All posts tagged: peak

I thought VLC was peak until I found this cleaner alternative

I thought VLC was peak until I found this cleaner alternative

Published by skeptic

I have been using VLC for so long that I forgot it was even a choice. A few weeks ago, though, I was watching a film late at night and, for whatever reason, I looked at the screen a bit more critically, and all I could see were buttons everywhere. Playback controls, equalizer icons, and a menu bar stretching across the top. Even though you can customize the look and layout of VLC Media Player to hide parts of it, none of it helped me watch the movie; it was just there, demanding attention. That small, slightly irrational irritation sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. I’d found MPV earlier and stuck with it for its minimalism, but along the way, I stumbled upon Glucose Media Player. I wasn’t expecting much, but after a few minutes, it became obvious this wasn’t just another VLC alternative. It felt noticeably cleaner. OS Windows Developer(s) Vincent L Price model Free (open-source) Glucose Media Player is a lightweight Windows video player with a clean interface and support …

How I calibrated my subwoofer placement for peak impact in awkward room setups

How I calibrated my subwoofer placement for peak impact in awkward room setups

Published by skeptic

Jada Jones/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Placing your subwoofer correctly can maximize its bass output. Every room has its limitations, but simple workarounds make a difference. For living rooms and common areas, you’ll have to get creative. A subwoofer is a surefire way to upgrade your home theater, whether you’re following the expansion recommendations from Sonos or Sony, or building a more advanced setup with receivers, in-ceiling speakers, and more. Whether you’re upgrading the equipment in your living room or a dedicated theater room, a subwoofer is a wonderful addition, but where you place the device in the room matters. Also: Your TV may be tracking your viewing data – here’s how to stop it (beyond disabling ACR) Audio geeks may find few opinions to agree on, but one commonality is that a subwoofer should go in the front quadrant of a room. In this position, your room’s walls act as barriers that guide the woofer’s low-pitched sounds in the right direction. However, optimal placement can be a complicated …

This 0M California battery will power 321,000 homes at peak demand

This $600M California battery will power 321,000 homes at peak demand

Published by skeptic

Arevon is building a big new battery project just south of San Francisco, designed to keep the lights on when demand spikes. The renewable energy developer has started construction on the 250 megawatt (MW)/1,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) Cormorant Energy Storage Project in Daly City, California. When it comes online in 2027, the $600 million facility will be able to power about 321,000 homes for up to four hours. That’s the kind of battery capacity California increasingly needs as more solar comes online and the grid has to balance supply and demand in real time. Arevon will own and operate the project under a long-term agreement with MCE, a public electricity provider that serves more than 1.8 million residents and businesses across Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano counties. Advertisement – scroll for more content The project has grown since it was first proposed. Cormorant was originally planned at 188 MW/752 MWh, but it’s now been expanded to 250 MW/1,000 MWh, with the added capacity also contracted to MCE. Cormorant will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, …

A celebration of wildness and wonder: the Peak District national park at 75 | Peak District holidays

A celebration of wildness and wonder: the Peak District national park at 75 | Peak District holidays

Published by Sam Flores

Look at a satellite photograph of Britain taken on a clear night and the only things visible are the glowing street lights of towns and cities. If you cast your eyes to the centre of northern England, the distinctive, cupped-hand-shaped boundary of the Peak District national park is clearly outlined as an island of darkness washed by an ocean of light from the industrial conurbations of the north and Midlands. It was established in April 1951 as the first national park in Britain. And that view from space gives the clearest indication possible of why this site was chosen – it put a national park where it was most needed in the country. It has been estimated that about a third of the population of England and Wales lives less than an hour away from the Peak District. And the teeming populations of those surrounding industrial cities – Manchester, Sheffield, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and even Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham – are where the vast majority of the more than 13 million annual visitors come from, regarding …

It’s Peak Season for Birdwatchers to Spot Migratory Hummingbirds, and Our Favorite Feeder Is on Sale

It’s Peak Season for Birdwatchers to Spot Migratory Hummingbirds, and Our Favorite Feeder Is on Sale

Published by skeptic

Though most people associate the beginning of March with the hopefulness of spring and the indignities of daylight saving time, there’s another important event taking place yards all over the country: hummingbird season. While many species of hummingbirds can be seen in regions year-round, others are migratory, and this time typically marks their return from wintering grounds in Central and South America. These tiny birds can lose up to 40 percent of their body weight by the time they arrive here after having flown thousands of miles, and since many flowers haven’t bloomed yet, nectar feeders can be a source of essential fuel. Though I test smart bird feeders year-round, I don’t use hummingbird feeders as often as I should, as it’s imperative that they be cleaned and refilled with new nectar every two or three days (a ratio of 1:4 granulated sugar to water is best, and avoid any dyes or additives) to prevent deadly bacteria and mold, and I don’t always have the time. But if you are going to invest the energy …

Hiking on the roof of North Africa: a trek to Morocco’s tallest peak | Morocco holidays

Hiking on the roof of North Africa: a trek to Morocco’s tallest peak | Morocco holidays

Published by Sam Flores

Coming up the footpath from Imlil, Hussein and I step aside to let a laden mule go past and I look back. On the wooded lower slopes of the valley are clusters of tall houses, some plumed with wood smoke. There appears to be a lot of building work going on, some of it to repair the damage caused by the 2023 earthquake. The sound of a concrete mixer comes cutting through the cool mountain air mixed with birdsong and human voices. Turning back to face south, I can see the Atlas mountains, austere and aloof, a few snow patches on the upper slopes. That’s where we are going, to the top of Toubkal at 4,167 metres, the highest peak in North Africa. Hussein has been a guide in this beautiful Moroccan valley all his adult life. “Most people here work in tourism now,” he says, waving a greeting to a muleteer who is passing us. The man is clutching the tail of his animal to steady himself up the steep track. “Twenty years ago everyone grew walnuts …

Peak XV raises .3B, doubles down on AI as global VC rivalry in India heats up

Peak XV raises $1.3B, doubles down on AI as global VC rivalry in India heats up

Published by skeptic

Peak XV announced on Friday that it has raised $1.3 billion across new India and Asia-focused funds. The firm, which now manages more than $10 billion in assets, is sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence and cross-border bets amid intensifying competition for deals in the region. The capital will be deployed across its India seed and venture funds as well as its APAC vehicle. A majority is earmarked for India, with the firm expecting to invest the pool over the next two to three years, managing director Shailendra Singh said in an interview on Friday. Peak XV split from Sequoia Capital in 2023, in an effort to separate the India-focused portions of Sequoia’s portfolio. The firm now counts more than 450 portfolio companies across fintech, software, and consumer internet, spanning seed to growth stages. The firm’s new fundraise comes as New Delhi hosts the AI Impact Summit, drawing major technology players including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. At the event, General Catalyst outlined plans to invest $5 billion in the country over the next five years, …

As AI data centers hit power limits, Peak XV backs Indian startup C2i to fix the bottleneck

As AI data centers hit power limits, Peak XV backs Indian startup C2i to fix the bottleneck

Published by skeptic

Power, rather than compute, is fast becoming the limiting factor in scaling AI data centers. That shift has prompted Peak XV Partners to back C2i Semiconductors, an Indian startup building plug-and-play, system-level power solutions designed to cut energy losses and improve the economics of large-scale AI infrastructure. C2i (which stands for control conversion and intelligence) has raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures, bringing the two-year-old startup’s total funding to $19 million. The investment comes as data-center energy demand accelerates worldwide. Electricity consumption from data centers is projected to nearly triple by 2035, per a December 2025 report from BloombergNEF, while Goldman Sachs Research estimates data-center power demand could surge 175% by 2030 from 2023 levels — the equivalent of adding another top-10 power-consuming country. Much of that strain comes not from generating electricity but from converting it efficiently inside data centers, where high-voltage power must be stepped down thousands of times before it reaches GPUs. This process currently wastes about …

India Explores Gas Power Boost To Stabilize Grid During Peak Hours

India Explores Gas Power Boost To Stabilize Grid During Peak Hours

Published by Jenni Sidey

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com, India considers boosting the run rates of its gas-fired power plants during evening peak hours to support the grid amid the surge in renewable power generation, India’s Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said on Friday.   “For the last three years we have been studying whether gas plants can run for eight hours in the evening and remain shut during the rest of the day,” Agarwal said at a meeting with power plant executives, as carried by Reuters.  India has reduced in recent years its gas-fired power fleet from 25 gigawatts to 20 GW, due to idled plants for years that are now unfit to operate.  However, the country, where coal remains king but renewables rapidly expand, looks to keep the 20 GW gas-fired capacity to provide flexible baseload capacity to offset the intermittency of solar and wind power.  India is expected to import about 29 million tons of LNG this year, while its goal to almost double the share of gas in the energy mix to 15% will need import capacity …

‘Am I at peak popularity? I hope not’: on the road with Zack Polanski, from protest to podcast to Heaven nightclub | Zack Polanski

‘Am I at peak popularity? I hope not’: on the road with Zack Polanski, from protest to podcast to Heaven nightclub | Zack Polanski

Published by Sam Flores

WAKEFIELD 17 JANUARY 2026 “I’m dying for a wee,” Zack Polanski says as he gets off the train at Wakefield Westgate. Why didn’t you go on the train, I ask? “It was very busy and too many people recognised me on the way to the toilet. I knew I’d never get there for all the conversations, so I came back.” When did it become hard for him to go to the toilet on a train? “2 September,” he says. “The day I was elected.” At first, I wonder if Polanski is bigging himself up, but over the next couple of weeks I see for myself he is not exaggerating. While Polanski says it’s not, and cannot be, about one individual, in Green circles there is much talk of the Polanski effect. Since he was elected in September 2025, the Greens have risen by an average of four points in the polls. Just before going to press, the Guardian’s latest poll tracker had the party at 13.5%, only five points behind Labour, on 18.6%; 20% of …