The landmark recordingwhich came from a concert in Cologne, West Germany, that almost didnt happenis a work of gorgeous, stream-of-consciousness pianism.

csam meets ai Under new law, cops bust famous cartoonist for AI-generated child sex abuse images Darrin Bell won a major cartooning award in 2019. Nate Anderson Jan 17, 2025 4:08 pm | 44 Darrin Bell in happier times. Credit: Andri Tambunan | Getty Images Darrin Bell in happier times. Credit: Andri Tambunan | Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreLate last year, California passed a law against the possession or distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM) that has been generated by AI. The law went into effect on January 1, and Sacramento police announced yesterday that they have already arrested their first suspecta 49-year-old Pulitzer-prize-winning cartoonist named Darrin Bell.The new law, which you can read here, declares that AI-generated CSAM is harmful, even without an actual victim. In part, says the law, this is because all kinds of CSAM can be used to groom children into thinking sexual activity with adults is normal. But the law singles out AI-generated CSAM for special criticism due to the way that generative AI systems work."The creation of CSAM using AI is inherently harmful to children because the machine-learning models utilized by AI have been trained on datasets containing thousands of depictions of known CSAM victims," it says, "revictimizing these real children by using their likeness to generate AI CSAM images into perpetuity."The law defines "artificial intelligence" as "an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments."Acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force recently opened an investigation into 18 CSAM files being shared online. Further investigation revealed that the sharer was actually offering 134 CSAM videos, and police claim they were able to trace those files to the account of local resident and well-known cartoonist Darrin Bell.On Wednesday, police executed a warrant on Bell's home; they claim to have recovered "evidence related to the case, as well as computer-generated/AI CSAM." Bell was arrested and is being held on $1 million bail. In a statement, police noted that "this case was the first arrest by Sacramento Valley ICAC where possession of computer-generated/AI CSAM was charged against a suspect."Bell has long been a cartoonist. In 2019, he won a Pulitzer prize "for beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration."According to local coverage of the case from NBC, Bell "has said the goal of his work is for people to be more respectful of human dignity."Nate AndersonDeputy EditorNate AndersonDeputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 44 Comments

Global IT spending continues to rise, and enterprises are increasingly moving budgets to services and software away from hardware investments. This shift in spending directly influences the strategic, operational, and investment decisions of high-tech providers. To stay competitive, they must prioritize customer-centric strategies and align business goals with operations. To facilitate this, embracing as-a-service (AaS) models is vital to meet current demands and drive future growth. Yet, most providers are not equipped to adequately address the demands associated with such an enterprise change.The AaS OpportunityIntegration of AaS offerings will be crucial for companies reinvention strategies and a well-executed AaS strategy benefits both tech providers and their customers. Recent Accenture research found that executives recognize the flexibility, stability and potential growth opportunities that come along with this. We found there is a shared optimism, with a measurable confidence in generative AIs (GenAI) applications to support business transformation. In fact, 97% of executives believe that gen AI can help their companies accelerate the shift towards models that focus on annual recurring revenue (ARR) and AaS offerings and 85% think that AaS offerings will add to their revenue stream but at the expense of their current products or services.Related:Worryingly, 75% agree that legacy technology hardware companies will no longer exist unless they begin acting more like software companies. That underpins the urgency for high tech companies to reinvent themselves immediately, not plan for it somewhere down the line. The benefits are twofold, for the customer this shift provides continued and superior value year over year. Additionally, providers have registered a positive impact on long-term revenue, customer retention and overall customer lifetime value.Addressing the Roadblocks to AaS AdoptionDespite the benefits of shifting to new models, which can bridge the gap between high-tech players and their customers, our findings point to a significant confidence split among respondents. Only 50% of executives believe they can meet theirpublicly statedARR goals. Although high-tech companies have the ideal products and services that could benefit from a cloud-hosted, subscription-based model via AaS to generate recurring revenue, manyfaceinternal challenges like grappling with legacy systems and tech debt.While theres positivity around the opportunity that AaS can bring, theres also hesitation in the industry to adopt it because many executives believe AaS models might cannibalize their existing offerings. They also believe that the success of implementing these models is heavily dependent on their sales force's readiness to adopt new ways of selling. This outlook questions the preparedness of high-tech companies to adapt to such a transformation.Related:However, to maintain a competitive advantage, high-tech companies need to implement a customer-centric strategy. This is especially critical given that enterprise customers are increasingly redirecting their IT budgets to prioritize services and software, with a notable focus on software as a service (SaaS).Embracing AaS to Navigate Customer Demand and RetentionThe primary benefits of shifting to an AaS model arm high-tech providers with the ability to address modern customer expectations and overcome the limitations of traditional product lifecycles, to build lastingvalue-driven relationships. Here are the keycustomer-centric strategiesthat executives need to focus on to establish themselves as leaders in the AaS era:Pivoting from transactional to relational customer engagement:With 98% of executives acknowledging that a companys products and services define their customer relationship, products need to serve more than just one transaction in their lifecycle and should be part of an ongoing relationship with the customer base. Therefore, they should move from product-focused to subscription-based organization to create long-term revenue growth and higher customer retention.Related:Replacing legacy systems with modern IT:Modernizing IT infrastructure is centered around creating a strong digital core, which consists of a cloud infrastructure,dataand AI. This will help companies stay ahead of competitors, expeditegrowthand guarantee operational security.Shifting focus from product features to customer outcomes:Customer needs have evolved and creating a dedicated customer success function will become a critical need for high-tech companies to enable AaS adoption. Gen AI is an essential technology that can provide a more detailed customer behavior analysis and will help identify new customer needs.Recalibrating the sales force:Although executive confidence in their sales forces ability to shift from transaction based to outcome-based compensation is in the majority, training talent to accelerate adoption and preparing them to sell under the new model is critical to enabling AaS across the organization.A rapidly changingdigital landscape and evolving market dynamics requires high-tech companies to assume more agility. To that end, meeting their ARR goals will also require adopting an AaS model that prioritizes customer-centricity. By leveraging these strategies, which rely on gen AI integration and Total Enterprise Reinvention, providers can make a decided effort to future-proof their companies and ensure sustainable growth.

A tiny drone powered by soft muscle-like actuatorsKevin ChenAn insect-inspired robot that only weighs as much as a raisin can perform acrobatics and fly for much longer than any previous insect-sized drone without falling apart.For tiny flying robots to make nimble manoeuvres, they need to be lightweight and agile but also capable of withstanding large forces. Such forces mean that most tiny robots can only fly for around 20 seconds before breaking, which makes it difficult to collect enough data to properly calibrate and test the robots flying abilities. AdvertisementNow, Suhan Kim at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues have developed an insect-like flying robot about the size of a postage stamp that can execute acrobatic manoeuvres, such as double flips or tracing an infinity sign, and also hover in the air for up to 15 minutes without failing.Kim and his team adapted the design from a previous flying robot, but they made the joints more resilient by having them connect across a larger part of the robot than at just a single failure point. This reduced the force through the joints by a factor of around 100, says Kim. They also used muscle-like soft actuators to move the wings, rather than standard electric motors. The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterIf you only have 20 seconds to fly the robot before it dies, then theres not so much we can tune when we control the robot, says Kim. By having a hugely increased lifetime, we were able to work on the controller parts so that the robot can achieve precise trajectory tracking, plus aggressive manoeuvres like somersaults.This tracking meant that the robot could follow complex flight paths, like tracing letters in the air. Such manoeuvrability could eventually be used for things like artificially pollinating plants or inspecting parts of aircraft that people cant get to, says Kim.However, the robot is currently unable to fly untethered, as the team have yet to miniaturise a power source and the electronics that control it though they hope to improve this with future designs, says Kim.One aspect that often doesnt get talked much about is how long the robot would last when you fly it, says Raphael Zufferey at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who wasnt involved in the work. People have focused a lot on battery life and how autonomous we could make it, but no one really focused too much on how long it would mechanically last, and this paper really goes into that in detail.Journal reference:Science Robotics DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adp4256 Topics:robots

Democrats may need to help Republicans raise the debt ceiling this year.If that happens, Democrats aren't going to do it for free. They'll likely demand concessions.Rep. Ro Khanna, a Silicon Valley Democrat, says his party should demand a federal minimum wage hike.At some point in the next few months, Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling.For now, Republicans are planning to do it on their own. But if past is prologue, they'll probably need votes from across the aisle and Democrats are likely to demand something in return.Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, told Business Insider this week that he believes the price should be an increase in the federal minimum wage."We should force Republicans to vote on it," the California Democrat told BI.Khanna did not specify a particular level at which he'd like to raise the wage, but Democrats generally support a $15 per hour federal minimum wage. Some, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, have proposed pushing it even higher, to $17 per hour.President-elect Donald Trump said in December that he would "consider" raising the minimum wage, but several Republican lawmakers later told BI that they opposed the idea.Scott Bessent, Trump's nominee for secretary of the treasury, said at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that he does not believe the current $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage should change.It's not clear if Democrats will follow Khanna's lead, though he told BI that he would "make the case to the caucus."Minimum wage increases tend to be popular among both Democratic and Republican voters in November, several Republican-leaning states passed minimum wage hikes via ballot measures.Democrats still have to figure out their price for helping RepublicansAs of now, Republicans want to avoid handing any leverage to Democrats in the first few months of Trump's presidency. They plan to include a debt ceiling hike in a broader party-line "reconciliation" bill containing a smattering of Trump's priorities on energy, immigration, border security, and taxes.But there's a good chance that won't work, given some hardline Republicans' deep reservations about raising the debt ceiling without dramatic spending cuts. Some Republicans have never voted to raise the debt ceiling before, and in December, dozens of them openly defied Trump's call to raise the debt ceiling after Elon Musk helped tank a government funding bill.If Republicans can't do it themselves, Democrats will have the chance to make demands, lest the country breach the debt ceiling and trigger a fiscal crisis."I'm not a cheap date," Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts told BI. "The idea that we're just going to help them out when they can't get their own members to cooperate, those days are gone."Of the several House Democrats that BI spoke to, only Khanna was willing to name a specific price. Others demurred, saying they were waiting to see what negotiations would look like in the coming months, and underscoring that Democrats would have to decide on their approach collectively."The sentiment from our caucus is: If you need our help on anything, you're going to have to help us," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told BI. "All of this, I think, is subject to many of our internal conversations."Democrats could also use their leverage to try to halt the deep cuts to federal government spending that Republicans may pursue in the coming months, rather than making an affirmative policy demand."There's clearly a whole host of things that I think the caucus would have as priorities," Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle of New York told BI.

The TikTok ban seems imminent. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would spell the end of TikTok as we know it in the United States, and now all parties involved are freaking out. Influencers are fleeing to rival platforms, including Xiaohongshu, a China-based app also known as RedNote. Politicians, even the ones who initially supported the ban, are trying to delay it. TikTok employees are surely wondering what theyll do at work next week.Others, however, are wondering if a future without TikTok could actually be a great thing for America. The complete demise of TikTok would mean one of the largest social media-slash-entertainment platforms is effectively out of the picture. That would leave billions of hours of attention free and millions of people craving new content, preferably short, viral videos that are microtargeted to each individual user and continuously update the cultural zeitgeist in weird unexpected ways. Thats what made TikTok so popular in the first place. If some other upstart platform has a better idea, though, the United States is open for business. And one app falling and being replaced by another would be nothing new.This kind of innovation has driven the social media industry, like a flywheel, since its inception in the early aughts. A platform, like MySpace, becomes popular and dominates attention spans for a few years, before falling out of fashion as newer platforms, like Facebook, show up with better features. Innovation spins the wheel, but boredom, cultural shifts, and enshittification how platforms start out serving users and end up serving their own purposes slows it down again. In TikToks case, there are obviously other forces at play: geopolitics and the fickle authority of the US government. Its still unclear if the government will enforce the ban or whether TikTok might find a way to maintain an American operation. Nevertheless, if it comes to pass, the end of TikTok would not necessarily mean that hundreds of millions of its users would return to the warm embrace of Instagram or YouTube, both of whom have comparable short-form video products. In fact, millions of soon-to-be former TikTok users are joining platforms like RedNote in order to protest the TikTok ban as well as the power of Big Tech.There are a lot of reasons why RedNote probably wont become the next TikTok. Chief among them is the fact that Chinese government censors arent thrilled by the influx of American users and whatever politically sensitive content they might bring with them. Its entirely possible that these TikTok refugees will find themselves kicked off RedNote in the coming weeks.That means the race to become the next TikTok starts now. Sure, plenty of TikTok users will retreat to familiar, aging platforms owned by Meta and Google. The TikTok ban also stands to inject the decentralized network of servers known as the fediverse that powers platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon with millions more users in search of their new favorite social media app, whatever it might be. Mark Cuban even said ahead of the Supreme Court decision that he would fund a TikTok alternative built on Blueskys AT Protocol, which is an open, decentralized network for social apps. If or how that happens remains to be seen.The media landscape hasnt shifted from one medium to another, said Rebecca Rinkevich, executive director of institutes at Harvard Law Schools Berkman Klein Center. Its broken into hundreds of fragmented channels unique to every individual making the attention economy more competitive than ever. The battle for eyeballs is won with novel features and algorithmic advantages.But before we get too deep into how the intriguing and often confusing fediverse works, it helps to understand why so many people dont want to go back to Instagram.The mechanics of the TikTok ban may be an outlier in the history of social media companies lifecycles, but the disappearance of a platform can lead to better platforms emerging.Take Napster, for instance. The file-sharing app lit up college campuses in the late 1990s and early 2000s by offering access to free digital music. This upset the recording artists, who eventually sued Napster out of existence. Within a decade, though, a Swedish startup called Spotify would take over the music industry, based in part on the Napster model of peer-to-peer file sharing. Spotify was a true revelation, offering essentially infinite music at a fairly low monthly cost, which is how it came to be worth nearly $100 billion. But now Spotify is plagued with complaints about how its platform just isnt as user friendly as it used to be. Some call this platform decay. Others call it enshittification.In the words of the Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, enshittification is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. In this 2023 essay, Doctorow goes on to argue that TikTok was well on its way to enshittification, as it couldnt resist the temptation to show you the things it wants you to see, rather than what you want to see a problem, given that TikToks whole reason for being was showing you what you wanted to see. (Theres a reason its pages are called For You.) Thats why, even without the actions of Congress, TikTok couldnt be the trending, avant-garde social media platform forever. It had already fallen into a cycle we saw with MySpace, then Facebook, Instagram, YouTube basically any platform that rose to prominence on the back of its utility and popularity with users and then decayed into something less useful but more profitable. In the past couple of years, TikToks decay has shown itself in the form of pushy ads and an inescapable shopping feature.Everyone got on this platform and Instagram and YouTube initially because it offered something exciting and free and added value to their interactions online, Rory Mir of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. Over time, its been diluted by advertisements, manipulative content, and just has become a bad experience for the user.Of course, theres still a chance that TikTok will live to die another day in the United States. The law that the Congress passed last year requires the social media platforms parent company ByteDance to divest or shutter its US operations by Sunday. Apple and Google, by law, will have to stop offering TikTok in their app stores after that date. Although the app will continue to work, ByteDance wont be allowed to update it, so it will degrade over time. ByteDance, however, reportedly plans to shut down the app on the deadline, if it doesnt get a lifeline. But it might not have to. The Biden administration has said that it would not enforce the ban before Donald Trumps inauguration on Monday. Trump, who called for a TikTok ban back in 2020, is reportedly considering issuing an executive order to save TikTok soon after his inauguration, which TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will be attending. Legally, Trump probably cant do that with an executive order alone, since Congress passed the law and Biden signed it, but he could order his Department of Justice not to enforce the ban. Apple and Google could continue to let users download the app, ByteDance could keep updating it, and nobody would get fined up to $5,000 per user that can still access the app, if thats the case. And thats a big if.TikToks surprise survival, though, wouldnt halt that cycle of decay. Already millions of TikTok users were prepared to leave before the ban took effect, flooding alternative video apps like RedNote, Lemon8, and Flip. So not everyone is defaulting to watching Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and it remains to be seen if they can or would return to TikTok. They may be ready for something new.A fediverse by any other nameIf the conversation around TikTok alternatives feels familiar, thats because we had a very similar one a couple years ago, when Elon Musk bought Twitter. Many predicted that Musk would transform that platform into a right-wing echo chamber, which he did, and wanted to move their attention elsewhere. That search for a new place to post is what introduced a lot of people to the idea of the fediverse, which is a good idea with a terrible name.The fediverse is a blanket term for a new approach to social media, one that relies on open-source software and decentralized networks of servers. Heres a useful definition from David Pearce at The Verge: Its an interconnected social platform ecosystem based on an open protocol called ActivityPub, which allows you to port your content, data, and follower graph between networks.In theory, your social media followers will follow you from network to network. You could also set up a single feed that would show you content from several platforms at once. So imagine if you didnt have to pick one TikTok alternative but instead you could see Reels, Shorts, and Snaps in one place. Thats not possible because Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat are closed ecosystems. There are signs that some legacy platforms are open to a new way of doing things, though. Meta turned heads last year, when it allowed Threads users to crosspost to fediverse platforms and follow fediverse accounts. There are also a growing number of developers building more open alternatives to major platforms using fediverse-friendly protocols.Bluesky emerged as the most promising Twitter alternative last year in part because it offered users a familiar, friendly front end experience without getting into the details of protocols, servers, or fediverse principles. (Freedom from Musks politics on X probably didnt hurt either.) Bluesky basically looks like Twitter used to look. And that success laid the groundwork for similar projects. Just days before the Supreme Courts TikTok decision, a startup called Pixelfed released mobile apps for its open, decentralized photo-sharing service. Its basically Instagram but for the fediverse. Theres also one called Flashes, which is built on top of Bluesky, that came out around the same time. The interconnected social platform ecosystem fun doesnt stop with photo-sharing. The developer behind Pixelfed, Daniel Supernaul, also built a decentralized TikTok alternative called Loops. While the app hasnt been released yet, you can see where things are going: When one major platform falls out of favor or shuts down, others rush to fill the void with a new approach, unique features, or even a completely different architecture. Its still hard to say which, if any, of these fediverse projects will become the next global sensation. After all, its notoriously difficult to create the next Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok. Not only does the app have to work, but the right group of people have to come together to make it a sensation. And then you need something special.Catching a good point in time to be there when networks form is important, said Katrin Weller, a professor at GESIS Heinrich Heine University Dsseldorf. Sometimes very small changes in the technology can make a big difference.Theres so far little evidence that any of these fediverse projects have the novelty, momentum, or innovative touch to win a billion users in the next few years. Bluesky, for all its success, still has fewer than 30 million users, compared to 275 million Threads users. TikTok, by the way, says it has 170 million US users. Then again, who knows what tech will come up with next. TikTok started out as a lip-synching app for teens, only to evolve into an engine for internet culture and influence in the span of a few years. Facebook started out as a campus directory for college students and then evolved into a cesspool of misinformation that also sells VR headsets. Or maybe Elon Musk will buy TikTok, too, and fold it into X. That could really send people fleeing to the fediverse.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Nintendo has finally revealed the Switch 2, but one account claims to have the information on how powerful the system will be and the numbers may surprise youTech15:27, 17 Jan 2025The Switch 2 has been revealedYesterday afternoon, Nintendo finally revealed the Nintendo Switch 2 but left plenty of information for an upcoming Nintendo Direct on April 2.We know it'll be a hybrid system, and it'll be backward compatible while also playing Switch 2 exclusives like what appears to be a new Mario Kart. It'll also use magnetic Joy-Con, and come in a slick new black colour.One account posted on X (formerly Twitter) earlier this week about the power on offer from the handheld, and you might be surprised to find out it has at least one key rival beat while also towering over its predecessor in terms of raw numbers.Content cannot be displayed without consentAs with anything on the Switch 2 until its full reveal, you should take everything with a fistful of salt. There's no telling where these numbers have come from, after all, but as NIB posted, the Switch 2 will vastly more power than its predecessor, and actually offer more Tflops (that's teraflops, a unit of measurement for compute power) than the Steam Deck both undocked and docked.The console doesn't have as much power as the ASUS ROG Ally though, apparently, but is closing in on a PS4's level of power while undocked, and blasts past it when docked.It's sure to please fans that have become accustomed to getting lesser versions of multiplatform games on Switch due to the console's much lower level of graphical grunt, and if it's true, could hopefully mean Switch 1 games will run much better (we're still not ready to go back to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet yet).Other leaks for the Switch 2's software lineup include one AAA third-party game making the jump, while other leaks have suggested the new console can run Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Metal Gear Solid Delta the latter of which still doesn't have a release date on any platform.We'll find out more on April 2, with the console getting a deeper dive. We're expecting Nintendo will showcase games, the hardware's capabilities, and give us that all-important price and release date.Don't forget, you can get hands on with it early here's how.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.RECOMMENDED

In just under a week, the nextStar Trek project arrives in the form ofSection 31, a streaming movie starring Michelle Yeoh diving into the titular black ops organizationone that, at least in all the footage weve seen so far, puts an emphasis on the glitz and glam of secret agent work. Theres action, theres dazzling costumes, theres even, perhaps most surprisingly in the context of it all, direct Federation oversight, like a co-worker with a stick up their ass whos here to stop you from having fun. Its no wonder then that some Star Trek fans are concerned about just whatSection 31 really thinks its namesake isand perhaps even a few of its stars are concerned about that. Im terrified of how its going to be received, because its not the Trekpeople want. TheTrekthat people want, theTrekthat we all want, is just 1,000 more episodes ofTNG, Rob Kazinsky, who plays the cybernetically enhanced Zeph in the film, recently told SFX Magazine. Everyones always furious that theyre not getting more TNG, whilst at the same time, whenTNGcame out, everybody hated it.So this is going to come along and its not going to feel like anyTrekthat theyve ever seen. Paramount But when it comes to theStar Trek that people wantespecially a Star Trek grappling with the idea of Section 31 as its primary focusperhaps The Next Generation shouldnt be the example we turn to. To get a real perspective on Section 31s role inStar Trek, and its paradoxical existence as the necessary evil that destroys its utopia, we need only look back at the show that gave it to us in the first place: Deep Space Nine. Crucially, in the set-up before that introduction, DS9 had whisked us and Dr. Julian Bashir, the character who takez on the thrust of its arc with Section 31, on another journey in Our Man Bashir. Its a James Bond pastiche that put Bashir at the center of a glitzy, glamorous, and all-together kitschy love letter to classic spy-fi. In Our Man Bashir, spycraft is sexy, elegant, and filled with action. Bashir gets to be the unabashed hero of his holosuite programtheres gorgeous retro costumes, casinos and glamour, clear-cut villains with comically dastardly plots to take over the world. Even with Garakan actual former spy, one that Bashir has always been obsessed with cracking the secrets oftagging along in Bashirs adventure to playfully remind him just how unlike actual spywork this all is, its an episode celebrating cinematic spycraft as we know and love it. Even with the dramatic quandaries that it plays with (its a classic Trek trope, the holodeck-gone-wrong scenario with a die in the game, die in real life element to boot), its an episode that almost vindicates Bashirs romanticized dream of what being a spy is entirely, even when hes forced to save the actual day by losing at his fantasy.Two seasons later, DS9 introduced Section 31 in its sixth season in Inquisition, when Bashir is targeted by the organization as a potential recruit at the height of its story arc thrusting the galaxy into chaos with the outbreak of the Dominion War. At this point, the show had already done much to penetrate the harsh reality of what Captain Sisko had once described early on in DS9s tenure of it being easy to be a saint in paradise, examining just how Starfleet and the Federation at large responded when confronted with interstellar conflict on an unprecedented scale. If Our Man Bashir had treated Garaks side-jabs about the reality of spywork as a joke for Bashir to ignore, Inquisition makes them the thrust of its text: from the get-go, Section 31 is presented as an antithesis of everything Bashir and the rest of DS9s crew hold dear. Paramount The work Agent Sloane does, even just to the extent of what he goes through just to try and recruit Bashir, is invasive and unglamorous. Sloane himself, the embodiment of Section 31 as we come to know it, is burdened with a sense of paranoia that cuts against anything wed expect of a Starfleet official, black ops or otherwise. Bashir is not excited to discover Section 31 exists, but is downright horrifiedand his immediate response, as is the rest of the crews, is to attempt to destroy it entirely, either through bringing it into the light or, as Sisko ultimately suggests to him at the end of the episode, to work on undermining it from within. Over the course of Section 31s remaining appearances across DS9the direct follow up to Inquisition, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, which sours Bashir and the show at large on Section 31 even further, and the trippier Extreme Measuresthe argument Sloane presents of the organization as a necessary evil is never considered as a viable conclusion by either the show or our protagonists. If anything, Section 31 becomes as much as an antagonist in its appearance as the Dominion themselves are, an existential threat to the very moral fiber of Star Trek. This is no more telling perhaps not in the follow up Section 31 episodes, but in the episode that aired directly after its introduction: the iconic In the Pale Moonlight, creating a killer one-two punch. If Inquisition introduced the idea of a formal apparatus to spycraft within the Federation, In the Pale Moonlight is about the very act of spycraft itselfthe wetworks, the conspiracy, the subterfuge that is inherent to its grim reality. Again, this is nothing like the romance DS9 had with the genre in Our Man Bashir, the road to hell Captain Sisko goes down with Garak in In the Pale Moonlight is one constantly shown to us as repugnant, not just for the acts taken along it, but for the moral decay that work acts upon Sisko and on Star Trek itself. The ultimate horror of In the Pale Moonlight isnt that Sisko is accessory to an assassination that brings the Romulans into the war against the Dominion, guaranteeing the deaths of millions more as it wages on in the name of saving billions more from the Federations potential defeat. Its that, as he grimly says to camera recording the personal log he knows hes about to delete, he can live with the cost that has on his soul. The episode ends with the Romulans formal declaration of war on the Dominion, which is what Sisko wanted, but it never considers that this is a victory within the narrative: there is no good ending to the actual reality of espionage outside of a holoprograms fantasy. Deep Space Nine might have thrown the bomb in the first place by giving us the existence of Section 31, but it understood the danger of wielding such a weapon in the first placebecause it already laid out to its audience and to its characters alike that the fantasy of a top-secret spy organization in Star Treks universe was nothing more than that, and that its reality was something far, far uglier to comprehend. If theSection 31 movie wants to avoid this fear of being seen as not being the Trek that people want, then it has to understand this too. Otherwise, unlike Sisko, it cannot learn to live with presenting an idle fantasy, and nothing more. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

BEEAH Headquarters / Zaha Hadid ArchitectsSave this picture! Hufton+CrowOffice BuildingsSharjah, United Arab EmiratesArchitects: Zaha Hadid ArchitectsYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Hufton+CrowManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: KEIM, UniFor, Grohe Productstranslation missing: en-US.post.svg.material_descriptionMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. BEEAH Group's new headquarters in Sharjah, UAE, was opened on Wednesday, March 30 by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah. Powered by its solar array and equipped with next-generation technologies for operations at LEED Platinum standards, the new headquarters has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) to achieve net-zero emissions and will be the group's management and administrative centre that sets a new benchmark for future workplaces.Save this picture!Save this picture!With their twin-pillared strategy of sustainability and digitalisation, BEEAH Group works across six key industries that include waste management and recycling, clean energy, environmental consulting, education and green mobility.Save this picture!Save this picture!The headquarters is the latest milestone for BEEAH Group as it continues to pioneer innovations for Sharjah and across the globe, establishing a base of operations for the group to diversify into new, future-critical industries. With their new headquarters, BEEAH demonstrates how technology can scale sustainable impact and ultimately serve as a blueprint for tomorrow's smart, sustainable cities.Save this picture!Embodying these principles, the headquarters' design responds to its environment as a series of interconnecting 'dunes' orientated and shaped to optimize local climatic conditions. Embedded within its context of Sharjah's Al Sajaa desert, the design echoes the surrounding landscape shaped by prevailing winds into concave sand dunes and ridges that become convex when they intersect.Save this picture!Ensuring all internal spaces are provided with ample daylight and views while limiting the quantity of glazing exposed to the harsh sun, the headquarters' two primary 'dunes' house the public and management departments together with the administrative zone that interconnect via a central courtyard, defining an oasis within the building which is integral to its natural ventilation strategy.Save this picture!Visitors enter beneath the 15-metre high dome which further enhances natural ventilation and allows passive daylight to enter the building. In addition to the central courtyard and open-plan office, the headquarters incorporates smart meeting rooms, an immersive visitors centre, and an auditorium.Save this picture!The 9,000 sq. m BEEAH Headquarters has sustainability at its core with a high percentage of locally procured materials and is equipped with future-ready technologies to enable operations at LEED Platinum standards with net-zero emissions and minimal energy consumption.Glass reinforced fibre panels reduce solar gain while slab and glass cooling regulate interior temperatures for optimum comfort. On-site water treatment filtrates waste water to minimise consumption and its solar farm charges Tesla battery packs to meet the building's energy demand throughout each day and night.Save this picture!The employee experience includes contactless pathways, a virtual concierge, smart meeting rooms and a companion app that automates day-to-day tasks. The building's smart management system automatically adjusts lighting and temperature depending on occupancy and time of day. The rooms are also equipped for remote and hybrid work scenarios with powerful collaboration tools.Save this picture!Manifesting BEEAH's twin pillars of sustainability and digitalisation, the new headquarters by ZHA is an important achievement for BEEAH Group, signalling its growth from a company founded to proactively tackle environmental issues in Sharjah, UAE, to an international group with businesses in industries that are critical to realising a sustainable future.Save this picture!Following the 2013 international design competition, Zaha Hadid and her team at Zaha Hadid Architects were commissioned by BEEAH to design their new headquarters that would realise net-zero emissions and be integrated with next generation technologies to achieve a new standard for employee convenience and collaboration.Save this picture!ZHA delivered the BEEAH Headquarters in collaboration with sustainability engineers and consultants Atelier Ten and Buro Happold, project managers Matthews Southwest, construction contractor Al Futtaim Construction, and MEP engineers Al Futtaim Engineering. Smart building technologies by Microsoft, Johnson Controls and EVOTEQ, a BEEAH Digital venture.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Sharjah - United Arab EmiratesLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officePublished on January 17, 2025Cite: "BEEAH Headquarters / Zaha Hadid Architects" 17 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/979479/beeha-headquarters-zaha-hadid-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save?BEEAH / You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

SummaryThis podcast episode discusses the new features and workflow improvements for visual effects (VFX) artists in Unreal Engine 5. The discussion covers key changes, including Nanite virtualized geometry, Lumen global illumination, Niagara enhancements, and Chaos physics and destruction. The episode also explores how these new features streamline the VFX workflow, offering faster iteration, enhanced particle systems, real-time feedback, and seamless integration with gameplay. Finally, the discussion highlights practical examples of using these features in projects, such as explosions, destruction simulations, fluid effects, and procedural sounds. The podcast concludes with a look toward the future of VFX in Unreal Engine 5, discussing potential advancements in simulations, procedural workflows, and virtual production integration.