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Forza Horizon 5 unveils Rami’s Racing History series

Forza Horizon 5 latest festival celebrates Rami's Racing History, full playlist rundown

Here’s the full run-down of what to expect in the Rami’s Racing History Series of Forza Horizon 5’s Festival Playlist.

The upcoming month of racing action on Forza Horizon 5 will be a historical journey thanks to the Rami’s Racing History theme in the next series. This is officially the 11th series since the launch of Forza Horizon 5, but it seems that the increasing numbers are no longer being used to signify a series change.

Announced last month during the Series 10 Extreme E unveil, the theme of Rami’s Racing History was explained in part first during this month’s Forza Monthly and then broken down in the latest episode of Lets GO! later on. We’ll be learning about different cars through history this time around.

Ramiro “Rami” Luiz Miron is one of the characters from the Horizon 5 story mode. His Racing History theme will take players on a journey through the different decades of car development and production. Alongside the festival, a new Horizon Story called “Made in Mexico” which focuses on Mexico’s rich history of car culture will also drop during this series.

Each season stays the same, from the Wet Summer all the way through the Hot Spring. Like the previous Extreme E festival, each will also focus on a particular topic, this time on the cars of the decade.

Summer will represent everything up until the 1970s, Autumn takes on the seventies and eighties, Winter will focus on the nineties and noughties, and Spring will feature the 2010s and onward.

As always, we’ve got the full breakdown of what’s in store as far as rewards, how to earn points through the series and some of the events to look out for in each season.

FORZA HORIZON 5, RAMI’S RACING HISTORY, SERIES REWARDS

The Rami’s Racing History Festival Playlist offers up 252 total points to obtain over the four weeks or seasons. The prizes also fit the theme for the overall progression of the series.

After earning 80 PTS, doable after the first two seasons, a ‘rare’ 2021 BMW M4 is earned. It can totally be done in three weeks if you push hard, but earning 160 PTS gets you a ‘legendary’ Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.

As mentioned above, the new Horizon Store “Made in Mexico” drops during the festival. Completing the entire story with a perfect 27 stars will get you a ‘Forza Edition’ of the Meyers Manx and 12 PTS to utilize over all four weeks. Other monthly tasks, Forza EV and Monthly Rivals, will get you 4 PTS each.

FORZA HORIZON 5, RAMI’S RACING HISTORY, SUMMER

First up is the Summer, the Wet Season which will honor vehicles made before 1970.

The monthly rewards include a pair of ‘legendary’ pieces, a Porsche 550 at 20 PTS and a Maserati 8CTF at 40 PTS.

For the #FORZATHON Weekly Challenge, you’ll need a 1961 Jaguar E-Type to complete the chapters

In the Summer Trial, a ‘legendary’ #24 Ferrari P4 and 10 PTS can be unlocked by completing the Stock Showdown: Mini Cooper S edition. An Eventlab from “Typehardfark” titled Motorsport Mexico offers the ‘epic’ Jaguar E-Type that is needed for the Weekly Challenge.

There are a number of ‘common’ cars up from grabs in the Summer playlist. Still, these are all classics of our time and are great pieces to own a part of. Plus, you get to do things like PR Stunts and Seasonal Championships and you earn PTS too.

The ‘common’ cars are the Chevy 150 Sedan, the Chevy Impala and the Ford Coupe from 1932. There is also a ‘rare’ Ford Mustang dated 1969 that can nicely be won in the Desert Racing Seasonal Championship.

There will be a Treasure Hunt in the Summer, “Give Me Five” is the title, and the clue reads “take 5 for a luxury road experience like it’s 1932. You’ll probably need that ‘common’ 1932 Ford Coupe here.

As for the Photo Challenge, it’s #INTHEJUNGLE and requires a picture of a 1953 Morris Minor 1000 in the Ek’ Balam area of ​​the map. 20 Air Skills in Horizon Open Racing can get you a ‘rare’ Ford Escort from 1973.

Finally, for those with the Hot Wheels Expansion DLC, there is a Super Wheelspin and 7 total PTS up for grabs, but also a ‘common’ 1965 Pontiac GTO.

FORZA HORIZON 5, RAMI’S RACING HISTORY, AUTUMN

Moving on to Autumn, the Storm Season, Forza Horizon 5 will be celebrating with cars from the seventies and eighties.

At 20 PTS, a ‘rare’ Holden Commodore (VK) is unlocked while at 40 PTS, an ‘epic’ Toyota Trueno can be added to your inventory.

This week’s #FORZATHON Weekly Challenge will require the use of a 1977 Ford #5 Escort RS 1800 MKII. I bet you can get that specific car at some point later in the playlist.

Oh yeah, there it is. That ‘epic’ find can be won in a game of Team Flag Rush in the Seasonal Playground Games. Other ‘epic’ cars in the Autumn include a Ford RS200 and a 1981 Ford Fiesta, unlocked for those in the Hall of Fame that can take on The Trial, a Stock Showdown with the Ford RS200 Evolution.

Autumn also has its share of ‘common’ cars, while not as exclusive as other festivals, still a great thing to be able to win for free, basically.

Those ‘common’ prizes include a Jeep CJ5, a Volvo 242 Turbo, a Lotus Elan and a Reliant Supervan.

No Treasure Hunt this week, possibly for the first time in over a month. There is a Photo Challenge though.

#READYTOROCK will require a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 to be photographed in the Valle De Las Ranas area. ‘Epic’ Leather Boots are won, plus 2 PTS.

For the Hot Wheels players, there’s yet another Super Wheelspin and a ‘rare’ 1988 BMW M5 to win.

FORZA HORIZON 5, RAMI’S RACING HISTORY, WINTER

In the Winter, Forza Horizon 5’s Dry Season, the theme moves over to the nineties and noughties. Those are fond times of mine growing up, ruining my dad’s red 1992 Hyundai Elantra with the stick shift as a kid and such.

Anyway, there are some cool cars from the era here, and for 20 PTS, a ‘common’ Subaru Legacy RS’ is unlocked. For 40 PTS, something maybe a little better, depending on your perspective – a ‘legendary’ Jaguar XJ220.

A 2000 Nissan Silvia Spec-R is required to take on the #FORZATHON Weekly Challenge. It is available to purchase in the Autoshow for 35,000 Credits if you haven’t unlocked it otherwise. Or you can subject yourself to The Eliminator and finish better than 30th to get that ‘common’ dub.

An ‘epic’ Ferrari 575M can can won in The Trial for the Winter, which happens to be a Stock Showdown with the Volvo 850 R. A ‘common’ Volvo 850, along with a ‘common Honda S2000 are also obtained in the festival.

While you can get the ‘legendary’ SO CUTE emote in the Eventlab, those looking for cool cars can win a ‘rare’ Nissan GT-R from 2002 and an ‘epic’ Ferrari F355 in the other tasks ahead.

The Treasure Hunt returns in the Winter, a “Race Against Time” asking players to “race like it’s 1999 with a purrrfect finish.”

Not sure about the cat puns, or the ‘epic’ Cat Meow Car Horn as a reward for the Photo Challenge. To complete #MAKEENTRANCE, you’ll need a picture of a 1997 Mitsubishi GTO under the Arch of Mulege.

Hot Wheelers, if you do See You Saloon, you can walk away with a ‘rare’ Audi RS 4 from 2006. Oh, and a Super Wheelspin if you do the other thing.

FORZA HORIZON 5, RAMI’S RACING HISTORY, SPRING

The final season, the final countdown in the decade theme. Spring’s Hot Season takes us to the 2010s and beyond with a litany of tasks geared up for providing players with more timely cars of the day.

20 PTS will earn you a ‘rare’ Xpeng P7 while 40 PTS gets you an ‘epic’ BMW E92 M3 GTS.

The Spring’s #FORZATHON Weekly Challenge will necessitate the use of one 2012 Lotus Exige S, otherwise known as one of the prize cars found later in the week’s Festival Playlist.

A final Trial, a final Stock Showdown with the Megane RS will give Hall of Famers an ‘epic’ Honda Civic for winning. While the 2020 Land Rover Defender and Maserati Levante are both considered ‘common’ cars, I would be more than ecstatic to get my hands on a real-world version of either.

Besides those, four ‘rare’ cars also sit in this playlist, waiting to be unlocked. A Rally Fighter, that Exige SI mentioned before, a Porsche Cayman and a 2018 BMW M5 are all unlockable here.

The final set of challenges doesn’t include another Treasure Hunt, but a pair of ‘epic’ prizes can be won with the other two tasks ahead.

The #NEWCARSMELL Photo Challenge will need the use of a 2020 Toyota GR Supra and the location for the photo is simple – the Horizon Mexico Festival gate. Do that for 2 PTS and socks. There are also Golden Trophies to smash around the map for a better prize – an ‘epic’ Formula D 599 and 3 PTS!

Finally, those with the Hot Wheels events can get yet another Super Wheelspin while winning the Warp Speed ​​Seasonal Championship earns a ‘common’ 2013 Renault Clio.





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Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Feature Enhanced Audio, but Only for Galaxy Phones

what’s happening

Samsung’s $230 Galaxy Buds 2 Pro feature the company’s 360 audio and higher quality sound, as long as they’re paired with a compatible Galaxy phone.

why it matters

Samsung’s higher-end Galaxy headphones include features that do rival the Pixel Buds Pro and the AirPods Pro, but also rival them by locking exclusive features within its device ecosystem.

what’s next

Samsung’s new wireless earbuds debut alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Z Flip 4 and the Galaxy Watch 5 line, all of which will be released later in August.

Samsung showed off new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro wireless earbuds at its August unpacked eventalongside the Galaxy ZFold 4, Z-Flip 4 and the Galaxy Watch 5 line. They cost $230 (£219, AU$349), and will ship on Aug. 26.

Like the previous Galaxy Buds Pro, Samsung’s pumping up how the wireless earbuds support what it calls 360 audio, which should allow for a surround-sound experience. But to make use of this, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro need to be connected to a supported Galaxy phone with at least Android 8.0 and Samsung’s One UI 4.1 overlay.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro also support 24-bit hi-fi audio, but that feature also requires a Galaxy phone that has Samsung’s One UI 4.0 or above.

Aside from those Galaxy-only enhancements, the wireless buds do have active noise cancellation and a battery that is rated for 20 hours with noise cancellation on. Without noise cancellation, Samsung says the buds can stretch to 30 hours between charges.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro have a water resistance level of IPX7 for water and sweat, making them good for the gym or a rainy day, and they come in three colors: Bora purple, white and graphite.


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The Galaxy Buds line often has inventive designs (I’m still looking for a sequel to the bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live), but it’s a bummer that it’s continuing the industry trend of requiring a matching phone for the best sound quality. Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro also require a Pixel phone for its spatial audio, and Apple is fairly notorious for including all kinds of perks for AirPods users when paired with Apple’s devices.

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Meet Xiaomi’s new humanoid robot, CyberOne – TechCrunch

Long gone are the days when a consumer electronics company could simply announce a phone and call it a day. At this morning’s big launch event in Beijing, Xiaomi followed up its foldable news by handing the stage over to CyberOne. The bipedal humanoid robot joined Lei Jun onstage, greeting the CEO and handing him a long-stem flower.

At first glance, the robot isn’t exactly Atlas or Digit, in terms of locomotion, but it’s still a promising demo and very much not a person in a spandex suit (not that anyone would do that). It’s the latest sign of Xiaomi’s growing robotics ambitions, which began with vacuums and have since expanded to include last year’s Spot-esque CyberDog.

Image Credits: Xiaomi

We’ve seen plenty of consumer brands flex some robotic muscle at events like this, including Samsung and LG, so it’s tough to know where CyberOne falls in the spectrum between serious pursuit and stage spectacle.

Lei Jun was quick to flex the company’s investment in the category, noting, “CyberOne’s AI and mechanical capabilities are all self-developed by Xiaomi Robotics Lab. We have invested heavily in R&D spanning various areas, including software, hardware and algorithms innovation.”

There’s an extremely broad range of claims here, including the ability to read human emotions. Xiaomi notes:

Humanoid robots rely on vision to process their surroundings. Equipped with a self-developed Mi-Sense depth vision module and combined with an AI interaction algorithm, CyberOne is capable of perceiving 3D space, as well as recognizing individuals, gestures, and expressions, allowing it to not only see but to process its environment . In order to communicate with the world, CyberOne is equipped with a self-developed MiAI environment semantics recognition engine and a MiAI vocal emotion identification engine, enabling it to recognize 85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion. CyberOne is able to detect happiness, and even comfort the user in times of sadness. All of these features are integrated into CyberOne’s processing units, which are paired with a curved OLED module to display real-time interactive information.

Image Credits: Xiaomi

Equally broad are the promised real-world applications, ranging from manufacturing assistance to human companionship. There will be plenty of use for both of these feature sets in the future, but that’s a long walk (so to speak) from today’s demo. For the time being, it probably makes the most sense to view CyberOne as something of an analogy to, say, Honda’s Asimo: a promising experiment that’s serves as a good brand ambassador for some of the work being done behind the scenes.

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Samsung has this week launched the latest foldable devices in the Galaxy Z Series | The Canberra Times

Flip phones are back, but not as we’ve ever known them. Photo: Supplied

This is branded content for Samsung

Samsung Electronics has today delighted fans with the announcement of their latest generation of premium, foldable smartphones and wearables within the Galaxy Series.

The latest additions to the Galaxy family includes a range of Galaxy Watches, buds and the highly anticipated smartphones, featuring the latest foldable technology.

The Galaxy Flip4 and Galaxy Fold4 have been long awaited by eager and curious consumers, and they challenge everything preconceived about the possibilities of hand-held tech.

The Galaxy Flip4 features an upgrade thanks to a larger screen and enhanced performance, all with the unrivaled portability and style that Samsung is renowned for.

Available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB and in four beautiful colours, including the iconic new Bora Purple, Pink Gold, Graphite and Blue, the Flip4 redefines the art of self-expression through a powerful design that slips right into your back pocket.

The Galaxy Flip4 retails from $1,499 and comes in either the base or Bespoke model, for a more personalized experience.

Its cousin in the Galaxy series, the Galaxy Fold4, pushes all limits in smartphone technology, pairing convenience with luxury where other manufacturers have compromised.

As one of Samsung’s most premium designs, the Z Fold4 provides the ultimate one-hand experience with a slim, reengineered hinge for the thinnest, lightest Galaxy Fold yet.

The Z Fold4 provides the ultimate one-hand experience with a slim, reengineered hinge for the thinnest, lightest Galaxy Fold yet. Photo: Supplied

The Galaxy Fold4 gives consumers the best of both worlds, with an extra large immersive screen to work with that folds in half, providing portability, and dual screen capabilities that allow for seamless integration between apps.

“The new Galaxy Z Series range is the generation of foldables that will see the category become mainstream. Adoption cues are steadily growing from the volume of foldable devices ‘in the wild’, increasing consumer online search trends, indication of purchase intent, app optimization and more,” said Garry McGregor, vice president of Mobile Experience division at Samsung Australia.

“We know there’s been a doubling in consideration for foldables among 18 to 45 year olds, and generation Z specifically showing a colossal 273% increase since last year.

“Without a doubt foldables have more than emerged, they’ve arrived and have a bright future.

“The foldables market is predicted to continue its rapid growth, more than doubling in 2023, and the fact Samsung Australia has maintained year-on-year pricing we see this being very much the case in this market,” said Mr McGregor.

The Galaxy Fold4 comes in Phantom Black, Beige or Greygreen and offers multiple memory options, with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB memory variants. The Galaxy Fold4 retails from $2,449, and both Z series smartphones are available for pre-order from August 11, 2022.

Samsung foldables are engineered to be strong, with Gorilla Glass Victus and aircraft-grade strength Armor Aluminum. Photo: Supplied.

But smartphones weren’t the only gadgets unveiled in the latest product lineup.

Samsung’s expanded Galaxy Watch 5 Series and Galaxy Buds2 Pro also made their Australian debut this week.

The Galaxy Watch5 Pro is a brand new addition to the range, with toughness and durability at its core. Made with the adventurous athlete in mind, it acts as the perfect sidekick to an active lifestyle. The Watch5 on the other hand, is a customizable addition to enhance everybody’s everyday life.

“We know there is a clear desire for an ecosystem of connected products. That is why we are especially excited for our latest additions to the Galaxy portfolio of wearables as well as the all new Watch5 Pro,” said Mr McGregor.

“They offer our customers supreme audio and improved health and well-being functionality – bringing the best of the best.

“It is a very exciting time for the category and with the full support from our partners, offering complete ranges of color skews, memory variants at the best value, we know our customers in Australia are going to love these new devices.”

Pre-orders for all devices begin on August 11, with on-sale launching on September 2. Retailers have various different pre-order offers, with fantastic savings to be made.

The Galaxy Z Series smartphones will be available from the Samsung eStore and Experience Stores, as well as all Samsung retail and telco partners.

For more information about the latest Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Z Series, visit https://www.samsung.com/au/smartphones/galaxy-z/

This is branded content for Samsung

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AMD & NVIDIA GPU Sales Continue To Decline, Reports Estimates Shipments Drop By 50%

Shipment revisions for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA have occurred due to revenue projections for the remainder of the year. Analysts are estimating decreases in revenue for Intel and NVIDIA, reports DigiTimes. And, thanks to the recent decline in cryptocurrency, GPU shipments are also expected to decline as high as fifty percent.

NVIDIA and Intel are in danger of loss of critical sales of PC CPU & GPU components, while AMD and Apple anticipate a slight increase

Intel expects a decrease of between $8 and $11 billion in income and has dropped its income objective to $65 – $68 billion. The organization gauges a ten percent drop in PC revenue (contrasted with 2021). The COVID pandemic falsely helped interest in PC sales and components in 2021.

NVIDIA expects a lack of true success in sales because of the post-pandemic drop and the significant digital money crash. Taiwanese GPU providers gauge their 2022 shipments will fall close to fifty percent, and sources referred to by DigiTimes say this will make NVIDIA’s income fall “at a pace beyond imagination.”

NVIDIA and Intel are in danger of loss of critical sales, while AMD and Apple anticipate a slight increase 2

NVIDIA is declining because of this issue and the significant digital currency crash this year. Accordingly, Taiwanese GPU providers have assessed their 2022 shipments will fall by as high as fifty percent. Sources say this will kill NVIDIA’s yearly income, with an expected fall. NVIDIA’s starter second quarter income report, delivered recently, showed a fundamentally more negative quarter than anticipated.

The decrease in consumer tech is currently influencing interest for less-significant chip part producers making displays, ICs, and boards, and that’s only for starters. One such organization, notebook MCU and touchscreen controller producer Elan Microelectronics expects an income drop of thirty percent at the end of the third quarter.

Chromebook shipments are expected to take as high as sixty percent volume hits. Lenovo and HP anticipate a sixty percent decrease in shipments for their specific Chromebook models. Windows notebook and PC sales are supposed to drop by up to fifteen percent consistently. Asus, Acer, Dell, and HP are experiencing issues driving higher deals in the gaming and business laptop areas.

While different manufacturers battle to keep sales afloat, AMD and Apple have figured out how to evade these broad issues.

AMD has seen gigantic development: the organization’s second quarter income taken expanded by seventy percent because of a piece of the market gains from Intel in data center processors and embedded CPU development.

However, AMD has expanded its assumptions for shipment drops as high as sixteen percent. AMD anticipates that its third-quarter incomes should increase, but only mildly.

Apple recently witnessed a record-breaking 28 million units sold in 2022.

As indicated by a DigiTimes report, AMD’s development is basically because of Intel losing its general piece of the pie. Intel rules practically eighty percent of the market. However, it lost a lot of requests from Apple when the last option turned into its CPU provider (with the M1 and M2 ARM chips). AMD’s fast extension in the server farm and its income stream from the Xilinx merger will add to Intel’s difficulties.

News Source: Toms Hardware

Products mentioned in this post

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Samsung has this week launched the latest foldable devices in the Galaxy Z Series | Busselton-Dunsborough Mail

Flip phones are back, but not as we’ve ever known them. Photo: Supplied

This is branded content for Samsung

Samsung Electronics has today delighted fans with the announcement of their latest generation of premium, foldable smartphones and wearables within the Galaxy Series.

The latest additions to the Galaxy family includes a range of Galaxy Watches, buds and the highly anticipated smartphones, featuring the latest foldable technology.

The Galaxy Flip4 and Galaxy Fold4 have been long awaited by eager and curious consumers, and they challenge everything preconceived about the possibilities of hand-held tech.

The Galaxy Flip4 features an upgrade thanks to a larger screen and enhanced performance, all with the unrivaled portability and style that Samsung is renowned for.

Available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB and in four beautiful colours, including the iconic new Bora Purple, Pink Gold, Graphite and Blue, the Flip4 redefines the art of self-expression through a powerful design that slips right into your back pocket.

The Galaxy Flip4 retails from $1,499 and comes in either the base or Bespoke model, for a more personalized experience.

Its cousin in the Galaxy series, the Galaxy Fold4, pushes all limits in smartphone technology, pairing convenience with luxury where other manufacturers have compromised.

As one of Samsung’s most premium designs, the Z Fold4 provides the ultimate one-hand experience with a slim, reengineered hinge for the thinnest, lightest Galaxy Fold yet.

The Z Fold4 provides the ultimate one-hand experience with a slim, reengineered hinge for the thinnest, lightest Galaxy Fold yet. Photo: Supplied

The Galaxy Fold4 gives consumers the best of both worlds, with an extra large immersive screen to work with that folds in half, providing portability, and dual screen capabilities that allow for seamless integration between apps.

“The new Galaxy Z Series range is the generation of foldables that will see the category become mainstream. Adoption cues are steadily growing from the volume of foldable devices ‘in the wild’, increasing consumer online search trends, indication of purchase intent, app optimization and more,” said Garry McGregor, Vice President of Mobile Experience division at Samsung Australia.

“We know there’s been a doubling in consideration for foldables among 18 to 45 year olds, and generation Z specifically showing a colossal 273% increase since last year.

“Without a doubt foldables have more than emerged, they’ve arrived and have a bright future.

“The foldables market is predicted to continue its rapid growth, more than doubling in 2023, and the fact Samsung Australia has maintained year-on-year pricing we see this being very much the case in this market,” said Mr McGregor.

The Galaxy Fold4 comes in Phantom Black, Beige or Greygreen and offers multiple memory options, with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB memory variants. The Galaxy Fold4 retails from $2,449, and both Z series smartphones are available for pre-order from August 11, 2022.

Samsung foldables are engineered to be strong, with Gorilla Glass Victus and aircraft-grade strength Armor Aluminum. Photo: Supplied.

But smartphones weren’t the only gadgets unveiled in the latest product lineup.

Samsung’s expanded Galaxy Watch 5 Series and Galaxy Buds2 Pro also made their Australian debut this week.

The Galaxy Watch5 Pro is a brand new addition to the range, with toughness and durability at its core. Made with the adventurous athlete in mind, it acts as the perfect sidekick to an active lifestyle. The Watch5 on the other hand, is a customizable addition to enhance everybody’s everyday life.

“We know there is a clear desire for an ecosystem of connected products. That is why we are especially excited for our latest additions to the Galaxy portfolio of wearables as well as the all new Watch5 Pro,” said Mr McGregor.

“They offer our customers supreme audio and improved health and well-being functionality – bringing the best of the best.

“It is a very exciting time for the category and with the full support from our partners, offering complete ranges of color skews, memory variants at the best value, we know our customers in Australia are going to love these new devices.”

Pre-orders for all devices begin on August 11, with on-sale launching on September 2. Retailers have various different pre-order offers, with fantastic savings to be made.

The Galaxy Z Series smartphones will be available from the Samsung eStore and Experience Stores, as well as all Samsung retail and telco partners.

For more information about the latest Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Z Series, visit https://www.samsung.com/au/smartphones/galaxy-z/

This is branded content for Samsung

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Apex Legends Shatters Records As Players Urges Fans To Stop Playing Apex Legends

It’s not a universal maxim, but in many cases, there’s no surer sign a game is alive and well than when waves of players start calling it a “dead game.” The most recent example is apex legendswhich just set an all-time player count record amid a coordinated — I use that word generously — social media campaign urging players to fall off the game for a month.

apex legendsa free-to-play first-person shooter some people still call Why Aren’t You Titanfall 3?, launched three years ago amid the industry’s battle royale boom. Though it initially seemed experimental, a fun if ephemeral multiplayer pitstop between developer Respawn’s blockbusters (like titan fall and Jedi: Fallen Order), Apex quickly adopted a seasonal model. It’s been riding the live service train ever since and is now on its 14th season. This brings us to #NoApexAugust, a community effort to highlight various issues fans have with the game.

#NoApexAugust has mostly organized around a hashtag on Twitter, though the genesis can be traced back to a Reddit post from last month. Initially, one player suggested a single-day strike against apex legends. The post blew up. Complaints about apex legends poured in (the initial post has more than 1,000 responses), and it eventually morphed into the idea that the community would take a whole month off from the game.

The idea of ​​#NoApexAugust was to spur Respawn and publisher EA into action, addressing what players see as issues with the game: the high-ping servers…or the lack of cross-progression…or the overpriced cosmetics…or the lack or interesting cosmetics …or the slew of specific items some say are too powerful…or, look, players have a bunch of nonsense issues, many of which seem minor in isolation but coalesce into a larger “please fix game” rallying cry.

Right out of the gate, #NoApexAugust sputtered. Some people pointed out that the player base actually increased (if only marginally) over the first two days of the month, immediately after the campaign kicked off. And just yesterday — again, while #NoApexAugust was supposedly in full swing — apex legends set its all-time record number of players on Steam: 510,286 players, according to stat-tracking database Steamcharts. (The previous record of 411,183 was set in May. These figures don’t account for players on consoles, however.)

Some dead game.

Clearly, #NoApexAugust has failed spectacularly at its intended goal of getting players to abstain from playing apex legends. Due to the obvious irony, you are allowed at least one (1) chuckle. Still, that a social campaign — messy execution aside — was merited here in the first place calls attention to very real issues players have with the game. Those shouldn’t be ignored, even if players are coming out in record numbers.

Representatives for EA, which publishes apex legendsdid not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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Unity Signs New Deal To Help US Army, Government

A screenshot shows the Unity logo in white on a blue and black grid background.

picture: Kotaku / Unity

Popular video game engine Unity has had a lot of bad press over the last year, the result of things like large-scale layoffs and some really terrible comments from its CEO. Today the trend continues, as it was recently announced that the company has signed a new multi-million dollar, three-year deal with a technology company that will see it become the “preferred real-time 3D platform” provider for the US government and its various defense agencies and militaries.

Unity is a widely used video game engine that is often cited as being lightweight, easy to work with, and flexible, allowing indie devs and large studios to create games that can scale across multiple platforms, like Xbox, PC, and Switch. The engine powers numerous gameslike Among Us, V Rising, Call of Duty Mobile, and Cuphead. But this flexibility and power have also attracted the attention of folks outside of the game industry, including companies that help build simulations and other systems for the US government and military.

As announced earlier this weekUnity is parenting with CACI International on what the company calls an “exciting” three-year, multi-million dollar deal that will help it become the “preferred real-time 3D platform for future systems design and simulation programs across the US Government.”

If you, like most folks reading this, don’t know what CACI is, here’s how the company describes itself on its own website:

CACI is a $6 billion company whose mission and enterprise technology and expertise play a vital role in our national security, safeguarding our troops, and enabling our government to deliver cost-effective and high-quality support for all Americans.

This sounds a lot like Unity is once again cutting deals to help the US government and military in developing technology that could aid soldiers and the country’s ability to fight wars overseas. And while some might not mind working on such tech, as we saw last year, many staff members at Unity did indeed have an issue with how the company was handling these deals. There were reports that some employees were working on parts of the engine that would benefit Unity’s government and military contracts, yet the devs had no idea.

Kotaku has contacted Unity about this latest contract and how it plans to keep its game engine devs separate from or informed about its military and government contract work with CACI.

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What to do when tech sucks the fun out of your run

Tech can also disconnect us from something else that makes a fun run “fun”: other people and the carnival atmosphere.

Two years ago, as he was running past the starting line at the City2Surf, Todd Liubinskas’ training partner and co-founder of the 440 Run club, Trent Knox, told him to hand over his watch.

Todd Liubinskas (left), and Trent Knox.

Todd Liubinskas (left), and Trent Knox.Credit:edwina pickles

“I had my Garmin on, and he goes ‘give it to me’ and he said ‘just focus on your breathing’,” recalls Liubinskas, who did his first City2Surf as a seven-year-old.

Knox says he could see that his friend, who shot out too fast, was already anxious about achieving his splits.

“I wanted him to get out of his head,” says Knox, who, along with Liubinskas, is leading the Under Armor run team at the race. Without the distraction of his watch from him and chronically checking his pace from him, he relaxed: “You can run a race a hundred different ways and get the same time.”

Liubinskas, whose goal was to run the 14 kilometers in under 70 minutes, did it in 64 minutes and managed to enjoy himself, too.

“There will be people who will keep looking at their watch the whole time, ‘Oh I’ve got to get this, and I’ve got to get that,’ and you miss everything,” says Liubinskas, who hasn’t worn a watch to track his runs since.

With numbers for this year’s City2Surf lower than in previous years, Knox has been asking people why they’re not signing up. They have told him, he says, they would prefer not to run because life, and COVID, have got in the way of training, and they won’t get a PB.

It’s a shame, says Knox. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not at your best; it’s about being together.”

Being together and, after COVID’s many variations as well as a nasty flu season, a celebration of being well.

A colleague of mine had been hoping to train for the event, but illness made a mockery of her plans. She has decided to run – or walk – anyway, and reset her expectations of her.

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“I used to feel frustrated if I wasn’t able to jog up heartbreak hill – if I had to resort to walking,” she says. “But now I’m just so grateful to be well enough to participate at all (as a result of having had COVID) that I’m just happy to jog some and walk however much.”

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Technology

Unity Signs Multi-Million Dollar Contract To Help US Army And Defense Agencies

Popular video game engine Unity has had a lot of bad press over the last year, the result of things like large-scale layoffs and some really terrible comments from its CEO. Today the trend continues, as it was recently announced that the company has signed a new multi-million dollar, three-year deal with a technology company that will see it become the “preferred real-time 3D platform” provider for the US government and its various defense agencies and militaries.

Unity is a widely used video game engine that is often cited as being lightweight, easy to work with, and flexible, allowing indie devs and large studios to create games that can scale across multiple platforms, like Xbox, PC, and Switch. The engine powers numerous games, like Among Us, V Rising, Call of Duty Mobile, and Cuphead. But this flexibility and power have also attracted the attention of folks outside of the game industry, including companies that help build simulations and other systems for the US government and military.

As announced earlier this week, Unity is parenting with CACI International on what the company calls an “exciting” three-year, multi-million dollar deal that will help it become the “preferred real-time 3D platform for future systems design and simulation programs across the US Government.”

If you, like most folks reading this, don’t know what CACI is, here’s how the company describes itself on its own website:

CACI is a $US6 ($8) billion company whose mission and enterprise technology and expertise play a vital role in our national security, safeguarding our troops, and enabling our government to deliver cost-effective and high-quality support for all Americans.

This sounds a lot like Unity is once again cutting deals to help the US government and military in developing technology that could aid soldiers and the country’s ability to fight wars overseas. And while some might not mind working on such tech, as we saw last year, many staff members at Unity did indeed have an issue with how the company was handling these deals. There were reports that some employees were working on parts of the engine that would benefit Unity’s government and military contracts, yet the devs had no idea.

Kotaku has contacted Unity about this latest contract and how it plans to keep its game engine devs separate from or informed about its military and government contract work with CACI.