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At this time of national (and, of course, international) crisis, it's only natural that the Queen should speak to the people in a special address. It's only the fourth such time that she has done so in almost 70 years on the throne. Want to watch the Queen's Coronavirus speech online? Read on to find out everything you'll need to know.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and the words of the 93-year old head of state will no doubt be of comfort to many.

Whether it will be in the form of morale-boosting encouragement for key workers and the NHS, or as a stern warning for every member of the public to play their part in flattening the curve of the outbreak, the Queen's address will likely have a committed global audience - much like her annual Christmas speech.

The address will be a recorded broadcast from Windsor Castle where the Queen has been residing since March 19. It's the first ad-hoc speech of this kind since the Queen Mother's death in 2002. She also gave similar addresses in light of Princess Diana's tragic death and during the first Gulf War.

Want to tune in? We've listed everything you need to know to watch the Queen's Coronavirus speech online below - no matter where in the world you are.

How to watch the Queen's speech online for free in the UK:

The pre-recorded Queen's Speech will be broadcast on Sunday, April 5. The time to watch is 8pm, with the speech likely to last no more than about 10 minutes.

You have a few choices for which channel to head to. It will air simultaneously on multiple TV channels, including BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News. Rather watch it online? It will be available on the TVPlayer service, which hosts all of the UK's Freeview channels in one place.

And because of the magnitude of this address, it is also to be made available on each of the Royal Family's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. So it should be really easy to see, as long as you have a TV signal, radio or the internet. 

Stream Queen's speech from anywhere else in the world

If you happen to be somewhere in the world at the moment that won't be showing the speech, and blocks the above social media services, then you're a little bit stuck. The only option we can think of is to use a VPN, which allows you to alter your IP address to somewhere in another location (like the UK) and make it look like you're watching from there.

We've tested all of the major VPN services and we rate ExpressVPN as the absolute best. It's compatible with all of your devices, supports most streaming services and ranks amongst the fastest. You can even install it on devices like an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation. So for a one-stop shop, you can't go wrong with ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and if you click here you can get 49% off and 3 months free, too.

Once installed, simply open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select anywhere in the UK - it's super easy to do. Then head on over to the TVPlayer.com service or one of the Royal Family social media pages, the best free and legal way to stream the whole speech.

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Exercise can be boring, so sometimes it's nice to spice up your workout with a fitness game. The best fitness games have you breaking a sweat and feeling the burn, but most importantly they're fun. 

Fitness games allow you to marry your gaming hobby with something that's good for your health - which you may need to remind yourself when you're in a sweaty pile on the floor afterwards.

So here are the best fitness games – old and new – that will get your heart rate up, improve your flexibility, help with strength training and even get you dancing like no one is watching.

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Ring Fit Adventure

Ring Fit Adventure is marketed as a game first and exercise second, but it'll certainly put you through your paces. 

The action-RPG game sees you squatting, crunching and downward-dogging your way to success, as you set out on a quest to defeat a hench, bodybuilding dragon called Dragaux. And that's just the story mode, there are also plenty of mini-games and individual workouts to focus on specific parts of your body.

In order to play Ring Fit Adventure, you need the Ring Fit device (like a pilates ring), but this handily comes packaged with the game.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Peripherals needed: Ring Fit

Fitness Boxing

If you don't want to shell out for Ring Fit Adventure then Nintendo Fitness Boxing could be a good alternative. The Switch game offers you workouts overseen by a virtual trainer, where you use your Joy-Con motion controllers to perform punches and dodging maneuvers, with the difficulty increasing gradually over time. 

The game uses your weight and height to estimate your fitness age and calorie burn, setting the routine, length and intensity of these workouts based on this, however these can be adjusted if you're not happy. It's a great workout for those who want a fairly-straightforward boxing workout without all the bells and whistles.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Peripherals needed: None

Beat Saber

Beat Saber isn't marketed as a fitness game - but it sure should be. The VR rhythm game sees you ducking and dodging while swinging your arms to slice the blocks flying your way - all to some amazing tunes. It's one of the best VR games on the market for a reason.

The beauty of Beat Saber is that you don't really notice the physical exertion you're putting into it because it's so much fun - but you'll certainly feel it tomorrow.

Platforms: PS4 and PC

Peripherals needed: Supported VR headset required. Tracked Motion Controllers also required - these depend on platform you're playing on.

Zumba: Burn It Up

Yet another fitness game offering from Nintendo, Zumba: Burn It Up is the newest addition to the Zumba video game series. Burn It Up essentially offers you a private Zumba lesson in your home, with 30 high-energy classes to get your heart-pumping and some great tunes for you to shake your hips to.

It's an official Zumba product that features real-life instructors, so you know it's legit. Plus, you can get up to three friends to join you for the tortur- sorry, fun. 

Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Peripherals needed: None

• Pick up Zumba: Burn it Up from the Nintendo Store

Wii Fit Plus

Now, we know what you're going to say: "Wii Fit is old". Well, actually, we've included some older fitness games on this list because you may want to drag your old consoles out of the closet, brush off the dust and get your fill of exercise - without having to pay out for the latest game and its peripherals. 

Wii Fit Plus is the enhanced version of Wii Fit, offering Wii Fit's original games alongside a bunch of 'new' games that help you work on aerobics, strength, balance and yoga. You can play these games, create your own fitness regimes or take part in specialized routines - and what's more, there are some multiplayer activities that allow you to play (and workout) with friends.

Wii Fit Plus is a classic and, even if you don't already have one, you can pick up a Wii Fit Balance Board for pretty cheap nowadays. 

Platforms: Wii

Peripherals needed: Wii Balance Board

Wii Sports

Ok so, Wii Sports isn't exactly on the same level as the likes of Zumba when it comes to getting you moving- but it's still a fitness game. Wii Sports offers five sports to play: baseball, bowling, tennis, golf and boxing. You use your Wii remote to mimic the actions you would do if you were actually taking part in the sport.

In addition, there are training and fitness modes available that monitor players' progress. Plus, you don't have to play alone! All the activities are available to play multiplayer so you can beat your pal at tennis without having to step on the court.

Platforms: Wii

Peripherals needed: None

Just Dance 2020

Prefer to get your exercise through the medium of dance? Then Just Dance 2020 is just the ticket. The most recent addition in long-running dance series includes tunes from artists such as Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande that will keep you grooving for hours on end - and building up one heck of a sweat. 

You don't even need motion controls or a console camera necessarily, as downloading the Just Dance Controller app will allow you to track all your moves through your smartphone. Smart.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Wii (surprisingly), PS4, Xbox One and Stadia

Peripherals needed: PS Move and PlayStation Camera, Xbox Kinect, or Just Dance Controller app

Knockout League

Another VR fitness game that will put you through your paces, Knockout League is an arcade-style boxing game that sees you immersing yourself in the fight. The game uses 1:1 tracking of your head and hands, so you'll need to make sure you duck and dodge every punch that comes your way - while landing some of your own.

But it's not all that serious, some of your competitors are a tad.. out of the ordinary. So expect to go mano a mano with a moustached octopus, pirate and many more wacky fighters.

Platforms: PS4 and PC

Peripherals needed: Supported VR headset required. Tracked Motion Controllers also required – these depend on platform you're playing on.

• Pick up Knockout League from the PlayStation Store

BoxVR

BoxVR is a bit like Beat Saber meets Fitness Boxing. It's described as a "VR workout app" and offers rhythm-inspired boxing workouts that see you hitting marks while ducking and dodging obstacles. 

BoxVR offers a range of workouts from short three-minute bursts up to 20 minute+ endurance workouts, which are sure to give you a heart-pumping cardio workout. Plus, workouts are regularly updated to stop things from getting stale.

Platforms: PS4 and PC

Peripherals needed: Supported VR headset required. Tracked Motion Controllers also required - these depend on platform you're playing on.

• Pick up BoxVR from PlayStation Store or Steam

Sports Champions 2

Another oldie, but Sports Champions 2 is essentially Sony's version of Wii Sports. The fitness game allows you to take part in six activities: skiing, tennis, boxing, golf, bowling, and archery. Again similarly to the Wii, you use PlayStation Move controller to mimic the actions of each sport. 

Platforms: PS3

Peripherals needed: PlayStation Move and PlayStation Camera

• Pick up Sports Champions 2 from PlayStation Store

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WWDC 2020 might be online only this year for obvious reasons, but we're still expecting Apple to unveil its iOS 14 update on schedule in June, with a full roll out in September. A couple of new leaks hint that extra Home screen customizations are on the way with the new software.

Some digging into early iOS 14 code by 9to5Mac has revealed that Apple is at least experimenting with the idea of Home screen widgets – not just a side panel as in iPadOS, but fully fledged widgets that can be repositioned as required.

Android phones have offered widgets for years of course, and in recent software updates Apple has shown some willingness to move away from the uniform rows and columns of icons on iPhones and iPads.

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9to5Mac says the feature is still in testing and might be scrapped, so don't get your hopes up too much just yet. Extra augmented reality features and a new app switcher are also being tipped for iOS 14.

We've also got an early look at a revamped wallpaper picker for iOS 14, as revealed by @DongleBookPro on Twitter (a leaker with a fairly respectable track record when it comes to Apple reveals).

As well as showing off some new wallpaper designs for iOS 14, this time split up into separate categories for more straightforward browsing, the pictures also reveal more options for how wallpapers are applied.

You'll be able to set wallpapers as dynamic, or as flat, or as a gradient, according to the screenshots. You'll also be able to dim wallpapers when your phone's in dark mode, something you can already do in iOS 13.

Apple hasn't announced specific dates for WWDC 2020, or said exactly how the online format will work, but the event usually takes place in early June. As well as news on iOS 14, we should also hear about software updates to all Apple's other products too.

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While a Dual Screen cover option helps your productivity, it's also bulky and not optimal for every situation. The new Speck Presidio Grip protects the LG V60 an takes away the danger of sliding off of your counter.

A new leak suggests Samsung is busy working on some new earbuds to follow the Galaxy Buds and the Galaxy Buds Plus – and based on the 3D renderings that have appeared, there are going to be big changes in the design.

The news and images come courtesy of WinFuture, and it seems the small stems on the current Galaxy Buds Plus are ditched in favor of a bean-like shape – and indeed the codename for the earbuds is rumored to be "Beans".

WinFuture's sources say the new Beans buds are 2.8 cm (1.1 inches) in length, so they should fit snugly in most ears. There are no silicone tips though, so any noise canceling tech might suffer as a result.

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These earbuds are being tipped to come with two tiny loudspeakers embedded in them, which will produce better audio across the board. Microphones will again be included so you can make calls, get chatty with Bixby, and so on.

No word yet on battery life, but WinFuture says the earbuds are at the first Engineering Validation Testing (EVT1) stage, and it's apparently possible that they could appear alongside the Galaxy Note 20 later this year.

No word on pricing yet – the most recent Galaxy Buds Plus went on sale in March for $149.99 / £159 / AU$299, so expect something similar when the next earbuds arrive.

The truly wireless earbud market continues to get more and more competitive: it's less than four years ago that the original Apple AirPods appeared on the scene, and since then we've seen an avalanche of similar products.

The next to appear could well be the upgraded Pixel Buds from Google, which are expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. It may well be Samsung's new earbuds that win the award for most innovative design of the year, though.

Here's our verdict on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX graphics cards appear to be benefiting from some serious fresh momentum, at least going by the results of the latest Steam hardware survey.

Valve’s survey shows that the top three graphics cards which made the most upward movement in terms of gaining market share for March 2020 were RTX models, led by the GeForce RTX 2060.

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As you’re probably aware, that’s the most budget-friendly RTX graphics card, aimed at those who want dedicated ray tracing cores with a minimum of damage to their wallet. And in March, RTX 2060 adoption moved up to 2.71% according to Steam’s figures, representing a healthy increase of 0.53% on the previous month.

The second-biggest gainer was the RTX 2070 which moved up 0.33% to reach a 2.01% share of the GPU market, and that was followed by the newer RTX 2070 Super, the pepped-up version of the graphics card which increased adoption by 0.28% to reach 1.21%.

While those adoption figures might sound relatively small, we have to bear in mind that the GPU market is quite fragmented across a large number of different models, and in fact the RTX 2060 hitting 2.71% means it’s now the fifth most popular graphics card overall among the Steam gamers surveyed. It’s also more popular than any of the cheaper GTX Turing models (without ray tracing hardware acceleration) which are led by the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti in seventh place on 2.48%.

The most popular cards remain Nvidia’s previous-generation 10-series offerings, holding the top four spots, and being led by the GeForce GTX 1060 which is still used by 12.67% of Steam gamers (it was down a fraction – dropping 0.01% – in March). Nvidia’s GTX 1050 Ti is in second place on 8.81% (down a quarter of a percentage point), followed by the GTX 1050 on 5.42%, and then the GTX 1070 on 4.23%. The RTX 2060 is next in line.

No great surprise

Is this RTX success to be expected, though? Nvidia is clearly all-in on ray tracing, with next-gen RTX 3000 cards expected to make big advancements on this front, and they are expected to launch later in 2020, with price adjustments of existing RTX cards to doubtless follow.

Hopefully more affordable and better ray tracing should help push adoption even further, and of course there’s the small matter of the next-gen games consoles – the PS5 and Xbox Series X – also supporting ray-traced graphics. And of course AMD’s getting on board with its next Big Navi graphics cards powered by RDNA 2 also coming with hardware accelerated ray tracing.

So in short, the industry is clearly headed this way, so Nvidia’s current RTX cards gaining momentum really shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Particularly as the RTX 2060 has already become more affordable…

As to AMD’s current performance in the Steam survey for March, the best placed Radeon graphics card doesn’t make the cut for the top 10. AMD’s Radeon RX 580 is in eleventh place with a 1.95% share, and you have to drop to nineteenth place to find the next AMD card, the RX 570 on 1.13%.

Valve’s gaming platform certainly paints a picture of Nvidia domination, although again that’s no surprise, as this has been echoed by figures we’ve been seeing from other sources including analyst firms for a good long time. For example, stats from Jon Peddie Research have recently shown Nvidia having a 73% market share when it comes to discrete GPUs (with AMD holding the remaining 27%, of course).

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Via Notebookcheck.net

The Xiaomi Mi 10 is a more affordable flagship than the Samsung Galaxy S20, but it has many similar features. In fact, in some ways it’s even gunning for the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

But as impressive as it is in many ways, it doesn’t match the Galaxy S20 in all areas. So to help you get to grips with how these two 2020 flagships compare, we’ve put them head-to-head.

Below you’ll find the similarities and differences between these two phones across a range of categories, including display, design, camera, battery, and chipset, so you can make a more informed choice as to which – if either – to buy.

• Check out our Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro review

Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S20 is out now and starts at £799 / AU$1,349 for a 4G version with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. In the US you can only get the 5G model, which starts at $999 / £899 / AU$1,499. For that you’ll get 128GB of storage and 12GB of RAM.

The Xiaomi Mi 10 meanwhile only comes in a 5G flavor, and that starts at €799 (roughly £699 $820, AU$1,390) for a model with 128GB of storage. However, at the time of writing this phone hasn’t officially gone on sale yet in the west – expect that to happen either on April 7, April 15, or an undetermined later date, depending on country.

Design

Both the Samsung Galaxy S20 and Xiaomi Mi 10 have a metal frame and a glass back, with the most obvious difference being the cameras. They both have a single-lens punch-hole camera on the front, but on the S20 it’s in the top center, while on the Mi 10 it’s in the top left.

The rear camera array meanwhile is in the top left corner in both cases, but the camera block is significantly larger on the Galaxy S20.

Other differences include colors (the Samsung Galaxy S20 comes in Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue, Cloud Pink, Cloud White and Aura Red, while the Xiaomi Mi 10 comes in Coral Green, Twilight Grey and Peach Gold), and dimensions and weight (151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9mm and 163g for the Galaxy S20, and 162.5 x 74.8 x 9mm and 208g for the Mi 10).

So the Xiaomi Mi 10 is larger in every dimension as well as being heavier, though that’s no surprise as it also has a larger screen and battery.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S20 is IP68-certified, meaning it can survive being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. The Xiaomi Mi 10 on the other hand has no water resistance rating.

Display

There’s a big difference in size here, with the Xiaomi Mi 10 having a 6.67-inch screen while the Samsung Galaxy S20 has just a 6.2-inch one.

Both use AMOLED (Dynamic AMOLED 2X in the case of the Galaxy S20 and Super AMOLED for the Xiaomi Mi 10), and both support HDR10+, but the Samsung Galaxy S20 is higher resolution at 1440 x 3200, compared to 1080 x 2340 for the Xiaomi Mi 10.

Combined with the S20’s smaller screen size that leads to a much higher pixels density of 563 pixels per inch (PPI), compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10’s 386ppi.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 also has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, whereas the Xiaomi Mi 10’s is 90Hz. That should ensure content looks smoother on the Galaxy S20, but you can only use that 120Hz refresh rate if you drop the resolution to FHD+ - otherwise you get 60Hz, whereas there’s no such restriction on the Mi 10.

So the Samsung Galaxy S20 can at any given time have a higher refresh rate or a higher resolution than the Xiaomi Mi 10, but not both at once.

Camera and battery

The camera is one area where the Xiaomi Mi 10 is actually closer to the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra in some ways, as just like that phone it has a 108MP main sensor.

Specifically, it has a 108MP f/1.7 sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), joined by a 13MP f/2.4 ultra-wide one, a 2MP f/2.4 macro one, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor.

The setup on the Samsung Galaxy S20 is quite different, as it has a 12MP f/1.8 main sensor with OIS, a 64MP f/2.0 telephoto one with OIS and 3x hybrid optical zoom, and a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one.

So you get more megapixels in total on the Xiaomi Mi 10 as well as more lenses, but we’d be inclined to take a telephoto lens over the macro and depth sensors offered on Xiaomi’s handset.

Both phones can also record video in up to 8K quality, and you get a 10MP f/2.2 snapper on the front of the Galaxy S20 and a 20MP f/2.0 one on the front of the Xiaomi Mi 10.

As for which phone has the better camera setup – you’ll have to wait for our full Xiaomi Mi 10 review for a clearer idea of that, but the Samsung Galaxy S20 certainly has a very capable camera.

Moving on to the battery, there’s a 4,780mAh one in the Xiaomi Mi 10 and just a 4,000mAh one in the Samsung Galaxy S20 – though remember the S20 also has a smaller screen to keep lit up.

The Xiaomi Mi 10 should also charge faster, with 30W power for both wired and wireless charging, while the Samsung Galaxy S20 can manage 25W wired or 15W wireless.

The two phones both also support reverse wireless charging, which lets them wirelessly juice up other devices. This can be done at up to 9W on the Galaxy S20 and 5W on the Xiaomi Mi 10.

Specs and features

The Xiaomi Mi 10 has a top-end Snapdragon 865 chipset paired with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. That’s a similar setup to the Samsung Galaxy S20, which has either a Snapdragon 865 chipset (in the US) or a similarly high-end Exynos 990 (in most other regions), paired with either 8GB of RAM (if you buy the 4G model), or 12GB of RAM in the 5G version.

As for storage, there’s 128GB or 256GB in the Xiaomi Mi 10, whereas you can only get the Samsung Galaxy S20 with 128GB, but that phone also has a microSD card slot, which the Xiaomi Mi 10 doesn’t.

Both phones run Android 10, but they have different overlays. You get One UI 2 on the Samsung Galaxy S20 and MIUI 11 on the Xiaomi Mi 10. These lead to different looks and pre-installed apps, but the underlying operating system is much the same.

Both phones also have an in-screen fingerprint scanner.

Takeaway

The Samsung Galaxy S20 and Xiaomi Mi 10 have broadly similar designs, chipsets, RAM amounts and storage, but the Xiaomi Mi 10 has a bigger (albeit lower resolution) screen, more camera lenses, and a bigger battery, all at a likely lower price.

That makes it sound very promising on paper, but specs don’t tell the full story, so we’d advise waiting for our full review before buying the Mi 10.

Plus, the Samsung Galaxy S20 does have the edge in some areas, such as its 120Hz refresh rate and water resistance, so the decision might come down to which features you most value. But we’re big fans of the Samsung Galaxy S20, and based on the specs there’s a high chance we’ll be just as impressed with the Xiaomi Mi 10.

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How does this happen? How can we have gone from writing a letter to Santa to top up our two-games-a-year allowance to causally splashing out the cash on new games every other day?

Whether it was the allure of cheap-as-chips Steam sales, the bite-sized pricing of attractive indies, or the ever growing library of ‘free’ PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold subscription titles, it’s not unheard of for gamers to have dozens of games they’ve never even played, let alone finished.

And so the so-called ‘Gaming Pile of Shame’ was christened online – that stack of guilt-inducing games that seem like a great purchase at the time that now stare back pleadingly at you from your shelf every time your finger hovers over that ‘buy’ button.

So, with most of the world in isolation, has there ever been a better time to tackle that pile? To vanquish the last boss on the road to gaming redemption? To allow you to buy a brand new game with the clear conscience of a fully defeated library?

Let’s face it – it’s now or never. Here’s our top tips to beat your gaming pile of shame.

Gaming Pile of Shame: how to knock it down to size

Step 1: Stop buying new games!

It’s the obvious first step. Just stop. Put that wallet away and cleanse your mind of your credit card numbers. Your gaming pile of shame will just keep growing if you keep adding more titles to it, and you’ll be even worse than when it started. 

If a sale kicks off, ask yourself: do I really want this game, and might it become even cheaper by the time I get around to playing it anyway? You may save yourself some money in the long run, though exceptions can be made in the case of games that may be heavily spoiler-filled. As a compromise, work a ‘one-in, one-out’ operation – you can’t buy a new game unless you finish an old one first.

Step 2: Use HowLongToBeat.com

This is a great resource if you’re not sure where to start with that pile. HowLongToBeat.com is a crowd-sourced list of game lengths – players submit their completion times on ‘main story’ playthroughs, ‘main story + extras’ and ‘completionist’ runs, as well as giving an average on them all. It’ll give you an idea of what to expect on the length of a game before you start, though of course it’s not an exact art – everyone plays a game slightly differently. You can import your Steam PC gaming library list to automatically get a rundown on your entire catalogue, and there’s an unofficial mobile app for the site, too.

Step 3. Start on the shorter ones

Once you’ve been through HowLongToBeat and assessed your library, we’d recommend picking out a few of the shorter ones and hitting them first. There’s a sense of achievement knocking out a game like Firewatch or To The Moon in a few hours. You’ll be ticking a few easy ones off the list if you keep to walking simulators and the like, and you’ll be able to get some momentum going.

Step 4. Dial back the multiplayer matches

For many, the Gaming Pile of Shame refers to single-player games with campaign or story modes. Multiplayer-focused titles can be mastered, but never really finished, so they’re OK to dip in and out of without too much guilt attached. If you’re trying to get through that guilt pile, dial back your multiplayer allowance – as you’ve only got a finite amount of play time to work with, and a good multiplayer game will always be there to revisit when the pile of shame has been worked through.

Step 5. Recruit a co-op buddy

Playing a game with a co-op campaign mode? If it’s felt like a bit of a slog in single-player, why not recruit a friend who also has the game? You’ll feel some comradeship, crack some jokes, and feel obligated to help them reach the end too. Everything’s always more fun with a pal.

Step 6. Kill your darlings

You bought it. You played it for five minutes. You didn’t like it. Yes, it got 5-star reviews from all your favorite gaming publications. Yes, it’s the latest entry into a series you’ve long loved. Yes, your friends herald it as the second coming. But if it isn’t for you, don’t force it – there’s no shame in admitting that you just didn’t like a game, rather than suffering through it. Get through your other games, then swap it for something you might like instead. That’s another one off the list, too.

Step 7. Don’t fear the ‘Easy’ option

Unless you’re a Dark Souls masochist, most games have some sort of easy difficulty level option. If you’re struggling with a tough part of a game, or are looking forward to a title solely for its storytelling, consider dialling the difficulty level down. It’s better to see all a game has to offer at a more leisurely pace than getting stuck in the first few hours of it.

Step 8. Give up on achievement chasing

100% beating a game is a rare and wondrous achievement. But many games’ achievement lists are ludicrous. Beat a game on every difficulty level? Pull off 100,000 perfect dodges? Blow up a million zombies with your bare hands? Don’t bother – just do the bits of the game you enjoy, get to the end credits, and tick it off your list.

Step 9. Commit to two titles (and an on-the-go game)

Committing to games on your list is the key to finishing them. Jumping between two dozen won’t see you beating any of them. But variety is the spice of life, and different games can suit many different moods, scenarios and play session lengths. Rather than burning yourself out on just one game, pick two from very different genres that you can jump between as respite from the other, and a portable or mobile game for when you’re in bed or on-the-go. You’ll have a game for all seasons then.

Step 10. Have fun!

It goes without saying, this one, but you play games for fun! Don’t look down upon your pile of shame like some mountain to be conquered, but a box of chocolates to be enjoyed. This is one of those rare occasions where the saying “it’s the taking part that counts” isn’t just an empty platitude. Whether you beat your pile or just give up entirely, that stack of discs and downloads will have hours of great memories waiting to be unlocked. Get stuck in!

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Governments can use the capabilities of drones to speed up the fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) without humans getting the risk of infection, an industry expert said.

“Covid-19 has prompted more use cases for drones. We must put drones to our advantage as this technology offers a unique and safe way to conduct remotely without human-to-human interactions,” Rabih Bou Rashid, CEO of Falcon Eye Drones Services (FEDS), told TechRadar Middle East.

FEDS is the first drone-as-a-service (DaaS) company in the Middle East and is ranked seventh globally in the ‘top drone service provider- mapping, surveying and inspection category’ as per the Drone Service Provider Ranking Report 2019 by Drone Industry Insights.

Terra Drone from Japan is ranked first, followed by Aerodyne from Malaysia and Cyberhawk from the UK.

According to MarketWatch, the market size of commercial drones will grow to $16.20b in 2025 compared to $2.64b in 2019, at an annual growth rate of 25.4%.

The Dubai-headquartered company said that authorities do not need to send paramedics or humans to quarantine areas as drones can replace humans and do the job.

“Every authority across the globe, be it the police or security people, are using drones to cover a wider area of monitoring. A police car can only monitor one road but with a drone, they can monitor a larger geographical area,” Rashid said.

Dubai and Sharjah police are now utilising drones to disseminate messages to encourage residents to stay home and avoid stepping out unless necessary.

Rashid said that authorities can deploy drones to monitor people who defy government decisions, allowing strict enforcement of regulations.

“Surveillance drones are capable of identifying those who have broken the country’s confinement laws. The drones are also used to guide crowds and vehicles in places prone to infection in a much safer and more efficient manner,” he said.

 “We are in talks with Abu Dhabi authorities in case the pandemic situation gets worse,” he said.

Moreover, he said that drones can be used to spray sterilisation liquid or disinfectant in an area where humans do not want to go.

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Measuring body temperature from a distance

Rashid said that they have drones which can carry 16 litres of spraying disinfectant to fumigate large areas without sending people into impacted places and drone sprays are estimated to be 50 times more efficient than hand sprays.

In early 2020, FEDS, along with the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, has completed its drone seeding of 6.25 million Ghaf and Samar trees across 25 locations in a span of few days.

The other use case, he said is that drones can help detect new Covid-19 cases as they are equipped with a dual visual and infrared image sensor—making it easy to measure body temperature from a safe distance and reducing the risk of further infection.

“Drones can travel up to one-kilometre radius, allowing for a large area observation in a shorter period. The ability to deliver daily assistance at a distance makes it a favourable technology in the future,” Rashid said.

FEDS works with all the municipalities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, utility companies, oil and gas companies.

“We have about 100 clients and have completed about 500 jobs in GCC since inception in 2014. Out of this, 90% are DaaS while 10% is selling the hardware and software. We have about 50 drones under our fleet,” he said.

However, Rashid said that the delivery of goods by drones will take at least three to five years for it to become a reality.

Dubai is supposed to launch flying taxis this year.

“The idea has been put on hold by the regulators as a lot of things have to happen before it is to be implemented on a large scale. We have the technology but don’t have the infrastructure and Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), which is under development for autonomously controlling operations to manage drone traffic,” he said.

Drones will become part of our daily lives

A drone can fly without UTM but infrastructure such as where does the drone land if you are in a high-rise building or a safe pod to land in congested places is key, Rashid said.

As the skies are expected to get congested with multiple drones delivering, he said that there is a race to build UTM, which is similar to control towers in the airport and which should be assisted by AI and listen to a central command and to each drone at the same time.

“If a drone is flying, it should know which are the other drones that are flying around its vicinity.

Because of Covid-19, regulators might speed up the process as it is more needed than ever now,” he said.

He added that a lot of companies are building UTMs and “we may see a standard global UTM or every country may have its own UTM”.

In the future, he said that drones will be an essential part of the daily lives of humans and will be as vital as phones are to everyone today.

“Today, phones are connected to fridges, washing machines and connected homes. In future, drones will be connected to the phones too and can go to the local store and buy things to facilitate life. E-commerce firms will be able to deliver things within an hour or two. It is only a matter of when,” he said.

AMD’s latest Renoir Ryzen 4000 mobile processors have been the talk of the town over the past few weeks and the first devices are about to hit the market.

Newegg will start to ship the Asus TUF Gaming A15 (TUF506IU-ES74) from April 9 for just under $1,000 (roughly £820/AU$1670) and you can preorder now to be among the first to receive them.

The retailer doesn’t ship globally, but you can use one of many parcel forwarding services to send it from the US to almost any other country. Bear in mind, you may be charged sales tax and associated fees, and after sales can be rather problematic.

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This is the cheapest laptop with an 8-core CPU and early benchmarks show some very, very promising results, both from a pure performance view and from a battery life perspective. In other words, it is very, very fast without leaving you with a sub 1-hour battery life.

While the TUF Gaming A15 laptop primarily target gamers, its performance and features will make it appealing to a much wider audience. For a start, it has some interesting rugged features (e.g. MIL-STD-810G certification and self-cleaning fans with anti-dust technology) and a massive 90Whr battery.

Its Ryzen 7 4800H CPU is paired with 16GB RAM, a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti (with 6GB dedicated GDDR6 memory), plus a 15.6-inch 144Hz IPS display.

It is admittedly rather heavy, but given the components - which you’d usually find in a mobile workstation - we’re happy to compromise.

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