Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick to lead the EPA, made $186,000 from paid op-eds and speeches.Some of those op-eds criticized climate policies and ESG.The former NY congressman also made $45,475 from gambling at casinos.Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, has made millions of dollars in recent years from consulting, speaking fees, and paid op-eds, according to a financial disclosure made public on Saturday.That includes tens of thousands of dollars to write about environmental and climate change-related topics. In one instance, Zeldin was paid $25,000 for an op-ed in which he likened environmental, social, and governance investing, or ESG, to the practices of disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.A staunchly pro-Trump Republican first elected to Congress in 2014, Zeldin left office after mounting an unsuccessful bid for governor of New York in 2022. As retiring lawmakers in both parties often do, Zeldin cashed in, establishing a consulting firm to advise corporate clients while enmeshing himself in the well-funded world of conservative political advocacy.It's paid off. According to the disclosure document, which covers Zeldin's major financial activities since the beginning of 2023, the ex-congressman has made a total of $775,000 in salary income and betweenHe's also received $144,999 from America First Works, a pro-Trump nonprofit where he has a board seat, along with $65,500 from paid speeches and $15,000 from an entity called "Plymouth Union Public Research."He also got lucky literally winning a combined $45,475 in the last two years from gambling at the Golden Nugget, Venetian, and Atlantis casinos."All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies," Trump-Vance Transition Spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.Zeldin did not respond to a request for comment.$120,500 for writing op-edsThe ex-congressman's disclosure reveals a variety of income streams, including substantial speaking fees from GOP organizations in Florida and California, a Long Island synagogue, and a Turning Point USA event in Michigan in June. In multiple instances, Zeldin was paid over $10,000 for a single appearance.He also disclosed a combined $26,775 in payments from Fox News and Nexstar Media Group for "use of media studio."The document lists payments from several public relations firms for paid op-eds, listing the news outlet and the date of publication. The titles of those opinion pieces are not listed, but Business Insider identified several that matched the publication and date included in the disclosure.Among the most notable were a series of paid op-eds on climate issues Zeldin could soon lead the agency responsible for the federal government's environmental policies.In an op-ed for Real Clear Policy published in March 2023 entitled "How Congress Can Stop the Next FTX," Zeldin called on Congress to investigate ESG practices and the nonprofit watchdog Better Markets, arguing that companies may use ESG to avoid regulatory scrutiny in the same manner that Bankman-Fried used political contributions to curry favor with Washington.The disclosure indicates that Zeldin was paid $25,000 to write that op-ed. He also appears to have made an additional $10,000 for another Newsday op-ed in August about ESG and $3,000 for a Fox News op-ed in July that criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's climate policies and called on her to lift the state's fracking ban.Zeldin was also paid to write about other topics, including $10,000 for a New York Post op-ed criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris' housing policy proposals, $10,000 for a Washington Times op-ed calling on regulators to crack down on China-linked financial platforms, and $15,000 for a Washington Examiner op-ed accusing the Biden administration of targeting Republican-run states via Medicaid regulations.In some cases, Zeldin was paid even when the articles never saw the light of day. His disclosures list two op-eds that were never published, for which he received $10,000 and $30,000.In total, Zeldin reported $120,500 in op-ed payments. The original clients who made those payments are unclear, and Zeldin and the Trump-Vance transition did not respond to a question about the original sources.As with other nominees, Zeldin has agreed to divest himself from his consulting business if he's confirmed as the next EPA administrator, according to his ethics agreement. His confirmation hearing is set for Thursday, January 16.

TikTok faces a potential US ban if its owner, ByteDance, doesn't find a buyer in about a week.TikTok allows users to download and save video content, but it can be tedious.Some competitors, like Triller, also offer ways to migrate TikTok content.With a potential TikTok ban in the United States fast approaching, some social media users are looking for the best way to archive their content.Congress passed a law last year that would limit the influence of social media apps tied to countries the United States deems foreign adversaries. The US then gave TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, which is Chinese, a January 19 deadline to find a buyer for the app in the United States or face a ban.TikTok then challenged the law in court. On Friday, the Supreme Court heard arguments from TikTok and the Biden administration as it considered whether to delay the law's effective date, which is now set for January 19.Legal experts told Business Insider that they expect the Supreme Court will uphold the TikTok ban. "I expect the court to deny the stay, probably soon, and also uphold the law," Matthew Schettenhelm, a litigation and policy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said.During Friday's hearing, lawyers for TikTok said the social media app could "go dark" and "essentially stop operating" in the United States if the court upholds the law.If that's the case, TikTok's millions of users may be looking for a way to extract their content ahead of time. Here are a few options.How to migrate TikTok videosTriller, a media and marketing company that once positioned itself as a competitor to TikTok, unveiled this week a service that promises to "back up" all of a user's TikTok videos and reupload them to the Triller app.However, the feature's process is not as easy as the "click of a button" that Triller promises, according to TechCrunch. Once users agree to the terms of service, they can connect their TikTok account to the website, which gives Triller access to videos, profile information, and more.Triller sends users an email once all of their TikTok content has been downloaded. Then, users have to make a Triller account and follow instructions on uploading their TikTok content onto the Triller app.How to save your TikTok videos manuallyFor users who want to avoid giving their personal information to yet another social media platform, the best way to save their TikTok content is likely already inside the app. Though it is a more tedious process, TikTok allows users to download their content one video at a time from inside the platform.Inside the TikTok app, you can go to any video you want to download, press the "Share" button, and tap "Save video" to download the video to your device. According to TikTok, if the "Save video" option does not appear, that means the person who posted the content does not allow video saves.TikTok also allows you to save a copy of any content you post to your device while posting it to TikTok. Inside the "post" screen, you can tap the "more options" button and choose "save to device."TikTok also lets users download a copy of their entire profile data from inside the app. Inside the TikTok app, users can tap the "profile" button at the bottom of the screen, then tap the "menu" button at the top of the screen and navigate to "settings and privacy." Users can then choose "Account" in the settings menu and tap "Download your data."

TheResident Evilfranchise has been so core part to video games that its impossible to imagine a world without it. Over the decades, the series has been through so much, and had many highs and lowsand whats higher for the whole enterprise than Resident Evil 4? Capcoms put out so many versions of Resident Evil 4 over the years, including an acclaimed current-gen remake back in 2023. But its very first release was for the Nintendo Gamecube on January 11, 2005 as the penultimate game in a series of console exclusives dubbed the Capcom Five, and marked a big shakeup for the series. After several versions had been concepted and scrapped, longtime series director/producer Shinji Mikami took the reigns on a full reinvention. By that point, he and other developers felt things had gotten long in the tooth and hoped to spice things up in the right ways. Among Mikamis key changes were replacing zombies with a new undead enemy called the Ganados, employing a more dynamic camera instead of fixed angles, and not centering the story on the evil Umbrella Corporation. But the biggest shift was in howthe game was played: rather than slow, tank-like controls, he wanted more of an action focus and third-person, over-the-shoulder shooting. That style of gameplay didnt sit well with everyone on the team, but they came around once he explained whyhe wanted the changes he did. In a 2004 interview with IGN, producer Hiroyuki Kobyashi similarly reassured the fanbase this was still a proper Resident Evilgame, just one that could also serve as a jumping on point for those who either bounced off the earlier entries or hadnt played the games at all. Capcom By now, we all know Resident Evil 4received critical acclaim and is regarded as one of the best games of all time. Its also one of the most influential: from Gears of War and Dead Space to the more recentLast of Us and God of War, you can find a lot of its DNA in any major third-person game that came out between 2006 to basically now.Similar mimicry was found in other survival horror series at the time, with then-new installments for Silent HillandAlone in the Darkalso trying to go for an action/horror blend, but not with quite the same success or glowing reception. Later Resident Evil games continued the third-person shooter combat, and the first-person Resident Evil Villagewas developed as a blend of that game and 2017s Resident Evil 7, according to Village director Morimato Sato.But ResidentEvil 4s biggest impact came as it was ported over to the PlayStation 2 in October that same year. In a way, it was the games most definitive version, since it featured new features and material not found in the Gamecube version, including the Separate Ways side-story starring supporting character Ada Wong. The PS2 was notable for having an incredible third-party game library back in the day, and RE4was among the cream of the crop.Resident Evil has never been a PlayStation-exclusive series, but the two are forever linked, and like with Final Fantasy, it meant something at the time to have a mainline entry on a PlayStation console.However, its jump to the PS2 wasnt without its bumps. Once Capcom revealed Resident Evil 4 wasnt Gamecube exclusive, Mikamis anger at the situation helped lead to the creation of several new developers. The first was Clover Studio, where Mikami and Hideki Kamiyathe man whose scrapped RE4 ideasDevil May Cryworked on cult classics like God Hand and Okami. After that studio closed, the two helped co-found PlatinumGames, which Kamiya led the studio and directed its flagship action series Bayonetta and the beloved 2017 gem Nier: Automata. For him, things have come full circle: having departed Platinum in 2023, hes now in charge of the recently-announced Clovers Studio, which is making a follow-up to Okami.Meanwhile, Mikami founded Tango Gameworks, which went on to create the Evil Withingames and 2023s extremely awesomeHi-Fi Rush. Microsoft shut Tango down afterRushsrelease, but the studio has been recently reborn by Krafton. Mikami left Tango before its closure, and it seems hes since started up a new studio thats presumably doing its own thing. Capcom Whatever that Mikamis next project ends up being, itll inevitably garner comparisons to his previous work, andResident Evil 4in particular. Theres just no escaping that games shadow, both because of how deeply its become entrenched in video games over the decades, and also because its playable on pretty much everything in some capacity. Even if Capcom suddenly decided to stop the survival horror franchise right this moment, that wouldnt do much of anything. Resident Evil 4refuses to be forgotten, and it likely never will be, since its become so entrenched in the medium. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

A former Disney employee who was fired for misconduct has admitted to hacking into the companys menu creation software to alter key details, including food allergy information that could have been dangerous to customers at the resorts restaurants. A complaint brought by the Justice Department last year claimed that a man named Michael Scheuer had committed a variety of computer crimes after being fired from the company that he worked at. The impacted company wasnt named in the complaint, though additional reporting revealed the company to be Disney. Now, its been reported that Scheuer, who formerly worked as the companys Menu Production Manager, has reportedly admitted to the computer crimes in question as part of a plea deal. Court Watch reports that Scheuer has agreed to pay Disney restitution as well as a government fine. Scheuers lawyer, David Haas, reportedly said: Mr. Scheuer is prepared to accept responsibility for his conduct. Unfortunately, he has mental health issues that were exacerbated when Disney fired him upon his return from paternity leave. Haas added: No one was ever at risk of injury and he is deeply remorseful for what happened. When reached for comment by Gizmodo, Haas confirmed Court Watchs report, while noting that no plea date had yet been set. The plea date is the date at which a defendant actually enters a guilty plea, after a plea deal has been worked out between the defense attorney and prosecutor.Scheuers attacks on the company allegedly took place over a period of three months. During that time he manipulated the menus of restaurants owned and operated by Disney, the original complaint states. The more benign of these attacks involved defacing various menus by changing their font to Wingdings, thus rendering them incoherent. In other cases, Scheuer is said to have interjected profanity into the menus. The most serious crimes, however, involved Scheuers efforts to manipulate allergen information on the menus. Scheuer is also accused of conducting denial-of-service attacks on the work accounts of several of his former colleagues.Court Watch reveals additional details about what Scheuer apparently did, based on newly revealed court documents: Scheuer changed the wine regions of alcoholic drinks to locations that had mass shootings. Court documents say he, in one instance, added a swastika to a menu. Scheuer also admitted to leaking the link and login he used to change the menus onto the dark web. Thankfully, none of the restaurant menus that Scheuer manipulated were ever distributed to venues.Disney was actually hit with an unrelated wrongful death lawsuit last year after a woman died while dining at a restaurant operated on one of Disneys Florida properties. The woman had an allergy to nuts and dairy and she and her husband had been incorrectly told by their waiter that the meal she had ordered could be made without those ingredients. The case rose to prominence after Disney attempted to get the case thrown out based on a forced arbitration clause in the couples Disney+ trial subscription. After much outcry, Disney announced it would desist from its gross legal strategy and let the lawsuit go to trial.

Ever wondered how to achieve cinematic-quality renders in Unreal Engine without overcomplicating things? In this video, Ill share my secret render settings that I personally use to create stunning visuals effortlessly! Whether youre curious about anti-aliasing, resolution, or video export settings, this guide has you covered.You'll also learn why I prefer specific settings, like 1 spatial sample and 7 temporal samples, and how these small adjustments can make a big difference in your final output. Plus, Ill show you how to utilize the Movie Render Queue, export in Apple ProRes, and optimize your workflow for post-production. Get the assets I used in this scene:Characters: https://www.fab.com/listings/76fa9062-e41c-45ae-8cd8-294ce0df7030 https://www.bigmediumsmall.com/specialops Scene : https://www.fab.com/listings/fd8e055e-df06-43cd-8c09-c9c8efb1c440 This workflow has helped me create cinematic visuals quickly and efficiently. Watch the full video to learn all the tips and tricks!If you have any questions or suggestions, drop them in the comments. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon for more Unreal Engine secrets!#UnrealEngine #RenderSettings #UE5

Project Files: https://www.patreon.com/posts/119850314 . Here is the unreal engine space toolkit project updated into unreal engine 5.5 version. Here you can walk on a planet, then get on a spaceship, then fly into space, then spacewalk and get back in spaceship, fly to another planet and get off there and walk again on surface. Everything happens seamlessly. Here is a list of features on the project, - Spaceship.- Jetpack powered character.- Planet gravity system.- Local gravity system for spaceship interior.- Planet generator system. - Planet foliage system. - Planetary auto material.- Spacewalking. - Interplanetary hyper speed travel.- Planetary atmosphere. - And many more. Unreal Planet Generator series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou76TN6uGb1VAhO5WXSIsbwv Space ship in this tutorial series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou7PViZcDZxTbF0bFmJDYCms Full Playlist of Unreal Engine Planet Gravity System: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou7bipRGFV4RXC965-XAQHGs // ! https://www.patreon.com/codelikeme Patrons will have access to project files of all the stuff I do in the channel and other extra benefitsJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6Jh9EBV7a_Nm52Ipll_Q/join Like my facebook page for more content : https://www.facebook.com/gamedevelopersclub/ Follow me on twitter : https://twitter.com/CodeLikeMe2 Follow me on reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/codelikeme #CodeLikeMe #unrealengine #ue4 #indiegamedev

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First-person shooter games have evolved a lot over the years. From their action-heavy beginnings in Doom and Quake to the rise of online multiplayer games such as Apex: Legends and Valorant, the genre has become as diverse as the people who play it.

Those first few hours of a new Assassin's Creed game are always special. While players will get to see first-hand the new environment that they'll be exploring, they will also learn more about the game's protagonist, along with the general tone of the story. Still, before any of this can be established, the first glimpse into the adventure is provided by an opening line that can define the game yet to come.

Fallout 76 has a bright future ahead of itself, with countless more content updates in store before ongoing support for the game eventually comes to an end. However, despite having a golden opportunity to experiment with new content inspired by the Fallout show, Fallout 76 seems committed to telling its own stories instead.