Week 9 was one of the more productive weeks for me. I started first by fully finishing the forest maze area, I've made it so the player is boxed in via invisible collision barriers meaning they can't go out of bounds to cheat and I added trees by the side of every pathway to add a sort of natural barrier. I also decided to bring over the tilemap opening puzzle from the main area in the form of a group of boxes that block the player from accessing the next area. The player has to locate an axe

Jean Luc Herbulot’s new movie Zero is one of 2025’s most fascinating projects: The latest action film from the director of the cult hit Saloum has a radical political message, but still packs tons of thrills into its 88-minute run time. And while real-world events certainly played a big part in inspiring both projects, Herbulot told Polygon he also drew deeply from video games for both Saloum and Zero. Before starting his career as a filmmaker in the early 2010s, Herbulot dreamed of being a video game designer. “I was born with video games,” he said to Polygon. One of his first creative projects was an RPG he made on RPG Maker in 2002, and he described himself as a “big, big video game guy.” Herbulot still plays a lot of RPGs to this day, and their influence is all over his recent projects — the Western-tinged action-horror Saloum and the darkly comedic crime story of Zero. “With Saloum, I was playing Red Dead Redemption,” he told Polygon. “When I was doing Zero, I was playing back GTA V. I was like, How can I copy this fucked-up mission and put it in Africa? Zero follows two Americans who wake up in Dakar strapped into bomb vests and wearing earbuds, through which a mysterious voice (Willem Dafoe) tells them what to do if they want to make it out alive. Herbulot’s main inspiration from GTA V came from the idea of that “fucked-up mission,” but also “how you can feel trapped,” Herbulot said. “And having somebody on the phone that you never really see and that just tells you what to do. [The premise ended up being] way more emotional than I thought. And way more political than what I thought.” Herbulot had one other very specific influence from GTA V that he wanted to impart on Cameron McHarg, who plays one of the two bomb-vested Americans, the violent, unpredictable, unnamed character referred to as “#2.” Herbulot wanted McHarg to channel chaos engine and career criminal Trevor Philips, one of the game’s three playable protagonists. “I tried to give Cameron some Trevor references, but he didn’t get it,” Herbulot said. “Watch Trevor when he is doing this and that. He was like, What the fuck are you talking about?” So while other directors ask their actors to watch specific movies to inspire their performances, Herbulot assigned video games to his stars. Star, co-writer, and producer Hus Miller told Polygon that helped him picture what Herbulot was thinking stylistically and visually for the movie. “That element was definitely there,” Miller said. “Once Jean Luc mentioned those things, I did dive back into [GTA V] again to get prepped for the movie.” Directly before his interview with Polygon, Herbulot said he was scrolling through Instagram and saw a fan-made “GTA Africa” video that caught his eye. “I was looking at it and I was like, That’s my next movie.” But for now, he’s in the same boat as the rest of us. “We’re all waiting for GTA 6,” he lamented. Zero is now playing in theaters, and is available for digital rental or purchase on VOD platforms. Saloum is streaming on Shudder, AMC Plus, and for free with ads on Hoopla, and is also available for digital rental or purchase on VOD platforms.

When it comes to tiles, are you in the camp that considers them as purely aesthetic or entirely functional? There’s no shortage of beautiful tiles out there – ceramic, marble, terrazzo, concrete – but beyond adding visual interest and protecting walls and surfaces, they usually aren’t considered all that utilitarian. That was before Paris-based studio Unknown, Untitled introduced UU Tiles, a collection where ceramic tiles can double as functional hooks and minimalist wall lamps, blending seamlessly into the tiling while also quietly standing out. Originally launched as a research project, UU Tiles evolved into a full-blown collection in collaboration with a historic Normandy tile manufacturer. It challenges preconceived notions about what tiles are – and what they can be. Rather than giving into the trend of mobility and flexibility, where design can be and are encouraged to be, swapped out as needed, Unknown, Untitled leans into the sustainability of permanence, using the fixed nature of tiling as an opportunity to build in function. The collection includes three components: plain tiles, ceramic hooks, and ceramic wall lamps, each of which shares the same tile-based attachment system. Because of their identical dimensions and tonal options, the functional tiles blend beautifully with the decorative ones, creating what the studio calls “a physical interface between the architecture and the living space. Whether you’re hanging up a coat or lighting up a hallway, the tile remains constant, a quiet but intentional design detail. Even as a standalone object, the hooks and lights are a delightful expression of color and form. The look is clean, minimal, and unexpectedly warm, with glossy surfaces that reflect both light and intention. Each options is available in a variety of colors. The idea of permanent storage and lighting might seem a tad intimidating. After all, swapping out tiles is a bit more labor-intensive than changing out a lamp or a hook, but this permanence can be a good thing. It invites a more thoughtful approach to design, one that values longevity and encourages us to consider the earth’s limited capacity to absorb our excess. In a world where so much ends up discarded, there’s something quietly radical about committing to something built to last. Both the lamps and hooks can be used as standalone pieces without the blank tiles surrounding them for a minimalist look. To learn more about UU Tiles by Unknown, Untitled, visit uutiles.com. Photography by Stanislas Wolff. Art Direction by Twice studio. Set Design by Nara World.

Heads up: If you've rented a car from Hertz, your data may have been exposed in a data breach. While Hertz itself was not attacked, affected customers had sensitive data leaked—including, in some cases, Social Security numbers.What happened with Hertz?This week, Hertz posted a "Notice of Data Incident" on its website, informing customers about a 2024 episode involving Cleo Communications. Cleo operates a file transfer platform that Hertz uses for "limited purposes." Despite those limited purposes, Hertz confirmed that actors exploited zero-day security flaws in Cleo's network and accessed Hertz customer data. It appears actors accessed this data in both October and December of last year. Following an analysis of the affected data on April 2, Hertz now says the following user data was impacted in this breach: customer names, contact information, dates of birth, credit card information, driver’s license information, as well as workers’ compensation claims data. In some cases, actors accessed even more sensitive data, including government identification numbers (including Social Security numbers), passport information, Medicare and Medicaid IDs, and informations about injuries via vehicle accident claims. Hertz says only "a very small number of individuals" are impacted by this latter category of information, but it's a serious breach nonetheless. Hertz says it has reported the situation to law enforcement, and is reaching out to regulators as well. The company says Cleo launched an investigation, and patched the security flaws that lead to the breach in the first place—though that will likely not be of much comfort to affected customers.According to TechCrunch, Hertz contacted several U.S. states, notably California and Maine, about the data incident. The company said that at least 3,400 customers in Maine were impacted by the breach, but stopped short of naming the total number of affected customers. It seems the data breach affects users around the world, too. In addition to the U.S., Hertz posted its announcement on its websites in Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, and the UK. What should I do if my Hertz data was breached? Hertz maintains that this user data has not been used to commit fraud, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Bad actors can use the information leaked in this breach to steal your identity, open bank accounts, and take out credit cards and loans in your name. As such, you should take steps to protect your identity.The company is offering two years of Kroll identity monitoring and dark web monitoring services to impacted customers for free. Accept the offer: A service like Kroll will keep an eye out for any fraud associated with your data, and help protect you from the repercussions. While Kroll will do a lot of the work for you, there's more you can do here to keep yourself protected. For starters, you can obtain a free credit report from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion once a year. Since each is independent, you can stagger your requests to effectively check your full credit once every four months. If you have been involved in this security incident (or any one like it) you can also put a freeze on your credit to ensure no one can access your report for any reason.

It looks like OpenAI is building its own X-like social media network, according to a report by The Verge. We don’t have many specifics, but we do know there’s an internal prototype that adds a social feed to ChatGPT’s image generation tool. It remains unclear if OpenAI will launch this social network as a standalone app or if it will be integrated within the ChatGPT app, which is what the prototype indicates. The report does suggest that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been asking for feedback about the social network from people outside of the company. One potential reason for this step is that the app would allow OpenAI to gather real-time data from users to train its AI models. It’s also a potentially diversifying move for the company. Although it’s uncertain if this project will ever see the light of day, one thing is probable — it’ll likely get under the skin of Elon Musk, who owns X. Altman and OpenAI have been at odds with Musk for some time. The company rejected his offer to buy OpenAI, instead offering to "buy Twitter" for just $9.7 billion dollars. It’s worth noting that the offer is four times lower than what Musk paid for the platform and that Altman purposefully used the word Twitter and not X. no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want— Sam Altman (@sama) February 10, 2025 OpenAI has also recently countersued Musk, accusing the billionaire of staging press attacks and malicious campaigns against the company on X. The suit also accuses Musk of making "harassing legal claims," referring to his initial suit, and a "sham bid for OpenAI's assets." The company also published an email from Musk’s time at OpenAI in which he suggested merging with Tesla. Altman and his crew have stated that Musk was present during talks about OpenAI going for-profit and that he suggested he be given majority equity, control of the board and the CEO position. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and founded xAI, which somehow just bought X in some kind of shady ouroboros of corporate tomfoolery.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-apparently-making-a-social-network-175842370.html?src=rss

AMD unveils its next-gen Zen 6 EPYC Venice CPU die, the first HPC chip built on TSMC’s 2nm process node.

Amazon asked third-party sellers how the "current U.S. tariff situation" has affected sourcing and pricing, logistics and plans to ship goods into warehouses.

OpenAI is working on its own X-like social media network, the Verge reported on Tuesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. The project is still in early stages and there is an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT’s image generation that contains a social feed, the report said. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project, the Verge said, adding that it was unclear whether the company plans to release the social network as a stand-alone application or integrate it into ChatGPT. —Deborah Sophia, Reuters

The humble tape measure is easy to take for granted, but it's a marvel of modern engineering. A 25-foot-long piece of spring steel, far less than 1mm thick, can be coiled into something that clips to a pocket. Unfurled, a curve is induced across its width, giving it a beam-like strength that allows it to hold a rigid, straight shape.Researchers at the University of California San Diego found another application for tape measures beyond measuring: Being used as robot hands. Those companies currently developing humanoid robots will tell you that developing artificial human-like hands is expensive. The UCSD researchers reckon tape measures can accomplish a lot of gripping and conveying tasks at a fraction of the cost. "We like to look for non-traditional, non-intuitive robot mechanisms," says Nick Gravish, an Assistant Professor at UCSD's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "The tape measure is such a wonderful structure because of its combined softness and stiffness together." The gripper has two "fingers," made of two spools–each made of two rolls of measuring tape bound together. Each spool is rolled up, in a compact configuration, with only a small part extending out in a triangle shape to form a finger. These triangle sections are controlled by four motors each that control the finger's motion. Each finger can move independently. The triangle sections can lengthen to reach objects that are farther away. They can also retract to bring objects closer to the robot arm the gripper is mounted on.The dual-conveyor-belt configuration means their invention, called GRIP-tape (Grasping and Rolling In-Plane), can rotate objects in place:In a fruit-picking application pursued by the team, the two fingers can rotate a lemon to break it off at the stem:For now, the invention requires remote control. The team's next steps will be to add sensors and AI, in hopes of achieving autonomous function.

A building can occupy a corner of the city, or it can carve its way into the urban psyche. In Belém, the latter is happening with undeniable force. Two new towers—Quadra Legacy and Quadra Authentic—are taking shape with an ambition that runs deeper than height or scale. This collaboration between Pininfarina and Quadra Engenharia transforms 265 meters of vertical construction into a layered dialogue between Amazonian heritage and urban renewal. The façades, shaped by the memory of flowing rivers, capture movement in static form. Their interiors, rooted in biophilic principles, create sanctuaries that breathe with the rhythm of the rainforest. These towers function as architectural storytellers narrating Belém’s evolution. Designer: Samuele Sordi, Chief Architect Officer at Pininfarina Located two blocks from Baía do Guajará, the development strategically plants its footprint along Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral and Avenida Senador Lemos. That dual frontage creates constant exchange with the city’s diverse energy. Medical centers, financial services, and commercial activity buzz on one side. The whispers of the jungle echo from the other. The genius of Pininfarina’s design lies in its refusal to choose between these worlds—it embraces both, creating a harmonious dialogue where urban energy and natural serenity coexist. Fluid Forms: Architecture in Motion From the ground up, the towers ripple like currents moving upstream. No harsh corners interrupt their flow, and no static geometry constrains their expression. The buildings breathe with soft curves inspired by the Amazon’s sinuous waterways and indigenous craftsmanship. Each balcony reads like a motion study—frozen mid-flow yet never truly still. This represents architecture shaped by water, carved by wind, and textured by tradition. The material palette reinforces this vision with remarkable coherence. Locally sourced, recycled components fuse with high-performance solutions that address both climate demands and sustainability goals. These buildings speak the visual language of the forest: layered, textured, deeply organic. The renderings reveal how light interacts with these surfaces—gliding across the façade at dawn, transforming into dynamic shadows by dusk. The towers present a different face with each passing hour. They remain in constant dialogue with their environment—responsive to time, temperature, and terrain in ways that conventional skyscrapers rarely achieve. Inside, that fluid movement continues—it transforms. The lobby evolves beyond its functional role to become a sensory arrival point. Curved ceilings mimic forest canopies. Strategic greenery and filtered natural light ground visitors in something quieter, more primal. Everything reflects the Amazon without resorting to literal imitation. The spaces feel thoroughly modern yet deeply connected to place—refined without disconnection. Living Sanctuaries: Beyond Convention Quadra Engenharia and Pininfarina have crafted 158 living sanctuaries where daily life unfolds in harmony with nature. Biophilic principles guide every layout decision. Natural light becomes a constant companion rather than an occasional visitor. Ventilation works with the building’s organic form instead of fighting against it. Balconies offer seamless transitions between interior and exterior spaces—genuine extensions of living areas. The design renderings show how these spaces invite rituals shaped by nature. Morning coffee becomes a meditation in sunlight. Evening breezes drift through wide thresholds. The materials feel indigenous to this place—grown from local inspiration. This authenticity creates a sensory richness that many developments cannot match. The design philosophy extends to every corner of the project. The underground parking—typically the most utilitarian of spaces—has been reimagined as an unexpected gallery of light and texture. Linear LEDs trace structural rhythms across ceilings. Reflective surfaces expand the space visually while echoing the fluid geometry above. It’s an environment where steel and concrete participate in the larger narrative. They belong to the story being told. As darkness falls, the towers undergo another transformation. The city settles into night, and the buildings come alive again—with quiet presence. Lighting embraces each curve, revealing depth and subtlety in the architectural forms. From across the city, they glow like river stones warmed by sunlight—silent markers of identity and evolution on Belém’s changing skyline. Beyond Buildings: A New Urban Dialogue These towers defy conventional categorization. They function as living components of the urban ecosystem—interacting with it, responding to it, and reshaping it through thoughtful design. The public plaza at ground level invites more than transient foot traffic. It creates space for community, connection, and momentary pause. This represents an architectural ethic that informs every square meter of the project. Samuele Sordi, Chief Architect Officer at Pininfarina, described the project as capturing “the essence of the Amazon in bold, modern architectural language.” The renderings demonstrate that this language expresses itself with remarkable fluency. Every line serves a purpose. Every material tells a story. Every detail holds meaning within the larger narrative. Legacy and Authentic. Two towers with one cohesive voice. They offer Belém a new way to see itself—elevated not merely by physical height, but by conceptual depth. The buildings define themselves through openness to their environment. As the city continues its evolution, these towers will do more than mark the skyline. They will speak to the identity of a region shaped by river, rainforest, and the quiet strength of its people. This is architecture that rises above display to become dialogue with the city, with history, with the future. It reminds us that the best buildings transform space into something meaningful, connected, and alive.The post Sculpting Nature and Future: The Organic Elegance of Belém’s Quadra Towers first appeared on Yanko Design.