Gmail's DMARC security move is paying off.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesUpdate, Feb. 4, 2025: This story, originally published Feb. 3, now includes further information regarding the hugely impactful Gmail email sender authentication security update and a report revealing 9 out of 10 emails are spam.Google is not scared of making the big decisions when it comes to securing the 2.5 billion users of its Gmail email platform. Be that by way of purging account data, or making wholesale security policy changes. When you consider the security threats to Gmail users including do not click attacks and AI-driven prompt injection vulnerabilities, this is good news. As it was when I reported on Googles critical decision to update Gmail security with new rules concerning email authentication. New research now suggests that this was one of the best security measures that Google has introduced for Gmail users in many a year, making the worlds biggest free email platform even safer to use for everyone as nine out of ten messages are spam, and 20% of those are malicious in intent. Heres what you need to know. The Incredible Impact Of The Critical Gmail Sender Authentication UpdateIts hard to believe that it was really a year ago that Google started updating Gmail security for the 2.5 billion users of the email platform by introducing a simple but, as it turns out, staggeringly effective measure: sender authentication, including the implementation of Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance. Just how effective that has been is now revealed within new statistics released to me by EasyDMARC.A quick recap is probably in order. As Gmails group product manager, Neil Kumaran, said at the time, Many bulk senders dont appropriately secure and configure their systems, allowing attackers to easily hide in their midst. This simple statement was at the heart of the new rules to update Gmail security measures as authenticating those sending email in volume, validating they are who they claim to be, is a crucial requirement for any email platform claiming to take security seriously. All bulk senders, those sending at least 5,000 emails to personal Gmail accounts a day, are now required to provide that authentication by way of the previously mentioned DMARC, as well as DomainKeys Identified Mail and Sender Policy Framework. Ultimately, this will close loopholes exploited by attackers that threaten everyone who uses email, Kumaran said.According to the VIPRE security group, which analyzed more than seven billion emails, nine out of ten of them are now spam. Delving into this statistic revealed that one in five of those were malicious phishing emails, and 88% used impersonation techniques to try and fool the recipients.The aim of these critical changes to the way that Gmail works, from both the recipient and sender perspectives, was simple enough:Add confidence to Gmail users in the knowledge that the source of an email is valid.Make the act of unsubscribing from an email as easy as possible, no jumping through hoops required.Reduce the amount of unwanted email in Gmail inboxes by ensuring that bulk senders cannot exceed specific spam rates.On Oct. 8, 2024, I reported how, after just six months, the Gmail security update was impacting users. Kumaran said that Google had seen a 65% reduction in unauthenticated messages sent to Gmail users and an astonishing 265 billion fewer unauthenticated messages sent than in the previous year. Now, a year on from the changes, that impact has been revealed to be even more impactful.Not Just For GmailAll Users Should Adopt DMARC, DKIM And SPFIt goes without saying that anyone who falls into the definition of a bulk sender would be unwise not to implement strict authentication protocols unless they are acting maliciously in some way or another. And that applies to email sent to any platform, not just Gmail. I would also recommend that anyone who sends emails from their own domain to Gmail users should implement the DMARC, DKIM and SPF trilogy to add confidence that they are a genuine sender. A great example as to why is to solve why email messages arent arriving at their destination correctly. Something else I have previously reported, and which a Gmail spokesperson said was caused by the messages getting dropped before they even get to Gmail due to improper authentication.Im not a bulk sender, but I do send emails to Gmail users using my own domain. I also took the time to set up strict sender authentication protocols to ensure that recipients can trust that it is me sending the email they get. There are plenty of services out there, including your domain or email provider, who can help with this process if you are not a technical person yourself.Confidence To Combat Gmail Phishing Attacks RisesThe statistics that EasyDMARC has shared with me come from research involving 1,000 IT decision-makers and the key findings were:77% said that Gmails policy influenced their decision to adopt DMARC.81% said DMARC implementation met their expectations in reducing spam and phishing emails.87% supported expanding authentication requirements beyond bulk senders to further reduce phishing and spam risks.The percentage of professionals who felt very confident in their organizations ability to combat phishing attacks rose by nine points in the past year, from 27% to 36%.Google has set a strong precedent with the Gmail security update, proving that such influential email providers can improve best practices through sensible, iterative protocol improvements. We must now as an industry convince businesses of their importance and ability to improve cybersecurity resilience, Gerasim Hovhannisyan, CEO at EasyDMARC, said.

New warning for millions of Galaxy usersAFP via Getty ImagesThis is becoming an awkward week for Samsung, as it releases Februarys monthly security update with Androids most critical fix missing at least for now. Google has confirmed devices are under attack, and has provided a fix in its Android release. But not for Samsung. We have also seen the new Galaxy S25 given a firmware update that only includes security updates up to December 2024, and the continued delay to the release of One UI 7 / Android 15 to its recent flagships.If ever there was a time to ensure youre on Samsungs monthly update schedule, its now. While there are always delays in getting updates out across Samsungs user base, you want to get those updates as soon as you can. Once you fall off the monthly schedule, you need to consider an upgrade. So it is for owners of Galaxy S21 series phones, which have just been given the bad news: Say goodbye to monthly updates on your Galaxy S21, S21+, or S21 Ultra, as SamMobile neatly puts it.Security updates have not stopped completely, but have been downgraded to a quarterly schedule. Going forward, for at least a year, Samsung will release a security update for the original Galaxy S21 trio once every three months. The Galaxy S21 FE, however, will continue to receive monthly updates, as the FE model hit retail shelves almost a year after its non-FE counterparts.Were now keeping our phones longer between upgrades, which is why the guaranteed minimum support periods are extending across the board. It is clear that this update decision from Samsung will affect millions of users, and while three-monthly updates is better than no updates, it doesnt help when theres an urgent fix mid-cycle.MORE FOR YOUThis is just the tip of an alarming iceberg when it comes to Android updates, though. Somewhere between 25% and 33% of the worldwide user base use devices that have completely fallen off support, which is one of the reasons Android is a riskier proposition than iPhone. And in our new world of BYOD, that risk extends from the home into enterprises and all the company systems those phones log into.Thats why Google has upped the ante with its Play Integrity API to enable app developers to check the security updates and OS status of phones before determining how much functionality that user on that device will be allowed.Meantime, if youre an S21 owner, my strong advice would be to move to a phone on a monthly schedule. As Phone Arena warns, while this doesnt mean that Galaxy S21 owners will no longer get security patches, its a warning that these phones are four years old and that you should probably think about upgrading to a new flagship. It doesnt have to be brand new the secondary market is fine, if the device you buy has some time left to run. You can see Samsungs update schedule here.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsOpera Airs tools for mental relaxationDid Opera Air truly ease my stressful day?Opera, the company behind one of the best web browsers we know, has released a new browser designed to escape the overwhelm of the limitless web. Called Opera Air, the browser arrives as another option from the company instead of replacing the primary Opera browser or the gaming-centric Opera GX.The browser, Opera says, is built around the principles of minimalism and will aid in managing stress, enhancing focus, and maintaining emotional clarity through tools built into the browser. I spent a couple of days, including a few stressful work days with tight deadlines, and heres how Opera Air helped or didnt help me bound back to a calmer and more productive state of mind.Recommended VideosOpera sent me a pre-release build of Opera Air a few days before launch. So, I wouldnt judge the browser for its stability or visual perfectness though there werent any significant glitches to call out. Audio tracks for enhanced thinkingTushar Mehta / Digital TrendsThere are primarily four striking bits of Opera Air compared to the standard Opera browser. The first one is called Boosts, which offers a collection of soundscapes to elevate your mood or help improve focus. There are 19 such soundscapes with different intended objectives, and each of them has three facets essentially three differently purposed tracks layered together.Each Boost comprises three elements. The first one is an ambient soundtrack, such as the sounds of rain, forest, or city noise. The second is music, mostly from a synthesizer or electronic lo-fi. And the third is a set of binaural beats segmented into alpha, beta, gamma, and delta frequencies to stimulate the brain. All of these are stacked to create one audio track, with a total of 19 defaults for better mood, more focus, relaxation, and overall better cognitive functioning.Tushar Mehta / Digital TrendsIn addition to the defaults, the browser lets you choose the ambient and the music tracks from a bigger domain or change the frequency of the binaural beats. You can also individually adjust the volumes of each of the three elements based on your liking, and each of these tracks can be played for variable durations from 15 to 60 minutes or set to infinity for non-stop playback.Before being introduced to Opera Air, I would typically spend several minutes each trying to find new binaural beats, lo-fi tracks, or different white or brown noise on YouTube. I need to do so because anything with vocals distracts me, impeding my train of thought. Although Opera Air does not provide a unique solution, having easy access within a browser makes the scenario slightly more convenient.Guided meditation and breathing exercisesTushar Mehta / Digital TrendsBesides soundscapes, Opera Air makes guided experiences such as breathing exercises, body scans, or meditations more accessible. These practices are clubbed under the browsers take a break section, available on the sidebar.Each practice gets a designated time and comes with audio cues, letting you close your eyes while instructions are spoken to you. Besides choosing the length of the practices, you can choose between two narrators. When it comes to breathing exercises, for instance, the browser offers common de-stressing techniques, such as 4-7-8 or the popular box breathing technique used by the U.S. Navy SEALs.Tushar Mehta / Digital TrendsLikewise, guided meditations and different body scans have variable durations and can be useful for decompressing after or even during work to help you be more present. Besides reducing stress, regular meditation is also known to improve our emotional awareness, reduce compulsive behaviors, and improve our attention span. Even if the other benefits sound too witchy-woo, the last one is certainly worth seeking, especially as vertical scrolling is impairing our attention.Neck exercisesTushar Mehta / Digital TrendsIn addition to nourishing the mind, Opera Air also claims to keep your neck healthy. Constantly looking down at our phones or laptop screens, being fixated on desktop screens, slouching while sitting continuously, and not taking breaks can all contribute to stiffness or sprain in the neck.Opera Air offers exercises of varying lengths based on how much you feel your neck is mobile or conversely needs attention. Along with audio cues, the browser also prompts you to turn on your camera so it can detect your face and ensure you do those stretches properly.Tushar Mehta / Digital TrendsWhile I did notice the stiffness in my shoulder muscles recede with these neck exercises, I did not find the camera scanning any useful apart from the browser continuously reminding me that my face wasnt fully visible. Perhaps Opera plans to improve it in the future. Thankfully, the face data is processed locally, eliminating concerns about privacy.The short answer is yes. As someone who is easily distracted, I found Opera Airs mindfulness features convenient and easy to figure out, primarily because I didnt have to poke around too much or spend too much time finding the perfect soundtrack or guided meditation.With these features, I believe Opera Air qualifies to be a good backup browser. It may even be your primary browser if you are willing to embark on the cumbersome journey to migrate all your browsing history, saved passwords, bookmarks, etc. and get you to log in to all saved accounts again. I may need a few more days or weeks of frequent breathing exercises and guided meditations before I can brace for that change.The more compelling part is that the browser is available for free at least for now. In addition, it gets all the benefits of Opera, including a built-in ad blocker that also works on YouTube videos, a VPN, multiple workspaces for your different personas, and quick access to AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, and messaging apps such WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, directly accessible from the sidebar.If you want to give Opera Air a spin yourself, it is available for desktops. Theres no word on the availability of mobile apps yet.Editors Recommendations

MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand whats coming next. You can read more from the series here. We can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. Thats how much of whats floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matterplanets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature. Cosmologists have cast dark matter as the hidden glue binding galaxies together. Dark energy plays an opposite role, ripping the fabric of space apart. Neither emits, absorbs, or reflects light, rendering them effectively invisible. So rather than directly observing either of them, astronomers must carefully trace the imprint they leave behind. Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questionscritically, what exactly are they? Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Heres a look at how. Untangling dark matters web In the 1930s, the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky proposed the existence of an unseen force named dunkle Materiein English, dark matterafter studying a group of galaxies called the Coma Cluster. Zwicky found that the galaxies were traveling too quickly to be contained by their joint gravity and decided there must be a missing, unobservable mass holding the cluster together. Zwickys theory was initially met with much skepticism. But in the 1970s an American astronomer, Vera Rubin, obtained evidence that significantly strengthened the idea. Rubin studied the rotation rates of 60 individual galaxies and found that if a galaxy had only the mass were able to observe, that wouldnt be enough to contain its structure; its spinning motion would send it ripping apart and sailing into space. Rubins results helped sell the idea of dark matter to the scientific community, since an unseen force seemed to be the only explanation for these spiraling galaxies breakneck spin speeds. It wasnt necessarily a smoking-gun discovery, says Marc Kamionkowski, a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University. But she saw a need for dark matter. And other people began seeing it too. Evidence for dark matter only grew stronger in the ensuing decades. But sorting out what might be behind its effects proved tricky. Various subatomic particles were proposed. Some scientists posited that the phenomena supposedly generated by dark matter could also be explained by modifications to our theory of gravity. But so far the hunt, which has employed telescopes, particle colliders, and underground detectors, has failed to identify the culprit. The Rubin observatorys main tool for investigating dark matter will be gravitational lensing, an observational technique thats been used since the late 70s. As light from distant galaxies travels to Earth, intervening dark matter distorts its imagelike a cosmic magnifying glass. By measuring how the light is bent, astronomers can reverse-engineer a map of dark matters distribution. Other observatories, like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, have already begun stitching together this map from their images of galaxies. But Rubin plans to do so with exceptional precision and scale, analyzing the shapes of billions of galaxies rather than the hundreds of millions that current telescopes observe, according to Andrs Alejandro Plazas Malagn, Rubin operations scientist at SLAC National Laboratory. Were going to have the widest galaxy survey so far, Plazas Malagn says. Capturing the cosmos in such high definition requires Rubins 3.2-billion-pixel Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST boasts the largest focal plane ever built for astronomy, granting it access to large patches of the sky. The telescope is also designed to reorient its gaze every 34 seconds, meaning astronomers will be able to scan the entire sky every three nights. The LSST will revisit each galaxy about 800 times throughout its tenure, says Steven Ritz, a Rubin project scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The repeat exposures will let Rubin team members more precisely measure how the galaxies are distorted, refining their map of dark matters web. Were going to see these galaxies deeply and frequently, Ritz says. Thats the power of Rubin: the sheer grasp of being able to see the universe in detail and on repeat. The ultimate goal is to overlay this map on different models of dark matter and examine the results. The leading idea, the cold dark matter model, suggests that dark matter moves slowly compared to the speed of light and interacts with ordinary matter only through gravity. Other models suggest different behavior. Each comes with its own picture of how dark matter should clump in halos surrounding galaxies. By plotting its chart of dark matter against what those models predict, Rubin might exclude some theories and favor others. A cosmic tug of war If dark matter lies on one side of a magnet, pulling matter together, then youll flip it over to find dark energy, pushing it apart. You can think of it as a cosmic tug of war, Plazas Malagn says. Dark energy was discovered in the late 1990s, when astronomers found that the universe was not only expanding, but doing so at an accelerating rate, with galaxies moving away from one another at higher and higher speeds. The expectation was that the relative velocity between any two galaxies should have been decreasing, Kamionkowski says. This cosmological expansion requires something that acts like antigravity. Astronomers quickly decided there must be another unseen factor inflating the fabric of space and pegged it as dark matters cosmic foil. So far, dark energy has been observed primarily through Type Ia supernovas, a special breed of explosion that occurs when a white dwarf star accumulates too much mass. Because these supernovas all tend to have the same peak in luminosity, astronomers can gauge how far away they are by measuring how bright they appear from Earth. Paired with a measure of how fast they are moving, this data clues astronomers in on the universes expansion rate. Rubin will continue studying dark energy with high-resolution glimpses of Type Ia supernovas. But it also plans to retell dark energys cosmic history through gravitational lensing. Because light doesnt travel instantaneously, when we peer into distant galaxies, were really looking at relics from millions to billions of years agohowever long it takes for their light to make the lengthy trek to Earth. Astronomers can effectively use Rubin as a makeshift time machine to see how dark energy has carved out the shape of the universe. These are the types of questions that we want to ask: Is dark energy a constant? If not, is it evolving with time? How is it changing the distribution of dark matter in the universe? Plazas Malagn says. If dark energy was weaker in the past, astronomers expect to see galaxies grouped even more densely into galaxy clusters. Its like urban sprawlthese huge conglomerates of matter, Ritz says. Meanwhile, if dark energy was stronger, it would have pushed galaxies away from one another, creating a more rural landscape. Researchers will be able to use Rubins maps of dark matter and the 3D distribution of galaxies to plot out how the structure of the universe changed over time, unveiling the role of dark energy and, they hope, helping scientists evaluate the different theories to account for its behavior. Of course, Rubin has a lengthier list of goals to check off. Some top items entail tracing the structure of the Milky Way, cataloguing cosmic explosions, and observing asteroids and comets. But since the observatory was first conceptualized in the early 90s, its core goal has been to explore this hidden branch of the universe. After all, before a 2019 act of Congress dedicated the observatory to Vera Rubin, it was simply called the Dark Matter Telescope. Rubin isnt alone in the hunt, though. In 2023, the European Space Agency launched the Euclid telescope into space to study how dark matter and dark energy have shaped the structure of the cosmos. And NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2027, has similar plans to measure the universes expansion rate and chart large-scale distributions of dark matter. Both also aim to tackle that looming question: What makes up this invisible empire? Rubin will test its systems throughout most of 2025 and plans to begin the LSST survey late this year or in early 2026. Twelve to 14 months later, the team expects to reveal its first data set. Then we might finally begin to know exactly how Rubin will light up the dark universe.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,sign up here. The launch of a single new AI model does not normally cause much of a stir outside tech circles, nor does it typically spook investors enough to wipe out $1 trillion in the stock market. Now, a couple of weeks since DeepSeeks big moment, the dust has settled a bit. The news cycle has moved on to calmer things, like the dismantling of long-standing US federal programs, the purging of research and data sets to comply with recent executive orders, and the possible fallouts from President Trumps new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. Within AI, though, what impact is DeepSeek likely to have in the longer term? Here are three seeds DeepSeek has planted that will grow even as the initial hype fades. First, its forcing a debate about how much energy AI models should be allowed to use up in pursuit of better answers. You may have heard (including from me) that DeepSeek is energy efficient. Thats true for its training phase, but for inference, which is when you actually ask the model something and it produces an answer, its complicated. It uses a chain-of-thought technique, which breaks down complex questions-like whether its ever okay to lie to protect someones feelingsinto chunks, and then logically answers each one. The method allows models like DeepSeek to do better at math, logic, coding, and more. The problem, at least to some, is that this way of thinking uses up a lot more electricity than the AI weve been used to. Though AI is responsible for a small slice of total global emissions right now, there is increasing political support to radically increase the amount of energy going toward AI. Whether or not the energy intensity of chain-of-thought models is worth it, of course, depends on what were using the AI for. Scientific research to cure the worlds worst diseases seems worthy. Generating AI slop? Less so. Some experts worry that the impressiveness of DeepSeek will lead companies to incorporate it into lots of apps and devices, and that users will ping it for scenarios that dont call for it. (Asking DeepSeek to explain Einsteins theory of relativity is a waste, for example, since it doesnt require logical reasoning steps, and any typical AI chat model can do it with less time and energy.) Read more from me here. Second, DeepSeek made some creative advancements in how it trains, and other companies are likely to follow its lead. Advanced AI models dont just learn on lots of text, images, and video. They rely heavily on humans to clean that data, annotate it, and help the AI pick better responses, often for paltry wages. One way human workers are involved is through a technique called reinforcement learning with human feedback. The model generates an answer, human evaluators score that answer, and those scores are used to improve the model. OpenAI pioneered this technique, though its now used widely by the industry. As my colleague Will Douglas Heaven reports, DeepSeek did something different: It figured out a way to automate this process of scoring and reinforcement learning. Skipping or cutting down on human feedbackthats a big thing, Itamar Friedman, a former research director at Alibaba and now cofounder and CEO of Qodo, an AI coding startup based in Israel, told him. Youre almost completely training models without humans needing to do the labor. It works particularly well for subjects like math and coding, but not so well for others, so workers are still relied upon. Still, DeepSeek then went one step further and used techniques reminiscent of how Google DeepMind trained its AI model back in 2016 to excel at the game Go, essentially having it map out possible moves and evaluate their outcomes. These steps forward, especially since they are outlined broadly in DeepSeeks open-source documentation, are sure to be followed by other companies. Read more from Will Douglas Heaven here. Third, its success will fuel a key debate: Can you push for AI research to be open for all to see and push for US competitiveness against China at the same time? Long before DeepSeek released its model for free, certain AI companies were arguing that the industry needs to be an open book. If researchers subscribed to certain open-source principles and showed their work, they argued, the global race to develop superintelligent AI could be treated like a scientific effort for public good, and the power of any one actor would be checked by other participants. Its a nice idea. Meta has largely spoken in support of that vision, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has said that open-source approaches can be more effective at keeping AI safe than government regulation. OpenAI has been on the opposite side of that argument, keeping its models closed off on the grounds that it can help keep them out of the hands of bad actors. DeepSeek has made those narratives a bit messier. We have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open-source strategy, OpenAIs Sam Altman said in a Reddit AMA on Friday, which is surprising given OpenAIs past stance. Others, including President Trump, doubled down on the need to make the US more competitive on AI, seeing DeepSeeks success as a wake-up call. Dario Amodei, a founder of Anthropic, said its a reminder that the US needs to tightly control which types of advanced chips make their way to China in the coming years, and some lawmakers are pushing the same point. The coming months, and future launches from DeepSeek and others, will stress-test every single one of these arguments. Now read the rest of The Algorithm Deeper Learning OpenAI launches a research tool On Sunday, OpenAI launched a tool called Deep Research. You can give it a complex question to look into, and it will spend up to 30 minutes reading sources, compiling information, and writing a report for you. Its brand new, and we havent tested the quality of its outputs yet. Since its computations take so much time (and therefore energy), right now its only available to users with OpenAIs paid Pro tier ($200 per month) and limits the number of queries they can make per month. Why it matters: AI companies have been competing to build useful agents that can do things on your behalf. On January 23, OpenAI launched an agent called Operator that could use your computer for you to do things like book restaurants or check out flight options. The new research tool signals that OpenAI is not just trying to make these mundane online tasks slightly easier; it wants to position AI as able to handle professional research tasks. It claims that Deep Research accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours. Time will tell if users will find it worth the high costs and the risk of including wrong information. Read more from Rhiannon Williams. Bits and Bytes Dj vu: Elon Musk takes his Twitter takeover tactics to Washington Federal agencies have offered exits to millions of employees and tested the prowess of engineersjust like when Elon Musk bought Twitter. The similarities have been uncanny. (The New York Times) AIs use in art and movies gets a boost from the Copyright Office The US Copyright Office finds that art produced with the help of AI should be eligible for copyright protection under existing law in most cases, but wholly AI-generated works probably are not. What will that mean? (The Washington Post) OpenAI releases its new o3-mini reasoning model for free OpenAI just released a reasoning model thats faster, cheaper, and more accurate than its predecessor. (MIT Technology Review) Anthropic has a new way to protect large language models against jailbreaks This line of defense could be the strongest yet. But no shield is perfect. (MIT Technology Review).

Michelin-starred chef Maissmo Falsini has 30 years of experience in hotels worldwide.He's encountered many VIP requests and their sometimes outrageous requests.Falsini shared some of his wildest requests during an interview with Business Insider.With over 30 years of experience in hotels from Abu Dhabi to Napa Valley, Michelin-starred chef Massimo Falsini has encountered every kind of guest.So it should come as no surprise that the Italian native now the director of culinary operations at Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, California has seen his share of outrageous requests."I've done some crazy stuff," Falsini told Business Insider. "I can make a gelato, I can make a croissant, but I can also make a Michelin-starred dish. I've done buffets for 3,000 people. I cooked for 2,000 people in the middle of the desert."During a sit-down interview with BI at Caruso's, the one-star Michelin restaurant Falsini runs in billionaire Rick Caruso's five-star hotel, the chef revealed some of the wildest requests he's received from VIP guests throughout his long culinary career.One of those requests Falsini received was when he was an executive chef at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Hawaii. Falsini said the guest had been a regular at the hotel for years and "got really attached to my way of cooking."For one of her stays in the presidential suite, the guest made her reservation on the condition that Falsini would cook all of her meals. A beach at the Four Seasons Hotel Hualalai in Hawaii. George Rose/Getty Images "So every single day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the resort, I had to go to her suite on the balcony and prepare the meal for her," he continued. "She had to look at me when I was physically cooking; she didn't want anyone else to cook her food.""Unfortunately, I cannot tell you the name of the guest, or I'd be in trouble," Falsini said with a laugh. "But I can tell you it was a big, big executive in the entertainment industry."One guest refused to sit in a chair that had been used before, the chef recalledFalsini recalled another guest who refused to sit on any chair that had been previously used."His chair had to be new, and only he could sit on that chair," Falsini said. "So we bought a chair for him, and then we stored the chair, and we wrapped it in plastic every year.""So every year when he came back to the hotel, we used to open that chair and show it to him. And whatever restaurant he was going to, we were bringing the same chair."In yet another example of an interesting request, Falsini had to create an SOP or standard operating procedure for one of his past hotel restaurants due to a guest's very specific requests for their fruit salad."She wanted the fruit salad cut with every single piece in a 1-inch square," Falsini said. "So I had to make a 1-inch cube for every single piece and mix it together in a certain way, and I had to make an SOP on how to make it. Otherwise, she wouldn't eat it, and she'd make a big fuss, and complain." Chef Falsini has been working in restaurants since he was 16. Courtesy of Rosewood Miramar Beach Falsini, who started washing dishes at a restaurant in Rome when he was 16, intentionally chose to work at very different places because he wanted to keep improving his culinary skills."I've done ultra-luxury hotels. I've done resorts. I've done theme parks," he said. "The beauty of food is that every day is a new day, and every day is different. That's why I feel like I've never worked a day in my life."Now Falsini's attention is on Caruso's at Rosewood Miramar. The five-star resort in Montecito a haven of celebrity mansions in California's picturesque town of Santa Barbara has attracted numerous stars, but Falsini said he isn't fielding wild VIP requests nowadays."People, when they are celebrities, they probably travel a lot. They probably eat out a lot. They probably entertain a lot," Falsini added. "So when they come here with families or significant others, they just want to have a good time. They just want to relax, and just have simple, really good food."

The founder of a ghostwriting business in London, Tom Scourfield, traveled to the US for a workshop.He was shocked by the contrasting approach to entrepeneurship in the States versus back home.Scourfield said he found his American counterparts were less risk adverse and more confident.I help founders tell their stories on LinkedIn. Recently, I spent $5,000 to fly 5,000 miles from London to Arizona for a mastermind event which helps ghostwriters build and scale their businesses.The main workshop lasted one day, but the real magic happened while networking with other founders. I shared an Airbnb with writers, had group dinners and stayed up late talking business. I spent $2,000 on the event and another $3,000 on flights, hotels, and expenses. It was a big investment.As a digital nomad, I'd been surrounded by encouraging American friends and founders for years. But when I returned to London, I felt a shift. If I talked about my business goals, people would smile politely and change the subject.I flew to Arizona, hoping to feel that American energy again.These two weeks showed me why British founders often feel stuck and changed how I view British business culture forever.The enthusiasm gapBrits are more likely to have tall poppy syndrome. People are less open to talk about goals and encourage ambition than in the US.An American founder said he wanted to build his net worth to $10 million the next decade. Nobody flinched. Instead, they asked questions about his plan and offered ideas. Back in London a week earlier, I'd heard a friend call a 100,000 salary "unrealistic." That's the UK mindset we talk ourselves out of ambition before we even start.In Arizona, when someone shared a big goal, the Americans asked "How will you get there?" instead of "Are you sure that's possible?"Back home in London, I'd keep quiet about my wins. When I do share goals, I find myself adding disclaimers to couch my ambition.In Arizona, I could talk openly about my successes without feeling like I was bragging. When I shared concerns, people helped me see them as challenges to solve, not roadblocks to stop me.The energy was contagious. I felt calm about where I was and excited about where I could go. Instead of questioning if things would work out, I started asking how much bigger they could get.Now back in London, I notice how quickly our culture can pull you back into doubt. It's like we're playing two different games: In the UK, we compete to spot problems. In the US, they compete to spot opportunities.Entrepreneurship as a viable careerI think young people are more likely to start businesses in the US because it's deemed a legitimate career path.Whereas, I was pushed to get higher education and a steady job as a young person in the UK.At 17, I knew I didn't want to spend 50,000 the average price of British university on a degree, all to get a job I didn't want. In the UK, you're expected to go to university or trade school. When I said no to both and spoke about starting a business, my teachers were lost.My family pushed me to get a "safe" job like accountancy. The subtext was entrepreneurship wasn't a real career. It was a phase I'd grow out of.In Arizona, I met successful founders from every background imaginable. Some had fancy degrees, others never finished high school. But they all saw entrepreneurship as a natural path to success.The difference being whether people in America or the UK go on to start businesses isn't about intelligence or education. The problem is how entrepreneurship is perceived.This mindset gap starts early. While American kids grow up hearing stories about startup founders, as a British student I was raised to aim for job security.Taking risks is normalIt took four failed attempts to build a business until I finally started seeing results.Growing up, I learned that getting things wrong meant judgment and criticism. I built up walls and was less open about my struggles.One of my first business ventures was becoming a personal trainer at 19. My peers found my website and sent anonymous emails mocking me. I quit after a year, but my family could never understand why.It wasn't the fear of failure that was holding me back, it was the fear and embarrassment of being judged by others for trying.But failure was proof I was building. Each start-up taught me about business, systems and myself.Every founder I met at the mastermind had at least one failure story. They didn't hide them because they saw failure as proof that you're in the game and are resilient.Infectious energy in the USSpending time with American entrepreneurs felt like meeting a cousin who was raised with more confidence.One of the guys in our group was training for an ultra marathon. He had some of the highest levels of self-belief and conviction I've seen.He convinced us all to run a practice marathon with him. With no training and two hours of sleep, we set off at 3 a.m. I had to drop out after the 18th mile, but that's still further than I've ever run before.I'd likely never have attempted it alone, but being around this level of confidence was infectious.Around 9,500 millionaires left the UK in 2024, while the US gained 3,800. We spoke at the mastermind about why so many British founders are looking to exit the UK.In my opinion, it's about the country's energy as much as tax changes. In those two weeks in the States, I felt a source of energy I'd never experienced.Despite the jet lag and constant socializing, I tapped into the enthusiasm of my peers and it meant I had unlimited energy to keep going.Back home, it's hard to not let the grey energy creep in. I have to be rigorous about self-care and my personal routines to maintain a steady baseline of energy.While I was in the States, the positivity and ambition of the people around me was like riding a wave that kept pulling me along.The UK's missing ingredientLondon has access to European talent, free healthcare, and reasonable taxes. We should be an innovation powerhouse, but something's missing.I believe it's a cultural problem. We need push ourselves to think bigger.Growing up in a remote British village, I was taught to keep my head down and expectations low. "Be realistic," they said. But ambition and optimism are good things and we shouldn't hold back those who aspire for more.

Saudi Arabia Unveils Pavilion by Syn Architects for Biennale Architettura 2025Save this picture!When the Earth Began to Look at Itself - Desert X Installation / Syn Architects. Image Laurian GhinitoiuSaudi Arabia has just announced its participation in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia with the National Pavilion presenting The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection. Designed by Syn Architects, the Riyadh-based practice founded by Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi and curated by Beatrice Leanza, the pavilion offers an exploration of contemporary urban conditions in Saudi Arabia through spatial practice and alternative architectural pedagogy. Syn Architects was selected as one of ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2024, recognized for its engagement with local architectural heritage and contemporary spatial practices.Save this picture!Rooted in the research and initiatives of the Um Slaim Collective, a platform established by Syn Architects in 2021, the pavilion investigates the transformation of Najdi architecture in central Riyadh. It engages with oral histories, visual documentation, and experimental methodologies to examine the evolving relationships between built environments, heritage, and community life. By integrating these narratives, the pavilion proposes new approaches to architectural education, linking historical knowledge with contemporary urban discourse.The exhibition creates an interactive space that functions as both a living archive and an evolving site of learning. It seeks to foster a participatory framework where architectural practitioners, researchers, and the public can contribute to discussions on urban change, spatial memory, and environmental adaptation. The Um Slaim School aims to generate a transnational dialogue, encouraging exchange with global architectural communities engaged in similar explorations of practice-led education and research-based design thinking. Related Article Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 Opens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia A key component of the pavilion is its dynamic program of public sessions and workshops, led by curator Beatrice Leanza and supported by Maryam AlNoaimi. These sessions will extend beyond the exhibition, fostering discussions around urban sustainability, ecological resilience, and the social role of architecture. A publication accompanying the project will document the insights and research generated throughout the Biennale, contributing to a broader discourse on contemporary urban and architectural challenges.Save this picture!The pavilion will be on view at the Biennale Architettura 2025 from May 10 to November 23, 2025, with pre-opening events on May 8 and 9. Located within the Arsenale, the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia will serve as a platform for architectural discourse, highlighting the intersection of heritage, spatial innovation, and forward-thinking urban design.Commissioned by the Architecture and Design Commission under Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture, the National Pavilion continues to support architectural and design practitioners in developing new frameworks for understanding and shaping the built environment. Through its participation in La Biennale di Venezia, the pavilion contributes to a global dialogue on the evolving nature of cities and the role of architecture in addressing contemporary challenges.Save this picture!Also in Saudi Arabia, the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled And All That Is In Between, has officially opened in Jeddah. In other similar news, several countries have also announced their national pavilions for Biennale Architettura 2025. The National Pavilion UAE has unveiled its upcoming exhibition, Pressure Cooker, curated by Emirati architect and scholar Azza Aboualam, which explores the relationship between architecture and food production in the UAE. Meanwhile, the Swiss Pavilion will host The Final Form is Determined by the Architect on Site, an exhibition curated by an all-female team reflecting on Swiss architectural history and alternative narratives.Save this picture!Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorNour FakharanyAuthorCite: Nour Fakharany. "Saudi Arabia Unveils Pavilion by Syn Architects for Biennale Architettura 2025" 04 Feb 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026479/saudi-arabia-unveils-pavilion-by-syn-architects-for-biennale-architettura-2025&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Modernism in Africa: Shedding Light on Nigerias Rich Heritage of Education BuildingsSave this picture!Arieh Sharon / Faculty of Social Sciences, Ile-Ife. Image Jean MolitorIn late 2024, an important addition was made to the growing literature on Modern architecture in Africa. "Modernism in Africa: The Architecture of Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda" was published by Docomomo International and Birkhuser, shedding light on multiple previously unpublished buildings. The book has a focus on education, although other building types are included. Amongst these are several university buildings in Nigeria which are explored here. Like other Modern buildings on the continent, they illustrate historical narratives of independence, decoloniality, international relations, and architectural education.As the editors note, educational buildings have been a key driver of development in Africa. The design and construction of educational institutions were an important part of the post-war Modernism construction boom on the African continent, which coincided with post-independence nation-building. The editors also note that, so many decades after their construction, "these edifices born of hope and expectation have generally stood the test of time and remain recognizable features in many African cities and landscapes."Save this picture!Across most of sub-Saharan Africa, two waves of educational buildings could be identified, with examples in Nigeria. The first wave happened in the pre-independence period, such as the University of Ibadan masterplan and its Main Library by Fry and Drew. This also included the climatically-driven buildings of Tropical Modernism such as Arieh Sharon and A. A. Egbor's Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife. The Second wave came in the late 1960s onwards and included the University of Lagos' (UNILAG's) Main Library, the Faculty of Sciences, and the Senate House. Related Article From Kumasi to Khartoum: How Architectural Education in Africa Was Influenced by Modernism Obafemi Awolowo UniversityArieh Sharon, a Bauhaus-educated architect from Israel, designed the campus of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) as a self-contained town. The faculties of Agriculture, Humanities, and Social Sciences were arranged in the central core of the campus. Climatic design methods varied from the use of an external skin shading grid of the Faculty of Agriculture to the inverted pyramid forms of the Humanities and Social Sciences faculties, with all three composed as a series of one or more linear forms in the East-West direction to encourage cross ventilation.Save this picture!The first of these to be constructed was the Faculty of Agriculture in 1965, five years after the country's independence. The linear, rectangular block exhibits archetypal Modernist features such as its free faade enabled with long-span concrete, its elevation on pilotis and a main entrance on the second floor approached by access bridges, and a roof terrace. The circulation consists of cantilevered open decks on the north faade which also provide shading. The southern faade, with no cantilevered deck, has a tighter grid of brise soleil elements that provide shading.Save this picture!To the south is the Faculty of Humanities which was completed only a year later. It consists of three linear blocks and two auditoria also arranged in an East-West direction and connected with a gangway that gently descends from North to South. The main blocks are of four stories formed as inverted pyramids, with each upper story shading the one below. Each level is expressed with solid white projecting bands that stand prominently against the dark grey free faade behind. As the top floors are wider, they contain the classrooms, while the lower floors have the offices and seminar rooms.Save this picture!Circulation is via an open corridor on the north side with a narrower passage providing access around all sides of each story. Each block has two staircases. The one to the south is integrated into the main volume, while the one on the north stands freely as a sculptural element in the landscape, its solid white balustrades continuing the white bands of the main faade. It is worth noting that a Conservation Management Plan was completed for the Faculty of Humanities in 2023, the first of its kind for an African university campus.Save this picture!Lying further to the west is a third building by Sharon, the Faculty of Social Sciences. Although completed much later, in the 1980s, it exhibits Bauhaus-type features from the turn of the twentieth century, such as the raising of the building on pilotis. Again, this is a series of linear blocks arranged East-West with a connecting gangway. In this case, the characteristic feature of the Faculty of Social Sciences is its 'double inverted pyramid' form composed of slanted columns that dramatically project away from the faade at ground level to support the extended roof canopy that provides shading three stories above. These break up the long faade into nineteen bays, 8m in length.Save this picture!Within the blocks are courtyards where the slanted columns are replicated. The floor plates above expand per story, diminishing the courtyard opening and forming the 'double inverted pyramid'. The courtyards are lined with access galleries on the upper levels, connected with staircases down to the ground. They contribute to providing stack ventilation and diffuse natural light into the interior.University of LagosThese buildings at OAU were part of the 'first wave' of Modernist higher education buildings. The 'second wave' buildings are characterized by a more brutalist aesthetic with more exposed concrete, as seen on several buildings at the University of Lagos. The Main Library at UNILAG is one such building. Designed by American architect Robert S. McMillan, its symmetrical composition sits monumentally in its landscape and is described as 'strategically positioned, serving as a visual anchor for the surrounding buildings.'Save this picture!The Faculty of Sciences, by Godwin and Hopwood Architects, is an ensemble of several buildings comprising lecture rooms, laboratories, and administrative spaces as well as outdoor spaces. A larger block to the north is connected to one to the south via covered walkways crossing a courtyard. Three lecture theatres in the form of sculptural concrete shells are attached to the southern block. Whilst many climate-responsive elements are present as with the first wave buildings, the materiality here is very much of the second wave, with plentiful exposed concrete.Save this picture!A rich history of educational buildings is evident in Nigeria and other countries in Africa. The study and documentation of historic Modernist buildings can contribute to their preservation. Moreover, as the editors note in the preface, 'the written, visual and digital documentation of the built cultural heritage of Africa is a prerequisite for sustainable urban and social development.'This article is part of an ArchDaily series called "Rediscovering Modernism in Africa." Many buildings from the Modern Movement in Africa are of high architectural quality. Despite being several decades old and historically important, they have only recently gained attention in international discussions. This series explores this rich history. As always, at ArchDaily, we greatly appreciate our readers' contributions. If you have a project you think should be featured, please submit your suggestions.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorCite: Mohieldin Gamal. "Modernism in Africa: Shedding Light on Nigerias Rich Heritage of Education Buildings" 04 Feb 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026422/modernism-in-africa-shedding-light-on-nigerias-rich-heritage-of-education-buildings&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

The next Battlefield game, unofficially called Battlefield 6, is on its way. Recently, the developers shared a video introducing the studios working on the title and a sneak peek at the WIP gameplay footage.Four studios are engaged in the development of the game: Ripple Effect in Los Angeles, DICE in Stockholm, Motive in Montral, and Criterion in Guilford. Each of them contributes to the project as a whole and, at the same time, focuses on its different aspects. For example, DICE is responsible for the multiplayer part of the game, which incorporates a destruction system, class play, squad play, vehicles, gadgets, and more. Developers at Motive work on multiplayer maps and single-player mission content.The showcased pre-alpha footage is only a few seconds long, so we cant learn much about the games plot. However, there are some details that can be noticed already. First, the scene seems to be set in the Middle Eastern environment, given the typical buildings, palms, and an inscription seemingly written in Arabic:The players seem to belong to Americans, according to the speech and the equipment. As for the enemy, its hard to tell where they come from, as they dont speak or wear any identification marks.In the work on Battlefield 6, the developers reportedly employed the player-first approach and conducted more feedback sessions and player tests. Indeed, in the the recent announcement, the creators introduce a new testing environment called Battlefield Labs, inviting players to test combat mechanics, modes, and more.In the talk with 80 Level, a former DICE employee suggested that the alleged release window is October 2025, although this is not official information.The developers invite the players to join the test program here. Also,dont forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Catch a Glimpse at Battlefield 6 Showcased by the Developers appeared first on CG SHARES.