This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.China built hundreds of AI data centers to catch the AI boom. Now many stand unused.Just months ago, Chinas boom in data center construction was at its height, fueled by both government and private investors. Renting out GPUs to companies that need them for training AI models was once seen as a sure bet.But with the rise of DeepSeek and a sudden change in the economics around AI, the industry is faltering. Prices for GPUs are falling and many newly built facilities are now sitting empty. Read the full story to find out why.Caiwei ChenOpenAIs new image generator aims to be practical enough for designers and advertisersWhats new? OpenAI has released a new image generator thats designed less for typical surrealist AI art and more for highly controllable and practical creation of visualsa sign that OpenAI thinks its tools are ready for use in fields like advertising and graphic design.Why it matters: While most AI models have been great at creating fantastical images or realistic deepfakes, theyve been terrible at identifying certain objects correctly and putting them in their proper place. OpenAIs new model makes progress on technical issues that have plagued AI image generators for years.But in entering this domain, OpenAI has two paths, both difficult. Read the full story.The AI Hype Index: DeepSeek mania, Israels spying tool, and cheating at chessSeparating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isnt always easy. Thats why weve created the AI Hype Indexa simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Take a look at the full index here.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 The Trump administration has barred 80 companies from buying US techThe list of primarily Chinese firms is forbidden from buying American chips. (NYT $)+ The list included a server maker that buys chips from Nvidia. (WSJ $)+ China disputed claims the firms were seeking knowledge for military purposes. (AP News)2 A DOGE staffer provided tech support to a cybercrime ringAnd bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent. (Reuters)+ Elon Musk could use DOGEs cuts to steer contracts towards his own firms. (The Guardian)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? Its complex. (MIT Technology Review)3 The US government has hired a vaccine skeptic to conduct a major vaccine studyThe long-discredited David Geier will oversee analysis of whether jabs cause autism. (WP $)+ The White House appears to be targeting mRNA vaccines. (FT $)+ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story. (MIT Technology Review)4 Microsoft has unveiled two deep reasoning Copilot AI agentsThe two agents, called Researcher and Analyst, are designed to do just that. (The Verge)+ How ChatGPT search paves the way for AI agents. (MIT Technology Review)5 Inside the rise of Chinese hackingThe cyber threat posed by the country is increasingly sophisticatedand aggressive. (Economist $)6 Google has instructed workers to remove DEI terms from their workThe company has offered up alternative language to use in its place.(The Information $)7 Synthesia is offering shares to reward human actors for its AI avatarsThe compensation scheme is the first of its kind. (FT $)+ Synthesias hyperrealistic deepfakes will soon have full bodies. (MIT Technology Review)8 Chinas RedNote is working to keep its influx of TikTok refugeesTo do so, itll need to expand its user base outside the Chinese diaspora. (Rest of World)9 This operating system is designed to keep running during civilizations collapseCollapse OS is designed to give us access to lost knowledge in case of disaster. (Wired $)10 No one really knows how long people liveLongevity research is bogged down in bad record-keeping. (NY Mag $)+ The quest to legitimize longevity medicine. (MIT Technology Review)Quote of the dayThere are so many great reasons to be on Signal. Now including the opportunity for the vice president of the United States of America to randomly add you to a group chat for coordination of sensitive military operations.Moxie Marlinspike, founder of secure messaging platform Signal, pokes fun at the fallout surrounding US officials accidentally adding a journalist to a private military group chat in a post on X.The big storyLongevity enthusiasts want to create their own independent state. Theyre eyeing Rhode Island.May 2023Jessica HamzelouI recently traveled to Montenegro for a gathering of longevity enthusiasts. All the attendees were super friendly, and the sense of optimism was palpable. Theyre all confident well be able to find a way to slow or reverse agingand they have a bold plan to speed up progress.Around 780 of these people have created a pop-up city that hopes to circumvent the traditional process of clinical trials. They want to create an independent state where like-minded innovators can work together in an all-new jurisdiction that gives them free rein to self-experiment with unproven drugs. Welcome to Zuzalu. Read the full story.We can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Good newsit turns out that fungi are actually pretty good at saving imperiled plants.+ Ever wondered what ancient Egyptian mummy remains smell like? These intrepid scientists found out.+ Kudos to this terrible artist, who is a surprise smash hit.+ Check out this handy guide to walking the path of everyday enlightenment.

During his latest visit to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook has praised the country's DeepSeek AI technology, but the resulting claims that this means Apple will adopt it are exaggerated.Tim Cook enthusing in an interview about China's app developers image credit: China DailyCook's China visit has included a stop at Zhejiang University, which is the alma mater of Liang Wenfeng, founder of the DeepSeek AI technology. And according to Bloomberg, Cook has now also visited DeepSeek's home town.However, that's not remotely as significant as it is being portrayed, since that home town is Hangzhou which is where Zhejiang University is based. It's also where Alibaba is located, which is the firm confirmed to be working with Apple on bringing Apple Intelligence to China. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple's iPhone 16e with Apple intelligence is already a great value, but T-Mobile can make it even better by cutting the cost down to nothing, and families can save even more with Magenta Status.Get iPhone 16e on T-Mobile Image source: T-MobileT-Mobile has several great offers for new customers, including one that makes Apple's iPhone 16e virtually free for switchers. When you join T-Mobile, on top of the introductory deals, you get benefits that last as long as you're a customer.The current promotion applies to any switcher joining T-Mobile and activating a qualifying line with an eligible trade-in. Get 24 monthly credits toward an iPhone 16e for every line activated up to three, and pay only what you owe in taxes, fees, and the $35 connection charge. Continue Reading on AppleInsider

The Yale Center for British Art will reopen its doors to the public on March 29, 2025. The museum is emerging from a two-year closure dedicated to a major conservation project aimed at preserving the iconic building, which was Louis Kahns final architectural work.Entrance court and skylights. Image credit: Richard CaspoleCompleted posthumously in 1977, the center stands as a key example of Kahns architectural philosophy, emphasizing structure, light, and natural materials. The latest conservation effort, building on over a decade of research and a previous phase of interior refurbishments in 2015, sought to maintain the buildings historic integrity while integrating modern systems and sustainability improvements.Roof and skylight domes. Image credit: Richard CaspoleKey updates include the installation of a new liquid membrane roof and the replacement of 224 original acrylic skylights with polycarbonate domes that enhance durability and energy performance while preserving the vi...

Following our previous look at an opening for aSenior Architect at Robson Forensic, we are using this weeks edition of ourJob Highlights seriesto explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Architect/Designer at To Be Done Studio.The role, based in Washakie, WY with the possibility of a remote arrangement, calls for an individual to join To Be Done Studio on a contract basis to work on the Eastern Shoshone Cultural Hub project. Eastern Shoshone or Shoshone heritage is strongly preferred for the role, as is a professional degree or significant experience in architecture, and proficiency in Archicad, Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, and Adobe Creative Suite.Image courtesy: To Be Done StudioWhy the role interests usThe open role at To Be Done Studio offers us the opportunity to explore the story behind the Eastern Shoshone Cultural Hub project. The cultural center, developed by the Eastern Shoshone Tribe in Fort Washakie, aims to preserve Tribal archives, artifacts, and records current...

Leading up to the upcoming release of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4, publisher Activision and developer Iron Galaxy have begun highlighting some of the young, new skateboarders that will be available to play as in the games roster. The first one we get to look at courtesy of a new behind-the-scenes video is Margielyn Didal. Check it out below.Margielyn Didal is a skateboarder from the Philippines, specifically from the city of Cebu. Throughout the video, we get to look at Didal in action in real-life, as well as in the game. She talks about her biggest influences in the world of skateboarding, as well as how she is looking forward to being play as herself in the upcoming Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4.Interestingly, through this video, we also get our first glimpse at the Kona and Suburbia stages of the game. While not comprehensive deep dives into the stages, we do get to see that that not much has changed since the two stages made their debut back in Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 (for Suburbia) and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 (Kona).Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4 was officially announced earlier this month. The game is being developed for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, and will be hitting store shelves on July 11. As its name might imply, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4 will consist of remakes of the classic third and fourth mainline games in the Tony Hawks Pro Skater franchise.It is worth noting that Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4 will not be recreating the free-roam campaign of THPS 4. Rather, it will be converting that campaign into a level-based affair where players will have to finish a set of objectives within a time limit. This puts the remakes take on the THPS 4 campaign in line with the campaign for 3, as well as the campaigns for 1 and 2 that we saw in Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2.The title will also feature a large roster of skateboarders to choose from, including legends like the eponymous Tony Hawk, to newer skateboarders that have hit the scene in more recent times like Margielyn Didal.Recent rumours have indicated that Bam Margera might be also be part of the roster. The decision is reported to have been made at the last minute at the behest of Hawk. According to The Live Club podcast co-host Roger Bagley, Hawk told Activision to include Margera in the games roster.Well, heres what happened, said Bagley in a recent episode of the podcast. The game was already done. Tony called up Activision and was like hey, were putting Bam in the thing, and they were like hey, we cant. He goes no, youre gonna do it, and basically made them fly Bam back out there to get body-scanned and everything else, and get him back in the game.For more details about Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4, check out our coverage of its various editions.

The latest update for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Nightmares and Visions, is live on all platforms. It adds the Mortis Trails, found in the Theatres of Mortification, and involves battling waves of enemies. Check out the release trailer below.There are 12 waves of enemies in each Trial and different difficulty options, though you can also select an Indulgence for a buff beforehand. These include Pyrokinetic for fire damage dealers, Voltaic for electric damage, Fulminator (which combines the two), Colossus for survival, and Death Dealer for close-quarters combat.In addition to regular waves, some objectives pop up every three waves, providing ammo and supplies alongside an extra buff upon completion. These buffs become stronger with each subsequent wave cleared, making them invaluable.Other new content with the update includes A Day At The Theatre, a limited-time event focused entirely on the Mortis Trials, Havoc mode changes, and new Mutators. Head here for more details. You can also read our review for the PS5 version.

Winning proposal of the 2025 Interuniversity Charrette: Moralisation de la place publique,by Vincente Levesque and Sara Deslauriers (Universit de Montral)The winners of the 2025 Interuniversity Charrette were recently announced during an awards ceremony held at the CCA.The annual competition, which was initiated in 1995 by the CCA, is open to students and recent graduates in architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism, environmental design, urban design, industrial design, and graphic design.This years edition, called Cartography of the Invisible, was organized by the CCA in partnership with the Universit du Qubec Montral, the Universit de Montral, and McGill University. This edition challenged participants to uncover the hidden narratives within urban spaces through the lens of cartography and design.At a time when social inequalities, homelessness, and the erasure of marginalized histories continue to shape cities, this years competition invited participants to make the unseen visible. Using mapping as a design tool, interdisciplinary teams selected a public space such as a square, park, street, or station, and revealed its underrepresented stories. By tracing networks, flows, and overlooked activities, teams exposed the complexities embedded in the urban environment. Digital tools, GPS data, and innovative cartographic techniques played a crucial role in this process.The competition encouraged all students currently registered in Canadian universities and recent graduates, to rethink public space through spatial storytelling. Their proposals offered new ways to understand, interpret, and design the city, engaging with history, social justice, and the built environment.Members of the jury for this edition included architect, landscape architect and urban planner Peter Soland; curator and independent researcher Ji-Yoon Han; and Lola Sheppard, Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and a founding partner of Lateral Office.The jury evaluated a total of 68 submitted proposals. A total of 94 teams consisting of 258 students from 17 different universities registered for this edition.The winners will receive a selection of recent CCA publications as well as Friends of the CCA memberships with numerous benefits.The winners of the 2025 CCA Interuniversity Charrette include the following.First place:Moralisation de la place publiqueVincente Levesque and Sara Deslauriers (Universit de Montral)Moralisation de la place publique. Credit: Vincente Levesque and Sara Deslauriers (Universit de Montral)Moralisation de lespace public impressed the jury with the clarity and evocative power of its proposal on the history of Montreals Red Light District and the successive layers of erasure the neighborhood has undergone. Both subtle and playful, the sculptural installation engages with the shifting temporalities of urban experience, transforming a mirrored glass cube by day into a red-lit display window by nightrevealing the dynamics of visibility and invisibility, past and present, in the public space, said the jury.Second Place:Watching the watchersBadr Echchihab (McGill University) and Tho Hovsepian (McGill University)Watching the watchers. Credit: Badr Echchihab (McGill University) and Tho Hovsepian (McGill University)The project deals elegantly with the question of urban surveillance. Using the McGill campus as a site, the map documents the areas of digital visibility and invisibility, in relation to a network of surveillance cameras. The proposal of a gold-coloured protective cloth canopy, which weaves through the campus, makes legible where bodies can travel in order to avoid cones of surveillance. The jury appreciated the play of a very visible canopy which offers invisibility, said the jury.Third place:Almanac of Moving AppearancesJia Chen Mi (University of Toronto), Mam Lam Cheng (University of Michigan), and Patricia Ku (Harvard Graduate School of Design)Almanac of Moving Appearances. Credit: Jia Chen Mi (University of Toronto), Mam Lam Cheng (University of Michigan), and Patricia Ku (Harvard Graduate School of Design)This project reimagines the interior of the tramway as a public spacea civic space in motion, tracing a path through the city of Toronto. Its mapping seeks to reveal the intangible layers of the transit experience: conversations, digital screens, and scents. Through the tramway windows, citizens are invited to recognize programmed actions within the urban space, creating a scenography of everyday life. The plan and section of the tramway present it as an architectural element of the city. The jury was captivated by this perspective on urban life, said the jury.Two Special Mentions were also named:A fractured cartographyJana Gineina, Myvel Ibrahim, Sarah King, Marcus Yuen, and Michael Conway (Carleton University)The project documents the registration of pavement cracks in Ottawa as evidence of the socio-economic divide between wealthy areas of government institutions and areas of neglect and marginalization. An innovative map of urban pixels reveals this registration of pavement cracks, while an evocative model documents two seminal urban thoroughfares in the Capital, as sites, in which to legible these divides, said the jury.Cartographie de linaccessibleLauriane Rioux (Universit de Montral), Vincent Morrier (Universit Laval)This project explores the mental mapping of urban space by citizens with physical and visual impairments. Addressing a timely issue, it proposes minimalist interventions in Montreals Baldwin Park to improve navigation for individuals with visual impairments. Speculative before-and-after illustrations translate the research into making the invisible experiences of this population more tangible, said the jury.The post 2025 CCA Interuniversity Charrette winners announced appeared first on Canadian Architect.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Autodesk has released Maya 2026, the new version of its 3D modeling and animation software.Unlike Autodesks recent annual updates to Maya, it does not introduce any complete new toolsets, but there are updates throughout the existing core functionality, including 3D modeling, retopology, shading, animation and simulation.There are also updates to Mayas integration plugin for Autodesks Arnold renderer, and a new Animate in Context feature for users of Autodesks Flow Production Tracking platform.Autodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya for smaller studios.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250326_Mayas2026_Booleans.mp43D modeling: New Volume mode for Booleans, and updates to STL exportFor asset development, Mayas Boolean node gets a new Volume mode.Unlike the existing Mesh mode, the source objects are converted to volumes before computing the Boolean operation, then the output is converted back to polygonal geometry.Autodesk pitches it as a quick way to block out organic models like creatures and characters.Other changes to the modeling toolset include the option to set scale units when importing or exporting models in STL format for 3D printing.Retopology: Monthly limit on Flow Retopology jobs increasedSince Maya 2025.1, released last May, Maya subscribers have had access to retopology plugin Flow Retopology.It mimics the functionality of the existing Retopologize tool, but makes it possible to submit retopology jobs to run in the cloud, rather than on the users machine.The current version, Flow Retopology for Maya 1.3, is now bundled with Maya 2026, and the usage limit has been raised from 30 to 50 cloud retopology jobs per month.Shading and texturing: Default surface shader switched to OpenPBRFor texturing, the main change in Maya 2026 is that OpenPBR is now the default surface shader.Support for the open material standard, intended as a unified successor to the Autodesk Standard Surface and Adobe Standard Material, was originally added in Maya 2025.3.In addition, LookdevX, Mayas plugin for creating USD shading graphs, has been updated.LookdevX for Maya 1.7 features a number of workflow improvements, particularly to publishing, and support for relative file paths when exporting MaterialX documents.Other changes include an experimental new generative textures API, making it easier for TDs to integrate third-party generative AI services into LookdevX by creating C++ or Python plugins.Mayas Substance plugin, for editing procedural materials in Substance format inside Maya, has also been updated, although there arent many details about whats new in Substance 3.04.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250326_Mayas2026_MLDeformer.mp4Rigging and animation: Performance updates to the AI-based ML DeformerMaya 2026 also features performance and workflow improvements to the new ML Deformer.Introduced in Maya 2025.2, it uses machine learning to create a fast approximation of complex deformations, enabling users to take characters with complex, slow-to-process rigs and train the deformer to represent the deformations they generate in the character mesh.In Maya 2026, it is possible to visualize the difference between the source and target meshes as a heat map to help troubleshoot output, using a new display option, Apply Mesh Compare.The update also makes the training process more customizable, makes output less noisy, and improves performance: load times are 40 times faster, and disk space usage is 80% reduced.Other changes relevant to animators include the option to export Playblasts in .webm format.Simulation: Better liquid simulation in Bifrost for MayaBifrost for Maya, Mayas multiphysics simulation plugin, gets a significant update in Maya 2026.It was already possible to use it to simulate liquids by meshing the output of the MPM solver, but Bifrost for Maya 2.13 makes it possible to simulate liquids directly in the graph.Bifrost for Mayas FLIP solver is described as largely similar to Bifrost Fluids, the older liquid simulation plugin included with Maya, but shares the same underlying framework as other simulation types, like smoke, fire and granular materials; and the node graph provides more flexibility than Bifrost Fluids menu-driven interface.The FLIP solver is described as currently best suited to large-scale, non-viscous fluids, and lacks some of the functionality provided by BOSS, Bifrost Fluids ocean surface toolset.Other changes in Bifrost for Maya 2.13 include updates to its work-in-progress procedural character rigging system, updates to texture baking, and 20 new node types.Rendering: Updates to Arnold for MayaMaya 2026 also ships with an updated version of the integration plugin for Autodesks Arnold renderer, with MtoA 5.5.0 introducing support for the Arnold 7.4.0.0 core.Key changes since the release of Maya 2025.3 include a new transmission_shadow_density parameter in the OpenPBR Surface and the Standard Surface shaders, to control the look of shadows cast by transparent objects, as shown in the image above.Global Light Sampling (GLS) now takes material glossiness into account, which greatly enhances render quality, especially in scenes with many small lights.Arnolds support for ID matte-generation system Cryptomatte has also been improved, with a new internal implementation adding GPU support, and improving performance on CPU.Other changes include improvements to MaterialX and USD support, to the implementation of OpenPBR, and to the MtoA plugin itself and the Arnold RenderView in Maya. However, Arnold 7.4 is a compatibility-breaking update, so shaders, procedurals, and other plugins compiled against older versions of Arnold will need to be recompiled.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250326_Mayas2026_USDForMaya.mp4Pipeline integration: USD for Maya now supports light linkingUSD for Maya, Mayas Universal Scene Description plugin, has also been updated.USD for Maya 0.31 improves lighting workflows, adding support for light linking, and the option to control lighting by looking through a selected light source.Other changes include support for USD cameras in Render Sequence, the option to search for USD prims in the Outliner, and to add or remove USD schemas in the Attribute Editor.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250326_Mayas2026_FlowProductionTracking.mp4Pipeline integration: Animate in Context system links Maya to Flow Production TrackingMaya 2026 also integrates more closely with Flow Production Tracking, Autodesks production-management platform, previously known as ShotGrid. Originally announced last year, the new Animate in Context feature makes it possible to view shots surrounding the active scene directly in Maya.Animators and other shot-based artists can now scrub between their own work and that of other artists, helping to ensure that the changes they make preserve the continuity of the edit.The feature is available on Windows and Linux only, and is still officially in beta.Maya Creative 2026 also releasedAutodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya aimed at smaller studios, and available on a pay-as-you-go basis.It includes most of the new features from Maya 2026, with the exception of the updates to Bifrost for Maya.Related software: Golaem added to Autodesks Media and Entertainment CollectionIn related news, Golaem, the Maya crowd-simulation plugin that Autodesk acquired last year, is now commercially available again.Autodesk includes it in the release notes for Maya 2026, but its a separate purchase, and requires a subscription to the full Media and Entertainment Collection, not Maya alone.You can find more details in our story on Golaem 9.2, the current release.Price and system requirementsMaya 2026 is available for Windows 10+, RHEL and Rocky Linux 8.10/9.3/9.5, and macOS 13.0+.The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $245/month or $1,945/year, up $10/month or $70/year since the previous update.In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year, qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, now priced at $320/year, up $15/year.Maya Creative is available pay-as-you-go, with prices starting at $3/day, and a minimum spend of $300/year.Read an overview of the new features in Maya on Autodesks websiteRead a full list of new features in Maya 2026 in the online documentationHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

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