According to IRNA, after losing in the first week of the 22nd season of the Iranian Premier League, Esteghlal Tehran football team will have to face their host Melvan Bandar Anzali in the second week. The match will be played at Takhti Anzali Stadium on Thursday at 19:30.
Led by Ricardo Sapinto, Tehrani blue-coats are looking to make up for the loss of the first week. On the other hand, Maziar Zare and his students have the same goal. In the first step, they lost to their hosts with one goal, and now they have a good chance to make up for it at home.
These two teams have faced each other 28 times in the history of the Premier League, the result of which was 14 wins for the capital team, four victories for Anzlichi and 10 draws. They have not lined up against each other in these competitions after the fall of Melwan in the 15th league, and it remains to be seen what the result of the conflict between these two teams will be after 6 seasons of absence.
In the first leg of the 15th League, Esteghlal passed the Melvan barrier with 2 goals by Omid Ebrahimi, but in the second leg, hosted by the representative of Gilan province, a 2-2 draw prevailed. In that meeting, Jaber Ansari and Mohsen Karimi scored for Esteghlal, and on the other hand, Seyed Jalal Rafkhai scored both goals for White Swans.
Tehrani blue-coats have always faced serious challenges in Anzali. They have not won in the last five meetings with Selvan at home and in the Premier League, and they have won 2 draws and 3 losses. The last victory of the capital team in the Takhti Stadium and in the Premier League dates back to 11 years, eight months and 20 days ago, or in other words, 4281 days ago. where they overcame their 10-man opponent with Hanif Omranzadeh's single goal. It has to be seen whether this spell will be broken in the second week of the 22nd league or not.
The sailors, on the other side of the story, have to break the spell. They have not won their last three games in the 15th league and failed to score in the first week of the season as they look for their first win in 2309 days in the Premier League. Their last win was against a Tehrani team in Anzali. Where the White Swans beat Saipa in the 27th week of the 15th League with a score of 3-2.
It should be seen whether the spell will break this week or not.
Apple and Facebook parent Meta are expected to release mixed reality headsets in the coming year that could finally fulfill the industry's promise to turn head-worn devices into the next big shift in personal computing.
But there's one major potential snag: sticker shock.
The best-selling virtual reality headset, the Meta Quest 2, retails for $400 and accounted for 78% of the nascent VR market in 2021, according to IDC. Consumers who want the next-generation technology are going to have to spend multiples of that.
Meta's forthcoming high-end headset, codenamed Cambria, is expected to cost at least $800, the company said earlier this year. Apple's unannounced device could reportedly cost thousands of dollars. That's a hefty load for products in a category that's yet to go mainstream. Just 11.2 million VR units were shipped last year, IDC said. Apple sells that many iPhones every few weeks.
To expand the market, Meta and Apple will have to convince consumers that more advanced systems will be worth the investment. Both companies are reportedly betting on a new technology called passthrough mixed reality, which requires better displays and more processing power.
If passthrough mixed reality works as advertised, a VR headset would also function as a set of augmented reality glasses, enhancing the possibilities for applications and real-world use.
With existing VR devices, the experience is limited to what's on the headset's display. In passthrough AR, powerful cameras on the outside of a VR headset take video of the outside world and send it to two or more displays, one each in front of the user's eyes.
This allows for developers to play with mixed reality, overlaying software or graphics on the video of the real world from just outside.
Believers in mixed reality say that we'll eventually be able to condense the technology into a lightweight pair of glasses with transparent lenses. But that's for the future.
The passthrough approach is emerging as the preferred near-term option because optical transparent displays are nowhere near ready for primetime. The problem for today is that passthrough mixed reality requires a lot of expensive parts and a powerful headset, limiting the size of the market.
In addition to the advanced cameras, passthrough devices need depth sensors that can take detailed video and measurements of the user's surroundings. They also have to track the user's eyes so as not to waste power generating graphics that will go unseen. And they need powerful processing capabilities and software to reduce latency so that what the user sees inside the headset isn't delayed or blurred.
Most important is the high-resolution screen that needs to be much denser than a smartphone display because it's so close to the user's eyes. Smartphone screens average about 550 pixels per inch, but mixed reality devices require displays with about 3,500 PPI, according to CounterPoint Research.
While Meta and Apple haven't released their headsets, a few devices currently on the market support passthrough mixed reality. The experiences tend to be limited — black and white or low-quality video — because of a lack of processing power.
A few weeks ago, I was able to test a headset from Varjo, a Finnish company co-founded by Urho Konttori, a former Microsoft and Nokia executive. Last year, Varjo released the XR-3, which offers full-color, low-latency passthrough mixed reality. It's expensive, heavy, and aimed at businesses. It costs $6,495 to purchase or about $1,500 to rent it for a year.
In playing around with the XR-3, I felt less isolated than with other VR headsets.
Varjo's XR-3 headset
Varjo
I could access a virtual world with the press of a single button, and I could pull up games that took over my entire field of view. I could use virtual computer monitors displaying Windows applications inside the virtual world.
I was also able to interact with the world around me through Varjo's passthrough view. In the demo, Varjo placed a life-size car model inside the space. I was able to walk around it and inspect its interior and discuss what I was seeing with someone who wasn't wearing a VR headset.
Most impressively, when passthrough was turned on, I could interact with the actual environment around me, carrying on a conversation with the person next to me or finding a chair and sitting in it. This isn't possible with existing VR technology, which forces you to remove yourself from the physical world.
Konttori told me that was one of his main goals. The company wants to almost mimic "human-eye" display quality, which he calls the "holy grail" of mixed reality.
The XR-3 has two 2880 by 2720 pixel displays, and the company uses eye tracking to focus its processing power to deliver better image quality where your eyes are looking.
The key is "being able to merge the physical reality around you with the virtual reality objects and make it into a single coherent scene, where you cannot tell apart what is real and what is virtual anymore," Konttori said. "Part of this evolution is that you can see that at some point, the fidelity of this experience is equal to what you would perceive by looking at it with just your own eyes."
However, to use the XR-3 you have to be tethered by a cable to a powerful gaming PC. Meta and Apple are focused on developing devices that don't require attachment to a separate computer. Konttori knows it will be hard for his startup to compete with some of the biggest tech companies in the world, but he says Meta and Apple still face challenges.
That's because developing a consumer-friendly product with the right weight and power consumption is very tricky, especially when it comes to keeping costs down and shipping millions of them.
"Companies are focusing on consumer-alike experiences, which means that they are still really driven by the size, weight, ergonomics point of view, as well as cost," Konttori said.
An attendee wears a HTC Corp. Vive virtual reality (VR) headset during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S., on Monday, June 5, 2017.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple is notoriously secretive about its product roadmap, especially when it comes to new categories. The company has invested heavily in virtual reality research and development in its Technology Development Group and has purchased several startups specializing in mixed reality technology.
According to reports from Bloomberg and The Information, Apple is developing a mixed reality headset that resembles ski goggles with a powerful homegrown chip, similar to what powers its MacBook laptops, and higher-resolution displays than what's currently on the market.
The headset will reportedly support passthrough video and offer games and other applications. At one point, Apple was aiming for at least resolution similar to a 4K TV per eye for its first headset, because anything less could result in users seeing individual pixels, The Information reported.
Apple hasn't confirmed its plans to release a mixed reality headset, and the company didn't respond to a request for comment on this story. In an interview with Chinese media earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that something is in the works.
Meta has said Project Cambria, with support of color passthrough, is scheduled to be released later this year. Based on renderings of the device that have been made public, it also looks like a pair of ski goggles. It will include pancake optics, a type of lens that doesn't need to be calibrated as finely as other VR lenses.
Meta said in May that the price for Cambria would be "significantly higher" than $800.
While passthrough technology has yet to hit the market in a real way and will be quite pricey once it does, metaverse developers are rallying behind it. The primary alternative, optically-based mixed reality, uses transparent displays built into lenses to integrate computer graphics with the real world. Microsoft's Hololens and Magic Leap use optical waveguides, a type of transparent display.
Transparent displays are also expensive, and they have their own sets of challenges. They're not good when used in bright daylight, and the current offerings can suffer from poor image quality and blurry text.
Varjo is making a bet on passthrough technology and Konttori says it's the better approach in large part because it's completely digital, putting more control in the hands of developers.
"It becomes computable," Konttori said. "It becomes a tool for artificial intelligence to be participating in your world, enhancing your view or your intellect, and you can distort the world in the tiniest ways or the biggest ways possible."
He expects passthrough to be "the winning approach for a very, very long time."
WATCH: The future of entertainment is mixed reality gaming experiences
The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is lagging behind in the race to sign overseas T20 stars for the January-February window. The BPL has a window from January 6 to February 15, the dates clashing with the UAE's ILT20, South Africa's yet-to-be-named T20 league and the Australian BBL. The BBL's draft for overseas players is scheduled for August 28. The UAE and South Africa leagues have been in the news practically every day, for the big-ticket players the franchises are signing on. There has been no buzz around the BPL.
The BCB has set August 31 as the deadline for potential franchise owners' "expression of Interest" (EOI). Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB chief executive, had earlier said that the board was hoping most of the previous franchise owners would return, with the BPL providing three-year contracts for them. Earlier, the franchise contracts were for just a year.
"We will try to finalise everything soon, so that the owners can start their preparation," Chowdhury had said. "They will be in a better position since it is for three years. Franchise owners usually want everything to be organised, so this time it will be quite good since we are giving the teams a longer period."
The BCB is also hoping that the BPL will not be without its share of overseas names, while all Bangladeshi cricketers would be expected to participate.
"We have to keep in mind that the member countries are looking for a window to hold domestic T20 leagues. There's going to be conflict (in scheduling) if other members' windows fall at the same time. Everyone is going to suffer, not just us," Chowdhury said. "Two or three of our most important players will be playing in our domestic league. I don't want to mention any names but those who usually play overseas will be missed in those leagues. But we are expecting foreign players to play in our league.
"There's the matter of the NOC [no-objection certificate]. There is also an understanding among member countries. Everyone abides by this rule. I don't personally think anyone will play anything other than their own competition."
There is bound to be a demand for established stars, but the franchise owners, whoever they are, will be in a race against time.
For the BPL, if the EOI list is revealed on August 31, and roughly another month is required to get through the official procedures for the franchises to sign up, the players' draft or auction can't be held till October. With several T20 leagues running at the same time, and player demand being at an unprecedented high, the BPL would have benefitted from having a more settled appearance about it.
Historically, the BPL franchises have been known to pay well, but there is another niggle. As several player agents told us, because of the laws of the land in Bangladesh, the players end up paying higher taxes than they do elsewhere. It might sound like a trifle, but the lack of nightlife options in most cities in Bangladesh is something that has bothered overseas players in the past.
So what does the BPL do? If the big stars don't come, the tournament will lose its sheen. The ILT20 and the South African leagues have appeared as gamechangers, and with the windows almost set in stone for the next few years, the BPL will have to up its game, somehow, to remain relevant.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
US lawmakers have adopted President Joe Biden's sprawling climate, tax and health care plan –– a major win for the veteran Democrat that includes the biggest ever American investment in the battle against global warming.
The House of Representatives on Friday approved the measure by a 220-207 vote along party lines following its adoption in the Senate on Sunday by a razor-thin margin, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
The legislation to fight the climate crisis and lower prescription drug prices aim to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions.
It will also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the elderly and ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay the taxes they owe.
Democrats say it will help combat inflation by reducing the federal deficit.
Democrats hope the legislation will help them at the polls in November, when voters decide the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Republicans are favoured to win a majority in the House and could also take control of the Senate.
Biden quickly hailed the adoption of his plan, which includes a $370 billion investment aimed at bringing about a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
"Today, the American people won. Special interests lost," the president tweeted in the minutes after the vote.
Republicans say 'it will kill jobs'
The bill's main revenue source is a 15 percent corporate minimum tax aimed at stopping large, profitable companies from gaming the Internal Revenue Service code to slash their tax bills to zero, which has led to mixed reactions from business groups to the legislation.
Republicans oppose the legislation, warning it will kill jobs by raising corporate tax bills, further fuel inflation with government spending and inhibit the development of new drugs.
"Democrats more than any other majority in history are addicted to spending other people's money, regardless of what we as a country can afford," House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said in a floor speech.
But the bill does not leave the US fossil fuels industry out in the cold.
Some provisions allow the federal government to authorise new wind and solar energy developments on federal land only when it is also auctioning rights to drill for oil and natural gas.
The fossil fuel protections disappointed progressives but posed no barrier to Democratic support.
About half of Americans support the climate and drug pricing legislation, including 69 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of Republicans, according to a Reuters news agency/Ipsos poll conducted on August 3 and 4.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
HONOLULU -- A large wildfire in a rural area of Hawaii's Big Island is not threatening any homes, but high winds and extremely dry conditions are making it difficult for crews to contain the blaze.
The fire started in the western reaches of the U.S. Army's Pohakuloa Training Area, which is above the town of Waikoloa and in between the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes.
The fire had burned more than 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) as of Thursday.
Huge wildfires like the one in Hawaii highlight the dangers of climate change-related heat and drought for many communities throughout the U.S. West and other hotspots around the world. But experts say relatively small fires on typically wet, tropical islands in the Pacific are also on the rise, creating a cycle of ecological damage that affects vital and limited resources for millions of residents.
State land officials said the fire actually began several weeks ago and smoldered until strong winds fanned the flames this week.
The area is dominated by shrubs and grasslands that have been dried by persistent drought.
“This fire is very significant and it is taking this entire team of first responders to collectively contain its advances,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Cronin, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Pohakuloa Training Area, in a statement.
Strong winds have been recorded across the area, some in excess of 30 mph (48 kph).
“The weather conditions are making this fight difficult to slow the advance of the fire, and our combined efforts are working to prevent it from reaching or crossing Highway 190," Cronin said.
The fire is now burning on state land and is about a mile away from Highway 190, according to Big Island county officials.
Waikoloa Village, a town of about 7,000 people on the other side of Highway 190, was evacuated last year when the state's largest-ever wildfire burned more than 70 square miles (181 square kilometers).
Linda Hunt, who works at a horse stable in Waikoloa Village, said she can see the flames from her farm but that winds are currently pushing the fire away from her community.
“We’re about 10, 15 miles down the hill," she said. "The way the wind is blowing, it’s going to keep blowing towards Kona. Unless we get a change of wind, that’s the only way we’d be affected."
Federal, state and local firefighters are trying to contain the blaze. Crews are using bulldozers to create a fire break and several helicopters from various agencies are dropping water on the fire.
The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources released video of the blaze Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Army told The Associated Press that while there is active military training in the area, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“There are units up there training, I can't confirm or deny if live fire was taking place,” said Michael O. Donnelly, chief of external communications for the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii. “It's business as usual, but the exact cause we don't know.”
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for fire conditions in the region through Thursday night.
Reigning Youth Olympics champion Jeremy Lalrinnunga, all of 19, smashed two Games records en route winning India and his weightlifting squad their second gold of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Sunday. Jeremy lifted a total of 300kg in the Men’s 67kg category to be a full seven kilograms clear of Samoa’s Vaipava Loane, who won silver while Nigerian Edidiong Umoafia won bronze with a total lift of 290kgs.
Late at night, Achinta Sheuli lived up to his top billing as he clinched India’s third gold at the Commonwealth Games. Favourite to win the 73kg weightlifting event, debutant Sheuli heaved 313kg (143kg+170kg) to grab the gold as Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who gave Sheuli a tough competition, ended as the second-best lifter in the event. He had a best effort of 303kg (138kg+165kg). Canada’s Shad Darsigny was third with a total lift of 298kg (135kg+163kg).
CWG 2022 – FULL COVERAGE | IN-DEPTH | INDIA FOCUS | OFF THE FIELD | IN PHOTOS | MEDAL TALLY
Elsewhere India’s women’s cricket team picked up their first win of the tournament, beating Pakistan with a comfortable eight-wicket win. Star opening batter Smriti Mandhana did the star turn for India with a fluent 63 n.o after bowlers Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav had taken two wickets apiece to skittle Pakistan out for 99 in 18 overs.
The Indian men’s hockey team also began their campaign on day three of competitions, notching up an ever more dominant and fluent 11-0 win over Ghana. They were ahead 3-0 after the first quarter itself and 5-0 after the first half. Harmanpreet Singh struck a hat-trick while Jugraj helped himself to a couple of goals. Abhishek opened the scoring for the Indians while Shamsher, Akashdeep, Lalit, Mandeep and Varun Kumar were the others who got on the board. Krishan Pathak also did his bit to have a clean sheet.
Also, through to the quarterfinals were the Indian men’s table tennis team after a comfortable victory over Bangladesh in the round of 16. They next play in the semi-finals tomorrow against Nigeria.
In badminton, B Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa beat Jarred Elliott and Deidre Jordaan 21-9, 21-11, as Lakshya Sen breezed past Caden Kakora 21-5, 21-6 and Aakarshi Kashyap defeated Johanita Scholtz 21-11, 21-16 to help India beat South Africa 3-0 and reach the mixed team semi-finals.
In Lawn Bowls, the women’s four team consisting of Lovely Choubey,Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey beat Norfolk Island 17 – 9 to reach the semi-finals.
Swimmmer Srihari Nataraj finished 5th in the semi-final 1 of 50-meter backstroke with a timing of 25.38s to qualify for the final.
In Squash, Joshana Chinappa reached the quarter-finals by beating Kaitlyn Watts of New Zealand 3 – 0.
Saurav Ghosal defeated Canda’s David Baillargeon 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 to reach the quarter-finals of men’s singles event
In boxing, World champion Nikhat Zareen got off to a flier in her Women’s 48-50kg round of 16 bout against Mozambique’s Helena Ismail Bagao with the referee being forced to stop the contest in her favour. Meanwhile, Sagar booked his spot in 92kg quarterfinals, beating Cameroon’s Maxime Yegnong Njieyo via 5-0 unanimous decision.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7geX94b4SA[/embed]However, Shiva Thapa in his 60-63.5kg (Light Welterweight) bout, went down 1-4 on points to Scotland’s Reese Lynch to end his campaign at the Games. Indian boxer Sumit suffered a 0-5 defeat to Australia’s Callum Peters in a 75kg round of 16 bout.
In another weightlifting class, the women’s 59kg, Popy Hazarika could not make much headway finishing in seventh position with a total lift of 183kgs.
In gymnastics, Yogeshwar Singh finished 15th in the men’s individual all-Round competition. In the corresponding Women’s event, Ruthuja Natraj also finished outside the medal positions.
India went down to Northern Ireland (26-8) in the quarterfinals of lawn bowls Men’s Pair.
Indian cyclist Mayuri Lute finished 18th with a time of 36.868s in the women’s 500m time trial final as swimmer Sajan Prakash finished a disappointing ninth in the men’s 200m butterfly, his pet event.
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