With iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 now available, iPhone and iPad users have access to a slew of new features that make use of Apple Intelligence. That includes Genmoji, a new type of AI-generated emoji that was first introduced at WWDC 2024.What are Genmoji?Genmoji are custom emojis you can create if youve installed the iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2 update. They are the emojis of your imagination, made real with help from Apple Intelligence you describe what emoji you want to see, like a sad cowboy or an octopus DJ, and Apples AI will do its best to generate it. You can even create custom emojis of people you know if you have a photo of them in your library. Once youve made Genmoji, theyll be stored in your keyboard so you can use them in Apple apps that support emojis. They can be sent as part of messages, as standalone stickers or as Tapback reactions.How to create GenmojiTo create a Genmoji, youll need a device that is up to date with iOS 18.2/iPadOS 18.2 or later and compatible with Apple Intelligence. That includes every iPhone 16 model, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as iPad models with the M1 chip or later, and iPad mini (A17 Pro). At the moment, you can only create Genmoji on iPhone and iPad, though Apple says the feature will be coming to Mac down the line. The steps to create a Genmoji are the same for iPhone and iPad.AppleFirst, open a conversation and tap the text field to bring up the keyboard. Then tap either the smiley icon or the globe icon, depending on which you have. After doing that, you should now see a multicolored smiley icon with a plus sign on it at the top right of the keyboard. Tap that and a text bar will appear prompting you to describe the emoji youd like to create. Enter the description, then tap Done.If youre making a Genmoji of a specific person, make sure youve already labeled them in your Photos app. Then, enter your description and tap the Choose a Person option above the text field. Youll be shown who it has identified from your photos, and a few style options as a starting point. Click the one you like, and it'll create the Genmoji using that character.AppleThe results might not be to your liking the first try, and if thats the case, just try tweaking your description until you get better results. Once youve made Genmoji, youll be able to find them in your keyboard either by swiping right through all the emoji options or by tapping the sticker icon. You can also add them to Tapback by pressing and holding a message, and clicking the smiley with a plus sign icon to search the emoji keyboard.How to delete GenmojiIf you made a Genmoji and later decide you arent into it anymore, you can always delete it after the fact. To do this, head back into the emoji keyboard and either swipe right through all the pages or just tap the sticker icon. From there, find the Genmoji you want to get rid of, press and hold it, then tap Remove once the option pops up.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/how-to-use-genmoji-to-make-your-own-custom-emojis-225907928.html?src=rss

Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, including the spangram.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

If you are not using end-to-end encrypted messaging on your phone already, the U.S. government has a warning message for you about China and your texts.

China's Qianfan, Guo Wang and Honghu-3 projects have plans to put 38,000 low earth orbit satellites into space.

Prepare to see the next chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this special look at Captain America: Brave New World! Action, intrigue, and heroic moments fill this film that promises to redefine the legacy of the shield. This movie stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, delving into uncharted territories of courage and leadership.The films astonishing visual effects are brought forth by the incredible talents from Weta FX, Digital Domain, Luma Pictures, Barnstorm VFX, UPP, OPSIS, and Outpost VFX. Under Production VFX Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro and Production VFX Producer Yasamin Ismaili, the movie promises a cinematic experience that is spectacular.Dont miss Captain America: Brave New World, soaring exclusively into theaters on February 14!The post Captain America: Brave New World | Special Look appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Framestores VFX team brought Alex Garlands gritty, documentary-style vision to life for Civil War, creating the explosive climactic scene involving the Lincoln Memorial. Shot on an Atlanta backlot, the moment demanded both meticulous on-set coordination and groundbreaking visual effects.Destruction of the iconic monument required smooth environment creation, complex compositing, and advanced FX work. Framestores commitment to authenticity involved detailed research into real-world weaponry effects, including muzzle flashes, tracer fire, missile launches, and explosions. The team has avoided the typical language of action cinema, instead delivering a harrowing, realistic depiction of destruction that aligns with the films raw tone.This breathtaking sequence underscores Framestores dedication to blending creativity and realism in crafting unforgettable cinematic moments.The post Civil War: Lincoln Memorial Breakdown by Framestore appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Ah, the office holiday party. Some employees love the opportunity to celebrateor view it as a chance to gather intel from coworkers and debrief on office politics. But for some workers, the year-end celebration can be a dreaded annual requirement. Perhaps youre a remote employee who would rather get a gift card in lieu of an awkward virtual gathering, or maybe youre just confused about how to dress for the occasion.Holiday parties have slowly made a comeback since they were put on hold at the height of the pandemic, but theyve also transformed in that time. Gone are the days of lavish, multimillion-dollar parties, especially amid ongoing layoffs in industries like tech. Many companies now have to navigate ringing in the holidays with far-flung employeeswhile those with strict return-to-office policies might be looking to curry favor with disgruntled employees.Whatever you have planned, here are a few things to keep in mind as you put the final touches on your companys holiday party this year:Dont treat the office holiday party like forced funHoliday parties and other social events in the workplace can be a valuable way to foster relationships or connect with coworkers you wouldnt ordinarily encounter. In an era of remote work when many workers are not getting as much face time, the holiday party can serve as a chance for teams to talk about life instead of work, find common ground, and build friendships, writes workplace culture strategist Jennifer Moss.But forced fun can also have the opposite effect, especially if morale is already low. Moss suggests that companies get a sense of how their workforce is feeling about year-end celebrationsor, at a minimum, make it clear that any holiday festivities are optional. Issues arise when having fun with colleagues after work is implied or overtly expected, she says. It can also be helpful to loop in employee resource groups to better accommodate neurodivergent employees in a holiday party setting, according to Moss.Take employee morale into accountIf your company is still reeling from layoffs or employees are concerned about economic uncertainty, you might feel inclined to forgo an office holiday partyor at least scale back your celebrations to meet the moment. But executive coach Alisa Cohn points out that even when times are hard, its important to recognize your employees and avoid ending the year on a depressing note.I believe you shouldnt let the year end with a sentiment of doom and gloom, because if you do, youll likely return from the holidays to find your employees still burned out and questioning the prospects of the company and their own desire to be there, she writes.Instead of a traditional holiday party, you could opt for a volunteer day or another activity oriented around social impact. Either way, dont forget to acknowledge how employees have contributed to the company over the last year, despite the circumstances. Even in the roughest of years, if youve made it to the other side, its because of the individuals at your company, Cohn says.Try to be inclusive of remote workersSince many companies are now distributed or have a significant remote workforce, it can be even harder to create a holiday party experience that feels inclusive of all your employees. Even as in-person holiday parties have resumed, employers can choose to keep part of their celebrations virtual. You can invite everyone to wear an ugly holiday sweater or dress festively, and provide fun holiday virtual backgrounds in advance, writes diversity and inclusion leader Mita Mallick. An activity can also be a good way to bring people together virtually, whether that means crafting or hosting a tasting.Its also important to send your remote employees any gifts or swag that youre planning to distribute at a holiday party, or give them something comparable. Go a step further by knowing what your employees like and dont like, and remember that not everyone drinks alcohol, Mallick says.

Were in this massive paradigm shift, says Vince Hankes, the venture capitalist leading Thrive Capitals investment in OpenAI. And when that happens, historically, there have been new companies created that are worth a lot of money.Thrive Capital wasnt an early investor in the generative AI standoutit didnt buy in until 2023but its made some of the biggest bets on the startup. It reportedly led a private share deal in early 2024 that enabled OpenAI employees to sell shares at an $86 billion valuation, then led a funding round in October that valued the startup at $157 billion.Hankes and Thrives founder Josh Kushner (brother of President-elect Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner) had known Sam Altman for years before investing. But it was actually their interest in other companies that brought them to OpenAI. We actually were looking at other startups using this AI technology and it turned out to be GPT-3 under the hood, Hankes says. And that spurred us to go spend time with OpenAI, which back then was much more of an enigma, I think, to the average investor.For AI companies like OpenAI, success is a game of scale: Building large frontier models requires massive amounts of training data and computing power. That kind of scale requires large funding rounds and long runways, with the potential for very big paydays down the line. As an investor, Thrive is set up for such delayed gratification, according to Hankes, who worked at Tiger Global before becoming a partner at Thrive in 2019.[We] dont do many things, but when we do something, were getting excited about an opportunity [and] we really double, triple, quadruple down in terms of our time trying to understand it very deeply, he adds.Hankes believes OpenAI is one of a relatively small set of companies (alongside the likes of Meta, Google, and Anthropic) that will have the resources to build the frontier models of the future. But even among that crowd, he believes the startup has some unique competitive advantages. He says OpenAI captured the zeitgeist of the market with ChatGPT, which has translated into millions of paying ChatGPT Pro subscribers. That revenue can help offset the costs of inventing and training new frontier models. CFO Sarah Friar recently said OpenAI now makes 75% of its revenue from its 11 million ChatGPT Pro customers.OpenAI also gets valuable data from its chatbot users conversations (provided they opt in), which the company can then use to help train the next generation of its frontier models. This creates a flywheel effect, Hankes says.As they do that they get new capabilities and features, which attracts more users, he says.This story is part ofAI 20, our monthlong series of profiles spotlighting the most interesting technologists, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and creative thinkers shaping the world of artificial intelligence.

This compact eyewear store in New York's West Village has been divided into "on stage" and "backstage" areas, as part of a design studio Tutto Bene's "love letter to theatrical glamour".The second New York City store for UK-based brand Cubitts is situated on Bleecker Street, a thoroughfare known for its architectural charm and variety of boutiques.The front of the Cubitts West Village store presents eyewear on wooden shelves recessed into beige felt wallsDesign studio Tutto Bene, which is behind several Cubitts interiors, looked to the history of the neighbourhood and the building once home to playwright Lorraine Hansberry to inform this location."It's a love letter to theatrical glamour, holding a mirror to the dualities of 'on stage' and 'backstage', public and private lives," said the design team. "The front of the store is designed as a stage for spectacles. A theatre of the every day, for the theatrical masks we all wear."A velvet-upholstered sofa sits under the store windowThe eyewear is displayed on wooden shelving recessed into beige felt-lined walls and illuminated by cove lights hidden behind.Wooden floorboards are stained black to emulate a stage, while movable display plinths made from brushed aluminium have a prop-like quality.A curved wall leads to the "backstage" consultation areaOverhead, a 1980s geometric pendant lamp by Swiss architect Mario Botta joins a 1960s Kaiser Leuchten table lamp by German designer Klaus Hempel both chosen for their resemblance to theatre flashlights.A velvet-upholstered sofa is placed in the window for shoppers to rest, relax, and observe the performance of trying on eyewear, providing "a front-row seat for the weary spectacle browser" according to Tutto Bene.Read: Tutto Bene references Streamline Moderne in tiny New York eyewear storeThe curved wall behind a partition leads to the "backstage" area, which is decorated in contrasting dark brown.This space is used for bespoke consultations and includes a vanity mirror with lightbulbs like in a theatre dressing room.The consultation space is decorated dark brown and features a vanity mirrorTo celebrate the West Village store opening, Cubitts has launched three new frames modelled on local landmarks including former speakeasy Chumley's and the Whitney Museum of American Art.The brand was founded in King's Cross, London, in 2013, and now has 19 stores spread across both sides of the Atlantic.The Cubitts West Village store is located in a Bleecker Street building once home of playwright Lorraine HansberryTutto Bene is led by Felizia Berchtold and Oskar Kohnen, and has studios in London and Milan.The firm's previous interiors for Cubitts include a store in Islington, north London, modelled on an artist's loft and a boutique in New York's Soho influenced by early 20th-century American industrial design.The photography is by Alice Gao.The post Cubitts West Village by Tutto Bene is a "stage for spectacles" appeared first on Dezeen.