Firefighting planes are dumping water from the ocean on the Los Angeles fires, but using saltwater is typically a last resort.

Some M4 Mac mini owners are discovering USB-C issues with their new desktops, with peripherals disconnecting seemingly at random.M4 Mac miniUSB is a fairly resilient technology, with the expectation that things connected using it will typically remain functional for a very long time, outside of external effects. However, it seems that in a small number of cases, USB-C connections on the M4 Mac mini are problematic.Various Internet posts uncovered by AppleInsider reveal that users are undergoing similar problems. They generally consist of hardware connected using USB-C suddenly disconnecting and becoming unusable, or not connecting in the first place. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Canoo announced yesterday it is ceasing operations immediately and that it has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware. The EV startup estimates in its filing that its assets are worth $126 million and that it owes over $164 million to its creditors, TechCrunch noted yesterday.Now, the US will appoint a Bankruptcy Trustee to oversee the liquidation of the Companys assets and the distribution of proceeds to creditors, Canoo writes. The company says it chose to file after failing to get support from either the US Department of Energys Loan Programs Office or foreign investors. Canoo had signaled its dire situation last month when it idled its Oklahoma operations and put its employees on a mandatory unpaid break. Before that, it had lost a steady stream of executives, including all of its founders.RelatedWe are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did, Canoo chairman and CEO Tony Aquila said in the announcement before thanking various government and business entities Canoo has dealt with. Those dealings have included producing shuttles for NASAs Artemis crew and an agreement to build 4,500 electric delivery vans for Walmart.

The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of generative AI systems across various domains have increased the critical importance of AI red teaming for evaluating technology safety and security. While AI red teaming aims to evaluate end-to-end systems by simulating real-world attacks, current methodologies face significant challenges in effectiveness and implementation. The complexity of modern AI systems, with their expanding capabilities across multiple modalities including vision and audio, has created an unprecedented array of potential vulnerabilities and attack vectors. Moreover, integrating agentic systems that grant AI models higher privileges and access to external tools has substantially increased the attack surface and potential impact of security breaches.Current approaches to AI security have revealed significant limitations in addressing both traditional and emerging vulnerabilities. Traditional security assessment methods mainly focus on model-level risks while overlooking critical system-level vulnerabilities that often prove more exploitable. Moreover, AI systems utilizing retrieval augmented generation (RAG) architectures have shown susceptibility to cross-prompt injection attacks, where malicious instructions hidden in documents can manipulate model behavior and facilitate data exfiltration. While some defensive techniques like input sanitization and instruction hierarchies offer partial solutions, they cannot eliminate security risks due to the fundamental limitations of language models.Researchers from Microsoft have proposed a comprehensive framework for AI red teaming based on their extensive experience testing over 100 generative AI products. Their approach introduces a structured threat model ontology designed to systematically identify and evaluate traditional and emerging security risks in AI systems. The framework encompasses eight key lessons from real-world operations, ranging from fundamental system understanding to integrating automation in security testing. This methodology addresses the growing complexity of AI security by combining systematic threat modeling with practical insights derived from actual red teaming operations. The approach emphasizes the importance of considering both system-level and model-level vulnerabilities.The operational architecture of Microsofts AI red teaming framework uses a dual-focus approach targeting both standalone AI models and integrated systems. The framework distinguishes between cloud-hosted models and complex systems that incorporate these models into various applications like copilots and plugins. Their methodology has evolved significantly since 2021 expanding from security-focused assessments to include comprehensive responsible AI (RAI) impact evaluations. The testing protocol maintains a rigorous coverage, of traditional security concerns, including data exfiltration, credential leaking, and remote code execution, while simultaneously addressing AI-specific vulnerabilities.The effectiveness of Microsofts red teaming framework has been shown through a comparative analysis of attack methodologies. Their findings challenge conventional assumptions about the necessity of complex techniques, revealing that simpler approaches often match or exceed the effectiveness of complex gradient-based methods. The research highlights the superiority of system-level attack approaches over model-specific tactics. This conclusion is supported by real-world evidence showing that attackers typically exploit combinations of simple vulnerabilities across system components rather than focusing on complex model-level attacks. These results emphasize the importance of adopting a holistic security perspective, that considers both AI-specific and traditional system vulnerabilities.In conclusion, researchers from Microsoft have proposed a comprehensive framework for AI red teaming. The framework developed through testing over 100 GenAI products provides valuable insights into effective risk evaluation methodologies. The combination of a structured threat model ontology with practical lessons learned offers a robust foundation for organizations developing their own AI security assessment protocols. These insights and methodologies provide essential guidance for addressing real-world vulnerabilities. The frameworks emphasis on practical, implementable solutions positions it as a valuable resource for organizations, research institutions, and governments working to establish effective AI risk assessment protocols.Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our65k+ ML SubReddit.(Promoted) Sajjad Ansari+ postsSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)

According to Mark Gurmans Power On newsletter, Apple is not working on a new version of its AirPort wireless router. However, they are working on something else that could potentially serve as a wireless access point, so dont give up hope quite yet.Late last year, we got some new information regarding Apples in-house wireless networking chip, dubbed Proxima. So far, we know this chip will go in a number of home related products, including the Apple TV and HomePod. Itll also show up in iPhone 17 and Mac models later on.One interesting thing about this new chip is that its apparently sophisticated enough that Apple could choose to turn it into a wireless router:The Proxima chip is so sophisticated that it couldtheoreticallyturn a home device like an Apple TV box or HomePod into a wireless access point. Google has released products like this before, including a mixed Wi-Fi router and smart speaker.Gurman notes that the wireless features of these upcoming Apple TV and HomePods wouldnt be a highlight at all, if Apple even chooses to enable wireless access point functionality at all.I think an Apple Airport with a NAS is greatly welcomed. Integration with Matter would be awesome. Another reason would be the privacy trust that we would get with Apple. With all the trust news with manufacturers like TPLINK, I think having something I could trust would be nice. View all commentsEither way, its cool to know that it is possible. If Apple wanted to, we could have an Apple-designed wireless access point, similar to the AirPort Express, in our lives once again. Many have dreamed of this, especially since Apples AirPort lineup was discontinued so long ago. Apple released the last AirPort device in 2013.What do you think of the possibility of new Apple wireless access points? Let us know in the comments.Some great Apple accessories for the holiday season:Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Amazon is still hard at work in its efforts to realize an AI-powered Alexa digital assistant.As the Financial Times reports, the tech giant still has to sort out "several technical hurdles" before rolling out the long-awaited feature. One of them, according to Amazon AI team lead Rohit Prasad, is solving the pesky issue of "hallucinations" an industry term denoting the non-factual hallucinations that large language models often spit out, to the chagrin of many companies attempting to commercialize the tech."Hallucinations have to be close to zero," Prasad told the FT.The issue? That's far easier said than done. Despite billions of dollars of investment and the construction of massive data centers to power increasingly complex AI models, even the most advanced chatbots still have a strong tendency to "hallucinate" false claims.Some experts have long argued that the issue might be intrinsic to the tech itself. In other words, hallucinations may always be a part of the equation an unfortunate reality that tech companies are unlikely to admit, especially in the face of all of generative AI's buzz right now."Theyre really just sort of designed to predict the next word," Anthropic cofounder and president Daniela Amodeitold the Associated Press back in 2023. "And so there will be some rate at which the model does that inaccurately."Meanwhile, tech companies that have invested astronomical sums in the tech's development are attempting to sweep the topic of hallucinations under the rug, insisting that it's only a matter of time until the issue is solved.Some companies, like Microsoft, believe that more AI could be the answer. The company unveiled a tool last year that uses AI to evaluate the outputs of other models, though experts have warned that the strategy may be inherently flawed."Trying to eliminate hallucinations from generative AI is like trying to eliminate hydrogen from water," University of Washington PhD candidate Os Keyes told TechCrunch last year. "Its an essential component of how the technology works."Amazon is several years behind the competition when it comes to releasing a generative AI-powered personal assistant. That's despite having worked on an Alexa redesign since late 2022, according to the FT.The long delay highlights just how difficult it is to overcome the issue of hallucinations if it's indeed possible.So far, Alexa's capabilities remain severely limited compared to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, only helping users with simple tasks like changing the music or starting timers.Making matters even more difficult is the fact that keeping AI assistants running while getting "billions of requests a week," according to Prasad, can become extremely expensivedue to the tech's power-hungry and highly energy-inefficient nature.That means turning the assistant into a money maker, even with a rumored $10 monthly subscription fee, could prove difficult.And it's not just Amazon. Apple's Siri home assistant is also set to get an AI-powered revamp. But the tech giant is giving itself until 2026 to release it,and in the meantime, Apple had to halt an AI news summary feature this week after it consistently spread hallucinated fake news to millions of iPhone users for over a month.The stakes are high for the likes of Amazon and Apple: unleashing a hallucinating assistant inside your home and giving it access to data from other internet-connected devices, such as smart doorbells or security cameras, could prove disastrous.More on Alexa: Amazon Horrified by What People Actually Use Alexa ForShare This Article

OnTheGoSystems is building internet products used by millions. Were looking for a Graphic Designer to shape the visual design of our web content and user interfaces. Your work will be seen and loved by thousands every day.How You'll WorkYoull join our Design team and collaborate on product development and content creation. All visual design tasks will go through you. We work in sprints, so you can focus on one project at a time to deliver creative, pixel-perfect designs. Since we work remotely, we need someone who is self-driven and works well independently.ResponsibilitiesDevelop and maintain a cohesive visual identity for our products, including WPML, PTC, and internal systems.Create marketing materials such as web pages, templates, social media posts, and newsletters.Collaborate with UX designers to produce sleek, user-friendly interfaces.Work with product teams to ensure your designs are implemented as intended.Must-Have Skills5+ years of experience as a graphic designer.A strong portfolio showcasing UI, web design, branding, and marketing materials.Proficiency in tools like Figma, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD), or equivalents.Advanced knowledge of HTML/CSS and web design principles, including responsive design.What It Takes to Succeed RemotelyAbility to work independently, take initiative, and manage multiple projects.Excellent communication and collaboration skills in a remote team.Strong attention to detail and an eye for aesthetics.What We Offer100% remote position.Body and Mind Movement (BAMM) program to support your physical activities and hobbies.A computer budget to enhance your workspace.A Kindle device with access to our companys Amazon account.Paid national holidays in your country.Opportunity to work with smart, self-driven individuals in a global team.Career growth and advancement opportunities.If youre ready to make an impact and work in a company that values innovation and teamwork, apply today! Related Jobs See more Design jobs

See at ESPN Watch La Liga soccer in the US from $11 a month ESPN Plus See at ESPN See more details See at ExpressVPN Best VPN for streaming ExpressVPN See at ExpressVPN See more details See at Itv Watch La Liga fooball in the UK for free ITV See at Itv See more details See at Premiersports Watch La Liga in the UK from 8 Premier Sports See at Premiersports See more details See at TSN Carries La Liga matches live TSN Plus See at TSN See more details See at BeIn Sports Watch La Liga games from AU$15 per month BeIn Sports See at BeIn Sports See more details Table of Contents After a week of cup triumphs, Barcelona will be looking to translate that form to the league as they take on struggling Getafe on Saturday in La Liga.Hansi Flick's side followed up their scintillating win over Real Madrid last weekend in the Spanish Super Cup with a routine 5-1 drubbing of Real Betis in the Copa Del Rey on Wednesday. Now attention returns to their faltering La Liga campaign, with Bara currently in third place and 6 points off leaders Atltico Madrid, following back-to-back defeats to Leganes and Atltico.They face a Getafe side that currently finds themselves just 3 points outside of the relegation zone in 15th. While boasting the third-best defensive record in the league, Jos Bordals' men have struggled to score this term. They've hit the back of the net just 13 times in their 19 games so far.Getafe take on Barcelona at the Estadio Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 18. Kickoff is set for9 p.m. CET local time, making it a3 p.m. ET and 12 p.m. PT start in the US, a 8 p.m. GMT start in the UK and a 7 a.m. AEDTSunday kickoff in Australia.Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the game as it happens, wherever you are in the world. Lamine Yamal was among those on the scoresheet in Barcelona's convincing 5-1 win over Real Betis in the Copa Del Rey in midweek. David Ramos/Getty Images How to watch Getafe vs. Barcelona in the US without cableThis match is available to stream in the US via ESPN Plus, which has live English and Spanish-language broadcast rights for La Liga in the States. ESPN Plus ESPN's standalone streaming service costs $11 a month or $110 for an annual subscription.Read our ESPN Plus review. See at ESPN How to watch La Liga from anywhere with a VPNIf you find yourself unable to view La Liga matches locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this. Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. James Martin/CNET 2024 Latest Tests DNS leaks detected, 25% speed loss in 2024 testsNetwork 3,000 plus servers in 105 countriesJurisdiction British Virgin Islands ExpressVPN isour current best VPN pickfor people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month.Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 61% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months) See at ExpressVPN Livestream Getafe vs. Barcelona in the UK Saturday's match at is one of a select number of La Liga games being shown live this season by free-to-air broadcaster ITV.Coverage begins on ITV4 at 7:30 p.m. GMT ahead of the 8 p.m. GMT kickoff. That also means you'll be able to stream the game online via the network's online ITVX service. ITV As the match is being broadcast on ITV4, that means you'll also have the option of watching the game online for free via the network's on-demand streaming service, ITVX (formerly ITV Hub).The service has an updated app that's available for Android and Apple mobile devices, as well as many smart TVs. See at Itv La Liga broadcast rights in the UK are also with Premier Sports, which will be showing a minimum of five live matches per week from Spain's top league on its Premier Sports 1 and 2 channels, as well as its dedicated La Liga platform. This match will be shown on La LigaTV. Premier Sports A subscription to just Premier Sports' dedicated La Liga channel costs 8 a month.You can also get the channel via a full subscription to Premier Sports, giving you access to all of the networks' channels, which have the UK broadcast rights to Scottish Premiership matches, BKT United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup rugby, plus NHL and NASCAR.A full Premier Sports subscription costs 10 per month for Sky and Virgin TV customers. You can also get Premier Sports through Amazon Prime Video as an add-on for 15 a month. See at Premiersports Livestream Getafe vs. Barcelona in CanadaTSN is the rights holder for live coverage of La Liga matches in the region, with select fixtures being shown on its linear channels and a wider selection of games being shown on its TSN Plus streaming platform. This match is set to be shown on TSN Plus. TSN TSN Plus is a direct-streaming service that costs CA$8 a month and also offers coverage of PGA Tour Live golf, NFL games, F1, NASCAR and the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. See at TSN Livestream Getafe vs. Barcelona in AustraliaFooty fans down under can watch La Liga fixtures live on BeIn Sports, which holds the live broadcast rights in Australia for Spanish top-flight matches. This match is set to be shown on BeIn Sports 2. BeIn Sports BeIn Sports is available in Australia for AU$15 a month or a yearly commitment of AU$130. See at BeIn Sports Quick tips for streaming La Liga using a VPNWith four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming La Liga matches may vary.If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.If you're having trouble getting the game after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.Remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommendBrave.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets a PSSR upgrade on PS5 Pro - and image quality is much improvedThe most glaring issues addressed, but there's still work to be done.Image credit: Respawn Entertainment Face-off by Oliver Mackenzie Contributor Published on Jan. 18, 2025 After some impressive upgrades to PS5 Pro games with the implementation of PSSR machine learning-based upscaling, post-launch issues started to emerge and several games we tested exhibited some serious issues. Foremost amongst them was Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, where RT upgrades were marred by foliage strobing so bad, we had no idea how the patch escaped quality control.Other affected games have since added FSR toggles or reverted to standard upscaling, but Jedi: Survivor is intriguing in that a different approach has been taken. Developer Respawn says it has implemented the latest version of PSSR and having reviewed the latest patch, we can confirm that there are genuine improvements.Looking at the performance mode first, the pulsing and strobing effects are much, much improved - and mostly gone. The notorious river run, which previously looked pretty disastrous, now presents much more cleanly and there is some suggestion that Respawn has put in additional effort to get this area into shape. While there are improvements, some PSSR issues persist, with a persistent noise on opaque geometry, while bizarrely, an unwanted vignetting effect is now present on the edge of the screen.A new look at Jedi: Survivor on PS5 Pro - and it has been improved!Watch on YouTubeThe improvements are clear, however, and do seem to be down to PSSR and further tweaks from the developer. One route forward for boosting quality would have been to increase resolution, but in our tests, the pixel counts remain much the same and performance is still solid - so there hasn't been a 'brute force' attempt to increase quality in that way.There are still issues to address, however, tied more closely to PSSR's ongoing evolution. We have to remind ourselves that PSSR is still a first generation product that will evolve and improve over time. The instability, break-up and noise problems stand in stark contrast to the older CNN version of Nvidia DLSS, for example, though in our head-to-head comparisons, PSSR does seem to present more sharply in motion.We also took a look at the quality mode in the game, which targets 30fps and while the downgrade to frame-rate is obvious, the improvements to resolution make the 4K output from PSSR more convincing - though still some way short of the standard set by DLSS at a similar internal resolution. This mode generally looks fine - with no vignetting problems - though again, there are some issues such as 'black holes' in the ray-traced global illumination. This issue was there in the last patch, but it hasn't been addressed and if anything, seems to present more frequently than it did before.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Ultimately, there's the sense of general improvement - especially in the performance mode - and that's good news. Jedi: Survivor is in reasonable shape overall now, even if we aren't seeing the kind of night and day improvement over FSR 2 upscaling we were hoping for from PSSR when upscaling from lower pixel counts. This is clearly an ongoing project for Sony and we wonder how much the recently announced Amythest collaboration between PlayStation and AMD will yield benefits. We saw FSR 4 at CES 2025 and we were genuinely impressed with the Radeon team's 'AI Research Project'.Beyond Jedi: Survivor, we've seen a number of games address their own PSSR problems by either reverting to other upscaling solutions (the Silent Hill 2 remake went back to Epic's TSR for its performance mode) or offering the ability to choose between FSR and PSSR, as seen in Alan Wake 2, Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws. Will these - and other affected games - update with the latest version of PSSR? We'll report back if they do.

Making a Castle Ruins Environment in Blender By That3DGuy on January 18, 2025 Behind the Scenes Join That3DGuy as he walks us through the creation process of his Castle Ruins scene.I find blender to be an amazing tool for Concept art. I wanted to showcase how i created these Castle Ruins in Blender.I showcase the variety of techniques used to create the Ruins : I used the blender modeling tools create a Blockout and use booleans cut into the models. After I Blockout the ruins, I use dynamic Topology to sculpt further details. Then using masking tools, I texture the ruins. I also cover the process for the rest of the scene and especially the emphasis of introducing story into your artworks to elevate them further. You can check out video here!