The masterplan, which has been in the pipeline since 2019, will expand the Watergate Bay Hotel which overlooks Watergate Bay just north of Newquay, and revamp the surrounding bay area next to Tregurrian hamlet.Tate + Co's 4,240m expansion of the hotel includes a new five and six-storey, stone-clad, stepped building which 'takes inspiration from the surrounding terrain.The building will house a gym with associated studio and treatment rooms, a restaurant, a staff wellbeing area and eight family apartments for hotel guests.AdvertisementA separate, low-slung two-storey building with a curved green roof will create 12 additional hotel suites, extending the existing Beach Lofts a part of the hotel that was formerly a Jamie Oliver restaurant before being converted in 2021. Source:Tate + Co Watergate proposals by Tate + Co - AxonometricMeanwhile, a new semicircular beach pavilion will house a small shop, food vendors, and sheltered space for visitors.Improvements to the surrounding bay area will include creating a more pedestrian-friendly centre to Watergate Bay, adding a new elevated walkway to Watergate Hotel, and reconnecting the existing coastal path route through the site. The plan also includes new car parking.The proposal was submitted last May and approved by Cornwall Councils planning department in December in a delegated decision.The planning officer described Tate + Co's design as appropriate, high quality and responsive to this specific site.AdvertisementOfficers concluded that the proposal would contribute positively to the existing tourism offer at Watergate Bay Hotel with new structures and buildings that will complement the appearance and function of the valley bottom without undue harm to the setting of the coastal location.Tate + Co director Laurence Pinnfire said the practices proposed accommodation and public facilities would provide a more coherent experience without detracting from the beach and cliffs.He added: Its great to see the wider vision come to fruition as we carefully improve the area, step by step.Watergate Bay Hotel Director Will Ashworth said Tate + Cos masterplan would extend and improve the hotels guest experience whilst at the same time creating a great public space.

The iPhone 16 Pro's awesome camera can take some of the best photos it's possible to squeeze from a phone. With multiple crystal-clear lenses and new Photographic Styles, it's got a lot to impress even the most demanding of photographers. It even put up a strong fight against the best camera phones around, including the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Pixel 9 Pro and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.Read more: iPhone 16 Pro takes on Xiaomi 14 UltraBut it's not the perfect camera. As both an experienced phone reviewer and a professional photographer, I have exceptionally high expectations for top-end phone cameras and having used the iPhone 16 Pro since its launch, I have some thoughts on what needs to change.Here are the main points I want to see improved on the iPhone 17 when it likely launches in September 2025.Larger image sensorThough the 1/1.28-inch sensor found on the iPhone 16 Pro's main camera is already a good size -- and marginally larger than the S24 Ultra's 1/1.33-inch sensor -- I want to see Apple go bigger. A larger image sensor can capture more light and offer better dynamic range. It's why pro cameras tend to have at least "full frame" image sensors, while really high-end cameras, like the amazingHasselblad 907X, have enormous "medium format" sensors for pristine image quality. Even on pro cameras, sensor size is important. Even the full-frame image sensor in the middle is dwarfed by the medium format sensor on the right. Phone camera sensors don't come anywhere near to this size. Andrew Lanxon/CNETXiaomi understands this, equipping its 14 Ultra with a 1-inch type sensor. It's larger than the sensors found on almost any phone, which allows the 14 Ultra to take stunning photos in a variety of conditions -- including Taylor Swift concerts. I'm keen to see Apple at least match Xiaomi's phone here with a similar 1-inch type sensor. Though if we're talking pie-in-the-sky wishes, maybe the iPhone 17 could be the first smartphone with a full-frame image sensor. I won't hold my breath on that one -- the phone, and the lenses, would need to be immense to accommodate it, so it'd likely be more efficient just to let you make calls with your mirrorless camera.Variable apertureSpeaking of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, one of the other reasons that phone rocks so hard for photography is its variable aperture on the main camera. Its widest aperture is f/1.6 -- significantly wider than the f/1.78 of the iPhone 16 Pro.That wider aperture lets in a lot of light in dim conditions and more authentically achieves out-of-focus bokeh around a subject. The streetlight outside this pub has been turned into an attractive starburst thanks to the variable aperture of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Andrew Lanxon/CNETBut Xiaomi's aperture can also close down to f/4, and with that narrower aperture, it's able to create starbursts around points of light. I love achieving this effect in nighttime imagery with the phone. It makes the resulting images look much more like they've been taken with a professional camera and lens, while the same points of light on the iPhone just look like roundish blobs.More Photographic StylesThough Apple has had various styles and effects integrated into the iPhone's cameras, the iPhone 16 range took it further, with more control over the effects and more toning options. It's enough that CNET Senior Editor Lisa Eadicicco even declared the new Photographic Styles her "favorite new feature on Apple's latest phone."I think they're great, too. Or rather, they're a great start. The different color tones, like the ones you get with the Amber and Gold styles, add some lovely warmth to scenes, and the Quiet effect adds a vintage filmic fade, but there's still not a whole lot to choose from. I'd love to see Apple introduce more Photographic Styles with different color toning options, or even with tones that mimic vintage film stocks from Kodak or Fujifilm. I like the warmer tones produced by the iPhone's Amber style in this image, but I'd definitely like to see more options for getting creative with color tones. Andrew Lanxon/CNETAnd sure, there are plenty of third-party apps like VSCO or Snapseed that let you play around with color filters all you want. But using Apple's styles means you can take your images with the look already applied, and then change it afterward if you don't like it -- nothing is hard-baked into your image.Better ProRaw integration with Photographic StylesI do think Apple has slightly missed an opportunity with its Photographic Styles, though, in that you can use them only when taking images in HEIF (high-efficiency image format). Unfortunately, you can't use them when shooting in ProRaw. I love Apple's use of ProRaw on previous iPhones, as it takes advantage of all of the iPhone's computational photography -- including things like HDR image blending -- but still outputs a DNG raw file for easier editing.The DNG file typically also offers more latitude to brighten dark areas or tone down highlights in an image, making it extremely versatile. Previously, Apple's color presets could be used when shooting in ProRaw, and I loved it. I frequently shot street-style photos using the high contrast black-and-white mode and then edited the raw file further. I do a lot of street photography in black and white, and I'd love more flexibility to take ProRaw shots in monochrome. Andrew Lanxon/CNETNow using that same black-and-white look means only shooting images in HEIF format, eliminating the benefits of using Apple's ProRaw. Oddly, while the older-style "Filters" are no longer available in the camera app when taking a raw image, you can still apply those filters to raw photos in the iPhone's gallery app through the editing menu.LUTs for ProRes videoAnd while we're on the topic of color presets and filters, Apple needs to bring those to video, too. On the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced the ability to shoot video in ProRes, which results in very low-contrast, almost gray-looking footage. The idea is that video editors will take this raw footage and then apply their edits on top, often applying contrast and color presets known as LUTs (look-up tables) that gives footage a particular look -- think dark and blue for horror films or warm and light tones for a romantic drama vibe.But Apple doesn't offer any kind of LUT for editing ProRes video on the iPhone, beyond simply ramping up the contrast, which doesn't really do the job properly. Sure, the point of ProRes is that you would take that footage off the iPhone, put it into software like Davinci Resolve, and then properly color grade the footage so it looks sleek and professional. ProRes footage looks very low contrast and desaturated. Apple needs to introduce ways to help you do more with ProRes files on the iPhone. Andrew Lanxon/CNETBut that still leaves the files on your phone, and I'd love to be able to do more with them. My gallery is littered with ungraded video files that I'll do very little with because they need color grading externally. I'd love to share them to Instagram, or with my family over WhatsApp, after transforming those files from drab and gray to beautifully colorful.With the iPhone 17, or even with the iPhone 16 as a software update, I want to see Apple creating a range of its own LUTs that can be directly applied to ProRes video files on the iPhone.If Apple were able to implement all these changes -- excluding, perhaps, the full-frame sensor which even I can admit is a touch ambitious -- it would have an absolute beast of a camera on its hands.

OpinionJanuary 15, 20255 min readTwo Simple Reforms Can Make H-1B Visas Great AgainAlthough warring MAGA factions seem locked in a foreign worker battle with no middle ground, two straightforward changes would provide global talent while minimizing domestic job lossesBy Hal Salzman edited by Dan Vergano Rob Dobi/Getty ImagesJust in time for the holidays, an internecine fight about what America First means broke upon the incoming Trump administration. The brawl pitted demands for more high-skill foreign guest workers against others saying those workers sent Americans to the back of the hiring line.This latest fracas began on Christmas, when Trumps billionaire backer Elon Musk wrote: The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low, on his X social network. He called for more H-1B workers to compensate for these overly complacent and less competent Americans. Trumps former-opponent-turned-backer, former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley responded: We must invest in Americans first before looking elsewhere.The fracas is new, but the argument isnt. For decades, researchers have disputed the effects of an expansive and ever-growing H-1B visa program for technology guest workers. Tech executives such as Musk say they need tens of thousands more workers. But others point out that hundreds of thousands of experienced U.S. tech workers were fired in the last two yearssome among the 15,000 fired by Muskand then replaced by guest workers.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.But there is a way for top talent to work in the U.S. without undermining the wages and opportunities for its workersif we tighten restrictions on visas and end exploitative educational programs.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's H-1B visa program yearly provides businesses with up to 65,000 nonimmigrant work visas for guest workers with specialized skills, usually defined as requiring a bachelors degree related to the field of proposed employment. Another 20,000 go to those with a masters degree or higher, and an unlimited number go to universities and nonprofits to hire foreign lab techs, scientists, tech workers, professors and postdocs. In 2023, the agency granted about 120,000 visas in total. Additionally, there is an even larger STEM OPT (optional practical training) program that provides any foreign student graduate a three-year work permit in a STEM fieldwhich can be whatever a university defines as STEM (such as New York Universitys drama therapy or games for learning master's degree). These two programs swim in an alphabet soup of visas that yearly provide U.S. employers over 700,000 high-skill guest workers.Technology industries scoop up about two thirds of these visas, and have done so for decades; they rely on guest workers to fill the vast majority of new, young hires, perhaps as much as 70 to 80 percent of entry-level employees. Unlike other visas, the H-1B visa is tied to the employer so workers are, as often described, indentured servants, with limited mobility. That undercuts their market power in negotiating wages, leaving abusive working conditions or protesting wage theft. There is no requirement that their employers demonstrate a labor shortage or first search for U.S. workers; in fact, it is perfectly legal for employers to exclude citizens and permanent, green card residents alike from consideration; U.S. workers are not a protected class under antidiscrimination laws. It was only this past year that one of the larger IT guest worker employers, Cognizant, lost a novel lawsuit charging discrimination in favor of one ethnic group, Indian workers, who were the most hired on H-1B visas.When we look at the education and jobs held by the vast majority of guest workers, its hard to call them hard-to-find talent. Most work for software outsourcing and consulting firms, doing important but not innovative work. And most computer science guest workers graduating from U.S. colleges with advanced degrees come from low or no-ranked programs with enrollments of some 80 to 100 percent foreign students. That is, colleges have gotten into the game of profiting from guest workers, through masters degree programs that are low-cost to run but high-cost for students. These serve as a labor market portal for foreign students, and high-margin profit centers for colleges.Two simple reforms would provide the tech industry access to global talent while minimizing job losses of domestic workers. Theyd also encourage investment in American education and training.First, guest worker visas, including H1-Bs, should be issued only for workers paid in the top 15 percent of each industry and occupation groups wages. Second, work visas should go only to graduates in the top 15 percent of each class for workers entering through OPT. Both policies are reasonable and relatively straightforward to implement and monitor. Employers and colleges already report most of the necessary data to federal agencies. And they address the important concerns of both of our rhetorical combatants.Super talented and super motivated workers are certainly a far smaller share than the top 15 percent of the workforce. That means these restrictions will more than satisfy Musks demands to fill innovative technology development jobs.Limiting guest worker permits and visas to the foreign students graduating in the top 15 percent of their class in a U.S. college would address two concerns: First, students would be ranked alongside their domestic peers, providing some measure of their academic abilities. Second, it would keep colleges from operating diploma mills that target and exploit foreign students. For those students, there would be risk of not getting a work permit by going to colleges with more than 10 to 15 percent foreign student enrollment. That would encourage them to attend a broader range of colleges, bringing higher performing students to lower-tier schools. To keep this profitable population, colleges will, in turn, need to recruit a substantial pool of domestic students and, importantly, support them through graduation. Thats because a high dropout rate will shrink the domestic pool and thus the share of foreign students who can be in the top 15 percent (motivating foreign students to help their domestic peers graduate, lest the domestic pool shrink and decrease the number of students in the top percentiles).Employers also will need to recruit more widely and invest in domestic education to maintain the pool of foreign graduates eligible for work permits. The smaller pool of foreign graduates will motivate employers to compete for workers rather than relying on government largesse for abundant supplies of guest workers willing to accept below-market wages. This will draw talented workers into the technology industries rather than losing them to Wall Street, which doesnt advance science and engineering. Adjustments for regional wages could spur industries hiring these higher-paid, higher-skilled workers to locate high-wage operations in lower-cost U.S. cities and towns.These straightforward reforms would reduce by 90 percent, I estimate, the current pool of eligible H-1B applicants that irks Haley. Tens of thousands of guest worker visas would then be available under the current cap so tech industries could recruit top global talent, while also encouraging these companies to draw on the large supply of U.S. talent.Lets be honest about reforming guest worker visas to bring in global talent, using the market as a guide rather than falling under the influence of industries that spend the most on lobbyists or who flood the zone with applications gaming the system. With these straightforward reforms we can support legitimate goals for bringing in hard-to-find global talent and investing in the ample supplies of the domestic super talented students and workers. These strategic reforms will provide U.S. workers, especially underrepresented minorities, real opportunities in our technology workforce, and cut the Gordian knot tied by antiworker expansionists and anti-immigrant restrictionists alike. This is what industry should be super motivated to do.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater merch is releasing, even though we still don't actually have a date for the game itself. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereMetal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is one of the most revered game designers in the industry. Known for revitilizing the stealth genre and pushing forward cinematics in games, Kojima is still creating amazing experiences with Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel.However, early on in the game designers career, Kojima was so frustrated that he planned to leave Konami before before the original Metal Gear MSX game was finished.Speaking to Nice Games in 1999, preserved by website Shmupulations, Kojima revealed that trying to make Metal Gear was frustrated due to the dismissive nature of other developers at Konami.I thought it would be awesome to make a game built around a concept like [The Great Escape], of trying to escape from somewhere, Kojima explained. But when I told the senior devs on the team about my idea, they were very dismissive: Theres no games like that. I was still a new planner at Konami, so I guess no one was inclined to listen to what I had to say there was just zero motivation from the start. It was like, what do I have to do here, do I have to start beating people up?The game designer explained that the early years at Konami degraded further into passive-aggressive resistance that almost led to his departure from the games studio. It got to the point where I was so fed up with working at a corporation like this that I was ready to quit Konami altogether, he explained.There was just zero motivation from the start. It was like, what do I have to do here, do I have to start beating people up?HIDEO KOJIMA, 1999After talking with an older employee who took the lead, other developers at Konami started to change gears. However, it wasnt until the iconic exclamation mark pop-up was implemented that everyone was on board.Once we got a working build running, and they saw that exclamation mark pop up when the enemy gets surprised, that sold them on the concept, Kojima explained. They all changed their tune then: This is gonna work!Nowadays, Kojima is working on a number of awesome-looking projects including Death Stranding 2, the Xbox horror game OD and even a return to the Metal Gear stealth genre. Additionally, the game designers amazing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is getting a massive remake, although no release date is known at the time of writing.Metal Gear SolidPlatform(s):Game Boy Color, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 3Genre(s):Action, Adventure, ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

By all appearances, New York designer Ghislaine Vias and husband Jaimes Arts and Crafts cottage in the Hudson Valley seems stylistically aligned to the 43 acres of bucolic idyllcomplete with forested pockets and babbling brooksthat it has anchored since 1927. Purchased in early 2022, a newly painted exterior was the easiest way for Vias, the AD PRO Directory member, to give the aging house a fresh look. While her choice of monochrome white emphasizes the homes provincial charm, once you step inside, all preconceived notions of the countryside aesthetic take a hike.The homeowners, interior designer Ghislaine Vias (left) and husband Jaime Vias, a graphic designerDespite ascribing to no color palette in particular, no style of art specifically, and bearing no loyalty to anything other than the sentimental value of travel souvenirs and furniture already in the familys possession (chalk the latter up to the mindset of downsizing empty nesters like these former Bucks County, Pennsylvania, residents and parents of two grown daughters), the home looks and feels intentional in all of its whims and weirdness.Homeowner and interior designer Ghislaine Vias installed Mad Plaider, a palm green tartan wallpaper she designed for Wolf Gordon, in the living room of the Hudson Valley Arts and Crafts cottage she shares with her husband, Jaime. The Flow lounge chairs by Luke Pearson are covered in Sir Stripe A-Lot in the color Sheepish by Ghislaine Vias for HBF Textiles. Artist Bethani Blake painted the piece above the fireplace, titled Magical Girls. Of such decorative mashups, Vias believes that one must possess a certain amount of audacity to seek accord among the inherently discordant.I acknowledge that sometimes I like things that are a little freaky, says Vias. From a vaguely sinister bunny-eared figurine made by a student at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), where Viass youngest daughter goes to school, to entryway photographs of life-sized gnomes engaged in horticultural maintenance, to a powder room hung with vintage oil-painted portraits of women (Ive given them all names, too, like Pamela and Olivia, says the designer), Vias considers the eccentric art collection the soul of the house.The kitchen is the largest room in the house, and feels like a stylistic departure considering its strong black (featuring IKEA cabinets) and white color blocking. The wooden barstools are by David Chipperfield, and the kitchen island was custom made to fit the set. An interpretive portrait of Abraham Lincoln by SCAD alum Marcus Kenney presides over the space.A Big Sur table from Crate & Barrel provides an earthy foil for the Tom Dixon Peg chairs in Fluoro, which Vias claims shes loved every day for 10 years. Here, they set a tonal color palette for the dining room, where a wall-mounted assemblage of travel souvenirs is thematically red. Superman by Adam Lowenbein in the corner; Nosfertube candelabras on the table.For all of their uneasy gazing and silent discernment, artful visages are a key element in the decor. Since familiarity is an undisputed hallmark of an inviting home, Vias has included a few faces that are instantly recognizable. For example, an interpretive portrait of Abraham Lincoln by SCAD alum Marcus Kenney presides over the kitchen, the largest room in the house characterized by tidy black-and-white colorblocking and right angles aplenty, a departure from the seeming spontaneity of the rest of the house. In the stairwell, a multimedia work the homeowners acquired on a trip to Pakistan, Girl Without a Pearl Earring by Abil Aslam, is a mosaic rendering of the famous Vermeer oil vignette in metal eyelets. Against a backdrop of unorthodox palm-green plaid wallpaper, the portrait finds solidarity in its spin on a classic.Most PopularMotoringThe 17 New Cars Were Most Excited About in 2025By Brett BerkHomes + Decor35 Soulful Rustic Kitchen Ideas Youll Want to CopyBy Kate JerdeCelebrity LifestyleThe Beatles Behind the Scenes: 15 Photos of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at HomeBy Michael Gioia Perhaps the most aesthetically quiet space in the house, the primary bedroom features two birdhouses by Upstate artist Dan Ladd. Their spherical form is echoed by the Artemide Castore Tavolo lamp, but is also a handcrafted foil to the sleek manufacturing. Charcoal drawing by Saskia Vias.Formerly a closet, the primary bath is now painted in fresh mint green and outfitted with a skirted cabinet that reminds Vias of the flouncy trim on a can-can girls skirt. Ruvati bathroom sink; vintage mask.Such mashups strike Vias as comical, and she believes that one must possess a certain amount of audacity to seek accord among the inherently discordant. Though Vias never intended for the widespread plaid to convey an iota of, as she calls it, stuffy library, she wasnt opposed to conjuring a cozy, insular feeling suitable for the sylvan setting. So while it appears that you can take the plaid out of the study (after all, the pattern, dubbed the Mad Plaider, may qualify as a contemptuous take on tartan), you cant deny its essential nature. Most interesting to me is to pull from something historic and look at it through a more contemporary lens, says Vias.In that case, you might consider the entire cottage a kind of 1,600-square-foot cabinet of curiosities, an Italian Renaissanceera tradition of collecting objects for purposes of flaunt, delight, or intrigue. Here, such bibelots include a zoos worth of animal figures, some even serviceable, like a Seletti white-resin monkey swinging in the kitchen with a working light bulb in its grip, or a life-size pig table by Moooi in the entryway, poised to collect keys and mail. To underscore the siren-hued Tom Dixon chairs in the dining room, a wall-mounted assemblage of travel souvenirs is obligingly red, and comprises a fly-swish procured during a trip to Africa, as well as a weathered barber pole that appeals to the designers affection for candy striping.Most PopularMotoringThe 17 New Cars Were Most Excited About in 2025By Brett BerkHomes + Decor35 Soulful Rustic Kitchen Ideas Youll Want to CopyBy Kate JerdeCelebrity LifestyleThe Beatles Behind the Scenes: 15 Photos of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at HomeBy Michael Gioia In the den, the most used room in the house, a painting by the designers frequent collaborator Mark Mulroney provides a view into the designers dark side with an arched painting called Look That Way, which depicts a subversive medley of fleshy tree limbs oozing grubs, an ominous vice grip, and an apple showing signs of rot. Striad lounge chair by Herman Miller. Sculptures by Ashley Benton.In the den, Viass favorite painting could be considered a mini freak show within the house-wide attraction: On a wood canvas provocatively (and intentionally) shaped like an arched church window, Mark Mulroneys Look That Way depicts a subversive medley of fleshy tree limbs oozing grubs, an ominous vise grip, and an apple showing signs of rot. Im not 100% sure why I like this stuff. My children are like, Youve scarred us for life, says Vias. Oh well. Theres always therapy.A newly painted exterior was the easiest way for Vias to give the aging Arts and Crafts cottage a fresh look. The monochrome white emphasizes the homes provincial charm, while the door paint (Baby Chick by Benjamin Moore) hints at the playfulness awaiting inside.This guest bedroom features a mixed bag of travel souvenirs, from a painting of a young girl by Pakistani artist Hala Nasir, a plaid study by Saskia Vias (the youngest daughter and a student at SCAD), and a pig cabinet by Seletti. The metal art over the bed is called Circles of Race by Sumbal Sultana.Most PopularMotoringThe 17 New Cars Were Most Excited About in 2025By Brett BerkHomes + Decor35 Soulful Rustic Kitchen Ideas Youll Want to CopyBy Kate JerdeCelebrity LifestyleThe Beatles Behind the Scenes: 15 Photos of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at HomeBy Michael Gioia A powder room is hung with vintage oil-painted portraits of women. Ive given them all names, too, like Pamela and Olivia, says the designer. The custom avocado-shaped mirror plays off the green paint, Talipot Palm by Sherwin-Williams.Guest room featuring Untitled by Syed Shoaib Mahmood above the bed. IKEA Lisabo desk in ash and Emeco Alfi chair.Electric Orange by Benjamin Moore provides the focal point of this guest bath, as the vibrant hue emblazons a vintage Dutch hanging cabinet and creates the appearance of a vanity nook.Most PopularMotoringThe 17 New Cars Were Most Excited About in 2025By Brett BerkHomes + Decor35 Soulful Rustic Kitchen Ideas Youll Want to CopyBy Kate JerdeCelebrity LifestyleThe Beatles Behind the Scenes: 15 Photos of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at HomeBy Michael Gioia Purchased in 2022, the home anchors 43 acres of bucolic idyll in the Hudson Valley.

Skip The BooksDon't go into Wolf Man expecting everything to be explained with a "library montage", as its director wanted to "keep things more mysterious""Exposition is such a tricky thing to handle."Image credit: Universal News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 15, 2025 The latest entry in the updated Universal Monsterverse, Wolf Man, might not lay everything out for you when you see it in cinemas.A lot of big movies these days definitely have a big issue with explaining everything that happened so the audience can understand the whole thing, but that's often the detriment to the quality of the film. Wolf Man director Leigh Whannell is hoping to do away with that typical use of exposition in his version of the 1941 classic monster movie, which is due out this week, January 17. The director recently spoke with GamesRadar about the upcoming film, where he explained that he "wanted to focus on the family" more instead of explaining how werewolves work or anything like that.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "I didn't want that scene where they discover a dusty book in the basement like, 'Here's the rules'," Whannell explained. "The library montage, you might call it... where you figure everything out. Exposition is such a tricky thing to handle, and how much you want to explain to people. A lot of times you might do a test screening and people tell you they want more, but my personal preference is to keep things more mysterious."The director cited the works of David Lynch as a point of inspiration, not for their content necessarily, but how unwilling they are to explain anything. "They're like these puzzle boxes and [Lynch] deliberately avoids explanations. I find that makes the film stay with me, because nothing was spoon fed. I can walk away and live with the movie, and interpret it, then I'll get online. I'm like anyone else, I've googled 'What does Mulholland Drive mean?' I'm seeking an answer, and I think that's what he wants with his movies. I'm not saying these are David Lynch movies that I'm making, but I like being sparing with that stuff."This is Whannell's second time making a monster movie for Universal, having previously released the quite good The Invisible Man back in 2020. Now we just have to see if he can go two for two on monster movies!

Emulation explanation.2024 was a big year for Nintendo's emulator takedowns, with the likes of Yuzu and Ryujinx both biting the dust after facing the company's wrath. Now, at a recent lecture hosted by Japans Association of Copyright for Computer Software, Nintendo lawyer Koji Nishiura has explained the technicalities of when an emulator is considered illegal and why the Big N has so many in the crosshairs.As reported by Denfaminicogamer, Nishiura the deputy general manager of Nintendo's IP division and patent attorney explained that there's a difference in legality between the emulator itself and its uses: "While you cant immediately claim that an emulator is illegal in itself, it can become illegal depending on how its used" (translated by Automaton).Read the full article on nintendolife.com

If youve ever applied or thought of applying for a job via LinkedIn, youll know that the experience can be immediately disheartening: Openings that look interesting typically can see hundreds or thousands of applications in a matter of hours data that LinkedIn, a social network for the world of work, proudly exposes in its own version of building up viral hype. But you may as well be throwing a penny into a giant fountain for luck to keep your application from drowning in that noise.Now LinkedIn has built an AI product to throw job seekers a lifeline, of sorts. A new Jobs Match tool will give its 1 billion users who are currently applying for jobs on its platform at a rate of 9,000 applications per minute immediate advice on whether a particular job opening is worth their time to apply.Alongside this, its launching a recruitment AI agent aimed at smaller businesses, a synthetic version of the recruitment managers and teams that larger businesses typically use to devise job applications, tap qualified candidates, and triage applications. Both are free to use that is, you dont have to be one of LinkedIns paying users to use it.Notably, both products were built by LinkedIn on top of its own AI technology and its own first-party LinkedIn data though, over time, it might incorporate other data sources, Rohan Rajiv, a director of product management, said in an interview with TechCrunch. This is in contrast to a number of launches in the last couple of years that have seen LinkedIn building by leaning hard on technology from OpenAI, the AI startup backed to the hilt by Microsoft, which also owns LinkedIn.LinkedIn has a long history of building AI tools for its platform, but these have been focused on areas like algorithms and connection suggestions, as well as tools to manage and build its database. These predate the development of generative AI and the wave of consumer services that have sprung out of it.A lot of what LinkedIn has launched on the AI front in the last couple of years has been around tapping generative AI to juice activity on the site: products to help people start conversations with each other; come up with insightful content for their feeds and profiles, help write ads, and more, all powered by OpenAI.The tools being launched today, which will give those filling jobs a better funnel of suitable applicants and help those looking for work better filter for jobs they are more likely to fit, also are meant to help with juicing activity, but in less public ways.Rajiv noted that there are now 5 million people who have turned on Open to Work on their profiles, up 40% from a year ago, with 67 million users looking for jobs each week. On the small business side, some 2.5 million are using LinkedIn to fill roles. Thats to say nothing of the huge number of people who have lost their jobs as the economy continues to correct in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic more than 152,000 in the tech sector alone were laid off in 2024, according to the Layoffs.fyi tracker.Yet LinkedIns job seeking figures are relatively tiny considering the site has more than a billion registered users. Indeed, it runs the risk of losing momentum on its recruiting business because of how painful it is to use, both among those looking for jobs and those trying to fill them, said Rajiv.[Theyre] spending three to five hours a day sifting through applications, and finding that less than half of the job applications submitted are actually meeting the required criteria, he said. This is completely broken, and we know that.So while LinkedIn has built a number of products specifically for premium users, to encourage more people to pay for the service, now its swinging in the other direction. Its taking two premium tools respectively AI tools for looking for jobs and AI agents to help with recruitment and making versions of them usable for everyone.It will be worth watching to see what the uptake is like, and whether it boosts the number of people using the platform to recruit (which is still a paid service) and look for work. At a time when the company is also being scrutinized over how it gathers and uses data, this gives LinkedIn an anchor to argue that its also providing some utility.

From the visionary mind behind Cloud Atlas and Babylon Berlin comes Das Licht (The Light). Dive into the trailer now and experience the haunting beauty of a mystery waiting to unfold!The VFX are made by:RISE (VFX Supervisor: Jonathan Heine)Director: Tom TykwerRelease Date: March 20, 2025 (Germany) Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025The post Das Licht (The Light) appeared first on The Art of VFX.