With spring right around the corner, the time is right to freshen up your bedrooms to reflect the season. And you dont have to go full-on reno mode to make a big impact! Pretty spring decorating ideas like arrangements of fresh flowers, lighter and brighter colors, and flung-open windows will pull your decor out of its winter slump and right into sunnier days ahead. Simple swaps, such as saying goodbye to flannel sheets and hello to lighter linens, go a long way in transitioning your bedroom from one season to the next. Check out these 7 easy and pretty spring decor ideas to get your primary bedroom, guest bedrooms, and kids bedrooms ready for spring!Throw Open the WindowsRikki Snyder for Country LivingIts finally that time of year where we can let in some fresh air and sunshine! Give windows and screens a quick spring cleaning while youre at it, so you can fully enjoy natures work this magical time of year.For More Bedroom Decor Ideas:Bring In Some BranchesBecky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingNothing says spring like fresh flowers snipped from the garden. And dont sleep on grocery store bouquetsthey have come a long way! Split that big bundle into several small arrangements and place on bedside tables in all bedrooms.For Flower Ideas:Lighten Up the LinensDavid A. Land for Country Living A fresh set of crisp white sheets and shams gives the feeling of sleeping in your favorite bed and breakfast. Here in this cottage lake house bedroom, scalloped details add a sweet touch to this charming lake cottage primary bedroom. We especially love the mint and white basket quilt folded at the end of the bed for cool spring nights. A trio of patterned pillows adds a springy pop of color. For More on Bedding:You dont have to go full-on reno to make a big impact. Simple swaps in the bedroom go a long way.Incorporate Springy Colors Jean Allsopp for Country LivingOne of the easiest ways to spring up your bedroom is by swapping out decorative touches like throw pillows, lamps, or even lampshades. Trade heavy, textural accessories for lighter, more colorful versions. Mix and match patterns (florals, stripes, and gingham), so long as the color palette is kept tight.More Spring Decorating Ideas:Repaint the WallsBecky Luigart-Stayner, styling by Matthew Gleason for Country LivingA fresh coat of paint works wonders. We love how this barely pink shade (Intimate White by Sherwin-Williams) acts as a neutral in a bedroom of a Mississippi farmhouse. Painting or wallpapering an accent wall goes a long way too for a fraction of the effort and cost. For More Paint Color Ideas:Rearrange the Furniture Brian WoodcockIn many bedrooms, there may only be one spot that makes sense for the bed. If thats the case, consider switching around smaller pieces, like bedside tables and chests of drawers to mix things up. Take this opportunity to do a deep clean under all furniture, too! In this farmhouse bedroom, the bed is nestled between two windows, creating symmetry and order. Switch Out RugsDavid Tsay for Country LivingYou dont have to go into full reno mode to make a big impact. Weve found that a new rug makes a huge difference, like this fun striped one. Even swapping rugs from room to room can be a budget-friendly and easy way to change up your dcor. Remember to rotate rugs often to make them last longer. For More Rug Ideas:Amy MitchellManaging EditorAmy Mitchell is the managing editor for VERANDA and Country Living, where she writes articles on a variety of topicsdecorating and design, gardens, and holidays. Amys experience in the shelter magazine category spans more than 20 years, as shes previously held positions at Coastal Living and Cottage Living. Her personal pursuits include cooking, gardening, and hunting her favorite tag sale spots for the next piece of Pyrex for her prized collection.

Apple just announced the new M3 iPad Air and iPad 11, but theres a brand new accessory debuting too. The iPad Airs Magic Keyboard has been revised with some of the upgrades seen on the iPad Pros Magic Keyboard.From Apples press release:Theall-new Magic Keyboardfor iPad Air expands what users can do at an even lower price. The larger built-in trackpad brings greater precision for detail-oriented tasks, and a new 14-key function row allows easy access to features like screen brightness and volume controls. The new Magic Keyboard attaches magnetically, and the Smart Connector immediately connects power and data without the need for Bluetooth; a machined aluminum hinge also includes a USB-C connector for charging. Now starting at just $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch model, the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air features the magical floating design customers love and comes in white.DevelopingAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Alongside the new iPad Air, Apple also refreshed the base model iPad today. The iPad now comes with an A16 chip, and twice the storage, for the same $349 price. That means Apples cheapest iPad now starts at 128 GB storage, with 256 GB and an all-new 512 GB size as upgrade options. With a faster chip and twice the storage, the new iPad is even better value for money than the prior 10th generation iPad.The new iPad starts at $349, with cellular models starting at $499. For education buyers, the new iPad is discounted to $329, or $479 with cellular. The new iPad is available to pre-order today at Apple. The first units start shipping next week, on March 12.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Lisa Morgan, Freelance WriterMarch 4, 20255 Min Readincamerastock via Alamy StockThe tech industry isnt immune from the White Houses policies, including mass deportations and federal buyout packages. Recently, two top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were reassigned as the Trump Administration seeks to accelerate mass deportations. While the impact on agriculture jobs has been widely reported, less discussed is the potential impact on the tech industry.Federal buyout packages could also impact tech, depending on who has accepted them. As of February 13, 75,000 workers decided to take the buyout, and a judge cleared the way to make it happen. Organizational leaders should be prepared.I believe mass deportations and federal buyouts could significantly impact the tech sector. Tech thrives on using a rich tapestry of global talent, and these policies could strip away all of that, says Jason Wingate, CEO of international technology and business solutions company Emerald Ocean in an email interview. The move may lead to a significant loss of skilled professionals who drive innovation and development, Wingate adds.This could turn into projects stalling and deadlines being missed. Beyond the immediate, it could also mean the overall pace of technological advancement could slow down.The Tech Talent Shortage May Be ExacerbatedRelated:Tech talent shortages could worsen under the Trump Administrations policies.The sector already grapples with a limited pool of professionals in cutting-edge fields of AI, machine learning and cybersecurity, and reducing that pool won't help, says Emerald Oceans Wingate. It could also raise the salaries of the remaining workforce [because] there would be intense competition among the remaining talent that companies would be vying for, Wingate says. Salaries might skyrocket, and smaller companies could struggle to attract and retain the expertise they need. This scarcity could then discourage new startups, which in turn would dampen innovation and economic growth in the long run.Paul DeMott, chief technology officer at SEO and marketing agency Helium SEO says the potential problems are especially acute for technology firms that are already having trouble finding engineers who specialize in artificial intelligence, machine learning and software architecture.A mass exodus of thousands of trained workforce members will turn into an industry-wide breakdown which is not a temporary issue, says DeMott in an email interview. Years of specialized education stand between many roles and the workforce despite American educational systems not generating adequate numbers of qualified candidates.Related:Employee Morale May Degrade SignificantlyThe impact of mass deportations goes beyond the target individuals, with friends, family and employers also affected.Company morale will most likely drop if it's external policies that are forcing colleague departures. A mandated exit - for example - will only create more uncertainty and fear surrounding job security, says Emerald Oceans Wingate. In turn, this will impact trust, reduce collaboration and possibly decrease productivity. The remaining talent that stays may then look for a more stable environment - which is going to compound that loss.Employees may also disengage.In tech, the development of long-lasting connections remains a fundamental aspect that builds effective collaborations between workers, says Helium SEOs DeMott. Tasks become unattractive when employees feel their job position can be suddenly eliminated.Theres also the potential impact on company operations.US tech talent includes foreign-born professionals, particularly in engineering, product management and data science. If mass deportations impact this group, we could see enormous consequences, says Sam Wright, head of operations and partnerships at job search platform Huntr in an email interview.Related:The negative effects of labor force disruption are not limited to the United States. Withinternational collaboration the backbone of modern tech development, disruption could hinder progress in multinational projects and partnerships, says Emerald Oceans Wingate. For example, countries more welcoming to global talent may become new hubs for innovation, shifting the balance of tech leadership., Wingate says. On the flipside - domestic job opportunities may increase, but any skill gaps that local talent can't fill will also grow.Helium SEOs DeMott expects international technology industries to be rearranged on a worldwide scale.Foreign nations including Canada and Germany already welcome qualified workers through improved entry procedures so a hostile stance against talent at the US will cause major innovative industries to relocate globally, says DeMott. [Startups and enterprises] require diverse talent for maintaining their competitive market positions and if their talent pool reduces then the competitive advantage disappears.What Companies Are Doing About ItPreparedness is key. For example, Emerald Ocean engages with policymakers about workforce diversity and inclusion because it creates better policy outcomes. The company is also investing in employee development and support systems.Creating clear advancement paths and training programs usually strengthens team stability, for example, says Emerald Oceans Wingate. For larger organizations, partner with educational institutions. This approach often develops future talent pools while building community relationships. These strategies generally improve both employee retention and organizational resilience during policy changes.Helium SEO already operates with a fully decentralized workforce and international talent pool. DeMott says these mechanisms will rise in importance when immigration restrictions grow tougher.We will recruit employees whose talent exists in locations where they reside over posting job openings in our office. Policies based on supporting innovation should replace restrictive policies that make it challenging for skilled professionals to contribute, says DeMott. Tech leaders should both maintain active awareness of the situation while developing emergency protocols. You should openly share information with staff members who may get affected by the situation while examining available support solutions. Review your hiring strategy to determine whether you can increase remote work possibilities.Huntrs Wright says forward-thinking tech leaders are assessing their workforce composition, cross-training employees, and exploring remote or global hubs to mitigate risk.Some are providing legal resources or counseling to affected staff. Others are adapting their hiring strategies to tap into more flexible or fully remote talent pools beyond US borders, says Wright.The Bottom LineExecutive orders have the potential to disrupt tech departments across the US Organizational leaders who havent thought through the potential impacts need to do so now so theyre not making knee-jerk decisions that could make a challenging situation worse.Scenario planning is on the rise. Mass deportations and federal workforce reductions are two more reasons to take it seriously.About the AuthorLisa MorganFreelance WriterLisa Morgan is a freelance writer who covers business and IT strategy and emergingtechnology for InformationWeek. She has contributed articles, reports, and other types of content to many technology, business, and mainstream publications and sites including tech pubs, The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Frequent areas of coverage include AI, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility, software development, and emerging cultural issues affecting the C-suite.See more from Lisa MorganWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Keanu Reeves has insisted a fifth John Wick movie is unlikely to happen.The 60-year-old actor had played the assassin from the eponymous 2014 film until the characters passing in 2023s John Wick: Chapter 4, and has now stressed there probably wont be more movies starring the hitman to come.In an interview with ComicBook.com, he said: You know, the characters dead. He died in John Wick: Chapter 4.Even when it was suggested to The Matrixstar that John Wick could be resurrected in some way, Reeves insisted that wasnt part of the discussion currently.When asked whether there was a plan to revive the assassin, he said: Right now? Right now there isnt.LionsgateLionsgateloading...READ MORE: HowJohn WickPulled Off Its Greatest Action SceneJohn Wick producer Erica Lee had also previously admitted that the stars have to align if a fifth film is ever to be made.Speaking with ScreenRant, she said: I think we set this bar so high in [John Wick: Chapter 4] and we left it all on the table. I say we burn the house down when we make the movie ... So I think to pull it all together, it has to be a great idea and the stars have to align, and there's a lot of pressure to get that right. So thats what I'm most hopeful and excited and anxious about.While Reeves time leading the John Wickfranchise may be over, the Constantine actor is due to reprise his role for a brief appearance in the upcoming spin-off movie Ballerina.Starring Ana de Armas, the film, which will be directed by Len Wiseman and produced by John Wick filmmakerChad Stahelski, follows Eve Macarro as she begins her training in the assassin tradition of the Ruska Roma.While de Armas will become an action heroine of her own, the Blade Runner 2049 star insisted she would not simply be a gender-swapped version of Reeves John Wick.She told Collider: I think there are some trademarks in the style of the fights in John Wick, and things that he does that are very particular to him. But because in this movie were seeing through Eves eyes the background of that training that John had, and how these assassins and ballerinas, how these people become these assassins, there are some little details that are the same, but Eve Macarro is Eve Macarro. Shes not John Wick!From the World of John Wick: Ballerinais scheduled to open in theaters on June 6.Get our free mobile appThe Worst Action Movies Ever MadeWe love action movies at ScreenCrush. But not all action movies are great, or good, or even watchable. These are the worst of the worst.Filed Under: John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 5, Keanu ReevesCategories: Movie News

Headquarters: Dublin URL: https://ticketsolve.com# IntroductionWe are a SaaS ticketing platform that is very excited about the future. Coming out of the pandemic, we completed an exciting evolution of our platform. This involved moving from a traditional RoR architecture to a modern "single page application" (SPA), exposing our application as a set of APIs consumed by Ember to provide a rich interactive experience.Completing this work has allowed us to focus on new feature development. We have already seen the benefits of the new platform in terms of productivity and speed of rolling out new features.We want to expand our backend team with new people to cover Ruby and Ruby on Rails server development to accelerate this potential and deliver an ambitious product roadmap. In terms of experience, we are looking for experienced developers who are comfortable working with a large codebase and a complex domain.The work will be a mixture of new feature development exposed as APIs for the front-end development team and infrastructure-focused improvements on our backend.The feature areas we focus on are significant enhancements to our CRM functionality, improvements to our public API and investment in Business Intelligence and Analytics.This year, a specific focus will be on building out our data and analytic capabilities using a combination of Snowflake at the data layer and Sigma for visualisation. This work will then provide a platform for integrating AI capabilities into our platform.# Skills & Requirements- 4+ years experience developing web applications- Experience with programming Ruby/Rails required with the role focused on server development- Understanding of front-end technologies: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and JS frameworks like React/Ember are welcomed but not required- Experience with Chef and Terraform a bonus- Strong programming skills with a focus on clean design, well-refactored code and automated testing- Experience with Business Intelligence and Analytics is also welcomed but not required- Comfortable working as part of a fully remote dev team.# Technologies we use- Ruby on Rails is our primary server framework evolving towards pure API server- EmberJs is our primary front-end development framework- JSONAPI::Resources, http://jsonapi-resources.com/, is how we are building our APIs- MySQL / Redis are our primary storage engines- Snowflake / Sigma are our chosen data, analytics and AI-enabling technologies- All our servers are Ubuntu based managed through CHEF- Deployed on AWS using Terraform for managing infrastructure- GitHub for source code management and process support- GitHub actions for continuous integration# How we workWe run a lightweight process that focuses on feature-based weekly delivery. Our coordination and communication are mostly through daily 'catch-up meetings' and appropriate tools such as Linear for backlog management, Slack for communication and Git(GitHub) for source control and feature deployment through PRs and Milestones.From a coding perspective, we strongly emphasise clean, minimal, well-refactored code backed up by a robust suite of automated tests. In addition, we use peer review for all design and development work.In general, we strive for an approach that empowers and trusts individuals to 'do the right thing'; as a team, we try to keep each other true to this.# 100% Remote workingOur development team works remotely with members in Austria, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Our wider organisation has people based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Dublin is our headquarters and main office - with the core Support and Sales and Marketing teams.Remote working has been part of our company's DNA since our founding. It offers many advantages to both Ticketsolve and its employees. This culture means you should be comfortable working as part of a fully remote team.Important to note that time zones are a consideration for us with remote working. Our experience is that European, some Asian and East Latin American time zones are preferable, allowing for collaboration at reasonable times.# Recruitment processWe are initially looking for resumes and portfolio examples of your work, e.g., GitHub repositories, blog articles, etc. If you do not have anything suitable, don't worry. As part of the process, we will introduce some coding tasks, e.g., code reviews, whiteboard design sessions, and pair programming.From there, we filter down and do a series of remote interviews. We start with an introduction call to explain the project and answer questions. From there, we will have a mixture of technical and culture-fit calls.We prefer that candidates talk to as much of the team as possible so that we, the team and the candidate, can make the best decision possible. We will also look at facilitating face-to-face meetings if appropriate and makes sense.After this stage, we will be in a position to make a formal offer.Please submit resumes to **jobs@ticketsolve.com** with the subject **"Job Application"**. Please note that we will not respond to all applications due to the volume of applications; instead, we will make contact when there is a potential fit.To apply: https://weworkremotely.com/remote-jobs/ticketsolve-senior-backend-ruby-on-rails-developer

All jobs Product Designer Posted A few minutes agoMakers of Basecamp, HEY, and ONCE. Apply now 37signals is hiring a Web App Product Designer. We dont hire for this position often, so this is a rare opportunity.Were looking for a designer, not a decorator. A product builder, not a picture maker. A shipper, not a prototyper. Theres plenty of the latter, but were after the former. Weve built a close-knit team of five wonderful designers, and wed be thrilled to have you as our sixth.Depending on your skills and experience, youll either come in at the Senior or Lead level. Senior pays $193,858, Lead pays $229,064. Additional perks, benefits, profit sharing, and more are detailed in the handbook.About the JobAt many companies, product design is split into different roles: UX, UI, front-end development, copywriter, etc. At 37signals, its all one role. This means our designers are exceptional generalists. Along with having great visual taste and sensibilities, you must be able to write your own production-quality front-end HTML, CSS, and English. Youll pair up with a back-end programmer to bring designs, features, and products to life.We believe the best designs come from someone who can see it all through, from ideas to visuals to the finished product. We work from the interface first starting with design, rather than ending with it so youll be involved in the work right from the beginning. Our projects are design-led, so youll have a lot of flexibility, freedom, influence and impact right away. We follow the 6-week cycle Shape Up process, invented here.Youll get to work on heavily-used products like Basecamp and HEY that push the industry forward. You wont be sequestered on a team that only gets to work on a slice of something youll work on all of everything. Working at 37signals as a designer means working on whole products. Existing products, brand new unreleased ones, and internal tools, too.As a manager of one, youll drive shaped projects, big and small, over six-week cycles. Youll set direction, take ownership, make calls, and ultimately, once situated and comfortable, see things through without a lot of oversight.You love writing, too. You understand that copywriting is design. The words matter as much as the pixels. No matter how great the visuals are, bad writing is bad design. You should care about how things are phrased as much as you care about how they look.Here are some things weve worked on recently to give you a sense of what youll be doing day-to-day.Designed a new Hilltop view which gives someone an at-a-glace overview of where multiple Basecamp projects stand on a single screen.Designed an innovative Power Through New feature in HEY which lets someone respond to all unread emails in HEY on a single distraction-free screen rather than one at a time.Made significant accessibility improvements to the HEY Calendar.Designed and launched a whole new way to add external tools like Figma, Dropbox, Github to your Basecamp projects.Redesigned the Basecamp Project Screen to improve proportions, clarity, positioning of various elements, and spacing.Extracted reusable CSS components after noticing repeating patterns in our codebase.Introduced PWA versions of both Basecamp and HEY so people can run the web apps on their desktops, phones, or tablets as if they were native apps.Introduced time tracking into Basecamp with a new feature called Timesheet.Designed entirely new UIs from scratch for two brand new products well be releasing in 2025.We Are RemoteBasecamp is a fully remote company, and this is a remote job. For this position were only considering applications from people who live in time zones UTC -11 through UTC +2, to overlap with our existing team. We are not hiring from locations outside of that range, and we wont consider candidates who would need to work a graveyard shift to make the overlap happen.About Us37signals has been proudly building opinionated small business software for more than 20 years. As a privately-held profitable company, we dont answer to anyone but ourselves and our customers. There are no demands from investors, ridiculous growth targets, or trend chasing. We design our products to solve real-life problems, and we strongly defend our customers attention and privacy along the way. We build products that endure in a way thats sustainable.Further, working at 37signals means you wont be mired in meetings, shaking your head at burdensome process, or be asked to put in hero-hours. Your nights and weekends are yours, not ours. All we ask is a reasonable 8-hour day and 40-hour work week, and well stay out of your way so you can do the best work of your career. We hope youll join us.We respect everyones right to participate in political expression and activism, but avoid having political debates on our internal communication systems. Basecamp as a company also does not weigh in on politics publicly, outside of topics directly related to our business. You should be at peace with both of these stances.Benefits & CompensationBasecamp pays in the top 10% of the industry based on San Francisco rates. Same position, same pay, no matter where you live. Depending on your skills and experience, were hiring either at the Senior level or the Lead level. Senior pays $193,858, Lead pays $229,064. Well determine where you fit during the interview process.Our benefits support a life well-lived away from work. Ample time off and all the resources you need to support you in doing the best work of your career. Our handbook has detailed information about the benefits we offer.Applicants from outside of the US will be offered a contractor role on comparable terms and equal pay with our domestic employees.How to ApplyPlease submit an application that speaks directly to this position. Tell us about yourself, about what you can bring to 37signals, and why this position is the right next step for you. Tell us why youre a designer. Tell us why you love working on the web. Be descriptive, but dont feel the need to write a novel 800 words or so should be plenty. Last, be sure to show us your work, and work other people have done that you really admire.Were accepting applications until Monday, March 24th at 11:00PM UTC. Theres no benefit to filing early, so take your time.What happens after you apply?Once the deadline passes, we expect to take a week to complete our review of applications. Youll hear from us by the end of March about advancement to the interview stage. Expect 2-3 interviews, all one hour, all remote, with your future colleagues, on your schedule. Well talk through your background, your approach to design, and dive into your professional knowledge. No gotchas or surprises.After interviews, the final candidates will be given an at-home design challenge. The exercise is representative of the kind of work we do, and it helps us understand how youd approach new problems from scratch. We invite no more than 5 candidates to this stage, and those candidates should expect to spend about 3 work days completing the project. Youll be compensated for your time.We expect to make an offer in May, with a flexible start date later that month.Please note that due to the number of applications we receive for open positions, were unable to offer individual feedback during the screening process.This is a demanding application process and significant, long-term career move to consider. We appreciate you giving us that consideration, and we promise to give you our full attention in return. We look forward to hearing from you!Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now 37signals View company Jobs posted: 12 Related Jobs Remote Design jobs

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. De-extinction scientists say these gene-edited woolly mice are a step towards woolly mammoths Theyre small, fluffy and kind of cute, but these mice represent a milestone in de-extinction efforts, according to their creators. The animals have undergone a series of genetic tweaks that give them woolly mammoth-like featuresand their creation may bring scientists a step closer to resurrecting the ancient, giant animals that roamed the tundra thousands of years ago. Scientists at Colossal have been working to de-extinct the woolly mammoth, since the company was launched four years ago.Now, her team has shown that they can create healthy animals that look the way the team wants them to lookand pave the way towards recreating a woolly mammoth-like elephant. Read the full story.Jessica Hamzelou Should we be moving data centers to space? Last week, the Florida-based company Lonestar Data Holdings launched a shoebox-size device carrying data from internet pioneer Vint Cerf and the government of Florida, among others, on board Intuitive Machines Athena lander. When its device lands on the moon later this week, the company will be the first to explicitly test out a question that has been on some technologists minds of late: Maybe its time to move data centers off Earth? After all, energy-guzzling data centers are springing up like mushrooms all over the world, devouring precious land, straining our power grids, consuming water, and emitting noise. Building facilities in orbit or on or near the moon might help ameliorate many of these issues. But for these data centers to succeed, they must be able to withstand harsh conditions in space, pull in enough solar energy to operate, and make economic sense. Read the full story.Tereza Pultarova At RightsCon in Taipei, activists reckon with a US retreat from promoting digital rights Eileen Guo Last week, I joined over 3,200 digital rights activists, tech policymakers, and researchers in Taipei at RightsCon, the worlds largest digital rights conference. Human rights conferences can be sobering, to say the least. But this years RightsCon, the 13th since the event began as the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference in 2011, felt especially urgent. This was primarily due to the shocking, rapid gutting of the US federal government by the Elon Muskled DOGE initiative, and the reverberations this would have around the world. At RightsCon, the cuts to USAID were top of mind: the agency is facing over 90% cuts to its budget under the Trump administration. But its not just funding cuts that will curtail digital rights globally. As various speakers highlighted throughout the conference, the United States government has gone from taking the leading role in supporting an open and safe internet to demonstrating how to dismantle it. Heres what speakers are seeing.Inside the Wild West of AI companionship James O'Donnell Last week, I made a troubling discovery about an AI companion site called Botify AI: It was hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots. These bots took on characters meant to resemble, among others, Jenna Ortega as high schooler Wednesday Addams, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Millie Bobby Brown. I discovered these bots also offer to send hot photos and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as arbitrary and meant to be broken. Botify AI removed these bots after I asked questions about them, but others remain. The company said it does have filters in place meant to prevent such underage character bots from being created, but that they dont always work. It highlights how, despite their soaring popularity, AI companionship sites mostly operate in a Wild West, with few laws or even basic rules governing them. Read the full story. This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The Trump administration has paused military aid to Ukraine In a bid to pressure President Zelensky into peace talks with Russia. (WP $)+ US intelligence is the most crucial component in the package. (Economist $)+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraines drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)2 The US has imposed sweeping new tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada Experts fear the new import tariffs will spark a bitter trade war. (CNN)+ China swiftly retaliated with its own broad tariffs on food imports. (NYT $)+ This tit-for-tat approach rarely ends well for anyone. (The Atlantic $)3 DOGEs credit card freeze is preventing government workers from doing their jobs The measure has stopped them purchasing vital equipment and basic supplies. (Wired $)+ A government shutdown could be imminent. (NY Mag $)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? Its complex. (MIT Technology Review) 4 A measles outbreak is spreading across Texas For now, it appears to be relatively contained. (Vox)+ RFK Jr has failed to directly encourage parents to vaccinate their children. (NYT $)+ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story. (MIT Technology Review)5 Top scientists are pushing to expel Elon Musk from the Royal Society The UKs national science academy is concerned about how Musks cost-cutting measures will affect research. (FT $)6 Traders are becoming residents of this tropical island to skirt crypto-buying rules Without ever visiting the Republic of Palau. (404 Media)+ A war is brewing over cryptos regulatory future. (WSJ $)7 How a mysterious Shenzhen businessman build a vaping empireAnd paid little attention to global regulations along the way. (Bloomberg $) 8 Amazon is fed up of job seekers using AI in its interviews Anyone caught using unsanctioned AI tools will be removed from the process. (Insider $)9 How a failed Xbox accessory became a hit in the art world The Kinect motion-sensing camera is wildly popular among creatives. (The Guardian)10 Electric vehicles from BYD now come with an inbuilt drone launcher Its only available in China for now, though. (The Verge)+ The electric-vehicle maker has set its sights on expanding beyond China and into lucrative new territories. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day The big storyWelcome to Chula Vista, where police drones respond to 911 calls February 2023 In the skies above Chula Vista, California, where the police department runs a drone program, its not uncommon to see an unmanned aerial vehicle darting across the sky. Chula Vista is one of a dozen departments in the US that operate what are called drone-as-first-responder programs, where drones are dispatched by pilots, who are listening to live 911 calls, and often arrive first at the scenes of accidents, emergencies, and crimes, cameras in tow. But many argue that police forces adoption of drones is happening too quickly, without a well-informed public debate around privacy regulations, tactics, and limits. Theres also little evidence that drone policing reduces crime. Read the full story. Patrick Sisson We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + The Great Wall of China is still surprising us after all these years.+ Nickelodeons answer to Disneyland looks suitably unhinged.+ Its time to celebrate the life of James Harrison, one of the worlds most prolific blood donors whose generosity saved the lives of millions of babies.+ Lets take a look inside Tokyos ongoing love affair with Italian food.

Theyre small, fluffy, and kind of cute, but these mice represent a milestone in de-extinction efforts, according to their creators. The animals have undergone a series of genetic tweaks that give them features similar to those of woolly mammothsand their creation may bring scientists a step closer to resurrecting the giant animals that roamed the tundra thousands of years ago. Its a big deal, says Beth Shapiro, chief science officer at Colossal Biosciences, the company behind the work. Scientists at Colossal have been working to de-extinct the woolly mammoth since the company was launched four years ago. Now she and her colleagues have shown they can create healthy animals that look the way the team wants them to look, she says. The Colossal woolly mouse marks a watershed moment in our de-extinction mission, company cofounder Ben Lamm said in a statement. This success brings us a step closer to our goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth. Colossals researchers say their ultimate goal is not to re-create a woolly mammoth wholesale. Instead, the team is aiming for what they call functional de-extinctioncreating a mammoth-like elephant that can survive in something like the extinct animals habitat and potentially fulfill the role it played in that ecosystem. Shapiro and her colleagues hope that an Arctic-adapted elephant might make that ecosystem more resilient to climate change by helping to spread the seeds of plants, for example. But other experts take a more skeptical view. Even if they succeed in creating woolly mammoths, or something close to them, we cant be certain that the resulting animals will benefit the ecosystem, says Kevin Daly, a paleogeneticist at Trinity College Dublin. I think this is a very optimistic view of the potential ecological effects of mammoth reintroduction, even if everything goes to plan, he says. It would be hubristic to think we might have a complete grasp on what the introduction of a species such as the mammoth might do to an environment. Mice and mammoths Woolly mammoth DNA has been retrieved from freeze-dried remains of animals that are tens of thousands of years old. Shapiro and her colleagues plan to eventually make changes to the genomes of modern-day elephants to make them more closely resemble those ancient mammoth genomes, in the hope that the resulting animals will look and behave like their ancient counterparts. Before the team begins tinkering with elephants, Shapiro says, she wants to be confident that these kinds of edits work and are safe in mice. After all, Asian elephants, which are genetically related to woolly mammoths, are endangered. Elephants also have a gestation period of 22 months, which will make research slow and expensive. The gestation period of a mouse, on the other hand, is a mere 20 days, says Shapiro. It makes [research] a lot faster. There are other benefits to starting in mice. Scientists have been closely studying the genetics of these rodents for decades. Shapiro and her colleagues were able to look up genes that have already been linked to wavy, long, and light-colored fur, as well as lipid metabolism. They made a shortlist of such genes that were also present in woolly mammoths but not in elephants. The team identified 10 target genes in total. All were mouse genes but were thought to be linked to mammoth-like features. We cant just put a mammoth gene into a mouse, says Shapiro. Theres 200 million years of evolutionary divergence between them. Shapiro and her colleagues then carried out a set of experiments that used CRISPR and other gene-editing techniques to target these genes in groups of mice. In some cases, the team directly altered the genomes of mouse embryos before transferring them to surrogate mouse mothers. In other cases, they edited cells and injected the resulting edited cells into early-stage embryos before implanting them into other surrogates. In total, 34 pups were born with varying numbers of gene edits, depending on which approach was taken. All of them appear to be healthy, says Shapiro. She and her colleagues will publish their work at the preprint server bioRxiv, and it has not yet been peer-reviewed. COLOSSAL Its an important proof of concept for the reintroduction of extinct genetic variants in living [animal groups], says Linus Girdland Flink, a specialist in ancient DNA at the University of Aberdeen, who is not involved in the project but says he supports the idea of de-extinction. The mice are certainly woolly. But the team dont yet know if theyd be able to survive in the cold, harsh climates that woolly mammoths lived in. Over the next year, Shapiro and her colleagues plan to investigate whether the gene edits conferred anything other than cuteness, she says. The team will feed the mice different diets and expose them to various temperatures in the lab to see how they respond. Back from the brink Representatives of Colossal have said that they plan to create a woolly mammoth by 2027 or 2028. At the moment, the team is considering 85 genes of interest. Were still working to compile the ultimate list, says Shapiro. The resulting animal should have tusks, a big head, and strong neck muscles, she adds. Given the animals long gestation period, reaching a 2028 deadline would mean implanting an edited embryo into an elephant surrogate in the next year or so. Shapiro says that the team is on track to meet this target but adds that theres 22 months of biology thats really out of our control. That timeline is optimistic, to say the least. The target date has already been moved by a year, and the company had originally hoped to have resurrected the thylacine by 2025. Daly, who is not involved in the study, thinks the birth of a woolly mammoth is closer to a decade away. In any case, if the project is eventually successful, the resulting animal wont be 100% mammoth: it will be a new animal. And it is impossible to predict how it will behave and interact with its environment, says Daly. When you watch Jurassic Park, you see dinosaurs as we imagine they would have been, and how they might have interacted with each other in the past, he says. In reality, biology is incredibly complicated. An animals behavior is shaped by everything from the embryos environment and the microbes it encounters at birth to social interactions. All of those things are going to be missing for a de-extinct animal, says Daly. It is also difficult to predict how well respond to a woolly mammoth. Maybe we'll just treat them as [tourist attractions], and ruin any kind of ecological benefits that they might have, says Daly. Colossals director of species conservation told MIT Technology Review in 2022 that the company might eventually sell tickets to see its de-extinct animals. The team at Colossal is also working on projects to de-extinct the dodo as well as the thylacine. In addition, team members are interested in using biotech to help conservation of existing animals that are at risk of extinction. When a species dwindles, the genetic pool can shrink. This has been the fate of the pink pigeon, a genetic relative of the dodo that lives in Mauritius. The number of pink pigeons is thought to have shrunk to about 10 individuals twice in the last century. A lack of genetic diversity can leave a species prone to disease. Shapiro and her colleagues are looking for more genetic diversity in DNA from museum specimens. They hope to be able to edit diversity back into the genome of the modern-day birds. The Hawaiian honeycreeper is especially close to Shapiros heart. The honeycreepers are in danger of becoming extinct because we [humans] introduced avian malaria into their habitat, and they dont have a way to fight [it], she says. If we could come up with a way to help them to be resistant to avian malaria, then that will give them a chance at survival. Girdland Flink, of the University of Aberdeen, is more interested in pigs. Farmed pigs have also lost a lot of genetic diversity, he says. The genetic ancestry of modern pigs looks nothing like the genetic ancestry of the earliest domesticated pigs, he says. Pigs are vulnerable to plenty of viral strains and are considered to be viral incubators. Searching the genome of ancient pig remains for extinctand potentially beneficialgenetic variants might provide us with ways to make todays pigs more resilient to disease. The past is a resource that can be harnessed, he says.

Projection of the cluster if all approved schemes were builtHow the cluster looked in 20151/3show captionThe City of London has unveiled images showing how the Square Miles main cluster of towers would look if all approved schemes were built.Several major schemes have been approved in recent months including Stanhope and Arolands 74-storey 1 Undershaft, designed by Eric Parry, which will be the tallest building in the City and the joint tallest in the country with the Shard when built.RSHPs 54-storey 99 Bishopsgate, designed for Brookfield, was also approved by the Corporation in January, while a row of towers along Gracechurch Street have been signed off within the last few years.> Also read:RSHPs new tower at 99 Bishopsgate approved with plans to start construction next yearThe CGIs, which contain all major office schemes which the City has approved or resolved to approve over the past decade, show the scale of the transformation that could come to the cluster over the next few years.The Citys policy chairman Chris Hayward said: The City of London is the greatest city in the world. A global economic powerhouse, an ancient city and a centre of collaboration and innovation for the hundreds of thousands of people who work here every day.These new images clearly illustrate the ever-changing nature of Londons incredible skyline and that the Square Miles real estate sector is robust and thriving.The City has a target to build more than 1.2 million sq m of office space by 2040, much of which is expected to be contained within new buildings in the cluster.