Recommended Posts

With its idyllic beaches and seemingly limitless sunshine, most of us have long known that it is the lucky country.

And according to an international league table of happiness, Australia truly does take some beating on its quality of life.

It has ranked number one on the OECD?s first such chart ? and, somewhat unsurprisingly, well ahead of Britain, which came tenth.

But while Britons may not be quite as content as our friends Down Under, we?re happier than the Germans or the French, according to the rankings.

Australia?s strong economy, good public health, low pollution and low levels of crime were some of the reasons why it is better off, the OECD said.

The attraction is already well known to the tens of thousands of Britons flocking there each year in search of a better life. In 2011 49,000 emigrated Down Under.

The OECD?s Better Life Index is based on 11 categories, including income, jobs, housing and health, surveyed in 36 nations. Overall, the UK was beaten by a string of Scandinavian countries, among them Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Britain scored highly on income levels, high employment, low crime, and community spirit ? measured by polls that found almost everyone knew a person they could rely on in times of trouble. It also ranked highly on the environment, based on lower air pollution and water quality.

more

post-37120-0-97430600-1369838166.jpg

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1155340-australia-tops-in-happiness/
Share on other sites

Australia?s strong economy, good public health, low pollution and low levels of crime were some of the reasons why it is better off, the OECD said.

Don't forget the koalas. How can you look at a koala and not be happy...

  • Like 2

Guys, guys, lets keep this on the d-lo....after all its just a table, anyone can make tables with data...no reason to consider moving to Aus.. :shiftyninja:

Ahh... Yeah. We're not really that happy. Remember we have snakes, spiders, octopus, stingrays, and all types of deadly **** everywhere. It's best you all stay where you are. You're much safer there. :p

It'd be totally worth if to be happy. :D

Happiness is relevant :)

Australia would be a rather expensive move for most.

That I agree.

Guys, guys, lets keep this on the d-lo....after all its just a table, anyone can make tables with data...no reason to consider moving to Aus.. :shiftyninja:

:ninjapirate:

I'm happy with that result! ;)

:ike:

england ? low crime? ....there is a field that is right out side my flat... in the last month there were two murders....and unconfirmed number of rapes.

Sounds like they really need to wall off that field.

Even some of earth's rarest creatures love it there! Some of them are only found there!

Giant, fluorescent pink slugs found on mountain

giant-pink-slug.jpg

It would seem to be something you'd see only in a cartoon or at a Phish concert, but according to park rangers in New South Wales, Australia, dozens of giant, fluorescent pink slugs have been popping up on a mountaintop there.

"As bright pink as you can imagine, that's how pink they are," Michael Murphy, a ranger with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "On a good morning, you can walk around and see hundreds of them."

The eight-inch creatures have been spotted only on Mount Kaputar, a 5,000-foot peak in the Nandewar Range in northern New South Wales.

Scientists believe the eye-catching organisms are survivors from an era when Australia was home to rainforests. A series of volcanoes, millions of years of erosion and other geological changes "have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar," the park service wrote on its Facebook page, and unique arid conditions spared the slugs from extinction.

They "probably would have long since vanished, if a volcano had not erupted at Mount Kaputar about 17 million years ago," Ben Cubby wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. "The result of that eruption is a high-altitude haven for invertebrates and plant species that have been isolated for millions of years, after Australia dried out and the rainforests receded."

And they're not the only unusual inhabitants on the mountain.

"We've actually got three species of cannibal snail on Mount Kaputar, and they're voracious little fellas," Murphy said. "They hunt around on the forest floor to pick up the slime trail of another snail, then hunt it down and gobble it up."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/giant-flourescent-pink-slugs-140528983.html

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • OpenAI announces GPT‑5.6 Sol, its next-generation flagship model beating Claude Mythos 5 by Pradeep Viswanathan Credit: OpenAI OpenAI today announced a limited preview of its new GPT-5.6 model series, which includes the Sol, Terra, and Luna models targeting different price points. GPT-5.6 Sol is the flagship model targeted at demanding reasoning and agentic workloads. GPT-5.6 Terra is positioned as a balanced model for everyday work, featuring performance competitive with GPT-5.5 while being half the cost. GPT-5.6 Luna is the fastest and most affordable model, delivering strong capability at a lower price point. Unlike previous model releases from OpenAI, GPT-5.6 is starting with a limited preview for a small group of trusted partners due to U.S. government restrictions. As expected, OpenAI previewed its plans and the models' capabilities to the U.S. government ahead of launch, and the government asked OpenAI to limit the first wave of access to select partners. OpenAI also mentioned in the official announcement blog post that it does not believe this type of government access process should become the long-term default. OpenAI highlighted that GPT-5.6 Sol comes with a robust safety stack featuring improved protections for higher-risk activity, sensitive cyber requests, and repeated misuse. The company also spent several weeks pressure-testing the system and hardening it against real-world attacks. On the capability side, as expected, GPT-5.6 Sol is OpenAI’s strongest model yet. It delivers better results in agentic performance across coding, biology, and cybersecurity. On the Terminal-Bench 2.1 benchmark, which tests command-line workflows requiring planning, iteration, and tool coordination, GPT-5.6 Sol sets a new record with a score of 91.9%, beating Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5. Additionally, GPT-5.6 introduces a new "max" reasoning effort for even deeper reasoning. The new "ultra" mode uses subagents to accelerate complex work beyond what a single agent can handle. Pricing starts at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens for Sol. Terra costs $2.50 for input and $15 for output, while Luna costs $1 for input and $6 for output. GPT-5.6 comes with more predictable prompt caching, including support for explicit cache breakpoints and a 30-minute minimum cache life. Sol will also launch on Cerebras in July at speeds up to 750 tokens per second for select customers. OpenAI plans to make GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna broadly available in ChatGPT, Codex, and the API in the coming weeks.
    • I'm not sure if you are trolling because I saw people saying this with the straight face, but there were no United States of America when industrial revolution started, just United Colonies 🤣 p.s. I'm not British, so I'm not offended.
    • Glad I uninstalled this incredibly buggy browser. Looking at that changelog, they clearly don't test their updates at all.
    • UniGetUI 2026.2.2 by Razvan Serea UniGetUI is an application whose main goal is to create an intuitive GUI for the most common CLI package managers for Windows 10 and Windows 11, such as Winget, Scoop and Chocolatey. With UniGetUI, you'll be able to download, install, update and uninstall any software that's published on the supported package managers — and so much more. UniGetUI features Install, update and remove software from your system easily at one click: UniGetUI combines the packages from the most used package managers for windows: WinGet, Chocolatey, Scoop, Pip, Npm and .NET Tool. Discover new packages and filter them to easily find the package you want. View detailed metadata about any package before installing it. Get the direct download URL or the name of the publisher, as well as the size of the download. Easily bulk-install, update or uninstall multiple packages at once selecting multiple packages before performing an operation Automatically update packages, or be notified when updates become available. Skip versions or completely ignore updates in a per-package basis. Manage your available updates at the touch of a button from the Widgets pane or from Dev Home pane with UniGetUI Widgets. The system tray icon will also show the available updates and installed package, to efficiently update a program or remove a package from your system. Easily customize how and where packages are installed. Select different installation options and switches for each package. Install an older version or force to install a 32bit architecture. [But don't worry, those options will be saved for future updates for this package] Share packages with your friends to show them off that program you found. Here is an example: Hey @friend, Check out this program! Export custom lists of packages to then import them to another machine and install those packages with previously-specified, custom installation parameters. Setting up machines or configuring a specific software setup has never been easier. Backup your packages to a local file to easily recover your setup in a matter of seconds when migrating to a new machine Devolutions UniGetUI 2026.2.2 changelog: This release marks the completion of UniGetUI's migration from WinUI to Avalonia. With the remaining WinUI components and dependencies now removed, UniGetUI is fully powered by Avalonia. This update also brings Windows 11 Snap Layouts support, refined styling throughout the application, improved log viewing, new illustrations, and significantly smaller release packages. Highlights Further refined the Avalonia user interface to better match WinUI styling and behavior across package lists, navigation elements, dialogs, and controls. Added support for Windows 11 Snap Layouts when hovering the maximize button, matching the behavior of native Windows applications. Added illustrations for empty and loading package list states, improving visual feedback throughout the application. Improved the operation log window so automatic scrolling no longer interrupts users when reviewing previous log entries. Reduced installer and application package sizes, resulting in smaller downloads and a significantly leaner Windows distribution. User Interface Improvements Improved package list styling, column headers, backgrounds, hover states, and selection indicators for a more polished and consistent experience. Refined sidebar navigation and segmented controls to better align with modern Windows design patterns. Improved package tag badges and icon presentation throughout the application. Updated several labels, placeholders, and interface elements for improved clarity and consistency. Removed the remaining WinUI-specific styling dependencies, further consolidating the application around Avalonia. Windows Improvements Added native Windows 11 Snap Layouts integration for the maximize button. Improved maximize button hover and pressed visual states to more closely match native Windows behavior. Performance & Reliability Reduced the size of Windows release packages by removing unnecessary runtime dependencies and optimizing published builds. Reduced installer size through improved compression settings. Simplified application dependencies and reduced overall maintenance complexity. Fixes Fixed log output auto-scrolling behavior when manually reviewing previous entries. Resolved various UI inconsistencies and styling issues across the Avalonia interface. Addressed several minor issues and edge cases throughout the application. Other Changes Dependency cleanup and project maintenance. Internal code refactoring and infrastructure improvements. Additional test coverage and build pipeline optimizations. Download: UniGetUI 64-bit | Portable | ~90.0 MB (Open Source) Download: UniGetUI ARM64 | Portable Links: UniGetUI Home Page | GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • The best controller for XBOX and PC is down to the lowest price by Taras Buria Image via Neowin The GameSir G7 Pro is a fantastic controller for XBOX and PC. Officially certified, it works with Microsoft's consoles, mobile devices, and PCs, giving you a universal controller for any kind of gaming machine. And right now, you can save 20% on it, thanks to the latest deal during Prime Day 2026 (purchase link below). The G7 Pro has the classic XBOX layout, complemented by a couple of extra elements, such as the M button for changing various settings and four additional remappable buttons. It also has trigger locks and TMR sticks that eliminate drifting issues, giving you a reliable, long-lasting gamepad. The controller is powered by a built-in battery, which charges via a USB Type-C cable or the bundled dock station. The G7 Pro supports wireless (XBOX Wireless, proprietary dongle, or Bluetooth) and wired connectivity. In addition to software customization (you can remap multiple buttons to different actions), it lets you personalize the look by swapping the faceplate or grips, enabling multiple design combinations. Other features include a 1,000Hz polling rate, an audio jack for your headphones, Hall Effect triggers, and a swappable D-pad (two extra are included). The controller is also available in four color variants, and all of them are now discounted. Thanks to quality materials, reliable components, rich customization, universal compatibility, and an affordable price tag, the G7 Pro received very high praise in our review. It is certainly among the best controllers you can buy. GameSir G7 Pro - $63.99 | 20% off with Prime Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      tuben earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      OffsetAbs earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      OffsetAbs earned a badge
      Reacting Well
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      440
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      196
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      154
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      71
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!