This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.Googles still not giving us the full picture on AI energy useCasey CrownhartGoogle just announced that a typical query to its Gemini app uses about 0.24 watt-hours of electricity. Thats about the same as running a microwave for one secondsomething that feels insignificant. I run the microwave for many more seconds than that most days.I welcome more openness from major AI players about their estimated energy use per query. But Ive noticed that some folks are taking this number and using it to conclude that we dont need to worry about AIs energy demand. Thats not the right takeaway here. Lets dig into why.This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.+ If youre interested in AIs energy footprint, earlier this year, MIT Technology Review published Power Hungry: a comprehensive series on AI and energy.The AI Hype Index: AI-designed antibiotics show promiseSeparating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isnt always easy. Thats why weve created the AI Hype Indexa simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Take a look at this months edition here.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 The White House has fired the director of the CDCBut Susan Monarez is refusing to go quietly. (WP $)+ Monarez is said to have clashed with RFK Jr over vaccine policy. (NYT $)+ She was confirmed by the Senate to the position just last month. (The Guardian)+ Vaccine consensus is splintering across the US. (Vox)2 A Chinese hacking campaign hit at least 200 US organizationsIntelligence agencies say the breaches are among the most significant ever. (WP $)+ AI-generated ransomware is on the rise. (Wired $)3 Ukraines new Flamingo cruise missile took just months to buildRussias air defenses are weakening. Can this missile exploit the gaps? (Economist $)+ 14 people were killed in an overnight bombardment of Kyiv. (BBC)+ On the ground in Ukraines largest Starlink repair shop. (MIT Technology Review)4 AI infrastructure spending is boosting the US economyCompanies are throwing so much money at AI hardware its lifting the real economy, not just the stock market. (NYT $)+ How to fine-tune AI for prosperity. (MIT Technology Review)5 OpenAI and Anthropic safety-tested each others AIThey found Claude is a lot more cautious than OpenAIs mini models. (Engadget)+ Sycophancy was a repeated issue among OpenAIs models. (TechCrunch)+ This benchmark used Reddits AITA to test how much AI models suck up to us. (MIT Technology Review)6 Climate change exacerbated Europes deadly wildfiresAnd fires across the Mediterranean are likely to become more frequent and severe. (BBC)+ What the collapse of a glacier can teach us. (New Yorker $)+ How AI can help spot wildfires. (MIT Technology Review)7 911 centers are using AI to answer callsIts helping to triage anything that isnt urgent. (TechCrunch)8 Wikipedia has compiled a list of AI writing tropesBut their presence still isnt a dead giveaway a text has been written by AI. (Fast Company $)+ AI-text detection tools are really easy to fool. (MIT Technology Review)9 Melania Trump has launched the Presidential AI ChallengeBut its not all that clear what the competition actually is. (NY Mag $)10 Netflixs algorithm-appeasing movies are bland and boringBut millions of people will watch them anyway. (The Guardian)Quote of the dayThe more you buy, the more you grow.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang conveniently sees no end to the AI chip spending boom, Reuters reports.One more thinghttps://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/13/1109922/inside-the-strange-limbo-facing-ivf-embryos/?utm_source=the_download&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_term=*|SUBCLASS|*&utm_content=*|DATE:m-d-Y|*Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryosMillions of embryos created through IVF sit frozen in time, stored in cryopreservation tanks around the world, and the number is only growing.At a basic level, an embryo is simply a tiny ball of a hundred or so cells. But unlike other types of body tissue, it holds the potential for life. Many argue that this endows embryos with a special moral status, one that requires special protections.The problem is that no one can really agree on what that status is. What do these embryos mean to us? And who should be responsible for them? Read the full story.Jessica HamzelouWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Wow, that is one seriously orange shark!+ TikTok is a proven way to introduce younger generations to older musicand now its Radioheads turn.+ Why were still going bananas for Donkey Kong after all these years+ This photo perfectly captures the joy of letting loose at a wedding.

Building on the foundation of last years entry with one of the most ambitious annual upgrades the series has seen in years, NBA 2K26 widens NBA 2K25s comparatively limited focus on incremental improvements, player movements, and dribbling mechanics. The result: sweeping changes across gameplay, presentation, and modes headline 2K26s upgrades, with the new ProPLAY Motion Engine improving the responsiveness and fluidity of ball-handling and movement topping 2K26s extensive list of improvements.Beyond a plethora of rewarding skill-based updates, Visual Concepts has expanded AI intelligence on both sides of the court by reworking offensive and defensive systems, putting more control in players hands than ever before. Rounding out 2K26s overhauls is enhanced presentation featuring sharper visuals, bespoke arena design, and livelier crowds. From MyPLAYER innovations to the historic NBA-WNBA crossover, here are the 15 biggest differences between NBA 2K26 and NBA 2K25.ProPLAY Motion EngineNBA 2K25 introduced dynamic motion via its enhanced Dribble Engine, marking the biggest shake-up to on-court play since NBA 2K21. For NBA 2K26 the evolution continues via an upgraded ProPLAY Motion Engine. Weve already touched upon its impact in our 15 Things to Know feature, but delving deeper reveals more responsive Momentum Crossovers, faster game speed with attribute-based athlete speed boosts, and smoother chaining that allows players to execute spectacular dribble sequences by linking multiple moves together.Custom LayupsIn past NBA titles, layup styles were limited by single signature layup packages. NBA 2K26 changes this with customisable layup styles that are inspired by real-life manoeuvres from across the league. Players can now mix and match moves such as normal and reverse layups, quick scopes, floaters, hop steps, euro steps, and spins. Custom layups are configurable in MyPLAYER settings or through player roster editing.Defensive game reworksNBA 2K26s defensive game has been overhauled to look and feel more physical than in last years entry. Systems-driven tech has replaced 2K25s older motion-captures, providing more reliable feedback during athlete collisions. Interior Defence has been redesigned too, making mid-air body bumps more natural when contesting the ball at the rim. Rebounding introduces a timing mechanic via a green meter that flashes during well-timed attempts. If combined with rebounding attributes, successful jumps are rewarded with board dominance.New Quick ProtectOne of 2K26s most exciting innovations is Quick Protect, a new feature which enables ball handlers to instantly shield the ball from steal attempts before launching counters. Furthermore, when driving to the rim, attackers can pin defenders against their hip with Quick Protect, forcing their opposition into compromising positions.Revamped ball controls2K26s upgraded ProPLAY Motion systems bring an array of new ball handling options, including No-Dip Catch and Shoots which allow for seamless transitions between catching and shooting in one fluid motion. Signature Size-Ups have become more intuitive, with players able to combine two different Size-Up animations to create separation. Wrap Passes and Slow Motion Euro Steps each have their own dedicated inputs, while Alley-Oops have been made more skill-based with higher difficulties randomising face button inputs for the receiver.Offensive AI enhancementsNBA 2K25s artificial intelligence was criticised for being unrealistic, with non-player controlled athletes behaving too unlike their real-life counterparts. For NBA 2K26, Visual Concepts has reworked its system to make AI more dynamic in both offensive and defensive situations. Non-player teammates now seek out scoring potential through Drive-and-Kick opportunities whilst an expanded playbook with over 80 plays adds animation depth. A new AI Shot Timing Ability also lets players adjust how accurate AI-controlled athletes are at timing their layups and jumpshots, making outcomes feel more consistent and less frustrating.Defensive AI enhancementsDefensive AI has been smartened up too. Help Defense Intelligence allows off-ball defenders to dynamically adjust pressure based on the proximity of the ball to the basket, adjusting their positions when attackers drive to collapse towards the paint before recovering to contest shooters. Help Defense Intelligence is fine-tuned to work in tandem with offensive Drive-and-Kick intelligence, whilst elsewhere Double Team defensive logic has been improved to allow for smarter tracking of moving targets and better rotations.Improved AI difficultyBeyond the AI variables introduced in NBA 2K25, 2K26 introduces ten additional difficulty variables to better separate higher and lower challenge levels. These new variables cover a heightened awareness of defensive rotations, reaction times in passing lanes, and overall in how quickly defenders recognise impending threats.Player fidelity evolutionVisual Concepts is following a growing trend across annual sports titles by renewing focus on NBA 2K26s presentation to push realism as far as possible. Player fidelity is one-such upgrade, magnifying the games physical toll on athletes more vividly sweat beads more noticeably, cracks appear on dehydrated lips, and fatigued muscles are more clearly defined, bringing fans closer to the action than ever before.Improved arena visualsArena presentation has also seen an overhaul when compared to 2K25, with intensified arena lighting, reworked colour correction, and new skin shaders making players shine under the lights. Court floors are also treated to new shaders, with them now featuring distinct woodgrain colour presented in newfound sheen. In NBA 2K26, arena designs closely match their real-life counterparts, with pre-game rituals adding new layers of authenticity before the opening tip-off.Improved arena atmosphereIn-game atmosphere has also received a remodel, with crowd variety and their interactions being a big focus of this years development. A wider range of unique character models, body types, and clothing now occupies the stands, with fans sporting jerseys adorning the names of current and legendary basketball players whilst they wave rally towels and foam fingers. During play breaks, mascots, and entertainers take to the court ensuring theres never a dull moment even during downtime.MyPLAYER builder innovationsNBA 2K26s MyPLAYER builder has been fleshed out with all-new animations, new player archetypes, and templates, the latter letting new or seasoned players borrow builds instead of creating their athlete from scratch. NBA 2K26s MyPLAYER builder also features an updated animation glossary which showcases every animation with details, attributes, and height requirements, enabling players to make more informed decisions on the output of their athlete.Cap Breakers have more impactIn NBA 2K25, Cap Breakers raised an athletes attributes by +1, with the knock-on effect of players focusing solely on boosting their strongest attributes whilst ignoring their weaknesses. NBA 2K26 changes this, with Cap Breakers now providing more significant boosts to the weakest attributes, promoting more balanced and versatile builds.NBA-WNBA crossoverFor the first time in franchise history, NBA 2K is bringing players from the NBA and WNBA together in MyTEAM. In NBA 2K26, players can create unique mixed lineups and pairings with WNBA players being fully integrated in MyTEAMs features and game modes. All-new Game Changer Cards provide further depth, giving players the power to tailor their MyTEAM experience via consumables that govern points multipliers, win streak recovering, extra prizes, auto-winning breakout games, and more.Expansions to The WThe W returns with renewed attention, bringing it in-line with the rest of 2K26s experience. For instance, refreshed social media mechanics introduces real-life journalists and pundits across in-game feeds, with press conferences across The W stuffed with new content, animations, and voice recordings. Rivalries intensify on-court via GOAT Challenges too, the result being the most complete and authentic WNBA experience in NBA 2K games to date.

Carmen Corbasson exterior entry and aerobics. Photo credit: Scott Norsworthy Carmen Corbasson Community Centre, in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, has opened the doors to its newly renovated and expanded recreation facility which introduces a mass timber natatorium, fitness centre, aerobics studio, and an expanded lobby to the buildings existing arena and gymnasium complex.Diamond Schmitt has designed the centres 45,000 square-foot expansion with the aim to create a connection between the old and new through form and materiality. The work adds to a previous addition completed in 2000.Carmen Corbasson pool exterior. Photo credit: Scott NorsworthyLocated adjacent to a wooded area, the design aims to take advantage of its park-like setting to connect with the natural surroundings, creating a Pavilion in the Forest where the community can connect.Connecting with Cawthra Wood was the fundamental inspiration for this project. The solution was making a simple timber pavilion that allowed for an essential relation to the forest, said Diamond Schmitt principal Jarle Lovlin.Carmen Corbasson lobby. Photo credit: Scott NorsworthyThe original building organization is a staggered series of brick planes interrupted by moments of glazing aimed to maximize views and light.The overall massing of the new expansion is a two-storey rectangular prism. The design, visible from Cawthra Road, features a glazed opening at the southwest corner. The horizontality of the buildings composition is reinforced through a terracotta panel cladding system, which is strengthened by a similar ceramic frit pattern for the natatorium glazing.Carmen Corbasson aerobics. Photo credit: Scott NorsworthyCarmen Corbasson fitness. Photo credit: Scott NorsworthyFrom the lobby, visitors have views into the arena ahead, aquatics and fitness areas to the right, or the gym to the left, with new glazed openings creating clear wayfinding throughout. Above, the existing second storey path has been opened to overlook the main volume and extends east alongside the new block towards and aerobics studio and fitness room.Carmen Corbasson pool. Photo credit: Scott NorsworthyAt the heart of the renovation and expansion is the natatorium composed as a simple rectangular volume, and is defined by a mass timber structure which provides a light order within the space. Glulam columns placed at regular intervals along the east faade support glulam beams stretching east to west across the width of the room. A cross laminated timber roof deck sits on top of these beams, providing a variegated surface that helps to diffuse the acoustic resonance of the space.The surrounding glazing reflects the regularity of the structure, with mullions spaced at 1.5-meter increments. Clear glazing along the lower portion of the space at water level aim to make the relationship with the adjacent forest clear. It is surmounted by a more translucent level of diffuse glazing, which protects the room from direct sun to the south and west as well as glare.The post Renovation and expansion of Carmen Corbasson Community Centre opens appeared first on Canadian Architect.

If you’ve never used a PDP-11 before it’s probably because you simply weren’t around in the 70s and 80s. Although they started as expensive machines only in research labs and …read more

Dragonite, Victreebel, and more old Pokémon are finding new life in the upcoming RPG The post Every New Mega Evolution Revealed For <em>Pokémon Legends: Z-A</em> So Far appeared first on Kotaku.

DJI’s latest wireless mic combines the best of its predecessors into one compelling package.

Castlevania: Complete Series - Limited Edition (Blu-ray) $150 (was $155) | Releases September 30 Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart Preorder at Crunchyroll Castlevania: Complete Series Limited Edition is finally back in stock at Amazon for $150 (was $155). When preorders first opened July 31, Amazon sold out in less than 24 hours. The pricey box set remained out of stock at Amazon throughout August. Castlevania fans who missed out on preordering the first time have another chance to reserve the collectible box set ahead of its September 30 release. If Amazon sells out again, Walmart also opened preorders for the same price--technically it's sold/shipped by Gruv--and you can preorder at Crunchyroll for $155.Castlevania: Complete Series includes all four seasons of Netflix's original Castlevania animated series. The limited-edition box set is packaged in a fancy faux-woodgrain box that houses the Blu-rays and a handful of collectibles, including an art book Ouija board, Tarot deck, and more. Continue Reading at GameSpot

In the world of anime and manga, it goes without saying that One Piece is the most recognizable series, and by quite a mile. After all, this story by Eiichiro Oda stands as the best-selling manga ever, a record no other series is even close to beating.

Of around 7,000 languages in the world, a tiny fraction are supported by AI language models. NVIDIA is tackling the problem with a new dataset and models that support the development of high-quality speech recognition and translation AI for 25 European languages including languages with limited available data like Croatian, Estonian and Maltese.These tools will enable developers to more easily scale AI applications to support global users with fast, accurate speech technology for production-scale use cases such as multilingual chatbots, customer service voice agents and near-real-time translation services. They include:Granary, a massive, open-source corpus of multilingual speech datasets that contains around a million hours of audio, including nearly 650,000 hours for speech recognition and over 350,000 hours for speech translation.NVIDIA Canary-1b-v2, a billion-parameter model trained on Granary for high-quality transcription of European languages, plus translation between English and two dozen supported languages. It tops Hugging Faces leaderboard of open models for multilingual speech recognition accuracy.NVIDIA Parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3, a streamlined, 600-million-parameter model designed for real-time or large-volume transcription of Granarys supported languages. It has the highest throughput of multilingual models on the Hugging Face leaderboard, measured as duration of audio transcribed divided by computation time.The paper behind Granary will be presented at Interspeech, a language processing conference taking place in the Netherlands, Aug. 17-21. The dataset, as well as the new Canary and Parakeet models, are now available on Hugging Face.How Granary Addresses Data ScarcityTo develop the Granary dataset, the NVIDIA speech AI team collaborated with researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Fondazione Bruno Kessler. The team passed unlabeled audio through an innovative processing pipeline powered by NVIDIA NeMo Speech Data Processor toolkit that turned it into structured, high-quality data.This pipeline allowed the researchers to enhance public speech data into a usable format for AI training, without the need for resource-intensive human annotation. Its available in open source on GitHub.With Granarys clean, ready-to-use data, developers can get a head start building models that tackle transcription and translation tasks in nearly all of the European Unions 24 official languages, plus Russian and Ukrainian.For European languages underrepresented in human-annotated datasets, Granary provides a critical resource to develop more inclusive speech technologies that better reflect the linguistic diversity of the continent all while using less training data.The team demonstrated in their Interspeech paper that, compared to other popular datasets, it takes around half as much Granary training data to achieve a target accuracy level for automatic speech recognition (ASR) and automatic speech translation (AST).Tapping NVIDIA NeMo to Turbocharge TranscriptionThe new Canary and Parakeet models offer examples of the kinds of models developers can build with Granary, customized to their target applications. Canary-1b-v2 is optimized for accuracy on complex tasks, while parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 is designed for high-speed, low-latency tasks.By sharing the methodology behind the Granary dataset and these two models, NVIDIA is enabling the global speech AI developer community to adapt this data processing workflow to other ASR or AST models or additional languages, accelerating speech AI innovation.Canary-1b-v2, available under a permissive license, expands the Canary familys supported languages from four to 25. It offers transcription and translation quality comparable to models 3x larger while running inference up to 10x faster.https://blogs.nvidia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Canary-demo.mp4NVIDIA NeMo, a modular software suite for managing the AI agent lifecycle, accelerated speech AI model development. NeMo Curator, part of the software suite, enabled the team to filter out synthetic examples from the source data so that only high-quality samples were used for model training. The team also harnessed the NeMo Speech Data Processor toolkit for tasks like aligning transcripts with audio files and converting data into the required formats.Parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3 prioritizes high throughput and is capable of transcribing 24-minute audio segments in a single inference pass. The model automatically detects the input audio language and transcribes without additional prompting steps.Both Canary and Parakeet models provide accurate punctuation, capitalization and word-level timestamps in their outputs.Read more on GitHub and get started with Granary on Hugging Face.

You never see a true ninja attack coming. So its only appropriate that none of us predicted Joe Musashi sneaking back onto our screens when Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was announced at The Game Awards in 2023. Its been eagerly anticipated since, but the 2D action platformer is finally ready to unsheathe its blade on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 August 29.Less of a surprise was the reveal that Lizardcube was tasked with Shinobis razor-edged return. The developer is no stranger to breathing life into Segas classic IP, with its slick work on WonderBoy: The Dragons Trap remake and Streets of Rage 4 proving its pedigree.Back in 2021 Sega wanted to revive an older IP and hinted if I had anything in mind, says LizardCube CEO and Art/Creative Director Ben Fiquet. Im a Shinobi kid, so I quickly pitched my vision for that. Because we make 2D titles, when I create drawings its like rendering what will be the same in the final game.The actual art of VengeanceThis immediate visualization provided a relatively easy win in terms of Shinobis striking aesthetic, something Ben describes as a continuation of their style; a bit more Japanese, but still very French and very Lizardcube. With Ben revealing that he grew up on beautifully animated 16-bit platformers like Aladdin, its easy to see what inspired that look. But from there the challenge became working out how to mix classic Shinobi authenticity with a contemporary feel.It was a bit different compared to working on Streets of Rage or Wonder Boy because Shinobi has more iterations, explains Ben. At first I wanted to make something more like a direct follow up to the original Shinobi games. But I quickly realized that it wasnt as fun as I remember. Gameplay-wise you can lose yourself by going too far in the other direction, too, but Shinobi has always been changing with the times. So we wanted to make a modern game but with the appeal of the first titles.We felt that a slow-paced, methodical 2D game wouldnt quite match the tastes of modern players, agrees Toru Ohara, Sega of Japans Chief Producer. We decided to focus on delivering exhilarating, satisfying action, and make the most of Lizardcubes strengths their distinctive art style and their expertise in 2D games.Cutting into the combatThe big secret weapon in keeping that classic Shinobi feel with an up-to-date gloss? A katana. And kunai. And Ninpo. And okay, lets just wrap it all up into the development teams focus on fast, fluid, personalised combo-driven combat.We quickly realized we wanted to push the combat further, says Ben. So we added more systems. That sort of thing can snowball when youre making it, given it mixes platforming with fighting. But its very satisfying to be able to fight your way through levels, and more ninja-like by being swift and chaining combos.That wasnt to say that the process of crafting this system was entirely smooth. The prototype we had was very different to what we ended up with, Ben reveals. After a playtest we saw something was missing so we went back to the drawing board.The result was the inclusion of the execution system, which rewards the player with stylish finishing moves and resources to spend on upgrading Joes abilities. Which played nicely into the freeform system that sits at the centre of Shinobis compelling and polished gameplay.Lizardcube wanted to prioritize freedom of choice and allow players to perform actions that look cool, says Toru. Ill admit I had some concerns at first, but as the system took shape, I realized that being able to unleash the move you want, when you want, created a tremendous sense of exhilaration.I often explain it like this: in the early stages, the character controls like one from an action game, but by the mid-to-late game, it starts to feel more like controlling a character in a fighting game. Being able to create that kind of fresh gameplay experience was a very pleasant surprise.And you can mash buttons and still do something cool, and maybe end up with an execution, laughs Ben. Weve already seen players do amazing things in the demo, with speed runs and combos.Bosses now, villains nextIf youve not yet played the demo and you should the question some of you now might be asking is, can I perform these combos and executions on the bosses? Yes, you absolutely can. And those boss fights remain spectacular in their own right, something Ben is keen to keep as a surprise for you to discover yourself. Although when pressed, he admitted he has a couple of favourites. The monkey boss Kozaru at the end of the first stage, he admits. And the boss of stage five. Its a vampire Yakuza, but I cant say anything more than that.Which led us to talk about the Villains Stage DLC coming at a later date, featuring boss characters from other Sega titles, the first being Sonic the Hedgehogs arch rival Doctor Eggman Robotnik. I hoped people would see this game as one of Segas many iconic IPs making a comeback, says Toru. So I thought it would be interesting to go beyond the original Shinobi world.We wanted to acknowledge the amazing presence that these IPs have, agrees Ben. As well as offer other little references here and there. Shinobi is kind of a serious game. But also silly, in a way.What Ben is referring to is the wry sense of humour present across Lizardcubes games which keeps things from getting too dark in Shinobi. Sure, its occasionally bloody, brutal and visceral, but the dev team also leans into its inherent absurdity, too.Joe only says one word through the entire game, which is very much an intentional joke, says Ben. And hes the most obvious ninja youll see, dressed in white and red, riding his dog and fighting demons. But it still works. The premise is silly, but you have to treat it with respect. I just want people to have fun and help keep the IP alive.Stay sharp because this is one action platformer you wont want to miss Shinobi: Art of Vengeance launches on August 29 for PS4 and PS5.