Hands up! Who remembers the dot.com bust?I do. It was March 10, 2000. The NASDAQ Composite index peaked at 5,048.62 points. That doesnt sound like much today, but it was up 800% from 1995. Then people started to get nervous about the true value of the dot.com businesses driving the market, interest rates started to rise, and by October 2002, the NASDAQ had fallen 78% from its peak.Were not even a month into 2025, and the new Chinese AI programDeepSeekthis week sparked Nvidias $465 billion rout, the biggest single-day drop in US stock market history.This is just the beginning. Its not thatDeepSeek is so much better than ChatGPTs OpenAIor any of the other popular generative AI (genAI) tools. Maybe it is, maybe it isnt. (Just dont ask it about what happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989.)No, what matters is that DeepSeek requires an order-of-magnitude less computing power to achieve similar results. By programmer Simon Willisons count, DeepSeek v3 trained on 2,788,000 H800 GPU hours at an estimated cost of $5,576,000.For comparison, Meta AIs Llama 3.1 405B (fewer than DeepSeek v3s 685B parameters)trained on 11x that; it required more than 30.8 million GPU hours and was trained on 15 trillion tokens of data.What does all that mean? As Larry Dignan, editor-in-chief ofConstellation Insights, explained, You can get API access to DeepSeeks R1 model for 14 cents for a million tokenscompared to OpenAIs $7.50.In other words, large language models (LLM) pricing is going to collapse.The scary part is the LLM giants didnt have profit margins to begin with, he continued. LLMs are going to commodity in a hurry. Thats bad news for companies such as OpenAI. Sure,the companys market value stands at $157 billion but its still losing billions of dollars. If OpenAIs customers decide they dont want to pay its rates when they can get much the same service for a fraction of the cost from DeepSeek, where does that leave OpenAI?What happens then? Look at it this way: todays overheated stock market is driven by theMagnificent Seven companies that with one exception (Tesla) have one thing incommon: theyre all heavily invested in AI hype. Even Tesla is heavily invested in what Elon Musk calls real-world AI.Its not just the Magnificent Seven; pick-and-shovel AI companies such as Oracle, Super Micro, and Nebius (formerly Yandex)are also in a world of trouble.If anyone can buildLLMswithout a ton of money, why exactly is Nvidia worth trillions? Couldnt someone disrupt Microsoft, Meta, or Google? Indeed,Perplexitys AI chatbot is already better than Google at search. Its not just people like me for whom search is part of what they do for a living;businesses are also turning to Perplexity from Google.Bratin Saha,DigitalOceans chief product and technology officer, sees the potential for a relatively small company to become a big player. DeepSeek AI is the Android moment for AI (given that ChatGPT was likened to the iPhone moment for AI), as it shows groundbreaking AI products from the open-source community, Saha told me.DeepSeek AI democratizes AI and cloud computing because it shows you do not need multi-billion dollar investments for compelling innovation, he said. It lowers the barrier for small and medium enterprises and individual developers to work with AI.Exactly.The way Stephen OGrady, co-founder and industry analyst withRedMonk,sees it, enterprises have two major AI concerns. How trustworthy the technology is and its cost. As OGrady points out, Enterprises have been shocked, in many cases, at the unexpected costs and unclear returns from some scale investments in AI.Hes got that right. OGrady continued, noting that DeepSeek challenges some core assumptions by enterprises. These are:What if enterprises dont have to rely on closed, private models for leading-edge capabilities?What if training costs could be reduced by an order of magnitude or more?What if they dont require expensive, state-of-the-art hardware to run their models?This changes everything for businesses that want to use AI and multi-billion dollar companies that want to sell AI to you. Its a sea change.What the markets reacted to was DeepSeeks ability to build a model that rivaled OpenAIs sophisticated o1 reasoning model and Anthropics Sonnet model for pennies on the dollar on a fraction of the compute, Jim Zemlin, executive director of theLinux Foundation, wrote. It also appears that DeepSeek did this using well-known techniques. There were no massive algorithmic breakthroughs, just very clever engineering.DeepSeek, he noted, uses open-source software. Yes, technically, part of it isnt open source, but one ofDeepSeeks models is under the MIT License. As Stefano Maffulli, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) executive director, pointed out,DeekSeeks models also fail to be open.Still,a small team in China took a fresh look at a problem and came up with a novel approach that reduced the cost of chain-of-thought reasoning by 50x (if DeepSeeks postings are accurate) and then published a paper fully describing their process, allowing the community to benefit from their learnings, Zemlin said. We need MORE of this progress, not less. This is a struggle over open markets between the forces of open and the forces of closed.That may be good for open source and for AI, but for our stock market, which is largely driven by AI, its another matter. The Magnificent Sevenaccounted for over 50% of the S&P 500s gains in 2024. If they collapse, a good chunk of the market will follow.Im not normally a bear, but Ive seen this rodeo before. Oh, AI will survive, and eventually, it will prove useful and profitable. But, in the meantime, I can see an AI crash coming, and it wont be pretty.

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, rolling back protections that he claimed had been developed only in response to media and government pressure.The move is raising alarm bells, and rightly so. Meta has left a trail of moderation controversies in its wake, from overmoderating images of breastfeeding women to undermoderating hate speech in Myanmar, contributing to the genocide of Rohingya Muslims. Meanwhile, ending professional fact-checking creates the potential for misinformation and hate to spread unchecked.Enlisting volunteers is how moderation started on the Internet, long before social media giants realized that centralized efforts were necessary. And volunteer moderation can be successful, allowing for the development of bespoke regulations aligned with the needs of particular communities. But without significant commitment and oversight from Meta, such a system cannot contend with how much content is shared across the companys platforms, and how fast. In fact, the jury is still out on how well it works at X, which is used by 21% of Americans (Metas are significantly more popularFacebook alone is used by 70% of Americans, according to Pew).Community Notes, which started in 2021 as Birdwatch, is a community-driven moderation system on X that allows users who sign up for the program to add context to posts. Having regular users provide public fact-checking is relatively new, and so far results are mixed. For example, researchers have found that participants are more likely to challenge content they disagree with politically and that flagging content as false does not reduce engagement, but they have also found that the notes are typically accurate and can help reduce the spread of misleading posts.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:1. The system will miss falsehoods and could amplify hateful contentThere is a real risk under this style of moderation that only posts about things that a lot of people know about will get flagged in a timely manneror at all. Consider how a post with a picture of a death cap mushroom and the caption Tasty might be handled under Community Notesstyle moderation. If an expert in mycology doesnt see the post, or sees it only after its been widely shared, it may not get flagged as Poisonous, do not eatat least not until its too late. Topic areas that are more esoteric will be undermoderated. This could have serious impacts on both individuals (who may eat a poisonous mushroom) and society (if a falsehood spreads widely).Crucially, Xs Community Notes arent visible to readers when they are first added. A note becomes visible to the wider user base only when enough contributors agree that it is accurate by voting for it. And not all votes count. If a note is rated only by people who tend to agree with each other, it wont show up. X does not make a note visible until theres agreement from people who have disagreed on previous ratings. This is an attempt to reduce bias, but its not foolproof. It still relies on peoples opinions about a note and not on actual facts. Often whats needed is expertise.I moderate a community on Reddit called r/AskHistorians. Its a public history site with over 2 million members and is very strictly moderated. We see people get facts wrong all the time. Sometimes these are straightforward errors. But sometimes there is hateful content that takes experts to recognize. One time a question containing a Holocaust-denial dog whistle escaped review for hours and ended up amassing hundreds of upvotes before it was caught by an expert on our team. Hundreds of peopleprobably with very different voting patterns and very different opinions on a lot of topicsnot only missed the problematic nature of the content but chose to promote it through upvotes. This happens with answers to questions, too. People who arent experts in history will upvote outdated, truthy-sounding answers that arent actually correct. Conversely, they will downvote good answers if they reflect viewpoints that are tough to swallow.r/AskHistorians works because most of its moderators are expert historians. If Meta wants its Community Notesstyle program to work, it should make sure that the people with the knowledge to make assessments see the posts and that expertise is accounted for in voting, especially when theres a misalignment between common understanding and expert knowledge.2. It wont work without well-supported volunteersMetas paid content moderators review the worst of the worstincluding gore, sexual abuse and exploitation, and violence. As a result, many have suffered severe trauma, leading to lawsuits and unionization efforts. When Meta cuts resources from its centralized moderation efforts, it will be increasingly up to unpaid volunteers to keep the platform safe.Community moderators dont have an easy job. On top of exposure to horrific content, as identifiable members of their communities, they are also often subject to harassment and abusesomething we experience daily on r/AskHistorians. However, community moderators moderate only what they can handle. For example, while I routinely manage hate speech and violent language, as a moderator of a text-based community I am rarely exposed to violent imagery. Community moderators also work as a team. If I do get exposed to something I find upsetting or if someone is being abusive, my colleagues take over and provide emotional support. I also care deeply about the community I moderate. Care for community, supportive colleagues, and self-selection all help keep volunteer moderators morale high(ish).Its unclear how Metas new moderation system will be structured. If volunteers choose what content they flag, will that replicate Xs problem, where partisanship affects which posts are flagged and how? Its also unclear what kind of support the platform will provide. If volunteers are exposed to content they find upsetting, will Metathe company that is currently being sued for damaging the mental health of its paid content moderatorsprovide social and psychological aid? To be successful, the company will need to ensure that volunteers have access to such resources and are able to choose the type of content they moderate (while also ensuring that this self-selection doesnt unduly influence the notes).3. It cant work without protections and guardrailsOnline communities can thrive when they are run by people who deeply care about them. However, volunteers cant do it all on their own. Moderation isnt just about making decisions on whats true or false. Its also about identifying and responding to other kinds of harmful content. Zuckerbergs decision is coupled with other changes to its community standards that weaken rules around hateful content in particular. Community moderation is part of a broader ecosystem, and it becomes significantly harder to do it when that ecosystem gets poisoned by toxic content.I started moderating r/AskHistorians in 2020 as part of a research project to learn more about the behind-the-scenes experiences of volunteer moderators. While Reddit had started addressing some of the most extreme hate on its platform by occasionally banning entire communities, many communities promoting misogyny, racism, and all other forms of bigotry were permitted to thrive and grow. As a result, my early field notes are filled with examples of extreme hate speech, as well as harassment and abuse directed at moderators. It was hard to keep up with.But halfway through 2020, something happened. After a milquetoast statement about racism from CEO Steve Huffman, moderators on the site shut down their communities in protest. And to its credit, the platform listened. Reddit updated its community standards to explicitly prohibit hate speech and began to enforce the policy more actively. While hate is still an issue on Reddit, I see far less now than I did in 2020 and 2021. Community moderation needs robust support because volunteers cant do it all on their own. Its only one tool in the box.If Meta wants to ensure that its users are safe from scams, exploitation, and manipulation in addition to hate, it cannot rely solely on community fact-checking. But keeping the user base safe isnt what this decision aims to do. Its a political move to curry favor with the new administration. Meta could create the perfect community fact-checking program, but because this decision is coupled with weakening its wider moderation practices, things are going to get worse for its users rather than better.Sarah Gilbert is research director for the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a significant renovation plan for Paris iconic Louvre, shortly after the museums director voiced concern over the dilapidated state of the building. In a speech at the museum, Macron unveiled plans for an additional new grand entrance as well as wider refurbishments.The first step of what the national newspaper Le Monde dubbed an ambitious renovation includes the launch of an international architecture competition for a new entrance, helping to relieve congestion at the existing I.M Pei-designed glass Pyramid. According to the BBC, the new entrance will be placed at the eastern facade of the museum, which today consists of a classical colonnade fronted by an artificial moat and little-used esplanade.Image credit: Tobias Waibl / PexelsThe new entrance will give immediate access to new underground exhibition spaces, which will then connect with the existing complex underneath the pyramid. The Mona Lisa will be relocated to its own...

While not too many details about Grand Theft Auto 6 have been revealed yet, especially when it comes to the upcoming titles story, Steve Ogg, who voiced one of the protagonists in GTA 5 Trevor believes that it would be cool of the character showed up at the start of the game to pass the torch to a new generation.Ogg doesnt want Trevor to steal the spotlight from the new protagonists in GTA 6, and instead, would like it if he could show up for a few seconds only to get quickly killed off and have the game move on with its story.It would be fun if Trevor appeared in it just to be killed at the beginning. I think that would be cool, said Ogg in an interview with ScreenRant. Because it also acknowledges the fans like Hey, thank you. Pass the torch, stomp Trevors head in, and sort of put an end to that and allow a new generation to take over.Interestingly enough, the character of Trevor was introduced in a similar way in GTA 5, in a scene that involved him messing with and ultimately killing Johnny Kibbutz protagonist of GTA 4 DLC The Lost and the Damned. GTA 5 doesnt bring too much attention to Johnny, and those that may not have played GTA 4 would be left completely in the dark about who the character was at all.While Rockstar itself has been quietly working away at GTA 6, the game has popped up recently in the news owing to how big a deal its release will be. An analyst recently predicted that it would be the first game to charge $100 for just the base version, breaking the price barrier for games in all price segments and allowing games in general to get higher price tags.The analyst Matthew Ball from Epyllion believes that video game budgets are currently at an all-time high, while the price of games has barely increased over the last couple of decades; $70 games are a relatively new thing even now, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from back in 2009 was one of the first AAA titles to go for a $60 price tag.Other analysts, however, have pointed out that Rockstar would have more to lose by raising the price to $100 than it would gain. Among other things, the move would limit how many people could feasibly buy the upcoming title. Circanas Mat Piscatella also points out how games have already been charging $100 for fancier editions of games that offer players early access.While it is currently unknown when GTA 6 will come out, we do know that it is in development for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and Take-Two has stated in the past that the game is being developed with a launch window of Fall 2025 in mind.In the mean time, here are our thoughts on whether GTA 6 will be able to surpass the single-player campaign from Rockstars most recent major release, Red Dead Redemption 2.

With Nvidias new line-up of high end graphics cards the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 poised for release at the end of the month, retailers and companies have started warning potential buyers that the cards might suffer from stock shortages.According to WCCFTech, one of the big companies making the graphics cards, MSI, has already warned of stock shortages. Reports have indicated that this shortage in GPU stocks comes from poor communication between Nvidia and its partner companies, like MSI, who didnt seem to get enough chips for their own custom releases of the graphics cards.The same reports also indicate that, while there will be shortages at launch, stocks of the GPU are expected to be more stable some time in February. This still means that some potential buyers might find it difficult to get their hands on the new graphics cards, however, since the stabilising of GPU stocks will be more of a gradual process.Retailers have also spoken about the suspects, with Overclockers UK stating on its forums that launch-day stocks for the RTX 5090 are only available in single-digit figures. The RTX 5080, on the other hand, will be more available, with a few hundred units in stocks, but they will still likely sell out quite quickly.We are expecting greater demand than 40 series, but with the launch just prior to CNY and lots of other rumours circulating initial waves of supply are poor and will probably take some time to build up, posted Overclockers UK staff member Gibbo. So the stock we have will be made available from the launch via the webshop but I know what we have is likely to last only seconds, minutes at most.We will also be trying to limit how many pre-orders we take, we will take some pre-orders but not thousands as we want to ensure customers get realistic expectations and are not waiting months.While it is currently unclear what this could mean for the GPUs and their pricing, going by history, we are likely to see quite a bit of scalping going on with massively inflated price tags. This means that both the $999 RTX 5080 as well as the $1,999 RTX 5090 will be available through scalpers at much higher prices than they should be. We last saw this happen around 2021 with the cryptocurrency boom and the launch of Nvidias RTX 3000-series graphics cards.Nvidia itself has posted a statement on the availability of its upcoming graphics cards, stating that the company and its partners are shipping more stock to retailers in an effort to curtail stock shortages.We expect significant demand for the GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 and believe stock-outs may happen. NVIDIA & our partners are shipping more stock to retail every day to help get GPUs into the hands of gamers, reads the statement.The GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 were unveiled during CES 2025 earlier this month alongside the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards. For more details, check out our coverage of the announcement, and check out some of the new DLSS 4 features while youre at it.

Wednesday, January 29th, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerAdobe releases Substance 3D Modeler 1.19html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Adobe has updated Substance 3D Modeler, its desktop and virtual reality sculpting tool.Substance 3D Modeler 1.19 adds a new Assets workflow for iterating on designs, making it possible to save export settings for groups of components within a model.The release also adds a new Shell parameter for 3D primitives, adaptive subdivision when converting imported models to virtual clay, and a new system of camera previews in VR mode.Sculpt organic and hard-surface models in VR using a virtual clay workflowSubstance 3D Modeler is a SDF-based tool that lets users sculpt both organic and hard-surface models in virtual reality, or in desktop mode using a mouse and keyboard.Workflow combines elements of sculpting and Boolean modelling, with users able to build up forms with virtual clay, then join or cut into them with Boolean operations.You can find more details in this story on Substance 3D Modeler 1.0.Substance 3D Modeler 1.19: new Assets workflow for iterating on designsSubstance 3D Modeler 1.19 introduces a new Assets workflow to the softwares Export mode.It makes it possible to group components within a scene into assets, each of which can have separate export settings, which the software remembers between exports.The system is intended to make it easier to iterate on designs, removing the need to adjust settings with each successive export.Other new featuresAll of the 3D primitives get a new Shell parameter, which makes the shape hollow, with a user-controllable thickness to the geometry shell. It can also be used on primitive groups.Mesh to clay, used to convert imported polygonal models to SDF for editing, now uses adaptive subdivision, only subdividing areas needed to achieve a given clay resolution.During export, users can now reduce the poly count of an object by a percentage figure, rather than by setting an absolute value.VR mode gets a new system of camera previews. Non-physical objects like gizmos do not appear in previews, and users can opt to smooth the camera movement.There are also a number of smaller workflow improvements: you can find a list via the link below.Price and system requirementsSubstance 3D Modeler is compatible with Windows 10+, and these VR headsets.It is available via Substance 3D Collection subscriptions, which cost $49.99/month or $549.88/year. Perpetual licences are available via Steam, and cost $149.99.Read a full list of new features in Substance 3D Modeler in the release notesHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsAdobe releases Substance 3D Modeler 1.19Check out the latest features in the VR modeling app, including the new Assets workflow, Shell parameter, and updates to Mesh to Clay.Wednesday, January 29th, 2025Chaos releases V-Ray 7 for HoudiniCheck out the new features in the renderer, including a new Houdini-specific volume shader and better integration with Solaris.Wednesday, January 29th, 2025Chaos releases V-Ray 7 for MayaCheck out the new features in the VFX renderer, including OpenPBR support and changes to USD support specific to the Maya edition.Wednesday, January 29th, 2025Red9 ProPack gets new tools created for Sonic the Hedgehog 3Maya animation toolkit for VFX and games gets new tools developed for Red9's character rigging work on the latest Sonic movie.Tuesday, January 28th, 2025JangaFX teases IlluGenThe EmberGen dev's new app will be a 'better way to create the majority of assets' for VFX in games. Here's what we know about it so far.Monday, January 27th, 2025Check out the new features due in EmberGen 2.0Next major update to the real-time smoke and fire simulator to feature sparse sims, simulation retiming, USD support and a macOS edition.Monday, January 27th, 2025More NewsTutorial: Creating Runtime Cinematics in Unreal Engine 5PhotoLine 25 now reads Cryptomatte dataPolygonflow releases Dash 1.8.5After Effects' latest beta lets you preview HDR compsNew version of iOS and Android scanning app Kiri EngineRE:Vision Effects launches Twixtor StandaloneSee the new features due in Unreal Engine 5.6 and beyondLeft Angle releases Autograph 2025Check out this GPU-accelerated Houdini Skin Slide DeformerCheck out this free 2D Rim Light Tool for NukeCreate motion graphics in Nuke with the new Screen FX pluginMaster Cinematic Sand & Dust Simulations Using HoudiniOlder Posts

Astro Bot and Black: Myth Wukong lead GDCA nominationsBoth titles are up for Game of the Year alongside indie hit BalatroImage credit: Team Asobi/Game Science News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Jan. 29, 2025 The finalists of the 25th annual Game Developers Choice Awards have been revealed, with Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong tied with the most nominations at seven each.Across the nine categories, Team Asobi's platformer and Game Science's RPG were both nominated for Game of the Year, in addition to Best Design, Best Technology, and Best Audio.Two of indies biggest hits were also recognised, with Animal Well securing five nominations and Balatro with four including Game of the Year.The award show will take place on March 19 during this year's GDC at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center from March 17 to March 21.Here are the full list of nominations:Game of the YearAstro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk, Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios, PlayStation Publishing)Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Square Enix)Metaphor: ReFantazio (Atlus, Sega, Studio Zero)Best AudioAnimal Well (Billy Basso, Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Square Enix)Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory, Xbox Game Studios)Best Debut1000xResist (Sunset Visitor, Fellow Traveller)Animal Well (Billy Basso, Bigmode)Balatro (LocalThunk, Playstack)Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios, Kepler Interactive)Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Best DesignAnimal Well (Billy Basso, Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk, Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Lorelai and the Laser Eyes (Simogo, Annapurna Interactive)Innovation AwardAnimal Well (Billy Basso, Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk, Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)UFO 50 (Mossmouth)Best Narrative1000xResist (Sunset Visitor, Fellow Traveller)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sega)Metaphor: ReFantazio (Atlus, Sega, Studio Zero)Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ, Critical Reflex)Social Impact Award1000xResist (Sunset Visitor, Fellow Traveller)Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Frostpunk 2 (11 Bit Studios)Life Is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine Games, Square Enix)Neva (Nomada Studio, Devolver Digital)Best TechnologyAstro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios, PlayStation Publishing)Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory, Xbox Game Studios)Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Best Visual ArtAnimal Well (Billy Basso, Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team Asobi, Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Metaphor: ReFantazio (Atlus, Sega, Studio Zero)Neva (Nomada Studio, Devolver Digital)

Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner is bringing almost all operational and publishing responsibilities in-house to ensure the mobile title remains available in the United States.The news comes after Marvel Snap was briefly banned in the U.S. due to its links with TikTok owner Bytedance, which owns publisher Nuverse.Although Marvel Snap (and TikTok) have been allowed to resume operations in the country for the time being, the long-term future of services and products affiliated with Chinese company ByteDance remains uncertain.Last week, Second Dinner explained it wanted to find a permanent solution and has now chosen to assume publishing and operational responsibilities for Marvel Snap with support from U.S. publisher Skystone Games."Thank you for your incredible support and patience during the recent outage in the United States. Now that were available for download on mobile app stores again, we're excited to share some news about the future of Marvel Snap," reads a statement posted on X."To ensure this never happens again, and with the help of our current publisher Nuverse, we've already signed agreements and started the work to bring almost all operational and publishing responsibilities in-house at Second Dinner with support from a new U.S.-based publisher, Skystone Games."The swift transition was described as a "full-team effort" between Second Dinner, Nuverse, Skystone, and Marvel.Skystone styles itself as a "next-gen multiplatform gaming company built for global audiences." The full service publisher has worked on PC, console, and mobile titles including Undying, Hellcard, Tyrant's Realm, and Land Above Sea Below.

Sucking in data you didnt ask permission for? Sounds familiar.Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek disrupted Silicon Valley with the release of cheaply developed AI models that compete with flagship offerings from OpenAI but the ChatGPT maker suspects they were built upon OpenAI data.OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating whether the Chinese rival used OpenAIsAPI to integrate OpenAIs AI models into DeepSeeks own models, according to Bloomberg. The outlets sources said Microsoft security researchers detected that large amounts of data were being exfiltrated through OpenAI developer accounts in late 2024, which the company believes are affiliated with DeepSeek.OpenAI told the Financial Times that it found evidence linking DeepSeek to the use of distillation a common technique developers use to train AI models by extracting data from larger, more capable ones. Its an efficient way to train smaller models at a fraction of the more than $100 million that OpenAI spent to train GPT-4. While developers can use OpenAIs API to integrate its AI with their own applications, distilling the outputs to build rival models is a violation of OpenAIs terms of service. OpenAI has not provided details of the evidence it found.The situation is rich with irony. After all, it was OpenAI that made huge leaps with its GPT model by sucking down the entirety of the written web without consent.President Donald Trumps artificial intelligence czar David Sacks said it is possible that IP theft had occurred. Theres substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled knowledge out of OpenAI models and I dont think OpenAI is very happy about this, Sacks told Fox News on Tuesday.We know PRC (China) based companies and others are constantly trying to distill the models of leading US AI companies, OpenAI said in a statement to Bloomberg. As the leading builder of AI, we engage in countermeasures to protect our IP, including a careful process for which frontier capabilities to include in released models, and believe as we go forward that it is critically important that we are working closely with the US government to best protect the most capable models from efforts by adversaries and competitors to take US technology.

If youve spent time scrolling through Pinterest or Instagram, and your feeds are anything like the editors of Country Living, chances are youve come across images of rooms filled to the brim with stuff. At first glance, it might be a bit overwhelming, especially to those of us who love a good organizing session, but the deeper you dive, the more intriguing those spaces become. Its not just stuff but bona fide, valuable collections displayed in a happily haphazard manner. And now, this frenetic design style has a name: Cluttercore. When cluttercore first went viral on social media, my feed was inundated with some of the coolest, kookiest collected spaces Id ever seenand Ive seen A LOT of spaces. This decorating ethos has become popular amongst design aesthetes and vintage collectors alike, and for good reason. Read on for an in-depth explanation of what the style is, what it isnt, why its sudden popularity makes a whole lot of sense, and see some of our favorite examples of how to bring it to life. Jump to:Looking To Build Your Own Collection? Start Here:What is Cluttercore? Before we dive into what cluttercore is, lets be clear about what it is not: Cluttercore is not the exaltation of everyday detritus. This is not an excuse to leave your kitchen counter covered in papers or purses. A more accurate name for the trend is collectioncore, and thats the lens through which well explain the style. Simply put, cluttercore is a design aesthetic based on a love of stuff. Its fueled by a free-spirited, almost childlike approach to interior design, and much like maximalism (more on that later), cluttercore celebrates a more-is-more mindset. After all, why have only three wicker baskets stacked on top of your antique armoire when you could have ten? Cluttercore gained popularity as a response to the growing design monoliththe somewhat inescapable feeling that everything, everywhere should look the same, preferably in an algorithm-friendly shade of beige. Cluttercore is the opposite of that. Its happily chaotic, less precise, and a lot more authentic. Theres been loads of psychological research to back up the popularity of this style, too. In an essay for The New York Times, author Rob Walker, who penned Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss And Why They Matter, cited the 1981 book The Meaning of Things Whats the Difference Between Maximalism and Cluttercore? The difference between maximalism and cluttercore is subtle. Maximalism focuses on curating a visually stimulating space through color and pattern mixing; cluttercore is more about the artful display of a myriad of physical objects. Its safe to say that all cluttercore homes are likely maximalist, but not all maximalist homes exemplify cluttercore. For a deeper dive into what maximalism is and how it differs from cluttercore, read our maximalism design guide. How Do You Do Cluttercore Well? Edit Until You Cant Edit AnymoreIn order to make cluttercore livable, you have to edit. A grouping of 50 random plates may feel overwhelming when hung on a wall. But 50 trout-themed plates? Thats an amazing collection worthy of the spotlight. Prioritize sentimental items you cant imagine living without, but be equally willing to get rid of things that dont fit your overall vision. Master the Art of DisplayOnce youve edited your clutter down to the things you love most, its time to find the perfect display spot. Treat your house like a museum, especially if your collections are worthy of one. For interesting objects, try open shelving. (Just be sure to follow these pro tips on the best way to execute it.) If you have a ton of art, an overflowing gallery wall is the most logical choice. Even with an abundance of things, be sure to follow the old adage: A place for everything, and everything in its place. Examples of Cluttercore Done Right Brie Williams for Country LivingBambi Costanzos welcoming entry is the perfect spot for her favorite antique finds. Tour the rest of her collected cottage here.Alpha SmootHomeowner Justin Reis shows how to master the artful displays with this happily jumbled collection of wicker baskets in his entry. Tour his stunning Georgian-era farmhouse here. Ali Harper for Country LivingA small space such as a powder room keeps clutter contained while also allowing for maximum visual impact.Robert Peterson for Country LivingAn overflowing craft room is the perfect spot for a bit of cluttercore. Just be sure to invest in the right kind of storage. The Junk Gypsies, who designed this space, prefer antique pieces.Read McKendree for Country LivingHave a ton of art but not enough wall space? Throw out the design rule book and hang your pieces wherever you please!Dave WaddellBar cabinets are the perfect display spot for intriguing collections. Tour More Houses That Get Cluttercore Right:Anna LoganSenior Homes & Style EditorAnna Logan is the Senior Homes & Style Editor at Country Living, where she covers design and decorating trends, home features, and gift guides. She also produces home features and styles content for the print magazine. When she isnt working, can often be found digging around antique shops for the perfect find. Follow her adventures on Instagram!