Homesteading on an alien world in your giant mech is fun, even if it currently stops a bit short. Who wouldn't want their own frontier world with just your friends, an agricultural mech, and a chatty satellite AI for company, setting out to build yourself a life on a planet untouched by human activity — but possessed of a deeper mystery? That's the pitch on Lightyear Frontier, a cozy crafting exploration game with a unique mech-based twist to its farming. I mean, mechs for civilian use are hardly a new concept, but I can't actually remember a game giving it a proper shot like this. Lightyear Frontier does its best at its Early Access launch, delivering a fun romp around an alien world that's a bit short on story but goes long on customization and decoration. Unsurprisingly, the mech itself provides a lot of the fun here. It takes what would otherwise be a pretty predictable crafting and exploration game and gives it a new point of view — quite literally! You can get used to the scale, but jumping out of your mech immediately reminds you that the trees you tower over are still properly sized, or that the alien chicken creatures you enjoy feeding are as tall as a person. The mech driving is well done, too — this is a big, stompy piece of equipment, and if you've ever driven an older diesel tractor you'll recognize the clattering sound of that engine in Lightyear Frontier's Farmech. However, I am always sad to see a static, non-functional control panel in a digital cockpit. Lightyear Frontier's biggest conceit is that it's a purely peaceful game. There's absolutely no combat here, and no real time pressure either — it's designed from the ground up as a chill experience. There are in-game days that tick by, but you're not required to sleep in a bed at night or anything, and there are no time limits to run up against. It delivers well on that angle as I found its relaxed pace to be pretty soothing. In fact, if you try to rush or optimize your way through it you'll probably stress yourself out for no reason. Lightyear Frontier is at its best when I realized it just wanted me to explore, find stuff, and enjoy myself. It's a game as much about taking in its nicely handcrafted, open alien world, building cool stuff and decorating it as you go, as it is about farming and crafting. The beginning is a little slow though, even with the intended pace in mind. Your starting, no-upgrades mech feels a bit sluggish when it's not sprinting, and you can't sprint if you're over your inventory limit… and the starting inventory limit is pretty low, which kinda hurts the giant super-strong robot vibe for me. That, and the storage boxes are a pain to manage, since Lightyear Frontier lacks that now-quite-mandatory feature where crafting stations pull from nearby storage for you. Nonetheless, once I got a few upgrades and unlocked some larger storage I forgot all about those first slightly frustrating hours. Frankly, that’s because it's just really fun to stomp around and break stuff. The details in the mech's tools and equipment are delightful twists on the themes of giant robot stuff. I loved shattering rocks and trashing trees with the giant chainsaw-slash-stake-driver, which only gets stronger and more destructive as you get more upgrades. Trees are planted with a huge sapling cannon to plunge seeds into the earth, while crops are sown by a scattershot seed machine gun that later gets a lock-on function. There's also the two tread-based modes: One's a path-breaking modification that lets you satisfyingly roll out dirt or stone paths, which then actually make you travel faster, while the other is a plow that lets you place freeform planting spaces for your crops across the surface of the world. My favorites, though, were the two most dual-function tools. The first, a giant vacuum, lets you pull up weeds and mature crops with remarkable speed. The second, a water spraying cannon, is initially a fairly weak blast hose that later becomes a long-distance stream that can charge up spheres of water and hurl them as soil-moistening explosions. And when you run out of water? Just go vacuum up more. Those two tools are also vital because they're used to clean up the world around you. Your satellite buddy PIP-3R (that's Piper) narrates as you explore, but the world you're on had some previous inhabitants that left behind a huge mess of ground pollution. That wells up in the form of gooey gunk piles and a breed of mutant weeds that not only kill off surrounding vegetation but spread on the wind — occasionally even threatening your own farm. It's a fun little twist on weeding to catch them out of the air before they choke out your crops. Cleaning up the world unlocks more regions to explore, like thicker forests, twisty mountain paths, and coastal plains. You’ll get new resources from each one that are then used to build additional equipment and buildings, as well as unlock more mech upgrades — like a stronger hose to wash down bigger goo piles and clean up even more new regions. It'll also attract attention from neighbors who are full for character, like a traveling trader who visits for a few hours each day to buy your stuff. There's another character — a plant science enthusiast who needs regular deliveries of produce and supplies — but I wasn't able to interact with him due to a bug that developer Frame Break tells us is getting fixed in an upcoming patch. As for those ancient inhabitants that left all the ruins and mess? Well, I'm not saying it was aliens, but… You can explore the old ruins around the map, all of which send you on a kind of prop hunt in old buildings or caves that unlock new alien-themed stuff to build. Cleaning up the world also gets you bits of lore about what the ruins might have been for and commentary from Piper. This Early Access story is the weakest part of Lightyear Frontier, and quite disappointing in relation to the rest of the experience — not because it's outright bad or anything, but because it's very short and very sparse right now. It took me about 15 hours to clean up the world and get to the rather abrupt, pretty unfulfilling end, which is quite literally a popup screen saying the campaign is over as of its Early Access launch. I can clearly see where this will be expanded and improved over time, but right now that ending comes when things are just getting going. A short or open-ended story isn't a sin in a game like Lightyear Frontier, it just has to be paced in such a way as to deliver a real arc or end that feels like it's feeding into the post-story activity of building a larger farm and unlocking all the decoratable stuff. After all, I "finished" in 15 hours but spent another five excitedly exploring the new areas I had just unlocked, getting more mech upgrades and making the new buildings and decorations I now had access to. Speaking of decorations, there are a lot of them, and I was happy to do all kinds of customizing. You can get different parts for your mech, and even mix-and-match them or paint them to create custom looks. You can also build all kinds of neat little doodads to place around, decorating the world with outposts and campsites. It's hard to feel too disappointed by a game where you can make a garden of odd rock sculptures and then decorate it with even odder alien rock-plants. Lightyear Frontier is already a fun farming and crafting game that takes some pretty simple genre basics and makes them exciting again by putting you in a big ol' stompy robot suit. Things can start a little slow and the story definitely ends too early as of its Early Access launch, but the charming world to explore and make your own outshines its current limitations. Lightyear Frontier Early Access Review - IGN

A charming nautical adventure that refines the original’s clever turn-based combat It’s kind of an odd shift for a sequel to go from an outer space setting to a nautical one, but SteamWorld games have never shied away from being kind of odd. In fact, it’s their whole thing. There are direct connections between the silly swashbuckling story of SteamWorld Heist 2 and the original from 2015, but those take a while to show up – instead, much of Heist 2 feels completely separate as it gives you control of a submarine and a crew full of goofy robots in a colorfully cartoony ocean. This adventure takes place on a surprisingly large overworld map that’s packed with so many tough and tactically deep turn-based missions and lighter side activities that burning through them all took me around 40 hours. The plot that ensues is appropriately light and fun, revolving around our borderline-competent one-armed captain, Quincy Leeway. He’s trying to escape the shadow of his famous mother and gathering a crew to discover the source of a rusty corruption that’s poisoning the water. I wouldn’t call any of the surprises shocking or its characters especially memorable (I suspect they’d be easier to love if their dialogue were fully voiced) but its robotic heart is firmly in the right place. What is memorable is the music, for which the relentlessly charming band Steam Powered Giraffe returns with 15 delightfully catchy original songs that play when you’re visiting taverns between missions. I often found myself hanging around a little longer than I needed to in order to let them finish a verse about how nice it is to be a robot before heading back to my ship. SteamWorld Heist 2’s 2D turn-based tactical gameplay is very similar to the original, but the controls are notably smoother (albeit still a little wonky on mouse and keyboard). Moving your team of one to five bots (depending on the mission) around a side-scrolling level to line up shots and snag loot within their two-action turns is a tricky challenge of efficiency, and having to escape an endlessly increasing stream of enemies as you complete a specific objective rather than just trying to clear the map gives a lot of missions a thrilling finale. SteamWorld Heist 2 Review - IGN

Leafcutter ants are fungus-growing ants that share the behaviour of cutting leaves which they carry back to their nests to farm fungus. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few years, the central mound of their underground nests can grow to more than 30 m (98 ft) across, with smaller radiating mounds extending out to a radius of 80 m (260 ft), taking up 30 to 600 m2 (320 to 6,460 sq ft) and converted into 3.55 m individuals. Leafcutter ants are any of at least 55 species[1][2][3] of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the three genera Atta, Acromyrmex, and Amoimyrmex, within the tribe Attini.[4] These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States.[5] Leafcutter ants can carry twenty times their body weight[6] and cut and process fresh vegetation (leaves, flowers, and grasses) to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates.[7] Acromyrmex and Atta ants have much in common anatomically; however, the two can be identified by their external differences. Atta ants have three pairs of spines and a smooth exoskeleton on the upper surface of the thorax, while Acromyrmex ants have four pairs and a rough exoskeleton.[8] The exoskeleton itself is covered in a thin layer of mineral coating, composed of rhombohedral crystals that are generated by the ants.[9] Amoimyrmex and Acromyrmex differ in that Amoimyrmex lacks tubercles on the first gastral segment, and recent phylogenetic evidence shows that Amoimyrmex diverged before the other two genera of leafcutter ants.[4] Leafcutter ant - Wikipedia

The classic definition of muscle cars has changed over the past several decades. Although the definition is altered, these cars are still the go-to monsters for drag racing fun. When you think of a muscle car, you might picture V-8-powered machines with big power and performance from the 1960s and early 1970s, but we’ve got ten modern muscle cars that can take you to the end of a quarter-mile in a hurry. The desire to go as fast as possible from one place to another is instilled in our adrenaline, which rushes forward to provide focus and strength when required. Once you step behind the wheel of these ten muscle cars, that adrenaline rush, coupled with the smell of burning rubber and exhaust fumes, provides an intoxicating cocktail of speed, power, performance, and fun. 10 - 2023 Ford Mustang Mach 1: An Excellent Drag Racing Muscle Car The 2023 Ford Mustang Mach 1 is the best of what the Mustang offers. The Mach 1 delights you during the drive, engages your skills on the road, and can be a lot of fun to drive. It’s a great choice to begin our list of some of the best muscle cars for drag racing. 9- 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody: Thundering V-8 Power The Hellcat engine, coupled with the Dodge Challenger name, has become a recipe for muscle car success in many drag races. The SRT Hellcat Widebody is the basic formula for a car offered in several versions, especially when you review the seven Last Call models from Dodge. 8 - 2024 Ford Mustang GT: More Coyote Power Than Ever The 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 engine is one of the most well-respected V-8 engines in the muscle car world. Ford added more power and performance to the Mustang GT, adding more to this power plant and giving this car items to make it last much longer on the drag strip. 7 - 2023 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack: Big Hemi Power For Muscle Car Dominance The biggest Hemi V-8 engine in the Dodge Challenger lineup resides under the hood of the R/T Scat Pack model. This big naturally aspirated engine strikes fear in the hearts and minds of those that hear this amazing Challenger roaring at the drag strip. If you’re looking at this Challenger to create the best muscle car for drag racing, choose the automatic transmission, adaptive dampers, and Dynamics package to enjoy 20-inch wheels and six-piston Brembo brakes. The R/T Scat Pack could be the best muscle car at the drag strip. 6 - 2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1: Superior Speed From A Chevy Muscle Car When Chevrolet created the latest ZL1 Camaro, it set records at Nürburgring, which caused European automakers to pay attention to an American muscle car in a new way. This Camaro ripped off a fast lap time of 7:16.04 with the 1LE track package included. 5 - 2020 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500: Where A Pony And Cobra Combine The 2020 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 is easily one of the best muscle cars for drag racing. It is the most powerful Mustang ever made, at least until the new generation models arrive in 2024. This powerful machine is a fitting challenger to the Dodge and Chevrolet muscle cars. 4 - 2023 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak: Taking Us Back To the Old Days The 2023 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak is meant to bring an air of nostalgia to the muscle car world. This amazing sedan is not only a fast and capable drag racer, but it also includes parts that come from other trims, reminiscent of how customers could order muscle cars in the early days. 3 - 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock: Is It Really The Demon Lite? The 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock has been the topic of many muscle car conversations. This Challenger has a Redeye hood and the same Hemi V-8 with a red engine block and red eye in the badges to give it away. Still, the Super Stock is its own animal in the muscle car world. 2 - 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: Angry Drag Racing Muscle Car Performance Dodge took the Hellcat name and turned it up several notches to bring us the Demon. The Demon was offered for one year and could deliver up to 840 horsepower when fueled by racing gasoline. This incredible Challenger has a racing package with special wheels and adjustments. 1 - 2023 Chevrolet COPO Camaro: Ready To Dominate The Drag Strip Chevrolet brought back the COPO Camaro name or 2023, offering professional drag racing teams a new and powerful car to rocket down the track. This amazing Camaro is only made for the drag strip and won’t be seen on public roads. 10 Best Muscle Cars For Drag Racing

The bad blood has remained even though the characters have largely changed. Most notably, Young is still a key part of the rivalry and if there's one thing he relishes, it's giving Knicks fans a little something extra each time they play. The Atlanta Hawks guard had 23 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds in a 121-116 win Wednesday night against the visiting Knicks. It marked his seventh career 20-point, 10-assist game vs. the Knicks (regular season and playoffs), the most by any player against New York since Young entered the NBA in 2018-19, according to ESPN Research. During an on-court interview after the win, Young had a simple message for the New York fans at State Farm Arena. "I hope these New York fans find their way to the exit real real quickly," he said. "Boo, take y'all asses home." The Hawks amplified the trolling by resharing an Atlanta Falcons post that celebrated their 27-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys. The original bandwagon-fan joke was transformed into a triple threat that mocked three of sports' largest fan bases at once: the Knicks, Cowboys and the New York Yankees in one post. The timing was particularly sharp, coming just days after the Yankees' World Series defeat to the Dodgers. Young has often been enemy No. 1 for Knicks' fans since the teams faced off in the first round of the 2021 Eastern Conference playoffs. He averaged 29.2 points and 9.8 assists as Atlanta eliminated New York in five games. At the end of Game 5, Young memorably took a bow at center court and waved goodbye to the New York crowd after icing the game at Madison Square Garden. Since then, Knicks fans haven't been shy about their treatment toward the All-Star guard, chanting "F--- Trae Young" at various events, even if Young isn't playing against them. On an episode of Paul George's podcast in August, Young called the chants "super funny" while sharing an interaction with a fan and his reaction to the crowd. "I'll never forget this young little girl ... just giving me the finger like right behind the scorer's table. ... There's a lot of photos of me looking in the crowd just smiling," Young said. "That's kind of my reaction. I'm just looking at the reactions of all these people just flipping me off. Ten minutes in the first quarter, I ain't do nothing." New York will surely remember Young's trolling from Wednesday night. The Knicks and Hawks next play each other in New York on Jan. 20. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/42239579/atlanta-hawks-trae-young-falcons-troll-new-york-knicks-yankees-cowboys

Guests climbed up and abseiled down. I finished my degree on a laptop and watched ravens raise their young I’ve always felt a deep connection with trees and have often turned to them in challenging times. In October 1998, I was 25 and living in Humboldt County, California, doing side jobs while studying at the state university. My safe haven was an 80-acre grove of giant redwoods in Freshwater Creek Forest, a place I’d go for peaceful contemplation. One evening, I noticed some trees had been marked with orange paint. The Pacific Lumber Company had stepped up its operations in the area, devastating old growth forest. Whenever I’d seen trees marked in this way, they disappeared within weeks. Many trees were already occupied by activists – Julia “Butterfly” Hill was part-way through a tree sit that ended up lasting more than two years. I was on a construction job when my friend Roger said: “Hey, Nate – I don’t want to bum you out, but they’re going to cut that grove today.” I wanted to drive over straight away, but decided to wait until after work, in the hope that the loggers would have left for the day. I’d already chosen three trees I particularly wanted to protect. When we arrived that evening, only one was still standing. I later called her Mariah, after the song They Call The Wind Mariah from the musical Paint Your Wagon. She was 12ft in diameter and 200ft high – even her lowest branches were 80ft from the ground. Luckily, smaller trees had sprouted off her main trunk at the base and I was able to work my way up using those. I used a 10ft length of twine to haul my supplies up after me and kept climbing until I found a growth of branches 130ft up where I was able to make a rudimentary nest – and that’s where I spent the first night. It was drizzly and my feet were cold, but I was able to rest, at least. Before dawn, Roger returned with more food, a 50ft rope, a sleeping bag and a tarpaulin. The loggers had already arrived. At first, their hostility was aimed at one of their own: “Ah, Joe! You got hippies in your tree again – why is it always you?” But soon an argument started over whether they should carry on cutting regardless. They felled a nearby tree, which came close enough for some of its branches to whip through Mariah’s. When I felt chainsaw vibrations, I thought my time was up, but it was all for show – they were only cutting through the sprout trees at Mariah’s base. Things remained pretty heated during the first couple of months. Sometimes the abuse came from less identifiable sources. Once, someone drove by and fired shots, seemingly in my direction; another time, a visiting friend found her car rolled over a cliff. By then I’d established more permanent living quarters about 160ft up, and was able to take in regular provisions, brought in by local residents. Nature also provided some intimidating episodes. I experienced heavy rain and winds that whipped Mariah back and forth, 20ft in either direction. Eventually, I built a platform 40ft lower down, where things were calmer. As the months passed, I watched ravens raise their young in a tree opposite and a family of bears collecting acorns in an oak. Guests would climb up using my ropes and abseil back down again. I accepted a cellphone for calling in help and a laptop that I used to finish my degree. Occasionally someone would even look after Mariah while I went for a bath. But the company sometimes sent hired climbers to perform “forcible extractions” and during one of these, a colleague fell and was lucky to escape with her life. Wary of putting anyone else at risk, I vowed to go it alone. That led to my longest stretch in the tree without touching the ground – more than six months. Finally, I learned Pacific Lumber was to stop its harvesting plan. I descended in mid-October, just over two years after my first ascent. The transition was difficult at times – I’ve never felt more alive than I did during my time looking after Mariah. For the next few years, I planted trees and later acquired a 45-acre virgin forest, saving it from destruction. I sit on a steering committee for The Lost Coast League which works to stop logging in nearby Rainbow Ridge. I drive past Mariah from time to time and occasionally visit. The new landowners have a policy not to cut trees of her stature, so in theory she is safe. It has been 20 years and she’s still standing, touch wood. Experience: I lived in a tree for two years | Life and style | The Guardian

Stay engaged with the latest in politics, covering government policies, political debates, and legislative updates. From breaking developments in national governance to international diplomatic relations, we bring you in-depth analysis and real-time updates. Explore the key issues, political figures, and decisions shaping the political landscape and impacting society. Politics News Today Live Updates: In today’s complex political climate, understanding the latest developments is essential. Our Politics News delivers comprehensive coverage of government actions, policy changes, and significant political events both nationally and globally. Whether it’s legislative reforms, political debates, or diplomatic talks, we provide in-depth analysis and timely updates to keep you informed. Our goal is to offer a clear perspective on the issues, leaders, and decisions that impact daily life, connecting you to the heart of political discourse and ensuring you stay informed about the matters that shape society. Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated live blog and has not been edited by LiveMint staff. Politics News Today Live Updates on November 7, 2024: Rahul Gandhi slammed over his remark on British's ties with ‘pliant maharajas, nawabs’; Scindia royal family reacts | Mint

Australia has recorded its second-warmest October since national records began 114 years ago. Bureau of Meteorology data of average of daily maximums and minimum temperatures, collected from hundreds of weather stations, revealed last month was 2.51 degrees above average, reports Weatherzone. Reflecting the impact of climate change, October was the ninth month from 10 this year for temperatures across Australia significantly above average. Of all months, August had the biggest deviation, with temperatures climbing 3 degrees above average. To date, the year so far has been relatively dry for most Australians. Rainfall in October was marginally below average Melbourne and Sydney, while the months was exceptionally dry average in Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart. The exception was damper-than-average conditions across Western Australia Weather forecast Australia: Second warmest October since records began

Nick movie: Thunderbolts* Time: 2025 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: Amazon Duration of the movie: - Trailer:

Musician Name: Jack Stauber Birthday / Location: April 6, 1996 (age 28 years), McKean, Pennsylvania, United States Main instrument: Pop Musician Picture: Musician Awards & Nominations: Shorty Award for Best in Weird 2020 Best Performance: Buttercup Other Information: his songs have memes

Live Performance Title: Africa Signer Name: Weezer Live Performance Location: New Year's Rockin' Eve Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): 10

Artist: Chris Stapleton Real Name: Christopher Alvin Stapleton Birth Date /Place / Age: April 15, 1978 (age 46 years), Lexington, Kentucky, United States Social status (Single / Married): Married Artist Picture: Musical Genres: Country Awards: List of awards and nominations received by Chris Stapleton - Wikipedia Top 3 Songs (Names): Starting Over / Broken Halos / Tennessee Whiskey Other Information: -

Music title: 25 Signer: Rod Wave Release date: 2024 Official YouTube link:

An entire family of Pocos arrived at our doorstep all at once and this here is the best one of the batch - the X6 Pro. The latest X Pro features a powerful Mediatek chipset, a bright OLED display, and fast charging, and comes with Xiaomi's brand new HyperOS on top of Android 14. To try and clear up another instance of possible confusion stemming from Xiaomi's questionable practices in naming and availability, we'll point out that the Poco X6 Pro is very similar in specs to the Redmi K70E, which is a China-only release. The Pro shares some DNA with the X6 non-Pro, of course, and bits and pieces are common with this or that member of the Redmi Note 13 roster (of which there's a handful too). Shifting our focus back to the Poco X6 Pro, we're looking at a 6.67-inch OLED with up to 1,200nits of brightness (1,800 even, in some cases), Dolby Vision support, and higher-than-average resolution. The Dimensity 8300 Ultra that powers the Poco sits at the border between midrange and flagship silicon, and promises heaps of performance. Meanwhile, the tweaked visuals of the new Android overlay offer a refreshed look on the MIUI that's loved by so many. One notable difference between the Poco and its Chinese Redmi counterpart is battery capacity - the X6 Pro is specced at 5,000mAh as opposed to the 5,500mAh of the K70E. A 67W charging capability is another minor downgrade in the transition from China to the world (90W on the Redmi), though we're still expecting solid numbers from this one. There's not a whole lot of excitement when it comes to the camera system, but we're still open to being pleasantly surprised from the otherwise so-so hardware. A 64MP main camera is joined by a modest 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro sidekick - if the primary can do 2x zoom with any level of success, it could be a reasonable showing. Poco X6 Pro review - GSMArena.com tests

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 is the latest version of a long-running Photoshop alternative that’s designed more for beginners and amateurs and comes with no subscription, just a one-off license fee (though with a fixed 3-year term). You can get it on its or bundled with Adobe Premiere Elements which, as the name suggests, is a similarly beginner friendly version of the Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software. On price alone, Photoshop Elements 2025 deserves to be considered alongside the best photo editing software. If you want to save even more money, take a look at the best free photo editing software too – though Elements 2025 is not expensive. There’s an additional program in this little family – the Elements 2025 Organizer. This is a powerful little cataloguing applications that supports albums and search tools, and acts as a kind of central hub for both Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. Photoshop Elements offers many of the tools you’ll find in Photoshop, but presented in a very different way. There’s a Quick Fix mode where you choose variations in color or exposure to try to get your images looking your best, but you’re likely to learn a lot more from the Guided Edit mode. This is quite clever. It offers a whole catalog of common fixes and effects you might want to carry out – there are 59 different Guided Edits in this version – and then walks you through each process. Along the way you’ll find out how different editing tools work so that if you want to sidestep any of these processes and get straight to hands-on editing, you can switch to the Advanced mode with a good grounding in what many of these tools do. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 at Amazon for $99.99 It’s pretty clear where Elements’ focus lies, however – and it’s fun projects you can create with your photos rather than photography itself. It can carry out a range of regular photo enhancements and effects, but it’s no Photoshop (or Lightroom). In fact it’s worth pointing out that although Lightroom might be considered a rather more advanced alternative, it is potentially both simpler to use and to understand that the multitude of options in Elements, while for those interested in memes, flashy social graphics and multimedia clips, then the web-based Adobe Express might be a better option. For anyone tempted to upgrade from an older version to Photoshop Elements 2025, there is a lot that’s new. The new features are more to do with jazzy effects and easier enhancements than any fundamental changes, but they’re still worth a closer look. For example, Elements 2025 now has AI object removal, so that you can paint over any unwanted object and the AI will cover it convincingly using surrounding image details. There’s a new Guided Edit to walk you through the process. Elements 2025 also gets the depth of field blur previously introduced in Lightroom. Again, this uses AI to separate subjects from their backgrounds, and it works rather well. Confusingly, this is a filter in the Advanced mode. There is a Depth of Field Guided Edit which sounds like it should be it but isn’t – this uses a tilt shift effect or a very crude kind of subject selection. You can now use the automatic selection tools to change the color of any object, though the blending isn’t always realistic and it relies on old-school selection tools which can be slow and painstaking to use – this would work so much better with the AI subject selection tools common in other software. We are also supposed now to be able to “seamlessly” combine multiple backgrounds, objects and other elements, though this seems to simply stack them in layers and present you with basic foreground and background selection tools. There are four new Quick Actions, including one to create cinematograph-like animations of objects and areas within a still image, and this is quite neat, though with no preview option you have to export it to find out what it looks like. Adobe has also released a web companion and a mobile app to go with Elements 2025, though so far these are only beta versions. There is a lot that’s new in Elements 2025, but it’s built on top of an interface and a workflow that’s definitely showing its age. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 is available now direct from the Adobe website and costs $99.99 / £86.99, AU$145.99, while the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 & Premiere Elements 2025 bundle costs $149.99 / £130.49 / AU$219.99. However, note the following in Adobe's license agreement: "Photoshop Elements 2025 is now sold as a full 3-year term license with no monthly or annual recurring subscription" So it's not on a subscription, but it's not a perpetual license either. That's a real sting in the tail. It’s still less than the Adobe Photography Plan over a three-year period, but then you are getting rather less for your money. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 review | Digital Camera World

The biggest change in the EOS R5 II is the move to a Stacked CMOS sensor. As we've seen before, this allows the camera to read out its sensor much, much faster than conventional BSI or FSI chips. This speed allows the camera to capture 8K video at up to 60p and bursts of stills at up to 30fps. If 30fps is too much for the shooting you do, the camera can be customized to shoot at 20, 15, 10 or 5fps instead. We found the readout rate in stills mode to be 6.3ms (∼1/160 sec) and that it appears to read out in 16-line chunks. This is a fair bit slower than the likes of the Z8 (∼1/270). The EOS R5 II's sensor uses Canon's Dual Pixel AF design, with two photodiodes for each pixel location, meaning almost the entire sensor can be used for phase-detection autofocus. But it does not have the cross-type arrangement used in the EOS R1. It also omits the original R5's Dual Pixel RAW option, but we suspect very few people found a good use for this. The EOS R5 II gets the same updated version of Eye-control AF that appears in the R1. Like the first modern version in the EOS R3, this lets you select a subject to focus on by looking in its direction: as soon as you half-press the shutter button or hit AF-On to initiate focusing, the camera will pick the subject nearest to where it thinks you're looking. The latest version has sensors with a wider field of view, to get a better view of the eye as a whole, and revised algorithms that should work better when the eye is further from the viewfinder. This should be particularly useful for people wearing glasses and is supported with an eyeglasses detection mode, to avoid it getting confused by the additional lens and distance between the sensors and the photographer's eye. The EOS R5 II has the same 'Digic Accelerator' co-processor used in the R1. The way Canon talks about it is directly comparable to the way Sony describes its 'AI processing unit': a dedicated processor focused on crunching its way through the complex algorithms generated by AI mechanisms, which means the main processor can stay focused on things like distance measurement and communicating with the lens, rather than trying to do everything at once. Canon says this processor helps run more complex exposure and white balance algorithms, too, boosting the camera's fundamental functions, as well as powering some of its novel features. As with the R1, the R5 II can be set to capture up to 1/2 a second of action before you fully depress the shutter, so long as you have the button half-pressed beforehand. It can also pre-capture 3 or 5 seconds of video. One of the biggest features the R5 II shares with the R1 is its slate of Action Priority AF modes. These are based on machine learning trained on how different sports look: how active players' bodies are positioned and what the ball looks like at key moments. The camera is able to follow the ball and work out which player to prioritize. For instance, Canon says the Football/Soccer mode has been trained to recognize the following actions occurring: "Shoot, header, short pass, long pass, dribble, clear, place kick, save by keeper, throw in, sliding tackle". At launch, the EOS R5 II will have AF modes for Football ('Soccer' on cameras with US firmware), Basketball and Volleyball. Canon did not say whether it plans to add other sports, via firmware, later, but implied it would be possible. In addition to the generic subject types the camera has been trained to recognize, it's also possible to register up to ten sets of ten people in the camera's memory. If engaged, the camera will try to give priority to those individuals if it identifies them in a scene. This could be used to ensure you get photos of specific players at a sporting event or, for instance, during wedding shoots, where you can set the camera to prioritize the betrothed, rather than risking the camera getting distracted by other members of the wedding party that happen to get closer to your AF point. You can even create a priority rank of the people you've identified so that the camera knows to focus on the bride ahead of the groom, ahead of the maid of honor, and so forth. Despite giving the camera only a single image of each subject, it proved pretty good at recognizing the people we asked it to prioritize. Like the R1, the R5 II gains two post-shot options to reprocess your files using the full power of its AI-derived algorithms. It's not got the processing power or battery life to apply these as you shoot, so you'll need to select which images to process, after the fact. Even with a dedicated 'accelerator' chip, both processes take several seconds to apply to each file. The first option is to up-res the images to twice their original resolution (four times the pixel count). This uses machine learning to anticipate what might occur between the captured pixels, to boost the apparent resolution. Somewhat unexpectedly, this process is conducted on JPEG or HEIF images only, rather than the Raw data. The other option is to apply complex "neural network" noise reduction to files. This again is based on machine learning and attempts to distinguish between noise and detail to give a clean but detailed image. The option can be applied to Raw files but Canon says that the JPEGs that are then created cannot then be up-sized. Canon EOS R5 II in-depth review: Digital Photography Review

Through translation that is done as well as a certain politician’s speeches, you are told to go find him some food, but the woman who makes food in the hotel won’t give you any nor can you take his mother’s empanadas to him. In a dark corner, on the other side of a fireplace from where you can get some food to sedate your own grumbling stomach, is a small bowl that draws as much attention to itself as a teenager at a school disco. At this point, after exploring up and down the village, talking to every Sheet-Cow and Cow-Sheep, I wanted to throw Isla off the side of the village perched atop a large rock. I think this is emblematic of Albatroz’s design in general. Some may say it takes away all the hand-holding we’ve gotten used to in modern game design, which I have already said is an interesting idea. It is how the world and how the game itself is designed that falters in that regard which makes it difficult to enjoy. The majority of your time is spent exploring and following directions on a map, for example, the first mission after getting to El Condor is to head West, West, West, and West. Then you are told to push further west once you get West. I’m cutting out the flavor text, but beyond “make sure you can always see X point of interest,” it is that simple. The trouble there is, a majority of your time is spent in dense, generic forests getting soaked in rain, trudging over fallen twigs and rocks, and searching for supplies to survive the few miles you have to, as the Village People said, “Go West.” There is a small compass in the bottom left of the screen, but otherwise, it is easy to get lost when you are running out of supplies as quickly. The “Fun” of exploring is quickly lost when invisible walls send you back with Isla saying something about numbered rules she has. She isn’t Mark Harmon, she doesn’t need rules to remind her not to wander off a path. She might need some direction though and help from an extra-dimensional being as on more than one occasion I stumbled into bugs that were, to put it lightly, utterly ridiculous. This was on top of the performance that wavered like a bipolar patient in a psych ward. First off I want to say that I don’t hate Albatroz’s art direction, though I’d hardly sit here and defend it to the hilt. Characters up close look like plastic, and the world when in gameplay doesn’t look great, but at a distance, it can look ok. Despite this direction for the art being “simple” the performance of Albatroz can and will be atrocious. Running everything on “Epic” for a while (aside from motion blur) I’d see occasional drops into the 40s, but when things got quite busy running through forests I’d opted to drop down to medium on some settings. Mostly shadows or effects. This is when the frame rate was at its worst. I could see anything from 60 frames per second to 13. Though admittedly one notable time when Albatroz hit 13 frames per second, Isla was flying through the air after climbing on a rock on the side of a mountain, only to land like a banker on the pavement. This meant that Sence went back half a mile and forced me to go up and around that mountain again. All of which was running anywhere between 45 frames to the late 20s. Meanwhile, the objective of that first exploration outside of El Condor was to get to the old witch’s hut. Ok, Geyla isn’t a witch, but the less said about that segment the better. However, while exploring outside of the old woman’s hut I had the lion, the witch, and the audacity to stand on the old woman’s switch (not the console), throwing Isla under the world, and by proxy because companions follow, so did Sence. Thankfully there was a save point I’d already saved at, but Albatroz doesn’t have auto-save, so if you do find a bug, you may be thrown back a good bit in your progress. I will say this for Albatroz, the broad story isn’t a terrible idea: You are a young woman searching for her brother who she idolizes. Her brother, Kai, is on the search for the mythical mountain of Albatroz, the walking mountain. What is bothersome in that is how poorly the dialog is at being natural, or how the voice acting feels like an amateur dramatics production of that one scene from Final Fantasy X. If you get easily annoyed at characters blocking progress in JRPGs, you’ll want to get in the car and run Juan and Romero down. The idea of getting food and water from natural sources, that’s not a bad idea, especially while exploring. However, the need to eat and drink, the need to feed and water the companions, and doing so every few moments, that’s beyond annoying. Being given directions that name certain parts of generic-looking forest and mountain regions, as if being told “you couldn’t miss it,” is annoying. Changing regions or conditions every few steps, that’s also quite annoying. Albatroz is a bunch of interesting ideas done in just a way that’s annoying enough that it makes playing, especially playing to hit embargoes, quite annoying. With maybe a bit more time, a bit more focus and restraint, trimming down and refining Albatroz, I think Among Giants would have a solid game. It is the execution that feels too under-served. Whether it is points of interaction making you focus on certain things too long or some of the simpler bugs. Ultimately, Albatroz isn’t too special despite having a couple of ideas that make it unique. The mythology, the simple mechanics, and the general exploration ideas all offer something refreshing, however, stopping every few moments to eat and drink breaks up the flow of exploration. Albatroz feels like a game that is dated by its execution rather than its ambitious ideas, which given more time to refine could make the paint-by-numbers dialog more palatable. South American Death Stranding without the full commitment. Albatroz - Review | Phenixx Gaming

Twilight Survivors is a great reverse bullet hell roguelike shooter with neat permanent progression and some of the best aesthetics in the genre. It’s also free and has no ads at all. The game is split into 10-15 minute stages with a final boss at the end, and our task is to survive the thousands of enemies storming at us using one of several unique heroes. We move around with a left-side joystick and either auto-shoot our standard attack or, optionally, aim it with a right-side joystick. And every time we level up, we get to unlock or upgrade one of three random weapons or skills that auto-trigger at certain intervals. What immediately stood out to me is how powerful our standard attack is. This makes the first few minutes of each playthrough much more exciting than in many other games in the genre. But the most interesting mechanic is that max-level weapons and skills can combine into a powerful “super weapon”. So a large part of the meta game revolves around exploring which combinations of skills and weapons provide which super weapon. In between runs, we unlock additional weapons and skills and improve each hero through a stat-boost talent tree and equipable cards that give our hero new powers. The isometric perspective and 3D enemies help make the creatures stand out from the background, and the cute art style looks great. Some maps even have special effects, like icy maps where our walk speed decreases unless we stay close to a bonfire. Twilight Survivors monetizes via a $4.99 iAP to unlock all heroes and a few extra iAPs for stat boosts that are not at all necessary. It’s not a hardcore roguelike, but it’s one of my favorite bullet heaven games of the year. Twilight Survivors Review & User Ratings

Homeworld 3 is a real-time strategy video game developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Gearbox Software. The game was released on May 13, 2024. Homeworld 3 is a 3D real-time strategy game set in space. According to the developers, following the responses to partner surveys, the game boasts an extensive campaign mode, giving solo gameplay an important role.[1] As with the other games in the franchise, combat gameplay is built around an effective 3D ballistics system.[2] One of the new major gameplay features is huge megaliths and trenches; massive space structures that will add coverage strategies for small spacecraft.[3][4] The game includes a new co-op mode that "will fuse Homeworld’s RTS gameplay with a roguelike structure"[5] After their victory over the Vaygr (as played out in Homeworld 2), Hiigara entered a golden age that lasted for over a century, with the discovery of a vast hyperspace gate network developed by an ancient race known as the Progenitors. However, a new danger known simply as "the Anomaly" began to emerge in deep space, causing disruptions in the network. Karan S'jet, the original Fleet Command, led a fleet to investigate and disappeared without a trace. Twenty years later, Karan's chosen successor, Imogen S'jet, becomes Fleet Command for a new Mothership, the Khar-Kushan.[6][7] Almost immediately upon its launch, the Khar-Kushan is informed by the commanders of the Hiigaran Navy that an unknown threat is weaponizing hyperspace in the Anomaly. Using the functioning parts of the gate network, the Khar-Kushan sets a course for Noctuua-27, believed to be the source of the Anomaly, but is diverted and severely damaged while en route. While en route to a Progenitor repair facility, the mysterious enemy is revealed as the Incarnate, using salvaged Progenitor technology and bound to the will of a "Queen". They also recover a frigate from the lost fleet and discover an encoded message from Karan to Imogen, giving the location of her Mothership, the Khar-Sajuuk. The Incarnate Queen makes contact with Imogen, identifying herself as an ancient being called Tiaa'Ma, who seeks to use the power of hyperspace to bend reality to her will, and invites Imogen to join her. After the Mothership is repaired, Imogen follows the coordinates to the Khar-Sajuuk, finding the ship encased in an ice field. Karan is found alive, and explains to Imogen that they must break Tiaa'Ma's control over hyperspace by bringing her what she wants: the three original Hyperspace Cores developed by the Progenitors (discovered in the first two games). The Khar-Kushan travels alone to Noctuua-27, where Imogen deceives Tiaa'Ma into believing she is joining her cause, allowing her to get close enough to her "temple", a massive gate-ship called the Lament. Imogen summons Karan and the fleet and delivers the three Cores, combining their power with the Khar-Kushan's synthetic cores to trap the Lament in hyperspace, while Karan sacrifices herself to join Tiaa'Ma in "shared oblivion". The result overloads the Khar-Kushan's hyperspace drive and disables the gate network. Though stranded in deep space and cut off from contact with Hiigara, the fleet chooses to follow Imogen as their Fleet Command. The Homeworld series dates back to 1999. Following THQ's purchase of intellectual property rights to the franchise, further developments were halted after the release of Homeworld 2 in 2003. The franchise was dormant until 2013 when its rights were bought from THQ by Gearbox Software.[8] The announcement of Homeworld 3 follows the release of the Homeworld Remastered Collection, as well as the prequel Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. The Remastered Collection's positive critical reviews and as well as the Deserts of Kharak's sales performance were enough[citation needed] to convince publisher Gearbox and the affiliated development studio Blackbird Interactive to follow up with the creation of a new game, in direct continuity with the original saga.[9] The development of the game started around 2017[10] and, despite being already fully funded by Gearbox, Blackbird Interactive launched a successful mixed crowdfunding/investment campaign on Fig in late 2019 which went on to generate the highest donation average in the platform's history.[11][12] Along with this campaign, the team allows contributors to take part in exclusive surveys, in order to determine which elements of the original trilogy were most appreciated and hence guide future development.[13] Some key personnel from the original development studio Relic (now working for Blackbird Interactive) are among the teams developing the game, namely design director Rob Cunningham, score creator Paul Ruskay, and Homeworld Cataclysm's writer Martin Cirulis.[14][15][10] The number of people working on the game is about 40.[10] Gearbox was acquired by Embracer Group in February 2021. As a result, Gearbox had to cancel the investment portion of the Fig campaign in June 2021, prior to obtaining money from those that had pledged to invest. No change was made to those that backed the game through the crowdfunding mechanism.[16] On June 10, 2022 it was revealed that Homeworld 3 has been delayed to the first half of 2023[17][18] and on August 23, during the Gamescom the first gameplay trailer was released.[19] In May 2023, the game was delayed to February 2024.[20] On December 1, 2023, Gearbox announced that the game would be released on March 8, 2024.[21] On February 7, 2024, the developers stated the release would be delayed to May 13.[22][23] Blackbird Interactive has adjusted the release timeline for Homeworld 3, announcing that two DLC packs will now launch in November 2024, earlier than the planned 2025 date. Alongside these paid expansions, free updates will include additional gameplay features and improvements to the War Games mode, enhancing ship mechanics and resource management. New factions are also set to be introduced. However, concerns have emerged that this accelerated schedule could impact long-term post-launch support for the game. [24] Homeworld 3 - Wikipedia

The hoatzin (/hoʊˈætsɪn/ hoh-AT-sin)[note 1] or hoactzin (/hoʊˈæktsɪn/ hoh-AKT-sin) (Opisthocomus hoazin)[4] is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. It is the only extant species in the genus Opisthocomus[5] which is the only extant genus in the Opisthocomidae family under the order of Opisthocomiformes.[6] Despite being the subject of intense debate by specialists, the taxonomic position of this family is still far from clear. The hoatzin is notable for its chicks having primitive claws on two of their wing digits; the species also is unique in possessing a digestive system capable of fermentation and the effective breaking-down of plant matter, a trait more commonly known from herbivorous ungulate-ruminant mammals and some primates. This bird is also the national bird of Guyana, where the local name for this bird is Canje pheasant. The hoatzin is pheasant-sized, with a total length of 65 cm (26 in), and a long neck and small head. It has an unfeathered blue face with maroon eyes, and its head is topped by a spiky, rufous crest. The long, sooty-brown tail is bronze-green tipped with a broad whitish or buff band at the end.[7] The upper parts are dark, sooty brown-edged buff on the wing coverts, and streaked buff on the mantle and nape. The underparts are buff, while the crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca), primaries, underwing coverts, and flanks are rich rufous-chestnut, but this is mainly visible when the hoatzin opens its wings. It is a noisy bird, and makes a variety of hoarse calls, including groans, croaks, hisses, and grunts.[5] These calls are often associated with body movements, such as wing spreading. Young wing claws Hoatzin chicks have two claws on each wing. Immediately after hatching, they can use these claws, and their oversized feet, to scramble around the tree branches without falling into the water.[8] When predators such as the great black hawk attack a hoatzin nesting colony, the adults fly noisily about, trying to divert the predator's attention, while the chicks move away from the nest and hide among the thickets. If discovered, however, they drop into the water and swim under the surface to escape, then later use their clawed wings to climb back to the safety of the nest. This has inevitably led to comparisons to the fossil bird Archaeopteryx, but the characteristic is rather an autapomorphy, possibly caused by an atavism toward the dinosaurian finger claws, whose developmental genetics ("blueprint") presumably is still in the avian genome. Since Archaeopteryx had three functional claws on each wing, some earlier systematists speculated that the hoatzin was descended from it, because nestling hoatzins have two functional claws on each wing. Modern researchers, however, hypothesize that the young hoatzin's claws are of more recent origin, and may be a secondary adaptation from its frequent need to leave the nest and climb about in dense vines and trees well before it can fly.[5] A similar trait is seen in turacos, whose nestlings use claws on their wings to climb in trees.[9] https://external-preview.redd.it/5T6FsoQaoDWEr8npc8bcfrUYNezL_EKimSK1cdnphz4.jpg?auto=webp&s=a02fa36911789c4a15d71d3488fec69c718faa1a Hoatzin - Wikipedia