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Washington wants to block the takeover of Activision by Microsoft

by archyde December 8, 2022

Microsoft had announced earlier this year its intention to acquire the publisher of the hit video game series Call of Duty for $69 billion.

The American competition authority, the FTC, filed a complaint on Thursday December 8 to block the buyout at $69 billion of Activision Blizzard, publisher of successful video games like Call of Dutypar Microsoft.

If the operation comes to an end,the Xbox maker would gain control over major franchises, allowing it to harm competition in high-performance game consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading access to rivals to its popular content“, justifies the agency in a press release.

December 8, 2022 0 comment

Economy

13 years in prison for ex-number two

by archyde December 8, 2022

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, ex-director of operations, is sanctioned even more severely than his former partner, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the fallen Californian start-up.

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, former chief operating officer of Theranos, who promised to revolutionize blood tests, was sentenced to almost 13 years in prison on Wednesday December 7, even more than his former companion Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the start. -up fallen Californian.

Judged in a separate trial, Ramesh Balwani was found guilty in July on all cases of fraud against investors and patients of the company. The former number two of the start-up was sentenced to 155 months in prison on Wednesday, according to a decision rendered by a US federal judge.

Founded in 2003, Theranos promised to invent a machine capable of performing hundreds of blood diagnoses from a single drop of blood taken from the finger. Thanks to this revolutionary project, the start-up had aroused the enthusiasm of many businessmen and senior figures, including the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the former Minister of Defense James Mattis or the magnate media Rupert Murdoch. But she had collapsed when the Wall Street Journal revealed in 2015 that the technology never worked as expected.

Ramesh Balwani’s conviction comes less than a month after that of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in mid-November. A judgment she appealed. Ramesh Balwani’s ex-girlfriend had established herself as a star in Silicon Valley, thanks to a very elaborate story and appearance that had won her the confidence of investors. At the controls of Theranos, the two lovers, who were initially sued together but were ultimately tried separately, had raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funds.

At its peak, their startup was valued at nearly $10 billion.

SEE ALSO – Fictitious job: Jean-Christophe Lagarde sentenced to ten months in prison suspended

December 8, 2022 0 comment

Economy

Ledger, French security champion, breaks all its records

by archyde December 6, 2022

The setbacks of centralized exchange platforms like FTX push the owners of cryptoassets to keep them themselves.

The year 2022 will go down in history as a record year for the French crypto-security champion Ledger. Never has the French company sold so many of its secure wallets to keep cryptoassets. “November will be the best day in Ledger’s history, the best week and the best month“, explains its CEO, Pascal Gauthier.

Ledger is one of the star French Tech companies with its flagship product, Ledger Nano X, an accessory that looks a bit like a USB key and allows holders of cryptoassets to store private “keys” giving direct access to their digital goods.

Sales quadrupled

In November, the company assures that its sales were nearly four times higher than in October. According to its CEO, Ledger should approach the mark of six million wallets sold worldwide by the end of the year. He does not communicate precise monthly turnover but mentions “tens of millions of euros».

In France, the crypto industry is resisting the market crisis well

For Pascal Gauthier, the collapse of the FTX platform and other centralized players of the same type only reinforce the Ledger model, which is based on the direct holding of cryptoassets. These platforms can perhaps play an initiation role, but “once you’re in crypto, you should never leave your cryptocurrency to them“, he underlines.

The FTX scandal does nothing to undermine the underlying technology and the real interest of cryptoassets. Similarly, decentralized finance protocols (known in the jargon as “Defi”, contraction of the English “decentralized finance”), which allow cryptocurrency to be loaned or borrowed without an intermediary “work and do what they are supposed to do,” he says.

December 6, 2022 0 comment

Technology

Let’s Sing 2023: French and International Hits – Nintendo Switch

by archyde December 5, 2022

An unchanged formula.

Published by Ravenscourt, Let’s Sing 2023: French and International Hits is a “general public” karaoke title with strong pop accents. The game is more or less identical to last year’s version, the test will be too: Delivered alone or with two microphones, the game offers no less than forty songs, 20 French and 20 international among which we find different genres current hits as well as classics from the 90s and some children’s songs. The title remains very close to SingStar and Lips, and you can sing during only a small part of the song or during the entire clip. Small peculiarity however, thanks to an algorithm developed by the developer Voxler, the game is able to detect if you are humming instead of singing and now, the analysis of the song is now included which will allow you to obtain medals and good comments according to your services. However, it is not necessary to have a USB microphone to sing, since a smartphone (Android or iOS 7) is enough. The modes remain quite classic with a Classic option (solo or multiplayer), Mix Tape (a mode based on the Medley, you have to sing an extract of five different songs in a row that you have previously selected), Featuring (the old Duo mode which presents a cooperative solo function with the AI), the Jukebox (it is possible to listen to the songs while watching their clip without singing them), the World Contest (you will face people from all over the world on five different songs You will see your opponent’s performance in real time but you will not hear it) and finally the Let’s Party (two teams of up to four players compete in one of the game modes chosen randomly. You only need only one microphone per team that you share). a single session (the c voice commands will heat up) or try the Expert option. Naturally, each completed piece will result in a score, and if the score is not very good, you can always go through training, and if you really struggle, you can even modify your voice using the proposed technologies. in Let’s Sing 2023, a kind of autotune for the console in short. Even a saucepan will hold the right note. Finally, the Legend mode for the solo player will give us a series of challenges to solve to earn different stars until we reach the final boss of each of the levels present. If successful, we will receive props.

A functional achievement.

On a purely technical level, Let’s Sing 2023 is doing relatively well and the recorded clips turn out to be well done. The interface hasn’t changed at all since last year, it’s strictly the same game with just new songs. As expected, forget the huge graphics because this type of game does not need it, even clips in 4K would not have been too much. Anyway, it allows the musical atmosphere of the game not to be broken, if different characters were chosen moving or doing other options, it might not have given the same atmosphere as to watch this video that we have enjoyed so many times on YouTube. Very easy to access, Let’s Sing 2023 is the casual game par excellence, and this is also felt in the lifespan, with challenges at a difficulty that remains very reasonable. The title also offers the possibility of recording and reviewing its performances. The game hosts an online store that will allow you to acquire additional songs (be aware that there is an overlap with the downloadable content of previous editions of Let’s Sing), as well as a global scoreboard. On the one hand we will have the Song Pass where we will find all the DLC available for the title. But if many of these songs are not to our liking, we can buy the DLC individually and only pay for the songs that caught our eye – among them we find classics from the 80s, 90s, legendary and many more. others. These additional songs can be purchased from the digital stores of the various platforms for which the game is available.

Something to boost the lifespan and the potential challenge somewhat (the difficulty level remains very low), but it would have been nice if it were easier to transfer previously purchased content to the new version in order to make the bet at a smoother level. Finally, note that this episode remains quite close to its predecessor in terms of form, only the play-list differing from one component to another. As always, the interest of this type of game practically depends on its soundtrack which can attract or alienate fans of the saga, since the selection of songs is closer to reggaeton than rock or pop included in other versions. Thus, everything will depend on the tastes of each to decide whether or not to buy Let’s Sing 2023.

Here is the full playlist:

VERDICT

Like every year, Let’s Sing 2023 arrives, loaded with new songs to enjoy alone or with friends in the different game modes and compete for the highest possible score. Ideal to enjoy with a selection of songs that mixes current successes and perfectly recognizable hits by all. However, it would have been nice for the title to innovate a little more.

December 5, 2022 0 comment

News

Versailles hospital in turn targeted by a cyberattack

by archyde December 4, 2022

Telephone communications, internet, and all computer systems were cut.

A new computer attack illustrates the fragility of French hospitals in the face of this danger. After Corbeil-Essonnes in August, the hospital center of Versailles, at Chesnay-Rocquencourt, has, since Saturday evening, been the victim of a massive hacking. According to the Minister Delegate for Digital, Jean-Noel Barrot, the operating methods are “similar”, with the same consequences on the organization of the establishment. The reception of patients is “extremely disturbed”.

Telephone communications, internet, all computer systems were cut. The nursing staff had to take paper and pencil for all the tasks. Jean-Noël Barrot, who went there on Sunday morning, recommends calling 15 to possibly be rerouted to other health establishments. Two patients have already had to be transferred from the Versailles hospital to other establishments, and a dozen could be “in the days to come”.

The first measure taken once the cyberattack was noticed was to isolate the establishment from the rest of the network by computer to avoid contagion. Reinforcement IT teams arrived from Grenoble overnight from Saturday to Sunday. “We are in an analysis phase,” said the minister. The Paris cyber prosecutor’s office was seized of the case and a complaint was filed on Sunday at 4 p.m. “The threat is progressing, becoming more massive, becoming more professional and increasingly targeting our hospitals,” said Jean-Noël Barrot.

With the Minister of Health, he announced a budgetary reinforcement of 20 million euros for the “safety courses” of hospitals. For eighteen months, “a certain number of establishments have been able to prepare”. But that is still not enough.

SEE ALSO – Corbeil-Essonnes Hospital: “Out of the questionto pay a ransom after the hacking, assures François Braun

December 4, 2022 0 comment

Economy

the man who sent the very first message on a mobile phone tells us

by archyde December 3, 2022

MAINTENANCE – The very first text message celebrates its 30th anniversary on December 3, 2022. It was sent from London by a 22-year-old British engineer.

He joins the family of thirty-somethings. This Saturday, December 3, 2022, the SMS (Short Message Service) is 30 years old. Since then, the use of the message has evolved, with in particular the appearance in 2002 of MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) allowing the sending of photos and videos.

Ten years earlier, Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old British engineer and software designer for the Sema Group company, sent the first SMS in history. It was sent on December 3, 1992 to Richard Jarvis, director of the British telephone operator Vodafone. The company was then a client of Sema Groupe, the source of the technology needed to send the first SMS.

Neil Papworth still works in the IT field and now lives in Montreal, Canada.

LE FIGARO. – The first SMS was sent 30 years ago. How do you feel today?

Neil PAPWORTH. – On the one hand, I’m proud to have sent that first message and to be part of the story. I am proud that I am the first. On the other hand, if it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else. You know, I just sent the first text, I didn’t make it up. I don’t think I changed anything about the process. But I’m still happy and proud to have done it.

You wrote “Merry Christmas” (“Merry Christmas)”. Why ?

I don’t remember if it was my choice or if someone asked me to send this. In fact, this SMS was intended for Richard Jarvis, director of the telephone operator Vodafone for whom we worked. On December 3, 1992, there was a Christmas party at Vodafone, where Richard Jarvis was at that time. It was in a hotel in Newbury [à l’ouest de Londres, NDLR]. I believe there were a lot of Vodafone employees present at this party. Sending the text was probably part of the show for them.

Send “Merry Christmasto someone at a Christmas party sounds pretty fitting, doesn’t it?

“At that time, our system only allowed messages to be received on a telephone. Not to send. »

How did the shipment go?

This was done from a large computer, connected to the telephone network. The SMS was of course sent to a wireless phone, but at that time our system only allowed messages to be received on a phone. Not to send. We therefore had no choice but to connect our computers to the telephone network.

The person who received the message was across town, I had no way of directly knowing if it worked. A colleague was on the phone with someone who was in this hotel, next to Richard Jarvis. He told me when to send the message. When I pressed the button I had sweaty palms hoping everything would work, I was nervous. I really wanted to show Vodafone management that our system was working. Then my colleague gave me a sign to let me know that everything had worked.

How did you feel at that time, back then?

I was proud, but above all relieved. Relieved that it worked. I was happy. I then moved on to something else for the rest of the day. I don’t remember what I did that day after the message was sent. I still remember driving home. I wondered what I was going to eat that night.

“It’s a big milestone in my life today, but back then it was just a normal day at work. »

At the time, it was not something so important. It wasn’t the kind of event where you’re like,bon sangit was melike when someone first walked on the moon [Neil Armstrong en 1969, NDLR]. It’s a milestone in my life today, but back then it was just a normal day at work. Really.

Why were you chosen to send this message?

We tested the software that technically allowed SMS to be sent from our offices. I remember one day someone asked if there was a volunteer to work with Vodafone and install this system. I said to myself “yeah, that looks niceso I volunteered. I did a lot of testing for Vodafone.

“No one realized what it would become a few years later”

There was no selection process for who was going to send the first text message. I believe up to 29 people worked on this project at the same time. I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but someone must have asked “who is available?and I had to be. Maybe the fact that I participated in the tests also played a role. Sitting in front of a keyboard and texting is what we’ve all been doing for a while, you know. No one had realized what it would become a few years later.

Are you surprised by the evolution of SMS?

Yes and I still am. SMS remains popular and widely used, although messages like Messenger [la messagerie de Facebook, NDLR] ou iMessage [utilisée sur les téléphones Apple, NDLR] and all these kinds of services exist.

There are probably reasons for this. Some people don’t have Facebook or whatever, but mostly people have their own preferences, their own habits. So I’m surprised it’s still as popular as it is today. But I’m glad it’s still relevant and people are using it. Otherwise, we would not be here to discuss, right? (laughs).

Do you think SMS is doomed to disappear?

I imagine that it will eventually happen one day… But this question had already arisen when the SMS was 20 years old [en 2012, NDLR] and it is still there ten years later. I don’t think that will happen in the short term, because everyone has a phone in their pocket and it’s still handy for little things.

When you want to tell someone that you’re going to be late for the bar or that you have to buy cucumbers at the supermarket, there’s no need for music or videos. (laughs). A few words of text are enough. So I think texting is still going to be around for a while.

A final word?

Merry Christmas! (laughs)

December 3, 2022 0 comment

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