Ongoing scarcity has made it challenging to purchase Nintendos adorable Alarmo since its soft launch last year, but it appears those days are behind us. The $99.99 alarm clock is now readily available from third-party retailers in the US, starting with Best Buy. You can also buy it directly from Nintendo without a subscription, with the only caveat being that you must sign in with a Nintendo account.Nintendo Alarmo$100$100The Alarmo takes dozens of characters and scenes from classic Nintendo franchises and places them in a charming alarm clock thats designed to help you sleep and wake. It uses motion sensors to detect whether youre still in bed and gets more aggressive the longer you sleep in.$100 at Best Buy$100 at NintendoNintendo announced its alarm clock in October while we patiently awaited (any) news regarding the Nintendo Switch 2, which is set to launch later this year. Although the Alarmo is certainly not as exciting as a new console, it is unapologetically Nintendo, with a cartoonish look that calls to mind a vintage alarm clock albeit with a few modern features.Nintendos bright red alarm clock features an illuminated button on top and a rounded face that houses an LCD display. The 2.8-inch panel shows the time/date and will attempt to wake you each morning with scenes and sounds from several iconic franchises. It makes room for visits from beloved characters like Link and Mario, as well as pikmin. There are currently 35 scenes across five franchises available, and Nintendo says youll be able to download more in the future. An integrated motion sensor can detect whether youve moved, too, and each scene will get progressively more aggressive based on whether youre knocked out cold or making an effort to get out of bed (it goes silent once youre up).Button mode enables a more traditional alarm clock experience by allowing you to start and stop alarms or access the settings by tapping and twisting the button on top. The Alarmo can also automatically initiate sleep sounds once youve jumped into bed for the night, provide basic insights into your sleeping habits, and even sound hourly chimes to help you keep track of time throughout the day. Individually, these features dont always work as well as those on a dedicated alarm clock or sound machine, but most of those arent nearly as cute.See More:

Were nearing the deadline that Elon Musk imposed for government workers to reply to a mass email about productivity, and the results have been predictably confusing with even a direct statement from President Donald Trump failing to clear things up.Government agencies have taken significantly different tacks toward the Musk-promoted email, which he announced to the public midday on February 22nd. Sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the message demanded all federal employees respond by the end of the 24th with 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week, and Musk said on X that failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. The email reportedly didnt include this noteworthy detail.But while some agencies have apparently ordered compliance, others have called the email optional or told employees to not respond. The Department of Justice, Administrative Office of the US Courts, and State Department all instructed staff to disregard the message and follow internal review processes instead, according to multiple news outlets. The Treasury Department, conversely, appears to have ordered Internal Revenue Service employees to comply.Other agencies have issued more nebulous guidance. In an email obtained by The Verge, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson told staff that responses were voluntary but he added that I enthusiastically responded to the message and strongly encourage you to respond as well.As of this articles publication, the White House has done little to clarify the situation. An unnamed administration official said on Monday morning that employees should defer to their agencies guidance, reported Politico. An OPM official further told The Washington Post that the office was unsure what to do with the emails and had no plans to analyze them. Yet more anonymous officials, however, said that workers reports would be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether those jobs are necessary or not, per NBC News.Meanwhile, on the same day, Trump said publicly that people who failed to respond would be sort of semi-fired, adding that a lot of people are not answering because they dont even exist. He denied that agencies were clashing with Musk by issuing conflicting guidance, saying it was done in a friendly manner.Musks email echoed his behavior after taking over Twitter, where he demanded employees do things like print out 50 pages of their recent coding work or write a memo justifying their jobs to receive previously promised company stock. But unlike at Twitter, where he held sole unquestioned control, hes dealing with formal chains of command and many other stakeholders here.Still, the whole impossibly tangled situation is conducive to Musk and Trumps goal of paralyzing the government, letting them instill fear in employees while creating an excuse to fire people as desired. (If they work on nuclear safety or bird flu, maybe theyll get semi-rehired afterward.)Like many moves by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the latest action ignores existing government structures in a way that may be aimed at avoiding legal or political accountability. The email nonetheless drew an immediate challenge in court. It was included in an amended suit filed by groups including the American Federation of Government Employees, which condemned the email as thoughtless and bullying meant to intimidate federal employees and cause mass confusion.Ironically for figures who claim to be fighting bureaucratic confusion, Musk and Trump have created one of the most downright kafkaesque scenarios imaginable. Were now looking at a government order presenting a drastic ultimatum that is never mentioned in the order, in which a response may be either mandatory or forbidden, and failing to respond may or may not get you simultaneously fired and not fired. Also, you may not actually exist.See More:

IntroductionGitHub is an essential platform for version control and collaboration. This guide will walk you through three fundamental GitHub skills: creating and uploading a repository, cloning an existing repository, and writing an effective README file. By following these step-by-step instructions, youll be able to start using GitHub efficiently for your projects.1. Creating and Uploading a Repository on GitHub1.1 Create a GitHub AccountVisit github.comClick Sign up and follow the registration processVerify your email address1.2 Create a New RepositoryLog in to your GitHub accountClick on the + icon in the top-right cornerSelect New repository from the dropdown menu1.3 Set Up Your RepositoryEnter a name for your repositoryAdd an optional descriptionChoose public or private visibilityCheck Add a README file (optional at this stage)Click Create repositoryIn your new repository, click on Add file dropdownSelect Upload filesDrag and drop files or click to select from your computerAdd a commit message describing your changesClick Commit changes2. Cloning a Repository2.1 Find the Repository URLNavigate to the repository you want to cloneClick the green Code buttonCopy the HTTPS URL (or SSH URL if you have SSH set up)2.2 Clone Using Command LineOpen your terminal or command promptNavigate to the location where you want to store the repositoryType git clone followed by the repository URL:Press Enter and wait for the repository to download3. Writing an Effective README3.1 Open the README.md FileIn your cloned repository, locate the README.md fileOpen it using any text editor (VS Code, Notepad++, etc.)3.2 Structure Your READMEA good README typically includes:Project Title and DescriptionInstallation InstructionsUsage ExamplesFeaturesContributing GuidelinesLicence Information3.3 Commit and Push Your READMESave your README.md fileOpen terminal in your repository folderAdd the file to staging with git add README.mdCommit changes with git commit -m Update README with project informationPush to GitHub with git push origin main (or git push origin master for older repositories)ConclusionIn this tutorial, weve learned the essential skills for getting started with GitHub: creating repositories, cloning existing projects, and writing effective README documentation. These fundamental skills form the backbone of efficient version control and collaboration in software development. By mastering these techniques, you can now properly showcase your projects, contribute to open-source initiatives, and collaborate seamlessly with other developers. More importantly, youve taken the first steps toward professional Git workflows that are indispensable in modern development environments. NikhilNikhil is an intern consultant at Marktechpost. He is pursuing an integrated dual degree in Materials at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Nikhil is an AI/ML enthusiast who is always researching applications in fields like biomaterials and biomedical science. With a strong background in Material Science, he is exploring new advancements and creating opportunities to contribute.Nikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/Getting Started with Google Colab: A Beginners Guide to Free Cloud ComputingNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/This AI Paper from Weco AI Introduces AIDE: A Tree-Search-Based AI Agent for Automating Machine Learning EngineeringNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/This AI Paper Explores Emergent Response Planning in LLMs: Probing Hidden Representations for Predictive Text GenerationNikhilhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/nikhil0980/This AI Paper Introduces Shortest Majority Vote: An Improved Parallel Scaling Method for Enhancing Test-Time Performance in Large Language Models Recommended Open-Source AI Platform: IntellAgent is a An Open-Source Multi-Agent Framework to Evaluate Complex Conversational AI System' (Promoted)

LatestMachine LearningIntroduction To Federated Learning 0 like February 24, 2025Share this postLast Updated on February 24, 2025 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): William Lindskog Originally published on Towards AI. Brought to you by Flower Labs.Breaking Down AI: What Makes It Work?Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming everything from self-driving cars to personalized medicine to financial fraud detection. But what exactly makes AI work?Practically, AI consists of 3 fundamental components:AI Models The brains of AI. Models process data and make decisions, like recognizing faces in photos or predicting stock market trends. Most modern AI models, such as neural networks, are inspired by the way the human brain works where information flows through layers of interconnected nodes, leading to a decision.Hardware The muscle behind AI. If youve heard of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), you already know why they matter. GPUs are highly efficient at handling AI computations, enabling faster training and inference. This specialized hardware is why AI has accelerated so rapidly in the last decade.Data The fuel of AI. The more quality data an AI model has, the better it performs. Everything from search engines to chatbots to healthcare AI relies on vast amounts of high-quality data to learn and improve.But heres the problem: Data has become AIs biggest bottleneck.Traditional recipe for breakthroughs in AI. We are running out of publicly available data.The AI Data Problem: Why Traditional Approaches Dont ScaleAI models dont improve on their own. They need continuous exposure to diverse, high-quality data to become more accurate, reliable, and useful. The challenge? Access to public data is shrinking, not growing [1]. Many industries e.g. healthcare, finance, automotive, and beyond have the data that could supercharge AI, but its trapped behind barriers that make large-scale AI training incredibly difficult. [2]The Best Data Is PrivateThe most valuable datasets e.g. medical records, financial transactions, personal conversations, and real-world driving data,cant simply be shared or copied without violating privacy laws and ethical standards.Hospitals cant share patient records with external AI labs due to HIPAA and GDPR [3,4]. These silos hold the potential to train AIs that possess capabilities beyond what is currently possible. While there are efforts to make data publicly available, it is an insignificant amount to what is kept within organizations.Banks cant expose customer transactions to train better fraud detection models [5]. Collaborative efforts would make enable better detection of fraudulent transactions and anti-money laundering. Yet, today it can be challenging detecting these with data from entities within a larger enterprise.Users dont want their private messages collected for improving chatbots. This is quite obvious, but we do want personalized AIs helping us check for grammatical errors and typos.As a result, many AI models end up being trained on public or outdated datasets that dont reflect real-world scenarios. The AI remains detached from the actual environment where its supposed to operate.Data Is Scattered Across the WorldEven when data can be used, its rarely in one place. Instead, its fragmented across multiple devices, companies, or institutions. Creating a centralized dataset is cumbersome. Larger platforms and organizations can benefit from big consumer groups and in-house datasets, but even data transfer between in-house entities/units is not always straightforward. Smaller research groups often need to resort to publicly available data or construct their own. While this is possible, it is not only time-consuming but costly.Medical AI needs patient data from multiple hospitals, but each hospital has its own isolated dataset. Furthermore, making this sort of data public often means anonymizing the data, which complicates matters when attempting to develop personalized AI models.Self-driving cars collect sensor data, but who actually owns the data that originates in a vehicle? For example, a company like Volvo might have its own fleet of vehicles but is running 3rd party software to power self-driving car capabilities. Yet, this software is running on hardware produced by another company which actually stores that data. To top it off, the operating system might be something like Android, so at what company does the data actually reside? This is where collaboration is needed.Large language models (LLMs) improve with real user interactions, but personal conversations are stored on individual phones. Thus, in order to develop their capabilities, they need more data from users phone. Nevertheless, centralizing this data is out of the question. People are used to 2-way encryption techniques and do not want their messages to be stored elsewhere than their phone.Centralizing this data into one place is often impossible due to logistics, security, and trust issues.AI Needs More Data But Its Getting LessThere is a clear correlation between the more quality data an AI gets, the better the performance [6]. Therefore, for anyone interested in seeing AI get better, we need to ensure that it can access at least knowledge from more data. Nevertheless, the amount of publicly available data is decreasing rapidly [1]. This leads to a paradox:AI models require massive, real-world datasets to improve. You might have heard that the latests LLMs are trained on almost all text on the internet. While this is up for discussion, there is no doubt that they train and fine-tune their models on enormous amounts of data.The best datasets are locked in silos. While there are several reasons for this e.g. regulations or corporate policies, an argument can be made for collaboration being beneficial. Take healthcare as an example. Suppose there are healthcare clinics fragmented across regions. Privacy laws hinder them from sharing patient data, but there might be only one clinic large enough to have enough data to train a somewhat accurate cancer predictor. The smaller clinics dont have enough quality data and would benefit hugely from knowledge from the larger clinic. Vice versa, the larger clinic would also benefit from more data from all the different clinics but privacy laws put an end to this. While the reason for the law might at one point been reasonable, the current outcome is not.So, whats the solution? How can AI train on more data while respecting privacy and security?This is where Federated Learning [7] (FL) changes the game.FL addresses a fundamental limitation in AI development: access to high-quality, real-world data is diminishing, yet AI models require more data than ever to improve. Current methods rely on centralizing datasets for training, but as we have established, this approach is increasingly infeasible due to logistical barriers. The question, then, is how do we enable AI to improve without direct access to more data?A Paradigm Shift in AI TrainingFL presents a novel approach: instead of bringing the data to the model, we bring the model to the data. This decentralized method allows multiple entities, whether they be hospitals, financial institutions, or individual devices, to collaboratively train an AI model without sharing raw data.FL is built upon a simple yet powerful mechanism:A global AI model is initialized and distributed across decentralized participants (clients). Lets take next word prediction for texting on smartphones. The task is arbitrary but something that many people might be familiar with.Each participant trains the model locally using its own private dataset. This means that the AI used to predict the next word on your phone will train itself on the messages that you type. Now, important, the messages themselves are still kept on your phone and not sent anywhere. The AI learns from the messages but doesnt in itself store a message that you have sent.Instead of sending raw data to a central server, only model updates (weight adjustments, gradients, or encrypted parameters) are shared. This means that your texts/messages are not shared with other devices and the intrinsic structure and build of the AI on your phone is shared, not the data.A central coordinator aggregates these updates to improve the global model while ensuring that no single participants data is exposed. Thus, we still learn from millions, maybe even billions of devices, but the data never leaves, in this case, the phone.This cyclical process repeats over multiple training rounds, leading to an AI model that benefits from a diverse, distributed dataset without compromising privacy or security.An initial model is hosted on the cloud (1), it is sent out as copies of itself to, in this case, different smartphones (2), each copy of the model is trained on data from the respective smartphones which results in slightly different models as they have been exposed to different texts/messages (3), the model updates are sent back to the server not the texts themselves (4), where they are aggregated to form a better AI (5).Theoretical Foundation of Federated LearningFL builds upon several well-established principles in distributed optimization and privacy-preserving machine learning:Decentralized Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD): Instead of computing gradients from a centralized dataset, gradients are computed locally and aggregated at the server [7].Secure Aggregation: Techniques such as differential privacy [8] and homomorphic encryption [9] ensure that individual updates remain confidential while still contributing to model improvement.Statistical Heterogeneity Management: Unlike centralized training, where datasets are curated for uniformity, FL must account for non-IID (independent and identically distributed) data, meaning different clients may have vastly different distributions. Take the case of driving assisting capabilities in automotive. Suppose you have 2 drivers: the aggressive one (1) who likes to hit the gas and see the car take off quickly, and then the more environmental friendly one (2) who cares more about getting to the final destination having save fuel. If an AI trains on the data from these 2 people in a federated fashion, the end model might be okay but just okay. Seeing that their behaviors vary greatly, it might have landed somewhere just right in between, which doesnt serve either one perfectly. Thus, FL needs to be able to handle this, and current state-of-the-art frameworks can. [1012]This approach allows AI to scale beyond traditional limitations, accessing knowledge from previously inaccessible, private, or fragmented datasets. We are already seeing FL being deployed at mass scale in various industries. Frameworks like Flower [10] enable experimentation with your FL solutions and can be used to deploy for real-world applications.Applications of Federated Learning Across IndustriesHealthcare: Preserving Patient Privacy While Advancing AIThe potential for AI in healthcare is undeniable: AI models can assist in diagnosing diseases, predicting patient deterioration, and optimizing treatment plans. However, strict regulations such as HIPAA (U.S.), GDPR (EU), and local data protection laws prevent hospitals from sharing sensitive patient records. This is understandable as patients do not e.g. want images of their bodies or blood values being distributed across the globe. Moreover, such sensitive data can be used in harmful ways, thus it should stay protected.Traditional AI development requires large, diverse datasets, but hospitals cannot freely exchange patient data across institutions or regions. Federated Learning enables collaborative AI training across hospitals without exposing patient records. Each hospital locally trains the AI model using its own dataset, and only model updates are shared for aggregation. A cancer detection model could be trained across multiple hospitals worldwide, improving diagnostic accuracy for rare conditions without violating patient privacy laws. [1315]Other industries are also adopting FL: automotive [16], finance [17], telecommunications [18] and more. The reason being:More data = Better AIThe Future of AI is FederatedFederated Learning represents a fundamental shift in how AI models are trained. By enabling collaborative, privacy-preserving AI, FL bridges the gap between the need for more data and the constraints of modern privacy and security regulations.Key TakeawaysAI requires continuous exposure to diverse, high-quality data but traditional data collection is becoming infeasible.Federated Learning enables AI models to learn from decentralized data sources while preserving privacy.Industries such as healthcare, automotive, and finance are already adopting FL to unlock new AI capabilities.The future of AI will depend on distributed, privacy-conscious training methodologies and FL is leading the way. Want to explore Federated Learning further? Start building with Flower, the open-source framework for privacy-preserving AI.References[1] Villalobos, Pablo, et al. Will we run out of data? Limits of LLM scaling based on human-generated data. arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.04325 (2022).[2] Karimireddy, Sai Praneeth, et al. Breaking the centralized barrier for cross-device federated learning. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 34 (2021): 2866328676.[3] Brauneck, Alissa, et al. Federated machine learning, privacy-enhancing technologies, and data protection laws in medical research: scoping review. Journal of medical Internet research 25 (2023): e41588.[4] Loftus, Tyler J., et al. Federated learning for preserving data privacy in collaborative healthcare research. Digital Health 8 (2022): 20552076221134455.[5] Long, Guodong, et al. Federated learning for open banking. Federated learning: privacy and incentive. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. 240254.[6] Budach, Lukas, et al. The effects of data quality on machine learning performance. arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.14529 (2022).[7] Konen, Jakub, et al. Federated learning: Strategies for improving communication efficiency. arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.05492 (2016).[8] Dwork, Cynthia. Differential privacy. International colloquium on automata, languages, and programming. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006.[9] Gentry, Craig. Fully homomorphic encryption using ideal lattices. Proceedings of the forty-first annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing. 2009.[10] Beutel, Daniel J., et al. Flower: A friendly federated learning research framework. arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.14390 (2020).[11] Zhu, Hangyu, et al. Federated learning on non-IID data: A survey. Neurocomputing 465 (2021): 371390.[12] Li, Qinbin, et al. Federated learning on non-iid data silos: An experimental study. 2022 IEEE 38th international conference on data engineering (ICDE). IEEE, 2022.[13] Qayyum, Adnan, et al. Collaborative federated learning for healthcare: Multi-modal covid-19 diagnosis at the edge. IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society 3 (2022): 172184.[14] Chaddad, Ahmad, Yihang Wu, and Christian Desrosiers. Federated learning for healthcare applications. IEEE internet of things journal 11.5 (2023): 73397358.[15] Antunes, Rodolfo Stoffel, et al. Federated learning for healthcare: Systematic review and architecture proposal. ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology (TIST) 13.4 (2022): 123.[16] Lindskog, William, Valentin Spannagl, and Christian Prehofer. Federated learning for drowsiness detection in connected vehicles. International Conference on Intelligent Transport Systems. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2023.[17] Wen, Jie, et al. A survey on federated learning: challenges and applications. International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics 14.2 (2023): 513535.[18] Lee, Joohyung, et al. Federated learning-empowered mobile network management for 5G and beyond networks: From access to core. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 26.3 (2024): 21762212.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

James Gunn recently gave a group of reporters a status update on the DCU at a DC Studios presentation. Among many other tidbits revealed, we learned that Gunn is already hard at work scripting the next DCU movie hell direct after Superman. Hes certainly keeping very busy these days.Gunn didnt reveal what film hes currently developing, and its probably safe to assume he wont be announcing anything until well after Superman hits theaters in July. Still, we have some ideas for what his next DCU project should be. What franchises and characters best fit his unique voice? What movies need to be prioritized as Gunn and his DC Studios partner Peter Safran build out this new shared universe? Here are our picks for the DC movies Gunn might focus on next.DC Universe: Every Upcoming Movie and TV ShowBatman: The Brave and the BoldDespite the fact that the Dark Knight is hardly a stranger to the big screen, theres been a lot of interest surrounding Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This film is set to reboot Batman yet again, this time introducing the DCUs version of the Caped Crusader. But unlike many recent incarnations of the franchise, its set to focus on the wider Bat-family, including introducing Bruce Waynes eccentric son Damian. Despite Batman being a proven commodity in Hollywood, theres a lot of uncertainty surrounding The Brave and the Bold. Progress on the film has seemingly been slow, and even after the presentation, its an open question as to whether The Flashs Andy Muschietti will still direct it. Thats to say nothing of the challenge of introducing a second cinematic Batman meant to coexist alongside Robert Pattinsons version of the character.The DCU needs a Batman, to be sure. Hes one of the most pivotal characters in any version of the DC Universe, and its important that they get this one right. If Muschietti winds up dropping out of The Brave and the Bold, perhaps it's best for Gunn himself to step in to make sure DC gets this project right (a process that already seems to be taking place). Plus, weve seen from the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy how great Gunn is at using superhero movies to tell emotional father/son stories. Just think what he could accomplish with Bruce and Damian. The FlashThe Flash is another key component of any shared DC Universe. Hes a core pillar of the Justice League, and hes usually at the center of stories involving the multiverse. The problem is that Flash has had a very rocky history in live-action over the past decade. On one hand, The CW series serves as a strong example of how to handle an ensemble-based Team Flash story (even if the show lost steam over time). On the other hand, Ezra Millers DCEU Flash didnt go over nearly as well, culminating in a Flash movie that crashed and burned at the box office. The Flash is basically damaged goods in the wake of that movie. Even so, hes a character wed hope to see sooner rather than later in the DCU. The Flash simply needs a fresh take that veers away from well-trodden territory like Flashpoint. We need a film that keeps Barry Allen (and/or Wally West) in the spotlight rather than letting Batman steal the show.Again, looking at the Guardians movies, Gunn has a real eye for dynamic action that could pay off handsomely in a Flash movie. And its clear hed have no trouble helping audiences connect with the man beneath the red suit. The AuthorityGunn was pretty frank at the presentation when giving an update on The Authority. He noted that its been hard to find the right angle on the movie that doesn't cover the same ground as Prime Videos The Boys and other Authority-inspired superhero projects. Honestly, Authority's been the one that's been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it, Gunn said. And also having a lot of characters that we've fallen in love with that we've already filmed and have that we want to continue their stories and see them meet each other. So I will admittedly say it's a little bit more on the back burner right now.We assume The Authority is going to be key to the growing scope of the DCU. It was among the original batch of DCU movies and shows announced, and Mara Gabriela de Faras Engineer is appearing in Superman. We can only assume the DCU will continue to explore the clash between the hope and optimism of heroes like Superman with the brand of post-modern cynicism embodied by The Authority. That makes this film an important one to get right.Luckily, The Authority is also a great fit for Gunns filmmaking sensibilities. Hes great at working with misfit heroes and crafting engaging team banter. The Authority may be a tough nut to crack, but we have faith Gunn could do it. Amanda Waller/ARGUS MovieThe planned Waller series is another project Gunn admitted has stalled as the DCU gets off the ground, telling reporters the series has had a couple of setbacks, frankly. Thats not terribly surprising considering that Gunn must be stretched pretty thin, between his commitments to Superman, Peacemaker: Season 2 and Creature Commandos. But as those commitments ease up and Gunn is better able to focus on what comes next, it may make sense to make Waller his next big priority, even if that means transforming the series into a feature film.As it stands, Waller and her organization ARGUS are the glue holding the fledgling DCU together. This new universe started out by focusing on the Creature Commandos, a team spearheaded by Waller. ARGUS will appear in Superman. Frank Grillos Rick Flag, Sr. will also appear in Superman, as well as serving as the main antagonist in Peacemaker: Season 2. It only makes sense to continue focusing on this corner of the DC Universe and the puppet master pulling everyones strings. And if Waller isnt working out as a series, maybe the best solution is to try it as a movie instead.Batman & Superman: Worlds FinestBy all rights, 2016s Batman v Superman should have been one of the biggest box office hits of all time. It marked the first time the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel joined forces on the big screen. But while the film did manage a respectable haul, it fell short of those lofty expectations. Even at that early stage, it was clear audiences were growing weary of the dark, brooding tone taken by director Zack Snyder.Batman v Superman wasnt what many fans wanted out of that particular team-up. Too much fighting, not enough heroics. Batman and Superman deserve a team-up movie that portrays them as friends and allies, working together to combat threats too big for one hero to handle alone. Thats the kind of crossover movie we could easily see Gunn excelling at.Rather than focus on The Brave and the Bold specifically, perhaps Gunns next task should be bringing his Superman and The Brave and the Bolds Batman together in one movie. The new DCU needs surefire hits to help it grow in the years to come, and theres probably no more dependable combination than James Gunn writing and directing a Batman/Superman movie. TitansThere was a time when the Teen Titans franchise was one of the biggest things in comics. Marv Wolfman and George Perezs New Teen Titans run was one of DCs best-selling and most critically acclaimed comics in the early 80s. The Teen Titans animated series won over a new generation of fans in the 2000s, and the spinoff Teen Titans Go! has outlasted countless other DC shows on the air.All of this is to say that DC should really be thinking about introducing the Titans to the DCU sooner rather than later. Theres a huge fanbase already in place, and theres a very rich history of comics from which to draw. And while Maxs Titans series had its flaws, it proved these characters can easily work in live-action. In many ways, the prospect of a live-action Titans movie is even more appealing than a new Justice League movie. The Titans have a dysfunctional but loving family dynamic that makes them quite unlike the League. And given how well Gunn succeeded in turning the Guardians from a random team of squabbling a-holes into a true family, wed love to see what he could accomplish with what is undoubtedly one of DCs greatest super-teams.Justice League DarkBetween the fact that the first phase of the DCU is dubbed Gods and Monsters and that Swamp Thing and Creature Commandos were among the first projects teased, its clear this cinematic universe is going to be leaning fairly heavily into the supernatural side of the DC Universe. Perhaps it only makes sense to focus on establishing the supernatural counterpart to the classic Justice League.Justice League Dark is an opportunity for magical heroes like Zatanna, Etrigan, Deadman, Swamp Thing, and even John Constantine to band together and take on threats too weird for the traditional Justice League to handle. Theres definitely a lot more dysfunction fueling this team, which again, is Gunns bread and butter as a superhero storyteller. Throw in a character like Batman or Wonder Woman to lure in casual audiences, and you have an easy gateway for moviegoers to experience the weirder and wackier side of the DCU.Which DC movie do you want to see Gunn tackle after Superman? Cast your vote in our poll and let us know in the comments below.For more on the future of all things DC, check out what to expect from DC in 2025 and see every DC movie and series in development.Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket byfollowing @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Amazon is offering a great deal for Amazon Prime members on a Qi2-certified wireless power bank that works with MagSafe compatible iPhones like the Apple iPhone 16. Right now the Baseus 10,000mAh 22.5W MagSafe Power Bank is priced down to only $19.79 after a $30 Prime member discount and a 30% off coupon code "YT35U53Z" that you can apply during checkout. Baseus is an established and reputable manufacturer of power banks and this particular model has a fair number of positive reviews on Amazon.Baseus 10,000mAh Magsafe Power Bank for $19.79Qi2 certified with up to 15W of wireless chargingAmazon Prime Members OnlyBaseus 10,000mAh 22.5W Magsafe Power Bank with Qi2 Certified 15W Wireless ChargingThis Baseus 10,000mAh power bank measures 4.3" x 0.7" x 2.7" and weighs about 7.3oz. It has a USB Type-A and USB Type-C port with up to 22.5W of maximum Power Delivery over USB-C, enough to fast charge a Nintendo Switch. It also has built-in magnets that securely snap it to the back of any phone with a magnetic back. It's Qi2 certified, which means it is capable of up to 15W of wireless charging, which is double the 7.5W maximum rate of a standard Qi-certified power bank, and it's compatible with all MagSafe iPhones (iPhone 12 onwards).How many times can you charge your iPhone 16?Macworld lists these power consumption specs (in Whr) for the iPhone 16:iPhone 16: 3,561mAh 13.7WhriPhone 16 Plus: 4,674mAh 18WhriPhone 16 Pro: 3,582mAh 13.8WhriPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,685mAh 18WhrA 10,000mAh power bank carries a 37Whr capacity. An 80% power efficiency rating (which is about standard for power banks) gives you about 29Whr of available charge. That means this power bank will charge an iPhone 16 Plus or Pro Max (with larger screen) up to 1.6 times or an iPhone 16 or Pro (with smaller screen) over two times.See more power banks we've recommended:Great for LaptopsAnker 737 Power BankSee it at AmazonGreat Compact OptionINIU Portable ChargerSee it at AmazonGreat for iPhonesBaseus Wireless Magsafe Battery PackSee it at AmazonSolar Powered OptionSolar Power BankSee it at AmazonLooking for more iPhone resources? For starters, check out our official iPhone 16 Pro Max review. Mark Knapp writes: "The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a powerhouse in just about every respect. Its built well, has considerable performance, delivers great visuals from its display, and snaps some excellent photos." If you already have an iPhone and are looking for some essential iPhone accessories, we've rounded up our favorite iPhone 16 screen protectors, and guides to which Apple AirPods and Apple Watches might be best suited for your needs. The new iPhone 16e is also up for preorder, and it's set to start shipping on February 28. Note that the iPhone 16e will not be MagSafe compatible.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The post Lore of Eora Metaphysics | A Pillars of Eternity and Avowed Visual Guide appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE Decor editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.If you've already mastered caring for beginner-friendly greenery like air plants or your faux fiddle leaf fig tree, up the ante with a gorgeous sago palm. Despite the name, sago palms are not truly of the palm family. Rather, they're a type of cycad, a native plant to Japan and China that dates all the way back to prehistoric times. While they do require a bit more care than some other household staples like philodendrons, sago palms can absolutely flourish indoors. With warm weather approaching, now is the best time to prepare for spring blooms and learn to care for your sago palm.How much light do sago palms need?Like many indoor plants, sago palms do best with indirect sunlight. Rather than placing them below the scorching sun where their leaves can become burnt, sago palms love dappled sunlight, and thrive in warm, moist environments. If your bathroom gets a good amount of daylight, this could be a good spot for them. How often should sago palms be watered?Sago palms love humidity, but that doesn't mean they need to be watered everyday. Since they're prone to root rot, they should be planted in a porous pot, like one made of terracotta, with an acidic, well-draining soil. Only water your sago palm if the soil feels dry to the touch. Otherwise, they can be gently misted from time to time to keep their leaves properly hydrated. Can you propagate sago palms?In the early spring or late fall, you may notice off-shoot "pups" around your sago palm that can be removed and re-planted for easy propagation. This is not only an easy way to get additional plants, but can also help your mother sago palm get all the nutrient it needs without competition.Should sago palms be pruned?Sago palms do not need to be pruned. If you notice completely brown leaves, you can cut them off, but otherwise sago palms can be left to their own devices. Yellowing leaves around the top of the plant could signify root rot, or overwatering.Are sago palms pet safe?Sago palms are extremely toxic to both pets and humans if ingested. Be sure to keep these plants away from your pets, and do not eat any part of the plant yourself. Because they are only unsafe if ingested, you can touch your sago palm without worry.Garden Goods Direct Sago Palm$33 at gardengoodsdirect.comThe Sill Hyde Planter$48 at The SillTatjana FreundFashion & Luxury Commerce EditorTatjana Freund is Hearst's Fashion & Luxury Commerce Editor, covering beauty, fashion and more across multiple brands. Previously, she worked at ELLE.com and Marie Claire. She's a fan of whiskey neat, podcasts that give her nightmares, and one time Zo Kravitz laughed at a joke she made.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is continuing to burn bridges with the space community.One former astronaut is even challenging him to step foot in a rocket himself a cutting dig at Musk,since even though he's made establishing an interplanetary presence for humankind his life's goal, he's never actually traveled to space himself."Hey Elon Musk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us," tweeted former NASA astronaut and current US senator Mark Kelly.To understand the squad of former astronauts Kelly was talking about, it's important to understand that Musk has been brewing unprecedently bad blood with the space-traveling community since earlier this month, when he claimed that astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who became stranded on board the International Space Station due to the failure of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, "were left up there for political reasons."The unfounded claim the pair's return flight next month was planned out last summer, and the idea that their extended sojourn had anything to do with politicking makes no sense, since it was a black eye for the Biden administration sparked outrage among former astronauts."What a lie," European Space Agency astronaut and former ISS commander Andreas Mogensen tweeted. "And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.""You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September," Mogensen tweeted. "Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September."The rebuke infuriated Musk, who tore into him in a characteristically childish tantrum, using a slur against people with intellectual disabilities."You are fully r*tarded," the richest man in the world seethed. "SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago. I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused."Other retired astronauts quickly jumped to Mogensen's defense."I was the Commander of the ISS when [Mogensen] flew his first space mission," replied former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly the twin brother of Mark Kelly, the former astronaut referenced above who has a lengthy history of feuding with Musk. "He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people Ive ever met. This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect."Apart from calling former astronauts slurs, a fuming Musk piled on hours later by suggesting that the ISS should be destroyed "as soon as possible," years earlier than originally planned.He further chargedit only serves as a distraction in his plan to "go to Mars" and that the station "has served its purpose," willfully ignoring the important work scientists are still conducting on board the ISS.The bizarre proposal came off as vindictive given the timing especially considering SpaceX already secured a lucrative $1 billion contract with NASA to deorbit the station starting in 2030.In short, perhaps Kelly is right Musk should consider climbing into a rocket and blasting into blast into space, instead of incessantly tweeting potshots at those who've already risked their lives.Share This Article

Three years ago, OpenAI cofounder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever raised eyebrows when he declaredthat the era's most advanced neural networks might have already become "slightly conscious."That flair for hype is on full display at Sutskever's new venture, another AI outfit sporting the un-subtle name of "Safe Superintelligence."And if you were fretting that OpenAI's business model was suffering from Alice-in-Wonderland logic, Sutskever's new project will have you all the way through the looking glass. As theFinancial Times flags, the company just raised another $1 billion, adding to previous investments from deep-pocketed investors at Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital and bringing its valuation up to $30 billion.The wild thing? It's done all that including attaining a valuation higher than Warner Bros, Nokia, or the Dow Chemical Company without offering any product whatsoever.In fact, Sutskever has previously bragged, it willnever offer a product until, that is, it drops a fully-formed superintelligent AI at some unspecified point in the future."This company is special in that its first product will be the safe superintelligence, and it will not do anything else up until then," the erstwhile OpenAI-er toldBloomberg back when he first launched the operation. "It will be fully insulated from the outside pressures of having to deal with a large and complicated product and having to be stuck in a competitive rat race."It's not unusual, of course, for venture capitalists to invest in companies that don't yet have products but throwing billions at one whose sole purpose is to create something that might not even exist within our lifetimes is a stretch, even by VC standards.Despite Sutskever's amply-derided insistence to the contrary, there is little reason to believe that AI researchers are anywhere near creating artificial general intelligence (AGI), much less the type of system that surpasses human cognition. While the timeline for reaching AGI is debatable, some experts argue that this "singularity," as some call it, may never be achieved much less on a timeline that would make investors happy.Asthe FT points out, Safe Superintelligence's valuation ballooned from $5 billion to $30 billion since its launch last June. Over that time period, the concept of AGI has grown ever larger in the popular imagination as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman keeps teasing that OpenAI is on the precipice of achieving it even though he's done little to back up those claims. (By the way, it's worth recalling that Sutskever left OpenAI last summer after afailed coup to oust Altman.)On Safe Superintelligence's website, there is no explanation of what will set Sutskever's company apart from others looking to achieve similar goals. Instead, it speaks in familiar AI industry platitudes, boasting that it'll "approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs" and "plan[s] to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead."Maybe Sutskever's wildest predictions will come true, and he'll usher in a spectacularly powerful and perfectly risk-free superintelligence. But unless he can do it quickly, investors are sure to come knocking.More on artificial "intelligence": OpenAI Researchers Find That Even the Best AI Is "Unable To Solve the Majority" of Coding ProblemsShare This Article