Super Micro, which has been battered by bad headlines in recent weeks, said on Monday that it hired BDO as its independent auditor.

Smoke, dust and fire elements helped combine the CG creature into final shots.Today, a special sponsored episode of the podcast thanks to ActionVFX. Were talking to Tom Cowles, Social Media & Community Manager, at Action VFX, about a few different things. Firstly, we run through one of the coolest uses of Action VFX assets in recent times and that is on the film Godzilla Minus One. Here, the VFX studio Shirogumi in Japan used ActionVFX assets for things like atmospheric smoke, dust and fire. And, of course, the film won the Oscar for visual effects this year. We also jump into Action VFXs new subscription pricing, and how to see what kinds of new VFX elements are coming down the pipe. Keep an eye on Action VFX and at befores & afters as their Black Friday sale begins on November 26th.Brought to you by ActionVFX:This article is part of the befores & afters VFX Insight series. If youd like to promote your VFX/animation/CG tech or service, you can find out more about the VFX Insight series here.The post How ActionVFX assets were used in Godzilla Minus One appeared first on befores & afters.

Environments and more.The post Watch Outpost VFXs breakdown for s2 of The Rings of Power appeared first on befores & afters.

Drive a car to crash into a crowd of aliens-like zombies in this WIP project where Rocket League meets Carmageddon. Use some stunts to enjoy extra destructive and chaotic fun: https://80.lv/articles/footage-from-a-wip-project-that-combines-rocket-league-carmageddon/

iPhone users report they hear voices coming from their devices.Government spies, Apple leaks, or something more boring?: https://80.lv/articles/iphone-users-say-they-hear-voices-coming-through-device/

With COP29, the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan, now underway, those trying to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels have a new reason to worry: The man elected to be the next president of the United States, Donald Trump, has declared that climate change is a big hoax.Given his posture, many experts fear that a Trump White House will, once again, exit the Paris climate agreement, as he has vowed to do. The new administration is poised to slash environmental regulations and allow for a surge of oil and gas drilling. Although Trump distanced himself during the campaign from Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint to reshape government, his administration is widely expected to embrace its call for a whole-of-government unwinding of what it termed the Biden administrations climate fanaticism.We are not nave. Reaching the essential goal reaffirmed last year by global leaders at the COP28 Summitnet-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050has undoubtedly become a lot harder with Trump set to return to the Oval Office.And yet we remain hopeful that all is not lost. Even with Trump in powerand the Republicans about to take control of both houses of Congresswe are confident that the country and the world will make steady progress on climate change for three main reasons.Momentum in capital marketsFirst and foremost is the tremendous momentum that has built up over the past decade in private capital markets to tackle the crisis.From 2013 to the end of 2023, a proliferation of climate-dedicated funds has driven a 25x increase in global climate venture capital. The total amount of VC dollars invested in climate tech has tripled from less than 5% in 2013 to 16% in 2023. Today, seven of the top 10 private equity firms, as measured by assets under management, have climate-focused funds. Global spending on clean energy technologies and infrastructure is on track to hit $2 trillion, twice the amount going to fossil fuels.Some 75 venture capital arms of major corporations, known as CVCs, have also become prominent players in the space. In 2021, these corporate funds pumped $11 billion into climate and energy transition technologies, accounting for about a quarter of all such public and private investments that year.Supporting the extended timelines necessary for developing and scaling climate technologies are green bonds, sales of which topped $1 trillion in 2023.To be sure, we still have a long way to go. Getting to net-zero by 2050 will require boosting annual spending by more than 60%, to $9.2 trillion a year, to transform our energy and land-use systems. But the bottom line is this: The private sector is now so committed to combating climate change, there is no turning back.Political headwindsThe second thing that gives us hope is political reality. Trump has vowed to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act, which was designed to spur clean energy projects through grants, loans, and tax credits. But were not convinced that hell be able to do so.In the two years since President Biden signed the IRA into law, with no Republican support, investment in green energy has accounted for more than half of total U.S. private investment growth, resulting in the creation of some 330,000 new jobs (about 40% in batteries, 20% in solar, and 13% in clean tech). More than 550 factories have been expanded or built in 46 states. Amazingly, this surge in private investment has occurred with no more than 20% of IRA incentives deployed as of yet.Even if Trump is truly determined to gut the IRA, which he has dubbed the Green New Scam, it wont be easy. Why? The vast majority of the funds are being directed to parts of the country that have been left behindand that largely means red America. In fact, for every $1 in investment thats going to a Democratic congressional district, $4 are going to Republican congressional districts, according to Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College. Any lawmaker, even if theyre staunchly loyal to Trump, is going to think long and hard before giving that up.Developing a clean workforceThe third thing that gives us hope is this: One of the most important areas we need to address to get to net-zeroattracting and training a new clean-energy workforceis something that the Trump administration may actually wind up helping with.In all, some 4 million green jobs are expected to be created over the next five or six yearsand it is far from certain who is going to fill them. At Angeleno Group, one of the longest-standing venture capital and growth equity investment firms dedicated to clean energy and climate solutions, we hear all the time from our portfolio companies that one of their biggest challenges is finding the skilled workers they need.We dont anticipate that the Trump administration will train legions of, say, EV charger technicians. But many of the most in-demand roles to help with our energy transition are in the skilled tradesconstruction workers, electricians, welders and so forthand Trump has shown an interest in boosting industry-recognized apprenticeships in such fields. In this way, we may be able to make headway in cultivating a green workforce, even if the new administration wont recognize it as such.The world stands at the precipice of irreversible climate change. We continue to believe, however, that we can pull back from the brinkthe president-elects climate denialism notwithstanding.

In the world of product development, after learning about what kinds of progress customers want to make in their lives, successful designers build prototypes to test their early ideas. They experiment with multiple rough mock-ups that they can change easily.Career choices benefit from experimentation, too. As we say in our book Job Moves, smart job switchers consciously hire their next job so they can make progress in their careers. The point of the prototypes isnt to find a job at this stage. Its about clarifying the trade-offs youre willingand unwillingto make to get the progress you want. Learning is the goal here.As you mock up an array of potential futures, these should range from roles you hope exist somewhere out there to those youre actively considering to novel paths you dont know much about but are interested in exploring. In our experience, people often want to stop with just one plausible prototype. But creating the one is exceedingly difficult. What single role could be perfect in every way? And it sets you up for disappointment later when real-world options dont precisely line up with expectations and you dont know how to make trade-offs to unlock progress.The task is to come up with three to five exciting, well-articulated possibilities.Brainstorm your career must-havesBrainstorm a list of jobs that might deliver your critical must-haves. To get started, imagine scenarios in which you would have:the same role, but at a different companya promotion within your companya role in a new functiona role in companies of varying sizes and maturity (small versus large, start-up versus established)a role in a new industrya role youve always thought could be interesting but youve never exploredTo help build out each prototype, you can use our worksheet.To check how accurate your prototypes are, youll line up informational interviews with people in jobs like the ones youve mocked up. Start by tapping your existing connections. Reach out to mentors and others in your professional and social networks to see if they know people who hold roles like those youve prototyped. You can also search LinkedIn to find individuals who hold these roles.Having identified people you want to talk to, you will ideally ask a shared contact to introduce you, which increases the likelihood that the person you want to talk to will agree to a conversation. Or, you can also write to people out of the blue and ask them to talk. You might be surprised at how often people will say yes to an informational conversation with no strings attachedone that allows them to share their own story with somebody who has similar interests.However you reach out, make it clear that youre not going to ask them for a job. You just want to learn more about what they do. Otherwise, they may hesitate to connect, especially if they dont know you. Keep your request simple, but be clear about what youd likethirty to forty-five minutes of their time.For the purposes of career prototyping, informational interviews should be hyper-focused on what people do on a daily and weekly basis and how those activities pertain to the energy drivers and assets that are important to you.Questions to ask yourselfSystematically drill into the things that you know drive your energy. For example, one important driver for a person we coached, Clara, was feeling that she was making an impact. For her, that involved building relationships. So she asked a series of questions about patient interaction during an informational interview with an emergency medicine physician assistant (EMPA):To what extent do you interact directly with patients and their family members?Do you follow up with patients after they are discharged?How much time do you spend with patients on average?Clara learned that the EMPA generally did not have ongoing relationships with patients. She was responsible for triage and acute treatment but often never saw the patient againor even learned what happened next in their treatment. The EMPAs own desire for impact was satisfied, but that didnt align with what Clara wanted. Although she wasnt surprised by this in retrospect, the conversation clarified something for her. The physician assistant roleone that she knew well in the context of a rehab cliniccould align very differently with her drivers in other settings, such as emergency medicine.Dont settle for surface-level answers to your questions. Press for details and examples to get a clear picture of whether the work involves the things that give you energy. If someone says their job is creativeand creativity is important to youask them what that looks like in their day-to-day work. Then explain what it means to you. Perhaps its about being free from the traditional constraints and processes in a workplace so that you can do your job in innovative ways. Then ask: Does the person youre interviewing have a job that allows them to be creative in that way?Follow a similar script for assets: Which skills, experiences, and credentials do your prototyped roles actually leverage and value? You may be surprised at the answers you get in your interviews. Clara thought she would need a PhD, for example, to be hired as a science writer. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that her masters degree in neuroscience was more than credible.You can also have your interviewee walk you through a typical day or week in their job and talk about how that work schedule intersects with other aspects of their life, such as family time and personal interests. Bring their attention back to what matters to youas in, In a typical week, how many opportunities do you have to engage with people beyond your immediate team? or When during the day are you able to put your head down and focus quietly on your own tasks, without interruptions? Homing in on the calendar like this gets at what people actually do rather than what their title says they are.Success in these interviews doesnt mean finding the right fit. It means gaining insight into the energizers, capabilities, and trade-offs you would likely encounter in each job.From the book Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career by Ethan Bernstein, Michael B. Horn, and Bob Moesta. Copyright 2024 by Ethan Bernstein, Michael B. Horn, and Bob Moesta. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Dezeen Showroom:design studio KaschKasch aimed to bring a sense of harmony into the bathroom with the Antao mixer taps, created for German brand Villeroy & Boch.The Antao bathroom taps have an elegant, tapering shape that reflects the asymmetry and soft lines of the broader Antao collection, which is rooted in a washbasin design that echoes dewdrops on a leaf.A freestanding bath tap features in the Antao collectionThe Antao collection includes 11 mixer tap models, including a freestanding bath tap that provides a sinuous, refined complement to an organically shaped tub.Antao taps are made from high-quality and durable European components and include a host of features geared towards both efficiency and enjoyment.The taps feature organic shapes taken from natureThese include AirPlus, a feature that adds air to the water flow, thereby creating both a pleasant sensation and saving water.There is also AquaSmart, which limits water flow to a maximum of five litres per minute with no loss of performance, and SmartPressure, which keeps the water flow consistent even in the event of pressure variations.Product details:Product: Antao mixer tapsDesigner: KaschKaschBrand: Villeroy & BochContact: marketing@villeroy-boch.co.ukMaterial: brassColours/finishes: Chrome, Matt Black or Brushed Nickel MattDimensions: 240 x 155 x 880 millimetresDezeen ShowroomDezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.The post Antao mixer taps by KaschKasch for Villeroy & Boch appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian studio Victoria Merrett Architecture has extended a house in Melbournewith a brick and timber structure that "blends harmoniously" with the existing building.Named Marianne House, the expanded single-storey home in the suburb of Rye is designed to provide more space for the client's growing family.The large side extension sits slightly apart from the existing home, with Victoria Merrett Architecture transforming the space between them into a small courtyard.Victoria Merrett Architecture has refurbished a house in Melbourne"The brief for Marianne House was straightforward: to create a home that met the needs of the clients to raise their two children," explained the studio."The focus was to design a space that seamlessly connected indoor living with the surrounding natural landscape of Rye," it added.Approximately two times the size of the existing home, the extension contains a large living, dining and kitchen area, alongside an ensuite main bedroom and utility areas.Marianne House is formed of brick and timberA further three bedrooms and a more intimate lounge space occupy the footprint of the existing building, which has been renovated as part of the project.The two buildings are connected by a glazed link corridor to the north, with a few small steps negotiating a change in level on the sloping side.Its living space opens out onto a terraceThis corridor can be opened to the north and south, connecting the front garden with the courtyard, which provides light and private views to the two bedrooms on either side.Facing a large garden to the north, the living space opens out onto a terrace through full-height sliding glass doors and is illuminated by high-level windows in its gable end.Read: LLDS Architects tops self-designed home in Melbourne with curved plywood roof"The addition's linear layout is oriented towards a north-west facing garden, optimising outdoor connections while maximising the length of the site," said Victoria Merrett Architecture.The existing architecture of Marianne House provided a reference point for the pared-back material palette of the extension, which is defined by brick and wood.There is a "dramatic" vaulted ceiling in the kitchenExternally, the existing home has been updated with timber cladding laid vertically, subtly differentiating it from the matching horizontally laid planks on the extension."The addition introduces contemporary elements with high ceilings and clean lines, complemented by walnut-stained Blackbutt timber that blends harmoniously with the brick exterior," explained Victoria Merrett Architecture."The dramatic vaulted ceiling over the kitchen, dining, and living space references the exposed rafters of the existing house," it added.Marianne House features an intimate lounge space in the existing footprintVictoria Merrett founded her eponymous studio in Melbourne in 2023.Other projects in Melbourne recently featured on Dezeen include the faceted extension of a Victorian home by Matt Gibson Architecture + Design and the self-designed home of LLDS Architects that features a curved plywood roof.The photography is by Tasha Tylee.The post Victoria Merrett Architecture adds brick and timber extension to Marianne House appeared first on Dezeen.