Caroline Hill (1845 c.1926) was an English actress. She began acting as a child in the company of Samuel Phelps and soon joined the company of J.B. Buckstone at the Haymarket Theatre. There she created roles in several new plays, including some by W.S. Gilbert, in whose plays she continued to act later in her career. She played at various London and provincial theatres in the 1870s. In 1883, Hill married the actor Herbert Kelcey, with whom she had begun to appear on stage. The couple played mostly in New York City in the 1880s, and Hill continued to act through the 1890s, mostly in England. This 1870 photograph shows Hill as Mirza in a production of Gilbert's The Palace of Truth.Photograph credit: London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company; restored by Adam CuerdenRecently featured: OrngeStephanolepis hispidusStuben am ArlbergArchiveMore featured pictures

December 16: Day of Reconciliation in South AfricaBoston Tea Party1598 Led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the Korean navy were victorious at Battle of Noryang, ending the Japanese invasions of Korea.1773 American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor (pictured) to protest British taxation without representation.1938 Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.1997 Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.2012 A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.Elizabeth Carter (b.1717)James Murrell (d.1860)Camille Saint-Sans (d.1921)Taliep Petersen (d.2006)More anniversaries: December 15December 16December 17ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Released on 14 November 2024. Scroll down for news of the 1.2 update.Nekki has released Cascadeur Mobile, a new mobile edition of Cascadeur, its AI-assisted character animation software. The new app makes it possible to animate 3D characters on an iPhone or iPad, then export the animation to refine in the desktop edition of Cascadeur.Create animations based on real-world physics, aided by AI-based toolsLaunched in 2019, Cascadeur is intended as an artist-friendly alternative to conventional animation software for game development, motion graphics or visual effects work.Although it has standard tools for rigging, posing and animating characters, its unique selling point is a set of AI-assisted, semi-automated toolsets.Its AutoPosing system lets users quickly establish key poses for a character by positioning a small number of joints, with Cascadeur taking care of the rest of the body.The software can then calculate a physically correct trajectory between the poses.New mobile edition: pose and animate characters in augmented realityCascadeur Mobile adapts those workflows for use on mobile devices.Users can pose characters to match a reference images or videos, using gesture controls and a simplified version of the standard Cascadeur interface.The characters can be animated using core features from the desktop application, including the timeline, IK/FK interpolation, Ghosts, Trajectories and the Tween Machine.The rough animation can then be converted into a physically accurate version of itself using the built-in AutoPhysics system, with a separate slider control adding secondary motion.The app also includes an AR Mode, making it possible to animate characters in augmented reality, as shown in this video.Updated 14 December 2024: Nekki has released Cascadeur Mobile 1.2, the first major update to the app since its original release.There are a few quality-of-life updates, but the main change is file exchange: it is now possible to import animation in FBX format, and export it in FBX and glTF formats.Price, system requirements and release dateCascadeur Mobile is compatible with iOS 13.0+ and iPadOS 13.0+: according to Nekki, you need an iPhone 11 or better for an optimal experience.The base app is free, but cannot import or export files, and lacks support for video references. To export data, you need a paid-subscription, which costs $7.99/month or $49.99/year.The full toolset is also available free to users with Pro subscriptions to the desktop edition of the software, which have a standard price of $49/month or $588/year. Download Cascadeur Mobile from the App StoreHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

A circa 1883 photograph of Lakota leader Sitting Bull Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsOn December 15, 1890, Major James McLaughlin of the United States Indian Service wired a telegram back to headquarters in Washington, D.C. He had stunning news: On his orders, Lakota resistance leader Sitting Bull was dead.The Indian police arrested Sitting Bull at his camp, 40 miles northwest of the agency, this morning at daylight. His followers attempted his rescue, and fighting commenced. Eight Indians were killed, including Sitting Bull and his son, Crow Foot, and several others wounded, McLaughlin wrote in the telegram, which was reprinted in the Chicago Daily Tribune.Sitting Bulls followers, probably 100 men, deserted their families and fled west up the Grand River, he continued. The police behaved nobly, and great credit is due them. Particulars by mail.But McLaughlins neutral language and lack of details obscured much about the showdown on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota, as well as the years of conflict and resistance that preceded that fateful, frigid morning.Sitting Bull, also known as Tatanka Iyotake, was born around 1831. He was known for his opposition to U.S. encroachment on the northern Great Plains, the ancestral homelands of the Lakota people. He rejected integration with white settlers and became known as a leader of the non-treaty Indians.Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee | The American Buffalo | A Film by Ken Burns | PBSWatch on Not least because of his role in the infamous defeat of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer at the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull was an avowed enemy of men like McLaughlin, who led the U.S.s attempts to integrate, assimilate and rule Native Americans by force.In his 1910 memoir, My Friend The Indian, McLaughlin called Sitting Bull crafty, avaricious, mendacious and ambitious. He was by far the most influential man of his nation for many years.Indigenous influence and unity particularly worried the federal Indian Service, especially after a revived Ghost Dance spiritual movement reached the Lakota in 1890. Premised on an intense communal dance, the movement suggested that adopting ancestral traditions would deliver Indigenous Americans to a pre-European state of bliss, peace and freedom.As the U.S. Army tried to crush the movement before it spread further across the country, McLaughlin linked Sitting Bull to the Ghost Dancea perfect justification for his immediate arrest and removal from the reservation.Sitting Bull had gone with zest into the business of promoting the new religion, McLaughlin alleged. Knowing his people, and utilizing the mysticism with which he habitually preyed on their superstitions, he established himself as the high priest of the cult.On December 14, McLaughlin ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull in a letter to Lieutenant Bull Head, a Native American member of the Indian police. P.S., McLaughlin added. You must not let him escape under any circumstances. An 1890 depiction of the capture and death of Sitting Bull Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsThe next morning, Sitting Bull was awoken by officers knocking on the door of his cabin on the Grand River. He let them in. The naked, half-asleep leader looked wholly insignificant and breathed none of the defiance that might have been expected under the circumstances, historian Robert M. Utley wrote in The Last Days of the Sioux Nation.Bull Head told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest. Sitting Bull acquiesced, dressing and coming quietly out of his cabin. But his wife began to shout, and dogs from the village, woken by the dawn raid, barked, waking a gathering crowd.In the chaos, Sitting Bull began to call out, too. Then shots were fired.Piecing together the true story of what happened next is difficult because accounts from McLaughlin and the police are predominant. But when it was all over, Sitting Bull, his son, Bull Head and five others were dead.Panic spread across the reservation, and Lakota began to flee. Some made for the Pine Ridge Reservation, where, just two weeks later, they would be stopped and slaughtered by the U.S. Army in the Wounded Knee massacre.Sitting Bulls death, McLaughlin wrote triumphantly, put a stop forever to the domination of the ancient regime among the Sioux of the Standing Rock reservation.But Sitting Bulls legacy, contrary to McLaughlins wishes, did not diminish. As Sitting Bulls great-grandson told SmithsonianGet the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

From chatbots to retrieval-augmented generation applications to autonomous multi-agent AI: What's every enterprise leader needs to know.Read More

Justin Carter, Contributing EditorDecember 13, 20242 Min ReadImage via Epic Games.At a GlanceEpic is working with service provider Telefnica to make Fortnite more accessible to British and Spanish players.Epic Games has teamed with telecommunications provider Telefnica to ensure its titular store and Fortnite both come preinstalled on Android phones. This "long-term partnership" applies to players under the Telefnica network in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Spanish-speaking territories of Latin America.In its announcement, Epic says the partnership "makes Fortnite and the Epic Games Store more accessible on millions of Telefnica Android devices. [...] This strategic alliance aims to provide a more competitive ecosystem for Android players, empowering them with a choice beyond the conventional app marketplaces."Telefnica operates in Europe and Latin America, and Epic said the provider was the first mobile carrier to implement direct carrier billing in the Epic Games Store. The two also previously teamed on an interactive music experience within Fortnite.Under the deal, players in those regions have easier access to Epic's storefront and battle royale, plus Rocket League and third-party games.Epic still wants a free app market to do what it wantsBoth Epic and CEO Tim Sweeney have repeatedly preached the dream of an open app marketplace for phones. The EGS and Fortnite are on (or will be) iOS in regions like Japan and the European Union, which he's called the first steps toward "eliminating the anticompetitive terms that Apple and Google impose on developers and consumers, so we can build a better store for everyone."As part of its years-long legal feud, Apple locked Epic's European developer account earlier this year to prevent Fortnite and the EGS from releasing on iOS in that region. The account was later reinstated, but not before Sweeney used the event to decry Apple for "[not] allowing true competition on iOS devices."Last year, Epic admitted it personally created an advocacy group with companies like Bandcamp and Spotify to help build its antitrust case against Apple. The two music streaming services were reportedly unaware of Epic's true intent at the time.According to Epic, it and Telefnica hope to bring "more benefits" to mobile players throughout 2025.Read more about:[Company] Epic GamesTop StoriesAbout the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

In a series of Threads posts this afternoon, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says users shouldnt trust images they see online because AI is clearly producing content thats easily mistaken for reality. Because of that, he says users should consider the source, and social platforms should help with that.Our role as internet platforms is to label content generated as AI as best we can, Mosseri writes, but he admits some content will be missed by those labels. Because of that, platforms must also provide context about who is sharing so users can decide how much to trust their content.Just as its good to remember that chatbots will confidently lie to you before you trust an AI-powered search engine, checking whether posted claims or images come from a reputable account can help you consider their veracity. At the moment, Metas platforms dont offer much of the sort of context Mosseri posted about today, although the company recently hinted at big coming changes to its content rules.What Mosseri describes sounds closer to user-led moderation like Community Notes on X and YouTube or Blueskys custom moderation filters. Whether Meta plans to introduce anything like those isnt known, but then again, it has been known to take pages from Blueskys book.

What if you could turn a PSP with a broken screen into a miniature PS2, connect a Bluetooth controller to it, and play PSP games on your TV? Thats the idea behind Retro Mod Works PS Placeable, a mod that consolizes the PSP and was featured yesterday in a video from the YouTube channel Macho Nacho Productions. Retro Mod Works charges $274.99 for a prebuilt PS Placeable. Those are waitlisted at the moment, though a message on the site says the project is a one man show and that the demand for the Placeable was higher than anticipated. Retro also offers to mod customer-provided PSPs for $100 less, and theres an option preorder DIY parts and do the conversion work yourself. The mod requires either a PSP-2000 or PSP-3000 revision, as the first PSP didnt have a video output. Its not clear when the DIY parts will ship weve asked Retro Mod Works and will update if we get a reply.A stack of PS Placeables. Image: Retro Mod WorksRelatedThe primary person behind the project, named Dan, told Macho Nacho host Tito Perez that he hated the idea of buying digital games for which he has physical copies, and wanted a way to add Bluetooth controller support while preserving the UMD drive. Hes also mentioned in replies on Reddit that his goal is to help people revive broken PSPs with the mod, which doesnt need the consoles screen.But buying one of these mod kits can be pricey or require skills most people dont have. If you just want to play PSP games on your TV and dont care about having a UMD drive, the PSP Go which lacked Sonys oddball optical drive but supported Bluetooth controllers and also had a way to output video is still pretty easy to come by.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable advancements in natural language processing (NLP), enabling applications in text generation, summarization, and question-answering. However, their reliance on token-level processingpredicting one word at a timepresents challenges. This approach contrasts with human communication, which often operates at higher levels of abstraction, such as sentences or ideas.Token-level modeling also struggles with tasks requiring long-context understanding and may produce outputs with inconsistencies. Moreover, extending these models to multilingual and multimodal applications is computationally expensive and data-intensive. To address these issues, researchers at Meta AI have proposed a new approach: Large Concept Models (LCMs).Large Concept ModelsMeta AIs Large Concept Models (LCMs) represent a shift from traditional LLM architectures. LCMs bring two significant innovations:High-dimensional Embedding Space Modeling: Instead of operating on discrete tokens, LCMs perform computations in a high-dimensional embedding space. This space represents abstract units of meaning, referred to as concepts, which correspond to sentences or utterances. The embedding space, called SONAR, is designed to be language- and modality-agnostic, supporting over 200 languages and multiple modalities, including text and speech.Language- and Modality-agnostic Modeling: Unlike models tied to specific languages or modalities, LCMs process and generate content at a purely semantic level. This design allows seamless transitions across languages and modalities, enabling strong zero-shot generalization.At the core of LCMs are concept encoders and decoders that map input sentences into SONARs embedding space and decode embeddings back into natural language or other modalities. These components are frozen, ensuring modularity and ease of extension to new languages or modalities without retraining the entire model.Technical Details and Benefits of LCMsLCMs introduce several innovations to advance language modeling:Hierarchical Architecture: LCMs employ a hierarchical structure, mirroring human reasoning processes. This design improves coherence in long-form content and enables localized edits without disrupting broader context.Diffusion-based Generation: Diffusion models were identified as the most effective design for LCMs. These models predict the next SONAR embedding based on preceding embeddings. Two architectures were explored:One-Tower: A single Transformer decoder handles both context encoding and denoising.Two-Tower: Separates context encoding and denoising, with dedicated components for each task.Scalability and Efficiency: Concept-level modeling reduces sequence length compared to token-level processing, addressing the quadratic complexity of standard Transformers and enabling more efficient handling of long contexts.Zero-shot Generalization: LCMs exhibit strong zero-shot generalization, performing well on unseen languages and modalities by leveraging SONARs extensive multilingual and multimodal support.Search and Stopping Criteria: A search algorithm with a stopping criterion based on distance to an end of document concept ensures coherent and complete generation without requiring fine-tuning.Insights from Experimental ResultsMeta AIs experiments highlight the potential of LCMs. A diffusion-based Two-Tower LCM scaled to 7 billion parameters demonstrated competitive performance in tasks like summarization. Key results include:Multilingual Summarization: LCMs outperformed baseline models in zero-shot summarization across multiple languages, showcasing their adaptability.Summary Expansion Task: This novel evaluation task demonstrated the capability of LCMs to generate expanded summaries with coherence and consistency.Efficiency and Accuracy: LCMs processed shorter sequences more efficiently than token-based models while maintaining accuracy. Metrics such as mutual information and contrastive accuracy showed significant improvement, as detailed in the studys results.ConclusionMeta AIs Large Concept Models present a promising alternative to traditional token-based language models. By leveraging high-dimensional concept embeddings and modality-agnostic processing, LCMs address key limitations of existing approaches. Their hierarchical architecture enhances coherence and efficiency, while their strong zero-shot generalization expands their applicability to diverse languages and modalities. As research into this architecture continues, LCMs have the potential to redefine the capabilities of language models, offering a more scalable and adaptable approach to AI-driven communication.Check out the Paper and GitHub Page. 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. Asif RazzaqAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences. [Download] Evaluation of Large Language Model Vulnerabilities Report (Promoted)