From Sydneys Urban Revival to Dubais Waterfront Towers: Architecture Now Highlights from Foster + Partners, Beta Realities, and MoreSave this picture!Dubais Marasi Marina. Image Foster + PartnersIn recent weeks, a series of significant architectural developments have been unveiled, highlighting the work of diverse architecture studios across the globe. These projects, announced between late September 2024 and early 2025, focus on transformative masterplans, housing solutions, and public spaces. Prominent firms such as Foster + Partners, ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, and fjcstudio are at the forefront of these initiatives. In Dubai, Foster + Partners revealed the Regent Residences, a pair of residential waterfront towers. Meanwhile, ACPV ARCHITECTS announced three projects in Taichung, Taiwan, combining Italian design with Eastern philosophies to create green, community-focused urban spaces. In Sydney, fjcstudio's masterplan for Midtown aims to reshape the city's urban core with two 80-storey mixed-use towers, enhancing connectivity and public engagement. These projects demonstrate the diverse scales and contexts in which architects continue to innovate, shaping cities and communities worldwide. Antonio Citterio Unveils Three Projects Redefining Taichung's Skyline in TaiwanSave this picture!ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Lien Jade Real Estate have announced three major developments in Taichung, Taiwan: Lian Palace, Fang Wei Palace, and Jung Heng Palace. The partnership aims to combine Italian design and Eastern philosophy to create architectural and interior designs that prioritize nature and functionality. Lian Palace, a 39-story residential tower, integrates green balconies and communal spaces, while Jung Heng Palace, a 170-meter office tower, features a stacked design inspired by Italian monuments and modernist principles. Each project incorporates shared amenities and green spaces to enhance urban living and foster a connection between architecture and the surrounding context. Related Article Cross Works Unveils Masterplan for New Tashkent Expansion in Uzbekistan Foster + Partners Designs Waterfront Towers in Dubai, UAESave this picture!Foster + Partners has unveiled the design for Regent Residences Dubai, Sankari Place, a pair of 180-meter residential towers located in Marasi Marina, Business Bay. Inspired by streaming water, the towers feature 60 apartments with staggered terraces, offering views of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai skyline. Each apartment includes terraces and private pools, emphasizing a connection to nature. The towers share a unified design language, enhancing natural ventilation and light, featuring an penthouse with a sky pool that connects the two structures. At the base, a podium with greenery, water features, retail spaces, and amenities such as a gym and pools complements the waterfront promenade, creating a vibrant living environment.Gamma Architects Unveils Fortress House Art Museum in GibraltarSave this picture!Opening in Autumn 2025, Fortress House will be Gibraltar's first contemporary art museum, revitalizing a historic 18th-century Georgian building in the heart of the old town. Designed by Gamma Architects, the project combines adaptive reuse with modern additions, preserving original features like tiling and fireplaces. Spanning 2,700 square meters, the museum will showcase a permanent collection of contemporary art from 1970 onwards, emphasizing inclusivity with a strong representation of women artists. Alongside rotating exhibitions and guest-curated displays, the museum will feature a rooftop sculpture garden, workshop spaces, and community outreach programs. Directed by Henry Little, Fortress House aims to foster cultural dialogue locally and internationally, solidifying Gibraltar's place as a growing cultural destination. Nordic Office of Architecture Unveils Arctic Arena in Northern Norway Save this picture!The Arctic Arena, set to be one of Europe's northernmost football stadiums, is designed to unite the region and elevate Bod as a destination under the midnight sun and northern lights. With a capacity of 10,000, the stadium features a compact, immersive design inspired by the resilience and geometry of a diamond, combining Nordic architecture with local culture and international ambitions. Sustainable materials like wood and recyclable aluminum create a dark, striking exterior and a warm, glowing interior, while entrances reflect natural phenomena such as the northern lights. Designed collaboratively by Nordic Office of Architecture, Norconsult, and Arup Sport, the arena promotes sporting equality with facilities for men's and women's teams and the academy. It also accommodates diverse events and community use, supporting social sustainability and establishing itself as an iconic landmark for Northern Norway. fjcstudio and V Partners to Redesign Sydney's Midtown with Landmark Mixed-Use Development in AustraliaSave this picture!Central Sydney Property Pty Ltd, a joint venture between Billbergia Group and Metrics Credit Partners, has acquired a 6,000-square-metre site in Sydney's CBD, Australia, paving the way for a mixed-use development in the Midtown neighborhood. The project will feature two 80-storey towers with 600 residences, a hotel, retail spaces, and a civic plaza with public art, outdoor seating, and landscaping. Designed by fjcstudio in collaboration with Trias Studio, Aileen Sage, and Polly Harbison Design, the development aims to integrate Sydney's urban geometry with a network of laneways and intimate public spaces, enhancing pedestrian access between Pitt, Liverpool, and Castlereagh Streets. With demolition set to begin next year, the project seeks to reshape the Midtown district into a vibrant urban hub that balances residential living with public amenity and active placemaking. Beta Realities Designs 3D-Printed Community First Residencies in Austin, TexasSave this picture!Beta Realities has unveiled its design for the Community First! Residencies in Austin, Texas, offering a personalized, 3D-printed housing solution aimed at creating community connections and sustainable living. As part of Icon's Initiative 99, the project emphasizes participatory design, allowing future homeowners to shape their residences through workshops and customizable layouts. The duplex design, known as "Home 99," reimagines traditional porches to create a transition between public and private spaces, prioritizing neighborly interactions through shared gardens and communal activities. Furthermore, the project aims to prioritize environmental responsibility by incorporating passive cooling strategies, rainwater collection, green feature walls, and recyclable materials. Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorNour FakharanyAuthorCite: Nour Fakharany. "From Sydneys Urban Revival to Dubais Waterfront Towers: Architecture Now Highlights from Foster + Partners, Beta Realities, and More" 17 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025878/from-sydneys-urban-revival-to-dubais-waterfront-towers-architecture-now-highlights-from-foster-plus-partners-beta-realities-and-more&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! 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Nature, Published online: 15 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08299-8Halide permeation through a single benzene-sized defect in a molecular nanographene shows the permeability of fluoride, chloride and bromide, whereas iodide is impermeable.

RuneScape developer Jagex addressed the players' backlash over the recent survey.The developer said that the survey is not a list of planned changes, and they are considering the players' feedback: https://80.lv/articles/runescape-developer-responded-to-players-backlash-over-recent-survey/#videogames #gameindustry #gamenews #gamedev

One of the first major game releases of 2025 is one that players have been waiting years and years for. Sid Meier's Civilization VII is finally arriving after a long, eight-year hiatus following the release of the sixth entry in the historic franchise. Recognized as one of the ultimate turn-based strategy games, the Civilization series promises to improve upon its well-established formula with the seventh entry.It's difficult to describe what Civilization is as a game. It's a historical, strategy city-builder at heart, but how the game's systems interact with each other makes each entry in the series different from anything else you've played. Civilization VII, in particular, has supposedly made its systems easier to learn so players can jump in without being too overwhelmed. However, if you're a hardcore Civ player, you can still have the unforgiving experience you've come to know from the series.The release date of Sid Meier's Civilization VII isn't too far away now and there's plenty to go over to get you ready for launch. Below, we'll showcase everything you need to know about Civilization VII. Civilization VII Release Date and Early AccessFirst and foremost, the worldwide release date for Civilization VII is slated for February 11, 2025. However, the early access release date for Civilization VII is set for February 6, a full five days earlier.You can play the strategy game early if you purchase the Deluxe or Founder's Edition. Of course, to play early, you'll want to ensure you preorder Civilization VII so you have enough time to download it before the early access release goes live. Preordering is not a requirement to play in early access, though.Players who just buy the standard edition of Civilization VII will have to wait until the official launch date. Exact times for when the game will go live on either date have yet to be announced. Civilization VII Preorder and EditionsThere are several separate editions of Civilization VII as well as one primary preorder bonus. The reward for preordering is a Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack. You can earn the preorder bonus for buying the game prior to February 11. After the game is live, the preorder bonus is no longer available. See standard edition at Amazon However, the preorder bonus is available in two of the three editions for Civilization VII, only making a preorder necessary if you're purchasing the standard edition. That version of Civilization VII costs $70 across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The standard edition on the Nintendo Switch costs $60.Moving on, the Deluxe and Founder's Editions come with the Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack as well as a plethora of other bonuses. The Deluxe Edition goes for $100 on PC and consoles ($90 on Switch) and the Collector's Edition costs $130 on PC and consoles ($120 on Switch). Here's a breakdown of what your money buys when you purchase the Deluxe or Founder's Edition:Deluxe Edition Early AccessTecumseh and Shawnee PackCrossroads of the World CollectionDeluxe Content Pack See Deluxe Edition at Amazon Founder's EditionDeluxe Edition of the gameEarly AccessTecumseh and Shawnee PackCrossroads of the World CollectionRight to Rule CollectionDeluxe Content PackFounders Content PackAll future DLCs for Civilization VII (six DLCs are currently planned for release by September 2025) See Founder's Edition at Amazon There's also a Collector's Edition available for Civilization VII, which can come with or without the game (although the latter option is currently sold out). If you're interested in buying the edition, you have to preorder it via Final Boss Bundle. Here's a look at the physical items the edition comes with:"Passage of Time" Decorative ClockScout FigureLogo PinChallenge CoinCivilization PostcardsHigh-Quality Art PrintYield Icon Patch Set See at Final Boss Bundle Civilization VII Platforms and Cross-PlayFor the first time ever with a Civilization game, the initial launch of Civilization VII will occur on multiple platforms. In the past, the worldwide release of games in the series would just be for PC. Civilization VI, for example, initially launched in 2016 and received PlayStation and Xbox ports three years later.Civilization VII is spinning a different web, though. Now, the developers at Firaxis Games are bringing Civilization to all players at the same time. The available platforms at launch are PC via Steam and Epic Games, Nintendo Switch (and presumably Switch 2 via backwards compatibility), PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.Fortunately for players on any platform, Civilization VII is fully cross-play. All you have to do is link your 2K and Civilization VII accounts together and you'll be able to link up with any person, regardless of their platform. However, there are some limitations to how cross-play functions.Specifically, Nintendo Switch players are limited in how they play the game. The Switch won't be able to support full Standard or above map sizes or full multiplayer parties. In the Antiquity & Exploration Ages, Switch players can only play with a four-person party while a six-person party is the max for the Modern Age. Parties not featuring any Switch players will support five players in the Antiquity & Exploration Ages and eight players in the Modern Age.Finally, cross-progression is available in Civilization VII. This means if you buy two copies of the game for different platforms, you can still access the saved progress on your account if you switch back and forth between the platforms. Watch the Civilization VII Trailer Here There are plenty of trailers for Civilization VII, including ones dedicated to specific characters, but the official gameplay trailer showcases everything you'll need to know before the game releases. Civilization VII GameplayTrying to explain the overarching gameplay in a Civilization game can be extremely difficult, as there are so many systems and mechanics at play. Civilization VII is a city builder where you try and build the best empire the world has ever known. You'll expand your empire across three distinct ages in world history: the Antiquity Age, the Exploration Age, and the Modern Age.In a big change for the series, every time a new Age begins, you'll choose a new civilization to use. For example, in the Modern Age, you can choose to settle America and expand the civilization from scratch. From there, you're able to discover new locations and technology, meet world leaders from distinct regions, and unlock tools that aid your empire's growth. Every civilization available across the three Ages features unique abilities, attributes, military units, and other aspects that distinguish it from other civilizations.As you start your civilization, you'll appoint a world leader to run it. This is a huge choice, as each leader has different strengths and weaknesses that will determine how your empire is run. Each leader has a unique ability that empowers what they are best known for throughout history, which entangles with your chosen civilization's unique ability and other qualities.Over the course of a match, which can last dozens of hours, you'll ally with or face off against other rival civilizations. There are numerous ways to ultimately win, with Civ VII settling on four different victory conditions: Science, Culture, Military, and Economic. These each offer distinct ways to approach your expanding civilization; will you lean into dominating opponents, or fend them off while you make scientific advancements over the ages? Combat in Civilization VIIOf course, combat is a key part of the turn-based strategy in Civ. If you're a veteran of the Civilization series, you know fairly well how combat works and the best times to utilize it.Civilization VII implements a hexagonal tile system across the map. Tiles are what separate combat encounters and how you determine how military forces are set up. You can deploy specific military units to specific tiles where they fight enemies unit vs. unit. Terrain, type of unit, and strategy all come into play when determining what tiles to send your various military units. It might sound simple in practice, but when you're waging war across a continent against a slew of enemy units, it can get overwhelming quickly.Fortunately, one major Civilization VII is introducing is the arrival of Commander Units. Commanders are military leaders who have authoritative abilities over your units. Commanders can join units together into one "stack" and the stack joins the Commander to jointly move all over the map where they're needed. Commander Units are also the only units available to earn promotions and gain XP.Regardless of what Age you're in, your Commanders will retain all their promotions and XP. When you've earned enough Commander promotions, you can further customize the Commander by putting points into a specific Discipline Tree. The various Discipline Trees transform them into a certain type of military leader who excels at different types of encounters. You can make your Commander specialized in ground, siege, naval, or aerial combat and the Discipline Trees for each type are slightly different.Commanders essentially reduce the amount of management you need to engage in during a combat encounter. Your units can be managed by the Commander, as they can bring in units as required and order units to attack if the time is right or retreat if things aren't going well.Combat in Civilization VII will certainly take some getting used to, for new and veteran players, but it sounds as though the developers have made the systems much more streamlined and efficient.

Souls are an all-important currency in Dark Souls. They are used to purchase items, upgrade equipment, and even level up one's character. With the ever-increasing difficulty of Dark Souls, however, players can soon find themselves struggling to get by as prices increase to buy the spells, infuse weapons, and buy armor.

ouch. KISS straight out the second story window. You bet, I'm game. Single draw call per primitive type you say. yup that sounds good. I suppose this is a great opportunity to finally experiment with glBufferSubData and friends. I'd have to learn how to not draw a range when an end is being dragged and maybe have a separate 'selected/editing' buffer ping/pong thing. My color comes from uniform so there is something else to ponder to not loose onHover behavior.I am liking t

For decades, the New Zealand government in Aotearoa has tried to eliminate te reo Mori, the language of the Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa. Thus far, its failed. While the current right-wing government coalition is working to suppress the language with the largest political backing in years, organizers, storytellers, and te reo speakers are arguing they have a forever language and they have six te reo dubbings of Disney animated films, most recently with November 2024s Moana 2 Reo Mori, working in their favor.Both the modern New Zealand government and its tension with te reo began in 1840, with the British Crown and Mori representatives signing the Treaty of Waitangi, the governments founding constitutional document whose differing bilingual versions have led to over a century of consequences and scrutiny. Over the following decades, colonization, assimilation, and English-language domination diminished te reos reach. By 1975, only 5% of Mori schoolchildren could speak te reo, and by 1979 the language was considered endangered and headed toward extinction. Children were beaten for speaking their mother tongue, educated in schools that banned te reo, and surrounded by English-speaking media.This week on Polygon, were looking at how cultural differences affect media in a special issue were calling Culture Shock.As revitalization efforts ramped up in the 70s and 80s, advocates and activists placed special attention on how to bring te reo into broadcasting and education. Early revitalization successes often were tied to immersion programs with large community buy-in, places where te reo was always in the background. By 1987, the Mori Language Act gave te reo Mori the same official status as English.Today, Aotearoa has had decades of te reo Mori radio programs, newspapers, TV shows, and other broadcasting opportunities. And in the last seven years, Disney films have begun to be rereleased in te reo, both in local theaters and through Disney Plus. This effort has been led by Disneys collaboration with Matewa Media, a media organization built to contribute to te reo Mori and Indigenous stories. Matewa began when producers Chelsea Winstanley and Tweedie Waititi noticed their babies watching Moana in the background. They felt Moana, which includes Mori mythology, details, and words (moana means ocean) was a great place to begin, and audiences agreed when the te reo version came to theaters, bookings sold out within 30 minutes.So far, the collaboration has also produced te reo versions of Coco, The Lion King, Frozen, Encanto, and Moana 2, and Matewa Media is expanding outside of Disney films this March with Shrek. Disney has collaborated on Indigenous-language dubs before, from Frozen 2 in Smi to Bambi in Arapaho, but Disney Reo Mori stands out for being an ongoing collaboration, with Matewa returning year after year to adapt new cartoons. November 2024s Moana 2 also hit another milestone: For the first time, a Disney Reo Mori film was released alongside its English counterpart.Each film involves extensive localization efforts. Script translation requires translators to balance meaning, flow, timing, humor, and more. The dubs can also include dialects: Coco was translated into an East Coast dialect, Ngti Porou reo, while Frozen was adapted to the regional dialects of the South Island, Aotearoas coldest climate. Syncing these dubs to characters already animated mouths is a challenge in itself, and especially difficult because every Mori word ends in a vowel.Those adapting the films have also made efforts to ensure the local cultures depicted in the Disney films have been honored, like having voice actors take lessons in Spanish and Mexican culture with Mexican comedian Edd Rivera for Coco Reo Mori, or working with Mauricio Lozano and Hana Mereraiha on Colombian culture for Encanto Reo Mori. This gave both creators and fans opportunities to see the similarities between global cultures: Coco Reo Mori was purposefully released in time for Matariki, an Indigenous holiday that celebrates the dead, similar to Mexicos Day of the Dead as seen in Coco.Modeling suggests that currently one in five Mori and one in 25 people from Aotearoa speak te reo. Detractors have said te reo Mori is too small of a language to be important to dub, the rereleases are a taxpayer burden, and the films are a sign Disney is spoiled by added wokeness. The New Zealand Herald locked Facebook comments over racist comments related to the issue, or, as the Herald described them, the same stale, jealous, narrow-minded, no-life-having, hh, pathetic NONSENSE being spouted by people that would hijack a post about a Disney film just to have a sook.The reception for each film has gone beyond the screen, with red carpet premieres, showings across the country, and school trips for classes to see the new versions. The films join other recent releases that prioritize revitalized endangered languages, like Kneecap (Irish), Prey (Comanche), and Sooyii (Blackfoot), as well as recent originally-in-Mori films like The Convert and Ka Whawhai Tonu. To Harrison Tu, a Texan 7,000 miles away from Aotearoa, Disney Reo Mori has been a way to connect with a language despite the distance. He keeps the rereleases on in the background as a way to hear the language in daily life, in between online lessons and practice. Ive gone to sleep to their Disney soundtracks a few times, he says (they are on Spotify). Hes never seen Encanto in English, only in Spanish and soon in te reo.As Matewa Medias projects have increased in number, so has government disinvestment and suppression of te reo. The new coalition government, sworn in a year ago, is the most conservative in a generation. Since the coalition came to power, government ministries have been pressured to stop using te reo names and te reo in government communications, while cutting $30 million in funding for teachers to learn Mori, affecting 2,000 teachers and their students. Sweeping job and funding cuts have taken effect at Whakaata Mori, a government-funded Mori television channel, and an urgent inquiry brought to the Waitangi Tribunal, a commission dealing with Treaty breaches, claimed the government is doing significant irreversible harm to te reo Mori.Its constant. Weekly attacks; whether its Mori language, whether its the Tribunal, whether its any kaupapa Mori [the Mori way/approach]. Its a weekly and constant attack, Labour Party Mori development spokesperson Willie Jackson said to the Parliament press gallery. This escalated even further this past November, with the introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill, a conservative reinterpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi that opponents say deliberately excluded Mori consultation and could mean the end of the original founding treaty. In a press release, Mori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi said, This Government is waging war on our existence as Mori and on the fabric of this nation.Cultural victories are not political wins. But that doesnt mean pop culture doesnt have power. It is important to be seen on film, especially for our children, our grandchildren [] normalizing something like this is very important, said Hinetu Dell, who plays Abuela Alma, on the Encanto Reo Mori red carpet. These rereleases can act as learning tools, inspirations, and thorns in the sides of those who want to clamp down on te reo.On Mori Language Day 2024, in the capital of Aotearoa, the lights dimmed in the Light House Cuba cinema. Encanto Reo Mori began to play to a small audience of all ages. The film had no subtitles, just te reo and the resonant singing voices of Hinetu Dell, Te Waimarie Ngatai-Callaghan (Mirabel), and Poroaki Merritt-McDonald (Bruno). The dubbing was seamless, from the mouth movements to the flow of musical numbers, the film working as an entirely te reo Mori production. Some children might only know the te reo version. As Awatea Wihongi (who voices Luisa) told Pacific Media Network last year, that makes this generation lucky.

4 guidelines to design with AI inmindPhoto by Cash Macanaya onUnsplashIve been working on AI projects for a little while now, but I havent taken the time to truly reflect on how AI is reshaping my design practice. After some reflection, it has become clear that my practice is changing, and I need to continue learning and evolving. And while Im doing that, why not share what I learn along the way? So, here are 4 areas to consider as we design for thefuture.1. The Designers Superpower:Being human-focused, asking why and empathising with customers is more important thanever.The core of effective design, particularly in the age of AI, remains deeply rooted in human understanding and our abilityto:Empathise with customers: Uncover their true needs and painpoints.Differentiate the experience: Identify unique value propositions for the business and opportunities to delight and enrich customer experiencesAssess overall impact: Determine the broader consequences of design decisions.Understand user journeys: Map the highs and lows of user experiences within their ecosystems.So, where do you start? I think its the same place as always: a great problem statement. This ensures we focus on human challenges rather than technological solutions. One of my favourite ways to frame a problem statement is with the template below, which I have adapted from the Lean Ux Handbook:Our intention with [Our product/service]is to help [Specific user persona or segment] achieve [Their goals or desired outcomes]However, weve identified that [Observed behaviour, data insights, or user feedback]This results in [User impact, business impact, or operational inefficiencies]How might we address this gap and empower our customers to achieve [Desired outcomes], tracked through [success metrics]?2. Resisting the Tech FirstMindsetWhenever a new technology emerges, theres a tendency to prioritise its application more than grounding design in a humanneed.During the blockchain era, I always heard Can we put it on the blockchain? Now, with AI, I hear; How can we integrate AI into this product?While AI can be applied to virtually anything, framing challenges solely around technology leads to solutions that lack purpose. True impact comes from identifying genuine human needs and exploring how AI can effectively address them. This means going back to point 1 and focusing on being human-centred and addressing real business and customerneeds.Once you have defined a real need, here are some other interesting resources I have found useful. Google has created an overview of when and when not to useAI:ReferenceIBM has centred their AI design framework around defining the intent. This is essentially the what around using AI, and it can be used as a guiding principle to ensure alignment. They suggest selecting 12 intents and combining them with your problem statement to guide brainstorming.Reference3. Defining AIValuesEmbedding AI values ensures that the products and technology you create are aligned with the core values of the business.These values shouldreflect:Ethical Considerations: Prioritising fairness, transparency, and accountability.Human Impact: Ensuring AI enhances, rather than diminishes, the human experience.Business Alignment: Aligning AI initiatives with broader business values, privacy and security guidelines.These values should be considered throughout the product lifecycle, from research and scoping to review and iteration. Here is an example of a value alignment framework for an AI system used in a hospitalsetting:ReferenceIf you want to delve into this more, I recommend reading this article by Harvard Business Review, which contains lots of greattips.4. Diving Deeper Into Ethics andRisksEvaluating risks is essential for any project, but its considered best practice to assess the potential broader business and societal impacts of AIdesign.This involves taking the following steps:Reflect: Take a moment to review the products ethical considerations.Capture: Note potential negative implications andrisks.Iterate to Mitigate: Based on your findings, refine your product thinking and mitigaterisks.As a guide, you can use this IBM framework for evaluating primary, secondary, and tertiary effects, which is designed to help teams anticipate potential unintended consequences. Additionally, the Centre for Digital Content Technology. has published a good ethicscanvas.Drawing from ethics frameworks by organizations like UNESCO, NSW government and this research paper in Harvard Data, here are some of my guiding questions:Another resource worth exploring is IDEOs AI ethics cards, which provide great activities to prompt ethical discussions during the designprocess.ReferenceIf you are to take one thing from thisarticleDont skip the fundamentals of design thinking. Focus on solving real problems in a thoughtful, human-centred way.I hope my lessons give you fresh ideas, tools, and frameworks for designing ethically and consciously usingAI.Designing for the AI future was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If youve been on TikTok over the past few days, youve no doubt witnessed your favorite creators saying their goodbyes and telling you where you can find them next. With an impending ban on the social media app set to take effect in the U.S. on Sunday, it seems like theres little the platforms users can do except wait and hope that the Supreme Court, which heard arguments from both TikToks lawyers and the Justice Department on Friday, strikes it down. However, with TikTok now threatening to shut down altogether (though the ban would simply keep it from being listed on app stores, the company proposed taking the nuclear option) and Americans fleeing to another Chinese app as a replacement-slash-act of protest, various government officialsindependent of the Supreme Courtare looking to change course.From the outside, it all seems like a big game of chicken. First, the U.S. governmentaiming either to protect your data and national security (as it claims) or simply to pump up the American tech industry by disrupting the popular China-backed platformdemanded TikTok parent ByteDance sell the service to an American company. Then, ByteDance, not wanting to lose its cash cow, called the U.S.'s bluff and refused to sell. Now, American TikTokers are showing their reluctance to use homegrown replacements like Instagram Reels, leaving the government with a few choices: It can continue to pursue the ban and hope the public or ByteDance gets on board, or it can try to salvage the situation and delay or nix the ban so as to not further upset voters and drive them into the arms of other Chinese apps.While it's too soon to predict exactly what will happen, working to avoid the Sunday shutdown is exactly what a few key power players are doing.Biden and Trump have reportedly both changed their stancesOne of the most surprising people said to be changing their mind about a TikTok ban is President Biden, who signed it into law and has only a few days remaining in his term. Speaking to NBC News, three people familiar with the discussions indicated the Biden administration is currently working on ways to keep TikTok from going dark on Sunday.Americans shouldnt expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday, an administration official told the outlet, saying that Bidens team is exploring options to keep that from happening when the law goes into effect on Jan. 19. Its all a bit vaguecertainly a ban is exactly what we were expectingbut a White House official did clarify that the options being considered wouldnt include deferring enforcement of the ban, as the administration doesnt believe we have the authority to do that.However, this insider info has been contested by ABC, which says an administration official is now expecting the Biden administration to leave action on the TikTok ban to the incoming Trump administration.It's perhaps good news for TikTok users, then, that President Trump has already vocally expressed his opposition to the ban, and reports indicate he's ready to act to stop it. The Washington Post reports Trump is considering penning an executive order that would delay the bans enforcement by 60 to 90 days. Such an extreme measure would perhaps be Trumps only play here, as the ban is set to go into effect one day before he takes office. Trump's stance marks a similar change in attitude to President Biden's: During his first term, Trump signed an executive order that attempted to force TikTok to shut down operations in the U.S., something the company avoided by partnering with U.S.-based company Oracle to protect the data of American users.A last ditch bill to save TikTok (for now)Realistically, the most stable way to get the ban struck down, save by the Supreme Court, would be for the members of congress who voted for it to change their minds. The biggest governmental backswing weve seen on the TikTok ban so faror at least the biggest one that doesnt rely on hearsay and anonymous sourceswould be a new bill from Democratic Senator Ed Markey. Introduced this week, Markey's bill would have extended the deadline for the ban by 270 days, giving TikTok more time to find a buyer or provide lawmakers an opportunity to reevaluate the situation. Unfortunately, it was quickly struck down by Republican lawmakers, but the reasoning behind it does show that at least parts of Congress are beginning to waver.In four days, TikTok goes dark, Markey said while introducing the legislation. My bill just says, we need more time.As part of his justification for the bill, Markey argued that TikTok has been central to our economy and the way in which we communicate, arguing that the communities its creators and small businesses have established there cannot be replicated on another app.We need time to have a deeper conversation about how to address the national security risks caused by Bytedances ownership of TikTok. Markey continued. We need time to understand the bans implication on TikToks creators and users. We need time to consider alternative ideas.This bill also marked something of a change in attitude from Markey, who originally spoke out against banning the platform but nonetheless voted for the current ban anywayalthough it should be noted that the ban was included in a bill also providing aid to Ukraine and Israel.For his part, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to continue "working to keep TikTok alive," even in the face of Republican opposition.Support for the ban remainsWhile politicians across both aisles and two branches of government have now spoken about reversing or delaying the ban, some in government are sticking to their original decision.They had all the time in the world, Republican Senator Rick Scott said. Theyve had an opportunity to sell it to make sure the Chinese government doesnt control it and they decided not to do that.Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who lead the charge on blocking Markey's bill, said "We didn't pull the rug out from under TikTok, and we didn't ban it. Instead, Congress simply demanded that the app could no longer be owned and controlled by our nation's worst enemy, communist China."For now, all eyes are still on the Supreme Court. Yet even if the judicial branch upholds the ban, it seems the game of chicken might still ultimately end with TikTok continuing to operate as usual, and without a third party like Mark Zuckerberg's Meta or Microsoft holding the reins.As we wait to see how things play out, Ill join with the choir saying they would rather learn Mandarin than watch an Instagram Reel.Update 4:44 PM ET: Updated this story to reflect the current status of Senator Markey's bill, as well as a report from ABC alleging that Biden will not act to prevent the TikTok ban.

Google has told the EU it will not comply with a forthcoming fact-checking law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios. The company states that it will not be adding fact checks to search results or YouTube videos and will not use fact-checking data when ranking or removing content.Its important to note that Google has never really participated in fact-checking as part of its content moderation policies. The company did, however, invest in a European fact-checking database ahead of recent EU elections.The upcoming fact-checking requirement was originally implemented by the European Commissions new Code of Practice on Disinformation. It started as a voluntary set of self-regulatory standards to fight disinformation but will soon become mandatory.Google's global affairs president Kent Walker said the fact-checking integration "simply isn't appropriate or effective for our services" in a letter to the European Commission. The company also touted its current approach to content moderation, suggesting it did a bang-up job during last years unprecedented cycle of global elections.Google also points to a new feature added to YouTube last year that enables certain users to add contextual notes to videos, saying that it has significant potential. This program is similar to Xs Community Notes and, likely, whatever fresh hell Meta is cooking up.Walker went on to say that Google will continue to invest in current content moderation technologies, like Synth ID watermarking and AI disclosures on YouTube. We have no idea what the EU will do in response to Google once digital fact-checking practices become law.This is happening just after Meta announced it would be ending its fact-checking program in the US, so who knows if Mark Zuckerberg will comply with EU laws. X scaled back its professional fact checkers a while ago. Big tech certainly seems to have a big problem with, um, facts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-decides-it-wont-comply-with-eu-fact-checking-law-201514781.html?src=rss