rlex

Discord is reportedly considering a sale, and according to Bloomberg, Microsoft is in line to acquire the platform for more than $10 billion. This follows a VentureBeat report earlier today which claimed that the game chat company is “exploring its options” for a sale, and that “multiple parties” are interested. Don’t get too excited for another bombshell acquisition though, because one of Bloomberg’s sources said that Discord will likely go public rather than sell. It also notes that Discord has had discussions with Epic Games and Amazon in the past. If another company does acquire Discord it’d be a good strategic get, though the company itself has acknowledged in the past that it’s not profitable. As of December last year it could boast 140 million active users per month, while last year its valuation reportedly doubled from $3.5 billion in June, to $7 billion in November. Discord is ubiquitous among gaming communities and is usually preferred to first-party alternatives offered by the likes of Sony and Microsoft, not to mention Steam and Epic Games. The chat service also rebranded itself in 2020, severing some of its overt ties to videogames in favour of a more “general purpose” public image. Both reports suggest that multiple parties are interested in acquiring Discord, so Microsoft may have some competition on its hands. For reference, Microsoft’s Bethesda acquisition was worth $7.5 billion, which is less than the reported $10 billion on the table for Discord. When we reached out for comment on the buyout, Discord said it does not comment on rumor and speculation. Shaun is PC Gamer’s Australian editor and news writer. He mostly plays platformers and RPGs, and keeps a close eye on anything of particular interest to antipodean audiences. He (rather obsessively) tracks the movements of the Doom modding community, too.

Sébastien Bourdais, Loïc Duval and Tristan Vautier won on the night of Saturday to Sunday one of the biggest American car races. An important victory in more than one way. The last - and only - 100% French victory at Sebring dates back ten years , when Loïc Duval - already him! - Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre had won the classic aboard a Peugeot 908 HDI FAP entered by Oreca. This time, it was not in a French car that they triumphed, but in the No. 5 Cadillac DPi of the Mustang Sampling / JDC-Miller MotorSports team. A deserved victory, but which was obtained at the cost of enormous efforts, after having overcome certain contextual elements that could have led to the tragedy. Indeed, in the last laps, part of the rear spoiler came off, causing the car, victim of an aerodynamic failure, could have crashed at any time. Sébastien Bourdais, who was behind the wheel at the time, skilfully led his car to the checkered flag , relieved to have held up to the shock during those long 20 minutes at the end of the race. “Until then, the car was really good and I thought we would go to the end in a controlled manner,” said le manceau after the finish. “But just after the last pit stop, about 20 minutes from the finish, the upper part of the rear wing came off. At that point I thought I was going to crash into a wall, but I managed to hold the car. I didn't know which piece I had lost, but I quickly saw an impact on behavior. The advantage is that with less aero the car was very fast in a straight line … But I was losing about two seconds on the lap, and it was very, very difficult. But I played with the settings, the balance of the brakes, and I managed to contain the competition. I am really happy and proud of what we have accomplished, for myself and for the whole team. " The race of all dangers It should be recognized that the car, in qualifying as in the race, had not been sufficiently in pace during the first hours of the race. But also that she was the victim of touches, first with Jimmie Johnson, in distress in turn 17, then with Felipe Nasr, at about 8 hours of racing, when Tristan Vautier came out of the pits. The latter was able to start again in 6th position, but one lap behind the leader. “I didn't really understand what happened,” explains the French driver. I was on my line, there was nothing else I could do, then I was thrown against the wall. It took me a few seconds to realize that I could start again, that everything was working. " Then, at the end of the race, it was all of Bourdais' experience and talent that made the difference. After catching up with a good strategy and, it must be said, taking advantage of the neutralizations , Bourdais had taken the lead when the No. 01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing (with Scott Dixon at the wheel) rubbed shoulders with a BMW M8 GTE. In the end, despite their concern for the aileron, the French crew signed a very fine victory.

Edited By: Tahira Khan Updated: Mar 22, 2021, 18:09 PM IST Source: IANS Toronto: A lifestyle intervention targeting women with obesity and infertility is more effective in increasing the pregnancy rate compared with fertility treatments, a new study suggests. Read more The study, presented virtually at ENDO 2021, showed that the lifestyle intervention, called the Fit-For-Fertility (FFF) programme, is a cost-effective alternative to the usual standard of care for women with obesity seeking fertility treatments. "Our study shows that the FFF programme can significantly improve the pregnancy rate, especially the spontaneous pregnancy rate when no fertility treatments are required, as well as the live-birth rate," said lead researcher Matea Belan from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada. Lifestyle changes and a moderate weight loss of 5 per cent to 10 per cent of a woman's initial weight have been shown to improve the odds of a pregnancy in women with obesity and infertility, the researcher said. For the study, the researchers recruited 130 women receiving treatment at a fertility clinic, and randomly divided them into two groups. The first group had access to the Fit-For-Fertility programme alone for the first six months of their participation, and in combination with fertility treatments if no pregnancy occurred after six months. by TaboolaSponsored LinksYou May Like Jennifer Lopez No Makeup Photo Confirms The Rumors Car Novels 58 Truly Fascinating Historical Photos. #19 is Powerful HotPopToday The programme included individual sessions with a nutritionist and a kinesiologist every six weeks. Women in the FFF group were also asked to follow at least once each one of the 12 group sessions, which included a 45-minute workshop on topics regarding nutrition, lifestyle changes and lifestyle habits, followed by a 45-minute session of initiation to different types of physical activity, including walking, circuit training, step workout and others. In the second group, the control group, women had access to the fertility treatments from the outset but did not take part in the FFF programme. Of the 108 women who completed at least six months of the study, or became pregnant during the first six months, the FFF programme generated a difference of 14.2 per cent points in the live-birth rate (51 per cent for the FFF group and 36.8 per cent for the control group). The spontaneous pregnancy rate (pregnancy without any fertility treatments) was 33.3 per cent in the treatment group, compared with 12.3 per cent in the control group. Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.

Round Seven of the Vitality Netball Superleague produced some excellent team performances (Image Credit - Ben Lumley) We look back at some of the key moments and performances from Round Seven of the Vitality Netball Superleague. From Manchester Thunder returning to winning ways on Sunday lunchtime, to Leeds Rhinos Netball and Severn Stars duelling on Monday night, it was another gripping weekend of netball. If you did miss any of the action, then you can watch every match back in full on the Sky Sports YouTube channel. The competition returns on Sunday with Round Eight and four successive matches being streamed. For now, take a look at some of the things that jumped out at us over the course of the last six matches... Strathclyde Sirens and Wasps Netball delivered a cracker on Sunday (Image Credit - Ben Lumley) Well, it has to be Strathclyde Sirens' contest with Wasps Netball, doesn't it? When a match goes down to the last second and leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout, then there is no other choice! For Strathclyde Sirens, the full-time whistle brought feelings of frustration as they lost a game that they feel they should have won, while Wasps Netball knew that they were fortunate to have taken a point away from the contest. When you watch the game back, take a look at the defensive prowess of Sirens, it is fair to say that not many teams are able to disrupt Wasps' attack in the way that they did on Sunday. While Manchester Thunder and Team Bath Netball both put an impressive number of goals on the board during their matches against Celtic Dragons and Surrey Storm, here we are returning to Strathclyde Sirens for the performance(s) of the round. The Scottish franchise set the tone with their duel against Wasps and then continued to show their strength against a powerful Bath outfit on Monday. Sirens are growing in confidence and enjoying a strong season (Image Credit - Ben Lumley) With every game and positive performance that goes by, belief is growing within their ranks and it is great to see. The exciting thing for Sirens is that they know they have more to give and that small adjustments, like consistently delivering higher shooting percentages and having fewer turnovers against them, will take them to even greater heights. Player of the Round This week's player of the round is one of the most recognised and loved netballers in England - Serena Guthrie. On Monday night, Bath's contest with Sirens brought out the very best of the Vitality Rose. From mid-air passes and outstanding feeding accuracy to vital turnovers and constant hustle, Guthrie showed why she is considered to be one of the best mid-court players in the world, not just in Superleague.

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell on Tuesday: Coupa Software – Shares of the software company climbed 6% after Coupa reported surprise fourth-quarter earnings. Coupa reported earnings per share of 17 cents on revenue of $163.5 million. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected losses per share of 11 cents on revenue of $145.7 million. CrowdStrike – CrowdStrike shares popped 6% after the software company posted better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter. CrowdStrike reported earnings per share of 13 cents on revenue of $264.9 million. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv predicted earnings per share of 8 cents on revenue of $250.4 million. Lennar – The homebuilder’s shares rose 1% after Lennar released the results for its fiscal first-quarter. The company posted a revenue of $5.33 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected revenue of $5.13 billion. Lennar also reported an adjusted profit of $2.04 per share, but it was unclear if it was comparable to a forecast of $1.71 per share. Eastman Kodak – Kodak shares slid 6% after the company reported results for 2020. The photography company posted a net loss of $541 million for the year on revenue of $1.24 billion. In the prior year, Kodak netted an income of $116 million on revenue of $1.24 billion. Plug Power – Shares of the hydrogen fuel-cell system developer dropped 9% after the company said it will restate financial statements for fiscal 2018 and 2019, along with quarterly filings from 2019 and 2020, due to accounting errors.

NetApp, one of many players in the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) hardware business, plans to end production of its NetApp HCI hardware and focus instead on its Project Astra Kubernetes platform. HCI is split into two categories, software and hardware. On the software side, it's roughly an even split in marketshare between Nutanix and VMware. On the hardware side, IDC and Gartner both list HCI leaders as HP Enterprise, Dell Technology, Cisco Systems, and "the rest of the market." You can guess what category NetApp falls into. Read more: Hyperconvergence as a service offers hands-off data-center management Making the right hyperconvergence choice: HCI hardware or software? 8 reasons to consider hyperconverged infrastructure for your data center Hyperconvergence: Not just for specific workloads anymore First introduced in 2019, NetApp HCI was the company's first and only hardware appliance to provide compute functions. NetApp primarily focuses on software solutions. Eric Han, vice president of product management for public cloud services at NetApp, said the vendor set out to build an open, extensible HCI platform for enterprise customers to run multiple applications with guaranteed performance across private, public, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. "We were helping them develop VM workloads, as well as their next-gen applications. As we've seen customer requirements and the HCI market shift to a software-defined infrastructure, customers no longer need an integrated HCI appliance because it was always a solution that was meant to help organizations move their applications to the [hybrid multi-cloud]," Han said. With the ability to move applications using containers and Kubernetes, the key element to hybrid cloud enablement is application data management, which NetApp now offers with NetApp Astra, the focus of NetApp going forward. Project Astra, introduced nearly a year ago, is an initiative aimed at bringing enterprise-class storage services to the Kubernetes container platform as a way to manage applications and data as they move between on-premises and multi-cloud environments. Han said NetApp is helping customers plan for an end-of-availability of the hardware, with software enhancements and support continuing through March 2025. Support for the NetApp HCI platform will continue until March 2027.   "Customers who have existing deployments can continue to expand their HCI as a solution with full NetApp support. Storage clusters in existing NetApp HCI deployments can continue to be expanded through NetApp SolidFire storage nodes. No storage transition is required," said Han.  As for the shift to Kubernetes, Han said that organizations are adopting Kubernetes as a critical technology foundation to enable them to deliver modern, cloud-native applications with speed, flexibility, and agility. "By simplifying and standardizing the management of containers and services, Kubernetes helps developers build and quickly release portable applications that can run on any infrastructure, from edge and data center to the cloud," he said. Join the Network World communities on Facebook and LinkedIn to comment on topics that are top of mind.

Amnesia Rebirth released at the tail-end of 2020, in the thick of a holiday season crowded with new Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty games, not to mention Cyberpunk 2077. Despite all that, the psychological horror game has still managed to sell more than 100,000 copies according to Frictional Games, but in a post-mortem published today it reflected on some of the more controversial aspects of the game, writing that these proved more divisive than the studio had expected. Be warned, the following contains spoilers. Amnesia Rebirth is superficially similar to the series’ previous entries and sci-fi horror stablemate Soma: it has a flexible physics engine that ties into most of its puzzle-solving, and it’s very dark, albeit with some surprising moments of sunshine. But two factors were difficult for some players to accept: a pregnant protagonist, and an unusual approach to failstates. “There’s no doubt whatsoever that the approach we took with the pregnancy and establishing the bond between a player and an unborn baby – was a huge risk and we spent a great amount of effort trying to make this work,” the studio writes. “A big part of the game relied on players immersing themselves in the role in order for the whole experience to work. We didn’t know if we would succeed with it and how it would be received.” That reception proved stronger than expected. “Playing as a pregnant woman and caring for your unborn baby didn’t resonate with everyone,” the post goes on. “Even though we knew this going in we probably underestimated how big of a turn-off the pregnancy aspect would be for some people, to the point where it completely overshadowed the rest of the game.” The baby isn’t really a burden in the game, in fact, it's used to reduce the protagonist’s fear level. Fear increases when the protagonist spends too much time in darkness—hence the constant need to hunt out matches and lantern gas—and if it’s allowed to increase too much it can have a permanently detrimental effect on the playthrough. You’re never going to die though, instead you gradually transform into a monster if you don’t manage your fear, and that was another point of contention among players, according to Frictional. “We’re seeing a lot of mixed reactions when it comes to these types of consequences. For some people the mechanics we opted for worked out great,” the post goes on. “They felt a true sense of something big being at stake. For others, however, the whole narrative implication seems to have slipped past them completely. Instead they felt the opposite; that caving in to the fear mostly led to benefits such as monsters disappearing. “In hindsight I think our intentions were right but even if it worked out well for a lot of people, we could have put more effort into making the “death moments” more tangible and clear. We could also have created a stronger sense of losing control (to your inner monster) and further enforced the threat it posed on your unborn child.” There’s plenty more reflection in the blogpost itself, and it’s worth reading if you’ve already played the game and have feelings about it (our reviewer loved it). Frictional has also confirmed it has “initiated production” on its next game, and is starting pre-production on another one too.

The sports version of the new Peugeot 208 should be marketed in the course of 2023, and would then be equipped with an electric motor. It had been a while since we knew that Peugeot was going to offer a sportier version of its new 208, for the time being available in thermal and electric, with powers of up to 136 horsepower. But so far, we have to admit that we didn't have much more information about him, while rumors have been rife for a while. But now our colleagues from Argus seem to be a little better informed than us, and even go so far as to announce a date of entry into marketing for the city car overflown, which should see the light of day by 2023. arrival which once again confirms Peugeot's desire to put an end to the GTi badge, carried for the very last time by the Peugeot 308 GTi, whose marketing ended at the end of last year. However, the company does not want to give up sports, while it plans to launch a high performance version of each model in the future. After the Peugeot 508 PSE, it will therefore be the turn of the Peugeot 208 to have its variation force-fed hormones, as confirmed by François Wales, the boss of Peugeot Sport during an interview with our colleagues. And he wants to reassure the most skeptical, by saying that this new version would be more efficient than the previous GTi, despite the fact that it will only carry an electric motor. To tell the truth, the small sportswoman will keep the technical sheet of the standard version, with its 136 horses but should benefit from an increase in torque, as well as new settings of the running gear to offer increased dynamism. The car will then be able to achieve 0 to 100 km / h faster than its ancestor, who then took 6.5 seconds to reach this speed. As a reminder, the previous generation was powered by a four-cylinder block 1, Additional batteries? For now, few details have been revealed on the next sporty version of the Peugeot 208 , while François Wales affirms that “ pure electric will be preferred, even if it is a bit early to talk about it in detail. But no worries: we will achieve a higher level of performance than that of the last 208 GTi thermal. This will require an engine and batteries more powerful than the current e-208 which is our working base. ". It could then be that the engineers in charge of the project plan to add additional batteries in the trunk, in order to improve the autonomy of the car, which should decrease more quickly in sporty driving. At the risk of significantly increasing the weight of the city, while it already displays 1,455 kilos on the scale. Anyway, it will take a little more patience before knowing more about this new version, which will then become the technical cousin of the future Opel Corsa OPC , which will also retain an electric motor.

n addition to lowering risk of heart disease, maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle may pay off in lower risk for developing cancer, researchers from Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and other centers in the United States and the Netherlands have found. Looking at the potential link between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer among participants in two large po[CENSORED]tion-based health studies, Emily S. Lau and Jennifer E. Ho from the division of Cardiology at MGH and their co-authors found that traditional risk factors for CVD, including older age, male sex, and current or former smoking were all independently associated with increased risk of the development of cancer. In addition, they found increased levels of natriuretic peptides — markers of stress on the heart — also predicted higher cancer risk among study participants. Although participants who already had a history of heart disease before the study or experienced a cardiovascular event such as heart attack or heart failure after joining the study were not found to be at increased risk of developing cancers, those who had ideal cardiovascular health at study entry had lower risk of future cancers, the investigators reported in JACC: CardioOncology. “We found an association between a heart-healthy lifestyle and a lower risk of cancer, and the opposite is true: that a less heart-healthy lifestyle is also associated with higher risk of cancer, but we can’t prove that there is causation in this epidemiologic study,” says Lau. Lau and colleagues evaluated data from 20,305 participants in two large community-based, long-term health studies: the Framingham Heart Study and the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease (PREVEND) study. The participants were free of cancer at study entry. The data included information on laboratory-proven cancers that occurred during the course of the study, CVD risk factors at study entry (including obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure), cardiovascular risk as measured by the 10-year atherosclerotic (ASCVD) risk score, established diagnostic markers for CVD such as the naturally occurring substances natriuretic peptides and cardiac troponins, CVD at study entry, and the American Heart Association (AHA) Life’s Simple 7 cardiovascular health score, a patient-reported measure of heart-healthy lifestyles. The researchers found that traditional CVD risk factors such as age, sex, and smoking status were each associated with cancer. In addition, each 5 percent increase in the estimated 10-year ASCVD risk score was associated with a 16 percent increase in risk for cancer, and participants who were in the highest third of natriuretic peptide levels had a 40 percent greater risk of developing cancer than those in the lowest third.

The Iranian "Noor News" agency reported today, Tuesday, that the Iranian ship that was attacked last Wednesday is currently docking in the port of Banias in Syria, and after repairing it, it will head to Spain. Tehran confirms that an Iranian merchant ship was subjected to a "terrorist attack" in the Mediterranean The ship’s captain revealed in an interview with the agency that “the GPS tracking devices were disrupted for a quarter of an hour half an hour before the accident, but at the time of the accident everything was normal,” indicating that “the ship was sailing in the Mediterranean, about 75 miles from The coasts of Israel, when it collided with an explosive object. " He added, "The explosion caused majestic sounds that were heard from the deck of the ship at the front container site for a period of a few seconds, and as a result, the containers caught fire." He pointed out that "immediately after the accident occurred, the fire was completely contained, and we immediately changed the course of the ship to the port of Banias in Syria," noting that "security personnel, technical forces and divers carried out a comprehensive inspection of the ship's condition, and that repairing the damage would take about 14 days, and after that." We will move the ship to the port of Valencia in Spain, according to the previous plan. "

As my friend said Contra..

Max Senges traded the visionary buzz of Silicon Valley for an old-school German industrial center bracing for a dramatic overhaul. As head of a new coding school in Wolfsburg, the former Google researcher is a small but important part of Volkswagen AG’s massive push into software. The strategy — involving more than $30 billion in investment and multiple projects and partnerships — is critical to catch up to Tesla Inc. and counter the existential risks posed by the automotive ambitions of Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. “The car industry is changing from a focus on, ‘faster, stronger,’ to becoming more sustainable and smarter,” said Senges, who worked at Google for more than a decade. “What matters for us here is to foster a mindset” that can bridge the tech and auto worlds. While VW is one of the largest auto producers, it’s now pitted against companies that have routinely disrupted industries, casting former leaders aside in the process. And they’re coming with deep pockets and big plans to own car data — a $400 billion opportunity, according to McKinsey & Co. estimates. VW’s management is keenly aware of the challenges. Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess regularly cites Nokia Oyj’s fall as the world’s dominant mobile phone maker because it failed to keep up with the iPhone as a cautionary tale. He’ll provide an update on the company’s tech transition at events this week, including the group’s annual press conference in Wolfsburg. The biggest hurdle for Volkswagen may be its firmly entrenched culture, built around seven-year automotive cycles. Line and brand managers traditionally have almost total control over what goes in their vehicles, while VW’s powerful unions weigh in on nearly every decision. That structure helped manage more than 100 factories around the world, but it’s ill-suited for handling vast amounts of data and constantly tuning code. Initial forays haven’t gone well, with UBS Group AG determining the company is years behind Tesla from a software perspective. The brimming confidence of top executives isn’t shared by everyone at the German auto giant. Some view a plan to finally start over-the-air updates this month as daunting rather than a promising milestone, according to discussions with people involved in the automaker’s operations. The bruises from last year’s scramble to rescue a new line of software-heavy electric cars — with hundreds of specialists working in sprints — haven’t all healed. Senges’s school is an agent of change in Wolfsburg. It’s located in a new building that borrows the utilitarian red brickwork of the nearby plant, but with open-floor working areas for collaboration. The facility is equipped with a virtual-reality lab and 3D printers for making prototypes. Coursework starts with 150 students in May, rising to 600 by the end of next year.

PUEBLO — The 2021 Colorado High School Activities Association wrestling championships took on a different look than in years past. Only eight wrestlers per weight qualified this year, cutting the number of qualifiers in half from the past. The move was made by CHSAA to accommodate COVID-19 capacity limitations. The venue also was changed from the Pepsi Center in Denver to the Southwest Motors Event Center in Pueblo. The Florence Huskies were represented in this year’s tournament by Brandon Boehm, a junior who qualified with a first-place regional finish, and Josh Thornton a senior, qualifying with a second-place regional finish. In the quarterfinal round, Boehm (20-2) was ready to battle as he knocked off Devin Gomez (20-5) of Gunnison in a tightly contested 9-7 decision in the 126-pound division. In the semifinals, Boehm faced off with two-time defending state champion Angelo Lozado (24-4). The match came down to the wire with Boehm holding on for an 8-7 decision to earn a spot in the 3A state title match. In the championship match, Boehm faced off with the undefeated number one seed D`mitri Garza-Alarcon (24-0) of Fort Lupton. Despite several late scoring attempts by Boehm, Garza-Alarcon came out on top in a 16-3 major decision, giving Boehm a second-place finish and his second piece of state hardware to close out his season. After his second-place finish, Huskies head coach Bob Masse praised Boehm for his accomplishment. “He has just gotten stronger as the year has gone on and you always wish that the season were longer,” Masse said. “But he gets to come back because he’s only a junior and a two-time state placer for us. He got to get his feet wet in the finals and that’s good for him, and we expect him to come back next year and do bigger things.” At 152 pounds, Thornton (21-7) began his senior campaign at state with the upset of a regional champion in a decisive fashion as he defeated Wesley Dubois (19-8) of Bennet by a score of 7-3. In the semifinal round, Thornton ran into some stiff competition when he faced off with eventual state champion Isaiah Rios (24-2) of Valley. Thornton posted his first loss of the tournament to Rio’s by pin in 0:22. In the consolation semifinal round, Thornton battled with Anthony Abeta (11-3) of Montezuma-Cortez. Abeta recorded a pin over Thornton at 2:42 in the match and would go on to place fourth. In the fifth-place match, Thornton faced off with Wesley Dubois (19-8) of Bennet. In the final seconds, Thornton held on to a one-point lead to win the match by a score of 7-6 and finished out his career for the Huskies becoming a two-time state placer. When asked about Thornton’s fifth-place finish coach Masse replied, “Josh, as a senior, had great expectations, he knocked off a No. 1 seed and regional-champ in the first round and then ran into the eventual state champ in the semi-finals. He is a two-time state placer for us. It was a good career for him. It was a shortened season, but at least we had one and I think they are both pretty satisfied.”

By default games acquired through the Windows Store, including those on Game Pass for PC, install to unchangeable read-only directories, making them impossible to mod. However, some games have a toggle to alter this, meaning the Game Pass versions of FTL, State of Decay 2, and a handful of others actually can be modded. And so can Skyrim Special Edition, one of 13 Bethesda games recently added to Game Pass, and a game that's improved significantly by mods. However, it's not all good news. The Game Pass edition of Skyrim Special Edition has a different executable to the Steam release, and is incompatible with the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE). Without SKSE, many of the most po[CENSORED]r and ambitious mods won't work. According to the SKSE webpage, it may stay that way. "SKSE cannot support any potential Windows Store release of Skyrim", it says. "Windows Store applications are locked down similarly to consoles and do not allow the APIs necessary for script extenders to work." So no SkyUI or Legacy of the Dragonborn then. There are still great mods out there that don't require SKSE, however, like those collected at Bethesda.net. If you've got Skyrim through Game Pass, you'll still be able to use Alternate Start—Live Another Life, A Quality World Map, Inigo, and The Forgotten City. Here's our list of the best Skyrim Special Edition mods to help you find more, or see what you're missing. Jody is that guy who will try to convince you to play some indie game you've never heard of with a name like Extreme Meatpunks Forever. He is also on a doomed quest to play every Warhammer game.

In celebration of the 300th issue of your monthly, close-up on the significant appearances of the number 300 at the highest level of motorsport. At the beginning of the year 2021, the magazine Auto Moto passes a symbolic milestone, that of the 300 issues published . Since its birth in 1982, the famous monthly magazine dedicated to cars and motorcycles has spanned four decades, having gathered 299 issues to date, to which should be added nearly a hundred special issues. In the different disciplines of mechanical sports, on circuit or in rally, the number 300 finds an echo in various values, such as the total of races contested, of kilometers and of laps covered, or the speed in km / h, on two or four wheels. Overview of his most significant appearances . 300 races The first Formula 1 driver to reach the 300 Grand Prix mark in 2010, Rubens Barrichello shares this honor with four world champions. Kimi Räikkönen holds the current record (330) and should improve it by participating in the 2021 season. Also active, Fernando Alonso (312) has Barrichello's mark in his sights (323), while Michael Schumacher (307 ) and Jenson Button (306) complete the club of five. On two wheels, Valentino Rossiis the only one to have exceeded this threshold, accumulating 354 GP in the premier class (500 cm3 / MotoGP). On the other hand, in the world rally championship, the more limited number of rounds in a season makes this objective of 300 contested events inaccessible. At the initiative of the young retiree Jari-Matti Latvala, it was set at 209 departures, in February 2020. 300 km All the races on the F1 World Championship calendar have a distance of just over 300 km. All? No, only one still resists statistics, in the small Principality of Monaco. Due to the hourly average much lower than anywhere else, the Monegasque event has been around 260 km since 1968. In rallying too , the total of 300 km represents the minimum regulated distance to be covered. But that was before the health crisis … Last January, the shortest Monte-Carlo Rally in history had only 257 km of specials. 300 turns In relation to the number of laps to go in a race, the number 300 often contains a scent of endurance . On the occasion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , the lead car generally reaches the stage of 300 loops at dawn and the record in this matter belongs since 2010 to the Audi R15 Plus TDI with 397 laps of 13.629 km. But it can also concern a speed test : in the United States, from 2014 to 2019, IndyCar drivers engaged in the Iowa 300 used to engulf, in less than two hours, 300 laps of this small 0.894 mile (1.44 km) oval. 300 km / h In the streets of Monaco , Formula 1s push back the limits of reasonableness, in particular by tumbling at 290 km / h near the rails at the exit of the tunnel. To see the odometer exceed 300 km / h in the city, you have to look to the night Singapore Grand Prix, allowing a maximum speed of 320 km / h. And since 2016, Baku's urban layout in Azerbaijan has raised the bar even higher. In favor of its immense straight line, the single-seaters can come close to 360 km / h! Very close to the absolute speed record in the race, set at 370.1 km / h by Kimi Räikkönen in Monza as part of the 2005 Italian Grand Prix. In MotoGP too, the 300 km / h milestone was easily crossed on transalpine soil, at Mugello, with a peak of 356 km / h! No. 300 It is rare that a number such as the 300 is assigned during a race . At the highest level of motor sports, this concerns the field of rally-raid through its flagship event, the Dakar . This is an important number, since it is traditionally attributed to the outgoing winner of the car category . Last January, it was affixed to the door of Carlos Sainz's Mini buggy and it will logically be worn by Stéphane Peterhansel during the 2022 edition.

The number of occasional smokers and excessive drinkers in the Netherlands decreased slightly last year, but the number of heavy drinkers and overweight people remained about stable, according to the 2020 Lifestyle Monitor by Statistics Netherlands, the RIVM and the Trimbos Institute. The number of Netherlands residents with an unhealthy lifestyle is still far above the targets set in the National Prevention Agreement for 2040. Last year 20 percent of adults said the sometimes smoke, 2 percent less than the year before. 15 percent of adult Netherlands residents smoked daily last year, the same as in 2019. The number passive smokers, non-smoking Dutch adults who inhale second-hand smoke from a smoker near them, decreased last year. 79 percent of adults never or almost never inhaled second-hand smoke last year, compared to 75 percent in 2019. And 16 percent were exposed to second-hand smoke often, but not every day, a 4 percent decrease compared to 2019. Last year 7 percent of Dutch adults were excessive drinkers - men who drank more than 21 glasses of alcohol per week and women who drank more than 14 glasses per week. That is a slight decrease compared to 8.5 percent in 2019. The number of heavy drinkers - at least 6 glasses for men and 4 glasses for women in one day at least once per week - remained stable at 8 percent. In the Prevention Agreement the government and civil society organizations agreed to reduce smoking and problematic alcohol consumption to 5 percent of adults by 2040. Last year, exactly half of Dutch adults were overweight and 13.9 percent were obese - virtually the same as the year before. The number of overweight and obese children also remained basically unchanged at 14.7 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. The Prevention Agreement aims to reduce the number of overweight adults to 38 percent, and obese adults to 7.1 percent, and overweight children to 9.1 percent and obese children to 2.3 percent.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Spacewalking astronauts had to take extra safety precautions Saturday after possibly getting toxic ammonia on their suits from the International Space Station's external cooling system. Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins had no trouble removing and venting a couple of old jumper cables to remove any ammonia still lingering in the lines. But so much ammonia spewed out of the first hose that Mission Control worried some of the frozen white flakes might have gotten on their suits. Hopkins was surprised at the amount of ammonia unleashed into the vacuum of space. “Oh yeah, look at that go. Did you see that?" he asked flight controllers. “There's more than I thought.” Even though the stream of ammonia was directed away from the astronauts and the space station, Hopkins said some icy crystals may have contacted his helmet. As a result, Mission Control said it was going to “be conservative" and require inspections. The astronauts' first suit check found nothing amiss. “Looks clean,” Hopkins called down. NASA did not want any ammonia getting inside the space station and contaminating the cabin atmosphere. The astronauts used long tools to vent the hoses and stayed clear of the nozzles, to reduce the risk of ammonia contact. Once the ammonia hoses were emptied, the astronauts moved one of them to a more central location near the NASA hatch, in case it’s needed on the opposite end of the station. The ammonia jumper cables were added years ago following a cooling system leak. As the nearly seven-hour spacewalk drew to a close, Mission Control said the astronauts had already spent enough time in the sunlight to bake off any ammonia residue from their suits. Indeed, once Glover and Hopkins were back inside, their crewmates said they could smell no ammonia but still wore gloves while handling the suits. The hose work should have been completed during a spacewalk a week ago, but was put off along with other odd jobs when power upgrades took longer than expected. Saturday’s other chores included: replacing an antenna for helmet cameras, rerouting ethernet cables, tightening connections on a European experiment platform, and installing a metal ring on the hatch thermal cover. Eager to get these station improvements done before the astronauts head home this spring, Mission Control ordered up the bonus spacewalk for Glover and Hopkins, who launched last November on SpaceX. They teamed up for back-to-back spacewalks 1 1/2 months ago and were happy to chalk up another. “It was a good day,” Glover said once back inside. Although most of their efforts paid off, there were a few snags. The spacewalk got started nearly an hour late, so the men could replace the communication caps beneath their helmets in order to hear properly. A few hours later, Glover's right eye started watering. The irritation soon passed, but later affected his left eye. Then as Glover wrapped up his work, a bolt came apart and floated away along with the washers, becoming the latest pieces of space junk. “Sorry about that,” Glover said. “No, no, it’s not your fault,” Mission Control assured him. It was the sixth spacewalk — and, barring an emergency, the last — for this U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew of seven. All but one was led by NASA. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The use of employee monitoring software on remote employees might seem like a smart way to handle a difficult situation, but it could raise significant ethical issues—especially if a user’s work computer is also their personal one. Many employers are dealing with largely remote workforces for perhaps the first time in their histories. And that shift is creating a sudden interest in employee monitoring tools, which essentially allow employers to look at what an end user is doing. But such tools have become controversial. Last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) put out a lengthy report discussing the issues. “While aimed at helping employers, bossware puts workers’ privacy and security at risk by logging every click and keystroke, covertly gathering information for lawsuits, and using other spying features that go far beyond what is necessary and proportionate to manage a workforce,” the foundation’s Bennett Cyphers and Karen Gullo write. Given the growing use of monitoring tools, it might be worth discussing the ethics of requiring employees to install them. A few considerations: How does it change the dynamic between leaders and employees? As an article from The Conversation notes, the use of such monitoring tools has the potential of backfiring significantly, as it could break a basic barrier of trust that drives a strong relationship. “The uncomfortable reality is that many employers feel entitled to monitor employee activity. If I’m paying their salaries, they argue, they should be doing my work. Their time is mine,” the report, written by researchers from Victoria University of Wellington, states. “The problem with effectively intimidating employees into being productive is that it strongly suggests an organizational culture of mistrust—yet research shows that mistrust undermines productivity.” Have you properly researched your vendor? Can you trust them with worker data? The privacy issues aside, part of the problem with these tools is that they were often purchased in haste—an AdAge article described the acquisition of such software as “panic-buying.” And while using such software is legal for employers to do, some of the tools, as EFF notes, may grab data more aggressively than you may need, even doing things like keylogging or accessing the webcam or microphone. If such tools are going to get used, it’s imperative that steps be taken to understand what the tools can do, the vendor’s background, and that you can feel comfortable with your employees using them. Does it threaten employees’ privacy off the clock, too? As EFF notes, many employees use their work laptop as their primary computer, meaning that surveillance software might not only be tracking their work lives, but their personal ones. Additionally, such products can be used to access information, however inadvertently, that most end users would consider private. “Most products take periodic screenshots, and few of them allow workers to choose which ones to share,” Cyphers and Gullo write. “This means that sensitive medical, banking, or other personal information are captured alongside screenshots of work emails and social media.” As IT Security Central notes, that could potentially create liabilities down the road. Could the software be at odds with your association’s mission? Many associations have missions that stand for things like protecting consumers, standing up for issues of privacy, acting ethically, and other similar issues. Such software could create quandaries if the software undermines the goals of the association in some way. It’s worth researching where a balance may lie. As Reid Blackman put it in a Harvard Business Review article last May: “Given the risk of alienating employees coupled with the possibility of error and misapplication of these tools, it is quite likely that, for many, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.”

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "The Big Bang" from the pages of Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition Zero by Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Sotomayor, ChrisCross, Juan Castro, Wil Quintana, and Andworld Design, on sale now. Milestone Comics has a long pedigree of incredible stories and fan-favorite characters, and the most recent incarnation of its heroes just arrived in the form of Milestone Returns. Not only are icons such as Static Shock coming back in a major way; they're being reimagined in ways that are poignant in their relevance to today's real-world issues. Among these characters being introduced to the modern era is one of comics' most high-tech heroes, Hardware, whose origin was just given a darker twist than ever before. Much like the original incarnation of the Milestone Universe, the inciting incident for most of Dakota's heroes and villains is known as the "Big Bang." What had been the culmination of a gang war ending in those involved being exposed to experimental chemicals has now been given a more of-the-moment revision. The "Big Bang" is the unfortunate outcome of an anti-police brutality protest. When the crowd refuses to turn away, the police open fire with an untested chemical produced by Alva Industries, leading to those exposed being imbued with amazing and terrifying powers. Not only has the incident created a new generation of superpowered individuals with little to no control over their abilities, but it's also created a PR nightmare for Alva, which is the beginning of the latest version of Hardware.

Netflix is about to release a Dota anime series called Dota: Dragon's Blood, and to prep those of us who are deficient in Dota lore, it gathered casters SirActionSlacks, Sheever, and ODPixel to explain who the hell the ancients are, and why they need so much defending. The World of Dota, embedded above, is a six minute briefing on the setting of the games and show, starting with the beginning of the universe, where a primordial mind got into a fight with itself—not an uncommon place for anime lore to start, really. Fast forward for a very, very long time—past the formation of stars and planets and all that—and you get to the start of the upcoming Netflix series, which "isn't all about this cosmic hoo-ha." "In Dragon's Blood, we follow a normal man making his way through this incredible world," says ODPixel. "You see, us Dota fans, we've only seen the ends of this story: The Battle of the Ancients, the ultimate fight, this is what we've been playing in Dota for more than a decade, confined to one little battlefield and the heroes that happen to be there. But each one of these hundreds of heroes has a unique story, a life of their own that, before now, we could only imagine from two sentences of background lore." Specifically, the series is about Davion, aka the Dragon Knight, a hero from the games who's being voiced by prolific actor Yuri Lowenthal. Dota: Dragon's Blood will be available to stream on Netflix on March 25. For more on the series, here's everything else we know about it. Tyler has spent over 1,200 hours playing Rocket League, and slightly fewer nitpicking the PC Gamer style guide. His primary news beat is game stores: Steam, Epic, and whatever launcher squeezes into our taskbars next.

Our Internet users overwhelmingly voted for the SUV cut at the Diamond. Discover the results of our annual award. It's hard to better crown a winner. On the occasion of the Best SUV 2021 Auto Moto election , our internet users voted for the Renault Arkana , which won in the second round with 47% of the votes. The large diamond-cut SUV was pitted against four rivals in this final phase, which ran from March 6 to 11. He largely beat the Cupra Formentor, Skoda Enyaq EV, Hyundai Tucson and Opel Mokka. Other notable novelties such as the Dacia Spring, the Toyota Yaris Cross or the Tesla Model Y had been eliminated in the first round, at the end of February and the beginning of March. The weight of SUVs in the purchase of new vehicles is still increasing. In January, 44% of registrations were in this category in Europe. => Our test of the Renault Arkana Results of the 2nd round (from March 6 to 11, 2021): 1 - Renault Arkana - 47.0% 2 - Cupra Formentor - 20.4% 3 - Skoda Enyaq EV - 13.4% 4 - Hyundai Tucson - 10.2% 5 - Opel Mokka - 9.0% Best Auto Moto SUV: the winners 2017: Seat Ateca 2018: DS 7 Crossback 2019: Citroën C5 Aircross 2020: Peugeot 2008 2021: Renault Arkana

Simon Cowell has overhauled his lifestyle after breaking his back. The music mogul sustained the horrible injury last year in an electric bike accident but he is now even more focused on his own fitness and wellbeing. A source told Mail Online: "Simon said how he hasn't worn trainers as much as this in 20 years. He feels fitter than ever before and is keeping to a normal routine rather than being on the phone until into the early hours of the morning." As well as walking 40 miles a week, Simon has also rearranged his work schedule to ensure he only starts business meetings after 9am rather than hold conferences into the early hours of the morning like he used to. Meanwhile, Simon previously revealed that the injuries from his fall were almost "a lot worse" as he could have "smashed his spine" into pieces. He said: "When I saw the X-ray, I really nearly could have smashed my spine to pieces, so I literally wouldn't have been able to walk ... I was so embarrassed about coming home looking about 100 [years old] because I couldn't walk, and I have these metal rods in my back and these screws. I said, 'Lauren, I just don't know how to explain it to [Eric].' She obviously said something to him because he came in … and I was lying in bed and he said, 'Daddy, you're like Iron Man,' and I thought that was the sweetest thing and it meant a lot." Simon also revealed he is feeling fitter than ever following his struggle. He added: "I’ve never been in this situation in my life where you literally can’t move. The pain was off the charts, but you’ve got to stay positive. I made a promise to myself I’d be fitter than I was before I had the accident."

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)– The Transportation Security Administration is hiring new officers in Buffalo, Albany and Syracuse over the coming months. The agency says they want to fill around 25 positions across Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo. In total, they’re hoping to fill 6,000 positions nationwide. The increase in staff is in an effort to maintain security at airports as more air travel is expected come summer. TSA says they’re offering full and part-time positions with an opportunity for an increase in pay after six months of employment. As far benefits, they include “paid training, annual and sick leave and strong health care plans.” “We are seeking women and men who want to take the initial step into a rewarding federal career and support TSA’s critical mission of protecting our nation’s transportation systems. Applicants do not need previous experience working in security or law enforcement fields. Our officers will receive extensive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and they are paid while undergoing training.” To get a better feel for the job, TSA produced a video titled “Day in the Life of a TSO,” to watch click here. To view available positions, click here. Patrick Ryan is a digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2020. See more of his work here.

RPMGlobal says it has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to its SAP partnership and providing interoperable, enterprise software solutions to the mining industry after receiving an SAP integration certification for its enterprise product offerings. The integration green light was provided by SAP certifying that RPM’s enterprise solutions can integrate with SAP S/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Extended Edition using standard integration technologies. These certifications further support RPM’s development of cloud enabled solutions, the company said. RPM and SAP have been working together for well over a decade and RPM secured the latest designation following a detailed process whereby separately deployable components were put through stringent qualification procedures to earn the integration approval, it explained. This entailed RPM’s integration connectors and product architecture being scrutinised by SAP’s development laboratory. The SAP certification is a significant indication of the technical alignment and interoperability capabilities between the solutions, according to RPM. It will will enable the exchange of information between SAP and RPM’s enterprise product offerings which span the entire mine lifecycle, from design and scheduling, through to maintenance and finance. Paul Beesley, RPM’s Chief Technology Officer, said the SAP certification was a significant endorsement of the company’s quality technical infrastructure which underpins its enterprise offerings. “RPM remains committed to a robust software integration strategy that builds complimentary products to support the SAP technology stack,” he said. “This enables our customers to have a smooth and direct flow of business data between SAP solutions and our software offerings so it’s very rewarding to receive this additional certification.” With more mining operations implementing digital transformation initiatives, connecting disparate systems to foster the exchange of critical information is an industry imperative, Beesley added. With enterprise integration forming a core part of RPM’s philosophy from the beginning, Beesley said the recent certification builds upon the company’s ongoing commitment to working with SAP. “SAP remains the industry standard for Enterprise Resource Planning software used by mining companies,” he said. “This certification ensures our current and future customers can integrate operational technology with business processes to achieve a connected mining enterprise that provides a single source of truth across the organisation.”

The ROG Phone is an out and out gaming phone but this year, Asus wants it to be more—a holistic flagship if you will. One that can compete with, and give phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 11, and even the iPhone 12 Pro Max, a run for their money, at slightly more affordable prices. Asus is skipping a number—the new phone is called ROG Phone 5—and let’s just say, there’s plenty to like (you can read our first impressions here). If numbers shared by the Taiwanese major are anything to go by, the ROG Phone seems to be doing quite well, despite its seemingly ‘niche’ appeal. With the ROG Phone 5, Asus has stepped up its game—as well as ambitions. In a freewheeling conversation with Financial Express Online, Shawn Chang who is director, sales and marketing for smartphone business unit at Asus Global and Dinesh Sharma, business head, smartphone and commercial PC, system business group at Asus India, decode the ROG Phone 5 for our readers and why the brand feels it has nailed the flagship phone this year. FE: What is the core idea behind a product like the ROG Phone? How did it come about? Shawn: The ROG brand was established in 2006. It is a professional brand for gamers. We got a lot of feedback from gamers that existing smartphones were not suitable for high-end gaming. This was around 2016, before the first ROG Phone was announced. PC/console gamers were used to multi-finger, high refresh rate gaming. On phones however, they could only use two fingers and play games at 60Hz. So, we started to think about how we could take the legacy of ROG brand and build a powerful device for mobile games. That is how the ROG Phone was born. FE: Could you take us through the journey, what are some of your learnings from the market? Shawn: The gaming phone boosted the rise of high-end mobile games. Today, several developers make mobile ports for their high-end AAA game titles. The whole ecosystem is now getting really matured. Not only the hardware, but software suppliers are now considering to launch their good quality games (on mobile) together with the PC and console. We expect more and more studios will introduce their games together on PC as well as on mobile this year. (*Without reveling finer details, Shawn said that Asus is working with different studios to bring select AAA titles on mobile at the same time when they bring it to PC. Though many phones will be able to play these games, only gaming phones like ROG Phone will be able to give you the best experience while playing a demanding AAA title.) FE: How far have things come from an adoption point of view? Is it right to say the ROG Phone still caters to a ‘niche’ audience? Shawn: There are 350 million+ mobile gamers today, so is this a niche market? I don’t think so. But yes, the percentage of gamers ready to invest in a product above 50K, is small. If you look at the current situation, we are four of the key vendors, who can sustain our business in the price category of 50K+ so it’s proof that the ROG Phone has a set of clear supporters in the market just like Apple’s iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and OnePlus phones—they are willing to embrace all the high-end features we come out with. FE: What about the India context, considering you’ve been launching these phones simultaneously here alongside other markets for the last few years? Shawn: If you look at the Indian market particularly and compare it with the West, here the adoption rate for mobile games (and hardware) is higher because of the lack of PC and console game legacy. When we talk to Indian gamers, many of them say, they prefer mobile gaming over PC and console. So, India is an important market. Dinesh: India is already among the top three countries globally when it comes to ROG Phone series in terms of sales. We have very ambitious sales targets and last year we have had 2x growth rate here. The ROG Phone 3 outsold ROG Phone 2 by a significant margin. The brand acceptance as well as the product acceptance is very high. We’ve been closely listening to the feedback of our consumers in India and constantly incorporating that feedback at a global level. So, when a certain ROG Phone comes to India, it is designed taking into account also the needs of the Indian market. We are also building a lot on our community activities. We have been doing virtual meets, E-sports event like Battle of Gods virtual tournament. We have casters who come and cast these events, so there’s a very deep, immersive experience, once you become part of the community. It’s not just that you bought the phone and we have forgotten about you. We’re constantly engaged with you. FE: Coming to the ROG Phone 5, one wonders, where is ROG Phone 4? Shawn: There are several reasons actually. The number ‘4’ is considered an unlucky number in Chinese because the pronunciation is similar to the word ‘death’ so that’s one reason. The other major reason is, if you look at the ROG Phone 5, you will see the number on the phone itself—it fits well with the design. Also, if you were to talk about hardware and features, it is a big leap from the ROG Phone 3. We believe such a revolutionary product deserves a new number. Dinesh: When we were working on the ROG Phone 5 series, we changed a lot of things. If you see right from ROG Phone 1-3, the structural aspect of the phone(s) was moving in similar direction with major improvements happening on the component side. However, when it came to ROG Phone 5, we did not only make improvements in components, but we also changed the structural aspect of the phone significantly. For the first time in our history, we’ve also created two additional variants, Pro and Ultimate, something that we’ve never done before. This is a new chapter which is why this was one of the key thought processes internally in the company to move from 3 to 5 directly to communicate this huge leap. FE: But why multiple models this year? Dinesh: We’re focusing on a certain segment very clearly and we want to also offer more choice to the customer where when they upgrade, let’s say from the base variant to higher variants, they get much more than just memory increment. FE: You’re known to work closely with Qualcomm to bring out the most out of the Snapdragon hardware. What are some of the things that you’ve worked on this year? Shawn: The Snapdragon 888 is powerful, but also very difficult to manage. If you look at some of the competing phones, they (can) run pretty hot and it is very hard to control the thermal part. The ROG Phone 5 has a very strong thermal design. If you look at the architecture, you will see we put the CPU in the middle which allows us to dispatch the heat equally to the different areas (more efficiently). We also split the battery (into two), which allows us to ensure that the battery temperature rise is lower and with the PCB in the middle, your hands won’t go there much often. We have also re-designed the fan (AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory), to make sure it sits exactly on top of the CPU. Our tests show the ROG Phone 5 performs better (under stress) than rival phones like Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 11, iQOO 7 and others. It can almost hit the highest score (in synthetic benchmarks) at lowest temperature. A lot of our competitors’ testing is for something around 20 minutes, while we actually put one hour testing with heavy games. FE: So, how important are these benchmark scores? Shawn: To be completely honest, I think the real-world game experience is more important because benchmarks normally test the peak performance during a particular period (of time). Internally we don’t really put benchmarks as high as we do on the launch event slides. We evaluate the experience. FE: There are phones with 165Hz screens now, isn’t that pure overkill? Shawn: I won’t say that it’s an overkill but a higher refresh rates will—often—kill the ‘Gamma’ or the colour accuracy of the panel. We focus a lot on the colour accuracy bit so we decided to stick with a 144Hz panel (which also offers great colour accuracy). We have partnered with Samsung to tailor-make the AMOLED display for the ROG Phone 5. High refresh rate is an important parameter, but it’s not the only parameter of the display. The colour, the brightness, everything is also important in the panel, so I won’t say 165Hz is overkill, but I will say there could be some trade off with the other parameters. FE: Speaking of which, how good is the ROG Phone 5 as a ‘regular’ phone? Dinesh: With the kind of increments that we’re doing in the ROG Phone, we expect it would appeal also to consumers who would not be necessarily looking at a gaming phone but looking at a great flagship with great battery life, display, and audio—a holistic flagship delivering great value for money. FE: Any particular collaborations on the software side? Shawn: For the ROG Phone 5, we have a collaboration with more than 15 games in the market so gamers will be able to enjoy different gaming IPs. In the near future we may bring more surprising projects with different gaming titles. In some countries where Google Stadia is available, we will offer a special package for ROG Phone users to access it for free for three months. The ROG Phone 5 is Stadia-certified. Dinesh: Inside the phone’s Armoury Crate app, we have created recommendations for games that support, for example, 120 FPS, so the consumer can actually go and download those games easily. We’re not pushing the content to them, we’re just making content discovery easy. We don’t put ads on any of our phones right now. We follow the highest of standards when it comes to user privacy. FE: Do you have any plans to go offline with the ROG Phone 5 this year? Also, could you talk about where these phones will be made? Dinesh: It’s very high on our radar to enable consumers who would want to experience the phone before buying. We make our phones at multiple locations globally. It depends upon the supply chain management situation. We could import them from a Southeast Asian country but we’re definitely not looking at imports from China for the Indian market. FE: What sort of expectations do you have with the ROG Phone 5 going forward and will the ROG Phone 3 be discontinued? Dinesh: In the year 2021, we will be looking at 2x growth rate within our ROG phones as compared to let’s say, 2020. The ROG Phone 3 will coexist (at least for a couple of months) with the ROG Phone 5 at a slightly lesser price. Both the options will be available to consumers till the time we can continue with the life cycle of the ROG Phone 3. With ROG Phone 2 and 3, the major shift was 5G. In the premium segment, our anticipation is that consumers will be looking to buy a phone with 5G now and with the ROG Phone 3 we still have a very capable phone with 5G.