JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Burnham's first Budget will be horrific: You MUST protect your wealth - here's how
The Prime Minister is on the road this month, travelling the length and breadth of the UK in an attempt to reconnect his Labour government with the disillusioned British public. Fat chance there.
Family left without electricity after 12-year-old boy joyriding his mother's VW Tiguan crashes into telegraph pole outside their home
Lorraine and Matthew Tricksey were startled awake by a loud crash that left their home in rural Horton, Dorset without power at 2am on Friday.
Disneyland Announces Star Wars/Fortnite Collaboration, 'Avatar' Attraction, and a Newer Tomorrowland
Saturday Disneyland announced a special Star Wars-themed collaboration with third-person shooter game Fortnite — including a slick new trailer for its Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit quest.
Visitors to Disneyland's Smuggler's Run attraction at Disney's theme parks in Orlando and in Anaheim can accept a special mission while waiting in line for the ride, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And "If they succeed, they will get a unique Forsworn Trooper Outfit in a newly-created Fortnite adventure called Smugglers Gambit set in that same universe."
"Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite marks the first time this attraction has reached beyond its physical walls into a connected game world — a story that starts in a queue in Orlando or Anaheim can now continue on a screen almost anywhere," said Sean Shoptaw, executive VP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment.... "Together these experiences reflect our ambition to connect stories and worlds across formats into one converged entertainment ecosystem...."
The cockpit technology in the ride was actually created using Epic's Unreal Engine, which allows for many assets from the ride to appear in Smugglers Gambit.... "Whether you're at a Disney Park or playing Fortnite with your friends, fans have new ways to keep their Star Wars adventures going," [said Adam Sussman, president of Epic Games]. "This is only the beginning of what's possible when world-class storytellers bring their creativity into Fortnite." Disney, of course, is an investor in Epic Games, and the two companies have been at work building a new world that will connect to Fortnite with all of the Disney's beloved characters... This new collaboration, however, extends to the real world for the first time, bringing some video game magic to Disney's parks, and some of that theme park magic to the video game.
Disneyland will also launch a new area based on James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, reports The Orange County Register — which even has a picture of the Avatar Destination ride's model, showing an enormous (and very colorful) waterfall. The model was part of Saturday's Disney fan expo "D23", showing the Disneyland Monorail traveling around the edge of the attraction (which reportedly involves a 30-person vehicle).
Saturday's event also included details on the long-awaited "reimagining" of the park's Tomorrowland area, with their official blog promising "Yesterday's tomorrow, today!" Tomorrowland has some history, explains the Orange County Register:
The land's first update in 1967 was dubbed the New Tomorrowland with the 1998 makeover jokingly referred to as the New, New Tomorrowland. The latest iteration is already being called the New, New, New Tomorrowland. Disneyland's Land of Tomorrow has plenty of empty spaces in need of some Imagineering magic with the Tomorrowland Theater, Star Wars Launch Bay and PeopleMover track all sitting underused.
Or, as The Wrap puts it, "The problem with Tomorrowland, of course, has been keeping up with tomorrow."
1967 introduced New Tomorrowland, with Adventures Thru Inner Space, Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover giving it the "World on the Move" theme. In 1975 Space Mountain opened and in the 1980's the Tomorrowland stage was enclosed to become a 3D theater, where "Magic Journeys" and "Captain EO" played. Star Tours also opened in the 1980's, giving the area some additional adrenaline. But an elaborate redo of the area, planned for the 1990's, was cut short due to financial woes following the opening of Disneyland Paris and were largely shuttered. (In Florida, a new Tomorrowland was approximated in the mid-1990's but not really followed through on, adopting some of the timelessness of the Jules Verne-inspired Discoveryland from Paris.)
Since the 1990's, Tomorrowland in Disneyland has become largely defunct or outright abandoned... In the late 1990's, Disney tried to use the [PeopleMover] track for a high-speed attraction called Rocket Rods. The attraction never worked properly and was shuttered after just a few years. Rumor has it that the intensity of the ride vehicles actually weakened the PeopleMover track and removing the track would be time consuming and costly. So since the turn of the millennium, there has just been track above and all around Tomorrowland that sits, untouched.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The country that has sorted its migrant problem - so why can't we? The man behind a massive drop in asylum claims tells where Britain is going badly wrong
The hardline minister who slashed the number of migrants coming to his country has revealed how he thinks Britain could do the same - by toughening up.
Aerodrome issue update after pilot 'seriously injured' in plane crash
Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome has issued an update after the pilot of a small aircraft crashed during an air show.
Aerodrome issue update after pilot 'seriously injured' in plane crash
Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome has issued an update after the pilot of a small aircraft crashed during an air show.
Water companies could be allowed to charge customers more during droughts as watchdog considers giving green light to 'surge pricing'
The Water Services Regulation Authority will allow firms to fluctuate prices in a bid to reduce consumption.
Keep your wedding out of my holiday! Beach ceremony - including drunk guests and a booming DJ set - ruined our relaxing hotel stay
Beach wedding ceremonies at high end hotels are magical for brides and grooms - but what about the other resort guests who've checked in for a little peace and quiet?
Couple in their 70s buy derelict 160-year-old church in the Cotswolds for £175,000 as a retirement project after ditching London - and it's now worth £700,000
When retired designer Geoff, 70, and his wife Julie left the capital in 2018 for a fresh start in the Cotswolds, he had no idea he was about to tackle the biggest design project of his career.
REVEALED: How one in five have hidden 'widow-maker' condition that DOUBLES heart-attack risk. Doctors rarely test for it and millions are in danger... Here's everything you need to know
It is a silent genetic condition affecting millions of people, dramatically increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Yet vanishingly few have ever heard of it.
Disabled Essex woman's 'life is on hold' as she has to ask her mum for help to leave the house
She became disabled after she slipped and fell on ice and can no longer do what she used to be able to do
Man found dead in wooded area near housing estate
A man has been found dead in a wooded area near the Greenstead estate in Colchester.
Man found dead in wooded area near housing estate
A man has been found dead in a wooded area near the Greenstead estate in Colchester.
PETER HITCHENS: Nigel Farage is always playing the victim and Kemi has strange political instincts. So Andy Burnham has only one option...
Here is the lesson I draw from the 9,455 votes cast for Count Binface at Clacton on Thursday. The country is still in flux. So if I were Andrew Burnham, I would call a General Election in October.
999 crews rush to Essex aerodrome after plane crash during air show
The pilot has been left with serious injuries
'England's prettiest village' blocks new shops and cafe as locals rail against 'overtourism' that has left roads gridlocked and car parks overflowing
The quaint Cotswolds village of Bibury, famed for its 14th-century honey-coloured stone cottages, has rejected a new development because of fears it may attract more visitors.
Man charged with arson after ten fires started in east London in tinderbox conditions
Isaac Shozi, 50, of Hackney, was arrested following multiple reports of arson in London Fields, near Lansdowne Drive, shortly after 5am on Saturday.
Researchers Use Ordinary WiFi Connections to Create Images of Nearby People and Their Surroundings
Science Daily reports:
Researchers showed that unencrypted signals routinely exchanged between WiFi devices and routers can be used to create radio-based images of people and recognize them within seconds. In tests involving 197 participants, the system identified individuals with nearly 100% accuracy, even from different angles and regardless of how they walked. "By observing the propagation of radio waves, we can create an image of the surroundings and of persons who are present," says Professor Thorsten Strufe from KASTEL, KIT's Institute of Information Security and Dependability. "This works similar to a normal camera, the difference being that in our case, radio waves instead of light waves are used for the recognition," explains the cybersecurity expert.
Because the technique analyzes radio waves moving through a space, a person does not need to have a phone, smartwatch, or other WiFi enabled device with them. "Thus, it does not matter whether you carry a WiFi device on you or not." Even turning off your own device would not necessarily prevent the system from working. "It's sufficient that other WiFi devices in your surroundings are active...."
Connected devices routinely send information back to the router to help optimize wireless communication. These signals, known as beamforming feedback information (BFI), are transmitted without encryption, meaning that anyone within range can potentially read them. By analyzing that information, the system can generate images of people from multiple viewpoints. Those images can then be used to determine a person's identity. Once the machine learning model has already been trained to recognize individuals, the identification process takes only a few seconds.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pilot 'seriously injured' after plane crash at famous aerodrome
A pilot has been seriously injured after a crash at Stow Maries Aerodrome in Maldon during an air show.
Pilot 'seriously injured' after plane crash at famous aerodrome
A pilot has been seriously injured after a crash at Stow Maries Aerodrome in Maldon during an air show.