Wikipedia is taking legal action against the UK's new Online Safety Act regulations it says could threaten the safety of its volunteer editors and their ability to keep harmful content off the site. From a report: The Wikimedia Foundation -- the non-profit which supports the online encyclopaedia -- is seeking a judicial review of rules which could mean Wikipedia is subjected to the toughest duties required of websites under the act. Lead counsel Phil Bradley-Schmieg said it was "unfortunate that we must now defend the privacy and safety of Wikipedia's volunteer editors from flawed legislation." The government told the BBC it was committed to implementing the act but could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. It's thought this is the first judicial review to be brought against the new online safety laws - albeit a narrow part of them - but experts say it may not be the last. "The Online Safety Act is vast in scope and incredibly complex," Ben Packer, a partner at law firm Linklaters, told the BBC. The law would inevitably have impacts on UK citizens' freedom of expression and other human rights, so as more of it comes into force "we can expect that more challenges may be forthcoming," he told the BBC. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More than an e-ink reader and a note pad, this has won me over.

Kate Mooney is founder and principal of OCCA, a Glasgow-based studio that works on hotel interiors and branding. Its clients include major hotel groups like Hilton, Marriott and Ramada as well as independent hospitality projects. Design What would your monograph be called? Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. From the earliest stages, working in this industry has never felt like work to me – it’s a passion, and a way of thinking that I find intriguing, challenging and compelling. Of course there can be (very!) long days and very tough times, but when you genuinely love what you do, the energy and drive to do it – and succeed at it – is second nature. This is a philosophy I share with my team, family and friends frequently – find joy in what you do, and you will be world class at it. What recent design work made you a bit jealous? BLINK Design Studio’s Six Senses in Kyoto is a masterclass in serene, contemporary luxury that deeply respects its cultural surroundings. I love the balance of minimalism and warmth – it’s modern but not cold, luxurious but not excessive. The hotel blends into its surroundings while the design captures the essence of Kyoto’s traditions though natural materials, elegant lighting, and a seamless indoor-outdoor approach. And of course, what’s not to love about the wabi-sabi principles?! What’s an unusual place you get inspiration from? The Mackintosh Building, or The Mac, at the Glasgow School of Art was formative for me – not just for its architecture, but for its philosophy. Mackintosh designed with purpose, he effortlessly blended architecture and interior design, creating spaces where structure and decoration were not separate entities but a singular, harmonious vision. The tragedy of losing it to fire twice, leaving it in rubble, has only made me appreciate its influence more. Name something that is brilliantly designed, but overlooked. The lightbulb – not just for its function but for its evolution in design. From Edison’s first filament bulb to sculptural LED fixtures, it’s a perfect example of how necessity drives innovation, blending engineering, aesthetics, and sustainability into an object we rarely stop to appreciate. What object in your studio best sums up your taste? The Vitra LCW Plywood chair designed by Charles & Ray Eames has been a key feature in OCCA studios though the ages – with the black and white cow hide finish. It is a design icon but took years of effort and experiments by the Eames to develop back in 1945. It is a perfectly considered and designed chair that conforms to the shape of the human body, even 80 years after it was first designed. I’ve not met anyone that doesn’t find it incredibly comfortable. The black and white cowhide finish creates a striking and slightly humorous finish and is a great conversation piece. Timelessness right there! The Vitra LCW Plywood in the OCCA studio Leadership What feedback felt brutal at the time, but turned out to be useful? “If you’re pregnant again you can’t be serious about your job.” The 1990’s were properly brutal! However, instead of letting it define me, I used it to define the kind of business I wanted to build one day. It made me think about what a truly supportive, inclusive, and high-performing workplace should look like. One that encourages excellence but doesn’t force people to choose between their careers and their lives. That statement/experience taught me that great talent thrives in environments that are flexible, trusting, and empowering – not ones built on outdated assumptions. What’s an underappreciated skill that design leaders need? Decisiveness. Creativity thrives on curiosity and exploration, but at some point, commitment is necessary. In hospitality design particularly, indecision kills momentum. A good designer knows when to refine, when to push, and when to make the call. What keeps you up at night? Apart from my husband’s snoring?! Now that my children are all adults and figuring things out for themselves, what keeps me up occasionally is focussing on controlling the controllables – in this crazy world that we’re currently living in, that’s a bit of challenge! But then, I’ll give in to thinking about the evolution of OCCA and the team. The industry is shifting with AI; sustainability; guest expectations; staying ahead of the next best thing. It is both exciting and relentless. I have a vivid imagination, and it’s always thinking about where we go next. What trait is non-negotiable in new hires? Curiosity, because skills can be taught, experience can be gained, but being open minded with the hunger to learn, to challenge, to push boundaries—that’s what makes a designer great. And collaboration because the ability to work seamlessly with colleagues, clients, and suppliers – listening, contributing, and problem-solving together – is key to delivering the best work. No egos, just great teamwork. Complete this sentence, “I wish more clients…” … were as good as our current clients! Design disciplines in this article Brands in this article Recent Jobs

In 2025, if you're an artist, maker or small business wanting to sell your products online, you have plenty of places to choose from. But Big Cartel is one of the oldest, most established and most respected. Launched in 2005, this cloud-based e-commerce platform is used by everyone from woodworkers and ceramicists to niche medieval tapestry artists and has generated over $2.5 billion worth of sales to date. But in the world of online sales, no one can sit on their laurels for long. So the platform, which is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, turned to London and LA-based design agency How&How to help clarify its offering in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Scribbles and scrappiness Central to the rebrand is a distinctive illustration style that evokes the rough sketches entrepreneurs scrawl into notebooks when dreaming up their ventures. This scrappy aesthetic establishes an approachable, free-spirited tone that runs throughout the identity. The "deliberately imperfect" approach extends to a new custom wordmark created in collaboration with type foundry Extraset. With chunky letterforms featuring unexpectedly sliced-off edges on the 'A' and 'R', it's a deliberate step away from the polished perfection common in tech branding. Complementing this is a stretched headline typeface paired with motivational messaging such as "Passion Pays" and "Sell Out Without Selling Out", which speaks directly to creators considering the entrepreneurial leap. Breaking down barriers Beyond visual elements, the rebrand repositions Big Cartel as a platform that breaks down barriers to entry for creative entrepreneurs. The new identity system includes both expressive, loose illustrations alongside crisper, more functional icons designed for different contexts. The latter is seen as particularly important for the platform's updated product design. At the same time, risograph textures reference the platform's indie roots, while a vibrant colour palette signals a refreshed outlook that distinguishes Big Cartel in a competitive field. "Every piece comes together in a world as self-made as those it represents," says Cat How, founder and CEO of How&How. "And the cherry on top? A rabble-rousing, re-thought logo that carries 20 years of Noughties goodwill into today and proves that you don't have to be picture-perfect to get your creation on the internet." Celebrating individuality Overall, How&How has delivered a refreshingly unpolished rebrand for Big Cartel, positioning the veteran e-commerce platform as the champion of creative entrepreneurs making the leap from "day job to dream job". Its approach feels aligned with competitors like Etsy and Pinterest in celebrating individuality but with a contemporary cultural edge reminiscent of platforms like Dice. "Working with the Big Cartel team has been an incredible experience," says Callum Richards, senior designer at How&How. "From day one, we were empowered to take bold risks and think beyond the limits. Together, we built something that not only propels Big Cartel into a new era but stays true to its indie roots."

RT HaloHalo Infinite’s 2025 Summer Update is live and includes:💥 New power weapon—Mutilator🔥 Firefight: Battle of the Academy⚔️ Mutilator Madness🧨 More weapons on the Weapon Bench🛠️ Forge improvements🫡 50-tier Premium Pass➕ more!Play #OperationLastStand now through June 10!🔗 http://aka.ms/LastStandLaunch

Amber RutherfordSenior EditorAmber RutherfordSenior EditorPublished08 May 2025TagsShowcase Your Product to Our Creative AudienceLet's TalkNodes Interactive released a new Geometry Nodes modifier.Solidify Plus is an advanced version of Blender's native Solidify Modifier, offering features like loops, full control over crease and bevel weights, custom profile shapes, and more. Perfect for hard surface modeling, extrusion, and shell editing, Solidify Plus is compatible with Blender 4.2 and newer.Piotr Popek, also known as Nodes Interactive, is the creator of many great Blender tools. We highly recommend checking out his UV Stretch Preview, GSurface Gen, or Retopo Planes: Purchase Solidify Plus here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.

Howl's Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition (Hardcover) $23.24 (was $25) | Releases September 9 Preorder at Amazon If you love Studio Ghibli's animated hit Howl's Moving Castle but haven't read the source material, a beautiful new Deluxe Limited Edition hardcover of Diana Wynne Jones' original novel is available to preorder now at Amazon. Originally published in 1986, the story is much different than the 2004 film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and serves as the first book in a trilogy. You can preorder Howl's Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition for $23.24 (was $25) ahead of its September 9 publication. Howl's Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition (Hardcover) $23.24 (was $25) | Releases September 9 This upcoming hardcover edition of Howl's Moving Castle features new jacket art, full-color endpapers by artist Devin Elle Kurtz, and black-and-white illustrations throughout the book. It has blue stained edges printed to resemble a starry sky. If you remove the dust jacket, you'll find gold foil-stamped text and shooting star graphics on the front/back covers and spine.As this is a limited-edition release, Howl's Moving Castle fans may want to preorder their copy soon. The $25 list price is lower than many standard hardcover fiction releases.If you've never read the book, Howl's Moving Castle follows Sophie Hatter after she accidentally attracts the attention of the Witch of the Waste. Transformed into an old woman, Sophie's only chance at breaking her curse lies within the Wizard Howl's castle, a mobile base ruled by an infamous heartbreaker. Sophie's journey sees her meet up with the charming Howl, who is tormented by dark secrets from his past, strike a deal with a fire demon, and confront the wicked witch responsible for her condition. Preorder at Amazon If you've never read the book, Howl's Moving Castle follows Sophie Hatter after she accidentally attracts the attention of the Witch of the Waste. Transformed into an old woman, Sophie's only chance at breaking her curse lies within the Wizard Howl's castle, a mobile base ruled by an infamous heartbreaker. Sophie's journey sees her meet up with the charming Howl, who is tormented by dark secrets from his past, strike a deal with a fire demon, and confront the wicked witch responsible for her condition.As mentioned, the 2004 Studio Ghibli film deviated quite a bit from the book, as it featured a different aesthetic, certain characters stuck around for much longer, and even the dynamic between Sophie and Howl plays out in an unconventional way.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Alien: Rogue Incursion will no longer be exclusive to VR headsets, as an upgraded version is coming to Steam and PlayStation 5 later this year. When the original Alien: Rogue Incursionwas released for PC and PS5 back in December 2024, it required the use of a VR headset like the PlayStation VR2 to truly bring players face-to-face with the dreaded Xenomorph like never before. Alien: Rogue Incursion would eventually be ported to the Meta Quest 3 on February 13.

Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next. Fires in the Los Angeles area have claimed more than 16,000 homes and other structures so far this year. Damages in January were estimated as high as $164 billion, making it potentially the worst natural disaster financially in U.S. history, according to Bloomberg. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service have reportedly been redirecting resources in recent months toward beneficial fires to reduce overgrowth. AI enables fire departments to keep more eyes on controlled burns, making them safer and more accepted in communities, say industry experts. “This is just like cancer treatment,” said Sonia Kastner, CEO and founder of Pano AI, based in San Francisco. “You can do early screening, catch it when it’s in phase one, and hit it with really aggressive treatment so it doesn’t progress — what we’ve seen this fire season is proof that our customers across the country use our solution in this way.” San Ramon, California-based Green Grid, which specializes in AI for utility companies, in September alerted its customer at a Big Bear resort that a fire started in the San Bernardino National Forest was near, said Chinmoy Saha, the company’s CEO. By acting early, the resort customer was able to prepare for the needed suppression measures for the fire before it reached and became uncontrollable, he said. Due to the favorable weather conditions, the fire did not reach the customer territory. In the recent Los Angeles area fires, Saha said he had been in discussion with a customer seeking to bring AI to cameras located at the site of the now-devasted Eaton fire that has claimed 17 lives and more than 9,000 buildings. “If we had our system there, this fire could have been mitigated,” said Saha. “Early detection is the key, so the fire is contained and it doesn’t become a catastrophic wildfire.” Aiding First Responders With Accelerated Computing Pano’s service provides human-in-the-loop AI-driven fire detection and alerts that have enabled fire departments to act faster than from 911 calls, accelerating containment efforts, said Kastner. The company’s Pano Station uses two ultra-high-definition cameras mounted on top of mountains like a cell tower, rotating 360 degrees every minute to capture views 10 miles in all directions. Those images are transmitted to the cloud every minute, where AI models running on GPUs do inference for smoke detection. Pano AI’s Pano Station in Rancho Palos Verdes Pano has a daytime smoke detection model and a nighttime near infrared model looking for smoke, as well as a nighttime geostationary satellite model. It has a human in the loop for verifying the detections, and it can be confirmed using digital zoom and time-lapse imagery. It trains on NVIDIA GPUs locally and runs inference on NVIDIA GPUs in the cloud. Harnessing AI for Controlled Burns California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is carrying out prescribed fires, or controlled burns, to reduce dry vegetation that creates fuel for wildfires. “Controlled burns are necessary, and we didn’t do a good job in California for the past 30 or 40 years,” said Saha. Green Grid has deployed its trailer mounted AI camera sensors for monitoring fires and control burns before they go out of control. Pano can be used by fire departments to monitor controlled burn zones with its AI-driven cameras to make sure that plumes of smoke don’t appear outside of the permitted zone, maintaining safety. The company has its cameras stationed at Rancho Palos Verdes, south of the recent Los Angeles area fires. “The area around the palisades fire was a very overgrown forest, and with a lot of dead fuels, so our hope is that there is going to be more focus on prescribed fires,” said Kastner. Embracing AI at Fire Departments for Faster Mitigation CAL FIRE is partnered with Alert California and UC San Diego for a network of cameras owned by investor-owned utilities, CAL FIRE, U.S. Forest Service and other U.S. Department of the Interior agencies. Through that network, they’ve implemented an AI program that looks for new fire starts. It pans every two minutes and continuously updates, and Alert California has the most up-to-date information from this network. If AI can enable fire departments to get to the scene of a fire when it’s just a few acres, it’s a lot easier to control than if it’s 50 or more acres, said David Acuna, battalion chief at CAL FIRE, Clovis, California. This is particularly important in remote areas where it might take hours before a human sees and reports a fire, he added. “They use AI to determine if this looks like a new start,” said Acuna. “Now the key here is the program will then send an email to the relevant emergency command center, saying ‘Hey, I think we spotted a new start, what do you think?’ And it has to be verified by a human.”

If you’ve ever wanted to raid ancient tombs or explore Croft Manor – but with pinballs flying everywhere – you’re in for something special. Tomb Raider Pinball arrives in Pinball FX on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on June 19, including two awesome new tables: Adventures of Lara Croft and Secrets of Croft Manor. But why is this an amazing crossover, you may ask? At their core, both Tomb Raider and pinball are about quick reflexes, careful planning, and that rush you get when you finally pull off the impossible. Whether you’re dodging traps in a crumbling tomb or trying to save a ball rolling toward the drain, it’s that same exciting mix of precision and chaos. But there’s more to pinball than just keeping that silver ball alive. Each table tells a story that makes it unique. Let’s see what lies behind the ramps and rails of these two beauties! Play Video Adventures of Lara Croft is all about Lara’s classic expeditions – from Peru’s jungles to Egypt’s pyramids, from the Great Wall to the frozen caves of Tibet. Along the way, you’ll face off against familiar foes like Mark Willard, Werner Von Croy, or Natla and the Atlanteans. While exploring these remarkable locations and fighting your way through your enemies, you can even play a special third-person shooting mode with Lara’s iconic dual pistols.  There’s a lot to discover while you explore this world, choosing your missions from the globe pictured above: massive Tomb Multiballs, tricky trap ramps, dangerous pits, and finally, the Survivor Wizard Mode that pulls moments from the Survivor Trilogy for one final showdown. It’s pure, distilled Tomb Raider adventure mixed with the excitement of pinball. In Secrets of Croft Manor, you’ll flip your way through the grand halls, uncover hidden rooms, and unlock the secrets that lie deep within the Croft family estate. There’s a ton going on here: agility courses, combat training, puzzle-solving sessions, and a maze to get lost (and found) in.  Even the Croft family butler, Winston, makes an appearance. Be careful not to lock him in the freezer! The magic is in the details in this table – the grand staircase ramps, the spiral library staircase, the hidden study… It’s a love letter to anyone who ever spent hours just exploring Croft Manor between adventures. This table also features a rotating “fireplace” target in the middle, which will transform into interactive table elements according to which main mission you’ve activated.  By translating Lara Croft’s world into fast-paced pinball gameplay, Tomb Raider Pinball captures the spirit of discovery, challenge, and triumph that has made the series legendary, with a whole new perspective that’s perfect for fans and newcomers alike.  Do you have what it takes to become the ultimate tomb raider? Find it out on June 19, when Tomb Raider Pinball launches in Pinball FX!