Let's pretend this fun bedtime friend is not called what it's called.

The Bastion 36 VFX breakdown by CGEV highlights their expertise in creating immersive visual effects. This project showcases detailed environments, dynamic simulations, and seamless CGI integration to enhance the storytelling.From action-packed sequences to intricate digital environments, CGEVs work on Bastion 36 reflects their commitment to technical precision and cinematic realism. The breakdown reveals the behind-the-scenes process, including digital set extensions, CG enhancements, and compositing techniques that bring the world of Bastion 36 to life.The post BASTION 36VFX BREAKDOWN by CGEV appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Apple announced the redesigned Mac mini with M4 chip last October. Its by no means a new product at this point, and its coming up on 6 months old. However, I think it may be one of Apples greatest gifts to up and coming creators, developers, and all sorts of creative professionals.Its no secret that Apple Silicon has enabled Apple to ship far more performant chipsets in lower end machines. Before the transition to Apple Silicon, a MacBook Air being able to edit 4K video sufficiently was nothing but a dream. Wanted to compile an Xcode project on your lap with an Intel MacBook Air? Good luck.Apple Silicon, in a way, made Macs much more affordable. You no longer needed a 16 MacBook Pro, for example, to get a high-end chipset in a laptop. On top of that, certain Macs straight up became less expensive. The 2018 Mac mini used to start at $799, and it lowered to just $699 with the M1 model. With the M2 model, it became $599.I know a lot of people who used to buy high end 15 and 16 MacBook Pros in the Intel days, who were now able to get away with a MacBook Air with a couple RAM and SSD upgrades. Its a great thing.The new Mac mini takes high end performance at an affordable price-point to a new extreme. It equips 16GB of RAM by standard, which was previously a $200 upgrade. The M4 chip is also incredibly performant and all of this is available in a package that you can purchase for just $499 if youre a student, $599 otherwise.In short, this computer is an incredible gift to any aspiring developers or creative professionals. Ive been using the base model Mac mini as my main desktop since December, and the fact that it delivers all that it does at its price point is nothing short of a miracle. Back when I bought my first Mac in 2019, if you wanted something for $499, you wouldnt get more than a dual core processor, and you certainly wouldnt be getting it brand new. The barrier-to-entry to get into the Mac ecosystem is as low as its ever been. Thats something worth appreciating.One more thing: M4 Mac mini is currently on sale for $499 on Amazon, allowing anyone to pick one up at what would normally be student-only pricing. My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon:Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Follow the left wall Cloudflare turns AI against itself with endless maze of irrelevant facts New approach punishes AI companies that ignore "no crawl" directives. Benj Edwards Mar 21, 2025 5:14 pm | 92 Credit: iambuff via Getty Images Credit: iambuff via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Wednesday, web infrastructure provider Cloudflare announced a new feature called "AI Labyrinth" that aims to combat unauthorized AI data scraping by serving fake AI-generated content to bots. The tool will attempt to thwart AI companies that crawl websites without permission to collect training data for large language models that power AI assistants like ChatGPT.Cloudflare, founded in 2009, is probably best known as a company that provides infrastructure and security services for websites, particularly protection against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other malicious traffic.Instead of simply blocking bots, Cloudflare's new system lures them into a "maze" of realistic-looking but irrelevant pages, wasting the crawler's computing resources. The approach is a notable shift from the standard block-and-defend strategy used by most website protection services. Cloudflare says blocking bots sometimes backfires because it alerts the crawler's operators that they've been detected."When we detect unauthorized crawling, rather than blocking the request, we will link to a series of AI-generated pages that are convincing enough to entice a crawler to traverse them," writes Cloudflare. "But while real looking, this content is not actually the content of the site we are protecting, so the crawler wastes time and resources."The company says the content served to bots is deliberately irrelevant to the website being crawled, but it is carefully sourced or generated using real scientific factssuch as neutral information about biology, physics, or mathematicsto avoid spreading misinformation (whether this approach effectively prevents misinformation, however, remains unproven). Cloudflare creates this content using its Workers AI service, a commercial platform that runs AI tasks.Cloudflare designed the trap pages and links to remain invisible and inaccessible to regular visitors, so people browsing the web don't run into them by accident.A smarter honeypotAI Labyrinth functions as what Cloudflare calls a "next-generation honeypot." Traditional honeypots are invisible links that human visitors can't see but bots parsing HTML code might follow. But Cloudflare says modern bots have become adept at spotting these simple traps, necessitating more sophisticated deception. The false links contain appropriate meta directives to prevent search engine indexing while remaining attractive to data-scraping bots."No real human would go four links deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense," Cloudflare explains. "Any visitor that does is very likely to be a bot, so this gives us a brand-new tool to identify and fingerprint bad bots."This identification feeds into a machine learning feedback loopdata gathered from AI Labyrinth is used to continuously enhance bot detection across Cloudflare's network, improving customer protection over time. Customers on any Cloudflare planeven the free tiercan enable the feature with a single toggle in their dashboard settings.A growing problemCloudflare's AI Labyrinth joins a growing field of tools designed to counter aggressive AI web crawling. In January, we reported on "Nepenthes," software that similarly lures AI crawlers into mazes of fake content. Both approaches share the core concept of wasting crawler resources rather than simply blocking them. However, while Nepenthes' anonymous creator described it as "aggressive malware" meant to trap bots for months, Cloudflare positions its tool as a legitimate security feature that can be enabled easily on its commercial service.The scale of AI crawling on the web appears substantial, according to Cloudflare's data that lines up with anecdotal reports we've heard from sources. The company says that AI crawlers generate more than 50 billion requests to their network daily, amounting to nearly 1 percent of all web traffic they process. Many of these crawlers collect website data to train large language models without permission from site owners, a practice that has sparked numerous lawsuits from content creators and publishers.The technique represents an interesting defensive application of AI, protecting website owners and creators rather than threatening their intellectual property. However, it's unclear how quickly AI crawlers might adapt to detect and avoid such traps, potentially forcing Cloudflare to increase the complexity of its deception tactics. Also, wasting AI company resources might not please people who are critical of the perceived energy and environmental costs of running AI models.Cloudflare describes this as just "the first iteration" of using AI defensively against bots. Future plans include making the fake content harder to detect and integrating the fake pages more seamlessly into website structures. The cat-and-mouse game between websites and data scrapers continues, with AI now being used on both sides of the battle.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 92 Comments

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube799kAhead of the Switch 2's arrival, developer Mojang has announced Minecraft will be getting a visual graphics upgrade. This was revealed during the latest 'Minecraft Live' broadcast for March 2025 and the update is officially titled 'Vibrant Visuals'.The footage on display, captured on a high-end PC, is a visual upgrade that enhances everything you see in the game but doesn't impact the gameplay or the mechanics.Improvements including volumetric lighting mean youll be able to watch the suns rays carve across the Overworld, and every block will cast its own shadow. Light will shine through your windows, and youll be able to see reflections in water and on the surface of metallic blocks, while subsurface scattering brings a gentle glow to leaves and grass.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube799kWatch on YouTube Mobs and items will also have more of a glow spiders eyes will be even more menacing in the dark, and torches will cast a radiant path back to your build. You can see this in action in the deep dark, too. The sculk is now more emissive, more immersive, and it creates a really magical scene.This visual graphics update will initially release for Bedrock Edition with player tests also planned to take place "soon".The team is currently investigating how Vibrant Visuals runs across "a range of devices" and hopes to bring this graphics revamp "either fully or partially" to "as many devices as possible". Here are some comparison screenshots:Images: MojangImage: MojangWhat are your first impressions of this graphics upgrade? Let us know in the comments.

Jonah Perettis career to date has been defined by constant reinvention. As the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, Peretti has been at the forefront of digital media for almost two decades, navigating changes as the once small startup transformed into, at one point, a multimedia powerhouse. But as the company grows older, one question lingers: Has Perettis relentless drive for innovation made him too entrepreneurial to lead BuzzFeed to long-term stability?The nice thing about this field, Peretti muses, is you do something [different] all the time. Its not been 20 years of one job. Its been 20 years of running a startup, then managing a hyperscaling business, then figuring out how to get the company public . . .and now the explosion in generative AI. Theres always something to keep the job fresh and new.Perettis ability to adapt and stay ahead of the curve has been a hallmark of BuzzFeeds success. Years ago, BuzzFeed enjoyed almost singular success in its uncanny ability to create shareable media. (One video segment, centered on why Disney princes would make terrible boyfriends, has racked up 77 million views over the years.)Today, BuzzFeeds focus is on AI, including AI quizzes and other AI-generated content. Its also pouring some of its resources into a product in development called BF Island, a social network that aims to merge AI with content creation to spread joy and enable playful creative expression. So he told Axios last month, anyway.Peretti routinely discusses the companys upcoming ventures with the media, even when theyre still in their infancy. Asked why, he tells TechCrunch: The idea of talking about things youre working on is that you make the product better . . .When you talk about them, its not just with your team but with outside people who might want to collaborate. When theres a new computing platform, theres an explosion of creativity. Those are the moments when you can build something new.This entrepreneurial drive has fueled much of BuzzFeeds most iconic projects. The company pioneered viral quizzes and listicles, then pivoted to more serious journalism with BuzzFeed News. But not all of these shifts have paid off. Notably, despite its early success, BuzzFeed News was shuttered in 2023, leaving behind questions about whether the company should have stuck to one clear vision rather than jumping between them.BuzzFeeds shareholders might be pondering the same after the roller-coaster ride theyve been on. BuzzFeed went public through a special purpose vehicle in 2021, and as part of the transaction, it acquired a media company, Complex Networks, for $300 million in cash and stock. Today, BuzzFeed still trades publicly, but it doesnt own that business; it sold it for roughly $108 million last year. More recently, BuzzFeed sold another asset from that Complex Networks deal First We Feast in a separate $82.5 million all-cash deal. (Explains Peretti of both sales, Theyre not so much tech businesses. Theyre more production and talent heavy.)BuzzFeeds stock, priced at $10 initially, now trades $2.20 per share.This is where the tension lies. Perettis embrace of constant reinvention is striking, but it also means that the companys strategy has often felt like a series of experiments rather than a cohesive long-term plan. The experiments also come at a cost. Peretti says BF Island is a $10 million gamble for now that is not expected to bring in any revenue this year. He adds that BuzzFeeds core business is profitable.Its a fair question whether BuzzFeed would be better served by a singular, consistent vision for the future like The New York Times has managed to achieve rather than betting on one new idea after another. Unfortunately, its hard to know the answer. The media industry has long favored stability, but Peretti isnt wrong to believe the current wave of generative AI is revolutionizing how people create and share content. Also, as excited as he sounds about the possibilities, Peretti sounds clear-eyed about the risks.The big thing is that BuzzFeed has given us a lot of experience with new formats, he says. Weve gotten a lot of inbound from people who have ideas and want to collaborate with us. Besides, adds Peretti, who by now is accustomed to balancing growth with financial pressures: I think the deeper next-level understanding is that just doing the same thing over and over again and trying to to grind it out is actually a more risky strategy than innovating, experimenting, trying new things, keeping an open mind, and trying to figure out new approaches or new ways to win in a really tough market.You can hear much more from our interview with Peretti in an upcoming episode of StrictlyVC Download; new episodes drop every Tuesday.

Molly McCann retires (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesMolly McCann knew it was time.On a night short on finishes and completely devoid of KOs, McCann, a Liverpool womens MMA pioneer, fell victim to one of the four submission defeats at the O2 Arena in London.As it turns out, it will be her last fight in the UFC and in the sport of MMA.Following a first-round submission loss to late-replacement opponent Alexia Thainara, McCann removed her gloves and issued an emotional retirement speech in the Octagon.Molly McCann announces she is to retire from UFC following the defeat against Alexia Thainara (not ... More pictured) via submission in the women's strawweight bout during UFC Fight Night at The O2, London. Picture date: Saturday March 22, 2025. (Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)PA Images via Getty ImagesMcCann was critical of her own performance in light of the fact that Thainara was facing her on a weeks notice. Its not good enough," McCann said. "Im not coming in here just for the payday. The UFC deserves more. I deserve more, and you all deserve more.McCann laid her gloves in the center of the Octagon, and while she didnt say it in her post-fight interview with Michael Bisping, you get the feeling shed made up her mind that she was going to walk away if she lost to Thainara.Take a look at the post-fight interview:McCann is a former Cage Warriors womens flyweight champion. She stormed on the UFC scene with a huge personality and fan-friendly fighting style in 2018. McCann earned a shot in the UFC that year, but she lost her promotional debut to submission wiz Gillian Robertson in September 2018.Submission defense would turn out to be her Achilles heel throughout her career. McCann finishes her career 14-8, with four of those losses coming by submission.After losing to Robertson, McCann went on a run. She won three fights in a row in 2019. She lost back-to-back unanimous decisions to Taila Santos in her next two fights.However, McCann rebounded with her most memorable streak as she won three straight. The win streak was highlighted by back-to-back KO wins via spinning back elbow.McCann won a performance bonus in all three of those fights. Since the streak ended, McCann has gone just 2-4, with three of the losses coming by way of first-round submission finish.At 34, McCann believes she has accomplished all that she can in the sport and is walking away as one of the regions most beloved fighters.Here is a look at all of the results from UFC London.UFC London ResultsWelterweight Bout: Sean Brady def. Leon Edwards via fourth-round submission (guillotine)Light Heavyweight Bout: Carlos Ulberg def. Jan Bachowicz via unanimous decision (29-28x3)Welterweight Bout: Kevin Holland def. Gunnar Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28x3)Womens Strawweight Bout: Alexia Thainara def. Molly McCann via submission (rear-naked choke)Lightweight Bout: Chris Duncan def. Jordan Vucenic via second-round submission (guillotine)Featherweight Bout: Nathaniel Wood def. Morgan Charrire via unanimous decision (30-27x3)UFC Fight Night London Preliminary Card ResultsLightweight Bout: Chris Padilla def. Jai Herbert via split decision (29-28x2, 28-29)Flyweight Bout: Loneer Kavanagh def. Felipe dos Santos via unanimous decision (29-28x3)Heavyweight Bout: Marcin Tybura def. Mick Parkin via unanimous decision (29-28x3)Middleweight Bout: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Andre Pulyaev via unanimous decision (30-27x2, 30-26)Womens Strawweight Bout: Shauna Bannon def. Puja Tomar via second-round submissionBantamweight Bout: Caolan Loughran def. Nathan Fletcher via split decision (29-28x2, 28-29)Lightweight Bout: Kaue Fernandes def. Guram Kutateladze via unanimous decision (30-27x3)

2025-03-23T02:46:58Z Read in app Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick drew backlash after saying that someone who would complain about a missed Social Security check is a "fraudster." Nathan Howard/REUTERS This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Howard Lutnick is facing backlash for dismissing concerns over missed Social Security checks.A former Social Security commissioner called his comments "cavalier disregard" and "utter ignorance."Lutnick's comments are a focal point at rallies that protest the shuttering of SSA field offices.Howard Lutnick, the billionaire Secretary of Commerce, is being pummeled online over his comments on Thursday that his 94-year-old mother-in-law would not complain about amissed Social Security check and that someone who would is a "fraudster.""Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month my mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain," Lutnick told All-In Podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya. "A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining."Based on a fact sheet published by the Social Security Administration, more than 7 million Americans 65 and older receive at least 90% of their income from benefits checks.Social Security employees have been warning that the Trump administration's plan to cut 7,000 SSA staff will result in delayed benefit checks and could extend the wait time by two to three times.According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Lutnick's net worth was at least $2.2 billion as of February 2025.Below are reactions to Lutnick's comments from prominent business leaders, commentators, and political leaders. Howard Lutnick and the Department of Commerce did not respond to requests for comments.Mark CubanIn a post on Bluesky, Cuban reposted a screenshot of a news article about Lutnick's comments on missed Social SecurityThe reality show billionaire, who identifies as an independent in politics,congratulated Trumpfor winning the election in November and, in a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, called his association with the President a "love-hate relationship."Martin O'Malley, former Maryland Governor and SSA Commissioner"Social Security is a lifeline to millions of Americans," O'Malley said Friday night on The Rachel Maddow Show. "40% of seniors living alone depend entirely on Social Security to keep themselves out of poverty.""The cavalier disregard, utter ignorance of how so many Americans live on a day-to-day basis, is stunning, is appalling, and is a cruel-heartedness at the center of our government that we've never seen before," he added.Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of TeachersAt the Hands Off Social Security rally in White Plains, New York, where the Trump administration is set to shutter a Social Security office, Weingarten, president of the second largest teacher's labor union, began her speech by vowing that "the people will win" over Elon Musk and Lutnick."We didn't vote for Elon Musk to call Social Security a Ponzi scheme," she said. "We didn't vote for Howard Lutnick to say, 'Oh don't worry, no elderly people, including my mother, would care if they don't get their checks from Social Security.'"Jim Clyburn, CongressmanIn a post on X, Clyburn, representative of South Carolina's 6th congressional district, wrote that "the billionaires in the Trump administration have no idea what it's like to rely on Social Security earned through a lifetime of hard, honest work."The post also features a now-viral clip of Lutnick's comments on the All-In Podcast, where show hosts Chamath Palihapitiya and David Friedberg did not directly dispute him on the spot.Rachel MaddowThe longtime MSNBC host played a video of Lutnick's Social Security comments on the All-In Podcast, and said it "is such a political disaster" she almost had to close her eyes because she "can't bear to watch it.""How does that comport with what you understand of the reality of getting a Social Security check, and who in your life you know gets a Social Security check?" she asked before playing Lutnick's clip for the second time.According to TV Insider, The Rachel Maddow Show averaged more than 1.7 million total viewers in primetime in January and has remained one of the most popular shows on MSNBC for years.Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority LeaderSchumer reposted Lutnick's now infamous clip from the All-In Podcast on X and called the Secretary of Commerce "an out-of-touch billionaire" who is "clueless or heartless.""Howard Lutnick does not understand what a missed Social Security check means to a senior on a fixed income," he added.Schumer has recently faced criticism from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that he isn't doing enough to fight Republican policies over his decision to vote for the House GOP funding bill to avert a government shutdown.Ben Collins, CEO of The OnionCollins, the CEO of the satirical news website, posted on Bluesky a hypothetical response from Lutnick to a person in need, in contrast to how he hypothetically would react to an AI defense contractor asking $10 billion."80-year-old, starving to death: money? for food please?lutnick: avast, grifter!defense contractor who met Peter Thiel once and makes AI bazookas that shoot stray dogs on sight: I need $10 billion... for reasonslutnick: say less sir, yes sir, right this way sir"

What would you name two bald eagle chicks? Talon? Sam Eagle? Leslie? Whatever your choice, it could become reality. Jackie and Shadow, the internet-famous bald eagle pair, need your help naming their two surviving eaglets. Entries are open now through Friday, March 28 at 11:59 pm PST and can be submitted through the Friends of Big Bear Valley website. The Big Bear Bald Eagle Live Nest Cam broadcasts 24/7 thanks to Friend of Big Bear Valley, a nonprofit that streams without advertisements and relies on donations, including the naming contest. The cost is $5 for one name entry, $10 for three name entries, or $25 for 10 name entries. FOBBV asks you keep the names gender neutral as the sex of the chicks is not yet known. And keep it G-rated (no explicit, derogatory language, etc.) or your submission will be automatically tossed. A computer will then randomly select a final list that will be sent to students at Big Bear elementary schools. Traditionally the honor of choosing the final names is reserved for local third graders but because Jackie and Shadows 2024 eggs didnt hatch and their 2023 eggs were eaten by ravens, the final names will be chosen by 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Screenshot: FOBBV The kids will vote by secret ballot on April 1 with the winners announced later that day on FOBBVs officialFacebook,Instagram, YouTube pages. And if your name is selected, youll receive a certificate of recognition. Its been a rollercoaster for the tens of thousands of viewers that have tuned into the live cam this year. Chick 1 hatched late at night on March 3, followed by Chick 2 early on March 4. Chick 3 hatched four days later March 8. A snowstorm hit the area the evening of March 13, dumping up to two feet of snow and pummeling the nest with strong winds. On the morning of March 14, only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam. FOBBV confirmed the passing of one of the chicks a day later. FOBBV couldnt confirm which chick died, but because of the size difference of the surviving eaglets, it was suspected to be Chick 1 or Chick 2. The remaining chicks are now temporarily referred to as Bigger Chick (BC) and the Smaller Chick (SC). The chick that passed has been named Misty in honor of Kathi Misterly, an FOBBV volunteer who passed away after a battle with cancer.Jackie and Shadows 2022 chick was named Spirit. So grab your baby (or eagle?) naming book and submit your favorite monikers. The post Help Jackie and Shadow name their bald eagle chicks appeared first on Popular Science.

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