Following very many specific studies and research collaborations, Apple has announced a new program that takes a holistic overview of health.Enrollment screen for the US-only Apple Research appPreviously, Apple has collaborated with medical researchers on issues ranging from menstrual cycles and even pickelball, to hearing loss and also sleep tracking. Now the company says it wants to research overall health issues, and has launched a new Apple Health Study in collaboration with the Brigham and Women's Hospital."We've only just begun to scratch the surface of how technology can improve our understanding of human health," Calum MacRae, MD, PhD., a cardiologist, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and principal investigator of the Apple Health Study at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in a statement. "We are excited to be part of the Apple Health Study, as it will continue to explore connections across different areas of health using technology that so many people carry with them every day." Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The disaster response and recovery capabilities of the AIA Los Angeles chapter have been summarized in a new letter to Mayor Karen Bass. Its language includes mentions the need for the development and implementation of a new Professional Certification program, wherein "qualified architects self-certify their designs." Past AIA chapter efforts in response to Hurricane Sandy and the 2023 Hawaiian wildfires were also brought up. You can read more about the chapters Wildfire Disaster Response Task Force efforts through our interview with its co-chairs Mohamed Sharif and Greg Kochanowskihere.Here's more from our recent Los Angeles Fires coverage:LA begins messy fire debris removal processThe zoning 'trap' in Los Angeles' post-fire rebuildLos Angeles appoints Chief Recovery Officer to spearhead disaster rebuilding efforts

Following our previous look at an opening for aBIM Specialist at the Port of Portland, we are using this weeks edition of ourJob Highlights seriesto explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for aCo-Executive Director at the University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit Collaborative Design Center.The role, based in Detroit, calls for an individual who will be responsible for the overall direction of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center and its connection to the wider architecture school. Roles will include directing the organization's mission, vision, values, and goals, establishing design and engagement values and expectations; marketing; fund development; and outreach all in collaboration with other DCDC administration and staff. Applications for the position are due Friday, March 28, 2025.Why the role interests usThe open role at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center comes one week after the center was chosen to participate in the U.S. Pavilion for the upcoming 2025 Venice A...

When discussing early access releases, its always important to know what youre getting into. The length of development, the overall goal of early access, the roadmap for future updates, and, of course, how much content will be playable. No one, not even the developer, can predict just how things will shake out, whether its patches in the early going to fix critical issues or hitting its initially promised milestones. But hey, at least theres some guarantee of content at launch. Right?Cue Kunos Simulazionis Assetto Corsa EVO, the latest title in its relatively long-running franchise. Upon launching for early access, it faced backlash for the sheer amount of content locked to online mode, which wasnt working."Its still very early days for EVO, and theres no better indication of this than the user interface. Minimalist to a fault your mileage may vary but it suffers from very obvious lag, especially with a controller."Even as the developer made it possible to race with all 20 vehicles across its five tracks, the meatier content like Driving Academy and Special Events was unavailable for a good, long while. The fact that they required online connectivity, which wasnt disclosed before early access began, also rubbed many the wrong way. Optimization issues, bugs and whatnot didnt help either.As of last week, however, Assetto Corsa EVO has finally received its online mode, adding such essentials as the game economy and progression alongside the promised modes. However, the question remains: Is it worth diving into early access, especially at this stage? We ultimately circle back to the initial launch content and what matters most to you.In terms of overall experience, its still very early days for EVO, and theres no better indication of this than the user interface. Minimalist to a fault your mileage may vary but it suffers from very obvious lag, especially with a controller. This is especially obvious during races when restarting a session and waiting those precious few seconds for the UI to load in.It can look clean and uncluttered while selecting Special Events and License Exams, but theres also work to be done with the UX. Completing an exam and not having the option to tackle the next? Not having settings to immediately end an exam after completion, regardless of success or failure, and returning to the pre-race screen? These are just a few things that are sorely needed."While there are five tracks, the total number of configurations is eight, with Suzuka and Brands Hatch getting two to three options. Mount Panorama, Imola and Laguna Seca get only one layout each."There isnt much to say about the progression aside from the fact it exists. You earn credits from completing races and use them to purchase vehicles. At least there are different versions of cars to purchase, with options to test drive or admire them in various ways, from toggling different animations to seeing how they look against different backdrops and weather conditions.Alongside Driving Academy and Special Events, you have Quick Race and Practice. While there are five tracks, the total number of configurations is eight, with Suzuka and Brands Hatch getting two to three options. Mount Panorama, Imola and Laguna Seca get only one layout each.Special Events are pretty straightforward, offering various races with set conditions and vehicles. Driving Academy is where you truly cut your teeth, taking on challenges across multiple categories like Sportscar, Supercar, Hypercar and Racing. Youll tackle chicanes with a Lotus Emira on Imola, seek to best the L corners of Laguna Seca and brave Suzukas snaking corners in the rain with a Mazda MX5 ND Cup. All in all, I quite enjoyed these challenges you can drive normally and clear them well enough, but getting three stars on each requires understanding your vehicle, the track and the weather.Nevertheless, its still a shame theyre tied to online mode. At this moment of writing, the latter became unavailable, which means no checking the Licenses tab, the Special Events section coming up blank, and even the Dealership becoming greyed out."The other big selling point of Assetto Corsa EVO is the visuals, with the environments and car models looking quite gorgeous. Much of that will depend on your hardware, though."From the outside looking in and a features standpoint, Assetto Corsa EVO doesnt seem to offer much content at this point in early access. However, when it comes to the gameplay, its one of the more compelling racing sims on the market.The physics model and handling are some of the best on the market. Track conditions, including weather, will affect them in the most expected ways you may have a handle on surfaces when its clear skies or scattered clouds, but when the rain arrives, theres a battle for stability. Whether youre overshooting a turn and going off track or nudging the corner a little closely, it feels natural, responsive and even visceral.Best of all, each car feels unique. You would expect nothing less from a racing sim, but theres something remarkable about how EVO captures each vehicles essence. The Honda S2000 AP1 feels alive, humming along at a strong pace, but it feels like a leisurely drive next to the Ferrari 296 GTB, which explodes with power, visually and audibly. Experiencing each vehicle with the handling model on offer is as joyous as it is challenging, and there are assists available to ease players in. Granted, the options arent extensively detailed, but you can still toggle stability control, the ideal line, and automatic clutch, which is better than nothing.The other big selling point of Assetto Corsa EVO is the visuals, with the environments and car models looking quite gorgeous. Much of that will depend on your hardware, though. On an RTX 4060 and an 11th-gen Core-i5, I went with Medium for most settings, with the level of detail and texture pool size set to High at 2560x1440p and 60 FPS."If youre someone who enjoyed previous Assetto Corsa titles or racing sims in general, this could make for a decent diversion, potentially to try out the handling that everyone is raving about. "The results were relatively solid, though there were noticeable frame drops during the conclusion of a License Exam and at certain sections of races. Alongside some noticeable pop-in, the reflections in the rearview mirror of the cockpit also look underwhelming. I didnt experience any major drops or sluggish performance while racing, much less any crashes, but there is plenty of optimization work to be done.Overall, Assetto Corsa EVO isnt an easy recommended, at least at this stage of early access. Even if everything ran smoothly which is not the case the amount of content isnt exactly the most extensive. This isnt to say that the experience is terrible, but you should really know what youre getting into and the availability of said content before committing.If youre someone who enjoyed previous Assetto Corsa titles or racing sims in general, this could make for a decent diversion, potentially to try out the handling that everyone is raving about. Racing sim enthusiasts seeking a more complete package might want to wait several months for more extensive updates and content additions. However, theres no denying that EVO possesses one of the better sim gameplay experiences on the market or that its visuals can rival the greats. It just needs more time to truly make them shine and justify that $40 price tag.This early access version of the game was reviewed on PC.

While major franchises like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty are now owned by Microsoft thanks to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a former executive from EA has revealed that we could have seen the publisher owning these franchises instead.Speaking on the Grit podcast, former EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon spoke about how EA had the chance to buy Activision Blizzard IPs, including Guitar Hero, and even Blizzard as a whole. According to Gordon, EA saw all those first and passed on all of them.For the context of time frame, EA had a chance to buy Blizzard before its acquisition by Activision back in 2008 when it was merging with Vivendi Games. EA reportedly declined the offer at the time.This is why I have double-high respect for [Robert Kotick] saying, no, no, this is going to be good to own. And then you kept the people around, said Gordon talking to former Activision boss Kotick. Im pretty sure that some of those companies, the creative leaders, would not have stuck around [for a company other than Activision], so you did some kind of miracle of keeping them productive for long periods of time.Incidentally, in the same podcast, Kotick revealed that there were several talks about a merger between EA and Activision Blizzard. They tried to buy us a bunch of times, we had merger conversations a bunch of times, said Kotick.While you were doing Blizzard, that EA passed on, and you were doing King, EA did PopCap just stupid things, responded Gordon, talking about EAs own attempts at entering the casual gaming market at the time.Since Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company has seen quite a spike in growth of gaming revenue. 49 percent revenue growth was reported by Microsoft back in early 2024. More recently, Microsoft has expressed interest in bringing the full portfolio of games by Activision Blizzard on to Game Pass.

Virtuix, the developer of the Omni One, said it has expanded its library of full-body VR games to 55 titles.Read More

If you're a free ChatGPT user, you best make sure your 2 uses per month of Deep Research are for queries your really want or need answered.Read More

Its inaccurate and reductive to call Elden Ring Nightreign a Dark Souls take on Fortnite. And yet, if pressed for an extremely brief elevator pitch say, the kind youd give to your friends who are curious about soulsborne games but are put off by all the discussions of their difficulty its about as best as you could do. In my hands-on time with the game, I was compelled to ask my team at the outset of our very first run, Well where we droppin boys? as we flew over the map in the claws of spectral birds. The similarity to Fortnite and other battle royale games was so striking, the reference simply had to be made. But once we got on the ground, Fortnite took a big ol backseat and Elden Ring reemerged as the foremost game Nightreign compares to.Nightreign strips out the combat and visual aesthetics of Elden Ring and lays them over gameplay that combines multiplayer battle royale action with roguelike live, die, repeat mechanics. Matches will take place over three days. During daylight, players will assault a Limgrave-like map (called Limveld), either solo or in teams of three, beating regular enemies and mini-bosses for powerful weapons, accessories, and runes to level up their characters. As daylight turns to night, a destructive, HP-draining storm called Nights Tide shrinks the map, forcing the players to a tiny arena where theyll face a major boss. Defeat the boss to begin the next day, when the cycle repeats and the match ends by defeating the final boss on the third night.Hark, fellow Nightfarers! Where shall we deploy? Image: FromSoftwareInstead of building bespoke characters from the ground up, Nightreign lets you choose from a roster of new classes, each with their own unique abilities, including one extremely powerful ultimate ability. For the hands-on preview, I was given four classes to try out: Wylder, Guardian, Recluse, and Duchess. The classes are somewhat analogous to typical warrior, mage, rogue archetypes but arent straight-up one-to-one recreations. The Guardian absorbs big attacks with their shield while the Recluse slings spells and has all the fortitude of wet tissue paper. Meanwhile, the Duchess delivers brutally quick knife attacks alongside the jack-of-all-trades Wylder.Characters level up at Sites of Grace as usual, but instead of choosing which stats you wanna pump up, the game does it for you. You dont have to worry about how much dexterity or faith you have, only that, no matter your class, each level up makes you stronger and hardier.In addition to leveling up, death mechanics have also gotten a bit of a revamp for Nightreign. When you die, you still lose all your runes, but you will also lose a level. However, hitting 0 HP doesnt mean you immediately die. If you fall in battle, your allies attacks fill a meter that, once full, restores you with a little bit of health. (It is so very like FromSoftware and also deeply funny to make hurting your allies the method to heal them. Excellent touch.) If all three party members fall, the game restarts the day.It is hilarious that in order to raise downed enemies like this, you have to hit them more. Image: FromSoftwareHaving two extra players around made combat relatively simple to a point. My party and I roamed the Limveld streets like a band of vicious murderers, but once anything more substantial than a soldier or a blighted dog showed up, things got dicey and fast. In typical FromSoftware fashion, a lot of enemies were much tougher than they looked even for three-on-one (which, also in typical FromSoftware fashion, never remained three-on-one as enemies liked to pop out of nowhere). Combine that with the knowledge that the map might start to close in on you at any time, and every battle became a potentially life-threatening, run-ending situation. There were often times when my party had to choose between abandoning much-needed treasure or risk getting caught in the encroaching storm, and that friction was seriously fun. It already feels good to triumph over Elden Rings hard-hitting monsters. It felt twice as good doing that with so much additional danger heaped on top. And despite the relative ease of fighting regular enemies, the bosses were no joke. In the five to six hours I had with the hands-on, I was only able to successfully complete two days, and Im pretty sure nobody in my cohort of previewers was able to beat a run outright.Nightreign also adds new ways to traverse the map, which might sound inconsequential, but when youre playing a game as visually rich as Elden Ring, it means a lot. Much like Shadow of the Erdtree, Limvelds map contains a ton of verticality, but you dont have your trusty Torrent to navigate it. Instead, there are nightsprings that act like giant springboards to propel you to higher sections of the map. You can also hitch a ride on Spectral Hawks to take you to another corner of the map much faster than by foot. Since so much of the Lands Between are seen from the ground up, it was so cool to get it from a different perspective.And thats what so much of Nightreign is actually about: offering a different perspective on a game youve seen before. Its a big risk to take a beloved game and add multiplayer elements to it, and that might upset some Elden Ring diehards. But if you want a new, ever-changing way to play an old game you love, Nightreign is definitely worth checking out.Elden Ring Nightreign releases on May 30th on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. See More: Uncategorized

Samsungs Galaxy S-series is in its software era. Maybe the whole smartphone industry is, too, save for a few phones with hinges (Samsungs included). But overall, we have exited the hardware-driven innovation cycle and are firmly in the midst of a software-based one. If you want proof, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus are a good place to start.These are great phones, which is no surprise. They look, feel, and operate like devices worthy of their $799 and $999 price tags. Theyre slated to get seven years of OS upgrades, which amounts to a damn good return on that investment. I used both to take nice photos, play my little games, and generally go about my day without a hitch. 8Verge Score$800The GoodThe last reasonably sized Android phoneSeven years of OS upgradesVery good cameraThe BadSamsung software is as cluttered as usualAI is still a mixed bagHow we rate and review products8Verge Score$1000The GoodBig screen for people who love big screensSeven years of OS upgradesVery good cameraThe BadSamsung software is as cluttered as everAI is still a mixed bagHow we rate and review productsThis was all true of the S24 and S24 Plus and the S23 and S23 Plus. I couldnt give you a good reason why the S25 stands out compared to Samsungs last three generations of S-series phones. I dont think Samsung can, either, because its entire sales pitch for the S25 revolves around software and AI capabilities much of which will almost certainly be ported to previous S-series phones in short order.Heres the kicker: the software improvements arent all that great, either. AI can do a few handy things, like turning a chaotic page of notes into something readable. But much of it is still too unpredictable to rely on. One UI 7.0 includes nice interface updates, but lots of Samsung phones will get that upgrade soon. The list of reasons to upgrade to an S25 aside from my current phone stopped working and I need a new one is awfully thin.The Galaxy S25 (left) and S25 Plus (right) dont exactly break the mold.Maybe this says more about what passes for a small phone in 2025, but the Galaxy S25 is secretly the best small Android phone you can buy in the US. Thats probably not intentional more like a victory in a war of attrition. Googles phones since the Pixel 5 only come in big and bigger, and niche small phone options like the Asus Zenfone have dropped out of the race. By merely continuing to exist with a 6.2-inch screen, the smaller S-series model has become the default option if you dont want a huge Android phone.The effect is almost comical after a week using the gargantuan S25 Ultra. If you like a smaller device and I sure do its a relief to fit the S25 into a coat pocket comfortably and to reach my thumb across the screen to tap something while using the phone one-handed. A smaller battery is a concern with a tinier device, but the S25s 4,000mAh got me through a full day of moderate use.Of course, theres a bigger option. The S25 Plus has all the screen real estate to satisfy the big phone fans. It comes with a 6.7-inch panel and a bump up to 1440p resolution from the 1080p on the S25, which is a good thing; the extra resolution is necessary with such a big display. Likewise, the 4,900mAh battery goes all day, even with more pixels to light up. The design is basically the same as the last go-around: flat edges, curved corners, and Samsungs signature stoplight rear camera arrangement. I still appreciate Samsungs move to flat edges here, since it makes the phone feel more secure in my hand especially when I pick it up off a table. The flat edge design makes it easier to grab the phone off a table.Samsung is still using Galaxy AI as a key selling point. This collection of starter kit AI features includes new additions, like natural language search in the settings menu, background noise cancellation in video clips, and Pixel Best Take-like face swapping. Theres also a new voice assistant at the wheel: Gemini. Googles AI-imbued assistant is now the default rather than Samsungs Bixby, and it gains the ability to work across apps. This capability was the one I was most excited to try on the S25, and its not even a Galaxy AI feature its available anywhere you can use Gemini, including on iOS and the web. I went into much more detail about using Gemini in my Galaxy S25 Ultra review, but the tl;dr is that its promising but not consistent enough to rely on yet. But credit where its due: Samsungs artificial intelligence tools which it refers to broadly as Galaxy AI do a good job of adding structure to a bunch of chaotic notes. I typed out a list of my kids symptoms before a trip to the pediatrician, and AI organized it with sensible subheadings. It even accurately titled it Childs illness progression, even though I hadnt expressly written that. Samsungs One UI 7.0 software is a significant update that introduces a Dynamic Island-like Now Bar, a split notification and quick settings shade, and some subtle design updates throughout. As with any Galaxy phone, it still takes me a minute to de-Samsung the software to my liking, but overall, its a welcome refresh.Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus camera specsMain: 50-megapixel f/1.8 with OISTelephoto: 10-megapixel f/2.4 3x zoom with OISUltrawide: 12-megapixel f/2.2Selfie: 12-megapixel f/2.2 with autofocusEver seen a photo with a sky so blue, it practically jumps off the screen? Then youve seen a picture taken with a Samsung phone. Samsung is staying true to its oversaturated colors in the S25 series and continues another tradition: a damn good portrait mode. It doesnt always nail subject isolation, but when its good, its good. Its the same camera system as the one in the S24 series, minus some software tweaks. It doesnt have the upgraded ultrawide in the S25 Ultra, but thats not a huge loss. I noticed instances where the S25s camera insisted on focusing in the foreground rather than in the distance where I wanted. The depth of field is shallow enough that this makes a difference, so I wound up with two unusably soft photos. It wasnt a persistent issue, but it came up enough that Id keep an eye on it in the future.1/10Maybe its the hardware cycle slowing down. Maybe its software season. Maybe weve just reached peak phone. A combination led us to the iterative S25 series. But does that matter if youre ready to trade in your S21 and you just want something familiar that works?If you fit that description, the S25 or S25 Plus will do the job. The Galaxy S25 is the last full-featured, sensibly sized Android phone you can buy in the US. And the S25 Plus has the big screen that people apparently want. The cameras are good, battery life is fine, and the software updates will flow for seven years. If this is peak phone, its not a bad place to be.The Galaxy S25 presents an attractive image of what useful AI could look like on our phones. Telling your AI assistant to add the dates from an email to your calendar? Screenshotting a recipe and adding the ingredients to a shopping list? That sounds great. The trouble is that it doesnt work consistently right now, and its unclear when that might change. Galaxy phones from the past few years will get these updates, too. If youre happy with your current S-series phone, I dont see any compelling reason to upgrade to the S25. And thats just fine its a software era, after all.Photography by Allison Johnson / The VergeAgree to Continue: Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 PlusEvery smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it contracts that no one actually reads. Its impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit agree to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people dont read and definitely cant negotiate.To use the Samsung Galaxy S25 or S25 Plus, you must agree to:Samsungs Terms and ConditionsSamsungs Privacy PolicyGoogles Terms of Service (including Privacy Policy)Google Plays Terms of ServiceAutomatic installs (including from Google, Samsung, and your carrier)There are many optional agreements. If you use a carrier-specific version, there will be more of them. Here are just a few:Sending diagnostic data to SamsungSamsung services, including auto blocker, customization service, continuity service, nearby device scanning, personal data intelligence, and smart suggestionsGoogle Drive backup, location services, Wi-Fi scanning, diagnostic dataBixby privacy policy (required to use Bixby), plus optional for Bixby options like personalized content, data access, and audio recording reviewThere may be more. For example, Samsungs Weather app also has its own privacy policy that may include sharing information with Weather.com.Final tally: there are five mandatory agreements and at least 10 optional ones.See More:

PlayCanvas is a popular 2D/3D game engine with a full editing environment for creating WebGL accelerated high performance games. PlayCanvas has a proprietary online 3D editor built on top of an open-source game development framework. We have long followed the progress of the PlayCanvas engine, including this multi-part creating your first game tutorial several years back. PlayCanvas just released PlayCanvas 2.5 with the following new features:Updates to material chunks override functionality by@mvaligurskyin#7284Small gsplat init update by@slimbuckin#7286Moved CameraFrame script to ESM folder by@mvaligurskyin#7285Script Types & ESLint by@kpal81xdin#7288Refactor Grid class initialization and set initial values by@marklundinin#7287Refactor first-person controller script by@marklundinin#7289Refactor Camera controls by@kpal81xdin#7291Unified handling of core shader generation defines by@mvaligurskyin#7298Replace skybox shader generator with a ShaderMaterial using few defines by@mvaligurskyin#7301GsplatMaterial interally uses ShaderMaterial to generate variants by@mvaligurskyin#7302WarnOnce in debug mode if material parameter is being set to undefined by@mvaligurskyin#7305Do not log warning when material data contains sheenGlossTint, which was removed by@mvaligurskyin#7306Shader WGSL example split single shader into vertex and fragment by@mvaligurskyin#7310Improve preprocessor to allow for define value injection by@mvaligurskyin#7309View Cube extra by@kpal81xdin#7081Examples build rework by@kpal81xdin#7314Script Destroy by@kpal81xdin#7315VecN/Color array conversion support by@kpal81xdin#7312Examples build static file optimisation by@kpal81xdin#7317Camera controls focus damping by@kpal81xdin#7313Editor example updates by@kpal81xdin#7319Easier to override render pass used by the CameraFrame by@mvaligurskyin#7321Improvements to sRGB support by the Texture by@mvaligurskyin#7323Gizmo rotate updates by@kpal81xdin#7327Improved support for WGSL shaders. by@mvaligurskyin#7320Improvement to internal WGSL shader processing to only replace whole words by@mvaligurskyin#7329Outline renderer supports morphed models by@mvaligurskyin#7333When Texture.srgb is changed, shaders are reevaluated to be recreated by@mvaligurskyin#7336Adds@enableifto Camera Controls Script by@marklundinin#7330Gsplat material creation no longer set undefined parameters on the material by@mvaligurskyin#7339Make Batch.destroy public as its useful for destroying manually created batch groups by@mvaligurskyin#7340There are also several fixes in the 2.5 release. Full release notes are linked below.Key LinksPlayCanvas 2.5 Release NotesPlayCanvas HomepagePlayCanvas GitHub RepositoriesYou can learn more about the PlayCanvas game engine and the 2.5 release in the video below.