The general hype around all things AI is not lifting all boats: Certain startups continue to struggle and are looking for exits. In one of the latest developments, TechCrunch has learned from a reliable source that Metropolis, an AI-powered parking platform, is buying Oosto, the controversial computer vision company that used to be known as AnyVision. The source tells TechCrunch that the deal is valued at $125 million, just one-third of the $380 million that the startup had raised from investors over the years, and likely a fraction of its peak valuation.Metropolis buying Oosto for $125 million are details also being reported in the Israeli press. Last week, Globes broke the news that Oosto was up for sale. We understand that the two companies had already been working together prior to this deal, and a large part of the transaction involves shares. TechCrunch has reached out to both Metropolis and Oosto for further information and well update this post as we learn more.If it completes, the sale will cap off a turbulent several years for Oosto. As AnyVision, the company was one of a wave of computer vision startups building technology being used in controversial surveillance applications. Over the years, there were reports exposing which organizations were quietly using its technology, and how the Israeli government tapped it to spy on Palestinians; other reports shed light on just how much data the company was able to collect. The bad publicity led to the company losing Microsoft as a key strategic investor, although other investors were ready to double down. In 2021, AnyVision, pitching itself as an ethical AI company, raised a whopping $235 million in a round led by SoftBank and Eldridge. Other backers of the company have included Lightspeed and Qualcomm, per PitchBook data.Just months after the big SoftBank raise, AnyVision rebranded to Oosto and looked to pivot to more enterprise applications as it inked a research partnership with Carnegie Mellon. But it seems that the difficulties continued, with rounds of layoffs and Oosto parting ways with the university. Israeli newspaper Calcalist noted in a report on Monday that the company was not making more than $10 million in annual revenues.Its worth wondering whether some of Oostos problems might have been a matter of timing. The last couple of years have seen big geopolitical shifts, AI has entered the mainstream of public consciousness, and a new wave of AI companies like Anduril and Helsing seem to be breaking many taboos on building military, defense and (more euphemistically) resilience technology.Would AnyVision (or Oosto) have appeared as controversial today as it did five years ago? Regardless, the rise and fall of Oosto can be seen as a memento mori for the newer wave of AI companies being funded today on very high hopes, but perhaps not very high revenues (let alone profits).That brings us to Metropolis. It, too, is focused on computer vision, but focus is perhaps the operative word here: Its square aim is to build AI-based systems for parking, automatically tracking cars when they enter or leave a space, and charging accordingly. In 2023, Metropolis raised $1.7 billion in financing and other investment, most of which was used to buy another parking technology specialist called SP Plus for $1.5 billion. It remains to be seen whether Metropolis will use Oosto to continue building that business or extend into a wider range of mobility and other applications.Tech-wise this acquisition makes the perfect sense, Avihai Michaeli, an investment banking advisor based in Tel Aviv, told TechCrunch. Both Metropolis and Oosto (formerly known as AnyVision Tech) are key players in the AI-driven computer vision and security solutions space, with applications that enhance urban management, public safety, and automation. Both companies focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology to create safer, smarter, and more efficient environments through artificial intelligence and data analytics. He added that the current war in Israel has made it challenging for some Israeli companies looking to raise money or do other business, which could have also played a role here.

Breakdown & ShowreelsLight Shop: VFX Breakdown by Dexter StudiosBy Vincent Frei - 20/01/2025 What happens when the living and the dead converge? In Light Shop, the really cool visual effects crafted by Dexter Studios connect this world and the beyond through a dazzling light store that serves as a gateway between realms! Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025

This is the video about Foundations of the Earth, a new drag-and-drop landscape library for Blender, by James Candy at Classy Dog.FOTE on Blender Market affiliate linkLinks:Foundations of the Earth tutorial by James CandyClassyDogFilmsBlender.orgCalcutta Sunset Es Jammy JamsNature Nurture Quincas MoreiraUntiling Node for Blender by ErindaleQuadSpinner / GaeaScattershot Pbr Texture Bombing For BlenderSuper NoisePolyhavenambientCGRob TuytelSamuel Krug VFXVirtual Museums of MaopolskaDaVinci ResolveSounds: Freesound.orgszegvari Desert Dreams (CC0)Vrymaa Louxor Desert caravan (CC0)Universfield Tranquil Harmony (CC0)szegvari Winter Fantasy (CC0)neolein Karst mountains (CC0)szegvari Dark Sahara (CC0)Kronek9 Emanation (CC0)Karma-Ron PADs Menacing Suspense Scene (CC0)MarkAllentheProducer Ambient drone (CC0)The post New Realistic Terrain Library for Blender | Foundations of the Earth appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Stratasys, a leading provider of 3D printing solutions, has received CE Mark Class I approval for its TrueDent-D resin, enabling the sale of its monolithic multi-shade digital denture solution across Europe. Following its successful U.S. launch in 2023, this milestone allows the company to bring a scalable and efficient solution to European dental labs, dentists, and patients. European dental labs face increasing pressure to deliver high-quality dentures while reducing production time and costs. According to an iData report, the European market for dentures is expected to grow from USD 2.19 billion in 2023 to USD 2.45 billion by 2028. Stratasys TrueDent system utilizes a fully digital workflow that allows labs to produce more than 30 full monolithic, multi-shade dentures per print job using a single Stratasys J5 DentaJet printer. This approach significantly cuts production costsby more than half compared to traditional methodswhile shortening turnaround times and reducing the need for manual assembly by skilled craftspeople.Multiple dentures printed in a single batch using the Stratasys J5 DentaJet. Photo via Stratasys.Erez Ben Zvi, Vice President of Healthcare at Stratasys, stated, We are thrilled to bring TrueDent-D to Europe. Our monolithic TrueDent denture solution combines high fidelity, aesthetics, and production scalability, while reducing labor costs and enabling exact reproductions. The expansion of TrueDent-D suggests a continued evolution in digital denture manufacturing, promising improved efficiency, consistency, and patient care standards.TrueDents ability to print duplicate dentures quickly addresses challenges like labor shortages and the limitations of manual fabrication. The TrueDent solution has transformed our denture business, said Tra Chambers, owner of Express Dental Laboratories in the United States. The streamlined digital workflow and precision allows us to produce up to 225 dental appliances per day while delivering high fidelity, highly aesthetic appliances to our customers. Stratasys approach minimizes over 27 manual touchpoints in the production process, reducing errors and shortening chair time. For more information about the TrueDent digital denture application, visit the Stratasys TrueDent page, register for a meeting or visit the Stratasys booth at IDS 2025 on Hall 3.1 Stand K-059.A fully finished denture created using the Stratasys TrueDent system. Photo via Stratasys.3D Printing Innovations in Digital DentistryIn related industry news, US-based 3D Systems received FDA 510(k) clearance for its multi-material, jetted 3D printed denture solution. This technology integrates NextDent Jet Denture Teeth and NextDent Jet Denture Base materials into a single monolithic denture using MultiJet Printing. By focusing on break resistance, aesthetics, and high-volume production, this solution emphasizes automation and efficiency in denture manufacturing.Another significant development came last year when Formlabs Dental secured FDA 510(k) clearance for its Premium Teeth Resin. This nano-ceramic-filled resin material allows for 3D printing of temporary crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, and up to seven-unit temporary bridges. Compatible with various Formlabs 3D printers, the resin is noted for its realistic aesthetics, high accuracy, and streamlined workflow.Dental component 3D printed using Formlab Dentals Premium Teeth Resin. Photo via Formlabs.Ready to discover who won the 20243D Printing Industry Awards?What will the future of 3D printing look like?Which recent trends are driving the 3D printing industry, as highlighted by experts?Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to stay updated with the latest news and insights.Stay connected with the latest in 3D printing by following us on Twitter and Facebook, and dont forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry YouTube channel for more exclusive content.Featured image shows multiple dentures printed in a single batch using the Stratasys J5 DentaJet. Photo via Stratasys.

Hello!Im creating this post in order to participate.Today Ive worked on:Ref gatheringThumbnailingTrying 3 different types of animating my effect. Decided to go as simple as I can.Tomorrow Ill be working on the visuals of the effect.First trySecond tryIve tried to spawn the particles in a spiral shaped mesh but didnt know how to make it spawn in a specific order.Third try (chosen one)

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