Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Threat IntelligenceThe U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday disclosed that a court-authorized operation allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to delete PlugX malware from over 4,250 infected computers as part of a "multi-month law enforcement operation."PlugX, also known as Korplug, is a remote access trojan (RAT) widely used by threat actors associated with the People's Republic of China (PRC), allowing for information theft and remote control of compromised devices.An affidavit filed by the FBI noted that the identified PlugX variant is linked to a state-sponsored hacking group called Mustang Panda, which is also referred to as BASIN, Bronze President, Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, HoneyMyte, RedDelta, Red Lich, Stately Taurus, TA416, and Twill Typhoon."Since at least 2014, Mustang Panda hackers then infiltrated thousands of computer systems in campaigns targeting U.S. victims, as well as European and Asian governments and businesses, and Chinese dissident groups," the DoJ said.Some of the other targets of the threat actor's campaigns include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, India, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan.The disruption is part of a larger "disinfection" effort that commenced in late July 2024 to rid compromised systems of the PlugX malware. Details of the activity were previously shared by the Paris Prosecutor's Office and cybersecurity firm Sekoia.As previously detailed by Sekoia, this specific variant of PlugX is known to spread to other systems via attached USB devices. The malware, once installed, beacons out to an attacker-controlled server ("45.142.166[.]112") to await further commands to gather data from the host.In late April 2024, the company also revealed it spent a mere $7 to sinkhole the server accessible on the IP address in question, thereby opening the door to issue a self-delete command to erase the malware from the infected machines.The command carried out the steps listed below -Delete the files created by the PlugX malware on the victim computerDelete the PlugX registry keys used to automatically run the PlugX application when the victim computer is startedCreate a temporary script file to delete the PlugX application after it is stoppedStop the PlugX applicationRun the temporary file to delete the PlugX application, delete the directory created on the victim computer by the PlugX malware to store the PlugX files, and delete the temporary file from the victim computerThe FBI said the self-delete command does not affect any legitimate functions or files on the targeted devices located within the U.S. nor transmit any other data from them.Last month, Sekoia said as many as 59,475 disinfection payloads targeting 5,539 IP addresses were issued as part of a legal framework that was established to conduct the PlugX disinfection process for 10 countries."This wide-ranging hack and long-term infection of thousands of Windows-based computers, including many home computers in the United States, demonstrates the recklessness and aggressiveness of PRC state-sponsored hackers," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's NFound this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

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January 14, 20257 min readBlue Ghost, a Private U.S. Lunar Lander, Launches to the MoonA Texas-built lander named Blue Ghost marks another test of NASAs new lunar delivery initiativeBy Michael Greshko edited by Lee BillingsAn illustration of a private U.S. lander on the surface of the moon built by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace. The companys Blue Ghost lander is carrying a suite of scientific instruments to the moon, including an experiment to detect and use GPS satellite signals on the lunar surface. NASA/Dave RyanIn the classic country ballad Ghost Riders in the Sky, a cowboy receives a frightening vision: the devils herd of cows thundering through the clouds, chased by the souls of cowpokes who must ride forever on that range up in the sky / on horses snorting fire. At 1:11 A.M. EST on January 15 Blue Ghost, a lunar lander built by the Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace, rode its own fiery steed through the heavens, launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a mission to become just the second U.S. soft landing on the moon since the end of the Apollo program.Over the next four weeks, that missioncalled Ghost Riders in the Sky, or Blue Ghost Mission 1will see its spacecraft orbit around Earth at farther and farther distances. Carrying a suite of NASA-sourced scientific instruments, Blue Ghost will then make a run at the moon. The mission is flying under the U.S. space agencys Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which is encouraging private firms to take over the delivery of such instruments and lunar supplies as part of the nations ambitious Artemis moon program.[The moon] is kind of the gateway to our solar system; its this easy spot to go to and learn how to be productive, says Ray Allensworth, spacecraft program director at Firefly Aerospace. The basic science that were gathering on these CLPS missions really has applications, not just to Artemis but also to becoming interplanetary.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.Blue Ghost Mission 1 marks a new chapter for Firefly, which has developed and launched its own rocket but has never flown anything to the moon before. Its also another major test for CLPS, which will pay out as much as $2.6 billion to private companies for lunar deliveries. NASA hopes to save substantial money through the program. In February 2021 Firefly received a NASA contract for Blue Ghost Mission 1 that is now worth $101 million, less than the agency would have spent to build its own lunar lander.A lander on the surface of the moon, done in the traditional way, is north of a half a billion [dollars].... Ive never seen a quote thats less, says Thomas Zurbuchen, who led NASAs Science Mission Directorate as its associate administrator from 2016 to 2022 and championed the development of CLPS. Every one of these shots on goal is doing it without that overhead and with their own systems.NASA also hopes that CLPS will increase the frequency of robotic moon missions. Blue Ghost is the third spacecraft launched under the CLPS banner since January 2024, and at least one more launch is on the books for later this year. Before CLPS, the last U.S. soft landings on the moon occurred during the Apollo program, which ended in 1972.Theres a significant portion of NASA and the scientific community who have not been alive, or at least not in the workforce, to see a landing on the moon, says lunar scientist Ryan Watkins, a program scientist at NASAs Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office. To finally have a chance to get on the surface and get at some of these questions in situ is really exciting.But in exchange for lower costs and faster turnaround times, NASA is letting private companies design and operate their own lunar landersa trade-off that, on balance, boosts the odds for any given CLPS mission failing. From the programs inception, NASA leaders, including Zurbuchen, have emphasized that each initial CLPS mission has a roughly 5050 chance of success.As predicted, the programs results so far have been mixed. Last January the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic launched a moon lander with an assortment of NASA and non-NASA payloads, only for the spacecraft to suffer a critical anomaly soon after launch. Then, the following month, a robotic lander built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines flew a CLPS mission to the moons south polar region. Though the spacecraft survived the descenta first for any commercial moon missionone of its legs broke during touchdown, partially tipping the lander over.I want [CLPS] to work, but this is an experiment, and we dont know that its going to work, says Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the nonprofit Planetary Society.Standing about two meters tall and 3.5 meters wideroughly the size of two Volkswagen Beetles parked side by sideFireflys Blue Ghost lander is designed to carry up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of payload to the moons surface. On Blue Ghost Mission 1, the lander is flying 10 NASA instruments, the largest number of agency payloads yet launched on a single CLPS mission.For Fireflys corps of engineers, many of whom are still in their 20s, building Blue Ghost has amounted to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunityand challenge. Its kind of mind-blowing, Allensworth says. It is really special, but it also can be scary at times because none of us have built a lunar lander before.Perhaps no system onboard Blue Ghost exemplifies this challenge more than the rocket engines responsible for setting the lander on the moons surface. Soon after completing a major review of Blue Ghosts design in October 2021, Firefly engineers realized that they needed to build their own reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, which control a spacecrafts orientation and stabilize its position. In August 2024less than three years after starting its worka team led by engineer Ryan Cole finished qualifying the engines for flight.Conventional wisdom would have said, Well, youre never going to make an RCS engine in less than three years, Cole says. But none of us had it in our heads that that was impossible.Blue Ghost now faces a roughly six-week journey before putting those engines to the ultimate test. After 25 days orbiting Earth, the lander will spend four days flying toward the moon. It will then spend another 16 days in lunar orbit before making a landing attempt in early March. As it happens, Blue Ghost isnt the only spacecraft that is journeying to the moon. The lander shared its launch with Hakuto-R Mission 2, a lunar lander and rover developed by the Japanese company ispace, whose first landing attempt in April 2023 failed just kilometers above the moons surface.At NASAs request, Blue Ghost Mission 1 is targeting a landing site at Mare Crisium, a dark-colored basin some 560 kilometers (350 miles) across that formed long ago when lunar lava filled a then fresh impact crater. The area is thought to better represent the moons average composition than the Apollo landing sites. Blue Ghosts goal is to operate there for 14 days, including up to five hours of the long and brutally cold lunar night.Some of Blue Ghosts payloads will demonstrate new technologies. For one, Blue Ghost is flying an instrument that will test whether moon landers can detect and make use of signals from GPS satellites orbiting Earth. Another payload will try to combat moon dusttiny, jagged particles that are awful for astronauts and hardware alikeby using electric fields to knock it off of a surface.Other instruments will study the lunar interior. One, called LISTER (Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity), is designed to measure how heat flows out of the moon, which should help clarify the deep structure of our natural satellite and its evolution over eons. The device consists of a thermometer at the tip of a probe that will drill up to three meters into the lunar soil by puffing out blasts of compressed gas. If successful, LISTER will set the record for the deepest that any mission has ever dug into the lunar surface.Gas, in vacuum, is like a grenade.... So we thought, Why not excavate deep holes with it? says Kris Zacny, vice president of exploration systems at Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Originowned firm that developed LISTER. Its sort of like taking a garden hose pointing into the soil and creating a trench.Regardless of what happens with Blue Ghost Mission 1whether it lands on the moons surface in one piece or severalexperts interviewed by Scientific American say that for now, the CLPS initiative probably will survive into the second term of incoming U.S. president Donald Trump, who assumes office on January 20. Along with Artemis as a whole, CLPS was created during the first Trump administration and continued during the Biden administration. This was the first time since Apollo that an ambitious U.S. moon program survived a presidential transition intact.I believe this particular launch should, by itself, not change the program, no matter what the [outcome] is, Zurbuchen says. We would feel all more excited [if] it went all down the middle, exactly like we hoped.... If it was not successful, I would just basically say, Hey, we never said that any one of those things needs to be successful.[CLPS] is not a national standard-bearer program, Dreier adds. In a sense, if it works, it creates a fundamentally new capability.That said, the structure of Artemis may see more changes this time around. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who ardently supports a Mars-first human space exploration strategy, was a major backer of Trumps 2024 campaign and has enormous influence on the incoming administrations policy agenda. An Ars Technica report last December suggested that Trumps transition team was considering changes to Artemis and NASA writ large, including the possible cancelation of the space agencys costly Space Launch System rocket, a linchpin of the current Artemis plan.Any such proposal will have to make it through Congress, however, which has repeatedly stated its preference for a moon-first strategy in line with Artemiss status quo. Major changes could also risk disrupting existing agreements with commercial firms and other countries space agencies. Theres frustration, you see, that [Artemis] is not optimized for results; its optimized for politics. But youve got to work with politics at the end of the day, Dreier says. We should not throw away a hard-earned coalition like this.

Meta Tells Brazil It Won't End Fact-checks Outside US 'At This Time'By AFP - Agence France Presse January 14, 2025 Text sizeSocial media giant Meta told Brazil it would not end fact-checking outside the United States until it had fully tested the changes, according to a note from the company published Tuesday. Meta is "at this time ending its independent fact-checking program in the United States only, where we will test and refine Community Ratings before beginning any expansion to other countries," the company said, responding to a 72-hour deadline to explain its fact-checking policy for Brazil. fb/sms The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This article was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com. Agence France-Presse READ MORE FROM BARRONS

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kIn case you missed it, the famous video game mascot Lara Croft returns in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered next month on Valentine's Day.In the lead up, Aspyr has been detailing certain aspects of the game, and the latest trailer showcases the many boss battles Lara will encounter across this trilogy of games. Pre-orders for the collection have also gone live on Nintendo's eShop.There's currently a sale as well in selection regions, reducing the game from $29.99 / 26.99 to $26.99 / 24.29 (that's 10% off). This offer is valid until the game's release.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kWatch on YouTube This updated collection will include not only the original graphics but also the new remastered graphics, which you can once again swap between on the fly. Here's a bit more about each game (via Nintendo.com):Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Lara Croft discovers the lost tomb of the Egyptian God Set, unwittingly unleashing him and fulfilling an ancient prophecyone that plunges mankind into darkness.Tomb Raider: Chronicles Following the events of The Last Revelation, Lara Croft is buried in an Egyptian tomb and is presumed dead. At her memorial, those closest to her reminisce about secrets from her past.Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness Accused of murder, Lara becomes a fugitive on the run, while uncovering a sinister conspiracy involving alchemical experiments and the search for ancient artifacts.In some related news, Aspyr is also releasing Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles next week on 23rd January 2025. Smile, LaraFixes, changes, improvements and much moreI've got a bad feeling about thisWill you be grabbing this collection? Did you take on any of these bosses back in the day? Let us know in the comments.Related GamesSee 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 ArticlesReview: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch) - Aping A Retro ClassicThat's what you get for not hailing to the chimpTalking Point: Everyone Else Is Busy Revealing Switch 2 - What Gives, Nintendo?It's the notes you don't play

As the world continues to work through how to handle the explosion of deepfake content online, it seems that not all AI-created videos are stirring controversy. Synthesia, a London startup building products around highly realistic AI avatar technology, says its a big hit with enterprises, with some 60,000 of them 1 million users tapping the tech to build avatar-based videos from text documents, for sales and marketing, for training and more.Now VCs also want to get in on the action. Synthesia today confirmed that it has closed a funding round of $180 million, a Series D that catapults the companys valuation to $2.1 billion. NEA is leading the round, with participation from new investors WiL (World Innovation Lab), Atlassian Ventures, and PSP Growth, plus previous backers GV and MMC Ventures. Synthesia has raised $330 million to date.The startup plans to use the funding for hiring, particularly to expand in Asia Pacific the bulk of Synthesias business today is in Europe and North America and to continue evolving its products.Were doubling down on all the things were already doing right, said CEO and co-founder Victor Riparbelli, in an interview. We want to make our avatars better. He said the companys long roadmap includes more realistic motion; being able to port avatars into different environments; avatars that can interact with objects to, for example, provide physical demonstrations; and avatars that can interact with users. Its also going to be eating some of its own dogfood by building more agents to help customers create avatar-based content more easily.One area where its not chasing activity is in M&A. Synthesia to date has made no acquisitions and Riparbelli said its preference is for building its technology in house, alongside using APIs for what it does not build itself. For example, it works with Eleven Labs for voice, and it taps and fine-tunes a variety of third-party Large Language Models instead of building its own.Synthesias round has been in the works for at least a few months: The Information reported that it was raising $150 million in November 2024. For a little more fundraising context, its been about 18 months since Synthesia last disclosed funding: in June 2023, it closed a $90 million round on a $1 billion valuation with previous backers including Kleiner Perkins and Accel.In the interim, AI companies have been a huge magnet for VCs, providing a bright spot in a somewhat lackluster funding landscape. AI startups accounted for more than 37% of the $368.5 billion invested across all startups in 2024 globally, according to PitchBook data. In the U.S. the proportion was even more stark, with AI startups garnering nearly 50% of the $209 billion invested last year.And yes, issues abound the field of AI. The power consumption required to train and run AI models, major copyright issues around how models are trained, AI getting weaponized as in the case of deepfakes or malicious hacking, AI replacing humans and their work, and AI getting it wrong all huge problems that have yet to be resolved meaningfully. But there are also some significant advocates who will push the AI industry into even loftier, hyped-up heights. Synthesia was one of the companies name-checked by the U.K. government this week when it launched its big AI action plan, with an intention to dole out billions in deals to AI companies to rebuild public services and the economy.Synthesia says it now has 60,000 businesses as customers, compared to 50,000 in June 2023, and its aim has been to carve out its own niche in the space as the go-to platform for enterprises that are looking to build out their video interactions.Its doing so at a time when advanced AI video functionality is getting increasingly more common. There are startups that are working on the ability to extrapolate full product videos out of basic documents, while others aim to build avatars capable of real-time interactions and real-time video assistants. Some claim to be able to create lifelike avatars of their users from just one minute of video. (A simple test to see just how crowded the market is here is to put Synthesia into Google, and check out how many companies are buying search ads against its name. There are a lot.)Synthesia is not immune to the product race. Its been building a 2.0 version of its platform for a while now and has already released a number of related features, including its own take on personal avatars that users can make with a laptop camera or phone that feature emotions; a Chrome extension that builds basic videos based on screen data; its own version of an AI video assistant that can convert documents into videos; multi language options; and collaboration features for people to edit a video simultaneously.More to the point, though, Riparbelli believes that the company has an edge by focusing itself squarely on business users, and its investors say that is what makes the startup attractive.Synthesia is one of only a handful of AI companies that can take real cutting edge AI and actually translate those into something with real utility, said Vidu Shanmugarajah, a partner at Google Ventures in London, in an interview. It has extreme customer focus. They are obsessed with driving value in a practical setting. Putting that together in a platform thats safe and compliant is super hard to do.Its interesting, too, to see Atlassian investing in this round.The company has been injecting AI functionality into its various apps, and it seems only a matter of time that a platform like Jira might start adding in more video tools into that mix, opening the door for a collaboration with its portfolio company.

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow have created a fully 3D printed and low cost microscope for histological imaging.Based on OpenFlexures open-source design, the device incorporates 3D printed mechanical and optical components alongside a Raspberry Pi for control, an LED light source for illumination, and an affordable off-the-shelf camera. Weighing just 3 kg, the microscope can be assembled in three hours at an estimated cost of 50 ($60). This study is published in the bioRvix journal.As reported by New Scientist, Gail McConnell Professor of Biophotonics at the University, highlighted the impact of their work. She stated that her team had earlier devised a technique for 3D printing lenses commonly used in microscopes, a development that played a crucial role in achieving this milestone.Measuring the resolution of a fully 3D printed microscope post-acquisition chromatic correction. Image via University of Strathclyde.Affordability with 3D printed opticsKey to the projects success is the use of 3D printed lenses, fabricated using using an Elegoo Mars 3 Pro 3D printer and a photopolymerizing clear resin from Formlabs. Designed to replicate the specifications of traditional glass lenses, such as Edmund Optics 12.7 mm diameter plano-convex lens with a 35 mm focal length, these lenses achieve high performance at a fraction of the cost.The resins refractive index closely matches BK7 glass, commonly used in commercial optics. Through a meticulous post-processing workflow, the lenses were refined to meet the optical quality standards required for microscopy.Performance tests included analyzing a Giemsa-stained blood smear and a Haemotoxylin and Eosin-stained mouse kidney section. Images captured revealed intricate sub-cellular structures, including individual blood cells and renal tubules.With a magnification of 2.9x and a spatial resolution of approximately 5 micrometers, the microscope demonstrated capabilities on par with many commercial systems while maintaining a field of view measuring 1.7 mm.According to the researchers, relying on traditional glass lenses has long posed a challenge for cost-sensitive applications, especially in resource-limited settings. The integration of 3D printed optics addresses this issue, drastically reducing expenses while maintaining comparable imaging quality. They highlighted the accessibility of the device for low-budget laboratories, classrooms, and field diagnostics.The researchers also acknowledged certain limitations, such as uneven illumination across the field of view, resulting from alignment challenges with the LED light source. They proposed design modifications, including the addition of adjustable diaphragms, to improve illumination uniformity.Moreover, the customization potential of 3D printed lenses allows for the creation of alternative magnifications and numerical apertures, tailoring the device to specific applications.Having now demonstrated the feasibility of fabricating both mechanical and optical components through 3D printing, this work showcases a new approach to scientific instrumentation.(a) An image acquired of a Giemsa-stained blood smear. Two ROIs are shown, where individual red blood cells can be resolved over the 1.7 mm field of view. (b) An image of a H&E-stained mouse kidney. The thin section shows structures such as an interlobular arteriole (white arrow) and renal tubules, with a magnified ROI showing the organisation of nephrons in a medullary ray spanning the corticomedullary junction. Image via University of Strathclyde.Cost-effective 3D printed microscopesFurther showcasing the potential of 3D printed microscopes, University of Bath researchers developed an OpenFlexure 3D printed microscope, an open-source, laboratory-grade device that cost just $18 to produce.Designed for accessibility, the microscope featured motorized sample positioning, focus control, and a precise mechanical stage. Its low cost and customizable design aimed to democratize access to high-quality microscopy for schools, laboratories, clinics, and even homes.Initiated by Dr. Richard Bowman and maintained by Bath Open Instrumentation Group (BOING), this project ensured affordability without sacrificing imaging quality. As of 2020, over 100 units were produced in Tanzania and Kenya, where local adaptations highlighted the benefits of open-source designs. Co-creator Dr. Joel Collins emphasized its potential to advance education, research, and healthcare globally.One year before that, University of Connecticut and the University of Memphis researchers developed a 3D printed digital holographic microscopy (DHM) microscope capable of producing high-resolution 3D images at a low cost.Detailed in Optics Letters, the device provided twice the resolution of conventional DHM systems and eliminated the need for complex laboratory setups, making it suitable for field use in remote areas. Made entirely from 3D printed parts and common optical components, the microscope was compact, robust, and cost only a few hundred dollars to manufacture.By incorporating structured illumination (SI) technology, the microscope achieved a resolution of 0.775 m, allowing for precise imaging of biological samples like green algae. The team aimed to expand its use in biomedical diagnostics, particularly in underserved regions.Who won the 20243D Printing Industry Awards?All the news fromFormnext 2024.To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on Twitter, or like our page on Facebook.While youre here, why not subscribe to our Youtube channel? Featuring discussion, debriefs, video shorts, and webinar replays.Featured image shows (a) An image acquired of a Giemsa-stained blood smear. Two ROIs are shown, where individual red blood cells can be resolved over the 1.7 mm field of view. (b) An image of a H&E-stained mouse kidney. The thin section shows structures such as an interlobular arteriole (white arrow) and renal tubules, with a magnified ROI showing the organisation of nephrons in a medullary ray spanning the corticomedullary junction. Image via University of Strathclyde.Ada ShaikhnagWith a background in journalism, Ada has a keen interest in frontier technology and its application in the wider world. Ada reports on aspects of 3D printing ranging from aerospace and automotive to medical and dental.

The new Tiny SE and Meet SE webcams offer advanced AI technology and clear images at affordable ... [+] prices.OBSBOTIve tested plenty of webcams and, currently, the Obsbot Meet 4K delivers one of the best image qualities that Ive experienced. When I tested the Meet 4K, I consistently received comments during Zoom meetings about how clear my video feed was. If Im honest, it was a bit too clear at times and showed far too many wrinkles for my tastes.The Obsbot Meet 4K and the Obsbot Tiny 4K are two great webcams from the Obsbot stable but today the company has announced two new models which are more affordable as they offer 1080p resolution instead of 4K.The Obsbot Meet SE is an AI-powered Full HD webcam while the Obsbot Tiny SE is an AI-powered PTZ Full HD camera. The Meet SE has a fixed view while the Tiny SE can pan, tilt and zoom thanks to its two-axis gimbal.Both models offer high-quality video images at an affordable price because they use a 1080P sensor instead of a 4K one. Do you need 4K for a webcam? Well, for applications like Zoom, Skype or Teams, I would say not but if you want to record video for YouTube or other platforms, you might want the extra resolution of 4K. The extra pixels are also useful if you digitally zoom because you lose less resolution.The new Obsbot Tiny SE is probable the most affordable PTZ webcam and includes AI tracking and full ... [+] 1080P resolution.OBSBOTMORE FOR YOUBoth these new SE webcams are aimed at gamers, remote workers and content creators and they offer a lot of features for the money. They work with Obsbots Center software which has plenty of customization features including image settings for adjusting saturation, brightness, contrast and sharpness.The Obsbot Tiny SE has dynamic PTZ capabilities that Obsbot says are powered by AI. With its two-axis gimbal, the Tiny SE can deliver smooth and precise tracking of face or body, keeping the presenter center stage and perfectly framed during live streams or when recording presentations. The Tiny SE also has ultra-high frame rates of 1080P @ 100fps and 720P @ 120fps.The images produced by the Tiny SE come from a 1/2.8'' Stacked CMOS sensor with a 2.9m pixel size. The lens has a wide aperture of f/1.8 for high image quality even in low light levels. The device also has dual native ISOs and Staggered HDR technology for improved dynamic range in both bright and low-light environments.The Tiny SE is powered by a Deep Learning Neural Network which offers advanced modes for body part, hand and zone tracking. There is also gesture control for remote operation. Seamless compatibility is available with platforms like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, plus the Tiny SE also has preset modes for PTZ positions, tracking and image settings.The compact Obsbot Meet SE is available in three colors and offers full 1080P resolution. OBSBOTThe second launch from Obsbot is the new Meet SE, a tiny webcam that can sit on top of a monitor or laptop. With ultra-high frame rates of 1080P @ 100fps and 720P @ 150fps, the Meet SE can produce smooth action video and its ideal for streaming, gaming and recording. The Meet SEs low-light capabilities are boosted by a 1/2.8'' Stacked CMOS sensor and Staggered HDR for vibrant details under a range of difficult lighting conditions.Thanks to AI Auto Framing, the Obsbot Meet SE can adapt to various shooting scenarios, including single-user or group meetings. It can be used in portrait or landscape modes plus there is built-in gesture control for hands-free operation. The webcam weighs just 33.2g and its available in Aurora Green, Space Grey and Cloud White.The Meet SE also works with Obsbot Center software which can be used to adjust settings for recording, AI Auto Framing, Auto Focus, Bokeh and Beauty Mode. The software and webcam are compatible with lots of popular platforms like OBS, Twitch, Kick and Zoom. There is also integration support for OSC, Global Hotkey and Stream Deck via plug-ins.The clever little Tiny SE webcam can pan, tilt and zoom and even recognises gestures or can be ... [+] controlled with a remote. For $99 it's a bargain.OBSBOTObsbots aim in developing both the Tiny SE and Meet SE webcams is to make AI-driven webcam technology accessible to more people. Core innovations included AI auto framing, gesture control and excellent low-light performance. The Tiny SE works well as a dynamic webcam thanks to its two-axis gimbal with AI Auto Tracking and Auto Zoom. Its ideal for streamers and presenters and even offers enhanced features like a Laser Whiteboard, making it ideal for professional environments such as online lectures and presentations.The Obsbot Meet SE is a good little webcam for people on the move or when working from home. Its extremely portable and offers very high image quality and performs well in low-light conditions. The Meet SE is suitable for anyone who needs a simple webcam with top-notch video quality and intelligent AI functions for framing and body tracking using a digital zoom rather than the physical PTZ movements offered by Obsbot Tiny SE.Pricing & Availability: The Obsbot Meet SE and OBSBOT Tiny SE will be available for purchase starting January 15, 2025, through OBSBOTs official website and Amazon. The Tiny SE will retail for $99 and the Meet SE for $69 making these two webcams the most affordable for their type and quality.

The big picture: Doom, the original first-person shooter for DOS by id Software, was released in 1993. Despite being over 30 years old, the game continues to inspire resourceful (and somewhat crazy) developers to run its code in some of the most unusual computing environments imaginable. We can now add PDF documents to the ever-growing list of "things" that can run Doom. A high school student interested in programming and cybersecurity developed the DoomPDF project, providing yet another example of how killing cacodemons on Mars has become a truly universal pastime, no matter the technology used.Developer "Ading2210" was able to create DoomPDF because the PDF standard supports JavaScript code. Adobe Acrobat implements the full specification of the PDF JS library, the programmer explained, allowing for some truly amazing feats, including 3D rendering, hardware detection, and more. However, DoomPDF relies on the JavaScript implementation in modern web browsers, which feature a more limited "PDF engine" and API support.Despite these limitations, Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers can perform "whatever computation we want," Ading2210 said, with only minimal I/O interactions. The developer compiled Doom's original C code with an older version of Emscripten that targets asm.js instead of WebAssembly. Inputs can be read through text fields and buttons, but "rendering" a fast-enough Doom graphics replica proved to be a much more challenging task.DoomPDF can achieve a six-color monochrome output, which should be enough to provide a "legible" in-game representation on the screen. The Doom PDF port, which can be played on Chromium browsers, isn't the most performance-optimized version of the game, though it could be considered "playable" if you're obsessed enough.Doom has been officially ported to game consoles, PC systems, different operating systems, mobile devices, and essentially every new computing platform developed since the 1990s. Even Doom Eternal, the latest entry in the Doom saga, includes the original "wad" files for Doom and Doom II, which you can load while chilling at the Doom Slayer's fortress of solitude orbiting Earth. // Related StoriesDeveloper id Software released the source code for Doom in 1997, a choice that sparked a meme-like movement where programmers are trying to run the game on the most esoteric devices they can hack. So far, Doom has proven to run on CAPTCHAs, alarm clocks, GPUs, volumetric displays, AI models, and much more.

President Biden signed an executive order Tuesday designed to ensure that the AI industry will have plenty of compute and electrical power in the coming years by making federal lands available to expansive data centers and clean energy production facilities.Specifically, the order directs federal agencies to fast-track large-scale AI infrastructure projects on federal land, make more federal sites available for data center and energy production projects, as well as integrate the new infrastructure into the local power grid. Both the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense are to each find three sites within their holdings where private companies might be able to build AI data centers before running competitive solicitations from prospective builders on those sites.Recommended VideosThe order isnt just a blank check for new AI projects; it imposes numerous safeguards and criteria on developers for how these projects can be built. These include requiring firms to pay for their facilities construction, as well as provide sufficient clean energy capabilities to fully power the data centers once they come online. The race to achieve artificial general intelligence, the relentless drive to train ever larger language models in hopes the U.S. can beat out China for global leadership of the technologys development has caused the electrical and cooling requirements for AI data centers to skyrocket in recent years. A Department of Energy report from December estimated that data center electricity draws have tripled in the last 10 years and are on pace to as much as triple again by 2028.A new report from JLL doesnt paint a much rosier picture, the real estate management firm figures data center power demands will only double by 2029. Whats more, current data center infrastructure tends to be geographically clustered, which strains local power grids, distorting how that power is delivered to customers and increasing the likelihood of brownouts.AI will have a profound implications for national security and enormous potential to improve Americans lives if harnessed responsibly, from helping cure disease to keeping communities safe by mitigating the effects of climate change, President Biden said in a prepared statement. However, we cannot take our lead for granted. We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water.Editors Recommendations