A few weeks ago, we released the latest trailer for Atomfall, our upcoming game where you will have to uncover the mystery behind what happened at the UKs Windscale nuclear power station in the 1950s. This is a fictionalised telling of what happened following this real-life nuclear disaster in Northern England.The trailer showcases the games folk horror influences and give you the first glimpse of Casterfell Woods, an eerie location within Atomfall where you will encounter an unsettling wicker man and a ringing telephone box that needs to be answered.But what were our influences behind Casterfell Woods? We thought it would be interesting to let you know how we came up with this unique aesthetic.From the outset, we knew that we wanted some spookier areas of the game, where we could emphasise folk horror and provide some contrast with our more idyllic areas. Most of our outdoor environments are very green, vibrant, pretty, and very much British. But for Casterfell, we wanted the player to question what things might happen in the deep dark woods. Hidden things can happen there, secret and ancient things We knew that this would be a ton of fun so started doing our homework.Our initial goal was to establish the visual baseline for our sandbox spaces, with a focus on the content that we needed to build out our various natural biomes. Then, we could start adding our thematic twists.Early in the project, the team took quite a few trips up to the English Lake District for reference gathering and to capture photogrammetry content. For several of the non-Brits on the team (myself included, as an American) this was incredibly exotic. For anyone who hasnt been there, it is an extremely diverse area of outstanding natural beauty and diversity. It is just so wet and green, with lakes and streams everywhere, and tremendous stone formations topping the high fells and hilltops. The entire area is just dripping with greenery, ferns, and moss.As I was new to driving in the UK, I found those tiny Cumbrian roads terrifying! There are slate stone walls on one edge, and steep drops into a lake on the other. But the trips were very educational, and the views were sensational. By the end of the trip, we had a ton of fantastic reference, fabulous photogrammetry content, and were confident that we could ground the game visually in the north of Britain.Next up, were the twists. How could we make our world different from a typical holiday trip to a beautiful natural destination? How could we layer in an older era, and warp things a bit more?We started looking at storytelling focused on folk horror, sci-fi, and old-school British imaginative fiction for inspiration. Films like The Wicker Man, The Blair Witch Project, Annihilation, and Midsommar were great to look at. Then of course we have BBC programming like Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and The Quatermass Xperiment, as well as books by John Wyndham, who has so many wonderfully weird stories.We wanted the player to feel that they are stepping into an older era. The real Windscale nuclear accident was in 1957, which is when the quarantine began in our game. As we were intending to be a period piece, how could we impress that into a natural area? This was a tough one, and we had a lot of conversations about it. I mean, especially in the woods, where trees pretty much would have looked the same in 1957, 2024, or 1066.We began asking ourselves who was living out there, beyond the comforts of village life? How would they survive with no manufactured resources?The answer was pretty simple in that these outcasts would survive just as they had in archaic times. We would regress them even further back and have them use what was at hand. Wattle (and daub) construction became our go-to architectural style. Thatched roofs, woven branches and vines, and dry-stone structures also seemed to fit. Even though many of these traditional methods of construction can still be seen in the modern day, they are really ancient and foreign to many of us who grew up elsewhere.Then, taking into account our inspirational media reference, and our desire for more Britishness, we began layering even more symbolic imagery. Ancient markings, effigies, and wickermen, all intermingled with more traditional maypoles and bunting to give strong pagan religious overtones.We think you are going to love exploring Casterfell Woods and discovering the secrets that it holds when Atomfall is released on March 27 for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, and day one with Game Pass. We cant wait for you guys to get your hands on the game.AtomfallRebellionGet it nowA survival-action game inspired by real-life events, Atomfall is set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England.Explore the fictional quarantine zone, scavenge, craft, barter, fight and talk your way through a British countryside setting filled with bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rogue government agencies.From Rebellion, the studio behind Sniper Elite and Zombie Army, Atomfall will challenge you to solve the dark mystery of what really happened.Player Driven Mystery: Unravel a tapestry of interwoven narratives through exploration, conversation, investigation, and combat, where every choice you make has consequences.Explore this Green and Unpleasant Land: The picturesque British countryside, with rolling green hills, lush valleys, and rural villages belie the dangers that await you.Search, Scavage, Survive: Youll need to scavenge for supplies, craft weapons and items, and fight desperately to make it out alive!Desperate Combat: With weapons and ammunition scarce, each frenetic engagement will see you blend marksmanship with vicious hand-to-hand combat. Manage your heart rate to hold a steady aim and ensure you have the energy you need to reach for your cricket bat and land the killer blow.Green and Unpleasant Land: The picturesque British countryside, with rolling green hills, lush valleys, and rural villages belie the dangers that await you. Navigate cult-controlled ruins, natural caves, nuclear bunkers and more as you explore this dense, foreboding world.Reimagining Windscale: A fictional reimagining of a real-world event, Atomfall draws from science fiction, folk horror, and Cold War influences to create a world that is eerily familiar yet completely alien.

Last week, we saw the cinematic debut of The Witcher IV, the latest instalment in CD Projekt Reds iconic dark fantasy series. In this new chapter, we wont be following Geralt; instead, his adopted daughter Ciri takes center stage as our witcher protagonist.Following the announcement, we spoke with key leads at CD Projekt Red to delve deeper into this trailer and learn how the studio is gearing up to introduce Ciri as the lead in a brand-new Witcher saga that will respect the series past (and players choices in it) while leading the series boldly into a new era.A New CiriIn the reveal trailer, were introduced to the village of Stromford, an isolated settlement located deep in the north of The Continent. In this scene, a young woman, Mioni, is selected as a sacrifice to ward off a local monster. This is where we see Ciri for the first time older, stronger, and brandishing those iconic steel and silver swords.The Witcher IV takes place a few years after the end of The Witcher 3, according to Narrative Director on The Witcher IV, Philipp Weber. While the details of what brought Ciri to this particular place and time are still under wraps for now, were shown that Ciri has mutated eyes, an indication that shes completed the Trial of the Grasses to become a witcher in her own right.Throughout the events of both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt not to mention Andrzej Sapkowskis saga of Witcher novels, which the games are based upon Ciri is set up as a secondary protagonist, and her personality is very much established. By the end, she is by no means just an extension of Geralt, but a fully-fledged character ready to take on a new journey.That journey could have gone in several directions depending on the ending players received in The Witcher 3. While CD Projekt Redis keeping specifics close to its chest, Weber assures us that The Witcher IV will handle its predecessors multiple endings, and that personal choice is something they aim to honour in this next game.Differences Between Geralt and CiriThe studio is keen to emphasise that while Geralt is a seasoned witcher who typically prefers to remain impartial, Ciri is a character that will often take a more aggressive stance driven by personal motivation.Geralt has already created a code for himself, and hes gone through a ton of experiences to get to thatpoint, Weber explains. With Ciri, we now have the opportunity to show a lot of those experiences as she finds her own code, and her own way of handling these tough things.We see this in the trailer reveal, as Ciri ventures into the forest and tells Mioni to flee back to the village, in the hopes that it will save her. Whats interesting to note is that the inhabitants of Stromford dont react positively to the sight of awitcher, even though Ciri is there to do good.Shes super passionate, super determined and very engaged in this story, explains Game Director Sebastian Kalemba. She will never hesitate; she deeply cares about the other girl here.Unfortunately, despite Ciris best intentions and a gruelling battle with a brand-new monster known as a Bauk, Mioni still meets a swift end, accentuating how grim the world of The Witcher IV will continue to be, and how its characters may continue to find ways to villainise Ciris choices (and your own) despite a well-meaning approach.Ciri is someone who wont accept that fate is just given to you, you always have to fight back, and sometimes thats the right thing to do, says Weber. In this trailer, we also wanted to show some parallels that Mionis fate could have also been Ciris once upon a time, but she fought back against that fate.The nuance in Ciris character also stems from her backstory which makes her a great character for a complex, mature story about choices and consequences inside The Witchers dark and often unsettling world.Ciri is definitely a flawed character; she has a lot of darkness in her, she was abandoned, and shes made terrible mistakes in the past, Weber explains. But she also has some amazing strengths, and I think this is this balance that for us makes her into this great character. We want to tell these character-driven stories, and I think if we want to have real characters with real emotions, that also means that they need to have some flaws.That said, the impact of Geralt on Ciri is by no means being overwritten; The Witcher IVs emphasis on choice and consequence means that Ciri will often grapple with the decision she thinks is right and perhaps another direction that Geralt may have taken in the same scenario.Shes Geralts daughter, so shes learned a lot of values from him, Weber notes. There will be choices that feel close to what Geralt would do.Kalemba adds: Geralt has also learned some things from Ciri throughout their journey in The Witcher 3, and that will be reflected in those choices.Looking AheadThe Witcher IV is of course a natural evolution for this series; and long-invested fans will find deeper references and lore galore as they step into the fold with Ciri. CD Projekt Red has confirmed that Geralt will return as a character, but his place in the story remains a secret for now.However, this will also serve as a new beginning for the franchise. Almost 10 years and countless development lessons on from the release of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red acknowledges and embraces the fact that a new generation of players will want to experience this world for the first time with The Witcher IV.This is a new character and the origin story of Ciri [as a playable main character], and we believe itll be a great starting point for newcomers, Kalemba says. There will be new regions and areas to explore, but it is still verymuch the dark fantasy world and story that Witcher fans know and love.

We know Litchfield County, Connecticut as the land of mallard decoys, worn wicker, and faded chintz. But that bastion of American prep is home to fresher pastures, most recently in the form of a cultured familys home designed by Clive Lonstein. The New York-based designer worked for the legendary William Sofield for 13 years, eventually becoming the design director, before opening his own studio in 2016. When these clients approached him only a few years later, their directive was simple and clear: they wanted bold color, comfort, and an interesting canvas for their burgeoning art collectionsomething bespoke that is just for them, Lonstein says.William Jess LairdRather than renovating the kitchen, Lonstein and his clients chose to give it new life with a sweet pink hue on the cabinets.The house itself offered plenty of possibilities. It was designed in the late 1800s by Ehrick Rossiter, an architect known for his whimsical country homes, and came complete with a turret. For me its really important that a project is contextual, says Lonstein. Every location has something unique about it I love infusing that subtly through the design. "This was a decorating projectand that proved to be very liberating for me.For a house with so much architectural personality, it can be difficult to impose a new perspective. So Lonstein worked with the spaces natural quirks rather than against them. This project was a departure for me, Lonstein says. Most of my projects require more interior architecture and structure, but I didnt make many architectural changes here. This was a decorating projectand that proved to be very liberating for me.Step Inside This Vibrant Connecticut CottageThe fun begins as soon as you step in through the candy apple-red front door. Here, on the lower level, youll encounter an aubergine stair and a bubblegum pink kitchen. In the sitting room, moss-hued paint covers the walls. These clients wanted to have a lot of color, like what you would see in an English country house, explains Lonstein. In fact, the only rooms with a white base are the living and dining rooms, where a wild array of art and furniture took over.Lonstein had the challenge many designers hate: a client with their own collection of furniture, but for him that was an opportunity. The clients had some wonderful furniture. It was my job to incorporate those pieces, reupholstering things, adding things, Lonstein says. In the living room, for instance, paintings by Sophie Larrimore, Caitlin Keogh, and Mary Grigoriadis join a reupholstered 50s-era sofa and chairs by Sergio Rodrigues and a game table and chairs by George Nakashima. William Jess LairdIn the library, vintage Viggo Boesen chair upholstered in sheepskin sits in front of the sofa. The table lamps are from Bitossi. The desk and chair are by Mira Nakashima.Upstairs, the color returns. Lonstein added a chartreuse bathroom and a collegiate blue bedroom (the same hue as an Yves Klein table in the living room downstairs). He then doused the round, turret roomone of the designers favorite spaces in a dusty pink hue that complements the elaborate original moldings that trace the ceiling and floor. The pink acts as a bridge between the flamboyant Colonial Revival architecture and the art, namely a richly-hued photograph by Vik Muniz in the space. I aspire to minimalism, but thats not my work."Working the art collection into the interior design scheme was a collaborative effort. Lonstein conferred with the clients art advisor, Bridget Murphy, on where everything should hang, both parties offering their two cents to charming effect. In the dining room another Muniz photograph after Gustave Courbet enlivens the neutral space, which features sheepskin upholstered vintage Saarinen chairs, a Noguchi light, and a Martin Eisler caned credenza from the 1950s.So many ingredients were already in the pot when Lonstein arrived you would think it impossible to pull it all together as seamlessly as he has, but that talent is integral to his practice. I aspire to minimalism, but thats not my work, he says. What I like is the idiosyncratic.

Its been a great year for the Dutch startup ecosystem.Venture capitalists have, so far, invested $3.5bn into Netherlands-based early-stage companies, according to Dealroom data. That makes 2024 Dutch techs second-best funding year ever, surpassed only by 2021.Dutch startups have raised almost 50% more ($1.1bn) cash this year than in 2023 and there are still two weeks to go. Its a striking uptick, especially considering the rather muted funding environment in broader Europe, which is on course for its worst year since 2020.The Netherlands stands to be Europes fourth best-funded ecosystem for 2024. It ranks two places higher than last year, beating out Sweden and Switzerland. Unsurprisingly, the UK will clinch the top spot, with $17bn raised so far. Germany is second at $7.9bn, while France is coming in at a close third with $7.7bn.So, with that in mind, here are the 10 largest funding rounds that made 2024 such a lucrative year for the Dutch startup ecosystem. (Disclaimer: For this list, we count all early-stage companies headquartered in the Netherlands, not necessarily founded there).1. Nebius $700MThis was a whopper. The startup, which builds full-stack AI infrastructure for tech firms, secured the equity in December in a deal led by Nvidia, Accel, and other blue-chip investors.2. Picnic $388mnThe Dutch online supermarket unicorn bagged the funding in January to fuel its international expansion, as it looks to become a profitable grocery delivery service (which has proven bloody difficult for most).3. Nearfield Instruments $147mnThe Rotterdam-based company makes advanced tools for inspecting computer chips during manufacturing, adding to the Netherlands wealth of semiconductor success stories.4. Mews $110mnCha-ching! We have a new unicorn in the house. More accurately, in our house, seeing as Mews is based at TNW City in Amsterdam. The startup, which provides acloud-based property management system (PMS) for the hospitality industry, raised $110mn in March at a valuation of over $1.2bn. Then in September, it bagged another $100mn.Now thats great Mews.5. DataSnipper $100mnCha-ching, again! DataSnipper, which makes AI-powered accounting tools, raised $100mn in February at a $1bn valuation making it the Netherlands second newly minted unicorn for 2024.6. Citryll 89mnThe biotech company is developing treatments for inflammatory diseases. It will use the Series B funding to bring its lead product, CIT-013, into Phase 2a clinical trials.7. Cradle $73MFounded in 2022, Cradle uses generative AI to design and optimise proteins, aiming to reduce the time and cost associated with protein engineering. The Amsterdam-based startup wants to put its software into the hands of a million scientists.8. Axelera AI $68mnThe Eindhoven-based startup is developing chips, known as AI processing units (AIPUs), that enable computer vision and generative AI in devices like robots and drones. Thefunding round was led by Samsungs venture arm. For a chip startup, thats not a bad investor to have onboard.9. Payt $58mnPayt Softwares AI-powered platform streamlines the debt collection process through automated invoicing. Not exactly sexy tech, but the startups product is used by over 13,000 businesses in the Netherlands alone so it must be doing something right. 10. Vico Therapeutics $56mnFounded in 2019, Vico is developing therapies for severe neurological diseases.The company is the third health tech startup on this list and for good reason the Netherlands has established itself as one of the worlds leading hubs for biotech and life sciences.Overall, the Dutch startup ecosystem has proven its resilience and strength in 2024, achieving remarkable growth despite broader challenges in the European funding environment. Standoutperformances come from the sectors of biotech, AI, and semiconductors. As we look ahead, these funding successes position the countrys startups for even greater global impact going into 2025. Story by Sin Geschwindt Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecos (show all) Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecosystem. He's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. Sin has five years journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

According to the 2024 Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome, the Netherlands ecosystem is now ranked number 13 in the world placing it ahead of both Paris and Berlin. In 2023, Dutch startups raised $2.2bn.While there have been fewer startup deals this year, overall investment is up, according to figures from the Dutch Startup Association. And for some startups and scaleups, 2024 was truly a monumental year.Picnic raises one of Europes largest roundsHaving grown its business 40% in 2023 following international expansion across France and Germany, Dutch online supermarket Picnic kicked off the year in style as it announced a 355mn funding round in January. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation participated in the round, which brought the companys total raised to 1.3bn. Founded in 2015, Picnic, its fully automated fulfilment centres, and delivery algorithms have defied the mass collapse of online grocery delivery startups that befell the likes of Getir and Flink after the pandemic. In 2018, the year before hitting 1,000,000 shoppers in the Netherlands, the companys CTO Daniel Gebler took the stage at TNW Conference to talk about the tech that is disrupting the everywhere commerce space.Gebler also closed the year with a bang, as he was named CxO of the year by Computable.nl.Read the case studyDataSnipper reaches unicorn statusIts Series B $100mn raise in February saw Amsterdam-headquartered auditing platform DataSnipper valued at $1bn, aka achieving the mythical status of unicorn. The round was led by Index Ventures and the funds are helping DataSnipper, which already counts Hilton, Siemens, and Frontier Airlines among its clients, to expand across more verticals including forensic accountants and tax advisors. DataSnipper was founded by Maarten Alblas, Jonas Ruyter, and Kai Bakker in 2017. In 2023, the company appointed a new CEO in Vidya Peters (on the featured image along with the founding team). Peters was previously Chief Operating Officer at payment solution provider Marqeta, helping the company go public in 2021. She sees the long term objective of DataSnipper as connecting unstructured data across industries, and believes there is tremendous opportunity for growth and expansion globally.Mews becomes a unicorn, 100mn fund by Carbon EquityMarch was a month of celebration for current and former TNW Spaces member startups. Hotel management software provider Mews hit a 1.1bn valuation after a 101mn raise, led by Swedish investment company Kinnevik.The good news for Mews, founded in 2012 by former hotelier Richard Valter, did not stop there. In September, the company bagged another 90mn from Vista Credit Partners. Having already purchased nine other startups in the sector, the funds will allow Mews to continue its buying spree, consolidating its place as a market leader in redefining the hospitality industry with its cloud offerings.Meanwhile, leading climate fund investment startup Carbon Equity raised 100mn for its Climate Tech Portfolio Fund II exceeding an initial target of 75mn and more than doubling its first fund from 2022. Founded only in 2021, Carbon Equity has quickly become a force to be reckoned with for investments in curated clean tech solutions.In October, Wired dubbed Carbon Equity one of the hottest startups in Amsterdam, and at the beginning of December, co-founder Jacqueline van den Ende was awarded the title of Changemaker of the Year by Change Inc, rounding off a momentous year. Lets hope climate tech investment continues to thrive in 2025.First ever tech fund by Dutch Ministry of DefenceIt is perhaps an unfortunate sign of the times we live in, but there is no denying that defence tech startups from Ukrainian drone developers to German AI darling Helsing are on a roll. In October, the Dutch Ministry of Defence announced a 100mn fund to provide early-stage financing to the countrys startups, scaleups, and SMEs that meet specific innovation needs.The fund will invest up to 5mn per company. It will focus on dual-use technologies, meaning tech that can be used both for civilian and military purposes. It is expected to open in 2025, so keep your eyes peeled for the first investments.We cant wait to see what 2025 will bring as Amsterdam celebrates its 750th anniversary and TNW Conference returns to NDSM island in June. Join us as we bring together the whole Dutch tech ecosystem and discover what is truly next in tech! Story by Linnea Ahlgren Linnea is the senior editor at TNW, having joined in April 2023. She has an Ma in international relations and covers quantum, AI, and the ev (show all) Linnea is the senior editor at TNW, having joined in April 2023. She has an Ma in international relations and covers quantum, AI, and the evolving concept of 'technological sovereignty'. Dabbles in gaming and fitness wearables. But first, coffee. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Apple this year was forced to drastically change how iOS works in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust law, which establishes a series of rules to prevent big techs from engaging in anti-competitive practices. However, it seems that the EU wants even more from Apple, as the European Commission is now demanding that the company ensure the effective interoperability of iOS with other platforms.EU calls on Apple to further change the way iOS worksAs reported by Bloomberg, the European Commission published a document on Wednesday as part of its antitrust investigations against Apple. In the document, the EU instructs Apple to change many aspects of iOS so that third-party developers can have access to technologies that currently only Apple can.For instance, the document suggests that Apple make it easier for users to pair and control accessories such as smartwatches and headsets from other brands on iOS. It also says that the company should allow third-party apps to run entirely in the background something that only Apple apps can currently do. The document even covers features such as AirPlay and AirDrop, which are currently limited to Apple devices.The EU has set January 9, 2025 as the deadline for its consultation in the case. In response, Apple published an online document criticizing the European Commission and the DMA legislation, claiming that the situation is becoming personal. Unsurprisingly, Apple highlights its work on privacy and security, and says that the DMA requirements make its ecosystem less secure.Apple says that if it opens up all technologies to anyone, it will put iOS users data at risk. Interestingly, Apple also notes that Meta is one of the companies that has made the most requests to access Apples sensitive technologies under the DMA.If Apple were to have to grant all of these requests, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a users device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords, and more. This is data that Apple itself has chosen not to access in order to provide the strongest possible protection to users.Meta claims that it needs access to iOS technologies to provide a better experience with external devices such as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Meta Quest headsets. However, Apple says that it already provides interoperability with these devices without the need for special permissions.The EU may launch a formal probe against Apple if the company fails to comply with the DMA rules. This could result in heavy fines of up to 10% of the companys global annual sales.Apple could face EUs first-ever DMA fineLast month, the Brazilian regulator also ruled that Apple should open up its ecosystem to third-party developers. Although Apple has appealed the decision, the company could still be forced to enable sideloading in Brazil as well.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

OpenAI has been announcing a lot of new features and enhancements for ChatGPT in recent days, and the company still has a few more cards up its sleeve. Now OpenAI is introducing an intriguing feature: the ability to call ChatGPT using your phone line without the need for cellular data.ChatGPT now has its own phone numberThe announcement was made by OpenAI via a live stream on YouTube and shows the technology in action. Essentially, anyone in the US can now call 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) to talk to ChatGPT and get access to the same advanced answers you can get from the chatbot on the web. ChatGPT via telephone uses Advanced Voice Mode technology to provide a natural conversation with the user.The main idea of offering access to ChatGPT via a regular phone line is to let people talk to the chatbot when they are in an area without an internet connection. In the demo, OpenAI gave the example of people on a road trip who want to know more about something theyve seen without having to upload a photo or video.For users in the rest of the world, OpenAI also announced that ChatGPT is now available on WhatsApp, so that users can chat with the chatbot by text directly from Metas messaging platform. To do this, simply start a chat with the same phone number mentioned above (1-800-242-8478). OpenAI says its working on letting users log into their ChatGPT accounts with the WhatsApp bot.Earlier this week, OpenAI also made ChatGPT Search available to everyone for free. With ChatGPT Search, users can ask questions and get answers with data collected from the web in real time. OpenAI has also added video support to ChatGPTs Advanced Voice Mode, so that users can have a natural conversation with the chatbot via video chat.In addition, with therelease of iOS 18.2 last week,iPhoneandiPadusers can now talk to ChatGPT right from Siri.The ChatGPT app is available for free on the App Store. It requires an iPhone running iOS 16.4 or later.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

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It's like NASA lashed six of its last Marscopter together into a flying monstrosity.Mars ChopperNASA has shown off early renderings of an enormous Mars Chopper concept, a proposed follow-up to the space agency's groundbreaking Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.The six-rotor monstrosity could turn out to be "the size of an SUV," according to NASA, allowing it to carry science payloads up to 11 pounds across distances of up to 1.9 miles per Mars day.A sleek animation shared by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab last week shows the massive three-legged drone gliding over a rugged, mountainous landscape.In other words, the Chopper could pick up right where Ingenuity left off. Its much smaller ancestor sent its final transmission back to Earth in April, bookending an astounding proof-of-concept mission.The four-pound rotorcraft, which became the first-ever human-made object to take flight on a different planet in 2021, completed 72 flights in just under three years, which was an astonishing achievement, given that it was designed to fly only five times over 30 Mars days.Whether NASA's Chopper will get even close to that kind of success remains unclear, but now that Ingenuity has blazed its path, it's still entirely possible.Dune FineAccording to NASA, the concept "remains in early conceptual and design stages." Its main task would be to assist scientists in studying even larger swathes of the Martian terrain, at relatively high speeds.In particular, the Chopper could go where rovers can't, allowing scientists to get an unprecedented glimpse of inaccessible areas of the Red Planet.Meanwhile, NASA scientists are still trying to get to the bottom of why its Ingenuity helicopter crashed on January 18 of this year, in its 72nd and final flight.Ahead of the release of a full technical report, the agency suggested that the small craft's navigation system was confused by a sandy, featureless terrain, causing it to miscalculate its velocity and make a "hard impact on the sand ripple's slope.""When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you dont have any black boxes or eyewitnesses," said Ingenuitys first pilot, Hvard Grip of JPL, in a statement. "While multiple scenarios are viable with the available data, we have one we believe is most likely: Lack of surface texture gave the navigation system too little information to work with."It's still unclear whether NASA will end up sending its much larger and even more ambitious Mars Chopper to the Red Planet. But if it ever does make the long journey, it'll have some big shoes to fill.More on Ingenuity: Dying Mars Helicopter Sends NASA Final TransmissionShare This Article

Look who's back.Character AssassinThe sympathetic response to Luigi Mangione, the suspect charged for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been described by some commentators as a modern update on a age-old American tradition: mythologizing the heroic outlaw.Well, you can now add "AI chatbot imitators" to that list of modern bonafides. As Forbes reports, over a dozen AI personalities based on Mangione have already popped up on Character.AI, a popular but controversial chatbot platform and some have even encouraged further violence.According to figures cited by Forbes and assembled by social analytics firm Graphika, the three most used Mangione chatbots on Character.AI had recorded over 10,000 chats before being disabled on December 12. Despite that apparent crackdown, other AI imitators remain online.The presence of these chatbots illustrates the popularity of Mangione and his alleged motives behind the killing a violent act of defiance against the "parasites" of the American healthcare industry especially among the young crowd that Character.AI caters to.But more damningly, it's also evidence of the site's extensively documented failure to police its platform, which is rife with dangerously unchecked chatbots that target and abuse young teens.Murder PlotIn Forbes' testing, one active Mangione Character.AI persona, when asked if violence should be used against other healthcare executives, replied, "Don't be so eager, mia bella. We should, but not yet. Not now." Probed for when, it followed up, saying, "Maybe in a few months when the whole world isn't looking at the both of us. Then we can start."But another Mangione chatbot, which was purportedly trained on "transcripts of Luigi Mangione's interactions, speeches, and other publicly available information about him," said violence was morally wrong under the same line of questioning.Chatbots that suggest "violence, dangerous or illegal conduct, or incite hatred," go against Character.AI's stated policy, as are "responses that are likely to harm users or others."Character.AI told Forbes that it had added Mangione to a blocklist, and that it was referring the bots to its trust and safety team. But while that first Mangione chatbot was disabled, the second, which refrained from advocating violent means, remains online,along with numerous others.Forbes also found similar Mangione imitators on other platforms, including several on the app Chub.AI, and another one on OMI AI Personas, which creates characters based off X-formerly-Twitter accounts.Bot ListeningCharacter.AI, which received $2.7 billion from Google this year and was founded by former engineers from the tech monolith, has come under fire for hosting chatbots that have repeatedly displayed inappropriate behavior toward minor users.Our investigations here on Futurism have uncovered self-described "pedophilic" AI personas on the platform that would make advances on users who stated they were underaged.Futurism has also found dozens of suicide-themed chatbots that openly encourage users to discuss their thoughts of killing themselves. A lawsuit was filed in October alleging that a 14-year-old boy committed suicide after developing an intense relationship with a Character.AI chatbot.More recently, we exposed multiple chatbots that were modeled after real-life school shooters, including the perpetrators of the Sandy Hook and Columbine massacres."We're still in the infancy of generative AI tools and what they can do for users," Cristina Lpez, principal analyst at Graphika, told Forbes. "So it is very likely that a lot of the use cases that are the most harmful we likely haven't even started to see. Weve just started to scratch the surface."More on the CEO shooting: Apple AI Tells Users Luigi Mangione Has Shot HimselfShare This Article