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We all know how locked down and controlled 2020 has been. Paradoxically perhaps, this very act of containment has driven an increased use of world mapping data and geospatially-aware software, as we seek to find out what’s happening around the planet. Right now, we really don’t want to be lost on the map, more than ever. A large number of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) news reports have featured local, national and global statistics graphically depicted across mapped-out regions of the planet. Behind these color-coded charts, graphs and diagrams are software programs designed to ingest, process, analyze and deliver accurate location-based data to provide us with a geospatially-aware representation of what’s happening. In many cases, the data these applications use draws upon the same information source as is used by public sector organisations, governments, emergency services and businesses. In the United Kingdom, that source is very often the Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency for Great Britain. As a public body working for the public good, the Ordnance Survey’s software and data team suggest that barriers to accessing geospatial data have been lowered; not least by Ordnance Survey itself, which launched the OS Data Hub – a repository of its own trusted geospatial data – in July of this year. What this leads to is the suggestion that software developers inside commercial organisations could and perhaps should also be embracing the chance to put more location-aware information into the applications that we all use every day. With some obvious caveats related to security and compliance, geospatial data is everywhere and it’s (mostly) for everybody. Senior technology labs engineer at Ordnance Survey Tim Manners, alongside John Hoopes, developer advocate at Ordnance Survey say that they understand the ‘commercial opportunities’ that can be unlocked by this data, as well as its potential to help us address some of the most pressing issues of our time. A brief history of geospatial data But first, Manners and Hoopes insist a brief layperson’s history lesson in geospatial science is needed. This is because, when it comes to the world of geospatial data, there are two core communities of users. MORE FOR YOU XBOX Series X Console Review- The Next Generation Of Gaming A Chat With Qualcomm’s New Automotive Leader, Nakul Duggal, Driving An $8B Backlog The Good, Bad And The Ugly Of Apple’s Mac Launch With M1 Processors The first geospatial data user group has been around since the first Global Information Systems (GIS) systems were developed in Canada in the 1960s. These users lived (and still live) and work in desktop GIS applications like QGIS, CadCorp and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) products such as ArcGIS, ArcMaps, ArcGIS Pro etc. “This [first, original] community has always been mainly focused on geospatial data analysis and - usually - the production of static maps, which are still very much relevant for many communities and industry use cases including applications in geography, topography, real estate, urban planning and so on. These users are geographically-minded and comfortable with complicated technical data formats, such as ‘shapefiles’, that are difficult to use without a good grasp of GIS principles,” explain the pair. They note that the second community arose with the advent and maturation of web 2.0 and they came in the form of application developers, who started on the web and then added Apple iOS-native and Android-native mobile apps to their repertoire. This community has very different ways of working with geospatial data and its requirements vary too. From purist propellerheads to programmers... to people Manners and Hoopes note that the first location-based apps were always more logically likely to be built by developers who had some interest or background in GIS, as geospatial data formats were difficult to work with. But today, data formats are far easier to work with because of the advent of platform-level software tools that can provide technology abstraction layers, built-in AI intelligence, Application Programming Interface (API) connectivity channels and various autonomous functions. All of which mean that many more forms of geospatial data can be used by all manner of software professionals… and not just geospatial data purists, who do still exist. “A decade ago, large datasets (which geospatial datasets often typically are) were hard to get hold of and difficult to consume right away. It might have been hours before the data could be broken down and sorted into a format that was fit for purpose. Now, thanks to hosted services, open source tools, APIs and increased bandwidth and computational power, developers can readily access the data they need and create an application, or install a geospatial or mapping visualization in an existing app, in a matter of minutes,” explain the pair, who both clearly played with a lot of maps as children. As with other areas of software application development and data management, a significant factor driving adoption of any technology is the presence of standardization. Some software tools in this space are proprietary but still heavily standardized according to defined industry protocols, but this is not a given. So there is another avenue here. By adopting open standards, developers can independently create tools that interoperate with data and tools provided by others. As an open software geospatial tool (or indeed any kind) gains more adoption, the tool’s ‘gravity’ is said to increase and a virtuous circle and cycle develops. As adoption increases, further development of the tool increases and it makes more sense to build according to the standard of the tool itself. Geospatial standards of this kind include GeoJSON, Mapbox Vector Tiles (and on the OS Data Hub) the Maps API, with ZXY and WMTS endpoints and the Features API, which is a web feature service. “Firms understand that usability is a key factor for developers when they embark on a creative journey. Data formats that ‘play’ better with others will likely be favored over those that require laborious integration and weak support. Increased accessibility and usability also have the effect of widening the geospatial developer community and the potential for innovation, which is already paying dividends in a number of ways,” insist and enthuse Manners and Hoopes. Real-world use cases for geospatial data For a working example in the real world, the ‘insurtech’ (insurance technology) industry makes use of geospatial data to help manage building insurance. An insurer can take relevant local data points into consideration when creating policies that could include everything from local crime rates, to flood risk and onwards to proximity to fire and police stations. Manners and Hoopes are all for the greater good of humanity and the pair explain that applications in this area could help with environmental management, town and transport planning, emergency services and more. Even more advanced use cases, such as augmented reality applications for gaming or proptech (you guessed it, property technology) applications made possible by vector tile APIs, are emerging. “Many of the mobile devices we carry with us, as well as the individual applications installed on them, use location data in some form. Geospatial data can provide better experiences for users in a variety of ways, and not just through obvious use cases like mapping, routing and navigation. Mobility apps help users get from A to B efficiently. House-sharing apps help users explore the world from a comfortable home base. Dating apps connect singles to people nearby. Location data helps developers create experiences that are more valuable to their users,” conclude the Ordnance Survey men. These are still early days and this is (very arguably) an important growth area. With global pandemic data being fed into Covid-19 viral infection ‘track-and-trace’ apps (which have been notoriously troublesome with spurious alerts being sent to individuals), these geospatial data streams also have to work with the WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile network connectivity on our mobile devices. There’s a lot we could get less than perfect (let’s stop short of saying wrong) if we engineer geospatial capabilities into our apps without prudently planned architecture, adherence to standardized protocols and accessibility to the right trusted datasets. Today we can work with geospatial data in three dimensions, perhaps even four dimensions if we add time. As we enter the fifth and sixth dimension and start to see the ‘plane’ where other possible worlds will exist, geospatial data’s wider limits could be coming with us. Note to the team: we’re going to need a bigger server guys.

HP announces its Black Friday deals, which substantially marks down both desktops and laptops, some designed for a home office, others perfect for a gaming setup. Some of these deals take up to $200 on select models. HP's Black Friday deals have been announced, featuring deals on both Laptops and Desktops for business or Gaming! The Laptop deals offer a large amount of money off the normal price tag, making these laptops an even better deal. The cheaper of the two laptop deals is the HP Laptop - 15z-ef100, which is powered by the AMD Athlon Gold 3150U has a total of four threads and three GPU cores, allowing easy viewing for content. The HP Laptop - 15z-ef100 is currently on sale for $349.99, making this laptop the cheapest computer on the list. HP Laptop - 15t-dy100 Raising the price to $499.99, the 15t-dy100 features an Intel processor that features four cores and a total of eight threads. This processor features a 1.00 GHz base frequency and a Max Turbo frequency of 3.60 GHz. This laptop features a 15.6" screen size and has a 1,366 x 768 resolution, but this laptop features a higher default RAM storage. You can buy it here. This laptop features a price tag of $1,199.99, which is almost double the previous model listed; this screen size is smaller, having just a 13.3" screen size, and has a default resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. The installed processor is the Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor, which also uses the Intel Iris Plus Graphics cores. You can buy it here. Desktops Having a desktop is a privilege that many homes and families have; some may find it time to upgrade or buy a new desktop for a home office or virtual schooling. HP ENVY Desktop TE01-1150xt The HP ENVY desktop TE01-1150xt is the least expensive of the desktops listed but still offering some fantastic features that would be perfect for virtual schooling. This desktop uses an Intel Core i3-10100, which has just four cores but a base frequency of 3.6 GHz. This desktop features a $499.99, which is a full $100 off the typical price tag of $599.99. You can buy it here. HP ENVY Desktop TE01-0165t Keeping the same case but now featuring a graphics card is the HP ENVY Desktop TE01-0165t, which comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card and an Intel 9th generation processor. These new components raise the price to $849.99, but HP's Black Friday deals make this desktop cost just $679.99. You can buy it here. The OMEN gaming line is designed with gamers featuring a Ryzen 5 processor and an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card. This desktop is currently listed as $999.99, which has $200 off the normal price of $1,199.99. You can buy it here. OMEN 30L Desktop GT13-0255st The Intel version for the OMEN gaming desktop features an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and has an Intel 10th generation core i5 processor. This desktop cost a bit more, having a price tag of $1,149.99 during HP's Black Friday Deals. You can buy it here.

No real surprises here, but IO Interactive has confirmed that it’s targeting “modern systems and platforms” with its upcoming Project 007, which will almost certainly include the PlayStation 5 and potentially the PlayStation 4 as well. According to a press release, the James Bond tie-in will run on the Danish developer’s Glacier engine, which also powers the Hitman franchise. “Creating an original Bond game is a monumental undertaking and I truly believe that IO Interactive, working closely with our creative partners at EON and MGM, can deliver something extremely special for our players and communities,” said the studio’s CEO Hakan Abrak. “Our passionate team is excited to unleash their creativity into the iconic James Bond universe and craft the most ambitious game in the history of our studio.” As reported earlier, this will be an original origin story set within the James Bond universe. IO Interactive is developing this across its two studios, and is recruiting talent to add to its team. That is, perhaps, the only disappointment here: this announcement seems more targeted at recruitment, which means that it’s probably a fair few years away.

A Grazie si lavora per attivare il servizio da lunedì. Nell’area camper tendone e percorso per eseguire i prelievi. Il presidio a disposizione dei soggetti convocati dai sanitari ROBERTO BO 19 NOVEMBRE 2020 MANTOVA. Trenta-quaranta tamponi all’ora, circa uno ogni due minuti. È questa la previsione dei tecnici dell’Asst per il presidio drive through in partenza nell’area camper delle Grazie di Curtatone. Ieri mattina sono iniziati i lavori di montaggio della tensostruttura e di predisposizione del percorso interno che dovranno seguire le auto. L’avvio del nuovo servizio, il primo in provincia di Mantova con la modalità drive through (tamponi stando in auto) è previsto per lunedì mattina. Giovedì scorso la spiegazione di come funzionerà il nuovo presidio tamponi, ovviamente a disposizione dei i soggetti prenotati e convocati dalle autorità sanitarie, è avvenuta con una diretta Fb alla quale hanno partecipato il sindaco di Curtatone, Carlo Bottani, il direttore dell’Asst, Raffaello Stradoni, il capo dell’ufficio tecnico dell’Asst, Leo Traldi, e il presidente di Camper Solidale Luciano Lanza.Bottani ha introdotto l’argomento sottolineando l’orgoglio di Curtatone per aver dato il suo contributo al protetto e ha ringraziato Protezione civile, carabinieri e polizia locale per l’impegno che forniranno e molti cittadini si sono offerti come volontari per dare una mano.Il manager del Poma ha spiegato i motivi che hanno portato l’Asst a cercare un’area per il drive through: «Uno dei modi per fare tamponi è stato quello che abbiamo messo in atto finora. Ovvero, aprire punti in ognuno dei nostri pronto soccorso e in altre postazioni aggiuntive, come ad esempio negli ospedali privati convenzionati come Suzzara e Castiglione. Oggi ne abbiato attivi sette dove uno arriva, scende dall’auto e si mette in fila per registrazione ed esecuzione del tampone. Certo non è del tutto comodo per una certa categoria di persone. Bisognava quindi trovare un luogo idoneo con possibilità di formare code di auto e lo abbiamo individuato nell’area camper di Grazie». «Si tratta di un’area isolata – ha spiegato l’ingegner Leo Traldi – rispetto alla viabilità ordinaria. In quest’area faremo un percorso a serpentone. Al punto di arrivo ci saranno due squadre che eseguiranno i tamponi prenotati, con una frequenza di circa uno ogni due minuti. Il test si esegue semplicemente affacciandosi al finestrino. L’area camper è stata scelta perché ha caratteristiche giuste, è un ambiente gradevole alla vista,ed è già dotato di tutti i servizi necessari. Abbiamo calcolato la possibilità massima di una fila di duecento auto all’interno della zona. Possiamo anche già sbilanciarci: non sarà l’unico drive through della provincia di Mantova»

Think of it as Tokyo meets Brooklyn. Or maybe this week’s news that West Elm will begin selling selected products from Muji is more millennial meets minimalist? However you view it, the new partnership between the Brooklyn, New York–based mega-retailer and the Japanese home and apparel brand fits into a bigger trend of U.S. lifestyle stores inking deals with third-party brands and licenses. In adopting this strategy, West Elm joins fellow Williams-Sonoma brands Pottery Barn and Rejuvenation, plus other prominent home retailers like Crate & Barrel and CB2, which are leveraging third-party collaborations to expand their customer bases. The move is also a sign that Muji, whose U.S. subsidiary filed for bankruptcy this summer, is looking at new ways to sell into the American market during a time of COVID conditions—and as a workaround to its network of 19 physical stores, many of which are situated in high-rent, tourist-heavy areas. The Muji brand was born in Tokyo in 1980, a spinoff from a larger Japanese supermarket, The Seiyu, that focused on simple products across the home and apparel categories. Muji’s name comes from the Japanese mujirushi ryohin, which translates to “no-brand quality goods,” and its mantra is based on three core values: selection of materials, streamlining of processes and simplification of packaging. And while the company’s products all bear a certain minimalist design aesthetic (not unlike the look of Swedish behemoth Ikea), they are by no means inexpensive, particularly when sold outside Japan. Beyond its retail locations (more than 300 in Japan, plus more than 500 international locations), Muji recently opened its first hotel in Tokyo atop one of its stores in an effort to offer customers a full experience; the company has also tested convenience store and furniture subscription concepts in Asia. Now is more important than ever to stay connected and competitive. Did you know BOH Insider membership includes a subscription to BOH magazine and unlimited LAUNCH classes? In addition, membership gives you discounts to jobs and events postings, access to the Future of Home conference, admission to a private facebook group, and much more. Join us! Muji’s first appearance in the American market came in the early 2000s, when it introduced a limited number of products through the Museum of Modern Art’s store and website. The company planted roots in the U.S. when it opened its own shop in New York’s SoHo in 2007; the move was followed by 18 additional locations, primarily in big cities, and an e-commerce site. All of the stores were forced to close when the pandemic hit, which seemed to be a major cause of the company’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in July. (The company has also struggled in other countries—particularly in China, where anti-Japanese sentiment is strong as relations between the two countries deteriorate.) The West Elm tie-in seems to represent an attempt to open up Muji’s distribution to a wider audience, although West Elm features only about 100 of Muji’s 7,000-plus SKUs—and they are only available online. Items range from $2 makeup containers to a $600 oak storage bench. The partnership is one of several West Elm is currently running, including deals with outdoor company REI, direct-to-consumer furniture maker Floyd, and home decor brands Margo Selby and Closed Mondays. “We partner with ahead-of-the-curve makers, designers and brands to bring you more of what you love and make it even easier to shop the best of modern design,” reads the West Elm site. Other businesses who fall under the overused (and under-explained) “lifestyle” heading are pursuing similar strategies: Retailers that once only carried their own in-house brand are all expanding in order to bring in new customers and temporarily offer merchandise that might not fit their core design matrix. Pottery Barn, for example, offers any number of collaborations—from partnerships with the Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter franchises to collaborations with Airstream and the Friends TV series. CB2 has its own wide range of self-dubbed “design collabs” with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop brand, musician Lenny Kravitz, fashion accessories brand Hill-side, L.A. retailer Fred Segal, GQ magazine, and several individual designers. Its sister brand, Crate & Barrel, has a line from HGTV star Leanne Ford and just introduced kitchen accessories based on Frank Lloyd Wright designs. And while the vast majority of the assortments found at these retailers still sport the house label in advancing the store-as-brand merchandising strategy, there’s no disputing we’re seeing more breaks with that philosophy. Muji may translate to “no-brand quality goods,” but the fact is that its goods are very much branded—and its new West Elm partnership is designed to capitalize on that. Homepage photo: Products from the Muji x West Elm collaboration | Courtesy of West Elm ____________ Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.

An antimony mine in central Newfoundland has suspended its operations and laid off almost all its employees, saying it's not financially feasible to operate during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Management at Beaver Brook Antimony Mine made the "extremely difficult decision" to close up on Tuesday, laying off most people on its payroll, Site Manager Shane Osmond said in a news release. "The majority of our valued workforce were unfortunately laid off," he said. The statement said more layoffs would be coming in the next week. "This is not a decision we take lightly and fully understand the resulting impacts on our workforce and local communities," Osmond said in the statement. The mine, 43 kilometres outside of Glenwood, reopened in 2019 after years on hiatus thanks to Chinese investors. Upon its reopening, the mine had an expected lifespan of three-and-a-half years and made its first shipment in June 2019. It had more than 100 people on its payroll when in full swing, but its success was short-lived. The mine's ability to operate in 2020 was hampered by COVID-19, Osmond said, with production temporarily paused in March as public health restrictions hit the province, and then restarted in July at a limited capacity. But the second wave of COVID-19 sweeping across Canada and the globe, combined with "significant negative impacts the crisis has had on our financial situation" along with increased costs to operate in winter mean the company can no longer operate at this time. "We have so far taken every reasonable measure to prevent this suspension but were sadly unable to do so," Osmond said. Hope for reopening The closure may not be permanent, as Osmond said the company will continue to "assess the viability of restarting the project" throughout the upcoming winter and spring. The head of a non-profit mining association in Newfoundland and Labrador called the shutdown "unfortunate," but Ed Moriarity said that hope remains for a reopening. "I am heartened, at least, by the notion that the company has noted that they haven't given up on the operation," Moriarity, the executive director of Mining Industry NL, told CBC News. A few people at the mine still have their jobs to keep tabs on the situation and fulfil obligations like environmental responsibilities, according to the Beaver Brook release. Moriarity said pandemic-caused disruptions to global supply chains, rather than public health restrictions, are likely at play and have caused sluggish demand for antimony, a mineral used in a number of industries, including the production of batteries, bullets, glass, pottery and cosmetics. "Our association is certainly monitoring the situation carefully, and any help we can do to support further market access or to better understand the opportunities in terms of the antimony deposit, here and around the world, we'd be happy to participate and support," he said.

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Reaching customers across the world can be difficult for small businesses which is why Shopify has announced a new partnership with Asia's leading digital wallet platform AliPay. Shopify merchants will be able to leverage the new payment gateway to seamlessly accept payments through Alipay from more than one billion annual active users in China alone and hundreds of millions of more users across Asia in the future. Previously merchants on the ecommerce platform could only offer Alipay as a payment gateway through third-party providers. Through the new Alipay payment gateway, they'll now be able to reach customers who want to use their preferred payment method which helps reduce friction while also creating new business opportunities. We've put together a list of the best shopping cart software These are the best POS systems for small businesses Also check out our roundup of the best ecommerce hosting providersA world of opportunity Shopify's new partnership with Alipay will provide merchants with a greater opportunity to tap into the world's largest shopping seasons and holidays such as Lunar New Year in February and even more importantly, Singles Day. Alibaba's 11.11 Global Festival, or Singles Day as it is widely known, is held each year by the Chinese ecommerce giant and this year's event generated gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $74bn over the course of the 11-day campaign. The US was actually the top international market at this year's Singles Day as US merchants earned more than $5.4bn in sales from Chinese consumers. VP of product and merchant services at Shopfiy, Kaz Nejatian explained how its new partnership with Alipay will help merchants reach consumers across Asia in a press release, saying: “At Shopify, we believe in a world of borderless commerce and are focused on helping our merchants build thriving businesses—not just within their own markets, but on a truly international scale. Reaching consumers across Asia is an enormous growth opportunity for our merchants, and Alipay has brought inclusive financial services to more than one billion people in China. Through today’s partnership, we’ll help our merchants provide the best possible shopping experiences for this new audience of cross-border consumers.” The new Alipay payment gateway is now available to Shopify merchants in the US with more markets to come in the future including Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh. US Shopify merchants can sign up here to get started accepting Alipay. We've also highlighted the best payment gateways

MSI has announced its next-generation Radeon RX 6800 XT & RX 6800 Gaming X Trio custom graphics cards. The Gaming X Trio series is based on the Tri Frozr 2 cooling system which has superb cooling performance for all high-end GPUs that this generation has to offer including AMD's-mighty Big Navi. MSI Makes Radeon RX 6800 XT & RX 6800 Gaming X Trio Custom Graphics Cards Official The MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT & RX 6800 Gaming X Trio graphics cards come in the standard 'Non-X' and factory overclocked 'X' series. The standard variants stick to the reference clock speeds that AMD has specified while the factory overclocked variants run with faster-overclocked speeds.The Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio for instance runs at 2285 MHz boost clocks which is a 35 MHz higher clock than the reference variant while the RX 6800 Gaming X Trio runs at a boost clock of 2155 MHz which is a 50 MHz clock bump over the reference boost clock. MSI Radeon RX 6800 Gaming X Trio Graphics Card:The MSI Gaming X Trio Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards With 2nd Tri-Frozr Cooling With the differences out of the way, now let's talk about the similarities and the main highlights of the Gaming X Trio design. The Gaming X Trio is a toned-down variant of the much higher-end card, the MSI Lightning. Both cards use advanced Tri-Frozr coolers which are the replacement of the MSI Twin Frozr series which have been widely used in current and last generation graphics cards from MSI. The latest iteration of MSI’s iconic GAMING series once again brings performance, low-noise efficiency, and aesthetics that hardcore gamers have come to recognize and trust. Now you too can enjoy all your favorite games with a powerful graphics card that stays cool and silent. Just the way you like it. MSI has incorporated and refined a couple of things in the new Tri-Frozr design for Gaming X Trio graphics cards. First is the TORX fan 4.0 which uses a ring design that connects two fan-blades with each other to increase airflow towards the internal heatsink assembly. These fans are made up of a double ball bearing design which ensures silent functionality in heavy loads.The fans are fully compliant with the Zero Frozr Technology and are actually comprised of three areas. All of these would stay at 0 RPM (idle state) if the temperatures don't exceed 60C. When it does exceed 60C, all fans would start spinning. You can change that through the MSI configuration panel if you want more cooling performance over noise load but it's a nifty feature that I do like.In addition to the cooling fans, the heatsink has been designed to be denser by using the brand new wave curved 2.0 fin design. The new heatsink makes use of deflectors to allow more air to pass through the fins smoothly, without causing any turbulence that would result in unwanted noise. MSI estimates a 2 degrees (C) drop in temperatures with the updated design versus the previous generation cooling system.Talking about the heatsink, the massive block is comprised of seven copper squared shaped heat pipes with a more concentrated design to transfer heat from the copper base to the heatsink more effectively. The base itself is a solid nickel-plated base plate, transferring heat to the heat pipes in a very effective manner. To top it all off, MSI uses their exclusive Thermal Compound X which is said to offer higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.MSI has given no word on the prices of the Radeon RX 6800 XT & RX 6800 Gaming X Trio custom graphics cards but we expect to hear more in the coming weeks.

EA Sports has finally detailed Madden NFL 21 for the PlayStation 5, and its headline feature is the integration of NFL Next-Gen Stats. You may have heard about this while watching NFL broadcasts for the past five seasons. For those of you who don’t know, there’s a lot more going on with each player’s padding than protection from Aaron Donald – there’s also an RFID chip under every jersey. To cut a very complicated technical innovation story short, they track each athlete’s movements on every play, helping to inform performance and create uber-detailed analytics. And now that data is being put into the next-gen version of EA Sports’ flagship football game. The idea is that each player should perform more true-to-life, as it’s no longer relying solely on artificial intelligence and random statistics; Michael Thomas’ ability to create separation or Khalil Mack’s devastating assaults on the quarterback will now be informed using real-world stats. Every player will perform like his real-life counterpart. “[Ball carriers’] acceleration rates, speeds, and turn rates are now driven by next-gen stats data, with all-new animations,” Connor Dougan told Polygon. “You can see [in the PS4 version] the way Tyreek Hill inhumanly changes direction and swivels, with no lean or momentum, as he runs. [On the new consoles] there’s proper lean and momentum as he turns upfield.” This means that the game, overall, is much slower – but crucially more realistic. That can come with advantages: you’ll now have time to pick your spot and hit a hole, where previous versions of the series didn’t afford you that kind of precision. And if you’re playing as an elite running back like Nick Chubb or Christian McCaffrey, you’re going to feel the difference on the field when you hit the gas. Other improvements coming with the PS5 game include the ability to bookmark plays, and filter by player. For example, if you want to get your star receiver the ball, then you’ll be able to select from plays specifically designed for him. And of course, it’s all going to look better, with improved lighting and more detailed sideline activity – including the ability to bundle into photographers and referees. Sounds good, then – we’ll have a review next month.

For others, however, switching to the new Android Auto experience was quite a nightmare, as key functionality ended up being broken down. Several Audi owners turned to Google’s forums in 2019 to report input issues on the new Android Auto version, explaining that launching Google Assistant or interacting with other features using a control knob no longer worked correctly. “I have a 2018 Audi A5 Sportback. The infotainment system in this car (MMI) is navigated via a control knob on the console, not touch screen. On the original version of Android Auto, clicking the control knob to the right will activate Google Assistant listening for voice commands. On the new version, this function does not work,” one user posted in August 2019. While several Audi drivers confirmed the same problems in their cars since then, Google has so far remained tight-lipped on a potential fix. And strangely enough, a member of the Android Auto team responded this week, more than 12 months after the original post was published, explaining that they’re now working on fixing the one-year-old “new” Android Auto in Audi cars too. “Thanks for all the reports. Our team is working to resolve this issue. We’ve reached out to a few of you via e-mail with the instructions on how to capture a bug report. It would be great if you could send us a bug report from your phone to diagnose the root cause of the issue. Please reply directly to the email with your information,” the Android Auto Community Specialist posted. Needless to say, you’d better not hold your breath for a fix because there’s absolutely no ETA available right now. The work on resolving the whole thing has only recently started, and now Google is waiting for additional feedback from Audi owners, so if you want to step in and help the company address it faster, check out the thread linked above where you can contribute with your own logs.

At a recent North Oakland County Young Marines meeting, member Jameson Anderson gave a presentation on the dangers of opioid use and abuse in the United States. The North Oakland County Young Marines are based in Clarkston and sponsored by North Oakland VFW Post 334. The organization provides a program for youth, ages 8 through 18, focused on leadership, citizenship through community service, self-discipline, and living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The organization upholds the Marine Corps’ core values of honor, courage and commitment as well as the Young Marines’ core values of discipline, leadership and teamwork. The only membership requirement is that the youth must be in good standing at school. - Advertisement - For more information about the North Oakland County Young Marines or to join the group, call 248-496-1213 and visit youngmarines.com/unit/northoaklandcounty/page. • Oxford VFW Post 334 Honor Guard performed military honors for veterans at nine funerals at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly last month. For more information about the Oxford VFW Post 334 Honor Guard, call 586-524-9421. • Desert Angels Miracle Boxes founder Louise Blain said, "Many of our troops are in lock downs and have limited contact with others due to COVID-19. They are in need of items to encourage them." Individual volunteers are needed to fill Christmas stockings with snacks, candy, socks and other items. Postage is always needed. For more information and ways to help, call 248-736-6403, email office@thedesertangel.org, visit www.thedesertangel.org and/or drop items off at The American Trailer Mart, 3225 W. Huron St., Waterford. • Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial is looking for volunteers to move their mission forward. Volunteer opportunities are available in the areas of social media, education, planning and databasing. For more information and to volunteer or donate, call 888-229-6126 or visit michiganww2memorial.org/volunteer. • Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency serves as the central coordinating point to connect those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families to services and benefits throughout the state. MVAA is responsible for administration and operation of the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund, Michigan’s two veterans homes, constituent service or referral, and the state's grant to chartered veterans service organizations and the Michigan Association of County Veterans Counselors. For more information, call 800-642-4838 or visit michiganveterans.com. The Oakland Press is interested in all veterans events in Oakland County. Please send info in the body of an email with subject line “Veterans Affairs” to Sharon Longman at sslstart@aol.com. Allow at least two weeks’ notice for scheduled events and include a phone number for readers to call for more information.

Personally Speaking is a feature of Muhlenberg Magazine in which our writers interview students and alumni about their own personal stories. This article was originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of Muhlenberg Magazine. He sees his fields of study as inevitably interconnected. “Every environmental science class and economics class I’ve taken, they talk about each other. The only way that you’re going to convince people to move to more sustainable sources of energy is money. With a lot of problematic companies, their infrastructure is so strongly built on nonrenewable resources like fossil fuels, and it costs too much to transition. When we’re looking at solutions in my classes, we’re saying, ‘What is a sustainable yet cost-effective way to mitigate these problems?’” He became president of the nonpartisan BergVotes club his sophomore year... “My father is involved in politics in my hometown, so I’ve grown up understanding the importance of voting. During orientation, all the students were walking out of the Center for the Arts to cross Chew Street, and there was somebody in a BergVotes T-shirt handing out forms and yelling, ‘Register to vote!’ A week later, BergVotes was dorm-storming in Walz Hall, and I said I wanted to get involved. After two or three months of going to club meetings, I ran for and became secretary. The entire rest of the executive board went abroad this spring, so I decided, ‘Might as well run for president.’” ...and he’s led the group through an election year like no other. “In February, the e-board and a couple professors attended the inaugural Eastern Pennsylvania Student Voting Summit in Philadelphia. We drafted a strategic action plan for how we were going to increase voting on campus and make sure all the first-year students got registered. We practically had to throw out the whole plan. This fall became more of a semester designed to make sure that everybody was registered to vote in whichever way was most convenient to them in their situation.” (Learn more.) He’s part of the Muhlenberg Scholars honors program... “The Office of Admissions selects a group of students, between 10 to 20 per class year, from all different majors and backgrounds, to be part of this honors program. You’re put in a first-year seminar with the other new Scholars, and the group takes one course together each year. As our mission statement says, we’re really about people from all different areas of knowledge working together. Two people I’m living with are also Muhlenberg Scholars, so I can thank the program for bringing me some of my best college friends.” ...and he was able to turn current events into a compelling research project. “Last year, our required course was on fairness. When COVID hit, it made for a strong final paper. I worked with my roommates and fellow Scholars, and we focused on the topic of the fairness in distribution of waivers to allow businesses to stay open as essential businesses in Pennsylvania. There were cases where there would be two car dealerships on either side of the street, and one was allowed to be open while the other had to close. We wrote a lot about contractors and construction: Construction of medical facilities was allowed to continue, but in one case, it was a giant medical building that wasn’t going to be finished until 2023. That crew was deemed essential. Meanwhile, an independent contractor working to finish residences for students to occupy at the end of summer was not allowed to continue. He was like, ‘That project is higher risk because there are more people working there. With this one, it’s just me.’ We found there was a lot of inconsistency.” He and his fellow Scholars are working to create a more unified, supportive program. “Before the pandemic hit, we were trying to make the program like more of a family for all four classes of Scholars on campus. We hosted a fall meet and greet last year where we had apple cider and invited all the new Scholars. The week we left campus in the spring, we were supposed to have an event with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. We want people to be friendly and brainstorm together, because that’s when the best ideas come, and that’s what the Scholars are all about. If you’re a first-year student and you meet a junior at the fall meetup who’s taken a 400-level psych class, and you have a question about your intro class, you should be able to ask. We want the Scholars to help the Scholars.”

i will for DH1 i liked it & nice music ❤️

Video conferencing tool Zoom has announced the release of two new security features to help participants remove meeting intruders, as well as revealing one of its most important internal security tools. Unfortunately, for some individuals, the answer to the question, What is Zoom? is that it is a method of disrupting company meetings. The new security features should limit opportunities for so-called "Zoombombing" attacks in the future. The first lets hosts temporarily pause their meeting and remove disruptive participants. By clicking “Suspend Participant Activities,” all meeting features will cease, including screen sharing, recording and Breakout Rooms. It is then simply a case of reporting the relevant users, who will then be removed from the meeting. Zoom’s Trust and Safety team will also be informed. The meeting can then be resumed with all the relevant features re-enabled. Alternatively, meeting participants are now able to report disruptive users directly from the Zoom client by clicking the security badge located in the top-left corner. Check out our complete list of the best video conferencing software We've put together a list of the best online collaboration tools around Look great in your video calls with one of the best business webcams Bombs away In addition, Zoom also disclosed more information about an internal tool it uses that will hopefully prevent meetings from being disrupted in the first place. The At-Risk Meeting Notifier scans social media posts and other public online activity to find shared Zoom meeting links. If a link is found, the host will receive an email immediately informing them that they may want to create a new meeting ID, enable security settings or use a different video conferencing platform. The decision is ultimately left up to the meeting host, but a publicly accessible meeting ID is likely to attract an online disruptor or two. Since the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a huge uptick in the use of video conferencing tools, online trolls have decided that it would be funny to hijack meetings – often being secretly invited by participants that have shared the private meeting ID. Zoom’s new security tools should make that more of a challenge. This is all the gear you'll need to work from home successfully

Intel has released new performance numbers of its next-generation Ice Lake-SP Xeon Platinum CPUs, comparing it against AMD's 2nd Generation EPYC Rome CPUs. According to Intel, Ice Lake Xeon CPUs with their updated core architecture will deliver an 18% IPC jump over previous-gen Cascade Lake Xeon CPUs, allowing them to be competitive against AMD's high-core count CPU offerings.Intel Teases 32 Core Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPU Beating A 64 Core AMD EPYC Rome CPU But There's A Catch Within the SC20 presentation, Intel reassured its partners and customers that Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPUs (3rd Gen Scalable Processor Family) is on track for volume ramp in Q1 2021 followed by a formal launch sometime around mid-2021. The Intel Ice Lake-SP generation of Xeon CPUs will be utilizing a 10nm process node along with a brand new microarchitecture and a new platform to support increased memory bandwidth.We know that Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPUs will be using the Sunny Cove core architecture which offers an 18% IPC uplift over Skylake so based on that, Intel claims that it is looking to deliver better perf per core, more memory channels for increased bandwidth, full PCIe Gen 4.0 support and up to 6 TB of memory support per socket (Intel Optane PMem).As for the performance benchmarks versus AMD's 64 Core EPYC 7742 CPU, Intel claims that its 32 core Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPU can deliver up to 30% faster performance in key life sciences and FSI workloads. The performance was measured within NAMD STMV, Monet Carlo, and LAMMPS. The Intel Xeon Ice Lake-SP CPU was configured with 32 cores and 64 cores per socket. The actual run used two Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPUs for a total of 64 cores and 128 threads versus two AMD EPYC 7742 Rome CPUs with a total of 128 cores and 256 threads. The Intel platform was running at clocks of 2.2 GHz and had a total of 256 GB of DDR4-3200 MHz memory while the AMD EPYC platform was also configured at its stock speeds of 2.25 GHz and 256 GB of DDR4-3200 MHz memory. So one would say that this is a pretty fair benchmark comparison but those 20-30% performance uplifts over the AMD EPYC Rome 64 Core CPU is mainly derived by comparing AVX512 to non AVX512 numbers. All three workloads that are reported here make use of Intel's AVX-512 instructions which grants them a big gain. To be fair, Intel does pretty well with AVX-512 workloads, beating a chip with twice the amount of cores and on a better process node & architecture. But in terms of overall efficiency and standard performance, AMD's EPYC lineup will dominate Intel in every benchmark. The fact that they are showing a 32 core chip against a 64 core chip and had to turn AVX-512 to match it up shows how far behind Intel has fallen in the server race and things are going to get more heated in a few months when AMD will be unveiling its 3rd Gen EPYC lineup, the Milan series which is scheduled for Q1 2021 as we learned yesterday. Intel Ice Lake-SP 'Next-Gen CPU' 28 Core Die & Whitley Platform Detailed Looking at the block diagram of the Ice Lake-SP 28 core CPU, the chip offers a new interconnect in the form of an enhanced Mesh Fabric that runs through all of the 28 CPU cores. The Ice Lake-SP die features two 4-channel memory controllers whereas the Cascade Lake-SP die offered two tri-channel memory controllers.The Intel Ice Lake-SP processors also feature four PCIe Gen 4 controllers, each offers 16 Gen 4 lanes for a total of 64 lanes on the 28 core die. The Cascade Lake-SP chips offered hexa-channel memory support while Ice Lake-SP will offer octa-channel memory support on the Whitley platform at launch. The platform will be able to support up to DDR4-3200 MHz memory (16 DIMM per socket with 2nd Gen persistent memory support.Intel is also adding a range of latency and coherence optimizations to Ice Lake-SP chips. But you can see that the memory bandwidth-latency gets a big jump with the 8-channel memory interface and the higher DIMM speeds. Intel Ice Lake-SP 'Next-Gen CPU' New Interconnect Infrastructure In addition to the standard Mesh interconnect, Intel has further expanded its interconnect design for Ice Lake-SP Xeon CPUs. The new control fabric and data fabric do connect with the cores and different controllers of the chip but also manage the data flower and power control for the chips themselves. These new interconnects will deliver even lower latency and faster clock updates than 3rd Gen Cooper Lake-SP chips. For example, the core frequency transition takes 12us and the mesh frequency transition takes 20us on Cascade Lake-SP chips. Ice Lake-SP in comparison takes less than 1us and 7us, respectively. The less frequency drain means higher efficiency over Cascade Lake. Ice Lake-SP will also improve upon the AVX frequency since not all AVX-512 workloads consume higher power. This also isn't specific to just AVX-512. Even AVX-256 instructions on Ice Lake-SP will deliver better frequencies profile over Cascade Lake CPUs. Some of the major upgrades that 10nm will deliver include: 2.7x density scaling vs 14nm Self-aligned Quad-Patterning Contact Over Active Gate Cobalt Interconnect (M0, M1) 1st Gen Foveros 3D Stacking 2nd Gen EMIB The Intel Ice Lake-SP lineup would be directly competing against AMD's enhanced 7nm based EPYC Milan lineup which will feature the brand new 7nm Zen 3 core architecture which offers a huge 19 percent uplift in IPC over the original Zen core.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has proved a hit with players, as the series secured its largest launch in series history. That means it outpaced previous record holder Assassin’s Creed III, which sold around 3.5 million units during its first week. Here’s the PR for precise wording: “Building on favourable review scores and early player response, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has sold through more units in its first week than any other Assassin’s Creed game sold during the same period.” It’s a particularly impressive result when you consider that it’s a flagship PlayStation 5 launch title, which isn’t out in Europe yet. However, it does feature a free PS4 to PS5 upgrade, which may have swayed consumers to purchase the game last week. Now for some statistics: “Players are already well into their adventure in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, covering more than 4 million kilometres, building their settlements (over 55 million buildings already unlocked since launch), and becoming fully immersed in the Norse and Saxon culture through the Orlog dice games (over 3.5 million games of Orlog have been won so far) or even enjoying the drinking and flyting contests (over 1.8 million players have won at least one drinking game since launch).” We liked the game a lot in our Assassin's Creed Valhalla review, but felt it was a bit buggy on the PlayStation 4. We’ll be revisiting the title later this week on PS5, so look out for that.

Detailing cars has been a nice side hustle for Spencer Maeschen over the past year. But now, that side hustle has bloomed into a full-fledged business. After detailing out of his family’s garage for the past few months, where he built a clientele and furthered his skills, Maeschen, 22, felt the time was right to open one of his own. In late August, Maeschen opened his detailing business called Maeschen Auto Detailing (MAD) Garage, located at 505 S. Burr St. in Mitchell. “Before I opened, I started having more and more interior jobs lined up. I was cranking out four to five interior jobs a day by myself, so the business was there to open my own,” Maeschen said. “I was just trying to get my name out there and form a base, because there are some great detailing shops in town. It’s nice that we all get along.” Having saved enough money from detailing at his home, Maeschen found the right location and made his first monthly rent payment, followed by purchasing a $1,300 pressure washer. Since then, he’s been gradually adding more equipment to do the type of thorough detailing work he prefers. Although Maeschen is about three months into running his detailing business, it wasn’t exactly part of the plan at this stage of his life. After Maeschen’s plan to complete an internship this summer at an agriculture equipment implement in Sioux Falls fell through, he went back to the drawing board. Little did he know the change of plans would lead him to pursue something he's been dreaming about doing for the past year: opening a detailing business. “Because one opportunity didn’t happen, I see it as I am blessed to have had another one open up,” he said. Before making the decision to open his business, Maeschen knew he was taking on a big risk. Opening the shop in the midst of a pandemic added even more risk. However, Maeschen said it presented him with a unique opportunity. After the stimulus checks that were distributed across the country for citizens below an income threshold, Maeschen said it equated to more customers getting their vehicles detailed. “It is definitely a challenge opening a business, but I love the challenge,” Maeschen said. "It was interesting to see how people used some of their extra money from the stimulus check to get their cars detailed. I think it showed more people want to take care of what they already own instead of buying new." Raised around cars Throughout much of his life, Maeschen was raised around the automobile. After all, his father, Rob Maeschen, was the owner of Tri M Tunes in Mitchell for several decades until he sold it a few years ago. Seeing his father build a successful car stereo and window tinting business over the years inspired Maeschen to pursue his dream of opening a specialized shop of his own. “I always remember being a little kid hanging out in the shop, and having my own shop now brings back some great memories,” Maeschen said. “My dad was a big reason why I made the decision to go after this.” When he wasn't hanging out at his dad's shop, Maeschen was working on the family farm. His farming background led Maeschen to pursue a degree in precision agriculture technology at Mitchell Technical College, which he's a year away from finishing. Although he plans on putting his degree to good use on his family's farm, Maeschen said he's switched more of his focus to his detailing business. With the early on success he's experienced, the entrepreneur has big aspirations for his detailing shop, hoping to one day expand to locations in Brookings and Sioux Falls. While he’s been enjoying learning the ropes of running a small business, Maeschen said his passion for detailing is what motivates him everyday. The tedious process of detailing a vehicle is one that Maeschen finds "very rewarding." “It isn’t fun having to pull melted crayons out of the carpet and being full of dog hair, but the end result is so worth every bit of the challenges,” he said. “My passion for detailing is more important than the money, and I believe that will drive me to grow the business to its full potential.”

SEATTLE — When James Abbott pulls at the threads of his childhood memories, he describes one in particular like a scene from a movie. "A car comes up, you are told to get in the car, and the car drives away. The last picture you have is your mom on the porch crying." That was the moment when Abbott, who is now 60, left his family and entered foster care. Abbott, who grew up in Snohomish County, Washington, spent most of his high school years with a foster-care family. He was a computer geek in the 1980s, spent his career as a certified public accountant in the 1990s and has worked for Microsoft since 2001. Now, he's giving back to the high school he says changed his life with a $42,500 donation to the Mukilteo Schools Foundation, the majority of which went to Mariner High School, in Everett, Washington. Microsoft added to his gift with an additional $38,000. Most of the funds will help pay for low-income high schoolers to take college classes for credit; the remainder will go to the district's foundation and ACES High, an alternative high school. "I wanted to pay back Mariner for the opportunity they gave me," he said. "And I wanted to help foster kids, like I was." The donation is the largest Mariner has seen in many years, said principal Nate DuChesne. It will benefit students with backgrounds similar to Abbott's. About 12 foster students attend the school and 65-70% of the student body is low-income. Only about 20% of foster youth who graduate from high school go on to college, compared with about 60% of high school graduates overall, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trust. And foster youth who do go to college are much more likely to drop out, the report says. Abbott's donation will pay students' fees for College in the High School classes – 5-credit college courses taught by Mariner teachers in a range of subjects that would otherwise cost $220 apiece. Some students qualify for a limited number of tuition waivers through the state, so Abbott's gift will help cover their remaining fees, DuChesne said. Overall, he said, the donation will pay for fees for students to take 100 courses each year for the next three years. "This is significant in my eyes because many of these students, if there are barriers in the way while they're in high school, sometimes it becomes more difficult to go to college," he said. "This is opening doors for them at an earlier age." Overcoming challenges Abbott's mother is Japanese and his father is American. He was born on a military base in Japan, and was 10 when his father retired from the Navy and the family settled in Washington. His father struggled with alcoholism and often could not pay the rent, Abbott said. They moved around when landlords kicked them out. During his freshman year at Snohomish High School, he made friends easily and became a strong tennis player. But when his dad landed a job on a ship that took him far from home, Abbott's mother began to struggle emotionally. The family's home was run down, and Abbott, the eldest of six children, remembers the kids cooking their own meals. He still holds onto guilt for his own behavior at that time, he said. "I kind of have to take some responsibility for my childhood," he said. "It just wasn't my parents. We were not the best of kids." Early in his sophomore year, a family friend called child welfare workers, and soon after a representative showed up on his doorstep. "I just got in the car and away we went," he said. "At the time, it didn't seem painful. But now, it's quite painful." A foster family in Everett took him and one of his brothers in, and he enrolled at Mariner. He was the new kid – but he kept up with tennis and made friends. He hung out with a crew of kids who liked academics and influenced him to keep his grades up. He also became close with several teachers. "He became a 24-hour student," said Abbott's former teacher, Gordon Rosier, who taught at Mariner for 29 years and has stayed in touch with Abbott. Then came the student government election, "And I said, 'James, the kids really like you. You're a good role model and you're a good politician. Why don't you run to be president of the high school?' He did and he won." After high school graduation in 1978, Abbott enrolled, then quickly dropped out, of Washington State University. At Boeing from 1979-1981, he worked a graveyard shift building specialized airplane tools while taking math and other courses at Everett Community College during the day. When he was laid off from Boeing, he soon found other opportunities: After seeing the 1983 science fiction thriller "WarGames," he bought a $3,000 Apple computer system and learned low-level hacking techniques. He was savvy enough that a pizza joint he worked for asked him to computerize their billing system. He finished a degree at Everett, then studied accounting at Central Washington University. He later became a partner at an accounting firm. He's since worked in various departments at Microsoft, and now lives in Port St. Lucie, Fla., close to his mother. He's reconnected with his siblings, he said, and also made amends with his father, who passed away in 1998. Aiming to inspire Abbott said he decided to donate to his high school in hopes that other alumni will do the same. He also hopes current students, especially those who've faced serious struggles in their young lives, might be inspired by the hardships he's overcome. "You have a more difficult life and more challenges. But more often than not, you can survive it. You can climb out of that hole."

The American biotech company Moderna announced Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing illness following exposure to the virus that causes the disease. The announcement comes exactly a week after the companies Pfizer and BioNTech revealed their vaccine is more than 90% effective, meaning two independently developed vaccines are getting closer to distribution. In the coming weeks, both companies are expected to ask the FDA to authorize their vaccines for emergency use and they hope to start distributing the first doses by the end of the year. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed and former Moderna board member, says he's "ecstatic" about the news. He says the announcement exceeded his expectations for efficacy and will be key to ending the pandemic. "If enough of us get vaccinated, there is a good chance that we keep this virus at very, very low levels, which means we can go back to normal life — fully normal life," Slaoui says. Slaoui spoke with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly today on All Things Considered. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What is your reaction to today's news, 94.5% effective in preventing COVID, sounds pretty great? Well, frankly, I would say ecstatic. And what's really great is that the data are highly similar to those that Pfizer announced last week. These are two vaccines that are totally independently developed. They are using similar technology and independently tested in large phase three trials. And to come with such similar data, I think gives great confidence that this data is real, that these vaccines are highly, highly effective and efficacious, and their safety profile is the best that we have been able to see up to now — very satisfactory. You said you were ecstatic. It also sounds like you're a little surprised that these numbers have come in quite so good? I was expecting the vaccines to be 80 to 90 percent efficacious. And I remember that many people questioned that. I'm glad they are 90 percent or 95 percent efficacious. This is what the world needs to control this pandemic. And it also means, and suggests, that the other vaccines that we have in our portfolio — and vaccines that others are working on — are very likely to be very effective. This is apparently a virus that is particularly susceptible to a good immune response, and that's good news for the world. Lay out briefly for us what you see as the key differences between these vaccines. One that immediately leaps out is the Moderna vaccine has to be kept cold, but not nearly as cold as the Pfizer one, which might make it a little easier to distribute. Yes, I would say the biggest difference here is indeed around the cold chain. The Pfizer vaccine requires a minus 80 degrees Celsius temperature for its storage. On the other hand, the Moderna vaccine also requires significant cold, but not as cold — minus 20 Celsius — which is more common. Most of the freezers that people have in their homes are minus 20. And the Moderna vaccine can actually be stable and capped at 2 to 8 degrees [Celsius], which is a fridge temperature, for up to a month. That is really a big plus in terms of being able to immunize individuals, for instance, that come to CVS or Walgreens and ask to be immunized. We should stress these are preliminary results — more trials are going to be needed and they haven't been peer reviewed in scientific journals. But, the people who took the Moderna vaccine and did get sick, didn't get that sick. They did not have severe cases of COVID-19. Does that suggest to you that even if it can't keep everyone from getting sick, that it might reduce the severity of illness? That is very important and very exciting. And, frankly, it's not uncommon with vaccines. You know, there have been 11 cases of severe disease in the trial and all of them were in the placebo group, not in the vaccine group, suggesting that this vaccine is highly effective against severe disease, and also highly effective against any disease, whether it's mild or moderate. So that's excellent news. We expect to see more of such information on the Pfizer vaccine. We haven't seen it yet. I can tell you, because we have much closer collaboration with the Moderna program, there are also many cases in individuals over the age of 65 — and again, efficacy is excellent there. Likewise, there are people from diverse ethnic origins — Latinos, African Americans, Asians — across the line, the same trend on efficacy, without statistical power because there is a smaller number there. I expect the Pfizer vaccine to have the same performance, or very similar, so it's very good news in the sense that the vaccine works very well in everyone. So what are the challenges now? Is the chief one just getting enough doses? Well, first of all, we need to help the companies to prepare the files, [both companies are expected to file with the FDA for emergency use authorization] and support them in going to the FDA reviews. The CDC and the ACIP will make recommendations if the FDA approves the vaccines. And while all of this is ongoing over the next probably three or four weeks, we will continue what we've been doing since the month of May, which is working with the companies to help with the manufacturing and the release of the vaccine doses. We have announced that we would be able to have enough doses to immunize about 20 million people by the month of December. That means the 40 million doses between the two vaccines, and about 25 million people on an ongoing basis from there on, in January and beyond. But then what's important to keep in mind is we have four more vaccines in the pipeline — in our portfolio — two of which are in the middle of their phase three trials with already about 10,000 subjects recruited in each one of their trials. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one shot vaccine, which is a lot easier to deliver. People don't have to come back after a month or three weeks for a second dose. And that vaccine may very well read out in January and may be approved in February. And doses are being manufactured as we speak. Likewise with the AstraZeneca vaccine — that's a two shot vaccine." What is the value of pushing full speed ahead on all these vaccines when you've got two that look extremely promising, and understanding that resources are finite? Well, one [element] was to manage the risk of failure. The second, which was built in from day one, was to use different platform technologies because they may have different performance, which makes them best suited for different subpo[CENSORED]tions. You know, a frail elderly person's immune system is very different from a young 18-year-old football player. And a 55-year-old first line worker is different from a pediatric toddler or a 3-months-old baby. So the various platform technologies are going to give us the opportunity to select from a menu of vaccines with different performance, the best vaccines suited for a given po[CENSORED]tion. I think that's an important element. And then the third element is, this is one way to have more vaccine doses. Once you scale them up, you produce many more millions of vaccine doses per batch. As a person in charge of science, what do you say to people who are worried about vaccine safety — who say 'make all the vaccines you want, I'm not going to take it'? I have a plea, which is please just listen and open up your mind to hear the transparent data and information — and then make up your mind. But it's really very important not to have a predefined position. It is unfortunate that there was so much politics that has, I think, exacerbated certain reservations that, hopefully now, people can just take more time to rationally decide. Now, people need to realize there's only one way to protect yourself and also protect people around you (on top of, of course, wearing your mask and washing your hands and keeping your distance) and it's vaccination. And if enough of us gets vaccinated, there is a good chance that we keep this virus at very, very low levels, which means we can go back to normal life — fully normal life. When I last spoke to you, Dr. Slaoui, you told me you're looking at the middle of 2021 for a vaccine that is safe, effective and widely available. Does that timeline hold or does this news of the last week bump things up any? I think my statement has always been that by the middle of 2021, we would be able to have vaccinated the U.S. po[CENSORED]tion — and I think that statement remains. I think in a worst case scenario, if we only have these two vaccines that work, we may not be able to have produced 600 million doses between now and June, so it may extend by a quarter or so. But all in all, I think I feel more comfortable now saying the vaccines are possible, vaccination is possible — and not only is it possible, can be incredibly effective, and that's great news. So it gives me great optimism that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Microsoft hasn’t completed its acquisition of Bethesda yet, but there’s only one question fans wanted answered: will future games come to the PlayStation 5? To be fair to the Redmond firm, it probably genuinely doesn’t know right now, but there’s been conflicting information emerging from various interviews. Most recently, Xbox boss Phil Spencer made the likelihood of Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI seem low on Sony’s systems. But now chief financial officer Tim Stuart has indicated the opposite. Speaking at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference, he said that his company “don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise”. He added that he wants the publisher’s games to be “better or best” on Xbox, which obviously puts PlayStation at a disadvantage – but it’s not as bad as them simply never existing on Sony’s hardware at all. He concluded: “I’m not announcing pulling content from platforms one way or the other. But I suspect you’ll continue to see us shift towards a first or better or best approach on our platforms.” The conflicting messages do seem to suggest that this all still very much up in the air, and we probably won’t truly know what Microsoft plans to do until it makes some official announcements. For now, there’s Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo to look forward to, and then we’ll see what happens after that.

Video conferencing platform Zoom has enjoyed a breakout year, thanks to the pandemic and rise of remote working. It's used primarily by businesses to host meetings with remote colleagues and clients - but Zoom is an equally useful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family. Zoom video conferencing is celebrated for its ease of use, high quality video and audio, and collaboration facilities such as text chat and screen sharing - and the basic version is also completely free of charge. Attendees can join a Zoom meeting without signing into the app, but must sign up for an account to host a video conference. Premium versions support Zoom meetings with up to 1,000 participants, call recording, unlimited phone calls and much more. Check out our list of the best collaboration tools around Working from home: the mouse, monitor, keyboard and router you need We've built a list of the best business webcams on the market The Zoom app is available on all major desktop and mobile operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. For more information, visit our how to use Zoom guide. Free Zoom or paid? Zoom is available free of charge to anyone and the basic free version offers all the facilities most people will need. However, as with anything, you get what you pay for. Free Zoom offers video conferencing for up to 100 participants, provided the meeting runs for no longer than 40 minutes, at which point attendees are ejected from the conference. If you don’t mind the hassle of dialling back in, the host can simply start another call. It also supports unlimited one-on-one meetings, screen sharing, chat, virtual backgrounds, whiteboard and more. The paid version, meanwhile, effectively removes time limits for group video conferences (pushing the cap to 24 hours), and also allows the host to record meetings to cloud or on-device storage and schedule repeat meetings. The most basic paid version costs $149.90/£119.90/AU$209.90 per year when billed annually or $14.99/£11.99/AU$20.99 per month, which is a little more expensive in the long-run. Quoted prices do not cover additional add-ons - such as webinar facilities, large meetings (up to 1000 participants) and additional cloud recording storage - which will bump up the price. Zoom for mobile or desktop? It’s worth bearing in mind not all Zoom meetings are equal; the desktop version is kitted out with a number of features unavailable on mobile. Beyond the most obvious downside to video conferencing on mobile - the comparatively small screen - Zoom for iOS and Android contains watered down and less intuitive versions of the chat and screen sharing facilities. The mobile version also only allows four participants to appear on screen at once and presenting complex charts and documents is made challenging by the small screen. For large scale business meetings with colleagues or calls with multiple friends, Zoom for desktop is the only sensible choice. Zoom alternatives While the word Zoom is used by some as a byword for video conference, there are many Zoom alternatives on the market capable of rivalling the big name brand. Here are a few alternatives to Zoom that make an equally good choice for businesses looking for the best video conferencing services around: