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As Microsoft works on the first major update to Windows 11, codenamed Sun Valley 2, there's already some improvements to the File Explorer for Windows Insider users. As of Windows 11 Insider build 22557 and above - which allows you to sign up to features in testing that are not ready for a final release, you can have OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud service, integrated to the top right of a window, so you can see which files are synced and are being uploaded. Alongside this, folder previews are seeing a return, so you can look at what the folder contains without having to double-click it. You can also pin files to an Explorer window, as well as folders as before, making managing your content a lot easier than before. It's yet another example of Microsoft listening to feedback, such as drag and drop coming back to the taskbar, alongside folders to the start menu. But these features to File Explorer arguably shouldn't have disappeared in the first place, and would have avoided some unneeded irritation to users. Sometimes the little features make a big difference when you use a PC or Mac every day. Dragging and dropping to the Windows 11 taskbar is another example of a feature being in Windows 10, being absent in the launch of Windows 11, and being brought back in a forthcoming update. Apple has introduced and removed features for a later date before, but arguably only when there's been public beta programs for major software updates. A bunch of new features to the Files app and iCloud in iOS 13 were held back and weren't seen in a final version 5 months after they debuted. But Microsoft does this with public releases, and it's getting to the point of wondering - why Folder previews and the drag and drop function of the taskbar are features that didn't need to be removed in the first place. They're the little features that help the user in their workflows, whether that's for a day job or gaming. But on the flip side of this upcoming build, seeing OneDrive integration into the File Explorer window, alongside pinned files are new features that are going to be welcomed by plenty of users. Its functions can help highlight the files that are most important to you, and it's encouraging to see Microsoft focus on the smaller features of its existing applications. However, if a Windows 12 does appear, one of the best efforts the company could do is to simply not remove the useful features that have no justification in doing so. Build on them, redesign them, but removing them in public releases will only irritate users.

If you’re a fabless company that relies on external chip manufacturing from companies like TSMC, you’re forced to compete for limited wafer starts, particularly on the bleeding edge nodes. The use of a smaller node dramatically alters the fundamental performance capabilities and even the essential viability of your chip. That's why industry giants like Apple, Qualcomm, AMD and Nvidia all spend billions to secure their supply. If they don’t pay up, then there's no (or fewer) chips for you! According to Hardware Times, Nvidia is set to pay the exorbitant amount of nearly $10 billion to secure its share of TSMC 5nm capacity. Nvidia is geared up to produce its next generation Ada Lovelace GPU on TSMC's N5 node. Of course this next gen GPU family is likely to be referred to as the RTX 40 series. No one outside of the management of both companies knows extactly how the fees break down or the timeframe, but as noted by Hardware Times, Nvidia spent $9 billion in just the third quarter on inventory and prepayment for future products. This would indicate that Nvidia is already paying through the nose well in advance. Securing 5nm production is critical to the success of the RTX 40 series. A node shrink can deliver a combination of higher clocks and better power efficiency, and this can make the difference between winning or losing a head to head battle. Though oversimplifying things, It may be that Nvidia’s use of Samsung 8nm is a reason that its products cannot clock as high as 7nm products from AMD, despite using more power. The other advantage the use of a smaller node offers is better yield. A 300mm wafer can fit more chips on it if the chips themselves are smaller. More chips per wafer equals more profit. The GPU shortage of 2021 may have caused gamer anxiety, but it sure didn’t do Nvidia any harm, with the company reporting gaming revenue in the January quarter of $3.42 billion, up 37% from the same period a year prior. The great hope is that mining demand is beginning to drop off, as crypto prices fall and PoW GPU mining falls out of favour, leaving more graphics cards to make their way into the hands of gamers, and not those of miners. As gamers, all we want to do is have reasonably priced options available to us when we want them. Let’s hope that there’s enough 5nm capacity to go around to at least satisfy gamer demand. Along with Arc cards from Intel, The next heavyweight battle begins later in 2022: AMD RDNA 3 vs Nvidia RTX 40. Both on the same process node. Pound for pound, punch for punch. Fight!

Valve has provided further information regarding upcoming changes to its rules surrounding games sales and discounts. These new rules affect the frequency with which developers and publishers can discount their games, and the percentages they can discount them by. These rule changes were originally announced earlier this month, but Valve only offered details about changes to the "cooldown period" between discounts, sharing plans to reduce this period from six weeks to 28 days. Now, Valve has unveiled the full list of rule changes, which you can see below: You can run a launch discount, but once your launch discount ends, you cannot run any other discounts for 28 days. It is not possible to discount your product for 28 days following a price increase in any currency. Discounts cannot be run within 28 days of your prior discount, with the exception of Steam-wide seasonal events. Discounts for seasonal sale events cannot be run within 28 days of releasing your title, within 28 days from when your launch discount ends, or within 28 days of a price increase in any currency. You may not change your price while a promotion is live now or scheduled for the future. It is not possible to discount a product by more than 90% or less than 10%. Custom discounts cannot last longer than two weeks, or run for shorter than 1 day. The upshot of these changes is basically that developers can run discounts more often. But one alteration seems geared more toward cracking down on anti-consumer behaviour. This is outlined in the sixth bullet-point, "It is not possible to discount a product by more than 90% or less than 10%." Previously, the rule simply stated, "It is not possible to discount a product 100%". This led to unscrupulous game sellers offering discounts of 1% to get their games featured on the sales lists without offering a meaningful price-cut. The new rules restrict devs and pubs to offering a minimum discount of 10%, meaning all discounts should now be offered in good faith. You can read Valve's full announcement here. The new rules come into effect on the 28th of March. The newly implemented cooldown period will apply to all Steam sales, except for the platform's "four major seasonal sales", namely Summer, Autumn, Winter, and the most famous season of all, Lunar New Year. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-targets-dodgy-discounts-in-new-rules-for-steam-game-sales/

Vivo Y15s (2021) was launched in India on Friday. Debuting in Singapore last year, the new Vivo phone comes with a waterdrop-style display notch and carries dual rear cameras. The Vivo Y15s is also based on Google's Android Go edition — the streamlined version of Android. It comes in two distinct colours and packs a 5,000mAh battery. The Vivo Y15s is likely to face tough competition from the likes of the Moto E40 and Redmi 10 Prime. Vivo Y15s price in India, availability Vivo Y15s price in India has been set at Rs. 10,990 (MRP Rs. 13,990) for the sole 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant. The phone comes in Mystic Blue and Wave Green colours and is available for purchase through the Vivo India E-Store as well as various retail stores in the country starting Friday. In November, the Vivo Y15s was launched in Singapore at SGD 179 (roughly Rs. 10,000) for the same 3GB + 32GB configuration. The Vivo Y15s shouldn't be confused with the Vivo Y15S, that was launched back in 2015. Vivo Y15s specifications The dual-SIM (Nano) Vivo Y15s runs on Android 11 (Go edition) with Funtouch OS 11.1 on top. The phone features a 6.51-inch HD+ (720x1,600 pixels) IPS display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and is powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio P35 SoC, along with 3GB of RAM. For photos and videos, the Vivo Y15s carries a dual rear camera setup that houses a 13-megapixel primary sensor with an f/2.2 lens. The camera setup also includes a 2-megapixel macro shooter. For selfies and video chats, the Vivo Y15s comes with an 8-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front, with an f/2.0 lens. The Vivo Y15s includes 32GB of onboard storage that supports expansion through a dedicated microSD card. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, FM radio, Micro-USB port. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light, and a proximity sensor. The phone also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Vivo has packed the phone with the 5,000mAh battery that supports ordinary 10W charging. Besides, the Vivo Y15s measures 163.96x75.2x8.28mm and weighs 179 grams. Can Realme 9 Pro and 9 Pro+ win their respective segments? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Making calls on Microsoft Teams is no longer a massive drain on your PC or laptop, the company has claimed. The video conferencing software now requires up to 50% less power to run during "energy-intensive" scenarios such as multi-person meetings than it did 18 months ago, Microsoft has revealed. This is thanks to a series of changes and optimizations that should mean an end to battery-sapping video calls that can leave remote workers scrambling for their charger, or being forced to go on mute as their work laptop fans kick into overdrive. "One of the challenges brought on by the ubiquity of Teams is the need to create equitable experiences across an incredibly diverse Windows device ecosystem," Microsoft's Robert Aichner wrote in a blog post outlining a series of improvements made since June 2020. Aichner noted that the moves should also allow users on low-end devices to have a much better experience running Microsoft Teams, meaning no one should suddenly drop out on calls, and ensure Teams meetings are as energy-efficient as possible, regardless of setup. This has been a long process, with Microsoft continuing to optimize Teams as user numbers boomed during the pandemic amid work from home orders. This has included camera optimization tools to reduce the demands on using video in meetings, with tweaks such as improving configurations, reducing code complexity for auto-exposure, auto-white balance, auto-aliasing, resulting in power draw reduction from the onboard camera and stability enhancements, and face detection processes. Microsoft has also consolidated and improved video rendering, particularly in multi-person video meetings where different participants may join with wildly different video streams due to variations in hardware. This initially meant that a nine-person call using a 3x3 video grid required nine distinct rendering operations, but Microsoft combined the streams and composed them into a single video, significantly reducing the power requirements for each device used. More recently, Microsoft Teams has also been allowed to tap into a device’s GPU to support improved rendering performance, which has recently been expanded to the user's video preview as well. Aichner adds that this is not the end for Teams optimization, and the company hopes to continue to release new features and improvements for some time to come.

One of the big things that sets Valve's upcoming Steam Deck apart from other PC handhelds is its choice of operating system: the deck is Linux-based as opposed to the long-established, battery-hungry king of PC gaming, Windows. Valve's Proton compatibility layer for Linux is its ace in the hole for getting previously Windows-only games running on the OS without individually porting each one, and also represents a beacon of hope for gamers on Linux that a successful launch of the Steam Deck could bring newfound compatibility and attention to the OS for gaming. A recent post from Gaming On Linux shed some light on Valve's compatibility testing process and how it has changed. Until recently, Valve has always favored Proton, even when a game already has a native Linux version. Valve's own Portal 2, for example, has a recommended Proton runtime on SteamDB even though its Linux port came out back in 2014. Valve has now updated its policy and developer documentation to reflect that it will prioritize testing a game's native Linux version, and will run the game through Proton only if it "fails compatibility tests or otherwise experiences significant issues." On its face, this seems like a logical move, but some commenters have expressed concerns about certain Linux ports. For example, Borderlands 2 has a version running native on Linux, but its final DLC does not. Another member of the community cited older OpenGL games that would likely see better performance running on the Vulkan API through Proton. This HowToGeek article from late last year recommends Linux gamers opt for Proton even if a game has a native Linux port (Linux users can select between the two from a dropdown menu in Steam.) The author's reasoning is that most developers' Linux ports are a secondary concern, with that Borderlands 2 DLC issue being a perfect example. Proton, on the other hand, is of huge importance to Valve's gamble on the Steam Deck, and as such they have every incentive to make sure it's as polished an experience as possible. At the end of the day, I would still expect this shift in testing to be a mostly positive development. Steam Deck and Linux users will continue to have the option to choose between Proton and Steam's Linux runtime, and Valve's testing may even catch issues like Borderlands 2's DLC gap. This entire process is certainly a reminder of how much of a hassle it's been to game on Linux in the past, and how Proton could be just as much of a disruptive force as the Steam Deck itself.

Prepare to face the monsters of the Lands Between as Elden Ring's launch grows nearer, and also to make friends with a little rat wearing a hat and a big man that's also a pot. From Software has released a new trailer for the highly-anticipated Action RPG, showing off the full range of what's coming when it releases on February 25th. "The expansive world of the Lands Between abound with danger, intrigue, and mythological drama," says the voiceover, "Begin your adventure, and reveal its secrets for yourself." The full trailer takes pains to point out all kinds of new stuff going on in Elden Ring, lest you forget that it's a pretty big departure from From Software's souls series. It has an open world with integrated dungeons beneath it, for example. You can summon spirit allies to fight with you. You can stealth past difficult fights. You can guard-counter to attack immediately after blocking. You can, radically, jump. Ride a horse. Have a world map. Elden Ring is coming in just a few days. You can find out more on our hub of Elden Ring news and the page listing everything we know about Elden Ring. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-new-overview-trailer-for-elden-ring/

Adding @D.CraZy to the Team. Adding @Vinicius™ to the Team.

v3 good text , effect

Vivo V23e is all set to go official in India on February 21. Just days before its official debut, live images of the smartphone have surfaced online suggesting the design. The renders show the handset in two different colour options and suggest a triple camera setup at the back. Vivo V23e was launched initially in Thailand in November last year. It features a MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC and packs 128GB of onboard storage. Vivo V23e sports a 4,050mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. A report by MySmartPrice has leaked the alleged live images of Vivo V23e. The leaked live shots show the handset in Midnight Blue and Sunshine Gold colour options. The renders of the Vivo smartphone show a triple rear camera unit arranged on the upper left corner at the back along with an LED flash. The renders also show that the right spine of the handset has power and volume rockers. To recall, the handset debuted in Thailand in Moonlight Shadow and Sunshine Coast colour options. It is priced at THB 12,999 (roughly Rs. 29,200) for the single 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. Vivo V23e 5G specifications (expected) Vivo V23e 5G runs on Android 11 with FunTouch OS 12 on top. It sports 6.44-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,400 pixels) AMOLED display. Vivo V23e 5G has an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC under the hood paired with 8GB of RAM. The Thailand variant of the Vivo V23e 5G has a triple rear camera setup that comprises a 50-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel wide-angle shooter, and a 2-megapixel sensor. For selfies and video chats, Vivo V23e 5G has a 44-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front as well. Further, Vivo V23e 5G packs 128GB of onboard storage that can be expanded using a microSD card (up to 1TB). There is also an in-display fingerprint sensor for authentication. Vivo V23e 5G features a 4,050mAh battery with 44W fast charging support.

If you prefer to play certain games in a window, rather than full screen on your PC, then you might want to check out the latest Windows 11 Insider update. The Windows Insider Dev update of build 22545 and above - which allows you to sign up to features in testing that are not ready for a final release - is showcasing a feature called 'Optimizations for windowed games'. Enabling this in Settings will allegedly improve latency, and showcase Auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) for the games that support these two features. There are some games that should be played in full-screen mode, especially if you've bought an expensive monitor to showcase God of War or Sonic Adventure. But windowed games make it easier to multitask between emails, social media, and watching video side-by-side. Improvements to this only prove further that Microsoft is looking at all aspects of Windows 11 in this upcoming feature update to make this OS its best yet. Seeing Microsoft focus on something like windowed gaming would have been completely unimaginable back in the days of Windows Vista.Analysis: windowed gaming gets its due If you're running build 22545 and above, you can go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Default Graphics Settings to turn this feature on. But you can also enable this for certain games by going to Settings > System > Display > Graphics and selecting which games you want to benefit from this feature. It's another welcome move by Microsoft to look at aspects of the operating system that's been left by the wayside. There are plenty of users out there with one monitor, where they like to easily switch between a game and a web browser, or have them side by side. Especially for games that work well for a keyboard and not a controller, you can seamlessly switch windows using Alt+Tab to jump back and forth between the game and whatever else you have open. However, this also looks to be laying the groundwork for better compatibility for games that you can buy on a storefront, such as Steam, Epic Games, and Microsoft's own Xbox app. Having better ways to play a game in windowed mode is only a positive move by the company, and if this display type is getting attention, it makes us wonder what else Microsoft is focusing on for Windows 11 in the coming months and years.

$1,499 gets you one of the finest CPUs ever made and a tasty Nvidia graphics card, ready to ship in a matter of days. Waiting for new toys sucks, which is why a gaming PC that will ship out to you in two days is always worth a look. More so when it's rocking a $300 discount and ships with one of our favorite ever gaming processors. The Core i5 12600KF is the GPU-less sibling of the mighty Intel Core i5 12600K, bringing 16 threads of Alder Lake CPU power to the party. And don't worry about it not packing any graphics silicon because this iBuyPower RDY rig also comes with an Nvidia RTX 3060, too. Coming in at a rather tasty $1,499, this is a stellar little gaming PC. I comes complete with an AIO liquid cooler, a good amount of RAM and storage, and some peripherals to boot. So it's certainly worth a look for $300 less than expected. Though really, that discount mostly just puts it at a price we'd be okay with paying for an RTX 3060 machine. Intel Core i5 12600KF in this gaming PC is a supreme chip, and is essentially the same CPU as the Core i5 12600K we recently tested, only it has no integrated graphics. That means the Nvidia RTX 3060 jammed in there will come in handy, not just for gaming but in order to check the BIOS. Without it, you'd be essentially screwed. With it, you should be able to take on most modern games today at 90fps or higher, especially if you're going for a 1080p monitor. That's not to say this machine couldn't take on a higher resolution, but you'll likely have to sacrifice some graphic fidelity in more graphic-heavy games. To top it off, you get 16GB of RAM, and 1TB NVMe SSD storage to play with. And if that's not quite cutting it, you can always jam another PCIe-based storage device into the Z690 motherboard's spare M.2 slot. You could even take advantage of the breakneck speeds of a PCIe 5.0 SSD with a setup like this, so there's some future proofing in a purchase like this. Oh, and in case you're lacking, this one comes with a mouse and keyboard, though you might want to take a look at our best gaming keyboard and best gaming mouse guides once your budget has recovered.

Amazon's Fallout television series just got a whole lot more credible, as Deadline has revealed that noted character actor Walton Goggins has signed on to play a lead role. Details on Goggins' character haven't been revealed, but according to the report he'll be playing "Ghoul," although I suspect that will actually prove to be a ghoul, the long-lived mutants who make up a significant portion of Fallout's post-nuclear world. I can kind of see it: It's not just physical similarities that make the casting noteworthy. Goggins has received widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike for his career in film and television, and has earned award nominations for performances in shows and movies including The Shield, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Hateful Eight, and Django Unchained. He also makes a pretty good Marvel movie villain. Amazon's Fallout series is being produced by Westworld co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy through their Kilter Films production company. Bethesda's Todd Howard and Jason Altman are also onboard as executive producers. Goggins is the first actor to be named to play in the series, which was announced back in 2020. Production is set to begin this year, but so far there's still no sign of a release date. Link : https://www.pcgamer.com/walton-goggins-signs-up-to-star-in-amazons-fallout-series/

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The US Navy has sacked three top crew members aboard a nuclear submarine that crashed into an underwater mountain. Commander Cameron Aljilani and two others were removed after an investigation into the incident in the disputed South China Sea. The USS Connecticut struck the object last month, forcing the vessel to come to the surface for a week and sail to the US territory of Guam.Navy officials say the crew members "could have prevented" the collision.Last week, the navy said the submarine had hit an uncharted "seamount" while patrolling below the surface. A seamount is a mountain that rises from the ocean floor. Fifteen sailors suffered minor injuries. The submarine is currently being checked for damage at Guam in the Pacific before it returns to Washington for repairs. The incident happened amid rising tensions in the region. The USS Connecticut was operating in one of the most contested regions in the world. China claims most of the South China Sea, but surrounding countries and the US disagree. The incident happened just weeks after the US, UK and Australia agreed a historic security pact to share submarine technology in the Asia-Pacific, widely seen as an effort to counter China's power. The crash angered officials in Beijing, who have questioned what the vessel was doing in the region, and said they were worried about possible nuclear leakage.At a press briefing on Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the US needed to give a full account of the incident and "stop its provocation", Reuters news agency reported.US Navy officials have yet to explain how the vessel hit the seamount.Ryan Ramsey, a former British Royal Navy submarine captain, said he was shocked by the collision, which is relatively rare."The USS Connecticut is a very modern submarine - so it's kind of surprising," he told the BBC. "But if you relax at any point, then things can happen." Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59175396

The future of MINI will be bolder than ever as the brand prepares to launch a new generation of vehicles from 2023 onwards. Most of these new cars will be fresh versions of old favourites, but the company is also plotting a brave expansion outside its usual territory, and it will introduce two entirely new models in the near future. One of these new models will be a compact electric SUV, which will be built in China on a new platform being developed jointly by BMW and Chinese firm Great Wall. This new electric crossover will be built alongside and share its technical basis with the next-generation 3dr Hatch. In its latest strategy dossier, the brand outlines that along with the new smaller 3dr Hatch and its crossover sibling, it will expand its offering a size up in the ‘premium compact’ segment with a new car that will sit “alongside the successor to the current MINI Countryman.” The new Countryman will arrive in 2023 with a growth in footprint and with the option of petrol and pure-electric power. Its incoming stablemate is described as “a new vehicle concept,” that will “meet the wishes of many customers for additional space and comfort, and increased variability.”That’s as far as MINI wants to go on record with this entirely new car for now, but the language used by the brand - namely the themes of space and versatility - could be more than simple teasers of what to expect. They may point to a production version of the Urbanaut concept, or a car similar in execution, now being in MINI’s product plan. The Urbanaut concept transformed from a digital model to a working prototype earlier this year, and we’ve previewed what could be the next step - a production version - in our exclusive main images. It’d be easy to cry fowl at how such a vehicle wouldn’t be befitting of a marque built around small cars, but there’s plenty about the Urbanaut that plays into brand traditions. At 4.46 metres long, it’s slightly longer than the Countryman we have now and has a footprint roughly the size of a family hatchback like the Mazda 3. The next Countryman will grow to this sort of size, too. Oliver Heilmer, who run’s MINI’s design team, told Auto Express earlier in the year that the Urbanaut concept was designed using the “original mindset of the brand.” He pointed out that the concept’s efficient use of space inside, rather than its exterior dimensions, is what aligns it with MINI’s values. “The Urbanaut is the most efficient MINI in terms of, let's say physical footprint and interior room,” he explained, while conservatively estimating that it may take until 2030 for such a model to arrive. Link: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mini/356454/minis-bold-future-include-small-mpv-based-urbanaut-concept

The Australian sculptor shares his love of textas, finding handmade objects, and the item he most regrets losing ramesh Mario Nithiyendran likes things bright. The Sydney-based sculptor and ceramicist is known for his vivid technicolour creations, which make use of materials as varied as concrete, bronze, fibreglass and LED. Until 13 November, a new exhibition of Nithiyendran’s work will be on display at Sydney art gallery Sullivan+Strumpf. Titled The Guardians, the exhibition is inspired by mythological figures designed to protect from evil. It comprises 21 ceramic works, as well as four drawings. Whatever shape his work ends up taking, Nithiyendran has found keeping visual diaries essential to his practice. He rates those spiral bound diaries – which he fills in with texta sketches of potential sculptural works – as his most useful object. Here, he tells us why those pages are so hard to part with, as well as the stories of a few other important personal belongings. What I’d save from my house in a fire I’ve listened to many fire evacuation briefings. When I hear the “leave all your belongings” protocol, I get chills. It sounds dramatic, but I have so many loved objects! My house fire situation would probably resemble a comedic skit. I’d pack a suitcase full of things and probably fling it out the window. But what would be in this suitcase? I’ve made an effort to surround my home with inspiring handmade objects and artworks from various parts of the world. I just acquired the most beautiful traditional Tibetan rug, which was made in India by Tibetan refugees. I love that this tradition is being sustained. It’s hand knotted and has two regal tigers amongst bamboo on it. Tigers are one of my favourite animals. So when my friend linked me to the Instagram account of Tim Roodenrys, where it was being sold, I pounced on it. I would also hurriedly put artworks I own in this (big) suitcase. I don’t have any of my own pieces in my home. I look at my work all day in the studio, so I prefer to have artwork made by other people in my living space. But I only really collect handmade things. I’d have to make room in the suitcase for an etching I recently bought by Ms N. Yunupingu and a vase made for me by my friend James Lemon. My most useful object This is where I lean into the clichéd artist category! I have always kept visual diaries. My mind incessantly chucks ideas, images, thoughts and fantasies at me. Some of these ideas suck, but that’s just the nature of things. My best ideas often emerge at unpredictable times. The ideas can come like earthquakes. They make me want to run into the studio and start making. I remember being at a party once and having to find a moment to draw a multi-headed figure. I wanted to make it on my phone so I wouldn’t forget it. I made it during a short weekend ceramics course called “clay for kids” somewhere in western Sydney when I was about 10 years old. I don’t think I was particularly talented with clay at the time, but I remember loving the smell of it. The work was a head with big lips and curly hair. It was about the size of my adult fist and was glazed badly with a glassy brown. It was super wonky, but I was chuffed when it came out of the kiln. I also wish I had some of my scribbly childhood drawings. I’d love to see those! Link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/03/my-house-fire-situation-would-resemble-a-comedic-skit-ramesh-mario-nithiyendrans-treasures

What is historically the UK's longest lasting patch of snow has disappeared for "only the eighth time in 300 years". Dubbed the Sphinx, the patch on remote Braeriach in the Cairngorms has melted away more frequently in the last 18 years. Snow patch expert Iain Cameron said climate change was a likely factor.According to records, the Sphinx previously melted fully in 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017 and 2018. Before 1933, it is thought to have last melted completely in the 1700s. The Sphinx had shrunk to the size of an A4 piece of paper in recent weeks before finally disappearing in mild weather. Stirling-based Mr Cameron has been studying snow patches in Scotland for 25 years and is author of the book The Vanishing Ice, which he describes as a "lament" to snow and ice that lingers high in Scotland's hills. He worked alongside the late Dr Adam Watson, a biologist dubbed Mr Cairngorms because of his many years studying the mountains. Some of Dr Watson's research on the Sphinx drew on information handed down by generations of people who worked and visited the Cairngorms, which suggests the patch may have only melted a few times in the last 300 years. From the 1840s the Scottish Mountaineering Club began noting the fortunes of the patch, and more recently scientists and ecologists have gathered information. 'Scotland's glacier' melts away Mr Cameron told BBC Scotland that historically the Sphinx was the UK's "most durable" snow patch. But he said: "That is being challenged because it is disappearing more often." Mr Cameron said warmer weather due to climate change "seemed to be the logical" explanation for the increased rate of melting. He added that the conditions were affecting snowy areas high on other Scottish mountains including in the Ben Nevis range in Lochaber. Aonach Beag, near Ben Nevis, also has a patch of snow that has often survived from one winter to another. But Mr Cameron said: "What we are seeing from research are smaller and fewer patches of snow. "Less snow is falling now in winter than in the 1980s and even the 1990s." Separately from Mr Cameron's research, a report commissioned by Cairngorms National Park Authority and published last year said declining snow cover, and fewer days when it snowed had been observed on Cairngorm mountain since the winter of 1983-84. Researchers also noted a trend for increasingly warmer weather since the 1960s, and suggested that by the 2080s there would be some years with very little or no snow at all on Cairngorm. Lauren McCallum, of international climate change campaign group Protect Our Winters, said the Cairngorms - and wider world - needed to be protected from further rises in temperature. She said: "We have to maintain a healthy temperature for our ecosystems and communities to survive." The Sphinx lies in Garbh Choire Mor, a hollow known as a corrie formed by ice or a glacier during the last ice age, on 1,296m (4,252ft) Braeriach - Britain's third highest mountain.Garbh Choire Mor is described as Scotland's snowiest corrie because of the amount of snow it can hold even through summer months. The Sphinx is the name of a climbing route near the snow patch. Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-58980007