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GeForce Now is a service that lets you stream games you own from various digital storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store onto different devices, assuming Nvidia has secured the rights to them. It's free, but a premium membership tier turns on features like ray tracing and longer gameplay sessions. Before this news, the only EA game available on GeForce Now was free-to-play shooter Apex Legends. While today's additions aren't exactly the newest games, this does open the door to more EA games on GFN in the future. Some more recent games like Star Wars Squadrons are notably absent, but at least Squadrons happens to be free in this month's Games With Prime. Here are this month's games added to the GeForce Now library AWAY: The Survival Series (Steam) Lemnis Gate (Steam) The Eternal Cylinder (Epic Games Store) Hot Wheels Unleashed (Steam and Epic Games Store) INDUSTRIA (Steam and Epic Games Store) The Last Friend (Steam and Epic Games Store) Rogue Lords (Steam and Epic Games Store) Europa Universalis IV (Epic Games Store, September 30) Battlefield 1 Revolution (Steam and Origin) Dragon Age: Inquisition (Steam and Origin) Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Steam and Origin) Unravel Two (Steam and Origin) Rustler (Steam) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist (Ubisoft Connect) With more than 10 million users, GeForce Now pulling in more support from a giant publisher like EA (even if it's a handful of games) is always a good sign. Nvidia said it's only a matter of time before more publishers join or, in some cases, rejoin the service.

There are several mods out there to let you play Half-Life: Alyx minus a VR headset. One that's currently still in the works is being developed by SoMNst, who was unfortunately slowed down by catching Covid earlier this year. SoMNst has since recovered and development is moving along, with the latest update showcased in a 37-minute video. Among the new features: working pens. You can draw with them using your mouse, as demonstrated at the start of the video when SoMNst doodles an impressive Gordon Freeman on a window, before adding devil horns to Eli Vance on a monitor. This latest update also features better collision, UI improvements and custom hints, custom items (a pipe), changes to some of the more complex puzzles to insure they work for flat screen players, and the in-game menu now works properly. Watching it in action, moments like the scene where you're captured and the Combine demand you raise your hands do lose something in the translation, as do tactile motions like climbing ladders and flicking objects with your wrist, but it's still worth it to make Half-Life: Alyx playable for people who don't have VR. Hell, I've got an Oculus Quest 2 and I still haven't finished Alyx because I play VR games in such short sessions. If it was flat-screen I'd absolutely have played the whole thing by now. SoMNst's mod isn't available for download yet, but you can keep up with progress on YouTube and Patreon. If you want to play Half-Life: Alyx without VR right now, alternatives are available. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/half-life-alyx-no-vr-mod-is-coming-along-now-you-can-draw-with-pens/

Classy contender Once seated in the sumptuous leather sports seats with the engine purring, you immediately feel engaged. The cabin is cloaked with high grade, tactile materials. The cockpit glitters with crisp detail and instrumentation that changes according to the desired driving mode. The interior spaciousness is partly thanks to the cabin’s enlarged dimensions, particularly in terms of elbow and shoulder room. Tall rear passengers have more space to spread out, too, with several places to store things, including a central cubby hole beneath the armrest, decent-sized glove box, cup holders and partitioned door bins. The generous sense of space also flows into the boot. The loading lip has been lowered compared to its predecessor and provides some 440-litres of luggage capacity. As we would expect from BMW, the cockpit incorporates some classy materials to define the luxury carmaker’s interior style. The structure of the dashboard itself is based around horizontal lines, with its width further emphasised by the contours and electroplated strips wrapping around the door panels. The outer edges of the high-set centre console have comfy knee pads. The head-up display provides a 70 per cent larger projection area, optimised graphics and additional content.The start/stop button for the engine is now positioned in a control panel on the centre console, where the newly designed selector lever is joined by the iDrive Controller and the buttons for the Driving Experience Control switch and electric parking brake. The powered and heated front sport seats incorporate contoured side bolsters to keep you snug while ripping around corners. M Sport models come with sports seats with M-specific upholstery, an M leather steering wheel, door sill plates and digital instrumentation bearing the M logo, an anthracite-coloured headliner and aluminium interior trim accent strips in chrome dotted around. The Harman Kardon surround sound system is another delight. While forward visibility around the A-pillars is good, thick rear pillars make it less easy to reverse; the rearview parking camera and sensors take over in this respect. The boot lid can be opened at the press of a button on the driver’s door panel, on the key fob, or simply by manually releasing the boot handle. A button on the underside of the boot lid can power it shut. The front seat power slides and lifts forwards to provide space to clamber into the back seat. Head space for adults seated in the back is a little tight but there is surprisingly enough knee, leg and elbow room to sit comfortably for short journeys. The rear seats split 40/20/40, and when flipped forward, liberate more cargo space. Infotainment and connectivity The multimodal interaction allows the driver to take their pick of a control interface for the situation at hand: Control Display touchscreen, iDrive Controller, multifunction buttons on the steering wheel, voice control or optional BMW gesture control. As with a new smartphone, it all takes a bit of time to navigate through and learn all the bells and whistles but you soon get the hang of it. While there are lots of steering wheel controls, it all works harmoniously with everything where you expect it to be. The BMW Live Cockpit Professional provides a digital screen grouping comprising a 12.3 inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel and a 10.25-inch central control display. Connected Package Professional is included on all models, comprising BMW TeleServices, Intelligent Emergency Call, Real Time Traffic Information with hazard warning, Remote Services and Concierge Services.The switch to BMW Operating System 7 also brings the Remote Software Upgrade function to the new 4 Series. All updates can be imported over the air, either on a smartphone via BMW Connected or directly into the car using its built-in SIM card. BMW Live Cockpit Professional come with optimised Smartphone integration; in addition to Apple CarPlay, the operating system for the new BMW 4 Series Coupé will also host Android Auto. This enables access to such digital services like Google Assistant, Google Maps, music streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music, and the WhatsApp messaging service. The latest version of the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant expands the voice control function. You can now use your voice to adjust things like the air conditioning. Advanced driver assistance system The driver assistance systems suite has been upgraded over the outgoing model. Front collision warning is now standard on the 4 Series Coupé. It comprises collision and person warning with a city braking function that can detect vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Speed Limit Info, including no-overtaking indicator and the Lane Departure Warning system with lane return by steering assistance, are also standard. Cruise control with braking function comes as standard, while Active Cruise Control with Stop&Go function is available within the Driving Assistant Professional package. The Parking Assistant is also worthy of note. It simplifies the task of selecting and making use of spaces either parallel or perpendicular to the road. Parking Assistant Plus with Drive Recorder provides a 360-degree view around the vehicle with 3D visualisation of the vehicle from different perspectives on the central display. BMW Drive Recorder uses the cameras of the various driver assistance systems to record and store video footage from different points around the vehicle. When activated, the Drive Recorder shoots and stores 40 seconds of video. In the event of a collision, a period of up to 20 seconds on either side of the moment of impact is automatically recorded and saved. Lightweighting The body and chassis components feature a mix of steels and alloys to minimise vehicle weight. Underneath, the car uses an engine side member (made from extruded aluminium profiles) and die-cast aluminium spring struts, while the exterior features an aluminium bonnet, front side panels and doors. A material made from natural fibres is used for the boot lid lining. On the road At first glance, the sporty 4 Series Coupé has a confident, extroverted road stance, defined by its prominent grille and silky-smooth silhouette. While it has plenty of style and badge presence, our brisk drives from A to B over the past week made it an absolute pleasure in the autumn sunshine. The interior ticks all the boxes and the build quality cannot be faulted. It also felt cossetted and poised at every turn with its adaptive suspension, providing a fabulous driving experience. Despite the bad press around diesel-powered cars, demand for such vehicles remains high amongst fleet drivers. The variant we took out for a spin was the M440d xDrive which turned out to be the perfect companion for some long and leisurely journeys. We averaged 36 mpg although a little short of the carmaker’s 42.2 mpg claim. All things considered, however, that’s quite impressive. Rival models include the Audi A5 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Link: https://www.just-auto.com/features/interior-design-and-technology-bmw-4-series-coupe/

I have always dreamed of joining the circus and thought this could be the skill for me. Do I have the guts and grace to start spinning around love the circus. The first time I took my infant sons – their chubby faces bathed in multicoloured lights, tiny minds blown – we emerged to find a freak snowstorm had transformed the car park into a hushed, white wonderland, as if the circus had VIP access to the weather. At another circus in a Yorkshire field, a tame fox sat on a shetland pony as it ambled around, occasionally stopping to graze on the straw bales demarcating the ring, and two women of a certain age in flesh-coloured catsuits, gyrated slowly. They were both amazing. I devoured Josser, Nell Gifford’s account of running away to join the circus, and dream of doing the same; a life of sawdust and greasepaint, not spreadsheets and Google docs. But the circus doesn’t need a writer, so what could I do? I’m as supple as an ironing board and recently managed to put my back out chopping apples, so acrobatics and feats of strength are out. I can’t be a clown either because I’m not funny, as readers often remind me.The Cyr wheel seems promising: it’s a human-sized hoop into which a person inserts themselves, then performs stunning, gravity-defying movements. The apparatus was created in the 1990s by Canadian circus artist Daniel Cyr, though it builds on the much older, more hamster-adjacent “German Wheel”, apparently.I watch videos of men and women making Cyr wheels do extraordinarily graceful things and, inexplicably, think: I could do that. Despite notoriously poor balance and lack of athleticism, my only concern for some reason is what happens to my fingers when the wheel goes upside down – won’t I squash them? It turns out there is no danger of that.Things start badly with my Cyr session when I get lost and end up on a potato farm. A furious woman accosts me. “You thought you’d find a circus? Here? What on earth were you thinking?” When I do locate “Circus Stu” in his rehearsal space, he is much nicer. Stuart was an amateur enthusiast until redundancy from his day job in computing encouraged him to take his hobby full-time as Circus Skills York. He is living that circus dream, albeit in a rain-lashed barn with me today, which is no one’s dream. He is wearing his ringmaster outfit, which I appreciate enormously. My wheel is big, blue, heavy, and apparently very expensive: a basic Cyr wheel starts at £500, a fancy one can set you back £1,500. We start with a static balance on the rim of this luxe hula hoop, lifting one foot at a time. So far, so manageable. The next step is spinning the wheel from the ground. Cyr is as much decorative show craft as stunts, Stuart explains: it’s extremely physical (uh-oh) so a routine traditionally includes balletic, slower movements, to allow the performer to get their breath back. “Rest the wheel on your palm,” says Stuart, “and just guide it gently.” I enjoy this – the weight of the wheel, the swooping sensation – but at the next stage, when I’m supposed to lead the wheel round in a circle like a pony, building momentum, things fall apart. “Keep your left hand still and stay at the back of the wheel,” Stuart keeps saying, as I race ahead again and again, dragging it with my left hand. Glossing over my incompetence, Stuart gets me to let go. The wheel draws lazy, mesmerising parabolas as it drops, and I need to jump in, then sit down. Stuart demonstrates, nimbly, then I have a go and wimp out three times. Getting the balance between height and speed is tricky – I’m scared I will catch my foot and faceplant. If this sounds pathetic, rest assured it looks even worse: I’m just stepping into a huge hoop. But when I manage it, the rush is exhilarating. The reverse – sliding under the wheel as it starts to settle on the ground – is even more nerve-racking: I risk taking 13kg of Ukrainian aluminium on the head. “I’m scared!” I whimper, dithering as the wheel accelerates, but eventually slide under triumphantly in the nick of time, Indiana Jones-style.Buoyed, I have a go at the main event: spinning round. The aim is to create enough momentum for a stable spin, then hold your nerve as the wheel revolves with you on board. I try a “skate start” – pedalling with one foot – and a sort of twisting, treading start, and fail at both, repeatedly. When I do manage to get moving, I barely manage a quarter revolution before getting scared and falling off. Mainly I just stand in my wheel like a baffled Leonardo Vitruvian Man. Stuart, whose patience is saintly, tries various approaches to get me moving, both technical (“Arms at 10 and two, try putting your foot a bit higher, make sure you really go for the spin”) and mystical (“Be one with the wheel”). I really enjoy it when he demonstrates his impressive, stomach-churning skills to encourage me, but my limbs and brain refuse to cooperate. We finally have a minor breakthrough when Stuart puts on some rousing music: I’m sufficiently galvanised to manage a full, if erratic, revolution, before wimping out. “Go with it! Go with it!” he urges. You need to stay in the axis of the leaning wheel to keep up the momentum – but I’m just too chicken. I expected to be spinning upside down by now: I’m the circus equivalent of those men who think they can take a point off Serena Williams. As the angry potato farmer said, what on earth was I thinking? Cyr wheel is huge fun, but I’m not sure it’s my discipline. “If you’d like to come back, we could try something with fire?” Stuart offers rashly. Fire – now we’re talking. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/04/emma-beddington-tries-the-cyr-wheel-im-about-as-supple-as-an-ironing-board

Ten people have died after tropical cyclone Shaheen battered parts of Iran and Oman. The storm arrived in the area on Sunday, with winds between 120 and 150 km/h (75-93 mph) as its eye crossed land.Thousands have been evacuated from coastal areas in Oman. Streets in the capital, Muscat, have been submerged. Shaheen was later downgraded to a tropical storm after it hit land, a local meteorology service said. In Iran, authorities said six people - thought to be fishermen - were killed in a port in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.The country's official media said infrastructure including electrical facilities and roads were damaged. Even before the cyclone made landfall in Oman, four people, including a child, had already died due to flooding. Images from Muscat show cars submerged in water. Authorities in the capital ordered roads to only be used for emergency journeys. Oman's state news agency says the armed forces are rescuing people who have been trapped by the floodwater. They are also restoring damaged roads to get aid into the areas that need it Flights to and from Muscat were suspended and residents in coastal areas were urged to evacuate.A cricket match between Oman and Scotland was abandoned due to the cyclone. Authorities cut off the power supply in al-Qurm, east of Muscat, to avoid any incidents, and some 2,700 people were placed in emergency shelters.Parts of the neighbouring United Arab Emirates are now on standby as the weather system moves west. Residents of al-Ain, on the border with Oman, have been told to work remotely on Monday and avoid leaving home except for emergencies. Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58783992

voted

good idea also to rely on your speed in playing ,support you

TikTok and PUBG Mobile are the highest-earning apps across both App Store and Google Play store in the third quarter of 2021, according to Sensor Tower's latest report. While TikTok was the top-grossing app worldwide, PUBG reigned supreme in the worldwide gaming category. Both apps also reportedly saw the most downloads in their categories. The report says that consumer spending in the TikTok app experienced a 41 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth. TikTok revenue figures by Sensor Tower also include Douyin on iOS in China. In the third quarter, consumer spending in PUBG Mobile reportedly climbed 11 percent YoY. Sensor Tower's latest report on app spending in Q3 2021 reveals that overall consumer spending on in-app purchases, premium apps, and subscriptions grew 15.1 percent YoY to $33.6 billion (roughly Rs. 2,49,013 crores) across Apple's App Store and the Google Play store. The growth was driven by Google Play, which saw consumer spending grow 18.6 percent YoY to $12.1 billion (roughly Rs. 89,674 crores). While growth on the App Store was modest, it saw higher consumer spending at $21.5 billion (roughly Rs. 1,59,382 crores) with growing at 13.2 percent YoY. As mentioned, TikTok was the highest-earning app overall in Q3 according to Sensor Tower data. Overall, Manga reader Piccoma came in second with its revenue reportedly growing 130 percent YoY, followed by YouTube, which saw consumer spending climb 17 percent YoY. Google One and Disney+ rounded out the top highest-earning apps at number four and five, respectively. Although TikTok was the top-grossing app overall as well as on the App Store, Google One was the highest earner on the Google Play store. Sensor Tower reports that TikTok was also the most downloaded app worldwide in Q3 2021, followed by Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. TikTok recently crossed 3 billion installs globally, becoming the first non-Facebook app to do so. Consumer spending on mobile games continued to climb and Sensor Tower says that PUBG Mobile (including Chinese localisation Game for Peace) took the top spot in the category. In the third quarter, consumer spending in PUBG Mobile reportedly climbed 11 percent YoY. Tencent's Honor of Kings and miHoYo's smash hit Genshin Impact followed PUBG Mobile in the top-grossing games for Q3 2021. Sensor Tower says Niantic's Pokémon Go and Roblox Corp's Roblox rounded out the top five, with Pokémon Go seeing consumer spending declined by 8 percent YoY and Roblox experiencing a 9 percent growth compared to Q3 2020. The report says that first-time installs of mobile games were down compared to the year-ago period, declining 3.5 percent to 13.6 billion across both stores from 14.1 billion in Q3 2020. In addition to being the top-grossing mobile game worldwide, PUBG Mobile also saw the most downloads, followed by Outfit7's newly launched My Talking Angela 2. Sybo Games' Subway Surfers, Tap2Play's Count Masters, and Garena's battle royale Garena Free Fire rounded up the top five most-installed games worldwide. We discuss the return of PUBG Mobile, sorry, Battlegrounds Mobile India on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

We feature the best remote desktop software to make it easy to control and access PCs and deploy software remotely. If you're looking for more tools, be sure to check out our guides to the best video conferencing software and the best online collaboration tools around today. Also take a look at our in-depth feature on everything else you need to set up your home office. Choosing the best remote desktop software in 2021 will equip you with the tools needed to access and manage one or more computers from another device. Remote access is possible via both local networks and the internet, which means that, with the right software, anyone can access any device, anywhere in the world. With one of the remote desktop access applications we’ve listed below, you will be able to do any one of a number of things. For example, you could use your personal smartphone to access and manage files on your business PC or office laptop without having to leave your home. Having this versatility is great, especially during periods of sickness or difficulty when you’re unable to physically go to the office as it is the case now. No wonder that searches related to remote desktop have shot up significantly over the past few months as businesses scramble to find more about remote access Using remote access software is simple. They generally take no more than a few minutes to set up, and you will usually have to install the software on the computer or other device you want to access the remote computer with. Many programs also need to be installed on the remote PC, while others are connected via a weblink or access code. Some versions of Windows come with built-in remote desktop software, but third-party tools often perform much better and come with significantly more features. This could be especially important if you’re planning on using the software regularly. There are a few other po[CENSORED]r uses for the best remote desktop software. For example, you can handle complicated tasks from a laptop by connecting remotely to a more powerful computer. Also, IT support staff regularly use remote access programs to control a client’s computer and deal with any issues. In the this article, we've briefly covered our top ten best remote desktop applications to help you choose the right one for your Link: https://www.techradar.com/news/best-remote-desktop-software

Intel has just revealed its second-generation brain-like computer chip: Loihi 2. This processor is more man than your usual machine, incorporating faux neurons made out of silicon—up to 1 million of them. That's nearly ten times as many as the first generation Loihi chip, and that's partially underwritten by the use of a cutting-edge and never-before shipped process node: Intel 4. Loihi 2 is a neuromorphic computing research chip, and that means it's intended to help develop further chips that behave more like a biological brain than a digital chip. This should lead to a better understanding of our complex brains and also create chips with high energy efficiency and speed in certain tasks. such as machine learning. Loihi 2, Intel says, is already a massive improvement on the first-generation Loihi chip, which was released in 2017. "Loihi 2 and Lava harvest insights from several years of collaborative research using Loihi," Mike Davies, director of Intel's Neuromorphic Computing Lab, says. "Our second-generation chip greatly improves the speed, programmability, and capacity of neuromorphic processing, broadening its usages in power and latency constrained intelligent computing applications. We are open sourcing Lava to address the need for software convergence, benchmarking, and cross-platform collaboration in the field, and to accelerate our progress toward commercial viability." Intel's also releasing a new Lava software framework, as mentioned above, to offer a common foundation for researchers to build faster, more efficient models. Loihi 2 also offers up our first glimpse of things to come for Intel's gaming CPUs. Loihi 2 is built with a "pre-production version" of the Intel 4 process node—that's what used to be known as 7nm, before Intel decided to rename its entire manufacturing roadmap. The first gaming CPUs we expect from Intel on Intel 4 will be codenamed Meteor Lake. There are reasons to be excited for Intel 4, though. Well, so long as you're a hardware buff. It's promising a 20% performance per watt gain over the Intel 7 node, previously known as 10nm Enhanced SuperFin, which will be used for Intel's upcoming Alder Lake processors. Already off to a good start. Intel 4 is also a fully EUV enabled process node, which means it will use the very latest manufacturing machines money can buy in production. EUV, or Extreme Ultraviolet, is a manufacturing technology that has been on the cusp of use for years but is now finally moving from limited use cases to running the shop. EUV should help reduce complexity for Intel in manufacturing chips, which should even translate to better yields and more consistent clocks. That's all very helpful when it comes to the final product we load into our gaming PCs, and could have a massive impact on performance and pricing. Loihi 2 then is a chip of interest to a great many people, then. Not the least bit because it's seriously cranking up the number of silicon 'neurons' on a single chip. It's likely to find a use in a larger interconnected system, too, as Loihi was with Poihoki Springs or how Samsung plans to map a brain to a web of SSD storage. You heard me. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/intels-new-brain-chip-uses-its-first-7nm-silicon/

Choo-Choo Charles is a very bad train, but you have a machine gun. Good luck. Indie studio Two Star Games is working on a new kind of horror: Trains. Choo-Choo Charles is a game where you, a human, navigate an island on a train and avoid an evil, sentient trail that wants to eat you. Over time you upgrade your train to fight Charles, hopefully overcoming the creature which is in fact a steam locomotive with a set of horrific spider legs and a toothy maw. Choo-Choo Charles is the natural result of the meme that mods Thomas the Tank Engine into everything: Resident Evil Village, Kingdom Hearts 3, Valheim, Sekiro, Resident Evil 2, Monster Hunter World, Fallout 4—you get it by now, I'm sure.That said, as a survival horror game, it's pretty promising and has a well-defined aesthetic. It seems to understand the survival part of the horror as well: It's scary, but the goal here is to make it out alive. "Prove yourself a worthy train killer, by gaining enough strength, firepower, and skill to take down the mechanical terror once and for all," says the game description. I'm already wondering if Charles lays eggs. Imagine! Lots of little Charlies scuttling about. "You have a small yellow train, with a map, mounted machine gun, and an exquisite collection of bobble-heads on the dashboard. You'll use this train to get from place to place, while you complete missions for the townspeople, or loot scraps from around the island. Over time you’ll use your scraps to upgrade your train’s speed, armor, and damage. You’ll grow your arsenal, and (hopefully) become an unstoppable force, ready to take on the great and mighty Charles." it continues. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-survival-horror-game-about-a-gruesome-spider-legged-train-named-charles/

Verdict The numbers alone sell the C 300 e, but the latest C-Class is a lovely car, too; strong on tech, comfortable and spacious, and with the expected refinement and excellent running costs for this PHEV. This model will please private buyers who’ll enjoy the electric range of around 60 miles, while it could just about be the best company car you can currently buy thanks in no small part to the huge tax savings. Plug-in hybrids have long been the go-to choice of company car drivers searching for big tax savings, but this new Mercedes C 300 e could prove just as po[CENSORED]r with private buyers. As is usual with PHEVs, it’s all about the numbers, and this latest C-Class claims CO2 emissions as low as 14g/km, average fuel economy of 404mpg (yes, really) and, here’s the crucial bit, all electric running for up to 62 miles – more than double what most PHEVs will manage. That means mega-savings when it comes to company car tax – literally in the thousands of pounds per year thanks to a 7 per cent tax charge for the next tax year (versus 28 per cent for a C 220 d), but also less frequent visits to the fuel pumps. The recipe behind all that sees a 201bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (a diesel PHEV is coming, too) combine with a 127bhp electric motor that is fed by a 25.4kWh battery – bigger than that in the original Nissan Leaf EV. There’s an additional trick up the C 300 e’s sleeve in the form of fast charging – for a PHEV, at least – at a rate of up to 55kW. A 100 per cent charge should take around half an hour, then you’re off for another 60-plus miles of electric driving. All that features in what is an impressive new C-Class, a car with more than a nod to the latest range-topping S-Class, not only in the way it looks, but also the tech on board. Swing open the front door and you’re greeted by what is now a traditional Mercedes cabin, dominated by a brilliantly responsive 11.9-inch portrait central screen and five oval metallic air vents that add an industrial-chic feel.The quality of materials feels as good as that in the S-Class, although that’s as much a slight on Mercedes’ range-topper as a compliment to the C-Class, and the whole design seems busier and less minimalist than many rivals but is, at least, cohesive.Our test car was the AMG Line model, with a slightly sporty look to it and a decent roster of equipment, with that central screen that displays Apple CarPlay and Android Auto bigger and better than rivals. Our car is expected to start from just under £45,000 with yet-to-be-confirmed steps up for AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus trims, plus the forthcoming estate version. Prodding the start button brings the C 300 e to life but won’t start the engine. Leave the car in hybrid mode and, assuming there’s enough power in the battery, you’ll move off under electric power swiftly and silently. With that range of around 60 miles – which seemed eminently realistic on our test – the chances are you’ll spend lots of time being propelled by the electric motor. Even when the battery is depleted, the car runs as a full hybrid, complete with regenerative braking to send energy Link: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mercedes/c-class/356190/new-mercedes-benz-c-300-e-2021-review

Discover why spaghetti should never be served with bolognese and unleash your inner Italian with our guide to pairing pasta shapes with the perfect sauce “Life is a combination of magic – and pasta,” the Italian film director Federico Fellini once said. And if, like me, you’re a devoted pastaphile, you’ll almost certainly agree with Fellini’s worldview.For something so very simple – at its base, pasta consists of just two, sometimes three, ingredients: always water and flour made from 100% durum wheat; while egg can be added to make a richer pasta. It has spawned a myriad of recipes, ranging from the easy to the elaborate.Each region of Italy has its own speciality, with recipes and combinations of pasta and sauces handed down through generations, but also open to interpretation. While there may be no official regulations, ultimately, the best pasta dish is whatever tastes most delicious.However, we Britons have form when it comes to amending, or even completely reinventing, foodstuffs from other countries. Chicken tikka masala, for example, does not, strictly, hail from India; it started life, legend has it, in a curry house in Glasgow. Similarly, the perennially po[CENSORED]r schoolkids’ teatime fare, spaghetti bolognese is not an officially recognised Italian dish but is rumoured to have been created either by Italians who came to the UK after the second world war or by southern Italians who emigrated to the US early in the 20th century. In Italy, and most particularly in the foodie city of Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, after which this impostor of a dish is named, its existence is treated with bafflement, if not downright outrage. Why? Because no Italian worth their parmesan would ever think of serving this rather bulky, meaty sauce with a pasta that it couldn’t cling on to.The informal regulations governing Italian pasta and sauces vary by region, but a good rule of thumb is this: the chunkier the sauce, the chunkier the pasta should be, while lighter, more delicate and thinner sauces are better suited to thinner shapes. What horrifies the Italians so much about our spag bol is that we stubbornly believe that it’s totally fine to eat a dish where each mouthful of pasta is barely coated. Utter sacrilege! Pasta shapes, you have to learn, are not interchangeable, and the key to making the best meal with it at home is knowing what combinations work best. Here to help is one of Italy’s oldest and best-loved pasta manufacturers, Barilla, with a heritage that stretches back to the late 19th century when Pietro Barilla opened a bread and pasta shop in Parma in 1877. The company has stayed almost exclusively in the family since then and is currently run by the fourth generation, so tradition and authenticity are of key importance. “At the core of our business is our aim to bring to the world joyful, wholesome and honest food, inspired by the Italian lifestyle and the Mediterranean diet,” says Alberto Costella, export marketing and sales manager, Barilla Group. “We work every day to build on that legacy and being family owned adds an extra level of commitment.” While it’s said there are somewhere between 300 and 600 pasta shapes in existence, Barilla itself produces more than 160 shapes and sizes, all packaged in those iconic blue cardboard boxes (the colour dates back to a time when blue paper was the cheapest to buy and used to wrap food). If a shape is made in a certain part of Italy, then it’s more than likely the sauce will be made from something grown in the same area; for example, Liguria is renowned for its basil, which is used to make pesto, and goes best with Ligurian pasta shapes such as linguine or trenette, which are both long and thin. Let’s briefly get back to that bolognese sauce – in Bologna, there is a recipe for something called ragu alla bolognese, which, at first glance, might not seem dissimilar to our own spag bol, as it’s made with minced beef, tomato puree and vegetables including carrots and celery; but the difference is that there, it’s actually served with tagliatelle, medium-wide ribbons that can take a heavier sauce. Another Emilia-Romagnan speciality, tortellini, is a filled pasta usually served in a light broth or sauce as there’s already a lot going on inside it. Confused? Don’t be. Stick to the rule of thumb and you won’t go far wrong, then experiment and get creative as much as you like in your own kitchen. Time to talk bigger-bodied shapes: rigatoni, tortiglioni, penne, fusilli … pastas such as these have a larger surface area, and, often, ridges that really help the sauce to stick. You’ll find rigatoni dishes in Sicily, where one of the classics is pasta alla norma: this delicious sauce consists of chunks of fried or roasted aubergine, tomatoes, garlic and grated ricotta salata cheese.Fancy something creamy? How about comforting pasta alla norcina, which originates from Umbria, and combines penne with local pork sausage, cream, dry white wine and pecorino; or cheesy tortiglioni al forno, po[CENSORED]r in Naples and Calabria (though most regions have their own version) – a substantial, tasty pasta bake to which you can add anything from homemade meatballs to mushrooms, depending on your preferences. Just make sure it’s smothered in mozzarella. If all this has got your mouth watering, you can find more inspiration at Academia Barilla, Barilla’s own gastronomic centre of expertise, which has a variety of recipes ranging from the more straightforward (such as penne arrabbiata) to the gourmet (such as pennette with pumpkin cream, porcini mushrooms and balsamic vinegar), along with online tutorials and techniques. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/intensely-italian/2021/sep/01/a-perfect-pairing-find-the-right-pasta-shape-for-your-sauce

Col Mamady Doumbouya has been sworn is as Guinea's interim president after leading a coup which saw the overthrow of Alpha Condé.The former French legionnaire, 41, becomes Africa's second-youngest leader, after Mali's Assimi Goïta, 38, who also staged a military takeover.Col Doumbouya is barred from contesting future elections, under a transitional charter published this week. The 5 September coup has been widely condemned, Both West Africa body Ecowas and the African Union have suspended Guinea. Ecowas also imposed sanctions against the coup leaders and demanded a return to constitutional order within six months. Guinea's military junta has announced plans to move the country towards civilian rule but did not specify how long the transition would be.The document was drawn up after days of consultation between the military and political, religious and business leaders. Anyone taking part in the interim government led by a civilian prime minister will be barred from standing in the following elections. Col Doumbouya said the army had seized power because of rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement under 83-year-old former President Condé. The military coup leaders detained Mr Condé after their takeover, with Col Doumbouya assuring French media he was with them in a "safe place."His exact whereabouts remain unclear. Before his rise to power the colonel maintained a low profile, but what makes him stand out is his international military experience, according to West Africa Political Analyst Paul Melly.The colonel trained in France and served in the French military.During his 15-year military career, Col Doumbouya served in missions in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic and close protection in Israel, Cyprus, the UK and Guinea.Guinea's new leader is friends with his fellow coup mastermind in Mali - President Goïta, according to news website Africa Guinea.The same site reports that in 2018, the two military men crossed paths in Burkina Faso during a training session organised by the US army, which was reserved for the region's special forces commanders. Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58761621

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Bitcoin is a modern-day replacement for gold, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said in a television interview. Palihapitiya was being interviewed by CNBC news host Scott Wapner at the Delivering Alpha conference on September 29. When he was asked to predict how high could Bitcoin value shoot up to, Palihapitiya did not give a figure but instead answered that the cryptocurrency can dethrone gold."It's very hard for me to give a price prediction, but I can pretty confidently say that Bitcoin has effectively replaced gold," the 45-year-old venture capitalist said. Palihapitiya's statement comes just days after China imposed a blanket ban on crypto trading. China's decision stirred a major upheaval in the crypto market.Despite witnessing minor dips in the value for two days in a row, Bitcoin price rose again on Thursday, September 30. This morning, the cryptocurrency began trading at Rs. 34,28,765 (roughly $46,116), as per the Gadgets 360 crypto tracker. According to a research report by Furtune Business Insights, the global cryptocurrency market is projected to reach $1,758 million by 2027. Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts. Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

Google is rolling out a new feature for its web browser Chrome that will give users easy access to important files held in cloud storage. According to a new blog post, the Chrome new tab page will soon benefit from a Google Drive integration that helps surface “high priority files” to cut back on search time.Although the details are scant, the post implies the feature will make intelligence suggestions based on contextual factors, as opposed to simply surfacing each user’s most-used files.Here's our list of the best VPN services around We've built a list of the best proxy services out thereCheck out our list of the best anonymous browsers available The new Chrome feature is currently being pushed out in waves, but should be available to all users within a couple of weeks. With the rise of remote working, cloud storage now plays a fundamental role in the lives of pretty much all web users. This also means the number of files stored in the cloud has skyrocketed. To alleviate any associated file management problems, Google is working to make it as easy as possible to locate and dive into specific files, without having to wade through traditional file trees. The latest Chrome update builds upon an earlier upgrade, which allowed users to search for their Google Drive files via the URL bar. Previously, users had to navigate to the dedicated Google Drive page and perform a search from there.Rolled out in late 2019, the feature lets users search for files using keywords that correspond to the file title. Alternatively, users can make more granular searches by using commands such as “type:” and “owner:”, which narrow down the results. The arrival of a Google Drive integration for the new tab page gives users yet another hassle-free route to their most important files.Further, new synergies between Chrome (the world’s most po[CENSORED]r web browser) and Google Drive are also likely to help fend off competition from both rival browsers (think Microsoft Edge) and rival cloud storage services (say, OneDrive), as Google looks to reinforce its positions in both markets. It’s your move, Microsoft.

The new Microsoft Store will eventually roll out to Windows 10, and will incorporate other third-party storefront apps too There are big changes on the way for the Microsoft Store with Windows 11 (and later through updates to Windows 10), including policy changes that could make the marketplace a little more useful for gamers. Microsoft has announced it will soon allow third-party storefronts to be downloaded direct through the built-in store, starting with the Epic Games Store and Amazon."...today we’re announcing another significant update to our Microsoft Store on Windows policies, which will allow third-party storefront apps to be discoverable in the Microsoft Store on Windows," Microsoft says in a blog post. Just like any other app, third-party storefront apps will have a product detail page that can be found via search or by browsing – so that users can easily find and install it with the same confidence as any other app in the Microsoft Store on Windows."The move follows a similar opening up of the Microsoft Store to other browsers beyond Microsoft Edge in June. It all looks like Microsoft wants its store to be the centre of your Windows experience, and to do that it's going to need to seriously shake up the exisging Windows 10 Store experience. Opening its store up to other companies, even rivals, is certainly one way to make it a little more useful, but there's still work to be done to ensure the UI and user experience are also up to the challenge. Windows 11 will introduce a fresh lick of paint for the Microsoft Store when it arrives on October 5, at least, with Windows 10 devices receiving the new version "in the coming months."The decision to open up Microsoft's store appears a timely one. Company storefronts, and the fees and mechanisms through which customers spend their money on these storefronts, are being called into question by the Epic v Apple trial. That's technically now over today, but you betcha there'll be far more to this story over the coming months and years.At least Microsoft's making it easy for Epic on this count: the company has stated it will no longer require app developers to share revenue if they manage their own payment systems, which Epic will do for its own store.

Appearing in South Korea's rating system is the latest proof of Rockstar's remaster It's long been rumoured that Rockstar was beavering away on remastering the PS2-era Grand Theft Auto games: Grand Theft Auto 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas. The existence of these remasters has now been confirmed thanks to the South Korean games rating board, which has classified Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy—The Definitive Edition. Per a machine translation, the collection is rated "youth not allowed".The remasters had reportedly been planned for an earlier release but have suffered various internal delays, and their existence was all-but-confirmed thanks to Take-Two's statement to investors that it's working on three unannounced "iterations of previously released titles." The publisher's recent aggression towards mods using assets from these games is also notable. A Kotaku report on the remasters credited the remasters to Rockstar Dundee, the studio previously known as Ruffian Games, which was itself a spinoff from Realtime Worlds, which itself was a spinoff from DMA Design (which is now Rockstar North, and in Edinburgh). Those Scots eh. The games are supposedly being remastered using Unreal Engine and a mix of new and old graphical styles, as well as featuring an updated UI and other tweaks that bring the games more in-line with the more recent iterations of Grand Theft Auto. Take it with a pinch of salt, of course, but the trilogy will apparently hit PC in 2022. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/grand-theft-auto-trilogy-the-definitive-edition-is-happening/

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Verdict Small but spacious and with a great usable range of 248 miles, using sustainable materials and integrated into a user-friendly design with great ideas. The ID. Life concept is a taste of a cost effective small electric car future that needn’t be dull. Even if most of the features of the concept don’t make it to production, we need more concept cars like this. The ID. Life is far more than just an exercise for Volkswagen’s design team. In fact, this concept car is in many ways, no laughing matter: the future of the brand’s small cars depend on it. With difficult to navigate Euro 7 emissions regulations due to arrive in the coming years, cars the size of and smaller than the T-Cross and Polo are under serious threat of being priced out of reason for the manufacturers who make them. The complex catalytic converters and CO2 reduction measures that will be necessary to keep petrol powered small cars on the roads will drive their prices up considerably. But, salvation could be at hand for the small car, and in electric form to boot. More and more EVs are being produced and enjoying the economies of scale of flexible platforms, and the cost of the battery is supposedly decreasing too. It means that by 2025, Volkswagen thinks it will be able to offer you a Polo sized electric car on a modified version of the MEB platform called MEB Entry for around €20,000 - around £17,000 at current exchange rates. Advertisement AD The hatchback-cum-crossover concept car previews both a supermini badged ID.1 or a small SUV badged ID.2. If we could have our way, both would take on as many design cues from the concept as possible. It’s an impressive show car in execution, too, absent of some of the more typical rough edges you’ll spot on a concept. It’s a working concept, too, and we’ve been for a short drive to get an early sense of what the supermini of the future will be like. Our first taste of the ID. Life isn’t at great pace: the concept is only capable of a limited top speed of 18mph, which isn’t at all representative of the 231bhp front axle mounted electric motor the concept uses. Nonetheless, even at the low top speed imposed on us we can feel that even as a concept, the ID. Life drives very well. The fit and finish displayed on the car remains more impressive than the way it feels on the move, but for a one-off car it is decently controlled and solid.Getting to grips with the tangibles is an easier affair. Grabbing your attention is the aircraft yoke style steering wheel with an integrated screen. It’s a cute touch, its production relevance perhaps a little strained though. The integration of the indicators onto the steering wheel is another hint that VW will look to use as few parts in constructing the ID.1 and 2 as possible, to save money and keep the price down. Link: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/road-tests/356173/new-volkswagen-id-life-concept-review