Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg on Friday announced a shutdown of almost all services on WordPress.org, the open source project site thats the home of the software, plugins, and the WordPress community, but was unclear on when the shutdown would end.This move sharply increases the uncertainty surrounding WordPress, IDC said.My sense is that many enterprise WordPress administrators will think twice about continuing to use the software under these circumstances, said IDC Research Manager Michele Rosen. Its such a shame to watch a leader in the open source community repeatedly sabotage his own project. At this point, I have real concerns about the impact of Matt Mullenwegs words and actions on the overall image of open source software, she added. Even if he feels that WP Engines actions are unethical and the court is wrong, his actions are clearly having an impact on the WordPress ecosystem, including his own business. It seems self-destructive.To put this move into context, the shutdown only directly impacts WordPress.org, whereas most enterprises using Automattics WordPress are leveraging WordPress.com, the commercial hosting site. But given the ripple effects across all of WordPress, it is likely that enterprise users would also be impacted.The WordPress CMS is licensed under the GPL, so it is permanently available for free. However, a lot of WPs value comes from themes and plugins, Rosen said. My understanding is that in some cases, the wordpress.org URL is hardcoded into WordPress, which can make it difficult or impossible to update your themes and plugins if they havent been added to the directory. It really depends on the particular websites configuration.Hopes to restart sometime in the new yearThe Mullenweg statement started off innocuously enough, saying that the WordPress.org team will take some time off for the holidays at the end of the year. But it turned unsettling when it raised the possibility that they may not reopen at all in 2025.In order to give myself and the many tired volunteers around WordPress.org a break for the holidays, were going to be pausing a few of the free services currently offered. New account registrations on WordPress.org clarifying so press doesnt confuse this: people can still make their own WordPress installs and accounts, the statement said, adding that service pauses will also include new plugin directory submissions, new plugin reviews, new theme directory submissions and new photo directory submissions. Were going to leave things like localization and the forums open because these dont require much moderation.But after mentioning his ongoing legal struggles with WP Engine, Mullenweg said I hope to find the time, energy, and money to reopen all of this sometime in the new year. Right now, much of the time I would spend making WordPress better is being taken up defending against WP Engines legal attacks.Shutdown may hurt WordPressPeter Zeitsev, the founder of Percona, an open source database software vendor, said that if the shutdown continues through all of 2025, this will stifle the development of WordPress no new user accounts, no new plugins published, etc. This could also spark the creation of an alternative hub to wordpress.org, one that would be truly operated in the interest of the [open source] community.Zeitsev said that he fears that there will be meaningful enterprise impacts if the shutdown continues. Many WordPress users do not really interact with WordPress.org at all, but some commercial enterprise users can also rely on WordPress.org functionality, and they can be impacted, he said.Asked how this move will help WordPress.org, Zeitsev thinks it likely wont, and that it might end up hurting them.It might be that [Mullenweg] thinks there will be public/community pressure on WP Engine and the court to take his side, but I feel it will be seen as the opposite. Matt has been a wonderful steward of the WordPress community for so long, so governance and ownership of WordPress.org were not thought about, Zeitsev said. Now things have changed, and commercial and community players in the WordPress space will be thinking about how much authority Matt personally has, and whether or not they can trust him to operate the ecosystem they invested so much in, in a way that reflects its interest.

Arm is waiting to see if it has won a battle over licensing of its microprocessor designs to Qualcomm that has cast doubt over the immediate future of some of the chip makers products.The jury in the US District Court for the District of Delaware spent the week listening to arguments in the protracted and increasingly rancorous licensing dispute between Arm and Qualcomm and all thats left is to hear their verdict.The verdict, expected on Friday, could be hugely significant, not only for the parties involved but for the maze of other companies that have built their product development around their technology.Its an extraordinary clash between companies that until as recently as 2021 seemed like firm allies.The legal case started with Qualcomms 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, designer of the Phoenix datacenter chip, which used Arms v8.7-A instruction set. Under Qualcomm, the Phoenix was reinvented as the Oryon chip, the CPU core of a more general microprocessor used inside the companys Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC).Importantly, the royalty that Qualcomm agreed to pay under its Architecture License Agreement (ALA) with Arm was lower than that of Nuvia. Qualcomm believed this more favorable deal should apply to Nuvia development going forward because most of its subsequent Snapdragon development was done after the acquisition.Arm disagreed and argued that Qualcomm should pay the rate agreed with Nuvia. According to court testimony by Arm CEO Rene Haas this week, the lower royalty would cause a drop in revenue of $50 million. Failing to reach an agreement with Qualcomm, the company decided to sue, the first time it has taken such action against a customer since its founding in 1990.This is where things became a bit muddy. Why did Arm decide to sue over a relatively small sum, and why did Qualcomm refuse to concede? This week in court a wide range of arguments and counter arguments were laid out, mostly that each company believed the other was trying to sabotage its business.Make Qualcomm great againAs it attempts to diversify away from relying on mobile chips, Qualcomms Snapdragon SoC platform is seen as critical for its future. This, it hopes, will allow it to take on Intel and AMD in the general microprocessor market while integrating the new-fangled AI capabilities important to the PC sector.In October, Arm cancelled Qualcomms license to the Nuvia ALA. It also demanded the destruction of Nuvia designs developed prior to the merger. Clearly, a verdict in favor of Arm would put Qualcomm in a tight corner, and also a whos who of tech companies Microsoft, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung currently using Qualcomms Snapdragon designs.This week, Qualcomm put forward an alternative view to explain Arms motivations. According to Qualcomms lawyers, Arm harbors ambitions to develop competing chips of its own, making it a direct competitor to Qualcomm. Evidence for this remains circumstantial, but to back this up Qualcomm claimed that Arm at one point misled it into disbanding its development team.Stop being cheapA difficulty for outsiders is untangling exactly what is really at issue and whether theres more to this than meets the eye. According to Arm its about licensing agreements and the fees that arise from them. It believes Qualcomm used its IP in Nuvia-originated IP and should pay what Nuvia agreed and stop being cheap.Qualcomms argument seems to be that this is a shakedown. And yet there seem to be deeper currents. Perhaps they see each as competitors in the longer term, and the battle is competitive jockeying.Notably, Qualcomm was a major opponent to Nvidias proposed 2021 takeover of Arm, abandoned in the face of regulatory hurdles, and even suggested investing in the UK company. For its part, Arm upset Qualcomm by contacting dozens of its customers to inform them of the termination of the Nuvia license. Each round of conflict deepened the antipathy.Its the sort of dispute that happens all the time in the tech industry, a sector built on patents and cross-licensing of IP. But what was highly unusual about this dispute is that it wasnt resolved without going to court, a hugely risky situation for both parties should they lose.On the surface, it has never been a battle of equals: Qualcomms annual revenue is 10 to 15 times that of Arms. That said, since Arm listed on the New York Stock Exchange, its value has soared, bringing its market capitalization much closer to that of the US company.Arm is important for its size and Qualcomm is large and ambitious. Each would like the others crown. Both are angry. Whats not yet clear is whether the verdict of a Delaware courthouse, including outright victory, will deliver what either company wants.

Owners of Embodied's doomed Moxie robot may get a reprieve from the shutdown, thanks to an eleventh-hour open-source attempt to keep the robot running.Moxie the robot - Image credit: EmbodiedEarly in December, it was reported that Embodied, the company behind the child-centric Moxie robot, was shutting down, and would be taking the robot with it. Owners of the $800 robot were informed that it would stop working after the cloud servers get shut down in the future.With Moxie used by parents to help aid the social development of children, including autistic kids, this meant parents had to explain why their children couldn't play with their robotic friend anymore. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The developer of SuperDuper! says what they think is a bug in macOS Sequoia 15.2 has inadvertently broken how the app can create bootable backups however, it may not be accidental at all.SuperDuper! app icon amidst hard drives and a Mac keyboardIt's some years since Apple took steps to at least make it harder for people to start up their Macs using external drives. That was a privacy issue, a security issue, and a bit of a pain for anyone who remembers Mac drives failing.Now according to developer Dave Nanian, Apple has gone further, maybe unintentionally. Nanian is the developer of backup app SuperDuper! and says that since macOS Sequoia 15.2 has changed a feature called the Replicator, his app has been unable to create a bootable backup. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple has been formally accused by Congo of covering up war crimes by using conflict minerals in its supply chain, and criminal complaints have been filed in France and Belgium.Apple has been asked to verify that it doesn't use "conflict minerals" in the iPhoneApple and at least most Big Tech manufacturers have long been accused of sourcing tin, tungsten, and tantalum the 3T materials from regions where that means funding violent groups. And now, Apple has picked up two criminal complaints, lodged by the Congo government.The complaint alleges that conflict minerals are laundered through multiple sales and shell companies before hitting Apple suppliers. Therefore, according to the filing spotted by Reuters early Tuesday morning, Apple is directly responsible, is complicit, and should be held accountable for crimes against humanity taking place in Congo. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Months after inaugurating the new Lana Residences and hotel complex in Dubai, a new design for a neighboring plot from Foster + Partners has been announced featuring two new luxury residential towers with heights totaling 590.5 feet (or 180 meters). One apartment is allotted per floor to bring the total to 60 in both towers. Each unit is equipped with a range of wellness amenities to go along with winding interlocked terraces offering views of Dubai's high-rise architecture and the adjacent Marasi Marina.Image rendering courtesy Foster + PartnersImage rendering courtesy Foster + PartnersImage rendering courtesy Foster + Partners

Work is wrapping up on the new U.S. Embassy facility in Mexico City designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien (TWBTA) and David Brody Bond at a reported cost of around $1 billion. The LA Times recentlychecked in on its delayed progress. The project first began construction on the Paseo de la Reforma in February 2018. An opening is now expected by the last quarter of 2025.Image rendering by DBB/TWBTAImage rendering by DBB/TWBTAImage rendering by DBB/TWBTA

Construction on the new Sydney Fish Market from 3XN has topped out in Australia. The 700,000-square-foot building will become the largest fish market and have the largest glulam roof structure in the southern hemisphere once completed. Its PV-paneled roof is calibrated to withstand high wind loads while meeting the spatial demands required by the marketplace, is held in place by 594 beams, and is capable of harvesting rainwater throughout the year.The project offers a worthy follow-up to the Danish firm's award-winning work on theupcycled Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney. They are working locally with localarchitectsBVN, GXN Innovation, and the landscape architects Aspect Studios.

After delivering several outstanding stealth strategy titles in the form ofShadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Desperados 3,andShadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew,developer Mimimi Games took everyone by surprise when it announced last year that it would be shutting down in spite of the success of its titles, with the co-founders citing a heavy personal toll. In the aftermath, the future ofShadow Gambit: The CursedCrewin particular looked uncertain, being Mimimi Games only self-published title, though things are now looking much more secure.Manor Lordspublisher Hooded Horse has announced that it has acquired the publishing rights forShadow Gambit: The Cursed Crewacross all platforms. Going forward, the game will be published, distributed, and handled in general by Hooded Horse.We are honored and humbled that Mimimi chose us to be a part of Shadow Gambits journey, says Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender. This game is the pinnacle of stealth strategy games, and were looking forward to helping it maintain the long-term success it deserves.Shadow Gambit is in its final form, and were excited to be partnering with Hooded Horse for its ongoing commercial needs, says Mimimi Co-Founder Johannes Roth. Were very impressed by their approach to indie publishing and are confident they will help the game reach even more players.In our review ofShadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew,we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is an excellent game. With its wonderfully realized fantasy pirate setting, it instantly pulls you into its world, and with a combination of tight and perfectly implemented mechanics, excellently designed stealth sandboxes, and a colourful cast of characters thats an absolute blast to play as, it delivers a consistently fun and inventive adventure where the stealth, tactics, and experimentation never lose any of their charm, right up until the credits roll. Read the full review through here.Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crewis available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

The Game Animation Sample Project has been updated for UE 5.5 with over 300 animations, a new Experimental setup that provides better artist control without diminishing quality, setups that are 100% networked and ready for multiplayer, mobile supportand more!