An H5N1 infection can be fatal for domestic animals, but there are steps you can take to minimize the risk of them catching the virus.

If youre looking for an AI PC, why wouldnt you be looking for a Mac?After all, Apples systems are built for privacy and security and, thanks to Apple Silicon, are now quite capable of running big generative AI (genAI) models swiftly in-house and at a fraction of the energy costs of Windows-based systems. While a move to Apple wont suit every company or even every situation, its absolutely true that the platform is aviable one for AI, and has remained so for some time.To understand how viable Macs are for running AI in your business, consider therecently-launched M3 Ultra Mac Studio. Apple made impressive claims for these systems on launch. It told us its highest-end Mac Studio was 16.9 times faster than the M1 Ultra Mac Studio at generating tokens using a large language model (LLM) with hundreds of thousands of parameters. That neat claim was recently put to the test whenYouTuber Dave Leeshowed us that the most highly specified M3 Ultra Mac Studio is capable of running a671-billion-parameter AI model natively on the system at under 200 watts of energy. (He usedDeepSeek RI, of course.)A supercomputer on your bookshelfThats an amazing statistic; it means you can run a powerful genAI models using DeepSeek on a system that fits on a shelf above your desk, which must be a compelling proposition to any enterprise purchaser considering deployment of an in-house self-hosted system for AI. Its even more impressive when you consider that comparable performance on traditional PCs would require multiple GPUs and consume 10 times as much energy.(You might be able to find some way to put together a PC-based cluster to deliver the same kind of performance, but it is arguable that youll still spend the $14,000 youd need to drop to get the most powerful Mac desktop. (In some cases, you might not need quite as much of a system.)What this all means or should mean is that the enterprise landscape is ripe for Apple.After all, the companys devices are private by design, secure by nature, and deliver performance and energy consumption advantages other PCs at the same price points dont match. Not only do they deliver this, but they also have the processor horsepower it takes to run AI natively.If you just need to run smaller AI models, then an M4 MacBook Air also has you covered, allowing most businesses to now consider Mac-based and self-hosted AI deployments for a range of use cases.Apple, the perfect endpoint AI solutionWhile buffeted by bad news elsewhere in its business, the Mac has become a bright star for Apple, thanks to Apple Silicon. While Apple Intelligence might havelet the company down, Apple Silicon has not. That matters quite a lot, given arecent report from IDC Researchclaiming that four-in-five (80%) of PCs sold this year will be AI PCs, though there are some challenges to that.Apple helps meet those challenges, of course. IDCs survey revealed that while nearly all organizations are using or intend to use cloud-based AI platforms, the security and data privacy inherent to these systems remains the biggest challenge to broad deployment, even more than cost.While most business users are looking at the ever-expanding plethora of enterprise-focused cloud-based AI systems, they are really concerned about what happens to their data when shared in the cloud, particularly in regulated industries where compliance matters, such as healthcare.Thats driving many enterprises seeking to deploy AI to search for solutions that let them deploy genAI tools on endpoints self-hosted AI that runs natively on a device they own and have in their own office, in other words.That, of course, is what Apples Macs and certainly its Mac Studio aremore than capableof doing.AI models for the fewTheres a lot more to running AI in business than text summaries, automated writing tools, Microsoft Copilot, or evensuper-smart Webex AI bots; enterprise users are seeking to build or buy their ownbespoke AI packagescapable of learning from their own heavily curated business data and helping them with their business. Thats not software that necessarily comes in a box (digital or otherwise), but is software that, at best for ultimate privacy and security, runs natively on the device. Apple Silicon is more than up to the task. (And you get an annual free OS upgrade of what isarguably the most secure operating system, too.)You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn, andMastodon.

AI PCs devices that directly integrate AI capabilities into hardware and software are rapidly taking over the PC market; some analysts have gone so far as to designate 2025 the Year of the AI PC.HP is the latest vendor to join the fray. It announced today at its HP Amplify 2025 partner conference that it has completely redesigned its mobile and desktop computers to meet the demands of mainstream enterprise workers, and its fully revamped portfolio is now populated with AI PCs.The way we work now is more demanding than ever, Cory McElroy, HPs VP for commercial product management, said in a press pre-briefing. The expectations are different. Its not enough that devices work well; we need our devices to anticipate our needs and actually help us through our day-to-day.The new enterprise devices include both laptops and desktops. Heres a brief look at the offerings:ProBook 4 AI PCsThe HP ProBook 4 G1i and ProBook 4 G1a (the i and a indicate whether the device is powered by an Intel or AMD processor) target remote workers and road warriors who, HP said, need to get productive with advanced tech, AI workstyles, and multi-layered security.They offer up to 32GB SDRAM and up to 1TB of storage, with the option to add a second SSD of up to 256GB to the AMD version. Each processor version can be configured with a 14 inch or 16 inch display.EliteBook 6 AI PCsThe EliteBook 6 G1i and EliteBook 6 G1a are designed for frontline professionals and office support staff, HP said, and offer multiple display sizes: 13 inch, 14 inch, and 16 inch screens for the Intel model, and 14 inches or 16 inches for the AMD versions.Although they dont qualify as Copilot+ PCs, they are robustly configured with up to 64GB of DDR5 SDRAM and up to 2TB of storage.Both Intel and AMD models are equipped with enhanced conferencing and collaboration features, including Poly Camera Pro, which now uses the NPU for many of its advanced features to save power.EliteBook 8 AI PCs The EliteBook 8 series offers neural processing unit (NPU) options capable of up to 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS), qualifying some models to be designated Copilot+ PCs and, HP said, providing up to 224% better power efficiency and 43X faster AI image generation than previous generations without NPUs. The series offers up to 64GB DDR5 memory, up to 2TB of storage, and, as with all of HPs PCs, endpoint security is built in.McElroy pointed to new levels of serviceability and intentional design, as the mobile devices are modular. Once the bottom cover is removed, vertical components such as battery, fans, storage or other key elements can be much more easily removed than in previous traditional designs, he explained, to make it easier for enterprise IT to maintain the devices.HPs desktop series, EliteDesk 8, is now AI-powered as well, and the company also said it is the worlds first business desktop PC portfolio to protect against quantum computer hacks.Further, the new HP EliteStudio 8 AiO G1i is the first commercial all-in-one PC with integrated keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) ability through HP Device Switch, allowing users to control, toggle between, and manage multiple devices via a single console. HP calls it an ideal tool for employees constantly moving around the office.Select models of EliteBook, EliteDesk and EliteStudio also qualify as Copilot+ PCs, making them particularly appealing to enterprise buyers looking to refresh to Microsoft 11. Microsoft has strict requirements for machines designated Copilot+ PCs: They must run Windows 11, have an NPU capable of 40-plus TOPS, at least 16GB of RAM and a minimum of 256GB of solid state drive (SSD) storage or universal flash storage (UFS).An onboard AI CompanionThe new devices come with a built-in AI Companion that can retrieve, filter and summarize files and create content, among other tasks, all without the need for an internet connection.Users can leverage the AI Companion in two ways: In on-device mode, the companion uses a local large language model (LLM) for the most private AI experience or when the user needs to work offline, McElroy explained. Alternatively, they can switch to cloud mode when they need the latest and greatest from industry-leading models online.The companion allows users to snip an image from their screen and use that snip as a prompt. Other new capabilities planned for the spring include what HP called intuitive voice and text commands, and built-in keylogger protection to help keep data secure.When you have the right tools, work doesnt have to feel like work, McElroy noted. By enabling new AI experiences, new ways of working and the ability to do things faster, were powering dynamic change so the entire company can be more productive and fulfilled for their day to day.

Around 1,400 infants are being infected by HIV every day as a result of the new US administrations cuts to funding to AIDS organizations, new modeling suggests.In an executive order issued January 20, President Donald Trump paused new foreign aid funding to global health programs, and four days later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order on existing foreign aid assistance. Surveys suggest that these changes forced more than a third of global organizations that provide essential HIV services to close within days of the announcements.Hundreds of thousands of people are losing access to HIV treatments as a result. Women and girls are missing out on cervical cancer screening and services for gender-based violence, too. A waiver Rubio later issued in an attempt to restore lifesaving services has had very little impact.We are in a crisis, said Jennifer Sherwood, director of research, public policy, at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, at a data-sharing event on March 17 at Columbia University in New York. Even funds that had already been appropriated, that were in the field, in peoples bank accounts, [were] frozen.Rubio approved a waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance on January 28. This resumption is temporary in nature, and with limited exceptions as needed to continue life-saving humanitarian assistance programs, no new contracts shall be entered into, he said in a statement at the time.The US Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which invests millions of dollars in the global AIDS response every year, was also granted a waiver February 1 to continue life-saving work.Despite this waiver, there have been devastating reports of the impact on health programs across the many low-income countries that relied on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which oversees PEPFAR, for funding. To get a better sense of the overall impact, amfAR conducted two surveys looking at more than 150 organizations that rely on PEPFAR funding in more than 26 countries.We found really severe disruptions to HIV services, said Sherwood, who presented the findings at Columbia. About 90% of our participants said [the cuts] had severely limited their ability to deliver HIV services. Specifically, 94% of follow-up services designed to monitor peoples progress were either canceled or disrupted. There were similarly dramatic disruptions to services for HIV testing, treatment, and prevention, and 92% of services for gender-based violence were canceled or disrupted.The cuts have plunged organizations into a deep financial crisis, said Sherwood. Almost two-thirds of respondents said community-based staff were laid off before the end of January. When the team asked these organizations how long they could stay open without US funding, 36% said they had already closed. Only 14% said that they were able to stay open longer than a month, said Sherwood. And this data was collected longer than a month ago.The organizations said tens of thousands of the people they serve would lose HIV treatment within a month. For some organizations, that figure was over 100,000, said Sherwood.Part of the problem is that the stop-work order came at a time when these organizations were already experiencing shortages in commodities, Sherwood said. Typically, centers might give a person a six-month supply of antiretroviral drugs. Before the stop-work order, many organizations were only giving one-month supplies. Almost all of their clients are due to come back and pick up [more] treatments in this 90-day freeze, she said. You can really see the panic this has caused.The waiver for life-saving treatment didnt do much to remedy this situation. Only 5% of the organizations received funds under the waiver, while the vast majority either were told they didnt qualify or had not been told they could restart services. While the waiver might be one important avenue to restart some services, it cannot, on the whole, save the US HIV program, says Sherwood. It is very limited in scope, and it has not been widely communicated to the field.AmfAR isnt the only organization tracking the impact of US funding cuts. At the same event, Sara Casey, assistant professor of population and family health at Columbia, presented results of a survey of 101 people who work in organizations reliant on US aid. They reported seeing disruptions to services in humanitarian responses, gender-based violence, mental health, infectious diseases, essential medicines and vaccines, and more. Many of these should have been eligible for the life-saving waivers, Casey said.Casey and her colleagues have also been interviewing people in Colombia, Kenya, and Nepal. In those countries, women of reproductive age, newborns and children, people living with HIV, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and migrants are among those most affected by the cuts, she said, and health workers, who are primarily women, are losing their livelihoods.There will be really disproportionate impacts on the worlds most vulnerable, said Sherwood. Women make up 67% of the health-care workforce, according to the World Health Organization. They also make up 63% of PEPFAR clients. PEPFAR has supported gender equality and services for gender-based violence. We dont know if other countries or other donors can or will pick up these types of programs, especially in the face of competing priorities about keeping people on treatment and keeping people alive, said Sherwood.Sherwood and her colleagues at amfAR have also done some modeling work to determine the potential impact of cuts to PEPFAR on women and girls, using data from last year to create their estimates. Each day that the stop-work order is in place, we estimate that there are 1,400 new HIV infections among infants, she said. And every day, over 7,000 women stand to miss out on cervical cancer screenings.The funding cuts have also had a dramatic effect on mental-health services, said Farah Arabe, who serves on the advisory board of the Global Mental Health Action Network. Arabe presented the preliminary findings of an ongoing survey of mental-health organizations from 29 countries that receive US aid. Unfortunately, this is a very grim picture, she said. Only 5% of individuals who were receiving services in 2024 will be able to receive services in 2025.The same goes for children and adolescents. This is a particularly sad picture because children are going through brain development, she said. Impacts at this early stage of life have lifelong impacts on academic achievement, economic productivity, mental health, physical health even the ability to parent the next generation.For now, nonprofits and aid and research organizations are scrambling to try to understand, and potentially limit, the impact of the cuts. Some are hoping to locate new sources of funding, independent of the US.I am deeply concerned that progress in disease eradication, poverty reduction, and gender equality is at risk of being reversed, said Thoai Ngo of Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, who chaired the event. Without urgent action, preventable deaths will rise, more people will fall into poverty, and as always, women and girls will bear the heaviest burden.On March 10, Rubio announced the results of his departments review of USAID. After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID, he shared via the social media platform X.

Fourteen games were mentioned at WWDC 2024 as titles coming to Apple devices, allegedly signaling Apple's shift to take gaming more seriously. Unsurprisingly, not all of them have shown up yet.Games announced at WWDC 2024At WWDC 2024, Apple announced a panoply of games set to come to macOS and in some cases, iOS and iPadOS before next year's Worldwide Developers Conference. However, as gamers are well aware, not every game makes its release date.Games get delayed for any number of reasons. Sometimes it's because the development proved trickier than expected, budgetary cuts, or even because developers deemed it would be more advantageous to push a game to a later date. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Pebble is back and is betting that a 30-day battery life can shake up the smartwatch market dominated by Apple Watch.Pebble Core Time 2The company is making a comeback with the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2. Led by original Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, these offerings provide an alternative to the smartwatch market led by the Apple Watch.At $149, the Core 2 Duo is an upgraded version of the classic Pebble 2, featuring modern enhancements such as a black-and-white e-paper display, 30-day battery life, and a polycarbonate frame. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

This month in Copenhagen, don't miss your last chance to see the exhibition Living Structures, the inaugural show in the new Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's 'Architecture Connecting' series exploring how the discipline has evolved in the face of climatic uncertaintyand other social/political challenges.

Take a look at our latest curated selection of architecture and design firms currently hiring onArchinect Jobs: This week'sfeatured employer highlightincludes job openings inNew York City/BrooklynandLos Angeles.For even more opportunities, visit theArchinect job boardand explore our active community ofjob seekers,firms, andschools.Los Angeles-based architecture firmSPF:architectshas two exciting roles available: a Marketing Coordinator / Social Media Strategist with two years of experience and a strong command of InDesign and Photoshop; and anIntermediate Architect/Designerwith two to three years of experience, proficiency with Revit, Rhino, and Adobe Creative Suite, and experience producing technical drawings. Applicants for both roles should possess excellent communication skills.WE3 at Water's Edge by SPF:architects.In New York City,Obra Architectsis in search of anArchitectwith a minimum of five years of experience. The desired applicant has an understandin...

Action RPGs have been quite popular over the last decade, thanks in large part to the success of major industry heavyweights like Diablo 4 and Path of Exile, and even smaller-scale indie titles like Grim Dawn. Since then, weve seen several indie studios take a shot at the genre, and while some may have chosen to refine the kind of gameplay and mechanics weve seen since the elements of the genre were codified years ago, many others have come up with their own unique spins. Dragonkin: The Banished belongs in that second camp. While it has many of the hallmarks of the genre you would expect, it also brings plenty of new ideas to the table such as the Ancestral Grid which we will talk about in a bit.Right when you start playing, the first thing youll notice is that Dragonkin: The Banished places quite a bit of emphasis on its world and story. The prologue chapter kicks things off by letting you play through an important point of the games fictional history, when several heroes banded together to help human armies take on the corrupting influences of an evil dragon. This prologue also serves as an interesting take on the tutorial formula, allowing players to play as multiple distinct heroes that you will then play for the rest of the game."Dragonkin: The Banished places quite a bit of emphasis on its world and story."Its important to note just how great of an idea it is to let the player experience the various heroes before you have to make the decision to pick one for the rest of the game. You get to experience multiple heroes: the Knight, the Barbarian, and the Ranger at the height of their power. You get to use their most powerful abilities as you take down hordes of the dragons underlings. Sure, its not a lengthy prologue, clocking in at around thirty minutes, but it gives you just enough information to let you make an informed decision so that you dont end up regretting your choice two dozen hours later.Dragonkin: The Banished makes one hell of a first impression thanks to the scale of the epic story being told. There are no punches pulled when youre thrown against massive hordes of demons and dragonkins to take on. Starting things off in the shoes of the Knight, you get to feel immensely powerful. The prologues zones are also visually impressive, with plenty of debris flying all over the place and enemy corpses ragdolling away as you run through them with your shield raised.On finishing the prologue, however, things slow down to an absolute crawl. After picking out your hero, youre going to be spending the next several hours taking on small scale villains like bandits before you get to fight more intimidating enemies and bosses. There is also a surprising amount of time spent in mundane activities where youre just running around and talking to various NPCs without any combat to break up the flow. While Im not against the idea of trying to tell a story in an otherwise action-heavy genre like the RPG, things do start getting monotonous until youre given your first real mission.The core gameplay in Dragonkin: The Banished is a standard affair; movement is handled by left-clicking where you want to go, and can have five different abilities that can be used for a range of things, from shooting lightning bolts to teleporting around, and even getting defensive buffs. There is also an option for an alternate control scheme, where every aspect of your character aside from aiming abilities is handled by the WASD cluster of keys. The minute-to-minute gameplay where youre just going on a rampage, slaughtering enemies by the dozens, is definitely quite fun."However, the Ancestral Grid does take a fair bit of time to actually start being fun."There is also a great amount of customization allowed through the games Ancestral Grid system, which is also one of the core methods of progression in the game. Skills arent innate to your character, and are instead obtained through finding specific hexes, which can then be equipped into the Ancestral Grid. Skill hexes are available in different shapes and sizes, taking up varying amounts of space on the grid, and you are encouraged to mix and match various skills to find your ideal way to kill enemies.Skill hexes come in two varieties: active skills, which are what you use to attack your enemies, and passive skills, which can buff up nearby active skills on the grid in interesting ways. For example, if Chain Lightning is an example of an active skill, a passive skill could improve its damage, reduce its costs, or even increase its area of effect. While its possible to find individual hexes for these skills, you will also eventually start finding combination hexes that can take up two, three, or even six spots on the grid. And while these combinations are always fun to find and try out, mixing and matching your own sets of actives and passives tends to be a lot more interesting and fun.However, the Ancestral Grid does take a fair bit of time to actually start being fun. You dont have access to the whole grid when you start out, and more parts of it open up as you level up. While this is fine in the long run, it definitely causes more frustration with the whole system in the earlier parts of the game since you dont really have the room to equip the hexes you get early on. Considering the nature of the game, this isnt too much of a problem; you can simply level up far enough to stop feeling those unnecessary early constraints."All things considered, Dragonkin: The Banisheds early access feels like a great first step."Another unique aspect of Dragonkin: The Banished is that, along with your characters abilities and gear, you also get to level up a city. Dubbed Montescail, the city has several spots where you can get new buildings built and upgraded. While an interesting concept, the city upgrading aspects unfortunately dont do much to affect gameplay. Just about every building you erect or upgrade tends to offer at best minor buffs to things like your stats or how much experience you can get from killing things. Since it is an Early Access title and more city features are slated for future updates in the roadmap, however, this feels like an issue that will get ironed out over time.Theres also a small baby dragon you get that can occasionally help your fight against draconic enemies, and as adorable as it may sound, when it comes to gameplay, your dragon companion doesnt contribute much in these battles. You can get skill hexes that improve your dragons attacks, but unfortunately, all of these skills are surprisingly dull, doing little more than giving the dragon a chance to deal damage every time you do.All things considered, Dragonkin: The Banisheds early access feels like a great first step. There are plenty of interesting ideas in the game, and its core combat is certainly fun enough to warrant at least one playthrough through its early access offerings. Its too early to judge how the story will pan out, but the prologue feels appropriately epic and sets the stage quite well for what you can expect later in the game.This game was reviewed on PC.

Dragonkin: The Banished recently came to PC as an Early Access game. The action RPG features some rather unique takes on the genre. Along with building up their characters, players will also get to upgrade a town to gain new passive bonuses. Along with this, there is also plenty of emphasis placed on build experimentation.We got to have a chat with production director Jean-Georges Levieux about various aspects of the game, as well as the studios thoughts on new technologies like the PS5 Pro.To what extent can we expect Dragonkin: The Banished to be complete at its Early Access launch?The Early Access launch is really just the beginning. The core mechanics are already there the city, the ancestral grid, the gameplay but we will be adding a lot of content during Early Access. Most importantly, we want to take advantage of player feedback to improve the game in the right direction.What are some of the ideas for additions to Dragonkin: The Banished along its Early Access journey?When you develop a game for years, it can sometimes be difficult to step back and see the bigger picture. You create tons of mechanics, graphics, sounds, story elements and theres a moment when everything starts to come together right at the end of the project. Playtests, betas, or Early Access help gain that perspective.We want to use Early Access to listen to our players and adjust development if needed. The demos release has already taught us a lot, and we are already working on integrating player feedback.That being said, we already have things in production and a roadmap that weve shared with our players. This includes new game modes, additional city features, a new playable character, new zones, multiplayer, and more."When you develop a game for years, it can sometimes be difficult to step back and see the bigger picture."How many hours worth of content will be available in Dragonkin: The Banished in Early Access? How will this compare to the full release?At launch, you will be able to play Act 1 (out of 5 total), which should take around 4 to 6hours to complete.After that, youll reach the End Game, particularly what we call the Hunting Board. Completing this board should take around 15 to 20 hours.Once the Hunt Board is completed, you can continue playing and create your own custom Hunts with all the unlocked settings. At that point, it will be up to you to decide how much time you want to invest in the game.Are there any plans to add multiplayer to the game?Yes, its one of our major updates planned during Early Access.How will build experimentation be encouraged?A lot!We have removed any costs for changing attribute points, passives, or even your hatchling (which can be seen as your characters specialization). Were also working on adding the Arsenal, which will allow you to save entire builds and test new ones without losing existing ones.Of course, to perfect your builds, youll need to find the right equipment, the right fragments for your grid, and craft wisely.How big of a role will the city-building mechanics play in Dragonkin: The Banished overall?The city is your hub, and once multiplayer is added, it can be your friends hub as well if you choose. You will be able to develop it together every activity (story, endgame hunts) will earn prosperity points that you can spend on your city.Youll be able to unlock services, merchants, artisans, bonuses for your characters, and various improvements for theorycrafting."Of course, to perfect your builds, youll need to find the right equipment, the right fragments for your grid, and craft wisely."Are there already plans for endgame high-difficulty content?We have designed a very broad difficulty system. From the start of Early Access, there will be 11 difficulty levels. Some thresholds will unlock access to certain types of rewards, allowing you to further enhance your character.Whether youre a beginner looking to enjoy the story on an easier setting or an expert in the genre, youll be able to experience the game however you like.When are you expecting to be done with the Early Access period?An Early Access period is determined based on player feedback. So, its still a bit too early to answer this question.As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?We are currently focusing on the PC version with the games release in Early Access. However, we have already run the game on consoles, particularly on the PS5, but not yet on the Pro.The PS5 is a very important platform, and we will make every effort to ensure the game runs properly on it. As for the PS5 Pro, which comes with great improvements, we will take advantage of them to boost FPS and resolution.What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?Almost all modern games use upscalers. On PC, depending on your GPU, we have several available.On consoles, with Unreal Engine 5, we primarily use TSR, which is the engines native solution.On PS5 Pro, we would definitely like to add support for PSSR. It should help us achieve better FPS while maintaining higher image quality."The PS5 is a very important platform, and we will make every effort to ensure the game runs properly on it."What resolution and frame rates will the game target on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5 Pro?As I mentioned, we are focusing on the PC version for Early Access. The game will only bereleased on consoles once its fully finished.That being said, we have been and continue to be mindful of performance to ensure the game runs well on consoles.At this stage of development, I wouldnt commit to specific numbers for consoles. Ideally, we will offer different rendering modes to prioritize either FPS or image quality.Do you have plans to launch the game on Nintendo Switch 2?Not for the moment.