6 April Requirements: SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 32-bit Processor: Core i3 / AMD A6 2.4Ghz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 / AMD Radeon HD 5750. OpenGL 3.3 DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 14 GB available space RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 10 64-bit Processor: Core i5 / AMD A6 2.4Ghz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: ATI® Radeon™ M295X @ 2GB DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 14 GB available space

Game Information: Initial release date: 30 Mar, 2021. Software Developer: Ghost Dog Films. Publisher: Wales Interactive. Platform: PlayStation 4, Windows Microsoft. I Saw Black Clouds begins with a warning that tells you that the game features graphic depictions of suicide and then about four seconds later someone commits suicide. The deceased is a troubled girl named Emily and we move swiftly on to her funeral where we're introduced to Kristina and Charlotte who are determined to get to the bottom of why she did it. We play as Kristina, who is either English or Scottish depending on what scene you're in. This is a live action interactive psychological thriller in which real actors do real acting just like in a real movie, only you control the action by making the decisions. In terms of writing, acting, and special effects, I Saw Black Clouds isn't on a level with something you'd see in the cinema, or even late night on Channel 5, feeling more on a par with an elaborate end of year school play. If you think that's scant praise then you clearly never came to one of our school plays. The whole thing has a low budget feel to it, and not just because of the aforementioned acting or special effects. There's an awkward pause every time you have a decision to make which is totally understandable due to the nature of the title, but also inescapably distracting. The editing, too, could do with some work, as whenever you make choices the background music or conversations jarringly transition because you won't necessarily be watching the scenes in the order they were filmed. The story pans out differently depending on choices that you make, and it's actually quite impressive how wildly different the plot paths can be. While you're always going to be funnelled into one of a handful of endings, how you get there can be totally different. We played it three times and while two runs were pretty similar, one was roughly half-comprised of footage we'd never seen before, and the narrative went in a totally different direction. Ultimately, how much you enjoy I Saw Black Clouds is going to hinge on your appreciation level for schlocky horror and low-budget psychological thrillers. It's an amusing enough diversion, but the story may leave you unsatisfied depending on your route through the game, and there's nothing here that you haven't already seen in a dozen straight to DVD clangers starring Stephen Baldwin or Tara Reid. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: OS: Windows 10 64-bit. Processor: Core i5 / AMD A6 2.4Ghz. Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: ATI® Radeon™ M295X @ 2GB.. DirectX: Version 12. Storage: 14 GB available space.

Last year Nvidia was so concerned about the potential of AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT that it was prepared to not only nerf the sales of its GeForce RTX 3090 with a 20GB GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, but it was prepared to sacrifice fully-functional GA102 GPUs to do so. Luckily for Jen-Hsun, and those poor sacrificial GA102 lambs, the Radeon RX 6900 XT was a bit of a comparative triple-fan silicon dud, so Nvidia quickly killed all those initial RTX 3080 Ti plans. It is now seemingly dropping those GPUs into proper RTX 3090 cards, and one such chip has appeared under the cooler of a card a HardwareLuxx community member has picked up. That suggests the original Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti was so close to retail the green team had all the new, slightly cut-down GA102 GPUs freshly minted with 'GA-102-250' stamped on them. But what's a graphics card maker to do when it turns out they don't need to hack apart fully functional chips to deal with a powerful rival? Literally cross the old name out and stick those chips back under a GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition shroud, make a bunch more cash, and hope nobody notices. There were plenty of rumours about the 20GB version of the RTX 3080 Ti just after the launch of the first RTX 30-series cards. At the time it seemed odd that Nvidia might take such a step given that it would inevitably cannibalise most of the sales of its RTX 3090, but that just shows how worried team GeForce was about the promised RX 6900 XT. We spoke with graphics card manufacturers last year who expressed surprise to have the 20GB card pulled from the lists at such a late stage, but I didn't realise quite how close the cards were to release. They were, essentially, ready to go into boards, boxed up, and shipped. To be this far down the road to a new graphics card release, only to turn around and shut the whole line down, seems pretty unprecedented to me. But if Nvidia knew that it could repurpose those GPUs to go back into the RTX 3090 then it was obvious it wouldn't be losing out. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is reportedly back, however, with a rumoured launch in May this year, but with a different sliced-up GPU (reportedly GA-102-225), fewer cores, and much less graphics memory. It will be a different launch this time around, though, as it's not necessarily going to have an AMD card in its sights, and the RTX 3090 has now had its time basking in the sun.

Poor old Safra Catz has had to find some way of making ends meet since she was offered no increase in her salary, no bonus, no new equity grant, and no performance-based equity vesting for her role as CEO of $40bn-revenue Oracle. She could not be expected to live within her $950,000 salary alone. Nor did she have to. Luckily for the exec, the opportunity to convert some derivatives came her way. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, on 19 March she was able to acquire 1.1 m Oracle shares at $32.43 before disposing of them at the weighted average sale price of $66.48. A few days later, on 22 March, she performed a similar deal, this time acquiring 1.15 million shares at $32.43 before selling them for $66.31. Between them, the two transactions offered a tidy $76.4m profit before tax. It must be of some comfort in these difficult times to be able to get a financial leg-up of more than 10 times your salary. Catz has been CEO of Oracle since 2014 and a member of the company's board of directors since 2001. She previously served as Big Red's chief financial officer. Before joining Oracle, she spent time in investment banking. She is not the only one in enterprise software to see the opportunity to make a fast buck when the opportunity arises. In September last year, ServiceNow founder Fred Luddy sold around $13.275m in ServiceNow stock, adding to the $12m he sold in July. Spare a thought then for the leadership of rival enterprise software firm SAP. This month CEO Christian Klein saw a multi-year variable compensation scheme worth €5.1m and supplementary compensation worth €1.1m fail to land in his pay packet. However, he did receive €2.19m for the year, so we guess somehow he'll soldier on.