In BriefPosted:12:24 PM PST December 30, 2024Volkswagen leak exposed precise location data on thousands of vehicles across Europe for monthsVolkswagen Groups troubled automotive software unit Cariad left terabytes of customer data on around 800,000 electric Audi, Seat, Skoda, and Volkswagen vehicles exposed to the internet for months, reports Der Spiegel [in German], citing security researchers who learned about the data spill from an unnamed whistleblower.The researchers, who gave their talk at the Chaos Computer Club in Hamburg, Germany this week, said the exposed data also contained the precise location coordinates on more than half of the listed vehicles, around 460,000 cars. Some of the location data was accurate to a few centimeters, they said, with the data showing most of the vehicles found across Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (in descending order), among others.Cariad fixed the bug that led to the exposure, and said that it has no evidence to suggest anyone other than the security researchers had access to the exposed data. Cariad has struggled in recent years, plagued by delays to major software launches and a restructuring that has eliminated hundreds of jobs.Topics

What can Dutch architects teach us about design for aging populations? Such was the point of departure for Zeidler Architecture, a Canadian office, for a new elderly residential community in Calgary, Alberta. The forthcoming 307,000-square-foot building will specifically cater to seniors and adults with disabilities. Construction broke ground recently on the new 420-bed residence backed by Bethany Care Society, a local nonprofit. Its all happening in Calgarys Hounsfield Heights-Briar Hill neighborhood, which is just northwest of downtown. Jennifer McCue, President and CEO of Bethany Care Society, said that the new building will replace an existing one from 1945.Over 20 years ago, we began planning for the eventual replacement of Bethany Calgary as models of care evolved and as costs and risks associated with aging infrastructure increased, McCue said in a statement. This new development will ensure we can continue serving Alberta seniors in a modern, welcoming environment that truly reflects our mission to create caring communities.The building will comprise 307,000 square feet. (Courtesy Zeidler Architecture)Zeidler Architecture added that the project is inspired by a well-known community in the Netherlands, Hogeweyk Dementia Village, designed by Buro Kade. Zeidler Architectures Bill Mitchell visited Hogeweyk Village to see how it works and what his office could learn from it. The design consists of three long bar buildings that are connected with a volume that runs perpendicular to them. The masses, Zeidler Architecture said, are broken up into small homes. Each small home will have 14 rooms for patients, and shared dining and living spaces.The masses have light and dark cladding, distinguished by curtain walls. The facades are broken up by dynamic compositional planes. The ground floor is expressed in darker cladding, while the upper floors are soft gray.Patients will enjoy a number of shared facilities, including courtyards. (Courtesy Zeidler Architecture)This gesture is meant to contrast with the typical, rather monotonous spaces patients with disabilities typically endure. There will also be themed community spaces on every floor, garden areas where residents can grow flowers, a bistro, and lush courtyards.Such elements can help normalize the experience of aging, Zeidler Architecture said, as well as reduce the alienation and loneliness patients with disabilities often experience.The project is slated for completion in 2027.

On game day, places like AT&T Stadium in Dallas and New Yorks Madison Square Garden draw tens of thousands of rowdy fans into their stands and on television the plays inside the venues delight millions of viewers at-home. The infatuation with stadiums was loud and clear in 2024, as one of ANs most-read news stories centered the controversial development underway at the Cleveland Brownss home turf. The op-ed penned by Ryan Scavnicky was just one headline in an active year that saw creative, temporary stadiums staged around Paris for the Olympics and a global cricket tournament on U.S. soil. Here are the biggest sports stories AN covered in 2024.The temporary stadium was built for the beach volleyball and blind football events. (Courtesy Paris 2024)Paris hosted the 2024 Summer OlympicsIn the years leading up to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, city officials did much to prep the City of Lights for the world affair. At the Palace of Versailles, equestrian sport returned to the palace built by Louis XIV.Less bourgeoise, but equally spectacular, a stadium by Anatole Kopp, Pierre Chazanoff, and Lucien Metrich was restored by Chatillon Architectes to serve as a training facility. Purpose-built facilities unfolded at several other Paris landmarks, with a temporary skatepark at Place de la Concorde and a beach volleyball court sited adjacent to the Eiffel Tower. Populous designed cricket stadium in New YorkCricket, anyone? One of the worlds most popular past times came to the U.S. this year when New York hosted the International Cricket Councils T20 World Cup, a biannual tournament. The action took place inside a modular stadium designed by Populous.Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam announced plans to leave Lake Erie for a new domed stadium in nearby suburban Brook Park close to the regional airport. (Courtesy HKS Architects)A stadium proposal by HKS Architects and Jimmy Haslam in Cleveland sparked debateCleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam came under fire this year when he floated plans to uproot his teams stadium from the Lake Erie waterfront to an airport parking lot. AN contributor Ryan Scavnicky dug into the proposal designed by HKS Architects.In his tirade, Scavnicky lambasted Haslams poor managerial decisions, but also the current visitor experience more broadly, where beers cost more than $15 and lousy pop music interrupts every down. Generator Studio designed one of the first purpose-built sports arenas for female athletesKansas City made history this year when one of the worlds first purpose-built stadiums for female athletes opened its doors. CPKC Stadium was designed by Generator Studio. Its shape takes cues from the nearby Missouri River. Team owners say the stadium will boost revenue and television sponsorships for Kansas Citys womens soccer team, the Kansas City Current.The Kansas City stadium opened around the same time a new womens soccer stadium approaches construction in Boston, designed by Stantec. Meanwhile, New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft is eying a brownfield in Everett, Massachusetts, for a new home for the New England Revolution, Bostons mens soccer team.Exterior view of the Superdomes newly renovated domed white roofa city landmark. (Tim Hursley)Trahan Architects restored SuperdomeIts been twenty years since Hurricane Katrine ripped through New Orleans taking the illustrious Superdome, home to the Saints, with it. This year, Trahan Architects completed its renovation of the massive venue. AN contributor Page Comeaux reviewed the refurbished Leviathan and ruminated on what its restoration means for Louisiana more broadly.Tropicana Field partially wrecked by Hurricane MiltonWhile one stadium destroyed by a hurricane was renewed, another was tattered. In early October, surfaced photographs and videos from local news stations revealed Tropicana Field, the enclosedstadium completed by HOK in 1990 for the Tampa Bay Rays, and its roof ripped to shreds. In St. Petersburg there is much debate over the cost of the roof repairs since the Rays were already eyeing a new venue to play ball. Gas Plant Stadiumis slated for completion in 2028. BIG and HNTB unveiled Oakland As future Las Vegas stadiumA spherical armadillothis is how architects at BIG and HNTB described their joint proposal for a new Major League Baseball stadium in Las Vegas for the Oakland As. While designers touted the projects animal-like qualities, other keen observers said it was a coy copy of Sydney Opera House.The Athletics hope to throw the first pitch from their new Las Vegas home in spring 2028.Sails by Glenn Kaino (Iwan Baan)Six installations by L.A. artists built at Intuit DomeInstallationsby sixLos Angeles artists were unveiled in July outside Intuit Dome, the L.A. Clippersnew home in Inglewooddesigned by AECOM. Artworks byRefik Anadol,Glenn Kaino,Patrick Martinez,Michael Massenburg,Kyungmi Shin, and Jennifer Steinkamp take center court at the new campus by Hood Design Studio.A seventh piece byCharles Gaineswill also soon be released.

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The IMAX Vanguard gathers outside the BFI IMAX, before a screening of Tenet featuring an in-person ... [+] intro with Chris Nolan in February 2024.Rayhaan Sabir Its nearly midnight and I should be going to bed, but instead, Im in an online waiting room, anxiously watching a progress bar slowly inch its way across the screen. When it gets to the end itll be go time. The prize? The best seats for the hottest tickets in town. But while it might be stadium seating, the best seats for this event are near the back. Thats because its not Taylor Swift at Wembley, but tickets to see Dune: Part Two in IMAX 70mm on the opening weekend on the UK's biggest screen at the BFI IMAX at Waterloo in London. And the reason I know about it? An online UK community for IMAX enthusiasts called the IMAX VanguardReleases such as Oppenheimer have popularised seeing big films in premium formats, and these days you have to be in the know in advance to have any chance of accessing the best seats for opening weekends in London. However, that wasnt always the case, as I discovered when I sat down to talk with Rayhaan Sabir (Ray) founder of the IMAX Vanguard community.The Birth of the IMAX VanguardSabir explains that as recently as the summer of 2023 attendance at BFI IMAX screenings were often sparsely attended. Whenever I would go and see an IMAX film, the auditoriums were quiet. They were so empty. Opening nights, preview nights. Nobody was there!Sabir felt that the BFI itself was not doing a great job of explaining to people why they should be getting excited about the format.When Tron: Legacy went on sale the BFI didn't advertise it. But Tron: Legacy hadnt been played in IMAX in over 10 years, yet it's one of the most celebrated IMAX films online! They advertised it as 2D and then they went, We have a 3D version available, and that changed the whole game.Tron: Legacy has an expanded aspect ratio of 1:90 and for the first 20 minutes it plays in widescreen and as soon as Sam enters the digital world the aspect ratio opens up and the 3D just blows your mind!MORE FOR YOUOut of a desire to get others to get to appreciate it he started to post ticket alert updates to the IMAX subreddit to a positive response. When the demand to see IMAX 1.43:1 increased after the release of Oppenheimer, someone suggested that he start a WhatsApp group, so people would see the ticket alerts immediately: the IMAX Vanguard was born.When this writer joined, the group was just a couple of hundred members, but now there are thousands across 12 separate WhatsApp chats and theres an X, an Instagram page and Discord channel too. As well as community and dedicated ticket trade chats, it also caters to those closer to the Manchester Printworks (the only UK location outside of London able to screen IMAX 1.43:1), one for films in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a filmmaker chat. Naturally, theres a group dedicated to discussing Chris Nolan movies.Ray, founder of the IMAX Vanguard, with the film projector at the BFI IMAX.Rayhaan Sabir It's clearly a lot of work but Sabir does it purely out of love of the IMAX experience and the desire for as many people to experience it as possible and screenings are often fully booked. Thanks to Vanguard, the BFI is now able to add additional screenings of films, such as the recent re-release of Interstellar, knowing that they are going to sell out quickly.Now when he goes to screenings, he loves seeing other members of the Vanguard community and others seeing IMAX for the first time.When you walk through those doors and you see that massive screen: if it's your first time, youre just taken away completely. I'm always there early to take pictures. I'm always hearing people going, Wow, what is this? This is insane! Like, they've never, ever seen anything like it.The Visceral Impact of IMAX 70mmI asked Sabir what he thought makes watching IMAX 70mm special, which he did, eloquently.I'm going to say this: when you see your first ever IMAX 70mm film, you'll feel a bit confused; you won't appreciate it. You'll feel a bit like, What's happening?. That's exactly what happened to me as a young cinema-goer. But the older I got, the more I understood. And just seeing that world open up to you is incredible, because you get to feel like you're part of that moving image.Not just that, but the auditorium goes quiet, and you just hear this flicker in the back, this projector whirr, and you're like, What's going on?. Because you expect to hear the IMAX speakers crank up, but you just hear this projector. And suddenly, the IMAX speakers and the full 1:43 frame kick in, and you just become lost in this new world. It's a different world; it's a completely different world.Making Dreams Come TrueSabirs enthusiasm and the effort he puts in to create the Vanguard community then must be a dream come true for the IMAX, the BFI and Cineworld. However, while he says they are aware of the group he does not have any official connection with them. That said he was able to persuade the BFI to put on a double bill of Blade Runner and Blade Runner: 2049, especially for a terminally ill member of the community:We put we put a petition up for one of our community members who's in palliative care. His dream was to watch Blade Runner in IMAX and so we put a petition up to the BFI. We said, we're rallying behind our community member, for you to try and action, Sony. And they did. The director of programming was able to get a double bill of Blade Runner in November.The Human ConnectionMore communication is likely to be needed for the next step, too. Sabir says he wants to create a festival, where fans can come together to meet in person to celebrate their mutual love of IMAX.This is the culmination of what to me seems like the ultimate reason the group exists: an ongoing reaction to the trauma of the pandemic period, in which people were robbed of shared experiences.So, while cineastes that would be happy to watch movies at home on a laptop or TV, the IMAX Vanguard community celebrate watching being completely immersed in a film, but also with other people: the drama and sense of occasion of that IMAX brings, particularly when there is a film projector involved.While the greatest excitement in the group is clearly for those occasions where the IMAX film projector is started up, Sabirs interest in the format stemmed originally from non-Nolan films, such as John Wick: Chapter 4 in dual laser at the Cineworld Leicester Square and Tron: Legacy in 3D.When I went and saw the John Wick: Chapter Four preview night, I posted my pictures online. That was the first ever photo I posted on Reddit, and I remember just being so excited, just telling people that I am here watching John Wick in IMAX. Like, you don't get these opportunities very often, said Sabir.In the last few years, theres no doubt the cinema has taken something of a beating at the hands of COVID-19, the rise of streaming services, and the affordability of large TVs and sound systems. The success of the IMAX Vanguard demonstrates what cinema needs to do to not only survive, but to thrive and thats to generate a sense of FOMO, with experiences that they cant get at home.

Good Culture cottage cheeseGood CultureIs there a way to make cottage cheese sexy?That was the mission Jesse Merrill aimed to prove when he sought to bring excitement to a stale grocery category. Nearly a decade later, the founder and CEO of Good Culture cottage cheese not only proved that thesis, but managed to create a phenomenon, and maintain its appeal, by having clear foresight into consumer trends like eating single-source dairy ingredients.By changing the negative lens that many people viewed cottage cheese through, and demonstrating how its an exceptional source of protein, consumers young and old are simply obsessed with cottage cheese in a way that hasnt been seen in decades. Good Culture has now become the top-selling cottage cheese at grocery stores including Whole Foods Markets and just surpassed $200 million in sales this year.Good Culture Founder and CEO Jesse MerrillGood CultureDisrupting DairyMerrill was not fond of cottage cheese before creating his own cottage cheese company. His first real introduction to it was when his wife was pregnant and ate a ton of it. When he would buy it for her at the store, he primarily noticed only legacy brands on the shelfthe same ones that casually sat there for as long as he could remember. Having already worked in the food and beverage industry, he could tell the category was craving innovation. Cottage cheese was bigger than yogurt in the seventies and then completely fell off, Merrill says. USDA data shows an average American consumed 4.6 pounds of cottage cheese per year in 1975 with a steady decline through 2021 when it dropped below 2 pounds for the first time.The former VP of Marketing for Honest Tea, Merrill knew what it would take to build a brand for modern consumers. You have to tell a story in a really compelling way and say it in a way that is going to resonate with the consumer so that they actually want to be a part of your tribe, he says. He began to research the world of cottage cheese and felt he could meaningfully disrupt it. He came to realize that most cottage cheese consumers were on a dietkind of choking it down, but they didn't enjoy the experience.MORE FOR YOUHe felt presenting cottage cheese more like yogurt was one way to disrupt cottage cheese. That includes serving it in a single-serve cup. Finding a co-packer was difficult, because most do not produce that format, Merrill says, but finally found one in Wisconsin. They believed that cottage cheese had the opportunity to grow at an explosive rate given the nutritional profile, Merrill says. They agreed that it wasn't being presented in the right way. Good Culture now has nine co-packers across the country.A New Taste And Texture Merrill taught himself how to make cottage cheese and began to create both sweet and savory versions in his own kitchen. He would take live and active cultures to separate the curd from milk, and then chop it up finely to create lots of protein-packed small curd, limiting the amount of cream added to make the product more homogenous. A lot of what you saw in the marketplace was large firm curds floating in a pool of cream, he says. Savory varieties were the focus at this early stage, so he would experiment with ingredients like sriracha, salt & pepper, pesto and olives.Good Culture on toastGood CultreGood Culture launched in 2015 in Sprouts Farmers Markets and Whole Foods Markets SoPac region. In addition to an original variety, the initial lineup of Good Culture included kalamata olive, sundried tomato, strawberry acai chia and blueberry acai chia. Although Merrill thought the flavors tasted amazing and felt that there was a hole in the market for a savory cottage cheese, he ultimately decided to pull the savory ones because they were not selling well enough. Consumers perceived [them] as a dip, he says. I was bummedbut you need to listen to your consumer.Good Culture has since released a large lineup, including the multi-serve 16 oz containers, which have since become the largest sector of its business. Consumers have consistency options toofrom 6% double cream, whole milk, low-fat, and lactose-free, all of which have pillowy curds and are an airy yet politely creamy experience.Going ViralIn 2015, a dairy product like cottage cheese would not be seen as a new product that would particularly succeed as consumers largely switched to plant-based dairy, but it was a risk Merrill was willing to take. We continued to believe that folks would return to real food, he says. The first few years of Good Cultures business saw consistent growth. Going into 2017 is when we started to scale more widely into conventional retail and you saw really healthy jumps in sales growth year over year.Good Culture ice cream Good CultureBut in March of 2023, the business exploded when a TikTok video of a creator incorporating Good Culture in an ice cream recipe went viral. It just spread like wildfire, Merrill remembers. That kind of started this whole movement behind using cottage cheese in really creative ways. The company tells me that it predicted a 35% growth that year but ended with 80%. In 2023, the amount of cottage cheese eaten by the average American began to climb for the first time since the USDA collected data. Data is not yet available for 2024.Its likely not happenstance that the video went viral when it did, but rather years of slowly latching onto habits that matter most to consumers. As Nicole West, Principal Global Category Merchant for Dairy at Whole Foods Market, tells me, A lot of what we've seen in this past year is a focus back into single source ingredients. A heavy focus on getting protein from that single source ingredient. And we have seen a huge swing back into dairy, specifically whole milk dairy quite on the nose to what Merrill predicted a decade ago.For the first time in years, plant-based milk alternatives are down this year, according to Nielsen IQ data. Sales of almond milk, in particular, are down 7.4% from last year.The creative recipes have gotten consumers to understand that cottage cheese is a protein powerhouse. A 16oz container of whole milk classic Good Culture contains 56 grams of protein. Creators are getting endlessly creative by adding it to items like baked goods, pasta sauce, eggs, smoothies and sandwiches. Theyre also explaining to their audiences why its so healthy. Thats where the protein story, the clean label story, and the taste experience came out. Merrill says. Folks are looking increasingly for high quality proteins that are more bioavailable. You get high-quality complete proteins through products like dairy.Not only is Good Culture a booming brand, but it has caused a resurgence in the entire cottage cheese category. They were one of the leaders to bring consumers back in on the dairy side, West says. If you weren't a cottage cheese fan before, I think that Good Culture had a way of bringing in new consumers. It just had a different texture that was not polarizingIt's not your grandma's cottage cheese anymore.While the boom occured in 2023, 2024 was the year that proved that Good Culture cottage cheese has staying power. According to SPINS multi-outlet data ending the week of November 3, 2024, the cottage cheese category has grown nearly 16% compared to the previous year. Good Culture has doubled its revenue from $100 million in 2023 nearly two years after it began going viral.A spread of Good Culture cottage cheeseGood CulturePath To PastureResponsible sourcing is sexy. Merrill knew that any company he built would require a mission around sustainability. Our mission is to reinvent the food system from the actual ground up, he says. All of the farms that Good Culture sources its milk from are small family farms with no more than 100 cows each.Some of those farms are also regenerative farms, which plays into Good Cultures partnership with Dairy Farmers of America, the largest dairy co-op in the country. Together, they developed a program called Path to Pasture, which helps farms transition from conventional to regenerative farming. We are currently building a model for change that aims to prove that regenerative agriculture is beneficial to soil health, animals, and potentially can enhance profitability for the family farmer, says Jackie Klippenstein, Senior Vice President and Chief Government and Industry Relations Officer for Dairy Farmers of America.Since 2019, the program has focused its efforts on farms in Kentucky, impacting more than 2,800 cows on 1,700 acres of land. Getting even this far has been no easy feat, reflecting the difficulty of increasing the number of regenerative farms. A lot of these small family farms are doing everything they can to keep the lights on. So when you talk to a farmer who's been doing something a certain way for decades, and you're proposing something that could potentially result in less profits during a transition period, that's a hard sell, Merrill explains. Transitioning to a regenerative system could also help recruit younger farmers.Whenever I meet with a family that's running one of these farms, it just continues to inspire me to do better, Merrill says. ...to create more positive change, to work really hard to create a regenerative model that does yield a more positive business. Another way of saying that would be that Merrill personally and through his company is creating a better culture.

WTF?! Meta owns some of the most popular social networks on the planet, collectively used by billions of people. However, the future could see a shift toward bots and AI-generated "characters" designed to drive engagement and keep increasingly automated platforms afloat. Meta is actively working to transform its social media platforms into spaces where AI bots interact with each other. Over the next few years, the company formerly known as Facebook aims to integrate AI technology to boost "engagement" with its three billion real, human users. This could either be a revolution or just another disastrously misguided idea, like the previously dismissed "metaverse" VR ecosystem.Meta is currently developing several AI products, including a service designed to help users create AI bots on Instagram and Facebook. These bots could clone users' personalities and interact with other (non-bot) users on the network. The company hopes to attract younger audiences, who are apparently going crazy over AI these days.Connor Hayes, Meta's vice president of product for generative AI, told the Financial Times that the company expects these AI bots to eventually exist on its platform just like user accounts do today. The bots will have fake biographies and profile pictures, sharing new "content" generated by AI models.Integrating generative AI into Facebook, Instagram, and other networks is now a priority, Hayes stated. Meta's apps need to become more entertaining and engaging. The executive mentioned that hundreds of thousands of characters have already been created with the previously released AI tools, which are currently available to US users and will soon expand to other markets.One interesting tidbit shared by Hayes is that the majority of these fake AI characters have been kept private by their creators. This could be a telltale sign that very few content creators are currently viewing generative AI as a mature, reliable, and useful technology for boosting engagement. // Related StoriesMeta confirmed that most users have been using AI tools to embellish, adjust, and improve their photos and other "real-world" content. Other companies are also focusing on deploying generative AI capabilities on their respective networks, with Snapchat and TikTok doing their part to turn the social internet into an uncanny parody of itself.Critics of this AI-filled dystopia warn about the risks related to the "weaponization" of AI-generated content. Becky Owen, innovation officer at creative agency Billion Dollar Boy and former head of Meta's creator team, said fake AI accounts could easily be used to amplify false narratives if robust safeguards are not enforced on social media.

In a nutshell: Microsoft has partnered with computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington on an initiative designed to limit the environmental impact of hardware used in servers. Dubbed GreenSKUs, the program uses memory and storage drives from decommissioned servers along with software tricks to give them a second lease on life. Ashkitha Sriraman, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon that is involved in the program, notes that it is not uncommon for an entire server to be scrapped when just a single component goes bad or is not efficient.The GreenSKU program seeks to identify RAM and SSDs that are salvageable, and reuse them in refurbished servers. Compute Express Link (CXL) controllers allow for the use of DDR4 or DDR5, and were crucial in helping to retrofit servers.The team leveraged a pooling technique called Pond's approach to cope with older memory featuring higher latency and less bandwidth, and used RAID striping to deal with slower solid-state drives. Specialized software was also deployed to identify tasks that are best suited to run on GreenSKUs.On average, Microsoft replaces Azure servers every three to five years, regardless of whether or not they are still fully functional.The reconditioned machines utilize AMD Bergamo processors, which were selected for their energy efficiency. Unfortunately, there's no workaround to account for their lack of cache performance compared to the latest chips used in Azure servers. Of course, not every application requires cutting-edge performance. // Related Stories"A lot of these applications do perfectly fine" on the refurbished machines, Sriraman said.According to the Association for Computing Machinery's Technology Policy Council, at current rates, information and communication technology (ICT) sector carbon emissions could exceed a third of all global emissions by 2050. At scale, the team believes their reuse technique could result in a 0.1 to 0.2 percent reduction in global carbon emissions. That may not sound like much percentage wise but as Sriraman notes, it's a huge number and is comparable to all of the emissions from total smartphone use in the US.