MERNIZ

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66404312 The 2011 champions made the ideal start when Norway defender Ingrid Engen turned Hinata Miyazawa's cross into her own net. However, Norway equalised a few minutes later when Guro Reiten headed home. Risa Shimizu's heavily defected strike restored Japan's lead before Hinata Miyazawa raced through to score a third and seal her side's progress. The goal cemented Japan's place in the quarter-finals and kept Miyazawa on target for the Golden Boot - she leads the scoring charts in Australia and New Zealand on five. Norway were second best for much of the game but almost set up an exciting finish when goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita superbly kept out Karina Saevik's bullet header. Japan will play either defending champions the United States or Sweden in the last eight. Relive Japan v Norway here Slick Japan keep on rolling Japan are seeking their first Women's World Cup title in 12 years and they have barely put a foot wrong at this tournament. They breezed through the group stage without dropping a point, including an eye-catching 4-0 win against fellow quarter-finalists Spain in their final group game. In that game they played devastating counter-attacking football - winning despite having just 23% possession to show they can dig in and grind out victory against a tough opponent. Reiten's goal is the first they have conceded at this World Cup but apart from that header they once again delivered a strong defensive display. On the rare occasion their defence was beaten, Yamashita was there to make an incredible save. Toothless Norway pay the price Norway were hoping to reach the quarter-finals of a Women's World Cup for a second successive tournament - but in truth they have been out of sorts in 2023. The 6-0 victory against the Philippines in their final group fixture ended a run of six games without a win and Japan were always going to provide a sterner test. Norway's cause at this tournament has not been helped by an injury to star forward Ada Hegerberg, who had not played since the 1-0 loss to New Zealand in their opening fixture prior to taking a place on the bench in Saturday's game. She came on with 16 minutes remaining in the last-16 game but could not affect the outcome. It is unlikely that even a fully fit Hegerberg could have changed much against Japan, who had their opponents pegged back inside their own half for almost all of the second half.

A fox cub has been rescued from an Edinburgh home after residents discovered the creature in their bath. The Scottish SPCA was called to Ormidale Terrace near Murrayfield on Tuesday after the surprise guest was found. It is thought the cub snuck into the house through an open door earlier in the day. The charity said the animal was unhurt and it was released back into the wild. Animal rescue officer Catherine Atterton said: "The resident of the house got a bit of a shock when they discovered the fox cub in the bath! "They think the animal must have sneaked in through an open door at some point during the day but wasn't sure when. "Thankfully the cub was unhurt, just a bit frightened. "We were able to release the cub back into the wild straight away in the vicinity of the fox den we think they came from." If an animal is found in distress, people are urged to call the SSPCA or seek advice on the charity's website. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-66394850

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been given three-year jail sentence over corruption allegations. A court in Islamabad found him guilty of not declaring money he had earned from selling state gifts. He denies the charges and says he will appeal. After the verdict, Mr Khan was taken into custody from his home in Lahore. In a pre-recorded statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, he told his supporters: "I have only one appeal, don't sit at home silently." The former cricketer-turned-politician, 70, was elected in 2018, but was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year after falling out with Pakistan's powerful military. Mr Khan is facing more than 100 cases brought against him since his removal - charges he says are politically motivated. Saturday's verdict centred on charges that he incorrectly declared details of presents from foreign dignitaries and proceeds from their alleged sale. The gifts - reported to be worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000) - included Rolex watches, a ring and a pair of cuff links. Mr Khan's barrister Gohar Khan said the verdict was "a murder of justice". "We weren't even given a chance. We weren't even allowed to cross [examine], to say anything in defence or conduct our arguments. I haven't seen this kind of injustice before," he told Dawn newspaper. As the court decision was announced, a crowd, which included some prosecuting lawyers, began chanting "Imran Khan is a thief" outside the building. His party, Tehreek-e-Insaf, confirmed to the BBC that after being arrested in Lahore, Mr Khan was flown to the capital, Islamabad, to begin serving his sentence. For months he had avoided arrest, with his supporters at times fighting pitched battles with police to keep him out of custody. In May, Mr Khan was arrested for not appearing at court as requested. He was then released, with the arrest declared illegal. Pakistan army 'petrified' of elections: Imran Khan Friend to foe: How Imran Khan took on Pakistan's army Since then, his party has been under intense pressure from the authorities. Many senior officials have left and thousands of supporters have been arrested, accused of being involved in the protests that followed Mr Khan's arrest. Pakistan's army plays a prominent role in politics, sometimes seizing power in military coups, and, on other occasions, pulling levers behind the scenes. Many analysts believe Mr Khan's election win in 2018 happened with the help of the military. In opposition, he has been one of its most vocal critics, and analysts say the army's po[CENSORED]rity has fallen. Since being ousted, Mr Khan has been campaigning for early elections. Conviction would disqualify Mr Khan from standing for office, possibly for life. Pakistan's parliament will be dissolved on August 9, leaving a caretaker government to take over in the run up to the elections. No election date has been announced, although constitutionally they should take place by early November. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66414696

Poco M6 Pro 5G smartphone has launched in India on Saturday. With a dual rear camera setup, this handset is powered by a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC. The smartphone will be available for purchase in India starting August 9 at 12PM IST. It is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. It runs Android 13-based MIUI 14 out-of-the-box. For display, the Poco M6 Pro 5G sports a 6.79-inch display, which is claimed to be the largest display among the smartphones from Poco. The launch of Poco M6 Pro 5G was announced today. In a post on X, Poco India handle announced the debut of the smartphone, which is said to be "5G disrupter". Poco M6 Pro 5G: Price in India, availability Poco is offering two storage and RAM configurations on the smartphone. The base variant with 4GB RAM + 64GB storage is priced at Rs 10,999, while the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model costs Rs. 12,999. The Poco M6 Pro 5G will go on sale in India on August 9 at 12PM IST. The smartphone will be exclusively sold on Flipkart in the country. iPhone 15 Series Will Reportedly Be Unveiled on This Date With a glass rear, the smartphone will come two colour options — Power Black and Forest Green. Poco M6 Pro 5G: Specifications The Xiaomi sub-brand has launched this 5G smartphone with a 6.79-inch FHD+ display that offers a 90Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. For screen protection, the Poco M6 Pro 5G gets a Gorilla Glass 3 layer. It is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC. It runs Android 13-based MIUI 14 out-of-the-box, and promises 2 major OS updates along with 3 years of security updates. On the rear, the smartphone features a dual camera unit, which includes a 50-megapixel AI sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies and video calls, it houses a 8-megapixel camera which sits in a hole punch cut-out at the top-centre of the display. Infinix GT 10 Pro Goes Official in India With Dimensity 8050 SoC: See Price It is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support over USB type-C cable. The smartphone offers IP53 dust and splash resistance. There is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Poco M6 Pro 5G. https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/poco-m6-pro-5g-launch-price-in-india-rs-10999-12999-specifications-features-4271559

Apple, Adobe, Pixar, Autodesk, NVIDIA, and the Joint Development Foundation have joined forces to develop a standard that can be used to underpin mixed- and virtual-reality experiences — a move that also undermine Meta's efforts in the AR/VR arena. Opening up the 3D universe The companies formed the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) to promote the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description technology. They plan to share more information about their plans at both the Academy Software Foundation’s Open Source Days on Aug. 6 and Siggraph on Aug 8. The idea behind the group is to standardize the creation of 3D creativity with interoperable tools and data. That’s significant, as it means the moats between creative assets in the 3D space will be bridged and experiences made available across multiple channels. Nominations are open for the 2024 Best Places to Work in IT It also means creatives will be able to build 3D projects, products, and services to work across all compatible systems. “Standardizing OpenUSD will accelerate its adoption, creating a foundational technology that will help today’s 2D internet evolve into a 3D web,” wrote NVIDIA in a statement. What is OpenUSD? OpenUSD was originally created in 2012 by Pixar Animation Studios as a 3D foundation for its feature films and made open source four years later. Subsequently, Apple at WWDC 2018 announced work with Pixar to develop USDZ Universal, a file format used to create 3D models for augmented reality. At that time, Louis Jonckheere, chief product officer at Showpad, told me, “AR is starting to become more mainstream for both consumer and enterprise applications, but still doesn’t have a file format that people agree on. If a critical mass of people adopt a single file format, such as USDZ, we could see augmented reality applications become even more prevalent.” That format now seems to have arrived. In truth, the high-performance 3D scene description technology is already widely used in 3D content production and delivery. The AOUSD site also observes the standard is being used across enterprises, including the architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing industries. What happens next? The alliance now plans to develop and standardize the specification to help boost its use. It helps that once OpenUSD does become standardized, other standards bodies will be able to include it within their specifications. Khronos Group Vice President Neil Trevett has already confirmed interest in ensuring that his company’s standards, such as gITF, can “support and synergize” with AOUSD. Unity, Epic, Foundry, SideFX, and other big industry names have also offered up statements of support. The one missing element to all this is, of course, Meta, implying a tough struggle ahead for the corporation which has apparently bet its future on AR. The Linux Foundation's JDF was selected to house the project for several reasons. In part, it will enable open, efficient, and effective development of OpenUSD specifications. It also offers a path to recognition of the standard via the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). What they said Cherry picking through the boiler plate statements that accompanied the announcement, we learn more concerning the motivations of the partnership. “Universal Scene Description was invented at Pixar and is the technological foundation of our state-of-the-art animation pipeline,” said Steve May, Pixar CTO and chairperson of AOUSD. “OpenUSD is based on years of research and application in Pixar filmmaking. We open-sourced the project in 2016, and the influence of OpenUSD now expands beyond film, visual effects, and animation and into other industries that increasingly rely on 3D data for media interchange. "With the announcement of AOUSD, we signal the exciting next step: the continued evolution of OpenUSD as a technology and its position as an international standard.” Guido Quaroni, senior director of engineering for 3D&I at Adobe stressed that by providing a common 3D standard the partners will make 3D creative applications better and more interoperable. “Whether you’re building CG worlds or digital twins or looking ahead to the 3D web, content creators need a cohesive way to collaborate and share data across tools, services, and platforms,” said Gordon Bradley, fellow for media and entertainment at Autodesk. What Apple said Of course, to some extent Apple’s interest in 3D assets and Augmented/Mixed reality is now widely known — it sees this as part of a future for computing it has begun to extemporize within the Apple Vision series. Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the vision products group, explained: “OpenUSD will help accelerate the next generation of AR experiences, from artistic creation to content delivery, and produce an ever-widening array of spatial computing applications. Apple has been an active contributor to the development of USD, and it is an essential technology for the ground-breaking visionOS platform, as well as the new Reality Composer Pro developer tool. "We look forward to fostering its growth into a broadly adopted standard.” https://www.computerworld.com/article/3703869/apple-plays-nice-with-others-for-an-openusd-metaverse.html

Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) has teamed up with China-based SSD brands and developers of flash controllers to market solid-state drives based on its 232-layer 3D NAND memory, reports DigiTimes. While the company does not formally have access to wafer fab equipment required to make such flash memory and cannot sell such devices to multinational drive suppliers, it can still sell in China. YMTC has traditionally worked with Maxio Technology, a China-based developer of SSD controllers, to design solid-state drive platforms. So it is not particularly surprising that the two companies have a platform based on 232-layer 3D NAND. DigiTimes claims that YMTC has teamed up with other China-based SSD controller firms to build drives featuring its latest memory and their chips, though it does not disclose the names of these companies. One SSD supplier that markets 232-layer 3D TLC NAND-based drives is Tengyn. The manufacturer started to sell SSDs featuring YMTC's X3-9070 memory a couple of months ago, and since then, their prices have dropped sharply. Like in other parts of the world, there is an oversupply of 3D NAND in China, so low SSD prices are expected. Meanwhile, since YMTC has trouble selling its advanced 3D NAND memory elsewhere, it is probably willing to sell it at a discount in the People's Republic to keep its fabs busy. YMTC's 232-layer 3D TLC NAND memory featuring its Xtacking 3.0 architecture was developed to address applications like the best client and server SSDs needing high performance and storage density. The memory devices feature a 15.47Gb/mm2 areal density, according to Yole Group, and a 2400 MT/s interface. 3D NAND devices featuring such a speedy I/O can be used to build PCIe Gen5 x4 drives that offer throughput of over 12 GB/s, and such drives are still not common. Yet, because the U.S. government blacklists YMTC, international SSD makers are reluctant to use its advanced 3D NAND memory for their products due to possible risks. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/chinas-ymtc-boosts-ssds-with-232-layer-3d-nand-memory

Pro

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/ NEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters) - Acclaimed film director Christopher Nolan turns his attention to J. Robert Oppenheimer for his new blockbuster movie, taking audiences back to when the American theoretical physicist oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. Based on the 2005 biography "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Nolan's biological thriller "Oppenheimer" features a stellar cast including Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy in the titular role, portraying the man known as "the father of the atomic bomb". "Oppenheimer's story is one of the most dramatic that I know of and there are many, many aspects to what makes it so compelling," Nolan told Reuters in a joint interview with Murphy. "I just thought to take the audience there, to be there in that room with these people as they had to make these horrifying decisions that have defined the world we now live in... what a remarkable dramatic event to bring the audience to.” Oppenheimer headed the secret Los Alamos Laboratory, established under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. He oversaw the first atomic bomb detonation in the New Mexico desert, code-named "Trinity", before the weapons were used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "There is so much information (about Oppenheimer)... My job as an actor is really to go after the humanity and the emotion, and the complexity and the morality of the character," Murphy, who has worked with Nolan previously, said. "So I didn't really waste too much time on the physics, I did a little bit... but it was the man I was after." Nolan is known for conceptual narratives and visual style in films like "Inception" "Tenet" and an instalment of the Batman film franchise. 'Oppenheimer' is kind of the amalgam of every Chris Nolan movie ever, all of which have been leading to a statement as kind of profound as this but it's still edge of your seat entertainment," Downey Jr. said. "It was crazy to be part of shooting it and even crazier to watch it.” Reporting by Alicia Powell; Additional reporting by Rollo Ross Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/08/why-the-stop-trump-effort-all-comes-down-to-south-carolina-00105243 South Carolina has long been the state most likely to predict the eventual winner of the Republican presidential nomination. This cycle, it will likely be even more crucial. The state Republican Party’s decision to schedule its election for Feb. 24 means the first-in-the-South primary will potentially take place more than a month after Iowa and New Hampshire. That open stretch means South Carolina is poised to carry more weight than ever in determining whether former President Donald Trump’s march to a third consecutive nomination will face a sustained threat stretching past the early states and into the meat of the primary calendar. Consider this: The GOP primary starts in Iowa in mid-January. New Hampshire votes the week after, perhaps on Jan. 23. Then there’s a long gap until South Carolina. While Nevada Republicans could hold their caucuses either before or immediately after South Carolina, the larger electorate and delegate haul from South Carolina has focused far more attention on the Palmetto State. Those dates are far from official, since the other three early states remain in flux. But the most likely scenario is now a historically lengthy runup to the notoriously rough-and-tumble South Carolina primary, raising the stakes even higher for competing there. That could turn the state into a make-or-break for favorite son and daughter candidates Sen. Tim Scott and former Gov. Nikki Haley. It also ups the ante for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose campaign celebrated the state GOP’s decision to schedule the primary for a later date than initially expected. Trump’s lead in South Carolina is considerable, but there’s an opening for his challengers. Two surveys last month from Republican polling firms gave the former president identical 23-point leads over DeSantis. But Trump was also at 41 percent — a lower share than in national and most other early-state polling — thanks mostly to Scott and Haley each pulling around 10 percent of the vote. The challenge for DeSantis, Scott and Haley is consolidating the non-Trump vote behind just themselves. In each of the two surveys, their combined vote share was just slightly below Trump’s. When we last examined the ongoing machinations of the GOP presidential primary calendar, it appeared that South Carolina Republicans could hold their primary as early as late January, the week after New Hampshire. But three weeks ago, state GOP officials instead picked Feb. 24, maximizing the state’s impact on the nominating process but also making it potentially more difficult for candidates to survive poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. For those candidates banking on better results when the race shifts south — like Scott and Haley — it now becomes even more imperative to place in the top three in either Iowa or New Hampshire in order to keep their campaigns afloat. “South Carolinians are not going to reward Nikki Haley or Tim Scott just for being from South Carolina,” Alex Stroman, a former executive director of the state GOP, told my colleague Natalie Allison. “They have to prove viability elsewhere.” The campaigns are remaining nimble, since the primary dates are still uncertain. Nachama Soloveichik, a spokesperson for Haley’s campaign, said they are “very excited about campaigning in all the states,” including in Nevada and South Carolina in the weeks after New Hampshire’s primary. “We’re going to put in the work whatever the calendar looks like,” Soloveichik said. You don’t have to look way back in history to see South Carolina acting as a springboard for a presidential hopeful. Now-President Joe Biden finished fourth in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire and second in Nevada before he romped to victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary in 2020. Three days later, on Super Tuesday — the date on which the most states hold primaries and the greatest number of delegates are at stake — Biden won 10 of the 15 states and territories and was on a glide path to the nomination. This time, there will be an extra week between South Carolina on Feb. 24 and Super Tuesday on March 5, though Michigan may move its primary to fall in between those dates. South Carolina’s role in the modern GOP nominating process dates back to 1980, when party leaders sought to upend decades of Democratic dominance by elevating the state’s prominence in the primary order. South Carolina has voted Republican for president in every election since. While the exact order of states has changed from election cycle to election cycle, South Carolina has usually played a pivotal role in the primary. In seven competitive primaries since 1980, Iowa and New Hampshire have never picked the same winner unless there was an incumbent GOP president running for renomination. But in six of those seven cycles, South Carolina has voted for the eventual nominee. That’s a better record than either Iowa (2-for-7) or New Hampshire (5-for-7). Gibbs Knotts, a professor at the College of Charleston and co-author of a 2020 book on the South Carolina primary, said the state has served as a “tiebreaker” between Iowa and New Hampshire in recent cycles. “When you’ve typically gone third, and you’re that successful, we think it’s more than just chance,” said Knotts. “We think it’s the type of voters that are in South Carolina.” Knotts and his co-author, Jordan Ragusa, examined the demographic and attitudinal mix of GOP primary voters in South Carolina, looking at determining factors like race, ideology and the share of evangelical or born-again Christians. They found only two states were more representative of national Republicans: Missouri and, appropriately, Iowa. Iowa might be the most representative, but the last caucus winner to go on to capture the GOP nomination was George W. Bush in 2000. That same year, John McCain bested Bush in New Hampshire, only for Bush to return the favor in an infamous scorched-earth campaign in South Carolina — snuffing out McCain’s dim hopes. Since then, winning Iowa has functionally been a curse. McCain got redemption in South Carolina in 2008, beating out Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee. In 2012, South Carolina voted for Newt Gingrich, prolonging Mitt Romney’s eventual path to the nomination but also denying Rick Santorum a second victory to go along with Iowa. And in 2016, after Ted Cruz surged to victory in Iowa, Trump’s back-to-back wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina established him as the favorite for the nomination. This time, another Trump victory in South Carolina could be a death knell for his rivals, especially given Trump’s strength (and DeSantis’ early struggles) in New Hampshire. Or it could signal — with Super Tuesday looming just nine days later — that the former president has real competition for the nomination. Either way, South Carolina will be pivotal, likely more than ever. Natalie Allison contributed to this report.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44473755/1982-ferrari-400i-auction/ The Ferrari 400i was never officially sold in the United States, but many found their way here as gray-market imports. Styled by Pininfarina, the four-seat coupe featured a 4.8-liter V-12 paired with a three-speed automatic transmission. This example sold two years ago for $49,750. bring a trailer badge CAR AND DRIVER Most famous for the chrome-festooned 1949 Buick Roadmaster that appears in so much of the movie, 1988's Rain Man also features some pretty choice machinery in the opening credits. Today's pick from Bring A Trailer, which like Car and Driver is part of the Hearst Autos Group, is a 1982 Ferrari 400i that's a near-match for the first car Tom Cruise's character drives in the movie. A European-spec coupe imported into the U.S. in 1982, it is as imposing in all-business black as il Commentadore himself, soft-spoken, but with a 4.8-liter V-12 under the hood. MORE 4-SEAT FERRARIS 2024 ferrari purosangue 2024 Ferrari Purosangue Exists on Another Plane Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Performance car, Automotive design, Sports car, Sports car racing, Supercar, Automotive wheel system, Coupé, 2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso The opening to Rain Man reveals a red Lamborghini Countach flying through the air—actually, it's being unloaded from a ship via an overhead crane. The car is lowered to join three other Countachs, each one a bewinged adolescent fantasy, as Tom Cruise looks on, dressed like a "Miami Vice" extra. The cars are gray-market imports, and they're being held up at customs by the EPA, which is central to the initial tension of the film. Cruise drives away in a silver 1983 Ferrari 400i. ferrari 400i BRING A TRAILER Many Italian exotics weren't officially sold in the U.S. in the 1980s, and gray market importing frequently involved a little hustling. Ferrari never bothered selling its V-12 gran turismo in the U.S. in the 1980s because why would you? A national 55-mph speed limit and tough environmental regulations made the States an ill-suited environment for such a car. Still, there were plenty of speed-obsessed Ferrari aficionados willing to jump through hoops or cut corners to get their hands on the forbidden fruit. This 1982 Ferrari 400i evidently is the product of such determination, as it was imported in January 1982. ferrari 400i BRING A TRAILER The 400 replaced the 365 GT4 2+2 as Ferrari's front-engine V-12 grand tourer and was the first Ferrari available with an automatic transmission. This later 400i got fuel injection for its 4.8-liter Colombo V-12, making it good for 306 horsepower. With its wedgy Pininfarina body and five-spoke wheels, it just oozes class. This Ferrari is all business. ferrari 400i BRING A TRAILER With 51K miles on the odometer and a few discreet stone chips, this is not the kind of Ferrari you park in a glass-windowed garage and never use. This is the kind you drive, and if the three-speed automatic might dissuade any would-be Michael Schumachers in the audience, it's perfect for weekend cruising. ferrari 400i BRING A TRAILER Further, with 2+2 seating, you can bring the whole family along. Although given how lovely those tan seats look, no ice cream cones in the car—sorry, kids.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-denies-rumors-of-demise headquarters in Taiwan. EVGA has since come out to dispel the rumor; however, many still think the company may be coming to the end of its road very soon. According to the rumor, EVGA's personnel from the Taiwan office, including legendary overclocker Vince "K|NGP|N" Lucido, resigned, and closure was imminent. We reached out to Lucido, but unfortunately, he told us he couldn't comment at this time. We also contacted EVGA for a statement. Although the company didn't get back to us, it did confirm to TechPowerUp that the rumors were just that — rumors — and that Lucido is still part of the team. "We saw those message and they are rumors. Our Taiwan office is still operating and Kingpin is still with EVGA. EVGA is still doing business and supporting its customers. Thanks for reaching out," an EVGA spokesperson told TechPowerUp. EVGA had been an Nvidia partner for almost 25 years, so it was a big shock to the hardware world when EVGA withdrew from the graphics card market last year, mentioning differences with Nvidia. In addition to graphics cards and motherboards, EVGA has diversified its offerings over the previous years to include power supplies, peripherals, capture devices, and liquid coolers. Graphics cards have been EVGA's bread and butter since its inception and likely contributed a substantial portion of the company's revenue, so cutting back to only selling motherboards and rebranded power supplies will obviously impact the bottom line. There are plenty of signs that EVGA could be gradually winding down its business and may be closing up shop very soon, so it isn't surprising that some embraced the recent rumor a bit too quickly. For instance, EVGA recently lost a key member of its staff with Jacob Freeman's departure to Nvidia. Freeman had been the public face of EVGA for 17 years. Additionally, in a recent interview with Gamers Nexus, Lucido stated that there weren't any upcoming EVGA projects, which some took as implying that EVGA is likely dissolving the BIOS team. While Lucido is reportedly still with the company, EVGA's statement hasn't clarified the status of the rest of the BIOS engineering team. EVGA's online store once offered plentiful amounts of inventory. However, now everything is out of stock, and most of what's left are B-stock items. EVGA products are still available at major U.S. retailers, such as Amazon and Newegg, but EVGA may have offloaded leftover inventory. EVGA's statement today proves that it's still doing business, but the company didn't provide any details on which direction it is heading. Many loyal EVGA customers still have warranties on their graphics cards, motherboards, or power supplies; therefore, it would be reassuring to know if EVGA will still be around in the near future.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3702229/openai-launches-new-alignment-division-to-tackle-risks-of-superintelligent-ai.html OpenAI is opening a new alignment research division, focused on developing training techniques to stop superintelligent AI — artificial intelligence that could outthink humans and become misaligned with humans ethics — from causing serious harm. “Currently, we don't have a solution for steering or controlling a potentially superintelligent AI, and preventing it from going rogue,” Jan Leike and Ilya Sutskever wrote in a blog post for OpenAI, the company behind the most well-known generative AI large language model, ChatGPT. They added that although superintelligence might seem far off, some experts believe it could arrive this decade. Current techniques for aligning AI include reinforcement learning from human feedback, but Leike and Sutskever said that as AI systems become smarter than humans, humans can no longer be relied upon to supervise the technology. [ Bing’s AI chatbot came to work for me. I had to fire it. ] “Current alignment techniques will not scale to superintelligence. We need new scientific and technical breakthroughs,” they wrote. Sutskever is a co-founder and chief scientist at OpenAI, and Leike is a machine learning researcher. They will co-lead OpenAI’s new superalignment team. In order to undertake its mission, over the next four years the division will have access to 20% of the company’s processing capacity to build a “human-level automated alignment researcher” that can be scaled up to supervise superintelligence. In order to align the automated researcher with human ethics, Leike and Sutskever said a three-step approach will need to be taken: develop a scalable training method; validate the resulting model; and stress test the entire alignment pipeline. “We expect our research priorities will evolve substantially as we learn more about the problem and we’ll likely add entirely new research areas,” they wrote, adding there were plans to share more of the division’s roadmap in the future. OpenAI acknowledges the need to mitigate potential AI harm This isn't the first time OpenAI has publicly acknowledged the need to mitigate the risks posed by unregulated AI. In May, company CEO Sam Altman signed an open letter stating that controlling the tech should be a top global priority as the evolution of AI could lead to an extinction event. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the letter read. OpenAI also has a dedicated section on its website, where the public can access materials related to what the company calls the development of “safe and responsible AI,” alongside a charter outlining the principles it adheres to in order to execute its mission. However, these largely relate to the concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI) — highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work. “We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome,” the charter, which was published in 2018, reads.

https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/xiaomi-13t-pro-global-variant-geekbench-listing-processor-ram-specifications-revealed-4189920 Xiaomi is reportedly planning to launch Xiaomi 13T Pro, the successor to Xiaomi 12T Pro which was launched last year. The company is yet to announce any details regarding the purported smartphone. However, the Xiaomi 13T Pro global variant has recently visited the Geekbench website with the model number 23078PND5G, revealing some of its key specifications. The handset is tipped to run on Android 13 out-of-the-box, instead of Android 14, and could be powered by a MediaTek chipset under the hood. According to the Geekbench listing spotted by MySmartPrice, the global variant of the purported Xiaomi 13T Pro has made its way to the benchmarking website with the model number 23078PND5G. The listing also reveals the phone's score in single-core as well as multi-core tests. The smartphone scored 1,289 in the single-core test and 3,921 in the multi-core test. The Geekbench listing also reveals that the Xiaomi 13T pro could run on Android 13 out-of-the-box. Additionally, the phone is also said to come with an octa-core processor with four cores clocked at 2.00GHz, three cores at 3.00GHz, and one core at 3.35GHz. All these details suggest a MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ SoC under the hood. Other leaked details include 16GB RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, a 5,000mAh battery and 67W fast charging support. Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi 14 Pro Battery May Get Bigger Batteries, Faster Charging The Xiaomi 13T Pro was previously spotted on IMDA certification site suggesting the phone to be launched soon. The phone is said to be launched at a price of £799 (roughly Rs 82,900) for the 12GB RAM + 512GB storage option. Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi 12T Pro last year alongside the Xiaomi 12T. The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and runs Android 12-based MIUI 13 out-of-the-box. The smartphone features a 200-megapixel primary camera sensor. It sports a 6.67-inch CrystalRes AMOLED display. The phone comes equipped with a 5,000mAh battery and 120W HyperCharge.

The RSPCA has reported an "alarming increase" in the amount of intentional cruelty against animals across the South East. There were more than 800 reported cases in the region in 2022, with 395 in Kent, 296 in Sussex and 157 in Surrey. Kent saw the biggest rise - with a 19% increase compared to 2021 when 331 incidents were reported. The RSPCA has launched a campaign to prevent what it calls "another summer of suffering". Julie Parsons, an RSPCA rescue officer based in Brighton, said: "We are seeing an increase in reported dog beatings. We are hearing that more and more people are struggling with their pets. "There is an increased amount of calls that we are attending." Figures compiled by the RSPCA show reports of animal beatings in 2022 across the whole of England and Wales rose by 22%. In August 2022 there were more than 1,000 reports of animal cruelty nationwide - which equated to 35 incidents every day. The number of animals killed in "suspicious circumstances" went up from 775 in 2021 to 891 in 2022 - an increase of 15% - the RSPCA said. Dermot Murphy, the RSPCA’s inspectorate commissioner, said: “While we don’t know for certain why there has been an increase in reports of cruelty, the cost of living crisis and the post-pandemic world we live in has created an animal welfare crisis with more people getting pets with potentially less time and money to care for them." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe5e0yjr7ro

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66143509 Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea said "it's the right time to undertake a new challenge" as he confirmed he is leaving Manchester United this summer. The 32-year-old was a free agent as his contract at the Old Trafford club had run out at the end of June. De Gea has been at United for 12 years and his 545 appearances and 190 clean sheets are club records for a keeper. "I just wanted to send this farewell message to all Manchester United supporters," he wrote on social media. De Gea started his career at Atletico Madrid but joined United for £18.9m in 2011. The announcement of his departure comes with United manager Erik ten Hag's side hopeful of concluding a deal for Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana. De Gea added: "I would like to express my unwavering gratitude and appreciation for the love from the last 12 years. We've achieved a lot since my dear Sir Alex Ferguson brought me to this club. "I took incredible pride every time I pulled on this shirt, to lead the team, to represent this institution, the biggest club in the world was an honour only bestows upon a few lucky footballers. "It's been an unforgettable and successful period since I came here. I didn't think from leaving Madrid as a young boy we would achieve what we did together. "Now, it's the right time to undertake a new challenge, to push myself again in new surroundings. "Manchester will always be in my heart, Manchester has shaped me and will never leave me." It is understood the framework of a contract extension that had initially been agreed between United and De Gea was subsequently changed. That led to both sides stepping back to reflect on the situation, and this outcome. De Gea, who has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League, won the Premier League, FA Cup, Uefa Europa League and two Carabao Cups while at United. He is a four-time United player of the year winner and claimed the Premier League Golden Glove for a second time last season as he kept 17 clean sheets. "To have won player of the year awards from both the fans and his team-mates, each on four occasions, shows the level of his performance and he will always be remembered as one of the very best goalkeepers in the history of the club," said Ten Hag.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66141701 Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a video of himself visiting an island that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance - as the war enters its 500th day. At the start of the war, Ukrainian soldiers defending Snake Island famously defied an order from a Russian warship to surrender. The Black Sea island was seized by Russia, but later reclaimed by Ukraine. In a video, the Ukrainian president called it a "place of victory" that would never be reconquered. In the undated clip, posted on Telegram, Mr Zelensky described it as proof that Ukraine would return every inch of its territory taken by Russia since the war began on 24 February 2022. "I want to thank from here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for these 500 days," Mr Zelensky said in the video, in which he was shown arriving on the island by boat and leaving flowers at a memorial. Front-line troops discuss counter-offensive Biden defends decision to send Ukraine controversial weapons Last year, Russia's flagship Moskva sailed to Snake Island within hours of the start of the war and ordered Ukrainian soldiers on the island to give themselves up. "I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed," said a Russian officer. The Ukrainian response and verbal exchange went viral as a soldier replied telling the Russian warship to "go to hell" - although in far cruder language. Snake Island was seized and the Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner - but later exchanged for Russian captives. Ukrainian forces recaptured the island in June last year. The deputy head of the UN's human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, Noel Calhoun, said the 500th day was "another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine's civilians". The UN estimates more than 9,000 civilians, including some 500 children, have been killed since the war began, although it said the real number could be much higher. Mr Zelensky made his video address after spending much of the week visiting European leaders, as part of a diplomatic tour to ramp up support for Ukraine's bid to join Nato. He also welcomed the news that the US would be supplying Ukraine with cluster bombs - a type of weapon that has been banned in more than 120 countries because they have a record of killing civilians. Both Ukraine and Russia have been using cluster munitions throughout the war, but the US's decision has proved controversial. Mr Zelensky called the latest US arms package "timely, broad and much-needed", tweeting that it "will provide new tools for the de-occupation of our land". Ukraine's long-awaited counter-offensive to retake territory from Russia's occupying forces began last month - although Mr Zelensky has admitted progress has been slow. The effort has been focused in the eastern Donetsk and south-eastern Zaporizhzhia regions of the country, while there have also been slow advances in the city of Bakhmut. Russia, meanwhile, has carried on its campaign of missile and drone attacks in Ukraine, with at least eight people killed in the eastern Donetsk city of Lyman on Saturday. Lyman is a key railway hub and initially fell to Russia after the invasion, but was retaken by Ukraine's army in October.