Orichalcum is one of the hardest materials to find in Dragon Quest 11: Echoes Of An Elusive Age. Despite being so rare, it is needed for many late-game weapons and gear, and you won't come by many of these naturally even when completing a lot of the side content in the game.

Rinascita is a region that's brimming with its own culture, and before it transitioned to using universal Shell Credits, it used Monnaie as its main form of currency. Wuthering Waves players won't have to worry about their Credits becoming obsolete in Rinascita, but collecting Monnaie should still be something to consider.

With graphical innovations arriving at a breakneck pace, it's easy why most AAA games are in the race to look better than ever before. HDR support plays a huge role here, with both white and black hues looking more detailed than ever before with this feature on.

The New Year is here and theres no better time to kickstart those health and fitness goals. Whether youre looking to shed a few holiday pounds, track your muscle gains or simply stay on top of a new wellness routine, a smart scale can be your perfect sidekick. These high-tech scales go beyond just showing your weight; they provide insights into body composition, such as body fat percentage, muscle mass and even your metabolic rate, all while syncing with your favorite health apps.Smart scales make staying on track easier than ever before. Many can store multiple user profiles, so everyone in your household can join in on the fitness journey. Plus, theyre designed for accuracy, giving you more confidence in your progress. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast, a data geek or just someone who wants to feel healthier, theres a smart scale out there to suit your needs. Table of contents Smart scale safety Best smart scales for 2025 What to look for in a smart scale How we tested and which smart scales we tested Smart scales FAQs Smart scale safety There are valid reasons to weigh yourself, but your self-worth shouldnt be defined by the number that shows up between your feet. If youre looking to alter your body shape, that figure could go up as your waistline goes down, since muscle weighs more than fat. Some scales go further by providing additional metrics like visceral fat levels, giving you a more comprehensive picture of your health. Dr. Anne Swift, Director of public health teaching at the University of Cambridge, said that weighing yourself too often can result in [you] becoming fixated on small fluctuations day-to-day, rather than the overall trend over time. Swift added that its sometimes better to focus on how clothes fit, or how you feel, rather than your weight. (A meta-analysis from 2016 found there may be some negative psychological impact from self weighing. A 2018 study, however, said that there may be a positive correlation between regular weigh-ins and accelerated weight loss. It can be a minefield, and Id urge you to take real care of yourself and remember that success wont happen overnight.) Best smart scales for 2025 What to look for in a smart scale Weight A weighing scale that measures weight is probably the top requirement, right? One thing to bear in mind is that, with all these measurements, weight readings wont be as accurate as a calibrated, clinical scale. Consequently, its better to focus on the overall full body weight trend up or down over time, rather than the figures in isolation. Scales offering high precision measurements can help, especially if you frequently consult data to inform specific health or fitness goals. Connectivity Most scales will either use Bluetooth connectivity to your phone, or to your homes Wi-Fi network, and you should work out your regular weighing routine ahead of time. A lot of lower-end, Bluetooth-only scales will only record your weight when your phone is present and dont keep local records. That means if you routinely leave your phone outside the bathroom at home, you could lose that days stats. Wi-Fi connectivity, on the other hand, allows a scale to post your stats to a server, letting you access them from any compatible device. Some smart scales even allow various numbers of users, which is great for families or shared households. But you need to be mindful that theres a small risk to your privacy should that information from your Wi-Fi scale be compromised. Bone density The stronger your bones, the less youre at risk from breaks and osteoporosis, which you should keep in mind as you get older. Clinical bone density tests use low-power x-rays but higher-end scales can offer an approximation from your own bathroom. These bone mass tests pass a small electrical current through your feet, measuring the resistance as it completes its journey. The resistance offered by bones, fat and muscle are all different, and your scale can identify the difference. A body composition monitor often includes this feature, providing a detailed breakdown of bone density, fat and muscle mass. Body fat percentage and muscle mass Fat and muscle are necessary parts of our makeup, but an excessive amount of either can be problematic. Much like bone density, a smart body composition monitor can measure body fat and muscle mass percentages using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). This measurement tests how well your body resists the electrical signal passing through your body. (Its a rough rule of thumb that you should have a 30/70 percent split between fat and muscle, but please consult a medical professional for figures specific to your own body and medical needs.) For those with specific athletic goals, some smart scales also offer an athlete mode to better tailor readings for accuracy. BMI A lot of scales offer a BMI calculation, and its easy to do since you just plot height and weight on a set graph line. Body Mass Index is, however, a problematic measurement that its critics say is both overly simplistic and often greatly misleading. Unfortunately, its also one of the most common clinical body metrics and medical professionals will use it to make judgements about your care. Pulse Wave Velocity French health-tech company Withings has offered Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) on its flagship scale for some time, although regulatory concerns meant it was withdrawn for a period of time. Its a measurement of arterial stiffness, which acts as a marker both of cardiovascular risk and also other health conditions. For those looking for an even deeper understanding of their health, some scales now offer a body scan, which provides more advanced metrics such as segmental body composition and vascular health insights. Wearables and integration Pairing your smart scale with wearables like fitness trackers or smartwatches can further enhance your health-tracking ecosystem. Many smart scales sync directly with platforms like Fitbit or Apple Health, making it easier to track trends and analyze your data in one place. Display Less a specification and more a note that smart scales have displays ranging from pre-printed LCDs or digital dot matrix layouts through to color screens. On the high end, your scale display can show you trending charts for your weight and other vital statistics, and can even tell you the days weather. If you are short-sighted, and plan on weighing yourself first thing in the morning, before youve found your glasses / contacts, opt for a big, clear, high-contrast display. App and subscriptions Youll spend most of your time looking at your health data through its companion scales app, and its vital you get a good one. This includes a clear, clean layout with powerful tools to visualize your progress and analyze your data to look for places you can improve. Given that you often dont need to buy anything before trying the app, its worth testing one or two to see if you vibe with it. Its also important you check app compatibility before making your purchase. Some health apps will only work with iOS or Android not both. Apple Watch connectivity can also be a bonus for tracking workouts and health metrics seamlessly. Several companies also offer premium subscriptions, unlocking other features including insights and coaching to go along with your hardware. Fitbit and Withings both offer these services, which you may feel is worth the extra investment each month. Data portability Using the same scale or app platform for years at a time means youll build up a massive trove of personal data. And it is, or should be, your right to take that data to another provider when you choose to move platforms in the future. Data portability is, however, a minefield, with different platforms offering wildly different options, making it easy (or hard) to go elsewhere. All of the devices in this round-up will allow you to export your data to a .CSV file, which you can then do with as you wish. Importing this information is trickier, with Withings and Garmin allowing it, and Omron, Xiaomi, Eufy and Fitbit not making it that easy. (Apps that engage with Apple Health, meanwhile, can output all of your health data in a .XML file.) Power Its not a huge issue but one worth bearing in mind that each scale will either run disposable batteries (most commonly 4xAAA) or with its own, built-in battery pack. Sadly, all of our crop of smart scales use batteries, adding an environmental and financial cost to your scale life. Thats just about forgivable for scales that cost under $100, but this stretches even to the highest-end models. When youre spending more than that on a device, the lack of a rechargeable cell feels very, very cheap indeed. How we tested and which smart scales we tested For this guide, I tested six scales from major manufacturers: Mi (Xiaomi) Body Composition Scale 2 ($29.99) Our cheapest model, Xiaomi / Mis Body Composition Scale 2 is as bare-bones as you can get, and it shows. It often takes a long while to lock on to get your body weight, and when it does youll have to delve into the Zepp Life-branded scales app in order to look at your extra data. But you cant fault it for the basics, offering limited (but accurate) weight measurements and body composition for less than the price of a McDonalds for four. Fitbit Aira Air ($49.95) Fitbit, now part of Google, is the household name for fitness trackers and smartwatches in the US, right? If not, then it must be at least halfway synonymous with it. The Aria Air is the companys stripped-to-the-bare bones scale, offering your weight and a few other health metrics, but you can trust that Fitbit got the basics right. Not to mention that most of the reason for buying a Fitbit product is to leverage its fitness app anyway. Anker Eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro ($79.99) Eufys Smart Scale P2 Pro has plenty of things to commend it the price, the overall look and feel (its a snazzy piece of kit) and what it offers. It offers a whole host of in-depth functionality, including Body Fat, Muscle Mass, Water Weight, Body Fat Mass and Bone Mass measurements, as well as calculating things like your Heart Rate and Basal Metabolic Rate (the amount of calories you need to eat a day to not change weight at all) all from inside its app. In fact, buried beneath the friendly graphic, the scale offers a big pile of stats and data that should, I think, give you more than a little coaching on how to improve your overall health. Shortly before publication, Anker Eufys parent company was identified as having misled users, and the media, about the security of its products. Its Eufy-branded security cameras, which the company says does not broadcast video outside of your local network, was found to be allowing third parties to access streams online. Consequently, while we have praised the Eufy Smart Scale for its own features, we cannot recommend it without a big caveat. Omron BCM-500 Body Composition and Scale with Bluetooth ($89.99) Given its role in making actual medical devices, you know what youre getting with an Omron product. A solid, reliable, sturdy, strong (checks the dictionary for more synonyms) dependable piece of kit. Theres no romance or excitement on show, but you can trust that however joyless it may be, itll do the job in question and will be user-friendly. The hardware is limited, the app is limited, but it certainly (checks synonyms again) is steady. Joking aside, Omrons Connect app is as bare-bones as you can get, since it acts as an interface for so many of its products. Scroll over to the Weight page, and youll get your weight and BMI reading, and if youve set a fitness goal, you can see how far youve got to go to reach it. You can also switch to seeing a trend graph which, again, offers the most basic visualization of your workouts and progress. Garmin Index S2 ($149.99) Garmins got a pretty massive fitness ecosystem of its own, so if youre already part of that world, its smart bathroom scale is a no-brainer. On one hand, the scale is one of the easiest to use, and most luxurious of the bunch, with its color screen and sleek design. Im also a big fan of the wealth of data and different metrics the scale throws at you you can see a full color graph charting your weight measurements and goal progress, and the various metrics it tracks in good detail. If theres a downside, its that Garmins setup wont hold your hand, since its for serious fitness people, not newbies. Withings Body Comp ($209.95) At the highest end, Withings flagship Body Comp is luxurious, and luxuriously priced, a figure Id consider to be too much to spend on a bathroom scale. For your money, however, youll get a fairly comprehensive rundown of body composition metrics including your weight, body fat percentage, vascular age, pulse wave velocity and electrodermal activity. Its monochrome dot matrix display may not be as swish as the Garmins, but it refreshes pretty quickly and feels very in-keeping with the hardwares overall sleek look. If theres a downside, its that they ditched the rechargeable battery found in the Withings Body Cardio (its former flagship, and an excellent scale Id recommend if it were within the parameters of this guide) in favor of AAA batteries. Which, when youre spending this much on a body fat scale, makes me feel very nickel-and-dimed. Smart scales FAQs What's the difference between a smart scale and a regular scale? A regular scale is pretty straightforward - it tells you how much you weigh, and thats usually it. A smart scale, on the other hand, does much more. Not only does it give you your weight measurements, but it can also track things like your body fat percentage, muscle mass, and even your BMI. Some smart scales even monitor more advanced metrics like bone density, depending on the model. Whats even better is that smart scales sync with scales apps on your phone using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so you can see all your health data in one place. This lets you monitor trends over time, like if your muscle mass is increasing or your body fat percentage decreasing. How do smart scales work with more than one person using it? When more than one person in a household uses the smart scale, it usually recognizes each person by their weight range and other body measurements (like body fat percentage). Most smart scales allow you to set up individual profiles in the companion app, and once your profile is linked, the scale can automatically figure out whos standing on it. Lets say you and a family member have fairly different weights - the scale will easily know whos who based on that. But if you and someone else have similar weights, it might ask you to confirm the profile on your phone after the weigh-in. Some scales even let you assign a profile manually in the scales app if its not sure.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-smart-scale-160033523.html?src=rss

British bank says working from home is great for flexibility, but it doesnt give you the best career opportunities.

Design studio Roar aimed to create a "world-class government building" for Ajman Ruler's Court in the UAE, which holds the office of Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi.The design was intended to showcase both the heritage of Ajman the smallest of the seven United Arab Emirates and its contemporary culture.Above: Roar used an earthy colour palette for the Ajman Ruler's Court interior. Top image: the building houses Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi's office"When designers think about the UAE they think bling: gold chandeliers and shiny marble," Roar founder Pallavi Dean told Dezeen."If you take the time to scratch the surface it will reveal layers of character and rich cultural stories, all conveyed in a very modern, non-pastiche language. I hope this project and the government's bold vision showcases just that."Spaces were designed like "mini districts"The studio was asked to create a design that would encourage collaboration between different government departments while increasing engagement and productivity.To do so, it created a layout for the two-storey building that drew partly on the geography of Ajman itself."First, we redefined the interior architecture by creating three large double-volume spaces," Dean said. "These voids served as interconnecting volumes that connected the floors both visually and physically.""Second, we planned the space like mini districts within the emirate itself each boasting a variety of workspaces for seated, standing and deep work, complete with flexible meeting areas and a 'local' cafe," she added.A central staircase was designed to look like sand dunesThe Ajman Ruler's Court contains the office of Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi ruler of Ajman, as well as meeting rooms, a boardroom and a reception, with a staircase informed by sand dunes at its centre."The staircase represents the fluidity and resilience of our region's natural landscapes and mirrors the adaptability required in leadership and governance," Dean said.Dhow boats inspired the ceiling shapes in the stairwellIn another geographical reference, she designed the ceiling of the stairwell as a nod to a local type of boat."Ajman's port is one of the major contributors to the emirate's economy," Dean said. "The traditional dhow, a sailing boat, inspired the architectural forms that you see in the ceiling of the main stairwell."Read: Roar recreates dizzying Indian stepwells in Jaipur Rugs' Dubai showroomThe staircase was also decorated with an installation of abstracted palm trees by Emirati artist Khalid Shafar as well as geometric shapes."The striking angular forms you see here are reinforced in the space planning and interior elements," Dean said. "These angles reference back to the shape of the emirate itself on a satellite map."Stylized palm trees decorate the staircaseThe design language of the staircase was echoed in the reception area, which features a pale colour palette and artworks by local artists Akil and Azza Al Qubaisi.Here, visitors can also admire the Sheikh's elevator, which draws on the architecture of traditional Areesh houses made of palm trees and features brass panels and wood details.A boardroom has artwork that resembles traditional lettersDean used texture and forms to demarcate the different areas of the Ajman Ruler's Court while keeping the colour scheme fairly consistent."The space is predominantly monochromatic in terracotta tones we used varying texture, played with the lighting and geometric forms in the ceilings to distinguish different areas," she explained."Vernacular pattern that has been abstracted features on wall cladding and screens that divide the space."The Chairman's Majlis meeting room has a glass chandelierIn Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi's office, Roar used neutral tones and added an artwork by Ultra Arte that was specially created for the space.The boardroom, meanwhile, features a stainless-steel artwork informed by the Al Barwa letters that were traditionally written by UAE rulers and dignitaries.Roar also designed the Chairman's Majlis, a meeting room furnished with low sofas. Here, wood panelling, marble-topped tables and soft carpeting create a tactile feel, while a glass chandelier adds a playful design detail.The building "sends a message about the future of Ajman"Dean hopes that Ajman Ruler's Court will be appreciated as a well-designed building, not just on a local but on a global scale."This building sends a message about the future of Ajman and its values so people should think 'Wow, this is one of the best government buildings in the UAE no wait. Globally!' only the visitor can be the judge if we have truly delivered that!" she concluded."That's the aspiration we wanted to deliver a world-class government building."Other recent projects by Roar include a showroom for Jaipur Rugs in Dubai that features cascading staircases and a cafe with decorative broken ceramic tiles.The photography is by Yasser Ibrahim.The post Roar combines traditional Emirati elements with contemporary design for Ajman Ruler's Court appeared first on Dezeen.

MacworldTired of software compatibility headaches when switching between Pages, Google Docs, and other tools? Nows the perfect time to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2024. With a lifetime license for just $119.97 (reg. $149.99), youll get all the essential appsWord, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNoteworking seamlessly on your Mac. But act fastthese discounted codes are selling out quickly!Microsoft Office 2024 brings Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote to your Mac, ensuring seamless device compatibility. Whether youre collaborating with PC users or working solo, these apps provide smooth integration to help you stay productive.And speaking of improvements, Office 2024 introduces AI features that act like the Clippy youve always wantedonly this time, they actually help. In Word, AI assists with brainstorming, editing, and even completing your thoughts. PowerPoints AI offers design suggestions, while Excels AI generates charts and identifies trends in your data. Plus, collaboration tools make teamwork easier than ever.Dont miss outgrab your lifetime Microsoft Office license for $119.97 before these discounted codes sell out!Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC: One-Time Purchase $119.97See DealStackSocial prices subject to change.

Inspired by the brain, neural networks are essential for recognizing images and processing language. These networks rely on activation functions, which enable them to learn complex patterns. However, many activation functions face challenges. Some struggle with vanishing gradients, which slows learning in deep networks, while others suffer from dead neurons, where certain parts of the network stop learning. Modern alternatives aim to solve these issues but often have drawbacks like inefficiency or inconsistent performance.Currently, activation functions in neural networks face significant issues. Functions like step and sigmoid struggle with vanishing gradients, limiting their effectiveness in deep networks, and while tanh improved this slightly, which proved to have other issues. ReLU addresses some gradient problems but introduces the dying ReLU issue, making neurons inactive. Variants like Leaky ReLU and PReLU attempt fixes but bring inconsistencies and challenges in regularization. Advanced functions like ELU, SiLU, and GELU improve non-linearities. However, it adds complexity and biases, while newer designs like Mish and Smish showed stability only in specific cases and failed to work in overall cases.To solve these issues, researchers from the University of South Florida proposed a new activation function, TeLU(x) = x tanh(ex), which combines the learning efficiency of ReLU with the stability and generalization capabilities of smooth functions. This function introduces smooth transitions, which means that the function output changes gradually as the input changes, near-zero-mean activations, and robust gradient dynamics to overcome some of the problems of existing activation functions. The design aims to provide consistent performance across various tasks, improve convergence, and enhance stability with better generalization in shallow and deep architectures.Researchers focused on enhancing neural networks while maintaining computational efficiency. Researchers aimed to converge the algorithm quickly, keep it stable during training, and make it robust to generalization over unseen data. The function exists non-polynomially and analytically; hence, it can approximate any continuous target function. The approach emphasized improving learning stability and self-regularization while minimizing numerical instability. By combining linear and non-linear properties, the framework can support efficient learning and help avoid issues such as exploding gradients.Researchers evaluated TeLUs performance through experiments and compared it with other activation functions. The results showed that TeLU helped to prevent the vanishing gradient problem, which is important for effectively training deep networks. It was tested on large datasets such as ImageNet and Dynamic-Pooling Transformers on Text8, showing faster convergence and better accuracy than traditional functions like ReLU. The experiments also showed that TeLU is computationally efficient and works well with ReLU-based configurations, often leading to improved results. The experiments confirmed that TeLU is stable and performs better across various neural network architectures and training methods.In the end, the proposed activation function by the researchers handled key challenges of existing activation functions by preventing the vanishing gradient problem, enhancing computational efficiency, and showing better performance across diverse datasets and architectures. Its successful application on benchmarks like ImageNet, Text8, and Penn Treebank, showing faster convergence, accuracy improvements, and stability in deep learning models, can position TeLU as a promising tool for deep neural networks. Also, TeLUs performance can serve as a baseline for future research, which can inspire further development of activation functions to achieve even greater efficiency and reliability in machine learning advancements.Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our60k+ ML SubReddit. Divyesh Vitthal Jawkhede+ postsDivyesh is a consulting intern at Marktechpost. He is pursuing a BTech in Agricultural and Food Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is a Data Science and Machine learning enthusiast who wants to integrate these leading technologies into the agricultural domain and solve challenges. Follow us on X (Twitter) to get regular AI Research and Dev Updates here...

You Can Now Call ChatGPT From Your Phone 1 like January 3, 2025Share this postLast Updated on January 3, 2025 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Get The Gist Originally published on Towards AI. Plus: Google DeepMind Unveils Veo 2This member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Welcome to Get The Gist, where every weekday we share an easy-to-read summary of the latest and greatest developments in AI news, innovations, and trends all delivered in under 5 minutes! In todays edition:Google DeepMind Unveils Veo 2Metas Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Get Live AIGoogle Launches Gemini 2.0 AdvancedAnd more AI news.Image by: OpenAIThe Gist: OpenAI has introduced the ability to call ChatGPT via a regular phone line, allowing users in the U.S. to access the chatbot without cellular data. The feature adds to recent updates like WhatsApp integration and expanded voice and video capabilities.Key Details:U.S. users can call 1800-CHATGPT (18002428478) to talk to ChatGPT through Advanced Voice Mode, enabling natural conversations even without an internet connection.The feature is useful for situations like road trips, where cellular data or Wi-Fi may be unavailable.ChatGPT is now accessible globally via WhatsApp using the same phone number, with plans to support ChatGPT account logins in the WhatsApp bot.Other recent updates include free access to ChatGPT Search, video support in Advanced Voice Mode, and integration with Siri on iOS devices.Image by: GoogleThe Gist: DeepMinds new AI tool, Veo 2, surpasses its predecessor Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Author(s): Sarvesh Khetan Originally published on Towards AI. Note : this is in continuation of this blog wherein I have discussed different models to perform video classification task.Video is nothing but a sequence of images and hence to make use of this sequence information researcherssequence models like RNN / LSTM / GRU / Transformers on video dataset !!Since transformers model is the most prominent sequence model, below I will only discuss transformer but you can design similar architectures with other sequence models too !!Taking inspiration from vision transformers that we saw in image classification task, researchers designed this architecture for transformers on videosIssue with above architecture is that there is too much of attention being calculated due to which model takes a lot of time for computation and hence researchers wanted to reduce these computations. They proposed more efficient architectures and one such architecture was proposed by google in 2021 in its paper Video Vision Transformers (ViViT). First lets us understand the intuition behind this architectureNow to implement this, the architecture diagram looks something like as follows In above architecture I have only shown 1 spatial transformer and 1 temporal transformer but you can add more of these transformer layers to improve your system but rememberSpatial positional encoding and Temporal positional encoding are only inputs to the very first spatial and temporal transformers respectively !!Also, you will have to do reshaping everytime before passing the inputs to spatial transformer and temporal transformer to make sure the attention is being calculated correctly as shown in the intuitionJoin thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AI