In a city thats known for its bright stars shine, the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Feliz proves that celebrity isnt the only local institution capturing the spotlight. Los Angeles, California, boasts an architecture as infamous as some of its residents. One such case is this Nottingham Avenue Residence originally built in 1950 by famed local architect Arthur Kelly who designed some 500 structures spanning his career, which includes the Arthur Letts Estate, better known as The Playboy Mansion. While not nearly as notorious, this development project inspired JD Irpino, the founder and principal of Louis & Rose, to become the steward of this home shepherding it into a modern era of ownership. Irpinos practice is responsible for the thoughtful restoration and redesign, with architecture by Office of Jonathan Tate and an art collection curated by Brian Ludlow and his team at Creative Art Partners.The house, while impressive, had fallen victim to a smattering of nonsensical renovations, became hidden by a wall of sweeping greens, and languished in disrepair on its near half-acre lot. The street has a special flow with a beautiful blend of architectural homes. And the property was clearly filled with potential waiting to be restored and reimagined, Irpino says. After our first showing, I decided it was an incredible opportunity to reimagine the home and the grounds.Situated in such a hip enclave, its the ideal dwelling for homeowners who enjoy playing host and have a passion for entertaining.The revitalized property boasts a swimming pool and spa, generous backyard with an abundance of ficus hedges and olive trees, and the now roughly 5,100-square-foot, two-story structure.The central portion of the ground floors open-plan comprises formal great and dining rooms, an eat-in kitchen with breakfast nook, library, laundry, and family room, book-ended by an ensuite bedroom and guest quarters. Upstairs, three more ensuite bedrooms can be found adjacent to a private den outfitted with built-ins.The ground floor is a unique combination of expansive, open space along with individual rooms for people to enjoy in communal settings or privately, Irpino describes.The interior spaces marry aesthetics typical of the Southern California lifestyle with elegant elements plucked from the French countryside. Walls are awash in a soft color palette with pops of blue and green while others are accented using Calacatta marble and wood paneling, which imbues the home with that intangible California-cool essence.Local flare is further celebrated using natural woven work from Gregorius Pineo. European sensibilities permeate throughout with artful selections from textile maison Pierre Frey, fun floral paper from luxury brand House of Hackney, and vintage lighting sourced from JF Chen and Galerie Half.Custom fabricated steel windows and doors open onto the grounds and invite an abundance of natural light in while blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor programming for a fully al fresco feeling. Matte surfaces and honed finishes further enhance this sense of ease.With an objective to honor the original architecture through contemporary interventions, Irpino has passed the awesome responsibility on to new owners who will appreciate the significance of its existence. Id always loved the neighborhood and the street, he adds. The possibilities of restoring an Arthur Kelly home was very exciting as were the possibilities such a large property on a signature street afforded.To learn more about JD Irpinos thoughtful practice visit louisandrose.com.Photography by Neue Focus.

Super plush, forgiving sofas are dominating the stage right now, the bigger the better, in our opinion. The Perron Pillo Sofa, by designer Willo Perron for Knoll, is a beautiful example of this, resembling a stack of pillows placed together to foster a joyous, playful space. This is a modular, customizable piece, available in two-, three-, and four-seater options. Mix and match modules for a sectional that can grow and change with your family over time. A modern delight, the pitch of the seat and minimal hardware offers a relaxed, lived-in look, perfect for any cozy interior.The modules of the Perron Pillo Sofa come together naturally, relying on repetitive stacks of robust pillows to flatten the overall form, yet still retain definition. Shown here in a cream linen to accent the shape, the entire Knoll library is at your disposal, adding to the incredible amount of customization available here. With the regularity and refined simplicity of the modules, two depth options are available to suit any home. Choose between Standard, with a more upright pitch, or Deep, with a lounge-like feel.The impeccable craftsmanship and quality we can expect from Knoll is brought to life by Perron, who excels in creating beautiful projects with a twist. Everything I do has a bit of humor in it, he says. I wanted the sofa to evoke surprise and emotion. Indeed, the sofa commands attention, but in a cheeky manner. The pillow fort has matured, and its cleaned up rather nicely.Willo Perron is a multidisciplinary designer, aiming to bring an unconventional twist to every project. From the runway, to high-end retail, to set design, his approach is unique, taking on a sense of simplistic elegance that is clear throughout his work. Leaning in to the silliness that the design process can sometimes provide (in an otherwise relatively serious industry) is brave, and ultimately, a refreshing respite from a turtlenecked establishment.Indeed, Knoll has always promoted this type of dynamic thought in the industry, from Hans founding vision, eventually to Florence. A titan within the industry, Florence Schust Knoll was already established as a respected architect when she joined the company. With skilled Bauhaus training, she considered the total work, and was one of the first to proudly credit designers for their pieces. This was way ahead of its time, promoting a distinctive respect between producer and designer that shines through Knolls company culture to this day.For more on the Perron Pillo Sofa, visit dwr.com.

How to empower and protect your customers by considering not just Value, Usability, Viability and Feasibility, but also EthicsContinue reading on UX Collective

Thick or qualitative data (1) helps organizations and their AI-solutions make better decisions by including insights about the context, nuances and influences that leads to customers behaviors and decisions.Photo by G N: https://www.pexels.com/photo/australia-sydney-surf-beachlife-1695310/But thick data sounds expensive, difficult and complicated to collect anduse.It isnt.In fact collecting thick data means doing almost the same as we are already doing. Only asking different questions.First: What is thickdata?According to Gilbert Ryle (2) thick compared to thin datais:thin: includes surface-level observations ofbehaviorthick: adds context to suchbehaviorPut even simpler: thick data is what helps us answer why people are doing what they are doing while thin data only documents what has happened.In an oversimplification (below) we could say thick data is the yellow data on the left helping us understand what can influence people, while channel performance and sales data are thin data on the right documenting what people aredoing.Some organizations use product and sales data (purple) as proxies for human data (yellow). This can lead to a situation where an understanding of the customer gets replaced with a focus on the proxies becoming the goal in themselves.Why should we care about thickdata?AI-engines use both thin and thick data. The former is used to look for patterns and probabilities, while the latter helps the AI better understand context, nuance, culture, ritualsetc.According to a search on Perplexity (3): thick data significantly enhances AIs ability to understand and respond to complex human behaviors and motivations, leading to more nuanced, personalized, and effective performance across various applications.Ethnographer Tricia Wang (4) argues that over-reliance on thin data was part of Nokias downfall. Their own thick data was clearly suggesting that even low-income individuals would invest in smartphones, while Nokias quantitative data was telling it (what it wanted to hear), that the group would keep buying dumbphones.In hindsight its easy to see the fall of Nokia (dumb phones) and the rise of Android (Smartphones) in the Chinese market 20082012. Image by Big Fish Presentations and TriciaWang.How do we get thickdata?Thick data is readily available almost everywhere, especially online. We only need to ask forit.Which is kind of the problem: we dont. For no apparentreason?But the value is there, for anyone who wants it. Right in front ofus.These are just a few examples of questions weve answered by capturing thicker data about the customer:What job [need] are customers trying to solve which leads them tous?How do customers identify themselves?Are customers looking for products or insights? (Where are they in their job-map / journey)?What is the perspective / lens /context through which customers understand youroffer?What else influences customers decisionmaking?What language (terminology) do customers use?How do customers measuresuccess?Are we helping customers achieve thissuccess?This is how you get thick data online (one generalized approach):Collect assumptions by asking your team what has to be true? in relation to what you are trying to achieve (can be anything from strategy to creative concepts or execution).Choose the assumptions that you want to test and articulate them into a clear experimentation statement (if x happens then y) identifying where and how you will run the experiment including how to measure it and what success looks like(5).Create the experiment, run it, analyze andadjust.Now scale this from a novel to a system wideapproachWe talk about thin or quantitative data being at scale, but are we resigned to qualitative data having to be expensive, slow, complicated and not to scale? If so this is only because weve decided to think it likethis.We can ask any question and design any interaction to capture its answers. So why not scale up the thick data production? Breaking from the boring data everyone else has (which we collect and make sense of in the same way and with the same algorithms whats the fun in that?(6))Asking thick questions should be as natural as asking thin questions (e.g. open-rates and conversion funnels). Whynot?We need to establish new design or experience principles that put learning about our customers (not our channels) at the forefront, make available compliant learning modules and objects as part of our design and experience systems. And we need to create demand for them by having our teams ask for better questions, not betteranswers.This would produce a constant flow of thick data from across the ecosystem feeding into the AI models in real-time and atscale.Competitive advantageThin-questions are thinking inside a box inside a box. Why-questions are thicker, they help us understand the customer when they are with us and when they arenot.A box inside a box. Icons by thenounproject.Thin questions are conventional and conformative. They make us the same as everyone else. Everyone collects the same data, asking the same questions using the same algorithms.Thick questions are competitive advantage and the best question is whynot?Sources:(1). Pratibha Kumari J., What is Thick Data?, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-thick-data-pratibha-kumari-jha/(2). Wikipedia, Thick description, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_description(3). Search related to thick on Perplexity, https://www.perplexity.ai/search/in-general-terms-whoch-data-do-4myjkNOXSPWBSNYfyv8iyw#1(4). Tricia Wang, The human insights missing from big data, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk35J2u8KqY(5). Helge Tenn, Business experimentation, https://medium.com/everything-new-is-dangerous/business-experimentation-f5620919f209(6). Helge Tenn, Customer as Competitive Advantage, https://uxdesign.cc/customer-as-competitive-advantage-19a6ede62852How to close the customer-data-gap was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Adobe remains dominant in the media industry, with apps such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, and After Effects being indispensable for many. If you've been looking for a good deal on all these apps, Adobe's Black Friday sale is for you. The company's offering a flat 50% discount on up to a year of the Adobe Creative Cloud (All Apps) subscription.Adobe Creative Cloud Black Friday saleThe All Apps plan includes everything in the Adobe suite, except Substance 3D apps. That makes this the right choice for those who want multiple Adobe apps, such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, Acrobat Pro, etc. Right now, you can get a 50% discount for the first year of the All Apps plan. You can sign up and cancel within 14 days, but if you cancel after that, you'll be charged a cancellation feeAs with all things Adobe, the pricing is really confusing here, but I'll do my best to make it clear. When you subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud plans, you're often forced to get an annual plan that is either paid upfront or billed monthly. This means that even if you're paying monthly, you've basically signed up for an annual plan except that you can't cancel after just a month or two. If you try to cancel early, you'll be charged a hefty termination fee (50% of the remaining payment), a practice the FTC has frowned upon. Not every Adobe app is priced like this, but the All Apps plan, Photoshop-only plan, Lightroom-only plan, and Photography plan are.Sale duration: Ends November 29Discounted price (annual billing): $329.74 per year (for the first year, the usual price $659.88)Discounted price (monthly billing): $29.98 per month (for the first 12 months, the usual price $59.99), has a termination fee if you cancel earlyGet it here: Adobe Creative CloudBlack Friday offers on Adobe alternativesIf you just want a good app for photo and video editing, you don't always need to sign a confusing Adobe contract. You can find some really good Adobe alternatives quite easily, and many of them are discounted for Black Friday too. Here are the best Adobe alternative apps discounted for Black Friday.Affinity Suite: A great Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign alternativeThis suite includes three appsAffinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher. The Affinity Suite is a direct competitor to Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign apps, and you can get the whole thing for 50% off this Black Friday. This includes all of Affinity's apps on all platforms (Windows, Mac, and iPad), and it's a one-time purchase. Your license will remain valid as long as Affinity supports the V2 release of all its products.The good news is that Affinity's Black Friday sale also includes individual discounts on each app, so if you only need one or two of the company's apps, you can get a good deal if you buy them separately, too.Discounted price: $84.99 (was $164.99)Get it here: Affinity V2 Universal LicenseDaVinci Resolve Studio 19: An Adobe Premiere alternativeDaVinci Resolve Studio is a great option for a robust app that can handle video editing, color grading, and visual effects. Before I mention the Black Friday offer, you should know that there are two variants of this software. One is called DaVinci Resolve, which is totally free, and the other is DaVinci Resolve Studio, which is paid. The free version is actually pretty good and lets you edit videos at up to 4K, while the paid version adds support for up to 32K video, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ grading, multiple GPUs for rendering, and many other features. DaVinci Resolve Studio is available for 20% off this Black Friday, which is the first time this app has been discounted.Discounted price: $235 (was $295)Get it here: DaVinci Resolve Studio 19Darkroom: A photo and video editor bundled into oneApple Design Award winner Darkroom offers both photo and video editing in one app. The app's design is one of its strong points and it can handle RAW files for photography and 4K files for video editing. The app is available only on Apple devices, though, which may be a dealbreaker for some. You can try it for free to see how the tool fits your workflow. The premium subscription, called Darkroom+, has advanced features including color grading, 4K video exports, and the organizational feature Flag & Reject (lets you flag photos for later editing and reject ones you don't need). The first year of Darkroom+ is currently 50% off.Sale duration: November 17-December 2Discounted price: $16.49 per year (for the first year, the usual price $32.99)Get it here: Darkroom (iPhone, iPad, Mac)ON1 Photo Raw 2025: A Photoshop and Lightroom alternativeON1 Photo Raw 2025 is a good Photoshop and Lightroom alternative that's 35% off for Black Friday. It's an all-in-one tool to manage and edit your photos, and you'll find that it has most of the features you're already used to. As with any app that you're not used to, ON1 Photo Raw has a learning curve if you're switching from other software, but it's worth trying. This app is available without a subscription, which some may appreciate.Sale duration: Ends November 29Discounted price: $63.99 (was $99.99)Get it here: ON1 Photo Raw 2025 The Best Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 ANC Earbuds With USB-C Charging Case $153.99 (List Price $249.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet $149.99 (List Price $219.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Streaming Device With Remote (2023 Model) $21.99 (List Price $49.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Security Camera (3-Pack) $99.99 (List Price $259.99) Dell Inspiron 15 3535 Ryzen 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM Laptop $449.99 (List Price $699.99) Seagate Portable 4TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive $99.90 (List Price $124.99) Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones $199.00 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team

We may earn a commission from links on this page.If you want to drown out the cacophony of modern life or just add some ambience by adding a soundtrack, I've got a website for you. MyNoise lets you choose and customize soundscapes and play them endlessly as you navigate the worldor try to get some sleep.Ways to use MyNoiseThe site has been around since 2013 so the library features hundreds of modules for just about any purpose you can think of. If you want to transform a walk into an RPG adventure, put on the sounds from Dark Dungeon. If you find the sound of precipitation relaxing, check out Cosy Rain. If you're running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and the squad just reached Waterdeep, put on Medieval Village to set the tone. If life isn't creepy enough already, here's a horror movie drone that says, "It's coming for you."Along with "fun" uses, there's a serious side to MyNoise, like the Tinnitus Neuromodulator designed to mask the specific frequencies of the ringing in your ears. If you have ADHD, see if a focus-related soundscape like Examination Time will help you out. If you're concerned about people overhearing your conversations, check out this module designed to drown out private conversations so they can't record your secret plans. Each soundscape has a number of sliders you can use to boost your favorite parts of the sound collage, and if you get really ambitious, you can submit your own soundscapes. Where to download MyNoiseYou can use MyNoise on your browser, download it on the Apple App Store, or load it onto your Android device through the Google Play Store. But if you do, consider making a donation. MyNoise has that old-school, "here is something awesome; use it!" vibe that's becoming more and more rare, and it should be supported. There are a ton of free modules, but if you make a single $10 donation, you can unlock more content and advanced featuresforever. The Best Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 ANC Earbuds With USB-C Charging Case $153.99 (List Price $249.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet $149.99 (List Price $219.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Streaming Device With Remote (2023 Model) $21.99 (List Price $49.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Security Camera (3-Pack) $99.99 (List Price $259.99) Dell Inspiron 15 3535 Ryzen 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM Laptop $449.99 (List Price $699.99) Seagate Portable 4TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive $99.90 (List Price $124.99) Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones $199.00 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team

Another legal complication may have surfaced in The Onions bid to buy the Infowars empire from bankrupt conspiracy media mogul Alex Jones. X filed a limited objection to the transfer of Infowars X accounts to the satirical media empire in a federal Bankruptcy Court on Monday.The objection claims that X Corporations terms of service states the Trustee cannot sell, assign or otherwise transfer such license absent X Corp.s consent, according to court records.X Corporation cites its own Terms of Service (TOS) agreement in its objection. The TOS states accounts cannot be transferred, gifted, sold or assigned to other parties without Xs express written consent.Because the X accounts are governed by the TOS, the TOS make clear that X accounts are X Corp.s exclusive property, according to Xs court filing.Jones assets including the Infowars website went into a liquidation auction earlier this month to raise money for the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he accrued in civil trials brought by the family members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones was found liable for spreading rumors about the victims family members that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged as a false flag attack.The Onions parent company Global Tetrahedron stepped in to purchase the Infowars site after receiving permission from the families to accept a lower bid and forgo a portion of the sale to pay Jones other creditors. Onion CEO Ben Collins announced the deal on his Bluesky account as well as the newspapers plans to turn Infowars.com into a very funny, very stupid website.US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez halted the deal calling for an evidentiary hearing to review the auction process. The auctions trustee Christopher Murray said in court that Global Tetrahedrons bid was not the highest offered but the sale price included a legal clause citing its deal with the families. The Associated Press reported Monday that Lopez will hear arguments on the trustees sale of Infowars to The Onion on December 9 or 17 in order to ensure a fair and transparent process.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-says-the-onion-cant-have-alex-jones-infowars-accounts-000006993.html?src=rss

Microsoft has quietly announced the end of an era, with the Xbox Avatar Editor going away early next year. "Due to low engagement and our shift in focus towards delivering other player experiences, the Xbox Avatar Editor app will no longer be available starting on January 9, 2025," the company wrote in its FAQ about the feature.The latest approach to personalizing avatars launched in 2018. The Xbox Avatar Editor allowed players to customize cartoon versions of themselves with both a free and purchased library of cosmetics. The options gave a lot of room for diversity and personal expression, so that you really could create a clear likeness of yourself, or whatever self you wanted to show to the Xbox community. Microsoft said it will refund players for Xbox Avatar Editor purchases made between November 1, 2023 and the app's end date.Microsoft introduced avatars to player accounts back in the Xbox 360 era. These Xbox Original Avatars will not be impacted by the editor app's departure; they'll continue to appear for players using those old school images as well as on Xbox 360 hardware.If you created an avatar that you want to preserve as your profile photo on the Xbox into the future, you can use the Avatar Editor app until the shutdown date to save a picture to your account. The Xbox support forums have a full explainer on how to create or upload your profile photo.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-is-taking-away-the-xbox-avatar-editor-233712034.html?src=rss

Free tool: check out 3DGS Render 2.0 for Blender. 3D scanning firm Kiri Innovations' open-source add-on now lets you edit 3D Gaussian Splats inside Blender, apply simple animated effects, and render the result with Eevee.https://www.cgchannel.com/2024/11/3dgs-render-2-0-now-lets-you-edit-3d-gaussian-splats-in-blender/

We've updated our 2024 list of Black Friday and Cyber Week deals for CG artists with another 25 new offers, including 3DCoat, Gaea, Marmoset Toolbag, Pulldownit for 3ds Max and Maya, Storyboard Pro, Toon Boom Harmony and ZibraVDB, plus 3D scanning apps Kiri Engine and Polycam, Laubwerk plant kits, and Machina-Infinitum 3D fractals.https://www.cgchannel.com/2024/11/black-friday-cyber-monday-and-holiday-2024-deals-for-cg-artists/