A new 3D-printed design could make an integral part of cooling systems like air conditioners or refrigerators smaller and more efficient, according to new research. Heat exchangers are devices that whisk away heat, and theyre everywhereused in data centers, ships, factories, and buildings. The aim is to pass as much heat as possible from one side of the device to the other. Most use one of a few standard designs that have historically been easiest and cheapest to make. Heat exchangers are at the center of the industrial economy. Theyre an essential part of every machine and every system that moves energy, says William King, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and one of the authors of the new study. Existing designs tend to favor straight lines, right angles, and round tubes, he adds. King and his colleagues used 3D printing to design a heat exchanger that includes features to optimize heat movement, like wavy walls and pyramid-shaped bumps, which wouldnt be possible to make using traditional manufacturing techniques. The team had set out to design a system based on a common refrigerant called R-134a, which is commonly used in devices like air conditioners and refrigerators. When cold water lowers the temperature of the refrigerant, it changes from a gas to a liquid on its path through the device. That liquid refrigerant can then go on to other parts of the cooling system, where its used to lower the temperature of anything from a room to a rack of servers. The best way to cool the refrigerant tends to involve building very thin walls between the two sides of the device and maximizing the amount of contact that the water and the refrigerant make with those walls. (Think about how much colder youd get wearing a thin T-shirt and pants and lying down on ice than simply touching it with your gloved hands.) To design the best possible heat exchanger, researchers used simulations and developed machine-learning models to help predict the performance of different designs under different conditions. After 36,000 simulations, the researchers landed on the one they decided to develop. Among the key components: small fins that jut out on the side of the device that touches the water, increasing the surface area to maximize heat transfer. The team also designed wavy passageways for the water to pass throughonce again helping to maximize surface area. Simulations helped the researchers figure out exactly how curvy the passages should be and where precisely to place the fins. On the side of the devices where the refrigerant passes through, the design includes small pyramid-shaped bumps along the walls. These not only maximize the area for cooling but also help mix the refrigerant as it passes through and prevent liquid from coating the wall (which would slow down the heat transfer). After settling on a design, the researchers used a 3D-printing technique called direct metal laser sintering, in which lasers melt and fuse together a metal powder (in this case, an aluminum alloy), layer by layer. In testing, the researchers found that the heat exchanger created with this technique was able to cool down the refrigerant more efficiently than other designs. The new device was able to achieve a power density of over six megawatts per meter cubedoutperforming one common traditional design, the shell-tube configuration, by between 30% and 50% with the same pumping power. The devices power density was similar to that of brazed plate heat exchangers, another common design in industry. Overall, this device doesnt dramatically outperform the state-of-the-art technology, but the technique of using modeling and 3D printing to produce new heat exchanger designs is promising, says Dennis Nasuta, director of research and development at Optimized Thermal Systems, a consulting firm that works with companies in the HVAC industry on design and research. Its worth exploring, and I dont think that we know yet where we can push it, Nasuta says. One challenge is that today, additive manufacturing techniques such as laser sintering are slow and expensive compared with traditional manufacturing; they wouldnt be economical or feasible to rely on for all our consumer cooling devices, he says. For now, this type of approach could be most useful in niche applications like aerospace and high-end automotives, which could more likely bear the cost, he adds. This particular study was funded by the US Office of Naval Research. Next-generation ships have more electronics aboard than ever, and theres a growing need for compact and efficient systems to deal with all that extra heat, says Nenad Miljkovic, one of the authors of the study. Energy demand for cooling buildings alone is set to double between now and 2050, and new designs could help efficiently meet the massive demand forecast for the coming decades. But challenges including manufacturing costs would need to be overcome to help innovations like the one designed by King and his team make a dent in real devices. Another barrier to adopting these new techniques, Nasuta says, is that current standards dont demand more efficiency. Other technologies already exist that could help make our devices more efficient, but theyre not used for the same reason. It will take time for new manufacturing techniques, including 3D printing, to trickle into our devices, Natsua adds: This isnt going to be in your AC next year.

A virtual image of UK Parliament Source:&nbsp ShutterstockLeading architects including David Chipperfield and Amanda Levete have called on the government to protect the professions intellectual property rights from AI In a consultation that closed last month, the government proposed allowing AI firms to use the copyrighted work of creative industries including architecture, music, film, TV, publishing and design without permission.In theory, it would allow AI firms such as ChatGPT and Midjourney to create new content having learned from existing intellectually protected work without breaking copyright law. However, the government says creative firms will have the choice to opt out.Writing in a letter to technology secretary Peter Kyle, more than 30 high-profile names from the design world said the proposed law change risks running roughshod over the design and creative industries.AdvertisementThe designers argue that their profession, like the music industry, is built on copyright, intellectual property and patents and that AI companies were being allowed flout copyright law.Just like the music sector, we rely on a mix of copyright and IP and patents. Interconnected and progressive, these copyright systems allow us to imagine and build the world around us, the group said in a letter first shared in The Guardian.They argued that the choice of opting out was unfair, as it placed the burden on the creative sector. They claimed the government was avoiding demanding that AI companies observe the law and our copyright so that we can determine when and on what basis we share our imagination and hard work.Chipperfield, founder and principle of David Chipperfield Architects, Jasper Conran, son of the late Terence Conran and chairman of Conran and Partners, and Levete, founder and principle of AL_A, were among the signatories to the letter.A RIBA report last year showed that 43 per cent of architects use AI on the occasional project. However, 58 per cent of architects surveyed by the institute said they believed AI increases the risk of their work being copied.AdvertisementA government spokesperson told The Guardian that existing copyright law was holding back the creative industries, media, and AI sector from reaching their full potential.The statement added: We are committed to greater transparency from AI developers regarding the content used to train their models. We have always been clear that no decisions will be made until we are confident in a practical plan that meets all our objectives.2025-04-02Gino Spocchiacomment and share

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Today's the day. This afternoon, Nintendo will air a Switch 2 dedicated Direct broadcast from which we expect a release date and price for the new console, as well as a look at some of its upcoming games. And as ever, we'll be watching, reporting and reacting to the broadcast live, as it happens, right here.Set your Alarmo clocks for 2pm BST / 3pm CEST / 9am EDT / 6am PDT. The show is expected to be an hour long.Nintendo, remember, has already unveiled the form factor of Switch 2, which surprise surprise, looks a lot like the existing Switch, only bigger. Lurking within, though, are significant changes, such as Joy-Con that magnetically snap to the side of the machine, USB-C ports, a mysterious C button, rumoured mouse-like Joy-Con functionality, and, of course, more powerful innards. But as Digital Foundry noted, while forensically picking over the Switch 2 details, we're still not sure exactly how powerful it is. Questions remain. Will they be answered today?The previous reveal also gave us a glimpse of a new Mario Kart game, which notably teased the possibility of 24-player races. Will we see more of that game today? And what of Nintendo's other first-party games for Switch 2 - are there any, and if there are, which ones will they be? Big, legacy franchises, or smaller things? I also wonder what kind of third-party support Nintendo has attracted for Switch 2.But the biggest questions are of course price and release date. How soon will the console come out? There's a widely held belief Switch 2 is imminent, though the console's public hands-on tour runs until June. Is that when it will finally arrive? And how much will it cost? There's talk of a $400 price point, which puts it $100 above what Switch 1 launched at, and talk of $70 games. But will these figures be born out?There's lots to discover, and we'll be building up to the reveal throughout the day here. Excited?Today's Switch 2 Nintendo Direct broadcast will be here.Watch on YouTube09:44 amUTCthemightyant says: What are everyone's last minute hardware predictions. Price? Resolution desktop and handheld? OLED? HDR? VRR?Mine are 399 / 1440p upscaled to 4K on TV, 1080p handheld / no OLED / HDR /no VRR.No doubt all wrong and will age like milk. lol.Well look: I'll just pin these here and then we can all publicly see how well you did. You are most welcome! Robert Purchese09:42 amUTCMeanwhile, Nintendo has lifted the lid slightly on the mysterious "C" button on the Switch 2. A new video posted on the Nintendo Today app shows it being pressed and sounding a little jingle and then... Well, that's as much as we were allowed to see. Could it be a shortcut button to capture gameplay, or to get to social features on the console, and what might they be if there? But what do you do! | Image credit: Nintendo Robert Purchese09:38 amUTCGood morning! Are you feeling aflutter with excitement? The time is nearly here. I suppose more to the point: will you be immediately pre-ordering one if, as Rogueywon points out, the opportunity immediately opens following the Direct? Robert Purchese

Call of Duty will allow players to turn off crossplay in an effort to limit cheatingActivision admits majority of cheaters are on PC.Image credit: Activision News by Ed Nightingale Deputy News Editor Published on April 2, 2025 Activision is amending crossplay functionality in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 3 to allow players to restrict matchmaking to consoles only.Effectively, this means console players can turn off crossplay with PC players across all the game's major multiplayer modes, in an effort to limit cheating.While removing crossplay was already available in the game's ranked modes, the new options will extend this to all multiplayer modes.Verdansk Launch Trailer | Call of Duty: WarzoneWatch on YouTubeActivision's focus this season is a "commitment to taking down cheat makers, banning bad actors, and ensuring a great player experience", the publisher aid.In an blog post detailing updates to Ricochet, Activision's anti-cheat tool, the company admitted the majority of cheaters are PC players - although over 60 percent of cheating reports are actually against console players."Console cheating is possible, but our data has consistently shown it represents an extremely low population of detected cheaters when compared to PC, which means that this large volume of cheater reports are inaccurate even if the KillCams may have made it seem like the player was cheating," the update reads.This is why Activision is now extending its crossplay options to further separate PC and console players, as detailed in its Season 3 Update.Multiplayer Ranked Play, Call of Duty: Warzone Ranked Play, and Multiplayer Unranked will now have the following three options:On: Enables matchmaking with all gaming platforms when playing in the selected playlists.On (Consoles Only): Enables matchmaking only with other consoles when playing in selected playlists.Off: Restricts matchmaking to your current gaming platform only in selected playlists.While the Consoles Only option "may" negatively impact queue times, Activision admits the third option "will" negatively impact queue times.Activision also notes that if a party all belong to the same console, the settings will match those of the party leader. Further, players who have selected Crossplay Off and then create a party across mixed platforms will have their settings temporarily adjusted accordingly.While the news is a win for console players, it does mean PC players may be left with a higher likelihood of playing against cheaters.That said, Activision is actively battling cheating in the game. Since Black Ops 6 launched, "over 20 cheat makers and dozens of cheat resellers are out of business due to these efforts," it said. "And were not slowing down."Further, 23 percent of cheaters are removed before they even begin a match.Activision is now adding an additional anti-cheat layer to Ricochet, though isn't sharing details for security reasons.Back in January, Activision stated it had banned 136,000 ranked play accounts across both Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone.Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 3 will begin tomorrow, 3rd April, and adds the classic Verdansk map.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereRight now, Steam Deck users are running out of time to claim some great free games, but, regarding the system itself, Valve recently released a new update for the Steam OS and SD client. While the OS update fixed issues with one of the biggest games of the year so far playable on SD, the unfortunate news is that the client update resulted in some big problems. Fortunately, Valve claims that the new Steam Deck update is now to safe to download after being rereleased.New Steam Deck client update rereleasedOn April 1st, Valve released the newest Steam Deck client update, 3.6.24. Unfortunately, soon after this update was released, players on Reddit warned others not to download the patch.As also reported by The Verge, the update left devices stuck in boot loops, and resulted in the disappearance of settings to control GPU clock speed and TDP.Fortunately, the update has now been rereleased with the following fixes according to Valve:Fixed display issue on game details page for games with queued updates.Fixed TDP and GPU clock performance settings not working.Fixed crash loop at startup when Wifi Debug Mode setting is enabled.Below are the original patch notes for 3.6.24:Fixed brief layout shift of elements (one or two frames) when navigating back to the library section.Fixed notifications displaying in wrong position in some games.Fixed issue that could allow the keyboard to cover the target text area when summoned from a game.Improved the download speed of Steam client updates.Improved consistency and clarity of download/install/update UI:Byte counts, when displayed, refer to the number of bytes to download.Progress bars and percentages, when displayed, refer to the total progress of the install/update, which includes work before, after, and during the download. The exception is the top (blue) progress bar on the downloads page, which shows the bytes downloaded.Time remaining estimates refer to the total progress of the install/update. These estimates will be very rough at first but will become more accurate as Steam learns more about the performance of the users network and disks.Enable Steam Play for all other titles is always enabled on SteamOS, updated the UI accordingly to stop showing a non functional toggle.No longer applying compatibility tool filtering to shortcuts.Fixed a rare issue where non-steam Protons could get assigned an incorrect compatibility tool.Fixed game content switching from private beta to default branch in some casesImproved accuracy of download progress and time estimates. Accuracy will improve over the course of more downloads.Fixed child accounts in a family getting additional playtime after switching to offline mode.Fixed in-game friends sometimes not showing up in the Friends Who Play section of the game details page.Remote PlayFixed controller input when streaming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2Steam InputFixed crash when using DualSense controllers, related to gyro timestamp calculation.Fixed adaptive trigger effects with the DualSense Edge controllerIn other news, The Last of Us Part 2 is verified for the Steam Deck.Related TopicsSteam Deck Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games herePlayers already removed character censorship from Kraftons realistic Sims competitor InZoi just hours after the games release. Now, less than a week after the games early access launch, modders have released WhickedWhims, a full-on smut simulator for the game.A copy of the Sims mod of the same name, WhickedWhims for InZoi allows players to not only strip their Zois down to their birthday suits, but also engage in intense intercourse with other characters. As players search for the best InZoi mods, this will likely be the number one get for many players.WhickedWhims comes to InZoiReleased on April Fools Day by modder Turbodriver, the InZoi version of WhickedWhims isnt as complicated as the original Sims version just yet. While The Sims 4 version of the mod includes adult entertainment businesses, sweat simulation, menstrual cycles and more, the InZoi version is simply focused on nudity and coitus.By using the mod, players can undress individual pieces of clothing with support for underwear and undress anything you want at any moment. Players are also able to engage in fully animated and interactive intercourse on a bed, or on a sofa, or the floor, or anywhere you want to get freaky with anybody you want.Just like the original Sims version of the mod, the WhickedWhims addon for InZoi is being supported by a growing numbers of creators. While it may only be focused on the intercourse elements right now, future updates should add some of the more complex features fans are used to, such as pregnancy and contraceptives.While the mod definitely isnt for everyone, the addition of WhickedWhims for InZoiwhich players can nab hereis a healthy sign for the life simulator. After all, the Sims version of the mod is incredibly popular with millions of downloads. If Krafton wants its game to survive the same long life as EAs life simulator, this existence of this mod is actually rather essential.For more coverage of the new game, read about how to get a job in the world of InZoi. Additionally, check out everything you need to know about in-game karma levels, or read why you should avoid updating your PC if youre playing the game.InZoiPlatform(s):PCGenre(s):SimulationRelated TopicsWhickedWhims Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

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AFreshStartion"This is a gift, you know" Baldur's Gate 3 Stardew Valley modders give an update on the future of Baldur's Village, now the Wizards of the Coast DMCA situation is behind them"Fortunately, we are able to move forward."Image credit: ConcernedApe/XunHe1145 News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on April 2, 2025 Baldur's Village - the Stardew Valley mod with a town full of Baldur's Gate 3 characters - was hit by a DMCA takedown from BG IP owner Wizards of the Coast the other day. Thankfully, WotC quickly stated that the takedown had somehow been issued "mistakenly" and moved to sort things out so that the mod could go back up.Now, following this whole ordeal - complete with established mod-liker and Larian boss Swen Vincke himself tweeting in support of Baldur's Village - the team behind the mod has issued its own statement, which includes a quick update on future plans.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "In the past few days, we have been actively addressing a situation, and we are now able to provide a full explanation," main developer XunHe1145 tweeted, "Last week, due to copyright issues, the Baldurs Village mod was temporarily taken down from Nexus. This unforeseen challenge caught our team off guard and led to confusion and concern among many players."Thankfully, the issue has now been thoroughly clarified and resolved. We sincerely appreciate the understanding and support from Larian Studios, the patience and assistance from the [Nexus Mods] team throughout the process, and the thoughtful judgment and professional handling by Wizards of the Coast. We recognize that protecting intellectual property is a complex and serious responsibility, and we are truly grateful that our intentions as both fans and creators have been understood."They went on to provide an update on the mod itself, revealing: "On the very day we received the takedown notice, we had just finalized Astarions Ten-heart event, which was scheduled for the next update. At the time, we were disheartened as we thought that this content might never reach the community. To see this content please enable targeting cookies."Fortunately, we are able to move forward. In the near future, we will be releasing a minor update that includes bug fixes and Astarions Ten Hearts event. Other planned content updates will also resume as scheduled."They closed out their statement by thanking the mod's community, and adding: "Our team remains committed to refining the project content with each update. This is a gift, you know. Thank you all. We wont forget it."So, all is as well as it seemed it was when the mod became available to download again yesterday. Roll on the arrival of stuff like a Halsin romance arc that may or may not contain bear sex. Nice, even if it would've obviously been better if this whole situation that's likely caused the modders a lot of stress had been avoided entirely.Are you glad to hear the Baldur's Village team is ploughing ahead with work on the mod now the dark cloud hanging over it has been shooed away? Let us know below!