Digis Mak

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Gareth Bale and Wales focus on getting house in order before World Cup | wales

When England exited Euro 2016 via an ignominious defeat to Iceland, Wales took great delight in their misery, celebrating at their hotel base in Dinard. A video of the Wales squad jumping for joy and huddling together as England's players fell to the floor like dominoes went viral.England's relegation from the Nations League is incomparable and neither were Wales, 67 days out from when they collide in their final Group B match at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, ever going to contemplate a repeat of those scenes, which, it is fair to say , received mixed reviews.It is five long games without a win for England and four for Wales but the latter undeniably find themselves in a good spot before hosting Poland on Sunday, encouraged by a strong second-half performance in Thursday's defeat to Belgi...

24Sep

By Eddie CorpNo Comments

Updates

Nadal leaves the Laver Cup and focuses on his personal situation

Rafa Nadal celebrates an action from the Laver Cup doubles match with Roger Federer / ReutersLaver CupThe Spaniard, who is expecting his first child, went to London just to accompany his friend Federer"I couldn't miss this day," said an emotional Rafael Nadal, while dropping that his only reason for traveling to London was to be present at Roger Federer's farewell and that once it was over he would return to Manacor, where his wife She will give birth to her first child in the coming weeks. "I'm not well. It's been difficult weeks, with little sleep and a little stress in general. Situations a little more complicated than usual at home. I have had to deal with a different pressure than you are used to in professional life. Luckily, everything is fine, we are much calmer and in that ...

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

I’ll always treasure my last meeting with Hilary Mantel | Hilary Mantel

Yot was not even three weeks ago that I spent time with Hilary and she seemed absolutely well: lively, full of enthusiasm, fun. But the main thing on her mind was that she and her husband, Gerald McEwen, were due to move to Ireland, where I live, and she was so looking forward to it.She wrote me a lovely note after the interview, imagining with pleasure her future in Ireland. She'd been thinking of moving for a few years – partly because she has Irish heritage and partly as a result of Brexit and the general political situation in the UK.I think it would be wrong to suggest it was just about getting away from Britain – it was also very much a desire to be in Ireland. In a characteristically offbeat aside, she had talked very amusingly of the ubiquity in modern life of molded plastic ...

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Tech News

The bargain mobile is dying. The mid-range is increasingly an entry range

Just a few days ago, a colleague asked me about a cheap mobile (200, 250 euros) with good specifications. I didn't know where to go. Not long ago it was possible to buy balance cheaply, and the best example was last year's POCO X3 Pro. In just a few months the mobile market is turning to more complicated terrainwith specifications cut in the "medium" ranges and prices that bring us closer to high ranges. It is enough to consult our Chinaware and put the price cap at 250 euros to see how, although we have solvent options, the bargain mobile is disappearingThere are no longer any outright winners or phones shining in specs shining at this price point. (more…)

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

A true crime podcast has helped free Adnan Syed but the killer must still be caught | Bidisha Mamata

YoIn 2014, one audio series kickstarted the podcast revolution and reinvigorated true crime documentaries. Serial was a US audio series created by Julie Snyder, Ira Glass and Sarah Koenig. It examined the murder in 1999 of an American teenager, Hae Min Lee, and the conviction and jailing of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed.Thanks to the questions Serial raised about that murder investigation and trial, Syed had his conviction overturned last week.That's good for him. I'm thinking now about Hae Min Lee, the murdered woman. I care that speculative “himpathy” seems to outweigh any drive for justice for murdered women and girls. Snyder, Glass and Koenig are not prosecutors, murder detectives, forensics experts, criminal profilers or specialists in perpetrator tactics. They have made their...

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

Adobe can’t Photoshop out the fact its $20bn Figma deal is a naked land grab | John Naughton

The big tech news in a slow week was that the software giant Adobe is planning to pay the unconscionable sum of $20bn (£18bn) to acquire a small company called Figma. Why is this news? Well, first of all, there's the price – way above any rational valuation of Figma. Second, there's the question that we have finally learned to ask about tech mergers and acquisitions: is there a competition or antitrust issue here somewhere?We'll come to the price later, but at first sight, the answer to the second question would seem to be no: the two companies are not direct competitors. Adobe dominates the market in software for creating and publishing digital and printed material – graphics, photography, illustration, animation, multimedia/video, motion pictures and print. If you've ever used Pho...

24Sep

By Eddie CorpNo Comments

Updates

Elite sport crosses the border of 40

Roger Federer during the last match of his career. / EFEsports CenterFederer's retirement shows that professionals reach their prime later and stretch their careers more and moreOne of the phrases in self-help books is that age is a state of mind. There may be elderly people in their 30s and adolescents in their 60s or 70s. In the case of sports, especially professional and elite sports, this reality collides with physical exhaustion. Roger Federer has decided to hang up his racket for good. The Laver Cup has been the last tournament with the presence of the legendary Swiss tennis player, after more than a year fighting against a knee that underwent surgery three times. The other two served him to continue, but he has ended up giving up. «I stopped believing that he could continue ...

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Espanol

Miedema doubles up as Arsenal rout Tottenham in front of record WSL crowd

Pioneers, record-breakers and title hunters. Arsenal, England’s most successful women’s team, hosted a new Women’s Super League record crowd of 47,367 at the Emirates Stadium as they powered to a 4-0 win over their north London rivals, Tottenham, to extend their early lead at the top of the table.There was a real buzz around north London. Tube trains were littered with red and white hours before kick-off as the crowd swarmed towards the ground. For those who had tasted England’s triumph at Wembley in July, there was hope and hushed whispers. Were they about to witness some more history?Just 10 minutes before kick-off there were nervous faces, with the stands still patchy, but the flow of fans trickling down the aisles didn’t stop.The gap between these two sides has been shrinking year-o...

24Sep

By Eddie CorpNo Comments

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Ana de Armas stars in ‘Blonde’: «Before studies controlled your life and now social networks do»

The actress Ana de Armas at the San Sebastian Festival. / EphThe Spanish-Cuban actress transforms into Marilyn Monroe in a film by Andrew Dominik that Netflix will premiere on September 28Ana de Armas (Havana, 1988) was called Ana Celia de Armas when, in 2006, she came to Bilbao to promote 'Una rosa de Francia', a retro melodrama by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón set in Cuba in the 1950s. The camera loves her fascinating face”, wrote this journalist praising the work of that 16-year-old girl who was working for the first time as an actress. The following year came her series that made her popular, but at the same time became a small slab, 'El internado'. Later, Ana de Armas made the Americas and linked hits like 'Blade Runner 2049', 'Daggers in the back' and '007. No time to die'. 'Blonde...

24Sep

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Europe

Russia shells cities; critics blast ‘farce’ vote

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-orchestrated votes took place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow.Ukraine's presidential office said the latest Russian shelling killed at least three people and wounded 19. Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, one of the regions where Moscow-installed officials organized referendums on joining Russia, said a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring seven others.Ukraine and its Western allies say the referendums underway in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south and the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions have no legal force. They alleged the votes were an illegitimate attempt ...