Most of the buttons on a PlayStation 5 controller are clearly labeled, but this isn't the case for every input. For seasoned gamers, knowing where to find the L3 and R3 buttons may come as second nature, but for their younger or more casual counterparts, being told to push L3 or R3 may be a cause for confusion.

To better prepare communities for extreme weather, forecasters first need to see exactly where itll land.Thats why weather agencies and climate scientists around the world are harnessing NVIDIA CorrDiff, a generative AI weather model that enables kilometer-scale forecasts of wind, temperature, and precipitation type and amount. Its part of the NVIDIA Earth-2 platform for simulating weather and climate conditions.The paper behind CorrDiff was featured today in Communications Earth and Environment, part of the Nature portfolio of scientific journals. Available as an easy-to-deploy NVIDIA NIM microservice, the model is already being used by weather technology companies, researchers and government agencies to enhance their forecasts.With the rising frequency of extreme weather events, fast, high-resolution predictions of weather phenomena could help mitigate risks to people, communities and economies by supporting risk assessment, evacuation planning, disaster management and the development of climate-resilient infrastructure.Weather agencies and startups across the globe are adopting CorrDiff and other Earth-2 tools to improve the resolution and precision of forecasts for extreme weather phenomena, renewable energy management and agricultural planning.High-Fidelity Forecasts on the HorizonCorrDiff uses generative AI to sharpen the precision of coarse-resolution weather models resolving atmospheric data from 25-kilometer scale down to 2 kilometers using diffusion modeling, the same kind of AI model architecture that powers todays text-to-image generation services.In addition to boosting image resolution, CorrDiff can also predict related variables that werent present in the input data such as radar reflectivity, which is used as an indicator of rain location and intensity.CorrDiff was trained on the Weather Research and Forecasting models numerical simulations to generate weather patterns at 12x higher resolution.The initial CorrDiff model, announced at NVIDIA GTC 2024 and described in the Communications Earth and Environment paper, was optimized on Taiwan weather data in collaboration with its Central Weather Administration.NVIDIA researchers and engineers next worked to efficiently scale the model to cover a larger section of the globe. The version released as an NVIDIA NIM microservice at Supercomputing 2024 covers the continental United States trained on U.S. weather data, with sample datasets of real-world natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, winter storms, tornados and cold waves.The optimized CorrDiff NIM microservice for U.S. data is 500x faster and 10,000x more energy-efficient than traditional high-resolution numerical weather prediction using CPUs.The research team behind CorrDiff continues to advance the models capabilities, and has released additional generative AI diffusion models showing how the model could be enhanced to more robustly resolve small-scale details in different environments and better capture rare or extreme weather events.CorrDiff could also help with downwash prediction when strong winds funnel down to street level, damaging buildings and affecting pedestrians in urban areas.Weather Agencies Put CorrDiff on the MapMeteorological agencies and companies around the globe are tapping CorrDiff to accelerate predictions with applications in regional forecasting, renewable energy and disaster management.Taiwans National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction, for instance, has deployed the CorrDiff to support disaster alerts in the region, enabling an estimated gigawatt-hour of energy savings due to the energy efficiency of CorrDiff running on the NVIDIA AI platform. CorrDiff predictions are embedded in the centers disaster monitoring site, helping Taiwan forecasters better prepare for typhoons.Discover Earth-2 at NVIDIA GTCLearn more about AI applications using Earth-2 at NVIDIA GTC, the global AI conference taking place March 17-21 in San Jose, California. Relevant sessions include:Applying AI Weather Models With NVIDIA Earth-2: This training lab will show participants how to run global AI weather forecasting models.Earth to AI: This panel brings together industry leaders to explore how AI and climate science are transforming business strategies for a sustainable future.Enhancing Photovoltaic Power Predictions With High-Resolution Weather Forecasting from NVIDIA Earth-2: This session covers a project between NVIDIA, Peking University and power company GCL to use Earth-2 models to predict solar power generation output.Global Atmospheric Downscaling by Improving CorrDiff Process: In this poster, South Korean startup NoteSquare describes a project that modified and applied CorrDiff to regional weather data from the Korea Meteorological Administration.Transform Natural Catastrophe Risk Simulations With Advanced Computational Tools: Presenters from NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services and multinational insurance corporation AXA will share how AXA uses Earth-2 to simulate extreme weather.

Have you ever had the chance to surprise someone you truly admire?I recently got that chance to surprise Nicolas Doucet with congratulations (and a cake!) celebrating his and Team Asobis well deserved Game of the Year win at The Game Awards for Astro Bot! It was such a fun moment Neither of us are experienced talk-show hosts and I got to bust in on him when he was nervously recording his own intro for this entry in Sonys Creator to Creator series.But while that was a super fun bit, it also kind of broke the ice and gave us the chance to really just enjoy talking to one another about our personal experiences making games. About the principles we use to try to shape the design and tone of our work. While our teams at Team Asobi and Sucker Punch Productions make games that appear on the surface to be very different we discovered how many shared values we have, and how much our teams have in common.Play VideoNico shares lots of insightful thoughts about how Team Asobi crafts their games, how they think about the blend novelty with difficulty, and even how they designed some of our Sucker Punch characters into their games.Then he turned the tables on me and we got to talk about how nervous we both were making our first games for Sony, some of the lessons learned when developing Ghost of Tsushima, and which moments from the game stood out the most.I left our conversation feeling super inspired, and appreciative to have the chance to have spent this time talking to Nico and learning from him. I hope you enjoy this Creator to Creator half as much as I did surprising and chatting with Nico!Enjoy!

There are plenty of new game releases this week, but its also officially Monster Hunter week. Long have we waited to hit lizards in Monster Hunter Wilds, and now we finally can. Its joined by plenty of other games worth checking out, including three that are returning from entirely different eras of gaming.Before you suit up and go on the hunt, theres the console release of Spectre Divide, a tactical shooter like Counter-Strike where you control two bodies. And then there are the rereleases, which include a ninja game that was last seen on Game Boy Advance, an old 3D platformer that originally launched on Nintendo 64, and a collection of Yu-Gi-Oh card games and RPGs from 1998. Its a whole journey through history this week, and it ends with the latest entry in a series that has stuck around since 2004 with Monster Hunter Wilds.Here are our most anticipated game releases for the week of Feb. 24.

Good deals on fast Xbox Series X expansion cards dont come around often enough, leaving gamers with no choice but to pay full price if they want enough storage for the latest Game Pass games, such as Avowed. However, theres currently a steep price drop on the 1 TB WD Black C50 model thats in the territory of the best price weve seen for it. Normally $159.99 (admittedly a terrible price for just 1 TB), the card is currently on sale for $109.99 on Amazon, or $115.99 at Best Buy. Thats much better. If you need more storage, the 2 TB versions (usually around $250) are also discounted to a level near their lowest price ever: $199.99 on Amazon, or $209.99 at Best Buy.This expansion card can slide into the rear of either console (Xbox Series S or Series X), adding more speedy storage that you can download games to. Unlike USB hard drives with more internal capacity (and lower prices, usually), expansion cards stand out as the only storage type from which you can directly run Xbox Series X games. While slower hard drives can store Series X games, you wont be able to play them until you shift them to the consoles internal storage (or an expansion card).

10 Years Unfolded by LAYERED reimagines three of the iconic Swedish brands patterns, the Illusion, Triangle, and Letters, with bold colorways like teal, rust red, ochre, and mulberry. Founder Malin Glemme saw the lack of high quality, sustainably made rugs on the market, responding with a solution of her own LAYERED, providing premium rugs and soft goods all produced with the strictest sustainability standards. Officially launching during Stockholm Design Week, this collection offers a new take on well-loved designs, an ode to tradition all in natural or recycled fibers.Glemme explains: This collection is a tribute to our customers, our history, and our vision for the future. Its bold, daring, and designed to stand the test of time. Indeed, many of these colors are popping up on red carpets and in interior design magazines alike, a return to unabashed color and celebration of design history.Founded in 2015, LAYERED is an interior design brand based in Stockholm, renowned for fusing a contemporary vision with expert craftsmanship and sustainable processes. Working closely with artisans in Bhadohi, India, they maintain close, long-term relationships with suppliers and production partners to ensure thought for the earth is given at every step of the process. Guided by modern movements in various art forms, they offer a new take on classic design familiar shapes with a forward-thinking twist.Illusion in Blue Sandstone (top) and Letters in Teal Umber (bottom)Illusion in Mulberry SkyIllusion is a graphic pattern, recalling Postmodernist graphic sensibilities in a fresh, modern colorways, including Mulberry Sky, Blue Sandstone, and Monochrome. Mulberry has been everywhere lately, and what better way to celebrate than in a green way?Illusion in Mulberry SkyIllusion in MonochromeLetters in Teal UmberLetters is a pattern that also recalls abstract graphics, strong lines wending their way horizontally and vertically as far as they are allowed, creating shapes and vertices in a gold and blue maze.Letters in Teal UmberLetters in Teal UmberTriangle plays on geometric patterning, the strongest shapes in nature forming blocks in regular succession. These combine in the colorway Persimmon Pink, featuring a medium brown, tan, and coral working in harmony.Triangle in Persimmon PinkTo learn more about 10 Years Unfolded by LAYERED, please visit layeredinterior.com.Photography by Andy Liffner, courtesy of LAYERED.

For those who suffer from allergies, an air purifier can be an essential addition to the home. However, most air purifiers are not particularly stylish. What if your purifier could seamlessly integrate into your bedroom furniture, cleaning the air right you breathe while you sleep? AirTulip aims to do just that with its Air Purifying Headboard.Since we spend a significant portion of our lives in bed, ensuring clean air in the sleep space is crucial. AirTulips headboard utilizes advanced airflow technology to filter out dust, allergens, and other pollutants, delivering purified air directly to your face as you sleep.The headboard operates in three distinct modes tailored to different times of the day. Whisper Mode provides ultra-quiet operation, Night Mode offers balanced purification with minimal noise, and Day Mode maximizes air cleaning efficiency at a slightly higher volume.Models larger than twin size come equipped with dual industrial-grade HEPA-H14 filters, while the twin size features a single filter. To maintain optimal performance, AirTulip offers a HEPA filter subscription, ensuring timely replacements and consistently clean air in your bedroom.Beyond functionality, the Air Purifying Headboard boasts a sleek, modern design wrapped in plush fabric, making it a welcome addition to any bedroom. Available in twin, queen, and king sizes, the headboard comes in two neutral colors: Pearl and Stone. To help customers choose the perfect shade, AirTulip provides a free fabric swatch box upon request.The AirTulip Air Purifying Headboard starts at $1,990 for the twin version and goes up to $3,490 for the king size model. For more information or to purchase, visit airtulip.co.

Weekly curated resources for designersthinkers andmakers.At some point in history, the feeling mind was viewed as an important faculty too. Although viewed in the area of the arts, the ability to make deep observations and connect abstract concepts also brings about great innovation too. Therefore, the cultivation of the feeling mind is important.However, our educational system indoctrinates analytical thinking, partly due to the pseudo scientific management of Taylorism. As mass production kicks in, optimisation and productivity become the rule of thumb, and rigorous thinking takesover.Its time for design to think less and feel more By DarrenYeoGet promoted to Chief Design Officer [Sponsored] Get the skills you need to succeed in business with Future London Academys MBA for Design Leaders. Unlock the secrets of successful Business Strategy, Finance and Leadership from Amazon, Uber, Pentagram, Zaha Hadid Architects and others. A 9-week programme with modules in London and California. Only 30spots.Editor picksHow I review design work Defining what good design actually looks like.By TedGoasDesign yourself out of a job Before your next role, figure out how and when you plan to leave.By Jared ZimmermanDecolonizing AI A UX approach to cultural biases and power dynamics.By MicaelaDixonThe UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about theirwork.AI emoji generator Make methinkHow do we sell product design when no one is buying? In the mean time, the expectations from designers have seriously risen up. The competition is global, and people from all over the world are fighting for their piece of the pie. You can do UX but not UI? Sorry, youlose.The end of programming as we know it Theres a lot of chatter in the media that software developers will soon lose their jobs to AI. I dont buy it. It is not the end of programming. It is the end of programming as we know it today. That is notnew.Thoughts on daylight computer This is a piece of hardware that makes me want to go outside instead of keeping me trapped inside. Something that doesnt blind me at night with an artificial sun in my face, keeping me from seeing the actual sun the following morning.Little gems thisweekMy kids and I used AI to build a game By BenSnyderA really (really) long but authentic history of design evolution in India By KapilMoonThe effort paradox in AI design By Sean J.SavageTools and resourcesInteraction design demands more than visual creativity Our field has changed; update yourself.By FilipeNzongoA guide to AI prototyping for product designers How AI is changing how we design.ByBenUI patterns you need to know A reference article with guiding principles, patterns, and personas.By EveWeinbergSupport the newsletterIf you find our content helpful, heres how you can supportus:Check out this weeks sponsor to support their worktooForward this email to a friend and invite them to subscribeSponsor aneditionFeel more, decolonizing AI, design in India, prototyping with AI was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you want your iCloud data to be as well-protected as possible, you need to turn on Advanced Data Protection (ADP) but that's no longer going to be an option in the UK. Apple is pulling ADP from the country, reportedly following a request from the UK government for a backdoor into encrypted iCloud files, and the fallout is likely to have global consequences.What is ADP? ADP applies end-to-end encryption (the gold standard for data security) to just about everything you've got backed up in iCloud, making it virtually impossible for anyone else to access it. If ADP isn't enabled, only certain types of data get this protection, such as passwords and payment info, Messages in iCloud, and your health data. It's important to note that this data remains fully protected from everyoneeven Apple and UK spies.Without ADP, the rest of your iCloud backups (think iCloud Drive, Photos, and Notes, for example) are still protected, but with a lower level of encryption. That protection does a very good job at keeping out bad actors and preventing your data from being hacked, but it can still be accessed if required by Apple employees andcrucially for this current storygovernment and law enforcement agencies.While Apple and the governments and security services of the world would tell you they have robust checks in place when it comes to who can get at encrypted data, the possibility for access is still there. With ADP (and other places where end-to-end encryption is deployed, like WhatsApp) that possibility goes away. Even if the FBI or MI5 demand files, they can't be delivered.Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that UK officials had requested secret, backdoor access into Apple's fully encrypted data files. The demand was apparently made under the auspices of the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which gives the country's security services widespread access to user data in the name of investigating criminal activity: Fighting terrorism and stopping child abuse are two common reasons given for creating an encryption backdoor.It's a fight that's been going on for years. Governments and law enforcement agencies want their own special keys to the locks protecting user data across the world, ostensibly to halt criminals in their tracks. Privacy campaigners and tech companies like Apple argue there's no effective way of limiting a backdoor to just the "good guys" and not the "bad guys" (even if it was easy to distinguish between the two, which it isn't).Apple's move in the UKand the global implications Users in the UK now see a message like this. Credit: Lifehacker Apple's policy has long been that it will never offer backdoors to its encrypted data, so it would seem to have decided that its only other option is to pull ADP. Brits without ADP enabled can no longer turn it on, while those who do have the feature set up will have to eventually turn it off (though Apple hasn't said when)."Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature," Apple spokesperson Julien Trosdorf told The Verge. "We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy."As you would expect given the sensitive nature of the issue, government officials in the UK haven't said anything about what's been reportedand you'll see Apple makes no direct reference to it either, because to publicize a demand made under the Investigatory Powers Act is itself a criminal offense.As for other organizations, such as Google and Meta, we're still in the dark. Presumably the UK government has made the same request, but details haven't leaked outand no one involved can talk about it. Google and Meta, like Apple, have repeatedly said they're against encryption backdoors.It's a mess if you're in the UK (like me), but it affects everyone: Given the rather blurry national borders we now have in the internet age, UK agencies would most likely have been able to access end-to-end encrypted data from users across the world through this backdoor, which for now looks off the table.I've got ADP switched on, but unless the issue gets sorted out, I'll have to turn it off soonmeaning some of my iCloud data is more vulnerable to snooping again. As is often the case, it's ordinary users who end up losing out, while the debate on encryption backdoors rumbles on.

Dropping things on your foot and rating how much it hurts is a growing trend on TikTok. The meme's popularity may be indicative of something deep and troubling in youth culture. So, maybe, is injecting butterflies and turning goth. You be the judge. What is "Amialivecore?" On his substack "The Trend Report," Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick pulled together a ton of disparate cultural expressions among online youth to identify a style he calls "Amialivecore." Fitzpatrick posits that young people are subconsciously unsure if they are actually living human beings. I think he's onto something. My interpretation of the meaning of amialivecore: Since they were babies, young people's experiences are almost entirely unreal. Everything is mediated. They have "experiences" in video games. They see the world through the vertical window of TikTok videos. They only see their friends in online posts. They build personal philosophies from memes. Meanwhile, the companies and algorithms behind the social media platforms and video games have gotten really good at dehumanization. They've identified, commodified, and shaped their dreams, desires, thoughts, and feelings so thoroughly, it's impossible for young people to know how to live authentically. So they play-act and create content in place of living. For evidence, go to see a band kids like, and compare how many people have their phones out to shoot video and how many are dancing.According to Fitzpatrick, seemingly unrelated things like the TikTok trend of dropping objects on your feet and rating how much they hurt, wearing visible tape on your face in public, and spending your time consciously trying to find a personal style illustrate young people attempting to "problem solve the question of if you are alive and if your body works and if you are indeed present in the present." Maybe eating butterflies and suddenly becoming goth are expressions of amialivecore, too.Are teens injecting butterflies as part of an online challenge?No. I can't find any evidence of an "online challenge" involving injecting yourself with a butterfly, but that's what some sources claim inspired a Brazilian 14-year-old to crush a butterfly, mix it with water, and inject it into his leg. Things ended horribly for Davi Nunes Moreira: After a week suffering agonizing symptoms, he died in a hospital in Planalto, Brazil. Medical professionals aren't certain what caused the teen's death specifically: It could have been an allergic reaction, an infection, an embolism, or the butterfly itself might have been toxic. Point is, it's a bad idea to inject yourself with butterflies, but it's also a bad idea to report on "online challenges" that almost definitely don't exist. People have been killing themselves in stupid ways since people first came out. What is the "accidentally became important at work" meme? I'm fascinated by the meme-making generations getting older, confronting adult situations for the first time, and warning/informing each other through memes. That's the vibe behind the "becoming important at work" memes that are flooding social media this week. The idea is to attach the phrase "accidentally became important at work" to an image expressing the realization of what happens when you're "noticed" at work. Here are some examples: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What does aura farming" mean?In slang, the word "aura" describes a person who is mysterious and cool. It's a positive thing. "Aura farming" on the other hand, is ambiguous. Depending on the context, it can refer to a person who does something cool without trying or someone who is trying too hard to appear cool. It's all about context. (For more slang definition to keep your vocab on fleek, check out my guide to Gen Z and Gen A slang.)Goth is back (not that it ever really went anywhere)Like the vampires that inspire it, goth never really dies; it just sleeps in its coffin until it's time to claims new victims. Judging from TikTok, the dark aesthetic and gloomy vibe of the subculture is gaining ground with young people; maybe it's based on the recent reboot of Nosferatu or maybe it's just because goth fits the times. While some goth markers that are perennialblack clothes, Joy Division, too much eyelinerthis generation's expression of the vibe is different in key ways from their grandparents' interpretation of it back in the early 1980s. Maybe it's because I'm thinking about amIalivecore, but nu-goths seems like more of a pose than a lifestyle. The look bends more toward the theatrical and gaudy than past generations. Today's goth feels more intentional and self-conscious, like the kids bought the clothes, watched some makeup tutorials, then said, "now I'm a goth!" Old goths tended to be pale, suicidal junkies that let other people call them "goth." Viral video of the week: baby at BenihanaDo you remember the first time you went to Benihana? The baby in this week's viral video is too young to form lasting memories of his first trip to the Japanese chain with the theatrical food presentation, but it makes a huge impression anyway.