Google's annual I/O developer conference returns this month with a unique, two-part schedule. Before the big show on May 20, Google is hosting an Android-specific event on May 13. Android announcements are usually just one component of the main I/O conference, so the fact that Google is spinning off a separate event suggests it has a lot in store—or it wants AI to be the star of the show later in the month. We'll find out soon enough; the Android Show: I/O Edition will be livestreamed starting at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday.Google I/O follows on May 20 from the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It starts with a livestreamed keynote at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, and a developer keynote at 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET.Google says it will be sharing the latest on "Google’s newest products, technologies, and innovations in AI, Android, and more" in keynotes, breakout sessions, and workshops, more than a dozen of which will be livestreamed. You can learn more and register at io.google/2025.Here are our predictions for what Google will show off this month.An Early Arrival for Android 16Google hasn't said much about what's in store for "The Android Show," other than teasing details on "what’s new on Android." Typically, we get a first look at the latest version of Android at I/O with a formal launch in the fall. But Google is adopting an accelerated schedule for Android 16 "to better align" with the launch of popular Android smartphones.Android 16 first appeared in November with a developer preview, followed by a second preview in December, the first beta release in January, the second a month later, and the third in March. This sets Google up to introduce a more complete version of Android 16 on May 13 or at I/O.These early versions of Android 16 tip the return of lock-screen widgets,  AI-generated summaries of notifications from messaging apps, new tools to manage health data securely, and stricter security features. We'll also see accessibility features for users with impaired vision, including an outline-text option you can invoke to display text in dialog boxes and other controls inside contrasting boxes. Android 16 may also support a new "desktop" mode for Pixel phones, which would essentially turn them into mini PCs, Android Authority reports. Google already enabled the new functionality on a Pixel 8 Pro running the Android 16 beta, so it could be ready for primetime and rival Samsung's DeX feature, which lets users turn their phone into a desktop-like work experience, including connecting to a monitor.Recommended by Our EditorsA livestreamed deep dive into what's new in Android is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. PT on May 20.Are New Google Smart Glasses on the Way?Smart glasses are having a resurgence, at least in Silicon Valley. Mark Zuckerberg is all-in on the tech, likely because his company's Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are leading the pack. But Apple is apparently prepping its own pair, so Google doesn't want to be left in the dust.Though Google canceled its Project Iris glasses in 2023, it debuted a new operating system for VR headsets and smart glasses in December. We saw that in action at MWC on a Samsung headset, dubbed Project Moohan. At I/O 2024, we got a look at Project Astra, an AI-powered voice assistant, which Google showed off using a pair of mystery AR glasses.Google recently integrated some of Astra's features into Gemini Live, giving the voice assistant access to your camera so it can comment on what it sees. Will it show up on new specs at I/O 2025, too?Gemini Takes Center StageAI Mode(Credit: Google)Expect AI to dominate most of the opening keynote. The company just debuted a Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview "I/O edition," which boasts "massively improved coding capabilities," according to Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, who is scheduled to give a talk on the "frontiers of AI" at 3:30 p.m. ET on May 20. More models and AI tools are on tap for I/O as Google competes for attention against rivals like OpenAI and xAI, TechCrunch notes.Google usually uses I/O to show off new tricks, mostly to clue in developers on what's coming up, but there are nuggets in there for the average tech user, too. It's been working on a more conversational AI mode for search, essentially turning Google into ChatGPT. This is likely the next big step in AI-powered search for Google since it introduced AI Overviews at I/O in 2023.Meanwhile, Google parent company Alphabet also owns autonomous car tech company Waymo. At I/O, Dmitri Dolgov, Co-CEO of Waymo, will discuss the "critical role of AI in this tech’s development and deployment, and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead" during an onsite I/O session.What Else Is New? A few other Google products are getting the I/O livestream treatment. Here are some of the sessions on tap and when you can watch.May 20What's new in Chrome with Paul Kinlan, Chrome developer relations lead, at 3:30 p.m. PTWhat's new in Google Cloud with Fran Hinkelmann, developer relations engineering manager, and Richard Seroter, chief evangelist for Google Cloud, at 3:30 p.m. PT.What’s new in Google Play with software engineer Jiahui Liu, Mekka Okereke, GM of Google Play Apps, and Raghavendra Hareesh Pottamsetty, Play Developer and Play Monetization lead, at 4:30 p.m. PT.What's new in web features with Rachel Andrew, content lead for Chrome Developer Relations, at 4:30 p.m. PT.May 21What’s new in Android development tools with Jamal Eason, director of product management for Android Studio and Tor Norbye, engineering director, at 10 a.m. PT.What's new in the Gemmaverse with Gus Martins, product manager for Gemma models, and Omar Sanseviero, staff developer relations engineer at 11 a.m. PT.

August featured so many memorable moments, including stops at SIGGRAPH 2023 and gamescom 2023. Keep reading to discover what Unity creators accomplished in August, including the latest game releases.Impressively, Phasmophobia experienced a significant spike in peak concurrent users, reaching over 86,000 on August 17, 2023. This is a substantial increase from around 21,000 peak concurrent users on July 31, 2023. The data, captured through Steam’s official Web API, reflects a growth of approximately 300% in less than a month. Congrats to the team at Kinetic Games on this accomplishment.Next up, let’s hear it for the PC game studios who knocked it out of the park in the latest Steam reports. First, Steam’s top 20 new releases in July featured 12 games made with Unity, including Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2, Viewfinder, and My Friendly Neighborhood, who each secured a spot in the top five. Additionally, Rust and Unturned continued their reign in the top 20 most played games on Steam.*Also notable, Sabotage Studio’s new RPG Sea of Stars sold 100,000 copies within one day of its August launch thanks to an incredible effort by its team and hype from the gaming community. And the good news hasn’t stopped there, with the game reaching year one projections by the end of release week.As positive reviews rolled in for indie titles like My Friendly Neighborhood and Viewfinder, our team took to the streets of Cologne, Germany to mingle with the gaming community and asked you to help choose the next hit title from those showcased at gamescom 2023. The winner?Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles. Check out developer Tomas Sala’s reaction below.Moving to the world of video and streaming, the close of August brought more creator resources to the community. On Twitch, we hosted the Heavenly Bodies team for a Creator Spotlight (watch above) that covered physics systems, ropes, and pressure simulations. Then, during gamescom, we played Battle Shapers and GTFO live, rounding things out by playing your games in a third Let’s Play session.On YouTube, there are not one but two new tutorials for devs – one on C# code style and the other on volumetrics. For bite-sized tips, check out our latest YouTube Shorts.There are so many impressive shares on social media using the #MadeWithUnity hashtag. Here are a few August highlights.On Twitter, @SunnyVStudio offered tips for devs, starting with sprites, while @21cDucks gave clean pixels (above) and @Liuweibo163 predicted thunderstorms and lightning.Meanwhile on Instagram, @sabotage.studio announced the release of Sea of Stars as did @mimimigames about Shadow Gambit.Last but not least, here are some Unity Asset Store highlights from August:Alchemist House | BKWinter Tundra | VIVID ArtsJapanese Mountain Shrine | Manu 3dF-35 and Mig 29 Fighter Jet assets | studiolab.devKeep adding the #MadeWithUnity hashtag to your posts to show what you’ve been up to and spread the project love.August was another major release month for games using Unity, including the Sea of Stars success. Read on for a non-exhaustive list.Big Fat Battle, Robot Squid (August 1 – Early access)Ninja or Die: Shadow of the Sun, Nao Games (August 2)Hammer of Virtue, No Pest Productions (August 7)I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival, Mandragora (August 8)Synthwave Racers, Corrtex Games (August 10)Moving Out 2, SMG Studio and Devm Games (August 15)Waven, Ankama Studio (August 16 – Early access)Stories of Blossom, Soft Leaf Studios (August 16)Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, Mimimi Games (August 17)BOOK OF HOURS, Weather Factory (August 17)Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Team Reptile (August 18)Towers of Thana, Bishop Games (August 21 – Early access)DepowerBall, Mega Power Games (August 21)Whisker Squadron: Survivor, Flippfly LLC (August 21)WrestleQuest, Mega Cat Studios (August 21)Blasphemous 2, The Game Kitchen(August 24)Rune Gate, Devwind (August 25)Sea of Stars, Sabotage Studio (August 28)Goodbye Volcano High, KO_OP (August 29)Do you see any on the list that have already become favorites or find that we’re missing a title? Share your thoughts in the forums.We post new game releases and milestone spotlights every Monday on the @UnityGames Twitter and @unitytechnologies Instagram. Be sure to give us a follow and support your fellow creators.If you’re creating with Unity and haven’t seen your projects in any of our monthly roundups, submit them for the chance to be featured.That’s a wrap for August. For more community news as it happens, follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch.*Ranking as of September 1, 2023 at 8:30 am PT.

The upcoming remaster of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 will welcome skater Bam Margera back into the fold, Activision announced Thursday. Margera appeared as a skater in the original versions of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4, but was not previously confirmed to appear in the remasters. The skater and longtime pal of Tony Hawk will be included as a secret skater, meaning he’ll eventually be unlockable.Margera appeared in numerous Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, starting with THPS 3 and ending with Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, so his exclusion from the upcoming remasters was considered unusual. Reportedly, Hawk pushed Activision and developer Iron Galaxy to add Margera after “the game was already done.”“Tony called up Activision and was like, ‘Hey, we’re putting Bam in the thing,’ and they were like, ‘Hey, we can’t,’” said Roger Bagley, co-host of skateboarding podcast The Nine Club, in a livestream back in March. “He goes, ‘No, you’re gonna do it,’ and basically made them fly Bam back out there to get body scanned and everything else, and get him back in the game.”In a behind-the-scenes video about the making of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 — which shows Margera being body scanned — the returning skater says that he was obsessed with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and jokingly reminisced about missing flights because he played it so much.Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 will be released on July 11, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The remasters of THPS 3 and 4 will offer online multiplayer and a massive visual upgrade over the originals. In addition to olds like Tony and Bam, new skaters including Rayssa Leal, Chloe Covell, Jamie Foy, Zion Wright, Nyjah Huston, and Yuto Horigome will be playable. Classic levels like Airport, Foundry, Rio, Tokyo, Canada, San Francisco, and Los Angeles will be here — but the more open-ended, free-skating space of THPS 4 will be reimagined as classic, self-contained Pro Skater-style levels.See More:

NeoRaider Member Feb 7, 2018 9,090 Getting VERY sick of Kiriko being pushed into every single theme and every collab in this game. I lost the count of Kiriko's collab skins and already a 3rd collab skin for Juno in just few months. AKI Moira and Marisa Zarya were there, as perfect candidates for this collab. It's just sad to see the favoritism towards few heroes that are selling skins and so many heroes being ignored and neglected when it comes to getting some love and cosmetics.  Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,685 Ibis Island Oh Wow, a lot more skins than I expected here. Nice to see Juri, though I dunno WHY it had to be another skin for Kiriko. She has enough lol.   Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX A lot of questionable decisions with this crossover. For one, why did they give Chun-Li, Cammy, & Juri to the characters they did when there are literally other heroes in Overwatch from their countries (namely Mei, Tracer, & D.Va respectively)? Widowmaker in particular would've made much more sense as Manon. Speaking of whom, the eight SF6 newbies got completely skipped over. Not even Luke got anything.  Zyrox One Winged Slayer Corrupted by Vengeance Member Oct 25, 2017 5,159 Not a single SF6 newcomer in this SF6 crossover.   data west Member Oct 25, 2017 13,797 Tracer just been straight up replaced as the mascot, huh? Guess she knows how Winston feels  Yari Member Oct 25, 2017 3,430 hell yeah gotta get that hanzo skin, and the rest of the pack too just hope they dont look like ass ingame  Bony Manifesto Member Oct 27, 2017 4,348 I guess we'll have to wait until we see the in-game skins, but they really do seem to look straight up like the Street Fighter characters.   Santos Member Oct 25, 2017 1,360 Good stuff. Was personally hoping for AKI x Moira but should have expected it would mostly be the SFII cast. No Akuma is surprising though. Might get one of the Juri/Chun/Dhalsim combo.   Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX Bony Manifesto said: I guess we'll have to wait until we see the in-game skins, but they really do seem to look straight up like the Street Fighter characters. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The original character designer did a lot of Street Fighter work through UDON, if I'm not mistaken. So the resemblance isn't for no reason. Zyrox said: Not a single SF6 newcomer in this SF6 crossover. Click to expand... Click to shrink... They could've at least given Hazard/Lifeweaver/Sojourn skins for Luke/Jamie/Kimberly.   Hasney One Winged Slayer The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 23,114 I am so pumped. Probably getting the lot.   Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,685 Ibis Island Neoxon said: A lot of questionable decisions with this crossover. For one, why did they give Chun-Li, Cammy, & Juri to the characters they did when there are literally other heroes in Overwatch from their countries (namely Mei, Tracer, & D.Va respectively)? Widowmaker in particular would've made much more sense as Manon. Speaking of whom, the eight SF6 newbies got completely skipped over. Not even Luke got anything. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Lets be honest here, Luke doesn't deserve anything 🏃  Soul Lab Member Nov 17, 2017 2,982 Dhalsim Zenyatta is really the perfect fit. damn   Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX Jawmuncher said: Lets be honest here, Luke doesn't deserve anything 🏃 Click to expand... Click to shrink... At least give Jamie & Kimberly skins, especially since the two of them are getting Amiibo figures alongside Luke.   LinguisticGoblin Member Jul 19, 2020 1,272 Neoxon said: A lot of questionable decisions with this crossover. For one, why did they give Chun-Li, Cammy, & Juri to the characters they did when there are literally other heroes in Overwatch from their countries (namely Mei, Tracer, & D.Va respectively)? Click to expand... Click to shrink... I don't think this has ever been something they prioritise for the crossovers, they go by some mix of how much the character fits the OW hero aesthetically (both in gameplay and pure visual terms) and how popular the OW character is in general. Even then they'll do things where even if the char isn't the most popular or visually fitting they'll still go for it if their kit just makes sense like Venture as Toph or Doom as Saitama.   Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,685 Ibis Island Neoxon said: At least give Jamie & Kimberly skins, especially since the two of them are getting Amiibo figures alongside Luke. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Kimberly deserves the world, Luke needs to show his worth a bit more lol. In all seriousness though, definitely odd they didn't have at least one newcomer skin with how hard they push the trio.  Jimnymebob Member Oct 26, 2017 22,021 Neoxon said: A lot of questionable decisions with this crossover. For one, why did they give Chun-Li, Cammy, & Juri to the characters they did when there are literally other heroes in Overwatch from their countries (namely Mei, Tracer, & D.Va respectively)? Widowmaker in particular would've made much more sense as Manon. Speaking of whom, the eight SF6 newbies got completely skipped over. Not even Luke got anything. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I assume it's simply a mix of popular characters from both sides, and characters that sort of work together. Like if they were strictly going off matching countries, Sim and Sym is right there lol. It's also the reason why Winston has the Blanka costume, and not Lucio, although I would've paid good money for Lucio to have a Blanka-chan costume.  Tsunami561 Member Mar 7, 2023 5,292 Is this going to be like 200usd for everything considering what they are chargin for the berserk collab in d4   Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX LinguisticGoblin said: I don't think this has ever been something they prioritise for the crossovers, they go by some mix of how much the character fits the OW hero aesthetically (both in gameplay and pure visual terms) and how popular the OW character is in general. Even then they'll do things where even if the char isn't the most popular or visually fitting they'll still go for it if their kit just makes sense like Venture as Toph or Doom as Saitama. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I guess by that logic, they would've given Santama to Hanzo instead of Doomfist, but didn't Genji at least get Genos?   Acidote Member Oct 26, 2017 5,809 New skins for Kiriko and Juno. Finally.   Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX Jimnymebob said: I assume it's simply a mix of popular characters from both sides, and characters that sort of work together. Like if they were strictly going off matching countries, Sim and Sym is right there lol. It's also the reason why Winston has the Blanka costume, and not Lucio, although I would've paid good money for Lucio to have a Blanka-chan costume. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The Lucio one I understand completely, no way in hell they touch that with a 10 foot pole. But you have a point regarding Sym.   data west Member Oct 25, 2017 13,797 Tsunami561 said: Is this going to be like 200usd for everything considering what they are chargin for the berserk collab in d4 Click to expand... Click to shrink... Probably   TheEchosOfTheCyborg Member Feb 24, 2018 7,532 Neoxon said: A lot of questionable decisions with this crossover. For one, why did they give Chun-Li, Cammy, & Juri to the characters they did when there are literally other heroes in Overwatch from their countries (namely Mei, Tracer, & D.Va respectively)? Widowmaker in particular would've made much more sense as Manon. Speaking of whom, the eight SF6 newbies got completely skipped over. Not even Luke got anything. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah I was wondering that myself when I saw Tracer as Chun-Li, like Cammy just from gameplay alone feels more Cammy to me then Chun-Li. Sucks Mei got nothing. Windowmaker Manon would have been amazing and may have convinced me to play Overwatch again... Though I'm guessing these skins are going to be either incredibly expensive or incredibly hard and grindy to get. Kimberly getting nothing is surprising especially given Overwatch does have a spray mechanic.  secretanchitman One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 9,845 Chicago, IL I mean it's cool that SF6 is being crossed over but while some characters are a great fit (Zen as Dhalsim), I don't get some of the omissions or choices they've made. Will wait to see them in game and I already know they'll be expensive!  Jimnymebob Member Oct 26, 2017 22,021 Neoxon said: The Lucio one I understand completely, no way in hell they touch that with a 10 foot pole. But you have a point regarding Sym. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Oh no, I absolutely understand why they didn't do that with Lucio lmao, but I think going for more visual similarities than strictly going "the British character gets the British character outfit, the Chinese character gets the Chinese character outfit" etc. was the better choice; like Widow just fits wearing a leotard more than Tracer does for example, and the same for Kiriko as Juri over D.Va as Juri in a mech. TheEchosOfTheCyborg said: Yeah I was wondering that myself when I saw Tracer as Chun-Li, like Cammy just from gameplay alone feels more Cammy to me then Chun-Li. Sucks Mei got nothing. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I think Chun-Li was Juno.   Tommy Showbiz Member Jul 20, 2022 3,613 Juno is 100% being positioned as the face of Overwatch in the new era so I am not surprised to see her getting the Chun Li skin. I am pretty bummed by the total omission of SF6 newcomers and the fact that they're using the classic designs over the new ones, but I'm fucking stoked they went with so many characters. Don't really think we needed the Dictator skin when Sigma's mythic literally already is that. That was a fucking awesome trailer though.  Neoxon Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst Member Oct 25, 2017 93,192 Houston, TX Jimnymebob said: Oh no, I absolutely understand why they didn't do that with Lucio lmao, but I think going for more visual similarities than strictly going "the British character gets the British character outfit, the Chinese character gets the Chinese character outfit" etc. was the better choice; like Widow just fits wearing a leotard more than Tracer does for example, and the same for Kiriko as Juri over D.Va as Juri in a mech. I think Chun-Li was Juno. Click to expand... Click to shrink... They could've given Tracer SF6 Cammy's fit, while D.Va's mech could've been modeled after Juri's motorcycle.   Tommy Showbiz Member Jul 20, 2022 3,613 Alec is the GOAT ftr  Jimnymebob Member Oct 26, 2017 22,021 Neoxon said: They could've given Tracer SF6 Cammy's fit, while D.Va's mech could've been modeled after Juri's motorcycle. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Oh god, I forgot about Juri's bike which she used to cross continents 🤣. Anyways, I think the blatant stupid decision here is the fact Hanzo has SF2 Ryu's outfit.  Barnak Member Oct 25, 2017 5,608 Canada Kiriko getting multiple skins every seasons has become a meme/joke. I don't know who make these decisions, but surely they are aware of how ridiculous it has become by now. Meanwhile, some heroes have to wait 2-3 seasons before getting one, even for just an epic.  Noppie Member Oct 27, 2017 14,648 Jawmuncher said: Oh Wow, a lot more skins than I expected here. Nice to see Juri, though I dunno WHY it had to be another skin for Kiriko. She has enough lol. Click to expand... Click to shrink... You know why   Chaos2Frozen Member Nov 3, 2017 29,990 Not the first group of heroes Capcom has collaborated with 🤔   OP OP NeoRaider Member Feb 7, 2018 9,090 Barnak said: Kiriko getting multiple skins every seasons has become a meme/joke. I don't know who make these decisions, but surely they are aware of how ridiculous it has become by now. Meanwhile, some heroes have to wait 2-3 seasons before getting one, even for just an epic. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Whoever makes these decisions should be ashamed, that's for sure.   TheEchosOfTheCyborg Member Feb 24, 2018 7,532 Jimnymebob said: Oh no, I absolutely understand why they didn't do that with Lucio lmao, but I think going for more visual similarities than strictly going "the British character gets the British character outfit, the Chinese character gets the Chinese character outfit" etc. was the better choice; like Widow just fits wearing a leotard more than Tracer does for example, and the same for Kiriko as Juri over D.Va as Juri in a mech. I think Chun-Li was Juno. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Ah, serves me right for not following Overwatch   Xlad Member Oct 19, 2018 1,045 In-game version of Hanzo/Ryu and emote(s?) showed in the official upload. View: https://youtu.be/schtk917iRU?si=2E3V4h4J7638biWd&t=96   Stone Ocean Member Oct 25, 2017 3,318 That's WAY more skins than I expected wow Jimnymebob said: I assume it's simply a mix of popular characters from both sides, and characters that sort of work together. Like if they were strictly going off matching countries, Sim and Sym is right there lol. It's also the reason why Winston has the Blanka costume, and not Lucio, although I would've paid good money for Lucio to have a Blanka-chan costume. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The question is would Sym players actually want a Dhalsim costume instead of say, a Chun costume?   vio55555 Member Apr 11, 2024 3,240 In a general sense, the SF2 styles (and characters themselves) are so iconic that it's hard to avoid in a collaboration. Even if Dhalsim/Blanka have low usage rates in SF6, literally everyone knows who they are and what they look like. Sort of just hard to avoid that fact. Only a few like Sakura/Juri have managed to join the SF2 characters in terms of popularity. Just the reality of the situation.  Last edited: Today at 7:34 AM JusDoIt ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 43,401 South Central i'm so out of the loop with Overwatch I had to google Juno. interested to see how these look in game tho. SF and OW have very complementary art styles.   AaronMT Member Oct 27, 2017 8,324 Toronto So happy baptiste, Lucio and Zarya finally get a skin   CheapJi Member Apr 24, 2018 4,104 Insanely good picks for the skins.   Messi I am leaving this community! Member Oct 25, 2017 31,947 Kiriko discourse again. Make it stop. Blizzard please I'm buying all skins and I think Kiriko looks great but it's getting redicilous  Niklel Prophet of Regret Member Aug 10, 2020 4,422 Cool trailer. Honestly, I want them all. Don't think I'll be buying them, though... I don't play that much OW lately. But maybe... just maybe.... Who would walk past a Chun-Li skin?  OP OP NeoRaider Member Feb 7, 2018 9,090 Messi said: Kiriko discourse again. Make it stop. Blizzard please I'm buying all skins and I think Kiriko looks great but it's getting redicilous Click to expand... Click to shrink... Even her mains are tired of it and are not able to defend this blatant favoritism anymore. They are also not able to buy everything she is getting every single month it seems, it must be hard to keep up...   Messi I am leaving this community! Member Oct 25, 2017 31,947 Barnak said: Kiriko getting multiple skins every seasons has become a meme/joke. I don't know who make these decisions, but surely they are aware of how ridiculous it has become by now. Meanwhile, some heroes have to wait 2-3 seasons before getting one, even for just an epic. Click to expand... Click to shrink... They don't care when it's shown that people buy her skins in droves. They've said they make skins for characters that sell. They want a better balance but imo they have no reason to change when they sell thousands of 2-3 Kiriko skins a month.  Messi I am leaving this community! Member Oct 25, 2017 31,947 Neoxon said: The original character designer did a lot of Street Fighter work through UDON, if I'm not mistaken. So the resemblance isn't for no reason. They could've at least given Hazard/Lifeweaver/Sojourn skins for Luke/Jamie/Kimberly. Click to expand... Click to shrink... God those picks would have been perfect  Niklel Prophet of Regret Member Aug 10, 2020 4,422 Barnak said: Kiriko getting multiple skins every seasons has become a meme/joke. I don't know who make these decisions, but surely they are aware of how ridiculous it has become by now. Meanwhile, some heroes have to wait 2-3 seasons before getting one, even for just an epic. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Kiriko skins must sell really well. Otherwise, idk how to explain this.   Phish Food Member Feb 12, 2025 68 Swing and a miss.   ThatMeanScene The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 10,708 Miami, FL I agree that the female characters they chose to give skins too is wack. I couldn't care less about the SF6 newbies being snubbed though. They're overrated, IMO.   IntelliHeath Member Oct 25, 2017 18,155 Niklel said: Kiriko skins must sell really well. Otherwise, idk how to explain this. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Easily Overwatch's Chun Li.. I think Chun Li have like nearly 20 costumes in SFV; and they said Costume DLC saved SFV so I wouldn't be surprised by the fact that most of sales probably sold very well because of Chun Li. Edited: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ma...-costume-sales-saved-street-fighter-5.727185/ Jawmuncher said: Lets be honest here, Luke doesn't deserve anything 🏃 Click to expand... Click to shrink... As someone who don't really cares about Luke, I disagree because Aleks Le did fantastic job to make him well loved in most communities I have seen.  Messi I am leaving this community! Member Oct 25, 2017 31,947 I can't stop thinking about Hazard Luke 😂   Smoolio Avenger Oct 25, 2017 4,314 Never been a Window player but Cammy is tempting.  

RT Retro AnimePatlabor 2 (1993)

A new AI model can deduce a person's biological age using a selfie. Could it be used to guide cancer treatment decisions?

Nature, Published online: 09 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01484-3Colliding beams of lead create fast-moving, short-lived gold ions. Understanding the process could help to refine particle accelerator experiments.

News Health & Medicine How to fight Lyme may lie in the biology of its disease-causing bacteria Its unusual cell wall may hold clues for understanding and treating the tick-borne illness New insights into the molecular makeup of Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, a tangle pictured here in its signature spiral shape, could lead to advances in understanding and treating Lyme disease. Callista Images/Connect Images/Getty Images Plus By Leah Rosenbaum 24 seconds ago Not all cell walls are created equal. Take the peculiar makeup of the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium’s cell wall. It might play a role in lingering symptoms of Lyme disease — the most common tick-borne infection in the United States. That makeup might also be key to developing new treatments for the disease, researchers report in two studies published April 23 in Science Translational Medicine. Somewhere between 90,000 and nearly 500,000 people are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year in the United States. About 15 percent of those people continue to experience symptoms including fatigue, body aches and memory problems even after the acute phase of the disease is treated — a condition called Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome, or PTLDS. However scientists aren’t sure what causes the lingering symptoms of PTLDS once antibiotics have killed the living bacteria inside the body. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in apps, subscriptions, and random tools just to get your creative work done, you’re not alone. Between writing platforms, image generators, audio editors, and video tools, juggling it all can get chaotic—and expensive. Let 1min.AI be your new creative command center that wraps everything you need into one sleek, AI-powered platform. For a one-time payment of just $99.99 (reg. $540), you’ll get lifetime access to a perfect toolkit, whether you’re a content creator, marketer, teacher, or small business owner. And yes, it really does cover everything. Let’s talk writing: Need a blog post, social caption, or polished press release? 1min.AI’s writing tools handle keyword research, content expansion, summarizing, grammar checks, and even brand voice consistency. No more switching tabs or hopping between apps. Design? Covered. The image tools let you create fresh visuals with AI, upscale images, swap backgrounds, or remove unwanted text—all with a few clicks. And if you’re someone who’s always tweaking PDFs or trying to make sense of scanned docs, the AI can summarize, translate, and even answer questions based on your documents. Oh, and for those who work with audio or video? 1min.AI’s got your back there, too. Edit audio files, convert text to speech (or vice versa), and clean up your podcasts or social media reels. Want to spice up your next presentation? It even lets you generate and polish video content. The best part is that it keeps growing. With regular updates and support for top AI models like GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, and more, you’re not just getting today’s tech—you’re signing up for a platform that’s always improving. Don’t miss a lifetime of 1min.AI’s Advanced Business Plan for just $99.99 (reg. $540) for a limited time. StackSocial prices subject to change. _ 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription See Deal

When you think of formaldehyde, you probably picture building materials or embalming fluid, not your body lotion or hair conditioner. But this toxic chemical, long linked to cancer, also lurks in everyday personal care products. Since these products go directly on our skin, the health risks get personal, fast.A new study by the Silent Spring Institute — a research organization investigating environmental links to breast cancer — highlights where formaldehyde is found, who is most affected, and why we need better consumer protections against exposure.Facts on FormaldehydeFormaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (FRPs) are often added to beauty products to prevent bacterial growth and extend shelf life. But these chemicals aren’t harmless. They’re classified as known human carcinogens, with studies linking them to breast, uterine, blood, and nasal cancers. They can also cause allergic contact dermatitis, affecting roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population.Despite this, they remain widespread. A recent analysis of 546 personal care products found that 13 percent contained FRPs, especially hair and skin products. Hair relaxers have drawn growing concern, particularly for Black and Latina women. In one study focused on South Los Angeles, more than half of Black and Latina women reported using products with FRPs. Because of societal pressures to meet Eurocentric beauty norms, these communities often face higher exposure and thus, greater health risks.Tracking the Chemicals We UseTo better understand real-world exposure, researchers asked 70 Black and Latina women to log every personal care product they used over a week, using a smartphone app.Previous studies just asked things like, "Did you use lotion today?" But lotions vary wildly. Some have shea butter, others are packed with formaldehyde releasers and other harmful chemicals, explained Elissia Franklin, an analytical chemist at Silent Spring, in a press statement. “We wanted a much more detailed picture — an accurate reading of all the chemicals in that lotion, and in any other products the women were using.”Researchers reviewed over 1,100 products and found FRPs in everything from shampoo to eyelash glue. “This isn’t just about hair straighteners,” said lead author Robin Dodson. “These chemicals are in products we use all the time, all over our bodies. Repeated exposures like these can add up and cause serious harm.”More than half of participants used at least one product with a formaldehyde releaser — often daily. The chemical compound DMDM hydantoin was the most common, found in nearly half of skin products and 58 percent of hair products containing FRPs. And Dodson warns, “Those are just the ones we knew to look for. There could be more.”Pushing for Policy ChangeThe research is part of the Taking Stock Study, a collaboration between Silent Spring, Columbia University, Occidental College, and advocacy group Black Women for Wellness. The project explores how beauty product chemicals fuel racial health disparities.Janette Robinson Flint, executive director at Black Women for Wellness, noted that Black women use many different products — often full of toxic ingredients — and that while consumers may know to avoid products labeled with formaldehyde, most don’t recognize the hidden chemicals that release it. In calling for more government oversight of these products and their labeling, she added, “We shouldn’t have to be chemists to figure out what kinds of products will make us sick.”Spotting FRPs isn’t easy. They go by names like quaternium-15 and imidazolidinyl urea, and don’t include the word “formaldehyde.” While the EU and some U.S. states have restricted or banned these chemicals, the U.S. still lags behind. The FDA suggested a national ban on FRPs in hair straighteners in 2023 — but it hasn’t taken effect.Dodson says the ultimate goal is straightforward: “Ideally, companies shouldn’t be putting these chemicals in products in the first place.”This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde-Releasing PreservativesEnvironmental Science & Technology Letters: Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Releasing Preservatives in Personal Care Products Used by Black Women and LatinasTaking Stock Study: Taking StockHaving worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.

Project Files: https://www.patreon.com/posts/128515688 . In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a press and hold to activate type button using unreal widget system (UMG). In this example, I am going to implement this in the skill activate system where player has to press and hold the activate button to activate the skill. As the player hold the button, progress will be shown in the button itself as a filling progress bar until it is activated. If player release the button before it get filled, fill progress will reset. Animations are sponsored by: https://www.ramsterzanimations.com/ https://www2.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/greatsword-anims Full Playlist : Action RPG series with gameplay ability system: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou7XnRx5MfBbZnfMZJqC6ixz ► 👇 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 // 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧! https://www.patreon.com/codelikeme ►Patrons will have access to project files of all the stuff I do in the channel and other extra benefits Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6Jh9EBV7a_Nm52Ipll_Q/join Like my facebook page for more content : https://www.facebook.com/gamedevelopersclub/ Follow me on twitter : https://twitter.com/CodeLikeMe2 Follow me on reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/codelikeme #CodeLikeMe #unrealengine #ue5 #ue4 #indiegamedev

Five years ago, as death, panic, and viruses were spreading across the globe, the Trump administration announced it was halting collections of college debt. At the time, almost everyone agreed this was a good idea. “It is going to make a lot of students happy,” President Donald Trump remarked. This week, an entire Biden administration later, Trump’s Department of Education began throwing the full force of the federal government against people who had defaulted on their student loans. Employers will be contacted, wages garnished, and debt collectors deployed. The move came a week after House Republicans released plans for a massive overhaul of student financial aid policy. Their bill would reduce the number of students eligible for need-based federal financial aid, make it harder for students to pay for tuition, books and living expenses, increase monthly loan payments for millions of borrowers, and make some people wait as much as 20 years longer to have their debts forgiven. Student happiness will no longer be a consideration.Sometimes, members of Congress propose radical changes they know have little chance of becoming law. This isn’t one of those times. The Republican plan is part of the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill, some version of which is likely to pass Congress before the year is out.The much-debated dream of broad-scale debt relief and friendly student loans is fading. This is the beginning of a harsh new era for the roughly 43 million people who hold almost $1.7 trillion in federal student loans. For people who are struggling to make ends meet and are most vulnerable to Trump’s government service cuts and the economic devastation of his reckless trade policies, the timing couldn’t be worse.The winding, lawsuit-filled history of student debt relief Trump’s initial move to suspend loan payments in 2020 was ratified by Congress a few weeks later in the CARES Act, which passed the House with a 419-6 vote. That was the last time Democrats and Republicans agreed on the issue. Loans were hotly debated during the Democratic primary that year. After Joe Biden’s November victory, influential party figures like Sen. Elizabeth Warren pressed him to unilaterally forgive some or all outstanding student debt. Biden was reticent — he preferred making a deal with Congress — but over time, progressive activists convinced him to launch an ambitious plan to wipe $10,000 off the balance of nearly every federal loan, and another $10,000 from debt held by low-income students. It was a historic opportunity, they argued, to help close the racial wealth gap and give relief to people who had been victimized by too-expensive colleges. Biden also untangled a knot of existing loan forgiveness programs designed to help people including public servants, students with disabilities, and people who were defrauded by their college. Those actions alone resulted in 5.3 million students having $188 billion in loans wiped away. A group of Republican attorneys general sued over the $10,000 plan, and the Supreme Court obliterated the program based on its newly fabricated “major questions doctrine.” Biden pressed forward with more loan forgiveness schemes. The most important was the SAVE plan, which was designed for (but not limited to) community college students. It lowered students’ monthly payments from 10 percent of their discretionary income to as little as 5 percent, and forgave any outstanding debts in as soon as 10 years for students with loans smaller than $12,000 (instead of 20 years). Almost 8 million people enrolled in SAVE.As for student loan repayments, Biden extended the collections pause all the way until October 2023, when he was forced to restart the system by Republicans. After a one-year “on-ramp” to payment, the clock began ticking last October. The Department of Education has since told the servicing companies that manage the loans to start reporting non-paying borrowers to credit agencies. In just the last three months, millions of borrowers have suddenly seen their credit scores dip. This week marked the beginning of the federal government’s drive to start collecting on loans that were already in default before the pandemic. The plan that could devastate the financial aid landscapeCollege students and people with loans aren’t just facing harsh new debt collection tactics from the Trump administration. The president’s Republican allies in states and Congress are working to make college loan policy far less student-friendly in the future.Another group of Republican attorneys general sued to stop SAVE, and the program is currently held up in federal court. (During this time, everyone in the program has had their loan put in suspended animation, meaning no interest has accrued and they didn’t owe payments.) The House Republican plan would reverse its efforts, eliminating a provision that set loan payments to $0 for low-income borrowers, and instead increasing payments to up to 15 percent of income for current borrowers and 10 percent for future borrowers. It would also deny forgiveness until 30 years of payments — that is, most of a borrower’s working life. Those who do borrow will face repayment on much harsher terms.Biden’s Department of Education wrote tough new rules designed to prevent students, particularly members of the military, from being defrauded in the first place. One rule cuts off federal financial aid to college programs that load up students with too much debt and don’t prepare them to get jobs that pay an adequate wage. The Republican plan would repeal virtually all of those regulations. It would also prevent future education secretaries from creating new loan forgiveness plans. This means that, for students entering college or graduate school for the first time, the financial aid landscape could be grim. The Republican plan puts new limits on how much students in high-cost areas or in high-cost programs can borrow for tuition, books, room and board, even as moderate-income students will no longer be eligible for federal grants. Borrowing for graduate and professional school could be capped in a way that would make it much more difficult for lower-income students to pursue careers in medicine and law. Those who do borrow will face repayment on much harsher terms. And with most of the guardrails protecting students from predatory for-profit colleges lifted, it’s more likely that they will be saddled with loans for degrees that have little or no value in the job market — if they manage to graduate at all. A sea changeFor the last five years, many borrowers held out hope that they could move forward in their lives without the yoke of student debt. Debt forgiveness plans were announced and congratulatory letters mailed, only to have the courts and electoral politics pull those promises away. Now the Department of Education has declared, “There will not be any mass loan forgiveness.” As long as Trump is president, this is certainly true. Borrowers who took advantage of the five-year hiatus will need to get back in the habit of loan repayment. So will recent graduates who haven’t made payments before. For those in financial difficulty, even less-generous payments plans are almost certainly a better option than default. If the loan collection system cracks and falters under the strain, the government won’t have people with enough expertise to step in and fix it.One student loan servicer reports that only 38 percent of borrowers are up-to-date and actively making payments on their loans as of February, down from 60 percent before the pandemic. This is partially a problem of Republicans’ own making — millions of borrowers have had their payments suspended while the SAVE lawsuit plays out in court. But there is no doubt that millions of people are at serious risk of defaulting on their student debt and suffering serious financial consequences. Restarting a collection system that was never designed to be turned off in the first place will be an enormous challenge for the Education Department and its contractors. Normally, the Federal Student Aid office (FSA) in the Education Department would have experts in place to help manage the vast, complex student loan system during a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. But Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency minions gutted FSA during their recent purge of department employees. That means if the loan collection system cracks and falters under the strain, the government won’t have people with enough expertise to step in and fix it.A wave of new student loan defaults later this year could dovetail in the worst possible way with a self-induced tariff recession, restricting access to credit at exactly the same time people are losing their jobs. College is supposed to be a path to economic mobility and security. The Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress seem determined to make that road as narrow, treacherous, and obstacle-strewn as it possibly can. See More:

Reddit logos are displayed at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Brendan McDermid/Reuters 2025-05-09T13:35:32Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says that Reddit's human-led communities are what set the company apart. AI bots, however, are threatening that advantage by taking over forums and comments. Reddit has acknowledged the problem and is introducing new checks to ensure its users are human. Is nothing sacred anymore?Reddit is one of the last places on the internet where posts and comments don't feel like an endless pit of AI slop. But that is starting to change, and it's threatening what Reddit says is its competitive advantage.Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says that what keeps people coming back to the site is the information provided by real people, who often give thoughtful answers to questions. As the internet becomes saturated with AI-generated content, Huffman says that Reddit's communities, curated and managed by real people, set it apart from other social media platforms. "The world needs community and shared knowledge, and that's what we do best," Huffman told investors last week on an earnings call.Traffic to Reddit has grown considerably over the past year, thanks in part to users Googling specifically for Reddit posts related to their questions.Reddit's business model has seen increased attention since the company went public in March of last year. Since then, Reddit has amped up advertising on its forums and inked deals with both OpenAI and Google to allow their models to train on Reddit content. In April, Reddit's stock dipped after some analysts shared fears that the company's success could be inextricably tied to Google Search."Just a few years ago, adding Reddit to the end of your search query felt novel," Huffman said in a Q3 earnings call in February. "Today, it's a common way for people to find trusted information, recommendations, and advice."But now, some Reddit users are complaining that the uniquely human communities the site is known for are being infiltrated by AI bots, or users relying on tools like ChatGPT to write their posts, which can often be spotted by the formatting. ChatGPT loves a bulleted list and an em-dash, and these days tends to be effusive in its positivity.One user in the community r/singularity, which is dedicated to discussion about advancements of AI, recently flagged a post from what they believed was an AI-generated user spreading misinformation about the July 2024 attempted assassination of President Donald Trump."AI just took over Reddit's front page," the poster noted.And on April 28, Reddit's chief legal officer said the company was sending "formal legal demands" to researchers at the University of Zurich after they flooded one of the site's communities with AI bots for a study. Moderators of the forum r/changemyview said in a post that researchers conducted an "unauthorized experiment" to "study how AI could be used to change views."The researchers who conducted the experiment said in a Reddit post that 21 of the 34 accounts they used were "shadow-banned" by Reddit, meaning the content they posted would not show up for others. But they said they never received any communication from Reddit regarding Terms of Service violations.The moderators called the experiment unethical and said that AI targeted some users in the forum "in personal ways that they did not sign up for." The post says the AI went to extreme lengths in some posts, including pretending to be a victim of rape, posing as a black man opposed to Black Lives Matter, and even posing as a person who received substandard care in a foreign hospital, among other claims."Psychological manipulation risks posed by LLMs is an extensively studied topic," the community's moderators wrote. "It is not necessary to experiment on non-consenting human subjects."A spokesperson for the University of Zurich told Business Insider that the school is aware of the study and is investigating. The spokesperson said that the researchers decided not to publish the findings of the study "on their own accord.""In light of these events, the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences intends to adopt a stricter review process in the future and, in particular, to coordinate with the communities on the platforms prior to experimental studies," the spokesperson said.For Reddit's business strategy, which is largely focused on advertising and its belief that it provides some of the best research around because it's based on real human reactions, the increased presence of AI on the platform is a threat. And Reddit has noticed.On Monday, Huffman said in a Reddit post that the company would start using third parties to "keep Reddit human." Huffman said that Reddit's "strength is its people" and that "unwelcome AI in communities is a serious concern.""I haven't posted in a while — and let's be honest, when I do show up, it usually means something's gone sideways (and if it's not gone sideways, it's probably about to)," Huffman said.The third-party services will now ask users creating Reddit accounts for more information, like their age, Huffman said. Specifically, "we will need to know whether you are a human," he said.A spokesperson for Reddit told BI that the Zurich experiment was unethical and that Reddit's automated tools flagged most of the associated accounts before the experiment ended. The spokesperson said that Reddit is always working on detection features and has already further refined its processes since the experiment came to light.Still, some Reddit users say they are fed up with what they see as a "proliferation of LLM bots in the last 10 months.""Some of them mimic the most brain-dead of users, providing one-word responses with emojis at the end," one user wrote. "They post with unnatural frequency, largely in subreddits known for upvoting just about anything." Recommended video

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. A new AI translation system for headphones clones multiple voices simultaneously What’s new: Imagine going for dinner with a group of friends who switch in and out of different languages you don’t speak, but still being able to understand what they’re saying. This scenario is the inspiration for a new AI headphone system that translates the speech of multiple speakers simultaneously, in real time. How it works: The system tracks the direction and vocal characteristics of each speaker, helping the person wearing the headphones to identify who is saying what in a group setting. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams Your gut microbes might encourage criminal behavior A few years ago, a Belgian man in his 30s drove into a lamppost. Twice. Local authorities found that his blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit. Over the space of a few years, the man was apprehended for drunk driving three times. And on all three occasions, he insisted he hadn’t been drinking. He was telling the truth. A doctor later diagnosed auto-brewery syndrome—a rare condition in which the body makes its own alcohol. Microbes living inside the man’s body were fermenting the carbohydrates in his diet to create ethanol. Last year, he was acquitted of drunk driving. His case, along with several other scientific studies, raises a fascinating question for microbiology, neuroscience, and the law: How much of our behavior can we blame on our microbes? Read the full story.—Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How the Gates Foundation will end Bill Gates will wind it down in 2045, after distributing most of his remaining fortune. (NYT $)+ He estimates he’ll give away $200 billion in the next 20 years. (Semafor)+ The foundation is shuttering several decades earlier than he expected. (BBC)2 US Customs and Border Protection will no longer protect pregnant women It’s rolled back policies designed to protect vulnerable people, including infants. (Wired $)+ The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age. (MIT Technology Review)3 DOGE is readying software to turbo-charge mass layoffs After some 260,000 government workers have already been let go. (Reuters)+ DOGE’s math doesn’t add up. (The Atlantic $)+ One of its biggest inspirations is no fan of the program. (WP $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)4 Scientists are using AI to predict cancer survival outcomesIn some cases, it’s outperforming clinicians’ forecasts. (FT $) + Why it’s so hard to use AI to diagnose cancer. (MIT Technology Review) 5 Apple is reportedly working on new chips for its smart glassesBut we’ll have to wait a few more years. (Bloomberg $) + What’s next for smart glasses. (MIT Technology Review)6 Silicon Valley has a vision for the future of warfare Military technologies are no longer solely the preserve of governments. (Bloomberg $)+ Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review)7 AI companies don’t want regulation any more Just a few short years after they claimed regulation was the best way of making AI safe. (WP $)8 Forget SEO, GEO is where it’s at these daysMarketers are scrambling to adopt best Generative Engine Optimization practices now that AI is upending how we search the web. (WSJ $) + Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review) 9 AI-generated recruiters are making job hunting even worse Avatars can glitch out and stumble over their words. (404 Media)10 A Soviet-era spacecraft is reentering Earth’s atmosphere More than 50 years after it misfired on a journey to Venus. (Ars Technica)+ The world’s next big environmental problem could come from space. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.” —Bill Gates lashes out at Elon Musk’s cuts to USAID in an interview with the Financial Times.One more thing The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit NASA designed the International Space Station to fly for 20 years. It has lasted six years longer than that, though it is showing its age, and NASA is currently studying how to safely destroy the space laboratory by around 2030. The ISS never really became what some had hoped: a launching point for an expanding human presence in the solar system. But it did enable fundamental research on materials and medicine, and it helped us start to understand how space affects the human body.To build on that work, NASA has partnered with private companies to develop new, commercial space stations for research, manufacturing, and tourism. If they are successful, these companies will bring about a new era of space exploration: private rockets flying to private destinations. They’re already planning to do it around the moon. One day, Mars could follow. Read the full story.—David W. Brown We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + It’s almost pasta salad time!+ Who is the better fictional archaeologist: Indiana Jones or Lara Croft?+ How a good night’s sleep could help to give you a long-lasting memory boost. 😴+ How millennials became deeply uncool (allegedly)

“Have you ever seen a fungus move in real life?” Episode 2 of the new season of The Last of UsHBO There was something I loved and something I hated in the first season of The Last of Us, the post-apocalyptic TV show based on the hit video game of the same name, in which humanity fights against fungus-infected monsters. On the pro side, the scenography is incredible: from creatures infected with a mutated Cordyceps (the “zombie-ant fungus” now turning humans into ravaging cannibals) to the eerie overgrowth dominating everything, the imagery presents a hostile world cunningly reclaimed…

Price comparison site operator Moltiply Group is suing Alphabet’s Google over what it called anti-competitive behavior.

Table of Contents Table of Contents The best phone for variety in portrait mode High quality and rich colors for many photos What about the telephoto cameras? The Galaxy S25 Ultra camera is versatile yet fallible The battle for Ultra phones has heated up this year, with every company aiming to launch a phone that can compete with the camera prowess of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung’s latest camera behemoth features four cameras: a 200MP main sensor paired with a 50MP ultrawide and two telephoto lenses. One camera has a 10MP sensor offering 3x optical zoom, while the other has a 50MP sensor complete with 5x optical zoom. Recommended Videos Since it launched in January, I’ve taken thousands of photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra from several countries around the world. While phones like the Oppo Find X8 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 Ultra beat it in certain environments, the Galaxy S25 Ultra can still take exceptional photos.  Related Here are some of the best pictures I’ve taken and why. Andy Boxall / Digital Trends I’ve long been a major fan of Samsung’s portrait mode for many reasons, but the biggest is the options included in the portrait mode camera. Samsung isn’t the only company that offers a range of different portrait modes, but every Samsung phone camera includes my favorite portrait mode feature: color point. Color Point is designed to capture artistic and unique portrait mode pictures. It works by separating the foreground and background, allowing you to keep the former in color while making the background grayscale. The result can be truly striking photos; I’ve used these for many years for my social avatars. color point Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Beyond Color Point, Samsung’s portrait mode also has other fun features. A standard blur mode blurs the background, and three modes simulate different lighting conditions: Studio, High-key Mono, and Low-key Mono. There’s also a backdrop mode that allows you to create a full background color behind the subject in the photo. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Portrait selfie Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Normal selfie Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Two particularly noteworthy features are that you can edit both the effect and its strength before and after taking a photo, and that all the same features work with the front-facing camera. Regarding versatility, no phone offers the breadth of portrait mode features that the Galaxy S25 Ultra does. Oppo Find X8 Ultra (left) vs Galaxy S25 Ultra (right) The post-processing of photos captured on a Samsung phone usually yields similar results, making for an instantly recognizable image. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is no different, and while Samsung has toned down some of the saturation for more natural photos, the camera still takes high-quality images that are rich in color. Image used with permission by copyright holder Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends In particular, it’s a fantastic phone for vibrant ultra wide photos with high saturation. Some phones, like the Pixel 9 Pro, prioritize natural colors at the expense of saturation, so you may want to apply filters before uploading to social media. The Galaxy S25 Ultra takes excellent, Instagram-ready photos that require little editing. Many users will find these photos more visually appealing than the competition, even though they aren’t as accurate or natural. Visually appealing pictures are always received better on social media, which is how most people share their lives with the world. Andy Boxall / Digital Trends The main reason to buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the dual telephoto cameras. Samsung has been refining its approach to telephoto cameras for several years, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra can capture fantastic pictures at many different focal lengths.  The Galaxy S25 Ultra is not the world-beater it once was, especially as phones like the Oppo Find X8 Ultra and OnePlus 13 have shown to have better zoom performance, but you can still take incredible photos.  Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder In the viewfinder, you’ll find several options representing various focal lengths. The 2x zoom option is a crop of the main 200MP sensor, while the 3x and 5x use their dedicated telephoto lenses. Then there’s the 10x and above zoom options, which combine AI and details from the various sensors into a hybrid zoom. Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder Image used with permission by copyright holder However, it’s worth noting that while the Galaxy S25 Ultra is great at the lower focal lengths, Samsung’s Space Zoom hasn’t withstood the test of time. In previous years, the Space Zoom feature was groundbreaking and surpassed the competition, but now Samsung’s rivals have caught up and surpassed the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Take the OnePlus 13, for example. It only has one telephoto lens, but it’s more capable at 30x and its max 120x zoom than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Find X8 Ultra 0.5x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Find X8 Ultra 1x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Find X8 Ultra 2x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Find X8 Ultra 3x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Find X8 Ultra 6x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Find X8 Ultra 10x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 0.5x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 1x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 2x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 3x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 5x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 10x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Or the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, which has two telephoto lenses. The same learning applies here, especially as even the Oppo Find X8, which has just one telephoto like the OnePlus 13, takes better 30x photos than Samsung’s flagship camera powerhouse. However, despite the competition being better in certain ways, the Galaxy S25 Ultra still has an excellent zoom camera that will delight most users.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends For many years, the Galaxy S25 Ultra was largely the gold standard for photos, at least if you discount phones made by Huawei.  Even though its camera king is now facing tough competition, it remains one of the most versatile cameras on the market. The only problem is that it’s gone from being invincible and the camera you should always keep on you, to being a good camera with better alternatives. Galaxy S25 Ultra 0.5x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 1x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 2x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 3x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 5x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 10x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Galaxy S25 Ultra 30x Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends After taking 4,000 photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, there are a few key takeaways. Its camera is fantastic, and the portrait mode is the best of any phone. As I discovered in Dubai, it can take stable videos with excellent zoom features. Though not the highest quality, the selfie camera has the most versatile camera options. For all it does well, it’s no longer the best zoom camera. It’s still one of the best smartphone cameras, and it is arguably the most versatile as well. However, if zoom performance is your top priority, the camera may be disappointing, especially if you’ve used other smartphone cameras.  For portrait photography alone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will stay in my stable of phones. While it used to be the phone I always turned to, it’s now one of a collection that includes many of the best smartphones. 

What just happened? Razer has just announced three new products that could appeal to certain gamers. The new additions are made up of an ultra-portable keyboard, a compact version of its Basilisk mouse, and a $230 surround sound head cushion. The Razer Clio is probably the most interesting of the new trio. It offers an alternative to headphones or speakers, landing somewhere between. Razer calls the Clio a THX Spatial Audio-enabled wireless speaker head cushion – it's essentially a head cushion with integrated speakers that attaches to a gaming chair. Inside each of the cushioned angled tips is a near-field speaker that uses a 43-millimeter driver paired with a passive radiator that Razer says offers crisp, clear trebles and punchy bass. The Clio packs a 5,400 mAh battery that Razer claims can last for up to 14 hours. It also offers both 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth connections and three EQ modes: game, movies, and music. The cushion is compatible with "most high-back gaming and office chairs" and works with Bluetooth devices such as smartphones and handheld consoles. It's also compatible with Razer's HyperSpeed Wireless protocol, which offers fast and stable performance even in data-saturated environments. // Related Stories In addition to working as a primary speaker, the Clio can be turned into a rear surround speaker when paired with other speakers in a surround sound setup. The Clio's $230 price is no small ask, especially as you can find some of the best headsets and PC speakers on the market for that amount. But it could be ideal for those who want the best of both worlds. Another product Razer unveiled was a new entry in its extensive keyboard line, the $140 Razer Joro. This ultra-portable, low-profile 60% keyboard weighs just 374 grams (0.82 pounds) and is just 16.5mm (0.6 inches) thin, making it perfect for carrying around in a backpack. The Joro features Razer's Chroma lighting, ultra-low-profile switches for fast, tactile keystrokes, and "gaming-grade" keys. It boasts an 1,800-hour battery life in power-saving mode, though the standard mode at 50% brightness is just 11 hours. The keyboard features Razer Snap Tap, the controversial tech that instantly cancels directional inputs in games upon detecting an opposite input, allowing near-instantaneous side-to-side switching when strafing. It also has a dedicated Copilot key for quickly accessing Microsoft's AI assistant, though it's unclear how many gamers will appreciate that. The Joro is compatible with Mac, iPad, and Windows devices. It can also connect to devices such as the Steam Deck via a Bluetooth connection. Finally, Razer announced the new Razer Basilisk Mobile mouse. As the name suggests, it shares a lot in common with the standard-sized Basilisk V3 and Basilisk V3 Pro mice, including the comfortable design. Priced at $90, the mouse offers 105 hours of use when connected by Razer Hyperspeed Wireless or 180 hours via Bluetooth. There's also a Razer Focus X 18K Optical Sensor with 99.4% resolution accuracy, Chroma RGB, and Razer's Gen-3 Optical Mouse Switches that are good for over 90 million clicks. Other features include Razer's HyperScroll Technology, which is a 4-way tilting scroll wheel. There are also several buttons, including an AI prompt, for some reason, though they can be remapped. The Razer Clio can be pre-ordered ahead of its May 16 launch. The Razer Basilisk Mobile mouse and Joro keyboard are available now.

To find a good fit for agentic AI, organizations should look for tasks that have a large number of people doing the same thing over and over.

Breakdown & Showreels Gangs of London – Season 3: VFX Breakdown from Flaming Frames By Vincent Frei - 09/05/2025 For the third season of Gangs of London, the Tenerife-based studio Flaming Frames crafted high-impact visual effects that elevate the series’ signature violence and tension. From seamless digital enhancements to full-throttle action sequences, their work adds a visceral layer to the storytelling! © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025

Next The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday it will archive its database of billion-dollar climate disasters, as the Trump administration cuts resource at the agency. (Scripps News) By: Evan Thomas Posted The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday it will archive its database of billion-dollar climate disasters, as the Trump administration reduces the resources available to the agency.The database has measured the direct costs of major weather disasters in the U.S. since 1980. It collects information from federal and state agencies and insurance companies to estimate the dollar impacts of individual events such as hurricanes or wildfires. As the data accumulates, it also provides insight into historical weather and climate trends, and future-looking disaster risk mapping for the whole U.S.But NOAA said Thursday the tool "will be retired, with no updates beyond calendar year 2024." The changes were made in "alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes."The data collected in the archive to date will remain accessible.The last full year of data showed 27 events accounted for more than $182 billion in damage to the U.S. and caused 568 deaths.The Trump administration has made deep cuts to NOAA staffing since the beginning of the term, leading experts and lawmakers to warn that lives would be at risk going forward as services and tools were shuttered.More broadly, the administration has also increased its targeting of climate and environment initiatives. It has sued states to stop them from holding fossil emitters accountable, sought to strip powers of environmental regulation from the government and targeted climate-friendly initiatives with executive orders. Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

May 9, 20255 min readZero Is Foundational to Modern Mathematics. But It Was Rejected for CenturiesConceptual problems, ideology clashes and xenophobia prevented the concept of zero from catching on for a long time. Today all mathematics is based on itBy Manon Bischoff edited by Daisy Yuhas akinbostanci/Getty ImagesI’m a zero at mental arithmetic. It’s true—I struggle with this skill—but I want to focus on the phrase itself. In our language, we often equate zero with something negative. But zero is the only real number that is neither positive nor negative. It is neutral.Why the negative association? Humankind has long harbored strong feelings toward zero; it was even banned in some places at one point. Xenophobia and ideology held back this powerful concept. Yet today all of mathematics is based on this number.Defining “zilch,” “nil” or “0” is not easy. In fact, neuroscientists have studied how we conceive of nothing in varied ways. It should be no surprise, then, that cultures have approached zero in different ways over time.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.But what is surprising is just how long people got on without this concept. Numbers have accompanied humankind throughout history. The oldest documents record them. Trade cannot be conducted without them, and they are needed to measure land or record a recipe for beer. Zero is somewhat unusual and not strictly necessary for all of these activities.As a result, it took several millennia for zero to be accepted as a number in its own right. People have repeatedly resisted it. Yet today we know that all other numbers—and all of modern mathematics—would truly be nothing without zero.A History of AbsenceZero may have been invented more than once, with different functions. For example, around 5,000 years ago the Babylonians had a concept of zero, but it wasn’t a number that stood for itself. Instead they—like us—used a place-value system to indicate numbers: if I write down three digits in a row, such as 145, then the first number corresponds to the place of hundreds, the second to tens and the last to ones (or units).The Babylonians used a similar approach except that their system was not based on 10 but on 60. In a place-value system, you need a zero to distinguish a number such as 105 from 15. The Babylonians usually made do with inserting a space, which is one of the oldest references to something like a zero.It’s also notable that many ancient societies got by without this concept. In ancient Greece, all kinds of advanced mathematical considerations were made (just think of Pythagoras’ theorem or the basic pillars of logic by Aristotle) without a zero per se. The abstract concept of nothingness was well known to the ancient Greeks, but they regarded it as part of logic, not mathematics. Zero is strange, after all. For example, no number can be divided by zero. The ancient Greeks disliked this property.The exact origin of zero as we use it today has been the subject of some debate, but we know that in the seventh century C.E., the brilliant Indian scholar Brahmagupta introduced zero as a number, along with negative numbers, which had not been used before.Previously, mathematical problems were usually illustrated using geometric objects. For example, you might want to know how two rectangular fields can be connected to form a square piece of land of equal size. Negative numbers are irrelevant for such tasks, as is zero.Brahmagupta was also interested in such abstract problems, however. To use these new numbers correctly, he first needed a functioning set of rules that clearly specified how to deal with these quantities. In his book Brāhmasphuṭasiddhantā, for example, he wrote that the sum of two positives is positive, the sum of two negatives negative, and the sum of a positive and a negative is their difference; if they are equal, it is zero. He also wrote that the sum of a negative and zero is negative, that of a positive and zero is positive, and the sum of two zeros is zero.In a similar style, Brahmagupta also described how to multiply and divide the new numbers. The rules he laid down around 1,400 years ago are the same we learn at school today—except for one. He defined zero by zero as zero, which is wrong from current mathematical perspectives.The Zero Gradually SpreadsBrahmagupta’s rules, together with the Indian decimal number system, quickly spread throughout the world. Arabic scholars took up the concepts and developed the Arabic number system, on which our modern numbers are based. From there, the zero and Arabic numerals arrived in Europe—albeit at the worst possible time. The Crusades took place between the 11th and 13th centuries, and with them came an immense rejection of all ideas and knowledge of Arab or Islamic origin.In Florence, Italy, this development culminated in the banning of the number zero in 1299. At that time, the economy in that city was flourishing, and merchants from all over the world came together to sell their goods. In a town famous for banking and trade, the zero posed a real problem: it was very easy to increase the size of a number on a piece of paper by simply adding a few zeros. A 10 quickly became a 100 or even a 1,000, whereas the Roman numeral system did not allow such manipulation. City leaders therefore decided to banish the zero and rely on the tried and tested Roman numerals.But calculation with Roman numerals is incredibly complicated and cumbersome. So gradually, over more than 100 years, Arabic numerals, including the zero, prevailed. In the 15th century the concepts finally became accepted by society at large.Much Ado about NothingAt the beginning of the 20th century, mathematician Ernst Zermelo created the set of rules on which modern mathematics is based. At that time, logicians were looking for the simplest possible rules from which everything in mathematics could be derived. Whether numbers, systems of equations, derivations or geometric objects, everything should spring from a few basic assumptions.Zermelo developed nine simple axioms, that is, unproven basic assumptions, on which everything is based in math. These are still used today. One of the axioms is: “There is an empty set.” This is something like the zero of set theory. That’s where it all starts—it’s the “Let there be light!” of mathematics. And, in fact, this is the only set that Zermelo constructed so explicitly. The other rules say, for example, that you can “combine two sets to form a third set” or “select an element from a set.”Everything else follows from the empty set, the “zero.” For example, the numbers are constructed from it. To do this, it helps to imagine a set as a bag into which you can pack objects. An empty set corresponds to an empty bag.When constructing the numbers, Zermelo started with zero. It corresponds to the empty set or empty bag. “One” is the quantity into which the previously defined zero is packed, so it’s a bag with an empty bag inside. Two is the quantity that contains the 1 and the 0, or a bag containing a bag that itself contains a bag. The 3 is then the quantity that contains the 2, the 1 and the 0—okay, I admit it gets confusing.Graphically, this can be represented a little better if ∅ symbolizes the empty set:0 = ∅ 1 = {0} = {∅} 2 = {0, 1} = {∅, {∅}} 3 = {0, 1, 2} = {∅, {∅}, {∅, {∅}}}Zermelo has thus laid the foundations for integers. From here, all other numbers can be defined, including negative numbers, fractions, irrational numbers, and so on.Mathematical concepts other than numbers can also be obtained in this way. You can gradually work your way up in complexity until you end up with the most abstract structures of modern mathematics. It is fortunate for humanity that we eventually came to realize the power of zero as a starting point and to accept it.This article originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.

Source: Kilian O’Sullivan The University of Cambridge has officially opened the Ray Dolby Centre, a 32,900sq m research and teaching building designed by Jestico + Whiles for the Cavendish Laboratory within the department of physics. The new facility, delivered by Bouygues UK in partnership with executive design partners NBBJ and BDP, consolidates one of the world’s leading physics departments within a purpose-built headquarters in the Cambridge West Innovation District. Founded in 1874, the Cavendish Laboratory has played a key role in major scientific discoveries including the electron, neutron and the structure of DNA. It has been associated with 31 Nobel laureates and is regarded as a major contributor to global scientific research. Located on JJ Thomson Avenue, the five-storey building replaces the department’s existing facilities with new laboratories, workshops, cleanrooms, teaching spaces and a suite of support environments. Jude Harris, director at Jestico + Whiles, said: “The Ray Dolby Centre represents a significant milestone in our 10-year journey to create spaces that will enable scientific discovery and collaboration. Our design fosters an environment where researchers and students will be inspired to push the boundaries of knowledge and innovation.” Source: Ståle Eriksen Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Ståle Eriksen Source: Ståle Eriksen Source: Kilian O’Sullivan 1/6 show caption The design includes a 400-seat lecture theatre, undergraduate teaching laboratories, a learning resource centre, offices, outreach and exhibition spaces, and a central café. Publicly accessible spaces are arranged around six internal courtyards, with a connecting circulation route designed to encourage interaction between students and researchers. A new south-facing garden, three rain gardens and an elevated piazza form part of a wider strategy to enhance the building’s interface with its surroundings and provide informal outdoor gathering spaces. The building includes 173 laboratories with highly specific technical requirements. The deep basement houses vibration-sensitive microscopy suites, where VC-H vibration standards have been achieved through passive means. Other spaces demand rigorous temperature and humidity control, electro-magnetic shielding and non-ferrous or anti-static conditions. The project team, including Jacobs, developed tailored construction solutions such as stainless steel reinforcement and a new epoxy flooring system to meet the performance criteria. Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Ståle Eriksen Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Kilian O’Sullivan Source: Jestico + Whiles 1/9 show caption The project has achieved BREEAM Excellent certification and is served by a ground source heat pump system shared with the neighbouring West Hub building, also designed by Jestico + Whiles. The new facility includes 770 covered cycle spaces. The project received £85 million in funding from the estate of sound pioneer and Cambridge alumnus Ray Dolby, along with £75 million from the UK government. >> Also read: West Hub by Jestico + Whiles >> Also read: From complexity to clarity: The Sainsbury Wing transformed Graham Matthews, director of estates at the University of Cambridge, said: “The Ray Dolby Centre is truly a landmark building. The official opening marks the culmination of many years of hard work by teams from across the division to move this project through its phases from concept to completion and operation.” Phillippe Bernard, chair and CEO of Bouygues UK, described the delivery as “a project that demanded the highest level of technical expertise and precision,” adding that the building is “a testament to the dedication and skill of everyone involved.” The Ray Dolby Centre forms the centrepiece of a wider university initiative to reshape the Cambridge West Innovation District into a research-led hub with enhanced connections to industry, academia and the wider community. Project team Client: University of Cambridge Architect & Lead Consultant: Jestico + Whiles Main Contractor: Bouygues UK Executive Architect: NBBJ Project Manager and Principal Designer: Currie & Brown Technical Architect: Jacobs Cost Consultant, Transport Consultant, Masterplanner, Public Realm Landscape Architect: AECOM Civil, Structures & Vibration Engineer, Fire Consultant, Acoustic Consultant: Ramboll Civil, Structural Engineer: BDP Landscape Architect: Plincke Mechanical & Electrical Engineer, BREEAM Consultant: Hoare Lea Vibration Consultant: BDP / ISVR Fire Engineer: RPS Accessibility Consultant: David Bonnett Associates Food Service Consultant: Tricon Lighting Designer: Studio Fractal Lighting Consultant: BDP

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. A new AI translation system for headphones clones multiple voices simultaneously What’s new: Imagine going for dinner with a group of friends who switch in and out of different languages you don’t speak, but still being able to understand what they’re saying. This scenario is the inspiration for a new AI headphone system that translates the speech of multiple speakers simultaneously, in real time. How it works: The system tracks the direction and vocal characteristics of each speaker, helping the person wearing the headphones to identify who is saying what in a group setting. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams Your gut microbes might encourage criminal behavior A few years ago, a Belgian man in his 30s drove into a lamppost. Twice. Local authorities found that his blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit. Over the space of a few years, the man was apprehended for drunk driving three times. And on all three occasions, he insisted he hadn’t been drinking. He was telling the truth. A doctor later diagnosed auto-brewery syndrome—a rare condition in which the body makes its own alcohol. Microbes living inside the man’s body were fermenting the carbohydrates in his diet to create ethanol. Last year, he was acquitted of drunk driving. His case, along with several other scientific studies, raises a fascinating question for microbiology, neuroscience, and the law: How much of our behavior can we blame on our microbes? Read the full story.—Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How the Gates Foundation will end Bill Gates will wind it down in 2045, after distributing most of his remaining fortune. (NYT $)+ He estimates he’ll give away $200 billion in the next 20 years. (Semafor)+ The foundation is shuttering several decades earlier than he expected. (BBC)2 US Customs and Border Protection will no longer protect pregnant women It’s rolled back policies designed to protect vulnerable people, including infants. (Wired $)+ The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age. (MIT Technology Review)3 DOGE is readying software to turbo-charge mass layoffs After some 260,000 government workers have already been let go. (Reuters)+ DOGE’s math doesn’t add up. (The Atlantic $)+ One of its biggest inspirations is no fan of the program. (WP $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review)4 Scientists are using AI to predict cancer survival outcomesIn some cases, it’s outperforming clinicians’ forecasts. (FT $) + Why it’s so hard to use AI to diagnose cancer. (MIT Technology Review) 5 Apple is reportedly working on new chips for its smart glassesBut we’ll have to wait a few more years. (Bloomberg $) + What’s next for smart glasses. (MIT Technology Review)6 Silicon Valley has a vision for the future of warfare Military technologies are no longer solely the preserve of governments. (Bloomberg $)+ Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review)7 AI companies don’t want regulation any more Just a few short years after they claimed regulation was the best way of making AI safe. (WP $)8 Forget SEO, GEO is where it’s at these daysMarketers are scrambling to adopt best Generative Engine Optimization practices now that AI is upending how we search the web. (WSJ $) + Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review) 9 AI-generated recruiters are making job hunting even worse Avatars can glitch out and stumble over their words. (404 Media)10 A Soviet-era spacecraft is reentering Earth’s atmosphere More than 50 years after it misfired on a journey to Venus. (Ars Technica)+ The world’s next big environmental problem could come from space. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.” —Bill Gates lashes out at Elon Musk’s cuts to USAID in an interview with the Financial Times.One more thing The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit NASA designed the International Space Station to fly for 20 years. It has lasted six years longer than that, though it is showing its age, and NASA is currently studying how to safely destroy the space laboratory by around 2030. The ISS never really became what some had hoped: a launching point for an expanding human presence in the solar system. But it did enable fundamental research on materials and medicine, and it helped us start to understand how space affects the human body.To build on that work, NASA has partnered with private companies to develop new, commercial space stations for research, manufacturing, and tourism. If they are successful, these companies will bring about a new era of space exploration: private rockets flying to private destinations. They’re already planning to do it around the moon. One day, Mars could follow. Read the full story.—David W. Brown We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + It’s almost pasta salad time!+ Who is the better fictional archaeologist: Indiana Jones or Lara Croft?+ How a good night’s sleep could help to give you a long-lasting memory boost. 😴+ How millennials became deeply uncool (allegedly)

As a Senior Content Marketer at Animalz, you'll take ownership of executing and maintaining content strategies for a portfolio of high-growth B2B technology customers. You'll be responsible for producing compelling, audience-focused content that drives measurable business outcomes.This isn't just a writing role. You'll oversee content pipelines, assign work to freelancers, collaborate with design, and act as a trusted partner to customers. You'll work closely with the Heads of Content to translate strategy into action and work with editors and subject matter experts to ensure everything you ship is thoughtful, useful, and aligned with business outcomes.What You'll DoExecute and maintain content strategies developed by Heads of Content, adapting them to evolving customer needs and feedback  Create high-performing content—blogs, guides, landing pages, email nurtures, and more—that aligns with SEO best practices and customer intent  Assign and manage freelance writers, ensuring timely, high-quality delivery for the accounts and strategies you support  Collaborate with design to create graphics for various deliverables (create design briefs, explain concepts, etc)…Audit, refresh, and optimize existing content to improve performance across search, conversion, and engagement metrics  Manage content calendars and delivery pipelines, balancing quality with high-volume output  Create monthly performance reports for the customers you manage, communicate key results and insights, and ensure content is aligned with customer goals and target outcomes.Participate in knowledge-sharing within the team, contributing expertise while learning from others in a collaborative environmentContribute to internal initiatives, from researching and piloting new service offerings to improving AI-assisted content workflows Core CompetenciesStrategic Execution: You can translate an established strategy into consistent, high-quality execution, adjusting tactics based on results and feedbackEditorial Judgment: You understand how to craft effective B2B content across formats, funnel stages, and buyer personas—and you help others do the sameCustomer Empathy: You communicate clearly, manage expectations, and build trust with customers through insight and transparencyTechnical Curiosity: You have a strong grasp of technology and software team dynamics, and a genuine interest in learning how complex products work so you can explain them clearly and persuasively.Executional Excellence: You reliably deliver quality content on time—even when managing multiple accounts, content types, and contributorsAI Fluency: You know how to use AI tools to support content workflows responsibly and efficiently, and stay current on emerging best practicesAnalytical Thinking: You know how to assess content performance using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs, and how to iterate for better resultsFreelancer Management & Feedback Loop: You assign work to freelancers, communicate customer feedback effectively, and ensure deliverables meet account standards while collaborating with editors throughout the processAdaptability: You're comfortable navigating ambiguity, trying new tools or formats, and adjusting your approach when priorities shiftValue-Driven Thinking: You optimize for long-term impact over short-term wins, and focus on solving for our customers’ customersGrowth Mindset: You invest in your own development and actively bring back insights that elevate the team's thinking and outputWhat We're Looking For4–6 years of experience in content marketing, preferably in a B2B SaaS or agency setting  Proven ability to execute content strategies that support business goals—traffic, conversions, engagement, or retention  Strong customer management skills, including the ability to communicate proactively, manage feedback loops, and build trust across multiple accounts  Exceptional writing and editing skills, with a strong grasp of SEO and narrative clarity  Experience assigning work to and managing freelance writers in a fast-paced editorial environment  Familiarity with AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) and the ability to use them to enhance—not replace—human editorial quality  Strong command of content tools and analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Ahrefs, HubSpot, Clearscope)  Experience collaborating with other content professionals and helping refine internal processes  Excellent communication, organization, and remote collaboration skills  Curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning in the evolving world of content and content strategy  Our ValuesAt Animalz, our values guide how we show up for our customers, our teammates, and the content we create. We’re looking for team members who embody these principles and want to grow within them.Value Over Vanity: We measure our success in customer impact, not surface-level praise. We focus on content that drives sustainable, long-term results by understanding and serving our customers’ customers.Two Steps Ahead: Great work anticipates needs before they arise. We’re proactive and strategic, always looking for ways to solve problems before they become blockers.Power Source; Not Power Trip: We lead through service, not authority. We energize our teammates and customers, convert obstacles into momentum, and focus on elevating others.Pursue Mastery: We believe great work comes from deliberate practice, open collaboration, and constant curiosity. We’re always learning, evolving, and testing new approaches.Left Brain, Right Brain, Robot Brain: Our best work blends creativity, analysis, and smart use of technology—including AI—to drive meaningful outcomes without sacrificing humanity or voice.In the Arena: We’re not spectators. We experiment boldly, contribute to thought leadership, and stay immersed in our customers’ industries so we can lead from experience, not theory.Your First 90 DaysDays 1-30: Learn & IntegrateComplete onboarding and master our tools and processesDeep dive into your assigned customer accountsCreate your first content deliverables with guidanceBuild relationships with your team and customersDays 31-60: Execute & OwnTake ownership of 1-2 customer accountsStart managing freelance writers and content calendarsPresent your first performance reports to customersContribute to team meetings and internal initiativesDays 61-90: Drive ImpactOwn content execution for 3-4 customer accountsLead strategy refinements based on dataShare your expertise and improve our processesDemonstrate measurable improvements in content performance for your customersWorking ArrangementsLocation: Fully remote, anywhere in the world  Timezone Requirements: We ask for at least 4 hours of overlap with US timezones (EST/PST) to collaborate effectively with our team and customersCompensation & BenefitsSalary Range: $70,000 - $85,000 USD annuallyThis role offers competitive compensation with placement within the range based on experience, skills, and demonstrated impact in previous content marketing roles.Health & vision insurance (or wellness stipend for non-US team members)401(k) retirement plan (US only)Unlimited PTO policyFlexible working scheduleTeam lunch stipendsDiversity, Equity & InclusionAt Animalz, we believe diverse perspectives make us stronger. We're committed to building an inclusive workplace where people of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities can thrive. We particularly encourage applications from historically underrepresented groups in tech and marketing, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and those from varied socioeconomic backgrounds.Equal OpportunityAnimalz is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.We’re excited to meet you!

Long beloved as way to conceal the unsightly, while also adding a decorative touch, the once-humble sink skirt that dressed cottage and farmhouse-style kitchens in the 1930s through the 1950s is having a serious style moment. The best part? It’s a relatively inexpensive upgrade that offers major visual impact. And while the original and most popular version of a sink skirt is below an apron-front farmhouse kitchen sink, skirting is a a design idea you can personalize to almost any room and situation you’re hoping to add a little softness and style. Designers such as Leanne Ford, Lilse McKenna, Lizzie Cox, and more have fully embraced the trend, skirting everything from laundry room sinks to kitchen cabinetry. Below, I’m breaking down all the designer-approved ways to embrace pretty pleats and rollicking ruffles in the kitchen—and all around the house. MORE ON KITCHENS:Pick Your SpaceErin LittleSkirted sinks began to grow in popularity during the 1930s, as homeowners looked to break out of the all-white, somewhat sterile look that was the standard for kitchens at the time. A “skirt” of fabric could be easily added to the base of a farmhouse-style sink to bring the room a little color and femininity with fabric. Courtesy of Louise RoeLouise Roe, creative force behind Sharland England, added this floor-skimming skirt to her pretty and prim powder bath. Skirts aren’t just for kitchen sinks, though. Some of the favorite skirted sinks we’ve featured recently have been in bathrooms, and specifically powder rooms. Adding a skirt to a pedestal sink is the perfect was to gain a little under sink storage while also upping the style factor in a big way. Skirting—both of sinks and cabinetry—is also quickly becoming a favorite trick of designers to upgrade laundry rooms. Find Your FabricDavid Tsay for Country LivingA simple gingham fabric panel on a brass rod adds color and pattern to textile designer Heather Taylor’s woodsy cabin kitchen, while also hiding under-sink clutter. From graphic gingham to ditsy florals, your print options are as endless as your design dreams. For easy and effortless gathering, go lightweight. For maximum durability, like what you would need in a laundry or mudroom, consider indoor-outdoor options. Direct-to-consumer fabric sites like Spoonflower are a great source in this post-JOANN age for affordable, stylish choices. They even have performance fabrics, but don’t worry: You can also boost linen longevity with Scotchgard.Related StoryFinesse Your FlounceMax Kim-BeeIn this former schoolhouse-turned cottage by the Madcap Cottage design team, a flouncy skirt brings a touch of English cottage charm to the bath. Differing pleat styles can evoke distinct looks. Tightly tailored box pleats feel a bit more buttoned-up, while a full-flowing skirt veers more playful. If you’re unsure what dose of design your space needs, take inventory of what’s already there. “If the rest of the room feels frilly, go with a more simple style,” says New York-based designer Ariel Okin. “Conversely, if it’s a modern kitchen, a fancy skirt could be just the off-kilter addition needed.” Also, consider how much “puddling” you desire. A skirt that’s generous in length looks more casual; a skirt that just skims the surface tends to feel more sophisticated. Location may also dictate how much puddling is reasonable. If you’re skirting a pretty powder room sink, a little puddling adds a touch of easy elegance, but if you’re skirting a cabinet in a kitchen, additional fabric skimming the floor can just get in the way. Below, find the most popular curtain header styles to make sure your skirt looks great from top to bottom. Pleat Styles to KnowRod PocketMelinda JosiePinch PleatMelinda JosieGathered PleatMelinda JosieBox PleatMelinda JosieTry Secondhand SkirtingGridley+Graves PhotographersSkirted spaces are already an economical alternative to cabinetry, but you can double down on savings by creatively repurposing vintage textiles like large tea towels, accent rugs—you name it. All you need is a tension rod paired with curtain ring clips—no sewing machine or seamstress required! Or, if you prefer a cleaner line, fold over the top edge and sew a simple rod pocket. Below, find some of our favorite vintage items you can use to create a one-of-a-kind skirt of your own. Secondhand Skirt Ideas to TryPieced QuiltMelinda JosieFeed SackMelinda JosieApronMelinda JosieThink Beyond the SinkIf skirting your sink isn’t an option, there are other ways to bring the nostalgic look to your kitchen or laundry room. A below-the-counter skirt is an easy way to hide sterile appliances like the dishwasher or washer and dryer. They can also be used in place of cabinet doors to give a kitchen a more cottage-style look. Below are some of our favorite skirted applications.Rikki Snyder for Country LivingDesigner Christina Salway opted for a bold red fabric to hide the washer and dryer in her New York farmhouse’s pass-through laundry room. Simon UptonDesigner Amy Morris installed a petite skirt in this butler’s pantry as a way to hide unseemly appliances. Simon UptonIn this laundry-meets-bloom room, designers Mary Graham and Nicole Salvesen, the duo behind Salvesen Graham, fabricated a skirt to run the length of the scalloped counter. Related Stories@KITANDCO_Butter yellow cabinetry pairs perfectly with this simple gingham skirt that conceals the dishwasher. Nicole FranzenIn this collected kitchen, designer Leanne Ford opted for a simple striped skirt to cover her cabinets. Related StoriesAnna LoganSenior Homes & Style EditorAnna Logan is the Senior Homes & Style Editor at Country Living, where she has been covering all things home design, including sharing exclusive looks at beautifully designed country kitchens, producing home features, writing everything from timely trend reports on the latest viral aesthetic to expert-driven explainers on must-read topics, and rounding up pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted to know about paint, since 2021. Anna has spent the last seven years covering every aspect of the design industry, previously having written for Traditional Home, One Kings Lane, House Beautiful, and Frederic. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. When she’s not working, Anna can either be found digging around her flower garden or through the dusty shelves of an antique shop. Follow her adventures, or, more importantly, those of her three-year-old Maltese and official Country Living Pet Lab tester, Teddy, on Instagram.  

The writer of the Wesley Snipers Blade trilogy of films has said he is ready to answer the call from Marvel chief Kevin Feige to help sort out Mahershala Ali’s M.I.A. MCU reboot.The once-upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film has gone through its fair share of roadblocks over the years, but it appears Blade is well and truly stalled with little hope that it will ever pick up where it left off.Last month, rapper and artist Flying Lotus took to X / Twitter to discuss his role in the project, and he let slip that whatever Blade once was is, in fact, no more. "I guess we are so far from it even being a possibility now but. Yeah I was signed on to write music for the new BLADE movie before it fell thru," the DJ, who recently directed Shudder’s new sci-fi horror ASH, explained. "Maybe it'll come around again but I doubt it. Would have been fun tho."The day prior to Flying Lotus’ tweet, Sinners costume designer Ruth E. Carter confirmed during an appearance on The John Campea Show that she was set to design costumes for Blade prior to production falling apart — and worse still, the film was supposed to be set in the 1920s, which would have undoubtedly made for some seriously cool costume design, not to mention production design as well.And actor Delroy Lindo — who was also attached to star in the film alongside Ali as Blade for a period of time — also opened up about the demise of the production just days before Carter’s reveal."When Marvel came to me, they seemed to be really interested in my input," he recently told Entertainment Weekly. "And in the various conversations I had with producers, the writer, the director at the time, it was all leading into being very inclusive. It was really exciting conceptually, but it was also exciting in terms of the character that was going to form. And then, for whatever reason, it just went off the rails."PlayBlade was first announced at San Diego Comic Con back in 2019 and if all had gone to plan, fans would be looking forward to immersing themselves in the film this coming November. The project has cycled through several directors at this point, but none, including Yann Demange and Bassam Tariq, have stuck with the film.Now, speaking to ScreenRant, David S. Goyer, who wrote all three movies in the original Blade trilogy and even directed 2004’s Blade: Trinity, wondered what was taking so long.“I would,” Goyer responded when asked if he’d write Marvel’s Blade reboot. “I’ve always loved the character and I love him. I’ve been sitting on the sidelines wondering, ‘What in the world is going on? Why is it taking so long?’ Because I’m a huge Marvel fan myself, and I’ve just been totally puzzled.”It’s been just seven months since Blade was removed from Marvel’s release schedule — and the studio has yet to confirm a new release date for it. That said, a month after the film was pulled from the calendar, Feige made it known that Marvel Studios still planned to make a Blade movie happen some way, somehow."We are committed to Blade. We love the character, we love Mahershala's take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. You're all up to date on what's happening," he said during an interview with Omelete in November 2024. "But I can tell you that the character will indeed make it to the MCU.”The 25 Best Superhero MoviesMeanwhile, MCU film Deadpool & Wolverine, which saw Snipes reprise his role as Blade in cameo form, was an enormous hit, making $1.3 billion at the global box office. Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds has called for Snipes' Blade to get a send-off film akin to Hugh Jackman's Logan.Reynolds said that 1998's Blade and its sequels created a market for superhero films to exist, and without them there wouldn't be the likes of X-Men or the Marvel Cinematic Universe."There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market," Reynolds said on X/Twitter. "He’s Marvel Daddy. Please retweet for a Logan-like send-off."Earlier this month, Reynolds was reported to be in the "early stages" of trying to bring a Deadpool and X-Men movie to life. As reported by THR, Reynolds' idea for this ensemble film would feature Deadpool, but not as the main character. Instead, he would share the spotlight with three of four other X-Men characters. In fact, it is said Reynolds wants these other characters to take center stage so they can be "used in unexpected ways."Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

International Game Developers Association (IGDA) welcomes three new directors to its board: Tiziano Giardini, Jennifer Estaris, and Pedro ZambonRead More

Apple is rumored to be on the precipice of releasing a new software platform to control your entire home. Here's what's been rumored about homeOS.Apple may introduce homeOS as a new software platformSpawned from a common core, Apple has been creating branches of its operating systems for its hardware for years. There's watchOS for the Apple Watch, iOS for the iPhone, iPadOS runs on iPad, and so on.Rumors about homeOS have been circulating for years at this point. There have been references within Apple's code that points to a new software platform, either as a wholly new addition, or as a replacement to some of its existing ones. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A new AI translation system for headphones clones multiple voices simultaneously What’s new: Imagine going for dinner with a group of friends who switch in and out of different languages you don’t speak, but still being able to understand what they’re saying. This scenario is the inspiration for a new AI headphone system that translates the speech of multiple speakers simultaneously, in real time. How it works: The system tracks the direction and vocal characteristics of each speaker, helping the person wearing the headphones to identify who is saying what in a group setting. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams Your gut microbes might encourage criminal behavior A few years ago, a Belgian man in his 30s drove into a lamppost. Twice. Local authorities found that his blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit. Over the space of a few years, the man was apprehended for drunk driving three times. And on all three occasions, he insisted he hadn’t been drinking. He was telling the truth. A doctor later diagnosed auto-brewery syndrome—a rare condition in which the body makes its own alcohol. Microbes living inside the man’s body were fermenting the carbohydrates in his diet to create ethanol. Last year, he was acquitted of drunk driving.His case, along with several other scientific studies, raises a fascinating question for microbiology, neuroscience, and the law: How much of our behavior can we blame on our microbes? Read the full story. —Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How the Gates Foundation will endBill Gates will wind it down in 2045, after distributing most of his remaining fortune. (NYT $)+ He estimates he’ll give away $200 billion in the next 20 years. (Semafor)+ The foundation is shuttering several decades earlier than he expected. (BBC) 2 US Customs and Border Protection will no longer protect pregnant womenIt’s rolled back policies designed to protect vulnerable people, including infants. (Wired $)+ The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age. (MIT Technology Review) 3 DOGE is readying software to turbo-charge mass layoffsAfter some 260,000 government workers have already been let go. (Reuters)+ DOGE’s math doesn’t add up. (The Atlantic $)+ One of its biggest inspirations is no fan of the program. (WP $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review) 4 Scientists are using AI to predict cancer survival outcomesIn some cases, it’s outperforming clinicians’ forecasts. (FT $)+ Why it’s so hard to use AI to diagnose cancer. (MIT Technology Review) 5 Apple is reportedly working on new chips for its smart glassesBut we’ll have to wait a few more years. (Bloomberg $)+ What’s next for smart glasses. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Silicon Valley has a vision for the future of warfareMilitary technologies are no longer solely the preserve of governments. (Bloomberg $)+ Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review) 7 AI companies don’t want regulation any moreJust a few short years after they claimed regulation was the best way of making AI safe. (WP $) 8 Forget SEO, GEO is where it’s at these daysMarketers are scrambling to adopt best Generative Engine Optimization practices now that AI is upending how we search the web. (WSJ $)+ Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review) 9 AI-generated recruiters are making job hunting even worseAvatars can glitch out and stumble over their words. (404 Media) 10 A Soviet-era spacecraft is reentering Earth’s atmosphereMore than 50 years after it misfired on a journey to Venus. (Ars Technica)+ The world’s next big environmental problem could come from space. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.” —Bill Gates lashes out at Elon Musk’s cuts to USAID in an interview with the Financial Times. One more thing The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit NASA designed the International Space Station to fly for 20 years. It has lasted six years longer than that, though it is showing its age, and NASA is currently studying how to safely destroy the space laboratory by around 2030.The ISS never really became what some had hoped: a launching point for an expanding human presence in the solar system. But it did enable fundamental research on materials and medicine, and it helped us start to understand how space affects the human body.To build on that work, NASA has partnered with private companies to develop new, commercial space stations for research, manufacturing, and tourism. If they are successful, these companies will bring about a new era of space exploration: private rockets flying to private destinations. They’re already planning to do it around the moon. One day, Mars could follow. Read the full story. —David W. Brown We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + It’s almost pasta salad time!+ Who is the better fictional archaeologist: Indiana Jones or Lara Croft?+ How a good night’s sleep could help to give you a long-lasting memory boost. + How millennials became deeply uncool (allegedly)