. PREDATOR

I think everything is clear for all of us now ! your project leader has guaranteed for you and you have successfully achieved a second chance But before we proceed with the actions You are a member in VGR Project , a GFX Designer moreover a manager of a CSBD Server i can realise that you are responsible enough and active in both projects entrusted to you regularly But even you are a helpful user in our community but i never see that you came us with ideas by your own / i don't see that you support our community users by giving them help in different sections ( F.A.Q , TS3 Services etc..) So i will be awating your reply for both of these following questions below : 1- Provide us 2 ideas by your own that we could brand us CSBD Community 2 - In case you got Moderator , present us some of new responsabilities that you could take , which include our members support !

Howdy @King_of_lion As i see here that you have no more chances to request for Moderators ( MyCro Decision ) i cannot judge your request recruitment now until you didn't inform us if @myCro ? gave you a chance to make a new recruitment request again or no !

Apple packs iOS 14 with new accessibility features, like AirPods Pro audio tweaks It's added headphone sound customizations, a quick launch feature called Back Tap and improvements to its po[CENSORED]r Magnifier. With iOS 14, Apple brings tons of new accessibility features to its devices, including some that people without disabilities could also find helpful. The list ranges from the ability to customize Transparency mode in AirPods Pro to capturing multiple frames with the iPhone Magnifier function. And the new Back Tap feature lets you tap the backside of your iPhone to do things like take a screenshot. Many of the new enhancements will likely appeal to people who are deaf or have hearing loss, while other features will benefit users who are blind or low vision, expanding on Apple's efforts over the years to make its devices and software more accessible. The improvements aren't just for iPhones and iPads. Apple Watch users now will have the option to configure accessibility features as they go through the process of setting up a watch, as well as turn on an extra-large watch face for bigger and bolder "complications" -- glanceable bits of info about things like the weather -- to help people with low vision see them better. On Monday, Apple unveiled iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and its other updated software during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The company uses WWDC to show off the biggest updates to its operating systems before making them available for all Apple device users later in the year. Right now, developers and other beta testers have access to early versions of the software to make their apps and help Apple detect bugs before the improvements are rolled out broadly. That includes accessibility features. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a quarter of Americans live with some sort of disability. In the past, people with special needs had to shell out thousands of dollars for technology that magnified their computer screens, spoke navigation directions, identified their money and recognized the color of their clothes. Today, users only need smartphones, computers and a handful of apps and accessories to help them get through their physical and online worlds. Apple has built accessibility features into its products for years. It offers technology to do things like help people with low vision navigate the iPhone's touchscreen or allow those with motor impairments to virtually tap on interface icons. It has a Made for iPhone program that certifies hearing aids that work with its devices, and two years ago, Apple gave users the ability to turn their iPhones and AirPods into remote microphones through its Live Listen feature. iOS 14, iPadOS 14, WatchOS 7 and its other upcoming software expand those offerings. Hearing features Headphones Accommodations lets users adjust the frequencies of audio streamed through their AirPods Pro, second-generation AirPods, select Beats headphones and EarPods. Each individual can customize the settings for what's right for them, either dampening or amplifying particular sounds. Users can set up to nine unique profiles (like a movie setting and a different calls setting) that tap into three amplification tunings and three varying strengths. AirPods Pro Transparency Mode gets its own unique benefit from Headphones Accommodations: the ability to customize how much of the surrounding environment you hear. Quiet voices can become more crisp, and outside environmental sounds can become more detailed. Sound Recognition makes it easier for people who are deaf to be aware of sound-based alerts, alarms and notifications. When an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch picks up a particular type of sound or alert, it will send a notification to the user's device, including an Apple Watch. The sounds the system can detect are alarms like sirens, smoke alarms at home or building fire alarms; and household noises like doorbell chimes, car horns, appliance beeps and running water. Apple also is working on detecting sounds from people or animals. Group FaceTime calls will now be accommodating for people who are using sign language instead of talking. Typically, in a group call, the person speaking appears more prominently to the other participants, with that person's video box becoming larger. With iOS 14, FaceTime will be able to detect if someone is using sign language and will make that person's video window prominent. The Noise app, introduced in last year's WatchOS 6, measures ambient sound levels to give users a sense of how loud their surrounding environment is. With WatchOS 7, customers will be able to see how loudly they're listening to audio through their headphones via their iPhone, iPod or Apple Watch. A hearing control panel displays a live UI that shows whether the audio is playing above the World Health Organization's recommended limit, which is listening to audio at 80 decibels for about 40 hours a week without hurting hearing. When reaching the safe weekly listening amount, the Apple Watch sends a notification to the wearer. Real-Time Text lets people who have hearing difficulties or speech disabilities communicate using two-way text in real time while on a phone call. The iPhone has had RTT since 2017, but Apple has now made it simpler for users to multitask while interacting with calls and incoming RTT messages. They'll get notifications even when they're not in the phone app and don't have RTT conversation view enabled. Vision features VoiceOver, Apple's technology that translates on-screen text into speech, gets some updates with iOS 14. It now taps into Apple's on-device machine learning and Neural Engine to recognize and audibly describe more of what's happening on screen -- even when third-party developers haven't enabled the ability in their apps. An iPhone or iPad will now automatically provide better optical recognition of more objects, images, text or controls displayed on a screen, and VoiceOver gives more natural and contextual feedback. When it comes to images or photos, VoiceOver now reads compete sentence descriptions to detail what's on the screen. And it automatically detects user interface controls like buttons, labels, toggles, sliders and indicators. Rotor, a gesture-based way to customize the VoiceOver experience, now can do more than before. The system already lets users make tweaks like adjust the speaking rate and volume, select special types of input such as braille or adjust how VoiceOver moves from one item to the next on the screen. WatchOS 7 brings the technology to Apple Watches, letting users customize characters, words, lines, headings and links. And with MacOS Big Sur, users can configure Rotors with preferred braille tables and access more options to adjust code while developing apps in Xcode. Apple's Magnifier technology, one of its most-used accessibility features, gets an upgrade with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. It now lets users magnify more of the area they're pointing at, as well as capture multi-shot freeze frames. They also can filter or brighten images for better clarity and capture multiple images at once to make it simpler to review multipage documents or longer content all at once. Magnifier also works with multitasking on the iPad. Apple's new software expands support for Braille with Braille AutoPanning. It lets users pan across larger amounts of Braille text without needing to press a physical pan button on their external refreshable displays. Back Tap One accessibility feature that many people could end up using is Back Tap. The feature, found in iOS 14, lets iPhone users do a variety of quick action by double or triple tapping on the back of an iPhone. Users can turn on specific accessibility features or take a screenshot. They also can scroll, open the control center, go to the home screen or open the app switcher. One thing Back Tap doesn't easily do is launch the camera or take a photo. Users can configure those actions by first making a Siri Shortcut. The Shortcut app, introduced two years ago, automates common and routine tasks. With Shortcuts, people have been able to create customized commands, like setting up a request that brings together a surf report, current weather, travel time to the beach and a sunscreen reminder, all by just saying, "Hey Siri, surf time." Those Shortcuts can be mapped to the Back Tap settings.

AMD Ryzen-Powered Mini-PC Has The Potential To Be The NUC Killer Let's get ready to rumble. The NUC market is about to get a new competitor as Minisforum is making the necessary preparations to bring a new mini-PC to the fight. The DeskMini DMAF5 will be the company's first AMD Ryzen-powered device to venture into the mini-PC market. The dimensions of the DeskMini DMAF5 are unknown at this point, but Minisforum's marketing material shows the mini-PC sitting comfortably on the palm of your hand. The case, which appears to be made of aluminium, features a matte silver and black theme and has air vents all over its body. The top panel employs a pop-up mechanism that allows you to get right into the system's internals without the help of a screwdriver. The case also comes with a VESA mount to attach itself behind your display. The DeskMini DMAF5 employs AMD's mobile Ryzen 5 3550H (codename Picasso) APU. Although the quad-core, eight-thread chip is a pretty solid performer, we would have love to see one of AMD's more powerful 7nm Ryzen 4000-series (codename Renoir) APUs in the DeskMini DMAF5. In regards to clock speeds, the Ryzen 5 3550H is a Zen+ part that runs with a 2.1 GHz base clock and 3.7 GHz boost clock. Minisforum keeps the Ryzen 5 3550H's operating temperature under control with a cooling system that's that suitable for a processor with a TDP (thermal design power) that exceeds 45W. For reference, the Ryzen 5 3550H is a 35W part. The manufacturer doesn't explain the system in detail, but it appears to dissipate heat with a thick copper heat pipe and a high-speed cooling fan. Minisforum claims that the fan's noise level is under 30 dB, and the cooling system can keep the processor from throttling during long durations of usage. The motherboard comes with two SO-DIMM DDR4 slots to hold up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory and one M.2 2280 slot for SATA SSDs. There is enough room in the case to accommodate one normal 2.5-inch hard drive or SSD too. For internet connectivity, the DeskMini DMAF5 gives you the option of two Gigabit Ethernet ports or an Intel Wi-Fi AX200 and Bluetooth 5.0 combo. As for USB ports, the mini-PC has nothing less than four USB 3.1 Type-A ports. The DeskMini DMAF5 provides three distinct outputs for displays. You get a HDMI 2.0 port, a DisplayPort 1.2 output and a USB 3.1 Type-C port, all three of which can handle 4K resolutions up to 60 Hz. The Ryzen 5 3550H arrives with three eight Vega Compute Units (CUs) clocked at 1,200 MHz so it's more than capable of addressing heavy graphical workloads. You can allocate up to 2GB of your system's memory to the APU. Minisforum hasn't disclosed the pricing of the DeskMini DMAF5. The company expects to launch the Indiegogo campaign soon though. If you sign up for the newsletter, you receive a 25% discount of the retail price once the DeskMini DMAF5 launches.

Game Informations : Developer: Echtra Games Publishers : Perfect World Entertainment Platforms : PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Initial release date: 2020 There’s nothing desperately wrong with Torchlight 3, which just came out in Early Access form a week ago. It’s a flashy, bombastic, nicely-paced action-RPG with tons of enemies to slash, blast, and explode for the tasty loot inside. The problem is that it doesn’t really do much to effectively set itself above or apart from the embarrassment of riches we have to pick from in this genre right now. When I could be playing Diablo 3 or Wolcen (now that it's been patched a bit) or Path of Exile or even one of the older Torchlight games, I keep looking for a reason why I’d choose Torchlight 3… and so far, the early access version hasn’t really given me one. Torchlight 3 doesn’t put its best foot forward as it tries to introduce us to a story premise that isn’t really trying to be anything more than ultra generic fantasy. Something about an ancient evil reawakening, blah blah blah... It’s not like previous Torchlight games were heavy on story either, but Torchlight 3 doesn’t even seem to be trying. Every NPC seems to be defined by a single personality archetype. You’ve got goofy goblins that lean on the comedy crutches of over-the-top voice acting and Saturday morning cartoon hijinks. It’s got a certain charm to it, but it’s all so painfully familiar, like your slacker roommate’s first attempt at running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. At least things get a little more interesting when it comes to the class design. Each of the four playable classes has a very distinct and flavorful aesthetic and identity. The weird and eerie Dusk Mage builds up dark mana by using light spells and light mana by using dark spells, and can unleash a more powerful finisher of either type once the appropriate mana gauge is filled. The hilariously over-the-top Railmaster reimagines the concept of a pet class by summoning a battle train that follows you around on rails you leave behind as you move, to which more cars with different uses can be added by investing in the skill tree. Each of the four playable classes has a very distinct and flavorful aesthetic and identity. Not all of them are quite as fun in practice as they seem in concept, though. The Sharpshooter, for instance, is a savvy hunter who can summon various companions and has a whole toolbelt of powerful ranged attacks. That sounds great, but their ammo resource gauge is basically just a fancy stamina bar that recharges quickly when not in use. There is an unlockable reload skill that refills your ammo instantly, and while it suits the fantasy the sharpshooter is trying to represent, it was far too rare that it let me feel like I was making interesting resource management decisions. The options for customizing these classes are a little bit lackluster, too, especially compared to some other recent ARPGs. Each has two main skill trees with a different focus – the Sharpshooter has one focusing on direct ranged damage and one focusing on summonable creatures, while the Railmaster has one focused on melee combat and one focused on making his train bigger and nastier. But each only features a handful of abilities to invest in right now, and since they’re gated at five level intervals, the choices you have upon levelling up are usually pretty limited. A sniper with lightning powers? Sure. A mage with vampiric berserker abilities? Nothing is stopping you. It gets a little more exciting with the introduction of Relics, which ended up being my favorite part of the progression system. You can have one Relic equipped at a time, which opens up an entirely new skill tree that includes an “ultimate” ability with a very long cooldown, similar to those you might see in a MOBA. Each relic is class agnostic, so you can mix and match them to create interesting combinations. A sniper with lightning powers? Sure. A mage with vampiric berserker abilities? Nothing is stopping you. The Relic skill trees still feel fairly limited, just like the base class ones, with most having two active and two passive abilities that can be upgraded in a couple different ways. But it encourages experimentation and helps my builds feel like they’re mine. The enemy design is respectable, but doesn’t offer much that’s new and exciting if you’ve been around the ARPG block a few times. You’ll blast through hordes of weakling goblins, bugs, and zombies. Occasionally you’ll run into tricker enemies, like wild boars that can take you out in just a couple of hits with a charge attack. There are powerful elite creatures with randomized ability modifiers, as well as legendary and miniboss bruisers packed with rare loot for your trouble. The bigger area and act bosses are a highlight, offering substantial challenges and keeping me on my toes with deadly area attacks. Playing on Hard, the difficulty felt just about right. The environments you’ll explore and do battle in are excellently constructed, too. Whether it’s a stalwart military outpost ringed with fireable cannons or a murky swamp brimming with poisonous beasts, the simple, colorful, readable art style pops and sizzles. Every corner is filled with destructible and interactable items, small but effective embellishments, and mood-setting lighting and effects which ensures no map ever feels too static or lifeless. The most frustrating part of Torchlight 3’s combat, which I still haven’t stopped fuming over, is the fact that almost none of the active abilities can be triggered unless you’ve come to a complete stop. That means you have to finish any ongoing animations and wait around a second – which may as well be a decade in some of these encounters. If I’m firing my bow and need to quickly dodge roll out of an explosion, I have to stop everything I’m doing and press the button frantically until it becomes responsive. It just feels clunky and irritating. Almost no active abilities can be triggered unless you’ve come to a complete stop. Currently, Torchlight 3 has the first two of three planned acts available, which took me a little less than 20 hours to complete. There’s also some kind of endgame mode that’s not in yet. You can tackle what little there is with a group of four, though, and I found the network side of things to be very stable and easy to use. This version isn’t without its share of early access woes, though. Certain boss fights were missing ending cutscenes entirely. Some cutscenes that were clearly meant to be seen only once triggered multiple times, in seemingly unrelated areas. Some quests will update to a new objective without telling you why. I didn’t encounter anything that blocked my progress, but the presentation is still rough. Probably the most distinctive and promising feature in Torchlight 3 is also a player housing system that lets you decorate a personal fort, enchant your gear, house collectable pets, and sacrifice items to various altars to unlock permanent stat bonuses. There are tons of cosmetic and functional structures to unlock and craft, and I like being able to return from a cave full of death spiders to a space that feels like my own. Decorating the courtyard is a nice change of pace from fighting for your life. This is where Torchlight 3 feels the most innovative, and I’d love to see this aspect developed further before it launches out of Early Access. Verdict Torchlight 3’s current Early Access incarnation is a fast food combo meal of an ARPG. In almost every respect, it’s acceptable. It’s fine. It’s just not revolutionary or memorable or even especially fun compared to its competition. And maybe as it progresses toward its final form, things will shape up and some diamonds will start to emerge from the rough. But for now, I’d have a hard time recommending it to anyone who might be drawn in by its attractive and distinct look and attitude. You won’t find much of substance to back it up, and there are so many better options to get your dungeon-crawling, loot-inhaling fix. Here are the Torchlight 3 System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Info CPU SPEED: Quad-Core Intel or AMD Processor, 2.5 Ghz or Faster RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64-Bit) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 470 GTX or AMD Radeon 6870 HD Series Card or Higher PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 1024 MB

How to download and install the iOS 14, iPadOS 14 developer beta Apple just gave us a glimpse of the features coming to the iPhone and iPad later this year. Here's how you can use it right now. Did you get a chance to watch Apple's WWDC keynote? If not, here's a short recap: Apple on Monday announced iOS 14, iPadOS 14, TVOS 14, WatchOS 7 and that the Mac lineup will eventually ditch Intel processors, switching to Apple silicon, similar to the kind of chip that powers your iPhone ($699 at Apple) sometime next year. As for the latest software update that will run on iPhones and iPads ($340 at eBay), it includes widgets on the home screen, a new and improved Siri interface and a revamped Messages app with better group conversation features and Picture in Picture video among other new features. Getting the beta up and running on your iPhone or iPad isn't a straightforward process right now, requiring a paid developer account to even access it. Here's everything you need to know about installing iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 Reminder: This is an early preview for developers There's a reason Apple limits the first couple of preview releases to developers every year -- it's buggy. Some apps won't work, battery life is all but guaranteed to take a hit and there will undoubtedly be random restarts and crashes. It's all part of the process of getting an operating system ready. Don't install iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 on your main phone or tablet. Instead, use a spare device if you have one, otherwise wait until, at a minimum, the first public beta. My advice? Wait even longer. The closer we get to the official release, the more reliable the experience will be. By public beta four or five things are usually mostly stable. With that said, if you like living on the edge and are willing to deal with the issues, here's how you can install iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 right now. When is the public beta coming for everyone? Apple announced it will once again allow non-developers to install iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 before its official release this fall through a public beta program. No specific launch date was announced, but Apple did say the public beta will launch in July. Which devices are supported? Apple is keeping the list of supported iPhone and iPad models the same as iOS 13. Here's the complete list: iPhone 6S or newer iPad Air 2 or newer All iPad Pro models iPad fifth generation or newer iPad Mini 4 or newer How to install iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 For the time being, you'll need a paid Apple developer account to gain access to the first beta releases. A paid account costs $99 a year, giving you access to publishing apps in the App Store along with all beta releases throughout the year. If you have a paid developer account, visit this page of the Developer website. This year, there's on over-the-air profile that streamlines the installation process. Alternatively, you can download and manually install the update. Going back to iOS 13 is possible, but... You'll have to factory reset your iPhone or iPad and either restore it from the last backup you created when it was running iOS 13, or start fresh. I suggest creating an encrypted backup using Finder on a Mac or iTunes on a PC right before you install the beta. That way you have a recent backup should there be too many bugs or issues for you to deal with. There's so much more news coming out of Apple this week, make sure to read through our complete WWDC 20 coverage.

Japanese ARM Based Supercomputer Fugaku Is Now World's Most Powerful Its first job: Fight the Coronavirus There's a new kid on the block called Fugaku, which is a Japanese, ARM-based supercomputer that's now the world's most powerful. It is significantly faster than all of today's supercomputers, and the first ARM-based supercomputer to take home the world's fastest prize. The system is installed at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, and scored a High-Performance Linpack score of 415.5 petaflops, with a peak performance of about 513 petaflops. In single-precision operations, the system is able to surpass the 1-exaflop mark. Powering Fugaku are a staggering 152,064 of Fujitsu's 48-core A64FX SoCs (System-on-Chip), which tally up to a total of 7.3-million CPU cores. The chips run at 2.0 GHz with a boost to 2.2 GHz, and carry 32 GB of HBM2 memory each. For comparison, IBM's Summit, which has topped the list since 2017, jots down a Linpack score of 148.6 petaflops, making the ARM-based Fugaku 2.8 times stronger than its American competitor. But, it also uses about 2.8 times as much power at a total of roughly 28 megawatts. Not long ago, Intel also claimed that the Aurora would be the first supercomputer to break the exaflop barrier, though that system is only expected to enter operation in 2021 at the earliest. Meanwhile, for a moment, Folding@Home had broken the exaflop barrier back in March as many donors set their home PCs up to donate their leftover resources to fighting the Coronavirus. But, that wasn't officially a supercomputer, so it never made it onto the Top500 list.

Game Informations : Developer: Purple Lamp Studios Publishers : THQ, THQ Nordic Platforms : PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Initial release date: 23 juin 2020 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated marks the return of one of the most iconic licensed characters to enter the 3D platforming fray. Sadly, this flashy remake feels more like a skin-deep remaster in practice, doing little to fix the issues that plagued the original adventure. Its graphical update is accompanied by some imaginative improvements, but those few bright spots aren’t enough to bring Battle for Bikini Bottom’s passable but simplistic and collectathon-heavy gameplay up to the standard you’d expect from a platformer released in 2020 – especially with remakes like the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy showing how a revival like this should be done.In our October 2003 review of the original Battle for Bikini Bottom, reviewer Mary Jane Irwin said: “The love for the SpongeBob franchise really shines through in Battle for Bikini Bottom -- and if it weren't there this would be a very dreary title.” As I replay it nearly 17 years later, that feels extremely accurate – and what’s dreariest about Rehydrated’s 10-ish hour campaign is all the missed opportunities to truly modernize this adventure for first-timers and those of us who look back on it fondly alike. To its credit, Rehydrated runs cleanly on PlayStation 4 Pro, its remastered soundtrack’s cheery tunes have earwormed their way into my mind, and the actual feel of running, jumping, and bubble-blowing as SpongeBob is precise and responsive. But it’s largely the adventure around those mechanics which, while admittedly fun and enjoyable for how it took advantage of the SpongeBob license just a few years after its debut, remains as limited in its scope, design, and overall thoughtfulness so many years later as it did back on the original Xbox. Worse, it now comes with the added context of having been so thoroughly surpassed by almost two decades worth of amazing 3D platformers. F Is for Faded Memories Playing a nostalgic platformer remake is something I’ve done quite a few times at IGN. Crash felt fresh again when the N. Sane Trilogy revamped it, while Spyro’s Reignited Trilogy became the fiery new standard for what I thought these remakes could do. But in playing with beloved source material that has long outlived the original game’s era, Rehydrated is in a strange place. Its jokes and episode references remain kid-friendly and largely based on the earlier seasons of the show, leaving the majority of the series’ rich comedy deposits untapped. There’s very little, in fact, aside from a few SpongeBob meme references here and there, that offer something new for returning players like myself. It’s been years since I’ve watched SpongeBob, and the pleasantness of returning to Bikini Bottom for a few hours was occasionally fun. But even though it’s called a remake, in every conceivable way it feels like a disappointing remaster, with its PS2-era hang-ups often getting in the way. A remake should do its best to modernize and improve aspects that haven’t aged well, but Rehydrated rarely does that. Every entrance to a new area is saddled with a few seconds of load time, even when going into a small building like Patrick or Squidward’s one-room homes (PlayStation 5, you can’t get here soon enough!). All three playable characters – SpongeBob, Sandy, and Patrick – have the same repetitive line or two of dialogue they bleat out after finding collectibles, grabbing health, or hitting enemies. The first couple of times it’s amusing enough to hear Patrick’s uncertainty about wearing SpongeBob’s underwear, but by the 10th it’s grating. And by the 30th, I wanted to stop playing. Battle for Bikini Bottom still hits that sweet spot of absurdist mayhem that SpongeBob episodes so often nailed, but it doesn’t really work as a cohesive SpongeBob “episode” (or even movie) because the individual stories of its already disjointed levels are barely present. Mrs. Puff and Barnacle Boy deliver some great, cutting lines that go over SpongeBob’s head, and SpongeBob interpreting paragraphs out of Gary the Snail’s Meows is still a joy. But, even as someone who hasn’t watched the show in ages, it’s absolutely jarring when one of the original voice actors doesn’t voice their own iconic character, like Mr. Krabs’ Clancy Brown who was absent in the original and is still not voicing the role in Rehydrated since very little new dialogue was seemingly recorded. Playing Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated in 2020 is a strange roller coaster ride of platforming love and hate. Overall, it’s an incredibly easy platformer, with only a few truly challenging section thrown in. The welcome challenge in levels like SpongeBob’s Dream is often fun, but they’re such whiplash from the rest of the adventure, which then reverts to being simple for its final levels. Like in the original, you can intermittently swap between SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick, often to solve character-specific puzzles, but it’s rare that Battle for Bikini Bottom makes interesting use of this. Also, why do I have to keep trudging back to a specific location to switch characters instead of just quick-swapping with a button? That adds nothing but busywork, standing as an easy example of something a proper remake could have addressed. Playable Character Ranking 1. Let’s cut to the chase: Sandy is easily the best character. Her ability to do a slow descend after a double jump with her lasso makes for infinitely more interesting platforming challenges, like on the rooftops of Downtown Bikini Bottom. 2. SpongeBob is, unsurprisingly, middle of the road. Sandy is more versatile but SpongeBob’s long-range attacks make late-game fights much easier. 3. Patrick is, sadly, the least fun to play. He can pick up things to solve puzzles and... that’s about it. Patrick deserves better. As an obsessive collector in platformers, Battle for Bikini Bottom passably makes the process of nabbing golden spatulas and Patrick’s socks engaging, if not challenging. Every level is upfront about how many of each item it holds, and are perhaps overly clear in explaining how to reach every collectible, occasionally robbing me of the joy of discovering something through my own ingenuity. Shiny objects, meanwhile, are infinite. So, if you’re in need of a few thousand more to hand over to Mr. Krabs, just keep intentionally dying and respawning at convenient spots and you can grind for shinies to no end without consequence. If you’re just looking to replay the original Battle for Bikini Bottom adventure to revisit its sporadic bright spots, some amusing character interactions, and a romp around Bikini Bottom, then you’ll find that intact. Battle for Bikini Bottom still feels a generation behind, but its graphical update is largely appreciated. The bright, cheery, almost neon-drenched world feels a lot closer to the energy of the show and its title character than the original’s look. Characters animate well in cutscenes, with the most care clearly put into the principal cast and locations as opposed to the lifeless denizens of Bikini Bottom, who walk around serving no purpose other than set dressing. Some of the most iconic locations and buildings’ shift into three-dimensions much more cohesively than their chunkier forms did two console generations ago. But because the entire world has been made more vibrant, there’s occasionally little distinction between platforms you can actually jump on and set decoration ledges that fooled me into thinking I had found a new secret path. It’s still nice to see the different neighborhoods of Bikini Bottom brought to life, from the dingy Rock Bottom to the Mermalair to Bikini Bottom itself. And SpongeBob’s Dream gets to play with wacky, surrealist level design buoyed by the graphical update that made me wish for an entirely new game inspired by it rather than a remake. Unfortunately, the hollowness of some of the world feels stuck in its earlier incarnation and despite plenty of Bikini Bottom residents walking around each area, interacting with them does nothing. No silly quips, no angered screams when hit, no shout of “My leg!” Just… silence, which is as loud a reminder as any of what could have been. Absorbent and Yellow and Speedy Is He One aspect of Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated I’m genuinely excited to see after its launch is the speedrunning community’s reaction. For those who don’t know, the original has become po[CENSORED]r among that group. While I finished Rehydrated at what felt like a brisk enough pace, it’s nowhere near the blazing-fast time speedrunners have accomplished with the original, and I’m curious what bugs, glitches, and tricks remain to be exploited, or whether anything has been adjusted for the community to contend with. Battle for Bikini Bottom adds a new wave-based horde mode that lets you and one other person, either locally or online, battle against wave after wave after wave of the robotic enemies you fight in the campaign. And it is...a waste of your time. The mode is so simplistic, so monotonous, and so unrewarding that it would have been a poor addition when the original Battle for Bikini Bottom debuted in 2003 and is even worse now. Including playable characters you don’t control in the campaign is a nice touch, but they all largely play the same with only visually different melee or ranged attacks. So, sure, it’s funny to hear Squidward use his clarinet to attack the first time, but, like the repeated dialogue of the base game, it becomes grating after hearing it 10, 20, 50 more times. And the waves devolve into very little strategy other than mashing attack and corralling swarms of enemies to easily dispatch them with a ground pound. The various attacks for each character really made essentially no difference. The biggest obstacle moreso than enemies is that every few waves takes place on a different island, and plenty of enemy attacks can knock you into the surrounding water there pretty easily. But so long as one player survives a round, you both move on, and both of you dying just resets that wave. There’s little risk in being overly aggressive with enemies, and there’s little other option because the mode itself is so limited. Completing all 27 islands with a friend, each with three waves, took about 30-40 minutes. And it’s 30-40 minutes I wish I could have back. Verdict SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated makes an argument that, if you’re going to remake something beloved, it’s not worth taking any half-measures. Rehydrated’s revisit of the iconic SpongeBob platformer often does just that. Rather than addressing any of the real issues with Battle for Bikini Bottom that could have been tweaked without ruining the spirit of the original, it leaves history intact at the cost of making this a better game – and its problems have only become more noticeable with age and increased competition. There are bright spots that remain fun almost two decades later, and there are pops of ingenuity in its reworking, but it does little to stand alongside the best, or even the pretty good, platformer remakes and remasters we’ve seen this generation. These are the SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated system requirements (recommended) Memory:8 MB Graphics Card:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated CPU:Intel Core i3-8100 File Size:30 GB OS:Windows 10 (64bit)

Hello @Alex009 First of all i wanted to inform why i took a time to leave a comment / opinion on your recruitment request ! I personnally didn't expect that you will reach this high level of activities in a short time ! The first time you came you were asking for help, instead, you started your work in a positive way on the "suggestions" topics when the staff team started looking at you and following each step, the topic that you brought up here, you knew how to improve on your own, you were ready to help For those in need, you've been looking forward to things we can brand us CSBD community In the second half of being with us, you started looking for more responsibilities and getting into our community projects where you can be more helpful and reliable and I can confirm that you have successfully demonstrated how responsible, loyal and reliable you are! I decided to add you right away as a co-leader on the DJ project because of your great career that you achieved in this short period But before i give you my full support as a DJ coordinator i have a little question ? First time you got the offer to join this project as co leader you asked me how can I help? After taking part of the information about the music contest project ... I want to know if you have enough knowledge now to be able to answer your question . Do you have any suggestion about this new project that could be useful in the future? Especially since you are part of the project staff ..

The man held on suspicion of killing three people at a park in Reading was known to MI5, security sources say . Khairi Saadallah, 25, from the town, was arrested at the scene on Saturday and police say they are not looking for anyone else over the terror incident. Sources told the BBC he is originally from Libya and came to the attention of MI5 in 2019. One victim has been named as teacher James Furlong - described by his school as "talented and inspirational". PM Boris Johnson said he was "appalled and sickened" by the attack in Forbury Gardens on Saturday evening. Security sources told the BBC the suspect came to the attention of the security services after they received information he had aspirations to travel to Syria - potentially for terrorism. Live updates: Reading attack declared 'terrorist incident' Tributes paid to teacher killed in Reading stabbing What we know so far 'Reading weeps' as town mourns stab deaths It is understood the information was further investigated, and no genuine threat or immediate risk was identified. No case file was opened which would have made him a target for further investigation. The Holt School in Wokingham paid tribute to Mr Furlong, its head of history and government and politics, in a letter to parents, saying he was a "kind and gentle man" with a "real sense of duty". "He truly inspired everyone he taught through his passion for his subject and his dedication," the secondary school for girls wrote, in a letter signed by co-head teachers Anne Kennedy and Katie Pearce. "He was determined that our students would develop a critical awareness of global issues and in doing so, become active citizens and have a voice." A man places flowers near the entrance to the park where three people were killed Mr Johnson has promised action following the incident "if there are lessons that we need to learn". Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, head of counter-terrorism policing, described it as an "atrocity" and said his "deepest sympathies go to the families who will be mourning loved ones after this horrific act". Mr Basu said investigators are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack. Saturday's horrifying killings may be another example of what security chiefs call "lone actor" attack where a single individual turns extremist beliefs into murderous actions. In November last year, the UK's official threat level from terrorism was reduced from "severe" to "substantial" - meaning it remained likely - but there was no intelligence of an immediate risk to life. Since then, there have already been three major incidents in which two people have died. Two of those attacks were carried out by lone individuals. Today, detectives will be interviewing their suspect - and a huge operation will have swung into operation. Electronic analysts will delve into any social media accounts linked to the suspect; they'll trawl every call and text message going back years, looking for contacts with extremists. Intelligence officers at MI5 will review both their open and closed case files on so-called "subjects of interest". A picture will emerge of the suspect's movements. What led to the attack may be very difficult to identify. A witness told the BBC he saw a man moving between groups of people in the park in Reading town centre, trying to stab them. Three other people were injured in the attack, which took place at about 19:00 BST on Saturday. Two of the injured people have been discharged and one remains in hospital, although the injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that "people are united in their grief" following the attack, and that he wants to speak to the prime minister to discuss how to "learn from this." "This is not a time for party politics," he said. "It's incumbent on all of us to pull together in response to this on a cross party basis." Thames Valley Police said on Sunday morning the attack was now being treated as terrorism and that Counter Terrorism Policing South East would be taking over the investigation. The force's chief constable, John Campbell, told reporters later that a man was arrested within five minutes of the first emergency call made to police - at 18:56 BST on Saturday. He said lives had been "devastated", but added that there was not believed to be a wider risk to the public and there was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved. "I would like to reassure you that at this time we do not believe there to be a wider risk to the public," he said. He added: "I am sure we would all want to recognise the bravery of those police officers responding, but also that a number of members of the public were helping my officer's and the victims at what was a very distressing scene." Eyewitness Lawrence Wort on Reading stabbing attack: 'I saw a massive knife in his hand... at least five inches minimum' The prime minister has held a meeting with security officials, police and senior ministers over the incident. Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: "If there are lessons that we need to learn about how we handle such cases, how we handle the events leading up to such cases then we will learn those lessons and we will not hesitate to take action when necessary." He said that included changes to the law, as they had done over the automatic early release of terrorist offenders. Of the three injured people, one was seen at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where they were discharged without being admitted to hospital. Two were admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. One has been discharged, while another remains in a stable condition under observation. Mr Basu said police were working with the coroner to formally identify those who had died and he praised the actions of Thames Valley Police officers - "unarmed and incredibly brave" - who detained the suspect. He also said the public should not be alarmed about visiting busy places as a result of this attack. "Let me be clear, there is no specific intelligence to suggest anyone attending crowded places is at risk, but I would ask the public: please continue with your daily lives, but be alert, not alarmed, when you are out in public," he said. The UK's terrorism threat level of "substantial" is the third of five ratings at which the threat level can stand.

Game Informations : Developer: Ubisoft Paris Publishers : Ubisoft Platforms : PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows Initial release date: 26 juillet 2019 Taken at face value, Ghost Recon Breakpoint has been assembled from all the pieces it needs to be a success. And that’s its biggest problem. Ubisoft’s entire open-world playbook has been dumped in, alongside many of the games-as-service elements you’d expect to find in a game you’re intended to play for a long time. There are just too many ideas crammed in without a reason to exist and too many annoying bugs and glitches to get a consistent feel for what Breakpoint is aiming to be. It contradicts its good first impression with its reliance on an all-too-familiar shoot-and-loot formula and a collect-a-thon that wears out its welcome before the end. Part of the lack of undeniably fun moments is due to the fact that I feel like I’ve played this game already, several times over. If you’re familiar with Ubisoft’s many open-world series you have an idea of what to expect here: you’ll take color-coded missions running from story-pushing main objectives, non-vital but still involved side quests, faction missions to please the various stakeholders on the island, and a number of collectible missions to find blueprints or upgrade parts. There’s so much of it that the impressively large island-chain setting Auroa looks like someone threw a handful of Skittles at a map and your job is to pick them up one at a time. Having lots of stuff to do isn’t a bad thing under the right circumstances, of course. There’s a ton to accomplish across the gorgeous, varied regions of the archipelago, to the point that you’re never lost for something to occupy your time, even if it’s mostly just busywork. And thanks to a number of overlapping progression systems, you’re constantly rewarded for virtually every action: XP for your character level progress, higher-numbered gear for your Gear Score, faction reputation for your daily/weekly/monthly/seasonal Battle Pass rewards, two different crafting systems (one for gear, one for consumables and gadgets), skill points to climb the branches of your skill tree, and the unlockable collectibles that allow you to buy specific items from the shop or further cosmetically customize your character. It’s endless, for sure, but you’ll never feel like you’re not getting something out of the time you’re spending. You’ll never feel like you’re not getting something out of the time you’re spending. There’s some depth added in that many of those progression systems rely on one another. You’ll need your Gear Score at a certain level to undertake the deadlier content in Breakpoint, but in order to get higher-level drops you’ll need to increase your level by doing quests and earning XP. It’s very much a gameplan outline in the games-as-a-service model, and while it reinforces you’re getting stuff done, it feels at odds with the mission statement of a traditional Ghost Recon game. In the opening moments when you’re stranded alone on an island after your chopper goes down and have to dodge patrols of paramilitary thugs, then hide in the trees from the treacherous Col. Cole Walker (played by The Punisher’s Jon Bernthal) and his elite Wolves, I never would’ve expected to spend the next 40 hours managing a deluge of multi-colored, incremental gear upgrades so I could participate in an as-yet-unreleased raid at some point in the future. That feeling of being trapped behind enemy lines is further diluted when you arrive at the player hub – a clandestine mountain-cave home base for the islands’ natives, the homesteaders, the tech-company refugees and all other players in Breakpoint. It’s a neat idea, since so much of Breakpoint is optimized for cooperative play and largely more fun that way, but it shatters any illusion of the one-man-army survivalist being hunted through the wilds of Auroa that Breakpoint is clearly trying to sell. The tactical stealth elements of Breakpoint are its highpoints, which is a shame, because it's not that. Which is a shame, since the tactical stealth elements of Breakpoint are its highpoints thanks to the mechanics that support it: this is a forgiving stealth system that includes equipping you with thermal and night vision, an enemy-marking drone, and silencers galore, plus allowing you to execute brutal melee kills that border on gross, synced shots to drop enemies in unison, and more. All those pieces are great and help sell the idea of the traditional Ghost Recon tactical stealth game Breakpoint seems to be going for, but they’re ultimately undercut as it falls back on the ubiquitous shoot-and-loot mechanics and cooperative shenanigans of games like The Division 2 as you follow your colored waypoints on a straightforward checklist. The opening hours are also really strong from a gameplay standpoint: the tutorial effectively teaches you the intricacies of the branching skill tree, its straightforward (if not shallow) four-option class system, and the branching, opt-in mission structure. It can be a little overwhelming at first if you’re not familiar with the past few Ghost Recons, since there is an absolute ton of customization, crafting, and upgrade menus to deal with at the same time that the nonlinear mission system lets you effectively choose any type of mission you want from jump street. You can easily spend 20 minutes just figuring out how it all works. And you probably will. In those opening hours, it’s clear to see what Breakpoint does really well: scope and scale, in a number of areas. Geographically, the size of the Auroa map is massive and runs the biome gamut by finding a way to fit swamplands, temperate forests, tropical jungles, lush green valley meadows, seismically jolted cliff faces, and snow-capped mountain ranges into the archipelago. Ubisoft’s lighting technology is once again on point, and the really intriguing near-future architecture that juts out of the earth like some kind of alien-gifted obelisks of smooth, white curves and hard-metal angles is excellently juxtaposed against the earthy wilds and rural homesteads of the native po[CENSORED]tion. But once you’ve endured the first set of cutscenes, tutorials, and mandatory introduction conversations that wash over you, you’re effectively free to jump into a car or helicopter and speed toward the nearest indicator on your map. It’s a very familiar buffet of options that are all made up of the same ingredients: follow the icon to the clue to pick up, person to speak with, button to press, or outpost to wipe off the face of the planet, and then the next, and the next, and so on until you’re told to head back to base camp and talk to the mission-giver for a reward and the next similar mission. After a few cycles of this, there’s a clear indication that for all its beauty and mechanical depth, you’re seeing most of what it offers and what you’ll be doing for the foreseeable future. That feeling of something being off extends to Breakpoint's roughly 30-hour main story as well. Much like Watch Dogs 2, it’s a ripped-from-the-headlines warning on the dangers of surveillance, artificial intelligence, the morality of weaponized drones, and the could-we-but-should-we conundrum of human ingenuity mashed up with a military drama about disillusioned soldiers no longer content with the spiked collars they wear as the dogs of war for shadowy figures holding the leashes. The story is anchored by Bernthal’s ever-intense, eye-twitching, lip-licking, pseudo-psychopathic portrayal of Col. Cole Walker. It’s anchored by Bernthal’s ever-intense, eye-twitching, lip-licking, pseudo-psychopathic portrayal of Walker, who delivers on a series of drama-filled flashbacks and present-day cutscenes but could’ve used a larger chunk of screentime. The rest of the cast includes a few genuine characters – like the billionaire tech genius Jace Skell – and a bunch of forgettable supporting members. And as with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, there’s a definite contrast between the main cast and the supporting characters when it comes to the widely varying levels of animation and lip-syncing quality – that’s become a consistent inconsistency of Ubisoft’s open worlds. Between the bouts of sanctimonious tier-one operators and the residents of Auroa delivering a human element in their side stories, the majority of Breakpoint’s tale is a techobabble-driven series of go-for tasks about satellite uplinks, computer viruses, AI targeting systems, surveillance projects, and the next stage of human evolution. It’s convoluted, and at some point I began to glaze over when the Skell Technology diagnostics engineer (or whoever I was talking to in the stark-white angular offices) asked me to do something for a tech-related reason. Because, almost universally, whatever they asked me to do resulted in the same series of events: make contact with another employee, or download, or upload, or hack something, or destroy a key piece of infrastructure, but only after I’d exercised the strongly suggested option to kill everyone at the destination. Initially, that’s fine, because Breakpoint’s gunplay and combat are engaging and creative enough you don’t need much of a reason to flex your murderous muscles. That familiar fantasy of covertly scouting an outpost, drone-marking all your targets, and then picking them off alone or cooperatively with up to three others is a satisfying time that carried me through a couple of dozen hours before the repetition really started to set in. And the climb through unlocking new gadgets, customizing weapons, and earning skills drip-feeds variety into those encounters... at first. The real emotional payout is saved for the final fourth of the story, when the main cast finally starts coming together in meaningful ways and the consequences of their trajectories begin to collide. But by then, the gameplay loop had begun to grow stale, and that took the legs out from under Breakpoint’s crescendo. The real emotional payout is saved for the final fourth of the story, but by then, the gameplay loop had grown stale. Breakpoint is much more fun with friends, but most things are. Had I not I spent two-thirds of my 40-hour playtime with a buddy, I would’ve likely found burning through the last half much more grueling. That’s largely because friends can revive you when you’re down or can pick you up in a helicopter when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere – which is a huge relief since the annoying respawn system tends to drop you a few full kilometers from where you died or would ever choose to be. Alone, I’m mostly forced to die, respawn, fast travel to a bivouac (wilderness camp) where I can set up a camp and summon a helicopter, then fly back to the mission area to take another crack at it. It’s a few minutes of downtime between the loading screens, cutscenes, and flight time, but it’s usually quicker than hoofing it back from where I spawned. And you and your teammates can sort of fast-travel to one another, but even then it’s anybody’s guess how close to each other you’ll actually end up. You’ll need to restart missions, or you will die, and from time to time that’s due to reasons out of your control. When particularly obnoxious bugs creep up – like when your drone loses the ability to mark targets, or the game crashes during some crucial story moment, or you fall through geometry, or an NPC you’re escorting gets stuck or dies for some reason, or a failed mission can’t be restarted – well, it’s nice to have the company of a friend to laugh through the tears. Breakpoint is loaded with bugs and glitches, many of which the community has already cataloged in various forums, speaking to the ubiquity of just how finicky this Ghost Recon entry can really be. Some of them are funny, like when the pilot of a helicopter is sitting twenty feet in front of the helicopter they’re piloting, but many of them are infuriating. Breakpoint crashed on me while I was shooting Col. Cole Walker in the face – that one was painful. Microtransaction Reaction Just like with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey last year, the launch of Ghost Recon Breakpoint has been met with controversy over Ubisoft’s use of microtransactions – much of it based on incorrect information about what’s for sale and how it affects gameplay. Just like in Assassin’s Creed, there are plenty of them available to buy but absolutely none that I’d recommend – if anything you’d be paying to make your experience worse, and it’s lame that Ubisoft even gives people the opportunity to do that. Though I've poked around it, I've ultimately completely ignored the store and have never once been prompted or tempted to purchase anything. So far, there's literally no need to buy anything in Breakpoint – by default the leveling pace is generous, the weapon blueprints and attachments can be found easily in the world, and even if you spent real money to buy a stupidly strong gun instead of finding it the old-fashioned way it would only be useful to kill AI soldiers faster. You’d achieve effectively the same thing for free by simply playing on easy mode. Does that make it pay-to-win? Only if you’re concerned about other people killing the AI easier than you can. There is a PvP mode, Ghost War, but all the money in the world won’t help you there. Weapons and gear there are normalized, which means every piece of gear used by every player is brought to the same level playing field for competitive gameplay. You’d just be buying a fancy weapon skin. Here’s a primer for buying items you should never buy. First, you need to buy Ghost Coins(!) which can be had in packs of 600 for $5 USD all the way up to 12,000 for $80 USD. In short, you can use real money to purchase nearly every weapon blueprint, attachment, vehicle and weapon upgrade – all of which you can earn in-game – and there are cosmetics you can’t earn without paying real money. Some examples of items available for sale include: A pack of two blueprints (which allow you to purchase a level-appropriate version of the weapon from the in-game shopkeeper, with in-game currency, as often as you can afford) at the cost of 480GC (between $3.20 and $4.00 USD). You can find these for free while playing, of course. A bundle of 11 different scopes (which you can buy individually for 2-3,000 in-game currency each, which you’ll earn in around three hours) for 2,400 GC ($16-$20 USD). The entirely cosmetic Alfa Tactical Gear Bundle (billed as “a full set of quality tactical gear created in partnership with reputed real-world brands”) for 2,800 GC ($18.67-$23.34 USD). A veritable rainbow of weapon skin colors including pink, white, teal, gold, blue, and purple, will cost you 1,200 GC ($8-$10 USD). Again, don’t buy any of it. No need. Unless you want to – then go ahead. It’s worth noting that Ubisoft has at least temporarily pulled the option to buy XP-boosting items from the store after negative feedback, but even those were pretty harmless. All they did was allow you to pay to play the game you paid money for less by shortening the time you’d need to spend to reach the maximum level, which in my experience hasn’t been unreasonable or grindy. So again, you’d be paying to lessen your experience with Breakpoint. Where Do We Go From Here? In the endgame, Breakpoint clearly puts one combat boot into the realm of games-as-a-service. But that’s a strange call because in my experience it doesn’t do any of this stuff as well as Ubi’s other Tom Clancy persistent online shooter, The Division 2. As with all games-as-service, there’s more Breakpoint content on the horizon. The raid that I heard so much about in menus and from NPCs in the player hub that pushed you to reach Gear Score 150 to experience, well, it’s not out yet. But it also peppers in a faction reward system that strangely caps your daily progress, though you can still undertake the refreshing factions quests. Is that enough of a reason to continue to play until the new story chapters and the raid come out down the road? Not in my opinion. Lastly, there’s the totally forgettable take on the Ghost War PvP mode, where two teams of four try to kill each other or plant and defuse bombs on a handful of maps. It’s not bad, per se – especially since it’s normalized so everyone’s gear has the same lethal efficiency – but it’s uninspired and after a few rounds you’ve seen it all. Verdict Ghost Recon Breakpoint seems to be trying to please everyone. Its slow-burn of a single-player story coexists with an open-world bombastic romp with friends, which leads into a play-everyday grind for PvP-rewards, faction and raid gear with seasonal content, and a realistically gritty wargame of survival. But almost every ingredient clashes with another, making them all feel a little more padded, underwhelming, or contradicting than they need to be. But fun can be salvaged if you focus on one or two of those and just limit your expectations. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint Recommended Requirements CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600/Intel Core I7 6700K CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 8 GB OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only) VIDEO CARD: AMD Radeon RX 480/Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 (6 GB) PIXEL SHADER: 5.1 VERTEX SHADER: 5.1 DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 6 GB

Drive: Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport takes on Silverstone For serious racing and track-day fun, this amped-up 718 Cayman delivers - in spades. We drive it on Britain's most famous circuit To me at least, the GT4 category is where tin-top sports racing cars are at. Ten years ago it would have been GT3 but, not only are GT4s as quick today as were GT3s back then, you can also drop a million quid into GT3 racing with frightening ease and still find your best efforts come to nought when some snake-hipped, gimlet-eyed, no-prisoners professional pedaller barely out of short trousers decides that rather than lose a couple of tenths going around you, he’ll just stick you in the barrier instead. A modern GT3 car is a formidable weapon capable of lapping Spa at the same sort of pace as Group C prototypes from the early 1980s. GT4s are still bloody rapid – I raced a McLaren 570S GT4 at Spa last year and found myself turning in to Eau Rouge at 144mph – but they cost a tiny fraction of GT3 money to buy and, crucially, to run. They’re also nicer cars to drive because they’re not so heavily dependent on their aero and the way the car must be driven to exploit it, and while the best drivers will always go fastest, it is easier to home in on the full potential of a GT4 car than a GT3, which gives us amateurs some kind of chance. Take this Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. It will lap Silverstone at a rate that will make any road car look inept, yet if you have even a modicum of talent and experience, you’ll feel perfectly happy to push on as soon as its Michelin slicks are warm. Do not let that ‘Clubsport’ moniker fool you into thinking that this is just a mildly tweaked road car like, for instance, the famous old Porsche 968 Clubsport. This is a highly evolved racing car, dramatically different in all important regards from a street GT4 Cayman. It has, for instance, the older 3.8-litre flat six under its engine cover, yet it produces fractionally more power: 420bhp versus 414bhp. Unlike the road car, it has a PDK gearbox, but with its top gear removed, to leave just six. It has GT3 Cup car front suspension, race springs, fully adjustable geometry, dampers with adjustable rebound and bump, a three-position anti-roll bar, a purpose-built race brake set-up with adjustable bias and, of course, those pure race slick and wet weather tyres. The entire interior has been ripped out, leaving just the basic shape of the dashboard, some switches and the column stalks to remind you which make of car you’re in. A brilliantly clear Cosworth data-logging system replaces the conventional dials. So the car should be a lot lighter than a standard Cayman GT4. But it’s not. Because once you’ve factored back in the air jack system it carries, the welded-in roll-cage, communications systems, fire extinguishing kit, removable roof section (mandated by rule makers) and standard 90-litre race tank, the car weighs 1320kg, which is about the dry weight of a GT4 road car. In a racing context, it is as easy to drive as the street Cayman GT4 is in a road context. You might find the unfamiliarity of the cockpit, the sight of those slicks and the knowledge you’re in a racing car a trifle intimidating, but you need to remember these are cars designed to be driven by people without much racing experience and come with all the electronic aids found in the road car. For similar money, you can buy a Porsche 911 Cup car, which is a very different proposition indeed: with no ABS, no traction or stability control, a sprint-spec tyre that needs constant management and demanding limit handling, it requires an altogether different, more senior approach. But in the Cayman, the only real challenge is adjusting your horizons, because while its basic characteristics are quite like those of the road car, they appear at a level that has nothing whatever to do with street machinery. It’s an easy car in which to get comfortable. There’s plenty of leg and head room, the steering column adjusts in the normal way and the car fires up and sounds as you’d expect. You trundle out onto the circuit, where you’re provided with your first big test. If the tyres are cold, they don’t work at all, so you need to drive hard enough to heat them up without binning it in the process. Here, the electronic systems help, as does left-foot braking on the straight with your right foot still hard on the accelerator, using disc heat to warm the rubber. Then you can let it go. At once, the car’s straight-line performance becomes its least interesting aspect. First, you must get used to how the car brakes: the GT4 Clubsport doesn’t have huge downforce by race car standards so you don’t need to worry too much about adjusting brake pressure as the downforce seeps away but you still fly past the point you’d expect to brake, count to three and then hit the pedal, perhaps twice as hard as you’d consider in any road car. The ABS doesn’t so much as cheep. The next thing to learn are the cornering speeds, which at first seem unfeasible but end up being merely breathtaking. But you won’t go fast in the car until you’ve blended these two disciplines and learned how to brake and corner at the same time. Any idiot can learn when to get back on the gas. The key to a lap time is all about the entry-to-apex phase, easing in almost fully on the brakes, then releasing pressure to allow cornering forces to build, always keeping the tyres as close to the limit of their longitudinal and lateral capabilities as possible. And on a quick circuit like Silverstone, once you’ve established a rhythm and the car starts to fly, you never want to get out. Faults? I was losing time collecting off-throttle oversteer but only on one corner of the circuit; the car feels like it could cope with another 100bhp with its eyes shut (but the race regs would never allow it); and £131,100 without VAT is a lot of money when you consider the road car costs a little over £75,000, VAT included. It is effectively twice the price. Then again, if you want to go GT4 racing, it’s a mightily tempting proposition. The Porsche name will make it far easier to attract sponsorship than some other brands and the car should be mechanically near enough bombproof, so if you don’t stick it in the wall, it should be relatively affordable to run. Most important, it’s a very simple car in which to get up to competitive pace, unlike, say, the 570S GT4, which took a lot of learning. And if you really want to see how good you are, Porsche has a UK-based one-model series just for Cayman GT4s called the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB, where there is no hiding. Or you could just have one as a track-day car and get your kicks from using a humble Porsche 718 Cayman to blow bona fide hypercars into the weeds. Viewed like that, it almost looks cheap. A natural way to reduce carbon One of the first things manufacturers tend to do when turning their road cars into racers is to replace various body parts that were cast in steel or aluminium with carbonfibre. But not the Cayman GT4. Instead, Porsche took a more sustainable approach to weight reduction by making the doors and rear wing from a blend of natural fibre composites based mainly on flax. No, it’s not quite as light as carbonfibre but there’s not much in it and it’s an interesting, modern and innovative approach to an age-old problem. Sadly, it won’t be seen in the environment where such materials are more usually found, because the project to create a Cayman GT4 Clubsport rally car announced last year has sadly been canned.

Pro-democracy activists fear Beijing's law will undermine Hong Kong's freedoms China's new security law for Hong Kong envisages setting up an office in the territory to gather intelligence and handle crimes against national security, state media say. The new security law will also override any local laws that conflict with it, Xinhua news agency reported. The planned law has sparked protests and drawn international condemnation. Critics say it will destroy the freedoms Hong Kong enjoys but which are not available in mainland China. On Friday the European Parliament voted to take China to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if the law was imposed. But China says the law is needed to tackle separatist activity, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign elements and rejects criticism a interference in its affairs. The city of two masks faces a new crisis China's new law: Why is Hong Kong worried? Hong Kong was handed back to China from British control in 1997 under an agreement centring on a "one country, two systems" principle that guaranteed certain freedoms for Hong Kong and that do not apply in the mainland. What is in the new law? Details were published after a three-day meeting of the main decision-making body in China's parliament, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. A new national security office in Hong Kong would deal with national security cases, but would also have other powers such as overseeing education about national security in Hong Kong schools. Xinhua also said that Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam would be able to appoint specific judges to hear national security cases. Ms Lam has backed the proposed law and has denied that Hong Kong's freedoms under the "one country, two systems" will be affected. The Hong Kong government will be required to carry out most enforcement under the new law, but Beijing will be able to overrule the Hong Kong authorities in some cases. "If the local laws... are inconsistent with this Law, the provisions of this Law shall apply. The power to interpret this law belongs to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress," Xinhua said. Law will not be implemented without a fight Beijing's new law says unequivocally that it will override any divergent legislation in Hong Kong, effectively wiping out the Chinese territory's own body of laws and regulations. The text is vague in some areas, giving the Chinese government wide latitude to act in the interests of national security, terrorism and separatism and fuelling fears that Hong Kong's political and civil freedoms will be ignored. But the legislation will not be implemented without a fight: Many in Hong Kong are fiercely opposed to it. What reaction has there been to the planned law? The US says the law means Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to merit special treatment under US law. This potentially paves the way for Hong Kong to be stripped of trading privileges, such as lower tariffs, meaning that the US would treat it the same as any other mainland Chinese city for trading purposes. Meanwhile the UK says it will change its immigration rules and offer millions of people in Hong Kong "a route to citizenship" if China imposes the new law. What if the US removes Hong Kong's special status? Why is China imposing the law? The 1997 handover agreement between the UK and China - a mini-constitution called the Basic Law and a so-called "one country, two systems" principle - envisages Hong Kong rights that include freedom of assembly and speech, an independent judiciary and some democratic rights which no other part of mainland China has. Under the same agreement, Hong Kong is expected to enact its own national security law - this was set out in Article 23 of the Basic Law. But its unpo[CENSORED]rity means it has never been done - the government tried in 2003 but had to back down after protests. Then, last year, protests over an extradition law turned violent and evolved into a broader anti-China and pro-democracy movement. China doesn't want to see that happen again.

Game Informations : Developer: NetherRealm Studios, Shiver Entertainment Publishers : Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Platforms : Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Initial release date: 13 août 2019 Going in, Nightwolf was honestly the character I was looking forward to the least out of the announced Kombat Pack 1 characters. The second DLC addition to Mortal Kombat 11’s roster doesn’t have Shang Tsung’s flashy ability to morph into other characters, the super-iconic moveset of Sindel, nor the sheer amount of fan excitement of the upcoming Spawn. However, his extremely strong fundamentals-focused moveset, versatile playstyle, and hands down the single best outro animation in the entire game has not only made Nightwolf my favorite of the two currently released DLC characters, but he might actually be my new main. Netherrealm did a great job of making Nightwolf’s moveset feel unique and fun, despite the fact that many of his signature moves are actually kind of plain. His shoulder charge can be enhanced – even if it’s blocked – to execute a followup overhead ax strike, which can also Krushing Blow if it hits on its own; his reflect can double as a teleport in certain variations, giving him a great counter-zoning option; his bow can be held and cancelled for mind games; and his rising tomahawk can be enhanced twice in one combo for easy big damage and tons of corner carry, at the great cost of both bars of meter. Beyond his returning iconic special moves, Netherrealm also outfitted him with several animal spirit-related buffs that increase his damage, reduce his damage taken, and prevent the opponent from enhancing their special moves, which is great. Not many characters have that ability to buff themselves during a match, and it’s just one of those great marriages of something that makes sense within the lore of a character with something that makes an interesting fighting mechanic. Nightwolf’s pair of competitive variations also offer a good slice of two different playstyles. My personal favorite is Matoka Warrior, which is Nightwolf’s more combo-heavy variation, focusing on the aforementioned Rising Tomahawk and bolstering it with the damage buff of Spirit of Kiba. His other variation, Ancestral Call, equips Nightwolf with a command grab that can be enhanced for extra damage and free wake-up pressure, along with a new damaging combo off a low, and a new combo that can Krushing Blow. On the visual and audio side, Nightwolf looks and sounds just as good as he plays. Speaking of those Krushing Blows, Nightwolf’s are particularly nasty, both in their visual brutality and in terms of how effective they are. He’s got Krushing Blows on both of his throws if the opponent fails a throw tech – and because his throws leave you right next to him and his wake up pressure is so intense, expect to get thrown quite a bit. On the visual and audio side, Nightwolf looks and sounds just as good as he plays. He’s got the best-looking revenant skins in MK11, his voice acting is top notch, and the sounds his tomahawk makes as it slams into the ground, or into… other places… are incredibly satisfying. It was also a nice touch to deepen Nightwolf’s Native American lore: We learn that his real name is Grey Cloud, he’s a warrior of the fictional Matoka tribe, and that “Nightwolf” is actually a mantle passed down to those worthy, granting them supernatural powers. Beyond that, his gear and skins all feel respectfully done and avoid the pitfall of stereotypes. Verdict I didn’t have high expectations for Nightwolf coming into Mortal Kombat 11’s second DLC, but Netherrealm really knocked it out of the park. It’s hard to say where Nightwolf will end up on the pro level, but to me, he seems very strong and very fair. He’s got good normals, reliable and dangerous Krushing Blows, a solid projectile, a way of dealing with other solid projectiles, and pretty good damage. Good luck Sindel, Spawn, and whoever’s next – the bar has been raised. RECOMMANDED : Système d'exploitation : 64-bit Windows 7 / Windows 10 Processeur : Intel Core i5-2300, 2.8 GHz / AMD FX-6300, 3.5GHz or AMD Ryzen™ 5 1400, 3.2 GHz Mémoire vive : 8 GB de mémoire Graphiques : NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780 or NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 1060-6GB / AMD® Radeon™ R9 290 or RX 570 DirectX : Version 11 Réseau : Connexion internet haut débit

UK embraces Apple and Google as it rethinks coronavirus contact-tracing app After months of planning to track the coronavirus outbreak without the help of Silicon Valley, the UK is doing a U-turn. The UK government dropped its plans to deploy a solely homegrown contact-tracing app to track the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Instead, it will opt to use a system developed by Apple and Google, which is considered to be more privacy-conscious. The government is set to combine some of the technology from its own app with Apple and Google's framework, it said Thursday. The government's own app won't work well on iPhones due to restrictions put in place by Apple, but Apple and Google's solution doesn't measure distance as well, said Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a press conference. "Our app won't work because Apple won't change their system," he said. He added that the government will share its algorithms and the work it has done on distance measuring with Apple and Google as they work together. "As we enter this next phase of research and development we remain determined to continue in our ambition to develop an app which meets the technical, security and user needs of the public and which can complement the NHS Test and Trace service," said Hancock in a statement. Contact-tracing apps are being developed by countries across the world to inform people when they might have come into contact with someone who has coronavirus. They rely on a phone's wireless communication tech -- usually Bluetooth -- to keep a record of who someone has been in close proximity with, using unique identification numbers for privacy. If that person later develops suspected or confirmed symptoms, they can then choose to alert all the contacts their phone has stored. The efficacy of Bluetooth-enabled apps as a contact-tracing method hasn't yet been proven, and there's a dearth of evidence to suggest they will be. The UK began development of its contact-tracing app in early March, just as the outbreak was beginning to take hold in the country. At the time, the plan was for the app to play a role as soon as lockdown restrictions began to be lifted across the country. The government opted for a centralized model, which would mean data collected via the app would be uploaded to a central database so that it could also be used by scientists, researchers and public health officials. In mid-April, Apple and Google teamed up to release a tool that would allow different countries to build fully decentralized apps that would work across iOS and Android and wouldn't pose the same risk to users' privacy by avoiding having to upload health data to a central database. Countries including Germany, which has now released its contact-tracing app, ditched plans to use their own proprietary solutions in favor of Apple and Google. The UK, on the other hand, said that using Apple and Google's technology would "slow down" its efforts to deploy its contact-tracing app and insisted it wouldn't be as effective in tackling the virus. It began testing its own app on the Isle of Wight in early May with the hope of releasing it to the rest of the country a few weeks later. On Wednesday, it said that the app wouldn't be ready before winter and that it was no longer a priority. The decision to continue so far down the line with its own app before ditching it after all will likely add to criticism of the UK government's response to the coronavirus outbreak. The country has suffered one of the highest death rates in the world from COVID-19. But the decision to adopt Apple and Google's model is being praised by privacy advocates. Digital privacy expert Ray Walsh from digital rights organization Pro Privacy called it a "huge win for digital privacy." "A decentralized app will allow consumers across the UK to download the app without fears that their data could be exploited for secondary purposes," he said. "It is a shame that it took so long for the NHS and the government to come to the same realization privacy experts had months ago -- that in order for an app to be effective it is going to need to be accepted by the general public." Google didn't respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment on the development.

This Raspberry Pi HamClock is Perfect for Amateur Radio Enthusiasts All your ham clock needs in one display. If you're into amateur ham radio, you might appreciate this Raspberry Pi Ham clock project created and shared earlier this week by Reddit user The2belo. It uses a Raspberry Pi to display local and UTC time information. The2belo mounted the Raspberry Pi inside of the monitor, making the unit entirely self-contained. The project runs on top of an older edition Raspberry Pi OS, specifically Raspbian Stretch. The application responsible for the display is called HamClock. The2belo programmed the Pi to start HamClock on boot, so it's always ready with the information you need. The Pi is connected to the screen via HDMI. It receives input from an RTLSDR dongle with a 137 MHz helical antenna. The setup also features a Bluetooth mouse that can be used to make real-time adjustments to the on-screen interface. If you'd like to see more or even recreate this project yourself, you can follow The2belo on Reddit. The full thread breaks down the project and even has a few useful links for anyone interested in making their own Pi-powered HamClock display.