Skate City: New York is as dreamy as a week off in ManhattanParklife.Image credit: Snowman/Agens Games Feature by Christian Donlan Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 16, 2025 Not to brag but I have a beanbag now. I bought it last week. What a treat to sink down into with a mobile game, and what an extra treat when that game is Skate City. Skate City is a lovely, deeply dreamy skating game built for touchscreens. Over on Apple Arcade it's just had a new instalment, Skate City: New York. Reader, I am hooked.Skate City: New YorkPublisher: SnowmanDeveloper: Agens GamesPlatform: Played on iOSAvailability: Out now on Apple Arcade.If I had to describe Skate City quickly, I'd say that it's the skating game that really cares about fonts. Its fonts are stylish, classical, sans serif. You know when you take a second look at the cover of Born to Run and go, ooh, didn't expect that? Skate City's font game is a lot more spacious, but it has that same quiet elegance that rewards the second look.The first game took this sense of quiet urban grace to its heart, with soft beats, lots of bloom, and a selection of cities where you'd be more than willing to open an Affogato business that ran its own small-scale Zine printing house. Skate City: New York, as the name suggests, focuses on one city, but it's a great city, and across Manhattan, the park and Brooklyn, it has range as well as airy beauty.There are tweaks, but I'm not sure I've spotted them all yet. You can wall-run now, and levels have multiple routes - one moment I dropped down into the subway, and there was a platform there with a train and everything; that was nice. More importantly, though, the core of the series remains intact. You swipe and tap the screen to pull off various tricks, building outwards from the upwards thumb strike that gives you an ollie. It's a lovely system with lots of room for chaining things together, and it clips well with the kind of pseudo-2D stages Skate City delivers. It's the sports game as indie lateral tracking shot.Here's the trailer for Skate City: New York.Watch on YouTubeWhat I mainly love about the New York instalment is New York. New York's a city where you can walk all day and see new stuff every few feet, while still feeling deeply rooted in a single deeply specific place. Skate City has that too. I'll move from glossy marble squares and businesses that look like Apple might be involved, to an epic road crossing, a bit of park, a bit of corporate sculpture, and then down to the docks.It's gorgeous. There's a pastel brightness to the bloom here that makes me feel like I've just stepped out of the subway on the first day of a New York holiday, and there's that chatty calm you get in Washington Square Park just after lunch. I have never skated in my life, but I love skating games and I love this city. This was a no-brainer, then, but I'm still astonished by how much of my life it's already eaten.

January 14, 20253 min read50,000 Scientists Urge Congress to Protect Research from TrumpTwo open letters from scientists and science advocacy groups reflect a growing anxiety about the future of federal science under President-elect TrumpBy Chelsea Harvey & E&E News President-elect Donald Trump is greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage during a campaign event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, 2024. Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | More than 50,000 scientists and their supporters have signed an open letter asking Congress to safeguard federal research and scientific jobs ahead of the incoming Trump administration.The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization, spearheaded and published the letter Monday morning. The document points to concerns that President-elect Donald Trump may eliminate or reorganize federal science agencies, reduce staff, and attack regulations aimed at protecting public health and the environment.The Trump administration's current agenda promises to eviscerate the protections that Americans count on and support: clean air and water; safe food and medicine; products that won't harm us; and protection from extreme weather and other damaging effects of climate change, the letter stated. Without strong federal science, people will suffer, and historically marginalized communities will continue to bear the burden of these harms.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.The letter also asked members of Congress to oppose anti-science nominees to any federal agency who do not agree on the record to follow and/or implement a scientific integrity policy in their agency.Also on Monday, 28 organizations submitted a letter to members of the Senate asking them to vote against political nominees who dont have appropriate qualifications, exhibit conflicts of interest, fail to recognize the scientific consensus on issues relevant to the agency, or have a record of disregarding scientific integrity.Signers included public health and medical associations, environmental organizations and science advocacy groups, the Union of Concerned Scientists among them.The decisions you make about nominees will determine whether agencies use the substantial scientific expertise of government employees and advisors to safeguard public health and economic stability, or whether bias and misinformation block effective responses, the letter said.Trump was re-elected by a resounding mandate from the American people to change the status quo in Washington, said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, in an email to POLITICO's E&E News. That's why he has chosen brilliant and highly-respected outsiders to serve in his Administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA Agenda."The letters reflect a growing anxiety among scientists and science advocates about the future of federal research under Trump. Experts have raised concerns that the incoming administration may downsize federal agencies, shift or curtail their research priorities, censor scientists and alter or destroy federal datasets.Trump has consistently disavowed the seriousness of climate change and pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for a second time. Hes also recently tapped a number of political nominees known for denying mainstream science on subjects related to public health and the environment.Some of Trumps picks for the new administration include key authors of Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation. The document calls for dramatic reorganizations of some federal science agencies, like NOAA and EPA, and says that the "Biden Administrations climate fanaticism will need a whole-of-government unwinding. Some nominations have raised concerns that the policy plan may influence Trumps priorities after taking office.The first 100 days of the Trump administration will be absolutely essential for taking action that can save science that saves lives, the UCS letter to Congress states. This is a critical time to show the administration that members of Congress of both parties are united in championing the science that helps protect the communities they represent.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

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Pain IncomingJames Cameron keeps teasing Avatar 3's evil Na'vi clan and 'brave choices' and I think my boy Jake Sully might be cookedThe Wind Traders sound like chill people though.Image credit: 20th Century Studios News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on Jan. 16, 2025 Though its release still feels like yesterday, Avatar: The Way of Water will be three years old this Christmas, which is when us Pandora lovers will be seated for Avatar: Fire and Ash. With less than 12 months to go now, more and more information is starting to pile up, and James Cameron insists that he'll surprise us again with the threequel.Ahead of Empire's next issue, we've been learning a lot about upcoming 2025 blockbusters. It's gonna be a packed year, much more than 2024, but after two ridiculously massive box office hits, the general consensus is that Cameron's third visit to Pandora will clear the competition again.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Were just starting to riff on it and twist it and turn it... Its a tricky thing. We could be getting high on our own supply here, and everybody who looks at it goes, F**k, thats not what I signed up for. But if youre not making brave choices, youre wasting everybodys time and money," the director warns. While some folks might argue the second Avatar remained family-friendly and rather predictable, I'm sure the deceased main villain from the first one coming back all blue thanks to hard sci-fi tech, Sigourney Weaver playing a mystery Ghibli-like teenage girl, and a kid getting coldly smoked weren't on most people's bingo card.As for the recurring delays that have hit the production and post-production process on these sequels, it seems that we shouldn't expect another one this year: "Weve doubled the number of shots finished at this stage of the game than we had on movie two [and] the films are about equal length. So that puts us well ahead of the curve, which is something Ive never, frankly, experienced before." He jokes they might be "getting good at this" like he and his crew didn't reshape CGI and rock the box office twice, all while convincing most critics.Through another chunk from the same interview, we've also learned a bit more about Varang (Oona Chaplin) and her people's role in the third chapter of the story: "Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She's hardened by that... She will do anything for them, even things that we would consider to be evil... Were trying to evolve beyond the all humans are bad, all Navi are good paradigm." This might be the most exciting thing about the third Avatar. The introduction of Recoms in The Way of Water worked wonders for the story and its villain, and shaking things up with a new conflict that goes beyond the differences between mankind and Na'vi sounds like the right move at this point of the overarching plot. Still, expect more RDA troops to get absolutely wrecked by Pandora's natives. Image credit: 20th Century StudiosI'm not gonna lie: I'm a bit worried about Jake Sully. After having just lost his older son, you'd expect him to be front and center in the next one, and he might just be, but we know that there's a big time jump planned after Fire and Ash and that Cameron plotted this whole thing out as a generational storyline, so maybe the threequel's hardest turn will be to off our favorite blue family man. All this talk about the Sullys facing even more challenges and the new Na'vi clan being unfriendly only adds wood to that fire.On the other hand, Avatar 3 will also introduce the Wind Traders, who sound like a bunch of chill guys flying around Pandora's skies with giant-jellyfish-powered ships (the coolest thing I've ever heard): "Theyre nomadic traders, equivalent to the camel caravans of the Spice Road back in the Middle Ages." There's a reason why these movies work so well, and I think it comes down to the sick worldbuilding executed in spectacular fashion first and foremost.Avatar: Fire and Ash opens on December 19, 2025. We're not expecting a first trailer before late April or early May. After a longer break, Avatar 4 arrives on December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 hitting two years later, on December 19, 2031.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kAmazingly, it's been four years since Rune Factory 5 finally arrived on Nintendo Switch. And while we've had the fabulous Rune Factory 3 Special, a remaster of the popular DS title, we haven't seen a new entry for a minute.Well, that's about to change: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will be launching on Switch (and Steam) on 30th May 2025. Check out the launch date reveal trailer above.First unveiled as Project Dragon, Marvelous officially revealed Guardians of Azuma during August 2024's Nintendo Direct Indie World and Partner Showcase. Promised as a "reimagined" take on Rune Factory which was originally a Story of Seasons spin-off you'll play as either Subaru or Kagaya, childhood friends from a village in the north of Azuma, who suffers from amnesia. One day, they become the Earth Dancer, someone who is destined to return live to Azuma and save the world.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kWatch on YouTube Images: MarvelousThere are a lot of familiar tropes in Guardians of Azuma romance is back, of course, as is farming (would it be Rune Factory without the crops?) and combat. But we've got a whole new world and a swathe of new features to look forward to this May. Let's dip into the details in our exclusive Western reveal.Villages & Village BuildingYour adventure starts in Spring Village, a settlement affected by blight in the wake of the Celestial Collapse, a past calamity which caused the gods and runes to disappear from the land.Spring Village is just one of four villages the others, fittingly, are called Summer, Autumn, and Winter Village. Like previous Rune Factory games, Guardians of Azuma will follow a similar one-year cycle, but you won't have to wait all year round for a season to return. In Winter Village, for example, it's always Winter, meaning all four seasons are static, and you'll be able to grow all crops all year round. Hurrah!Images: MarvelousHow do you rebuild the villages? Well... by using the new Village Building feature! While you'll start off life by growing crops and nurturing the land, you'll be able to build new structures in all four towns, as well as rearrange the settings to your liking.The more you build up a village, the more villagers will be willing to help you. They'll assist with tending the fields, going mining, cutting down trees and also work in shops that you set up for them.Images: MarvelousDancesAs an Earth Dancer, myriad responsibility is thrust upon you, but you also have many powers to help make life easier for you and the people you meet.Images: MarvelousThree dance powers you'll have early on in the game have different functions depending on whether you use them in the fields or out in the world. We know about three of them, and we can't wait to see what else you'll be able to do, but let's run down the ones we know about so far.Sacred Drum, for instance, will encourage your crops and trees to grow, and help make withered crops grow. Sacred Sword, on the other hand, is used to harvest high-quality seeds. Sacred Parasol, then, is like a big rain shower, spreading water across a wider area.Images: MarvelousAll of these dances have different effects out in the world, however. Sacred Drum can act as a healing spell or as a way of knocking enemies back. Alternatively, you could just use Sacred Sword or Sacred Parasol to deal a huge amount of damage to foes. The parasol can also be used to glide and explore hidden areas.CombatImage: MarvelousSpeaking of exploring, Azuma is a brand new location to Rune Factory fans, and that means there are plenty of new places, faces, and enemies to discover.You'll befriend many of the villagers of the four locales throughout the game, and some will even join you out in the world for combat. You can eventually take up to six characters out with you three joining the protagonist in battle, with the other three waiting in reserve, and you can swap between them at any point.Images: MarvelousYou've also got two brand new weapons to experiment with: Bows will allow for pinpoint accurate combat, which makes targeting enemy weaknesses much easier, or even take out foes much further away. Talismans, meanwhile, can home in on distant enemies and are fantastic against fast-moving monsters.CharactersWhile you can spend your days fishing, growing crops, and fighting monsters, you probably want to get to know the characters you're playing as and interacting with. Especially because you can romance, marry, and have children with many of them. There are 12 bachelors in all, and you'll even be able to date the protagonist you don't pick!Woobly is your fluffy little friend, a loyal partner who acts as the protagonist's guide. He's like a little sheep, and loves sweets.Image: MarvelousOne early ally you'll meet is Hina, an archaeologist who is half human, half fox. Donning pink hair and, she arrives in Azuma on an airship along with the treasure hunter Mauro. Mauro is extremely sentimental and gets emotional pretty easily.In Spring Village, you'll meet the owner of a Teahouse, Iroha. She's passionate about her home and cares for the villagers, which spurs your character on to helping the residents. Wandering Samurai Murasame will also cross paths with you in the tranquil village of cherry blossoms.Image: MarvelousYou will eventually meet some of the gods during your journey, too Ulalaka, Matsuri, Kurama, and Fubuki represent the four seasons, each one embodying the essence of that season perfectly. And they're led by the official representative of the gods, Kanata, who represents light and the heavens.Kai, an Oni leader, Clarice, a cold-hearted soldier, and Ikaruga, leader of the Jungasa Corps, round out this rather colourful and eclectic cast of characters, each with their own goals and motives. Some want to save the land, others, we're less certain...Images: MarvelousThat's a pretty big blow-out of Rune Factory goodness. And there's more to come. On 22nd January, Marvelous will be holding a Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Deep Dive Stream. Details, and a time, are to be confirmed, but even more gameplay will be shown off alongside some giveaways for Rune Factory fans (for US fans only, though. Sorry!).If you're excited, you should check out that stream, but in the meantime, let us know what you think of Guardians of Azuma so far in the comments below. Sprouts Spring 2025Harvested (and ranked) by youRelated GamesSee AlsoShare:01 Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesReview: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch) - Aping A Retro ClassicThat's what you get for not hailing to the chimpRound Up: The Reviews Are In For Donkey Kong Country Returns HDWorth going bananas over?

Just a day after Google inked a deal with The Associated Press, Mistral is also announcing a content deal with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) to improve the accuracy of answers in Le Chat, Mistrals chatbot product.This is the first deal of this kind for the Paris-based artificial intelligence company. And it indicates that Mistral doesnt want to be considered as just a foundation model maker.It also wants to build appealing products, starting with Le Chat. From what Ive heard, the company is also working on dedicated apps to access Le Chat and better compete with ChatGPT or Claude.Going forward, Le Chat will be able to tap into AFPs daily production of stories. And given that AFP is one of the biggest news agencies in the world, it represents a significant volume of text around 2,300 stories per day in six languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish).Le Chat will be able to query AFPs entire archive since 1983. However, photos and videos arent part of this multi-year agreement. As a reminder, Mistral focuses on large language models and doesnt offer image-generation models.OpenAI has been leading the charge when it comes to content deals. The maker of ChatGPT has inked partnerships with AP, Axel Springer, Cond Nast, El Pas, Financial Times, Le Monde, and others. Its going to be interesting to see whether Mistral has more content partnerships in the works.We believe improving the accuracy of [Le Chats] responses is a key step in the deployment of our technology, particularly for businesses, Mistral co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch said in a statement. Through this partnership, we are providing our clients with a unique multicultural and multilingual alternative.Todays partnership is also a first for AFP. And it couldnt come at a better time, as Meta ended its third-party fact-checking program just last week. AFP was one of the key partners in Metas fact-checking system. Through this partnership, AFP is further diversifying its revenue sources, AFP chairman and CEO Fabrice Fries said in a statement.While the AI industry is looking to improve its products with these arrangements, there are two side effects that could be considered as added benefits. First, AI companies can position themselves as (financial) allies to news organizations. Second, these partnerships protect them from potential copyright infringement claims.

The age of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the IT landscape, but with an ongoing diversity crisis in the tech sector, it remains to be seen whether the rapid development of these technologies will ultimately help or hinder our lives.Speaking at the annual Computer Weekly and Harvey Nash diversity in tech event, Bev White, CEO of Harvey Nash parent company Nash Squared, highlighted the importance of actively creating opportunities for underrepresented groups to join the technology sector if we want to make the industry a more diverse place.Lamenting how slowly the dial is shifting when it comes to diversity in technology, White urged those in the sector to be proactive in ensuring the tech workforce reflects tech users.Its on us, all of us not just the HR community, not just the CIOs, the CDOs and the CEOs to make a change. Its on all of us, she said.Every time we think about hiring, or promoting, or encouraging someone to step up and represent a department, we need to think about how were doing that and give somebody an opportunity to stand up and shine. We have to do that every single day, in everything we do, or nothing will change.With the rapid development of tech such as artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning, this sentiment has never been more important.A report from Nash Squared found that 75% of workers are already using GenAI in their work. As this figure increases, it will become ever-more important to make sure the people developing these technologies reflect the people using them. Its on us, all of us not just the HR community, not just the CIOs, the CDOs and the CEOs to make a change Bev White, Nash SquaredAs White pointed out, if the teams developing these tools dont fully represent those using them, how do we ensure they serve their purpose?But rather than ramp up the push for diversity, companies are dialling back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as they face budget cuts and fears of backlash for taking the wrong approach.This paints a bleak picture for the future of AI development, where unbalanced teams and a lack of consideration for users have already caused problems.While AI adoption is increasing rapidly, the development of AI technology is nothing new.Maria Axente, head of AI public policy and ethics at PwC, said technology development has often hinged on because we can without considering the impact on the users and who needs to be involved in the conversation about design.Her role as a tech ethicist has her considering exactly these issues what purpose technology will serve, who the technology is for, and who should be involved in building it.She explained: AI ethics is a discipline concerned with creating a vision of a good life with AI, whatever a good life with AI means.Alongside a history of technology being developed with bias, from seatbelts to period trackers, Axente highlighted the women who are fighting to make technologies such as AI ethical, useful and fair.It can take a lot of time, effort and evidence to convince some of those developing technologies that what they are creating will have a direct impact on peoples lives, and that in some cases this impact will be negative without having the right best practice in place.Axente said: Weve learned gradually that tech is tangibly harming people.There are a number of ways the development of AI and machine learning has been biased against women and other underrepresented groups. Beckie Taylor, co-founder of Tech Returners, gave an example of a notable tech company that implemented an AI machine learning model for screening job applicants. Taylor explained how the predominantly male software team that built it led to the software having a bias against female applicants.Though this problem was identified and amended quickly, this goes to show the importance of a human in that process, Taylor said.Even though its called AI, its made by people, its built by people, its deployed by people, so it matters who those people are, and whether theyre bringing a wide range of experience and perspectives to their work.There have been other instances where AI has been trained with datasets or developed by non-diverse teams, which makes bias more likely, such as image-based diagnosis being more accurate for white patients and Apple Card allegedly offering men higher credit limits than women. AI is made by people, its built by people, its deployed by people, so it matters who those people are, and whether theyre bringing a wide range of experience and perspectives to their work Beckie Taylor, Tech ReturnersAI ethicist Axente said: We owe it to a lot of great women who have been raising their voices, despite the backlash they have received. They help us understand better how this tech perpetuates these existing harms.Some of these women have been bullied, fired and ignored during their quest to make sure the development of AI will benefit the majority rather than the few, according to Axente, who said were now in a better position to begin changing the mindset around technology development and adoption away from building it for the sake of it and towards building it purposefully.An obvious way to ensure algorithms are representative of the wider population is to attract and retain more tech talent from underrepresented groups, but also to make sure those shaping the future of humanity with AI reflect the greater population of users who will eventually be forced to integrate AI into their everyday lives person-centric AI should be the focus of the future.Axente said: If we want to make AI work for us as individuals and as a collective, collaboration not competition is the way forward.While there are around 5% more women using AI technology than there were 10 years ago, there are 10% fewer women working in technology than there were in 1984, according to Jasmin Guthmann, co-vice-president of the MACH Alliance.This imbalance between the number of women using AI and the number of women developing AI is contributing towards AI bias and tech that isnt suitable for all of its users so much so that the government outlined plans in its recent AI opportunities action plan to increase the diversity of the AI and data science talent pool in the UK.But Guthmann said women are currently trying to solve it all by themselves, and that isnt going to cut it.The diversity of the tech workforce has been stagnant for some time. The 2024 Diversity report from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, stated that if current trends continue, it will take another 283 years for the percentage of women working in the UKs tech sector to match the 48% of women there are in the wider workforce.But as Guthmann pointed out: If I try to change it by myself, Im not going to get anywhere.Shifting the dial at a more reasonable pace will take a collective effort, which Guthmann claimed is one of the reasons she didnt want the MACH offshoot, Women in MACH, to be exclusively about or for women. There needed to be men in the room, she said. We need all of you fantastic allies in the room to help us make it a bigger conversation and to have that conversation on our behalf when were not in the room.And there are a lot of instances where women and other underrepresented groups arent in the room only 13% of IT directors in the UK are from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, and women made up only a quarter of CIO positions in FTSE 100 companiesin 2023.All of us need to be involved in any way we can, especially because underrepresented minorities and women are more often than others hesitant to put themselves forward for tech roles and opportunities, said Guthmann.Read more about Computer Weeklys diversity eventsAt the 2023 Computer Weekly diversity in tech event, in partnership with Nash Squared, more than 100 experts from the tech and employment sectors shared their ideas for improving diversity in the technology industry.At the Computer Weekly diversity in tech event in 2022, experts proposed a 15-point plan to improve diversity and inclusion across the industry. The suggestions they made focused on getting people into the sector and keeping them there, especially those currently under-represented in the sector who could solve many of the problems the industry is currently facing.She made some recommendations for underrepresented individuals and allies to push for small changes that when put together will make a big change. These include putting people forward for opportunities, calling out when there are male-only panels at events, making sure the opinion of quieter people is heard, and inviting male allies to women in tech events.Your objective from this day is to be that voice that says is there a better way of doing this, she said. People will only do better if we all hold them accountable. How do we redefine the future of tech? Innovation doesnt happen in silence, it happens when we break boundaries together so go do one small thing today to make the world a better place tomorrow.Collaboration can be a powerful tool when used in the right way.When the government announced plans early last year to raise the income threshold for potential angel investors, Emma Wright, a partner at law firm Harbottle & Lewis, mobilised a large group of women in tech to get the law reversed.HM Treasury planned to change the criteria for what defines a high net worth individual, meaning a person would either need an income of at least 170,000 in the previous financial year or net assets of at least 430,000 to invest.With the new law removing 70% of the women able to provide angel investment, the change threatened the number of businesses led by women in the UK.Female founders generate more revenue than their male counterparts, Wright explained.Just 1.7% of venture capital funding goes to female funders, and women back other women more than double than men back women.Wrights background is well suited for a challenge such as this. Having previously headed up government and public sector as a partner at Deloitte Legal, she understands how government works, and as well as her role as a tech and data lawyer, she was one of the founders of the Interparliamentary Forum for Emerging Tech (formerly the Institute of AI).Wright launched the investHER campaign, releasing an open letter that called on the government to make a decision by the then-upcoming budget. Many of the women who signed the open letter were from Computer Weeklys list of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech.As pointed out by Wright, any technology that isnt built with everyone in mind acts as a barrier and doesnt enable. This is a dangerous precedent to set when it comes to technology such as AI, which looks to be a very large part of everyones future.While this particular inequity was swerved, the efforts of investHER still only managed to get the problematic law reversed, not increase the potential number of female investors and backers for startups led by women.Wright said: Unless weve got everyone developing the tech solutions, we cannot compete on a global stage, and we will not have inclusive AI.A clear example of how technology adoption can have a negative impact if no one considers the end user is the Post Office scandal.Former subpostmaster Jo Hamilton told the Computer Weekly diversity event she didnt have any problems running her Post Office branch until the Horizon system was introduced.Because she didnt know anything about computers, when errors in her end-of-day accounting occurred on the system she thought she was the one making mistakes, resulting in the Post Office claiming she owed them more and more money due to allegedly unbalanced books despite the computer being at fault.The same happened to hundreds of other subpostmasters across the UK. The system came with no training, no support.Think of us first, think of people who know nothing about tech and using it. We were just little shopkeepers, Hamilton said.She urged those developing technology to consider the people who are going to use [tech] who are not technologically skilled.Incidents like this, and those mentioned previously, will happen more and more if care isnt taken to ensure AI and other technologies are developed with ethical use cases by diverse teams.But this, in turn, can only be ensured by working together from educators to governments, organisations to individuals.Without everyone involved in the shaping of our future in partnership with AI, not everyone will see the benefit.

Bitwarden is one of the best password managers on the market, but are you using it effectively? Here are a few tips to ensure you are.

This phantom attack is back in the newsbe careful.Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesIt starts with a simple call, a message, a popup but it ends with a potentially life-changing loss. It has now become a dangerous enough threat that Google has updated Android to prevent its users becoming victims. There are many warnings about the apps you should not install onto your smartphone, tablet or laptop, and man times there are nuances around how to tell for sue if an app is safe or not. This is much simpler in this instance, you should never install these apps.The FBI has dubbed this threat the Phantom Hacker, and it has made the news again this week, with the bureau warning that it's growing rapidly and that scammers do not discriminate against anyone they want money from anyone they can take it from." As I reported some weeks ago, it is also an international threat and is proving frighteningly compelling for scammers to redouble their efforts to target more people, as the cash keeps rolling in.The concept of operations is simple, as the FBI explains. Scammers impersonate bank representatives to convince victims that hackers have infiltrated their financial account. Victims are urged to move their money fast to protect their assets. In reality, there was never a hacker, and the money that was wired is now fully controlled by the scammer.There are variations on this theme, as youd expect. We see attacks from scammers claiming to be technical support reps come up regularly. But the most effective attack is the banking attack. You will likely end up speaking to a convincing albeit fake bank rep who helps you move your cash from the hacked account to a safe new account, to stop fraudulent transactions being completed to steal your money. You are told that this is urgent and is happening in real time, giving you no time to think. In reality, you are moving your money to an account controlled by the scammer.MORE FOR YOUWhile these attacks might just require you to approve a transaction within your banking app, many of the calls direct the victim to download a software program allowing the scammer remote access to the victims computer. Youre told this is to stop the hacker in their tracks the hacker that does not exist of course. The scammer requests the victim open their financial accounts to determine whether there have been any unauthorized charges a tactic to allow the scammer to determine which financial account is most lucrative for targeting. The scammer informs the victim they will receive a call from that financial institutions fraud department with further instructions.The rules to staying safe are stupidly simple.Never install an app when a supposed technical support or banking individual who has reached out to you sends a link or points you to a website.Your bank or credit card company will never call and ask for security credentials. If one does, you always have the right to call them back via the usual channels to ensure they work for the institution they claim.Never ever move money anywhere on the say-so of someone who has reached out to you by phone. This is never going to be a real solution. If they work for the bank as they say, they can stop the transactionthink it through.Google has added scam call protection into its latest Android OS that can protect you in multiple ways. It can deploy on-device AI to listen in to calls and flag when it seems too be a scam for example, the supposed banking rep asking you to make a transaction. And from app perspective, as Android AuthorityAbsent those updates, you must never, ever install an app on your phone, table or laptop if youve been asked to do so by a tech support or banking rep. The only exception is when you have reached out to tech or product support using the publicly advertised channels and they ask you to use an app to send photos or run a live video link or diagnose a system fault. But you must ensure you have reached out to them and this is not from any kind of incoming contact.The FBIs full advice to keep Phantom Hackers at bay is as below; if you think you have been a victim of any such crime you can report this to the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which you can find at www.ic3.gov.Do not download software at the request of an unknown individual who contacted you.Do not click on unsolicited pop-ups, links sent via text messages, email links, or attachments.Do not contact the telephone number provided in a pop-up, text, or email.Do not allow an unknown individual who contacted you to have control of your computer.

In a nutshell: Apple's Tim Cook is one of the most recognizable and well-known CEOs. But he rarely talks about his daily routine or life outside of the world's most valuable company. Now, Cook has revealed some interesting details about his day-to-day schedule, personal interests, and where he gets his incredible work ethic. He also revealed that an Apple Watch saved his father. Cook spoke to Table Manners podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware when he was visiting London in December. He revealed that he still employs the hardworking values instilled in him as a child, which include waking up before 5 am to start work.Cook's early morning begins with answering emails. He says he responds to employees and customers, noting how several people from the latter group have thanked him after an Apple Watch saved their lives via its feature that detects irregular heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation).Cook also revealed that when his father was alive, the Apple Watch fall detection feature alerted emergency services when Cook senior fell over while alone at home."He didn't respond to the door and so they kicked the door down and it was a good thing they did because he was not conscious at the time."When asked if Cook's dad thanked him for the device that saved his life, he replied, "No, he was focused on the door, to be honest [...] He was more upset, 'they kicked out my door!'" // Related StoriesCook says the reason why he answers emails so early is because "it's the part of the day that I can control the most. As the day starts to unfold, it becomes less predictable.""And so I love the part of the day that I can kind of block out the world and focus on a few critical things and just be silent for a while."Cook also talks about how Covid changed the global view of working from home. Apple was one of the first companies to tell employees to return to the office after the lockdowns, leading to a petition from workers. Cook says Covid taught us that people can do the same amount of work online but also "taught us the value of being together."Apple now asks most employees to be in the office three days per week. Cook says he's in there four times a week and off Friday as it's the day most people stay home. He reasoned that the office is "depressing when nobody's there."Apple Park: pretty empty on FridaysCook has been working since he was 11 or 12, back when he started a paper route. His next employment was flipping burgers for a local fast-food restaurant, called Tastee Freez, at the age of 14. "I wore a little hat, and I wore an apron, and I was making $1.10 an hour at the time, it was sub-minimum wage, which was legal at that point in time."Cook has come a long way since then. His total compensation from Apple rose 18% last year to $74.6 million, making him one of the highest-paid CEOs in the world.Talking about some of the things he enjoys, Cook said he often eats at a Palo Alto restaurant called Ethel's Fancy, where he enjoys the octopus he eats a lot of fish in general.Other details Cook revealed include his love of dark chocolate and Chardonnay. He eats most of his meals during the week at Apple Park's Caff Macs, and likes to vacation at national parks. In the podcast tradition of asking guests about their last meal, Cook said he would choose an appetizer of hamachi crudo with jalapeo, a branzino for a main dish, broccolini as a side, and anything chocolate for dessert.