Original mosaic floors and decorative mouldings have been restored in this early 20th-century Barcelona apartment renovation by local practice Sigla Studio.Located in the city's Eixample district, the 150-square-metre apartment sits within a residential building constructed in 1904 called Casa Salvador Viladevall III.Sigla Studio renovated a Barcelona apartment to celebrate its original featuresAfter visiting several apartments within the building, the studio found that many had previously been renovated without much consideration for the original features.By contrast, Sigla Studio looked to incorporate as many of the building's early 20th-century characteristics as possible while introducing some contemporary touches to improve functionality and comfort.Mosaic floor tiles, ceiling mouldings and wooden doors were preserved and restored"Casa Salvador Viladecal III is a prime example of Catalan modernism, with its intricate hydraulic mosaics, high plaster-moulded ceilings and solid wooden doors," Sigla Studio co-founder Bernat Riera told Dezeen."These features, emblematic of the period, were meticulously preserved and restored".A wooden table designed by the studio is the centrepiece of the dining spaceColourful mosaic floor tiles run throughout most of the apartment, including the open-plan living and dining room."The hydraulic floors, identified as creations by Teotim Fortuny, were carefully rehabilitated and missing tiles were sourced to maintain their integrity," explained Riera."Fortuny, a prominent manufacturer of hydraulic mosaics in Catalonia, founded his company in 1895 and was characterised by his intricate designs that reflected both modernist influences and traditional Catalan elements," he stated.The open-plan dining and living area leads out to an internal patioAt the centre of the dining space sits a large table designed by the studio, comprised of a marine plywood structure and a Roman travertine marble top.Above the table, a silver pendant lamp hangs down, fitted to a ceiling rose that forms one part of the decorative plaster mouldings adorning the ceilings.A speckled black sofa marks the divide between the dining and living spaces, where the mosaic tile pattern also changes.Original doors and windows were restored and updated with double-glazingSolid pine doors lead out to an internal patio, with exposed brick walls, mosaic flooring and a row of large windows allowing natural light into the space.All the original doors and windows were restored and updated with double glazing, which the studio said improved energy efficiency without compromising on the level of texture and detailing.Steel kitchen cabinets contrast against warm red marble floorsStructurally, one of the most significant interventions made by Sigla Studio was opening up the kitchen to the hallway.This change, as well as an internal window that was cut between the kitchen and living room, was designed to improve the flow and natural light levels in the centre of the apartment.Other additions include the vaulted kitchen ceiling and the warm red Alicante marble floors, which contrast with the cool steel kitchen cabinets.A natural, pared-back scheme was used for the bedroomsIn the bedrooms, the studio opted for a simple, pared-back colour palette."The palette carefully balances the vibrancy of the restored floors with softer, natural tones, ensuring a seamless integration of historical and modern features," said Riera.Read: DG Arquitecto adds minimalist interventions to historic Valencia apartmentResponding to the client's request for an additional bedroom, the studio divided the main bedroom into two with a custom built-in dressing room."A fourth room was added by splitting the main bedroom using a custom furniture piece, avoiding any alterations to the original mosaic floors or ceiling mouldings," Riera added."This adaptive design respects the original layout while accommodating the needs of a modern family."The apartment's main bedroom was divided in two using a custom-made furniture pieceDesigned to blend in with the wider scheme, the bathrooms were finished with custom-made red marble sinks and detailing."Red Alicante marble in the bathrooms and kitchen adds depth and complements the historic hydraulic tiles, emphasising the connection between old and new," said Riera.Red marble was used for the bathroom finishes to complement the wider interior scheme"The bathrooms are designed to visually integrate with the rest of the apartment, moving away from the traditional idea of hermetic and isolated spaces," Riera said."When not in use, the doors remain open, contributing to a greater sense of spaciousness and improving overall lighting."Other Spanish apartment renovations recently featured on Dezeen include a 19th-century Madrid apartment decorated with colourful furniture by Lucas y Hernandez Gil and a Barcelona apartment divided with a gold-leaf wall by Ral Snchez Architects.The photography is by Marta Vidal.The post Sigla Studio restores original features inside 1900s Barcelona apartment appeared first on Dezeen.

Emergency response systems worldwide are undergoing rapid transformation, and Kazakhstan is no exception. With the introduction of the SOS 102 app, the country has set a new standard for public safety, redefining how law enforcement interacts with citizens. Launched in 2021, the system integrates cutting-edge technology with a citizen-centric approach, establishing itself as a benchmark for modern, responsive emergency services.Since its launch, SOS 102 has processed over 342,500 requests, with more than 250,000 originating from its mobile app. This high adoption rate underscores the effectiveness of its omni-channel design, which seamlessly connects traditional hotlines with digital platforms such as a mobile app, social media, and instant messaging. Citizens can report incidents, submit multimedia evidence, and track police responses in real-timeall with just a few taps.One of the standout features is the integration of AI. The system uses AI to filter and prioritize incoming requests, ensuring that urgent cases receive immediate attention. This not only reduces response times but also enhances the accuracy and efficiency of incident handling, building greater trust between law enforcement and the public.What spurred the need for SOS 102?Before SOS 102, Kazakhstans emergency response relied heavily on traditional phone lines. This system posed several challenges:Limited real-time information: Without a digital platform, it was difficult for citizens to share detailed incident information, such as photos or videos, which often delayed resolution.Low transparency:Citizens had no way to track the progress of their reports, leading to a lack of trust in the system.Lack of integration:There was no mechanism to consolidate reports from different channels, resulting in inefficiencies in response efforts.These limitations highlighted the urgent need for a more modern, integrated approach to public safety communication. SOS 102 was developed to address these gaps while aligning with the countrys broader Listening State initiative, which aims to foster transparency and responsiveness in governance.Lessons from the global stageKazakhstans initiative mirrors global trends in emergency response modernization, drawing parallels with systems like NG911 in North America and 112 in Europe. However, SOS 102 goes further by tailoring international best practices to local needs.For instance, similar to efforts in Singapore, SOS 102 leverages AI for rapid prioritization and IoT for real-time geolocation, ensuring prompt and precise responses. It is also inspired by Dubais advanced systems to ensure user-centric design: SOS 102 emphasizes accessibility and transparency, with features like live tracking of police responses and simple interfaces for incident reporting.Future enhancements for a safer KazakhstanLooking ahead, the SOS 102 system is poised for further upgrades. Planned developments include enhanced audio and video call functionalities, expanded services like vehicle history checks, and continuous improvements based on user feedback. These updates aim to make the system even more intuitive and versatile, reinforcing its role as a pillar of Kazakhstans public safety strategy.Kazakhstans SOS 102 exemplifies how technology and citizen-focused design can transform emergency response systems. By addressing local challenges and incorporating global best practices, the initiative not only sets a precedent for other nations but also fosters a safer, more connected community.Kazakhstans SOS 102 sets a new benchmark for modern emergency response systems. To gain a deeper understanding of the technology, design, and outcomes driving its success, download the detailed white paper: SOS 102: Leveraging Technology to Deliver Responsive, Community-Centered Policing.

Having Safari be able to open the same tabs on all your Apple devices is hugely convenient, yet Apple hides the feature away. Here's how to find and make use of it.What did we do before tabs? And now you can automatically share them across your devicesThis is specifically about what are called iCloud tabs and they are not the same as Tab Groups. If you use Tab Groups in Safari on one Apple device, the feature is on with the same tabs on all your devices.In theory, iCloud tabs is always on too, but you have to dig further to find it, and you have to make sure that it is enabled. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Macbeth, William Shakespeares iconic play, is being reimagined as an interactive video game with a neo-noir vibe and its being developed in part by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The game, titled Lili, is a screen life thriller video game where youll have access to a modern-day Lady Macbeths personal devices, according to a press release.Players will be immersed in a stylized, neo-noir vision of modern Iran, where surveillance and authoritarianism are part of daily life, the release says. The gameplay will feature a blend of live-action cinema within an interactive game format, giving players the chance to immerse themselves in the world of Lady Macbeth and make choices that influence her destiny. It sounds kind of like a version of Macbeth inspired by Sam Barlows interactive thrillers.The Royal Shakespeare Company is making the game in collaboration with iNK Stories, a New York-based indie studio and publisher that also made 1979 Revolution: Black Friday. It stars Zar Amir as Lady Macbeth (Lili), per the press release.Lili is set to release later in 2025.

Reinforcement learning (RL) has fundamentally transformed AI by allowing models to improve performance iteratively through interaction and feedback. When applied to large language models (LLMs), RL opens new avenues for handling tasks that require complex reasoning, such as mathematical problem-solving, coding, and multimodal data interpretation. Traditional methods rely heavily on pretraining with large static datasets. Still, their limitations have become evident as models solve problems that require dynamic exploration and adaptive decision-making.A main challenge in advancing LLMs lies in scaling their capabilities while ensuring computational efficiency. Based on static datasets, conventional pretraining approaches struggle to meet the demands of complex tasks involving intricate reasoning. Also, existing LLM RL implementations have failed to deliver state-of-the-art results due to inefficiencies in prompt design, policy optimization, and data handling. These shortcomings have left a gap in developing models capable of performing well across diverse benchmarks, especially those requiring simultaneous reasoning over text and visual inputs. Solving this problem necessitates a comprehensive framework that aligns model optimization with task-specific requirements while maintaining token efficiency.Prior solutions for improving LLMs include supervised fine-tuning and advanced reasoning techniques such as chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting. CoT reasoning allows models to break down problems into intermediate steps, enhancing their ability to tackle complex questions. However, this method is computationally expensive and often constrained by traditional LLMs limited context window size. Similarly, Monte Carlo tree search, a popular technique for reasoning enhancement, introduces additional computational overhead and complexity. The absence of scalable RL frameworks for LLMs has further restricted progress, underscoring the need for a novel approach that balances performance improvements with efficiency.Researchers from the Kimi Team have introduced Kimi k1.5, a next-generation multimodal LLM designed to overcome these challenges by integrating RL with extended context capabilities. This model employs innovative techniques such as long-context scaling, which expands the context window to 128,000 tokens, enabling it to process larger problem contexts effectively. Unlike prior approaches, the Kimi k1.5 avoids relying on complex methods like Monte Carlo tree search or value functions, opting for a streamlined RL framework. The research team implemented advanced RL prompt set curation to enhance the models adaptability, including diverse prompts spanning STEM, coding, and general reasoning tasks.The Kimi k1.5 was developed in two versions:The long-CoT model: It excels in extended reasoning tasks, leveraging its 128k-token context window to achieve groundbreaking results across benchmarks. For instance, it scored 96.2% on MATH500 and 94th percentile on Codeforces, demonstrating its ability to handle complex, multi-step problems.The short-CoT model: The short-CoT model was optimized for efficiency using advanced long-to-short context training methods. This approach successfully transferred reasoning priors from the long-CoT model, allowing the short-CoT model to maintain high performance, 60.8% on AIME and 94.6% on MATH500, while significantly reducing token usage.The training process combined supervised fine-tuning, long-chain reasoning, and RL to create a robust framework for problem-solving. Key innovations included partial rollouts, a technique that reuses previously computed trajectories to improve computational efficiency during long-context processing. Using multimodal data sources, such as real-world and synthetic visual reasoning datasets, further strengthened the models ability to interpret and reason across text and images. Advanced sampling strategies, including curriculum and prioritized sampling, ensured training focused on areas where the model demonstrated weaker performance.Kimi k1.5 demonstrated significant improvements in token efficiency through its long-to-short context training methodology, enabling the transfer of reasoning priors from long-context models to shorter models while maintaining high performance and reducing token consumption. The model achieved exceptional results across multiple benchmarks, including a 96.2% exact match accuracy on MATH500, a 94th percentile on Codeforces, and a pass rate of 77.5% on AIME, surpassing state-of-the-art models like GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5 by substantial margins. Its short-CoT performance outperformed GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5 on benchmarks like AIME and LiveCodeBench by up to 550%, while its long-CoT performance matched o1 across multiple modalities, including MathVista and Codeforces. Key features include long-context scaling with RL using context windows of up to 128k tokens, efficient training through partial rollouts, improved policy optimization via online mirror descent, advanced sampling strategies, and length penalties. Also, Kimi k1.5 excels in joint reasoning over text and vision, highlighting its multi-modal capabilities.The research presented several key takeaways:By enabling models to explore dynamically with rewards, RL removes the constraints of static datasets, expanding the scope of reasoning and problem-solving.Using a 128,000-token context window allowed the model to effectively perform long-chain reasoning, a critical factor in its state-of-the-art results.Partial rollouts and prioritized sampling strategies optimized the training process, ensuring resources were allocated to the most impactful areas.Incorporating diverse visual and textual data enabled the model to excel across benchmarks requiring simultaneous reasoning over multiple input types.The streamlined RL framework used in Kimi k1.5 avoided the pitfalls of more computationally demanding techniques, achieving high performance without excessive resource consumption.In conclusion, the Kimi k1.5 addresses the limitations of traditional pretraining methods and implements innovative techniques for context scaling and token efficiency; the research sets a new benchmark for performance across reasoning and multimodal tasks. The long-CoT and short-CoT models collectively showcase the adaptability of Kimi k1.5, from handling complex, extended reasoning tasks to achieving token-efficient solutions for shorter contexts.Check out the Paper and GitHub Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our65k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences. 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In the nearly 40 years since the one-two punch of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek: The Next Generation ignited my enthusiasm for Gene Roddenberrys sci-fi juggernaut, Ive seen the franchise through highs (the Dominion War arc on Deep Space Nine, the movie First Contact, the ongoing Paramount+ series Strange New Worlds) and lows (the VoyagerEnterprisePicards first season). But with it all, theres a phrase Ive never said in reaction to any film or show under the TrekStar TrekInitially conceived as a spin-off series for Michelle Yeohs Star Trek: Discovery character, Terran Emperor-turned-undercover-Federation-do-gooder Philippa Georgiou, Section 31 arrives on Paramount+ as 100 minutes of generic schlock containing only trace elements of Star Trek. If you were to scrub the tricorder sound effects from the mix, brush out an occasional Delta shield, and cut out its titular black-ops organizations connection to Starfleet, youd just think, gee, this chintzy Syfy movie sure knows to copy from The Hunger Games and Guardians of the GalaxyX-MenThe Fifth Element) but doesnt know a damn thing about being original. Or engaging.Though it would still be boring, Section 31 might actually be better if you come to it with no knowledge of Star TrekIll try to lay out the premise as quickly as possible, though Section 31s boiled-down form doesnt make that the easiest task. After flashing back to Philippas bloody ascendance to the throne of what we used to call the Mirror Universe, we find where she landed after peacing out from Section 31 in Discoverys third season: outside of Federation space, running a cosmic Ricks Caf Amricain where the main attraction seems to be low lighting and music that sounds like it was produced in 2024. Her former, secretive outfit has been reimagined as an Impossible Mission Force or Charlies Angels with Yeohs Everything Everywhere All at Once pal Jamie Lee Curtis handing out assignments and somehow the group has tracked Georgiou down and knows that some bad guy is coming to do an illegal weapon trade at her club.Section 31 GalleryThus, a ragtag group of zany, Guardians-esque characters are dispatched to intercept and prevent this dangerous development. In addition to the cool guy leader (Omari Hardwick), theres a quippy shapeshifter (Sam Richardson, who does the best he can with this material, and comes out of Section 31 okay), an Im the Juggernaut, bitch! type mecha brute (Robert Kazinsky), a sexy Deltan (Humberly Gonzalez), and a wacky Vulcan (Sven Ruygrok) who actually is not a Vulcan, but rather a microscopic organism in a tiny spaceship inside a Vulcan-shaped Golem body. (Think Men in Black.) When his little ship moves around it looks and sounds like the flying cars from The Jetsons, which is unintentionally hilarious. Embedded with this bickering crew is an observer from Starfleet, a young woman named Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), who hardcore fans know will grow to become a pre-Picard Captain of the Enterprise. Garretts presence, combined with that of a figure from Georgious past, throw the when of Section 31 into utter confusion as if Sweeny tossed the nerds a bone by giving us people we kinda recognize, but made no attempt to actually make the fit within a consistent timeline. Agonizing over this, however, is the least of anyones worries, because the rest of this movie is so dreadfully dull.Section 31 will infuriate Star Trek fans and bore everyone else.With Georgiou (who, mind you, viciously murdered thousands, including her parents and baby brother) part of the new, fun Section 31 gang, we experience some hijinks, like a phase-shield fight with the arms smuggler which was done a lot both versions) and a runaway train-style chase straight out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,Even with the golden opportunity to play interplanetary outlaws, none of the cast (except Richardson) are anything but annoying. Blame can be spread around, though. Theres not just unoriginal writing, but totally uninspired direction. When the team all present themselves for Georgiou once shes officially been recruited, everyone stands still on their mark and barks backstory at her with an almost defiant lack of pizzazz. These lugubrious deliveries are intercut by editing that tries to add spice, but winds up disquieting and feels forced. Yeoh is chomping up every moment, which actually worked on Discovery when she was a supporting character playing off Sonequa Martin-Green or Anthony Rapp. But when shes in the center seat, her dry, haughty tone quickly becomes irritating. The great athleticism of her fight scenes aside, theres not much thats likable here.Theres a lot more fighting, a lot more chasing, and several examples in which the writing seems dictated from TikTok of three years ago. Youre a chaos goblin! the future Captain Garrett is told. I love that for us, she responds to a later prompt. Most importantly, there are none of the thought provoking elements that make Star TrekPlayThe weirdest thing is that this little cul-du-sac in the Star TrekLower DecksAs such, its best to just consider Section 31 an aberration and move on. If Ive learned anything from Starfleet, its to keep positive. Im simply dispatching a warning buoy to all other ships to avoid this area of space and warping out of here.

Anyone worried that Star Trek: Section 31 would completely undermine the central ethos of Star Trek as a franchise has those fears confirmed within the first 10 minutes of the movie.Section 31 opens in the Mirror Universe, where we see a teenaged Phillipa Georgiou (portrayed here by Miku Martineau) give an arch, sub-Game of Thrones monologue before committing an atrocity, the final step in securing her role as Terran Emperor. The scenes of course lack any of the hope and optimism that define Trek, the belief in fundamental good of collaboration and understanding that the Mirror Universe (and Section 31 for that matter) was designed to underscore.But when Section 31 shifts to the movies present, something unexpected happens. Section 31 becomes so boring and ugly that it no longer can be seen as bad Star Trek. Heck, it cant even be called bad sci-fi or bad genre work. It seems to have no interest or understanding in doing any of them well.Section 31 catches up with Georgiou after she left the 32nd century in the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery. As those who watched Discovery will recall, Georgiou was an evil double of Michael Burnhams beloved late Captain. Even though her vicious tendencies led to her joining Starfleets black ops division Section 31, she remained a regular visitor on the Discovery and even traveled with the ship into the far future, until she was forced to return to the past.Section 31 reveals that Georgiou has been living on the edges of Federation space, operating a disreputable bar under a pseudonym. Shes pulled back into service when a Section 31 team under the command of augment Alok (Omari Hardwick) needs her help to find an incredibly destructive weapon. Rounding out the team is Vulcan (sort of, but I wont give that away here) Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), the shapeshifting Quasi (Sam Richardson), the Deltan Melle (Humberly Gonzalez), a mech-suited warrior called Zeph (Robert Kazinsky), and human and Starfleet true believer Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl).As that cast list shows, Section 31 is fond of making references to Trek lore. Garrett, of course, will become the Captain of the Enterprise-C and a major character in the beloved Next Generation episode Yesterdays Enterprise. Quasi is a Chameloid, a member of the alien race played by Iman in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Aloks augments tie him to the Eugenics War and Trek big bad Khan Noonien Singh.But these references only serve as surface level easter eggs, which makes Section 31 more like a game of Fortnite with Star Trek skins than a feature-length continuation of the beloved franchise. In fact, Section 31 seems to pull most of its visual inspiration from video games, with shiny graphics and ostentatious camera movements. After the Mirror Universe prologue, were treated to a mission summary delivered directly to the audience, as if were players getting ready for the next level.To those without much investment in Star Trek, the video game analogy may not sound so bad. After all, weve had some really great video game adaptations lately, with Fallout and The Last of Us. But Section 31 feels more like last years doomed Borderlands movie, done so much worse.Yes, you read that right. All of the ugly visuals and self-satisfied humor that marred Borderlands appears in Section 31, except gaudier and louder. The characters speak in lingo thats gone out of date in 2025, let alone the far future (Chaos is my friend with benefits, says Garrett as a way of expressing her growing acceptance of disorder). Section 31 presents its team as a band of outcasts who constantly squabble, a trope done best most recently by James Gunn in Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad.But instead of making the characters interesting or likable in any way, screenwriter Craig Sweeny writes everyone as a jerks who insult one another to prove their toughness. That doesnt prevent director Olatunde Osunsanmi (a Discovery veteran, like Sweeny) from treating each toothless one-liner as a Don Rickles-level burn, and cutting to a close-up of the roaster cackling at their own joke each and every time.Worse yet are the action sequences. No one expects the 62-year-old Yeoh to pull off the same fight sequences she did in Super Cop or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yet, she still came up through the Hong Kong film industry and, as we saw in Everything Everywhere All at Once, knows how to fight on screen better than the average American performer.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Whatever her skills at this point, Osunsanmi has no confidence in them. Not only does he shoot the fights with the same excessive cuts and shakiness found in most Western movies, but his camera seems actively disinterested in what Yeohs doing on screen. When Georgiou faces off against an assailant in an early scene, the fighters begin at the center of the frame. But as soon as they get close to each other, the camera pans to a singer pulling a microphone off the stage and running away.In fact, Osunsanmi shoots everything with that same level of distracting excess. Hes especially fond of snap zooms and sudden pullbacks, even when just showing two characters in conversation. Irritating as the tendency is, its also understandable, because neither the plot nor the character building in Section 31 deserve attention.Although its officially a movie, Section 31 feels more like the type of TV movies that could be a pilot we saw in the pre-streaming era. But its impossible to think that anyone would want enough of this to launch a sequel or another series. Instead, Section 31 is, at best, understood as proof that maybe Spocks Brain or Shades of Grey or, heck, all of Discovery season five arent so bad after all. At worst, it will be forgotten, never to have any influence on the future of Star Trek at all.Star Trek: Section 31 streams on Paramount+ on January 24.

Apple Watch users regularly credit the device with helping save their life during health scares and emergency situations. For the founder of Whole Foods, however, it was insight gained from the Apple Watch that helped him improve his life.Business Insider highlighted this week that Whole Foods founder John Mackey decided to give up drinking three years ago thanks in part to data collected by his Apple Watch.I wish Id stopped drinking 30 years ago, Mackey said. Thats 30 years of feeling good that I let go past.Mackey said hisApple Watchcontributed to his decision to cut alcohol out of his life for good.I was tracking my sleep, and some days I didnt sleep well, and some days I did sleep well, he recalled. So, I started to ask the question, Well, what did I do differently when I didnt sleep well?'Through sleep tracking with Apple Watch and reflecting on his habits, Mackey determined that more exercise and fewer large meals before bed meant better sleep. But the biggest insight was from a lack of deep sleep, according to the Apple Watch.Mackey also shared his experience in an interview on the PLANTSTRONG podcast last year. Mackey named AutoSleep as the app he used to track his sleep. In his own words:It [Apple Watch] changed my life. It got me off alcohol over two years ago. [] Well, I have an app on the Apple Watch called AutoSleep, and it tracks my sleep.I sleep with my watch and charge it in the morning when I get up.And Ive learned so much from it because it tells me about not only how long I sleep but my quality of sleep and how deep my sleep is. And I started to notice that anytime I drank even one beer or one glass of wine, my deep sleep went to zero. I got no deep sleep and my total sleep would drop about an hour.And I did numerous experiments because I actually liked alcohol and I didnt want to give it up. But the facts were so clear. Every time I drank, no deep sleep. And then I began to realize, wow, maybe I should just stop drinking.And so then the question became, do I want to sleep well or do I want to have a drink? And the answer so far for over two years has been, Id rather sleep well. But Ill hold out the possibility there might come a time when Id rather have the drink, but so far it hadnt hit me.Better sleep means a better life, and for the Whole Foods founder, sleep tracking with Apple Watch unlocked a key insight that inarguably provided answers for how to improve his.Sleep tracking is now a built-in feature on Apple Watch. Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are also capable of detecting signs of sleep apnea.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

Jan 23, 2025Ravie LakshmananCloud Security / CryptojackingGoogle on Wednesday shed light on a financially motivated threat actor named TRIPLESTRENGTH for its opportunistic targeting of cloud environments for cryptojacking and on-premise ransomware attacks."This actor engaged in a variety of threat activity, including cryptocurrency mining operations on hijacked cloud resources and ransomware activity," the tech giant's cloud division said in its 11th Threat Horizons Report.TRIPLESTRENGTH engages in a trifecta of malicious attacks, including illicit cryptocurrency mining, ransomware and extortion, and advertising access to various cloud platforms, including Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Linode, OVHCloud, and Digital Ocean to other threat actors.Initial access to target cloud instances is facilitated by means of stolen credentials and cookies, some of which originate from Raccoon information stealer infection logs. The hijacked environments are then abused to create compute resources for mining cryptocurrencies.Subsequent versions of the campaign have been found to leverage highly privileged accounts to invite attacker-controlled accounts as billing contacts on the victim's cloud project in order to set up large compute resources for mining purposes.The cryptocurrency mining is carried out by using the unMiner application alongside the unMineable mining pool, with both CPU- and GPU-optimized mining algorithms employed depending on the target system.Perhaps somewhat unusually, TRIPLESTRENGTH's ransomware deployment operations have been focused on on-premises resources, rather than cloud infrastructure, employing lockers such as Phobos, RCRU64, and LokiLocker."In Telegram channels focused on hacking, actors linked to TRIPLESTRENGTH have posted advertisements for RCRU64 ransomware-as-a-service and also solicited partners to collaborate in ransomware and blackmail operations," Google Cloud said.In one RCRU64 ransomware incident in May 2024, the threat actors are said to have gained initial access via remote desktop protocol, followed by performing lateral movement and antivirus defense evasion steps to execute the ransomware on several hosts.TRIPLESTRENGTH has also been observed routinely advertising access to compromised servers, including those belonging to hosting providers and cloud platforms, on Telegram.Google said it has taken steps to counter these activities by enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) to prevent the risk of account takeover and rolling out improved logging to flag sensitive billing actions."A single stolen credential can initiate a chain reaction, granting attackers access to applications and data, both on-premises and in the cloud," the tech giant said."This access can be further exploited to compromise infrastructure through remote access services, manipulate MFA, and establish a trusted presence for subsequent social engineering attacks."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Time zones: EST (UTC -5), SBT (UTC +11), GMT (UTC +0), MSK (UTC +3), CEST (UTC +2), BST (UTC +1), JST (UTC +9), CST (UTC +8), WIB (UTC +7), MMT (UTC +6:30), BST (UTC +6), NPT (UTC +5:45), IST (UTC +5:30), UZT (UTC +5), IRDT (UTC +4:30), GST (UTC +4)Lock23, Position DescriptionSenior Full-Stack Engineer: Next.js, Postgresql, SupabaseContract: Full time contract. Hiring will include a 3-month trial. You have to be registered as self-employed in your jurisdiction and do your own taxes. Compensation: Competitive salary and benefits ( 30k - 48k USD ).Where: The position is location independent and 100% remote, but requires 2 hours of daily availability for calls during UTC+7 business hours (Thailand) and 4h of availability for calls with UTC+1 business hours (Portugal)Overview:Lock23 is 3 year old start-up which seeks to solve an ubiquitous Scope 3 accounting issue for the large supply chains of this world. It is our aim to help large brands to effectively account and mitigate their energy footprint across their vast supply chains. If you want to learn about the energy markets and renewable energy certificates (RECs), are interested in the environment and solving complex problems but also want to work in a dynamic small team this position is for you.As Senior Full-Stack engineer you would be leading the design and implementation of the entire application. Data security is the first priority and not an afterthought. This is a senior role in which you will not be micro managed but work in tandem with one other developer.We offer competitive rates and considerable growth potential, flexible working hours/location, and the opportunity to become an expert in a major sustainability field. Expect rewarding work, on a team that enjoys doing it. The Role and Responsibilities:The Full stack engineer will focus on the following areas of work:(i) Designing, Implementation and Security: Much of your work will centre around designing implementing and maintaining our code base. You will take executive decisions and write highly secure, well documented and scalable code with best practises in mind. As we are are handling extremely sensitive supply chain data you need to in plain English - know what you are doing follow best practises laid out by OWASP.(ii) Third party API-integration: You are skilled in building API bridges and know how to integrate 3rd party data sources safely into an application.(iii) Exploring frontier markets. Lock23 is constantly involving and growing. We are interested in solving more and more highly complex supply chain problems in the future and we need your ability to conceptualise IT solutions to facilitate this. You should therefore have an interest to read technical documents about the REC market to thoroughly understand and discover problems that need solving.Minimum Qualifications: Academic degree in IT 5+ years of work experience Experience building and maintaining a complex full-stack application. You have worked on a large scale application before and know the ins and out of scaling an application to 10000+ daily users. Experience with third party API integration implementation. You can write unit tests, keep up to date on security and bring us on track to pass security audits such as SOC2 You have experience with tools such as ZAP or Burpsuite to look for vulnerabilities is the webapp Experience with the core stack (Postgres, Next.js, Supabase, Docker, Typescript, React) or similar technologies is essential Passport, visa, and/or applicable documents to allow you to work from where you are.Most Important Skills: You are proactive, and seek to identify and solve problems. We are a small team of highly independent people that does not want to micromanage each other. If you see a problem or you have an idea you can assume that you are responsible to solve it. Fast, self-guided learner. Web development and the REC markets are constantly evolving. This means that everyone on the team is learning and sharing, all the time. We feel better about someone who is excited to learn, adapt, and share than someone who knows all. Honest, dependable, and direct. In short, we need to be able to trust each other. You will be expected to handle confidential information with the utmost care and to deliver work on tight deadlines. This also means we will value your opinion highly, and expect you to be forthcoming when you think things can or should be done differently.Nice to Have: An understanding of corporate sustainability and how it is implemented. This may include familiarity with RECs, carbon credits, greenhouse gas accounting, or electricity markets Experience in data and statistical analysis, and/or new digital tools such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.How to Apply:Please send the following materials, in PDF format, to [emailprotected](i) Cover Letter describing your interest and qualifications for the position.(ii) Resume or CV that provides a clear overview of your recent work experience, and anyrelevant education/internships/research. This should be no longer than 3 pages.(iii) Supporting materials are highly welcomed. Please send us a link to your git-repository or previous work if possible.(iv) Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview, and to share references from previous employers. A second round of interviews may be requested.Notes to Applicants:Welcome to try. We understand that the perfect human might not be perfect on paper. If you know yourea great fit for the job, but perhaps lack some relevant work or educational experience, we encourage youto apply anyway. In doing so, please be transparent in your cover letterindicating where you might needextra help, and how your positive traits will help balance out anything you feel is missing on your CV.Equal opportunity. Lock23 is an equal opportunity employer. Your age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender,sexual preferences, political views, and other personal attributes will not impact our hiring process, norwill they impact how youre treated as a member of the team. We expect all staff to treat each other, andany clients they interact with, with the same level of respect and tolerance.