Updated December 25, 12:21 p.m. Pacific: Added details of xAIs valuation and Kingdom Holdings contribution.xAI, Elon Musks AI company, has raised $6 billion in a Series C financing round.The company announced this week that Andreessen Horowitz , Blackrock, Fidelity, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Nvidia, AMD, and others participated.Kingdom Holdings, the Saudipublic filing. The filing also revealed that xAI is now valued at $45 billion, close to double its previous valuation.The new cash brings xAIs total raised to $12 billion, adding to the $6 billion tranche xAI raised in May. According to the Financial Times, only investors whod backed xAI in its previous fundraising round were permitted to participate in this one. Reportedly, investors who helped finance Musks Twitter acquisition were given access to up to 25% of xAIs shares.xAIs most powerful model yet is currently training and we are now focused on launching innovative new consumer and enterprise products, xAI said in a statement. The funds from this financing round will be used to further accelerate our advanced infrastructure, ship groundbreaking products and accelerate research and development.Ramping up AIMusk formed xAI last year. Soon after, the company releasedGrok, a flagship generative AI model that now powers a number of features on X, including a chatbot accessible to X Premium subscribers and free users in some regions.Grok has what Musk has described as a rebellious streak a willingness to answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems. Told to be vulgar, for example, Grok will happily oblige, spewing profanities and colorful language you wont hear fromChatGPT.Musk has derided ChatGPT and other AI systems for being too woke and politically correct, despite Groks own unwillingness to cross certain boundaries and hedge on political subjects. Hes also referred to Grok as maximally truth-seeking and less biased than competing models, although theres evidence to suggest that Grok leans to the left.Over the past year, Grok has become increasingly ingrained in X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. At launch, Grok was only available to X users and developers skilled enough to get the open source edition up and running.Thanks to anintegrationwith xAIs in-house image generation model, Aurora, Grok can generate images on X (without guardrails, controversially). The model can analyze images as well, and summarize news and trending events imperfectly, mind.Reports indicate that Grok mayhandle even more X functions in the future, from enhancingXs search capabilities andaccount bios to helping with post analytics and reply settings. X recently got a Grok button designed to help users discover relevant context and dive deeper into trending discussions and real-time events.xAI is sprinting to catch up to formidable competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic in the generative AI race. The company launched an API in October, allowing customers to build Grok into third-party apps, platforms, and services. And it just rolled out a standalone Grok iOS app to a test audience.Musk asserts that it hasnt been a fair fight.In a lawsuit filed against OpenAI and Microsoft, OpenAIs close collaborator, attorneys for Musk accuse OpenAI of actively trying to eliminate competitors like xAI by extracting promises from investorsnot to fund them. OpenAI, Musks counsel says, also unfairly benefits from Microsofts infrastructure and expertise in what the attorneys describe as a de facto merger.Yet Musk often says that Xs data gives xAI a leg up compared to rivals. Last month, Xchangedits privacy policy to allow third parties, including xAI, to train models on X posts.Musk, its worth noting, was one of the original founders of OpenAI, and left the company in 2018 after disagreements over its direction. Hes argued in previous suits that OpenAI profited from his early involvement yet reneged on its nonprofit pledge to make the fruits of its AI research available to all.OpenAI, unsurprisingly, disagrees with Musks interpretation of events. In a mid-December press release, the company characterized Musks lawsuit as misleading, baseless, and a case of sour grapes.An xAI ecosystemxAI has outlined a vision according to which its models would be trained on data from Musks various companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, and the models could then improve technology across those companies. xAI is already powering customer support for SpaceXs Starlink internet service, according to The Wall Street Journal, and the startup is said to be in talks with Tesla to provide R&D in exchange for some of the carmakers revenue.Tesla shareholders, for one, object to these plans. Several have sued Muskover his decision to start xAI, arguing that Musk hasdiverted both talent and resourcesfrom Tesla to whats essentially a competing venture.Nevertheless, the deals and xAIs developer and consumer-facing products have driven xAIs revenue to around $100 million a year. For comparison, Anthropic is reportedly on pace to generate $1 billion in revenue this year, and OpenAI is targeting $4 billion by the end of 2024.Musk said this summer that xAI is training the next generation of Grok models at its Memphis data center, which was apparently built in just 122 days and is currently powered partly by portable diesel generators. The company hopes to upgrade the server farm, which contains 100,000 Nvidia GPUs, next year; in a press release, xAI said it plans to fully double that number. (Because of their ability to perform many calculations in parallel, GPUs are the favored chips for training and running models.)In November, xAI won approval from the regional power authority in Memphis for 150MW of additional power enough to power roughly 100,000 homes. To win the agency over, xAI pledged to improve the quality of the citys drinking water and provide the Memphis grid with discounted Tesla-manufactured batteries. But some residents criticized the move, arguing it would strain the grid and worsen the areas air quality.Tesla is also expected to use the upgraded data center to improve its autonomous driving technologies.xAI has expanded quite rapidly from an operations standpoint in the year since its founding, growing from just a dozen employees in March 2023 to over 100 today. In October, the startup moved into OpenAIs old corporate offices in San Franciscos Mission neighborhood.xAI has reportedly told investors it plans to raise more money next year.It wont be the only AI lab raising immense cash. Anthropic recently secured $4 billion from Amazon, bringing its total raised to $13.7 billion, while OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in October to grow its war chest to $17.9 billion.Megadeals like OpenAIs and Anthropics drove AI venture capital activity to $31.1 billion across over 2,000 deals in Q3 2024, per PitchBook data.TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter!Sign up hereto get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Meta Quest 3MetaReceived a Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S for Christmas? You lucky thing. Its one of the few pieces of tech that could truly increase the fun factor during a holiday break, alongside a PlayStation 5 Pro.Wondering what you should actually play on it? Theres good news.Meta has a sale on at the moment, and there are some killer titles in there that should be part of almost every Meta Quest owners library.Below youll find a list of recommendations for new Quest 3 and Quest 3S owners (Quest 2 owners are invited too), most of which are part of Metas seasonal sale.Batman: Arkham ShadowBatman: Arkham Shadow MetaIf you have a new Quest 3 or Quest 3S, it includes Batman: Arkham Shadow, one of the most high-profile Meta VR releases in years. This is effectively a virtual reality take on the Arkham console games, considered some of the best superhero tie-in titles ever made. You are Batman, and play in first-person, punching, pushing and bataranging enemies and taking on whole crowds of baddies. Its not just combat either, with puzzles and exploration too.MORE FOR YOU7th Guest7th Guest screenshotMetaA masterclass in VR immersion, this atmospheric but not scary horror-themed adventure puzzler is based on an FMV game from 1993. As you progress you open up more rooms in the games mansion, while spectral visions of the past unravel a mysterious story. The meat is the puzzles, several of which are found in each room, and they have a great sense of physicality that proves the value of VR.Assassins Creed NexusAssassin's Creed: NexusUbisoftMapping a full console style parkour game onto VR sounds like a recipe for nausea but this is a remarkable success at bringing the appeal of the console games to Meta Quest. The environments and stealthy traversal are great, even if the combat is something you may want to avoid when you can. Just like the older Assassin's Creed games, then.Superhot VRSuperhot VR screenshotMetaOne of the classics of VR, Superhot has been around for the better part of a decade. But it has ages beautifully, in part thanks to the super-stylised graphics on show. In each level you have to take down a series of enemies, requiring a precision James Bond or Ethan Hunt would be proud of. But its all possible because time only moves forward when you yourself make a move.Walkabout Mini GolfWalkabout Mini GolfMetaThis is one of the most fun multiplayer experiences you can have in VR. The title says a lot of what you need to know. You and up to seven other people play mini golf in daring courses way more out-there than anything youd see in real life. Its highly creative and just pure fun. There are also loads of DLC courses, should you get stuck into the experience.The Room VRThe Room VRmetaThe Room was already one of the best iPhone games. Now its one of the best VR games. Its an escape-the-room-style title where one intricate puzzle leads onto the next. You can finish it in around four hours and theres not masses of replay value here, but the quality level throughout is excellent.Red Matter 2Red Matter 2 screenshotmetaA proper sci-fi adventure that immerses like few other titles. You play an agent who has to explore a moon base (and more) during a time of futuristic cold war. It features great puzzles and exploration, and a top sense of being rooted in the environment. Theres a bit of combat too, which isnt really the focus, but it doesnt detract from this VR classic. The original Red Matter is worth playing too.BonelabBonelabMetaSome may find a lot of VR games feel a bit stiff and prescriptive, not really making the most of the fidelity of movement you can make in VR. Bonelab is nothing like that. Its a riotous physics simulation sandbox. Bonelab is strange, a bit janky in parts abut it does have a multi-hour campaign to get you introduced to what is a VR toy box that is many peoples favourite VR game.Blade & Sorcery: NomadBlade & Sorcery: NomadMetaThis isnt part of Metas Christmas and New Year sale, but it is one of the most notable VR games to date. Disclaimer: this one is absolutely not for kids. It features quite brutal physics-based combat. Much like Bonelad, the key draw is this isnt fighting that asks you to swipe a hand in the right direction, at the right moment. You can improvise, and the results are generally what you might imagine they would be.

Find the links between the words to win today's game of Connections.gettyLooking for Wednesdays Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:Hey, everyone! I hope youre making the most of this holiday week.Ive been trying to squeeze some gaming in here and there, but Im rapidly running out of time to play everything I had on my list to check out before the end of the year. Even though its still in flux, I think my best games of 2024 list is shaping up nicely, and Im looking forward to sharing that in the New Year.Before we get started, Ive started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. Im always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! Its fun.Its also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.Todays NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, December 26, are coming right up.How To Play ConnectionsConnections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.MORE FOR YOUYoure presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.Theres only one solution for each puzzle, and youll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and youre incorrect, youll lose a life. If youre close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that youre one word away from getting it right, but youll still need to figure out which one to swap.If you make four mistakes, its game over. Lets make sure that doesnt happen with the help of some hints, and, if youre really struggling, todays Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, its easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publications Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.What Are Todays Connections Hints?Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of todays Connections groups, Ill reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.Todays 16 words are...TIDYALAHANDSOMEELDERSPRUCELIKEPINEMISSHEALTHYROUGHLYARKPALMABOUTRESPECTABLEOREAROUNDAnd the hints for todays Connections groups are:Yellow group more or lessGreen group large floraBlue group plentyPurple group certain locations, for shortWhat Are Todays Connections Groups?Need some extra help?Be warned: were starting to get into spoiler territory.Todays Connections groups are...Yellow group approximatelyGreen group treesBlue group sizeable, as an amountPurple group U.S. state abbreviations, per AP Style GuideWhat Are Todays Connections Answers?Spoiler alert! Dont scroll any further down the page until youre ready to find out todays Connections answers.This is your final warning!Todays Connections answers are...Yellow group approximately (ABOUT, AROUND, LIKE, ROUGHLY)Green group trees (ELDER, PALM, PINE, SPRUCE)Blue group sizeable, as an amount (HANDSOME, HEALTHY, RESPECTABLE, TIDY)Purple group U.S. state abbreviations, per AP Style Guide (ALA, ARK, MISS, ORE)My second perfect game in a row extends my streak to four wins. Here's how I fared:Okay, okay, it wasnt actually a perfect game. I misclicked my first guess and accidentally selected ALA instead of ROUGHLY to get the yellows. The greens were very straightforward too.The blues gave me absolutely no trouble either (though I could see TIDY giving some folks pause here). Not much tomfoolery going on there. That left the purples.I was very glad that the other three groups were relatively easy as I did not get the connection here and probably would have struggled with it. But given a little time to mull it over, I think I might have cracked this code eventually.They related to ALAbama, ARKensas, MISSissippi and OREgon. AP, by the way, refers to the Associated Press, which publishes a style guide to which many U.S. publications adhere.Thats all there is to it for todays Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Fridays game if you need them.P.S. Ive got a few song recommendations that Ive been stockpiling, so lets start jamming through them. For no good reason that I can think of, Ive had the original version of Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane stuck in my head for a while. Its so darn catchy:Have a great day! Make sure to drink enough water! Call someone you love!If youre so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! Its fun there.

What just happened? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted preliminary approval for a pilot project allowing Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC to construct a road using phosphogypsum a radioactive byproduct of fertilizer production on its property in New Wales, Florida. This decision has sparked concern among environmentalists and raised questions about potential health and environmental hazards. Phosphogypsum contains radium, which decays into radon gas. Both are radioactive and known carcinogens, according to the EPA. Historically, the agency has opposed using phosphogypsum in road construction due to the risks it poses to construction workers and future residents living near such roads.But the EPA claims that public exposure to the road will be limited. However, Mosaic has described this effort as part of a broader initiative to "demonstrate the range of ... road construction designs," suggesting that this could be a stepping stone towards more widespread use of phosphogypsum in road construction.As billions of tons of phosphogypsum accumulate, particularly in states like Florida, the search for solutions remains contentious. While some see potential in repurposing the material, opponents argue it poses significant public health risks.The pilot project involves constructing four test road sections, each 500 feet long and 24 feet wide, using phosphogypsum from the New Wales South stack. These sections will contain up to 50% phosphogypsum by weight in a single 10-inch road base layer. For comparison, four control sections without phosphogypsum will also be built.Environmental groups strongly oppose the EPA's decision. Ragan Whitlock, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, called the approval "mind-boggling," citing concerns about risks to road crews and water quality. Whitlock accused the EPA of caving to pressure from the phosphate industry, potentially opening the door to widespread use of hazardous waste in roads nationwide.Phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the phosphate industry, is stored in stacks in the U.S., but globally it's finding increasing reuse in various applications.EPA's timing has also raised eyebrows. A request for public comment on the project was issued on October 9, just hours before Hurricane Milton was expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area as a Category 5 storm. This timing was particularly concerning given the history of environmental issues associated with phosphogypsum stacks during severe weather events. // Related StoriesIn fact, days after Hurricane Milton struck as a Category 3 storm, Mosaic reported that contaminated water had been discharged from its Riverview site into Tampa Bay due to excessive rainfall. This incident underscores the ongoing environmental challenges associated with phosphogypsum storage.The EPA's decision marks a departure from its 1992 stance, which deemed phosphogypsum use in road construction an unacceptable public health risk. Since then, regulations have required phosphogypsum to be stored in stacks on private land due to its cancer risks and other health hazards from radon emissions.Although the EPA insists the risk from this specific project is "extremely low," critics argue it sets a dangerous precedent for future use of phosphogypsum in public infrastructure.

Biden signed a bill making the bald eagle the official national bird of the United States.The bald eagle, an iconic American symbol, was endangered but has since recovered.The bill received bipartisan support and was backed by eagle advocates.One prominent member of American society received a promotion with bipartisan support this holiday season: The bald eagle is now the official bird of the United States, a proclamation nearly 250 years in the making.On Christmas Eve, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that amended title 36 of the United States Code and designated the bald eagle as the official national bird. The bill was sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and co-sponsored by fellow Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith, as well as Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. The bill was introduced on June 20, 2024 which is also National American Eagle Day."The bald eagle has long been a symbol of freedom and patriotism for our nation," Senator Mullin said in a statement touting the bill's passage. "It's only fitting we officially designate the bald eagle the national bird of the United States. I was glad to join my colleagues in leading this bipartisan effort and appreciate the House's swift consideration."Bald eagles have had a long and somewhat rocky history in the US. The bird was officially adopted as part of the country's Great Seal in 1782 and has since become synonymous with patriotism and other American values. But bald eagles teetered on the verge of extinction in the 1900s, and the species was designated as endangered in 1967. Since then, the species has soared to recovery; as of 2020, there were 316,700 bald eagles in the US, although over 40 bald eagles succumbed to bird flu in 2022. More recently, bald eagles have made headlines for adopting rocks, stealing pizza, and fostering abandoned chicks.The move to officially enter the bald eagle into law drew support from eagle advocates, who have been pushing for the measure. A press release from The National Eagle Center crowed "The Bald Eagle Is Ready To Spread It Wings And Soar As The Country's Official Bird.""This is an exciting day. The Bald Eagle has symbolized American ideals since its placement on the Great Seal in 1782," Preston Cook, the cochair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center and author of "American Eagle A Visual History of Our National Emblem," said in a statement. "With this legislation, we honor its historic role and solidify its place as our national bird and an emblem of our national identity."

Swiss snowboarder Sophie Hediger died in an avalanche in Arosa, Switzerland.Hediger was snowboarding with a companion, who alerted rescue services. She was found buried under the snow.She was a rising star, securing World Cup podiums in the 2023-2024 season.Sophie Hediger, who represented Switzerland in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, died in an avalanche in Arosa, Switzerland on Monday. She was 26.According to a police report, Hediger was snowboarding with another person on a closed black diamond slope in Arosa, a town and a resort in eastern Switzerland. She left the closed slope and was caught in an avalanche.Hediger's companion contacted rescue services, who found her buried under the snow about two hours later. Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful, and she died at the scene.The Zurich native had been making waves in the snowboarding world, securing her first two World Cup podium finishes in the 2023-2024 season. In late January, she placed second in a Word Cup race in her home country. The next month, she earned third at an event in Gudauri in Georgia.She also represented Switzerland at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in snowboard cross.Walter Reusser, the chief executive of Swiss Ski, said in a statement, "For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays. We are immeasurably sad. We will honor Sophie's memory."Tributes from teammates, coaches, and fans poured in following the news of her death.Hediger's teammate and friend Aline Albrecht wrote on Instagram, "With you I lose my best friend."Another teammate, Sina Siegenthaler, wrote: "Keep on shredding in the clouds."The Swiss snowboard cross team mourned the loss of their athlete.Oxess, who makes the board that Hediger used, wrote, "Her passion for the mountains and her dedication to the sport touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing her."

Recruiters say Wall Street firms are planning to hire more tech talent next year.Jobs at AI companies like Nvidia and OpenAI, or ones that work with their products, are highly sought after.Recruiters Ben Hodzic and Matt Stabile outline how jobseekers can stand out in the hiring process.It's been a tough year for software engineers on the job market, but one bright spot is starting to emerge on Wall Street for technologists looking for a new gig.Banks, hedge funds, and investment firms bullish on AI are expected to hire more tech talent in the new year, according to two headhunters who recruit engineers and data scientists for finance firms. That's good news for jobseekers in these sectors, which were long considered to be recession-proof careers but were hit this year with waves of layoffs, job freezes, and hiring cutbacks.Ben Hodzic, a managing director at recruitment firm Selby Jennings who finds talent for hedge funds and investment banks, told Business Insider there's "a lot of optimism" around AI in financial services. "Financial services institutions are slowly adopting their workflows and they've come to a reality where you need the right talent to actually build and implement and manage those products," he said.In some cases, the hiring spree is already happening. Jamie Dimon, the boss of America's biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, said earlier this year that he's anticipating adding thousands of jobs related to AI in the next few years. Hedge fund and proprietary-trading firms are shelling out as much as $350,000 in annual salaries for top-tier AI researchers and engineers. Meanwhile, private-equity firms have been "clamoring" to hire AI operating executives to improve their portfolio companies.Hodzic said the rosier outlook stems from a desire to build AI tools in-house and boost worker productivity in areas like wealth advisory, investment banking, and trading. More clarity on the direction of macroeconomic factors, like inflation and the impacts of the US election, is also providing tailwinds for banks looking to invest in human capital in 2025, he said.While AI is expected to drive an uptick in tech hiring, the technology is also changing what it takes to get a tech job on Wall Street. BI spoke with recruiters to find out how candidates should adapt and what they need to do to stand out. They outlined some of the industry's most in-demand skills, explained why having Big Tech experience might not get you that far anymore, and shared the companies that hiring managers want to see on resumes. They declined to disclose specific client activity due to privacy agreements.Here's what software engineers need to know to get hired on Wall Street

Doctor Who fans are getting an extra special treat under the Christmas tree today with the arrival of Joy to the World, this years special holiday episode. But theyre getting an even better present wrappedwithin it: because beyond the broad festive wrappings of the episode, this bigger-on-the-inside adventure has a side story that could stand alone as a fantastic episode ofWho in its own rights. About a third of the way into its run time Joy to the World takes a sideways step. After setting up the Time Hotel the Doctor is staying ata business of myriad gateways currently set to send guests to every Christmas in historywere quickly whisked through a bunch of those doorways as he follows a strange suitcase hopping between handcuffed, seemingly vacant hosts. The Doctor and the briefcases current host, a Silurian manager at the hotel, find themselves going through a door into Christmas 2024 in London, where they both meet a young woman named Joy in her run-down hotel room. Some chaos later, the Doctor discovers the suitcase is somehow disintegrating hosts after it hops to a new one: the Silurian dies and Joy is latched onto as the briefcases latest carrier, making her chant ominous warnings about a star seed blooming. Before the Doctor can get a real grasp of whats going on with the suitcase the Doctor walks through the door. This Doctor, from some point in the future, brushes off his predecessors annoyance at him not providing any information about how to solve the mystery of the briefcase, as he begins to whisk Joy out of the room and leave our Doctor, forced to figure things out the long way around. The door slams shut, and we stay on the perspective of our Doctor, who realizes that hes now stuck in 2024 with no TARDIS and no way back for a whole year.What follows is an extended sequence that is brimming with the potential to be a killer episode of Doctor Who in its own right. With no money or place to stay, the Doctor has to offer his services to the manager of the hotel, Anita (Steph de Whalley, in a genuinely fantastic supporting turn), doing odd jobs, renting out whatwas Joys room. The Doctor is working on trying to figure out the suitcase in his downtime, sure, but hes still forced to sit moment to moment, in one place, and actually live out a life he usually doesnt have to experience. This is not an ideaDoctor Who is entirely unfamiliar with, of course. The first half of much of the Third Doctors entire existence was built on the premise that the Doctor was exiled on contemporary Earth and forced to make do for himself, but he was still regularly going on adventures in his capacities as UNITs scientific adviser. The Fourteenth Doctors arc concludes with him being granted the grace to exist and live out a life with Donna and her family, freed from the need to be the Doctor. Steven Moffat in particular, who wrote Joy to the World, was fascinated with the idea throughout his tenure as showrunner; episodes like The Lodger, The Power of Three, and even a prior holiday special, The Husbands of River Song, all tackle the idea of the Doctor, either through choice or circumstance, momentarily giving up his life as a wanderer in the fourth dimension to live normally.But in contrast to this sequence in Joy to the World, those past episodes only really examine them in abstract, the fact that the Doctor is spending a disproportionate amount of time in one place, in one moment, largely in the background against the actual reason for it. And that is, honestly, because Doctor Who is a show we all watch to see the Doctor traveling through time and space, fighting monsters, and saving worlds from calamitous destruction. Making him live a normal human life is a rarity because, as the Doctor initially bristles himself here, its just kind of a bit boring for a sci-fi action adventure show. And yet, for a good third of the episodeand arguably the episode at its bestwe are asked to sit with the Doctor as he lives out this year, getting to know Anita better, getting to know what its like to live like this, better, to the point that when the time comes that his year is up and he has to say good bye to his new friend, its almost as heartbreaking as losing a companion. There is no grand threat or mystery, the Doctor isnt even particularly counting down the clock, even if he knows he has Joys room at the hotel booked for just a year, instead the whole sequence becomes about exploring the potential of this different lens into the Doctors life and sense of being.Crucially too, its a necessary period of healing for this particular Doctor, to make a friend and then part ways with them in this way. Not simply because the last season of Doctor Who really struggled with its domestic element to make the Doctor and Ruby feel like the friends the series constantly told us they were, but because its not with Joy, the de facto companion of the special that the Fifteenth Doctor processes his loneliness after parting ways with Ruby. Its only with Anita, and its her connection and inspiration that pushes him to move forward in the wake of losing his first friend, one of the first people he imprinted on in this incarnation. Again, this is something past holiday specials have touched on tooThe Runaway Bride and the Tenth Doctors feelings over Rose, and Voyage of the Damned and the, uh, Tenth Doctors feelings over Marthabut their ultimate conclusion are reminders that the Doctor needs someone to share adventures with. For a moment, and at is brightest, Joy to the World asks us and the Doctor alike if life itself is the adventure he needs to share with someone, rather than Time and Space.You can now watch Doctor Whos Joy to the World on Disney+ around the world, and on the BBC in the UK and Ireland. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

The Pages Residence / SommetSave this picture! Paul RenaudHousesSanta Cruz de la Sierra, BoliviaArchitects: SommetAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:420 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 ManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Aluminier, AutoCAD, Knauf, Ramon Soler, Roca, VASA Lead Architects: Sebastin Fernndez de Crdova, Mariano Donoso, Erika Peinado, Sandra Molteni More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The Pages residence is located within a gated community on the outskirts of Santa Cruz. The property faces a green area of the community, allowing for open views from the house.Save this picture!Save this picture!The project was designed with a 120x120 cm module, which determines the specific sizes of each space in the house, as well as the circulation and the interior-exterior relationship of the design. The approach is straightforward and simple, as it embraces the irregularity of the land, creating a distinctive gesture in the formal image of the house.Save this picture!The final image of the project is essentially a direct expression of the construction system, presented almost literally. It features two horizontal planes supported by inverted beams, screen walls, and a bidirectional lightened slab with a BubbleDeck system. This creates a sense of material regularity both inside and outside the house. This apparent regularity in the design is disrupted at the entrance and garage by a large 6.5-meter cantilever, resolved through the inverted beams that support the slab, breaking the projects regularity.Save this picture!The project uses a limited palette of materials, such as concrete, wood, and glass. This material consistency encapsulates the entire project, fostering a sense of peace and tranquility inside. The design carefully considers orientation, with large cantilevers extending toward the green area to provide open views and protect the interior from sunlight. The horizontal planes define the overall image of the project, conveying the fluid interior-exterior connection that characterizes the house.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeSommetOfficeMaterialConcreteMaterials and TagsPublished on December 25, 2024Cite: "The Pages Residence / Sommet" [Casa Pages / Sommet] 25 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1024061/the-pages-residence-sommet&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

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