This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.Mice with two dads have been created using CRISPRWhats new: Mice with two fathers have been bornand have survived to adulthoodfollowing a complex set of experiments by a team in China. The researchers used CRISPR to create the mice, using a novel approach to target genes that normally need to be inherited from both male and female parents. They hope to use the same approach to create primates with two dads.Why it matters: Humans are off limits for now, but the work does help us better understand a strange biological phenomenon known as imprinting, which causes certain genes to be expressed differently depending on which parent they came from. Read the full story.Jessica HamzelouThree reasons Meta will struggle with community fact-checkingSarah Gilbert is research director for the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University.Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will cut back on its content moderation efforts and eliminate fact-checking in the US in favor of the more democratic approach that X (formerly Twitter) calls Community Notes.The move is raising alarm bells, and rightly so. Meta has left a trail of moderation controversies in its wake, and ending professional fact-checking creates the potential for misinformation and hate to spread unchecked.Im a community moderator who researches community moderation. Heres what Ive learned about the limitations of relying on volunteers for moderationand what Meta needs to do to succeed.MIT Technology Review Narrated: Is this the end of animal testing?Animal studies are notoriously bad at identifying human treatments. Around 95% of the drugs developed through animal research fail in people. But until recently there was no other option.Now organs on chips may offer a truly viable alternative. They look remarkably prosaic: flexible polymer rectangles about the size of a thumb drive. In reality theyre triumphs of bioengineering, intricate constructions furrowed with tiny channels that are lined with living human tissues. And as they continue to be refined, they could solve one of the biggest problems in medicine today.This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, whichwere publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as its released.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 DeepSeek has AI investors spookedTheyre worried theyve wasted their money after the Chinese startup proved that powerful models can be created on a shoestring. (NYT $)+ Its success has also shed light on how little we know about AIs power demands. (FT $)+ DeepSeeks rapid rise is great news for Chinas AI strategy. (WP $)+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)2 OpenAI has accused DeepSeek of using its AI models to train R1Just hours after Sam Altman claimed it was invigorating to have a new competitor. (FT $)+ DeepSeek has been telling some people that its made by Microsoft. (Fast Company $)+ Italy is investigating how the firm handles personal data in relation to GDPR. (TechCrunch)3 Alibaba claims its new AI model surpasses DeepSeeksThat was fast. (WSJ $)+ Heres what sets DeepSeek apart from its competition. (NBC News)4 RFK Jrs niece is trying to stop him being appointed the top US health officialShes shared private emails in which he makes false covid and vaccine claims. (STAT)+ His cousin has also denounced him as a predator. (NY Mag $)+ A weaker vaccine policy will lead to the resurgence of dangerous diseases. (The Atlantic $)+ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story. (MIT Technology Review)5 Donald Trump has threatened new chip sanctionsIn a heavy-handed attempt to force manufacturers to relocate to the US. (WP $)6 Women seeking fertility treatment in the US are being left in the darkClinics dont publicly declare how many times egg retrieval has gone wrong. (Bloomberg $)+ Inside the strange limbo facing millions of IVF embryos. (MIT Technology Review)7 Spotify claims that streaming has made the world value musicIm not convinced artists will agree. (The Verge)8 Supersonic commercial flights could be staging a comebackMore than two decades after Concorde ceased operation. (New Scientist $)+ How rerouting planes to produce fewer contrails could help cool the planet. (MIT Technology Review)9 LinkedIn has booted AI-generated jobseekers off its platformTheir accounts were created by a company peddling AI agents. (404 Media)+ How one developer fought back against AI crawler bots. (Ars Technica)10 The future of food is bacteria and algaeMmm, delicious. (Undark)+ Would you eat dried microbes? This company hopes so. (MIT Technology Review)Quote of the dayI dont have technology. Ive never emailed or, what do you call it, Twittered.Actor Christopher Walken isnt a fan of modern gadgetry, he tells the Wall Street Journal.The big storyDeepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese businessMay 2024Once a week, Sun Kai has a video call with his mother, and they discuss his day-to-day life. But Suns mother died five years ago, and the person hes talking to isnt actually a person, but a digital replica he made of her.There are plenty of people like Sun who want to use AI to preserve, animate, and interact with lost loved ones as they mourn and try to heal. The market is particularly strong in China, where at least half a dozen companies are now offering such technologies and thousands of people have already paid for them.But some question whether interacting with AI replicas of the dead is truly a healthy way to process grief, and its not entirely clear what the legal and ethical implications of this technology may be. Read the full story.Zeyi YangWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Happy Chinese New Year to all those who celebrate! + These robots do a passable job dancing to mark the celebration.+ If you havent seen A Real Pain in the theater yet, why not?+ Coolarchaeologists have uncovered an ancient Roman mask that may depict Medusa.

If Apple's AirPods Max are too pricey, maybe these knockoff cans are a better, more affordable option. Let's compare these bargain bin headphones to Apple's latest.Apple's AirPods Max go against the $5 iConcept headphonesRecently, while running our usual laundry list of errands stock up on Coke Zero, drop off old kids toys at Goodwill we stopped by our local dollar store. While there, we saw what looked like spot-on clones of AirPods Max.Carrying a hefty price tag of $5 whole American dollars, they were an instant buy for us to get them home and see how they compare to the real deal. Needless to say, it wasn't close. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The votes are in for Archinect's popularity contest of the 18 architecture school lecture posters featured in our Fall '24 Get Lectured series.Out of 544 responses in our most recent online reader poll, the UCLA Architecture and Urban Design series of poster designs by Alyssa Tohyama raked in a dominating 35.1% of votes and took home the top prize, followed by the GIF-animated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo College of Architecture and Environmental Design poster in second place with 23%, and the Pratt Institute School of Architecture design coming in third with 15.4% of votes.Joining the three winners were top-ten poster designs from Florida Atlantic, UT Knoxville, Penn, UW-Milwaukee, Waterloo, U of Hong Kong, and East Los Angeles College.Thanks to our readers for participating, and congratulations to all the winning designs and their creators.First Place: UCLALecture poster design by Alyssa Tohyama. Courtesy of UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design.Second Place: Cal Poly...

Following our previous look at an opening for an internship at KieranTimberlake, we are using this weeks edition of ourJob Highlights seriesto explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Exhibition Designer at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual who will develop exhibition designs, participate in planning meetings, and contribute towards LACMAs permanent collection reinstallation project. Among the responsibilities will be designing temporary gallery exhibitions and permanent collection installations, as well as developing design criteria with curatorial and exhibition staff. Among the qualifications required are a minimum of three years experience in a related field and a professional degree in architecture.Rendering of the David Geffen Gallieries. Image credit: Atelier Peter Zumthor/The BoundaryWhy the role interests usThe open role at LACMA comes as construction continues on the anticipated David Geffen Gallerie...

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work throughArchitizerand sign up for ourinspirational newsletters.Despite being used for a range of spatial types from basic multi-generational residences, grand palaces, temples and government buildings over eons, siheyuan design has remained a fixed approach to building. The term refers to a courtyard surrounded by buildings on all four sides.Translated into English as courtyard house, to give an idea of their prevalence, particularly in Beijing and the nearby-ish rural Shanxi province, in 2008 the United Nations Human Settlements Programme estimated 400,000 of these historic complexes were still being used as homes. And, the citys own Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage still maintains 500 historic courtyards that are protected as Cultural and Historical Conservation Areas. These include prominent memorials such as Xun, Go Moruo, Mao Dun, Mei Lanfang and Lao She.Offering seclusion even in the heart of a dense metropolis like Beijing, today many of these enclaves used for housing provide private outdoor space that can only be used by you and your neighbors. Suffice it to say, as urban populations have boomed so too has the market for the benefits these properties deliver, albeit often at a price. As a result, there are now plenty of stunning examples of modernized, renovated and upgraded siheyuan. For proof, weve pulled together a collection of nine historic Chinese courtyard house renovations.Twisting CourtyardBy ARCHSTUDIO, BeijingThe design aims at getting rid of the solemn and stereotyped impression given by siheyuan, ARCHSTUDIO explains of the inimitable Twisting Courtyard. A traditional, historic example of this topology in residential form, a bold conversion turns a private retreat into public realm with houses that can be rented out for events and meetings, and areas built-in for more informal gatherings. What really stands out, though, is the exterior ground forming the roofs and walls of some spaces, and extending indoors. A complex that seems to invite us to explore deeper and deeper the more it reveals of itself.Courtyards Renovation of the Moshikou NeighborhoodBy Beijing AN-Design Architects, Beijing Unlike most of the projects in this collection, the Courtyards Renovation of the Moshikou Neighborhood purposefully invites the close quarters of the city into a private sanctuary. This district experienced a commercial boom in ancient times thanks to its role as a caravansary, before declining as trade moved elsewhere. Spaces still reflect this, and AN-Design maximized their potential with a multi-purpose site reflecting the density of working class communities. Areas for workshops, concerts, coffee breaks and meetings occupy one half, tightly packed residential corner in another, together they represent a way of life that has existed here for longer than anyone can remember.Courtyard 35 Hutong CloudscapeBy WAY Studio, Beijing Located close to imperial residences, at one point Courtyard 35 would have been home to extended members of the royal family. Multiple piecemeal renovations left the site a hotchpotch of styles without unity or coherency and by the 1990s it was in a mess. With the cloudscape concept, WAY Studio redirects attention upwards through the installation of bridges. These elevated paths double up as sites of interaction and socializing, and help bring the complex into a uniform aesthetic thats anything but conservative. Playing with expectations about what a traditional courtyard house should look like, in what was a stronghold of aristocratic aesthetic orthodoxy.Qishe CourtyardBy ARCHSTUDIO, Beijing Nature and sky play a big part in the principles of siheyuan. You can see this in each of this collections projects but few have the impact of Quishe Courtyard, or Seven House in English (a reference to the buildings street number). A badly run down site on the brink of collapse has been neatened, reinforced, and repaired, with reproductions of original architecture expanding living spaces significantly. Thoughtful curvature means this has happened while bringing in the most amount of open air and light, and working around existing trees and foliage.Courtyard KindergartenBy MAD Architects, Beijing A 1990s building and a 400-year-old courtyard: Whats the worst that could happen? Two seemingly opposing traditions are brought together under one unified design by MAD Architects in a genuinely playful way. Pre-existing houses are now surrounded by a protective perimeter structure. This facilitates interaction between modern mid-rise and historic structures. The outdoor space is largely moved to roof level, offering a large recreational area incorporating landscaping, rethinking the overall footprint in light of increasing pressure for space, without sacrificing area.Courtyard House Redevelopment ProjectBy J Architects, Beijing Siheyuan often connotes a level of wealth and position in society. Thats true whether we consider historic homes of hereditary monarchs or urban escapes now selling for millions. J Architects Courtyard House Redevelopment is neither. Before renovation began, this was a dilapidated hutong (back alley) building people had to stoop to get inside. Raising its height, levelling ground and introducing a second outdoor area above, the result is a clean, light and spacious modern building to serve a variety of purposes.A Small CourtyardBy COLORFULL YUJING, ShanghaiXinchang is one of few living Jiangnan water towns remaining settlements that incorporate rivers, canals and dense alleyways in their masterplans. Distinct from other examples thanks to the shop in font, residence in middle, garden spanning the river building design, this three-entry point blueprint dictates A Small Courtyard. Coffee shops, cultural venues, restaurants, and boutique accommodation are laid out in a way that follows the same model, helping this 2024 development fully integrate with the historic surroundings.Dongcheng Courtyard HouseBy JSPA Design, Beijing Situated in an ancient corner of Beijing, Dongcheng Courtyard House sympathetically expands on Ming Dynasty construction and addresses our complex relationship with the modern city without disrupting a heritage area. Introducing two new parallel buildings, three courtyards are created from one, each offering a different degree of privacy. Bathrooms are concealed within opaque boxes and plugged-in to the structure, while an underground extension provides space for a pool and gym.The Walled Tsingpu Yangzhou RetreatBy Neri&Hu Design and Research Office Neri&Hus 20-room boutique hotel design is nothing short of seductive. The firm also perfectly defines siheyuan with both the in-real-life project and the description of its own work. The inspiration for the design originates with the vernacular Chinese courtyard house, which gives hierarchy to the spaces, frames views of the sky and earth, encapsulates landscape into architecture, and creates an overlap between interior and exterior.Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work throughArchitizerand sign up for ourinspirational newsletters.The post 21st Century Siheyuan: 9 Chinese Courtyards Renovated With Contemporary Flare appeared first on Journal.

With the recent announcement that Ninja Gaiden 4 was in the works during the recent Xbox Developer_Direct, according to Team Ninja producer Fumihiko Yasuda, the idea for the company to team up with PlatinumGames for the development of Ninja Gaiden 4 was Phil Spencers idea.Speaking to Game Watch, Yasuda credits Spencer for coming up with the idea for the team-up, while also talking about how difficult it was for Team Ninja to come up with a plan regarding the development of the game. Yasuda also mentions that Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba being good friends was important.I think everyone knows that the Ninja Gaiden series has been on hold for more than a decade, but Team Ninja has been considering making a new title for a long time, Yasuda said according to a rough translation of the interview. However, we were having difficult deciding on a plan. Then Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba, who are from the same generation and are good friends, had a chance to discuss the matter.Yasuda then spoke about the collective experience both the developers had with making fast-paced action games, with Team Ninjas own experience with the Ninja Gaiden franchise, and PlatinumGames being well-regarded for titles like Nier: Automata and Bayonetta.After that, Phil Spencer from Microsoft suggested that the three companies PlatinumGames, Koei Tecmo and Microsoft work together on a new numbered title in the Ninja Gaiden series, and thats how the project got started, he continued. We have developed action games ourselves, but because we were going to be making a new Ninja Gaiden for the first time in over a decade, PlatinumGames had already made a number of great action titles, such as Bayonetta and NieR: Automata, so we wanted to work with them, and thats how the collaboration began.Spencer himself revealed in an interview earlier this month that plans for a new title in the Ninja Gaiden franchise actually started around six or seven years ago. He spoke about the relationships he had with various game publishers in Japan, and after a lot of conversations in-person as well as online, the plans for a Ninja Gaiden 4 were put into motion.Ninja Gaiden 4 was announced with a trailer, and will be making its way to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S this Fall. The title will also be available through Game Pass.The latest entry in the franchise will feature a brand new protagonist in the forum of Yakuma a young ninja from the Raven Clan. Series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa will also be present in the story, and will likely play a pivotal role in the games events. The announcement trailer also indicated some level of rivalry between Yakuma and Hayabusa.Ninja Gaiden 4 was announced alongside the launch of a remake of Ninja Gaiden 2 based on Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Titled Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, the game is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more details.

Bungies third episode for Destiny 2 following The Final Shape arrives on February 4th, and it returns to a familiar location: Oryxs Dreadnaught. Its not quite the same massive ship orbiting Saturn that fans know and love, as detailed by narrative architect Nikko Stevens.Whats significant about the Dreadnaughts return for Heresy is that its going to be changing, and were going to be fighting through it in ways weve yet to experience, he said on the PlayStation Blog. The Dreadnaught has reawakened for the first time in almost a decade, spurring the Vanguard and Guardians across the system to take notice. We finally get to see what has become of the Dreadnaught years after Oryx was felled and its halls were left to corrode, without a Navigator.Heresy introduces a new activity called The Nether, which combines patrols, multiple bubbles full of challenging enemies, and boss fights. Once these bubbles are complete, enemies will increase in Power. However, new boons help even the odds.Minor boons improve stats; major boons provide passives like sprinting to accumulate Static Charge stacks; and corrupted boons. The latter will affect you negatively, but the pay-off can be worth it, like massively increasing damage dealt and received.Senior designer Ryan Harris added, Weve also experimented with player modifiers, with increased health pools, no regenerating of health, low ammo drops and revive tokens, and a modification on healing in the sandbox throughout play. Players should look to build their loadouts geared for survivability as the game mode modifiers increase health pools of players significantly while also stopping all health regen.Players can also look forward to new weapons, including a new Support Frame Auto Rifle, Origin Perks, gear, and more. Interestingly, the livestream for the episode noted Oryx, the Taken King, as returning in some capacity. Perhaps he plays a role in the next dungeon, which launches on February 7th.

NIPGroup said it has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to drive gaming in Abu Dhabi in a $40M deal.Read More

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn MoreMoving beyond talk: 93% of IT leaders will launch AI agents in the next two years, Salesforce saysEveryone is talking about AI agents. But so far, a lot of that has just been, well, talk.That is set to change in 2025, according to Salesforce AI agents are finally getting real. According to a new survey from its integration and automation software company Mulesoft, 93% of enterprise IT leaders have implemented or planned to implement AI agents in the next two years.Still, enterprises continue to struggle with delivery times 29% of projects, for instance, missed that mark in 2024 and 80% say data integration is one of their biggest challenges when using AI.Integration challenges hinder companies from fully realizing the technologys potential to create a limitless digital workforce, Andrew Comstock, SVP and GM of MuleSoft, told VentureBeat. Integration is incredibly foundational to making AI agents work because AI agent outputs depend on connected data that enables a comprehensive understanding of the context and nuances within user queries.Enterprises still struggle, but are seeing AI take shapeSalesforces 10th annual MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark Report surveyed 1,050 enterprise IT leaders. One of the key findings was that organizations today use 897 apps on average. Further, the number of AI models organizations use has doubled (from nine in 2024 to 18 this year), and organizations using agents have roughly 22 AI models deployed, significantly more than those not yet using agents (15).However, only about 29% of those apps are connected, and the majority of respondents (95%) say they struggle to integrate data across systems.Comstock explained that such integration issues impact agent accuracy and usefulness; they need to gather structured and unstructured data from diverse sources, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) platforms, as well as emails, PDFs, Slack and other systems to make decisions and take action.IT leaders do see great value in application programming interfaces (APIs) which allow different apps to talk to each other saying they are beneficial when it comes to improving IT infrastructure, sharing data across teams and integrating disparate systems.With correct integration and APIs, agents can interact directly with their existing systems, automations and other agents across the enterprise, so that they dont have to refit everything for the AI world, said Comstock.The survey also found that IT leaders are expecting an 18% increase in projects this year, and will spend an average of $16.9 million on IT staff in 2024, more than double that of 2023. Yet still, nearly 40% of IT teams time is spent on designing, building and testing new integrations between systems and data.Thats an incredibly high percentage to spend on cumbersome work, Comstock pointed out. Every IT has more work to do than resources available, leading to backlogs, delays and inefficiencies. Agents, we believe, can close the IT delivery gap.Indeed, the majority of IT leaders polled (93%) say that AI will increase the productivity of their developers over the next three years.A digital labor workforce can act autonomously in a business to successfully carry out both simple and complex tasks, enabling increased productivity and efficiency, said Comstock. He noted that enterprises will eventually move beyond simple AI agents to super agents, which dont just respond to a single command, but pursue a goal and perform complex human tasks.Bottom line: Enterprise leaders are already seeing and experiencing AI at work. As evidenced just as recently as this week, DeepSeek has changed the baseline of what we think we can do, said Comstock.Were seeing more readiness to talk about the things that AI is going to do, more than just sort of behind the scenes, he said. What were seeing from these benchmark studies is that IT leaders are ready for that conversation.How PenFed Credit Union and Adecco are using AI agentsPenFed Credit Union is one Salesforce customer already seeing the benefit of AI agents. In less than eight weeks, the countrys third-largest federal credit union set up two new support channels live agent chat and chatbots built on Agentforce with just one engineer.The company is using Mulesoft to gather data into one unified platform. This gives service agents a 360-degree view of member data, Comstock explained, allowing them to provide better and faster support with live chat and self-service support options. Branch representatives can also handle multiple types of customer requests in a single window.As a result, PenFed now resolves 20% of cases on first contact with AI-powered chatbots, increasing chat and chatbot activity by 223% in the past year. Coincidentally or not, the credit union has also increased membership by 31%.Members get channels of choice when they need help, Comstock explained. Theyre enjoying short wait times because theyre not repeating the same information when they talk to service representatives, because the information is being connected together more effectively.Leading talent company Adecco, meanwhile, is using Agentforce, MuleSoft and Salesforce Data Cloud to centralize more than 40 disparate systems. The company processes 300 million applications a year and places 1 million people daily. However, with its traditional tooling, its recruiters can only respond to a fraction of the applications it receives, unintentionally ghosting a significant number of candidates.To address this problem, Agentforce will autonomously and automatically sift through resumes and pull together shortlists of candidates based on preset criteria such as skills, experience or location. After passing that list off to human recruiters, the model will then notify candidates who werent a good fit and suggest alternative roles. The goal: To eventually respond to 100% of applicants, Comstock explained.Similarly, Agentforce will help with job postings, identifying the most effective job boards and platforms based on past success rates and regional needs. This will remove the need for recruiters to manually publish listings.Its about How effective can we make our employees and free them up to do the most important part of their job, the pieces that are really differentiating and providing value?, Comstock noted.He pointed to other examples where AI agents could reach out on behalf of a worker who is sick on a given day and needs to find a replacement. Or, a product agent can answer questions and provide documentation, and, when asked about something out of its purview, communicate with other agents to get the answer.You can attack customer service, you can attack employee success, you can attack a variety of different vectors, said Comstock.Feedback loops will speed up later adoptionAs enterprises adopt AI agents, theyll experience an accelerated feedback loop, Comstock noted: Their next set of deployed agents will only get faster and more intelligent.That cycle is something that were going to start seeing the best companies adopt, and its going to be an incredible differentiator for them as theyre thinking about how they build their business, he said.He pointed out that he doesnt see agents at least as theyre currently constructed replacing people. Instead its an incredible complement to what humans are doing, allowing them to scale more effectively and do the work theyve been wishing they could get to.Its exciting, because this is where its real, said Comstock. This is where its moving beyond the conceptual. People are putting agents in place and are able to measure positive returns, whether from a top line or bottom line impact to their business.Daily insights on business use cases with VB DailyIf you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.Read our Privacy PolicyThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.