There are so many MagSafe chargers now, it's hard to find the best. Here's what we've tested for your iPhone and Apple Watch.Some of our favorite MagSafe chargers for 2025In our roundup, we're focusing on primarily multi chargers, usually 3-in-1 designs, that are exceptional in a crowded market. They're all certified, either MagSafe or Qi2.MagSafe and Qi2 are very similar, with the latter being based on Apple's MagSafe tech. They both deliver up to 15W of power and use magnets to hold the device in proper alignment. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work by uploading projects to Architizerand sign up for ourinspirational newsletters.Architecture is often framed as a balance between creative inspiration and technical execution sketching ideas, refining concepts and ultimately turning vision into built reality. The persistent presence of the quote famously attributed to Mies van der Rohe, Architecture starts when you put two bricks together. There it begins, encapsulates this conception.Meanwhile, though architects are unlikely to dabble in actual construction (few architects can claim expertise in bricklaying), the design process stretches far beyond the drafting table, shaped not just by musings on form and function but by material choices, construction methods and budgetary realities.Indeed, while clients and the general public often admire the final product, the behind-the-scenes process of material specification remains largely invisible. Its an essential, yet understated, part of architectural practice. And as the profession embraces 21st-century advancements digital platforms replacing print journals, parametric modeling refining design and globalized workflows transforming collaboration one quiet revolution has been reshaping how architects specify materials and products. Its a shift that doesnt just influence design decisions but fundamentally changes how projects come to life.From Showroom to Screen: How Material Specification Is ChangingVisualization of an Office Building | Courtesy of Material BankTraditionally, material selection has been rooted in tactile experience. Architects would visit showrooms, touch samples and scrutinize finishes under natural light. After all, photographs can be misleading what appears as a warm oak veneer on screen might read cold and flat in person. Many architects still insist that physical samples are indispensable for final decisions, with case studies and site visits providing critical context for how materials perform in the real world. Relationships with product representatives further streamline the process, offering tailored recommendations, project-specific customization and quick access to samples.Even still, digital platforms have profoundly reshaped the early stages of discovery. Architects now turn first to online resources to explore products, compare options and gather documentation. This shift is particularly pronounced among younger professionals, for whom digital search is second nature. Manufacturers that fail to embrace this evolution risk fading into the background, while those who invest in digital visibility paired with responsive, real-world engagement are emerging as leaders. In particular, Material Bank has revolutionized sampling by centralizing this process so that architects no longer need to bounce from site to site. On top of this, they offer overnight delivery of curated swatches from a range of manufacturers, reducing the need for showroom visits.Introducing Digital Catalog: A Central Hub for Material Data Beyond SamplesMock-up of Material Banks Digital CatalogThe latest leap in this ongoing transformation comes from Material Banks Digital Catalog, an offer designed to expand product categories and address inefficiencies in material search and specification. Built with the goal of eventually housing data from over 50,000 building product brands in the industry, Digital Catalog aspires to be the most comprehensive resource for material information, technical documentation and product availability all within a single, user-friendly interface.This industry-first solution offers a suite of powerful features tailored to the needs of AEC professionals:Centralized Data Repository: Access spec sheets, BIM files, visual assets, sustainability certifications, and more without juggling multiple platforms.Effortless Navigation: An intuitive search interface simplifies browsing, filtering, and data management.Project Central Integration:Provides workflow tools for organizing inspiration, enabling design collaboration, facilitating material research, sampling, and selection.Side-by-Side Comparisons: Easily compare product attributes and generate custom reports.Easy Quoting: One-click quote requests streamline cost estimation.Direct Communication: A dedicated inbox fosters real-time collaboration between architects and manufacturers.The need for such a platform is clear. According to the AIAs annual Journey to Specification report, more than half of architects seek technical descriptions, product specs, CAD/BIM files and pricing as the most important information when evaluating materials. Yet many report dissatisfaction with manufacturers websites, citing poor information availability and difficult navigation. Recent research conducted through Qualtrics underscores this frustration: 9 out of 10 licensed architects expressed a desire for a centralized product data hub.Empowering Architects with Real-Time InsightsMock-up of Material Banks Digital CatalogFor thousands of architects and designers, Digital Catalog is already integrating into their workflows and enhancing project outcomes. We established the vision to help AEC professionals by enhancing information efficiency and transparency, explains Manwen Li, Senior Director of Product at Material Bank. Our mission is to provide an effective platform that seamlessly connects them with building product brands. Every hour spent searching for product documents is an hour lost in transforming space for humanity.By leveraging real-time access to reliable, standardized data, Digital Catalog not only accelerates decision-making but also supports sustainable design practices. From material selection to final specification, the platform fosters collaboration across project teams, ensuring that architects, designers, and contractors operate from the same playbook.In the era of AI, our goal is to lead and define expertise in the development of product data, Li states. By harnessing this data, we empower the AEC industry to transform spaces with greater intelligence and efficiency, from concept to completion. Since the launch, Digital Catalog is already partnering with leading brands like CertainTeed, Cemex, Trex, and 3M to move the program forward.Redefining the Future of Material SpecificationModern School Building | Courtesy of Material BankMaterial Banks Digital Catalog represents more than just a searchable database its aiming to become a transformative tool that bridges the gap between inspiration and execution. By consolidating product data, facilitating direct communication and enabling smarter decision-making, it redefines how architects engage with the materials that shape their designs.As architecture increasingly embraces digital workflows, platforms like Material Bank are setting new standards for efficiency, collaboration and innovation. For architects navigating the complexities of modern practice, the future of material specification is here streamlined, connected and more intuitive than ever.Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work by uploading projects to Architizerand sign up for ourinspirational newsletters.Featured image: Visualization of a Museum | Featured courtesy of Material BankThe post Beyond Samples: The Digital Revolution Reshaping Material Specification in Architecture appeared first on Journal.

Developer Polyphony Digital has released a new update for racing sim Gran Turismo 7. Numbered at 1.56, the update brings with it three new cars, as well as new events, an update to the GT Sophy AI, and an extra Caf Menu.The three new cars coming to Gran Turismo 7 as part of the update are the BMW Z4 3.0i 03, which can be purchased from Brand Central and Used Cars, the Mercedes-Benz Unimog Type 411 62, which can be purchased from Legend Cars, and the Peugeot 205 GTI 88, which can be purchased from Used Cars.Fans of the Mazda 3 Gr.4 can also be glad to see the addition of a new base colour for the car. The new colour can be picked up from the Mazda showroom.Car collectors that enjoy filling out the Caf Menu can now start working on Extra Menu No. 44, which tasks players with getting their hands on Peugeots cars. This new Menu will need players to hit a minimum Collector Level of 36.The new events added to World Circuits as part of the update are the Sunday Cup Classic: Red Bull Ring Short Track, the European Sunday Cup 400: Grand Valley South Reverse, and the European FR Challenge 550: Autodrome Lago Maggiore East.As for the Gran Turismo 7 AI racing agent, Sophy, the update brings the feature to two more race courses: the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and Sardegna Road Track B. Capping things off for the update is the ability to now pan the camera in the Scapes mode.Gran Turismo 7 is available on PS5. There were rumours of a PC port of the racing game being in the works, but more recent reports indicate that the port has been shelved. For more details on Gran Turismo 7, check out our review.

Marketing rep Takatoshi Sato at Genki, the studio behind Tokyo Xtreme Racer, has revealed details about the Early Access launch of the racing game in a new interview. Speaking to Automaton Media, Sato has revealed that Tokyo Xtreme Racing has been performing quite well, and that its early access launch was a great start.Ill refrain from commenting on specific sales figures (laughs), but if you ask me whether I consider TXR a hit as Genkis marketing rep, Id say that its off to a great start, responded Sato when asked whether studio Genki considered the racing game a hit. However, I do think there is still room for growth.The question came from the fact that, on release, Tokyo Xtreme Racer saw a fair bit of positive attention, and even got around 15,000 concurrent players on Steam. Sato believes that the Tokyo Xtreme Racer franchise name has helped in the latest titles Early Access success.Its performing well now thanks to the franchises popularity, but I think it has potential to do even better, said Sato about the games success. The reviews weve received from players so far have been very positive, so I think we can expect more growth in the future.When asked about how many of the Steam wishlists that Tokyo Xtreme Racer ended up on ended up as sales of the game, Sato said that, while the ratio between sales to wishlists was higher than the studio expected, it fell within projections for the studio.It turned out almost exactly as Id calculated, said Sato. It was a little higher than anticipated, but mostly within the expected range.A revival of classic racing franchise, Tokyo Xtreme Racer was released back in January as an Early Access game on Steam. While it features the same emphasis on speed and making tight corners well as other racing games, what sets Tokyo Xtreme Racer apart from its contemporaries is its SP Battle system.The system makes use of a numerical value called Spirit Points that measures the willpower of drivers in the game. Making good use of these Spirit Points is one of the aspects players will have to master in their time with Tokyo Xtreme Racer.For more details on Tokyo Xtreme Racer, check out our Early Access review.

Photo credit: CAAJThe Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice (CAAJ) has launched its 2025 Student Design Competition, entitled Filling the Gap: Designing for New Approaches to Diversion, Healing, and Rehabilitation.For the competition, CAAJ is inviting architecture students to propose innovative designs for community-oriented buildings aimed at addressing contemporary societal crises, such as addiction, homelessness, mental health, and poverty. Traditional justice institutions, like police stations and courthouses, are often at the forefront of these crises but often fail to effectively address these complex issues, and as a result, many marginalised and struggling members of society are falling through the gaps, says the CAAJ. As a result, the competition challenges students to create architectural or urban design solutions that provide support, rehabilitation, and healing, without relying on traditional institutional models.The competition encourages participants to consider how their design can bridge the gap between marginalized individuals and the broader community, promote healing, reduce recidivism, and offer alternatives to incarceration. Designs should focus on a facility that integrates health and social services, educational spaces, or other community-centered programs to help address specific crises.Submissions will be judged based on their potential to improve the community, integrate sustainable principles, and create environments that promote calm and wellness.The competition offers prize money of $3,000 CAD for first place, and $1,000 CAD each for second and third place. Submissions are due by June 30, 2025, and will be evaluated by a panel of justice sector experts, architects, and community-engaged professionals.For more information, click here.The post Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice launches student design competition appeared first on Canadian Architect.

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While showing up at a protest can demonstrate your opinion to the world, you may not want your face or the faces of other protesters to be included, especially when there is the possibility that authorities will collect and use that information (as they did for tracking movements during COVID-19 social distancing). As a result, many consider it vital to obscure the faces of people in any photos you may post on social media and other online sources.What follows are some strategies for removing facial features from your photos. Of course, you can open up your images on a desktop or laptop using Photoshop or Preview to blur or scrub, but were going to assume you arent carrying around a laptop with you. So with mobile in mind, you still have some solid options.What needs to be doneWhen removing faces, you want to use a method that cant be reversed. It is possible to de-blur a photo, especially using neural networks. Its not possible to completely reverse the blurring, since it is lossy (in other words, some data will be permanently lost), but a lot can be restored. So why take the risk? Painting over faces, or using mosaic blur techniques, will prevent any possibility of reversing the effect.You also want to remove any and all metadata from your images. They can carry GPS location, timestamps, and details about the type of phone used basically, lots of things that can be used to pinpoint where you were and when.Edit out facesWhile there are a plethora of apps that will help blur or cover faces and remove metadata for both iOS and Android devices (some of which I mention below), there are ways you can do both without using a third-party app.First, you can use your built-in photo editor to individually block out faces. On iOS, open Photos, tap on your photo and select the Edit option (at the bottom of the screen). Tap on the Markup icon in the top right of the screen. With that, create solid circles or squares to block out faces. If you have an iPhone thats series 15 or later with iOS 18.1 (or later), you can also use the Clean Up feature to erase a face: in the photo you want to change, tap Edit and then Clean Up (an eraser icon). Circle the faces you want to obscure, and tap Done.Android also has a native markup tool in the Photos app, select the photo, tap on the Edit tool (second from the left on the bottom) and choose Markup (second from the right on the bottom). You can then use the center-bottom Pen tool to scribble over anything you want to cover. You can also (if its available on your phone) use the Magic Eraser to erase or camouflage a face: tap on the Edit tool, select Magic Eraser, and circle the face you want to obscure.You then want to get rid of the metadata. When you take a photo on your device, meta is going to be attached automatically. The easiest way to avoid this is to take screenshots of your photos so that meta and geotagging wont carry over. Also make sure to view your photo fullscreen, and ensure you dont have any notifications or other identifying features in the screenshot.RelatedThe same can be done for video. On an iPhone, instead of just using the Camera app, start a screen record while youre making your video, and use that recording instead. On most Android phones, you can use the Screen record app found in your Quick Settings.RelatedThird-party apps that hide faces & remove metaRecently, there have been a plethora of apps that will help hide faces and remove metadata for both iOS and Android devices. You may find it easier to use one of these.For example, encrypted messaging app Signal has a face-blurring tool that is incorporated into its Android and iOS versions.There are also grassroots efforts like Image Scrubber, which you can use in a browser on your device to upload images to blur and scrub, and then to save the anonymous version back to your device. This is great because it works on all devices, mobile and desktop. If you already use apps to edit and enhance photos, you might be able to use those to blur as well. Apps like Glitche (iOS) and Glitch Lab (Android) let you pixelate over selected areas, and Trigraphy (iOS) lets you create mosaic effects. If you want to take photos now and remove the meta later, you can use the apps mentioned above or photo apps like Halide (iOS) and Snapseed (Android).In the end, the method you choose will depend on how much work you want to do during or after the fact. For me, I would take photos, edit them in the phone Photo app, take a screenshot and then delete the originals. Because if your device is unlocked and you have the originals sitting there, then you may have done all that work for nothing.Update February 26th, 2025: This article was originally published on June 5th, 2020, and has been updated to account for changes in software.See More:

Amazon is finally launching the long-awaited generative AI version of Alexa that, if all goes well, will take away much of the friction that comes with talking to a speaker to control your smart home or getting info on the fly.Some of the new abilities coming to Alexa Plus include doing things for you youll be able to ask it to order groceries for you or send event invites to your friends. Amazon says it will also be able to memorize personal details like your diet and movie preferences. Alexa Plus will also be able to carry on conversations from uttering its wake word, which is still just Alexa. It also has vision capabilities and can take pictures and analyze images. Amazon demoed other abilities, such as Alexa prompting you to tell you about concert ticket availability and being able to tell you about local businesses (referencing Yelp to do so) and book dinner reservations. The company says it can read a study guide and test you on the answers. Amazon also said you can use Alexa Plus to research trips and create itineraries.Amazon first announced it was going to supercharge Alexa with AI in September 2023. Back then, the company made a lot of big claims, saying that Alexa would understand context or build automated routines for you you needed only ask. But by the following June, around when Apple announced its own Siri AI upgrade, reports emerged that the company was struggling to realize its efforts and that some employees were leaving because they didnt think this version of Alexa would ever work.The devices team at Amazon also saw a major executive shakeup in the interim, with longtime leader Dave Limp being replaced by Panos Panay, whod come over from running Microsofts Surface lineup.Now that its AI Alexa is here, Amazon is entering a world very different from the one Alexa was born into back in 2014. It will compete with a crowded field of AI-powered digital assistants like the way-ahead Google Gemini, the category-defining ChatGPT, and Apples reportedly also-struggling upgraded Siri. But with some very limited exceptions, those chatbots arent on smart speakers yet, and that may be Amazons opportunity. Its speakers could bring an AI chatbot to a lot of people a lot faster than competitors. Amazon just needs to finish getting it out the door.DevelopingSee More:

The Godot 4 Mega POLYGON Asset Humble Bundle is now live. It is a collection of low polygon 3D assets from Animpic Studio all exported to work in the Godot 4+ game engine. The bundle is organized into tiers and whichever tier you buy you get a large zip file containing all of the associated assets. Note when this bundle first launched a couple days ago, the download links were not working properly, which I why I have covered it later. If you purchased the bundle already, simply message support on the Animpic site and they will fix your link.The Godot 4 Mega POLYGON Asset Humble Bundle consists of the following assets:1$ TierPOLY Lite Survival Collection (GODOT)POLY Lite Survival Forest (GODOT)POLY Fantasy Village (GODOT)POLY Forest Village (GODOT)Mid TierPOLY Farm (GODOT)POLY Medieval Camp (GODOT)POLY Houses (GODOT)POLY Lite Halloween (GODOT)POLY House Appliances (GODOT)POLY Town City (GODOT)POLY Wild West (GODOT)POLY Survival Melee Weapons (GODOT)POLY Provincial City (GODOT)30$ TierPOLY Mega Survival Medical Kit (GODOT)POLY Mega Survival Tools (GODOT)POLY Mega Sci-Fi Sandbox (GODOT)POLY Mega Weapons Kit Modular (GODOT)POLY Mega Survival Kit (GODOT)POLY Mega Survival Construction Kit (GODOT)POLY Military Shooting Range (GODOT)POLY Survival Subway (GODOT)POLY Mega Survival Food (GODOT)POLY Survival Vehicles Kit (GODOT)POLY Nature Pack (GODOT)POLY Megapolis City Pack (GODOT)POLY New York City (GODOT)POLY Workshop (GODOT)You can read the Animpic assets EULA right here. You can learn more about the Godot 4 Mega POLYGON Asset Humble Bundle and see several of the assets in action in the video below. Links on this page contain a code that helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!). If you have trouble with the link, please paste it into a new tab and it should work just fine.