Google is announcing a variety of classroom and accessibility-focused ChromeOS features today, and one of the standouts is being able to control your computer with your head and facial expressions. The feature aimed at those with motor impairments was first announced in early December, but its now rolling out to more users with compatible Chromebooks (Google recommends 8GB of RAM or more).This isnt Googles first foray into the face-as-a-cursor space. It previously made an open-source AI accessibility tool for Windows games called Project Gameface, which was also announced for Android. Heres a sample video from Google of the tech in action, demoed by software engineer Amanda Lin Dietz who helped develop it.Additionally, Google is also teasing a boatload of new Chromebooks for 2025, with over 20 new devices in its standard Chromebook and Chromebook Plus lines coming this year. That estimate may be a bit of a stretch, since Google seems to be counting the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus that launched back in October, but it does also count the just-announced 14-inch Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 and more to come.Along with laptops aimed at educators and students, Googles got a new batch of classroom-focused ChromeOS features called Class Tools. These allow teachers to have real-time control of their students screens. Once a pairing code is shared, educators will be able to send students direct content on their Chromebook screens, flip on live captions or translations for them, remotely view their screens, and share a students work with the whole class. An educators view of Googles Class Tools settings. Image: GoogleIn addition to these collaborative tools, Google Classroom is also getting an integration with Figmas FigJam, allowing teachers to assign online whiteboards to students for brainstorming and group work. Maybe the combination of FigJam with the teachers ability to snoop on students screens will reveal whos really doing all the work for the group.

Modern NLP applications often demand multi-step reasoning, interaction with external tools, and the ability to adapt dynamically to user queries. Haystack Agents, an innovative feature of the Haystack NLP framework by deepset, exemplifies this new wave of advanced NLP capabilities.Haystack Agents are built to handle scenarios requiring:Complex multi-step reasoning.Integration of external tools or APIs.Retrieval-augmented workflows that go beyond simple question answering.This article delves deep into the Haystack Agents framework, exploring its features, architecture, and real-world applications. To provide practical insights, well build a QA Agent that uses tools like a search engine and a calculator.Why Choose Haystack Agents?Unlike general-purpose frameworks such as LangChain, Haystack Agents are deeply integrated within the Haystack ecosystem, making them highly effective for specialized tasks like document retrieval, custom tool integration, and multi-step reasoning. These agents excel in searching through large datasets using advanced retrievers, extending functionality by incorporating APIs for tasks such as calculations or database queries, and addressing complex queries requiring logical deductions. Being open-source and modular, Haystack Agents seamlessly integrate with popular ML libraries and infrastructures like Elasticsearch, Hugging Face models, and pre-trained transformers.Architecture of Haystack AgentsHaystack Agents are structured using a tool-driven architecture. Here, tools function as individual modules designed for specific tasks, such as document search, calculations, or API interactions. The agent dynamically determines which tools to use, the sequence of their use, and how to combine their outputs to generate a coherent response. The architecture includes key components like tools, which execute specific action prompts that guide the agents decision-making process. These retrievers facilitate document search within large datasets, and nodes and pipelines manage data processing and workflow orchestration in Haystack.For this tutorial, our QA Agent will perform the following:Retrieve answers to factual questions from a document store.Perform mathematical calculations using a calculator tool.Dynamically combine results when required.Step 1: Install PrerequisitesBefore diving into the implementation, ensure your environment is set up:1. Install Python 3.8 or higher.2. Install Haystack with all dependencies:# bashpip install farm-haystack[all]3. Launch Elasticsearch, the backbone of our document store:# bashdocker run -d -p 9200:9200 -e "discovery.type=single-node" docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.17.1Step 2: Initialize the Document Store and RetrieverThe document store is the central repository for storing and querying documents, while the retriever finds relevant documents for a given query.# pythonfrom haystack.utils import launch_esfrom haystack.nodes import EmbeddingRetrieverfrom haystack.pipelines import DocumentSearchPipelinefrom haystack.document_stores import ElasticsearchDocumentStore# Launch Elasticsearchlaunch_es()# Initialize Document Storedocument_store = ElasticsearchDocumentStore()# Add documents to the storedocs = [ {"content": "Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity."}, {"content": "The capital of France is Paris."}, {"content": "The square root of 16 is 4."}]document_store.write_documents(docs)# Initialize Retrieverretriever = EmbeddingRetriever( document_store=document_store, embedding_model="sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2", use_gpu=True)# Update embeddingsdocument_store.update_embeddings(retriever)Step 3: Define ToolsTools are the building blocks of Haystack Agents. Each tool serves a specific purpose, like searching for documents or performing calculations.# pythonfrom haystack.agents.base import Tool# Search Toolsearch_pipeline = DocumentSearchPipeline(retriever)search_tool = Tool( name="Search", pipeline_or_node=search_pipeline, description="Use this tool for answering factual questions using a document store.")# Calculator Tooldef calculate(expression: str) -> str: try: result = eval(expression) return str(result) except Exception as e: return f"Error in calculation: {e}"calculator_tool = Tool( name="Calculator", pipeline_or_node=calculate, description="Use this tool to perform mathematical calculations.")Step 4: Initialize the AgentAgents in Haystack are configured with tools and a prompt template that defines how they interact with the tools.# pythonfrom haystack.agents import Agent# Initialize Agentagent = Agent( tools=[search_tool, calculator_tool], prompt_template="Answer questions using the provided tools. Combine results if needed.")Step 5: Query the AgentInteract with the agent by posing natural language queries.# python# Factual Questionresponse = agent.run("Who developed the theory of relativity?")print("Agent Response:", response)# Mathematical Calculationresponse = agent.run("What is the result of 8 * (2 + 3)?")print("Agent Response:", response)# Combined Queryresponse = agent.run("What is the square root of 16, and who developed it?")print("Agent Response:", response)Colab NotebookAdvanced Features of Haystack AgentsCustom Tools: Integrate APIs or domain-specific tools to extend functionality (e.g., weather APIs, stock market data).Fine-Tuned Models: Replace the default embedding model with a fine-tuned one for specialized tasks.Chained Pipelines: Use multiple pipelines to process complex queries involving multiple data sources.In conclusion, Haystack Agents offer a powerful, flexible, and modular framework for building advanced NLP applications that require dynamic multi-step reasoning and tool usage. With their seamless integration into the Haystack ecosystem, these agents excel in tasks like document retrieval, custom API integration, and logical processing, making them ideal for solving complex real-world problems. They are particularly well-suited for applications such as customer support bots, which combine document search with external APIs for real-time ticket resolution, educational tools that retrieve information and perform calculations to answer user queries, and business intelligence solutions that aggregate data from multiple sources and generate insights.SourcesAlso,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our65k+ ML SubReddit. Sana Hassan+ postsSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)

Robbie Williams couldnt do it, but maybe Taskmaster will? The comedy shows attempts to break America continue with the second US launch event at which a new Taskmaster episode premiered ahead of its UK debut. Following on from 2024s series 17 NYC event, series 19 was unveiled for the first time last night at New Yorks Town Hall. No UK air date has yet been confirmed but its not expected to arrive on Channel 4 until March.Despite huge success in the UK, Taskmaster has so far found America a tough nut to crack. The 2018 Comedy Central US version hosted by Reggie Watts and Alex Horne failed to catch on and was quickly cancelled. In 2020, the CW bought in episodes to fill the lockdown-based content vacuum but only showed a few before low numbers took it off air. Now, a well-known US comedy star, teased in advance as a big-name American, has been cast in series 19.That star is comedian, actor and podcaster Jason Mantzoukas. As announced at the NYC series 19 launch event, hell be joined by actor-writer Mathew Baynton, sketch comedian Stevie Martin, stand-up Fatiha El-Ghorri, and presenter and podcaster Rosie Ramsey. Find out more about them all below.Mathew BayntonNo stranger to Den of Geek readers, Mat Baynton is an actor and writer and of course, one sixth of the Them There production group behind Ghosts, Yonderland and Horrible Histories. Hes recently been giving his Bottom on stage in the Royal Shakespeare Companys recent production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, and before that is known for playing the role of lovelorn Romantic poet Thomas in Ghosts, and historical figures galore in CBBCs OG Horrible Histories line-up. Add to that parts in Wonka, A Good Girls Guide to Murder, The Split, Quacks, the co-creation of The Wrong Mans with James Corden, with whom Baynton also appeared in the role of Deano in Gavin & Stacey.Fatiha El-GhorriStand-up, actor and writer Fatiha El-Ghorri has been broadening her fanbase of late thanks to stints in celebrity and panel shows from The Great British Sewing Bee to Daves David Mitchell-presented Taskmaster-style game Outsiders, to The Big Fat Quiz of Everything, to Big Zuus Big Eats, plus several comedy podcasts. She appeared in and wrote for Channel 4s excellent Muslim punk band comedy We Are Lady Parts, and has delivered stand-up sets on screen and stage from The Comedy Store to Jonathan Ross Comedy Club and The Russell Howard Hour and more.Jason MantzoukasFans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The League, The Good Place and Parks and Recreation will have no trouble placing Jason Mantzoukas, a familiar face on TV and in the movies. Hes also one third of the presenting team on podcast How Did This Get Made?, alongside June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer. A bit of an anglophile, Mantzoukas immersed himself in British pop culture during his time filming on Taskmaster, as explored on his Off Menu podcast episode with Taskmaster podcast host Ed Gamble. Mantzoukas is a rare overseas Taskmaster contestant who filmed his segments on a visit to the UK rather than being based in the United Kingdom like fellow non-Brit Taskmaster alumni Katherine Ryan, Desiree Burch, Rose Matafeo, Sarah Kendall, Mae Martin and Sam Campbell.Rosie RamseySix series after her husband Chris Ramsey appeared on Taskmaster, podcaster and TV presenter Rosie Ramsey will be donning the blue jumpsuit to muck in herself. Rosie is well-known for the Shagged Married Annoyed podcast she presents with her comedian husband, for BBC Ones The Chris and Rosie Ramsey Show, and for appearances on the Christmas special edition of Strictly Come Dancing, Would I Lie to You, The Wheel and more.Stevie MartinThats sketch comedian Stevie Martin of course, not movie star Steve Martin (whose casting on Taskmaster would, with all respect to Stevie, obviously merit bigger billing). Get to know the stand-up through her satirical sketches, appearance with Taskmaster Champion of Champions Richard Herring on his RHLSTP, and read her Guardian interview here.Taskmaster series 19 will air on Channel 4 at an unconfirmed date in 2025 in the UK.

The Indonesian government has said that it expects its iPhone 16 ban to be lifted within one or two weeks, but has not explained the basis for this.The countrys investment minister issued only a rather strangely-worded and somewhat contradictory comment which implied that a deal was close The story so farThe governments of populous countries are getting increasingly savvy about seeking a quid pro quo for giving Apple access to their markets, demanding inward investment in return.Indonesia started out with a relatively modest demand for Apple to invest $109M ina developer academy there, with a further $10M manufacturing spend.However, when this target wasnt quite hit, the government upped the ante dramatically. Itbanned the iPhone 16 from sale, and demanded afarlarger investment.Apple initially offered $100M, but the government said that wasnt enough. It then said it wanteda billion dollar manufacturing spendin the country. We heard last month thatApple had agreed to this, and it was subsequently revealed thatthis would take the formof large-scaleAirTag manufacturing.However, the Indonesian government bizarrely rejected this offer, saying that only the manufacture of iPhone components would count.iPhone 16 ban could end in 1-2 weeksBloomberg today features an interview with Indonesias investment minister Rosan Roeslani saying that the government expects the issue to be resolved very shortly.I strongly believe it will resolve very, very soon, Roeslanisaid in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos on Tuesday. Hopefully within one or two weeks this issue can be resolved.However, no explanation was provided as to what drives this optimism. Instead Roeslani made only a very vague statement:The way they calculate it is different I think, Roeslani said, referring to the local content requirement. Now they find a solution on that one, so hopefully they accept the discrepancies so we can have the iPhone 16 sold in Indonesia.Now they find a solution seems to indicate that Apple has made a fresh offer, while hopefully they accept the discrepancies doesnt.Its clear that the matter will be resolved, because both sides need that to happen, but were currently none the wiser about how this will happen.Photo byAmanzonUnsplashAdd 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

As GenAI tools and SaaS platforms become a staple component in the employee toolkit, the risks associated with data exposure, identity vulnerabilities, and unmonitored browsing behavior have skyrocketed. Forward-thinking security teams are looking for security controls and strategies to address these risks, but they do not always know which risks to prioritize. In some cases, they might have blind spots into the existence of risks.To help, a new complimentary risk assessment is now available. The assessment will be customized for each organization's browsing environment, evaluating their risk and providing actionable insights. Security and IT teams can leverage the assessment to strengthen their security posture, inform their decision-making, evangelize across the organization, and plan next steps. The assessment results in a report that includes a high-level overview of key risks, including insecure use of gen AI, sensitive data leakage risks through the browser, SaaS app usage, identity security gaps, browsing threats, and the use of malicious extensions and their permissions. The assessment report then drills down into each finding, providing accurate metrics and mitigation recommendations. You can find an assessment report example here. An example of the Assessment summary pageWhy Assess? Browser Threats and RisksThe browser is the nerve center of the modern workforce. It drives productivity, but also introduces risks. Some of the top risks organizations face include:GenAI Security Threats: Employees may unintentionally share sensitive information, such as source code, customer PII, business plans, or financial data, with ChatGPT and other generative AI tools.Data Leakage Risks: Browsers can serve as attack vectors, enabling attackers to exfiltrate internal files, emails, CRM data, and more. Employees might also upload or paste sensitive information into external websites or SaaS apps.SaaS Security Risks: Shadow SaaS applications, including potentially malicious ones, can be exploited to exfiltrate data or infiltrate corporate networks.Identity Vulnerabilities: Weak credential practicessuch as password reuse, account sharing, compromised or weak passwords, and using personal passwords for workcan lead to identity fraud and account takeovers.Browsing Threats: Social engineering and phishing websites can extract sensitive credentials or internal documents. Attackers could also harvest cookies and store browser data for malicious purposes.Risky Browser Extensions: Malicious browser extensions can track user activity, steal credentials, hijack sessions, harvest cookies, and facilitate attacks.Is Your Organization at Risk?The first step in addressing these challenges is understanding what you are at risk of. To help, LayerX Security provides organizations with a complimentary risk assessment designed to help them uncover and analyze their risk profile across areas of modern web and SaaS security that often go unaddressed. It is tailored to assess and report on their specific environment. This assessment provides detailed and actionable insights that can be implemented immediately.Use this complimentary risk assessment to identify, assess, and address browsing and SaaS risks in your workplace. This assessment is helpful for organizations of any level of maturity, across any industry and for any number of users.Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Jan 22, 2025Ravie LakshmananDark Web / CryptocurrencyU.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted a "full and unconditional pardon" to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the infamous Silk Road drug marketplace, after spending 11 years behind bars."I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross," Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social."The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"Launched in February 2011, Silk Road emerged as a major hub on the dark web for illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services. The marketplace generated over $200 million in revenue in its nearly three years of existence, per authorities.It was taken down in October 2013 coinciding with the arrest of Ulbricht, who then went by the online moniker Dread Pirate Roberts. In 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty of money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and computer hacking charges.A little over two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed it confiscated 50,676 Bitcoin in November 2021 that was stolen in the 2012 hack of the now-defunct Silk Road dark web marketplace, making it one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures to date.James Ellingson (aka redandwhite), a Silk Road drug vendor who claimed to have arranged for the murder of five people for Ulbricht, has since been charged with narcotics trafficking and money laundering offenses. However, the DoJ said there is no evidence these murders actually took place.In a letter to the judge seeking leniency prior to his sentencing, Ulbricht said he wasn't seeking financial gain when he started Silk Road and that it was supposed to be "about giving people the freedom to make their own choices, to pursue their own happiness, however they individually saw fit.""I believed at the time that people should have the right to buy and sell whatever they wanted so long as they weren't hurting anyone else," he added. "Silk Road turned out to be a very naive and costly idea that I deeply regret."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Over the past year, weve seen organizations differ in their approaches to AI. Some have taken every opportunity to embed AI in their workflows; others have been more cautious, experimenting with limited proof-of-concept projects before committing to larger investments.But unlike past technology breakthroughs that were only relevant for specific employees, AI is a horizontal skill. Business leaders need to embrace this fact: Every single employee needs to become an AI employee.In 2025 and beyond, we will start to see the difference between companies that treat AI as a feature and those that view it as a transformation. Here's how business and learning leaders should think about AI adoption throughout their organization.Establishing an AI-Ready Skills VisionFor businesses to develop an AI-ready workforce, they need to establish a skills vision that sets out which employees require which level of competency. This vision shouldn't be permanent; instead, it should evolve in response to technological advances and the needs of the business.There are two ways of structuring an AI skills vision. The first is simple: builders and users. A small portion -- roughly 5% -- of an organizations workforce will require the expertise to build AI systems, products, evaluation tools and language models. The remaining 95% simply need to know how to use AI to augment and accelerate their existing workflows.Related:For a more detailed framework, leaders can break down their workforce into four levels:Center of excellence: Synonymous with AI builders. Think about data scientists, machine learning engineers, and software engineers. Their entire role is to design, build, and refine AI tools for internal or external clients.AI + X: These are the subject matter experts whose roles can be reimagined with the addition of AI. Employees at this level could come from a wide range of backgrounds, from mechanical engineers to finance leaders. AI can help these employees build something truly meaningful in their specific area of expertise.Fluency: At the fluency level, you dont need to know how to use AI tools or apply them to your workflows. Instead, fluency is the required level for employees who are interacting with a technical counterpart. For example, a marketer selling a highly technical AI product needs a certain level of understanding to be able to accurately and effectively market that product.Literacy: This is the basic level of AI skills needed for front-line workers and individual contributors. AI literacy could help these employees boost productivity depending on their role and responsibilities. But its equally important for these employees to be part of the broader cultural change. A company is in a better position to innovate when every employee has achieved a standard level of AI literacy.Related:Avoiding Dangerous AmateursFor an organization to make the most out of AI, it needs to know the precise skill levels of its employees and where they need to grow in the future.For example, a companys solutions will only ever be as good as their best contributors. Organizations must do everything they can to maximize the abilities of their Center of Excellence employees, because they set the bar for the rest of the organization. At one software company, I saw leaders transfer an expert in clean coding to a team struggling with code quality; improvements were evident across the organization within weeks, demonstrating the contagious nature of expertise.But, while experts should be placed at the forefront and driven to achieve more, organizations must be careful not to give the same opportunities to those who overstate their abilities. My friend and collaborator Fernando Lucini refers to these employees as dangerous amateurs, and they can slow down an organizations progress with AI. As companies transition from prototyping to productizing an AI solution, they may realize that the experts they were counting on dont have the skills needed to bring the product to market. Meanwhile, competitors with an accurate measure of employee skill levels will race ahead.Related:Create the Foundation for InnovationFor companies to innovate, they need to be able to adapt quickly to changing technologies and skills demands. In 2016, one of my most important tools was TensorFlow, a commonly used programming language. Less than a decade later, TensorFlow has evolved so much that I can no longer use it effectively without retraining and updating my skills. Highly technical skills perish quickly.Employees must establish a strong foundation in durable skills in order to master the perishable, cutting-edge technical skills. OpenAI built ChatGPT using innovative, breakthrough technologies. However, they could only create ChatGPT by drawing on their foundations in durable skills like mathematics, statistics, coding and English. AI-ready companies will need to embrace a T-shaped approach to skills development, combining a broad base of horizontal skills with a narrow set of deep, vertical skills. Innovation breaks through as a result of perishable skills but sustains as a result of durable skills.Every company is becoming an AI company. Every employee will need to use AI. Those who dont embrace the change will inevitably fall behind.

The City of Westminsters planning committee voted to refuse the 20-storey canalside scheme Make's third iteration for the plot on Tuesday evening (21 January), going against the advice of its own planning officers to approve.The 605-bedroom proposal for Unite Students and building merchant Travis Perkins features two linked towers on a plot which sits between the Grand Union Canal and the Westway flyover. It had been set to replace an existing Travis Perkins yard on the site, while providing new facilities for the company at ground floor and mezzanine levels.Make had adapted the design following Westminster City Councils refusal of its previous design, on the advice of planning offices, in early 2022 splitting the mass into two towers and cutting 163 of the proposed bedrooms.AdvertisementBut Westminster councillors insisted the new scheme was still not sufficiently different to warrant their approval and created, they said, more harm than benefit to the borough. They upheld two out of three of the same reasons for refusal namely, the visual impact and residential mass of the development.Several councillors argued that the scheme would have a major negative impact on local residents and amenities, in particular on the residents of two neighbouring apartment blocks, Sheldon house and Dudley House.Speaking at the planning committee, one councillor said the proposal had a lot to be admired in terms of things [the design team] has sought to include and sought to address ... however, the underlying point here is the huge impact [] on surrounding residents.Another councillor said the benefits would not outweigh the acknowledged harm to surrounding heritage assets and amenities, insisting: I just don't think its sufficiently different from the previous scheme, which actually came forward with a recommendation for refusal.And a third councillor agreed: Given that our own housing needs allowances say we dont have a need for student accommodation in Westminster, I dont think we can justify the impact on residents in that area.Advertisement Source:Make Architects/design and access statementMake Architects all-new Baltic Wharf designs, featuring 605 student bedrooms, which was submitted to Westminster City Council in May 2024More than 100 objections had been lodged against the Make proposal, mainly over scale, arguing that it was overbearing and showed little change, height-wise. from the previous design (at a maximum height of 90.2m the latest proposal is just 0.5m lower in height than the previously refused scheme).Objectors also strongly opposed the use of land for student accommodation instead of housing, along with associated concerns over noise and anti-social behaviour.However, Westminster planning officers had argued that, while the latest redesign was still a substantial building, the re-arranged massing with two distinct towers instead of one block had created a more interesting architectural composition, improving the overall visual impact and making it more sympathetic to the views and sunlight benefit to local residents.Regarding objections to the building use for student housing, officers concluded that a desire for an alternative use is not a valid reason for refusal. They insisted that the public benefits of the proposed scheme, including major financial contributions, outweighed any harm caused.As well as 30 per cent affordable bedrooms on site and a 3.1 million payment towards Westminster councils affordable housing fund, public benefits were set to include a 683,000 payment towards employment programmes and 200,000 for cycle hire facilities, secured via a Section 106 agreement.The refused design, submitted for planning in May 2024, was Makes third design proposal for the Baltic Wharf site.The practices initial submission, in 2021, featured a stepped 22-storey block providing 843 beds. Make later amended the scheme to reduce its height, producing a 20-storey design with 768 beds but Westminster Council refused the amended 26,000m2 proposal in early 2022 on the advice of its planning officers, insisting that it would have a significant negative impact on neighbouring buildings.The latest design featured two carefully designed, distinct and separate buildings, connected by a podium level, which would have housed accommodation for students at Westminster-based Kings College London.According to the design and access statement, a brick-built gable end the last remaining original element of canalside architecture at this location was to be retained and celebrated.The scheme included a new canalside path, creating for the first time a continuous link along the canals north bank between Maida Vale and Paddington.A Unite Students spokesperson said the company is 'disappointed' that the application was refused despite the officers recommendation of approval, and will now be 'considering next steps with all parties'.Make Architects has been contacted for comment.

Clockwise from top left: Palais de Danse plans by Adam Khan Architects; Royal High School plans by Richard Murphy Architects; photo of Jumbo Water Tower in Colchester (credit: Shutterstock); Sketch of Evans Vettoris Harmony Works plans; Hall Black Douglas' plans for the Strand Arts Centre in Belfast; Kingsley Hall in Bristol (Credit: Historic England). The National Lottery has named seven heritage projects which it will support with more than 27 million of cash The schemes, which span the UK, include projects by Adam Khan Architects, Purcell, Evans Vettori, Richards Murphy Architects, Childs Sulzmann Architects, Hall Black Douglas and Temple Ford Design.The largest grant, worth 8 million, has been awarded to North Essex Heritage for the Purcell-designed restoration of a Grade II*-listed water tower in Colchester.The Jumbo Water Tower was completed in 1883 and provided water for drinking and firefighting until 1984 but will now now be converted to a visitor, educational and events space.AdvertisementPurcells proposal won a competition for the project in 2022, selected ahead of plans by Nissen Richards and Burrell Foley Fischer. At that time the project was expected to cost just 4 million, with completion in 2025.Elsewhere, Richard Murphy Architects plans to transform the Old Royal High Street on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh have been given 437,000 in initial development funding but could yet be awarded a further 4.56 million once detailed proposals have been drawn up.The Category A-listed Neoclassical landmark has been empty for over 50 years but is set to be fitted with three performance spaces, rehearsal rooms and a recording studio, as well as a caf, bar and conference facilities, under approved plans by the Royal High School Preservation Trust.A project to conserve and repair the Grade II*-listed Kingsley Hall in Bristol has been awarded 4.76 million. The 319-year-old building was a Conservative club in the late 1800s but later became the headquarters of the Independent Labour Party, opened by party founder Keir Hardie in 1911.The scheme by Childs Sulzmann Architects and conservation architect Ashley Davies will see the 319-year-old building turned into a community space for local homelessness charity 1625 Independent People.AdvertisementThe National Lottery has pledged 4.68 million for Evans Vettoris plans to turn the Grade II*-listed Canada House in Sheffield into a new home for the Sheffield Music Academy and Sheffield Music Hub.The 1875 building was originally offices for the Sheffield United Gas Light Company but will now support young musicians and hold public programmes and performances under a new name:Harmony Works.The Tate Gallery has been given 2.85 million to restore the Palais de Danse in St Ives. The Grade II*-listed building was a cinema and dance hall in the early 1900s before becoming Barbara Hepworths second studio between 1961 and 1975.The building was gifted by Hepworths family to the Tate in 2015 and, once refurbished under plans drawn up by Adam Khan Architects, will provide studio and performance spaces, as well as recreation of Hepworths studio and a shop.Chichester Community Development Trust has been given 1.28 million to transform Grade II-listed former stables, known as the Marchwell Studios, into a makers space with affordable commercial floorspace.The derelict stables on the Graylingwell Hospital Estate in Chichester will provide training facilities and community activities aimed at supporting local residents into work, as well as space for creatives such as artists and architects. The scheme is being drawn up by Temple Ford Design.Finally, the National Lottery has given 768,000 towards Belfast City Councils 6.5 million redevelopment of Strand Arts Centre, which will see an Art Deco picture house dating to 1935 restored into a cinema with a caf, learning studios and performance space under plans by Hall Black Douglas.Royal High School Preservation Trust scheme by Richard Murphy Architects (approved 2024)Heritage projects awarded funding by National LotteryRoyal High SchoolLocationEdinburghGrantee Royal High School Preservation TrustAward: Initial development round grant award ofArchitect Richard Murphy ArchitectsCanada House, a home for Harmony WorksLocation SheffieldGrantee Award Architect Jumbo Water TowerLocation ColchesterGrantee Award Architect Reactivating the Palais de DanseLocation St IvesGrantee Award Architect Kingsley HallLocation BristolGrantee Award Architect The Marchwell Studios ProjectLocation Graylingwell, ChichesterGrantee Award Architect Strand Arts CentreLocation BelfastGrantee Award Architect 2025-01-22Will Ingcomment and share

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