Hamza.

Etisalat announced that it is exclusively bringing Xbox All Access to the region. The programme includes a next-generation console of one’s choice between Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, depending on one’s preferences, and a 24-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes a library of over 100 high-quality games and instant access to EA Play. So this winter holiday if you're looking to get a console and a bunch of games through a subscription service, this is definitely worth looking at. Xbox All Access allows gamers to opt for two different packages, both including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, based on the console they want: Xbox Series S, the smallest Xbox hardware ever, capable of offering next-generation performance, is priced at AED 99 for 24 months; while it will be AED 139 per month for 24 months for those who prefer to play with Xbox Series X. All prices are VAT inclusive. Khaled Elkhouly, Chief Consumer Officer, Etisalat, said: “We are thrilled to open a new chapter in our strategic partnership with Microsoft. A first in the region, Etisalat exclusively brings the much-awaited Xbox All Access by Microsoft to the region. “As the world's fastest mobile network, Etisalat offers low latency and fastest speed to gamers, establishing itself as the best network for gamers and a key player in the gaming world. Our partnership with Microsoft brings us one step closer to this vision.” “We are delighted about entering into this exciting partnership with Etisalat,” said Henrik Ertman Baunsgaard, General Manager, Consumer Channel Sales and Marketing, Middle East and Africa, Microsoft. “Xbox All Access gives our customers everything they need to get into gaming with Xbox – not only an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console, but also a library of over 100 high-quality games for console and PC with 24-months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate included. Together with Etisalat, we look forward to bringing the best that Xbox has to offer to passionate players in the UAE.” As someone who’s been on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate since it’s inception, it’s one of the best subscription services for gaming till date. The official announcement with the region opens up the possibility of Xbox Cloud Gaming to come to the region, a service that’s been highly requested and demanded by gamers here. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes access to online multiplayer with Xbox Live Gold; an EA Play membership; brand new games on day one from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks, as well as select indies and blockbusters; over 100 high-quality games to play with friends on console and PC; and up 20 percent off select games in the Xbox Game Pass library, and up to 10 percent off on game add-ons, Deals with Gold, and Games with Gold. Video game enthusiasts will get to enjoy free perks, including in-game content, consumables, and more. https://me.pcmag.com/en/gaming/13482/etisalat-exclusively-brings-xbox-all-access-to-the-region

Russia has assembled about 70% of the military capability needed for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the coming weeks, US officials say. The ground is expected to freeze and harden from mid-February, enabling Moscow to bring in more heavy equipment, the unnamed officials said. Russia is said to have more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders but denies planning to attack. The US officials did not provide evidence for their assessment. They said the information was based on intelligence but that they were unable to give details due to its sensitivity, US media report. The officials also said they did not know if Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to take such a step, adding that a diplomatic solution was still possible. Is Russia preparing to invade? Ukraine: How big is Russia's military build-up? How will we know if war has started? Speaking on condition of anonymity, two US officials told Reuters news agency that weather conditions would provide a peak window for Russia to move equipment forward between about 15 February and the end of March. According to reports, the officials warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could cause as many as 50,000 civilian deaths. They also estimated that an attack could see the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, fall within days and prompt a refugee crisis in Europe as millions of people flee. Additional US troops have been arriving in Poland as part of a new deployment to bolster the Western military alliance Nato's forces in the region. The first group landed at Rzeszow in the south-east of the country on Saturday. The Biden administration announced days ago that it would send nearly 3,000 additional troops to Eastern Europe. Moscow says its troops are in the region for military drills, but Ukraine and its Western allies remain concerned that the Kremlin is planning to launch an assault. The tensions come nearly eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula and backed a bloody rebellion in the eastern Donbas region. Moscow accuses the Ukrainian government of failing to implement the Minsk agreement - an international deal to restore peace to the east, where Russian-backed rebels control swathes of territory and at least 14,000 people have been killed since 2014. Russia is insisting that Ukraine should not be allowed to join Nato. Rivalry between Russia and the US, which still possess the world's biggest nuclear arsenals, dates back to the Cold War. Ukraine was then a crucial part of the communist Soviet Union. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60276342

Rumor mill: We see many businesses using a Square terminal to accept payments made using iPhones, but it seems Apple also wants a piece of that pie. Rumor says Apple will turn iPhones into credit card payment terminals without needing extra hardware or third-party devices. Apple Pay already allows you to pay for goods at any store with a third-party terminal supporting the method. This technology helped make the process of paying much simpler and more secure, as you don't have to use cash or a credit/debit card. However, small businesses had to pay for new equipment to support the payment option. Now, Apple is reportedly working on a new technology that could reduce costs for small businesses, as they wouldn't need any extra hardware. Instead of using payment terminals like Block Inc.'s Square, the current market leader, employees would use iPhones. Whether the new technology would belong to the Apple Pay feature set or not it's still unknown. Another thing we wonder is if Apple will be using a payment network such as VISA or create its own. he ability to use credit card payment terminals doesn't come as a complete surprise. In 2020, Apple acquired the Canadian startup Mobeewave, a company known for developing a technology capable of accepting payments from credit cards by tapping them against the back of a phone. Since it was acquired, Mobeewave's team has worked for Apple's payment department, further developing its technology. The new feature should be implemented later this year on the first beta version of iOS 15.4. By this spring, businesses may use iPhones to receive money directly. https://www.techspot.com/news/93154-apple-may-soon-turn-iphones-credit-card-payment.html

In a nutshell: JEDEC has announced the HBM3 standard. And, like any good revision to a memory standard, it features a minor decrease in voltage, a slew of added conveniences, and a doubling of all the performance-related specifications. Bandwidth? doubled. Layers? doubled. Capacity? doubled. In numbers, an HBM3 stack can reach 819 GB/s of bandwidth and have 64 GB of capacity. In comparison, the HBM2e stacks used by the AMD MI250 have half the bandwidth, 410 GB/s, and a quarter of the capacity, a mere 16 GB. At eight stacks, the MI250 has a total of 128 GB and 3277 GB/s of bandwidth. Eight stacks of HBM3 would have 512 GB with 6552 GB/s of bandwidth. HBM3 also doubles the number of independent channels, from eight to 16. And it’s introducing "pseudo-channels" that allow it to support up to 32 virtual channels. According to JEDEC, HBM3 additionally addresses the "market need for high platform-level RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability)" with "strong, symbol-based ECC on-die, as well as real-time error reporting and transparency." JEDEC expects the first generation of HBM3 products to appear on the market soon but notes that they won’t meet the maximum specification. A more realistic outlook, it says, would be 2 GB modules in 12-layer stacks. https://www.techspot.com/news/93182-hbm3-twice-fast-hbm2e-up-819-gbs-stack.html

PUBG developer Krafton has sued Apple, Google, and the maker of what it says is a copycat PUBG for offering a "blatantly infringing mobile version of Battlegrounds." As The Verge reports, the lawsuit filed on Jan. 10 alleges that in 2017 Apple and Google began selling Free Fire: Battlegrounds from Garena (later renamed Free Fire). Garena later released a separate app, Free Fire Max. Krafton argues that Garena’s games copy many aspects of PUBG, from the unique airplane drop-in at the start of each match and the game structure to the weapon and item selection and even the color schemes. Even YouTube is getting drawn into this legal fight, as Krafton claims the video site “is hosting countless posts of Free Fire and Free Fire Max gameplay, many of which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and in some cases more than a million times." They “feature numerous elements from Free Fire and Free Fire Max that infringe Battlegrounds.” Krafton also takes issue with a feature-length Chinese film posted widely on YouTube that it claims is a “blatantly infringing live-action dramatization of Battleground.” On Dec. 21, 2021, Krafton requested that Garena pull its games from Apple and Google’s app stores and that YouTube take down posts containing game footage with infringing elements, as well as the Chinese film. Krafton says Garena refused. “Apple and Google fail to address legitimate claims of copyright infringement on their networks where they are indemnified by deep-pocketed co-infringers, like Garena," the lawsuit says. "This selective enforcement of copyright law renders Apple and Google liable for willful infringement.” Data from Sensor Tower shows Free Fire earned $1.1 billion from in-game spending in 2021, The Verge reports. This isn’t the first legal battle between Krafton and Garena. In 2017, the two sides settled a similar copycat case in Singapore, thought it did not sign a licensing deal, the suit says. https://me.pcmag.com/en/mobile-games/13526/pubg-developer-sues-google-apple-game-maker-over-copycat-apps

Ricki turned away for just a few seconds and his little sister was taken. She would never be seen again. For five decades he has wrestled with his guilt. Now he has opened up to the BBC's Jon Kay in a new true-crime podcast Fairy Meadow. Short presentational grey line "People tell me it wasn't my fault. I've been told that thousands of times. I know I was only seven years old, but I shouldn't have left her." Ricki is walking a personal pilgrimage. His waterproof trousers are splattered with mud and ripped from barbed wire fences. His boots have started to leak and his feet are covered in blisters. But still, he is walking. He was planning to hang photos of his little sister onto trees as he walked in her memory, but suddenly the idea is too painful. He puts the black and white pictures back inside his rucksack. "I can't leave her out in the cold. I just can't do it. I can't bear the idea of her smiling face being out here. Not in the wind and rain." He has brought the ribbon-tied bundles more than 16,000km (10,000 miles) - from his home in Melbourne, Australia - to northern Spain. He is trekking 200km through the chilly Cantabrian Mountains along part of the Camino pilgrim route. "I'm not a religious person. Not at all. I mean, what kind of religion would allow it to happen? She was only three years old." Hearing his accent, other walkers ask why he has come to Europe to hike alone in the depths of winter. It must be summer back home. Wouldn't he rather be on the beach? Ricki's smile becomes a wrinkled frown. Now in his late 50s, he tells them he doesn't like the beach. Cheryl - Ricki's three-year-old sister - vanished in broad daylight from Fairy Meadow beach in New South Wales in early 1970. The family had recently arrived in Australia having emigrated from the UK. He was only seven years old at the time, but Ricki has always blamed himself for what happened - because he was looking after Cheryl when she disappeared from the changing rooms at the top of the beach. He turned away for just a few seconds. The police have always been convinced the toddler was abducted, but nobody has ever been convicted. Ricki stops walking for a moment and looks out across the rugged Spanish landscape. "When I go to my grave, I'll take with me what my eyes have seen and we can share those sights together. I've been talking to her this whole journey - my whole life." A few yards off the main pathway, we come across an ancient stone chapel. Inside, Ricki places his bundle of pictures on the altar next to some candles. He sits in silence for a few minutes, staring at the images of his smiling little sister. "She's safe here." When I walked that section of the Camino with Ricki in 2018, he had never really spoken to a journalist before. He had made the occasional appearance at police press conferences asking for information, but had never opened up about what had happened to Cheryl - and the impact on his life. He wanted to talk to me because, suddenly, this cold case seemed to be moving again. Police in Australia had recently found a confession in an old box of evidence. It was made by a teenage boy a year after the toddler disappeared. After a new public appeal, detectives tracked down the "boy" - who was now a man in his sixties - and charged him with murder. He pleaded not guilty. Trekking through Spain was Ricki's way of clearing his head and preparing for the trial. "I need to know. For Cheryl. For all of us. We need answers." However, when Ricki returned to Australia, a judge ruled the confession could not be used as evidence after all. The prosecution was dropped and the former defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, walked free from court. "We couldn't believe it. We never knew about the confession," Ricki told me after the case collapsed. "For years, we didn't even know there had been a suspect. Our lives could have been so different. Did we have to go through all this pain and suffering? I don't want any other family to go through what our family has been through. I'm angry. Angry at myself. Angry at the world. Just angry." The next time I see Ricki in person is in Australia, shortly after the 2019 judgment. He's agreed to work with me on a BBC podcast series about Cheryl's case. We talk about when he first arrived in New South Wales with his family all those years ago. "We were all so excited," he recalls. "We'd left cold, wet, England to live in the Aussie sunshine. We couldn't believe our luck. It was a fresh start. A new beginning. A new life." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60219183

Forward-looking: Motorola is expanding the G phone series with a new G Stylus phone. Named after its predecessor, the new Moto G Stylus 2022 may look a lot like the 2021 model, but on the inside, Motorola changed it quite a bit, even if in some cases for the worse. It's common for Motorola to announce new phones during the Mobile World Congress, but it seems that the company decided to change things up. Although we are still a few weeks from the conference, Motorola has revealed to the public the new Moto G Stylus 2022. The handset is available in metallic rose and blue and shares many visual aspects with 2021's model. It has identical dimensions, weighs a bit more, and the buttons and fingerprint reader are in the same areas. However, there are a few design differences, including the placement of the selfie camera and the format of the rear cameras module. The G Stylus 2022's screen uses a 6.8-inch display with a 1080x2400 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate, a considerable upgrade over the 60Hz of its predecessor. Motorola also improved the battery, upgrading it to a 5000mAh capacity cell that the manufacturer says will last for two days. Based on Android 11 with a My UX skin, the handset has 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage, but you can expand by an extra 512GB with a microSD card. Motorola decided to go with the MediaTek G88 for the SoC, a downgrade compared to the Snapdragon 678 of the 2021 model. Still, the 90Hz display is only possible because of MediaTek's SoC, so you basically lose performance for a faster display. The rear-facing camera is a 50MP shooter with an 8MP ultrawide + macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there's a 16MP camera for selfies. The opportunity to refresh the Moto G Stylus would lead us to believe that Motorola would add 5G and NFC support, but that wasn't the case. However, it supports other necessary connectivity technologies, like Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi. Motorola guarantees the device will have two years of security updates, so we assume that an upgrade for Android 12 will be coming. You can now pre-order it for $299.99. https://www.techspot.com/news/93250-refreshed-moto-g-stylus-2022-gets-faster-display.html

WTF?! There's never been any doubt that the RTX 3090 Ti will cost an astronomical amount of money when it arrives, though who knows when that might be. But we may now have an idea of what sort of price points to expect: between $3,800 to over $5,500 for some third-party cards, based on overseas retail site listings. The cheaper of the two RTX 3090 Ti cards is the catchily-titled Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB EX Gamer Black Edition, which was spotted by Moore’s Law is Dead on a leaked preorder advert from Vietnamese retailer Minh An Computer. It’s listed for 86.9 million VND, the equivalent of around $3,848. A quick search on Newegg shows that for about the same price, you could buy this HP Omen pre-built system with a Ryzen 9 5900X and an RTX 3090. https://t.co/Yyhnp3I4PF If that wasn’t eye-wateringly expensive enough, prolific leaker momomo_us spotted a listing for an MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Suprim X 24G on Rakuten Japan. It’s priced at 633,773 yen, or around $5,518, including tax. The same MSI card, which reportedly has a 480W TDP and requires a minimum 1,000W power supply, appeared on a Swiss retail site last month for the equivalent of $4,022. While PC hardware is generally more expensive outside of the US, it’s still easy to imagine the RTX 3090 Ti arriving at a comically high price. https://me.pcmag.com/en/gaming/13549/ghostwire-tokyo-release-date-announced

Last night Tango Gameworks and Bethesda gave us an in-depth look at the gameplay for their upcoming Ghostwire: Tokyo. Billed by the dev team as an Action Adventure, Ghostwire tells the story a young man named Akito who finds himself waking up in a demon-infested Tokyo where all the people have vanished. The trailer showed up some stylish and meaty first-person combat featuring the use of what the developers call 'Ethereal Weaving' as Akito works to heal corrupted Torii shrines across a gorgeously reimagined modern-day Tokyo. It's something I can only describe as a combination of Shin Megami Tensei and CONTROL. The game is set to pull in elements and creatures from across the massive range of Japanese folklore as well as urban legends. You can see the game in action for yourself below. If I may editorialise for a bit, Tango Gameworks is a developer I've been rooting for since they first released The Evil Within in 2014. Both that game and its 2017 sequel The Evil Within 2 are among the most underrated modern horror games in my opinion, and I really think we as a culture need to give this team the props they deserve. Ghostwire: Tokyo sees the studio pivoting away from survival horror into more action-oriented territory, which I hope brings their talent for emotionally charged storytelling and stellar monster design in front of more people. We'll find out soon enough as Ghostwire: Tokyo launches on March 25, 2022 on PlayStation 5 and PC. People who purchase the Deluxe Edition will get access to the game three days early, on March 22. https://me.pcmag.com/en/gaming/13549/ghostwire-tokyo-release-date-announced

The National Butterfly Center in South Texas will be closed “for the immediate future” because of baseless attacks stemming from a clash over immigration enforcement at the nearby U.S.-Mexico border, the organization said Wednesday. The nonprofit center in Mission has endured a firestorm in recent years amid an ongoing lawsuit against the former Trump administration, which sought to build part of a border wall on its property, and the fundraising organization We Build the Wall. Right-wing groups have falsely claimed the butterfly center illegally smuggles people into the United States and facilitates sex trafficking. Leadership of the 100-acre butterfly preserve said they chose to shut their doors out of concern for the safety of visitors and their staff, whom they will continue to pay. “We look forward to reopening, soon, when the authorities and professionals who are helping us navigate this situation give us the green light,” Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association, which runs the center, said in a statement. The indefinite closure comes shortly after the center shut down for three days last weekend, citing “credible threats” regarding a nearby border security rally. The We Stand America event in McAllen featured Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, and other Trump administration officials. National Butterfly Center sues federal government to prevent construction of border wall The butterfly center said it became aware of the rally on Jan. 21, when a congressional candidate from Virginia demanded to access the Rio Grande from the center’s property to “see the rafts with the illegal crossing.” The center alleged that the candidate and her friend knocked down its executive director, Marianna Trevino-Wright, and tried to run her son over with a car. On Twitter, the butterfly center identified the candidate as Kimberly Lowe, who on Thursday denied knocking down Trevino-Wright and said they “safely drove around” her son while he was trying to prevent them from leaving. She said in a statement that she had gone to the butterfly center “to see what is happening at the border.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/03/texas-butterfly-center-conspiracy-harassment/

What just happened? The Google One cloud storage service has included a VNP for Android devices ever since it launched in the summer of 2020. This week Google finally announced the rollout of a VPN to iOS users. In addition to releasing Google One VPN for iOS users, Google adds a few features to it while bringing it to more countries. Google didn't specifically mention the feature coming to iPads, but it's a good bet since iPadOS is a fork of iOS. Like before, Google One’s VPN service is available to subscribers of the premium plans for 2TB ($10 a month) or more storage through the iOS Google One app. Users can also share the storage and VPN with up to five family members. oogle One VPN was already available in the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Germany. Google brings new countries into the fold, adding Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, with more on the way. The new features include Save Disconnect, which makes sure you’re only using the internet with VPN enabled, App Bypass, which lets specific apps connect without using VPN, and a Snooze function for temporarily turning off the VPN. Google also stresses how the VPN’s encryption has been independently audited by the NCC Group and certified by the Internet of Secure Things Alliance. https://www.techspot.com/news/93239-google-one-vpn-now-available-ios-users.html

What just happened? Nvidia has once again shared its belief about when the chip shortage will alleviate and graphics cards will stop being as valuable and rare as uncut diamonds. Team green says supply should improve in the second half of next year, which sounds slightly more optimistic than its previous prediction. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress made the statement at the UBS Global TMT conference on Monday, reports PCMag. Kress spoke about the steps Nvidia was taking to improve the nightmarish graphics card situation caused mainly by the global chip shortage. “The company as a whole will take the appropriate work to continue to procure more supply,” she said. “We’ve been able to grow quite well during this year, each quarter, sequentially growing. And we do continue to plan to do that for Q4.” Kress followed up with the part we’ve all been waiting for: “So we believe we will be in a better situation in terms of supply when we look at the second half of next year.” Also read: GPU Availability and Pricing Update: November 2021 In August, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he expected graphics card issues to last throughout the vast majority of 2022. Kress does make it sound like things will improve sooner, though technically, the second half of next year could refer to December 2022. She also said it’s unclear when the “stabilization point,” where supply and demand even out, would be reached. “We’ll have to wait until we finish the holiday seasons to see how that inventory in the channel is looking,” she added. Kress also suggested that Nvidia is doing more to ensure it holds onto extra manufacturing capacity and can increase production for future cards, such as the RTX 4000 series, by entering into longer-term commitments with partners. “Longer-term can be more than a year,” she said. “You’ve seen us now enter into agreements that will take us out many years in terms of long-term capacity needs.” While improving supply will doubtlessly help matters, factors such as the ever-rising price of crypto and scalpers will continue to impact card availability and prices. Kress admitted that getting more GPUs on the market is the first step. "We'd love to bring that back down (the pricing). We believe bringing that down really just takes providing a reasonable amount of supply in the market versus the lean amounts that we have today.” The latest report on the graphics card market shows prices for both Nvidia’s and AMD’s latest remain around double their MSRP—they’re getting pricier on eBay, too—and team red’s RX 6000 series looks set to become even more expensive. It’s led to PC makers selling pre-built gaming rigs without cards and criminals hijacking trucks to steal GPUs. https://www.techspot.com/news/92526-nvidia-believes-graphics-card-supplies-improve-second-half.html

Netflix is digging a little deeper into gaming by adding two new titles to its game lineup. Joining Netflix Games are Arcanium: Rise of Akhan and Krispee Street, both of which are now available on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices for Netflix members. These additions bring the total number of games on Netflix’s gaming service up to 12. Arcanium: Rise of Akhan is a card-based strategy game with an open-world structure. The game involves deckbuilding for players who like to devise their own playstyle. Arcanium: Rise of Akhan has been available on Steam Early Access since December 2020, where it has received mostly positive reviews and costs $16.99, and it's now making the leap to mobile. Krispee Street takes the colorful cast and style of the webtoon Krispee and turns it into a seeking puzzle game. Players scour a large picture full of Krispee characters and scenery to find various targets, similar to the Where’s Waldo or I Spy books. To play, your device must be running Android 8.0 or later or iOS 15/iPadOS 15 or later. Netflix says there should be a Netflix Games row on your profile’s homepage in the main Netflix app. It did not appear on our iPad Air 2. Instead we had to search for the specific game, and then download from the App Store. A Netflix games row did show up on our Android smartphone. Netflix games on iPadOS (left) and Android (right) Netflix’s game library is still small, and doesn't yet compare to other game services, such as Apple Arcade. Some of Netflix’s games are even rather dated, like 2016’s Asphalt Xtreme, a game that saw its services shut down just before joining Netflix Games. But, this is essentially a free addition to existing Netflix memberships, and may provide value to customers. Of course, Netflix did just raise its prices. https://me.pcmag.com/en/mobile-games/13531/netflix-games-gets-2-new-titles

Fresh warnings from the US over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline have thrust the controversial project back into the spotlight. The US has indicated the new pipeline between Russia and Germany will not go ahead, and officials in Berlin say the project could face sanctions if Russia sends troops into Ukraine. The multi-billion dollar pipeline is increasingly being seen as a key bargaining chip in Western efforts to prevent a possible Russian invasion. So what is the pipeline and why is it still so divisive? What is Nord Stream 2? It's a new 1,200km (745-mile) gas pipeline running from western Russia to north-eastern Germany under the Baltic sea. The €10bn (£8.3bn) project is designed to double the amount of natural gas flowing from Russia straight to Germany. Gas currently flows via the original Nord Stream pipeline, which was completed in 2012. If it comes to fruition, the pipeline will be able to pump 55 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany each year. Its owner is the Russian state-controlled gas firm Gazprom. Work on the pipeline finished last September. But Gazprom is still awaiting approval from European regulators before it can open the taps and start pumping gas. So why is it so controversial? Critics say the pipeline is a tool of Russian foreign policy - and there has been strong opposition from the US, Ukraine and Poland. The US fears the pipeline makes Europe much more dependent on Russian energy, handing significant power over Berlin and the EU to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine also wants the pipeline stopped. Russia sends much of its gas to Europe through Ukraine. But Nord Stream 1 and 2 bypass the country. That means that with the new pipeline Kyiv could lose out on €1.8bn in "transit" fees it earns on gas passing through its territory. Ukraine says it is being punished for its warm relations with the West. Poland is unhappy about being overlooked as a transit country for Russian gas supplies into Europe. Why is it such a key bargaining chip? The pipeline has been touted as a sanction the West could threaten against Russia to show Mr Putin that any invasion of Ukraine would come at a heavy cost. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has called the pipeline a "piece of leverage" the West can use against Moscow. Mr Wallace said the pipeline was "one of the few chips that can make a difference". Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? Kremlin media: Ukraine the aggressor, not Russia UK doubts Russian invasion of Ukraine can be stopped For Russia, the pipeline is important as it pumps gas directly into Europe, cutting the costs of sending its supplies through Ukraine. Those backing sanctions on the pipeline say they would be a blow to Moscow - leaving it with fewer revenues and showing Europe does not have to rely on energy from Russia. So what happens if it doesn't open? That would not be without big costs in Europe. The continent is already grappling with soaring energy prices and lower-than-usual supplies of Russian gas. Germany badly needs the pipeline's gas. It could warm 26 million German homes and ease the nation's transition to renewable energy. Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck warned on Wednesday: "If there are to be sanctions, there will be none that won't hit the German economy." But observers say the bigger danger would come from Russia halting gas supplies from existing pipelines through Ukraine. Why are gas prices so high? Will Russia-Ukraine tensions push up UK gas bills? There are other gas options for some countries. Germany can also import from Norway, the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark via pipelines. But Norway, the second largest supplier to Europe, has said it is delivering natural gas to Europe at maximum capacity and cannot replace any missing supplies from Russia. The US is holding talks with gas-producing countries around the world to try and secure back-up supplies for Europe in case Russia shuts off its pipelines. But there are worries about the challenges of shipping natural gas.

Bottom line: Statistics from Counterpoint Research reveal a recovering smartphone market in Europe, where Samsung retained its 2020 leadership crown with a 32 percent market share. While it took many Galaxy A, S and Fold series phones to achieve this feat, iPhone sales rose sharply in Q4 2021, giving Apple a slight lead as the year closed. Chinese OEMs also saw appreciable growth, apart from Huawei, which managed to grab less than 1 percent of the market in Europe as it plummeted from 4th position to 8th in just one year. Smartphone sales in Europe are yet to reach pre-pandemic levels of growth, however, 2021 showed noticeable signs of improvement as overall sales increased by 8 percent YoY. According to figures from Counterpoint Research, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi were largely responsible for this growth as they traded places for the top spot multiple times throughout the year. Samsung, being the market leader, also had the smallest annual growth at 6 percent. While it quickly overtook Apple in terms of market share in the starting months, by mid-year, Samsung’s supply constraints briefly bumped Xiaomi to first place. New iPhone launch and the holiday season boosted iPhone sales last year. Samsung was helped similarly by the launch of new Galaxy S models in February and Z foldables in August Although Xiaomi’s lead was short-lived, the Chinese OEM and its subsidiaries managed an impressive 50 percent YoY growth. The remaining vendors were also all Chinese brands. While Oppo, Realme and Vivo saw noticeable gains to their small market share, Huawei was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Counterpoint noted a drastic 90 percent drop in sales for the sanction-hit company, with its tally now counted among “Others.” Although Huawei plans to license phone designs and also released a $1,400 foldable (sans Google services), it remains to be seen if the company can revive its ailing consumer business. Smartphone competition in Europe (and globally) is expected to be fierce this year with a couple of Android flagships already launching in their home markets like the OnePlus 10 Pro and the Xiaomi 12. Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S22 is also just around the corner, whose reveal could potentially solidify the company’s lead for months to come.

Lack of privacy: Privacy feels like a rarity these days, but with enough care and effort, it's possible to mostly obscure your digital footprint from giant tech companies and world governments alike. At least, that's been the case so far. Researchers from France, Israel, and Australia have teamed up to prove that even the most strict privacy safeguards might not be enough to close all tracking loopholes. As it turns out, your own computer hardware might end up working against you. The researchers in question have developed a method of device identification that they call "DrawnApart." This strategy takes traditional browser fingerprinting tech, which tends to become obsolete the longer a fingerprint is in use and kicks things up a notch by identifying a user's device based on the "unique properties" of its GPU stack. Ordinarily, browser fingerprints tend to get confused over time as users with similar devices with similar hardware enter a given website. GPU fingerprinting seeks to find the "slight differences" induced by each video card's manufacturing process; the differences that can't be easily masked or obfuscated. So, how does DrawnApart work on a slightly more technical level? According to researchers, it first generates a "sequence of rendering tasks," each of with target different "Execution Units" on a user's GPU. The results of these tasks -- a fingerprint trace -- are then fed to a machine learning network, which transforms said trace into an "embedding vector." This vector describes the fingerprint and can point an adversary (the person or entity using this technique) toward the specific device that generated it. DrawnApart's workloads are generated using WebGL, the graphics library responsible for rendering across countless websites. The workloads in question are designed to pick out the most minute differences in power consumption and processing power across GPUs. Even if their make and model are identical, every card will process the rendering of WebGL points (single-vertex objects) and handle stall functions a little differently. You can see an example of these small differences in the trace image below, which compares to seemingly identical GPUs. So, how does DrawnApart work on a slightly more technical level? According to researchers, it first generates a "sequence of rendering tasks," each of with target different "Execution Units" on a user's GPU. The results of these tasks -- a fingerprint trace -- are then fed to a machine learning network, which transforms said trace into an "embedding vector." This vector describes the fingerprint and can point an adversary (the person or entity using this technique) toward the specific device that generated it. DrawnApart's workloads are generated using WebGL, the graphics library responsible for rendering across countless websites. The workloads in question are designed to pick out the most minute differences in power consumption and processing power across GPUs. Even if their make and model are identical, every card will process the rendering of WebGL points (single-vertex objects) and handle stall functions a little differently. You can see an example of these small differences in the trace image below, which compares to seemingly identical GPUs. Researchers used DrawnApart to collect 50 traces from both devices, with each individual trace consisting of "176 measurements of 16 points." Those measurements are then organized into 16 groups of 11, and each group "stalls" a different point. The time it takes the GPU to render each point is displayed using a color gradient ranging from pure white to a deep blue, with the former representing a faster render (almost 0ms) and the latter representing a slower one (up top 90ms). The red bars you see in the image above are only used to separate the groups, which is why they remain consistent across both traces. As you can see, there are distinct differences between these two traces. Researchers note that some of these variations are to be expected since even the same device won't always perform identically. However, despite that, the team feels these traces show patterns that are distinct enough to allow them to distinguish between two identical cards. Naturally, this level of granular measurement allows for highly-accurate fingerprinting that can track users over a much greater length of time than traditional methods. When combined with a "state-of-the-art" tracking algorithm, Bleeping Computer reports, Drawn Apart increases the length of time a target can be followed by up to 67 percent (28 days versus the normal average of 17.5 days). So... Why perform this research at all? If these researchers are so concerned with user privacy -- which they claim to be -- why give advertisers and other bad actors the keys to the kingdom, so to speak? The team hopes that by exposing these potential privacy loopholes, the folks behind graphics libraries like WebGL or the upcoming WebGPU API will consider the implications their tech could have on user privacy, and build in safeguards sooner rather than later. Either way, this research is interesting and poses some serious concerns for the future of web privacy. We look forward to seeing what comes of it in the future, for better or worse.

It's nearly impossible to convince random teammates in Call of Duty to organize their efforts. The same can't be said for the people who make the games, however, because 34 employees at Raven Software have voted to unionize with support from Communication Workers of America. Activision Blizzard acquired Raven Software in 1997. The studio has mostly worked on the Call of Duty franchise in recent years, with its most recent title being Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which debuted in September 2020. It's likely working on the next franchise entry now. Members of Raven Software's quality assurance (QA) department voted to unionize after 12 of their colleagues were laid off in December 2021, according to Reuters, which reports that the remaining employees have also been striking in solidarity with their departed colleagues. "While we believe that a direct relationship between the company and its team members delivers the strongest workforce opportunities," Activision Blizzard told Reuters, "we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union." Raven Software's QA workers are seeking voluntary recognition of the union; Activision Blizzard told Reuters it is "carefully reviewing" the request. If it declines, the union will hold an election sponsored by the National Labor Relations Board, which leaves its fate up to other employees. This revelation follows Microsoft's announcement that it plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion—in cash—pending approval from Activision Blizzard shareholders and regulators. It seems likely that all parties will be watching Raven Software's unionization efforts closely. https://me.pcmag.com/en/games/13538/activision-blizzard-workers-form-a-union

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60173291 Yulia Popova wants her parents to get on a plane from Ukraine and join her in safety in the US. They have other ideas. Ideas that 100,000 Russian troops on amassing on the border won't change. "I have not seen my mother for two years. During this time, I gave birth to a daughter, Covid spawned two new variants and Russia spewed a new military threat that sent US diplomats packing. I want my mother to pack her suitcases too and join my family in Colorado. She is in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and the country is facing an imminent threat of invasion. I'm a US citizen who wants her family safe and away from the geopolitical games of a mighty few. But my mother - who has a US visitor visa - says "no" to leaving. The Russian threat is not new to Ukraine. For as long as Vladimir Putin has been the Russian president - 18 years and counting - Ukraine and other former Soviet Union states have seen disputes over leadership and borders. But with 100,000 Russian troops amassed at Ukraine's eastern gateway, the imperial blackmail now feels more real to many. My mother, 65, is not in good enough health to get on the plane by herself and leave. My dad, 75, does not have a US visa yet. That is why they cannot leave, but it is not really the reason they want to stay put. My mom comes up with various excuses: she wouldn't fly alone, she wouldn't leave my dad behind, her child-rearing techniques would clash with mine and then what about Murchik, the cat? I am scarier than Mr Putin, it seems. She doesn't think the threat is real. I give up my line of reasoning and ask about dad. "Your dad is always waiting for war," my mom says, which is true. My dad is intensely interested in what happens between Ukraine and the Kremlin. He says an all-around invasion would be insane and highly unlikely. And anyway, if it happens, "They [the Ukrainian government] will just give everyone weapons and it would be a bloodbath on the streets," he adds. What he means is that Ukrainians will not give up their independence easily. My mom is interested in different things, such as the price of cooking oil, which is three times more expensive than last year - and if they should withdraw their savings. I tell her they should, knowing it would hurt the economy if everyone else starts to do it too, but it could buy my folks a plane ticket if they need one Ignoring my parents' lack of urgency, I venture on the US Embassy in Ukraine website to apply for a visitor visa for my dad, where I learn that the usual wait time of three months is now almost a year. I also learn that the US Embassy held an auction in the first week of January to sell off furniture, computers and whatever else could weigh them down. Two weeks later, the US would withdraw all their staff from the embassy. "Why do they make it look like another Afghanistan?" is my knee-jerk reaction. Around the same time, an old friend from Kyiv contacts me to ask if I know anything about business visas to the US. Like me, she's in her late 30s, with a husband who works in tech, and they are both "shaken up". She tells me that many of their colleagues sent their families out of Ukraine in December when the Russian troop build-up began. When the prospect of negotiations with Moscow seemed to be going well, they came back in early January. Many have now apparently left again. Wealthier Ukrainians "urgently look for real estate abroad to buy or rent long-term," my friend adds. She lost faith in Ukraine's safety and stability many years ago, but her husband was committed to his tech business. The current winds of change may finally spell out immigration for them. "We just want to finally sleep well at night," she says. How will we know if war has started in Ukraine? Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? How big is the Russian military build-up? Ukraine is a country of a dwindling 44 million people. Scores have emigrated in the past two decades, though millions travel back and forth every year to Poland, Portugal and other European countries for temporary jobs in construction, agriculture and housework. Nothing stops them, not even Covid. But the threat from Russia might mean a more permanent exodus. Some will stay to fight Russia, of course. Others don't think they have much to lose - my mother is in their ranks. "Putin or Zelensky, it doesn't make a difference who's in charge anymore," she sighs. After a decade of revolutions, inflation and economic instability, I can't blame her for thinking this way. And then there are those who say everything's under control. "There is no reason to panic," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in January. He sounded confident - but his message withered quickly when President Biden takes the stage and says Russians will most likely attack. "

Google had plenty to share regarding the present state and future ambitions for Android this week. In a blog post, Google highlighted existing and upcoming Android features, like instant setup and pairing between Chromebooks and Android phones, locking/unlocking devices with Wear OS smartwatches, and digital car key support for BMWs with Ultra-Wideband-enabled phones. The more interesting part of Google's announcement came at the end, where it revealed plans for deeper integration of Android devices with Windows PCs. Google has rarely shown love for Microsoft's OS, considering their rivalry, but the tide now seems to be turning. Not only are we getting Android games on Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs later this year, but also better Android-Windows integration with features like Fast Pair and Nearby Share for quickly setting up and pairing devices, Bluetooth accessories, syncing text messages, and sharing files. Plenty of third-party wired and wireless programs already bridge the Android-Windows connectivity gap. However, Google's implementation will likely be more seamless than existing solutions and could potentially cover a wide array of Android phones in the future. It might also push Microsoft to further improve the Your Phone app, that's currently built around owners of Samsung Galaxy and Surface devices. Interestingly, as was the case with Google's plan for Android gaming on Windows that ruled out a Microsoft partnership for the Play Games app, this productivity-focused integration of Android features also leaves out Microsoft from the action. Instead, Google says that it's working with Acer, HP and Intel to bring the experience to select Windows PCs later this year.

In context: The default storage unit of the PlayStation is somewhat limited. Although the drive has 825GB, only about 670GB is available. Considering some games can occupy over 100GB of storage, that's not much. New PS5-compatible M.2 SSDs have been hitting the market left and right. There are several affordable options, and Corsair just jumped into the fray with the MP600 Pro LPX SSD. Like many other SSD vendors, Corsair launched a PS5-ready SSD to increase the console's storage capacity. Available with 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and even a whopping 4TB, Corsair's new PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD features a compact built-in heatsink designed to fit inside the PS5 that should offer enough cooling capacity to prevent thermal throttling. To be compatible with the PlayStation 5, an SSD must meet specific requirements. These include having a PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe interface (key M), a minimum sequential read speed of 5,500MB/s, and between 250GB and 4TB of storage capacity. Moreover, companies also must consider that only 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, 22110 SSD form factors are compatible, and the SSD's thickness must not exceed 11.25mm. These requirements are all met by the new Corsair 3D TLC NAND-based SSD, which offers sequential read speeds of 7,100MB/s and sequential write speeds of 6,800MB/s. In addition, it also uses Dynamic SLC NAND cache to improve sustained performance and enhance the drive's durability. Although the SSD it's targeted at PS5 use, it doesn't mean you can't install it on a PC. All you need is a free M.2 slot on the motherboard, and you're all set. It doesn't even matter if it's PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 3.0, as backward compatibility ensures the SSD works in both. However, performance will vary depending on the PCIe interface you use. The Corsair MP600 Pro LPX SSD is now available with 500GB for $99.99, while the 1TB model puts you back $169.99. The 2TB model goes for $339.99, and the 4TB variant is by far the most expensive, costing $784.99. All models have a five-year warranty.

Amazon released a new teaser video for its The Lord of the Rings TV show today, and with it confirmed the full title of the series. Presented with an abundance of options, Amazon decided to go with the rather clunky and long-winded The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, and will inevitable get shortened to Rings of Power when talked or written about. With the series not launching until Sept. 2, nobody should be surprised to discover the new video reveals nothing at all about the content or even the visuals. We know that the series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth and thousands of years before the story covered in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We'll likely have to wait a few months for the rest. As Variety reports, the teaser was made using practical effects rather than computer graphics. Metal artist Landon Ryan worked with director Klaus Obermeyer and special effects artist Douglas Trumbull to create the liquid metal flowing across a piece of redwood before being cooled with water. Season one of the series finished filming back in August and a second season is already planned. On release, Amazon intends to offer a new episode once a week rather than allowing Prime subscribers to binge the entire series over a weekend, as would inevitably be the case for many Lord of the Rings fans out there. https://me.pcmag.com/en/old-video-streaming-services/13532/amazon-reveals-full-title-for-the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-series

In brief: Apple was responsible for nearly a quarter of worldwide smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021 thanks in part to solid demand for the iPhone 13 family. Samsung finished in a close second with 20 percent of the market, followed by Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo with 12 percent, nine percent and eight percent of total shipments, respectively. Apple's market share dropped by one percent compared to Q4 2020 while Samsung's increased three percentage points. Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said Apple returned to the top of the smartphone market after three quarters. Demand was especially high in mainland China, “with aggressive pricing for its flagship devices keeping the value proposition strong .”While supply chain disruption mostly affected low-end vendors, Apple wasn’t impervious to its effects. Cupertino had to cut production in Q4 due to shortages of key components. This didn’t have too big of an impact on prioritized markets, but Canalys said customers in other regions had to wait to get their hands on the latest iPhones. Overall, smartphone shipments increased just one percent in Q4. Speaking to the supply chain, Canalys VP Nicole Peng said component manufacturers are eking out additional production but it’ll take years for major foundries to significantly increase chip production. Some brands are already taking steps to adapt to the current environment such as tweaking device specs to better complement available materials, approaching up-and-coming chipmakers to source ICs, focusing on top-selling models and staggering new product launches. https://www.techspot.com/news/93031-apple-responsible-22-percent-global-smartphone-shipments-q4.html

Something to look forward to: We’ve been hearing a lot about PCIe 5.0 SSDs over the last few months, and now TeamGroup has joined the party by announcing one of the first PCIe 5.0 x4 storage devices designed for consumers rather than enterprise or server users. TeamGroup announced that its T-Force Cardea PCIe Gen5 SSD, part of the Cardea series, is capable of maximum sequential read speeds of over 13,000MB/s and write speeds exceeding 12,000MB/s. The company added that it will be available in capacities reaching 4TB. Those speeds are similar to the upcoming PCIe 5.0 SSDs from Adata, Samsung, and Koxia, as well as the one Intel gave us a glimpse of before CES, all of which can touch 14GB/s reads and 12GB/s writes. But while those drives are designed for servers and other enterprise use, TeamGroup says its Gen5 SSDs will meet the needs of the gaming computing market, video streaming, augmented reality, virtual reality, and other next-gen digital domains, which likely refers to the metaverse. TeamGroup didn’t reveal many other details about the SSD beyond it requiring a motherboard with an NVMe 2.0 slot. You’ll also need an Intel Alder Lake or Raptor Lake processors or one of AMD’s upcoming AM5 CPUs to make the most of those speeds. There’s no mention of what controller it uses, either; Adata’s Project Nighthawk uses a Silicon Motion SM2508 controller for 14GB/s reads and 12GB/s writes, and Phison, whose tech is used in the Cardea A440 PCIe 4.0 SSD, is working on a Gen5 version of its controller. We’ve still a while to wait before being able to buy TeamGroup’s T-Force Cardea PCIe Gen5 SSD. The company says it plans to mass-produce the drive in Q3 2022, adding that it will launch with a variety of efficient cooling solutions—we recently saw an M.2 SSD cooler (above) from Qiao Sibo that features a blower fan design—so you still have a few months to save/upgrade your PC. https://www.techspot.com/news/93171-teamgroup-unveils-13gbs-pcie-50-ssd-consumers.html

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set to launch on Jan. 28, but that hasn't stopped some retailers selling physical copies of the Switch game early. Inevitably, spoilers are being posted online and Nintendo must be fuming. As Eurogamer reports, images and gameplay footage from Arceus started appearing today across social media. Combined, they spoil pretty much all of the major story elements present in the game. Copyright claims are being used to take the content down, but they can't keep up and many spoilers remain accessible. We won't be sharing any of them here, but be warned that you may inadvertently stumble across a few. The pre-release leaks were possible because some retailers are selling physical copies of the game early. We know this because photographs have been posted online of people holding their newly-acquired copy and clearly some individuals decided they wanted to spoil the experience for everyone else. They are collectively known as "the worst kind of people." Arceus is a big release not only for Nintendo, but Pokemon fans, too. It's the first action role-playing game in the mainline Pokemon series, and the open-world nature of the gameplay has more than a few gamers excited about how it could reinvigorate the franchise. It's unlikely Nintendo will choose to officially release the game early due to these leaks because all the advertising and promotion will be geared around Jan. 28. For anyone waiting patiently to play the game next Friday, perhaps treat this as a good opportunity to take a break from social media for a few days. https://me.pcmag.com/en/nintendo-games/13533/pokemon-legends-arceus-is-being-sold-early-and-nintendo-must-be-furious

Highly anticipated: Apple's upcoming iOS release is set to bring users a healthy list of new features to provide a more engaging experience. Announced a week ago, the update closely follows iOS 15.3 which largely focused on bug fixes, vulnerabilities, and under the hood enhancements. If you don't feel like waiting, the 15.4 beta is already available for iPhone and iPadOS devices. The upcoming iOS 15.4 release, which is currently available for public beta testing, looks to bring several highly anticipated features and updates. iPhone users interested in installing the update and taking part in the beta can enroll on Apple's Beta Software Program. Users should keep in mind that while the update supports devices as far back as the iPhone SE and iPod Touch, some key features are only compatible with iPhone 12 and above. The iOS 15.4 beta includes Universal Control, allowing the use of multiple iPads and Mac devices with a single cursor and keyboard. Another prominent feature is the addition of Face ID with a mask, a facial recognition feature that will focus on features around the user's eyes rather than points across the entire face. This new function is available to iPhone 12 and newer devices only. The complete list of features included in iOS 15.4 can be found on Apple's Developer website, but here's a shortlist of other highlights: More than 37 new emoji from the recent Unicode Standard v14 update 120hz refresh rate fix for iPhone 13 Pro users Enhanced audio support for AirPods and other Bluetooth devices while receiving calls A new Apple Card widget which can be added to the Home screen The ability to add notes to iCloud keychain records Wallet enhancements allowing easier access to card balances and vaccine records While a new iOS update packing new features can generate some excitement, users should still exercise caution when installing any beta releases. While the public betas typically undergo extensive testing before release, there is no guarantee of a bug-free experience. Before opting into the beta, backup your device for any critical data. Needless to be said, users who rely on devices for work or emergency communication are better off waiting for a final production release.