Researchers used a line array of hydrophones towed behind a ship for three weeks in the 1980s. They collected data nonstop, listening to all the sounds in the ocean. One such sound was the enigmatic "quacking" that one expert now says might represent a conversation. Ross ChapmanThe ocean is full of many unknowns, including the mysterious sounds that often come from the deep. For instance, a mechanical-sounding noise near the Mariana trench and a lonely whale making calls at the unique frequency of 52 hertz have puzzled experts before. Now, an unidentified sound in the Southern Ocean that was first recorded in the 1960s might finally have an explanationor, at least, a partial one.First heard nearly six decades ago, the oddly mechanical sound has been named bio-duck due to its short, quack-like nature,dubbed one of the largest unsolved mysteries of the Southern Ocean. The sound could still be heard in the following decades. In 1982, the noise was captured once more during a soundscape analysis of the South Fiji Basin.In 1986, Ross Chapman, a researcher at the University of Victoria in Canada, became involved in examining the data from that experiment.We discovered that the data contained a gold mine of new information about many kinds of sound in the ocean, including sounds from marine mammals, he says in a statement released during the 187th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, where he presented the research last week.In 2014, scientists attributed the bio-duck sound to Antarctic minke whales. These creatures are known for producing the most bizarre sounds, as NOAA Fisheries marine biologist Sofie Van Parijs said at the time. A year earlier, researchers had placed acoustic recorder tags on two minke whales to document the noise. They found that it either came from the animal with the tag or another minke whale close by.Balaenoptera bonaerensis "bio duck"Watch on Although the whales were linked to the sound, the mystery continued. Scientists would need to get visual confirmation of the mammals producing the bio-duck noise to verify its source. The sounds have never been conclusively identified, according to the new statement.Instead, Chapmans analysis has brought to light that the sounds might actually be a conversation, not isolated noises.We found multiple speakers in different ocean locations, all making these sounds, Chapman tells the Morning News Zai Apolonio.Chapman helped analyze the data from the 1982 recording and found the sound was repeatable. At first, Chapman and his colleagues couldnt believe it was biological. Back then, the study of ocean noises was in its infancy, he says in the statement, adding that they learned something new about sound in the ocean every day as we looked further into the data.It was really an exciting time for us, Chapman says.During the 1982 experiment, researchers recorded sound using a line array of hydrophones towed behind a ship for three weeks. They collected data nonstop, listening to all the sounds in the ocean and all the time, says Chapman to Cosmos Imma Perfetto. What made the effort special was that it used multiple hydrophones, working together as an acoustic antenna that allowed the researchers to determine where the sound was coming from.The researchers identified at least four individual speakers producing the bio-duck sound in different locations across the ocean, Cosmos reports.But what shocked Chapman was how similar to a conversation the noises seemed.The most amazing thing was that when one speaker was talking, the others were quiet, as though they were listening, he says in the statement. Then the first speaker would stop talking and listen to responses from others.Although this new result, alongside the 2014 study, adds to the body of research around the bio-duck noise, Chapman believes a larger mystery remains.The question is: When do they make the bio-duck sound, and why do they make it? he tells Cosmos. I wouldnt say that the answer is really known, even today.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Antarctica, Australia, Mammals, Mysteries, New Zealand, Oceans, Sound Recordings, Whales

Viz Pro of the Week Congratulations to Tran Tien Trung (@true_studio.viz) for winning this week's "Viz Pro of the Week" on CGarchitect.com!Their images for a tent concept set in the African savannah truly capture the ambience of the wild!https://link.cgarchitect.com/vizpro17november2024Don't forget to check out their profile on CGarchitect.com to explore their full portfolio.#VizProOfTheWeek #CGarchitect #ArchViz #Inspiration #DesignInspiration #ArchitecturalVisualization #3Drendering #3D #Architecture #3dvisualization #render #3drender #3dmodeling #vray #coronarender #unreal #sketchup #3dsmax

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn MoreIn the fast-moving world of AI, competition is heating upand nowhere is this more evident than in the battle over advanced reasoning models. In just the past few days, three new AI models from Chinese developersDeepseek R1 (HighFlyer Capital Management), Marco-1 (Alibaba), and OpenMMLabs hybrid model have entered the fray, challenging OpenAIs o1 Preview in performance and accessibility.These releases highlight how quickly open-source innovation is catching up to proprietary giants like OpenAI, whose o1-preview model set a new benchmark for complex reasoning tasks when it was released in mid-September. With OpenAI expected to unveil its next release as early as next week, the pressure is mounting to prove its dominance isnt slipping.This race has broader implications beyond model performance. OpenAIs skyrocketing $157 billion valuation and ambitious timeline for artificial general intelligence (AGI) have put intense pressure on its leadership to maintain momentum, especially as competitors close the gap faster than ever. Last year, OpenAIs GPT-4 had a five-month lead before Anthropics Claude 2 debuted. This year, OpenAIs lead with o1-preview has shrunk to just two and a half months, underscoring the rapid pace of innovation across the industry.Meanwhile, Anthropic has upped the stakes by releasing its Model Context Protocol (MCP), which simplifies AI-data integration and paves the way for next-gen applications. This open-source initiative also signals how other players in the field, including open-source-focused labs like AI2 with its OLMo 2 model, and Nous Researchs Nous Forge are broadening access to advanced AI capabilities with rival approaches to OpenAI.For a detailed breakdown of this of these Chinese models, what they offer, how OpenAI and Google are likely to respond in the coming weeks, MCP, and OLMo 2 check out our full discussion in the video below. You wont want to miss the analysis from AI developer Sam Witteveen, who shares exclusive insights with me on why all of these developments matter. To my surprise, he was particularly bullish about MCP and its benefits suggesting this could be significant for helping create our own personal agents.VB DailyStay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox dailyBy subscribing, you agree to VentureBeat's Terms of Service.Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.

Nintendo Switch ending online support exposes fragility of gaming partnerships in China | OpinionDaniel Camilo explains how, in the end, consumers get the short end of the stickImage credit: Nintendo Opinion by Daniel Camilo Contributor Published on Nov. 28, 2024 It has been reported that Nintendo announced a discontinuation of its online services for the Nintendo Switch in China.This might seem like a very dramatic development with a profound impact on the console's life in China, but actually, it's not. I want to try to explain what this means as best as I can, as it fundamentally concerns one of the topics I most recurrently write about and comment on: console market dynamics in China.First, it is wise to look at the actual announcement from the source: Tencent's webpage for the Chinese Switch. It's all in Chinese, but thankfully automatic translations are actually pretty good nowadays, so that shouldn't be an issue for most people.We can read that the "Nintendo Switch in China will gradually stop the Nintendo e-shop and other network-related operating services from March 31, 2026 to May 15, 2026." Plus, Nintendo/Tencent will be "launching a 'reward plan' for all Nintendo Switch users in China."Nintendo did not make the decision to cut short the life of the Switch in ChinaThat reward plan includes four redeemable, downloadable games from the Chinese e-Shop, meaning only users with an associated mainland Chinese WeChat ID will be able to redeem said games (WeChat is owned by Tencent, by the way).The list of games available includes only some that have been licensed for publishing and distribution in mainland China. It is a very meager list, although it does include some very good titles (that most Switch users already own).As I've been alluding to, Tencent is very much involved in the distribution of the Chinese Nintendo Switch. If you're wondering why I'm giving the console its own nationality, that is because the gaming market in China is greatly composed of content that is licensed for publishing/distribution/commercialization in the country, and content that is not. I have written on the subject extensively. Also, back in 2021 I wrote specifically about the distribution deal made between Tencent and Nintendo for the Switch in China. That linked article provides some still-relevant context.If you're not willing to read any of that, I'll briefly sum it up: for consoles and their respective games in particular, most of the Chinese market is made up of imported goods, both physically and digitally. Most PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles sold in the country are imported and widely available and sold through e-commerce platforms.These SKUs compete directly with Chinese licensed ones in the same spaces. Most consoles and imported physical games originate either from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, with a minor amount originating from other regions. Yes, China is effectively inflating sales for all those markets, but that's another topic.Digital games, when bought in imported consoles using accounts from other countries, are also technically imported purchases.Basically this happens because very few games actually get a publishing license for mainland China (due to strict regulations), and therefore many (most?) consumers prefer buying imported region-free consoles that are easily available at very competitive prices. Officially licensed consoles commonly have at least some of their online services region-locked (restricted) and therefore greatly limit the experience of their users. For the sake of this article's focus, I will ignore PC and mobile gaming here.And so we circle back to the issue at hand with Tencent's Nintendo Switch... The range of games offered for free to Switch owners have been selected from those officially licensed for release in China | Image credit: NintendoWhy is this happening now?Every non-Chinese gaming studio, gaming publisher and gaming manufacturer who wishes to directly make business in Mainland China is required by law to have a Chinese partner. That is, to have a Chinese company doing the work for them in the country. In the case of a game wishing to officially and fully legally launch in China, it needs a Chinese publisher to operate the game in China. This is a complex topic, but generally this is how it works.For the distribution/operation of the Switch, Nintendo partnered with Tencent and officially launched the console in China in 2019, two and a half years after its international debut.I'm not going to pretend I know the details of the deal between Tencent and Nintendo, but I know enough from my professional experience in the publishing world in China, and from interpersonal exchanges, to understand that a distribution deal such as this one operates more or less within the same general molds of a publishing deal. It is contractual, timelines are set in advance, economic/sales goals are established, and technical operations are fully handled by the Chinese side. In this case, Tencent.Nintendo did not make the decision to cut short the life of the Switch in China.This is the important point that people looking in from outside of China need to understand. And yes, this is effectively cutting short the life of the Chinese licensed console in the country. Even knowing that Nintendo will very likely reveal the Switch 2 in 2025, and probably even release it next year, it is unfathomable to expect online services for the console being cut as early as 2026 in most markets. The console will almost surely be supported years after the next iteration comes along.The Chinese Switch, just like the Chinese PS5 or the Chinese Xbox, are not about the long-lasting visions of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. They are, fundamentally, the ambition of their Chinese counterpartsOnline support is being terminated in China because of Tencent and/or involved Chinese parties. This is not an accusation. It is simply stating that Tencent is the one managing the console and its digital maintenance in China, and therefore this sudden announcement is a consequence of whatever is happening, and/or decided on Tencent's camp.We do not know yet why exactly this is happening, as of the time of this writing. A lot of more-or-less well-informed speculation has been shared on the Chinese webs from different sources, but so far the most likely scenario is that one of Tencent's partners is unable to continue to provide online services.This information has been reported (but not confirmed) by one of the best online sources for information on Nintendo in China, Chinese Nintendo on X.The Chinese Nintendo account (not affiliated with Nintendo) reported that "TNS online service was run by a long-time partner of Nintendo, but said partner would no longer be available due to their recent change in their business in China."This seems to be a plausible and likely explanation, even if details are still obscure. Besides, I could speculate that the contract between Tencent and Nintendo is simply running to its pre-established undisclosed end, and the announcement for the termination of services comes as a natural consequence of that. Perhaps it is a mix of both? Hard to tell, at the moment.What about the people who own the Chinese Switch?This should be the primary concern of any discussion addressing this topic. After all, what is the gaming industry without its users, its customers, its fans? Nothing. It doesn't give me any pleasure to tackle subjects from a negative perspective, but as I made it clear with the title of this article, a happy story this is not.What is happening now with the Chinese Switch was almost entirely predictable, in the sense that we know these are product-specific deals (the partnership between Tencent and Nintendo) with hardline parameters and short to medium-term goals. The Chinese Switch, just like the Chinese PS5 or the Chinese Xbox, are not about the long-lasting visions of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. They are, fundamentally, the ambition of their Chinese counterparts.To be clear, of course these consoles only exist thanks to their original makers and in-house brand support. But the China-specific operations 'belong' to the Chinese partners for the most part, and in this case, Nintendo simply does not have the legal authority to take matters into its own hands and 'fix' the issue as it more easily could in less restrictive markets.If nothing changes beyond this announcement, the people who bought the Chinese Switch will be left with an offline-only machine (I will not address piracy and rooting here, obviously), usable only with the games they already acquired, sans online functionalities for said games. The partnership between Nintendo and Tencent began in 2019 and likely had a predetermined end dateMore informed consumers, however, who bought imported models of the console will not be affected by this whatsoever. Indeed, their choice to ignore the Chinese model will be more justified than ever, and it will further motivate sellers in the country to continue to import and sell consoles to the many millions who continue to increase demand for console gaming in China.As somewhat of a silver lining, I would say that Tencent's partnership with Nintendo is not without its merits. If nothing else, their heavy marketing efforts in the country did boost brand awareness for Nintendo among hundreds of millions of potential new consumers. If the Chinese Switch didn't sell as much as Tencent likely expected and desired, it undoubtedly fueled interest for the millions of imported consoles that continue to be sold across China and made the Switch the de facto most popular console in the country for the last decade (even if we can't accurately measure total sales, due to the aforementioned complexities of the Chinese gaming market).What is happening now with the Chinese Switch was almost entirely predictableThe shutting down of online services and the eShop mean that all Switch games with a Chinese publishing license will no longer be available for download. While physical copies for most of these games are available, their run is fairly limited and not being reprinted for, presumably, most of them. Chinese users are primarily digital-first consumers, and it is safe to assume the vast majority of Chinese Switch games sold digitally.What happens to the publishing licenses of these games? Possibly, they might be used to accelerate the official release of new upcoming games, as the recycling of publishing licenses for games in China is common practice, even if not openly admitted in formal channels. Publishing licenses for games are hard to come by and coveted by publishers in the country. Fairly regularly, publishers will sell, resell, or 'recycle' these licenses (ISBN) to be used with newer games. It is somewhat of an obscure and not entirely legal practice, but one that is common anyway.If these Chinese editions of Switch games do not return to the eShop, I would not be surprised to see a larger portfolio of Switch 2 games rapidly available once the console gets officially released in China. A lot of those 'phantom' publishing licenses could end up being used for the next console's launch line-up in China, in order to decrease the usual months taken to process licenses.Daniel Camilo is a business development and gaming consultant based in Shenzhen, China

Xbox's plan to see games via Android app delayed by court orderMicrosoft's Sarah Bond says functionality is "ready to go" but Google claims platform holder is choosing not to launch itImage credit: GamesIndustry.biz News by James Batchelor Editor-in-chief Published on Nov. 28, 2024 Microsoft's plan to enable Android users to buy and play console games via the Xbox app have been delayed, seemingly due to the ongoing legal dispute between Google and Epic Games.In a thread on BlueSky, Xbox president Sarah Bond said the company is unable to launch this new feature "due to a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts."Bond previously announced that Xbox players would be able to play and buy games directly from the platform holder's app "starting in November," and that this would begin on Android devices in the US."Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision," she wrote yesterday. "We are eager to launch and give more choice and flexibility to players."The temporary stay appears to be from the Epic Games vs Google case, where the Fortnite firm triumphed in a jury trial last year.As a result of Epic's win, the judge ordered last month that Google open up its marketplace to other app stores and no longer require developers to use Google Play Billing, entitling the company to 30% cut of all transactions.This was due to start on November 1, but Google appealed and appears to have been granted a temporary stay before it makes changes to its mobile ecosystem.In a statement to The Verge's own report about the Xbox delay, Google spokesperson Dan Jackson said: "Microsoft has always been able to offer their Android users the ability to play and purchase Xbox games directly from their app theyve simply chosen not to."The Courts order, and rush to force its implementation, threaten Google Plays ability to provide a safe and secure experience. Microsoft, like Epic, are ignoring these very real security concerns. We remain focused on supporting an ecosystem that works for everyone, not just two of the largest game companies."Microsoft is keen to expand its offering on mobile. It recently launched a beta for a service that will enable Xbox owners to stream games they own via smartphones, tablets, PCs and Smart TVs.The platform holder is also working on a dedicated mobile store. Originally planned for launch this summer, it has been delayed to an unspecified date while Microsoft does further research on the mobile market.

Black Friday wouldnt be Black Friday without a deluge of TV deals. And while we wouldnt exactly recommend the second-rate models lining the Sunday circulars, there are plenty of TVs already on offer for Black Friday that deliver a satisfying viewing experience and solid feature set whether you plan on gaming, watching sports, or catching up on the latest TV shows and movies.RelatedSeveral of the best OLED models are currently sitting at or near all-time low prices right now, including the excellent LG C4 and Sony A95L QD-OLED, the latter of which a panel of judges (including our own Nilay Patel) voted as the veritable King of TV. Below, were also highlighting briefcase TVs, solid midrange picks under $1,000 like the 65-inch TCL QM85 (which has tons of features for the price), and even dirt-cheap sets including a $70 32-inch Insignia TV that would work just fine for a garage or kitchen.Black Friday TV deals over $1,000LG C4 OLED$1197$150020% off$1197$1197$150020% offThe LG C4 is similar to its predecessor, with support for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync variable refresh rate tech. However, it now sports a max 144Hz refresh rate, a brighter panel, and overall better picture quality.Sony A95L (65-inch)$2998$350014% off$2998$2998$350014% offThe Sony A95L is the flagship in Sonys OLED lineup and arguably the best TV available, full stop. It has a rich 4K QD-OLED panel that offers lifelike visuals for movies, shows, and gaming. It also supports Googles excellent TV platform and pairs great with a PlayStation thanks to automatic game modes that enhance playback and performance.$2998 at Amazon$3000 at Best BuyLGs G4 OLED TV is on sale in the 55-inch configuration starting at $1,796.99 (about $803 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is its best price yet. The 4K TV sports many of the C4s standout features including a 144Hz refresh rate but it offers brighter picture quality and more accurate colors.You can get the 65-inch Samsung S90D OLED starting at $1,397.99 ($800 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung, which is the lowest price weve seen on the 4K TV. Its just a small step down from the S95D OLED, as it doesnt have a glare reduction panel, but you still get sharp picture quality and a slew of gaming features, including a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Unfortunately, Samsung TVs still exclude Dolby Vision, so youll have to look elsewhere if thats important to you.The Sony Bravia 8 OLED, which is the 2024 successor to the solid Sony A80L, is matching its all-time low of $1,398 ($402 off) in the 55-inch configuration at Amazon and Best Buy. You can also get a 65-inch panel for $1,698 ($301 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. Its 31 percent thinner in depth and offers thinner bezels than the model its meant to replace. You also get 120Hz gaming capabilities with automatic picture optimization on PS5 consoles, along with a handy multi-view mode that lets you game and view apps like YouTube at the same time.Black Friday TV deals under $1,000Samsung The Frame TV (2024)$898$149840% off$898$898$149840% offSamsungs art-inspired 4K TV uses an anti-glare matte QLED display, which provides artwork and photos with qualities that resemble an actual canvas.LG StanbyME Go$797$119733% off$797$797$119733% offLGs StanbyME Go is a fun 27-inch panel nestled within a briefcase. The basic 1080p display doesnt offer high-end specs, though it does come with a selection of preloaded games, versatile viewing options, and a wide selection of streaming apps. Read our review.$797 at Amazon$800 at Best BuyThe LG B4 OLED is another solid gaming TV, and you can get a 48-inch model for $599.99 ($200 off) or a 55-inch model for $999.99 ($400 off) at Best Buy. It has an older processor and a dimmer screen than the costlier Evo models, but its a fine option if youre looking for a relatively affordable way to experience 4K 120Hz gaming on an OLED panel.TCLs Q6 QLED is currently on sale in a variety of configurations. The 65-inch panel, for instance, is available starting at $427.99 ($120 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, while the mammoth 98-incher can be had for as low as $1,598 ($1,401 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The midrange 2024 model leverages quantum dot technology for rich color and contrast, though not as nicely as newer mini LED sets. Nonetheless, its still well-suited for most casual TV needs, with Dolby Atmos, built-in Chromecast functionality, and support for every major HDR format (including Dolby Vision). That said, its 60Hz refresh rate means its not great for gaming, though it can upscale to 120Hz with a variable refresh rate.TCL QM85 (2024)$998$150033% off$998$998$150033% offThe QM85 is TCLs flagship 4K TV for 2024 and features a bright QD-Mini LED panel, a 144Hz refresh rate, up-firing Atmos and DTS Virtual:X speakers with a subwoofer, Google excellent smart TV platform, and Wi-Fi 6 support.Hisense U6 Series 55U6N TV (55-inch)$348$54836% off$348$348$54836% offThe budget-friendly Hisense U6 Series supports Dolby Vision HDR and full-array local dimming, allowing it to deliver punchy colors and good contrast. It also comes with Googles TV software built-in, along with Dolby Atmos support for more immersive sound. $348 at Amazon$350 at Best BuyWhether youre outfitting a garage or need some sensory stimulation for a newborns nursery, theres still a bit of room in the world for 32-inch, 720p TVs like the Insignia F20 which is on sale for only $69.99 ($60 off) at Best Buy. You wont get many tricks, but it has HDMI Arc and its a Fire TV, meaning you have the convenience of voice-activated content discovery across hundreds of apps via the included Alexa Voice Remote.

If you were planning on putting up the holiday lights this weekend, then you might want to take a look at thePhilips Hue Festavia string lights. Normally $219.99, you can currently pick up a 65-foot string with 250 color-changing LEDs from Amazon and Philips Hue for $153.99. If you need a longer strand, the 130-foot string with 500 bulbs available from Amazon and Philips Hue for an all-time low of $251.99 ($108 off).RelatedPhilips Hues Festavia are some of the best holiday string lights you can buy. They outshine their rivals with rich colors and magical preset scenes and effects, which allows your house to stand out (if you want it to). Of all the models we tested last year, they were also the only ones with a relatively robust IP54 rating for both the lights and the power adapter, which means you can hang them up outside without having to worry about the elements ruining them. Plus, they work great within the Hue ecosystem, making them a reliable choice if you already own Hue Play bars, color-changing light strips, or bulbs.Philips Hue Festavia string lights $154$22030% off$154$154$22030% offThese smart lights have beautiful colors, a nice selection of festive scenes, and an easy-to-use app. They are super reliable when paired with a Hue Bridge and also work over Bluetooth. They come in two lengths, work with all the major smart home platforms, and are Matter-compatible.In terms of platform support, the Festavia support the newer Matter protocol, which means theyre compatible with most major smart home platforms (including Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant). They work over Bluetooth with your phone, but like most Hue products, youll need a Hue Bridge to set up automations, sync them with your music, and take advantage of other features. Luckily, if you dont own a Bridge, the handy accessory is on sale at Amazon right now for $42.67 ($18 off), which remains one of its best prices to date.

Security research firm Checkpoint Research just released a terrifying article about a new undetectable malware loader spread using the Godot game engine called GodLoader. While technically true, it is nowhere near as scary as it initially sounds. What is perhaps the most interesting takeaway is that existing anti-virus software do not detect this particular attack vector.The Godot Foundation have issued a statement on the GodLoader discovery and should set most minds at ease:Security researchers atCheck Point Researchhavepublished a reportabout GodLoader, a malware loader using Godot as its runtime to execute malicious code and infect unaware users with known malware. Based on the report, affected users thought they were downloading and executing cracks for paid software, but instead executed the malware loader.As the report states, the vulnerability is not specific to Godot. The Godot Engine is a programming system with a scripting language. It is akin to, for instance, the Python and Ruby runtimes. It is possible to write malicious programs in any programming language. We do not believe that Godot is particularly more or less suited to do so than other such programs.Users who merely have a Godot game or editor installed on their system are not specifically at risk.We encourage people to only execute software from trusted sources whether its written using Godot or any other programming system.For some more technical details:Godot does not register a file handler for.pckfiles. This means that a malicious actor always has to ship the Godot runtime (.exefile) together with a.pckfile. The user will always have to unpack the runtime together with the.pckto the same location and then execute the runtime. There is no way for a malicious actor to create a one click exploit, barring other OS-level vulnerabilities. If such an OS-level vulnerability were used then Godot would not be a particularly attractive option due to the size of the runtime.This is similar to writing malicious software in Python or Ruby, the malicious actor will have to ship apython.exeorruby.exetogether with their malicious program.Key LinksCheckpoint Research ArticleGodot StatementIn the end Godot is no different than any other tool or programming language that can run system level code, be sure you trust the code you are running before you run it! You can learn more about the Godot engine virus GodLoader in the video below. While not a big deal, it is important to realize and possibly remind people that Godot could be (and is) being used as an attack vector for spreading malware.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) has advanced significantly with deep learning, driven by innovations like word embeddings and transformer architectures. Self-supervised learning uses vast amounts of unlabeled data to create pretraining tasks and has become a key approach for training models, especially in high-resource languages like English and Chinese. The disparity in NLP resources and performance ranges from high-resource language systems, such as English and Chinese, to low-resource language systems, such as Portuguese, and more than 7000 languages worldwide. Such a gap hinders the ability of NLP applications of low-resource languages to grow and be more robust and accessible. Also, low-resource monolingual models remain small-scale and undocumented, and they lack standard benchmarks, which makes development and evaluation difficult.Current development methods often utilize vast amounts of data and computational resources readily available for high-resource languages like English and Chinese. Portuguese NLP mostly uses multilingual models like mBERT, mT5, and BLOOM or fine-tunes English-trained models. However, these methods often miss the unique aspects of Portuguese. The evaluation benchmarks are either old or based on English datasets, making them less useful for Portuguese.To address this, researchers from the University of Bonn have developed GigaVerbo, a large-scale Portuguese text corpus of 200 billion tokens, and trained a series of decoder-transformers named Tucano. These models aim to improve the performance of Portuguese language models by leveraging a substantial and high-quality dataset.The GigaVerbo dataset is a concatenation of multiple high-quality Portuguese text corpora, refined using custom filtering techniques based on GPT-4 evaluations. The filtering process improved text preprocessing, retaining 70% of the dataset for the model. Based on the Llama architecture, the Tucano models were implemented using Hugging Face for easy community access. Techniques such as RoPE embeddings, root mean square normalization, and Silu activations instead of SwiGLU were used. The training was done using a causal language modeling approach and cross-entropy loss. The models range from 160M to 2.4B parameters, with the largest trained on 515 billion tokens.The evaluation of these models shows that they perform equal to or better than other Portuguese and multilingual language models of similar size on several Portuguese benchmarks. The training loss and validation perplexity curves for the four base models showed that larger models generally reduced loss and perplexity more effectively, with the effect amplified by larger batch sizes. Checkpoints were saved every 10.5 billion tokens, and performance was tracked across several benchmarks. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated mixed results: some benchmarks, like CALAME-PT, LAMBADA, and HellaSwag, improved with scaling, while others, such as the OAB Exams, showed no correlation with token ingestion. Inverse scaling was observed in sub-billion parameter models, suggesting potential limitations. Performance benchmarks also reveal that Tucano outperforms multilingual and prior Portuguese models on native evaluations like CALAME-PT and machine-translated tests like LAMBADA.In conclusion, the GigaVerbo and the Tucano series enhance the performance of Portuguese language models. The proposed work covered the development pipeline, which included dataset creation, filtration, hyperparameter tuning, and evaluation, with a focus on openness and reproducibility. It also showed the potential for improving low-resource language models through large-scale data collection and advanced training techniques. The contribution of these researchers will prove beneficial in providing these necessary resources to guide future studies.Check out the Paper and Hugging Face Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. If you like our work, you will love ournewsletter.. Dont Forget to join our55k+ ML SubReddit. Nazmi Syed+ postsNazmi Syed is a consulting intern at MarktechPost and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. She has a deep passion for Data Science and actively explores the wide-ranging applications of artificial intelligence across various industries. Fascinated by technological advancements, Nazmi is committed to understanding and implementing cutting-edge innovations in real-world contexts. [Download] Evaluation of Large Language Model Vulnerabilities Report (Promoted)

Its official: Nintendos Black Friday sale is live, offering dozens of hot new deals on consoles, games, and accessories. While the Nintendo eShop has its own digital game sale underway, some of the best Switch games have reached lower prices at select retailers like Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Walmart. This years lineup of game discounts is one of the best I've seen, featuring major price cuts to popular Switch titles that typically cost upwards of $50 at any other time of the year (looking at you, Zelda). Were here to help you find the best picks for Nintendo's handheld while holiday shopping on a budget. Here's 10 Switch games under $30, and another 10 Switch games under $20 (be warned: These Black Friday deals sell out fast). The Best Switch Game Deal, Period - Tears of the Kingdom for $30Black Friday DealThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomIf you're in a pinch and just want a straight answer about the best Black Friday game deal, look no further than Tears of the Kingdom for $30. Usually retailing for a full $69.99, this 56% discount from Walmart is an unprecedented deal for a first-party Nintendo game, let alone one of the best games ever. Keep in mind, this deal is limited to the digital version (but is $20 cheaper than the deal available in the eShop). 9 More Switch Games Under $30: Black Friday DealSonic x Shadow GenerationsBlack Friday DealShin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Steelbook Black Friday DealCupheadBlack Friday DealMortal Kombat 1 Mortal Kombat 1Black Friday DealNBA 2K25Black Friday DealJust Dance 2025 EditionBlack Friday DealSuper Mario OdysseyBlack Friday DealGundam Breaker 4 NSW Launch EditionBlack Friday DealHogwarts LegacyThe Best Switch Game Under $20 - Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Black Friday DealMetal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1This might kind of be cheating, but if you want the most bang for your buck, Konami's Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is over 50% off, making it my top pick for the best Switch game under $20 right now. If you recently finished Metaphor and want to check out more Atlus games, Persona 5 Royal is down to $15, or check out the Special Edition of a fellow Game of the Year nominee: Balatro. 9 More Switch Games Under $20: Black Friday DealPersona 5 RoyalBlack Friday DealSonic SuperstarsBlack Friday DealBalatro Special EditionBlack Friday DealPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown Standard EditionBlack Friday DealRabbids: Party of LegendsBlack Friday DealBatman Arkham TrilogyBlack Friday DealSpongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom RehydratedBlack Friday DealBluey: The Video GameBlack Friday DealMario + Rabbids Sparks of HopeUnbeatable Nintendo Black Friday Deals Are Now LiveLooking to break the bank a little more? Nintendo has got you covered. This year, the company introduced its best-ever prices for the Switch OLED bundle at $274.99 and the standard Switch bundle at $224.99. Both bundles are competitively priced, considering they come with a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (which has a typical retail value of $59.99) and a 12-month subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. Though the long-awaited announcement of a Switch 2 looms in the distance, this deal is pretty unbeatable if youre looking for a reason to get into the world of Switch gaming or youre a current Switch owner who's been waiting for the right time to upgrade to the OLED model. Those who purchase will save a total of $155 as opposed to purchasing the console, year-long NSO subscription and video game separately.This Black Friday is also a great opportunity to stock up on some new controllers in preparation for a holiday season filled with multiplayer gaming sessions. Gamers can purchase the red and blue wireless Joy-Con controllers for 25% off at Target or get a hold of a pro controller for $49.99 at Best Buy.And if youre planning on taking advantage of Walmarts $30 Tears of the Kingdom deal, youd be remiss to disregard Amazons abundant deals on memory cards. A regular Nintendo Switch holds only 32GB of internal storage, and the Legend of Zelda entry takes up about half of that space. But dont fret! With Amazons nearly half off discount on the Lexar 1TB PLAY microSDXC memory card, you can ensure you have room to download all of your favorite games without spending a small fortune.Perfect for SwitchLexar 1TB PLAY microSDXC Memory CardNintendo Switch Joy-Con L/RNintendo Switch Pro ControllerPerfect for SwitchTeamGroup A2 Pro Plus Card 1TBPerfect for SwitchAnker Prime Power Bank, 20,000mAh, 200W OutputSwitch8BitDo - Ultimate Bluetooth Controller for Nintendo SwitchPerfect for SwitchSamsung Evo Select microSD Memory CardWhen Is Black Friday 2024?Black Friday actually starts on November 29, but deals have been popping up over the last few weeks. In Nintendos case, some games saw price cuts as early as the first of the month, but November 24 was when many of the companys top-selling items received big discounts at retailers. If youre looking to expand your game library, now is the time to do so, with many popular titles being sold at the lowest price of the year.If youre not a Switch gamer, theres plenty of other video game deals to take advantage of this holiday season for PlayStation and Xbox. Or, check out IGNs picks for the best tech sales on TVs, gaming PCs and Apple devices.Katie Reul is a freelance journalist whose entertainment reporting has been featured in IGN and Variety.