ArgumentAn expert's point of view on a current event.DOGE Is Hacking AmericaThe U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history. By Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Davi Ottenheimer, the vice president of trust and digital ethics at Inrupt, a data infrastructure company. A security guard stands at the entrance to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters on Feb. 3. A security guard stands at the entrance to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters on Feb. 3. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesScience and TechnologyUnited StatesFebruary 11, 2025, 6:49 PMIn the span of just weeks, the U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its historynot through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the U.S. Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the departments roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments. In the span of just weeks, the U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its historynot through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the U.S. Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the departments roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments.Then, we learned that uncleared DOGE personnel had gained access to classified data from the U.S. Agency for International Development, possibly copying it onto their own systems. Next, the Office of Personnel Managementwhich holds detailed personal data on millions of federal employees, including those with security clearanceswas compromised. After that, Medicaid and Medicare records were compromised.Meanwhile, only partially redacted names of CIA employees were sent over an unclassified email account. DOGE personnel are also reported to be feeding Education Department data into artificial intelligence software, and they have also started working at the Department of Energy.This story is moving very fast. On Feb. 8, a federal judge blocked the DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department systems any further. But given that DOGE workers have already copied data and possibly installed and modified software, its unclear how this fixes anything.In any case, breaches of other critical government systems are likely to follow unless federal employees stand firm on the protocols protecting national security.The systems that DOGE is accessing are not esoteric pieces of our nations infrastructurethey are the sinews of government.For example, the Treasury Department systems contain the technical blueprints for how the federal government moves money, while the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) network contains information on who and what organizations the government employs and contracts with.What makes this situation unprecedented isnt just the scope, but also the method of attack. Foreign adversaries typically spend years attempting to penetrate government systems such as these, using stealth to avoid being seen and carefully hiding any tells or tracks. The Chinese governments 2015 breach of OPM was a significant U.S. security failure, and it illustrated how personnel data could be used to identify intelligence officers and compromise national security.In this case, external operators with limited experience and minimal oversight are doing their work in plain sight and under massive public scrutiny: gaining the highest levels of administrative access and making changes to the United States most sensitive networks, potentially introducing new security vulnerabilities in the process.But the most alarming aspect isnt just the access being granted. Its the systematic dismantling of security measures that would detect and prevent misuseincluding standard incident response protocols, auditing, and change-tracking mechanismsby removing the career officials in charge of those security measures and replacing them with inexperienced operators.The Treasurys computer systems have such an impact on national security that they were designed with the same principle that guides nuclear launch protocols: No single person should have unlimited power. Just as launching a nuclear missile requires two separate officers turning their keys simultaneously, making changes to critical financial systems traditionally requires multiple authorized personnel working in concert.This approach, known as separation of duties, isnt just bureaucratic red tape; its a fundamental security principle as old as banking itself. When your local bank processes a large transfer, it requires two different employees to verify the transaction. When a company issues a major financial report, separate teams must review and approve it. These arent just formalitiestheyre essential safeguards against corruption and error.These measures have been bypassed or ignored. Its as if someone found a way to rob Fort Knox by simply declaring that the new official policy is to fire all the guards and allow unescorted visits to the vault.The implications for national security are staggering. Sen. Ron Wyden said his office had learned that the attackers gained privileges that allow them to modify core programs in Treasury Department computers that verify federal payments, access encrypted keys that secure financial transactions, and alter audit logs that record system changes. Over at OPM, reports indicate that individuals associated with DOGE connected an unauthorized server into the network. They are also reportedly training AI software on all of this sensitive data.This is much more critical than the initial unauthorized access. These new servers have unknown capabilities and configurations, and theres no evidence that this new code has gone through any rigorous security testing protocols. The AIs being trained are certainly not secure enough for this kind of data. All are ideal targets for any adversary, foreign or domestic, also seeking access to federal data.Theres a reason why every modificationhardware or softwareto these systems goes through a complex planning process and includes sophisticated access-control mechanisms. The national security crisis is that these systems are now much more vulnerable to dangerous attacks at the same time that the legitimate system administrators trained to protect them have been locked out.By modifying core systems, the attackers have not only compromised current operations, but have also left behind vulnerabilities that could be exploited in future attacksgiving adversaries such as Russia and China an unprecedented opportunity. These countries have long targeted these systems. And they dont just want to gather intelligencethey also want to understand how to disrupt these systems in a crisis.Now, the technical details of how these systems operate, their security protocols, and their vulnerabilities are now potentially exposed to unknown parties without any of the usual safeguards. Instead of having to breach heavily fortified digital walls, these parties can simply walk through doors that are being propped openand then erase evidence of their actions.The security implications span three critical areas.First, system manipulation: External operators can now modify operations while also altering audit trails that would track their changes. Second, data exposure: Beyond accessing personal information and transaction records, these operators can copy entire system architectures and security configurationsin one case, the technical blueprint of the countrys federal payment infrastructure. Third, and most critically, is the issue of system control: These operators can alter core systems and authentication mechanisms while disabling the very tools designed to detect such changes. This is more than modifying operations; it is modifying the infrastructure that those operations use.To address these vulnerabilities, three immediate steps are essential. First, unauthorized access must be revoked and proper authentication protocols restored. Next, comprehensive system monitoring and change management must be reinstatedwhich, given the difficulty of cleaning a compromised system, will likely require a complete system reset. Finally, thorough audits must be conducted of all system changes made during this period.This is beyond politicsthis is a matter of national security. Foreign national intelligence organizations will be quick to take advantage of both the chaos and the new insecurities to steal U.S. data and install backdoors to allow for future access.Each day of continued unrestricted access makes the eventual recovery more difficult and increases the risk of irreversible damage to these critical systems. While the full impact may take time to assess, these steps represent the minimum necessary actions to begin restoring system integrity and security protocols.Assuming that anyone in the government still cares.This post is part of FPs ongoing coverage of the Trump administration. Follow along here.Science and TechnologyUnited StatesBruce Schneier is a security technologist and lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. His latest book is A Hackers Mind: How the Powerful Bend Societys Rules, and How to Bend them Back. Davi Ottenheimer is the vice president of trust and digital ethics at Inrupt, a data infrastructure company.Read More On Donald Trump | Science and Technology | U.S. Government | United States

As Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have sought to gut and remake the federal government to their liking, federal workers have changed how they communicate with one another and with friends. They have locked down communication channels, migrated to new platforms, and what was once skepticism has grown into deep distrust not just of their bosss bosss boss, but of the very services they use to communicate with one another, worried that their messages will be leaked to the government. Multiple federal workers who spoke to The Verge on the condition of anonymity said theyve moved sensitive conversations from text messages and Facebook Messenger to the encrypted messaging app Signal. Many are downloading and using Signal for the first time to communicate with each other away from the eyes of Trump and Musk loyalists but also from mainstream tech companies. For some, everything but the most innocuous conversations have been moved. Photos of pets might stay on typical channels; almost everything else is on Signal.I have to have two separate conversations with someone over two different platforms, says a person who works for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). But thats how wary people are of trusting their messages. Another federal employee told The Verge that peers have asked them not to contact them on platforms like Facebook Messenger and to move any conversations about work or the federal government to Signal. Civil servants said they fear that technology companies aligned with the Trump administration, like Meta, could turn over user information to the government. One worker said they feared their data across platforms could be fed into artificial intelligence tools that would then be used to identify people who disagree with the administration.I know thats such an extreme take, and the sane part of me is saying that would never happen but a lot of the stuff we said would never happen, did, they said.Another person said day-to-day communication in work channels has also gotten more guarded.Normally well chitchat and maybe make snarky comments about leadership and general complaining stuff, they say. But for the past three weeks, no more. Im more circumspect, and Ive noticed my colleagues are also more circumspect.Do you work for the federal government? Id love to hear from you. Contact me on Signal (@miasato.11) using a non-work device. You can be anonymous.At the heart of some of the distrust is how technology companies have cozied up to the Trump administration: companies including Meta, Google, and Apples Tim Cook all donated $1 million to Trumps inauguration fund. For months, Mark Zuckerberg has laid it on thick in an attempt to curry favor with the administration, flattering Trump publicly and preaching the right-wing gospel on podcasts. One worker also pointed to a recent change made by Google to its calendar of holidays that removed celebrations like Pride Month and Black History Month. (A Google spokesperson told The Verge the calendar was switched to display only default entries for public holidays and national observances.)Privacy experts have long raised concerns about how data held by technology companies could be used against users on the platform. In 2022, in response to a police search warrant, Meta turned over unencrypted chat logs in which two women discussed abortion pills in a state in which abortion access was restricted.The Verge asked Meta if the company would hand over user data requested without a court order by Musks pseudo-agency, The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Meta spokesperson Thomas Richards said the companys policies had not changed and noted that the vast majority of personal messages on Messenger are end-to-end encrypted.Meta says it follows applicable law and [its] terms of service when the company receives government requests for data, and publishes top-level reports on requests it receives. From January to June 2024, for example, Meta reported it received more than 14,000 requests via subpoena in the US, and some amount of data was produced in 85 percent of cases. Data requests to companies like Meta are governed by the Fourth Amendment as well as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), including the Stored Communications Act (SCA), says Andrew Crocker, surveillance litigation director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.To my knowledge DOGE itself does not have access to any of these types of legal requests it would have to have the assistance of a law enforcement agency like the FBI, Crocker told The Verge in an email.Privacy advocates have pointed to ways law enforcement have tried to get around having a court order, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement using administrative subpoenas that arent signed off by a judge to attempt to obtain user data from tech companies. In fact, Twitter (pre-Musk) fought a request by the Department of Homeland Security in 2017 that attempted to unmask an anonymous alt-gov account that was critical of policies during the first Trump administration.When you have companies that are functioning as large data dragnets, they could be an incredibly rich target for agencies trying to investigate or retaliate against federal employees, said Daro Maestro, senior legal fellow at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. Law enforcement already has an alarming number of ways to seize digital communications, whether through subpoenas, court orders under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, national security letters, or warrants, often with little transparency and no notification to those affected.Both Crocker and Maestro stressed the importance of strong privacy and security measures like default end-to-end encryption.On forums like r/fednews, users share security tips and warnings about how workers activities could be monitored. The Signal app offers end-to-end encrypted messages, meaning the company doesnt retain or have access to messages. But that means a users security settings on their device are all the more important: users can set messages to disappear after a set amount of time and set up a username rather than connect with other people using a phone number. Even on Signal, theres heightened vigilance. Some federal employees have taken extra steps to shield their identities, like changing their display names to be anonymous, fearing someone could screenshot their messages. Signal did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it has seen an increase in new users over the past several weeks. But according to data from Pew Research Center, as of November the federal government employed over 3 million people, or 1.87 percent of the entire US workforce.See More:

Oh no. Helldivers 2's Meridia black hole has officially destroyed the planet it's been lurching towards for the past little bit - Angel's Venture, the ball in question, has met an explodey demise. Naturally, Arrowhead's declared a period of mourning for the lost citizens. Read more

Virtual Void ScreamsIs your life missing an endless stream of GTA 6 waffle? Rockstar's set up an official Discord that already has an entire channel for wondering "Will GTA 6 introduce Sex 2"Finally, a place where an honest person can ask important questions like "do yall think we'll have to manually breathe on gta6?"Image credit: Rockstar Games News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Feb. 13, 2025 If there's one thing we've all loved about the wait for GTA 6 to arrive with all the fanfare of an intergalactic invasion signaled by the blowing of a glow-in-the-dark trumpet the size of the Milky Way, it's been the endless speculation and chatter that's filled the gaps between little snippets of info.To be fair, we've had a bit of fun with it ourselves, but we've got nothing on a new place you can go to have the words 'GTA 6!?!' blasted into your eyeballs like a hose connected to a bottle of freshly-shaken coke. It's the GTA 6 channel on the official Discord server Rockstar Games has just set up and announced midway through its latest Newswire post, and it's - to put it simply - a trip.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Whether youre coordinating with a Heist crew, organizing a car meet, or putting a team together to take advantage of this weeks Casino Story Mission bonuses, theres no better place to connect with like-minded players than on the newly launched official Rockstar Games Discord," Rockstar wrote of the server's purpose, "Join to keep up with the latest in Rockstar Games news, and use the LFG forums to fill out the ranks of your Association on the platform of your choice."Naturally, in addition to that, the server - which already has just over 140,000 members - is home to an entire channel dedicated to GTA 6 discussion. It currently contains a malestrom of verbal diarrhea that's basically a concentrated form of the likes of the GTA 6 subreddit, and the fifty million Twitter and Facebook comments about GTA 6 that are posted every day. Frankly, it's glorious to behold."Will GTA 6 introduce Sex 2" read one of the first posts I spotted in it, which has since been whisked off into oblivion, as the channel gets a new post literally every 20 seconds or so. So you can get the flavour, here's a 'conversation' that just happened over the past minute:One user: GTA 7 before GTA 6Someone else: ValentinesAnother user: Ne zna ni onSomeone different: Nah this community crazy aslYet another user: BraindeadSomeone that's not the previous five: RICK GRIMESAnother user yet again: gta 6 2026 plzSomeone entirely new: 6Yep, not just a washing machine of words at all.Hey, at least some fans are using the waiting time til fall constructively, doing stuff like having a crack at building GTA 6's map in GTA 5.

Masktasker.No three-day countdown will prepare you for this one: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D is 10 years old today.Yep, on 13th February 2015, we all opened our 3DSes (some of you might have even landed one of those sexy gold special edition consoles you lucky gits) and sat down to replay one of the weirdest Zelda entries to date in glorious autostereoscopic 3D.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

And it's very soon.Glover is coming back! Who'd have thought it? Well, a lot of us, given that the Glover rerelease was announced back in 2022 initially only for Steam, but eventually also for consoles. And we finally have a release date for QUByte Interactive's rerelease.According to an eShop listing, Glover is coming to Switch on 27th February 2025 and priced at USD 19.99 (or your regional equivalent). This is a port of an N64 title that launched back in 1998. You play as a hand that gets around by running on a magic ball.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

UX and UI designers work closely with engineers throughout product development to build and implement design concepts and wireframes for functional user interfaces. Regular communication, feedback and testing are required for the collaboration to work smoothly and deliver a user experience that aligns with the intended design goals.Nick Budden, a serial entrepreneur who used to work as a UI/UX designer, wanted designers to spend their days solely on design work rather than handoffs or meetings with engineers. To address a few inefficient steps in the design process, Budden founded Phase in 2017.Implementing UI is an expensive, time-consuming manual process involving designers, product managers and engineers, Budden said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. Comprehensive user testing is also delayed until after that process is complete.The Taipei and Berlin-based startup is building a no-code platform that helps UI/UX designers create fully interactive prototypes, and it said on Thursday that it has raised $13 million in funding from Gobi Partners, New Economy Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Shilling VC, SquareOne, WI Harper, 42CAP and 500 Global.Today, the startup released its first product, a UI animation tool that will compete with Adobe After Effects and Figma. Phase says its software lets UI/UX and product designers create interactive website or app simulations without manual coding or [using] error-prone AI plugins. It can also export UI code thats ready for production, speeding up the design process.Budden said Phases product is much easier for a UI/UX designer to use than other tools like Adobe After Effects or Figma. The key differentiator to Figma is the completeness of the prototype. So in Figma, you can build a prototype that does, maybe 20% or 30% of what the real website does, and then the other 70% or 80% that the prototype doesnt do, you then have to communicate with the engineers, product managers, and people have to figure that out, Budden mentioned. Our product is being built to do 100% of what a real website or app does.This is supposedly the first in a series of launches, and there are plans to introduce three more UI design and code tools of its WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) platform this year and next year to streamline all the manual work required for UI/UX design, Budden told TechCrunch. The three new features will be: UI advanced prototyping, UI design and UI code export.We dont see UI animation as a standalone market for long its a go-to-market opportunity today, but that window will close once tools like Figma integrate animation as a built-in feature, Phases CEO told TechCrunch. Our strategy is to gain only initial traction in animation now, and move down our roadmap into larger markets before that shift happens.Soft launch in South KoreaPhase first introduced its platform in South Korea in May after finding a reliable local partner to help with the launch.Designers adopt new tools by observing their peers discussing and using them, leading to the widespread adoption of design tools, Budden explained, but he pointed out that this influence is often hyper-local. For example, designers in London are primarily influenced by others in their area.Because of this local dynamic, we launched region by region, allowing us to engage deeply with each design community and build momentum, Budden told TechCrunch.South Korea has about 100,000 designers, and Phase says that within a few weeks of launching its product, more than 10,000 had tested it. This hands-on approach successfully kickstarted community growth at least in South Korea but it hasnt worked out as well as the company hoped in other regions.Larger markets had more dispersed design communities, making it harder to gain traction. After months of struggling to recreate Koreas success, we shifted gears and opened a global beta, Phases CEO said. With adjustments to our go-to-market strategy, we saw rapid and sustained growth [] That momentum, combined with product stabilization, is why were moving out of beta now.Phase aims to enter the U.S. and European markets as its next priority.

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free just click TechCrunch Mobility!Raise your hand if youre exhausted by the firehose of information coming from every direction. Yeah, me too.At TechCrunch, were focused on helping readers (thats you!) become informed; thats different than blasting information your way. Instead, we work to answer the Why should I care? question and provide important context.Take the Department of Transportations decision to pause funding for a $5 billion EV charging infrastructure program. As senior reporter Sean OKane notes in his coverage, this is more than just the latest attempt from the Trump administration to hack away at federally funded renewable energy projects around the country, which has been a stated priority of the president.It also illustrates the growing conflict between Elon Musks politics and his car companys goal of advancing the transition to sustainable energy. Tesla, which Musk runs and is the largest shareholder of, received $31 million in funding from the program.In other how-we-are-keeping-you-informed actions, we also monitor certain topics of interest and provide updates when warranted. Reporter Rebecca Bellan has been keeping track of Teslas Dojo program, updating it on the regular. Check it out.A little birdImage Credits:Bryce DurbinA little bird reached out to me recently to share this nugget, which was confirmed via a LinkedIn post. Brian Lerner, a former Apple software engineer who spent the past four years at Built Robotics, was hired as director of factory software at Ford.Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean OKane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.Deals!Image Credits:Bryce DurbinDual-use technology meaning it can be used by civilians and military attracted quite a bit of investment in 2023 and 2024. This year is shaping up to be even bigger as founders take advantage of President Donald Trumps platform.Archer Aviation, the developer of electric vertical and take-off vehicles, is the latest company to tweak its mission in order to capture those sweet, sweet dual-use dollars.Archer Aviation, which went public in September 2021 via a special purpose acquisition merger, raised $300 million from institutional investors, including BlackRock and Wellington. The funds will mainly be used to accelerate the work Archer is doing with Anduril to build a hybrid craft (VTOL).The raise brings Archers total funding to around $3.36 billion. And as reporter Rebecca Bellan noted, this fresh capital comes off the back of a $430 million round in December to fund its new Archer Defense program.Reminder: It wasnt too long ago that Archers go-to-market strategy was an air taxi network across several cities in the U.S. and abroad.Other deals that got my attentionAuto Hauler Exchange, the Michigan startup that developed a digital marketplace for vehicle transportation, raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by MHS Capital. Golden Ventures, which led Auto Hauler Exchanges seed round, also invested in the Series A round.Endera, an electric bus manufacturer in Ohio, raised $49 million in equity and debt. The round included a $36 million equity investment led by Magnetar. Pulse Fund also participated. The total also included a $13 million credit facility.GreenSpark Software, a New York City-based startup building software for the metal recycling industry, disclosed last month it raised $9.4 million from investors Zero Infinity Partners, Third Prime, Bienville Capital, and several unnamed strategic investors. We now know that BMW i Ventures is one of them.Innoviz, the lidar company, raised $40 million from institutional investors at a share price of $1.39 a discount that caused its stock price to fall steeply. As of Wednesday, the companys stock had fallen 37% since its Friday closing price of $1.59.JLR is expanding its U.S. technology hub in Portland with a $180 million investment that will be spread out over the next decade. The hub is developing the next generation of connected cars and what it described as autonomous driving technologies in future JLR vehicles. History lesson: JLR opened its tech hub in 2014 and expanded the facility in 2016, 2017, and 2024.Revel, the electric shared moped-turned-EV-charging-infrastructure startup, secured a $60 million loan from New Yorks clean energy investment fund NY Green Bank to more than triple its current public fast-charging network in New York City.Self Inspection, a startup based in San Diego that has developed an AI-powered vehicle inspection service, raised $3 million in a seed round co-led by Costanoa Ventures and DVx Ventures, the firm run by former Tesla president Jon McNeill. Joining the round was Westlake Financial, which handles more than 1 million vehicle transactions annually.Notable reads and other tidbitsImage Credits:Bryce DurbinADASBYD unveiled Gods Eye, an advanced driver-assistance system that will be installed on its entire model lineup, including its $9,600 Seagull hatchback.Tesla won a defamation lawsuit against Zhang Yazhou, who in February 2021 was a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 car that allegedly crashed due to faulty brakes, resulting in a four-day hospital stay for both her parents. Tesla has finally released telemetry data from her car, which apparently showed that the brakes had functioned as intended.Autonomous vehiclesAurora Innovationis still on track to commercially deploy its autonomous trucks beginning in April 2025, according to its Q4 shareholder letter. Aurora was supposed to launch at the end of 2024 but pushed back the timeline to validate its self-driving technology.Lyft plans to bring fully autonomous robotaxis, powered by Mobileye, to its app as soon as 2026 in Dallas, with more markets to follow. Lyft isnt spilling details about which carmaker it will partner with; we do know that Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate with experience managing fleets, will own and finance the Mobileye-equipped vehicles that will show up on the Lyft app.The Lyft-Mobileye deal got me thinking about Texas. It wasnt that long ago that California and Arizona were the main hotbeds of robotaxi activity. But Texas is quickly becoming a hub, not just of testing, but also of commercial operations. Austin is one Texas AV hot spot: Tesla is planning to launch its driverless ride-hail service in the city this coming June, and Waymo and Uber are set to launch a service soon. Avride has also set up shop in Austin. Meanwhile, self-driving truck companies Aurora and Kodiak Robotics also have a footprint in Texas. This TechCrunch article from 2023 posed a question that we may finally answer in 2025.May Mobility launched its first fully driverless commercial service in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. May has a different operations strategy than Waymo or Zoox. This isnt a free-wheeling service that goes anywhere. Instead, it has (for now) eight pre-determined stops.Waymo continues to expand its robotaxi service areas, this time in Los Angeles. The company has added 10 square miles to include Westchester and parts of Inglewood and Crenshaw, giving customers access to popular destinations like SoFi Stadium and HHLA Entertainment.Electric vehicles, charging, & batteriesMercedes-Benz is taking its EV charging network to Canada, starting with Vancouver this year and then to stations in metro Toronto in 2026. The German automaker has 300 charging stalls in operation and under construction in 11 U.S. states. In total, more than 2,500 charging stalls will be deployed between Canada and the U.S.Rivian will sell its commercial electric vans to any U.S. business that wants one more than a year since ending an exclusivity deal with backer Amazon.PeopleJonathan Morrison, an Apple executive, has been picked to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Morrison was chief counsel for NHTSA during Trumps first term. He was previously president of Auto Advisory Services and director of legal and regulatory affairs at the California New Car Dealers Association.Ride-hailing and gig economyEarnings season is here, and the two top ride-hailing companies, Lyft and Uber, have reported their fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. Heres a quick breakdown:Lyft reported record growth and its first full-year GAAP profitability for 2024 with a net income of $22.8 million, compared to a net loss of $340.3 million in 2023. Thats good news, but investors paid more attention to the companys lower-than-expected guidance for gross bookings in the first quarter.Lyft says Q1 is just a slower season, but the company also anticipates bookings to be negatively affected by the loss of its partnership with Delta, which Uber has snagged. Another interesting tidbit: Lyfts board authorized $500 million in share buybacks, the companys first time doing such a program.Meanwhile, Uber beat revenue expectations in the fourth quarter, growing its revenue 20% to $11.96 billion. Its adjusted EBITDA was $1.84 billion for Q4 and $6.84 billion for the full year. Still, shares fell after the company reported that it missed analyst expectations on EPS and offered soft guidance.The company expects gross bookings to hit between $42 billion and $43.5 billion in Q1, which would be less than the $44.2 billion Uber recorded in Q4 2024. Uber CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah cited currency headwinds and impact from the recent Los Angeles fires and extreme weather in January.This weeks wheelsThis newsletter is getting long, so no this weeks wheels! Stay tuned for new vehicles in the coming months.What is This weeks wheels? Its a chance to learn about the different transportation products were testing, whether its an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle.

Prime Video has just confirmed that Season 3 of its epic-scaled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is in pre-production and will begin filming this spring in the series new production home at Shepperton Studios in the UK. The streamer also announced that one new and two returning directors: Stefan Schwartz, Charlotte Brndstrm, and Sanaa Hamri.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we're thrilled that a third season is underway, said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. The creative team has an extraordinary vision of whats to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled. We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth.Brndstrm, who served as co-executive producer and directed multiple episodes in Seasons 1 and 2, returns as executive producer and director for the third season. She is joined by returning director Sanaa Hamri, who helmed several episodes in Season 2, and veteran director Stefan Schwartz, new to the series. Each director will oversee multiple episodes in the upcoming season.Brndstrm's extensive directing credits include Shgun (FX), Scarpetta (Prime Video), The Outsider (HBO), The Witcher (Netflix), and The Man in the High Castle (Prime Video). Hamri, known for her work on The Wheel of Time (Prime Video) and Empire (Fox), brings extensive experience across television, music videos, and feature films, having recently directed The Bondsman (Prime Video) pilot while continuing her creative relationship with Amazon MGM Studios through an overall deal. Schwartzs credits include The Boys (Prime Video), The Walking Dead (AMC), Luther (BBC), and The Americans (FX).Led by senior visual effects supervisor Jason Smith, Season 2 VFX included work byILMfocused in London and Singapore,DNEGandRodeo FX.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is produced by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay. Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, and Kate Hazell serve as executive producers; Brndstrm directs and executive produces. Matthew Penry-Davey is producer and Ally OLeary, Tim Keene, and Andrew Lee are co-producers.Source: Prime Video Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.

InterviewsBetter Man: Luke Millar (VFX Supervisor) with Dave Clayton (Animation Supervisor) Weta FXBy Vincent Frei - 13/02/2025 Luke Millar discussed Weta FXs work on Mortal Engines in 2018. Following that, he went on to work on Jungle Cruise and Thor: Love and Thunder.Dave Clayton started his journey in visual effects at Weta FX in 2003, contributing to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Over the years, he has worked on major projects such as Avatar, The Hobbit trilogy, Rampage, and The Tomorrow War.How did you get involved on this film?Luke Millar // I first became involved in Better Man after a meeting about upcoming work at Weta FX where some of the previs work was presented. The presenter was from the US and had no idea who Robbie was! I was captivated by the premise and having grown up in the UK during the era in which the movie is set, I put my hand up straight away to be involved.Dave Clayton // Like Luke, I had a 3-year involvement in the project, starting out with the previs supervision, and then leading into the animation supervision of the final shots.How was the collaboration with Director Michael Gracey?Luke Millar // Michael is a creative powerhouse and fantastic collaborator. He is so driven by the visual and emotional elements of a scene, and really pushed us to reach new levels within our work. We developed a great level of trust and an awesome working relationship and I would work with him again in a heartbeat.How did you organize the work?Luke Millar // Early on in the project, director Michael Gracey and I talked about the importance of not focusing and key shots and working things up before fleshing out the whole scene. Michael was keen on prioritizing a broader, less progressed version across more shots to ensure that the scene worked after we had started to layer in the ape. I then spoke to the team and said that the initial presentation for any given scene would be the whole thing! We re-structured the entire way we work on movies but it enabled both us and Michael to really focus on what was important or not working rather than spinning wheels on details. Breaking it down like this really helped with planning out the entire schedule and delivery of the movie.How did you conceptualize the design of the monkey to reflect Robbie Williams personality while keeping it believable?Luke Millar // Imagine a sliding scale with a chimp at one end and Robbie Williams at the other. We knew we were going to land somewhere on that scale but wanted to avoid the uncanny valley. Michael really wanted to capture Robbie Williams likeness and so initially we pushed it too far towards the human end of the scale. We landed on a hybrid approach where we leaned 100% into Robbies eyes and eyebrows and then used more distinct simian features for the rest of the face. The eyes are where all the connection and emotion comes from and so it was key that we could convey the full complexity of human emotion.What artistic inspirations or references guided the creation of the monkeys body movements?Luke Millar // Robbies body performance was predominantly driven by the motion capture of actor Jonno Davies. Although we did experiment with some more ape-like movements in some of Robbies more primal moments, it didnt really work in the context of the film. So we ended up staying true to a human performance, which worked well with the proportions wed decided on for our character which were fairly standard except for his longer arms, chimp-like hands, and thicker neck. Motion capture still requires a lot of care and detailed work from the artists in our motion team, to ensure the performance is transposed onto our digital character successfully.What were the main technical challenges in modelling and texturing the monkey to ensure a realistic look?Luke Millar // Technical challenges involved adapting everyday things to work on the chimp. The way Robbie acts and behaves in the film is ultimately human, just represented as an ape. He has to sport different hairstyles, shave his head, have tattoos, wear different clothing and all of the this had to be adapted to work on a chimp-like canvas. We ended up creating 250 different costumes and 50 hairstyles seen across Robbies life.Were Robbie Williams facial expressions captured for the monkey? If so, how did performance capture play a role?Luke Millar // The entire acting performance was provided by Jonno Davies. Robbie provided that singing voice and VO in the film. However, the apes face shapes had to look like Robbie and so we went through masses of reference images and footage from Robbies career, matching looks on the chimp character to ensure for example that when Jonno smiles, it looks like a Robbie Williams smile.Can you explain how you created the monkeys fur texture to react realistically to light and movement?Luke Millar // We use a physically-based fur shading model that matches how light transmits through a hair strand. Using physical properties we can dial in the look and, coupled with our physical lighting toolset, we can ensure that the look is as accurate as it would be if a real chimp walked in on set!Did you face specific difficulties in animating subtle emotions like melancholy or euphoria on the monkeys face?Dave Clayton // We created a complex and versatile facial puppet, which was capable of an incredible range of movement and expression. We knew Robbies roller-coaster ride of a life was going to play out on this face! If we could replicate Jonnos onset performance convincingly, we knew we could do this story justice.However, some of my favorite shots are the most subtle. To achieve the perfect performance in the quieter, more vulnerable moments we still needed to balance all aspects of the face to feel connected, but what you leave un-animated in these cases was more important than doing too much. This restraint allowed the amazing character design and photoreal lighting to sell the moment.What artistic inspirations or references guided the creation of the monkeys body movements?Dave Clayton // Robbies body performance was predominantly driven by the motion capture of Jonno. Although we did experiment with some more ape-like movements in some of Robbies more primal moments, it didnt really work in the context of the film. So we ended up staying true to a human performance, which worked well with the proportions wed decided on for our character which were fairly standard except for his longer arms, chimp-like hands, and thicker neck. Motion capture still requires a lot of care and detailed work from the artists in our motion team, to ensure the performance is transposed onto our digital character successfully.How much time was needed to develop a single sequence where the monkey interacts intricately with its environment?Luke Millar // We worked on a rough timeline of 20 weeks from start to finish for a sequence, though that could vary depending on the complexity. Shes The One is probably the sequence that required the longest time almost a year and a half to complete due to the insane level of interaction between Robbie and Nicole!How did you handle integrating practical elements (like sets) with the digital animations of the monkey?Luke Millar // We took a very practical approach to integrating Robbie into a real environment. We always shot with Jonno performing every scene so an interaction seen in the film is real and genuine. We created many digital versions of props and would hand over from practical to digital as Robbie handles them.What challenges arose from animating physical interactions between the monkey and human characters?Luke Millar // This is by far the most complex work in the film and it has to be correct otherwise itll blow the effect. The musical number Shes The One where Robbie dances with Nicole Appleton was the most intricate. We made an accurate body digi body-double of Raechelle Banno who plays Nicole and then created incredibly detailed matchmoves for Animation to work with. This didnt take into account the dress Raechelle was wearing and so we always had to simulate, adjust animation and re-simulate. This would get us 95% of the way there, with hand sculpting taking us the last 5%.Did you use artificial intelligence techniques to enhance the realism of the facial animation or fur?Luke Millar // No, we didnt. We used a facial solver to solve the animation/dots on Jonnos face but due to compromising his performance or the complexity of the paintwork, the facial cameras were often removed onset. The majority of the shots required the Animation to match the performance by hand using witness/reference camerasHow did you adapt the monkeys look and animation to reflect the various eras portrayed in the film?Luke Millar // We ended up with 3 distinct model variants for Robbie: Young Robbie, Teen Robbie and Adult Robbie and then had additional tweaks on top of that. From him putting on a bit of weight during his Knebworth concert to the incredibly emaciated look at his lowest point, we made various adjustments to support the storytelling.Did changing lighting conditions (concerts, indoor scenes, natural light) require specific adjustments in the monkeys animation or rendering?Luke Millar // Erik Wilson, DP on Better Man, wanted Robbie to not be lit specifically as you would typically do, instead choosing to light the space in which he inhabits and letting that light him. This gave an incredible grounded realism to the photography that we really leaned into. The lens kit was comprised almost entirely of vintage uncoated glass and Erik would often shoot into light sources to create very contaminated and flared frames. VFX Sequence Supervisor, Keith Herft, did a comprehensive lens flare shoot and rebuilt every lens digitally so that we could always integrate Robbie back into even the most insane flares!What challenges did you face in making the monkey believable in nighttime scenes or under extreme weather conditions?Luke Millar // The musical number Angels is set both at an outdoor funeral and during a interior performance of BBC show Top Of The Pops. Rain was the mechanism that linked the spaces and SFX created practical rain in both sets. To get Robbie integrated into the space we ran FX particle simulations to hand to our Creatures team to simulate Robbies hair moving as the rain hits it. This same cache was also used in our shader pipeline to detect hits on Robbies shoulders and accumulate wet spots through the shots.Did you develop any specific tools or pipelines to harmonize the visual effects with the atmospheres of the different eras?Luke Millar // Not so much with eras, but we did develop a toolset to ingest the practical lighting board programming, and to recreate it in the computer for the elaborate concert lighting. In the Relight My Fire concert scene, there are upwards of 100 light fixtures. Movement, colour and intensity of these lights are all programmed to a music timecode so that it can be repeated take after take. We took lidar scans of the physical lights to record their position in world space and then shot groups of HDRIs with banks of light pointed at a centre point on the stage to record max exposure and colour. One of our talented Assistant Technical Directors then wrote a parser to take the information from the physical lightboard and recreate the timing and movement inside Katana to get a 1:1 match with the real-world concert.The Regent Street long take is breathtaking. How did you plan and execute the seamless blend of live-action footage and CGI to create such a dynamic and immersive sequence?Luke Millar // This took a lot of planning! Choreographer Ashley Warren blocked out the sequence in a dance studio and then passed instructional videos to our previs team to previs capture the dance. Dave then spent a good chunk of timing prevising the number down a digital Regent Street. Erik Wilson then took the previs and some dancers and mapped out a physical path on Regent Street that took into account all the street furniture that we could move the camera through. I then broke down the whole thing into potential plate split points and techvisd out the moves for each section.We rehearsed in London for a week on a sound stage mapped out with the sections of Regent Street then had 4 nights on the street itself to shoot the whole number! In post, we had to reconcile and stitch all the pieces back together, augment the street itself with digital traffic, pedestrians, store fronts and gumballs! The amount of work involved was immense and I think we broke Weta records for the most number of paint and roto tasks on a single shot! The result though is truly stunning.What specific visual effects challenges did you encounter in recreating Regent Streets atmosphere, including the intricate details of the architecture and the interactions between the monkey and its surroundings?Luke Millar // The tight shooting schedule and safety meant that we had minimal traffic on the street. We created period correct Routemaster buses, taxis and traffic. The advertising in Piccadilly Circus is now an insanely bright OLED screen and so that had to be replaced with a 90s fluorescent tube digital replica. We had control over some storefronts which Set Dec dressed to be 90s accurate but many others we didnt and so a number of digital window displays were created. There is a little artistic license with the Christmas lights as the angel design didnt arrive until into the 2000s but we needed them for the iconic Angel Wing moment on top of the bus. We did, however, build them from incandescent bulbs rather than LEDs so that they retained the period feel.Can you describe the process of creating the concert crowds, in terms of variety of models, animation, and reactions to the monkeys performance?Luke Millar // Most of the crowd you see in the film are actually real. We shot concerts in Melbourne and London with a real crowd that was there to see a Robbie Williams concert. We hijacked the gig for a couple of takes to get the shots/plates we needed. The one exception was recreating Knebworth, where the crowd numbered 125,000 people. We did get 2000 extras on the day which covered a large area around the stage but the wider shots have digital crowd extensions. We motion captured performances from some of the Weta teams biggest Robbie Williams fans (including one Dave Clayton!) and then started layering in the performance based on the archive footage we had as reference. There is a lot of dynamism in crowd movement based on how long it takes the sound to reach the various areas of the space and the time it takes them to react so Massive artist replicated all of that amazing detail.Were there any memorable moments or scenes from the film that you found particularly rewarding or challenging to work on from a visual effects standpoint?Luke Millar // Yes! The finale in the Royal Albert Hall was shot in two locations. Robbie, the stage, orchestra and floor area were all shot on a sound stage in Melbourne. The rest of the venue was shot during a live Robbie Williams concert almost a year later. We had pre-planned camera positions and ensured that those seats werent sold to the public. Then we had to condense the 9-minute musical number down to 4 minutes and cover all the crowd eyelines and lighting scenarios within that timeframe. We set up a series of coloured lights to direct where to look along with a voiceover for what the action needed to be. We had two nights to get every plate but the first night was a write-off after the public got too drunk! It left just a single take to achieve all our hopes and dreams and we did it!Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of?Luke Millar // There is one thing that always stands out and that is the consistency of the work across the entire film. There are 1968 VFX shots in the movie which is about 95% of the film and Robbie is so central to every scene that every shot had to be perfect otherwise it would bump audiences out the movie. It is visual effects hiding in plain sight.How long have you worked on this show?Luke Millar // I first got attached to the project exactly 3 years ago!A big thanks for your time.WANT TO KNOW MORE?Weta FX: Dedicated page about Better Man on Weta FX website. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025