Last February, Inu-Oh director Masaaki Yuasa announced the launch of ame pippin, a new Tokyo-based animation studio in collaboration with Asmik Ace, Aniplex, and CoMix Wave Films. There was no word then as to what Yuasa’s next project would be. That is, until now.  On Monday, Yuasa announced that he would direct Daisy’s Life, a Japanese-French co-production with Miyu Productions (Ghost Cat Anzu) based on Banana Yoshimoto’s novel Hinagiku no Jinsei. The novel centers on Daisy, a six-year-old girl mourning the loss of her mother following tragic accident. After meeting a strange girl named Dahlia at her window one night, the pair embark on an adventure through space and time in search of hope, healing, and perspective. “Even among the works of Ms. Banana Yoshimoto, this is a novel that evokes visual images throughout, and while there are parts that are vividly scary, the final passage is very happy, like something I had dreamed of in the past,” Yuasa said in a statement published by Variety. “I would like to depict the life of the protagonist who works for a yakisoba restaurant in a downtown area with a 100-meter radius on a cosmic scale.” Yuasa will be joined by screenwriter Sachiko Tanaka (Before We Vanish, Asako I & II) in adapting Yoshimoto’s novel to animation. Most notably Yoshitomo Nara, the Japanese painter who previously illustrated Daisy’s Life when it was published, will serve as the character designer for the upcoming feature. No information regarding the planned release date for Daisy’s Life has been announced.

The theater has always been a place for spectacle, where light, movement, and storytelling come together in a performance to captivate an audience. In that spirit, Sipario, the last lighting design by creative studio Gupica for Fiam Italia, a leader in glass furnishings, takes center stage as a show-stopping act of its own. Presented at the latest Salone del Mobile, the lamp draws inspiration from theatrical curtains, translating their fluid movement into a sculptural form made of fused glass. While curtains are meant to set the stage for a show, Sipario is the main act currently taking residency at the Remo Brindisi museum house, a fitting place for the modern fixture. Completed in 1973, the Remo Brindisi house in Lido di Spina, Italy was designed by architect Nanda Vigo for his friend, Italian painter Remo Brindisi, as a place where art, architecture, and design could exist in harmony together. With its cylindrical core, mirrored expanses, and striking spiral staircase, the museum serves as both a private residence and a gallery housing historic works by Bruno Munari, Jean Dubuffet, and Andy Warhol. Perhaps no contemporary setting could better complement Sipario, a piece that embodies the same multidisciplinary ethos. “The Remo Brindisi house has always been a great source of inspiration for me, a place to think and observe how glass behaves in relation to light, architecture and artworks,” shares Gunilla Zamboni, founder of Gupica. “Nanda Vigo designed the museum working on the concept of perception through light and materials, creating a rarefied, infinite space and developing on the idea of the ‘chronotype,’ which was an important theme for her. Glass interacts with natural and artificial light in a very sensory way. This museum is the ideal scenario that inspired my design for Sipario.” Like the theater curtains that inspired it, Sipario brings a sense of movement, drama, and light to any space. The pendant lamp transforms the softness and rippling motion of fabric into sculptural waves of fused glassed, diffusing light in a way that feels both ethereal and architectural. Against the white grid tile backdrop of the museum’s walls, the curved glass panels create a striking interplay of transparency and shadow, echoing the spatial rhythm of Vigo’s design. The installation features Sipario lamps in varying sizes, strategically layered to create a dynamic, ever-shifting display that changes with the viewer’s perspective. Gunilla Zamboni of Gupica With its theatrical presence and sculptural elegance, Sipario not only illuminates the Remo Brindisi house museum but also reinforces its legacy as a site of artistic exploration and endless inspiration. Gunilla Zamboni of Gupica To learn more about the Sipario pendant lamp by Gupica for Fiam Italia, visit fiamitalia.it. Photography by Filippo Candotti and Simone Fico.

The Trump administration's tariffs are having swift and serious consequences on global markets. Companies are pausing sales to the United States, while others are thinking about price increases to compensate for the added tariff fees. Combine that instability with inflation and other financial insecurities, and it's a tough time for economies everywhere.Unfortunately, these increased costs of doing business don't usually end up benefitting the consumer. In fact, quite the opposite: We end up eating the extra cost. Such is the case with the PlayStation 5. Depending on where you live, it's now more expensive than ever—despite being more than four years old. PS5 prices are going upIn a Sunday post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony announced that SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) made the decision to bump the MSRP for the PS5 in "select markets." That includes Europe, Middle East and Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. (However, Sony did not specify price increases for its Middle East and Africa markets.) The company did not mention tariffs as part of its reasoning, and, to that point, spared the U.S. from a price increase—as well as the rest of North America. These are not incremental price increases, either. Australia, for example, gets a AUD $100 increase on the Digital Edition PS5, while its standard PS5 is now above AUD $800. I suppose the small silver lining is Sony reduced the price of the Disc Drive accessory in these markets, but I doubt that will come as too much comfort for affected consumers here:Here's what the PS5 now costs in these regions:EuropePS5 Digital Edition: €499.99 (€50 increase)Disc Drive: €79.99 (€40 decrease)UKPS5 Digital Edition: £429.99 (£40 increase)Disc Drive: £69.99 (£30 decrease)AustraliaPS5 Digital Edition: AUD $749.95 (AUD $100 increase)PS5 with disc drive: AUD $829.95 (AUD $30 increase)Disc Drive: AUD $124.95 (AUD $30 decrease)New ZealandPS5 Digital Edition: NZD $859.95 (NZD $90 increase) PS5 with disc drive: NZD $949.95 (NZD $50 increase)Disc Drive: NZD $135.95 (NZD $30 decrease)Could the U.S. be next?It's definitely possible. The U.S. under the Trump administration is roiling global markets with inconsistent and severe tariffs. If Sony finds they're on the hook for importing PS5 units into the U.S., they very well may pass the increased costs onto American consumers.Experts believe the situation could go either way. Christopher Dring of The Game Business thinks Sony won't increase PS5 prices in the U.S. even if they're affected by tariffs. Dring believes Sony wants to "protect" the U.S. market, and, as such, is willing to increase global prices instead. Serkan Toto of Kantan Games thinks the opposite, that Sony will likely raise prices and soon, as the timing is "right."

OpenAI has announced its phasing out GPT-4.5 from its developer API in favor of its new GPT-4.1 model. When it launched, OpenAI described GPT-4.5 as its best and most capable model so far, in part because it was a more natural conversationalist and could capably mimic some notion of emotional intelligence. Despite what its name suggests, GPT-4.1 is supposed to be better and more efficient. OpenAI says GPT-4.1 is available exclusively to developer's using OpenAI's API, and comes in three sizes, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and GPT-4.1 nano. That means that if you won't find it as in option in the public-facing ChatGPT interface, but you could someday interact with an agent that leverages the model's improvements. GPT-4.1 is supposed to be better at coding and "long context understanding," according to OpenAI, with support for "up to one million tokens of context" and knowledge of the world up to June 2024.  Important to the decision to phase out the GPT-4.5 Preview, GPT-4.1 is also cheaper to run. OpenAI says the model is "26 percent cheaper than GPT-4o for median queries." The company imagines developers using GPT-4.1 to build agents that can work in software engineering environments, one of the more popular uses for generative AI. Even though GPT-4.5 will be eventually removed from OpenAI's API, the model preview will still be available in ChatGPT if you wan't to play with it. OpenAI says the GPT-4.1 family is available to use today via the company's API. GPT-4.5 will be fully-phased out in three months on July 14, 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-phasing-out-gpt-45-for-developers-185554841.html?src=rss

The Chipolo Pop is a new, feature-rich, $29 / £30 item tracker that works with iPhone and Android phones.

Pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, and Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist who is Jeff Bezos’s fiancé, were among six women who traveled aboard Blue Origin’s all-female, celebrity-studded, suborbital space mission on Monday morning. This marks the New Shepard’s 11th crewed trip from Blue Origin, the private space company founded by Amazon CEO and billionaire Jeff Bezos. Some critics have called it a publicity stunt for space tourism, or even just an ad for the Amazon founder’s company. King herself expressed some concern about that, telling CBS that she has questioned some of Bezos’s “troubling” decisions. Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, has been criticized for his allegiance to President Donald Trump and for his recent decision to overhaul the Washington Post‘s Opinion page, which critics say undermines the newspaper’s editorial independence. Others question whether the 11-minute ride to the “edge of space,” about 62 miles above sea level past the Kármán line, makes the passengers true astronauts, as the flights are suborbital, meaning they don’t achieve full orbital velocity and the distance is limited. The liftoff took place at 9:30 a.m. ET from Blue Origin’s launch site in Van Horn, Texas. Also aboard: Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist and the first Vietnamese woman to travel to space; and Kerianne Flynn, a film producer. This marks the New Shepard’s 11th crewed trip to space, and the first all-women crew to enter space since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo mission in 1963. Women make up only about 15% of all those who have traveled to space. However, despite that effort toward equality, critics have argued space tourism has become a playground for billionaires like Bezos—and rivals Richard Branson, who owns Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX—that only the ultra-wealthy can afford. And as the New York Times reported, “If the flight proves anything, it is that women are now free to enjoy capitalism’s most decadent spoils alongside the world’s wealthiest men.” It’s also worth noting that critics say space tourism clearly isn’t viable for most of us. While Blue Origin did not publicly release the price of tickets for Monday’s flights, Virgin Galactic has advertised ticket sales for between $250,000 and $450,000, according to CNN. (A Blue Origin spokesman told the news network some passengers flew free of charge.) Fast Company has reached out to Blue Origin for comment on the criticism around space tourism. This isn’t the first time Blue Origin has flown a celebrity to the edge of space: Since 2021, 52 people have boarded its space flights, including Star Trek actor William Shatner. Meanwhile, Blue Origin has also sued SpaceX over billions of dollars in government funding, as some have argued that SpaceX founder Musk is trying to create a monopoly in the private space industry.

Apple TV+ produces the popular dystopian television show "Severance." To promote Season 2, the company jokingly posted a webpage (since removed) featuring the Lumon Terminal Pro from the show. Unsurprisingly for our consumerist society, people were disappointed that they couldn't actually purchase it.Enter a company called Atomic Keyboard, a company with no history I can find and whose website has no "About" section. The mysterious company claims they're developing an IRL version of the Dasher Keyboard, the companion to the Terminal Pro used by the unlucky Macrodata Refinement workers on the show. "The keyboard has become a symbol of the show's distinctive aesthetic and themes. The absence of escape keys mirrors the employees' inability to escape their work situation, while the specialized function keys represent the compartmentalized and controlled nature of the severed floor." "Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts appreciate the vintage-inspired design, unique keycap profiles, and the tactile, satisfying typing experience suggested by the show. The keyboard embodies both retro computing nostalgia and the show's unique dystopian aesthetic." The company is taking sign-ups for the $400 keyboard now, though no production date has been announced. In an age where people are apparently running out of things to spend their money on, I'm sure there will be no shortage of buyers.

Remember that time you nearly got hit by a car because your AirPods Pro were doing too good a job canceling noise? No? Just me then. But that’s precisely the problem that Edifier’s new LolliClip ANC open-ear earbuds are designed to solve – delivering quality audio without isolating you from the world around you. And they’re doing it with a design that’s as quirky as their name suggests. Joining the ranks of multiple entrants in the open-ear audio category (Beats and Nothing, we’re looking at you), the LolliClip earbuds are the fresh kids on the block, competing with a similarly priced Nothing Ear (open). But unlike many competitors who’ve embraced bone conduction or air conduction technology, Edifier’s game-changing feature doesn’t exist in any of its competitors – noise canceling, with the added benefit of health-tracking, right through the earbuds themselves. Designer: Edifier Click Here to Buy Now The LolliClip earbuds feature what Edifier calls a “clip-on” design, which is essentially a small speaker that sits just outside your ear canal. This approach allows them to deliver audio directly toward your ear without blocking it, maintaining your spatial awareness while still providing a surprisingly immersive listening experience. What makes the LolliClips particularly interesting is their shape – resembling, well, lollipops (hence the name). The circular speaker element sits outside your ear while a small stem extends downward, housing the battery, microphones, and controls. A multi-curvature ear hook wrapped in silicone ensures a comfortable fit. It’s refreshingly different in a market where design innovation often feels incremental at best. Perhaps the most surprising feature of the LolliClips is the fact that it comes with adaptive active noise cancellation – something you don’t see in open ear designs at all because of the lack of a physical seal that helps prevent outer sounds from entering the year. While it won’t provide the cocoon-like isolation of traditional in-ear ANC earbuds, Edifier’s implementation can still reduce environmental noise, focusing primarily on consistent background noises like HVAC systems or engine rumble. This strikes as the perfect compromise for urban commuters or runners who want to enjoy their content while remaining aware of car horns, bicycle bells, or approaching pedestrians. Ideally, outer noise is important, but it shouldn’t completely overpower one’s music. If that wasn’t enough, the LolliClips also incorporate health tracking capabilities. Using built-in sensors, they can monitor heart rate, body temperature, and even track fitness metrics when paired with the Edifier ConneX app. While they won’t replace your Apple Watch or Fitbit (and Edifier explicitly notes they’re not for medical use), having these sensors in a device you’re already wearing makes perfect sense – and I can’t help but think that we could be looking at most TWS earbuds becoming de-facto fitness tracking devices in the future. Each earbud houses a 13mm dynamic driver with a titanium-coated diaphragm that Edifier claims delivers “stunning clarity and depth.” With Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, they support the LDAC codec for high-resolution wireless audio – something audiophiles will certainly appreciate, along with 360° spatial audio. Battery life clocks in at an impressive 9 hours per charge, extending to 39 hours with the included charging case, though ANC usage may reduce these figures. The earbuds also feature IP56 water and dust resistance, making them perfect for workouts and light rain, though perhaps not for your underwater aerobics class. Both the left and right earbuds are built identically, which means there’s no designated left or right earbud – just pop them on however feels comfortable, and they’ll adjust accordingly. With Edifier’s Intelligent Audio Channel Detection technology, the earbuds automatically calibrate audio channels based on how you wear them, allowing for truly interchangeable wear on either ear. This enhances both convenience and versatility, especially during quick transitions between activities. At $129, the LolliClips position themselves in the mid-range of the wireless earbud market – not budget, but certainly more affordable than premium offerings from Apple, Sony, or Bose. This pricing feels appropriate given their feature set and innovative design. What’s particularly exciting about the LolliClips is how they represent the maturing of the open-ear category. No longer just a niche for athletes or safety-conscious commuters, open-ear designs are evolving to offer features previously exclusive to traditional earbuds. The addition of ANC, health tracking, and 360° spatial audio with head-tracking signals that this category is ready for mainstream adoption. Click Here to Buy Now  The post World’s First Open-Ear Earbuds with ANC and Health Tracking – Meet the $129 Edifier LolliClip first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Netflix series breaks the fourth wall again.

The purging of IT and cybersecurity staff at the Department of Health and Human Services could threaten the systems used by the agency’s staff and the safety of critical health data.