#Hassan.

Remasters shouldn't delete the work that preceded them, period. At this point, it's not too controversial to say that the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy "Definitive Edition" is a rather wonky remaster of the PS2-era GTA games. Worse yet, Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive would have it be the only version available to play. It's easy to draw comparisons between this and the messy fate of the original Star Wars trilogy, with the original versions consigned to deep, dark vaults while questionably edited editions (and fan edits) take their place. Accompanying the release of the new, (overly) shiny remastered versions, the original digital versions of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas were pulled from stores. Three games with active modding, speedrunning, and even online multiplayer communities, suddenly became unable to bring new players into the fold—unless they raid Ebay for second-hand copies, or resort to piracy. It's a sad state of affairs, and it happened entirely by design. While I've heard some questionable excuses for delisting older versions of games, including "reducing confusion," the core reason for delisting older versions of games, unfortunately, is financial. New and remastered versions get to command a higher price-tag, and higher sales of newer products look good on quarterly financial reports. It's shameless pursuit of the almighty dollar, with no real care about the preservation of games as an artform with history. Rockstar and Take-Two have been especially bad in recent years. In the run-up to the release of the Definitive Edition trilogy, the publisher went on the warpath, threatening legal action against mods attempting to spruce up the older GTA games for free. This campaign against the modding community reached such heights that some of the most dedicated fans and creators have decided that it's not a risk worth taking anymore, and preemptively abandoned its projects, such as the fan-favorite GTA Underground. Now fractured, the GTA community needs to decide whether they'll rally around the new remastered versions, or (quietly) stick with the older games while avoiding the ire of a publisher that would very much like them to buy the game again in its latest, most broken iteration. Erasing progress GTA fans aren't the only community splintered by delisting. With the release of Dark Souls Remastered, the original Prepare To Die edition of the game was pulled from Steam. In this case, the remaster was generally hailed as a subtle improvement over the original release, cleaning up the quality of the PC port and fixing some long-standing bugs. The delisting still threw a spanner into the works for the nascent Souls modding community, which to this day still has to invest extra effort into releasing separate Remastered and Original versions. While a pain for the Souls mod scene, they still at least have a good version of the game readily available. Whole franchises have been lost from digital storefronts over the years. As a card-carrying fan of all things stompybot, it pains me deeply that the Transformers Cybertron series by High Moon is unavailable to most on PC, along with Platinum’s gorgeous Transformers: Devastation. All casualties of Activision losing hold of the license. Some delistings even seem to happen out of spite, most notably P.T. on PlayStation 4. While most of the delisted games mentioned here can still be downloaded, Hideo Kojima’s proof-of-concept for a new Silent Hill game was completely obliterated from Sony’s download servers by Konami, in the wake of their messy breakup with Metal Gear Solid’s director. Fans wanting to keep the spark alive have even gone as far as painstakingly recreating it in other engines, and consoles with the original version still installed command a hefty markup on Ebay. Archival site Delisted Games counts 539 games that have been pulled from Steam alone, many due to licensing issues. While a pain to deal with, these cases are at least understandable (unlike Konami’s scorched earth policy with P.T.) as music and other big-brand licensing is expensive, especially for in-perpetuity contracts. It’s an expense that not even major publishers are willing to splash out for, opting for renewable short-term contracts instead. Unfortunately for us, rather than renew these deals, many publishers opt to just pull them from sale as the potential revenue gain is outweighed by the licensing costs. Not great, but less malicious, and usually preceded by a last call and discount so players can add it to their accounts before time runs out. Microsoft recently retired both Forza Motorsport 7 and its open-world cousin Forza Horizon 3. Thankfully they put them on steep discount first, but anyone who missed out now has to track down the Xbox versions second-hand. Whatever the underlying reason for delisting, it often falls to amateur archivists to preserve these lost games and keep them in circulation, despite the risk of being labelled 'pirates' by potentially litigious corporate giants. In the case of older games, preservation efforts are made easier by boxed, physical versions still being in circulation. If you're willing to pay whatever the collector's markup is, a single copy can be extracted and distributed far and wide online. Tragically, this has become less of an option in the past decade, with many games released in purely digital format. Even if you're lucky enough to stumble on a sealed copy in stores, you'll likely find no disc inside—just a Steam download code. While initially convenient, the rush towards all-digital games media has led us to this point, where publishers have more control over the games we play and what's available to buy than ever before. Things can and will only get worse if we allow streamed-to-device cloud gaming to become the norm, and of course there's the problem of corporations being more than happy to shut down vital online servers for games they feel are past their sell-by date. While they're not entirely innocent themselves (they're working on ways for publishers to take down older game builds on Steam), Valve has set a reasonable example for publishers to follow here. The original Half-Life is still available to buy and play on Steam, along with their Half-Life: Source remaster and even the fan-made remake, Black Mesa. They even let people download the fan-made multiplayer remix Sven Co-Op free, despite it containing all of the original game's content. It's hard not to feel like we're inexorably sliding towards an era of absolute corporate control over the games we buy and play. A world where we really don't 'own' anything we buy, but just rent licenses the storefronts can revoke at any point. There's ways to push back against this, of course. DRM-free versions of games from stores like GOG, Itch.io or the increasingly well-stocked Zoom are much easier to keep in circulation, even if they do get officially pulled from sale. But at the end of the day, the buck stops with the publishers. Short of a massive boycott campaign, all we can do is ask them to treat gaming as an artform with a history worth preserving. So please, Rockstar, Take-Two and others who might be listening. Keep your back-catalogue available, and let your audience be the ones who decide which version they'd like to play. link : https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/stop-delisting-your-old-games-when-you-release-a-remaster/

New crossover packs a 95kWh battery and covers 0-62mph in 3.2sec, with an even quicker, 200mph-plus RS variant in the wings Sustainable clean energy firm Mullen has given a rapid electric compact SUV its debut at the Los Angeles motor show.The Mullen Five has a 95kWh battery, a claimed 325-mile range and a 0-62mph time of 3.2sec. The model – which has been designed, engineered and manufactured in the US – is also capable of fast charging from empty to 80% in 21 minutes. Its top speed is electronically limited to 155mph. A hotter RS model is expected with a Tesla-rivalling 0-62mph time of 1.9sec and a top speed of over 200mph.The California-based firm says the Five will be targeted towards the luxury market, with a level 2.5 advanced driver assist system, a choice of six exterior paint colours and “customisable interior configurations”. Equipment-wise, Mullen has promised active noise cancellation and facial recognition as well as a sentry mode. Inside, the Five gains a minimalist steering wheel, ambient lighting and wood on the dashboard and door inserts. The model also features what the firm calls “Multi LED intelligent LIVE technology”, with a digital driver's display and central infotainment screen. Rear passengers also have their own tablet-style screen and wireless phone charging is available. Prices for the model start from $55,000 (£40,000) in the US, with three levels of specification. Mid-level Touring trim starts from $75,000.Production is scheduled to begin in 2023 in Tunica Mississippi, before deliveries take place in the second quarter of 2024. Customers can currently place a $100 (£74) reservation. The model was awarded 'best zero-emission vehicle’ at the motor show. link : https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mullen-five-us-built-ev-crossover-325-mile-range

There has been a lot of talk this year about financial bigwigs finally coming to the COP table, but this is the first year that fashion had a meaningful, extended presence. The first time fashion got anywhere near an official United Nations climate conference like the one just held in Glasgow, Scotland, was in 2009. That was COP15 (COP stands for “conference of the parties”), and it was held in Copenhagen. I write “near” a COP because back then fashion was not considered central to the climate conversation. It wasn’t, somehow, serious enough.Fashion was so marginalized, in fact, that in order to talk about its role in creating, and fighting, climate change, it had to hold its own conference. And so the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which focuses on sustainability, was born. It took more than a decade, but things have changed. There has been a lot of talk this year about financial bigwigs finally coming to the COP table, but this is the first year that fashion had a meaningful, extended presence. As Stella McCartney, who created a special “Future of Fashion” materials exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery said, after almost two decades of pushing fashion to acknowledge its effect on the environment, she was a “COP virgin” no longer.Here’s what else stuck with me from COP26.1. There was plenty of official action.Smack in the middle of the Blue Zone (the official delegate area — that is, the one where world leaders spoke), there was an installation by a fashion collective called Generation of Waste made to mimic a bar chart of the various stages of textile waste, from design through raw materials, garment production and so on.The United Nations Environment Program released a new version of the fashion charter initially created in 2018, now with 130 signatory companies, including, for the first time, LVMH, and with stronger commitments to halve carbon emissions by 2030 (and reach net zero by 2050).On the fringe, Federico Marchetti, the former Yoox Net a Porter chairman, unveiled a digital ID created by the fashion task force of Prince Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative: a scannable garment tag that acts like a DNA trace for a product’s manufacturing history, using blockchain technology.And Textile Exchange, a non-governmental organization that sounds like a fabric trading post but actually focuses on creating global standards in fashion, presented a trade policy request to national governments supported by 50 brands. That is an unsexy term for a plea to create tariff and import-export structures that incentivize companies to use “environmentally preferred materials” rather than, say, polyester. Which is, by the way, the most used material in the entire fashion industry.ALSO READ |Reuse and renew: Sustainable fashion choices should be the norm, says Anita Dongre2. A fake fact was finally abandoned.No one uttered the now discredited but formerly very po[CENSORED]r “fashion is the second most polluting industry on the planet” fake stat. Everyone has finally agreed it’s one of the worst, and that’s plenty bad enough.3. “Degrowth” is the word of the moment.Degrowth: meaning to make less product. Meaning the action taken in response to the fact that in the first 15 years of this century, clothing production doubled in volume, but the number of times a garment was worn before being thrown away decreased 36%. For a long time the response to this kind of data was to urge consumers to “buy less!” and “wear longer!” Now it seems that brands have owned up to their role in the problem.That said, it’s hard to imagine Bernard Arnault of LVMH or Ralph Lauren standing up at their annual shareholders meeting and announcing that their strategy for 2022 is “degrowth.” (It almost sounds like a potential “Saturday Night Live” skit.) Except that Halide Alagöz, the chief sustainability officer of Ralph Lauren, revealed during a New York Times Climate Hub panel that the brand had secretly been trying it out.ALSO READ |‘Re-wearing is an essential part of sustainability’: Designer Harleen Kaur4. Resale becomes reuse.Designers are also getting creative when it comes to product that exists in the world. One of my favorite points came from William McDonough, an author of “Cradle to Cradle,” a sort of founding manifesto on the circular economy, who pointed out that we should think of garments as source materials that can be re-sourced for second and third use.This is exactly what British designer Priya Ahluwalia was thinking when she teamed up with Microsoft to create a platform called Circulate, which allows consumers to send their own used clothes to her company. If the clothes are in acceptable condition, they will get remade and incorporated into her next collection, and the donor will get “reward points” toward a new purchase with the brand. It’s a sourcing hack Ahluwalia said has opened up a whole new channel for fabric and ideas for her.ALSO READ |Sustainable fashion: Six easy steps to revamp your closet5. But watch out for “regenerative.”It’s a growing buzzword in fashion, thanks to regenerative agriculture, a farming technique that helps to restore soil health and nutrients. One of the less discussed aspects of fashion is just how intertwined it is with agriculture — many brands are now investing in supporting regenerative farming — but the word has jumped its tracks and filtered up to companies that boast about a “regenerative strategy” and “regenerative tactics,” which seems to mean … well, it’s not clear what it means. But it sounds good, right?This is the sort of fuzzy language that can lead to charges of greenwashing, which is why Textile Exchange is working on a specific definition, out next year.Honestly, they could expand the definition to encompass a whole lexicon of fashion so everyone would be using the same language. For example, another word I bet we will hear more of comes courtesy of a McKinsey report: “nearshoring,” which is to say using suppliers that are not necessarily in your country but are not halfway around the world. After all, according to a presentation by British brand Bamford, the average merino wool sweater journeys 18,000 miles during its production cycle, from raw material to factory to atelier to shop. link : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/fashion/what-was-fashion-doing-at-cop26-7629227/

Vivo Y54s has been launched in China. The new 5G smartphone is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset under the hood and a waterdrop-style display notch. The handset has a dual rear camera unit. Other key highlights of Vivo Y54s include a 13-megapixel primary camera, 128GB of internal storage, and 18W fast charging. The smartphone is offered in two distinct colour options to choose from. Vivo Y54s supports reverse charging as well. Vivo Y54s price, availability Vivo Y54s is priced at CNY 1,699 (roughly Rs 19,800). The handset comes in a single 6GB + 128GB storage configuration. The new Vivo phone will be available in Lake Blue and Titanium Empty Grey (translated) colour options. The handset is listed for purchase via the company website. However, Vivo has not shared any details about the Indian availability of Vivo Y54s yet. Vivo X80 Pro, Vivo X80 Pro+ Models Tipped to Launch in India Early Next Year Vivo Y54s specifications The dual-SIM (Nano) Vivo Y54s runs on OriginOS 1.0, based on Android 11. It features a 6.51-inch full-HD+ (1,600×720 pixels) IPS LCD display with 20:9 aspect ratio and an 89 percent screen-to-body ratio. Vivo Y54s is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio 700 SoC, coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The handset features a dual rear camera setup, which comprises a 13-megapixel primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies and video chats, Vivo Y54s carries an 8-megapixel snapper with f/2.0 aperture at the front. The phone packs a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face ID for authentication as well. Vivo V23e 5G to Launch on November 23, 44-Megapixel Selfie Camera Teased Connectivity options on the phone include Bluetooth v5.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, GPS, a Micro-USB port, OTG, and Wi-Fi. Onboard sensors include gravity sensor, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, and electronic compass. It supports SBC, AAC, LDAC, aptX HD, and aptX codec as well. Vivo Y54s packs a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. The handset measures 164.15x75.35x8.50mm and weighs 188.4 grams. link : https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/vivo-y54s-launch-price-cny-1699-specifications-features-2614667

123456 is the most common password for two years in a row Despite the constant warnings to use a password manager or even a password generator to create strong and unique passwords for all of your online accounts, many users are still employing weak passwords and using them across sites, putting both their data and their identities at risk. NordPass has released a new report detailing the top 200 most common passwords of 2021 and for the second year in a row, “123456” is still the most po[CENSORED]r password around even though it would only take a hacker less than one second to crack it. In fact, it was the most po[CENSORED]r password in 43 out of the 50 countries analyzed followed by “123456”, “123456789”, “12345” (the most po[CENSORED]r password in 2019), “qwerty” and just simply “password”. To compile its latest list of the most common passwords, the business password management firm worked with independent researchers specializing in cybersecurity incidents to evaluate a 4TB database of credentials. CEO of NordPass, Jonas Karklys provided further insight on the findings of this year's report in a statement, saying: Unfortunately, passwords keep getting weaker, and people still don’t maintain proper password hygiene. It’s important to understand that passwords are the gateway to our digital lives, and with us spending more and more time online, it’s becoming enormously important to take better care of our cybersecurity.” Most common passwords of 2021 NordPass also took a deeper look at how locales and genders affected the most po[CENSORED]r passwords of this year as part of its new report. According to the firm, cultural references can be found in every country from local football team names such as “steelers” in the US or “liverpool” in the UK to famous local beverage names such as “guinness” in Ireland and religious passwords like “christ' in Nigeria and “bismillah” in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to differences among genders when creating weak passwords, NordPass found that women tend to use music-related passwords like “onedirection” or “justinbieber” while men prefer band names like “metallica” and “slipknot”. Another key difference among genders is that overall, women use more positive and loving words while men are more like to use profanity when creating passwords. In addition to using a password manager or password generator, users concerned about their online security should enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for their online accounts, monitor them for suspicious activity and use a data breach checker to see if any of their passwords were exposed following a cyberattack. link : https://www.techradar.com/news/for-some-reason-these-are-still-the-most-po[CENSORED]r-passwords-around

iBuyPower's same day shipping RDY gaming PCs are offering discounts and super speedy shipping. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, buying PC gaming tech has been a trial in 2021. Graphics cards have been few and far between and other stock and shipping woes have made it tough to get your hands on anything gaming PC shaped without a two-month lead time. That's why I'm such a big fan of iBuyPower's RDY systems, prebuilt gaming PCs that will ship out to you in a matter of days. This RTX 3070-powered rig can be sat on your desktop, chewing through games and spitting out frames by Friday. And I mean this Friday, not Black Friday. For more Black Friday gaming PC deals... here they are. Considering the likes of the Black Friday Dell and Alienware deals are listing gaming PCs with shipping times into next year, the fact you can get a stellar gaming rig in a few short days is pretty astounding. Throw in a little discount and you've got a recipe for an RTX 30-series gaming rig before the holidays. We've said it before, but there are likely to be discounts on a host of systems with last-gen Intel CPUs this Black Friday. It's possible that it's going to be a similar situation with AMD Ryzen 5000 processors, too, given that we're expecting a refresh of its chips early next year. The point is that last-gen CPUs are still great when it comes to PC gaming, and these systems will still ship with current-gen graphics cards. Graphics cards which are still mighty tough to get hold of. This RTX 3070 is a fantastic GPU, sitting in the middle of Nvidia's RTX 30-series stack, but with a whole heap of gaming performance in its silicon innards. With 16GB of DDR4-3200 and a 1TB SSD to back it up, and liquid cooling to keep the CPU chilled, it's a quality full system that will see you good for some time. The only drawback is that you cant customise the spec—what you see is what you get. But honestly, I don't see that as a big issue when it will ship to you so damned quickly. link : https://www.pcgamer.com/black-friday-ibuypower-gaming-pc-before-black-friday/

You've won some matches and lost some matches, but what do these precious metals mean? We still have a ways to wait on the continuing adventures of Mister Chief and his many blue girlfriends, but with the surprise launch of Halo Infinite's multiplayer on November 16, we can already party like it's 2007, Slayer-style. Infinite's interminably sluggish battle pass is not its only concession to modern multiplayer shooter design, however. It's the third decade of the 21st century, baby, and as such we've got a ranked queue and its attendant numbers we need to make go up. Ranked matches are a bit leaner and less forgiving than normal play: your radar is disabled, friendly fire is enabled, you no longer have a HUD indicator if there is a hot grenade nearby, and you always start each life equipped only with the battle rifle (Halo's equivalent of Fox-only, Final Destination.) Ranked gameplay consists of 4v4 teams in the capture the flag, oddball, slayer, and strongholds game types. Unlike unranked play, weapon spawn locations are locked in on each map from game-to-game. Before you get into the fight, however, you'll also have to choose between two broader ranked categories. Open queue allows one to four members in a premade party, and includes both controller and mouse-and-keyboard players. For the hardest of the hard-core, solo/duo mode only allows up to two members in a premade, and will exclusively pair you with players whose input devices match your own. The basic set-up of Infinite's ranked progression should be familiar to anyone who's even dabbled in getting yelled at by teenagers in their free time. Your first task is to complete ten placement matches to assess your worth as a human being, before being assigned to one of six ranks in the following order: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, or onyx. Players begin a tier at its first level, and have to win their way through six levels to ascend to the next tier. For example, if my placements sent me to silver, I would have to win my way through silver ranks two through six before having a chance to get up to gold. The whole set-up reminds me of League of Legends' ranking system, and like League of Legends, if you find yourself placed into poop tier zero, you may want to get comfortable, because you'll probably be there awhile. My advice would be to queue up with a friend and try not to put too much psychic weight on the good boy gamer badge you get assigned. Link : https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/getting-to-grips-with-halo-infinites-ranking-system/

We list the biggest new models to debut at California's motor show, which begins today The Los Angeles motor show returns after a one-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Californian event will run from Friday 19 November to Sunday 28 November, with several new models on display. In 2019, the show hosted the world premiere of the Aston Martin DBX, Audi E-tron Sportback, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Toyota RAV4 and Porsche Taycan 4S, but what will we see this year? We’ve listed the biggest planned unveilings below. The long-awaited Fisker Ocean electric SUV has made its production-specification debut in LA ahead of its planned launch in 2022. The Ocean – which will be built in Austria – is one of five Fisker models expected by 2025, and plans are in place for the model to head to Britain in the second quarter of 2023. Fisker has promised a range of up to 350 miles and claims the Ocean is “the world’s most sustainable vehicle”. Hyundai Seven concept The Hyundai Seven concept serves to preview of the Ioniq 7 SUV, which will join the the Ioniq 5 hatchback and Ioniq 6 saloon in the marque's new family of bespoke EVs. The Tesla Model X rival features a unique design that Hyundai says “dares to diverge” from industry traditions and is expected to play a critical role in the brand’s success in the US and China. It’s based on the same E-GMP platform as the Ioniq 5, but looks nothing like its Ioniq 5 and upcoming Ioniq 6 rangemates - it's good to be different, reckons Hyundai. Kia EV9 concept Kia previewed the EV9 concept alongside the news that it would go all-electric by 2035. The firm hasn’t given much away, but the model is said to feature a nature-inspired design with several recycled materials used in its construction, while teaser images showed a boxy bodyshape with thin, uniquely shaped headlights and an almost-rectangular steering wheel. It has been described as an important milestone in Kia’s sustainability strategy. Land Rover Range RoverKia previewed the EV9 concept alongside the news that it would go all-electric by 2035. The firm hasn’t given much away, but the model is said to feature a nature-inspired design with several recycled materials used in its construction, while teaser images showed a boxy bodyshape with thin, uniquely shaped headlights and an almost-rectangular steering wheel. It has been described as an important milestone in Kia’s sustainability strategy. Land Rover Range Rover Kia previewed the EV9 concept alongside the news that it would go all-electric by 2035. The firm hasn’t given much away, but the model is said to feature a nature-inspired design with several recycled materials used in its construction, while teaser images showed a boxy bodyshape with thin, uniquely shaped headlights and an almost-rectangular steering wheel. It has been described as an important milestone in Kia’s sustainability strategy. Land Rover Range Rover The most important new car to come out of the UK this year? Land Rover has taken its new Range Rover flagship Stateside for its first motor show outing - which makes sense, seeing as it sells like hot cakes over there. Beneath the subtly evolved styling is a completely different beast to the current Range Rover, which has been on sale since 2012; long-range PHEVs, a snarling BMW V8 and the promise of a pure-electric version in just three years time? This isn't just the future of Land Rover, it once again sets the tone for all luxury SUVs to come. Mazda CX-50 The CX-50 is the first of five new Mazda SUVs to arrive in the coming years, slotting into the brand’s line-up between the CX-30 and CX-5. It's geared towards those with active lifestyles and sports a more rugged look than other models in Mazda’s offering. A new drive select function will allow for better of-road driving with improved capability on more challenging terrains, while a choice of turbocharged and naturally aspirated 2.5-litre Skyactiv-G petrol engines will be offered. Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS The 718 Cayman coupé will appear in its hottest guise in LA as Porsche reveals the 718 Cayman GT4 RS. The model brings a lower kerb weight, increased downforce and uprated power compared with the existing GT4, but that’s about all we know about its technical specifications so far. Official images and spy shots show new bodywork elements have been added to the Cayman, with similar air ducts to those seen on the 911 GT2 RS. The rear windows have been replaced by cooling vents and a larger, higher-mounted rear wing has been added. link : https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/2021-los-angeles-motor-show

Ollie and 14 other dogs of the PetSmart Paws for Hope Canine Therapy Program have been helping kids age 5 to 11 ever since they became eligible for the vaccine earlier this month. There is no vaccine hesitancy like that of a 9-year-old girl staring down the glint of a hypodermic needle. And there is no remedy quite like Ollie, a 6-year-old goldendoodle therapy dog who is helping kids at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego overcome the anxiety associated with getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Ollie and 14 other dogs of the PetSmart Paws for Hope Canine Therapy Program have been helping kids age 5 to 11 ever since they became eligible for the vaccine earlier this month. Across the United States, adults are resisting shots out of mistrust stemming from how quickly the vaccines rolled out, questions about possible side effects or in many cases fear driven by spurious rumors. Kids are just scared it’s going to hurt. The anticipation of a jab at Rady’s vaccine clinic had 9-year-old Avery Smith in tears. Then Ollie came in and sat at her feet. Avery mother’s, Kelli Donahue, took a picture of her with the dog and Avery’s sister Olive, 6. ALSO READ |Therapy dogs can help docs and nurses to manage stress: Study “It helped me because I never had a COVID vaccine before and I didn’t know what it felt like. But when I saw the dog it helped me calm down,” Avery said. Before the vaccine, the dogs already had a job bringing joy to patients admitted to the children’s hospital, many of them battling cancer or other diseases that can sap morale of patients, their parents and hospital staff. “Sometimes a parent will say, ‘He’s asleep from his surgery, but can I pet the dog?'” said Ollie’s owner, Kristin Gist, 75, a canine therapy volunteer and former hospital programs director. “They can really cuddle with the dog and feel better, too.” When COVID restrictions hit early last year, some 20,000 annual canine visits came to a halt. They restarted about three months ago. “There was nothing. It was silent. The kids were bored,” said Carlos Delgado, a hospital spokesperson. “So thank God we were able to start bringing the program back. Even a three-minute visit with a canine makes a difference for the day.” link : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/ollie-the-dog-helps-u-s-kids-with-covid-vaccine-hesitancy-one-jab-at-a-time-7627549/

A prominent supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his involvement in the US Capitol riot. Jacob Anthony Chansley was among the Trump supporters who tried to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election on 6 January. He earlier pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstruction in an official proceeding. His sentence is among the longest so far given in connection to the riots. In addition to his prison sentence, Chansley was sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and must pay $100 (£74) in restitution. The 34-year-old became one of the most recognisable figures from the siege after being pictured wearing horns and a bearskin headdress, with a US flag painted on his face. He referred to himself as "the QAnon Shaman". Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe that former President Donald Trump was waging a secret war against a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media. Following his arrest, Chansley told the FBI that he came to DC in January "at the request of the president" that all "patriots" come to the city. In court on Wednesday, Chansley said he wants to "evolve" and was "wrong for entering the Capitol". "I have no excuse," he said. He also said has been asking himself "what would Jesus do?" and likened himself to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, saying: "What if we all judge Gandhi based on that he beat his wife before his spiritual awakening?" He has been in custody nearly 11 months since being arrested just days after the riot. What is QAnon? The 65 days that led to chaos at the Capitol Photographs and videos taken during the riot show Chansley carrying a spear in the Capitol. Prosecutors also say he led other protesters in prayer at the dais - a raised platform - and left a note a note threatening former Vice-President Mike Pence. "It's only a matter of time," the note read. "Justice is coming!" Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 51 months in prison, arguing that the government "cannot overstate the serious" of Chansley's conduct. "His consistent rhetoric before and after the event, and his apparent ability to carry out his intentions of violently removing the 'traitors' in our government, is clear from the evidence in this case," prosecutors said. Chansley now claims to have disavowed Mr Trump and QAnon. In September, his attorney told the court that his client was "non-violent, peaceful and possessed of genuine mental health issues". His 41-month sentence is one of the longest so far doled out to 6 January rioters. Another participant, former mixed martial artist Scott Fairlam, was also sentenced to 41 months in prison earlier in November for assaulting a police officer and obstructing an official proceeding. link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59253090

Wearables market in India that consists of smartwatches, earbuds, and wristbands grew by 93.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the third quarter of 2021, according to a report. While smartwatches continued to be the fastest-growing category in the quarter between July and September, truly wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds helped push the growth of the earwear category. Indian brands such as Noise, Boat, Fire-Boltt, Ptron, and Titan emerged among the top vendors in the wearables market — alongside their global counterparts Amazfit, OnePlus, Realme, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) reports that wearables shipments in India reached 23.8 million units in the third quarter. In September alone, the firm said that shipments surpassed the 10 million mark that showed two-fold growth from the same month last year. In terms of segments, smartwatches retained their fastest-growth in the Indian wearables market with 4.3 million shipments and a whopping 456.3 percent YoY change recorded in the third quarter. The earwear segment, on the other hand, grew 77.9 percent YoY with 39.5 percent market share. Indian brands comprising Noise, Boat, and Fire-Boltt captured over two-thirds of the total smartwatch market, the firm said in its report. Gurugram-headquartered Noise maintained the leadership for the sixth straight quarter, with a 26 percent market share in the quarter ending September 30. It was followed by Boat with 23.1 percent. After Boat, it was Fire-Boltt that replaced Xiaomi-backed Huami for the third position and captured a market share of 15.3 percent in the third quarter — up from 5.5 percent in the previous quarter, IDC said. “Aggressive intent to maintain their lead helped them to further reduce the average selling price of watches to $73 (roughly Rs. 5,400), putting immense pressure on a struggling wrist band category,” said Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst for Client Devices, IDC India. Unlike smartwatches, wristbands saw an annual decline for the seventh consecutive quarter. The overall wristwear segment that comprises smartwatches and wristbands crossed the five million shipments mark in a single quarter, the firm said. Xiaomi maintained the lead in the wristband market segment, with 49.9 percent share. It, however, saw a 27.2 percent dip in its YoY growth in the third quarter. After Xiaomi, Titan came second with 16.7 percent share. OnePlus, on the other hand, came third with 10.8 percent share in the quarter. In the earwear segment, TWS earbuds, neckbands, and wireless over-the-ear headphones have clocked 18.7 million units in the third quarter. Boat led the segment with 48 percent share, followed by Realme and OnePlus. Samsung that includes JBL, Harman Kardon, and Infinity, on the other front, came fourth and Ptron retained its fifth position. IDC said that a total of 7.4 million TWS earbuds were shipped in the market, growing 70.5 percent YoY in the third quarter. As much as 86.4 percent of the total TWS earbuds shipments fall under the $50 (roughly Rs. 3,700) pricing. Total TWS earbuds shipped the market captured a 39.5 percent share of the overall earwear segment in the third quarter, the firm said. Boat led the TWS category, with a 37.3 percent share. Top five earwear vendors in India in Q3 2021 (as per IDC) “Celebrity endorsements are a key tactic for brand recall. However, to maintain the growth momentum they must invest more in newer designs and aesthetics, as well as newer collaborations with existing franchises. This can help create unique product experiences that will not only help associate with new customers but can also open new avenues to sell these products,” said Jaipal Singh, Research Manager of Client Devices, IDC India. link :https://gadgets.ndtv.com/wearables/news/wearables-market-india-smartwatch-wristband-xiaomi-samsung-amazfit-realme-noise-boat-idc-q3-2021-2613285

New Knox design language gives 1Password 8 for Windows a fresh, modern design 1Password has announced that the latest version of its password manager, which features a new design and enhanced security and privacy features, is now generally available for Windows. 1Password 8 for Windows sports an all-new modern design and increased productivity capabilities to help users manage, store and protect their sensitive information more easily and securely than ever before. Over the past year, the company rolled out its first full-featured desktop version of 1Password for Linux followed by the early access releases for 1Password 8 for Windows and Mac. While 1Password's latest version of its password manager is now generally available for Windows, new updates to Mac, Linux and other operating systems are expected to arrive next year. Co-founder of 1Password Dave Teare provided further details on the company's latest release in a press release, saying: "We've created an incredible foundation that powers our best version of 1Password for Windows yet, while setting us up for an exciting future. Our customers deserve the best, most polished experience when it comes to securing their personal information – our latest iteration of 1Password 8 for Windows delivers exactly that." 1Password 8 for Windows 1Password 8 for Windows features a modern design thanks to the company's new Knox design language which delivers a consistent, powerful and user-friendly experience with new item icons, detailed views for items and vaults and more across desktop, mobile and the web. The company's updated password manager is built using Rust and as a result, it offers improved speed and performance across all devices when searching, unlocking or managing items and vaults. At the same time, the new Item Catalog feature makes it more intuitive to search for, view or add items by guiding users through the creation process. 1Password users can also immediately find and directly log into saved credentials and websites using Quick Access even when the 1Password app isn't open. The company has improved its browser extension as well with new capabilities including saving logins, creating strong and unique passwords with a password generator, an inline menu and a shared lock state between its app and browser extension. In terms of security, the Watchtower Dashboard helps users optimize the security of their sensitive information by identifying weak or compromised passwords inactive 2FA and more. 1Password 8 for Windows also includes a new item sharing feature called Psst! that allows users to clearly identify, manage and control sharing access even with non-1Password users. 1Password 8 for Windows is available now and interested users can check out this blog post for even more information on the latest features included in this release. link : https://www.techradar.com/news/1password-unveils-faster-sleeker-windows-password-manager

Nvidia Image Scaling is being made open-source and cross platform, and aims to offer what FidelityFX Super Resolution can. Nvidia's image scaling and sharpening feature, Nvidia Image Scaling, has been updated today to improve performance and image quality. Though there's more here of interest to gamers, even AMD ones. This upscaling feature is also being made open-source and cross-platform, meaning it could soon play nicely with AMD and Intel GPUs. Nvidia Image Scaling is a feature that's been baked into Nvidia's graphics drivers for a few years. You can enable it through the Nvidia Control Panel, and it offers an alternative to Nvidia's DLSS feature for gamers without RTX cards and in games that don't offer DLSS support. Though it's not quite a match for DLSS, this baked-in solution does not require specific game support, and will thus function on any game. What's new with this update, then, is that Nvidia Image Scaling is being improved from within the Control Panel and GeForce Experience. An improved algorithm (version 2.0) is just for starters, too, as there's also now the option to control the sharpness of the overall image using a slider in the menus. Further to that, Nvidia is also announcing a new Nvidia Image Scaling SDK, which does require in-game support from developers in order to work, but will also work on AMD and even Intel GPUs. "The cross platform factor became much more important to many game developers saying they love implementing DLSS but what about those who don't have it," Lars Wienand from Nvidia says. "And now we offer a complete solution with DLSS and a special scaling solution for those who cannot run DLSS." This SDK enables Nvidia Image Sharpening to be brought right into the in-game menus, much like you'd expect to see Nvidia DLSS or AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution options. Yeah, about that last one. Obviously there are some clear parallels between Nvidia's new open-source upscaling SDK and AMD's open-source upscaling SDK. Both aim to upscale your game without the need for any fancy Tensor Cores or AI gubbins, and we're not the only ones drawing parallels here. Nvidia tells me it expects "very similar image quality to FSR" on the whole, and in the case of Necromunda Hired Gun, a game we weren't particularly keen on, it showed its upscaling even "running a bit faster in this case." That said, there's sure to be plenty of variation game to game. Nvidia Image Scaling runs in a single pass, which means both scaling and sharpening are combined into a single shader operation. Nvidia tells me that it does not expect there to be a difference in performance on different vendors' GPUs, as most should dispatch this pass in a similar fashion and return similar results. And let's not forget Intel plans to release its own cross platform upscaling feature in XeSS, alongside its first Alchemist discrete GPUs next year. All three major GPU designers have, or will have, some sort of upscaling functionality available cross platform, potentially in a matter of months. That's competition working at its best to provide the user with the best experience, and today's announcement is as much a win for owners of AMD graphics cards as it is for Nvidia ones. More game support for cross platform upscaling SDKs will only make for better frame rates and image quality in-game, and potentially on the older, lower-end cards that need it most. Though it must be said there are no games planned with the Nvidia Image Scaling SDK as of yet, so in the short-term it's really only Nvidia GPU owners that can make the most of that new and improved algorithm. The SDK is available from GitHub for developers to pick up today, should they so choose, and Nvidia is working on a UE4 plugin and other engine branches that are on the way soon. To make any comparison between upscaling features easier, Nvidia has also rolled out a new tool, named ICAT. This will be made publicly available from today, and allows you to cross-examine video and pictures without editing software. So give this a try if you're curious as to what this all really means for your preferred games. For Nvidia, though, it's still DLSS that reigns supreme, and believes that Nvidia Image Scaling is "no match for DLSS, even [with DLSS] in Performance Mode." With today's announcement also comes the release of DLSS version 2.3 in Cyberpunk 2077 to that end. I'm told DLSS version 2.3 is loosely based on the White Collie experimental builds we tried out last month, and should similarly nix the undesirable ghosting that had occurred in the game on occasion with previous DLSS versions. link : https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-image-scaling-sdk/

Our first hands-on was a good time, except for when Dying Light 2 rolled out the Walking Dead melodrama. The best decision I made in four hours with Dying Light 2 was helping a guy electrocute a goat. It wasn't quite what he was going for—this wannabe inventor was trying to create an electric fence and accidentally ended up barbecuing the town goat he hoped to keep safe. But it worked out for me, because I unlocked a weapon mod that let me add stunning electrical damage to my medieval mace. I pulled that mace out for every tough fight over the next two hours and absolutely decimated bosses and the strongest zombies I came across. Dying Light 2 is a good time. It's been a long time coming: the first Dying Light came out in 2015, and this one was originally meant to be finished in 2020. From what I've played, there's still a lot of polishing left to do, but the action and parkour that defined Dying Light are both here, and both nice and weighty. I left convinced that I could play through Dying Light 2's whole campaign without tiring of smashing in zombie brains or taking running leaps between rooftops I can't say the same for Dying Light 2's story, unfortunately. Despite an ambitious promise to make your decisions impact the path you take through Dying Light 2 and how the world changes around you, the writing and acting for those story beats feel like they belong to a game from a half decade ago that hasn't aged particularly well. Dialogue in Dying Light 2 gave me flashbacks to watching the early seasons of The Walking Dead—I think I made it most of the way through the second season of that show before I couldn't stand the absolutely contrived decisions characters made to justify that week's drama. If you've watched or read or played any piece of post-apocalyptic media, you're probably already well familiar with the tropes Dying Light 2 is going to trot out. You play a guy named Aiden (immediate red flag if you played Watch Dogs) who's on a search for his missing sister (I'm sure that won't end tragically, right?) and along the way you run into survivors who aren't just good or bad, you know, but morally gray. We're talking at least several shades, here. Everyone's morally gray, even the sneeringly evil characters, because that's just what it's like to be a survivor a couple decades after the zombie apocalypse. Dying Light 2 wants you to choose who to side with and who to help and who to double-cross constantly, which only really works if you're stuck in the middle of a whole bunch of conflicting interests. There are at least some cool outcomes from these moments. If you sway an area's allegiance towards the civilians or the militaristic peacekeepers, for instance, it changes the "alignment" of the world. The peacekeepers will build traps you can use to kill zombies, while the survivors add parkour aids. It's possible those choices add up to something bigger, and they certainly can affect who lives and dies as the results of some quests. In the few hours I played I really only got to see one area of Dying Light 2's massive city, and thus only a small part of its overarching story, so it's possible there's some genuinely compelling character stuff later on. But I doubt it—every conversation I had was overwrought and amusingly melodramatic, and my decisions often led to jarring changes in the tone of a conversation. At one point I swear I was trying to convince someone we needed to stick together and help each other, and two lines later they were trying to convince me that we should work together. O...kay? Dying Light 2 has the structure to feel like a proper RPG, but with none of the storytelling chops of a game like The Witcher 3, which managed to make morally ambiguous characters nuanced instead of tropey caricatures. I don't think this is really a dealbreaker in Dying Light 2's case, though. The branching storylines may be its biggest ambition, but most of us are going to be playing to parkour across the city and bash zombies in co-op, and both of those are things Dying Light 2 is more than capable of. Hit and run Here's another bold decision on Dying Light 2's part: there are no guns, period. This is a game all about weighty, pipes-cracking-skulls melee combat, and firearms have no place in it (I guess humanity used up all the bullets between DL1 and DL2). Even from the short stretch of the game I played, weapon variety was a highlight: the different melee weapons I used each felt pretty distinct when I made contact with zombies, from the speedier slice of a machete to the really heavy thwonk of a lead pipe. I played my demo on a controller, where smacking zombie heads with a quick strike or by holding down a button to deliver a power blow felt really good. At one point I went to town on a crowd of zombies with a police baton that briefly made me feel like I was reenacting The Raid, though I don't want to oversell it—the sound effect was bang on, even if I wasn't pulling off 15-hit combos. First-person melee combat here is satisfying in the same way it is in Warhammer: Vermintide 2, one of my favorite co-op games of the last few years. I didn't get to play Dying Light 2 in co-op, but I think both games work as great co-op hangout experiences largely because you don't have to be too focused in combat to enjoy wailing on enemies. It's definitely not braindead though: when I went up against larger hordes of zombies or big brute minibosses, I had to stay on my toes with blocks and especially dodging, since you can't block more powerful strikes. Dodging feels a bit unintuitive in first person, but positioning really matters if you're going up against tougher enemies or hordes of small fry. You can get yourself killed quickly if you don't carefully kite around the zombies running at you, use kicks to buy yourself breathing room, and manage your stamina. There's still a crafting system here for enhancing weapons, though I only managed to unlock the one weapon mod that turned my mace into an OP brain zapper. There was a whole skill tree that Techland says it's not quite ready to show off, but expect a lot of abilities to make you more powerful in both combat and parkour. From the start you're already fairly maneuverable, but you'll be able to unlock abilities to run faster and jump further, fall from greater heights, and chain moves together more fluidly. I didn't play much of the original Dying Light, but I did play the heck out of Dead Island, and I'm happy to say that running, jumping and climbing around the world is still a really satisfying way to get from one place to another. That basic experience is something that way too many open world games fail to deliver. So many of them are full of empty space that mostly serves to pad out exploration, but without much to really do within that space. I'm not saying Elden Ring needs parkour, but, I mean, maybe it does? I was far from invested in Dying Light 2's story or the survivors I met, but that didn't really matter. I was content finding paths across roofs and along ledges. It's still thrilling to make those big leaps across large gaps and feel the thud when you hit the ground. Dying Light 2's developers told me they did a lot of work to refine the parkour system for this game, and overall I really liked the feel of it, which isn't easy to pull off in first person. Parkour was never nauseating and I rarely found myself frustrated with the controls not doing what I expected, though it wasn't always super clear why I couldn't climb something—readability could be a bit better, considering in the post-apocalypse most of the world looks similarly beat up and run down. There's the occasional bit of awkward animation, but I actually liked that the parkour here feels a bit more physical and uncertain than the super smooth, streamlined movement of something like Assassin's Creed. I probably spent almost as much time sneaking around as I did parkouring. As in the original Dying Light, Dying Light 2's action changes significantly between night and day. Going into buildings during the day puts you at risk of being overwhelmed by hordes while the streets are relatively quiet, but at night all the zombies start chasing you around outside and become much more threatening. I had one mission where I was told I should wait until night to enter a building in search of some military gear, but I just went for it during the day anyway. It was tough, but I appreciated that I was able to make that choice. There's a whole lot going on in Dying Light 2 beyond running around and cracking skulls. The stealth system, for example, has items you can throw to decoy enemies. If you stay in the dark too long you'll become infected, but you can find and craft items to inoculate yourself and there are UV lights throughout the world that reset your immunity. It adds an extra bit of tension to how and when you choose to fight or run. And there are climbing challenges, basically like towers in Assassin's Creed, that unlock new safe rest spots around the world. The freedom to play quiet or loud and to climb up practically any building you want pairs well with the non-melee weapons in Dying Light 2. There are no guns, but there are bows and crossbows, and I had some real Far Cry vibes when I invaded a bandit camp and silently sniped the leader from a high perch I'd parkoured my way up to. The open-endedness is great. Dying Light 2 feels like a properly huge sandbox, with all the goodness and baggage that entails in open world games. You're going to spend a lot of time hunting down crafting materials and looking at pieces of equipment with +5% crit chance and +19% damage at night, which will usually be dull but every so often results in a weapon that feels memorable. In games like Borderlands, I find a lot of generic open world tasks and repetitive loot much easier to forgive in co-op, which is where I think Dying Light 2's going to really shine. I'm not expecting much from its story after my first few hours with it, but if the co-op zombie bashing is good, that's what really matters. link : https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dying-light-2-nails-the-first-person-parkour-and-combat-but-its-ambitious-story-may-be-a-dud/

Does the smallest engine reduce the appeal of this hybrid compact estate or make it more of a bargain? What is it? There’s something brilliantly fuss-free about the Toyota Corolla, even more so in this Touring Sports configuration. Massive boot, Toyota reliability, decent comfort… Sometimes, all you need are the simple things in life. We’ve driven the 12th-generation Toyota Corolla Touring Sports before (is it just me or does that bodystyle nomenclature seem the wrong way round?) but this time it’s the turn of the smaller engine, the 1.8-litre petrol hybrid that’s paired with a CVT gearbox, as it is in the 2.0-litre. Power is down from 177bhp to 120bhp because of a combination of a less punchy petrol engine and smaller-output electric motor. In the 1.8-litre, the CO2 figure drops into a lower tax bracket, so if you’re a company car user, you’ll want to look at this version. Fuel economy is also slightly better, with a claimed range of 55.3-62.7mpg (55.4-57.6mpg for this specific Design trim). Our test average was 55.1mpg over a lot of mixed miles, including a long schlep on the motorway, so if nothing else it shows that the WLTP measurement method is more accurate than its predecessor. The interior is as functional as you’d expect from Toyota. The boot is 581 litres (marginally down on the 611 litres in the Volkswagen Golf Estate ) or 1606 litres with all the seats folded. A more stylish rival such as the Peugeot 308 SW doesn’t get anywhere near those figures, so it’d be a toss-up between looks and practicality if you’re choosing between those two. The Toyota also gets two levers in the boot to fold the 60:40 split rear seats completely flat, so it’s easy cramming stuff in. If you can make do without a spare wheel, there’s a vast cavern under the boot floor, too. Elsewhere, the infotainment has a useful number of physical buttons combined with touchscreen functionality, but the fonts and layout aren’t quite as slick as on some rivals’. What's it like? Let’s be frank straight away: it’s not going to set the world on fire. Despite riding on the Toyota New Global Architecture GA-C platform, and various claims from its maker that its handling is aimed at Europe thanks to the MacPherson strut front, multi-link rear set-up, the Corolla Touring Sports is definitely happier over a leisurely journey cThe lengthened wheelbase on the Touring Sports helps, enabling it to feel stable over long and short undulations, while the suspension and tyres (225/45 R17 on the Design trim) also do a decent job of isolating lumps and bumps. Body roll is well controlled but the light steering and safe handling are tuned more for comfort than involvement. Still, its 120bhp output is comparable with that of rivals like the Golf and 308 and is good for 0-62mph in 11.1sec. It’s not a rocketship, but it’s adequate. As ever with the CVT, it spins away annoyingly during hard acceleration, but the engine noise in today's cars is getting so well isolated from the cabin that in all but the most foot-to-the-floor acceleration moments, the Corolla is a quiet companion. That’s borne out in the lack of suspension noise as well. It’s a well-insulated little car. Should I buy one? In a world where even basic things, such as a takeaway coffee, come in oodles of different varieties, something as simple as a mid-sized estate car is surprisingly appealing, even if the hybrid set-up may have been considered complex just a few short years ago. The Toyota isn’t going to light up your world, but as a multi-purpose tool, it’s just about spot on. Like the Swiss army knife, it isn’t glamorous but it is effective. link : https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/toyota/corolla-touring-sports/first-drives/toyota-corolla-18-hybrid-design-touring-sports

Prices for the garment start around Rs 1,500 and go up to Rs 2,000 and more In yet another bizarre placement of a garment from the subcontinent in the fast-fashion world, clothing company H&M has been accused of hijacking the modest kurta-pyjama, giving it a fancy name — which seems almost alien and made-up — and selling it online for a couple of thousand bucks. Netizens are not impressed. If you look up “jersey shirt dress” on the brand’s website, you will be taken to this section wherein you will find the said garment, prices for which start around INR 1,500 and go up to INR 2,000 and more. It was brought to our attention when Twitter users from around the world started calling out the brand for culturally hijacking the attire that is traditionally worn in countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. On the site, the description for the product reads, “Calf-length dress in soft jersey with a collar, buttons down the front and a yoke with pleats at the back. Long sleeves with buttoned cuffs, and slits in the sides of the hem. Unlined.” If this makes you scratch your head and wonder what they are trying to say, you are not alone. If you have grown up in the subcontinent, you are sure to have seen elders in the family dress up in this attire during celebratory occasions — festivals like Diwali and Eid, during weddings, or simply at home, because it is comfortable clothing. So, it would not be wrong to call it a sartorial-abomination, having to watch a fast-fashion brand sell it, and also charge a bomb for it. Link : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/fashion/netizens-clothing-brand-renames-kurta-pyjama-jersey-shirt-dress-hm-7625806/

Suicide bombers have targeted the Ugandan capital Kampala, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30 others, police say. Three attackers on motorbikes blew themselves up near parliament and the city's police headquarters. The number of dead is likely to rise, with the blasts leaving body parts strewn in the streets. Officials blamed the attacks on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group based in the DR Congo. The attacks came within three minutes of each other. More bombs have been found in other parts of the city, officials said. "The bomb threats are still active, especially from suicide attackers," said police spokesman Fred Enanga. "We believe there are still more members of these domestic terror cells, especially the suicide bomb squad that has been created by the ADF." A fourth attacker has been arrested and an explosive vest recovered, police said. Live updates Who are the Allied Democratic Forces? Two policemen were among the dead. Thirty-three others were injured in the blasts, including five critically. Proceedings in parliament were called off and MPs advised not to come to the building following the attacks. Cars parked near parliament went up in flames, while the explosion near the police station shattered windows. "A booming sound like that from a big gun went off. The ground shook, my ears nearly went deaf," Peter Olupot, a bank guard who was close to the attack near parliament, told Reuters news agency. Police said the attacks were carried out by a "domestic terror group" linked to the ADF. The group formed in the late 1990s in opposition to Uganda's long-serving President, Yoweri Museveni. In recent years, its attacks began to be claimed by the Islamic State group. Last month, the ADF said it was behind an attack on a bar in Kampala which killed a 20-year-old waitress. Ugandan forces are also part of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia fighting al-Shabab, an insurgent group allied to al-Qaeda. Police said the attacks were carried out by a "domestic terror group" linked to the ADF. The group formed in the late 1990s in opposition to Uganda's long-serving President, Yoweri Museveni. In recent years, its attacks began to be claimed by the Islamic State group. Last month, the ADF said it was behind an attack on a bar in Kampala which killed a 20-year-old waitress. Ugandan forces are also part of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia fighting al-Shabab, an insurgent group allied to al-Qaeda. link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59302917

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iQoo Z5 Cyber Grid colour variant launched with a price tag of Rs. 23,990 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model.e model.ms-update-will-help-you-cut-through-all-the-nonsense iQoo Z5 is getting a new finish called 'Cyber Grid' in India. The handset, which was launched in September this year, debuted in three colour options — Blue Origin, Dream Space, and Twilight Morning —in China. However, it arrived in two shades in India: Mystic Space and Arctic Dawn. The third Dream Space colour variant has now been unveiled as Cyber Grid in India. Key specifications of iQoo Z5 include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G chipset, 120Hz refresh rate, a triple rear camera setup, and a 5,000mAh battery with 44W flash charge support. iQoo Z5 price in India, sale iQoo Z5 Cyber Grid colour variant price is Rs. 23,990 for the 8GB RAM +128GB storage option and Rs. 26,990 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage model. The latest colour variant is up for grabs via iQoo's website and Amazon starting today, November 15. As mentioned, the new model will sit alongside the Arctic Dawn and Mystic Space colour options that have already been available in India since the phone's launch on September 27. iQoo Z5 specifications iQoo Z5 Cyber Grid colour version comes with the same specifications as other available colour variants. The handset works on Android 11-based Funtouch OS 11.1 and supports dual-SIM slots (Nano). iQoo Z5 sports a 6.67-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,400 pixels) LCD display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, a 240Hz touch sampling rate, a 20:9 aspect ratio, DCI-P3 color gamut, and HDR 10 support. The screen is TUV Rheinland certified as well. iQoo Z5 Review: A Decent Step Up, but Not a Big Leap The phone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC coupled with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The iQoo Z5 packs a triple rear camera setup headlined by a 64-megapixel primary sensor with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. For selfies, the phone has a 16-megapixel sensor. iQoo Z5 is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery with 44W Flash Charge fast-charging support. The phone includes a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and has Face Wake facial recognition as well. Connectivity options on the iQoo Z5 include USB Type-C port, Bluetooth v5.2, USB OTG support, tri-band Wi-Fi with 2.4GHz, 5.1GHz, and 5.8GHz bands, GPS, and a 3.5mm audio jack. link : https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/iqoo-z5-cyber-grid-colour-price-in-india-rs-23990-launch-sale-date-november-15-specifications-2611896

Microsoft Teams will help you keep notifications in check Microsoft is working on a new feature for collaboration platform Teams that should help address a common remote working problem. According to a new post in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft Teams will soon afford users tighter control over their activity feed notifications. “Users will be able to change the type of notification that appears in the activity feed. Right click on the feed item, and you will be able to turn on/off all reactions and select the apps you would like to get notifications from,” explained Microsoft. The new feature is currently under development, but is set to roll on in preview later this month and go live for all users in December. Microsoft Teams notifications Since the start of the pandemic, plenty has been said about the effects of remote working on business culture and mental health. Some remote workers have said they feel pressured to make themselves available outside of traditional hours, making it difficult to strike an effective work-life balance. Others, meanwhile, have been buried in a storm of notifications as a result of the switch to digital forms of communication (whether via email, text chat or video conference). And this problem is only aggravated by the rising number of third-party integrations for platforms like Teams. By allowing users to specify which types of alerts they receive, the latest Teams update should help alleviate (if not eliminate) the kinds of problems that have cropped up as a result of the new reliance on digital collaboration tools and online productivity software. Notification customization will also synergize with another feature that’s also under development, which will allow Teams users to switch off notifications during meetings. As per a separate roadmap entry, users will be able to turn off notifications during all meetings, or on a per meeting basis. Clearly, Microsoft is aware of the damaging effects of notification storms on both productivity and wellbeing. And these latest Teams updates should at least go some way to correcting the issue. link : https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-teams-update-will-help-you-cut-through-all-the-nonsense

Always the drip feed of next-gen GPU specs. Rumours about the potential next generation of GPUs—namely Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4090 and AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT—have already begun to surface across the web. Among them, known Twitter leaker Greymon55 now airs their predictions where core count, power draw, and clock speeds are concerned, giving us much hope for the future of so-called Lovelace and RDNA 3 architectures. Previously, leakers were spotted speculating over the RTX 40-series cards' architecture, process nodes, and even a projected launch date, the implication being that the project planning stage has already been finalised. With the latest rumours (via WCCFTech), Greymon55 spouts a roundup of certainties and potential specs for these as-yet-unannounced cards. Nvidia's AD102—likely the top GPU for GeForce cards—will supposedly be packing 18,432 CUDA cores, with AMD's Navi 31 coming in at 15,360 stream processors. Against the previous generations, that's 7,936 cores up from the RTX 3090's count of 10,496 cores, and a whopping 10,240 uptick over the RX 6900 XT's 5,120 stream processors. With a suspected 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM running at 21GB/s, as predicted, we might well see the RTX 4090 touting boost clock speeds in of 2.5GHz over its predecessor's 1.7GHz boost. The RX 7900 XT could also be throwing out 2.5GHz boosts, over the previous generation's 2.25GHz. What's odd is seeing these projections even before many buyers have received their previous generation of GPU orders, having placed them over half a year prior. Sad times. Still, if Greymon55's predictions are correct things are looking very good for the world of GPUs, in at least that the competition will stay heated between the green and red teams. Of course, with Intel Alchemist storming in soon these companies aren't going to leave anything to chance. link : https://www.pcgamer.com/early-predictions-for-nvidia-and-amds-next-gen-cards-set-up-a-titan-gpu-battle/

Halfway through my demo session with The Anacrusis, the upcoming co-op sci-fi shooter from Stray Bombay, things had devolved into chaos, but it was a magical kind of chaos. Our progress down the concourse of a massive derelict starship had been interrupted by a brief musical sting, then the distant shrieks of an oncoming horde. It was the trigger for a Pavlovian thrill response etched into my brain through hundreds of hours of Left 4 Dead. Which was fitting, as somewhere off to my left was Chet Faliszek, one of the leads on Left 4 Dead during his time at Valve, now co-founder of Stray Bombay. Faliszek was busy frying swaths of alien-possessed crewmembers with chain lightning from an arc rifle he'd found. There was a brief yelp over voice chat as I watched Dorian Gorski, a Stray Bombay level designer with an admirable talent for attracting alien attention, zip across my field of vision, gripped once again in the bioluminescent clutches of a grabber's tentacles. I started carving a path towards him, flinging back clusters of common enemies with radial kinetic bursts from my pulse ability and popping heads with my plasma rifle. Then something bellowed over the fray, and barrelling through the horde like a Kool-Aid Man through a castle of flesh came a crimson mass of clawed alien muscle. And then another one. "Oh, a double brute," said Will Smith, communications and general internet presence for Stray Bombay, who responded to the assault by casually igniting the area (myself included) with an incendiary grenade. "The director has decided we're a good team," he said as I burned. In the hour and a half I spent with the devs of The Anacrusis, our conversation always drifted back to their AI director 2.0, the successor to the director from Left 4 Dead, and the philosophy motivating its design. Stray Bombay hopes to recapture a magic that's harder to find these days, when so many cooperative games feel more like playing in parallel than playing together. The Anacrusis comes from a firm belief that, beyond the zombie-shooting, what made Left 4 Dead special was the space it created to hang out with your friends. That magic, Faliszek says, is due to the director and the ebb-and-flow it created—so much so that the very first line of code written for The Anacrusis was for the director 2.0. Where the original director was mostly responsible for plotting out enemy spawn points, the director 2.0 is actively considering you and your teammates, building a model of how you perform, both individually and together. As you progress through an episode (think a Left 4 Dead campaign), it'll use that evolving model to generate a unique set of combat encounters tuned to how you're playing together. "The game is extraordinarily different every time," Smith said. "The ebb and flow of a level, where fights happen, where and what kinds of equipment are distributed. Very little is scripted. It's almost all based on how the director feels that you and your team are doing." I managed to catch some of the specifics the director is tabulating: levels of friendly fire, number of headshots, ratio of damage dealt to damage taken. Beyond that, the devs kept my understanding pretty abstract to maintain a level of mystery. They enthused about the architecting work by software engineer Amy Ackermann, and were invested in giving the director as many tools as possible to incentivize and disrupt different kinds of player behavior. By handling the placement of perk-distributing Matter Compiler stations, for example, the director has a great tool to goad players into poking around the map. By deploying a gooper to trap a player in a coagulating glob their friends have to shoot off, the director can encourage some additional cooperation. As an aside, the gooper also gives player-characters an opportunity for what seemed like one of their favorite pastimes: yelling about goo. I can't confirm if that's involved in the director's calculations, but when I noted I'd never heard the word "goo" so much in a game, Smith told me "the goo-ing is an integral part." Make of that what you will. Whatever the arcane workings behind its magic, the experience the director created—in my play session, at least—was a kind of fun I'd been missing. When a horde started spilling in, the challenge never dipped into hopelessness. It was frantic, but refreshing. The intensity doesn't feel insurmountable. It might demand you all rally to blast apart some goo, or make space with a shield grenade to revive a fallen friend, but you can feel that you're right on the line of survival. You just have to earn it. Crucially, when the smoke clears, the director knows to hold back. It respects the time between onslaughts. It gives room to breathe, to have a conversation with your friends while you're combing the smooth-edged hallways of a retro sci-fi spaceship and taking pot shots at pockets of basic enemies. And there are no complicating layers of min-maxing, loot chasing, or whatever else to prevent it being purely cooperative. Toward the end of my session, as he was hunting a spawner—one of the more obnoxious special enemies—Faliszek told me about the long process of tuning the director 2.0, and a moment when the pieces started falling into place. "We had a playtester say the greatest line. 'Sure, we made it through. But a lesser team wouldn't have.' That's what we want every team, good or bad, to feel: that they're at the cusp of skill." In Left 4 Dead, he told me, player data showed more people played on easy than on hard. "They just want to have a shared experience with their friends. Our game's not really about difficulty. It's about intensity." While Stray Bombay hasn't confirmed a release date for The Anacrusis, we apparently won't have to wait long for that announcement. In Smith's words, the team is "very close to doing that. It's coming soon." link : https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-anacrusis-is-a-co-op-fps-that-understands-you-want-to-hang-out-with-your-friends/

Life with a Jaguar XF: Month 1 Welcoming the XF to the fleet - 3 November 2021 Going all-electric: it’s rather the done thing at the moment. Everybody is doing it, from Alfa Romeo to Alpine and Vauxhall to Volvo, and those companies that have yet to unveil their bold plans to ditch combustion over the coming decade are starting to look more than a little bit unfashionable. We have had a good few heavy-hitting headlines over of the past few months on this very subject, among the earliest and most impactful of which was ‘Jaguar to become all-electric brand from 2025’. Other manufacturers will beat them to the punch, of course, but here is a name so intrinsically associated with big-engined sports coupés, snarling race weapons and driver-orientated saloons that the concept of a completely engine-less build hall at Castle Bromwich seems almost unimaginable. In the meantime, this particular new XF, as you’ll no doubt have clocked, is categorically not electric. Not even electrified, actually, for while Jaguar does already sell plug-in hybrid versions of its F-Pace and E-Pace SUVs (and, of course, the all-electric I-Pace), its struggling XE and XF saloon models continue as combustion-only propositions, albeit with the option of a mildly hybridised diesel engine, while nearly all mainstream rivals are capable of zero-emission running. So can the XF, as the flagship of Jag’s modern saloon line-up, remain a competitive option in what is already a dwindling segment? It’s the right time to ask. The XF might be the final full-sized, fuel-burning saloon Jaguar will ever produce, but it has also just been extensively updated both inside and out and is actually quite a different proposition from the outwardly similar pre-facelift car. We’ve gone for the mid-point of the line-up in the form of the 248bhp P250 petrol engine, which stacks up neatly stat-wise against the BMW 5 Series 530i and Audi A6 45 TFSI: 0-62mph in 6.9sec, a top speed of 155mph and a combined 35.2mpg. Fanatics will no doubt still bemoan the absence of a straight-six engine, but the turbocharged four sends ample grunt rearwards (the right direction) through a slick-shifting automatic gearbox, and the chassis can still offer up a passable impression of a semi-sporting GT in the twisties. And there’s no denying the presence this car exudes at the kerbside. The visual and technical changes are no doubt extensive and effective enough in their own right to cause at least minor headaches in Munich, Stuttgart and Ingolstadt, but really it’s the revised pricing structure that could most tangibly punt the XF back towards the top of the fearsome exec express segment. Just £33,975 gets you into Jaguar’s biggest saloon these days. That’s the price of a Volkswagen Golf R-Line with a few extras or, perhaps more relevantly, around £5000 less than a 5 Series or a Mercedes-Benz E-Class. And it’s not like it could ever be considered the lesser option materially; if I may be allowed to defy Autocar convention in offering a cliché, it really is a huge amount of car for the money. Article continues below advertisement Back to top The car you see here, admittedly, is specified in racy R-Dynamic trim and comes with a fair few option boxes ticked – to the tune of just over £5000, actually – so we’re not running the true bargain of the class. But that recent round of updates for the XF has freshened it up sufficiently to satisfy this ‘owner’ of its value for money even in higher-specification forms. There’s a fresh new front end with slimmer headlights and a redesigned grille,a chunky (but primarily decorative) diffuser at the back and, crucially, a totally overhauled cabin. Gone are the plasticky trim elements and old-fashioned buttons, replaced by a minimalist and plush set-up that visibly links the XF with its futuristic I-Pace sibling. Most obviously, the often lambasted integrated infotainment screen from the older car has been swapped for an expansive 11.4in touchscreen that plays host to nearly all of the XF’s key functions, using Jaguar Land Rover’s new Pivi Pro operating system. And what a system it is. All too often do car manufacturers seem to confuse quality and utility when designing infotainment interfaces these days, but even after some 1500 miles behind the wheel, I’ve yet to encounter any of the clunkiness or counter-intuitiveness that plagues so many of its rivals’ digital architecture; the overall finish and functionality of the system belies the XF’s low list price. There’s more than a whiff of Tesla about the overbearing touchscreen – for better or worse – and a shift away from physical buttons does increase the potential for distractions while driving, but this surely will be the most instrumental material factor in any sales increase the XF manages to achieve in what time it has left. Well, it’ll be that or the attractive notion of owning a bona fide British sports saloon (What? It’s British Racing Green, isn’t it?) for a relative pittance. Either way, there are thousands of reasons why the German stalwarts dominate in this segment, and the XF won’t have it easy in proving it can win out. Second Opinion Facing a long drive from Brighton to Sheffield, I bit Felix’s hand off when he offered to swap my Mini Convertible for his big Jag saloon. Comfortable and very refined it proved, the new infotainment is ace and it did about 40mpg – decent for a petrol. Suffice to say that I arrived in high spirits. Kris Culmer Back to the top Jaguar XF P250 R-Dynamic SE RWD specification Specs: Price New £37,835 Price as tested £43,110 Options Sliding panoramic roof £1345, Meridian sound system £820, 19in split-spoke alloys £800, British Racing Green metallic paint £700, black exterior pack £550, privacy glass £500, wireless charger with phone signal booster £300, cabin air ionisation £140, lockable cooled glovebox £60, air quality sensor £60, Light Oyster Morzine headlining nco. link : https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/jaguar/xf/long-term-reviews/jaguar-xf-2021-long-term-review

The 1888 work, "Mueles de ble", was purchased for well above its pre-sale estimate of $20-30 million, auction house Christie's said. A Vincent van Gogh landscape seized by the Nazis during their Second World War occupation of France has sold at auction in New York for $35.9 million, a record for a watercolor by the Dutch impressionist. ALSO READ |Splashes of colour adorn Lima neighbourhood, forming massive city mural The 1888 work, “Mueles de ble”, was purchased for well above its pre-sale estimate of $20-30 million, auction house Christie’s said. It was last exhibited in 1905. “Mueles de ble” depicts a haystack in Arles, France, where van Gogh lived for more than a year in the 1880s. Unlike his best-known work, which were painted with oils, the painting was executed in watercolor, gouache, pen and ink on paper. The work was initially owned after the artist’s suicide at 37 by his brother, Theo van Gogh. After passing through several owners, it was seized by Nazi forces during their occupation of France. ALSO READ |Models pose in historic vestments for Belgian cathedral catwalk show Following the war, the painting’s whereabouts were unclear until the 1970s. It was in private hands until Christie’s purchased the work through a settlement with the collector and heirs of the original owners. Van Gogh is considered one of art’s greatest and most influential painters, although he saw little commercial success during his lifetime. link : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/van-gogh-watercolour-landscape-auctioned-record-35-9-million-new-york-7621392/