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  Steam - Now Available on Steam – The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 01:09 PM - Forum: PC Discussion - No Replies

Now Available on Steam – The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is Now Available on Steam!

Have you ever dreamt of being a superhero? Meet Chris, a creative and imaginative 9 year old boy who escapes reality with fantastical adventures as his alter ego, the Awesome Captain Spirit!

Captain Spirit is a free demo set in the Life is Strange universe. Contains links to Life is Strange 2

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  News - This Week At Bungie – 6/28/2018
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 01:09 PM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

This Week At Bungie – 6/28/2018

This week at Bungie, the factions are vying for your pledge.

Dead Orbit took the win by a fair margin for the first Faction Rallies event of Season 3. We’ve seen a sizable amount of passion for Future War Cult in the last few weeks, and we’re eager to see if the community can make Lakshmi-2 proud with the first FWC win of Destiny 2.
Before you ask—direct purchase for Faction Armor was removed with Destiny 2 Update 1.2.1 due to vendor constraints. We’re planning to bring this option back for Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, and Future War Cult in Update 1.2.3, prior to the final Faction Rallies event of Season 3. Direct purchase will also be restored for Iron Banner in this update. We’re continuing to collect feedback throughout each event, so make sure to sound off in the Feedback forum with your thoughts on Renown, rewards, and anything factions related!

After Expo Report


After months of anticipation behind the scenes, E3 has become a fond memory. Last week, we took some time to let the dust settle and come back to our senses. Looking back on the events of the show, we’re sincerely grateful for the warm reception we got in Los Angeles—and not just because of the sunshine. It’s always a rush when millions of people find out what we’ve been working on. It’s even better when they get to play for themselves. Here are some thoughts from our Away Team of official spokespersons who were on hand to answer questions on behalf of everyone who is working to bring Forsaken to life.

Matt Tieger, Game Director, High Moon Studios

After so many months of hard work, E3 is a glorious mix of relief and terror. The death of Cayde is a huge moment in the Destiny universe, and revealing that to the world was nerve-racking. I get a sense that the community is incredibly motivated to explore the Tangled Shore and avenge the death of their friend. As a game developer, what more could you ask for?

Steve Cotton, Game Director, Bungie

I think it’s fair to say that everyone on the team was both incredibly excited and a little bit anxious to reveal to the world how our Forsaken story begins. So, it was amazing for us to see the response right after. Between the questions of why and how, one thing was clear—there was going to be consequence in this world of immortal heroes, and this was going to sting. To see how quickly Uldren was elevated to every Guardian’s most hated enemy and how everyone’s plans for revenge solidified almost instantly was inspiring. Some people at the show got to play some of the first mission of the game, and we talked to them after. There were strong feelings while they played, but their plans to exact revenge only got more creative… more personal. In the end, the show was an incredible journey of conflicting emotions and now I am left with an uneasiness every time I visit the tower. Cayde is right there and I just want to warn him.  

Scott Taylor, Project Lead, Bungie

It was incredible to share Forsaken with the fans and let them get their hands on Gambit. The teams at Bungie and HMS have been developing Forsaken with the goal of reinforcing the hobby, and the reaction we got at E3 meant so much to all of us. There’s a lot more to reveal this summer, including details on Collections, Triumphs, and the major sandbox changes we’ve got planned. Everyone is working hard to put the finishing touches on the experience. Closing is one of my favorite phases of any project, and it’s a blast to see the game grow and evolve every day. We can’t wait to play it with all of you. 

Lars Bakken, Design Lead, Bungie

So, at E3, we lifted the lid on [REDACTED], finally unveiling Gambit to the world. I cannot express how overwhelmed we were by the positive sentiment around our new activity. Special thanks to all the people who stood in line—you are the true heroes. If you didn’t know, GuardianCon is the next stop on the hype train to play Gambit before September. Remember to keep a look out for those invaders!

Lars said it. E3 was only the start of a new conversation about Destiny. Next stop: Tampa, Florida. We’re packing our bags for some gator wrestling and more Gambit action. Next week, we’ll share the full Away Team active roster along with what we have planned for our time on the GuardianCon mainstage.

Following that, we’ll tell you more about the other stops we have planned for this summer…

Marking Your Calendar


If you reside in the northern hemisphere, summer has officially begun. This one in particular is full of seasonal events. We’ve gotten some feedback from players asking for a bit more of a heads up before things like Faction Rallies or Iron Banner go live. To address this, we’ve cooked up the following image to set expectations for the next few weeks:

We also have an update for the development roadmap planned for early July. Stay tuned.

An Early Preview…


The Crucible team has been hard at work over the last few months, digesting player feedback and tuning the experience. Normally we’d have a Crucible representative jump in to give some commentary on goals, but they’re currently all hands on deck working on the future of the Crucible. Here’s a quick Patch Notes preview for what you can expect to become available when Update 1.2.3 is released on July 17, 2018:

Crucible Playlist Update

  • Quickplay
    • Increasing player configuration to 6v6 and updating the playlist description
    • Removing Supremacy from the pool of available game modes
    • Control
      • Updating Control win score to 150
      • Control Zones will initially be neutral
    • Clash
      • Updating Clash win score to 100
  • Competitive
      • Bomb Fuse timer in Countdown lowered from 40 seconds to 35 seconds
  • General
    • Rumble will become a full-time playlist
    • Supremacy will be added to the weekly featured playlist, updated to 6v6, and have a win score of 150

Crucible Ranks Update

  • Players will be able to earn Valor rank from additional playlists:
    • Competitive
    • Crucible Labs
    • Iron Banner
    • Trials of The Nine
  • Joining a game in progress will protect your Valor Win Streak for that game
    • If you lose: No penalties incurred to your Valor Win Streak
    • If you win: Valor Win Streak increases
  • Players will be matched using their Glory rank
    • This means your opponents will be of similar rank to you
    • The higher you climb, the tougher the opponent
  • Glory Loss Streaks will be re-tuned to be less punishing over time
    • Consecutive losses will decrease the Rank Points lost instead of increasing
    • Streaks will still cap out at 5
  • All Rank Streaks will no longer reset once they hit their cap

There are many more changes to Destiny 2 coming in July, and we’ll be giving a few more Patch Notes previews leading up to release, providing developer insights and commentary when possible.

Prestigious Affairs


Crucible isn’t the only activity getting some love in Update 1.2.3. The raid team is excited to release Prestige difficulty for both the Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars raid lairs. Senior Raid Designer Joe Blackburn set some expectations in February, and he’s back to flesh out some details on what the experience will be for players taking on the new challenge.

Hey everybody,

In Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3, we will be launching Prestige versions of both Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds raid lairs. Prestige raid lairs use new activity modifiers and a new system of curated loadouts to challenge you in new and exciting ways each week. I wanted to give a quick rundown of what you can expect to get, what you can expect to do, and answer some questions you might have.

What You Get

We believe players will be chasing after three different pursuits in the summer Prestige raid lairs.  

  • 400 Power Weapons: The only way to get 400 Power armor before Forsaken is by participating in the Summer Solstice event, but the only way to get 400 Power weapons before Forsaken is by completing Prestige Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds. Every time you complete all the encounters in a Prestige raid lair that week, you will be rewarded a 400 Power raid weapon. This can be any raid weapon from Destiny 2, not just the weapons that drop in that raid lair. 
  • Raid Armor Ornaments: Each Prestige raid lair has its own set of unique armor ornaments. 
  • Exotic Masterwork Catalyst:  Both raid lairs have a Masterwork catalyst that can be found only as a rare drop in the activity.   

What You Do

Each week, there is a curated weapon suite and a global activity modifier for Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds. The weapon set and modifier will be the same across both activities.

  • Curated weapon loadouts are based on weapon archetypes. So over the summer, you might see combinations that require you to equip Auto Rifle/Submachine Gun/Sniper Rifle or Scout Rifle/Hand Cannon/Rocket Launchers
    • Loadouts are not locked inside the Prestige raid lair. You can bring tons of different guns into a raid lair and swap between them at will as long as the gun meets the required curation. For example, if you were doing Spire of Stars and the loadout is [Auto Rifle/Submachine Gun/Sniper Rifle], you might want to use Surous Regime for Val Ca’uor Phase 1, but swap to Ghost Primus for Val Ca’uor Phase 2 so you can equip D.A.R.C.I. for boss damage.
  • We are shipping three activity modifiers that the raid lairs rotate between. Two of these modifies are brand new and were built from the ground up by the raid team to work in raids. The third is a fan favorite from Destiny 2: Prism. 
  • Each of these modifiers is designed to provide Guardians with advantages over their enemies when they lean into it.
  • The goal of using these modifiers and loadouts is to change the way you engage with Prestige raiding each week. The first week, the modifier and weapon loadout might synergize really well with strategies and armor exotics you’ve been using for months. Next week, the modifier and weapon loadout might push you to explore the encounter in a different way and use different exotic armors (looking at you Lunafaction). 

Questions you might have:

Is anything happening to the Prestige version of the Leviathan raid?

Nope! Prestige Leviathan will stay exactly as is, this weapon curation and modifier will only apply to Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars—but in 1.2.3, it might be worth going back and playing some more Leviathan Prestige to see if Callus has a new way to enhance one of your favorite exotic Shotguns. 

Are Prestige raid lairs getting per-encounter changes?

Nope! When we originally created the raid lairs, we wanted to focus on making the normal modes of encounters the most complete forms of the experience. We believe these modifiers and loadouts will create more variety in your Prestige gameplay than small, per-encounter changes. We also believe that the mechanical complexity in Destiny 2 raid lairs is very high, and we want to lean more into the moment-to-moment sandbox engagement in Prestige. 

How many of the Prestige raid activities will be active each week?

All of them! Do you want to play all three prestige raid activities each week on three different classes for maximum Exotic catalyst and 400 Power weapon farming potential? GO FOR IT!

When will the Prestige raid lairs become available?

Current plan is for both Prestige raid lairs to be active with modifiers right when the patch goes live. We feel like this is in line with Prestige being a new way to play each week instead of a one-time event, but we are open to feedback on this.

Costs and Collections


The Destiny 2: Forsaken reveal brought a lot to the table on what’s coming in September, but there are many questions surrounding new features that we’ll be tackling leading up to launch. This week, we’re hitting a few of the most frequently asked questions about the upcoming Collections feature. Investment Designer Matt McConnell is here to bring the knowledge.

What items from Year 1 inventory will Collections track?

Collections include any weapon, armor piece, Ghost, ship, Sparrow, emblem, or shader available in Year 1 of Destiny 2.

Is there anything I can dismantle before Forsaken launches?

If you have an item in your inventory right now, you can safely discard it and retrieve it from Collections in September. This does not include consumables, so hang on to those if they matter to you.

If I dismantled something previously, will it be waiting in my Collections this September?

Your Collection will begin with every piece of gear that you were holding in inventory or within your vault upon the launch of Warmind. If you had dismantled an item prior to May 8, it will not be available within your Collections.

What items from Year 2 can be reacquired from Collections?

With the addition of random perk rolls to items starting in Year 2, we had to make a tough call for Collections. We investigated numerous options for gear with random perks: fixed Collections perks, buyback limits, reroll mechanics, and many others—but each of these came with issues that impacted the Collections experience in a negative manner. Ultimately, we decided to disable purchase of all Year 2 randomly-rolled Legendary weapons and armor. 

We don’t like keeping some items from experiencing the full Collections treatment, so we’re looking at a long-term solve for storing your exact perk rolls in Collections. 

How much will it cost to reacquire items out of Collections?

We’re currently working on costs for item acquisition and will have more information at a later date.

We have two main goals when deciding on reacquisition costs:

  • Reacquisition isn’t a currency sink. We aren’t trying to make you spend all of your hard-earned Glimmer. We just want to make sure the items you find out in the world still have value.
  • Players won’t have to deal with currency conversions. For example, if a shader dismantles into Glimmer, it costs Glimmer to reacquire. If the shader came from Eververse, it will dismantle into Bright Dust, and therefore costs Bright Dust to reacquire. These same goals are true of all Collection items.

Note: A lot of you have been asking about the cost of shaders. We can say that they will have a cost to reacquire from Collections, but there will no longer be a cost to apply shaders to gear.

Here’s a quick example: Let’s say you just got that sweet Calus’s Treasured shader to drop from the raid. You’re able to apply it immediately at no cost. If you want that specific shader on all your armor, weapons, Ghost, ship, and Sparrow, you’ll need to pay some Glimmer to reacquire a handful of copies straight out of Collections.

Before we move along—purple and gold looks fantastic on the upcoming Tangled Shore Warlock armor set. You heard it here first.

When reacquiring gear from Collection, what Power level will they be?

Collection items will come out close to your current Power level, but will require infusion to be ready for endgame activities.  This is a delicate balance of making sure Collections don’t create a leveling exploit, but still providing items that are usable right away in most activities.

If there are things you’re eager to know more about, leave a post in the Destiny 2 forum of Bungie.net, or sound off on social media. We’ll be watching for trending topics, and working to get you up to speed before Forsaken launches.

Iron Resolve


Each day, Destiny Player Support patrols the #Help forum to assist Guardians in need. Whether it be an error code caused by connection issues or an item not appearing properly in game—they’re here to lend a helping hand. 

This is their report.

Lupus Visage

Last week, we reported an issue where the Lupus Visage ornament for Fighting Lion, featured in the Iron Ornament Bundle, did not properly unlock for some players after it was activated. With this week’s deployment of Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.1.2, this issue is expected to be resolved for all players.

Players who previously purchased this ornament should now find it when inspecting Fighting Lion. Players who purchase this bundle in the future will find this ornament in their modifications inventory.

Permissions

Over the past several months, we have monitored reports from players in Russia who repeatedly encountered the error “Permissions to access online multiplayer have changed or profile signed in elsewhere.” While it’s still possible for players to encounter this error through natural causes, we believe the platform issues that caused the elevated number of these errors to be resolved.

For players who see this error in the wild, we suggest that you visit our Help article for troubleshooting information. As always, players who encounter repeated errors codes and do not find resolution by searching help.Bungie.net should report the error to the #Help forums.

Faction Rallies Known Issues

With the launch of this week’s Faction Rallies, we have players reporting that they’ve kept their allegiance from the last Faction Rallies, even after pledging to a different faction for this one.
While Destiny Player Support is currently investigating this issue, any player encountering issues while pledging to factions should submit a report to the #Help forums. If possible, providing captured video footage or imagery of your issue as it is encountered in game will be helpful in our investigation.

No Intermission 


Running out of medals isn’t a requirement to take the crown in Movie of the Week. In anticipation for Prestige raid lairs, we took some time to find a six-player fireteam that has perfected the art of DPS. 

Movie of the Week: Flawless Raiders




Honorable Mention: Called Their Shot




If you’re eyeballing the Lens of Fate emblem, make sure to submit your content to the Community Creations page on bungie.net. Don’t forget to include #MOTW in your title!
After two weeks out, it’s great to be back. Cozmo will be out next week with family, but he’s made me promise to uphold his legacy of hiding felines in blog copy. In 14 days, a few of us will be on flights heading toward Tampa to join many of you at GuardianCon. Next week, we’ll have the full roster and some details on what we’ll be doing at the event. Until then, I’ll be spending some time on Titan. Hope to see you out there, even if you’ve pledged to an opposing faction.

Oh, and before I leave, join me in giving a shout out to the following Fireteams who earned the top three Nightfall scores last week!

Cheers,

Dmg04

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  PS4 - MXGP Pro
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 06:31 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

MXGP Pro



Create your rider and climb the ranks in Career mode. Jump in the Compound area: a bigger, wider training area with different terrain conditions. Test your skills facing 30 different challenges: a dedicated game mode to learn step by step the best motocross techniques in the most realistic way. This and much, much more thanks to the new, innovative PRO Physics.

Publisher: Milestone S.r.l

Release Date: Jul 10, 2018

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  PC - Wreckfest
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 06:31 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Wreckfest



Wreckfest is a demolition derby themed racing game with soft-body damage modeling, sophisticated driving dynamics and in-depth vehicle upgrading, featuring both demolition derbies and more traditional track races. It?s all about fun, breakneck racing and over-the-top crashes.

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Release Date: Jun 14, 2018

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  News - State Of Decay 2: Free Update And First DLC Pack Out Now On Xbox One And PC
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 06:31 AM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

State Of Decay 2: Free Update And First DLC Pack Out Now On Xbox One And PC

Following a successful debut month, Microsoft has released the first DLC pack for its Xbox One/PC zombie survival game, State of Decay 2. The Independence Pack is available to purchase now and gives players access to an assortment of "patriotic" items and gear, including vehicles, weapons, and more.

Those who purchase the Independence Pack will receive three Independence Day-themed vehicles: the Pyrohawk, Burninator, and the Meatwagon. Additionally, players will get a trio of melee weapons (The Freedom Ringer, Grillmeister, and BBQ Fork) and two long-range weapons (Pyro Launcher and Starshank Launcher). You can see some of the DLC items in the brief trailer below.

Further tying into the patriotic theme of the DLC, players will get four new fireworks in the Independence Pack, as well as the Fireworks Crafting Station facility mod, which can craft additional fireworks or ammo. Players will also be able to snag some in-game discounts on fireworks and ammo thanks to a special sale being held by a new wandering trader.

The Independence Pack can be downloaded for US $5 / £4.19 / AU $7.45. Players who picked up the State of Decay 2 Ultimate Edition will receive it for no additional cost. You can grab the DLC from the Microsoft Store.

State of Decay 2's first DLC pack arrives shortly after developer Undead Labs rolled out the game's 2.0 update. Among other things, the patch introduced 20 more missions, an assortment of new weapons, a Rare Book trader, and Revolutionary War-era zombies. You can read more in the patch notes on the game's website.

The next expansion for State of Decay 2 is called the Daybreak Pack, and it's slated to arrive in September. Undead Labs says that DLC will include a new mode that gives players control over a "well-equipped" Red Talon soldier. No pricing details have been announced yet for the Daybreak Pack, but it is likewise included as part of State of Decay 2's Ultimate Edition.

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  Supercomputers: All Linux, All the Time
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 06:31 AM - Forum: Linux, FreeBSD, and Unix types - No Replies

Supercomputers: All Linux, All the Time

The latest TOP500 Supercomputer list is out. What’s not surprising is that Linux runs on every last one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. What is surprising is that GPUs, not CPUs, now power most of supercomputers’ speed.

Once more, if you want to run the fastest possible computer, the June 2018 TOP500 supercomputing ranking shows that Linux is the best of all operating systems. Every last one is running Linux.

Linux has dominated supercomputing for years. But, Linux only took over supercomputing lock, stock, and barrel in November 2017. That was the first time all of the TOP500 machines were running Linux. Before that IBM AIX, a Unix variant, was hanging on for dear life low on the list.

Read more at ZDNet

Click Here!

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  Microsoft - Digital civility highlighted at child online protection event
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-30-2018, 06:31 AM - Forum: Windows - No Replies

Digital civility highlighted at child online protection event

Last week, I organized a workshop on digital civility at the Marie Collins Foundation annual conference, “From Discovery to Recovery – Online Sexual Abuse of Children.” Microsoft is a sponsor of the foundation, a U.K.-based charity that directly supports children who have been sexually abused online, as well as their families.

Our session included representatives from UNICEF, The Diana Award (also representing NoBully.org), and the academic sector, in addition to Microsoft. The interactive session examined definitions and nomenclature surrounding digital civility, as well as examples from audience members of advice and guidance they’ve given to their own children and students about exercising decorum and engaging constructively online.

During the workshop, we asked participants a series of questions about the level of safety and respect on the internet; the most common and serious online risks; the chief differences between risk and harm; and as global practitioners and preventers of online harm to children (and indeed all individuals), where we should be putting our collective efforts. The responses were wide-ranging. For some, digital civility is about courtesy, respect and digital intelligence; compassion and empathy; and being mindful and aware of other people’s feelings, views and frames of reference. Others see a need to interact with a degree of politeness and to instill a “please-and-thank-you” culture into the digital realm. Still others saw civility as springing from deep-seated human values and morality and emphasized that teaching children enduring values in the real-world will see them carried through to online spaces.

Meanwhile, participants pointed to a redefining of what it means to have and to be a “friend” as a rather unwelcome by-product of life online. “Internet addiction,” a deterioration of communications skills, and an absence of parental responsibility for teaching young people good digital habits and practices were other concerns.

One leading online safety advocate said digital civility implied a rather “low bar” for positive digital interactions. Pointing to the all-too-familiar parental intervention of addressing squabbling siblings in the back seat of a car, he said the admonishment of telling them to “at least be civil to each other” was clearly a low hurdle.

Microsoft’s efforts to foster digital civility

At Microsoft, we view digital civility as leading with empathy, inclusion and kindness in all online interactions, and we aim to foster safer and healthier online behavior using our Digital Civility Challenge as a starting point. In our view, digital civility is in no way about limiting or stifling online discussion and debate. Rather, it’s about ensuring that robust exchanges and disagreement take place minus any name-calling, harassment or abuse.

We continue to champion digital civility and are in the process of fielding yet another round of research, this time in 22 countries. We’ve conducted similar studies released earlier this year and last year, both in conjunction with international Safer Internet Day in February. Our studies survey teens and adults in multiple geographies and ask about their exposure to some 20 online risks.

For the past two years, we also calculated our Digital Civility Index – a measure of the perceived level of civility in each country based on attitudes and perceptions of respondents from those countries. The current Digital Civility Index stands at 65 percent, unchanged from Year 1, despite the addition of nine countries and three risks to the Year 2 report. Accordingly, in Year 3, our research will drill down into the most common risks and concerns for respondents, namely unwanted contact – overwhelmingly the most common risk in the first two studies, as well as hoaxes, fraud and scams, which was the runner-up most common risk in Year 2, the first time it was included.

We will begin releasing Year 3 results in the autumn and make the full set of findings available on international Safer Internet Day 2019 in February.

Working together to grow a culture of digital civility      

Since its inception in 2016, we’ve regarded our focus on digital civility as a broad platform and concept for others to evangelize and embrace. Indeed, we’ve encouraged partners and collaborators among civil society organizations, academics, others in industry and governments to adopt the notion and to develop their own related initiatives, projects and programs. In its short existence, we’ve already seen follow-on research projects for other age groups and demographics, the creation of related indices and other efforts.

Our most significant development to date has been the formation and growth of our inaugural Council for Digital Good, a group of 15 teens from across the U.S., brought together to champion digital civility and safer and healthier online interactions.

For the past year, the teens have been learning about online safety issues, sharing their views and perspectives with Microsoft and our partners, and serving as youth ambassadors eager to grow a safer and more respectful online world. Everywhere I go – including last week’s conference – I highlight the informed views, unique perspectives and deep insights these teens continually impart. Next month, we will hold a more public event in Washington, D.C., featuring council members and some of the work they’ve been driving over the past several weeks. Summaries of the council’s earlier work can be found here and here.

Last week’s conference also featured government officials, law enforcement personnel, educators and other members of civil society, noting their efforts in working to prevent online child sexual exploitation and abuse and their commitment to child online protection generally.

For more about the Marie Collins Foundation, see the organization’s website. To learn about online safety and digital civility, visit our website and resources page, as well as our pages dedicated to digital civility. For more regular news and information, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. And, consider taking our Digital Civility Challenge and tell us on social media that you’ve done so, using the hashtags #Challenge4Civility and #Im4Civility.

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  News - Here's Battlefield 5 Closed Alpha Multiplayer Gameplay In Action
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-29-2018, 08:30 PM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

Here's Battlefield 5 Closed Alpha Multiplayer Gameplay In Action

The closed alpha for Battlefield 5 has kicked off, and we're diving helmet-first into the multiplayer. The alpha is only available on PC, and it’s limited to a small group of players. It includes two multiplayer offerings. Conquest is a traditional control point mode, while Grand Operation is a narrative meta-mode that spans various maps and game types.

This particular Grand Operation will be "Fall of Norway," set on the Arctic Fjord map. It encompasses two different game modes, Airborne and Breakthrough. The alpha will also include one Special Assignment and several daily orders. Completing your Special Assignment tasks will net you a special dog tag for your profile in the full game.

To participate, you'll need to get into the alpha and then download the client through Origin, and naturally, your specs will need to be up to snuff. If you didn’t get in this time around, just relax and watch some multiplayer gameplay above. We’ll be putting each of the modes through their paces. Battlefield V is set to launch on October 19 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Purchasing the Deluxe edition will get you access on October 16.

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  Fedora - Discover hidden gems in LibreOffice
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-29-2018, 08:30 PM - Forum: Linux, FreeBSD, and Unix types - No Replies

Discover hidden gems in LibreOffice

LibreOffice is the most popular free and open source office suite. It’s included by default in many Linux distributions, such as Fedora Workstation. Chances are that you use it fairly often, but how many of its features have you really explored? What hidden gems are there in LibreOffice that not so many people know about?

This article explores some lesser-known features in the suite, and shows you how to make the most of them. Then it wraps up with a quick look at the LibreOffice community, and how you can help to make the software even better.

Notebookbar


Recent versions of LibreOffice have seen gradual improvements to the user interface, such as reorganized menus and additional toolbar buttons. However, the general layout hasn’t changed drastically since the software was born back in 2010. But now, a completely new (and optional!) user interface called the Notebookbar is under development, and it looks like this:

LibreOffice's (experimental) Notebookbar

LibreOffice’s (experimental) Notebookbar

Yes, it’s substantially different to the current “traditional” design, and there are a few variants. Because LibreOffice’s design team is still working on the Notebookbar, it’s not available by default in current versions of the suite. Instead, it’s an experimental option.

To try it, make sure you’re running a recent release of LibreOffice, such as 5.4 or 6.0. (LibreOffice 6.x is already available in Fedora 28.) Then go to Tools > Options in the menu. In the dialog box that appears, go to Advanced on the left-hand side. Tick the Enable experimental features box, click OK, and then you’ll be prompted to restart LibreOffice. Go ahead and do that.

Now, in Writer, Calc and Impress, go to View > Toolbar Layout in the menu, and choose Notebookbar. You’ll see the new interface straight away. Remember that this is still experimental, though, and not ready for production use, so don’t be surprised if you see some bugs or glitches in places!

The default Notebookbar layout is called “tabbed”, and you can see tabs along the top of the window to display different sets of buttons. But if you go to View > Notebookbar in the menu, you’ll see other variants of the design as well. Try them out! If you need to access the familiar menu bar, you’ll find an icon for it in the top-right of the window. And to revert back to the regular interface, just go to View > Toolbar Layout > Default.

Command line tips and tricks


Yes, you can even use LibreOffice from the Bash prompt. This is most useful if you want to perform batch operations on large numbers of files. For instance, let’s say you have 20 .odt (OpenDocument Text) files in a directory, and want to make PDFs of them. Via LibreOffice’s graphical user interface, you’d have to do a lot of clicking to achieve this. But at the command line, it’s simple:

libreoffice --convert-to pdf *.odt

Or take another example: you have a set of Microsoft Office documents, and you want to convert them all to ODT:

libreoffice --convert-to odt *.docx

Another useful batch operation is printing. If you have a bunch of documents and want to print them all in one fell swoop, without manually opening them and clicking on the printer icon, do this:

libreoffice -p *.odt

It’s also worth noting some of the other command line flags that LibreOffice uses. For instance, if you want to create a launcher in your program menu that starts Calc directly, instead of showing the opening screen, use:

libreoffice --calc

It’s also possible to launch Impress and jump straight into the first slide of a presentation, without showing the LibreOffice user interface:

libreoffice --show presentation.odp

Extra goodies in Draw


Writer, Calc and Impress are the most popular components of LibreOffice. But Draw is a capable tool as well for creating diagrams, leaflets and other materials. When you’re working with multiple objects, there are various tricks you can do to speed up your work.

For example, you probably know you can select multiple objects by clicking and dragging a selection area around them. But you can also select and deselect objects in the group by holding down the Shift key while clicking.

When moving individual shapes or groups of shapes, you can use keyboard modifiers to change the movement speed. Try it out: select a bunch of objects, then use the cursor keys to move them around. Now try holding Shift to move them in greater increments, or Alt for fine-tuning. (The Ctrl key comes in useful here too, for panning around inside a document without moving the shapes.)

LibreOffice 5.1 added a useful feature to equalize the widths and heights of multiple shapes. Select them with the mouse, right-click on the selection, and then go to the Shapes part of the context menu. There you’ll see the Equalize options. This is good for making objects more consistent, and it works in Impress too!

Equalizing shape sizes in Draw

Equalizing shape sizes in Draw

Lastly, here’s a shortcut for duplicating objects: the Ctrl key. Try clicking and dragging on an object, with Ctrl held down, and you’ll see that a copy of the object is made immediately. This is quicker and more elegant than using the Duplicate dialog box.

Over to you!


So those are some features and tricks in LibreOffice you can now use in your work. But there’s always room for improvement, and the LibreOffice community is working hard on the next release, LibreOffice 6.1, which is due in early August. Give them a hand! You can help to test the beta releases, trying out new features and reporting bugs. Or get involved in other areas such as design, marketing, documentation, translations and more.


Photo by William Iven on Unsplash.

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  Microsoft - New to Microsoft 365 in June—streamlining teamwork and security
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 06-29-2018, 08:30 PM - Forum: Windows - No Replies

New to Microsoft 365 in June—streamlining teamwork and security

This month, we introduced several new capabilities that improve user experience, streamline the management of common tasks, and enhance identity-driven security measures. We also want to hear your feedback, so that we can make sure these updates are relevant and useful to you.

Streamlining the way you work


Updates to the Office 365 user experience—We announced updates for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook that are designed to embrace the breadth and depth of Office 365 features, while simplifying the user interface and improving accessibility. These updates include a simplified ribbon to encourage focus and collaboration, modern colors and icons to improve rendering and accessibility, and AI-powered search to quickly surface relevant information. These changes will start to roll out to Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscribers over the next few months.

Connect Office 365 Groups to SharePoint sites—Office 365 Groups can now connect to existing SharePoint sites, allowing newly created Office 365 groups to integrate with your existing SharePoint infrastructure. Connecting a group to a site provides a single starting point to find content, team news, and communications with modern pages, libraries, and lists—without losing any previous content or permissions.

A screenshot displays a SharePoint page. A dropdown from Settings in the upper right shows the user is about to connect a new Office 365 group.

Reduce distractions with Outlook for Android—We introduced “Do Not Disturb” in Outlook for Android to help you reduce distractions and get more done. Now, subscribers can set timed or scheduled periods when email and calendar notifications will be paused. For those with multiple Outlook accounts, Do Not Disturb settings can be customized for each email address—enabling granular control over how you spend your focus-hours.

An animated screenshot highlights the steps a user needs to take to set their Outlook to "Do not disturb." In this case the user has set it to Do not disturb for one hour.

Manage progress in Microsoft To-Do—This month, we introduced “Steps in Microsoft To-Do—a new feature that allows you to break down tasks into smaller, incremental steps—making large projects more manageable. Now, when a you create a To-Do item, you can add a range of detailed steps that are tracked through to completion. We also introduced the ability to share your To-Do lists, enabling you to work together on tasks and complete projects with colleagues and friends.

An animated screenshot highlights a user sending a 1:1 invitation link to a teammate.

Dictation in OneNote—Office 365 subscribers with Windows 10 can now take advantage of hands-free dictation using nine languages in OneNote. Dictation provides a simple, yet transformational, way to express ideas and capture notes using only your voice. You can also make edits using your keyboard without having to pause the recording. Simply click or tap the Dictate icon and start speaking.

Adobe PDF integration in Office 365—Last September, we expanded our strategic partnership with Adobe to focus on integrations between Adobe Sign and Office 365 products, like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. This month, the Adobe Document Cloud team announced new capabilities for OneDrive and SharePoint that provide improved fidelity when working with PDF documents. Once integrated by your administrator, PDF services provide rich previews of PDF documents in OneDrive and your SharePoint sites, and allow you to combine several files into a single PDF in your document library.

A screenshot displays documents in SharePoint. A Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have been selected and are ready to combine.

Securing the modern workplace


We introduced several new important capabilities that strengthen your organization’s identity-driven security, and ensure important data is kept safe.

Secure your organization with baseline security policy in Azure Active Directory—We introduced the preview of a baseline security policy in Azure AD that enforces multi-factor authentication for privileged accounts. This new policy will apply to all organizations that have Azure Active Directory and help secure the most important accounts in your tenant. Customers can opt in to the baseline protection policy in preview, and at general availability will be opted in by default with the ability to opt out at any time.

Block legacy authentication using Azure Active Directory conditional access—This month, we introduced the preview of conditional access support for blocking legacy authentication, which enables organizations to stop users from authenticating to legacy apps. Identity attacks such as password spray almost exclusively target these older client apps. This feature improves the overall security of your IT environment by getting users to move to more modern clients that support modern authentication mechanisms.

Enhance data classification across your organization—The new Label Activity Explorer in Office 365 provides a quick overview of how the data in your organization has been labeled—allowing you to investigate risky or abnormal activity. To help you manage labeling across the lifecycle of your organization’s content, we enhanced the Data Governance dashboard with new features like the Data Governance toolbox, added links and tools for common data governance tasks, and provided a single resource for guidance.

A screenshot of the Security & Compliance Center in Office 365. The user is exploring the Label Activity Explorer in the Data governance dashboard.

Other updates


  • Microsoft Teams has reached FedRAMP Moderate Compliance and will start rolling out to U.S. Government Community Cloud (GCC) customers on July 17, 2018.
  • Visio Online is now available in Microsoft Teams. Coworkers can now collaborate on Visio Online diagrams from within their team or channel without toggling between apps.
  • SharePoint Swoop—our new enterprise reality show—features a team of MVP experts with just three days to help a Microsoft 365 customer modernize their intranet.
  • At Computex 2018, we outlined our vision for how partners can build intelligent edge devices and solutions.

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