British creatives are speaking out against the government's proposed changes to copyright law. Take Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Ben Howard, who join over 1,000 musicians in releasing a protest album called Is This What We Want?.Currently, AI developers must follow the same copyright laws as anyone else, meaning they can't use creative material to train models without permission. However, the December 2024 proposal would provide them with a copyright exemption that requires creatives to "opt out" of their materials being used. Tuesday, February 25 is the government's last day seeking views on the change."The musicians on this album came together to protest this," reads the release statement. "The album consists of recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, representing the impact we expect the governments proposals would have on musicians livelihoods."The album consists of 12 songs with their titles spelling out, "The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies." The record's profits go toward UK-based charity Help Musicians.Tuesday also saw the UK News Media Association and publications including The Guardian protest the copyright exemption proposal through the Make It Fair campaign. "The creative works of British artists, authors, journalists, illustrators, photographers, film-makers, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters are being scraped from the internet by tech companies, big and small, to build and maintain AI products that have the potential to reshape our world," the campaign argues. "Without fair reward, our creative industries simply wont survive. The government must stand behind its creative industries. Its time to fairly compensate the creators."On Monday, a range of creatives wrote an open letter to The Times in protest. "There is no moral or economic argument for stealing our copyright. Taking it away will devastate the industry and steal the future of the next generation," it stated. Signatories included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Dua Lipa, Helen Fielding and Ed Sheeran.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/uk-creatives-protest-ai-copyright-law-changes-with-silent-album-and-campaign-160555065.html?src=rss

Tired of ads in Windows 11 yet? I know I am, but Microsoft looks to be bringing in yet another, and this time its referrals for PC Game Pass.

However leaked chat logs and other sources suggest the two parties agreed on a payment.

If youre feeling a little apprehensive about your next flight because of Trump administration policies, thats not unreasonableand not just because Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency fired hundreds of workers at the FAA, including some whose roles supported air safety, according to a union representing workers. Now, job cuts are imminent at NOAA, the agency in charge of weather forecastingwhich supports air travel with critical data and analysis around the clock.NOAAs work isnt a nice thing to havethis is an absolute essential for aviation, says Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator until January. I would argue that NOAAs weather information is as important as jet fuel to the aviation industry. You cant fly without it.The agency has 22 weather service units around the country that provide detailed analysis and support to FAA air traffic controllers as the weather changes. They provide all of the information thats used to make predictions about delays, times, flight times, optimal routes for the aircraft, and this has been done for decades, Spinrad says. Thats one critical function. There are literally hundreds of NOAA weather service employees who are involved in providing that information to the FAA. This is not just when theres a storm. This is all the time, 24/7/365.NOAA also operates and maintains hundreds of automated observation systems at airports that track things like precipitation, cloud cover, and temperature so the FAA can clear flights for landing and takeoff. The agency also tracks weather in space, including solar flares and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt GPS navigation and communication systems. NOAA has the responsibility for space weather forecasts, Spinrad says. Weve seen that being used to redirect flights. If youre flying from San Francisco to New York, if theres a solar storm and it may impact GPS, your flight may be redirected to the south.Internal weather teams at major airlines also rely on NOAA data. So do the private companies that offer weather forecasting; its not the case that NOAAs work in this area could be easily replaced. There really is no substitute, says Spinrad. NOAA is the primary source.If NOAA gets broken up and privatized, like Project 2025 recommends, the threats to aviation safety will increase dramatically, says Jeff Masters, the cofounder of Weather Underground, who now writes for Yale Climate Connections. The aviation industry heavily relies on NWS forecasts for safety. While private companies add value, they ultimately build on the foundation of NWS-provided weather information, and the years-long transition period to a system where private companies do aviation forecasting would bring chaotic and unpredictableconsequences to a system that needs utmost stability. If it aint broke, dont fix it! definitely applies here.In fact, private weather companies have been successful because of their reliance on NOAA forecasts, Spinrad wrote in a recent LinkedIn post:Its NOAA that operates 122 Doppler weather radars, 16 environmental satellites, 15 ships (that provide accurate nautical charts and sustainable seafood), and 10 airplanes (including the Hurricane Hunters, and the planes that monitor atmospheric rivers). Without NOAA, someone would have to pick up the bill for all of those assets, and their continuing operations and maintenance costs. And that someone will be the privileged few willing to pay the private sector the fees and subscriptions that would have to be charged Wanna know when that hurricanes going to make landfall, or where those tornadoes are going? Pay up.Its not clear yet which specific jobs at NOAA will be cut. (A NOAA spokesperson said that the agency could not discuss internal personnel and management matters based on long-standing policy.) But it was arguably already understaffed: The agency has around 12,000 employees now, which is small for its duties. Spinrad argues that it needs around 5,000 more workers to fully meet its mission.

David Droga is a legendary advertising creative and executive. Hes also CEO of Accenture Song, one of the largest advertising and marketing services firms on the planet.For those two reasons, we kick off Brand New World with Droga at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Why there and then? Its the worlds biggest convergence of media, marketing, entertainment, technology, and brands, and a mirror of whats happening and a bellwether of whats to come, on a global scale. Theres no better time and place to start a conversation about how brands, and the marketing and advertising industries, are approaching AI at this crucial and nascent moment.In this episode, I talked to Droga about what Accentures $3 billion commitment to AI means for his work, how it compares to the first digital revolution two decades ago, where it may be headed in the not-so-distant future, and the impact it will have on the art of persuasion and pop culture.On AIs existential threatsFundamentally, I think we have to look beyond job preservation. This is not about preserving specific jobs within an agency. What we look at is what it unleashes for the skillsets that you have, and how you can parlay that into new things.AI is going to open up possibilities that we dont understand quite yet and allow us to do things we wish we could have done, or didnt anticipate being able to do. And if we have that attitude, then we will move forward.On AI vs human creativityNot all creativity is worth saving. I know thats a provocation, thats probably going to annoy some people. But I really mean it, because just turn on the TV. Look at most advertising. Look at most of the stuff that follows you online. Who wrote this shit? Whos creating this stuff? Does that need saving? A lot of its written by something more alarming than AI, which is research and conformity. And thats why its bland.Now, whats interesting about that is, that it does not erase the need for incredible things, innovative things. Things that touch you and [allow you to] experience the new. Theres always room for things that are really, really wonderful and delightful. Thats where our role as creators and shapers is always going to be needed and necessary. Thats where my optimism is.Listen to the full episode for more.

Furniture has to be functional first and aesthetic second, otherwise, all you get is a large piece of decoration taking up space. Today, those requirements often mean using materials like metal, wood, or even plastic, sometimes in a combination of those. While these are the most common materials used for furniture, they are hardly the only ones available, nor are they the most sustainable options as well.With so much waste being thrown out, it might sometimes be more environment-friendly to use discarded or recycled materials as the foundations for construction and production. Keeping your mind open to the possibilities can sometimes yield very surprising results, such as this modular furniture system that utilizes something youd never expect to be used on something thats meant to be sturdy and long-lasting: cardboard.Designer: Raphael KlugNext to plastic, cardboard is probably one of the most used materials for packaging, in addition to tissue roll cores. Because of their biodegradable nature, however, people tend to just discard them without a second thought, not realizing how long it would take for them to actually decompose, lying in wait in landfills and waters in the meantime. That said, theres not much you can do with used cardboard because it tends to be less reliable, at least without some creative thinking.HIDDEN:PAPERS is a design for modular furniture that revolves around giving cardboard an upgrade. It shatters preconceived notions about the materials suitability for things that need stability by becoming the foundation of different kinds of furniture. Practically speaking, thick cardboard tubes form the frames of these pieces of furniture, and each cylinder can be used for a different design.Of course, the naked cardboard material wont be aesthetic on its own, unless youre actually aiming for that kind of earthy recycled motif. The cardboard tubes are instead wrapped in a sheet of linoleum to give it texture and style, using a stitched paper cord instead of adhesives to make it possible to replace the linoleum without damaging the underlying cardboard.The linoleum-wrapped cardboard tubes connect to each other using nodes made from recycled plastic and can be assembled using a common 5mm hex key. Depending on the combination, they can form a shelf, a side table, or even a chair, with metal or wooden sheets serving as the flat surfaces. This design gives HIDEN:PAPERS a rather distinctive appearance that in no way reveals its humble cardboard roots, proving that the material indeed has the potential to become a reliable component of premium products.The post Modular furniture system reimagines cardboard as a high-quality construction material first appeared on Yanko Design.

There's a fine line between a bug and a feature, apparently.

Wicked, Anora, The Brutalistmany of this years Academy Award nominees are available to watch online. Heres where to steam the 2025 Oscar movies.

Warehouse-style employee tracking tech has expanded into job after job. Now, as millions are called back to the workplace, its finally coming for the American office worker.

MacworldAlmost hidden within the announcement of the iPhone 16e, Apple dropped something of a bombshell: It is producing its own 5G modems now. This has of course been rumored for a long time, and has frankly taken longer than expected; Apple bought Intels modem division in 2019 for its patents and engineers, with the intent of producing its own cellular modems instead of purchasing them from the likes of Qualcomm.There was a time, in fact, when we werent even sure it would ever be released, but now that Apples first cellular modem is here, what do we know about it? What dont we know? How is this going to shape the future of the iPhone and other Apple products? Heres everything weve learned about the C1 modem so far.What is the C1?The C1 is Apples first cellular modem. It follows the naming scheme of other processors Apple makes: the A series for Application Processors, the H series for Headphones, the M series for Mac processors, the R series for Reality processors, the U series for Ultrawideband, and so on. A cellular modem is the processor that takes signals from the antenna and turns them into usable data, and vice-versa. Its the primary part responsible for your connection to cellular networks, and together with other design considerations, plays a big role in your iPhones cellular connection speed and reliability as well as battery life.With the C1, Apple is using a cellular modem of its own design for the first time. Apple has been buying cellular modems from Qualcomm, primarily, since the original iPhone in 2007. The iPhone 11, iPhone XS/XR, and 2nd-generation iPhone SE, along with some variants of the iPhone X, featured some 4G LTE cellular modems made by Intel, but since the iPhone began to support 5G with the iPhone 12, all modems have been made by Qualcomm.The iPhone 16es C1 modem is the first step toward controlling every wireless component in the iPhone.AppleHow does the C1 compare to other 5G cellular modems?The C1 supports most of the existing spectrum and bands of the modems found in Apples iPhone 16 line, including 4G LTE and 5G, with 44 MIMO. It is missing Dual-Carrier HSDPA and mmWave. The more common 5G is called sub-6 GHz and uses the same general frequency ranges as other cellular connection standards.Theres a lot a modem has to do to maintain a reliable connection and good speed, and we simply dont know yet how the C1 performs in these respects. It may be just as fast as Qualcomms modems in the sub-6 bands, or it might be slower. It may disconnect more often, or it may be more reliable. Until we get good independent testing, we just dont know.In an interview with Reuters following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple says it built the C1 to better handle areas with spotty service: For example, if an iPhone encounters congested data networks, the phones processor can signal to the modem which traffic is the most time-sensitive and put it ahead of other data transfers, making the phone feel more responsive to the users needs, said Arun Mathias, vice president for wireless software at Apple.Apple says the main baseband is made with a 4-nanometer process and the transceiver with a 7nm process. Thats fairly advanced for a cellular modem, but not unheard of. Apple seems to suggest in its marketing that the C1 is especially power efficient, but we cant simply assume that the long claimed battery life of the iPhone 16e is mainly due to improved cellular efficiencythere are many other factors at play, such as battery capacity, the A18 processor, display efficiency, and more.The lack of millimeter wave is likely to get the most attention here in the United States, where these frequencies are more common than in the rest of the world. These are the very fast but very short-range cell towers that give you multi-gigabit speeds but dont travel more than a block or two and dont penetrate walls.After the iPhone 16e is released and more independent testing can be done that targets the C1 modem specifically, well update this section with the results.Will Apple use the C1 in future products?Its unclear if Apple will use the C1 in any product other than the iPhone 16e. The iPhone 17 line is expected to feature Qualcomm modems once again, as Apple signed a six-year chipset contract with Qualcomm in 2019 with a two-year option to extend.However, the cellular versions of the Apple Watch and iPad also use cellular modems, and those products could very well feature the C1, especially if it is more power efficient, as top-end cellular speed is less important than it is in the iPhone.Apple Intelligence is the main feature of the iPhone 16e, but the C1 modem is just as important to the future.FoundryWill there be a C2, C3, etc?As Apple develops future cellular modems, we expect the company to eventually use C chips in all of its cellular-connected products. In an interview with Reuters, Apples senior VP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji said, C1 is the start, and were going to keep improving that technology each generation so that it becomes a platform for us that will be used to truly differentiate this technology for our products.Prior to releasing the C1, it was rumored that Apple had a three-stage plan in the works. The first chip would appear in lower-priority products and as such would be inferior to Qualcomms top-of-the-line modem. The C1 in the iPhone 16e appears to fulfill that prediction.The next chip (C2) would come about a year later and catch up to Qualcomms best. It would be featured in more of Apples products, meaning well likely see it debut in the iPhone 18 line. After three years, Apple is supposed to be on its third-gen chip, the C3, which should beat Qualcomm, at which point Apple will switch to its own cellular modems for all products.In addition to advancing capabilities through generations, Apple intends to eventually integrate the modem into its main SoC (system-on-chip) designs. This is common with some of Qualcomms Snapdragon processors used in Android phones, for example, and it helps improve power efficiency and reduce the size and complexity of the iPhones internal components.What about Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ultra-wideband, and other wireless chips?Apple already makes its own Ultra Wideband chips (the U1 and U2) and uses them in iPhones, AirTags, Apple Watch, and the charging case for the AirPods Pro 2.The company relies on chips from companies like Broadcom for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but that wont last too long. Apple is developing its own Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip and is expected to start using it in products as early as this year. (Well have to wait for the first teardowns but it doesnt appear to be part of the iPhone 16e, which only supports Wi-Fi 6.) The new chip could debut in the iPhone 17, or in another product such as the HomePod mini or Apple TV, but its unlikely well hear much about it before teardowns.Apples Wi-Fi chip is expected to support the latest Wi-Fi 7 spec and offer what reports say is enhanced connectivity.