S9OUL.

Docker Desktop for Apple Silicon has been released, although it's not quite the seamless conversion some may expect. Declaring that getting Docker Desktop working on Apple's M1 chip as "by far our most upvoted roadmap item ever," the company is naturally chuffed that container fans selecting Apple's latest hardware can now also crank out code using its tooling. Rosetta 2, aimed at getting x64 apps up and running on Apple Silicon, only goes so far and to get the virtual machine that lurks beneath the hood of Docker Desktop, the company had to make the jump to Apple's new hypervisor framework as well as deal with all the associated plumbing. A developer preview turned up in December, although Docker noted "it is not release quality yet, or even beta quality." Four months down the line (and 45,000 downloads of the various preview builds) and here we are. Sadly, Docker has not managed a full jump into the M1 world. "Some binaries," it said, "are still Darwin/AMD64," necessitating Apple's Rosetta 2. That compatibility problem continues as the company noted that not all images (for example, mysql) are available for Arm64. The workaround? For the mysql unavailability issue, maybe use mariadb? Uh huh. There are other problems. "Attempts to run Intel-based containers on Apple Silicon machines can crash as QEMU sometimes fails to run the container," according to Docker, and other QEMU-related issues include Filesystem change notification APIs. "Therefore, we recommend that you run ARM64 containers on Apple Silicon machines," Docker said, adding that it expected fixes in future releases and the issue to become less common over time "as more and more images are rebuilt supporting multiple architectures." Apple Macs running Apple Silicon are a recent event and Docker's efforts to get its product into the hands of developers, while laudable, also demonstrates the platform still has a way to go before achieving the dampest of fanboi developer dreams.

TOKYO — Nissan will slash production at several factories in Japan next month, three sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Thursday, in the latest hit to an automaker from a global shortage of semiconductors. Japan's third-largest automaker will idle its factory in Kyushu, southern Japan, for eight days between May 10 and 19, the sources said, declining to be identified because the plan is not public. The plant, which assembles the Serena minivan, X-Trail SUV and other models, will aim to make up for lost production once the supply of chips returns, the people said. Two other domestic assembly plants, the Oppama plant and a Nissan Shatai factory in Kyushu, will cancel the night shift over 15 days between May 10-28, and a fourth factory in Tochigi, eastern Japan, will idle for 10 previously unplanned days next month, the sources said. "Due to the (global chip) shortage, Nissan is adjusting production and is taking necessary actions to ensure recovery," a Nissan spokesman said, without elaborating. Chip shortages resulting from winter storms as well as a fire at a Japanese chip-making factory have cost the global auto industry tens of thousands of vehicles in lost production, with the heaviest impact in North America. The chip scarcity is also a result of increased demand from the consumer electronics industry as people worked from home and played more video games during the health crisis. Sanctions against Chinese technology companies have also played a role. Many Japanese auto factories are due to be closed for nearly two weeks as part of the "Golden Week" holidays starting in late April. With the latest decision, Nissan's Kyushu factory will only operate for seven days, the sources said. Nissan USA earlier announced production adjustments for its North American operations. ©2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved.

Sheikh Mohammed, the controversial ruler of Dubai, has become one of the UK’s largest landowners, exceeding that of the Queen’s personal property portfolio. Spanning 40,000 hectares, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s properties can be found on the most exclusive streets in London and in the most elusive locations in the Scottish Highlands, according to the Guardian. In Scotland alone, the billionaire owns extensive moorland, including the 25,000-hectare Inverinate estate. The exact scale of his landownership is not fully known, as many of his properties are tied to offshore companies based in known tax havens Guernsey and Jersey – sparking debate about whether owning property is structured in ways that benefit the UK’s tax system. London The vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates has pads across Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Kensington – some of the capital’s priciest areas. One six-storey terrace in Knightsbridge named Rutland House was fitted with an underground swimming pool, aquarium and cinema before its purchase in 2018 for an eyewatering £61.5m. Another £17.3m mansion in Eaton Square, which he bought from the Duke of Westminster in 2013. Surrey The leafy county of Surrey is home to the billionaire’s £75m Longcross estate, which he bought in 1976. The estate is infamous for being the residence from which his daughter, Princess Shamsa, tried to escape from 21 years ago. His neighbours did not take kindly to his building of a six-foot fence around the property in 2019, for which he did not seek planning permission, according to The Sun. Mohammed also owns Woodhay, a mansion bought by the same Guernsey-registered company that owns Longcross, which boasts 10 bedroom suites and a “swimming pool hall/ballroom” across 10 hectares of parkland. The mansion is four miles away from Ascot, where he has been a guest in the Queen’s carriage. Horseracing In 1981, the ruler added the Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, Suffolk to his portfolio, with 63 hectares fit to keep his prime racehorses. He also bought the Moulton Paddocks based in Newmarket, in 1994. The paddocks feature an equine spa. Copyright © 2021 CityAM. Limited

A Canadian lawmaker’s naked webcam gaffe during a session of parliament has promoted calls for an investigation and raised questions over the ethics of sharing compromising pictures of public officials without their consent. Unaware that his camera was on, parliamentarian Will Amos accidentally exposed himself to colleagues ahead of Question Period as he changed into his work clothes on Wednesday afternoon. After he was made aware of the blunder, he quickly apologized. “I made a really unfortunate mistake today, and obviously I’m embarrassed by it. My camera was accidentally left on as I changed into work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to all my colleagues in the House. It was an honest mistake and it won’t happen again,” tweeted Amos. Initially, Amos was chided by colleagues, who reminded him about clothing protocols while parliament is in session. “It may be necessary to remind the members, especially the male ones, that a tie and jacket are obligatory, but so are a shirt, boxer shorts or pants,” said Claude DeBellefeuille, member of the Bloc Québécois. “We have seen that the member is in great physical shape, but I think members should be reminded to be careful and control the camera well.” The mishap occurred during a closed session, which was not broadcast, but a photo of the incident, believed to have been taken by another parliamentarian, was leaked to the press and posted to social media – eliciting mockery and outrage. “Sharing naked pictures of people without their consent is deplorable, under any circumstance. An MP leaking such a photograph to the media is a total violation of both the person in the image but also, I suspect, House rules,” tweeted public relations executive Lisa Kirbie. The infrastructure minister, Catherine McKenna, herself a victim of bullying and harassment, called the decision to share the image “appalling”. On Thursday, the government house leader, Pablo Rodriguez, called for an investigation to determine who leaked the image. “It is mean-spirited and life-changing for one of our colleagues,” Rodriguez said. “Taking a photo of someone who is changing clothes, and in the nude and sharing it without their consent could very well be criminal.” Section 162.1 of country’s criminal code prohibits sharing “an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct”. On Thursday, Amos cancelled a public appearance alongside the procurement minister, Anita Anand, who told reporters her colleague was “taking a day”. © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)

Name of the game: Cozy Grove Price: 13.49$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 26 April Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5 2.5 GHz or equivalent Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Storage: 3 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i7 3.0 GHz or equivalent Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce 10 Series or AMD Radeon RX 500 Series Storage: 5 GB available space

Game Information: Initial release date: 8 Apr, 2021. Software Developer: Spry Fox LLC. Publisher: Spry Fox LLC. Platform: PlayStation 4, Windows Microsoft. Cozy Grove is a relaxing little game in which you're tasked with helping out friendly ghosts on an abandoned island. There's a definite hint of Animal Crossing about it, but the game's generally less involved than Nintendo's life sim juggernaut. You'll spend most of your time running rather simple errands for the aforementioned ghosts; by collecting specific materials and crafting requested items, you progress through the story of each undead inhabitant. But here's the twist: Cozy Grove is designed to be played in short bursts over the course of (real world) weeks and months. As such, you'll find yourself hitting roadblocks if you play for extended periods of time. For example, a ghost might tell you that you'll have to wait until tomorrow for a certain event to happen, and you have no choice but to do as they say. It can be a bit frustrating if you're really getting into the swing of developing and decorating your new island home, but that's just how the game's structured. And to be fair, things do become a lot more freeform later on. As your island grows and you discover more ghosts, you're given access to a greater range of quests and resources. Bit by bit, your play sessions get bigger, and before long, you'll have plenty of tasks to keep you occupied. But even if you're tired of doing favours for your spectral chums, you can always try your hand at addictive side activities, like fishing or digging for treasure. Cozy Grove is just a pleasant place to be. However, the game does have a few annoyances that chip away at your enjoyment. For starters, performance on PlayStation 4 can be surprisingly shoddy. There are times when the frame-rate will take a noticeable dip, or the whole screen will hang for a few seconds. Cozy Grove is a pretty game, but it's not what you'd call graphically demanding, so it's a real shame that performance can be so spotty. On top of that, the island is so cluttered with trees, rocks, and other objects that it can be difficult to see things on the ground. The game employs a clever visual technique where objects become transparent, allowing for a better view, but this only happens when you get close to said objects. As such, you'll find yourself stop-starting around the entire island when you're looking for specific bits and pieces. It's not a huge issue, but it does make the game feel finicky to play. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system. OS: Windows 10. Processor: Intel Core i7 3.0 GHz or equivalent. Memory: 8 GB RAM. Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce 10 Series or AMD Radeon RX 500 Series. Storage: 5 GB available space.

Patriot has a new high-speed SSD line, the Viper VP4300, and like other recent PCIe 4.0 additions to the marketplace, it dangles read and write speeds in the neighborhood of 7GB/s in front of gamers and power users. It's being offered in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the latter of which is actually rated to write data faster than the controller chip hardware was seemingly built to handle. This is not another SSD series built around Phison's po[CENSORED]r and able-bodied E18 controller chip. Instead, Patriot opted for Innogrit's flagship Rainier IG5236 controller, featuring eight NAND channels and support for capacities up to 8TB. According to Innogrit, the IG5236 is capable of delivering up to 7,400MB/s of sequential read performance and up to 6.4GB/s of sequential write performance. Patriot claims its 2TB Viper VP4300 hits that max read mark in both ATTO and CrystalDiskMark, two po[CENSORED]r storage benchmarking utilities, but says the sequential write speed in both tests hits 6,800MB/s. That's a not insignificant 400MB/s difference in claimed write performance versus what Innogrit says its controller is capable of handling. It may seem like small potatoes at first glance, but squeezing out an additional 400MB/s of performance is impressive, if Patriot has actually done so (we have not tested the Viper VP4300 to see how actual performance compares with advertised speeds). To put it into perspective, the fastest SATA SSDs typically top out at around 550-580MB/s. This is likely due to continued improvements in the firmware. Our friends at Anandtech highlighted the IG5236 controller at CES last year, which at the time was rated to deliver up to 7,000MB/s and 6,100MB/s of sequential read and write performance, respectively.

Deno 1.9 hit the streets this week touting new features including an HTTP/2 server written in Rust. An alternative to Node.js, Deno is a runtime for TypeScript and JavaScript on the server, based on the V8 JavaScript engine also used by Google Chrome. It was created by the original developer of Node.js, Ryan Dahl, to improve on what he saw as mistakes in Node.js. A clue to the name may be found in the code "node".split("").sort().join("");. Deno has always provided an embedded web server, std/http, written in TypeScript. According to the Deno team, "std/http's major down side is that it is HTTP/1.1 only – with no easy path forward towards HTTP/2." The solution was to adapt Hyper, an HTTP/2 server coded in Rust, to become Deno's web server. Deno itself was built in Rust. The new server "improves hello-world throughput by 48 per cent," according to the team, though the API is not yet stable. The Deno coders have also worked on the binding infrastructure between Rust and V8, with a new, more efficient framework for passing JSON (JavaScript data) to and from Rust libraries, based on a Rust framework called Serde. Dahl was doubtful of the value of this when it was proposed. He said: "It's an interesting idea but we are skeptical it can be made faster than the status quo. It will also be quite a lot of work just to be able to perf test it. If you decide to play around with it and get some results, we will be eager to see them, but this is not something the core team will pursue." That was in February. This week Dahl and his colleagues said the changes, now implemented, "substantially improve Deno's efficiency" and that "many common functions in Deno are now up to ~3x faster." The 1.9 release has also added support for blob URLs, which are local URLs to local data, and work the same way as they do in the browser. There is also an improved Deno Language Server for VS Code (or other editors), with code completion for import statements and better support for intelligent text selection and folding blocks of code. New optional prompt permissions mean that when code requires additional permissions, it can prompt the user for them instead of throwing an exception. A Deno company was formed last week to increase investment in the project, and the pace of development shows significant momentum. Perhaps the biggest problem is that migrating a project from Node.js is often not easy. Node.js has a package manager and registry, npm, which is the most po[CENSORED]r package manager in existence: when GitHub acquired npm in 2020, CEO Nat Friedman said it was "home to over 1.3 million packages with 75 billion downloads a month." Deno uses ES2015 modules whereas npm uses CommonJS; there is a Deno Node compatibility module but it is not perfect and adds friction for developers. Deno may improve on Node, but it is not a drop-in replacement, more something to consider for new projects. ®

My vote goes to V1, good text.

United Airlines said on Tuesday it has partnered with global firms including Nike and Siemens in an "Eco-Skies Alliance" to finance use this year of about 3.4 million gallons of low-carbon, sustainable aviation fuel derived from trash. Though tiny compared with the 4.3 billion gallons of jet fuel that United consumed in 2019 prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount triples the roughly 1 million gallons of sustainable fuel it has used each year since 2016. Airlines have used sustainable fuel since 2008 as part of efforts to reduce outright emissions, but so far this represents barely 1% of the fuel used worldwide, industry groups say. Chicago-based United named 11 of more than a dozen global partners for the plan but did not disclose the cost, or how much each would contribute. Air transport accounts for 2%-3% of greenhouse gas emissions, the French aerospace association said on Tuesday. Environmental groups argue the sector's overall contribution is higher. Partners include companies with corporate or cargo deals with United, like Nike, Siemens, Palantir and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. United said the project gives customers a way to help reduce the environmental impact of flying beyond buying carbon offsets and could help create more of a market for sustainable aviation fuels. "We'll see how it develops," Chief Executive Scott Kirby told reporters. "I think there's a huge appetite for it." The airline industry has focused more broadly on the purchase of carbon offsets to reduce the environmental impact of flying, pending the arrival of new technology to meet the sector's goal of halving net emissions by 2050 versus 2005. Environmental critics say offsets do not directly address climate goals and mask the problem of ongoing jet emissions. United, which along with some other carriers has said it wants to cut net emissions more aggressively by 100% by 2050, has criticized offsets and announced a recent investment in "carbon-capture" technology. It has invested in a sustainable aviation fuel producer called Fulcrum BioEnergy. "While we know that aircraft are never going to be completely decarbonized, we are not going to use offsets as the way to get to 100% green," Kirby said. Airline association IATA says life cycle greenhouse emissions from sustainable fuel can be at least 80% lower than normal fuel and are the only medium-term option for curbing emissions growth, since airlines cannot yet switch to electric planes. Delta Air Lines has said it plans to replace 10% of its jet fuel, currently refined from fossil fuel, with sustainable aviation fuel by the end of 2030. While using waste avoids taking land from food production, environmental groups like Transport & Environment say such supplies are limited and face competition from other sectors. ©2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland expressed concern at the regional disparities which they say is putting the mental health of children and young people at risk. We reported last month that 54 young people had been waiting more than a year for vital mental health treatment in Fife. he statistics showed an increase of 74 per cent compared to the previous year’s figure of 31. The Public Health Scotland revealed the level of spending per head of po[CENSORED]tion on mental health services for children and young people aged 0-17 years. Varying significantly across the country, they claim the average Fife spend was £44 compared to more than £105 in Tayside in 2019/20. The college has now made a call to all political parties, in the run-up to the Scottish elections, to look at how Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) funding can be changed so there is effective delivery of services across Scotland. They have also asked that one per cent of what is spent on health is used to support the mental health of children and young people during the next parliamentary term. Dr Helen Smith, chair of the CAMHS faculty at RCPsych in Scotland, said: “The level of spending on CAMHS across the country really is quite striking. Huge areas are vastly underfunded, while other areas with a lower po[CENSORED]tion are receiving more money. "It doesn’t make sense that a child under the age of 17 gets a different level of service when it comes to their mental health depending on where they live. “We do welcome recent investment of £40m but it’s only the first step towards ensuring there is equivalent resourcing for children and young people’s physical and mental health care and as our figures show, disparities between health boards need to be tackled.” Mental health minister Clare Haughey said recently: “The £120m we have announced for our Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund is the single largest investment in mental health in the history of devolution. "It will prioritise our ongoing work to improve specialist CAMHS services, address long waiting times and clear waiting list backlogs.” Nicky Connor, director of Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership, said last month: “Despite recent improvements against the national waiting times targets, Fife CAMHS continues to work on improving the responsiveness of the service and the quality of service delivery.” All content within this website (“the Site”) is protected by UK copyright. All rights are reserved.

Leaders of volcano-racked St Vincent have warned that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies, amid estimates that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufrière. Between 16,000 and 20,000 people have been evacuated from the island’s northern region, where the exploding volcano is located, with more than 3,000 of them staying at more than 80 government shelters.. “We have to get stuff rolling into people,” the prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, said in a press conference on the local station NBC Radio. But no casualties have been reported since the first big blast from the volcano early on Friday. “We have to try and keep that record,” he said. Gonsalves said some people have refused to leave communities closest to the volcano and urged them to evacuate. He estimated the country will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption, but did not give any details. Falling ash and pyroclastic flows have destroyed crops and contaminated water reservoirs. Garth Saunders, minister of the island’s water and sewer authority, noted that some communities had not yet received water. “The windward [eastern] coast is our biggest challenge today,” he said during the press conference of efforts to deploy water trucks. “What we are providing is a finite amount. We will run out at some point.” The prime minister said people in some shelters need food and water, and he thanked neighboring nations for shipments of items including cots, respiratory masks and water bottles and tanks. In addition, the World Bank has disbursed $20m to the government of St Vincent as part of an interest-free catastrophe financing program. Adam Billing, a retired police officer who lived and tended to his crops on land near the volcano, said he had more than three acres of plantains, tannias, yams and a variety of fruits and estimates he lost more than $9,000 worth of crops. “Everything that [means] livelihood is gone. Everything,” said Billing, who was evacuated. “We have to look at the next couple of months as it’s not going to be a quick fix from the government.” The volcano, which had seen a low-level eruption since December, experienced the first of several major explosions on Friday morning, and volcanologists say activity could continue for weeks. Another explosion was reported on Tuesday morning, sending another massive plume of ash into the air. It came on the anniversary of the 1979 eruption, the last one produced by the volcano until Friday morning. A previous eruption in 1902 killed about 1,600 people. “It’s still a pretty dangerous volcano,” said Richard Robertson with the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center. “It can still cause serious damage.” © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)

Name of the game: SPORE Price: 4.99$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 19 April Requirements: Supported OS: Microsoft Windows® XP with Service Pack 1 and Vista Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium® 4 or equivalent Memory: 512 MB RAM (768 MB RAM for Vista) Graphics: 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 DirectX®: The latest version of DirectX 9.0c or higher Hard Drive: At least 4 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for creations FOR COMPUTERS USING BUILT-IN GRAPHICS CHIPSETS UNDER WINDOWS, THE GAME REQUIRES AT LEAST: Intel Integrated Chipset, 945GM or above 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent 768 MB RAM

Game Information: Initial release date: 29 Jan, 2021. Software Developer: Studio Gauntlet. Publisher: Crunching Koalas. Platform: PlayStation 4, Windows Microsoft. Think you've played every local co-op game on PlayStation 4? Well, have you built structures in low gravity as an ape with a robotic arm? Didn't think so, but don't worry — Bonkies is here to fulfil that very specific need. Playable alone or up to four-player co-op, this unusual little game puts you in the boots of a space-faring chimp. No matter how many players, the task is simple: build the required shapes within the time limits. The adorable presentation makes this suitable for everyone, but the controls are something to get used to. The four face buttons control the direction of your robo-arm, while you jetpack about with the left stick and use the triggers for boosting and grabbing. It's not super complex, but using the face buttons for the arm took us a minute. Once you have got the hang of things, this is a pretty simple but entertaining co-op game. Using your robo-arm, you'll grab pieces of various shapes and sizes and move them to the silhouette, puzzling them together to fill the outline. Obviously, with more players, things can easily get out of hand, so it's important to communicate so you're all on the same page. Heavy objects might need more than one monkey to lift, again requiring coordination with your comrades. If you beat a level under a certain threshold, you'll earn a banana, and these go towards unlocking some extra stages and new characters to play. The game isn't huge, but these bananas give you a reason to replay levels and improve your times. Honestly, there isn't much more to the game than this. You're just building simple structures and hoping the physics don't send it tumbling down. However, if you're looking for a lighthearted, easy-going co-op game, this will scratch that itch. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS OS: Windows 7. Processor: Intel Core i5. Memory: 4 GB RAM. Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000. Storage: 2 GB available space.

There has been a meteoric rise in bot traffic in the final few months of 2020, according to data from cyber-security firm, Imperva. Conducting an analysis into bot behaviour over the past year—which it says now accounts for more than a quarter of all web requests—the firm claims the major launch period leading up to the holidays saw a gargantuan increase in bot traffic headed to retail websites, namely to snap up stock. The firm reports an increase in bot activity to retail sites of 788 percent between September and October 2020 alone. As the report states, the date of the sudden increase in bot activity coincides with the release of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. That's no coincidence, I'm sure. Further to that PC gamers will think to the release of Nvidia's RTX 30-series and AMD's RX 6000-series graphics cards during that same period, which have been subject to serious bot battering and shortages ever since. If you think that's one too many terrifying stats for one day, then boy should you stay well away from the complete Imperva Bad Bot Report 2021. It's filled with terrifying statistics on dodgy web surfers that'll make any would-be PC hardware consumer in fits of rage. "As we’ve monitored over the past eight years, bad bots continue to ravage the internet, while attack characteristics are becoming more advanced and nuanced over time,” Edward Roberts, Imperva's director of strategy, application security, says. “Throughout the past year and during a global pandemic, bad bots have thrived by targeting new markets and the impacts are now felt by everyday consumers." Retailers I've spoken with have also relayed a similar message; of an ever-changing bot strategy that requires constant shifting of defences to keep up with and prevent bots from being effective. Imperva calls those bots specifically targeting high-value items at Christmas 'Grinch Bots', which is a term I'm inclined to use often from here on out. The data presented in the report is pulled from Imperva's own network of cyber security products—its stake in the business of bot protection is absolutely something to keep in mind when reading the report—and includes "billions of bad bot requests anonymized over thousands of domains". Imperva states that its data set reports solely application layer bad bot activity. That's a key distinction, the report explains, as it rules out bot activity typically found as part of a DDoS attack. Said activity is far more widespread than retailers and Grinch Bots, of course. Healthcare websites, mobile browsers, government websites, and news sites all remain po[CENSORED]r destinations for digital ne'er do wells. Phishing, fraud, scraping, theft, and account hacking are all listed as relatively common uses for bots online. Most often sites in the United States are subject to bad bot traffic, the report suggests, with China and the United Kingdom coming in at second and third, respectively. These bots are said to most often originate from within the same country they target, which puts the US way out front in terms of being a bot source, too. But don't fret, there are also 'good bots' fighting the good fight for useful information and automation. Those which only occasionally totally screw over web analytics and slow down servers for legitimate human users. The scale of bot use has remained something of a nebulous concept when it comes to reselling practices for PC components—we all knew it was happening, but the extent to which is not easily measured—until now. While the actual numbers from across the web may differ somewhat from those collected by Imperva's systems, even as a snapshot of the possible scale of bad bot activity, these figures offer a glimpse of what we're having to contend with just to pick up the latest silicon today.

Unity software developer Josh Peterson has spoken about the future of .NET support in the widely used game development engine. Use in game development is one of the bright spots for C# po[CENSORED]rity, according to a survey late last year, but its use in Unity is somewhat messy. The C# scripting engine is based on Mono but developers may also use .NET Framework when running on Windows. Mono is the old open-source implementation of .NET, from before Microsoft itself came out with .NET Core. Microsoft acquired the stewardship of Mono with Xamarin in 2016, and Mono now shares substantial code with .NET Core, but it remains distinct and the runtime is still used in some scenarios. Unity maintains its own fork of Mono, which Peterson said is "about two years behind the latest upstream code." The team is now updating this to the latest code from the upstream Mono repository, a change he is "95 per cent confident" will make it into the next release, Unity 2021.2. He added that this exercise will improve performance and fix bugs but in itself "won't have any new .NET features" – though it lays the ground for features to be added in future. That said, Peterson does expect to add support for .NET Standard 2.1 in Unity 2021.2, but this time with only "75 per cent confidence." The .NET Standard versions define the set of APIs that a .NET implementation must support. A tricky aspect of .NET Standard 2.1 is that .NET Framework is stuck forever on .NET Standard 2.0. Peterson said: "Although .NET Framework does not support .NET Standard 2.1, Mono's class libraries do support it, so we should be able to provide a nice bridge to a .NET Core-based ecosystem." The upgrade cannot come soon enough for some developers frustrated with the slow progress. "Are there any strides towards ditching Mono in favour of a complete .NET integration? Especially now when .NET is becoming so cross-platform," asked a user in August last year. In-demand features include Span<T>, introduced in C# 7.2, and the Range operator, introduced in C# 8.0. Microsoft released C# 8.0 in September 2019, and getting the complete set of features into Unity has taken a long while. Users are also concerned that .NET performance in Unity has fallen behind. Peterson said that C# 8.0 support will still be based on Mono in 2021.2. He also expressed hope that C# 9.0, released by Microsoft in November 2020, will be supported, but this depends on adding features to Mono and to IL2CPP (which converts .NET code to C++ for compilation), and for this his confidence descended to 50 per cent, he said. As for that request to migrate to .NET Core, this is not likely soon. Peterson said that Unity will probably skip .NET 5 in favour of .NET 6, which is the forthcoming long-term support release. Even then, he said that "it looks like the JIT runtime here will be Mono" but he is uncertain and added that "we may need to move directly to CoreCLR for .NET 6 support." One of the issues is that a feature of the Unity editor called domain reloading, which resets the scripting state, depends on a feature (AppDomains) that does not exist in .NET Core. Peterson said this could be implemented another way but "will be a breaking change." For game developers, .NET 6 will be a breaking change anyway since "any assemblies compiled against mscorlib.dll from the .NET Framework ecosystem will not work, and must be recompiled." The complexity around .NET Standard, .NET Framework, .NET Core, and Mono is a challenge for Unity's developers, and shows that Microsoft's unification of .NET is in reality a process, not something that happened overnight with the release of .NET 5.0 last year. "The only thing I'm interested in is the .NET 6 support. The biggest problem I had was slow Editor performance and long iteration time as project size grows. I currently ditched Unity because it was too painful to use and moved to Unreal right now," said another user, adding that "Mono will be history soon and it has no future." In a separate post, Peterson emphasised that "everything discussed here is subject to change. Please do not consider discussions on this thread to be official announcements." Instead, he said that they offer "insight on our progress."

Prof Alan Roberts, in giving his opinion on the ability of fish to experience pain (Can fish feel pain? The jury is still out, Letters, 7 April), neglected to mention the wealth of published scientific evidence outside of behavioural and hormonal responses. I was the first to identify the existence of nociceptors in a fish, the rainbow trout, in 2002. These are specialised receptors for detecting injury-causing stimuli, and their physiology is strikingly similar to those found in mammals, including humans. Since then, my laboratory and others across the world have shown that the physiology, neurobiology, molecular biology and brain activity that many fish species show in response to painful stimuli is comparable to mammals. Further, adverse changes in behaviour are seen when fish experience pain, such as suspension of feeding, reduced activity, anomalous behaviours and failure to show appropriate behaviour to competing stimuli – for example, fear and predator stimuli. These changes are prevented by the use of painkilling drugs. Together, these empirical studies provide compelling evidence for fish experiencing pain, and legislation such as the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 as well as bodies such as the Farm Animal Welfare Committee state that pain in fish should be avoided, minimised or alleviated. The published scientific evidence shows that cats, dogs, birds and other vertebrate animals feel pain. There are also many studies on aquatic invertebrates that demonstrate pain in crustaceans (crabs, lobsters) and cephalopods (octopus, squid and cuttlefish). Therefore the jury has made its decision and left the building. It is clear that there is ample evidence for pain in fish, and I agree with Prof Roberts that we need to safeguard the welfare of these important animals and treat them with the same consideration that we give mammals.

Droog Moto has garnered a rep for bespoke dirt bikes that look like they were built for a post-apocalyptic world. Its newest built-to-spec beast, fittingly dubbed the V2 Urban Fighter, is no exception. The Washington State outfit, which was founded by husband and wife duo Max and Erica Droog in 2016, says the machine is a fusion of agility and aggression, and at first blush there’s no arguing with at least one of those descriptors. In a former life, the jet-black brute was actually a Kawasaki Z 900, though the Japanese giant’s naked bike has been stripped down to a point beyond recognition. The curved tank has been replaced by an angular alternative forged from steel for an unequivocally heavy metal feel while the frame is shorter and more compact than the original. The bare chassis and bronze fork are offset by a pair of 17-inch disc wheels and ultra-fat Continental Twinduro tires that have become synonymous with Droog. The bike’s suspension has also been upgraded in both the front and the rear for greater agility. After all, who knows what off-road terrain will be like in the End Times? Aggression, meanwhile, comes in the form of an inline four-cylinder engine that was retained from the Kawasaki. Riders can opt for a modest 650 cc all the way up to a gutsier 1,000 cc. Droog says the bike is one of its fastest to date, though it hasn’t listed any specs. (For context, the 125 hp Kawasaki is capable of reaching up to 157 mph.) The bike exhales freely through a manifold system with angled tailpipes and also features individual air filters to keep the engine clean. While the two-wheeler has a no-frills, industrial aesthetic, it packs a few modern touches, too. It’s equipped with integrated LED light strips at the front and rear, along with a waterproof digital speedometer housed in the rider cockpit. Arguably, the bike’s biggest drawcard is the fact that it is customized to each rider’s specs and measurements. Droog also says each bike packs a few additional upgrades just for you. The V2 Urban Fighter (DM-014 V2) starts at $50,000 and can be shipped worldwide.

An inhaled drug commonly used for asthma has been shown to shorten the recovery time of Covid-19 sufferers who do not need hospital treatment – a development that has been described as a “significant milestone” in the fight against coronavirus. British scientists from Oxford University have found that budesonide, an anti-inflammatory medicine, can help accelerate recovery in the over-50s by an average of three days. The readily available drug, administered via a cheap inhaler twice a day for up to 14 days, can be prescribed through GPs, raising hope that doctors will be able to start treating Covid-19 patients at home early in their illness. The NHS has issued new guidance saying the medicine should be considered for patients on a “case-by-case basis”. Experts have hailed the interim findings from the UK’s Principle trial as a major breakthrough in treating Covid-19 outside of hospital. Oxford’s Professor Gail Hayward, a co-principal investigator in the trial, told a media briefing: “I think this does have significant implications for the world as this is the first time a treatment has been shown to be beneficial for patients in their community. “The majority of patients who get Covid are in the community. Something that can help them feel better three days sooner is significant.” For the Principle study, 751 people with symptomatic Covid-19 were treated with budesonide at home over a 14-day period. Their progress was compared with 1,028 patients who were assigned the usual standard of NHS care alone. The patients were drawn from two groups vulnerable to severe Covid: those aged over 65, and those aged between 50 and 64 with comorbidities, including a weakened immune system, heart disease and lung disease. Of those who received the asthma drug, the results showed the estimated median time to self-reported recovery was 3.01 days shorter than the control group.

The Catholic church has warned that Haiti is facing a “descent into hell” and condemned government inaction after 10 people, including seven members of the clergy, were abducted by kidnappers demanding $1m ransom. “For some time now, we have been witnessing the descent into hell of Haitian society,” the archdiocese of the capital Port-au-Prince said in a statement, adding that “violence by armed gangs” was taking on “unprecedented” proportions. “The public authorities who are doing nothing to resolve this crisis are not immune from suspicion. We denounce complacency and complicity wherever it comes from,” the statement continued. The statement came one day after the 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town north-east of the capital Port-au-Prince They include seven Catholic clergy – five of them Haitian, as well as two French citizens, a priest and a nun. The French foreign ministry activated its crisis center in response, the Quai d’Orsay said in a statement on Monday. The statement came as the French Bishops’ Conference and other French clergy expressed “their deep concern” and urged “the kidnappers to free the men and women of peace they have kidnapped and not to add more hatred where there is already poverty and insecurity”. Authorities suspect an armed gang called “400 Mawozo” is behind the abduction, according to a police source. Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs. “The CHR expresses its deep sorrow, but also its anger at the subhuman situation through which we have been wading for more than a decade,” the religious group said in its statement. “Not a day goes by without weeping and gnashing of teeth, yet the so-called leaders of this country, while clinging to power, are increasingly powerless.” “This is too much. The time has come for these inhuman acts to stop,” said Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Miragoane in south-western Haiti. “The church prays and stands in solidarity with all the victims of this heinous act,” he added. In March, the Haitian government declared a month-long state of emergency to restore state authority in gang-controlled areas, including in the capital. The measure was motivated by the actions of armed gangs who “kidnap people for ransom, openly declaring it, steal and loot public and private property, and openly confront the public security forces”, according to the presidential decree. The rise in gang violence and political instability have recently drawn protesters on to the streets of Port-au-Prince. A week ago, hundreds of female protesters rallied in the city against the growing power of gangs, which has led to a rise in kidnappings for ransom. Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has also been in a months-long political crisis. President Jovenel Moïse maintains that his term of office runs until 7 February next year, but others claim it ended on 7 February this year. The disagreement stems from the fact that Moïse was elected in a vote that was cancelled for fraud, and then re-elected a year later. Without a parliament, the country fell further into crisis in 2020, and Moïse is governing by decree, fuelling growing mistrust of him. Amid the instability, Moïse has said he plans to hold a constitutional referendum in June. © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)

Name of the game: Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy Price: 15.99$ Link Store: Steam Offer ends up after X hours: 19 April Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 | AMD FX-6300 Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (2 GB) | AMD Radeon HD 7850 (2 GB) DirectX: Version 9.0 Storage: 40 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K | AMD FX-8350 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (2 GB) | AMD Radeon RX 480 DirectX: Version 9.0 Storage: 40 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Game Information: Initial release date: 5 Aug, 2020. Software Developer: 10tons Ltd. Publisher: 10tons Ltd. Platform: PlayStation 5, Windows Microsoft. In an already bizarre year, Tesla Force’s absurd concept of pulling famous people from history and making them fight monsters seems right at home. Tesla Force is a roguelike twin-stick shooter starring Nikola Tesla and Marie Curie, fighting waves of monsters with over the top guns and powers. Each level follows a set objective, such as collect parts or survive for a certain amount of time, that ultimately lacks in variety. Level types are constantly repeating and even though the level design is random by nature, it becomes monotonous very quickly. The biggest issue Tesla Force faces is in its art style. Not only is it extremely bland, but it also makes it difficult to see what is happening in the game. Several enemies blend into the environment, leading to huge chunks of unnecessary damage. This caused dozens of instances where Tesla would be trapped by a swarm of unseen enemies with no escape, leading to a quick and infuriating death. As this is a roguelite, the game then restarts, leaving a feeling of frustration and dread of doing the same repetitive level tasks over again. Running on the PS5, Tesla Force makes great use of the PS5’s added features. The game runs at a rock-solid frame rate, loading times are extremely quick, and the implementation of adaptive triggers are nice touches. While it is great to see these features in use, it unfortunately does not do enough to save the base game’s issues. It is also worth noting the game supports up to four player co-op, which is also a nice option. Tesla Force is a bizarre amalgamation of ideas that never seem to really make much sense together. While science relies on experimentation, Tesla Force could really have used more time in the lab. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: OS: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10. Processor: 2.0 Ghz. Memory: 2048 MB RAM. Graphics: SM 3.0+. DirectX: Version 11. Storage: 500 MB available space.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has announced a brand new Arm-based CPU that Nvidia says will power the world's fastest AI supercomputer by 2023, alongside a brand new generation of graphics architecture beyond Ampere. Leveraging a company that Nvidia is in the process of purchasing, UK-based chip designer Arm, the new Nvidia Grace CPU is set to dramatically increase system and memory bandwidth, according to Huang. That's up to 900GB/s between Grace and Nvidia GPUs, Nvidia says. It won't find a home in your gaming PC anytime soon—it'll take more than that to dislodge the x86 standard in the desktop PC market—but it will be in use by 2023 in Nvidia's Drive Atlan autonomous vehicle SoC and the Alps supercomputer for the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. The Alps supercomputer will be the world's fastest for AI when it's finished in 2023. Alps will also use unspecified quantity of "next-generation Nvidia GPU" to deliver 20 exaflops of AI computing performance. Not bad, not bad. That's a pretty spectacular speed, even by AI inference standards. Another of Nvidia's current ventures in AI supercomputers is the Leonardo system being built in Italy. This is set to become the world's fastest AI supercomputer, prior to Alps, using 14,000 Ampere GPUs. It costs roughly €240 million, and is expected to be completed later this year with full operation by 2022. That's capable of 10 exaflops of AI half-precision power, with a little hand from Nvidia's AI enhancements. The fastest AI supercomputer today is said to be Nvidia's 2.8 exaflop Selene. That's a different metric to raw supercomputer speed, by the way. The fastest supercomputer in the world is Fugaku, which manages over 400 petaflops of performance with the commonly used LINPACK benchmark, and is found at the RIKEN Centre in Japan. “We are thrilled to announce the Swiss National Supercomputing Center will build a supercomputer powered by Grace and our next-generation GPU,” Huang says during his GTC keynote. You can watch the live announcement and explanation from a cyber Jen-Hsun Huang over in the GTC 2021 keynote replay available here. We're still stuck in Huang's kitchen, but as you will see the Nvidia CEO has a few more tricks up his sleeve for his latest stream (read: I don't think that's his actual kitchen anymore). There are a few more things for us in the keynote, although more so in regards to the general plan for Nvidia's GPU architectures than anything specifically gaming related.