One of Europe’s largest stadium, Camp Nou is the home of Barcelona and undoubtedly one of the most beautiful stadium across the globe. The Catalans giants have already started preparing for the next season by replacing the turf of the grounds of Camp Nou.
The last match was held on Saturday against Napoli at Camp Nou and until the Champions League gets over there are no matches at the stadium, so it is a good time to prepare the ground for next season. The work already began on Monday, 10th August on getting the pitch in prime condition for the start of the new league campaign. Here’s the club statement:
The Camp Nou is fully immersed in the replacement of the hybrid playing surface to get the pitch ready for the start of the 2020/21 season, scheduled for September.
The pitch is being replaced as part of a yearly monitoring program based on the needs analysis of meteorological, climatic, agronomic, and biomechanical values. A series of tasks are performed beginning with the removal of the surface turf, and followed by the elimination of the roots and fibers, separating them together with the organic matter and sand. Once the base has been cleared down to the undersoil heating system, the surface is re-covered with sand, which is then leveled and new sods of turf are put on top. The hybridization process that follows uses the latest generation machinery to bind the sections and achieve the finest possible results in the shortest time possible.
The turf is selected from the finest nurseries in Europe to meet the strict FC Barcelona requirements. Refrigerated trucks transport the grass by day and they are laid that same evening to reduce stress to a minimum and avoid the hottest times of the day. This means the laying procedure takes longer than usual, around 2,000m2/day, but ensures the best possible adaptation.
In the mean time, FC Barcelona will be facing Bayern Munich on Friday in Lisbon to make their place in the Champions League semis, and Bayern being the favorites this season, this game will be a one to look out for.
These days Smart TV demands are increasing day by and people are in need of Android-powered Smart TVs in various price ranges. While there are a lot of options in the budget segment, we have only a few players to deliver great 4K Android TVs at affordable price points and also the fact remains, still after all the anti-China movement, these brands are still dominating.
So, if you want an Indian branded 4K Smart TV, Daiwa the homegrown Indian Brand has expanded its range of ‘Make in India’ 4K TVs in the country. Recently, the company has announced its 49inch and 55inch 4K Ultra HD Smart TVs with Android 9.0, HDR10, and dbx-tv audio support. Also, the brand is offering 2 Years Warranty, which is always great to have than a regular one year warranty.
The Made in India TVs come in two variants including 49-inch (D50BT162 – 124cm) that is priced for Rs. 29,999/- while the 55-inch (D55BT162 – 140cm) will cost only Rs. 34,499/-.
Specifications
The Ultra 4K TV series comes with dbx-tv audio, A+ Grade Panel and Quantum Luminit Technology with 1.07 Billion Colours. The ground breaking technology gives ultimate picture quality, by combining stunning details, spectacular colours and striking contrast ratio. With 4K HDR10, enjoy the immense spectrum of colours, even in the darkest scenes.
The TV offers a screen resolution of 3840×2160 pixels and 40% enhanced brightness. Cricket Mode, Cinema Mode, and backlight control are some of the features that the new series boast of. For sound output, the TV has 20Watt Box Speaker and dbx-tv audio technology with 4 Sound modes.
The new series is powered by A-55 Quad-Core Processor on top of Android 9.0 TV OS and comes paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Both the TVs come with Daiwa’s own UI – The BIGWALL, that comes with certified apps (Cloud TV Certified AOSP) such as Disney+Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLiv, Jio Cinema and many more. The brand’s UI comes with 1700000+ hours of content, along with the app ‘Movie Box’ storing 7000+ free movies in 16 different languages across genres with new movie add ons every day.
These Smart TVs also support Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube. The UI shows trending content on the Home screen along with dedicated powered AI and OTA updates. The TVs are designed with the unique Content Discovery Engine and in support of COVID 19, the Smart TVs also add a free LIVE NEWS stream via the certified apps available.
For connectivity, the TVs come with 3 HDMI ports, 2 USB, Wifi, 1 Optical Output and E-share for screen mirroring and using your smartphone as an air mouse. The Bluetooth technology will enable viewers to connect their wireless headphones, music systems to the television set. With the ‘My Daiwa’ service app, the brand aims to you with providing online support as well as offline presence.
If you do not know about the brand’s background – Daiwa, is a brand that originated in India under the parent company Videotex International, has been manufacturing TVs in India for the past 36 Years. The brand also plans to bring in more advanced television sets in Q3 and Q4 of FY 2020-21.
Microsoft’s Project xCloud is one of the most exciting cloud gaming services among all those currently available in the market. After being in the preview period, finally, Microsoft will be making it public with its new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which entitles you the benefit of using the Project xCloud at no additional cost.
Microsoft’s cloud gaming technology helps you play games without having to use your device hardware on any platform and that’s why even if you own a crappy hardware, you won’t have to upgrade your system anymore. After the public preview across North America, Europe and in South Korea, Microsoft has improved the gaming experience.
From September 15, the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members will be able to play more than 100 games from the cloud via your Android device or tablet. This cloud gaming service will launch in beta for the exclusive Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members accessible in 22 markets:
Austria,
Belgium,
Canada,
Czech Republic,
Denmark,
Finland,
France,
Germany,
Hungary,
Ireland,
Italy,
Netherlands,
Norway,
Poland,
Portugal,
Slovakia,
Spain,
South Korea,
Sweden,
Switzerland,
United Kingdom, and
United States
Sadly, the cloud gaming service won’t be available for Indian gamers as for now, but provided the fact Microsoft has its cloud servers in India, it should be rolling out in the country sometime later.
Microsoft also planned to partner with tech giant Jio for bringing the Project xCloud to India but no new developments have been announced, maybe, Jio’s upcoming 5G network could bring new light to the industry. Also, Jio has its own Gigabit Fiber internet, so a partnership via that medium might be in cards for Jio, who knows? Considering Jio’s capabilities, nothing can be guaranteed.
As the cloud gaming launches as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gamers will have access to more than 100 high-quality games playable from the cloud. Here are the 36 cloud gaming titles confirmed by Microsoft so far:
Ark: Survival Evolved
Bleeding Edge
Costume Quest 2
Crackdown 3 (campaign)
Destiny 2
F1 2019
Forza Horizon 4
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Gears of War 4
Gears 5 Ultimate Edition
Grounded
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition
Halo Wars 2
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo: Spartan Assault
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Killer Instinct Definitive Edition
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
Minecraft Dungeons
The Outer Worlds
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Quantum Break
ReCore: Definitive Edition
Ryse: Son of Rome
Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Edition
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
Sunset Overdrive
Super Lucky’s Tale
Tell Me Why
The Bard’s Tale Trilogy
Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut
Wasteland 3
Wasteland Remastered
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Xbox Game Pass started back in 2017 and since then it has attracted more than 10 million gamers who can play a wide range of great games on console and PC. Now, with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate players have a shared library of games to play not only on Xbox One, or PC but also on mobile using cloud gaming service.
You can easily join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate today for $1 for the first month, and then you have to $14.99 per month after that. This gives you access to more than 100 high-quality games for console and PC; exclusive member discounts, deals, perks, and Xbox Live Gold. Also, play games on your phone or tablet by downloading the Xbox Game Pass app via Samsung Galaxy Store or the ONE Store or Google Play Store.
Microsoft Xbox has also partnered with Razer, PowerA, 8BitDo, and Nacon to create all-new accessories specifically designed for cloud gaming. You can also play cloud games with Xbox One Bluetooth Wireless and PlayStation DualShock 4 controllers. Head over to www.xbox.com/gamepass to get your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Borussia Dortmund has a rich history of developing talents. Their scouts spot all the emerging talents at a very young age and then develop them into world-class players.
From Robert Lewandowski to Ousmane Dembele, many players have been made into stars by Dortmund. Most of them sign for top European clubs, unlike Marco Reus who stayed loyal to Dortmund.
The recent examples of Borussia Dortmund’s talent reserve are Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland. Jadon Sancho is wanted by a large number of top European clubs like Manchester United while Haaland has taken the world of football by storm. He has been their latest youth sensation.
Surprisingly, Haaland feels that Dortmund already has the next youth star in Youssoufa Moukoko. He is just 15-year-old but is already training with the first-team. He is expected to make his debut for Dortmund as soon as he turns 16 on 20th November.
Moukoko is a Dortmund youth academy player. He played three seasons at the youth level scoring goals at will. He achieved an unimaginable 40 goals with the Dortmund U-17s as a 12-year-old. He then had a 50-goal campaign the next season and a league-record 34 goals with the U-19s last season. There is a huge hype surrounding the player to succeed at the highest level.
Erling Haaland said Moukoko is way better than he was at 15 years. He said: “He’s a lot better than I was when I was 15. He trains at Borussia Dortmund and keeps up. I was in my home club, Bryne FK, when I was 15. You can’t compare that.”
“But it’s hard when he’s that good. I have never seen such a good 15-year-old in my life.”
Youssoufa Moukoko will wear the No 18 shirt for Dortmund’s first-team and is expected to make his debut very soon after 20th November.
The European competitions, both the Champions League and Europa League have finally resumed after the Coronavirus break. But the tournament has been revamped to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The whole Europa League tournament starting from the quarter-finals is being played in Germany. The two-legged quarter-finals and semi-finals have also been reduced to one-legged affairs.
The four quarter-finals have finished on Tuesday. The four teams which progressed to the semi-finals are:
Realme C15 is finally teased for the first time in India as well as in the world via Flipkart. This will be a Flipkart Unique product available on 18th August after the launch event. The launch event will be online and can be seen in Realme’s official YouTube channel as well as in Flipkart. The price of the smartphone has not been revealed yet. The launch event will start at 12:30 PM on that day.
Madhav, Realme India CEO, had already revealed yesterday that they are going to launch two new smartphones of the Realme C series – Realme C12 and Realme C15.
Flipkart has created the landing page for the Realme C15. They have also revealed some information regarding the battery of the smartphone as it will have a 6,000mAh battery that will support an 18W fast charging.
Specification of Realme C15
Realme C15 features a 6.5-inches HD+ LCD with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It has a Geometric Gradient design at the back and the rear camera setup comprises a 13MP primary shooter, 8MP ultrawide lens, and two 2MP modules – one for depth sensing and another for monochrome shots. The front camera is of 8MP housed in the mini-drop notch.
Realme C15 comes with a MediaTek Helio G35 chipset along with 3GB and 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The phone runs on the latest Realme UI based on Android 10. The phone is powered by a 6,000mAh battery that supports an 18W fast charging.
Price and Availability
Realme C15 is launched in Indonesia at IDR 1,999,000 ($137) for the 3GB + 64GB variant and with discount the price cuts down to IDR 1,899,000 ($130), while the 4GB + 64GB variant is priced at IDR 2,199,000 ($150).
This pricing is in Indonesia but will have different pricing for India, as Madhav has promised to launch both the smartphones under Rs.10,000 price range in India.
Realme C12 is finally teased for the first time in India as well as in the world via Flipkart. This will be a Flipkart Unique product available on 18th August after the launch event. The launch event will be online and can be seen in Realme’s official YouTube channel as well as in Flipkart. The price of the smartphone has not been revealed yet. The launch event will start at 12:30 PM on that day.
Madhav, Realme India CEO, had already revealed yesterday that they are going to launch two new smartphones of the Realme C series – Realme C12 and Realme C15.
Flipkart has created the landing page for the Realme C12. This page has revealed some key specifications of the phone and let’s see what they are.
The Realme C12 will come with a massive 6,000mAh battery. The phone will have a triple rear camera setup at the back, placed in a square layout along with a flash. There is also a fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone.
Now coming to the front we can see a drop notch display. The volume and power button are placed on the right side of the phone.
According to Realme, Realme C12 will have a 57 days of standby time among which users will get 46 hours of call time, 60 hours of music streaming time and 28 hours of YouTube streaming.
The Super Power Saving Mode in the phone will allow you to make calls for 2.45 hours in just 5% remaining battery life.
This page will reveal more details about the phone day by day as the launch nears.
In this era of digitization, a virtual alternative of visiting card is not too surprising, though there was no option earlier. But, yesterday, Google opens the opportunity for us. The search giant launches ‘People Card’ that allows you to create your profile on the search engine. After the creation of this ‘People Card’, instead of giving your visiting card, you can simply ask the person in from to google your name.
In the ‘People Card’ you can add all the details a visiting card contains, even more than that. There are slots to put your name, image, address, occupation, educational details, address, contact number, mail id, website, and so on.
This feature was in the testing phase for around a couple of years in our country and it’s only available in India. Even, Google has no plan to expand it outside. For now, only English is supported, Google may add more languages later.
“You may be wondering why we’re launching this feature in India first,” – Lauren Clark, Product Manager of Google Search. “We are always looking for new ways to make search more useful for people, and we found that there were some unique information needs to India that we could help serve first.”
What you need to create your own ‘People Card’?
A phone or tablet (either Android or iOS)
A browser or Google Search App
A Google Account
How to create your ‘People Card’?
If you already have the upper mentioned things, you are good to go. But make sure you follow these steps from your phone or tablet. Because the ‘People Card’ feature is not available on the PC version.
Go to the Google Search Bar from your mobile/tab
Search ‘add me to Google’ or ‘edit my people card’
You will get a prompt like the image below. Tap on ‘Get started’
Sign in with your Google Account
You will get a form to fill where you have to enter atleast your name, location, occupation, and some words about yourself
After filling up the details, tap on ‘Preview’ bar at the bottom
Check your People Card preview once and Save that
It may take some time to reflect your card on the search list of your name. Here is mine.
There can multiple persons with the same name. In that case, the search result will show multiple modules. To prevent fake cards, only one card creation is allowed per Google Account.
Finally, Microsoft has announced the date when the new and revolutionary Xbox Series X will arrive in a formal way. Also, the Xbox team has been clear about all of its new games coming and what games will support the new gaming console.
If you have forgotten about the specs of the Xbox Series X, here’s a quick roundup of its features and specs:
1 TB custom NVMe SSD 1 TB expansion card USB 3.2 external HDD support
Optical drive
4K UHD Blu-ray
I/O throughput
2.4 GB/s – raw 4.8 GB/s – compressed, with custom hardware decompression block
The Xbox series X and its promise to deliver 4K games at 60 fps, as well as support for up to 120 fps for “the most demanding and competitive games.” Also, there’s support for hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing giving you framerates up to 120 frames per second. The new Xbox Series X promises faster loading times, and Quick Resume for multiple games, playing will look and feel better.
Microsoft will deliver 10 GB of bandwidth at 560 GB/s, or 6GB at 336 GB/s. For storage, the Xbox Series X is using a custom NVME SSD with 1 TB of capacity. The SSD seems fast too, with 2.4 GB/s RAW, but that as much as doubles to 4.8 GB/s when the console uses compression with a custom hardware decompression block.
The revolutionary removable SSD storage system
The SSD storage was coming and we all knew that but Microsoft has changed the concept of adapting to the same 1TB storage and has adapted the concept of removable expansion cards made in partnership with hard drive specialist Seagate.
Built in partnership with Seagate, this 1 TB custom storage solution expands the storage capacity of Xbox Series X with the full speed and performance of the Xbox Velocity Architecture. Previous generation Xbox titles can still be played directly from external USB 3.2 hard drives. However, to receive all the benefits of the Xbox Velocity Architecture and optimal performance, Xbox Series X, optimized games should be played from the internal SSD or Xbox Series X Storage Expansion Card.
The new Xbox Series X is on par with high-end gaming PCs and can give smooth 4K gaming experience along with hardware-accelerated Raytracing. Its helped by the fast storage and its new system architecture named ‘Velocity Architecture’, which is both designed with high bandwidth and flexibility in mind.
The 1TB NVMe SSD supports the new PCIe 4.0 standard with a throughput of up to 64 GB/s at 16 GHz. The Xbox Series X also supports all-new external storage expansion cards that are also NVMe SSDs with same fast transfer speeds. In the first instance, these expansion cards will be provided exclusively by Seagate in capacities of up to 1 TB.
Microsoft has boasted 40 seconds of load time improvement over the Xbox One X with the ability to resume at least three games instantaneously from standby using RAM caching. Overall the new generation of gaming consoles is both fast and flexible, good news for all you gamers!
The new Xbox Series X Controller
Microsoft has also upgraded its renowned “the gold standard” of controllers to make it even better. To improve your gaming experience, Microsoft has added a new D-Pad and a dedicated share button.
The new share button helps to take screenshots and record video clips at any time. Microsoft’s new addition of a “tactical dot pattern” to the triggers and bumpers promises to provide the controller with a grippier feel.
The Xbox Series X controller’s sculpted overall design makes it easier for people with smaller hands to hold. Due to Bluetooth Low Energy support, connecting the controller to a wide variety of PC, Android, and iOS devices should also be easier than ever.
The controller’s biggest technical highlight is the DLI (Dynamic Latency Input), which should make for some of the most responsive console gaming yet seen.
Another area in which gamers are always looking for connectivity improvements is reducing latency. We’re introducing a system-wide set of improvements we call Dynamic Latency Input (DLI), which includes specific technology in the console and the HDMI connection to your TV. And it all starts with the controller. Essentially, information is sent more frequently from the controller and matched with the exact frames of your game on-screen. The result: we shave off precious milliseconds at every step of gameplay, and actions are even more instantaneous.
The company has also included USB Type-C port and the Xbox Series X controller appears to be a worthwhile upgrade from the existing Xbox Wireless Controller. Microsoft is yet to confirm the price of this new controller that is expected to launch alongside the Xbox Series X later this year.
The Xbox Series X gameplay:
The Launch
The Xbox team has formally announced a November launch of the new gaming console. The upcoming Xbox Series X supports the games from its previous generation Xboxes i.e. Xbox One, Xbox 360, and the generation one Xbox.
You can get thousands of games across four generations of content as a part of the next generation of console gaming. Microsoft Xbox’s back compat team helps to “develop new innovations that can be applied to a curated list of titles” and so helping helping to play your favourite game on the new gaming console with a new experience even though it is years’ older.
These optimizations include the ability to render titles with increased resolutions up to 4K, delivering new HDR reconstruction techniques to games that were developed years before HDR came into existence, applying anisotropic filtering to improve image quality, and creating ways to increase or double the frame rate of certain titles.
The Partner Project Management Director of Xbox Team Road, Jason Ronald said, “Through collaboration with the Xbox Advanced Technology Group, Xbox Series X provides a new and innovative HDR reconstruction technology that allows the platform to automatically add HDR support to games.”
The new technology is so much innovative that it does its job by itself so that no impact falls to the game. It also can be implemented in the games of the previous Xbox versions. Ronald added, “Because the platform handles the technology itself, we can enable HDR with zero impact on game performance. We can also apply it to Xbox 360 and the original Xbox games which are nearly 20 years old. Long before HDR exists.”
Games
More than 50 new gamesplanned for this year across generations and optimized for Xbox Series X, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, Gears Tactics, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Watch Dogs: Legion. With Smart Delivery you only have to buy these games once to play the best versions for your console, across generations.
New games developed for Xbox Series X and launching with Xbox Game Pass, including exclusives like The Medium, Scorn, Tetris Effect: Connected, and more.
More than 40 popular games newly optimized to take full advantage of Xbox Series X such as Destiny 2, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Madden NFL 21, and more.
The Xbox team assures that with the new Xbox Series X, you can get the same exciting gaming experience whether you have been playing for years or it’s your new experience, coming this November.
AMD has launched its new PRO series GPUs in the form of Radeon Pro 5000 series which will be first spotted on the updated 27-inch Apple iMac. These new AMD Radeon Pro 5000 series GPUs are able to handle graphic-intensive workloads and applications that require a lot of GPU horsepower. Both consumer and professional users can benefit from these new GPUs.
These GPUs are built upon the 7nm process and based on advanced AMD RDNA graphics architecture, featuring up to 40 compute units. Also, you get up to 16GB of high-speed GDDR6 memory and delivers up to a whopping 7.6 teraflops of single-precision (FP32) computational performance.
“AMD Radeon Pro 5000 series GPUs bring new levels of performance and flexibility to the updated 27-inch iMac,” said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD. “The new AMD GPUs offer the optimal combination of computing performance, energy efficiency, and outstanding graphics features to power a wide range of applications – from consumer to pro – wherever graphics matter the most.”
There are four GPUs in this series: AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT, AMD Radeon Pro 5700, AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT, and AMD Radeon Pro 5300. The notable features of these GPUs as AMD points out are:
Exceptional compute performance – Up to 7.6 TFLOPS of single-precision (FP32) floating-point performance.
GDDR6 memory – Up to 16GB of GDDR6 memory with 384 GB/s bandwidth provides ultra-fast transfer speeds to power data-intensive pro applications.
AMD RDNA architecture – AMD RDNA architecture was designed from the ground up for superior performance and power efficiency. It is built on industry-leading 7nm FinFET process technology, providing up to 1.5X higher performance per watt compared to the previous-generation graphics architecture.
The price of these new Apple 27-inch iMacs start at $1,799 with Intel CPUs and AMD Radeon Pro 5000 series GPUs. Head over to www.apple.com/imac/ to know more.
