So long, Assistant End of Life: Gemini will completely replace Google Assistant later this year Google promises more details on the move to Gemini in the coming months. Ryan Whitwam Mar 14, 2025 3:00 pm | 25 Credit: Ryan Whitwam Credit: Ryan Whitwam Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn morePour one out for Google Assistant, the sometimes helpful but often frustrating digital assistant Google launched in 2016. In its place, users will encounter Gemini, the generative AI Google has been integrating into every product in its portfolio. Later this year, Google will make Gemini its only supported assistant, forcing most of its users to abandon Assistant once and for all.The Gemini brand is barely a year old, but Google has moved aggressively to increase usage. When it released the Gemini app on Android, Google forced anyone who installed it to disable Assistant and switch to Gemini. It did this despite a plethora of missing features and the omnipresent issues of AI hallucinations. The company has forged ahead with Gemini's expansion in the intervening months, making Assistant's demise rather unsurprising.Since Gemini's debut, users have had the option of sticking with the legacy assistant, but that's not going to be an option soon. On mobile devices, the upgrade path (if you want to call it that) is clear. Most newly released phones already ship with Gemini as the default, and Google will prompt any remaining Assistant users to get the Gemini app. When Assistant is put out to pasture later in 2025, Google will remove the app from app stores and direct users to Gemini instead.Not all devices can simply download an updated appafter almost a decade, Assistant is baked into many Google products. The company says Google-powered cars, watches, headphones, and other devices that use Assistant will receive updates that transition them to Gemini. It's unclear if all Assistant-powered gadgets will be part of the migration. Most of these devices connect to your phone, so the update should be relatively straightforward, even for accessories that launched early in the Assistant era.There are also plenty of standalone devices that run Assistant, like TVs and smart speakers. Google says it's working on updated Gemini experiences for those devices. For example, there's a Gemini preview program for select Google Nest speakers. It's unclear if all these devices will get updates. Google says there will be more details on this in the coming months.Meanwhile, Gemini still has some ground to make up. There are basic features that work fine in Assistant, like setting timers and alarms, that can go sideways with Gemini. On the other hand, Assistant had its fair share of problems and didn't exactly win a lot of fans. Regardless, this transition could be fraught with danger for Google as it upends how people interact with their devices.Ryan WhitwamSenior Technology ReporterRyan WhitwamSenior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 25 Comments

Sparks between water droplets may have started life as we know itShutterstock/Perry CorrellThe first molecules necessary for life on Earth could have been created when tiny flickers of microlightning between drops of water sparked the necessary chemical reactions.This is a new way to think about how the building blocks of life were formed, says Richard Zare at Stanford University in California. AdvertisementThere has been an enduring hole in our knowledge about the origin of life, specifically how simple gases reacted to create organic molecules with carbon and nitrogen bonded together, such as proteins and enzymes, which life as we know it relies on.If you look at the gases that people thought were around on early Earth, they dont contain carbon-nitrogen bonds, says Zare. They are gases like methane, water, ammonia and nitrogen.Experiments by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey in 1952 revealed that electricity could turn water and such gases into the necessary organic molecules, but their hypothesis was that the electrical energy came from lightning.The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterYet the low chance of lightning hitting a high concentration of gases in the dilute expanses of oceans or the atmosphere means many people have never been convinced that it was behind the emergence of life on Earth some 4 billion years ago.Now, Zare and his colleagues have sprayed droplets of water into a mix of methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen gas and have shown it can result in the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, with no external electricity source needed.It works because the droplets in the water spray produce small electrical charges, says Zare. The smaller droplets are negatively charged, the larger ones are positively charged, he says. This is down to something called the Lenard effect, in which water droplets, such as those in a waterfall, collide and break up, generating an electrical charge.What the team discovered using high-speed cameras, though, was that when oppositely charged droplets get close enough, tiny flashes of electricity jump between them, which Zare calls microlightning.It is much like the way static electricity is generated, or lightning is built up and discharged in clouds. When the water droplets come within nanometres of each other, you get an electric field and this electric field causes the breakdown, he says.The flashes of microlightning carried enough energy about 12 electronvolts to make gas molecules lose an electron and react with one another, generating organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, including hydrogen cyanide, the amino acid glycine and uracil, one of the components of RNA.It is surprising to me that microlightning can initiate chemistry starting with nitrogen. However, the observations reported are compelling, says Veronica Vaida at the University of Colorado Boulder. It brings a new and as yet unreported role for water in the origin of life.The work implies that tiny sparks made by crashing waves or waterfalls would have been enough to provide the chemicals needed for life to start on this planet, says Zare.Water sprays are ubiquitous and often land on rocks, which would allow the organic chemicals to accumulate in their crevices, he says. The area would then dry out and get damp again. Such wet-dry cycles are known to make shorter molecules combine, or polymerise, into longer ones.The study suggests that microlightning would have been abundant in early Earths water-rich environments, and may have driven prebiotic chemistry, especially where other energy sources, such as lightning or UV radiation, were scarce, says Kumar Vanka at the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India.Vaida thinks the work also has implications for the search for extraterrestrial life, which is often guided by looking for the presence of water on other planets or moons. We might have to look for places that enable tiny droplets of water to collide, she says.Journal reference:Science Advances DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt8979 Topics:origins of life

Manganese nodules on the sea floor seem to be a source of oxygen and may have been formed by bacteriaScience History Images / AlamyMetallic nodules found deep in the sea seem to be producing significant amounts of oxygen by some unknown mechanism, researchers revealed last year. Now, we may have found out how it is happening and the same process could also produce oxygen to help terraform Mars.Chaomin Sun at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues have discovered that two species of deep-sea bacteria can produce large quantities of oxygen. Whats more,

After astronomic levels of hype, the fifth generation of mobile networks has been a letdown for many consumers and hasn't even made phone carriers much money.How'd we end up here? What technological choices have held 5G back? And who really benefits from those choices?Business Insider producer Elizabeth McCauley sifts through the noise of industry reports and marketing and talks to experts to discover the truth.If you want to check out the sources that informed this video, check out this reading list.Show more

2025-03-14T20:26:58Z Read in app Outside the JPMorgan headquarters in Manhattan. Momo Takahashi / Business Insider This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Employees are waiting to hear how JPMorgan Chase will enforce its return-to-office mandate.They're searching for clues, in one instance sharing a leaked document in a group chat.Employees also shared info about location and productivity tracking tools.In a private group chat formed after JPMorgan's January announcement that all employees would be called back to the office full-time, a few hundred people have turned to the forum to air their concerns, vent about the changes, and share tidbits of intel from their respective corners of the bank in a bid to understand to the bank's plans.The "extremely active" chat gets upward of 100 messages a day, according to one member, a JPMorgan employee of 8 years, who talked to Business Insider. It is one of many Signal chats and Reddit threads that JPMorgan employees are turning to as unofficial "support groups" for employees."There's a depressingly small amount of official information within JPMC," they said, expressing their concern about the lack of emails about what's happening. "We have to go find the information, it is not being broadcast."Last week, a document with JPMorgan branding was shared with the group and caused an instant hubbub, a different member of the chat told BI, which viewed the contents. It appeared to be an outline of steps of escalation for employees who don't meet RTO mandates, including a lower number of non-attendance warnings before possible termination for some.BI was unable to verify the authenticity of the document or determine who dropped it in the encrypted chat. It is also unclear if it represents current or future bank policy. What is clear based on chat members' reactions to the 6-page outline is that JPMorgan Chase employees are hungry for any clues to how the bank will enforce its 5-days-in-office policy, which began rolling out March 3.A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the document but said, "If employees are not meeting the expectations, there will be ramifications just like any other performance issue."Employees are also eager to understand how their attendance is monitored. Some worry that company tracking methods might not correctly record their hours or productivity putting them at risk of potential enforcement. Others feel the RTO mandates and attendance recording measures are overkill. The employees were granted anonymity by BI to discuss internal company information without professional repercussions.One JPMorgan tech VP told BI, sarcastically, that they thought the "babysitting was ending."People in the aforementioned group chat have been sharing intel about tools for surveilling employee location and productivity. An employee who BI did not speak with shared that their manager had shown them a new tool with a heat map that shows how productive employees are based on the items worked on per hour. A technologist who has direct knowledge confirmed to BI the existence of a tool that tracked productivity per hour. It is unclear how widely it had been rolled out."It's impossible to put a number on productivity on a minute-by-minute basis," a software engineer in the group chat told BI. "So much of what we do is about communication, learning, planning, and investing. The only quantifiable measures take weeks to materialize."JPMorgan said it has "no firmwide heat map that tracks individual production volumes.""For several years now, we have had a transparent attendance tool that is available for all employees and managers to view and record their time, including vacation days, sick days, work from home, and travel," the bank spokesperson said.The software engineer and the technologist both described color-coded calendars on manager dashboards that show employees' attendance, highlighting patterns such as requesting to work from home every Friday or calling in sick every Thursday. The chat-group document mentioned such patterns as grounds for managers to open HR cases against workers.JPMorgan also has a long-standing tracking tool, Workplace Activity Data Utility, also known internally as WADU. While these types of surveilling mechanisms aren't new at JPMorgan, as BI has previously reported, they add tension to an already fraught situation around the return to office.JPMorgan's RTO roll-out has been met with praise, disdain, and confusion. Bank employees said some offices didn't have enough desks, parking, or conference rooms, and that the messaging felt rushed and unplanned. In its memo announcing the mandate, the bank acknowledged that capacity restraints would mean that some offices aren't yet ready, and are maintaining their hybrid in-office policies, working one or two days from home until further notice.JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a February interview with CNBC that he's aware this strict policy could result in employees leaving the company and that he's fine with that attrition.But not everyone who's unhappy about the 5-day RTO is considering leaving the company. Some employees are exploring the possibility of a union and are working with Communications Workers of America, an organization that led the effort of around two dozen Wells Fargo branches unionizing, as BI previously reported.Have a tip? Contact Bianca Chan via email at or Signal at 646-376-6038. Contact Emmalyse Brownstein via email at ebrownstein@insider.com or Signal at 305-857-5517. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

Finding a free live stream of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix isnt as easy as you think. Many premium platforms broadcast the event, leaving the free ones in the shadows.However, if youre a racing fan and love those cute little buzzing formulas, youre in the right place. You can access the 2025 Australian GP online for free on 10Play, a famous Australian TV channel.In this guide, well explain how to access 10Play if youre abroad so you can watch F1 Australia GP for free anywhere.Date and time of the raceMarch 16, 12 am EST / 3 pm AEDT / March 15, 9 pm PSTFree channel10Play (Australia English commentary)Watching the 2025 Australian Grand Prix Online on 10PlayBeing an Australian platform, 10Play broadcasts all sports events in English. Furthermore, users can enjoy Full HD footage of the entire race, from practice to the very end. If youre in Australia, you have nothing to worry about. You can access the channel and enjoy the live stream.However, Australians abroad or non-Aussies, for that matter, will face a geo-restriction message that bears bad news.10Play works exclusively in Australia, so to make it work abroad, you have to get an Australian IP address. People have reported that they use a VPN, primarily NordVPN as the most popular option, to fix the problem.NordVPN is a typical choice because of 190+ servers in Australia in 5 cities. It also has unlimited bandwidth and speed for streaming. While this is a paid service, users have found a way to watch F1 Australian GP for free.As NordVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee, they simply buy the service and then refund it in the given period. The 2025 Australian GP free live stream starts on March 14 and ends on March 16th, so its merely a few days.We can see that theres ample time to take advantage of a 30-day money-back guarantee and not lose a cent. All you have to do is connect to a VPN server located in Australia, access 10Play, and live-stream the race in Full HD.Watch Australian GP Live With NordVPNAustralian Grand Prix 2025 Full ScheduleWhether youre looking to stream the Australian Grand Prix for free in its entirety or just the race, you must know when to tune in.Dont fret heres the full schedule of this epic weekend:14th March: Practice 1, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm AEDT14th March: Practice 2, from 4 to 5 pm AEDT15th March: Practice 3, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm AEDT15th March: Qualifying, from 4 to 5 pm AEDT16th March: Race, 3 pm AEDT / 12 am EST / 9 pm PST (15th March) formula1.comWhere Else Can I Watch 2025 Australian GP Online?There are plenty of places where you can find this race.For example, you have a handful of free European TV channels but none of them are in English. If youre in Europe, you can consider:ORF (Austria)RTBF (Belgium)SRF (Switzerland)These three actually broadcast the entire F1 season in Full HD, in their respective languages. If youd like to stream in English but not use NordVPN or any other VPN, you have to have a streaming platform in your country.Some of the paid options include:F1 TV Pro, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, ESPN+ (USA)Sky Sports F1 (UK)Kayo,Fox Sports (Australia)The first four platforms are available in the United States but theyre pricey.For example, F1 TV Pro starts at $84.99 annually, while Hulu + Live TV is $81.99/mo. While theyre great for extensive F1 coverage, they wont broadcast the 2025 Australian GP online for free, so you have to invest a lot.Plus, if youre abroad, youll still need a VPN, which complicates things further.In SummaryFormula 1 fans have no worries if they want to access a free live stream of the 2025 Australian GP. Thousands of people globally use VPNs for this purpose for which theyre completely legal.NordVPN is a prominent option but as always, you can choose the one you personally like. The trick is, to digress, to get an Australian IP address and access 10Play. If you need more details on the steps to follow, check out our guide on how to watch Australian TV from outside Australia.Just be aware that 10Play broadcasts only the Australian Grand Prix for free. It wont display other races. If you want to watch the entire season, consider unblocking other channels RTBF, ORF, and SRF are solid options.You can keep using a VPN or be refunded if youre in it only for this GP. Either way, itll be much cheaper than paying for a premium streaming service.Try NordVPN risk-free today

The firstBatman Ninja was a wonderfully silly time, and the upcoming sequel,Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, looks to be much the same. But I think Warner Bros. Japan might have ruined it entirely for meby showing me what I cant have instead. As part of the promotional push forBatman Ninja vs. Yakuza Leagues release next week, Warner Bros. Japan has released a faux opening for Go! Bat Phoenix, a hypothetical 70s-style DC riff on classics likeScience Ninja Team Gatchaman orVoltes V. The short opening, complete with a classic pop ditty for a theme, sees Batman, Red Hood, Nightwing, and Red Robin team up for a suitably ludicrous and dramatic launch sequence combining their various individual vehicles into the Bat Phoenix, or really, the Batwing on steroids. The vibes areimmaculate. The faux faded effect of the film print, the simplified riffs onBatman Ninjas designs (Dicks hair looking like he couldve just been pulled from a frame of Speed Racer orCaptain Tsubasa? Incredible), the dramatic posing mid-launch sequence. Its a wonderful love letter to classic anime, but its also one that just fits Batman as a character so well. Its not like he doesnt have that kind of retro legacy eithernot just an obvious parallel to the re-appreciation of the 1966 Batman TV series in recent years, but in how this feels so reminiscent of Jiro KuwatasBatman manga, that kind of swashbuckling hero in the vein of the Western golden and silver age interpretations of Batman. Theres no absurdity here contrasting the Dark Knight with a tone and aesthetic that doesnt fit, because, well hedoes. Extremely well!And now I have to go on living in a reality whereGo! Bat Phoenix doesnt have a three-season run on Max (yetfrom our lips, to James Gunns ears). At least weve got Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, out digitally starting March 18, to give as a more modern anime interpretation of the Batfamily to tide us over. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Lets Fly Biofactory / gruaSave this picture! Federico CairoliArchitects: gruaAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:400 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The architectural project for the pioneering industry in the production of protein based on black soldier flies (bsf) was guided by the strategy of producing two autonomous construction systems.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The first defines an elevated platform of 400m2, where a large roof is installed, supported by a metal structure organized into structural modules of 4x6m, forming a single slope of 23 to the north, ideal for capturing solar energy. The elevation of the roof also allows for the creation of double-height spaces for the installation of shelves necessary for the production of the biofactory.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The second system consists of external and internal enclosures made of concrete blocks and self-supporting precast slabs, which allow for adaptation to the specific needs of each production area over time.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Cachoeira da Macacu, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officegruaOfficePublished on March 14, 2025Cite: "Lets Fly Biofactory / grua" [Biofbrica Lets Fly / grua] 14 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027965/lets-fly-biofactory-grua&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?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

Green Screen Effects | 4K 60fps | Chroma Screen AOE Impact VFX Footage for DownloadDiscover an impressive collection of Green Screen VFX and Chroma Key Footage in 4K 60fps! This playlist features high-quality VFX assets that are perfect for compositing in your films, videos, and creative projects. With effects from various genres like Fire FX, Smoke FX, and other dynamic elements from Unreal Engine VFX, you can add stunning visual effects to your content effortlessly.Each video includes multiple angles of Chroma Screen footage, allowing you to seamlessly integrate the effects into your scene from different perspectives. These professional-grade assets are optimized for Chroma Key compositing and will save you time on your VFX projects. Key Features:4K 60fps resolution for cinematic-quality visualsMultiple Angles for flexible compositingReady-to-use Fire FX, Smoke FX, and more from Unreal Engine VFXChroma Key (Green Screen) compatible for easy integrationIdeal for filmmakers, video editors, and VFX artistsEnhance your projects with these free downloadable effects and elevate your content. Subscribe for more VFX assets and tutorials!FAB - https://www.fab.com/sellers/CGHOW Whatsapp - https://bit.ly/3LYvxjK Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/Ashif NFT - https://opensea.io/CGHOW Twitter - https://twitter.com/cghow_ If you Liked it - http://bit.ly/2UZmiZ4 Channel Ashif - http://bit.ly/3aYaniw Support me on - paypal.me/9953280644 #cghow #UE5 #UE4Niagara #gamefx #ue5niagara #ue4vfx #niagara #unrealengineniagara #realtimevfxVisit - https://cghow.com/ Unreal Engine Marketplace - https://bit.ly/3aojvAa Artstation Store - https://www.artstation.com/ashif/store Gumroad - https://cghow.gumroad.com/

Welcome to "This Week in Unreal" Episode 4 where we discuss topics related to Unreal Engine game development and virtual production.0:00 - Intro0:24 - UE 5.4.4 Hotfix0:53 - Epic Game Store iOS Brazil2:49 - Witcher 4 Cinematic3:40 - UE 5 Short Cut4:01 - Prod Proj Hired by Epic Games4:59 - Texture Painting Plugin5:43 - Blender Bone Tools6:27 - Rabbit Holes8:34 - Decals9:34 - Zen Blink9:52 - Axis Discussion12:32 - Body Cam Style13:25 - UE Unoptimized Discussion17:01 - Split Fiction20:32 - Grip Truck Simulator26:36 - Conclusion