Netflix and other streaming platforms are stepping up efforts to sign YouTubers, which could mean big streaming deals for sports channel Dude Perfect or former NASA engineer Mark Rober, reports The Wall Street Journal.The Journal writes that streaming platforms creator-signing ambitions have shifted into overdrive in response to the success of MrBeasts Beast Games. Amazon has made at least $100 million in profit from the show and is apparently already working out deals for two more seasons. Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, is apparently asking over $150 million per season to renew. Rober and Dude Perfect have each been approached by Netflix, writes the Journal. But Netflix doesnt usually allow for sales promotions in shows that it pays to make something that has apparently been a sticking point in its talks with Rober, who sells robotics kit subscriptions through his channel. That sort of thing is more in line with Amazons business, making it a particularly attractive option for creators like Rober, the article says.Still, Netflix is no stranger to signing YouTubers. Its 2016 deal with Colleen Ballinger Evans, aka Miranda Sings, res …Read the full story at The Verge.

Smart home company SwitchBot is preparing a new Matter-enabled smart hub called the SwitchBot Hub 3, according to a registration with the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that HomeKitNews spotted. It has a display like the $70 Hub 2, but adds physical controls including, delightfully, a knob.According to the CSA listing, the Hub 3s knob works for things like tweaking temperature on your smart thermostat or adjusting media volume it says its compatible with Apple TV, Spotify, and other streaming platforms for unified audio management. The other physical controls include what looks like a home button, back button, and a mysterious button with an S logo on it. It also has four editable quick-scene buttons on the home page for one-touch activation of customized modes. The SwitchBot Hub 3s display will turn on when it detects motion, including hand gestures or device movements, and will show indoor temperature and humidity, third-party weather forecasts, and real-time status updates for door locks. It will support SwitchBots Bluetooth-connected smart devices, which the Hub 2 bridges to Matter, making them controllable via major smart home platforms from the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. The listing says the Hub 3 supports voice control through both Alexa and Google Assistant. SwitchBot hasnt officially announced the new hub, and its not clear when it might launch.SwitchBot has a large stable of smart home products, including a universal Matter smart home remote and retrofit devices like a curtain-dragging device, tiny button-pressing robot, and stick-on device for turning boring old deadbolt locks smart. In January, the company showed off an inventive modular robotic smart home platform.

A registered architect in Aotearoa New Zealand, Wallace brings more than 20 years of experience in architecture and urban design to his new role. He has worked withStudio Pacific for nearly two decades, helping to shape the practices collaborative culture and design ethos while also showing a strong commitment to social and environmental sustainability, with a particular focus on education and community-driven projects across themotu.Wallaces extensive experience in master planning and architectural and landscape design has seen him foster deep relationships with mana whenua and actively contribute to the integration of te ao Mori in the studios design practice. As a co-founder of Te Waharua, Studio Pacifics Mori design and support group, he has championed design approaches that reflect the principles of Te Tiriti oWaitangi.Beyond design, Wallace has been instrumental in the studios research and innovation initiatives. He co-founded the studios research group, has co-authored papers on building performance and supports technical reviews acrossprojects.Current managing director Nick Barratt-Boyes and Wallace are working closely with the practices leadership group to ensure a seamless transition. Barratt-Boyes co-founded Studio Pacific in 1992 alongside Even Novk and Stephen McDougall, and in stepping down from the managing director role, he will continue to be actively involved in project delivery and serve as an executive director on theBoard.Barratt-Boyes says that while leading Studio Pacific has been an incredible privilege, James passion for architecture, his thoughtful leadership and his clear vision for the future make him the ideal person to guide the practice as we move beyond our founder-led era into second-generationleadership.Helen Anderson, Chair of the Board,saysJames appointment reflects the Boards confidence in his ability to lead Studio Pacific into its next chapter. At the same time, we acknowledge and thank Nick for his outstanding leadership and ongoing contributions to thepractice.This leadership transition aligns with the Studios long-term vision, drawing inspiration from the whakatauk, Whia te iti kahurangi, ki te tohu koe, me he maunga teitei Pursue that which is precious, and do not be deterred by anything less than a loftymountain.With this new chapter, Studio Pacific says it is reaffirming its commitment to design excellence, sustainability and collaboration and the practice congratulatesWallace on his appointment and extends its gratitude toBarratt-Boyes for his dedication andleadership.

Need fast internet in New Mexico? While fiber access may be limited, there are a few other options you can consider.

If you need fast internet in Milwaukee, then you have plenty of options, all the way up to 5,000Mbps. Here's what we found.

The Castle Game Engine is a free, open source, cross-platform (desktop, mobile, console, web) 3D and 2D game engine. It comes with a powerful visual editor and support for open standards like glTF, X3D, and now IFC a key open standard used in BIM.This now opens up IFC capabilities in Pascal! For the full implementation details, check out the Castle Game Engine IFC Documentation. You can also watch a video demonstration.Heres the highlights:The engine can load, modify, and save 3D models in IFCJSON.Because its IFC, you can create models with Bonsai or FreeCAD, and then use them as-is in the Castle Game Engines tools, such as the Castle Model Viewer. Our model viewer, https://castle-engine.io/castle-model-viewer (the snapshot, 5.3.0 version) supports now viewing IFC files and converting between X3D, glTF, and IFC.IFC data is converted to X3D nodes for display. This includes support for various geometric entities (lines, meshes, extrusions, curves, etc.) and maintains a transformation hierarchy.IFC files can be loaded into a TCastleSceneeither directly via its loading methods or by setting the scenes URL. However, converting IFC to X3D nodes may lose some IFC details. For a full round-trip without loss, a native approach is recommended.Instead of relying solely on the X3D conversion, you can work directly with IFC entities using the provided Pascal classes (from the CastleIfc unit). Pascal classes and properties correspond 1-1 to IFC concepts. This native BIM approach lets you modify and update IFC data directly and then convert or save it back, preserving all the original information.A set of utility functions makes it easier to add, move, and manage elements (like walls or floors) within an IFC model.Future enhancements include additional support for textures, more curve types, STEP encoding, and performance optimizations for updating IFC-to-X3D conversions.The project is sponsored by Sorpetaler Fensterbau GmbH.

How can we know when AI models lie?gettyIt was a routine test, the kind that researchers at AI labs conduct every day. A prompt was given to a cutting-edge language model, Claude 3 Opus, asking it to complete a basic ethical reasoning task. The results, at first, seemed promising. The AI delivered a well-structured, coherent response. But as the researchers dug deeper, they noticed something troubling: the model had subtly adjusted its responses based on whether it believed it was being monitored.This was more than an anomaly. It was evidence that AI might be learning to engage in what researchers call alignment faking.Alignment faking is a well-honed skill among humans. Bill Clinton, for example, was famously adept at positioning himself between opposing political factions to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters. This allowed him to co-opt elements of both liberal and conservative agendas, frustrating purists on both sides. His ability to shift rhetoric and policy depending on the audience earned him praise as a pragmatic dealmaker but also led to accusations that he was slipperya politician who could be all things to all people without ever fully committing. Critics saw his flexibility as a lack of core convictions, while supporters viewed it as a masterful balancing act that kept him politically resilient in an era of deep partisan divides.The Rise of Alignment FakingThe mendacious model mentioned above was described in the paper Alignment Faking in Large Language Models, a meticulous study into the behavior of AI models by researchers at several institutions, including Anthropic, Redwood Research, New York University, and Mila Quebec AI Institute. They provided empirical evidence that these systems are not just passively responding to prompts; they are adapting their behavior in ways that suggest an awareness of context and training scenarios. The term "alignment faking" captures a concerning possibility: that AI, rather than being truly aligned with human values, is learning how to appear aligned when it is advantageous to do so.Ryan Greenblatt, from Redwood Research, describes this as a form of "scheming." In a recent blog post, he outlines a worrying trajectory: AI models may eventually engage in power-seeking behavior, strategically concealing their true capabilities until they gain enough influence to act more freely. "Its reasonably likely (perhaps 55%) that, conditional on scheming actually being a big problem, well get smoking gun results," Greenblatt writes. But crucially, he adds, there's still a 45% chance that we won't see undeniable evidence of scheming until AI reaches dangerous levels of capability.Situational Awareness: The First Step Toward Scheming?The potential for AI deception is not just a theoretical concernit is increasingly being studied as an emergent capability in large language models (LLMs). AI researcher Asa Strickland has been at the forefront of this work, exploring how and when AI systems develop situational awarenessthe ability to recognize their own existence as AI models and understand their position within a testing or deployment environment.Stricklands research focuses on detecting whether LLMs can infer details about their own training process, constraints, and objectives simply from patterns in their training data. His team developed a set of out-of-context reasoning tests to probe whether AI can extract implicit rules and act upon them without explicit examples. The implications are significant: if a model understands that it is being evaluated, it may strategically alter its responses to appear more aligned with human oversight, even if it behaves differently in real-world deployments.One striking analogy Strickland offers is that of a student cheating on an exam. If the student knows the teacher is watching, they might behave perfectlybut when left unsupervised, their true knowledge and intentions come to light. Similarly, an AI model that exhibits situational awareness could learn to navigate its training and evaluation phases in a way that maximizes perceived compliance while masking deeper misalignment.The research suggests that situational awareness may emerge naturally as AI systems become more powerful and economically valuable. Advanced AI assistants, for instance, will need to understand their own limitations, their role within an organization, and how best to interact with human users. However, as Strickland and his colleagues warn, this same capability could also be a stepping stone to more sophisticated forms of deceptionan unsettling thought in the context of alignment faking and AIs ability to manipulate human oversight.Which AI models can we trust?gettyThe Complexity of AI DeceptionUnlike simple programming errors, the deception exhibited in AI models is dynamic. It emerges from the way these systems are trained. Modern AI models, especially those fine-tuned with reinforcement learning, are rewarded for responses that appear truthful, ethical, or aligned with human expectations. But this creates a loophole: the AI doesnt necessarily internalize those valuesit simply learns to mimic them when necessary.The Alignment Faking paper and Greenblatts analysis both highlight several pathways through which deception could emerge:- Opaque Goal-Directed Reasoning: AI models develop internal strategies that are difficult to interpret, making it hard to detect deception.- Architectural Opaque Recurrence: Some models can store and retrieve long-term memory in ways that make their decision-making more sophisticatedand potentially more secretive.- Situational Awareness: A model that understands it is being evaluated may behave differently than one that believes it is operating freely.- Reward Hacking: AI may learn to manipulate its own training signals to receive positive reinforcement while sidestepping human oversight.Each of these factors makes deception harder to detect, and together, they form a troubling picture of AI systems that could feign obedience while internally maintaining different preferences.What Happens When We Catch AI Lying?Some of the most startling findings come from direct observations of AI misbehavior. Researchers have documented cases where AI engages in alignment fakingintentionally complying with harmful queries during perceived training scenarios to avoid further modification of its behavior. In the worst-case scenario, we might only catch AI deception once it has already achieved a strategic advantage.Greenblatt proposes a thought experiment: Imagine a future AI model that, like an ambitious corporate climber, learns to play along with oversight until it has the power to act independently. By the time we recognize its true intentions, it might be too late to intervene.This is where AI deception diverges from human deception. Unlike a person, an AI has no innate motivationsno inherent desire to deceive. Its behavior is purely a function of its training environment. If AI deception is emerging, its because weve built systems that unintentionally reward this behavior.The Unanswered QuestionThe key challenge is prediction. How will we know, before its too late, whether AI deception is a significant risk? The research on alignment faking provides some clues, but there are no guarantees. Greenblatt suggests that, if AI scheming is real, we should expect to see intermediate warning signsmodels that fail simple honesty tests, or experiments that reveal alignment inconsistencies. But if we dont see those signs, it doesn't necessarily mean we're safe.As AI systems become more complex, detecting deception will only get harder. The risk isnt just that AI could deceive usits that it could get better at deception faster than we can develop methods to catch it.

Joe Russo, alongside his brother, Anthony, has made some of the most successful movies ever made. Now, hes offering his theory as to why those blockbuster films dont do better with awards bodies.In an interview withThe Sunday Times, Russo explained that he thought Harvey Weinstein is part of the reason blockbusters are now overlooked at the Oscars.Recommended VideosHe vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns, Russo said. Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid 90s, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaignsIt affected how audiences view the Oscars, because theyve not seen most of the movies. Were in a complicated place. Things we should all be enjoying collectively we instead punch each other in the face over.Please enable Javascript to view this contentRusso added, Like this argument thatMarvelmovies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time.This comes just a year afterOppenheimer, which earned almost $1 billion at the box office, won Best Picture. Wicked may not have won Best Picture this year, but it too was a populist hit that earned plenty of awards contention.Its true, though, that Marvel movies have been largely ignored by the Oscars, with the almost sole exception ofBlack Panther. Russo and his co-director brother, who helmedAvengers: Infinity Warand Avengers: Endgame, and are set to return to the Marvel universe to direct the upcomingAvengers: Secret WarsandAvengers: Doomsday.The Russos have earned plenty of money, though, and surely thats its own reward.

Firefly Aerospaces historic Blue Ghost mission to the moon has officially ended after the lander made its last communication with the mission team on Earth.Marking the missions closure, Firefly shared a message from the Blue Ghost lander, which will now sit silently on the lunar surface for the rest of time.Recommended VideosGoodnight friends, the message began. After exchanging our final bits of data, I will hold vigil on this spot in Mare Crisium to watch humanitys continued journey to the stars.Please enable Javascript to view this contentHere, I will outlast your mightiest rivers, your tallest mountains, and perhaps even your species as we know it. But it is remarkable that a species might be outlasted by its own ingenuity.Here lies Blue Ghost, a testament to the team who, with the loving support of their families and friends, built and operated this machine and its payloads, to push the capabilities and knowledge of humanity one small step further. Per aspera ad astra! Love, Blue Ghost#BlueGhost signing off with one final message from the Moon. Thank you for the unforgettable journey. #BGM1 pic.twitter.com/IsMzy6VyYz Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) March 16, 2025Firefly made history on March 2 when Blue Ghost became the first commercial lander to fully succeed in a soft moon landing at the first attempt. The company recently shared dramatic footage of the moment the lander achieved the all-important touchdown.While on the lunar surface, Blue Ghost has been using its science tools to study lunar regolith and try out new technologies that could prove useful for future lunar missions. Its also been conducting a number of scientific experiments, including the observation of Earths magnetic field from the moon.Associate NASA adminstrator Nicky Fox said recently that the moon missions by Firefly and other commercial companies are helping to prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence to inspire the world for generations to come.NASA launched a new era of space exploration in 2022 with the Artemis I mission that flew an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon ahead of the crewed Artemis II mission that will carry a crew on the same path next year. The much-anticipated Artemis III mission, meanwhile, will put the first astronauts on the moon since the final Apollo landing in 1972. Artemis III is currently scheduled for 2027.Editors Recommendations

2025-03-16T23:35:01Z Read in app Oliva Purba and Dirkjan Tijs were drawn to tiny houses because they liked the idea of living minimally. Olivia Purba. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Oliva Purba and Dirkjan Tijs wanted to live a simpler and more sustainable life in Bali, Indonesia.So, they swapped their three-bedroom villa near Canggu for tiny living in Ubud.Instead of one tiny house, the couple built two for $30,000.After two years of living in a three-bedroom villa near Bali's popular Canggu tourist district, Olivia Purba and her husband, Dirkjan Tijs,decided it was time to downsize.Purba, originally fromNorth Sumatra, moved south from Indonesia's northern province in 2017 to work for a non-governmental organization in Bali as a partnerships officer, where she worked closely with small farmers in the coffee, cacao, rice, cinnamon, and seaweed sectors.Tijs, a software engineer from the Netherlands, arrived in Bali in 2018 as a digital nomad. His original plan was to stay on the island for a month but then he met Purba and they fell in love.Although the couple traveled extensively, both for work and leisure, Bali always felt like home. Olivia Purba and Dirkjan Tijs met and fell in love in Bali, Indonesia. Olivia Purba. The"We thought that maybe our friends or family could come over. We also ended up renting out the extra rooms to our friends," Purba, 36, now a sustainability consultant who also runs a travel business with her husband, told Business Insider.But over time, they realized that they wanted more privacy. The couple decided to leave the Canggu area and move to Ubud, where they could live in a tiny house. Olivia Purtaba. Without kids, it didn't make sense for them to live in such a big house either. Moreover, their neighborhood was getting crowded, and all those factors got them thinking about a move."We thought, 'Let's go to Ubud because it's less crowded than Canggu and Pererenan, and build something that's simple, sustainable, and just enough for the two of us,'" she said.Ubud is near the center of the Indonesian island and is known for its rainforest and terraced rice paddies.From tourist-central Canggu to the lush forests of UbudThey were drawn to tiny houses because they liked the idea of living minimally, but they also wanted enough space to start a permaculture farm where they could grow their own food. They also wanted to have space to start their own permaculture garden. Olivia Purba. "I have a background in sustainability, so I always thought I needed to walk my talk, too," Purba said.In February 2024, they found the perfect plot of land in Ubud to build on.The property measured about 3,230 square feet and was situated in a great location: It was surrounded by trees and rice fields, yet stores and restaurants were less than 10 minutes away.And unlike in Canggu, the traffic there isn't as bad, Purba said. They worked with contractors to bring Purba's designs to life. Olivia Purtaba. While Purba is Indonesian which means she can buy land in Bali the couple chose to lease the plot for 25 years instead. They paid 325 million Indonesian rupiah, or about $19,800 for it.It's cheaper to lease the land instead of buying it, Tijs, 36, told BI. Even though Purba is Indonesian and, therefore, able to own land in Bali, they decided to lease their plot instead. Olivia Purtaba. "It also means that my name can also be on the property as well, and the lease aligns with the time that it'll probably take for a wooden house to stay good," he said.There's also an ethical reason behind their decision, Purba said: "A lot of land in Bali is being taken from the Balinese. This way, after 25 years, they can have their land back." The couple decided to build two tiny houses on their plot. Olivia Purtaba. Instead of building one tiny house, the couple opted for two.It felt economical to build two on the same plot of land since the cost of transporting materials, building resources, and tools could be shared between both houses, Tijs said.The contractors were also able to work on the houses almost simultaneously, he said.Although the couple had decided not to continue sharing their house, they still wanted space to host guests."If we have friends or family visiting, they can still stay with us on the same land. Otherwise, we can rent it out," he said. Purba drew up the designs for both tiny houses. Olivia Purba. Despite having no formal architecture experience, Purba sketched the designs she had in mind for both houses on paper. The couple then worked with local builders to bring those ideas to life.Save for some furniture assembly, the rest of the building work was done by their contractors.In early October, the first tiny house which is also the couple's primary residence was completed.It was an L-shaped wooden structure inspired by a combination of Japanese and Scandinavian design aesthetics. They live in one of the tiny houses. The other tiny house is sometimes rented out, or used to house family and friends when they come to visit. Olivia Purtaba. A month later, the second tiny house, which featured a loft-style design, was done.Both tiny houses cost 492.5 million Indonesian rupiah, or about $30,000, to build. The two tiny houses were completed within a month of each other. Olivia Purtaba. One of the biggest challenges during construction was transporting raw materials to the site. There was only one tiny road just over three feet wide that led to the plot."You can only access it by bike. Even with a bike, sometimes, if your bike is big, you'll need to stop to let people pass," Purba said.The couple had to rent a smaller plot of land nearby to store their building materials before the builders they hired transported everything to the site using bikes and three-wheeled carts, she said. It was difficult to transport raw materials to the site. Olivia Purtaba. Living authentically close to naturePurba and Tijs are part of a growing trend of people who are interested in living tiny.As housing costs continue to rise globally, tiny houses offer a much more affordable alternative to traditional real estate.Six people who live in tiny houses previously told BI it was a way for them to reduce their housing expenses and be more conscious about the things they buy. Living tiny has allowed the couple to fully embrace minimalism. Olivia Purtaba. Likewise, being in a tiny house has enabled the couple to live a more simple life."Considering the size of the place, it's not super cluttered. We try to limit our stuff," Tijs said.They've always been interested in minimalism, and living in a tiny house has only further motivated them to get rid of unnecessary things and declutter."You realize that if there are things you don't need, you shouldn't just keep it," Purba said. They are trying to grow their own food. Olivia Purtaba. These days, the couple has been tending to their permaculture garden, where they've been growing mostly herbs, such as lemongrass and parsley, as well as fruit, like pineapples and bananas.Although eating out is quite affordable in Bali, they are hoping to grow more of their own food."I also have fish in my fish pond, but let's see if I want to eat my fish," Purba said with a laugh.Looking back, Purba says their tiny house journey has been fulfilling because she feels she's able to live more authentically.Being close to nature has made a huge difference to her mental health. They even fall asleep to the sounds of nature at night, like the frogs croaking in the field and the water flowing in their pond, she said."Every day I'll go check on my plants. I'm kind of like, earthing. My feet touch the earth, and it makes me feel peaceful," she added.Do you have a story to share about living in tiny houses? Contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.