In a nutshell: Valve has published a Steam Deck FAQ consisting of questions asked by developers and publishers during its recent Steamworks Steam Deck virtual conference. Much of what was discussed won't concern the average gamer, but there were a couple of interesting tidbits that surfaced during the one-day event. When asked if Valve would be interested in creating games exclusively for the Steam Deck, the company said that path doesn’t make much sense to them. “It’s a PC and it should just play games like a PC,” Valve said matter-of-factly. In response to a question about verified games, Valve said such titles will be more visible on the default store home page. Valve is aiming to get titles through the verification process within a week of submission, but admitted that this could vary depending on the size of the queue at any time. Valve also commented on the possibility of additional color options for the handheld. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to announce right now, but the gaming company said it will take a look at other color options in the future, adding that it is pretty far down the road. Developers may also be interested to know that there isn’t anything special about dev kits. That is, they contain no special hardware or software that makes them easier to develop for. The same tools and testing methods can be used on any retail unit, we’re told. Valve announced the Steam Deck over the summer. The handheld gaming PC starts at $399, and unsurprisingly, pre-orders quickly sold out. Early adopters were expected to receive their consoles in time for the holidays, but Valve was forced to delay the launch by two months due to global supply chain issues. The first retail units are now scheduled to ship in February 2022.

Apple users were urged Tuesday to update their devices after the tech giant announced a fix for a major software flaw that allows the Pegasus spyware to be installed on phones without so much as a click. Cybersecurity experts at the Citizen Lab, a research centre at the University of Toronto, uncovered the flaw while analyzing the phone of a Saudi activist. That person is among tens of thousands believed to have been targeted with the Israeli-made Pegasus software, which according to media reports has been used worldwide to intercept the communications of activists, journalists and even heads of state. Apple said Monday that it had "rapidly" developed a software update after Citizen Lab alerted it to the hole in its iMessage software on September 7. "Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals," the company said. Citizen Lab said it was urging people "to immediately update all Apple devices". Intimate surveillance Explosive revelations that governments have spied on people using the hugely invasive software—which was developed by the NSO Group, a secretive Israeli firm—have ricocheted around the world since July. Once Pegasus is installed on a phone, it can be used to read a target's messages, look at their photos, track their movements and even switch on their camera—all without the person knowing. The flaw fixed by Apple on Monday is a so-called "zero-click exploit", meaning that it can be installed on a device without the owner needing to do so much as click a button. Less sophisticated spyware tools have generally required the target to click on a booby-trapped link or file in order to start tapping the person's communications. Citizen Lab said it believed the flaw, which it named FORCEDENTRY, had been used to install Pegasus on devices since February 2021 or possibly earlier. It is a variant of a weak spot in Apple's messaging software that Citizen Lab previously detected on the iPhones of nine Bahraini activists, who were hacked with Pegasus between June 2020 and February this year. "Po[CENSORED]r chat apps are the soft underbelly of device security. They are on every device," tweeted John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab who helped uncover the flaw. The messaging service WhatsApp was previously also allegedly used to infiltrate phones using Pegasus, and its owner Facebook is suing the NSO Group. The security of messaging apps "needs to be a top priority," Scott-Railton added, urging his followers: "UPDATE YOUR APPLE DEVICES NOW." 'Fighting crime' NSO, the company at the heart of the scandal, has denied any wrongdoing and insisted its software is intended for use by authorities only in fighting terrorism and other crimes. But the company, which says it has clients in 45 countries, did not dispute that Pegasus had prompted Apple's urgent software upgrade. It said in a statement that it would "continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life saving technologies to fight terror and crime." Citizen Lab, which first uncovered Pegasus alongside cybersecurity firm Lookout five years ago, accuses NSO of selling the software to authoritarian governments that use it for repressive purposes. Emerging economies such as India, Mexico and Azerbaijan dominated the list of countries where large numbers of phone numbers were allegedly identified as possible targets by NSO's clients. Since July, the scandal has prompted calls from rights groups for an international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until regulations are put in place to prevent abuses. That call was backed by United Nations human rights experts last month. "It is highly dangerous and irresponsible to allow the surveillance technology and trade sector to operate as a human rights-free zone," they said. Israel's defense establishment has meanwhile set up a committee to review NSO's business, including the process through which export

Infinix Inbook X1 is set to launch in India on December 8, the company has confirmed a week after announcing its upcoming laptop. It has also hinted its starting price will be between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000. The Windows 11 laptop series, which will be launched in two models - Inbook X1 and Inbook X1 Pro - will feature up to 512GB of NVMe storage and up to 16GB of RAM. It will also feature hardware switches on the laptop chassis for the microphone and camera. The company's CEO has also teased the launch of a Free Fire themed smartphone on Twitter, although the company is yet to provide details regarding the handset. It may be the Infinix Note 11 or Note 11s. Infinix Inbook X1 price in India, expected specifications Infinix earlier announced that the upcoming Inbook X1 laptop would feature a lightweight metal body with an "aircraft-grade" aluminium finish. The company has now revealed on Flipkart that the Inbook X1 will start at Rs. 3X,XXX, or between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000. The Flipkart microsite, and in details shared with Gadgets 360, Infinix has also revealed most of the specifications of the laptop series. Inbook X1 will feature 10th Intel Core i3-1005G1 and Core i5-1035G1 processors with 8GB of RAM along with 256GB and 512GB of NVMe (PCIe 3.0) storage respectively. The laptop will be equipped with a 720p webcam, two microphones, an SD card reader, an HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB Type-C ports and three USB-A ports. The company also revealed that the laptop will weigh 1.48kg with a thickness of 16.3mm. Specifications shared by the company also reveal an Infinix Inbook X1 Pro model that features a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor. This model will sport 16GB of RAM and 512GB of NVMe (PCIe 3.0) storage. Unlike the Inbook X1 models powered by the Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors, the Inbook X1 Pro will feature Intel Iris graphics instead of Intel UHD graphics. The Inbook X1 Pro will also feature Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, unlike the Inbook X1 models which will come with Wi-Fi 5 support. Both feature Bluetooth v5.1 connectivity as well. Infinix had previously revealed that the Inbook X1 would feature a 14-inch full-HD display with 180-degree viewing angles and the company has revealed that the displays will support a maximum brightness of 300 nits. The Inbook X1 Pro and Inbook X1 will also feature a 55Whr Li-Po battery that supports 65W USB-PD charging over a Type-C connector. All other specifications remain the same between the Pro and vanilla models. The laptop will also feature hardware switches for the microphone and camera, according to the laptop microsite on Flipkart, apart from a backlit keyboard.

Cloud gaming is all the rage these days, with the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly project xCloud) facilitating bringing sharp and responsive gaming experiences on Microsoft Edge compatible devices. There’s no doubt that some gamers will use the upcoming Steam Deck for streaming too, but a new dev kit leak suggests Razer could be conjuring up a new Snapdragon-powered stream machine in collaboration with Qualcomm. According to leaked slides obtained by Videocardz, the collaborate Razer handheld features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3x, a chip that’s 20% faster than the company’s current-gen SoC, and a 4th Gen Adreno GPU. Documentation for the device also suggests that it’ll be marketed as a cloud gaming machine, meaning it could support services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. CPU and GPU specs aside, the unannounced Razer device boasts a 120Hz HDR OLED display and a hefty 6,000mAh battery, both of which could put devices like the upcoming Steam Deck to shame. That said, while the dev kit’s design likely isn’t final, it does look more like a cross between a Wii U gamepad and a Gizmondo than a handheld from this decade. Naturally, there’s still lots we don’t know about Razer’s portable gaming machine, such as its name and included OS. However, as it uses an SoC configuration, it could be an Android device, something that’s sure to appeal to retro enthusiasts in search of a portable emulation station. There’s also a chance that the device supports various operating systems, but its mobile architecture could leave a lot to be desired in terms of compatibility.

Voted. DH2 is Good song .

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59461318 Travellers and airlines are scrambling to rearrange plans as the latest Covid restrictions cause travel turmoil for people trying to return to the UK. Passengers criticised airlines and government for a lack of information on returning from "red list" countries. One told the BBC he had found a return flight from South Africa but now cannot get a quarantine hotel in the UK. Alex Clarke, from near Reading, said a lack of hotel space meant he might have to re-arrange his return again. "I should have landed back in the UK this morning," he told the BBC. "My flight was cancelled but I managed to book another for Friday. Now that's been cancelled. "I found return flights via Dubai and Amsterdam, but they have now been closed off. I now have a return booked for Thursday, but the website that books quarantine hotels says everything is booked." What are the UK's new travel rules? How do you detect Omicron? Latest news on Covid Omicron variant Australia delays reopening over Omicron variant Cases of the new Covid variant - Omicron - were first recorded in South Africa last week. There are concerns it could be more infectious and less responsive to vaccines. As a result, Covid rules are being strengthened once more. The government has added 10 southern African countries - including South Africa where Mr Clarke is stuck - to the UK's travel red list. The only people allowed to enter the UK from these countries are UK or Irish nations, or UK residents. They will have to pay for and self-isolate in a pre-booked government-approved hotel for 10 days. Mr Clarke, who has been staying with friends while his wife and two young children remained at home in the UK, had travelled from Cape Town to Johannesburg when he thought he had secured an alternative flight. He estimates the extra airline, hotel and UK quarantine costs will be about £4,000. He said: "There has been absolutely no communication from British Airways or the UK government on getting back to the UK. "In the one email received from BA, the helpline that BA set up went to a call centre and the person in the phone had no idea that flights to the UK had been suspended or cancelled." When he telephoned again later, he was directed to BA's website. Meanwhile, another traveller, Mike Haswell, from Cardiff, told the BBC on Sunday how he had been struggling to return from Malawi, where he was working. He reached Ethiopia, where ground staff at Addis Ababa airport refused to let UK nationals onto the flight to the UK. Mr Haswell said he and about 30 other UK passengers have been stuck at the airport for 18 hours and still did not know when a flight would be available. If your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a full refund and you can choose to receive that refund in cash rather than as a voucher. An airline should refund the money within seven days, although some people have waited longer. A package holiday should be refunded, in full, within 14 days. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has said it will operate its first flight from Johannesburg to London on Wednesday. The airline has not flown from South Africa since last Friday morning. All passengers will arrive into Heathrow Terminal 4, which is being reinstated as an arrival facility for red list countries and passengers. They will then go to a managed hotel quarantine facility, as per the new guidance. A Heathrow spokesperson said: "We are reopening Terminal 4 as a dedicated arrivals facility for red list countries on Wednesday 1 December. In the meantime, there will be no direct flights arriving from affected areas." As well as adding more countries to the UK's red list, the government has said that from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday, 30 November, anyone entering the UK will require a PCR test within 48 hours of arrival and will need to self-isolate until they have a negative result. However, Willie Walsh, the head of the IATA airline trade body and formerly the boss of IAG, the group that owns BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus, told the BBC that the latest developments exposed the lack of a sensible testing regime and risk-based approach. "I'm very disappointed to see this knee-jerk reaction by governments to the latest development," he said. "It's clear that these measures have been completely ineffective in the past but impose huge hardship on people who are trying to connect with families and friends, and clearly massive financial damage to the tourism and airline industry." Mr Walsh said the failure of similar restrictions to prevent a second coronavirus wave in the UK after being implemented in May last year demonstrates they "do not have any long-term benefits" and are "not the answer". "I think sensible testing regimes which have been proven to be effective could be introduced which would enable people to continue travelling in a safe environment," he added. Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents UK-based carriers, also said the government could do more. "The situation is developing rapidly, and hopefully as more data emerges emergency border restrictions can be reversed quickly - and applied only where they will make a material difference," he said. "In the meantime, we urge ministers to make mandatory PCR tests free of charge for impacted passengers, many of whom are now in the invidious position of having less than 48 hours to arrange extra testing whilst overseas." Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted that the changes were "targeted measures to provide confidence and protection", and they would be reviewed in three weeks "to ensure they are working effectively".

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/best-selling-cars-europe The Volkswagen Group's sales volume dropped by 42% in October, as it lost the top spot for monthly registrations for only the second time this century. The number-one position was taken by Stellantis, which outsold the German giant for the first time since its formation, thanks largely to the continued success of the Peugeot 2008 and Peugeot 208. Stellantis recorded a 21.0% market share for the month, compared with the Volkswagen Group’s 20.7% share. The Volkswagen Golf was also knocked out of the top 10 models for October. Total registrations dropped by 30% to 790,652 units, according to Jato Dynamics, which has once again attributed the drop to the continued shortages of semiconductors and new cars. “The shortage of semiconductors is proving to be as severe as the Covid lockdowns of last year,” said Felipe Muñoz, global analyst at Jato. “We've seen factories shut down across the continent, and at present the industry is struggling to find a solution to the supply-chain crisis.” Elsewhere, electrified vehicle ownership continued to grow in Europe, setting a new monthly record, with a total of 181,300 BEV and PHEVs registered for a 22.9% total market share. Diesels again suffered, now with just 19% of the overall market share in Europe. Muñoz added: “As we saw during the pandemic, the current crisis has proved to be more of an opportunity than a threat to the developing EV market." “COP26 marked a significant turning point for the industry, as 24 countries and 11 OEMs committed to no longer producing ICE vehicles by 2040, and so the shift towards EVs will only accelerate further in the coming years." The 2008 took the top spot for the first time in October, as five Stellantis models appeared in the top 10, followed by the Renault Group with two models and the Volkswagen Group, Ford and Hyundai each with one model.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59344605 As we approach the third year of the pandemic, epidemiologist Chandrakant Lahariya writes about what India should learn from its fight against Covid-19. Anyone travelling through India's northern states would be forgiven for thinking that the pandemic is over. In the smaller towns, few people wear masks, fewer practise social distancing and Covid-19 rarely comes up in conversations. The only visible reminders are the billboards thanking politicians for tackling the virus. In the national capital, Delhi, most people are masked because of rules that demand it. But the city is once again in full swing, from crowded markets and busy restaurants to packed social calendars. Low case counts (India has been recording around 10,000 new Covid cases daily) and the ongoing vaccination drive (nearly 80% of the 940 million eligible adults have received at least one dose so far) seem to have dimmed the memory of a brutal second wave in April and May this year. How India descended into Covid-19 chaos Indians turn to crowdfunding to pay Covid bills But the fact is the pandemic is not over. Cases are rising in Europe again, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to say it is "very worried". The emergence of a new variant, initially named B.1.1.529 and now Omicron by the WHO, is another cause for concern - although more research is needed to determine how dangerous it is. So the inevitable question to ask is: Will there be a third wave of Covid-19 ? And if so, is India prepared? It's likely India may not see a major rise in cases because studies suggest the majority of Indians have antibodies against the currently predominant Delta variant, and four-fifth of all adults have also been partially vaccinated. But that isn't enough cause for cheer. The recent reports of a dengue virus outbreak - an endemic disease - in many Indian states is proof that the health system is still not equipped to detect and tackle emerging and re-emerging diseases. And therein lies the problem. When the pandemic arrived in early 2020, the hope was that the stringent lockdown would afford an opportunity for the government to strengthen an understaffed and under-funded public health system. Top political leaders and senior health policy makers repeatedly said that was the objective of the first lockdown. But a year on, a second Covid wave devastated India as hospitals ran out of beds, medicines and oxygen. Medical bills soared in a fragmented market with spotty insurance coverage, and people borrowed money or sold family assets to pay up. Soon after, in July 2021, the government did announce a second Covid-19 package to strengthen health infrastructure. But some argued that the amount set aside was too little, and there was no visible urgency to put it to action. The Indian women widowed by Covid-19 India's national health policy, announced in 2017, had proposed raising government spending on health to 2.5% of GDP by 2025. But spending has only marginally increased since - it accounted for just 1.3% of GDP in the fiscal year ending 2022 - and is clearly not on track to reach the target. The government has often claimed that its Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is one of the world's largest public health insurance schemes. But several news reports suggest that the scheme barely helped those who desperately needed it. The challenge ahead is even bigger and goes well beyond the pandemic. While much of the health system was focused on tackling Covid-19, other essential services took a hit. It's one of the reasons many Indian states have struggled to deal with the dengue outbreak. The WHO said in October that the pandemic reversed "years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis" as people struggled to access treatment. India accounted for 41% of the total global drop in reporting the disease between 2019 and 2020, the WHO said. People suffering from non-communicable diseases have also found it difficult to get the care they needed. So, what should India do? First, the government should commission independent experts to conduct an impartial assessment of its pandemic response. Second, India needs to recommit to strengthening its health systems. If the promises made on this front in the last five years by both federal and state governments can be fulfilled, the country would have a far stronger health system. Third, all policymakers, medical experts and technical experts should be trained in science communication to avoid panic and misinformation. Fourth, India's pandemic response has to be integrated into primary healthcare services. Fifth, India needs to immediately fill vacancies at all levels in the health workforce and draw up a detailed plan for equitable distribution across urban and rural areas, giving priority to underserved regions. Complacency and fatigue at different levels have led to a slowdown in the adoption of Covid-appropriate behaviour, vaccination uptake in adults and even genome surveillance. The emergence of Omicron should be used as an opportunity to reassess pandemic preparedness across the country - including enhanced and targeted Covid testing, genomic sequencing and accelerated vaccine coverage in adults. But a note of caution - the emergence of a new variant should not lead to hurried decisions on vaccine dose intervals, boosters or even the functioning of schools, which have only now begun to reopen after more than a year. Those decisions should be determined only by a calm assessment of scientific evidence. India may or may not face another major Covid wave, but other outbreaks and epidemics will continue to be a reality after this pandemic - as they were before it. If a country is prepared for preventing and controlling any disease outbreak, it's also prepared for a pandemic. So, let's prepare for responding to every outbreak. The struggle to control the dengue outbreak in 15 Indian states is proof that India is not ready yet. Action is needed now, and one can only hope that someone is listening. Chandrakant Lahariya, a physician epidemiologist, is a public policy and health systems specialist, based in Delhi.

Music Title: Snitches Ko Stitches | Bandzo3rd | J.Hind | Hindi/Urdu Drill | Kali Denali Music | Official Audio Signer: Bandzo3rd | J.Hind Release Date: 29 Nov 2021 Official Youtube Link: Informations About The Signer:--- Your Opinion About The Track (Music Video):--

Live Performance Title: Young Stunners Full Performance | Live in Karachi - 2021 Signer Name: Young Stunners Live Performance Location: Karachi Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video):--

In brief: Nvidia is looking to resurrect the RTX 2060 with double the original amount of VRAM, possibly as soon as the first quarter of 2022. In the meantime, a passionate modder has upgraded an existing RTX 2060 card in the same way to see what sort of performance boost one could expect. Over the last few months, we've heard several rumors that Nvidia could soon launch updated RTX 3000 series graphics cards and resurrect the RTX 2060 to try and alleviate supply issues. Last week, a few regulatory filings confirmed that Nvidia is indeed preparing an RTX 2060, but with a twist — the company may also double the amount of VRAM, even though it probably won’t improve performance in most scenarios. However, as spotted by Tom’s Hardware, some technology enthusiasts aren’t waiting for that to happen and are perfectly comfortable with modding existing cards like the GeForce RTX 3070. Such is the case of Russian modder VIK-on, who is well known for making 16-gigabyte RTX 2070 and RTX 3070 graphics cards. The modder decided to apply the same treatment to the GeForce RTX 2060, and for that purpose he chose an Asus RTX 2060 Turbo that had a new power phase for the memory subsystem after the original one blew up. As for the memory, VIK-on chose Samsung K4ZAF325BM-HC14 GDDR6 chips that have a capacity of two gigabytes. It’s not quite what Nvidia is preparing for release, but it should be close enough to give us a good idea about what to expect from the updated card. After replacing the original memory chips, the modder ran Unigine’s Superposition benchmark as well as an Ethereum miner to see if there was any difference in performance when compared to the standard configuration. Unsurprisingly, the larger graphics memory didn’t yield any performance increase, as the tests didn’t push the memory utilization beyond six gigabytes. That said, if an application requires more than six gigabytes of VRAM, you should see a performance improvement. New games like Battlefield 2042 seem to work well at 1440p even when using a graphics cards with only six gigabytes of VRAM, but using higher quality settings pushes it to its limits. That means it won’t be long before eight gigabytes will be a must, even at medium or high graphics presets. This may also be why Nvidia is re-releasing the RTX 2060 with double the VRAM, as doing so would make it more competitive with AMD’s RX 6600 or the upcoming RX 6500 XT.

At the 2021 Google I/O event in May, it was announced that Google's Wear OS will be getting a complete overhaul. This updated operating system made in partnership with Samsung, called Wear OS 3, is going to be dished out only for a handful of smartwatches in the second half of 2022. In anticipation of this update, Google has released a new "System updates" screen for the current smartwatches that use Wear OS. It makes it easy for users to identify the Android version and security patch level of their wearables. Currently, most Wear OS updates primarily go through applications from the Google Play store or Google Play Services. But, updating to the latter's version 21.42.18 introduces a redesigned "System updates" interface (Settings > System > About) on Wear OS smartwatches. At the top, users now see the “Your watch is up to date” status. The previously used blue checkmark has now been replaced by the version of the installed operating system (Android version) and the security patch level (Android security update). Before this update, the security patch level was found at the very end of the "Versions" list. Also, the previous "System version” schemes utilised letters instead of numbers to indicate their level. The current approach appears to be more user-friendly than the previous versions and lays the groundwork for the upcoming Wear OS 3. The Android 11-based Wear OS 3 is going to be an optional update for most of the newly released smartwatches this year, as per a report by 9to5Google. Google has joined hands with Samsung to combine the best features of Wear OS and Tizen into a single platform called Wear OS 3. The move is aimed to take on Apple, the market leader in the smartwatch segment. This updated operating system features support for third-party Tiles and the ability to switch between apps by double-tapping the screen. It sees improvements made to the interface of Google Maps and Google Assistant. Google has also integrated health and fitness tracking updates to Wear OS 3 from Fitbit.

Eureka Robotics, a tech spin-off from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), has developed a technology, called Dynamis, that makes industrial robots nimbler and almost as sensitive as human hands, able to mani[CENSORED]te tiny glass lenses, electronics components, or engine gears that are just millimeters in size without damaging them. This proprietary force feedback technology developed by NTU scientists was previously demonstrated by the Ikea Bot which assembled an Ikea chair in just 20 minutes. The breakthrough was first published in Science in 2018 and went viral on the internet when it could match the dexterity of NTU Associate Professor Pham Quang Cuong, Co-founder of Eureka Robotics, said they have since upgraded the software technology, which will be made available for a large number of industrial robots worldwide by Denso Wave, a market leader in industrial robots, which is part of the Toyota Group. Clients purchasing the latest robots sold by Denso Wave will have an option to include this new technology as part of the force controller, which reads the force detected by a force sensor on the robot's wrist and applies force accordingly: Apply too little force and the items may not be assembled correctly while applying too much force could damage the items. Mastering touch sensitivity and dexterity like human hands has always been the holy grail for roboticists, says Assoc Prof Pham, as the programming of the force controller is extremely complicated, requiring long hours to perfect the grip just for a specific task. "Today, Dynamis has made it easy for anyone to program touch-sensitive tasks that are usually done by humans, such as assembly, fine mani[CENSORED]tion, polishing or sanding," explains Assoc Prof Pham, who is also the deputy director of the Robotics Research Centre at NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "These tasks all share a common characteristic: the ability to maintain consistent contact with a surface. If our human hands are deprived of our touch sensitivity, such as when wearing a thick glove, we would find it very hard to put tiny Lego blocks together, much less assemble the tiny components of a car engine or of a camera used in our mobile

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans know Dust II well. Succeeding the original Dust map, it’s one of the FPS game’s most po[CENSORED]r battlegrounds – and it’s an iconic one, too, with its distinctive Middle Eastern town-style streets and aesthetic. Now, though, you can play the same map with a whole other vibe, as a modder’s transformed its desert setting into a “green oasis”. CS:GO modder BARS’s new ‘Dust II 2055’ overhaul mod is the latest in their ‘2055’ series, which gives existing maps an “abandoned style” by imagining a future state in which weather events have changed, people have left the sites behind, and nature has started reclaiming the buildings and streets. “Dust 2 has turned from a desert into a green oasis,” the modder says in the reimagined Dust II 2055’s description. “Acid rain and changing weather conditions have completely changed the map” – and it has indeed been totally transformed. Dust II’s previously sun-baked streets have become overrun with moss and grass, there are trees with trails of vines hanging from their branches scattered about, and the whole ecosystem’s far from sunny. Even the underground and covered areas have fallen to nature, with huge tree roots breaking through the walls and gates. While the layout is still just how fans will know it, it looks like the overhaul will offer a totally refreshed experience of playing the classic map given how different it looks and must feel. Here’s a glance (via BARS on Steam Workshop): It’s proving po[CENSORED]r with the game’s community so far, too, with nearly 70 ratings and a bunch of positive comments on the mod’s Workshop page right now – a pretty impressive showing for a new mod on the platform. Previous overhaul maps have also been similarly well-received, with August’s Train 2055 mod currently sat at 2,332 ratings, and it’s a similar story for the rest in the series, which you can catch at that link.

Happy Birthday 🙂

The release of Office 365 in 2011 saw Microsoft take its productivity software in a new direction. For the first time, the likes of Word, PowerPoint and Excel would now be available as part of a subscription service. The big attraction of this was regular updates, with Office apps previously getting one big update every few years. Less than five years after launching, Office 365 was named as the most po[CENSORED]r enterprise cloud service. It's since been rebranded to Microsoft 365, but still offers the same core service that many people have come to rely on. This includes Outlook, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams. Despite this success, Microsoft still releases standalone versions of all its powerful Office apps every few years. These are simply known as 'Office' followed by the year of release, with a 2021 edition having released alongside Windows 11. Here's everything you need to know. In an official blog post from February 2021, Microsoft 365's Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro revealed that Office 2021 would be available consumers and small businesses 'later this year'. A subsequent post from September 2021 confirmed its release date - 16 September for business users, and 5 October for consumers. It's no surprise to see a consumer version launch on the same date as Windows 11. Office 2021 will be optimised for the new operating system, despite a version also being available for macOS. The release date is is roughly in line with previous standalone versions of Office from 2019 and 2016, both of which arrived in September. In the same February 2021 blog post as above, Spataro revealed that the price of Office 2021 would be unchanged at the time of release. Indeed, it's priced identically to Office 2019:

Despite releasing back in 2018, Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition – the re-release of the nearly 20-year-old classic Dungeons & Dragons RPG by BioWare – is still apparently being supported by developer Beamdog, which just released a free official HD texture pack that makes it look better than even Neverwinter Nights 2. Neverwinter Nights released all the way back in 2002 and looks pretty ropey now, which is why Beamdog’s Enhanced Edition in 2018 was so welcome – as included improved graphics, effects, and general visual improvements. However, that apparently wasn’t enough for the developer, who has been working on a full HD upgrade ever since. Finally, the free “HD Models & Textures Pack” update for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition has arrived and it has the classic RPG looking a lot more modern. As Beamdog states in a blog post on Steam, this update is the result of “several years of hard work” and clocks in at over 4.1 GB – bringing the game’s total disc space requirement to over 16 GB. The pack offers HD texture and model upgrades for all character models and equipment, meaning that Neverwinter Nights looks better than it’s ever been before. However, given that the pack can cause problems with lower-end systems it’s not a mandatory patch – so Beamdog has made it available separately on its website. Presumably this patch will work with both the Steam and GOG versions, then.

Modern smartwatches like the Galaxy Watch can be used even without a smartphone, and we'll walk you through how to enable this feature. Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic smartwatches were unveiled globally in August and they arrived in India in the same month just a little bit later. The latest Galaxy Watch smartwatches come in Bluetooth-only and LTE options. While the LTE variant is able to act as a standalone variant, thanks to the data connectivity, the Bluetooth-only model requires the Galaxy Wearable app to pair. However, there is a way in which you can use the Galaxy Watch without connecting to a mobile phone. How to use Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 without a phone Samsung Galaxy Watch users can use the smartwatch without connecting to a mobile phone for doing outdoor activities such as climbing a mountain or exercise. The Galaxy Watch can be used without a mobile device when you turn it on for the first time or you reset it. It is important to note that some features are not available when you use your Galaxy Watch without connecting to a mobile device.

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. It signals the unofficial start of the holiday buying season for many, highlighted by deep discounts and doorbuster sales that often can only be found during this time of year. HP’s Black Friday sale is in full swing, and we’ve singled out several of our favorite deals. Whether it’s a new laptop, desktop, monitor or input device, HP likely has something to meet your needs at a great price. With this year expected to be even more hectic than usual due to global supply constraints, it might not be a bad idea to shop early and take advantage of some great offers while they last HP’s holiday sales have historically been anchored by a plethora of laptop deals, and this year is no different with bargains across mainstream machines, gaming-focused laptops and business-class portables. The HP Pavilion 15t-eg100 immediately caught our attention. This portable features a 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080 resolution) IPS micro-edge display that’s powered by an Intel Core i5-1157G processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics along with 8GB of DDR4 RAM (2x 4GB) and a 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. It’s a great machine in its base configuration but can be made even better with a couple of upgrades. For an extra $90, you can step up to an Nvidia GeForce MX350 GPU, and another $50 will push RAM capacity up to 12GB total, or you could choose to double the storage space and add 32GB of Intel Optane memory for only $70 more. The HP Pavilion 15t-eg100 normally starts at $779.99, but with the Black Friday deal, you can grab it for only $514.99. At that price, you could toss in all three of the aforementioned upgrades and still come out with a cheaper-than-usual configuration by $55. As the name suggests, this HP Omen laptop features a 16.1-inch FHD micro-edge display with Intel’s Core i5-11400H processor under the hood. Other base goodies include 8GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD + 32GB of Intel Optane memory and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 laptop GPU.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59448438 In the past week a heavily mutated Covid variant has been identified, rapidly labelled a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization. It is named Omicron and been detected in countries including the UK. It is a rapidly evolving situation. Omicron's genetic profile has raised concerns, but there's a shortage of real-world data that means nobody has the complete picture of what it can do. It is unclear how big a threat it poses. Yet, it is at this early stage, in an absence of definitive facts and when there is a danger of both underreacting and overreacting, that the UK government has to act. It's like you or me deciding whether to marry someone after the first date. Only the stakes are much higher. What we know is Omicron has mutations that theoretically help it to spread more quickly and there is mounting evidence of that happening in South Africa. It also has mutations that theoretically make vaccines less effective and the World Health Organization says there is a higher risk of reinfection than with other variants. But we don't know how transmissible it is. We don't know whether it is milder or more severe. We don't know what will really happen when it comes up against our significant wall of immunity built up through vaccines, boosters and high levels of Covid this autumn. How worrying is the new Covid variant? Covid variants: Do we need new vaccines yet? How are England's Covid rules changing because of Omicron? The government's response is to test everyone coming in to the UK, isolate all Omicron contacts, ramp up boosting and bring back compulsory face masks in some public places. Let's be clear - that will not stop more Omicron cases arriving or circulating. It's already arrived. If a virus is good at spreading then eventually it will slip through. And it has the potential to spread here too. Cases of Covid have been climbing except for a lull over the October half term. They are averaging at more than 40,000 a day and the R number is just above the crucial threshold of one. If Omicron can combine faster transmission with some ability to evade immunity then it too could spread. All the measures can do is buy time, but for what? Science and boosters. There are important scientific questions that need answering and top of the list is what happens when Omicron meets high levels of immunity. The answer, for better or worse, will dictate what happens next. The vaccines that have been used in the UK train the body to attack the spike protein on the virus - specifically the version of spike from the original variant from Wuhan in China. Our immune system learns to attack several parts of that spike. The antibodies in our blood are like a pit crew descending on a Formula 1 car - each going to their target area. But the mutations in Omicron are like changing some parts of the car to bamboozle the mechanics and make their job harder. Any dent to immunity is most likely to affect the odds of you catching Covid. What we've seen from the phenomenon of waning immunity is that protection against severe disease and death is more resilient. It will take time to know for sure. It might sound odd, but booster doses could limit any impact. In theory you can compensate for a less efficient immune defence by simply throwing more antibodies and T-cells at the problem, even if they are imperfect. More than 17 million people have already had a third dose and the government wants to ramp up boosting. Other countries have cut the gap between the second and third dose from six months to five and we should hear from the government's vaccine advisers soon. Pharmaceutical companies say they could update vaccines to match the Omicron variant in around 100 days if they were needed. It is worth noting we do have new weapons in our armoury in the form of anti-viral drugs. Paxlovid and molnupiravir both target the inner workings of the virus and experts have told me there is no suggestion their effectiveness would be knocked by the mutations seen so far. There are already cries that the government is both over-reacting and not going far enough. The problem for all of us is we'll only know the right answer with hindsight.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59448398 Home Secretary Priti Patel has warned that failure by European politicians to co-operate on the continent's migrant crisis will lead to "even worse scenes" in the English Channel this winter. France is due to host German, Belgian and Dutch ministers and European Commission officials for talks. Ms Patel was disinvited from the summit after a row between Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron. But she vowed to "continue to push" for improvement to tackle the crisis. On Friday Prime Minister Boris Johnson publicly shared a letter he had sent to the French president on how to deal with the current situation. In it he set out five steps - joint patrols of the Channel, better use of technology such as sensors and radar, maritime patrols in each other's waters, stronger co-operation by intelligence services and negotiation on a policy of returning migrants who reach the UK to France This letter angered Mr Macron and according to the French government it demonstrated "double talk" from the UK. This resentment from Paris led to the home secretary's invitation being revoked. However, the UK government said that, even if the home secretary does not attend Sunday's meeting in Calais, British officials will be there. In light of the Franco-British tensions, Ms Patel said: "The UK cannot tackle this issue alone, and across Europe we all need to step up, take responsibility, and work together in a time of crisis." She added: "We will not shy away from the challenge we face, and next week I will continue to push for greater co-operation with European partners because a failure to do so could result in even worse scenes in the freezing water during the coming winter months." Ms Patel said the conversations she had on Thursday with her French counterpart, Gerald Darmanin, were "constructive". Channel deaths: What do we know so far? Why do migrants leave France for the UK? Highest UK asylum claims since 2004 On Wednesday, 27 people drowned as they headed for the UK from France. Their boat sank in the Channel. The International Organization for Migrations said it was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014. Their deaths have raised questions about why so many people are attempting the journey despite the dangerous conditions. For several years, people smugglers have sent people to the UK in lorries. Although this route is safer than small boats, there have also been tragedies, including the 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in 2019. However, the security at the Port of Calais in France - where UK border controls operate - has been tightened. This has meant that more attempts are being made to send people by boat, according to Tony Smith, former director general of UK Border Force. So far this year, the number of people crossing the channel in small boats has far exceeded previous years. Asylum claims to UK are at their highest since 2004, according to official estimates. However, other countries in Europe are also processing a high amount of asylum applications. Many people fleeing conflict zones already choose to make an asylum claim in the first country they arrive in - such as Greece, Turkey or Italy - and only a minority choose to travel on to the UK. Last year, Germany had the highest number of asylum applicants in the EU (122,015 applicants), while France had 93,475 applicants. In the same period the UK received the fifth largest number of applicants (36,041) when compared with countries in the EU (around 7% of the total). This represents the 17th largest intake when measured per head of po[CENSORED]tion, according to UN Refugee Agency.

Music Title: Rap Demon - DAR UL HAKUMAT | Prod. By UMAIR (Official Music Video) Signer: Rap Demon Release Date: 26 Nov 2021 Official Youtube Link: Informations About The Signer:-- Your Opinion About The Track (Music Video):--