This impressive commercial block is prominently sited atthe corner of Beach and South streetsin BostonsLeather District, a wonderful enclave of late 19th and early 20th century mercantile buildings, historically centered around the leather and shoe-making industries. Like many in this block, the building was developed by the Faxon Brothers, some of the major developers of this district and areas of Quincy. Also like many other buildings in the Leather District, the block was designed by 1886 in the Romanesque Revival style, constructed of brick and brownstone with a clipped corner and Syrian arches and an oculus window at the fifth floor. The building was designed by relatively unknown architect,John H. Besarickand today houses professional offices.

Tommy Lee Walker - stock.adobe.cNewsTelehouse research highlights UK knowledge gap about what datacentres doDespite the governments efforts to champion the datacentre sector as a critical component of the countrys future growth, research shows the general public is largely unaware of what server farms are and what they doByCaroline Donnelly,Datacentre Editor Published: 20 Jan 2025 12:45 Despite the government repeatedly hyping up the importance of the datacentre market to the UK economy, research shows the general public remains largely unaware of the important role server farms play in their everyday lives.A poll of 2,000 UK consumers by colocation company Telehouse, geared towards uncovering how much awareness there is of datacentres in the general population, revealed that more than half of respondents (51%) had never heard of the term.When questioned further, 67% of respondents said they did not know what a datacentre was, nor what it did, which Telehouse said highlights a significant lack of awareness about their critical role in powering daily digital life.While 48% of respondents believe datacentres positively impact the digital services they use at home and work, such as video streaming and online shopping, there remains a substantial knowledge gap about the scale and scope of datacentre operations, the company said.To reiterate this further, the company said its research also showed that nearly half of respondents (43%) had no idea about the number of people, applications and data supported by datacentres in the UK.The lack of public appreciation for datacentres may be traced back to the fact that operators have previously gone to great lengths to keep the location of their sites under wraps for security purposes with this veil of secrecy affording clients data an extra level of protection.The fact the sector operates largely under the radar has been cited as a reason why operators have struggled to fill roles and replace workers who have reached retirement age. It has also previously been flagged as a factor in why the industry has sometimes struggled to get its needs and wants catered for during government policy and regulatory changes.Read more about datacentresThe UK government has unveiled its 50-point AI action plan, which commits to building sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities and accelerating AI datacentre developments - but questions remain about the viability of the plansLabour government has wasted no time in lowering planning permission barriers to new datacentre builds, with its disclosure that two previously denied projects are being placed under review.The latter situation has progressively improved over the course of the past five years or so, with datacentre employees acknowledged as key workers by the government during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.Since coming to power in July 2024, the Labour government has also taken steps to elevate the status of the datacentre market further by committing to lowering the planning barriers to new developments, and reclassifying datacentres as Critical National Infrastructure.Even so, Telehouse said its research shows there is a need for the public to be better educated about the critical role that datacentres play in keeping the countrys increasingly digital economy ticking over.In response, the company has launched an education drive to help the general public build their knowledge of what the sector does, and learn more about datacentres and their significance to everyday life.The company has also committed to offering apprenticeships and work experience opportunities to young people in the datacentre market, and said it intends to advocate for more educational programmes focused on datacentre technologies in schools and universities.Mark Pestridge, executive vice-president and general manager at Telehouse Europe, said: We realise theres a significant knowledge gap regarding datacentres and their impact on digital lives [and] we hope to educate people about the critical work done in datacentres and inspire our future generations to consider careers in this field.We also hope that bridging this knowledge divide may be key to increasing trust in the digital infrastructure that underpins our connected lives, he saidIn The Current Issue:Interview: Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer, NatWest Retail BankPreparing for AI regulation: The EU AI ActDownload Current IssueData engineering - DataStax: Building the Gen-AI stack, how to plan ahead CW Developer NetworkRiverlane points to 2025 as year of quantum CW Developer NetworkView All Blogs

Castlevania NocturneNetflixNetflix has had a run of at least a few somewhat decent shows as of late, with mid-range ratings for American Primeval and the new season of XO Kitty. Squid Game was higher than both, but came in lower than season 1 of that series. But there is a new 100% scored show from critics that is being overlooked by the general audience base.That would be Castlevania Nocturne season 2, the sequel series to the original Castlevania anime, one of the first pieces of media to break the famed all video game adaptations are bad curse, even before Sonic the Hedgehog movies came on the scene (now more recently, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Arcane, The Last of Us and Fallout).Castlevania Nocturne is a show critics really like. Season 1 had a stellar 96% score, while season 2 now has a perfect 100% score. Castlevania NocturneRotten TomatoesSeason 1 ran into more controversy with fans with a dismal 47% audience score, with complaints about it not being faithful to the series with at least some amount of it went woke comments. But season 2 does not seem to have upset anyone nearly as much, as either those negative viewers tuned out, or it really did make things a lot better to achieve a now-fantastic 93% for season 2.MORE FOR YOUBut unlike Arcane or Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Castlevania Nocturne has not been near the top of Netflixs top 10 list. It debuted below #5 and has already sunk to tenth place. By tomorrow it will likely be off the list entirely.Is Castlevania Nocturne really that good? I did like season 1, but not as much as the original, certainly, despite similar scores. Season 1 of the original Castlevania series got an 83% from critics, which seems too low, but seasons 2, 3 and 4 got a 100%, 95% and 100% respectively. Fewer critics watch these shows than other, non-animated Netflix series, but the ones that do really enjoy it. And for the most part, outside of Nocturne season 1, fans do as well.We dont know yet of Castlevania Nocturne will get a season 3 or not, though the end of season 2 certainly demands one. Id say Netflix usually is a bit more lenient when it comes to animated projects going the distance, as they renew most. High profile ones like Edgerunners and Arcane, but also ones that garner less attention, like the recently-released Tomb Raider which garnered a deserved season 2, despite not landing terribly high on the charts. In short, Nocturne seems like a series worth continuing to invest in.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

Something to look forward to: Nvidia announced its RTX 50-series graphics cards at CES 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month. While gamers are still waiting for their official launch, early benchmarks suggest that the RTX 5090 will see only a moderate performance boost over its predecessor, the RTX 4090. The RTX 5090 was put through its paces in Geekbench 5, where it notched up impressive scores in both the OpenCL and Vulkan tests (via BenchLeaks). In the former, the 5090 scored 367,740 points, which is 15 percent more than what the RTX 4090 achieved. In the latter, the new flagship chalked up 359,742 points, which is 37 percent higher than the RTX 4090's score.In the CUDA API, the card scored 542,157 points, 27 percent higher than the 424,332 points racked up by the RTX 4090. While it is an impressive score, it's not as significant a generational leap as some had expected, given that the new card has 32 percent more CUDA cores than its predecessor.The RTX 5090 was also recently tested in Blender 3.6.0, where it notched up a median score of 17,822.17. This makes it roughly 36 percent faster than the RTX 4090, which scored 13,064.17 in the same test on the same version of the app. The China-exclusive RTX 5090D scored 14,706.65 in Blender v4.3.0, beating the RTX 4090D's score of 10,516.64 points by 40%.It is worth noting that these scores should be taken with a grain of salt as synthetic benchmarks do not always reflect real-world gaming performance, and the Blender benchmark only shows the performance metrics in a single app. For a better understanding of how the RTX 5090 performs in various popular games and how it compares to its predecessor, wait for our exhaustive review later this week.Alongside the RTX 5090, Nvidia also announced the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 at CES 2025. The 5090 and 5080 are set to launch on January 30, while the two RTX 5070 models will likely be available next month. The new cards offer many upgrades over the Ada Lovelace generation, but they're also priced higher, with the flagship 5090 costing $1,999. // Related Stories

Spin the wheel and get great prizes. It sounds too good to be true, or something out of a gameshow, but it is a reality for those watching content on Sling. The wheel, accessible after watching just 30 minutes of Sling per day, is available now and the rewards couldnt be more exciting. If youre not a Sling member yet, go ahead and tap the button below to get started.Youll want to decide between Sling Orange and Sling Blue, with the former being geared more to sports fans and the latter being for entertainment and news junkies, but you can get either for $23 in the first month, going up to just $46 after that. We find that Sling is more affordable than the competition, but this chance to win big rewards during that introductory $23 month makes it all the more enticing. Keep reading to see why.Spin & Win on Sling is part of Rewards, a program on Sling that gives you fun rewards just for showing up and using the service. Getting the ability to spin is incredibly simple, you just have to watch 30 minutes of programming on Sling each day to earn your entry. Then to the Sling app you go. When you spin, you could earn anything from a few dollars to a free month or even free year of Sling. Were also seeing a chance to win excellent Vizio products. Again, all you have to do to earn the reward is watch Sling (which we consider to be one of the best TV streaming services) for 30 minutes on a given day. You were probably going to do that anyways, so you might as well earn a reward while doing so.RelatedGetting started with Sling, watching your first 30 minutes, and getting your first reward spin is easy. Just tap the button below and choose your package to sign up. If youre looking for a new streaming service, trying it out for $23 and seeing what you get isnt a bad idea at all, especially since Sling focuses on delivering channels youll really watch for a cheap price instead of overloading you with just because channels that make navigating a service difficult. Good luck and happy spinning!Editors Recommendations

The founder of the apps parent, Beijing-based ByteDance, met with Elon Musk last year.

Bismuth crystals reflect light in all colours of the rainbowOliver Berg/dpa/AlamyUltra-thin flakes of bismuth display mysterious magnetic properties which could help the soft, iridescent metal become a wonder material for making greener electronics.Frankly, Im still waking up at night because I wonder: what is at play here? says Guillaume Gervais at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.Researchers have suspected that very thin flakes of bismuth could have unusual physical properties, as other ultra-thin materials like carbon-based graphene do. But because bismuth is so

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The second wave of AI coding is here Ask people building generative AI what generative AI is good for right nowwhat theyre really fired up aboutand many will tell you: coding. Everyone from established AI giants to buzzy startups is promising to take coding assistants to the next level. Instead of providing developers with a kind of supercharged autocomplete, this next generation can prototype, test, and debug code for you. The upshot is that developers could essentially turn into managers, who may spend more time reviewing and correcting code written by a model than writing it from scratch themselves.But theres more. Many of the people building generative coding assistants think that they could be a fast track to artificial general intelligence, the hypothetical superhuman technology that a number of top firms claim to have in their sights.Read the full story.Will Douglas Heaven OpenAI has created an AI model for longevity science When you think of AIs contributions to science, you probably think of AlphaFold, the Google DeepMind protein-folding program that earned its creator a Nobel Prize last year. Now OpenAI says its getting into the science game toowith a model for engineering proteins. The company says it has developed a language model that dreams up proteins capable of turning regular cells into stem cellsand that it has handily beat humans at the task. The work represents OpenAIs first model focused on biological data and its first public claim that its models can deliver unexpected scientific results. But until outside scientists get their hands on it, we cant say just how impressive it really is. Read the full story. Antonio Regalado Cleaner jet fuel: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2025 New fuels made from used cooking oil, industrial waste, or even gases in the air could help power planes without fossil fuels. Depending on the source, they can reduce emissions by half or nearly eliminate them. And they can generally be used in existing planes, which could enable quick climate progress. These alternative jet fuels have been in development for years, but now theyre becoming a big business, with factories springing up to produce them and new government mandates requiring their use. So while only about 0.5% of the roughly 100 billion gallons of jet fuel consumed by planes last year was something other than fossil fuel, that could soon change. Read the full story.Casey Crownhart Cleaner jet fuel is one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2025, MIT Technology Reviews annual list of tech to watch. Check out the rest of the list, and cast your vote for the honorary 11th breakthrough. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 TikTok is back online in the US The company thanked Donald Trump for vowing to fight the federal ban its facing. (The Verge)+ The app went dark for users in America for around 14 hours. (WP $)+ AI search startup Perplexity has suggested merging with TikTok. (CNBC)+ Heres how people actually make money on TikTok. (WSJ $)2 Trumps staff has an Elon Musk problem Aides are annoyed by his constant contributions to matters he has little knowledge of. (WSJ $)+ A power struggle between the two men is inevitable. (Slate $)+ The great and the good of crypto attended a VIP Trump party on Friday. (NY Mag $)3 AI is speeding up the Pentagons kill list Although the US military cant use the tech to directly kill humans, AI is making it faster and easier to plan how to do just that. (TechCrunch)+ OpenAIs new defense contract completes its military pivot. (MIT Technology Review)4 The majority of Americans havent had their latest covid booster Though they could help to protect youand others. (Undark)+ Its five years today since the US registered its first covid case. (USA Today)5 Europol is cracking down on encryption The agency plans to pressure Big Tech to give police access to encrypted messages. (FT $)6 This Swiss startup has created a powerful robotic wormBorobotics wants to deploy the bots to dig for geo-thermal heat in our gardens. (The Next Web) 7 Thousands of lithium batteries were destroyed in a massive fireThe worlds largest battery storage plant went up in flames in California. (New Scientist $) + Three takeaways about the current state of batteries. (MIT Technology Review)8 Amazons delivery drones struggle in the rain Bloomberg $) 9 A Ring doorbell captured a meteorite crashing to Earth Its the first known example of a meteorite fall documented by a doorbell cam. (CBS News)10 AI is coming for your wardrobe A wave of new apps will suggest what to wear and what to pair it with. (The Guardian)Quote of the day "TikTok was 100x better than anything you've created. An Instagram user snaps at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the wake of TikToks temporary US blackout over the weekend. The big story Running Tide is facing scientist departures and growing concerns over seaweed sinking for carbon removal June 2022 Running Tide, an aquaculture company based in Portland, Maine, hopes to set tens of thousands of tiny floating kelp farms adrift in the North Atlantic. The idea is that the fast-growing macroalgae will eventually sink to the ocean floor, storing away thousands of tons of carbon dioxide in the process. The company has raised millions in venture funding and gained widespread media attention. But it struggled to grow kelp along rope lines in the open ocean during initial attempts last year and has lost a string of scientists in recent months, sources with knowledge of the matter tell MIT Technology Review. What happens next? Read the full story. James Temple We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Why not cheer up your Monday with the kings of merriment, The Smiths?+ This is fascinating: how fish detect color and why its so different to us humans.+ The people of Finland know a thing or two about happiness.+ Its time to get planning a spring getaway, and these destinations look just fabulous.

Argentina's Javier Milei was pictured with people close to Donald Trump at events over the weekend.Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kari Lake, and Roger Stone praised the Argentine president.His government has brought inflation down, but its approaches have also triggered a recession.Javier Milei was the talk of Trumpworld in the days leading up to Donald Trump's inauguration.Videos and pictures captured over the weekend showed Argentina's firebrand president rubbing shoulders with and receiving praise from some of those close to the president-elect, at events held in Washington, DC.Milei was welcomed with a standing ovation and a round of applause at the Official Hispanic Inaugural Ball on Saturday, which celebrates the achievements and impact of US Hispanics.Vivek Ramaswamy, the cohead of DOGE, who introduced him at the event, described Milei as "a man who knows how to DOGE & how to MAGA."The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is a new commission that aims to slash federal spending and cut regulations.On Sunday, Michael Milken, chairman of the non-partisan economic think tank Milken Institute, also welcomed Milei at the Center for Advancing the American Dream as the event's "very first" speaker and for "shining a light not just Argentina but the world today."Milken was pardoned by Trump in 2020. He had served 22 months in prison for insider trading in the 1990s and has become a prominent philanthropist.Later that same day, Milei was pictured with Kari Lake, the Voice of America director-designate who lost the Arizona Senate last year, at the 1775 Gala."So blessed to speak with Argentina's incredible President @JMilei at the 1775 Gala as we celebrate 250 years of faith and freedom!" she wrote.Since assuming office in December 2023, Milei has overseen a decline in inflation in Argentina, but his sweeping cost-cutting policies have also triggered a recession.Milei fired tens of thousands of public employees, shut down half the country's 18 ministries, and cut state spending by an estimated 31% in his first 10 months in office.Partly as a result, Argentina's headline inflation rate dropped from 25.5% in December 2023 to 2.4% in November 2024 the lowest it had been in over four years.However, Facundo Nejamkis, director of Opina Argentina, a political consultancy firm, told Reuters in December that the cuts had ignited a "major" recession.And Argentinians' purchasing power has eroded to record lows, with the real minimum wage falling by 30%, according to a December report by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy at the University of Buenos Aires' Economics Faculty.Even so, Milei's policies have received praise and attention from some in Republican circles, due to his sweeping cost-cutting measures.Elon Musk and Ramaswamy, the co-leaders of DOGE, have, in particular, praised Milei.In fact, Musk repeatedly praised Milei on X over the weekend, saying once in Spanish that, "I love @JMilei."As Business Insider previously reported, Ramaswamy and Musk have scaled back their goal of cutting $2 trillion from US federal spending by the time the commission disbands, no later than July 4, 2026, but have still floated a slate of reforms, from deleting agencies to firing federal employees.Milei was also photographed with former Trump advisor Roger Stone, who, in an X post on Sunday, said, "I worked for Ronald Reagan, I worked for Donald Trumpand now, I have met 'El Len,'" referring to Milei as "The Lion."

Support independent journalism that matters become a Vox Member today.On Monday, just hours before leaving office, President Joe Biden announced that he pardoned several individuals who may be the targets of political prosecutions in the incoming Trump administration. Incoming President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened retribution against perceived enemies. According to a statement from the White House, Bidens pardons went to former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, former federal public health official Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2020, attack on the US Capitol, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.For more than 150 years, the Supreme Court has understood the presidents power to issue pardons as entirely within his discretion; typically, neither Congress nor the courts may intervene. Yet, while the Constitution permits Biden to pardon whoever he wants, such a pardon wont necessarily protect its recipient from everything Trump or his allies in government might do to make life difficult for Trumps perceived enemies.Current law provides that people who are pardoned receive broad legal protections against federal criminal charges. Any pardons Biden issued should be virtually invulnerable to a court challenge. In Ex parte Garland (1866), the Supreme Court held that the presidents pardon power is unlimited, except that the president cannot pardon impeachments. Under Garland, the pardon power extends to every offence known to [federal] law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment. It also is not subject to legislative control.There is always some risk that the current Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 Republican supermajority, will ignore precedent. But the idea that presidents get to decide who is pardoned and that courts do not get to second-guess those decisions is well-established and stretches back to at least the post-Civil War period.Three limits on Bidens pardon powerThere actually are three very significant limits on the pardon power, however. A person pardoned by Biden might still be successfully targeted by Trump administration officials or Trumps allies in state government.One is that, as the head of the federal government, Biden can only pardon federal crimes. So someone who receives a pardon from Biden (or any other sitting president) might still be prosecuted by state officials for offenses under state law. The Trump administration, in other words, could potentially lean on MAGA-friendly state prosecutors to target individuals who receive a federal pardon from Biden.It should be noted that state prosecutors should not be allowed to target a former federal official for something that official did pursuant to their duties as a federal employee. The seminal Supreme Court case on this point, In re Neagle (1890), arose from a truly wild set of facts. Stephen Field, a justice of the US Supreme Court, had a longstanding feud with David Terry, a former chief justice of California. In 1889, while Field was eating breakfast at a train station in California, Terry approached and assaulted Field. Fields bodyguard, a deputy US marshal named David Neagle, then shot and killed Terry.After California charged Neagle with murder, the US Supreme Court ruled that this prosecution must be dismissed. Neagle, the Court explained, was acting under the authority of the law of the United States when he killed Terry, and thus was not liable to answer in the courts of California for carrying out his official federal duties.Assuming the current Supreme Court honors its precedent in Neagle, in other words, former federal officials should be safe from prosecution for state crimes they allegedly committed while acting under the authority of the United States. So if a state were to target, say, former federal public health official Anthony Fauci over federal policies he pushed during the Covid-19 pandemic, he should be immune from that prosecution.The second limit on the pardon power is that, while Garland states that presidents may issue a pardon at any time after the pardon recipient allegedly committed a criminal act, the president may not prospectively pardon future acts. This means that anyone Biden pardoned could still be targeted in the Trump administration for anything they do after Biden leaves office.The third limit is that the pardon power has traditionally been understood to extend only to criminal offenses and not to civil lawsuits or other non-criminal investigations (although at least one scholar has argued that it should be extended to civil offenses). Thus, while Biden could potentially shield Trumps perceived enemies from federal criminal prosecutions, the Trump administration might still sue a pardoned individual for allegedly violating a civil statute. It could also potentially use non-criminal investigations, such as an IRS income tax audit, to target people Trump views as foes.As a final point, its worth noting that lawyers are expensive. Anyone Biden might preemptively pardon, who is targeted by the federal government, could run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees even if the courts ultimately determine that this individual is both immune from prosecution and not liable for any civil offense.This is doubly true if the Trump administration manages to shunt any criminal proceeding or civil dispute against a pardoned individual into a MAGA-aligned judges courtroom, who might defy precedents like Garland or Neagle. While the Supreme Court may eventually intervene and declare the individual immune from prosecution or suit, that may not happen until after years of investigations and months of lower court proceedings.And, even if a federal investigation uncovers no illegal activity or even no activity that the Trump administration can characterize as illegal in order to bring meritless charges such an investigation might still uncover embarrassing or damaging information that could then be made public. Perhaps one of Trumps perceived enemies is engaged in an extramarital affair. Or maybe they simply said something hurtful about a family member or business partner in an email they thought would remain private.The bottom line is that, if the federal government is determined to make your life miserable, it can probably achieve that goal very easily, even if you never spend a day behind bars.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: