Creative workers need websites that balance aesthetics with functionality. Squarespace or GoDaddy which is better?

CorelDRAW GO is a graphic design web app with a lot of interesting capabilities, especially for online design.

An unsecured database used by a generative AI app revealed prompts and tens of thousands of explicit imagessome of which are likely illegal. The company deleted its websites after WIRED reached out.

Elon Musk said he borrowed the name from a 1960s science fiction novel, but another AI startup applied to trademark it before xAI launched its chatbot.

CIOs should prepare for a 76.4% rise in global generative AI (genAI) spending this year, driven by improved foundational models and growing demand, according to a Gartner research report released today.Organizations are expected to spend $644 billion worldwide on genAI projects despite high failure rates among early projects, the lions share of which will be on services.GenAI services are expected to grow 162% this year after jumping 177% last year. GenAI software, which grew 255% in 2024, will only grow by 93% this year. Perhaps the biggest shift, however, is in genAI devices, which are predicted to rise 99.5% this year after soaring 845% last year.The percentage of spending on genAI in various markets is leveling off because the adoption rate has increased. But, the overall amount being spent is notable. For example, organizations and consumers are expected to spend nearly $400 billion this year on genAI devices (PCs, smartphones and IoT devices) and $180 billion on servers.Even as spending rises, expectations for the technology are dropping due to high failure rates in early tests and dissatisfaction with results, according to John-David Lovelock, distinguished vice president analyst at GartnerStill, model providers are investing billions to improve size, performance, and reliability; that paradox will continue through 2025 and 2026, Lovelock said.Gartner ResearchCIOs are expected to prioritize commercial genAI solutions over custom development, focusing on proven, off-the-shelf offerings for more reliable results and business value in 2025, Gartner said.Despite model improvements, CIOs will reduce proof-of-concept and self-development efforts, focusing instead on genAI features from existing software providers, Lovelock said.GenAI spending is poised for significant growth across all core markets and submarkets, including IT services, software, devices and servers. In fact, GenAI will have a transformative impact across all aspects of IT spending markets, suggesting a future where AI technologies become increasingly integral to business operations and consumer products.Consumer AI device spendingGenAI spending this year will be driven largely by the integration of AI capabilities into hardware, such as servers, smartphones and PCs, with 80% of genAI spending going towards hardware, Gartner said.The markets growth trajectory is heavily influenced by the increasing prevalence of AI-enabled devices, which are expected to comprise almost the entire consumer device market by 2028, said Lovelock. However, consumers are not chasing these features. As the manufacturers embed AI as a standard feature in consumer devices, consumers will be forced to purchase them.In fact, for organizations, AI PCs could solve key issues organizations face when using cloud and data center AI instances, including cost, security, and privacy concerns, according to a study released this month by IDC Research.This year is expected to be the year of the AI PC, according to Forrester Research. It defines an AI PC as one that has an embedded AI processor and algorithms specifically designed to improve the experience of AI workloads across the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), and neural processing unit, or NPU. (NPUs allow the PCs to run AI algorithms at lightning-fast speeds by offloading specific functions.)The percentage of AI PCs in use is expected to grow from just 5% in 2023 to 94% by 2028, IDC said. The research firm surveyed 670 IT decision-makers from large companies in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan to explore their views on AI PCs. The November survey found that 97% of respondents plan to deploy AI to more employees in the future.This reflects a broader trend toward democratizing AI capabilities, ensuring that teams across functions and levels can benefit from its transformative potential, said Tom Mainelli, IDCs group vice president for device and consumer research. As AI tools become more accessible and tailored to specific job functions, they will further enhance productivity, collaboration, and innovation across industries.Gartner Research projects PC shipments will grow by 7.7% in 2025. The biggest driver will be due, not the arrival of not AI PCs, but to the need by many companies and users to refresh their hardware and move toward Windows 11. (Windows 10 hits its end-of-support date this October.)Our assumption is that [AI PCs] will not drive shipment growth, meaning that most end users wont replace their PCs because they want to have the AI. They will happen to select [an AI PC] if they will replace their PCs for specific reasons e.g., OS upgrade, aging PCs, or a new school or job, and most importantly, the price is right for them, Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa said in an earlier statement.For example, Windows 11 has several genAI features built in, and Apple has been slowly rolling out Apple Intelligence features for its hardware.Nvidia chips, particularly the companys GPUs, are already widely used in PCs. Theyre popular for gaming, graphic design, video editing, and machine learning applications. Its GeForce series is especially well-known among gamers, while the Quadro and Tesla series are often used in professional and scientific computing. Many PC builders and gamers choose Nvidia processors for their performance and advanced features such as ray tracing and AI-enhanced graphics.Nvidia isnt the only manufacturer trying to get into the AI PC game. Samsung Electronics has started mass production of its most powerful SSD for AI PCs the PM9E1. Intel earlier this yearannounced its line of Ultra chips, which are also aimed at genAI PC operations. AndLenovo just introduced its Smarter AIline of tools that include agents andAI assistantsacross a number of devices. Finally, AMD has touted new CPUs offering greater processing power tailored for AI operations.

While Rockstars Grand Theft Auto 6 is out this Fall (barring any slippage), the wait for the next trailer continues to build. Considering the first debuted in December 2023, and all last year passed without any significant updates, the pressure is on to deliver.However, its seemingly part of parent company Take-Two Interactives marketing strategy for the title. CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke to Bloomberg, and when asked about why the release date is such a carefully held secret, he responded, The anticipation for that title may be the greatest anticipation Ive ever seen for an entertainment property, and Ive been around the block a few times, and Ive been in every entertainment business there is. Andwe want to maintain the anticipation and the excitement. And we do have competitors who will describe their release schedule years in advance. We found that the better thing to do is to provide marketing materials relatively close to the release window in order to create that excitement on the one hand and balance the excitement with unmet anticipation. We dont always get it exactly right, but thats what were trying to do.Its not exactly out of the blue for big publishers today see PlayStation heavily promoting its biggest first-party exclusives two or three months in advance. However, relatively is the keyword for Grand Theft Auto 6 since its unclear when Take-Two will begin its marketing campaign.Stay tuned for more details and updates. Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, with Zelnick believing it will lead to a meaningful uptick in console sales. Reports also indicate that major developers and publishers could delay their titles depending on the launch date. Head here for more details.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Chaos has released Chaos Arena, its real-time solution for in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) in virtual production.The technology is intended to enable studios using Chaoss V-Ray renderer for offline rendering to display the same assets on LED walls with full ray tracing, without any preprocessing.Chaos pitches it as a faster, simple alternative to game engines for virtual production.Re-use assets created for offline rendering in V-Ray in real time on a LED wallUnveiled last year, and originally codenamed Project Arena, Chaos Arena is intended to render assets created for V-Ray pipelines in real time for display on a LED wall, creating a virtual backdrop for previs or in-camera VFX.It enables multiple operators to make changes to a 3D scene in response to a director or DoP, with Arena co-ordinating the edits, and synchronizing rendering to the LED wall.It uses the same core tech as Chaos Vantage, Chaoss real-time ray tracing renderer for exploring large V-Ray scenes, but is designed for distributed rendering on curved screens.Chaos describes it as the first-ever path-tracing solution for virtual shoots.Uses a server/spawner architecture with multiple operator machines and render nodesArena uses a server/spawner architecture, with a central server application connected to multiple spawner instances.The spawner is used both for operator machines, which feed changes made to a 3D scene to the server; and for rendering, with the server feeding instructions to the render instances.Separate spawners control output to different regions of the LED wall.For real-time camera tracking, Arena is compatible with network client protocols for Vicon and OptiTrack mocap systems, stYpe and EZTrack camera tracking systems, and the FreeD protocol.A simpler, more streamlined alternative to workflows based around Unreal Engine?As with Chaos Vantage itself, Project Arena is Chaoss attempt to break into a part of the industry in which Unreal Engine has done a lot of the early running.The game engine is widely used in virtual production, for which it could initially be used for free, although Epic Games did eventually begin charging larger studios last year.Chaoss pitch for Project Arena is similar to that for Vantage: that users will be able to use their existing V-Ray assets in it, without the kind of time-consuming conversion process required to prepare offline assets for rendering in a game engine.According to Chaos, Arena eliminate[s] the need for scene stripping, asset conversion, or baking, making it possible to move V-Ray animations to LED walls in around 10 minutes.The workflow makes it possible for studios to use the same assets in pre- and post-production with no do-overs or drops in quality.Current restrictions and performance limitationsAlthough Chaos Arena works with standard .vrscene files exported from V-Ray, it doesnt support every feature of the .vrscene format, or those of V-Rays host applications.For example, Arena does not support all of the advanced properties of Maya lights or cameras, or all of the properties of the V-Ray Material in files exported from V-Ray for Maya. You can see a list of .vrscene features supported for each of the V-Ray host applications compatible with Arena in the online documentation.As well as Maya, the documentation currently covers V-Ray for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Revit, Rhino and SketchUp.There are also a number of known limitations when using Arena in production, including a limit of 10 material layers in blend materials, a single dome light and environment fog per scene, and a maximum texture resolution of 16,384 x 16,384px.Operations currently supported in live editing mode include moving, rotating, scaling and hiding/unhiding objects, and adjusting lights, environment properties, scene states, and rendering and post-processing settings.Price and system requirementsChaos Arena is compatible with Windows 10+. It requires a DXR-capable GPU, although it doesnt currently support mixed-GPU-vendor setups: the system requirements specify a NVIDIA RTX GPU, rather than AMD or Intel processors.The software is priced on demand.Read an overview of Chaos Arena on Chaoss websiteRead more about Chaos Arenas capabilities 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.

What I Wish I Knew: Career EditionNecessary friction, a legislation tracker, and building bridges (Issue #299)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now--A few weeks ago, we spotlighted the very Medium genre of what I wish I knew stories from people across all walks of life (therapists, data scientists, DIY home renovators, UX designers, parents) who were using Medium as an opportunity to share hard-earned lessons with the world (and with themselves).While we were putting together that issue, we stumbled upon so many great examples of this format that we decided we must dedicate an entire week to the genre. Each day will be on a theme and todays is career growth.VP of Strategy at a leadership development consultancy, Matthew Confer, shares a few lessons from the span of his entire career, including one worth keeping in mind this week: The Success Equation. Your success will be the summation of your efforts, your capacity to build relationships, and your ability to advocate for yourself, he explains. When he was starting out, he knew about the hard work part and underestimated the build relationships part: those relationships evolve over time, giving you new opportunities and collabs.Lawyer-turned-screenwriter Bharat Hari Dhakalia remembers when he tried freelance writing full-time, and how what was once his passion quickly became overwhelming: I was struggling to meet steep deadlines, writing content I did not want to write, to pay bills and rent to live in a city that only made me feel lonely and morose. What did he wish he knew? Making your passion your profession can backfire, and be careful what you wish for! (Probably not true for everyone to the same degree, but true for him.)Lastly, from the archive, heres a long list of 10 very specific things product manager Pavan Teja wishes hed known about launching great products. #3 concerns hiring: Please dont take If a person takes 10 hours to do a task, then 2 people should be able to do it in 5 hours approach. It would take 10 hours for them two to finish the task because there would be discussions and teaching involved.Those are just a few. If youre just getting started on Medium, I recommend writing one of these yourself: What I Wish I Knew About [insert anything]. Respond to this email if you do! Were going to feature more of these throughout the week. Harris SockelAlso todayA thoughtful essay from designer Michael F. Buckley on the cost of oversimplifying UX to the point where users dont have many active choices: Simplicity has its place. Removing unnecessary complexity is crucial for efficiency, usability, and accessibility. But the goal shouldnt be to eliminate all cognitive effort only unnecessary friction.Today is International Trans Day of Visibility, an annual awareness day that began in 2009 (created by Rachel Candall Crocker, a psychotherapist and activist in Michigan). The Movement Advancement Project on Medium tracks legislation affecting LGBTQIA+ visibility and equality in the U.S.If you want to figure out whether a wellness product might be a scam, dont take for granted that studies exist proving its efficacy find out who funded the studies! And remember that patents do not equal proof. Its not difficult to obtain a patent, and less than 3% of patents actually result in useful tech. (Bill Sullivan Jr) A dose of wisdomWhen a big change happens and you feel uncomfortable about it, ask yourself: Are you defending a wall or building a bridge? (Bahram H Yousefi, Dr.)

Yoko Shimomura, known for composing many iconic video game music scores, will be honored with a BAFTA Fellowship.Read More

Split Fiction breaks three Guinness World Records | News-in-briefHazelight Studios' title is the most played local co-op game on Steam, most sold local co-op game within 48 hours, and most sold local co-op game within one week of releaseImage credit: Hazelight Studios News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on March 31, 2025 This is a News-in-brief article, our short format linking to an official source for more information. Read more about this story by following the link below:Split Fiction breaks three Guinness World Records