TikTok was available to some U.S. users on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said that he would sign an executive order to delay a federal ban.

Netflixs filmmakers open up the passionate craft that goes into their work with puppetry, detailing the trials and triumphs of bringing a character like Feathers to life. They explained how emotions were bestowed on minuscule puppets through intricate design and movements while negotiating oddities such as Feathers lack of knees and tricky eyelids. Behind the curtain: what goes on in the making of those characters that touch peoples hearts.The post Film Makers and Their Puppets appeared first on Vfxexpress.

A growing number of countries are confronting the dual challenges of population decline and aging, as younger generations opt to have fewer children and advances in healthcare extend life expectancy.China said Friday that its population fell for the third straight year in 2024, falling by almost 1.4 million to 1.408 billion. Elsewhere in Asia, Japans population has been falling for 15 years, while South Koreas growth turned negative in 2021. In Italy, the number of births has fallen below 400,000 for the first time since the 19th century.The United Nations says the population has peaked in 63 countries and territories, about half in Europe. The U.N. projects that another 48 will hit their peak over the next 30 years.Globally, the population of 8.2 billion people is still growing, with the U.N. projecting it will reach 10.3 billion in roughly 60 years and then start to decline.For many countries with shrinking populations, the slow-moving but hard-to-reverse trend has prompted governments to offer financial incentives to encourage people to have children to help support the growing number of elders.Japan has shrunk by 3 million people since 2008The Japanese governments chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, called the demographic situation critical last year, saying that the next six years will be the last chance for us to possibly reverse the trend.Japans population peaked at 128 million in 2008 and has fallen to 125 million since then. The number of births hit a record low of 730,000 in 2023.Surveys show that younger Japanese are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children, discouraged by bleak job prospects, a cost of living that is rising at a faster pace than salaries, and a corporate culture difficult for women and working mothers.Japans population is projected to fall to 87 million people by 2070, when four out of every 10 people will be 65 years of age or older.One segment of the population is still growing: an 11% increase in foreign residents helped push their population above 3 million for the first time in 2023, making up nearly 3% of the total.In China, a higher retirement age and elderly universitiesChina is growing older, a trend that could sap economic growth and challenge the governments capacity to provide for a larger elderly population with fewer workers.Some see opportunity. An elderly university in Beijing, the Chinese capital, has enrolled 150 students in dance, singing, yoga, and modeling classes. The business has yet to break even but founder Liu Xiuqin believes in the markets future, given the value that retirees born in the 1960s place on quality of life and health compared to earlier generations.The government is raising the retirement age over the next 15 years to 63 from 60 for men, to 55 from 50 for women in factory and other blue-collar jobs, and to 58 from 55 for women in white-collar work.China ceded its position as the most populated country to India in 2023, after the population began to fall in 2022. Women are having fewer babies despite the easing of Chinas one-child policy to allow up to three children.The population of 1.4 billion people still more than 10 times that of Japan is projected to fall to 1.3 billion by 2050.The Pope is urging Italians to have more childrenBacked by the Vatican, a succession of Italian governments have vowed to address the social, economic, and cultural reasons behind one of the worlds lowest birthrates.Pope Francis has repeatedly urged Italians to have more children to invert what he has called the demographic winter facing many industrialized countries.The government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, a rate that demographers say is necessary to grow the wage-earning population and prevent the economy from collapsing as retirees draw on their pensions.The number of births has fallen steadily from about 577,000 in 2008 to 380,000 in 2023, the first year since Italys unification that the number fell below 400,000.Studies say thats due to a combination of factors, including a lack of openings for affordable child care, low salaries, and a tradition of women caring for older parents.Foreigners reverse decline in South Korea, but just barelySouth Koreas population rebounded in 2023 thanks to an influx of foreigners.The birthrate fell again in a country where many younger people dont feel the same obligation to have children that their parents and grandparents did.Some are put off by the high cost of raising children in a highly competitive education system and a patriarchal culture that forces women to take on most childcare duties.The number of foreign residents rose 10% to 1.9 million people, partly because of an extension of a working visa program, the countrys Yonhap news agency reported, citing the government statistics agency.That was enough to boost the total population ever so slightly by 0.2% to 51.8 million people.Of those, 9.5 million are 65 or older. The demographic trends have sparked concern about labor shortages and strains on the government budget.Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.

The climate and colours of the New England coast influenced the interiors of this hotel in Portland, Maine, designed by New York-based studio Post Company.The Longfellow Hotel occupies a new building in the city's West End neighbourhood, a short distance from the historic Old Port area.In the lobby of The Longfellow Hotel, turmeric-coloured sofas contrast the pale seafoam-green wallsNamed after local poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the 48-room boutique hotel is operated by Maine-based Uncommon Hospitality."Much like the famed poet's enduring words, the hotel reflects the location's rugged charm and extremes of the environment from cold, blustery winters to sun-soaked summer months," said the hotel team.The 48 guest rooms blend traditional mouldings and contemporary furnitureThe ground-floor lobby space features soaring ceilings elongated by tall windows, rail and stile wall panelling, and a series of minimal brass chandeliers.To one side of the entrance, a lounge area is formed by turmeric-coloured modular sofas that contrast the pale seafoam-green walls and black-and-white penny round flooring.Elements like black wooden furniture and dark light fixtures contrast the off-white paintwork. Photo by Chris MottaliniOn the other is an open space where a large wooden dining table, various patterned seating options and small accent tables offer spots for guests to work or relax.The hotel's bar named Five of Clubs is located at the far end, backed by a huge mirror and surrounded by vintage artwork.Some of the rooms feature cosy workspace nooks"The interiors feel familiar, yet impart a true sense of place, by blending contemporary elements with traditional touches to evoke a modern timelessness," said Post Company partner Jou-Yie Chou."The design establishes a sequence of spaces that invite visitors in, while handsome details encourage them to linger and indulge."Contrasting black and white decor continues in the bathroomsBeyond the bar is the small Twinflower Cafe that serves coffee, pastries and a selection of breakfast dishes.A separate yet connected entrance leads to the hotel's Astraea spa, which was minimally designed with local granite surfaces, textured limewash walls and natural wood flooring.All of the rooms are outfitted with wide-plank oak flooring. Photo by Chris MottaliniThe guest rooms are spread across the upper floors and blend traditional and contemporary design elements.All are outfitted with wide-plank oak floors accented with monochromatic trim, crown and baseboard mouldings.Read: Post Company imbues Mollie Aspen hotel interiors with earthy huesBlack doors, closet pulls, light fixtures and furniture pieces like tables and chairs juxtapose the off-white paintwork.Meanwhile, custom headboards with scalloped tops and TRNK-designed chaise lounges were upholstered in jewel-toned velvet for added contrast.On the top floor is a communal lounge space for quiet activitiesAlso on the top floor is a communal lounge room for reading, working, board games and other low-key activities.Hotel guests can take advantage of complimentary bicycle rentals and an electric car service. These are among a number of eco-conscious efforts made by the property, which also include zero single-use plastics and all-electric appliances.The hotel's Astraea spa is minimally designed with Scandinavian influencesFormerly known as Studio Tack, Post Company has completed a variety of hotels across the US over the past few years: from a historic property in Carmel-by-the-Sea to a boutique spot in Aspen that's decorated with earthy hues.The latter, named Mollie Aspen, was shortlisted in the hotel and short-stay interior category of Dezeen Awards 2024.The photography is by Carley Rudd unless stated otherwise.The post Maine's "rugged charm" informs The Longfellow Hotel by Post Company appeared first on Dezeen.

With incredible colors, brightness, and contrast, is this a glimpse into the next 10 years of display tech?

Last-minute changes to the location of the 47th presidential inauguration ceremony may have foiled plans by the public to watch the event in person, but here's how to catch the whole event as it's broadcast and streamed live.The US Capitol building. Image source: Visit the Capitol government websiteBecause of an unusually cold weather forecast for Monday, January 20th, the swearing-in ceremony of US President-Elect Donald Trump has been changed from the traditionally outdoor event at the US Capitol to inside the building. "There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country," Trump said in a statement about moving the event, "I don't want to see people hurt, or injured in any way."The inauguration ceremony will take place in the United States Capitol Rotunda at 12:00 pm Eastern, and all major US networks will be carrying the event live. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

TikTok has announced its returning to US users. The company posted on X that it is in the process of restoring service after reaching an agreement with our service providers. Some of us at The Verge are seeing the app fully back, while for others, the app is behaving as though it has no internet connection. Prior to this, TikToks website started loading once more. The app has not yet returned to the iOS App Store. Developing...

LatestMachine LearningAdvancing Time Series Forecasting: A Comparative Study of Mamba, GRU, KAN, GNN, and ARMA Models 0 like January 19, 2025Share this postLast Updated on January 19, 2025 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Shenggang Li Originally published on Towards AI. Evaluating Modern and Traditional Methods for Multivariate Time Series PredictionThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Photo by Chiara Maretti on UnsplashImagine trying to predict how a group of related factors change over time like stock prices that affect each other, gene activity in a biological system, or sales of connected products in a supply chain. These arent just separate time series; they interact and influence one another in ways traditional models often miss. This is what makes multivariate time series forecasting both fascinating and challenging.For years, models like ARMA have been the standard for time series forecasting. They work well for handling one series at a time but struggle to capture relationships between multiple series. In reality, thats a big gap. Stock prices are connected, economic indicators move together, and the sales of one product can impact the entire inventory. What we need are models that not only track individual trends but also understand how these series influence each other.In this paper, I explore five different approaches for tackling multivariate forecasting:The Mamba-inspired model for capturing time-based dynamics.GRU (Gated Recurrent Units) for finding patterns in sequences.Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KAN) with dynamic weights to uncover nonlinear relationships.Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to map relationships between series as Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

After being offline in the United States for 14 hours, TikTok now says it is in the process of restoring service. In a statement posted to social media, the company said: In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.Its a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.TikTok ban: the latest newsTikTok went offline at 10:30 p.m. ET in the United States on Saturday as a federal ban was enacted. Apple subsequently removed the app from the App Store, saying it is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates. As weve explained before, the burden of enforcing the federal TikTok ban falls to TikToks partners like Apple, Google, Oracle, and more. In todays statement, TikTok says it has reached an agreement with service providers to effectively ignore the law due to lack of enforcement. TikTok also thanks President Trump for providing the necessary clarity to those partners to ensure they will face no penalties for restoring access to the service.The Biden administration had previously indicated it would not enforce the ban, passing that responsibility to the Trump administration. Despite the Biden administrations comments, TikTok still chose to go dark on Saturday night a move that the Biden team ruled a stunt. Todays announcement from TikTok comes after President-elect Trump posted on social media that he will issue an executive order to extend the period of time before the laws prohibitions take effect. Presumably, this is the necessary clarity referenced by TikToks statement today. What happens next is just as unclear as ever. In his social media post today, Trump floated the possibility of the United States having a 50% ownership position in a joint venture for TikTok: Im asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the laws prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars maybe trillions.Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose. In a post on Bluesky, NPR reporter Bobby Allyn cites a person close to TikTok and says the Biden administrations statements about non-enforcement did not reassure web-host providers Oracle and Akamai. Todays Truth Social post from Trump, however, won them over.Allyn says that Apple and Google are not part of this. This would suggest that TikTok will not return to the App Store or Play Store today.As written, the law allows a president to delay the TikTok ban by 90 days, but only if there is evidence that significant progress has been made toward a potential sale. The law originally gave China-linked parent company ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, but that timeline expired today. There is no evidence TikTok has made significant progress toward a sale. Apple has not commented on todays announcement from TikTok. As of 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, the app is still unavailable in the App Store. Follow Chance:Threads,Bluesky,Instagram, andMastodon.Add 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

Fee-fdomVile Startup Charges Gig Workers to Get Paid on TimebyFrank Landymore"It feels like we're being held to ransom. It's so immoral it's unreal."Jan 19, 11:00 AM ESTGetty / Futurism"It feels like we're being held to ransom. It's so immoral it's unreal."Skim off the TopA company has brought a vile new twist on what a "payday" should be: now you, the lowly grunt, are the one that's paying.This, The Guardian's sister publication , is what retail assistants have accused the gig economy platform YoungOnes of doing. Effectively,they say, it's holding their wages hostage by charging the retail workers a fee to receive their money quickly or wait a whole month instead.Under YoungOne's new payment system, the workers must fork over 4.8 percent of the money they made to be paid in one minute, or 2.9 percent to be paid in three days. If they don't pay the fee, the UK- and Netherlands-based startup forces them to wait around 30 days to receive their wages. According to the Oberver's reporting, workers previously got paid within three days without an extra charge."People do gig work for short-term cash," Tom Gilliam, a 37-year-old gig worker in Manchester, told The Observer. "It feels like we're being held to ransom. It's so immoral it's unreal."GigsploitationThe alleged payment scheme is a stunningly bleak example of the exploitation that gig workers, which also include roles like Uber and Lyft drivers, are vulnerable to, enjoying few-to-none of the protections that employees do.As freelancers, gig workers aren't considered to be actual employees of the companies they work for. That usually means poorer wages, less job security, and less say (not to mention no healthcare in the US). They're at the mercy of not only their bosses, but the platform that "connects" them to their work.Gillam said that some of his coworkers last week were still waiting to be paid for shifts in late November and early December."They can't really badger their managers because working as a freelancer you have no voice, you might not get any more shifts if you are seen as outspoken," Gillam told The Observer."It is unfair for people working on a low wage with reduced rights to be charged to get their money quickly," added another colleague at Gillam's workplace.Can't Be ChoosersYoungOnes CEO James Medd waved away the criticism by emphasizing that the freelancers aren't forced to pay the fees. "We deeply value the freelancers on our platform and understand the challenges they face, particularly when it comes to payment timelines," he told The Observer. "They have the freedom to decide when, where, and with whom they work."Some UK lawmakers, though, aren't buying it."We're deeply concerned that companies will try to get around the law and continue to exploit vulnerable workers by pretending they are self-employed when they should enjoy the full protection of the law," Member of Parliament Liam Byrne, who serves on the Labour government's chair of the business and trade committee, told The Observer.Minister for employment rights Justin Madders said he would request an investigation into YoungOne's alleged practices. "We find it entirely unacceptable for employers to avoid their legal obligations by claiming someone is self-employed when they are not," Madders told The Observer. "Action that reeks of this exploitation is intolerable, and we will not hesitate to ask all relevant authorities to scrutinize such employers."More on gig economy: A Shocking Number of Gig App Workers Were Murdered on the Job Last YearShare This Article