Your Photos library might sync with iCloud, but in macOS Sequoia, making a manual backup is still a smart way to guard against deletion or corruption. Here's how to keep your memories safe.Backup your Cloud photos to your Mac for safekeepingApple's cloud service mirrors your library across devices, but if something gets deleted or corrupted, it vanishes everywhere. That's why a manual, local backup of your Photos library is critical.Photos replaced iPhoto in 2015 but the local library structure remains largely the same. In macOS Sequoia, backing it up involves ensuring originals are downloaded, then copying the full library to an external or secondary location. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Mario Kart World is obviously the big Nintendo Switch 2 launch title that’s going to dominate headlines not long from now, but there are other, smaller experiences coming from Nintendo that will be available on the upcoming next-gen console day 1 as well. There is, for instance, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a game-slash-tech demo-slash-experience that, as its name suggests, is meant to act as a tour for all things related to the Switch 2 and its hardware. Ahead of its release, then, here, we’re going to go over a few key details that you should know about Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. WHAT IS IT? Let’s start with the basics- what exactly is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour? It is, in a nutshell, a tech demo presented in the form of a guided tour that is meant to offer key details on the Nintendo Switch 2, its features, and its hardware. It will deliver that information through a mix of minigames, tech demos, and more. HOW IT IS STRUCTURED Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will see players controlling a tiny avatar character that you will move around on a large recreation of the Nintendo Switch 2 console. You will be able to walk around on the Switch 2 tablet, its screen, its buttons, and what have you, and will even be able to go into the console’s interiors, learning more about it as you go. FEATURES AND TECH DETAILS As you would expect, Nintendo is using Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour as an opportunity to succinctly convey key information about the console’s tech and features to as many people as possible. That means those who want to familiarize themselves with the basics can learn more about the Switch 2 Joy-Cons’ magnetic connectors, how the mouse functionality works (more on that in a bit), and other tech details. EXHIBITS The entirety of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will be presented as one giant exhibit, with multiple smaller exhibits for players to walk around and explore. From roaming the different exhibit halls that resemble a giant Switch 2 to discovering and engaging with a variety of minigames, it seems like there will be a good bit of things to do. QUESTION MARKS AND SIGNS As you’re walking around the exhibits in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, you’ll spot question marks, dialogue prompts, and the like scattered everywhere. Interacting with these will uncover new information in a variety of ways. Let’s speak about some of those… MINIGAMES As you would expect, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will obviously feature several minigames that it will use to demonstrate some of its new features and capabilities. One tech demo, for instance, will turn your Joy-Cons into a virtual pair of maracas, asking you to shake them around and sense and play around with the beads inside to highlight the improved HD Rumble 2 feature. Another HD Rumble 2 minigame will task you with flipping a Joy-Con and using it as a mouse to find a single invisible point on the screen using only the vibrations you feel through the controller. MORE MINIGAMES There’s more minigames to speak of. For instance, there’s Speed Golf, which will have you use a Joy-Con as a mouse to, you guessed it, play golf. There’s also Dodge the Spike Balls, which is exactly what you think- you play as a tiny UFO in mouse mode and have to avoid a barrage of spike balls of different sizes, with the game serving as an advertisement of sorts of how precise and accurate the Switch 2’s mouse controls can supposedly be. Dodge the Spike Balls will also have a more difficult variant, where rather than simply dodging spike balls, you will also have to collect stars that will frequently appear amidst the barrage. Different minigames will also record high scores. QUIZES Scattered throughout the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour exhibits, you’ll also find what are known as Insights Quizes, which will present you with sets of questions that you’ll pick answers out of provided options for to test your knowledge about the Switch 2, its tech, and its hardware. The HD Rumble 2 quiz, for instance, will ask you about the console’s controllers, how the feature works on the inside of the controllers, and more. TECH DEMOS As we’ve touched on, several tech demos will also be featured in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour to show off the console’s capabilities and improvements over its predecessor. One tech demo that stands out, interestingly enough, is titled Super Mario Bros. 4K Demo, which has you play through the iconic level 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros. The entire level is presented on a single screen, and more of it appears as you move and scroll forward. SECRETS Curiously, several times, Nintendo has said that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will also feature a number of hidden secrets and surprises tucked away, which likely means that players are going to be encouraged to poke around. Obviously, given the game’s very nature (if it can even be called a game, that is), you probably shouldn’t expect anything too elaborate or meaty, though it definitely does sound like there will be at least some digging to do for those who enjoy that sort of thing. MAP MENU At any time while moving around the exhibits, you’ll also be able to pull up a map menu that will let you conveniently scroll through all of your discovered activities on the side, and jump directly to them if you wish. Activities that you discover and engage with will automatically fill out your map, including the stamps that you’ve discovered, tech demos and minigames you have found, and more. FILE SIZE Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour isn’t going to be a particularly large or beefy game, and as you would expect, that is going to be reflected in its file size. As per its eShop listing, it will weight in at roughly 2 GB, which is pretty small even by Switch 2 standards- which, as we have seen from other games, is going to have larger file sizes than the Switch 1 (though still nowhere quite as large as what we see for most games on other platforms). PRICE Nintendo Switch 2 games are going to be pricier than they were on the Switch (and, in some cases, like with Mario Kart World, pricier than most games are on any other platform out there), but Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will be much cheaper. The tech demo will be available for a price of $9.99. WHY IT ISN’T A FREE PACK-IN Many have argued that even a $10 price is unreasonable for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, given what it is and what it is offering, and arguably, the fact that we have had free pack-ins over the years like Wii Sports and Astro’s Playroom does kind of add more weight to that. Speaking to IGN about the game’s price and the decision to not include it as a pack-in with the Switch 2, Nintendo of America’s Bill Trinnen said, “For some people, I think there are people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that, for them I think it’s going to be a great product. It’s really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does. “And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product.’ “ DIGITAL-ONLY When Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour launches, those who wish to partake will only be able to do so through digital purchases. Nintendo has confirmed that physical copies of the game will not be made available.

Microsoft employees have discovered that any emails they send with the terms “Palestine” or “Gaza” are getting temporarily blocked from being sent to recipients inside and outside the company. The No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) protest group reports that “dozens of Microsoft workers” have been unable to send emails with the words “‘Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “Genocide” in email subject lines or in the body of a message.“Words like ‘Israel’ or ‘P4lestine’ do not trigger such a block,” say NOAA organizers. “NOAA believes this is an attempt by Microsoft to silence worker free speech and is a censorship enacted by Microsoft leadership to discriminate against Palestinian workers and their allies.“Microsoft confirmed to The Verge that it has implemented some form of email changes to reduce “politically focused emails” inside the company.“Emailing large numbers of employees about any topic not related to work is not appropriate. We have an established forum for employees who have opted in to political issues,” says Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw in a statement to The Verge. “Over the past couple of days, a number of politically focused emails have been sent to tens of thousands of employees across the company and we have taken measures to try and reduce those emails to those that have not opted in.”The block of these terms comes in a week when current and former Microsoft employees have been protesting against the company’s contracts with the Israeli government during Microsoft’s Build developer conference. A Microsoft employee, Joe Lopez, disrupted the opening keynote of Build on Monday. During CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote Lopez yelled, “How about you show Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” Lopez then sent an email to thousands of Microsoft employees, and the company fired him on Monday.On day two of Build, a Palestinian tech worker disrupted Microsoft’s head of CoreAI during his presentation, and then on Wednesday, two former Microsoft employees disrupted a Build session, and after the commotion a Microsoft executive inadvertently revealed internal messages regarding Walmart’s use of AI.This week’s protests come just days after Microsoft acknowledged its cloud and AI contracts with Israel, but claimed that an internal and external review had found “no evidence” that its tools were used to “target or harm people” in Gaza.See More:

Researchers are reimagining how models operate as demand skyrockets for faster, smarter, and more private AI on phones, tablets, and laptops. The next generation of AI isn’t just lighter and faster; it’s local. By embedding intelligence directly into devices, developers are unlocking near-instant responsiveness, slashing memory demands, and putting privacy back into users’ hands. With mobile hardware rapidly advancing, the race is on to build compact, lightning-fast models that are intelligent enough to redefine everyday digital experiences. A major concern is delivering high-quality, multimodal intelligence within the constrained environments of mobile devices. Unlike cloud-based systems that have access to extensive computational power, on-device models must perform under strict RAM and processing limits. Multimodal AI, capable of interpreting text, images, audio, and video, typically requires large models, which most mobile devices cannot handle efficiently. Also, cloud dependency introduces latency and privacy concerns, making it essential to design models that can run locally without sacrificing performance. Earlier models like Gemma 3 and Gemma 3 QAT attempted to bridge this gap by reducing size while maintaining performance. Designed for use on cloud or desktop GPUs, they significantly improved model efficiency. However, these models still required robust hardware and could not fully overcome mobile platforms’ memory and responsiveness constraints. Despite supporting advanced functions, they often involved compromises limiting their real-time smartphone usability. Researchers from Google and Google DeepMind introduced Gemma 3n. The architecture behind Gemma 3n has been optimized for mobile-first deployment, targeting performance across Android and Chrome platforms. It also forms the underlying basis for the next version of Gemini Nano. The innovation represents a significant leap forward by supporting multimodal AI functionalities with a much lower memory footprint while maintaining real-time response capabilities. This marks the first open model built on this shared infrastructure and is made available to developers in preview, allowing immediate experimentation. The core innovation in Gemma 3n is the application of Per-Layer Embeddings (PLE), a method that drastically reduces RAM usage. While the raw model sizes include 5 billion and 8 billion parameters, they behave with memory footprints equivalent to 2 billion and 4 billion parameter models. The dynamic memory consumption is just 2GB for the 5B model and 3GB for the 8B version. Also, it uses a nested model configuration where a 4B active memory footprint model includes a 2B submodel trained through a technique known as MatFormer. This allows developers to dynamically switch performance modes without loading separate models. Further advancements include KVC sharing and activation quantization, which reduce latency and increase response speed. For example, response time on mobile improved by 1.5x compared to Gemma 3 4B while maintaining better output quality. The performance metrics achieved by Gemma 3n reinforce its suitability for mobile deployment. It excels in automatic speech recognition and translation, allowing seamless speech conversion to translated text. On multilingual benchmarks like WMT24++ (ChrF), it scores 50.1%, highlighting its strength in Japanese, German, Korean, Spanish, and French. Its mix’n’match capability allows the creation of submodels optimized for various quality and latency combinations, offering developers further customization. The architecture supports interleaved inputs from different modalities, text, audio, images, and video, allowing more natural and context-rich interactions. It also performs offline, ensuring privacy and reliability even without network connectivity. Use cases include live visual and auditory feedback, context-aware content generation, and advanced voice-based applications. Several Key Takeaways from the Research on Gemma 3n include: Built using collaboration between Google, DeepMind, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung System LSI. Designed for mobile-first deployment. Raw model size of 5B and 8B parameters, with operational footprints of 2GB and 3GB, respectively, using Per-Layer Embeddings (PLE). 1.5x faster response on mobile vs Gemma 3 4B. Multilingual benchmark score of 50.1% on WMT24++ (ChrF). Accepts and understands audio, text, image, and video, enabling complex multimodal processing and interleaved inputs. Supports dynamic trade-offs using MatFormer training with nested submodels and mix’n’match capabilities. Operates without an internet connection, ensuring privacy and reliability. Preview is available via Google AI Studio and Google AI Edge, with text and image processing capabilities. In conclusion, this innovation provides a clear pathway for making high-performance AI portable and private. By tackling RAM constraints through innovative architecture and enhancing multilingual and multimodal capabilities, researchers offer a viable solution for bringing sophisticated AI directly into everyday devices. The flexible submodel switching, offline readiness, and fast response time mark a comprehensive approach to mobile-first AI. The research addresses the balance of computational efficiency, user privacy, and dynamic responsiveness. The result is a system capable of delivering real-time AI experiences without sacrificing capability or versatility, fundamentally expanding what users can expect from on-device intelligence. Check out the Technical details and Try it here. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Asif RazzaqWebsite |  + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/A Step-by-Step Implementation Tutorial for Building Modular AI Workflows Using Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.7 through API and LangGraphAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Meta Researchers Introduced J1: A Reinforcement Learning Framework That Trains Language Models to Judge With Reasoned Consistency and Minimal DataAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Sampling Without Data is Now Scalable: Meta AI Releases Adjoint Sampling for Reward-Driven Generative ModelingAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Google AI Releases MedGemma: An Open Suite of Models Trained for Performance on Medical Text and Image Comprehension

Succession star Kieran Culkin has secured the part of a young Caesar Flickerman in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie adaptation, following months of rumors.Lionsgate confirmed the news on X/Twitter today, confirming that Culkin would indeed appear as The Hunger Games’ colorful and eccentric TV host in next year’s book-to-movie adaptation. The mystery of who would play Caesar Flickerman has had readers’ heads spinning since rumors began to swirl earlier this year. Now that the fancast has been officially confirmed, all eyes are on Lionsgate to bring its prequel to life.Sunrise on the Reaping is yet another prequel adaptation for eager Hunger Games readers. It takes place after 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and long before the events of the Jennifer Lawrence-led Hunger Games movies that premiered throughout the 2010s. Stanley Tucci was prominently featured as Caesar Flickerman in the film series that finished its story in 2015, leaving Culkin with big shoes to fill as he preps to play a younger version of the character.“Kieran’s scene-stealing presence and undeniable charm are perfect for Caesar Flickerman, the sickeningly watchable host of Panem’s darkest spectacle,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-President Erin Westerman said in a statement. “Stanley Tucci made Caesar unforgettable—and now Kieran will make the role entirely his own.”Culkin has left a massive mark on TV and film in the last few years thanks to his roles as characters like Roman Roy in Succession and Benji Kaplan in last year’s A Real Pain (which won Culkin a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award). Movie fans may also recognize Culkin from his time as a child actor in films like 1991’s Father of the Bride as well as 1990’s Home Alone, where he appeared alongside his brother, Macaulay Culkin. Kieran’s recent time in the spotlight has seen him build a career off of his quick wit, making his casting as The Hunger Games’ dystopian TV host in Sunrise on the Reaping feel like a match made in heaven.The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’s release date is currently set for November 20, 2026. When it brings Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name to the big screen, viewers can expect to see Culkin star alongside Ralph Fiennes (Conclave, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as President Coriolanus Snow, Elle Fanning (Super 8) as Effie Trinket, Jesse Plemons (Civil War, Breaking Bad) as Plutarch Heavensbee, Joseph Zada (Total Control) as Haymitch Abernathy, and more.Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

In their comprehensive report about the bombshell acquisition of Jony Ive’s AI startup by OpenAI, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Shirin Ghaffary said OpenAI’s CEO believed Apple’s co-founder would have been “‘damn proud’ of Ive’s latest move”. He may be right. Then vs. now Jobs and Ive’s partnership has been well-documented and widely discussed over the years, so there’s no need to revisit it. What’s more interesting is what Ive’s deeply conceptual (and sometimes overly abstract) creative approach to technology might mean for what’s to come. If you’ve read Leander Kahney’s excellent book Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products, you probably know that the Jony Ive we see today is precisely the same Jony Ive who used to “coat the back of the film with gouache” to get the transparency effect just right on a translucent sketch. Right from the start, Ive has been passionate about two things: the creative process itself, and the meaning of its result. For better or worse, that has only deepened in the last few years. How many times has Ive talked about intention during his interviews? How often has he gone on tangents about the way we relate to technology, and how that should make us feel? When it was first reported that Ive and Altman were discussing a “new hardware for the age of AI”, any long-time tech enthusiast probably felt a combination of “Oh!” and “Oh…”. I sure did. But here’s the thing: the market is currently stuck between dumb hardware ChatGPT wrappers that are rushed out as AI iPhone killers, and software ChatGPT wrappers that aren’t allowed to leverage the full potential of the iPhone as the irreplaceable mobile hub of our digital lives. That leaves a huge gap in the AI hardware market. And this gap can only be filled by someone who actually knows what they are doing, while at the same time having enough runway not to have to turn a profit in their lifetime. That’s a pretty slim list. Meanwhile, you just know that Ive has been sitting in his many studios and truly, deeply, earnestly thinking about what his AI hardware would do if he had infinite funding and unfettered access to the lifeblood of the frontierest of the frontier AI companies out there. As it happens, that’s precisely what he got. Hopefully. Filling the gap In an alternative universe, Ive’s AI company would have been acquired by Apple, mirroring Jobs’ return when the company acquired NeXT. But be honest: if you were Ive, with everything that he accomplished at Apple (Butterfly Keyboards and portless laptops aside), and seeing how far behind the AI game Apple will probably still be for at least a good part of the next decade (considering the competition will keep evolving), what would you do? As flawed and PR-oriented as Steve Jobs was, he was also, at his core, an uncompromising idealist when it came to product vision, just like Ive. And while he might have been insanely pissed to see Ive join someone else’s company to go build the best possible version of the next chapter of consumer tech, I can’t help but think he’d be a little bit relieved, or possibly proud, to see Ive go after the very best chance to go and do just that, other people’s feelings be damned. That feels pretty Jobsian to me. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

The company's net losses just doubled.Do No KlarnSwedish buy-now-pay-later company Klarna, whose CEO once bragged about its automated customer service AI bots doing the work of "700 full-time agents," is now in deep trouble.The fintech outfit is facing net losses of $99 million for the first quarter of this year, CNBC reports, which is more than double compared to the same period last year.The company had already paused its highly anticipated IPO in the US last month, which once valued it at over $15 billion.And it's all particularly noteworthy because of how CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski previously bragged that he hadn't hired anyone in a year, following a doubling down on AI tech.During an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, however, Siemiatkowski struck a dramatically different tone, revealing that the gambit hadn't paid off. He admitted that "there will always be a human if you want" when it comes to customer service — a sign of the times, as investors are starting to ask some tough questions given widespread economic uncertainty.Cash FlowNonetheless, it wasn't a complete reversal. Siemiatkowski defended his embrace of AI last week, boasting that the tech allowed Klarna to shrink its workforce by 40 percent.During its Monday earnings call, an AI-generated avatar of Siemiatkowski took over for the executive, the Financial Times reports, showing that the company is far from giving up on the tech.But public support for the tech is unmistakably falling off. Translation company Duolingo has faced a torrent of pushback from social media users, particularly on TikTok, after its controversial CEO Luis von Ahn announced that AI will gradually replace all contractors.However, while it could be easy to see Klarna as the canary in the coal mine for the AI industry as a whole, its rapidly mounting losses involve other factors as well. As the FT points out, many of the company's American customers are failing to repay their buy-now-pay-later loans.Klarna's credit losses have risen 17 percent year-on-year to $136 million, reflecting widespread economic uncertainty and falling consumer confidence as president Donald Trump's trade war takes its toll.In response, Klarna has said that it's "closely monitoring changes in the macroeconomic environment" and "remains well-positioned to adapt swiftly if required."Share This Article

We are looking for an experienced iOS app developer to create an innovative AI-driven character chat application. This app will allow users to engage in conversations with an AI-based character, offering an immersive and interactive experience. If you’re passionate about artificial intelligence and app development, this is a great opportunity to work on a cutting-edge project that blends tech and creativity. What you’ll be doing:Develop and design an iOS application featuring an AI-based character for user interaction.Integrate AI functionalities to enhance user engagement and ensure a dynamic conversational experience.Work closely with our team to meet high-quality and performance standards throughout the development process.Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve any issues that arise during app development to ensure smooth functionality and user satisfaction.This is a chance to build something truly unique and be part of an exciting project that pushes the boundaries of AI in mobile apps. Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now Meet JobCopilot: Your Personal AI Job HunterAutomatically Apply to Remote Full-Stack Programming JobsJust set your preferences and Job Copilot will do the rest-finding, filtering, and applying while you focus on what matters. Activate JobCopilot

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 22.

Tom Nook is on the clock.Nintendo released its very own alarm clock last year and it's been getting regular updates ever since. If you've been wanting a new look, or at least a different theme, today's update might be of interest.Read the full article on nintendolife.com