This December, Baskin-Robbins is scooping a long-time favorite Peppermint, as the Flavor of the Month. Packed with crunchy Peppermint Candy Pieces in sweet Peppermint flavored Ice Cream, this scoop is a cool, refreshing reminder that some flavors are timeless. In addition to the classic scoop, Baskin-Robbins is debuting a brand-new way to experience this festive flavor with the limited-time Peppermint Cocoa Shake. A fresh twist on classic holiday flavors, the new Peppermint Cocoa Shake is made with Peppermint Ice Cream, Whole Milk and Chocolate Syrup. Reminiscent of your favorite winter traditions, the new beverage features festive notes of peppermint and chocolate.

“One of the things that makes the holiday season so special is the classic, nostalgic flavors that return each year,” said Jeanne Bolger, Director of Research and Development for Baskin-Robbins. “Peppermint has become a staple flavor that signifies the start of the season at Baskin-Robbins, and we’re excited to bring the scoop back for those guests that have made this ice cream a part of their holiday traditions.”

Baskin-Robbins is also bringing cheer to the holiday table with the return of Brrr the Snowman Cake. Brrr the Snowman brings all the fun of playing outside in the snow indoors, complete with an icing carrot nose, as well as tree branch arms, festive buttons and a jolly smile all made of fudge. Perfect for any holiday party, this fun and frosty offering is customizable with the guest’s favorite cake and ice cream flavor in a 6” Round or 9” Round size. And to make the season sweeter, Baskin-Robbins is offering $5 off any cake purchase of $35 or more throughout the month of December, available in-store* with a mobile app coupon and online with the code SNOW.** Guests can enjoy the Brrr the Snowman Cake before it melts away for the season by pre-ordering online, through the Baskin-Robbins mobile app or by contacting a local Baskin-Robbins shop.

And as an extra holiday treat, Baskin-Robbins is ringing in the new year with 31 percent off all scoops nationwide on Dec. 31. Part of Celebrate 31*, this returning offer pays homage to Baskin-Robbins’ original 31 flavors while encouraging ice cream lovers to celebrate with a scoop of their favorite flavor before 2022 ends.

Source: Baskin-Robbins

CBA is working with The University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and TAFE Queensland, to give students and graduates the chance to join CBA’s Tech Associates and Graduate programs, along with the creation of a range of student engagement and sponsorship initiatives.

In addition, the tech hub will create new employment opportunities for engineers, cyber specialists and data scientists, adding 100 jobs to the already emerging tech industry in Brisbane. These jobs are part of the ambitious target CBA set itself this year to recruit 1,000 engineers.

Brendan Hopper, CBA’s Chief Information Officer for Technology, said: “We’re excited about this next phase of our plan to build tech hubs outside our head office in Sydney, to allow people to work from wherever they want but to still go into the hubs to drive connection, collaboration and innovation to engineer secure data-driven products for our customers.

“The COVID pandemic saw many of our technology professionals choose to relocate to Queensland to pursue a change of lifestyle. By having the tech hub in Brisbane, our people based there will still have access to major technology employers like CBA and can make an impact in their work without having to relocate interstate.

“Brisbane is the perfect location for our latest hub as it has a strong focus on innovation, digital education and, with the Olympic Games coming up in 2032, we anticipate further investment in technology along with more people moving there.”

By partnering with key universities and vocational education providers such as UQ, QUT and TAFE Queensland, CBA is also able to develop its local talent pipeline for early technology careers and to help it invest in its future workforce. CBA’s partnerships are targeted towards institutions that are academically focused in the areas of computer science, engineering, data science and cyber security.

“Australia has for some years been facing a critical skills shortage in technology,” said Mr Hopper. “Working with education helps us to address this issue, and also enables us to invest in the local tech community to help keep the country competitive.”

Neil Horrocks, Director of Data Energy Innovation at UQ, said: “There is significant potential for education to work with the tech hub on a range of initiatives and we look forward to continuing those discussions over the coming weeks and months. UQ welcomes opportunities for our students that may arise as a result of these future partnerships.”

Professor Lori Lockyer, Executive Dean of QUT, commented: “We commend CBA in initiating this important partnership with the School of Design in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. With strong skills in user experience design and user interface design, our students are well placed to further advance CBA’s tech hub initiative. We look forward to broadening the partnership to engineering, data science and IT from our Faculties of Science and Engineering.”

Jackie French, Director of Faculty Creative Arts and Digital Design, TAFE Queensland, said the partnership with CBA would offer graduates a pathway into technology careers with an iconic Australian organisation closer to home.

“Queensland already has a vibrant digital community with a well-established pipeline of graduates,” said Ms French. “As the state’s largest training provider, we’re delighted to partner with CBA to supply skilled and job-ready information technology, cyber security, website and software developer graduates for the placements this program will deliver.”

CBA is building out its presence in tech hubs across the nation to continue to position itself as a global digital bank and a leader in digital experiences and technology.

Source: Commonwealth Bank

One of the ways we are reaching people is by offering affordable testing and treatment and increased access to HIV research initiatives. We’ve chosen to partner with the Elton John AIDS Foundation on national and local initiatives to increase awareness and access to resources and education through our Breakthrough program. We’re also a founding member of the U.S. Business Action to End HIV, a new coalition of businesses committed to accelerating progress to end HIV in the U.S. by 2030. Across all of these efforts, our goal is to offer compassionate care to our communities in a manner that overcomes barriers and stigmatization.

To try and do even more in our communities, last year we launched our first three Specialty Pharmacies of the Community (SPOCs) to help customers with all aspects of care, including industry leading clinical programs, pharmacy services provided by HIV-trained pharmacists, enhanced care coordination, healthy lifestyle recommendations and emotional support services from our Community Health Workers.

These SPOCs are making a difference in the lives of our patients. We hear stories every day of the care our pharmacists take to understand a patient’s needs and help them through their HIV journey. One patient shared how the Howell Mill SPOC pharmacy team helped them understand and adhere to medicine schedules, going above and beyond to help manage their care.

And it’s not just our SPOC teams who are focused on this important patient population. We’ve also heard from Walmart pharmacists across the country say they want additional training and certifications to support their communities facing this epidemic.

That’s why this World AIDS Day, we’re doubling down on our commitment in two important ways:

• Expanding our network of Special Pharmacies of the Community (SPOCs) to support areas most impacted by HIV

Building on what we learned from our first three SPOCs, we’re excited to support even more patients. In Q1 of 2023, we will add four new HIV-focused SPOCs in the following locations:

• Store 2003: 979 Route 1 North Brunswick, NJ 08902
• Store 2547: 41 Anawana Lake Rd Monticello, NY 12701
• Store 3795: 2100 88th St North Bergen, NJ 07047
• Store 5095: 495 Flatbush Ave Hartford, CT 06106

• Announcing a nationwide HIV Prevention + Treatment Continuing Education (CE) Pharmacist and Provider Training Program

In partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, we are making this training program available to all Walmart pharmacists and Walmart Health team members. The program, designed by Duke University, will equip pharmacists and clinicians to support patients with or at risk of HIV through clinical and culturally relevant education to enable compassionate care that can overcome stigma and social barriers. This program offers best-in-class training to our team members, which will result in best-in-class care for our patients.

To ensure that it meets the needs and busy schedules of our Walmart associates, the first training module has been beta tested by a select group of pharmacists at the four new SPOC locations and our entire staff of Walmart Health Community Health Workers.

These are just two of the ways we are listening to what our associates and patients are telling us.

Additionally, we support policies to grant our pharmacists prescribing authority for PrEP and PEP therapies. Pharmacists are integral members of the community that bring significant value to the individuals they serve, and reports have shown patients see their pharmacists nearly 12 times more often than they see their primary care provider.2 However, policies can vary between states, with 13 states currently allowing pharmacists to provide these needed HIV medications, including California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. We will continue to support efforts to expand services that pharmacists can provide to better support communities.

We remain committed to offering the highest quality care to our customers and patients, right in their communities. This World AIDS Day, we are proud to help even more of our patients with or vulnerable to HIV to live better – and healthier – lives.

Source: Walmart

The video highlights how plastic components that are beyond repair are first stripped from customer vehicles, freed of foreign materials such as metal clips, before being broken down into smaller pieces, and processed into pyrolysis oil by means of chemical recycling. This oil is then used as a raw material for the manufacture of new plastics, harnessing a mass balance approach1. The plastic granulate thereby obtained, is utilized in the production of Q8 e-tron seatbelt buckle covers.

Through this process, the automotive manufacturer together with the other project participants have managed to recover a flow of materials which are usually only suitable for energy recovery. This operation will allow Audi to use fossil raw materials for longer and reduce its purchasing of additional primary materials for the Q8 e-tron* accordingly. Materials produced from the pyrolysis oil are of the same high standard as newly manufactured goods and offer identical technical characteristics.

Source: Audi

New research from Barclays reveals that 70 per cent of people ignore their gut feeling in situations involving money, leaving them more vulnerable to scammers. This comes as recent Barclays data shows that purchase scams – the most common type of scam, where people buy goods which never arrive or aren’t as advertised – have risen by 70 per cent, year on year.

As we head toward the festive season, and major shopping days, such as Black Friday, Barclays is urging people to take a moment and listen to their gut when making decisions. Especially as three quarters (75 per cent) of people have noticed an increase in suspicious or scam related activity in the last month and almost half (47 per cent) have been targeted by a scam by email and/or text in the last few months.

What’s more, Barclays data shows that investment scams, where you’re invited to invest in something that isn’t what it seems or doesn’t exist, are the highest value, and account for just under a third (31 per cent) of all money lost to scammers. Despite this, research shows that a huge 85 per cent of people choose to ignore their gut feeling when investing.

Barclays has partnered with gut health expert Dr Megan Rossi, to raise awareness of the important role the gut can play in helping people to identify if they are being scammed and provide useful advice for how to identify when your gut is trying to tell you something.

Dr Megan Rossi (PhD, Rd), Gut Health Expert, says: “Your gut and brain are in constant two-way communication. This is known as the gut:brain axis, and is made possible thanks to the impressive web of hundreds of millions of nerves that connect the two.

“That science-backed feeling in your gut is often based on intuition, and has the power to keep you safe, in more ways than one. In fact, Barclays research shows that listening to your gut might have the power to help protect against fraud and scams risks that many face each day.”

To support this knowledge gap when it comes to spotting the signs, we’ve devised a simple mnemonic that can help remind people of what to look out for when their gut is trying to tell them something: S.C.A.M

• Sweating
• Chest tightness
• Aching (head or stomach)
• Mind fog.

The recent study by Barclays also shows the reasons people might ignore their gut feeling: a third (33 per cent) question their gut feeling if they are under time pressure, and another third (34 per cent) say they would re-consider their gut feeling based on the size or value of the opportunity.

Ross Martin, Head of Digital Safety at Barclays, says: “Too often people ignore their gut feeling when making important decisions, which unfortunately can make them more vulnerable to scams. Scammers will play on your emotions and try to instil a sense of time pressure, or create a perceived scarcity – and therefore value – when making a purchase or investment.

“You should never feel rushed into buying or investing in something. If something sounds suspicious or doesn’t feel right, speak to someone you trust – a family member, friend or your bank – for a second opinion.”

Source: Barclays

The Generation Pack, which will be seen on the pitch this winter and features all three boot silhouettes, is inspired by the next generation of players who are taking the game to new heights.

Source: Nike

Whether on winding country roads, over soaring alpine passes, on a tour with a pillion or on a short, relaxing ride after work – the R 1250 R shines thanks to its sporty agility, comfort and the primal dynamic performance of the boxer engine. Now BMW Motorrad has given the R 1250 R some new standard features and optional extras – to generate even more intensive roadster enjoyment.

As before, the legendary 2-cylinder boxer engine provides powerful propulsion. It still has an engine capacity of 1,254 cm3 and, even in the current EU5 registration, generates 100 kW (136 hp). Thanks to BMW ShiftCam technology for varying valve timing and valve lift on the intake side, it delivers beefy power across the entire speed range, extremely smooth and quiet running and outstanding fuel consumption and emission values.

Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) and new “ECO” driving mode as standard. Riding Modes Pro with riding mode preselection and engine drag torque control (MSR) as optional equipment.

Here, the standard Dynamic Traction Control DTC ensures a high level of riding safety thanks to providing excellent traction. The new standard “ECO” riding mode helps the rider to travel as fuel-efficiently as possible.

The ECO riding mode allows the rider to use the innovative BMW Motorrad ShiftCam engine technology primarily in such a way to achieve the maximum range. In ECO mode, the rider is encouraged to ride as fuel-efficiently as possible with a soft throttle curve and moderate engine torque limitation. In ECO mode, the TFT colour display provides an efficiency display in the upper status line. If you want maximum performance – for example for overtaking with a heavy load or riding uphill – the ride mode button can be used to quickly and easily switch to a different ride mode.

The new R 1250 R can be equipped with the Pro riding modes option as optional equipment ex works. Among other things, it provides additional, individually configurable riding modes. By using the riding mode preselection function, the rider can individually set riding modes on the riding mode button. The engine drag torque control (MSR) is another new component of the Pro riding mode. It can be used to safely avoid unstable riding conditions that can occur during coasting or downshifting due to excessive brake slip at the rear wheel.

BMW Integral ABS Pro (part integral) and Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) as standard.

As a popular sports tourer, the R 1250 R in its latest edition features BMW Integral ABS Pro as standard. This is a braking system, which offers even more safety when braking – even when leaning into bends – and thinks even further ahead, so to speak. As the riding mode concept continues to expand, more new functions will also be added. For example, the ABS control characteristic will be adapted further to the respective riding mode. As part of the “Riding Modes Pro” option, Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) additionally supports the rider during emergency braking manoeuvres. DBC increases safety when braking, even in difficult situations, by avoiding unintentional throttle activation. By means of intervention in the engine control, drive torque is reduced during braking so as to make full use of the braking power at the rear wheel. This keeps the motorcycle stable and shortens the braking distance.

New full LED headlamp with adaptive turning light as an optional extra ex works. Newly designed LED turn indicators and iconic daytime running light as standard.

The standard full LED headlamp already illuminates the road with an unrivalled bright, clear light. Enhanced safety when riding at night is ensured by the adaptive turning light which is a component of as an ex works option. The rider benefits from even better illumination of the road on bends, thereby ensuring even safer riding at night. The adaptive turning light works by switching on additional LED elements in the main headlight that are fitted with their own reflectors, depending on the leaning angle. It is activated from an inclined position of more than 7° and a speed of more than 10 km/h. The additional lighting effect can be perfectly experienced up to a leaning angle of 25°.

New standard features include redesigned LED tun indicators (also for the USA) and the iconic daytime running light (not permitted in all countries; without daytime running light function, the light icon is designed as a parking light).

TFT colour display with “Sport” Core Screen as standard.

As before, the new R 1250 R is equipped with a TFT colour display featuring integrated arrow navigation and extensive connectivity. Excellent readability, clear menu navigation and a highly integrated operating concept place it at the top of the production motorbike world. The rider can choose between customised screen displays for various purposes. This also includes the “Sport” Core Screen, which provides real-time information about the current and maximum lean angle as well as control interventions – such as ABS Pro or DTC.

USB socket and Intelligent Emergency Call as standard. Seat heating for rider and pillion to make touring even more pleasurable available as an optional extra ex works.

The new BMW R 1250 R already offers two different sockets as standard. The previous 12-volt on-board power socket plus an additional USB-A socket with a 5-volt power supply. This most widely used type of USB socket with newly developed charging electronics allows you to charge a smartphone while riding by connecting a cable adapter. Up to 2,400 mA charging current is available, enabling fast charging depending on the type of smartphone used. The Intelligent Emergency Call is also a standard feature (eCall; not available in all countries) for providing rapid assistance in emergencies.

A seat heating system for rider and pillion passenger as an optional extra ex works also significantly increases comfort when temperatures are low. Heated seats are available in combination with two individual seats and are offered exclusively in combination with heated grips. A new, convenient operating concept has been developed for the rider’s seat with five heating levels. The heated grips settings – in combination with the seat heating featuring five instead of two heating levels – are operated via a menu. The pillion seat heating has two heating levels and is operated by a toggle switch at the bottom left of the rear frame.

Dynamic roadster paint finishes: The new R 1250 R features attractive base paintwork as well as the two model variants Triple Black and Sport. New solo rear special equipment.

In the basic variant, the new BMW R 1250 R highlights its advanced roadster style in Icegrey non-metallic in conjunction with a black frame. With the Triple Black and Style Sport variants, available optionally ex works, the customer can choose from two particularly expressive colour concepts.

Sport model variant:

– Body colour Racingblue metallic, white frame, gold front/rear brake callipers, black sports handlebars black, blue front spoiler blue, solo rear (alternatively pillion package).

Triple Black model variant:

Blackstorm metallic body colour, agate grey frame, gold front/rear brake callipers, stainless steel radiator grille, stainless steel engine spoiler, Pure tank trim, solo rear (alternatively pillion package).

The new solo rear optional feature underlines the sporty style of the new R 1250 R and makes it look particularly light and dynamic. The pillion seat is replaced with a painted plastic cover and the pillion footrests and pillion handles are removed.

If you want to keep the R 1250 R fully suitable for pillion use, the pillion package is available as an alternative package within the model variants. It contains all the components that are eliminated by the solo rear.

The highlights of the new BMW R 1250 R:

• Primal power boxer engine with BMW ShiftCam technology for varying the valve timings and valve stroke on the intake side.
• Generous power generation across the entire engine speed range, optimised fuel consumption and emission levels, increased running smoothness and refinement.
• Output and torque: 100 kW (136 hp) at 7,250 rpm and 143 Nm at 6,250 rpm.
• Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) as standard
• BMW Motorrad ABS Pro
• (part integral) as standard.
• Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) as standard.
• Three riding modes as standard.
• “ECO” riding mode for particularly economical riding as standard.
• Riding modes Pro with additional riding modes and new riding mode preselection as well as engine drag torque control (MSR) as optional equipment ex works.
• “Sport” Core Screen as standard.
• New LED turn indicators and daytime running light as standard.
• On-board power socket and USB socket as standard.
• New full LED headlamp with adaptive turning light as an optional extra ex works.
• Seat heating for rider and pillion to make touring even more comfortable as an optional extra ex works.
• New solo rear special equipment.
• New special equipment spoke wheels.
• Intelligent Emergency Call as standard.
• Attractive base colour and two model variants Triple Black and Sport as optional extras ex works.
• Extended range of optional equipment items and original BMW Motorrad accessories.

Source: BMW Group

This October, Baskin-Robbins dares you to taste its new Flavor of the Month, Spicy ‘n Spooky, featuring the bold flavor of real Ghost Pepper. The scary good scoop combines White Chocolate Ghost Pepper flavored Ice Cream with rich, black Dark Chocolate Ice Cream and spicy Blood Orange Flakes. This unique flavor experience elevates Baskin-Robbins’ darkest chocolate flavor yet with the unexpected cool heat of White Chocolate Ghost Pepper Ice Cream and pops of sweet spice from Blood Orange Flakes. While each individual flavor component stands out on its own, every scoop comes together in a blend of spicy and sweet for those who have what it takes to give it a try.

“As ice cream experts with more than 1,400 flavors in our library, we continue to find ways to push boundaries and incorporate exciting new ingredients into our scoops like real Ghost Pepper and our darkest chocolate yet,” said Jeanne Bolger, Director of Research and Development for Baskin-Robbins. “We’re excited to evoke the spookiness that comes with the season, using flavor elements we’ve never offered before in an ice cream, and we’re looking forward to guests’ reactions for those who are brave enough to try Spicy ‘n Spooky.”

In addition to the new flavor, Baskin-Robbins is also excited to introduce the perfect addition to your next Halloween party, the Trixie the Ghost Cake. With a cobweb bow made of decorating icing and fudge and whimsical ghostly features created with dark melting chocolate, Trixie the Ghost knows the best part of Halloween is getting all dressed up. The cake is customizable with your favorite ice cream flavor including Made with SNICKERS® or REESE’S® Peanut Butter Cup, depending on your favorite Halloween candy. Trixie the Ghost Cake can be pre-ordered online, through the Baskin-Robbins mobile app or by contacting your local Baskin-Robbins shop.

As an extra treat, Baskin-Robbins is offering discounted scoops on Oct. 31 as part of the Celebrate 31* holiday, a guest-favorite deal offering 31 percent off all scoops, all day, nationwide on the 31st of each month. Fans of scary good savings can also download the Baskin-Robbins Mobile App and sign up for Deals to receive an additional app-exclusive offer for Buy One, Get One 50% Off Pre-Packed Quarts**.

Source: Baskin-Robbins

With the move, IBM will integrate the storage technologies from Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF) as the foundation for IBM Spectrum Fusion. This combines IBM and Red Hat’s container storage technologies for data services and helps accelerate IBM’s capabilities in the burgeoning Kubernetes platform market.

In addition, IBM intends to offer new Ceph solutions delivering a unified and software defined storage platform that bridges the architectural divide between the data center and cloud providers. This further advances IBM’s leadership in the software defined storage and Kubernetes platform markets.

According to Gartner, by 2025, 60% of infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders will implement at least one of the hybrid cloud storage architectures, which is a significant increase from 20% in 2022.1 IBM’s software defined storage strategy is to take a “born in the cloud, for the cloud” approach—unlocking bi-directional application and data mobility based on a shared, secure, and cloud-scale software defined storage foundation.

“Red Hat and IBM have been working closely for many years, and  announcement enhances our partnership and streamlines our portfolios,” said Denis Kennelly, general manager of IBM Storage, IBM Systems. “By bringing together the teams and integrating our products under one roof, we are accelerating the IBM’s hybrid cloud storage strategy while maintaining commitments to Red Hat customers and the open-source community.”

“Red Hat and IBM have a shared belief in the mission of hybrid cloud-native storage and its potential to help customers transform their applications and data,” said Joe Fernandes, vice president of hybrid platforms, Red Hat. “With IBM Storage taking stewardship of Red Hat Ceph Storage and OpenShift Data Foundation, IBM will help accelerate open-source storage innovation and expand the market opportunity beyond what each of us could deliver on our own. We believe this is a clear win for customers who can gain a more comprehensive platform with new hybrid cloud-native storage capabilities.”

As customers formulate their hybrid cloud strategies, critical to success is the emphasis and importance of infrastructure consistency, application agility, IT management and flexible consumption consistency as deciding factors to bridge across on-premises and cloud deployments.

With these changes to the IBM portfolio, clients will have access to a consistent set of storage services while preserving data resilience, security, and governance across bare metal, virtualized and containerized environments.  Some of the many benefits of the software defined portfolio available from IBM will include:

• A unified storage experience for all containerized apps running on Red Hat OpenShift: Customers can use IBM Spectrum Fusion (now with Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation) to achieve the highest levels of performance, scale, automation, data protection, and data security for production applications running on OpenShift that require block, file, and/or object access to data. This enables development teams to focus on the apps, not the ops, with infrastructure-as-code designed for simplified, automated managing and provisioning.
• A consistent hybrid cloud experience at enterprise levels of scale and resiliency with IBM Ceph: Customers can deliver their private and hybrid cloud architectures on IBM’s unified and software defined storage solution, providing capacity and management features. Capabilities include data protection, disaster recovery, high availability, security, auto-scaling, and self-healing portability, that are not tied to hardware, and travel with the data as it moves between on-premises and cloud environments.
• A single data lakehouse to aggregate and derive intelligence from unstructured data on IBM Spectrum Scale: Customers can address the challenges that often come with quickly scaling a centralized data approach with a single platform to support data-intensive workloads such as AI/ML, high performance computing, and others. Benefits can include less time and effort to administer, reduced data movement and redundancy, direct access to data for analytics tools, advanced schema management and data governance, all supported by distributed file and object storage engineered to be cost effective.
• Build in the cloud, deploy on-premises with automation: Customers can move developed applications from the cloud to on-premises services, automate the creation of staging environments to test deployment procedures, validate configuration changes, database schema and data updates, and ready package updates to overcome obstacles in production or correct errors before they become a problem that affects business operations.

“IBM and Red Hat speaking with one voice on storage is delivering the synergies derived from IBM’s Red Hat acquisition,” said Ashish Nadkarni, group vice president and general manager, Infrastructure Systems at IDC. “The combining of the two storage teams is a win for IT organizations as it brings together the best that both offer: An industry-leading storage systems portfolio meets an industry-leading software-defined data services offering. This initiative enables IBM and Red Hat to streamline their family of offerings, passing the benefits to their customers. It also helps accelerate innovation in storage to solve the data challenges for hybrid cloud, all while maintaining their commitment to open source.”

Preserving commitment to Red Hat clients and the community

Under the agreement between IBM and Red Hat, IBM will assume Premier Sponsorship of the Ceph Foundation, whose members collaborate to drive innovation, development, marketing, and community events for the Ceph open-source project. IBM Ceph and Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation will remain 100% open source and will continue to follow an upstream-first model, reinforcing IBM’s commitment to these vital communities. Participation by the Ceph leadership team and other aspects of the open-source project is a key IBM priority to maintain and nurture ongoing Red Hat innovation.

Red Hat and IBM intend to complete the transition by January 1, 2023, which will involve the transfer of storage roadmaps and Red Hat associates to the IBM Storage business unit. Following this date, Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus will continue to include OpenShift Data Foundation, sold by Red Hat and its partners. Additionally, Red Hat OpenStack customers will still be able to buy Red Hat Ceph Storage from Red Hat and its partners. Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat OpenStack customers with existing subscriptions will be able to maintain and grow their storage footprints as needed, with no change in their Red Hat relationship.

Forthcoming IBM Ceph and IBM Spectrum Fusion storage solutions based on Ceph are expected to ship beginning in the first half of 2023.

Read more about news in this blog from Denis Kennelly, general manager of IBM Storage, IBM Systems: “IBM + Red Hat: Doubling Down on Hybrid Cloud Storage”

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only. Red Hat, Ceph, Gluster and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.

Source: IBM

Acer announced support for the new 13th Gen Intel® Core processors on the Predator Orion 7000 (PO7-650) series desktops, delivering serious power and further elevating users’ PC gameplay. Engineered for hard-core gaming enthusiasts and creators, the upgradable gaming desktop pushes the limits of high-performance multi-tasking and next-level computing power.

“With the new 13th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, the Predator Orion 7000 powers extraordinary performance for even the most demanding game titles,” said Jeff Lee, General Manager, Stationary Computing, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. “The Predator Orion 7000 continues to deliver best-in-class gameplay experiences beyond what gamers expect, and we’re excited to be among the first to bring the new CPUs to market.”

Predator Orion 7000 – Refreshed with New 13th Gen Intel® Core Processors

The Predator Orion 7000gaming rig continues to deliver powerful performance to fulfill the demands of modern players and the latest games – and unlimited playing access to hundreds of high-quality games with the included one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The upgradable Windows 11 PCs have been enhanced with up to Intel® Core i9-13900K desktop processors. With its new performance hybrid architecture, the 13th Gen Intel Core processors let gamers and creators do even more at once with their advanced real-world computing and ultra-efficient multi-tasking capabilities. A boosted performance core helps maximize gaming, productivity, entertainment and creativity needs, while providing the same fully-immersive graphics and best-in-class connectivity^[1].

The mighty Predator Orion 7000 also features up to NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 3090 series GPUs and up to 64 GB DDR5-4000 RAM for enhanced visuals and performance. The EMI-compliant chassis features a transparent, tempered-glass side panel. It showcases the multi-hued ambiance of its two 140 mm (5.5 inch) Predator FrostBlade 2.0 front fans and a third 120 mm (4.7 inch) Predator FrostBlade 2.0 rear fan that illuminates eight ARGB-infused LEDs. Gamers are also given added flexibility to adjust the ARGB lighting, fan speed and overclocking with the integrated PredatorSense software. Beyond the eye-catching aesthetics, the Predator Orion 7000 possesses advanced airflow and thermal management to effectively cool system components with the addition of an AIO liquid CPU cooler to complement its three Predator FrostBlade 2.0 fans.

The combined powers of the Intel® Killer E3100 2.5G Ethernet controller, the Intel® Wi-Fi Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX211^[1] wireless module provide optimized networking features that gamers love like network traffic prioritization and connection optimization for faster speeds and more responsive gameplay. A gaming beast, the Predator Orion 7000 possesses plenty of ports for leveraging the latest gaming accessories with three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type C and two audio jacks on the top. On the back, there are three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, two USB 2.0 ports and three audio jacks.

^[1] Intel® Wi-Fi 6/6E (Gig+) products enable the fastest possible maximum speed for typical laptop Wi-Fi products. Thunderbolt 4 is the fastest port available on a laptop, at 40 Gb/s, as compared to other laptop I/O connection technologies including eSATA, USB, and IEEE 1394 Firewire. Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. ​ ​ See www.intel.com/PerformanceIndex (connectivity) for details.

Source: Acer