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Initial Release Date: April 29, 2008 Engine: the advanced Rockstar game engine Awards: Spike Award for Best Male Voice Actor, more Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Modes: Single video game, group video game Nominations: BAFTA Video Games Award - Best Game, more Stepping off a boat in the shoes of illegal immigrant Niko Bellic as he arrives in Liberty City at the start of Grand Theft Auto IV, you can tell immediately that Rockstar North's latest offering is something quite special. Yes, this is another GTA game in which you'll likely spend the bulk of your time stealing cars and gunning down cops and criminals, but it's also much more than that. GTAIV is a game with a compelling and nonlinear storyline, a game with a great protagonist who you can't help but like, and a game that boasts a plethora of online multiplayer features in addition to its lengthy story mode. It's not without some flaws, but GTAIV is undoubtedly the best Grand Theft Auto yet. One of the many things that set GTAIV apart from its predecessors is Liberty City, which is more convincing as a living, breathing urban environment than anything that you've seen in a game before, and bears little resemblance to its namesake in 2001's GTAIII. Liberty's diverse po[CENSORED]tion believably attempts to go about its daily business, seemingly unaware that several criminal factions are at war in the city. Niko has no such luck. He's compelled to start working for one of the factions shortly after arriving, when he learns that his cousin Roman has some potentially fatal gambling debts. Niko's military experience makes him a useful freelancer for employers in the business of killing each other, and though his reluctance to carry out their orders is often apparent, he does whatever is asked of him in the hope that completing missions for other people will ultimately give him the means to complete his own. Actually, Niko doesn't have to do everything that is asked of him. On several occasions as you play through his story, you'll be presented with decisions that afford you the option of doing what you think is right rather than blindly following instructions. You don't necessarily have to kill a target if he or she promises to disappear, but you have to weigh the risk of your employer finding out against the possibility that the person whose life you spare might prove useful later in the game, or even have work for you in the form of bonus missions. To say anything more specific on this subject would be to risk spoiling one of GTAIV's most interesting new features, but suffice it to say that every decision you make has consequences, and you'll likely want to play through the game at least twice to see how the alternatives unfold. Grand Theft Auto IV's story mode can be beaten in less than 30 hours, and there are so many optional activities and side missions to take part in along the way that you can comfortably double that number if you're in no hurry. The majority of the story missions task you with making deliveries and/or killing people, and play out in much the same way as those in previous games. With that said, most of the missions are a lot easier this time around, partly because Niko is a more agile and efficient killer than any of his predecessors, and partly because the LCPD seemingly has better things to do than hunt down an illegal immigrant who's gunning down undesirables all over the city. Some of the more imaginative missions sprinkled throughout the story include a kidnapping, a bank heist, and a job interview. The cinematic cutscenes associated with story missions are superbly presented and are the sequences in which the game's characters really shine. Without exception, the characters you encounter benefit from great animation, great voice work, and superbly expressive faces. They're not always so impressive when they join you on a mission and refuse to do what they're supposed to (for example, not following you on an escort mission, or failing to negotiate a doorway). Nevertheless, these problems are few and far between, and they're made less painful by the new "replay mission" option that you're presented with whenever you fail. New abilities in Niko's arsenal include scaling fences and walls anywhere he can get a foothold, shimmying along ledges, and, most importantly, taking cover behind objects. The ability to stick close to walls, parked cars, and the like at the touch of a button makes GTAIV's gunplay a huge improvement over that in previous games, and, in tandem with the new targeting system, it also makes it a lot easier. Enemies are rarely smart enough to get to you while you're in cover, and given that you can lock your targeting reticle on to them even when they're hidden, all you have to do is wait for them to poke their heads out and then pick them off with a minimum of effort. Locking on to enemies targets their torso by default, but you can use the right analog stick to fine-tune your aim and kill them more quickly with a headshot or two. Playing without using the lock-on feature make things more difficult, but you’ll need to master the technique so that you can shoot blindly at enemies from positions of cover when you dare not poke your own head out to line up the shot. Given the amount of trouble that you get into as you play through the story mode, it's inevitable that the police are going to get involved from time to time, even when their presence isn't a scripted feature of your mission. Liberty City's boys in blue are quick to respond when you get flagged with a wanted level of between one and six stars, but they're not nearly as tough to deal with as their counterparts in previous GTA games. They don't drive as quickly when pursuing you, they rarely bother to set up roadblocks, and you'll need to blow up practically an entire city block before the FIB (that's not a typo) show up. Furthermore, you're given an unfair advantage in the form of your GPS system; when you're not using it to plot a valid route to any waypoint of your choosing, it doubles as a kind of police scanner. Any time you have a brush with the law, the GPS shows you the exact locations of patrol cars and cops on foot in your area, and highlights the circular area (centered on your last known whereabouts) where they're concentrating their search. To escape, all you need to do is move outside the circle and then avoid being seen for 10 seconds or so, which is often best achieved by finding a safe spot and just sitting there. It's not a bad system in theory, but in practice it makes dodging the law a little too easy, especially when your wanted level is low and the search area is small. The new cover system makes gunplay much easier than in previous games. When you're not running missions for criminals, taking part in street races, stealing cars to order, or randomly causing trouble, you'll find that there are plenty of opportunities to unwind in Liberty City. Some of these optional activities offer tangible rewards that can prove useful in missions later on, whereas others are just a fun way to kill time and take in more of GTAIV's superb humor. For example, you can watch television, listen to numerous different radio stations, check out some genuinely funny shows (including some big-name acts) at cabaret and comedy clubs, and use a computer to surf the in-game Internet. GTAIV's Internet is filled with spoofs of all the kinds of Web sites that you'd only ever look at accidentally or when you know there's no danger of getting caught. Some of them can be found only by clicking on links in spam e-mails, whereas others are advertised prominently on the search page. There's plenty of amusing stuff to find if you spend some time in one of the "TW@" Internet cafes, but the most interesting site by far is an online dating agency through which you can meet women who, if they like your profile, will agree to go on dates with you. Dating and socializing with friends is something you can spend as much or as little of your time doing as you like, and though the people you meet can occasionally be demanding to the point that they become irritating, keeping them happy invariably benefits you in some way. Keeping friends and dates happy means spending time with them and doing things that they enjoy, and all of them have different personalities. Some friends like to join you for minigames such as tenpin bowling, pool, or darts, whereas others prefer to go out for a meal, get drunk, or take in a show. Of course, dates are much fussier than regular friends, and their opinions of you are influenced not only by whether you pick them up on time, where you take them, and whether you try your luck when dropping them at home, but also by a number of much more subtle factors. Dates will comment on stuff like the car you drive, how you drive it, and the clothes you wear. They'll even notice if you wear the same outfit two dates in a row, though not all of them will be bothered by it. The rewards that you get when another character likes you enough vary depending on who it is. Without wishing to give away specifics, befriending a lawyer can prove useful if you're having trouble with the cops, for example, and having a nurse on your friends list can literally be a lifesaver Liberty City has changed a lot since 2001. You'll keep in touch with your dates, friends, and some of your enemies using another of GTAIV's great new features: a cell phone. It's hard to believe that something as simple as a cell phone could add so much to a game like this, but it's implemented so well that it's hard to imagine leaving any of Niko's safe houses without it. If you've ever used a cell phone in real life, you'll have no problem operating this one and, given that it's controlled using only the D pad and a single button, it's easy to call up acquaintances and take calls even while driving. There's no unwieldy conversation system to deal with; you simply choose which friend you want to call, what you want to talk about (it could be work, a fun activity, or asking for a favor) and then, assuming that he or she answers the phone, the conversation plays out. Incoming calls are even easier, though they occasionally come at inopportune (or amusing) times; hearing your cell-phone's signal interfere with your car radio is the least of your worries when you consider the possibility of a date calling you while you're with a prostitute or embroiled in a gunfight with the Mafia. Incidentally, new ringtones and visual themes for your phone can be purchased via the in-game Internet, which is typical of the incredible attention to detail that you'll come to take for granted as you play. To give you some idea of just how much thought has clearly gone into the crafting of GTAIV, even the act of stealing a parked car, which is still achieved by pushing a single button, can now result in any number of different things happening. If the door is locked, as is often the case, Niko will smash a window with his elbow or his foot to get inside. Once inside the car, he may need to hot-wire it to get it started; you can speed up the process slightly by using the shoulder buttons on your controller. If the car has an alarm, it'll sound for several seconds and cause the headlights to flash on and off as you drive away--practically begging any nearby cops to come after you. Stealing cars with drivers and/or passengers inside opens up lots more possibilities, the most amusing of which is someone (possibly you) getting an arm caught in a door and dragged along as the vehicle speeds away. Most of the vehicles in GTAIV, like those in previous games, have very loose handling that makes it easy for you to perform Hollywood-style U-turns, skids around corners, and the like. You can play through most of the missions without ever violating a traffic law if you really want to, but you can get away with (and will have a lot more fun) driving like a lunatic, provided that you don't collide with any police vehicles or mow down too many pedestrians. A neat touch when driving with the default camera view is that the camera, which is positioned a few feet behind the rear bumper of the car, centers on you rather than on the vehicle, effectively offering the vehicular equivalent of an over-the-shoulder view. When you take the control of something sporty, the camera also positions itself much closer to the ground, which adds to the sensation of speed. The police are rarely far away, but escaping from them is easy for the most part. The vehicle handling is difficult to fault, regardless of whether you're in a sports car, a garbage truck, a motorcycle, a speedboat, or a helicopter. However, while driving, you might notice one odd quirk that has been a constant ever since GTAIII: When taking the controls of certain vehicles, you'll suddenly notice a lot more of the same vehicle on the roads. It's not a big deal, and it isn't detrimental to the gameplay, but it's a little jarring if you get into one of the more unusual vehicles in the game--for example, the equivalent of either a Ferrari or a pickup truck--and suddenly find that the city is filled with them. That particular quirk is pretty common in some of the multiplayer modes as well, though you'll likely be too busy keeping an eye out for other players to take any notice when you venture online. Getting online in Grand Theft Auto IV couldn't be easier. You simply select the multiplayer option on your cell phone, choose which type of game you want to host or join, and then enter a lobby and wait for the game to start. You won't be getting bored staring at a list of names while you're waiting, though, because when you enter a lobby you actually enter an online version of Liberty City in which you and up to 15 other players are free to do anything. There are weapons scattered all over the place to ensure that things don't stay too friendly for very long. There are more than a dozen different multiplayer modes to choose from, and although some of them are variations on similar themes, there's certainly no shortage of variety. As the host of a multiplayer session, you also have the freedom to greatly customize all of the game types with variables such as friendly fire, police presence, weapons sets, traffic levels, radar functionality, and many more. You can choose where you'd like your game to take place as well, considering that many gameplay modes can be played either on a specific Liberty City island or across the entire map. Even conventional 16-player modes such as Deathmatch and Race feel quite different than anything that you've played before. And in addition to those, there are objective-based games in which you're tasked with completing missions similar to those in the single-player game: a team-based Cops 'n Crooks mode, a Turf War mode in which teams compete for control of territories, a carjacking mode, three cooperative missions that support up to four players, and more. With the right group of people, there's no reason why you can't have a lot of fun with every single mode that's available. We experienced a few frame-rate issues and lag that caused other players and their vehicles to jump around the screen at times, but for the most part GTAIV's online play is a real treat. One especially neat touch is that, as a passenger in a vehicle being driven by another player, you can mark waypoints on the GPS system for your driver using a map that tracks the locations of other players and objectives. If you're wondering about differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, the truth is that there aren't many. The PS3 version can only be played after a mandatory install that takes around 10 minutes, and its load times are a little shorter and less frequent as a result. The visuals, which don't always hold up to close scrutiny but are impressive during typical gameplay, are comparable and feature the same quirks (shadows that flicker, for example) on both consoles. Likewise, the audio, which can take a lot of the credit for why Liberty City feels so alive, is exceptional regardless of which console you have and how many speakers it's hooked up to. True to form, GTAIV's soundtrack has plenty of great licensed songs and, unlike other games we could mention, it doesn't force the artist and track information down your throat with pop-up windows that detract from gameplay. However, if you want that information, you can simply dial up a song-recognition service on your cell phone and, after a few seconds, receive it in a text message. Genius. In case you haven't guessed already, Grand Theft Auto IV is a game that you simply have to play. The single-player game, which you can still play long after you complete the story, is the series' best by far, and the multiplayer features are good enough that you'll likely have no problem finding people to play with for many months to come. The minor flaws that you'll experience are no more difficult to overlook than those in previous GTA games, and they're greatly outnumbered by the features that will impress and surprise you anytime you think you've already seen everything that the game has to offer. There's lots to see in Liberty City, so you'd best get started. Grand Theft Auto IV System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHz CPU SPEED: 1.8 GHz RAM: 1 GB for Windows XP / 1.5 GB for Windows Vista) OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3 / Windows 7 VIDEO CARD: 256MB NVIDIA 7900+ / 256MB ATI X1900+ 3D: Yes HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 16 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 256 MB Grand Theft Auto IV Recommended Requirements CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1GHz CPU SPEED: 2.4 GHz RAM: 2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista) OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3 / Windows 7 VIDEO CARD: 512MB NVIDIA 8600+ / 512MB ATI 3870+ 3D: Yes HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 18 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 512 MB

Microsoft teases big changes Microsoft has given us another glance of what its redesigned Windows 10 Start menu will look like – and it seems to be a big improvement. While it’s not a radical overhaul, it looks like Microsoft is working hard to ensure that the new Start menu blends in with the other aesthetic changes the company has brought to its operating system in the (almost) five years since Windows 10 was launched. This means Live Tiles (yep, they appear to be sticking around for now) that have backgrounds that match your choice of light or dark theme. If Live Tiles are turned off by the user, they will now show new ‘Fluent Design’ icons with a translucent background, rather than the rather jarring solid blocks of color that Live Tiles currently show when turned off. The result is rather pleasing, and it means the Start menu as a whole doesn’t look so out of place with the rest of your desktop. Recent apps, which appear on the left of the Start menu, have also been tweaked, and no longer have colored backgrounds – again, making it mesh better with your desktop theme and colors. When’s it coming? The new Start menu is certainly an improvement in our eyes, and was shared by Microsoft 365 on Facebook. However, there was no hint at when the new Start menu will be added to Windows 10, and Microsoft seems to be working hard on it, and wanting to get it right. As we mentioned earlier, this isn’t a huge overhaul, but in many ways that’s a good thing. The last time Microsoft radically changed the Start menu, we ended up with Windows 8 and its unpo[CENSORED]r ‘Metro’ Start Screen.

There are some natural substitutes for sugar which are less harmful but should still be consumed in limited quantities to reap their benefits. It is a known fact that sugar is harmful to the body - our body does not even require small quantities of it for any of the essential processes. Moreover, sugar can lead to obesity, inflammation and high blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of heart diseases. There can be various substitutes of sugar, both natural and artificial. While artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin are easily available, they may carry potential damaging effects. There are some natural substitutes for sugar which are less harmful but should still be consumed in limited quantities to reap their benefits. Following are five such alternatives that you should consider: 1. Honey Everyone knows what honey is but you might not know that honey is rich in antioxidants, iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, vitamin B6, vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and vitamin B3 (niacin). These nutrients help in reducing free radicals in the body, which prevents organ damage. Honey is also known to lower the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body, while simultaneously increasing the levels of good cholesterol (HDL). 2. Jaggery Jaggery is widely used in Indian households. It can be formed from either the sap of sugar cane or palm trees. It can not only be used as a sugar substitute but has also been reported to reduce the levels of inhaled toxic substances in the lungs such as coal and silica dust. You can either grate jaggery to turn it into a powder or use it directly. 3. Coconut sugar We have all heard of the many benefits of coconut, be it in the form of water, milk, oil or even the fresh coconut. You will be glad to know that coconut sugar can be used as a natural sweetener as it has low sugar levels. Coconut sugar can be extracted from the sap of the coconut. It is rich in iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and various antioxidants. 4. Maple syrup Maple syrup is a sugary substance which is formed by cooking the sap of maple trees. It is thick and liquid in nature. Studies state that maple syrup is rich in 24 kinds of antioxidants which prevent the body from damage caused by oxidative stress. Maple syrup is also rich in calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and manganese. 5. Dates Dates are easily available in the market and can be used as a substitute for sugar. Dates have a high amount of potassium, copper, iron, magnesium and vitamin B6 in it. Dates also help in metabolizing proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Dates can be dried and then turned into powdery sugar. Researchers have stated that dates can also reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the body.

In a sulphurous Turbo S variant with record power, the Zuffenhausen icon looks more volcanic than ever. If the Auvergne volcanoes, which serve as a backdrop for this test, died out several thousand years ago, there is one, here in the image, still in activity. Or subject to hyperactivity. Its color, “fusion orange”; it is not invented. For him to wake up and start scolding, a quarter turn with his left hand is enough. After that, it is better to clear the floor. Drive transmission, selected Sport Plus driving mode, left foot on the brake, right on the floor, the Porsche 911 Turbo S stands ready to spurt out like lava from a crater in the sound of the end of the world. When you let go of her bridle, it was indeed the apocalypse. The brain glued to the bottom of the skull, the vision is blurred. Vital functions are limited to the bare minimum. And again, lung ventilation and consciousness are not far from faltering. Briefly immersed in a second being, I relive certain scenes from the past. Like this first time behind the wheel of a 911 Turbo. It was a 480 hp 997, I was a young intern at the time. You constantly had to keep your hand on the gear lever in order to anticipate the gearshift as the engine went from idle to the red zone instantly. A precaution despite which fortuitous encounters with the breaker were not so rare. Today, this risk remains minimal. First, because I’m a little younger intern. Above all, the most powerful of the 992s, to date, necessarily has a robotic PDK box. Pity ? Not that much. With 650 hp and 800 Nm of torque in the back, everything is still going much, much faster than 15 years ago. Porsche announces 0 to 100 km / h in 2 ”7. You read correctly. While double is usually enough to move most of us, these numbers border on science fiction. To try to appreciate the way in which the new 3.8 biturbo (or 3.7 according to its exact displacement), derived from the 3.0-cylinder 3.0 of the Carrera, delivers its supernatural strength, you have to imagine the Turbo S like a fantastic monster, holding you in the hollow of its enormous plush, like a common insect. Then grips, crushes you as you step on the gas. Until you can no longer breathe, unable to resist it. The expression "breathtaking" is overused today. However, this is the most appropriate here. Almost all 911s, now boasting a turbocharged engine by default, some may imagine that LA Turbo, the real one, is no longer out of the ordinary. However, this demonstrates quite the opposite. To the point that Porsche could legitimately have inscribed "911 Turbo Turbo S" on the enlarged stern. Admittedly, there is even faster… if one is interested in spacecraft in particular. Conversely, this bomb does its best to keep the tires on the ground no matter what. The previous generation’s active aerodynamics are renewed, with a retractable spoiler at the rear, and a flexible pneumatic blade at the front, which deploys more or less depending on the speed and driving mode chosen. Movable elements to which are now added, still at the bow, the piloted cooling flaps of the shield contributing to the increase in downforce by 15%. Of great sophistication by tradition, especially since the 993 in the mid-1990s, the 911 Turbo once again takes on the air of a gas factory. The 992 combines all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars, controlled rear differential, adaptive suspension, sport chassis lowered by 10 mm (optional), carbon-ceramic brakes with 10-piston calipers at the front… All which makes a 911 a supercar. A supercar which remains a 911; a sportswoman whose practical aspects are not negligible (starting with her two small rear seats), at the antipodes of the circuit diva, who only travels on a trailer and takes the track only in good weather. The proof here, on the Puy-de-Dôme departments where the hostility of the road network is only matched by the harsh climate. Exploiting the extraordinary potential there will require no more skill than driving a simple Carrera. The projectile is supported in curve at high speed with as much ease as it turns almost on itself in the winding. The extreme discretion of the body movements, despite an often infernal rhythm and undulations of the roadway, makes the possibility of strengthening the piloted suspension superfluous on open roads. Démentielle, the effectiveness is measured with the insertion of the beads of the seat in the ribs. And vice versa. Looking as far as possible towards the horizon seems the only essential step in the manual. Good actions then follow naturally. Management makes it easy. Quite heavy for that of a modern sportswoman, it allows you to stay precise at all gaits. Right, left, right, re-right ... Regarding the speed displayed on the digital speedometer, chaining turns of all kinds should not be so simple. And yet. Everyone is free to add a little panache and round off the angles by partially or completely disconnecting the ESP. And if it can become tiresome to be just a ball in a pinball machine, it is always possible to ease off, just a hint, and opt for a more rolling course. A field where the 911 Turbo S, in exchange for a colossal price, remains one of the best touring coupé in the world, capable of taking you very quickly and far in a relaxed atmosphere, in all conditions. And in relative discretion, if, of course, you don't opt for its famous orange fusion livery. Reverse of this clinical omniscience, this "nine-eleven" does not last durably in the guts, at least from a purely mechanical point of view. There is indeed an optional sports exhaust, to make the raucous and warm buzz of the “flat” more present on board. Too rushed to indulge in sentimentality, the Turbo S leaves that to other 911s, those of the GT division, like the GT2 in particular. And to say that there will undoubtedly be a 911 even more powerful than this one ... Our verdict This 911 Turbo S is yet another show of force from Porsche. Even if it means not feeling. WE love : Stunning performances Ease of use Relative versatility We like less Exaggerated rate Recessed mechanical charm Technical sheet Porsche 911 Turbo S BUY Trial version: € 221,135 From 221,135 € Average manufacturer's consumption / during the test (l / 100 km): 12 / 14.6 CO2 / penalty: 271-278 / 20,000 € Fiscal power: 61 CV Country of manufacture: Germany Range offered Petrol from 385 to 650 hp, from € 108,334 to € 234,814 DRIVE Engine: rear, longitudinal, 6-cylinder flat, twin-turbo, direct injection, 24 valves, valve lift and variable valve timing, stop & start, 3,745 cc. Transmission: all-wheel drive, 8-speed robotic Power (hp at rpm): 650 to 6,750 Torque (Nm at rpm): 800 to 2,500 Curb weight (kg): 1,715 Long.xlarg.xhaut. (m): 4.54 × 1.90 × 1.30 Wheelbase (m): 2.45 Tank (l): 67 Maximum speed (km / h): 330 0 to 100 km / h: 2 ”7 Standard tires: AV 255/35 R20; AR 315/30 R20 Test tires: Pirelli PZero LIVE Safe at 4 (l): 128 RECOMMENDED OPTIONS Sport exhaust: € 3,108 Front axle lift: € 2,436 Alcantara steering wheel: € 168 MAIN COMPETITORS Bentley Continental GT W12, from € 218,000 BMW M8 Competition Coupé, from € 173,450 Nissan GT-R Nismo, from € 210,000

Madison Cawthorn is 24 and describes himself as a constitutional conservative A political newcomer has defeated the candidate approved by US President Donald Trump to win a Republican congressional primary in North Carolina Madison Cawthorn beat Lynda Bennett to become the party's nominee in November's race for the state's 11th Congressional District. The motivational speaker and real estate investor turns 25, the minimum age to serve in Congress, in August. He will face Democratic candidate Moe Davis, a former US Air Force colonel. Ms Bennett has not yet conceded the race, but the North Carolina Republican Party congratulated Mr Cawthorn on his victory. The district's previous representative, Mark Meadows, resigned in March to become the president's chief of staff. Mr Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair after being involved in a car accident in 2014, won Tuesday's vote despite high-level endorsements for his opponent. "Please let this serve as my Complete and Total Endorsement of a great fighter and ally in North Carolina," the president wrote of Ms Bennett earlier this month, adding that she would "be a great help to me in DC". Mr Meadows had also lent his backing to Ms Bennett. But it was this support that Mr Cawthorn attacked during the campaign. He criticised his opponent for refusing to take part in debates, saying in one video that he would not "cower behind big-name endorsements". Mr Cawthorn does, however, also support Mr Trump. North Carolina is due to host the Republican party's national convention in August, but Mr Trump threatened to move the event if restrictions were placed on attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic. Presidential hopefuls do not become official candidates until each party's nominations for president and vice-president are announced at their national convention, and so these events are a key part of the election process ahead of nationwide voting on 3 November.

The power of Arm Ampere Altra Today, Ampere announced plans to expand its Altra family of server processors with the Altra Max chip, which arriving by the end of the year with a whopping 128 CPU cores. Similar to the Amazon Graviton2, the Ampere Altra is based on Arm's Neoverse N1 (codename Ares) microarchitecture. TSMC carves the Altra for Ampere with its 7nm FinFET manufacturing process. The Altra family currently features 11 different models, however, the list and specifications are subject to change. Each core inside the Ampere Altra corresponds to a single thread and comes with its own cache. We're looking at 65KB of L1I cache, 64KB of L1D cache and 1MB of L2 cache per core. As for the Altra line's other attributes, the 7nm processors each support up to eight channels of DDR4-3200 ECC memory and a maximum capacity up to 4TB . For expansion, the Altra provides 128 lanes of high-speed PCIe 4.0 lanes per socket, but also support up to 192 PCIe 4.0 lanes in a 2P setup. Ampere Altra Specifications Ampere has one of the simplest CPU nomenclatures known to mankind. The Q, which stands for Quicksilver, is followed by the chip's number of cores and then the clock speed. The Q80-33 is the current flagship of the Altra family. The processor delivers 80 cores up to 3.3 GHz within a 250W package. The Q80-33 will eventually pass the torch to the Altra Max, which will flaunt up to 128 cores. Ampere has confirmed that the Altra Max (codename Mystique) will be socket-compatible with current Altra offerings. We suspect that the the Altra Max will have an M prefix in its model names. Ampere will sample the Altra Max in the fourth quarter of this year, and the processor should be available next year. The company is also firm on its commitment to roll out the 2nd Generation Altra processors (codename Siryn) in 2022. If the nomenclature remains the same, the Siryn should sport the S prefix. The next-generation processors will leverage TSMC's 5nm process node. Ampere expects to sample Siryn in the latter part of 2021 with a scheduled launch in 2022.

Initial Release Date: September 15, 2017 Series: Diononored Developer: Arkin Studios Designer: Dinga Kappa Platforms: Xbox One, Playstation 4, Microsoft Windows Nominations: American Book Association Award for achievement in writing video games Tying up loose ends in a series focused on political intrigue and all things metaphysical can't be easy. In Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider--a stand-alone game capping off the events of Dishonored 2--it covers the exploits of various side-characters on a more personal quest, that doesn't overstay its welcome. Arkane Studios continues its tradition of coming up with an incredibly inventive and cunning game about elusive assassins making their mark on the world around them, while choosing where and when to make the tough choices. Set several months after Dishonored 2, Emily Kaldwin and Corvo Attano have since left the isle of Karnaca, leaving Billie Lurk to return to her old ways to track down her former mentor Daud. Pulling from her skills working under the master assassin, they form a plan to confront The Outsider, a deity of the Void realm and instigator of events throughout the series. Billie Lurk will use her newfound powers to sneak, loot, and track down key targets to find a way to eliminate the demigod once and for all. Much like the previous games, Death Of The Outsider makes effective use of large, open levels. With each city block holding a number of side-opportunities and events, there is plenty to learn and uncover during your excursions. Billie's story aims to round out the narrative presented in both Dishonored games, but the general flow is somewhat lacking. While starting strong, the story eventually runs out of steam, with its final missions falling a bit flat. With that said, there are many details packed in for Dishonored fans, revealing important notes that flesh out the events since the last game. Billie's approach is a bit different compared to the exploits of Corvo, Emily, and Daud. With no mark bestowed from the Outsider, she is free from the Demigod's watchful gaze, and isn't judged by her overall actions throughout the story. This helps to set the tone for what players can expect in Death Of The Outsider. With the lack of the Chaos System from previous games, the moral ambiguity of the story matches the gameplay, allowing her to go about missions in different and inventive ways--often going for a more improvised style that blends lethal and non-lethal moves. I tend to be more stealth focused when playing a stealth-action games, and dread the moments when having to mash the reload save key to avoid dealing with lost resources and the bloody mess I left behind. In this game, getting caught isn't as punishing, allowing you to recover from a messy job. With your overall performance graded after each mission--judging times detected, hostiles killed, and items found--you'll be able to focus more on being an effective assassin, without the added pressure of an overarching meta system keeping you in-check. With gear including lethal and non-lethal darts and mines, grenades, and a stealthy sword--including powers that assist with traversal and the mani[CENSORED]tion of your enemies--how you go about your mission is up to you. As an immersive sim, each character and object in the game space can be mani[CENSORED]ted, opening up some rather interesting gameplay opportunities--like baiting enemies with thrown bottles to walk into traps, or some more creative options like using the Semblance power to mimic the appearance of others to get the jump on targets. In a lot of ways, this stand-alone release's more relaxed style does more to compliment the series' immersive sim design compared to its predecessors. Billie Lurk's overall repertoire of skills are much more lean compared to the other characters. Though Corvo and Emily had a sizable pool of powers, the Captain of the Dreadful Wale has just three, along with a side ability to Rat Whisper--where she can hear the thoughts of nearby rodents to learn clues and tidbits about the characters in the area. With no mark, Billie's powers work on recharging mana, a more than welcome addition that gets rid of mana potions. Despite the smaller pool of powers, she can still acquire and craft a set of Bone Charms to amplify her various skills and attributes. Focusing on the key areas of traversal, recon, and subterfuge--her powers cover the gamut of what players will need throughout their missions. One power in particular named Foresight, allows Billie to project herself as a spectre to scout and mark targets. This skill is a standout, proving its usefulness time and again when locating Bone Charms and key items. However, the fact that there is only three powers can make the overall gameplay potential feel limited compared to previous games. While creative players can certainly make the best of it, it was disappointing to see that these were all you get. However, completing the game once will unlock the Original Game + mode, replacing Billie's original powers with Blink, Domino, and Dark Vision from Dishonored 2--bringing back a feeling of familiarity. Dishonored's AI systems are as sharp as ever, and will require some planning to get through unscathed--but going in at full force isn't discouraged if that's your thing. With the more lax gameplay systems on display, there's much more incentive to experiment with the tools at your disposal. During one segment, I used Foresight to mark several targets before using a combination of electric mines and the Disperse teleport ability to plant traps during their patrol routes, disabling several guards within seconds as I slipped away with valuable loot. Only taking about 7 hours to clear on the normal setting, there are several missions that beg for a revisit, such as the mission to infiltrate Karnaca's Bank--resulting in one of the series' most finely tuned levels. One feature brought in to add more variety are the new contracts found in the Black Market, where you can also buy items and upgrade your gear. Billie can take on a selection of side-jobs from the citizens in Karnaca, ranging from the bizarre, such as killing an annoying mime and making it look like an accident, to the more morbid--like getting revenge on a sadistic doctor who experiments on his patients. Surprisingly, Death Of The Outsider channels much more of the spirit of classic stealth-action games like the original Thief. Giving room to experiment and prod aspects of the environment to see what works, without too many distractions from the story. Along with a custom game mode, allowing you to tune the game's AI, fail-states, and add in other odd and challenging options like Ironman Mode--Death of the Outsider gives you a number of ways to define the type of stealth-action game you want to play. In a lot of ways, this stand-alone release's more relaxed style does more to compliment the series' immersive sim design compared to its predecessors. Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider is a solid, inventive, yet somewhat subdued capper to the stories from the previous Dishonored games. While the smaller scope can be felt throughout, the approach to allowing players to express themselves as a master assassin is just as strong as ever. It's uncertain where the series can go from here, but this stand-alone release proves that Dishonored is still a remarkably designed stealth-action game with much potential, that offers players the chance to be creative in ways they'd least expect. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 8 GB OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit versions) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB or better PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 60 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 3 GB (2 GB NVIDIA) Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Recommended Requirements CPU: Intel Core i7-4770/AMD FX-8350 or better CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 16 GB OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB/AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB or better PIXEL SHADER: 5.1 VERTEX SHADER: 5.1 FREE DISK SPACE: 60 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 8 GB (6 GB NVIDIA)

Give your children the emotional and moral support they need during this time, especially as they navigate the new territories of virtual learning. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about new norms for us as a global community with ‘social isolation’ being a significant part of this new reality. Every section of society is facing its own woes when it comes to its repercussions, along with children with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities describe a wide range of learning problems including dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and processing deficits. It is important to understand that this is not a problem with intelligence or motivation rather, the difference lies in how they receive, process and retain information. March 2020 brought about one of the biggest changes in our lives; schools became virtual. I am sure this has caused more disruption in the lives and routines of parents and children with learning disabilities and special needs. Therefore, it is most important to understand how to support children with learning disabilities. The bigger picture Irrespective of being a parent or a teacher, it is important to keep things in perspective and look at the bigger picture. Remember, we are not trying to ‘cure’ learning disabilities, instead we must look at providing social, emotional and academic skills that will help them overcome their challenge and make them more resilient. Give your children the emotional and moral support they need during this time, especially as they navigate to the new territories of virtual learning. Research on learning disability programmes, therapies and educational techniques. Focus on your child’s strengths Don’t let your child be defined and confined by their learning disability. This is just one area of weakness. Instead, encourage and pay attention to their many strengths and unique talents. It is important that you continue to allot time for creative activities too especially during this lockdown. Online teaching has opened a whole new world of opportunities for us to learn various skills. Take charge of your role as educator As most parents double up as teachers during this time, it is important to identify how your child learns best. A short conversation with a special educator will give you a clear idea on whether your child is a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner. There are multiple resources available online to assist you with various strategies, tips and tools to help your child learn the way they can. Recognise that schools are only part of the solution but your support, interest and encouragement can have a greater impact on their lives. Lifestyle and habits This pandemic has made us contemplate on our lifestyle, habits and choices. A rested and well looked after mind and body is key; adequate sleep, exercise and nutrition will help with better focus and concentration. Children with learning disabilities benefit the most from routines so make sure they have one before and after virtual school. Create a study space for them and teach them how to organise and maintain the classwork so you don’t have to do it for them. Seeking professional help Recognising a build-up of frustration, anxiety or stress in both you and your child is important. Communicate with teachers, special educators or therapist about the struggles you are facing for better assistance. Reach out to a counsellor or psychologist if you or your child feel overwhelmed in any way. Talking about your frustrations with a professional who can suggest healthy ways to cope with the situation will help you and your child deal with stressful situations with more compassion and empathy. Remember, one size does not fit all when it comes to learning disabilities but positive attitudes, resilient beliefs and healthy habits can bring back some normalcy during this pandemic.

The expected merger between the PSA and FCA groups could soon revive the Fiat Punto, several years after its disappearance from the catalog. Future Fiat Punto (2022) - The queen of the 90s is dead, long live the queen! After the slow agony experienced by the last generation of Punto, who disappeared in 2018, the Italian city car is about to return to the front of the stage. An unexpected comeback made possible by the imminent merger between its parent company (FCA) and the French group PSA. If all goes well In the automotive industry, you have to know how to separate yourself from certain models when it turns sour. This was for example the case of the Peugeot RCZ coupe, in the mid-2010s, when the health of the Lion was still fragile. Or the Citroën C5, not renewed due to the decline of sedan sedans. A fate that will soon hit the Renault Scenic and Espace minivans. Punto, the forgotten of the 2010 But when it comes to Fiat, we never understood why the third generation of Punto had no immediate descendants. Sergio Marchionne, formerly head of the transalpine manufacturer, before his death in 2018, preferred to bet almost exclusively on the 500 family, from the end of the 2000s. 13 years after its launch, the Punto bowed out at the same time as the boss of the Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, after many restylings having kept it under artificial respiration. A curious strategic choice, while the Punto still enjoyed a good love rating in its segment, just 10 years ago. It is certain that a fourth generation launched in 2012/2013 would have met success, despite the intense competition between the Clio, 208, Polo and Fiesta, to name a few. France at the helm At the turn of the 2020s, it seems that the plan for a new Fiat Punto is coming back on the carpet under three-color impulse, in more ways than one. Besides, of course, the arrival of PSA in the capital of Fiat-Chrysler at the end of 2020, we will have this return thanks to a certain Olivier François, current Managing Director of Automobiles Fiat. The 50-year-old, notably at Citroën in the 1990s, spoke to our British colleagues at Auto Express last May. A Tipo SUV before the Punto If we learn in particular in his interview, that the compact Tipo is going to be replaced by a compact SUV, of the Nissan Qashqai type, the French also evokes the importance of returning to the niche of city dwellers: “We need to 'a segment B vehicle. It's no mystery. This project has been permanently postponed. Now it is under development. But it would be premature to speak of this model. We will certainly have a sector B. " Thank you 208 and Corsa Logically, this new Fiat Punto would be based on the CMP underbody, currently used by the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa. This would make the Italian eligible for a 100% electric motor. This future e-Punto would probably take over the 100kW block from its cousins, and offer a range located around 330 km. Arrive late 2022? Everything can go very quickly with the emergence of a new Fiat Punto. The PSA group demonstrated this by developing the current Opel Corsa in record time, based on a Peugeot 208, following the acquisition of the Blitz from General Motors in 2017. We can bet that before the end of 2022, the fourth generation of Punto could already be showing off… unless the European Union delays the merger between the two automobile giants. Indeed, Brussels recently opened an investigation, fearing that this marriage would lead to domination on the utility market. A case to follow…

Authorities have sent supplies to the quarantined workers of the Tönnies meatpacking plant German authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia are bringing back local lockdown measures after a coronavirus outbreak linked to a meatpacking plant. More than 1,500 employees of the Tönnies plant have tested positive. State premier Armin Laschet said the "preventative measures" in Gütersloh district, home to about 360,000 people, would last until 30 June. It is the first such move since Germany began lifting its lockdown restrictions nationwide in May. The country has been praised for its response to the crisis, but there are fears infections are rising again. What's happening in Gütersloh? Mr Laschet described the outbreak linked to the Tönnies meatpacking plant, south-west of the city of Gütersloh, as the "biggest infection incident" in the country. "We have decided that further measures are necessary," he told reporters. People are not barred from leaving the area, but Mr Laschet appealed for local residents "not to travel to other districts". Police were sent to guard residential buildings for the plant's employees Bars, museums, cinemas and gyms must all close, and restaurants can only serve meals to take away. Stricter social distancing measures are back in force, meaning people can only meet one person from outside their own household in public. Schools and nurseries for 50,000 children have been closed. There is also a mandatory quarantine in place for all employees of the affected plant. Three police units have been deployed to enforce the measures, accompanied by aid workers. Authorities have put up metal fencing around residential buildings where workers live and are distributing food to more than 7,000 employees. Mr Laschet said it was important that the workers in quarantine are treated humanely. Only 24 residents of the district who do not work at the plant have so far tested positive for the virus, he added. Bulgarian, Polish and Romanian consular staff have all visited the region and translators are on hand to speak to migrant workers. Mr Laschet criticised the Tönnies Group on Tuesday for their response, telling reporters their willingness to co-operate "could have been greater". All operations at the site were suspended last Wednesday. A spokesman for the Tönnies Group apologised for the outbreak. Local authorities have the power to enforce different measures in their areas. Regulations differ from region to region. This is not the only localised outbreak in Germany. A tower block has been placed under quarantine in the central German city of Göttingen, and police were sent to maintain order on Saturday after residents tried to get out. Officials said those inside attacked officers with fireworks, bottles and metal bars. Most though have been complying with the quarantine. And other European countries are also seeing small outbreaks. On Monday the north-eastern Spanish region of Aragón reimposed stricter lockdown measures on about 68,000 residents of the Huesca province. Health minister Salvador Illa said officials were closely monitoring the situation and said it was "on its way to being under control". What's the situation in Germany? Lothar Wieler, head of the nation's public health body the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), told reporters on Tuesday the country was at risk of a second wave of infections but said he was optimistic they could prevent it. Currently the reproduction rate - the R number which indicates how many people one infected person can pass the virus to - in Germany is estimated at 2.76. But authorities have stressed the outbreaks remain localised. The R number must be below one for infection rates to fall.

It’s never a bad idea to periodically change the password on your MacBook It seems every other day we’re writing about yet another security breach from the most innocuous places. And with the current state of the world, hackers are getting even more creative in order to get their hands on your precious information. That’s why it’s more important than ever to make sure that anything that has access to your private data is locked down tight. That’s why it’s a good practice to change your password from time to time. Whether it’s a work machine that requires the added security to project sensitive files, or an at-home machine that’s housing bank statements, credit card details, and login information, it’s never a bad idea to periodically change the password on your MacBook. But remember, when you change your administrative password, you’ll be prompted to change the Keychain password as well -- and it’s a good idea to do it. Ready to get on the road to Fort Knox-levels of security? Follow the steps below to update your MacBook’s administrator password and add another level of much-needed security. 1) Click the Apple logo on the Menu bar. 2) In the menu that opens, select System Preferences. 3) In the System Preferences window, select User & Groups. 4) In the Users & Groups window, select the Admin account. 5) In the right pan, click Change Password. 6) In the dialogue box that opens, enter your old password. 7) In the New password text box, enter a password. ? Enter the password again in the Verify text box. 9) Click Change Password to confirm the change.

The big daddy of GPU coolers. Raijintek Morpheus 8057 If you think air cooling is dead, think again. Raijintek (via @FanlessTech) has unleashed the high-end Morpheus 8057 cooler that's been tailored for the latest AMD Navi and Nvidia Turing graphics cards. On AMD's end, the Morpheus 8057 is compatible with the Radeon RX 5600, RX 5700 and their corresponding XT variants. The list of supported Nvidia graphics cards is a bit more extensive though. The Morpheus 8057 can be used with the GeForce RTX 2060, RTX 2070, RTX 2080, RTX 2080 Ti as well as the Super variants for the first three models. Aesthetically, the Morpheus 8057 comes with a nice, black coating that should blend into the majority of PC builds. Its brobdingnagian design, which according to Raijintek, allows the cooler to handle graphics cards up to 360W of TDP. The Morpheus 8057 measures 254 x 100 x 44mm and weighs up to 515g without any fans installed. Raijintek Morpheus 8057 The copper baseplate, which flaunts a mirror finish, is connected to the giant heatsink via 12 copper heat pipes that are 6mm in diameter. The heatsink itself is comprised of a stack of 129 aluminium alloy fins. The heat pipes pass through each of the fins to maximize heat dissipation. Unfortunately, the Morpheus 8057's design prohibits its from cooling the graphics card's memory chips or power delivery subsystem. However, Raijintek bundles three copper and eight aluminium heatsinks for the memory chips. The cooling fans aren't included either so you'll have to shell out extra cash for them. Raijintek does provide eight fan clips, four for fans with a 25mm thickness and four for ones with a 13mm thickness. Raijintek didn't reveal the pricing or availability for the Morpheus 8057.

Initial release date: October 26, 2010 Software developer: Leonhead Studio Genre: Action RPG Platforms: Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Nominations: Spike Video Games Awards for Best RPG, More Designers: Peter Molyneux, Josh Atkins Last October, Fable III was released for the Xbox 360. Comical characters and enchanting aesthetics overshadowed many of the game's problems, providing another magical trip through the world of Albion. For PC players eager to try their hand at being a hero, the wait is finally over. Fable III has arrived on the PC and brought with it the merriment and whimsy that make it such a pleasure to spend time in this mythical land. There are a few small changes from the console original, but this is essentially the same game that was released seven months ago. The combat has been rebalanced to provide more challenge and most of the graphical bugs have been ironed out, but don't expect any new content for your patience. In fact, previously released downloadable content, such as Traitor's Keep, isn't even included in the package; you need to shell out $7 to play it just like Xbox 360 owners. The lack of new content is disheartening, and problems such as weak moral choices and inconsequential gameplay diversions persist, but Fable III is still a delightful adventure that will make you laugh and smile while you're slicing up hollow men. The hero who saved Albion in Fable II went on to become a beloved monarch, siring two children who would eventually look over the kingdom when their time came. Not all members of royalty can be blessed with a strong vision of how to lead their people into peace and prosperity, though. The oldest son of the former ruler has a case of the evils, and he is using his power as the new king to oppress the poor peasants who fall under his rule. As the younger sibling (you can choose to be a prince or princess), you flee from the castle under off-putting circumstances and must build up your own army to overthrow your power-hungry brother. There's a stronger emphasis on the story in Fable III than in previous games in the series, and there is a certain charm in meeting the various leaders throughout the city to gain allies. But the quests are structured more for a good hero than one with evil leanings; you are forced to do all sorts of nice things during your rise to power, which limits your chances to be an uncaring meanie. The lack of choice in how the main quest plays out is disappointing, although it's possible to excuse this story conceit when you consider how it matches reality. To gain power, you must make concessions and convince people you're truly on their side; it's only after you take the throne for yourself that you can turn your back on the nice folks who supported you. That may make sense, but the lack of consequences for the vast majority of your actions makes it difficult to become invested in your choices. For instance, you can slay an entire town, murdering every adult you can find if you feel a bit bloodthirsty. But mere moments after committing such an atrocity, you can continue on with the main quests where people trust you and consider you a good person. It doesn't make any sense. Even choosing the bad option in side quests has few repercussions. In one early mission, you can choose to either kill a brood of chickens or let them live. If you spare their lives, you can bet on chicken races later. But even if you kill them all, the races are still available. The game goes so far out of its way to make sure you don't paint yourself into a corner that you rarely suffer any setback for your choices. Take a look, it's in a book. This lack of emotional connection seeps throughout the rest of the story. Character interaction has actually been dumbed down even from the fart-or-dance options that defined Fable II. As in the previous game, you have the choice to perform a nice or nasty greeting to any character you meet. If you're courteous, you can befriend and eventually marry that character. If you're obnoxious, though, you create many enemies. But when conversations with your date just have you whistling a song or playing patty-cake until she gives you a gift, it's hard to care one iota when she accidentally gets torn to shreds by a pack of balverines. Expressing your emotions is one of many places in which simplified mechanics limit your potential for fun. Previously, you could perform any learned gesture at any time. Now? You're limited to a couple options, and you have to wait for the choices to cycle through after every move. This aspect of the game has the same emotional impact as what you would find in Fable II (read: none), but it's hard to even care about your dog this time around. There is never a bonding moment and you can't even heal him after battle (he never gets hurt), so he's more of a furry metal detector than a lovable friend. It's a shame that Fable III can't conjure any deep feelings for its funny-though-forgettable characters, but that's not to say you won't be emotionally invested at all. This is a gorgeous game. Every place you travel to has its own unique look and feel, and it's an undeniable joy to scour the lands for no other reason than to take in the beautiful sights. It is the breathtaking vistas and enchanting forests that pull you in; the smog-filled sky in Bowerstone or the sandy dunes of Aurora keep you engaged. Though your heart may not twinge for the characters you meet, the stirring score does a great job of making it flutter in your chest. Fable III is happy or somber, scary or uplifting, and it pulls off these emotional changes through careful artistic design and empowering music. Walking through Albion is to walk through the pages of a fairy tale. This meticulously constructed world is so enticing to look at and so pleasing to the ear that it makes up for the lack of depth in the other areas. It's Lute Hero! Get it? Unfortunately, the technical aspects aren't as refined as the artistic side of things. The most glaring problem is the pathfinding. Your dog, helpful treasure hunter that he is, is awful at pointing you in the right direction. He gets stuck on rocks and trees, and sometimes he just stands near you barking instead of running off to show you where to dig. This busted pathfinding stretches to humans as well. When you hold a companion's hand, you would expect him to dutifully walk alongside you. But your companions also get stuck on any obstacle in their path, and these quirks can quickly pull you out of the experience. In the Xbox 360 version, these technical issues also extend to the visuals, but those bugs have been mostly ironed out in the PC version. Pop-in and slowdown have been largely eradicated like so many hobbes, which lets the game showcase the blissful aesthetics without distracting you with a bevy of minor issues. Sadly, there are still frame rate drops during certain combat sequences, even on PCs that exceed the recommended settings. The game chugs along like a snail caught in a pile of salt, and the only way to set things rightl is to briefly return to your sanctuary. Despite the odd frame rate quirk, Fable III is a beautiful game that is a pleasure to explore. Like the visuals, the combat system has also been improved from the Xbox 360 release. You have three core offensive abilities you can switch among at any time. Melee, magic, and ranged attacks require you to tap or hold the appropriate button and watch enemies die before you. Previously, you would gain separate experience orbs depending on which moves you used, but that upgrade system has been removed. This means that you have free choice in your actions--you no longer have to use ranged attacks just to build up that specific skill. In the Xbox 360 version, this meant you could rely on magic attacks for the entire game, which made fighting tedious. But enemies are stronger in the PC version, which forces you to switch among all of your attacks if you want to finish them off quickly. Smoothly switching from long-range attacks to keep your enemies at bay to sword strikes when they rush in makes you feel like the hero you're supposed to be, and though there is still little consequence for dying (you earn a few scars but respawn immediately), the added strategy helps to keep you invested in the hacking forays. You don't upgrade your character directly in battle. Instead, you gain guild points by completing quests, killing enemies, and so forth, and you spend these on new powers. This is how you upgrade your various attacks, unlock new gestures, and purchase new types of magic, among other things. There are also aesthetic and practical changes made to your weapons as you play through your adventure. Your hero's starting weapons (a hammer, sword, pistol, and rifle) change shape depending on your actions. If you earn lots of gold, your sword may grow a gilded handle; or, if you like magic, glowing runes may be imposed on the side of your pistol. It's a neat feature that doesn't have much impact in combat, but it's a cool visual trick. More important are the attribute upgrades you can unlock for purchased weapons. If you slay 300 human enemies, then you may be able to gain money with each hit, for instance, and because these goals are clearly spelled out, it gives you something to strive for during combat. There is one nice touch in the combat that may not make it more fun to play, but it's certainly more fun to watch. Your hero randomly performs killer takedowns, and it's enjoyable to snap the necks of your enemies with your knees or pierce their hearts with your sword in a burst of brutality. Fable III doesn't feature a traditional pause menu. Instead, when you pause, you're whisked away to your sanctuary. This is a safe house that hides a few separate rooms in which you can take care of your royal duties. Duck into your wardrobe to don a chicken suit or maybe go around in just your underwear; change your weapons in your armory; go into a treasure vault that gives you a chance to ogle your wealth and marvel at your trophies; or visit a fancy co-op room that lets you check your stats and join another player's game. And in the center of these rooms is a map that lets you look down at the whole kingdom or fast travel anywhere in a snap. Because it only takes a second to warp to the sanctuary at any time (even midbattle), load times aren't a problem, and there is an undeniable pleasure in grabbing a rifle off the wall or seeing your clothes on a mannequin before you get dressed. The sanctuary is a quiet place to take a breather and a novel way to deal with item management. Children can be so trusting. The sights and sounds are certainly the most obvious draw in Fable III, but this is also a consistently funny and often hilarious game. The sheer wealth of punch line victims is awesome. Once again, chickens are thrust to the forefront, but theories involving evil poultry are just the beginning of the ridiculous instances. There's one mercenary's reaction to being farted on (an unhealthy amount of puking), a clever wink at the anticlimatic final boss in Fable II, and even a jab at the expense of child labor. Few topics are off limits, but all the humor is good natured, ensuring that it delights rather than offends. There are also 50 mouthy gnomes dotting the land to find and silence. There's nothing quite like searching for a lost child and then hearing insults raining down from above until you finally find the foul-mouthed gnome and shoot him with your trusty gun. Fable III keeps up its funny facade the whole way through, and it's a huge part of why it remains so entertaining despite its problems. Unfortunately, the bulk of the game comprises small issues. You can purchase businesses and properties in Fable III, and you receive a stipend every five minutes. In the previous game, you earned money even when the game was turned off, which was a cheap way to build a fortune. Now, you have to actually be playing, so your bank grows more slowly, and you have to maintain your properties. It may not sound like much, but when you own dozens of houses, it can be a huge pain to go to each one and repair it so you can continue to reap your financial benefits. If you had the option to just "repair all," it would have made things less tedious. Thankfully, you can handle all of your property management using the map in your sanctuary, which means you can buy that pub you've been eyeing in the middle of battle or even evict some peasants because you feel like being a jerk. She's a lady. With all the side quests in Fable III, it can take more than 20 hours to reach the end. And you can even play through the entire adventure cooperatively if you're pining for some companionship. You can take your hero into another player's world or, if you're the trusting type, invite another player to play in yours. The core gameplay is unchanged so don't expect any cool additions just because you have a friend in tow, but it can still be a lot of fun. Combining forces lets you dispose of those pesky enemies even quicker, giving you a chance to focus on the good elements while brushing the weaker aspects to the curb. If you're really committed, you can start a family (and even have a baby!) or enter into a property contract and share your collective wealth. If you team up with the wrong person, though, you could be bankrupt in a hurry or be stuck with a hungry brood while your friend is off adventuring, but it's all in good fun. This is a game about choices after all, so just make sure you don't unwittingly team up with someone on the evil side of the morality fence. Fable III has issues--emotionally distant characters, and weak moral choices among them--but its biggest problem is Fable II. The latest adventure in Albion plays so similar to its predecessor that it struggles to establish an identity of its own. The small tweaks don't dig very deeply and the cosmetic changes are welcome but insubstantial. So, this is ultimately a really enjoyable game that will deliver a serious case of deja vu for anyone who spent time playing the last game. That's not a deal breaker, but it makes the good elements less exciting and the bad elements more noticeable. The outstanding artistic design and great sense of humor make it worth playing, but the other aspects have been streamlined to such a high degree that their simple pleasures have been lessened. While you shouldn't expect everything to run smoothly, it's a joy to be whisked away to Fable III's magical world. Minimum system requirements: Operating System: XP 32 (Service Pack 3), Vista 32/64 , Win 7 32/64 CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 4000+ Memory: 2GB Hard Drive Space: 12 GB of free space Graphics Hardware: NVidia 7600GT or ATI HD 2600 Pro DirectX: 9.0c onward Network: Internet or LAN connection required for multiplayer Recommended system requirements: Operating System: Win 7 CPU: Intel Pentium 2.9Ghz Core 2 Duo or higher Memory: 4GB Hard Drive Space: 12 GB of free space Graphics Hardware: Nvidia 260GTX 896MB or ATI 5770 1GB or higher DirectX: 9.0c onward Network: Internet or LAN connection required for multiplayer

If your Touch Bar is freezing or misbehaving, it doesn’t take much to quickly restart it Apple’s Touch Bar, added in 2016, allows quick access to multiple functions on the Mac. The LED screen resides on top of your keyboard, and below the screen, changing in functionality depending on which app you’re using at the time. Photoshop, for example, provides easy access to some of your most-used tools. YouTube puts a video timeline in the Touch Bar, allowing you to easily scrub through videos. When not being used by an app, it controls things like screen brightness and speaker volume, but each app uses the Touch Bar for different reasons. Although the concept is cool it does tend to run into problems at times, freezing or misbehaving until you’re forced to restart it. If you run into one of these problems, it doesn’t take much to quickly restart the Touch Bar with a Terminal command. If done successfully, the Touch Bar will blink, and then restart, hopefully operating normally once it does. 1) Click the Finder icon to open a Finder window. 2) In Applications, search Terminal. 3) In the search results, select Terminal. 4) In the Terminal window, type pkill "Touch Bar agent". 5) Press Enter to run the command.

To be successful, malware and other security exploits frequently leverage the powers of highly privileged Windows user accounts. It's not entirely a shock, then, that a new report reveals that 86 percent of all Windows security threats patched in 2015 would have been stopped or rendered toothless if they had attacked users who were using limited, rather than administrator, accounts, and hence lacked the power to install, modify or delete software. The 2015 Microsoft Vulnerabilities Study by Manchester, England-based enterprise-security provider Avecto, released Tuesday (Feb. 2), showed that 85 percent of remote-code-execution bugs (some of the most dangerous flaws) detailed in Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday reports would be nullified if the Windows active user did not have administrative rights. (The same company reached similar conclusions two years ago.) Microsoft Office and Windows 10 would also be much safer, as 82 percent of the security flaws would be blocked. Users with limited, a.k.a. "regular" accounts would have been protected from a whopping 99.5 percent of Internet Explorer vulnerabilities on all platforms, and 100 percent of Microsoft Edge security flaws in Windows 10. We advise all Windows users to operate their PCs primarily from regular/limited accounts, and to sign into administrative accounts only when they need to install, remove or update software. The default account that ships on most Windows computers is an admin account, so you'll need to create additional, regular accounts. OS X and Linux users would also be wise to use non-administrative accounts for their daily activity, but fewer exploits exist overall on those platforms. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to set up a limited-privilege user account in Windows 10. How to Create Limited-Privilege User Accounts in Windows 10 1. Tap the Windows icon. 2. Select Settings. 3. Tap Accounts. 4. Select Family & other users. 5. Tap "Add someone else to this PC." 6. Select "I don't have this person's sign-in information." 7. Select "Add a user without a Microsoft account." 8. Enter a username, type the account's password twice, enter a clue and select Next. 9. Tap the Windows icon. 10. Select the User icon at the upper left corner of the Start menu. 11. Select the new user. You'll then sign into your account with your password from step 8. You're now using a non-Administrator account!

Two screens are better than one You want a big expansive view of your data, websites, games and apps but can’t afford the more than $1,000 it might cost for a large 4K screen. There’s another way to go big – very big – on a monitor: put together your own dual-monitor display. By mounting a pair of screens on a special stand, you can combine their abilities, creating an ultra-wide display that will not only make your work and play a lot easier, but will let you stretch out your data. I’ll show you how to do it from start to finish, and give you a few tips and tricks along the way to make the build quicker, easier and anxiety-free. Don’t be intimidated, this is not a hard project to accomplish and all the tools you’ll need are included with the stand. Let’s start with the parts. Screen starter It all starts with the screens. While it’s best to get two displays of the same model, you don’t have to. Today’s monitors generally have enough adjustments for color, brightness and contrast so you can closely match two different models, making them seem like a single limitless expanse. For the visuals, I’ll be using a pair of Acer CB242Y displays. They sell for about $110 each, although the company has refurbished ones for about $100. The screens have 1080p (HD) resolution, a gamer-friendly response rate of 1 millisecond and very narrow side bezels. This is important because a larger frame would show up where the two screens meet. For me, the pair of 23.8-inch screens will yield the equivalent of a 43-inch display with a combined resolution of 3840 x1080. More to the point, it will be long and narrow enough to comfortably fit five or six open windows. Stand by me With its ability to hold the pair of displays securely next to each other, the Ergotron LX Dual Side by Side Arm clamped easily onto my desk. The key is that each arm is articulated and has a 100 millimeter VESA mounting plate for screwing into each screen. The arm’s pull-out cord tray does a pretty good job of hiding the power and video cables. The stand allows each screen to be tilted or moved up or down so they meld into one continuous panel. The $300 stand can be ordered in silver or black, but there are cheaper alternatives. In addition to the LX, Ergotron makes a $275 LX Desk Dual Direct Arm. Connect and conquer There are two ways to connect my HP EliteBook G4 1040 to a pair of screens: If your computer’s graphics can handle it, the easiest method is to connect them directly to the laptop. For me, this means using its HDMI port and cable for one screen and a Plugable USB-C adapter cable for the other. Another method relies on an external graphics adapter, like Startech's $70 MSTCDP122HD; it creates two HDMI streams out of a USB-C connection. While this build uses a notebook, it might be easier with a desktop computer. That’s because many tower systems have two video outputs, like an HDMI along with a DVI or VGA port. Putting it all together Now that we have all the parts ready to go, let’s put it together. I suggest starting with the stand, then adding the displays and finally, plugging it all in. 1. My first step is to clamp the stand to the desk. I’m using a thin piece of wood to protect the desk’s surface. 2. Next, I put the arm onto the base and got the first display ready. 3. Then, I screwed the mounting plate to the back of the display using the included thumbscrews. 4. Once ready, I put the display on the stand’s arm. 5. I finished by hiding the cables in the arm’s cord tray and pressing in the covers that hide the screw holes. 6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 with the second screen. The displays should look like a pair of wings. 7. Turn the computer on and plug an HDMI cable into the notebook’s port and the first display, followed by plugging the USB C-to-HDMI-adapter cable into the computer and second display. 8. There’s another way: I plug both screens into the Startech MSTCDP122HD with HDMI cables and then plug it into the USB-C port of the host notebook. 9. Either way, the computer’s Display Settings section now shows both screens. Click on Identify and the screens should display a “1/2” (for the host notebook and the left screen), and a “3” (for the right screen). 10. If they don’t match up with what’s on the computer’s display, reverse the cables. Finish by changing the Multiple Displays to Duplicate. 11. I want to use the notebook with its lid shut, so I go to the Advanced Settings section of the Power & Sleep category and set the system to not turn off when I close the lid. 12. I finish up by connecting the wireless transmitter for the wireless keyboard and mouse. It’s a good idea to do some tweaking. Start by adjusting the height and angle of the screens to make them match. Then, set the distance from your chair to roughly two feet. You have two major layout choices: flat or angled. The former provides a long, narrow view of your apps and data, but you might need to refocus your eyes to see the extremities. The latter allows my head to be in the middle of the action, surrounded by two screens. I suggest setting them at roughly a 150-degree angle, which is a nice compromise. When I’m happy with the layout, I tighten the stand’s screws with the included hex key. Relax and enjoy the show Now that it’s all done, I love the wide expansive view of my digital world. This project was well worth the time, effort and cost. All told, it’s not only bigger but better than a 42-inch display because, for me, the long narrow 3820 x 1080 resolution provides plenty of room to work with five or six horizontal windows. At a little more than $600 and 45 minutes of my time, the dual-display has transformed my desk and online life. I frequently use it to play a game of Crusader Kings, while I try to do some work using Word, Excel and a browser window or two. It all fits without feeling crowded, making everything a lot easier. This project worked so well that it’s got me thinking that two displays might not be enough. How does four screens sound?

Could this electric-powered family hatch be the car to take the EV into the mainstream? We drive a showroom-ready ID 3 to see What is it? The ID 3 is an electric car in search of mainstream acceptance. The first model from Volkswagen’s new ID electric car sub-brand sets out to emulate the feats of the original Beetle and the Golf with a goal incoming Volkswagen brand CEO Ralf Brandstätter says is centred around global sales counted in the “millions per year”. To do this, it’ll need to convince buyers to look beyond many accomplished combustion-engined rivals, including the excellent new Golf. However, VW is confident electric cars are set to hit the big time and is in the midst of spending up to £8 billion on an extended range of ID models to ensure it is in the thick of the action if and when they begin to take off. The target? Three million electric cars by 2025. This is the second time we’ve driven the car that aims to knock the Nissan Leaf from the top of the global electric car sales charts and take electric motoring to the masses. The first was an early camouflaged prototype that gave us a hint of the potential of the ID 3 but it lacked the polish of this production-ready example. As well as experiencing the ID 3 on public roads, we’ve put it through its paces at VW’s development centre in Wolfsburg – one of the toughest tests any car can undertake, with a combination of banked high-speed test tracks, challenging handling courses, rough road simulations and a large skid pan among other disciplines. While the ID 3’s launch has been delayed by persistent software problems, VW has decided to release the car without various features, including the App Connect function used to run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Early adopters will also temporarily go without some functions of the augmented reality head-up display. Both will be restored with a software update as soon as engineers are confident the new car’s E3 electrical system is able to reliably support them. Set for UK delivery in late September, the ID 3 indirectly replaces the earlier e-Golf. It’s 23mm shorter, 20mm wider and 96mm taller than the newly introduced Mk8 Golf but its wheelbase is 129mm longer, indicating its greater interior space. It also rolls on much larger wheels, starting at 18in in base trim and increasing to 20in. Despite its relative tallness, the aerodynamic properties are quite impressive. Among the wind-cheating measures are aero-optimised wheels, an almost completely enclosed front end, a panel at the end of the bonnet to channel wind more efficiently over the windscreen, substantial cladding along the entire underbody and a large cowl with an integrated spoiler set within the rear window. It all adds up to a Golf-beating Cd of 0.267. The ID 3 sits on the Volkswagen Group’s new MEB platform – a versatile structure that will underpin a wide range of new electric-powered passenger cars and commercial vehicles from VW and its various brands, including Audi, Seat and Skoda, as well as pure-electric Ford models as part of a joint venture. The ID 3 takes the smallest iteration of the MEB platform and all launch models get a rear-mounted electric motor in a layout recalling VW’s original Beetle’s. Buyers will eventually get the choice of a 148bhp or 201bhp output, although early First Plus UK models will have 201bhp and 229lb ft – all channelled through a fixed-ratio gearbox to the rear wheels. Along with two outputs, buyers will also choose between three battery packs: 48kWh (for a 205-mile WLTP range), 58kWh (261 miles) and 77kWh (342 miles). What's it like? VW has taken full advantage of the packaging benefits of the ID 3’s electric drivetrain to create an roomy interior with compact MPV-like levels of versatility. It’s quite commodious and pleasantly airy throughout, although I’m unconvinced by claims that it offers Passat levels of accommodation. The high floor means you’re somewhat perched and the thinly upholstered seats are more upright than those in a conventional combustion-engined hatchback. Boot capacity is also compromised by the packaging of the electric motor at the rear, which gives it a high loading lip, although its 385-litre capacity is 35 litres more than that offered by the latest Golf. The unique design of the dashboard is simple and uncluttered, with a clear emphasis on functionality and ease of use. Digital instruments are housed within a small free-standing display in front of the driver and the infotainment functions are grouped within a standard 10.0in touchscreen above the central air vents. Most controls – including those on the manually adjustable multi-function steering wheel – are operated via touch-sensitive buttons. As in the latest Golf, so-called sliders are used to control the volume and temperature. Although the build quality is up to the high standard we expect from VW, the materials are not. There are some agreeable slush-moulded plastic elements atop the dashboard but there is also a lot of hard plastic throughout the cabin. It is a clear cost-cutting move used to help offset the high costs of the battery. Three ID 3 First models will be sold in left-hand-drive European markets, although it is the mid-level First Plus that will initially be offered in the UK. Although trim levels are yet to be confirmed, it is set to feature 19in alloy wheels, rear tinted windows, a rearview camera and ‘dynamic’ LED lights as standard. Press the starter button located on the steering column, at which there is some distant telltale whirring of electronic devices, then twist the gearlever. It operates in two directions: forward to select drive and to alter the brake energy regeneration in so-called Battery mode and backwards to get neutral and reverse. Mounted high on an extension to the instrument display, it has a design and action that are similar to that used by the BMW i3, freeing up space within the centre console for two reasonably sized drink holders and storage bins. A nudge of the accelerator pedal gets you under way in quite an urgent manner. The sharp tip in response makes the ID 3 feel a lot lighter than its claimed 1720kg kerb weight suggests, providing it with quite vigorous off-the-line and roll-on acceleration, given its moderate 201bhp. VW is yet to issue a claimed 0-62mph time although Brandstätter points to a time similar to the Golf GTI’s, while top speed is limited to 100mph. The instantaneous torque unleashed by the electric motor shapes the performance, and with a fixed-ratio gearbox, the acceleration is linear and undeviating in its intensity up to motorway speeds, at which a combination of increased rolling resistance and wind-induced drag begin to challenge its otherwise impressive electric propulsion. In Drive mode, the ID 3 coasts without any perceptible mechanical drag when you lift off the accelerator, rolling on for seemingly impossible distances on flat roads. Rotating the gearlever forward to engage Battery mode summons a regenerative braking function that, in most cases, causes it to pull up all by itself with only an occasional need for the driver to operate the brakes – all the while harvesting kinetic energy, which is then stored in the battery. The action of the brake pedal is quite consistent, with a firm feel that instils confidence as you apply pressure. There’s a compulsory pedestrian warning dictated by European Union regulations, which automatically switches off above 12mph. Beyond this, ID 3 is superbly refined, with virtually silent drivetrain properties. As a result, wind and tyre noise are more noticeable than in a combustion-engined equivalent, although both are well suppressed, providing the new VW with outstanding refinement. One of the key advantages of the ID 3’s dedicated electric car platform and rear-mounted motor is the amount of space that has been made available at the front end and, with it, the scope to provide the car with an outstanding 10.2m turning circle. This has a big influence on its dynamics, giving it a wieldy character while ensuring it remains entirely intuitive in more challenging conditions in each of its driving modes: Eco, Comfort, Sport and Individual. Affordable electric cars don’t get much better to drive than this. The ID 3 is terrifically manoeuvrable – more so than the latest Golf – with a tempting eagerness to its actions that allows it to nip into and out of tight spaces and then stop and swivel easily into parking spaces with admirable nimbleness. At higher speeds, it corners in a nicely predictable, composed manner. The mounting of the electric motor at the rear provides it with a keen balance when hustled along. With its battery housed wholly within the flat floor structure, the new VW has a much lower centre of gravity than conventional combustion-engined hatchbacks. Despite its considerable weight, body roll is well checked by firm damping. With power going to the rear wheels and that instantaneous torque, there’s excellent traction and real punch out of tighter corners without any corruption to the steering, which remains free of drive forces. The variable-ratio steering rack is lightly weighted at low speeds to aid overall manoeuvrability but heft builds nicely as the pace increases, giving it quite a meaty feel when you begin to push on. But while there is an appealing keenness and directness to the action of the electro-mechanical system, it could do with stronger self-centring and greater feedback. The ID 3 comes with standard passive dampers and 18in wheels, although our heavily equipped test car featured optional adaptive dampers and 20in wheels shod with 215/45-profile Continental Eco Contact tyres. It was heavily damped and possessed firm rebound qualities but it felt nicely settled, with good absorption on the roads around VW’s headquarters in Germany, although it was occasionally caught out by more severe transverse ruts and broken bitumen, which tended to penetrate its otherwise abiding sense of calmness. Should I buy one? All of which provide many reasons to buy the ID 3. Still, you’ll be going nowhere without regularly replenishing the new VW’s energy stores. The model driven here, with the mid-range 58kWh battery, can be charged on an AC system at up to 11kW or with a DC set-up at up to 100kW. VW claims the latter has sufficient electrical energy to provide a range of 180 miles within 30 minutes of charging. More meaty models get an even more powerful 125kW option, leading to even more rapid charging times. If you’ve decided electric cars are for you – and perhaps even if you haven’t – the ID 3 should be on your list for consideration. Its inherent versatility and promised range mean it should be well suited to most daily driving needs, provided you have easy access to electricity. Beyond this, it delivers a fleet-footed driving experience with outstanding manoeuvrability and a polished ride. It’s very mature in a typical VW way: an electric car whose substance of engineering is central to its appeal. Volkswagen ID 3 specification Where Germany Price £33,000 (estimated, after grant) On sale July Engine Rear-mounted synchronous electric motor Power 201bhp Torque 229lb ft Gearbox fixed ratio, direct drive Kerb weight 1650kg (estimated) Top speed 100mph (governed) 0-62mph tbc Battery 58kWh Range 261 miles CO2 0g/km Rivals Hyundai Kona, Kia e-Niro, Nissan Leaf

President Donald Trump's re-election campaign has rejected claims that a social media campaign by Tik-Tok users and K-Pop fans was behind lower-than-expected turnout for Saturday night's Oklahoma rally. Teenagers are said to have booked tickets without intending to turn up so as to produce empty seats. But the Trump 2020 team said it had weeded out bogus reservations. Mr Trump had said he expected one million to come. The Bank of Oklahoma Center venue in Tulsa seats 19,000. The event was also planned to extend outside, though that part of it was cancelled. The Tulsa fire brigade is quoted as saying more than 6,000 attended, but the 2020 campaign suggested the figure was much higher. The team's campaign director said in a statement that "phony ticket requests never factor into our thinking" as entry to rallies is on a first-come first-served basis. Brad Parscale blamed the media and protesters for dissuading families from attending. "Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don't know what they're talking about or how our rallies work," Mr Parscale said. "Registering for a rally means you've RSVPed [confirmed attendance] with a cellphone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool." Trump’s 'comfort-blanket' rally may disappoint K-pop fans emerge as a powerful force in US protests Former Republican strategist and a critic of Mr Trump, Steve Schmidt, said teenagers across the US had ordered tickets without intending to turn up. His 16-year-old daughter and her friends had requested "hundreds" of tickets. A number of parents responded to Mr Schmidt's post saying that their children had done likewise. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading progressive figure, praised the young people and K-pop fans she said had "flooded the Trump campaign w/ fake ticket reservations". It is unclear how many of the hundreds of thousands of ticket reservations touted by the Trump campaign were fake, but one TikTok video from 12 June encouraging people to sign up for free tickets to ensure there would be empty seats at the arena has received more than 700,000 likes. The video was posted after the original rally date was announced for 19 June. The news had sparked angry reaction because it fell on Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of US slavery. The location of the event, Tulsa, was also controversial, as it was the site of one of the worst racial massacres in US history. After news of the smaller crowd numbers emerged, the account's owner Mary Jo Laupp praised the response, telling young people who were too young to vote: "Remember that you, in doing one thing and sharing information, had an impact." If true, it would not be the first time social media users have shown their political impact in recent weeks. Fans of K-pop, South Korea's po[CENSORED]r music industry, have been active in drowning out hashtags used by opponents of Black Lives Matter (BLM) in recent weeks, and raised money following the death of African-American George Floyd last month. Anthony Zurcher, who was in Tulsa, says rally organisers always approve more tickets than there is space, so pranksters filling out reservations would not have stopped legitimate supporters from attending. However, it appears they convinced the Trump campaign that more people were interested in going than actually were. The campaign had boasted of about one million RSVPs but if even half of those reservations had been legitimate the rally would have seen a far greater attendance, he adds. Coronavirus fears There had been health concerns about holding the rally, the first of its kind since lockdown measures began in many US states. Those attending the rally had to sign a waiver protecting the Trump campaign from responsibility for any illness. Hours before the event began, officials said six staff members involved in organising the rally had tested positive. Many of Mr Trump's supporters were not wearing face masks at the rally The pandemic was one issue Mr Trump touched on in his wide-ranging, almost two-hour-long speech to cheering supporters in Oklahoma, a Republican heartland. There had been fierce opposition, including a legal challenge rejected by Oklahoma's Supreme Court, against holding the rally during the pandemic on health grounds. Some feared the rally could become a coronavirus "super spreader" event. More than 2.2 million cases of Covid-19 and 119,000 associated deaths have been reported in the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. What did Trump say? In his opening remarks, Mr Trump said there had been "very bad people outside, they were doing bad things", but did not elaborate. Black Lives Matter activists were among the counter-protesters to gather outside the venue before the event. On the coronavirus response, Mr Trump said he had encouraged officials to slow down testing because it led to more cases being discovered. He described testing as a "double-edged sword". "Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases," he told the cheering crowd. "So I said 'slow the testing down'. They test and they test." The coronavirus, Mr Trump said, had many names, including "Kung Flu", a xenophobic term that appears to be a reference to China, where Covid-19 originated. Almost 120,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the US since the pandemic began, a number that health experts say could have been much higher had testing not been ramped up. Testing, health officials say, is important to understand where and how widely coronavirus is spreading, and therefore prevent further deaths. A White House official later said the president was "obviously kidding" about Covid-19 testing. Taking aim at his Democratic presidential rival, Mr Trump described Joe Biden as "a helpless puppet of the radical left". The president also struck a combative tone when he touched on anti-racism protests - and the toppling of statues - which began after the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis. "The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalise our history, desecrate our monuments - our beautiful monuments - tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control. We're not conforming," he told the crowd.

Name of Game: Need for Speed™ Payback Price: $14.99 Link Store:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262580/Need_for_Speed_Payback/ Offer Ends After : 9July 2020 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or later Processor: Intel i3 6300 @ 3.8GHz or AMD FX 8150 @ 3.6GHz with 4 hardware threads Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 750 Ti or AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 or equivalent DX11 compatible GPU with 2GB of memory DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 30 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later Processor: Intel i5 4690K @ 3.5GHz or AMD FX 8350 @ 4.0GHz with 4 hardware threads Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon™ RX 480 4GB, NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB or equivalent DX11 compatible GPU with 4GB of memory DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 30 GB available space

Initial release date: October 29, 2013 Series: Assassin's Creed Motor: anvil Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and WiiU Awards: Spike Video Game Award for Best Action Adventure Game Software developers: Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Quebec, more We've now had the opportunity to play the Xbox One version of Assassin's Creed IV, and there are no way ways around it: this version just doesn't look as nice as it does on PlayStation 4. The differences, however are slight. The PlayStation 4 version boasts a higher resolution, making detailed edges--like the leaves of a palm tree, or the rope nets on a ship--smoother and less jagged. But taken on its own, the Xbox One version still looks fantastic, with the impressive lighting and water effects that make sailing the Caribbean in this game such a joy. While the PS4 version does look better, you won't be disappointed by Assassin's Creed IV on Xbox One. - SM, 11/21/2013, 09:00 PST How far can you stray from home before it's impossible to ever return? That's the question at the heart of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It's something that plagues Edward Kenway, the game's roguish hero, as he explores the Caribbean in search of wealth and the dream of returning to England a more respectable man. But for as much as Kenway longs for the day he can leave the pirate life behind, the freedom of the open sea is a difficult thing to resist. And who can blame him? Because after this stunning and beautifully realized tale of adventure on the high seas, it's hard to imagine the Assassin's Creed series returning to its landlocked roots Simply sailing into the sunset is a delight in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The world of Black Flag is nothing short of remarkable. This is the most expansive setting in the history of the franchise, a virtual rendition of the West Indies that encompasses all manner of burgeoning colonies, Mayan ruins, and deadly jungles. Cities like Havana and Nassau reflect the series' trademark attention to detail, from the stonework cathedrals of the former to the ramshackle taverns of the latter. Then there are the remote islands inhabited by nothing more than crabs and sea turtles, underwater shipwrecks waiting to be explored, and vast stretches of sparkling Caribbean waters that are every bit as deadly as they are gorgeous. Indeed, what makes Black Flag so special is the way it captures the thrill of sailing the open sea. It's more than the spectacle of a humpback whale leaping into the air and spraying the deck of your ship, or the sound of your crew breaking out into a sea shanty just as the sun is beginning to set across the horizon. It's the feeling that there's always something out there to be discovered, rewards waiting to be captured no matter who's standing in your way. What began as a series of isolated side missions in Assassin's Creed III has exploded into a full-fledged means of exploration, discovery, and combat. Early into Black Flag, Kenway takes the helm of the Jackdaw, a pirate ship that has clearly seen better days. From there, it's your charge to build the Jackdaw into a vessel capable of taking on the most powerful warships in the Caribbean. After all, that Spanish gold isn't going to plunder itself. Taking on naval superpowers seems like a tall order early on, but pushing yourself to improve your once-rickety ship is a process that Black Flag makes incredibly rewarding. This is a game that gives you an absurd number of ways to acquire the coin and resources needed to hold your own at sea. You might run off in search of buried treasure using nothing more than a crudely drawn map, or silently infiltrate a military storehouse to collect the wood and metal needed to bolster the Jackdaw's hull. That bit of flotsam floating in the distance might be a crate of rum you can sell to make up the difference on your new mortar upgrades, or it might be a stranded sailor you can rescue to expand the size of your crew. Black Flag doesn't just present a beautiful world; it gives you a mountain of reasons to run off and go exploring. Black Flag builds on ACIII's naval side missions to create an experience every bit as important as running around on dry land. Upgrading your ship is critical because Black Flag places a huge emphasis on naval combat. Both the storyline and side missions are full of tense sea battles, where strategic positioning and explosive cannon fire come together in exhilarating contests of naval supremacy. It's a system that allows for a variety of tactics while never getting bogged down in overly complex controls, whether you're picking off enemies from afar with a well-placed mortar strike or dumping explosive barrels into the path of an unsuspecting foe. Whatever approach you take, managing sea battles is an absolute blast. Black Flag builds on ACIII's naval side missions to create an experience every bit as important as running around on dry land. It's not just wanton mayhem, either. Black Flag encourages you to take pause and survey the landscape before charging into a fight. With the help of your spyglass, you can scout another ship's cargo to decide whether the resources onboard match your current needs, as well as scout out how much money you'll be able to loot. This same tool also reveals an enemy's overall combat level, letting you know if you should warm up against a few more level-8 schooners before taking on that level-20 frigate. All this reconnaissance makes naval combat that much more satisfying; success comes not only from how accurately you lob your cannons, but from how adeptly you measure the risk versus the reward. These naval battles often lead directly into more traditional Assassin's Creed swordfighting, and it's in those seamless transitions that Black Flag fuses its two halves into one cohesive whole. Destroying a ship outright rewards you with only half its cargo, so you need to board these vessels and wear down their reluctant crews to reap the full reward. That means swinging acrobatically from one ship to another, exchanging sword strikes with enemy sailors, and watching your crew erupt in cheers once those enemies have surrendered. A similar transition occurs during the game's numerous fort takeover missions, where you bombard the defenses of a seaside fortress by ship before charging into the ensuing chaos to assassinate its officers amid a storm of fire and smoke. Black Flag doesn't just present a beautiful world; it gives you a mountain of reasons to run off and go exploring. That these acts of naval piracy continue to be so exciting so deep into the game's lengthy story campaign is a testament to just how excellent Black Flag's progression loop is. Raid an enemy gunboat, and you can scrap it for parts or send it on trade route missions to earn more money on the side. Overtake a fort, and you'll unlock dozens of new activities on the map, whether they're the location of great white sharks whose skin you can turn into improved armor or an underwater shipwreck you can explore once you've saved up enough for that diving bell. No matter where you go or what you do, it's virtually impossible to feel like you're not advancing in some way. And it's a quick game to advance, too. Assassin's Creed III's crawling preamble and frequent pacing issues are nowhere to be found here, as Black Flag wastes no time throwing you into the life of a pirate. The story revolves around the aforementioned Edward Kenway, a charming troublemaker from Bristol by way of Swansea. If his name sounds familiar, it should: Edward is the grandfather of ACIII protagonist Connor Kenway. The elder Kenway's backstory is rooted in a fairly standard trope--a peasant off in search of wealth to build a better life back home--but it's his unique place in the series' overarching fiction, and the universal themes the story explores, that makes the narrative shine. Storms have a way of catching you off guard in Black Flag. At the game's outset, Kenway is neither assassin nor templar. He's a man whose only allegiance lies with his ship's crew, playing both factions against one another for his own gain. But as the years wear on, the luster of youthful indiscretion fades away as Kenway wrestles with a desire to find some greater purpose and a longing to do right by his estranged wife back home. It's a story that explores the human side of pirates, painting larger-than-life figures in a light that even manages to turn Blackbeard into a sympathetic character. The narrative grows a bit unwieldy toward the end, but finds its footing just before a credit sequence that is far more touching than any story about pirates has a right to be. An eclectic cast of side characters briefly dance with but never fully tackle more powerful themes like race and gender in the age of colonialism, but such narrative flirtations are one of the few shortcomings in an otherwise terrific story. Even the modern-day chapters--brief and innocuous as they may be--manage to add a refreshing and occasionally humorous take to the Abstergo story arc. Despite the presence of pirates and scoundrels, the world of Black Flag is a consistently gorgeous one. The Assassin's Creed series has always had a knack for establishing an engrossing sense of place in its dense urban landscapes, and Ubisoft hasn't missed a step in applying that same level of craftsmanship toward the islands and jungles of the Caribbean. Black Flag looks especially impressive on the PlayStation 4, where improved lighting and a greater resolution bathe the world in a terrific level of visual fidelity and artistic flourishes. You're better able to notice the little things, like the way foliage gives way to Kenway while he sneaks through the bushes, or the realistic flutter of fabric on your sails when a strong wind sweeps across the sea. The current-generation versions of Black Flag still look terrific, but all those little details in the PlayStation 4 version draw you into the world that much more. Cities like Havana echo the classic environments of previous games. Kenway's adventures on dry land don't amount to the same wholesale reinvention of the series that his time aboard the Jackdaw does, but these portions of the game have hardly been ignored. Ubisoft has borrowed a number of concepts from Far Cry 3, and they improve the on-foot experience immensely. Crafting animal hides into better equipment is a far greater incentive to hunt wild animals than it was in ACIII, while the ability to sabotage alarm bells in an enemy base adds more flexibility to the stealth experience. But once a fight breaks out into a full-on melee, Black Flag begins to feel much more like its predecessors: swordfighting is as fluid and lively as ever, but lacks any substantial refinements over previous games. Where that sense of deja vu hits Black Flag the hardest is in its overuse of eavesdropping missions. Throughout the main story, the game asks you time and again to tail your targets (but not too closely!) and eavesdrop on their conversations (but not too obviously!) before finally letting you decide what to do with them. These types of missions--a staple of the very first game in the series--had already begun to show their age in recent Assassin's Creed installments, and time hasn't done them any favors since then. While less glaring, a similar lack of advancement can be found in Black Flag's multiplayer. The cat-and-mouse nature of Wanted and the co-op chaos of Wolfpack are still tremendous fun, but outside of a new story-driven tutorial mode, there aren't any substantial additions. Even though Assassin's Creed multiplayer has always occupied something of an "icing on the cake" role, it's a shame this part of the game hasn't enjoyed the same creative renewal that its single-player portion has. Not all treasures are above water in Black Flag. But these moments of stagnation are isolated events in what is, ultimately, a massive and highly ambitious game. Black Flag presents a world full of adventure and opportunity, where treasures scavenged in a remote jungle can be used to turn the tide in a massive naval battle against mighty Spanish warships. It's a game where you can sail the seas for hours at a time, either hunting great white sharks or simply listening to your crew sing one infectious sea shanty after the next. There's an incredible scope to what you can do in Black Flag, with a level of harmony between its component parts that encourages you to try it all, and a story that keeps you invested throughout the whole thing. If there was ever any question that Assassin's Creed needed something ambitious to get the series back on track, Black Flag is that game and then some. Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q8400 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6 GHz CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 2 GB OS: Windows Vista SP or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions) VIDEO CARD: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 4870 (512MB VRAM with shader Model 4.0 or higher) PIXEL SHADER: 4.0 VERTEX SHADER: 4.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 30 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 512 MB Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Recommended Requirements CPU: Intel Core i5 2400S @ 2.5 GHz or better or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows Vista SP or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions) VIDEO CARD: Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 or AMD Radeon HD 5850 (1024MB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0) or better PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 30 GB

Now that the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have arrived, you're ready to jump into the virtual reality fray. However, like many of us, you might not have the space or the money for one of the powerful new gaming rigs you need to support either headset. But fear not, if you already own a current-gen Alienware 13, 15 or 17 laptop, there's a more space and cost-efficient option in the Alienware graphics amp. The $199 peripheral is an external graphics amplifier that can house a powerful desktop card such as the just-released Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU. That means that your last-generation, used-to-be-unsuitable-for-VR Alienware laptop can transform into a beefy powerhouse, ready for anything the virtual world can throw at it -- provided, of course, you have a compatible Alienware laptop. But if you have a newer system outfitted with Nvidia VR-ready Pascal GPU, the graphics amp can add more graphics oomph for a smoother VR experience and better frame rates on traditional games. Previously only Alienware laptops with Intel 6th Generation Core Series (aka Skylake) CPUs, which were sold starting in late 2015, had the necessary connector. But now every current Alienware will feature the proprietary port. The following how-to will show you the ins-and-outs of setting up an Alienware notebook with the company's graphics amp to use either a Rift or Vive. System Requirements In order to use the Vive or the Rift, your Alienware laptop will have to meet a few requirements. Both headsets require at least a 6th-generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, 8GB of RAM, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4, a 1920 x 1080 display and Windows 7 or above. As far as graphics cards, the minimum components you can use with either headset are a Nvidia GTX 970 GPU or an AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU. The headsets do have a few differences though, namely when it comes to RAM requirements and ports. The Vive can function with a minimum 4GB of RAM with either HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 and at least one USB 2.0. The Rift requires 8GB of RAM or more, HDMI 1.3, and three USB 3.0 ports plus one USB 2.0 port. Once you make sure the laptop and graphics card are up to snuff, be sure to update the relevant software such as Nvidia's GeForce Experience, Oculus Home or Steam VR. The Gear For this guide, I used an Alienware 17 R3 (2016), configured with an Intel i7-6700HQ CPU, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD and a Nvidia GeForce 970M GPU with 3GB of VRAM. The Alienware Graphics Amplifier was outfitted with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, the company's latest and greatest graphics card. Once the card is safely in the amp, it can support both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. And don't forget the most important piece of hardware in this setup -- a Philips-head screwdriver. The Setup Now that you've gotten all your equipment and software together, it's time to set up your virtual reality rig. First, we'll take care of the graphics amplifier. Open the amp. There's a sliding switch along the back of the amp; slide it to the left to release the clasp and pull upward on the lid to reveal the amp's interior. Remove the top two screws so you can place the GPU into the awaiting slot. Install the GPU. Take your graphics card out of its packaging and put it into the awaiting PCIe slot. Replace the screws, plug in the connector and close the lid. Plug in the graphics amp's power cord to get the party started and use the proprietary cord to connect it to the Alienware laptop. Whether it's an Alienware 17, 15 or 13, you'll find the port along the back of the laptop. Turn the amp on. Once the amp is connected to your laptop, feel free to fire up the laptop. You'll see a message prompting you to restart the laptop in order to switch over to the amp. Hit the yes button and once it restarts, you'll be ready to rock and roll. Attach your VR headset. You did remember to install your VR headset's software right? If so, all you have to do is attach your Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, follow the setup and enjoy traipsing through your virtual environment.

Asus’ ROG Strix XG279Q rocks our speed tests and delivers HDR with extended color. The Asus ROG Strix XG279Q needs a bit of tweaking to achieve the best possible image quality, but its gaming performance is at the premium level. Both G-Sync and FreeSync are available, working in concert with blur-reduction, along with 170Hz and HDR and extended color. There’s a lot going on here for about $600, and most of it is very good. +FOR : 170Hz FreeSync & G-Sync support Blur-reduction works with Adaptive Sync Excellent HDR High brightness Large color gamut -AGAINST: Slight ghosting in ELMB mode Default grayscale and gamma need adjustment HDR and extended color have become important considerations when purchasing the best gaming monitor for you. But the top two criteria are still adaptive sync and speed. A static image might look fantastic, but if motion isn’t smooth and response isn’t quick, the experience falls apart quickly. The Asus ROG Strix XG279Q is aimed squarely at the speed-seeking player with 170Hz refresh, FreeSync & G-Sync support, in a 1ms IPS panel. It also includes DisplayHDR 400 certification with HDR10 support and over 92% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Frame rates are sure to be high (when paired with a capable graphics card) thanks to its QHD (2560x1440) resolution. Performance will be strong with a wide range of video cards. And there is a new feature here as well: the ability to run blur-reduction and adaptive sync at the same time. Asus calls it ELMB Sync and it’s our first experience with this feature. Asus ROG Strix XG279Q Specifications : *Brand & Model : Asus ROG Strix XG279Q *Panel Type & Backlight : IPS / W-LED, edge array *Screen Size & Aspect Ratio : 27 inches / 16:9 *Max Resolution & Refresh :2560x1440 @ 144Hz, 170Hz w/overclock, FreeSync 40-170Hz, Certified G-Sync compatible *Native Color Depth & Gamut : 8-bit / DCI-P3, Display HDR 400, HDR10 *Response Time : (GTG)1ms *Brightness :400 nits *Contrast : 1,000:1 *Speakers : 2x 2w *Video Inputs : 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0 *Audio : 3.5mm headphone output *USB 3.0 : 1x up, 2x down *Power Consumption : 29w, brightness @ 200 nits *Panel Dimensions : 24.1 x 16.6-21.3 x 10.6 inches *WxHxD w/base : (611 x 422-542 x 270mm) *Panel Thickness : 3.2 inches (82mm) *Bezel Width : Top/sides: 0.2 inch (6mm), Bottom: 0.8 inch (20mm) *Weight : 15.4lbs (7kg) *Warranty : Three years The XG279Q is part of Asus’ ROG Strix line, products that are gaming-oriented but sit in a more affordable price range than the high-end ROG Swift series. That means you won’t see things like 1000-nit full array backlights or Ultra HD resolution at 144Hz. But in the heat of battle, this monitor is poised to deliver a superb experience. The base refresh rate is 144Hz, but by engaging overclock in the OSD, speeds of up to 170Hz are possible. The adaptive sync range is 40-170Hz and both AMD and Nvidia technologies are supported for SDR and HDR signals. Asus prints the G-Sync logo on the box and the XG279Q is indeed certified by Nvidia as G-Sync compatible. Oddly, it does not appear on AMD’s list and Asus makes no mention of FreeSync in their marketing. But our tests confirm that it is FreeSync compatible over both DisplayPort and HDMI. Also packed in are DisplayHDR 400 certification and extended color. Our tests confirm HDR10 support and a peak brightness of over 500 nits in HDR mode. And color coverage is a measured 92% of the DCI-P3 gamut, one of the best readings we’ve recorded thus far. That said, the real gem here is ELMB Sync. Many monitors include blur-reduction via backlight strobe, but it must be turned off to use adaptive sync. The XG279Q removes that limitation. Not only does blur-reduction operate up to 170Hz (we confirmed this) but it works while adaptive sync is turned on. And it works with both AMD and Nvidia boards. The only limit is you can’t use ELMB in HDR mode. Along with Asus’ other gaming features like GamePlus and a solid overdrive, this looks to be a seriously capable display. Unpacking and Accessories The panel and upright come already assembled. Just attach the base with a captive bolt and you’re ready to go. But don’t forget the lighting feature. Asus includes a snap-on part for the base with three interchangeable lenses that project two versions of the ROG logo on your desktop or just a soft glow. In addition to an external power supply, you get USB, DisplayPort and HDMI cables. Product 360 The XG279Q has one of the thinnest bezels we’ve seen on a monitor yet, just 6mm around the top and sides. It’s flush-mounted so there is no frame standing out from the front anti-glare layer. The image is sharp and clear, with no grain or other artifacts to spoil the fun. Across the bottom is a wider trim strip with the ROG logo displayed in the center. Around the back right are four large control keys and a navigation joystick. The bottom button toggles power while the other three can be programmed for a variety of functions by the user. The joystick moves through the OSD quickly and easily and will have you up and running in short order. Lighting effects come in two forms, Aura Sync and Light in Motion. Aura Sync refers to the large backlit ROG logo on the panel’s backside that can be set to breathe or flash and change color. The light show can coordinate with other ROG components so your whole rig can be used as an aircraft signaling device, or just to distract your competitors at LAN parties. Light in Motion is a small projector built into the XG279Q’s base that projects a ROG logo on the desktop surface. Three lenses come in the package, two with logos and a one clear. You can choose any color you wish, as long as it’s red, but there are at least three brightness levels. The stand is of very high quality and offers a 4.7-inch height adjustment along with 40° swivel both ways, 20 degree back tilt, 5 degrees forward and a 90-degree portrait mode. Movements are very smooth and there is no play or wobble. Overall build quality is as good as Asus’ premium monitors, with perfect fit and finish and a solid feel to all controls and ergonomics. The input panel is stocked with one DisplayPort (DP) 1.2 and two HDMI 2.0 ports. G-Sync only works over DP while FreeSync works with either interface but is limited to 144Hz over HDMI. HDR also works through any input. Best choice: Use DisplayPort if you want access to all the XG279Q’s features. USB 3.0 is supported with one upstream and two downstream connections and there is a 3.5mm analog audio output for headphones. Two internal speakers are powered by 2-watt op-amps and provide polite sound that is free of distortion or bass. OSD Features The XG279Q’s OSD is full-featured and offers everything needed for a premium gaming experience. There are seven sub-menus arranged in logical categories The Gaming menu includes overclocking options with a slider that takes the monitor beyond its 144Hz native refresh rate up to 170Hz. Our sample was completely stable at that speed. The overdrive has five levels. We saw some ghosting at the most aggressive setting but number 4 works well. This option is grayed out when ELMB is engaged, but it does work with both types of adaptive sync. As noted earlier, ELMB Sync is a new feature that allows blur reduction and adaptive sync to happen at the same time. It works up to 170Hz and with both FreeSync and G-Sync but not with HDR. There is a slight brightness reduction when enabled, which varies depending on content. The XG279Q adjusts its backlight level dynamically when ELMB is turned on. This caused a bit of flickering in some of our tests, both in patterns and while gaming. More on that below. Asus includes its usual suite of GamePlus enhancements to include aiming points, countdown timers, frame rate counter and display alignment guides. New here is Sniper which adds an aiming point and magnifies a box at the center of the screen up to two times larger. It’s something we haven’t seen before and should be helpful to FPS newbies. The XG279Q has a full set of image controls, all of which are available when GameVisual (picture modes) is set to User. There are three color temp options plus a user mode with RGB sliders. Three gamma presets (1.8, 2.2, 2.5) are included as well as a color saturation slider. For HDR signals, all picture options are grayed out, but you get two new modes, Cinema and Gaming. They are a bit different in their treatment of the luminance curve and in grayscale accuracy. You can’t calibrate them, but they provide a very good HDR image. We’ll show you their numbers on page four. Setup and Calibration The XG279Q’s Racing mode has a cool grayscale and oversaturated color with a somewhat skewed gamma curve. By adjusting the RGB sliders and changing the gamma preset to 2.5, those issues are mostly eliminated. In fact, grayscale tracking after calibration is nearly perfect. The change in gamma also adds depth to the image and makes color more true. Our settings below should help you get the most from your XG279Q. If you’re looking for an sRGB mode, there is one among the GameVisual choices, but it locks out all calibration options and fixes brightness at over 300 nits. All other modes use the monitor’s full native DCI-P3 color gamut, which covers more than 92% of that standard. In HDR mode, you can choose between Cinema or Gaming modes. They treat the luminance curve and grayscale a bit differently, so it’ll come down to which you prefer. Both are reasonably accurate. Picture Mode User Brightness 200 nits: 22 Brightness 120 nits: 8 Brightness 100 nits: 4 Brightness 80 nits: 1 (minimum 76 nits) Contrast : 80 Gamma: 2.5 Color Temp User : Red 98, Green 100, Blue 93 Gaming and Hands-on The XG279Q offers many possible settings combinations when considering refresh rate, adaptive sync, ELMB and HDR. In SDR mode, you can run up to 170Hz with either G-Sync or FreeSync and engage ELMB blur-reduction if you wish. For HDR content, you can run up to 170Hz with both adaptive sync technologies, but you can’t use ELMB. When ELMB is engaged, motion is glassy smooth, but we saw a bit of ghosting in areas of high contrast even though overdrive was disengaged. Switching ELMB off in favor of overdrive cuts the ghosting but then there is slight blur in the finest detail. It’s a six-of-one half-dozen-of-the-other proposition. Our preference was to use overdrive instead of ELMB. We played on both FreeSync and G-Sync machines and observed identical image quality. And since ELMB won’t work with HDR, there is no decision to make there. Speaking of HDR, it looks spectacular. You could almost mistake the XG279Q for a FALD (full-array local dimming) display. Its dynamic contrast feature works wonders at making highlights pop, deepening blacks and delivering bold color without obscuring detail in the slightest. Call of Duty WWII was loads of fun with its film-like appearance and grainy textures on full display. This game takes full advantage of HDR and extended color. Once we dialed in the highlight and shadow points using the in-game test patterns, we spent hours roaming the streets of bombed-out Europe in search of the enemy. This monitor handles HDR content extremely well. The same is true for SDR. In Tomb Raider, we tried playing with ELMB and enjoyed a super-smooth blur-free experience. But there was a bit of ghosting when dark objects moved against a light background. It wasn’t always present, but the artifact popped up occasionally. Eventually, we turned it off and just stuck with adaptive sync, overdrive on level 3 and 170Hz. This delivered the best gameplay with instant control response and an image to die for. Even though the monitor’s color palette was larger than the game’s creators intended, it never looked overblown. For day-to-day tasks, the XG279Q provides a sharp colorful picture with a pixel density of 109ppi. QHD in the 27-inch size means solid detail and good performance with a wide variety of graphics hardware. Frame rates in games with detail maxed stayed between 150 and 170fps, with both a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and a Radeon RX 5700 XT. So, one can expect 80-100fps with a mid-priced card. The XG279Q is quite versatile and delivers a superb gaming experience with any system built to a moderate budget.

Pin a drive to your taskbar for easy access For ease of access you can pin a folder or a drive to the Taskbar. This is useful if you use a drive (local or network) frequently. It can also be useful on a public device where you expect multiple people to access a drive without your guidance to search for it. In such a case, the pinned drive can be labelled appropriately so that users intuitively understand where to click. 1) Right-click on the desktop to open the context menu. 2) Select New to create a new shortcut. 3) Select Shortcut to create a shortcut for the drive. 4) In the location field, type the drive letter. 5) Click Next to complete the process. 6) Right-click the shortcut created on the desktop. 7) In the menu, click Properties. ? In the Properties dialogue box, under the Shortcut tab, type explorer before the drive letter. 9) Click Apply to accept the change. 10) Click OK to close the window. 11) Right-click on the edited shortcut icon. 12) In the menu that opens, select Pin to Taskbar.