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D-Wave Quantum shares plunged 36% on Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested that quantum computers are decades away.

Behind that stunning visual effect in Deadpool & Wolverine where Cassandra moves her hands through Paradox, Wolverine and Deadpools faces.Few icky visual effects shots have resonated so widely as the moments that Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) uses her powers to run her hands literally through the faces of other characters in director Shawn Levys Deadpool & Wolverine. These include Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds).For befores & afters, production visual effects supervisor Swen Gillberg breaks down, in his own words, exactly how those shots were achieved, including reference gathering, concepts and previs, shooting, and the final execution. As a special bonus, he also describes the moment Cassandra rips off Johnny Storms (Chris Evans) skin.From the comics: Early in prep, I came across these really crazy images in the comics of Cassandra putting her hands through peoples faces. Im like, Wow, thats wild. There was one specific image we saw of her hand going up through Paradoxs face in the comics. We used that as a style guide. Our goal was to create a photoreal version of the comics that was really true to comics. Obviously comic books and real life dont look alike, so its an interpretation, but that was the goal.We also did a bunch of early animation tests just to try to figure it out. And early on, along with the comic book reference, we scoured the internet for all the gross reference that you can imagine. Getting the performance: Having worked on Thanos and having Josh Brolin there as Thanos meant that one of my mantras was to always get the actors to act together to get their performances so they can look each other in the eyes. And so, we had to come up with a way to shoot these Cassandra scenes so that these actors are together and not in separate rooms.There was early talk about making a buck that Emma Corrin would put her hands through. But it was more important to me that Matthew Macfadyen and Emma could look each other in the eyes. So, we had to figure out a way to shoot together. Now, one thing to note is that that whole Cassandra through Paradoxs face scene was probably three times or four times shorter, as originally scripted. Through reshoots, it lengthened considerably, we added a ton of dialogue to it, so it just needed to be ready for changes. We needed a fluid shooting methodology.I worked with Emmas stunt double first to try to come up with a way for them to be together. Basically, it ended up being, just put them together. I originally had made these prosthetics like a fake arm that Emma could hold and push into Matthews face but I abandoned that. What we ended up doing was quite simple in that we just had her put her arm off to the side, trying not to block something to camera. Id have her put her hand on his hip or on his shoulder, and then we would do clean plates and digitally remove her arm and replace it from the shoulder down. That meant it was a digital arm up through his face.Building Paradox: ILM did the hands through Deadpools face in Cassandras lair. Framestore did the shots through Wolverines forehead and through Paradox. In order to get the effect working well, I think we spent six months on the asset of Paradox. We scanned Matthew at Clear Angle Studios and then Framestore took that and made an incredible asset that matched Matthews principal photography look exactly, and it had to hold up for extreme close-ups.Myself and visual effects supervisor Matt Twyford at Framestore wanted to be able to leverage Matthews original performance. So the double needed to directly split with itselfit needed to be an exact match. Indeed, in post, we used as much of Matthews plate photography as possible. We replaced most of it, but if we kept his hair or one ear, we would so that the match had to be just right.Incorporating reshoots: Interestingly, when we did the test screenings, we found that with the Cassandra character, the audience needed to relate to her more. So we gave her a bunch of additional lines and that became her and Matthews scene. Because our timeframe was tight in post for reshoots, we really wanted to keep the principal photography of Matthew. So we reshot all of Emmas new dialogue with both of them, but we shot it in such a fashion that we could reuse Matthews original plate photography. So, most of that scene is original plate photography of Matthew and new photography of Cassandra. We used poor mans motion control to match each frame, split her out, put her into the original plate photography, and married the two.Proof of concept: We storyboarded the whole thing, then we previsd the whole thing. Previs was a great learning experience. We had to figure out which side she was on him and how she would drag him, and if their hands would be fingers up her fingers down or to the side. We figured out a lot of the mechanics in previs and then we post-visd the whole thing after we shot it. During principal photography, we did gross keyframe animation and it was just gray shaded. We would do a picture and picture of the plate, and then wed do a gray shaded version just showing where her hands were roughly going. I would do notes myself and Shawn would do notes, and we kept honing that in.How the shots were done: The steps towards final started with blocking animation. Then we would do one more pass of more refined animation before final keyframe animation and locking it off. Then wed do a simulation on top of that and that we would get all of the creases and a next level of detail of hand interaction. There was then a creature pass, which was a detailed modeling pass where we get the intersection of her fingers with his skin, and then we did a final pass on skin thickness and intersection.I really wanted to make the skin very thin in order to see the detail of her knuckles under the skin and her cuticles over her nails. We needed to keep her hands below the skin, but make it as thin as possible so we could see the details underneath. Very late in the game, we added in that shot of her hands going under the eyes. Originally the hands went over the eyes and we put them under the eyes to make the eyes bulge out, which I think was a great addition.What we called the effect: We were not super-elegant, we called it hands through face. We did call it Cassandras Magic for a while, but I always found that confusing with her other magic, and there were a bunch of other magic powers that didnt make it in the movie. We were trying to keep her grounded. Along with really trying to creep the audience out, and it was our goal to make the visual effects not take you out of the storytelling. Its my favorite visual effect in the movie, and we put a lot of effort into those assets and to make it really, really, really solid. That other effect: There was also the moment she rips Johnny Storms body skin off. ILM did that shot. For that, we had to do some terrible internet searches that you never actually want to look at. We storyboarded it first, and we used that as a guide, then we searched the internet, and then we really took creative license and dialed the look of the skinless Johnny. We removed his stomach muscles so we could see inside him. We took creative license to get this iconic image that we had in our minds, where we wanted to see his intestines, which you technically wouldnt see if you took the skin off. We also played with different amounts of blood coming off.The eye blinks were in the original storyboards. Originally, it was thought they were too campy, but I kept putting them in and putting them in, and we finally all just laughed our butts off and it stayed in.I think the trickiest part was getting the simulation of the body falling right, not just falling straight on the ground. We did a simulation and then we ended up handcrafting itPut the liver here and then have it tumble over, etc.When we were shooting that, Chris Evans had such a blast. Hes always taken so seriously because hes Captain America, so he loved getting his ass kicked in this one. When Cassandra rips his skin off, he would duck out and run away. And I was standing right here, and Ryan was riffing on the lines, as he always does, and he came up with the, Not-my-favorite Chris. And Chris couldnt contain himself. He just was crying, laughing.The post We called it hands through face appeared first on befores & afters.

Multiple massive wildfires toreacross the Los Angeles areawith devastating force Wednesday, destroying more than 1,000 structures and killing at least two people as desperate residents escaped through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.Three major blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. The efforts were further hampered by high winds that grounded water-dropping aircraft, but they returned to the skies by midday.In addition to the two deaths, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said many others were hurt in the fires, which threatened at least 28,000 structures.Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.At least 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods home to Californias rich and famous.Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.The home of Vice President Kamala Harris was included in an evacuation zone, although no one was there, according to a spokesperson.We are prioritizing life over everything else, Sheriff Robert Luna said.Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbor came to check on her.When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace, she said. Then I also started to see the ash. And Ive never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.Flames that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills northeast of LAspread so rapidlythat staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. They waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the citysPacific Palisadesneighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin USA. Inthe race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.Sheriece Wallace was unaware there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.I was like, Its raining, Wallace said. Shes like, No, its not raining. Your neighborhood is on fire. You need to get out.A traffic jam prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.Pacific Palisadesresident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around while fires burned on both sides of the road.People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, Trainor said. They were crying and screaming.A third wildfire started Tuesday evening and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community thats the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles.Californias wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to theWestern Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to CalFire.The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.This will likely be the most destructive windstorm seen (since a) 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, the weather service said in a red-flag warning issued early Wednesday.Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help.Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said much of the city was under evacuation orders as his department waited for winds to die down so aircraft could start dousing the flames. Fire departments across California sent extra firefighters because crews in the Los Angeles area were stretched to the limit, he told KABC television, the ABC affiliate.The fire burned through Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes. Flames also jumped famous Sunset Boulevard and burned parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie Carrie, the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and the TV series Teen Wolf.By early Wednesday, the Eaton Fire, which started the day before, had quickly burned 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers), according to fire officials. The Hurst Fire jumped to nearly a square mile (2.6 square kilometers), and the Palisades Fire had burned 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers), according to Angeles National Forest. All fires were at 0% containment.More than 100 schools were closed due to fire risk. The flames also cut off power to more than 180,000 people mostly in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking websitePowerOutage.us. Southern California Edison shut off some service because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks. More than 500,000 could face shutoffs depending on weather conditions, the utility said.Recent dry winds, includingthe notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where theres been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasnt seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.The winds increased to 80 mph (129 kph) by early Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service. They could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills, including in areas that have not seen substantial rain in months.When he heard fire was nearby, longtime Palisades resident Will Adams immediately went to pick his two kids up from school. Embers flew into his wifes car as she tried to evacuate, he said.She vacated her car and left it running, Adams said. She and many other residents walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.Adams said he had never witnessed anything like it in the 56 years hes lived there.It is crazy, its everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One homes safe, the other ones up in flames, he said.Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth, Jeff Martin, Janie Har, Hallie Golden, video journalist Eugene Garcia, Ethan Swope, Brian Melley, Kathy McCormack, Sarah Brumfield, and Tammy Webber contributed to this report.Jaimie Ding, Christopher Weber and Julie Watson, Associated Press

The cost of college keeps spiraling ever higher, right?Not necessarily. New research indicates students are paying significantly less to attend public universities than they were a decade ago. And tuition increases at private colleges have finally slowed after years of hefty rises.Figures compiled by the nonprofit College Board indicate the average student attending an in-state public university this year faces a tuition bill of $11,610, which is down 4% from a decade earlier when taking inflation into account. But the real savings come in what the average student actually pays after getting grants and financial aid. Thats down 40% over the decade, from $4,140 to $2,480 annually, according to the data.That reduced cost means less borrowing. Just under half of students attending in-state public universities are graduating with some debt, down from 59% a decade earlier, according to the College Board figures. And among those who do borrow, the average loan balance has fallen by 17%, to $27,100.Meanwhile, at private colleges, tuition continues to rise, but at a much slower rate. It has increased 4% over the past decade, when taking inflation into account, to an average $43,350, according to theCollege Board. Thats a big change from the two decades prior, when tuition increased 68%.Costs are coming down as Americans question whether college isworth the price. Surveys find that Americans areincreasingly skepticalabout the value of a degree, and the percentage of high school graduates heading to college has fallen to levels not seen in decades, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Yet research still finds that, over time, a degree pays off. Americans with a bachelors degree earn a median of $2.8 million during their careers, 75% more than if they had only a high school diploma, according toresearchfrom Georgetown Universitys Center on Education and the Workforce.The COVID-19 pandemic has been a big factor in the cost reductions, said Jennifer Ma, an executive research scientist at the College Board and lead author of the study.We know that during COVID, a lot of institutions public and private froze tuition, Ma said.As states and the federal government responded to the pandemic, Ma said, they increased higher education funding, allowing colleges to reduce the cost of attendance. Some of that money has since expired, however, including an infusion of federal pandemic aid that was mostly used up by the end of 2022.Cost was a major consideration in Kai Mattinsons decision to attend Northern Arizona University. It would have cost her about $39,000 annually to attend the public university but discounts and scholarships bring that down to between $15,000 and $20,000 for the 22-year-old senior from Nevada.I originally wanted to go to the University of Arizona, but when it came down to tuition and other cost, Northern Arizona University was the best option, said Mattinson, a physical education major who also works as a long-term substitute at a local elementary school.Many institutions have tried to limit cost increases. Purdue University in Indiana, for example, has frozen its annual in-state tuition at $9,992 for the past 13 years.Mark Becker, the president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, said he was pleased to see the new data.Institutional efforts to control costs, combined with many states efforts to increase investments in public universities and federal investment in the Pell Grant, have increased college affordability and enabled significant progress on tackling student debt, Becker said in a statement.Costs for those attending public two-year community colleges have fallen even more, by 9% over the past decade, according to the College Board data, which is broadly in line with federal figures collected by the National Center for Education Statistics.Still, for parents paying for their children to attend out-of-state public universities or private colleges, the costs remain daunting as much as $95,000annually, in some cases. However, many institutions offer significant discounts to the sticker price for middle- and lower-income students.Some private colleges have been expanding their financial aid, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which in Novemberannouncedundergraduates with a family income below $200,000 would no longer need to pay any tuition at all starting in the fall.Other private colleges are discounting tuition as a marketing move in an increasingly difficult environment. They face adwindling poolof young adults, and students who are more wary of signing up for giant loans. Recruiting students is crucial for staying afloat as operational costs rise. After temporary relief thanks to federal money during the pandemic, many colleges have cut programs to try to keep costs under control.Nick Perry and Cheyanne Mumphrey, Associated PressAssociated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

Meta is testing a feature that will let Facebook users browse eBay listings on Facebook Marketplace before being redirected to complete the purchase on eBay.The test, which is being launched to a small group in Germany, France, and the U.S. starting Wednesday, is an attempt to resolve charges by the European Union that the social media giant uses anticompetitive behavior. Antitrust enforcers argued that Meta illegally shut out competition by linking Marketplace to its social media network and advertises Marketplace to consumers regardless of opting in or not.Meta said it is still continuing to appeal the European Commissions decision. In November, it was fined $840 million over abusive practices meant to benefit Marketplace.While we disagree with and continue to appeal the European Commissions decision on Facebook Marketplace, we are working quickly and constructively to build a solution which addresses the points raised, Meta said in a statement.Ebay said in a blog post that a select number of listings from a variety of categories will start showing up on some users Marketplaces. That includes both local and shipped items. Shares of eBay were up on the news.This could benefit people using both platforms, Meta said. eBay sellers will gain exposure to Facebooks audience while people using Marketplace will be able to discover a broader array of listings from the eBay community.

Imagine if your Wi-Fi router or smoke detector could completely dissolve at the end of its life, not into waste, but into a source for new products. This is the transformative idea behind PAPE, a groundbreaking product family redefining how we think about small electronics.Crafted from densely pressed paper fibers and featuring a dissolvable, recyclable PCB board, PAPE doesnt just aim to reduce e-waste, it eliminates it entirely. This innovative design creates a closed material cycle, making PAPE devices both environmentally friendly and cost-effective.Designer:Franziska KerberThanks to significant advancements in sustainable PCB-board technology, the electronics industry has made strides in developing dissolution processes for recycling. PAPE takes this progress to the next level by extending the dissolution process to the entire product, not just the PCB board.Unlike traditional electronic devices that require mechanical deconstruction to separate components for recycling, PAPEs design ensures that every part of the product can be recovered in a single step. The result? A system thats more efficient, less wasteful, and remarkably user-friendly.By focusing on affordability without compromising innovation, PAPE transforms sustainability into something accessible for everyday users. Its dissolvable materials and simple return system make responsible disposal easy and intuitive.When youre done using a PAPE device, you disassemble it just as you received it using its intuitive, hinged design and drop it into a postbox. From there, the manufacturer dissolves the entire product, recovering materials for reuse. This process eliminates the hassle of sorting or specialized drop-off points, making it simple for users to be part of the solution.The beauty of PAPE lies in its holistic approach. Traditional small electronics rely on plastic housings and complex recycling methods that often fail to capture their full material value. These devices are prone to ending up in landfills or household trash, contributing to the 4.9 million tonnes of e-waste generated in Europe in 2020, much of which was never recycled.PAPE addresses this issue by aligning the lifespan of its materials with the lifespan of its technology. Its paper-based housing ensures that the structural elements dont outlive their usefulness, while the dissolvable PCB ensures that even the internal components are easy to recover. Together, these innovations create a product that is as kind to the planet as it is to the user.What makes PAPE truly remarkable is its ability to combine cutting-edge material science with everyday practicality. By eliminating the need for mechanical deconstruction, it simplifies recycling while recovering more materials. Its a true cradle-to-cradle solution for small electronics, a model for how the industry can transition to a circular economy.The simplicity of the dissolution process doesnt just make PAPE efficient; it makes it scalable. With the support of advancements in dissolvable PCBs and sustainable design, PAPE has the potential to revolutionize how electronics are made, used, and reborn.PAPE isnt just about creating better productsits about creating a better future. By rethinking how we approach e-waste and material recovery, PAPE sparks a vital conversation about sustainability in everyday life.As the team looks to partner with PCB manufacturers and showcase PAPEs potential through platforms like the James Dyson Award, the goal is clear: inspire change, foster innovation, and prove that sustainability doesnt have to be a compromise.PAPE challenges us to imagine a world where electronics never become waste. With its closed material cycle, user-friendly design, and pioneering dissolution process, it offers a vision of the future where every device serves as a stepping stone toward a more sustainable planet.The post These Electronics Are Made Out Of Paper And Can Be Dissolved After Use That Helping End E-Waste Forever first appeared on Yanko Design.

The entry price into a Mac just got cheaper with this upgraded closeout M2 Mac mini falling to $499 for a limited time only.Grab exclusive blowout savings on Apple's M2 Mac mini. Apple's Mac mini desktop computer is well regarded among budget-friendly consumers looking for an affordable entry point into the macOS ecosystem. And this week B&H is offering AppleInsider readers an exclusive discount on a closeout M2 spec* with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, bringing the price down to just $499.Buy for $499 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums