U.S. Fighter Jet Mistakenly Shot Down by American WarshipFIGHT OR FLIGHTMike Nelson/AFP via Getty Images A U.S. Navy fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea on Saturday in an apparent friendly fire incident, authorities have said. Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely after it was mistakenly fired upon by the USS Gettysburg in a non-specified location, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. One of the pilots sustained minor injuries and authorities said a full investigation is underway. The F/A-18, was operating from the USS Harry S. Truman, when the guided-missile cruiserpart of the Truman carrier strike groupfired during a refueling operation. The incident happened a day after U.S. forces hit Houthi structural targets in Yemen. The rebel group appeared to try and take credit for the incident Sunday, but it has a reputation for false claims. The U.S. has a presence in the area due to the Iran-backed Houthi campaign of targeting ships in the busy waterway. Read it at New York TimesADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTTrump Hands Stephen Millers Wife a White House GigBACK IN BUSINESSALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images Katie Miller, a former Mike Pence press secretary who married the controversial aide Stephen Miller during Donald Trumps first term, has been announced as the latest addition to Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency. Trump revealed the move in a post to Truth Social on Sunday night, but stopped short of saying what exact role the 33-year-old will have in DOGE. She has been a loyal supporter of mine for many years, and will bring her professional experience to Government Efficiency, he wrote. Katie is a deeply experienced communications professional respected by all. The pick keeps Trumps trend of appointing Floridians to roles in his administration going, as Miller is a native of Fort Lauderdale. She married Stephen, Trumps soon-to-be deputy chief of policy, in 2020with Trump in attendance. Like her husband, shes considered to be far-righteven by MAGA standardsand has been at the center of controversy over the years, like the time she allegedly trashed hundreds of copies of a student newspaper at the University of Florida after it ran an article about the schools football coach endorsing an opposing student government candidate.Read it at The HillADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTShop with ScoutedThe AI-Powered Bike Is Engineered to Give You the Most Effective Workout in the Shortest Time PossibleRIDE ONCAROL Bike. Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission.If youre looking to revamp your at-home fitness lineup ahead of 2025 and dont have hours to commit to exercising each day, allow us to introduce you to the CAROL Bike. The science-backed and AI-powered fitness bike is engineered to give you maximum results in the shortest time possibleand by the shortest time, we mean as little as five minutes. 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You can try the CAROL Bike for yourself risk-free for 100 days, and the brand offers free shipping (7-10 business days) in the U.S. ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTNetflix Boss Ted Sarandos Bends the Knee to Trump With Mar-a-Lago VisitSTREAMING INMario Anzuoni/REUTERS Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week, according to reports, just the latest in a procession of business elites suddenly seeking face-time with the president-elect. The 60-year-old has previously donated to Democrats including President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to Reuters. Sarandos is also married to Nicole Avant, who was Obamas United States Ambassador to the Bahamas between 2009 and 2011. A dizzying array of high-powered business moguls have tried to curry favor with Trump since his election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Last week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos joined Trump for a dinner at Mar-a-Lago that was also attended by Trumps outspoken cheerleader and Twitter owner, Elon Musk. Fellow social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg also paid a visit to the president-elects Palm Beach club last month, while Apple CEO Tim Cook made his visit earlier in December. Zuckerbergs Meta donated $1 million to Trumps inaugural fund after his house call, a move that Amazon is also reportedly considering. Trump seems to be thrilled with his newfound popularity, posting last week: EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND.Read it at AxiosADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTUnruly Passenger Forces U.S.-Bound Flight to Divert to TokyoMIDAIR MELTDOWNTyrone Siu/Reuters A Cathay Pacific flight destined for Boston diverted to Japan because of an unruly passenger who allegedly assaulted people during a midair meltdown. Passengers endured a 15-hour delay and a forced stopover at Tokyo Haneda after flight CX812, which originated in Hong Kong, descended into chaos. The disruptive individual was banned from future flights with the airline, Hong Kongs flag carrier. Reports suggest the person, who was arrested upon touchdown, assaulted others onboard. Passengers initially departed Hong Kong International Airport 7:40 p.m. local time on Saturday, but after the incident, the were loaded onto a new plane, which departed at 10:45 a.m. and reached Boston at 12:26 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday. They were compensated with meal vouchers and lounge access, while the airline also apologized. Hong Kongs Aviation Security Ordinance has strict penalties for unruly behavior, including fines of up to around $6,500 and imprisonment for up to five years.Read it at South China Morning PostADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTShop with ScoutedMake Incredible Espresso Martinis on New Years Eve With This Cold Brew Coffee LiqueurESPRESSO YOURSELFMr Black Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission.2025 is quickly approaching, and theres no better way to celebrate the new year than with 2024s cocktail du jourthe espresso martini. Its the perfect way to toast 2025 with sophistication, flavor, and an energy boost. Think you cant make the buzzy beverage at home because youre not a bartender? Think again. 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Skip the champagne toast this year and ensure you stay awake for the countdown to 2025 with a Mr Black espresso martini. ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTNebraska Gov Faces Christmas in Hospital After Horse-Riding AccidentNOT SO MERRYJIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images The governor of Nebraska, Jim Pillen, is facing Christmas in hospital after he was bucked off a horse. The Republican state leader, who turns 69 next week, was out riding with family members when the horse, which was described as new, sent him flying. His office said he is alert and is in continuous touch with his team, after the incident Sunday. However, it added that he was expected to remain in hospital for several days. This means Pillen could spend Christmas Day in the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where he was transported out of an abundance of caution after initial treatment at Columbus Community Hospital, according to his office. Gov. Pillen and his family are very appreciative of the thoughts and prayers given to them by Nebraskans and they wish all Nebraskans a very merry Christmas, his office added in the statement.Read it at ABCADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTSki Lift Crack Leaves 170+ Stranded for Hours in Nightmare ScenarioALL DOWNHILLHyoung Chang/The Denver Post More than 170 skiers and snowboarders experienced the stuff of nightmares over the weekend when they were left stranded for several hours on a ski lift whose structure had cracked, the Colorado Sun reported. A gondola lift at Winter Park Resortlocated about 70 miles west of Denver, Coloradowas halted on Saturday just after noon after technicians discovered the crack. Over the course of about five hours, ski patrollers climbed into each gondola and lowered the riders equipment to the ground. They then used swinging ropes with seats attached to them to lower the 174 riders. No injuries were reported during the evacuation, which wrapped up around 6 p.m. Videos posted to social media showed the surreal rescues, which apparently used a belay system similar to the kind used in rock climbing. Officials were still investigating on Sunday to try to determine what had caused the structure to crack. The ski lifts system detected the malfunction and automatically stopped, according to the resort. In the meantime, the resorts other 21 lifts remained open. Read it at The Colorado SunADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTBill Belichick to Hire His Own Son for Key Coaching Role at UNCFAMILIAR FACEEric Canha/USA TODAY Sports Bill Belichick is expected to soon poach his son from the University of Washington to be his defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina. The bombshell hiring, which reports say will become official after Steve Belichicks $1.2 million buyout at Washington expires on Dec. 31, is perhaps the biggest hire Belichick has made since he was announced as UNCs head coach earlier this month. The younger Belichick, 37, was a defensive assistant under his father in New England for 12 years. Hes the third hire in Belichicks Tar Heel era, coming after Freddie Kitchens was announced as an offensive assistant and Michael Lombardi as its general manager. The elder Belichick, who boasts an impressive eight Super Bowl wins as a head and assistant coach, worked in the NFL between 1975 and this January. The 72-year-old is now risking his legacy to take on college football, where hes carrying big expectationsand a fat paycheck of $10 million annually, doubling that of his predecessorto turn around UNCs middling football program and have it competing for a national championship as early as next season.Read it at ESPNADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTElon Musks British Cousin: I Think Hes StupidFAMILY FEUDBUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 05: Elon Musk leaves the stage after addressing a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds on October 05, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is the first time that Trump has returned to Butler since he was injured during an attempted assassination on July 13. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The British branch of Elon Musks family is unhappy with the South African-born billionaire, according to an interview with his cousin. Musks grandmother was from the U.K. before she moved to South Africa, where she married his grandfather. Their son, Errol, had three childrenone of which was Elon. But his British relatives seem to have been shunned by the SpaceX founder, with his cousin Marshall Robinson, 86, going so far as to call him stupid in an interview with The Daily Mail. I think hes stupid with all the things he comes out with, Robinson said, citing his connection with Donald Trump. Its pretty shocking with what he has become and how hes linked to the President-elect Trump. The cousin, living in Fleetwood, said that although hes never met Musk, another family member reached out to the billionaire and received a cold shoulder response. I have never been in touch but one of the family did send him a social media message and he just said: What do you want? That was it. Read it at The Daily MailADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTShop with ScoutedCleaning Is Fun and Chemical-Free With This Steam-Powered DeviceDREAM STEAMBISSELL Scouted selects products independently. If you purchase something from our posts, we may earn a small commission.Bissell is known for its grime-busting devices, and the Steam Shot OmniReach delivers more unbelievable portable cleaning power just in time for holiday hosting. This handheld device blasts steam to break down even tough stains. Think stovetops, bathroom soap scum, outdoor furniture: wherever your toughest stains live, your Bissell will ensure cleaning is the easiest thing to check off your holiday list.The 16-foot cord means youll have maneuverability without worrying about battery life. The tank holds over six ounces of water, minimizing the number of times youll need to refill. 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Results may vary.ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTDenzel Washington Gets Baptized and Becomes a Minister on the Same DayNEW GIGDenzel Washington attends the "Gladiator II" Paris Special Screening at Pathe Palace on November 10, 2024, in Paris, France. Kristy Sparow/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures Denzel Washington is now a minister. On Saturday, the Gladiator II star was baptized at the Kelly Temple in New York City, where he also received a ministers license. It took a while, but Im finally here, Washington said of his journey with faith during the services livestream. If [God] can do this for me, theres nothing He cant do for you. The sky literally is the limit. The soon-to-be 70-year-old penned an essay for Esquire in November where he discussed his relationship with God and said that he was unafraid of the publics reaction to his faith. Its my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that He is responsible for me, Washington wrote at the time. The actors wife, Pauletta Washington, was also in attendance Saturday and disclosed how proud she was of her husband. You are the head of our house and you have set a great example for our children, who are now adult children who know the difference because we have shown them the difference, she gushed.Read it at Page SixADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENTSonic Flies Past Mufasa In Box Office DebutNEED FOR SPEEDSignage on display at the premiere of "Sonic The Hedgehog 3" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images) MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has taken the lead over Mufasa this weekend in box office sales. Ahead of Christmas on Wednesday, Paramounts $122 million video-game inspired movie had a $62 million opening in North America. The film easily surpassed Disneys $200 million prequel Mufasa, which had a $35 million start in the U.S. According to Variety, Paramounts third movie about the famous video game character beat the first of the trilogy, which released in February 2020 at $58 million. It just came below the sequel, which was released in March 2022 with a $72 million start. We saw a window in the marketplace in December where we thought we could stand out, Paramount domestic distribution president Chris Aronson said. Sonic is going to dominate through the holidays. The movie received an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score with high audience reviews. Mufasa, on the other hand, is trailing far behind. The Disney movie that was a prequel to The Lion King landed $35 million. Variety reported that an above $200 million production had a $100 million promotion budget worldwide, and fell far behind expectations of a $50 million start. The film also had relatively high reviews from audiences, with a 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Read it at VarietyADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENT

Manic DispositionManiac may be the best Vampire Survivors-like youve never heard of (and is one of the best Steam Deck games of 2024)Im willing to bet youre probably finding out about this gem of a Vampire Survivors-eque for the first time, but know that I dont blame you.Image credit: VG247 Article by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Dec. 23, 2024 I dont believe weve ever covered Maniac here on VG247. In fact, I dont think Ive seen much coverage for it elsewhere, either. Maniac is not the sort of game that generates headlines, even if its entire gimmick is one I cant believe no one thought of sooner.If you havent already started Googling, Maniac is what happens when you create a Vampire Survivors-alike and dress it up in GTA 2 attire. So, if you ever wondered what a GTA-coded one of these games would look like and how it would play, Maniac has the answer.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Maniac is one of few actually good Vampire Survivors-likes released in 2024, and certainly one of the many that came out this year. And no, I refuse to call that genre bullet heaven. If anything, we should default to the far superior (and more descriptive) genre label: ASS, auto-shooting-surival. As such, Maniac is a good-ASS game.What makes Maniac particularly good at pulling off the gag is its commitment to the fusion of the two games its chiefly inspired by. The Vampire Survivor influences find a new home here, first when you start off entirely reliant on melee, and later when you upgrade to a firearm (or a rocket launcher).The GTA 2 blood is responsible for some of the most devastating action in any one of those, and a large part of that is the physics engine underneath. Even early on, when the chaos and mayhem are kept to a minimum, simply watching your character interact with the world, and the inhabitants of that world itself, is a joy. It captures the best parts of the One Wanted Star feel we all remember from classic GTA games, before things get too hectic. And just like those games, Maniac does not hold back when you keep pushing its limits, it welcomes it, in fact.Just another Maniac Monday. Watch on YouTubeThe more your power grows - with character upgrades, pickups and truly powerful weapons - the more the screen gets painted with blood and car wreckage. I am especially fond of how the game manages to implement cars/driving into the flow, which would otherwise break the careful balance of speed and power ASS games work so hard to achieve.Driving physics are tuned to achieve that feel, with forgiving handling that tempts (and rewards you) for pulling off last-second swerves, and drifts into blockades to grab a powerup. It is genuinely impressive how well Maniacs systems come together, especially considering a competent product sold on that premise alone wouldve done just fine.Maniac runs great on Steam Deck, too. You dont need a handheld to play it, of course, but Im willing to bet its going to quickly become your ASS game of choice when you do. Failing that, just load up a video of someone at max Wanted Level and just watch utter mayhem unfold. Grab it on Steam, or wishlist it for when the (already cheap) price goes down.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Holding the Guinness World Record for "Most prolific developer of danmaku shooters a tenuous plaudit seemingly concocted entirely for their receipt Caves five DonPachi entries form bullet points in the companys evolution, from Toaplan-esque beginnings to a full-blown, bullet hell renaissance.SaiDaiOuJou, the series final entry and Caves last arcade shooting game, makes the clean stylings of its predecessor, DaiFukkatsu, even cleaner; a shiny blue aesthetic wrought from 3D renders and a billion pixels. It also carries over adjustable difficulty options and an auto bomb on/off feature. Its core, however, is similar to DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, the greatest and most beautiful of Caves work.SaiDaiOuJou, despite its saccharine anime facade, is pure, unadulterated rage. And while thats the motif of most bullet hell games, here it can be felt as early as the stage one boss. Where DonPachi was measured, DoDonPachi fuel injected, DaiOujou a symphony of murder, and DaiFukkatsu precariously experimental, SaiDaiOuJou is plainly vicious. Its also infamous for having the hardest hidden boss ever committed to circuit board in the form of Inbachi, unlocked if you achieve a nigh-on perfect, no-bomb run. For the record, she has only ever been beaten once in a single credit attempt by Japanese player Sairyou, 12 years post-release.Outside of arcades, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou was only ever previously available on the Xbox 360, making its Switch appearance celebratory. Infamously, the 360 port suffered from inexplicably shocking input lag that was only ever rectified by a fan patch. We used the same testing methods as applied to the 360 version, and are confident the issue has been quashed. With the TVs Game Mode on and in handheld, it feels tight and responsive across the board. And, while lag cant be eradicated entirely and especially not on a flatscreen with the right setup this is by far the superior version.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)It also carries over all the Xbox 360s bells and whistles in the form of shop-based unlockables, including wallpaper, production art, and in-game modifiers that serve to soften and create new ways to experience the game. There are also enjoyable mini-challenges to take on, like defeating certain mid-bosses with a set number of lives or bombs.SaiDaiOuJous original arcade release was actually slightly broken by exploitable scoring bugs. These were ironed out for the home release in a new 1.5 version that rebalances the game into a fairer, more polished product, with the potential for increased Hyper times. In the package are four distinct modes, all upscaled in high definition: HD arcade, Ver. 1.5, Novice mode, and a Saya Ver. arrangement that allows you to play as an original character previously confined to the plot line.In all modes except arrange (where only Saya can be selected) you choose from three Elemental Dolls: ladies who pilot ships, each with unique shot types. You can select auto bomb if youre a newcomer, although this kills scoring attempts dead; and each doll has three states of configurable undress that alter the emphasis between your shot and laser. Caution need be applied here, as stripping your Doll down to her necessities will max both your shot and laser power, but in turn make the game substantially more difficult.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)SaiDaiOuJous scoring heart is similar to DaiOuJou. You need to chain into oblivion, snag hidden bee icons throughout the stage, and use the Hyper function at key moments to drive score and bridge it all together. Hypers allow you to temporarily unleash devastatingly amped firepower, to the detriment of speeding up incoming bullets. In SaiDaiOuJou, Hypers are earned by filling a gauge in the HUD and can be stacked to extend their duration and increase score potential. In turn, this increases the games rank, which means increased difficulty, and the only way to bring this down is by either bombing or dying.While its full-on nature demands a different discipline from both DaiOuJou or DaiFukkatsu, scoring is still a beautiful, bewitching thing, drawing you into an aggressive campaign of fire, shrapnel, and digit-chasing. Whether playing for score or focusing only on survival, its quite the spectacle, perpetually igniting in a hailstorm of bullets and score ingots, and satisfying pyrotechnic blasts.Version 1.5 is, for our money, the best option in terms of overall polish and balancing, but Novice and the Saya arrange mode are also incredibly fun to kick back with. Sayas Arrange, in particular (and if you turn off the incessant chatter) features a very interesting single-life run where you can near-constantly engage Hypers, reaping green score icons to keep your multiplier from falling from the 10,000 maximum. It presents an original risk and reward system that rookies will really enjoy getting into, and veterans will adore mining for score.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)While its important to recognise that vanilla SaiDaiOuJou isnt an easy game, and has a steeper learning curve than even DaiOuJou, its also a masterpiece in its own right. It adapts and reassembles things seen in previous entries to feel even more bombastic and furious, but makes Hyper usage less dangerous and more frequently available. There are times when youre threading the eye of the storm, pink and blue bullet waves combing the screen, where you achieve a near-clairvoyant sense of clarity: that moment where you see the path.It takes a good while and a good understanding of bullet hell games to achieve this sight beyond sight, yet the accompanying adrenaline rush of pinging Hypers at crucial junctures, momentarily cancelling on-screen bullets, or successfully networking a bosss varied attack patterns, offers a high like few others. And, while Cave went all out, with conditions for true-last-boss Hibachi and then Inbachi geared towards shoot-'em-up maniacs, SaiDaiOuJou is the first of the DonPachi series to only require a single loop run of the game.Slight unevenness keeps SaiDaiOuJou from being the series' absolute best, but it certainly comes close. Hit-box parameters are particularly unforgiving, especially when compared to the likes of DaiFukkatsu, making lucky escapes less common; and aesthetically it's so overwhelmingly blue that all the stages seem to blend into one. Some of the achievements arent doable by mere mortals, but everyone else will be content to take the game on their own terms, to reshape it around newfound tactics and deeper understandings.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)The package itself is incredibly comprehensive, bursting with options to configure, allowing you to define everything from screen rotation and sizing to replay recordings and online leaderboard achievements. With so many variations to experiment with and so many avenues of approach, one could potentially lose several glorious years to it.ConclusionWhile a fine-looking affair, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJous anime stylings are frankly unremarkable, and the incessant chatter will be turned off by many. But these are minor, skin-deep critiques of what is an incredible piece of work by the masters of the Danmaku: a series finale that showboats and regularly boils over in endless hails of gunfire, tugging you to and fro amid the heart of the storm as you forge a path to victory. Theres a beauty here that only Cave could achieve; a harmony of scoring and surviving; coasting on sheer adrenaline as you thread hit-boxes through pixels, hammering out routes amidst dizzyingly spectacular orchestrated chaos. It may not be easy, but oh is it worth it.To date, the definitive home SaiDaiOuJou package, bursting with modes and optionsVisual feedback aplenty, bombastic and beautifulScoring as deep as the hills, and countless different ways to approachThe menu layouts and various options for each mode can be quite confusing to sift throughThe chattering anime additions aren't on par with the artistry previously achieved in DaiOuJouExcellent 9/10

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo LifeFan team Harbour Masters has swapped Hylian adventures for high-flying action in its new 'Starlight' project a Star Fox 64 PC port which is available right now (thanks, VGC).This isn't the team's first rodeo having previously brought Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Super Mario 64 to PC and it uses the same above-board approach to porting. Once again, Harbour Masters has reverse-engineered the original game's code to avoid using any leaked content or copyrighted assets, making the whole thing technically legal (yay!).The port does require users to provide their own legally-sourced N64 ROM to play, but, in return, it offers a bunch of modern upgrades like higher frame rates and widescreen visuals. Looking at the following post from VGC's Andy Robinson, we'd say that's a fair trade-off:Star Fox 64: now on PC, thanks to an unofficial port.www.videogameschronicle.com/news/another... Andy Robinson (@andyrobinson.bsky.social) 2024-12-23T10:27:12.641ZTechnicalities are one thing, but this PC port also opens the door to all kinds of modding potential. In the years since the team's OOT project, we have seen the modding community add a whole host of weird tweaks, from magical Tears of the Kingdom abilities to actual, functioning Pikmin. Just imagine what's possible with a game as cool as Star Fox 64...How about another official entry in the series, eh Nintendo? Sheiking things upTime ExtensionIt's dangerous to go alone, take theseWhat do you make of this new port? Will you be checking it out? Let us know in the comments.[source videogameschronicle.com, via bsky.app]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:02 Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles46 Games You Should Pick Up In The Nintendo Switch eShop Holiday Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higherPSA: Switch 2 Is Getting Revealed In The Next 100 DaysSet your Alarmos'Switch 2' Is Projected To Be The "Clear Winner" In The Next Console GenerationWhile either Sony or Microsoft will "struggle mightily"Your 'Nintendo Switch Year In Review 2024' Stats Are Available NowWhat's your hour count?

Instagram is testing a way for you to see content from friends that you might have missed. The social network has started displaying unseen Story Highlights from a users mutual followers at the end of the Stories tray, which is the area at the top of your feed where you see Stories from your friends.Were always working on new ways to help people connect in Stories and are testing bringing recent Highlights to the end of the tray with a small group of people, a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch. The feature was first spotted by social media expert Ahmed Ghanem.As Instagram has become overcrowded with things like Reels and sponsored posts, its easy to miss updates from people you actually follow. The social networks latest test feature experiments with a way to ensure you arent missing original content from your friends and family.Meta notes that users will be able to see unseen Story Highlights from the past week.You will only see the unseen Story Highlights when you get through all of the current Stories in the tray. This means that if you follow a bunch of people and dont always get the end of your Stories tray, you might not see the Highlights. Its worth noting that the feature wont display standard Stories that disappear after 24 hours, only Story Highlights, which are the curated Stories that users have saved to their profiles.

Theres a mismatch in climate tech investing: Well over half of all dollars invested since 2020 have flowed into startups working on energy and transportation, according to Sightline Climate.Its awesome to see those solutions doing well, Michael Luciani, founding partner at Juniper, told TechCrunch. But as he points out, those sectors represent less than half of all carbon pollution.The big contributors are how we make things, the industrials and chemicals and plastics, as well as food and agriculture and buildings, he said. I have come to believe that engineered biology is the best emerging solution for the majority of problems in those categories.Luciani and Jennifer Kan, Junipers other founding partner, have been investing in climate for years, initially as part of Climate Capital, a prolific venture fund that typically writes smaller checks to early-stage companies. They invested in 30 companies and led the firms special purpose vehicle investments before raising the new fund, Kan told TechCrunch.Initially, Juniper started life as Climate Capital Bio, investing in synthetic biology startups that focus on climate. But as we kind of got further down the path, we realized what we should lean into is the fact that we can be the climate biotech people, Luciani said. Climate Capital is a great brand, but its really a brand as a generalist, and thats quite different than the kind of signal we wanted to send.The first Juniper fund is $10.6 million and is oversubscribed, the firm exclusively told TechCrunch. Limited partners include family offices, foundations, and Allocator One, an institutional fund of funds thats serving as the anchor.We also have a decent amount of scientists in the field who weve allowed to invest in our fund at lower minimums, plus over a dozen different partners of venture capital and private equity firms, Luciani added.Juniper operates as a normal venture fund, writing checks between $100,000 and $500,000 to scientists who are working to commercialize their research. The goal, Kan said, is to be the first institutional investor, to help them think through how to build a company.Some of the funds early investments include California Cultured, which cultures plant cells to make more sustainable coffee and chocolate, and Cache DNA, which is developing a better way to store DNA and RNA.We are building a lot of data centers, and they are not the most sustainable way for our world to grow digitally. If we were to store all the data in the world today in DNA, it would only take a shoe box of DNA, Kan said. The difference is massive.

One of the most widely used techniques to make AI models more efficient, quantization, has limits and the industry could be fast approaching them. In the context of AI, quantization refers to lowering the number of bits the smallest units a computer can process needed to represent information. Consider this analogy: When someone asks the time, youd probably say noon not oh twelve hundred, one second, and four milliseconds. Thats quantizing; both answers are correct, but one is slightly more precise. How much precision you actually need depends on the context.AI models consist of several components that can be quantized in particular parameters, the internal variables models use to make predictions or decisions. This is convenient, considering models perform millions of calculations when run. Quantized models with fewer bits representing their parameters are less demanding mathematically, and therefore computationally. (To be clear, this is a different process from distilling, which is a more involved and selective pruning of parameters.)But quantization may have more trade-offs than previously assumed. The ever-shrinking modelAccording to a study from researchers at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Databricks, and Carnegie Mellon, quantized models perform worse if the original, unquantized version of the model was trained over a long period on lots of data. In other words, at a certain point, it may actually be better to just train a smaller model rather than cook down a big one.That could spell bad news for AI companies training extremely large models (known to improve answer quality) and then quantizing them in an effort to make them less expensive to serve.The effects are already manifesting. A few months ago, developers and academics reported that quantizing Metas Llama 3 model tended to be more harmful compared to other models, potentially due to the way it was trained.In my opinion, the number one cost for everyone in AI is and will continue to be inference, and our work shows one important way to reduce it will not work forever, Tanishq Kumar, a Harvard mathematics student and the first author on the paper, told TechCrunch.Contrary to popular belief, AI model inferencing running a model, like when ChatGPT answers a question is often more expensive in aggregate than model training. Consider, for example, that Google spent an estimated $191 million to train one of its flagship Gemini models certainly a princely sum. But if the company were to use a model to generate just 50-word answers to half of all Google Search queries, itd spend roughly $6 billion a year.Major AI labs have embraced training models on massive datasets under the assumption that scaling up increasing the amount of data and compute used in training will lead to increasingly more capable AI.For example, Meta trained Llama 3 on a set of 15 trillion tokens. (Tokens represent bits of raw data; 1 million tokens is equal to about 750,000 words.) The previous generation, Llama 2, was trained on only 2 trillion tokens. In early December, Meta released a new model, Llama 3.3 70B, which the company says improves core performance at a significantly lower cost.Evidence suggests that scaling up eventually provides diminishing returns; Anthropic and Google reportedly recently trained enormous models that fell short of internal benchmark expectations. But theres little sign that the industry is ready to meaningfully move away from these entrenched scaling approaches.How precise, exactly?So, if labs are reluctant to train models on smaller datasets, is there a way models could be made less susceptible to degradation? Possibly. Kumar says that he and co-authors found that training models in low precision can make them more robust. Bear with us for a moment as we dive in a bit.Precision here refers to the number of digits a numerical data type can represent accurately. Data types are collections of data values, usually specified by a set of possible values and allowed operations; the data type FP8, for example, uses only 8 bits to represent a floating-point number.Most models today are trained at 16-bit or half precision and post-train quantized to 8-bit precision. Certain model components (e.g., its parameters) are converted to a lower-precision format at the cost of some accuracy. Think of it like doing the math to a few decimal places but then rounding off to the nearest 10th, often giving you the best of both worlds.Hardware vendors like Nvidia are pushing for lower precision for quantized model inference. The companys new Blackwell chip supports 4-bit precision, specifically a data type called FP4; Nvidia has pitched this as a boon for memory- and power-constrained data centers. But extremely low quantization precision might not be desirable. According to Kumar, unless the original model is incredibly large in terms of its parameter count, precisions lower than 7- or 8-bit may see a noticeable step down in quality. If this all seems a little technical, dont worry it is. But the takeaway is simply that AI models are not fully understood, and known shortcuts that work in many kinds of computation dont work here. You wouldnt say noon if someone asked when they started a 100-meter dash, right? Its not quite so obvious as that, of course, but the idea is the same:The key point of our work is that there are limitations you cannot navely get around, Kumar concluded. We hope our work adds nuance to the discussion that often seeks increasingly low precision defaults for training and inference.Kumar acknowledges that his and his colleagues study was at relatively small scale they plan to test it with more models in the future. But he believes that at least one insight will hold: Theres no free lunch when it comes to reducing inference costs.Bit precision matters, and its not free, he said. You cannot reduce it forever without models suffering. Models have finite capacity, so rather than trying to fit a quadrillion tokens into a small model, in my opinionmuch more effort will be put into meticulous data curation and filtering, so that only the highest quality data is put into smaller models. I am optimistic that new architectures that deliberately aim to make low precision training stable will be important in the future.This story originally published November 17, 2024, and was updated on December 23 with new information.

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The Climate Museum is the first in the U.S. dedicated to telling the past, present, and future of global warming. It was founded in 2015, and, to date, has set up its operations and programming in a handful of temporary headquarters. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Trust for Governors Island, and Parsons/The New School have partnered with the Climate Museum on various projects, to name but a few collaborators. Now, FXCollaborative is designing a new purpose-built home for the Climate Museum at 418 11th Avenue in Manhattan, a press release stated. The space will be 24,000 square feet and located on the ground floor of a new two-tower development underway at Hudson Yards.The Climate Museum will be built on the ground floor of a $1.35 billion development called Hudson, or HDSN in short. HDSN will be at Site K, an undeveloped plot between West 35th and 36th Streets. BRP Companies, BXP, The Moinian Group, and Urbane Development are the developers behind Site K.The 24,000-square-foot space will host programming of all sorts related to climate change. (Courtesy FXCollaborative)Renderings of the Climate Museums new home by FXCollaborative show ample space for all sorts of programming to unfold. The FXCollaborative team is thrilled to design a welcoming, inspiring space for the Climate Museum that empowers climate progress and serves as a model for the sustainable future we can create together, noted Dan Kaplan, a senior partner at FXCollaborative. Exterior renderings show the museum nestled into the ground floor of the tower, which is faced with faceted copper-colored panels. These panels are more pronounced on the lower levels and take on a thinner articulation on the upper floors. Outside the building, there will be a large cobblestone walkway with patches of greenery and rectangular seating benches as part of a pedestrian-forward design scheme.The Museums prominent location straddling Hudson Yards and the Javits Center is a fitting location for a compelling public forum for New Yorkers and visitors to face this all-important issue, Kaplan continued.Rendering of HDSN at Site K in Hudson Yards (Courtesy FXCollaborative)The critical work taking place at the Climate Museum dovetails with the intellectual, creative, and social values of The New School, and the Museum has been an invaluable resource for our students and faculty. Were absolutely delighted to deepen our partnership, added Joel Towers, The New School president. Ill add that, having served previously as a founding trustee of the Museum, I couldnt be happier that even more members of the public will now have access to the Museums transformative programs.

Kerry Wan/ZDNETIf you're in the market for a new MacBook, you may be wondering which model best suits your needs: the MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air. Apple consistently refreshes its lineup, adding new configurations every year, and with more powerful processors coming out, there have never been more factors to consider when buying a new Apple laptop.Also: M3 MacBook Air vs. M2 MacBook Air: Which Apple laptop should you buy?When buying a MacBook, you'll want to consider the display size, storage capacity, computing power, and price. For example, the 2022 13-inch and 2024 13-inch MacBook Airmay appear similar, but they have different chips, meaning the laptops vary in performance, efficiency, and battery life.The most recent MacBook Pro models house Apple's M4 chips, which are more efficient and capable than the M3 SoC (system on a chip). Meanwhile, the MacBook Air laptops still use the previous generation -- the M3. Think of yourself as Goldilocks -- you're presented with five different MacBook models, and you must find the one that's just right for you.Before you decide which one to buy, let's cover the main differences between the Pro and the Air.What's the difference between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air?There are major differences between the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. The biggest is in pricing and computing power. The most affordable M4 MacBook Pro is more expensive than the cheapest M3 MacBook Air, but it makes up for it with better performance.Apple's M4 MacBook Pro models have additional unified memory, long battery life, extra ports (including three Thunderbolt 4 inputs and an SD card slot), and a more sophisticated hardware setup than their Air counterparts. There are two MacBook Pro display sizes: 14-inch and 16-inch, and they house different M4 chips. Also: How we test laptops at ZDNETThe 14-inch model only offers the M4 chip, while the 16-inch option can have either the M4 Pro or M4 Max. All three chips perform great, although there are notable differences. For example, the M4 Max has a "powerful Media Engine."Each one also has a different number of cores. The standard M4 has a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. Apple's M4 Pro houses a 14-core CPU and a 20-core GPU. The M4 Max has the same processor as the M4 Pro but sports a 32-core GPU instead.Also: I tested the new iMac M4, and one of the standout upgrades is also the least flashyRAM also differs, ranging from 16GB to 48GB. The exact gulf between the M3 and M4 chipsets is unknown, but Apple told ZDNET Editor Kyle Kucharski that the "M4 is 1.3 times faster at handling productivity tasks than the M3."The company also said that the standard M4 MacBook Pro "delivers... up to 1.8x faster [image processing in Affinity Photo] when compared to" the M1 MacBook Pro. The M4 Max laptop goes even further, as it reportedly "delivers up to 3.5x the performance of [the] M1 Max," allowing it to rip through "heavy creative workloads." Here's the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Kerry Wan/ZDNETApple unfortunately discontinued the 13-inch MacBook Pro after releasing the 14-inch MacBook Pro. It's no longer available for purchase on the company's website. You can still find 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets, but they're refurbished.Also: 4 Apple products you shouldn't buy right now (including a popular iPhone model)The M4 MacBook Pro is a solid laptop for most use cases, but if the base chip isn't powerful enough for you, choose either the M4 Pro or M4 Max. Remember that going big with the 16-inch Pro raises the price tag. The 14-inch Pro starts at$1,599and, with chip and internal storage upgrades, can go up to $1,999. The 16-inch Pro starts at$2,499and, with internal upgrades, goes up to $3,999. Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe 13-inch MacBook Air from 2022 only comes with Apple's base M2 chip. Meanwhile, the 2024 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air house the base M3 chip. The lack of Pro and Max chips doesn't mean the Air is a less-than-capable computer. The MacBook Air is thinner and lighter than the Pro because it has less hardware: no HDMI port, SD card slot, or cooling fan. Apple banks on the efficiency of its chips to dissipate heat. Also:M3 MacBook Air review: Apple's AI computer for the masses has arrivedOf course, less hardware means the MacBook Air is less expensive, but you can make a few upgrades. For the M2 Air, you can choose between two chip configurations, one with more GPU cores than the other. An upgraded GPU means your computer can process footage more efficiently, making 4K video editing faster and smoother.Last summer, Apple announced a 15-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chipbut discontinued the device when it introduced the M3 15-inch MacBook Air. Although the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air had a short run, it's still a great option if you're looking for an Air. Unfortunately, you can only buy it refurbished from Apple or at a discounted price on Amazon.Also:The MacBook Air's free RAM upgrade was sneakily the best announcement during Apple's Mac eventThe M3 13-inch Air starts at $999and rises to $1,999 if you max out the internal storage and pick a more powerful GPU. The M3 15-inch Air starts at $1,099 and goes up to $1,699 for the best configuration. It's also worth mentioning that all the M3 MacBook Airs start with 16GB of memory, instead of just 8GB.If you're contemplating buying an M3 MacBook Air and want to know how it compares to the M2 Air models, we compared the specs hereto help you decide which device is best for you.Which MacBook is right for you?The answer mainly depends on how you see yourself using the laptops and how display size and weight factor into that equation. A reliable computer is an investment; you don't want to spend too much on an overqualified laptop, and you don't want to buy a computer that's not powerful enough for your needs.If you're a graphic designer, music producer, professional photographer, videographer, 3D artist, or iOS game and app developer, a MacBook Pro would be the way to go. The Pro models can handle intense graphics processing and more software running in the background without significantly lagging, overheating, or slowing down.If you are a student or someone who spends most of your time in Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, a MacBook Air may be a better fit, as it won't put a burden on your back as you lug it around. If you want a MacBook to casually surf the internet, watch YouTube or Netflix, respond to emails, and FaceTime your friends, then the Air is perfect for you. In fact, if these tasks are the only things that bring you to open your laptop, an M2 Air will work just fine.No matter which model you buy, a MacBook is an excellent device if you want to expand yourpersonal Apple ecosystem with a device that works seamlessly with your iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch, and other products. Handoff, for example, allows you to switch FaceTime calls between your MacBook and iPhone, and your MacBook can easily access your iPhone files, messages, contacts, and photos.Featured reviews