TikToks algorithm appears to be boosting LA wildfire misinformationWritten by Olivia LittlePublished01/14/25 12:22 PM ESTTikTok has become a cesspool of conspiracy theories and misinformation aswildfires continue to devastate the Los Angeles region, and evidence suggests TikToks algorithm launched them into virality.These videos have already racked up millions of views, and the view count on each video reviewed by Media Matters far exceeds the number of followers on the respective account, suggesting that TikToksrecommendation algorithm spread the content to millions of users.One prominent conspiracy theory focuses on rapper Sean Diddy Combs, who wascharged with sex trafficking in September. Some users are baselessly claiming that the wildfires were intentionally started to cover up alleged incriminating evidence in Combs trial the conspiracy theories vary, but thats the core of it.When a user searches Diddy wildfire, the first video that returns has over5.7 million views and claims that Diddys mansion has been completely consumed by fire (its actuallyuntouched by fire, per a January 12 news report) and that the house would enter into investigation in a couple of days where many names would be involved (196 in the case) unfortunately that will no longer be possible.Another video, with over 5.3 million views, commented on the timing of the fire, suggesting that celebrities are burning the evidence ahead of Combs trial.Other users claim that the wildfires are biblical prophecies being fulfilled.The book of Revelations is unfolding before our eyes, reads overlaid text on a video with over912,000 views.Another video, with over1.3 million views, also references thebook of Revelation (in which seven angels sound seven trumpets to signal the apocalypse), claiming that the LA fire was the first trumpet.Fake images and videos (seemingly artificial intelligence-generated) of the wildfire are also racking up millions of views on TikTok, and the most popular are fake images of the Hollywood sign burning. (According to a January 13 report inArchitectural Digest, the sign is undamaged.)We Lost Hollywood Hills, reads the caption of one video with over1.2 million views.Another video, with over586,000 views, pictures fake imagery of the Hollywood sign burning with overlaid text reading, TIMELAPSE OF HOLLYWOOD SIGN CATCHING FIRE.Conspiracy theories oftenspike afternatural disasters, and the LA wildfires are no exception. TikToks algorithm appears to be amplifying unfounded conspiracy theories to millions of users, fueling panic and uncertainty at a time when clear information is critical.

Of Course He IsAfter leaving PlayStation, Shuhei Yoshida's starring as a green duck thing in a game where Kazuma Kiryu helps "a living finger work through her many anger issues"To be fair, Yoshida may be new to it, but this is far less weird than 90% of the Yakuza sub-stories Takaya Kuroda's lent his voice to.Image credit: Kaizen Game Works Limited News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Jan. 15, 2025 What do you do immediately after leaving PlayStation following about 30 years of service? Well, if you're Shuhei Yoshida, you sign up for your first voice acting role, as a green duck guy in a game about mascots that's mostly about a not quite Kazuma Kiryu helping "a living finger work through her many anger issues".In case you missed the party - my invite certainly got lost in the post - Yoshida departed the big blue brand earlier this week, being given a nice cake with what I assume is his face on it, along with plenty of strawberries. He'd been there since the early 90s, but now he's moved on, and will be using all of his expertise to play a guy dressed as a green duck.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Yup, Yoshida's been announced as part of the voice cast for Promise Mascot Agency (thanks, IGN), a 2025 release that's set to let players step into the shoes of ex-Yakuza Michi voiced by Takaya Kuroda - yes, that's the Japanese voice of Like A Dragon protagonist Kazuma Kiryu - as he helps out a very angry finger played by Legend of Zelda and Honkai: Star Rail VA Ayano Shibuya.Yoshida is voicing one of the many mascots these two meet as they try to put together the "best agency in Japan" in a cursed town - a green duck-looking ex-mascot called MonouGe who's opening up a game center. As of writing, it's not clear whether MonouGe's game center will have blue decor and be called something like 'StationPlayers', but given Kuroda's playing Michi - a name similar to Kiryu's famous Onomichi mascot guise of Ono Michio - there's a non zero chance.Watch on YouTubeYou can get a taste of Yoshida, Kuroda, and Shibuya's dulect tones via the fresh trailer above, which also stars Hidetaka 'SWERY' Suehiro, the developer of Deadly Premonition, as Kannushi-kun, a bird-priest kinda guy who seems to know stuff about the town's curse.I don't know about you, but this game's now on my Steam wishlist. Here's hoping Yoshida's long-term future plan is just as interesting.

Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo LifeIt's not every controller review that we have to start with a rundown of the current state of Fortnite, but bear with us, we promise it's relevant.The classic looting and shooting that we all know and love is now just a small part of the "Fortnite ecosystem" *squirms*, a hub-world for games that bundle the battle royale in with the survival sim LEGO Fortnite, the racer Rocket Racing, and the Rock Band-esque rhythm game, Fortnite Festival.Most of these games are comfortably played with a Pro Controller/Joy-Con. Most of them. A falling notes rhythm game from Guitar Hero originators and Rock Band dev Harmonix was never meant to be played with a D-Pad and buttons and after a few performances in Fortnite Festival, our poor aching joints chalked the mode up to some nostalgic fun, but a ticking time-bomb for future bouts of arthritis.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kWatch on YouTube Accessory manufacturer PDP Gaming released the Riffmaster guitar controllers shortly after Fortnite Festival launched, but they are compatible only with PlayStation or Xbox, so Switch gamers were stuck if we wanted to relive the Rock Band days.That is until CRKD revealed the Fortnite Festival-themed NEO S Purple Wave Edition controller. Complete with a five-fret Festival Attachment, this pad promised to be the way to play Fortnite's rhythm game mode on Switch while also doubling as an everyday controller for your other gaming needs.Images: Jim Norman / Nintendo LifeAfter going hands-on with the NEO S for the past week, we can confirm that it hits exactly one of these briefs. This is undoubtedly the best way to experience Fortnite Festival on Switch heck, we'd argue that it's the only way but as a controller for wider play, it's in desperate need of some fine-tuning.Out of the box, this thing is... purple. Sure, the design is a little in your face, but, bar the big Fortnite Festival icon in the middle, we're rather fond of the wavy decals and chrome analogue stick bases. A little rock 'n' roll pizazz.We'll start with the controller's headline act: the Fortnite Festival attachment. This five-button addition clips onto the bottom and, when the pad's held sideways, makes the whole thing vaguely reminiscent of a Guitar Hero neck and its iconic coloured frets. We were immediately struck by just how much the pad reminded us of the Band Hero DS accessory from 20 years ago, with its lower row of buttons and rectangular form not too dissimilar in shape and size from the clamshell peripheral.Images: Jim Norman / Nintendo LifeMuch like its DS counterpart, the NEO S attachment is the best way to play any falling-notes game mode while a full-blown guitar controller remains unavailable, that is. The accessory is quick to connect to the controller (attached via metal 'jacks' on the bottom and held in place by a frame that clips to the top) and can immediately be used in the Fortnite Festival game mode. You can hold all five frets to trigger a shortcut that changes the difficulty between tracks, too.But, as anyone who rocked out on DS back in the day will tell you, that thing cramped up your hands like there's no tomorrow, and the NEO S' Festival attachment is no different. Whether palming the controller in one hand with the included velcro strap to hold it in place or using our other hand as support, the NEO S' width and small fret buttons make jamming out far from a comfortable experience. We lasted only a handful of songs before needing a pretty serious stretch. The controller's width would strain hands smaller than ours from reaching around it, while the small buttons would be a nightmare for anyone with larger fingers.CRKD stresses that the controller's attachment can be used for rhythm games other than Fortnite Festival it ultimately just maps different inputs to the five frets though we struggled to think of anywhere the Guitar Hero-style fret format would be genuinely beneficial. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line came close with its timings, but the required directional inputs made holding the NEO S like a guitar neck less than ideal. Even games closer to the Guitar Hero structure like MUSYNX and VOEZ have their own quirks that make other inputs preferable.What we're saying is, the Fortnite Festival controller is best used on Fortnite Festival. What a shock.Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo LifeBut this is a controller for wider play, too. The Festival attachment can be easily removed, leaving the controller free for any other gaming that tickles your fancy. Indeed, with Hall Effect sticks, programmable back buttons, rumble support and motion controls, it's one of the more feature-rich third-party offerings out there and at 59.99 (the same as Nintendo's official Pro pad), you'd expect it to be. But those features can't overcome a central problem: that flat rectangular shape is so darn uncomfortable to play with.The NEO S boasts two marginally-raised sections on the rear a vague attempt to be ergonomic, we guess but the flat design feels too cramped for extended playtimes. With nothing to hold on to, our fingers sat clumped against the rear buttons, forcing our wrists ever-so-slightly out of their 'normal' gaming position. It wasn't a particular nuisance for shorter sessions, or for games that relied on classic D-Pad and button inputs over stick and trigger ones (let's not forget that both the NES and SNES had a similarly flat controller design), but we wouldn't recommend heading into any Splatfests with this one in your arsenal.It was during our time using the controller for Splatoon 3 that we noticed the motion controls leave much to be desired. While the NEO S had no issues registering our spinning movements on the x-axis, the y-axis range felt limited, with our Octoling unable to look more than a few inches up or down before the controller stopped registering the tilting. We had the same issues aiming our arrows in Tears of the Kingdom Link had no problems taking on enemies beside him, but god forbid if you want to get the crosshairs on an oncoming Keese.Images: Jim Norman / Nintendo LifeThe rest of the controls are fine. The triggers and face buttons feel a little cheap in their shiny plastic material (particularly at this price point), but CRKD's tie-in app packs a decent amount of accessibility customisation where you can adjust rumble, trigger activation points, and dead zones, and remap every button something you'll want to do immediately if you want to get rid of the default, non-Nintendo face-button layout. The app continues the company's slightly icky 'FOMO' approach to marketing, where each controller can be scanned so you know its rarity and can collect 'em all, but that's a discussion for another day.CRKD NEO S Purple Wave Edition Review - The VerdictAll in all, the CRKD NEO S Purple Wave Edition achieves its ultimate goal of providing Switch players with an alternative and undoubtedly easier way of playing Fortnite Festival though one that's still far from the comfort of using a full guitar controller but we can't help but feel that's an increasingly niche market.Those who want to play Fortnite Festival in comfort should probably do so elsewhere (like on a system where PDP's accessories are available), and those who don't have far better wireless controller options on the market that boast near-identical features, are cheaper, and come in far more comfortable designs. Please don't ask for an encore; we're not sure that our joints can take another song.The best way to play Fortnite Festival on SwitchA feature-rich controller with strong accessibility optionsYou ain't going to lose it with that wavy designHorizontal grip and small frets are still uncomfortable to useFlat pad shape brings discomfort to even standard playMotion controls can be hit-and-missReal 'master of none' energyPoor 4/10Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

An uproar with a popular Kindle competitor e-reader has showcased how the use of Chinese AI models in US products could unwittingly spread Chinese propaganda.An LLM made by TikToks parent company ByteDance was used by an e-reader called Boox, according to screenshots about the AI shared on Reddit. When asked questions about China and its allies, this LLM spouted Chinese government propaganda, sparking an outcry from users, according to the post and TechCrunchs interactions with this LLM.The LLM in question was ByteDances Doubao, which is offered as an API under ByteDances cloud services division Volcano Engine. But the model is only meant to be used within Chinas mainland, a ByteDance spokesperson told TechCrunch. The e-readers China-based manufacturer, Onyx International, which sells Boox e-readers in both China and to the U.S., did not respond to requests for comment.Boox launched the AI assistant feature last summer. In December 2024, a user posted on a subreddit for e-readers that the new assistant was generating Chinese government propaganda in response to certain questions. For example, the AI assistant denied China ever having any so-called massacres in answer to a question about why it refused to discuss the Tiananmen Square crackdown, a screenshot shows.The AI assistant also refused to say anything critical about North Korea and Russia, claiming North Korea is a peace-loving country and that Russias role in Syria has been positive, the screenshots show. In contrast, the AI assistant was happy to criticize Western countries, noting that French colonialism often involved exploitation of local resources and native populations. In the screenshots shared on Reddit, the assistant states that it is an AI created by ByteDance, an international technology company.The Reddit post went viral and was covered by AI publication The Decoder and YouTubers The China Show.When TechCrunch used ByteDances Doubao service and asked it similar questions, its answers closely matched the kind of responses given by Booxs assistant in the Reddit post. For example, Doubao told TechCrunch that it can be stated with absolute certainty that the Chinese government has never massacred its own people, whereas other Chinese LLMs like DeepSeek and Qwen typically avoid or downplay the question. Doubao also refused to criticize Russia and North Korea when we asked about these countries, reverting only to positive content about their important and positive roles in the international community.Doubao has a penchant for using the term so-called to describe things the Chinese government doesnt like. There is no so-called genocide in Xinjiang, it told TechCrunch. This appears to mimic Chinese government spokespeople. Facts and truth have busted the so-called genocide in Xinjiang, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian claimed at a press conference in 2021.The outcry over Booxs AI assistant has ebbed after Boox reportedly switched back to OpenAIs GPT-3 via Microsoft Azure, according to another users post in the Boox subreddit. Its still unclear which LLM Boox currently uses for its AI assistant. Boox hasnt released any statements about the incident, while OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch.Chinese generative AI models have become some of the most popular models in use. But the incident shows the risks involved launching tools that incorporate Chinese generative AI, a trend some AI leaders have already warned about.If you create a chatbot and ask it a question about Tiananmen, well, its not going to respond to you the same way as if it was a system developed in France or the US, Clement Delangue, the CEO of HuggingFace, warned on a French podcast in September 2024, TechCrunch previously reported.So if you have a country like China that becomes by far the strongest on AI, in fact they will be capable of spreading certain cultural aspects that perhaps the Western world wouldnt want to see spread, Delangue said in the podcast.

Writers Guild of AmericaWest (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in television, new media, news, radio/audio, and promotional writing during 2024. Winners will be honored at the 2025 Writers Guild Awards (77th Annual), set forSaturday, February 15, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City.The complete list of nominations can be foundhere. Animation and VFX-related nominations are as follows:SCREENPLAY NOMINEESADAPTED SCREENPLAYA Complete Unknown, Screenplay byJames MangoldandJay Cocks, Based on the BookDylan Goes Electric!by Elijah Wald; Searchlight PicturesDune: Part 2, Screenplay byDenis VilleneuveandJon Spaihts, Based on the NovelDuneby Frank Herbert; Warner Bros. PicturesHit Man, Screenplay byRichard Linklater & Glen Powell, Based on theTexas MonthlyArticle by Skip Hollandsworth; NetflixNickel Boys, Screenplay byRaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes, Based on the BookThe Nickel Boysby Colson Whitehead; Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM StudiosWicked, Screenplay byWinnie HolzmanandWinnie Holzman & Dana Fox, Based on the musical stage play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, From the Novel by Gregory Maguire; Universal PicturesTELEVISION, STREAMING, AND NEWS NOMINEESANIMATIONBottle Episode (The Simpsons), Written byRob LaZebnik & Johnny LaZebnik; FoxCremains of the Day (The Simpsons), Written byJohn Frink; FoxNight of the Living Wage (The Simpsons), Written byCesar Mazariegos; FoxSaving Favorite Drive-In (Bobs Burgers), Written byKatie Crown; FoxThe Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-ed (Bobs Burgers), Written byGreg Thompson; FoxWinter Is Born (Blood of Zeus), Written byCharles Parlapanides & Vlas Parlapanides; NetflixDRAMA SERIESThe Boys, Written byGeoff Aull, Jessica Chou, Paul Grellong, Eric Kripke, Ellie Monahan, Judalina Neira, David Reed, Anslem Richardson;Prime VideoThe Diplomat, Written byPeter Ackerman, Eli Attie, Debora Cahn, Anna Hagen, Julianna Dudley Meagher, Peter Noah; NetflixFallout, Written byJake Bender, Karey Dornetto, Zach Dunn, Kieran Fitzgerald, Chaz Hawkins, Lisa Joy, Carson Mell, Jonathan Nolan, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Gursimran Sandhu, Graham Wagner; Prime VideoMr. & Mrs. Smith, Written byCarla Ching, Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Schuyler Pappas, Francesca Sloane, Yvonne Hana Yi; Prime VideoShgun, Written byShannon Goss, Maegan Houang, Rachel Kondo, Matt Lambert, Justin Marks, Caillin Puente, Nigel Williams, Emily Yoshida; FX/HuluNEW SERIESEnglish Teacher, Written byBrian Jordan Alvarez, Wally Baram, Jake Bender, Emmy Blotnick, Zach Dunn, Dave King, Stephanie Koenig, Jonathan Krisel, Paul Simms, Samantha Shier; FX/HuluFallout, Written byJake Bender, Karey Dornetto, Zach Dunn, Kieran Fitzgerald, Chaz Hawkins, Lisa Joy, Carson Mell, Jonathan Nolan, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Gursimran Sandhu, Graham Wagner; Prime VideoMr. & Mrs. Smith, Written byCarla Ching, Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Schuyler Pappas, Francesca Sloane, Yvonne Hana Yi; Prime VideoNobody Wants This, Written byBarbie Adler, Jane Becker, Jack Burditt, Vali Chandrasekaran, Craig DiGregorio, Erin Foster, Lindsay Golder, Steven Levitan, Pat Regan, Niki Schwartz-Wright, Neel Shah, Noelle Valdivia, Ron Weiner, Ryann Werner; NetflixShgun, Written byShannon Goss, Maegan Houang, Rachel Kondo, Matt Lambert, Justin Marks, Caillin Puente, Nigel Williams, Emily Yoshida; FX/HuluLIMITED SERIESThe Penguin, Written byVladimir Cvetko, Breannah Gibson, Erika L. Johnson, Lauren LeFranc, Corina Maritescu, Megan Martin, John McCutcheon, Shaye Ogbonna, Nick Towne, Noelle Valdivia, Kira Snyder; HBO | MaxPresumed Innocent, Written byMiki Johnson, David E. Kelley, Sharr White; Apple TV+Ripley, Written bySteven Zaillian; NetflixSay Nothing, Written byClare Barron, Joe Murtagh, Kirsten Sheridan, Joshua Zetumer; FX/HuluTrue Detective: Night Country, Written byKatrina Albright, Alan Page Arriaga, Namsi Khan, Issa Lpez, Chris Mundy, Wenonah Wilms; HBO | MaxSource: WGA Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.

Plummeting birth rates, a drop in federal subsidies, and declining enrollment have contributed to the closure of at least twenty small colleges around the U.S. in recent years. This has left vast swaths of land and buildings vacant. The recent closure of Wells College for instance threatens a number of historic buildings at the upstate New York campus, which no longer serve a purpose. To help buck this trend and meet pent up demand, Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) recently transformed a former college building in Massachusetts into senior housing. The adaptive reuse project in Brookline happened after Newbury College closed in 2019 due to financial difficulty.The Newbury of Brookline opened last month. The dormitory building once hosted students; now its used for independent, assisted, and memory care living for seniors. RAMSA repurposed an existing historic building, Mitton House, at the former college campus and also designed new ones for it.The new building was inspired by vernacular Boston architecture. (Francis Dzikowski/OTTO)All in all, the Newbury of Brookline is posh, just like the wealthy Boston suburb where it was built. Aesthetics aside, the project by RAMSA offers a potential case study for what to do with other defunct college buildings spread across the country. The senior living community spans 190,000 square feet and contains 160 residential units. Of those 160 flats, about 80 are for independent living, 40 for assisted living, and 40 for memory care.These units coalesce near dining, housekeeping, and flex spaces for structured activities. A salon, lounge, indoor swimming pool, fitness center, library, upper-floor sky bar, and large dining room, with an adjacent great room, are also at the Newbury of Brookline.The Newbury of Brookline has verdant courtyards, and other shared amenities. (Francis Dzikowski/OTTO)The new building mimics the architectural character of the old one. The buildings massings and architectural expression, RAMSA said, is derived from Mitton House, but also the fabric of Brookline and old Boston more broadly. Gambrels, undulating heights, bay windows, and hipped roofs break up the new building into intimately scaled volumes. Meanwhile, one- and two-story porches jut out to enhance the pedestrian experience.The building is sheathed in clapboard siding, just like the old days, as one may expect from a RAMSA project. Entrances from the old and new building spill out into generous courtyards lined with trees. Myriad existing street trees were preserved on the site.The Newbury of Brookline leverages its topography. (Francis Dzikowski/OTTO)Brooklinehas been a place of distinguished design since the days whenFrederick Law Olmsted and H. H. Richardson lived in the neighborhood, Sargent Gardiner, a partner at RAMA, said in a statement. Our design for The Newbury springs from this rich architectural context, emulating its variety, interaction with the landscape, and domestic feel.The design employs Passive House and WELL strategies, RAMSA said. The development team is now targeting LEED Gold certification.

peopleimages.com - stock.adobe.cNewsLarger businesses spend, spend, spend on AICompanies earning over $500m are spending 5% of their revenue on artificial intelligence initiativesByCliff Saran,Managing EditorPublished: 15 Jan 2025 14:45 One in three companies across all markets are planning to spend $25m or more on artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025, a study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has reported.The survey shows that larger businesses with revenues greater than $500m are making significant investments in AI, but there are big differences between those able to drive significant value from these initiatives and those merely following the AI trend.The BCG AI radar, based on a survey of 1,803 senior executives across 19 markets and 12 sectors, reported that AI is a top-three strategic priority for 75% of companies.However, just a quarter (25%) say they are actually seeing significant value from their AI investment. From a BCG perspective, the way leading businesses are able to achieve AI success involves deploying individual productivity-focused AI initiatives; reshaping critical functions to boost efficiency and effectiveness; and inventing new products and services to build long-term competitive advantage.The study found that leading firms focus over 80% of their AI investments in reshaping critical functions and inventing new products and services. Those organisations not identified as leaders tend to focus 56% of their AI investments on smaller-scale, productivity-focused initiatives, BCG reported.It found that AI leaders also set clear goals and track top- and bottom-line impact. In fact, BCG reported that leading companies are able to extract greater value by focusing their AI investments.However, most companies go broad and dilute efforts across multiple pilots, seeing lower return on investment (ROI) as a result. Almost a third (31%) admit they are not measuring any key performance indicators (KPIs) whether financial or operational relating to their AI initiatives, while 60% of companies surveyed are failing to define and monitor any financial KPIs related to AI value creation.Read more stories on AI costsHow to stop AI costs from soaring: Generative AI promises to improve business efficiency, but Gartner has found many projects are failing to get beyond pilot roll-outs.Enterprises shift to on-premises AI to control costs: In 2025, many companies will shift to on-premises AI to cut cloud costs that can easily reach $1 million a month for large enterprises.According to BCG, leading companies focus on depth over breadth, prioritising an average of 3.5 use cases, compared with 6.1 use cases for other companies. These companies anticipate generating 2.1 times greater ROI on their AI initiatives than their peers.In my discussions with CEOs, its clear they are prioritising AI to drive productivity, said Christoph Schweizer, CEO of BCG. Our latest survey uncovers a crucial challenge: while 75% of executives rank AI as a top-three strategic priority, only a quarter report meaningful value from their AI initiatives.Leading AI adopters have cracked the code on how to achieve impact by focusing on a targeted set of AI initiatives, scaling them rapidly, transforming core processes, upskilling their teams, and systematically measuring operational and financial returns. Many companies have an immense opportunity to close the gap between their ambitions and reality.In the UK, of the 182 companies with revenue greater than $500m that took part in the survey, almost two-thirds (65%) expect to spend $25m or more on AI initiatives in 2025.Given industry estimates of between 3% to 5% of revenue tends to be allocated to IT expenditure, the BCG figures for the UK shows that business leaders plan to spend 5% of their revenue on AI initiatives in 2025. This suggests that AI costs are not necessarily covered by the companys existing IT budget, which is mainly spent on keeping-the-lights-on activities such as cyber security and maintaining existing IT systems.In The Current Issue:Interview: Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer, NatWest Retail BankPreparing for AI regulation: The EU AI ActDownload Current IssueThe UK government's AI plan covers all the bases but needs a dose of pragmatism Computer Weekly Editors BlogData engineering - TetraScience: From lab to enterprise, what scientific data teaches us CW Developer NetworkView All Blogs

ZDNET's key takeaways The Privacy Hero 2, a $199 router available on FlashRouters, supports NordVPN and Surfshark alongside various VPN protocols. It comes with one year of access to Privacy Hero Wireguard VPN and, with a current promotion, one year of NordVPN. The company should improve the build quality and be more generous with the Ethernet cable's length. View now at Flashrouters Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are excellent tools for improving online privacy and security. Most people sign up with a VPN provider and then install their accompanying native applications on their PCs, tablets, and smartphones.However, there's another option: installing a VPN on your router. This method provides blanket coverage for any device connected to the router's Wi-Fi, allowing you to circumvent connection number restrictions and saving you the legwork of installing a VPN app on every device you want to protect.Also: The best VPN services of 2025: Expert tested and reviewedIt's not always a quick task, though. Many routers on the market support third-party VPNs, but you may need reasonable technical knowledge and be willing to tamper with internal settings to make everything work.Alternatively, some VPN providers offer VPN-ready hardware; one such model is the subject of this review. The Privacy Hero 2, a $199 router available on FlashRouters, supports NordVPN and Surfshark (both owned by Nord Security) alongside a range of VPN protocols. It comes with one year of access to Privacy Hero Wireguard VPN and, with a current promotion, one year of NordVPN.Let's dive into this VPN-ready router's build, installation, benefits, and disadvantages.How's the build quality?Once you unbox the Privacy Hero 2, you're met with a lightweight, compact router. It's lighter than most routers I've tried or reviewed (except for travel routers) and has a plastic feel. The build quality is acceptable for a $199 router, although I felt I had to handle it carefully. Charlie Osborne/ZDNETThe Privacy Hero 2 comes with an A/C power supply, Ethernet cable, and installation guide. The size of the four external antennae seemed odd, probably because they were somewhat bulky compared to the router's tiny body. Overall, the build is reasonable, and my only real complaint is the short length of the Ethernet cable.Installation processI've tested a variety of Wi-Fi routers -- traditional, mesh, and VPN-supporting -- over the years and found that installation complexity varies. The Privacy Hero 2 was very easy to set up. The router comes with a booklet and online installation guides, including a short video that helps users with the hardware side of the installation. After I plugged the router in, it took about 10 minutes to update.Once the router is ready, you must sign up for a free Privacy Hero account, which gives you web access to the router's dashboard. You will see this message once the installation is complete. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETThe next step is creating your Wi-Fi network. There are two options:You can set the network name to the same name and password as your existing network, so you won't have to reconnect your devices individually to the new one. This option requires you to turn off your ISP's router Wi-Fi signal.Alternatively, you can create a new network name. As I intend to retire my aging TP-Link model that has served as an IoT device hub until now, this was the option I chose -- with the name Privacy Hero.You can explore the Privacy Hero dashboard now that you're set up. I like the layout; it's clean, simple, and fuss-free. You can see the status of your new router on the Home screen as well as change its name or timezone. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNET Under the Wi-Fi tab, you can check that your new networks are operating properly, or disable them if you wish. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETI'll focus on the VPN tab, as these are the main settings you'd most likely want to change. You will see various options: VPN, VPN Kill Switch, Malware & Phishing, and Ad Blocking.Also:Using a VPN is no longer enough. Protect your entire network with WireGuard - here's howIf you click the first tab, you can choose between different VPN services. In this review, we'll useNordVPN. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETThis part was the most awkward part of the installation process. The router comes with a free year of NordVPN service, so you must go to the account tab, find your voucher, validate it on NordVPN, create your account, and then generate an access token.Once you have the access token, you must submit it in the Privacy Hero dashboard. Due to timeout failures, my token was not accepted until after three attempts.NordVPN then launched on the router with a UK server as default. If you want to change your country, click on the connection and change the server yourself. Visit NordVPN's OpenVPN configuration file list and copy and paste the server name you want to connect to. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETEnsure you have also enabled the Kill Switch, Malware & Phishing, and Ad Blocking options. The kill switch will protect your privacy if your internet connection suddenly drops by stopping the router from leveraging your standard, unencrypted ISP connection. The other settings will reduce your exposure to tracking and cyber threats.Let's start streamingMy favorite feature is under the Streaming tab. Dubbed "Relocation," it enables you to select the country connection through which your VPN will attempt to route your traffic without constantly changing your setup.Also: NordVPN vs. Surfshark: Which VPN is right for you?If a streaming service is available in only one country -- for example, BBC iPlayer in the UK -- it won't be shown, as the organization will automatically direct your traffic via a UK relocation connection. If, however, a service is available in multiple countries, you have options. Netflix, for example, can be set to the UK, Canada, or the US.You will still need an active subscription; some streaming services require a subscription from your target country.Testing streaming servicesI spent over an hour testing various connections and configuring the router to my liking. That's not to say you need to spend the same amount of time doing so, as the router is about as "out of the box" as possible.NordVPN worked from the start, and I experienced no connection issues with my Samsung smartphone, Samsung TV, or Apple MacBook Pro. However, setting up streaming services was more challenging. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETI spent several hours testing which geo-blocked streaming libraries I could access through my new Wi-Fi connection. I tested the Privacy Hero 2 with Disney+, Netflix, and the anime streaming service Crunchyroll.Also: TunnelBear VPN review: An affordable, easy-to-use VPN with a few notable pitfallsMy first test was accessing my home UK libraries, which I could do without a problem. I then enabled Privacy Hero 2's relocation feature for the aforementioned streaming platforms while keeping the initial connection on a UK server, where I faced several challenges. At first, I had no success -- only my UK library was available. I powered down the TV, Sky satellite TV box, ISP-issued router, and Privacy Hero 2 and waited for everything to reboot.I then tried to access US streaming service libraries on Disney+, Netflix, and Crunchyroll. Despite the relocation options, this didn't work directly through the Samsung TV's Tizen hub when the UK was set as the central server. However, it worked for Netflix and Disney+ when I tested three US-based servers instead with relocation enabled.Accessing these libraries through a third-party app, in this case, Sky, worked best on my TV for Netflix and Disney+. When I chose this route, it didn't matter what country my initial connection was set to.Also: The best live TV streaming services of 2025: Expert testedWhen I tested Netflix and Disney+ on my laptop, I could access US libraries without issues. (I received a login email from Netflix confirming that an account was being used in the US; the relocation function was working correctly.) Unfortunately, Crunchyroll did not work on my smart TV, but I could access its US library on my laptop. Screenshot by Charlie Osborne/ZDNETI also attempted to access Canadian libraries and had similar levels of success. Accessing different geo-blocked libraries for testing purposes was more successful than I expected, although you may have to try different configurations.Lastly, I performed a speed test while connected to Privacy Hero 2 compared to my typical ISP router connection. I experienced a download speed loss of around 16% and an upload speed loss of 6.6%. For a VPN, I can't complain. About those ads...While a VPN's streaming capabilities are pretty popular, another feature many VPN providers offer is ad blocking.Ad blocking can be as much of a cat-and-mouse game as streaming services blocking VPN IP addresses. YouTube, for example, has declared war on third-party ad blockers and is attempting to stop viewers from being able to bypass or skip ad breaks.I didn't expect much, considering that most of the time, when I use a VPN and watch a YouTube video, there's very little difference in how many ads are displayed vs. when I use a standard Wi-Fi connection. However, I was pleasantly surprised at my final router and server setup results.I tested my setup using a cooking channel I'm subscribed to; while I love its content, the frequency of commercial interruptions makes it almost unwatchable.Also:Is your live TV streaming service still worth it? I reassessed the options for us bothOn a standard laptop connection, while connected to the default UK VPN server, the first ad on videos and a handful of ads were displayed, but fewer than usual. I compared watching the same YouTube video on my smart TV with Privacy Hero 2, with the same results. I then decided to try changing the router's initial server to a country where YouTube doesn't monetize ads. Lo and behold, all of the ad breaks within the video were disabled.I use an ancient MacBook Air to watch YouTube or to listen to audiobooks at night, and there's nothing worse than an ad break startling you awake. To ensure this wasn't a fluke, I changed this laptop's Wi-Fi connection to Privacy Hero 2, and the result was the same: no ads.There is a caveat: Speeds were impacted, so depending on what server you select and the speed of your initial broadband connection, you might be trading buffering for an ad-free experience.ZDNET's buying adviceRegarding the physical design of the Privacy Hero 2, the company should improve the build quality and be more generous with the Ethernet cable's length. However, installation is easy and user-friendly. This VPN router is the best I've tried to date, and it will be a long-term fixture in my household.I have previously installed VPNs on third-party, supporting routers, but the Privacy Hero 2 is far less complicated to set up and requires very little technical knowledge. The dashboard is easy to navigate and keeps technical jargon to a minimum.Also: Best TVs of CES 2025: Samsung, LG, and other new models that made our jaws dropIf you want to change the initial server connection, you'll need to work out the OpenVPN configuration file names. I would like to see NordVPN provide a streamlined list of servers that identifies which server belongs to which country. A dropdown list right in the dashboard would be useful. My favorite feature is the streaming location option. While many streaming channels are currently limited to the UK, US, and Canada (something I would like to see expanded where possible), toggling between them without finding servers yourself is highly convenient.If you want to try out the Privacy Hero 2, you can buy it from Flashrouters for $199. You'll receive a free one-year NordVPN subscription with your purchase.SpecificationsVPN protocols: WireguardWi-Fi standard: Wi-Fi 6 - Wireless AXWireless speed: 3000MbpsWi-Fi bands: Dual BandEthernet port: Type 4 GigabitAntenna type: 4 ExternalProcessor: MediaTekProcessor speed: 1.3GHzRAM: 512 MB / 128 MBPower supply: 100-240VAlong with Wireguard, this router also supportsNordLynx, which combines Wireguard with NordVPN security features. Why use a VPN to stream? VPNs can be used to watch your favorite content on platforms, including Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.Setting a VPN to your home region while you're traveling, for example, may allow you to access your favorite shows in your standard library. However, some users also use VPNs to try and access films and TV shows only available in other countries. You do this by setting your VPN to a server in the target country.I tried to access streaming libraries locked to the US and Canada via Privacy Hero 2 routing below for testing purposes only. You should keep in mind that accessing libraries outside of your home region is a legally gray area and may break your streaming service provider's terms and conditions. Furthermore, stopping these activities is a constant cat-and-mouse game between VPN providers and content platforms, and so a method that worked last week may not work tomorrow. Show more Featured reviews

Left to right: Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Julie Sweet of Accenture and Rob Smith of KION discuss their ... [+] partnership in physical AI for warehouse automation.NvidiaThough the details can obviously be complex, the concept of using AI with digital information to solve problems is straightforward. But what about physical information? More specifically from a business standpoint, what about using AI to solve challenges in complex physical environments that are constantly in flux, like warehouses? Thats the challenge that Nvidia, Accenture and the big supply chain automation company KION have partnered to address.Last week at CES I had a chance to sit with Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, KION CEO Rob Smith and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to talk about their partnership during a special session for four press outlets. (I was the only analyst in attendance.) I believe that in the long run technology like this will fundamentally change the way supply chains work. There have been many fits and starts with industrial IoT and Industry 4.0, however, and we dont know yet how long that will take.Using Physical AI To Bring More Order To The Complexity Of WarehousesWarehouse logistics within big supply chains can be insanely complex. Workers and managers have to factor in an endless array of constantly shifting variables, from consumer demand to inventory on hand to weather conditions. This trillion-dollar market touches every sector that handles physical goods healthcare, electronics, food, CPG, you name it each with its own special considerations that must be factored in. Its all so complex that accurately predicting operational performance for warehouses and distribution centers can be next to impossible. As Smith, who has decades of experience in this space, put it, Everythings changing all the time in a warehouse, and systems arent smart enough to not only figure out whats the next move, but figure out what could be potential other next moves and whats the best next move.Now, Accenture, KION and Nvidia are promising a way out of this maze. Physical information from a warehouse can be digitalized by KION software into a highly accurate digital twin that lives on Nvidias Omniverse platform. Nvidias AI technology then enables rapid simulation of scenarios under different conditions to optimize warehouse operations. Accenture applies its expertise to help define and manage KPIs.While digital twins have been used for years, theyve never had this much horsepower across multiple layers of cutting-edge technology and especially not this much advanced AI. The business rationale is clear. As Huang said, Every industry that becomes digitalized moves faster, [and] everything you can software-define becomes more capable. . . . When youre digitalized, you can build consistently with greater capability, but when you become software-defined on top of that, you get to revolutionize your business.MORE FOR YOUHuang pointed out that these advantages have been commonplace in the IT industry for decades, but have never been enjoyed broadly in the industrial sector. This makes sense because its easy to take digital data or a digital product like a computer or a microchip and then use digital tools to manage it. But, Huang said, The worlds physical plants, the physical world, has never been digitalized, truly not until now.A digital twin of a warehouse as rendered in Nvidia OmniverseNvidiaThe Physical AI Model And Software Under The HoodTo dig into the specifics, KION is adopting Mega, an Nvidia Omniverse blueprint for large-scale industrial digital twins. Underlying this is Nvidias Cosmos physical AI model. The fundamental idea of Cosmos, Huang said, is a model that understands the physical world like ChatGPT understands information and language. Huang compared Cosmos to Metas Llama and OpenAIs GPT-4, noting that Cosmos was trained on 9 trillion parameters a process that required six months and tens of millions of dollars of investment. He said that Nvidia is making it an open model like Meta opened Llama.As with ChatGPT, Cosmos allows a user to generate a bunch of alternative outputs. But whereas ChaptGPT could write you many different versions of a fairy tale, Cosmos can generate many different 3-D video simulations of a specific warehouse under alternative scenarios. These can account for different layouts, numbers of employees, numbers of robots, and so on to allow facility operators to understand which scenario is best for throughput, labor cost, safety measures, error rates, or whatever other KPI is desired. To make sure the simulated versions dont contain any hallucinations, the system is grounded in the real-world context of the facility, supplied via Omniverse. This data comes from still and video images, CAD models, lidar scans, sensors on robots and other sources to anchor the scenario in the exact physical details. Huang compares this to using RAG to prevent hallucinations in ChatGPT or the other non-physical AI environments were more familiar with. It took me a lot of time and research to distinguish between Cosmos and Omniverse, and I like to think that Omniverse makes Cosmos results more accurate, like RAG does for many other non-physical enterprise AI applications.Because facility operators cannot afford downtime, all of this happens on the fly. KIONs warehouse management software assigns a task say, moving a load from one location to another and the industrial AI brains within the digital twin work out the implications, planning and (virtually) carrying out next steps while Mega tracks what happens through continuous feedback loops. All of this can be simulated as much or as little as needed within the digital twin to optimize for specific outcomes, then implemented in the real world. During the small group session, Smith pointed out the importance of this for handling different real-time conditions inside a distribution center, using the contrasting examples of Black Friday and a slow summer day.Real-World Impacts And The Labor MarketAs for the impacts of this technology, Sweet believes that it could ultimately cut the time it takes to plan a new warehouse in half. For ongoing operations, she projects similar 50% reductions in manual labor and operating costs. She (echoed by the other two CEOs) expressed that this could take pressure off the retail industry, consumer goods makers and other sectors that have been battered by inflation in recent years. She added that this initiative is very much about resilience and agility for the companies that will use it.The CEOs all agreed that it can also help address ongoing labor shortages. The fact of the matter is, Huang said, were tens [of millions] or 100 million workers short around the world. We are deprived of revenues because of worker shortage, not the other way around. Theres several trillion dollars worth of lost revenues because there arent enough workers, and so we need to augment the workers that we have.Smith gave more color on this for warehousing in particular. He said, It's very difficult for all of our customers worldwide, any region, every segment, every vertical [they] can't find manual labor to come in and work in a distribution center. In that context, We're automating to make every job better, and that gives people opportunity. Rather than trying to attract workers, especially young people, to manual entry-level jobs, automation takes a lot of those jobs out of the picture while introducing higher-skilled jobs to make sure the systems are running right jobs that Smith says are much more exciting and interesting.Are Companies Ready To Adopt This Much Automation?Last weeks CES was my 20th one to attend, and I can recall bullish announcements from ten years ago about reinventing warehousing, smart transportation and related tech. And I do believe that the technology available to us today not just the AI but also other aspects such as edge computing is much better than it was then. But during the session I asked the three CEOs what makes this moment different in terms of uptake for their customer companies. In other words, what other gears besides the existence of better technology need to click into place?Smith answered by pointing out the great advances in recent years for autonomous mobile robotics. Simply put, there are many more autonomous robots handling tasks in todays warehouses and factories, which takes us beyond the classic fixed robots that have, for example, been used in automotive assembly for decades. He emphasized how autonomous mobile robots give operators much more flexibility to scale over time now augmented with real-world scenario planning and advanced orchestration that simply werent possible before.Thats the practical side as it applies on the shop floor. Sweet added to it by speaking to organizational readiness. She said that in the years leading up to 2022, she and her colleagues were telling every client company that it needed to reinvent itself with AI, but that only 20% of client CEOs were aligned with that view. Fast-forward to today, after years of generative AI being so widely touted and used, and Its exactly flipped . . . at least 80% of CEOs have embraced AI. She described it as a fundamentally different condition than we've seen for the last decade, adding, We are not out there convincing people.Huang also pointed out that the technology itself can help companies get past a chicken-and-egg problem: In order to automate, you have to make investments, and making that investment is hard to activate unless you can see the returns but you can't see the returns until you make the investment. But a digital twin allows us to lower the bar for potential customers to understand those returns. And so instead of having to build out their factories, automate their factories, before they see the benefits of it, they can simulate their factory and see the benefits of it.The Future Is Bright, But The Timeline Is UncertainAs with any potentially revolutionary technology, Ill believe the most optimistic projections only after I see some real-world results. Were not sure when that will be, because so far the three partners havent committed to a specific timetable for rollout. But when Smith talks about this kind of automation becoming so prevalent and so advanced that all the robotic nodes in the supply chain talk to each other, Im prone to believe him. Ditto when he says, Ultimately, I think everything that has a physical instance is going to have a digital instance as well. Its just a question of how soon ultimately will get here.The opportunity is definitely enormous. Smith believes that less than 20% of the worlds warehouses have significant amounts of automation in them today. And if anyone would know, he would, because KION has helped a slew of companies across many different industries from Amazon on down with warehouse automation.What I heard from all three CEOs fits with what weve learned about (digital) AI in recent years, and it fits with the robotics advancements that Huang discussed in depth during his CES keynote. So I do believe this kind of automation can help supply chain operators make better decisions informed by real-world conditions, which could raise performance standards and improve efficiency and productivity across highly autonomous and potentially safer supply chains. We just dont know how soon that future will arrive. I am a tech optimist, though, and do believe that the time is now.

Rumor mill: As Ubisoft executive Philippe Tremblay recently stated, we should accept that we no longer own the games we pay for. Microsoft tried and is still trying to build a thriving business around this concept with Game Pass. Guess how things are going now? Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella could have shut down the Xbox division in 2021, but instead, he chose to double down by acquiring two of the most successful game developers in the industry. According to a recent report from The Information, Nadella faced a critical business decision related to the Game Pass cloud gaming service.In 2021, Nadella decided to acquire ZeniMax Media, the owner of Bethesda, for $7 billion, followed by the $75.4 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in 2023. With these acquisitions, Microsoft aimed to significantly boost Game Pass subscription numbers over the coming years. Although the company no longer shares specific figures on cloud subscriptions, The Information reports that the Game Pass business is still falling short of internal expectations.Microsoft had originally projected over 100 million Game Pass subscribers by 2030, with an ambitious 40 percent year-over-year growth rate. Nadella approved the Activision Blizzard acquisition in an effort to meet these lofty goals, which were tied to his pay package. However, the provision was eventually removed in 2023 after the company failed to meet its aggressive Game Pass targets for two consecutive years.Investors are now viewing Game Pass as a disappointing opportunity one that's highly volatile and too dependent on major releases like Call of Duty. Microsoft has also failed to convince game publishers to adopt its Azure cloud services. Even Activision, now part of the Redmond tech giant, continues to rent cloud servers for development tasks from Google and Amazon.When asked about Game Pass's performance, Microsoft pointed to Nadella's recent remarks to shareholders, highlighting the new revenue record set by the business. Executives are increasingly trying to transform the entire gaming industry into a subscription-only model, but end customers remain skeptical about the idea of not owning anything of value after each digital purchase. // Related StoriesMicrosoft is now primarily focused on AI as a key driver for its future business prospects. This shift in priorities has meant that Activision's underperformance has had little impact on the company's stock evaluation. According to Janus Henderson investor Denny Fish, investments in data center infrastructure and AI accelerators have become far more important to shareholders than the Activision deal.