Updated on August 11, 2024: Walmart has discounted the Halo Warthog ride-on vehicle to $279, roughly $100 off its current $373 retail price. The Warthog originally launched in 2022 as a Walmart exclusive for a whopping $498.The current discounted price is more in line with other "premium" ride-ons--but yes, it's still pricey. Nevertheless, we can't imagine this deal will stick around for long.You can read our original story from 2022 below. I once again asked my son, who is now 3.5 years old if he wanted to play Halo Infinite with me. "I don't like Halo," he said. In other words, he still doesn't know what Halo is. And my wife has once again informed me that our son "doesn't need that" when I showed her the Warthog. How disappointing for my son, the huge Halo fan in the house.Continue Reading at GameSpot

HBOs The Last of Us series was a massive success for its Max streaming service. Faithfully adapting the rich world of the 2013 PlayStation 3 video game of the same name, The Last of Us proved to be a worthy adventure for longtime fans and non-gaming newcomers. Since its release, fans have anticipated a second season, and those requests will soon be fulfilled.

Hi I'm a java programmer working in jmonkey engine, I'm looking for team to work on games with.

Image: Simogo/Annapurna Interactive The music should add to the lore of the game. Continue reading

Getting older can be bittersweet. On the one hand, youre (hopefully) reaping the benefits of a lifetime of work and looking forward to a comfortable retirement. On the other hand, that transition often comes with its own financial, health, and psychological challenges, especially if you dont have a lot of close family.One thing you probably dont worry about is being declared incompetent and having a total stranger arrive at your house to forcibly remove you to a care facility, then seize your property and assets and start paying themselves generously to take care of you, whether you want (or need) them to or not. But it happensits called involuntary guardianship, and its estimated that anywhere from 1 to 3 million elderly people are languishing under it today.Its actually terrifyingly easy for a professional guardian to have you declared incapable of handling your own affairs and take control of every aspect of your lifewhere you live, the doctors you see, and how much contact you have with friends and family. Heres what you need to know.What is involuntary guardianship?State laws vary, but in general the process is similar. The concept of adult guardianship falls under the concept of the governments parens patriae powers, empowering the state to act as a parent to those who cannot care for themselves. Nothing wrong with that, and its often a necessity for folks who are truly unable to handle their own lives.These powers allow someone to petition a court to declare someone incompetent if they are a danger to themselves because they cant manage their medications, finances, or other aspects of their lives. Under the current system, this typically requires a medical professional to provide a written statement to that effect. If a court agrees that the individual needs supervision, a professional guardian is appointed, given full control over the competent persons life (including their money, healthcare decisions, where they live, and who they can have contact with). The guardian bills the estate of the person for their time, and canand usually doessell off their assets in order to pay for their care (including their own compensation).While in some cases this could be a godsendif an elderly person who is no longer capable of caring for themselves lacks relatives who can step in to care for them, for examplethe current system is ripe for abuse due to several factors:Ease. Its ridiculously easy to have someone declared incompetent. The need for a medical professionals statement simply means that any doctor, nurse, or therapist youve had contact with can weigh in on your competency, and its documented that many professional guardians maintain whisper networks among healthcare professionals who are willing to provide these statementseven if they only met with you once. And many of the hearings held to grant these petitions only last minutes as judges or judge-appointed supervisors speed through these cases, accepting statements by professional guardians as fact without any pushback.Secrecy. The court proceedings to have you declared incompetent are often emergency ex-parte petitions, meaning that you dont have to be notified and your presence is not required. In other words, you can be declared incompetent and have your life stolen with no warning, and no chance to speak for yourself.Lack of oversight. In most areas of the country it is extremely easy to become a professional guardianfor example, in New York you need to take a one-day course to be certified, and there isnt even a background check.Durability. Once youre under guardianship, it is almost impossible to get out. Even if your family rallies to your cause, most people never emerge once theyve been declared incompetent. Court records are usually sealed, and there is no government agency tracking guardianships, so even getting information about a loved one under guardianship can be a challenge.These are some of the reasons why up to two million people are currently under involuntary guardianship in this countrywith their professional guardians controlling close to $300 billion in seized assets. If youre an older person with any assets at all, you could be targeted.How to protect yourself from involuntary guardianshipProtecting yourselfor a loved onefrom the possibility of involuntary guardianship can be pretty straightforward, depending on where in the timeline of events you are.Before there's anything to worry aboutWhen everything is normal, the possibility of being forced into an involuntary guardianship seems remotebut this is when you should be preparing.Start by consulting with an estate and probate attorney to have a Health Care Proxy designated. This person will be legally empowered to make healthcare decisions for you if youre incapacitatedor deemed incompetent to make those decision yourself. Choosing someone you trust will spare you from being assigned a professional who may or may not have your best interests in mind. Next, create a durable power of attorney document naming someone to handle your finances and other aspects of your life.These two documents will make it very difficult for a guardian to swoop in and force you or a loved one into guardianshipand much easier to challenge if it somehow does happen.During the processIf you or a loved one are visited by a professional guardian and escorted from your home, there will be a hearing at some point where a judge or judge-appointed supervisor decides whether to make the guardianship permanent. You can challenge the guardianship at this hearingbut its often very difficult to do so, as these hearing are very brief, and the individual under guardianship typically dont have legal counsel assisting them. Even if family are present in court stating that they want to take responsibility and are capable of doing so, the judge or supervisor may not pay attention.If it has already happenedIf you or someone you love has been forced into an involuntary guardianship, it can be very, very difficult to extricate thembut you do have some resources. You can contact your local adult protective services agency to report an abusive situation regarding a guardian, or contact your local Protection and Advocacy System if you or your loved one is disabled (but still capable of caring for themselves).You should also contact local law enforcement. Although guardianship is legal and processed through the court system, abuse of that system is not legal. In 2018, for example, April Parks was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for illegally forcing people into guardianship and profiting from their estates.Odds are you wont ever have to deal with an unscrupulous guardian and an involuntary guardianship. But making certain it never happens to you requires just a little bit of planning.

AMD has begun releasing updates to patch some but not all chips affected by the recently discovered Sinkclose security flaw. The vulnerability spotted by researchers at IOActive was revealed in a report from Wired last week, and is said to affect most AMD processors going back to 2006. While AMDs security team has been working to get some of these systems patched, Toms Hardware reports that the Ryzen 1000, 2000 and 3000 series along with the Threadripper 1000 and 2000 wont get any such updates.The company told Toms Hardware that these are among older products that are outside our software support window. Newer models and all of AMDs embedded processors have reportedly already received or will be receiving the patch. The Sinkclose flaw is considered to be more of a risk for governments or other large entities than for the average user, and even then, taking advantage of it would require deep access to a particular system. But the researchers who found it warned that it could be disastrous if exploited, letting hackers run code in the chips normally protected System Management Mode.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/outdated-amd-chips-reportedly-wont-get-a-patch-for-the-sinkclose-security-flaw-200549740.html?src=rss

Have you spotted a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip at the Olympics during medal ceremonies? Here's what you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Olympic Edition.

Want more housing stories from Lance LambertsResiClubin your inbox?Subscribeto the free, dailyResiClubnewsletter.At the height of the pandemic housing boom in May 2022, FirstKey Homes, an institutional landlord owned by private equity firm Cerberus, bought a three-bedroom house at 25080 Estrada Circle in Punta Gorda, Florida for $445,000.After putting it on the market for rent in July 2022, taking it off the market, and putting it back on the market at a lower asking rent, FirstKey Homes decided to put the rental home for sale at $400,000 in February 2024.Fast-forward to July 2024, and the home is still currently for sale, having seen its price cut six times to $336,000. If it sells for that amount, it would represent a 25% decline from its May 2022 purchase.While national aggregate home price indices are hovering around all-time highs, some regional housing markets in states like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana are experiencing home price corrections. This includes the Punta Gorda metro area in Southwest Florida.Click here to view an interactive of the chart below.While the pandemic housing boom was fierce across the board, it was particularly intense in Punta Gorda, which was impacted by accelerated retirement and work-from-home migration.Between December 2019 and July 2022, home prices in the U.S. soared 42.6%. During that same time period, home prices jumped a staggering 73.2% in Punta Gorda.Not long after mortgage rates spiked, and migration shifted, Punta Gorda slipped into what ResiClub calls correction mode.This isnt the first time that Punta Gorda has passed through a home price correction.Indeed, Punta Gorda was one of the hardest hit housing markets during the housing bubble burst in 2008.From peak to trough, U.S. home prices fell 26.2% from the real estate bubble peak in 2006 to the bottom in 2012. In comparison, Punta Gorda home prices fell 47.8% from their peak in 2006 to their bottom in 2011.Home prices in Punta Gorda havent stopped falling yet, and likely have further to fall in the second half of 2024.The telltale sign is that Punta Gorda saw very little positive home price appreciation during the spring season window. Historically speaking, housing markets that see very little appreciation during that first half period, usually see outright price declines once the market moves into the softer seasonal window in the second half of the year.The vast majority of housing markets in the Midwest and Northeast and Southern California have higher home prices now than when mortgage rates first spiked in mid-2022.Not Punta Gorda.Home prices in Punta Gorda are down 9.1% from its 2022 price peak. Only a few markets, like Austin (-18.6%) and New Orleans (-13.4%), have seen bigger dips.When assessing home price momentum, ResiClub believes its important to monitor active listings and months of supply. If active listings start to rapidly increase, or get very high, as homes remain on the market for longer periods, it may indicate potential future pricing weakness. Conversely, a rapid decline in active listings could suggest a market that is heating up.In Punta Gorda, active inventory has seen sustained weakness since late 2022.While U.S. active inventory in July 2024 is still 29% below pre-pandemic July 2019 levels, Punta Gorda housing inventory is 76% above pre-pandemic levels.Another thing that accelerated the cooling in places like Punta Gorda, and also Cape Coral and Fort Myers, was Hurricane Ian in September 2022. The combination of increased housing supply for sale (the damaged homes) coupled with strained demandthe result of spiked home prices, spiked mortgage rates, higher insurance premiums, and higher HOA feestranslated into market softening across much of Southwest Florida.In addition, Floridas condo market is being affected by regulation passed following the Surfside condo collapse in 2021.The biggest headwind for Punta Gordas housing market, however, is simply basic fundamentals.The influx of demand during the pandemic housing boom stretched Punta Gorda home prices too far beyond local incomes. Once rates spiked and pandemic migration cooled, that stress became apparent.According to Moodys, Punta Gordas housing market in Q2 2022 was overvalued by 55.7%far above the national overvaluation of 27% at the time.Given the ongoing correction in Punta Gorda home prices, and some income gains, its overvaluation came in at 28.3% in Q4 2023, according to Moodys. However, thats still higher than the 13.9% national overvaluation Moodys estimated for that quarter.Despite having a much smaller population, Punta Gordas metro area (206,134 residents) permitted more home construction during the pandemic housing boom than many older Midwest and Northeast markets, including Pittsburgh (which has 2.4 million residents).While single-family homebuilding isnt the core cause of the Punta Gorda correction, the influx of new construction in this strained environment, combined with builders implementing aggressive affordability adjustments such as significant mortgage rate buydowns or outright price cuts, contributes to further weakening the resale market there.Think of it like this: Why look at resaleas many existing home sellers still refuse to accept that prices have fallen double-digitswhen large homebuilders, like D.R. Horton, are willing to throw out big deals in Punta Gorda? Thus resale inventory sits longer.Big picture: Were in the midst of a bifurcated housing market, where some of the hottest housing markets of the pandemic housing boom, like Punta Gorda, are passing through a correction, while other markets, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, remain tight and competitive. And some markets are somewhere in between.

New York-based Lissoni Architecture has completed a hotel in Manhattan's NoMad neighbourhood, featuring minimalist interiors that blend Scandinavian and Japanese influences.The studio, led by Italian architect Piero Lissoni, designed the AKA NoMad inside a building that formerly housed the Roger New York hotel.A bronze-painted spiral staircase anchors the lobby of the AKA NoMad hotelLocated in NoMad north of Madison Square Park an area with many design showrooms and hospitality venues, the project marks Lissoni's first hotel in NYC after opening his US-based architecture office last year."You know the film New York, New York with Liza Minnelli and Roberto De Niro?" Lissoni said. "Well, for me that's AKA Nomad, my idea of a New York that encompasses music, life, silence, snow, traffic and energy, but always accompanied by a distinct elegance and diversity."An intimate mezzanine-level lounge is housed within a glowing volume"It's not formalised - it's a hotel that narrates and speaks with a touch of style, a touch of art deco, a touch of the 1950s... and we'll see what else," he added.The double-height lobby is anchored by a bronze-painted metal staircase that spirals up past a backlit volume to a mezzanine level that holds an intimate lounge.The lobby bar takes advantage of the tall ceiling height and elongated street-facing windowsBanquettes with sage green velvet cushions sit against the illuminated panels on the other side, paired with white-topped tables and various styles of dining chair."The often filtered light generates soft and cocooning environments, where natural materials such as wood and stone are flanked by fabrics of light and neutral tones, and bespoke furnishings are juxtaposed with contemporary design and iconic objects," said Lissoni Architecture.Fluting on the bar counter front and a glass light fixture accentuate the ceiling heightIn the space below, where the ceiling height is lower, soft lighting and comfy seating create areas for guests to relax beside the floating blue reception counter.At the front, a bar area takes advantage of the tall ceilings and elongated windows facing onto the street.Read: US becoming more open-minded says Piero Lissoni as he announces New York architecture officeA glossy black bar counter reflects the minimalist liquor bottle shelving, which also glows from behind, while fluting on the counter front and a glass light fixture accentuates the height of the space.On both communal levels, dark tiles laid in a herringbone pattern cover the floors and exposed brickwork is painted beige to create consistency.Oversized fabric-upholstered headboards and textured wallpaper soften the bedroomsThe guest rooms and suites continue the same neutral palette and materials, but the balance is tipped towards a lighter tone.Oversized fabric-upholstered headboards, plush carpets and textured wallpaper soften the bedrooms, while the bathrooms are lined with dark stone and tiles.Guest bathrooms are lined with dark stone and tilesLissoni previously has leant his clean, minimalist style to several of Italy's top design brands, including Lualdi, Boffi and Salvatori, and recently expanded the Design Holding flagship in New York City.He has also served as artistic director of B&B Italia and Sanlorenzo yachts, and was a Dezeen Awards judge in 2023.The photography is by Veeral Patel.Project credits:Design team: Piero Lissoni with Stefano Giussani, Christine Napoli, Antonio Rinaldi, Vincent Chen, Tania Zaneboni, Roberto Berticelli.The post Lissoni Architecture designs moody, minimal interiors for AKA NoMad hotel appeared first on Dezeen.

Adam Norris, father of the talented F1 driver Lando Norris, owns Pure Electric which burst into the scene in the last few years for its practical and future-oriented electric rides. The Brit company is on a roll lately with the release of themed electric scooters tailored for urban scenarios.The fourth in the edition was the McLaren-themed e-scooter built on their trending Advance+ model. The final version in this series is the MP4/4 Special Edition e-scooter based on the nostalgic form of the McLaren teams Formula 1 car seated by Alian Prost and Ayrton Senna. The legendary duo took the superior machine to its limit, extracting maximum performance and desired results for the team.Designer: Pure ElectricThe e-scooter comes with the same speedy performance, and is draped in the famous color-blocked red and white livery. This is not the first Ayrton-themed e-scooter in the edition as Pure Electric revealed the Senna Special Edition e-scooter in the Brazilian national flag colors. The performance of the 1988 F1 car-themed two-wheeler truly compliments the narrative of one of the most successful cars ever in motorsports history. It has a stable and controlled e-ride experience honed by a 710w peak power output and 31 mph range. This makes it apt for strong hill climbing and acceleration without eating up the battery power.The IP65-rated Pure x McLaren MP4/4 Special Edition has a forward-facing stance for balanced racing aesthetics and a lower center of gravity. For urban practicality, the e-scooter comes with folding handlebars and foot pads that you can store in your cars boot. Safety takes precedence as it comes with steering stabilization for reduced wobble and rear KERS brakes for control on every corner, even on rough surfaces. For nighttime navigation, the e-scooter has 150 lumens headlight and rear brake lights.This special edition scooter will please motorheads who want more than a collectible for their living room or garage. Priced at approximately $1,250, the Pure Electrics final e-scooter in the collection is one to have if you want to ride the eco-conscious wave.The post Ayrton Sennas Legendary 1988 F1 car takes e-scooter form, courtesy Pure Electric first appeared on Yanko Design.