Cyberpunk 2077CDPRThree years later, we are still not done with Cyberpunk 2077, both in terms of patches but also how its being received by gamers. Its quite an epic saga, if youve been following along.Today, theres a new patch out, 2.21, which joins the 2.2 patch that added mainly a lot of cosmetic options to the game from cars to your character to a big expansion of photo mode.The patch today is mainly about fixes, some of which for 2.2 items. There are a long list of them you can find here, and lord knows in a game this big you could keep finding bugs and issues until the end of time. Which is what CDPR seems like they want to do.The main thing being added is something on the technical side, which is DLSS 4 with multi frame generation for the new GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards. That involves FPS boosted with AI which can generate three times per traditionally rendered frame, according to CDPR. That will be available on January 30. DLSS 4 also results in reduced memory usage for frame generation. Also, you can choose between the CNN model or Transformer model for DLSS Reconstruction, DLSS Super Resolution and DLAA on all GeForce GTX cards as of today. I absolutely know what all of that means. Likely that the best-looking video game on the market now has the capability to look even better.Cyberpunk 2077CDPRBut the other story here is that CDPR is celebrating a big milestone for Cyberpunk 2077, where after three years, its recent stack of reviews has now hit Overwhelmingly Positive, the highest classification you can get on Steam. Looking at the figures, that is 95% of the last 12,698 reviews. Overall, the game stands at Very Positive with 715,558 reviews in, lowered of course by the initial, very bad launch that took years to fully fix. Its at 84% positive there, so getting to Overwhelmingly Positive just may not be able to ever happen due to math. Though I think Cyberpunk 2077 will live a very long life in its current form. I have not been shy in saying it has become my favorite game of all time, and I do not make that declaration lightly.MORE FOR YOUCDPR has said they are done with new patches for Cyberpunk 2077 as they move on to The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk Orion sequel. They have lied about this before, as the 2.2 patch was not supposed to happen, but it arrived anyway as they cannot seem to resist adding new things to the game, however minor. Well see if well get a 2.3 in a few more months. I would not put it past them.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

What just happened? Donald Trump has announced that tech titans OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are joining forces on a colossal $500 billion initiative dubbed "Project Stargate." According to the US president, the goal is to secure AI compute in the country and gain an edge against China, which has been rapidly advancing its own AI ambitions. At a White House press conference, Trump was flanked by the companies' top brass as he hyped up Stargate by proclaiming that it will cement the future of technology in the US while creating over 100,000 new jobs.The project's plan is for OpenAI, Oracle, and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to plow an initial $100 billion into data center infrastructure across the country. This will balloon to a mind-boggling total investment of half a trillion dollars over the next four years. Big names like Arm, Microsoft, and Nvidia are also listed as technology partners.Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said at the conference that it's already begun building 10 data centers measuring half a million square feet each in Texas. But details are still hazy on where the next facilities will pop up.Ellison added that the project will include the construction of the largest computer ever built. This could be used to invent cancer vaccines and help prevent Covid-19-like pandemics.Not everyone seems enthusiastic about the announcement, though. Pushing back against the Stargate hype is none other than Elon Musk, who fired shots at the funding claims. // Related Stories"They don't actually have the money," Musk argued on X, saying SoftBank has under $10 billion truly locked in based on his intel.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly clapped back under the same post, taunting Musk to "come visit the first site" and accusing him of putting his own companies' interests over those of the US. The two tech billionaires have been engaged in an increasingly bitter legal battle over OpenAI, which Musk was an early investor in before exiting.However, serious questions remain around AI's impact on jobs, safety risks, and more. Trump has already axed some of the Biden-era guardrails around AI and experts are warning that a lack of regulation could have major consequences as capabilities rapidly advance.There's been some buzz that the Stargate project is OpenAI's attempt to reduce its reliance on Microsoft by investing in dedicated AI infrastructure. But in its blog post, OpenAI appears to shut down that speculation, mentioning that the initiative actually builds on their existing partnership.The company says that it will "continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services."

What just happened? The world's fastest supercomputer has gone online at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. Called "El Capitan," the machine was unveiled earlier this month after around eight years of research and development. It will be used to secure the US nuclear stockpile and for classified research. El Capitan can reach a peak performance of 2.746 exaFLOPS, making it the National Nuclear Security Administration's first exascale supercomputer. It's the world's third exascale machine after the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Aurora supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, also in Illinois.The world's fastest supercomputer is powered by more than 11 million CPU and GPU cores integrated into 43,000+ AMD Instinct MI300A accelerators. Each MI300A APU comprises an EPYC Genoa 24-core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz and a CDNA3 GPU integrated onto a single organic package, along with 128GB of HBM3 memory.According to Pythagoras Watson, the team lead of the advanced technology system at LLNL, the system's peak performance is 2.79 quintillion calculations per second. As a measure of how astronomically large that number is, Watson explained to CBS News that if you went back in time 2.79 quintillion seconds, you'd arrive more than 70 billion years before the Big Bang.Built at a cost of around $600 million, the world's newest supercomputer was primarily designed to safeguard and secure the US nuclear arsenal, but it will also perform other classified tasks related to national security, including AI and machine learning workloads. It will also solve problems in materials science and physics.El Capitan was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its CORAL-2 program to replace the Sierra supercomputer, which was deployed in 2018. While Sierra is still in service, El Capitan far exceeds its speed and efficacy with 18 times faster performance. As pointed out by Live Science, Sierra is still operational, and was recently ranked as the 14th most-powerful supercomputer globally. // Related StoriesEl Capitan, which shares its name with the famous granite rock formation at Yosemite National Park, became fully operational last year, achieving a score of 1.742 exaFLOPS in the High-Performance Linpack (HPL) benchmark, which is used globally to judge supercomputing speeds. According to the LLNL, it would take a million smartphones working on a single calculation at the same time to match what El Capitan can do in one second.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsTCL QM6K: The Reliable Crowd-PleaserTCL QM7K: The Overachieving Big BrotherPanasonic Z95B: The Prodigal Comeback KidLG G5: The Coy ProdigySamsung S95F: The Stubborn TrailblazerHisense 116 UX: The Mysterious Wild CardHisense U7: The No-Show That Steals the SpotlightSansui VO series OLEDs: The HustlerSony: The Mysterious Significant OtherNow that Im back at home and Ive washed the Vegas off of me and out of my clothes, Im looking back on the absolute nut-fest that was CES. It was somewhat like a big family reunion.There is the family of journalists running around trying to scoop each other, skipping dinner and fun parties to type frantically late into the night; the family of YouTubers armed with cameras and caffeine and, ultimately, cocktails; and the family of brand reps weve come to know over the years whose feet definitely hurt as much as everyone elses, but you wont hear them complaining about it.Some of them are like long-lost cousins. Others are like that uncle whos always trying to sell you something.RelatedThe most exciting TVs and more from CES 2024The TVs themselves feel like their own quirky maybe even dysfunctional family, with each one having a personality, a particular role, and a story to tell. This years lineup is a reunion for the ages, with big personalities, bold innovations, and, as always, a bit of drama.Lets meet the cast of characters that will be lighting up living rooms this year: the most exciting TVs of 2025.John Higgins / Digital TrendsFirst up at the reunion is The Reliable Crowd-Pleaser the family member who gets along with everyone, shows up at every event, and somehow manages to bring a casserole that everyone loves. Thats the TCL QM6K.TCL told me the QM6K uses their new QD-Mini LED tech, which involves, according to them, a Super High Energy LED Chip to deliver 53% more brightness. And their Condensed Micro Lens design is meant to keep blooming under control. Add in up to 500 local dimming zones and a 23-bit backlight controller, which is supposed to deliver up to 65,000 different levels of brightness gradation, and youve got a TV that reads like the most over-achieving budget pleaser weve seen to date.TCL also claims the QM6K will cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and gamers get a 144Hz native refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. TCL has partnered with Onkyo for audio, and the TV has an Onkyo-branded 2.1-channel speaker system with Dolby Atmos after all, no good family casserole is complete without the right seasoning.Sizes range from 50 to 98 inches and pricing starts at $749.99. Its pretty clear this TV maxes out TCLs efforts to reliably deliver more for less.John Higgins / Digital TrendsNext, weve got The Overachieving Big Brother the one who always has to one-up their younger sibling but still keeps things grounded enough to avoid annoying the whole family. Thats the TCL QM7K.TCL takes everything great about the QM6K and dials it up. Available in screen sizes up to a massive 115 inches the 115 is down in TCLs 7-series now this TV is for those who want a home theater experience without shelling out flagship dollars. TCL says its using the same QD-Mini LED tech as the QM6K, but with even more local dimming zones for more refined backlighting and contrast.Again, its everything great about the QM6K, but bigger, bolder, and brighter. So it definitely earns the The Overachieving Big Brother title. Thats why I had to hand this TV an award at the show: I think its poised to deliver enthusiasts everything they want at a price that makes it achievable over-achievable, even.Digital TrendsNext is The Prodigal Comeback Kid the family member who disappeared for years to find themselves and now shows up at the reunion looking better than ever and with stories that put everyone else to shame. Thats the Panasonic Z95B.I am fairly certain this TV uses LG Displays latest-gen WRGB OLED panel with four emissive layers, allowing it to reach brightness levels that rival mini-LED TVs up to 3,700 nits peak in HDR highlights. The side-by-side demos with last years Z95A suggested the brightness improvements in real-world content were significant. This means that the Z95B is going to stand toe-to-toe with the other top-tier OLEDs on this list.Heres the kicker about Panasonics announcement at CES. While LG remained curiously quiet on details about the new panel in their G5 OLED, Panasonic came out and said, Here it is, yall! spilling the tech tea all over the place. When they made the announcement and showed a slide with the four-layer OLED panel, I did a Tiger-Woods-level fist pump. I was that stoked.The Z95B combines beyond-MLA brightness with Panasonics color accuracy and processing, creating a TV that feels like its gunning for awards, not just praise. (I gave it an award because they did what LG wouldnt.)After years away from the US market, the Z95B is here to prove Panasonic has still got what it takes thats why its The Prodigal Comeback Kid.John Higgins / Digital TrendsLets talk about The Coy Prodigy you know exactly who Im talking about. This is the family member whos clearly the star but plays it cool, leaving everyone guessing. Thats the LG G5.LG hasnt confirmed all the details, but its obvious this TV is packing the next-gen OLED tech that Panasonic confirmed it was using. LG has some processing-based brightness boosting that could give the G5 an edge, if only a slight one, over the Z95B. Also, LGs processing netted it some big awards last year, and since it uses the same processor, presumably tweaked for the new panel, LG could be poised to have the best TV of the year again, according to some experts.Part of the Gallery Series, the G5 is designed to be mounted on the wall and includes a no-gap wall mount for all sizes. LG is not including a table stand for some of its smaller models, a decision they say that was based on customer preferences.With everything LG is throwing into this model, it is well poised to dominate the competition. For sure, it effortlessly lives up to its title as The Coy Prodigy.John Higgins / Digital TrendsNext is The Stubborn Trailblazer that family member whos brilliant and successful, and always insists they know best, even when everyone else disagrees. Thats the Samsung S95F QD-OLED.Samsung has doubled down on its anti-glare and anti-reflection tech theyve tossed it into their flagship QLED TV lineup even as enthusiasts have been screaming for a more traditional glossy finish. Samsung says their anti-glare stuff is the best choice for bright rooms and daytime viewing, and I tend to agree with them.Im confident the S95F uses Samsung Displays Gen 4 QD-OLED panel, which improved the blue OLED efficiency enough that the TV could end up peaking at about 4,000 nits for HDR highlights and could do over 400 nits full screen. That means SDR content would look amazing in a bright room.Heres my position on the anti-glare technology. Some have accused me of loving it (to the degree of fan-boy status) but thats not the case. I see it as a smart business decision. Theres this notion that only TV enthusiasts buy TVs like the S95F and thats also not the case. Samsung is reaching a much bigger audience with this approach and is likely to make more money from it if negative talk from enthusiasts doesnt sour the minds of non-enthusiasts who research this TV.However, seeing this as a smart business move doesnt mean Im fan-boying all over it. The TV has its place, and it could be my top choice for a super-bright room if I watched primarily during the day a non-enthusiasts use-case. Otherwise, it would not be my top choice.I understand enthusiasts who are upset that they cant have Samsungs best QD-OLED performance without having to accept the anti-glare they dont want. I can also understand folks feeling unseen by Samsung, who must know its not what a lot of enthusiasts want. So the fact that they didnt just continue the anti-glare but doubled down on it? That might feel downright insulting.It definitely earns this TV the The Stubborn Trailblazer moniker.Digital TrendsNow we come to The Mysterious Wild Card. This is the family member who shows up looking like theyve got it all figured out. However, is it genius or just bold ambition hubris, even? Thats the Hisense 116 UX.The 116 UX uses a new mini-LED backlight technology Hisense calls Tri-Chroma mini-LED, which just means three-color. Its essentially red, green, and blue mini-LEDs stacked together behind a lens so that the backlight itself can provide white light or color. Whats crazy about this: The backlight now has to coordinate with the color filter and its hard to imagine how that works correctly. It requires a ton of processing horsepower. Hisense says theyve got it, but do they?The technology of this TV is really exciting, and I have high hopes for it. However, I also have a ton of questions. How is color distortion not going to be a problem? As a matter of fact, this TVs technology may make measurements useless because the way it produces color slides from a pattern generator will be vastly different from how it produces color for real content.Also, this did not leap right out at me when I saw the TV in person. In our video footage, which was shot off-angle which can expose backlighting effects already in a dark space, and with the TV so insanely bright that we had to stomp down on the camera exposure, there appeared to be colored blooming or halo effect. I have to wonder: How visible will that be in real content (not demo footage) when the processor is also doing upscaling and image cleanup?Never before have I been so simultaneously excited and skeptical. On paper, its exciting, but in real life, will it deliver? For now, well call it The Mysterious Wild Card.Then theres The No-Show That Steals the Spotlight the family member who skips the reunion but still manages to have everyone talking about them because the rumors are flying. Thats the Hisense U7.While we didnt see it at CES, the Hisense U7s legacy suggests it will offer stellar performance with features like intense brightness, aggressive local dimming, and insane refresh rates all at mid-range prices. It will be taking on the TCL QM7K. While Hisense didnt talk about it, I can use historical precedent to make a prediction: I know it is coming and Im confident in what it will do. That puts it firmly into The No-Show That Steals the Spotlight role.Chris Hagan / Digital TrendsNext, there is The Hustler that family member whos always scheming, with plans that sound way too ambitious to ever work, and yet, somehow, they always pull it off. Thats Sansuis OLED lineup.Sansui blasted into the US late last year with a 55-inch OLED TV running Google TV, which dropped as low as $600 during the holidays. In 2025, Sansui is coming in hot with 65- and 77-inch OLED options that, frankly, I think are going to be the OLED TVs for everyone.Sansui is being somewhat ruthless, shooting to seriously undercut the competition. That approach, we know, tends to pry open wallets in the US.The brand is not a known quantity yet, but if these TVs pick up good reviews and I think they will because they are OLEDs and look awesome by default Sansui might just pull off the biggest upset in US TV history.The fact that they are even trying shows they are definitely The Hustler in this TV family.Finally, we come to The Mysterious Significant Other the one everyone in the family keeps hearing about, but hasnt actually met. Thats Sony this year.They didnt show up at CES, but we know theyre coming with something big. It could be another QD-OLED, or that new panel from LG Display. Perhaps they somehow made their new mini-LED backlighting tech even more stellar than it was last year?The details are scarce, but based on Sonys track record, theres every reason to believe that one of their TVs could end up being the best of the year. I have a feeling well learn more sometime between March and May.Im really curious how they will pull off the naming convention. Are they gonna stick with Bravia 7, Bravia 8, and Bravia 9, relying on the new model year to distinguish them? They will have different model numbers, but will the common names stay the same?Many enthusiasts have had fun passing around a supposedly leaked Chinese registration document, saying that it may suggest Sony is abandoning QD-OLED entirely. However, as a journalist, Im not gonna take something as gospel if I cant verify its provenance. Plus, thats for China, not the US market, or even UK and Europe. We dont have nearly enough information to know if that spells out their strategy. Sony also has a way of surprising us. They definitely did last year.Until then, well just keep wondering about Sony, the mysterious significant other. There is likely something cool coming, but we dont really know any of the details and well believe it when we see it.Editors RecommendationsLG Display confirms what Panasonic told us at CES new four-layer OLED is here

The field is set for the 2025 Oscars. Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were revealed on Thursday morning.Emilia Prez leads the pack with 13 nominations, one short of tying the record (14) shared by Titanic, All About Eve, and La La Land. Emilia Prezpicked up key nominations in Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Actress Karla Sofa Gascn became the first openly transgender actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress.Recommended VideosThe Brutalistand Wickedeach received 10 nominations, including Best Picture. A Complete UnknownandConclavewere next with eight nominations, followed byAnorawith six.Please enable Javascript to view this contentView the entire list of nominees below. The 2025 Oscars are scheduled for March 2, 2025.A24AnoraThe BrutalistA Complete UnknownConclaveDune: Part TwoEmilia PrezIm Still HereNickel BoysThe SubstanceWickedSean Baker,AnoraBrady Corbet,The BrutalistJames Mangold,A Complete UnknownJacques Audiard,Emilia PrezCoralie Fargeat,The SubstanceAdrien Brody,The BrutalistTimothe Chalamet,A Complete UnknownColman Domingo,Sing SingRalph Fiennes,ConclaveSebastian Stan,The ApprenticeCynthia Erivo,WickedKarla SofaGascn,Emilia PrezMikey Madison,AnoraDemi Moore,The SubstanceFernanda Torres,Im Still HereYura Borisov,AnoraKieran Culkin,A Real PainEdward Norton,A Complete UnknownGuy Pearce,The BrutalistJeremy Strong,The ApprenticeMonica Barbaro,A Complete UnknownAriana Grande,WickedFelicity Jones,The BrutalistIsabella Rossellini,ConclaveZoe Saldaa,Emilia PrezMacall Polay / Searchlight PicturesJames Mangold and Jay Cocks,A Complete UnknownPeter Straughan,ConclaveJacques Audiard (in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, La Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi),Emilia PrezRaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes,Nickel BoysClint Bentley and Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, and John Divine G Whitfield,Sing SingSean Baker,AnoraBrady Corbet and Mona Fastvold,The BrutalistJesse Eisenberg,A Real PainMoritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, and Alex David,September 5Coralie Fargeat,The SubstanceFlowInside Out 2Memoir of a SnailThe Wild RobotWallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most FowlBlack Box DiariesNo Other LandPorcelain WarSoundtrack to a Coup DEtatSugarcaneIm Still HereThe Girl With the NeedleEmilia PrezThe Seed of the Sacred FigFlowAnoraThe BrutalistConclaveEmilia PrezWickedNeonThe BrutalistDune: Part TwoEmilia PrezMariaNosferatuThe BrutalistConclaveDune: Part TwoNosferatuWickedA Complete UnknownConclaveGladiator IINosferatuWickedA Different ManEmilia PrezNosferatuThe SubstanceWickedEl Mal, Emilia Prez(Music by Clment Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clment Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)The Journey, The Six Triple Eight(Music and lyric by Diane Warren)Like a Bird, Sing Sing(Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)Mi Camino, Emilia Prez(Music and lyric by Camille and Clment Ducol)Never Too Late, Elton John: Never Too Late(Music and lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Bernie Taupin)The BrutalistConclaveEmilia PrezWickedThe Wild RobotA Complete UnknownDune: Part TwoEmilia PrezWickedThe Wild RobotAlien: RomulusBetter ManDune: Part TwoKingdom of the Planet of the ApesWickedFocusA LienAnujaIm Not a RobotThe Last RangerThe Man Who Could Not Remain SilentBeautiful MenIn the Shadow of the CypressMagic CandiesWander to WonderYuck!Death by NumbersI am Ready, WardenIncidentInstruments of a Beating HeartThe Only Girl in the OrchestraEditors Recommendations

Stuffed with ice cream, dripping with a delicious Toblerone ganache, these golden pastry puffs are the best Valentine you can bake. They might also be the easiest.

OK, but what about Winds of Winter? George R.R. Martin has co-authored a physics paper "I couldn't help but wonder if a simple underlying model might tidy up the canon. Jennifer Ouellette Jan 23, 2025 11:22 am | 3 Detail from cover art for Low Chicago, a Wild Cards novel. Credit: Michael Kormarck/Tor Books Detail from cover art for Low Chicago, a Wild Cards novel. Credit: Michael Kormarck/Tor Books Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAlthough fans of A Song of Ice and Fire might still be hankering for the long-delayed next book in the series, bestselling sci-fi/fantasy author George R.R. Martin has instead added a different item to his long list of publications: a peer-reviewed physics paper just published in the American Journal of Physics that he co-authored. The paper derives a formula to describe the dynamics of a fictional virus that is the centerpiece of the Wild Cards series of books, a shared universe edited by Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass, with some 44 authors contributing.Wild Cards grew out of the Superworld RPG, specifically a long-running campaign game-mastered by Martin in the 1980s, with several of the original sci-fi writers who contributed to the series participating. (A then-unknown Neil Gaiman once pitched Martin a Wild Cards story involving a main character who lived in a world of dreams. Martin rejected the pitch, and Gaiman's idea became The Sandman.) Initially, Martin planned to write a novel centered on his character Turtle, but he then decided it would be better as a shared universe anthology. Martin thought that superhero comics had far too many sources of the many different superpowers and wanted his universe to have one single source. Snodgrass suggested a virus.The series is basically an alternate history of the US in the aftermath of World War II. An airborne alien virus, designed to rewrite DNA, had been released over New York City in 1946 and spread globally, infecting tens of thousands worldwide. It's called the Wild Card virus because it affects every individual differently. It kills 90 percent of those it infects and mutates the rest. Nine percent of the latter end up with unpleasant conditionsthese people are called Jokerswhile one percent develop superpowers and are known as Aces. Some Aces have "powers" that are so trivial and useless that they are known as "deuces."There has been considerable speculation on the Wild Cards website discussing the science behind that virus, and it caught the attention of Ian Tregillis, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, who thought it might make a useful pedagogical exercise. Being a theoretician, I couldn't help but wonder if a simple underlying model might tidy up the canon," Tregillis said. Like any physicist, I started with back-of-the-envelope estimates, but then I went off the deep end. Eventually I suggested, only half-jokingly, that it might be easier to write a genuine physics paper than another blog post."A physicist walks into a fictional universe...Tregillis naturally engaged in a bit of willing suspension of disbelief, given that the question of how any virus could give humans superpowers that defy the laws of physics is inherently unanswerable. He focused on the origin of the Wild Cards universe's 90:9:1 rule, adopting the mindset of an in-universe theoretician keen to build a coherent mathematical framework that could describe the viral behavior. The ultimate goal was to "demonstrate the wide-ranging flexibility and utility of physics concepts by converting this vague and seemingly unapproachable problem to a straightforward dynamic system, thereby putting a wealth of conceptual and mathematical tools at students' disposal," Tregillis and Martin wrote in their paper. A coordinate system for the polar model of the Wild Cards system and an example of the viral vector trajectories. Credit: Ian Tregillis Among the issues the paper addresses is the problem of Jokers and Aces as "mutually exclusive categories with a numerical distribution attainable to the roll of a hundred-sided die," the authors wrote. "Yet the canon abounds with characters who confound this categorization: 'Joker-Aces,' who exhibit both a physical mutation and a superhuman ability."They also suggest the existence of "cryptos": Jokers and Aces with mutations that are largely unobservable, such as producing ultraviolet racing stripes on someone's heart or imbuing "a resident of Iowa with the power of line-of-sight telepathic communication with narwhals. The first individual would be unaware of their Jokerism; the second would be an Ace but never known it." (One might argue that communicating with narwhals might make one a Deuce.)In the end, Tregillis and Martin came up with three ground rules: (1) cryptos exist, but how many of them exist is "unknown and unknowable"; (2) observable card turns would be distributed according to the 90:9:1 rule; and (3) viral outcomes would be determined by a multivariate probability distribution.The resulting proposed model assumes two apparently random variables: severity of the transformationi.e., how much the virus changes a person, either in the severity of a Joker's deformation or the potency of an Ace's superpowerand a mixing angle to address the existence of Joker-Aces. "Card turns that land sufficiently close to one axis will subjectively present as Aces, while otherwise they will present as Jokers or Joker-Aces," the authors wrote.The derived formula is one that takes into account the many different ways a given system can evolve (aka a Langrangian formulation). We translated the abstract problem of Wild Card viral outcomes into a simple, concrete dynamical system. The time-averaged behavior of this system generates the statistical distribution of outcomes, said Tregillis.Tregillis acknowledges that this might not be a good exercise for the beginning physics student, given that it involves multiple steps and covers many concepts that younger students might not fully comprehend. Nor does he suggest adding it to the core curriculum. Instead, he recommends it for senior honors seminars to encourage students to explore an open-ended research question.DOI: American Journal of Physics, 2025. 10.1119/5.0228859 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 3 Comments

Investigations galore UK opens probe into Googles and Apples mobile platforms Regulator will examine how the tech giants compete with one another, treat developers. Tim Bradshaw and Suzi Ring, Financial Times Jan 23, 2025 9:29 am | 7 Credit: FT montage/Reuters Credit: FT montage/Reuters Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe UKs competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Apple's and Googles mobile platforms, just days after the government forced out its chair as part of a push to cut the regulatory burden on business.The Competition and Markets Authority said on Thursday it would examine whether the creators of the iPhone and Android smartphone operating systems should be subjected to extra scrutiny over how they run their mobile platforms, in its second investigation under the new digital markets regime.The announcement comes just two days after the government ousted Marcus Bokkerink as chair of the CMA, amid concerns the regulator was not sufficiently focused on growth.The surprise move has led many to speculate Big Tech could be treated more leniently by the antitrust regulator. The government has appointed Doug Gurr, who previously ran Amazons UK business, as interim CMA chair.On Thursday, the CMA said it would examine how Apple and Google were competing with each other, whether they favored their own apps and services, and whether developers were treated fairly.More competitive mobile ecosystems could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services that millions of people use, be they app stores, browsers or operating systems, said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.Better competition could also boost growth here in the UK, with businesses able to offer new and innovative types of products and services on Apples and Googles platforms, she added.As part of the UKs Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which came into force this month, the CMA can designate a small group of companies as having strategic market status, imposing conduct requirements, similar to the EUs Digital Markets Act.Last week, the CMA opened its first such case, reviewing Googles dominance in search and advertising.The CMA is already in the process of probing Google and Apple in a separate investigation into mobile web browsers and cloud gaming, which has provisionally found the two companies were holding back competition in browsers.Androids openness has helped to expand choice, reduce prices, and democratize access to smartphones and apps. Its the only example of a successful and viable open source mobile operating system, said Oliver Bethell, Googles senior director of competition.We favor a way forward that avoids stifling choice and opportunities for UK consumers and businesses alike, and without risk to UK growth prospects, he added.Apple, which says its app platform supports hundreds of thousands of UK jobs, said it would continue to engage constructively with the CMA.Apple believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish, the company said. We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users.The CMAs probe will add to the worldwide scrutiny that both companies are already facing over their dominance of the smartphone market.Apple clashed with Brussels several times last year over the implementation of the Digital Markets Act, making changes to its platform after the European Commission accused the iPhone maker of failing to comply with its online gatekeeper rules.If designated, the UKs strategic market status lasts for a five-year period, and companies can be fined up to 10 percent of global turnover for breaching conduct rules. 2025 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.Tim Bradshaw and Suzi Ring, Financial TimesTim Bradshaw and Suzi Ring, Financial Times 7 Comments

Sean Combs has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a man he says lied in news interviews.The lawsuit names Courtney Burgess, his lawyer, and the company that owns NewsNation as defendants.Burgess has alleged in interviews that he has videos involving Combs that show sexual assault.Sean "Diddy" Combs has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a man who said he testified before a New York grand jury as part of the federal criminal sex trafficking case against the hip-hop music mogul.That man, Courtney Burgess, has said in news interviews and on podcasts that he was in possession of several videos involving Combs that show the sexual assault of celebrities and apparent minors.Combs' lawsuit which names Burgess, his lawyer, and the media company that owns the network NewsNation as defendants says that Burgess lied in a bid to raise his public profile and destroy Combs' reputation.The lawsuit says Burgess and his Florida-based attorney, Ariel Mitchell, have engaged in a "willful scheme to fabricate and broadcast outrageous lies concerning Mr. Combs and then to leverage those falsehoods to gain social media fame, enrich themselves, and strip Mr. Combs of his reputation, livelihood, and right to a fair trial."The pair has for months fueled "a media frenzy, fabricating outlandish claims and stirring up baseless speculation about Mr. Combs, vying to outdo each other in a shameless competition to draw attention to themselves, with no regard for the truth," Combs alleges in the lawsuit which was filed Wednesday night in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.Burgess, Mitchell, and NewsNation owner Nexstar Media Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Business Insider.Combs' attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement that her high-profile client who has been locked up pretrial at a federal Brooklyn jail since his September 2024 arrest and indictment "is taking a stand against the malicious falsehoods that have been fabricated and amplified by individuals seeking to profit at his expense."The defendants' "falsehoods have poisoned public perception and contaminated the jury pool," Wolff said, adding, "This complaint should serve as a warning that such intentional falsehoods, which undermine Mr. Combs's right to a fair trial, will no longer be tolerated."Combs' lawsuit says that the recordings Burgess says he saw do not exist."Burgess repeated this false claim many times to anyone who would listen, including reporters for major news outlets (including NewsNation, which recklessly repeated and amplified his lies as if they were true)," Combs said in the lawsuit.Combs alleges in the lawsuit that NewsNation did not conduct any investigation before broadcasting the allegations "though it easily could have done so."Burgess, Mitchell, and NewsNation, the lawsuit alleges, "have caused profound reputational and economic injury and severe prejudice to Mr. Combs."Combs' lawsuit says that Burgess has never met Combs or had any relationship with anyone in his family, yet Burgess has said that Combs' late ex and mother of four of his children, Kim Porter, gave him a copy of her alleged memoir and videos showing the alleged sexual assault of intoxicated celebrities and minors."Those close to Ms. Porter, including her children and her roommate for over twenty years, had never heard of Mr. Burgess before he made this utterly implausible and completely false claim," says the lawsuit.Combs says the claims made by Burgess prompted investigators to issue a subpoena for him to testify before a grand jury that convened in Manhattan in October."In this pitiful spectacle, all pretense of objectivity has been abandoned, as a global audience feasts at the all-you-can-eat buffet of wild lies and conspiracy theories," the lawsuit says. At the center of the indictment against Combs are accusations he orchestrated "freak offs," which prosecutors describe in court papers as "elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded."In these alleged drug-fueled sex sessions, prosecutors say Combs "used force, threats of force, and coercion" to get female victims to engage in sex acts with male commercial sex workers.Combs' attorneys have argued in court papers that the video evidence prosecutors have of the so-called "freak offs" will vindicate the "I'll Be Missing You" rapper at trial.Combs has vehemently denied the federal charges against him, as well as all accusations of sexual abuse made in a flood of civil lawsuits against him.

The Port of Galveston, Texas' only cruise port, expects to accommodate 419 cruise ships in 2025.The port had previously exclusively handled cargo and almost filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s.Its CEO explains how the influx of cruises spurred an economic turnaround.In the 1990s, the 200-year-old Port of Galveston almost filed for bankruptcy.It expects to earn $84 million in 2025, a 6.4% increase from the previous year.It's an incredible turnaround. And the port's director and CEO says it's all thanks to cruises, which began to spike in popularity following the COVID-19 pandemicThe Texas port spent $53 million expanding Carnival's cruise terminal in 2023, a year after Royal Caribbean opened a $125 million terminal. A fourth new, $156 million terminal is set to open for Norwegian and MSC's ship in November.Galveston expects to accommodate 419 cruises in 2025, a more than 25% increase from three years prior making it the fourth busiest cruise port in America. Galveston has three cruise terminals, with a fourth expected to open in November. Galveston Wharves courtesy photo. By Robert John Mihovil. "There was a time we didn't have enough money to make payroll," the CEO, Rodger Rees, told Business Insider. "Luckily, the money came in, but they were that tight at times."Prior to the turn of the century, Galveston had exclusively been a cargo port. By the 1990s, its decades-old (in some cases, century-old) infrastructure had been in dire need of repair with money that cargo alone wasn't generating."The port really didn't have anything going on 25, 30 years ago," Rees said. "It was like a ghost town out there."That is until it began pursuing vacation-at-sea companies, which subsequently spurred a much-needed economic windfall."I've been selling Galveston to MSC for five years at least," Rees said. "Becoming a cruise port turned this port around." The Port of Galveston is currently demolishing its antiquated grain facility to make space for more modern cargo. Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images In the shadows of the cruising limelight, the port still continues to receive cargo (primarily vehicles and parts for New Mexico's coming wind farm, set to become the largest in the US).However, crucial infrastructure still needs a makeover. For example, the slips have become too small for today's larger cargo ships and were damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008.To address this, the port is now using money from its flourishing cruise business which accounts for 65% of its revenue to finance its cargo-related renovations, set to be completed in early 2026.It's a $100 million project, about $60 million of which is coming from its cruise revenue."Our best year that I've been here, we made $10 million in cargo business and $50 million in cruises," Rees said. "The cargo business has to really grow in order to keep up with the growth of the cruise business."