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Dragon Age creator discusses taking on Inquisition's Cassandra after original writer left amidst abusePlus, game's most and least romanced characters revealed.Image credit: BioWare News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Nov. 28, 2024 Dragon Age creator David Gaider has discussed taking on the writing of fan-favourite recurring character Cassandra in Dragon Age Inquisition, following the departure of a BioWare colleague. In Gaider's latest and seemingly last social media thread discussing the series' characters he worked on, the former franchise boss said that Cassandra's romance had been difficult to pin down.Cassandra was originally being written in Inquisition by Jennifer Hepler, a veteran of the series who previously worked on Origins, Awakening and Dragon Age 2. But Hepler left BioWare during Inquisition's development "around the time a bunch of GamerGate dudes decided Jennifer was somehow responsible for ALL of BioWare's faults," Gaider wrote. "The result was a LOT of ugly harassment." "Is this why she left? You'd have to ask her, but it undoubtedly didn't help," he continued. "The important thing is, she left - and there was nobody as senior nor as superhumanly fast as her to take over any unfinished work."Gaider ended up taking on Cassandra himself, but says he struggled with how a "pious, self-righteous character" would have romantic appeal. The solution came after he found a webcomic created by a fan which joked about Cassandra secretly being something of a fangirl for Varric's books.CHARACTERS - Day Nine: CassandraThis is the last of the (major) characters I wrote during my time on Dragon Age. I could go into others, and considered moving onto Stray Gods... but I feel like fewer would be interested, and I honestly can't keep up the pace. So let's make this the last, for now.[image or embed] David Gaider (@davidgaider.bsky.social) November 28, 2024 at 8:59 AMTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.This prompted Gaider to reconsider Cassandra's "idealistic and awkward passion", and the fact she had put the player character - the Inquistor - on a "messianic pedestal" for being the Herald of Andraste and leader of the Inquisition. In the final game, settling down with Cassandra essentially requires the Inquisitor to convince her they can still be a normal romantic partner in addition to all that.Cassandra ended up being Inquisition's most-chosen romance option, Gaider confirmed, "by a good margin". The least, again "by a good margin" was Dorian. Gaider has previously discussed writing Dorian's story and the personal inspiration he drew from to do that, as well as early plans to let you bring your Grey Warden character from Dragon Age Origins into Inquisition.As for recent release Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Metacritic recently responded after the backlash to that game saw its users scores review bombed.

Open world pocket monster survival game Palworld will gain a major new update in December, that adds its largest new landmass yet. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereBaldurs Gate 3 is one of the greatest RPGs of all time and one of its many amazing aspects is the phenomenal voice work from all of the actors involved. A lot of exceptional talent was involved with BG3, and a particularly iconic Baldurs Gate 3 voice actor has declared they want to join Helldivers 2 as they are a huge fan of the game. Helldivers 2 has been one of the best games of 2024, and Arrowhead has a lot of plans to expand upon its excellence and keep players coming back. Arrowheads CCO has stated vehicles will be added soon, and we know the Illuminate are on the way, and all Illuminate objectives have leaked ahead of their imminent invasion. The developer is also looking to add more customization options, but Arrowhead has used Batman to explain why there will never be a capeless option. While we cannot wait for the Illuminate, vehicles, and possibly crossovers with other IPs, we would also massively welcome the voice of Baldurs Gate 3 actor, Neil Newbon. Baldurs Gate 3 Astarion voice actor wants to join Helldivers 2 Astarion is one of the most iconic characters in Baldurs Gate 3, and Neil Newbon was the voice actor who brought the vampire to life through a phenomenal performance. It made the character a massive fan-favorite in BG3, and Neil Newbon deservedly won the award for best performance at the Game Awards 2023. Its not only Baldurs Gate 3 where you will recognize Neil Newbon from as they were also the menacing Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village. While Astarion and Heisenberg are arguably Newbons biggest and most famous roles, he has recently said that he would love to be a part of Helldivers 2. In an interview with Gamesradar at the Golden Joystick Awards, Neil Newbon said, Im a huge fan of Helldivers 2. Expressing desire to lend his vocals to the game, he said, I would happily do a cameo of screaming and thats all. If they [Arrowhead] said just scream for like an hour, thatd be great. While it would be a great addition, it wouldnt entirely be the Astarion scream because Wizards [of the Coast] own the IP. There are only two voice options in Helldivers 2 for male and female soldiers. The addition of Neil Newbon as a third option would be incredible, but even just a small cameo would be amazing, too. It could be the games version of the iconic Wilhelm scream heard in dozens of movies. For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to thebest warbonds ranked, along with thebest stratagemsandbest throwables. We have also a guide to thebest weapons, and, if youre coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch oftips and tricksto help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.Helldivers 2Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5Genre(s):Action, Shooter, Third Person8VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereWuthering Waves has been one of the best new games of the year, and 2025 is poised to be just as good kicking off with the launch of update 2.0. There is a lot to look forward to in the new year for WuWa, and a leak shows gorgeous new skins for Wuthering Waves 2.0 that fans are ready to buy as soon as they become available. Update 2.0 will launch at the beginning of the new year, and this is also when WuWa will land on PS5 consoles. As for 2.0, it will bring forth two new playable characters: Roccia and Carlotta. Roccia was previously leaked as a new gothic playable character with accurate details about the color of hair and cosmetic theme, meanwhile, Carlotta has been a character highly-anticipated by the community. These new playable characters are exciting prospects, but fans are also in love with newly leaked skins for Wuthering Waves 2.0. Wuthering Waves 2.0 leak reveals new Jinhsi skin The WutheringWavesLeaks subreddit has shared new update 2.0 skins revealed on telegram by Stepleaker. The two skins are for Jinhsi and Sanhua. According to replies, the Jinhsi skin will have a premium fee, meanwhile, the Sanhua outfit will be free. However, this is not confirmed. You can check out the outfits in the embedded Reddit post below: The Jinhsi skin is a gorgeous pale pink, white, and red, meanwhile, the Sanhua skin is appropriately darker as mainly black. Although unconfirmed, there is speculation that these outfits could be to celebrate Lunar New Year. While both skins are great, its the Jinhsi outfit that players especially love. There are comments such as insta buying that skin and with this Jinhsi will be permanently my main. For more Wuthering Waves, we have a guide to all of thevoice actorsin the game, and we also have a guide explaininghow to add friends.Wuthering WavesPlatform(s):UnknownGenre(s):UnknownSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Creating the ideal bedtime setup is a matter of finding quality sheets, a nice pillow, and the perfect type of mattress for you. And only the best bed frames can pull it all together, of course. A bed frame has to do double duty as a statement piece of furniture and a durable, sturdy base that supports you night after nightand all the bed frames on this list check both boxes.Our Top PicksBest Minimalist Bed Frame: West Elm Simple Bed Frame, $449 from West ElmBest Upholstered Bed Frame: Article Uden Bed Frame, $1,299 $1,049 from ArticleMost Versatile Bed Frame: West Elm Midcentury Bed, $1,199 from West ElmBest Wooden Bed Frame: Burrow Chorus Bed, $1,599 $1,449 from BurrowBest White Bed Frame: Article Lenia Bed Frame, $999 from ArticleBest Affordable Bed Frame: Zinus Shawn 14-inch SmartBase Mattress Foundation, $150 from ZinusBest Boucle Bed Frame: Joseph Bed Frame, $1,199 from CastleryAhead, discover the very best bed frames with in-depth reviews from our editors, including budget-friendly options (that pair perfectly with the best affordable mattresses), different styles, and, of course, the very important delivery and assembly details. (Curious about alternative types of bed frames? Browse our DIY bed frame guide.)Please note that prices reflect queen-size beds. However, most of the featured frames are available in additional sizes and finishes.Wooden Bed FramesWest Elm Midcentury BedBed frame reviewer: Madeleine Luckel, contributorMaterial: Kiln-dried solid and engineered wood and solid pine slatsWhat attracted you to this bed frame? The main reason was that it had a headboard, and its narrow dimensions meant it still fit in my New York City bedroom. Midcentury modernism isnt always my favorite style, but I liked the clean and elegant lines of this piece. I also thought the tone of the wood had a nice warm glow to it.What was the delivery and assembly like? I arranged for assembly from West Elm in addition to delivery, but it was tricky to get it to arrive. It was a few years ago at this point, but the delivery person did not show up for the scheduled time slot twice. The third try everything worked out, but it was a hassle to repeatedly coordinate being home from work in order to accept it. (This was, of course, back in the pre-work from home era!)Did the bed frame live up to your expectations? Yes, but I think my expectations were pretty much just that the bed frame have a headboard and fit in my room. (It has continued to fit in every room Ive lived in since, FYI!) I will say that I was more into its appearance at the time I ordered it than I am now.How would you rate the sturdiness of this bed frame on a scale of 110? I would probably give it a 6 or a 7. At one point when I moved, and it was disassembled and rebuilt by my (very good) movers, it ended up with a constant squeak. The next time I moved I asked them to screw it together extra tightly, and the problem was solved, but it was an issue for a couple of years and seemed like something that could happen to other customers.Would you recommend this bed frame to a friend? Yes, if it fit the parameters of what they were looking for. Its fairly low to the ground, so some things that I would like to store underneath it (such as my standard-size Away suitcase) dont fit. If the friend lived in New York or another city apartment, Id be sure to note that.Most PopularAD-it-Yourself28 Tasteful Bathroom Decor Ideas, From Quick Fixes to Major MakeoversBy Amelia MularzArchitecture + DesignThis 700-Square-Foot Miami Loft Offers a Reinterpretation of Beachy DesignBy Linne HalpernTravel11 Frank Lloyd WrightDesigned Houses You Can Rent for Your Next VacationBy Kristine HansenPros: Even with a headboard, its easy to fit this frame in most any room. Its compact, but the size doesnt mean it skimps on style.Cons: The assembly was a little tricky and the under-the-bed storage leaves a little to be desired.Best for: Someone who favors a midcentury-modern style low-lung bed for a small space that they can keep forever and ever.Warranty: No | Sizes available: Twin, full, queen, king | Finishes available: Cerused white, white, acorn, pebbleBurrow Chorus BedBed frame reviewer: MacKenzie Chung Fegan, contributorMaterial: Hardwood frame, fabric upholstered headboardWhat attracted you to this bed frame? Ive traditionally been Team Headboard, but when I moved in with my now-spouse, I made peace with her minimalist, metal frame platform bed. But after years of wear, our bed was giving out, creaking and wobbling and damaging our hardwood floor with an overtaxed center post. In contrast, Burrows Chorus frame looked sturdy and solidand I was eager to have a headboard back in my life.What was the delivery and assembly like? Things got off to a rocky start! My bed frame arrived in three boxesthe headboard in one, the frame itself split between the other twoeach over 50 pounds. I unboxed the pieces on the ground floor and was able to carry each piece individually up two flights of stairs without much of a problem. The top, bottom, and side rails of the bed fit together by inserting a tooth on one piece into a slot on the other, but when I started assembling the frame, it became clear that I had been sent an incorrect part. One side rail had teeth where the slots should be and slots where the teeth could be, making it impossible to attach to the top and bottom pieces.I emailed Burrow customer service on a Saturday evening, heard back on Tuesday, and my replacement part arrived by Friday. Once I had all the correct pieces, it was a cinch to assemble. It could conceivably be a one-person job if not for the fact that you have to flip the entire frame over, which definitely required spousal assistance. As someone apt to lose that little IKEA hex wrench, I appreciated that assembly required no tools, with the exception of one screw. The whole thing took about 15 minutes.Did the bed frame live up to your expectations? It was just as advertised. I ordered the oak frame with a headboard in Papyrus, a light taupe color with a subtle sheen. The frame feels sturdy and stableno more creakingand elevates my mattress slightly higher off the ground than my previous frame. Overall, the minimalist design and solid wood construction makes me feel like I finally have an adult bed.How would you rate the sturdiness of this bed frame on a scale of 110? I would give it an 8/10 in terms of sturdiness. Its my first frame made of solid wood, and certainly compared to a metal or particle board it feels stable, like a bed of substance. Because of the interlocking joinery, there are no screws that might loosen over time (aside from one that holds the center post in place) and have to bear the weight of two sleeping humans plus sometimes a dog.Would you recommend this bed frame to a friend? I would recommend it, but with some reservations. One of the side pieces did arrive with a noticeable ding on one corner. This isnt a Burrow-specific problem, howeverand judging from my customer service experience, Im sure Burrow would quickly send a replacement.I think most will be pleased with the purchase. The bed isnt flashy. The headboard colorways are all muted tones, and there are no extraneous flourishes to the frame. A statement piece it is not. Its ideal for those who want their bed to do its damn job, but otherwise kind of blend into the background and not fight for attention with their high-quality patterned sheets.Most PopularAD-it-Yourself28 Tasteful Bathroom Decor Ideas, From Quick Fixes to Major MakeoversBy Amelia MularzArchitecture + DesignThis 700-Square-Foot Miami Loft Offers a Reinterpretation of Beachy DesignBy Linne HalpernTravel11 Frank Lloyd WrightDesigned Houses You Can Rent for Your Next VacationBy Kristine HansenPros: Its super sturdy and can really blend into a room while still elevating the overall aesthetic. (And some great customer service.)Cons: It does arrive in three different (rather heavy) boxes. There was also an incorrect piece and the frame did acquire some noticeable imperfections in transit.Best for: Someone who wants a subtle piece of furniture thats sturdy and streamlined but still lets their fun duvet take center stage.Warranty: Yes, 1 year | Sizes available: Full, queen, king | Finishes available: Walnut, oakZinus Linda Wood Platform Bed FrameBed frame reviewer: Rachel Fletcher, commerce directorMaterial: WoodWhat attracted you to this bed frame? I loved the look of the Linda immediatelyit gave me Scandi vibes and felt like itd be a great neutral piece. It also looked way more expensive than the price tag, which I saw a few of the reviewers mentioned in the comments.What was the delivery and assembly like? The bed frame arrived flat packedthe box was heavy and a bit unwieldybut I attribute this to the fact that the frame really is made with high quality wood and it didnt take too much cajoling to get it inside. I wont say that assembly was the easiest thing I ever didI worked on it together with my dad and, after a few missteps and getting used to the Zinus assembly system (more on that in a bit), it took the better part of an afternoon. Zinus does not offer any on-site assembly or white-glove options (that $350 price tag has its limits after all!) and claims that set up should take an hour but that definitely was not the case for us.There were quite a few pieces inside the box, but the instructions were pretty easy to follow (again, after a couple of false starts) and each part was labelled and numbered in a pretty logical manner (piece two connects to piece three and so on). Zinus also provides all the tools, nuts, and bolts you need to assemble, which makes things much easier.Did the bed frame live up to your expectations? If anything, the frame exceeded my expectations. It looks great and is sturdy as a rock.How would you rate the sturdiness of this bed frame on a scale of 110? 10. The bed is made of solid wood and has a metal interior frame. The pieces all fit together with ease once we figured out how to put them together, and the way Zinus designs everything to fit into place is pretty ingeniousit felt sort of like an old school Lincoln Log build-outand there werent any squeaky or wobbly bits to deal with.Would you recommend this bed frame to a friend? Definitely. For the price, I truly dont think the quality can be beat. And the style of the Linda is pretty agnosticits a little midcentury, a little Scandinavianso much so that I can imagine it fitting into a host of home decor aesthetics, from a cozy cabin to something more minimalist or beachy or boho! With the Linda, the decor world is your oyster.Most PopularAD-it-Yourself28 Tasteful Bathroom Decor Ideas, From Quick Fixes to Major MakeoversBy Amelia MularzArchitecture + DesignThis 700-Square-Foot Miami Loft Offers a Reinterpretation of Beachy DesignBy Linne HalpernTravel11 Frank Lloyd WrightDesigned Houses You Can Rent for Your Next VacationBy Kristine HansenPros: Its affordable, super sturdy thanks to a solid wood and metal frame, and leans into a lovely neutral vibe.Cons: Assembly was a little tough and takes some time.Best for: If your budget often exceeds your tastes. This is a lovely piece at a low price tag that will blend well with a Scandi aesthetic.Warranty: Yes, 5 years | Sizes available: Twin, full, queen, king | Finishes available: OakThe Bed by ThumaBed frame reviewer: Zo Sessums, senior digital design editorMaterial: Handcrafted, repurposed wood bed frame, 100% polyester pebbled linen-weave PillowBoard, recycled plastic slatsWhat attracted you to this bed frame? I love any furniture that doesnt require tools for assembly. I can handle a complex design and assembly, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness that also goes along with some considered joinery. I was excited to see exactly how this solid wood and upholsteredbed frame comes together and to see how it holds up.What was the delivery and assembly like? Delivery was easy and straightforward. I could lift each piece myselfalways a bonusand it came with a minimal amount of packaging. I began the assembly process myself, but asked for help/company halfway through because I didnt want to scratch my wood flooring. The instructions were simple, and I was able to put the bed together in less than an hour. It was a lot like using giant Lincoln Logsyou just stack and join the pieces in a certain order and voil! Youve got yourself a bed frame.Did the bed frame live up to your expectations? I was very pleased with the easy assembly and the heft of the frame. The Japanese craftsman technique was true to the promise of having a quiet, easy-to-put-together setup. My only bits of criticism had to do with the aesthetic quality of the wood (it has a faux-wood look, in my opinion, despite the material, and the brown just wasnt my favorite) and the challenge of moving the bed frame (if you try to scoot it over yourself, theres a chance one of the legs will tip over, which happened to me a couple of times).How would you rate the sturdiness of this bed frame on a scale of 110? 9. Very sturdy! I jumped on it, I lunged on it, and it held up well. I only knock it a point for the lack of sturdiness when attempting to move it.Would you recommend this bed frame to a friend? I think this is a really great option out there for a simple, modular bed frame that is made from sustainable materials and that will hold up over time (a perfect choice for someone who moves regularly). Its also nice that the PillowBoard is optional, so you can change the look of your bed setup regularly.Most PopularAD-it-Yourself28 Tasteful Bathroom Decor Ideas, From Quick Fixes to Major MakeoversBy Amelia MularzArchitecture + DesignThis 700-Square-Foot Miami Loft Offers a Reinterpretation of Beachy DesignBy Linne HalpernTravel11 Frank Lloyd WrightDesigned Houses You Can Rent for Your Next VacationBy Kristine Hansen[Editors note: This bed is also one of the most popular products among our readers several years running.]Pros: Its made using sustainable materials, will hold up well over time, and is easy to put together.Cons: The material does give the appearance of faux wood.Best for: The Thuma Bed is great for someone who moves around a lot since its so sturdy and will hold up well over time. Also ideal if you dont want to spend much time with assembly.Warranty: Yes, lifetime | Sizes available: Twin, twin XL, full, queen, king, California king | Finishes available: Walnut, natural, espresso, grayUpholstered Bed FramesArticle Uden Bed FrameBed frame reviewer:Erika Veurink, contributorMaterial:This bed frame is made out of American white oak, rubberwood, beech, a little plywood, and a polyester blend for the bed frames softer parts.What attracted you to this bed frame?Ive always been drawn to the comfort of a bed frame with a cushioned headboard. It mitigates my usual pillow stacking to read before bed. I wanted a design where the same comfort the headboard offered ensconced the entire bed, so it didnt look like a one-off on the part of the design. I love the neutral color of the bed frame, which compliments whatever colorful bed-scape Ive thought up.What was the delivery and assembly like?Delivery was very hands-on, in a good way. I received updates from the minute the order was placed, and even a check in after it was successfully delivered. Assembly took right around the hour I expected, thanks to the detailed instructions. As I assembled with my husband, we were both pleasantly surprised at how quickly the time went by.Did the bed frame live up to your expectations?If you read other reviews on Articles website, youll note an overwhelming sentiment that the bed is less cream than photographed. The actual color of the bed frame worked for the room I placed it in, but I have to side with the reviewers. The color was a warm gray, soft and easy to match with, but not white. Once assembled, I couldnt get over how much I adored the subtle curve of the piece. Leaning against the headboard is like being ensconced, in the best way possible.How would you rate the sturdiness of this bed frame on a scale of 110?I was impressed by the quality of the bed frame, especially during assembly. It felt like one of my more expensive pieces for half the price.Would you recommend this bed frame to a friend?Yes! As long as you have some flexibility on color, this is a great bed frame. Plus, the detailed and high-touch delivery process is a welcome addition to what can definitely be a more high-stress process.Most PopularAD-it-Yourself28 Tasteful Bathroom Decor Ideas, From Quick Fixes to Major MakeoversBy Amelia MularzArchitecture + DesignThis 700-Square-Foot Miami Loft Offers a Reinterpretation of Beachy DesignBy Linne HalpernTravel11 Frank Lloyd WrightDesigned Houses You Can Rent for Your Next VacationBy Kristine HansenPros: Its got a super-comfy headboard you can lean into and feels expensive at a fraction of the price. The communicative delivery process is a nice plus.Cons: The cream color leans more warm gray than white.Best for: Someone a little hesitant about purchasing a bed frame online who wants something that makes a statement through its shape and designnot color.Warranty: One year manufacturer | Sizes available: Queen, king | Colors available: Ashford ivory, light willow greenCastlery Joseph Bed with Boucl HeadboardBed frame reviewer: Holly Johnson, senior consumer revenue managerMaterial: W

Every week, hundreds of artists share their work on the Blender Artists forum. I'm putting some of the best work in the spotlight in a weekly post here on BlenderNation.Source

Ryan King Art writes: In this Blender tutorial we will create these three procedural snow materials. https://youtu.be/2iRkv_1okqY?si=PPZhDMF4TLriCVRVSource

A decade ago, the landscape of the x86 processor market was nowhere near as competitive as it is now. AMD really wasn't the force in the processor market it is known as today.In early 2014, with Rory Read at the helm, it had been a while since AMD had tasted glory. By Read's departure, the last time the company posed a real threat to Intel was back in the early 2000s with its Athlon 64 processors. After that point, the company slowly slid into position as the budget alternative for users who either couldn't justify or afford Intel's pricing.By 2014, AMD's primary core architecture for desktop chips was codenamed Piledriver, a Bulldozer successor, but the only thing they are really remembered for is being power hungry and underperforming on The Reg we once joked they could double up as portable space heaters. As for Intel's Sandy and Ivy Bridge chips, they were a design triumph that led to Chipzilla winning then maintaining dominance over the whole x86 market without breaking a sweat. And it wasn't seeing much pushback from AMD, whose lackluster architecture allowed Intel to dictate the direction of the desktop market.On top of this, AMD's revenues left a lot to be desired, its market share was even thinner, and it meant a long climb ahead if it wanted back in the game.No one would have known this more than MIT engineer Dr Lisa Su, who was already AMD's chief operating officer running the company's sales and marketing teams. Named an IEEE Fellow in 2009, Su had been poached by AMD from Freescale Semiconductor, where she was CTO, in 2012. Su's appointment in 2014 tasked her with transforming not only AMD's overall narrative and public perception going forward, but also with defining a roadmap that was technically up to par.AMD needed to rebuild its core architectures from the ground up to have any hope of clawing back market share. Under her leadership, AMD shifted from the "affordable" alternative to a genuine contender. Ryzen put AMD back in the desktop market, Epyc began chipping away at Intel's datacenter dominance, and RDNA gave AMD's GPUs a second life. Today, AMD is no longer just the budget pick; it's setting the pace on price and performance, forcing Intel to keep up.Setting the stage for ZenAMD spent the early 2010s struggling to stay relevant. Bulldozer, the CPU architecture it had pinned its hopes on, was supposed to keep AMD in the race with Intel. Instead, it became a case study on missed opportunities. Why? Bulldozer focused on core count at the expense of per-core performance, which backfired because most software still relied on single-threaded performance, Intel's area of strength. AMD's chips ran hot and simply couldn't compete on speed, leaving Intel to dominate the desktop CPU market on performance.Su didn't waste time when she took over as CEO in 2014. She binned the failing strategies and got AMD to work on a new roadmap that focused on solid engineering.The calm before the storm: AMD's Zen bears down on Intel CPUsREAD MOREThe result of all this was Zen, which we know today as AMD's Ryzen series. The original Zen microarchitecture launched in 2017, and it was a ground-up redesign focused on performance, efficiency, and scalability. It thrusted AMD back into the desktop game, but also became the foundation of AMD's key processors across all its primary product segments.The Zen+ microarchitecture arrived in 2018 with the Ryzen 2000 series. It used a 12nm process, and brought with it slight clock speed increases and reduced memory and cache latency. On the server side, AMD's first-gen Epyc processors, codenamed Naples, the company's first Zen-based server chip, started AMD's slow push back into the datacenter. AMD's Epyc line-up is now leading the charge in the server space, with SemiAnalysis's Sravan Kundojjala recently noting that AMD had overtaken Intel for the first time in datacenter revenue in Q3 2024. To put this into perspective, though, AMD's DC revenue scale is still small relative to, say, Nvidia, whose "networking (non compute) revenue alone" swamps that of Su's company.In 2019, AMD launched Zen 2 and delivered the subsequent Ryzen 3000 family on a newer 7nm process. This also marked the architectural change to AMD's new chiplet-based design, which enabled higher core counts and better overall performance and power efficiency.On the server side, Epyc Rome followed, scaling its chips up to 64 cores and offering better value for the enterprise markets. The first Ryzen Mobile 4000 series (Renoir) launched in 2020, bringing its Zen 2 designs to laptops. Renoir combined power-efficient cores with Vega graphics, putting AMD back in the notebook market after years of irrelevance.As Su noted in a Q4 2019 earnings call: "We ended 2019 with our highest quarterly client processor unit shipments in more than six years based on strong demand for Ryzen desktop and mobile processors."A turning pointIn 2020, Zen 3 brought the Ryzen 5000 series to market with a major IPC uplift, helping AMD finally beat Intel in single-threaded performance. This was a turning point for AMD, which not only made things more competitive, but put Intel on the back foot. Its Epyc Milan chips, based on Zen 3, launched a year later and expanded AMD's server line-up with much-improved performance per watt compared to previous generations. The Ryzen Mobile 5000 series (Cezanne) followed, blending Zen 3 cores with updated Vega integrated graphics for thin and light laptops.By 2022, Zen 4 launched on TSMC's 5nm node with Ryzen 7000, adding support for the latest DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0. On the mobile side, the Ryzen Mobile 6000 series (Rembrandt) arrived with Zen 3+ cores and RDNA 2 integrated graphics, improving overall battery life and performance. Epyc Genoa upped server core counts to 96, while Bergamo optimized for dense, cloud-native workloads with more compact cores, pushing performance, value, and power efficiency in these environments.In February 2022, AMD completed its $50 billion acquisition of Xilinx, a leading provider of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The merger pulled AMD firmly into the AI space, with its Ryzen AI engine embedded in most of its mobile products. It was a canny move as everything chipmakers do currently revolves around AI, with neural processing units (NPUs) giving chips the ability to compute AI workloads directly instead of being processed in the cloud.More recently, AMD launched its Zen 5-powered Ryzen 8000, as well as its Epyc Turin chips, which use TSMC's 4nm process. Turin added on-chip AI acceleration, while Ryzen Mobile 8000 (Strix Point) brought both full-fat Zen 5 and the more compact Zen 5c cores and RDNA 3 graphics to laptops, with better efficiency and heavy focus on AI-based features.Picture this the graphics problemPerhaps the biggest obstacle of the past ten years has been the graphics market, and despite significant improvements with both RDNA and RDNA 2, AMD still trails Nvidia in performance. In areas such as ray tracing, AI-based upscaling, and general developer support, AMD still struggles to compete. Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem has kept team green the dominant force in GPUs, especially in AI and gaming, which has kept AMD playing second fiddle despite competitive pricing and performance.In the laptop market, Ryzen Mobile has made significant strides in performance, power efficiency, and overall OEM adoption rates into its key product lines. However, AMD is still far from being able to dethrone Intel in the mobile market. The majority of OEMs have still been reluctant to adopt AMD processors in their most premium consumer and enterprise notebooks, leaving Intel to dominate at the very top end.That's a moving target, though, and we are seeing what AMD calls "Advantage Notebooks" where it uses an AMD CPU and GPU more. Even with all the innovations AMD is bringing to mobile such as Ryzen AI, AMD's market share in mobile remains limited compared to its solid progress in the desktop and server market.Despite all the technical progress with Ryzen, AMD continues to struggle to build a cohesive ecosystem in the mobile space, at least compared to Intel. Chipzilla's Evo platform has locked in customer loyalty by setting standards for premium laptops, while AMD's lack of a comparable certification makes it harder for OEMs to market to consumers in the high-end mobile segment. These challenges highlight that while AMD has succeeded in many areas, there are hurdles Su needs to overcome.Personnel changes over the decadeThere have been a string of personnel changes under Su, not all of which worked out smoothly. One critical figure that left was Jim Keller, among the main architects at AMD, who departed in 2015 after helping with AMD's CPU resurgence. While the Zen team successfully carried the roadmap forward, Keller's exit meant AMD lost one of its most renowned engineers.Another key architect was Mike Clarke, a central figure in AMD's CPU design team and known as the "father of Zen," who also stepped away from the company for a brief period before returning to help spearhead the Zen family. Clarke's absence created temporary instability, but his return helped reinforce AMD's ability to deliver on its roadmap.On the graphics side, Raja Koduri, who led the Radeon Technologies Group, resigned from AMD in late 2017 to join Intel. Koduri had been instrumental in helping reorganize AMD's graphics division and was key in initiating the RDNA architecture. He exited just as AMD was beginning to regain traction in the GPU market. While RDNA was well under way and became pivotal in helping AMD be more competitive, AMD at this time was still struggling to close the graphics leadership gap with Nvidia in both the gaming and AI markets. It is possible Koduri's departure disrupted AMD's momentum in the graphics space.Other notable departures include Mike Rayfield, who left AMD's embedded and Pro segment back in 2019.However, AMD managed to retain Forrest Norrod, who first joined in 2014 after a 13-year tenure at Dell. Norrod is a key figure within the Epyc and server leadership team and has played a large part in AMD's datacenter and server ambitions.Crucial to AMD's core graphics leadership is Jack Huynh, a 20-plus-year company veteran who was appointed senior VP and GM of computing and graphics last year. When pressed about whether AMD's success in the datacenter would pull focus away from efforts on gaming and graphics lines, Huynh appeared to say that AMD would not try to compete for a piece of the flagship pie. He told Tom's Hardware in September: "My number one priority right now is to build scale, to get us to 40 to 50 percent of the market faster. Do I want to go after 10 percent of the TAM [total addressable market] or 80 percent? I'm an 80 percent kind of guy because I don't want AMD to be the company that only people who can afford Porsches and Ferraris can buy."A decade of ups and downsThe past ten years haven't been without missteps for the company, but there has definitely been a step change as far as growth is concerned. AMD is delivering successful product after product, not just in the desktop market, but in mobile and datacenter too.Latest figures show AMD chipping away at Intel's CPU dominanceREAD MOREIn terms of market share, it is starting to make real strides. Back in 2014, AMD's market share in desktop was down to around 20 percent, whereas now it sits around 29 percent, as The Register reported earlier this month. The Intel challenger has gained almost ten percentage points compared to a year ago from 19.2 percent in Q3 2023 to 28.7 percent in Q3 this year, half of which came during the last quarter.All-inclusive market data from Mercury Research showed that AMD currently ships around a quarter of all x86 chips including not just server and desktop CPUs, but IoT chips and semi-custom products used in kit like game consoles.The biggest win for AMD of late is its market share in the server space, where formerly it had no presence whatsoever. Now it stands around 24 percent, a major improvement, and, with Epyc's dominance in core count compared to Intel, is sure to help push this even higher in the years to come. Su noted in the company's most recent earnings call for Q3 2024: "Epyc has become the CPU of choice for the modern datacenter and our multi-generation product portfolio delivers leadership performance and significant [total cost of ownership] advantages across virtually every enterprise and cloud workload."It will have to watch out. As we wrote, it wasn't just AMD that experienced significant growth in server CPU shipments, Chipzilla did too. Intel saw gains in both datacenter and networking/communications segments, according to Mercury. The analyst observed: "Due to very similar growth rates, AMD saw only a near-negligible increase in total share, and we note that Intel's Xeon SP shipment growth slightly outpaced AMD's Epyc as Intel's NEX shipments recovered."There is everything to play for.

If you've spent much time on LinkedIn, you've probably run into self-congratulatory posts, tips on how to maximize your "grindset," and other business lessons from alleged thought leaders. It's tiring, but a study of such posts has pulled the curtain off the wizard: More than half of such posts are written by AI.You know the type: "Humble" folks who make sure a camera is always rolling to capture their charitable acts, people writing more than necessary about how their personal success translates into general rules for life, recruiters hating on job seekers, job seekers telling recruiters how to improve their hiring practices and the occasional tech journalist asking PR people to stop sending them offers for unwanted MBA programs or pitches that have nothing to do with technology. Ahem.Originality.AI, an online AI detection platform, examined 8,795 long-form LinkedIn posts - defined by the site as 100 words or longer - and found that, based on its own assessment tools, 54 percent of such posts "are estimated to be AI-generated."This trend suggests that many self-proclaimed thought leaders on LinkedIn may be presenting AI-generated content as their own profound insights. Sure, it's what many LinkedIn users may have suspected, but it's still potentially damaging for Microsoft's flavor of business-first social networking.Working as intended?It's not like this is surprising - LinkedIn premium subscribers (like this vulture, who has access to LinkedIn premium as a member of the LinkedIn for Journalists program) have access to several AI-powered features they can use to write posts, beef up their profile with recruiter-approved AI-generated language, while users and recruiters alike are encouraged to use AI to generate direct messages to hiring managers and candidates.Those tools have been rolling out on LinkedIn for the past year, the platform told us, but the use of AI to write thought-provoking posts on the professional social network appears to have preceded their inclusion.Originality's sample of nearly 9000 posts spanned a period between January 2018 and October 2024, and it found an interesting three-way correlation between LinkedIn posts and the release of Microsoft-backed OpenAI's Chat-GPT in late 2022: When ChatGPT went public, AI-generated posts and the average long-form post length skyrocketed.According to the report, there's been a 189 percent increase in suspected use of AI from January to February 2023, and a 107 percent jump in the average word count of long-form posts since ChatGPT launched. In other words, it's pretty clear what's been happening to so-called thought leaders on LinkedIn: Many of them have turned to AI for content creation.When asked how it's responding to the glut of AI content on LinkedIn, we were told first and foremost by the platform that it wanted to be clear the AI content identified in the Originality study was "AI-assisted," and not necessarily entirely generated by AI. In other words, post "authors" still provided a prompt, at the minimum, to create their AI-powered content.Aside from that, said LinkedIn's head of feed relevance Adam Walkiewicz, the site encourages good use of AI to "help with review of a draft or to beat the blank page problem [i.e., writer's block]," but Walkiewicz stressed LinkedIn users' original ideas are what really fuels the site."We don't currently track how often [or] whether generative AI was used in the creation or editing of all posts on LinkedIn, but we do have robust defenses in place to proactively identify low-quality, and exact or near-exact duplicate content," Walkiewicz said in an emailed statement. "When we detect such content, we take action to ensure it is not broadly promoted."LinkedIn AI no risk to childrenThere's always the concern that AI-generated content could harm the impressionable and young, but we don't have to worry about kids being exposed to this type of AI garbage on Linkedin: In the platform's own words, it's too dull for kids.Responding [PDF] to the Australian government's request for comments on a proposed law that would ban kids under 16 from social media, LinkedIn said it should be exempted because not only does it not allow anyone under 16 to sign up for the site, it's content simply isn't the sort that'll harm children.This can be disproven with a bit of digging (we're not going to link some of the rather non-professional posts you can find on LinkedIn, but if you want to see, some just head over to Reddit), but LinkedIn maintains it's not a risk for kids."As LinkedIn's purpose is entirely professional, the platform is not popular with minors," the social media platform claimed in its response while asking not to be regulated in the same way as TikTok, Instagram, and other social media networks aimed at younger audiences."LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors," the response continued. "LinkedIn does not direct or market any of its products or features toward minors including the 16 and 17 year olds that are technically permitted on the platform."When asked for comment, LinkedIn responded in a way consistent with its self-claimed professional image, telling us that it's not about exciting engagement and more about "connecting our members to their next professional opportunity," while referring us back to the filing and its help page about age-based protections.Of course, the argument LinkedIn is too dull for the youths extends to adult users: It could be argued it's too boring to be worth their time, too, especially with AI-generated content gaining such a foothold.