Enter The Wheel of Times universe once more! Ahead of its March 13 premiere, Prime Video has released the first minutes of Season 3. This exclusive preview will only be accessible for a week, ending on February 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT.The series continues to produce breathtaking graphics thanks to VFX created by Framestore, One Of Us, beloFX, Outpost VFX, and TPO VFX, Proof Inc. for previz, and Clear Angle Studios for data collecting. Under the direction of Production VFX Producer Brian Shows and Production VFX Supervisor Andy Scrase, The Wheel of Times magic is as captivating as ever. Dont pass up an early look at the epic conflicts and secrets that lie ahead!The post The Wheel of Time Season 3 Exclusive Sneak Peek appeared first on Vfxexpress.

In order to improve the historical realism of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Union VFX skillfully blends invisible visual effects with an exceptional level of craftsmanship. Every detail is painstakingly created, from the eerie digital recreation of Auschwitz-Birkenau to the understated yet dramatic portrayal of fire, ash, and changing weather.The emotional impact of the narrative is maintained because these visual effects are made to support the plot without calling attention to themselves. Union VFX assists in immersing viewers in this profoundly poignant and important period of history by fusing state-of-the-art technology with historical authenticity.The post The Tattooist of Auschwitz: VFX Breakdown by Union VFX appeared first on Vfxexpress.

In a James Bond shakeup that stirred the film industry, Amazon MGM announced Thursday that the studio has taken the creative reins of the 007 franchise after decades of family control. Longtime Bond custodians Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said they would be stepping back.Amazon MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli formed a new joint venture in which they will co-own James Bond intellectual property rightsbut Amazon MGM will have creative control.Financial terms werent disclosed. The deal is expected to close sometime this year.With my 007 career spanning nearly 60 incredible years, I am stepping back from producing the James Bond films to focus on art and charitable projects, Wilson said in a statement. Therefore, Barbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.Amazon bought MGM Studios in 2022 for $6.1 billion, a purchase that was significantly motivated by the acquisition of one of the movies most beloved and long-running franchises. Since the Daniel Craig era of 007 concluded with 2021s No Time to Die, Broccoli and Wilson have reportedly clashed with Amazon MGM over the direction of Bond.The announcement Thursday means that for the first time in the more than half a century of Bond, a Broccoli wont be greenlighting the next 007 film, or picking who inherits his tux. Amazon MGM also anticipates expanding the franchise beyond movies.We are grateful to the late Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman for bringing James Bond to movie theaters around the world, and to Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for their unyielding dedication and their role in continuing the legacy of the franchise that is cherished by legions of fans worldwide, said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. We are honored to continue this treasured heritage, and look forward to ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world.Bond had been a family business since Albert Cubby Broccoli secured the rights to adaptations of Ian Flemings novels and kicked off a run of 25 Bond films produced by Eon Productions, beginning with 1962s Dr. No. Those movies have accrued $7.6 billion in box office.In 1995, the elder Broccoli handed over control of Eon to his daughter, Broccoli, and stepson, Wilson. In recent years, the 64-year-old Broccoli has largely taken the lead as Wilson, 83, has aged into retirement.My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father, producer Cubby Broccoli, Broccoli said in a statement. I have had the honor of working closely with four of the tremendously talented actors who have played 007 and thousands of wonderful artists within the industry. With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the films, I feel it is time to focus on my other projects.Broccoli and Wilsons previous standoff with Amazon MGM had essentially frozen development on the next Bond movie. No script, director or star has yet been announced for the next installment, an unusually long break for a franchise that has typically spaced films two or three years apart. Broccoli also produced the 2022 film Till and the musical Buena Vista Social Club, opening next month on Broadway.A key point for the producers in the Amazon acquisition of MGM was a commitment to theatrically release James Bond films. That Bonds future is now in the hands of an e-commerce giant with one of the leading streaming services will immediately prompted doubts from some fans about Bonds new corporate overloads. Other billion-dollar movie franchises, such as the Disney-owned Star Wars and Marvel brands, have in recent years struggled with over-saturation.Even Joe Russo, codirector of four Marvel Cinematic Universe films including Avengers: Endgame, pleaded to Amazon MGM: DONT cinematic universe James Bond.It is one of our last, great theatrical events, Russo said on X. Dont dilute that with a plethora of streaming spin-offs.In an interview last fall ahead of receiving an honorary Oscar alongside her brother, Broccoli told the Associated Press that, in an era of upheaval in the movie industry, boldness was necessary.People are playing it very safe, Broccoli said. I think in times of crisis like this, youve got to be brave.Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer

T-Mobile is making moves to make sure its first among first responders.The mobile giant announced that as a part of its T-Priority solutiona portion of T-Mobiles 5G network thats set aside specifically for use by first responders, to avoid network congestion and slowdowns during emergenciesits signed a contract with the City of New York to be the single carrier for the citys public safety network comprising more than 40,000 personnel, and is allowing free limited-time access to T-Priority through its first responder rate plans.Additionally, the company is partnering with others in the industry to create an advanced 5G ecosystem, which should help numerous tools such as drones and AI-powered deployables perform better in the field. That partnership includes companies like Samsung and Skydio. T-Mobile is also making a $2 million donation to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which supports the families of fallen first responders.These are big investments, and its incredibly important work, said Callie Field, president of T-Mobile Business Group, at an event in New York City on Thursday announcing the news. We launched T-Priority for a reason. It was time to get this community better options . . . Even in 2025, when we expect instant communication, there are times when they cant connect. Field went on to say that almost two-thirds of first responders say they are concerned about network connectivity.As such, Field said T-Mobile saw the announced moves as the companys responsibility.T-Mobiles moves may be significant for emergency services, as first responders can find it difficult to communicate when cell service goes down. While fire and police departments generally do have other ways to get in touch with one anothervia walkie-talkies or pagers, which should work in the event that cell service is downwhen carrier networks are clogged up or otherwise crippled, it can hamper responses and potentially cost lives.T-Mobiles data says that T-Priority can offer up to 40% more 5G capacity to ensure first responders can stay connected, and its designed to emphasize speed for data-intensive communications. T-Priority also meshes with T-Mobiles plan to launch T-Mobile Starlink this year, which will help get signals through to parts of the country that are not reachable by cell towers.

The mission of San Francisco-based startup Rubbish is to rid the world of litter. They created the Rubbish Beam, a primitive version of a smart litter picker-upper, which can pair with a smartphone over Bluetooth. The idea was to register and categorize photos of litter, collecting data that would hopefully lead to greater insights about how to prevent litter.To improve upon their existing design, Rubbish worked with industrial design consultancy Hatch Duo. Clean-up in style.Through brand-focused design and engineering, we went through the process of redesigning Rubbish's current beam to prepare it for scaling the brand. We emphasized Rubbish's fun and playful nature and encourage others to clean up their communities.However, it's important to note that we worked on this entire project remotely, during the Covid-19 Pandemic. You can see in this case study how we not only used digital tools and remote tools to design, we virtually collaborated to maintain everyone's safety.In the spirit of Rubbish's social platform, Hatch Duo collaborated openly and socially, documenting the whole process via our Hatch 22 docuseries. We invested time, love, and some design capital to get Rubbish to a functional/cosmetic prototype stage, as they enter their next funding milestones.?Role: Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Cosmetic Prototype, and full documentary series. (Note: HD is invested in Rubbish) ?Behind the scenes of remote work at Hatch Duo. Understanding the needs of the Client.The Hatch Duo team studied the Rubbish app to get a sense of its brand identity, and created stylescapes that represent the brand. Remote, yet hands-on product development.Mockups are made and tested at the office and at home. The results are then shared with the team so problems can be identified and resolved. That's it!The Hatch Duo team would like to thank you all for joining us along on the journey! Designing a hardware product during a global pandemic had many challenges, but seeing all of the hard work from our team and the Rubbish team, makes us feel grateful and proud of the final product. Thank you again to the Rubbish team for giving us the opportunity and allowing us to document this process. It has been a fun journey, and the best part is, we're just getting started. You can see more of Hatch Duo's work here.

For some campers no cooking stove is necessary, as meals will be cooked over an open flame with fuel gathered on-site. However Snow Peak, the Japanese high-end outdoor gear brand, primarily targets car campers who will be bringing their own fuel. They've thus designed this Home & Camp Butane Stove, which is based around the form factor of a butane canister. The cooking platform folds out of the body, providing enough spread to hold a pot or pan steady. Unfolded, it can support a vessel up to 12" in diameter. You won't be needing your firestarter; the unit features an auto-igniter. And you can literally dial in the flame level.Comes in three colors. It's made of stainless steel and weighs 3 lbs. The asking price is $130. You can find lesser-quality Chinese knockoffs on Amazon for less than half that, from companies you've never heard of, and with no guarantee. In contrast, Snow Peak offers a lifetime guarantee on their products. You get what you pay for.

The tech world is seeing a paradigm shift with advanced robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and material innovations all coming together for some crazy innovations. The Una humanoid by UBTech Robotics for human-centric environments is a great example. If you thought she was in the uncomfortable territory of eerily human-like robots, then you better be ready for what Clone Robotics is developing.The California-based company has long been in the development of full-body androids, debuting the Clone Hand which was an ongoing development for the complete body. Now theyve shown off an anatomically lifelike robot thats eerily close to how we humans look. Called Protoclone V1, the synthetic human robot has a plain face to dial the realism down a notch as the whole body is already so lifelike.Designer: Clone RoboticsThis prototype faceless robot is the worlds first bipedal musculoskeletal android that makes use of in-house Myofiber technology to create the muscular structure with the 1,000 Myofibers attached to bone points, much like how animal anatomy. It has 164 degrees of freedom for the upper torso and is loaded with 500 sensors to have a very human-like limb movement. Currently, the android has pneumatics for actuating the movement but soon itll graduate to a hydraulic system for more accuracy. Talking of its anatomy, the bot has 206 bones with minor fusions, articulated joints, and even artificial ligaments.Protoclone V1 has synthetic systems to mimic the mammalian skeletal, vascular, nervous, and muscular structures never before seen on a robot. It has a response time of 50ms, is capable of 2.2 pounds of contraction force per 3 grams of muscle fiber, and has a 30 percent unload contraction. For the sensory inputs, the android makes use of 4 depth cameras, 70 inertial sensors, and 320 pressure sensors, connected to microcontrollers that send data to an NVIDIA Jetson Thor GPU. For a lifelike motion, Clone Robotics has fitted it with a 500-watt electric pump that powers the vascular system. This makes the Protoclone V1 both powerful and efficient compared to humans who are prone to tendon failures or muscle contractions.In the latest 40-second video, the humanoid can be seen moving its limbs being suspended from supporting wires. Thus, its safe to assume, that the bot still has to develop standing capabilities like Boston Robotics Atlas. One of its standout abilities is to sweat like a human. This is done via a cooling mechanism that makes use of water to regulate the internal temperature. Now thats crazy for a machine.The android is still in the prototype stage but Clone Robotics plans to launch a commercial version this year. Theyll name it Clone and it will have the capability to do household chores including laundry, preparing meals, or vacuuming your carpets!The post Lifelike robot from a dystopian world mimics human anatomy with complex muscular system first appeared on Yanko Design.

The TV streaming market is a pretty volatile and unpredictable place. From set-top boxes to streaming dongles to smart TVs to smart home projectors, you can never tell which device category will become the king of the living room. The pendulum swings from one end to another, and trends come and go faster than in any other consumer electronics segment. Now we might be facing the end of one such trend, at least if Googles old dongle is to be the trendsetter.Although it might not be the first one, the Google Chromecast definitely popularized HDMI streaming dongles that other brands like Roku and even Amazon have tried to get into. That device, however, has been continued and is now officially out of stock, which probably raises the question of whether such devices are, in general, on their way out as well.Designer: GoogleTo be blunt, Google doesnt have a good track record when it comes to its TV-related endeavors, going from a more general casting experience to a short-lived Android TV platform to the current Google TV system. Ironically, what remained consistent through the years is the Chromecast devices, even though those have also undergone a few different design iterations.On paper, HDMI streaming dongles like the Chromecast, Roku Streaming Stick, and Amazon Fire Stick offer the best of all worlds. It could turn any display into a smart TV with streaming capabilities and the ability to receive casted content from phones and computers. They had very small, inconspicuous bodies, so they rarely caught your attention and could even be taken with you on trips.That design, however, also limited what the dongles could do, at least in terms of hardware performance. After all, you can only cram so much in a device the size of a USB stick or a pebble. Thats where the new Google TV Streamer comes in. Launched last year, it offers not only double the RAM and quadruple the internal storage, but it also gets a beefier processor that lets it handle more intensive types of content, like 4K and different HDR standards, without breaking a sweat.Of course, that also meant that the Google TV Streamer could no longer be a dongle and is now closer to a set-top box, swinging the trend back to that side. With almost all TVs getting connectivity features and with set-top boxes becoming more common again, the Chromecasts final run might also spell the end for others like it, bringing the streaming dongle chapter to a close.The post Chromecast with Google TV is no more, marking the end of an era first appeared on Yanko Design.

The semaglutide shortage has officially ended in the USwhich means the GLP-1 drug industry is about to undergo massive changes.

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