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.

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.

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)

Claudes New Feature Will Blow Your Mind! 0 like December 13, 2024Share this postAuthor(s): Gencay I. Originally published on Towards AI. Claudes Feature is Game-Changing and redefines AI OutputsThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.created with le-chatIf you have experience using LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or others, you might experience long, boring, and unrelated outputs.I recall using these prompts after long and really long outputsbe concise. It looks like Claude hears all of us and creates this fantastic future that will increase your prompts' efficiency and save you a lot of time.Lets start!Claude 3.5 Sonnet Choose StyleClaude created this new feature, and you can choose the output style dynamically. Lets look deeper and click on it. Here is the screen we see now;Claude 3.5 Sonnet StylesAs you can see, there are four different styles;NormalConciseExplanatoryFormalI like formal. Why? Because some of us are using these while working, the outputs we have to share might be in a formal tone, so kudos to Claude's team for thinking about it. But if you see, there is one more thing to discover.You can also create and edit styles; lets click on them. Now, youll have the following screen to preview existing styles. Lets check Concise.Claude 3.5 Sonnet Styles CustomizationNow, youll have the following screen to preview existing models. Lets click on the short Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

iOS 18.2 has finally arrived, and beyond a ton of great Apple Intelligence features and a big Mail redesign, the update also lets you set new default iPhone apps. Heres how that works.iOS 18.2 brings expanded default categories and new Settings hubThe iPhone for years has offered some options for setting new default apps. For example, in iOS 14 you could set new defaults for email and browser.But the options have remained pretty limited.In iOS 18.2 though, categories for default apps are expanding, and you can set your new defaults all from one convenient new hub.After updating to iOS 18.2, open the Settings app then Apps and youll see a new menu there: Default Apps.This offers a consolidated home for setting default apps on your iPhone across eight different categories.Changing your default apps, and what that meansWhat does changing your default do? Heres how Apple describes it:Manage which apps your iPhone will use automatically for sending emails, browsing the web, and moreFor example, when you tap a link to an email, phone number, or a standard URL, your default app will be used. Normally, Apples own apps act as defaults (e.g., Mail, Messages, Safari, Wallet, etc.), but you can change those defaults.Here are all the options, plus a description of what changing the default means:Email: This app will be used to compose new emails.Messaging: This app will be used to compose new messages.Calling: This app will be used to make calls.Call Filtering: This app will be used for call filtering and identification.Browser App: This app will be used to open links and browse the web.Passwords & Codes: These apps (multiple can be selected at once) will be used for AutoFill, and you can choose a separate app for setting up verification and QR codes.Contactless App: This app will be automatically selected when using NFC with contactless readers.Keyboards: These keyboards will be available from the keyboard switcher.Note, your listed categories might differ based on your location and Apples various global policies. If youre in the US, the eight categories above will be available. If youre in the EU, for example, you might see more.If you dont have third-party apps installed in a given category, you wont see anything there except Apples own apps. But going to the App Store and downloading alternatives will cause them to appear inside the Default Apps section as new options.Several of these options existed before, but were siloed into different parts of Settings that werent the easiest to find. Three of the categories are brand new in iOS 18.2: Messaging, Calling, and Contactless App.Have you changed any default apps in iOS 18.2? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 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

This doesn't bode well.Killer HeatScientists have found that it's not just older adults succumbing to dangerous temperatures driven by climate change even younger people may be more susceptible to extreme heat as well.As detailed in a new study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers found that three-fourths of heat-related deaths in Mexico between 1998 and 2019 were people under the age of 35.It's a fascinating and perhaps foreboding new finding that suggests it's not just the elderly who are at the highest risk of dying from heat."These age groups are also quite vulnerable to heat in ways that we dont expect even at temperatures that we dont think of as particularly warm," first author and Stanford University environmental social scientist Andrew Wilson told the New York Times.Wet Bulb BluesSince getting an accurate picture of how many people die due to heat exhaustion is difficult death certificates often don't list heat as a cause the team turned to data relating to changes in "wet bulb" temperatures,which take both humidity and air temperatures into account to gauge how well human bodies can adapt to heat."While multiple metrics exist to measure humid heat stress, wet-bulb temperature has been identified as an important metric for understanding the impact of heat on human health because it accounts for the critical role of sweat evaporation the primary mechanism by which the human body cools itself in maintaining homeostasis under heat exposure," the paper reads.Around a wet bulb temperature of just 95 degrees Fahrenheit, "humans can no longer dissipate heat into the environment and are thus physically incapable of survival when exposed for a sufficient length of time," the researchers wrote.Surprisingly, the researchers found that even at much lower wet bulb temperatures of around 75 degrees Fahrenheit or 88 degrees Fahrenheit with 50 percent humidity adults between the ages of 18 to 34 were dying from heat.That's in contrast to adults older than 70 being vulnerable to much higher wet bulb temperatures.It's a concerning finding, considering the number of extreme heat waves is only expected to rise as climate change continues to push up temperatures around the globe. The team projects that the number of deaths among young adults will increase by 32 percent by the year 2100."Youre going to increase the number of moderately warm days much more than youre going to increase the number of extremely hot days," Wilson told the NYT.Worse yet, those between the ages of 18 to 34 are also far more likely to engage in strenuous activities outdoors, including sports or work-related tasks, leaving them more at risk."Its not just about your physiological vulnerability," coauthor and Columbia University graduate student Daniel Bressler told the newspaper. "Its about the economic and the social factors that make it so that youre more exposed."More on death heat: Dozens of Americans Die in Brutal Heat WaveShare This Article

"It was one of the worst experiences of her life."Worst ExperienceSchools are employing dubious AI-powered software to accuse teenagers of wanting to harm themselves and sending the cops to their homes as a result with often chaotic and traumatic results.As the New York Times reports, software being installed on high school students' school-issued devices tracks every word they type. An algorithm then analyzes the language for evidence of teenagers wanting to harm themselves.Unsurprisingly, the software can get it wrong by woefully misinterpreting what the students are actually trying to say. A 17-year-old in Neosho, Missouri, for instance, was woken up by the police in the middle of the night.As it turns out, a poem she had written years ago triggered the alarms of a software called GoGuardian Beacon, which its maker describes as a way to "safeguard students from physical harm.""It was one of the worst experiences of her life," the teen's mother told the NYT.Wellness CheckInternet safety software employed by educational tech companies took off during the COVID-19 shutdowns, leading to widespread surveillance of students in their own homes.Many of these systems are designed to flag keywords or phrases to figure out if a teen is planning to hurt themselves.But as the NYT reports, we have no idea if they're at all effective or accurate, since the companies have yet to release any data.Besides false alarms, schools have reported that the systems have allowed them to intervene in time before they're at imminent risk at least some of the time.However, the software remains highly invasive and could represent a massive intrusion of privacy. Civil rights groups have criticized the tech, arguing that in most cases, law enforcement shouldn't be involved, according to the NYT.In short, is this really the best weapon against teen suicides, which have emerged as the second leading cause of death among individuals aged five to 24 in the US?"There are a lot of false alerts," Ryan West, chief of the police department in charge of the school of the 17-year-old, told the NYT. "But if we can save one kid, its worth a lot of false alerts."Others, however, tend to disagree with that assessment."Given the total lack of information on outcomes, its not really possible for me to evaluate the systems usage," Baltimore city councilman Ryan Dorsey, who has criticized these systems in the past, told the newspaper. "I think its terribly misguided to send police especially knowing what I know and believe of school police in general to childrens homes."Share This Article

Run by the team at orchestration, AI, and automation platform Tines, the Tines library contains pre-built workflows shared by real security practitioners from across the community, all of which are free to import and deploy via the Community Edition of the platform. Their bi-annual "You Did What with Tines?!" competition highlights some of the most interesting workflows submitted by their users, many of which demonstrate practical applications of large language models (LLMs) to address complex challenges in security operations.One recent winner is a workflow designed to automate CrowdStrike RFM reporting. Developed by Tom Power, a security analyst at The University of British Columbia, it uses orchestration, AI and automation to reduce the time spent on manual reporting.Here, we'll share an overview of the workflow, plus a step-by-step guide for getting it up and running.The problem - time-consuming reportingThe workflow's builder, Tom Power, explains, "The CrowdStrike Falcon sensor goes into Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM), usually because the operating system (OS) or kernel version is too old or too new for the sensor to support in kernel mode. Every week, SecOps would log into the Falcon console, and filter the host management console for endpoints in RFM for the last week. We would generate the report and download it."This process provided critical data for identifying kernel updates causing RFM, particularly for Linux endpoints. However, it required the team to manually check whether CrowdStrike had released a new sensor version compatible with the latest kernel updates."The entire process took about 30 minutes each week," Tom adds. "Over the course of a year, that added up to more than 25 hours of time we could have spent on other cybersecurity priorities."The solution - automated RFM reporting with AITom's workflow automates the tracking and reporting of Falcon Sensor RFM across hosts. By leveraging Tines' AI-driven Automatic Mode, it generates custom code to streamline report creation. The workflow not only produces regular, consistent reports but also enables management to monitor trends in RFM occurrences, supporting proactive system health management and faster decision-making.The automated workflow eliminates the need for manual reporting by allowing analysts to submit requests via a simple web form. Within minutes, the workflow retrieves data, processes it, and delivers an actionable email report, complete with detailed insights and a CSV attachment.Example output:Here's a sample of the auto-generated email and report received by the team:Here are some of the key benefits of using this workflow:Frees analysts to focus on high-priority cybersecurity tasks.Reduces manual effort and the potential for human error.Delivers consistent, reliable reports for improved productivity.Enhances decision-making by providing real-time insights.Boosts morale by removing a tedious and repetitive task.Workflow overviewTools used:Tines - a workflow orchestration, AI and automation platform that's popular with security teams. It's possible to use the free Community Edition of Tines to build and run this workflow if you don't have a paid account. AI must be enabled on your tenant. CrowdStrike - endpoint detection and response (EDR) platform. This workflow integrates with CrowdStrike Falcon's API to retrieve data about endpoints in Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM). While Falcon provides robust endpoint visibility, it lacks native automation for recurring RFM reports.The workflow is initiated when a web form is submitted, triggering the process to generate CrowdStrike RFM reports.The first action retrieves a list of device IDs from CrowdStrike Falcon's API. If the list is larger than what CrowdStrike returns in the first batch, multiple calls are made to paginate through the full list.Once all the device details are retrieved, the workflow consolidates them into a single resource. This resource acts as the foundation for analysis, where the number of Linux, Windows, and Mac hosts is calculated and appended to the data.Using the consolidated resource, the workflow generates an HTML summary table to present the data in a structured format. This table is then converted into a CSV file, making it suitable for reporting purposes.The CSV report is emailed to stakeholders for review. To maintain efficiency and data hygiene, the workflow purges the temporary resource after the email is sent, ensuring it is ready for the next cycle.By automating these steps, the workflow eliminates manual effort, reduces the risk of errors, and provides consistent, up-to-date reporting on devices in reduced functionality mode across the environment.Configuring the workflow - step-by-step guide Log into Tines or create a new account.Ensure AI is enabled on your tenant. For this, you need to be the tenant owner. Select the account settings drop-down in the top left of your screen, and check the box to turn AI on. Create your CrowdStrike credential. From the credentials page, select New credential, scroll down to the CrowdStrike credential and complete the required fields.Navigate to the pre-built workflow in the library.Select import. This should take you straight to your new pre-built workflow.Configure your actions. For example, you may like to edit the layout of the Tines page that kicks off the workflow.Test the workflow. Submit an image via the form to test your workflow.Publish your workflow and share the Page URL with your desired users.Building in other automation platformsYou could use another no-code automation platform to build a similar service, although it's worth noting that some of the features in this workflow are unique to Tines:Pages: This workflow is kicked off by a submission to a form on a web page. This is built using Tines' Pages feature.Alternative: Use a scheduled trigger to kick off the workflow. Event Transform in Automatic Mode: This feature uses build-time AI to compose Python code based on the guidance and the input the builder provides. Once you save your changes, the code is locked in place. This means that when the action runs, only the code executes, and no AI is involved.Alternative: Write Python code manually to transform your data.If you'd like to explore AI in Tines for yourself or test out this workflow, you can sign up for a free account including AI functionality.Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

If your Wi-Fi connection ends at your back door, you might be struggling to connect a laptop, projector or big-screen TV for a big game or movie night. You can move your router as close to your yard or front porch as your Ethernet cable will take you, but that won't always solve the problem. CNETWith the increasing number of outdoor smart devices-- includinglighting, security cameras and garage door openers-- you need to be able to extend your Wi-Fi beyond your home's exterior walls. It can be tricky, but with the right hardware it'll be no time before you're streaming video while enjoying your garden, or posting pics to social media from your front yard. (For more Wi-Fi tips, check out why your router may be in the wrong spot and our home internet cheat sheet.) If you want Wi-Fi outside, try a weather-resistant deviceMost options our CNET writers have explored over the years don't require you to drill holes or run new wiring outdoors. Still, getting reliable, fast Wi-Fi outdoors may take an initial investment. Setting it up the right way may cost more at the start, but in the long run, it will require little maintenance and give you great coverage.Using a Wi-Fi device meant to be left outside may be your best bet. There aren't many cheap options, so you'll have to decide which setup will work best for your home.An outdoor Wi-Fi extender -- sometimes called a wireless access point or wireless repeater -- is perhaps the most straightforward option since it's the only solution that involves installing hardware outside. Many of these devices are enterprise-grade, but some manufacturers have consumer-grade outdoor extenders too. These devices are made to be exposed to the elements year-round and they have hardware capable of communicating with your router wirelessly to give you great Wi-Fi coverage outside your home.The first step is to find an extender that's compatible with your current router, or you can buy a new router and extender to upgrade your entire network. There aren't a ton of wireless extenders designed for the outdoors, but a few notable manufacturers are Netgear, Ubiquiti, EnGenius and Hawking.Next, check the packaging's ingress protection rating and the temperature range the device can withstand. The IP rating defines the device's weather-resistance, mainly against dust and water. The highest rating is IP69, which means it's totally protected against dust and can withstand long periods of immersion underwater. This indoor/outdoor access point is not much larger than a soda can -- and certainly less conspicuous. UbiquitiAnother option that's a little more of a complicated outdoor access point -- like the Access Point U6 Meshfrom Ubiquiti -- allows you to set separate modes for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. The setup is a little more advanced, but you don't have to drill holes or run new cables.You set your 5GHz band to wireless bridge mode and the 2.4GHz band to access point mode. This makes your 5GHz band a dedicated backhaul link to the router and allows your outdoor devices to connect via 2.4GHz. This setup limits your speed a bit, but you should still be able to take full advantage of your 2.4GHz bandwidth and the additional range that comes with it.Indoor mesh Wi-Fi systems may be easier, but more expensiveAnother option is to take advantage of an indoor mesh Wi-Fi system. These usually come with one router and one or two satellite units and can cover up to 5,000 square feet. The most recent data from the US Census Bureau shows that 50% of American homes are between 1,800 and 2,999 square feet, and another 27% are 1,799 square feet and below. The bottom line is that most of us don't have homes as big as 5,000 square feet, so with the right placement, you will get decent coverage outdoors with a mesh system. You may sacrifice a little speed or coverage indoors by moving the satellite units, but most of the best mesh systems are expandable and can add additional units. Each satellite unit needs only an electrical outlet to plug in the power adapter. No Ethernet cable is required. The idea for extending your Wi-Fi outdoors is to place the mesh router central in your home and put the satellite unit, or units, as close to the exterior as possible. There is a limit to how far apart you can place the units. For example,Asus support recommends placing each one within 10 to 15 meters (approximately 33 to 50 feet) of the other units.Linksys advised one of our writers that its indoor, three-piece Velop mesh system can help with outdoor coverage. Each unit can cover around 2,000 square feet, so if you place one of the units 5 to 10 feet from an exterior concrete wall, your outdoor coverage can improve. Everyone's home environment is different, so your results may vary. Your best bet is to place the satellite unit near a window or door. The Linksys Velop mesh system can cover up to 6,000 square feet, including some outdoor range, depending on placement and your environment. LinksysThere are more potential problems with this setup, though.Generally, most mesh satellites link directly back to the router, not to the closest satellite and then back to the router. This means you won't be able to wirelessly daisy chain them in sequence to stretch your signal in one direction. This is part of the reason it is best to place your router central in your home.Also, your exterior walls will still interfere with and weaken your signal, especially on 5GHz. You may have to play around with the location to figure out which spot will work best for outdoor coverage in your environment.If you aren't familiar with Wi-Fi signals, they are measured in decibel-milliwatts. The signal reading will be negative, so closer to zero is better. You want a signal between -60dBm and -30dBm (which is best). That's your sweet spot. Your signal is near nonexistent if you see something around -80dBm or -90dBm or lower. Eero 6 Plus is an affordable mesh option to help your outdoor Wi-Fi coverage. Ry Crist/CNETThe price of mesh systems has begun to decline, but they can still be quite expensive. Still, you shouldn't need to spend more than a few hundred dollars for a decent, up-to-date system. For instance, Amazon'sEero 6 Plusperformed well in our tests, and the three-piece system can cover up to 4,500 square feet for around $200. Another of our top choices, the two-piece TP-Link Deco W7200 Mesh Router, covers up to 5,500 square feet and costs $150 on Amazon.You might be tempted to leave an indoor router or satellite unit in a covered area outside or a weatherproof enclosure. This may work in the short term, but the risk factors are high. The device could overheat or freeze. Humidity is also a factor, as well as foreign objects like dust and insects, which can clog up the device's vents. Not to mention that leaving an indoor device outside will void your warranty.Indoor range extenders -- cheaper but less reliableYou can replicate the mesh setup mentioned above with a regular router combined with indoor Wi-Fi range extenders or repeaters. This option is a little more affordable, with the extenders taking the place of the mesh satellite units. This approach's setup is slightly more complicated, but you shouldn't have much trouble following the quick start guide included with the extender. Many newer devices, such as the well-testedD-Link EaglePro AI, are designed to work with different routers. D-Link's EaglePro AI is compatible with most routers. Chris Monroe/CNETRemember, most wireless extenders will cut your Wi-Fi in half because they receive the wireless signal and then rebroadcast it using the same radio on the same channel. Expect your speeds to be slower when connected to an extender instead of the router. One way around this is to use a tri-band extender with an extra 5GHz network that can act as a dedicated link to your router. This will help you get the maximum bandwidth out of the extender.Remember that many routers also work as extenders, so another option is to buy a new router and use your old one as a wired or wireless extender. Check your current router to see if it can function as a wireless access point or extender. A new router will most likely give you better coverage, including outdoors, so using the old router as an extender could give you the extra boost in Wi-Fi coverage that you need.Between the two setups, the mesh system's big advantage over the router plus extenders is that the mesh devices create a single network, so you don't have to reconnect to Wi-Fi when you move from room to room or outdoors. In general, mesh systems are designed so that your phone or laptop will automatically connect to the closest mesh unit without issue. When you have an extender, you have two networks, one for the router and one for the extender, that you may need to switch between when you move around. Plus, having two networks could cause interference with each other, especially on 2.4GHz.Powerline adapters are a last resort for outdoor Wi-FiOne inexpensive option is using powerline adapters, which use your existing in-wall electrical wiring to extend your signal. You can plug some into an outdoor electrical socket, but you'll be hard-pressed to find an affordable one that's weather-resistant. An indoor powerline adapter can also overheat if you plug it into a covered outlet outdoors.A temporary solution would be to use an indoor Wi-Fi powerline adapter, such as the Zyxel Powerline series, which you plug into an indoor outlet near where you need better coverage. Your range outdoors won't be great, but it should improve your current setup.What's the bottom line?The simplest option to extend Wi-Fi outdoors is with a mesh system and additional satellite units. This should give you a few hundred square feet of coverage outside your home. Mesh systems can be expensive, but the setup is usually easy for novice users.In theory, the best option would be to use an outdoor extender, but there aren't many consumer-rated products available beyond the Orbi Outdoor. TP-Link also offers an outdoor unit, the Deco X50-Outdoor, which is certified water- and dust-proof. We haven't had a chance to test that unit, but we will update this post as soon as we do.

Sometimes, friends and family don't understand why I don't mind long drives, whether it's a long-haul holiday visit or a quick jaunt to return something someone forgot at my place. The secret is the trip, whatever the length, is the perfect time to get lost in one of my favorite pastimes: audiobooks. And with just a simple library card, one special app has given me access to more of them than I'll ever need, and can do the same for you.Audiobooks are an addiction I picked up straight out of college, with a newfound need to occupy my brain during commutes to work and lunch breaks. I was pushed to give them a try after being mightily embarrassed over my inability to make much progress into Lord of the Rings throughout my entire undergraduate education. With just a few months of an Audible membership, I had worked my way through that fantasy bible and was off onto new literary horizons.Audiobooks aren't for everybody -- some people have told me they find it difficult to retain what they hear -- but if audiobooks are for you, you need to check out an app called Libby. Thanksgiving might be over, but with the broaderholiday travel season on the horizon, it just might be the perfect companion for long drives or flights. Or for distracting yourself once you're with the family; we're not here to judge.For more about holiday travel, dig into our stress-free travel checklist and find out which essential items to keep track of while packing.What is Libby?Previously known as OverDrive, the Libby app lets you access digital publications from real library systems. While I might be here to evangelize about its audiobook offerings, you can also borrow ebooks, digital comic books and digital magazines.All of that content won't cost you a dime, but while there might be such a thing as a free lunch, there probably isn't such a thing as a no-effort lunch. All that to say, Libby requires a real library card to access anything, and while some systems will let you sign up for a card online, in most places, you will eventually have to go to your local library in person to get set up with a card, and you'll need to make sure it stays up to date. A small price to pay, if you ask me, for a nearly unlimited supply of free books.Read more: Best E-Reader of 2024Where can I get Libby?Libby is available through Apple's App Store, the Google Play storeand the Amazon Appstore. If you've got a phone, tablet or laptop in your pocket or bag, you can get Libby. You can also access the service via a web browser atlibbyapp.com.So how does it work?Once you've created a Libby account and entered your library card's info, all you have to do is search for the title you want and borrow it. If you've ever used Spotify or the Apple Music app, or other audiobook apps like Audible or Apple Books, you'll know what to expect with the Libby player. Elsewhere, you can read ebooks in Libby or by exporting them to your Kindle app.One of the major value propositions that Libby offers is the ability to add multiple library cards. Some library systems out there will allow you to sign up for a card even if you don't live in its local area. For example, as a resident of New York state, I'm able to access the New York City Public Library in Manhattan, the Queens Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library, as well as my local library, dramatically expanding the catalog I can pull from. Go digging on Google and see if any library systems in your state offer something similar. Are there any drawbacks to Libby?As Libby is connecting you with real libraries, you're required to work within the limitations of library rentals. That means that each title will have a limited number of "copies" that the library can lend at a time, so if the one you're looking for is all booked up, you'll have to place a hold and wait for it to become available. Once you borrow something, you'll also only have access to it for a certain amount of time, usually two to three weeks. Maybe reconsider using Libby to check out Infinite Jest, unless you have a mountain of free time.You'll also notice on Libby, compared to Audible or Apple Books, that the audio quality for audiobooks leaves something to be desired. And unlike Audible, there's no option to choose from higher or lower quality files. Certainly not something that will be a dealbreaker for most people, but something to keep in mind for perfectionists.For more on audiobooks, find out how audiobooks could become another medium shaken up by AI.