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is a timeless Indian culinary staple known for its tantalising flavours and rich aroma. Made with a concoction of spices, blended with hot oil and a variety of seeds, coriander leaves and ginger slices for garnish, it defines the essence of the diverse Indian gastronomic landscape. But what if you could elevate your culinary prowess with a kitchen hack that transforms a single gravy into the secret behind 50 diverse and delectable Indian dishes? Now, that is a culinary revelation that can spark excitement among aspiring chefs and home cooks alike. Enter MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria, who expertise extends beyond the conventional. Known for sharing easy recipes and quick hacks on her YouTube channel, she recently revealed a simple yet delectable recipe for a universal gravy — a concoction of various vegetables and spices that stands as the ultimate base for a plethora ofWhether you’re looking to replicate the bold flavours of chole, the succulence of kofta, or the homely comfort of aloo matar, this versatile gravy can serve as the foundation. The best part is you can tweak this gravy to make any dish distinct from the other. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/one-gravy-recipe-over-50-dishes-chef-pankaj-bhadouria-kitchen-hack-9046765/

Russia has started preparations for missile drills near Ukraine simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to "threats" by Western officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron constituted a "completely new round of escalation of tension". Last week, Mr Macron refused to rule out potentially deploying French troops, should Kyiv request them, while Lord Cameron said that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons for strikes within Russia. On Monday, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Lord Cameron's "hostile outburst" contradicted previous British assurances that the long-range missiles sent to Ukraine would not be used on Russian territory and meant that the UK was a "party to the conflict". The ministry added that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russia could involve targeting any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond. It also said that Mr Macron's statement on possible deployment of French troops to Ukraine could be considered as "readiness for direct confrontation with Russia". Both the British and the French ambassadors in Moscow were summoned on Monday. The tactical nuclear weapons drills announced on Monday were ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to TASS news agency. They were expected to take place "in the near future" and would involve missile formations as well as air and naval forces. Tactical nuclear weapons are small nuclear warheads and delivery systems intended for use on the battlefield, or for a limited strike. They are designed to destroy enemy targets in a specific area without causing widespread radioactive fallout. Strategic nuclear weapons, on the other hand, are large and designed to be fired at a long range - for example, between continents. Russia holds regular drills with strategic nuclear weapons. In April, Belarus's long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko said "several dozen" tactical nuclear weapons were stationed in his country. A Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman dismissed the announcement that drills would take place, calling it "nuclear blackmail". But Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said it was "dangerous and irresponsible" and stated that Nato remained "vigilant". Following a meeting in Paris with Mr Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she hoped President Xi would help de-escalate Russia's "irresponsible" nuclear threats. Russia's sabre-rattling come on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's inauguration for a fifth presidential term. Ukraine's foreign ministry has said it will no longer regard Vladimir Putin as a legitimate president after his inauguration and has urged other countries and international organisations to follow suit. However, a French diplomatic source quoted by Reuters said the French ambassador would attend the ceremony. Germany and several other European countries have ruled out sending their envoys. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5npwdv3wzo

WhatsApp has begun rolling out support for a new feature that will allow you to log in to your account using the biometric authentication mechanism on your smartphone. The messaging service will soon allow you to create a passkey — a kind of login credential that eliminates the need to use or remember a password — on your device and use it to securely log in to apps and services using the facial recognition or fingerprint scanner on your device. Feature tracker WABetaInfo spotted the new passkey feature on WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.20.4 on Tuesday, that is rolling out to beta users. However, not all users who have updated to the latest beta release will have access to the feature, which is reportedly rolling out to a "limited number of beta testers". Gadgets 360 was unable to access the feature on two different Android smartphones that are both enrolled in the beta program. Authenticating using passkeys isn't a novel concept and the technology is slowly gaining traction online— Google already allows you to log in to a new device by using fingerprint-based biometric authentication for passkeys in place of a password. These passkeys are securely stored on your device and used when biometric authentication is provided. The screenshot posted by WABetaInfo also states that WhatsApp will store the passkey in the device's password manager — for most users, that would be the device's default password store that is handled by Google with autofill support. The feature is also expected to make its way to iOS, where it is likely to be stored in the iOS Keychain. It is currently unclear whether WhatsApp will also support storing passkeys in third-party apps like Bitwarden, 1Password, or Dashlane. We can expect to learn more about how the feature works when it is rolled out to more users in the beta program and the feature is expected to arrive on all smartphones on the stable channel in the future. https://www.gadgets360.com/apps/news/whatsapp-beta-passkey-support-login-biometric-unlock-fingerprint-face-id-password-manager-4407108

Insatgram-Threads-Title-728x410.jpg Meta's new Threads app is finally available on iOS and Android, and the platform has received plenty of traction at launch. It has not even been 12 hours since the release, and the app has successfully crossed the 10 million download mark. Threads is Meta's answer to Twitter and the changes it is placing forth lately. It behaves a lot like Twitter as well when it comes to replies, sharing media, and much more. If you already have an Instagram account, the entire process of jumping to Threads will be a lot simpler. Meta launches Threads app to take on Twitter, and it has gained a lot of attention in a matter of hours As mentioned earlier, Meta's Threads is a microblogging platform similar to Twitter, and it will take time for users to get accustomed to the new ways. However, it is not yet known how the market will respond to it, but initial views have been positive so far. The platform is not only available on iOS and Android, but you can use it on your desktop as well. In terms of specifics, the Threads app supports text-based posts that can go up to 500 characters. You also have the availability to share photos, gifs, as well as short 5-minute videos. The media aspect of the app is different than Instagram but very similar to Twitter. You can not access additional video content in the form of Reels, so you will have to stick to Instagram for that. It features a minimalistic interface with a main feed page that contains recommendations as well as threads from people you have followed. Currently, the Threads app does not give you the option to choose between the two, but it could be added later on. The clean interface allows you to focus on the text and the content with little to no distractions. Posted July 8, 2023 Insatgram-Threads-Title-728x410.jpg Meta's new Threads app is finally available on iOS and Android, and the platform has received plenty of traction at launch. It has not even been 12 hours since the release, and the app has successfully crossed the 10 million download mark. Threads is Meta's answer to Twitter and the changes it is placing forth lately. It behaves a lot like Twitter as well when it comes to replies, sharing media, and much more. If you already have an Instagram account, the entire process of jumping to Threads will be a lot simpler. Meta launches Threads app to take on Twitter, and it has gained a lot of attention in a matter of hours As mentioned earlier, Meta's Threads is a microblogging platform similar to Twitter, and it will take time for users to get accustomed to the new ways. However, it is not yet known how the market will respond to it, but initial views have been positive so far. The platform is not only available on iOS and Android, but you can use it on your desktop as well. In terms of specifics, the Threads app supports text-based posts that can go up to 500 characters. You also have the availability to share photos, gifs, as well as short 5-minute videos. The media aspect of the app is different than Instagram but very similar to Twitter. You can not access additional video content in the form of Reels, so you will have to stick to Instagram for that. It features a minimalistic interface with a main feed page that contains recommendations as well as threads from people you have followed. Currently, the Threads app does not give you the option to choose between the two, but it could be added later on. The clean interface allows you to focus on the text and the content with little to no distractions. Instagram-Threads.jpg The app also brings various privacy and security controls from the Instagram app such as blocking words and limiting people to reply to your thread. You can make your account private or public as well. If you are on Instagram, you can easily sign up for Threads and follow the same people. As mentioned earlier, Threads is Meta's answer to Twitter and the number of issues it is running into these days. The app has crossed more than 10 million downloads in just 7 hours of launch. This shows people are looking for a dedicated platform to replace Twitter in its own game. However, the market feedback remains to be seen. We are gradually seeing celebrities and brands joining the platform, and the outcome could be a thread threat to Twitter. If you are up for it, Meta's Threads app can be downloaded from the App Store and Play Store. You can also use the app on your desktop so you always stay in touch with the latest news. We will share more details on Threads and how to use it in the future, so be sure to stick around. link:https://wccftech.com/twitter-rival-threads-is-available-on-ios-and-android-crosses-a-whopping-10-million-downloads-in-just-7-hours/

R4PKpLGxzHPHVbqxPfjvDY-650-80.jpg.webp Benchmarks from QuasarZone show that a near tripling in performance can be achieved in some games by using both DLSS Frame Generation combined with AMD's Fluid Motion Frames. This is possible thanks to a multi-GPU solution that allows an Nvidia 40-series GPU to render using DLSS Frame Generation and then have an AMD GPU to take that output and generate even more frames via Fluid Motion Frames. So pairing two of the best graphics cards for maximum faked frames is possible. Practical? That's a different story, and there are quite a few caveats to this dual Nvidia-AMD setup that makes it unlikely to be useful in practice. How QuasarZone got this working is a little tedious. It installed both an RTX 4090 and an RX 6600 into its test system, installed drivers for both, and then had the primary display hooked into the 6600. Then in Windows, it selected the 4090 as the rendering GPU, which allowed the 4090's DLSS 3 Frame Generation content to pass through the 6600, which could then allow AFMF (AMD Fluid Motion Frames) to generate even more frames. In Cyberpunk 2077 and Starfield, the performance boost with both DLSS 3 and AFMF enabled was nearly 3X. Starfield's results were achieved even without DLSS Frame Generation, which isn't supported in the game. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart saw roughly a doubling in performance. It certainly sounds impressive on a surface level. However, this solution isn't exactly without problems. First, it requires having two GPUs, one from Nvidia and one from AMD. Thankfully, even an RX 6600 is sufficient for the AFMF aspect, but that's still an extra $180, more space taken up, and more heat being generated. More critically, the performance claims require a bit of an asterisk. Although combining DLSS and AFMF resulted in a big increase to the average framerate, the 1% low framerate either didn't budge much or went slightly down. Ideally, the 1% low framerate or 99th percentile framerate will be as close to the average FPS as possible. Increasing the average FPS while decreasing the 1% low FPS could result in a choppier and less smooth experience. Finally, there's ample opportunity for visual quality to take a big hit. QuasarZone didn't show any screenshots or videos in its testing, but just thinking logically about what's going on gives plenty of cause for concern. We know that both frame generation technologies don't leave visuals 100% intact, and combining two of them seems like a recipe for disaster. Plus, user input latency should be atrocious. The 4090 would sample user input once for every two frames, and then AFMF would try to double down on that, meaning one input sample would be used for every four frames that get sent to the display. For all of these reasons, it's very unlikely we'll see gamers picking up two GPUs to see a potentially big boost in performance. It's almost like CrossFire and SLI, which were also multi-GPU technologies that didn't exactly work well. Of course, CrossFire and SLI at least were officially supported; combining DLSS and AFMF isn't and almost certainly never will be. https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/combining-nvidia-dlss-amd-fluid-motion-frames-potentially-boosts-framerate-up-to-three-times

Today, Epic Games announced the public release of Unreal Engine 5.2, the next major version of the third-party engine of choice for most triple-A game developers. Unreal Engine 5.2 comes with many new features and improvements. Let's lead with what's plagued many PC games lately, chiefly made with Unreal Engine 4: stuttering. The previous release, UE 5.1, had introduced an experimental PSO precaching system to improve hitching in DirectX12 games. In UE 5.2, the performance and stability have been increased, and the system now supports skipping drawing objects altogether if the relative PSOs aren't ready yet. While the goal is to have them ready, there is no guarantee they will be. With the new support for skipping, the stuttering shouldn't happen if the PSO hasn't been compiled. Epic also reduced the number of caches to compile in Unreal Engine 5.2 thanks to improved logic that smartly finds those that would never actually be used. Lastly in this area, the old manual caching system can now be used alongside the automated precaching one. Unfortunately, it may take a while before game developers switch to the new version to take advantage of these additions. The virtualized geometry system Nanite has received some improvements, too. There is now support for Custom Depth and Stencils, Lighting Channels, and Global Clip Plane; Variable Precision Normals are available to create, for instance, high-quality reflections on cars; and the Nanite Streamer, which fetches geometry data from the disk, has had its performance, stability, and statistics improved. Lumen, the other major UE5 feature, benefits from improved global illumination and occlusion for thin geometry (such as ears) on characters, and the hair grooms are integrated more seamlessly. High-quality reflections on translucency have received material roughness support (they were limited to mirror-only) in Unreal Engine 5.2, and software ray tracing now defaults to using Asynchronous Compute for consoles. Hardware ray tracing now supports two-sided foliage and can better approximate secondary bounces for reflections. Epic also added Async Compute support for inline ray tracing passes, and ray traced shadows for Rect Lights and lights with a source size are more accurate in this new version. Rough surface rendering for human skin types has been improved. Moreover, Unreal Engine 5.2 expands Variable Rate Shading (VRS) from XR devices to desktop and adds Contrast Adaptive Shading (CAS) to analyze the previous frame and better understand which areas should be rendered at reduced shading rates. Game developers are also likely to appreciate big new features like the Procedural Content Generation Framework, which is useful to quickly po[CENSORED]te large areas or even worlds after defining rules and parameters, and Substrate, a brand new tool that replaced the standard suite of shading models with a modular framework that supports a wider range of surface appearances, capable of providing a better layered look. https://wccftech.com/unreal-engine-5-2-out-now-adds-improvements-to-anti-stuttering-system-enhances-lumen-and-nanite/

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Music: The War and Treaty Accepts Groundbreaker Award | Billboard Country Power Players 2024 Release date: 2024/03/20 Signer: Billboard Official YouTube link

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Like a jilted lover reluctantly coming to the aid of a former partner in need, New Hampshire Democrats have largely decided to help Joe Biden win their beloved primary this month — even though many are still mad he tried to kill it. “I love Joe Biden, I think he’s just been a great president,” said former state Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan, now running a pro-Biden super PAC. “Having said that, I’m still pissed. But you compartmentalize that. You just put that aside.” Last year, Biden tried to end New Hampshire’s 100-year reign as the nation’s first presidential primary state when he directed the Democratic National Committee to overhaul the 2024 primary calendar by putting South Carolina (which he won in 2020) ahead of New Hampshire (which he lost). His allies are now waging what has to be one of the most unusual campaigns in American presidential history ahead of next week's vote: A write-in campaign with a shoestring budget on behalf of the most powerful man in the world, trying to help him win a contest in which he is not technically competing and one which he would rather see not even exist. New Hampshire, whose political class holds the primary as sacred as the Red Sox, just went ahead and scheduled its primary in its usual place right after Iowa’s caucuses, essentially telling the DNC to go pound granite and even threatening the committee with legal action. (As a result, the DNC says it won't seat New Hampshire's delegates at the summer nominating convention.) “It’s safe to say in New Hampshire, the DNC is less po[CENSORED]r than the New York Yankees,” quipped the state Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, who ran for DNC chair not long ago. For Biden, the upshot of the standoff is a bizarre no-win situation. He is prohibited by his own party rules from competing in the Jan. 23 primary since it is officially “meaningless,” according to the DNC. The party will not recognize its results. And he did not even put his name on the ballot, so his supporters will have to write in his name. But his performance against weak opposition from Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and self-help author Marianne Williamson will nonetheless be judged as a measure of his political health at a moment when Democrats are already anxious about his campaign. “This was political malpractice of the highest order because it was totally unnecessary and totally self-inflicted,” said a New Hampshire Democrat and Biden ally who has decades of experience in presidential primaries, requesting anonymity to speak candidly. So, as much as some New Hampshire Democrats may have wanted to let Biden suffer for trying to take away their primary, the state’s party establishment began to come to the realization in the fall that they would have to step up to help the president do what he could not. Anything that hurts Biden, they concluded, helps Donald Trump, the likely GOP nominee. “This is about the general election when you come right down to it,” said Democratic state State Sen. David Watters, a leader of the Biden write-in effort. “There’s too much at stake to have a snit or get our noses bent out of shape about the primary.” In a sense, New Hampshire’s Democratic primary will be the first real-world test of the strategy on which Democrats are betting the entire election: That no matter what gripes Democratic-leaning voters may have with Biden — and polls show they have many — they’ll ultimately pull the lever for the president if the alternative means electing Trump. “I think Democrats will come home,” said Terie Norelli, former New Hampshire House speaker and another leader of the write-in effort. “If anybody is upset about the primary, they need to realize that democracy is at stake.” 'A weird thing to do' Biden ended up in this strange predicament when he tried last year to do what many Democrats say is long overdue: Dethrone overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire and add more diversity to the top of the presidential primary process. The Democratic National Committee, which essentially becomes the political arm of the White House when a Democrat is in occupancy, promptly ratified Biden’s wishes. Iowa went down easily since it was already on the chopping block after botching its 2020 caucuses. But the Granite State refused to budge. Armed with a century of history, its swing state status and a law mandating New Hampshire hold its primary a week before any others, the Republicans who control the government in Concord had no qualms about ignoring the DNC. “We’re going first and the law says so because we’ve earned it,” Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said when the stateset the date. That impudence triggered DNC rules prohibiting any presidential candidate from campaigning in any state with an unauthorized primary and Biden abided. The rules prohibited him from spending money, giving a single stump speech, or even getting on the ballot in New Hampshire. Democrats there stepped into the vacuum to help Biden — and, they hope, though they won’t say it publicly, themselves, curry favor with Biden that will pay off when the primary calendar comes up for consideration ahead of 2028.Their main goal is simple: Make sure voters know how to write in Biden’s name on the ballot. "Start at the bottom of the ballot, fill in the oval for 'write-in,'" one digital ad instructs, "Then write 'Joe Biden' on the line." They’re doing it without any help from — or even the explicit consent of — Biden and the vast party infrastructure he commands. “It’s a weird thing to do,” Watters said. “But I actually find it very liberating. We can do whatever we damn please.” The Biden write-in effort has no field offices. No staff army. No rallies. No TV ads. It’s being vastly outspent by Phillips, the wealthy gelato magnate who is partially self-funding his long shot primary challenge to Biden. The budget for the main write-in campaign is somewhere around $70,000 — a comically paltry sum in modern presidential campaigns — which is mainly going toward printing signs explaining the write-in process and covering the cost of one staffer and one part-time consultant. An affiliated super PAC would not disclose its budget. But a source familiar with the effort said it had raised roughly $500,000 by mid-December. That’s enough to pay for some mailers and some digital advertisements, but not enough to run television ads or staff a real field operation. “I wish we could, but I didn’t win the Powerball on Monday, so it’s not looking like we’re going to be able to afford TV,” said Sullivan, who is running the super PAC. By comparison, Phillips’ campaign spent $589,000 on TV ads in New Hampshire during a single week between Christmas and New Years, according to AdImpact. Phillips and Williamson have tried to capitalize on Biden’s slight. They've held debates where they slam his absence, and Phillips' campaign put another $300,000 behind a TV ad portraying Bigfoot searching for Biden and sent voters mailers saying: "Joe wrote you off. Why should you write him in?" There are 21 other Democrats on the ballot — New Hampshire makes it easy to run for office — and the space to write in Biden’s name comes directly under that of Vermin Supreme, the perennial candidate known for wearing a boot on his head. Reading smoke signals The leaders of the write-in effort all insist they have had no communication with the White House or the Biden campaign, but they see signs of approval in the travel patterns of national Democrats close to Biden who have visited the state. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke at state Democratic fundraisers in the fall, while a slew of national Democrats — most of them on the Biden campaign’s national advisory board — have pitched in to help the write-in effort directly by making calls, speaking at events or soliciting donations. Write-in supporters include Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts have pitched in to help the write-in campaign directly. "I don’t think any kind of politics is 'meaningless,'" Raskin said at a press conference in support of the write-in effort last Tuesday, when asked about the DNC, "So I guess I would take exception to that characterization." Meanwhile, nine Biden Cabinet secretaries have visited the state in the past six weeks, including four last week alone. All came on official business, to tout new federal programs, and none mentioned the primary. But it would hardly be the first time an administration has scheduled official visits with ulterior political motives, which is exactly how Granite State insiders view the visits. "They aren’t up here to go skiing,” said one plugged-in New Hampshire Democratic strategist, who requested anonymity to speak about the political implications of the official trips. “There has just been a ton of folks coming through." Still, some Biden allies in the state worry that the write-in effort will unnecessarily raise expectations for the president, arguing that he might have an easier time shrugging off a disappointing showing in the primary if he were able to say he wrote off the state entirely. “They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too,” the veteran New Hampshire Democrat said. “They’re raising the stake unnecessarily.” Recent Democratic presidents running for re-election have earned north of 80% of the vote in the state’s Democratic primary (Barack Obama got 81% in 2012, while Bill Clinton scored 84% in 1992). But, of course, their names were on the ballot. Few think Biden will reach that threshold, since his supporters will have to write in his name and because he has real opponents. But no one knows exactly what will qualify as a good showing for Biden in the Granite State. The president is polling somewhere between 50% and 70% support among New Hampshire Democrats in recent polls, but pollsters have struggled to capture the write-in dynamic. Ultimately, most Democratic insiders say Biden just needs to not embarrass himself. And New Hampshire Democrats are convinced Biden is not going anywhere, careful to direct all their criticism at the DNC and not at the president himself, like feudal lords excoriating the king’s ministers while praising the man on the throne. “I have no doubt that Joe Biden is committed to this state,” Watters said over coffee and between meetings about the flood of new federal money hitting his state, thanks to laws Biden signed. “I just think there was a lot of bad advice from the DNC.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/weird-write-campaign-needed-help-biden-win-new-hampshire-rcna133295

Animal welfare bodies were appalled by a Northern Cape high school auctioning off a lion-hunting experience as part of a fundraiser. Jacques Peacock, public relations and legal liaison for the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), said it condemned the planned fundraiser at Futurum Akademie near Jan Kempdorp. Peacock said the Northern Cape private school’s advertisement promoting a game/hunt auction, with the prize being the hunt of a lioness in Tosca valued at R40 000, was appalling and deeply concerning. Under mounting pressure from animal advocacy groups, the school has purportedly agreed to substitute the lioness hunt with two buffaloes, said the NSPCA.Peacock said the NSPCA unequivocally opposed the hunting of animals for exhibition, entertainment or sport. “While acknowledging the role of hunting in South Africa as part of sustainable wildlife management, and despite claims of a ‘clean kill’, our experience suggests that such outcomes are rare,” he said. “Our goal is to foster a future where animals are not viewed as commodities for human financial gain but as sentient beings deserving of dignity and respect.” Rural criminologist Prof Witness Maluleke said the fundraiser offers threats to animals and exploits them. “The sustainability of animal rights cannot be maintained with witnessed tolerance of unruly behaviour of this nature. The ignorance shown by the institution has signs of far-reaching consequences with devastating impacts and it should be avoided at all costs,” he said. Teaching an educational institution to protect and respect animals was unjustifiable, he said. “Wildlife crimes should be taken seriously and animals should be prevented to avoid extinction and other risk factors,” he said. Ban Animal Trading director Dr Smaragda Louw said hunting was unethical and immoral. “The concept of ethical conduct – which is obviously what this school believes it is engaged in – has been usurped by the hunters, who distinguish between ethical and unethical hunting, while all they really do is to describe what is acceptable and unacceptable to them as hunters.” Louw said hunting for entertainment and financial gain was always morally reprehensible. “Bonding with nature through lethal means is an indefensible form of recreation and leisure. “Morality evolves. Society cannot and should not decide what is morally right and wrong based on ancient practices. This is what the hunters live by: ‘we have always done it like this,’” she said. Louw said her organisation was appalled that a school would use the killing of innocent animals as a fundraiser. “Hunting is not conservation, nor does it contribute to it. In this instance, it is only individuals – in this case, the school – that benefits from killing animals. Adding a canned/captive-bred lion killing to this event makes it more appalling. Futurum Akademie did not respond at the time of publishing. https://www.citizen.co.za/news/shoot-a-lion-for-our-school-animal-welfare-bodies-outraged-over-lion-hunting-auction/

Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aveiro is arguably one of the most celebrated soccer players of our time. He is thirty-five years old and continues to grace our screens with his incredible wins and now we’re here to talk about the Cristiano Ronaldo car collection. Cristiano has extraordinary football talents that earned him the title of one of the best players or, as people say it these days, the GOAT. Cristiano’s career debuted at the age of 16 in 2002 when he started as a player for Sporting Lisbon. He left the team for Manchester United in 2003, where he made a name for himself for the next six years. During that period, he became a star and a household name, gaining many fans each season. Cristiano left Manchester United in 2009 for Real Madrid until he debuted again in Manchester United. And now, he has parted ways with Manchester United during his time at the 2022 World Cup. We don’t know where he will play next, but we do know that no matter where he plays, he will most certainly always have an incredible car collection. Cristiano has played over 400 games in his career, and as history dictates, he always delivers exceptional performance during every game he is part of. Cristiano is also a five-time Ballon D’or winner and has bagged over 30 trophies in his career. Some of these trophies include; seven league titles in England, Spain, and Italy, Five UEFA Champion League titles, UEFA European Championship for his country Portugal and four FIFA Club World Cups. He was the first to win league titles in England, Italy, and Spain. He also scored the most goals in last season’s Serie A and won the golden boot at the year’s championship. Cristiano has been a top player for the past 20 years. Cristiano’s skills continue to grow as the years progress, earning him recognition in his club and other numerous clubs. Being successful and one of the most famous players of his time, it is no surprise that he is among the highest-paid players in the world. He ranks side by side with Lionel Messi. Apart from his football salary, most of his income comes from endorsement deals with renowned companies like Tag Heuer, Nike, and Clear Hair Care. By 2019, his net worth was roughly $500 million and he was reportedly worth about $1 billion throughout his life. So how does Cristiano spend his wealth? Being such a young, wealthy man, Cristiano enjoys the luxury his career affords him. Some of the notable investments he spends on are real estate. For example, the footballer owns a $602 million villa in La Finca, a luxury neighborhood in Madrid. He also owns an $18.5 million apartment in Manhattan’s Trump tower that he bought in 2015. Other real estate properties that he owns include a football-themed hotel in his hometown in Portugal. He also owns private land on Madeira Island in his home country Portugal. Ronaldo is also a watch fanatic. He has a $160,000 Jacob and Co watch. Aside from his properties and assets, the footballer openly expresses his love for cars. Just like his performance, Ronaldo has a phenomenal car collection in his garage. In the rest of this article, we will briefly review some of the superstar’s favorite rides. https://news.dupontregistry.com/celebrity-cars/cristiano-ronaldo-car-collection/

the 39-year-old Portugal forward earned $260m (£205m) - up from $136m (£108.7m) - over the past 12 months. Ronaldo's great rival Lionel Messi has fallen a place to third behind Rahm. The Spanish golfer has jumped up to second on the back of his switch to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour and is reported to have earned $218m (£172m). Footballers Neymar and Karim Benzema have also entered the top 10 after moves to the Saudi Pro League. Giannis Antetokounmpo (fifth) joins fellow basketball stars LeBron James (fourth) and Stephen Curry (ninth) on the list, while American football quarterback Lamar Jackson is in 10th spot. According to Forbes, the world’s 10 highest-paid athletes collectively earned $1.38 bn (£1.06bn) before taxes and agents’ fees over the past 12 months, which is the highest total ever. https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/ceklk9j7vmeo

When your life is one big party, what's another one as an excuse for New Year's Eve? Nora Fatehi's dancing and fashion skills are at par with each other and when they both come together, expect a celebration like no other. An electrifying start to the new year ahead was on the cards for Nora Fatehi or at least her outfit choice of the night was indicative of it. It was a New Year's Eve bash in Goa and she grooved to her tunes dressed in an electric blue co-ord set that included a blue halter crop top and cutout cargo trousers. The blue co-ord set is strategically structured to cinch her waist further but with an extra dose of crystals that embellish her entire outfit. In case that wasn't already enough, her dancing shoes add a monochrome touch perfectly. Her confidence shines as always in anything she wears but her glamorous makeup and hair sure are a bonus. Unlike her signature minimal soft glam, it was glitter and curls all the way for this Bollywood beauty, to not just dance to her tunes but for others to groove to it too. Nora Fatehi loves all things glitter and would rather leave the room than have a dull moment. Her latest cover for Lifestyle Asia recognised her love for sparkle and ensured she did just that in an embellished sheer catsuit. No room is too dark for Nora Fatehi.When it comes to experiments with fashion, we're yet to find someone who does it better than Nora Fatehi. If she can make a feathered cover look like the most glamorous thing around town, she can practically do anything https://www.ndtv.com/lifestyle/nora-fatehi-had-the-most-electrifying-start-to-2024-in-a-blue-crystal-co-ord-set-4787079

Iman al-Masry is simply exhausted after giving birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, miles away from her home in the north of the war-torn Palestinian territory. Days into the Israel-Hamas war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the young woman fled the family home in Beit Hanun on foot with her three other children seeking safety. For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. They walked five kilometres (three miles) to the Jabalia refugee camp, looking for a means of transport that would take them to Deir al-Balah further south. Iman was six months pregnant and “the distance was too long,” she told AFP. “It affected my pregnancy,” added the 28-year-old mother, who gave birth by C-section on December 18 to daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed. But Iman was quickly asked to leave the hospital with the newborns -- minus Mohammed who was too fragile to go with them -- to make room for other patients of the war. Now, with Tia, Lynn and Yasser, they live in a cramped schoolroom turned shelter in Deir al-Balah along with around 50 other members of their extended family. “Mohammed weighs only one kilogramme (2.2 pounds). He cannot survive,” she said of the child she left behind at a hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Lying on a foam mattress in a schoolroom turned shelter for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from hell. “When I left home, I had only some summer clothes for the children. I thought the war would last a week or two and that afterwards we would go back home,” she said. More than 11 weeks later, her hope of ever going back are shattered. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million people, lies in ruins from the north to the south. According to UN estimates, the fighting has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians internally. The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel says. Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and a siege of Gaza followed by a ground invasion from October 27. The campaign has killed at least 21,110 people, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza’s health ministry, about two thirds of them women and children.Like other mothers, Iman had hoped to follow tradition and celebrate the birth of her babies by “dousing them with rose water”, she said. But 10 days on “we have not even been able to bathe them,” she said, because of the difficulty of finding clear water in the devastated territory, where there is a dire shortage of basic food stuff, including milk, medicine and hygienic supplies such as diapers. “Normally I would change babies’ diapers every two hours. But the situation is difficult and I must be thrifty,” she said, adding that the newborns get only a fresh diaper in the morning and another in the evening. Her husband Ammar al-Masry, 33, said he is devastated because he cannot provide for his family. “I feel helpless,” he said, surrounded by his six children in the foul-smelling schoolroom. “I fear for my children. I don’t know how to protect them,” he said, adding that he spends most of his days outdoors searching for food. “Tia (who has jaundice) must be breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food that contains protein. The children need milk and diapers. But I cannot get any of that.” https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/12/28/Gaza-mother-gives-birth-to-quadruplets-amid-war-displacement-fight-for-survival

and a cursor. After getting through the setup pleasantries, that's all you're left with when you start a new draft on the Freewrite Alpha. No spell check, no AI-powered notes on your grammar, and most certainly no other browser tabs to distract you from the ultimate goal of getting words down on the page. Instead, Freewrite has taken its already distraction-free writing experience and shrunk the price tag some by cutting the Alpha's screen down to almost nothing. I might not be a novelist, but between news posts and reviews, I write somewhere in the region of 20,000 words a week. So, I thought, what better way to test a writing machine than to use it exclusively for a full week, to see how it holds up to the rigors of the online journalist's grind? Freewrite, in fairness to it, wouldn't claim that this is the ideal plan for the Alpha—it's a writer's tool, sure, but it seems fairly clearly aimed at longer-term projects, on a grander scale. We're talking novels, memoirs, manifestos. Still, with cloud-storage syncing, I could have the Alpha immediately upload anything I write to Google Drive (or Dropbox, OneDrive, Evernote, or just its proprietary system called Postbox), so if I placed it on a desk in front of a computer monitor that I'd use to send drafts through to editors, there was nothing technically standing in my way. So, one work week later, here I am, impressed by how the Alpha held up, but also wishing I were a novelist, since this device would so clearly suit that calling. Writing Reformed The Alpha is a simple plastic slab, with a small kickstand on the back that can't be adjusted, and a mechanical keyboard on the front. It has a red power button, a few function keys on that keyboard, and a four-line LCD display. It's a word processor in the old-school 1980s sense of the word, capable of storing a large stash of drafts and syncing them over Wi-Fi when you're connected. Grey rounded rectangular shaped electronic device with a dark grey keyboard in the middle and small textonly screen... PHOTOGRAPH: FREEWRITE Moving between those drafts, changing your settings, and signing in and out can be a fiddly annoyance due to the lack of a touch interface or trackpad, but most people would find themselves doing that far more rarely than me, because, again, most people wouldn't write eight news stories on it in a day. Freewrite Alpha Freewrite Alpha RATING: 7/10 $369 AT AMAZON $349 AT FREEWRITE If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED Once you start up a new draft, though, that blank four-line space greets you, and you'd better be ready to write. An online journalist does their research almost in the same moment as writing, in many cases—deadlines are rapid, so it can feel like you don't always have time to sit and think of your piece's structure before starting. It's a game of alt-tabbing back and forth. Except, using the Freewrite Alpha, it's not. Instead, it's a game of reading what I need to read, digesting what I need to write about it, and then starting to type the words until it's done. That might not sound radically different, and it isn't on a mechanical level, but the Freewrite Alpha added a layer of friction in my routine that I actually appreciated. It imposed an extra step, one that forced me to have a beginning, middle, and end ready in my head before starting a piece. Sending Heaven Of course, it helps that it feels great to type on. The Alpha's keyboard is excellent, with Kailh Choc V2 switches that are nice and tactile, but not so clacky as to be completely obnoxious. The Alpha is also lightweight enough to be slipped into a bag easily. It's much lighter than my MacBook Air, albeit it also gets substantially more funny looks and unwanted questions. Top view of a rounded rectangular device showing the port PHOTOGRAPH: FREEWRITE While the Google Drive syncing was handy for me, the Freewrite also has a button I couldn't stop myself using—even after an automated email landed, reminding me it wasn't necessary: Send. This immediately sends your draft as a text file and PDF to the email linked to your Freewrite account, and nothing has ever felt more like ripping a sheet of paper out of a typewriter to me than hitting it at the end of a piece, that "Send" whipping it away from me. Freewrite Alpha Freewrite Alpha RATING: 7/10 $369 AT AMAZON $349 AT FREEWRITE If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED In reality, pressing Send only beckoned the next step, an editing pass, but with this sort of product there is a lot to be said for the emotional weight of a design decision, and I fell in love with that Send button. Still, that move through to the edit was also a step that the Alpha made more of a requirement than I'm used to. Every writer likes to imagine their copy comes out clean, and the rise of autocorrect has made that a lower bar than ever to clear. Well, the Alpha has no crutches of that sort, so almost every draft I checked was riddled with little typos and words without spaces between them. On an actual computer, using an actual web browser, clicking through these to fix them was generally a momentary job, but it still leaves me wondering how an 80,000-word document might look when reviewed for the first time. Of course, being tentative on the space bar could well be a "me" problem, not a Freewrite Alpha one. Just My Type That's how I feel about most of my time using the Alpha, in fact: Many of my hesitations stem from my own predilections, not the elegant hardware I was using. I went into this knowing I was bending the Alpha to my will to see how things went, but I came out regretting that my life isn't a nonstop writer's retreat where this thing would make perfect sense. Because, to be clear, Alpha is just ideal for that use case, or if you actually do have a novel on the simmer. Being able to lock up your phone, close your laptop, and get this out would be a perfect way to get in that zone. That experience is offered by all of Freewrite's writing devices, of course, but the Alpha is, crucially, its most affordable. That it also fixes the Freewrite Go's mistake of shipping without mechanical key switches is a bonus.That said, we're talking about a $349 (£275) writing tool here. You can get a capable laptop for that price and have so much more at your fingertips. Indeed, I'm starting to think that Freewrite's three writing options now look a little weird: The Alpha is the cheapest, and is light and convenient with mechanical switches. The Traveler, at $499, costs a chunk more for a truly portable design, but with an inferior keyboard and less room for your hands. Finally, the full-fat Smart Typewriter sits at $649, and has the best of all worlds with the bigger display, but is twice as heavy and thus doesn't make sense for frequent moving around. What I'd really like is a middle ground—a single device that brings the bigger screen, makes navigation easier, and keeps the mechanical keyboard, but doesn't weigh a ton. Whether that ever happens (given it would probably make the existing models redundant) is anyone's guess, but I can dream. In the meantime, the Alpha will sit for however long my loaner review unit remains with me. And every time I look at it I'll wonder why I'm not in a cabin, in a pine forest, writing something truly lasting. Send. https://www.wired.com/review/review-freewrite-alpha/#intcid=_wired-gear-right-rail_f2b8a8e7-0547-469e-8320-54a66a4ea99e_po[CENSORED]r4-1-reranked-by-vidi

Chinese tech giant Lenovo showed off a prototype laptop on Monday that has a see-through screen, underscoring how the world’s largest PC maker is trying to innovate after a brutal couple of years for the market. The laptop is equipped with a trackpad which features a touch keyboard and a stylus to draw or navigate with. The obvious question is: Why would you want this kind of device? Lenovo showed off some of its capabilities. A representative who ran a demonstration for CNBC placed an artificial sunflower behind the screen. The camera built into the laptop was able to identify the object as a sunflower then provide information about it, using artificial intelligence technology. Another use, the representative said, is in a construction scenario. For example, if an architect is designing an extension on a house, they could see the house through the screen, and use the stylus to draw their design to envisage what it may look like. Like all new technology, there may often be uses not yet imagined.The technology is similar to augmented reality in some senses. AR, which has been po[CENSORED]rized by glasses or headsets like Apple’s Vision Pro, is when digital content is superimposed on the real-world you see in front of you. Since the laptop is a concept product, Lenovo has no plans to sell the device. However, PC makers are looking toward the future after a difficult couple of years. PC sales spiked during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but as people returned to work, they began to plunge. Last year, PC shipments fell nearly 15% year-on-year, The Chinese tech giant showed off the device at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world’s biggest mobile industry trade show. Lenovo does have a history of teasing concept devices to prove its ability to innovate. Last year at MWC, https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/25/chinas-lenovo-shows-off-a-laptop-with-a-see-through-screen.html

It’s been a quiet year for desktop CPU launches—more of a drizzle than rain for new silicon. Intel’s launch of its 14th-generation processors was particularly subdued, with two of its three new chips offering similar performance as their predecessors. And yet we still got an interesting showdown: the Intel’s Core i7-14700K versus AMD’s gaming-focused Ryzen 7 7800X3D. With its strong gaming performance, the 7800X3D was a top contender for being the best CPU to launch this year. And in fact, if that’s all you’re planning to do, it’s still an excellent choice, especially if power consumption is a concern. But Intel’s Core i7-14700K managed to nudge it aside to take our recommendation, thanks to getting four additional efficiency cores—it handles content creation tasks much more easily than the 7800X3D, while still posting similar numbers in many games. When you’re spending $400 for a CPU, a well-rounded option is always welcome. The fact that compatible motherboards and RAM are still a bit cheaper and more plentiful in options helps, too. — Alaina Yee https://www.pcworld.com/article/2144388/the-best-pc-hardware-and-software-of-2023-2024.html

Pacific Drive is a driving game like no other. Not content with the race tracks and supercars endemic to the genre, Ironwood Studios’ debut outing is a ‘90s conspiracy thriller that blends crafting-survival elements with a roguelike structure and sports a New Weird aesthetic that’s guaranteed to delight fans of Remedy’s Control and the SCP Foundation. In short, you are a hapless driver transported into the forbidden confines of a fictitious government Exclusion Zone in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. In your bid to escape, you quickly stumble upon your new best friend: a rusty old station wagon that isn’t quite what it seems. Our Pacific Drive review praises the “delicious friction between Pacific Drive’s tactility and [player] adrenaline” that fosters “emergent chase sequences laced with panic and amusement in equal measure.” While you’re in the driver’s seat, you must juggle the mechanical components of a car – the handbrake, wipers, and headlights – as you withstand fluctuating weather patterns as well as the hostile paranormal Anomalies that po[CENSORED]te the Zone. Your forays out into the PNW wilds will take you through dense forests and forbidding swamps, as you slowly puzzle out the mysteries of the Exclusion Zone and its mysterious Remnants. The roguelike loop brings you back to the garage at the end of each run, where you can repair any damage your iron horse has sustained. This forms the basis of Pacific Drive’s crafting-survival element, but its intriguing story is the fuel that propels you through to its end. It’s also got a seriously good soundtrack to boot. https://www.pcgamesn.com/new-pc-games

Yes @Havertz.

The iconic competitive FPS is still going strong today with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Though CSGO has undergone significant changes over its lifespan, it's still very much the core Counter-Strike experience that revolutionized the multiplayer FPS genre in the 2000s. The standard mode of play is a five-on-five demolition-style match on carefully crafted maps that emphasize specific positioning, sightlines, and team strategies. But beyond that, there's a hostage rescue mode, gungame free-for-all, and tons of custom content from years of work by its player base.One of the most exciting things about CSGO is the high-intensity competitive matches where the slightest mistakes could spell doom for your team, or clutch plays could drastically shift the momentum of a match. Counter-Strike has historically been played with a level of precision in both the FPS combat and in its tactics, which makes a bit of a steep learning curve for newcomers. However, this classic game can be wildly rewarding, which you can see from its massive competitive scene. Recently, Valorant has adopted the Counter-Strike formula to great effect, but the high-stakes tactical combat of CSGO is still in a league of its own. https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/best-pc-games/2900-4143/

CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is one of the biggest tech trade shows in the U.S., which means it’s one of the best places to get an idea of the future of technology. You can preview products long before they hit store shelves, which can often make it hard to find new products that are available to buy now. I headed to CES to find the best new products as well as gadgets you can actually order today. Below are new and exciting products across tech home, kitchen, wellness and more. New products from CES 2024 that are available now We focused on products that are available for purchase or pre-order today. Products you can pre-order ship in January, February or March. If you miss the days of smartphones with physical buttons, this phone case may be for you. It is a silicone case that plugs into your phone and has a physical, backlit keyboard at the bottom. You can use the physical keyboard instead of your iPhone’s traditional touch keyboard. The case has a pass-through port at the bottom, so you can still charge your phone while using it. iPhone 14 Pro models ship in February, 15 Pro in March and 15 Pro Max in early spring. Anker debuted a bevy of charging devices using the new Qi2 standard, which promises faster charging rates and a secure magnetic hold while charging. This one doubles as a portable power bank, with 6,600mAh of battery while you are on the go. It charges with USB-C, just like the latest iPhone 15. https://www.nbcnews.com/select/shopping/ces-2024-best-products-buy-now-rcna133153

For much of the 21st century, software development has been an attractive career option. Now, however, there are perceived threats on the horizon as new tools seem set to fill the software development skills gap. Generative AI models are evolving quickly with the ability to generate functioning code from a few text prompts. Meanwhile, no-code and low-code tools and services — which offer people with minimal or even no development skills the ability to design and mani[CENSORED]te their own software applications — are becoming more sophisticated and widespread. Gartner predicted in 2021 that, by 2025, as much as 70% of new applications will be developed using low-code or no-code technologies. Generally speaking, these technologies are more likely to augment how software development is done than completely displace this work, but their adoption could still see some unwelcome changes from the sector’s heyday. Software developers may be expected to do more with less, and early-stage workers may be seen as less valuable and replaceable by anyone with basic skills who can leverage these new automations. Small companies with smaller budgets may even lean more on no-code tools and generative AI and be less likely to create new opportunities for developers. In other words, while software developers are still needed, demand may not continue to grow at its previous pace, and this may come with a decrease in salaries and benefits as the market becomes less competitive. But there are ways software developers can continue to secure high-paying roles as their career evolves. 1. Learn a high-paying language Not all programming languages are created equal. Some are more commonly used, and some are in higher demand in the job circuit. According to Indeed, the highest-paid programming languages are Java, C#, JavaScript, Python, C++, SQL, Rust, Scala, and Elixir. Each of these will have different applications and use cases, so developers can select the language best suited to the industry they’re interested in. It’s also important to be familiar with a range of supporting frameworks. This software developer role in Union Tank, for example, requires several years of practical experience with Java alongside knowledge of po[CENSORED]r Java frameworks such as Spring, Hibernate, and JavaServer Faces. 2. Learn to work alongside AI AI will have a significant role to play in the future of software development, so familiarity with new generative AI tools and how they intersect with the work of software development is essential. This C++ developer role at Websale, for example, involves working with tools such as ChatGPT and CoPilot. Those who stay ahead of the curve and learn how to best harness these tools, rather than rail against them, are likely to become the new standard-bearers of the sector. 3. Specialise in cybersecurity According to an analysis of the average salaries of cybersecurity specialists recorded by the Economic Research Institute, 10 of the top 15 highest-paying countries for cybersecurity jobs are in Europe. At the top of the list is Switzerland, where the average salary in cybersecurity is more than $150,000 per year. Security software developers need to add highly specialised skills to their development knowledge, but this is a career investment that could pay off massively in the long run. According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent Future of Jobs report, cybersecurity is a key growth area with a widening skills gap. 4. Take the reins with product management Bill Gates started his career as a software developer. Though he founded Facebook before he even finished college and started a career, Mark Zuckerberg’s entrepreneurial roots are certainly in software development. The trope of the software-developer-turned-entrepreneur continues today, and, if becoming your own boss and leading your own business is something you’d like on your career roadmap, consider a pivot to product management. These roles are often considered as ‘mini CEOs’ because of their broad base of skills, deep product knowledge and involvement, and cross-departmental interactions. That journey can begin in a software development role where you take the lead on common product management practices. For example, this senior Java developer role in SMA Solar Technology includes managing Agile development teams. 5. Develop your leadership skills Experience is highly valuable in the job market, but it can only come with time. To accelerate your salary progression, you’ll need to demonstrate that you aren’t just a team player, but a team leader. As with any career, team leads and heads of development will earn more than the employees reporting to them, and skillful leaders are scarce. Leadership and social influence are among the top rising skills cited in the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report. Of course, with a salary often second only to the CEO, the top position to aim for is CTO. Start with taking on senior development roles with more responsibility for project delivery and mentorship, such as this C# role at Moldino Tool Engineering. You can also seek out positions at companies that will support your continuing professional development. For example, Mazars advertises its development and training opportunities and financial support for relevant qualifications in this posting for a cloud software developer. If you’re looking to take the next step in your software development career, check out some of the roles available now on the https://thenextweb.com/news/5-ways-boost-salary-software-developer-2024

I’ve researched the subscription-based hardware market for many years. I have the firm belief that: The storage infrastructure most naturally fits the subscription model. The server/VM ecosystem could fit but doesn’t as much. The major difference between these is that the storage vendors own the respective storage stack — hardware and software. It’s relatively easy for storage vendors to take on that cost and sell it via subscription. I am not underestimating the capital involved in that process. In contrast, the server vendors such as Dell, HPE, and Lenovo own just the hardware. The important ingredient — server virtualization software — comes from infrastructure software vendors like Citrix, Microsoft, Red Hat, and VMware. VMware, undeniably, holds the lion’s share in this virtualization market. Unless the vendor that front-ends deals is willing and the entire stack is available via subscription, the server subscription market will be stagnant. The Subscription Server Market Briefly Saw New Possibilities At the end of calendar year 2023, this market witnessed a growth catalyst. Broadcom/VMware announced that its software will be available as subscription-only. It raised hopes and possibilities for server vendors to build a subscription bundle. They would develop a back-to-back agreement with VMware and develop offerings based on it. This news could fuel growth in the subscription-based server market. But that hope fell flat on its face as Broadcom announced another change to its resellers program. Server vendors are no longer the distributors for VMware infrastructure software. As a result, Dell terminated its VMware reseller agreement. This means all server vendors that were once a major distributor/reseller of VMware software will now have to go through designated VMware distributors. The details of the new program are not public yet. Server vendors face more challenges and risks than they did in the past. What will be the result? Server vendors will have to front-end deals, underwrite (or buy insurance for) the subscription business, and assume risks. Would Broadcom be interested in taking on recurring revenue risks in partnership with server vendors? I believe that it’s not likely given Broadcom’s modus operandi. Server revenue will decline on account of lost VMware licenses — a significant drag on top-line and bottom-line revenue. What Does The Future Look Like? Server vendors have been facing challenges, as businesses have been migrating/moving to the public cloud where hardware is rarely provided by these same vendors. Server vendors have two possible paths: Join the larger distributors as resellers and settle with a lot lower margins. Explore alternatives to VMware hypervisor (and other infrastructure software) to stay in the game. What Do You Think? I am looking forward to publishing a few research reports on this market situation very soon. If you are a server vendor exploring future possibilities and wanting to discuss, submit an inquiry request. If you are a VMware customer and need to discuss the strategic options, please reach out so we can talk. https://www.forrester.com/blogs/2024-a-bittersweet-beginning-for-the-subscription-hardware-business/