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A bookshelf is a multi-functional block that's used far more in the mid-late game of Minecraft. However, even if you're building your first base, you still need to know how to make one so you can take full advantage of its purposes. To see how to make a bookshelf in Minecraft, keep reading the guide below.Making a Bookshelf in MinecraftThere are two primary ingredients in the crafting recipe for the bookshelf. One of the resources needed is extremely common, while the other will take some time to add to your inventory.At a crafting table, place six wood planks of any kind across the top and bottom rows.In the middle row of the table, place three regular books to complete the bookshelf recipe.The crafting recipe for a bookshelf in MinecraftObviously, the most difficult aspect of the bookshelf recipe is the books required. Wood planks can be crafted within the first two minutes of Minecraft, but the books are a different story.Continue Reading at GameSpot

The Steam Deck is one of the best handheld gaming consoles that has come out in recent years. Besides supporting many popular titles, the Steam Deck can also be a desktop PC. However, even though the Steam Deck is packed with features, there are times when those features may prove to be a nuisance.

Hi everyone! Time to level up this Lunar New Year! Purchase a new PlayStation5 and stand to win prizes such as PS5 Digital Edition 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle, PlayStation Portal Remote Player, PlayStation Store gift cards, Sony Bravia TV and more.View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageFrom 17th January to 2nd February, there will be discounts on PlayStation 5, PS VR2, DualSense wireless controllers, PULSE Elite Wireless headset and PULSE Explore wireless earbuds, applicable in participating retailers (https://www.playstation.com/local/retailers/).View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageFrom 17th January 17th February 2025, purchase a PS5 console, submit the entry form and stand to win rewards in participating countries/regions* including the grand prize of a Sony Bravia TV. Additionally, entrants who own PS Plus Membership during campaign period will qualify for special prizes that include PS5 Digital Edition 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle, DualSense Wireless Controller Monster Hunter Wilds Limited Edition and PlayStation Portal Remote Player.You can find more details of the campaign here: https://www.playstation.com/en-sg/local/campaigns/level-up-new-years-play. * Participating Countries/Regions means South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand).Please see below for full details of Level Up New Years Sale 2025.SingaporePlayStation 5 ConsolesOriginal SRPPromotion SRPPlayStation5SGD 799SGD 735PlayStation5 console Digital EditionSGD 669SGD 605PeripheralsOriginal SRPPromotion SRPPlayStation VR2SGD 869SGD 599.00DualSense wireless controller (White, Midnight Black, Cosmic Red, Nova Pink, Galactic Purple, Starlight Blue, Gray Camouflage)SGD 107.00SGD 82.90DualSense wireless controller (Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue, Sterling Silver, Chroma Pearl, Chroma Indigo, Chroma Teal)SGD 114.00SGD 89.90Pulse Elite Wireless HeadsetSGD 199.90SGD 173.90Pulse Explore Wireless EarbudsSGD 295.90SGD 256.90

Roselia, the thorn Pokmon from Hoenn, can be found in the wild in Pokmon Go. Yes, Roselia can be shiny in Pokmon Go!Roserade is actually a really good grass- and poison-type attacker, so its worth grabbing a powerful one if you can. If you already have a shiny Roselia (or any of its family members), its likely from a previous Roselia Community Day event that happened in February 2021.What is the shiny rate for Roselia in Pokmon Go?As per old research by the now-defunct website The Silph Road (via Wayback Machine), the shiny rate for Pokmon on a regular day is approximately one in 500. Roselia is not a confirmed Pokmon that gets a permaboost (meaning that its a rare spawn and thus gets a boosted shiny rate).What can I do to attract more shiny Pokmon?Not much, unfortunately. It appears to be random chance. Shiny Pokmon catch rates are set by developer Niantic, and they are typically only boosted during special events like Community Days or Safari Zones, or in Legendary Raids. There are no consumable items that boost shiny Pokmon rates.Where can I find a list of available shiny Pokmon?LeekDuck keeps a list of currently available shiny Pokmon. Its a helpful visual guide that illustrates what all of the existing shiny Pokmon look like.For more tips, check out Polygons Pokmon Go guides.

The deadline is nearly here: Unless the Supreme Court steps in to save it, TikTok will be legally banned in the United States on Jan. 19. If you're one of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok every day, you might be a bit upset by the situation. Here's the good news: Even if the U.S. bans TikTok in this country, that won't stop you from being able to access it. Sure, it might make it much more difficult to access, but with a little preparation, you'll be able to keep scrolling on Jan. 19 as you had the day beforeat least, for a while.Why is the U.S. trying to ban TikTok?We've broken the situation down in our explainer here, but here's a brief summary. The U.S. has long had concerns about TikTok, going back to the first Trump Administration. The issue is largely based around national security: TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese-based company, that must comply with Chinese law. As such, there are concerns that ByteDance could hand the Chinese government data on the platform's millions of American users, as well as manipulate the infamously addictively algorithm to control what content Americans specifically see.It's not necessarily the app itself that Congress and the President are focused on: It's the Chinese government. That's why the "ban" is only part of the law President Biden signed back in April. The language gave ByteDance nine months to find an American-based buyer for TikTok in the U.S. If it had, ByteDance could have divested its stake in TikTok, and the app could have continued to without interruption. The company decided not to do that, however, insisting TikTok (and its proprietary algorithm) was not for sale. So, here we are.Regardless of your opinion on the matter, if the Supreme Court doesn't interfere, the ban is happening. What you can control, however, is your ability to access TikTok in a post-ban American. Here's how:Make sure you have TikTok on your phoneIf the ban does indeed go through, it seems very likely companies like Apple and Google will remove TikTok from their app stores in the U.S. When that happens, the app will no longer be available to download through official channels: If you try to search for TikTok on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, you'll probably just find a bunch of similar social media apps, or apps built for TikToknot TikTok itself. That's not surprising: It wouldn't be much of a ban if the government couldn't force companies to remove apps from their marketplaces. However, while the forces at be can ensure apps like TikTok are barred from app stores, they can't actually remove apps from your device itself. If you already have TikTok on your iPhone or Android device, it's staying thereuntil you delete it yourself.If you already have TikTok on your phone, great. If not, and you want to make sure you can keep using the app after Jan. 19, download it now. Here are some links to various marketplaces to get you started:iOS App Store (also available on iPadOS, iMessage, and visionOS)Google Play StoreAmazon AppstoreMicrosoft StoreSideload TikTok (Android only)If you forget to download the app before the takes effect, don't worry: You can still download it, at least on Android. Unlike iOS (in the United States, anyway), Android allows you to sideload apps, or, in other words, install apps from unofficial sources. This has long been a perk of Android over iOS, and although Apple has opened up sideloading for users in the EU, it remains Android-only for most of the world. As such, if you really wanted to, you could download the latest version of TikTok to your Android device even if it is no longer available on the Play Store. You'll want to be careful here, though: Sideloading offers few protections that the app you're installing is legit. That's why it's always better to go through official channels when possible. Google doesn't always catch the malicious apps, but it does find a lot of them. Going rogue, you run certain risks, especially since the world will know that Android users in the U.S. are looking for unofficial TikTok downloads. If you do go down this path, use APKMirror rather than a cursory Google search. The site is trusted, and is a popular destination for sideloading. Just make sure to download TikTok itself, and not one of the other variations of the app that you might see in a search.Get a VPNWhile no one can take TikTok off your phone, they can break it. Again, it's not clear exactly what's going to happen if the ban goes into effect, but one strong possibility is ByteDance will simply block network access to the app for users in the U.S. After the 19th, you may open TikTok, but instead of a login screen or your FYP, you'll be greeted by a message informing you why TikTok is banned in your country. (Perhaps we'll see something cheeky about the First Amendment in the "Land of the Free.")That'll be enough for many (if not most), who will then continue on to American-based short form videos apps, but not you: Instead, you will be able to keep using TikTok, as if there was never a ban at all, because you will have installed a VPN on your device.A VPN (virtual private network) lets you access parts of the internet your country or government wouldn't otherwise permit. It works by encrypting your connection and routing it through servers outside your country. If the U.S. doesn't allow connections to TikTok, for example, a VPN could make it look like you're accessing the internet from, say, Portugal. You can watch TikTok in Portugal without issue, so if TikTok's servers think you're in the westernmost country in Europe, it'll connect you. Ban avoided.There are a ton of VPNs out there to choose from, but you don't need to get fancy (or even spend any money) to access TikTok post-ban. All you need is a VPN that actively routes your traffic to a country that hasn't banned the app, as well as a service that will route traffic within appsnot just within your web browser. Otherwise, you'll only be able to access TikTok in your browser. While that's fine on something like a Mac, accessing TikTok through the app is a much better experience, and one most of us likely want to use anyway. As such, it's worth prioritizing with your VPN.Proton VPN, for example, has a great free tier, and should work within the TikTok app on both iOS and Android. I just tested it on Tubi, which blocked me from using it: Proton VPN routed my traffic through Amsterdam, a country Tubi doesn't support, and since Tubi thinks I'm trying to access it from Amsterdam, no Tubi for me. The opposite, then, should be the case when trying to access TikTok in the U.S. Don't use the app foreverI know I just said that TikTok's app is the best way to experience the platform, but if the U.S. does ban TikTok next week, you really shouldn't use it forever. Here's the deal: TikTok is staying on your iPhone or Android if you installed it already. But if the developers are no longer supporting the app in the U.S., that means there will be no new features added for your app, nor any fixes for bugs that may appear. So, you might encounter some weird glitches or crashes the longer you use the app following the ban, and you won't see any of the changes that TikTok makes to the app in supported parts of the world. But that's not my concern here. If the only issue was an unstable TikTok experience, well, whatever. But, eventually, the app becomes a security liability. Just as TikTok developers won't be able to push new features or bug fixes for the app, they also won't be able to patch any security vulnerabilities they discover down the line. And there will be security vulnerabilities down the line: That's just an inevitability of software. Eventually, flaws will appear that TikTok will patch for the app in countries it supports, but because it'll be cut off from the U.S., you won't see those updates. Instead, you'll use an app with a growing list of security flaws that bad actors will exploit for their own gain. It probably won't happen overnight, but after some time, the app becomes a real risk to keep on your deviceespecially when malicious users know that a country as large as the United States has people using an app without security patches.Ironically, in banning the app for national security reasons, the U.S. government will have turned it into a security risk of a different making. But will you want to keep using TikTok anyway?The major question in a world in which the U.S. successfully bans TikTok is this: Will you actually want to keep using the app? Sure, at first, everything will likely seem the same, but as the app gets buggier and less secure, the experience will undoubtedly lose its luster. But it goes beyond that, too. American creators are likely not going to bother posting to an app that is banned in their country, and will switch full-time to other established platforms like Instagram and YouTube. As more and more creators leave, you'll see less of the content you're used to engaging withcontent you could find on apps that aren't banned. Must of the rest of the world will still be posting to TikTok, of course, but it will be interesting to see if any ripple effects come out of this potential ban. Will the loss of hundreds of millions of users inspire creators outside the U.S. to focus on platforms Americans can use? If so, will TikTok start to lose even more content? There are simply too many unknowns at this point. For all we know, the Supreme Court is going to save TikTok, and this entire post will be full of useless advice. However, there's a very real chance this ban does go through, and, with it, a likely seismic shift in the future of short-form video. If you do follow the advice here, you'll at least get a front row seat to TikTok's futurewhatever it may be.

At a time when Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have shown that the whims of one person can upend an entire social network, Mastodons CEO and creator, Eugen Rochko, is heading the opposite direction. In a blog post published today, the Mastodon team announced its intention to let a new nonprofit organization take over the company. In other words, Rochko is voluntarily handing over the reins to the service he founded almost a decade ago.The company took some actions towards forming a US-based non-profit itself a year ago, and that entity will continue to exist as a "fundraising hub." However, the company as a whole will continue to headquarter its operations overseas. "We are taking the time to select the appropriate jurisdiction and structure in Europe," the company wrote, "Then we will determine which other (subsidiary) legal structures are needed to support operations and sustainability." Mastodon says the restructuring will take place within the next six months.Rochko has made his stance against Musk clear. He told Musk to get off the internet two years ago. He has also called the recent Meta moderation changes deeply troubling. While Mastodon has not been as obvious a player in terms of raw user numbers as, say, Threads or Bluesky in the post-X restructuring of social media, Mastodon might still find the most moral path forward.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mastodon-will-soon-be-owned-by-a-nonprofit-entity-170009789.html?src=rss

Unsurprisingly, a scheme which involved developing tools to steal API keys and access Microsoft servers without permission isnt faring well in a Virginia court.

In recent months, the fashion industry has seen unprecedented price hikes, CEO turnovers, sustainability backpedaling, and moreculminating in what founder and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion, Imran Amed, calls a full-blown luxury crisis. Amed joins Rapid Response to take us inside the industry chaos and share his insights and predictions for the year ahead.This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Bob Safian, a former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.When you were on the show a few months ago, you talked about how the fashion business was in need of a makeover. And since then, Ive seen this burst of turnover among label designers, also among CEOs at Gucci, Burberry, Givenchy. Is this the reckoning that you saw coming? Is this just sort of standard turnover for the industry? It seems dramatic from an outsiders perspective. Whats going on?Its pretty unprecedented, this level of turnover. I have never seen this volume of change in the leadership of big fashion companies. And as you pointed out, its not just on the creative side, which is what I think the mainstream culture tends to follow. Its also on the business side. And is it a reckoning? Yeah, I think a lot of companies are coming to the end of their relationships with some of the people who have been leading those companies. New names are coming to the fore. Some of the names that are emerging in the top roles on the creative side are mostly new to the mainstream public, although they may be somewhat well-known to fashion insiders. But yeah, this is a pretty unprecedented level of change.And the new business leaders, are they offering the promise of any new business creativity? Or are the challenges you see this business being in that there are not a lot of fresh ideas yet?Well, probably the most interesting and exciting new business appointment was made two years ago now, and that was when Chanel appointed Leena Nair as their new CEO. Lena came from outside the fashion industry. She was a top executive at Unilever; but not only was she outside of fashion, she came from the HR or peoples side of the business.That was quite an exciting new appointment. She was the first woman of color to be appointed to one of these really big top jobs. We are seeing a lot more women come through on the business side. The former CEO of Miu Miu, Benedetta Petruzzo, was recently named to a new, very senior role at Dior.So we are seeing women come through on the business side, but its on the creative side where I think theres a bigger gap. And the reason I found Lenas appointment so interesting was because it showed that someone was thinking about the value of the outsiders perspective in our industry.Most of the executives you see rising to these top jobs have grown up in the fashion industry.Youve said that were in a luxury crisis, and it sounds like its part design and part business. Do you feel like theres progress in this crisis? I mean, I know youve also talked about the death of extravagance, which is maybe more cultural than just what the industry itself can do.This is probably the most severe crisis that Ive seen on the luxury side of the fashion industry since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, after the collapse of the global financial system when everything almost fell apart everywhere.The reason I think some people are calling this a crisis is because it seems like weve reached a point, Bob, where the template business model and approach that the luxury industry has been using for the last decade or so are running out of steam. And that is driven by a number of different factors.First and foremost, the industry has highly relied on the growth of the Chinese market to propel the luxury industry to new heights. Anyone whos been following the Chinese economy knows theres a consumer-confidence crisis happening there, linked to a wider real estate crisis.On top of that, you have a wider slowdown amongst aspirational luxury customers who were gorging on luxury products during the pandemic because they couldnt spend on travel, dining, and all the other things they wanted to do.And then finally, I do think there is more of an internal existential crisis around how customers are responding to the current luxury template. There are questions around ethics and sustainability, with a couple of big luxury brands, Dior and Armani, involved in serious investigations by the Italian authorities around the supply chains of their products in Italy. Some customers are questioning [that] if a bag only costs 50 or 100 euros to create, its being made under conditions that dont seem to be entirely consistent with the dream these luxury brands are selling.This is really calling into question the value customers see in those products. There is this whole question around the price hikes. Brands were able to increase their prices by 80%, and theyve reached a limit now. They cant increase their prices anymore.In fact, some of them are going to really start to think about their whole pricing architecture and if its out of whack. So there are so many things happening all at the same time, and a CEO at the top of a big luxury house right now is grappling with a bunch of things. And on top of all that, Bob, you and I spoke last time about the creative side of the industry just losing a little bit of its magic.A lot of it has become templatized and commoditized. And so I think whats exciting about a time like this is it forces companies to innovate because the market isnt growing super fast anymore. In order to grow and succeed, you have to take market share from someone else.To take market share from someone else, you have to offer something different and special in the market. You cant succeed doing things the same way youve done over the past 10 years.One of the trends you talked about at Voices was India, with Indias economy poised to keep soaring, but most of the popular brands are domestic. It sounds like potential opportunity there for global luxury and retail brands, but theyre struggling.As long as I can remember, the industry has been talking about whether India is the next China. They were looking for that next big propeller of growth. If youd asked me this question five years ago, or even three years ago, I would have said theres still a lot that needs to be established and proven for India to take its position as one of the very big markets in the world. But I think were at a tipping point right now.We are genuinely at an inflection point. Some of it is driven by sheer demographics, the growth of the middle-class market there.India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world and is soon to be the third-largest economy. A lot of the challenges the industry has faced, up until now around retail infrastructure, around bureaucracy, around local cultural norms, all still exist but are starting to change.There are new airports opening, new infrastructure in terms of retail opportunities.Access to broadband and mobile internet is ubiquitous in India now. So, like, all of the factors that have made it hard for brands to penetrate the market are changing. The one thing that brands have to contend with, whether theyre luxury or mass market, is the very vibrant local fashion industry in India.The way people dress in India is more of a cultural fusion. If you walk the streets of Shanghai, most people wear Western clothes. If you walk the streets of Delhi or Bombay, people are wearing a mixture of Western handbags or shoes with traditional kurtas or the clothes Indian people have been wearing for decades, thousands of years. Trying to figure out where you fit into the Indian customers lifestyle is what a lot of brands are contending with. There is a lot of local competition, so the Indian market is on the precipice of something big, but its not going to be easy.It sounds like the challenge is both style culturally and how business operates in India, which has not necessarily been cracked by the fashion industry from outside.The right talent, Indian local talent, can empower those leaders to help make decisions that are right for that market.

Japanese studio IGArchitects has completed the Pyramid Hut, an angular, concrete home nestled into a sloping site in Okinawa.Influenced by the home's site, which backs onto a cemetery, IGArchitects designed the pyramidal home as a "closed structure" to distance the residence from its surroundings.As such, the home's concrete exterior is defined by window-less facades and crowned with a glazed roof with its shape and materiality also chosen to withstand the city's climate and encourage longevity beyond its current use.IGArchitects has completed a concrete home in Okinawa"This unique shape is derived from the structure of the building, the way it is built, and the environment of the site," studio founder Masato Igarashi told Dezeen."The square pyramid is a structurally rational shape, and the roofless form is also considered for the workability of the concrete.""The closed structure is also chosen because the surrounding area is so dense that it is difficult to install windows," Igarashi explained.The interior spaces are hosted within a single volumeA large wooden door serves as an entrance at the front of the building.Contained within a single 83-square-metre volume, the home is arranged in a "simple composition" across three stepped levels that respond to the sloping site.A roof opening crowns the living spacesInside, the Pyramid Hut opens up to an open-plan kitchen space, which is complete with a concrete worktop, a wooden island and matching cabinetry.A discreet door off the kitchen provides access to the home's bathroom.Read: IGArchitects slots skinny 2700 house into narrow plot in JapanBeyond the kitchen, a set of wood and concrete steps lead down to the second level, where a centralised living area and study are hosted.In addition to the glazed roof, slim openings at ground level also draw light into the interior. A stripped-back palette of exclusively concrete and wood was used throughout the home.The bedroom is concealed within a wooden structureStepping down from this space, the home's third level hosts an open area where sliding doors lead out the an adjacent garden.Contained within a wooden structure beside this is a bedroom, which is accessed via sliding doors and similarly has direct access to the home's garden.The home backs onto a cemteryOther homes recently completed in Okinawa include a series of angular guesthouses clad with locally sourced timber planks and a raw concrete house complete with a skylit interior.The photography is by Ooki Jingu.The post IGArchitects adds pyramidal concrete home to sloping site in Okinawa appeared first on Dezeen.