Looking for the most recent Wordle answer?Click here for today's Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections and Strands puzzles.Today's Wordle puzzlereminds me of church, and also of a certain candy disk we ate in the 1970s and 1980s. Four of the five letters are pretty common, but the start letter might be one you don't always guess. (Check our ranking of all the letters in the alphabetby popularity.) It's likely you'll find today's Wordle answer with few problems. If you need hints and the answer, read on. Today's Wordle hints Before we show you today'sWordleanswer, we'll give you some hints. If you don't want a spoiler, look away now.Wordle hint No. 1: RepeatsToday's Wordle answer has no repeated letters.Wordle hint No. 2: VowelsThere are two vowels in today's Wordle answer.Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter.Today's Wordle answer starts with the letter W.Wordle hint No. 4: YumToday's Wordle answer is often associated with a kind of food.Wordle hint No. 5: MeaningToday's Wordle answer refers to a thin, crisp cake or biscuit. It's also used to reference an item that's part of some church services.TODAY'S WORDLE ANSWERToday's Wordle answer is WAFER.Yesterday's Wordle answerYesterday's Wordle answer, Jan. 8, No. 1299, was DRAFT.Recent Wordle answersJan. 4, No. 1295: RELAXJan. 5, No. 1296: CYBERJan. 6, No. 1297: SPRIGJan. 7, No. 1298: ATLAS

There's a new tech company claiming to have found the solution for one of mankind's most mundane chores, and CNET's ground team got to see the products in action at CES 2025.Tenet's AI Laundry Robots are hoping to be a new and more efficient way to wash and dry your clothes. During the huge tech show here in Las Vegas, Tenet, which has teamed up with TCL Global, unveiled two separate prototypes that have the same goal: to make your life easier.The smaller of the two is shaped like an egg and features a mechanical arm that hang-dries your clothes inside of the machine. My first impression was that it looks quite small, so regardless of how efficiently it works, it may not get the full job done quickly.But there's another feature that could be groundbreaking if it works: The company says it can fold the laundry, too. We haven't seen that in action yet, so we can't speak to its efficacy. (Though we'll note thatlaundry-folding robots have made big splashes at CES in the past and come to nothing.) Watch this: I Made a Robot Vacuum Pick Up My Socks 02:50 It also remains unclear how many pieces of clothing it can hold and dry at once, but if it is in fact a three-in-one machine that can wash, dry and fold on its own, it could revolutionize the world of laundry.There was also a separate front-loading washing machine, referred to by the company as the AI-powered garment recognition model, seems quite promising. By using cameras and light sensors inside of the machine, Tenet says it will learn the best way to wash your clothes so they continue to look great and are also clean as possible. Then, when the washing is done, it will dry your clothes, too. (We'll note that combined washer-dryers have been around for years and have never been very good at the drying part.)Read more:There's an AI Overhaul Happening in Your Home, but You Might Not Notice ItIs this the key to cleaner and smarter laundry?The AI-powered garment recognition model -- which seems to be able to hold much more laundry than the egg-shaped AI Laundry Robot -- uses artificial intelligence to determine the best way to wash your clothes. The washer can detect exactly what type of clothing you placed in the machine and how many pieces within seconds of shutting the door.If you place a dark-colored piece of clothing in a load of white clothing, the smart screen on the washer will quickly give you a caution warning that the color may bleed. After the warning, you have two options. You can either remove the dark piece of clothing from the load or leave it and let the washer choose which cycle is best for preventing the color bleeding during the cycle. After the cycle, it is said to dry the clothes too so there would be no need to worry about throwing the laundry into a separate machine. The second Tenet prototype was much larger than the first. Bridget Carey/CNETDuring a demonstration at CES 2025, our on-the-ground team saw the washer in action and was seemingly impressed with how it quickly and accurately identified the clothing placed in the machine. When the cycle began, a stain index and timeline also appears that shows where the machine is at in the cycle, and it will adjust the amount of detergent and water used during the cycle based on what the clothes need.Plus, like numerous other home products unveiled at CES 2025(and ones already on the market), the device can connect to an app that will alert you when the laundry is done. Tenet's booth at CES displayed how the robot's mechanical arm can hang dry your clothing. David Katzmaier/CNETWhen will these be available for purchase?Tenet's AI Laundry is expected to launch in the US by the end of 2025, but no pricing has yet been revealed.On Tenet's booth at CES 2025, a sentence that resembles a mission statement is displayed that may just predict our future if this technology proves successful. It reads:"By integrating human-like perception, decision-making, and execution into our AI Laundry Robot, we aim to free up individuals from repetitive household chores, allowing them to focus on more creative and fulfilling aspects of life." 25 for CES 2025: The Must-See Tech We're Obsessed With See all photos

January 8, 20254 min readPalisades and Eaton Fires Show Rising Dangers of Fast-Moving BlazesIn California and elsewhere, fast-moving fires are particularly damaging and expensive because they take people by surprise, making evacuations difficultStrong winds blow embers as the Palisades Fire burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire has grown to more than 2900-acres and is threatening homes in the coastal neighborhood amid intense Santa Ana Winds and dry conditions in Southern California. Apu Gomes/Getty ImagesThe Palisades and Eaton Fires rushing through the Los Angeles area enveloped thousands of acres in mere hours and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents, some of whom were forced to abandon their cars and flee on foot. As of early Wednesday evening, at least five people have died in the fires.The fast-moving fires, driven by strong Santa Ana winds, are part of an unfortunate trend. According to a paper published in Science in October 2024, the average peak daily growth rate of fires in the U.S. West more than doubled between 2001 and 2020. In California the average peak growth rate went up by 398 percent. Fires are getting a lot faster in California, says Jennifer Balch, a fire ecologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who led the study.That research did not investigate why fast fires have become more common, but the cause is probably the same reason the U.S. West is becoming more fire-prone in general, Balch says. Were making it very easy for fire to spread when we warm the climate and effectively make fuels a lot drier, she says.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Thats alarming, Balch says, because such fires are actually the most destructive. Though large fires often get more attention, speed matters more than size when it comes to damage. Balch and her colleagues found that 78 percent of structures destroyed in fires in the U.S. in the first two decades of the 21st century burned in fast-moving fires. In fact, a growth rate of more than 4,000 acres in a day was one of the best predictors of whether a fire would cause significant damage to homes and other buildings.When these fires do occur, they can quickly impact communities that have very little time to prepare or evacuate, says John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced, who was not involved in the study. And thats effectively what were seeing with some of these fires in southern California.The largest of the fires, the Palisades Fire, has burned more than 15,000 acres since it started on Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Eaton Fire is close behind: it has burned 10,600 acres since Tuesday. Two more blazes, the Hurst and Woodley Fires, also ignited on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and have collectively burned more than 700 acres, with most of that figure attributed to the Hurst Fire.This rapid destruction has occurred during a dry winter for southern California, following a dry fall, and these conditions came on the heels of a particularly wet winter last year. Thats a perfect recipe for large, fast fires, Abatzoglou says, because a wet year increases the growth of highly flammable small shrubs and grasses while an ensuing dry year turns those plants into crispy matchsticks, ready to catch ablaze. Weather whiplash is actually contributing to the probability of very large, fast-moving wildfires, says Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at the Nature Conservancy and Texas Tech University, who studies climate impacts. The rising temperatures attributable to greenhouse gas emissions have disrupted natural fire patterns globally, she says, and reducing emissions is important to mitigate the effects.With fires driven by winds such as the Santa Anaswhich gusted at nearly 90 miles per hour in southern California on Tuesday nightembers are blown far out ahead of the fast-moving fire front, igniting new fires faster than they can be extinguished. These embers are what spell disaster for homes, says Yana Valachovic, county director for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Most of our homes have not been built or retrofitted to be robust to protect against embers, she says.The Santa Ana winds are predicted to become less frequent in the fall and spring in a warming world, according to 2019 research, but their intensity is not expected to decline, and you really only need one Santa Ana wind event that occurs where fuels are dry to get this sort of disaster, Abatzoglou says. The wet season in southern California is becoming compressed, with less rainfall in fall and spring. That stretches out the fire season and the potential overlap with the typical Santa Ana wind season, which runs from October through January.Winter wildfire should be an oxymoron, Balch says. But L.A.s experience has been similar to another wind-driven event in Colorado: the Marshall Fire, which began on December 30, 2021. A warm, dry winter and a major wind event led to a fire that flashed over three miles in an hour, burning 1,000 structures and killing two people.The University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources Fire Network has created a checklist for what to do if youre in an area near an active wildfire that is not yet under an evacuation order. Steps as simple as moving flammable items away from exterior walls, sealing vents and closing pet doors can help harden a home against ignition, Valachovic says. Earlier steps include swapping out standard vent covers for fine mesh that resists embers, clearing vegetation within five feet of home walls and building the last few feet of wooden fence lines with a noncombustible material that wont wick fire directly toward the house.Both the Palisades and Marshall Fires hit suburban areas, often thought to be at low fire risk. But about a million U.S. homes were within a wildfire perimeter in the past two decades, and 59 million more are within about 0.6 mile of a past wildfire perimeter, Balch says. Thats a lot of risk were living with, she adds.

Activision files lengthy defence in Call of Duty lawsuit that accused it of "grooming" Uvalde school shooter"There can be no doubt Call of Duty is expressive and fully protected by the First Amendment."Image credit: Activision Blizzard News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Jan. 9, 2025 Activision Blizzard has submitted a lengthy defence in response to lawsuits filed last year in which the families of those killed in the 2022 Uvalde school shooting accused the publisher of "grooming" the 18-year-old perpetrator through Call of Dury.19 children and two teachers were killed in the attack on Robb Elementary School in May 2022, while 17 others were injured. Families of those killed during the tragedy later filed lawsuits in Texas and California against Activision (after it emerged the shooter had played Call of Duty), alongside Instagram owner Meta and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense."This three-headed monster," the lawsuit alleged, "knowingly exposed [the perpetrator] to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it." At the time of last May's filing, Activision called the shooting "horrendous and heartbreaking", but noted "millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts".Now though, as reported by journalist Stephen Totilo in his Game File newsletter, Activision has formally submitted its initial defence, spanning nearly 150 pages of legal documentation filed last December. In a six-page direct response to the California lawsuit, the publisher has denied "each and every allegation contained in the Complaint", claiming, among other things, a lack of causation between Call of Duty and the shooting. Totilo notes the publisher has also asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis of California's anti-SLAPP laws, which are designed to prevent the abuse of the legal system against a defendant's free speech."Call of Duty tells complex stories that explore the real-world combat scenarios that soldiers face in modern warfare," Activision wrote in a separate 35-page filing. "There can be no doubt Call of Duty is expressive and fully protected by the First Amendment... By bringing a laundry list of causes of action against Activision premised on allegedly dangerous 'hyper-realistic content' in the Call of Duty video games played by the perpetrator who committed heinous acts of violence, the Complaint runs headfirst into this overriding constitutional principle."Activision's submissions also include a 35-page declaration from Notre Dame media studies professor Matthew Thomas Payne, arguing the Call of Duty series "flows from the same military realism tradition that has been explored for decades in critically acclaimed war movies and television shows" - and is thus far from the "training camp for mass shooters" in which "teenage boys learn to kill with frightening skill and ease" described in the Uvalde families' lawsuit.The publisher's defence is also supported by a 38-page submission from Call of Duty head of creative Patrick Kelly, which goes into significant detail regarding the design and creation of the series. This is the same document that revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's eye-popping $700m budget, and includes a wealth of information Activision's lawyers could potentially use to counter the various claims made in the Uvalde families' legal filing.For instance, while the claimant's suit alleges the Uvalde shooter learned about the gun he used from the loading screen of 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Kelly highlights two key points. Firstly, he says the generic assault rifle depicted in the image had been deliberately anonymised to ensure it did not feature identifiers that could link it to any particular firearm manufacturer. Secondly, he notes that by the time the perpetrator played the game in November 2021, the loading screen had been changed and would likely not have been seen.There's plenty more detail in Activision's submitted documentation, and Totilo has a considerably expanded breakdown of the publisher's arguments in his paywalled newsletter. The Uvalde families have until late February to respond to Activision's filings, and the publisher can then reply in April. As Totilo notes, if the case goes to trial, it likely won't be for a long time.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube791kWatch on YouTube It's a new year and that means brand new games are already on the way! January isn't always the most happening month of the year, but in 2025 there's plenty to be excited about. Our senior video producer Zion Grassl also bought a PS5!Back to the upcoming releases on the Switch though, there's Donkey Kong, Star Wars, another Tales game, and much more to look forward to - so here's the full rundown for the first month of the year:Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana - January 7th, 2025 The long-awaited remaster of the remakeBoti: Byteland Overclocked - January 10th, 2025FREEDOM WARS Remastered - January 10th, 2025 Free from Vita jailBlade Chimera - January 16th, 2025 Coming Spring 2024Donkey Kong Country Returns HD - January 16th, 2025 It's almost a month away!Tales of Graces f Remastered - January 17th, 2025 Good gracesENDER MAGNOLIA-Bloom in the mist- January 22nd, 2025 Bloomin' marvellousDance of Cards - January 23rd, 2025Guilty Gear -Strive- Nintendo Switch Edition - January 23rd, 2025 Update: Arc System Works shares announcement trailerStar Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles - January 23rd, 2025 Fess up, who asked for this?Cuisineer - January 28th, 2025Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter - January 28th, 2025 Sequel launches this monthHello Kitty Island Adventure - January 30th, 2025 So much more than "Sanrio meets Animal Crossing"Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero - January 30th, 2025Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - January 31st, 2025 Update: Roll the dice in 2025Will you be adding any of these games to your Switch library this month? Let us know in the comments.See AlsoShare:00 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesNintendo Highlights Multiple Switch Games Launching In 2025It's going to be an action-packed yearSwitch's First 'Rebootless Update' Of 2025 Is Now Live, Here Are The DetailsFollowing Version 19.0.1's rollout last October126 Games You Should Pick Up In The Nintendo Switch eShop Holiday Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higherTalking Point: Our 2025 Nintendo Gaming PredictionsNew hardware smellTech Fans Have Gone Full 'Layton' In Analysing The 'Switch 2' MotherboardCritical thinking is the key to success.

Zelda, Paper Mario and more.We're still in that part of the year where end-of-year events are taking place and next up is the 14th annual New York Game Awards.Although no Nintendo games are in the running for the 'Game of the Year' award, some first-party Switch titles have been nominated in certain other categories. This includes Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which is up for 'best kids game' and Super Mario Party Jamboree has also been nominated in the same category.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

A month ago, a video circulated around social media of a Waymo robotaxi stuck in a roundabout loop an isolated incident with no passengers in the vehicle, according to Waymo. Apparently, it wasnt a one-time thing.Around the same time, in another Waymo robotaxi headed for the Phoenix airport, Mike Johns, founder and CEO of AI consultancy Digital Mind State, also found himself circling a parking lot, unable to stop the car or get out.The videos were posted within a couple of days of each other. Waymo has not confirmed whether the incidents happened at the same time or if there were other similar loopy incidents, but says it issued software updates to fix the issue.Johns was stuck in the Waymo going through a loop for under seven minutes, but he says it felt like forever, particularly as he feared he would miss his flight and questioned whether the car had been hacked. It was his second time in a Waymo robotaxi.A Waymo spokesperson confirmed the incident. This event occurred in early December and has since been addressed by a regularly scheduled software update. The vehicle completed the riders trip and they were not charged for the ride.A Waymo customer support specialist called into the car without Johnss prompting, he told TechCrunch. The agent said she had received a notification that his car might be experiencing some routing issue, according to a video of the incident Johns shared.To solve the issue, the specialist asked Johns to open his Waymo app and tap My Trip in the lower left corner of [the] app, to which Johns responded, Cant you just do it? You should be able to handle it, take over the car, you dont need my phone.A fair question to ask, given that such a takeover is ostensibly what a remote assistant is for.I dont have an option to control the car, she confessed.Waymo tells TechCrunch that its rider support agents are different from its fleet response team, which is what the autonomous driving software (known as the Waymo Driver) taps for help if it encounters an unfamiliar situation on the road. Rider support agents, like the one Johns spoke with, can respond to outreach from riders riders can get in touch through the Waymo app and a call button in the vehicle. They can also initiate contact if the Waymo vehicles diagnostics indicate such a need. But they dont interact directly with the vehicles driving software.In the end, Johns says, following the support agents directions in the app got the robotaxi back on course.Johns said Waymo compensated him for the ride and directed him to its website to file a complaint. The company did not reach out to him immediately after the incident, but did so this week after his video got picked up by major news outlets.My biggest thing is in this digital age that were in, were so disconnected from the human factor, Johns told TechCrunch. Im all for AI. Im at that forefront between AI, automation, robotics, but there still is a human factor.Missy Cummings, a professor of autonomy and robotics at George Mason University and former senior safety advisor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says that this incident, though small, demonstrates a larger issue that AV companies should solve for.In any robotic system, theres a big red button somewhere that, if pressed, that thing will disengage, Cummings told TechCrunch, noting that the button could be hidden somewhere in the car thats difficult to get to. And Ill tell you thats a really important security measure going forward because what happens if the carhas been hacked by someone and theres a passenger inside the vehicle? You definitely need the ability to remotely stop everything in the car so they can get out.Waymo told TechCrunch that, in fact, Waymo vehicles have a pull over button available to riders at all times, located in the app and on the passenger screen, but Johns said the support agent didnt tell him about this, and he didnt see it.Cummings also noted that asking the rider to be an active participant in the fix by using their app is error-prone due to potential connectivity issues and non-user friendly apps.I was just blown away that she was trying to get him to go into his phone to bring some resolution to this when this is clearly an urgent situation that needs to be attended to right away, Cummings said. She should have said, Look, pull up the left corner of the mat on the floor and youll see a red button. Hit that button.

In BriefPosted:4:58 PM PST January 8, 2025Image Credits:Macrovector (opens in a new window) / Shutterstock (opens in a new window)The US has a new cybersecurity safety label for smart devicesThe White House this week announced a new label for internet-connected devices, the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, intended to help consumers make more-informed decisions about the cybersecurity of products they bring into their homes.To earn the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, which is being administered by the Federal Communications Commission, companies have to test their products against established cybersecurity criteria from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology via compliance testing by accredited labs.Eligible products range from baby monitors to smart home security devices. The U.S. Cyber Trust Mark is the result of a nearly two-year public notice and comment period. The FCC unanimously authorizedthe program and adopted the final rules in late 2024.People are growing increasingly wary of smart device cyberattacks. According to one recent survey, 1 in 3 Americans worry about their connected gadgets, like locks and doorbells, being hacked.Topics

Im old enough to remember musicians getting angry over Guitar Hero. But they always seemed to be missing the point. Nobody was seriously suggesting that a video game controller would replace an instrument thats been going strong since the 15th century. Guitar Hero was a fun game, and if it persuaded a new generation to pick up the real thing, it was a net positive for the universe.A similar feeling washed over me seeing the LiberLive C1 on the ground at CES 2025. If the guitars future is in peril, it has nothing to do with the existence of the self-proclaimed first-ever stringless smart guitar. And really, referring to the thing as a guitar at all seems to be missing the point.Learning instruments is difficult, time-consuming, and can be incredibly frustrating. Take it from me, a decades-long terrible guitar player. Like Guitar Hero before it, it would be unserious to suggest a product like this poses any manner of existential threat to the guitar (besides, the emergence of non-guitar pop music did most of the heavy lifting there).Theres something gratifying about an instrument you can simply pick up and play. In fact, in a strange way, being a guitar player might have worked against me with the C1. You have to reorient your brain to embrace the instruments simplicity.There are a series of chord names associated with buttons on the side of the instruments neck. Holding one of these while strumming the paddle on the C1s body plays a chord. And thats really all there is to it.Theres no playing individual notes and nothing approximating shredding. You can, however, strum and sing along with songs on the app. Its effectively karaoke with an added dimension.Its fun, its portable, its $699, it lasts six hours on a charge. And it wont be replacing guitars any time soon. Check out more CES 2025 coverage, including

Released late last year by Joseph Bell, who was unhappy and frustrated by the lack of clear, objective information about the VFX industry, the Visual Effects World Atlas provides a unique, comprehensive research report and overview of artists who work in the global visual effects industry, an industry that supports the creative works of film studios, streamers, and branded content creators.Bell provides a unique voice in visual effects, combining 20 years of hands-on experience at some of the most respected studios in the field including Industrial Light & Magic, The Mill, and FuseFX with a global view of industry trends and business dynamics.Available free of charge in the hope that it will help foster a sense of global community among VFX artists, the atlas can be downloaded hereor atvfxatlas.com.We recently had a chance to chat with Bell about his sorely needed, unique research efforts, how the atlas was produced, and what his plans are for updates and related industries.AWN: What led you to create this atlas? Why, and what were your goals?Joseph Bell: Visual Effects have grown into a multi-billion-dollar global industry in a relatively short span of years. And yet we rarely talk about VFX as an industry. Its much easier to find information on how state-of-the-art VFX are created than it is to find information about global trends impacting hundreds of VFX studios and tens of thousands of VFX professionals worldwide.There are conversations that were simply not having as a professional community. My goal with the Atlas is to start building a shared understanding of the VFX industry, one that is grounded in data rather than hearsay and marketing. I hope the Atlas will foster a sense of community that spans borders and time zones. I also want to make it normal to talk openly and publicly about important industry trends, and how VFX businesses are responding to them. The Atlas is a first step in that direction.AWN: How did you produce it can you breakdown the type of research you did, where you found numbers, and how you extrapolated data? JB: The Atlas was created almost entirely using publicly available data from the internet. This allowed me to identify over 55,000 individuals around the world who work in visual effects, including their job title, location, and company affiliation. Obviously, the data doesnt include every person in the VFX industry globally. But it is a rather large and detailed sample!Theres an idea that VFX companies are the only source of accurate information for something like this. To be honest, I think thats a naive view. Many companies would have concerns about revealing details of their internal staffing, and, from a marketing perspective, they all want to look as large and as capable as possible. The approach used for the Atlas sidesteps these issues entirely.I wanted to leave plenty of room for readers to draw their own conclusions from the data. Thats why theres a limited amount of commentary and interpretation in the pages of the Atlas but there are plenty of data tables to browse. I avoided extrapolating the data as much as possible, trying to be totally upfront with readersabout what it does and does not show.AWN: How long did it take to produce, who was involved can you provide any details about the actual process.JB: The Atlas itselftook about three months to produce. I started gathering data in May 2024, but it wasnt until a few months into the project that I realized there was enough to share in an ebook rather than a few charts and graphs.This first edition of the Atlas was created by a very small team. I cleaned the raw data personally, combing through a 55,000-row spreadsheet line by line several times. Did you know that many photographers around the world call their shingle Blur Studio? And a lot of heavy machinery operators work for companies named MPC? I screened out over 12,000 extraneous entries from the data to get to the 55,000 that were used for the Atlas. I then used Tableau software to generate the maps and charts.My wife did all the design and layout work for the Atlas and the website. I also hired two researchers, one in India and the other in Vietnam, to contribute to the coverage of those countries (you can hear from them directly in the Atlas). And, of course, several people kindly wrote pieces, including the foreword by Jeff Okun and various spotlight articles on specific countries. AWN: What do you hope people use this for? And how do you suggest people use this information?JB: The Atlas should be useful for anyone who wants an overview of the VFX industry. Students planning their careers in VFX, investors and journalists trying to grasp the shape of the industry, recruiters looking at demand for and availability of talent, perhaps even managers at VFX studios navigating the business landscape.I think of the Atlas as being like the first ever photograph of the Earth from space. Well certainly be able to capture higher resolution images in the future, but they probablywon't have quite the same impact. If people take away just one thing from the Atlas, I hope its that Visual Effects is a truly global endeavor. Whether you are in Sydney, Mumbai, Toronto, London, or somewhere else entirely, you have industry colleagues around the world who share your passion for the work, and face many of the same challenges.My other suggestion is to use the information to get comfortable talking with colleagues about data. People are rightly skeptical of questionable data and data-driven decision-making that flies in the face of common sense. Data is never perfect, but it can still provide crucial insights. Were at a disadvantage as an industry if we turn our back on tools that thrive in other sectors.AWN: Whats next?JB: Ill produce an expanded second edition of the Atlas this year, assuming theres enough interest. Between now and then, I plan to refresh the data every few months, tracking movement across the industry over time. I think this will be fascinating. People are also asking for a similar treatment of Animation and Video Game studios rest assured, thats on the way.My bigger project is shifting the conversation in the VFX industry. I hope to do some traveling in the coming year, present the work at conferences, and find industry colleagues around the world who see value in opening up discussion of VFX as an industry. The Atlas is just the beginning. Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.