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As we approach the release of Windows 11 on October 5, Microsoft is starting to chat about the thoughts behind creating some of the new features of the upgrade, this time being new sounds for the dark mode theme in a new interview. Applying themes to your Windows PC is an incredibly common attribute that used to require third-party applications in order to install that unique appearance to your desktop. However, newer trends such as dark mode and ever-changing wallpapers based on the time of day have made Microsoft aware that themes in Windows need more attention compared to its previous efforts. This is why we’re about to see separate sounds in both Light and Dark mode themes for Windows 11, to better set apart the overall feel for when you decide to customize your desktop. Rejoice - Paint is being redesigned for Windows 11 Find out where to buy Windows 10 Here’s why Parallels 17 will help Mac students use Windows 11 How many sounds? When switching between light and dark modes, the sounds should reflect the appearance of your desktop, such as the taskbar and wallpaper having darker colors. If a high-pitched tone was played when moving files into different folders for example, there are users who may think it doesn’t fit the overall theme. "We introduced light and dark sound options so that people who may have low visibility or no vision can still experience light and dark themes audibly.” a Microsoft spokesperson explained. “Themed sounds improve productivity by matching your working style through your theme. Dark Sounds help you stay in focus while Light Sounds ensure you’re always engaged.” Microsoft has created ten different sounds for its Light mode and Dark mode in Windows 11, each with its own unique tone to be different from both modes. You can listen to the differences at BleepingComputer to help you decide which sounds you prefer when you’re able to upgrade to Windows 11 on October 5. Analysis: a nostalgia for Windows sounds A big part of a Windows upgrade is its new sounds and how users will be able to tell what a certain sound means for a certain function. If you used Windows XP in its heyday, you would most likely think back to this sound when the topic is mentioned. It gives you familiarity with Windows, and to another point, its brand recognition. Apple rarely changes its sounds unless it's for a big redesign, which happened with macOS 11 Big Sur, but Microsoft always makes sure to change its sounds with every major Windows upgrade. This is the next step in a long line of sound changes in Windows releases, and while the Light and Dark mode sounds seem different only in pitch and volume, it’s an encouraging effort so far to make every theme unique in Windows 11.

To get ready for the October 5th launch of Windows 11, it's inevitable that a lot of Motherboard manufacturers are going to release updated BIOSes. Updating your BIOS isn't required for the new OS, but certain features such as having TPM enabled by default, make sense. According to WCCFTech, MSI today became the first motherboard maker to issue Windows 11 BIOS updates for its B450 and B550 chipset motherboards. However, it's unclear at this time whether the updates in WCCFTech's story are official or safe as they aren't listed on MSI's site and can only be found on someone's Google Drive, which is not the way that any OEM, let alone a big player like MSI, would distribute its updates. In short, we would strongly recommend against downloading these files and for you to wait for an official release from MSI. According to WCCFTech, the BIOS update (based on the AMD COMBOAM4v2PI 1.2.0.4 release) essentially enables the onboard TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) by default - one of the requirements that's been added to the latest version of Windows in an effort to increase OS and system security. The new BIOS also purportedly updates the SMU (System Management Unit) firmware for AMD's Ryzen CPUs - namely for Vermeer (Ryzen 5000), Cezanne (Ryzen 5000G) and Picasso (Ryzen 3000G) to the latest release. Seven motherboards in total are expected to be contemplated in this initial rollout, with more to follow as MSI completes BIOS development for more models and chipsets. Rest assured: MSI's X570 and X470 motherboards are expected to also receive the AMD AGESA 1.2.0.4 BIOS firmware update, to be made available at a later date and in time for Windows 11's release. For now, the updated motherboard listing as provided by WCCFTech includes two B450 and five B550 motherboards: MEG B550 UNIFY MEG B550 UNIFY-X MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI MAG B550M MORTAR B450 TOMAHAWK MAX B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II One thing to note is that the supported PC configurations for Windows 11 exclude a number of CPU families (such as AMD's Ryzen 1000 series). If your PC doesn't comply with Microsoft's system requirements for Windows 11, you might be able to install Windows 11 all the same - but according to the company, you won't be able to download OS updates, which throws the improved security philosophy of Windows 11 out the proverbial window.

Valheim developers Iron Gate have let loose an arrow from their video quiver, one last development update before the Hearth & Home update releases on September 16. It's all about weapon tweaks, with axes getting punchier and bows tweaked to feel less dominant. Two-handed Axes are getting a deserved set of buffs, and while they're still slow heavy weapons, their windup is faster. Their hits also now cleave through more enemies and stagger them harder as well. Combined with their alternative knockback attack and the more general combat changes, Iron Gate thinks this will make them a more viable weapon choice. Speaking of viable, Bows were a bit too viable at high skill levels but a bit too hard to use for people without perfect aim. They now have an adjusted draw speed, so even those with maxed out skill in bows will have to draw back the string. No more instant, perfect accuracy right away. To balance that, keeping your bow drawn will now drain stamina slower, making it easier to aim without exhausting your ability to fight. Here are some nice pictures of wolves getting whomped by axes to celebrate Previously, we'd heard that the update will have a few new cooking ingredients, like berries that make you puke. You can get the full lowdown on our roundup of everything we know about the Valheim Hearth & Home update. Hearth & Home releases September 16, but Iron Gate says that these weapon tweaks are the last spotlight before then, but not the last thing they'll be releasing.

Animals this small and squishy usually don't have legs. Pudgy, ungainly tardigrades are among the smallest legged animals on Earth, and these microscopic water bears lumber around like chubby-thighed toddlers. But most creatures as small as tardigrades don't even have legs, so scientists recently analyzed tardigrades in motion to better understand how they use their limbs. Tardigrades, also known as moss piglets, have segmented bodies and four pairs of legs. They scoot through deep sea sediments and sandy river bottoms, and scurry over lichens and moss on land, scampering toward prospective mates and food or away from predators. Footage of scuttling tardigrades in the species Hypsibius exemplaris revealed that their movements closely resembled locomotion in insects about 500,000 times their size, despite being separated by around 20 million years of evolution and belonging to a different phylum. The step patterns of insects and other arthropods (invertebrates with segmented bodies and jointed legs) change when the animals speed up, and tardigrades' steps follow similar patterns when they walk faster, the new study found. Tardigrades, of which there are about 1,300 known species, are notorious for being hard to kill; they can survive exposure to extreme temperatures, solar radiation and the vacuum of space. But few studies have examined these hardy creatures in more ordinary circumstances, and prior to the new study, scientists knew next to nothing about how tardigrades walk, said lead author Jasmine Nirody, a researcher and independent fellow at the The Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology in New York City. Most microscopic, soft-bodied animals don't have legs, so it's also difficult to observe exactly how such tiny animals move. By analyzing walking tardigrades, literally one step at a time, the researchers also hoped to uncover clues about locomotion in general on a very, very small scale, Nirody told Live Science. "We saw tardigrades as giving us this porthole into both of these things that we don't know that much about," Nirody said. Nirody's team looked at adults in the species H. exemplaris, which measure up to 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) long. All eight of their legs are structurally similar, but the pair closest to their rear ends has fewer muscles than the others. While this pair of legs plays some part in locomotion, most of the hard work is divided among the other six limbs, the scientists reported Aug. 31 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). At first, the researchers tested tardigrades on slick glass slides, but they found that the water bears had a hard time propelling themselves over the slippery surface. Walking was easier for the tardigrades when they could dig in and push off with their claws. So for the rest of the experiments, the tardigrades trotted over gel that yielded to their claw pressure, according to the study. Unlike bigger animals that can be prodded into walking or running, tardigrades are too small for researchers to prompt their movement, Nirody said. So the scientists set up microscopes and cameras in the lab, let the tardigrades loose ... and then waited. "You get hours and hours of footage," Nirody said. "And I watched all of it." Slow steppers The phylum name Tardigrada (tardigrades are the sole member) comes from the Latin "tardigradus," or "slowly stepping," and tardigrades in the study lived up to that name. When moving at a leisurely pace, they traveled about half their body length per second — approximately 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) — and at faster speeds, they covered about two body lengths per second. And when the tardigrades shifted gears between slow and fast walking, they smoothly transitioned to a new step pattern, as many arthropods do, rather than shifting into a new gait — in which the body's center of gravity also changes — as is common in animals with backbones. When arthropods (and tardigrades) walk slowly, they lift one foot at a time. As they speed up, they lift two feet that are diagonal from each other across the body. Faster speeds make the animals shift to a new pattern in which three feet are off the ground at once: a front foot and a back foot on one side of the body, and a foot in the middle on the other side. "These patterns are tightly regulated by speed, they transition nicely between five legs on the ground, four legs on the ground, and then three legs on the ground as they get faster," Nirody said. And in the experiments, the tardigrades demonstrated that they followed the same pattern of which legs were airborne when other legs were on the ground. But why do tardigrades walk like arthropods? It could be that the groups share a common ancestor that was wired to walk this way. However, it's also possible that arthropods and tardigrades evolved this stepping pattern independently, after their lineages diverged, according to the study. "What that means is that despite having completely different body structures, body sizes and environments that they're moving through, there's something about this particular coordination scheme that's efficient across all of these conditions," Nirody said.

https://www.bbc.com/news American actor Michael K Williams, best known for starring in HBO drama series The Wire, has been found dead in his New York apartment. He was 54. US media quote law enforcement sources as saying he died from a suspected drug overdose. This has not been officially confirmed. Williams - who was nominated for three Emmy Awards - had openly discussed his struggles with drugs over the years. In The Wire, he played Omar Little, a gay, streetwise robber of drug gangs. He was also known for playing Albert "Chalky" White, a powerful gangster, in the Prohibition period TV series Boardwalk Empire. New York Police Department spokesman John Grimpel said police went to Williams's Brooklyn apartment after receiving an emergency call at 14:00 local time on Monday (18:00 GMT). Fellow actors and filmmakers have been paying tribute on social media. "The depth of my love for this brother, can only be matched by the depth of my pain learning of his loss," The Wire co-star Wendell Pierce tweeted. "A immensely talented man with the ability to give voice to the human condition portraying the lives of those whose humanity is seldom elevated until he sings their truth," Pierce added. "If he was in a scene he was the best thing about it. Period," wrote actor Edward Norton, who worked with Williams on the 2019 film Motherless Brooklyn. "This is heartbreaking to learn. We have lost an enormous talent in Michael K Williams," tweeted Star Trek actor George Takei. Filmmaker James Gunn described Williams as one of the "most gentle souls I've ever met". "Rest in Peace Michael K Williams. Gone far too soon. A man that taught me so much. Thank you for your wisdom," wrote British actor Damson Idris. In a statement, HBO TV network, which aired 60 episodes of The Wire between 2002 and 2008, said: "We are devastated to learn of the passing of Michael Kenneth Williams, a member of the HBO family for more than 20 years. "While the world is aware of his immense talents as an artist, we knew Michael as a dear friend who was beloved by all who had the privilege to work with him. We send our deepest condolences to his family for this immeasurable loss." Born in New York in 1966, Williams began his career as a dancer and performed with Madonna and George Michael before moving into acting, with companies including the prestigious National Black Theatre Company. In a BBC interview in 2018, Williams explained why The Wire was such a successful series. "I think it has just stayed with people because it's still relevant now, because of the climate of what's going on in the United States. I think it's actually a little sad," he said. "It was the first show I saw that was created as what I call 'edutainment'. It dived so honestly into what was wrong in our society, from the police department to our lawmakers to our school system, and the media. It represented what was happening in our community." The actor had also publicly admitted his personal struggles with drugs over the years, even when he was starring in The Wire. "I was playing with fire," he said in an interview with news website NJ.com in 2012. "It was just a matter of time before I got caught and my business ended up on the cover of a tabloid or I went to jail - or worse," Williams said.

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