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Songzhuang Z Museum / TEAM BLDGSave this picture!© Jonathan LeijonhufvudMuseum•Lishui, China Architects: TEAM BLDG Area Area of this architecture project Area:  472 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025 Photographs Photographs:Jonathan Leijonhufvud Lead Architect: Xiao Lei More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! The Quartet – Songzhuang Z Museum - Located in Songzhuang Village, Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, the Z Museum sits over 400 meters above sea level, nestled deep within the mountains. With its winding roads and narrow paths, arriving here for the first time feels like stepping into a modern-day version of the "Peach Blossom Spring". It is said that prior to 2017, this was a place even most locals of Songyang had never visited—or even heard of. As a result, the village has managed to preserve much of its original character, including its traditional housing and historical spatial fabric. In early 2024, TEAM_BLDG was invited to undertake a project in this 600-year-old village: to transform a brick-and-concrete residential house built in the 1990s into Z MUSEUM – the first contemporary rural art museum in China dedicated to the theme of weaving.Save this picture!Better to Stand Out than to Disappear - The original architecture stands in a prominent location within the village—its scale and material starkly contrast with the surrounding low, continuous rows of traditional rammed-earth houses. Having long been uninhabited, the building had been considered for renovation on multiple occasions. It wasn't until the current operator, Mountain Creations, proposed transforming it into the Z Museum that a clear vision began to take shape. From the outset, the operator conveyed a definitive design direction to TEAM_BLDG: since the building's incongruity with the village context was an established fact, instead of concealing or diminishing it, why not enhance this contrast in a way that is memorable? At the same time, this contrast should be appropriate and graceful—resonating both with the spirit of an art museum and with the character of the village itself.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!A Quartet and a Color-Shifting Skin - Faced with the dense and rigid façade of the original structure, the design began with a deconstructive approach. Drawing on the scale and spatial rhythm of the surrounding old houses, the building was vertically divided into four volumes from the inside out, with inner courtyards inserted in between. These four volumes were then interconnected vertically and horizontally. Varying rooftop terraces and semi-transparent shading canopies were introduced, generating a dynamic composition of staggered heights—what the architects describe as a "quartet" of forms.Save this picture!To visually "lighten" the mass of the original building, the architects took inspiration from traditional textile weaving. Aluminum square tubes measuring 20mm x 40mm were painted red on three sides and white on one, then arranged into a fine lattice that wraps the entire façade. Structural elements fixed to the façade act like the shuttles of a loom, guiding the interplay of "warp" and "weft," and weaving strands of dual-colored "yarn" into the building's skin. The result is a mass that feels both delicate and diaphanous.Concerned that the aluminum lattice might appear too rational and mechanical, the design team refined the arrangement by varying the spacing of the slats. The gaps between the tubes are intentionally irregular, and the upper and lower sections are treated differently—with denser patterns above and more open ones below. Particularly on the terrace levels, the lattice introduces multidimensional interweaving, further amplifying the sense of "woven skin."Save this picture!In the early morning, as sunlight begins to filter into the mountain village, light and shadow begin to "weave" across the façade. Thanks to the red-and-white orientation of the aluminum slats, the building takes on subtle and ever-shifting hues throughout the day. This means that each visit to the Z Museum may offer a distinct impression: on bright, sunny afternoons, it may appear as a translucent pink volume; on rainy or snowy days, it becomes a serene, white monolith.Save this picture!Ascending Around a Shaft of Light - In order to give full focus to the artworks, the architects intentionally minimized additive interior design interventions, instead prioritizing the clarity of circulation and the relationship between interior and exterior spaces. The journey begins in the adjacent rammed-earth structure, where a "prologue hall" has been inserted—a quiet, dimly lit space. Aside from red-painted steel cladding added to the window frames and a traditional "tiger window," the room largely preserves the original appearance of the old house. By contrasting this subdued spatial atmosphere with the contemporary interior of the main building, visitors undergo a sensory transition before entering the main exhibition areas.Save this picture!A new skylight was introduced by carving out a vertical atrium—a "light well"—that spans all three levels of the main structure. This shaft allows natural light and ambient warmth to penetrate deep into the interior, while also visually and physically connecting the horizontal spaces on each floor. Exhibition halls on each level are arranged around this central void, allowing visitors to glimpse others moving through the museum from different vantage points.Save this picture!Original window openings were reconfigured in response to the surrounding landscape. This strategy of "secondary framing" allows curated views of the village to dialogue with the artworks on display, subtly bridging the museum interior with the rural context. Meanwhile, large new openings were carved into the stairwell's exterior wall, transforming the third floor into a semi-outdoor space—visually and experientially reinforcing the museum's relationship with the village. Upon reaching the rooftop terrace, visitors are offered an unobstructed panoramic view of Songzhuang Village. The uniform wall and ground materials, along with the absence of deliberate functional zoning, only minimally guide people's behavior through varying elevations, allowing visitors here to fully experience nature and relaxation. Save this picture!Notably, the architects also designed a custom "LOOM" furniture series for the museum's café and shop, inspired by the forms of traditional looms. Constructed with 20×20mm square steel tubes as frames, each piece is wrapped and tensioned with 20mm-wide custom red woven straps to create both horizontal and angled surfaces. The spacing of these woven elements echoes the façade's lattice system, extending the woven "thread" motif from exterior to interior.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Lishui, ChinaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this office Published on May 20, 2025Cite: "Songzhuang Z Museum / TEAM BLDG" 20 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030268/the-quartet-songzhuang-z-museum-team-bldg&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

After pictures of in-hand copies of Wizkids’ new pre-painted Baldur’s Gate 3 miniatures emerged and were promptly ridiculed last week, the toymaker has announced plans to offer complete refunds to players disappointed by the horrifying paint jobs that turned Faerun’s finest into eldritch abominations. The controversy around Wizkids’ new $50 Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3D&D video game found them arriving with almost comically bad paint applications—significantly worse than the production images used to sell the set promoted, which were themselves already significantly worse than the images used for the highly anticipated set’s reveal last year. Although no one expected seven mass-market miniatures to hit the quality of, say, a Golden Demon entrant, when Karlach’s eyes start slipping halfway down her face, Lae’zel’s hair is half Githyanki-skintone colored, and Gale looks more like a Dollar Tree Matt Berry, something has gone clearly wrong. Thankfully, Wizkids agrees. In a statement released to the company’s official website today, Wizkids offered an apology for the quality of its Baldur’s Gate 3 minis. “As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play. We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products,” the statement opens. “Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Boxed Set.” Wizkids will offer complete refunds to anyone who purchased the set directly from the company, but also offered that anyone who purchased the box set through their local game store can return it to point of purchase for a complete refund as well. Should anyone be brave enough to want a replacement instead, they can also fill out an online form to receive a set that Wizkids will “ensure that it meets the standards expected.” Wizkids has also removed the Icons of the Realm set from its webstore, so anyone looking to try and buy a questionable piece of Baldur’s Gate 3 history might find themselves out of luck. “Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers. We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner,” the statement concluded. “Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this.” Hasbro’s broader stewardship of Baldur’s Gate 3 in the wake of Larian officially moving on from the game after its latest patch has been marked by a series of unfortunate public mishaps as it seeks to capitalize on the immense success of the 2023 smash hit. In a much less funny situation than badly painted miniatures, earlier this year Wizards of the Coast scrapped its much-vaunted virtual tabletop project Sigil, which had extensively leveraged the ability to use characters like Baldur’s Gate‘s Karlach and Astarion in promotional material. Hopefully we get a few more critical hits rather than natural 1s, whatever the company decides to do with BG3 next. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Rockstar’s best game? (Rockstar Games) The Tuesday letters page asks whether video game execs need to be gamers or not, as one reader predicts Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe will be a while yet. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Rockstar #1 Interesting to see people having the confidence to speak out against GTA, which I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of as the game gets closer. I won’t pretend I don’t enjoy the games, and still play GTA Online occasionally, but what I will say is that GTA 5 is not my favourite Rockstar game at all and I do feel it’s a shame they don’t make a wider range of games like they used to.Bully was great and so was The Warriors, but I especially liked the first Manhunt and I’m very upset that never became a regular franchise. I don’t think Midnight Club or L.A. Noire were as good but at least they were something different, as was Max Payne 3 (although I prefer Remedy’s two games). I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily their best game. It has all the scope and size of GTA but none of the flaws that people have been pointing out. It has a good, clear plot. The characters are all interesting and many of them are likeable. They act like people too, not just try hard characters. The gameplay still isn’t great but it’s no worse than GTA 5 and I definitely prefer riding a horse to driving a car, at least one designed by Rockstar. So while I am looking forward to GTA 6 there are quite a few other Rockstar games I’d rather see get a sequel first.Focus One for two Is it me or has Shuhei Yoshida been acting like a bit of chump in his recent round of interviews? He was very down on Switch 2 for no reason that I could really see, other than he’s ex-Sony, and now he, who is presumably very rich, is trying to tell us all that £80 for a video is a bargain and we shouldn’t complain?I’m sure it is good value for money but at the end of the day that’s money that a lot of us don’t have lying around spare. Only a few years ago I would’ve been able to get two triple-A games for £80, at least a couple of months after launch, and soon I’m only going to be able to get one. I don’t see how that’s good for gaming or publishers or anyone else. It’s definitely not good for my wallet.Brian Summer secrets So, the Switch 2 is out on June 5 and the Summer Game Fest is June 6… does that mean there’s going to be some kind of big annoucement? I know people are 50/50 on whether there’s a secret Christmas game still to be revealed but if there was I would’ve though this would be a good time to do it.I can’t see anyone getting all that excited when Nintendo try to make the reveal of the release dates for checks notes Hyrule Warriors 3 and Kirby Air Ride 2 seem like some epic reveal. I’m with everyone else that thinks they are very strange things to be out in the first year, especially when that could mean there’s really only big first party game out all year. I’m not going to try and predict anything, because it’s Nintendo and who knows, but does GC think the two dates are coincidence or are they going to end up being connected?Paulie GC: Our guess is that it’s just a coincidence. Nintendo doesn’t tend to use third party events to announce anything significant. They may try and squeeze something in at the last minute, just because the timing is so odd, but we wouldn’t count on it. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Strange ideas Like a lot of readers, I find Hideo Kojima a fascinating but flawed character. He’s got so much obvious talent, but he’s squandered so much of it on one franchise, that faded from public view surprisingly quickly. Dead Stranding was interesting but I’m not sure how a sequel is going to work if the core gameplay is still… walking very slowly and delivering parcels to holograms.I’m painting the game in its worst possible light there but even so, Death Stranding was just flawed as anything else Kojima has done and I would’ve liked to see him give it another roll of the dice with a different idea. Instead, he’s working on a sequel, and what seem to be spiritual sequels to Silent Hills and Metal Gear. By which time he’ll be well into his 60s… If all the ideas on the USB stick are as weird as the guy forgetting his abilities over time, I’d rather he do them now. It just feels he’s permanently got one foot in the past and it’s a real shame.Kurgen Come back later If Nintendo does do a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe edition for the Switch 2 do we have any idea who could be added to it? I would’ve said someone from a new Switch 2 IP but there really hasn’t been one yet, which is a real shame. Maybe they could try and do one of the wheelchair basketball people, but I can’t see many people queuing up for that.I also thought maybe a couple more Microsoft games, back when I expected them and Nintendo to be all chummy. Now it seems that was all just talk and Xbox doesn’t have any plans at all, or at least none so urgent they’ve felt the need to talk about them so far. So if a Deluxe edition does happen, I don’t think it’s going to happen for a while, for the simple reason that there isn’t anyone new to add, because they’re all already been done.Roel Dungeons master I was going to compose a missive contemplating the likelihood of Dungeons 4 being ported to the Switch 2, only to find out that it’s actually already out on Switch?! That would be an amazing feat if it worked but apparently it’s a bug ridden, almost unplayable mess from the only review I can find (I literally had no idea and can’t be the only one unaware of the port).So now, instead I’m wondering if they’ll release a Switch 2 Edition or complete edition with all the DLC, or even just put some fixes through so the game runs better on the new hardware. I hope they do the same for Tropico 6 (both are by Kalypso, so if ones done the other will probably be too). As an aside, put me on the boat for people not really interested in GTA 6. Five or six years ago I’d been down for it but current, me who replayed GTA 5 before getting shot of my PlayStation 4, I found it pretty awful actually. The characters, the controls, the story, were all just urgh. I appreciate the characters aren’t supposed to be likeable (except Franklin, maybe) but my god what were they thinking of with Trevor? Every time I had to play as him it felt like my soul was dying a little more, until I just gave up playing. I don’t expect much from the single-player campaign of GTA 6, if there even is one…Solabound Glory days I don’t think I’m the first person to say it on here but if Bungie lasts to the end of the year I will be shocked. I’ll also be relatively surprised if Marathon isn’t cancelled within the next few months. It’s a game no one wants, in a genre no one will admit to liking, by a developer that seems to be in a downward spiral.It’s sad to think how this sort of thing can happen. Halo 3 was 18 years ago now, and it’s at least five years since Destiny 2 was relevant. It’s unfortunate but Bungie were never the same after leaving Microsoft and I think the initial success of Destiny 1 just hid that for a while and now it’s obvious.Tony T. Management sim I’m in two minds as to whether the head of a big games company needs to be a gamer or not. It feels like it should be a thing but at the end of the day what’s most important is that they’re a good business person, which the Take-Two guy seems to be. At least going by how long he’s been in the job.Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata was a great leader and actually used to make games, but his replacement is just a businessman with no developer background at all, and yet he seems to be doing a decent job. Then there’s that other obvious example: Phil Spencer. He can’t stop talking about what a keen gamer he is, and I think he genuinely is a fan, but I also think it’s increasingly hard to pretend he’s doing a good job at Xbox. Ultimately, I don’t think it matters whether you’re a gamer or not, whether you’ve ever been a developer or anything. The only thing that matters is being good at your job, which has nothing to do with making games but backing the right people that do, making sure they have the resources, and not interfering with them. I believe that’s pretty much what the Take-Two guy himself said. Where you get a bit of a grey area is something like EA or Ubisoft, where you definitely feel like their leaders could stand to actually play some games once in a while, instead of just making decisions by spreadsheets. Remember that the team that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 used to work on Ubisoft, so they clearly weren’t being creatively fulfilled there and that’s a management problem.Lemmy Inbox also-rans I was thinking of getting Doom: The Dark Ages after the positive reviews but I was shocked to discover it was £70. This isn’t Call Of Duty, this is a single-player only game that apparently is quite easy. I’ll come back on Black Friday.PancusIf Red Dead Redemption 2 is out on Switch 2 this year I think that could be a really good selling point, because the obvious comparison, in terms of graphics, is Zelda and Rockstar’s game is lightyears ahead of that.Bosley More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. 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Michelle Williams says she wants her kids to grow up seeing their mother work. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Turner 2025-05-20T04:36:35Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Michelle Williams knows how challenging it is to be a working mother. She says balancing her career and motherhood is like figuring out "which master you're going to serve." "Because the truth is, if work is going well, somebody else is taking care of the kids," she said. Michelle Williams knows balancing her acting career with being a mom is tough.During a Monday appearance on the "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" podcast, Williams, 44, shared how she juggles life as a mother of four while keeping her acting career on track."Kids are such great life checkers. They force you to put your best self in front of them," she told podcast host Dax Shepard. "You can't abdicate your life and your work and your own desires, but you do have to put them in check and figure out which master you're going to serve."The "Brokeback Mountain" star welcomed her first child, Matilda, in 2005 with her then-boyfriend, the late actor Heath Ledger. In 2020, she married director Thomas Kail, with whom she shares three children.For her, being a working mom is about striking a careful balance — never letting her kids or her career go "unattended for too long.""Because the truth is, if work is going well, somebody else is taking care of the kids. And if you're in a high point with your kids, the work is shoved to the side," Williams said."You can't be equally good at them at the exact same time, and you have to allow for that give and take, but then also replenish the other things. If you have a big period of being at home, you need to go back to what you've left unattended and put some light over there," she continued.Williams says she also wants her kids to grow up seeing their mom work, which makes it hard to step away from her career for too long. However, the pull of being a mother is hard to resist."My best day with my children is better than my best day at work. I am more thrilled with that high than I am with a work high," she said.This isn't Williams's first time speaking about being a working mom."So you have to figure it out because we have to stay in the workforce, even though it often feels like it's untenable. My heart obviously belongs to my children; they tug at it the most. But I really want to be able to have both," she told Entertainment Weekly in a January 2023 interview.Other female Hollywood stars have also spoken up about balancing their personal and professional lives.Naomi Watts, 56, said she tried freezing her eggs when she was in her early 30s to focus on her career."Because I came into it late — at least with my launching — I was told to work, work, work because it'll all be dried up at 40," Watts told Katie Couric in a January interview.Cameron Diaz, who took a decadelong hiatus from Hollywood, said she spent those 10 years "trying to stay alive just like every other mother."During Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit 2024, she elaborated on her decision to stop acting."It really comes to: What are you passionate about? For me, it was to build my family," Diaz said.A representative for Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours. Recommended video

AI models can struggle to understand the captions on some medical imagesGetty Images Toddlers may swiftly master the meaning of the word “no”, but many artificial intelligence models struggle to do so. They show a high fail rate when it comes to understanding commands that contain negation words such as “no” and “not”. That could mean medical AI models failing to realise that there is a big difference between an X-ray image labelled as showing “signs of pneumonia” and one labelled as showing “no signs of pneumonia” – with potentially catastrophic consequences if physicians rely on AI…

Pray I don't alter it any further Labor dispute erupts over AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite SAG-AFTRA claims Epic didn't negotiate video game AI voice replacement terms. Benj Edwards – May 19, 2025 4:50 pm | 46 David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more On Monday, SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic subsidiary Llama Productions for implementing an AI-generated Darth Vader voice in Fortnite on Friday without first notifying or bargaining with the union, as their contract requires. Llama Productions is the official signatory to SAG-AFTRA's collective bargaining agreement for Fortnite, making it legally responsible for adhering to the union's terms regarding the employment of voice actors and other performers. "We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies," SAG-AFTRA stated in a news release. "However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader's iconic rhythm and tone in video games." An official promo image for Darth Vader in Fortnite. Credit: Disney / Starwars.com The union's complaint comes just days after the feature sparked a separate controversy when players discovered that they could manipulate the AI into using profanity and inappropriate language until Epic quickly implemented a fix. The AI-controlled in-game character uses Google's Gemini 2.0 to generate dialogue and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5 AI model trained on the voice of the late James Earl Jones to speak real-time responses to player questions. For voice actors who previously portrayed Darth Vader in video games, the Fortnite feature starkly illustrates how AI voice synthesis could reshape their profession. While James Earl Jones created the iconic voice for films, at least 54 voice actors have performed as Vader in various media games over the years when Jones wasn't available—work that could vanish if AI replicas become the industry standard. The union strikes back SAG-AFTRA's labor complaint (which can be read online here) doesn't focus on the AI feature's technical problems or on permission from the Jones estate, which explicitly authorized the use of a synthesized version of his voice for the character in Fortnite. The late actor, who died in 2024, had signed over his Darth Vader voice rights before his death. Instead, the union's grievance centers on labor rights and collective bargaining. In the NLRB filing, SAG-AFTRA alleges that Llama Productions "failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite." The action comes amid SAG-AFTRA's ongoing interactive media strike, which began in July 2024 after negotiations with video game producers stalled primarily over AI protections. The strike continues, with more than 100 games signing interim agreements, while others, including those from major publishers like Epic, remain in dispute. Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 46 Comments

The chip giant has created DGX Cloud Lepton, a new service that will make its AI chips directly available to developers across a variety of cloud platforms.

Shrinking is getting a major new addition to its third season. Deadline broke the news last week that Michael J. Fox would be joining the cast of the show’s third season, marking a return to acting for the actor. Fox’s casting on the show also marks a reunion with show creator Bill Lawrence, after the two first worked together on Spin City decades ago. Although the details of Fox’s role have not been reported, it seems likely that his casting will be related to Harrison Ford’s Paul Rhoades, who revealed at the end of the show’s first season that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Fox has been living with the disease for decades, and had largely stepped away from acting in part because of the nature of his symptoms. Recommended Videos The implications of Fox’s casting suggest that Paul’s arc in the show’s third season could be particularly affecting. He has struggled with the disease in the world of the show already, but Fox’s character could give him a new perspective on what it’s like to live with it for years. Of course, Fox is adept at both comedy and drama, and every time he’s reunited with Lawrence, the two of them have managed to strike that tonal balance effectively. There’s no reason to think that Shrinking will be any different. While we don’t know the details yet, it’s fair to suggest that Fox’s return to television will be meaningful in and of itself, and perhaps even more so because he’ll get to share some scenes with Harrison Ford. Two legends of ’80s cinema, uniting on screen decades later.

Rumor mill: Leaks, rumors, and comments from Microsoft over the past few years have fueled speculation that the company is fundamentally changing its console strategy. If the latest information is accurate, the next Xbox could essentially be a Windows PC with a console-style user interface that runs older Xbox games through emulation. A most recent leak outlines Microsoft's alleged plans to launch a console-like front end for Windows, allowing users to install Steam via the Microsoft Store, and release an Xbox emulator for PC. While some details align with previous rumors, readers should take the information with a sizable grain of salt. Although the video below is in Spanish from leaker eXtas1s, a translated summary by ResetEra user "P40L0" describes a console-style overlay for Windows. Similar to Steam's Big Picture mode or the SteamOS interface, the new UI would support both PC gaming and the next-generation Xbox. This entire concept ties kind of perfectly into Microsoft's long-standing goal of improving the Windows experience on handheld gaming PCs – if that's ultimately a path the company chooses to pursue. The controller-friendly interface in SteamOS makes the Steam Deck significantly more user-friendly than more powerful Windows devices like the Asus ROG Ally. Microsoft reportedly plans to address this gap sometime this year. A leaked collaboration between Microsoft and Asus could be the first step toward introducing an Xbox-style UI for Windows. Additionally, eXtas1s claims that Microsoft is internally testing a Steam installer accessible through the Microsoft Store. The launcher, titled "Steam DF Beta," is not intended for current Xbox consoles but rather for Windows, similar to the existing Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect apps available on the platform. The information might be connected to supposedly revamped Xbox app for Windows featuring a Steam filter. Combined with mockups of an upcoming Asus handheld, the leak suggests Microsoft is aiming to integrate Steam more seamlessly into the Windows UI, creating a more console-like experience for users. Microsoft is also reportedly developing an emulator for Windows that supports the entire Xbox back catalog. If the next Xbox functions as a Windows PC with a gamepad-friendly interface, this emulation-based backward compatibility would allow users to carry over their existing Xbox libraries. // Related Stories Furthermore, Game Pass is expected to remain a cornerstone of Microsoft's gaming ecosystem. However, the company may soon raise prices on existing console and PC tiers while introducing new, more affordable options.

With the powerful tethers we feel binding us to our smartphones and gadgets, it's easy to forget that some technologies provide freedom to others.

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Dutch universities have found themselves in the grip of American tech giants and are now urging their governing boards to chart a different course.   In an open letter, which has been signed by thousands of staff members, they call for significantly reduced dependence on Microsoft, Google and Amazon within three years.  “As universities, we should manage our own digital infrastructure,” said José van Dijck, a professor of media and digital society at Utrecht University and co-initiator of the campaign together with her colleague and public innovation academic Albert Meijer. “We are the heart of innovation and expertise in the Netherlands. If we don’t maintain control over our digital systems, then who will?”  The call may sound radical, but Van Dijck qualified it: “This isn’t an action against Big Tech, but for digital autonomy. Given recent developments, universities must strive to keep their infrastructure in their own hands. “When you become dependent on a commercial company, you lose the freedom to act autonomously in your research.”  The current situation didn’t develop overnight. “Ten years ago, we were still quite autonomous,” said Van Dijck. “Universities had their own facilities. Each university, for example, had its own computing centre. Fourteen universities, fourteen computing centres. At present, we have only one left.” That single remaining facility is the Snellius supercomputer in Watergraafsmeer, Amsterdam, which, according to Van Dijck, is already “completely full”.  In 2019, the rectors of Dutch universities warned about digital vulnerabilities in the newspaper de Volkskrant, followed by an open letter from cyber security scientists in 2021. But between these two moments, the world changed dramatically due to Covid-19, which Van Dijck identifies as a turning point.  “The pandemic pushed us deep into the Big Tech trap,” Van Dijck said. “There was an acute need to switch to online education en masse. All universities had to arrange this at breakneck speed. This time pressure led us to rely heavily on Big Tech companies because they could provide ready-made solutions immediately.”  While universities – together with SURF, the ICT cooperative for education and research in the Netherlands – were still actively developing their own solutions before the pandemic, such as the Jitsi video conferencing service, the need for speed meant these in-house developments were put on hold. “We simply didn’t have the time and resources to further develop our open source alternatives,” said Van Dijck. Even SURF, which could have served as a buffer, was drawn into this development. The result was that universities became even more deeply entwined with the systems of large tech companies.  The result of this accelerated digitisation is that universities are now often completely dependent on a single supplier. “In Utrecht, we’ve almost become a Microsoft university,” said Van Dijck. “All services are interconnected. Once you’re on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, you’re virtually forced to use their other services as well. This leads to a ‘vendor lock-in’ – we’re increasingly trapped in their ecosystem, with no possibility to switch.”  The situation is becoming ever more urgent due to geopolitical developments. The American Cloud Act gives the US government access to data stored on American clouds, even if physically hosted in Europe. “With the previous administration, I think we still trusted that,” said Van Dijck, “but since Trump took office, it has become crystal clear that he has little respect for existing rules and laws.”  Van Dijck points to developments in the US, where universities are already under pressure. “In recent conversations with American colleagues, it’s become clear that Trump not only wants to influence university funding but also has a direct impact on what can be researched,” she warned. “A climate is emerging where certain research areas are undesirable. Think of climate research, specific health research, and other topics that are now considered forbidden territory.”  The consequences could be directly felt in scientific practice. “Look at climate research,” said Van Dijck. “Scientists worldwide work on this and are strongly interdependent on each other’s data and insights. If American restrictions make certain information inaccessible, it undermines our entire research field. We simply cannot fully carry out our own work.”  The integration of AI technology into everyday software also reinforces dependency. Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Google’s Gemini are becoming increasingly interwoven with the basic software that universities use. “These AI tools give Big Tech companies even more influence over how we teach and conduct research,” said Van Dijck.  The biggest problem, according to her, is the lack of transparency: “These systems are partly fed with our data, while we gain no insight into how that data is used to train AI models.” This touches on fundamental scientific principles. “There are serious questions about copyright, but also about accuracy, verifiability and replicability – core values in scientific research that are completely lacking in these AI models.”  The academics are not advocating for a radical break with Big Tech, but rather for a pragmatic two-track policy. “We shouldn’t throw everything overboard, but we do need to step out of that vendor lock-in so that we regain real freedom of choice,” added Van Dijck.  In the letter, which was sent to all Dutch university boards, SURF, KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and NWO (Dutch Research Council), seven concrete steps are proposed:  Inventory and safeguard existing autonomous services. Map critical vulnerabilities and develop exit strategies. Create secure storage havens for research data. Experiment with and strengthen open source alternatives. Prioritise open source learning environments in future contracts. Explore European collaboration opportunities via networks such as Géant. Develop independent identification methods via SURF Conext. “We first need to identify which services can already be offered autonomously and secure and strengthen those,” said Van Dijck. “In addition, it’s essential to map our vulnerabilities and develop exit strategies and emergency scenarios for cloud services.”  In all these steps, one organisation is indispensable according to the initiators: SURF must play a key role by expanding existing services such as SURF Drive, SURF Conext and SURF File Sender and testing new open source alternatives. “Open source solutions are essential for regaining our autonomy,” said Van Dijck. “They offer us transparency, control and the ability to adapt the software to our specific needs.”  SURF has always been a crucial buffer for Dutch universities against complete dependence on commercial services. “SURF has developed various essential services, such as our own identification system via SURF Conext, tools for securely sharing large files, and access to supercomputing facilities,” said Van Dijck. But even SURF has not proven immune to the Big Tech temptation: “They too have gradually outsourced more and more to Microsoft and Google, at the expense of developing and maintaining their own tools.”  With increasing concern, Van Dijck sees how these in-house services are being phased out: “When I now approach the service desk, I hear that SURF Drive is making way for OneDrive. This is alarming, because these in-house services form the backbone of our digital autonomy.”  The Dutch situation contrasts sharply with other European countries. “France and Germany have already invested much more consciously in digital sovereignty,” said Van Dijck. “While the Netherlands placed most data in American clouds without many questions, French institutions have consistently maintained a more autonomous strategy. German universities have also invested more heavily in open source solutions.” An example of this is Nextcloud, an open source alternative to commercial cloud storage, which has already been implemented by fifty German universities.  The loss of autonomy harbours a hidden danger: the disappearance of crucial expertise. “When you give up control of your infrastructure, you also lose the knowledge to manage it,” warned Van Dijck. “Once you’ve outsourced everything, you can’t easily recover that expertise.” This loss of knowledge is particularly problematic for knowledge institutions, according to Van Dijck: “Universities are breeding grounds for innovation. Digital infrastructure is not a peripheral facility but central to our teaching and research.”  The initial reactions from university administrators are hopeful. “Our executive board immediately shared our concerns and recognised the increased urgency,” said Van Dijck. Other universities have also responded positively to the call.  Much is at stake for the Dutch knowledge economy. “We have seen how quickly the geopolitical situation can change,” said Van Dijck. “The question is not whether we should strengthen our digital autonomy, but how quickly we can do it.” Time is pressing for universities to take their digital fate back into their own hands – not against Big Tech, but for academic independence. Read more about Dutch digital independence

New Layers, Coexisting Mentze Ottenstein enhances the 1885 Dinesen Country Home with scenic components while converting the residence to a guest house By Paige Davidson • May 19, 2025 • Interiors, International (Monica Grue Steffensen) SHARE At the southern end of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula lies the small town of Jels. There a quiet, white thatched-roof home built in 1885 is tucked in a meadow, located at the end of a long gravel road. The Dinesen Country Home, a former residence for the family of the esteemed wooden floor company Dinesen now acts as a guest house for friends and select clients of the brand—and may even be open for public bookings. The new era is ushered in by Copenhagen-based architecture firm Mentze Ottenstein. The refreshed Dinesen Country Home proudly holds true to its original bones, while also embracing new Scandinavian notes to create a hygge atmosphere. The 2-story, 3,636-square-foot abode was first acquired by the Dinesen family in 2004. Shortly after purchase, it commissioned family friend and architect, Jørgen Overby, to restore the house to its roots. Overby highlighted original elements to the home by reinstating them, such as the thatched roof, fireplaces, historic windows, and custom kitchen carpentry. For the cofounders of Mentze Ottenstein, Mathias Mentze and Alexander Ottenstein, the task then became adding to this initial groundwork by converting the private residence into a contemporary showroom and guesthouse for the Dinesen company and adding new material ornamentation. Read more on aninteriormag.com. Denmark

Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million as it expands beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and tools for dealers. The round was led by Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund and included follow-on investments from Algebra Ventures and Nclude. The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but under-digitized vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unannounced seed financing. Sylndr also raised nearly $10 million in debt financing from local banks in the past year, bringing its total raised since launch to over $30 million. Sylndr raised a $12.6 million pre-seed round in 2022.  Omar El Defrawy and Amr Mazen, former executives at local food delivery and e-commerce startups, founded the used cars platform in 2021 and initially focused on buying used cars directly from consumers, refurbishing them, and reselling them with a warranty and money-back guarantee. It has since evolved into a broader mobility platform, offering digital auto loans, car servicing, and a marketplace for third-party dealers. “When we started the business, we were primarily focused on a consumer problem related to buying and selling cars,” said co-founder and CEO Omar El Defrawy in an interview with TechCrunch. “And when we started to scale that business, it became very clear to us that the market is much bigger than that, and creating value to customers would require us to build other compelling businesses that integrate with what we’re doing.” Egypt has over 6 million cars on the road, with demand for used cars growing amid currency devaluation and rising prices for new imports. In 2021, the government banned used car imports, forcing the market to rely entirely on domestic inventory, driving prices to mirror the exchange rate. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW As a result, used cars in Egypt, while outnumbering new vehicles by 3:1, are primarily sold through unregulated dealerships or classified websites, where informal transactions leave buyers carrying most of the risk. Sylndr, an online used-car retailer, raises $12.6M pre-seed to disrupt Egypt’s automotive market Sylndr sees opportunity in that mess, which it estimates as a $10 billion market by formalizing processes around inspections, standardized pricing, digital financing, and securing ownership transfers.  The average sale price on Sylndr’s platform is between $20,000 and $25,000, El Defrawy said. He explained that the number has remained stable in dollar terms over the last three years, despite the Egyptian pound losing more than half its value. This is because used car prices in Egypt are marketed similarly to imported new cars, which are dollar-pegged Sylndr declined to share revenue or transaction volume but said sales have increased nearly tenfold since 2022. Revenue in Egyptian pounds increased 22 times during that period, and by a factor of five when adjusted for the dollar, the CEO, who previously led finance operations at food discovery Elmenus, claimed. Digitizing Egypt’s car market Sylndr’s expansion beyond car sales to three new verticals is to reduce its dependence on inventory and capital. There’s Sylndr Swift, a digital automotive financing product that connects buyers with banks and underwriters. The platform provides financing approvals in under 10 minutes, according to El Defrawy. Sylndr does not lend from its own balance sheet, he added.  In addition to Swift, Sylndr recently introduced Sylndr Plus, which offers inspections, maintenance and servicing for cars sold on its platform. The third vertical, Al-Ajans, is a dealer-to-consumer marketplace that allows third-party dealers to list and sell cars with Sylndr handling inspection, ownership transfer, and payments. Each vertical runs under its own brand name, but Sylndr has integrated them all into a single mobile app—creating a one-stop shop for buying, financing, and managing car ownership. “We’ve fully integrated these services to help customers buy, sell, finance, rent, and service their cars—and to help dealers operate more efficiently and go digital,” said El Defrawy, who’s a former investment banker. The company’s revenue is now evenly split between direct-to-consumer sales and B2B transactions with dealers, he added. However, he expects that the newer financing and servicing verticals will contribute up to 60% of gross profit within two years. Sylndr currently works with more than 1,000 dealers nationwide and serves both buyers and sellers through its online and offline channels. While other regional players such as Contactcars, OLX and Nigeria-based Autochek, which made inroads into Egypt with AutoTager in 2023, have similar offerings, El Defrawy says he doesn’t see them as close competition in terms of providing an end-to-end solution for buyers and dealers across the value chain. Sylndr’s infrastructure of inspection, refurbishment, and bank partnerships makes it difficult for outside players to replicate its model, he says. As such, unlike other startups in Egypt that have traditionally used their home market as a springboard to the Gulf, Sylndr plans to deepen its presence in Egypt, where the CEO asserts it is “the biggest used car trading company by volume and value.” “Sylndr is building the digital backbone of mobility in a market where access, trust, and financing have long been barriers to ownership. Their integrated model brings together commerce, credit, and technology to fundamentally improve how Egyptians buy and sell cars,” said Ashley Lewis, Managing Partner at DPI Venture Capital. This marks the third deal announced by the recently launched London-based VC firm in the past month, following investments in Egypt’s digital savings and credit platform MoneyFellows and proptech startup Nawy. Egypt’s Nawy, the largest proptech in Africa, raises $52M to take on MENA

Image: Level-5After a long wait and some delays, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is finally out this week. It's already in early access on select platforms and we've now got the first player impressions rolling in. This includes the game's reception on Valve's PC platform Steam. Right now, the reviews are currently "very positive" based on more than 1,200 positive ratings. The top review describes this new entry as "pure joy" - mentioning how much they enjoy the "vibe" and recommending it to fans of life sims who love a fantasy twist.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813kWatch on YouTube Another player said the game was "absolutely" worth the wait and highly recommends it to not only fans of games like Animal Crossing but also players who enjoyed the original title on the 3DS. Soraphina: "My first Fantasy Life and I already get why people waited for this. It takes a little time to open up (we had to finish a few chapters before we could explore together), but once we got to the desert and started running around as a party? Pure joy. We only unlocked combat lives so far, but I’m already itching to try the others. There’s something so cozy about slicing monsters one minute, then daydreaming about being a chef, tailor, or angler the next. The vibe is sweet, colorful, and just the right mix of questing and chill downtime. If you love life sims with a fantasy twist (and a little patience at the start), this one might steal your time too" Lenicia: "I waited so long for this game and it was absolutely worth it. My expectations were high, but Fantasy Life i exceeded them in every way. It combines life sim elements, cozy RPG mechanics and a beautiful fantasy setting in a way that feels both relaxing and exciting. The freedom to switch between different Jobs and the lovely mix of exploration, crafting, decorating, and completing quests kept me completely hooked. If you love cozy games like Animal Crossing or if you played Fantasy Life on the Nintendo 3DS, you're going to love this one. Highly recommended." Relampago: "So far this is everything I remember that made the 3ds Fantasy Life great but so much more. I have some concerns about the co-op but I wont know until I test it otherwise the game is great." StrugglerJimbo: "More than happy to support Level-5 here...I’d like to see them do well. Fans of Fantasy Life on 3DS will very certainly enjoy this game." As much as it is looking positive, some users aren't quite as happy about the co-op and multiplayer aspect, with many seemingly caught out by its design. According to Nintendo's official website description, multiplayer supports up to four players and allows you to invite friends to your island to "explore dungeons, or find your own ways to have fun together". RastaGod: "If you're trying to play with friends then I wouldn't recommend this game, there too many restrictions on playing together. If you just want to play single player, then it holds true to the original and is still a good game." User: "For anyone looking for a multiplayer game I have to give this a "not recommended." So many of the game's features and UI make it feel like it was built with co-op in mind, why is it so limited? It takes like 3-6 hours of gameplay to even unlock the multiplayer, so there will be a lot of angry people who can no longer refund once they realize the co-op is, at best, a gimmicky afterthought. I'm baffled that they put so much effort into cross-play and cross-save functionality, only to have such a lackluster multiplayer." uncool loser: "How is it that the multiplayer functionality on the 3ds was eons better than this? Timed multiplayer? can't do any of the quests together? not even side or life mission quests? i really hope they update this in the future to where the multiplayer co-op functionality matches the same as the 3ds. again, the games kicks butt, the story is awesome and there's hundreds of hours of fun gameplay here. just fix the multiplayer wth" So, that's what players have to say about the PC release of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time so far. Famitsu has also provided its thoughts - awarding the game a score of 36 out of 40 (a point ahead of the original 3DS release). Keep an eye out for full reviews of the new Fantasy Life soon, including how it holds up on the Switch. Level-5 has also revealed an update for the game. A fantasy score? Here's what you can expect Are you planning to get this game on Switch or another platform? Let us know in the comments. Related Games See Also Share:0 0 Liam is a news writer and reviewer across Hookshot Media. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of many iconic video game characters. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Nintendo Unveils Diddy Kong's Brand New Design Cap's off The First Review For Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Is In A fantasy score? 12 Switch Games Are Getting Free Switch 2 Upgrades, Here's What You Can Expect Nintendo's free updates arrive next month Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Switch Update Arrives Next Week Here's what you can expect

Party On The Path "Cannot wait for what is yet to come" As The Witcher 3 turns 10, CD Projekt devs share the defining memories it created and look to the future "I want to make you proud of us and excited again." Image credit: CD Projekt News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on May 19, 2025 The Witcher 3 has just turned 10 years old. Yep, time flies when you're running around The Continent slaying beasties and also saving the world from becoming a bit chilly. Naturally, a bunch of devs at CD Projekt have chosen to commemorate the anniversary be sharing their defining memories of the game's development, as well as do a bit of looking forward. Most of their thoughts were shared on Twitter, as a response to the studio putting out a post in recognition of it being ten years since TW3 debuted all the way back on May 18, 2015. God, I can't even process how many hours of my life the game's nicked since that point, and I was relatively late to the party with it - bouncing off a couple of times before things finally clicked. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Starting off, Paweł Sasko - current associate game director on Cyberpunk 2077's sequel and a quest designer on TW3, wrote as part of a thread: "I was there from the very first day, saw it develop from the first pitch, have been so lucky to impact it's shape to some small degree, and never thought you will love it this much. Art does not exist without the audience and you all are an important part of this story. "I want to make you proud of us and excited again," he added, "Capture the lightning in the bottle, give you lifetime of memories, make you laugh and break down crying. So we can have another anniversary like this, one day again." To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Meanwhile, CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski recalled: "10 years ago, I remember being exhausted, anxious (to see the scores and players’ reactions), buzzing with excitement I think no one on the team had a decent sleep that night and we were all refreshing websites of media sites. "In the year prior to that launch I spent more time on the road preaching W3 to our partners than I did at home with my family. If there ever was game changer in my professional life, I think that was it more than anything else before. Cheers to the fantastic CDPR Team and to all the fans that have been with us through all the good and bad. Cannot wait for what is yet to come." Those two were far from alone, with a number of devs currently working on The Witcher 4 and/or Cyberpunk 2 - including narrative director Philipp Weber, cinematic director Kajetan Kapuściński, and senior cinematic designer/coordinator Michał Zbrzeźniak - joining in. "I still remember just watching the wind in the trees on an early version of Skellige," Weber wrote. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. CD Projekt comms staffers Marcin Momot and Pawel Burza both wrote about firing the game up for the first time, and we even got a post from the voice of Geralt. "What a time it’s been friends…" wrote actor Doug Cockle, clearly keen to provide a line that'd sound cool in a gravelly voice ahead of featuring in a CD Projekt stream celebrating the anniversary that's set for later today (May 19) - you can catch that stream here at 4PM BST/11AM ET. What are your favorite Witcher 3 memories and how tough a task do you think the series' currently under construction next entry will have following in its award-winning footsteps? Let us know below!

Almost half of young people would rather live in a world where the internet does not exist, according to a new survey.The research reveals that nearly 70% of 16- to 21-year-olds feel worse about themselves after spending time on social media. Half (50%) would support a “digital curfew” that would restrict their access to certain apps and sites past 10pm, while 46% said they would rather be young in a world without the internet altogether.A quarter of respondents spent four or more hours a day on social media, while 42% of those surveyed admitted to lying to their parents and guardians about what they do online.While online, 42% said they had lied about their age, 40% admitted to having a decoy or “burner” account, and 27% said they pretended to be a different person completely.The results came after the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, hinted that the government was weighing up the possibility of making cut-off times mandatory for certain apps such as TikTok and Instagram.Rani Govender, the policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said that digital curfews, while helpful, could not stop children being exposed to harmful materials online without other measures being put in place.“We need to make clear that a digital curfew alone is not going to protect children from the risks they face online. They will be able to see all these risks at other points of the day and they will still have the same impact,” she said.Govender added that the primary focus for companies and the government was to ensure kids are using “much safer and less addictive sites”.The study, conducted by the British Standards Institution, surveyed 1,293 young people and found that 27% of respondents have shared their location online with strangers.In the same survey, three-quarters said they had spent more time online as a result of the pandemic, while 68% said they felt the time they spent online was detrimental to their mental health.Andy Burrows, the chief executive of the suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation, said it was “clear that young people are aware of the risks online and, what’s more, they want action from tech companies to protect them”.He added that algorithms can provide content that “can quickly spiral and take young people down rabbit holes of harmful and distressing material through no fault of their own”. New laws were “urgently required to finally embed a safe by design approach to regulation that puts the needs of children and society ahead of those of big tech”, he said.

Baldur's Gate 3's terrible miniatures "missed the mark" so much, WizKids is offering refunds Company is taking complaints "seriously." Image credit: Eurogamer/WizKids News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on May 19, 2025 Board game company WizKids has apologised for its recent line of Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures, acknowledging the melty faced monstrosities "missed the mark" and offering full refunds. WizKids announced the range - officially known as Dungeons & Dragons: Icons Of The Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 - at the end of last year, and US customers began receiving their £50/$49.99, seven-character sets earlier this month. However, rather than the crisply detailed renditions of Astarion, Karlach, Gale, Shadowheart, Wyll, Lae'zel and Withers featured in WizKids' promotional material, customers instead received pre-painted miniatures that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Borja church fresco - and complaints were swift. And now, with more and more images of the squishy faced disappointments being shared online, WizKids has been forced to concede that, yes, its Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures are in fact rubbish. "As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play," it wrote on its website. "We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products." Uncanny. | Image credit: Eurogamer/WizKids "Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Character Boxed Set," it continued. "If you purchased this set through our online stores, we will be offering a full refund to those who are unsatisfied with their set... We're aware of the recent reports and complaints and are taking them seriously. Our team is currently investigating these issues and taking action to make this right for those whose purchases were negatively affected and to ensure these issues do not recur in future products and reprints." WizKids notes anyone who purchased the box set from a third-party retailer should contact them directly for a refund, while those wishing for a replacement - one that "meets the standards expected" - can do so via its website. "Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers," WizKids concluded. "We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner. Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this. We appreciate your patience as we focus on getting back to those affected and helping them with their refunds in a timely manner." It's hardly a fitting celebration of developer Larian's acclaimed 2023 RPG, but with the studio's work on the game now largely at an end following April's massive Patch 8, Astarion, Karlach, and friends are now entirely at Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro's mercy. And if that means licensing them out to be turned into unrecgonsisable bits of plastic, then so be. Hasbro has, of course, already confirmed it's keen to find a studio to make Baldur's Gate 4, but with Larian now working on its own mysterious projects, it's unclear how far off that may be.

May 18, 2025Accidental Alchemy, Flamingo Food Tornado, and Kosmos-482 LandsKosmos-482 crash-lands, physicists turn lead to gold and animals show some clever behaviors. Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/Scientific AmericanSUBSCRIBE TO Science QuicklyHappy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, this is Allison Parshall filling in for Rachel Feltman. Let’s kick off the week with a quick roundup of some of the latest science news.First, an update on that doomed Soviet-era spacecraft Rachel mentioned last week. After spending more than half a century orbiting Earth, the Kosmos-482 probe made a crash landing on May 10. According to a post on the app Telegram from Russian space agency Roscosmos, the spacecraft crashed into the Indian Ocean somewhere west of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Space.com reports that other space agencies have estimated different landing spots for the probe, from locations on land in South Asia to stretches of the eastern Pacific. We may never know exactly where Kosmos-482 finally came to rest. In any case, we haven’t heard any reports of falling space junk causing harm to humans, so it seems likely the object crashed somewhere out of the way.Now for some accidental alchemy. Despite the wishes of medieval scholars, there’s no way to turn lead into gold, right? Wrong. Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider apparently did just that—very briefly, but still. The scientists published a description of this magical-sounding transformation earlier this month in the journal Physical Review C. 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.Here’s how it worked: Scientists at CERN use the Large Hadron Collider to study the early universe by firing lead nuclei at one another at nearly the speed of light. Instead of smashing head-on, the nuclei usually pass very close to one another. In these near-misses, the powerful electric field from one nucleus can shake up the other. If the field is strong enough, it can knock out three protons from an incoming lead nucleus. Since gold has three fewer protons than lead, this transforms the lead into gold.The researchers estimate that 89,000 gold nuclei are produced per second during these experiments. That means that between 2015 and 2018—the accelerator’s second run, which is when the scientists collected this data—the collider produced 29 trillionths of a gram of gold. Unfortunately for any prospectors at CERN, those atoms tend to get obliterated in about a microsecond. Nature reports that another CERN accelerator also observed this alchemical reaction during a 2002 to 2004 run. But because that experiment used less energy, less gold was produced.In public health news, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last Wednesday indicates a massive drop in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024. In the 45 years that the CDC has collected equivalent data, the biggest one-year dip seen previously was 4 percent in 2018, according to the Associated Press. Deaths dropped from about 110,000 in 2023 to roughly 80,000 in 2024, which represents a nearly 27 percent decrease. The AP reports that experts mentioned several possible factors behind the drop, including the increased availability of naloxone for treating overdoses.It’s important to note that, while this is promising news, we still have a long way to go. Overdose deaths are still higher than they were before the COVID pandemic, and overdose remains the leading cause of death for people in the U.S. between ages 18 and 44. If you don’t already carry naloxone with you in case you encounter someone experiencing an overdose, consider looking into what resources your state and county offer for training and distribution. You can check out GetNaloxoneNow.org to find more information.We’ll wrap up with a couple of fun animal stories.Let’s start with flamingos. They’re not exactly known for being very active. You’re probably picturing the birds standing calmly in crystal clear water. But according to a study published last Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they’re surprisingly busy just beneath the surface.Similar to the way spiders use webs to trap prey, the study authors say, flamingos create little water tornados to coax food straight into their mouths.First, the birds use their feet to churn sediment up. Then they jerk their heads up, turning those small whorls of sediment into vortexes. Meanwhile, the animals chatter their beaks to create even more water movement, pulling the swirling sediment into their mouths. From there, the flamingos can filter out tiny prey such as brine shrimp—but it seems like this filter feeding is a lot less passive than it looks.In other animal news, it turns out that chimps use leaves for everything from first aid to bathroom hygiene. In a study published Tuesday in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers describe their observations of two different communities of chimpanzees in Uganda. The researchers identified numerous instances of “self-care” using leaves, from dabbing wounds to packing them with chewed-up plant matter. The chimps sometimes offered this care to others, too. That’s similar to behavior other researchers reported last year in orangutans over in Indonesia. Orangutans have also been seen applying juice made from saliva and the leaves of a plant with anti-inflammatory properties all over their bodies, which scientists suspect they might be doing to relieve joint and muscle pain.Plants seem to be part of a larger wellness routine for chimps, too: the scientists also saw them using leaves to clean themselves up after pooping or having sex. The researchers even described one instance of what they called “prosocial postcoital penis wiping,” which means one chimp leant another a hand with intimate personal hygiene.While these aren’t the first documented cases of first aid in nonhuman animals—or even in chimps, who have been seen putting smashed insects in their wounds, possibly for medicinal purposes—scientists are excited to see evidence that medicinal plant use might be more widespread than expected among our close relatives. That could suggest that wound care goes way, way back in our evolutionary history.That’s all for this week’s news roundup. Rachel will be back on Wednesday.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by me, Allison Parshall, and edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.For Scientific American, this is Allison Parshall. Have a great week!

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 20.

iSpeedToLead is a fast-growing, innovative marketplace selling motivated seller leads to real estate investors and wholesalers. We’re transforming real estate lead generation through cutting-edge AI-driven solutions, enhancing marketplace liquidity, and optimizing user experiences.Role Mission: Lead the practical deployment and integration of AI technologies across the organization, ensuring all AI initiatives translate into tangible business results and seamless user experiences.Responsibilities:Coordinate the implementation of AI projects across different business functions, including operations, sales, marketing, and customer support.Act as a bridge between AI/ML engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders to facilitate clear communication and effective collaboration.Manage project timelines, ensuring AI initiatives are delivered on schedule and within budget.Troubleshoot and resolve issues during AI project execution, ensuring smooth operational integration.Train internal teams on how to effectively use and leverage AI-driven tools and systems.Design and optimize automation workflows using tools like Make.Develop and refine AI prompts for maximum efficiency and performance in AI-driven features.Requirements:3+ years experience in technical project management or AI implementation roles.Familiarity with machine learning concepts, AI-driven software solutions, and data management practices.Proficiency in project management and collaboration tools such as Jira, Slack, Notion, Monday.com, Trello, and similar platforms.Strong hands-on experience with automation tools (Make.com, Zapier, or similar).Understanding of prompt engineering and optimizing AI model interactions for enhanced outcomes.Excellent organizational and communication skills, able to clearly articulate technical details to non-technical audiences.Strong problem-solving abilities and practical experience in project management methodologies (Agile/Scrum).Prior experience implementing AI solutions in marketplace, SaaS, or real estate tech environments is highly desirable.What Success Looks Like:Timely and successful delivery of AI projects with measurable business impacts.Strong internal adoption and user satisfaction with implemented AI solutions.Effective and efficient communication between technical and business teams.Why Join Us?Work in a dynamic, growth-oriented environment.Directly impact strategic business outcomes through AI innovation.Collaborate closely with a driven, innovative team.Competitive salary, equity opportunities, and career advancement.Next Steps: Excited about driving impactful AI implementations? Apply now and shape the future of AI-driven real estate technology at iSpeedToLead!Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now Meet JobCopilot: Your Personal AI Job HunterAutomatically Apply to Remote Product JobsJust set your preferences and Job Copilot will do the rest-finding, filtering, and applying while you focus on what matters. Activate JobCopilot

When a movie franchise or studio finds out a character of theirs has become iconic, or at least well recognized, those characters become closely guarded intellectual property. You’re not going to see Captain America showing up in Jurassic World, just like you’ll never see Gandalf in a Star Wars movie. Aside from the fact that it’s difficult-to-impossible to convince multiple movie studios to share the rights to characters or stories at all, it just simply wouldn’t make sense to do it.Except, sometimes, it does. Enter the random character cameo, a quick and easy way to jolt your audience’s attention and give them a hit of that sweet, sweet pattern recognition. Despite what movie studios would have you believe, there have been tons of major character cameos across franchises and genres for decades. It’s a step past a mere dialogue reference and becomes its own form of visual joke, and we’ve collected the best ones for this list to show just how strange and hilarious it can get.A lot of these movies are already spoofs on franchises or the movie industry as a whole, so it stands to reason that they’d rustle up a cameo or two to really drive the point home. Comedies like these exist in a kind of liminal space that allows characters from one end to hop over to the other, at least for a scene or two. But some of these cameos are more than that, suggesting strange shared worlds between otherwise completely unrelated properties. Here are a few of the best to make you wonder if all of these movies are part of the same cinematic universe.Iconic Characters Who Made Cameos in Other FranchisesThese famous movie characters made surprising appearances in films outside their own franchise.Gallery Credit: Emma StefanskyREAD MORE: Surprising Disney Cameos In Other MoviesGet our free mobile appGuilty Pleasure Movies From the ’90sThese ’90s films do not have good reputations. Most are cheesy and a few are really dated. We love them anyway.Categories: Galleries, Movie News, Original Features

Cybersecurity leaders aren't just dealing with attacks—they're also protecting trust, keeping systems running, and maintaining their organization's reputation. This week's developments highlight a bigger issue: as we rely more on digital tools, hidden weaknesses can quietly grow. Just fixing problems isn't enough anymore—resilience needs to be built into everything from the ground up. That means better systems, stronger teams, and clearer visibility across the entire organization. What's showing up now isn't just risk—it's a clear signal that acting fast and making smart decisions matters more than being perfect. Here's what surfaced—and what security teams can't afford to overlook. ⚡ Threat of the Week Microsoft Fixes 5 Actively Exploited 0-Days — Microsoft addressed a total of 78 security flaws in its Patch Tuesday update for May 2025 last week, out of which five of them have come under active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerabilities include CVE-2025-30397, CVE-2025-30400, CVE-2025-32701, CVE-2025-32706, and CVE-2025-32709. It's currently not known in what context these defects have been exploited, who is behind them, and who was targeted in these attacks. Download the Report ➝ 🔔 Top News Marbled Dust Exploits Output Messenger 0-Day — Microsoft revealed that a Türkiye-affiliated threat actor codenamed Marbled Dust exploited as zero-day a security flaw in an Indian enterprise communication platform called Output Messenger as part of a cyber espionage attack campaign since April 2024. The attacks, the company said, are associated with the Kurdish military operating in Iraq. The attacks exploited CVE-2025-27920, a directory traversal vulnerability affecting version 2.0.62 that allows remote attackers to access or execute arbitrary files. It was addressed in December 2024. Konni APT Focuses on Ukraine in New Phishing Campaign — The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Konni APT has been attributed to a phishing campaign targeting government entities in Ukraine, indicating the threat actor's targeting beyond Russia amidst the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Proofpoint, which disclosed details of the activity, said the objective of the attacks is to collect intelligence on the "trajectory of the Russian invasion." The attack chains entail the use of phishing emails that impersonate a fictitious senior fellow at a non-existent think tank, tricking recipients into visiting credential harvesting pages or downloading malware that can conduct extensive reconnaissance of the compromised machines. Coinbase Discloses Data Breach — Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase disclosed that unknown cyber actors broke into its systems and stole account data for a small subset of its customers. The activity bribed its customer support agents based in India to obtain a list of customers, who were then approached as part of a social engineering attack to transfer their digital assets to a wallet under the threat actor's control. The attackers also unsuccessfully attempted to extort the company for $20 million on May 11, 2025, by claiming to have information about certain customer accounts as well as internal documents. The compromised agents have since been terminated. While no passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed, the attackers made away with some amount of personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, government ID images, and account balances. Coinbase did not disclose how many of its customers fell for the scam. Besides voluntarily reimbursing retail customers who were duped into sending cryptocurrency to scammers, Coinbase is offering a $20 million reward to anyone who can help identify and bring down the perpetrators of the cyber attack. APT28 Behind Attacks Targeting Webmail Services — APT28, a hacking group linked to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), has been targeting webmail servers such as Roundcube, Horde, MDaemon, and Zimbra via cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. The attacks, ongoing since at least 2023, targeted governmental entities and defense companies in Eastern Europe, although governments in Africa, Europe, and South America were also singled out. The victims in 2024 alone included officials from regional national governments in Ukraine, Greece, Cameroon and Serbia, military officials in Ukraine and Ecuador, and employees of defense contracting firms in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. The group's spear-phishing campaign used fake headlines mimicking prominent Ukrainian news outlets like the Kyiv Post about the Russia-Ukraine war, seemingly in an attempt to entice targets into opening the messages using the affected webmail clients. Those who opened the email messages using the affected webmail clients were served, via the XSS flaws, a custom JavaScript payload capable of exfiltrating contacts and email data from their mailboxes. One of the payloads could steal passwords and two-factor authentication codes, allowing the attackers to bypass account protections. The malware is also designed to harvest the email credentials, either by tricking the browser or password manager into pasting those credentials into a hidden form or getting the user to log out, whereupon they were served a bogus login page. Earth Ammit Breaches Drone Supply Chains to Target Taiwan and South Korea — The threat actor known as Earth Ammit targeted a broader range of organizations than just Taiwanese drone manufacturers, as initially supposed. While the set of attacks was believed to be confined to drone manufacturers in Taiwan, a subsequent analysis has uncovered that the campaign is more broader and sustained in scope than previously thought, hitting the heavy industry, media, technology, software services, healthcare, satellite, and military-adjacent supply chains, and payment service providers in both South Korea and Taiwan. The attacks targeted software vendors and service providers as a way to reach their desired victims, who were the vendors' downstream customers. "Earth Ammit's strategy centered around infiltrating the upstream segment of the drone supply chain. By compromising trusted vendors, the group positioned itself to target downstream customers – demonstrating how supply chain attacks can ripple out and cause broad, global consequences," Trend Micro noted. "Earth Ammit's long-term goal is to compromise trusted networks via supply chain attacks, allowing them to target high-value entities downstream and amplify their reach." ‎️‍🔥 Trending CVEs Attackers love software vulnerabilities—they're easy doors into your systems. Every week brings fresh flaws, and waiting too long to patch can turn a minor oversight into a major breach. Below are this week's critical vulnerabilities you need to know about. Take a look, update your software promptly, and keep attackers locked out. This week's list includes — CVE-2025-30397, CVE-2025-30400, CVE-2025-32701, CVE-2025-32706, CVE-2025-32709 (Microsoft Windows), CVE-2025-42999 (SAP NetWeaver), CVE-2024-11182 (MDaemon), CVE-2025-4664 (Google Chrome), CVE-2025-4632 (Samsung MagicINFO 9 Server), CVE-2025-32756 (Fortinet FortiVoice, FortiMail, FortiNDR, FortiRecorder, and FortiCamera), CVE-2025-4427, CVE-2025-4428 (Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile), CVE-2025-3462, CVE-2025-3463 (ASUS DriverHub), CVE-2025-47729 (TeleMessage TM SGNL), CVE-2025-31644 (F5 BIG-IP), CVE-2025-22249 (VMware Aria Automation), CVE-2025-27696 (Apache Superset), CVE-2025-4317 (TheGem WordPress theme), CVE-2025-23166 (Node.js), CVE-2025-47884 (Jenkins OpenID Connect Provider Plugin), CVE-2025-47889 (Jenkins WSO2 Oauth Plugin), CVE-2025-4802 (Linux glibc), and CVE-2025-47539 (Eventin plugin). 📰 Around the Cyber World Attackers Leverage PyInstaller to Drop Infostealers on Macs — Attackers are using PyInstaller to deploy information stealers on macOS systems. These ad-hoc signed samples bundle Python code into Mach-O executables using PyInstaller, allowing them to be run without requiring Python to be installed or meet version compatibility requirements. "As infostealers continue to become more prevalent in the macOS threat landscape, threat actors will continue the search for new ways to distribute them," Jamf said. "While the use of PyInstaller to package malware is not uncommon, this marks the first time we've observed it being used to deploy an infostealer on macOS." Kosovo National Extradited to the U.S. for Running BlackDB.cc — A 33-year-old Kosovo national named Liridon Masurica has been extradited to the United States to face charges of running an online cybercrime marketplace active since 2018. He has been charged with five counts of fraudulent use of unauthorized access devices and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. If convicted on all counts, Masurica faces a maximum penalty of 55 years in federal prison. He was taken into custody by authorities in Kosovo on December 12, 2024. Masurica is alleged to be the lead administrator of BlackDB.cc from 2018 to the present. "BlackDB.cc illegally offered for sale compromised account and server credentials, credit card information, and other personally identifiable information of individuals primarily located in the United States," the Justice Department said. "Once purchased, cybercriminals used the items purchased on BlackDB.cc to facilitate a wide range of illegal activity, including tax fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft." Former BreachForums Admin to Pay $700k in Healthcare Breach — Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, aka Pompompurin, a former administrator of the BreachForums cybercrime forum, will forfeit roughly $700,000 in a civil lawsuit settlement related to Nonstop Health, a health insurance company whose customer data was posted for sale on the forum in 2023. Fitzpatrick was sentenced to time served last year, but he went on to violate the terms of his release. He is set to be resentenced next month. Tor Announces Oniux for Kernel-Level Tor Isolation — The Tor project has announced a new command-line utility called oniux that provides Tor network isolation for third-party applications using Linux namespaces. This effectively creates a fully isolated network environment for each application, preventing data leaks even if the app is malicious or misconfigured. "Built on Arti, and onionmasq, oniux drop-ships any Linux program into its own network namespace to route it through Tor and strips away the potential for data leaks," the Tor project said. "If your work, activism, or research demands rock-solid traffic isolation, oniux delivers it." DoJ Charges 12 More in RICO Conspiracy — The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against 12 more people for their alleged involvement in a cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy throughout the United States and abroad that netted them more than $263 million. Several of these individuals are said to have been arrested in the U.S., with two others living in Dubai. They face charges related to RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. The defendants are also accused of stealing over $230 million in cryptocurrency from a victim in Washington D.C. "The enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through March 2025," the Justice Department said. "It grew from friendships developed on online gaming platforms. Members of the enterprise held different responsibilities. The various roles included database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, money launderers, and residential burglars targeting hardware virtual currency wallets." The attacks involved database hackers breaking into websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases or acquiring databases on the dark web. The miscreants then determined the most valuable targets and cold-called them, using social engineering to convince them their accounts were the subject of cyber attacks and that they were helping them take steps to secure their accounts. The end goal of these attacks was to siphon the cryptocurrency assets, which were then laundered and converted into fiat U.S. currency in the form of bulk cash or wire transfers. The money was then used to fund a lavish lifestyle for the defendants. "Following his arrest in September 2024 and continuing while in pretrial detention, Lam is alleged to have continued working with members of the enterprise to pass and receive directions, collect stolen cryptocurrency, and have enterprise members buy luxury Hermes Birkin bags and hand-deliver them to his girlfriend in Miami, Florida," the agency said. ENISA Launches EUVD Vulnerability Database — The European Union launched a new vulnerability database called the European Vulnerability Database (EUVD) to provide aggregated information regarding security issues affecting various products and services. "The database provides aggregated, reliable, and actionable information such as mitigation measures and exploitation status on cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services," the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) said. The development comes in the wake of uncertainty over MITRE's CVE program in the U.S., after which the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) stepped in at the last minute to extend their contract with MITRE for another 11 months to keep the initiative running. 3 Information Stealers Detected in the Wild — Cybersecurity researchers have exposed the workings of three different information stealer malware families, codenamed DarkCloud Stealer, Chihuahua Stealer, and Pentagon Stealer, that are capable of extracting sensitive data from compromised hosts. While DarkCloud has been advertised in hacking forums as early as January 2023, attacks distributing the malware have primarily focused on government organizations since late January 2025. DarkCloud is distributed as AutoIt payloads via phishing emails using PDF purchase order lures that display a message claiming their Adobe Flash Player is out of date. Chihuahua Stealer, on the other hand, is a .NET-based malware that employs an obfuscated PowerShell script shared through a malicious Google Drive document. First discovered in March 2025, Pentagon Stealer makes use of Golang to realize its goals. However, a Python variant of the same stealer was detected at least a year prior when it was propagated via fake Python packages uploaded to the PyPI repository. Kaspersky Outlines Malware Trends for Industrial Systems in Q1 2025 — Kaspersky revealed that the percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked in Q1 2025 remained unchanged from Q4 2024 at 21.9%. "Regionally, the percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked ranged from 10.7% in Northern Europe to 29.6% in Africa," the Russian security company said. "The biometrics sector led the ranking of the industries and OT infrastructures surveyed in this report in terms of the percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked." The primary categories of detected malicious objects included malicious scripts and phishing pages, denylisted internet resources, and backdoors, and keyloggers. Linux Flaws Surge by 967% in 2024 — The number of newly discovered Linux and macOS vulnerabilities increased dramatically in 2024, rising by 967% and 95% in 2024. The year was also marked by a 96% jump in exploited vulnerabilities from 101 in 2023 to 198 in 2024, and an unprecedented 37% rise in critical flaws across key enterprise applications. "The total number of software vulnerabilities grew by 61% YoY in 2024, with critical vulnerabilities rising by 37.1% – a significant expansion of the global attack surface and exposure of critical weaknesses across diverse software categories," Action1 said. "Exploits spiked 657% in browsers and 433% in Microsoft Office, with Chrome leading all products in known attacks." But in a bit of good news, there was a decrease in remote code execution vulnerabilities for Linux (-85% YoY) and macOS (-44% YoY). Europol Announces Takedown of Fake Trading Platform — Law enforcement authorities have disrupted an organized crime group that's assessed to be responsible for defrauding more than 100 victims of over €3 million ($3.4 million) through a fake online investment platform. The effort, a joint exercise conducted by Germany, Albania, Cyprus, and Israel, has also led to the arrest of a suspect in Cyprus. "The criminal network lured victims with the promise of high returns on investments through a fraudulent online trading platform," Europol said. "After the victims made initial smaller deposits, they were pressured to invest larger amounts of money, manipulated by fake charts showing fabricated profits. Criminals posing as brokers used psychological tactics to convince the victims to transfer substantial funds, which were never invested but directly pocketed by the group." Two other suspects were previously arrested from Latvia in September 2022 as part of the multi-year probe into the criminal network. New "defendnot" Tool Can Disable Windows Defender — A security researcher who goes by the online alias es3n1n has released a tool called "defendnot" that can disable Windows Defender by means of a little-known API. "There's a WSC (Windows Security Center) service in Windows which is used by antiviruses to let Windows know that there's some other antivirus in the hood and it should disable Windows Defender," the researcher explained. "This WSC API is undocumented and furthermore requires people to sign an NDA with Microsoft to get its documentation." Rogue Communication Devices Found in Some Chinese Solar Power Inverters — Reuters reported that U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made solar power inverters after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them. The rogue components are designed to provide additional, undocumented communication channels that could allow firewalls to be circumvented remotely, according to two people familiar with the matter. This could then be used to switch off inverters remotely or change their settings, enabling bad actors to destabilize power grids, damage energy infrastructure, and trigger widespread blackouts. Undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, the report added. Israel Arrest Suspect Behind 2022 Nomad Bridge Crypto Hack — Israeli authorities have arrested and approved the extradition of a Russian-Israeli dual national Alexander Gurevich over his alleged involvement in the Nomad Bridge hack in August 2022 that allowed hackers to steal $190 million. Gurevich is said to have conspired with others to execute an exploit for the bridge's Replica smart contract and launder the resulting proceeds through a sophisticated, multi-layered operation involving privacy coins, mixers, and offshore financial entities. "Gurevich played a central role in laundering a portion of the stolen funds. Blockchain analysis shows that wallets linked to Gurevich received stolen assets within hours of the bridge breach and began fragmenting the funds across multiple blockchains," TRM Labs said. "He then employed a classic mixer stack: moving assets through Tornado Cash on Ethereum, then converting ETH to privacy coins such as Monero (XMR) and Dash." Using V8 Browser Exploits to Bypass WDAC — Researchers have uncovered a sophisticated technique that leverages vulnerable versions of the V8 JavaScript engine to bypass Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). "The attack scenario is a familiar one: bring along a vulnerable but trusted binary, and abuse the fact that it is trusted to gain a foothold on the system," IBM X-Force said. "In this case, we use a trusted Electron application with a vulnerable version of V8, replacing main.js with a V8 exploit that executes stage 2 as the payload, and voila, we have native shellcode execution. If the exploited application is whitelisted/signed by a trusted entity (such as Microsoft) and would normally be allowed to run under the employed WDAC policy, it can be used as a vessel for the malicious payload." The technique builds upon previous findings that make it possible to sidestep WDAC policies by backdooring trusted Electron applications. Last month, CerberSec detailed another method that employs WinDbg Preview to get around WDAC policies. 🎥 Cybersecurity WebinarsDevSecOps Is Broken — This Fix Connects Code to Cloud to SOC Modern applications don't live in one place—they span code, cloud, and runtime. Yet security is still siloed. This webinar shows why securing just the code isn't enough. You'll learn how unifying AppSec, cloud, and SOC teams can close critical gaps, reduce response times, and stop attacks before they spread. If you're still treating dev, infra, and operations as separate problems, it's time to rethink. 🔧 Cybersecurity Tools Qtap → It is a lightweight eBPF tool for Linux that shows what data is being sent and received—before or after encryption—without changing your apps or adding proxies. It runs with minimal overhead and captures full context like process, user, and container info. Useful for auditing, debugging, or analyzing app behavior when source code isn't available. Checkov → It is a fast, open-source tool that scans infrastructure-as-code and container packages for misconfigurations, exposed secrets, and known vulnerabilities. It supports Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, and more—using built-in security policies and Sigma-style rules to catch issues early in the development process. TrailAlerts → It is a lightweight, serverless AWS-native tool that gives you full control over CloudTrail detections using Sigma rules—without needing a SIEM. It's ideal for teams who want to write, version, and manage their own alert logic as code, but find CloudWatch rules too limited or complex. Built entirely on AWS services like Lambda, S3, and DynamoDB, TrailAlerts lets you detect suspicious activity, correlate events, and send alerts through SNS or SES—without managing infrastructure or paying for unused capacity. 🔒 Tip of the Week Catch Hidden Threats in Files Users Trust Too Much → Hackers are using a quiet but dangerous trick: hiding malicious code inside files that look safe — like desktop shortcuts, installer files, or web links. These aren't classic malware files. Instead, they run trusted apps like PowerShell or curl in the background, using basic user actions (like opening a file) to silently infect systems. These attacks often go undetected because the files seem harmless, and no exploits are used — just misuse of normal features. To detect this, focus on behavior. For example, .desktop files in Linux that run hidden shell commands, .lnk files in Windows launching PowerShell or remote scripts, or macOS .app files silently calling terminal tools. These aren't rare anymore — attackers know defenders often ignore these paths. They're especially dangerous because they don't need admin rights and are easy to hide in shared folders or phishing links. You can spot these threats using free tools and simple rules. On Windows, use Sysmon and Sigma rules to alert on .lnk files starting PowerShell or suspicious child processes from explorer.exe. On Linux or macOS, use grep or find to scan .desktop and .plist files for odd execution patterns. To test your defenses, simulate these attack paths using MITRE CALDERA — it's free and lets you safely model real-world attacker behavior. Focusing on these overlooked execution paths can close a major gap attackers rely on every day. Conclusion The headlines may be over, but the work isn't. Whether it's rechecking assumptions, prioritizing patches, or updating your response playbooks, the right next step is rarely dramatic—but always decisive. Choose one, and move with intent. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Elon Musk's well-documented drug use made him an easy target for Russian secret service agents, former FBI agent Johnathan Buma told German television broadcaster ZDF during a recently aired documentary.Buma said there was evidence that both he and fellow billionaire Peter Thiel were targeted by Russian operatives."Musk's susceptibility to promiscuous women and drug use, in particular ketamine, and his gravitation towards club life... would have been seen by Russian intelligence service as an entry point for an operative to be sent in after studying their psychological profile and find a way to bump into them, and quickly brought in to their inner circle," Buma told ZDF."I'm not allowed to discuss the details of exactly how we obtained this information," he added. "But there's a vast amount of evidence to support this fact."Buma also corroborated the Wall Street Journal's reporting last year, which found that Musk was in frequent contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin.The news comes after Musk made a notable shift in 2022 after supplying Ukraine with thousands of SpaceX Starlink terminals. However, not long after, the mercurial CEO became wary of the additional costs his space firm was shouldering, arguing it was "unreasonable" for the company to keep supporting the growing data usage.He reportedly met with Putin several times thereafter, something Musk has since denied.Biographer Walter Isaacson's 2023 Musk biography also revealed that he had intentionally hamstrung a Ukrainian attack on Russia's naval fleet near the Crimean coast.Meanwhile, Musk's ample medicinal and recreational use of ketamine has drawn plenty of attention. Earlier this year, The Atlantic reported that the drug could easily allow anybody to feel like they're in charge of the whole world.Psychopharmacology researcher Celia Morgan told the magazine at the time that those who frequently use ketamine can have "profound" short- and long-term memory issues and were "distinctly dissociated in their day-to-day existence."In other words, it could provide Russian agents with a perfect opportunity to get closer to Musk, as Buma suggests.It's a particularly sensitive subject. Buma was arrested shortly after his interview with ZDF in March. His passport was confiscated and was temporarily released on bail.To Buma, it's the "greatest failing" of the United States' counterespionage efforts.Despite his popularity dropping off a cliff due to his embrace of far-right extremist ideals and his work for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk maintains plenty of influence in Washington, DC.Earlier this month, he traveled to the Middle East alongside president Donald Trump, meeting Qatari officials and dozens of CEOs.The former FBI agent's comments leave plenty of questions unanswered. Does Putin's spy agency have dirt on the mercurial CEO? Could they be blackmailing him?Put simply, could Musk really be compromised?Considering the stakes, it's unlikely we'll ever get any clear-cut answers. But given his penchant for partying and using mind-altering drugs, he's certainly not the most difficult target to get close to for foreign operatives.More on Musk: Elon Musk’s AI Just Went ThereShare This Article

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Sponsored by Backblaze: Never lose a file again. Use code “9to5daily” at checkout for 10% off. New episodes of 9to5Mac Daily are recorded every weekday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they’re available. Stories discussed in this episode: Listen & Subscribe: Subscribe to support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock: Ad-free versions of every episode Bonus content Catch up on 9to5Mac Daily episodes! Don’t miss out on our other daily podcasts: Share your thoughts! Drop us a line at happyhour@9to5mac.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

With over a hundred years of history and a stacked portfolio of films and TV shows, it’s no surprise that Disney has its own horse in the competitive streaming service race. Since the inception of Disney+ in 2019, the streaming giant has grown its portfolio beyond its classic fairy tale roots and now boasts a catalogue of box office-busting films and bingeable series alike. From Star Wars to Marvel, you might be wondering: How can I stream Disney+ in 4K? Look no further, as our guide will run you through everything you’ll need, from subscription types to hardware. How to Stream Disney+ in 4KUnlike most streaming services on the market, Disney+ doesn’t require you to have a premium account to access 4K content. That means no matter what kind of subscription you’ve chosen, whether it be a bundle or basic plan, you’ll have access to 4K streaming on Disney+. So if you’re considering which bundle or account type to pick, the decisions will come down to what extras you’d like, such as offline downloads or ads. Disney+ Basic (with Ads) – $9.99 per month Disney+ Premium (without Ads) – $15.99 per month Disney+ Hulu Bundle Basic (with Ads) – $10.99 per monthDisney+ Hulu Bundle Premium (without Ads) – $19.99 per monthDisney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Basic (with Ads) – $16.99 per month Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium (without Ads) - $26.99 per month Disney+, Hulu, Max Bundle (with Ads) - $16.99 per monthDisney+, Hulu, Max Bundle (without Ads) - $29.99 per monthPlayMake Sure Your Setup Is 4K-CompatibleTo stream Disney+ in 4K, you’ll need to ensure all aspects of your setup can support streaming in 4K. That means it’s not just your Smart TV that needs to be compatible, but also every other piece of hardware, too. If you use an Apple TV or Firestick, you’ll need to shop around for the 4K compatible versions. Same goes for buying a HDMI cable to connect your hardware. Budget 4K Streaming DeviceAmazon Fire TV Stick 4K MaxSee it at AmazonHDMI for 4KBelkin HDMI 2.1 Ultra High SpeedSee it at AmazonBest 4K TVLG 65" Class OLED evo C4See it at AmazonBest 4K Monitor (for gaming too)Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDPSee it at Best BuyOne important caveat to consider is that, as of right now, streaming Disney+ in 4K is not possible on computer browsers. That means if you're using a laptop, your content will be limited. Check Your ConnectionWhen streaming 4K content on Disney+, there aren’t any internet settings to adjust, as the app automatically detects internet quality and adjusts your content’s video format accordingly. With that in mind, if you’re still running into problems, you can reset your device’s cache. To do this, we recommend following the official guide Disney+ has on its website. Are There Other Ways to Watch Disney+ Movies and Shows in 4K ?From keyrings to theme parks, Disney loves to flaunt its vast collection of iconic IPs. As such, the media conglomerate has released a slew of its best content as physical Blu-rays. From Marvel’s catalogue of high-octane superhero flicks to Pixar’s collection of heart-rending animated films, much of the Disney+ catalogue can be purchased separately from the platform. Better still, many seasons of Disney’s beloved TV shows have also found a home on 4K Blu-ray, including The Mandalorian, Loki, and Hawkeye, to name a few.

As autonomous AI agents move from theory into implementation, their impact on the financial services sector is becoming tangible. A recent whitepaper from IBM Consulting, titled “Agentic AI in Financial Services: Opportunities, Risks, and Responsible Implementation”, outlines how these AI systems—designed for autonomous decision-making and long-term planning—can fundamentally reshape how financial institutions operate. The paper presents a balanced framework that identifies where Agentic AI can add value, the risks it introduces, and how institutions can implement these systems responsibly. Understanding Agentic AI AI agents, in this context, are software entities that interact with their environments to accomplish tasks with a high degree of autonomy. Unlike traditional automation or even LLM-powered chatbots, Agentic AI incorporates planning, memory, and reasoning to execute dynamic tasks across systems. IBM categorizes them into Principal, Service, and Task agents, which collaborate in orchestrated systems. These systems enable the agents to autonomously process information, select tools, and interact with human users or enterprise systems in a closed loop of goal pursuit and reflection. The whitepaper describes the evolution from rule-based automation to multi-agent orchestration, emphasizing how LLMs now serve as the reasoning engine that drives agent behavior in real-time. Crucially, these agents can adapt to evolving conditions and handle complex, cross-domain tasks, making them ideal for the intricacies of financial services. Key Opportunities in Finance IBM identifies three primary use case patterns where Agentic AI can unlock significant value: Customer Engagement & Personalization Agents can streamline onboarding, personalize services through real-time behavioral data, and drive KYC/AML processes using tiered agent hierarchies that reduce manual oversight.Operational Excellence & Governance Agents improve internal efficiencies by automating risk management, compliance verification, and anomaly detection, while maintaining auditability and traceability.Technology & Software Development They support IT teams with automated testing, predictive maintenance, and infrastructure optimization—redefining DevOps through dynamic, self-improving workflows. These systems promise to replace fragmented interfaces and human handoffs with integrated, persona-driven agent experiences grounded in high-quality, governed data products. Risk Landscape and Mitigation Strategies Autonomy in AI brings unique risks. The IBM paper categorizes them under the system’s core components—goal misalignment, tool misuse, and dynamic deception being among the most critical. For instance, a wealth management agent might misinterpret a client’s risk appetite due to goal drift, or bypass controls by chaining permissible actions in unintended ways. Key mitigation strategies include: Goal Guardrails: Explicitly defined objectives, real-time monitoring, and value alignment feedback loops. Access Controls: Least-privilege design for tool/API access, combined with dynamic rate-limiting and auditing. Persona Calibration: Regularly reviewing agents’ behavior to avoid biased or unethical actions. The whitepaper also emphasizes agent persistence and system drift as long-term governance challenges. Persistent memory, while enabling learning, can cause agents to act on outdated assumptions. IBM proposes memory reset protocols and periodic recalibrations to counteract drift and ensure continued alignment with organizational values. Regulatory Readiness and Ethical Design IBM outlines regulatory developments in jurisdictions like the EU and Australia, where agentic systems are increasingly considered “high-risk.” These systems must comply with emerging mandates for transparency, explainability, and continuous human oversight. In the EU’s AI Act, for example, agents influencing access to financial services may fall under stricter obligations due to their autonomous and adaptive behavior. The paper recommends proactive alignment with ethical AI principles even in the absence of regulation—asking not just can we, but should we. This includes auditing agents for deceptive behavior, embedding human-in-the-loop structures, and maintaining transparency through natural language decision narratives and visualized reasoning paths. Conclusion Agentic AI stands at the frontier of enterprise automation. For financial services firms, the promise lies in enhanced personalization, operational agility, and AI-driven governance. Yet these benefits are closely linked to how responsibly these systems are designed and deployed. IBM’s whitepaper serves as a practical guide—advocating for a phased, risk-aware adoption strategy that includes governance frameworks, codified controls, and cross-functional accountability. Check out the White Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit. Mohammad AsjadAsjad is an intern consultant at Marktechpost. He is persuing B.Tech in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Asjad is a Machine learning and deep learning enthusiast who is always researching the applications of machine learning in healthcare.Mohammad Asjadhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/mohammad_asjad/Critical Security Vulnerabilities in the Model Context Protocol (MCP): How Malicious Tools and Deceptive Contexts Exploit AI AgentsMohammad Asjadhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/mohammad_asjad/Stability AI Introduces Adversarial Relativistic-Contrastive (ARC) Post-Training and Stable Audio Open Small: A Distillation-Free Breakthrough for Fast, Diverse, and Efficient Text-to-Audio Generation Across DevicesMohammad Asjadhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/mohammad_asjad/Meta AI Introduces CATransformers: A Carbon-Aware Machine Learning Framework to Co-Optimize AI Models and Hardware for Sustainable Edge DeploymentMohammad Asjadhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/mohammad_asjad/Enterprise AI Without GPU Burn: Salesforce’s xGen-small Optimizes for Context, Cost, and Privacy 🚨 Build GenAI you can trust. ⭐️ Parlant is your open-source engine for controlled, compliant, and purposeful AI conversations — Star Parlant on GitHub! 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Elgato announced a new “Stream Deck Everywhere” strategy at Computex, which includes a software-based virtual Stream Deck for PCs, an ethernet dock accessory, unbranded Stream Deck modules that can bring its keys into other products, and even new scissor-switch keys for a more precise, keyboard-like feel. “With these launches, we’re opening up Stream Deck to a world of new users, from developers and DIY builders to manufacturers seeking a field-proven interface for their products,” said Elgato general manager Julian Fest. “Because Stream Deck isn’t just a device—it’s a platform.Stream Deck Modules are designed for hobbyists and manufacturers to easily integrate into hardware projects instead of ripping apart the consumer version or developing their own custom macropad solutions. The modules are available in 6-, 15-, and 32-key variants and are housed in an aluminum chassis that can be built into custom bases, machines, and furniture, making it possible to actually create Elgato’s ridiculous 1,262-key April Fools’ desk.The Stream Deck Modules are available now starting at $49.99 for the six-key version, $129.99 for the 15-key, and $199.99 for the 32-key. Elgato technical marketing manager Philipp Eggebrecht told The Verge that discounts will be offered for bulk purchases.The Stream Deck modules even appear to lack the usual logo branding that the retail versions feature. Image: ElgatoUsers can mount them to desks for a built-in macropad solution or add them to custom stands. Image: ElgatoA new variant of the MK.2 Stream Deck has been introduced that replaces the membrane keys with scissor-style switches that provide “enhanced speed and precision,” according to Elgato. Eggebrecht says the scissor keys variant costs $149.99 and will be available in “around two weeks.” Stream Deck buttons that feel more like keyboard keys would make it easier for users to tell they’ve clicked something without having to look at the device. Elgato describes the scissor switch variant as something that “lends itself to typing-style interactions, paving the way for new use cases that benefit from rapid, multi-layered input and control,” which could be testing the waters for a Stream Deck keyboard or any other application requiring precise controls.“The idea of a full LCD-key based keyboard is interesting. We’ve explored it in the past and so far, what we’ve found is that the experience hasn’t been great, and there’s the cost question,” Eggebrecht told The Verge. “We’re getting closer to a keyboard feeling with Stream Deck Scissor Keys, and always looking at the technology and what is becoming possible. Stream Deck and keyboards are a natural fit.”The choice of new key switches will appeal to a niche audience that appreciates the enhanced stability. Image: ElgatoElgato is also rolling out a software-only Stream Deck for desktop devices, akin to the existing Stream Deck mobile app. The Virtual Stream Deck (VSD) can provide a permanent macro menu on computer screens or be summoned at will when users hit allocated hotkeys and mouse buttons. The VSD software will initially be available for people who own a Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE mouse, Xenon Edge touchscreen, or any Stream Deck model, before later rolling out to “more devices.”Custom layouts, virtual faceplates, and support for beyond six buttons require iPhone and Android Stream Deck users to pay for Pro access, which starts at $2.99 monthly or $49.99 as a one-time purchase. Eggebrecht says Elgato’s desktop VSD isn’t locked behind a subscription, but does require users to install the Stream Deck 7.0 beta.The VSD adds a taskbar of macro buttons directly to your desktop. Image: ElgatoA new $79.99 Stream Deck network dock accessory was also announced that includes support for power over Ethernet (PoE), which lets you place its buttons anywhere there’s a network jack, and with more flexibility than USB-C affords by itself. Eggebrecht says the Stream Deck network dock will start shipping in August.See More: