The tumult never seems to end at Barcelona as the club are on the brink of another problematic situation. The Catalonian club’s debt has doubled since 2019 and has come up to €488 million from €217 million.
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted finances further and has been one of the primary reasons for the spike in debt for the club. Losses worth about €100 million have been projected for Barcelona in terms of absence of ticket sales.
While there were talks of reducing the wages of the players earlier, those talks have become much more concrete. The proof lies in the fact that the club have decided to extend the deadline on their discussions for pay-cuts.
The news, as reported by the Spanish media outlet Esport3, further goes on to say that the club fear bankruptcy and will have to reduce their humongous wage bill by about 30% if the club is to keep on running smoothly.
New contracts for Clement Lenglet, Gerard Pique, Frenkie De Jong and Marc Andre Ter-Stegen were announced very recently. It is being reported that the four players will take a pay cut in the near future, but will be reimbursed when the situation improves.
Barcelona’s current wage bill amounts to an excess of €200 million per year, which is excluding the bonuses offered to each and every player. Leo Messi alone earns about €1.3 million per week, and his yearly payment amounts to a gigantic €71 million per year, again, excluding bonuses.
The Blaugrana will have to cut down expenses by a huge amount to make amends for their lack of income. Some sources speculate that the club will have to let Messi go to keep the club running, due to the Argentinian’s expensive wages.
Should Barcelona be unable to handle the situation properly, bankruptcy could be the least of their concerns amidst complete and utter chaos that could ensue within the club.
Dani Alves has hit out at former club Barcelona, talking about the possibility of rejoining the club after his spell at Juventus.
‘I offered myself to Barca to come back. I went to Juve to prove I was still at a good level,’ the veteran defender told RAC 1.
‘I wanted to return to Barca and they needed me, but they didn’t have the balls to admit that they were wrong with me. If they had treated me as I thought I deserved, today I would still continue playing for Barca. I love this club.’
The right-back was let go by Barcelona for free in 2016, and their performances have been disappointing ever since. The fans were also outraged at the club’s decision and lamented the board letting go of one of their best players, especially for no money.
Dani Alves is currently 37, and plays for Sao Paolo in his native Brazil. He won silverware at both Juventus, as well as PSG after departing from Spain.
According to the defender himself, Alves was willing to make a return to Camp Nou after spending a season at Juventus in which he managed to reach the Champions League final for the second year in a row.
However, the club were unwilling to accept that they ‘made a mistake’ by letting Alves go. And hence, the deal did not go through.
The Brazilian has also slammed the club’s image due to their recent crisis.
‘The style of Barca is changing. The club has lost its identity a bit and now has to go through a tough process to recover it,’ he added.
‘I think that Barca only wants to be a commercial and business club… buy and sell players. When you do that, you lose your identity. I think that is the problem for Barcelona.’
The advent of Intel’s 11th generation Tiger Lake family brought along with it many new updates. The inclusion of the support for the latest Thunderbolt 4 and the most anticipated PCIe 4.0 license. All this made the semiconductor the leading choice for notebook processing.
PCIe 4.0 technology is relatively new. However, we already know that the latest PCIe 5 is already ready. Though we have not seen the tech being implemented yet, it is rumored to be featured in the upcoming 11th generation high-end notebooks.
Now it seems that PCI SIG has already finalized the specifications of its new PCIe 6.0 module. We already know that the company is known to make its products short-lived. Soon after the launch of its PCIe 4.0, the company announced its PCIe 5.0.
When we have not even seen any proper implementation of the company’s 5th gen technology, it is already planning to launch its 6th generation module. But of course, the actual performances of the 6th generation PCIe will only arrive by 2023. The delay comes because PCIe 5.0 will be adopted by intel and AMD as early as next year.
Some specifications released by the company of PCIe 6.0 features include:
64 GT/s per pin for a maximum bandwidth of 256 GB/s on 16 lanes (nearly double that of the PCIe 5.0 standard and quadrupling the current PCIe 4.0 speeds)
PAM4 (Pulse amplitude modulation on four levels) is now used for signaling. This tech is also used in high-end networking equipment with the InfiniBand communications standard or the GDDR6x VRAM modules integrated into Nvidia’s high-end GPUs
Low-latency forward error correction (FEC) which is supposed to be lower than ten ns
Increased reliability over the Gen 5 standard
Optimized power efficiency
Scalable to hundreds of lanes on a single platform
PCI SIG plans to double its production every two years to increase the transfer rate of its modules. However, consumers will not be able to benefit from this increase immediately. It is because the OEM’s are not in a hurry to adapt to the new standards.
The ongoing dispute between China and the U.S. doesn’t seem to end. What started as an attempt to secure American technology’s future has now sent ripples across the global tech market. Amidst all chaos and confusion, the company that suffered the most was the Chinese tech giant Huawei.
With the ban from using U.S. based semiconductor chipsets to being potentially blocked from moving forward with its 5G development; Huawei received the short end of the stick.
However, in the last few weeks, more and more companies are getting approval from the United States to resume their business with the Chinese giant Huawei. Now the world’s leading chipset maker, Qualcomm, has confirmed that it has applied for a license near the U.S. administration. If the permit is granted, then Qualcomm will supply its chipsets to Huawei in the coming future.
A Qualcomm sign is pictured at one of its many campus buildings in San Diego, California, U.S. April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake – RTS12V9Q
According to sources, the news was confirmed by Qualcomm’s CEO Steven Mollenkopf during the reveal of the company’s performance for the fiscal year 2020. However, even though the company has applied for a license, it hasn’t been granted yet.
We already know that companies like Intel, AMD, Samsung Display, and Sony have already received permission from the United States government to continue doing business with Huawei. The news of Qualcomm applying for a license is essential for the Chinese giant.
Sources claim that more than 300 companies have applied for a special license that is needed from the U.S. government to continue conducting business with Huawei. We can now confirm that approximately 100 of them have been granted permission. From that, about one-third have been given a license.
Though providing a license for companies to continue their business with Huawei, the U.S. administration has made one thing mandatory. It is not ready to support the companies that plan to supply components to Huawei for use in 5G development.
All this indicates that the U.S. administration is serious about keeping Huawei out of the 5G market, no matter who wins the presidential elections.
Advanced Micro Devices is the brand that is the biggest competitor of both Intel and Nvidia. Recently the company is trekking ahead in 4K gaming to establish its dominance in the gaming market. Earlier, the company promised that its upcoming RX 6800 XT would give Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 a run for its money.
The recent benchmark results posted at a 3DMark Time Spy Extreme demonstrate that the company might be able to stay true to its promise. The leaker @harukaze5719 publishes the results showing the performance of AMD’s RDNA2 graphics cards.
According to sources, the Radeon RX 6800 XT scored around 8,500 points. It means that the card scored 5% of the performance of the RTX 3080. The score of 8,500 points is above anything that custom RTX 2080 Ti cards can offer at their best.
On another note, AMD’s RX 5700 XT could not break the 4,000-point barrier in 3DMark Time Spy Extreme. It’s upcoming RX 5700 fell even further back on 3,500-3,700 points.
According to the leaker, the RX 6800 XT managed these scores at 2.4 GHz of clock speed on stable drivers. The card was said to remain relatively calm too, but at the cost of ‘slightly noisy’ fans.
The Radeon RX 6800 XT’s actual performance is not yet known as it is common knowledge that the cards run on engineering models, and the account can still be upgraded until the final reveal. As to whether AMD will remain true to its promise of delivering a worthy competitor for Nvidia’s high-end cards remains to be seen.
Acer has launched a new laptop on a laptop in India. Its latest entry is the Acer Enduro N3 notebook targeted towards working individuals, and the machine features a 14-inch display and comes powered by the 10th generation Intel core processors. The device comes with the tagline “designed with military standard for use in locations where normal laptops do not function optimally.”
Acer Enduro N3 specifications
The Acer Enduro N3 runs on Windows 10 Professional upon launch and features a 14-inch full-HD display. The display comes with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. As mentioned earlier, the device is powered by the 10th Gen Intel Core processor paired with DDR4 RAM. The RAM module is expandable up to 32GB. The device offers up to 512GB of PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD storage, which is somewhat disappointing as we already know that OEMs are gearing for PCIe Gen 5 implementations.
The notebook N3 is certified for military standard MIL-STD-810G) durability and comes with an IP53 certification. Acer says that the N3 laptop is constructed using shock-absorbent items that contain a honeycomb shell. The device is engineered to be resistant to drops and falls alongside resistance for water.
Acer Enduro N3 weighs about 1.985kg and is said to be the thinnest and lightest 14-inch IP53-rated rugged laptop in its category. The machine also offers multiple layers of security with Hardware TPM 2.0 and fingerprint reader. The company is also providing three years of manufacturing warranty. The integrated technologies in the laptop include a Discrete Trusted Platform Module, AEMS, and password-protected HDDs. The device also comes with a unique water-resistant Aquafan technology that repels water drops from all angles.
The Acer Enduro N3 laptop is priced at Rs. 76,500 in India. The computer is available for sale on Acer.com and will be available on other retailers soon. The device comes in a single Black color option.
The festival of lights, the festival of gifts is finally here!
Diwali is the most auspicious festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm throughout the world. The festival is famous for its attractive decorations, fancy gifts, lighting lamps, and sharing moments with friends & family. In India, people eagerly wait for this festival every year as it starts with décor followed by sharing gifts, the merriment of laughter, music, and fireworks. But visiting your friends and family, sharing laughter together, might not be the same this year.
Why not share the love and happiness with Gadgets that are useful, stylish, and sporty at the same time, which please our sensory neurons, and cherish the bond and togetherness.
Let’s gift the plethora of love in this festive season with some fitness & WFH essentials like Fitbit fitness smartwatches, Bose speakers & headphones, which can easily be shopped online without stepping out.
Fitbit Versa 2
Fitbit Versa 2™, the next generation of its best-selling smartwatch, Fitbit Versa™. Versa 2 delivers a new precision-crafted swim-proof design, includes innovative sleep features like Sleep Score and smart wake, and is packed with even more advanced health, fitness and smart features to elevate every moment. Versa 2 debuts an on-device microphone, which enables Fitbit’s first-ever Amazon Alexa smartwatch experience, along with a Spotify app that allows users to control their music and podcasts.
Versa 2 is available for INR 20,999 in black with a carbon case, petal with a copper rose aluminium case, and stone with a mist grey case. Versa 2 Special Edition is available for INR 22,999 in navy and pink with a copper rose aluminium case and smoke with a mist grey case.
Buy from here:
Fitbit Inspire & Fitbit Inspire HR
Fitbit Inspire HR is the brand’s most affordable and stylish 24/7 heart rate tracking device at INR 8,999. It packs all-day automatic activity, exercise and Sleep Stages tracking, with 15+ goal-based exercise modes, connected GPS, and Relax guided breathing in a stylish, slim design. For consumers who are new to wearables and want an even lower-cost, easy-to-use tracker, Fitbit Inspire™ is available at INR 6,999. It has the essential health and fitness features to help consumers stay motivated, including automatic activity, exercise and sleep tracking, goal celebrations, Reminders to move, timer and stopwatch apps to help users stay on track. Both products have a new modern, comfortable and swim-proof design with a touchscreen display, smartphone notifications, and up to 5 days of battery life for day to nightwear.
Buy from here:
Fitbit Charge 4
Fitbit Charge 4™. Featuring Fitbit’s most advanced combination of sensors and features, including built-in GPS and Spotify, Charge 4 delivers what you want most in a health and fitness tracker, paired with essential smart features and up to 7 days of battery life in a sleek, swimproof design, all at an approachable price. Charge 4 includes Fitbit’s latest innovation in health and fitness, Active Zone Minutes, a new personalized standard based on your resting heart rate and age that tracks any workout that gets your heart pumping, from indoor biking to yoga, measuring the time you spend in each heart rate zone toward a weekly goal of 150 minutes. INR 14,999
Buy from here:
Fitbit Ionic
Fitbit Ionic, a health and fitness first platform, Ionic offers a highly personalized experience not previously seen in other smartwatches. Ionic builds on Fitbit’s health and fitness expertise with a new relative SpO2 sensor, making it possible to track deeper health insights like sleep apnea in the future, industry-leading GPS tracking, on-device dynamic workouts, improved heart rate tracking, and water resistance up to 50 meters. Plus, smart features like contactless payments, on-board music, smart notifications, and a variety of popular apps and clock faces available in the Fitbit App Gallery. It is available at INR 24,999.
Buy from here:
For the Multitasker (Headphone 700)
Perfect for the person who is always on-the-go, all while maintaining the balance with work and everyday life. From taking a conference call at the airport to catching up on a podcast during the rush hour commute, Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are up to the challenge. Headphones 700 feature an unrivalled microphone system that isolates one’s voice, whilst cancelling noise — magically transforming public spaces into private sanctuaries for listening to content, talking on the phone, accessing VPAs, or focusing on work.
COLORS: Black/Silver
Buy from here:
For the Entertainer (Home Speaker 300)
For the audiophile that loves to host, the new Bose Home Speaker 300 is the perfect, space-saving speaker with a choice of voice assistant built-in. From holiday parties to playing a favourite playlist with the family, the Bose Home Speaker 300 brings 360° lifelike sound and powerful bass to a stylish, compact package. Plus, with the Google Assistant and Alexa built-in, this little sound power-house can get answers on the weather or sports and help keep track of someone’s busy day.
COLORS: Black/Silver
Buy from here:
For the City Dweller (Frames)
Made for the music-lover who commutes around the city, Bose Frames is a revolutionary product that combines the protection and style of premium sunglasses, and the functionality and performance of wireless headphones. With an open-ear design, Frames are perfect for streaming content and taking calls, all while being able to soak in the city’s sights and sounds.
STYLE: Rondo/Alto
For the Adventurer (SoundLink Micro)
Ideal for the explorer who’s up for anything and wants to enhance every situation, activity, and experience with music, the Bose SoundLink Micro brings unmatched sound for its tiny size. From travelling to hiking to cooking to hanging out, the Micro was built with adventure in mind. It was designed to not only hang on securely thanks to a super reliable tear-resistant strap but can also withstand being dropped into water (even the pool or the ocean) and on the ground.
COLORS: Black, Orange & Midnight Blue
Buy from here:
Let this Diwali doubles the joy of celebration by adding the special effect of gadgets in it and to make the memories indelible for a lifetime.
FIFA 21 Challenge has become one of the most viewed live broadcasted events in the history of Esports.
The EA Sports FIFA 21 Challenge drew an average minute audience (AMA) of 254,057 and a total watch time of 1.024 million hours, making the event the most-watched Esports broadcast in history.
The previous record was set back in January 2018 with the multi-day FIFA Global Series FUT Champions Cup in Barcelona, which achieved an AMA of 92,678.
FIFA 21 Challenge breaks all Esports viewership records!
The FIFA 21 Challenge was a one-day tournament held on 29th October that paired top soccer stars with the world’s best FIFA players. The broadcast metrics for the challenge are more than double the viewership set by the next most-watched EA-operated FIFA event.
The FIFA 21 Challenge was won by Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fnatic’s Tekkz. The event utilized the new FIFA Global Series Viewership Rewards. This created an interactive broadcast for viewers with in-game benefits for watching to further drive engagement and subsequent playtime.
“EA Sports FIFA is woven into the fabric of football culture. Bringing professional footballers and our esports pros together create entertainment that sets our tournaments apart,” said EA Sports FIFA commissioner Brent Koning.
“The success of the FIFA 21 Challenge reinforces our strategy and vision for broadening the esports audience, creating content for our fans, and underscores the value of entertainment-driven events that branch outside of traditional esports.”
FIFA is one of the most popular sport simulation titles both in esports and for casual games. Even though viewing figures represent a considerable boost for EA, they are still way behind in competitive gaming’s biggest draws.
According to Esports Charts, the final of the 2020 League of Legends (LoL) world championship had an average viewership of more than 1.1 million with over 139 million hours watched.
NorthEast United have spent a relatively long time in the competition. But despite reaching the playoffs on a few occasions, success continues to allude them. The Highlanders will be hoping their efforts come good this time after a below-par season last time around.
So can NEUFC break the shackles to be an outsider for the playoffs? We take a look:
TRANSFERS
NorthEast United have signed up Mohun Bagan right back Ashutosh Mehta and Dylan Fox from A-league club Central Coast to reinforce their defensive depth. They have also added Idrissa Sylla to their ranks, who is known to be a lethal striker.
The club, however, let go of Redeem Tlang and Milan Singh to stronger rivals Goa and East Bengal respectively. Releasing Martin Chaves might not be a sensible move either, considering his talent and experience.
SQUAD LIST
GOALKEEPERS
Gurmeet
Nikhil Deka
Sanjiban Ghosh
Subhashish Roy
DEFENDERS
Ashutosh Mehta
Benjamin Lambot
Dylan Fox
Gurjinder Kumar
Mashoor Shereef
Nabin Rabha
Nim Dorjee
Provat Lakra
Rakesh Pradhan
Wayne Vaz
MIDFIELDERS
Federico Gallego
Imran Khan
Khassa Camara
Lalengmawia
Lalrempuia Fanai
Pragyan Gogoi
Rochharzela
FORWARDS
Britto PM
Idrissa Sylla
Ninthoinganba Meetei
Kwesi Appiah
Lalkhawpuimawia
Luis Machado
Suhari Vadakkepeedika
STRENGTH
NorthEast’s biggest asset is their collective mental strength to stay in the game and give their all till the very end. Even last season, they played out to draw matches and secure points and also occasionally struck late to take home 1-0 wins or 1-1 draws.
WEAKNESS
Undoubtedly, it is their defensive organisation. The Highlanders were all over the place in 2019/20 and they held the second-worst defensive record in the tournament, conceding 30 goals. But, they will hope that the new signings like Fox and Ashutosh Mehta can shore up the leaky defence.
KEY PLAYER
Keeping a side in the hunt is not easy, and for that very reason, it is necessary to estimate the value of a good goalkeeper in the form of Subashish Roy Chowdhury, who has made crucial saves in the past to maintain clean sheets. His services will be required this time around as well, with quality opponents determined to find the back of the NorthEast net.
PREDICTED TABLE FINISH
10th place – Although they have spirit, it will not be enough for them to launch a concerted challenge for even midtable glory and will have to settle with the bottom places.
Serie A giants SS Lazio could potentially be in big trouble for their latest actions. According to various latest media reports, the Italian club failed to report a few coronavirus cases within their team despite some players testing positive for the same.
It possibly means that Lazio fixed the testing procedures, in order for these players to be able to play in their matches considering there have been a lot in recent times. It represents a huge breach of the health protocol measures set in place by the Serie A and might result in some heavy consequences.
At worst, Lazio would be relegated from the league if the results of the investigation do prove that the club fudged the test results of the players in consideration.
It is also stated that the footballers in question might be goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha, midfielder Lucas Leiva and star centre-forward Ciro Immobile. The revelation is that all of these players tested positive and missed the Champions League game against Club Brugge last weekend. But then while still being positive, played Sunday’s league match against Torino FC.
According to a media report, “Lazio president Claudio Lotito and physician Ivo Pulcini have both already been questioned and, if the allegations are proved, Lazio could either be subject to hefty fines, a points deduction or, at worst, be relegated from the Italian top flight.”
It has now put the entire Serie A in jeopardy, considering Torino players were involved in the same game as those under the radar.
The Italian football federation has faced a number of scandals in the past, with the “Calciopoli” scandal in 2006 concerning Juventus paying off referees saw them come under huge fire and pressure for their antics.
But in a world that is already coping with unprecedented times owing to the pandemic, one would only question why the likes of Immobile, Strakosha and Leiva were allowed to play.
Nevertheless, the developments related to this investigation will be interesting to follow and if Lazio were truly deemed to have breached the rules, then they must be appropriately punished for this.
