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19 Data Science Project Ideas for Beginners

Big Data
This article features 19 data science projects for beginners, categorized into 7 full project tutorials, 5 places to come up with your own data science projects using data, and 7 skills-based data science projects.

How to Unlock the Paraglider in Dying Light 2

Zephyrnet
The paraglider is a neat new tool in Dying Light 2. Here's how to unlock it for yourself.

This ASUS keycap looks like a ROG GPU with spinning fans

Gaming
But it's currently only available in China.

Sifu would be a blast, if it could get out of its own way

Gaming
Sifu’s got a good pitch. You are a martial arts master, bent on revenge, fighting odds that are impossible to overcome in a...

How Long To Beat Sifu: All Missions And Post-Game Content

Gaming

In Sifu, the latest game from Sloclap, you must become the kung-fu master and exact revenge on the assassins who killed your family. It’s an action brawler with a fascinating aging mechanic that causes your character to get older with each death. Although it doesn’t have many missions, they will likely take you longer to beat than you might expect, especially given how difficult the game is. Here’s how long it takes to beat Sifu, along with details about its mission structure, and post-game content.

How long to beat Sifu

Sifu is a highly skill-dependent game. Fighting and action game experts will likely be able to get through it much faster, while inexperienced players will probably spend double (if not more) time getting through.

In general, it should take you around 10 hours to beat the five main missions, while earning the coveted 100% completion status could take you upwards of 15 hours. However, a player who knows the game inside and out could conceivably speedrun the entire game in only a couple of hours, so be prepared to learn as you make your way through the story.

Sifu mission list – All missions and bosses

Consider this your boss battle spoiler warning. The five Sifu missions, and their related bosses, are as follows:

  • The Squats – Fajar (The Botanist)
  • The Club – Sean (The Fighter)
  • The Museum – Kuroki (The Artist)
  • The Tower – Jinfeng (The CEO)
  • The Sanctuary – Yang (The Leader)

On paper, Sifu might seem like a short experience given that it only has five levels. However, these stages are fairly long, and when you consider you’ll be getting pummeled for the first half of the game as you learn the ropes, you can expect to spend much longer with it.

On top of that, you’re encouraged to replay missions to try and complete them with fewer deaths. Each level starts you off at the lowest age you were when you finished the previous one. As you unlock more skills and simply figure out the mechanics, you’ll want to revisit stages so you can beat them at a younger age.

Five levels may seem lacking, until you realize how much each will test you.

For example, when you first beat the starting mission, it might take you until age 30. This means you’ll start the second level at age 30, which isn’t terrible, but you’d be better off if you were younger.

The older you get, the less health you’ll have, and certain abilities are restricted to specific age ranges. Eventually, you can get so old that you’ll die for good, meaning you’ll need to restart the level you’re on currently. So, for best results, try and go back to earlier levels to finish them at a younger age to help you with the subsequent stage.

Another neat feature is the ability to unlock keys that grant access to shortcuts in prior levels. For instance, the third stage, The Museum, has a key that opens a door in The Club. Revisit The Club, use the key, and unlock a shortcut to get through the level faster, increasing your odds of beating it at a younger age.

Sifu post-game content

Sifu has a slew of collectibles littered throughout each stage, along with missable dialogue segments. If you collect them all, you’ll unlock the True Ending of the game, which is deeply tied to the overall message of Sifu. We won’t spoil it here, but suffice to say that the true ending goes beyond a revenge story, with a greater emphasis on redemption, rather than killing.

You can replay missions as much as you’d like, so be sure to go back and grab all the collectibles if you want to see the True Ending in Sifu.

Iron Banter: This Week In Destiny 2 — It’s A Worm Gun, Jerry

Gaming

The hype train is gaining a dangerous amount of speed as Destiny 2 barrels toward The Witch Queen. This week, Bungie detailed a bunch of changes coming to the weapon sandbox, while showing off some new Exotic weapons coming with the expansion. One of those guns is a grenade launcher, only the grenades are the worm larvae from which the Hive derive their dark powers. I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this.

But first, let's check out some of the changes to guns coming in The Witch Queen.

Brand loyalty

The details on weapons are pretty extensive in the latest TWAB, and I have to say, they all sound like solid changes. The best-sounding aspect of the whole deal is the addition of Origin Traits, which are apparently intrinsic to guns based on elements like where you get them, or who manufactured them. For instance, guns from the Trials of Osiris will have Origin Traits similar to the Celerity and Bottomless Grief perks, where they gain boosts when the rest of your teammates fall in battle. Nightfall weapons get traits that boost them against Champions. Crucible guns are better at reloading out of fights, to help you prep for your next engagement.

The more customization options Bungie brings to Destiny 2 loadouts, the more interesting that whole side of the game becomes. I really like the idea of having guns that you get for doing certain things and that reward your specific playstyle. If you're into PvE activities, hitting up Nightfalls gets you better tools for PvE--that's a cool idea that helps make repetitive activities more rewarding.

We've been hearing about who makes certain guns since Destiny 1, but now we'll see how those manufacturers leave their marks on their work.

Origin Traits also sound like added benefits, rather than necessary components, which helps with one big aspect of this discussion: gunsetting. In the immediate aftermath of the TWAB, I saw a few complaints from people who were worried that adding Origin Traits to guns starting with Witch Queen would immediately deprecate the guns you already have stockpiled, which won't receive Origin Traits--you'll need to find new copies of those guns to get access to the new system. They worried that, effectively, Bungie was finding a way to make everything they already had obsolete, but that doesn't sound like it's the case.

The additional perks that Origin Traits offer sound like they're nice to have, but not essential to Destiny's meta. You're going to be picking up a lot of new guns anyway, so you can slowly replace your old gear with the slightly better, newer versions. But having the "slightly faster reloading outside of combat in the Crucible" Origin Trait isn't going to render your current Dire Promise into obsolete junk.

One last thing that I think is cool about Origin Traits is the fact that they extend to gun manufacturers. This is an aspect of Destiny that has felt like something Bungie wanted to do more with in the past, but it never quite worked out. We have a bunch of brand names in Destiny 2 who make weapons, but those names have only ever dictated aesthetics. It was, more or less, a neat lore thing that some guns came from some specific foundries. Now, guns from Omolon or VEIST have Origin Traits intrinsic to the brand. It's not a massive change, but I love the idea that these names actually mean something in terms of what their weapons can do and how they operate. I've been seeing guns that say "HAKKE" for years and that'll finally actually mean something to me.

Okay, time to talk about the worm gun.

Somebody hates these worms.

Someone explain to me the worm gun

A recent weapons trailer for Destiny 2 showed off several of its upcoming Exotics, including a machine gun that fires missiles like those of a Cabal Colossus, a submachine gun that sounds a lot like Halo's Needler, and Parasite, a grenade launcher that hucks live Hive worms at enemies, which explode.

From a story standpoint, this sounds fascinatingly nonsensical.

Sure, sometimes guns are just fun or funny or weird. One of Eris Morn's friends is a bug who lives inside Xenophage. It doesn't have to be that serious. But even the weird guns have story and lore tied to them. So what's the story behind the worm gun?

I mean, think about it for a second. Someone in the Destiny 2 universe made a gun. Rather than make that gun shoot standard projectiles, they configured it to launch Hive worms. So first, this is someone who would think, "Hive worms are great for blowing things up," I guess. And they would either have to hate Hive worms such that they would think those worms should be used to kill things rather than let them just live their lives, or they would have to be indifferent to Hive worms, neither interested or disinterested in whether those worms lived.

Also, this is a person who would have to have enough Hive worms around to load into a cannon--they would have to have a reason to even think to build a cannon into which they could load Hive worms.

If we look at Parasite, we can see what look like Hive runes on it, so maybe this is a Hive weapon. My thinking is that Savathun built or commissioned this gun. Her goal in the Season of the Lost is to get rid of her worm, and in The Witch Queen, she has the power of the Light, which suggests the removal of the worm was successful. Savathun doesn't seem to be a fan of the worm gods, the pact the Hive made with them, or the Darkness in general. The other Hive in her Lucent Brood also don't seem to have worms--or at least, the ones with Ghosts probably don't. So if Savathun got rid of her worm, and isn't a fan of worms, and doesn't need a bunch of worms hanging around...maybe she built a worm-launcher. Maybe she even gives it to us, since, despite the fact that we're fighting in her Throne World in The Witch Queen, there still seems to be a weird relationship between Guardians and Savathun in the story.

It might even be a thumb in the eye of Xivu Arath, who is likely still on the prowl to kill Savathun in The Witch Queen.

That's my story theory on Parasite. Savathun's mad at the worms, and rather than just stomping on them or devising a way to kill them, she makes a gun that shoots them at people--preferably other Hive. It's some deliciously petty payback for eons of a parasitic relationship requiring the Hive to constantly conquer other species in order to gain power and resist being consumed by the worms inside them.

I also want to know who at Bungie thought of this thing, because it's excellent and ridiculous.

We're working on a lot more Destiny 2 coverage ahead of The Witch Queen in the coming weeks, including some catch-up guides to get you ready. To start with, you might want to check out our story catch-up article that runs down everything that happened between Beyond Light and The Witch Queen. It's expansive and detailed, and if you missed anything this year, you'll find it there.

And as always, leave any Destiny 2 stuff you want to discuss in the comments below.

Ghostwire: Tokyo – The First Preview

Gaming
There is absolutely no mistaking where Ghostwire: Tokyo – which just confirmed a March 25 release date – takes place. LED billboards beam...

Disco Elysium-inspired RPG leads winners in Vampire: The Masquerade game jam

Zephyrnet

For those missing a bit of Masquerade in their life It’s been a while since we heard from the virtual side of Vampire: The...

The post Disco Elysium-inspired RPG leads winners in Vampire: The Masquerade game jam appeared first on Destructoid.

Netflix Adds a Couple More Games to its Subscription Service

Gaming

A couple of weeks after the last new entries in Netflix’s gaming library, we’ve got a couple more to tell you about. There’s one that’s got dwarves in... Continue reading

The post Netflix Adds a Couple More Games to its Subscription Service appeared first on Droid Gamers.

Lenovo Yoga 9i review: This premium 2-in-1 laptop keeps going and going

Gaming

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

  • Sturdy and sleek all-metal chassis
  • Long battery life
  • Impressive audio output
  • Comfortable keyboard

Cons

  • 16:9 screen feels cramped 
  • Included stylus is too skinny
  • Undersized touchpad
  • Limited ports all on left side

Our Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 9i is an exceptional 2-in-1 in many ways, but the 16:9 display is too wide for its intended use as a versatile productivity laptop and tablet.

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Most of the updates Lenovo made to its flagship 2-in-1 convertible are on the inside, from 11th-gen Intel Core processors and integrated Iris Xe graphics to Thunderbolt 4 support. Outside of these upgrades and slightly rounded corners, the Lenovo Yoga 9i remains similar to the preceding Yoga C940. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Like the Yoga C940, the Yoga 9i delivers a thin and light yet durable all-metal chassis, a satisfying typing experience, and all-day battery life.

The biggest drawback to the Yoga 9i is the display's aspect ratio. At 16:9, it's wide with less room from top to bottom than a 16:10 display affords. More vertical space means less scrolling through long documents and web pages and provides more room to work in general. And, when you move from laptop to tablet mode, the 16:9 display feels awkward for anyone who has used an iPad with its boxy 4:3 screen.

Luckily, the wait for a taller screen will be a short one. Lenovo announced at CES that the next version of the Yoga 9i will feature a 16:10 display. As currently assembled, the Yoga 9i is a stellar 2-in-1, but it might be worth waiting for the update due out this spring if the idea of a taller display intrigues you.

[The best laptops: Premium laptops, budget laptops, 2-in-1s, and more]

Lenovo Yoga 9i Specifications

Lenovo's 14-inch Yoga 9i line starts at $1,299.99 for a configuration that features an 11th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a Full HD (1920×1280) touch display. Our test system features upgrades to the CPU, RAM, and SSD. The above link will send you to a model that's similar to our test configuration. The only difference is that it has a 1TB SSD.

  • CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i7-1195G7
  • Memory: 16GB
  • Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
  • Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
  • Display: 14-inch, 1920×1280 IPS touch
  • Webcam: 720p with physical camera shutter
  • Connectivity: 2 x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports, 1 x USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C port, combo audio jack
  • Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
  • Biometrics: Fingerprint reader
  • Battery capacity: 60 Watt-hours
  • Dimensions: 12.57 x 8.51 x 0.61 inches
  • Measured weight: 3.07 pounds (laptop), 0.7 pounds (AC adapter)

Lenovo offers both Windows 11 Home and Pro, and our test system features the former. There's also a display upgrade option that we didn't get, which trades the baseline Full HD panel rated for 400 nits of brightness for a 4K panel rated for 500 nits. The only other upgrade not included on our test system is a 1TB SSD. We received the 512GB middle child of the three solid-state storage options.

Big sound, wide display

Lenovo offers two color options for the Yoga 9i, one of which comes with a leather lid. If you choose the Shadow Black model, you'll get the swanky leather cover. We received the Mica option, which is Lenovo's name for silver. It doesn't feature the leather lid, unfortunately.

The Mica model is metal from top to bottom. With the added layers needed for the touch display and a sturdy 360-degree hinge, 2-in-1 convertibles weigh more than a comparably sized laptop and the Yoga 9i is no exception to this rule. It weighs a hair over three pounds where many 14-inch laptops weigh closer to 2.5 pounds. Still, the all-metal chassis feels rock-solid with no flex in the keyboard deck and very little flex in the lid.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Lid

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The lid is positioned just a bit off centered from the keyboard deck so that when the laptop is closed, it ov erhangs off the front edge to create a lip that makes it easy to flip open the display. When the display is rotated all the way around into tablet mode, however, the misalignment between the lid and deck is less appealing when gripping the system in tablet mode.

One feature that works equally well in laptop and tablet mode is what Lenovo calls the Rotating Sound Bar — a speaker cleverly built into the system's 360-degree hinge that projects sound toward you no matter the mode (laptop and tablet as well as tent and presentation modes). With speaker grilles on the front and back of the sound bar, the sound is always moving toward your ears.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Speakers

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Lenovo manages to squeeze in a pair of tweeters and two subwoofers that result in surprisingly dynamic output. Most laptops omit subwoofers and their presence can be felt with a bass response that you'll literally feel in your palms as you type while listening to music. The Yoga 9i's audio features impressive separation between highs and mids that you usually don't hear in a laptop — so much so that I hope Lenovo's idea of putting the speaker into a laptop's hinge catches on with other manufacturers.

The FHD display looks sharp across its 14 inches and sufficiently bright at its rated 400 nits of brightness. It's so bright that I wouldn't recommend the UHD 500-nit upgrade. I measured the FHD panel at a maximum brightness of 410 nits with good uniformity, so it definitely lives up to its claims. Colors appeared accurate and vibrant, and the contrast was excellent with deep blacks and bright whites. Really, my only complaint about the display is its wide 16:9 aspect ratio.

After using a number of laptops in the past year with 16:10 displays, having a taller screen is a much better fit for general use and productivity. I'd argue that entertainment-focused laptops have the only cause to use a 16:9 display, as it's a better fit for watching movies. Also, the Yoga 9i's glossy screen coating can produce distracting glare and annoying reflections, but that's usually the case with 2-in-1s and their touch panels.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Display

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Yoga 9i features a standard 720p webcam, but it produces a remarkably well-balanced image. Colors and skin tones looked accurate and the image was largely devoid of the graininess I usually see with 720p cams. This is the rare instance where I don't desire a 1080p upgrade. It lacks IR capability, but Lenovo includes a fingerprint reader for biometric logins. Lastly, the webcam features a physical privacy shield to lend peace of mind when the camera is not in use.

Snappy keyboard, skinny pen

The Yoga 9i's keyboard is roomy and comfortable but lacks the plush feel of a ThinkPad keyboard. The keys are flat with shallow travel, providing a quick response that's firmer than that of a ThinkPad. The only keys that are shortened are the up and down arrow keys. Everything else about the layout feels natural. You also get two-level keyboard backlighting, but you'll need to keep it turned off during daylight hours because you lose the contrast between each silver key and its icon when the backlighting is on and you aren't typing in a dark room.

The touchpad felt responsive with a pleasing click, but I would've liked Lenovo to make it wider to match the aspect ratio of the display. Or, better yet, keep the touchpad as is and change the display to 16:10.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Keyboard

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Yoga 9i includes a garaged pen that hides in the upper-right corner of the laptop on its back edge. The pen charges in its port and features a rubbery Elastometer tip that creates a bit of friction against the touchscreen that approximates writing on paper instead of a glass surface. The pen is too skinny and difficult to grip, however, which prevents it from providing a natural writing and drawing experience.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Pen

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Yoga 9i features four ports and they're all located in a neat row on the laptop's left edge. There's a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports flanked by a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and a combo audio jack. While having two Thunderbolt 4 ports is appreciated, I would've liked to have had them split up with one on each side of the Yoga 9, so you could charge the system from both the left and right side. A volume rocker to use while in tablet mode is also on my 2-in-1 wish list but goes missing on the Yoga 9i.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Ports

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Yoga 9i performance

Our Yoga 9i features the Core i7-1195G7, 16GB of RAM, integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, and a 512GB SSD. While models with the Core i7-1195G7 are currently unavailable, you'll see some with the Core i7-1185G7 chip. Both are quad-core CPUs from Intel's 11th-gen Tiger Lake family of processors that are nearly identical.

We compared the Yoga 9i against other premium 2-in-1s. HP gets two entries in the Intel-based HP Spectre x360 14 and AMD-based HP Envy x360 15. We also included Dell's premium XPS 13 2-in-1 and the midrange Dell Inspiron 14 7000 2-in-1. The former features the Core i7-1165G7 and the latter features the Ryzen 7 5700U. Rounding out the charts is a business-minded convertible from Lenovo in the form of the ThinkBook 14s Yoga based on the Core i7-1165G7. Each laptop features integrated graphics.

PCMark Lenovo Yoga 9i

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Our first benchmark is PCMark 10, which measures performance on everyday computing work including office productivity tasks, web browsing, and video chats. The Yoga 9i gets off to a strong start with a first-place finish on PCMark 10. The above 5,000 score indicates that the Yoga 9i is more than equipped to run Office and other productivity apps and handle a variety of multitasking scenarios.

HandBrake Lenovo Yoga 9i

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Yoga 9i finished ahead of the other Intel machines but behind both AMD systems on our HandBrake test, which involves encoding a large 30GB video file. The Ryzen 7 5700U has double the processing cores and threads as the Yoga 9i's Core i7-1195G7 chip and allowed the Dell Inspiron 14 7000 and HP Envy x360 15 to finish the test in roughly half the time.

Lenovo Yoga Cinebench

IDG / Matthew Elliott

If our HandBrake test is a marathon, then Cinebench is a sprint. This test renders a complex 2D scene over a short period of time. More processing core and threads also lead to better performance on Cinebench and the two AMD systems are clearly a step or three ahead of the Yoga 9i and the Intel competition.

3D Mark Lenovo Yoga 9i

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Yoga 9i doesn't offer the best multitasking performance, but it performed admirably on our 3DMark test. A first-place finish among a group of laptops with integrated graphics, however, does not make it a good fit for gamers. Although Intel's Iris Xe integrated graphics is surprisingly good, as our tests have shown, you'll need a discrete GPU if you plan to use your laptop for gaming.

Battery Life Lenovo Yoga 9i

IDG / Matthew Elliott

To test a laptop's battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10's Movies & TV app with the laptop set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the screen brightness at a relatively bright 250 nits to 260 nits, which is a good brightness for watching a movie in an office with the lights on. The Yoga 9i's 4-cell, 60 Whr battery lasted nearly 16 hours on our battery-drain test, a hugely impressive result and a longer runtime than other 2-in-1s we've reviewed.

Conclusion: Wait for the next update

The Lenovo Yoga 9i has a lot going for it. It really lives up to its premium billing with an all-metal enclosure that is both gorgeous and rock-solid. Its display is bright and vibrant. The innovative speaker bar pumps out impressive sound. The keyboard is roomy and comfortable. The battery runs all day and into the night. As a pure laptop, it's great. But despite its many charms, I recommend waiting a few months for the updated Yoga 9i to arrive that will introduce a taller, 16:10 screen if you plan on using your laptop in convertible touchscreen form.

This model's wide 16:9 display feels cramped and awkward in tablet mode. The taller display will let you view more content on the screen with less scrolling and provide more room to juggle open windows when multitasking. It should also feel more natural when you rotate the screen all the way around into tablet mode. The new model will also feature a thicker pen for a more natural grip for drawing and scribbling. The current Yoga 9i is good, but the next version coming soon looks to be even better.

Genichiro from Sekiro is no match for Havel the Rock, apparently

Zephyrnet

Worlds collide in this Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice character-swapping mod It happened again! A player’s random innocuous Reddit gaming clip...

The post Genichiro from Sekiro is no match for Havel the Rock, apparently appeared first on Destructoid.

OpenSea Records $5B In Monthly Sales Thanks To ETH NFT Markets

Blockchain
OpenSea records $5B in monthly sales thanks to the Ethereum NFT market expanding further as we can see more in our latest Ethereum news. The wider NFT market is expanding and OpenSea records $5B in monthly sales as Bored Apes rides the celebrity buzz. Opensea also had a record-breaking January moment with more than $5 […]
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