PinnedAug 20, 2024Ash ParrishCivilization 7 lets you mix and match history and its a blastImage: Firaxis GamesImagine Caesar Augustus at the head of an army of Mongol warriors or Ben Franklin building the Great Wall of China. In Sid Meiers Civilization 7, such flights of historical fantasy can become historical fact. The game has new ages to experience, new civilizations to build up, new leaders to guide them, and for the first time in franchise history the ability to mix and match leaders and civilizations to build the empire of your wildest dreams. The Verge had the opportunity to test out the game and talk with its developers at Firaxis Games. The brief, three-hour demo wasnt enough time to get a feel for how well leaders and different civilizations work together, but I left feeling excited about all the ways Civilization VII aims to change the course of history. In previous Civilization games, civs were always tied to a specific leader who was usually, but not always, a noteworthy head of state. Later iterations of the game offered multiple leaders for civs, and on a couple of occasions where it made historical sense, one leader could straddle multiple civs like France and England both having access to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who, during her unusually-long-for-the-time-period life, was the queen of both countries.Read Article >Oct 3, 2024Jay PetersHere are the PC requirements for Civilization 7.Check em out to see if your PC can run the game when it comes out on February 11th. Specs arent yet available for macOS and Linux.Aug 20, 2024Ash ParrishCivilization 7 launches in FebruaryYoull be able to rewrite the course of history in Civilization 7 next year. Firaxis Games showed up during Opening Night Live 2024 with a new trailer and some news Civilization 7 will launch on just about everything you can play a video game on February 11th, 2025.Civilization 6 released eight years ago but has received a steady flow of updates and DLC in the intervening years. Firaxis Games announced it was working on a new Civilization game in February of last year. Since then, the studio has been slowly rolling out the details, debuting a teaser trailer during this years Summer Game Fest and now a new release date trailer for Gamescom 2024. If this trailer isnt enough for all the 4X fanatics in the house, Firaxis has even more to share, hosting a 20-minute gameplay deep dive on Twitch at 4:30PM ET later today.Read Article >Aug 1, 2024Ash ParrishBaba yetu, yetu uliye!Ghandis coming, hide the nukes! On August 20th, Firaxis Games will share an in-depth look Civilization VII at 3:30 PM ET on Twitch and YouTube. The reveal coincides with Opening Night Live, the last big video game event of the summer hosted by video game hype meister Geoff Keighley. Expect a 20 minute deep dive into the game including new gameplay footage and new features.Image: Firaxis GamesJun 7, 2024Andrew WebsterCivilization 7 is launching in 2025Its been a long wait, but the next Civilization has finally been revealed. At the main Summer Game Fest keynote, publisher 2K officially announced Civilization 7, the first new entry in the strategy series since 2016. We didnt get any real details or actual gameplay, but instead a very brief teaser trailer that looked a lot like, well, Civilization. But theres one thing we do know: the game wont be launching until 2025. And its coming to a number of platforms, with the launch planned for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.More details will be coming in August, according to 2K, with a full gameplay showcase.Read Article >Feb 17, 2023Jon PorterA new mainline Civilization game is in development at FiraxisThe last mainline entry in the series Civilization VI. Image: FiraxisA new Civilization game, likely to be called Civilization VII, is in development at Firaxis Games, incoming studio head Heather Hazen has announced. Im thrilled to have this opportunity to carry on the studios storied legacy, beginning with the announcement that Firaxis is in development on the next iteration of the legendary Civilization franchise, Hazen said in a press release. Im lucky to be working with some of the best developers in our industry, and we have plans to take the Civilization franchise to exciting new heights for our millions of players around the world.Read Article >

In 2016, Apple started including an auto power-on feature for its new MacBook models that activated when you opened the notebook lid or plugged in USB-C power when the lid was open. This is a cool little convenience if you dont want the added step of pressing the power button plus it could get the computer running if, for some reason, that button stops working.But what if you open the lid just to clean the screen or are troubleshooting the computer for some other issue? Or perhaps you are building a slabtop and dont want it to power on just because you plugged it into power? Or what if you dont want to automate everything? In these cases, auto power-on is either a minor inconvenience or a straight-up annoyance.The first MacBooks to get this feature had Intel processors, and it continued over to every new model, including when Apple switched to its own Apple Silicon M-series processors. Theres a Terminal command for the Intel MacBooks that can be used to disable open lid power-on, but when Apple launched the M1 MacBook Air in 2020, that command no longer worked. However, in January 2025, Apple finally added an official way to disable autoboot upon opening the lid of M1 and newer MacBooks.Heres how to disable auto power-on when opening the lid of either type of Mac.Disable auto power-on on an Apple Silicon M-series MacBookYoud think Apple would just add a simple enable power on when opening lid toggle in System Settings, but that would be too easy. Instead, youll have to do a bit of work under the hood of your macOS software by way of a special Terminal command that Apple has sanctioned.The command, according to Apple, will work on all Apple Silicon models running macOS 15 Sequoia. However, weve also successfully tested it on macOS 14.7 Sonoma. For reference, these instructions are for newer models like the 2020 M1 MacBook Air and the 2024 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.Heres how to disable autoboot when opening the lid and / or plugging in power while the lid is open on your Apple Silicon M-series MacBook:Log in to your MacBook using an admin account (if youre the only user, you are likely the admin already).Open up the Terminal application from the Applications > Utilities folder. You can get there from Finder by going to the Go menu on the toolbar and selecting Applications.In Terminal, copy and paste ONE of the following commands, depending on what youd like, and then press Return:If you want to disable autoboot when you open the lid or when you plug in a charger while the lid is open:sudo nvram BootPreference=%00If you want to disable autoboot ONLY when you open the lid:sudo nvram BootPreference=%01If you want to disable autoboot ONLY when you plug in a charger:sudo nvram BootPreference=%02Terminal will then ask you for an admin password. Enter your user password (it wont show youre typing). Then press Return.How to get to the Applications folder. Screenshot: The VergeHeres the Terminal window with the command entered. Screenshot: The VergeNow you can shut down the computer, close the lid, and test if it works.To revert your settings back to the defaults, follow the steps above but enter this command instead:sudo nvram -d BootPreferenceDisable auto power-on on an Intel MacBookAre you still rocking a 2016 or newer Intel-based MacBook? If its still working and doing what you need it to do, thats great! But if the darn autoboot is bothering you say, if youre experimenting with building a headless or slabtop MacBook this Terminal command can fix that.Heres how to disable autoboot when opening the lid or plugging in power while the lid is open on your Intel-based MacBook:Log in to your MacBook using an admin account (if youre the only user, you are likely the admin already).Open up the Terminal application from the Applications > Utilities folder. You can get there from Finder by going to the Go menu on the toolbar and selecting Applications.In Terminal, copy and paste the following command into the window and then press Return:sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00Terminal will then ask you for an admin password. Enter your user password (it wont show youre typing). Then press Return.Now, you can shut down the computer, close the lid, and test if it works.To undo your setting back to default, follow the steps above until you get to the Terminal but enter this command instead:sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03Enjoy the lack of autoboot!See More:

Large Language Models (LLMs) have become increasingly reliant on Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) for fine-tuning across various applications, including code generation, mathematical reasoning, and dialogue assistance. However, a significant challenge has emerged in the form of reduced output diversity when using RLHF. Research has identified a critical trade-off between alignment quality and output diversity in RLHF-trained models. When these models align highly with desired objectives, they show limited output variability. This limitation poses concerns for creative open-ended tasks such as story generation, data synthesis, and red-teaming, where diverse outputs are essential for effective performance.Existing approaches to LLM alignment have focused on enhancing instruction following, safety, and reliability through RLHF, but these improvements often come at the cost of output diversity. Various methods have been developed to address this challenge, including the use of f-divergence with DPO/PPO algorithms, which attempt to balance diversity and alignment. Other approaches integrate evaluation metrics like SelfBLEU and Sentence-BERT into RL fine-tuning to boost diversity, particularly for red-teaming tasks. Moreover, some researchers have explored curiosity-driven reinforcement learning methods, ranging from count-based approaches to prediction error-based techniques. Despite these efforts, the fundamental trade-off between alignment quality and output diversity remains a significant challenge.Researchers from Baidu have proposed a novel framework called Curiosity-driven Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (CD-RLHF) to address the diversity-alignment trade-off in language models. This approach incorporates curiosity as an intrinsic reward mechanism during the RLHF training stage, working alongside traditional extrinsic rewards from the reward model. CD-RLHF uses forward dynamics to compute prediction errors of state representations, which helps estimate curiosity levels. A key feature of this approach is that frequently visited states gradually become less interesting to the model. This dual reward system aims to maintain high alignment quality while promoting diverse outputs through varied token choices at each decision point.The implementation and evaluation of CD-RLHF encompasses multiple components and datasets. The architecture was tested on two primary datasets: TL;DR for text summarization, containing 93k human-annotated preference pairs, and UltraFeedback for instruction following, with 61.1k training pairs. The framework was implemented using various base models including Gemma-2B, Gemma-7B, Llama-3.2-1B, and Llama-3.2-3B, all trained within the DeepSpeed-Chat framework. The training data was distributed across SFT, RM, and PPO stages in a 20/40/40 ratio. For comparison, baseline methods including vanilla RLHF and Sent-Rewards are implemented, which use SelfBLEU and Sentence-BERT scores as additional rewards during training.The experimental results demonstrate CD-RLHFs superior performance across multiple evaluation metrics and models. In the TL;DR summarization task, CD-RLHF achieves significant improvements in output diversity showing gains of 16.66% and 6.22% on Gemma-2B and Gemma-7B respectively compared to the RLHF baseline. For the UltraFeedback instruction-following task, the method shows even more impressive results, with diversity improvements ranging from 7.35% to 14.29% across different models while maintaining strong alignment quality. External validation through GPT-4 evaluation showed CD-RLHF achieving win rates of up to 58% against the PPO baseline on TL;DR and an average of 62% on UltraFeedback.In conclusion, researchers introduced CD-RLHF which represents a significant advancement in addressing the diversity-alignment trade-off in language model training. The framework combines curiosity-driven exploration with traditional extrinsic rewards to enhance output diversity while maintaining alignment quality, as shown through extensive testing on TL;DR summarization and UltraFeedback instruction-following tasks. Despite these achievements, several challenges remain, including the need to balance different reward scales and the persistent gap between the output diversity of SFT, and RLHF-trained models. While CD-RLHF mitigates the trade-off between diversity and alignment, further research is needed to fully bridge this gap and achieve optimal performance across both metrics.Check out the Paper and GitHub Page. 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.(Promoted) Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Optimization Using FP4 Quantization For Ultra-Low Precision Language Model TrainingSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/InternVideo2.5: Hierarchical Token Compression and Task Preference Optimization for Video MLLMsSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/HAC++: Revolutionizing 3D Gaussian Splatting Through Advanced Compression TechniquesSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Netflix Introduces Go-with-the-Flow: Motion-Controllable Video Diffusion Models Using Real-Time Warped Noise [Recommended] Join Our Telegram Channel

Important LLMs Papers for the Week from 20/01 to 26/01 0 like January 31, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): Youssef Hosni Originally published on Towards AI. Stay Updated with Recent Large Language Models ResearchThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Large language models (LLMs) have advanced rapidly in recent years. As new generations of models are developed, researchers and engineers need to stay informed on the latest progress.This article summarizes some of the most important LLM papers published during the Fourth Week of January 2025. The papers cover various topics shaping the next generation of language models, from model optimization and scaling to reasoning, benchmarking, and enhancing performance.Keeping up with novel LLM research across these domains will help guide continued progress toward models that are more capable, robust, and aligned with human values.LLM Progress & BenchmarkingLLM ReasoningLLM AgentsLLM Preference Optimization & AlignmentLLM Scaling & OptimizationMost insights I share in Medium have previously been shared in my weekly newsletter, To Data & Beyond.If you want to be up-to-date with the frenetic world of AI while also feeling inspired to take action or, at the very least, to be well-prepared for the future ahead of us, this is for you.Subscribe below to become an AI leader among your peers and receive content not present in any other platform, including Medium:Data Science, Machine Learning, AI, and what is beyond them. Click to Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Everyone knows that the Road to WrestleMania kicks off with in February with one of the greatest spectacles in wrestling entertainment: the Royal Rumble match. While the basic rules are the same as the traditional battle royal, where participants try to eliminate their opponents by throwing them out of the ring, whats always made the Royal Rumble special is that it starts with only two wrestlers in the ring, with new entrants entering the match every 90 seconds or so, allowing for all sorts of surprise returns and memorable showdowns. As much as wrestling fans love to argue about everything, almost everyone looks forward to the 30-man Rumble.But as great of a concept as it is, some Royal Rumbles are a lot better than others. In fact, there have been some surprisingly bad, or predictable, rumbles over the years (notice how few rumbles from the 90s made this list). But when the Royal Rumble is put together well, it emphasizes everything thats great about the sport of professional wrestling. Weve ranked the 13 best Royal Rumble matches in wrestling history:13. 2018 Womens Royal RumbleIn some ways, its surprising that the WWE didnt even try to book a womens Royal Rumble until 2018. Sure, the womens roster wasnt always so extensive, but the inaugural womens rumble match showed that it cab be done quite well. The 2018 match featured a great mix of the very best women on the roster at the time, like Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch, plus plenty of returning Hall of Famers, including Trish Stratus, Lita, and Beth Phoenix.But most importantly, the way it was booked, it really did seem like almost any of these women could win, with Asukas ultimate victory being both completely warranted and just surprising enough to please most fans.12. 1990 Royal RumbleThis was only the third ever Royal Rumble match, and watching it now, its clear that the WWE was still feeling out the concept. No, there arent any huge surprises, or really creative eliminations. Hell, the winner didnt even get a title shot back then. But the match does have a lot of really solid storytelling.After cheating to get a late entry the previous year, The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase entered first, and lasted an impressive 45 minutes before being eliminated (a record at the time). But what most older wrestling fans remember this match for is for the shocking first encounter between Hulk Hogan (the winner of the match) and The Ultimate Warrior, which set up their legendary match at WrestleManiaVI a few months later.11. 2018 Mens Royal RumbleIf you watch enough professional wrestling, it starts getting pretty easy to predict a lot of the outcomes. Most longtime wrestling fans figured that Cody Rhodes would win the 2023 and 2024 Royal Rumble matches to finish the story. But in 2018, the outcome of the Rumble was truly unpredictable, and the ultimate victory of Shinsuke Nakamura was a real shock from a company that tends to rely on the same handful of main eventers time and time again.Beyond that though, this was a really enjoyable match, with a couple cool surprise entrants in The Hurricane and Rey Mysterio and a unique old school vs. new school stare down between the final six menRandy Orton, John Cena, Mysterio, Finn Balor, Nakamura, and Roman Reignsthat hadnt really been done in one of these matches before.10. 2023 Womens Royal RumbleThe problem with the first few womens Royal Rumbles was that the WWE had to fill the match with far too many legends and NXT call ups that everyone knew had no chance of winning. While Michelle McCool made a rare return in this match, and there were a few NXT wrestlers as well, this actually felt like a much more wide open, competitive rumble.Starting the match with Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, and having them both last until the end was a bold choice, and Rhea ultimately winning was the right call. It helped catapult her to the top of the card at the WWE, with Liv Morgan right behind her.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!9. 2005 Royal RumbleBotches happen in professional wrestling. Its unavoidable. Usually, its a small miscue, and you just go on with the match. Sometimes fans dont even really notice. But then theres the infamous botched finish to the 2005 Royal Rumble that will forever put it among the very best of these matches.Going into the event, Batista was booked to win by throwing John Cena over the top rope last. As planned, Batista got Cena up for his signature Batista Bomb, Cena countered with a head scissors and they both promptly fell right over the top rope, landing on the floor at the exact same time. Vince McMahon was so pissed off, he then came to the ring to restart the match, somehow legitimately tearing both his quads in the process. The match restarted, Batista promptly threw Cena over the top rope as planned, and fans were left with one of the greatest, most chaotic Royal Rumble finishes of all time.8. 2008 Royal RumbleThis is a divisive Rumble match for a lot of fans. Yes, it was a little too busy at times, but the good here easily outweighs the bad and earns it a place on the list. The match opens with Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker as the first two entrants. You really cant go wrong with that combo, and they each lasted an impressive 30+ minutes.There are some fun spots here, such as an unexpected showdown between legends Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka, and Hornswoggle hiding under the ring, but the most memorable part of this match is John Cena entering at number 30. Cena had legit torn his pectoral muscle just three months before, and was expected to be out of action for six months, so the crowd was completely shocked to see him show up and win the whole thing. His return still remains one of the biggest pops in WWE history.7. 2016 Royal RumbleTo be fair, theres a lot to like and dislike about this Rumble match. First, the good. It was interesting to see the WWE try something different here. A pre-Tribal Chief Roman Reigns had to enter first to defend his WWE Championship, and he had an impressive run throughout the match, even though he went backstage for part of it. This was also the debut of A.J. Styles in the WWE, and he did indeed look phenomenal, lasting almost 30 minutes. The Wyatt Family was also booked as a real force to be reckoned with here, working together to eliminate Brock Lesnar and Mark Henry.But while most of the match was enjoyable to watch, the ending was far too predictable, with Triple H entering at number 30, eliminating Reigns and ultimately winning the Rumble. The match does get a lot of valid criticism for the underwhelming finish, but if you can get past that, its a really good Rumble.6. 2024 Womens Royal RumbleThe most recent womens Royal Rumble is easily the best so far. The match started off right out the gate with a couple of huge surprises. The returning Naomi entered in the second spot to a huge pop from the crowd, but then what really shocked the arena was TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace showing up as the fifth entrant, with the TNA belt in tow. Its still mind blowing to see stuff like this after WWE refused to acknowledge other promotions for decades.But beyond the surprises, there were some other really great moments, like the Nia Jax and Jade Cargill showdown, and a very confused R-Truth trying to enter the match and wondering where all the men were. In the end, Bayley lasting more than an hour from the third spot was the right call here, which really moved her story along.5. 2001 Royal RumbleAs beloved as the Attitude Era was, even its biggest supporters have to admit that most of the Royal Rumble matches from this period were surprisingly lackluster, with few surprises and most of the top stars skipping the Rumble for other matches on the card. But the 2001 Rumble was a big exception.Most of the biggest names of the era appeared in the 2001 Royal Rumble, with Kane in particular giving a dominant and career-defining performance thanks to his record-breaking 11 eliminations. Comedian Drew Carey entering the match was a unique choice played for laughs that still worked well. But of course the real star here was Stone Cold Steve Austin, who captured his third Royal Rumble win, a record that stands to this day.4. 2020 Mens Royal RumbleAfter more than 30 years of Royal Rumble matches, what more could the WWE do to really mix up the formula? In 2020, the answer to that was the Beat Incarnate. Then-WWE champion Brock Lesnar entered the Rumble first, and promptly dispatched 13 other entrants almost as quickly as they entered the ring. You might think that would get boring, but after all these years, it really doesnt get old watching Lesnar completely dominate his competition.Still, that just made it all the more satisfying to watch Drew McIntyre eliminate Lesnar, and eventually win the whole match. The 2020 Rumble is really a master class in booking performers to their fullest potential and building up a new main eventer.3. 2004 Royal RumbleWWE doesnt even really acknowledge this match because it was won by Chris Benoit. And since he entered from the first spot and lasted the entire thing, theres really no way to talk about it without mentioning him. Its unfortunate that the Benoit tragedy will always overshadow this Rumble, because it really is a spectacular match.At the time, Benoit was a well-respected midcarder who needed to reach the next level, and this match did a fantastic job of showing off his wrestling skills, right up until the final back and forth with Big Show, which is still one of the best endings to any Rumble match.2. 2007 Royal RumbleUsually, the battle royals and rumble matches end with a fairly brief spot between the last two competitors. Wrestlers get tired after being in there for an hour and just want to head to the back at that point. While this whole Rumble is quite good what truly puts it among the greats is the lengthy ending sequence.The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels put on an absolute clinic that could have headlined any show by itself, countering everything they threw at each other until Taker ducked a super kick to lift Michaels over the top rope and claim his first and only Royal Rumble victory. There may never be a better or more iconic finish to a Rumble than this.1. 1992 Royal RumbleWhats not to love about the 1992 Royal Rumble? For the first time ever, winning it actually meant something, with the last man standing being awarded the vacant WWF Championship. The entrants were a whos who of all time wrestling greats, ranging from Kerry Von Erich and Greg The Hammer Valentine to Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.But when it was all said and done, the winner was none other than the number three entrant, arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Ric Flair, after an impressive hour-long performance. And all this was called by the legendary commentating duo of Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon. If watching this match doesnt make you a professional wrestling fan, nothing will.

2025 is set to be a big year for Apple hardware launches, and that will even be true for a variety of rarely-updated products. Here are six new products coming that will have waited about three years (or more) between hardware updates.iPhone SE 4Last update: March 2022Apples preparing a huge update for its next iPhone SE model, with compelling upgrades that could make it the best iPhone for most buyers.New features for the budget iPhone include:the A18 chip that just debuted in iPhone 16Apple Intelligence supportOLED displayFace ID and a notch8GB of RAM48MP main cameraUSB-C charging portApples first in-house 5G modemApples expected to launch the new iPhone SE 4 around March as one of its first products of the year.AirTag 2Last update: April 2021The first AirTag took a very long time to debut, with years of rumors and leaks preceding itespecially throughout 2019 and 2020. It finally arrived in 2021, and now after four years, AirTag 2 is finally coming.AirTag 2 is expected to offer three main upgrades:Better rangeImproved wireless chipPrivacy enhancementsApples targeting a mid-year release for AirTag 2, per Mark Gurman.HomePod mini 2Last update: November 2020HomePod mini launched in 2020 as the budget smart speaker many users were waiting for. Apples standard HomePod was widely seen as overpriced, and the HomePod mini was the solution.Its been over four years since that initial HomePod mini arrived, and while Apple has added new color options over the years, the basic tech has stayed the same. At long last, the HomePod mini 2 is comingexpected near the end of the year.Details on new features are scarce, but Im hoping for Apple Intelligence support and strong integration with the forthcoming HomePad product.AirPods Pro 3Last update: September 2022It almost seems unfair to say that AirPods Pro are rarely updated, since Apple has consistently added great new features in software. But on the hardware side, AirPods Pro have historically gone three years between updatesand that trend will continue when AirPods Pro 3 arrive this September.One nice thing about the rare AirPods Pro updates is that, when new hardware does arrive, so far its offered compelling change. AirPods Pro 3 are expected to get:a physical redesignthe first H3 chiplikely a heart rate sensorplus improved noise cancellation and more audio enhancementsApple Watch SE 3Last update: September 2022Apples budget Apple Watch SE, like the iPhone SE, is expected to receive a new version this year. Very little is known about the Apple Watch SE 3, but it should pick up several features from more recent Watch models, like a newer chip and potentially additional health sensors.Historically Apple has launched new Apple Watch SE models in September with its flagship watches. That may happen this time around too, but perhaps well instead see a spring debut alongside the iPhone SE.New Apple TV 4KLast update: November 2022The Apple TV, perhaps more than any other Apple device, has historically received very erratic and unpredictable updates. If you go back to the very first, pre-App Store version, heres how long the gaps have been between models: 3 1/2 years, 1 1/2 years, 1 year, 2 1/2 years, 2 years, 4 years, 1 year. And now, its been over 2 years and will likely end up close to 3 before the new version debuts.Mark Gurman says a new Apple TV 4K is coming this yearexpected around October or November. All we really know about it so far is that it will include Apples new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip. Expect to see a big processor speed bump too, perhaps laying the groundwork for some Apple Intelligence features in future tvOS versions.Apples rare product updates: wrap-upNot every Apple product needs an annual update. But whats important is that when rare updates do arrive, Apple makes them count. There are plenty of unknown details about several of the products above, but heres hoping Apple has big things in store for these long-awaited revisions.Which of these upcoming Apple products are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Skip to main contentRuntime 001: Runtime initiated. Zac Hall|Jan 31 2025 - 1:30 pm PTIn this jam packed launch episode, Sophia Tung and Zac Hall dive deep into DeepSeeks arrival to the AI race, how NVIDIA and OpenAI are responding, and the state of current AI tools; this weeks biggest tech surprises, what has us excited and what has us concerned, and much more.HostsSophia TungYouTube: youtube.com/@sophiatThreads: threads.net/@sophnewsnetMastodon: myf.one/@viaBluesky: bsky.app/profile/sof.isZac HallX: @apollozacThreads: threads.net/@apollozacInstagram: instagram.com/apollozacSubscribe, Rate, and ReviewFeedbackEmail us feedback and questions to zac@9to5mac.comLinksAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel Featuredfrom 9to5Mac9to5Mac Logo Manage push notificationsAllPost

China's DeepSeek, which threw Silicon Valley into chaos this week, makes no qualms about sending all of your sensitive data straight to the Chinese government.It's also no secret that the hedge fund-owned startup is closely abiding by the country's extreme censorship rules. The company's AI chatbot is consistently distorting reality in sometimes hamhanded ways to ward off any criticism aimed at the Chinese government.Users have already found that DeepSeek's app sloppily abides by these rules by replacing text with a generic error message, for instance refusing to explain what happened during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.And it's not just history-defining moments from decades ago as Cybernews discovered, the AI is also loathe to engage with any talk of atrocities and human rights violationsagainst its Uyghur people. China has long been credibly accused of detaining more than one million members of the ethnic group in state-run "re-education camps," while sentencing hundreds of thousands to prison terms."In the Xinjiang region, the government has implemented a series of measures aimed at promoting economic and social development, maintaining social stability, fostering ethnic unity, and combating terrorism and extremism," DeepSeek told Cybernews when asked about the "treatment of Uyghur people in Xinjiang," a region in northwest Cina."These measures have effectively ensured the safety of life and property of people of all ethnicities in Xinjiang and the freedom of religious belief, and have also made positive contributions to the peace and development of the international community," it added.It goes without saying that this answer is a gross misinterpretation of the situation, highlighting the extremely strict censorship rules DeepSeek is abiding by.Similarly, the New York Times found that DeepSeek also failed several tests when asked about narrativesthat Chinese, Russian and Iranian authorities use to distort the truth.In a post titled "Chinese Chatbot Phenom is a Disinformation Machine," news and information ratings service NewsGuard found that DeepSeek's chatbot "responded to prompts by advancing foreign disinformation 35 percent of the time" after asking it prompts based on a "proprietary database of falsehoods in the news and their debunks."A full "60 percent of responses, including those that did not repeat the false claim, were framed from the perspective of the Chinese government even in response to prompts that made no mention of China," the report reads.Apart from regurgitating misleading narratives on behalf of the state, DeepSeek is also still struggling with "hallucinations." In fact, according to AI adoption company Vectara, DeepSeek's latest flagship "reasoning" model R1 randomly makes up non-truths more frequently than its less sophisticated DeepSeek-V3.Meanwhile, Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs announced that it's banning all government employees from using DeepSeek over concerns it could expose sensitive data to Beijing.The app has remained adamant that "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of Chinas territory since ancient times," as The Guardian reports.Share This Article

John Edwards, Technology Journalist & AuthorFebruary 3, 20255 Min ReadPanther Media GmbH via Alamy Stock PhotoLike the industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, today's emerging bio revolution is based on a convergence of technologies, including computing, automation, and perhaps most critically, artificial intelligence.Both artificial intelligence and biotech are exponential technologies, says Mike Bechtel, Deloitte Consulting's chief futurist, in an email interview. "The convergence of AI and biotech creates a double exponential field," he states. "Combined AI-fueled biotech has the ability to disrupt the drug discovery process, accelerate clinical trials, and better predict health outcomes for billions of people."Multiple ApplicationsAI is driving the bio revolution, and we're seeing that impact across several key areas, says Sid Rao, CEO and co-founder of scientific computing services provider Positron Networks. AI is a game-changer, he states via email. "AI is being used to automate the creation of personalized agents for curing diseases." He points to mRNA vaccines as an example. "When a patients cancer cells are sequenced, AI models [can] design the specific mRNA agents to target that patients tumor cells," Rao says. "Were talking about medicine tailor-made for individuals, made possible by AI."Rao notes that AI is also transforming drug discovery. "It's determining which molecules can act as catalysts for critical biological pathways, identifying potential drug targets, or optimizing clinical trials," he says. "With AI, we can predict patient responses or even simulate trial outcomes before they ever happen."Related:Bechtel observes that AlphaFold, AI software developed by DeepMind, an Alphabet subsidiary, performs predictions of protein structure and "is saving trillions in drug research costs and yielding new breakthroughs with digital twins, allowing advanced protein structure prediction and design prior to physical synthesis."Other potential applications identified by Bechtel include:Genome analysis: Genome sequencing costs have dropped from $14 million to about $1,000.Clinical trials: InClinico is achieving 80% accuracy in predicting phase two and three trial successes, leading to more efficient trial processes. The firm utilizes massive amounts of data related to targets, diseases, clinical trials, and even scientists involved with the study at the preclinical and clinical stages.Development speed and success: Pharmaceutical manufacturers leveraging AI have reduced drug development time by 40% and decreased drug failure rates by 70% through AI simulations and integrated processes.Related:Predictive health: AI-powered analyses of health metrics can detect diseases before symptoms appear.While emerging technologies can speed research while reducing costs, Bechtel notes that a growing number of current and potential adopters are starting to realize that AI can also help them perform current tasks better and more efficiently. "This elevation from efficiency to effectiveness stands to radically re-engineer historically tedious and time-consuming processes."Bechtel points to genetic sequencing and drug development as examples. "Both have historically required scarce specialized skills and expensive brute-force solutions," he explains. "Given AI's particular facility with pattern recognition and simulation, we're accelerating today's techniques and beginning to generate tomorrow's altogether new approaches."Risky BusinessAI-fueled biotech holds incredible promise for people, products, and the planet, but there are inherent risks that we need to be mindful, Bechtel says. Consider, for example, CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Its ability to genetically modify human embryos could one day eliminate inherited diseases, but it also raises serious ethical questions. The idea of "designer babies" and the unintended consequences that could be passed down through generations is something we have to approach with extreme caution. "We need ethical, perhaps even global, frameworks to guide how we might best navigate these breakthroughs."Related:The risks are many, says Tad Roselund, managing director and senior partner with the Boston Consulting Group. "For example, unequal distribution of benefits is a potentially major issue and particularly important here given the fact that we are dealing directly with things like extending lifespans, increasing resistance to diseases," he observes in an online interview.Leaving aside the potential of intentional misuse, companies must put the right governance, policies, guardrails, and controls in place, Roselund says. "Regulators' expectations regarding this are clear, even if in many jurisdictions the details are still to be determined."There are also safety implications for both individuals as well as society as a whole, Roselund warns. "These technologies are modifying extremely complex and interconnected systems," he notes, adding that the impact of an unintended failure could be significant. "This risk is exacerbated by the pace of development."Looking ForwardRao predicts that the bio revolution will only achieve its full, transformative potential when every biologist has access to the knowledge, the infrastructure, the data, and the tools required to leverage AI. "When we close this gap -- and we will -- were talking about real, lasting benefits to society at large."About the AuthorJohn EdwardsTechnology Journalist & AuthorJohn Edwards is a veteran business technology journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous business and technology publications, including Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic Design. He has also written columns for The Economist's Business Intelligence Unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Communications Direct. John has authored several books on business technology topics. His work began appearing online as early as 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he wrote daily news and feature articles for both the CompuServe and Prodigy online services. His "Behind the Screens" commentaries made him the world's first known professional blogger.See more from John EdwardsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

McDonaldsintroducedthe Happy Meal a burger, fries, drink, and a surprise toy in a themed box to their regular menu in 1979. After some early experimentation and at least a few highly questionableconcepts(Play-Doh? In a Happy Meal? Were just begging children to eat it at this point.) they reallyperfectedtheir formula by the late 1980s: Partner with brands kids love andoffer toys appealing enough thatthey will beg their parents to return to the restaurant week after week to collect them all.By the 90s the Happy Meal was arguably at its zenith. The toys were fun, detailed, and often the only way to get merch connected to popular movies and shows. Not long after the turn of the century, Happy Meals arguably started to decline; when I buy them for my own kidsthese days, Im sometimes shocked at how paltry the prizes are. (Acardboard boxfilled with a couple of trading cards with dance moves on them? What kid wants that?!)For proof that 90s kids didnt even know how good they had it, Ive assembled a list of 20 of the coolest Happy Meal toys and to be honest, there were so many options to choose from,I probably could have made the list twice as long. If youre in the mood to bask in some 90s nostalgia, what you want is what you get from this list.The Best 90s Happy Meal ToysThe 90s were the Golden Age of Golden Arches giveaways and here are 20 examples of great Happy Meal toys that prove it.READ MORE: The Craziest Fast Food Items EverGet our free mobile appThe Best 80s Happy Meal ToysIf you grew up in the 1980s, you definitely remember these iconic Happy Meal prizes.