Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down a range of the pro'er Bri'ish weapons of the Fallout: London mod, including the Covert, the Fusion Converted Zap Sniper Rifle and the Enfield: Electric Boogaloo. There's even time for a bit of sightseeing with a visit to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield and the British Museum. Blimey!

Cal Kestis' exciting adventures across the Star Wars universe are shown off in this story trailer for 2023 action-adventure game Star Wars Jedi Survivor.

Hi all,Im trying to lower my frametimes while in this case rendering a relatively large city in my engine, with roughly 3500 objects. So far I have a quadtree spatial division which helps quite a bit, but theres a lot of occurrences where big occluders (buildings) block sight of a lot of objects Im still processing.My idea/ goal is to find a way to first render the aabbs of my big occluders, within the cells that are potentially visible in the view (frustum), and then def

The 2024 Paris Olympics were a consistent delight, with breathtaking feats of athleticism, compelling underdog stories, and, of course, plenty of video game and anime references from fans and athletes alike. But one of the most surprising parts of this years games for long-time watchers of the Olympics was how strong NBCs coverage was, particularly the options available on their streaming service Peacock.Like previous Olympics, every event was available to stream live, but the experience on Peacock was much smoother than in years past, especially with the addition of the Multiview feed (which allowed viewers to watch many events at once and pick which of them had the audio feed piped in) and the excellent Gold Zone. Gold Zone, essentially a spinoff of the very successful NFL RedZone with much of the same talent, promised to show all the medal events and every important moment of the Olympics. It delivered on that promise.The experience wasnt all flawless watching replays was sometimes an arduous process, as Peacock doesnt show a visual preview as you scroll over the time bar (and every time you clicked on a specific place in the time bar, a long series of ads would play). And when the ads werent for aggravating AI tools, they were for upcoming NBC programming that we can safely call uninspiring.Even with those few quibbles, this was the first year in recent memory that NBCs streaming platform felt up to the task of showing us the global competition. But what do you do with Peacock now? Maybe you signed up for Peacock for the Tour de France-Olympics-Paralympics (starting Aug. 28!) stretch of great international sports. Maybe you already had it and started to use it more consistently for the first time this summer. Or maybe youre a dedicated Peacock user whos looking to dig in more to the platform. Whatever reason you have for keeping your subscription, weve got you heres the best of what to watch on the platform.TVPoker FaceOne of the best new shows of 2023, Rian Johnsons Poker Face brought back Columbos beloved inverted detective story format (also known as a howcatchem) with a new face Natasha Lyonne. Lyonne is terrific as Charlie Cale, a woman on the run who has the mysterious power to tell when people are lying. The first season had a terrific run of guest stars Adrien Brody, Hong Chau, Lil Rel Howery, and Charles Melton, to name a few and the fun premise allowed the show to move from situation to situation with aplomb. A second season is on its way, but no estimated release date has been announced yet. Pete VolkGirls 5 EvaThe heir to 30 Rocks impressive jokes-per-minute crown, this Tina Fey-produced series follows the members of a one-hit wonder girl group as they reunite more than a decade after they first broke up. Girls5Eva features exceptionally funny performances from Sara Bareilles, Rene Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps, and Paula Pell, but its the ridiculous and hilarious musical numbers in each episode that really steal the show. Austen GoslinTop ChefIf top-shelf competition is what you miss most from the Olympic Games, then Top Chef might be the answer youre looking for. The long-running reality show gathers some of the best chefs in the United States to do culinary battle, and over the last few seasons has focused on the craft of cooking more than the reality show personalities and feuds that fueled the shows earlier seasons. All of that plus excellent new host Kristen Kish makes this a great time to catch up on the series latest season, or go back and watch the competitions from the last few years. AGActionBaby AssassinsAction comedies have been in a rough place in Hollywood as of late, consistently failing to deliver on one (if not both) of the words in the genres name. Luckily, the Baby Assassins movies are here to help.The franchise follows two teen girl assassins who are trying to balance their dangerous job with their desires to live like teenagers you know, eat junk food and watch TV all day. When their boss demands they get a real job to better fit into society, many hijinks ensue. Both leads are terrific in these movies (two have been released and a third is due later this year), but special marks go to Saori Izawa, a stuntwoman who proves she has the chops to be an action lead too. PVSPL 2: A Time for ConsequencesIm often asked for recommendations for intro-to-martial arts movies. I love the genre, and there are many potential great starting places Jackie Chans Hong Kong peak, Donnie Yens Ip Man movies, Bruce Lees catalog. But more often than not, I recommend Soi Cheangs modern masterpiece SPL 2: A Time for Consequences.Dont get fooled by the number in the title: While SPL 2 is technically a sequel to SPL: Sha Po Lang (also a good movie!), the two really have nothing to do with each other and returning cast members play new characters in the second version. In this one, Wu Jing stars as an undercover cop who befriends a prison guard (Tony Jaa). Together, the two uncover a vast organ trafficking conspiracy, and work together to stop it. The movie has terrific fight choreography and great performances from its outstanding cast, and director Cheang is one of the best visual stylists currently working in the action genre. His new movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is one of the very best of 2024. PVShadowSpeaking of great visual stylists in the action genre, that category could start and end with the great Zhang Yimou. The legendary director may be best known for wuxia films like Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and this 2018 addition to his wuxia catalog is one the best action movies of the century.Shadow is a period drama about an attempted coup in the Chinese royal court by an army commander. Theres plenty of court drama and twists and turns in the narrative, but the biggest appeal of the movie is in Yimou and cinematographer Zhao Xiaodings use of contrast between black and white. While the movie is technically in color, the visual language of the film largely sticks to black and white, down to the costumes, props, and sets. This was intended to invoke Chinese ink paintings, and the effect is remarkable. PVHorrorDay of the DeadGeorge Romeros first movie in the of the Dead franchise, Night of the Living Dead, is also on the platform and well worth watching, but Day of the Dead is my favorite of the franchise and often gets overlooked in favor of its more famous predecessors. The film takes place in an underground bunker years after the breakout of the zombie apocalypse, and follows tensions between scientists and soldiers as they try to determine their best course of action. Top it off with some gnarly practical effects gore and youve got a great time at the movies. PVThe HostParasite director Bong Joon-hos terrific monster movie about a family trying to survive when a strange creature suddenly appears and starts terrorizing South Korea is one of the best movies of the 2000s. Its equal parts beautiful, haunting, and outright scary. AGChuckyThe most fun show on TV right now, for my money. Chucky is a ludicrously good time no matter your familiarity with the franchise while its willing to go deep into the recesses of its own canon to poke fun (or just have a good time), its an approachable teen-focused horror series for all sorts of viewers. And yes, the excellent Brad Dourif (along with his daughter Fiona!) is back as Chucky. PVNew moviesThe BikeridersLoosely based on a photo-book by Danny Lyon, the new movie by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) follows a fictional motorcycle club as it transforms from a social group to something closer to a gang. Ill note I havent seen this movie yet, but the great cast (Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist) and strong reviews from trusted colleagues means its what Ill be watching on Peacock this weekend. PVMonkey ManDev Patels directorial debut sees the actor cast himself as a martial artist in India who suffers from a childhood emotional wound that never quite healed. After years of struggling to get by on money from fixed matches in underground fighting, he finds a way to get revenge, and sets off down a bloody path. AGAbigailIf by some miracle you havent seen a trailer for this movie or any hint of promotional material, you should jump straight in and enjoy one of the better horror comedies of the year. Even if you do know the premise, which the marketing disappointingly gave away, Abigail is still a pretty fun ride, with plenty of gore to keep things exciting. AGSportsTour de France FemmesCyclings biggest tours are always reliable for background entertainment. They consist of many individual stages, each of them hours long, and if youre in the United States theyre usually happening during the work day. I loved putting the Tour de France on in the background while working in July, and Ive been doing the same with the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes, which concludes Sunday, August 18 but the replays are available on Peacock. Defector has a neat short preview of this years event if you want to learn more. PVPremier League footballWhile this is technically Englands top flight of football, it also might be the closest sporting league in the world to the Olympics when it comes to including players from all corners of the globe. That, combined with the constant yearly tug of promotion and relegation, mean that the Premier League always has an underdog to root for, a Goliath champion who looks seemingly unstoppable, and a parade of talent that can wow even the most casual viewer looking to pick up a new sport after the 2024 Paris games. AGMoneyballA more recent entry in the sports movie Hall of Fame, Moneyball isnt exactly a sport itself, but its close enough that were giving it credit here. Brad Pitt is excellent as former Oakland As general manager Billy Beane, and the movies explanation of how Beane helped change baseball forever makes for a surprisingly exciting movie for one thats mostly about statistics. AG

Successful design system teams need to build trust with two layers of customers. Internal customers are potential system adopters who want to be more efficient, competitive and generally happy in their daily work. External customers want products that are easy to use and add value to their day. But in order to bring that value, weve gotta build some trust in bothlayers.You have to trust the belay to climb higher. Photo by Charis Deitemeyer on Unsplash.Lets talk abouttrustInternal customers need to trust the system to prioritize adopting, updating and extending. They need to choose up front migration work over a rush to ship new features in the short term. External customers need to trust apps and sites to use them over the competition. Its important to define the differences between these two customer groups while also looking closer at the connection betweenthem.Customer trust is especially important in the financial industry as products and services are used on a regular basis to manage finances. Finances enable people to live the lives they desire or prevent them from that same desire. The risks and benefits come with strong emotions both positive and negative.Vicious (and virtuous) circlesDesign system adoption and impact is either a vicious or virtuous circle, largely differentiated by trust. From what Ive seen, theres very little space for middle ground. Trust gets the value of the system into the hands of external customers, and broken trust stifles progress. The circles are paralleled by similar circles for external customers as they experience products and either build up or losetrust.Vicious circleIf an adopting team has bad experience using the system or getting support, they lose trust quickly. Because of that, adoption halts and that cycle will take a lot more effort to restart. Depending on how bad this experience is, they might even become detractors who can sway other teams away from adoption. Best case scenario, future adoption conversations will be difficult and should start by addressing that vicioushistory.When the resulting product is shipped, its often disjointed, non-performant or slow to get fixed or enhanced. All of this degrades external customer trust and keeps us from being competitive in themarket.Virtuous circleIf adoption goes well, trust builds and the team is willing to upgrade and extend, which results in more trust. When done well, this is a continuous, virtuous circle. If things go really well, the team may even decide to contribute, make some bug fix merge requests or even champion adoption with otherteams.The resulting product is high quality, provides deep value and is easy to use. This causes a similar virtuous circle with external customers who enjoy a more trustworthy experience. Weve built trust internally, which powers external loyalty andtrust.How can systems build internaltrust?Start with empathy to understand what is valuable to potential adopters. What are their biggest pain points and how might the system address them? It isnt enough to make a strong system; the users of the system also need support, collaboration and guidance. This takes time and energy, and if its not clearly planned, bridges may be burned early in the adoption journey. Here are a few ways to build trust inside thecompanyBuild out in theopenWhen our design system governance model is visible, adopters will be able to challenge foundational thinking or have a better understanding of what to expect. Sharing the values that guide decision making will build trust with the community. This is why industry leading systems like Carbon and Spectrum share their guiding principles. Likewise, sharing roadmaps and objectives will help set expectations with the community and also give another way to gather feedback to examine whether design system priorities align with the biggest internal customerneeds.Build withqualityIf it doesnt work, people wont use it. To promote a virtuous circle of adoption, make components and tools that work. I know, Im blowing minds here . Beyond working, the tools they system provides have to enable new ways of working that are startlingly better than the past. Teams should reach new levels of efficiency and innovation by using thesystem.Accessibility is a great lens to look through. Teams can meet each new WCAG requirement much faster if theyre building on a deeply accessible component set. Updating a component package and retesting is much faster than having to do the ongoing maintenance on the components themselves (if were doing our jobs right). Build trust by providing the fastest path to all forms of compliance.Build with the communityEven if your system is totally centralized to a single team, the community needs to be involved in shaping requirements and informing roadmaps. Common support questions can shine a light on missing documentation. Components that are being reused outside of the design system indicate gaps to be filled. Workshops and reviews can easily include the right stakeholders from across the organization. Build the system together to make adoption easier, more enticing and even addicting.Beyond creating feedback loops in component sprints, design system teams can also take an active role in formalizing the governance and quality standards of reusable things built on top of the system. Often, its not realistic for one team to own the design system from the ground all the way up to higher levels of complexity. Owning form components is realistic, but owning templates for application flows might present a few problems. Larger flows often need to be iterated quickly based on feedback and usage metrics, and that happens more smoothly in product teams freed from the burdens of library maintenance. The system team can multiply their impact by setting the community up to build on top of the system and share effectively. They can quickly grow the larger reusability ecosystem by teaching, sharing templates and giving consultation to help teams create reusably.Build by demonstrationAs creators and experts of the systems, were the right people to show how the system works. This can look like training sessions to roll up the sleeves and apply the system together. It can also look like workshops to help teams size migration work realistically. The team might also create a proof of concept to illustrate how quickly building goes and how much coverage the adopting team can expect in their specificproduct.How can systems grow externaltrust?To put it simply, to pick us, you have to trust us. Its true for any digital products. Because every app has competition, trust is important no matter who you are. If an app changes interaction patterns, lacks consistency or is generally hard to use, people will struggle and trust will degrade. It might be hard to measure, but design systems can have direct impact on building external customer trust. Here are a few ways to grow external customer trust through the designsystemGrow with durabilityThe system should provide the right building blocks to make durable products. Again, accessibility is a great example. Solid building blocks help make things work as expected for users of assistive tech like screen readers and anyone who prefers navigating a form via keyboard. In many cases, better accessibility means a better experience for everyone. Building accessibly from the ground up might be invisible to most users, but the benefits are widespread. Durable systems can stand up to the rigor of assistive tech and user settings to deliver experiences that are tailored to the individual.Grow with consistencyThrough token systems and partnership with brand teams, design systems can also bring a companys brand to life faster and in richer ways. Again, the visual brand application might not be noticed outright by a large group of the audience, but the subconscious impacts build trust. If buttons change size or shape unexpectedly, an external customer might not notice the exact detail, but theyll smell something wrong. The same is true for consistent voice and tone and broader patterns. Inconsistency causes an uneasy, microscopic pause to figure out if a link went to a new site or different product. Consistency causes comfort and a deeper state offocus.Grow across devicetypesWhen it comes to supporting multiple tech stacks, teams can face nitty gritty questions about product strategy. Design systems provide a way to make those decision once, and canonize them. These types of decisions become the foundation of a strong system. If that decision is not formalized and documented, it will be repeated with differing results. To the external customer, the resulting experiences will feel like they came from different teams with different marching orders. No surprise, this degradestrust.A team might decide to make things more custom to align directly across web and native. Or, they might choose to reduce custom work to take advantage of what an operating system provides. Both approaches have their merits. Either way, this strategy needs to be defined once, documented and acted upon consistently to avoid the bad kind ofchaos.Trust is a result, not the rootcauseWho or what do you trust most in your own life? Probably the people who have been there for you without fail. Maybe a few of the products that work consistently and make your life better or easier. Just like any relationship, positive experiences and consistent action build up a strong track record of trust. But negative experiences and a lack of action degradestrust.Trust is really a result of a system or product that can be depended upon. If a system team is struggling to grow adoption or wants to change community behavior in any way, they have to start by building empathy with their community. Find the opportunities to show up for your community and demonstrate dependability. If we connect the system to the needs of the community, we can improve work lives and shape more competitive organizations.This article is based on a conversation I had with Michelle and Tim on the Beyond the Button podcast with Zeroheight. Thanks team!Building customer trust with design systems was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If youre looking for the Wordle answer for August 18, 2024 read on. Well share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Todays puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in five. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 18, Wordle #1,156! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to todays Wordle game.How to play WordleWordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if theyre correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isnt in the days secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)Ready for the hints? Lets go!Does todays Wordle have any unusual letters?Well define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it Edwin Shirdloo, like a name, and pretend hes a friend of yours.)There are only two common letters from our mnemonic today. One is pretty common, and two are less common. Can you give me a hint for todays Wordle?Tall and thin.Does todays Wordle have any double or repeated letters?There are no repeated letters today.How many vowels are in todays Wordle?There is one vowel and one "sometimes" vowel.What letter does todays Wordle start with?Todays word starts with L.What letter does todays Wordle end with?Todays word ends with Y.What is the solution to todays Wordle?Ready? Todays word is LANKY.How I solved todays WordleI started with RAISE and TOUCH, followed by BLAND. I then guessed MANLY as a possible solution with more common letters, which left LANKY as the only answer. Wordle 1,156 5/6Yesterdays Wordle answerYesterdays Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was May bring thunder, lightning, and/or rain and the answer contained four common letters and one pretty common letter. The answer to yesterdays Wordle was STORM. A primer on Wordle basicsThe idea of Wordle is to guess the days secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, youll see an empty grid of letters. Its up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word:Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and its in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then its game over.The best starter words for WordleWhat should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, thats still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isnt a single best starting word, but the New York Timess Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:CRANETRACESLANTCRATECARTEMeanwhile, an MIT analysis found that youll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:SALETREASTTRACECRATESLATEOther good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that its better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.How to win at WordleWe have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if youre a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, dont waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldnt have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.Wordle alternativesIf you cant get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after anotherDordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the days solution. Youre required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

X says it's ending business operations in Brazil effective immediately, but the service will remain available to users in the country. The company says Alexandre de Moraes, the president of the Superior Electoral Court and a justice of the Supreme Federal Court, threatened one of X's legal representatives with arrest if it did not "comply with his censorship orders."According to Reuters, de Moreas demanded that X remove certain content from its platform. Rather than comply, X has opted to end its local operations "to protect the safety of our staff."According to X, de Moraes made the threat in a "secret order," which it shared publicly. X owner Elon Musk claimed that the demand "would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law." He added that, "The decision to close the office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandres (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed."Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders. He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions.Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, pic.twitter.com/Pm2ovyydhE Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 17, 2024 "Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process," X said in a statement on its Global Government Affairs account. "[de Moraes'] actions are incompatible with democratic government. The people of Brazil have a choice to make democracy, or Alexandre de Moraes."Musk has been railing against de Moraes for months. In April, he said he would defy orders from the legislator to block certain accounts in Brazil, claiming that they were unconstitutional. In response, de Moraes opened an obstruction of justice inquiry against Musk. X said later in April it would comply with every order issued by Brazil's top courts.That same month, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report claiming that the Brazilian government was trying to force X (and other social media platforms) to censor more than 300 accounts. It said that the accounts included those belonging to former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro, a member of the country's federal senate and a journalist.X does not have a public relations team that can be reached for comment.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-is-closing-its-operations-in-brazil-immediately-but-its-service-will-remain-live-for-users-165224020.html?src=rss

Free tool: Google has open-sourced Blocks, its VR modeling app. The intuitive tool for creating low-poly 3D models in virtual reality has been given a new lease of life as open-source project Open Blocks.https://www.cgchannel.com/2024/08/google-open-sources-virtual-reality-modeling-app-blocks/

Revised terms for Microsofts AI services state they should not be used to replace professional advice.

Cryptocurrencies have become a major tool in "pig butchering" scams, where fraudsters flatter their victims over weeks or months.