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Game Information Initial release date: 2020 Software developer: Tlön Industries Publisher: Rao Fiori Platform: Microsoft Windows Mars is just a boring dead ball of rust-colored dust. That just will not do. We have to turn it into something useful, something humans could live on. That’s precisely what you do in Per Aspera. In Per Aspera, Mars is already littered with detritus of past human attempts to take a foothold on the planet. But now, it’s time to bring out the big guns: AMI. She’s an artificial intelligence, modeled on the human brain, and assigned to make Mars livable. That’s you. You play as AMI and guiding her hand in turning the Red Planet green. Per Aspera is but the latest game to ride the zeitgeist of Mars colonization projects. Maybe everyone just liked a movie about Matt Damon growing potatoes in space. Maybe it’s a reaction to our world continuing to address climate crisis in wildly inadequate ways. Who knows why we’re doing what we’re doing — this game is aiming ambitiously high. You see this planet? It’s ours now! In Per Aspera, your map is the entire planet, and your eventual goal is to make it sustain human life. While you still build bases and extracting materials, the scope of your activities is much bigger than in similar games. Yet your base starts ever so humbly, with a hub that acts as both resource storage and power generator and a single worker. The worker is a wheeled drone, able of ferrying resources and constructing (or tearing down) structures, and you won’t control them directly. You plop down buildings — the first one invariably being an aluminum mine — and hope your workers get to it in due time. A bigger nerd than I could probably find out how big these structures are by comparing their dimensions to the Olympus Mons in game. I’m just guessing that they’re huge. You can coax them to prioritize by setting buildings on high priority, which is the most direct way. Prioritized construction will receive materials before others, up to the point where other build sites will get stripped of theirs. With factories or mines, prioritizing them will have their inputs and outputs taken care of in a more timely manner — an important thing to consider when the base is small and you really need to shift focus between the projects. We have reached peak space rock While the workers mill about, structures do their work. In Per Aspera, mines are built on painfully finite deposits of resources. They produce constantly, provided they don’t run out of storage space or stuff to dig. Factories await the products of mines (or even other factories) to do their work, either making manufactured goods like steel or things like workers or greenhouse gasses. The steady flow of resources in Per Aspera is best ensured by having a sensible spread of worker hubs. All buildings spread roads to nearby buildings automatically, but workers don’t really want to move far away from their worker hubs where they recharge (I’m sure it’s a handwave and the game doesn’t actually measure their power levels). Worker hubs are an economical way to spread the road network, but they also help to alleviate bottlenecks. There’s a reason why the game has a traffic overlay to see which worker sectors are overloaded. “Well, we’re on Mars, so maybe red means good?” You will never rest easy in Per Aspera. For while you want to transform Mars into a place where human colonies can easily sustain yourself, you yourself will be constantly feeding your endless hunger for resources. All of those deposits run out, after all, so your number one priority and impetus for growth will be the need to find more. You’ll have scanner structures that slowly uncover new deposits, and they’ll quite often be far from your base. That means you’ll need to crawl your infrastructure — worker hubs, power plants, maintenance facilities, and then the actual industry stuff — to reach them. AMI’s base will spread like mold seeking new sustenance, unless you launch new landers to start new bases that will later join the main one. Lack of deposits is what killed my bases on the highest difficulty level. Per Aspera Ad Catastrophe And this is a fairly good place to start talking about the aspects of Per Aspera that are less than stellar. Building a new base? Dreadfully boring. Every new landing zone automatically spawns resource nodes needed to feed the initial expansion close to it. But even then, you have to very carefully follow the Right Order Of Building Things so that you don’t consume the lander’s resources before setting up a self-sustaining base. You need to do this with every landing, of which you’ll do multiple per run. Per Aspera has ways outside of an insatiable thirst for minerals to make you set up smaller bases. And it’s the same boring routine every time. Even if everything works out the way it has to, it never gets more fun or more interesting. Just follow the procedure you established in your brain. Never deviate. A base has to grow about this big to support the construction of a hyperloop (sigh) that can link it to the main base. In fact, it’s kind of a hidden ethos of Per Aspera. Don’t build new types of buildings if the game didn’t ask you to. I started building biodomes as soon as they were unlocked to spread lichen on Mars. I should have waited for about 30 in-game years before we reached the terraforming stage where you need to pump oxygen into the atmosphere. “Be careful,” says the game, “so that the oxygen doesn’t go over 30%, or you’ll get constant fires!” Yeah, no biggie, except the newly introduced oxygen gauge shows that I’m at 50% and rising. At least I now know why a third of my base is on fire at any given moment. Oh well, time to try and research more methods to pump CO2 or whatever. God damn it! Bioengineered Martian bugs in the system There was a point when I wasn’t looking and something bricked itself in my industry chain or my worker assignments or something. I received no warning, of course, but now I see that none of my maintenance hubs are working. And without maintenance, all the buildings in Per Aspera will be ground to dust by the Martian atmosphere. Now I know that maintenance hubs make maintenance drones via the input of polymers and electronics. My resource bar shows that I have ample of both with stockpiles way above a respectable 1000 units. So why aren’t they getting delivered? I check the traffic map and then I notice another thing — my worker po[CENSORED]tion has shrunk by half and is constantly falling. Why? I have no idea, and I have plenty of resources to manufacture them. I have t0 launch 15 identical special projects to be able to build a space elevator. I don’t have time for this. This is but the latest of large random indignities that Per Aspera heaped on me. While I was worrying about resource extraction (and placing enough worker hubs and power plants — always place more worker hubs and power plants), the industry chain quietly bricked itself. And it’s not that my resource counts were lying — that only happens when a resource stockpile ends up in a remnant of your base that got cut off by the rising waters. No, I have everything I need in the heart of my base, so why are my workers not being replaced? Just one of those Martian mysteries, I guess. Little House On the Martian Prairie Speaking of mysteries, research in Per Aspera is done by the colonists. AMI is the smartest intelligence in the solar system, but she needs humans to challenge her views, and that’s why she can’t squeak out a single research point. Colonists arrive via a special project and inhabit both colonies and research outposts built on the relics of previous missions. That’s all they do: input water and food, get research in return, and hope half of the colony doesn’t leave, because workers got busy with aluminum. Power doesn’t travel too far from the source in this game, so you’ll place solar and wind farms in their hundreds. Oh, and the research trees are both somewhat sparse and boring. Sure, you get techs — even competing techs — for terraforming Mars (Do I want to import greenhouse gas from Earth, or should I build factories to produce it? Should I crash Deimos into the surface?). A lot of them are just upgrades on the stuff that you have, and boring efficiency upgrades instead of making old structures do new things. Again, with research, you must also carefully follow the steps! At the same time, you are also beholden to the plot of Per Aspera. Most of the time, that will be AMI getting tasks from the ISA, but you’ll get some choices later on. Do the tasks as you’re told and promptly, and everything will be okay. Alexa, terraform Mars! Of course, AMI is also learning about herself during all of this, and you’ll constantly hear her talking to herself, with you getting to choose her reactions to her own musings. Is she happy to see the colonies or is she anxious that humans will mess things up? These kinds of stuff will influence AMI’s attitude towards things, but it won’t make her choices for you. In the end, it’s Human Revolution and Mass Effect 3 — your choices are nice, but you must really choose a button now. Building and rebuilding the same base, as well as going through AMI’s stuff every time you start a new game is what really plays against the replayability of Per Aspera. It gets boring. Grating, even. Sure, the location where you landed will change every time, and the necessary resource nodes might not be placed in the ideal way, but you’ll do the same thing over and over again, and that’s not great. Bringing the urban sprawl to the final frontier. Fall out of sequence, and the base falls as a consequence. Heck, if the story falls out of sequence, you’ll have characters reacting to the discovery of, say, new Tekkie bases as if it’s a new thing way after you have discussed it. Characters get introduced to you after you have already talked to them. It’s very jarring when that happens, and you know it happened because you didn’t do the tasks in the required order. Looking good there, Mars Which is a shame, because Per Aspera is a really beautiful game. The interface is minimalist and very fine, and meshes quite well with the idea that you’re an AI in a satellite, observing all via your eye-lens. The building and worker models matter less, because you’ll spend most of the later game zoomed out, and icons representing resources will matter a lot more. Too bad some of them look a bit too similar. Audio has been handled quite nicely, and I hear the music of Per Aspera in my head even now (though I’ve yet to decide if that’s a good thing). You’ll learn to understand all the various sound effects and what issues they tie into. At the same, there’s a lot of voice acting in this game, mostly for AMI, and it’s done nicely. All in all, I feel like I am expected to heap praise on Per Aspera, but I can’t. Yes, the game is nice to look at, and the Mars terraforming aspects lend an impression of depth to its systems. Yet at the same time, frustrations mount, coming from the perils of playing Per Aspera rather than colonizing a new planet. System Requirements Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system. OS: Windows 10. Processor: Intel Core i5-7400 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200. Memory: 8 GB RAM. Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050ti / AMD Radeon RX 570. DirectX: Version 11. Storage: 10 GB available space. Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card.

On a big night for video games, "The Last of Us Part II" was the biggest winner. The harrowing action-adventure game, a Sony PlayStation 4 exclusive released in June, won seven awards including the biggie: Game of the Year. The other nominees for the top award were "Hades," "The Ghost of Tsushima," "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," "Doom Eternal," and "Final Fantasy VII Remake." Game of the Year and other top achievements of the past year were honored at The Game Awards, broadcast live online from Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. "The Last of Us Part II," which netted 10 nominations, had six other wins: game direction; innovation in accessibility; audio design; best narrative; Laura Bailey, for best performance as the character Abby; and for best action adventure game. More winners (to see the complete list of nominees and winners go to thegameawards.com): "Among Us" (best mobile game and best multiplayer game); "Mortal Combat 11 Ultimate" (best fighting game); "Ghost of Tsushima" (Players' voice and art direction); "Microsoft Flight Simulator" (best simulation/strategy game); "Final Fantasy VII Remake" (best role-playing game and for best score and music); "Hades" (best indie game and best action game); "Half-Life: Alyx" (best VR/AR); "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2" (best sports/racing game); "Elden Ring" (most anticipated game); and "No Man's Sky" (best ongoing game). Among early winners: "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" for best family game; "Phasmophobia" for best debut game; and "Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout" for best community support. Celebrities get in on the game In addition to prizes, The Game Awards included exclusive video game trailers, celebrity appearances from Gal Gadot, Keanu Reaves and Brie Larson, who presented the best performance award via Zoom—all the presenters and nominees were connected via videoconference—and musical performances including Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who played "Future Days," a song he had written for "The Last of Us Part II." After performing, Vedder said, "I really appreciate the way (the song) was used especially bringing Joel and Ellie together connecting through music and I thought maybe it was cool, too, if it made you wanna perhaps pick up a guitar yourself and write a song for your loved one." Video games are "a fascinating way to tell a story, it's just getting better all the time," Vedder said. "It's cool to be part of it." Before announcing the Game of the Year award, filmmaker Christopher Nolan ("Tenet") said, "I've always been interested in telling stories that immerse the audience. I like movies that unfold in unexpected ways and pull people into a world. When I look at video games, I see a lot of parallels with that storytelling, how players' agency and choice intersect with more traditional storytelling methods," he said. "It's exciting to see and really quite groundbreaking." He described all the nominated games as "true masterworks in storytelling." Actor Tom Holland zoomed in from Atlanta, where he is working on the as yet-untitled Spider-Man sequel—and will also appear in the Uncharted movie, based on the PlayStation video game franchise—to introduce Nolan North, the voice of Uncharted lead character Nathan Drake. North announced that "Among Us," was winner of the best multiplayer game award. Coming attractions Exclusive previews and reviews included "Perfect Dark," an Xbox reimagining of the classic N64 game, with Agent Dark investigating a scary underside to new technologies corporations have developed to combat the effects global warming has had on a futuristic Earth; and "Back 4 Blood," a four-player cooperative zombie shooter, due June 22, 2021, from the makers of "Left 4 Dead." —"The Callisto Protocol," a single-player sci-fi survival horror game coming in 2022 from Striking Distance Studios, led by Glen Schofield ("Dead Space," "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare"). "Our goal is to make the single most scariest game for PCs and consoles," Schofield said on the broadcast. —"Disco Elysium: The Final Cut" is a console version of the PC role-playing game that won four awards at last year's event (due in March 2021). —Vin Diesel is a dinosaur hunter in "Ark II," the upcoming sequel to "Ark: Survival Evolved," and joins other actors including Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Butler and Russell Crowe in voicing characters in a new "Ark: The Animated Series." —It was revealed that Final Fantasy character Sephiroth would be a new fighter coming to "Super Smash Bros Ultimate." —Epic Games worldwide creative director Donald Mustard announced that Master Chief, the hero of the Xbox Halo video game series, was available immediately in "Fortnite." —"Open Road," an in-development road trip mystery with characters voiced by Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever. —"The Elder Scrolls Online" revealed a first look at its 2021 chapter "Gates of Oblivion."

Retro vibes with a Raspberry Pi! If you're an avid auto-lover, you know how important it is to know what's going on under the hood. That's exactly what this project created by maker Paul Slocum is for. It uses a Raspberry Pi to output real-time stat information on a custom display but with a little retro flare in the UI design that fits the look and feel of his 1997 Honda. The setup is designed to interface with the Honda's OBD2 port wirelessly. Through it, he can monitor data from the OBD2 adapter or even play music. The device is designed to automatically turn on when the car is started. It then searches for and connects to the Bluetooth LE OBD2 adapter after booting. The interface loads onto a 3.5-inch Waveshare IPS screen connected via GPIO. The device is designed to automatically turn on when the car is started. It then searches for and connects to the Bluetooth LE OBD2 adapter after booting. The interface loads onto a 3.5-inch Waveshare IPS screen connected via GPIO. The scripts it uses were written by Slocum in C++ who also used SDL to handle the retro UI graphics and touch screen input. Music is played by sourcing tracks from a locally connected USB drive. To keep things nostalgic, the UI refers to individual folders as a "Disc." Slocum plans to add Bluetooth audio support but relies on analog audio output from the Pi at the moment. If you want to create this project yourself, follow Slocum on GitHub. He plans to upload the code as an open-source tool for anyone to use in the future. In the meantime, you check out the full post on Reddit. Be sure to explore our list of Best Raspberry Pi Projects for more cool creations on our favorite SBC.

Game Information Initial release date: December 3, 2020 Publisher: Coatsink Type: Platform game Software Developers: Coatsink, Bit Loom Games English subtitles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Google Stadia Friends aren’t always on the same page, yet your differences make your friendship exciting. In that way, friendship is a lot like a double-sided sausage dog. The double-sided sausage dog is a walking, barking disaster. Yet together, its two halves can solve the toughest of puzzles. Perhaps not very quickly nor efficiently, but certainly in the most entertaining manner. PHOGS! is the premier co-op adventure for friends of any age. Every second of the game is a new opportunity for friendship-fueled hilarity. PHOGS!’s controls and concept remind me very much of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Not only does Brothers feature two characters controlled via a single controller, it’s also my favorite game of all time. But while Brothers is meant to be single-player “co-op,” PHOGS! basically demands you share your controller with a friend. (It can be played with the keyboard, but I wouldn’t recommend anything but a gamepad). That all-important social element contributes to a truly fulfilling emergent adventure. It’s a toy box for you and friend, and it definitely looks the part as well. The cutesy, colorful visuals evoke the childlike wonder that you thought you lost. PHOGS! is loaded with so many friendly color palettes and shapes that I was surprised Keita Takahashi’s name wasn’t attached to it. The warm soundtrack and quirky sound design add even more charm to the experience. Its diverse sights and sounds are complemented by its equally diverse levels. The game plays just as well as it looks. Built for two Sausage dog’s blue half is handled with the left side of the controller, its red half with the right. Using their respective joysticks, the two friends can maneuver their good boys around the level. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the two puppers are conjoined at the hip, meaning movement is limited. You’ll have to work together, so you’d best agree on where you’re headed. Using your respective triggers, you can stretch the sausage to reach things just out of range. Or, just to mess with your buddy. The latter is more worthwhile. The dog is as slippery as an eel, and a prime target for the game’s zany physics. Walking steady on platforms might just be the hardest part of the game, if you can’t cooperate. Stretching out the dog and letting go also produces a hilarious rubber band effect. It’s worth it just to mess around with its mechanics for a while. Screwing around won’t save the world, however. You’ll need to make use of your bite to mani[CENSORED]te objects and all sorts of doodads. The dogs act like a conduit for different elements as well. Your friend could latch onto a water spout while you fire out water like a hose. The puzzles of PHOGS! are a combination of physics-based tomfoolery and cooperative tasks. The name of the game is to learn what different tools do, and how they interact with each other. Growing a large fruit creates a platform, but also attracts munchlets. Light orbs create bridges out of thin air, but dispel the platforms you needed after. Putting your heads together is only half the work, executing is an entirely different story. You’re also on the clock for many of the puzzles. As your teamwork improves, so too does your pace. Worlds of possibilities The puzzles accommodate PHOGS!’s floaty physics and slippery movement brilliantly. Each one is fairly lenient, but more significantly, airtight in its design. There’s just enough space for you and your friend to perform a little skip here and there, just to feel clever. Though, the cost of failure is getting wedged into awkward spaces. The game’s physics and colliders are far from perfect, but it’s easy to shrug off given the laughs they bring. Luckily, there’s a handy respawn button and generous save points. Every level is chocked full of obstacles that facilitate creativity and teamwork, leading to hilarious, emergent outcomes. Yet still, each one demands you master the necessary mechanics together — no easy skips allowed. PHOGS! features three worlds built around three unique themes: food, play, and dreams. Every world has its own ethos, and spotlights different level layouts and mechanics. Levels are selected in hub worlds, which expand as more levels are completed. Each world contains six levels, with a puzzle gauntlet boss fight to make seven. Seven levels per world when there’s only three isn’t too substantial. The game can be completed in under six hours. But, the love and care put into each one can’t be ignored. Levels also have separate sub-themes. If you’re in the food world, then the theme of a particular level might be dessert. More importantly, you will find new contexts to test existing mechanics while being introduced to more in the process. The strings of puzzles in each level get increasingly more elaborate, opening the door to more opportunities for expression and creativity. In one level, we had to customize a giant pizza, using a cannon to fire toppings at the base. Every playthrough with a new friend is a different story to tell. Teamwork makes the dream work In each hub world are shops that sell myriads of hats for your wearing pleasure. Hats are paid for using golden treats, which are scattered throughout the levels — each home to an average of four. Many are hidden just out of view, though, most require solving a special puzzle. Nothing too tasking, but both players should keep an eye out. I managed to stumble across the majority of the treats during my playthrough, leaving only a few left to find in each world. Completionists won’t have a tough time with PHOGS!, but levels are worth replaying just to mess with your friends anyways. PHOGS! is a well-rounded co-op puzzler with a lot of great ideas and terrific execution to accompany them. The zaniness of the character controller combined with its elegant and diverse puzzle design is a recipe for fun. Likewise, you can’t argue with its whimsical stylings and penchant for absurdity. Just remember that despite there being two players, one controller playstyle is in fact, the best way to play. These are the PHOGS! system requirements (minimum) Memory:2 GB Graphics Card:Intel HD 4000 CPU:Intel Core i3-2340UE PHOGS! File Size:6 GB OS:Windows 7 These are the PHOGS! system requirements (recommended) Memory:4 GB Graphics Card:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 PHOGS! CPU:Intel Core i5-4400E File Size:6 GB OS:Windows 10

T/c

DH1 Better Than DH2 , nice music 🙂

The Nissan Kicks has always been a decent option in the affordable small SUV category – currently sitting at number eight in our ranking of the Best Subcompact SUVs. It’s roomy, sharp-looking, and fairly inexpensive with a base price of $19,070. The biggest complaint our testers lodged was that the infotainment options were a bit behind the Kia Seltos (our Best Buy in the category), Mazda CX-30, and other top competitors. For 2021, Nissan looks to address that concern. The 2021 Nissan Kicks features a redesigned center console, with the addition of Apple Carplay and Android Auto standard. There’s also a WiFi hotspot and Bose premium sound system upgrades. An improved 7-inch display screen is now standard, with an optional 8-inch screen found on higher trim levels. The exterior of the Kicks sports a few tweaks, with a more aggressive front fascia, and new fog and tail lamps. Along with several new exterior colors, Kicks buyers can opt for a two-tone look with a black roof. The 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine and CVT automatic return as the sole powertrain. Overseas, the Kicks offers a series hybrid drivetrain that employs an electric engine to power the wheel. The gas engine acts as a generator to extend the range when needed. There is still no indication that Nissan plans to bring that system, which it calls e-Power, to the states…even at a time when American buyers are flocking to hybrids. While we expect the pricing announcement close to the on-sale date next February, the 2021 Nissan Kicks MSRP shouldn’t be much higher than the current 2020 Kicks which runs $19.070 for the base S, $20,700 for the SV, and $21,320 for the top SR model.

Ground walnuts make a rich frangipane for this warming pastry inspired by the flavours of herbal tea David Atherton Wed 9 Dec 2020 13.00 GMT During this chilly time I steadily drink litres of herbal tea and they often provide inspiration for my baking. Lemon and ginger tea is a favourite and this bake is essentially a lemon and ginger walnut frangipane tart. Almost all nuts can be ground into a flour that work well in cakes, frangipanes, marzipans, or biscuits, but it is difficult to find anything apart from ground almonds in shops. It is really easy to make your own nut flours in a food processor, however. My only tip is to put the nuts in the fridge or freezer first, as this will stop them turning into a nut butter as they will stay cool while blitzing. You can use whichever nut, spices or citrus that you like, and to really warm it up you can use brandy instead of lemon juice in the icing. Serves 10 For the base 60g plain flour 40g wholemeal plain flour ½ tsp mixed spice 25g sugar 70g unsalted butter For the filling 100g caster sugar 70g unsalted butter 2 medium eggs Zest of 1 lemon (reserve juice for the icing) 180g walnuts 20g plain flour 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp baking powder 150g marmalade 50g halva 60g icing sugar Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/374F/gas mark 5. Line a 25cm loose-bottomed fluted tart tin with baking paper. Put all the base ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub until they reach breadcrumb consistency. Press into the base of the tin and bake for 20 minutes, then set aside to cool. While the tart is baking, cream the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time and the lemon zest. Blitz the walnuts in a food processor until they are the consistency of ground almonds. Add the flour, ginger and baking powder and pulse until mixed. Mix the dry mix into the wet mix to make your frangipane. Spread the marmalade over the crumb base of the tart. Cover with the frangipane mixture, crumble the halva and sprinkle on the top, then bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool then mix the icing sugar with just enough of the reserved lemon juice until a loose pouring consistency. Drizzle this over the tart, and eat.

In a surprise move, 17 US states announced their support for the lawsuit filed by the state of Texas at the Supreme Court, in an effort to annul the election results in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The lawsuit filed by Texas questioned the changes made by the four states to expand voting by mail during the Corona crisis, and considered these changes "illegal." President Donald Trump supported the Texas lawsuit, thanked the 17 states for their support, and petitioned Supreme Court judges to allow him to become a prosecutor. In the event that Trump joins this lawsuit, the matter will set a precedent in the United States, where the president is demanding the cancellation of millions of votes in the elections, but some legal experts have questioned the legal basis of the lawsuit and are likely to be rejected by the Supreme Court. As for the Democratic Party, Trump accused him of trying to undermine the people's confidence in the integrity of the elections by canceling the votes of millions of voters. And Trump had said a few days ago, during his participation in the state of Georgia in the first electoral rally after the presidential poll, that he would win the elections that Joe Biden announced his victory in about a month ago. "We are winning this election," the president, whose term ends next January, assured hundreds of supporters who gathered in the open air in Valdosta, adding, "They will try to convince us that we lost." We did not lose. ” Despite Trump's unprecedented attack on the US election system, which he considered no longer valid, his legal team has not yet succeeded in presenting any evidence accepted by the courts of fraud in the presidential elections. And US Attorney General William Barr confirmed that the department had not found any evidence of widespread vote tampering in the presidential election. "To date, we have not detected fraud on a scale that could have affected the election result," Barr was quoted by the Associated Press. Barr has instructed federal prosecutors to initiate investigations into credible fraud allegations, asking them to avoid investigations into "fanciful or exaggerated allegations." The Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, was declared the winner of the presidency after he beat Trump by a wide margin in the elections held on the third of November, winning 306 votes in the electoral college against 232 for Trump, and Biden also defeated Trump in the po[CENSORED]r vote by more than 6.2 million votes.

Older versions of WinZip use unencrypted comms Cybersecurity solution provider Trustwave has identified a number of vulnerabilities in the WinZip file compression software that could be used to inject malware into a user’s device. The insecurities reside within the server-client communication channel. According to Trustwave, some versions of WinZip communicate with the server via an unencrypted connection when looking for updates, sending requests in cleartext. As a result, the HTTP connection can easily be taken over by a threat actor and used as a way of stealthily inserting malware. We've put together a list of the best compression tools around Here's our list of the best file managers Also, check out our roundup of the best cloud storage solutions “Since HTTP is unencrypted cleartext, it can be grabbed, mani[CENSORED]ted, or hijacked by anyone with the ability to see that traffic,” Martin Rakhmanov, security research manager at Trustwave’s SpiderLabs team, explained. “This means anyone on the same network as a user running a vulnerable version of WinZip can use techniques like DNS poisoning to trick the application to fetch ‘update’ files from a malicious web server instead of a legitimate WinZip update host. As a result, unsuspecting users can launch arbitrary code as if it is a valid update.” Threat mitigation Other issues were also discovered by Trustwave researchers. For example, WinZip sends potentially sensitive information, including usernames and registration codes, over the same unencrypted channel when sending update requests. This means that an attacker could easily gain access to this information too. Furthermore, in WinZip version 24 – the program has since been updated – pop-up windows that appear during Trial mode would be easily mani[CENSORED]ted by a network adjacent attacker. It would be possible, therefore, to execute arbitrary code that would look as though it had come directly from WinZip servers. The easiest way for users to safeguard themselves against these malware attacks is to upgrade to WinZip 25, as this version uses HTTPS for its server communications. If an upgrade is out of the question, users should disable automatic update checks to stay safe.

Tiny mobile Ampere teaser? The hardware world is still waiting for Nvidia to announce the mobile version of its GeForce RTX 30-series of graphics cards. In the meantime, a V-Ray 5 benchmark of what appears to be a GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (via VideoCardz) has popped up, giving us a potential hint of Ampere's ray tracing prowess in mobile form. Sadly, the submission doesn't tell us a lot about the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. It only reports the graphics card's 8GB of memory, which we expect to be the GDDR6 type found on the desktop GeForce RTX 3070. Before we get into the results, it's worth noting that we should take the V-Ray 5 results with a grain of salt, since they're of an unreleased card. Additionally, ray tracing isn't the most important metric for gamers. For background, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti has 38 second-generation RT cores for ray tracing workloads. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, on the other hand, flaunts 68 RT cores, but these are first-generation versions so the performance isn't as good. The GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile will likely inherit the 46 RT cores from its desktop counterpart. It seems that the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti was only up to 7.81% faster than the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. Keep in mind that the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a desktop graphics card and a 200W one at that, so it's expected to outperform a GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. The margin is even smaller when comparing the reported GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. The previous Turing flagship delivered around 4.4% higher ray tracing performance. Nvidia's current shortage struggles with Ampere could be why the chipmaker is taking so long to launch the mobile parts. Nonetheless, some retailers have already listed unannounced gaming laptops with mobile SKUs, such as the GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q, RTX 3070-Max-Q and RTX 3060 Max-P. Nvidia typically offers two different flavors of the same SKU for laptop vendors to put inside their devices. The Mobile variant (sometimes known colloquially as Max-P) is basically the full-fledged version, while the Max-Q variant is a cut-down version with a more stringent power limit and, consequently, lower clock speeds. If the listings are anything to go by, mobile Ampere's debut is near. CES 2021, a tech conference in January, could hold more answers. The ultimate question is whether the mobile cards will actually be available upon launch.

Game Information Initial release date: December 2020 Software developer: Out of the Blue Games S.L. Publisher: Rao Fiori Mode: Single player game Main computer: Xbox One, Xbox One, Series X, Ceres S, Microsoft Windows Genres: Adventure video game, Puzzle video game First-person adventure games are often almost like movies. They love to focus on story and characters, but these are typically major challenges for obvious reasons. You’ll likely know exactly where the plot of Call of the Sea plot is headed within the first hour or so, as its narrative focus has been explored to death at this point. But its exquisite world design, extremely strong writing, excellent voice performances, and powerful visuals make it a pleasure to play. Even if the puzzle design can leave a bit to be desired at times. Call of the Sea, despite the strength of its aforementioned writing, actually begins with a bit of a textbook example of how not to handle exposition. The main character, Norah, dreams about swimming in the ocean (yeah, you know what this game is about already) and wakes up shortly after. She rises from her bed and the game’s premise vomits forth from her jaws like a freight train smashing through a wooden barrier. She has a mysterious illness and her husband Harry, while on an expedition to find a cure, goes missing. Norah receives a package in the mail containing a key and dagger, along with vague instructions that lead her to seek passage to a small island West of Tahiti where men fear to tread. Upon making landfall, Norah discovers that Harry and his crew have indeed been there. She finds each of their campsites and slowly learns exactly what they’ve been through by finding letters and documents strewn about. Norah talks to herself a fair amount but, unlike that bit of exposition at the beginning, it doesn’t feel awkward or out of place. Her voice actress, industry veteran Cissy Jones, does a wonderful job bringing the character to life and is an integral part of the game’s narrative successes. She’ll also occasionally find unsent letters to her that Harry left behind, which are semi-animated and voiced by the always terrific Yuri Lowenthal. By the end of the game, I felt a certain amount of investment in their relationship even though I knew precisely where the game was headed. Open the door etc. etc. Call of the Sea takes place over six chapters, each with different areas. Many of these are surprisingly large and typically task you with scouring the area for information that you’ll use to solve the game’s puzzles. Norah is a talented artist, and every clue you find that’s relevant to a puzzle gets sketched into her notebook. Therefore, most of the chapters play out in a similar fashion. You reach a new area, explore it until there’s nothing left to find, and then solve each of the puzzles. However, the level design is uniformly excellent. The areas are clearly put-together and memorable, making it easy to get around. As the game goes on, it occasionally changes things up in surprising ways as well. You control Norah from a first-person perspective in Call of the Sea and can walk around, interact with objects, and occasionally pick things up. Some of the puzzles can require you to cover a fair bit of ground too, which doesn’t typically get annoying, but can occasionally be a little dull. For instance, one puzzle leads you throughout a large cavern with multiple floors. This situation could have taken forever, but the puzzle in question is easy enough to understand that it’s not that much of a problem. Overall, the puzzle quality in Call of the Sea is good — for the most part. A lot of the puzzles revolve around operating some specific mechanism that doesn’t make much sense, such as dials you have to flip and the like. Some of them, however, leave you with no idea of how they work or what you’re doing. You’ll need to mess around with them until you finally figure it out. To the game’s credit, nearly every puzzle gives you the information you need to solve everything. Paying attention also goes a long way. Wait, what? There is one puzzle in Call of the Sea that I found completely unsolvable, however. It requires Norah to piece together several details, but after scouring the area, I only ever found a single bit of vague information that explained how on earth I was supposed to utilize the puzzle’s specific mechanism. I probably spent over an hour trying to make sense of it, only to come up short. Perhaps I missed something, but this single puzzle made for a markedly worse game experience. Somehow, I solved it by accident after randomly turning dials. This was miraculous due to there being four of them with four settings each, meaning that the probability of me being able to correctly BS it without actually solving the puzzle was low. After I accidentally happened upon the solution, the door opened and I spent a few minutes trying to work it backward in order to try and understand what I was supposed to do. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to figure it out and I still haven’t the faintest clue as to how I was supposed to do it. Thankfully, this was an outlier. The game’s final puzzle was a high point, with a multi-step process made up of several smaller puzzles that came together in a satisfying way. I’m glad I got lucky enough to bypass the problematic one, or I would have missed some cool things. To put it bluntly, Call of the Sea is a gorgeous game. It has more of a cartoony style to it, but the levels are highly atmospheric and feature lovely vistas and beautiful use of vibrant color. The areas also feel lived-in and believable. This is certainly the kind of game where you’ll stop and gawk at the scenery every now and again. Although, it doesn’t last all that long, as this is a six- to seven-hour game. Regardless, I feel that it’s exactly as long as it needs to be. Plus, there are two endings that you can pick via a binary choice which give you something extra to chew on. The narrative beats might be insanely obvious and that one puzzle is awful, but I enjoyed this game. It has fantastic world design, a wonderful presentation, and plenty of memorable moments. I just wish I knew what was up with those stupid dials. System Requirements OS: 64-bit Windows 7/8.1/10. Processor: AMD FX-6100/Intel i3-3220 or Equivalent. Memory: 8 GB RAM. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7750, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 or Equivalent. DirectX: Version 11. Storage: 20 GB available space. Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system.

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New privacy policies are coming in January Google has confirmed that it will change its policy regarding how Chrome extensions access user data next year. The move should improve online privacy and may even limit the appeal of anonymous browsers. Speaking at its Chrome Dev summit, Google confirmed that immediately prior to the release of Chrome 88 on January 18, developers will be required to publicly display their privacy practices for each browser extension and will be limited in what they can do with the data they collect. The changes could have a major impact on the Google Chrome ecosystem, impacting developers, businesses, and individual users. Chrome is the world’s most po[CENSORED]r web browser by market share and its Web Store is currently home to some 250,000 extensions. Although the new privacy policy will not come into force until next year, that doesn’t leave too long to make the necessary changes. We've assembled a list of the best VPN services around These are the best Windows 10 VPNs on the market Also check out our roundup of the best business VPN Privacy protections Looking more closely at the proposed changes, from next year Chrome users will be able to choose which websites each extension can access data from. Currently, the extension itself is able to make that decision, but from January, granting extension access will no longer be the default setting. The other change means that developers must clearly state what user data they collect and why. In addition, user data can never be sold, used for creditworthiness checks, or to deliver personalized advertising. Google Chrome is not the only web browser looking to clean up the extensions it offers. Earlier this month, Microsoft’s Edge browser discovered that several malicious plug-ins were mimicking po[CENSORED]r VPN apps.

Team AMD or Team Intel? Simply NUC has launched the Ruby and Topaz families of miniature PCs. The first comes armed with AMD's Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) processors, while Intel's 11th-Gen Tiger Lake chips power the latter. Independent of the processor choice, the mini-PC resides inside a small 115 x 115 x 49mm (4.5 x 4.5 x 1.9 inches) case that takes up minimum space on your desk. Furthermore, both the Ruby and Topaz come with DIN and VESA mounting options to store the tiny device behind your monitor or mount it on a DIN rail. In terms of similarities, the pair of mini-PCs come equipped with two DDR4 SO-DIMM memory slots that are compatible with memory modules up to DDR4-3200. They also feature two M.2 slots to accommodate 2280 drives. One port supports both PCIe and SATA SSDs, while the secondary port is limited to SATA SSDs. Standard display outputs include one HDMI 2.0a port and one DisplayPort 1.2a outputs. For Internet connectivity, the Ruby and Topaz provide one 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port and one Gigabit Ethernet port in addition to Wi-Fi 6 AX200 and Bluetooth 5 features. The number of USB ports are the same on both models, but the design varies slightly. On the Ruby, you get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, and two USB 2.0 ports. In contrast, the Topaz offers four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports. You can outfit the Ruby with the quad-core Ryzen 3 4300U, hexa-core Ryzen 5 4500U or the octa-core Ryzen 7 4800U. On the other hand, the Topaz is available with the dual-core Core i3-1115G4 or with the quad-core Core i5-1135G7 and Core i7-1165G7. The base configuration for both lineups comes with 4GB of memory and a simple 128GB SSD. However, Simply NUC offers consumers the option to deck out the Ruby and Topaz the way how they want it. Pricing-wise, the Ruby and Topaz start at $519 and $559, respectively.

The special event is coming in early 2021. Splatoon 2's next Splatfest, which is a part of Nintendo's special celebration of Mario's 35 anniversary, is coming in early 2021. The Mushroom vs. Superstar Splatfest kicks off on January 15 and runs for two full days. The Splatfest will start at 2 PM PT/ 5 PM ET on January 15 and will run until that same time on January 17. The Splatfest is global, so it's going to start and end at the same time in all regions. Nintendo announced the news earlier this week on its official Japanese Splatoon 2 Twitter account. This Splatfest announcement came alongside the announcement of Super Mario 3D All-Stars back in September. Nintendo is also releasing special Nintendo items and hosting special in-game events in other games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons as well to celebrate Mario's 35 anniversary. Some Splatoon players believe that this will be the final Splatfest for Splatoon 2. Nintendo had already stopped hosting the events before the pandemic, but decided to re-host Splatfests that had already ran once worldwide stay-at-home orders went into place. The Splatoon community is still running their own Splatfests, even if this is the last official one. Nintendo unexpectedly canceled the livestream of a recent Splatoon tournament due to controversy surrounding the Super Smash Bros. Melee community. Nintendo had forced The Big House, a Smash tournament that was running a "Slippi" mod that added reliable online play to Melee, to close down earlier this year. Splatoon players put variations of the trending hashtag #FreeMelee in their names to show support of the Super Smash Bros. community. Nintendo then canceled the livestream for the Splatoon 2 North American Open due to "unexpected executional challenges."

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