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Nearly three weeks after Google killed Discord music bot Groovy, another one is set to bite the dust later this month. It's my personal favourite that's on the chopping block this time, with the Rythm bot set to shut down on September 15. It's one of Discord's most po[CENSORED]r rhythm bots, being installed on around 20 million Discord servers and around 30 million active monthly users. It worked the same as Groovy, with users able to feed the bot YouTube links which could then be played to everybody in a voice channel. Now just like Groovy, Rythm's developer has been sent a cease and desist by Google. "One way or another we knew this was due to happen eventually," Rythm's creator Yoav told The Verge. "Which is why we started working on something new a year ago. Groovy receiving one just meant it would happen sooner rather than later." See more Rythm's new project was briefly touched upon in a post on its official website announcing its imminent closure, writing "we can't tell you too much yet, but we're working on something awesome in the music space." It sounds like an alternative may be in the works, one that most likely won't rely on YouTube videos and circumventing Google's ads. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingThe PC Gamer Show 182: Half-Life: Alyx revealed, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Google Stadia The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion,... 30/11/17The PC Gamer Show 112: Destiny 2's XP confusion, the best game music of 2017, and listener Q&A PC Gamer Top 100 2021 - Highlights & Showcases 13/09/21PC Gamer Top 100 2021 - Highlights & Showcases Far Cry 6 Hands-On Preview | PC Gamer 31/08/21Far Cry 6 Hands-On Preview | PC Gamer Best Settings for Naraka Bladepoint | PC Gamer 25/08/21Best Settings for Naraka Bladepoint | PC Gamer Steam Deck Hands-On Discussion | PC Gamer 13/08/21Steam Deck Hands-On Discussion | PC Gamer With two of Discord's most po[CENSORED]r music bots now out of commission, Yaov reckons others will see similar notices from Google over the coming weeks. "I believe that now we received the letter, all music bots will be getting them too in the following weeks and I strongly believe all of them will shut down," Yaov continued to The Verge. "As someone that was a very early user on Discord, it's hard to envision Discord without music bots. They've become key to the experience and bring so much fun and engagement to a community. It's a sad end of an era here for everyone on the platform." Music bots really do feel like a big part of Discord's culture. Rythm regularly ends up in whatever voice channel I'm hanging out in, and even if I'm not actively listening to it, it's a nice tool to have. But Discord is expanding beyond its gaming roots, and its increasing po[CENSORED]rity means it's no surprise that big companies like Google are starting to take notice of what goes on within its communities. Regardless, it's hard not to wonder and be worried about what the future of Discord looks like. Mollie Taylor Mollie Taylor A fresh writer in the industry, Mollie has been taken under PC Gamer's RGB-laden wing, making sure she doesn't get up to too much mischief on the site. She's not quite sure what a Command & Conquer is, but she can rattle on for hours about all the obscure rhythm games and strange MMOs from the 2000s. She's been cooking up all manner of news, previews and features while she's been here, but especially enjoys when she gets to write about Final Fantasy, Persona, The Sims, and whatever other game she's currently hopelessly fixated on. There's a good chance she's boring another PC Gamer writer about her latest obsession as we speak.

At its annual Zoomtopia event, Zoom announced its plans to bring a number of innovations and new features to its video conferencing platform to help kick off the next era of communications. One such feature that users of the company's video conferencing software have been eagerly awaited is live translation and transcription. With the addition of real-time, automated translation as well as an expansion of Zoom's existing live transcription feature, Zoom meetings will become even more inclusive and the company also revealed that support for multiple languages will be coming next year. Hybrid and remote workforces rely on collaboration tools to be efficient and productive which is why Zoom plans to further expand access to Zoom Whiteboard. The company's whiteboard will act as a digital canvas that enables seamless, real-time and asynchronous collaboration. Zoom users will also have the ability to interact with the whiteboard in a way that is similar to an in-person experience to create more visually engaging and efficient meetings. We've compiled a list of the best video conferencing software These are the best online collaboration tools on the market Also check out our roundup of the best business webcams Zoom also revealed new details on its hot desking solution that will be available later this year. Once this feature launches, employees will be able to reserve desks and spaces in their offices suing an interactive map and with easy authentication, they'll be able to bring their personal Zoom experience to any Zoom Room or Zoom Phone appliance. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5... 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute Video voicemails and continuous collaboration As part of its future plans, Zoom aims to ensure that Meetings, Chat, Webinars and Phone all work together as one unified communications solution with the ability to easily navigate between them. To accomplish this, Zoom Chat Huddle View has the potential to provide a visual layout of channels to give teams a sense of connectedness when working from home. Channel members will be able to choose a virtual background of their choice, chat, see who is in the channel and quickly identify if they are busy or available to bring teams together in a whole new way. Zoom also wants to put its own spin on voicemail with Zoom Phone Video Voicemails. This new feature is designed to provide a more personable alternative to standard voicemails with the ability to leave video messages for colleagues right in their voicemail inbox. Continuous collaboration is another new feature the company is working on to make it easier to collaborate across tools with tighter integrations across the Zoom platform and third parties. With these planned enhancements, users will be able to share files, recordings and chats from Zoom Meetings to Zoom Chat for easy reference and to collaborate on documents without having to leave the zoom client. Zoom has laid out its plans for the future but we'll have to wait and see if the company is able to deliver on them at a time when more employees have begun to forego video calls for in-person meetings in the office. We've also rounded up all the gear you'll need to work from home successfully

Provantage (via Harukaze5719), a retailer in the U.S., has listed pricing for Intel's 12th Generation Alder Lake K-series processors. Alder Lake will be the first hybrid x86 desktop chips on a mainstream platform, and given the competitive price listings, they certainly look like they'll compete with AMD's Ryzen 5000 chips for a spot on our list of Best CPUs for Gaming. Although Provantage is a reputable store, we recommend you approach the pricing with caution. Alder Lake won't debut until Fall 2021, so Provantage's pricing could just be a placeholder. However, the prices do fall in line with the listings from another retailer, so they could be a very good indication of how Intel could price the heterogeneous processors. Provantage listed the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, Core i5-12600K, and their corresponding KF-series counterparts. The KF models come with a $26 to $27 discount, so that's seemingly what Intel's Gen12 Xe graphics is worth. That's not a huge surprise, considering that Alder Lake has been rumored to retain the Xe-LP graphics engine that's inside Intel's Tiger Lake chips, but with up to 32 EUs. Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake Pricing Processor Boxed Pricing Tray Pricing Base / Boost Clocks (GHz) L3 Cache (MB) TDP (W) Boxed PN Tray PN Core i9-12900K $604.89 $605.92 3.2 / 5.2 30 125 BX8071512900K CM8071504549230 Core i9-12900KF $578.13 $578.49 3.2 / 5.2 30 125 BX8071512900KF CM8071504549231 Core i7-12700K $422.17 $420.26 3.6 / 5.0 25 125 BX8071512700K CM8071504553828 Core i7-12700KF $395.61 $392.36 3.6 / 5.0 25 125 BX8071512700KF CM8071504553829 Core i5-12600K $288.77 $283.59 3.7 / 4.9 20 125 BX8071512600K CM8071504555227 Core i5-12600KF $261.77 $263.15 3.7 / 4.9 20 125 BX8071512600KF CM8071504555228 Provantage has the Core i9-12900K, and Core i9-12900KF listed at $604.89 and $578.13, respectively. The pricing looks modest compared to another retailer that posted the same processors for $705 and $674, respectively. However, if we look at the current Rocket Lake lineup, the Core i9-11900K and Core i9-11900KF sell for $549 and $529, respectively. Apparently, the Alder Lake equivalents carry a $55 and $49 premium. Pricing-wise, the Core i9 models compete with the Ryzen 9 5900X, which has a $549 MSRP. However, AMD's chip features 12 Zen 3 cores with SMT, and while the Core i9-12900K has 16 cores in total, only eight are high-performance Golden Cove cores. So it'll be interesting to see how Golden Cove stacks up to Zen 3 with a four-core disadvantage. Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake (Image credit: Provantage) The Core i7-12700K and Core i7-12700KF, on the other hand, might cost $422.17 and $395.61, respectively. For comparison, the other retailer listed them for $495 and $464, respectively. The Core i7-11700K and Core i7-11700KF are available for $409 and $384, respectively, so we're looking at a price increase between $11 and $13, which sounds reasonable. The only Zen 3 chip in that price range is the Ryzen 7 5800X that debuted at $449. This might be a fair fight as the Core i7 SKU is rumored to rock eight Golden Cove cores, and the Ryzen 7 5800X has eight Zen 3 cores. The Core i5-12600K and Core i5-12600KF will likely be the favorite SKUs for gamers. The first may carry a $288.77 price tag, while the latter is priced at $261.77. Again, Provantage's pricing is lower than the other U.S. retailer that listed the Core i5-12600K for $343 and the Core i5-12600KF for $312. The Core i5-11600K and Core i5-11600KF typically go for $272 and $247, respectively. With Alder Lake, it's a $16 higher price tag on the former and a $14 premium on the latter.

DETROIT — Jason Stein, the outgoing publisher of Automotive News, has been named president and corporate development officer of Motormindz automotive consulting firm. Stein, 49, will be in charge of expanding the company's global presence and launching its venture fund, Motormindz said in statement Monday. He leaves Automotive News on Wednesday after 18 years at the publication, the past eight as publisher. "Jason Stein brings a wealth of experience to the team and he will play an integral role in driving our own transformation, creating a 2.0 version of ourselves," Jeff Van Dongen, Motormindz founder and CEO, said in the statement. On Aug. 24, Stein said he was leaving Automotive News to host SiriusXM's "Cars & Culture with Jason Stein," a weekly radio show, and to launch his own global media services and broadcasting platform. The Motormindz positions will come in addition to those roles. Motormindz, of Troy, Mich., comprises 120 executive-level, subject-matter experts in 32 countries. They are focused on solving challenges for automakers, suppliers, dealers and technology providers.

Many of us are familiar with the feeling of feeling dizzy while lying down on bed and then standing up suddenly. There are also times when one experiences dizziness that disrupts their balance. Why does it happen? Dr Pawan Ojha, a senior neurologist at Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi-A Fortis network Hospital, says this could be a sign of ‘vertigo’. “Dizziness might imply vertigo, fainting, poor body balance, or even fits. Vertigo is a type of dizziness where you feel like you are spinning. These feelings may last from a few seconds to days and often worsen with movement,” he says. According to the doctor, vertigo is commonly caused by “disease of the vestibular system”. “The vestibular system inside the inner ear helps in sensing our head position in space relative to the body, and works in an integrated manner with the brain to maintain body position. Vertigo can result from diseases of the vestibular nerve or parts of the brain that deal with body balance.” ALSO READ |Stroke management: Expert suggests alternative therapies How big of a problem is it? The diseases related to the inner ear and its nerve supply are generally considered less worrisome. ‘Benign positional vertigo’ often causes the most severe vertigo but can be treated easily, the doctor says. “Another important cause of vertigo is ‘vestibular neuritis’ which occurs due to viral infection or autoimmune disease of the vestibular nerve, where vertigo, nausea, or vomiting can last up to several days. Meniere’s Disease is caused by a build-up of fluid in the inner ear tubes, causing episodic vertigo with ringing in the ears and hearing loss. The exact cause is unclear, a viral infection, an autoimmune reaction or a genetic component could be the trigger,” explains Dr Ojha. He adds that vertigo that is caused by a brain disease should be considered worrisome and treated on an urgent basis. “Stroke is an important and serious condition causing dizziness. Apart from this, brain infection, multiple sclerosis, hypothyroidism and other biochemical disturbances can cause vertigo even in the absence of fever.” dizziness, what is dizziness, what causes sudden dizziness, vertigo, what is vertigo problem, is vertigo serious, is dizziness serious, seeing a doctor for dizziness, brain health, neurological health, indian express news Vertigo is a type of dizziness where you feel like you are spinning. (Photo: Getty/Thinkstock) Warning signs If it is a serious cause of vertigo, signs will include severe headache, persistent vomiting and imbalance, double vision, vision problems, sudden hearing loss, or early signs of brain stroke (weakness or numbness in arm or leg, face drooping to one side, trouble while speaking or swallowing). People who are 60+, with diabetes, hypertension, smoking and history of heart disease or brain stroke, should be extra careful, the doctor warns. ALSO READ |What is Deep Brain Stimulation? Doctor explains the ‘fully-awake’ surgical method for Parkinson’s Disease Special precautions “Limit sodium intake, avoid caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, and tobacco. If diagnosed in time, brain stroke can be efficiently treated with clot busters and/or interventional treatment. If vertigo is caused by another serious problem, such as brain tumor or injury to the brain or neck, surgical treatment might be necessary,” says Dr Ojha.

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WarioWare: Get It Together! (Nintendo Switch) Developer: Nintendo EPD, Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo Released: September 10, 2021 MSRP: $49.99 Mostly together When I played WarioWare, Inc. nearly 20 years ago, I was stunned. Wario had only had a few starring games at that point, including an ill-fated Virtual Boy release: the fact that he was starring in his own potential series had me grinning like an idiot. What really surprised me the most though is how much I got sucked into this new world and cast. While Mario and Luigi are still king of raking the big bucks in, oddballs like 9-Volt and Ashley are also part of the Nintendo canon. WarioWare: Get It Together! reunites us with that crew yet again, but as usual, your mileage may vary. Right after the intro started playing I found myself sucked into the world of WarioWare yet again. WarioWare: Get It Together! is just as weird as past entries, with vibrant cutscenes that showcase just how much personality this cast has. I was also intrigued by the presentation of it all, as Get it Together only allows you to play the story mode (which features solo or two-player co-op play) at first, Kirby Super Star style. Gradually more modes will unlock (more on those later), on top of extra characters to play as. And those characters really are the meat of what makes WarioWare: Get It Together! unique compared to its predecessors. Now you’re playing as those people, all of which have slightly different ways of doing things. So imagine a microgame where you need to shoot a basketball into a hoop. Wario can fly on a jetpack and nudge it in. Young Cricket, who controls a lot like a classic Mario character, can run and jump to score a basket. 9-Volt rides on a skateboard that he can’t stop, and can only fire upward vertically. 18-Volt can’t even move, and will need to shoot a projectile to hit the ball. Each level (which is a series of microgames) asks players to assemble a “crew,” consisting of the new featured character and whomever else you chose (or randoms). I loved this approach because WarioWare: Get It Together! rarely forced me to use options I wasn’t comfortable with for the sake of it; and I ended up forming a crew of “favorites.” As you can imagine, this must have been a pain to program, but it ends up working out. Not every character is equally suited to each task, but there’s a lot of replay value to be had with trying out new characters in different situations. There are limitations, as a few characters are almost exactly the same. In several cases, this is completely intentional and it does make sense. Dribble and Spitz, who are partners and are acquired at the same time, have similar powers (Dribble flies and can only shoot right, while Spitz does the same, only reversed). But across the entire roster, there are additions that can be replaced entirely; and the only reason you might use a downgrade is because of an emotional connection to that crew member. I really wish more was done to differentiate a few characters, because the raw count is fairly high, but similar to “clones” in Warriors games, that number shrinks a bit in practice. As usual, the actual microgames range from exceptional to middling at worst. The beauty of the framework of having players only spend a few seconds on each task and having over 200 of them is that if one is a dud, you’ll rarely see it again, and only for a few moments. In this entry, the nature of changing your crew also ensures that some microgames will need to be handled differently from session to session, which I’m sure was a key part of the initial pitch and may have even greenlit the game on its own. It’s fun while it lasts, but the campaign is very short (under a few hours) and definitely left me wanting more, to the point where I could see why it has a $49.99 price point. More cutscenes, more unique characters, and more ways to facilitate the microgames beyond what the story mode had to offer. Once you’re done, hardcore WarioWare players might like the semi-addicting level-up system. The gist is that you can buy “prezzies” for in-game currency, and gift them to each character (0f which there are many) to unlock more color schemes for them (as well as straight-up outfits), and art. It’s incredibly cute, and I had a lot of fun leveling a few of my favorites up, but never really took to it long term. In the end it feels like a whole lot of busywork, though I admire the team for trying to keep people interested if they want to wring out more content. Then there’s the Wario Cup solo weekly challenges, which feature a highly complex scoring system that’s actually pretty cool (albeit fleeting, and played during each reset). So that’s pretty much what you get with the campaign mode: two-player co-op (with local wireless for two systems, which I was unable to test with one code), the leveling system, and the ability to replay prior microgames. Beyond that, there’s weekly challenges and “variety pack” party games. Those party games are really where you’re going to want to hang your hat, and I suggest bringing at least one person along for the ride. While the campaign probably isn’t going to last a ton of people very long, the party modes, specifically versus, could keep everyone entertained for quite a while. Here’s the gist of what’s on offer: Gotta Bounce (keep the ball up): 1-4 players Daily Grind (a basic side-scrolling level-based adventure): 1-4 players Friendless Battle (an endless Smash Bros.-like battle game): 1 player High Five (volleyball with a twist): 1-4 players Duelius Maximus (a head-to-head arena gametype, and my favorite mode, where players try and finish microgames faster and more efficiently): 2 players Rising Star (a score-based head-to-head mode with microgames): 2 players Balloon Bang (a hot potato style meta-game amid microgame competition): 2-4 players Sly Angle (a puzzle meta-game in which players assemble triangles amid microgames): 2-4 players Puck’er Up (an air hockey meta-game amid microgame scoring): 2-4 players Frenemy Frenzy (a Smash Bros. versus battle game): 2-4 players As you can see, the bulk of the variety pack offerings ultimately feed into a battle of who can win more microgames, but at the same time, those games are even more fun with actual stakes at play. Once again versus is the way to go for WarioWare: Get It Together!, and the more the merrier. Duelius Maximus has a special place in my heart because of how competitive it is, including a “lightning” mode that awards each round to the player who finishes a microgame first, down to the second. A lot of the other ones are slower-paced and beat around the bush, but this heads-up mode should sate a lot of competitive players in perpetuity. Frenemy Frenzy (and to a lesser extent, Friendless Battle) deserves a special mention as well. The term “Smash-like” is really loaded, but in this case, it’s very clear what the team was going for. You can pick from the roster as normal, and each character will sport their base abilities, no strings attached. You crash into each other until someone’s HP is gone, and then they’re eliminated. There’s a few items in play, and several interactive arenas. It’s fun in short bursts, doubly so for the Friendless Battle mode, which can get repetitive after a few sessions. And to be clear, none of it is actually balanced, so don’t expect a Smash replacement anytime soon. Still, as one of many modes (and with a loose AI/bot endless option), it’s a nice bonus. I’m grateful that another Wario game even exists, and WarioWare: Get It Together! is going to be a hit for a lot of people who are already dedicated to this special brand of weird. But for some, the homogenization of a few aspects might not last them more than a week, so make sure you bring people into the fold if you want to jump in at full asking price.

Although easier said than done, accessibility, usability, and inclusion should always be key aspects in creating a website that works for everyone. However, according to a new report from Heap, nearly half (43%) of consumers feel the majority of websites are not designed around the end-user's needs. The digital insights platform sifted through anonymized data from hundreds of customers to see what kinds of insights they are not getting, and it turns out that quite a lot has been slipping through the net. Here’s our list of the best on-page SEO tools right now We’ve built a list of the best SEO research keyword tool Check out our list of the best rank checking tool available Website disconnect With the report pointing out that 98.5% of website owners have a tool that gives them data on how users interact with their product or website, but of that, only 24% say they have full insight into the user journey on their site, it conjures up the question - who is to blame? RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playing Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21 Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21 IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to... 24/12/20 AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20 PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1... 14/12/20 With only 16% of digital experience owners knowing why most customers drop off their website, despite over 98% disclosing they have the tools, it appears that the fault lies somewhere in between the website builder service provider and the organizations using it. TechRadar Pro reached out to Heap for further insight on the report findings, to which the digital insights platform is yet to respond. There is a significant overlap between accessibility and usability, and with 89% of consumers mentioning that ease of use is a critical factor when choosing between two websites, it is one explanation for the website drop off rates website owners are experiencing. According to W3C's web accessibility initiative, many websites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult or impossible for some people to use. Not getting on top of it could cost businesses billions, as analysis from web hosting providers LCN found in its recent report.

The recent increase in wafer quotes by TSMC, Samsung Foundry, GlobalFoundries, SMIC, UMC, and other contract chipmakers, particularly for chips made using mature nodes, will soon have a more serious impact on the price of actual hardware, researchers at Counterpoint claim. That includes cell phones and a broad range of everyday consumer hardware, with the expected price hikes being severe enough that analysts expect most consumers to be forced to buy lower-end hardware. Modern PCs and smartphones usually contain one or two key chips (CPU, GPU, SoC) made using the most advanced chip tech, like a leading-edge or advanced node. But they also feature tens of logic chips made with mainstream/mature nodes (older chip tech). (Image credit: Qualcomm) The foundries, which make the actual chips, have already increased pricing for their customers. However, most chip designers and other firms that make the finished products didn't pass on the price hikes to their customers to keep prices of their entry-level and mainstream products stable so they don't scare off price-sensitive customers. While this didn't happen with graphics cards and CPUs (some of the SKUs simply went missing), many devices (smartphones, inexpensive notebooks, etc.) have basically maintained their standard MSRPs during the shortage. That's about to end. With the recent hikes of quotes by TSMC and other foundries, the cumulative cost increases for some chips from 2020 to 2022 will be 30%, or higher. A 30% increase is impossible not to pass up the supply chain as margins are already rather thin and naturally the company's don't want to lose money. Counterpoint now expects the chip designers to increase their prices to OEMs, which will now filter down to the end products in 2022. If all vendors (from SoC to power management chips) pass wafer price increases to OEMs, a high-end smartphone BOM cost increase from logic ICs will be about 12% in 2022, according to Counterpoint. (Image credit: Counterpoint) A high-end smartphone's bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, which represents how much it costs to build the device, is typically around $600. This could increase by 12% overall because chips account for a lower percentage of its overall BOM cost. Meanwhile, an entry-level handset (<$150) could jump around 16% because the chips account for a more significant portion of its BOM. A 12% ~ 16% increase in BOM cost can have a very significant (think 25% orhigher, but we are speculating) impact on its recommended price, so it looks like next year we should expect another round of price hikes on pretty much everything. Short-term price hikes are not a big problem, per se, but these factors will keep pricing high for years to come. Wafer Prices: Leading-Edge & Advanced Nodes Making chips using leading-edge fabrication technologies, such as TSMC's N7 and N5 as well as Samsung Foundry's 7LPP and 5LPE, is expensive because contract chip makers tend to charge two or three times more for processing wafers using their latest nodes than for trailing (older) nodes, like N12/N16 and above. (Image credit: TSMC) Developing SoCs for N5 or N7 technologies is extremely expensive, and those investments are typically made years before those chips start to earn money. As a result, only a handful of companies in the world can afford leading-edge processes. Because demand for leading-edge and advanced nodes is somewhat limited and is fairly predictable, so TSMC and Samsung Foundry do not have to rush to expand their capacity. To that end, wafers using TSMC's N5 node will not get any more expensive next year than 2021, whereas prices of N7 node will increase by around 5%, Counterpoint says. (Image credit: Counterpoint) In the coming year or two, both technologies will still remain rather inaccessible for the vast majority of chip designers, and even rather advanced chips will still be produced on 16nm and 28nm-class nodes. Meanwhile, wafer pricing for these technologies will increase by 10% to 18%, which is quite noticeable. Nowadays chips like SSD controllers are fabbed using 12/16nm-class technologies and those types of chips are found in the vast majority of client PCs these days. Wafer Prices: Mainstream & Mature Nodes All advanced chips in modern client devices are surrounded by ICs made using mature technologies such as 40/45 nm and above: power management ICs, display driver ICs, network controllers, and many more. There are tens of thousands of designs made using mature nodes, and the number of designs is growing. These chips are widely used by all industries, including automakers, consumer electronics manufacturers, producers of industrial equipment, and even aerospace companies. (Image credit: GlobalFoundries) Demand for all electronics devices is already high these days (partly because many venues remain closed and people spend their money on goods). Also, since there are ongoing megatrends like 5G, AI, and HPC, chip demand is only going to increase. As a result, Counterpoint expects chips made using trailing (lagging) technologies to be in short supply for a while, and balanced supply and demand won't come until mid-2023. In fact, demand for equipment designed for lagging-edge nodes is growing faster than demand for tools aimed at leading-edge nodes, according to fab equipment firms. "We have just try to view that, over several year horizon that actually the lagging-edge [wafer fab equipment, WFE] grows faster than overall WFE," said Doug Bettinger, the chief financial officer of Lam Research, during a conference call with analysts and investors (via SeekingAlpha). "I still see it that way. We are at dynamics that's drives this business is lagging-edge. It is IoT, it is RF, it is power devices it is, automotive […]. The demand for that segment of the semiconductor industry is very strong." Counterpoint says that TSMC (and probably other foundries) have increased their quotes for 40/45 nm, 55/65 nm, 90 nm, and larger nodes multiple times since mid-2020. As a result, the price of a wafer processed using 90nm technology will increase by 38% in 2022 compared to 2020. "For foundry customers (fabless and IDMs), the impact of supply shortage weighs much greater on their business compared to the 10% – 20% increase in wafer cost, which they might pass to their end customers (device ODMs/OEMs)," wrote Dale Gai, a research director at Counterpoint. Fabs Utilization Rate Exceeds 100% Currently, most foundries operate at a utilization rate that exceeds 100%. TSMC does not publish its utilization rates, but SMIC's utilization rate was 100.4% in Q2 2021, whereas UMC's utilization rate exceeded 100% in Q2 2021, according to financial reports. This essentially means that fabs spend more time processing wafers and less time in maintenance, which is risky. (Image credit: TSMC) For a while, contract chipmakers have been buying additional equipment for their trailing nodes, and even outdated nodes that rely on 200-mm wafers. But since demand now exceeds supply, they are buying even more equipment and will have to depreciate those tools in the coming years, which will make them more reluctant to drop prices even when demand-supply balance stabilizes. Entry-Level Devices to Thrive? If analysts' predictions are correct and retail prices of hardware will upsurge tangibly because of prices of chips made using lagging-edge nodes, we may see an interesting implication on the market. (Image credit: King Yuan Electronics) Price-sensitive customers who buy mainstream smartphones and PCs may start buying entry-level devices unless manufacturers add some additional value to their midrange products that will get out of price ranges that buyers come to expect. We have already seen something like this in the GPU market. Now this might happen to more po[CENSORED]r devices. Summary Prices of CPUs, GPUs, and SoCs for high-end smartphones are driven primarily by high demand as well as factors like yields and undersupply. TSMC and Samsung Foundry have relatively limited capacity for their 5nm and 7nm-class nodes, but because they're interested in long-term relationships with companies that can afford to develop chips for leading-edge nodes, neither is going to increase quotes for leading-edge nodes or sell allocations through a bidding system. But when it comes to trailing nodes, foundries increase their quotes as demand clearly exceeds supply, and that will exist for years to come. Chips made using 28nm and older process technologies are used for tens of thousands of applications, including those based on chips produced with leading-edge nodes. Today, some foundries are running at utilization rates that are over 100% to meet the demand for inexpensive chips. which is risky. The price increases on chips made using mature nodes will affect the end cost of all devices. In the case of high-end PCs and smartphones, the additional costs will barely affect their recommended prices (if at all). But in the case of mainstream devices, the additional costs may have a drastic effect on MSRP. If this happens, buyers may cease to buy midrange products and switch to entry-level instead.

Egregious roughing the passer penalty nullifies Packers interception Texas wanted to be the tech haven of the U.S. Its new abortion bill and… Renault unveiled the Megane E-Tech Electric at the Munich Motor Show on Monday. While the specs seem decent enough, it's the safety functions that are the most eye-catching aspect of this electric vehicle. The Fireman Access feature stems from a partnership between Renault Group and French firefighters that stretches back for over a decade. The EV includes special access to the battery for rescue teams. Renault claims this can allow first responders to put out a battery fire in five minutes, compared with between one and three hours for most EV battery blazes. There's also a switch under the rear bench that lets rescue teams disconnect the battery. In addition, Renault put a QR code on the windscreen. The idea is that rescue teams can scan the code to see details about the car's structure. They can find out the locations of the battery and airbags, as well as information about where it's safe to cut into the vehicle. Renault says this information can help first responders save up to 15 minutes when attempting to free a crash victim, which could help save lives. Gallery: Spy photos emerge of potential BMW 3 Series mid-cycle update (Autoblog) Get Paid $200 by Signing Up for This New Card (Yeah, Seriously) Ad Microsoft Refi Rates at 1.89% APR. Do you qualify? Ad Microsoft Slide 1 of 12 Full screen 1/12 SLIDES © CarPix 2023 BMW 3 Series refresh No two EVs are built the same, and first responders won't necessarily know the intricacies of each vehicle. So, providing information about the Megane E-Tech Electric's structure using a QR code is a smart move that it'd be nice to see more automakers adopt. The same goes for easy access to the battery to help put out fires faster. The latest iteration of the Megane line is built on Renault's CMF-EV platform. For the body, designers took inspiration from the Morphoz concept the company showed off last year. There are two powertrain options: a base model with 130 horsepower and a more advanced alternative with 215 hp and 221 pound-feet of torque. You can choose between two battery packs as well. The 40-kWh option has a range of 186 miles (300 km), and the 60-kWh pack should get you up to 292 miles (470 km) of driving on a single charge, according to Renault. The company based the estimates on the European WLTP testing procedure. Plug the Megane E-Tech Electric into a 130 kW fast charging station, and you can add up to 186 miles of driving range in 30 minutes of charging time. Elsewhere, the OpenR infotainment system is based on Android Automotive OS, so you'll have access to Google apps and Google Assistant. While you're on a longer trip, the system can help you locate charging stations that minimize your journey time, Renault says. The Megane E-Tech Electric orders open in February 2022, and sales start the following March.

High blood cholesterol level is a known risk factor for heart diseases. Decade-old nutritional guidelines suggested dietary cholesterol as one of the major contributors to elevate the blood cholesterol level. However, these guidelines are now challenged by recent scientific revelation and negate dietary cholesterol as a significant contributing factor to cardiovascular diseases for most people. Here, we discuss current scientific evidence to understand the role of dietary cholesterol in elevating blood lipid levels and the risk of heart diseases. Blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol are different According to National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Health, US, cholesterol that circulates in the blood is a waxy, fat-like substance, produced by the liver when needed. Dietary cholesterol is found in animal foods, such as meats, liver and other organ meats, full-fat dairy, egg yolks, and shellfish and is absorbed in relatively small amounts. Cholesterol is vital to perform multiple physiological functions, synthesise hormones and Vitamin D. Also Read |High iron levels may help lower cholesterol: Study What research says A systematic review of 40 studies by Samantha Berger and colleagues found consumption of cholesterol-containing foods was not associated with any coronary artery disease, ischemic stroke, or hemorrhagic stroke. In a review article titled ‘Rethinking dietary cholesterol’, Maria L Fernandez suggested reconsidering the common notion to limit dietary cholesterol in controlling blood cholesterol. On the contrary, in the case of some people, high cholesterol foods were found to elevate blood cholesterol level. A randomised control trial included g 40 men of 18 to 57 years of age and put them on an egg-based diet. The study reported a section of men with a specific genetic makeup had elevated cholesterol level than the others. Authors classified the former section of men as ‘hyperresponders’ and derived a conclusion that additional dietary cholesterol is not linked to an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis in healthy men. There is lack of scientific evidence that could link eggs with elevated cholesterol levels or increased risk of heart diseases. (Source: pixabay) Dietary cholesterol and heart diseases Sound scientific evidence shows no association between dietary cholesterol and development of heart diseases. In fact, the po[CENSORED]r notion of dietary cholesterol consumption and elevated risk of heart diseases seems over-exaggerated in light of this evidence such as a comprehensive review of Harvard egg study and other similar data. Eggs are the powerhouse of nutrition with the presence of all essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. A large egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol, but only 1.56 grams of saturated fat. For decades, eggs have been barred from typical high-cholesterol diets due to cholesterol content. Also Read |New research: Prevalence, outcomes of heart disease among Covid-19 patients However, there is lack of scientific evidence that could link eggs with elevated cholesterol levels or increased risk of heart diseases. A prospective po[CENSORED]tion-based study included 1032 men aged 42-60 years and assessed their dietary intake from a 4-day food record. The result revealed egg intake was not associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease, even in 32.5 per cent ApoE4 carriers who were highly susceptible individuals. A very large data published by JAMA involved 37,851 men aged between 40 and 75 years, and 80,082 women aged between 34 and 59 years, and assessed the association between incidence of heart diseases and egg consumption by a food frequency questionnaire. This data concluded that consumption of up to 1 egg per day is not associated with risk of coronary heart disease or stroke among healthy men and women. On the contrary, multiple researchers found eggs to be lowering the risk of heart diseases. A study by the British Medical Journal analysed eight articles and found that consuming up to one egg per day was not associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease or stroke. In fact, people who ate one egg per day had a 25 per cent lower risk of developing hemorrhagic stroke. However, egg consumption can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in people who are already living with diabetes type 2. Now that we know dietary cholesterol is not the culprit as we have been told earlier, it’s important to understand the risk factors of high blood cholesterol and how to lower cholesterol naturally. Risk factors for cholesterol include lack of physical activity, being overweight or obese, smoking, eating processed and junk foods, presence of diabetes type 2, kidney disease or hypothyroidism. How to lower cholesterol level Lifestyle modification is proven to be the simplest way to lower cholesterol level: 🍴Losing extra weight is the first step to adopt. Research has revealed that losing just 5 to 10 per cent of existing body weight was linked to lower cholesterol level and decreased the risk of cardiovascular diseases in obese individual. 🍴A whole-food-based nutritious diet is crucial for optimal health. Adding nuts, seeds, legumes, green leafy vegetables, beans, fruits to the daily diet will keep the blood cholesterol level in control. Foods that are high in cholesterol like egg, liver, shellfish are packed with important nutrients and should be included in the daily diet with caution to avoid these for people living with diabetes. A personalised consultation with a certified dietitian is the best course of action to decide frequency of eating, amount of each food and composition of the diet. 🍴Be careful of trans fatty acids. Almost all processed and ultra-processed foods like pizza, cookies, biscuits, instant noodles, French fries, and fried chicken are high in trans fatty acids and increase the risk of heart diseases, a leading cause of death worldwide.

The Khyber Pass is one of the world's great invasion routes - forbidding, steep and treacherous, stretching from the Afghan border to the Valley of Peshawar, 20 miles (32 km) below, in Afghanistan. For three thousand years, armies have struggled through these rocky defiles and camped in its valleys. You can still see the insignia of regiments from the British and British Indian armies, which continue to be carefully maintained, along the sides of the road, overlooked by the forts they once built and guarded. From the rocks above, Pashtun tribesmen armed with ancient jezails, or flintlock rifles, would snipe at passing soldiers with amazing accuracy. Nowadays trucks laden with agricultural produce from Afghanistan labour round the sharp bends, sometimes with men and boys clinging to the side of them for the ride. On the pathways beside the road, old men trudge along, bent double under boxes of smuggled goods. 'An atmosphere of fear and urgency' The Khyber Pass ends at Torkham - Afghanistan's busiest border crossing with Pakistan. Several years ago the Pakistani authorities completely revamped it. Now the crowds waiting there are better marshalled than they used to be, but there's an atmosphere of fear and urgency as people try to escape from Afghanistan's new rulers, the Taliban. You can see them from the Pakistani side, crowding together behind the wire in the midday heat, waving their documents and begging to be allowed through. For the most part, only people who have permission to leave Afghanistan on medical grounds can cross, together with their families. The long line, cluttered with wheelchairs and suitcases, shuffles slowly forward through the various checkpoints. image captionTaliban and Pakistani guards may work relatively peacefully at the border - but they are not friends On the road, where the actual border runs, a couple of Pakistani soldiers stand face to face with Taliban guards wearing makeshift uniforms. The Taliban had no objection to talking to me. I asked one of them, a big man with a bushy beard covered by a face-mask, why the national green and red flag of Afghanistan wasn't flying over the border post. It has been replaced by the white flag of the Taliban, inscribed with the Shahada, the basic statement of the Muslim faith: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His messenger." "Our country is now an Islamic Caliphate," the border guard answered proudly, "and this is the correct flag for the whole country." EXPLAINER: Ten days that shook Afghanistan ANALYSIS: A country abandoned: John Simpson on Afghanistan ON THE GROUND: What has changed in Afghanistan in 20 years There are occasional moments of tension, but for the most part the Pakistani and Taliban border guards face each other without hostility. There is no question of fraternising, though. Many Afghans blame Pakistan for the Taliban's success. They believe implicitly that the militants were founded and promoted by Pakistan, and especially by the ISI, its notorious spy agency. In fact Pakistan's relations with the Taliban have not been nearly as close since Imran Khan became Pakistan's prime minister in 2018, and its influence over the Taliban has been noticeably on the decline. image captionJohn Simpson and his team interview a Taliban border guard The power of China To most governments, a relationship with the Taliban is distinctly embarrassing right now. The militant group has links with Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states, though not close ones. The country which has the closest relationship with the Taliban is China, which doesn't show the slightest sign of embarrassment at all. With so many ordinary Afghans trying to flee their country, its economy seems certain to crash, as it did when the Taliban were last in power, from 1996 to 2001. Therefore, Chinese economic support will be needed to keep Afghanistan afloat, and that will give Beijing a sizeable degree of control over Taliban policy. We can also be pretty certain that the Taliban won't challenge China on awkward issues like the treatment of its Muslim and Uighur po[CENSORED]tion. The Taliban take-over of power has been disastrous for the United States, Britain, Germany, France and other countries which have helped Afghanistan over the past 20 years. It has also brought India's policy to a dead halt. India injected large amounts of money and expertise into Afghanistan, and had a good deal of influence with the governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani - both of whom wanted India as a counter-balance to Pakistan. That is all finished now. image captionA shop at Torkham in Pakistan, the busiest crossing with Afghanistan Last time they were in control, the Taliban were treated as international pariahs. The economy got so bad that by 2001 there was no money to buy fuel. The few cars that were left were forced off the road. Most people couldn't afford generators, and power cuts were widespread. The streets were dark and silent at night, and in the daytime most people preferred to stay indoors as much as they could, fearful of the gangs of Taliban vigilantes. Will it be the same now? The difference is China. If Beijing decides that it will gain sufficient economic and political advantage, it will save the Taliban from going under. If not, they'll be on their own.

9

Virtual reality has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years. Whether we’re talking about the capabilities of the VR tech itself, its price, or the VR games now available to us, there’s no question that virtual reality has improved. While the Valve Index is still pricey, there are plenty of great budget options now available. The Oculus Quest 2 can be bought for a humble $300, and it’s a damn good headset by all technical standards. But, as with all new technological innovations, there have been bumps along the road. For instance, while the Quest 2 is fantastic in terms of price-performance, it requires full Facebook integration to use, which has raised questions about the ethics of business practices which strongarm the user into a social media-sphere, and all the privacy concerns that this raises. And when it comes to the tech itself, there are still a number of issues to be worked out, such as the tracking of the HP Reverb G2. “Our sense of reality is changing—away from the physical world, towards experience.” Clearly there are hurdles to be overcome. Perhaps more importantly, however, there are questions about the very nature of VR tech and VR gaming that are often overlooked, but which are imperative for the VR gaming community to discuss. Will VR ever be good enough to imitate reality? And should we want it to? These questions are quite philosophical, and while I have some philosophy credentials myself as a published PhD researcher in philosophy, I thought it best to pick the brain of a professor. James Tartaglia is professor of metaphysical philosophy at Keele University, and is an expert on the philosophy of technology. His latest book, Philosophy in a Technological World: Gods and Titans, wrestles with some of the more philosophical questions about VR, among other things. I asked Tartaglia for some insight into the potential problems that advanced VR might pose. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingHalf Life: Alyx - Best VR Game of the Year 2020 | PC Gamer The PC Gamer Show 199: 9 years of Terraria, GTA 5... 22/05/20The PC Gamer Show 199: 9 years of Terraria, GTA 5 mods for new players The PC Gamer Show: 20 years of torturing... 13/02/20The PC Gamer Show: 20 years of torturing suburbanites in The Sims The PC Gamer Show 161: Borderlands 3, Sea of... 09/05/19The PC Gamer Show 161: Borderlands 3, Sea of Thieves, and the pressure to constantly update games The PC Gamer Show 155: Devil May Cry 5, The... 07/03/19The PC Gamer Show 155: Devil May Cry 5, The Division 2 beta, the best podcast games, Q&A The PC Gamer Show is back! — Fallout 76 beta,... 25/10/18The PC Gamer Show is back! — Fallout 76 beta, Fortnitemares, and games in Korea Could VR games be just like real life? The philosopher Robert Nozick, in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia, asked us to imagine that scientists have constructed an ‘experience machine’. This machine would plug into your brain and “give you any experience you desired”. The experiences it would feed us would feel exactly the same as if they were happening for real, but they wouldn’t be. Just like in The Matrix. Could our VR tech ever become as good as Nozick’s imagined experience machine? I asked Tartaglia. “Given the approach to technological development that dominates our world,” he says, VR tech like this “will be produced as soon as possible. We’re already on the trajectory, the goal is already within sight, so since there’s lots of money to be made from perfecting VR, the race is on. Afterwards, we’ll start trying to deal with the social problems it creates. I’ve no idea how long it will take, that’s a question for technologists, but I’m sceptical about the notion, po[CENSORED]r among some philosophers, that we’ll run up against a principled barrier, I think that’s wishful thinking.” A press shot of VR game Half-Life: Alyx We've a long way to go until ultra-realistic VR is a reality, but VR gaming has come a long way in a short period of time, too. (Image credit: Valve) What would it mean for our VR tech to become so good that VR games are indistinguishable from reality like this? Well, the game world would have to look and sound perfectly real, of course. That’s no small thing, either, because it’s difficult to see how even next-next-next-(and so on)-gen graphics and physics could perfectly emulate reality. But maybe it wouldn’t have to be exactly the same, maybe it could just be so immersive that it makes us feel like we’ve entered a new reality—one that’s slightly different from the real one. However, for it to be really immersive, we’d also have to have immersive temperature, motion, balance, touch, and so on. The ‘slipping on a headset and holding two controllers’ idea probably wouldn’t cut it. Perhaps the only option would be to have something plug into your brain—perhaps one of those brain-computer interfaces that Gabe Newell thinks will someday be all the rage—and make it convince you you’re somewhere else, just like a dream. (But to be completely immersive, it’d have to make you forget real reality every time you use it, too.) But do we want that? Do we want anything close to that? Oculus Quest 2 with Elite Strap in front of window The Oculus Quest 2 is the most po[CENSORED]r VR headset right now, but will VR always look this familiar? (Image credit: Future) Should VR games be just like real life? I asked Tartaglia about Nozick’s experience machine and what it can show us about the distinction between reality and VR. “Nozick”, Tartaglia says, “wanted to show that real life is better, because only real life can deliver what we ‘want’: we want to be things and we want to do things, not just pretend. That was in 1974 and it seems to me that developments since then have shown that people have no trouble genuinely wanting to be and do things in VR. The worry that it’s only pretend is fading with each new generation. Our sense of reality is changing – away from the physical world, towards experience.” Advertisement VIRTUAL REALITY (Image credit: Valve) Best VR headset: which kit should you choose? Best graphics card: you need serious GPU power for VR Best gaming laptop: don't get tied to your desktop in VR It’s this shift in our sense of reality—away from the physical world and towards experience—that’s the crux of the issue. We seem to care less and less about whether our experiences are in reality or in a virtual world. But whether it’s real or virtual, if we experience it, is there any real difference? On this question, Tartaglia says, “There would be a difference, we just wouldn’t be able to tell—it would be indistinguishable from the subject’s point of view. Think in terms of the physical world and it’s a trick; think in terms of experience and we’re changing our worlds.” From our point of view, then, virtual reality in the experience machine would be indistinguishable from real reality. But that doesn’t change the fact that it would be different—we just wouldn’t realise that it is. Valve Index panel with test images on either side Valve is a major player in the VR market, and company president, Gabe Newell, is also a proponent of brain-computer interface technology as the future of gaming. (Image credit: Valve) Tartaglia ends his latest book by describing—with more than a hint of tongue-in-cheek—a future ‘utopia’, where people live almost entirely in virtual realities that appear indistinguishable from real reality. I asked him about the problems such a future ‘utopia’ might pose. “The problems would be endless," he says, “you’re effectively redesigning the nature of human life. One of the main points I was trying to make by imagining a VR utopia, and hence trying to get around some of the more obvious problems, was to indicate the enormity of those problems. One problem is isolation—VR cuts us off from other people to enclose us in our own little world, where interactions with others are something of a speculative reality: ‘is it really another person doing that? ’; ‘does it matter whether it is or not?’ … Another big problem is privacy, because virtual worlds, unlike the real one, can be completely monitored—and there’s money and power to be gained from that.” Advertisement “Think in terms of the physical world and it’s a trick; think in terms of experience and we’re changing our worlds.” Apart from privacy concerns, isolation seems like perhaps the most pressing problem for such advanced VR, especially because we might not even realise we’re isolated, thanks to the tech itself and the pressure from those who develop and sell it trying to convince us otherwise. But if we entered such VR worlds, whether we realised it or not, we would in fact be isolated. We’d be losing touch with reality. Tartaglia touches on this, too. In a world full of experience machines, “we’ll lose touch with other people and that won’t be good for society or individual mental health. We’ll also be monitored, and what is learned will be used to predict and mani[CENSORED]te us—free will is another traditional philosophical problem that VR will give a new lease of life. There’s also a full-blown existential problem with people increasingly abandoning the real world for VR, namely that we’ll make ourselves vulnerable to those who remain outside: if the internet could be brought down then we’d already be in a lot of trouble—bringing down VR, when people mainly live in it, would be a lot worse.” Man in Virtual Reality headset with hand extended out in front of him (Image credit: Stanislaw Pytel, Getty Images) Towards a constructive future for VR Of course, these are all problems of the future, assuming society becomes as VR-centric and technologically advanced as we’ve been imagining. We might wonder why we should concern ourselves with it in the here and now. But think, for a second, about how far we’ve come in just the past two decades—does this future really seem so far off? And do we want to wait until we get there to start thinking about it? The only way to influence such a future is by altering its course before it arrives. It might be a problem of the future, but every step we take along the way can nudge that future into one direction or another. Advertisement “If new generations want power to determine their own futures, then they’ll need to demand policies on technological development from their politicians.” It’s something we should start thinking about right now, not later. But what can be done? Tartaglia thinks we should be asking more from our politicians. “If new generations want power to determine their own futures, then they’ll need to demand policies on technological development from their politicians.” So perhaps we shouldn’t be too pessimistic about the future of VR because there are practical steps, like this, that we can take to nudge it in the right direction. I asked Tartaglia whether he thinks there’s any possibility for us to guide the development of VR in a constructive, beneficial, and unproblematic way. He thinks there is, but to an extent. “Constructive and beneficial, yes; unproblematic, of course not—but the problems might be worth trying to deal with. I focused on VR in Gods and Titans because I think it is the developing technology most likely to dominate our future, and because that future could, in principle, be amazing.” As for the VR gamer like you and I, if we want VR to continue developing in a constructive rather than destructive way, he has some advice for us. “Don’t just buy into the latest developments because they’re new and you’re curious. Think about the future directions of VR being indicated by the latest novelty, form collectives, and collectively boycott when your concerns aren’t addressed. Take responsibility for being part of a foundational generation. If you want VR sex, that’s what you’ll get, sooner or later; if you want VR torture, that’s what you’ll be able to get, sooner or later, even if it’s banned; but if you want a good future for the human race, I don’t think you’ll want either of those, not on reflection. Try being a bit more philosophical about what you want.” If we want to continue down this path of perpetual VR development, I think being a bit more philosophical about what we want is about the most sensible advice we can take.

It’s May 1997 and a most un-British sense of optimism is hanging in the air, mingling with the sticky aroma of Impulse O2 body spray. Tony Blair is the new prime minister, the UK has won the Eurovision Song Contest, and the Spice Girls have announced an upcoming film, Spice World. Nobody yet knows it’ll be a rapid tumble downhill from here for all concerned. Life is good. Life is bloody great, in fact. At the age of 11 I’ve been told I’m Dux of my primary school, which is the dweeb equivalent of being crowned Gala Queen. My entire body trembles with glee when I learn the news, my shell suit gently rustling in delight. Partly because I’m proud, but mostly because it means I’ll get a present. I’m finally going to have the one thing I’ve been dreaming of for the best part of a year: Crash Bandicoot. Here's all the games announced from the PlayStation Showcase US-only: PS5 restock tracker Everything we know about Spider-Man 2 for PS5 Jenny gets a PlayStation PlayStation 1 console (Image credit: Sony) Rewind a few months and I’m in my friend Jenny’s kitchen, the two of us perched on stools in front of a compact television hooked up to a dove-grey console. She’s the first of my friends to get a PlayStation and I’m politely straining at the leash for a shot. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute My gaming life thus far has been a steady diet of MS-DOS games played on my dad’s best friend’s hand-me-down computers – Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom, Prince of Persia, Zork – with monochrome displays and pixels so big you could eat dinner off them. I have a Game Boy for which I own two games, Tetris and Super Mario Land. At night I sneak it out and play it under the duvet with a torch illuminating the screen. Kids at school chat about their Mega Drives and Sega Saturns, their Ataris and Super Nintendo consoles, and I can’t even visualise what they are and how they work. I’ve only heard boys talk about them, boys with grubby Sonic school bags and spiked-up hair, so subconsciously I think they must not be for girls. But then Jenny gets a PlayStation. The disc whirs and Crash Bandicoot bounces onto the screen in glorious, saturated technicolour. My friend expertly navigates to N. Sanity Beach and the room fills with the optimistic, tribalesque music that will become the soundtrack to my summer. She talks me through the controls – X is jump, Square is spin – as she weaves through the jungle, bopping crabs and smashing Wumpa-filled crates. “Ooga-booga!” booms an Aku Aku mask, and we turn to each other grinning and parrot it back. “OOGA-BOOGA!” Then it’s my turn. I grip a controller for the first time. I play in colour for the first time. I feel the giddy elation of getting three Aku Aku masks and racing invincibly through a level, my heart fluttering as I obliterate everything in my path. I walk home and tell my parents I really, really want a PlayStation. But what I really, really want is Crash Bandicoot. And then, in the summer of 1997, as a gift for being an unbearable little swot, I get both. Summer on the Wumpa Islands Crash Bandicoot 1 in the Native Fortress level (Image credit: Naughty Dog) A heat wave descends that summer. The tiny Scottish village I live in smells of hot concrete and cut grass. I don’t go outside much, though, because after considerable begging and pleading my little sister and I have been allowed a small TV in our room. It sits on a shelf with my new toy plugged in below, and me plugged in on a bean bag on the floor. My rollerblades gather dust, the bike tyres sink and hours dissolve every day as I journey through N. Sanity Island. I munch through packets of Tangy Toms that rim my mouth with dusty crumbs the same lurid orange as my bandicoot chum. Try as I might, I can’t get beyond Native Fortress at the end of the first island – those shield guys do me dirty every time – so I circle back to the beginning and lap my favourite levels. A round of Boulders floods my body with adrenaline as I swap chasing my pals outside for running away from a rolling rock. I ride the pig in Hog Wild so many times that every leap and dodge is committed to muscle memory. You know that video of the ballerina with Alzheimer’s who can remember how to dance? If I ever suffer the same fate, Hog Wild will be my Swan Lake. As a not very seasoned gamer in a pre-internet age, I don’t understand why I reach the end of a flawless play in some levels, only to be smashed over the head with the boxes I apparently missed. “My game must be broken,” I think. I express this thought out loud on a rare outing to the swing park and a classmate laughs. “Nah, you need to get the gems. It’s really hard, though. Do you want a cheat code?” The code, scribbled in pencil, doesn’t magically reveal the hidden boxes. It goes one better and unlocks every single level in the game. Advertisement I jump between the three islands in awe, unable to believe my eyes. There are levels shrouded in darkness! Robots! Slime! The bongo drums give way to electro and filthy basslines. I die almost immediately in every level because, well, I’m rubbish, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m just happy to be here, spending my summer holidays pootling around on the Wumpa Islands. Crash re-landing Crash Bandicoot N.Trance Trilogy (Image credit: Vicarious Visions) I flirt with Crash over the subsequent years, but when life simultaneously blesses and curses you with the internet, boys and booze, it’s easy to forget your humble roots. I smile fondly when I hear the trilogy has been remastered in 2017, but it’s not until the end of 2018 that I play. I’ve been driven to seek solace in it after receiving bad news. The kind that winds you. I’m pit-deep in winter and already in hibernation mode; how do you bury yourself when you're already hiding? In nostalgia, it turns out. Some people have childhood teddies or a well-worn film they turn to in times of trauma and distress. Familiarity is soothing; a cuddle from an old friend. I discover my emotional comfort blanket in the video game I'd fallen in love with 21 years earlier, and dive in headfirst. This time I'm not messing about. I'm going to complete it. A bit of me is playing for pleasure but overwhelmingly I am seeking something that feels absent from my life: a sense of control. And while Crash seemed to be the master of me when I was 11 years old, I feel that 32-year-old me has a chance of beating it. Especially now the internet exists. I understand how the first game works now – that I get crystals for getting all the boxes, but some boxes will elude me until I've snared the coloured gems. I know I have to complete certain levels without dying to obtain the coloured gems, and that while Crash might not die on successful attempts, my soul will in the process of getting there. I become obsessed with the gems; they are my precious, I am Gollum. Every night I come home from work and play intensively until I achieve something; anything. When I discover I can walk the ropes on the bridge levels I want to phone everyone I know, then remember nobody cares because it’s not the 90s any more and they’re all married with kids. Advertisement Entire days are spent sliding around in the pissing rain of Slippery Climb on a mission to get the red gem, the most challenging of all. When I make it unscathed past the revolving platforms and flapping birds to the sweet, succulent ruby at the end, my dopamine centre lights up like an arcade. By January 2019 I can look in the mirror and say: ‘Crash? Completed it, mate.’ Well. The first one, anyway. Crash Pand(em)icoot Crash 2 (Image credit: Naughty Dog) Look, we’re in the midst of a pandemic: of course I have returned to the furry ginger embrace of Monsieur Bandicoot. Alongside wearing my pyjamas all day and being able to fetch Magnums from the freezer during meetings, working from home has bestowed on me the greatest blessing of all: Crash breaks. Between lockdowns and deadlines, new jobs and old wounds, I’ve slowly made my way through the entire trilogy and the fourth game now lies in sight. I’ve cursed the arsehole bees in Diggin’ It, rode to victory on the baby polar bear in Totally Bear and pulsated with rage throughout every gimmicky level of Warped. When I realised I had to get the relics to complete the third game, I almost flushed my controller down the toilet in a huff. But then I persevered, because I’m an adult lady and not a big baby. My therapist tells me it’s important for anyone’s mental health to have a sense of mastery in life, whether it’s from learning an entirely new skill or completing a piece of work. For me, it has come from Crash. That feeling of ticking off a level, a crystal, a relic, whatever it is, brings a sense of achievement, even if the rest of the world has gone to muck. It’s strange; I’ve never really been one to reread books or rewatch films because I’m constantly overwhelmed by how much new art there is to discover. Yet I’d happily never play another videogame but Crash. It is my comfort food, my safety net, my virtual holiday home. And I still don’t even know what a bandicoot is. The original games were developed by Naughty Dog. Activision Blizzard now owns the IP for Crash Bandicoot, and produced the remastered collection, and is currently embroiled in ongoing litigation in regards to claims reporting a workplace culture that allegedly enabled acts of sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination. Read our Activision Blizzard lawsuit timeline of events for ongoing coverage of the events.

AMD revenues have been growing steadily in the past few years. In 2020, the company posted its all-time record revenue of $9.763 billion and, for this year, it recently guided a whopping 60% increase to around $15.5 billion, a goal that is particularly hard to hit amid a chip-supply crisis. Yet, AMD is confident that it will achieve its targets this year and in the coming years because of improved supply, growing demand for server and HPC-grade hardware, and a focus on premium models. Continuous Growth "We believe that we can continue [this revenue growth], both with the customers on the demand side and also supply [side] with our foundry partners, substrate suppliers, and ATMP [assembly, testing, marking, and packaging] capacity and feel that there is significant room for us to grow out to 2022 and 2023," said Devinder Kumar, chief financial officer of AMD, at Deutsche Bank Technology Conference 2021 (via SeekingAlpha). AMD (Image credit: AMD) So far this year, AMD's sales have been very strong. The company earned $7.295 billion in the first two quarters of the year and is on-track to hit the goal of growing its revenue by 60% year-over-year. To hit its financial targets this year, AMD had to prioritize manufacturing of products it had committed to supply as well as high-margin models, which sometimes means giving up unit share. In fact, AMD gained unit and revenue share in servers and mobile client PCs, but its unit share in desktops dropped in Q2 2021 (even though it has some of the best CPUs these days) as the company focused its production on high-margin server CPUs as well as on mobile processors (which it had committed to supply to PC makers in advance). Meanwhile, the company's unit share on the market of discrete GPUs for desktop and laptop PCs dropped to a multi-year low in Q2 2021. Datacenters & HPC "The first priority is if we have made a commitment to our customer, we want to make sure that we can supply the parts to the customers," said Kumar. "The second thing you look at from an overall standpoint of demand versus supply, […] datacenter is a very high priority […]. Then the PC business, in particular with the higher end of the stack, we want to make sure that we can maintain and continue to grow the business in that area." AMD (Image credit: AMD) When it comes to datacenters and servers, AMD is particularly competitive with its 2nd and 3rd Generation EPYC processors codenamed Rome and Milan that feature up to 64 cores, something that Intel cannot offer. To this point, AMD's EPYC CPUs have been particularly successful with OEMs supplying to enterprises. But as operators of cloud datacenters are ramping up adoption of EPYC chips, the company has to meet additional demand for its server processors. Speaking of EPYCs, it is impossible to omit another major market that they are designed to address: supercomputers. AMD has won and fulfilled multiple supercomputer contracts with its EPYC processors, yet its main design wins for Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's Frontier 1.5 ExaFLOPS supercomputer as well as for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's El Capitan 2+ ExaFLOPS supercomputer are yet to be delivered. Both Frontier and El Capitan are powered by AMD's EPYC processors as well as the company's Instinct compute GPUs based on the CDNA architecture developed specifically for the HPC space. Being exascale systems, they use loads of high-end components and bring some huge money to technology companies. The Frontier machine alone will earn AMD, HPE, and others around $600 million. GPUs Are for Gamers, Not for Miners Demand for discrete GPUs for desktops and laptops increased significantly in the recent quarters as people now spend more time at home, but AMD could not really capitalize on this in terms of unit shipments. Obviously, since demand is high, the company could increase the prices of its GPUs and sell more high-end models (such as those on our best graphics card list) than usual. However, AMD also ran into controversy. Advertisement AMD (Image credit: AMD) A recent Steam Hardware Survey revealed that there were 11 times more gamers using Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards than there were gamers using AMD's latest Radeon RX 6000-series boards. Based on data from Jon Peddie Research, Nvidia outsold AMD 9:2 in Q2 2021, so after reviewing data from both sources, some observers accused AMD of selling its Radeon GPUs to large mining farms rather than sending them to the retail channel after seeing a video at Reddit. AMD's CFO denied the accusations and said that demand from miners was negligible. He also indicated that while AMD did not prioritize its GPU customers (well, at least not unless it had committed to supply them to a client in advance), the Radeon GPUs were for gamers, not for miners. "First, crypto is negligible, that is not a priority for us," said Kumar. "We do not prioritize our product or make them for the crypto folks is more for the gamers and that's our high priority from that standpoint. What has driven the [GPU revenue] growth, as you know, we [have] the Radeon RX 6000-series high-end GPUs [they are] very competitive and that is driving the growth in the GPU space." The discrete GPU business largely relies on massive R&D spending, a halo effect produced by top-of-the-range graphics cards, presence in retail with a wide family of offerings and marketing investments. Several years ago, AMD could not afford major investments in its graphics business and prioritized its CPU business as it had a clear roadmap with visible returns. This is the reason why Nvidia can significantly outsell AMD today. What would be interesting to know is whether AMD is investing enough in its GPU business now and whether this will be enough to capture a sizeable market share from Nvidia several years down the road. Focus on Revenue Share Being constrained on wafer processing, substrate supply, and ATMP (assembly, testing, marking, and packaging) capacity levels, AMD realistically cannot significantly increase its unit shipments and win unit share from Intel, particularly on the client side of the market. Therefore, AMD has to focus on revenue share by selling server CPUs as well as premium products instead of cheaper SKUs. Advertisement AMD (Image credit: AMD) "We are very focused on revenue share to go ahead and continue growing that because we believe even at the level that we are in right now, we have significantly lower revenue share in terms of where we are going to get to from a revenue share gain in particular with the premium products and the comparative products that we're introducing," said Kumar. Summary AMD is quite optimistic about its mid-term future as demand for its products is growing across all segments of the market, including client PCs, datacenters, and supercomputers. In fact, for the first time throughout its history, AMD has very competitive (if not the best CPUs) processors for virtually all major applications. When combined with generally high demand for computers, it is not surprising that the company cannot meet 100% of demand that it faces. Given growing demand for everything that computes, AMD's main challenge in the coming quarters and years will hardly be to land additional orders to sell as many parts as possible, but to produce enough chips to meet the growing demand. In the meantime, AMD will focus on increasing its revenue share by selling more expensive components.

WASHINGTON -- Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. on Saturday sharply criticized a proposal by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to give union-made electric vehicles in the United States an additional $4,500 tax incentive. Toyota said in a statement that the plan unveiled late Friday discriminates "against American autoworkers based on their choice not to unionize." The bill, set to be voted on Tuesday by the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee, would benefit Detroit's three automakers, which have union-represented auto plants. In a statement, Honda called the bill "unfair" and said it "discriminates among EVs made by hard-working American auto workers based simply on whether they belong to a union. ... The Honda production associates in Alabama, Indiana and Ohio who will build our EVs deserve fair and equal treatment by Congress." RELATED ARTICLE Automakers, EV stakeholders urge Congress to back ‘broadest' EV tax credits $12,500 maximum tax credit The proposal, estimated to cost $33 billion to $34 billion over 10 years, would boost to up to $12,500 the maximum tax credit for electric vehicles, up from the current $7,500. The $12,500 figure includes a $500 credit for using U.S.-produced batteries. The proposal is a key part of Democratic President Joe Biden's goal to ensure EVs comprise at least 50 percent of U.S. vehicle sales by 2030 and boost American union jobs. The bill, however, does away with phasing out automakers' tax credits after they hit 200,000 electric vehicles sold, which would make General Motors and Tesla Inc. eligible again. It would also create a new smaller credit for used EVs of up to $2,500. CONTENT PROVIDED BY IHS MARKIT - SEPTEMBER 2021 EV Charging Deserts - Where should we build the oases? How people power their cars is changing – and it likely won’t be at gas/petrol stations. READ MORE RELATED ARTICLE Toyota, Honda criticize Senate proposal tying EV tax credits to union workers UAW GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV, the parent of Chrysler, assemble their U.S.-made vehicles in plants represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. In contrast, foreign automakers operating in the United States as well as Tesla do not have unions representing assembly workers and many of them have fought efforts by the UAW to organize U.S. plants. Tesla would be eligible for up to $8,000 credits under the bill. UAW President Ray Curry said the tax credit provision "would go a long way in supporting-good paying union jobs in (the) EV auto sector that President Biden has championed." The bill limits the EV credit to cars priced at no more than $55,000, while trucks could be priced up to $74,000. Toyota added that it will also "fight to focus taxpayer dollars on making all electrified vehicles accessible for American consumers who can’t afford high-priced cars and trucks."

We all have weaknesses that we need to work on. One of the major issues is fitness, and how regular we are at it. While being fit comes naturally to some, others need a lot of push to get started. This Sunday, here are the signs that need to focus on their fitness, as explained by Jeevika Sharma, a tarot card reader and guidance counsellor. Capricorn Capricorns need to maintain a balance in their life, which would help them focus on being fit physically and mentally. They will be able to maintain stability once they start working on it. Aquarius Aquarius usually spend a huge amount of money in order to stay fit. They will try all possible ways to maintain their fitness. But, if there is any way which seems to be working for them, then they should stick to it. yoga Are you game for fitness? (Source: Canva) Pisces Pisces are the ones who need a lot of encouragement or need to be influenced for them to be fit. Once they get influenced, Pisceans will work hard to be fit. To put it simply, they need to be pushed to be fit. ALSO READ |How should you spend your Sunday? Here’s what your zodiac sign says Leo Leo is in a habit of taking great initiatives to keep themselves fit. Having a fit body fuels them with motivation to live a happy and fuller life.

In our series of letters from African journalists, Mannir Dan Ali, former editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, considers the impact of the latest tactic to tackle Nigeria's ruthless kidnapping gangs - cutting off access to mobile phones and the internet. Short presentational grey line For the last few years life in rural areas of north-western Zamfara state has been agonisingly brutish. Gun-toting motorbike gangs have made the state of approximately 15,352 sq miles (39,761 sq km) - an area bigger than countries like Burundi, Lesotho and Rwanda - a haven for wanton killing, rape and kidnapping for ransom. The gang members are devious and well organised, often wearing military fatigues to confuse villagers as they come under attack. This problem, which has festered for years, has now spread to at least five neighbouring states. Various initiatives have been tried in Zamfara to end their reign of terror, including: An amnesty for repentant gang members A no-fly zone - imposed amid allegations that helicopters were delivering arms to the bandits And a ban on mining after it was suspected gold was being used to fund the kidnappers. But these measure have not made much difference, so the Zamfara authorities have now banned the movement and sale of animals, along with the weekly markets where farmers and business people go to trade. Stealing animals is one of the gangs' main streams of income. The more drastic measure has been switching off all of Zamfara's 240 mobile phone towers. The aim is to deny the criminals the means of communication with their informants and of negotiating ransoms with the families of those abducted. A sustained air and ground operation has also been launched. Mannir Dan AliM Dan Ali I personally chose to move my mother away from her home recently - and just a few days ago, three university students were abducted less than a kilometre from her house" Mannir Dan Ali Journalist 1px transparent line The phone blackout - which also affects communities on Zamfara's borders with other states - comes at a huge cost to families and businesses. Simple things that could be done with just a call now need a whole day's trip to achieve. Some are resorting to writing letters. Without a functioning postal system, these are being delivered via commercial buses that still travel between towns in the state and to other parts of the country. A Zamfara-born resident of the capital, Abuja, told me that it has been unbearable not knowing if his family was safe. It was only when a relation arrived in Abuja a few days ago that he received an update on their wellbeing. Another told me that he was so worried, he will be travelling back to Zamfara soon to check up on his family. Gangs 'driven elsewhere' In spite of the difficulties caused by the phone shutdown, discussions on radio talk shows in Abuja are supportive of the measure. Map of Nigeria One native of the state based in the capital said it was far better to endure a short period of pain rather than the daily mayhem that has turned Zamfara into one big jungle where armed men rule. For now there is a near information blackout from Zamfara on how operations against the criminals are going. Even journalists have no means of ascertaining the true state of affairs. One reporter told me that she has been trying to convince the authorities to allow her to embed with troops. line More on Nigeria's kidnap crisis: WATCH: Kidnappers demand millions for a child's life ANALYSIS: Outrage at Nigeria's brazen bandit attacks EXPLAINER: The motorcycle bandits terrorising Nigeria line Anecdotal reports suggest some degree of success in dislodging the gangs from their hideouts in forested areas. However, more worryingly, this has been said to have driven them to neighbouring areas like Katsina, where I was born. There has been a spike in abductions there in the last week, including that of the children of a local notable and that of a retired federal civil servant alongside his 15-year-old daughter. I personally chose to move my mother away from her home recently - and just a few days ago, three university students were abducted less than a kilometre from her house. Many security analysts argue that the current push, with all its pains, should have been a simultaneous operation in all the six states affected, so that the criminals would have no room for escape. Most agree that only a joined-up approach will end the nightmare.

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Tetris Effect: Connected (Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus Quest [reviewed]) Developer: Resonair, Monstars, Stage Games Publisher: Enhance, Sony Interactive Entertainment Released: August 17, 2021 MSRP: $39.99 It ain’t broke, but they fixed it anyway I’m not gonna lie, I’m not great at Tetris. Tetris Effect originally drew me in as a gorgeous VR experience, but once I got started I enjoyed trying my hand at beating the solo campaign. I was a bit unsure of what to expect from the new multiplayer update, Connected (which is free if you already own the base game, by the way), but I can tell you, even for someone like me who lacks a certain skill level, it’s a blast to play. There are four game modes in the update. The most simple of these are the Score Attack modes, of which there are two. In just plain ‘ol Score Attack, you’re playing head-to-head with standard Tetris Effect rules in place, but no Line Attacks are exchanged. Whoever has the highest combined score after two rounds wins. Then there’s Classic Score Attack, which has the same setup, only it’s old-school Tetris rules: no hard dropping, no holding, only one piece shown in the queue, etc. The regular Score Attack is a good option if you’re looking for “single-player competitive Tetris,” while Classic is pretty brutal, and it’s the rules players use at pro competitions. Zone Battle is another fun addition to the traditional Tetris experience. It’s another one-on-one format, but it also incorporates the time-stopping Zone mechanic from the single-player. If you enjoyed that part of the base game, definitely give this mode a shot. For me, though, Connected Mode was the star of the show. You and two other players go up against AI bosses, and every so often, all three of your boards will combine into one big one, and you take turns dropping blocks, trying to clear as many lines as possible. That, in turn, deals damage to the boss. If you “die” in this mode (the official term is “Tap Out,” I learned recently), your teammates can revive you if they play well enough. I had to play online because unfortunately none of my friends have Tetris Effect (at least that I’m aware of), but I can imagine some of my buddies would love to play Connected Mode together. There is both local and online play with friends though, in addition to the “play with strangers” thing. Tetris Effect: Connected is also cross-platform and uses a room code to get everyone hooked up, so there are plenty of options if your squad plays Tetris together for fun. Just when you thought that’s it, there’s more too. That’s right, there’s bonus features! This includes the highly requested Spectator Mode, which allows between four and six additional players to watch from the sidelines. PAL Mode is also a new addition, which replicates the feeling of the European PAL format from the NES Tetris game, so you get a lower framerate, faster horizontal movement, and faster dropping speed. On the flip side, we also got a Slow Speed Mode, and that’s exactly what it sounds like. Plus there are performance vs. fidelity options, so you can customize your play experience exactly how you want it. Just like other multiplayer games, Connected also has Tiers and Skill Ratings. You get an individual SR for each mode, and then whichever Tier you’re in is determined by all of those SRs combined. You win SR points if you win a game, you lose SR points if you lose. Bob’s your uncle. Match length depends on which mode you’re in, as well as how good you are. The Zone Battle and Score Attack modes can basically go on for as long as you and your opponent can keep from “Tapping Out,” but I found the Connected mode to be a bit longer. No game went on for more than maybe twenty minutes at most, though. The wait times weren’t bad at all to get into games either, which was another plus. That’s all of the logistics finally out of the way, so now let’s talk about game feel. What do you expect? Tetris Effect felt amazing to play from the start, so the base was already there to have some really compelling multiplayer versions. At the end of the day, it’s Tetris. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, but that’s not a bad thing in the slightest. If you love Tetris, you’ll love this multiplayer. The sound and visuals are stunning, and the new game modes put a fresh new take on a classic that are worth trying in and of themselves. It’s already a given that competitive players are going to have fun with this, especially when there are multiple variations of traditional Tetris gameplay. If you’re someone like me who’s a bit more chill, though, I promise you will still have a great time with this game. I especially recommend trying out the Connected Mode if you’re a more laid-back player, too, because there’s more leeway there. I thought I had seen it all with Tetris 99, so I’m really impressed to see how the brand keeps moving forward and giving us new things to try out. I’m not sure how the hardcore Tetris masters are going to feel about this one, but for a casual fan like me, this is about as good as it gets.

As businesses prepare to implement hybrid work policies with some users working from the office while others work from home, Google wants to ensure that both you and your workspace look the best you can when joining video calls in Google Meet. This is why the search giant is adding a new settings panel to its video conferencing software according to a new post on the Google Workspace blog. We've compiled a list of the best online collaboration tools These are the best video conferencing software solutions Also check out our roundup of the best business webcams With Google Meet's new settings panel, users will be able to quickly access effects such as background blur, background images and styles before and during a video call. Green Room (Image credit: Google) Green room self-check In addition to being able to access Meet's new settings panel while in a call, users will also be able try out various effects to see how they work in Google's green room before joining a call. RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU... Please close pop-out player to resume playback. video playingXiaomi Mi 11 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know 26/01/21Galaxy S21 | Everything you need to know Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to... 26/01/21Galaxy S21 Ultra | Everything you need to know IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20IPhone 12 Pro | Everything you need to know in 1 minute AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1... 24/12/20AirPods Max | Everything you need to know in 1 minute PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute 14/12/20PS5 | Everything you need to know in 1 minute For those unfamiliar, the company's green room allows users to select how they want to sound and look in a meeting. You can also use the green room to check both your audio and video before a meeting so you don't have to fiddle with any settings or menus while in a call. Advertisement Google Meet admins can visit the service's Help Center to learn more about controlling whether their users can change their backgrounds. It's worth noting that the “Let users select custom images” option is disabled by default for both Education and Enterprise for Education domains. Video conferencing is an effective way to collaborate when working remotely or dealing with a distributed workforce and with Google's new settings menu in Meet, users can make sure their appearance as well as their background are both acceptable. We've also highlighted the best headsets for conference calls