Hi,I wonder about the best approach for screen-spaced effects for explosions, impacts, and aftershocks. Noticed them in many games, Im talking about the local radial blur-like effect. Here are two references:https://youtu.be/qj9ed1XWem8?si=0q5HFxI9xdWRDGWC&t=305In this one, light particles have trails similar to radial blur, but they are too consistent, I thought that this many samples for a screen space radial blur could lead to performance issues, maybe they used a different approach?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ply-2cjzC68&t=996sIn this example looks like a regular radial blur is used, but still, this is a kinda expensive screen space effect, and I wonder how they managed to add it without impacting the performance.Can anyone share some info about how to make these kinds of post effects, and most important, optimize them?

TL;DR: It's official, Apple's next-generation CarPlay is late. The delay is a rare miss for Cupertino, a company known for meeting its self-imposed deadlines and its highly predictable product cycles. The tech giant has quietly updated its website, removing all references to the supposed 2024 launch date, effectively acknowledging the pushback. Apple seems to remain committed to the project despite the delay, emphasizing ongoing collaboration with multiple automakers. "We continue to work closely with several automakers, enabling them to showcase their unique brand and visual design philosophies in the next generation of CarPlay," the company said in a statement to MacRumors.The next-generation CarPlay, first unveiled at WWDC 2022, promises a significant overhaul of the in-car experience. It's designed to integrate with a vehicle's instrument cluster, providing information on speed, climate control, and other car data directly through the CarPlay interface. Users will be able to control various vehicle functions, including radio and temperature, directly from the interface.While Apple has not provided a new timeline for the release, there are indications that development is progressing. References to the next-gen CarPlay were recently found in the iOS 18.3 beta, and new visuals of the system have been submitted to a European database.Previously, Apple had announced partnerships with several car manufacturers, including Acura, Audi, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, and Volvo. In December 2023, Aston Martin and Porsche previewed their next-generation CarPlay designs, though neither has delivered a product to market.Meanwhile, some manufacturers like General Motors and Rivian have opted out of CarPlay integration, preferring to maintain control over their own automotive systems. However, Apple maintains that its current CarPlay platform is available in over 98 percent of new cars sold in the U.S. over the past few years. // Related StoriesApple's next-generation CarPlay promises to offer what the company calls "the best of iPhone and the best of your car." The system will allow drivers to personalize their experience, with customizable gauge cluster designs and layouts, including brand-specific options that reflect each automaker's style.Vehicle controls will see significant enhancements as well. For example, the adaptive cruise control feature will display a visual band in the instrument cluster, indicating the vehicle's proximity to the set speed. Other design elements will include color-coded fuel and temperature gauges, with red indicators providing warnings for low fuel or high engine temperatures. Moreover, the instrument cluster will showcase not only essential vehicle data but also real-time information such as dynamic maps and daily schedules.

When it comes to the Oscars, theres always something to bellyache about. Forget the unworthy films the Academy deems worthy. (Paging Ms. Prez, first name Emilia.) Its what doesnt get nominated that really ticks people off. Last January, even Hillary Clinton weighed in on the snubbing of Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, star and writer-director, respectively, of Barbie. This year, grievances have been aired on behalf of Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Dune director Denis Villeneuve. None of the above heard their names called on Thursday morning when the nominations for the 2025 Oscars were unveiled.Regretfully, we are not immune to this powerful urge to gripe. Goofy though it may be to expend any emotional energy on the Academy Awards, which have been getting it wrong (and ignoring exceptional films) since their inception, theres one snub this year that feels particularly egregious one omission thats as annoying as it was easy to see coming. Command-F a full list of the 2025 nominations and say it with us in unison: Where, you gormless chumps, is the love for Challengers?Recommended VideosLuca Guadagninos playful drama about three young tennis champs tangled in a decade-spanning love triangle scored not a single nomination no, not even for that propulsive, Golden Globe-winning original score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. No one seems particularly surprised by its total absence from the race. Oscar bloggers wrote the film off as a long shot months ago. Setting aside the question of whether predicting awards season actually shapes awards season, the writing was on the wall. And yet it still boggles the mind: Served a smart, sexy entertainment for grownups, thousands of Academy voters voted nay.Josh OConnor and Zendaya in Challengers MGM / MGMThere are multiple categories for which Challengers could and should have competed. The script by Justin Kuritzkes is the years wittiest marvel of screenwriting a chronologically intricate three-hander that develops its relationships across two dovetailing timelines, with dialogue that pings back and forth like a ball served and returned. Guadagnino directs the ever-living hell out of that blueprint, bringing a virtuosic kineticism to dialogue exchanges and tense championship matches alike; arguably no filmmaker this year tackled scenes with this much athletic enthusiasm. And how many performances from 2024 were as charismatic as Josh OConnors turn as the mischievous, down-on-his-luck Patrick, mounting a comeback thats really a roundabout push to reconnect with an old friend and the beautiful fellow tennis star who came between them?RelatedAnd who could forget that throbbing Reznor-Ross symphony, a techno heartbeat that drives the action, on and off the court, as relentlessly as it ear-wormed its way onto gym playlists? You can hold the blasphemous opinion that maybe, just maybe, Guadagnino should have mixed the music down a little (the way it drowns out dialogue in key scenes is a bit much, however bold and purposeful) and still acknowledge that its the kind of infectious musical suite inseparable from the movie it augments, instrumental to its rhythm and tone that the Original Score category was seemingly created to honor.The way Challengers brought all these elements together should have made it a shoo-in for the Best Picture lineup, too. Yes, it was a competitive field, but how many of the final nominees supplied as collective a buzz of satisfaction? How many built to a better, more instantly iconic ending? Of course, great movies fail to make the cut every year. Thats the real folly of complaining about the Oscars: Youll go hoarse cataloging their slights. And certainly, there are movies that would benefit more from a nomination than Challengers, an already well-liked, widely-seen Hollywood movie that got good reviews and made healthy money.Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh OConnor in Challengers MGM / MGMBut thats the thing: The relative success of this film is worth celebrating, especially by an industry that could stand to learn from (and emulate) its example. Challengers is something of a unicorn in the modern movie landscape the sort of adult-oriented studio confection that too rarely gets made anymore. A movie about people and sex and relationships. A star-driven drama in an age when you usually have to look for those on the small screen, not the big one. Its like the second coming of Bull Durham another mnage trois of a sports movie that, incidentally, did score an Oscar nomination for its screenplay.So what stopped Hollywoods most prominent voting bloc from embracing a well-reviewed American crowd-pleaser that drummed up $50 million at the box office (aka more than most of the Best Picture nominees) and forcefully touched a meme-making zeitgeist? Timing might be to blame. Challengers, after all, opened way back in April. In recent years, the conventional wisdom that a pre-summer movie cant compete has been repeatedly, well, challenged. But recency bias still benefits late-breaking contenders at the expense of others. Look at the other big Zendaya vehicle of 2024, Dune: Part Two, which also opened in the spring after being delayed by the guild strikes. That movie did pick up some nominations but not as many as some initially predicted it would when it hit theaters.More than the when, it might be the what of Challengers that kept it out of the running. Its gotten to the point where the Academy, like the industry on a whole, sees movies in binary terms. On the one side, you have the arthouse films the festival favorites like Anora or The Brutalistor (sigh) Emilia Prez that make the case for cinema as a still-vital medium, worthy of the praise the Oscars reinforce. On the other side, you have the tenpole entertainments and popcorn spectacles that keep the lights on at Disney, Warner Bros., et al. Nominations for Wickedand Dune are as much about commercial performance as they are about quality, though it takes a certain respectability to make an awards contender out of a blockbuster.CHALLENGERS | Final TrailerChallengers doesnt really fit either of those labels. Its a serious piece of storytelling and filmmaking thats also a hoot. Its a deliriously fun movie that didnt make a billion dollars or employ hundreds to thousands of special-effects wizards. Its caught, in a sense, between the two poles of art and entertainment that now define the split priorities of Hollywood. We used to get a lot of studio films that fit such a description. Now a mid-budget success story like Challengers mostly exists in the streaming sphere, where movies so often go to disappear.Maybe the Academy ignored this great film because it represents a kind of moviemaking accessible but intelligent, endlessly enjoyable (and rewatchable) but not aimed at all ages and demographics that barely exists anymore. Which is one big reason, of course, that they shouldnt have ignored it. Challengers is gleeful proof that, every once in a while, they do make em like they used to. If that isnt deserving of a trip to the Dolby Theatre and a shot at the gold, what is?Challengers is available to rent or purchase from the major digital services. For more of A.A. Dowds writing, visit his Authory page.Editors Recommendations

Apples new smart hub could look like a HomePod with a seven-inch screen attached to it, and a higher-end version of the same device could even have a robot arm that lets it track users around the room. In his latest Power On! newsletter, Mark Gurman lays out what fans can expect from the new device. It aims to improve on the capabilities of the existing HomePod and elevate Apple HomeKit to a higher level. Gurman said, I still consider it Apples most significant release of the year because its the first step toward a bigger role in the smart home.Currently, HomeKit users can set up a home hub using either the HomePod, HomePod Mini, Apple TV, or similar device. Its new smart home hub is rumored to be part of an attempt to elevate HomeKit to the same level of Alexa or Google Assistant.Murat orlu/Unsplash / AppleGurman calls the new smart device a smaller and cheaper iPad that lets users control appliances, conduct FaceTime chats and handle other tasks. It doesnt sound like the new hub will stand alone, though; Gurman goes on to say that it should be followed by a higher-end version in a few years. That version should be able to pan and tilt to keep users in-frame during video calls, or just to keep the display visible as someone moves around the home.Recommended VideosThis information contradicts earlier leaks that predicted a six-inch screen, but they do corroborate other details like the idea Apple would combine an iPad and AI features with a HomePod. Other details are still known, like whether the device will use an original operating system. The overall plan is to make the new smart device the center of an Apple-based smart home and open the doors to a more conversational Siri.Editors Recommendations

President Trump said the US would issue tariffs on Colombia after it rejected deportation flights.Colombian President Gustavo Petro halted flights with deported migrants from landing in his country.Trump said on Truth Social that the 25% tariffs would increase to 50% in a week.President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States will impose 25% tariffs on Colombia after its president turned away two flights carrying deported migrants."A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Sunday. "That is why I returned the US military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants."Trump responded on Truth Social, announcing immediate tariffs and vowing they'd increase if Petro didn't comply."I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures: Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States," he said. "In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%."Trump also imposed a travel ban on Colombian government officials and visa sanctions on individuals tied to the country's government."These measures are just the beginning," the president said. "We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"Trump's posture on the repatriation of migrants has rankled some governments in Latin America. NBC News reported that Mexico on Thursday also refused to allow a US military flight carrying migrants to land in the country.Trump has long made immigration a central issue. While President Joe Biden was in office, Trump railed against the number of migrants who crossed the US southern border, making the issue a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign.Trump pledged during the campaign to enact the biggest mass deportation plan in US history once he assumed office for his second term.

Timothe Chalamet hosted 'SNL' and joked about AI's role in education.AI is being integrated into classrooms around the world.While it could help with personalized learning, AI's use in education has risks.Timothe Chalamet hosted NBC's 'Saturday Night Live' this weekend. In one skit, he and the cast poked fun at the use of AI in education.In a scene set in a classroom, cast members playing students tuned into an AI podcast meant to help them learn.Some of the answers given by the AI hosts played by Chalamet and cast member Bowen Yang were humorously false, referencing AI's tendency to "hallucinate" and sometimes provide users with bizarre answers to prompts."The school has invested in a new AI program that takes your textbooks and turns them into an educational podcast," Ego Nwodim, portraying a teacher, said in the skit. "The technology isn't perfect, but they make it sound so casual that it doesn't even feel like homework."After Yang experienced a glitch, the pair attempted to explain photosynthesis."What do plants eat if it's not, like, burgers?" Chalamet asked."Thank you for asking me that," Bowen said. "Plants, legit, eat light."By the end, Chalamet and Yang undergo an existential crisis during which they question where they came from."Do we exist?" Chalamet asked."What are we? Who made us?" Yang asked. "Now, I'm mad. Now, I want revenge."AI technology is now a major part of most industries, including business, entertainment, and law, so it's not surprising that it's also becoming a tool in the teacher's toolbox.Local media reported this month that in Arizona, students at a virtual academy will be taught by AI for two hours each day. In London, high school students prepared for exams with personalized learning using AI, which replaced their teachers."Students will benefit enormously from AI-powered adaptive learning, which allows every student to learn at their own pace rather than having to keep pace with a class, which often progresses too quickly for some students and too slowly for others," a coprincipal from the David Game College told BI in August.However, educators have also had to grapple with the pitfalls of AI, like plagiarism and wrong information.

Chris Pratt will headline his first big screen, non-VO movie in years with next January's sci-fi detective thriller Mercy.

TheMass Effectseries has always held a special, and often divisive spot in fans hearts. BioWares sci-fi RPG saga blew up with its first game back in 2007, and its sequel took the franchise to bigger, more mainstream heights. In the years since that games release, its cast a long shadownot just over its own franchise and creator, but the larger RPG space, particularly those from western developers. Mass Effect 2first released on January 26, 2010, and its a sequel of two different types. Narratively, it continues Commander Shepards storyafter theyre killed by aliens called the Collectors, Shepards revived by the human supremacist group Cerberus and told to build a team to investigate abductions of human colonies that may be connected to the growing Reaper threat. But the sequels also a soft gameplay reboot: the original Mass Effectwas an RPG dinged for being an occasionally awkward third-person shooter, so BioWare strived to make the combat feel better. That meant streamlining and trimming down some of the first games fat, so no planet exploration in the Mako, and Shepard regenerates health and uses ammo for their guns rather than heatsinks. Those changes didnt stopMass Effect 2from becoming a critical and commercial darling, or from being considered one of the best games ever. But it did lead to fans of the first lamenting how BioWare had really made an action game that happened to feature RPG elements rather than an action-RPG. The studios shift to immediate, real-time fights had been coming for a while now, starting with Jade Empire, and has continued up to last yearsDragon Age: The Veilguard;Mass Effect 3smore action than RPG to the point Shepard has a dodge roll and melee finishers, and uses workbenches to mod out their guns. 2017sMass Effect: Andromedatried to split the difference between its series gameplay contrasts by keeping and expanding upon the sequels action focus, while also bringing back the originals stats and passive skills through its Profiles system. Whatever else one thinks about Andromeda, itmight be the most RPG the franchise had felt in a decade. BioWare/EA What is an RPG anymore? Its been asked about the genre over the past decade as several big names in the space have either faded, decreased in output, or pivoted. Look no further than Final Fantasy: mainline titles in Square Enixs flagship franchise have gradually shifted from turn-based combat to full-on action, like 2024s Final Fantasy VII Rebirthor 2023sFinal Fantasy XVI. While Final Fantasy VIIs remakes have pause-and-prep combat that allow for some tactics,Final Fantasy XVIis character action through and through, further helped by the pedigree behind it. Combat director Ryota Suzuki previously worked as a designer on CapcomsDevil May Cryseries, which is apparent almost immediately upon playing. You can also look at Stranger of Paradise,an AU prequel to the first Final Fantasy. The underrated 2022 game was made by Team Ninja, which previously made the NiohandNinja Gaidenfranchises, a pedigree more than apparent in Strangersclass-switching, melee-focused combat. The line between action games and RPGs became greatly blurred in the past decade thanks to triple-A action games borrowing RPG elements that often feel tacked-on or unneeded. Theres also the matter of linearity: the Mass Effectsequels pulled back from full branching storytelling to provide players with outcomes that varied depending on choices they previously made, either earlier in the game or in prior installments. While it was more manageable for the developers, this method has its drawbacks. With Veilguard, BioWare brought over three specific events from Dragon Age: Inquisition for players to base the world state around, which reflected the decade-long gap between installments and didnt fully sit well with players. Western-made RPGs like BioWare titles and Baldurs Gate 3 are famously built around choices, a promise which can be a double-edged sword: players will always hold Mass Effect 3s ending against BioWare, andAssassins Creed Odyssey,that franchises second go at being an action-RPG, drew controversy for a DLC that funneled players toward starting a family, even when their character may not have wanted to or was romantically inclined toward their own gender.Not all of this spawned directly fromMass Effect 2srelease, but that game helped set the foundation for how the genres transformation. For better or worse, publishers wanted to court mainstream western audiences however they saw fit, and chased any attention-grabbing trend. The west liked shooters, multiplayer, zombies, and crafting, so developers have spent years making games built around one or all of those ideas. Its only been fairly recently that things are swinging back in favor of Japanese developers, particularly with RPGs. Atlus Personafranchise has been grown bigger and bigger thanks to various Persona 4 follow-ups and re-releases or remakes for the likes ofPersona 3and4, not to mention the developers newest title, Metaphor: ReFantazio. Similarly, SegasLike a Dragonfranchise pivoted to a turn-based RPG style with 2020s soft reboot, which reflects new lead Ichiban Kasugas love for theDragon Questfranchise. And despite its main franchises devotion to real-time brawls, Square Enix also hasnt completely abandoned its turn-based roots; its still got the long-running Dragon Questseries, the very good Octopath Travelergames, re-releases of the originalFinal Fantasies, and various HD2D titles. BioWare/EA As for western developers? Thats a little harder to determine. Some, like CD Projekt Red or Larian, have leaned more toward immersive sims or tabletop games for their recent role-playing ventures. Meanwhile, others seem ready to play their hits in new ways (see Obsidian with AvowedandOuter Worlds 2) or try at being a successor to newer masterpieces, like the manystudios spawning out of Disco Elysiumcreator ZA/UM. And then there are the anomalies, games we have some idea of, but nothing quite so concrete yet.What will Fablebring to the conversation under Playground Games direction opposed to Lionheads? What has Bethesda learned from the ultimately muted reactions to Starfieldthat makesElder Scrolls VIand eventually (maybe)Fallout 5feel like something different?Or, as this relates to BioWare, how RPG will its nextMass Effectbe after the series has moved away from, and then back to, its roots? This upcoming installment is led by several franchise veterans, but RPGs have evolved. For all the flak Andromeda took, it also made attempts at evolving parts of the original games thatd already been dated, like the conversation wheel and the binary Paragon/Renegade system. The team behind that game knew Mass Effect needed to grow, and that mindset is needed as the series attempts a genuine return. With the Legendary remasters out, the series cant play its own hits and act like the last decade of RPGs, or its last game, didnt happen. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

House in Serrado da Adega / AA. ArquitectosSave this picture! Nuno SerroHousesCmara de Lobos, PortugalArchitects: AA. ArquitectosAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:184 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Nuno SerroManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: BRUMA, Cifre ceramica, Efapel, Fassa Bortolo, Finsa, JNF, Sanitana Lead Architects: Andr Ferreira, Adriana Henriques More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The land is located in Cmara de Lobos, in a residential development about 77.50m from the sea. It borders a road to the East, a house to the North, an empty lot to the South, and a slope to the West. The view is more interesting to the South (sea) and West (opposite hillside). The house has two emerging floors, and its shape creates two strips, one longer (to the west) than the other (to the east) in accordance with the trapezoidal shape of the land.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!On the ground floor, in the eastern strip, there is a covered outdoor parking area, a storage room with access from the outside, an entrance served by a large closet that extends to the living room, a guest bathroom (with access through the closet), and the staircase leading to the upper floor. The entire eastern facade is sheltered by a porch formed by a flower bed, intended to bring a bit of garden closer to the house. Following, in the western strip, are the open space living room, dining area, and kitchen, along with a pantry. Attached to the living room is a porch facing South and West. On the opposite side (North/West) there is another porch, similar, supporting the barbecue. On the upper floor, in the eastern strip, there is a bedroom, a laundry room with access to a drying patio, the staircase, and the bathroom and walk-in closet of the suite. In the western strip is the other bedroom, the common bathroom for the bedrooms, and the suites bedroom. Above the ground floor porches are two balconies, one for the suite (South/West) and a common one for the bedrooms (North/West). The balconies have flower beds, similar to those that form the eastern porch, with the same purpose. There is also a patio immediately in front of the stairs, facing West.Save this picture!Save this picture!The house will be thermally insulated from the exterior and painted white. Except for the slabs, flower beds, and the pillar of the parking area, which will be in exposed concrete. Panels made of sucupira wood will cover the corner between the parking area and the front door of the house and will conceal a storage compartment dedicated to parking and a shoe cabinet in the leftover space under the stairs. In the surroundings, attached to the North wall is the barbecue, and to the East wall are the trash house and a shelter for dogs.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 26, 2025Cite: "House in Serrado da Adega / AA. Arquitectos" [Casa no Serrado da Adega / AA. Arquitectos] 26 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026131/house-in-serrado-da-adega-aa-arquitectos&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Exposure to low temperatures for prolonged spells can trigger an array of different health conditions, some of which may be life-threatening.