A patch is already available, so SonicWall users should update immediately.

Disney is set to offer HDR10+ streaming - excellent news for Samsung TV owners

Ubisoft said Thursday it's appointing advisors to review and pursue strategic options, following a report that its majority backers were considering a buyout.

Microsoft would like President-elect Donald Trump to make sure that U.S. artificial intelligence policy in the next four years will support its goals.

It was from the legend Ridley Scott, and here continues the iconic saga of power, vengeance, and intrigue in Ancient Rome, with modern filmmaking techniques. Crucial to Scotts ambitious vision was Framestore, which contributed 136 epic shots that rewrote the spectacle of gladiatorial combat.Led by VFX Supervisor Christian Kaestner and VFX Producer Jeanne-Elise Prevost, Framestores skilled crew designed several of the movies most unforgettable scenes. Whether a baboon riot smeared with blood or a fierce fight with a rhino, or an otherworldly, eerie environment along the River Styx, each scene was painstakingly conceived in cutting-edge visual effects. Postvis by the FPS team led by Visualization Supervisor Darrin Hofmeyr helped give form to these pulse-pounding scenes.Through seamlessly blending innovative VFX with Scotts visionary storytelling, Framestore transformed bold concepts into breathtaking cinematic experiences, thereby delivering a worthy continuation of the Gladiator legacy.The post Gladiator II VFX Breakdown by Framestore appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Ski patrollers at the biggest U.S. ski resort reached a tentative deal with the corporate owner of Utahs Park City Mountain Resort to end a strike and resume normal operations after almost two weeks of closed terrain and long lift lines at the busiest time of year.Neither the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association nor Colorado-based Vail Resorts released details about the agreement ahead of a planned ratification vote Wednesday.Whatever happens, the strike brought attentionand judging from the many supportive car honks for strikers, sympathyto the struggle of ski patrollers to make ends meet in pricey mountain communities.A union win could produce better pay for other ski workers, predicted one industry watcher.Generally when one group of employees successfully bargains for a contract they think is fair, it does tend to create the rising tide lifts all boats dynamic, said Alex Kaufman, a former ski resort marketing executive and podcaster.Park City, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Salt Lake City, is a resort town of about 8,000 people where the average home price tops $1.5 million and the cost of living is well above average.The 200 ski patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort went on strike on Dec. 27 alleging unfair bargaining in negotiations since March. The tentative deal to be in effect through April 2027 had the unanimous approval of ski patrol negotiators, according to a joint statement from the union and the resort.Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team, the statement said.Ski patrollers maintain safety by monitoring terrain, responding to accidents, hauling hurt skiers downhill and reducing avalanche risk, such as by releasing built-up snow with explosives when nobodys nearby. Its specialized work where familiarity with a resorts terrain and how to respond to a variety of injuries and situations can be valuable.Its also a seasonal job. Many ski patrollers work as fly-fishing, mountain biking and whitewater rafting guides in warmer months.Pointing to steep inflation since 2022, the Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association sought a pay increase from $21 to $23 an hour. The union said $27 is a livable wage in Park City, which is also home to Deer Valley Resort.It also sought higher pay for the longest-serving patrollers. The current scale tops out after five years on the job.Vail Resorts, which with 42 properties on three continents calls itself the worlds largest mountain resort operator, said it already had been generous with the Park City Mountain Resort ski patrollers, pointing to a 50% base-pay increase from $13 to $21 an hour in 2022. It was offering a 4% pay increase for most patrollers and $1,600 each year for their equipment.Ski labor negotiations arent unusual, but this strike happened after talks went much longer into the year than usual, drawing attention during a busy time, observed Kaufman.The issue was probably never really about the money or benefits. It was a conscious decision by Vail Resorts to let it bleed into the holidays, Kaufman said. They overplayed their hand and paid the price.Despite long waits, even some Park City Mountain Resort skiers have been sympathetic to the workers. Pay your employees! they chanted from lift lines in videos posted on social media.Labor unions have secured meaningful employer concessions in recent months following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.The 45,000 dockworkers ongoing threats to resume their strike over automation would shut down ports and could damage the economy as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.Mead Gruver, Associated Press

Welcome toAI Decoded,Fast Companys weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekhere.AI hasnt taken over CES, but its making a showingConsumer electronics companies have only begun to put AI brains into products like TVs, refrigerators, and a thousand other devices on display at the Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas this week. Its still a bit early: Researchers are only now developing AI models small enough to run inside consumer devices, and chips cheap and efficient enough to run them. And yet, a few notable AI-infused products have been generating buzz.Nvidias new so-called personal AI supercomputer, Project Digits, made the biggest splash. The compact desktop is powered by a powerful Nvidia GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip and can run the entire stack of Nvidias software, from chip management to AI models and tools. Its an AI workstation meant for AI researchers and developers, who will use it to prototype and fine-tune models. The machine will be built by Nvidia PC-maker partners, which suggests the tech giant is eying the consumer PC space. This is a good start, as they may be showing the first real-true AI PC, says Creative Strategies CEO and principal analyst Ben Bajarin. Also, the chip is a clear foreshadowing to their highly rumored PC market [CPU].Meanwhile, a Danish company called Nuwa is showing off its Nuwa Pen, which writes like a normal ink pen but features three sensors near the point to record the writing. The captured handwritten text then syncs to a dedicated app in the users smartphone. The app uses AI to transcribe the written text and can also perform AI functions on the text, such as translation and summarization.The app integrates with a number of productivity apps, such as Google Docs and Evernote. The pen costs $295, requires a subscription, and will ship this quarter. Nuwa Pen could prove useful for those who ideate better with pen and paper because now those ideas can be captured in digital format.Halliday also wowed consumers with their new smart glasses, which cast digital content toward the wearers eye via a small display mounted within the top of the frames. To the user, its like seeing a persistent 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right part of their field of view. The glasses, which connect to a phone via Bluetooth, can do real-time translation, voice-to-text transcription, and navigation. Theres an AI-powered assistant that Halliday says can provide helpful information to the user proactively. The user controls the glasses via voice commands or with a companion trackpad ring. The glasses will cost between $399 and $499, and Halliday expects to start shipping them during Q1 2025.Withings, a longtime player in the connected health space, brought something special to CES this year: a body-scanning health mirror called Omnia. The device comprises a scale-like platform connected to a full-length mirror that displays all kinds of health information. It scans the user for heart, lungs, sleep, body, and metabolic composition data. It also contains an AI assistant that synthesizes the data into actionable advice. The mirror generated lots of interest on X this week but, alas, its just a concept-product, meant to showcase the various health metrics that Withings devices (watches, scales, etc.) can gather.The real reason Mark Zuckerberg wants to make Facebook more like XOn Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg said his company is going to get out of the business of fact-checking user posts and move toward a purer First Amendment approach to content management. Many assumed this was another instance of a tech magnate bending the knee to the incoming Trump administration. (The logic isnt hard to follow: Trump once threatened to jail Zuckerberg over Metas alleged censoring of conservative viewpoints, so it would make sense for Zuckerberg to preemptively capitulate to the president-elect.)But in reality, its more likely that Zuckerberg is using the current political climate as cover to do something hes long wanted: to stop trying to police truthfulness and civility on his social platforms.Facebook was rightly blamed for acting as a clearinghouse of disinformation and boomer partisan rage during both the 2016 and 2020 elections. The company came under intense pressure to stifle fake news stories and conspiracy theories on its platforms. Facebook responded, declaring a range of topics such as anti-vax and Holocaust denial off-limits. The MAGA crowd screamed that such controls amounted to censorship.Now Zuckerberg says Meta went too far. And hes using the shortcomings of Metas human and AI content moderation as a reason to pull back control. The fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than theyve created, he said.The AI systems that do most of the moderation work are expensive to train and run, and theyve been only partially successful. Toxic content and disinformation often come in the form of memes, which use a thoughtful mix of text and imagery to convey their message. The viewer often must think for a moment before getting it. This is hard for AI to do. Toxic or false messages can also be delivered through videos within posts (or ads), which can be hard to detect. Its also true that the systems have tended to generate false positives, blocking content and penalizing users when no serious community-guideline violations have taken place.Zuckerberg said this week that the company is going to focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.Meta will scale back its human and AI moderation and rely on user-generated community notes to label most false or toxic content, much like Elon Musks X does. The dark side of this, of course, is that Meta may once again begin profiting from rage bait content, which tends to trend bigger and faster than other content.The World Economic forum sees major workforce shifts by 2030The World Economic Forum (WEF) says it expects the global job market to add 78 million net new jobs by 2030 as demographics shift and businesses undergo a transformation to AI. The organization says in its Future of Jobs Report 2025 that 170 million new positions will emerge, but that 92 million existing jobs will be displaced, representing a 22% shift in current employment. The findings draw on data from more than 1,000 companies worldwide.While technological skills in AI, big data, and cybersecurity will be sought after by employers, softer human skills, including creative thinking and adaptability, will remain important, the report says. The number of jobs in renewable energy and environmental engineering sectors show strong growth potential. Surprisingly, frontline workers such as farm workers, delivery drivers, and construction workers will see large job opportunity expansion, as will workers in the healthcare and education sectors.Traditional, lower-skilled roles (think cashiers, administrative assistants) will likely decline. Skills such as graphic design that are directly challenged by generative AI will likely see less demand in the marketplace. The WEF estimates that 40% of all workplace skills will need to be updated by 2030 as AI influences the nature of work; 63% of employers currently cite skills gaps as their primary obstacle to adapting to AI and benefiting from it.Generative AI and rapid technological shifts are creating both unprecedented opportunities and profound risks, said Till Leopold, who heads up work, wages, and job creation at WEF.More AI coverage from Fast Company:This 22-year-old made an app to help farmers predict risks to their cropsSam Altman offers clues about where OpenAI is headedThis startup says its AI can speed insurance approval of health treatmentsTrump unveils $20 billion investment in American data centersWant exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium.

U.S. longshoremen reached a contract agreement with ports and shippers Wednesday, averting a potential strike that could have damaged the American economy.The International Longshoremens Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week ahead of a January 15 deadline.In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement protects union jobs and allows ports on the East and Gulf coasts to modernize with new technology, making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.They said they were not releasing details of the agreement publicly to give union members a chance to review and approve the document. The ratification process is likely to take weeks.In a statement Wednesday night, President Joe Biden said the tentative agreement shows that labor and management can come together to benefit workers and their employers.I applaud the dockworkers union for delivering a strong contract, Biden added. Their members kept our ports open during the pandemic, as we worked together to unsnarl global supply chains. Thank you to the carriers and port operators who play an essential role in our nations economy.The 45,000 longshoremen staged a three-day strike in October. They suspended the walkout after agreeing to a 62% pay increase over six years that would have sent hourly wages at the top of the pay scale from $39 to $63. But that truce was contingent upon reaching an agreement by January 15 over automation: The union worried that machinesespecially semiautomated craneswould replace human workers.According to a source familiar with the talks who requested anonymity because the details had not been made public, the agreement would give the ports more leeway to introduce modernizing technology. But in a concession to the union, they would have to hire new workers when they do, and full automation is off the table.Wednesdays agreement came a day after the two sides resumed negotiations. This is a win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace, they said in the statement.A strike would have shut down ports along the East and Gulf coasts and would have begun damaging the economy if it lasted much more than a week, economists said.Automation has long been a contentious issue at U.S. ports. Longshoremen worry that machinessuch as semiautomated cranes that dont need their own individual operatorswill supplant human workers. Even if the ports agree to protect existing jobs as they modernize, they could need fewer workers as they get more efficient, meaning the port workforce and the union could shrink over time.Port operators and shipping companies argue that U.S. ports are falling behind more automated ports such as those in Rotterdam, Dubai, and Singapore.President-elect Donald Trump had weighed in for the union.After meeting union president Harold Daggett at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump posted on social media last month that additional automation of ports would hurt workers: The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt and harm it causes for American workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Trump added that he knows just about everything there is to know about automation.Paul Wiseman, AP Business Writer

Mexican studio Colectivo C733 has helped preserve an 18th-century port customs building, constructing a cultural centre and museum around it using historical adobe and steel in Nayarit, Mxico.The municipality of San Blas hired Colectivo C733 to help preserve and recover what was left of an 18th-centurycustoms building, consolidating the adobe remnants and preserving the historic masonry.Colectivo C733 has preserved an 18th-century port customs building using adobe bricksThe Port of San Blas was established in Nueva Galicia in 1768 to protect the Pacific coast and serve as a gateway for shipping goods from Asia.The first level old San Blas customs building is still standing. A corridor was used as an exhibition space and small workshops and remnants of the original structure constructed with handmade adobe bricks are scattered around the site.The cultural centre and museum were designed around the preserved customs buildingAround the historic structure in the centre of the complex, the team constructed an industrial-style bridge and viewing platform with red steel, flanked by screens of terracotta tiles. This reaches up to the roof of the historic building and allows visitors to pass through it on an elevated walkway."The vertical walkway becomes a journey through time in the memory of one of the oldest buildings in this port," the team said.Many of the historical facades were maintainedThen, the team constructed contemporary structures the Centro Cultural Aduana de San Blas made of local adobe elements to house the surrounding public spaces and workshops.Visitors access the site through a public plaza on the southwest side of the complex where they can see the juxtaposition of the historic chimeneas outdoor enclosed fireplaces and the contemporary viewing platform.Read: Colectivo C733 tops brick music school with soaring timber roof in MexicoThe northwest side of the property houses a linear community building with a library, dance hall, classroom, and studio that are each oriented outwards through sliding glass doors shaded by awnings. A solid brick wall cuts the workshop building off from the rest of the courtyard, but the bridge brings it back into communication with the other structures by allowing visitors to access the roof."The building seeks to unfold activities to a second level with other opportunities for wind, views, and light, turning the same rooftops into box seat spaces for cultural activities," said C733.Red steel and terracotta tiles were used to construct the bridge and viewing platformThe northeast edge of the complex houses offices in a wedge-shaped structure set behind another terracotta screen. Between the offices and the chimeneas lies a forum based on Indigenous Mexican ceremoniay."An outdoor forum [is] shaped like a Sikuli, a Huichol structure that represents the composition of the universe and the connection between human beings, nature, and the universe," the team said.The southeast portion of the property holds the new museum building, a large rectangular structure surrounded on three sides by an arched colonnade with columns made of salvaged materials. The pristine white building contrasts the earth tones of the rest of the complex.A terracotta screen on the northeast edge of the complex shields officesA lightweight metal and canvas awning sits on the roof of the museum providing a shaded rest area after visitors have passed through the chimeneas."The composition of four adobe planes allowed for a new relationship between the existing building and the new structures, between the past and the present, and between nature and the constructed structures," the studio said.Colectivo C733 includes architects Gabriela Carrillo, Carlos Facio, and Jose Amozurrutia, together with researchers Erik Valdez and Israel Espin. Last year, Carrillo spoke with Dezeen about how the collective is working with the Mexican government to create public architecture to ease the stresses of human migration.Recently, WORKac and Ignacio Urquiza completed a project in Mexico City through its PILARES program, which helps to build public neighbourhood hubs.Other brick and terracotta projects Colectivo C733 has completed recently include a music school with a soaring timber roof in Nacajuca and a market with a roof formed by inverted trapezoidal umbrellas in Matamoros.The photography is by Rafael Gamo.Project credits:Architect: Colectivo C733, Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, Israel Espn, Jos Amozurrutia y Carlos Facio (TO)Design Team: Sofa Pavn, Roberto Rosales, Abraham EspindolaStructures: LABG (Eric Valdez), GIEEElectrical and mechanical engineering: Enrique ZennLandscape design: Taller de Paisaje Hugo SnchezOther consultants: Luz en arquitectura, Pedro Lechuga, TEMAS MXContractor: Constructora Gurra y AsociadosClient: Sedatu, Municipio de San BlasThe post Colectivo C733 installs museum inside 18th-century Mexican port building appeared first on Dezeen.

This Stupid Car Tray is something that will never make it into the MoMA, but which will probably make a lot of peoples' lives easier. And some good design thought has been put into it. It's a simple tray with legs on one end, allowing you to turn your car's passenger seat into a level surface. A tongue on the back slots between the seat and seatback, preventing it from sliding forward. The legs are hollow, allowing you to slide in taller items or the included cupholders. Rubber pads on the bottom prevent it from marring your seat surface. There's a thoughtful little notch on one side to admit a phone charging cable. A strap can be used to hold things in place. As pedestrian as this object seems, I like it because it considers how people actually use things, as opposed to how manufacturers think we use things. Plenty of people use the passenger seat as a storage locker. If anything it's strange that no auto manufacturer has picked up on this and designed a similar object.