The pornographic website PornHub is adding Florida to its list of states to block starting next year. Gizmodo reported that Floridians who visited the porn website recently were greeted with a warning that says You will lose access to PornHub in 14 days thanks to a new state law that requires an ID to visit the website.PornHub has already blocked a number of states from accessing its wealth of sexually explicit content because of new state laws that require visitors to provide a valid government ID to verify their age for access. Floridas legislature passed its porn ID law and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on March 25 as part of a series of regulations intended to protect minors from explicit materials. The adult entertainment trade association The Free Speech Coalition is fighting Floridas law in federal court, according to The Florida Times-Union.Florida will become the 13th state to institute an age verification law for adult websites. Florida follows Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, North Carolina, Mississippi, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Nebraska that all have ID verification laws on its books.Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing [the states] stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors, according to the official PornHub blogThe PornHub blog also states that the company is concerned about the safety and welfare of children but the idea of using identification creates more risks with users safety and privacy. The Louisiana law in particular has no state regulator overseeing the new laws implementation which results in a flawed enforcement regime, the PornHub blog states.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/pornhub-is-breaking-up-with-florida-202650152.html?src=rss

PlayStation Lead Architect Mark Cerny is back again to explain the nitty-gritty details of how the PlayStation 5 Pro achieves its various graphical improvements. Cerny first introduced the PS5 Pro in September and in a new 37-minute video, he gets into how the Pros improved GPU uses tech from AMD and announces a deeper collaboration between Sony and the chip maker.The PS5 uses AMDs RDNA 2 GPU architecture originally released in 2020, while the PS5 Pro uses what Cerny refers to in the video as RDNA 2.X. The new GPU is a mixture of what was already offered on the PS5, with some cherry-picked features from the more advanced RDNA 3 architecture AMD introduced in 2022. Thats paired with ray tracing techniques that Cerny says are from future RDNA tech on AMDs roadmap, and custom machine learning features created for the PS5 Pro. Those machine learning components are also apparently a key part of AMD and Sonys future work together.AMD has been a fantastic partner for SIE for many years now, Cerny says. And Im honored to announce that we have begun a deeper collaboration with a focus on machine learning-based technology for graphics and gameplay.Amethyst, the name the companies chose for their new project together, is primarily concerned with creating a more ideal architecture for machine learning, according to Cerny. The new hardware architectures the companies are developing could benefit future consoles and AMDs own GPUs, but theyre just one part of the plan. Sony and AMD are also working towards the democratization of machine learning, which sounds like possible software tools to make it easier for developers to implement AI in gameplay and graphics.The whole video is jam-packed with information on the thinking and engineering that went into the PS5 Pro and worth a watch if youre looking for more detail on what Pro means in this case. It might not convince you to upgrade to the new $700 console, but it certainly makes the case that Sony didnt take designing it lightly.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstations-mark-cerny-did-a-deep-dive-on-the-ps5-pro-and-sonys-new-partnership-with-amd-193613727.html?src=rss

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This holiday season, the last thing my coworkers and I wanted to do was go on strikebut this week Starbucks has left us no other choice.As baristas, we make Starbucks run. Were the reason the company hit record-breaking salesin its fourth quarter last yearand yet Starbucks continues to fail to invest in us, choosing to cut our hours rather than give us more support on the floor as we struggle to fulfill thousands of ever-more-complicated drink orders every day.When I started working as a barista at Starbucks almost 18 years ago, I was drawn in by the companys warm atmosphere and commitment to building community. As a barista, I loved being able to connect with our customers, along with the dozens of amazing baristas Ive been honored to work alongside. But lately that connection has been strained by the impossible workload my colleagues and I have been saddled with due to understaffing across stores.Working at a drive-through store where there are a maximum of four baristas on the floor at one time, each of us is expected to do the job of multiple people. And the work multiplies when the holidays bring in a flood of customers, making things far from merry for the skeleton crew often tasked to handle the chaos with a smile on our faces. Its no wonder customersespecially younger customersare turning away from Starbucks, finding other options, and spending their hard-earned money elsewhere.On top of dealing with the stress of understaffing at my store, I wake up every day fearing that my hours are going to be cut. I make just a little over $18 an hourthats far from a livable wage in Urbana, Illinois, where an average one-bedroom apartment costs $1,125 a month to rent. Thats especially true when I have to beg my manager to ensure Im scheduled for at least 20 hours of work a week. If I dont meet those 20 hours every week, I could lose my benefits and the health insurance I rely on to care for my three children, including my 10-year-old daughter, who has type 1 diabetes. For me, ensuring Im able to get enough hours is literally a life-or-death situation. My daughter needs her insulin.Starbucks Workers United members picket outside a Starbucks store in Chicago on December 20, 2024. [Photo: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg/Getty Images]When the opportunity came around to organize my store last year, I immediately jumped at it. I was proud to join the thousands of Starbucks workers organizing with the union to win a voice on the job, living wages, and the protections and staffing we need to be able to make Starbucks the great place it used to be.And Im just as proud to be joining baristas across the country this week as we go on strike to protest the companys unfair labor practices and show executives that their behavior at the bargaining table wont fly and that weand our customersdeserve better. Its great the company has invested in leadership at the topnow its time for Starbucks to pay us what were worth, and to move toward resolving the hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practice charges its still facing for violating labor law during the unions national organizing campaign.After union partners put forth a bargaining proposal last month to double parental leave for retail employees, the company declared just weeks later it is expanding leave to all baristasshowing that when our union organizes and speaks out together, we can deliver results for all baristas. But our work is far from over, and isolated policies alone cant fix our workplaces. (Starbucks did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.)How did we get here? Less than two weeks before the companys end-of-year deadline to bargain a foundational framework for contracts with our unionone that would transform the lives of more than 11,000 Starbucks baristas across the countryit proposed an economic package this month with no new wage increases for union baristas now and a guarantee of only 1.5% in future years.Just think about that. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccols pay package is worth $57,000 an houron top of his salarya shocking 10,000 times what the median barista makes. In the same year that Starbucks gave Niccol a $113 million golden greeting, the company had the audacity to tell usthe very baristas who fuel its profitsthat theres no money to invest in our raises.We entered an agreement back in February to bargain a foundational frameworkthe company said repeatedly that it wanted one finalized by December 2024. A part of that framework included resolving outstanding legal issues with union baristas. Yet Starbucks has failed to fully resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges. And it has not brought a viable economic proposal to the table. Starbucks did not put forth a real raise for baristas over the past three months of bargaining meetings.These walkouts, over unresolved unfair labor practice charges and the companys failure to offer a serious economic package, are just the beginning. Starbucks cant turn its business around without baristas like us. We want to partner with the company to return Starbucks to its storied past. Were ready to consider proposals that include meaningful raises for union workers and resolve the outstanding unfair labor practices. Starbucks, its your move.

Alex Morgan doesnt like the word retirement. Ive been saying post-playing career, she said, because retirement makes it sound like Im old. Its definitely more of a transition.Morgan, 35, announced her retirement in September, along with the news that shes pregnant with her second child. In her 15-year career, Morgan was prolific on the pitch, scoring 123 goals for the U.S. Womens National Team (fifth-most all-time) and winning two World Cups, an Olympic gold medal, four Concacaf Player of the Year awards, and many more accolades along the way.Perhaps more importantly, her career spanned a period of meteoric growth in womens sports that saw breakthroughs in gender equality, with Morgan at the fore of some of the most crucial efforts. In 2016, she was part of a group of USWNT players who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over inequality in pay and treatment in U.S. womens soccer. In 2022, the results of that filing required men and women to be paid an equal rate for all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup. She also fought for anti-harassment policies in the National Womens Soccer League, helping transform team-player relations for a league that eventually grew to set valuation and attendance records in 2024.Morgan recently talked to Fast Company about her retirementwhat it looks like for her, how shes navigated the process, and how shes continuing to support current and future generations of female athletes, on and off the pitch.Fast Company: Its been nearly four months since you announced your retirement. What has life been like, and what does retirement look like for you?Alex Morgan: For me, its been about getting into venture capitaldoing a lot more investing and building my personal portfolio. Ive been doing that quietly for the last four or five years. I have about 15 companies that Ive invested in spanning sports, health tech, and consumer goods. Now, I have my own fund alongside my husband, which has been really exciting, and its something that Ive been able to dedicate a lot more time to.FAST COMPANY: You mentioned you were investing in sports. As an investor, where do you see the most opportunity right now?AM: I think were seeing an incredible opportunity in the WNBA and the NWSL. The valuations of these teams and leagues are continuing to increase. And were seeing it not only here, but in womens sports overseas as well. So what excites me most about my next chapter is that even though Im not able to be on the field, Im able to uplift and support womens sports leagues and teams around the world.FAST COMPANY: You say youre able to support womens sports around the world. How so? What are you doing personally to support these teams and leagues in the U.S. and abroad?AM: I think its an all-around approach. Through my media company, TOGETXER, were working to uplift these women and give them opportunities to share their stories, whether thats through podcasts or short or long-form content. Then theres the investing side and the mentorship and advising roles, which Im still refining to figure out how I can have the biggest impact. Im also continuing to support the NWSL and looking for ways to be most impactful, whether thats with my former team, the San Diego Wave, or the league as a whole. Ive been a big advocate of the NWSL, playing in every season since its inception in 2013.FAST COMPANY: Whats it been like for you to witness the NWSLs tremendous growth over the last 12 years?AM: Its incredible to witness, and to have been part of it. Things really started to turn when we forced the league to be more professional with their standards in 2020 and 2021, pushing the league to adopt anti-harassment policies and regulations that really, at their core, protected players. There was sometimes a power imbalance between coaches or higher-ups and the players, so we wanted players to feel safe and protected and to have control over where they wanted to gowhat city and market they wanted to play in. We wanted them to feel like their contracts were safe for that year and that they couldnt be waived tomorrow and have their contract cut and their [team-provided] housing taken away. I think professionalizing things like that took the league to a whole new level.Now, with the return on investment being so much larger, were seeing all these owners and funds coming in that I never would have imaginedlike Sixth Street [investing $125 million] with Bay FC and Bob Iger and Willow Bay with Angel City FC [valued at $250 million]. Its incredible to see these people not only wanting a piece of the upside in womens soccer but also believing in its trajectory. The players have put in so much to make this work, and seeing it actually successful now is really excitingand validating.FAST COMPANY: You say this is more of a transition than a retirement. Having navigated the process, what advice would you give someone who is going through a similar process of retirement or career transition?AM: The biggest thing Ive learned is that nothing is a steady incline. There were peaks and valleys in my soccer career, and I have them post-career. Getting into venture involves a lot of learning, difficult days, and questioning yourself. Then you get a small win and you celebrate that, and that gives you the motivation to do the next thing. So you celebrate the small wins when you can, but you keep pushing forward and stay on track.The most important thing is dedicating yourself to what youre putting your time and effort into and not giving up when things get hard, because they absolutely will.FAST COMPANY: The landscape of womens sports has changed drastically during your career. How do you think the conversation around mental health has changed?AM: I think athletes want to feel supported. Period. I fought for pay equity, maternity leave, and support for moms as professional athletes. Those are specific needs. But taking care of your overall mental well-being is just as important.Just look at what Powerade is doing now with The Athletes Code, announcing that theyre going to have it written into every athletes contract that they can pause their partnerships to prioritize their mental healthwith continued pay and support, no questions asked. I think its extremely important in the landscape of professional sports. Because athletes do need that support. Every sport is as much mental as it is physical, and taking care of the mental sideeven though you cant see itis just as important as the physical.Its something that I have absolutely needed to do in my career. When I came back after having my first child, it was really mentally drainingnot getting a full nights sleep and having a full-time job while playing for the National Team and Orlando and just trying to do it all at once. It was a lot. And I applaud Powerade for providing the kind of support athletes in those kinds of situations, and in general, require.Having the ability to take a pause without retribution, without consequence, is extremely important because every athlete goes through periods where their sport becomes their identityits how theyre validated in the community, how they value themselves or how others value them. That alone can be mentally draining. So I can see what Powerade is doing having a ripple effect in the sports community.FAST COMPANY: Why is it especially important for female athletes to have this kind of support from their sponsors and partners?AM: From my personal experience, soccer opens a lot of doors to these brand partnerships, but these partnerships actually account for more of my annual compensation than my sport alone. And I think thats the case for a lot of female athletes and athletes who compete on the Olympic stage. A lot of their brand partnerships actually support them financially more than their sport can. So they disproportionately rely on their brand partners.FAST COMPANY: So you think athletes have more support now than ever before?AM: I think the evolution of everything outside of the physical aspect of sport has done a complete 180 from when I entered the game. And I think athletes perform at their best when theyre completely supported. Thats all athletes want. That involves pay equity. It involves accepting and embracing female athletes who want to become moms while staying at the top of their game. And it involves talking about mental health within sports.I feel like we went through a dark time with athletes being vulnerable and then being shamed just because people couldnt see their suffering. But I think were in a good place now, and Im really proud of the work that Ive put inthe work that a lot of my teammates and other athletes have put in, and now the work that the brands are putting into change that.To see that now after playing professionally for 15 years, it feels good to be able to leave the sportat least in a playing senseknowing that not only do I walk away as a world champion and an Olympic champion, but I walk away actually leaving the sport better, and having athletes come into the sport where they feel supported enough to just play and be the best at it. Thats the best feeling for me.

Andrew Ng came up with a theory almost 15 years ago: What if Google, the internet giant, thought of machines like the brain and trained neural networks on mass amounts of data using computational power in an attempt to lead to artificial general intelligence?Google bit on Ngs line of thinking, and in 2011 he helped launch Google Brain, one of the most ambitious artificial intelligence programs at the time. Flash forward: Ng has cemented his status as one of the most respected figures in computer science.Earlier this year, Ngs AI Fund, which backs small teams of experts using AI to solve key problems, said it planned to raise over $120 million for its second fund. A June filing with the SEC showed that the fund had amassed $69.75 million from 13 partners.Ng launched the AI Fund in 2018 with $175 million, and initial backers included Sequoia and Softbank Group. Its made 43 investments to date, according to Crunchbase data.In April, Amazon also named Ng to its corporate board of directors, a further sign the tech giant wants to advance its profile in the space. In addition to his time at Google, Ng helped build out Baidus AI development.Part of Ngs efforts have been getting more people to understand the field of artificial intelligence.Ng has been working for years to democratize deep learning by teaching more than 8 million students through online courses through projects like Coursera and DeepLearning.AI. (More than one in 1,000 persons on the planet have taken an AI course from me, Ng tells Fast Company.)Ngs name has come up again and again in the past year as Ive spoken with people in the tech world. He is not only, as Fast Company put it in 2017, one of the most important people in AI but an AI superstar.This is all to say, Ng can be considered central to AIs future. Now, Ngs thinking about how agentic AI could shift the intelligence space.Earlier this year, Ng put out a prediction through DeepLearning.AI saying that agentic AIessentially, AI-powered agents that can autonomously solve taskswas going to be a big focus in the tech space in the coming years as it would contribute even more to progress in AI than scaling up large language models would.It was a slightly controversial prediction, he says. To be sure, agentic workflows are starting to cement their status as the next keyword.Google, for example, recently announced a slew of agentic prototypes. Microsoft has Copilots to help businesses automate tasks. Anthropics Claude released a feature that lets users create their own AI assistant.Agentic workflows have really taken off and are driving meaningful business results, Ng says. What Im seeing is that it feels like an early and accelerating phase of development of agentic workflows where more and more technology companies are trying to build platforms to better support agentic workflows and more and more applications are also being built using it.This story is part ofAI 20, our monthlong series of profiles spotlighting the most interesting technologists, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and creative thinkers shaping the world of artificial intelligence.

Danish studio CF Mller Architects has completed Tampere Psychiatric Clinic in Finland with calming spaces that are intended to aid with patient wellbeing.Located at the edge of the Tampere University Hospital campus overlooking a pine forest, the 30,000-square-metre facility accommodates 180 patients across a series of brick- and timber-clad forms that hug external courtyards.As in many of its healthcare projects, CF Mller drew on the principles of "healing architecture" - an approach based on research into the impact of architecture on wellbeing that prioritises access to the outdoors, natural materials and daylight.CF Mller Architects has completed a psychiatric clinic in Finland"Every element, from spatial organisation to material choices, was tailored to enhance recovery and wellbeing," said studio partner Maibritt Dammann and associate partner Mrten Leringe."The clinic's placement amidst pine forests and the inclusion of outdoor spaces, such as courtyards and private balconies, highlight the healing benefits of nature, enhancing mental wellbeing and embodying the principles of healing architecture," they told Dezeen.To maximise connections to the outdoors, Tampere Psychiatric Clinic is organised as three U-shaped volumes around a central landscaped courtyard. This is wrapped by an internal "therapy walk" connecting the wards.Its design is based on the principles of "healing architecture"The plan also places administrative spaces in shared cores closer to the centre of the building, meaning patient rooms look outwards to benefit the most from external views.Around the perimeter of the site, each of these U-shaped blocks hugs additional garden spaces, one of which contains an entrance square with steps and a lift.Courtyards wrap around Tampere Psychiatric Clinic"Each ward is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different stages of recovery, balancing communal and private spaces," Dammann and Leringe said."Staff areas are strategically placed for efficiency, ensuring easy accessibility while maintaining a separation from patient zones," they added.Read: Exposed concrete frame creates "resilient" spaces for maritime academy in DenmarkA pale palette of natural materials defines Tampere Psychiatric Clinic's interiors, including wooden panelling and furniture that is complemented by white walls and areas of warm yellow, orange and green tones.Large windows break up the brick exterior of the clinic to ensure that spaces are well-lit even on grey days, with vertical brise soleil providing shade and privacy.Large windows illuminate the clinic's interior"The material palette was inspired by Tampere's industrial heritage, featuring durable and tactile materials like brick, ceramics, and wood," described Dammann and Leringe"These materials provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere while establishing a connection to local history and craftsmanship," they added.Wood panelling and white walls are used throughoutCF Mller Architects was founded by Christian Frederik Mller in 1924.Its other recent projects include a flood defence system doubling as a nature park in Denmark and the headquarters for toy company Lego, which is adorned with giant versions of Lego building blocks.The photography is by Wellu Hamalainen.The post CF Mller Architects uses principles of "healing architecture" for Finnish psychiatric clinic appeared first on Dezeen.

The ingenious design has already won the hearts of fans.