Despite low unemployment in the IT industry, IT hiring has slowed over the past two years and is expected to plateau in 2025 as employers prioritize experienced candidates with specialized skills, according to three new studies. They found that companies are shifting from volume hiring to quality hiring, leading to fewer roles for tech job candidates.Staffing firm ManpowerGroup, which just published its Q1, 2025 report on hiring, claimed IT hiring leads all other professions in the US but predicted employers will still pull back on hiring next year because of economic uncertainty.As we move into 2025, were seeing stable year-over-year hiring trends, with employers holding onto the talent they have and planning muted hiring for the quarter ahead, said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chair & CEO.Overall, the studies by ManpowerGroup, online hiring platform Indeed, and Deloitte Consulting showed that IT hiring will increasingly be based on having flexible skills that can meet changing demands. Employers know a skilled and adaptable workforce is key to navigating transformation, and many are prioritizing hiring and retaining people with in-demand flexible skills that can flex to where demand sits, Prising said.Becky Frankiewicz, president of the North America Region at ManpowerGroup, said that while hiring plans remain steady, a closer look at the data indicates employers will adopt a more strategic approach in the first quarter of 2025, with a focus on retaining existing talent and prioritizing in-demand skills in areas like IT, financial services, and manufacturing, she said.Real time, we are seeing companies take longer to make a hire and seasonal hiring patterns are changing too, [with] more hiring earlier on in the season and less intense [during] holiday periods, Frankeiwicz said. This tells us this isnt your typical cycle. Were watching the labor market normalize at different speeds across industries. Its a sign that organizations are adapting and becoming more precise in their workforce planning.ManpowerGroupIndeed economist Cory Stahle said the latest US jobs data shows increased IT hiring, indicating stability heading into the new year. At the same time, Stahle reiterated past assessments by others of a potential cooling, as companies continue to rebalance after a hiring surge in 2021 and early 2022 driven by pandemic-related demand for tech services.Knowledge worker roles like in the tech and marketing sectors are cooling, Indeeds 2025 US Jobs & Hiring Trends Report said.Quit rates also reflect labor market dynamics and job seeker confidence. A declining quit rate could signal lower enthusiasm, as workers are less confident in finding new jobs, according to Indeed. After rising sharply during the Great Resignation of 2021-2022, the quits rate has steadily declined, Indeed said. In September, it hit 1.9%, its lowest since July 2015, before rising to 2.1% in October. The pullback in job postings, particularly in tech, likely affects job seekers confidence, Indeed said.Additionally, generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is affecting entry-level hiring, as more and more repetitive or lower-level jobs, such as helpdesk tasks, get automated. Those jobs can often be handled by AI agents such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and IBM Watson Assistant.IndeedRight now, genAI appears to have the greatest potential impact on knowledge workers, Stahle said. Recently released Hiring Lab researchshows that genAI often does well with theoretical tasks like creating a recipe and does less well at hands-on tasks like making food.AI isnt replacing jobs so much as it is reshaping the nature of work, said Elizabeth Lascaze, a principal in Deloitte Consultings Human Capital practice. She, too, sees evidence that entry-level roles focused on tasks like note-taking or basic data analysis are declining as organizations seek more experienced workers for junior positions.Todays emerging roles require workers to quickly leverage data, generate insights, and solve problems, she said, adding that those skilled in using AI, such as cybersecurity analysts applying AI for threat detection, will be highly sought after.Although the adoption of AI has led to some growing pains, many workers are actually excited about it, Lascaze said, with most employees believing it will create new jobs and enhance their careers. Our survey found that just 24% of early career workers and 14% of tenured workers fear their jobs will be replaced by AI, Lascaze said. Tenured workers are more likely to lead organizational strategy, so they may prioritize AIs potential to improve efficiency, sophistication, and work quality in existing roles rather than AIs potential to eliminate certain positions.These workers reported being slightly more focused on building AI fluency than early-career employees, Lascaze said. With so many early-career employees reporting excitement around using AI, organizations should establish reverse mentorship opportunities where tenured staff can learn the ropes.GenAI-related jobs are still rare, accounting for about two in 1,000 nationwide as of October. But they are growing quickly, according to Indeed.Along those lines, a new report by online interview platform Karat found that the share of US engineering leaders now hiring for AI engineer roles (60%) has nearly doubled compared to last year (35%) and theyre prioritizing AI skills:AI engineering (74%)Integrating AI functionality into products via API (62%)Data science (58%)The arrival of AI and genAI tools in the workplace has meant increased workloads and higher expectations for many workers. Both are major AI-related career issues: Indeeds recent survey on genAIs impact on workers found that 77% of AI users reported heavier workloads, yet nearly half were unsure how to use AI for efficiency.Many of Indeeds survey respondents said they face a lack of training, AI quality issues, ethical concerns, and disappointment with AI tools. Thats a critical mismatch with the 96% of C-suite leaders who expect AI to boost productivity, which is unlikely to happen until they align AI tools and training with workforce capabilities and expectations, the survey indicated.IndeedDeloittes own survey found 68% of older workers and 83% of early-career workers now use AI. Tenured employees with AI experience remain just as likely to embrace AI when given the right learning opportunities. And that opens the door for internal training possibilities.An internal AI skills marketplace could connect them with projects to apply their skills and enhance strategic planning, Lascaze said. Formal mentorship programs, where early-career employees are paired with tenured staff, can become safe places for junior staff to experiment with problem-solving, learn how to navigate their careers and deepen their interpersonal skills.

AIs emissions are about to skyrocket even furtherIts no secret that the current AI boom is using up immense amounts of energy. Now we have a better idea of how much.A new paper, from a team at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, examined 78% of all data centers in the country in the US. These facilitiesessentially buildings filled to the brim with rows of serversare where AI models get trained, and they also get pinged every time we send a request through models like ChatGPT. They require huge amounts of energy both to power the servers and to keep them cool.Since 2018, carbon emissions from data centers in the US have tripled.Its difficult to put a number on how much AI in particular is responsible for this surge. But AIs share is certainly growing rapidly as nearly every segment of the economy attempts to adopt the technology.Read the full story.Googles big week was a flex for the power of big techGoogle has been speeding toward the holiday by shipping or announcing a flurry of products and updates. The combination of stuff here is pretty monumental, not just for a single company, but I think because it speaks to the power of the technology industryeven if it does trigger a personal desire that we could do more to harness that power and put it to more noble uses.Read more here.This story originally appeared in The Debrief with Mat Honan, our weekly take on whats really going on behind the biggest tech headlines. The story is subscriber-only sonab a subscriptiontoo, if you havent already! Or you cansign upto the newsletter for free to get the next edition in your inbox on Friday.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 Mysterious drones have been spotted along the US east coastPeople are getting a bit freaked out, to say the least. (BBC)Although sometimes theyre just small planes, authorities say.(Wired)Trump says they should be shot down.(Politico)2 TikTok could be gone from app stores by January 19Last week, a US appeals court upheld a law forcing Bytedance to divest. (Reuters)The rationale behind the ban could open the door to other regulations that suppress speech.(Atlantic)Influencers are putting together their post-TikTok plans.(Business Insider)The long-shot plan to save TikTok. (Verge)The depressing truth about the coming ban.(MIT Technology Review)3 Authorities in Serbia are using phone-cracking tools to install spywareActivists and journalists found their phone had been tampered with after a run-in with police. (404 Media)4 Cellphone videos are fueling violence inside US schoolsStudents are using phones to arrange, provoke and capture brawls in the corridors. (NYT)5 AI search startup Perplexity says it will generate $10.5 million a month next yearIts in talks to raise money at a $9 billion valuation. (The Information)AI search could break the web. (MIT Technology Review)6 How Musks partnership with Trump could influence scienceEven if he cant cut as much as hed like, he still stands to make big changes. (Nature)Is deleting the IRS his worst idea yet?(Washington Post)The top cybersecurity agency is bracing for Trump. (Wired)Trumps win is a huge loss for the climate.(MIT Technology Review)7 AI firms will scour the globe looking for cheap energyLow-cost power is an absolute priority. (Wired)Its an insatiably hungry industry.(Bloomberg)8 Anthropics Claude is winning the chatbot battle for tech insidersIts not as big as ChatGPT, but its got a special something that people like. (NYT)A new Character.ai chatbot for teens will no longer talk romance. (Verge)How to trust what a chatbot says.(MIT Technology Review)9 The reaction to the UnitedHealthcare CEOs murder could prompt a reckoningHealthcares algorithmic decision-making turns us into numbers on a spreadsheets. (Vanity Fair)Luigi Mangione has to mean something. (Atlantic)10 How Chinas satellite megaprojects are challenging StarlinkBetween them, Qianfan, Guo Wang and Honghu-3 could have as many satellites.(CNBC)Quote of the dayWeve achieved peak data and therell be no more.OpenAIs cofounder and former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, tells the NeurIPS conference that the way AI models will be trained will have to change.The big storyHow to stop a state from sinkingApril 2024In a 10-month span between 2020 and 2021, southwest Louisiana saw five climate-related disasters, including two destructive hurricanes. As if that wasnt bad enough, more storms are coming, and many areas are not prepared.But some government officials and state engineers are hoping there is an alternative: elevation. The $6.8 billion Southwest Coastal Louisiana Project is betting that raising residences by a few feet, coupled with extensive work to restore coastal boundary lands, will keep Louisianans in their communities.Ultimately, its something of a last-ditch effort to preserve this slice of coastline, even as some locals pick up and move inland and as formal plans for managed retreat become more popular in climate-vulnerable areas across the country and the rest of the world.Read the full story.Xander PetersWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas?Drop me a lineortweet em at me.)+ How to make the most of yourjigsaw puzzlestry them on hard mode.+Mr Tickleis a maniac who needs to be stopped.+ Asong about Christmasthat probably many of us can relate to, if were honest.+ If the original Home Alone was wince-inducing in terms of injuries, thesequelis even more excruciating.+ The best crispy roast potatoes ever?Ill let you be the judge.

Last week, this space was all about OpenAIs 12 days of shipmas. This week, the spotlight is on Google, which has been speeding toward the holiday by shipping or announcing its own flurry of products and updates. The combination of stuff here is pretty monumental, not just for a single company, but I think because it speaks to the power of the technology industryeven if it does trigger a personal desire that we could do more to harness that power and put it to more noble uses.To start, last week Google Introduced Veo, a new video generation model, and Imagen 3, a new version of its image generation model.Then on Monday, Google announced a breakthrough in quantum computing with its Willow chip. The company claims the new machine is capable of a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of todays fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 1025) years. you may recall that MIT Technology Review covered some of the Willow work after researchers posted a paper preprint in August. But this week marked the big media splash. It was a stunning update that had Silicon Valley abuzz. (Seriously, I have never gotten so many quantum computing pitches as in the past few days.)Google followed this on Wednesday with even more gifts: a Gemini 2 release, a Project Astra update, and even more news about forthcoming agents called Mariner, an agent that can browse the web, and Jules, a coding assistant.First: Gemini 2. Its impressive, with a lot of performance updates. But I have frankly grown a little inured by language-model performance updates to the point of apathy. Or at least near-apathy. I want to see them do something.So for me, the cooler update was second on the list: Project Astra, which comes across like an AI from a futuristic movie set. Google first showed a demo of Astra back in May at its developer conference, and it was the talk of the show. But, since demos offer companies chances to show off products at their most polished, it can be hard to tell whats real and whats just staged for the audience. Still, when my colleague Will Douglas Heaven recently got to try it out himself, live and unscripted, it largely lived up to the hype. Although he found it glitchy, he noted that those glitches can be easily corrected. He called the experience stunning and said it could be generative AIs killer app.On top of all this, Will notes that this week Google DeepMind CEO (the companys AI division) Demis Hassabis was in Sweden to receive his Nobel Prize. And what did you do with your week?Making all this even more impressive, the advances represented in Willow, Gemini, Astra, and Veo are ones that just a few years ago many, many people would have said were not possibleor at least not in this timeframe.A popular knock on the tech industry is that it has a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. The phone in your pocket gives the lie to this. So too do the rides I took in Waymos self-driving cars this week. (Both of which arrived faster than Ubers estimated wait time. And honestly its not been that long since the mere ability to summon an Uber was cool!) And while quantum has a long way to go, the Willow announcement seems like an exceptional advance; if not a tipping point exactly, then at least a real waypoint on a long road. (For what its worth, Im still not totally sold on chatbots. They do offer novel ways of interacting with computers, and have revolutionized information retrieval. But whether they are beneficial for humanityespecially given energy debts, the use of copyrighted material in their training data, their perhaps insurmountable tendency to hallucinate, etc.is debatable, and certainly is being debated. But Im pretty floored by this weeks announcements from Google, as well as OpenAIfull stop.)And for all the necessary and overdue talk about reining in the power of Big Tech, the ability to hit significant new milestones on so many different fronts all at once is something that only a company with the resources of a Google (or Apple or Microsoft or Amazon or Meta or Baidu or whichever other behemoth) can do.All this said, I dont want us to buy more gadgets or spend more time looking at our screens. I dont want us to become more isolated physically, socializing with others only via our electronic devices. I dont want us to fill the air with carbon or our soil with e-waste. I do not think these things should be the price we pay to drive progress forward. Its indisputable that humanity would be better served if more of the tech industry was focused on ending poverty and hunger and disease and war.Yet every once in a while, in the ever-rising tide of hype and nonsense that pumps out of Silicon Valley, epitomized by the AI gold rush of the past couple of years, there are moments that make me sit back in awe and amazement at what people can achieve, and in which I become hopeful about our ability to actually solve our larger problemsif only because we can solve so many other dumber, but incredibly complicated ones. This week was one of those times for me.Now read the rest of The DebriefThe News Robotaxi adoptionis hitting a tipping point. But also,GM is shutting down its Cruise robotaxi division. Hereshow to use OpenAIs new video editing toolSora. Blueskyhas an impersonator problem. The AI hype machine iscoming under government scrutiny.The ChatEvery week, I talk to one of MIT Technology Reviews journalists to go behind the scenes of a story they are working on. This week, I hit up James ODonnell, who covers AI and hardware, about his story on how the startup defense contractorAnduril is bringing AI to the battlefield.Mat:James, you got a pretty up close look at something most people probably havent even thought about yet, which is how the future of AI-assisted warfare might look. What did you learn on that trip that you think will surprise people?James:Two things stand out. One, I think people would be surprised by the gulf between how technology has developed for the last 15 years for consumers versus the military. For consumers, weve gotten phones, computers, smart TVs and other technologies that generally do a pretty good job of talking to each other and sharing our data, even though theyre made by dozens of different manufacturers. Its called the internet of things. In the military, technology has developed in exactly the opposite way, and its putting them in a crisis. They have stealth aircraft all over the world, but communicating about a drone threat might be done with Powerpoints and a chat service reminiscent of AOL Instant Messenger.The second is just how much the Pentagon is now looking to AI to change all of this. New initiatives have surged in the current AI boom. They are spending on training new AI models to better detect threats, autonomous fighter jets, and intelligence platforms that use AI to find pertinent information. What I saw at Andurils test site in California is also a key piece of that. Using AI to connect to and control lots of different pieces of hardware, like drones and cameras and submarines, from a single platform. The amount being invested in AI is much smaller than for aircraft carriers and jets, but its growing.Mat:I was talking with a different startup defense contractor recently, who was talking to me about the difficulty of getting all these increasingly autonomous devices on the battlefield talking to each other in a coordinated way. Like Anduril, he was making the case that this has to be done at the edge, and that there is too much happening for human decision making to process. Do you think thats true? Why is that?James:So many in the defense space have pointed to the war in Ukraine as a sign that warfare is changing. Drones are cheaper and more capable than they ever were in the wars in the Middle East. Its why the Pentagon is spending $1 billion on the Replicator initiative to fieldthousands of cheap dronesby 2025. Its also looking to field more underwater drones as it plans for scenarios in which China may invade Taiwan.Once you get these systems, though, the problem is having all the devices communicate with one another securely. You need to play Air Traffic Control at the same time that youre pulling in satellite imagery and intelligence information, all in environments where communication links are vulnerable to attacks.Mat:I guess I still have a mental image of a control room somewhere, like you might see inDr. StrangeloveorWar Games(orStar Warsfor that matter) with a handful of humans directing things. Are those days over?James:I think a couple things will change. One, a single person in that control room will be responsible for a lot more than they are now. Rather than running just one camera or drone system manually, theyll command software that does it for them, for lots of different devices. The idea that the defense tech sector is pushing is to take them out of the mundane tasksrotating a camera around to look for threatsand instead put them in the drivers seat for decisions that only humans, not machines, can make.Mat:I know that critics of the industry push back on the idea of AI being empowered to make battlefield decisions, particularly when it comes to life and death, but it seems to me that we are increasingly creeping toward that and it seems perhaps inevitable. Whats your sense?James:This is painting with broad strokes, but I think the debates about military AI fall along similar lines to what we see for autonomous vehicles. You have proponents saying that driving is not a thing humans are particularly good at, and when they make mistakes, it takes lives. Others might agree conceptually, but debate at what point its appropriate to fully adopt fallible self-driving technology in the real world. How much better does it have to be than humans?In the military, the stakes are higher. Theres no question that AI is increasingly being used to sort through and surface information to decision-makers. Its finding patterns in data, translating information, and identifying possible threats. Proponents are outspoken that that will make warfare more precise and reduce casualties. What critics are concerned about is how far across that decision-making pipeline AI is going, and how much there is human oversight.I think where it leaves me is wanting transparency. When AI systems make mistakes, just like when human military commanders make mistakes, I think we deserve to know, and that transparency does not have to compromise national security. It tookyearsfor reporter Azmat Khan to piece together the mistakes made during drone strikes in the Middle East, because agencies were not forthcoming. That obfuscation absolutely cannot be the norm as we enter the age of military AI.Mat:Finally, did you have a chance to hit an In-N-Out burger while you were in California?James:Normally In-N-Out is a requisite stop for me in California, but ahead of my trip I heard lots of good things about the burgers at The Apple Pan in West LA, so I went there. To be honest, the fries were better, but for the burger I have to hand it to In-N-Out.The Recommendation A few weeks ago I suggestedCa7riel and Paco Amorosos appearance on NPR Tiny Desk. At the risk of this space becoming a Tiny Desk stan account, Im back again with another. I was completely floored byDoechiis Tiny Desk appearance last week. Its so full of talent and joy and style and power. I came away completely inspired and have basically had her music on repeat in Spotify ever since. If you are already a fan of her recorded music, you will love her live. If shes new to you, well, youre welcome. Go check it out. Oh, and dont worry: Im not planning to recommendBillie Eilishs new Tiny Desk concertin next weeks newsletter. Mostly because Im doing so now.

Apple is excited to unveil the most downloaded apps and games of the year across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Arcade.

The Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera for Apple Vision Pro content was made available for pre-order, with shipments to customers expected in early 2025. Here's what it can do, and who it's for.The Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera is available for pre-order.Originally announced in June 2024, the device was hailed as an end-to-end workflow for the Apple Immersive Video format used by the Apple Vision Pro headset. Apple Immersive Video combines 8K 3D video with a 180-degree field of view and Spatial Audio support.The Apple Vision Pro, announced during WWDC 2023, is Apple's first attempt at a virtual reality headset, with the company's CEO Tim Cook referring to it as an "early adopter product." Priced at $3500, the headset is powered by Apple's M2 chip and runs a unique operating system known as visionOS. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The latest developer beta of macOS Sequoia introduces support for Genmoji, following the feature's debut on iPhone and iPad. Here's what you need to know.macOS Sequoia 15.3 introduces support for Genmoji.On Monday, Apple released the first developer beta of macOS Sequoia 15.3. While the software update contains few visible changes, it does include one noteworthy addition support for so-called Genmoji. Originally introduced with iOS 18.2, Genmoji are unique emoticons created by users and generated through the help of Apple Intelligence.Users can describe the emoji they want to create, such as one based on an object or a person they know, and Apple Intelligence will make it a reality. Genmoji can be created with source images from the Photos app, or a generic emoji person can be used instead. Genmoji are also synced via iCloud, meaning that they appear in the user's sticker drawer across all compatible devices, including iPhone and iPad. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have developed a 3D concrete printing process that captures and stores carbon dioxide (CO) during production. The method incorporates CO and steamby-products of industrial processesinto the concrete mix, where CO chemically bonds into a solid form.The method, described in Carbon Capture Science & Technology, demonstrates a reduction in cements carbon footprint, a material responsible for 8% of global CO emissions. The process has shown improved mechanical properties, including a 36.8% increase in compression strength and a 45.3% improvement in bending strength, and traps 38% more carbon compared to conventional 3D concrete printing.Additional findings include:Reduced Porosity: Open porosity decreased by up to 72%, improving durability and resistance to environmental factors. Enhanced Printability: The process improves printability, allowing structures to be built with a 50% increase in build height capacity...

David Chipperfield Architectshas just completed a three-building scheme for the larger La Confluence master plan in Lyon, France designed by Herzog & de Meuron.View of the office building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: Simon MengesThe program includes a small office building, housing block, and mixed-use tower. The firm tells us each is "shaped by their structure and defined by their simple rectilinear forms yet react to their specific location in different ways."View of the social housing building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: Simon MengesAll three mirror each other and the other buildings in the plan thanks to the choice of mineral-like materials to cover each of their facades. The three buildings combined offer a gross floor area equal to 30,000 square meters (appx. 323,000 square feet) and were designed especially to enhance their site's riverfront connection.The mixed-use tower building. Image: Simon MengesHousingor at least its possibilityb...

Architizer's 13th A+Awards features a suite of sustainability-focused categories recognizing designers that are building a greener industry and a better future. Start your entry to receive global recognition for your work!I have always found the concept of a mood board quite limiting. The idea behind it is to create a visual presentation that conveys the mood and emotion an architect or designer wants to achieve through their work. It is often comprised of a carefully curated selection of textures, colors, objects, real or imaginary spaces and even writing. Nevertheless, the result, in my opinion, always appears somewhat static and rigid, the opposite of what human emotions usually are.Emotional architecture, or rather creating architecture that responds to human emotion has been tormenting architects for countless years. It is one thing to design a space in hopes of evoking certain emotional responses, but it is another thing entirely to design a space that responds to the turbulent mood swings of its occupants. What would that look like? Would it be a neutral space filled with sensors that can detect changes in mood by collecting biometric data (facial expression, heart rate or brain activity) and then adjust the spatial form, color or lighting accordingly? Would the people themselves input commands to a central server, thus controlling their environment more effectively?In truth, there is no architectural project that has been realized so far that shows the way of implementing such an ambition. However, there have been substantial ideas and research that tackle broader questions of inhabitation and participatory design, where a person is viewed as a catalyst in the responsive process of building. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Living Room Daily (@livingroomdaily)Fun Palace for Joan Littlewood is a visionary project conceived by British architect Cedric Price in the 1960s. The project was characterized as a laboratory of fun and a university of the streets, designed as a flexible structure in which programmable spaces can be plugged in, thus altering the design according to the users needs. The difference between Fun Place and other kinetic structures is that it prioritizes freedom, flexibility and fun, exploring notions of anticipatory architecture rather than an architecture that directs movements, emotions and moments of interaction. It reflects Prices personal vision of a city that has an obligation to encourage playfulness and spontaneity, serving the general public through the use of inventive technology. View this post on InstagramA post shared by De Re Aedificatoria (@dereaedificatoria)Another example is New Babylon, the anti-capitalist city conceived by visual artist Constant Nieuwenhuys in-between 1959-1974. Comprised of a series of linked transformable structures, New Babylon is home to homo ludens, i.e., man at play, who is free to live his life in any way he wants, liberated from any societal constraints, i.e., the shackles of work, family life, or any civic responsibility. Constants philosophy advocates that by letting homo ludens roam free, he himself would seek to explore and transform his environment according to his ever-changing needs. As a result, the Dutch painter made sure to create a world that is equally adaptable and responsive.Albeit not explicitly or emotionally responsive, these two projects hold one part of the equation to creating a new breed of responsive architecture. They both propose spatial systems that prioritize anticipation rather than direction, introducing terms like fun and desire in their designs. The other part of the equation, however, is creating the necessary technologies in order to be able to externalize and implement the emotional synergies occurring between humans and structures. For instance, smart material developments such as shape-memory alloys, electro-active polymers and even programmable materials can expand, contract or change properties is response to electrical or thermal stimuli, thus making it plausible to physically transform buildings.The Blur Building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland Two projects by Diller Scofidio + Renfro have given us a glimpse of what these technologies might look like. The Blur Building, an architecture of atmosphere, is a structure that appears to be a fog mass resulting from both natural and manmade forces. To achieve this effect, water is pumped from Lake Neuchatel, filtered, and shot as a fine mist through 35,000 high-pressure nozzles. It is essentially a smart weather system that reads the surrounding climatological conditions of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and regulates water pressure at a variety of zones. Its materiality evades any definition, appearing as formless, featureless, depthless, scaleless, massless, surfaceless, and dimensionless, therefore allowing the visitors to craft their own spatial narrative.In parallel, the Shed is a project that seems as nothing less than definitive. It is a cultural centre and entertainment hall that accommodates an audience of 1,200 seated or 2,700 standing, since the shells entire ceiling operates as an expandable and contractable skin which rolls on custom rails through the use of adapting gantry crane technology. Diller Scofidio + Renfro write, the Shed takes inspiration, architecturally, from the Fun Palace, the influential but unrealized building-machine conceived by British architect Cedric Price and theatre director Joan Littlewood in the 1960s. Like its precursor, The Sheds open infrastructure can be permanently flexible for an unknowable future and responsive to variability in scale, media, technology, and the evolving needs of artists.The Shed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York City, New YorkGoing back to the (mood) board, I do wonder whether these projects are outlines for a larger, more groundbreaking proposition: the creation and utilization of mood systems. Instead of creating predetermined compositions through a mood board collage, mood systems could be a series of inconclusive scenarios, made of materials, drawings, technological components and narratives that offer the mailable and transformable systems that Cedric Price, Constant Nieuwenhuys and Diller Scofidio + Renfro so passionately preached for. These mood systems would not seek to dictate specific outcomes but instead provide a framework for continuous adaptation and evolution, serving as a blueprint for environments that are as fluid and unpredictable as the lives they aim to support.Architizer's 13th A+Awards features a suite of sustainability-focused categories recognizing designers that are building a greener industry and a better future. Start your entry to receive global recognition for your work!Featured Image: The Shedby Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York, New YorkThe post Beyond Architectural Mood Boards: Theorizing Spaces that Adapt to Human Emotion appeared first on Journal.

Its been three years since the launch ofFar Cry 6, which means it probably shouldnt be too long before Ubisoft officially begins speaking about the series next steps. Until then, however, as often tends to be the case with Ubisoft titles, leaks have spilled the beans on several key details on the upcoming unannouncedFar Crygames, with an Insider Gaming report by Tom Henderson offering further information still.As past reports have claimed, Ubisoft Montreal has two titles in the works in the form ofFar Cry 7(under the codenameBlackbird) and and a standalone extraction shooter spinoff (under the codename Maverick), with the latter being set in the Alaskan wilderness, and the former being structured around a real-time 24-hour time limit within which the protagonist has to rescue their family from a dangerous conspiracy theory cult.Now, Henderson has offered yet more potential details, claiming that both titles are being designed to intentionally move away from whats been the establishedFar Cryformula for years. On the moment-to-moment gameplay front, both titles will also feature new and enhanced movement options, including tactical sprinting, vaulting, sliding, and more. Both games will also feature new inventory and loot systems.Past leaks had claimed thatFar Cry 7andMaverickwould both be releasing in Fall 2025, but Henderson now claims that due to the complexities of their development, both titles have now been pushed back into 2026. Allegedly, the developers working on the project are optimistic about howFar Cry 7is shaping up, though there is more internal skepticism surroundingMaverick, with some concerned about whether it will be another in a long list of failed Ubisoft titles that tried to chase trends, similar toXDefiant.