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Hundreds of houses on golf club land 'much-needed', claims developer

Up to 650 houses could be built on land at the golf club




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Steve Camley on ... Tam Shepherds closing

You can purchase Steven Camley's cartoons by calling 0141 302 7000 or visiting thepicturedesk.co.uk.




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Motorists urged to plan ahead with Kincardine Bridge due to close

Motorists have been urged to plan ahead with a major bridge due to close for work is carried out.  




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RPG Cast – Episode 567: “Supermarket Cloth Map”

This week we discuss the bacon that broke Anna's back, Kelley shows us the power of the nip-nado, Pascal meets the Bok Choys, Josh is sponsored by revengecrabs.com, and Robert speedruns the produce department.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 567: “Supermarket Cloth Map” appeared first on RPGamer.



  • News
  • Podcasts
  • RPG Cast
  • Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors
  • Parasite Eve
  • Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
  • Seven Knights: Time Wanderer
  • World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon

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RPG Cast – Episode 572: “Partly Cloudy Souls With a Chance of Roguelike”

Josh is having an Ys-y time. Anna Marie ranks all the slime families. Robert gets notified every time google kills a product. And Chris tells everyone to blink on cue.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 572: “Partly Cloudy Souls With a Chance of Roguelike” appeared first on RPGamer.



  • News
  • Podcasts
  • RPG Cast
  • Children of Zodiarcs
  • Dragon Quest Tact
  • Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
  • Giraffe and Annika
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
  • Suikoden V
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
  • Ys IX

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RPG Cast – Episode 577: “Eclipse, I Love You, but GO AWAY”

It's a slightly quieter week after the mass dump of games that was February and the first week of March. Kelley doesn't want her mom to think she's watching hentai, while Anna Marie insists our reviewers don't hate every game. Josh will one day be free of the epic grip of Cold Steel IV, but not before Chris convinces him if he just lifts a truck, he can find a new orbment.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 577: “Eclipse, I Love You, but GO AWAY” appeared first on RPGamer.




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RPG Cast – Episode 606: “I Have Digimon Poop to Clean Up”

Kelley Ryan starts a new studio to make the darkest, hardest game ever. Josh explains why everyone hates JRPGs. And Chris wonders if he can use pencils as healing items.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 606: “I Have Digimon Poop to Clean Up” appeared first on RPGamer.




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RPG Cast – Episode 615: “The New Dialga Looks Like My Brother’s Broken Vacuum Cleaner”

Kelley ruins Warcraft by including Conker. Chris mortgages his Xbox. Josh's cat won't let him control his Xbox. And Microsoft has announced their new Candy Crush themed Windows 12.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 615: “The New Dialga Looks Like My Brother’s Broken Vacuum Cleaner” appeared first on RPGamer.




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RPG Cast – Episode 636: “Cloud Is a Winter SOLDIER”

Kelley kabongs all the monsters. Anna Marie summersaults with her warhorse. And Chris learns that two times zero is still zero.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 636: “Cloud Is a Winter SOLDIER” appeared first on RPGamer.



  • News
  • Podcasts
  • RPG Cast
  • Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
  • Monster Hunter Rise
  • Skies of Arcadia
  • Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga

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RPG Cast – Episode 683: “Tifa Pop-Pop, Barrett Pew-Pew, Cloud Cleave-Cleave”

Chris can't drink his coffee anymore. Kelley plays Sonic on Titan's tentacles. And Jason reminisces about the Ouya with Mads Middleton.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 683: “Tifa Pop-Pop, Barrett Pew-Pew, Cloud Cleave-Cleave” appeared first on RPGamer.




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RPG Cast – Episode 710: “Xenoblade Chronicles X Doesn’t Love You Back”

Robert finds out what Godzilla sushi tastes like. Josh pimps his Segway. Phil has a pictomancer at home. The awards all Chris's fault, because he didn't vote. Also, PoE is to Chris, as CoH is to Phil.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 710: “Xenoblade Chronicles X Doesn’t Love You Back” appeared first on RPGamer.



  • News
  • Podcasts
  • RPG Cast
  • City of Heroes
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
  • Persona 3 Reload
  • Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin

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Buffett joins $200K club. Membership: 1

IMAGINE if you’d spent a grand on a single Berkshire Hathaway share 31 years ago. That stock just passed $US200,000 and is still climbing.




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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Gets Gameplay Deep Dive

ublisher Bethesda Softworks and developer MachineGames have released a gameplay deep dive video for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that is nearly 15 minutes in length.

"From locations and puzzles to gear and combat, MachineGames Audio Director, Pete Ward, takes us on a whirlwind journey through the world of The Great Circle," reads the description to the video. "Get ready for launch with this look at Indy’s grand adventure."

View the gameplay deep dive below:

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will launch for the Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass on December 9.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463033/indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-gets-gameplay-deep-dive/




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Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop Releases December 5 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC

Publisher Kasedo Games and developer Beard Envy have announced he roguelite spaceship repair simulation game, Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, has been delayed to December 5. It will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

View the release date trailer below:

Read details on the game below:

Come on down to Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop, for all your roguelite spaceship repair simulation needs! Wake up, clock in, fix ships, make friends and enemies, pay R.E.N.T., upgrade your workshop, ponder the futility of your existence, go to bed and then do it all over again the next day.

On an asteroid-bound service station in an unfrequented space lane, Wilbur carves out a paltry living as a mechanic, repairing as many ships as he can to afford the ever-rising R.E.N.T payments to his corporate overlord, Uncle Chop. Where most of his customers find meaning in pastimes like worshipping deranged space gods, feeding random crap to a sentient black hole, endlessly digging for The Treasure™ or mentally enslaving donut shop workers, Wilbur lives a more humble life, fixing the galaxy’s ills one broken ship module at a time.

Fix Stuff

Using a range of tools, diagnostic devices, parts and workshop appliances, you’ll be correcting faults in the modules of procedurally generated spaceships. From simple refuel jobs to total overhauls, get ready to frantically fumble, slice, loosen, tighten, grab and drop as you try to complete as many jobs as you can within each daily time limit. With a huge variety of ships and modules, your hands are gonna get real dirty real fast, in some real unusual places.

Read Stuff

Flaunt your basic literacy by consulting manual pages for guidance on diagnosing and correcting faults in spaceship modules, as well as operating workshop appliances. And if basic literacy isn’t your bag, then at least you’ve got pretty diagrams to gawp at! All your IKEA furniture-assembly training has led to this moment.

Upgrade Stuff

Using whatever hard-earned pennies Uncle Chop doesn’t take from you, expand your workshop and kit it out with a range of workstations. From industrial devices to esoteric altars, these workstations will allow you to fix bigger and more lucrative ships.

Talk About Stuff

Interact with a diverse range of oddballs as you engage with both anthology-style storytelling and a multiple-ending, overarching narrative. The lore is (*consults notes*) “deep and rich and good,” with different factions you can choose to ingratiate yourself with – each with their own inane agendas.

Discover Stuff

Narrative and random events, hidden puzzles and upgrades, secret lore—we got all that goodness that ensures each day and gameplay run will feel substantially different from the last.

Do All That Stuff Again, But Better

Meeting those escalating R.E.N.T payments ain’t gonna be easy, but chin up, champ – certain station upgrades will persist across gameplay runs, making life a little more tolerable every time around. You’ll also get faster and smarter the more you do the thing, so keep doing the thing!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463037/uncle-chops-rocket-shop-releases-december-5-for-ps5-xbox-series-xs-switch-and-pc/




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Microsoft closing Arkane Austin was “stupid”, says founder: recreating “a very special group” like that would be “impossible”

Today in "person you already like says something you already agree with, but it’s still good to hear them say it" news, Arkane founder and im-simmy RPG studio WolfEye head Raphael Colantonio has spoken on Microsoft’s decision to shutter Prey (2017) studio Arkane Austin - alongside a handful of others - back in May.

Colantonio, who founded Arkane in 1999 and departed in 2017 to form Weird West studio WolfEye, recently chatted to Jeremy Peel for PC Gamer about Arkane’s closure, saying:

I think if you look a little bit, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group of people that have made some cool things and that could pull it off again. I think it was a decision that just came down to, 'We need to cut something.' Was it to please the investors, the stock market? They're playing a different game.

Read more




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Nightingale can't outfly "the stark realities of the industry" as creators Inflexion close UK office and lay people off

Inflexion Games are closing their UK office, laying off staff and restructuring their main Canadian studio after failing to find commercial success with their Victorian fantasy survival game Nightingale. Reportedly, at least 22 people have been let go.

Read more




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You can now make video clips using Steam's built-in game recording feature, as an update rolls it out to all users

Steam's built-in game recording feature has been usable in beta since the summer, but it has now been properly launched for every user, following a client update to Steam yesterday. It's basically another method of capturing funny ragdoll glitches and posting them on the "lol-games-are-dumb" channel of your friend's Discord. Or for posting that flukey knife throw in Call Of Duty to Twitter, as if you really meant to kill the man from across the map all along. Or saving a clip for your personal records, like the footage of that time you yeeted an innocent citizen off the 50-foot wall of a castle town in Dragon's Dogma 2. We all do that, right? Right?

Read more




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Metal Slug Tactics, the surprising genre-twist of the classic run-and-gunner, is out now

I would never have predicted there'd be an isometric tactics game based on run-and-gun series Metal Slug, yet here Metal Slug Tactics is, and I am here for it. We've been following its development for a while but it's out now on Steam, and seemingly as strong as its demo suggested.

Read more




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Take-Two are selling Private Division and closing Roll7 and Intercept, because they're in "the business of making great big hits"

Take-Two Interactive have sold their publishing label Private Division to an unnamed party, along with five of Private Division's "live and unreleased titles". The GTA 6 publisher have also finally confirmed that they have shut down OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome devs Roll7 together with Kerbal Space Program 2 creators Intercept Games, months after performing mass layoffs at both studios.

Read more




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Sega are delisting over 60 'classic' games from Steam, including Crazy Taxi and Streets Of Rage

Sega are delisting several bundles of 'classic' games from digital stores, along with "select individual" games. On Steam specifically, this adds up to over 60 games in total, including several actual classics including the original Streets Of Rage trilogy, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio.

The games will be removed on December 6th but will remain playable to those who already own them.

Read more




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Overwatch 2 is getting a "Classic" mode that restores the shooter to how it was in 2016

The developers of hero shooter Overwatch 2 must have dropped a box full of old photographs while clearing the attic, spilling old snapshots of Route 66 onto the floor and getting snared in a nostalgic daze. The game is launching a "Classic" mode today that will let you play the first-person payload pusher as it (mostly) was back in 2016 when the first Overwatch launched. That means 6v6 fights, the original abilities of its heroes, and no limits to stop the entire team picking the same character.

Read more




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Grand Theft Auto: The Definitive Edition trilogy on PC gets a classic lighting update from the mobile version

My strongest and most enduring memory of Grand Theft Auto will always be creasing into complete hysterics watching my mate pile into a crumpled police officer with a wooden baseball bat in GTA 3 after school one time. Young’uns these days just don’t appreciate how revolutionary it was to be able to hit a cop with a thing after he’d already fallen over. Suffice it to say I’ve got good memories of the open world series’ nascent forays into 3D, though never enough to tempt me into revisiting them, especially given the poor reception to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. I can sympathise. I’m annoyed just having to type a semicolon and a dash in the same game name.

If you’re in a similarly non-fussed position (I will never not be annoyed that ‘nonplussed’ doesn’t mean what it sounds like it should mean) I can’t imagine a lighting update that’s been available on the mobile versions for a while is enough to tempt you back. But what is a reporter's job if not pathetically treading water between chunklets of Grand Theft Auto news, upon the publishing of which Graham presses the button to release the nutritious pellets on which we all wholly subsist? I hope he doesn’t read that last sentence. I don’t get my pellet if the syntax becomes too convoluted. Moving swiftly on.

Read more




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Trump’s claim about predecessors, fallen troops disputed

File photo of President Donald Trump by Joshua Roberts/Reuters

WASHINGTON — For U.S. presidents, meeting the families of military personnel killed in war is about as wrenching as the presidency gets. President Donald Trump’s suggestion Monday that his predecessors fell short in that duty brought a visceral reaction from those who witnessed those grieving encounters.

“He’s a deranged animal,” Alyssa Mastromonaco, a former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, tweeted about Trump. With an expletive, she called Trump’s statement in the Rose Garden a lie.

Trump said in a news conference he had written letters to the families of four soldiers killed in an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger and planned to call them, crediting himself with taking extra steps in honoring the dead properly. “Most of them didn’t make calls,” he said of his predecessors. He said it’s possible that Obama “did sometimes” but “other presidents did not call.”

The record is plain that presidents reached out to families of the dead and to the wounded, often with their presence as well as by letter and phone. The path to Walter Reed and other military hospitals, as well as to the Dover, Delaware, Air Force Base where the remains of fallen soldiers are often brought, is a familiar one to Obama, George W. Bush and others.

Bush, even at the height of two wars, “wrote all the families of the fallen,” said Freddy Ford, spokesman for the ex-president. Ford said Bush also called or met “hundreds, if not thousands” of family members of the war dead.

READ MORE: What Trump said about his drug czar pick, health care fixes

Obama’s official photographer, Pete Souza, tweeted that he photographed Obama “meeting with hundreds of wounded soldiers, and family members of those killed in action.” Others recalled his frequent visits with Gold Star families, and travels to Walter Reed, Dover and other venues with families of the dead and with the wounded.

Retired Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed these contacts, tweeting: “POTUS 43 & 44 and first ladies cared deeply, worked tirelessly for the serving, the fallen, and their families. Not politics. Sacred Trust.”

Trump addressed the matter when asked why he had not spoken about the four soldiers killed in Niger. They died when militants thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State group ambushed them while they were patrolling in unarmored trucks with Nigerien troops.

“I actually wrote letters individually to the soldiers we’re talking about, and they’re going to be going out either today or tomorrow,” he said, meaning he wrote to the families of the fallen soldiers. He did not explain why letters had not been sent yet, more than a week after the attack.

“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said.

Pressed on that statement later, he said of Obama: “I was told that he didn’t often, and a lot of presidents don’t. They write letters.” He went on: “President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn’t. I don’t know. That’s what I was told. … Some presidents didn’t do anything.”

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said later that Trump “wasn’t criticizing predecessors, but stating a fact.” She argued that presidents didn’t always call families of those killed in battle: “Sometimes they call, sometimes they send a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet family members in person.”

She said anyone claiming a former president had called every family was “mistaken.”

Bush’s commitment to writing to all military families of the dead and to reaching out by phone or meeting with many others came despite the enormity of the task. In the Iraq war alone, U.S. combat deaths were highest during his presidency, exceeding 800 each year from 2004 through 2007. The number fell to 313 in Bush’s last year in office as the insurgency faded. Bush once said he felt the appropriate way to show his respect was to meet family members in private.

READ MORE: What the Bannon vs. McConnell fight means for Trump and the GOP

Obama declared an end to combat operations in Iraq in August 2010 and the last U.S. troops were withdrawn in December 2011. As Obama wound down that war, he sent tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, and the death count mounted. From a total of 155 Americans killed in Afghanistan in 2008, which was Bush’s last full year in office, the number jumped to 311 in 2009 and peaked the next year at 498. In all, more than 1,700 died in Afghanistan on Obama’s watch.

Among other rituals honoring military families, the Obamas had a “Gold Star” Christmas tree in the White House decorated with hundreds of photos and notes from people who had lost loved ones in war. Gold Star families visited during the holidays, bringing ornaments.

Trump visited Dover early in his presidency, going in February with his daughter Ivanka for the return of the remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, William “Ryan” Owens.

Trump’s relations with Gold Star families have not always been smooth, dating from his belittlement of the parents of slain U.S. soldier Humayun Khan, who was Muslim. Trump was angered when the soldier’s father, Khizr Khan, was given a platform to criticize him at the Democratic National Convention.

Owens’ grieving father said he didn’t want to talk with Trump at Dover. But the sailor’s widow, Carryn, attended Trump’s address to Congress and wept as he thanked her.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Jesse J. Holland contributed to this report.

The post Trump’s claim about predecessors, fallen troops disputed appeared first on PBS NewsHour.




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Trump ignites furor with claim past presidents didn’t console military families by phone

Watch Video | Listen to the Audio

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: new questions surrounding the deaths of four Green Berets in the Western African nation of Niger and the role of the president as consoler in chief.

John Yang has the story.

JOHN YANG: Sending young Americans into harm’s way can be the most serious decision a president makes. Consoling the families of the fallen has become the latest controversy to engulf President Trump.

To bolster his claim that he does more than his predecessors, Mr. Trump today invoked the dead son of his chief of staff, retired Marine general John Kelly.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: To the best of my knowledge, I think I have called every family of somebody that’s died. Now, as far as other representatives, I don’t know. I mean, you could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?

JOHN YANG: Kelly’s 29-year-old son, Robert, a Marine lieutenant, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan, an episode Kelly rarely talks about publicly. Kelly and his wife did attend a 2011 Memorial Day breakfast President Obama hosted for Gold Star families.

President Trump ignited the furor when he was asked about his public silence on four Green Berets killed two weeks ago in Niger.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls. A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it.

JOHN YANG: Reporters pressed him to back up the claim.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. That’s what I was told. All I can do — all I can do is ask my generals.

JOHN YANG: The response from former Obama officials was swift and forceful.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted this photo and insisted: “Stop the damn lying. I went to Dover Air Force base with 44 and saw him comfort families,” a reference to one of Mr. Obama’s late-night trips to pay his respects to troops killed in Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush often visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, a practice Mr. Trump has continued. In February, the president and his daughter Ivanka went to Dover for the return of the remains of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, the first casualty of his administration.

So far this year, the Pentagon says 16 Americans have been killed in action. Another 17 sailors died in accidents. In the first year of the Obama presidency, 344 were killed in action.

During last year’s campaign, Mr. Trump publicly feuded with the Khans, the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, after they criticized him at the Democratic Convention.

Today, the Khans said: “President Trump’s selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency.”

The current controversy comes as questions are being raised about how and why the four soldiers died in Niger.

Senator Jack Reed is the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

SEN. JACK REED, D-R.I.: I think the administration has to be much more clear about our role in Niger and our role in other areas in Africa and other parts of the globe.

JOHN YANG: The Pentagon is investigating the deaths. Reportedly among the questions, did commanders adequately assess the risk, and was there ready access to medical support?

Today, President Trump called the families of the four dead Green Berets.

For the PBS NewsHour, I’m John Yang.

The post Trump ignites furor with claim past presidents didn’t console military families by phone appeared first on PBS NewsHour.




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Ex-DWP insider reveals essential tips for PIP and Attendance Allowance claims



A DWP employee who has been working in the welfare system for 42 years has shared some key advice for new claims for the likes of PIP and Attendance Allowance




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Thousands of ‘overlooked’ Brits urged to claim new £150 energy payment - check eligibility



The energy bill support has been described as a "crucial lifeline" for certain individuals who are often "overlooked".




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Martin Lewis issues warning to anyone with a Tesco Clubcard as £18m savings at risk



Martin Lewis has warned Tesco customers of a piece of small print that could see £18m worth of Clubcard points wasted.




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Welcome to the New Scientist Book Club

Find out what we're currently reading in the New Scientist Book Club - and catch up on all the great books we've already explored




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A black hole devouring a giant star gives clues to a cosmic mystery

In the centre of a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole has swallowed up a star 9 times the sun’s mass in the biggest and brightest such cosmic meal we’ve ever seen




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Falling satellite will give clues to how objects burn up on re-entry

A chance to observe the high-speed re-entry of a falling satellite will give researchers important insights on how debris burns up in our atmosphere




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Cloud atlas of Mars reveals an atmosphere unlike our own

Using images captured by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, researchers have created a cloud atlas of Mars, to better understand the climate of the Red Planet




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Freeze-thaw cycle helps asteroids ferry molecules of life to planets

Cracks running through samples of asteroid Ryugu were probably formed by the repeated thawing and freezing of water inside it, which could have helped asteroids like this carry the building blocks of life to early Earth




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First breathtaking images from Euclid telescope's map of the universe

The Euclid space telescope's massive “cosmic atlas” promises to shed light on fundamental questions in physics and cosmology




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A supernova may have cleaned up our solar system

A nearby star that exploded some 3 million years ago could have removed all dust smaller than a millimetre from the outer solar system




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What preparing for an asteroid strike teaches us about climate change

Averting an asteroid strike will need many of the same skills we must hone to tackle climate change and future pandemics




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Chinese nuclear reactor is completely meltdown-proof

The first ever full-scale demonstration of a nuclear reactor designed to passively cool itself in an emergency was a success, showing that it should be possible to build nuclear plants without the risk of dangerous meltdown




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Smart speakers at crime scenes could provide valuable clues to police

Information on faces recognised, voice commands and internet searches can be extracted from an Amazon Echo smart assistant without help from the user or manufacturer




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Electric vehicles race combustion cars in 'battle of technologies'

‘Battle of Technologies’ sees electric vehicles and combustion cars compete at the highest level. Who will win?




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Tiny nuclear-powered battery could work for decades in space or at sea

A new design for a nuclear battery that generates electricity from the radioactive decay of americium is unprecedentedly efficient




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Useful quantum computers are edging closer with recent milestones

Google, Microsoft and others have taken big steps towards error-free devices, hinting that quantum computers that solve real problems aren’t far away




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Battery-like device made from water and clay could be used on Mars

A new supercapacitor design that uses only water, clay and graphene could source material on Mars and be more sustainable and accessible than traditional batteries




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Video Friday: Quadruped Ladder Climbing



Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

IROS 2024: 14–18 October 2024, ABU DHABI, UAE
ICSR 2024: 23–26 October 2024, ODENSE, DENMARK
Cybathlon 2024: 25–27 October 2024, ZURICH
Humanoids 2024: 22–24 November 2024, NANCY, FRANCE

Enjoy today’s videos!

Not even ladders can keep you safe from quadruped robots anymore.

[ ETH Zürich Robot Systems Lab ]

Introducing Azi (right), the new desktop robot from Engineered Arts Ltd. Azi and Ameca are having a little chat, demonstrating their wide range of expressive capabilities. Engineered Arts desktop robots feature 32 actuators, 27 for facial control alone, and 5 for the neck. They include AI conversational ability including GPT-4o support which makes them great robotic companions.

[ Engineered Arts ]

Quadruped robots that individual researchers can build by themselves are crucial for expanding the scope of research due to their high scalability and customizability. In this study, we develop a metal quadruped robot MEVIUS, that can be constructed and assembled using only materials ordered through e-commerce. We have considered the minimum set of components required for a quadruped robot, employing metal machining, sheet metal welding, and off-the-shelf components only.

[ MEVIUS from JSK Robotics Laboratory ]

Thanks Kento!

Avian perching maneuvers are one of the most frequent and agile flight scenarios, where highly optimized flight trajectories, produced by rapid wing and tail morphing that generate high angular rates and accelerations, reduce kinetic energy at impact. Here, we use optimal control methods on an avian-inspired drone with morphing wing and tail to test a recent hypothesis derived from perching maneuver experiments of Harris’ hawks that birds minimize the distance flown at high angles of attack to dissipate kinetic energy before impact.

[ EPFL Laboratory of Intelligent Systems ]

The earliest signs of bearing failures are inaudible to you, but not to Spot . Introducing acoustic vibration sensing—Automate ultrasonic inspections of rotating equipment to keep your factory humming.

The only thing I want to know is whether Spot is programmed to actually do that cute little tilt when using its acoustic sensors.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

Hear from Jonathan Hurst, our co-founder and Chief Robot Officer, why legs are ideally suited for Digit’s work.

[ Agility Robotics ]

I don’t think “IP67” really does this justice.

[ ANYbotics ]

This paper presents a teleportation system with floating robotic arms that traverse parallel cables to perform long-distance manipulation. The system benefits from the cable-based infrastructure, which is easy to set up and cost-effective with expandable workspace range.

[ EPFL ]

It seems to be just renderings for now, but here’s the next version of Fourier’s humanoid.

[ Fourier ]

Happy Oktoberfest from Dino Robotics!

[ Dino Robotics ]

This paper introduces a learning-based low-level controller for quadcopters, which adaptively controls quadcopters with significant variations in mass, size, and actuator capabilities. Our approach leverages a combination of imitation learning and reinforcement learning, creating a fast-adapting and general control framework for quadcopters that eliminates the need for precise model estimation or manual tuning.

[ HiPeR Lab ]

Parkour poses a significant challenge for legged robots, requiring navigation through complex environments with agility and precision based on limited sensory inputs. In this work, we introduce a novel method for training end-to-end visual policies, from depth pixels to robot control commands, to achieve agile and safe quadruped locomotion.

[ SoloParkour ]




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Demand Senators Publicly Support a Leader Who's Pro-Trump

Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate.




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Xbox Game Pass releases for November 2024: Everything coming to PC and console as Microsoft drops surprise classic



From Goats to airplanes, Xbox Game Pass has another bumper month in store for subscribers. Here's everything you need to know about what is heading to PC and console this November 2024




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PlayStation classic gets surprise release on Xbox today – it only took five years



Death Stranding, originally launched in 2019, has finally come to Xbox consoles five years after its initial debut as a Director's Cut version from Hideo Kojima.




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Overwatch 2 6v6 Classic release time revealed as fans claim 'we're so back'



Overwatch 2 is bringing 6v6 gameplay back from Overwatch 1 - and fans are overjoyed. Here's all we know so far, including when you can finally play the Classic mode




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Call of Duty's Black Ops titles ranked - including zombies, CIA and Gary Oldman



Black Ops 6 is here, and it's Black Ops 2's anniversary, so what better time than to rank the Call of Duty Black Ops titles? Here's our ranking of every mainline version.




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New comet makes historically close approach to Earth today, but spotting it will take some luck

Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) was discovered in August and is now whizzing by Earth, but finding it in the sky will be a challenge.




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Some scientists say blocking the sun could slow climate change — just like on The Simpsons

Scientists say geoengineering, or doing things like intentionally increasing Earth’s reflectivity or blocking the sun, is a “really big deal” in slowing down climate change. Here are the ideas they are proposing.




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Electric vehicles could save thousands of lives by reducing pollution, new study finds

Researchers calculated that if 30 per cent of vehicles in Chicago currently running on combustion engines were converted to electric, the reduction in pollution would save billions in health care costs every year. 



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