Astronomers have been confounded by recent evidence that the universe expanded at different rates throughout its life. New findings risk turning the tension into a crisis, scientists say.

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MiHoYoThe US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that the developer of the popular game Genshin Impact, HoYoverse, needs to pay $20 million to settle charges of selling loot boxes in the game and will be banned from doing so to teens under 16.The press release issued by FTC stated that Game developer Cognosphere allegedly unfairly marketed loot boxes to children that obscured real costs and misled all players about the odds of obtaining prizes. Director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, Samuel Levine, said that the game had deceived children, teens, and other players into spending hundreds of dollars on prizes they stood little chance of winning. He further emphasized that companies using dark-pattern tactics to mislead players, especially young children and teens, about the true costs of in-game transactions, will be held accountable.Genshin Impact is free-to-play but it features a gacha mechanism called the Wish system, where players pull cards to obtain weapons or characters of different rarity levels. The odds of getting a 5-star item are obscure, and its said that sometimes at least 80 to 90 pulls are needed to obtain one. Developer Cognosphere has responded by publishing a follow-up statement, which reads:While we believe many of the FTCs allegations are inaccurate, we agreed to this settlement because we value the trust of our community and share a commitment to transparency for our players. Under the agreement, we will introduce new age-gate and parental consent protections for children and young teens and increase our in-game disclosures around virtual currency and rewards for players in the U.S. in the coming months.The $20 million fine sounds quite a lot, but is it a large number for the company? The popular anime-style RPG was a huge commercial success and earned $5 billion on the mobile platform alone in 40 months since its launch in September 2020, making it the fastest mobile game that witnessed this number.Although its revenue is unarguably high, the company seems to be quite careful when giving out to the players. A good example is how its much-anticipated event of Chinese New Year last year, Lantern Rite, disappointed the players in China players took action against the developer by unfollowing the games social media accounts and review bombing the game. This years Lantern Rite event is about to start in around a week, and it seems to be offering better rewards than last years event.Join our 80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Genshin Impact Dev Fined $20M By FTC For Its Loot Box Mechanics appeared first on CG SHARES.

Solo Leveling has become one of the most popular and talked about anime since the premiere of its first season last year - hype which has been reignited with the sequels start this month. However, for those who have taken a gander at the show to see what all the fuss is about, the magnitude of its reception versus the story itself might leave one thinking Why this series?

Link to the demo: https://maiu-online.io/Hello,For a really long time i didn't post any update here and a lot of changed in my game. Before it was just totally viable minimum to share demo with audience and right now It works quite nicely and I added few important features. Today only short presentation of new GUI:New GUI:

Its all thriller, no filler this week in television well, that plus a comedy-drama about girls trying to find fulfilling love and sex during their sophomore year of college. But the main events this week are pretty much all some type of espionage thriller. Pretty much all of these spies are stressed (predictable) and in situations (unpredictable) that bring on plenty of twists, turns, and calculus (sometimes literally). Of course, theres more new TV to watch, too: Lest we forget, shows like Abbott Elementary and Severance, not to mention a massive handful of anime, are still going! Heres all the best new TV premieres and finales this week.New shows on NetflixThe Night Agent season 2Genre: Spy thrillerRelease date: Jan. 23, with all episodesShowrunner/creator: Shawn RyanCast: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, and morePeter (Gabriel Basso), now officially in the Night Agent program and not just working the phones, is living that spy life. And as you might expect, things can get pretty hairy pretty fast. What kind of conspiracy will he and Rose (Luciane Buchanan) be up against this time? New shows on MaxThe Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 finaleGenre: ComedyRelease date: Jan. 23Showrunner/creator: Mindy KalingCast: Pauline Chalamet, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Amrit Kaur, and moreWith so much of the second season being about the ups and downs and back and forth of this quad of women, the season 2 finale will likely also feature a number of twists to the romantic and academic lives of the girls. These gals of Essex College are just doing their best, and hoping for love will it be in all the wrong places? New shows on Paramount PlusThe Agency season 1 finaleGenre: Espionage dramaRelease date: Jan. 24Showrunners/creators: Jez Butterworth and John-Henry ButterworthCast: Michael Fassbender, Jodie Turner-Smith, Richard Gere, and moreUnlike the Essex gals, Brandon (Michael Fassbender) has more on his mind than just love. But he is also thinking about love, and how to have it all all here being public safety and his lady. The Agency got renewed for a second season, so it can end its first year in any number of ways New shows on Apple TV PlusPrime TargetGenre: Conspiracy thrillerRelease date: Jan. 22, with two episodesShowrunner/creator: Steve ThompsonCast: Leo Woodall, Quintessa Swindell, and more Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall) is just doing what math postgrads do: looking really hard at numbers and seeing what they turn up. In this case, Edward stumbles on a pattern in prime numbers that will hold a key to every computer in the world. Unsurprisingly, this very quickly gets NSA Agent Taylah Sanders (Quintessa Swindell) assigned to his case. Together, theyre unraveling the truth behind his formula, and the troubling conspiracy Edward seems to be at the heart of.

There's a dichotomy between what Apple says about privacy and some of its actions. On the one hand, the company uses end-to-end encryption for iMessage and Facetime, and embraces on-device processing for a lot of its AI features. On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the fact that Apple collects a fair bit of your data to improve its services, which are an increasingly significant part of its revenue. From small things like using location data to improve Apple Maps, to collecting your information to show ads on the App Store, there are examples of data collection everywhere.While you can do a lot to reduce data collected by third parties on your iPhone, it's hard to escape Apple's own data collection. Apple is fairly transparent about this, but of late there have been some examples of the company enabling certain types of data collection by default. This should ideally be opt-in, and fortunately, you can manually disable some of this.Before you go ahead with that, you should be aware that if you're using an iPhone, there's only so much of Apple's data collection that you can escape. You're using an Apple device running the company's operating system, where you have very limited control over first-party data collection. This isn't like using a Mac, where a firewall lets you block even Apple's own apps from phoning home. Still, Apple offers some control over the kinds of data that's collected, and you can flip a few switches to reduce that.Reduce Siri's data collection Credit: Pranay Parab If the recent Siri spying settlement is anything to go by, you should keep an eye on the data collected by the voice assistant. To get started, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and go through the options on the page. If you don't want to use Siri at all, go to Type & Talk to Siri and select Off, then disable Press Side Button for Siri. On compatible iPhones, disable Type to Siri. Once you've disabled all possible toggles, iOS will ask if you really want to turn off Siri, so go ahead and tap Turn Off Siri.Next, go to the previous page and select Siri & Dictation History and select Delete Siri & Dictation History to clear all records of Siri requests from Apple's servers. To completely remove all related data from Apple servers, however, you'll need to disable Dictation as well. You'll find this option in General > Keyboards. You may even disable some features in the Suggestions section to reduce the number of Siri suggestions you get while using your iPhone.Turn off Apple IntelligenceThere are very few AI features that work totally offline. Even Apple Intelligence sends a fair bit of your data to Apple's servers. Even though Apple Intelligence encrypts your data, it relies on phoning home to function correctly. If you'd rather avoid this, you can turn off Apple Intelligence by going to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and disabling the toggle next to Apple Intelligence.Stop Apple from collecting your search data Credit: Pranay Parab Apple also collects search terms that you use in Safari, Siri, and Spotlight Search in order to improve your search results. Although Apple says this data isn't linked to you, it remains another form of optional data collection. You can disable this by going to Settings > Search and disabling Help Apple Improve Search.Check Apple's location accessSome Apple services, such as Find My, require your location information to function correctly. If Apple can't see your location, Maps won't work, and it can't help you find your device if it gets lost or stolen. However, there are many other cases where Apple doesn't need access to your location at all. You can check and disable Apple's location access by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Scroll through the list of apps and disable location access for every Apple app that doesn't need it.You'll see Apple's explanation for why it "needs" access to your location for each app. Apps such as Apple Watch Workout need location access to track workout routes, but others such as App Store could do without it. (Apple says the App Store needs your location to display apps and ads that are relevant to you, which is an easy pass.) Next, scroll to the bottom and go to System Services and review all of the options here. It's quite easy to disable the wrong option on this page, so be careful what you turn off. However, it's safe to turn off location access for certain things such as In-App Web Browsing.Pro tip: Turn on Status Bar Icon if not enabled already, so you'll see every time an app on your iPhone is accessing your location information. You can also open the Significant Locations menu on this page and select Clear History, which will delete all saved locations that apps use to deliver location-based services. However, this information is end-to-end encrypted, and can't be seen or accessed by Apple. This data can also be quite useful: For example, Photos could create a slideshow of pictures taken at your house or a favored camping spot using this information.Disable Enhanced Visual Search Credit: Pranay Parab A related feature is called Enhanced Visual Search, which allows Apple to match places in your photos with a global index. With it, you can search for landmarks or points of interest in the Photos app to find pictures. You can disable this too by going to Settings > Apps > Photos and turning off Enhanced Visual Search.Disable Apple analyticsApple collects data to improve its products. None of this is enabled by default, but you should review these settings to see if you want to keep sharing this data with the company. You can disable these settings on your iPhone by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and scroll to the bottom. Disable iPhone Analytics, Routing & Traffic, and Improve Maps.After this, you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements. All of these options are designed to collect data to improve Apple services, and if you're uncomfortable with that, feel free to disable them all.Reduce personalized advertisingFor a company that hypes up privacy, Apple has a lot of advertising on its own platforms. You can't completely block most of Apple's ads, but you can reduce how often they interrupt your workflow. You can also reduce how much of your data is used to personalize Apple's ads from Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising on your iPhone, then disable Personalized Ads.Shore up your iCloud securityiCloud security has come a long way in recent years, but the way many of us use it, Apple still has too much potential access to our data. By default, 15 items are end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) when using iCloud, including Messages in iCloud, Health data, and passwords. But a number of other data points are not, including Notes, Photos, and your iCloud backup. What's more, if you do use iCloud to backup your iPhone, your Messages lose E2EE. This data is all still encrypted, it's just Apple has the keys to unlock that encryption. That's great if you lose access to your account, but not so great from a privacy and security perspective: Do you really want Apple having access to your messages or iCloud backups?The simplest way to encrypt most of your iCloud data with E2EE is through Advanced Data Protection. This setting encrypts nearly all your iCloud data, including Messages, Notes, Contacts, and backups themselves, with E2EE. That solves the privacy and security problem (Apple no longer has the keys to access this data), but it also means Apple can't help you if you lose access to your account, or to the recovery key. If you do go down this route, exercise caution. The only data points not encrypted are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. If you're deadly serious about Apple not having access to this information, you'll need to disable these options. To see your iCloud data usage, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud, and tap the See All button next to Saved to iCloud. From here, you can go through this list and disable iCloud syncing for services that don't need it, whether it be for E2EE reasons or not. For me, Apple Books and Voice Memos aren't essential, and I disabled syncing for these services. I've also turned off iCloud Photos and switched to OneDrive, since I have 1TB of storage free from my Microsoft 365 subscription. Once you're done policing what data you send to Apple, consider opting out of data collection by data brokers and conducting a privacy audit on your iPhone.

China has provided the strongest indication yet that its willing to secure a deal that will keep TikTok up and running in the US. The country previously claimed it would block any forced sale of the app but said something different after President-elect Donald Trump indicated hed be open to 50-50 joint ownership of TikTok between US and Chinese interests.When it comes to actions such as the operation and acquisition of businesses, we believe they should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference. If it involves Chinese companies, Chinas laws and regulations should be observed.Mao noted that TikTok has played a positive role in boosting US employment and consumption and expressed the ministrys hope that the US will earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for market entities from all countries.On Sunday, a law came into effect that banned TikTok in the US. The video-sharing app went offline late Saturday. Users were unable to download it from app stores and even overseas folks with a US-based TikTok account couldn't access it.Service was restored hours later after Trump pledged to sign an executive order on Monday, following his inauguration, 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.According to The Wall Street Journal, TikTok and ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has a key contact that could pave the way for at least partial US ownership of TikTok in Elon Musk. He reportedly spoke with the Trump confidant in late 2024 after it looked more likely that the law would take effect. Zhang is said to have majority control over TikToks parent company through voting rights but he does not currently hold an executive position at ByteDance.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/china-suggests-its-open-to-a-us-deal-for-tiktok-after-all-151757376.html?src=rss

An iOS 19 leak suggests the iPhone's Camera could soon get a big overhaul and it looks like a step forward, apart from one missing feature.

The death toll from Los Angeles catastrophic wildfires has risen to 24 and is expected to increase further. The 16 direct fatalities from the Eaton Fire alone make it Californias fifth-deadliest wildfire, while the Palisades Fire, with eight deaths, ranks as the states 14th-deadliest fire.However, the eventual death toll from the disaster is likely to be far, far, higher, once the health effects from the toxic smoke from the fires are fully realized. Additional deaths can be expected in the coming years because of the large-scale disruption to peoples lives that such a colossal disaster brings about similar to what has been found in the aftermath of major hurricanes, which have been linked to thousands of indirect deaths up to 15 years after they hit.People across the LA area have been breathing in unhealthy/hazardous air for days now, the health impacts of this are going to be enormous Dave Levitan (@davelevitan.bsky.social) 2025-01-10T14:51:25.752ZWildfire smoke is deadlyIn a 2020policy brief, Marshall Burke, an associate professor of Earth system science at Stanford University, wrote: Our research suggests that many more people likely perish from smoke exposure during large fire events than perish directly in the fire, and many more people are made sick.Wildfire smoke contains high levels of PM2.5, particles no larger than 2.5 microns in diameter. These have long been linked to increased risk of illness and death, as theyre small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream, where they can harm thecardiovascularandrespiratorysystems.A 2024 study, Mortality attributable to PM2.5from wildland fires in California from 2008 to 2018, found that in 2018, the year the town of Paradise and several other communities burned, wildfire smoke may havekilled as many as 12,000Californians prematurely.And over the 11 years from 2008 to 2018, wildfire smoke likely contributed tomore than 52,000 premature deathsacross California nearly 5,000 deaths per year with aneconomic impactfrom the deaths of more than $430 billion, the study found.Its a problem beyond California. A 2024 paper, Long-term exposure to wildland fire smoke PM2.5and mortality in the contiguous United States, found that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke was likely responsible for over 11,000 deaths per year between 2007 and 2020. Globally, 46,000-99,000 people die yearly frominhaling PM2.5released by wildfires, with about 13% of those deaths attributable to climate change, according to a 2024 study,Attributing human mortality from fire PM2.5to climate change.An important reminder. If you're in/around Los Angeles today, you need to be wearing your N95 mask. If you have extras, maybe ask your neighbors if you can share with them. Eric Holthaus (@ericholthaus.com) 2025-01-08T17:01:29.138ZThe future health effects of wildfire smoke in a warming world are highly concerning. A 2024 paper, Mortality burden from wildfire smoke under future climate change, found that increases in wildfire smoke in the U.S. because of climate change could be expected to result in 27,800 excess deaths and $244 billion in damages per year by 2050 under a high warming scenario. Thats a 76% increase relative to estimated 2011-2020 averages, the authors wrote.Our research suggests that the health cost of climate-driven wildfire smoke could be among the most important and costly consequences of a warming climate in the U.S., the authors added.Our modern houses full of plastic burn faster, hotter, and release more toxic smoke. Your couch is like a block of gasoline. The gases from these can be toxic, and can't be filtered by an N95 like particulate matter can. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch Zo Schlanger (@zoeschlanger.bsky.social) 2025-01-15T17:41:33.775ZHighly toxic smoke released by burning structuresSeveral million people in the Los Angeles area endured a two-day period of intense smoke that created air quality in the red Unhealthy range during the height of the fires, with higher levels in the Hazardous range close to the fires, according toEPA data. These air quality ratings just take into account the small particles tracked by EPA: PM2.5 (particles with a diameter of 2.5 millimeters or less). The Unhealthy rating of the air quality last weekdid nottake into account the remarkably toxic composition of the smoke from the urban nature of these fires.A potential analog situation occurred during the 2018 Camp Fire that burned over 18,000 structures in Paradise, California: Significant increases in both lead and zinc occurred in the air. The presence of lead is particularly concerning because lead exposure has been linked to high blood pressure, reproductive effects, and cancer. Infants and young children are especially sensitive to low levels of lead that are known to cause behavioral changes and learning deficits. Wildfire smoke alsocontainstoxic carcinogens similar to those found in cigarette smoke.If youre ever wondering why wildfire smoke is so bad for you its because it includes things like an entire bicycle sam (@decarboxy.chat) 2025-01-12T18:38:36.018ZBecause of the large population exposed to dangerous toxic smoke during last weeks fires, it is plausible that over the next few years, hundreds or thousands of Californians will die prematurely from breathing it. Of particular concern are the many elderly or sick people who evacuated and were forced to breathe very high concentrations of toxic smoke from burning buildings and vehicles. News footage of dozens of nursing home residents in wheelchairs thrust out in smoky streets was particularly heart-wrenching to see, as I knew that those vulnerable people would inevitably suffer high rates of health complications and death in the coming weeks.Short-term exposure (days or weeks) wildfire smokehas been strongly linkedto increasing severity of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), andCOVID-19; inflammation or infections, including bronchitis and pneumonia; emergency department visits; and hospital admissions, according to the California Air Resources Board.And a2024 paperreported that Long-term wildfire smoke exposure has been correlated with higher death rates from a variety of ailments, including cardiovascular, ischemic (blood-flow-related), digestive, endocrine, and chronic kidney disease.Spread of communicable diseases after the disasterThe spread of communicable diseases among the evacuees will also exact a toll. January is the height of the flu season, and California is experiencing very high levels of flu, according to theCDC. Flu and COVID-19 will likely spread rapidly among the tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate to shelters or temporary living quarters with friends or family.Comparison with excess mortality after a hurricane: Expect thousands of deathsIn a stunning paper released in 2024, Mortality caused by tropical cyclones in the UnitedStates, Rachel Young and Solomon Tsiang found that the average landfalling U.S. hurricane between 1930-2015 caused 24 direct deaths. However, they observed an increase in excess deaths mortality beyond what would otherwise be expected in that period that lingered for 15 years, totaling 7,000-11,000 excess deaths per storm. This burden is 300480 times greater than government estimates of direct deaths and was equivalent to 3.2-5.1% of all deaths across the contiguous United States.The largest single category of deaths was from cardiovascular disease (36%), while 12% of the deaths were from cancer, consistent with some evidence of stress from extreme weather affecting long-run health, the authors wrote.Young and Tsiang hypothesized five ways that hurricanes may have triggered excess mortality. Four of these factors may apply to a disastrous wildfire event like California just experienced:(1)Economic disruptionmight change household economic decisions, eventually translating into worsened health outcomes. For example, a person who loses a job might lose health insurance, too. Or retirement savings could be drawn down to repair property damage, both of which could reduce future spending on healthcare.(2)Social network changescould affect future health. For example, working-age people might move away, changing the social support for older people who remain behind.(3)Fiscal adjustmentsby state or local governments in response to the disastermay impact future health outcomes. For example, restructuring budgets to support recovery might reduce spending on healthcare infrastructure.(4)Heightened physical and mental stressmay alter health in the long term..The fifth factor the scientists hypothesized was thatchanges in the natural environmentcould harm healthfor example, ecological changes could redistribute disease vectors or flooding may expose populations to harmful chemicals. A flood is much different than a wildfire in how it affects the natural environment, so this factor has lesser relevance to wildfire than the other four.How to helpIn addition to sending my prayers and positive thoughts towards the victims of the Los Angeles fires, Ive been supporting several charities. I encourage everyone to help out in whatever way that they can. Below are Bluesky posts for some of the charities that Ive contributed to.Rapid Response: Air Filters for LAWe are providing fans and filters to help LA residents breathe cleaner air during these devastating fires. Follow this thread for updates and how to get involved.Donate to support:paypal.com/donate?campa Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation (US) (@crfoundationus.bsky.social) 2025-01-09T23:31:20.317ZWe are in active response mode for the Los Angeles wildfires.We need your help to continue our work!Read situation overview: disasterstrategies.org/disabled-dis The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (@disasterstrat.bsky.social) 2025-01-14T00:24:58.304ZFrom everyone at the California Academy of Sciences, our thoughts are with you. Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation: supportlafd.orgCalifornia Community Foundation: www.calfund.org California Academy of Sciences (@calacademy.bsky.social) 2025-01-14T00:38:32.943ZJeff MastersBob Henson contributed to this post.Thisarticlefirst appeared onYale Climate Connectionsand is republished here under a Creative Commons license.