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Macworld By now, we’re all familiar with an embarrassing slip-up from the leadership in Cupertino. At WWDC in 2024, the company promised advanced new Siri features that would come in an update to iOS 18. Then, it created mainstream TV ads showcasing the feature (which wasn’t out yet), and finally, this spring, admitted they couldn’t deliver these features as promised. They would only come in the next year–meaning likely as an update to iOS 19–and some are questioning whether even that date is possible. Naturally, it brought to mind AirPower, another product Apple demonstrated on stage but axed when they couldn’t deliver it. Some likened it to Apple’s long struggle to develop its own 5G cellular modem, which eventually ended in the C1 modem shipping in the iPhone 16e, but the company never got on stage (as it were) and promised one. I think there’s a better parallel: Next-gen CarPlay. It’s been how long? Apple first publicly unveiled the “next generation of CarPlay” back at WWDC in June of 2022. That’s right, nearly three years ago. To be fair, Apple called it a “sneak peek,” and said “we can’t wait to show you more further down the road.” Apple certainly never ran mainstream ads selling a product with next-gen CarPlay as a feature, unlike the missing iOS 18 Siri features. But it also showed a screen full of major auto brands, and said that “automakers from around the world are excited to bring this new vision of CarPlay to customers.” At that time, Apple said “vehicles will start to be announced late next year.” That means late 2023. It felt, in the summer of 2022, like a very long runway and an extraordinarily early announcement from Apple. With just days left before the end of 2023, Apple announced the first next-gen CarPlay brands, and there were only two: Porsche and Aston-Martin. Both were supposed to deliver vehicles with next-gen CarPlay in 2024. Next-gen CarPlay was supposed to transform vehicle dashboards in 2023.Apple Only 2024 came and went, and the cars never materialized. And no other vehicles were announced. Worse, brands like GM went in the other direction, dumping CarPlay entirely in 2024. Just last month, Porsche announced its new “Communication Management system,” the hardware and software experience for its upcoming cars. And it only features the same CarPlay compatibility we’ve all had for years. Having missed its own distant deadline, and with no release in sight, next-gen CarPlay looks like it might never see the light of day, especially on the sorts of cars most of us can afford. A problem of Apple’s own making Apple didn’t have to show off the new CarPlay back in 2022, and it’s hard to understand why it bothered to. Even then, supporting cars weren’t supposed to be announced until late 2023. So why not just announce it at WWDC a year later? Better yet, why not wait to announce it until the first automakers are actually ready to announce their supporting cars, and co-market with them? Why not just keep everything under wraps until it’s ready to ship, as it did with the development of the C1 modem? Just as with the new Siri capabilities, Apple’s marketing needs surpassed its capabilities. There was no technical reason to announce something so unready, no case to be made to customers. It was a marketing need, put ahead of the development realities. The next-gen Siri announcement at WWDC raised expectations—and the iPhone 16 launch only heightened them.Apple This was further enabled by the shift to pre-recorded events. It was harder to show a slick, finished-looking demo of a feature that is definitely not ready yet and may never be when they had to show it off live on stage. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have been so surprised when Apple said it couldn’t deliver on its Siri promised. When 2024 came and went without even a hint of next-gen CarPlay coming to market, we could have realized that Apple has started to engage in that most un-Apple practice of promoting stuff while it is still early in development. Apple has big expectations ahead of it for WWDC in June. It has to convince users that it can create new experiences we’re excited about after the disappointing release of Apple Intelligence, convince the market that it isn’t disastrously behind on advanced AI technology, and convince the press that its promises are trustworthy.

Google’s new on-demand generative AI (genAI) analyst for spreadsheets stood out among a slew of new AI features for its Workplace productivity suite announced at this week’s Cloud Next event in Las Vegas. The upcoming “help me analyze” feature in the Google Sheets application in Workspace  can take information from tables and provide instant data analysis and insights. It does so without users having to write a single formula, chart or pivot table, said Kristina Behr, vice president of product for Google Workspace.  “It’s like having a data analyst beside you to help,” Behr said. The genAI analyst is designed to reduce the manual chore of digging through unstructured data in spreadsheets. It can catch unidentified trends, suggests how to go forward on research, and can create charts, Google said. The feature will be available later this year, though no specific date was named. Google also announced Workspace Flows, which Behr described as “a way to automate work across Google Workspace apps.” Users can, for example, automate a stream of jobs involved in document reviews, customer support requests, or product analysis. One such use case: Workspace Flows can approve branding copy by referring to a collection of marketing data. Or it can handle customer service requests by referring to support documents. “A lot of the work we do today requires context and reasoning; it’s not a linear stream of straightforward tasks,” Behr said. The automation needs to be tailored by users via the Gemini custom AI agent builder called Gems. “Simply describe what you need in plain language and Workflows will design and build sophisticated, logic-driven flows — no complex coding or configuration needed,” she said. While gen AI agents exist in many forms, this tool is aimed at everyday users who want to spend their time more productively. “It’s not just for IT admins or tech experts. It’s for everybody,” Behr said. The feature will initially be available as part of the Alpha program, which is mainly available to large customers who bought Gemini prior to the January price hikes. Google also added a feature called “help me refine” to Google Docs; it’s a genAI tool that can help structure or improve a written document. The feature also generates audio overviews that could be in the form of a full audio readout or “podcast style summaries if you need the highlights in a human-sounding digestible way,” Behr said. Google rival Microsoft already has a similar Copilot feature that can summarize or improve Word documents. In January, Google hiked the prices of Google Workspace, which included Gemini access to all Google Workspace users. Those price hikes for Workspace are likely to help Microsoft, especially with smaller and mid-sized companies, even though Google includes Gemini AI now with Workspace, Irwin Lazar, principal analyst at Metrigy, said in a recent interview with Computerworld. The cloud-based productivity suite now has more than 3 billion users and over 11 million paying customers, Behr said. “We’re seeing over 2 billion AI assists monthly to business users within Workspace and meaningful gains across organizations using AI,” she said.

Over the winter, eggs suddenly became all but impossible to buy. As a bird flu outbreak rippled through dairy and poultry farms, grocery stores struggled to keep them on shelves. The shortages and record-high prices in February raised costs dramatically for restaurants and bakeries and led some shoppers to skip the breakfast staple entirely. But a team based at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a device that could help slow future outbreaks by detecting bird flu in air samples in just five minutes.  Bird flu is an airborne virus that spreads between birds and other animals. Outbreaks on poultry and dairy farms are devastating; mass culling of exposed animals can be the only way to stem outbreaks. Some bird flu strains have also infected humans, though this is rare. As of early March, there had been 70 human cases and one confirmed death in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common way to detect bird flu involves swabbing potentially contaminated sites and sequencing the DNA that’s been collected, a process that can take up to 48 hours. The new device samples the air in real time, running the samples past a specialized biosensor every five minutes. The sensor has strands of genetic material called aptamers that were used to bind specifically to the virus. When that happens, it creates a detectable electrical change. The research, published in ACS Sensors in February, may help farmers contain future outbreaks. Part of the group’s work was devising a way to deliver airborne virus particles to the sensor.  With bird flu, says Rajan Chakrabarty, a professor of energy, environmental, and chemical engineering at Washington University and lead author of the paper, “the bad apple is surrounded by a million or a billion good apples.” He adds, “The challenge was to take an airborne pathogen and get it into a liquid form to sample.” The team accomplished this by designing a microwave-­size box that sucks in large volumes of air and spins it in a cyclone-like motion so that particles stick to liquid-coated walls. The process seamlessly produces a liquid drip that is pumped to the highly sensitive biosensor.  Though the system is promising, its effectiveness in real-world conditions remains uncertain, says Sungjun Park, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ajou University in South Korea, who was not involved in the study. Dirt and other particles in farm air could hinder its performance. “The study does not extensively discuss the device’s performance in complex real-world air samples,” Park says.  But Chakrabarty is optimistic that it will be commercially viable after further testing and is already working with a biotech company to scale it up. He hopes to develop a biosensor chip that detects multiple pathogens at once.  Carly Kay is a science writer based in Santa Cruz, California.

Alongside its emergency importing of iPhones before tariffs hugely increased costs, Apple is now said to have also had Macs airlifted into the US.A pallet of iPhones being loaded onto a plane in 2024 — image credit SDI LogisticsWith the extra China tariff now in force, Apple is currently required to pay 104% on top of the import cost. Even before this increase, and even before Trump announced his initial tariffs, Apple took steps to minimize the hit it expected to face.That was said to consist of stockpiling iPhones, having five flights full of them head for the States ahead of Trump's deadline. Now according to Nikkei Asia, Apple was far from the sole technology company doing this — and it wasn't only importing iPhones. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

In the aftermath of the destructive wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has announced the establishment of its Resilient Futures Task Force, an initiative aimed at assisting affected communities with recovery and rebuilding efforts. Led by SCI-Arc’s Erik Ghenoiu, the task force brings together architects and educators from SCI-Arc, landscape architects Terremoto, and local community partners. The team’s goal will be to provide homeowners and neighborhoods with resources, design expertise, and educational support as they navigate the complexities of post-disaster recovery. Related on Archinect: SCI-Arc research on Los Angeles wildfires to be exhibited at Venice Biennale. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc“Architecture is about change—transforming spaces and the way we live,” said SCI-Arc director Hernán Díaz Alonso about the taskforce. “For those affected by loss and disruption, rebuilding is not just about structures; it’s ...

Got a project that’s too wild for this world? Submit your conceptual works, images and ideas for global recognition and print publication in the 2025 Vision Awards, launching this spring! Stay updated by clicking here. In terms of “styles” architecture is going through a very democratic era. While the 20th century was characterized by the turbulent shifts of architectural styles — from art nouveau and art deco to the dominance of modernism and all its variations followed by its postmodern “critic” — the 21st century has somewhat allowed architects to transcend boundaries and experiment beyond any specific movement. Yet, modern and postmodern styles still seem to be in competition, not only in design but also in terms of the general philosophy behind architectural practice. On the one hand, postmodernism emerged during the 1970s and 80s and reacted against the austere, functionalist principles of modernism, challenging the “form follows function” dogma. It encouraged architects to include a mix of historical references, styles and ornamentation in their designs, with Robert Venturi, a prominent figure of the movement, famously writing the phrase “less is a bore,” advocating for complexity and contradiction in architecture. Still, perhaps what has been the most crucial aspect of postmodern philosophy is the emphasis on contextualism, where architects sought to engage with the surrounding context, respecting the local history and culture and focusing on the human-centric aspect of design. JoachimKohler-HB, Groninger Museum – Mendinipaviljoen (2015), CC BY-SA 4.0 Postmodern examples such as Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry’s Dancing House, the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands by Alessandro Mendini et al. and the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht by Aldo Rossi promote the movement’s fragmentation, asymmetry polychromy and theatricality principles. The expressive approach, the context sensitive design and the overall playfulness of postmodernism promote an ambiguity and complexity that has always been distinctly present in contemporary society. No machine-readable author provided. Chosovi assumed (based on copyright claims)., La Casa Danzante de Praga 1, CC BY-SA 2.5 Despite the critique that modernism faced by the 1970s — often labeled as alienating and elitist, especially after a series of failed tower block projects in east London — its principles are still widely practiced throughout the world, though perhaps in a more covert form. The primary modernist movement opted for functionality, clean lines and exposed structures as well as the use of new technologies and materials. Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright are some of the most influential architects of the movement, whose works opened up an array of innovative directions in architectural discourse. For instance, practices such as “the five points” of architecture (pilotis, free facade, free plan, ribbon windows, and roof garden), the famous 1923 “Brick Country House” composition, and Adolf Loos’s Raumplan, gave future architects tremendous tools for designing for the built environment. Sailko, Modellino della brick country house di mies van der rohe, 1987 ca, CC BY 3.0 Today however, modernism can also be found in more sustainable and globally conscious discussions as well as in the profound, emerging trend of minimal design. Following decades of hyper consumerism and excessive construction, dialogues regarding sustainability, mindful building practices and a prioritization in restoration over demolition as well as the pursuit of net-zero architecture, can all be considered traces of the modernist thought. Additionally, minimal design projects once again celebrate function over aesthetics and promote a lifestyle of general decluttering, echoing the modernist movement. As a reaction to the often overwhelming visual noise of urban environments, minimalist architecture pushes for simplicity, lightness and material honesty. Architects John Pawson and Tadao Ando and their projects Wooden Chapel and Church of Light exemplify this approach, crafting structures that place emphasis on empty space to represent the beauty and symbolism of unspoiled spatial perception. Okinawa House by John Pawson, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan It is not arbitrary that both movements are very present in today’s architectural field. Despite their differences, both the expressive, human-centric approach of postmodernism and the restrained, functionalist philosophy of modernism offer valuable perspectives on the future of architecture. This juxtaposition opens up the debate of which attitude may best serve future generations to tackle contemporary challenges such as climate change, rapid urbanization or social housing. Is the expressive, locally responsive, and symbolically rich ethos of Postmodernism the answer to ensuring that architecture remains deeply connected to cultural identity? Or should architects prioritize the sustainable, minimalist, and technology-driven ideals of Modernism, creating spaces that are efficient, adaptable, and ecologically responsible? As in most cases, the answer is not purely black or white. The coexistence of these two dominant styles in the current architectural era demonstrates that both have stood the test of time, each offering valuable contributions to contemporary design. Rather than opposing forces, these movements can be seen as complementary, each bringing unique strengths that continue to shape the evolution of architectural practice. Got a project that’s too wild for this world? Submit your conceptual works, images and ideas for global recognition and print publication in the 2025 Vision Awards, launching this spring! Stay updated by clicking here. Featured Image: MPavilion 10 by Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Jury Winner, Architecture +Community, 12th Annual A+Awards The post Modernism, Postmodernism and the Eternal Design Dilemma: What’s Next? appeared first on Journal.

Among the key features of the Nintendo Switch 2 that was unveiled during last week’s Direct was GameChat. Accessed through the new C button on the Switch 2’s new controllers, GameChat will allow players to communicate online through voice, video, and even livestreams of their gameplay. However, it was worth noting that the livestreams of games through GameChat were of quite low resolution. Speaking to GameSpot, Switch 2 hardware director Takuhiro Dohta and technical director Tetsuya Sasaki spoke about how technical limitations led to the games streamed through GameChat would be at a lower resolution than one would expect in a world with livestreams on YouTube, Twitch, and even Discord. According to Dohta, it all comes down to how the Switch 2’s hardware capabilities were allocated between the different software it would run. This means that, while GameChat has been developed to run alongside games with all of its features, Nintendo didn’t want more resource-intensive features like game streaming to cause degradations to the gameplay experience of the player. “In order to explain this well, I think it might first help to explain about the resources the system has,” said Dohta. “So obviously, chat is meant to run and work simultaneously and coincide with the game you’re playing. But we also think it’s critical that it doesn’t get in the way of the game that’s running right now. And so we wanted to definitely make sure we do was to make sure that running game chat alongside the game doesn’t result in the game experience or quality being reduced at all in any way.” “So from a system resource perspective, obviously even the Nintendo Switch had a set of system resources that it needed to tap into to run the system. And now that we have Nintendo Switch 2, there is bigger, more, basically resource budget to use. However, even with that enhanced and larger budget, we try to use as little of that as possible. And they made it happen somehow. And within that small slice of the resource budget, there’s other things to take into consideration, like network systems, all that kind of stuff, and all of that taking into account is where we landed in terms of quality of the video that you saw in the footage.” Sasaki also emphasised the idea of Nintendo wanting to make sure that a player’s experience in actually playing a game while using GameChat shouldn’t be compromised. This means that games need to have the right amount of power dedicated to running them in the console. “And the other aspect of this is that we want to make sure that there is enough power reserved for the games themselves,” explained Sasaki. “And so we have a smaller area to play around in within to make sure that all these varying aspects to fit into, things like network environment connectivity. And so we landed on within this margin that we have to work within, this is a good even experience that we can provide.”

The Molasses Flood has been absorbed into parent company CD Projekt Red less than four years after it was acquired by the Cyberpunk and The Witcher developer.A notice on the studio website confirmed the news and explained The Molasses Flood has ceased operating as a separate legal entity."We want to let you know that on April 1, 2025, The Molasses Flood (TMF) merged with CD Projekt Red Inc. (CDPR Inc.), a company being a part of the CD Projekt Group," reads the brief update."As a result of the merger TMF, in its former legal state (of a separate legal entity) ceased its operations, while CDPR Inc. assumed the rights and obligations of TMF. The merger will not affect the availability or distribution of The Flame in The Flood and Drake Hollow video games, which will continue to be published by CD Projekt Group."The Molasses Food was purchased by CD Projekt in 2021 for an undisclosed fee and tasked with creating a multiplayer title set in The Witcher universe.Work on the game—codenamed 'Project Sirius'—appears to have stalled in recent years, with CD Projekt laying off around 29 developers at The Molasses Flood in May 2024 after deciding it needed to build a new "framework" for the spin-off.During a recent earnings call, CD Projekt said the decision to absorb The Molasses Flood into its wider studio structure will "ensure even better alignment in the scope and direction" of Project Sirius, but will result in "some changes in the project leadership."Related:It's unclear whether those leadership changes are referring to voluntary departures or layoffs, but we do know that The Molasses Flood co-founder Damian Isla has chosen to leave the company.In a post on Linkedin, Isla described the merger as the "end of an era" but suggested it would be "good and healthy" for The Molasses Flood team in the long-term. He also confirmed he wouldn't be following the company post-transition."[The merger] breaks down some organizational barriers, and better integrates the TMF team with the rest of the amazing CDPR organization," he wrote."Overall, it shows a very bright future for Project Sirius (a.k.a 'the multiplayer Witcher game,' of which I was the design director for three years). It's going to be an amazing game, one for the books, and I cannot wait until the rest of the world learns about what we've been working on."Game Developer has reached out to CD Projekt for more information.

Hours after Donald Trump’s latest tariffs came into effect, China has announced retaliatory measures: an additional 50 percent tariff on US goods, on top of a planned 34 percent charge, and adding a further 12 US companies to its export control list. “The US’s practice of escalating tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which seriously infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests and seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system,” the country’s Tariff Commission said in a statement. Last week China announced a 34 percent tariff on goods imported from the US, matching the rate that the US would impose on Chinese goods. Trump took that badly, adding an additional 50 percent levy, which China is now matching in return. The new US tariffs on China, and other countries around the world, took effect today, with the 84 percent rate added onto existing 20 percent tariffs for a total of 104 percent. China’s 84 percent levy on US goods will come into force tomorrow, April 10th.  In addition to the elevated tariffs, China has added 12 US companies to its export control list, joining 16 additions from last week. That move bans the export of dual-use items – anything that can be used for both civilian and military purposes – to those companies. The European Union is expected to confirm its own retaliatory measures soon, with a vote taking place today.