The jury member and head of pavillons at CAFx discusses her ambitions for the competition for a pair of temporary pavilions at the inaugural Copenhagen Architecture BiennialIda Willadsen Bang KjeldsenWhy are you holding a competition for a pair of new slow pavilions for the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2025?To raise awareness about the way we need to transform the building industry to create a more sustainable building sector, which currently accounts for an unsustainable 38 per cent of the worlds CO emissions.Reusing existing structures and materials and ensuring that what we construct can easily be disassembled and reassembled are important steps toward sustainability. Making sure that structures can be repurposed and reused while incorporating biogenic materials is also an important effort that we encourage with our competition.These pavilions are meant to serve as inspiring examples its just a matter of getting started.What is your ambition for these new temporary structures and how they will enhance the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2025?To serve as inspirational prototypes showing how we can build for the future. They will also serve as physical gathering places where important discussions about our shared built future can take place.What sort of teams would you like to see step forward for this unique opportunity?We welcome a wide range of spatial practitioners who have a regenerative ethic and aesthetic agenda that will surprise and inspire. We believe that collaborations across disciplines, cultures, generations, and/or methodologies are the way forward.2025-02-24Merlin Fulcher Share

An international ideas contest is being held for a new theatre inside Sharjahs waterfront Bait Obaid Al Shamsi complex (Deadline: 14 April)The Theatre of Possibilities competition invites architecture students and emerging practitioners to draw up innovative concepts for a new performance space within the courtyard of the historic Bait Obaid Al Shamsi merchants house which was originally built in 1845.Supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah Architecture Triennale and Sharjah Performing Arts Academy the call for concepts is the latest edition of the Theatre Architecture Competition which has been held by the OISTAT Architecture Commission every four years since 1978.Competition site: Bait Obaid Al Shamsi theatre, SharjahKey aims include promoting innovative theatre design and interdisciplinary cooperation. Collaborative submissions featuring both architects and theatre practitioners are encouraged.According to the brief: We are interested in seeing innovative ideas for a performance space that could be built to provide the best use and highest value for an area of cultural activity. Performance is more than the visual, there are many ways to tell a story and at the very beginning of this process is the space it happens within.What is the audience interaction and experience from the beginning of their visit to the time they leave? They are part of that experience, not merely an observer. A theatre space should envelop the audience, feel safe for the artists and have a plethora of opportunities and flexibility.Constructed for the merchant Obaid Bin Hamad Al Shamsi the former private house is a large two-storey structure featuring a courtyard. The building was renovated in the late 1990s, is now run by the Sharjah Art Foundation and features a series of artist studios and events.The latest ideas contest seeks flexible proposals to transform the central courtyard into a new temporary 100-capacity performance space. Proposals should respect the heritage of the site and the region while also offering a maximum build and deconstruction time of no more than three days.Competition site: Bait Obaid Al Shamsi theatre, SharjahProposals which harness sustainable construction methods, promote accessible design, and provide opportunities to experience and engage with the performance are encouraged.The competition features a 43 (200 AED) entry fee with teams from the 22 Arab-speaking countries eligible for free entry. Submissions must include a single A0-sized display board featuring images along with a 200-word project description and short video.The overall winner to be notified in June will receive a 3,240 (15,000 AED) prize while a second prize of 1,730 (8,000 AED), third prize of 1,080 (5,000 AED) and three further prizes worth 320 (1,500 AED) will also be awarded.The best entries will also be exhibited at the World Stage Design summit taking place within Bait Al Obaid Shamsi in October 2025.How to applyDeadline: 14 AprilCompetition funding source: Not suppliedProject funding source: Not suppliedOwner of site(s): Not suppliedContact details: infowsd2025@spaa.aeVisit the competition website for more information2025-02-24Merlin Fulcher Share

When it comes to IT sustainability, the present economic uncertainty and political swings from diametrically opposite policies regarding climate change present a significant challenge to IT leaders. They require a technology roadmap to navigate these turbulent times robust enough to adapt to economic and political volatility.Sujata Kukreja, general counsel and chief compliance officer at network management platform Expereo, urges tech leaders to manage sustainability with innovation and take into consideration the running costs of inefficient datacentres. We have to invest money and we are very conscious of datacentre energy consumption, she says.Expereo therefore continues to prioritise emissions reduction, even if its costly. The procurement team increasingly seeks renewables-based arrangements. Its about having a longer-term focus, especially with artificial intelligence (AI) tools coming in, says Kukreja. But our investors are not going to continue if were not a business with purpose.Another company that expects to continue to focus on emissions reduction and science-based targets despite economic pressures worsening in the past year is Crown Worldwide. Chris Davis-Pipe, chief information officer at the global logistics firm, commands a 70-strong enterprise IT team with 3,000 staff across business units in some 50 countries.Were working to get more visibility of the carbon were using and how to turn things off when we dont want to use them, says Davis-Pipe. We stick solar on warehouses, were looking at using more renewable electricity, then were also moving from our own datacentres to more cloud-based services.Customers increasingly demand information on emissions reduction, including a plan with science-based goals and demonstrable progress. Crowns carbon-accounting platform has been calculating its carbon footprint, with 66% of estimated emissions accounted for by the end of 2023. It doesnt plan to roll back the strategy, but it is buying more software and services off the shelf. In the past, it would have built its own. In-house IT skills have refocused on integration and data analytics, he says.Crown has also given countries and branches more leeway to improve IT environments locally for instance, to achieve agility or efficiency within a governance framework. We have core systems main service delivery and financial systems globally, but were much more open now for people to solve local issues locally, Davis-Pipe explains.Automation and AI beyond Copilot content in marketing are also areas where the company is alert to future use cases that support the business and its net-zero goals, he says.Many firms may be in a similar position.Sarwar Khan, sustainability director at BT Group, reports that the company and many of its partners and customers are doubling down on net zero despite various pressures.I sit in the business arm, with support for SMB [small and mid-sized business] customers, public sector, wholesale including channel partners. And the pressure to reduce [environmental] impact is not going away, Khan confirms. Its a key priority.While smaller businesses have serious concerns in terms of how theyre going to be sustainable and comply with net zero by 2050, theyre not backing off despite increasingly realising its an enormous task. Meanwhile, more specific key performance indicators (KPIs) on carbon, often revised quarterly, are appearing in the public sector. The pressure to reduce [environmental] impact is not going away. Its a key priority Sarwar Khan, BT GroupSMBs are looking to big organisations, like us, to lead and support them, says Khan. In corporates, too, many are probably in that disillusionment phase, realising that they have to figure out how to operationalise it.BT this year brought forward its annually reviewed net-zero target for the business to 2031, and for the customer and supply chain to 2041 from 2050. How?First, we looked at how we accelerate our plan on EV [electric vehicle] transition, as one of the largest fleet operators in the UK. Second, we looked closely at what we could reduce across our supply chain.About 70% of BT emissions are Scope 3, so supply chain efficiencies are crucial. Tier 1 contracts are coming in for specific attention, he adds, and must have a science-based net-zero target against which they disclose performance.If you dont move the dial in that [Scope 3] space, getting to target is very difficult, says Khan. BT is doing more advocacy including alongside competitors as well as looking at the make-up of its renewables certificates and power purchase agreements. Multiple innovations and efficiencies are crucial as datacentre power demand rises, Khan points out.Jon Healy, chief operating officer (COO) at datacentre solutions provider Keysource, reiterates that customers are shifting their net-zero strategies, including increasingly pushing suppliers to do more and reveal more rather than pulling back. Previously, some net-zero plans werent viable.In our world, theyre not going to get more customers if theyre not addressing their own emissions. Of course, whats difficult is to get there despite the pressures, including speed to market, constrained supply chains and demand for compute, Healy maintains.This has an impact right back to the drawing board, to strategic decision-making about where an organisation goes and which projects are fundamental.Consequent designs have to underlie and underpin sustainability and carbon intensity, as well as support datacentre sector growth. Entire ecosystems are being evaluated. Upcoming infrastructure refreshes look likely to reap the benefits of currently evolving data, frameworks and metrics.Read more about achieving net zero in ITAWS, Microsoft and Google urge datacentre kit suppliers to improve Scope 3 data collection, putting their names to an open letter, calling on third parties to do a better job with helping calculate Scope 3 emissions of cloud platforms.Enterprises advised to reconsider datacentre hosting locations on sustainability grounds as joint research by Scottish datacentre firm DataVita and IT sustainability consultancy Posetiv suggests enterprises might be better off from an environmental perspective by shaking up their datacentre hosting arrangement.Companies must understand where their carbon emissions sit and whats causing impacts or generating those emissions, and really pinpoint the detail to realise savings, says Healy.Mary Jacques, director of global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and regulatory compliance at Lenovo, agrees. It is continuing to focus on full carbon accounting, increasingly homing in on Scope 3 supplier emissions, partly in response to customer requirements across its portfolio. Its not about taking your foot off the pedal temporarily in response to unfavourable economics, she says.With AI particularly, theres demand to understand full impacts and help customers build up AI investments and infrastructure in the right way, Jacques adds.These are long-term commitments by their nature, she points out. Ours, including the net-zero targets, remain the same.Progress towards lower emissions continues under the surface of reports, commentators suggest. For example, bidirectional information flows between Lenovo, customers and suppliers are still developing, but ultimately, organisations will better quantify and reveal progress on emissions. Michael OHara, founder of not-for-profit support group Techies Go Green, is aware of economic pressures affecting organisational emissions reduction plans. That said, he believes whats going on is more a readjustment of expectations and deflation of greenwash, even overhyped green growth. Its like in the 1990s the internet was going to change how we did business, and there was huge investment, and then the dot com crash. But slowly, surely, the enlightenment period happened, maybe 10 years later, says OHara. The sustainability hype kicked in after the 2016 Paris Agreement and Biden took office, and when BlackRock said theyd prioritise sustainability investments in 2020.If hes right, going green looks about halfway along. OHara says we can still see longer-term sustainability and profitability. Short-term thinking can be the enemy in business, as much as in politics with leaders only looking to their next election. Among our members, theres still positive sentiment, but there is a slowness in moving forward and putting in the investment. [In fact] a lot of [previous] net-zero goals have been too high Michael OHara, Techies Go GreenAmong our members, theres still positive sentiment, but there is a slowness in moving forward and putting in the investment. To be honest, a lot of [previous] net-zero goals have been too high, OHara says.Over time, though, he expects emissions reduction to embed into company cultures, not least as data and transparency improve, with teams increasingly buying into the requirements. Until now, this has proven difficult in many companies, with sustainability sometimes tasked to the marketing person or receptionist, rather than someone with physical levers to pull. A lot of education and information communication still remains to be done as well.OHara points out that people are still joining Techies Go Green it now has 650-plus members and targets 1,000. That suggests many still take emissions reduction seriously.Ben Brial, founder of green platform engineering company Cycloid, agrees theres progress, especially on carbon accounting. Yet short-cut generative AI (GenAI) projects, such as Chinas DeepSeek, should remind industry that alternative paths to innovation can exist beyond brute-force financial scaleup. Prior to AI, many had this mindset about we grow at any cost. The goal was to go faster, regardless of resource use, says Brial. But organisations can develop new, more economical, more sustainable methods and strategies, including in emissions reduction. Cheaper is not new, but the idea of pushing to use less resources is kind of a new game-changer, says Brial. We can think our way to different solutions and ways of achieving our priorities, goals and objectives.

The new Ring Outdoor Camera PlusAmazonAmazon owned smart security specialist Ring has unveiled the latest addition to its smart security lineup: the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus.The new arrival is the first Ring camera to launch with 2K resolution, delivering sharper video quality and a wider field of view than any of the brands previous models.Ring did recently upgrade two of its existing cameras (the Floodlight Cam Wired Pro and the Spotlight Cam Pro) to support 2K video via a software update, but this is the first time a Ring cam is debuting with the higher resolution right out of the box.Aside from the 2K (2560 x 1440) visuals, the new Outdoor Camera Plus also boasts Low-Light Sight, which Ring tells us will enhance visibility in dim conditions by maintaining color and clarity even when lighting is limited.Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, the camera supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and is built with a weather-resistant design that can handle -20C to 50C temperature swings.Its a DIY installation job, that should be easy enough thanks to a mount that works on both walls and ceilings.As with other Ring cams, there are multiple power options: battery, plug-in, or solar; making it adaptable to different setups.As youd expect from a camera from the House of Bezos, the Outdoor Camera Plus integrates with Alexa, allowing you to view live footage and communicate via Two-Way Talk through Echo smart speakers or displays.Motion Zones can be customized to send real-time notifications based on activity in specific areas.However, some of the more advanced features, including person and vehicle detection and continuous 24/7 recording, require a Ring Home subscription.Without a plan, users can still access live view, real-time alerts, and basic recording features.Privacy remains a focus, with adjustable settings and customizable privacy zones to block out areas you dont want to monitor.Plus, as with all Ring cameras, a blue indicator light signals when the device is recording.The Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is available in black or white and is up for pre-order now on Amazon or direct from Ring, for $99.99. Shipments expected in the coming weeks.

Infostealer malware is a real and present danger to your passwords.gettyUpdate, Feb. 24, 2025: This story, originally published Feb. 22, has been updated with a stark example of a real-world infostealer malware attack campaign targeting the U.S. military, as well as a new warning from the head of engineering at NordPass about how AI is coming for your passwords next and how to protect against the threat. Considering just how many infostealer malware warnings have been issued recently, from macOS-specific threats, to those targeting a broad sweep of Gmail and Outlook email users, there can be little doubting that cybercrime actors are coming for your passwords. Now the true reach of the infostealer malware threat has been laid bare by a threat intelligence agency which specializes in leveraging dark web data, and the picture it paints is a scary one. Heres what you need to know.Infostealers Behind 3.9 Billion Stolen Passwords Shared By HackersMore than 4.3 million machines were infected by infostealer malware across 2024 according to the latest KELA state of cybercrime report, published Feb. 20. The threat intelligence analysts also said they had observed 3.9 billion passwords shared in the form of credentials lists that appear to be sourced from infostealer logs. Just three strains of this insidious malware threat, Lumma, StealC, and Redline, were responsible for 75% of all infected systems. Underground economies, from malware-as-a-service to stolen credential marketplaces, contributed to a powerful infrastructure supporting a range of malicious activities, David Carmiel, CEO at threat intelligence analysts KELA, said.Malicious activity that includes the likes of both ransomware attacks and espionage campaigns. Infostealers appeal, the report suggested, lies in their efficiency and scalability, enabling attackers to compromise large volumes of accounts, both personal and corporate. By doing so, this particular malware menace becomes something of a self-fulfilling password theft prophecy, with lists of compromised credentials being sold on underground criminal marketplaces that are used to aid further attack campaigns and garner more credentials that can be sold and so on. Almost 40% of the infected machines to be found within KELAs data lake included credentials for sensitive corporate systems such as content management systems, email, Active Directory Federation Services, and remote desktop. In all, accounting for nearly 1.7 million bots and 7.5 million compromised credentials. Based on KELAs analysis, the report stated, the dataset primarily (almost 65%) contained personal computers that had corporate credentials saved on them and thus obtained by infostealer malware.To help mitigate the threat from infostealer malware, KELA recommended that multi-factor authentication be implemented across all accounts, critical systems isolated to limit the opportunity for lateral movement by attackers, and advanced email filtering solutions deployed to prevent phishing attempts. If you value your accounts and your data, then you better take action sooner rather than later. The threat actors certainly arent waiting and KELA analysts only expect the infostealer threat to your passwords to increase during 2025.Passwords And Beyond: The Very Real-World Infostealer Malware ThreatAlon Gal, the co-founder of threat intelligence experts Hudson Rock, has warned that employees at major U.S. defense contractors, U.S. Army and Navy personnel and even the FBI and Government Accountability Office have active infections, exposing investigative and cybersecurity personnel. The infections Gal is talking about being infostealer malware. Whats more, the analysis by Hudson Rock claimed that such attacks can be carried out for as little as $10 per target computer. At some point, these employees downloaded malware on a device they used for work, exposing not just their credentials, but potentially their entire digital footprint: browsing history, autofill data, internal documents, and session cookies for sensitive applications, Gal said.The cost-effectiveness of such attacks is not the only reason that infostealers have become so popular in the cybercriminal world; theres also the small matter of how they work. Unlike traditional hacking, Gal explained, infostealers dont brute-force their way into networks. Instead, they wait for an employee to slip updownload a game mod, a pirated software crack, or an infected PDFand then exfiltrate everything. And by everything, Gal gave examples such as:VPN credentials to military and contractor networks. Multi-factor authentication session cookies. Email logins to government and defense agencies. Internal development tools (GitHub, Jira, Confluence.) Stored documents, browser autofill data, and history.Infostealer intelligence isnt just about detecting whos infected, Gal concluded; its also about understanding the entire network of compromised credentials and third-party risks. If infostealers can infiltrate the military-industrial complex, Gal said, what else is already inside?"The infostealer is a secondary problem, Roger Grimes, a data-driven Defence Evangelist at KnowBe4, said; The real program and question is how the infostealers are getting on military computers in the first place. Was it social engineering, unpatched software, firmware or something else? Whatever, Grimes warned that if the involved department doesn't take care of how the infostealer is gaining initial access, they are going to have far greater problems than just stolen passwords."The AI Threat To Your PasswordsEver since a story about an AI-powered hack targeting Gmail users that was published here at forbes.com Oct. 13, 2024, went viral, there has been no doubting the real-world threat that AI poses to your passwords. Now, Ignas Valancius, the head of engineering at password manager NordPass, has warned that while weak passwords can be cracked in just a matter of seconds, AI can crack even stronger ones in the same amount of time. Large language models can and will, Valancius said in an email conversation, be used to brute force passwords and organize dictionary attacks more often.Advising that we should all be mindful that the time it takes to guess, socially engineer, or just go nuclear and brute force passwords is going to drop dramatically across 2025 due to the use of AI tools, Valancius said, Im not saying that super long, random 18-character passwords are at immediate risk. But shorter ones they could be in danger. This is why its vital to make sure you look after your passwords properly, and that includes everything from their creation to their management and use.Valancius recommended the following when it comes to password hygiene:The longer it is, the better. Just be sure not to use your name or other personal information.Since long random passwords are very hard to remember, creating a passphrase might be a good workaround.Use different passwords for different accounts and never reuse them.Another option is switching to passkeys. They combine biometric verification with cryptographic keys, offering a safer and more convenient alternative to passwords.

The most interesting aspect of Nvidia's new RTX 50 series is not the GPUs themselves not even close and it's not multi-frame generation either. It's DLSS 4 Super Resolution upscaling, which has received a substantial update aimed at improving visual quality.The old CNN AI model has been replaced with a newer, larger Transformer model, which Nvidia claims can achieve a level of quality that wasn't possible with previous versions of DLSS. So how good is DLSS 4 upscaling? Let's find out.Deeply analyzing upscaling technology is a massive undertaking, so today's focus is on DLSS 4 versus DLSS 3 upscaling at 4K resolution. We have data for 1440p and 1080p upscaling as well, but that's something we plan to revisit later. The goal here is to determine where DLSS 4 has improved, where it struggles, and what the new acceptable minimum quality level for gaming is.Previously, we found that for the best experience, you likely wouldn't want to drop below Quality mode at 4K maybe Balanced at a pinch but going all the way down to Performance mode usually resulted in noticeable visual artifacts in motion. Is that still the case with DLSS 4, or are those lower settings now more viable?To assess this, we will explore image quality across 14 different areas, including texture quality, edge stability, ghosting, disocclusion, foliage, particles, water, and more.After matching and comparing footage in all the areas where upscaling tends to struggle, we will have a solid understanding of which DLSS 4 modes are visually equivalent to DLSS 3 and how much improvement Nvidia has been able to achieve. We will also briefly examine performance, as the new Transformer model is larger and more demanding to run.One area of confusion surrounding DLSS 4 is compatibility. DLSS 4 upscaling works on all RTX GPUs, going back to the GeForce 20 series. In other words, it's not restricted to the latest GeForce graphics cards and you don't need to buy an RTX 5090 to access DLSS 4 upscaling or ray reconstruction.The only exclusive DLSS features are single-frame generation, locked to the RTX 40 and 50 series, and multi-frame generation, which is locked to the 50 series. The most useful component of DLSS 4 the upscaling is widely available, which is great to see.All the visual examples in this article and the accompanying videos were captured at 4K using a GeForce RTX 5090. We tested a selection of games, all with settings such as motion blur, film grain, vignette, and chromatic aberration disabled.For the DLSS 3 examples, each game was upgraded to the final version of DLSS 3 (3.8.10) using the DLSS Swapper utility. For DLSS 4, each game was upgraded to the latest model using Nvidia's override feature available in the Nvidia App. This allows us to compare the best version of DLSS 3 with the best version of DLSS 4 in every title.Textures and BlurThe most obvious improvement DLSS 4 has made relative to DLSS 3 is in texture quality. Over the last decade, temporal anti-aliasing has been reducing texture quality and overall clarity in games in an effort to eliminate aliasing.This has created a signature TAA "blur" that's especially noticeable in motion, and DLSS 3 which is essentially a fancy AI-based TAA that also incorporates upscaling wasn't immune to this issue. DLSS 4 has made enormous strides in eliminating TAA blur, which raises texture quality relative to DLSS 3 and even native TAA.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:Across all the examples we've seen, running games with DLSS 4 gives the appearance of using a higher texture quality setting, even though texture settings remain completely unchanged.DLSS 4 makes games look like they're running at a higher resolution because the blur is eliminatedAnother way to look at it is that DLSS 4 makes games look like they're running at a higher resolution because the blur is eliminated. At 4K, if DLSS 4 is delivering a true 4K presentation, DLSS 3 almost looks like 1440p in comparison. For those who are highly sensitive to detail, this is a game changer.In Cyberpunk 2077, both using Quality upscaling, DLSS 4 is not only clearly sharper when stationary, but it also preserves this sharpness when movement starts. When we pause the footage while walking forward, it's immediately obvious how much better the texture quality is with DLSS 4 and how some pattern artifacts present in DLSS 3 are reduced or eliminated.What's super impressive is that DLSS 4 on Performance mode has basically the same texture-preserving properties, meaning that in terms of texture detail, DLSS 4 Performance often looks better than DLSS 3 Quality in motion.There are plenty more examples of this. In Ratchet & Clank, looking at these barrels, DLSS 4 is clearly less blurry, and this even holds true when comparing DLSS 4 Performance to DLSS 3 Quality. Later, in a cutscene, we can see DLSS 4 once again delivering higher texture quality for Ratchet's leather helmet. In Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, we see higher texture quality when comparing DLSS 4 Performance to DLSS 3 Quality for the ground and rocks, with both DLSS 4 Quality and Performance modes delivering a similar texture experience.In most examples, specifically when talking about blur and texture quality, DLSS 4 is superior to native rendering even using Performance mode. Of course, there are other issues when comparing Performance to Native that we'll explore later, but textures in particular are undoubtedly rendered best with DLSS 4.We even found the experience better using DLSS 4 Performance versus DLSS 3 DLAA. The upgrade is so noticeable that most gamers will finally feel like they're experiencing the "better than native" image quality that DLSS promised way back at the GeForce 20 series launch. Games look, feel, and most importantly play in a way that's less blurry.Edge StabilityAnother crucial aspect of image quality is edge stability. Not only do we want sharp, clean textures with no blur, but we also want those textures and edges to look the same between frames with no sizzling or aliasing.DLSS 4 is generally a significant upgrade over DLSS 3 in this area as well, as seen throughout the Horizon Zero Dawn example below. Looking at the wooden bridge, DLSS 4 maintains better stability for each line within the texture and geometry even when comparing the typically unstable Performance mode in DLSS 4 to DLSS 3 Quality. In examples like this, even the Performance mode provides superior stability to what the Quality mode offered previously.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:Where DLSS 4 sees the biggest benefits is when there is a small amount of movement between each frame. In Black Myth: Wukong's menu, for example, with DLSS 3 Quality mode, the slight swaying of the character causes some instability with fine details and edges. With DLSS 4, even in Performance mode, the new model is much better at identifying edges, accounting for small movements between frames, and locking those edges down to provide much better stability. In some cases, like this one, DLSS 4 Performance actually comes out ahead of DLSS 3 Quality.This poor stability in motion is generally why we haven't recommended using the DLSS Performance mode before, even at 4K. In Ratchet & Clank, for example, even though the motion between frames is consistent and relatively slow, DLSS 3 Performance just can't maintain stability, leading to ugly artifacts. Not only is DLSS 4 Performance sharper, but it's also much more stable, which is immediately noticeable in most situations.That doesn't mean DLSS 4 Performance mode is always better than DLSS 3 Quality for edge stability. For example, when driving in Cyberpunk 2077, overhead wires and bridges are more stable using the higher render resolution of DLSS 3 Quality.However, DLSS 4 does have advantages in other areas, like fences on the side of the road and overhead lights. Generally speaking, when comparing DLSS 4 Quality to DLSS 3 Quality, DLSS 4 offers a more stable presentation, and we have yet to come across an example where DLSS 4 edge stability is worse than DLSS 3 when using the same mode.GhostingMore recent versions of DLSS 3 are not especially prone to ghosting, and across the games we tested, this was rarely an issue whether using DLSS 3 or DLSS 4. However, when ghosting does occur, it's hit or miss whether DLSS 4 will resolve the problem compared to DLSS 3.The Cyberpunk 2077 is notably better at reducing ghosting from overhead street lights or the tailpipes on the car. This is another case where DLSS 4 Performance can look better than DLSS 3 Quality.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:But when switching over to Forza Motorsport, a game that is prone to ghosting with most forms of upscaling or even native TAA there's little change between DLSS 3 and DLSS 4, both using the Quality mode. In fact, if anything, ghosting appears more visible in this example with DLSS 4, though neither option is ideal.We also saw that in Ratchet & Clank, DLSS 4 can introduce ghosting where there previously was none, when comparing the same quality settings. When Ratchet moves across the red carpet, there's a subtle ghost trail left behind in the DLSS 4 image that isn't present with DLSS 3, which is a disappointing regression in worst-case scenarios. But like we said, after examining 11 games in detail for this article, ghosting generally isn't going to be a major issue or concern when enabling DLSS 4.DisocclusionDisocclusion is up next, and we're primarily going to focus on the artefact you get around your character in a third person game when moving. Essentially, disocclusion occurs when something on screen moves to reveal the background behind it, and in the frame where this disocclusion occurs there usually isn't any temporal data to draw from, so it's prone to artefacts. Usually this is seen as a sizzling or lower resolution halo around your character in motion where the immediate area lacks a bit of definition that you normally see elsewhere on screen.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:While DLSS 4 is generally an improvement in texture detail and stability, the technology struggles to deliver an improvement in disocclusion, often creating more artefacts than DLSS 3 when comparing Quality mode vs Quality mode. This was perhaps the most noticeable in The Last of Us Part I when Joel's head moves to reveal the water and grass behind, there's a bit more sizzling in the DLSS 4 image versus DLSS 3 as disocclusion occurs. I suspect this is because DLSS 4 is trying to preserve more detail than DLSS 3, but has the same single frame of lower resolution data to work with, whereas with DLSS 3 the disocclusion artefacts are hidden somewhat by the overall blurrier image.I also found disocclusion to be slightly worse in Horizon Zero Dawn and Black Myth Wukong in areas where motion was relatively fast and backgrounds were detailed. However the impact was less pronounced in Dragon Age The Veilguard and Star Wars Jedi Survivor, where really there was little difference between the DLSS 4 and DLSS 3 Quality modes. In the best cases, DLSS 4 Balanced mode delivers a similar experience to DLSS 3 Quality mode in this area, but more common I would say the reverse is true, where a lower DLSS 3 mode shows less disocclusion artefacts than a higher DLSS 4 mode.The good news is that a lot of this is nitpicking, and disocclusion artifacts, in general, are hard to spot at 4K. To really see the changes, we basically had to step through the footage frame by frame or view zoomed-in shots in slow motion. In most of these examples, it's difficult to notice a difference in real-time gameplay, even if there is a small variation when looking closely.The Last of Us was the only game where we found the downgrade noticeable in real time. In most other cases, whenever artifacts appear, they are confined to a small area and disappear within one or two frames.HairHair is one of the most difficult elements to upscale due to its dense, fine detail. Unfortunately, we didn't see much improvement when comparing DLSS 3 and DLSS 4 in this area.In games with high-quality hair rendering, like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there is little difference in the level of detail between the two, and aliasing remains an issue with any level of upscaling including Quality mode relative to native rendering with TAA or DLAA. We also noticed no difference in Black Myth: Wukong, where upscaling still results in a reduction in quality compared to native rendering.The challenges with hair rendering also apply to fur (as tested in Ratchet & Clank). While DLSS 4 is able to extract a higher level of detail from basic textured elements, fur rendering remains largely unchanged.It's not a situation where DLSS 4 Balanced is able to match DLSS 3 Quality it's very much a like-for-like comparison. Occasionally, we spotted examples, like in The Last of Us, where hair quality appeared slightly sharper, but in terms of aliasing, there is little improvement with the new Transformer model.ParticlesParticle reconstruction is another area that can be difficult for upscalers to handle, as particles are often small, fast-moving, and inconsistent. One area where DLSS 4 improves upon DLSS 3 is particle ghosting.In the Starfield example (video below), if you look closely, you'll see streaky trails following particles in the DLSS 3 image, which are eliminated using DLSS 4 at the same Quality mode. Even when dropping DLSS 4 to Performance mode, ghosting is cleaned up significantly, leading to a more stable presentation.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:This holds true in other games like Ratchet & Clank, which was a bit less prone to ghosting, but still, any time a particle ghosted in the DLSS 3 image, it was clean in the DLSS 4 image.A particularly stressful test is airborne spore particles in The Last of Us, and while DLSS 4 doesn't completely eliminate ghosting here, it noticeably reduces it, resulting in a better-looking image.However, there are still notable differences in particle quality outside of ghosting that limit the advantages of DLSS 4. Upscaled particle quality tends to degrade at lower render resolutions, like in Performance mode, so in most cases, DLSS 4 Performance compared to DLSS 3 Quality gives an edge to DLSS 3 in particle resolution at the expense of ghosting.At equivalent quality modes, we wouldn't say there's a huge difference in particle resolution and edge quality, though this does depend on the game. Generally speaking, DLSS 4 Balanced mode is on par with DLSS 3 Quality mode for particle quality, with the added benefit of less ghosting in the DLSS 4 image.TransparencyTransparent items are typically pain points for upscalers, and with DLSS 4, we didn't see significant improvements in this area. For the most part, the quality of upscaled transparencies is heavily linked to the render resolution, so these elements appear more detailed and less pixelated when using a higher DLSS mode. In most cases, this means DLSS 4 Quality mode is equivalent to DLSS 3 Quality mode.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:There were some instances where DLSS 4 Balanced was able to match DLSS 3 Quality in transparencies. But in other areas, like the holographic map in Cyberpunk, it's more of a parity situation.We also tested DLSS 4 Balanced vs. DLSS 3 Quality in titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, but generally found that DLSS 3 Quality mode delivered smoother, less aliased transparencies with better reconstruction. The output quality here seems more closely linked to render resolution than the upscaling model, whereas the reverse is true for stability and texture detail.The exception to this is when standing still, where DLSS 4 generally has the edge, producing a more detailed image similar to the texture quality advantages we've seen. However, this advantage usually disappears in motion.Fine DetailFine detail reconstruction is yet another challenge, as pixel-level or near-pixel-level detail can be lost, aliased, or appear sizzled in motion when the render resolution is too low for the upscaler to handle. This issue is most noticeable on wires and other fine-line details.Like with edge stability, this is an area where DLSS 4 has an advantage over DLSS 3. One thing that became immediately clear during testing is that DLSS 4 is less likely to introduce weird patterns in finely detailed grates or meshes, as seen in Cyberpunk 2077. This holds true even when comparing DLSS 4 Performance to DLSS 3 Quality, where DLSS 4 shows no major artifacts of this kind.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:Wire detail, such as overhead power lines, is only marginally improved. Based on testing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, we'd say that in this area, DLSS 4 Balanced is on par with DLSS 3 Quality.Alternatively, when using the same mode (Quality vs. Quality), DLSS 4 provides a small improvement in reconstruction. However, these modes are still prone to sizzling and other artifacts along the edges of wires in motion, and aliasing remains a problem. The best image quality is still achieved with native rendering, like DLSS 3 DLAA, which outperforms DLSS 4 Quality mode.For other types of fine details, DLSS 4 Balanced gets close to matching DLSS 3 Quality, though there are some cases where it falls short of the reconstruction power of a higher render resolution. Typically, these configurations trade blows, and for those who prefer Quality upscaling, there is an improvement in fine details though it's not as significant as the gains in texture detail and general stability.TreesFoliage is a key part of visual presentation in most games, so we tested tree rendering quality in different scenarios. Generally, results fall into two categories.When trees are relatively still, DLSS 4 is a big improvement over DLSS 3 to the point where in some games, DLSS 4 Performance looks as good as, or better than, DLSS 3 Quality. One example of this is The Last of Us Part I, which benefits from DLSS 4's increase in sharpness and detail.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:Similar results were observed in Horizon Zero Dawn, where DLSS 4 Balanced is a strong match for DLSS 3 Quality. The DLSS 4 image is generally sharper and more stable in motion, though at a lower base render resolution, it can struggle with the finest details. Performance mode isn't always a perfect match, but in a title like Indiana Jones, the foliage benefits more from the stability improvements of DLSS 4. Even in Performance mode, trees can look less pixelated than in DLSS 3 Quality mode in motion.The second category involves faster motion, such as trees blowing in the wind or dense fine-detail branches. Here, DLSS 4 vs. DLSS 3 quality results align more with what we saw in fine detail reconstruction.In Star Wars Outlaws, for example, DLSS 4 Balanced clearly renders at a lower resolution than DLSS 4 Quality when viewing trees swaying in the wind. This is a particularly difficult test for upscaling, and we only saw quality parity at the same mode (Quality vs. Quality). DLSS 4 is slightly more stable and less prone to sizzling, but there were times when DLSS 3 handled dense foliage better.In Black Myth: Wukong, looking at fine tree branches, we observed similar behavior to Star Wars Outlaws, where upscaling struggles to resolve these details properly. DLSS 3 DLAA still has an edge over DLSS 4 Quality upscaling.Typically, the best match was at the same setting, such as Quality vs. Quality. The one exception is Performance mode, which in both Black Myth: Wukong and Outlaws was a notable improvement in DLSS 4 probably getting closer to the level of DLSS 3 Balanced.Stability in Performance mode has improved, and for this type of foliage, it's now in a more usable state. Reconstruction of these details is much cleaner, even if it can't quite match the output of DLSS 4 Quality. Surprisingly, it gets quite close when viewed side by side.GrassWe were more impressed with how DLSS 4 handles grass. With DLSS 3, grass often had a grainy look in motion because there was too much variation between frames for the upscaler to handle. This is improved with DLSS 4, as seen in Star Wars Outlaws.Even when comparing DLSS 4 Performance to DLSS 3 Quality, the DLSS 4 image is less grainy and pixelated when grass moves in the wind. And switching from DLSS 4 Performance to Quality results in even better grass resolution and detail, with less aliasing and improved stability over DLSS 3.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:This was also evident in Indiana Jones, where DLSS 4 Performance mode provided more stable and less grainy grass than DLSS 3 Quality in some situations. However, in this extremely demanding test, some detail is lost in Performance mode due to the lower render resolution, so in the worst cases, DLSS 4 Quality is still needed to match the level of detail.Results depend on the game, though. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which has very fine grass detail, we didn't see much improvement from DLSS 3 to DLSS 4, and in some areas, there were even regressions. Generally, using DLSS 4 Performance results in an image similar to DLSS 3 Performance, so a lower DLSS 4 mode won't match higher-quality DLSS 3 settings. In Horizon Zero Dawn, DLSS 4 Balanced matched DLSS 3 Quality, with DLSS 4 providing additional sharpness and reducing blur, as previously discussed.Across all the games we tested, DLSS 4 Balanced or Performance modes handled grass upscaling well something that wasn't always the case with DLSS 3. Previously, DLSS 3 Performance mode was often too grainy and unstable in games with dense foliage.FencesDLSS 4 does a much better job of reconstructing fences and grates than DLSS 3, giving lower modes an advantage. One of the most noticeable improvements is how DLSS 4 handles repeating patterns without producing moir artifacts.In The Last of Us, for example, DLSS 4 Performance has an advantage over DLSS 3 Quality, despite the much lower render resolution of the Performance mode. We saw a similar benefit in Starfield when looking at meshes, where DLSS 4 was much less likely to produce an ugly moir artifact in motion.In addition to this, DLSS 4 is typically better at reconstructing super fine mesh detail down to the pixel level and it improves the visibility of items behind fences or grates, which can appear blurred or obscured with DLSS 3.Fences are generally more stable and less prone to sizzling as well, especially when comparing DLSS 4 Balanced to DLSS 3 Quality. The Performance mode also sees a significant improvement, with much better clarity and stability in reconstructing these elements, even if DLSS 4 Performance can't always match DLSS 3 Quality.ClothCloth quality benefits from DLSS 4 upscaling, as DLSS 4 is better at preserving texture quality in motion especially on character clothing, which is often moving constantly. As we saw in the mesh and fence analysis, DLSS 4 also does a better job of reducing moir patterns when upscaling.One of the biggest issues with DLSS 3 Performance mode was the constant moir patterns on detailed cloth textures, but that is largely eliminated with DLSS 4 Performance mode, giving it a big quality advantage.For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:In general, to achieve DLSS 3 Quality-like cloth detail, you can use DLSS 4 Performance, though sometimes Balanced is required depending on the level of detail and motion. In third-person RPGs where characters wear capes, DLSS 4 is simply the better way to play, as cape elements are frequently visible on screen.WaterWe didn't see much difference in water quality when comparing DLSS 3 and DLSS 4 generally, the same quality modes in both deliver a similar visual experience. In Jedi: Survivor, for example, this was definitely the case, and we even noticed a regression in visuals when comparing DLSS 3 Performance to DLSS 4 Performance, with DLSS 4 surprisingly producing a less stable image.In Horizon Zero Dawn, we saw little difference in water quality. The Performance mode has been slightly upgraded with DLSS 4 in this scenario, but overall, it's a wash.RainLastly, we have rain. Upscaling tends to struggle here in two ways: rendering the rain particles without aliasing and preserving background detail as rain occludes it.When it comes to the rain particles themselves, there's little difference between DLSS 3 and DLSS 4. For example, in Ratchet & Clank, we were only able to match raindrop detail when using the same mode so Quality vs. Quality. When dropping DLSS 4 down to Performance, there was a slightly noticeable loss of detail in the rain compared to DLSS 3 Quality.As for the stability and quality of the image behind the rain, in Horizon Zero Dawn, we noticed that DLSS 4 Balanced was a close match for DLSS 3 Quality. Technically, we were looking at snow here but snow is just a type of rain, right? Either way, we observed about one quality step of improvement provided by DLSS 4.Performance BenchmarksLet's now take a look at performance. While the focus of this article is on visual quality, based on what we saw when testing Ray Reconstruction, we expect the new DLSS 4 Transformer model to perform slightly worse on older GeForce 30 series cards. However, we'll need to investigate that further in a future article.In Starfield at 4K using max settings, enabling the DLSS 4 upscaling override cost about one tier of performance. That is to say, the performance we previously achieved using DLSS 3 Quality mode is now only available with DLSS 4 Balanced mode. When comparing Quality modes directly, there was an 8% drop in frame rate. However, DLSS 4 Quality still provided a 24% performance improvement relative to native TAA rendering and a 29% improvement relative to DLSS 3 native DLAA.In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, we saw similar results while testing the Ultra preset at 4K. Performance dropped by 7% using DLSS 4 Quality mode versus DLSS 3, meaning a full tier of performance impact across the modes. This also means that FSR Quality upscaling, which was previously slightly slower than DLSS Quality, is now slightly faster though with a noticeably different level of image quality.In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the upgrade from DLSS 3 to DLSS 4 results in about half a tier of performance loss. DLSS 4 Balanced now performs between DLSS 3 Balanced and Quality modes, with a 7% frame rate hit when comparing Quality modes. Upscaling is more effective in this title than in the previous two, with DLSS 4 Quality achieving a 46% higher frame rate than native TAA rendering, and DLSS 4 Performance running 79% faster.Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is another title where DLSS 4 causes one tier of performance loss compared to DLSS 3. Now, DLSS 4 Balanced delivers frame rates similar to DLSS 3 Quality, with about a 7% performance hit when comparing Quality modes. In the area we tested, DLSS 4 Performance provided a 39% FPS improvement over native TAA rendering.In Black Myth: Wukong, tested using the Very High preset without path tracing, DLSS 4 caused about half a tier of performance loss. DLSS 4 Balanced sits between DLSS 3 Quality and Balanced, with a 6% frame rate drop when moving from DLSS 3 to DLSS 4. However, the Performance mode is able to nearly double the frame rate compared to native rendering.Lastly, we have Cyberpunk 2077. Here, we observed the smallest performance impact just a 5% drop in frame rate when comparing DLSS 4 and DLSS 3 Quality modes. Each tier remains quite comparable in this game, likely due to the lower overall frame rates from running at 4K with the Ultra ray tracing preset.Performance Summary: DLSS 4 vs. DLSS 3Here is the geometric mean average across all six tested titles. Typically, DLSS 4 results in about half a tier of performance loss. That is to say DLSS 4 Balanced now sits between DLSS 3 Quality and Balanced for FPS improvement, and DLSS 4 Performance now sits between DLSS 3 Balanced and Performance.On average, the performance impact was 7% when comparing the same mode across versions. However, switching from DLSS 3 Quality mode to DLSS 4 Performance mode provided a 14% performance boost on average.What We LearnedOverall, DLSS 4 Super Resolution upscaling is an impressive improvement for 4K gaming. Nvidia has been able to deliver noticeably higher image quality at each DLSS tier in the majority of scenarios we tested, making lower modes like DLSS Performance genuinely viable at this resolution without distracting or ugly artifacts.We were blown away by how Nvidia has managed to fix TAA blur with DLSS 4, resulting in a clearer, sharper presentation with higher-quality textures. TAA has always caused a signature loss of clarity in motion, but even with DLSS 4 in Performance mode, this issue is almost entirely eliminated.The outcome is that games with DLSS 4 enabled exhibit sharpness typically associated with running at a higher resolution, along with texture quality and detail comparable to high-quality texture packs. As an analogy, if DLSS 4 represents 4K gaming with ultra textures, DLSS 3 is more like 1440p gaming with high textures.Anyone using DLSS 4 for the first time will immediately notice its superior clarity. While for some, this may be a more subconscious improvement, nearly everyone will prefer the DLSS 4 experience.We were also impressed with how DLSS 4 cleans up some of the common pain points of upscaling, particularly at lower modes. DLSS 4 is much more stable in motion, showing a significant improvement over Performance modes, and is less prone to annoying moir artifacts. Grass is typically more stable and less grainy in motion, fine detail reconstruction is improved (particularly for fences and grates), and particle ghosting is less likely to occur.Not every aspect has improved, though. Hair and water rendering remain largely unchanged compared to DLSS 3, and there is a regression in some forms of disocclusion, though this is difficult to notice in real-world gaming scenarios. Additionally, in scenes that exhibited heavy ghosting with DLSS 3, ghosting may be slightly worse with DLSS 4, though in general, most scenes show either no ghosting or an improvement.Assessing all aspects of visual quality, we believe that for 4K gaming, DLSS 4 provides a one-to-two-tier improvement. This means that the experience previously achieved with DLSS 3 Quality mode is now possible using DLSS 4 Performance, or in more demanding scenarios, DLSS 4 Balanced.Previously, we could not recommend the DLSS Performance mode for 4K gaming due to its instability, but now we can. Across many hours of gaming, we were consistently satisfied with the image quality in this mode. Naturally, image quality improves further when using DLSS Balanced, DLSS Quality, or even native DLAA modes especially for fine detail reconstruction but DLSS 4 Performance is more than good enough for everyday gaming without distracting artifacts.DLSS 4 is a heavier algorithm than DLSS 3, so there is a performance cost associated with using it. On a GeForce RTX 5080, this resulted in about a 7% FPS loss at the same quality mode, or roughly half a tier of impact.The overall improvement from DLSS 4 equates to approximately one and a half tiers of quality enhancement at the cost of half a tier of performance, which averages out to about a full-tier improvement. Essentially, the new version of DLSS provides the visual fidelity of the Quality mode while delivering the performance uplift of the Balanced mode.Essentially, the new version of DLSS provides the visual fidelity of the Quality mode while delivering the performance uplift of the Balanced mode.Another way to think of this is that Nvidia have basically delivered a 15% gain via a software update, at least for more recent GPUs. That may not sound like a whopping improvement at first, but it's pretty massive just from software.In fact, it's a larger gain than Nvidia achieved in hardware when moving from the RTX 4080 Super to the RTX 5080. It also surpasses the performance gain seen from the Windows 24H2 update compared to Windows 23H2 for Ryzen CPUs, which we previously described as a major upgrade. Delivering a driver/software update that allows gamers to either enjoy better visual quality in their favorite games or gain a performance boost while maintaining a similar visual level is excellent work from Nvidia.It's surprising that Nvidia focused so much on multi-frame generation instead of highlighting the improvements in DLSS 4 upscaling. Sure, multi-frame generation is designed to sell the new GeForce 50 series GPUs, but DLSS 4 upscaling is far more impressive.Instead of trying to position an RTX 5070 as an RTX 4090, Nvidia could have emphasized how they have practically solved TAA blur with DLSS 4 a benefit available to all RTX GPU owners. We bet gamers would be more likely to keep buying Nvidia GPUs if they knew they were being supported and taken care of with meaningful, broadly useful software updates over time.Finally, where does this leave AMD and FSR upscaling tech? We don't want to dive too deep into this considering FSR 4 is only a few weeks away. We plan to conduct a thorough analysis once it's released, however as things stands today, FSR 3.1 (and especially FSR 2.2) is not competitive with DLSS 4. In many cases, DLSS 4 Performance mode upscaling looks significantly better than FSR 3.1 Quality mode, while also being 15 20% faster.In many cases, DLSS 4 Performance mode upscaling looks significantly better than FSR 3.1 Quality mode, while also being 15 20% faster.FSR 4 will need to be a massive leap over FSR 3.1. Simply matching DLSS 3 will not be enough it would only maintain the generational gap that has existed between DLSS and FSR for years. Beyond that, AMD is in serious trouble if it cannot get FSR 4 into a large number of games quickly.Nvidia laid the groundwork for driver-level DLSS upgrades years ago by using a DLL that can be intercepted and upgraded on the fly, either through the Nvidia App or third-party tools. This allows the vast majority of DLSS-supported games to be easily upgraded to DLSS 4. AMD, however, only started using DLLs with FSR 3.1. This means that in many games, Nvidia users can upgrade to DLSS 4, while AMD users may be stuck with FSR 2.2 upscaling. In those cases, Nvidia will deliver a decisively better visual experience, and how AMD responds to this challenge will be critical.We've already seen FSR 4 in person at CES, and based on that experience, it appears to be a solid upgrade over FSR 3.1. Will it be enough to match DLSS 4? That remains to be seen and will require detailed analysis. What we do know for sure is that, as of right now, DLSS 4 upscaling is the best way to experience gaming. It is a significant improvement over DLSS 3, and we are eager to see what it can achieve at lower and more mainstream resolutions like 1440p.Shopping Shortcuts:Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 5080 on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 5090 on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super on Amazon

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has shared multiple images of the forthcoming Xiaomi 15 Ultra smartphone, and it looks spectacular. In a set of six photos posted by Jun on X, along with another from the official Xiaomi account, we get to see the camera-inspired design, which matches multiple leaked images that have come before.XiaomiXiaomi is partnered with camera experts Leica, and while the pair work together on the camera hardware and software, Xiaomi has never taken direct inspiration from Leicas camera design until now. The Xiaomi 15 Ultras design looks its best when the phone is in landscape orientation, with the lower two-thirds of the phone covered in a textured black material, and the remaining third appearing like polished metal or silver glass.Recommended VideosIts a design most would immediately associate with a classic Leica cameras, and a big step forward over the rather staid appearance of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. The rear panel has a large, glass-covered camera module with multiple cameras inside, and finished off with a coin-edge bezel around a metal ring. Its simple yet eye-catching, nostalgic yet modern. Xiaomi recognizes it wont be for everyone though, and Jun shared photos of two more subdued versions of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, one in all-black and another in all-white. The white version has an unusual brushed appearance, which may indicate a material other than glass such as ceramic has been used on the back.The Xiaomi 15 Ultra, along with other devices in the Xiaomi 15 series, will almost certainly be shown at the brands big event due to be held at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on March 2. It has teased the event on its X account, and also shared a new version of its SU7 electric car will be at the show. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its called the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, just like the phone. It used the Xiaomi 15 Ultra smartphone shoot a preview video of the car, and has also published this on X.Please enable Javascript to view this contentWe called the Xiaomi 14 Ultra our favorite camera phone of 2024, and have written extensively about why the Xiaomi 15 Ultra is one of our most highly anticipated new phones of 2025. Confirmation of the stunning design only makes us more excited to see it in person. Well bring you all the official news from the launch event on March 2.Editors Recommendations

With only a few days remaining until the official launch of AMDs new Radeon 9000 graphics cards, early performance benchmarks for the Radeon RX 9070 XT have reportedly leaked. According to VideoCardz, AMD hosted a closed-door media briefing where it shared architectural details and performance numbers for the RX 9070 XT, suggesting it could offer a significant boost over previous models and pose formidable competition to Nvidias offerings.The allegedly leaked benchmarks indicate that the Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a substantial performance uplift over the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, achieving speeds that are 42% to 168% faster at 4K resolution with ultra settings across more than 30 games. On average, the RX 9070 XT outperforms the RX 7900 GRE by 38% at 1440p and 42% at 2160p. However, in games that heavily utilize ray tracingsuch as Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman 3performance gains reach between 164% and 168%.Recommended VideosThe Radeon RX 9070 XT is also said to outperform the non-XT RX 9070 by 16.1% at 1440p and 18.3% at 2160p on average. However, the non-XT model still delivers a solid performance boost over the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, with gains of 20% at 1440p and 21% at 2160p.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Notably, AMD did not compare the RX 9070 XT to Nvidias recently launched RTX 5070 Ti, citing a lack of access to the card. It also avoided comparisons with its own Radeon RX 7900 XTX flagship, instead using the cut-down RX 7900 GRE. While AMD did not provide a reason for this approach, the company stated that the RX 9070 series would offer competitive performance against the RTX 4070, RTX 4080, and the new RTX 50-series.Leaked internal benchmarks can provide an early glimpse of performance, but they should be taken with caution, as final optimizations, driver updates, and third-party testing may yield different results.AMD announced the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT last month at CES 2025, but the presentation lacked concrete details on specifications, pricing, and real-world performance. Instead, AMD focused on broader topics such as AI-powered gaming enhancements and the introduction of FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4). This omission left many enthusiasts searching for more information, increasing the significance of these leaks.AMDs latest RDNA 4 architecture is expected to introduce major improvements in ray tracing capabilities, with the RX 9070 XT delivering substantial gains in ray-traced game performance compared to its predecessors. Additionally, AMDs upcoming AI-powered FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) upscaling technology is set to debut with the RX 9070 series, promising enhanced image quality and performance in supported games.If these leaked benchmarks prove accurate, the RX 9070 XT could emerge as a strong alternative to Nvidias high-end GPUs, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape. AMD has confirmed that it will host an event on February 28 to share more details about its new RDNA 4 graphics cards. The Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT are expected to go on sale starting March 6, though AMD has yet to confirm this officially.Editors Recommendations

A full days work for Dora Manriquez, who drives for Uber and Lyft in the San Francisco Bay Area, includes waiting in her car for a two-digit number to appear. The apps keep sending her rides that are too cheap to pay for her time$4 or $7 for a trip across San Francisco, $16 for a trip from the airport for which the customer is charged $100. But Manriquez cant wait too long to accept a ride, because her acceptance rate contributes to her driving score for both companies, which can then affect the benefits and discounts she has access to. The systems are black boxes, and Manriquez cant know for sure which data points affect the offers she receives or how. But what she does know is that shes driven for ride-share companies for the last nine years, and this year, having found herself unable to score enough better-paying rides, she has to file for bankruptcy. Every action Manriquez takesor doesnt takeis logged by the apps she must use to work for these companies. (An Uber spokesperson told MIT Technology Review that acceptance rates dont affect drivers fares. Lyft did not return a request forcomment on the record.) But app-based employers arent the only ones keeping a very close eye on workers today. A study conducted in 2021, when the covid-19 pandemic had greatly increased the number of people working from home, revealed that almost 80% of companies surveyed were monitoring their remote or hybrid workers. A New York Times investigation in 2022 found that eight of the 10 largest private companies in the US track individual worker productivity metrics, many in real time. Specialized software can now measure and log workers online activities, physical location, and even behaviors like which keys they tap and what tone they use in their written communicationsand many workers arent even aware that this is happening. Whats more, required work apps on personal devices may have access to more than just workand as we may know from our private lives, most technology can become surveillance technology if the wrong people have access to the data. While there are some laws in this area, those that protect privacy for workers are fewer and patchier than those applying to consumers. Meanwhile, its predicted that the global market for employee monitoring software will reach $4.5 billion by 2026, with North America claiming the dominant share. Working todaywhether in an office, a warehouse, or your carcan mean constant electronic surveillance with little transparency, and potentially with livelihood-ending consequences if your productivity flags. What matters even more than the effects of this ubiquitous monitoring on privacy may be how all that data is shifting the relationships between workers and managers, companies and their workforce. Managers and management consultants are using worker data, individually and in the aggregate, to create black-box algorithms that determine hiring and firing, promotion and deactivation. And this is laying the groundwork for the automation of tasks and even whole categories of labor on an endless escalator to optimized productivity. Some human workers are already struggling to keep up with robotic ideals. We are in the midst of a shift in work and workplace relationships as significant as the Second Industrial Revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And new policies and protections may be necessary to correct the balance of power. Data as power Data has been part of the story of paid work and power since the late 19th century, when manufacturing was booming in the US and a rise in immigration meant cheap and plentiful labor. The mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor, who would become one of the first management consultants, created a strategy called scientific management to optimize production by tracking and setting standards for worker performance. Soon after, Henry Ford broke down the auto manufacturing process into mechanized steps to minimize the role of individual skill and maximize the number of cars that could be produced each day. But the transformation of workers into numbers has a longer history. Some researchers see a direct line between Taylors and Fords unrelenting focus on efficiency and the dehumanizing labor optimization practices carried out on slave-owning plantations. As manufacturers adopted Taylorism and its successors, time was replaced by productivity as the measure of work, and the power divide between owners and workers in the United States widened. But other developments soon helped rebalance the scales. In 1914, Section6 of the Clayton Act established the federal legal right for workers to unionize and stated that the labor of a human being is not a commodity. In the years that followed, union membership grew, and the 40-hour work week and the minimum wage were written into US law. Though the nature of work had changed with revolutions in technology and management strategy, new frameworks and guardrails stood up to meet that change. More than a hundred years after Taylor published his seminal book, The Principles of Scientific Management, efficiency is still a business buzzword, and technological developments, including new uses of data, have brought work to another turning point. But the federal minimum wage and other worker protections havent kept up, leaving the power divide even starker. In 2023, CEO pay was 290 times average worker pay, a disparity thats increased more than 1,000% since 1978. Data may play the same kind of intermediary role in the boss-worker relationship that it has since the turn of the 20th century, but the scale has exploded. And the stakes can be a matter of physical health. In 2024, a report from a Senate committee led by Bernie Sanders, based on an 18-month investigation of Amazons warehouse practices, found that the company had been setting the pace of work in those facilities with black-box algorithms, presumably calibrated with data collected by monitoring employees. (In California, because of a 2021 bill, Amazon is required to at least reveal the quotas and standards workers are expected to comply with; elsewhere the bar can remain a mystery to the very people struggling to meet it.) The report also found that in each of the previous seven years, Amazon workers had been almost twice as likely to be injured as other warehouse workers, with injuries ranging from concussions to torn rotator cuffs to long-term back pain. An internal team tasked with evaluating Amazon warehouse safety found that letting robots set the pace for human labor was correlated with subsequent injuries. The Sanders report found that between 2020 and 2022, two internal Amazon teams tasked with evaluating warehouse safety recommended reducing the required pace of work and giving workers more time off. Another found that letting robots set the pace for human labor was correlated with subsequent injuries. The company rejected all the recommendations for technical or productivity reasons. But the report goes on to reveal that in 2022, another team at Amazon, called Core AI, also evaluated warehouse safety and concluded that unrealistic pacing wasnt the reason all those workers were getting hurt on the job. Core AI said that the cause, instead, was workers frailty and intrinsic likelihood of injury. The issue was the limitations of the human bodies the company was measuring, not the pressures it was subjecting those bodies to. Amazon stood by this reasoning during the congressional investigation. Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel told MIT Technology Review that the Sanders report is wrong on the facts and that the company continues to reduce incident rates for accidents. The facts are, she said, our expectations for our employees are safe and reasonableand that was validated both by a judge in Washington after a thorough hearing and by the states Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals. A study conducted in 2021 revealed that almost 80% of companies surveyed were monitoring their remote or hybrid workers. Yet this line of thinking is hardly unique to Amazon, although the company could be seen as a pioneer in the datafication of work. (An investigation found that over one year between 2017 and 2018, the company fired hundreds of workers at a single facilityby means of automatically generated lettersfor not meeting productivity quotas.) An AI startup recently placed a series of billboards and bus signs in the Bay Area touting the benefits of its automated sales agents, which it calls Artisans, over human workers. Artisans wont complain about work-life balance, one said. Artisans wont come into work hungover, claimed another. Stop hiring humans, one hammered home. The startups leadership took to the company blog to say that the marketing campaign was intentionally provocative and that Artisan believes in the potential of human labor. But the company also asserted that using one of its AI agents costs 96% less than hiring a human to do the same job. The campaign hit a nerve: When data is king, humanswhether warehouse laborers or knowledge workersmay not be able to outperform machines. AI management and managing AI Companies that use electronic employee monitoring report that they are most often looking to the technologies not only to increase productivity but also to manage risk. And software like Teramind offers tools and analysis to help with both priorities. While Teramind, a globally distributed company, keeps its list of over 10,000 client companies private, it provides resources for the financial, health-care, and customer service industries, among otherssome of which have strict compliance requirements that can be tricky to keep on top of. The platform allows clients to set data-driven standards for productivity, establish thresholds for alerts about toxic communication tone or language, create tracking systems for sensitive file sharing, and more. An AI startup recently placed a series of billboards and bus signs in the Bay Area touting the benefits of its automated sales agents, which it calls Artisans, over human workers.JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES With the increase in remote and hybrid work, says Teraminds chief marketing officer, Maria Osipova, the companys product strategy has shifted from tracking time spent on tasks to monitoring productivity and security more broadly, because thats what clients want. Its a different set of challenges that the tools have had to evolve to address as were moving into fully hybrid work, says Osipova. Its this transition from Do people work? or How long do they work? to How do they work best? How do we as an organization understand where and how and under what conditions they work best? And also, how do I de-risk my company when I give that amount of trust? The clients myriad use cases and risks demand a very robust platform that can monitor multiple types of input. So think about what applications are being used. Think about being able to turn on the conversations that are happening on video or audio as needed, but also with a great amount of flexibility, says Osipova. Its not that its a camera thats always watching over you. Selecting and tuning the appropriate combination of data is up to Teraminds clients and depends on the size, goals, and capabilities of the particular company. The companies are also the ones to decide, based on their legal and compliance requirements, what measures to take if thresholds for negative behavior or low performance are hit. But however carefully its implemented, the very existence of electronic monitoring may make it difficult for employees to feel safe and perform well. Multiple studies have shown that monitoring greatly increases worker stress and can break down trust between an employer and its workforce. One 2022 poll of tech workers found that roughly half would rather quit than be monitored. And when algorithmic management comes into the picture, employees may have a harder time being successfuland understanding what success even means. Ra Criscitiello, deputy director of research at SEIUUnited Healthcare Workers West, a labor union with more than 100,000 members in California, says that one of the most troubling aspects of these technological advances is how they affect performance reviews. According to Criscitiello, union members have complained that they have gotten messages from HR about data they didnt even know was being collected, and that they are being evaluated by algorithmic models they dont understand. Dora Manriquez says that when she first started driving for ride-share companies, there was an office to go to or call if she had any issues. Now, she must generally lodge any complaints by text through the app, and any response appears to come from an automated system. Sometimes theyll even get stuck, she says of the chatbots. Theyre like, I dont understand what youre saying. Can you repeat that again? Many app-based workers live in fear of being booted off the platform at any moment by the ruling algorithmsometimes with no way to appeal to a human for recourse. Veronica Avila, director of worker campaigns for the Action Center for Race and Economy (ACRE), has also seen algorithmic management take over for human supervisors at companies like Uber. More than the traditional Im watching you work, its become this really sophisticated mechanism that exerts control over workers, she says. ACRE and other advocacy groups call whats happening among app-based companies a deactivation crisis because so many workers live in fear that the ruling algorithm will boot them off the platform at any moment in response to triggers like low driver ratings or minor traffic infractionsoften with no explicit explanation and no way to appeal to a human for recourse. Ryan Gerety, director of the Athena Coalition, whichamong other activitiesorganizes to support Amazon workers, says that workers in those warehouses face continuous monitoring, assessment, and discipline based on their speed and their performance with respect to quotas that they may or may not know about. (In 2024, Amazon was fined in California for failing to disclose quotas to workers who were required to meet them.) Its not just like youre monitored, Gerety says. Its like every second counts, and every second you might get fired. MICHAEL BYERS Electronic monitoring and management are also changing existing job functions in real time. Teraminds clients must figure out who at their company will handle and make decisions around employee data. Depending on the type of company and its needs, Osipova says, that could be HR, IT, the executive team, or another group entirelyand the definitions of those roles will change with these new responsibilities. Workers tasks, too, can shift with updated technology, sometimes without warning. In 2020, when a major hospital network piloted using robots to clean rooms and deliver food to patients, Criscitiello heard from SEIU-UHW members that they were confused about how to work alongside them. Workers certainly hadnt received any training for that. Its not Were being replaced by robots, says Criscitiello. Its Am I going to be responsible if somebody has a medical event because the wrong tray was delivered? Im supervising the robotits on my floor. A New York Times investigation in 2022 found that eight of the 10 largest US private companies track individual worker productivity metrics, often in real time. Nurses are also seeing their jobs expand to include technology management. Carmen Comsti of National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the country, says that while management isnt explicitly saying nurses will be disciplined for errors that occur as algorithmic tools like AI transcription systems or patient triaging mechanisms are integrated into their workflows, thats functionally how it works. If a monitor goes off and the nurse follows the algorithm and its incorrect, the nurse is going to get blamed for it, Comsti says. Nurses and their unions dont have access to the inner workings of the algorithms, so its impossible to say what data these or other tools have been trained on, or whether the data on how nurses work today will be used to train future algorithmic tools. What it means to be a worker, manager, or even colleague is on shifting ground, and frontline workers dont have insight into which way itll move next. The state of the law and the path to protection Today, there isnt much regulation on how companies can gather and use workers data. While the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) offers some worker protections in Europe, no US federal laws consistently shield workers privacy from electronic monitoring or establish firm guardrails for the implementation of algorithm-driven management strategies that draw on the resulting data. (The Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows employers to monitor employees if there are legitimate business reasons and if the employee has already given consent through a contract; tracking productivity can qualify as a legitimate business reason.) But in late 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau did issue guidance warning companies using algorithmic scores or surveillance-based reports that they must follow the Fair Credit Reporting Actwhich previously applied only to consumersby getting workers consent and offering transparency into what data was being collected and how it would be used. And the Biden administrations Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights had suggested that the enumerated rights should apply in employment contexts. But none of these are laws. So far, binding regulation is being introduced state by state. In 2023, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was officially extended to include workers and not just consumers in its protections, even though workers had been specifically excluded when the act was first passed. That means California workers now have the right to know what data is being collected about them and for what purpose, and they can ask to correct or delete that data. Other states are working on their own measures. But with any law or guidance, whether at the federal or state level, the reality comes down to enforcement. Criscitiello says SEIU is testing out the new CCPA protections. Its too early to tell, but my conclusion so far is that the onus is on the workers, she says. Unions are trying to fill this function, but theres no organic way for a frontline worker to know how to opt out [of data collection], or how to request data about whats being collected by their employer. Theres an education gap about that. And while CCPA covers the privacy aspect of electronic monitoring, it says nothing about how employers can use any collected data for management purposes. The push for new protections and guardrails is coming in large part from organized labor. Unions like National Nurses United and SEIU are working with legislators to create policies on workers rights in the face of algorithmic management. And app-based advocacy groups have been pushing for new minimum pay rates and against wage theftand winning. There are other successes to be counted already, too. One has to do with electronic visit verification (EVV), a system that records information about in-home visits by health-care providers. The 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in 2016, required all states to set up such systems for Medicaid-funded home health care. The intent was to create accountability and transparency to better serve patients, but some health-care workers in California were concerned that the monitoring would be invasive and disruptive for them and the people in their care. Brandi Wolf, the statewide policy and research director for SEIUs long-term-care workers, says that in collaboration with disability rights and patient advocacy groups, the union was able to get language into legislation passed in the 20172018 term that would take effect the next fiscal year. It indicated to the federal government that California would be complying with the requirement, but that EVV would serve mainly a timekeeping function, not a management or disciplinary one. Today advocates say that individual efforts to push back against or evade electronic monitoring are not enough; the technology is too widespread and the stakes too high. The power imbalances and lack of transparency affect workers across industries and sectorsfrom contract drivers to unionized hospital staff to well-compensated knowledge workers. Whats at issue, says Minsu Longiaru, a senior staff attorney at PowerSwitch Action, a network of grassroots labor organizations, is our countrys moral economy of workthat is, an economy based on human values and not just capital. Longiaru believes theres an urgent need for a wave of socially protective policies on the scale of those that emerged out of the labor movement in the early 20th century. Were at a crucial moment right now where as a society, we need to draw red lines in the sand where we can clearly say just because we can do something technological doesnt mean that we should do it, she says. Like so many technological advances that have come before, electronic monitoring and the algorithmic uses of the resulting data are not changing the way we work on their own. The people in power are flipping those switches. And shifting the balance back toward workers may be the key to protecting their dignity and agency as the technology speeds ahead. When we talk about these data issues, were not just talking about technology, says Longiaru. We spend most of our lives in the workplace. This is about our human rights. Rebecca Ackermann is a writer, designer, and artist based in San Francisco.

Jon Flynn works in AI sales at Google, focusing on media, entertainment, and gaming.Flynn studied journalism and started his career in filmmaking before skilling up in engineering.He followed his passions and said his ability to communicate was the skill that got him the farthest.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 49-year-old Jon Flynn, a Google AI sales leader. His identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.I've always been a hobbyist in technology, but I'm an accidental technologist.I started my career making music videos and commercials in southern Africa.Now, I help lead AI sales at Google in the telecom, media, entertainment, and gaming sectors within the North American market.That means I'm responsible for a team of sellers and technical and product counterparts that are responsible for bringing the best of Google AI products into the arms of our customers, whether that is an eight-point or multifaceted solution that will be intricate to their business or a film-making process, or to a game customer service engine.If you don't know exactly where you want to end up, don't sweat it. Some of the best journeys start without a map. Here's how I ended up where I am now.I followed my passionsInitially I thought I was going to be a fireman. Then, I wanted to be a doctor. Then, I was planning to be a meteorologist, and eventually I went to school to be a photo journalist. Then, I wanted to get into the movie industry so I went to film school and did a master's degree in cinematography on the back of my journalism degree.The road less traveled, the risky bet, that's where the magic happens."Fortune favors the bold" is a timeless saying for a reason. The people who change the game aren't the ones who wait for certainty. They're the ones who take the leap and figure it out on the way down.The way that I was very fortunate in my career is that I've been able to zigzag to areas of passion.Technology was always a passion of mine, so I always did it in my spare time. I had a computer in the family living room ever since I was single-digits years old. I learned to code and spoke in code poorly, but I can code.I was always the one who would fix the neighbor's computer, I was always the one who would build your friend's computer back in the day when we still built them.That never left me, and when I had downtime after working on a film project, I completed an engineering certification.So I got accredited as an engineer with a Microsoft engineering certification and I got this job opportunity at a financial services company as an engineer.It was really one of those crossroads. I was like, this seems like very much a 9-to-5 corporate kind of offer over here. Sure, it's stable and it's cool, but aren't I supposed to be this cool freewheeling make-music-videos, live-in-your-mom's-basement-until-you're-50 kind of guy?That didn't seem too great either, though. So, I figured I would do both.It opened my eyes to another thing I'm passionate about. From there I went into product and then from product into business and then into leadership. I ended up in an AI leadership role in the sports, media, and entertainmentsector at Microsoft and then in the last year, moved to Google.I never went back holistically into being a content creator. I've created podcasts and I do those kinds of things,I find myself just as fortunate though because I get to work in the industry I'm super passionate about, in terms of getting to influence the way in which content is created and consumed.A technology degree isn't everythingThere's one constant thread between everything that I've done in my entire career from school, to being an engineer, to being a sales leader: conversation.Getting a Microsoft data engineer certification is very functional, but with the advancements in AI, I think that the largest programming language in the world is English, or whatever your native tongue is.The ability to translate technical complex things into conversational subject matters and hold someone's attention when we are surrounded by competing data points is a massively important skill. That has never ever left me on any step of the way that I've gone. Traditionally, technology people speak to technology people, which is such a miss because you become very myopic in your views.When I'm looking for someone who's going to represent the products that we are building and the products that we want to get out into the hands of our customers, I'm not looking for someone who is a PhD.I'm looking for people who are articulate. I'm looking for people who are curious. I'm looking for people who are looking at technology the way our customers are looking at their technology.A lot of people that I hire come from non-technical roles. They come from business-focused roles, project management-focused roles, and, quite frankly, some of them come from marketing and sales roles.If you can articulate what we have in a product and how it's going to help you do your job easier, that's a super valuable skill and none of that has any bearing on a technology-focused degree.