Warlock-

The Solidaires Informatique union has filed a new complaint against Ubisoft with the courts in Bobigny, France, alleging that executives including CEO Yves Guillemot enabled and encouraged a culture of "institutional sexual harassment" at the company. "In June 2020, dozens of testimonies emerged on social medias, quickly backed by articles from various outlets (Libération and Numérama in particular), reporting cases of sexual harassment within Ubisoft, with the complacency of the Human Resources departments, which was protecting the harassers and silencing the victims," Solidaires Informatique said in a translated statement sent via email. "On July 15, 2021, a complaint was filed at the Bobigny criminal court by Maude Beckers, both representing the Solidaires Informatique union and several victims of the company." "More importantly, the complaint targets Ubisoft as a company, for institutional sexual harassment," the union said. "For establishing, maintaining and reinforcing a system where sexual harassment is tolerated, because keeping harassers in place is deemed more profitable for the company than protecting employees. This harassment, tolerated and done by the upper echelons of the company, protected by the Human Resources departments, has created a company-wide system. Beyond the list of people mentioned above, this action seeks to dismantle the dynamics of this system." François, Hascoët, and Cornet are no longer with Ubisoft: All three departed the company last year amid allegations of workplace misconduct and abuse. Yannis Mallat, the managing director of Ubisoft's Canadian studios, and Ubisoft vice president Maxime Beland also resigned from the company over similar complaints. Guillemot apologized for the abuses in September 2020, but took no responsibility for them. In more recent months, Guillemot has touted leadership changes at the company aimed at making Ubisoft "an exemplary workplace in the tech industry." Not everyone is convinced that things are actually changing, however, or that Guillemot has the ability to make it happen. A May report by Le Télégramme said some employees don't believe that meaningful changes are being made, leading to the #holdubisoftaccountable hashtag trending on Twitter. The report also said that the union was planning collective legal action against Ubisoft, presumably a reference to this complaint. A Solidaires Informatique representative said that the union is filing the complaint now because it took roughly a year to collect evidence and testimonies, and put the case together. "Institutional sexual harassment is a charge that is very rarely seen in court in France, and the lawyer, Maude Beckers, wanted to have the strongest complaint possible," the rep said. "However, we consider that the changes made by Ubisoft are superficial ... The situation inside hasn't changed much, and we hope the evolution of the case will also keep bringing attention to its evolution, and keep putting pressure on Ubisoft to commit to its promises." Solidaires Informatique invited other potential complainants to join the action, "to testify or to file a complaint." In response to an inquiry about the new complaint, a Ubisoft representative provided a link to the company's May 2021 update detailing changes at the company in response to the allegations of misconduct, but beyond that said only that "we do not have further details regarding the claim filed against Ubisoft."

Reject this report, he is a child without prejudice only to insult when they want to help him, I wanted to save you from the guillotine but people like you do not deserve mercy, he deserves that ban and more, he wanted to help him but he likes to be mistreated. Good luck! Joker : )

@romanhns use message private on forum 🙂

@romanhns u can give me the proof, i want watch it!

Well, so much for getting the po[CENSORED]r Tremor off-road package in a 2022 Ford Super Duty (F-250 / F-350) XLT pickup truck. "Why?" you ask? Because, as a company representative recently explained, "due to the chip shortages, the XLT Tremor was removed from our offering in the 2022 model year." The chips in question are semiconductors that are essential for powering a variety of vehicle features, from batteries and fuel pumps to power steering, infotainment systems, backup cameras, emergency brakes, and more. As we reported in February, the chip shortage actually forced temporary shutdowns at two U.S. plants that produced the 2021 Ford F-150. Although the entry-level XLT Tremor is no longer available, the big off-roader can still be had in Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum trims, which all received a slick interior makeover and new infotainment gear for 2022.

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-57857337 The United States embargo against Cuba is one of the measures that has been rejected the most times in the UN General Assembly, where every year since 1992 a resolution against it has been approved. The condemnation resolution has obtained almost unanimous support in recent years: last June 23, when it was voted for the last time, it had the support of 184 of the 193 members of the UN. Its most convincing result, however, was obtained in 2016 when it added 191 votes in favor and none against, since even the United States government refrained from defending its own embargo. The reasons for condemning the embargo vary and more than an endorsement of the Cuban government in many cases -such as that of the United Kingdom and other European countries- they respond more to a rejection of the fact that the United States intends to limit the possibility that companies from other countries do business with the island or have the embargo seen as a dangerous precedent for unilateral coercive measures. After the unprecedented protests that occurred last Sunday in several Cuban cities demanding food and medicine, but also "freedom" and the "end of the dictatorship," the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel pointed to the US embargo as the root of the evils. that plague the island. "What we need here is for the 243 additional blockade measures to be withdrawn and the blockade lifted. It is the only thing that Cuba demands," Díaz-Canel said in a broadcast on television and radio on Monday. The Cuban government announced on Wednesday the temporary elimination of customs restrictions on medicines and food, in an attempt to appease the discontent that the aforementioned protests revealed.

Google's search history can reveal a lot about the user – it shows what users have been looking for online and also gives a sneak peek into their browsing habits, which is something you might not necessarily want to keep a record of. Considering how prevalent phones are becoming as a user's primary devices, a lot of these searches now take place on mobile devices. Until now, it has been a little convoluted to delete your recent search history, with the options provided by Google rather limited in scope. Previously, users could either wipe their entire search history from their Google app, delete entries one by one or set up auto-deletion every 3, 18, or 26 months. Identifying the obvious gap here, Google has now added the option to “delete last 15 min” with a single tap from a settings screen, with the setting doing exactly as its description suggests. This new privacy feature to delete partial search history was introduced by Google at the recent Google I/O developers conference and according to Google, it is one of the most demanded features by users. How to delete the last 15 minutes of search history from your phone? Google now allows you to delete recent search entries, all you need to do is to follow the below process: Go to Google App on your phone Tap on your profile picture on the top right to access settings On the next page, you’ll see an option “Delete last 15 minutes” and all you need to do is to tap it and the entries from the last 15 days from your search history will be deleted Additionally, Google will also make it possible to delete the entire search history easily. The new two-tap process to delete search history will be rolled out soon as well. Remember though, once you delete the search history, all the details from Google’s My Activity section will also be deleted.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter, Intel is in talks to buy GlobalFoundries for roughly $30 billion. Intel has not confirmed the report, but if true, the plan would intercept GlobalFoundries' widely-reported plans for an IPO later this year. We reached out to Intel about the report and the company responded that it does not comment on rumors and speculation. The news comes on the heels of recent reports that Intel is in talks to buy RISC-V chip designer SiFive for $2 billion as it undergoes a major restructuring effort under new CEO Pat Gelsinger. Intel's rumored buy-out plan also comes as it lobbies the US government for subsidies to boost its manufacturing capabilities, particularly to help fund its IDM 2.0 initiative that will find it producing chips for other companies through a newly-formed Intel Foundry Services (IFS). Intel has pledged $20 billion of its own money to kick-start that initiative with two fabs in Arizona. Acquiring GlobalFoundries would be an immediate shot in the arm for that initiative, particularly because it would bring in experienced leadership teams and an already-healthy third-party foundry business. GlobalFoundries' production capacity of trailing-edge nodes, which are the largest volume movers for most third-party fabs, would also fit well with Intel's plans to begin offering its manufacturing services to other parties. Even though GlobalFoundries famously abandoned the race for leading-edge node technology, it has plenty of its own existing fabs in the US with impressive production capacity. GlobalFoundries has long serviced contracts with the US government, which requires certain indigenous chip production for some of its military projects. As such, the company's existing work with the US government makes it a shoo-in for government funding. GlobalFoundries, AMD's former foundry, is headquartered in the US. The company is currently owned by the Mubadala Investment Company, an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government. GlobalFoundries has been widely reported to be seeking an IPO, but it scuttled its plans last year amidst the turmoil of the pandemic. However, according to the WSJ, GlobalFoundries could move ahead with its planned IPO if talks with Intel fall through. The proposed deal would dwarf Intel's $16.7 billion Altera acquisition, which was its largest thus far. Intel recently sold off its NAND and SSD business to SK hynix for $9 billion as it looks to focus on its core competency of manufacturing high-margin logic devices. However, an Intel-GlobalFoundries deal would certainly face intense regulatory scrutiny, especially amid the tensions associated with the US-China trade war. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has also been on a tour throughout the EU to drum up support for government funding to build fabs there, saying that the company's investments in Europe could total $100 billion. Interestingly, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will provide an update on the company's process and packaging technology and roadmap on July 26 at 2pm PT, streamed via the Intel Newsroom. If an acquisition of GlobalFoundries is in the cards, we're sure to learn more at this event.

Next week's EA Play Live showcase won't feature any new Star Wars games, the publisher has confirmed, adding to a list of confirmed no-shows including Dragon Age 4 and the new Mass Effect game. That doesn't mean EA doesn't have Star Wars games planned though: "all of us look forward to celebrating with you next year when we share our vision for the Galaxy far, far away," the EA Star Wars Twitter account promised. EA held the exclusive right to develop Star Wars games until January, when Disney announced the revival of Lucasfilm Games. Shortly after, Ubisoft announced an open-world Star Wars game in development at Massive Entertainment. That won't slow down EA's Star Wars interests though, with the publisher quickly assuring that it'll continue to develop games for the series. Nothing is confirmed, but Respawn is currently recruiting for roles on its Star Wars team, pointing to a possible sequel to Jedi Fallen Order. Earlier this year rumors circulated on Reddit that a third instalment in the modern Star Wars Battlefront series is in development at DICE. At this stage, with some of EA's more exciting forthcoming games ruled out for the showcase, it looks like EA Play Live will be pretty heavily focused on Battlefield 2042, EA Sports titles, and maybe some Apex Legends news. A Dead Space reboot is also heavily rumored.

#CONTRA! Good activity but your attitude kills you, bad vibes, breaks some rules and plays words with sarcasm with the administrators, A big mistake to accept someone like that! When you learn what respect is all about, you will receive a Pro from me, while learning values. Good Luck!

Like its big sibling the Silverado, the Chevy Colorado pickup will offer a Trail Boss off-road package starting for the 2022 model year. The dealer-installed extra will be offered for $ 2995 on LT models and $ 2895 on Z71 models, and it includes a suspension lift, different wheels, skid plates, and a few visual modifications — similar to the AT4 trim level already offered for its mechanical twin , the GMC Canyon. The suspension lift raises the truck 1.0-inch, and the package also includes the removal of the front air dam and the addition of skid plates for the front and middle of the underbody. Other add-ons include red tow hooks, black badges, and 17-inch black wheels taken from the full-blown ZR2 off-road model. The 2022 Colorado is otherwise unchanged and continues to offer three engine choices: a 2.5-liter inline-four, a 3.6-liter V-6, and a turbodiesel 2.8-liter inline-four. Elsewhere in the Chevy truck lineup, the Silverado is scheduled to receive an update for 2022, and the full-size pickup will add an off-road ZR2 version of its own.

Former All-Pro Richard Sherman was arrested early Wednesday morning on a burglary domestic violence charge, but new disturbing details surrounding the arrest emerged later in the afternoon. The audio of Sherman’s wife, Ashley Moss, calling 911 was obtained by KIRO in Seattle. She explained to the dispatcher that Sherman was drunk and threatened to commit suicide. She added that he was aggressive and physical. "He's threatening to kill himself," Moss told the dispatcher. "He has sent text messages to people saying he's going to hang himself… This is like a f --- emergency, I need officers here now." Sherman reportedly tried breaking into his in-laws' home in Redmond, Washington around 2 a.m., according to Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe. Police officers tried to calm the situation down, authorities said. One state trooper developed some kind of rapport with Sherman and told him how he once parked his car while he was working as a valet when he was a teenager. Lowe stated that the tactics worked, but Sherman fought back once the officers told him that he was under arrest. That’s when police officers summoned a K-9 to take him down. According to the officers, Sherman was taken to the hospital to be examined for any injuries. He was eventually booked into the King County jail in Seattle just after 6 a.m. Sherman, 33, was denied bail but a spokesperson with the Redmond Police Department told ESPN that it is standard procedure until suspects of domestic violence can appear before a judge. "At this time we’re going to make no statements, except he didn’t harm anybody," Moss told The Seattle Times. "My kids were not harmed in the incident. He's a good person and this is not his character. We're doing alright, just trying to get him out. I want people to know no one was injured." It was before 1:30 a.m. when the Washington State Patrol received a 911 call from a construction crew working along State Route 520 east of Seattle. The caller said that an apparently intoxicated driver entered the closed construction zone. As the vehicle left the zone, it struck a barricade, sustaining significant driver-side damage, Patrol Capt. Ron Mead told a news conference on Wednesday. While he was at the hospital, troopers obtained a warrant for a blood draw to test for intoxicants, Mead said. Results were pending, but the patrol was recommending additional charges of driving under the influence and hit-and-run. The NFLPA released a statement saying: "We will continue to monitor events closely as more facts are made available to us." Sherman became a Seattle sports all-time great during seven seasons with the Seahawks. He was a key piece during their incredible run to a 2014 Super Bowl victory. A five-time Pro Bowler, Sherman spent the last three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers but missed much of the 2020 season because of a calf strain. He was released in February.

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-57845234 Britney Spears stepped forward on her way to free herself from what she calls a "bondage" situation. The Superior Court of Los Angeles allowed the American singer to choose her own lawyer, a substantial change in the legal guardianship that has controlled her life for more than 13 years and which the singer wants to end. The ruling came on Wednesday, the day the pop star addressed a court for the second time in less than a month. From now on, Spears will be represented by Mathew Rosengart, a lawyer who has handled cases of celebrities such as Sean Penn or Steven Spielberg and whose first objective will be to remove Jamie Spears, father of the artist, from guardianship. The fact that the artist can hire her own representative casts doubt on the validity of her own legal guardianship, a mechanism reserved for severely disabled people who are not supposed to take care of themselves. Spears went further and announced that she wants to sue her father for "abuse." What happened this wednesday Last month, the singer made a dramatic plea to end the agreement that has been in place since 2008. This Wednesday, in a new hearing, Spears repeated her request in an emotional statement in which she asked that charges be brought against her father for "abuse." "I am here to press charges. I am angry and will resort to that," the singer said, addressing the remote court over the phone of a lawyer. The singer insisted on Wednesday that her priority is to remove her father from the guardianship that governs his personal and financial affairs. In her words to the judge, Spears said she does not want to undergo a "stupid" medical evaluation and that she is fine with co-tutor Jodi Montgomery remaining in her position. "I just want you to understand how much time they have taken from me by forcing me to do these psychological tests that do not yield any results." And he added that he has "serious problems of abandonment" by his father.

A recent graduate of SMU's Dedman School of Law has written computer language for a smart contract that, if adopted by courts, could make it much easier and less expensive for someone to sort out the estate of a loved one who dies without a will. Madison Arcemont, who received her juris doctor degree from SMU in May, wrote computer code that would use blockchain technology to replace some of the work that must be done manually in what the law calls "intestate succession." That's the legal term for when a judge in the probate court system must oversee the payment of any debts and determine who can inherit the estate of a deceased person with no will. It can take months, if not years, to complete intestate succession, even if no one disputes the court's decisions. And the price tag for this can also be expensive. The average price for court fees, attorney's fee, and other expenses can cost roughly 3 to 7 percent of the total value of the estate. "Currently, intestate succession is decided by the courts on a case-by-case basis, even though the law is relatively formulaic, said Arcemont. "Turning over some of that responsibility to a smart contract can save the family of the deceased person a lot of time." Before a judge can make a ruling on a case, it's up to a personal representative —usually a relative of the deceased assigned by the court—to actually determine how much an estate is worth and who in the family would qualify as an heir. Intestate succession laws lay out who should get what percentage of the estate, based on who is living. Yet it can still be a daunting task for personal representatives to make sense of the legal instructions, which is why they turn to a lawyer for help. Arcemont's approach is a blueprint for simplifying the process, possibly eliminating the need for a lawyer. How it work A "smart contract" is created by using computer coding to build a document. Arcemont took the rules for her contract from the Uniform Probate Code and converted them into a series of "if/then...when" statements with guidance from Carla L. Reyes, an SMU assistant professor of law who is a nationally recognized leader on issues raised by the intersection of business law and technology. For example, if someone answers "yes" to the question, "Is this deceased person survived by a spouse?," the smart contract will then ask if the deceased person had children. If the answer is again, "yes," the program will ask if they had those children with the deceased person's current spouse. If the personal representative answers "no" to questions about a spouse or kids, they will instead be asked questions like, "Is the deceased person survived by one or both parents?" and, "Are both of those parents alive?" All of these facts allow the smart contract to put together a descendent tree that tells the personal representative who should get a portion of the estate and how much. The representative would then present this information to a judge for approval. Computer coding strikes a balance between legal terms and everyday language Arcemont used a program called Lexon to write the computer code. The program specializes in writing computer code in language that both the legal industry and a layperson can understand, while simultaneously performing the necessary computing functions. Lexon also allows smart contracts to be stored using blockchain technology, meaning any information loaded into a smart contract by a personal representative or a judge would be saved on multiple computers instead of a single one. Because multiple versions are stored, a smart contract can't easily be tampered with and can be validated by several, randomized computers to ensure the information is correct. Arcemont noted that a smart contract can't cover every situation. For example, any family disputes about the information being entered in the smart contract would still need to be decided by a judge. For courts to use smart contracts for intestate succession, computer code must be written to match the state's intestate succession law. Each state has its own succession laws, though 18 of them are modeled after the same law that Arcemont did in creating the computer code. There would also be a fee involved with using these smart contracts. Lexon stores its smart contracts on a blockchain-based platform called Ethereum. This platform has a transaction fee when someone directs the smart contract to determine who the potential heirs are in an intestate succession case. This cost depends on a few variables for when the smart contract is run, but it can be as low as 15 cents. Compared to the time and expense a smart contract could save a personal representative, though, Arcemont said this price would be minimal. "Technology in this area could make intestate succession more accessible, affordable and efficient," Arcemont said.

Pooled Chia farming has finally arrived, but with diminishing returns, it's too little, too late. The Chia cryptocurrency started making waves in the storage industry in the early days, but diminishing returns and the lack of pooled farming were serious drawbacks. Now, arguably three months too late, pooling has finally arrived. We've overhauled our guide for how to get started, as well as our hardware recommendations. Spoiler alert: You probably shouldn't buy anything. When Chia trading went live, it looked like the hot new commodity, but things have changed quite a bit in the past few months. The total netspace for Chia rapidly expanded from less than 1 exabyte when trading went live, and it now sits at over 32 EiB. The rapid scaling of May and June is now behind us, though pooling may cause a resurgence. At least now it's possible to get something from Chia, even if you only have a few tens of terabytes, but with Chia well on its way to triple-digit EiB levels, don't expect much. In fact, BackBlaze went so far as to say Chia didn't make sense, even with the 'free' 150PB of untapped storage the company currently has. But don't let that stop you! If you're looking to join the latest crypto-bandwagon, here's how to get started farming Chia coin, with the latest updates now in place. That means using the MadMax plotter to cut down on plotting times, along with how to get started with a chia Pool. Chia Farming and Mining Basics If you've dabbled in other cryptocurrencies before, Chia is a very different beast. Some of the fundamental blockchain concepts aren't radically different from what's gone before, but Chia coin ditches the Proof of Work algorithm for securing the blockchain and instead implements Proof of Space - technically Proof of Time and Space, but the latter appears to be the more pertinent factor. Rather than mining coins by dedicating large amounts of processing power to the task, Chia simply requires storage plots - but these plots need to be filled with the correct data. The analogies with real-world farming are intentional. First, you need to clear a field (ie, delete any files on your storage devices that are taking up space), then you plow and seed the field (compute a plot for Chia), and then… well, you wait for the crops to grow, which can take quite a long time when those crops are Chia blocks. Each Chia plot ends up being sort of like a massive, complex Bingo card. There's lots of math behind it, but that analogy should suffice. Each time a block challenge comes up, the Chia network determines a winner based on various rules. If your plot matches and 'wins' the block, you get the block reward (currently 2 XCH, Chia's coin abbreviation). That block reward is set to decrease every three years for the first 12 years, after which the block reward will be static ad infinitum. The official FAQ lists the reward rate as 64 XCH per 10 minutes, and it will get cut in half every three years until it's at 4 XCH per 10 minutes with a block reward of 0.125 XCH. Your chances of solving a Chia coin block are basically equal to your portion of the total network space (netspace). Right now, Chia's netspace sits at roughly 32 EiB (Exbibytes - the binary SI unit), so 1 EiB equals 2 ^ 60 bytes, or 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes decimal, and 32 EiB equals 36.9 EB (exabytes, using 10 ^ 18 for the SI decimal units). That means if you dedicate a complete 10TB (10 trillion bytes) of storage to Chia plots, your odds of winning are 0.000027%, or 0.0000000271 if we drop the percentage part. If those sound like terrible odds, they are, but the catch is that there are approximately 4,608 Chia blocks created every day (a rate of 32 blocks per 10 minutes, or 18.75 seconds per block), and any one of them could match your plot . Simple math can then give you the average time to win, though Chia calculators make estimating this far easier than doing the math yourself. A completely full 10TB HDD can store 91 standard Chia blocks (around 101.4 GiB each). But, again, don't get lazy and forget to convert between tebibytes and terabytes, as SI units definitely matter. 91 blocks on a single 10TB HDD works out to maybe winning a block every two years (808 days). Actually, to be precise, it would have a theoretical 0.86% chance to win a block each week, a 3.64% chance to win a block in a month, and a 36.34% chance to win a block in a year. But with netspace continuing to increase, your odds will drop, and you could go years without winning anything - at least if you're solo farming. We've heard from some people that dedicated over 100TB of storage to Chia back in May, who never earned a thing. And that was when the odds were five times better than now, with prices more than double the current going rate. Of course, luck comes into play. It's theoretically possible (though highly unlikely) to have just a few plots and win a block solution immediately. It's also possible to have hundreds of plots and go for many months without a single accepted solution. Also, just because a plot wins once doesn't mean it can't win again, so don't delete your plots after they win. The law of averages should equalize over time, but the real problem is that solo farming or mining basically sucks. It's why every major cryptocurrency has had pooled mining support for years now, which makes us wonder: How on Earth did the Chia creators think launching without pools was a good idea? Surely it didn't have anything to do with their own large pools of storage. If you want to better your chances, you'd need more storage and more Chia plots, which can quickly escalate to large amounts of money. This is the standard cryptocurrency arms race that we've seen repeated over the past decade with hundreds of po[CENSORED]r coins. The big miners - farmers in this case - want more of the total Chia pie and rush out to buy more hardware and increase their odds of winning. Except, this time, it's not just a matter of buying more SSDs or HDDs. This time farmers need to fill each of those with plots, and that takes time, additional hardware, and a bit of know-how.

Haptic motors and adaptive triggers will probably become the norm one day. The next iteration of the Xbox Series X / S gamepad could inherit some of Sony's DualSense features, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has indicated in a new interview. The PS5 controller is unique for its more powerful and precise haptic motors and adaptive triggers, and both are very impressive. Meanwhile, the new Xbox gamepad feels pretty much like the old one (it's still great, though). "We're definitely thinking about different kinds of devices that can bring more games to more places," Phil Spencer told Kinda Funny when questioned on Xbox hardware plans. "There’s probably some work that we’ll do on the controller. I think Sony’s done a nice job with their controller and we kind of look at some of that and there are things that we should go do. " If Microsoft inserts these features into the Xbox gamepad it'll probably mean day one compatibility with PC — at least for the company's first-party titles. Sony's DualSense can be used on PC, but not software natively supports its best tech, which is part of the reason why the Xbox gamepad is still the best controller for PC gaming. During the same interview Spencer also reaffirmed the company's ambivalence towards VR and AR, at least where Xbox is concerned. “We're watching what happens on PC,” he said. “As it relates to VR specifically, the best experience that I've seen is Quest 2 and I just think its untethered [nature] and ease of use in its capability just doesn't require me to be connected to an Xbox in any way. "

Executives said VW will design and make its own batteries, roll out a Level 4 autonomous vehicle in 2026 and beat Tesla at its own game. Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said Tuesday that the German automaker's lineup of electric vehicles across its brands - including Porsche and Audi - could more than double its market share in the U.S. to 10 percent. Speaking with reporters and analysts after laying out a broad 10-year strategy for the giant German automaker that it is calling New Auto, Diess said the company believed EVs would be at parity with internal combustion engine-powered vehicles globally by 2030. In the US , he said, the ID4 electric compact crossover is nearly sold out for this year, and he predicted the retro-styled Microbus concept, set to debut in the US in 2023 and now called the ID Buzz, would prove po[CENSORED]r with consumers. "In an electrified world, we need emotional products" such as the evocatively styled ID Buzz, Diess said. "It really adds something for the brand that so many of our competitors don't have." Diess said the brand is currently "reworking" exactly which EVs it will offer in the U.S. beyond the ID4 and ID Buzz, but he said that with contributions from Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini, sales would lift the group's U.S. market share. "We are very happy with the development in the U.S. We are of course suffering constraints with chip supply. But this is not where we want to stay," Diess said. "We are running over 20 percent [market share] in China and 20 percent in Europe, so this is our aspiration in the U.S., for a higher market share as well." During the presentation, executives revealed that VW planned to renew its modular ICE-powered platform, called MQB, for another life cycle as it projects sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles to decline as much as 20 percent worldwide by 2030. Executives also more fully detailed plans to merge VW's two existing EV platforms, known by their acronyms MEB and PPE, into a single Scalable Systems Platform, or SSP. The transformation will begin with a project underway at premium brand Audi called Artemis and another for its mass-market brands underway at VW dubbed Trinity. The company said that it would be possible in the future to "build models from all brands and segments on the SSP - more than 40 million group cars throughout its life cycle." The single battery-electric vehicle platform will improve scale and reduce complexity across the group's brands, including those that operate in the U.S. Audi will begin using SSP modules beginning in 2025 in its Artemis project vehicle, while VW would begin to use the modules a year later on its Trinity project. "If we had thought earlier, we would have combined MEB and PPE, but I think now is the time to combine those," Diess said. In terms of batteries, the company said it has developed what it is calling a "unified cell" that will be used to power a majority of the vehicles it produces globally. Those cells will debut in Europe in 2023. Diess also confirmed that the company planned to introduce a Level 4 autonomous driving-capable vehicle by 2026 in Europe with the Artemis project, which would be available later in the U.S. Another of VW's European subsidiaries is set to begin a pilot program in Hamburg, Germany, with a commercial driverless ride-sharing system in 2023 that it plans to roll out further across Europe later in the decade. Asked about how it plans to overtake Tesla in areas where the U.S. company already has a wide lead, Diess said VW's global scale and its brands give it the opportunity. "We are already deeply industrialized. I think it's an advantage to have different brands ... we can address a much wider range of customers," Diess said. "Scale wise, we should have advantages over Tesla for sure. This industry is also really consolidating toward very comparable solutions. The [electric motors] are becoming similar, the concepts are becoming similar. Now we are in second position, but now until 2025 , we should have a good chance to overtake. "

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/13/business/coca-cola-zero-sugar-new/index.html New York (CNN Business)If you're a big fan of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, you may want to brace yourself: The recipe for your beloved drink is changing. Coca-Cola said Tuesday that it is tweaking the beverage in an effort to make the drink taste more like regular Coke. The product's can will also look different — all red, rather than red and black. The move comes as Coca-Cola focuses its resources on its trademark products, including Coke, Coke Zero Sugar and Diet Coke after discontinuing some struggling brands. The company hopes the updated version of Coke Zero Sugar will attract more consumers. "Despite its enormous success, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar still represents a relatively small percentage," of the Coke brand, said CEO James Quincey during an April analyst call discussing first quarter results. "The improved recipe brings its taste even closer to that [of] the iconic Coca-Cola," he said, adding that "this was influenced by consumer insight and our focus on constant improvement." The new version, which will replace the current one, is rolling out in the United States this month and will hit Canada in September. Coca-Cola has already updated the product in some international markets, where some customers wonder why Coke is messing with their beloved drink. "What have you done to my favourite drink coke zero sugar?" one despondent fan tweeted. "The new recipe is shocking. I won't be buying another can until you fix your mistake and bring back the old flavour." Another wrote that the new version helped break an addiction to the product because "the new taste is so bad." Coke did not say exactly how it was changing the recipe in the United States, but noted that the new version should taste "more refreshing and delicious." Diehard fans may notice a big difference, but to this reporter, the two US versions tasted similar — with the new iteration slightly sweeter and fuller than the old. In the United States and Canada, both the old and new versions use the same ingredients, aspartame and acesulfame K, to sweeten the product. Different sweeteners are used in other markets throughout the world. Social media critics aside, the company is confident people will love the new product. "We pre-tested both the new recipe and the new look, with current Coca-Cola Zero Sugar consumers and non-consumers," said Rafael Prandini, category lead of Coca-Cola Trademark in North America. "And they really love it." The results the company has seen from these launches are "very encouraging," he said. Coca-Cola first launched Coke Zero in 2005. In 2017, it tweaked the product's recipe and rebranded it as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. At the time, the change was also upsetting to some drinkers. One Twitter user begged Coca-Cola to "bring back Coke Zero," adding "#CokeZeroSugar is gross." Another called the new iteration "awful." Ultimately, however, it seems customers have embraced the beverage. In 2020, the product grew 4% by volume, helping lead to growth in the Coke brand overall. And in the first quarter of 2021, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar grew 8% by volume.

Video calls in Google Meet will now have a 60 minute time limit for users with a personal Gmail account as Google will now impose meeting length limits after not enforcing them during the pandemic. When the search giant's video conferencing software first became available to all users back in April of last year, the company said that there wouldn't be any meeting restrictions until September 30. However, that deadline was pushed back until March 31 before it was extended again to June 30 of this year. We've compiled a list of the best video conferencing software available These are the best online collaboration tools on the market Also check out our roundup of the best business webcams While some believed that Google would extend the deadline again, it hasn't and now Gmail users with a personal account will be limited to 60 minute video calls when in a meeting with three or more participants. Meeting length limits Unlike Zoom which cuts off once users reach its 40-minute time limit, Google Meet will instead send everyone a notification at 55 minutes that their call is about to end. In order to extend a group call with three or more participants past 60 minutes, the host can upgrade their Google account. According to a new support document from Google, the company recommends that users consider the individual tier of Google Workspace which costs $ 9.99 per month. However, Google Workspace Individual is currently only available in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Japan, so this won't work for everyone. Although there are now time limits for group video calls when using Meet with a personal Gmail account, these same restrictions don't apply to one-on-one calls which can last for up to 24 hours on both free and enterprise accounts. If you can't or don't want to sign up for Google Workspace to keep using Google Meet for group video calls, then you'll just have to keep track of the remaining time in a meeting though at least Google will give you a warning to let you know it's time to say your goodbyes