While Nvidias RTX 50-series graphics cards werent the zaniest devices at CES 2025, they stole the show with their promised groundbreaking performance breakthroughs. The RTX 5070, in particular, made headlines as a card that can supposedly rival an RTX 4090 for just $549. We later learned it uses DLSS 4s AI-powered multi frame generation to achieve that in supported titles, but thats a welcome compromise for those who cant find room in their budget for the beefier 4K-ready GPUs that are on sale right now including the $999.99 RTX 5080 and the $1,999.99 RTX 5090.RelatedThose premium cards are capable of greater raw performance, however. In our RTX 5080 review, we found its only about 15 percent faster than the RTX 4080 its replacing. Meanwhile, the benchmarks we ran for our RTX 5090 review averaged 28 percent better frame rates compared to the RTX 4090 for 4K games running at their highest settings with no frame generation help. Thats still impressive given the Founders Edition is small enough that it will fit inside a small form factor PC case. No matter which youre after, youll be exceedingly satisfied if youre upgrading from an RTX 30-series card or older.Between resellers and the forewarned scarcity thats soured past launches, youll likely need a good game plan to secure a 50-series GPU early on. If you werent already in line at a brick-and-mortar location ahead of time, it might be a little too late to find day one stock judging by the encampments that have spawned. But theres still hope if youll let us guide you on where to try purchasing one online.Tips to increase your chancesIts typically faster to use a desktop or a laptop to click around and input whatever information you need. If you can, use a computer with an ethernet connection to ensure nothing interferes with your network. Bonus points if you use an ultrawide or multiple monitors to view several browser windows at once.Some retailers may implement a wait queue. You can use your smartphone, tablet, or another secondary device to try and get a faster queue time. It can also serve as a failsafe between refreshes if one of the sites slows to a crawl on your desktop. That said, your smartphone should only be a last result to using a PC, as you dont want to waste time juggling multiple tabs and apps or tapping away at tiny input fields.The last thing youll want to be doing when the floodgates open on January 30th is fiddling with passwords and a deluge of confirmation emails. Make sure you have an account with each retailer thats expected to carry the graphics cards, and do so ahead of launch.If possible, youll also want to add your shipping and billing details in advance. This way, youll only have to worry about adding the GPU to your cart and completing the final checkout steps.Both Best Buy and Nvidia allow you to sign up to be notified when the GPUs become available. B&H Photo actually requires you to sign up in advance if you want to order one. Be sure to sign up for alerts on each variant of the 5080 or 5090 that youre planning to buy.You dont want to rely solely on email notifications for stock alerts, as theyre often delayed and you risk missing your chance. Be sure to load up tabs for each retailer shortly before their listings go live, and then practice hitting that refresh button as fast as humanely possible.Where to preorder the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090As of writing, Best Buy is the only third-party retailer with listings for the Founders Editions of the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, and Nvidia will sell them, too. That said, there are multiple options from a variety of manufacturers across all retailers, including MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Zotac, and more. Keep reading for details on each retailers current plans.Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080$1000$1000Nvidias RTX 5080 is the successor to the RTX 4080. It includes DLSS 4 Multi Frame Gen, which greatly improves frame rates at both 1440p and 4K resolutions.$1000 at Best Buy$1000 at NvidiaNvidia RTX 5090$2000$2000The Nvidia RTX 5090 is the most power Blackwell GPU among the 50-series launch cards. The card supports DLSS 4 with a massive 21,760 CUDA cores and 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, but draws up to 575W of power.$2000 at Best Buy$2000 at NvidiaBest BuyBest Buy is offering the Founders Edition versions of the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, plus several third-party cards. Eventually, a range of laptops and pre-built desktop PCs with the GPUs will become available. If theyre out of stock, the retailer allows you to sign up to be notified about their arrival, but youll want to be proactive and check the site listings early and often.Purchasing a 50-series graphics card from Best Buy requires creating an account. If youre lucky enough to add one to cart, youll be added to a queue while the system verifies your account and confirms your unit. If successful, youll have 10 minutes to complete the checkout process.NeweggNewegg has a comprehensive stock of 50-series graphics cards, though many are already out of stock. There are multiple listings for customized versions of both the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 from third-party OEMs such as MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, and more. Some come factory overclocked, and most have unique shroud designs with three cooling fans including a few with integrated liquid cooling. Many of them are much bigger than the Founders Edition cards, but Gigabyte has some compact options. Youll want to make note of their dimensions and plan your build accordingly.B&H PhotoB&H Photo is also listing a number of those third-party RTX 5080 and 5090 cards starting at $999.99 and $1,999.99, respectively. The retailer requires you to join a waitlist, however. Purchase opportunities will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis exclusively for those who sign up to receive the stock alerts. Its worth noting that B&H Photo is showing February availability for some cards.Micro CenterMicro Center has confirmed that its initial run of RTX 50-series cards will only be available at physical retail locations, and that it will only sell third-party models. Stores opened at 9AM ET nationwide on launch day meaning stores on the west coast in the Pacific time zone opened as early as 6AM.Youll want to arrive as early as possible, as units are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and require a voucher, which Micro Center employees will distribute to those in line. The retailer is also currently limiting purchases to one unit per customer.NvidiaNvidia is also selling Founders Edition cards directly through its online store, but neither the RTX 5080 nor the RTX 5090 were available as of writing.Amazon and other retailersYou should be able to find stock at several other prominent retailers, too. Amazon and Adorama have historically carried the newest GPUs at or close to launch, though neither have individual GPU listings as of writing. Adorama is currently accepting preorders for a number of prebuilt desktops with RTX 5090 cards, however.Update, January 30th: Updated to reflect current availability for the RTX 50-series cards at several retailers.See More:

One month into the year and Netflix is ready to detail its plans for 2025 or at least, some of them. In a now-annual tradition, the streamer has outlined some of its biggest releases across film, television, and gaming.And while plenty of the listed titles were already known, there are also some pleasant surprises. The movie lineup looks particularly strong, with Wake Up Dead Man the next Knives Out mystery, following Glass Onion and Guillermo del Toros take on Frankenstein both due out later this year. Meanwhile, some of the streamers most important properties are coming to an end with the final seasons of both Stranger Things (which still doesnt have a premiere date) and Squid Game (which now does).And while Stranger Things is ending, its creators, the Duffer brothers, did detail two projects they will have coming to Netflix in 2026: The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. (They also hinted that there are some Stranger Things spinoffs in the works, without getting into detail.)As for what to expect this year, here are the highlights:FilmThe Witcher: Sirens of the Deep February 11thPlankton: The Movie March 7thThe Electric State March 14thThe Old Guard 2 July 2ndFear Street: Prom Queen summerFrankenstein NovemberWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery fallRIP fallHappy Gilmore 2 2025K-Pop: Demon Hunters 2025Image: NetflixTVCobra Kai season 6 (part 3) February 13thZero Day February 20thDevil May Cry April 3rdYou season 5 April 24thSquid Game season 3 June 27thBlack Mirror season 7 2025Department Q 2025The Sandman season 2 2025Stranger Things season 5 2025The Witcher season 4 2025Wayward 2025Wednesday season 2 2025GamesWhile the lineup of (announced) games coming to Netflix is fairly small, there are two notable highlights: a mobile version of WWE 2K this fall to go along with the new deal between the two, and more Netflix Stories games (Netflixs branding for interactive fiction) based on series like Ginny & Georgia, Sweet Magnolias, Love Is Blind, and Outer Banks.See More: Uncategorized

This article contains spoilers from Squid Game season 2.Things ended on a pretty bleak note for Squid Game contestants at the conclusion of the shows second season. Following in the footsteps of fellow downer middle chapter The Empire Strikes Back, Squid Games empire of very rich psychopaths led by The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) scored a fairly decisive victory over their own rebel forces.Thankfully there is still one final round of games to go in the form of Squid Game season 3. And thankfully, we now know exactly when they will arrive. During itsNext on Netflix preview event at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, Netflix unveiled a whole host of information regarding its plans for 2025. Chief among those newsy tidbits was a release date for Squid Game season 3. The third and final bow for Hwang Dong-hyuks worldwide phenomenon will premiere on June 27, 2025.If that date sounds familiar that might be because it was a part of a leak earlier this year. Netflix did not confirm how many episodes season 3 would contain (though some rumors peg the episode count at six). The streamer did, however, release a juicy poster for the season and some even juicier first look photos. First, the poster. Well the flowers make that a little more pleasant at least. And now for the photos with some added Den of Geek commentary and speculation. First we see players 120 (Cho Hyun-ju), 222 (Kim Jun-hee), 149 (Jang Geum-ja), and 007 (Park Yong-sik) gather around one of the Squid Games distinctive coffins with a pink bow attached. Coffins are obviously not an unfamiliar sight in the games, but having a coffin dragged into the players living space must be sending a message against rule-breaking and non-compliance. Following the bloody uprising, there is no shortage of candidates for the occupant of that casket. The most likely figure though is poor player 390 Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan).After all that chaos and violence, its a little funny to see that the best immediate punishment the Front Man could muster for Player 456 Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is to handcuff him to a bedpost (settle down and behave, 001/456 shippers). Of course, this is probably a temporary measure. We imagine that Gi-huns true fate will involve something more cruel. Perhaps he will be compelled to participate in a chess match of sorts? Every new season of Squid Game needs the requisite Darth Vader without his helmet shot and here we have ours. The events of season 2 reminded us that there is something resembling a human being underneath that Front Man mask. Who knows if Hwang In-ho will remember that in season 3. Speaking of the Front Man, the colorful, borderline psychedelic room hes occupying here looks like the setting of one of season 1s most controversial episodes. Thats right: we might be getting our V.I.P.s back, questionable English dialogue and all. This might be the most intriguing photo from the whole batch. We already knew that Guard 011 Kang No-eul would be a part of season 3. This blurry background, however, appears to be outside of the usual games location. Combine that with the fact that No-eul is not wearing her mask and we have the potential of her defecting away from the games altogether. Perhaps she can help Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) make it to the island.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

As the (still unrevealed) 2025 release date for Stranger Things fifth and final season inches closer, its creators are starting to emerge from their production fugue to share some details. The latest outside excursion from Stranger Things showrunners The Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross, came at the tail end of Next on Netflix, a promotion event in Los Angeles for the streamers upcoming slate of titles.While the audience at The Egyptian Theatre was treated to an exclusive look at the first publicly-revealed footage of Stranger Things season 5, we here on the internetwere not. What we do have access to now, however, is a transcript of the topics the Duffers covered in their brief appearance. That includes some fresh details on their two first non-Stranger Things projects set at Netflixthe horror series The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. And it sounds like the former is going to have some more Stranger Things vibes than previously realized.First announced in April 2023, The Boroughs was created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and takes place in a retirement community where a group of unlikely heroes must band together to stop an otherworldly threat per the shows synopsis. If that sounds a little bit likeyou know, things that are strange, the Duffer Brothers agree. Of the two projects, The Boroughs probably shares the most DNA with Stranger Things because its about a group of misfits who fight an otherworldly evil, Matt Duffer said onstage. Only unlike Stranger Things, its set in a retirement community, so thats something different. This time our misfits are a little on the older side. They ride golf carts, not bikes.Duffer went on to confirm the previously-announced cast of Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman. He also confirmed that theyve already completed and screened the first three episodes. Other actors cast for the New Mexico-set show include Denis OHare (American Horror Story), Clarke Peters (This Is Us), Jena Malone (The Hunger Games), and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle).In addition to touching on their other upcoming project Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (a series that follows a bride and groom in a chaotic, anxiety-filled week leading up to their wedding), the Duffers discussed the scale of Stranger Things season 5.We spent a full year filming this season, Ross Duffer said. By the end, wed captured over 650 hours of footage. So, needless to say, this is our biggest and most ambitious season yet. Its like eight blockbuster movies. Its pretty insane.While the brothers didnt delve into any details on the many upcoming Stranger Things spinoffs, they did confirm that they are deeply involved in every one.Its very important to us that anything with the Stranger Things name on it is of the highest quality and not repetitivethat it has a reason to exist and always blazes its own path, Matt Duffer said.It remains to be seen what the future holds for the Stranger Things spinoffs. There probably wont be a spinoff about the Hawkins kids in a retirement community years later though. That ideas taken.

Satellite video calls will be coming to Europe from later this year, following a successful demo of the tech by Vodafone in partnership with AST SpaceMobile. Rollout in the US through AT&T will follow some time later.As with existing satellite text and voice calls, the service will operate in remote areas where no cellular coverage is available Apple led the way with satellite textsWhile satellite communication via dedicated hardware devices has been available for decades, its only in recent years that weve seen the capability extended to ordinary smartphones.Apple led the way with its Emergency SOS via Satellite service, which launched back in 2022, allowing access to 911 services in isolated areas without cellular coverage. The service was last year extended to allow you to message family and friends also.Apple initially partnered with Globalstar for these features, but we learned this week that its also working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to add Starlink satellite connectivity.Voice and data demonstrated in 2023AST SpaceMobile demonstrated in 2023 that smartphones can also make voice calls via satellite comms, as well as accessing mobile data.Company engineers demonstrated space-based 5G connectivity by placing a call from Maui, Hawaii, USA, to a Vodafone engineer in Madrid, Spain, using AT&T spectrum and AST SpaceMobiles BlueWalker 3 test satellite []In a separate test, the company broke its previous space-based cellular broadband data session record by achieving a download rate of approximately 14 Mbps.Satellite video calls coming from this yearThe same company has now partnered with Vodafone to demonstrate video calling via satellite, between what appears to be an iPhone and an Android phone. Vodafone has successfully made the worlds first space video call using normal 4G/5G smartphones and satellites that will allow multiple users in areas of no mobile coverage to make and receive video calls, access the Internet and use online messaging services []Vodafone engineer Rowan Chesmer put it to the test when he made the historic space-based video call to Margherita from a remote mountainous location in mid-Wales where there has never been mobile broadband before.You can watch the call below.The company says that the service will launch in Europe later this year, and that coverage will be complete by the end of 2026.The Verge reports that AT&T is also testing services in the US, but this is likely to launch some time after Vodafones service rolls out in Europe.Neither company has announced pricing.Image: VodafoneAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

For the 18th year running, Apple has been named Fortunes Most Admired Company. The rankings are based of a survey of more than 3,000 company execs across 30 countries.While Apples number one position was unchanged, a new company made the top five for the first time this year Apple #1 for the 18th timeFortune said that Apple reliably delivered results in a rapidly changing world.Leaders in all industries rely more than ever on Big Tech. And as weve learned from the 27th edition of the Fortune Worlds Most Admired Companies All-Stars list, those leadersreally appreciate the giants that deliver goods and services reliably, at scale, and without drama.For a stunning 18th straight year, Apple finished first in our annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a poll of 3,380 executives, directors, and analysts; for the sixth year in a row, Amazon and Microsoft rounded out the top three. Nvidia makes top 5 for the first timeNvidia saw a rapid rise to 4th position.Nvidia, whose GPU chips are fueling the generative AI explosion, rose six spots to No. 4 as its influence continued to grow. Elsewhere, cloud software provider ServiceNow (No. 42), global chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor (No. 45), and weight-loss drug pioneer Novo Nordisk (No. 46) became first-time All-Stars.Though whether that will change in the light of the DeepSeek uncertainty remains to be seen.The top 10 are:AppleMicrosoftAmazonNvidiaBerkshire HathawayCostco Wholesale JPMorgan Chase WalmartAlphabetAmerican ExpressAAPL stock continued the gains it made, and is now up 6.5% across the past five days.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Jan 30, 2025Ravie LakshmananOnline Fraud / CybercrimeAn international law enforcement operation has dismantled the domains associated with various online platforms linked to cybercrime such as Cracked, Nulled, Sellix, and StarkRDP.The effort has targeted the following domains -www.cracked.iowww.nulled.towww.mysellix.iowww.sellix.iowww.starkrdp.ioVisitors to these websites are now greeted by a seizure banner that says they were confiscated as part of Operation Talent that involved authorities from Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the United States, along with Europol."This website, as well as the information on the customers and victims of the website, has been seized by international law enforcement partners," the message reads.Both Nulled and Cracked have been used to peddle various hack tools, such as ScrubCrypt, a malware obfuscation engine that has been observed delivering stealer malware in the past.The maintainers of Cracked confirmed the development on their Telegram channel, stating they are "still waiting for the official court documentation.""A sad day indeed for our community," they added.According to Europol, Cracked and Nulled had more than 10 million users in total, acting as underground marketplaces for illegal goods and crimeware solutions, such as stolen data, malware or hacking tools. The websites are estimated to have made 1 million ($1.04 million) in profits.Concurrent to the takedowns, two suspects have been apprehended, seven properties were searched, and 17 servers and over 50 electronic devices were seized. Approximately 300,000 in cash and cryptocurrency were also appropriated."Other associated services were also taken down; including a financial processor named Sellix which was used by Cracked, and a hosting service called StarkRDP, which was promoted on both of the platforms and run by the same suspects," Europol noted.Dismantling cybercrime hubs has been a major focus of law enforcement in recent years, hoping to cripple malicious actors looking to profit off their illicit warez and help even less technically-skilled individuals to carry out attacks at scale."These two forums also offered AI-based tools and scripts to automatically scan for security vulnerabilities and optimize attacks," the agency added. "Advanced phishing techniques are frequently developed and shared on these platforms, sometimes employing AI to create more personalised and convincing messages."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Jan 30, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Cloud SecurityCybersecurity researchers have disclosed a critical security flaw in the Lightning AI Studio development platform that, if successfully exploited, could allow for remote code execution.The vulnerability, rated a CVSS score of 9.4, enables "attackers to potentially execute arbitrary commands with root privileges" by exploiting a hidden URL parameter, application security firm Noma said in a report shared with The Hacker News."This level of access could hypothetically be leveraged for a range of malicious activities, including the extraction of sensitive keys from targeted accounts," researchers Sasi Levi, Alon Tron, and Gal Moyal said.The issue is embedded in a piece of JavaScript code that could facilitate unfettered access to a victim's development environment, as well as run arbitrary commands on an authenticated target in a privileged context.Noma said it found a hidden parameter called "command" in user-specific URLs e.g., "lightning.ai/PROFILE_USERNAME/vision-model/studios/STUDIO_PATH/terminal?fullScreen=true&commmand=cmVzc..." which could be used to pass a Base64-encoded instruction to be executed on the underlying host.Even worse, the loophole could be weaponized to run commands that can exfiltrate critical information such as access tokens and user information to an attacker-controlled server.Successful exploitation of the vulnerability means that it could permit an adversary to execute arbitrary privileged commands and gain root access, harvest sensitive data, and manipulate the file system to create, delete, or modify files on the server.All an attacker needs to pull this off is prior knowledge of a profile username and their associated Lightning AI Studio, details that are publicly available via the Studio templates gallery.Armed with this information, the threat actor can then craft a malicious link such that it triggers code execution on the identified Studio under root permissions. Following responsible disclosure on October 14, 2024, the problem has been resolved by the Lightning AI team as of October 25."Vulnerabilities like these underscore the importance of mapping and securing the tools and systems used for building, training, and deploying AI models because of their sensitive nature," the researchers said.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Twelve Architects andStudio Knight Stokoe also on team for refurbishment of grade II-listed office complexNew planting covers the stepped roof terraces of the building, originally designed by landscape architect James RussellA sculpted water feature has been added to a courtyard which previously contained a deteriorating pondThe building was designed in 1973 and completed in 1976. It was grade II-listed in 2015.1/6show captionFeilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Twelve Architects have completed a retrofit and renewal of Peter Foggos grade II-listed Mountbatten House office complex in Basingstoke.Completed in 1976, the six-storey building is considered one of the most significant examples of British modernist architecture outside London.Designed by Foggo and Arup Associates Group 2, the team behind the Broadgate estate in the City of London, it was originally built as an office for paper manufacturers Wiggins Teape and known as Gateway House.The building is famed for its sprawling and interlocking stepped terraces and courtyards, topped with extensive roof gardens designed by James Russell which have earned it the local nickname the Hanging Gardens of Basingstoke.Now renamed Plant, the building has been brought up to modern standards by main contractor CField Construction for Mactaggart Family & Partners, the client, and developer Longstock Capital.The building was designed in 1973 and completed in 1976. It was grade II-listed in 2015.Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and landscape architect Grant Associates drew up the initial design from RIBA stages 1 to 3 before moving into monitoring roles with Twelve Architects and landscape practice Studio Knight Stokoe taking over for stages 4 to 6.Prominent interventions have included an expanded building entrance and reception area with a new helical staircase, aiming to enhance the arrival experience and establish a stronger visual connection to the refurbished gardens.Double height spaces have been created inside to provide a greater sense of openness and natural light, while later additions including suspended ceilings have been removed to reveal the buildings coffered slab structure and cruciform columns.The curtain wall system has also been refurbished to improve the buildings thermal performance and its MEP systems have been upgraded in order to target a BREEAM Outstanding certification, while new facilities have been added including a gym, cafe, shower and changing rooms, cycle storage and a multi-purpose function space.A sculpted water feature has been added to a courtyard which previously contained a deteriorating pondThe roof gardens have been brought back to life with new level access across all floors, original paving removed, catalogued, restored and then put back into place, new seating areas added and a deteriorating pond in a courtyard replaced with a sculpted water feature.More than 22,500 plants, including 86 trees, have been added to the gardens, influenced by Russells original handwritten planting lists contained in the archives of the University of York.Longstock Capital co-founder Hugo Denee said the project team had captured the original spirit of the building, which he said had been transformed into a perfect example of what occupiers require in terms of design aesthetic, environmental credentials and amenities.FCBS partner Ian Taylor said the buildings original emphasis on providing access to nature in the workplace had created a legacy that even now appears forward thinking.Our work focused on preserving the unique character of Foggos original design while creating a framework that balances function with environmental responsibility, he added.Plant now stands as a benchmark for retrofitting and regeneration, a space where people and nature thrive in harmony, embodying the values we strive for in every project.

Work on more than 700 blocks are waiting on design approval from regulator under Building Safety Act, new figures showSource: HM Treasury/FlickrThe chancellor unveiled a list of proposals in a major economic speech yesterdayRachel Reeves has said the government will not renege on building safety regulation, as new figures show dozens of high-rise towers are on hold due to gateway 2 checks.The chancellor, following a major economic speech yesterday, was asked whether the governments focus on loosening rules such as planning approvals to boost economic growth could put safety at risk, given the Grenfell Inquiry found deregulation was a factor in the 2017 tragedy.Reeves said: We have got to get the balance right on regulation but weve made commitments to the families that have suffered because of what happened at Grenfell and we are not reneging on these commitments.Reeves comments come as new figures obtained from the Building Safety Regulator show 90 higher-risk buildings defined as having seven storeys or above 18 metres in height are currently on hold pending design approval.Under the Building Safety Acts gateway 2, construction cannot start until the BSR has confirmed the design complies with all relevant building regulations and safety standards.The figures, which were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request from consultant Project4, show 11 higher-risk buildings have been approved, nine of which were legacy projects.A total of 92 new higher-risk buildings are on hold, with 79 under review and 13 where further information has been requested about the project. The figures also show work on 641 existing higher-risk buildings on hold.The Health and Safety Executive, which operates as the Building Safety Regulator, has been approached for comment.Reeves yesterday announced plans for a growth corridor between Cambridge and Oxford.She said new transport infrastructure could act as a catalyst for new housing and revealed that the government had already received proposals for 18 new towns along the new East West rail line.But Steve Wood, chief executive of the National House Building Council, added: The key to delivering any of this is tackling the chronic skills shortage in construction. We need to see a similar focus on the skills gap as well as planning reform.