EVIL BABY.

Draw T/C

Android tablets saw a resurgence in India during the pandemic. As most people were working or studying from home, the demand for large-screen smart devices increased significantly. While things have started to go back to the old normal in 2022, companies continue to offer value-for-money Android tablets in India. The Realme Pad X is one such Android tablet, which launched in July for a starting price of under Rs. 20,000. The Realme Pad X is currently the company's most premium Android tablet offering in India. The unique proposition of the Realme Pad X is that it's built for the creative crowd. From its large display, to the beefy battery and quad-speaker setup, to the support for a stylus that charges magnetically — Realme wants this to be in every creator's travel bag. The tablet also packs a 5G SoC. With the kind of hardware it offers for the price, should you consider buying the Realme Pad X? Here is our full review to help you decide.Realme Pad X price in India The Realme Pad X is available in two models. The base Wi-Fi-only model has a single variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage and is priced at Rs. 19,999. Their 5G model with the same configuration costs Rs. 25,999, and the top-end variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 27,999.Realme Pad X design The Realme Pad X seems to have taken some inspiration from the iPad Air 2022 (Review) when it comes to design. The Android tablet sports a flat frame with a plastic body. It is fairly on the heavier side at 506g of weight but the tablet is quite sleek at just 7.1mm in thickness.Although the rear shell is made of plastic, it does not look like it. I mistook it for glass while unboxing the Realme Pad X but once I held it, it was quickly evident that it wasn't. That being said, the tablet does not feel cheap. Realme seems to have used some good quality plastics for the tablet and the glittery finish on the back panel makes it look quite premium. The company calls it the 'Glowing Light Design'. We have the Glowing Grey colour, which has a frosted black finish. There is also a Glacier Blue colour, which should do a slightly better job of hiding fingerprints and smudges. On the front, the Realme Pad X has a huge 10.95-inch IPS LCD with a WUXGA+ resolution (1200x2000 pixels). While the screen is of the LCD variety, it offers quite a good viewing experience. There is barely any visible colour shift when viewed off-angles, and with 450 nits of peak brightness the display is easily legible under most lighting conditions. When outdoors though, I preferred keeping the display brightness at max for a better viewing experience. The symmetrical bezels around the display are fairly thin for an Android tablet at this price. I also liked how the company has placed the front camera on the right bezel (landscape mode), something which is now also seen in the iPad 10th generation (Review). This helps keep the user in the centre of the frame when using the tablet horizontally on video calls.There is support for Widevine L1 on the Realme Pad X, so apps such as Netflix can play back full-HD content. For its price, I would not expect an AMOLED display so the typical shortcomings of an LCD panel such as the lack of deep black levels or rich contrast is forgivable. The Realme Pad X does not support HDR10 and that's most likely due to the SoC's limitation. There is no high refresh rate support either as the Realme Pad X's display runs at a standard 60Hz. In comparison, the much more affordable Redmi Pad (Review) offers a 90Hz refresh rate display. When held vertically, the Realme Pad X's top edge houses two of the four speaker grilles and the power button. The bottom edge houses the other two speaker grilles and the USB Type-C port. On the right edge, there are the volume buttons, whereas on the left, you get the SIM tray, which also has space for a microSD card. The Realme Pad X supports the Realme Pencil stylus, which can be attached on the right side of the tablet (when held vertically). There is also a keyboard cover, which comes with an in-built kickstand. There are no magnetic pins on the tablet to supply power to the keyboard, which means it needs to be charged separately via its own USB Type-C port. The keyboard does not have a trackpad. Both accessories are sold separately. Link: https://www.gadgets360.com/tablets/reviews/realme-pad-x-review-android-tablet-price-specifications-3561912#pfrom=indepth

Google has followed Apple in announcing its apps and games of the year – and if you're looking for something new to install on your Android phone then these Play Store picks are well worth checking out. These picks were made(opens in new tab) by the Google Play editorial team, and there are some honorable mentions as well as the winners in each category. Google has also highlighted the best books and audiobooks. From what we can tell, there are some country-specific choices as well: find your local selection here(opens in new tab). Most of us probably spend our days cycling around the same core set of apps on our phones, so these lists are a good opportunity to check out something new that perhaps we haven't come across before.The best Android apps of 2022 Best app overall: Dream(opens in new tab) (freemium) – artificial intelligence just keeps getting better and better, so it seems fitting that AI art generator Dream has the top spot. All you need to do is enter a few prompts, and the app will produce some fantastic-looking digital artwork. Best app for fun: PetStar(opens in new tab) (freemium) – if we tell you that PetStar gives you the tools you need to create a music video starring your pet's face, then we probably don't need to say anything else. We're not sure quite what your pet will make of the end results, however. Best app for personal growth: Breathwrk(opens in new tab) (freemium) – ready for a self-improvement drive over the next year? Breathwrk wants to help you reduce stress and release energy from your body through hundreds of carefully curated breathing exercises led by the app.Best app for everyday essentials: Plant Parent(opens in new tab) (freemium) – as the name suggests, this app helps you parent your plants, giving you customized tips on what your plants need to stay healthy. It can identify just about any plant through your smartphone camera as well. Best hidden gem app: Recover Athletics(opens in new tab) (freemium) – we're not sure exactly what qualifies as a "hidden gem", but Google has picked Recover Athletics, which works with Strava to ensure that your body recovers properly after exercise to avoid injury and fatigue. Best app for good: The Stigma App(opens in new tab) (free) – The Stigma App is on an important mission to normalize conversations around mental health. You can use the straightforward app to hear stories from other people, to reach out for help, and to support others as well. Best app for Wear: Todoist(opens in new tab) (freemium) – if you're looking for something to improve the experience on your Wear OS smartwatch then Todoist is well worth a look. The comprehensive to do list app gives you everything you need to plan and organize your life.Best app for tablets: Pocket(opens in new tab) (freemium) – there's never enough time to read everything online, and Pocket helps by providing an article archive to catch up on when you can. A distraction-free layout and the option to have articles read aloud add to the app's appeal. Best app for Chromebooks: BandLab(opens in new tab) (freemium) – Chromebooks can run Android apps now of course, and this is one of the apps that's most suited to the laptop format. BandLab makes creating and mixing music easy, whether you're a veteran or a complete beginner. Best app chosen by users: BeReal(opens in new tab) (free) – we're not sure exactly which users voted for this category, but the winner is BeReal, the social app that challenges you to post a picture of whatever you're doing at a particular time of day, whenever the app prompts you to. That's not all either: Google has also found time to give honorable mentions to DanceFitme(opens in new tab), noteit widget(opens in new tab), Learn to Read – Duolingo ABC(opens in new tab), Gym Log & Workouts(opens in new tab), Ukulele by Yousician(opens in new tab), Book Morning Routine Waking Up(opens in new tab), Daily Diary(opens in new tab), Sleep Tracker(opens in new tab), Linktree(opens in new tab), Little Lunches(opens in new tab), Wamble(opens in new tab), Sleep Fruits(opens in new tab) and Zario(opens in new tab). The best Android games of 2022 Best game overall: Apex Legends Mobile(opens in new tab) (freemium) – this strategy battle royale shooter remains phenomenally po[CENSORED]r and got the user's choice award too. You've got a choice of gameplay modes to pick from, and the speed and the fun of the combat is hard to beat. Best multiplayer game: Dislyte(opens in new tab) (freemium) – a urban mythological role-playing game that stands out from the crowd due to its style, the quality of its visuals, and the story running through it. The game also does well at staying challenging as you get better at it. Best Pick Up and Play game: Angry Birds Journey(opens in new tab) (freemium) – the Angry Birds will need no introduction for those who know their mobile gaming history, and this is the latest in the series. It's as fun as ever, as you throw birds to demolish structure after structure.Best indie game: Dicey Dungeons(opens in new tab) ($4.99/£4.19) – sometimes the best games don't have to be incredibly complex, and Dicey Dungeons takes a simple format and uses it well. You're a giant dice in this deckbuilding roguelike, and have to escape the whims of chance. Best story game: Papers, Please(opens in new tab) ($4.99/£4.09) – one of the most immersive and engaging games on the Play Store at the moment, Papers, Please is described as a "dystopian document thriller", asking you to be smart in identifying smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Best ongoing game: Genshin Impact(opens in new tab) (freemium) – assuming this is your type of game (an open world action role-playing game), you're guaranteed to get a whole lot of enjoyment out of Genshin Impact, which features beautiful landscapes and memorable characters.Best game on Play Pass: Very Little Nightmares(opens in new tab) ($4.99/£4.99 a month) – if you're paying a monthly fee for the Google Play Pass, you get games like Very Little Nightmares included, a brilliantly creepy and compelling puzzle game that will give you hours of entertainment. Best game for tablets: Tower of Fantasy(opens in new tab) (freemium) – Tower of Fantasy is one of the better Play Store games when it comes to taking advantage of the bigger screens offered by tablets, and the open world fantasy adventure title scores highly in most areas. Best game for Chromebooks: Roblox(opens in new tab) (freemium) – Roblox has been something of a gaming sensation over recent years, and Google has picked it as one of the best Android games for running on a Chromebook, giving you access to a keyboard and trackpad. Hang on a minute, because there are plenty of honorable mentions here too: you might also want to check out Catalyst Black(opens in new tab), Diablo Immortal(opens in new tab), Rocket League Sideswipe(opens in new tab), Gun & Dungeons(opens in new tab), HOOK 2(opens in new tab), Hyde and Seek(opens in new tab), quadline(opens in new tab), Dungeons of Dreadrock(opens in new tab), Knotwords(opens in new tab), One Hand Clapping(opens in new tab), Phobies(opens in new tab), DEEMO II(opens in new tab), Inua - A Story in Ice and Time(opens in new tab), The Secret of Cat Island(opens in new tab), Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion(opens in new tab), Candy Crush Saga(opens in new tab), Garena Free Fire(opens in new tab), Pokémon GO(opens in new tab), Bridge Constructor(opens in new tab), Final Fantasy VII(opens in new tab), Linelight(opens in new tab), and Path of Giants(opens in new tab). Link: https://www.techradar.com/news/google-picks-the-best-android-apps-and-games-of-2022-download-them-now

The Core i5-13500 poses to be one of the best CPUs, according to early benchmarks. A BiliBili content creator recently posted a video showcasing an engineering sample(opens in new tab) of Intel's upcoming mid-range Core i5-13500 Raptor Lake processor and what it can do in Cinebench R23 and CPU-Z. The performance characteristics of the new CPU are impressive, with the chip boasting a whopping 56% multi-threaded performance advantage over its Core i5-12400 Alder Lake predecessor, thanks to the inclusion of eight additional efficiency cores on the Raptor Lake chip. According to the Bilibili video, the Core i5-13500 engineering sample features a single-core turbo frequency of 4.8 GHz or 4.9 GHz - depending on the monitoring software shown, and an all-core frequency of 4.4 GHz. The efficiency cores peak at 3.4 GHz, with all cores going down to 3.3 GHz. The most significant upgrade on the Core i5-13500 could be its core count, which reportedly features the same 6 P-core and 8 E-core combinations as the higher-up Core i5-13600K. It is a massive upgrade from Intel's Alder Lake predecessor, the Core i5-12500, which lacked efficiency cores. However, compared to the Core i5-12600K, the Core i5-13500 still has a core count advantage with two more E-cores.We see this massive boost in core count clearly in Cinebench R23, where the chip in the Bilibili video hits a multi-threaded score of 19,891 points. It represents a whopping 56% performance improvement for the Core i5-13500 compared to the Core i5-12500, which scores 12,678 points in the same benchmark, according to Tech Notice(opens in new tab). In CPU-Z's benchmark, the results are even more impressive, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a score of 8,222 points in the multi-threaded benchmark, and is 61% faster than the official Core i5-12500 multi-threaded CPU-Z score of 5,108 points. The single-threaded results aren't very imposing, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a 9% lead over the Core i5-12500 in Cinebench R23, with a score of 1,901 vs. Tech Notice's score of 1,736 for the Core i5-12500. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a CPU-Z single-threaded result since the video's image quality was too blurry to make out any detail. Nonetheless, a 9% lead is not bad for an engineering sample since these chips are usually lower clocked than the production models. As a result, we might see noticeably higher single-threaded performance and clock speeds, on the full production models, compared to what we are seeing today. But, the most impressive results from the Core i5-13500 undoubtedly come from the multi-core results. Intel's decision to add a full eight E-cores to its budget-end Core i5-13500 is providing Intel's mid-range offering a serious performance jump over its Alder Lake predecessor. However, whether the Core i5-13500 offers a tremendous leap in gaming performance remains to be seen. Link: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/core-i5-13500-es-cpu-beats-core-i5-12500-by-over-50-percent

Massively multiplayer fashion-brawler Lost Ark began a Witcher crossover on its Korean servers in November, but only now has Amazon Games confirmed(opens in new tab) when Geralt and pals will be arriving on western servers: January, 2023. Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, and Dandelion will all be coming to Lost Ark, with "voiceover work from the game's original actors" according to a press release from Amazon Games. It also explains their arrival will be part of an event that's only available for a limited time, which will also add an island called White Wolf's Haven. The island is apparently "a setting for merriment and festivals until a mysterious vortex suddenly appears, pausing the celebrations. As players investigate the source of the unexplained phenomenon, they encounter a visitor from a different time and place – Geralt of Rivia, the famed Witcher. This starts a chain of events in which the player will face the mystery of this interdimensional vortex, meeting even more visitors from another dimension along the way. In this collision between worlds, players of Lost Ark will team up with characters from The Witcher to solve a puzzle that spans time and space."As well as the quests that players will get to take part in alongside PC Gamer's favorite gravelly videogame father figure, the event will of course add some additional fashion options to Lost Ark. "New Witcher themed cosmetics will be available in the store, and new character customization scars, Cards, Stronghold structures, Emojis (and more) await adventurers who participate in the event", Amazon says. While the versions of the characters who will appear as NPCs in Lost Ark look pretty much like they do in The Witcher 3, the wearable Geralt and Ciri skins for PCs to buy are a little disconcerting. As you can see in one of the Korean trailers(opens in new tab), while there are slight differences between the versions for each class, all the Geralts look quite young, clean-shaven, and handsome in an anime prettyboy kind of way. Meanwhile, the Ciri skins for nonhuman classes have pointed elvish ears for the mage or are tiny and childlike for the artist (a class currently only available in the Korean version who uses a magic paintbrush to work ink-based magic, and is basically a hobbit). I will probably end up buying some of the weapon skins and the Kaer Morhen background art(opens in new tab) for the character screen, but I don't expect too much from the story in a promotional event. Meanwhile, Lost Ark's also getting the summoner class and endgame Brelshaza legion raid(opens in new tab) as part of a December update along with the Caliligos guardian raid, T3 hardmode cube and boss rush, a new accessory type for bracelets, and new chaos dungeons. The Witcher has previously crossed over with over videogames, including Monster Hunter World, Soulcalibur 6, and mobile game AFK Arena. Geralt's also been spotted in a leaked trailer for Fortnite Chapter 4(opens in new tab). He sure does get around. Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/geralt-and-other-witcher-characters-will-arrive-in-lost-ark-next-year/

Lenovo K14 and the Lenovo K14 Note will reportedly be launched as the two new smartphones in the company's budget-friendly K series. Both the speculated Lenovo K-series handsets were recently spotted on the Google Play console. The listing has revealed some of the key specifications of the smartphones as well as a few front-facing images. However, Lenovo is yet to make an official announcement about the launch of these phones. It is also being speculated that similar to other K-series smartphones, the Lenovo K14 and the Lenovo K14 Note will also be the rebadged Motorola phones. According to a GSMArena report, citing MyFixGuide, the Lenovo K14 series smartphones recently made an appearance on GPC, revealing some major specifications including the display as well as their SoC. Lenovo K14 Note is tipped to arrive with a Full HD+ (2400x1080 pixels) screen, whereas Lenovo K14 is said to feature a HD+ (1200x720 pixels) screen. Moreover, the Lenovo K14 Note is speculated to feature a punch-hole selfie camera in the centre with thick edges around the screen, along with 4GB of RAM. The handset could be powered by an MT6769 chipset, which is expected to be MediaTek Helio G70 chipset. The device, as the listing suggests, will run on Android 11. The report suggests this upcoming handset could have similarities to the Moto G31 or Moto G41.On the other hand, the Lenovo K14 will have a V-shaped notch with thick edges around the screen. The device will offer 2GB of RAM and will be equipped with an octa-core Unisoc T606 SoC. The said features indicate that Lenovo K14 could be a rebadged version of Moto E20, which was launched in September 2021.Earlier this year in February, the company launched Lenovo K14 Plus as a rebranded version of Moto E40. Lenovo K14 Plus features a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It supports an octa-core Unisoc T700 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM. Link: https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/lenovo-k14-note-series-spotted-google-play-console-specifications-imminent-launch-3573292

Windows 11 has been plagued by a bug in its 22H2 update that affects some users, causing stuttering in games, and leading Microsoft to block the upgrade for those people – but the good news is that a fix has now been implemented by the software giant. The solution to this annoying glitch is contained within the code of patch KB5020044(opens in new tab), a recently deployed cumulative update – but note that this is still a preview update. In other words, the patch is still in testing, but you can grab it the normal way, by checking under Windows Update. You may recall that Microsoft took action against this bug recently, when the software giant pinned down the games and apps which were problematic and suffered from stuttering, and therefore lifted the block on the 22H2 update for many folks, leaving only those who run an affected game (or games) unable to upgrade.With this full fix, once it’s applied, anyone can upgrade regardless of what games they have installed on their Windows 11 PC. (Incidentally, Microsoft didn’t share the details of which PC games or applications were provoking the slowdown issue, which was related to GPU debugging features being switched on by mistake, with that debugging work eating resources). Analysis: Grab it now – or maybe wait just a bit longer? It’s good to see a solution to this bug come through relatively quickly, as naturally it was frustrating for those who were blocked from upgrading to 22H2 due to the flaw. That said, remember that as KB5020044 is a preview update, installing it could have unforeseen consequences with it still being in the testing phase. But that said, if you’re keen to finally upgrade to 22H2 after being blocked by a safeguard hold for some time, odds are you might want to give it a whirl. More cautious types, though, should wait for the full release of this update. The finished version of this patch will be out mid-December, only a couple of weeks away now, and if there are imperfections in the preview update, any wrinkles should be ironed out by that time. (Or we certainly hope so, though from previous experience, we can’t take anything for granted when it comes to Windows patching). So, the choice is yours, but even if you don’t fancy chancing the fix right now, you can simply bide your time for a little longer in the knowledge that the full release version of the cure is literally just around the corner. This cumulative update is actually a pretty hefty one, coming with some other major bug fixes besides the resolution of these gaming problems. That includes several important fixes for issues with File Explorer – the beating heart of the Windows interface, which lets you browse through folders and the files therein – including a glitch which caused File Explorer to completely crash and burn (a pretty disastrous situation, ushering in a full reboot). If you’re in need of help troubleshooting any issue, by the way, check out our full guide to solving common problems with Windows 11. link: https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-11-gets-a-much-awaited-fix-for-gaming-bug

AMD is expected to formally reveal its Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000-series processors equipped with 3D V-Cache at CES 2023, although it is not yet officially confirmed. However, a South Korean media report says the company is preparing to introduce three new Ryzen 7000 X3D processors with 96 MB or 192 MB L3 cache in January. The three Ryzen 7000 X3D models will allegedly feature 16, 12, and eight cores, according to Quasarzone, a po[CENSORED]r South Korean publication (the report was kindly translated for the world by @harukaze5719). The processors are expected to be unveiled in January, so AMD will likely announce them at CES to attract maximum attention to the new parts and their capabilities. The report by Quasarzone is somewhat corroborated by a tweet from @All_The_Watts!, which indicates that there are three CPUs incoming and even mentions some of their specifications. It also clarifies that the parts will have clocks similar to regular models, and the Ryzen 7000 X3D processors will ship in March.While the information looks plausible, keep in mind that we are dealing with unofficial preliminary data, so take it with a grain of salt. 3D V-Cache makes the most sense for memory bandwidth and single-thread performance-depending workloads. For client PCs, this generally means gaming. Indeed, even after AMD launched its latest products, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is still one of the best CPUs for gaming. Furthermore, the Ryzen 7000 X3D parts are expected to gain even more from 3D V-Cache due to potentially higher bandwidth, further strengthening their performance in the aforementioned workloads and applications. Launching three Ryzen 7000X3D models with 3D V-Cache and expanding the lineup of X3D CPUs for client PCs from one (in the case of the Ryzen 5000 family) to three (for the Ryzen 7000 series) is an interesting move by AMD. On the one hand, expanding the family of 3D V-Cache-enabled desktop CPUs will strengthen AMD's offerings for gaming and will likely democratize their pricing, which will make it easier for AMD to compete against Intel. But on the other hand, they will overlap with processors without 3D V-Cache and cannibalize some sales of parts with higher core counts. Link: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-preps-three-ryzen-7000-x3d-cpus

The Stained Soil locations quest is the first thing that truly stumped me in Midnight Suns. It's not exactly an Easter Egg hunt: you're looking for evidence of the remains of witches killed by Hiram Shaw, the cruel Reverend of Salem in the Marvel universe. Had I unlocked enough of the Abbey locations to be able to locate the Stained Soil samples? Did I need to complete the Standing Stones puzzle? Midnight Suns doesn't give a ton of direction. The good news: if you're struggling with it, there's no hurry to complete the quest. The Abbey stuff, for the most part, runs independently from the campaign, and I was able to do a bunch of story missions even though I hadn't made progress on finding the Stained Soil. If you need help, though, here's a step-by-step walkthrough. Right before you start the Stained Soil quest, Midnight Suns asks you to "Search the Study" in Shaw's Church, a centuries-old building on the east side of the map. Agatha keeps going on about "There must be something we're missing." Not very helpful, ghost grandma! Turns out, you have to cast the second Word of Power, "Atum," at the desk in the middle of the room, where a magnifying glass overlooks an otherwise empty table. The first clues ("Coven Suspects," as sketched contemporaneously by Shaw), about the location of the Stained Soil are revealed once you do this.Find Stained Soil A, B, and C The same photographs you found in Shaw's Church are magically transported to the library room of the Abbey, adjacent to the Mirror Table. You can revisit them there to put the image fresh in your mind, or find the solutions below. Stained Soil A location Fast travel or jog over to the Standing Stones. While standing on the stone monument surrounded by large vertical totems, look north to find a cave in the distance (you can use the map to orient north by looking at the Hunter's icon), down the hill from the Standing Stones. Shaw's sketch, I eventually figured out, was not of the more prominent cave to the east. This one was the hardest to locate for me. link: https://www.pcgamer.com/midnight-suns-stained-soil-locations-quest-solution-search-the-study/

Accepted 🙂

Opponent's Nickname : @Edward- Place an image : https://ibb.co/nR0QymK Type of work : Avatars Text : Free Dimensions: 150x250 How many total votes ?: 15 Work time: 2h

I'm the winner T/C

India's smart TV market recorded a 38 percent year-on-year growth in shipments during the July-September quarter, mainly driven by festive season supplies, multiple new launches, discount events, and promotions, said a Counterpoint Research report. According to the report, global brands led India's smart TV segment with a 40 percent share, followed by Chinese brands with a 38 percent share. While the Indian brands showed the fastest growth, doubling their share to 22 percent of the total smart TV shipments. "The share of smaller size TV is increasing, with 32-inch to 42-inch displays making up approximately half of the total shipments during the quarter. Although LED displays remain the preferred choice, advanced technology displays such as OLED and QLED are gaining ground," the report said. Now more models are being launched with QLED displays. Besides, Dolby Audio and better speakers are other features that are increasingly being provided by brands, it added. "Smart TV penetration of overall shipments reached its highest-ever share of 93 percent during the quarter," said the report, adding, this penetration is expected to go up further due to more launches in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price range. During the quarter, the contribution from the online channels in the total shipments increased to 35 percent as all major e-commerce platforms offered various promotions and discounts, along with exclusive launches, during the recent festive season sales. Xiaomi (which includes Redmi's share) continued to lead the smart TV market in the third quarter of 2022 with an 11 percent market share, followed by Samsung with 10 percent share and LG with 9 percent. During the quarter, OnePlus grew 89 percent YoY, cornering an 8.5 percent share in smart TV shipments. While the homegrown brand VU share was more than doubled in the third quarter of 2022, the report added. According to the report, many new Indian brands are entering the highly competitive smart TV market. "OnePlus, Vu and TCL were the fastest growing brands in the smart TV segment in Q3 2022," said Counterpoint Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain. Once again, LG has secured the third spot due to the introduction of new models, especially in the Rs. 20,000- Rs. 30,000 price range. Other emerging brands in the top 10 included Realme and Haier, she added. Link: https://www.gadgets360.com/smart-home/news/xiaomi-samsung-lg-smart-tv-india-market-q3-2022-counterpoint-research-3572710

Windows 11 users who have run into a problem whereby they’re finding that large files are copying really slowly will be pleased to hear that Microsoft has now fixed the issue. This issue affects Windows 11 22H2, and note that the fix is in place in the freshly released preview build 25252. So in other words, those testing the OS now have access to the fix, to run it through its paces and ensure all is working correctly. Naturally, it will come through to the release version of Windows 11 eventually. As Bleeping Computer(opens in new tab) reports, Ned Pyle, who is Microsoft’s principal program manager in the Windows Server engineering group, informed us: “The final fix for Windows 11 22H2 production computer will come in a normal monthly Cumulative Update through Windows Update once validated in Insider builds.”Performance being considerably reduced when copying larger files – which simply means they’ll take a lot longer to copy over than they should, and going by some reports, they might take twice as long in fact – kicks in “when copying larger files from a remote computer down to a Windows 11 computer or when copying files on a local drive,” Pyle explained. Pyle added that PCs on home networks or small offices were less likely to encounter this bug, but it’s still possible, clarifying that: “You are more likely to experience this issue copying files to Windows 11, version 22H2 from a network share via Server Message Block (SMB) but local file copy might also be affected.”Analysis: Not long now for the full release of the fix, we’d hope Obviously, this resolution will be more than welcome, as copying big files can be a painful enough time-sink, without having to tap your fingers on the desk for up to twice the length of time as normal. That said, it’s still in testing right now, so that’s not going to help those running the release version of Windows 11. When will the fix actually arrive on PCs in the real world? That’s a tricky one, as it depends on how testing goes, naturally. However, what we do know is that this won’t be here this month, as the cumulative update for December has already been pushed out (in preview), and so is too close on the horizon (it’ll be released in under two weeks now). What we can hope for is a smooth path with testing means we’ll see this cure bundled with the Windows 11 update for January, which will be unleashed on January 10 – which still isn’t too far away. We could still be waiting longer if testers uncover any wonkiness with the fix, of course, or indeed other unforeseen problems introduced elsewhere (it wouldn’t be the first time a patch for one issue caused another flaw to pop up, as we’ve all seen in the past when Microsoft plays bug whack-a-mole). Microsoft has been busy fixing a whole bunch of frustrating issues which have affected some parts of the Windows 11 user base in recent times. That includes a nasty bug that caused stuttering while playing games and a seriously thorny gremlin that half-broke some printers, not to mention a glitch that slowed down the CPU. Windows 11 is slowly but surely becoming a smoother experience in that respect, though in an ideal world we wouldn’t see so many major bugs coming through in the first place. Link: https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-11-making-you-wait-ages-for-files-to-copy-theres-a-fix-for-that

Mark Papermaster, chief technology officer of AMD, said at a conference that the company's next-generation Instinct MI300 accelerated processing unit for data centers and high-performance computing is already up and running in AMD's labs. The APU uses AMD's Zen 4 and CDNA 3 architectures and will power the El Capitan supercomputer that is expected to break the 2 ExaFLOPS barriers sometimes in 2024. "But with what we announced and have rolled out with our next-generation Instinct that we already have back in the labs, the MI300, it is a true datacenter APU," said(opens in new tab) Papermaster at the Wells Fargo 2022 TMT Summit (via SeekingAlpha(opens in new tab)). "It is a CPU and a GPU acceleration that is leveraging the Infinity architecture to share the same memory fully coherently. It is all sharing high-bandwidth memory." AMD's Instinct MI300 is a multi-chiplet APU carrying Zen 4 general-purpose x86 cores, and CDNA 3-based compute GPU that share a unified on-package pool of memory comprising of Infinity Cache as well as HBM. AMD will use TSMC's N5 (5nm-class) fabrication process to produce CPU/GPU chiplets for the MI300, but the company has yet to disclose how many CPU cores and GPU stream processors are set to be packed into the hybrid processor.Putting CPU cores and GPU accelerators into one package and making them use unified memory is the Holy Grail of supercomputing as it not only combines the best of both worlds (general purpose processing and highly parallel acceleration), but it also dramatically simplifies programming and makes it easier to get all performance potential out of execution engines. The Instinct MI300 APU is set to power the U.S. Department of Energy's El Capitan supercomputer, which will be installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) sometime in 2023 and will become fully operational in mid-2024. AMD plans to roll out its Instinct MI300 sometime in 2023, which is why it is not surprising that the processor is already up and running in its labs. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether the company will supply the MI300 to any clients outside the supercomputer world in mass quantities next year. Since AMD's Instinct MI300 will be the industry's first data center and HPC-grade APU, there will be a lot of interest in it in the supercomputing community. Meanwhile, AMD's Instinct MI300 will not be the only hybrid processor for data centers packing x86 and GPU resources that will be available in the coming years. For example, Intel is working on its codenamed Falcon Shores product with x86 and Xe-HPC cores in the same package and expects to make it available in 2024. link: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-instinct-mi300-apu-with-zen-4-and-cdna-3-up-and-running-in-the-lab

Bungie and Ubisoft have announced a crossover between Destiny 2 and Assassin's Creed, which will see themed cosmetics coming to the shooter and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Players of the latter can buy a Destiny 2 character pack from December 6, which includes armor sets, swords, a scout skin and a mount skin, and a weapons pack with four spins on Destiny's subclasses that have perks and custom effects. A warlock in ninth century England, eh. On the Destiny 2 side, the crossover ties in with the launch of the new season on December 6, and players will be able to pick up an Assassin's Creed themed ship, sparrow, ghost, a finisher cosmetic, and three armor ornament sets. Bungie rather amusingly says these will "let you live out your best mysterious-hooded-figure-looking-for-adventure fantasy", as well as pointing out that it still technically counts as a stealth game if "nobody is left to rat you out to the Templars". It's a good pitch, even if the cosmetics themselves don't look all that brotherhood-y: you can see it in the helmet design, I guess. All that Destiny 2 players will care about (well, the ones I know anyway) is that this means moar fashion. The new season (the 19th, if you're counting) also comes with the usual array of weapon tweaks, a re-balance of the Hunter Void ability in PvP, new artifact mods, and a warning message to anyone still playing on Stadia: use cross-save and get your guardian off that sinking ship.Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, on the other hand, is coming to the end of its impressive post-launch support with an update that adds an epilogue called The Last Chapter, among other content. Perhaps the most notable part of this announcement was that the developers decided against implementing one of the most-requested features among the game's fanbase, a new game+ mode, and was pretty upfront about why: essentially saying that the game had limited options to make replayability unique and rewarding, and was never really designed with this in mind. "We understand this news will come as a disappointment," reads the announcement. "However, we hope that the new content released in the past months, including never-before-seen experiences like Forgotten Saga, has provided an exciting and challenging experience for those seeking more replayable content." Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-and-assassins-creed-are-doing-a-daft-looking-crossover/

Accepted. Let's revive design xd

Xiaomi 13 will offer better battery life than Apple's current flagship handset, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, according to Xiaomi's CEO and Founder, Lei Jun. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer is gearing up to host a product launch conference for its Xiaomi 13 flagship smartphone series and wearables on December 1. Ahead of the launch event, the company has teased details of the devices, showing customers what they can expect from the upcoming flagship smartphones. The Xiaomi 13 is expected to go head-to-head with the Cupertino, California-based giant's iPhone 14 series, as well as other flagship smartphones in 2023. According to a post on Weibo by Xiaomi CEO and Founder Lei Jun, the Xiaomi 13 could offer better battery life than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The senior executive posted a screenshot of the DOU test run on the Xiaomi 13 as compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14, and other previous generation Xiaomi smartphones including the Xiaomi 12S, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, Xiaomi 12S Pro, Huawei P50 Pro, and Samsung S22 Ultra. The DOU test is reportedly designed to signify the endurance score of a device's battery life throughout the course of a typical day of usage. The upcoming Xiaomi 13 flagship device is shown to have scored 1.37 on the battery life test, higher than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which scored 1.28. The Xiaomi 13 is expected to ship with a 4,500mAh battery unit. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 Pro Max ships with a 4,323mAh battery backup. Meanwhile, the executive emphasised that the thickness and grip of the upcoming flagship smartphone are more important to him than the device's battery life endurance. Last month, a tipster claimed that the Xiaomi 13 Pro, which is expected to make its debut alongside the Xiaomi 13, would pack a 4,800mAh battery with support for 120W fast charging support. The handset may also feature a Surge P2 chip for managing the charging speeds, according to the tipster. Xiaomi is expected to announce the Xiaomi Watch S2, Xiaomi Buds 4, and MIUI 14 alongside the flagship Xiaomi 13 series at the December 1 2022 launch event. However, the Chinese smartphone manufacturing giant is yet to confirm the launch timeline for the Xiaomi 13 flagship device in Indian and global markets. Link: https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/xiaomi-13-battery-life-outperform-iphone-14-pro-max-claim-ceo-lei-jun-3565380

Microsoft Teams is getting a significant upgrade to its accessibility tools that should make the video conferencing platform better for more users. In a Microsoft blog post(opens in new tab) , Accessibility Architect Chris Sano announced the creation of a “best-in-class experience for the deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) community” on Teams. Sano, who is deaf himself, had been tasked with making the platform more accessible, and the first release - Sign Language View - is now ready, and hopes to transform how D/HH users to take part in Microsoft Teams calls for the better. Teams Sign Language View When needed, up to two sign language interpreters’ video feeds are kept in a consistent location so that D/HH meeting participants can dive straight into the call. The video tiles are also designed to be an optimal shape and size, and will automatically stream at the highest possible quality. In its promise to listen to customer feedback, Microsoft has made Sign Language View preferences “sticky”, so that any settings don’t need to be re-applied for each call. According to Sano, you can also "pre-identify a set of preferred signers that you work with inside your organization on a regular basis – for example, your regular interpreters (or for interpreters, your regular clients)." There is an option to turn on captions by default for all of your meetings as well. Sano asks that D/HH customers continue to provide feedback through the ‘Help’ menu from within Teams, or to call the US helpdesk to communicate directly in ASL. It is expected to roll out “in the coming weeks” which coincides with an entry on the company’s roadmap(opens in new tab) stating a December 2022 general availability. Right now, a version of Sign Language View has been rolled out to the Public Preview program(opens in new tab) on a per-user basis, so you may be able to get it that way, too. Link: https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-teams-just-got-another-game-changing-accessibility-feature

It's a good time to buy a graphics card this holiday season. With crypto mining crashing and new cards from Nvidia and AMD coming out, there are great deals to be had on RTX 30-series and Radeon 6000-series cards. This season, we're seeing a lot better value on AMD cards than on Nvidia-powered offerings, but you can still find some savings on RTX cards. We're highlighting all of the best graphics card deals below. Also, check out our list of best graphics cards and our GPU benchmark hierarchy to see evergreen performance data regardless of sales. Lowest Graphics Card Prices by GPU We've highlighted our favorite Black Friday deals below, but if you're trying to find the lowest price on a particular GPU right now, we've got tables below for all the major Nvidia and AMD cards. Each card's performance is listed, using the combined (geometric mean) of the 1080p and 1440p fps from our GPU Nvidia's graphics cards — both the new RTX 4090/4080 and the previous generation RTX 30-series — tend to be overpriced. There are a few cards selling right near MSRP, though they're still questionable. For example, the Peladn RTX 3080 10GB is the cheapest 3080 card around (that's not a used or refurbished model), but that's basically an unknown brand. Most Nvidia cards are still selling above their MSRPs, even when on sale.AMD offers quite a bit more value for your money, and it has some excellent deals in the budget to midrange bracket. The RX 6600 dipped as low as $189 on Black Friday, and the cheapest we're seeing is now $209. The RX 6650 XT at $249 is still a great value as well if you can spend more. All of AMD's GPUs are selling below their original MSRPs these days, which they should be considering some of the GPUs are two years old. Of course, some of those MSRPs were inflated thanks to the GPU shortages last year. There's also the upcoming Radeon RX 7900-series to contend with, priced at $899 and $999 and potentially delivering up to 50% more performance than the RX 6950 XT. That's pushing prices down on the older GPUs, which is what we'd expect, whereas Nvidia prices have shot up to "leave room" for the 30-series. We wouldn't recommend paying much more than around $650 for an RX 6950 XT given the upcoming cards.Like Nvidia, there aren't really many deals as such on Intel's Arc GPUs. At least the Arc A770, A750, and A380 are all available for purchase right now, though the A770 16GB Limited Edition is back ordered (again). There's even an ASRock A750 priced below MSRP, so one of the four potential Intel GPUs qualifies as a sale. Performance from Arc GPUs continues to improve, with the A750 and A770 generally beating Nvidia's RTX 3060. It costs less than the Nvidia card as well, and delivers superior ray tracing performance compared to AMD's GPUs. But with rasterization performance roughly matching the RX 6650 XT, the Arc 700-series unfortunately still looks overpriced. Link: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/best-graphics-card-deals-now

The MOBA age has made us soft. The Dota and League of Legends genre grew out of the classic real-time strategy beatdowns of the '90s and early 2000s: StarCraft, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires. But rather than controlling an unruly hoard of chattel troops—who throw themselves against enemy defenses in a hellish war of attrition, living lives that last five minutes or less—we instead piloted these impervious champions (or whatever nomenclature you prefer), who've never feared annihilation on the battlefield. They had steep health bars and ultimate abilities, and they feasted on the lowly creeps who used to be our primary offense. But The Great War: Western Front intends to return us to that grand old-fashioned bleakness; a commander sacrificing an untold number of lives to claim the day. As you can infer from the name, The Great War takes place during World War I—particularly the Western Front, which was the site of the conflict's most infernal trench warfare. The game operates like a hybrid between a traditional RTS and a more glacial Total War-ish experience; you won't be taking turns with your opponent when the shooting starts, but you can pause the action mid-stream to marinate on your orders, or slow the pace down to a crawl if the chaos gets a little too much to process. I played two matches, where I was instructed to get my battalion of Allies across No Man's Land and conquer a smattering of bunkers currently occupied by the Central Powers. I had the whole expanse of turn-of-the-century mechanization on my side: mortars, bombing runs, and of course, a ton of scared young men, prepared to charge over the top and into the maw at the sound of a whistle. The Great War will not reward technical, click-to-click unit control. You aren't going to win a skirmish in this game by, say, darting a few troops around the map like a fleet footed Mutalisk. Instead, superiority is determined by momentum. You send your battalions to charge the enemy trenches, cloaking their advance with rolling mortar shots. When everything is timed perfectly, they'll rout the opposing lines and send the units scampering backwards in a panicked retreat. From there, you might need to pinpoint a few artillery barrages to shake up advancing counter-attacks, or launch an air mission where an autonomous fighter plane seeks and destroys the bomber overhead that's laying payloads of shrapnel on your position. Those who excel at The Great War will do so because they are agile, perceptive managers of the clash.Case in point: Throughout a match you'll be keeping a close eye on your resource track, which determines how many reinforcements you can deploy. Bungling the economy is a great way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Total War veterans will be familiar with some of the rock-paper-scissors dynamics at play here. If you send a battalion into a machine-gun corridor, they will be annihilated with shocking efficiency. So newcomers should expect a steep learning curve, and a lot of losses. Troops tend to move at a speedy clip, and that means when you draw up an artillery blast on the enemy's location, you need to make sure that your forces are not going to cross into the line of fire. There is no on-screen indicator that you're about to commit a terrible mistake — no, the pace and verve of The Great War can only be perfected with enough repetition. That said, sometimes the bleak joy of the Western Front is simply sitting back and watching the brutality play out. Bodies fly with the cannonade, troops swarm into trenches like sardines in a tin. If you too were entranced by the mythic abyss of Sam Mendes' 1917, do know that The Great War absolutely intends to replicate the somber splendor of a filmic World War I. Will it have legs? That's my main question leaving my preview. The Great War left a cinematic impression, but I already found myself falling back on the same strategies over and over again. (Cover infantry charge with artillery shells, break a rival legion with a well-placed bunker buster, and so on.) It's clear that the game diversifies its options the deeper you get your teeth in it; eventually we'll be rolling tanks across the French border, and I didn't even touch the overarching Grand Campaign. So hopefully The Great War keeps finding ways to ask us interesting questions. We're on the cusp of a miraculous RTS renaissance. Company of Heroes 3(opens in new tab) is on the horizon, and so are Homeworld 3 and Stormgate(opens in new tab). The revitalized genre could use a splash of trench warfare. At last, a chance to see how rusty the MOBA insurgency has made us.

V1 blur & text.