Macworld As we get ever closer to the iPhone 17 launch, we’re starting to see more solid leaks of the new phones, and today we have another up-close look at the enclosure of all four handsets. And once again, the iPhone 17 Air looks insane. It’s one thing to read that the phone is less than 6mm thick—it’s another thing to see it. Well-known leaker Sonny Dickson has shared dummies of all four iPhone 17 models—the iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max—and you can instantly see how thin the new phone will be: “unbelievably thin,” as Dickson writes. It look to be about half the thickness of the Pro Max and barely thicker than the power button on the side of the phone. As far as sizing, the iPhone 17 Air is larger than the 6.1-inch iPhone and iPhone Pro, but smaller than the 6.9-inch iPhone Pro Max. That puts it around the size of the current iPhone 16 Plus, which has a 6.7-inch display. The USB-C port on the iPhone 17 Air (second from top) appears to be slightly off-center.Sonny Dickson/X We can glean a couple of other things from the dummies as well. As reported, the Phone 17 Air only has one camera, versus two on the standard iPhone 17 and three on the Pro models. Furthermore, there are just two holes on the bottom of the phone where the speaker goes, presumably for microphones. That means the phone won’t have stereo speakers, which has also been rumored. The phone also appears to have a slightly off-center USB-C port, which is something we also saw on the Galaxy S25 Edge dummies. Presumably, this has to do with engineering and space issues, but it’s out of character for Apple to ship a phone with a visual flaw, so we’ll need to see the final product before we jump to conclusions.  You can stay up to date with the latest rumors ahead of its September launch in our iPhone 17 superguide.

If it looks like a trade war, swims like a trade war, and quacks like a trade war, then it’s probably a trade war that has now broken out — this time between the US and the EU as the White House condemns Europe’s punitive fines against Apple and Meta, fines the companies intend to appeal. Europe hit Apple and Meta with fines of €500m and €200m, respectively, yesterday, punishing both companies for noncompliance with Europe’s Digital Markets Act, a piece of legislation that pretends to be about opening up markets but seems custom-designed to impact the US tech giants. The White House has called these fines a “novel form of economic extortion” and has warned Europe that the US will not tolerate the magnitude of these fines. Custom-fitted penalties The steep fines surprised most commentators, as whispers coming out of the bloc had hinted that the EU would impose minimal fines against both tech companies in order to avoid reprisals from the US administration. This doesn’t seem to be what happened, unless we assume that €700m is now seen as small change by Europe’s leaders, who appear to have given themselves the right to charge US companies even more.  The fines come as Europe and the US attempt to forge new trading agreements in response to pressure from the US administration and its tariff threats. While the impact of tariffs will hurt US consumers most, repercussions will also be felt by manufacturers and trading partners who have fed US demand until now. The effect will also soon be felt on a wider basis as a trade barrier-induced slump hits shipping and distribution globally in the coming weeks, reflecting the slowdown in demand around the imposition of those tariffs.  Playing at leadership Despite the looming risk of consequences for their own economies, both in terms of manufacturing demand and the impact on their own manufacturing businesses of an onset of low-cost consumer goods originally destined for the US market, Europe’s leaders seem to want to cosplay at playing hardball. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier recently said the EU “will enforce our tech legislation without any doubt, and this has nothing to do with the trade negotiations currently ongoing with the US.” That may be how Europe’s leaders see it, but their self-perception means little to a White House that sees these fines as extortionate reprisals against some of America’s biggest and most successful firms. The administration is far more likely to cleave to the opinion of Meta and Apple: “The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards,” Meta said. “Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free,” Apple said. Who designed the rules, and for what purpose? While Regnier insists the rules are being applied fairly and would be applied against any firm, no matter where they are from, critics argue that the DMA seems to have been expressly drafted to constrain the power of US firms. The US is not blind to this conjecture. “Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation, and enable censorship will be recognized as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society,” said a White House spokesperson. The bellicose response emerging from within the US administration suggests it is quite willing to issue its own set of reprisals against Europe’s attempts to fine the tech firms — but that response may not be immediate, pending the result of any legal appeals to those decisions on the part of Apple and Meta. The scenario doesn’t equate to the best mood music. At a time when the administration is practicing a very blunt approach to making deals, European leaders seem to want to hide the true nature of their own equally self-serving responses behind unconvincing veneers of respectability (such as the DMA). Will the future be better tomorrow? In this kind of context, the idea that relationships may become worse before they get better isn’t just a problem waiting to happen. It appears to be a problem that’s already here. Like a squawking duck, this particular sequence of events certainly seems to be forming up to become exactly what it sounds like as the US administration puts its own perception of national interest first, unleashing a challenging set of circumstances for businesses worldwide, including those of Apple and Facebook, the US business entities it probably sees itself as trying to protect.  Ironically, the consequences of these combined sequences of events probably won’t unleash a great deal of benefit for anyone — except, possibly, for some wealthy individuals who want to sell apps via their own App Store. US President George W. Bush once famously said, “The future will be better tomorrow.” Right now, in the absence of positive dialogue, that’s not what I see coming down the pipe. You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Organizations are deepening their cloud investments at an unprecedented pace, recognizing its fundamental role in driving business agility and innovation. Synergy Research Group reports that companies spent $84 billion worldwide on cloud infrastructure services in the third quarter of 2024, a 23% rise over the third quarter of 2023 and the fourth consecutive quarter in which the year-on-year growth rate has increased. DOWNLOAD THE REPORT Allowing users to access IT systems from anywhere in the world, cloud services also ensure solutions remain highly configurable and automated. At the same time, hosted services like generative AI and tailored industry solutions can help companies quickly launch applications and grow the business. To get the most out of these services, companies are turning to cloud optimization—the process of selecting and allocating cloud resources to reduce costs while maximizing performance. But despite all the interest in the cloud, many workloads remain stranded on-premises, and many more are not optimized for efficiency and growth, greatly limiting the forward momentum. Companies are missing out on a virtuous cycle of mutually reinforcing results that comes from even more efficient use of the cloud. Organizations can enhance security, make critical workloads more resilient, protect the customer experience, boost revenues, and generate cost savings. These benefits can fuel growth and avert expenses, generating capital that can be invested in innovation. “Cloud optimization involves making sure that your cloud spending is efficient so you’re not spending wastefully,” says André Dufour, Director and General Manager for AWS Cloud Optimization at Amazon Web Services. “But you can’t think of it only as cost savings at the expense of other things. Dollars freed up through optimization can be redirected to fund net new innovations, like generative AI.” This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. This content was researched, designed, and written entirely by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.

Years after rumors started, months after it was announced, and a week after preorders began, the Apple Watch became a reality for millions of users, starting on April 24, 2015.Apple got so much of the Apple Watch right back at the start in 2015Unless you were seriously into Rolex, there's a decent chance that you had stopped wearing a watch once your iPhone had become part of your life. It's not true that everyone stopped, but a noticeable number did — and then it seemed as if they all came back in 2015.For years before then, the very idea of an "iWatch" was both mocked and longed for. After it was launched in 2015, after Apple Watch became a reality, it was still mocked a little, and it was still longed for a lot. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Environmental portraits go beyond traditional studio shots by placing subjects within surroundings that reveal something meaningful about their lives, interests, or professions. This photographic approach deepens storytelling, creating images rich in context and character. Here’s how you can master the art of environmental portraiture to produce compelling narratives. Understanding Environmental Portraiture Unlike standard portraits, environmental portraits provide viewers with context by including significant surroundings or objects that offer insights into the subject’s world. Whether it’s an artist in their studio, a chef in their kitchen, or an athlete on their home field, these settings amplify the narrative, adding depth and authenticity to your images. Choosing the Right Environment Relevance and Authenticity Ensure the chosen environment directly relates to your subject’s identity, profession, or passion. Authenticity resonates strongly with viewers. Visual Appeal Look for locations with appealing textures, colors, and lighting opportunities. Interesting spaces naturally draw viewer attention and enhance your subject. Utilizing Light and Composition Effectively Harnessing Natural Lighting Leverage available natural light creatively. Windows, doorways, or outdoor locations can provide soft, flattering illumination that highlights your subject’s connection to their environment. Composing for Impact Employ compositional strategies like framing, leading lines, and balanced layering to guide the viewer’s eye through the environment and directly toward your subject. Capturing Authentic Interactions Encourage your subject to interact naturally with their environment. Genuine engagement with surroundings—like a musician tuning their instrument or a craftsman working on their creation—creates authentic, engaging imagery. Avoid overly posed or unnatural arrangements, focusing instead on genuine actions that reflect true personality and narrative. Extended reading: Create portraits inspired by masters Enhancing Narratives through Detail and Placement Including Narrative Details Subtle yet significant details enrich the portrait’s narrative. Items like personal tools, photographs, or meaningful objects can provide additional context and emotional layers, deepening the viewer’s connection. Strategic Subject Placement Thoughtful positioning of your subject within their environment emphasizes their connection to the space, ensuring they remain the focal point without becoming lost or overshadowed by surrounding details. Refining Your Environmental Portraits The true strength of an environmental portrait lies in its ability to communicate clearly and powerfully. Carefully enhance important details in post-processing, selectively emphasizing narrative elements without overwhelming your subject. Consider subtle color grading adjustments to amplify emotional tones—warmer hues for intimacy and nostalgia or cooler tones for reflection and professionalism. Environmental portraiture offers photographers a unique opportunity to explore storytelling through the lens. With thoughtful attention to detail, strategic composition, and genuine interactions, you can create images that resonate deeply, portraying subjects in ways that feel both authentic and compelling. Embrace the challenge, and let your creativity unfold. The post Capturing Meaningful Narratives with Environmental Portraits appeared first on 500px.

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion has more RPG mechanics built into it than Skyrim or most Bethesda games after Oblivion, for that matter. Skyrim streamlined some of the intricate busywork that fans have enjoyed dabbling in (and breaking the game with) since Daggerfall and Morrowind. Perhaps most obvious is the complete omission of an NPC persuasion minigame in Skyrim. The Oblivion Remaster brings back the old persuasion minigame wheel and all of the other cool stuff the original had. Here are some beginner tips to help make the journey through the radiant woodlands of Cyrodill that much more enjoyable. Don’t Grind Out Individual Skills Early On Since enemies still scale to your overall level in the remaster, it’s best to avoid grinding out skills that won’t help much in combat (like acrobatics). Every 10 skill ups grants you a level up, so choose what to train wisely or enemies will outperform you in the scaling ‘arms race’. The remaster lets players choose any attribute to level up regardless of class, so it’s possible to out-power enemies just by boosting Strength and Endurance. You can also just avoid leveling entirely by becoming an eternal insomniac. No really, just don’t rest and level scaling will never be an issue. Of course, avoiding leveling up forfeits your ability to progress your attributes like Strength and Endurance, so maybe that’s not the best option. Raise Five Combat Skills Every Level Another more commonsense tactic to make sure enemies don’t overpower you through scaling is to increase five combat skills every level. Doing this will scale your fighting skill rank (the Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master ranks) in parallel with enemy soul class ranks. The specific skills that are useful in this situation are Blade, Blunt, Hand-To-Hand, Armorer, Block, and Heavy Armor. But you don’t need to constantly fight stuff to level these fighting skills; money can do the trick with the right trainers. There’s a Heavy Armor trainer smack dab in the Imperial City. Head to the City Market District and talk to Varnado at The Best Defense store to get started on your road to heavy armor mastery, if that’s a combat skill you want to focus on. Always Keep Repair Hammers on You Even if you’re not focused about raising Armorer skill, keeping a batch of repair hammers with you is smart. This is because, unlike Skyrim, armor and weapons degrade with use and break completely after a while. Consistent weapon and armor repair is crucial in Oblivion. Go Anywhere Now that you have some repair hammers with you, it’s time to choose a direction and explore! In Oblivion, it’s perfectly safe just to set off in any direction without the threat of level 100 dragons or the like. Since every enemy scales to the your overall level, there aren’t any super high level areas that kick you in the teeth (until you activate oblivion gates). Oblivion Gates Speaking of oblivion gates, this game has a soft ‘point of no return’ of sorts. Once the ‘Dagon Quest’ is initiated, those pesky oblivion gates open up all over Cyrodill, causing quite the blemish on the lush, and slightly more desaturated, landscape. These gates will persist until the main quest is finished, so it’s best to hold off on the Dagon Quest until you’re well equipped and ready to deal with their ubiquitous presence. Customize Your Class for the Best Optimization If you want to avoid running into the level scaling problem early, it’s best to make your own custom class. Standard classes are built to level fast before receiving the full bonuses to your targeted attributes.  While there’s a wide array of options that can yield effective results, raising Endurance early on is especially useful as it multiplies HP increase every level up. You want to ever level up to  health as much as possible, so targeting skills tied to Endurance is the best way to get that. Join a Guild for Free Bed, Trainers, and Various Cheap Vendors There are five main guilds available to join and rank up throughout Cyrodill. Being a member of any of these guilds supplies you with a free bed, cheaper vendors, and in most cases, a lot of supplies and adventuring experience. The Thieves Guild can be found when investigating the Gray Fox within the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. The Dark Brotherhood is perhaps the easiest one to get into….if you’re a murderer, that is. And the Fighters and Mages guilds have to be entered through other cities such as Chorral. The next point covers the fifth guild. Do the Arena Questline for Some of the Best Early Money in the Game The Arena is located right in the heart of the Imperial City. Just head on in and start taking on bouts to get some great early money and combat experience. This faction is especially recommended early on because the rewards don’t scale with the overall player level like other quest lines. Oh, and if you’re not a fighter, don’t worry. You can join, freely take weapons and armor from the racks, sell them in the city and never look back again to get some free cash without swinging a sword. Join the Mages Guild To Create Weapons and Spells for Good Early Game Money The Mages Guild has loads of free equipment lying around for apprentices to take. Finding alchemy equipment such as a mortar and pestle is easy once you’ve joined a guild hall. Furthermore, every guild hall houses many spell merchants, some which sell some of the best spells in the game. Use the Mages Guild to Triple Enchant Weapons for High Damage Hits Enchanting becomes available once you unlock the Arcane University within the Mages Guild quest chain. It’s a very open-ended method of adding special effects and spells to your armor and weapons. Enchanting your weapon with fire, frost, and shock each with lower points, is more powerful over time than enchanting a weapon with just one effect with very high points. For armor, it’s highly recommended you use the resist magic enchantment so that the particularly difficult daedra within the oblivion gates don’t pose too much of a threat. Summon Monsters for Easy Combat Experience Whether you’re a mage who wants to get some quick and easy strength skills up to par or a fighter seeking a risk-free method of training, Conjuration magic is a great option. Any new player can grab a basic Summon Scamp spell in a shop in the Imperial City Market District. Just head to Edgar’s Discount Spells shops and train your combat prowess against your summoned scamp for easy and quick experience. If you pick a Dark Elf race for your character, you get a built-in “Summon Ancestor” spell from the get-go, though you can only use it once a day. Buy the Dremora Lord Spell Before It’s Too Late The Dremora Lord conjuration spell disappears after the “A Plot Revealed” quest in the mages guild questline; buy it from Volanaro in the Bruma Mages Guild before then. For those particular interested going down the route of Conjuration, there’s a missable Dremora Lord spell within the Mages Guild questline. Volanaro sells this powerful spell in the Bruma mages guild branch. You must buy it before the “A Plot Revealed” quest or it, and Volanaro, will be gone forever. There’s much more to explore and min-max within the wide world that is Cyrodill, but these 12 are ones that helped us early on in our own adventures.

A mutual recognition agreement (MRA) was signed between the UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) and Canada’s Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada / Regroupement des Ordres d’Architectes du Canada (ROAC) in Toronto on April 23, 2025. The agreement will go into effect on May 14, when eligible architects who are registered in the UK or Canada will be able to benefit from a streamlined process to practise their profession in the two countries, which will create new opportunities across the Atlantic. “The agreement opens significant new opportunities for architects in the UK and Canada to collaborate, building on the strong professional partnerships that already exist between the two countries. It will at the same time maintain the high standards the public have a right to expect. We are so very excited to see the new route open in May,” said Alan Kershaw, chair of the Architects Registration Board. According to the Architects Registration Board (ARB), in both Canada and the UK, an architect must be registered with the relevant professional regulator to practise architecture in the jurisdiction as well as to use the legally protected title. “Registration exists to ensure anyone calling themselves an architect has the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, while meeting the required standards of conduct and practice,” says the board. Eligibility requirements include the following: Those who have obtained CACB-accredited qualifications, or who have achieved the same standard following certification, and who have additionally completed the Canadian experience requirement and licensing examination. Those in the UK who have obtained ARB-accredited qualifications and registered with the ARB. The agreement also includes those who have registered through passing the Prescribed Exam at Part 1 and Part 2 level and additionally completed a UK Part 3. The streamlined process will involve obtaining a letter of good standing from the regulatory body in the architect’s home country (ie from ROAC in Canada, or the ARB in the UK) and completing an approximately two-hour-long online or printed module highlighting differences in practice between the two countries. An ARB representative explained that applicants would be expected to know, for instance, that different cities in Canada have different planning regulations, but would not be not be tested on the content of those regulations, nor of the building code. The streamlined process applies to all areas of Canada, including Quebec, where there is no French language test as part of the process. From the Canadian end, the AIBC will be administering the process on behalf of ROAC. “This agreement further strengthens the longstanding and historic relationship between the UK and Canada, as Commonwealth partners,” said Ian R McDonald, chair of the Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada/Regroupement des Ordres d’Architectes du Canada. ARB’s role in developing the MRA was in part supported by funding through the UK Department for Business and Trade’s Recognition Agreements Grant Programme. The ROAC’s role, through the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (secretariat for the MRA), was in part supported by the Province of British Columbia’s Credential Assessment Improvement Fund. Existing MRAs According to the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), a similar MRA between Canada, Australia, and New Zealand came about because of the three countries’ participation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Architect Project. All three countries maintain an APEC Architect Register of senior architects who have met specific criteria such as having at least seven years of senior experience. “As a result of the MRA, an APEC Architect in Australia or New Zealand is entitled to registration in Canada as of right, apart from being assessed about any aspects of the architectural process in Canada that is specific to Canada. The same applies for a Canadian APEC Architect applying for registration in Australia or New Zealand,” says the OAA. Since 1992, architects registered in one Canadian jurisdiction may also apply to register in other Canadian jurisdictions under the terms of the Canadian Reciprocity Agreement between the eleven Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada (ROAC). The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has been closely monitoring Nova Scotia’s Bill 36, Free Trade and Mobility within Canada Act, 2025, intending to remove barriers to trade and investment between Nova Scotia and other reciprocal provinces and territories. It has written to the Ontario minister responsible, recommending that  “government could consider exempting Architects from this legislation as the profession already enjoys longstanding reciprocity across Canada.” There is also a reciprocal arrangement between Québec and France that allows individuals with licenses to practice a regulated trade or profession in either Québec or France to also work in the other jurisdiction. This agreement aims to facilitate the recognition and mobility of professionals between the two regions. Since 2014, a reciprocity agreement has been in place between architects in Canada and in the United States. The agreement between Canada and the UK was signed at a reception hosted by the British Consulate-General in Toronto.   The post Canada and the UK sign new reciprocity agreement appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 Posted by Jim Thacker NVIDIA open-sources PhysX’s GPU simulation code html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" NVIDIA has fully open-sourced the SDK for PhysX, its real-time physics system, and Flow, its gaseous fluid simulation system. Whereas previous releases came with compiled binaries for GPU acceleration, the releases of PhysX 5.6 and Flow 2.2 include full GPU source code. A game physics technology now used in offline simulation tools for 3ds Max and Maya Initially a real-time dynamics system for games, PhysX is supported in game engines including O3DE and Unity, although it has been superseded by Chaos physics in Unreal Engine 5. However, it is also now used as a physics engine in a number of offline simulation tools, including 3ds Max particle and physics add-on tyFlow and Maya crowd simulator Golaem. Although primarily a rigid body dynamics system, it also supports soft bodies and position based dynamics for granular materials and liquids. Now fully open-sourced, including GPU simulation code NVIDIA originally partly open-sourced PhysX in 2018, adding gaseous fluid simulation library Flow in 2022. However, in previous releases, only the CPU-side code was fully open-source: GPU support was provided via pre-compiled binaries. The latest releases – the PhysX 5.6 SDK and Flow 2.2 – include the GPU source code, making both technologies fully open-source. That means that it would be possible for developers integrating PhysX into their tools to support AMD or Intel hardware for GPU acceleration, although it would be a lot of work to do so fully. NVIDIA’s blog post notes that PhysX contains over 500 kernels written for CUDA, its GPU compute framework. Availability and system requirements The source code for PhysX SDK 5.6 is available on GitHub under a 3-clause BSD licence. It can be compiled to run on Windows 10+ or Linux, and is tested on Ubuntu 20.04+. You can find build instructions for Windows and Linux on GitHub. The source for Flow 2.2 is provided in the same repository, also under a 3-clause BSD licence. Read NVIDIA’s announcement that it has released GPU source code for PhysX and Flow Download the source code for PhysX SDK and Flow from GitHub Have 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 don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects. Latest News Adobe releases Photoshop 26.6 Check out the new features in the image-editing software, including nifty new Select Details options in the AI-based Object Selection tool. Thursday, April 24th, 2025 Chaos releases Corona 12 Update 2 for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D Update to the renderer adds over 3,100 Chaos Scans materials to the Cosmos library, and improves DoF and volumetric effects. Thursday, April 24th, 2025 Get 260+ modular Wild West building assets for Unreal Engine Get JustB Studios' 1850s Post Office Environment pack of 3D assets for free for two weeks on the Fab marketplace. For commercial use. Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 Get VFX artist Thomas Marcos' free Blender clouds shader Lightweight Procedural Clouds Shader generates realistic clouds in production conditions, and works with the Cycles or Eevee renderers. Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 NVIDIA open-sources PhysX's GPU simulation code Real-time physics framework used in game engines and offline simulation tools for 3ds Max and Maya is now fully open-source. Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 Hair Cinematic Tool 2.0 simplifies hair shading in Unreal Engine 5 Argentum Studio's in-house tool simplifies the process of lighting and rendering hair and fur in Unreal Engine 5.5. Free for a month. Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 More News Tutorial: Creature Animation for Games LightWave Digital releases LightWave 2025 Get the free version of ZibraVDB for Unreal Engine and Houdini See JangaFX's first demo of IlluGen, its app for in-game VFX Autodesk releases Flame 2026 Character Creator gets new free MetaTailor plugin Epic Games releases Twinmotion 2025.1.1 Leopoly adds voxel sculpting to Shapelab 2025 Check out new 3ds Max UV unwrapping plugin UVReactor Reallusion releases iClone 8.53 with timecode support Anima 6.0 adds traffic simulation to Chaos's crowd animation tool ZibraVDB: the new standard in OpenVDB for virtual production Older Posts