The Apple Watch might be the household name in smartwatches today, but it was hardly the first of its kind. It was actually a bit late to the scene, having been beaten to the punch not only by some Android-powered wearables but by a niche product that would briefly be the darling of the market until Apple arrived. Compared to later smartwatches, the Pebble was extremely limited in functionality, but who would have thought that people today would actually prefer that to the distraction overload offered by modern wearables.Pebble has had a rather colorful history, one that eventually ended in Googles graveyard. Fortunately, the tech giant did something rather unusual and actually released the code for Pebble OS as open source software, which would mean anyone could take it and make their own pebble. And by anyone, that includes Pebbles original creator, who just announced the return of the original Pebbles, specs and all.Designer: Eric MigicovskyThe OG Pebble definitely looks dated by todays standards, though later editions not only refined the design but also improved on the hardware and features. The smartwatch boasted days-long battery life thanks to its use of an e-Paper display rather than conventional LCDs or OLEDs, and although it used a proprietary operating system, it supported easily writing apps that extended the devices features. Unfortunately, popularity didnt translate to commercial success and Pebble closed up shop after being partially bought by Fitbit who would later on be bought by Google.In a somewhat weird twist of fate, Google just announced that it was open sourcing Pebble OS, laying the foundations for not just third-party mods on existing Pebble smartwatches but also a full-blown rebirth of the original wearable line. Of course, that would require hardware that would actually run the Pebble software, which is what the buzz today is all about.Eric Migicovsky, the creator of Pebble, quickly announced that they were bringing back the smartwatch now that the doors have become fully open. The rather interesting detail about the revelation is that the new watch will have the same specs and features as the old Pebble, though its not clear which generation of Pebble he was referring to. The intention was to make that rePebble immediately compatible with the dozens of apps and watch faces that were made by the passionate Pebble community.That said, it will be interesting to see how the old Pebble will measure up against todays smartwatches. With a strong trend towards minimalism and distraction-free experiences, it could very well become a crowd favorite yet again, almost a decade after it was officially discontinued. It might be a tough sell, though, with the Apple Watchs dominance in the market, and Pebble might have to upgrade some of its specs to include more advanced health sensors to compete there.The post Pebble smartwatch is coming back after Google open sources code first appeared on Yanko Design.

Fans are praising the clever imagery.

A new A.I. model, released by a scrappy Chinese upstart, has rocked Silicon Valley and upended several fundamental assumptions about A.I. progress.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek said it was hit by a cyberattack, prompting the company to restrict user registrations and manage website outages as demand for its AI assistant soared.According to the companys status page, DeepSeek has been investigating the issue since late evening Beijing time on Monday.

Marina Tabassum has been selected as the architect for the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion in London. The Bangladeshi architect and her firm Marina Tabassum Architects will be the 24th designers of the Serpentine Pavilion, an annual event that began with Zaha Hadids commission in 2000.Titled 'A Capsule inTime,' the pavilion will open on June 6th, 2025. Building on Tabassum's contemporary architectural approach rooted in place, climate, culture, and history, the design of the pavilion seeks to create a dialogue between permanence and ephemerality. The design features four wooden capsule forms with translucent faades, inspired by park traditions and arched garden canopies, which filter light to create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow. A central court aligns with Serpentine Souths bell tower, anchoring the design to its surroundings.Rendering of the proposed 2025 pavilion. Image credit: Marina Tabassum Architects via SerpentineA key feature of the pavilion is its kinetic element...

Ever played a racing game that focuses exclusively on the racing aspect and avoids any unnecessary gimmicks or micro-transactions, and respects its roots to the T? I am not sure about you but for me, Tokyo Xtreme Racer fits that bill, a game I have been playing a lot over the last few days. For those who are unaware, the Tokyo Extreme series has been around for almost three decades and primarily focuses on night-time street racing on Tokyos Shuto Expressway. Its Japanese title literally translates to Metropolitan Expressway Battle, an indication that you have go to head-to-head against your rivals and defeat them by either damaging their car or taking a substantial lead over them.The gameplay in Tokyo Xtreme Racer is extremely straight forward. Featuring a battle system called as Spirit Battle, you need to wipe out your opponents health by luring them into making a mistake, crash into them or overtake them and extend the lead over a certain distance. Initial races in the game are 1v1 encounters which begin by getting behind your rivals and flashing your headlight. As noted previously, this gameplay mechanic is simple but extremely addictive at the same time."Featuring a battle system called as Spirit Battle, you need to wipe out your opponents health by luring them into making a mistake, crash into them or overtake them and extend the lead over a certain distance."Taking place in a map which is stretched across 180kms of Shuto Expressway, there are plenty of rivals that you can face-off against, each with varying levels of competence and AI behaviors. This can result into races that can be completed within seconds or some that could last several minutes resulting into a challenging, mouse and cat like experience. You could easily crash into barriers or into ongoing traffic, thereby losing the lead and thereby the match. In fact, your competitor AI can also make the same mistakes and give away the lead to you. Its this unpredictable system that makes racing in Tokyo Xtreme Racer a blast.At its core, Tokyo Xtreme Racer is an arcade experience, but its backed up by some engaging progression mechanics. As you race and win more duels, you will be awarded with skill points which can be used to unlock more vehicles, garage space, new parts and even improve attack and defense parameters of the vehicle. While most of these addons like unlocking parts or increasing vehicle stats make sense in the context of a racing game, some of the stuff like limiting capacity to earn money behind certain skill barriers is absurd. If you do not upgrade this skill type, you will not be able to earn any more money beyond a certain point. You would need to continuously upgrade that skill type so that you do not lose your race credits. Its a weird mechanic that makes no sense at all, and I question and wonder about the logic behind such a system.Tokyo Xtreme Racer also allows you to buy new vehicle parts and even adjust several settings of your vehicle. Its not as detailed as say something like Gran Turismo 7, but its an option for players who want to control some of the finer settings of the vehicles. You can also customize various sections of the vehicles like bumpers and tyres with new cosmetic fittings. Want a cool neon light coming out from all the sides of your vehicle? The game has you covered. All in all, despite being an arcade game, Tokyo Xtreme Racer surprisingly had an in-depth progression and customization mechanic."Tokyo Xtreme Racer also allows you to buy new vehicle parts and even adjust several settings of your vehicle."Tokyo Xtreme Racer also features a story that is told through unvoiced text lines and basic imagery. However, this was one of the least interesting parts of the experience as the game makes no effort in engrossing the player in its plot. Its so basic that the game would be completely fine without it. Hopefully, more will be revealed about the story in the final version, but as it stands now, I found its inclusion to be quite worthless.As noted earlier, Tokyo Xtreme Racer features 180 kilometers worth of the Shuto Expressway to race upon. The map is divided into ramps, and they can be unlocked once you pass through them. However, the game implements a rather inconsistent fast travel system. Once you unlock a ramp, you can only fast travel to it by going through the garage. However, when you are on the track, you cannot fast travel to any ramps of your choice. This made mission completion a tedious endeavor as each rival is located in a different area of the map. So, you have to either drive to reach there (mind you, some of the locations are quite far away) or quit and go back to garage and fast travel to nearest ramp.Another fundamental design flaw is that the games map lacks intermediate diversions. Assume that you are on one side of the road and want to make your way on to the opposing side. You have two ways to do this and both of them are tedious. You can go back to garage and fast travel to the nearest ramp or just travel to a diversion that will likely be miles away from your current location. In a racer that is focused on fast and quick action, these weird design choices deter it from reaching its full potential. Hopefully, these obstructions will be removed or redesigned in the final release. In its current, they merely serve to artificially increase the gameplay time.In its early access release, Tokyo Xtreme Racer features only a handful of soundtracks. They get the job done and jibe well with the action but hopefully the list will be expanded upon with future updates. Visually, the game is going for a unique but a nostalgic art style that is reminiscent of the PlayStation 2 era. After all, not every game has to be a Forza or a Gran Turismo in terms of graphics. The Tokyo Xtreme Racer series has always had its own identity, its own look and feel, and I am glad it sticks to that. The game is also pretty light on PC requirements, and I was able to run at a stable 60fps with every setting maxed out at 4K resolution.As noted earlier, Tokyo Xtreme Racers gameplay is based on draining your opponents health bar. However, when cars crash into each other, there is no visual damage indicator. There is no need for complex damage physics like the ones seen in the F1 games, but at least static damage marks and destruction vfx effects should have been implemented. This is a little detail, but something that will make the racing even more immersive."In its early access release, Tokyo Xtreme Racer features only a handful of soundtracks."Tokyo Xtreme Racer, according to the developer, will be in early access for four months, so, hopefully, the team will be able to aforementioned issues through updates. At the time of writing this review, I havent been able to find a roadmap for the game, so its difficult ascertain what kind of updates are coming in the future.So, the current state of the early access version of Tokyo Xtreme Racer is largely satisfying. There are a few design issues in terms of map layout, fast travel and locking max currency limit behind multiple skill barriers, but there is a lot to like here. The sense of speed, the visuals and performance, the simple yet addictive gameplay and its adherence to the series roots is what makes Tokyo Xtreme Racer standout from the competition.This early access version of the game was reviewed on PC.

The writer who reviewed every record on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time listPublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now-- HolaIssue #255: laughtivism, DeepSeek, and compartmentalizationBy Harris SockelLast weekend, I spent several hours digging into a majestic 138-minute read by Tom Morton-Collings (its more of a book, to be honest). He began the project last year, inspired by Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The magazine lets musicians, music critics, and journalists cast their votes on the best (its super subjective) albums of the last 70ish years. The list is ever-changing and always incomplete it was last updated in 2023 but it tries to be as comprehensive as possible.He decided to listen to all 6,800 songs on all 500 albums. It took him over six months. He writes:I grew up as a music fan believing in the medium of the album as sacred. Somewhere along the way, Id lost sight of that. I ditched all my physical media a long time ago. I only used streaming services and, more and more, was only listening to playlists curated based on my listening habits. [] I wasnt expanding my musical horizons at all. If anything, they were narrowing.What follows is the most detailed, exhaustive journey through the last 70 years of music that Ive ever seen. Morton-Collings reviews every album, devoting most of his attention to the top 50. While reading, I kept pausing to revisit albums I hadnt heard in decades (hello, Green Days Dookie). I made a few new discoveries, like Laura Nyros Eli and the 13th Confession (1968). And I learned that Rolling Stone really needs to listen to its own list, because Morton-Collings points out a few (what he perceives as) lazy choices like including a five-hour Merle Haggard compilation as one of its top albums of all time. A more discerning curator wouldve picked just one of the artists 66 studio albums.One takeaway from this list: Innovation tends to spur more innovation. The decade between 1965 and 75 produced some of what Rolling Stone sees as the most culture-shifting albums, and Morton-Collings attributes this to artists attempts to outdo each other: The Beach Boys tried to one-up The Beatles, and the pushing of boundaries and experimentalism seemed to cause an explosion of creativity. Artists were simultaneously inspired by and competing with each other.I appreciate Morton-Collings dedication to excaping his algorithmic bubble. If you, too, want to expand your cultural horizons, bookmark this post for your weekend. What else were readingDeepSeeks R1, a new chatbot owned by a Chinese hedge fund, is voicey-er than ChatGPT and Claude but it still has no idea what its talking about. (Jasmine Sun & Lincoln Michel)A writer who was interning at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riots shares what it was like to be there and how shes reflecting on it now: In the moment, we as staffers were expected to compartmentalize our experience, bounce back, and get back to work like nothing happened. It seemed like everyone got to be outraged this happened but us.The lesser-known key to an effective protest? Humor. If youre a cop, you spend a lot of time thinking about how to deal with people who are violent. But nothing in your training prepares you for dealing with people who are funny. Serbian activist Srdja Popovic, who devised a gag to poke fun at Slobodan Miloevi in the 90s. Your daily dose of practical wisdomThe trick to reading poetry: dont treat it like its sacred. (Jason McBride)

The Knickerbocker Theater's roof collapsed under the weight of snowfall, resulting in 98 deaths. Photo by Herbert A. French / Buyenlarge / Getty ImagesAround 9 p.m. on the evening of January 28, 1922, a massive blizzard caused one of the deadliest disasters in Washington, D.C. history.Snow had already been falling for over 24 hours when patrons made their way into the Knickerbocker Theater. This 1,700-person venue was the largest movie house in the nations capital at the time, and one that writer Kevin Ambrose has called the Titanic of Washington theaters. An estimated 500 moviegoers had gathered to see a showing of the silent comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford while outside, the snow continued to accumulate.Just after the shows intermission, tragedy struck. The weight of the snow that had collected atop the theater caused its flat roof to buckle, splitting it down the middle and onto the movie houses concrete balcony. The latter came crashing down as well, trapping dozens of men, women and children beneath a maelstrom of steel and masonry. 1917 photograph of the Knickerbocker Theater Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsWhile people in the surrounding area rushed to the theater to help, the buildup of snow caused many nearby streets to remain obstructed, hindering rescue efforts. Eventually, more than 600 firefighters, soldiers and Marines arrived on the scene, with Army Major George S. Patton (later famous for helping lead the Allies to victory during World War II) tasked with overseeing the operation. The following day, rescuers were still trying to sort through the wreckage to reach those whod been seated in the theaters orchestra section.A total of 98 people were killedincluding former Congressman Andrew Jackson Barchfeld, as well as several notable political and business leadersand 133 injured by the collapsed roof. Later dubbed the Knickerbocker Storm, the weather event remains both one of the largest snowfalls (28 inches in total) and deadliest architectural catastrophes on record in Washington. The buildings collapse was also one of the deadliest structural engineering failures in United States history.Snow Covered Negligence: The Knickerbocker Theater DisasterWatch on The city government, both houses of Congress and the city coroner all launched investigations into the cause of the Knickerbockers roof collapse. All came to the overall conclusion that it was the result of poor design. The buildings construction had included the use of arch beams as roof support, and they simply buckled beneath the weight of the snow. Both the theaters architect, Reginald Gearewho also designed Washingtons Lincoln Theaterand its owner, Harry Crandall, later died by suicide. The Knickerbockers collapse and the investigation that followed eventually paved the way for improvements in the citys building codes, such as the mandated use of steel I-beams and greater roof support.A year after the collapse, architect Thomas Lamb built the Ambassador Theater in the remaining shell of the Knickerbocker, retaining its original facade. In 1969, the building was torn down and later replaced with a bank, followed by a public plaza. Soon, the site may become affordable housing that includes both a public plaza and displays acknowledging the deadly Knickerbocker collapse.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: American History, Architecture, Cities, Congress, Natural Disasters, On This Day in History, Snow, Theater, Washington, D.C., Weather

Large Language Models (LLMs) have become an indispensable part of contemporary life, shaping the future of nearly every conceivable domain. They are widely acknowledged for their impressive performance across tasks of varying complexity. However, instances have arisen where LLMs have been criticized for generating unexpected and unsafe responses. Consequently, ongoing research aims to align LLMs more closely with human preferences while fully leveraging their extensive training data.Methods such as Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) have proven effective. However, they still require iterative training, which is often impractical. Researchers are therefore focusing on modifying inference approaches to match the performance of training-based optimization methods. This article explores the latest research that enhances human preference alignment during inference time.Researchers from Shanghai AI Laboratory have introduced Test-Time Preference Optimization (TPO), a novel framework designed to align LLM outputs with human preferences during inference. This framework can be conceptualized as an online, on-policy learning paradigm, where the policy model continuously interacts with a novel reward model to refine its outputs.TPO incorporates a mechanism to leverage interpretable textual feedback for preference optimization instead of conventional numerical scoring. To achieve this, authors translate reward signals into textual rewards through critiques. The model then generates suggestions by the transformed rewards and updates its outputs to align with the signals during testing.During the actual test, the newly generated responses are scored at each inference-time optimization step, and the extreme ends of response quality are classified as chosen or rejected outputs. The model then learns the strength from the best or chosen outputs and the shortfalls of rejected responses to compile a textual loss. The model then generates suggestions or textual gradients for the next iteration. TPO thus improves the output iteratively based on interactions with text rewards.The authors used aligned and unaligned policy models to validate the concept and determine whether the model had undergone preference optimization during training. Two key models included in the study were Llama-3.1-70B-SFT, an unaligned model that did not undergo preference optimization during training, and Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct, an aligned model trained with preference optimization. Additionally, experiments spanned many datasets to evaluate instruction following, preference alignment, safety, and mathematical reasoning.Results from these experiments confirmed that a few TPO optimization steps significantly improved performance in both aligned and unaligned models. When comparing TPO-based inference optimization with traditional training optimization approaches, researchers found that the unaligned Llama-3.1-70B-SFT model outperformed its aligned counterpart Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct after undergoing TPO epochs. Furthermore, applying TPO to an aligned model with as few as 22 billion parameters achieved an LC score of 53.4% and a WR score of 72.2%Conclusion: The research team introduced TPO, an online, on-policy learning framework to align outputs from LLMs by human preference. This framework optimized the responses in inference time and eliminated the hassle of retraining and weight updates. Additionally, TPO offered high scalability and flexibility, making it a promising approach for future LLM works.Check out the Paper and GitHub. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our70k+ ML SubReddit. Adeeba Alam Ansari+ postsAdeeba Alam Ansari is currently pursuing her Dual Degree at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, earning a B.Tech in Industrial Engineering and an M.Tech in Financial Engineering. With a keen interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence, she is an avid reader and an inquisitive individual. Adeeba firmly believes in the power of technology to empower society and promote welfare through innovative solutions driven by empathy and a deep understanding of real-world challenges. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)