Liverpool have been rocked by injuries this season. The Reds have been utterly devastated by the fitness issues theyve faced and Kopites have been clamouring for reinforcements to be brought in in the January transfer window. However, the club appears to be waiting until the summer. According to Melissa Reddy for The Independent, Liverpool will replace Joel Matip at the end of the season.

We never saw this coming.

The Reds sold a centre back in the summer without replacing him.

Who couldve guessed that the invincible Virgil van Dijk would be ruled out for the season?

By mid-November we were down to just one centre back in the first team squad and he isnt the most reliable fitness wise.

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In fact, Matip is currently ruled out with an abductor problem, leaving the Reds without a natural senior centre back in the first team.

Naturally, fans and pundits have been urging Liverpool to invest in January.

The financial reality means that the club will likely have to wait until the end of the season to strengthen.

According to The Independent, Liverpool will look to replace Joel Matip in the summer.

Melissa Reddy wrote: when Liverpool do buy a centre-back, it will be their intention that the player ultimately replaces Matip.

This comes as no surprise.

The persistent injuries to Matip during his time at Anfield have blighted what couldve been an immense career.

He is one of the most naturally talented defenders weve seen at the club this century but he is so rarely fit.

We need a man who can play most of our league games without a problem.

We cant keep chopping and changing our centre back pairings. Bringing in a centre back to replace Joel Matip makes sense.

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Brendan Hodrien is a woolyback writer, born in Birkenhead and raised by his Dads stories of Paris, Wembley and Rome. He has appeared on 90Mins YouTube as well as Channel 4s Ultimate Football Fan Show, he is still coming to terms with Liverpool selling Xabi Alonso.

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Report: Liverpool looking to replace Joel Matip in summer window - Rousing The Kop - Liverpool FC News

A rumor on Thursday claims Apple is developing native Apple Music and Podcasts apps for dissemination on the Microsoft Store, though it remains unclear if the company plans to replace iTunes for Windows.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, 9to5Mac reports Apple is testing Music and Podcasts apps for Microsoft platforms as part of a closed beta process. The apps could make their way to the Microsoft Store later this year.

While not revealed in the report, Apple could be working on an iTunes replacement for Windows. The once-ubiquitous and bloated media management hub was split into distinct apps and system services with the introduction of macOS Catalina, but remains intact on Microsoft's operating system.

Job listings in 2019 hinted that Apple is working on standalone media apps for Windows, a natural expansion for subscription services like Apple Music and Apple TV+. At the time, Apple was seeking engineers with Universal Windows Platform (UWP) experience. The API, introduced alongside Windows 10, allows developers to write and deploy software for use on Windows 10, Xbox One and HoloLens.

Apple most recently released Apple TV+ for Xbox consoles in November, a move that coincided with availability on Sony's latest PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

If Apple chooses to replace iTunes for Windows with standalone Apple Music and Podcasts apps, iPhone users without access to a Mac will need new means of syncing and backing up their device to a host computer. On Mac, those duties are now in the domain of Finder.

See the original post here:
Apple rumored to deliver Apple Music and Podcasts apps to Microsoft Store - AppleInsider

Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ for Business.

Many of the typical differentiators of business PCs don't apply to Microsoft's Surface line. The form factors are the same, for example, and while business laptops often have a fingerprint sensor, the biometric Windows Hello camera is on consumer models as well.

Even a Surface Go with Windows Home has what's effectively BitLocker drive encryption(although it's called 'Device encryption' in Settings because home users don't have the same management options as enterprise admins). With a tablet form factor and USB-C, there are few worries about buying accessories that need to be interchangeable, or whether components will be available down the line because there's nothing replaceable.

SEE: Cheat sheet: Windows 10 PowerToys (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Businesses do care about the packaging of devices (because they're on the hook for disposing of -- and preferably recycling -- it as part of their corporate social responsibility programs), so they like the brown-box packaging for the Surface business line: it's now 99% natural fibre and 64% post-consumer recycled waste.

The things that business really care about in laptops are manageability and security. Business Surface models are available with Windows Autopilot, so they can be delivered preconfigured, and the new Pro 7+ comes with some key Windows security options turned on by default for the first time: HVCI (Hypervisor Code Integrity) and VBS (Virtualization-Based Security).

VBS sets up several small, fast, invisible virtual machines (VMs) on the PC that are separate from the main Windows OS, and Hyper-V tells the PC hardware to treat memory pages for them differently, so each VM can only access its own memory. It handles things like secure Windows logon and the integrity of Hyper-V itself, as well as OS security features like Credential Guard. These are usually optional features, however, and before turning them on organisations want to make sure they don't break any drivers.

Having them on by default is more secure because the PC is protected from the very first time it's turned on turning them on later runs the risk that malware could have already infiltrated the system. It's arguably simpler, as drivers that aren't compatible simply won't get installed. But OEMs tend not to turn them on by default because they worry that performance might be affected.

Microsoft tells us that it did a lot of tuning to Hyper-V (as well as pushing the ecosystem on drivers) so that turning on these security features hasn't reduced performance or battery life. (Also, as business PCs, it's less of a problem if the security features impact the frame rate of some games than it would be on consumer devices.)

Hopefully, that will encourage other PC vendors to start turning them on by default as well, because although Windows has a range of security features that use the hardware virtualisation features in CPUs, many PCs with the right hardware don't take advantage of them. Surface is an important business line for Microsoft and the devices have to succeed in their own right, but part of its raison d'tre is to showcase how the hardware can enable Windows features in ways that other OEMs can follow.

The Pro 7+ doesn't go as far as the Surface Pro X and other Secured-core PCs, which use the CPU to check the measurements made during Secure Boot before loading Windows, in case malware has compromised UEFI or other firmware on the PC. Attacks on firmware have been increasing since 2016 and Secured-core offers the kind of protection you need in regulated industries because the device is protected before the TPM is initialised in the factory, so you don't have to worry about supply-chain attacks where the PCs you order are intercepted and tampered with before they reach you. When Secured-core PCs were announced in 2019, Microsoft director of OS security Dave Weston told us that they're "specifically designed for highly targeted industries that handle super-sensitive data and need added, multiple layers of security built in."

SEE:Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything

Not everyone needs that level of security, especially when it comes at the cost of some convenience. Like the new Pluton security processor, Secured-core PCs, take several lessons from the way Microsoft secures the Xbox, although Windows isn't becoming a appliance in the same way a games console is.

But you can't, for example, install a new DMA device attached over Thunderbolt on a Secured-core PC until you unlock it with a PIN or biometrics. And it's always possible that turning on all the Windows security features will mean some badly written driver that you actually need won't work.

That's far less of a problem in the Arm ecosystem where there are fewer legacy drivers to worry about and where every device is already running a hypervisor (usually the one Qualcomm provides). As long as Hyper-V delivers as good or better performance as that hypervisor, there's no performance impact from turning on the security features for Windows on Arm devices like the Surface Pro X.

For the Pro 7+ Microsoft told us that although it's not a Secured-core device, the company feels it has equivalent levels of security thanks to the custom UEFI firmware used in Surface devices.

These two features, which are the basis of so many advanced Windows security features, can push the x86 ecosystem along so that, over time, all PCs can eventually ship secure by default. And while it's too early to see the Pluton security processor showing up in Surface, Microsoft did tell us that's definitely on the roadmap for the future.

The Surface Pro 7+ has a removable SSD.

Another notable thing about the Pro 7+ is its removable SSD. On the Surface Pro X models, this seems like a way to get flexibility in pricing and spec: you could buy a cheaper unit with the storage you thought you'd need and upgrade when you discovered you were doing more on the device than you'd planned. Or, as happened to us, you could buy a Pro X with less storage that you really wanted because the larger models weren't shipping and plan to upgrade later. (That upgrade hasn't happened yet because the right format of SSD has been hard to find.)

We did ask Microsoft if the company had taken any steps to make that easier for businesses would additional SSDs be available through the Microsoft Store or deals with OEMs? but the spokesperson had nothing to share.

In fact, although you could use the removable SSD to upgrade the storage capacity, even with OneDrive integration making it easy to get your files, cloning and reimaging devices is still a somewhat tedious process. The removable SSD in the Pro 7+ isn't really there for device upgrades; it's for data retention. If the Surface Pro is damaged, the organization doesn't have to worry about losing data that needs to be archived or securely deleted. It's much easier to scrub an SSD that you can pop out of the slot and put into an external enclosure than one that you have to prise out of a sealed tablet with specialist tools and a hot air gun (or send back to Microsoft).

Go here to read the rest:
Surface Pro 7+ for Business: Here's what makes it different - ZDNet

Need a quick but powerful way to rename large groups of files in Windows 10? Using Microsofts free PowerToys, all that power is only a right-click away thanks to the PowerRename module. Heres how to use it.

Before all this exciting renaming action can begin, youll first need to download PowerToys from Microsofts website. To get it, visit this link in your favorite browser and look for the latest release toward the top of the page, which will have a name similar to PowerToysSetup-0.27.1-x64.exe. Download that file and run it to install PowerToys.

After youve installed PowerToys, launch PowerToys Settings and click PowerRename in the sidebar. Make sure that the switch beside Enable PowerRename is turned on.

After that, close the PowerToys Settings window.

RELATED: All Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows 10, Explained

Now that you have PowerToys installed, renaming a bunch of files is as easy as a right-click menu choice. First, locate the files that you want to rename in File Explorer or on the desktop and select them.

Then right-click the files and select PowerRename from the menu that appears.

The PowerRename window will open. This is where the magic happens.

First, enter the criteria that will determine what gets renamed. By default, PowerRename works with simple search-and-replace functionality. In the first text box, type a search term. On the next line, enter what you want to replace it with. PowerRename will replace the first occurrence (or every occurrence if you check a box) of that term in all of the file names youve selected with the replacement text.

Heres an example where P4 in each file name has been replaced with photo_. The neat thing is that PowerRename provides a preview of what the renamed files will look like right there in the window. That way, you dont have to guess what the result might be.

Near the middle of the window, youll see other options that change how PowerRename works. Consider each one and place a checkmark beside those that you want to use. Heres what each option does:

When youre ready, click the Rename button, and PowerRename will perform the operation youve specified.

If you dont like the result, you can press Ctrl+Z in File Explorer to undo the rename process. Very handy!

What if you dont want to just replace a word in a file, but rather, youd like to replace the entire filename with something completely new? In that case, youd want a wildcard to match all of the files youve selected. To do that, youll need to use a very simple, regular expression, .*, which means everything.

In this example, well replace all file names selected with a base file name that gets progressively numbered. First, enter .* in the Search for box, then enter the name youd like to use in the Replace with box. Then check Use Regular Expressions, Enumerate Items, and Item Name Only.

With all that checked, youll end up with a series of similarly named files that are numbered in sequential order. When youre done setting it up, click Rename, and the operation will complete. Have fun renaming things!

RELATED: How To Use Basic Regular Expressions to Search Better and Save Time

Need more power and options? Try these other batch rename tools for Windows.

RELATED: How to Batch Rename Multiple Files in Windows

Continued here:
How to Easily Batch Rename Files on Windows 10 - How-To Geek

(UK Athletics | Sarah Caputi)

(UK Athletics | Sarah Caputi)

COVID-19 has infiltrated the SEC, forcing the postponement of UKs second conference game earlier on Tuesday, but a quick fix might be right in front of us.

The Kentucky Womens Basketball Team was supposed to take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers down in Knoxville this Sunday on Jan. 3, but due to coronavirus concerns, that game has been temporarily shelved. As pointed out to me by Conner Robinson (@ConnerRobinson7) on Twitter, the postponement of other games across the league has incidentally opened up an opportunity for the Wildcats. Robinson noted that Mississippi State is also currently in need of an opponent on Jan. 3.

Across the street from the Vols, the Vanderbilt Commodores are in a similar COVID situation, as theyve postponed their first three SEC games due to coronavirus protocols. One of those games also happens to fall on Jan. 3, in which Vandy would have played No. 12 Mississippi State. Now the Bulldogs are in search of a game to playwhy not Kentucky?

The Wildcats were already scheduled to travel down to Knoxville on Sunday while the Bulldogs would have hosted Vanderbilt. If Kentucky is willing to travel the extra mileage, they could swap out the postponed game against Tennessee with a ranked matchup against Mississippi State.

It works out even more perfectly than that, too, as Robinson explained to me. He pointed out that Kentucky is currently scheduled to play MSU on Jan. 24 while Tennessee will matchup against Vanderbilt on the same day. If the schedule-makers switch UK and Vandy on Jan. 24, pitting the Wildcats against the Volunteers and Bulldogs against the Commodores on Jan. 24, it would cleanly fix the issue. This also assumes that no other major scheduling changes have been made from now until then, which could be a hiccup rescheduling this Sunday with such a small turnaround window.

The biggest downside? It would force Kentucky to play three games in a row against top 15 opponents instead of three spread across four games. If the Cats were to find a way to swap out UT with MSU, then theyd play the No. 12 team, No. 9 team, and No. 5 team in back-to-back-to-back outings.

View original post here:
A potential replacement for the postponed matchup between Kentucky WBB and Tennessee - kentuckysportsradio.com

IfAMD,IntelandNvidia's statistics are correct, you're most likely using a computer and graphics card that are several years old. For PC gaming, animation, video editing and other heavyweight graphics-intensive activities, that's just about forever. Much has changed in the past few years, so chances are you're no longer using a modern card -- much less the best graphics card out there -- with new technologies like ray-tracing acceleration and smart resolution upscaling. And games and software used by creative folks for applications like 3D tools and video editors have only gotten more demanding.

Even if you just need the basics for streaming video or surfing the web, the best graphics card can make your system feel snappier by improving the acceleration of video decoding or redrawing your screens faster, especially if you had previously used a budget GPU. With a Thunderbolt 3-equipped laptop or iMac, you can even upgrade the graphics using an external graphics processing unit (an eGPU with its own power supply) or a dedicated graphics card.

For color work, however, Nvidia finally made your old GeForce card a little more useful: As of version 431.70 (released July 29, 2019), the Studio branch of its drivers opened up true 30-bit color support for Photoshop and other Adobe applications. So no more shelling out megabucks for a Quadro workstation card just for the extra bit depth.

Now playing: Watch this: Full breakdown of Nvidia's new RTX 3000 series (3070,...

3:56

The hardware landscape is constantly in flux. As an example, the latest graphics card options in the $500-or-less price range seem to change every six months or so, with AMD and Nvidia overhauling their lineups for the popular 1080p and entry 1440p markets they're for. These biannual shufflings are pretty typical in an era of the ever-improving refresh rate and expanding memory bandwidth. Those models tend to be announced much later than the flagships, so if you're on a tight budget but want something new and cheap, wait until early 2021.

The now-current generation of cards from Nvidia and AMD launched as of October 2020, but are still in the LOL-try-to-get-one-and-overpay stage of the buying cycle. That's partly because Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070 and 3080, and AMD'sRadeon RX 6800, 6800 XT and 6900 XTperform noticeably better all around than the previous generations.

The RTX 3000 series follow on the Super equivalents, and in the case of the 3090, the Titan RTX. The cards use the new Ampere architecture, with improved algorithms and more processing power dedicated to ray tracing (second-gen Turing core), AI (for more efficient upscaling via DLSS) and programmable shaders. They deliver some big jumps in performance over the 2000 series.

I had a very good experience with the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3as well as the Nvidia Founders Edition models.

AMD's latest GPUs are based on its RDNA 2-gen architecture, used in the Xbox Series X, S and PS5 consoles, and for the first time target 4K gamers (the company previously concentrated on 1080p and 1440p gaming). Hardware performance improvements stem partly from the higher-density on-dieInfinity Cachedesign (all have 128MB) and enhanced design of the compute units (including a newRay Acceleratorcore for each compute unit). They combine to improve the memory subsystem by reducing the latency of moving data around, increase bandwidth by up to 2.2x with a narrower path (256 bits) and deliver better energy efficiency. That also allows the processors to hit higher clock frequencies without a substantial increase in power requirements.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers great performance, especially as AMD's first significant stab at a 4K-targeted gaming GPU.

The AMD GPUs have been optimized to achieve peak performance when used in conjunction with the company's newRyzen 5000series of desktop CPUs, though it doesn't sound like they get much of a boost from it. If every frame counts, though, it's something to keep in mind. They also support Microsoft'sDirectStorageprogramming interface, which accelerates SSD access by circumventing the CPU to improve storage-intensive game tasks like load times in games developed with it in mind.

Read more:Best gaming chairs we've sat in for 2021

The new architectures for ray-tracing acceleration are accompanied by a larger set of technologies that tend to be lumped in with them because they also improve or accelerate rendering in general. These include upscaling algorithms, for example, which render for a higher resolution screen using native-resolution textures (while maintaining frame rates); in other words, using textures for 1080p to render for 1440p. Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling and AMD's Radeon Contrast Adaptive Sharpening do this.

Though most have technically shipped, neither AMD nor Nvidia's cards are available. We're knee deep in the biggest sale season of the year, but I haven't seen any good deals on graphics cards, except for the very low end. And last-gen cards are overpriced relative to the current generation, and the properly priced cards are all out of stock.

Now playing: Watch this: Everything AMD just revealed at its RX 6000 graphics...

5:45

Ready to throw down some cash for a new graphics card for your gaming rig or laptop? Don't spend a single cent on a graphics card for gaming until you read this buying guide of the best graphics card, wherein we consider everything from video memory, refresh rate and frame rate to power consumption, memory clock and gaming performance. Plus, our general GPU shopping tips at the end will help you make your choice. We update this periodically.

Read more:Best cheap gaming mice

Sure, it's a reasonable price. But if you're planning to spend around $100 on a budget graphics card, don't expect to game with the GeForce GT at 1080p -- 720p at best unless a game is very lightweight, though Fortnite, CS:GO, League of Legends and other multiplayer competitive games generally fall under the "can play on a potato" umbrella. Many games may simply go from unplayable to a little less unplayable. This Nvidia graphics card does for a gaming PC what Nvidia's MX chips do for laptops. In other words,plenty of the latest games will run on it, but many users won't benefit. Cards can come with the chip overclocked, which gives it a little extra oomph as well.

If you've got an old desktop with integrated graphics that don't support the current versions ofgraphics programming interfaces such as DirectX 12 or Vulkan, or if you just want to make your Windows experience feel a little more snappy or smooth, a GT 1030-based card can help. The GT line is designed with lower power requirements than the more popular GeForce GTX models, so it can fit in systems with lesser power supplies and compact designs. Unlike most gaming graphics cards, 1030-based cards can be low-profile and take up just a single slot for connectivity, and are quieter because they only require a single fan.

You may see a random AMD Radeon RX 550 carddrop down below $100, and that's a good choice if you're looking for something with a little extra gaming oomph over the 1030 or support for two monitors. But it takes a lot more space and power than the simple GT half-height replacement cards.

There used to be more options in the $100-$150 range; now, they mostly fall below $100 or above $150, which is frankly annoying. But between $150 and $200 may find the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super-based cards and the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT cards, both of which deliver very similar, solid entry-level 1080p gaming at low or medium settings for all but the most GPU-intensive games. But even these are really hard to find now.

And since much basic photo editing still isn't very GPU-intensive, a fast, high-core-count CPU still gives you more performance value for the money than a higher-power graphics card.

One distinction between the two that may affect your decision is power draw: the RX 5500 XT takes about 30 watts more than the 1650S. Since they're both under 150 watts, though, your power supply probably isn't a problem.

But unless your budget is extremely tight I suggest you spend a little more (about $250 or so) for at least a GTX 1660 Super: It has 6GB of video memory rather than 4GB, which gives you some headroom to improve the visual quality settings in a game, as well as lowers its near-term obsolescence quotient.

AMD's Radeon RX 5600 XT delivers the best graphics card performance for this price tier compared with its competitor, the GTX 1660 Ti. The next real performance and capability jump is to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti above $400, which makes this a good sweet spot to settle in as well.

With reasonably comparable performance at lower prices, Nvidia's new RTX 3060 Ti cards have a price edge over its RX 6800-based competitors, though the latter is a good graphics card to stick in an external GPU for a Mac. You can't get either one of the cards now, though; they're all out of stock. Read RTX 3060 Ti hands on.

My preference here is for the Radeon RX 6800, which generally performs better than the 3070, but not on everything. For instance, I've noticed that the RTX 3070 occasionally does better on 1080p than the RX 6800, while the latter GPU makes a better showing in 4K. For video editing, the RX 6800's larger bandwidth and 16GB of VRAM give it a leg up over the RTX 3070 as well, exceptif your application takes advantage of Nvidia's CUDA programming interface to accelerate it.

Though it's all moot because everything's sold out, anyway. Read RX 6800 hands on.

As with the step-down price segment the RX 6800 XT generally outperforms the more expensive RTX 3080 especially at higher resolutions and in professional graphics applications, thanks to the better memory bandwidth and more video memory. But that likewise doesn't always hold true, especially with software that takes advantage of Nvidia CUDA.

Also out of stock everywhere. Read RX 6800 XT hands on.

The situation flips when you climb above $1,000, since the RTX 3090 essentially replaces the Titan RTX with 24GB of video memory. I haven't yet had a chance to test either the RTX 3090 or its competitor, the RX 6900 XT, so this is a tentative recommendation. But you can't find it in stock anywhere, anyway.

Things to keep in mind when looking for the best graphics card:

If you subscribe to only one CNET newsletter, this is it. Get editors' top picks of the day's most interesting reviews, news stories and videos.

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

MSI MEG Trident X (RTX 2070 Super)

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

Origin PC Chronos (RTX 3080)

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

Origin PC Chronos (RTX 3080)

MSI MEG Trident X (RTX 2070 Super)

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

Maingear Turbo (RTX 2080 Ti)

Origin PC Chronos (RTX 3080)

MSI MEG Trident X (RTX 2070 Super)

MSI Aegis RS (RTX 3060 Ti)

Maingear Turbo (RTX 2080 Ti)

Origin PC Chronos (RTX 3080)

MSI Trident X (RTX 2070 Super)

Maingear Turbo (RTX 2080 Ti)

Origin PC Chronos (RTX 3080)

Go here to see the original:
Best graphics card for gamers and creatives in 2021 - CNET

Windows at Emerson Hough Elementary are going to be replaced, but it will cost the Newton school district $135,000 of its Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds, which is funding stream primarily used for infrastructure needs.

Tim Bloom, director of business services, said the Newton Community School District received two bids. The $135,000 bid came from Elite Glass & Metal, LLC. Bloom said NCSD Maintenance Supervisor Jack Suttek met with the two companies and walked them through Emerson Hough.

Suttek told school board members that the contractors took good notes during their tour. The part of the Emerson Hough building that maintenance is looking at is the original, two-story rectangular section. Right now, the school is experiencing weather issues with those windows.

School board member Graham Sullivan asked Suttek if the contractor is going to replace all the windows in Emerson Hough. Suttek confirmed Elite Glass & Metal will replace most of them, except for the big ornamental-type windows in the gymnasium and some other areas of the school.

Were definitely going to make a nice improvement on that building with those windows, Suttek said. There are some nice, one-inch insulated aluminum windows (that are) going to match all the existing windows in the building. Of course, originally that school did not have a drop ceiling.

Both contractors the other being Forman Ford have worked with the Newton school district in the past and are very reputable companies, Suttek added. Bloom acknowledged the Emerson Hough window project was initially budgeted at a lower price than the proposed bids.

We did have this as part of our capital improvement plan, he added. Our budget was $100,000. This came in at a little bit more. We feel like this is a good investment. It might shift some things in our capital improvement plan, but right now its not affecting anything.

The school district had a good carryover balance, which allowed for the extra $35,000 to be absorbed, Bloom said.

Suttek said the rest of the building will not need replacement projects for the next 10-15 years. The windows on the north side edition of Emerson Hough, Suttek pointed out, are still in good shape. The districts maintenance supervisor is hoping to be done with windows for quite a few years to come.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com

See the article here:
Emerson Hough windows to be replaced for $135K - Newton Daily News

A do-it-yourself approach for home improvement projects may reduce your initial costs but for certain jobs, the risks far outweigh any potential savings. If any of these projects are on your to-do list, call in the pros unless youve got plenty of related experience.

1. Roof replacement

Roofing is extremely hard and dangerous work. Any upfront savings you might get with a DIYroof replacementcould easily be eclipsed by the costs of making expensive mistakes or causing dangerous accidents. Aside from having the skills and tools needed to do a decent job, youll also need to climb ladders, lift heavy materials and navigate a steeply pitched surface high above the ground. Risks include:

Cost of hiring a pro

Roofers charge about $150 to $300 per roofing square in addition to the cost of materials, which typically brings the total price of installing a new roof over your existing one to about $5,400 to $10,900, according to the home services company HomeAdvisor. Removing the old roof or repairing damage can add to that cost.

In some cases, homeowners insurance might cover some or all of these expenses. Opting for less-expensive materials can also lower the bill. And if youre installing an energy-efficient roof that meets certain criteria, you might qualify for a tax credit.

2. Mold removal

Everyones cleaned up a bit of mold at some point, and even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives the green light on DIY mold removal for areas under 10 square feet. But once mold infestation becomes widespread, it might become necessary to open up walls, lift up carpeting or take out fixtures to fully remove it and clean and dry the space thoroughly. A DIY approach, in this case, means risking:

Cost of hiring a pro

Professional mold remediation generally costs about $1,500 to $3,150, or $15 to $30 per square foot, according to HomeGuide, a home services referral website.

To make sure that money is well-spent, go with an experienced, well-reviewed mold remediation specialist who can do a thorough job.

3. Toilet replacement

To install a new toilet, youll have to shut off the water; disconnect, drain and remove the old toilet; and seal and connect the new one. Thats a manageable task for someone with basic plumbing knowledge. But if youre a DIY newbie, its trickier. Risks include:

Cost of hiring a pro

The average labor cost for basic toilet installation runs between $70 and $190, according to the services marketplace website Thumbtack, and that doesnt include the price of the toilet. Underlying problems your plumber finds (such as leaky pipes, a cracked flange or leaky valves) can increase costs; disposing of your old toilet also runs about $50 to $200, the site notes.

If youre installing a water-saving toilet, you might qualify for arebate from your state, which could defray some of these costs.

4. Window replacement

Replacing drafty old windowscan reduce your utility bills but only if its done correctly. Installing a window is a meticulous process, and any mistakes may leave your home unexpectedly vulnerable to the elements. Other pitfalls include:

Cost of hiring a pro

Professional window installation usually runs between $175 to $700 per window, but can be much more expensive for high-end windows, according to Angies List, a website that provides referrals for home services pros. If the frame needs to be replaced, thats extra.

Choosing less-expensive materials reduces upfront costs. And if youre switching to more energy-efficient windows that meet certain specifications and are professionally installed, you might qualify for rebates in some states.

More From NerdWallet

Roberta Pescow is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: USexpansion@nerdwallet.com.

The rest is here:
4 home repair projects that are best left to the pros - OregonLive

Honda is recalling a total of 1.79 million cars worldwide1.4 million in the U.S.across four separate campaigns. It boils down to three distinct issues, one of which has been linked to over a dozen reported fires due to a part that's already been recalled before. According to the NHTSA doc, precisely 268,652 CR-Vs from model years 2002 to 2006 have been recalled in the U.S. over power window master switches that are at risk of melting, smoking, and catching fire if exposed to moisture.

Notably, the issue was already addressed in a 2012 recall that apparently attempted to remedy the issue using butyl tape. The documentation specifically calls out this previous campaign as "insufficient" and will be replacing switches entirely this time around with a redesigned part.

Via NHTSA: "The recall remedy for NHTSA recall ID number 12V-486 of applying butyl tape to seal the power window master switch (PWMS) from moisture was insufficient. The butyl tape could separate from the PWMS if improperly applied. Under certain conditions, moisture may enter through an open drivers window and reach the PWMS on the door. Over time, exposure to moisture can cause electrical resistance in the switch, which ultimately can cause the switch to overheat and melt, damaging the switch and potentially damaging an associated wire harness. Additionally, if a switch melts, it could produce smoke and increase the risk of a fire."

As of late November, Honda is aware of 16 fires and 87 reported "thermal events" related to the second-gen CR-V's window switch woes but no injuries.

Honda's recall blitz also affects 737,233 cars made much more recently such as certain 2018 to 2020 Accords, Accord Hybrids, and 2019 to 2020 Insights that have been recalled in order to install an update to those cars' Body Control Module software. "Inappropriate software programming" is said to be the culprit over electrical components failing after "a certain combination of driver actions and vehicle conditions" that "may intermittently or continuously disrupt communication between the BCM and other components." This is said to affect windshield defrosters, wipers, automatic headlights, turn signals, rearview cameras, and power window systems.

Lastly, two separate campaigns will address front driveshafts on some of the company's compact models that may break due to corrosion from road salt. Only applying to cars residing in 22 states and the District of Columbia that keep ice off their roads during the wintertime using salt, Honda's recall applies to the 2012 Civic Hybrid, 2007 to 2014 Fit, 2013 to 2015 Acura ILX, and 2013 to 2015 Accord, according to Reuters. Affected cars will be inspected and if (but only if) corrosion is found, front driveshafts will be replaced.

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Honda Recalls Nearly 1.8 Million Cars Over Flaming Window Switches and Corroding Driveshafts - The Drive

New West Brom manager Sam Allardyce has admitted the January transfer window will be important to the clubs hopes of survival.

The 66-year-old has been tasked with the job of keeping the Baggies in the Premier League and signed a contract until the end of the 2021-22 season.

Allardyce replaced Slaven Bilic, who was sacked after West Brom secured only one victory from their opening 13 games to leave them two points from safety.

Speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday morning, the new man in the hotseat at the Hawthorns said: They (the board) are prepared to get some players, but we need to find where those players are and who wants to let a player go in this pandemic.

I cant suggest at this moment how many players we need.

By the time I had finished four weeks and no wins in six games at Crystal Palace, I knew exactly what we needed to do and pushed Steve (Parish) beyond the brink of really where he wanted to go which paid off in the end.

It will be a very important part I think and while the players here are trying their very best and had a fantastic gutsy performance at Manchester City, which I watched live on the TV, it is always good when a player sees a new player come in.

And then sees that player on the training ground who will make them better. The difficulty is finding that player and we will have to do our best to do that.

This is Allardyces first role since he left Everton after he guided them to an eighth-place finish in the 2017-18 campaign after they were embroiled in a relegation battle when he had replaced Marco Silva six months earlier.

After keeping up Sunderland and Crystal Palace in similar circumstances, the one-time England national team boss expressed sympathy for predecessor Bilic, who replaced him at West Ham in 2015.

You always look at the job and say how difficult will it be and have you got an opportunity to try and turn it around and use your experience, which I have done on many occasions over the last few years and I only hope I can have the same influence at West Brom, with no guarantee of course, that I have had at many other clubs, Allardyce added.

All of a sudden you have gone 13 games with only one win and unfortunately for Slaven that is what has cost (him) and made West Brom think they need to make a change.

I know Slaven and he is a great guy, but it is what it is when the board make a decision and I am here to try and save West Brom and keep them in the division for next season. If I can do that it would be great.

Bilic has expressed his sadness at leaving West Brom but wished his old club all the best in their battle for Premier League survival.

The Croatian was dismissed by the Baggies on Wednesday, with his last game in charge a creditable 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Tuesday.

During his year-and-a-half spell at the Hawthorns, the 52-year-old led the club back to the top flight with automatic promotion last season, but seven points out of a possible 39 this term has proved his undoing.

I am hugely disappointed to have left West Bromwich Albion, Bilic said in a statement to the Daily Mail.

I am honoured to have managed this unique football club with full commitment and integrity. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to all the players, my hard-working coaching team and our dedicated staff.

I am incredibly proud that we secured automatic promotion from the Championship in our first season. It was a real shame to not have our loyal supporters there with us during that moment and upon our return to the Premier League.

In what has been a really difficult year for so many, those special fans have stood alongside us throughout it all.

My staff and I are grateful for having had the privilege to serve them. They would have enjoyed some of our excellent performances where the team showed how much they wanted us to succeed.

Ultimately, I am sad that it hasnt worked out in the way we wanted. But I leave with my head held high, along with some wonderful memories that I will always cherish.

Im sorry that I cannot say goodbye to you all properly at The Hawthorns. I genuinely wish the club well for the future.

West Brom are second from bottom and two points from safety, with new boss Allardyce due to face the media later on Thursday afternoon.

Originally posted here:
Sam Allardyce admits January transfer window could be key to West Brom survival - FourFourTwo