Housing committee questions industry figures including Muyiwa Oki on planning, workforce shortages, and financial challenges facing construction sectorSource: Parliamentlive.tvRIBA president Muyiwa Oki at the hearingThe governments ambition to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament faces significant challenges, MPs heard in an evidence session held by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee yesterday.The cross-party group of MPs convened the one-off session in response to concerns raised in an ongoing inquiry into land value capture, where several witnesses highlighted industry capacity as a key issue in meeting the governments housebuilding target.Witnesses pointed to systemic issues in planning, workforce capacity and financial viability as major barriers to delivery. Rising construction costs, pressures on local authority planning departments and inefficiencies in training and recruitment were all identified as factors contributing to uncertainty about whether the target can be achieved within the current parliamentary term.Source: Parliamentlive.tvDan Turnbull, Anna Clarke, Tim Balcon and Mark Reynolds, giving evidence yesterdayAmong the industry leaders giving evidence were Tim Balcon, chief executive of the Construction Industry Training Board, RIBA president Muyiwa Oki and Federation of Master Builders chief Brian Berry.Oki urged the government to focus on densification of existing urban areas rather than sprawl. He pointed out that most English cities are nowhere near Londons density levels, highlighting the potential for more homes to be built within existing urban areas.We need to be making better places the communities of the future, he said, supporting a high-quality approach to housing delivery.Balcon warned that an additional 161,000 people would need to enter the construction workforce to meet housing targets.If we can create a more efficient and less wasteful training model then we can achieve the numbers that were talking about here, he said, criticising the disconnect between training and employer needs. He argued that many young people enter construction courses without having actively chosen the field: They ended up there because their options were limited.Balcon also pointed out that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) find it costly and difficult to take on trainees. Employers are largely wanting to recruit experienced people, he said, highlighting the need for a training model that delivers job-ready workers rather than one requiring firms to babysit trainees for long periods.Planning system inefficiencies were another major barrier discussed with Victoria Hills, chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, saying local authorities have lost 25% of their planners over the last five years.When people talk about planning not working, we would argue that the system is not bad but its hardly a surprise if certain things go a bit slower if a quarter of the people you used to speak to are no longer there.Berry pointed to the decline of SME housebuilders as another major issue, saying their share of housebuilding had fallen from 40% in the 1980s to just 10% today. He described this as really unhealthy, arguing that SME builders were better placed to deliver well-designed, community-focused housing.If we want to get communities on side, if we want to provide well-designed homes that meet the needs of local people, then we actually need to see more organic growth in every village, town and city across the country.He also blamed the planning system, saying it was the number one problem for micro housebuilders, with many struggling to navigate an underfunded and bureaucratic process.Mark Reynolds, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, went further, arguing the government should be aiming for 4 million new homes over the next 10 years. He called for more support for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and challenged the view that skills shortages were the key problem.We dont have a skills problem, we have an absorption problem employers do not employ enough people, he said, adding that investors need greater confidence in the sector.The hearing also explored financial pressures on developers. Anna Clarke, director of policy and public affairs at The Housing Forum, described the 1.5 million homes target as a challenging and probably unlikely target to be met in those five years.She highlighted the sharp rise in construction costs alongside a flatlining housing market caused by high interest rates.The financial climate is incredibly tough at the moment and I would say that thats probably the biggest barrier for our members.Dan Turnbull, senior director for markets at the Competition and Markets Authority, welcomed the 1.5 million homes commitment but pointed out that the UK had only achieved this scale of housebuilding in the past when local authorities were heavily involved.

Apple's Mac Studio compact desktop system is on a less frequent upgrade cycle than its laptops -- more frequent than the Mac Pro, though, which makes sense given the Pro's more commercial target audience -- but like all Apple computers, the design remains the same for a long time before it's refreshed. So unsurprisingly, the new 2025 Studio looks exactly like the original launched in 2022 (and its 2023 successor). All the changes are on the inside, with an upgrade to M4 Max and M3 Ultra processors that bring support for Thunderbolt 5 and a lot more memory.Along with the MacBook Airs launched alongside the Studio, preorders start today and begin shipping March 12. Entry-configuration pricing remains the same, starting at $1,999, although the base (M4 Max) configuration has a bit more memory (36GB vs. 32GB). The Ultra's based memory is 96GB and maxes out at a nice 512GB.Mac Studio chip specs Apple M4 MaxApple M3 Ultra Chip configurations (CPU/GPU cores) 14/32 or 16/4028/64 or 32/80Performance cores 10/1220/24Efficiency cores 48Neural engine cores 16 (second gen)32 (first gen)Peak memory bandwidth (GBps) 410800Mac Studio memory configurations (base/max, GB) 36/12896/512 There's still no M4 Ultra chip -- the Ultras are essentially two linked Max chips and because there was no M3 Ultra, Apple just took advantage of the longer lead time available by using the older M3 Max. Apple still updated it to support Thunderbolt 5, though. And like its predecessor, the M3 Ultra has twice the Thunderbolt ports of the Max because the two linked M3-generation chips have their own controllers: That means the two front ports are USB-C for the Max configurations and Thunderbolt for the Ultras.The large number of cores and amount of memory are for boosting performance on applications which need them -- creative and local AI training/using larger models, among other things. What's notable is that the M3 Ultra will likely make the top configurations of the Studio more powerful than the Mac Pro, which is still on the M2 Ultra. And while there are a lot more of the M3 Ultra cores, the M4 Max's are a faster and more efficient version of them; I think the M3 Ultra will still be faster overall, but it'll be interesting to see by how much. Testing will tell. Watch this: New M4 MacBook Airs and M3 Ultra Mac Studio are Coming! 03:42

Following the release of TVs such as the Roku Pro, picture enthusiasts have been looking for a product combining the best of both worlds -- a foolproof smart TV system with great image quality. Philips' OLED Roku TV certainly looks the part for filling this brief.Firstly, the Philips OLED Roku TV 974 Series boasts a 120Hz native refresh rate, which promises smoother motion. It also supportsAMD FreeSync Premiumfor gamers.As an OLED TV, the Philips promises excellent contrast with a technology that doesn't require an LED backlight, like LCD-based screens. Meanwhile, the TV's Dolby Vision IQ can help adjust image quality according to your viewing environment. It also supports HDR 10 and Dolby Atmos via a 2.1-channel sound system.The TV ships with Roku Voice Remote, and its Roku operating system includes dozens of apps plus free TV via the Roku Channel.Here's the catch: The Philips OLED Roku is a Sam's Club exclusive and is available for $1,299. Yet, even considering the price of a membership (from $25) it's cheaper than most OLEDs on the market right now. See the Philips Roku TV at Sam's Club

March 5, 20252 min readHow Ants May Save You from Future Traffic JamsAnts tactics to avoid traffic jams could be applied to future self-driving carsBy Allison Parshall edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Fabio Di Biase/Getty ImagesFrom an airplane, cars crawling down the highway look like ants. But actual antsunlike carssomehow manage to avoid the scourge of stop-and-go traffic. Researchers are now studying these insects cooperative tactics to learn how to program self-driving cars that dont jam up.The free flow of traffic becomes unstable as the density of cars increases on a highway. At 15 vehicles per mile per lane, one driver tapping their brakes can trigger a persistent wave of congestion. Its a kind of phase transition, like water turning from a liquid to a solid form, says Katsuhiro Nishinari, a mathematical physicist at the University of Tokyo, who studies these jamming transitions.Nishinaris previous research had shown that foraging ants can maintain their flow even at high densities. So whats their secret? In a recent study published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, researchers recorded Ochetellus ants on foraging trails and used traffic-engineering models to analyze their movement. They found that the ants dont jam because they travel in groups of three to 20 that move at nearly constant rates while keeping good distances between one anotherand they dont speed up to pass others.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Human drivers at rush hour are hardly inclined to follow such rules. Were maximizing the interests of individuals, [which] is why, at a given point, you start to have a traffic jam, says study co-author Nicola Pugno, who studies sustainable engineering at the University of Trento in Italy. But self-driving cars, if they one day become ubiquitous, could have more cooperative programming. In one vision of this future, autonomous vehicles would share information with nearby cars to optimize traffic flowperhaps, the researchers suggest, by prioritizing constant speeds and headways or by not passing others on the road.This vehicle network would be analogous to ants on a trail, which use scent to coordinate behavior while interacting with one another. There is no leader, but this organization emerges anyway, says Noa Pinter-Wollman, a behavioral scientist currently studying ants at the University of California, Los Angeles. And in both ant and vehicle traffic, this type of distributed system can be very, very strong and resilient, Nishinari says. (Neither Nishinari nor Pinter-Wollman was involved in the new research.)Still, ants can do a lot of things that carseven self-driving onescant, Pinter-Wollman points out. Ants can forge trails as wide as they like, unlike drivers stuck on highways. The insects do sometimes jam up when confined in tunnels, but to keep things moving, theyll find a way to walk on the ceiling, she says. Plus, unlike cars, ants dont crash; they can literally walk over one another.Todays drivers can learn at least one thing from ants to avoid causing a traffic jam, Nishinari says: dont tailgate. By leaving room between their car and the one ahead of them, drivers can absorb a wave of braking in dense traffic conditions that would otherwise be amplified into a full-blown phantom traffic jam with no obvious cause. Just keeping away, he says, can help traffic flow smoothly.

OpinionMarch 4, 20254 min readQuantum Confusion Keeps Coming with QubitsSchrdingers cat is scratching its head over the topological qubit that is causing a buzz in quantum computing. We should be, tooBy Dan Vergano edited by Megha Satyanarayana Phatrapong/Getty ImagesFloating above the world of computingand the investors who love itflies the notion that quantum physics will soon change everything. Quantum computers will design us new drugs, new batteries, and more. And then theyll break standard encryption protocols, leaking our credit card data before we can buy any of these wonders.You cant swing a simultaneously dead and alive cat without hitting another claim that we are this close to harnessing the magical quantum computing bitthe qubitthat physicist Richard Feynman first challenged computer scientists to deliver nearly 45 years ago.The problem is that the physics needed for his machine of a different kind that takes advantage of quantum physics tantalizing weirdness requires really hard physics. Whether Microsoft or Amazon or anyone else gushing in press releases has achieved this, however, remains nebulous.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.For now, it seems, your encrypted data is safe(ish). Seems like its always five years away, as one financial industry observer told the Wall Street Journal in February, speaking of the technologyor 20 years, according to Nvidias Jensen Huang.Or maybe it will never arrive. Todays quantum computing investors are essentially backing competing physics experiments in a derby to create Feynmans machine. While theyve made progress, no clear winner has emerged. Thats despite claims of moves into practical use and demonstrations of small quantum computers outperforming ordinary ones in special cases.The fundamental problem remains, however, that making robust qubits at the heart of a quantum computeras opposed to the simpler bits processed by your laptop oneis hard-to-do physics.Todays computers just manipulate bits, which are fixed at either a 0 or 1 in value. They perform calculations in assembly-line fashion. Qubits instead have values simultaneously suspended in superposition between 0 and 1, like Schrdingers poor cat. Their value is any inclusive number of possibilities between 0 and 1 in a qubit. Instead of an assembly line of bits, an array of linked, or entangled, qubits effectively solve problems in exponentially fast leaps by holding all possible values simultaneously as they make their calculations.Jen ChristiansenThe trouble has been finding the right qubit because they are very fragile while the calculations are performed on them, which can lead to disqualifying error rates. That has led to years of incremental advances. The latest turn comes in Microsofts February announcement of a topological quantum computer, touted in a news release, and accompanied by an experimental paper in Nature. (Nature and Scientific American are both part of Springer Nature.) Basically, the makers of Windows are betting they can create a bleeding-edge quantum physics effect inside superconducting aluminum wires. That effect is the induction of a still theoretical Majorana particle that behaves magnetically as both an electron and anti-electron (as in antimatter) in those wires. That magnetic state of the quasiparticle inside the wire is the qubit.Theoretically it would be a more stable qubit because interference would have to scramble both ends of the wire simultaneously to destroy any information they encoded. Microsoft said in the news release: The Majorana 1 processor offers a clear path to fit a million qubits on a single chip that can fit in the palm of ones hand, referring to the threshold of qubits for a useful quantum computer.That sounds great, except Natures editors, critics soon noted, included a peer review note with the Microsoft study that disavowed some of the news releases claims. In particular, they noted the paper had not definitely shown Majorana zero modes in the computer. Translated, that means they want to see more proof. (Microsoft claimed it had created these quasiparticles in 2018, only to have to retract the claim, doubtless adding to the scrutiny.)Google likewise unveiled a state-of-the-art quantum chip for computing last December, and it used transmon qubits, first proposed in 2007. These rely on oscillating currents traveling inside 150-micrometers-wide superconducting capacitors. This Willow chip holds 105 qubits. Only 999,895 to go. Metas Mark Zuckerberg soon cast doubt on the technology, depressing quantum computing stocks.And finally, to end the month of February, Amazon announced an Ocelot quantum computing chip with nine qubits, along with its own Nature paper. That one manipulates a superconducting resonator to serve as a qubit, within which error-tolerant cat qubits (named in honor of Schrdingers kitten, natch) are controlled by photons, or light particles. The error-correcting capabilities of cat qubits were only first demonstrated in 2020.Other quantum computing approaches would suspend single ions, for example, turning a single cadmium ion into a qubit, on a circuit boardor would use the photons inside laser pulses as the qubits read out by photodetectors.These are all big bets on engineering 21st-century physics into machinery, with notable progress coming in the past decade, making it possible to see the quantum glass as half-full instead of half-empty. There are many way ways to skin the quantum computing cat, it turns out.Yet no certainty exists that any of these models will work in the end. That raises fears of the field becoming, like nuclear fusion, another physically possible but Sisyphean technology, always 20 years away.The myriad approaches to creating a quantum computer, all still provisional on whether they will scale up to the million-qubit realm, reinforce that the field is still in its adolescence. News-release-driven announcements of new chips, with accompanying Wall Street hype, threaten a new kind of tech bubble just as the AI one is fading, which may explain a lot of the attention on the technology.I write this as a science reporter whose first quantum computing story covered a proposal in the journal Science in 1997 to cook up a quantum computer in a coffee cup relying on a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer (an idea still pursued, as of last year.) Theres lots of physics between here and a working quantum computer, IBMs David DiVincenzo told me then. He wasnt kidding.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Remember Go 8 Bit? Live spin-off show WiFi Wars heads to London for two-week runCrowd gaming.Image credit: WiFi Wars News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on March 5, 2025 WiFi Wars, a live comedy game show spin-off from telly programme Go 8 Bit, is soon coming to a venue that's probably quite near you. Hosted by Go 8 Bit's Steve McNeil, the interactive show uses clever tech to let the audience play along via mini-games, challenges and quizzes streamed to their smartphones.The format was previously part of the Royal Institution's Summer Programme and the BBC Christmas Lectures, and has also popped up at the equally-eclectic venues of the Edinburgh Fringe and EGX. Intrigued? There's a video with more of what it's all about just below.WiFi Wars - what it's all about.Watch on YouTubeIf you fancy popping along, there's a two-week run coming up in London over Easter, sandwiched between dates in March, April and June elsewhere in the UK. The tour is set to visit Bolton, Bristol, Norwich, Wrexham, Mchynlleth, Aylesbury, Cambridge and more. Also, both Southampton and Northampton.The full list of dates are over on the WiFi Wars website, and tickets go for around 16 depending on location - in the country, and within the venue of your seat.Go 8 Bit finished up a three-season run on comedy channel Dave back in 2018. Hosted by Dara O Briain, it featured a selection of celebs battling through rounds of video game-based challenges to various levels of success. Famous faces on the show included Jonathan Ross, Sonia from Eastenders, and the wonderful Ellie Gibson - formerly of this website, and now a successful standup comedian and podcaster.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 / 9070 XT review: back to winning waysImproved RT, upgraded upscaling, better pricing.Image credit: AMD Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry Additional contributions byWill JuddPublished on March 5, 2025 Page 1 of 8 Next page Before I tested the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, I wondered just what else AMD could try. After all, we've seen good performance, competitive pricing and even gigantic cost reductions on legacy cards to improve their value, yet AMD still makes up a fraction of the discrete graphics card market according to the Steam Hardware Survey. What makes RDNA 4 any different? There's still going to be a mountain to climb in terms of mind share, but these new RDNA 4 graphics cards include two critical pieces of the puzzle: a viable alternative to DLSS in the form of FSR 4 and significantly improved ray tracing performance. Those improvements allow for some convincing results, helped further by - dare we say - refreshingly reasonable pricing, with the RX 9070 at 524/$549 and the 9070 XT at 569/$599. Our testing shows the RX 9070 delivers around eight to ten percent more performance on aggregate than the RTX 5070 while occupying the same MSRP. Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti beats the RX 9070 XT by five percent at 4K and three percent at 1440p, but the AMD card costs $150 less - making it the easier card to recommend overall of this Nvidia and AMD quartet. Ahead of our RX 9070 and 9070 XT video review going live later, we have Alex's analysis of FSR 4 - a key component of these new GPUs. Watch on YouTubeThe cards we've got in for testing are typical of the majority that will likely sell, being large, quiet and well-built cards with factory overclocks - and inflated prices to match. Unlike most cards though, these are Sapphire Pure versions in white, making them a nice choice for a white gaming PC if you're into that aesthetic trend. The 9070 XT we're testing here has a sticker price of $679, an $80 premium, while the non-XT is $620 - a $70 premium over MSRP. Every modern Sapphire card I've ever had has been quiet and performant and I've no real qualms with either of these. Twin PCIe eight pin power inputs provide the juice, while video outputs consist of two DisplayPort 2.1A ports and two HDMI 2.1 ports. In terms of specifications, the RX 9070 has 56 compute units up against the full complement of 64 within the XT model. A boost clock of 2.54GHz on the non-XT up against 2.97GHz on the XT shows quite a divide - but as you'll see shortly, the gap on these Sapphire models is much tighter. Sapphire seems to have taken the non-XT's boost clock up to 2.7GHz - which is not insignificant, while a small bump to just over 3.0GHz on the XT won't have as much of an impact. The power differential is certainly wide though - 220W on the non-XT up against a curiously specific 304W on the new AMD flagship. Both cards get 16GB of memory, serviced by a 256-bit memory interface. As a reminder, there's no GDDR7 - and correspondingly luxurious memory bandwidth figures here like Nvidia's 50-series cards, with AMD sticking with the better tried-and-tested GDDR6.AMDRX 9070 XTRX 9070RX 7900 GREStream Processors409635845120Compute Units645680Boost clock2.97GHz*2.54GHz*2.25GHzGame clock2.40GHz2.07GHz1.88GHzROPS128128160Memory16 GB GDDR616 GB GDDR616 GB GDDR6Memory bus width256-bit256-bit256-bitMemory bandwidth640GB/s640GB/s576GB/sTotal Graphics Power304W*220W*260WPSU recommendation750W650W600WPower connector2 or 3x 8-pin2 or 3x 8-pin2x 8-pinPrice$599$549$549Release DateMarch 6th 2025March 6th 2025July 27th 2023*The Sapphire 9070 XT and 9070 cards we're looking at are clocked higher than reference, at 3.01GHz and 2.70GHz respectively. That also increases TDP nominally, at 317W and 245W respectively. Taking a quick look at power usage, it's clear that AMD's cards do pull more power than their respective Nvidia rivals. In Black Myth Wukong, for example, the 9070 XT is at 91 percent of the RTX 5070 Ti's frame-rate, but requires 33 percent more power, working out to 6.3 joules per frame versus Nvidia's 4.3 joules per frame. On the vanilla 9070, power drops significantly, but the card still draws 13 percent more power while delivering a nigh-equivalent result, working out to 5.4 joules per frame on the 9070 and 4.8 joules per frame on the 5070 - advantage Nvidia. In other games, the story can be a bit different. Hitman sans RT tends to favour AMD architectures, and here the 9070 XT beats the 5070 Ti by five percent while drawing 16 percent more power - 2.0 joules per frame versus 1.8 joules per frame on Nvidia. The non-XT card is more efficient once again, beating the vanilla 5070 by 21 percent while requiring just 2.6 percent more power. The video review provides a couple more examples of how efficiency varies on a per-game basis, but the short of it is that the XT is pushed harder than the non-XT, making the former more less efficient than the latter in the attempt to make up ground against its Nvidia counterpart. Alongside each graphics card, we're using a top-end system based around the fastest gaming CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, to shift the burden to the graphics card as much as possible. We also have 32GB of Corsair DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, a high-end Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard and a 1000W Corsair PSU. With all that said, let's get into the benchmarks proper. AMD Radeon RX 7090 / 7090 XT AnalysisTo see this content please enable targeting cookies. Page 1 of 8 Next page

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide WWE 2K25 is right around the corner. This is arguably the biggest installment yet from 2K as it includes an adaptation of NBAs biggest mode, and some huge wrestlers have been confirmed for the DLC roster. While the most expensive editions launch soon, players can exploit the WWE 2K25 early access New Zealand release time trick to play the game even earlier.WWE 2K25 early access New Zealand release timeThe release time for WWE 2K25 early access in New Zealand is 12AM NZDT on March 7th for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Basically, the game has a local midnight release for all regions on console, meanwhile, it has a staggered launch for PC as confirmed by 2K support.Thanks to the New Zealand trick, fans should be able to play at 3AM PT/6AM ET/11AM GMT on March 6th. This is one day before the game should officially unlock in regions for the United States and United Kingdom.How to do the New Zealand trickThe WWE 2K25 early access New Zealand release time trick can only be pulled off on Xbox if you have pre-ordered either the Deadman or Bloodline edition. Assuming you have an Xbox One or Series X/S, and have pre-ordered either of the more expensive editions, all you need to do is follow the below steps:Start your XboxHead to SettingsClick SystemChoose Language and LocationChange location to New ZealandRestart your XboxHow to play WWE 2K25 early accessTo play WWE 2K25 early access, you must pre-order either the Deadman or Bloodline edition. Below are the price and pre-order bonuses for both packages (via PSN store):Deadman edition 89.99:Wyatt Sicks pre-order bonusUncle HowdyNikki CrossErik RowanJoe GacyDexter Lumis7-Days Early AccessWWE 2K25 Season PassSuperCharger5 DLC Character PacksDeadman Edition Bonus PackMyFACTION Persona Card: Undertaker 90MyFACTION Persona Card: Mattel Elite Greatest Hits Undertaker*Usable UrnBrother Love ManagerThe Island Cosmetics (Undertaker 95 Mask) (for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only)Bloodline edition 119.99:Wyatt Sicks pre-order bonusUncle HowdyNikki CrossErik RowanJoe GacyDexter Lumis7-Days Early AccessWWE 2K25 Season PassSuperCharger5 DLC Character PacksDeadman Edition Bonus PackMyFACTION Persona Card: Undertaker 90MyFACTION Persona Card: Mattel Elite Greatest Hits Undertaker*Usable UrnBrother Love ManagerThe Island Cosmetics (Undertaker 95 Mask) (for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only)The Bloodline Edition Bonus PackMyFACTION Persona Card: Mattel Elite Collection Greatest Hits Roman ReignsMyFACTION Persona Card: Mattel Elite Series 114 Jey Uso32,500 Virtual CurrencyThe Island Cosmetics (Familly Above All Hoodie, OTC Shirt, Yeet Tank Top, Yeet Glasses) (for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only)WrestleMania 41 Pack (will be available during summer 2025)WrestleMania 41 ArenaMyFACTION Persona Card: New playable Superstar2x MyFACTION Persona Card: WrestleMania Main EventThe Rock Nation of Domination PackMyFACTION Persona Card: The Rock (Nation of Domination)While early access launches on March 7th, the Standard edition featuring cover star Roman Reigns launches on March 14th. If you pre-order the Standard edition on Xbox, you will be able to perform the New Zealand release time trick at the same hours but on March 13th instead.Related TopicsWWE 2K25 Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereMarvel Rivals players will soon be able to unlock many free rewards in the Clone Rumble event. The event brings a new game mode on top of all the new cosmetics. Furthermore, it will last for a few weeks, giving everyone a chance to unlock the items.In this article, we will reveal all the free rewards that will come to Marvel Rivals with the event. These rewards will be obtainable for free right after Clone Rumble comes out.List of all free rewards in the Clone Rumble Marvel Rivals eventThe upcoming event might be the biggest one NetEase has released so far. It has more than 20 rewards, including a new skin and Units. At the moment, its unknown how exactly these items will be unlocked. However, judging from the previous events, players will likely have to complete limited-time quests to get access to them.The rewards have already been revealed, and this is whats waiting for us:New Mrs. Barnes skin for Black WidowMVP AnimationEmote320 Units3 Nameplates4 SpraysGallery CardMystery RewardThe Clone Rumble event will bring many free items to Marvel Rivals. Image by VideoGamerThe image above shows more details about the rewards. It appears that the mystery reward will be revealed later in the event, sometime in late March. The Gallery Card will be the final item that will be unlockable by getting every other reward from the Clone Rumble event.The release date of the Clone Rumble event has already been confirmed by the Marvel Rivals developer. It will come out on Friday, March 7, and while the exact time hasnt been specified, we expect the event to begin at 4 AM Eastern Time or 9 AM GMT. Clone Rumble will be active for a few weeks and will likely end with the release of Season 2 in April.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterRelated TopicsThe Clone Rumble events brings numerous free rewards to Marvel Rivals Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

As part of Anne McDonalds thoughtful approach to interior design, she doesnt just consider her clients desires and her own expertise. The house has an opinion too, says the Minneapolis-based AD PRO Directory member. It may not be obvious, and sometimes you have to dig a little to find it, but its there.This philosophy resonated deeply with Jay Peterson and Nickey Skarstad, born-and-raised Minnesotans. After spending 13 years as tenants of generic apartments in San Francisco and New York City, the couple longed for some semblance of architectural character in their next abode, finding promise in a 1955 split-level rambler in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb.As renters, our eclectic style never quite synced with our living quarters, says Skarstad. And since we moved back home to buy our first house, we wanted the exact opposite vibe. Such an alignment of style and place would finally feel authentic, not just to the husband and wifeshes a tech creative who values function on par with delight; hes an engineer with a built-to-last sensibilitybut also to their impressionable young daughters, nine-year-old Alma, and Ethel, who is five.In the foyer, designer Anne McDonald carved out a niche for a custom mappa burlwood table from Rovan Furniture. She used different woods throughout the homefrom birch cladding on the vaulted ceilings to the zebrawood top of the dining rooms Saarinen Tulip tableto avoid monotony. The 1961 abstract expressionist painting is by A.C. Hermkens. The Bumper ottoman is from Blu Dot.Im so partial to vintage, but I cant just fill a space with it, says McDonald. As such, the vintage pieces in the formal living room are remixed with new furnishings like a Lawson-Fenning Forster sofa, a Visual Comfort Clemente floor lamp, and custom stools by Seer Studio, all of which have midcentury tendencies but with a modern edge. I didnt want it to look like a time capsule in there.Taking cues from the homes original details, McDonald, who was also the construction designer for a COVID-era gut renovation, says she just enhanced what should have been there to begin with. At the back of the house, she accentuated the vaulted ceiling with birch, native to the Upper Midwest, creating a cocooning Scandi effect that befit the homeowners Swedish heritage. Where once small windows offered little sunlight, floor-to-ceiling glass now surrounds the painted-brick fireplace in the den (affectionately called the snug), while skylights and glass patio doors help illuminate the kitchen and dining room. Such a radiant glow up, as the designer calls it, highlights the compression and release technique developed by late architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Moving through the ramblers entry, living room, and home officeall capped under a low eight-foot ceilingheightens the sense of openness one feels upon reaching the soaring spaces.McDonald designed a custom maple screen with doughnut cut-outs that allow a semblance of separation and flow, but in architectural fashion. Vintage midcentury teak console from Golden Age Design. Pair of vintage oil paintings sourced from Kassie Keith at Round Top Antiques Fair.McDonald also embraced the homes midcentury roots with a palette of subdued gem tones, leaning away from glamour and into the hippie spirita nod, perhaps, to the 1967 Summer of Love, arguably the eras most colorful hallmark. The kitchen cabinets are painted in a fading-sunset hue; the 1950s armchairs in the living room are covered in Aquarian blue leather; and the sultry primary bath is color-blocked with lush merlot and dusky mauve tiles. Im particular about repetition of color, since theres a danger of creating boredom or feeling a little too Disneyland, says McDonald, who used a variety of purple hues from room to room. So its important that theyre mixed upa little cooler here, a little warmer there.To play up the importance of the main fireplace in underscoring the homes midcentury identity, McDonald painted the original bricks Paean Black by Farrow & Ball for gravitas, then effectively lightened its monolithic presence by surrounding it in floor-to-ceiling glass. Its a formidable anchor for the snugs more playful pieces, like the grape Kool-Aid-colored mohair covering the Eames lounge and ottoman and the 1950s Giraffe floor lamp by Rispal.With vintage funky amoeba-shaped coffee tables, a built-in sectional covered in a hardwearing Zak + Fox outdoor textile, and art ranging from a thrifted nude painting (a holdover from the apartment years) to an old Jefferson Airplane concert photo by Michael Friedman, the snug feels like a swanky set from a television drama about 1960s advertising moguls. In reality, its more of a romper room. The kids really jump around in here, says homeowner Nickey Skarstad of her and husband Jay Petersons two young daughters, Alma and Ethel. Its our family hangout.The 1960s rosewood Eames lounge chair in the snug is upholstered in mohair dyed a freewheeling shade the designer calls grape Kool-Aida groovy counterpoint to the built-in sectional, covered in a thalassic-green Zak + Fox outdoor textile. With vintage lighting like a lanky Giraffe floor lamp, rippling amoeba-shaped coffee tables, and art ranging from a thrifted nude painting (a holdover from the apartment years) to an old Jefferson Airplane concert photo, the snugs nouveau-mod aesthetic recalls a certain 21st-century period drama about 1960s advertising moguls. It invites you to put a record on, drink a boulevardier, and play cards, says McDonald. In reality, the snug is more of a romper room. The kids really jump around in here, says Skarstad. Its our family hangout.In the course of the renovation, McDonald gave the kitchen a larger footprint than the original: I liked the idea of the room being set in birch, and then I just wanted to turn it up a little bit. A salmon-y flush comes from Farrow & Balls Bisque paint on the custom cabinetry, the checkered zellige backsplash is arranged with Zia Tiles in Casablanca White and Glazed Earth, and the island countertop is a particularly veiny quartzite called Blue Deep from Terrazzo & Marble.Compared to the front of the home, the vaulted ceiling over the dining room, kitchen, and snug provides a sense of expansiveness and plenty of fresh air, recalling a technique developed by acclaimed Midwestern architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Saarinen dining table with rosewood veneer from Design Within Reach. Vintage Danish midcentury teak chairs from ABT Modern, upholstered in Mombasa by Pierre Frey. Noguchi 75A pendant lamp.But even in the gem-toned pastures of homeownership, nostalgia lingers for the more nondescript domiciles of yore. Quietly hanging in the elegant living roomwhere voluptuous seating is irresistibly wrapped in nubby boucl and long-haired alpaca, and midcentury moorings include a handsome vintage teak console and sculptural table lampsis a framed cross-stitch from the familys early history that reads: Home Sweet Apartment.Designer Anne McDonald in the snug. Vintage photograph by Michael Friedman. Built-in sectional with custom cushion by Buildlane, covered in Zak + Fox outdoor textile. Midcentury ceramic lamp from Chairish.Art: Michael FriedmanTo make the primary bedroom more spacious, McDonald commandeered some square footage from one of the kids bedrooms to make a walk-in closet for mom and dad, which theyre super psyched about, says the designer. Midcentury houses can be tricky with that kind of stuff. The corner window is also new. A shearling bed from Parachute and a Loloi shag rug make this haven even more inviting. Vintage still life sourced from Kassie Keith at Round Top Antiques Fair; 1960s Scandinavian pine bench from Chairish. Silk and cotton Gudri coverlet by Lisa Corti.Similar to the primary bedroom, the primary bath received more breathing room by co-opting space from the kids bath. Top-to-bottom tonal tileAdobe and Vintage Leather, both by Fireclaymakes for easy cleaning and visual impact. Bamboo mirror from 1stDibs. Dioscuri sconces from Design Within Reach. Custom vanity top in Calacatta Granviola from Terrazzo & Marble.The lavender hue from the primary bath was reprised in eldest daughter Almas bedroom with a Farrow & Ball wall paint called Sugared Almond. West Elm Rhode bedding with vintage throws. Nightstand from Anthropologie.The mint and brick red huesrespectively, Palm and Bamboozle, both by Farrow & Ballof the daughters shared bath were pulled from other parts of the house, like the powder room and the primary bedroom, showcasing McDonalds mastery with reprising color for cohesion but without feeling repetitious. French faux-bamboo mirror from 1stDibs. Vintage Moroccan rug.Skarstads home office shares a three-sided fireplace, still sporting its original brass doors, with the living room. The Limerence wallpaper by House of Hackney is kind of wild, says McDonald. It is the color palette of the house. Its a repetitive element that isnt formulaic. Sit-to-stand desk from Design Within Reach in walnut and black leather. 155 Task Chair from Design Within Reach.On a Venn diagram of Japanese design and midcentury aesthetics, points of intersection include use of natural materials, simple silhouettes, and multifunctional spaces. To honor this, McDonald chose a Pierre Frey grasscloth wallpaper called Momiji, depicting red maple leaves strewn over bonsai. Water Monopoly sink and toilet in sherbet. Vintage Danish mirror and 1950s Italian glass pendant from 1stDibs.Shop it out:Knoll Saarinen Round Dining TableModern Weave Box Checkered Area RugLawson-Fenning Forster SofaStockholm Area RugArtisan Large-Scale Bunch of Alabaster GrapesKara Mann Bangle Dirty Rose Glass Decorative BowlMario Bellini "Le Bambole" Sofa for B&B ItaliaThe Sims Hilditch Collection Emma OttomanRoom and Board Liam Side TableVaughan Designs Shoreham Table LampVintage Hans Agne Jakobsson #V149 Wall Lamps for Markaryd"Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" by Andrew BoltonChiltern Handmade Rug by Jake ArnoldVintage Eames Lounge Chair & OttomanGiraffe Floor Lamp by RispalAllModern Olena Decorative Dice Bookends (Set of 2)Vintage Swedish Pine Table LampCrow Canyon Home Splatter PitcherNoguchi Akari 75A Ceiling LampZia Tile Casablanca Zellige