Architecture office Studio Wok has transformed a disused technical building at QuadroDesign's headquarters in northern Italy into an artist residency, with living and sleeping areas accommodated in its unusually shaped roof.Milan-based Studio Wok redesigned the headquarters for tapware brand QuadroDesign in 2022 and was subsequently asked to oversee this second phase, overhauling an area of the surrounding grounds.Studio Wok has created an artist residency for the QuadroDesign campusThe centrepiece of the project is a small cabin, originally used to house electrical infrastructure for the production facility located near Lake Orta in Italy's Piedmont region.Enrico and Elena Magistro, who inherited the company from their parents, wanted the building to echo the same pared-back style and neutral palette used for their redesigned offices and showroom.The outdoor area consists of a pergola and poolPositioned in a corner of the site, surrounded by greenery, the cabin now contains a flexible space that can be used for commercial events as well as for hosting resident artists.The original shape and structure of the cabin were retained but its dimensions of just three by 9.5 metres were unsuited to the proposed domestic functions.The cabin's shape and structure were retainedStudio Wok proposed extending upwards into the existing roof space, which reaches a height of eight metres and was likely created to allow heat from electrical machinery to escape through a window at the apex."The internal space, narrow and developed in height, is not usual for a home in fact, it was designed to accommodate other functions," architect Nicola Brenna told Dezeen."It was very stimulating to implement a 'domestication' process and make it suitable for living."The ground floor features an open-plan roomThe cabin, which was most recently used as a warehouse and tool shed, was stripped back and internal partitions were removed to create a versatile open-plan room on the ground floor.Openings on this level were reorganised and enlarged to create an enhanced connection with the outdoors, particularly when the newly installed sliding metal doors are retracted.Read: Studio Bua creates "elemental look" for black cabin overlooking Icelandic fjordBuilt-in joinery along the room's rear wall supports a sofa and incorporates two steps that connect with a metal staircase leading to the upper levels.A wall of cabinets at the opposite end of the space conceals a door leading to a shower room and WC that was added so the building can be used for temporary accommodation.Built-in joinery along the wall incorporates steps and a sofaThe two mezzanine levels contain more intimate spaces including a sleeping area located on a newly constructed wooden platform above the kitchen.A second set of stairs leads to a small seating area, housed in an existing concrete walkway near the top of the roof. Here, Studio Wok installed a simple wooden bench that receives natural illumination from the nearby window.A wall of cabinets conceals the door to the bathroomThroughout the interior, the studio utilised a minimal material palette to create what the founders describe as an "almost sacred space".A series of outdoor spaces connected by a concrete slab was introduced as part of the project, with a pergola positioned perpendicular to the cabin housing an outdoor kitchen and dining area.The pergola is made from tubular galvanised steel profilesThe pergola is built from tubular galvanised steel profiles, with five spans spaced 2.6 metres apart from one another. Two of the spans are covered with a lightweight corrugated metal roof that shelters the custom-made stone and metal kitchen counter.The final intervention is a small pool that is partly sunken into the earth. The monolithic construction is clad with anthracite stone to echo the volume of the kitchen and create a seating area that also defines the boundary of the landscaped zone.The pool is partially sunken into the groundStudio Wok was founded in 2012 by Brenna together with Marcello Bondavalli and Carlo Alberto Tagliabue. The studio adopts an artisanal approach to its projects, crafting solutions that respond to each site's unique setting, materiality, light and atmosphere.Previous works by Studio Wok include a bakery and wine bar in Milan featuring a matcha-green counter and the transformation of a neglected barn near Verona into a country home.The photography is by Marcello Mariana.The post Studio Wok converts abandoned electrical cabin into minimalist artist residency appeared first on Dezeen.

Lets face it: many of us would want to grow our own flowers and herbs but are afraid to do so because we dont have a green thumb. In fact, some might even have the opposite of a green thumb, seemingly cursed to kill any vegetative life they handle. Of course, its really just a matter of knowing the right thing to do at the right time, which is harder to accomplish when plants only show visible signs when theyre almost dead.Thats where everyones favorite AI comes in, taking the guesswork out of the equation. Thats the value that this deceptively plain and simple plastic pot tries to bring, making the act of growing indoor plants so easy, that you might even feel youre not the one doing the work at all.Designer: LeafyPodMost of us were probably taught as early as grade school that plants need soil, water, and sunlight to grow. We would only learn too late, like when coming home to a dead plant, that this is an oversimplified explanation. Plants need the right amount of light, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture to thrive, and thats not even considering how different plants will have different requirements.Rather than overwhelming us poor humans with all that data, the LeafyPod simplifies life by utilizing a product that thrives on data: AI. Based on the plant you selected to grow, the smart indoor planter will learn how the plant responds to water, evaluate the quality of the soil, and automatically water the plant as needed to keep it in top condition. All you need to do is to refill the reservoir every month or so.It might almost feel like youve totally automated the act of growing a plant, which in some sense, also takes out the joy from the activity, but there are still some things you do need to do by hand. Youll need to move the plant to a better-lit area when it needs lighting since it doesnt come with its own grow light. Youll also have to replace the filter every few months, but as you might have guessed, the LeafyPod planter will be the one to tell you when to do all these.The AI-powered LeafyPod is definitely a powerful tool that takes out the drudgery of growing plants indoors, but you might also want to ask yourself first why youre trying to grow them in the first place. If all you want is an easy way to have beautiful living foliage or fresh herbs at home, then this indoor planter might be right for you. If, on the other hand, you actually want to experience the adventure of growing plants, this could just be a stepping stone in getting you started on a more earnest learning process.The post AI-powered self-watering indoor planter makes growing greens all too easy first appeared on Yanko Design.

Lemon8, CapCut, and Gauth are among the other victims of the US ban on ByteDance-owned apps.

The party symbolized the euphoria of the tech industry on the cusp of the Trump presidency. The guest list included Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Miriam Adelson and the vice president-elect, JD Vance.

The divest-or-ban law aimed at TikTok is also taking down other ByteDance-linked apps, including the popular card game Marvel Snap. The app suddenly cut off access Saturday night, seemingly without warning, surprising gamers who werent aware of its connection to ByteDance.The card game battler set in the Marvel universe is developed by Second Dinner, which is based in California. But the game is published by Nuverse, a company owned by ByteDance. As a result, its subject to the same shutdown order. In a statement on X, Second Dinner called the takedown a surprise and said, Marvel Snap isnt going anywhere. Were actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.Just before the calendar turned over to January 19th, 2025, the game disappeared from the App Store for iPad and iPhone players and from Google Play for players on Android. For players on PC, the game is still listed in Steam at the moment, but many players are reporting they were signed out and cant sign back in.An in-game message now tells players:Sorry, Marvel Snap isnt available right nowA law banning Marvel Snap has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you cant use Marvel Snap for now. Rest assured, were working to restore our service in the U.S. Please stay tuned!Oddly, unlike TikTok, it doesnt appear that players were given much warning about the laws effect, and many people may not have realized it was even connected to ByteDance, including people who were still spending money on in-game items expecting to be able to keep playing it. Other ByDance apps quickly disappeared from app stores along with TikTok, including Lemon8 and CapCut. The effect on other ByteDance-linked apps is mixed; however, it may take time to remove them. The Lark app that offers a Slack-like collaboration platform was available initially but has now been removed, while other Nuverse-published games, like Earth: Revival - Deep Underground and Ragnarok X: 3rd Anniversary, are still available in the App Store as of this writing, just after midnight ET on the 19th.Update, January 19th: Noted reports that Marvel Snap PC players cant log in and added a statement from game developer Second Dinner.

Code retrieval has become essential for developers in modern software development, enabling efficient access to relevant code snippets and documentation. Unlike traditional text retrieval, which effectively handles natural language queries, code retrieval must address unique challenges, such as programming languages structural variations, dependencies, and contextual relevance. With tools like GitHub Copilot gaining popularity, advanced code retrieval systems are increasingly vital for enhancing productivity and reducing errors.Existing retrieval models often struggle to capture programming-specific nuances like syntax, control flow, and variable dependencies. These limitations hinder problem-solving in code summarization, debugging, and translation between languages. While text retrieval models have seen significant advancements, they fail to meet the specific requirements of code retrieval, highlighting the demand for specialized models that improve accuracy and efficiency across diverse programming tasks. Models like CodeBERT, CodeGPT, and UniXcoder have addressed aspects of code retrieval using pre-trained architectures. Still, they are limited in scalability and versatility due to their smaller sizes and task-specific focus. Although Voyage-Code introduced large-scale capabilities, its closed-source nature restricts broader adoption. This highlights the critical need for an open-source, scalable code retrieval system to generalize across multiple tasks.Researchers at Salesforce AI Research introduced CodeXEmbed, a family of open-source embedding models specifically designed for code and text retrieval. These models, released in three sizes, SFR-Embedding-Code-400M_R, SFR-Embedding-Code-2B_R, and 7 billion parameters, address various programming languages and retrieval tasks. CodeXEmbeds innovative training pipeline integrates 12 programming languages and transforms five distinct code retrieval categories into a unified framework. By supporting diverse tasks such as text-to-code, code-to-text, and hybrid retrievals, the model expands the boundaries of what retrieval systems can achieve, offering unprecedented flexibility and performance.CodeXEmbed employs an innovative approach that transforms code-related tasks into a unified query-and-answer framework, enabling versatility across various scenarios. Text-to-code retrieval maps natural language queries to relevant code snippets, streamlining tasks like code generation and debugging. Code-to-text retrieval generates explanations and summaries of code, enhancing documentation and knowledge sharing. Hybrid retrieval integrates text and code data, effectively addressing complex queries requiring technical and descriptive insights. The models training leverages contrastive loss to optimize query-answer alignment while reducing irrelevant data influence. Advanced techniques like low-rank adaptation and token pooling boost efficiency without sacrificing performance.In tests, it has been evaluated across various benchmarks. On the CoIR benchmark, a comprehensive code retrieval evaluation dataset covering 10 subsets and over 2 million entries, the 7-billion parameter model achieved a performance improvement of more than 20% compared to the previous state-of-the-art Voyage-Code model. Notably, the 400-million and 2-billion parameter models also outperformed Voyage-Code, demonstrating the architectures scalability across different sizes. Also, CodeXEmbed excelled in text retrieval tasks, with the 7-billion parameter model achieving an average score of 60 on the BEIR benchmark, a suite of 15 datasets covering diverse retrieval tasks such as question answering and fact-checking.The models can retrieve code and enhance end-to-end retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems. For instance, when applied to repository-level tasks like code completion and issue resolution, the 7-billion parameter model achieved notable results on benchmarks like RepoEval and SWE-Bench-Lite. RepoEval, focusing on repository-level code completion, saw top-1 accuracy improvements when the model retrieved contextually relevant snippets. In SWE-Bench-Lite, a curated dataset for GitHub issue resolution, CodeXEmbed outperformed traditional retrieval systems.Key takeaways from the research highlight the contributions and implications of CodeXEmbed in advancing code retrieval:The 7-billion parameter model achieved state-of-the-art performance, with over 20% improvement on the CoIR benchmark and competitive results on BEIR. It demonstrated versatility across code and text tasks.The 400-million and 2-billion parameter models offer practical alternatives for environments where computational resources are limited.The models address a broad spectrum of code-related applications by unifying 12 programming languages and five retrieval categories.Unlike closed systems such as Voyage-Code, CodeXEmbed promotes community-driven research and innovation.Integration with retrieval-augmented generation systems improves outcomes for tasks like code completion and issue resolution.Using contrastive loss and token pooling optimizes retrieval accuracy and model adaptability.In conclusion, Salesforces introduction of the CodeXEmbed family advances code retrieval. These models demonstrate unmatched versatility and scalability by achieving state-of-the-art performance on the CoIR benchmark and excelling in text retrieval tasks. The multilingual and multi-task unified framework, supporting 12 programming languages, positions CodeXEmbed as a pivotal tool for developers and researchers. Its open-source accessibility encourages community-driven innovation while bridging the gap between natural language and code retrieval.Check out the Paper, 400M Model, and 2B Model. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our65k+ ML SubReddit.(Promoted) Asif RazzaqAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)

Jan 19, 2025Ravie LakshmananSocial Media / Data PrivacyPopular video-sharing social network TikTok has officially gone dark in the United States, 2025, as a federal ban on the app comes into effect on January 19, 2025."We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable," the company said in a pop-up message. "We're working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned."An immediate outcome of the ban means that existing users will no longer be able to access TikTok content, and new users won't be able to download the app from the official app stores for Android and iOS. Other apps from its parent company ByteDance, including CapCut, Lemon8, and Gauth, have become unavailable as well.The development comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold a law requiring that its ByteDance sell TikTok or see it be effectively blocked in the country due to national security reasons and fears that its recommendation algorithm could be vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.The court further noted that TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, coupled with the vast amounts of personal information that it collects about users, merits a "differential treatment" with regards to First Amendment rights."There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community," the court wrote in its decision."But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary."Following the ruling, the White House said TikTok should remain available to U.S. users either under American ownership or another entity that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing the law. The legislation was formally passed in April 2024.The law was the culmination of a yearslong debate that TikTok's Chinese ownership raises the risk that data on U.S. users could fall into the hands of Beijing or be used for pushing propaganda. TikTok has repeatedly maintained it operates independently of the government and has not received any requests about its data, while ByteDance has said it has no plans to divest the business."The Court's decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America's national security," said Attorney General Garland. "Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans' sensitive data."The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in a statement, expressed disappointment at the Supreme Court's decision to upload the TikTok ban, stating there are several ways that America's foes could steal, scrape, or buy its citizens' data."The ban or forced sale of one social media app will do virtually nothing to protect Americans' data privacy only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can achieve that goal," the EFF said."Shutting down communications platforms or forcing their reorganization based on concerns of foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is an eminently anti-democratic tactic, one that the US has previously condemned globally."However, there are indications the app may get a reprieve. Speaking to NBC News, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension from the ban after he takes office on Monday.TikTok has faced similar issues in several countries, most famously leading to an outright ban in India in June 2020. Late last year, the Canadian government ordered TikTok to dissolve its operations in the country, citing national security risks.That said, the TikTok blockade has had the unintended consequence of users migrating to other Chinese alternatives such as RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu), rather than Instagram and YouTube, likely posing a fresh challenge for lawmakers concerned about foreign influence or interference via social media."I'm concerned that Americans are flocking to a number of adversary-owned social media platforms," Virginia Senator Mark Warner said in a post on Bluesky. "We still need a comprehensive and risk-based approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of foreign-owned apps."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

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If you expressed negative sentiment toward insurance companies on social media following the murder of UnitedHealthcares CEO last month, the government was watching. Following the shooting, the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC-CTC) identified a large amount of negative sentiment towards healthcare executives and health insurance companies on social media, a bulletin produced by a regional intelligence group on December 12 says. The bulletin goes on to warn of users online wanting to counter corporate greed as well as growing negative sentiment around conglomerates, the wealthy, and executive staff at private and public organizations. Setting aside the yeah-no-shit factor, the report provides rare insight into how the government threat machine stokes fear among law enforcement agencies across the country.Screenshot of intelligence bulletinRegional Bulletin111KB PDF fileDownloadDownloadThe document is one of a flurry threat reports quietly circulated to law enforcement across the country by a sprawling network of little-known intelligence organizations created in response to 9/11. Called fusion centers, groups like the New York State Intelligence Center were tasked with fighting terrorism, which alleged the killer Luigi Mangione was charged with. Today, there is at least one fusion center in all 50 states (even Wyoming, home to the Wyoming Information Analysis Team.)Marked LAW ENFORCEMENT USE ONLY, the document quoted above is, like other intelligence reports, not usually available to the public. But this record was pried loose by the open records wizardry of the transparency nonprofit Property of the People. Without them, this report would join the countless others exempt from public scrutiny. Thats a real gift to the government agencies that produce these reports, which often serve little purpose beyond inflating supposed threats into zeppelin-like proportions.Consider, for example, the reports boldfaced title Executive Hit Lists evoking some kind of John Wick-style serial hitman. But the evidence for this amounts to viral posts online that listed the names and salaries of several health insurance executives and some Wanted signs posted in Manhattan. The repeated references to online discourse (e.g., a sea of social media posts indicate that shooting suspect Luigi Mangione might be viewed as a martyr") leave the impression that the intelligence analyst does not understand the first rule of online: it isnt real life. To give a sense of just how many of these kinds of reports are pinballing around the law enforcement world, heres one produced by the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center (SNCTC) and also obtained by Property of the People. Like the New York bulletin, this one also focuses on online rhetoric expressing criticism of the public health care system and corporate executives. Sound familiar?Screenshot of SNCTC reportSnctc Report1.09MB PDF fileDownloadDownloadOne way the Nevada report distinguishes itself is with its inclusion of a screenshot of a photoshopped meme depicting Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck standing in front of a notice that reads CEO SEASON. Marked FOUO (For Official Use Only), the image is attributed to unspecified social media accounts on X. Screenshot of SNCTC reportWhen New York Governor Kathy Hochul touts more funding for social media intelligence analysts & counterterrorism intelligence analysts, as she did earlier this month, reports like these are what those taxes dollars are going towards.As absurd as these reports might seem, theyre taken seriously not just by law enforcement, but also the media outlets theyre routinely leaked to. They are also frequently provided to private industry, which are given alarmist recommendations like these:Screenshot of SNCTC reportSeveral health insurers did end up scrubbing senior leadership from their websites, perhaps following the sage counsel of these fusion centers. Apparently someone motivated enough to kill wouldnt be motivated enough to google around a bit. Law enforcement is panicking over widespread support for Mangione, but it should be no surprise, Ryan Shapiro, executive director of Property of the People, said. Of course people are angry watching loved ones needlessly suffer and die so a handful of executives can buy second yachts. Or so governors can buy a second team of fusion center analysts? In his manifesto, Mangione suggested the health insurance industry had gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it. He could just as easily have been describing the national security state.This newsletter is 100% reader-funded. Please become a paid subscriber to support our workLeave a commentShare

Marvel SnapMarvel SnapWhile the shutdown of one of the most-used social media apps in America, TikTok, is all anyone can talk about right now, an underreported aspect of the story is that this applies to all apps from its parent company, ByteDance. This includes things like the video editing app CapCut, but as gamers learned late on Sunday, it also includesMarvel Snap?Marvel Snap is a digital card game developed by Second Dinner, so how did it catch a stray here? Well, ByteDance was the publisher of Marvel Snap. There was a somewhat ugly situation back in 2023 when ByteDance divested from its gaming Nuverse subsidiary as part of a restructure of its gaming business. However, Marvel Snap has continued to operate since then, despite ByteDances exit, but it seems they are still technically be the publisher in order for this to be happening.But whatever is going on here, they took Snap offline ahead of the company ban with these other apps, despite supposedly getting out of the gaming business. When players try to log in, they are greeted with a nearly-identical message that TikTokers are being shown which reads:Sorry MARVEL SNAP isnt available right now.A law banning MARVEL SNAP has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you cant use MARVEL SNAP for now. Rest assured, were working to restore our service in the US.The messageMarvel SnapMORE FOR YOUUnlike a variant of the TikTok message, there is no mention of incoming President Donald Trump, who ByteDance believes will work out a deal with them to get TikTok back online in the US. And if that happens, then all these other apps would repopulate including Marvel Snap, presumably.Its a deeply strange situation as most players probably didnt know ByteDance had anything to do with Marvel Snap, as the face of the game is the California-based studio Second Dinner. Again, ByteDance supposedly divested from Nuverse and Snap, but its still tangled up in the web somehow.Im currently looking into other games that may be affected by this ban, based on Nuverse or other ByteDance subsidiary projects. Some of those games like Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade have already shut down, and Marvel Snap so far seems like the highest profile game to catch a stray from this whole situation.Essentially if TikTok comes back, Marvel Snap comes back. Its an additionally complicated situation because it was easy to spend dozens, hundreds or even thousands of dollars on Snap if you were a big enough fan, and now thats justgone? While TikTok is the biggest story here, certainly, this is a thoroughly unexpected and bizarre development in the gaming world, and well be tracking it as it continues to unfold.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.