Add two super fast NVMe SSDs to your Raspberry Pi 5. Ideal if you need redundancy or just a load more storage on your RPi. NVMe Base Duo is a PCIe Gen 2 extension board for Raspberry Pi 5. Simply populate it with one or two M-key NVMe SSDs (2230 to 2280 sizes supported) and mount it under (or over) your Pi for a compact and fast storage solution. It even comes with rubber feet!

It's the perfect solution for turning your Raspberry Pi 5 into a file server, media center, reverse proxy, etc.—really any task that benefits from large amounts of fast storage, redundancy, or just to make use of a couple of spare disk—especially with random high operations per second (IOPS) workloads. In short, it's a game changer! NVMe Base Duo is now available for pre-order with the first batch of units shipping in mid-April. For a lot more detail about NVMe Base Duo and to reserve your unit click here.

Jim Ryan—President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment—revealed a sobering restructuring plan earlier today: "The PlayStation community means everything to us, so I felt it was important to update you on a difficult day at our company. We have made the extremely hard decision to announce our plan to commence a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes. Employees across the globe, including our studios, are impacted." Ryan's full email—addressed to the entire Sony Interactive Entertainment workforce—can be found here. It reveals that company leadership has decided to close its PlayStation London Studio—the South East UK team is/was reportedly working on an announced "PS5 online game." Microsoft revealed a larger scale layoff program late last month—affecting 1900 employees—albeit without shuttering any major development studios. A number of its California-based teams are in the process of ditching "traditional" office locations (including a former aircraft hangar), and are moving to a work from home (WFH) model.

The SIE chief believes that current circumstances are not sustainable: "These are incredibly talented people who have been part of our success, and we are very grateful for their contributions. However, the industry has changed immensely, and we need to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead. We need to deliver on expectations from developers and gamers and continue to propel future technology in gaming, so we took a step back to ensure we are set up to continue bringing the best gaming experiences to the community." His email outlines an "impact for employees across all SIE regions—Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC," with reductions affecting native development teams and Firesprite, a Liverpool, UK-based studio (founded by former Psygnosis veterans). Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, also posted a blog entry on the subject of SIE global layoffs—he confirmed a number of reductions and project cancellations.

MSI is preparing to launch its MPG 321URX QD-OLED monitor this month—we first spotted this model during an official expansion of the company's QD-OLED gaming monitor lineup—utilizing Samsung Display Gen 3 panels. The announcement outlined an initial MSRP of $1199 for MSI's MPG 321URX gaming monitor, although a time-limited special introductory offer of $949 was later advertised. ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) released its Swift OLED PG32UCDM gaming monitor (in USA and UK markets) late last week—competing at a $1299 price point with MSI's 321URX model. The two companies are attempting to outdo each other—earlier this month MSI pledged a 3-year warranty on its OLED panel products, semi-forcing ASUS into matching that generous offer—they previously advertised a two-year period for ROG Swift OLED monitors.

Monitors Unboxed has investigated alleged permanent MSI MSRP price cuts—affecting the MPG 321URX, as well the 49-inch 491CQP and 27-inch 271QRX QD-OLED models. The manufacturer appears prepped to undercut its competition to the tune of $350 (MPG 321URX vs. PG32UCDM): "I've gotten a second update from MSI regarding the MSRP of their QD-OLEDs. They have decided to change their mind and offer their previously lowered pricing permanently, instead of just as an introductory price. That means the official MSRPs of their products are as follows (read more after the jump)." At the time of writing, MSI's MPG 321URX QD-OLED is available to pre-order at a few North American and UK e-tailers, although a couple of listings state the item is "coming soon," or due in stock by early April.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB reference model has reached UK shores, albeit very briefly and with a very low stock count—e-tailer AWD-IT Gaming PC (ADMI Ltd.) was the first shop in the region to offer XFX's Navi 31 XL partner card. Team Red's formerly Chinese market-exclusive Radeon RDNA 3 GPU has made its way West—as of late last year—but retail presence in Europe is less than inspiring. Circumstances could change—recent rumblings indicate that more custom options are incoming—GIGABYTE is readying a Gaming OC variant, possibly paving the way for a wider release through mainstream channels. PowerColor's Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC model has also been spotted on European price comparison engines.

UK buyers were treated to an initial batch of a dozen (or fewer) XFX Radeon RX 7900 GRE Reference graphics card, at £659.99 (~$832) including VAT and free delivery. AWD-IT's listing is inactive at the time of writing, but the SKU remains as a searchable asset on their web store. It appears that curious UK hardware enthusiasts have snapped up the first round of Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE) curiosities, although the price point was nowhere near as attractive when lined up against past offerings within EU mainlands. For example, Italy's PSK Mega Store had reference stock priced at €542.66 (~$585) a piece, with a digital copy of AVATAR: Frontiers of Pandora bundled in. The XFX Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB SPEEDSTER MERC 310 model is currently discounted—£699.99 via Ebuyer UK—representing a very tempting higher-specced custom design prospect (going for only £40 more than the RX 7900 GRE) .

Box Limited, a popular PC and electronic retailer in the United Kingdom, has ceased doing business—this follows insider reports of Box Ltd. filing for administration last week. A few days ago, the company's web store was updated with a front page announcement that confirmed a total cessation of operations. The online store is still semi-functional (at the time of writing)—you can add items to your basket, but the checkout process automatically kicks you back to the site's main page. UK publication, eTeknix, had the inside track on Box's troubles—despite a very buoyant 2023: "Box Limited is one of the biggest PC and tech retailers in the UK, or at least… we thought they were. When Tactus bought them out last year for £100 million, it seemed like things were only on the up for Box, but according to our sources, things are looking pretty bleak for the UK retailer."

Last week's article elaborated further on problems behind-the-scenes: "Firstly, Box may be owned by Tactus, but are currently being sued by their new owner for £18 million because they had allegedly over-inflated their value before they were bought out. That's a big no-no in the business world, obviously, and while I cannot confirm if that is true or not, as that's a matter for the courts to decide, it's fairly safe to assume that it has some bearing on their more recent predicament...Sources close to us, whom we cannot disclose, have informed us that Box Limited has submitted an administration application. Further sources have indicated to distributors of various hardware that "box is end of life" and that their insurance companies are recommending they do not send products to Box Limited. No point sending hardware to them if they're going into administration, as you would just be throwing money away… not a good business move." The Tactus Group has a pretty large portfolio of UK retail presences, including: Chillblast, Horizon, Geo, and CCL Computers. The loss of Box.co.uk is certainly going to sting (following last year's £100 million investment) since their acquisition also covered several brick and mortar shops located in the UK Midlands.

Dell Technologies, Intel and the University of Cambridge announce the deployment of the co-designed Dawn Phase 1 supercomputer. Leading technical teams built the U.K.'s fastest AI supercomputer that harnesses the power of both artificial intelligence (AI) and high performance computing (HPC) to solve some of the world's most pressing challenges. This sets a clear way forward for future U.K. technology leadership and inward investment into the U.K. technology sector. Dawn kickstarts the recently launched U.K. AI Research Resource (AIRR), which will explore the viability of associated systems and architectures. Dawn brings the U.K. closer to reaching the compute threshold of a quintillion (1018) floating point operations per second - one exaflop, better known as exascale. For perspective: Every person on earth would have to make calculations 24 hours a day for more than four years to equal a second's worth of processing power in an exascale system.

"Dawn considerably strengthens the scientific and AI compute capability available in the U.K., and it's on the ground, operational today at the Cambridge Open Zettascale Lab. Dell PowerEdge XE9640 servers offer a no-compromises platform to host the Intel Data Center GPU Max Series accelerator, which opens up the ecosystem to choice through oneAPI. I'm very excited to see the sorts of early science this machine can deliver and continue to strengthen the Open Zettascale Lab partnership between Dell Technologies, Intel and the University of Cambridge, and further broaden that to the U.K. scientific and AI community," said Adam Roe, EMEA HPC technical director at Intel.

The first reviews of Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series) are live, and the results are everything we hoped for when we kicked off the product. Reviewers called out the massive jump in graphics performance, increases in battery life, and improvements in multi-core workloads. The integrated graphics capabilities are especially astounding, putting a wide range of recent game titles within reach in a thin, light, portable system. Check out some of what reviewers have to say:

"It immediately jumps to my number one recommendation for software developers looking for a small and portable laptop. But, given how insanely good this laptop is, I'd also strongly recommend those looking for a laptop for school or home or office use, to really consider this one."—JustJosh

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected a previous draft of Microsoft's proposed deal to merge with Activision Blizzard (to the tune of $69 billion). The expected summer completion date was missed due to this sole case of opposition—all of the other international regulatory bodies had approved a conglomeration of Xbox and Activision portfolios. Ubisoft later emerged as an unlikely knight in shining armor, since the UK CMA has provisionally approved freshly revamped conditions—it turns out that Microsoft had agreed to sell its cloud streaming rights to the French video game publisher. The Financial Times sat down with one of the company's co-founders—CEO Yves Guillemot—and discussed how cloud gaming will revolutionize the industry.

Guillemot was not asked to comment on how much his firm has agreed to spend—allegedly a one-off fee—on purchasing Activision Blizzard's cloud streaming rights (from Microsoft). He did discuss the inherent risk of embracing a relatively immature market technology: "When Netflix first said it was going to go into streaming, their shares fell a lot and they were widely criticized. Today, we see what they have become. It's going to be the same with video games, but it will take time. But when it takes off, it will happen very quickly...We strongly believe in the next five to 10 years, many games will be streamed and will also be produced in the cloud. That's what pushed us to go forward with the Microsoft deal." This looks to be an unusual move for Ubisoft, considering the rumors of a recent strategy shift in reaction to downturns in sales.

Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard got the "go ahead" from the vast majority of regulatory bodies around the world, but the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ultimately chucked a spanner into the works—consequently the deal's signing off date was delayed into the autumn. The top brass at Microsoft and Acti-Blizz have worked on a revised set of terms (to address concerns raised earlier this year), and the outcome has been semi-positive. The competition watchdog appears to be satisfied, prior to making a concrete announcement: "While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues. The CMA is now consulting on the remedies before making a final decision."

Under the newly redrafted deal—submitted for approval last month—Microsoft has agreed to transfer the rights to stream Activision games from the cloud to French video games publisher—Ubisoft—for a 15 year long term. The CMA's freshly published press release provides an insight into future infrastructures: "Under that new deal, Microsoft will not purchase the cloud gaming rights held by Activision, which will instead be sold to an independent third party, Ubisoft Entertainment SA (Ubisoft), before the deal is completed. The prior sale of the cloud gaming rights will establish Ubisoft as a key supplier of content to cloud gaming services, replicating the role that Activision would have played in the market as an independent player."

Hi Everyone, today I'd like to share that the talented team at Criterion Games will be joining EA Entertainment. Criterion has a rich history in gaming, having worked on Battlefield, Battlefront, Burnout, and of course, Need for Speed. I'm thrilled to have a studio with such pedigree join the studios I oversee. As we've said before, we're all-in on Battlefield. Today, Criterion is added to our world-class Battlefield studios dedicated to ushering in a new era for the franchise.

The majority of the team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield. Criterion's experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe. There is no better studio to join us on this journey and I couldn't be more excited.

We've been focused on creating a great gaming experience for our members since 2021 when we added mobile games to Netflix. Our goal has always been to have a game for everyone, and we are working hard to meet members where they are with an accessible, smooth, and ubiquitous service. Today, we're taking the first step in making games playable on every device where our members enjoy Netflix - TVs, computers, and mobile.

We are rolling out a limited beta test to a small number of members in Canada and the UK on select TVs starting today, and on PCs and Macs through Netflix.com on supported browsers in the next few weeks. Two games will be part of this initial test: Oxenfree from Night School Studio, a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew's Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game. To play our games on TV, we're introducing a controller that we already have in our hands most of the day - our phones. Members on PCs and Macs can play on Netflix.com with a keyboard and mouse.

Sony has implemented a time limited price reduction for its PlayStation 5 Standard/Disc Edition console in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy—according to billbil-kun (writing for Dealabs magazine) the time limited summer promotion is going to reach Germany, Great Britain and the United States shortly. The campaign has been running since mid-July, and customers in eligible regions have (so far) enjoyed a €75 reduction, bringing the standard PS5 model's price down to as low as €450 (~$498). Dealabs believes that that some of these regional offers have already ended (as of July 24).

The article seems to source some insider information, with very specific discount figures presented for the next batch of participants—German customers are set to get the aforementioned standard European €75 reduction, bringing the PS5's price down to €474.99 (from €549.99). UK gamers get £75 off, so £404.99 total (reduced from £479.99). US folks are lined up for a less generous $50 cut—due to Sony not implementing PS5 price increases for that market—resulting in $449.99 (instead of $499.99). Billbil-kun reckons that the following retail outlets will be taking part in the campaign's next phase: PlayStation Store/PlayStation Direct, Amazon, MediaMarkt, Target and GAME UK. The timing of these temporary cuts could point to Sony responding to Microsoft's unpopular decision to jack up asking prices for the Xbox Series X console, as well as Game Pass subscription fees.

Nasdaq, the American stock exchange, has revealed that an unnamed company will be replacing Activision Blizzard within its top 100 index. The timing of this development is raising some eyebrows—it is set to occur mere days after the announcement of Microsoft's victory over the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The giant American technology corporation is closing in on its proposed acquisition of a games publishing group comprised of Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King Digital Entertainment.

Prior to the market opening next week (Monday 17th July) Activision Blizzard will be removed from the Nasdaq-100 ESG Index, although the company will remain tradable. An upcoming exit from the US stock exchange could signal that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have become increasingly confident about the finalization of their merger before a July 18 deadline. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is reported to be engaging in discussions with involved parties, and has paused its legal proceedings. The FTC yesterday filed for an appeal against the California court's verdict, thus immediately annoying the top brass at Microsoft/Xbox—president Brad Smith commented on the situation: "The District Court's ruling makes crystal clear that this acquisition is good for both competition and consumers...We're disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose further efforts to delay the ability to move forward."

Microsoft is closing in on its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard—the company is celebrating another victory, following the conclusion of a crucial court case against the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Both parties were recently engaged in five days of arguments and deliberation—yesterday Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley's final ruling stated: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision's content to several cloud gaming services."

The lady justice continued: "This Court's responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED."

Kolink has brought back one of their fan-favourite PC cases, this time with fancy improvements. Meet the Kolink Inspire K2 Plus! Whilst many features remain the same - if it ain't broke, don't fix it, amiright? - there are a number of ease-of-use upgrades integrated within the design. Plus, an aesthetic glow-up. We all love a glow-up. If your Micro-ATX case is looking a bit shabby or you're itching to start a new build, stick around and see how this classic Kolink chassis has been improved. There may even be some surprise cables, too!

What's New
The Kolink Inspire K2 Plus builds on the much-loved design of its predecessor. There are subtle and more obvious changes that have been made to the chassis. The internals have been improved to facilitate better component support. Enjoy superior accommodation for your high-end hardware and integrated radiator mounts. New features have even been added. Unlike the original K2, this version sports a dedicated PSU chamber to help maintain temperatures and keep the interior looking clutter-free.

According to the Verge, Microsoft is getting ready to hike up the price of its Xbox Series X console come August, but apparently only in some parts of the world. However, the company is also readying a small price increase in its Game Pass pricing as well, that will take effect globally. The Game Pass pricing increase in the US will be a mere US$1 from US$9.99 to US$10.99 a month, whereas the Game Pass Ultimate will see an increase of US$2, from US$14.99 to US$16.99 a month, with European countries seeing the same kind of increase in cost, but in Euro instead of Dollars. The Verge has a list of other regional price increases for the Game Pass for those interested.

As for the Xbox Series X, Europe, Canada and Australia are said to see a hike in pricing, whereas the US, Japan and some South American nations are apparently avoiding a price hike for now. The new pricing will be £479.99 in the UK, €549.99 in most EU countries, C$649.99 in Canada and AU$799.99 in Australia. The new pricing is said to take effect on the first of August. The Xbox Series S will apparently avoid a price hike for now.

The newly established Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in the UK has recently released the UK's National Semiconductor Strategy. Dr. Shih-Chieh Chang, General Director of Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of Taiwan had an initial exchange with DSIT. During the exchange, Dr. Chang suggested that Taiwan can become a trustable partner for the UK and that the partnership can leverage collective strengths to create mutually beneficial developments. According to the Strategy, the British government plans to invest 1 billion pounds over the next decade to support the semiconductor industry. This funding will improve access to infrastructure, power more research and development and facilitate greater international cooperation.

Dr. Chang stressed that ITRI looks forward to more collaboration with the UK on semiconductors to enhance the resilience of the supply chain. While the UK possesses cutting-edge capabilities in semiconductor IP design and compound semiconductor technology, ITRI has extensive expertise in semiconductor technology R&D and trial production. As a result, ITRI is well-positioned to offer consultation services for advanced packaging pilot lines, facilitate pre-production evaluation, and link British semiconductor IP design companies with Taiwan's semiconductor industry chain. "The expansion of British manufacturers' service capacity in Taiwan would create a mutually beneficial outcome for both Taiwan and the UK," said Dr. Chang.

Reuters has been informed this week by a trusted insider source that the higher-ups at Intel Corporation are holding talks with Japan's SoftBank about becoming a possible anchor investor in the latter's initial public offering (IPO) of Arm. The British semiconductor and software design company was wholly acquired by the Japanese multinational investment holding firm in 2016. This was followed by a failed takeover bid by NVIDIA—six years later. Arm is aiming to sell its shares via Nasdaq in Q3 or Q4 2023, with a goal of raising around $8 - $10 billion. It also formulated plans to adjust pricing models earlier this year, with news reports labelling the strategic act as an attempt to rake in more royalties.

Intel and Arm have already formed a relationship in recent times—thanks to the development of the former's low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs). These are set to be built on Intel Foundry's 18A process. The two companies have signed a multi-generation agreement to collaborate on the design of a series of mobile chipsets as an opening product range—diversified options will follow in the future. Arm is rumored (according to Reuters) to be working on its own proprietary chip, but the deal with Intel allows it to use its partner's "open system foundry model."

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a leading American venture capital firm is in the process of setting up its first international office (outside of its California base of operations) in the United Kingdom. One of their mission statements reads: "(we) invest in seed to venture to late-stage technology companies, across bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism." News sites have reported on Facebook and Twitter being notable "safe" prospects for a16z's team in the past. The company is hedging its bets on the UK government's fairly lax approach to crypto and blockchain regulation, following crackdowns on the cryptocurrency industry in the US. News outlets point to a notable case where the North American financial watchdog/regulator is suing the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, due to activities "placing investors' assets at significant risk." The new Andreessen Horowitz London office is marked for a late 2023 opening—Chris Dixon the head of crypto investing at a16z has written about his firm's decision to embrace a new market location: "While there is still work to be done, we believe that the UK is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation...The UK also has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, and a strong entrepreneurial culture."

He has also declared that the UK Prime Minister - Rishi Sunak - is very pleased about a16z setting up shop in the City of London (financial district). The UK leader's statement reads: "As we cement the UK's place as a science and tech superpower, we must embrace new innovations like Web3, powered by blockchain technology, which will enable start-ups to flourish here and grow the economy. That success is founded on having the right regulation and guardrails in place to protect consumers and foster innovation. While there's still work to do, I'm determined to unlock opportunities for this technology and turn the UK into the world's Web3 centre. That's why I am thrilled world-leading investor, Andreessen Horowitz, has decided to open their first international office in the UK - which is testament to our world-class universities and talent and our strong competitive business environment."

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, is currently exploring the UK and Europe on a PR-related "mini" world tour, and protesters have been following these proceedings with much interest. UK news outlets have reported that a demonstration took place outside of a university building in London yesterday, where the UCL Events organization hosted Altman as part of a fireside discussion about the benefits and problems relating to advanced AI systems. Attendees noted that Altman expressed optimism about AI's potential for the creation of more jobs and reduction in inequality - despite calls for a major pause on development. He also visited 10 Downing Street during the British leg of his PR journey - alongside other AI company leaders - to talk about potential risks (originating from his industry) with the UK's prime minister. Discussed topics were reported to include national security, existential threats and disinformation.

At the UCL event, Altman touched upon his recent meetings with European regulators, who are developing plans for advanced legislation that could lead to targeted laws (applicable to AI industries). He says that his company is "gonna try to comply" with these potential new rules and agrees that some form of regulation is necessary: "something between the traditional European approach and the traditional US approach" would be preferred. He took issue with the potential branding of large AI models (such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT-4 applications) as "high risk" ventures via the European Union's AI Act provisions: "Either we'll be able to solve those requirements or not...If we can comply, we will, and if we can't, we'll cease operating… We will try. But there are technical limits to what's possible."

Scientific researchers need massive computational resources that can support exploration wherever it happens. Whether they're conducting groundbreaking pharmaceutical research, exploring alternative energy sources or discovering new ways to prevent financial fraud, accessible state-of-the-art AI computing resources are key to driving innovation. This new model of computing can solve the challenges of generative AI and power the next wave of innovation. Cambridge-1, a supercomputer NVIDIA launched in the U.K. during the pandemic, has powered discoveries from some of the country's top healthcare researchers. The system is now becoming part of NVIDIA DGX Cloud to accelerate the pace of scientific innovation and discovery - across almost every industry.

As a cloud-based resource, it will broaden access to AI supercomputing for researchers in climate science, autonomous machines, worker safety and other areas, delivered with the simplicity and speed of the cloud, ideally located for the U.K. and European access. DGX Cloud is a multinode AI training service that makes it possible for any enterprise to access leading-edge supercomputing resources from a browser. The original Cambridge-1 infrastructure included 80 NVIDIA DGX systems; now it will join with DGX Cloud, to allow customers access to world-class infrastructure.

UK based premium office and gaming chair specialist, Boulies, today announces the arrival of its latest office chair collection, the EP400 Series. Designed to provide support and comfort for long periods, it has multiple supportive features including a footrest, neck pillow, dynamic back design for spinal support and adjustment options to suit the user. The EP400 Series chairs are available from the Boulies website in grey for £289.99.

Aiming to provide supportive comfort for both work time and when relaxing, the EP400 series has a number of features included to ensure posture and health is maintained and prioritised. With a dynamic back design, the chair automatically adjusts to the body and posture, providing unbeatable spinal support for extended periods of sitting. In addition, the included footrest can provide added relief and comfort whenever a break is needed without the need to leave the workspace - maximising productivity throughout the workday.

Lian Li has updated the impressive V3000 Plus case to a beautiful new white finish. The Lian Li V3000 Plus White is the ideal choice for the enthusiast who wants plenty of space to build a custom white gaming PC. Boasting an impressive ability to facilitate three different modes of interior layout, this case is an ideal foundation for a wide range of builds.

New Look for an Old Favorite
The Lian Li V3000 Plus White keeps the same outstanding styling found on its black counterpart. The V3000 Plus has kept the impressive glass panels on each side, but made them crystal clear, alongside changing the finish to a pure white. Thanks to these two factors combined, you can build a clean gaming PC that highlights your components.

Following the recent block of the Activision-Blizzard merger with Microsoft by the UK regulatory body, Microsoft is partnering with cloud gaming services to bring extra assurance to regulators that the merger will not harm any segment. Today, Microsoft's Vice Chain and President, Brad Smith, published a Tweet that highlighted the latest deal with Nware, a Spanish company providing cloud PCs to gamers that can stream games from Steam, EGS, and Ubisoft Connect accounts. The Tweet noted that "Microsoft and European cloud gaming platform Nware have signed a 10-year agreement to stream PC games built by Xbox on its platform, as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes. While it's still early for the emerging cloud segment in gaming, this new partnership combined with our other recent commitments will make more popular games available on more cloud game streaming services than they are today."

Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft has been doing the rounds with the UK press, and the incensed executive continues to express anger about the nation's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) preventing his company's proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard. The UK antitrust watchdog yesterday blocked the deal on the grounds that a merging of (already massive) games publishers could result in a potentially catastrophic skew in Microsoft's favor within the fast growing cloud gaming market sector. The CMA's latest findings suggest that the takeover would "lead to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come." This verdict comes as a major blow to Microsoft's gaming division following a number of victories - including Japan's competition regulator approving the takeover bid late last month. The company's gaming division (Xbox Game Studios) is awaiting verdicts from the EU commission and US Federal Trade Commission.

In a business-themed podcast interview (conducted by the BBC), Microsoft boss Brad Smith declared that the UK government's blocking of the merger represented a bad move "for Britain" in terms of attracting international business. Microsoft has been operating in country for four decades, and Smith casts doubt on that relationship - in his opinion - the mega corporation has experienced its "darkest day" in the region: "It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before. People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people's confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken." Smith insists that fledgling companies should look elsewhere to start a base of operations: "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom."