• Typographic Awareness: How Fonts Impact Meaning | Adobe Creative Cloud
    www.youtube.com
    Each of us sees and experiences the world in our own unique way, including how we interact with type. Join Sarah Hyndman, author of Why Fonts Matter and founder of Type Tasting, as she lays out a toolkit for designers that explores cultural, neuro, and perceptual diversity through the lens of typography. An awareness of how diversity shapes meaning can empower you to create great typography that is both functional and emotionally accessible. Youll learn how: We read between the lines and why this varies from person to person Inclusive typography makes an appropriate emotional connection You can separate myth from research-based font recommendations for neurodiversitySubscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/48Y1QJ1 Learn more about Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/3RTndnp About Adobe Creative Cloud:Unlocking creative potential goes beyond tools it's about cultivating inspiration, fostering innovation, and mastering artistic expression. On the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel, discover stories, concepts, and trends that ignite your creativity. We are your hub for creativity, connecting you with Adobe channels for detailed tutorials and product insights. Adobe Creative Cloud brings together everything you need to create your greatest work. One membership gives you access to all Adobe professional creative desktop applications, plus new features as soon as they're available. Cloud storage ensures file access anywhere, even on mobile, streamlining concept sharing. Cloud-based services let you build websites, mobile apps, and content for any medium/device. With Behance integration, you can publish your portfolio on your own URL and plug into the world's largest creative community to get inspired, get feedback, and find new opportunities.Connect with Adobe Creative Cloud:Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativecloud LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/adobe-creative-cloud/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adobecreativecloud Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adobecreativecloud/ #Adobe #AdobeYouTube #AdobeCreativeCloud
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  • Animated Characters for Social Media: Character Animator | Adobe Creative Cloud
    www.youtube.com
    Adding animated characters to your videos is a proven way to increase viewer engagement and now its easier than ever to get started. Join designer at Adobe and YouTuber Dave Werner as he walks through the workflows and tips he uses to create explainer videos, cartoon shorts, music videos, and more with Character Animator and Adobe Express. In this session, youll learn how to: Record performances and add emotion to animated characters Create custom characters with personalized skin tones, hairstyles, and more Integrate characters seamlessly into your existing video workflowsSubscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/48Y1QJ1 Learn more about Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/3RTndnp About Adobe Creative Cloud:Unlocking creative potential goes beyond tools it's about cultivating inspiration, fostering innovation, and mastering artistic expression. On the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel, discover stories, concepts, and trends that ignite your creativity. We are your hub for creativity, connecting you with Adobe channels for detailed tutorials and product insights. Adobe Creative Cloud brings together everything you need to create your greatest work. One membership gives you access to all Adobe professional creative desktop applications, plus new features as soon as they're available. Cloud storage ensures file access anywhere, even on mobile, streamlining concept sharing. Cloud-based services let you build websites, mobile apps, and content for any medium/device. With Behance integration, you can publish your portfolio on your own URL and plug into the world's largest creative community to get inspired, get feedback, and find new opportunities.Connect with Adobe Creative Cloud:Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativecloud LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/adobe-creative-cloud/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adobecreativecloud Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adobecreativecloud/ #Adobe #AdobeYouTube #AdobeCreativeCloud
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  • Typographic Awareness: How Fonts Impact Meaning | Adobe Creative Cloud
    www.youtube.com
    Each of us sees and experiences the world in our own unique way, including how we interact with type. Join Sarah Hyndman, author of Why Fonts Matter and founder of Type Tasting, as she lays out a toolkit for designers that explores cultural, neuro, and perceptual diversity through the lens of typography. An awareness of how diversity shapes meaning can empower you to create great typography that is both functional and emotionally accessible. Youll learn how: We read between the lines and why this varies from person to person Inclusive typography makes an appropriate emotional connection You can separate myth from research-based font recommendations for neurodiversitySubscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/48Y1QJ1 Learn more about Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/3RTndnp About Adobe Creative Cloud:Unlocking creative potential goes beyond tools it's about cultivating inspiration, fostering innovation, and mastering artistic expression. On the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel, discover stories, concepts, and trends that ignite your creativity. We are your hub for creativity, connecting you with Adobe channels for detailed tutorials and product insights. Adobe Creative Cloud brings together everything you need to create your greatest work. One membership gives you access to all Adobe professional creative desktop applications, plus new features as soon as they're available. Cloud storage ensures file access anywhere, even on mobile, streamlining concept sharing. Cloud-based services let you build websites, mobile apps, and content for any medium/device. With Behance integration, you can publish your portfolio on your own URL and plug into the world's largest creative community to get inspired, get feedback, and find new opportunities.Connect with Adobe Creative Cloud:Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativecloud LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/adobe-creative-cloud/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adobecreativecloud Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adobecreativecloud/ #Adobe #AdobeYouTube #AdobeCreativeCloud
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  • Animated Characters for Social Media: Character Animator | Adobe Creative Cloud
    www.youtube.com
    Adding animated characters to your videos is a proven way to increase viewer engagement and now its easier than ever to get started. Join designer at Adobe and YouTuber Dave Werner as he walks through the workflows and tips he uses to create explainer videos, cartoon shorts, music videos, and more with Character Animator and Adobe Express. In this session, youll learn how to: Record performances and add emotion to animated characters Create custom characters with personalized skin tones, hairstyles, and more Integrate characters seamlessly into your existing video workflowsSubscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/48Y1QJ1 Learn more about Creative Cloud: https://adobe.ly/3RTndnp About Adobe Creative Cloud:Unlocking creative potential goes beyond tools it's about cultivating inspiration, fostering innovation, and mastering artistic expression. On the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel, discover stories, concepts, and trends that ignite your creativity. We are your hub for creativity, connecting you with Adobe channels for detailed tutorials and product insights. Adobe Creative Cloud brings together everything you need to create your greatest work. One membership gives you access to all Adobe professional creative desktop applications, plus new features as soon as they're available. Cloud storage ensures file access anywhere, even on mobile, streamlining concept sharing. Cloud-based services let you build websites, mobile apps, and content for any medium/device. With Behance integration, you can publish your portfolio on your own URL and plug into the world's largest creative community to get inspired, get feedback, and find new opportunities.Connect with Adobe Creative Cloud:Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativecloud LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/adobe-creative-cloud/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adobecreativecloud Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adobecreativecloud/ #Adobe #AdobeYouTube #AdobeCreativeCloud
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  • Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus Date Reveal!
    rawfury.com
    Call of Olympus arrives 8th of October & more announcements!Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus is a major expansion for Kingdom Two Crowns. Set out and build your Kingdom, in a completely new setting featuring legends and mythos inspired by ancient Greece. Set sail for faraway islands on the 8th of October!Call of Olympus includes:A Quest to Free Mount Olympus An Epic New World: Call of Olympus features a reworked map with an epic conclusion at Mount Olympus, and you choose how to get there! Temple and Quest Islands: These new islands present unique challenges, hidden treasures and powerful artifact rewards prove your worth to Artemis, Athena, Hephaestus and Hermes to open the path to Mount Olympus. Mythological Mounts: Discover and unlock powerful new mounts, like the fierce three-headed Cerberus, the terrifying fire-breathing Chimera, the majestic winged Pegasus, or the trusty Donkey and many more!Fight Greed of Epic Scales Face Your Fears: Muster steadfast defences to protect your crown, the Greed threat is more challenging than ever before, with multi-phased boss battles against the sinister Serpent. Raise Your Banner: Shift the momentum and lead from the front. Bring the fight to the Greed with new siege mechanics, where the Hoplites will join you in Phalanx formation. Assemble Your Fleet: Fight on land and at sea build a fleet with devastating ship-mounted ballistae to join your battle. Once victorious, use your armada to ferry your army across the seas and combat the growing threat of Greed.Discover Godly Powers and Abilities Powerful Artifacts: Unlock four unique artifacts bestowed by the gods. Whether you choose a bow with a powerful directed attack, or a hammer that boosts your troops prowess, these items grant you new offensive and defensive abilities against the Greed. Guided by the Oracle: Never stray from the task at hand. At your request,the Oracle will provide you with wisdom and directions for the next step of your Odyssey! Set the Greed Ablaze: Wield powerful fire technology granted by the new hermit. Its as if it was gifted by Prometheus himself!This major expansion will be available for $9,99 (or local equivalent).Additionally, we are excited to announce alongside Call of Olympus that Kingdom Two Crowns will receive a free 2.0 update! This update with a collection of Quality-of-Life updates is aimed at providing the best Kingdom Two Crowns experience we can: including options to turn off the tutorial ghost and a new save system supporting up to 10 save slots! Detailed patch notes will follow.Finally, we are excited to announce that we are launching two brand-new cosmetic DLCs: Regents & Archons Royal Wardrobe! These new supporter pack DLCs provide no additional gameplay features, it is in short, a completely optional way for you to spice up your campaign and at the same time help and support us to work on new cool things for the Kingdom series.Thank you all for your continued support and the energy you all bring us/The Kingdom TeamThe post Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus Date Reveal! appeared first on Raw Fury.
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  • Festivals are coming to Moonstone Island!
    rawfury.com
    *insert fanfare here*Get out the birthday candles, because Moonstone Island is ONE YEAR OLD! Well, I guess thats just a singular birthday candle, but still. Its been a whole year since our launch, and we can hardly believe it weve had so much happen in those last 12 months. So many updates and DLCs! So much love and fanart from the community! So many new Spirits, items, cards, and things to do! And, of course, SOOOO MANY BUG FIXES.In celebration Moonstone Islands anniversabirthday, were releasing an even bigger update than normal on September 30th: THE FESTIVALS UPDATE! Youve been asking for events, and youre getting them! This free update will add new seasonal festivals, new dialog, new Spirits, and maybe even a new character to meet.But thats not all! Were also doing our [i]last[/i] paid DLC of 2024: Autumnal Accessories DLC! As you can probably guess, Autumn Accessories are all about the colors of fall. It comes with lots of decor to make your place look as autumnal as possible, which will go nicely with last years Halloween decor, or even the Christmastime turkey (you can pretend its Thanksgiving)!Well have more details to share later, so make sure youre on our Discord and our newsletter. All the best jokes are in there. All the worst jokes are here on Steam, obviously.https://discord.com/invite/moonstoneislandhttps://www.moonstoneisland.com/#newsletterThe post Festivals are coming to Moonstone Island! appeared first on Raw Fury.
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  • The best of The Game Awards and the redemption of Geoff Keighley | The DeanBeat
    venturebeat.com
    Geoff Keighley redeemed himself with his tenth anniversary show for The Game Awards.Read More
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  • One of the years best movies was filmed in first person
    www.theverge.com
    RaMell Ross considers himself more of a visual artist than a movie director. His second film, Nickel Boys, attempts a visual artists feat: a feature shot entirely from the first-person point of view.Every decade, it seems, first-person camerawork reemerges in film. Kathryn Bigelows dystopian thriller Strange Days (1995) cut to it when its characters deployed a sci-fi technology to experience other peoples memories; the much-maligned Doom (2005) had a section that paid homage to the POV of its video game origins; Hardcore Henry (2015) proved doing that at feature-length was exhausting. But if theres a through line between the works that have deployed the first-person perspective, its that theyve used them for visceral means, often to heighten the intensity of violence.Nearly 10 years later, Nickel Boys presents the first person to achieve the opposite: quiet intimacy. Adapted from Colson Whiteheads Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film alternates between the perspectives of its leads, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), two Black teenagers who meet at a brutal reformatory school in the Jim Crow South. Despite the institutions punishing environment, Elwood continues to maintain an optimistic worldview reflective of the ongoing Civil Rights Movement, while Turner grounds himself through pragmatic survivalism. The audience sees what they see and believe.RaMell Ross directing his leading men, Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson. L. Kasimu HarrisThe first-person vantage point does something clever: when were seeing things through Elwoods eyes, were mostly looking at Turner, and vice versa. The effect is startling and, in its best moments, sublime. And the film is so confident that it almost never relents. Nickel Boys commits to the first person for nearly its entire two-hour, 20-minute runtime, except for a few splashes of archival footage and a handful of scenes that flash forward. But the brilliance of Nickel Boys is that the camerawork isnt just a visual gimmick; its tied so deeply to the films themes that it allows the film to pull off a final act reveal that, before I saw this adaptation, I believed could only be achieved in a novel.The movie arrives in theaters this Friday, but thanks to a strong run at festivals, its already being talked about as an Academy Award contender. (As of this writing, Nate Jones most recent Oscar Futures column at Vulture predicts the film as a Best Picture and Best Director finalist.) A New York Times critic declared it the years number one film, and director Ross just took home honors at the New York Film Critics Circle, an award that tends to be a bellwether for the industrys biggest prizes.The years most celebrated movie might just be its most ambitious. Asking audiences to watch a film from the first-person POV is a big risk, and the technical challenges to pull it off convincingly were no easy ask of the crew or actors. In some ways, Nickel Boys feels like an unlikely gambit.Heres how it got made.A photographer and author, RaMell Ross comes from the art world, a place that, in his experience, embraces and elevates abstraction over explanation. Working in film, he says he finds that people the regular ones that watch movies and the powerful ones that allow them to be made tend to ask more questions about intention and meaning.As a director, Ross is best known for his 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, which follows the life of two Black high school students in Alabama, where Ross spent five years capturing footage.Director RaMell Ross on set. L. Kasimu HarrisHale County eschewed the traditional building blocks of narrative plot through an order of scenes for a fragmentary, patchwork approach. The result is stunning and resembles less a conventional documentary and more the kind of impressionistic video art you might find at a contemporary art museum. But even with all its formal invention, Hale County still earned an Academy Award nomination in the documentary feature category.It lost to Free Solo, but still: not a bad showing for a movie never expected to be in the running. After, Ross was compelled to return to his work in visual arts, completing a performance piece for the Ogden Museum of Southern Arttitled Return to Origin, wherein he shipped himself from Rhode Island to Alabama in a large wooden crate an allusion and reversal of the Great Migration, made a touch funnier when you learn Ross is six-feet, six-inches tall.During that time, hed also returned to his full-time job, teaching visual arts at Brown University. Its unsurprising to learn that Ross is a professor even from our brief encounter, its clear he possesses an academics curiosity and the enthusiastic engagement of a lecturer. More importantly, teaching gives him the space to be patient. I get to make art at my own pace. I get to think big and move slow. Theres nothing better than that.But having come within spitting distance of Hollywoods highest recognition, the Oscar, surely producers and studios were reaching out to Ross with projects, right? It turns out that no one was calling. Sundance recognition and an Academy Award nod would have to suffice. I never took a meeting, he says, appearing content with that outcome.Then, in 2019, a producer reached out about an adaptation of a not-yet-published novel called Nickel Boys.Cinematographer Jomo Fray and Herisse on set. L. Kasimu HarrisRoss had heard of the production company Plan B before. But it wasnt until they reached out that he looked them up: theyd made 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight. It was Brad Pitts production outfit. High-profile producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner were also involved, but honestly, Ross wasnt familiar with the kind of names that circulate among Hollywood regulars. Hed made little effort to penetrate that world because, well, he liked his life, teaching and making art at his own speed.But after reading an advanced copy of Nickel Boys, the idea of POV came immediately. Whiteheads book fictionalizes the very real horrors of the Dozier School for Boys, where, only recently, forensic anthropologists have uncovered nearly 50 unmarked graves of students who were secretly buried. In imagining those harrowing details, Ross was at a loss for words, but he could conjure the images. What if he could give those boys a literal point of view?He had no idea if Plan B would be up for such a formal gambit, but he had no interest in being a for-hire director. What did he have to lose? When Ross pitched the idea to Plan B, he was surprised when they immediately signed off on it.They genuinely did not flinch. They stress-tested it, as all the producers did over the course of making the film and really whittled down the script, but generally never questioned [the first-person approach], Ross says, then adds: Kind of crazy.Hed connected with cinematographer Jomo Fray, a fan of Hale County. But even Fray, who came with his own awards and bona fides, found that the POV of Nickel Boys required him to rethink the language of film on a quantum level. The two of them were suddenly reconceiving the basic elements of the medium: What is an establishing shot when youre in first person? A cut? A transition? The prospect was daunting and thrilling.Fray with the full Sony Venice camera setup. L. Kasimu HarrisBut first, there was a lot of testing a months worth, just to get the feel right. Ross recalls specifically homing in on how they wanted time to move with the camera. What they learned is that the most convincing images had to be slightly behind their marks. Traditionally, a movie is tightly blocked and choreographed with the camera; but in their trials, Ross and Fray found the results unrealistic. Messiness, they found, was more convincing. If you are late to something and then you find it then it just fundamentally feels more like human vision. The way a person sees the world is not as tidy as it is in cinema. To avoid making the POV feel like a contrivance, the image had to be deeply immersive, one that allowed you to live life concurrently with Elwood and Turner navigating and moving through space with them, not merely watching them do it, Fray says.It also required some special gear. Fray chose the Sony Venice, a full-frame digital camera, because it could shoot in IMAX quality. In Rialto mode, which separates the body from the 6K sensor, the footprint of what the camera operator is holding was barely larger than an average DSLR. (Fray knew from what Ross had imagined they would often be filming in tight spaces.) There were a lot of setups, too: chest mounts, helmet cams, SnorriCams (the exoskeletal selfie stick rig that produces shots most associated with Darren Aronofskys work); there were handhelds in various orientations; a scene where Elwood gets clocked required its own custom rig.But what does shooting an entire movie in first person actually look like? Well, it involves the camera crew and the actors getting unusually close. There were times when they were actually on top of each other.Fray with the handheld camera in Rialto mode, which allows the Sony Venice body to be separated from the 6K sensor block.Camera operator Sam Ellison controlling the camera in Mini Libra mode, which allows him to control the head remotely. L. Kasimu HarrisMost of the shots were filmed by Ross, Fray, and camera operator Sam Ellison. If the scene was from Elwoods POV, Herisse would stand close behind the camera operator and say his lines; if a Turner scene needed a hand in it, Wilson would reach his arm around the camera operator to get himself into shot. Were making a frame and were like, Hey, E, put your hand up here a little bit more, Ross says.There were many scenes Ross estimates about a quarter of the shots where the limitations of space meant the actors needed to don the camera rigs themselves.You dont really get that opportunity really as an actor, to work behind the camera and then step into the shoes of an operator for certain moments, Herisse says. Suddenly, he had the opportunity to wield an object he didnt normally interact with, which he was always told he was supposed to ignore the presence of. Was it stressful?Obviously its scary in the sense that I didnt want to break anything. I definitely know that this is a very important and expensive piece of equipment thats hanging off my chest, he says. But otherwise, it was so cool.For him and his co-star Wilson, shooting scenes from the other side of the POV meant violating the most basic rule of acting: never look at the camera. Now, they were instructed to speak directly into it. When I speak to Herisse and Wilson, I ask if it was hard to shift their focus.We definitely couldnt ignore [the camera]. But we were able to get into a rhythm with it and learn that new thing of staring down the barrel of the lens in place of having each others eyes or each others physical presence, Wilson says.Eventually the camera just fades away and you get this feeling that youre no longer speaking to this machine, Herisse adds. Brandon was there physically right next to Jomo or Sam or RaMell during the scenes and I could hear his voice. And I knew that he was there with me.They were still listening to each other, even if a 6K camera rig and its operator stood between them.Toward the end of our conversation, I tell Ross that shooting Nickel Boys sounded extremely difficult reinventing the language of film, coming up with the technical way to do that, then executing on that ambitious vision. But Ross just laughs it off.The hardest part is time in general because you dont have infinite time, like in documentary where you can just come back. So we have two hours to shoot the scene and were starting from scratch. [The actor] doesnt have the rig on. Bluetooth isnt connecting. Those types of things make it challenging, but the images themselves, yeah, we had that.After rushing through eight or so weeks of preproduction, shooting was compressed to a month after losing a week to covid an intense experience for a guy who spent the better part of a decade on his last film.Preparation helped, though. Ross estimates that 90 percent of what he storyboarded and scripted shows up exactly that way in the final thing, with only a little bit of improvisation along the way. Im surprised to hear the shot list was a whopping 35 pages, single-spaced every single moment, gaze, and beat accounted for, in a film that still feels naturalistic.Its easy to see how Ross newest film is a clear extension of his body of work. If Hale County was, in his words, the story of how Black people have come to be known through the camera, Nickel Boys offers a story where the perspective of Black characters becomes the camera.Fray, Herisse, and Ross on set. L. Kasimu HarrisNickel Boys is structured along more conventional plot lines (it even has a big twist), but the film also offers many reprieves and distractions, emulating the way the eye wanders and how memory can often be nonlinear. Some of those images are the most resonant: the first shot opens with an outstretched arm, gripping an orange; sensory fascinations, like the sound of loafers clopping through a puddle or a knife scraping cake off a dish, take center stage.One of the movies most moving moments is a humble one: actor Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor embracing Turner for a hug, the camera suddenly looking past her shoulder.Recalling that day on set, Fray describes it as a new experience for him as a cinematographer. No longer the voyeur, he was suddenly in a position where he had to meet his scene partner in the eye.That changes how you compose an image, Fray says. That changes how you shoot an image. And I think that changes the dynamic between actor and camera, and cinematographer and performer.Nickel Boys is in theaters on December 13th.
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  • LOral Colorsonic review: shades of gray
    www.theverge.com
    When I was a kid, my mom and auntie would retreat into the bathroom, hands wrapped in latex gloves, newspaper covering the counters and floor as they mixed together a dark, foul-smelling paste in a plastic bowl. For hours, theyd alternately gossip and brush the paste into each others hair. When the monthly ritual was done, their gray hairs had been completely vanquished. I, a judgmental know-it-all, would scrunch my nose and say this all seemed like too much effort.They told me to wait until I started graying.Two decades later, I maintain that I was correct. Thanks to an ill-fated pandemic experiment with purple hair, I know at-home hair dyeing is a righteous pain in the butt. I vowed to never do it again. Then, at my last haircut, my stylist tried to upsell me on a dye job because, Youre too young to be this gray. At that moment, I saw my mom and auntie in that old bathroom, pointing their fingers at me, cackling.Thus began my two-month experiment with LOrals Colorsonic. 6Verge ScoreL'Oreal Colorsonic$124.99The GoodEasy to useDramatically cuts down hair dyeing timeLess messy than box dyeThe BadWish the cartridges would last longerMore expensive than box dyeNot the best at covering gray hairs $125 at Target$125 at L'Oreal ParisHow we rate and review productsI first came across the $124.99 LOral Colorsonic at CES 2022. Its a high-tech hair wand with bristles that spit out goo so you can quickly dye your hair. The bottom half has an empty chamber where you insert a refillable hair dye cartridge. The top half has a nozzle with bristles that oscillate more than 300 times a minute to evenly apply color. You press a button, brush this thing through your hair, and voila! Youre done. There are some extra techy features thrown in for instance, the cartridges have chips so the device can tell you how much dye is left. The pitch is to make dyeing your whole head, root touch-ups, and covering grays easier, quicker, and more affordable than a trip to the salon.And in the world of beauty tech gadgets, there isnt really anything else like this. Me, and my multiplying grays, wanted to believe. Lets be frank: dyeing your hair isnt something many people do on a whim. The Colorsonics audience is primarily women, many of whom, on at least a subconscious level, view a beautiful head of hair as a source of cultural power. Changing your hair color is a way to completely alter your image. But its not easy. Its a deep commitment in terms of time, effort, maintenance, and money. Something like the Colorsonic is alluring precisely because its saying that power can be yours for less work, money, and time. And hair dyeing is also a dicey proposition. Unlike at-home straightening or curling, youre applying harsh chemicals to your head. If done wrong, it can destroy your hair. Theres a reason so many people choose to spend several hundred dollars to see a professional, even when box dye costs $10 at CVS.Each Colorsonic comes with a cleaning cartridge and a lengths attachment for longer hair. So its a very good thing LOreals put some guardrails on the Colorsonic. Its not a one-stop dye machine. This device is only designed to handle the coloring part of the process. The cartridges are permanent hair color formulas, which means they do have a lightening agent. However, theyre not as powerful as straight-up bleach. If you want to bleach your hair, youll have to buy a kit or see a pro. LOrals also sticking to natural colors for this first shade range. For a dark brunette like me, that means unless I bleach my hair first, I have to stick with colors that are close to my natural shade. This isnt a tool for complex dye jobs. That, in turn, minimizes the damage the average person can do.With all this in mind, I was equal parts nervous and excited to unbox the Colorsonic. To my surprise, everything is thoughtfully packaged and designed. Youre meant to store the device in the original box insert, and it comes with reusable gloves and a giant waterproof, tearproof instruction sheet complete with QR codes to video tutorials. The instructions are straightforward, and the actual process of dyeing your hair is shockingly easy. Anyone can insert a cartridge into a chamber, press a button, and brush their hair. The first time I tried it, the entire application process took 1015 minutes.Cartridges are sold separately for $30. Each has a chip that tells the device how much dye is left.Thats wild. I have a full head of hair. In my misguided purple hair era, dyeing half my head often took 45 minutes. Brushing the Colorsonic through your hair is also a neater process than sectioning your hair, clipping it, and then painstakingly applying dye in thin layers. The latter not only takes time but also left me and my all-white bathroom looking like Id just murdered Barney the Dinosaur. I wouldnt call the Colorsonic completely mess-free. You inevitably get some dye on yourself and the sink. But cleanup including rinsing the Colorsonic with its cleaning cartridge took five minutes.While waiting for the dye to set, I thought it had to be too good to be true. A half hour later, after rinsing and drying my hair, I was right. My hair was a richer brownish-black, but my grays hadnt gone anywhere.Apparently, grays can be dye-resistant. To conquer the stubborn buggers, multiple Reddit forums suggested leaving in the dye longer. Fine. I figured Id experiment and see if doing that around my temples would make a difference. After my first application, I still had about a third of the cartridge left. But by the time I finished the whole warm-up process, my first cartridge was empty. I had to order another one online for $30.I must warn you, the dye is pungent. Also, it should look thicker than this when it comes out. My third attempt has so far been the most successful. To the point where Im fairly certain my first cartridge was a bit of a dud. Not only did the dye come out thicker but the application was even smoother. I let the dye set for 45 minutes. I felt confident going into the rinsing process that my grays would be vanquished.About 70 percent of them were.I looked maybe a year or two younger! Coworkers and friends complimented me! A good chunk of the grays at my temples the ones that bother me the most were either gone or blended in better. But my goal had been to completely nuke my grays. After another, slightly less successful fourth attempt, I can still find quite a few whenever I put my hair up. Ive been told by my spouse, colleagues, family, and friends that this is a problem between me and my vanity.Thats the thing about hair tech. Whether its LOrals Colorsonic or one of Dysons curlers, it still requires a degree of skill, luck, and know-how to get the best results. I could just have biblically stubborn grays. Im convinced my first cartridge was a bit wonky. Its possible my application skills arent quite up to snuff yet. It could be that this particular hair dye formula for the Colorsonic isnt optimized for full gray coverage. Maybe, my mom and auntie tag-teamed their grays the way they did because it was a carefully refined process discovered through lots of trial and error. Perhaps I was naive hoping the first iteration of a gadget would make everything easy and perfect.Ultimately, the Colorsonic suits my budget and how lazy I am.My time with the Colorsonic has been a lesson in what tradeoffs Im willing to accept. Ive used $60 worth of cartridges and a $125 gadget to get middling results. At $185, thats much more expensive than if Id just bought two boxes of dye but more affordable than the rates at my salon in New York City. (I was once quoted $600. Respectfully, no.) Its also much less time-consuming than box dye or the salon. So far, my hair remains undamaged. Sure, I wish that the cartridges gave me more bang for my buck, but Im much happier not spending an hour scrubbing stains out of my bathroom counters and tub.Whether the Colorsonic is worth it boils down to what you value: the best results, cost, or convenience. Pick two. My mom and auntie picked results and cost, hence their laborious dedication to box dye. For results and convenience, a salon is going to get you the most foolproof experience. Personally, Ive realized Im a cost-and-convenience gal. Im happy with a middle-of-the-road price and good-enough results. Especially if it means getting a lot of time back. That makes the Colorsonic a great fit for my needs. Its just not a perfect one.
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  • Yale Researchers Propose AsyncLM: An Artificial Intelligence System for Asynchronous LLM Function Calling
    www.marktechpost.com
    LLMs enable interactions with external tools and data sources, such as weather APIs or calculators, through function calls, unlocking diverse applications like autonomous AI agents and neurosymbolic reasoning systems. However, the current synchronous approach to function calling, where LLMs pause token generation until the execution of each call is complete, could be more resource-intensive and efficient. This process blocks LLM inferenceone of the most computationally demanding stepsand limits concurrency, as function calls must be completed sequentially. These inefficiencies grow with task complexity, making synchronous function calls impractical for handling multiple or complex operations.Recent efforts to improve the efficiency of LLM function calling include parallelizing function executions, combining sequential calls, and optimizing function syntax. While these strategies reduce overhead, the fundamental challenge of synchronous interaction persists. Asynchronous function calling has been proposed, enabling LLMs to continue token generation while function calls execute in the background. This approach allows overlapping execution and inference, improving resource utilization and reducing latency. Studies like ReWOO have further explored consolidating function calls into single sessions, offering more efficient alternatives to traditional synchronous methods without relying on specific reasoning strategies, thus enhancing scalability across applications.Researchers from Yale University propose AsyncLM, a system for asynchronous LLM function calling that enhances efficiency by allowing LLMs to generate and execute function calls concurrently. AsyncLM introduces an interrupt mechanism, enabling the LLM to receive in-flight notifications when a function calls return, thus avoiding resource idling. Using a domain-specific language (CML) and fine-tuning strategies, AsyncLM ensures seamless integration of interrupts and accurate handling of dependencies. Benchmark tests on the Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard show that AsyncLM achieves up to 5.4 faster task completion than synchronous methods while maintaining accuracy. Additionally, it enables novel AI applications, including human-LLM interactions.The CML is a domain-specific interface enabling asynchronous interactions between a LLM and an executor. It uses tokens like [CALL], [INTR], [TRAP], [END], and [HEAD] to structure-function calls, interrupts, and traps. LLMs initiate tasks using CML, allowing parallel execution without blocking token generation. Interrupts notify the LLM of completed tasks, while traps temporarily pause generation when dependencies are unmet. AsyncLM employs fine-tuning with simulated datasets to optimize function scheduling, minimize task completion time, and handle interrupts effectively. The system integrates components like token monitors, an executor, and an interrupt manager to manage asynchronous workflows efficiently.The evaluation focuses on two key aspects: latency and correctness. Latency examines the effectiveness of asynchronous function calling in reducing task completion time compared to synchronous methods, while correctness assesses its impact on generating accurate function calls. The Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) covered diverse real-world tasks like travel booking and API interactions, with datasets for various scenarios, including a custom multi-step dataset for complex tasks. AsyncLM, tested in local (using Llama models) and cloud (GPT-4o) setups, demonstrated latency reductions up to 5.4 over synchronous methods. Results showed Asyncs efficiency in parallelizing tasks and optimizing token generation cycles.In conclusion, AsyncLM is designed to enable asynchronous function calling for LLMs, allowing the models and function executors to work independently. Unlike traditional synchronous methods, where LLM inference is blocked until a function call is completed, AsyncLM uses an interrupt mechanism to notify the LLM during execution. Key innovations include an in-context interface for asynchronous interactions, fine-tuning LLMs to handle interrupt semantics, and efficient implementation within the inference pipeline. Empirical results on the BFCL show that AsyncLM reduces task completion latency by 1.65.4, enabling more efficient LLM interactions with tools, data, and humans.Check out the Paper. 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. Dont Forget to join our60k+ ML SubReddit. Sana Hassan+ postsSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions. [Download] Evaluation of Large Language Model Vulnerabilities Report (Promoted)
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