Angel of Death

The release of iOS 15 broke a feature that allowed Siri to manage the AirPods Pro's currently active Noise Control mode. There are three Noise Control modes: Active Noise Cancellation uses "anti-noise" to dull the impact of environmental sounds, Transparency allows those sounds to be heard over whatever is currently playing, and the Off setting effectively turns the AirPods Pro into more traditional earbuds that don't attempt to compensate for surrounding noises. AirPods Pro owners can switch between those modes via the Settings app, Control Center, and by long-pressing on the earbuds. Before the release of iOS 15, they could also use Siri by saying "Hey Siri, turn off Active Noise Cancellation" or something similar, but now the voice assistant responds to those requests with "Sorry, I can't help you with that." We've confirmed this problem using a public release of iOS 15 on an iPhone SE with paired AirPods Pro. The other methods of changing the currently active Noise Control mode still work, but no matter how we phrased the request, Siri told us that it couldn't help us switch between the modes. (At least it was apologetic each time; we'd start to get snippy after a while.) There is some good news: MacRumors reports that this problem doesn't affect the iOS 15.1 beta. That probably won't help most AirPods Pro owners who've already updated their devices to iOS 15, but assuming Apple is quick to release the operating system's first point upgrade, people should be able to manage Noise Control with Siri again sooner than later.

Facebook has apologized for the mass outage that left billions of users unable to access Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger for several hours. “To all the people and businesses around the world who depend on us, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by today’s outage across our platforms,” said Santosh Janardhan, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure, in a blogpost late Monday. WATCH NOW VIDEO06:11 Facebook Under Fire: What steps need to be taken, and what level of regulation is the company willing to accept? The outage, which prevented users from refreshing their feeds or sending messages, was caused by “configuration changes on the backbone routers,” Janardhan said, without specifying exactly what the changes were. The changes caused “issues” that interrupted the flow of traffic between routers in Facebook’s data centers around the world, he added. “This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt,” Janardhan said. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp stopped working shortly before noon ET, when the websites and apps for Facebook’s services were responding with server errors. Just after 7 p.m. ET, around six hours after the platforms went offline, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page: “Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now.” He added, “Sorry for the disruption today – I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.” The outage marked the longest stretch of downtime for Facebook since 2008, when a bug knocked the site offline for about a day, affecting about 80 million users. The platform currently has around 3 billion users. WATCH NOW VIDEO02:57 Facebook sells off amid whistleblower allegations and a widespread user outage In 2019, a similar outage lasted about an hour. Facebook blamed a server configuration change for that incident. The outage came one day after the whistleblower who leaked private internal research to both The Wall Street Journal and Congress revealed herself ahead of an interview with the CBS program “60 Minutes.” The documents, first reported in a series of Journal stories, revealed that the company’s executives understood the negative impacts of Instagram among younger users and that Facebook’s algorithm enabled the spread of misinformation, among other things. Facebook shares closed down almost 5% on Monday but they were up modestly nearly 1% in early trading on Tuesday.

Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey is the latest adventure in the Puzzle Bobble saga – and while you may recognize some familiar faces and color-matching, bubble bursting gameplay, this all-new adventure is unlike any other game in the series. Tomorrow, get ready to experience the first-ever 3D Puzzle Bobble game, which delivers a new challenge as you aim to solve three-dimensional bubble clusters with depth and reactive physics. With 100 levels worth of escalating difficulty, Puzzle Bobble 3D can present quite a challenge. But you’re in luck! All of us here at Survios want to make sure you get the most out of your vacation, and we’re here to share our top 10 tips and tricks that’ll have you bursting bubbles with the best of them. Play Video10 Tips to master Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey, out tomorrow 1. Watch Your Win Condition In Story Mode, pay attention to what the win condition is for each level. Sometimes you don’t have to pop all the bubbles to complete the puzzle. For example, if your goal is to Free the Chack’n, you only have to pop the bubbles with Chack’n inside them to win. Free the Chack’n! 2. Consider Clearing One Color at a Time If you have a chance to eliminate all the bubbles of one color from the board, do it! When there’s fewer remaining colors to match, there’s a greater chance that the next bubble Bob gives you will be the one you need to clear a big cluster. 3. Avoid Sticking Extra Bubbles to the Core Every bubble puzzle is made up of dozens of bubbles that branch off of a central core. On many occasions, your goal is to burst all the bubbles surrounding the core so that it activates. But if you shoot bubbles directly at the exposed core before all the other bubbles around it have been burst, they’ll just attach to it, and you’ll have to waste shots bursting them in addition to the other bubbles. 4. Cancel Your Shot at Anytime If you’re playing with a DualShock or DualSense wireless controller and you don’t like the shot you’ve got lined up, you can always press L2 to cancel your shot. You can also cancel your shot when playing in VR with Playstation Move controllers. After you’ve pulled back the plunger on your bubble cannon, simply return your hand to the neutral position and release the trigger button to cancel your shot. Cancelling your shot gives you the opportunity to try again for the perfect match or equip a powerup. R/G, B/Y and UNI Color Blindness Accessibility Options 5. Explore the Color Blindness Accessibility Modes If you’re one of the millions of gamers who are colorblind, you can still enjoy Puzzle Bobble 3D. Just check out the colorblind options in the settings menu to find a color scheme that works for you. We have color modes to accommodate Red/Green and Blue/Yellow color sight deficiencies as well as a Universal mode for those with Monochromacy. 6. Boomerang Your Bubble Shots If you miss a shot, your bubble will always be drawn toward the core. If you’re trying to reach a bubble cluster in a tricky position, take advantage of this by shooting over or around the puzzle and letting it home in on the far side of the core. Hmm, I wonder what this powerup does? 7. The Bomb is a BLAST! Of all the power-ups in the game, the bomb is one of the most useful thanks to its ability to burst multiple bubbles of different colors at once. If you’ve got a bomb on deck, try to save it until the puzzle’s core is partially exposed, then launch the bomb directly at it. If it makes contact with the core, it can burst a huge number of bubbles and make the rest of the level a lot easier. In fact, all of the powerups have their own set of strengths against certain types of puzzle clusters and situations. We recommend trying them all out. 8. Unlocking the Hardest Trophy on your Way to Platinum Matching up bubbles to pop is super satisfying, but longtime Puzzle Bobble fans will know that disconnecting large groups of bubbles from the gameboard is one of the keys to success. The same is true in Puzzle Bobble 3D. In fact, there’s even a trophy for making a match that disconnects a whopping 100 bubbles in a single shot. Whoa! If you’re skilled enough to unlock this trophy, you’ll be well on your way to beating all 100 levels in our Story Mode and earning yourself a fresh Platinum Trophy. 9. Burden Your Opponent with Bubbles in Duel Mode Did you know that Puzzle Bobble 3D features a competitive online Duel Mode? That’s right. In this mode, an endless swarm of bubbles will appear steadily rising towards a vortex hovering ominously overhead. The goal is to outlast your opponent by popping all the bubbles before they get sucked up by the vortex. Of course, clearing out bubbles faster than your opponent is the key to winning. But, in traditional Puzzle Bobble fashion, you can make your opponent’s job a lot harder. In Duel Mode, every time you make a match of 20 bubbles or more, you’ll send jammer bubbles directly to your opponent’s gameboard. So be on the lookout for those big groups of bubbles to pop. 10. Mastering Every Level with 3 Stars Only the most ardent bubble popping fans will attempt to complete each Story Mode level with a full 3 star rating. Here are a handful of tips for those willing to brave that challenge. Most levels in Story Mode come with a hard bubble limit. When you complete these levels, you’re actually awarded bonus points for each leftover bubble. The lesson here is simple: beat levels in as few shots as possible to score the most points. A similar principle applies to levels with a time limit: beat the level as quickly as possible to rack up the bonus points. Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey is easy to learn but tough to master, so our most valuable tip is to keep practicing until you’re a bubble-blasting pro! With more than 100 colorful puzzles in exotic vacation destinations, honing your skills has never been more relaxing – or more fun. Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey bursts onto PS4, PS5, and PS VR tomorrow.

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps and games to try, too. Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters Top Stories Winners from the Facebook outage When Facebook went down for nearly six hours on Monday, other apps saw an immediate benefit. Telegram, for example, gained a massive influx of 70 million more users, it said. Other firms did a fuller analysis of how the outage played out in the world of mobile apps. According to Sensor Tower, Snapchat saw the biggest increase on the social media front, with average time spent by existing users climbing by 23% week-over-week. Twitter, which had jokingly tweeted “hello literally everyone,” grew that figure by 11% and TikTok saw a 2% jump. When comparing October 4 to the week-ago day, Snapchat saw a 14% increase in sessions, the report said. Twitter saw 5% session growth week-over-week, but TikTok saw a 1% dip. But as the outage impacted more than just social networking — Facebook’s communication services, including Messenger and WhatsApp went down, too — rival chat apps also saw some gains. This included a 15% time-spent bump in Signal and an 18% increase in Telegram. In terms of sessions, Signal and Telegram grew by 13% and 9%, respectively, when compared with September 27. In addition, both saw an increase in installs, with Signal seeing nearly 12x the installs from the day before, reaching 881,000 downloads on the day of the outage. Telegram saw 6.3 million installs and Viber gained 137,000. Image Credits: Sensor Tower At Facebook, the declines in time spent were significant. Instagram’s average time spent on Android dropped by 28% week-over-week. Facebook on Android was down 24%; WhatsApp was down 25%; and Messenger was down 20%. Apple brings back the App Store’s “Report a Problem” feature Apple made a change to its App Store by returning the “Report a Problem” link to App Store product pages across iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey devices. The link offers an easy way for users to report issues they’re having with an app, including whether it contains offensive or illegal content, or whether it was attempting to scam consumers out of their money. Apple had removed the consumer-friendly “Report a Problem” button from the App Store years ago, possibly to its detriment. New reports have suggested that many of the top apps are scams costing consumers millions and Apple has even been questioned by Congress over the situation. The “new” feature is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and will make its way to other markets over time. However, the feature isn’t technically “new” in the sense that it had never before existed on the App Store — a button like this used to have a prominent position in the App Store’s early days. When clicked, consumers will be able to select from options like “Report a scam or fraud” and “Report offensive, abusive, or illegal content” at reportaproblem.apple.com. They will also be able to report issues with free apps that don’t include in-app purchases. The addition arrives after a number of reports about high-profile App Store scams have made headlines. Scams were even brought up in an antitrust hearing Apple attended earlier this year, when senators questioned why it wasn’t doing enough to protect consumers. The return of the button seems to be the closest to an acknowledgment we will get from Apple that fighting fraud effectively may require public input. Apple’s apps get rated and reviewed Image Credits: Appfigures With iOS 15, Apple began to allow consumers to rate and review its own first-party apps on the App Store for the first time. That meant users could now leave reviews for built-in apps like Mail, Music, Stocks, Calculator and others that typically ship with the iPhone. Initially, some of the apps were not faring well as users finally had a chance to offer their feedback. For example, News started off with 2.5 stars as users complained about nags to upgrade to News+, advertising and other elements. This week, Appfigures analyzed how the apps were doing as of October 5, 2021, to reflect the nearly 33,000 ratings they received over the first couple of weeks. It found that the most disliked apps included Mail, Podcasts, News and Translate. The latter, a newer app in the Apple lineup, fared the worst. Translate was the lowest-rated app, with a 2.42 average star rating globally off of 1,629 total ratings, Appfigures found. News, Mail and Podcasts were rated 2.55 stars, 2.98 stars and 2.44 stars, respectively. Image Credits: Appfigures Meanwhile, apps with ratings over 4 stars included Find My, Voice Memos, Compass, Measure, FaceTime, Notes, Fitness and Apple Wallet. A majority of Apple’s apps, however, were in the 3-star range. None received 5 stars or less than 2.42. In terms of the number of ratings, Music and Maps led with 23% of the 32,953 ratings that came in over the past couple of weeks. Worldwide, music had 4,431 ratings, and Maps had 3,207 ratings. They were also the only apps with 3,000+ total ratings as of the time of publication. Image Credits: Appfigures Weekly News iOS Updates iOS 15 users noticed they have started to see promotions for Apple’s services in the Settings screen. While Apple has used this spot in the past, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney this week called out Apple for the practice, saying Apple is using the Settings screen as an ad unit its competitors don’t have access to. Apple was seen marketing Apple Music here, for example — but a rival like Spotify would not be able to use this same prime real estate in the same way. Image Credits: TechCrunch Apple launched new metrics in App Analytics. The new analytics include redownloads, total downloads, proceeds, preorders and updates. Each metric can be displayed by territory, source

A voting hardware company that came to prominence right after last year’s presidential election is seeking to block Santa Clara County from releasing the firm’s financial documents, arguing they contain trade secrets that make them exempt from public records laws. On Thursday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Helen Williams said she would like to first take a look at the documents in question before making a ruling. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which provides machines that counts votes and also allows individuals to cast their vote, became a household name in fall 2020 after an onslaught of conspiracy-driven accusations were directed at the company from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who claimed the company had rigged the 2020 presidential election against him. In 2019, Santa Clara County awarded an eight-year contract to Dominion to utilize their technology for the county’s Registrar of Voters. As part of the contract process, Dominion provided 47 pages of audited financial statements from 2015 to 2017 to the county that were marked with the words “confidential” and “proprietary” on each page. In August, Santa Clara County received six public records requests that sought Dominion’s financial statements. As part of an agreement between the county and Dominion, the county notified the company about the records request and that they intended to fulfill it. After Dominion raised concerns about the release of the documents, the county directed them to make their case in court rather than the county making the determination. In their suit seeking to block the records from release, attorneys for Dominion argue that the company’s interest in preventing their release “outweighs” the public’s interest in receiving them. They also state that “across the nation,” individuals who are “fueled” by “false claims” that the company rigged the 2020 election have filed public records requests seeking information that intends to harm Dominion. In addition, attorneys for Dominion contend that it is in Santa Clara County’s own interest to not release the financial documents. If the documents were to be released, they argue, future vendors may be “reluctant” to work with the county. According to the suit, one of the requests was made by a “sovereign citizen” of so-called “New California,” a movement started in 2018 that looks to secede from the state. Dominion declined a request for comment, and the company’s lawyer and law firm did not respond to a request for comment. County Counsel James Williams said that in these cases, the county takes a “relatively neutral” position. “They need to go seek a court order. They are the ones who have the factual knowledge if they have a trade secret,” said Williams about companies seeking to block certain records from release. “We want to make sure the vendor isn’t going way overboard. We would object to that. Between them and the court, we aren’t in the position to know (what is a trade secret) given their particular industry issue.” Williams also said that an individual who wished to intervene in the case, Sunnyvale councilmember candidate Charlton M. Thornton, did not make an appearance. David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a San Rafael-based organization that advocates for government transparency, said that cases like the one involving Dominion and the county have become more common in the last half decade. In 2012, a state court of appeals ruled that a third party may challenge a request, known as a reverse-California Public Record Act lawsuit. That type of lawsuit was tested in 2017 when former Milpitas city manager Tom Williams, who had been accused of alleged misconduct, tried to prevent the release of records related to his tenure. A judge later ordered the release of the records after Snyder’s organization challenged Williams’ efforts to block the documents. “What a reverse action does (is) it flips the burdens,” said Snyder, who has led the Coalition since 2017. “The person who doesn’t want the records disclosed gets the first argument. And the most aggressive argument. The public’s interest in disclosure can be left out in the cold.”As for Dominion’s argument that their financial documents are trade secrets, Snyder said that just because a company puts the words “confidential” or “proprietary” on documents doesn’t legally dictate what a government entity can do with them. But the answer isn’t exactly clear, he said. “Trade secret is fairly narrowly defined in the law,” Snyder said, bringing up the formula for Coca Cola as an example. “If that were released, Coca Cola would be at a competitive disadvantage. Are audited financials secrets? I really don’t know. But I don’t think that’s an obvious yes.

PUBG has been in talks with the Indian authorities regarding the game's re-entry into Indian market. Meanwhile, an Inside Sport report had previously said that PUBG’s re-entry into India ‘In the current circumstances it will not be easy’. The website further quoted insiders stating that the game’s launch could be pushed to January or February next year’, which again ‘will depend on the stance of the government’. PUBG Mobile Lite 0.20.0 global version now available for Android download: Here's how to do it Share: Written By: Zee Media Bureau Edited By: Reema Sharma @reema7sharma Updated: Feb 03, 2021, 132 PM IST Highlights Govt has not yet granted permission to relaunch of PUBG in India. PUBG was a hugely po[CENSORED]r game in India. Centre decided to ban it in September. New Delhi: Even as millions of fans in India are waiting for the re-entry of PUBG Mobile game in the country, here's some latest information from the gaming company. The 0.20.0 global version update of the po[CENSORED]r PUBG Mobile Lite is now available for Android download. The APK file is of 575 MB size, gamers need to have enough space in the phone to download it. The 0.20.0 update for PUBG Mobile Lite comes with several exciting updates and features like a Universal Mark Feature and Winter Castle. Here’s a how to download PUBG Mobile Lite 0.20.0 global version update on Android Visit official website of PUBG Mobile Lite Click on the ‘Download APK’ option. The download for the APK file will start. Now players can enable the ‘Install from unknown source’ option Now players will have to locate and install the APK file What is dissappointing for Indian PUBG GAMERS? Do also note that PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite are banned in India, so it is strictly advised that Indian gamers should not download the game. PUBG has been in talks with the Indian authorities regarding the game's re-entry into Indian market. Meanwhile, an Inside Sport report had previously said that PUBG’s re-entry into India ‘In the current circumstances it will not be easy’. The website further quoted insiders stating that the game’s launch could be pushed to January or February next year’, which again ‘will depend on the stance of the government’. The government had banned the multiplayer action game PUBG on September 2 and it has been pulled out from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India following the directive from the Indian government. Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.

Google launched a new feature on Wednesday that shows users the environmental impact of flights. Starting today, users will see carbon emissions estimates for nearly all flights in the search results. The estimate is visible next to the price and duration of the flight. Google notes that the new feature will allow users to factor carbon emissions into their decision alongside cost or timing when it comes to booking travel. The estimates are flight-specific and seat-specific. For instance, the emissions estimates will vary when looking at economy or first-class seats, as seats that take up more space account for a larger share of total emissions. Additionally, newer airplanes are generally less polluting than older ones. Flights with lower emissions will be labelled with a green badge. Those who want to prioritize carbon impact when searching for a flight can sort through results so that the flights with the lowest emissions are at the top of the list. Flights are labelled as higher, typical, lower or unknown emissions. Google calculates the estimates by combining data from the European Environmental Agency with flight-specific information provided by airlines regarding details such as aircraft type and the total number of seats. The search giant notes that actual carbon emission may vary and depend on factors such as aircraft model and configuration, speed and attitude of the aircraft along with the distance between the origin and destination. The company plans to continue revising carbon emissions over time to improve accuracy. “This update to Google Flights is just one of the many ways we’re helping people make sustainable choices in their everyday lives,” Google’s vice-president of travel products, Richard Holden, said in a blog post. This latest update to Google Flights comes as the company just launched eco-friendly routing in the U.S. for iOS and Android users. Eco-friendly routing gives drivers the choice between the fastest and most fuel-efficient route. Google believes the new feature could allow Maps users to avoid over 1 million tons of carbon emissions per year. Eco-friendly routing is expected to launch in Europe next year.

The manufacturing world is facing one of its greatest challenges in years—a global shortage of semiconductors—and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight any time soon. According to Acer, one of the world's largest laptop manufacturers, companies will still be affected by this shortage until at least the first half of 2022. Semiconductors are an essential component of electronic devices, found in everything from cars and factory machinery to dishwashers and mobile phones. They harness the conducting properties of semiconductor materials (such as silicon), through the use of electric or magnetic fields, light, heat or mechanical deformation, to control the electric current flowing into a device. Like many current global challenges, this shortage initially began as a result of the COVID pandemic. Staff at semiconductor foundries in China and around the world were unable to go to work, plants were closed and production halted, which led to a lack of supply. The movement of that supply was also slowed down by tighter restrictions at ports and international borders. At the same time, employees started working from home, children and students started studying from home, and many of us were confined to our homes for long periods. New equipment was needed to support these changes, establish makeshift offices and classrooms in our homes, and upgrade our existing home entertainment options. This prompted a sudden increase in demand for many of the devices that rely on semiconductors. However, the industries that make these devices also had to stop production for a time, and during that period they stopped ordering semiconductors. This meant there was a sudden increase in demand for goods, but the companies that manufacture these products weren't making as many as they normally do, or ordering enough components to enable them to meet a rise in demand later. This is a classic example of the "bullwhip effect", in which inventory levels suddenly fluctuate in response to unexpected changes in customer demand further along the supply chain. This didn't just happen in the electronics sector; it has affected every industry that uses semiconductors in their products, from health care and cosmetics to construction and defense. According to analysis by investment bank Goldman Sachs, this shortage has already impacted at least 169 different industries to some extent. No time to panic Unfortunately, panic-buying isn't restricted just to the toilet paper aisle in Coles and Woolworths. Once rumors of a shortage began to emerge, companies that use semiconductors started panic-buying and stockpiling them. This behavior adds to the overall impact of the shortage, reduces what little supply is available, and drives up costs. The automotive industry has been hit particularly hard, illustrating perfectly the scale and complexity of modern supply chains. A car is made of about 30,000 components, sourced from thousands of suppliers around the world. If even one of these components isn't available at the time of assembly, the system grinds to a halt and new cars can't be finished or shipped. General Motors had to stop production at some of its manufacturing facilities as a result of the chip shortage earlier this year, costing the company at least US$2 billion. What happens next? The impact of the microchip shortage is already being felt by consumers all over the world, including Australia. Customers hoping to buy a new car or replacement parts can expect to wait up to six months. Computer manufacturers Dell, HP and Lenovo have warned their prices are likely to rise, and retailers such as JB Hi-Fi have told shoppers to expect shortages of televisions and other electronic goods "for the foreseeable future." Even before this crisis, the demand for semiconductors was growing steadily, as products become more sophisticated and technologies such as 5G and the "internet of things" become ever more integrated into our world. The only realistic solution is to increase the supply of semiconductors, and chip maker Intel has already announced plans to scale up its manufacturing of semiconductors, with new factories opening in the United States and Europe. However, this will take time, so consumers will likely still be feeling the impact of this shortage well beyond Christmas 2021.

Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG today announced the award-winning MMOARPG Lost Ark will be available in North America and Europe on PC in 2022. Players can sign up now at playlostark.com to learn more about the game and the upcoming beta, coming later this summer. Lost Ark is a AAA free-to-play, massively multiplayer online action role-playing game that is only currently available in Korea, Japan, and Russia, where it boasts millions of active players. Smilegate RPG is among the world’s most successful developers, and whose parent company developed the first person shooter CROSSFIRE, one of the most po[CENSORED]r and long running games in the world, boasting more than 8 million concurrent players globally nearly fifteen years after its launch. In Lost Ark players explore the vast and diverse world of Arkesia on their quest to find the fabled Lost Ark and save the realm from a demonic threat. The game features 15 distinct hero classes that offer deep combat with unique combinations of adaptable skill sets utilizing the Tripod Skill system. Players forge their own legend, whether alone or with allies, as they battle through dangerous dungeons, sail by ship and even create their own island home. “With Lost Ark, Smilegate RPG has created an incredibly deep online experience that players will return to for years to come; it is our privilege to bring this action RPG to new audiences in North America and Europe for the first time,” said Christoph Hartmann, VP, Amazon Games. “Amazon Games is committed to releasing the highest quality games for our players, whether we’re developing projects with our internal teams or publishing games from the best developers in the world, like Smilegate RPG. Lost Ark is the first of many exciting titles that Amazon Games will be publishing.” Amazon Games collaborated with Smilegate RPG to provide players in North America and Europe with the best experience possible by localizing and translating the colossal world of Lost Ark into written and spoken dialogue in English, French, German, and Spanish. Amazon is also adapting the free-to-play business model, ensuring all items for sale in-game can also be acquired through playing, to better meet the expectations of Western players. “We’ve been working closely with Amazon Games on Lost Ark, and continuing to grow our player base in the West,” said Chi Won Gil, CEO, Smilegate RPG. “Amazon Games is perfectly positioned to introduce Lost Ark to a new pool of players and grow that relationship with them through Amazon channels like Twitch and Prime Gaming.” Amazon Games is also currently developing New World, the upcoming MMO set on a supernatural continent in the Age of Exploration, releasing on September 28, 2021. Also in development are original game projects from the Amazon Games team in San Diego, led by industry veteran John Smedley, and the newly formed Amazon Games development studio in Montreal, founded by the core team behind the po[CENSORED]r tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege.

Collaborating with others in Google Sheets is about to become much more manageable as Google is adding new ways to find and review comments in its spreadsheet software. In a new post on the Google Workspace blog, the search giant has announced that users will now be able to review comments and conversation threads in a sidebar, apply filters to find the most relevant comments and page through comment threads in a spreadsheet in the comment overlay. In the new comments sidebar, Sheets users can quickly reply, resolve or create new conversations with their colleagues. However, for spreadsheets being used by large teams, users can apply filters in the sidebar to find the most relevant feedback such as comment threads that they need to respond to personally. We've compiled a list of the best spreadsheet software available These are the best free office software solutions on the market Also check out our roundup of the best productivity tools Google has also introduced a new navigator in Sheets to help users progress through comments in a spreadsheet.Whether you're working from home or have already returned to the office, collaborating with teammates is more important than ever and comments provide an easy way to discuss issues wherever and whenever you're working. With these new changes to Google Sheets, users will be able to navigate through all of the comments in a spreadsheet by clicking on the comment icon in the Appbar, the “open all comments” item in the sheet tab, the “open” button from any comment anchored to a cell and a new button in the comment overlay that allows users to page between comment threads. These new features will be turned on for all Sheets users including G Suite Basic and Business customers as well as all Google Workspace customers. Google has already begun rolling out this new update in Sheets and the company plans to have it finished by mid-June.

With working from home becoming a permanent staple for many, finding the best computer monitor is more important than ever. Meanwhile, many PC components are still suffering depressing shortages, making a screen upgrade one of the easiest and most impactful changes you can make to your gaming rig right now too. Below, we list the best computer monitors across various categories, from gaming to budget 4K and HDR. But in order to pick the best computer monitor, these are a few basic things you should consider first. What’s your monitor’s purpose? Generally speaking, if it’s gaming, you’ll want something with a high refresh rate (ideally 100Hz or greater), low response time and AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync for fighting screen tears at low framerates. For general use, look for high contrast, and for creative work prioritize color accuracy. What resolution do you want? More pixels means a sharper image. No one should be buying anything under 1080p/FHD (1920 x 1080), but if your budget can handle it, 4K is as sharp as it gets at a reasonable price. Many gamers find 1440p/QHD (2560 x 1440) is a good compromise between price and high-refresh rate performance. Contrast and color. We consider contrast the most important factor in image quality, with 1,000:1 being solid. Color errors are particularly important for creatives, and anything with a Delta E (dE) greater than 3 may show visible errors. Panel tech: When it comes to image quality, TN < IPS < VA. VA monitors typically still have better contrast than even the best IPS panels; although IPS panels are also known to be very colorful. What size do you want? These days, 24-inches is on the small side and 27 inches is mainstream while 32-inches is a good large size for those on a budget. Anything bigger than 43 inches probably won’t fit on a regular desktop. For portable monitors , stay in the 17-inch range or under. sRGB or DCI-P3? for the most part, you’ll either be getting a monitor made in the sRGB color space or the more colorful DCI-P3 one. Technically, Windows, the web and non-HDR games and video use sRGB, but if you want an extra colorful screen, an accurate DCI-P3 monitor is more appropriate.

Long time XCOM developer Firaxis is working on a “turn-based action game” featuring Marvel heroes, according to a new rumor. Codenamed “CODA,” the Redditor writes that “famous actors” will voice the characters, implying that it might tie closer to recent Marvel films than Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers did. It’s a rumor, and a yet-to-be substantiated one, though journalist Jason Schreier, who has broken a number of industry stories at Bloomberg and Kotaku, did lend some credit to it on Twitter. “Yes this 2K leak is real but I’m not sure all of it is going to be at E3,” he wrote. “Can’t wait for Marvel XCOM though.” According to the same alleged leak, a new Borderlands spin-off starring Tiny Tina is also in development and will be revealed at E3 this month. It makes a bit of sense: Gearbox head Randy Pitchford was heavily hinting at a new Borderlands game only last month. The leaker writes that the game could be called Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and that it will play similarly to previous Borderlands games.What else? Well, there’s gonna be a new NBA game this year (duh), but there’s also an entirely new project listed by the name Codename Volt. The leaker’s source reckons it’s “Cthulhu meets Saints Row.”All rumors as yet, but with E3 2021 just around the corner, full details are likely very close, and Schreier's comment lends a good deal of credibility to the XCOM rumor. Both Take-Two Interactive and Gearbox will be hosting their own livestreams as part of the event, on June 12 and 14 respectively.Shaun is PC Gamer’s Australian editor and news writer. He mostly plays platformers and RPGs, and keeps a close eye on anything of particular interest to antipodean audiences. He (rather obsessively) tracks the movements of the Doom modding community, too.

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has a new preview build and it’s rolling out a nifty feature which aims to tame apps that are using too many system resources, therefore helping combat battery drain with laptops, and improving overall performance (among other benefits). The ‘Eco mode’ for Task Manager introduced with build 21364 is labeled as an experimental feature at the moment, so this is still very much early days. Indeed, currently it’s only rolling out to a small number of testers, but it’ll be “gradually rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel”, Microsoft notes (if testing doesn’t encounter any major hitches, presumably). How to find your Windows 10 product key How to speed up Windows 10 How to uninstall a Windows 10 update The idea here is that when you pop into Task Manager – which gives you an overview of any running processes on the system, and their respective CPU, memory and disk usage, among other things – you can take action against resource-sapping applications by turning on Eco mode (simply by right clicking on an app, and applying the mode). Apps running in Eco mode already will also be highlighted in the ‘Status’ column, so you can see them at a glance.Eco mode attacks on two fronts, as explained in a detailed dev blog post by Microsoft: it reduces the base priority of the process in question to ‘low’, and also applies ‘EcoQoS’ mode. This means that first of all, other apps are getting priority for system resources, and EcoQoS ensures that the “process is executed in the most power efficient manner”. That could mean dropping the clock speed of the CPU, leading to overall better thermal performance – another important consideration for laptops – and less battery usage. The system also runs better and more responsively in general. Microsoft observes: “We see up to 4x improvements (or ~76% reduction) in UI responsiveness on a CPU contended [busy] system.” Task Manager itself was sped up by 76% when Eco mode was applied to the resource-hogging synthetic workload Microsoft used for testing, but other apps saw considerable benefits too, including Microsoft Word which launched around 52% faster, and Edge was 49% quicker to fire up (with no tabs).Those performance improvements are certainly very worthwhile, and the added battery life that Eco mode should facilitate is obviously more than welcome, too. Particularly given recent stories about apps chomping up worrying amounts of system resources when running in the background (such as the Epic Games Store). Processor priority For now, Eco mode focuses on CPU usage only – the main part of the equation when it comes to power-efficiency – but in the future, other system resources could feel the benefit as the feature is expanded. As a final note, Microsoft clarifies that testers who get to play with Eco mode may notice that it is applied to Microsoft Edge or Chrome, when they haven’t enabled the feature for these browsers. Microsoft explains: “This is due to both Microsoft Edge and Chrome experimenting with lowering base priority and applying power efficiency APIs to improve efficiency which is similar to what Task Manager is doing to identify ‘Eco’ efficient apps. You may see other apps with ‘Eco mode’ if they adapt to similar techniques to improve efficiency.”

Another day means another Newegg shuffle, although today's selection is slimmer than past soufflés. Some of the best graphics cards are still here, including the RTX 3070, RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT and RX 6800, but unappealing bundles and pricing mean that some definitely offer more value than others. Out of the deals on display, we're most excited about the MSI RTX 3070 selling for $739. While the RX 6800 is technically a little faster than the RTX 3070, it's also priced more than $200 higher thanks to being bundled with a motherboard. And when you throw in DLSS and ray tracing, the RTX 3070 still has unique advantages over its AMD competition. The RTX 3060 Ti is also here, but thanks to being bundled with a motherboard, it's also more expensive than the more powerful RTX 3070. AMD's RX 6700 XT is in a similar boat, although its bundle is even more expensive than the RTX 3060 Ti's despite the GPU having similar performance. If you desperately need a motherboard, then these bundles might be more appealing to you. But since the point of the Newegg shuffle is to get an opportunity to buy items you can't find elsewhere, these motherboard bundles come across less as good deals and more like Newegg taking an opportunity to sell off extra stock by forcing GPU buyers to buy extra items to get what they actually want.On the console side of things, today sees a new Playstation 5 bundle that includes the disc drive version of the console, two DualSense controllers, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. For a more detailed look at where today's graphics card offerings stand, take a look at our GPU benchmarks hierarchy. Our eBay GPU pricing index is also a great place to check to see if you're getting your money's worth with these deals. Newegg Shuffle items tend to come in cheaper than scalper prices, but are still well above MSRP. For those unfamiliar with the process, Newegg Shuffle uses a lottery format. Just select the component(s) you'd like to potentially buy. Then Newegg will hold a drawing later today, after which the 'winners' will be notified by email with the chance to purchase an item (only one) within a several-hour period. Based on our experience, you won't get selected most of the time. But hey, it's free to try. Today's complete options and prices consist of the following:With component shortages plaguing the PC industry, not to mention the smartphone and automotive industries, the latest word is that prices aren't likely to return to 'normal' throughout 2021. If you can keep chugging along with whatever your PC currently has, that's the best option, as otherwise prices are painful for all of the Nvidia Ampere and AMD RDNA2 GPUs

Since launch, Teamfight Tactics has lived inside the League of Legends client as a nice little extra. But Riot has suggested that home may not be permanent, as the game grows beyond its MOBA spin-off roots. At least, that's where product owner Winston Baker sees the game going in future. Speaking to PC Gamer on how TFT plans to build its own identity beyond LoL, Baker reckons the autobattler could eventually outgrow its MOBA roots. "A lot of it depends on, essentially, how we best serve players," says Baker. "That's generally how we think about it. When we wanted to launch TFT, the best way to do that was to use our existing client for LoL, because it afforded us a lot of advantages. I think as the game grows, and as it develops its own identity, yeah, we're absolutely looking at potentially moving out, or do we find our own place? We just need to find a home for it. It really depends on how much we invest in it, and that's all driven on how much players love the game." The benefit of having TFT included in the League client, supposedly, was to make it easier for players who play both to hop between the two. But Baker explains that there aren't really that many people who play both League and TFT."What I found actually is that we have a lot more endemic TFT players than we originally anticipated. Certainly there are people who go back and forth, but it's not quite like [League of Legends modes] Summoner's Rift and All Random All Mid. TFT is a whole different game. And so I think it sort of tracks in the way that you would expect where it is an entirely different genre." Baker doesn't make any concrete plans, of course. But TFT is already far more than a mere spin-off from League of Legends—it's a massively po[CENSORED]r auto-battler, one that can occasionally hit upwards of 10 million active players a day. Don't be surprised if you find yourself playing it out of a brand new client sooner or later.

Formula E has revealed the full calendar for this year’s World Championship and confirmed that it will once again feature two races in London. There will be 15 races in the series this year – four more than last year. Races in Morocco, Chile, China, South Korea and Indonesia have been cancelled, due to the pandemic, but are planned to be run next season once restrictions ease. However, other countries have stayed on the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship rota, including the US and Germany which, as last year, will host the season finale. The UK also features on the calendar, as Formula E has confirmed that the Excel London exhibition centre will host the penultimate two races on 24-25 July. The 2021 season began in February with a double-header in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, followed by Italy’s Rome E-Prix on 10-11 April. The fifth and sixth races of the season will take place this weekend in Valencia, Spain – a new venue for the series. Following a trip to Monaco on 8 May, Formula E will visit another new location for the Puebla E-Prix on 19-20 June. The Mexican race has been moved from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City (which has previously hosted five Formula E races), because the circuit is still being used as a temporary field hospital. The Formula E drivers then return to Red Hook race course in Brooklyn, New York, for rounds nine and 10 and then on to London’s indoor-and-outdoor track. The season rounds off with a double-header in Berlin on 14-15 August.

Ram Navami is one of the most auspicious festivals of Hindus that is observed on the Navami tithi of Chaitra month Shukla paksha. It is on this day, Lord Rama was born to king Dashrath and Kaushalya. On this auspicious festival, the devotees offer prayers to the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishu i.e. Lord Ram. This year, Ram Navami is being celebrated on April 21. As the auspicious day is here, send these warm wishes, messages, quotes, and images that you can share with your friends and family:

European soccer’s breakaway Super League project lay in tatters on Tuesday after the six English Premier League clubs involved in the project quit 48 hours after agreeing to join Italian and Spanish teams in the controversial elite competition. After a storm of protests from fans, players, managers and governments, alongside threats of bans and sanctions from the game's European and world governing bodies UEFA and FIFA, the English clubs capitulated under pressure and threw in the towel. Manchester City were the first to back out of the venture and then Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea announced they were following suit. The Super League issued a statement which suggested they may be suspending their project but stopped short of abandoning it altogether. "Given the current circumstances, we shall reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project, always having in mind our goals of offering fans the best experience possible while enhancing solidarity payments for the entire football community," the statement said. The Madrid-based organisation said the departure of the English teams was due to "pressure" placed on them and said they were "convinced that the current status quo of European football needs to change". The league, which was announced on Sunday with 12 founding members, has been championed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the new competition's chairman. It is now left with three Italian clubs -- AC Milan, Juventus (JUVE.MI) and Inter Milan -- plus Perez's Real Madrid along with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain. Perez cancelled a planned radio interview on Tuesday. Inter Milan look likely to be the next to leave with the Italian news agency ANSA quoting a club source as saying "The Super League project in its current state is no longer considered of interest by Inter". UEFA, whose elite Champions League competition was at risk from the proposed new league, threatened to ban the clubs and players who joined the Super League but its president Aleksander Ceferin had earlier urged the English clubs to think again. “I said yesterday that it is admirable to admit a mistake and these clubs made a big mistake," he said after the English clubs announced their decisions to leave. “But they are back in the fold now and I know they have a lot to offer not just to our competitions but to the whole of the European game. “The important thing now is that we move on, rebuild the unity that the game enjoyed before this and move forward together," he said. Adding to the drama, Manchester United (MANU.N) executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward fell on his sword, announcing his resignation shortly before his club gave up on a project he had been influential in bringing about. MORE MONEY The Super League had argued that it would increase revenues to the top clubs and allow them to distribute more money to the rest of the game. U.S. investment bank JP Morgan (JPM.N) was brought in to finance the new league, providing a 3.5 billion euro ($4.21 billion) grant to the founding clubs to spend on infrastructure and recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the sport’s governing bodies, other teams and fan organisations said the Super League would boost the power and wealth of the elite clubs and the partially closed structure of the league goes against European football's long-standing model. Unlike Europe’s current top-level Champions League competition, where teams have to qualify through their domestic league, the founding Super League teams would have guaranteed themselves a place in the new competition every year. Most of the English clubs made only brief statements but Arsenal apologised to their fans for being involved. "It was never our intention to cause such distress, however when the invitation to join the Super League came, while knowing there were no guarantees, we did not want to be left behind to ensure we protected Arsenal and its future. "As a result of listening to you and the wider football community over recent days we are withdrawing from the proposed Super League. We made a mistake, and we apologise for it," the London club said in an open letter to fans. The magnitude of the split in the game and the strength of feeling it generated led political leaders across Europe to speak out, and, in some cases, to threaten intervention. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government would consider passing legislation to stop the breakaway, likening the plans to creating a cartel. The Premier League said it “unanimously and vigorously” rejected the plans. After a meeting with the 14 clubs not involved, it said it was considering “all actions available” to stop the new competition. "We have listened carefully to the reaction from our fans, the UK government and other key stakeholders," Manchester United said in a statement. "We remain committed to working with others across the football community to come up with sustainable solutions to the long-term challenges facing the game."

Some Windows 10 users are encountering serious problems following the release of the recent "KB5001330" update, with some reports even coming in that the update itself can't be installed on some machines. Earlier this week, Microsoft published its new April 2021list of updates, including Windows 10 KB5001330 for version 20H2/2004, which was a mandatory download intended to patch the problems caused by the previous update, including the long-running issues with the printers. We solve 100 common Windows 10 problems How to speed up Windows 10 How to uninstall a Windows 10 update Windows Latest reports that various posts across its own forum and social media sites that this is a growing issue, with many users unable to install the update at all. Comments on the problem are also available on the Windows Insider Feedback Hub, with one user stating “I’m getting a consistent failure of KP5001330 to install with error code 0x800f0984. This is happening on Surface Studio 2 and Surface Pro 7. This is the second month in a row Microsoft has been unable to the cumulative update on my machines. The install pauses at 20%, then again at 73% (different from last month’s 40%), then at 100%, then fails,” So far, the following error messages have been reported:Over on a Reddit thread about the issue, users are also reporting that video games are suffering from various issues such as graphical stuttering, significant drops in frame rates and even completely crashing. The update was discovered to be the cause of the problem after users found that rolling back the update restored their systems back to a usable state."This update was also giving me issues in the form of noticeable stutter / hitching in games where this normally never happened, with or without vsync on" comments one user. "Uninstalling fixed the problem for me as well, and I tested on a separate install to confirm that the update was indeed the culprit. Sounds like pretty much the same issue as yours. I'm hoping that Microsoft will look into the issue." Old bugs making new appearances A real cause for concern is the re-emergence of the Temporary User bug that was reported in late 2020, causing saved user files and settings to vanish and forcing users to log into a guest profile. This thankfully appears to be a rare issue with limited reports, and alongside rolling back the update you can manually move the user files if needed. Windows Latest reported that a user claims “I can no longer get into my computer since the update. It says “the User Profile Service service failed the sign in. User profile can not be loaded”. If you're running into any of the problems caused by the Windows 10 KB5001330, follow the below instructions to uninstall the patch and restore your device.

One of the big draws of mechanical keyboards is the sound. That resonant, thocky, clacky rhythm can only come from the movement of plastic against plastic, and it’s one of the big things separating mechanical keyboards from their membrane-centric brethren. Compared to a cheap keyboard, the sound of just about any mech is heavenly. But maybe you're not so satisfied anymore. Perhaps you've started to notice other sounds--the pinging of little springs, or a scratching scrape-y sort of plastic sound that you don't enjoy. Or maybe you caught your favorite streamer with a new custom mechanical keyboard that sounds absolutely stunning. How can yours measure up? Is there a way to make it sound better, or is it time to just buy a new board? There is a way: you can lubricate your switches. Lubing switches is one of the most common and immediately effective aftermarket modifications done by mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, and it's easy to see why: the process can make your switches sound better, deepening and clearing up those clacks and thocks; it can make them feel better, too, getting rid of any internal scratchiness and making the whole typing experience that much smoother. Lubing can also make the best gaming keyboards even better. In case you've not seen this before, though, here's an example. First, here's a quick video of me typing on some stock, unlubed Cherry MX Red switches: