Tens of thousands of companies worldwide rely on Apache Spark to crunch massive datasets to support critical operations, as well as predict trends, customer behavior, business performance and more. The faster a company can process and understand its data, the more it stands to make and save.Thats why companies with massive datasets including the worlds largest retailers and banks have adopted NVIDIA RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark. The open-source software runs on top of the NVIDIA accelerated computing platform to significantly accelerate the processing of end-to-end data science and analytics pipelines without any code changes.To make it even easier for companies to get value out of NVIDIA-accelerated Spark, NVIDIA today unveiled Project Aether a collection of tools and processes that automatically qualify, test, configure and optimize Spark workloads for GPU acceleration at scale.Project Aether Completes a Years Worth of Work in Less Than a WeekCustomers using Spark in production often manage tens of thousands of complex jobs, or more. Migrating from CPU-only to GPU-powered computing offers numerous and significant benefits, but can be a manual and time-consuming process.Project Aether automates the myriad steps that companies previously have done manually, including analyzing all of their Spark jobs to identify the best candidates for GPU acceleration, as well as staging and performing test runs of each job. It uses AI to fine-tune the configuration of each job to obtain the maximum performance.To understand the impact of Project Aether, consider an enterprise that has 100 Spark jobs to complete. With Project Aether, each of these jobs can be configured and optimized for NVIDIA GPU acceleration in as little as four days. The same process done manually by a single data engineer could take up to an entire year.CBA Drives AI Transformation With NVIDIA-Accelerated Apache SparkRunning Apache Spark on NVIDIA accelerated computing helps enterprises around the world complete jobs faster and with less hardware compared with using CPUs only saving time, space, power and cooling, as well as on-premises capital and operational costs in the cloud.Australias largest financial institution, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is responsible for processing 60% of the continents financial transactions. CBA was experiencing challenges from the latency and costs associated with running its Spark workloads. Using CPU-only computing clusters, the bank estimates it faced nearly nine years of processing time for its training backlog on top of handling already taxing daily data demands.With 40 million inferencing transactions a day, it was critical we were able to process these in a timely, reliable manner, said Andrew McMullan, chief data and analytics officer at CBA.Running RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark on GPU-powered infrastructure provided CBA with a 640x performance boost, allowing the bank to process a training of 6.3 billion transactions in just five days. Additionally, on its daily volume of 40 million transactions, CBA is now able to conduct inference in 46 minutes and reduce costs by more than 80% compared with using a CPU-based solution.McMullan says another value of NVIDIA-accelerated Apache Spark is how it offers his team the compute time efficiency needed to cost-effectively build models that can help CBA deliver better customer service, anticipate when customers may need assistance with home loans and more quickly detect fraudulent transactions.CBA also plans to use NVIDIA-accelerated Apache Spark to better pinpoint where customers commonly end their digital journeys, enabling the bank to remediate when needed to reduce the rate of abandoned applications.Global EcosystemRAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark is available through a global network of partners. It runs on Amazon Web Services, Cloudera, Databricks, Dataiku, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.Dell Technologies today also announced the integration of RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark with Dell Data Lakehouse.To get assistance through NVIDIA Project Aether with a large-scale migration of Apache Spark workloads, apply for access.To learn more, register for NVIDIA GTC and attend these key sessions featuring Walmart, Capital One, CBA and other industry leaders:How Walmart Uses RAPIDS to Improve Efficiency, and What We Have Learned Along the WayAccelerate Distributed Apache Spark Applications on Kubernetes With RAPIDSBuild Lightning-Fast Data Science Pipelines in Industry With Accelerated ComputingAdvancing Transaction Fraud Detection in Financial Services With NVIDIA RAPIDS on AWSAccelerating Data Intelligence With GPUs and RAPIDS on DatabricksScale Your Apache Spark Data Processing With State-of-the-Art NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for Cost Savings and PerformanceSee notice regarding software product information.

The autonomous vehicle (AV) revolution is here and NVIDIA is at its forefront, bringing more than two decades of automotive computing, software and safety expertise to power innovation from the cloud to the car.At NVIDIA GTC, a global AI conference taking place this week in San Jose, California, dozens of transportation leaders are showcasing their latest advancements with NVIDIA technologies that span passenger cars, trucks, commercial vehicles and more.Mobility leaders are increasingly turning to NVIDIAs three core accelerated compute platforms: NVIDIA DGX systems for training the AI-based stack in the data center, NVIDIA Omniverse and NVIDIA Cosmos running on NVIDIA OVX systems for simulation and synthetic data generation, and the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle computer to process real-time sensor data for safe, highly automated and autonomous driving capabilities.For manufacturers and developers in the multitrillion-dollar auto industry, this unlocks new possibilities for designing, manufacturing and deploying functionally safe, intelligent mobility solutions offering consumers safer, smarter and more enjoyable experiences.Transforming Passenger VehiclesThe U.S.s largest automaker, General Motors (GM), is collaborating with NVIDIA to develop and build its next-generation vehicles, factories and robots using NVIDIAs accelerated compute platforms. GM has been investing in NVIDIA GPU platforms for training AI models.The companies collaboration now expands to include optimizing factory planning using Omnivese with Cosmos and deploying next-generation vehicles at scale accelerated by the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX. This will help GM build physical AI systems tailored to its company vision, craft and know-how, and ultimately enable mobility thats safer, smarter and more accessible than ever.Volvo Cars, which is using the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle computer in its next-generation electric vehicles, and its subsidiary Zenseact use the NVIDIA DGX platform to analyze and contextualize sensor data, unlock new insights and train future safety models that will enhance overall vehicle performance and safety.Lenovo has teamed with robotics company Nuro to create a robust end-to-end system for level 4 autonomous vehicles that prioritize safety, reliability and convenience. The system is built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle compute.Advancements in TruckingNVIDIAs AI-driven technologies are also supercharging trucking, helping address pressing challenges like driver shortages, rising e-commerce demands and high operational costs. NVIDIA DRIVE AGX delivers the computational muscle needed for safe, reliable and efficient autonomous operations improving road safety and logistics on a massive scale.Gatik is integrating DRIVE AGX for the onboard AI processing necessary for its freight-only class 6 and 7 trucks, manufactured by Isuzu Motors, which offer driverless middle-mile delivery of a wide range of goods to Fortune 500 customers including Tyson Foods, Kroger and Loblaw.Uber Freight is also adopting DRIVE AGX as the AI computing backbone of its current and future carrier fleets, sustainably enhancing efficiency and saving costs for shippers.Torc is developing a scalable, physical AI compute system for autonomous trucks. The system uses NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle compute and the NVIDIA DriveOS operating system with Flexs Jupiter platform and manufacturing capabilities to support Torcs productization and scaled market entry in 2027.Growing Demand for DRIVE AGXNVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin platform is the AI brain behind todays intelligent fleets and the next wave of mobility is already arriving, as production vehicles built on the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor centralized car computer start to hit the roads.Magna is a key global automotive supplier helping to meet the surging demand for the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture-based DRIVE Thor platform designed for the most demanding processing workloads, including those involving generative AI, vision language models and large language models (LLMs). Magna will develop driving systems built with DRIVE AGX Thor for integration in automakers vehicle roadmaps, delivering active safety and comfort functions along with interior cabin AI experiences.Simulation and Data: The Backbone of AV DevelopmentEarlier this year, NVIDIA announced the Omniverse Blueprint for AV simulation, a reference workflow for creating rich 3D worlds for autonomous vehicle training, testing and validation. The blueprint is expanding to include NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models (WFMs) to amplify photoreal data variation.Unveiled at the CES trade show in January, Cosmos is already being adopted in automotive, including by Plus, which is embedding Cosmos physical AI models into its SuperDrive technology, accelerating the development of level 4 self-driving trucks.Foretellix is extending its integration of the blueprint, using the Cosmos Transfer WFM to add conditions like weather and lighting to its sensor simulation scenarios to achieve greater situation diversity. Mcity is integrating the blueprint into the digital twin of its AV testing facility to enable physics-based modeling of camera, lidar, radar and ultrasonic sensor data.CARLA, which offers an open-source AV simulator, has integrated the blueprint to deliver high-fidelity sensor simulation. Global systems integrator Capgemini will be the first to use CARLAs Omniverse integration for enhanced sensor simulation in its AV development platform.NVIDIA is using Nexars extensive, high-quality, edge-case data to train and fine-tune NVIDIA Cosmos simulation capabilities. Nexar is tapping into Cosmos, neural infrastructure models and the NVIDIA DGX Cloud platform to supercharge its AI development, refining AV training, high-definition mapping and predictive modeling.Enhancing In-Vehicle Experiences With NVIDIA AI EnterpriseMobility leaders are integrating the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, running on DRIVE AGX, to enhance in-vehicle experiences with generative and agentic AI.At GTC, Cerence AI is showcasing Cerence xUI, its new LLM-based AI assistant platform that will advance the next generation of agentic in-vehicle user experiences. The Cerence xUI hybrid platform runs in the cloud as well as onboard the vehicle, optimized first on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin.As the foundation for Cerence xUI, the CaLLM family of language models is based on open-source foundation models and fine-tuned on Cerence AIs automotive dataset. Tapping into NVIDIA AI Enterprise and bolstering inference performance including through the NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM library and NVIDIA NeMo, Cerence AI has optimized CaLLM to serve as the central agentic orchestrator facilitating enriched driver experiences at the edge and in the cloud.SoundHound will also be demonstrating its next-generation in-vehicle voice assistant, which uses generative AI at the edge with NVIDIA DRIVE AGX, enhancing the in-car experience by bringing cloud-based LLM intelligence directly to vehicles.The Complexity of Autonomy and NVIDIAs Safety-First SolutionSafety is the cornerstone in deploying highly automated and autonomous vehicles to the roads at scale. But building AVs is one of todays most complex computing challenges. It demands immense computational power, precision and an unwavering commitment to safety.AVs and highly automated cars promise to extend mobility to those who need it most, reducing accidents and saving lives. To help deliver on this promise, NVIDIA has developed NVIDIA Halos, a full-stack comprehensive safety system that unifies vehicle architecture, AI models, chips, software, tools and services for the safe development of AVs from the cloud to the car.NVIDIA will host its inaugural AV Safety Day at GTC today, featuring in-depth discussions on automotive safety frameworks and implementation.In addition, NVIDIA will host Automotive Developer Day on Thursday, March 20, offering sessions on the latest advancements in end-to-end AV development and beyond.New Tools for AV DevelopersNVIDIA also released new NVIDIA NIM microservices for automotive designed to accelerate development and deployment of end-to-end stacks from cloud to car. The new NIM microservices for in-vehicle applications, which utilize the nuScenes dataset by Motional, include:BEVFormer, a state-of-the-art transformer-based model that fuses multi-frame camera data into a unified birds-eye-view representation for 3D perception.SparseDrive, an end-to-end autonomous driving model that performs motion prediction and planning simultaneously, outputting a safe planning trajectory.For automotive enterprise applications, NVIDIA offers a variety of models, including NV-CLIP, a multimodal transformer model that generates embeddings from images and text; Cosmos Nemotron, a vision language model that queries and summarizes images and videos for multimodal understanding and AI-powered perception; and many more.Learn more about NVIDIAs latest automotive news by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and register for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

Amazon is in the process of overhauling Alexa, introducing a new Alexa+ AI service that will be available free of charge for Prime users (or $20 per month on its own). But as the company plans to roll out this new service, user privacy across Echo devices is taking a hit. In a March 15 email, Amazon announced its Echo devices will no longer support local processing for Alexa requests, and will stop offering Do Not Send Voice Recordings as an option. This means that every requestand its subsequent voice recordingwill end up going to Amazon's cloud. Even a request as simple as "turn off the lights" will be sent to Amazon. This change starts on March 28th, and it includes all spoken commands to Alexa in Echo speakers and smart displays.Why is this happening? According to Amazon's email (sourced by Ars Technica) it allcomes down to Alexa's new generative AI features. In the email, Amazon says:As we continue to expand Alexas capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazons secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature.The focus is Amazon's new Alexa Voice ID feature, which the company is highlighting as a flagship feature in Alexa+. It lets Alexa+ recognize who is speaking to it, and reply accordingly. But even if you choose not to enable Alexa+, or to use Voice ID, Amazon is still taking away local processing.Why is this concerning?This move has raised many concerns about user privacy on Amazon devices. The idea that a major tech company can listen in on all requests made through its devices, at any time, doesn't sit well, especially when users have no choice in the matter.There really isn't much that Amazon Echo customers can do here, aside from quitting Alexa. Of course, for many users, Alexa is an integral part of their smart home. The decision now is to continue on using the features users have relied on for years, forgoing privacy, or quit the ecosystem entirely.Amazon does say that they will automatically delete recordings of all Alexa requests after the processing is done. Plus, Amazon is assuring users that all their recordings are encrypted in transit to Amazon's secure cloud servers. But given Amazon's track record, it's hard to trust their word. Amazon has a history of mismanaging Alexa voice recordings. In 2023, Amazon paid $25 million in a case over revelations the company stored recordings of children's voices forever, and it gave employees access to this data, as well as footage from Ring cameras. In the same year, reports showed Amazon was using real conversations in Alexa to train its AI (the one that is now shipping with Alexa+). In the past, company also admitted to letting its employees listen in on audio conversations. 'Don't Save Recordings' is now much less useful Previously, users at least had the choice to stop sharing their requests to Amazon servers (Do Not Send Voice Recordings) as well as not to save them ("Don't Save Recordings"). Now, Amazon is effectively removing that second choice as well, if you want your device to work as advertised.As it happens, the "Don't Save Recordings" toggle is also linked to the Voice ID feature. This is the feature that can identify who is making the request, so Alexa can personalize its response accordingly. That way, your requests for calendar events, reminders, or music don't interfere with anyone else's requests in your home. It was already quite useful, and is becoming an even bigger deal with Alexa+. The thing is, if you ask Alexa not to save your recordings, it will also automatically disable Voice ID, and you'll lose out on all the user-identifying features. Amazon previously warned enabling this feature could affect Voice ID, but now it essentially guarantees it won't work.So, your "choice" isn't really a choice at all. You can either let Amazon process, save, and use your recordings however they want, or you lose out on the Voice ID feature, limiting the usefulness of the productwhile still sending your requests to Amazon's servers.

When it comes to digital assistants, especially on mobile, there are really two most people think of: Siri and Google Assistant. (Sorry, Bixby.) Just as Siri is Apple through and through, Google Assistant is synonymous with Android for me (even if you can download Google Assistant on iPhone).But it appears Google Assistant's time is coming to an end, and faster than you might think. Google announced in a blog post on Friday that the company is switching more users from Google Assistant to Gemini "over the coming months," before retiring its iconic assistant later this year on most devices. That includes not just the built-in assistant on most Android devices, but also downloads on app storesso iPhone users won't be able to download Google Assistant, either. Why the sudden retirement party for Android's version of Siri? Well, there's a new player in town, whether or not it's actually ready for primetime.Goodbye, Google AssistantIn case you missed it, Google is all-in on Gemini, the company's generative AI assistant. Gemini, formerly Bard, is both a generative AI model, like OpenAI's GPT models, and an assistant, like ChatGPT. As such, Google can offer Gemini as a tool for users to rely on for traditional assistant tasks, while routinely upgrading it with the company's latest AI models. Like other big tech companies, Google is rolling out these new AI models at a steady clip, which means Gemini is constantly receiving upgrades. Google Assistant, on the other hand, is not.If you don't care for generative AI, or haven't found Gemini all that reliable, you might be disappointed by this latest announcement. But it isn't necessarily a surprise. Google has signaled this was the plan for a while now. Since its launch, Google has started rolling out Gemini to more users, either as a built-in solution on Android, or as a standalone app, pushing users to try it out over Google Assistant. In fact, the company quickly began allowing Android users to replace Google Assistant with Gemini, even when Gemini lacked basic assistant features like setting alarms or integrating with your calendar. If you wanted the full assistant experience, Google Assistant was still the way to go. Of course, that wouldn't stay the case forever. Google kept adding to Gemini, while actively limiting its legacy assistant. The company started removing Google Assistant features over a year ago, and continues to do so to this day. But why replace Google Assistant with Gemini?In Google's view, Gemini is simply the better all-around solution. It now offers previously missing assistant features, like playing song requests and setting timers, but also includes the company's latest AI features, like Gemini Live, which gives Gemini access to your camera to answer questions about your surroundings, and Deep Research, which uses a "reasoning" model to "think" through each step of a problem before solving it. The service has expanded to support more than 40 languages in over 200 countries, so it is now widely availablejust as Google Assistant once was. In theory, it makes sense: New tech replaces the old, and Gemini happens to be the new tech in the game. The problem is, there are still tons of issues with generative AI, issues companies like Google have struggled to stamp out. While Google has added assistant features to Gemini, users continue to report the bot has trouble with basic tasks, such as opening specific apps, setting reminders, or changing smart lights a certain color. The only devices that won't make the switch are those that can't meet the Gemini device requirements, which include those with fewer than 2GB of RAM and running Android 9 or older. If you want to keep using Google Assistant into 2026, you're going to need a very old Android.

Sarah Wynn-Williams joined Facebook in 2011 when it was very much in its move fast and break things era. A former United Nations diplomat, she had aspirations of helping Facebook boost its standing on the global stage.Over nearly seven years at the company, she had a front-row seat to some of Facebooks most consequential (and controversial) moments. Last week, she published Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, a memoir about her time at the company and how she slowly became disillusioned about Facebooks role in the world.Since it was announced, Meta has thrown the full weight of its PR machine against the book. The company initiated arbitration proceedings, which resulted in a ruling that now prevents Wynn-Williams from promoting her own book. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the arbitrators decision affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams false and defamatory book should never have been published. He said that urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industrys standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years.Her publisher, Flatiron Books, said in a statement it was appalled by Metas actions, noting that the arbitrator's order makes no reference to the claims in the book, which went through a thorough editing and vetting process.After reading the book, its easy to see why Meta PR has made such a fuss. Wynn-Williams worked closely with the companys top executives, traveling around the world with Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg as they met with foreign leaders and shaped the policies that would define Facebook. She also delivers many firsthand accounts of what Zuckerberg, Sandberg and current Chief of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan did and said behind closed doors. Much of it isnt pretty.Here are some of her most shocking claims:Zuckerberg requested to be gently mobbed during a visit to AsiaWynn-Williams was often tasked with organizing the meetings various Facebook executives took with heads of state and other government officials. One of the more bizarre details is Zuckerbergs request ahead of a three-week long trip to Asia. According to Wynn-Williams, Zuckerberg requested that she arrange either a peace rally or a riot during his visit. Facebooks CEO never explains the request, but Wynn-Williams speculates he wanted "to test out how effective his product is in turning Facebooks online tools into offline power.At first, I think he's joking. Peace rallies are not my area of expertise, and-to be frank-I've never been asked to organize a riot before. Especially one for a tech CEO. I assume something has been lost in his communication-that it's some sort of mix-up. "Riot" and "peace rally" are such completely different things. Then Debbie emails to say that she ran into Mark and he told her that he wants a peace rally or a riot and we need to come up with some ideas that will enable him to be surrounded by people or be "gently mobbed."Zuckerberg refused to take meetings before noon, even with heads of stateZuckerberg apparently had a strict policy about not taking any meetings before noon. This policy applied not only to internal meetings with others at Facebook, but heads of state. Wynn-Williams recounts how Zuckerbergs refusal to take morning meetings almost derailed a planned meeting with the president of Colombia. That same year, she said she was forced to reschedule Zuckerbergs address at the UN to a later time slot because, according to Wynn-Williams, the United Nations isnt important enough for Mark to do an event before noon.Meta built Zuckerberg a special room to protect him from ZikaFacebook took extreme measures to protect Zuckerberg from Zika during a visit to Peru for the APEC conference. To protect the CEO, who was apparently hoping to soon conceive his second child, the company opted "to build a controlled structure on the site of the APEC conference center where ventilation, exposure to others, and bug mitigation can be overseen by Facebook. Wynn-Williams dubbed it operation perfect sperm.Zuckerbergs desperate attempts to talk to Xi JinpingWynn-Williams spends a lot of time delving into Facebooks plans to bring the social network to China. She also details Zuckerbergs attempts to get face time with Chinese President Xi Jinping.In 2015, Zuckerberg flew to Seattle for a longer than normal handshake with Xi (who was in the city for a tech summit Zuckerberg was not invited to). He later caused a diplomatic crisis when he posted a photo of that handshake, which only shows the back of Xis head.The following year, Zuckerberg and his team hoped to surreptitiously get the CEO in front of Xi at APEC in Peru. Facebook arranged for Zuckerberg to give a speech directly before an appearance by Xi, which meant the two men would be in adjacent dressing rooms. The goal, according to Wynn-Williams, was to engineer a spontaneous encounter during which Zuckerberg could make his pitch to get Facebook into China.But when Xi arrived, he was flanked by dozens and dozens of men in military uniforms who created a barrier such that, according to Wynn-Williams, Xi didn't even have to risk making eye contact with Mark. She says that Zuckerberg was hurt by the demonstration.Sheryl Sandberg wanted Facebook to promote organ donationNot long after starting at Facebook, Wynn-Williams says she was told that Facebooks first proactive initiative to build relationships with governments around the world will be organ donation. The idea was apparently Sandbergs, who ran into a former Harvard friend and transplant surgeon and offered to help him source donors.But when Wynn-Williams brought up the logistical and legal issues that generally make it difficult to transport organs between countries, she says Sandberg was indignant.Do you mean to tell me that if my four-year-old was dying and the only thing that would save her was a new kidney, that I couldnt fly to Mexico and get one and put it in my handbag?Facebook would later add organ donation to the life events users could add to their profiles.Sheryl Sandberg and the plane crash that wasn'tIn 2013, an Asiana flight from Seoul to San Francisco crash-landed on a runway, killing two people and injuring more than 100 passengers. Sandberg, who was promoting her book Lean In at the time, was also traveling from Seoul to San Francisco that day. Following the crash, she posted on Facebook that she and several Facebook colleagues were originally meant to be on that flight but had switched to United so we could use miles for my family's tickets.Sandbergs supposed near-miss generated multiple headlines, which isnt surprising, as Wynn-Williams claims Sandberg was personally briefing reporters about the incident. Wynn-Williams was baffled by these reports. She writes that the Facebook COO always flies United and never considered Asiana. In her recollection, she and another colleague remarked to each other how weird it was for Sandberg to do this.Why Zuckerberg and Sandbergs Facebook posts get so much engagementWynn-Williams heavily implies that there may be some behind-the-scenes manipulation of Zuckerberg and Sandbergs Facebook posts. She doesnt offer any proof that this has happened, but says that a meeting attended by someone from Marks personal communications team raises the possibility.According to Wynn-Williams, Sheryls assistant describes his job as managing engagement for Mark and Sheryl's social media using all of Facebook's tools. When Wynn-Williams asks directly if they are gaming the sites algorithm, she says the assistant replies that you dont want to know.Joel Kaplan needed a geography lessonSome of the most telling anecdotes in Careless People involve Kaplan, who joined Facebooks policy team in 2011 and was promoted to Chief Global Affairs Officer earlier this year. She writes that Kaplan, who was a deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush White House, was surprised to learn Taiwan is an island and that often when we start to talk about pressing issues in some country in Latin America or Asia, he stops and asks me to explain where the country is.Kaplan slow-rolled Facebooks response to problems in MyanmarBy now, Metas failures in Myanmar, where hate speech and misinformation on Facebook helped incite a genocide, are well documented. Wynn-Williams, who early in her tenure flew to Myanmar to try to sell officials there on the companys connectivity projects, describes her futile attempts to get more resources for content moderation in the country.She blames Kaplan in particular. She says she started this long process of trying to hire someone for Myanmar in 2015 and found a human rights expert who fit the bill in May 2016, but Kaplan blocked her from making the hire in February of 2017. He allegedly told her to move on and get over it. She later concludes that when it came to Myanmar, those people just didnt matter to him.(Meta had broadly labeled Wynn-Williams claims about Facebooks actions in Myanmar as old news, saying in a statement that the facts here have been public record since 2018, and we have said publicly we know we were too slow to act on abuse on our services in Myanmar.)Kaplans alleged harassmentWynn-Williams also accuses Kaplan of harassment and other inappropriate behavior. After complications while giving birth left her in a literal coma, she writes that Kaplan asked her over one of their regular calls during her maternity leave where are you bleeding from and got angry when she didn't answer. Later, when she returned to work, he gave her an unofficial performance review on her first day back, saying that she wasnt responsive enough.Wynn-Williams eventually reports Kaplans behavior and an investigation is opened, but that very quickly it seems to switch from an investigation of Joel, or the facts, to an investigation of me. Shes fired at her next performance review.Meta has disputed Wynn-Williams' allegations. This book is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior, and an investigation at the time determined she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment."Update, March 18, 2025, 1:57 PM PT: Wynn-Williams describes her tenure at Facebook as lasting seven years, beginning in 2011. But, according to a Meta spokesperson, she was fired in "late 2017." This story has been updated to reflect that she worked at Facebook for "nearly" seven years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-wildest-details-in-the-facebook-memoir-meta-is-trying-to-bury-183310491.html?src=rss

The brackets are set and the teams are en route to their respective arenas. The 2025 NCAA Tournaments, affectionately known to many as March Madness, begin this week. The mens tournament begins first on March 18 with the womens version tipping off on March 19. Both will begin with First Four or play-in games (depending on who you ask) before providing action on the court through the first weekend in April. Different broadcasters own the rights to each tournament, so streaming them both can be confusing. Ive broken down the best, most affordable way to access each one so that you'll be ready when the games begin. When does March Madness start? The mens NCAA Basketball Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 18 with two of the so-called First Four matchups. These are the four games that are used to determine the final four teams in the main 64-team bracket. To some, theyre known as the play-in games although theyve officially been part of the men's tournament since 2011. The first game on March 18 begins at 6:40PM ET with another to follow at 9:10PM ET. The same schedule is expected for the second slate of games on Wednesday, March 19. On the womens side, March Madness is offset from the mens tournament by a day. The first two of the First Four games are Wednesday, March 19 at 7PM ET and 9PM ET. The second pair of matchups follows on Thursday, March 20 in the same two time slots. The 64-team bracket kicks off in earnest for the men at 12:15PM ET on Thursday, March 20. For the women, the main action begins at 11:30AM ET on Friday, March 21st. Heres the full schedule for each tournament: 2025 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament First Four: March 18-19 First round: March 20-21 Second round: March 22-23 Sweet 16: March 27-28 Elite Eight: March 29-30 Final Four: April 5 Championship game: April 7 2025 Womens NCAA Basketball Tournament First Four: March 19-20 First round: March 21-22 Second round: March 23-24 Sweet 16: March 28-29 Elite Eight: March 30-31 Final Four: April 4 Championship game: April 6 How to stream the 2025 Mens NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery share the broadcast rights to the mens tournament, and as they have in years past, TV coverage will be spread across four networks. During the course of March Madness, games will air on CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV, with the final rounds and championship game landing on CBS. If you already have a paid TV plan (such as traditional cable), the best way to watch the mens tournament is with the March Madness Live app or website. Once you log in with your TV provider credentials, you can watch every game in one spot with features like multiview (up to four games at once) and excitement alerts that let you know when theres a close game. The app also offers ways to follow your bracket, if you filled it out on MarchMadness.com. And when youre watching on desktop, the crucial Boss Button will throw up a fake work screen when you need it. March Madness Live is also available on Amazon, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, macOS, Google Play, LG smart TVs, Roku and Xbox devices. If you dont have a compatible TV provider already, your best option is to actually use two services. Its not ideal, I know, but it will save you a lot of money. Maxs Standard plan is $17/month and gives you access to live games from TNT, TBS and truTV. While you can watch NCAA Tournament games with the Basic with Ads tier, B/R Sports, which powers all of the live coverage on Max, will only be available on Standard and Premium levels starting March 30. Yes, Warner Bros. Discovery set its policy to change in the middle of the tournament to make more money. For the CBS games, youll need a Paramount+ with Showtime subscription that costs $13/month. So, in total, your best option to stream all of the mens tournament is $30 spread across two apps. A live TV service like YouTube TV or Hulu plus Live TV is over $50 more per month at full price, but they would offer you one-stop shopping for all the games in the mens tournament. YouTube TV is currently on sale for $70/month for the first six months you use it. How to stream the 2025 Womens NCAA Tournament ASSOCIATED PRESS While Warner Brothers Discovery owns the rights to the mens NCAA Tournament, ESPN has the womens bracket locked down. Every game of the womens tournament will be spread across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS, including the First Four matchups. The Final Four will be on ESPN, but the championship game will air on ABC. All three of those culminating games will stream on ESPN+. Since ESPN+ wont get every game, its not an option if you want to watch the entire tournament. You will be able to watch select matchups on both ESPN+ and Disney+, but ESPN hasnt announced what those will be. So, unfortunately, your best bet is a live-TV streaming service like Sling, YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV for a comprehensive experience. Sling is the cheapest avenue here, with the requisite Orange and Sports Extra plans costing $34 (Sling is currently offering a discount on the first month of Orange). YouTube and Hulu live TV options are both the same price at $83/month (YouTube TV currently discounted to $70 for the first six months), so its a matter of which set of content and features you like best. YouTube TV offers a handy multiview tool so you can watch up to four games at once, but Hulu + Live TV comes with Disney+ and ESPN+ (both with ads) for that cost. (Opting for Hulu + Live TV only saves you one whole dollar per month if you dont include the Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu bundling.) If youre a more casual fan who can afford to roll the dice on the select options on ESPN+, you can save some money. That service only costs $12/month. And if you already have a TV plan that includes the ESPN family of networks, the ESPN app is the best place to watch the tournament. The mix of scores and info, along with multiview streaming for up to four games at a time on Apple TV and Xbox, make the app a well-equipped conduit for the womens tournament. The March Madness website only shows scores and news for the womens tournament. There are no live games available on the website. What if I want to stream both the mens and womens tournaments? ASSOCIATED PRESS If youre hoping to stream all of both the mens and womens NCAA tournaments, I hope you ordered Samsungs eight-TV bundle. In terms of streaming services, just jump straight to a live-TV option like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV. I prefer the former because of its multiview feature a tool that Hulu doesnt offer. At times when there are multiple games that you want to watch, especially during the first two rounds, youll want multiview in order to keep tabs on all of the action. Are any of the March Madness games available to stream for free? You can watch all of the games broadcast on CBS on the March Madness website and mobile apps without a TV provider. Sure, its a small sample of the tournament, but its completely free and a good option for casual fans who dont have a paid TV plan they can exploit for more of the action. Its also a good option for watching the first round at work, if your company hasnt blocked streaming sites, or if you can discreetly watch on your phone. For the womens tournament, there arent any games available for free. Unless you have an old-school OTA antenna, in which case you can watch mens games on CBS and womens games on ABC without any kind of streaming plan. Of course, this is a streaming guide so Id consider an antenna an extraordinary move in 2025. If you were hoping to use a free trial period to watch March Madness, Ive got bad news. None of them will be long enough to watch an entire tournament. Some of them dont offer them at all, but the longest is YouTube TV at 10 days which wouldnt get you through the second weekend.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-stream-every-march-madness-2025-game-181552865.html?src=rss

Relive your favorite Simpsons moments thanks to Disney+'s new continuous stream.

As more titles are set to leave Hulu in April 2025, I bet you'll be very surprised to see how short its list is.

Crafting the CG cinematography for Secret Level Crossfire: Good Conflict was both a rewarding and challenging process. The team went beyond traditional animation workflows, using an unconventional visual storytelling approach to create a stunning final composition that truly served the story.Part of the Secret Level anthology, this episode is one of 15 original short stories set in the worlds of classic video games. The series premiered on Prime Video on December 10, 2024, earning recognition as one of the best debut animated series on the platform.Through innovative cinematography techniques and a dedication to immersive storytelling, the team delivered a visually compelling experience, blending cutting-edge CG animation with a fresh perspective on classic gaming worlds. PlatigeThe post Secret Level: Crossfire Good ConflictCG Cinematography Before & After appeared first on Vfxexpress.

President Donald Trump plans to release about 80,000 pages of material related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, seeking to honor his campaign promise to provide more transparency about the shock event in Texas.Its a lot of stuff, and youll make your own determination, Trump told reporters about the pages on Monday. Trump signed an order shortly after taking office in January related to the release, prompting the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to find thousands of new documents related to the Kennedy assassination in Dallas.In the scramble to comply with Trumps order, the U.S. Justice Department ordered some of its lawyers who handle sensitive national-security matters to urgently review records from the assassination, according to a Monday evening email seen by Reuters.A White House official said the documents would be released on Tuesday in the afternoon through the National Archives.Kennedys murder has been attributed to a sole gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. The Justice Department and other federal government bodies reaffirmed that conclusion in the intervening decades. But polls show many Americans believe his death was a result of a conspiracy.Experts doubt the new trove of information will change the underlying facts of the case, that Lee Harvey Oswald opened fire at Kennedy from a window at a school book deposit warehouse as the presidential motorcade passed by Dealey Plaza in Dallas.People expecting big things are almost certain to be disappointed, said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who authored a book about the assassination.He said some of the pages could simply be the release of previously published material that had a few words redacted.Trump has also promised to release documents on the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, both of whom were killed in 1968.Trump has allowed more time to come up with a plan for those releases.Trumps secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of Robert Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy, has said he believes the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in his uncles death, an allegation the agency has described as baseless.Kennedy Jr. has also said he believes his father was killed by multiple gunmen, an assertion that contradicted official accounts.One revelation the documents could contain is that the CIA was more aware of Oswald than it has previously disclosed. Questions have remained about what the CIA knew about Oswalds visits to Mexico City six weeks before the assassination. During that trip, Oswald visited the Soviet embassy.People have been waiting for decades for this, Trump said. Its going to be very interesting.Steve Holland and Julia Harte, Reuters