Brandon Riegg has spent the better part of a decade trying to make live TV happen at Netflix. He joined the company in 2016, after stints at NBC, ABC, and VH1, where hed worked on shows like Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, and Americas Got Talent. All those shows were the kind of unscripted reality fare hed been hired to bring to Netflix, but they also incorporated things like live voting to make the whole thing feel more urgent and interactive. I just felt like, if were really trying to be the preeminent entertainment service in the world, Riegg tells me, we should have all the tools at our disposal.So Riegg and Bela Bajaria, another longtime TV executive who joined Netflix around the same time and is now its chief content officer, began making the case around Netflix for why it should invest in the tech required to make live content work. Over and over, they got the same question: What do you want to do with it? And for years, Riegg says, they didnt have a great answer. Id go, Well, I dont have something specific right now, but I want to be able to jump on things that require live capability if those things come up.For years, that shrug of an answer didnt work. But somewhere around two years ago, the energy shifted. We were continuing to talk about how we wanted to have something for everyone, he says, and theres a requirement of live for some programs. For us to do those things, for us to buy those things, we need to have that functionality.Netflix has spent the last two years slowly learning how to do live programming and live streaming. It started with a Chris Rock comedy special last March, which was a technical success and a cultural hit. A few weeks later, it did a live Love Is Blind reunion show, which was such a spectacular disaster that the reunion wound up being filmed and released later. Then there was a live feed of baby gorillas at the Cleveland Zoo, a strange golf event that teamed Formula 1 drivers up with PGA pros, the SAG Awards, a tennis exhibition, a roast of Tom Brady, and John Mulaneys slightly unhinged late night show Everybodys in LA.All that was, in some ways, just practice. Because the real tests of Netflixs live prowess came this fall. First, the Jake Paul / Mike Tyson fight in November, which the company says was watched by more than 65 million Netflix subscribers around the world and had lots of technical difficulties and delays of its own. And next up, two NFL games on Christmas, complete with a Beyonc halftime show. The NFL is the biggest and most valuable entertainment property in the US, and football is the most-watched thing on television by a mile. Netflix is many things, but it is also now a live TV network. And you dont get to screw up football.The Paul / Tyson fight was a big one for Netflix though this photo is a lot clearer than the stream was. Photo by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty ImagesWhen Netflix struggled to keep up with the Paul / Tyson fight, a lot of viewers were surprised. Netflix has been streaming stuff forever shouldnt it be good at this? When I put that question to Elizabeth Stone, Netflixs CTO, she says that streaming live is very different from just streaming. Maybe more different than Netflix itself originally thought.When were streaming video on demand, Stone says, we get the benefit of planning ahead. That content is in its final format; the video, images, audio are in nicely packaged files, and theyve already gone through all the production steps, the encoding steps, theyre ready to be placed on servers around the world through our content delivery network and through internet service providers. This is not trivial work, obviously, but its work Netflix has been doing for two decades. It has seen every problem, come up with every workaround. So when a member clicks play, Stone says, were really ready for them to click play.When youre filming and streaming live, you still have to do all that stuff and more, but you have to do it in real time. The camera feed goes to the production truck, goes to signal ingestion, goes into the cloud to get encoded. We then have to send that through our CDN, through internet service providers, to land on your TV or your phone. And we have seconds to do that. Streaming live, even to one person, is hard. Its doable, of course TV networks, streaming services, and tech companies do it every day but it takes work.Then theres the whole 65 million people thing. Stone laughs when I bring it up. Netflix builds and tests and plans as much as it can, she says, both with real events and by pummeling its infrastructure with fake traffic. But there is no lab in which you can simulate what happens to our systems when 65 million people are watching at the same time. Even on Netflixs all-time busiest days, its not getting that kind of traffic all at once.Stone breaks Netflixs system into two parts. Its a generalization, she says, but its close enough. When you log into Netflix and youre scrolling through the homepage, and youre watching trailers and youre deciding what to watch, thats supported by AWS servers. Netflix is a huge client of Amazons web services, which are the backbone of most of the internet at this point. Its a huge traffic burden just to have tens of millions of people flipping through the app at the same time, but AWS scales pretty well and Stone says that part of Netflix held up even during the fight.Once you press play, though, the system shifts to Netflixs own Open Connect system, which is generally considered the best in the streaming business. Netflix invested heavily in its own infrastructure when it first started doing streaming, but, again: 65 million people. I would argue that any company would have faced challenges at this type of scale, Stone says. We have these tight-knit connection points between our servers, Open Connect appliances, and what Ill call the last mile that ISPs give to devices. All of that was overloaded during the fight.Everybodys in LA was one of Netflixs more recent stabs at live programming. Photo by Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty ImagesAmong the things you cant know until an event starts is whos going to watch, where theyre going to be, and what else might be happening. The internet is a finite thing, with only so much available bandwidth in the cables that connect things; if an event is unexpectedly popular in LA, its going to struggle in LA even if its fine elsewhere. Think of it as the difference between a truck delivering 100 bottles of water vs. having to run a live water hose to 100 people at once, Fastly CEO Anil Dash wrote recently. One problem is about moving some bits from one place to another, the other problem is keeping a live stream running at high volume at a massive scale. When theres not enough water being supplied to all those hoses, everyone gets a little less.Stone agrees the hoses are the challenge. All of the streamers out there, she says, we all face it: how much bandwidth is there? And are we going to need bandwidth at the same moment that many other streamers need bandwidth? Its not like Netflix can dig trenches or run more cables along your phone lines certainly not by Christmas, anyway so all it can do is try to optimize the system as best it can.Since the Paul / Tyson fight, Stone says Netflix has been trying to both increase its capacity and control the flow of bandwidth more effectively. Weve augmented our Open Connect servers, and several of the ISPs have augmented the capacity theyre bringing to the table, she says. Theyre particularly focused on places that were overloaded during the fight, though she doesnt specify which places those are. Internally, the team is also working on optimizing the algorithms that decide how to prioritize traffic and bandwidth.There probably wont be as many people watching football on Christmas as there were for the fight. Its possible no Netflix live event will be that big ever again there arent many one-off cultural moments that command an audience like that. But Stone says shes glad to have seen the system so wildly overtaxed and stressed because now the team knows what happens. It would have taken us a lot longer to get those learnings if we were just slightly turning the dial from some of the earlier live events, she says. By throwing the lever all the way to the end, she thinks Netflix can now be ready for just about anything.Though, to be clear, even Stone wont go so far as to promise the football games will go perfectly. All shell say is she loves a challenge.Netflix is pulling out all the stops for its NFL games, from Beyonc to blimps. Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher / Getty ImagesEven if the Christmas games go well, the Netflix team doesnt get much of a break. On January 6th, it will stream the first episode in a new weekly series: WWE Raw, the flagship wrestling show. Netflix bought the shows rights for $5 billion and is responsible for streaming it for the next decade. In 2027 and 2031, Netflix will also stream the FIFA Womens World Cup. Both have big, built-in interest, and both drive big buzz around the world. Theyre also recurring programs, which will keep subscribers subscribed. That stuff matters to Netflix.Its also just simple math. All the most popular things on TV now are live events: sports, awards shows, that sort of thing. Those are the shows that command the highest viewership and the highest ad rates, and Netflix is now rapidly trying to build its own ad business. Thats why Amazon paid for NFL rights, why Peacock went all-in on the Olympics, and why even the price of the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade is going up. In an increasingly splintered entertainment landscape (which is, of course, partly Netflixs fault), must-see live TV is more valuable than ever.Riegg, who oversees all these content choices, is adamant that for Netflix, live and sports are not the same thing. He seems to be animated by the idea of bringing people together, of creating communal moments where everyone is watching and talking about the same thing at the same time. Netflix, of course, is maybe the company most responsible for ending that monoculture by making huge libraries of content available to everyone, everywhere, all the time. But Riegg thinks the platform should bring some of that classic live TV energy back. Remember the Felix Baumgartner Red Bull space jump? he asks me. I remember everybody in the office was watching that something where theres still the specter that anything can happen. Were all experiencing this at the same time.Netflix is interested in buying more of these events, Riegg says, but he also wants to create them. Which brings Riegg to his current big question: What is our version of Dancing with the Stars? Or what is our version of Americas Got Talent?The Voice, and everyone around the world could opine and weigh in about who should win? Thats a different level of community viewing.I mention to Riegg that I was a longtime, immensely dedicated American Idol fan, and his eyes go wide. Well never see another Idol, he says, in terms of the gap between Idol and the second-place show. But we can certainly try to say, whats the next iteration of that? Its pretty clear he and the team have some ideas, though Riegg wont tell me what they are. Well just all have to find out together, live.

Three years have passed since Amazon last updated its flagship e-reader, and while this years Kindle lineup seemed focused on Amazons first color offering, the Paperwhite still got some welcome improvements. With a higher-contrast screen and snappier performance, the 12th-generation Kindle Paperwhite remains the best e-reader on the market.I tested the $199.99 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which is $40 more than the $159.99 basic Paperwhite. The screen and internals are the same, but the Signature Edition includes an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustments, 32GB of storage rather than 16GB, no lockscreen ads, wireless charging, and a metallic finish on the back. The metallic jade version I was sent looked great (metallic black and raspberry are also options) but felt slightly less grippy than the plastic of the base Paperwhite.8Verge ScoreAmazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024)$199.99The GoodThe best-looking screen on any e-readerSlightly larger screen without a noticeably larger deviceFaster page turns, loading, and a more responsive UIA splash of color (without a color screen)The BadUpgrades arent as significant as the last PaperwhiteLacks stylus support and page turn buttonsSignature Edition wireless charging is frustrating without magnetsSignature Edition back panel feels less grippy$200 at Amazon$200 at Best BuyHow we rate and review productsThe new Paperwhite features a 300ppi screen with a small bump in size from 6.8 to seven inches not really enough to be noticeable, but enough to let you squeeze a few extra lines of text on a page. Thanks to smaller bezels, the new Paperwhite is just a few millimeters larger than the previous version while managing to be slightly thinner; in use, it feels nearly identical. This years model also brings the display flush with the bezels, although its another subtle improvement.The new Paperwhite (right) has noticeably improved screen contrast over the previous version (left).What is noticeable is the increased contrast. Thanks to the use of an oxide thin-film transistor on the screen, the new Paperwhite has the highest contrast ratio of any e-reader Ive ever tested. The benefits arent immediately obvious when youre reading plain text, but the deeper blacks make the screen look closer to an actual printed page. It gives illustrations, pictures, and book covers more pop and presence, and makes comics and manga panels look sharper. The new screen occasionally made some of the fine text in Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchettos Ultimate Spider-Man: Married with Children appear bolder and easier to read without zooming in.Its not a feature thats as flashy as a color E Ink screen, but its easily the new models best upgrade, and its going to make it hard to return to my Kobo Libra 2.The Paperwhite released in 2021 (left) compared to the new 2024 version (right).Amazon has also improved the new Paperwhites lighting, giving the screen a more neutral tone at its default settings. The last generation Paperwhites screen skews a little cooler, but with both Paperwhite models warmth sliders turned up, the differences are indistinguishable.This is also the first Paperwhite to use a dual-core processor (the Oasis, rest in peace, had a dual-core processor back in 2017). The 1GHz Mediatek CPU would be painfully slow for a device with an LCD screen, but it makes a big difference on an e-reader. Amazons claims of 25 percent faster page turns werent noticeable when I was reading text the refresh rate of the E Ink screen is the limiting factor there but I was genuinely surprised at how much faster it opened half-gigabyte, image-heavy PDF files I sideloaded. On the 11th-generation Paperwhite theres a pause that makes me wonder if the device is going to choke on the files, but the new Paperwhite opens them instantaneously and flips through the pages nearly as fast as it does with plain text.The user interface also feels faster. Its still not as fast or responsive as a smartphone or tablet, and zooming in and out of comics and photos can still feel sluggish, but scrolling through book lists, navigating Amazons book store, and popping in and out of various menus is satisfyingly speedy. Or at least as speedy as it can be with the limitations of E Ink.RelatedAmazon claims the new Paperwhite can be used for up to 12 weeks between charges, but thats when limiting your reading to just 30 minutes a day at half screen brightness and wireless features turned off. After an hour reading, jumping back and forth between books and PDFs, and browsing other titles on Amazons online store with screen brightness set to 75 percent, the new Paperwhite lost five percent of its charge. With that daily routine Id expect to squeeze about three weeks out of the Paperwhites battery, and potentially even longer if I wasnt so indecisive about what I was reading.If youre a Kindle user whos upgraded in the past few years, the new Paperwhites functionality will feel familiar. If youre switching from competitors like Kobo, you may find yourself running into some frustrating limitations. Sideloading documents like PDFs or ePUB files is harder than it needs to be, since Kindle devices no longer connect to computers as external drives. You need to use Amazons online services or desktop apps to get e-books and other documents onto the Paperwhite, and both options are clunky.Text customization is also limited in the Kindle OS compared to Kobo devices, which offer finer adjustments for font size, line spacing, and margins. Although I find the Paperwhites formatting options too simplified, I can see the appeal for those wanting a device thats very easy to use. I like that you can save your adjustments as custom themes its a feature I wish Kobo would add but I cant understand why Amazon limits each device to just five custom themes.Borrowing library books is also easier on a Kobo. The new Paperwhite still requires you to use the Libby app or website on a separate device to browse and borrow titles. Kobos e-readers have Overdrive built-in, and while they do obfuscate the borrowing process, you dont need to pull out your phone to do so.The Kobo Clara BW (left) introduced earlier this year has a smaller recessed screen that doesnt look as good as the new Paperwhite (right).But Kobo seems to be focusing on color e-readers and larger E Ink note-taking devices these days, and its black-and-white e-reader options are now limited. The $129.99 Kobo Clara BW uses the same E Ink Carta 1300 screen as the new Paperwhite, but its only six inches, and its contrast doesnt look as good. Its all-plastic body and sunken screen also feel cheaper than the new Paperwhites. And while the $269.99 Kobo Sage has page turn buttons and stylus support, its more of a hybrid e-reader and note-taking device; I find that the eight-inch screen makes it too big to be a take-anywhere e-reader.The Kindle Colorsoft (left) next to the new Paperwhite (right).Although its not a significant upgrade, the new Kindle Paperwhite remains the best e-reader you can buy, with a beautiful black-and-white screen that feels closer to printed paper than any e-reader Ive tested and a UI thats faster and more responsive than the previous version. If youre on the hunt for your first e-reader, the new Paperwhite should be at the top of your list.Although the basic Amazon Kindle is cheaper at $109.99, the better screen, adjustable warmth lighting, and waterproofing extra insurance if you read in the bath or at the beach make the new Paperwhite worth the extra money.The new Paperwhite Signature Edition is available with a back panel featuring a metallic jade or raspberry finish that looks great but feels slightly less grippy.Is the Signature Edition worth an extra $40? Wireless charging isnt necessary given the Paperwhites battery life, and it can be frustrating to align properly. But the ambient light sensor can save you the swipe and tap needed to adjust screen brightness manually if you take your Kindle everywhere (warmth settings dont automatically adjust) and extra storage is always welcome on a device with no memory card slot. When you factor in the $20 Amazon charges to remove lockscreen ads from the basic Paperwhite, the Signature Edition is the way to go.Unless you read a lot of large PDF files and are frustrated by laggy performance, the new Paperwhite isnt a necessary upgrade over the 2021 model. But its a different story if youve got an even older Paperwhite model or other aging Kindle. When you add up the past six years of improvements including USB-C, color-temp-adjustable lighting, a larger screen with better contrast, and better performance its probably time to consider an upgrade.Photography byAndrewLiszewski/ The Verge

In a pair of Truth Social posts on Sunday, Donald Trump announced a set of picks for his administrations tech policy team that will report to David Sacks, Trumps AI and crypto czar. The picks include Michael Kratsios, who will lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) if confirmed by the Senate. Kratsios, who served in Trumps first term as the White House chief technology officer, also briefly held an acting undersecretary role at the Department of Defense near the end of the term. He later became a managing director at Scale AI and has been helping lead Trumps tech policy transition team. The President-elect also picked his former deputy CTO, Dr. Lynne Parker, as Executive Director of the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. Directing the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets (AKA the Crypto Council) will be former college football player and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate Bo Hines. Advising Trump on AI policy as part of the OSTP will be Sriram Krishnan, who has extensive Silicon Valley experience, with roles at Andreessen Horowitz, X, Meta, and Snap.Sacks is close with Elon Musk, who Trump has charged with gutting the US government as part of the not-yet-established Department of Government Efficiency and who recently helped send Congress into chaos by posting relentlessly to stop a US spending bill.

A dedicated Baldur's Gate 3 fan has searched through thousands of lines of dialogue to discover which characters agree, and disagree, the most with each other.As reported by The Gamer, Reddit user Tarrasque-Named-John datamined the beloved Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game to calculate which characters like Astarion, Karlach, Shadowheart, and the entire Baldur's Gate 3 party have the most aligning morals.The fan used the Approving and Disapproving mechanic of Baldur's Gate 3 to do so. When the player character makes certain decisions, messages such as "Gale Approves" or "Halsin Disapproves" pop up, and Tarrasque-Named-John looked to see which characters approved and disapproved the same decisions the most.Minsc and Karlach agreed the most, aligning on 97% of all decisions. They're followed by a few pairs at 96%: Wyll and Halsin, Minsc and Halsin, Jaheira and Halsin, and Karlach and Halsin.The opposite was revealed too, with Astarion and Wyll emerging as the most disagreeable pair with just 50% alignment. They're followed by Minthara and Halsin at 51%, and both Wyll and Minthara and Karlach and Astarion at 52%Tarrasque-Named-John also calculated who would become "best friends" by the end of Baldur's Gate 3, ignoring percentage and looking directly at the total number of times characters agreed with each other.Astarion's bestie would be Lae'zel, and Lae'zel's would be Astarion. Gale's would be Karlach, but Karlach's would be Wyll. Awkward. Wyll's bestie is therefore Karlach, as is Shadowheart's. Jaheria's is Wyll, Minsc's is Karlach, Minthara's is Astarion, and finally, Halsin's is Wyll.This data is true as of Patch 7, but developer Larian Studios may shake things up a touch with Patch 8, which is due sometime in 2025. Though it may not shake up the morals of each character too much, it is set to add 12 new subclasses to the game alongside loads more.Baldur's Gate 3 arrived in 2023 but, incredibly, is even more popular this year than last. This is due in large part to official mod support, which are even available on console and not just PC as standard.Players downloaded more than 50 million mods via the official mod support tool in less than two months, and this number doesn't include the thousands made unofficially. Mods released so far include one that adds real-time combat to the otherwise turn-based RPG and another that brought entire new maps to Faern, including the highly requested Avernus.In our 10/10 review of Baldur's Gate 3, IGN said: "With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs."Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Sega has ruled out making any more Mini consoles, dashing hopes for a Saturn or Dreamcast revival.The company behind Sonic the Hedgehog has released a number of nostalgia-fuelled Mini consoles based on the Sega Genesis, but has so far stopped short of continuing the trend with Mini versions of 1994s Saturn or 1998s Dreamcast, the latter of which was Sega's final console.Sega fans have over the last few years hoped that the company would continue its Mini range, but in an interview with The Guardian, Segas America and Europe CEO Shuji Utsumi said it was looking to the future rather than the past for new products.Genesis Mini 2 GalleryIGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Im not going for the Mini direction, he said. Its not me. I want to embrace modern gamers.Then: We are not a retro company. We really appreciate our legacy, we value it, but at the same time, we want to deliver something new otherwise well become history. Thats not what were aiming for.While Sega has said no to Mini consoles, it has big plans to revive its older intellectual property with modern takes. For example, big new games in the Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and Virtua fighter franchises are all in the works.These games are being developed as Sega continues with the hugely successful Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza series, with Creative Assembly working on new Total War games and Alien Isolation 2, and Sports Interactive continuing with the eternally popular Football Manager.Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Utsumi suggested Sega is considering launching its own subscription service for video games, competing with the likes of EA Play, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation Plus, to name but a few."We're thinking something and discussing something we cannot disclose right now," he said.Photo By BRUCE BISPING/Star Tribune via Getty Images.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Black Myth: Wukong arrived in 2024 to incredible success and has seemingly spawned some copycats as a result, with Nintendo Switch fans laughing as Wukong Sun: Black Legend hits the platform this week.Gamers online have called out the $7.99 Wukong Sun: Black Legend as a fairly blatant rip-off of Black Myth: Wukong, which isn't on Nintendo Switch itself. Not only is the name incredibly similar, but the promotional image could easily be mistaken for that of the actual game.The similarities practically end there, however, as Wukong Sun: Black Legend is a side-scrolling platformer as opposed to Black Myth: Wukong's third-person action. It also requires a meagre 338 megabytes of storage space according to the Nintendo eShop page.Wukong Sun: Black Myth. Image credit: Nintendo eShop.Black Myth: Wukong. Image credit: Game Science.It's description doesn't allude to this seemingly more limited experience, promising "a chaotic world teeming with powerful monsters," "supercharged abilities and crazy fighting skills," and "captivating visuals with unforgettable storytelling.""Seriously, this is not even subtle," one ResetEra user wrote of the similarities between Wukong Sun: Black Legend and Black Myth: Wukong. "Not even trying," wrote another. "Yeah, this seems like the kind of shovelware cashgrab someone would release," said a third.Wukong Sun: Black Legend gameplay. Image credit: Nintendo eShop.Black Myth: Wukong is based on classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, so Wukong Sun: Black Legend could technically also be based on this source material, but it's not the first time such an incident has occurred.A game which looked incredibly similar to PlayStation mega hit The Last of Us, for example, was also released on (and then pulled from) the Nintendo eShop last year. Fans have called out digital storefronts for seemingly have little to no quality control, with PlayStation itself facing a similar issue with a Grand Theft Auto 6 parody earlier in December.Developers have felt the burden of this too, with Unpacking creative director Wren Brier calling out Nintendo for allowing copycats of their game on the eShop. As reported by Eurogamer, Brier called games such as Unpacking: Deluxe Edition or Unpacking: Chill Music Pack "egregious scams," as they are in no way linked to their own game.Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Across Europe, skills shortages are emerging as a key challenge. The Council of the European Union says this is driven by demographic change, demand for new skillsets, and poor working conditions in some sectors.Adding to that, a recent report highlighted that around 42% of Europeans lack basic digital skills, including 37% of those in the workforce.The rapid advancement of AI is adding more pressure. While AI offers the EU a shot in the arm to strengthen the blocs innovation and competitiveness, there is still a gap between the skills required, and the skills available.5 jobs to discover this weekIn the Netherlands, new analysis from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has found that the growth of the labour force will decline sharply in the coming decades. It says that in the Dutch labour force, there are more vacancies than those unemployed, and that this trend is set to continue.Germany is also experiencing a similar fate, with Indeeds Jobs & Hiring Trends Report for 2025 finding that demand for labour continues to cool, particularly among professional groups with top salaries. The report also found that in the medium term, Germany is heading for a shortage of skilled workers.Read the case studyIn France, Indeed says the picture is broadly similar. In 2025, wage and purchasing power gains are expected to remain limited while the French unemployment rate will remain close to its current levels, it notes in its report.The unemployment rate in France is hovering around 7.4% thanks to a mismatch between supply and demand for workers, in part fuelled by the skills deficit.On a macro level, these sluggish European labour markets arent a great sign, and it is clear that there is much work needed to be done to fix the wider issues around skills gaps. But on a micro, or personal level, software engineers and tech professionals have a lot of scope.Top skills and programming languagesIf you have the right skills, particularly around artificial intelligence and software development, then opportunity knocks.Stack Overflows most recent developer survey found that the most popular programming roles are for full-stack, back-end, and front-end developers. These were followed by desktop or enterprise developers, and mobile and embedded applications. For its community of developers, JavaScript retained its long running spot in first place followed by SQ, HTML/CSS, Python, and TypeScript.On the other hand, GitHubs recent Octoverse report found that on its platform, JavaScript has been knocked off its previous perch by Python. This is a language with many uses, notably in the in-demand fields of data science and machine learning, thanks to its simplicity and extensive libraries.GitHub says this is, the first large-scale change weve seen in the top two languages since 2019and it speaks to the rise in Python thats accompanied the generative AI boom weve seen over the past two years.3 more roles to discoverThe rise of cloud computing, IoT, and AR/VR technologies has also created demand for languages that can efficiently handle these environments. Think Kotlin, which is gaining traction as the preferred language for Android development. Go (Golang) is popular for building scalable network servers and concurrent systems due to its performance and simplicity.Older languages are seeing a resurgence too. According to data from Developer Nation, Java, for example, gained over eight million new developers from 2021 to 2023. It may be more than 20 years old, but its recent rise in popularity is due to its use and versatility across cloud and IoT.C++ remains popular according to the TIOBE Index, where it is currently in second position. This is attributed to its performance and scalability, particularly in domains like embedded systems, game development, and financial trading software.However, not everyone is happy with C++, notably the US government, which issued a report this year urging programmers to move to memory-safe programming languages. This has led Rusts user base to triple recently. The memory safe language is particularly appealing for systems programming due to its focus on safety and performance, and as a result it can offer a strong alternative to C++.As the big programming languages battle it out for supremacy, there are always the underdogs waiting in the wings. In its 2024 report, GitHub put a spotlight on the fastest-growing languages. These ones-to-watch include Go, HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language), Kotlin, Dart, Trust, Luna, TSQL, and Blade.Ready to find your next software job? Check out The Next Web Job Board Story by Kirstie McDermott Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Content created by Amply and TNWAlso tagged with

Ive used an iPad Pro as my primary computer for years, despite occasionally testing the waters with the Mac. For various reasons, Ive always stuck with the iPad, but one new feature Apple just shipped might finally be the thing that gets me back to the Mac in 2025.The new device thats changing my computing habitsThis piece requires a little background in two areas:the new device I just boughtthe reason I went all-in on iPad Pro in the first placeFirst, the new device.After a long holdout, I recently gave in and bought an Apple Vision Pro.Id used the device several times before, but only in the past month have I actually owned one for myself.Ill write some other time about the reasons why I finally bought one. But the key thing to know is that Mac Virtual Display was a big factor.So yes, that new feature that may bring me back to the Mac is only kind of a Mac feature.More accurately, its a Vision Pro feature: Mac Virtual Display, which just got huge upgrades.In the recent visionOS 2.2 update, Apple made Mac Virtual Display far more compelling thanks to three changes:Wide and Ultrawide display modesHigh quality display resolutionImproved audio routingI never tried the old Mac Virtual Display feature, but its new and improved version has proven especially compelling for me.While I would love to do more of my computing with native visionOS apps, right now the options there are pretty limited. For example, my go-to writing appUlyssesisnt available, nor my preferred apps for image editing and more.As a result, Mac Virtual Display is currently my best option for getting things done inside the headset.And that leads to the reason I went all-in on iPad in the first place.Why I left the Mac, and might be coming back in 2025There are a lot of reasons I love working from my iPad Pro, which Ill spare you for now.But one of the things that first set me down this path was the desire to streamline my devices.For years I used a Mac, iPad, and iPhone all in very complementary ways, like Steve Jobs intended.But when the first iPad Pro came out, the thought of going minimalist with just an iPad Pro and iPhone was very appealing.If the iPad could still serve its purposes as a tablet, but also now function like a laptop, it seemed like there wasnt much need for my MacBook Air anymore. Sure there would be sacrifices moving to the iPad full-time, but I was eager to give it a try, and just never went back.Today, I find myself in a similar predicament.I want to use my Vision Pro for getting things done, and Mac Virtual Display is the best way to do that.Which means, either I start splitting more of my computing time between the Mac and iPad Pro, and get used to moving back and forth between platforms againor I streamline down to one main device.The same minimalist desire that led me to abandon the Mac in 2015 might bring me back to it in 2025.One Mac experience, Vision Pro or notI dont expect to wear my Vision Pro for eight hours a day, nor do I intend to use it when working remotely (at least not yet).But if Im using macOS when working inside the Vision Pro, it would make things a lot simpler if I stuck with the Mac for my non-Vision Pro work too.The same Mac, running the same apps, just with a lot less screen real estate than my virtual environment.Im not fully decided, and there are still some Mac drawbacks Id have to find a way to live with if I leave the iPad Pro behind. But the Vision Pro has made me more open to full-time Mac computing than I have been in a long time.Well see where 2025 takes things.Do you work inside Mac Virtual Display on Vision Pro? Whats that been like for you? Let us know in the comments.Best Vision Pro accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Ray-Ban Meta have been the most successful smart glasses to date, offering an appealing mix of features in a form factor which is visually indistinguishable from normal sunglasses.So far, all of the AI functionality, notifications, and messaging features have relied on the glasses reading things to you through integrated speakers, but a new report says a future model will get a display, and that it could launch as early as next year Were fans of the existing glasses here at 9to5Mac. My colleagueFilipe Espsitosaid that his experience of Ray-Ban Meta glassesconvinced him to believe in smart glasses, and my own experience mirrored that.I found it was a great way to shoot POV photos and videos in a very unobtrusive way, and to have incoming messages read to me while Im walking or cycling.Their AI capabilities are rapidly developing, and really excite me about the future.A future model will get a displayHaving the glasses read to me is often convenient, but there are times when a visual display is more efficient. We can read something faster than it can be read to us, so it would be good to have the choice. And a Financial Times report suggests thats coming sooner rather than later.Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers main computing device.The $1.5tn social media group is planning to add a screen inside the $300 sunglasses it makes and sells in partnership with eyewear group EssilorLuxottica, according to people familiar with the plans.The updated Ray-Bans could be released as early as the second half of 2025, the people said. The small display would be likely to be used to show notifications or responses from Metas virtual assistant.Another step toward Apple GlassesMeta showed off an early prototype of itsOrion AR glasses back in the summer. While they are undeniably clunky, and reputedly have a manufacturing cost of $10,000, they did provide a persuasive look at what we can one day expect in something that looks and feels more like the companys existing smart glasses.A glasses form factor is also believed to be Apples long-term goal, with Vision Pro just an early step along the way toward Apple Glasses. While speech will doubtless be included, Apple is expected to major on built-in displays.Back in 2019, it was reported that Apple believes that AR glasses willeventually replace the iPhone. Whether that will happen is a matter for debate, but Im already convinced that smart glasses will play a very large role in our tech future.Meta adding a display to its own glasses helps drive the technology forward, and is something I very much look forward to trying.Photo: Ben Lovejoy/9to5MacAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

One of the key elements of Apples A-series and M-series chips is the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design which tightly integrates all the components within a single package. This includes both CPU and GPU.But a new report suggests that the M5 Pro chip may take a different approach of having more separated CPU and GPU in order to improve performance and boost production yields System-on-a-chip approachTraditional computers and computer-like devices had completely separate CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphical processing unit), often on completely separate circuit boards.With the iPhone, Apple integrated the two in an approach known as a System-on-a-Chip (SoC). Essentially what would have been completely separate chips are integrated into a single, tightly-integrated unit containing circuitry for both. It has replicated that approach in other devices, including M-series chips for Apple Silicon Macs.Whether we consider this a single chip or a compact package of different chips is to large degree a matter of semantics, but Apple refers to singular chips as in the A18 Pro chip, and the M4 chip.M5 Pro chip with separate CPU and GPUApple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that for the M5 Pro chip, Apple will be taking advantage of TSMCs very latest chip packaging process known as SoIC-mH (System-on-Integrated-Chips-Molding-Horizontal).SoIC-mH refers to a method of integrating different chips into a package in a way which improves thermal performance, and therefore allows a chip to run at full power for longer before it needs to be throttled back to reduce heat. It also reportedly boosts production yields, with fewer chips failing to pass quality control.Kuos report says this approach will be used for the M5 Pro, Max, and Ultra variants of the upcoming M5 chip.The M5 series chips will adopt TSMCs advanced N3P node, which entered the prototype phase a few months ago. M5, M5 Pro/Max, and M5 Ultra mass production is expected in 1H25, 2H25, and 2026, respectively.The M5 Pro, Max, and Ultra will utilize server-grade SoIC packaging. Apple will use 2.5D packaging called SoIC-mH (molding horizontal) to improve production yields and thermal performance, featuring separate CPU and GPU designs.Interestingly, it was earlier reported that the iPhone 18 will also start separating out different elements of the A-series chip, though that report pointed to RAM which is also currently integrated into the chip. Will also be used to power Apple Intelligence serversKuo also indicated that M5 Pro chips would be used in Apple Intelligence servers, known as Private Cloud Compute (PCC).Apples PCC infrastructure build-out will accelerate after the mass production of the high-end M5 chips, better suited for AI inferencing.Image: Michael Bower/9to5MacAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel